So, since this is a New Year Special kinda chapter, I am dedicating this one to Provider of Odd Things, (who, according to my mail, was my very first Follower), to Bernadette Kaulitz, Angel-hime-chan CloudBlack, Akutsu Junya and all those who have been favoriting and following this.
Thank you All!
—~ ~—
Chapter 8
"Any idea what's up with Blondie?" Tsubame asked as she walked up the rough bark of the tree again. "He's been acting really weird all week."
"Honestly?" Her redheaded friend replied from where she was seated... Upside down, hanging from a tree branch about twenty feet up... "I don't know. He just started acting really distant from everyone since the time Anko-sensei and Yūgao-sensei upped our training regime."
Glancing over, she watched as Naruto threw himself into his tree-walking training with even more focus than before.
After getting used to their resistance bands, Yūgao had taken them to begin their chakra control...
—~FLASHBACK~—
"Now, to begin the latest exercise in your new training." Yūgao smiled as they sat beneath what they had now dubbed 'HQTree'. "I'll start off by asking what chakra is."
Instantly, Kazehana's hand was up, prompting the purple haired former ANBU's smile to widen ever so slightly. "Kazehana."
"Chakra is the combined energy of the human body. It is composed of two parts: Ki, which is the energy that is directly tied to the physical body; and Reiatsu, which is the energy that is directly tied to the mind, both conscious and subconscious, and the soul."
"Excellent answer." Yūgao nodded. "Now, the Reiatsu can be increased by multiple methods, meditation and increasing one's own knowledge being just two while Ki can be increased by training the physical body."
"So that's why you guys have been to putting us through hell!" Tsubame exclaimed. "By training both our physical bodies and sharpening our minds, you've been gradually increasing our chakra reserves!"
The older kunoichi nodded. "Right now, I'd say you girls have as much chakra as most of the older, more experienced genin in the village. Naruto, due to his lineage and a certain entity, has about as much chakra as Kakashi and Asuma combined. Or, you could say he has as much as three-quarters of the Hokage's chakra capacity right now."
Both girls gasped in shock, hence missing the blond's wince upon mention of his 'luggage'.
"Yeah, I had the same reaction when I sensed his increase." Yūgao stated. "Advantageous as that might be in a real battle, it will be quite the stumbling block in the training sessions on chakra control."
That didn't sound right to Tsubame so she voiced her confusion out. "Wait. How will having a fuck-ton of chakra be a hinderance to learning how to control his chakra?"
Yūgao arched her eyebrow, though not so much to the question as to the questioner. She'd expected that to come from Naruto, not Tsubame. 'Come to think of it, he's been too quiet all day long. Something wrong? His reaction to the resistance bands?'
She didn't know but she would observe a bit longer and if the blond didn't change soon, she'd definitely confront him over it.
For now, though, she had to answer a question.
"Think of it this way, Tsubame, which is easier to dam: a river or a stream?"
"Stream." Was the instant reply.
"Naruto is a tsunami."
It took all of three seconds to understand.
"Oh... Damn." Kazehana groaned for her friend.
"Moaning won't help, Hana-chan." The blond replied quietly yet oddly distantly. "I'll just have to train harder than you guys to get it right.".
"Indeed Naruto. However, Anko and I have an idea that might just help you get it quicker than your chakra reserves should allow." Yūgao said.
"But why is chakra control important?" Tsubame asked.
"Being able to control one's chakra is incredibly useful. To begin with, it help you avoid chakra wastage." Yūgao answered. "Chakra wastage occurs when a shinobi without control over his chakra uses higher ranked jutsu. He or she will pump an excessive amount of chakra into the jutsu. The extra chakra that wasn't required for the jutsu is simply let off as energy, resulting insaid person using up their chakra reserves much faster than normal.
Another reason is to allow the usage of some unique jutsu. Such jutsu might not require much chakra to be used. An example is the Bunshin no jutsu. Virtually every civilian has the capability to create this jutsu if they are taught, showing just how little chakra is needed. However, for shinobi with as high as chūnin level reserves, performing that jutsu can be downright impossible. With a good grip on ones chakra control, however, even Kages can perform the jutsu. This is because it teaches how to direct a precise amount of chakra in any direction necessary." Yūgao explained.
"So, Naruto might actually be able to perform regular bunshin?" Kazehana asked eagerly.
"I can't say." Yūgao replied honestly. "With his reserves continually growing at its exponential rate, he might need up to medic-nin chakra control to be able to perform the bunshin."
The blonde just shrugged. "If its absolutely necessary that I learn the bunshin then I will."
"That's the spirit." Yūgao nodded and motioned for them to do the same. "Now, to start this new training... You guys are going to learn to climb trees."
Cue a round of face-faults.
"No offense, Yūgao-sensei," Tsubame started as the jōnin walked straight to the tree beside HQTree, "but I don't see how learning to climb trees is going to..."
The silver haired girl's voice trailed off as she watched her sensei casually stride up the tree then walk right under a tree branch so that her flowing hair hung upside-down.
"OK. I'm impressed." Kazehana admitted as Yūgao detached herself from the tree and flipped to land elegantly on the grass again.
"The trick is to channel chakra to the soles of your feet to create a suction-like effect that will attach you firmly to the tree's surface."
"But... How?" Naruto asked with a serous look on his face. "How do we get chakra down there?"
"Remember how you channeled chakra to your palm for the affinities test?" Yūgao asked as she pulled out three kunai and tossed them to her genin. They nodded. "Well, try doing the same thing, only directing the chakra to the soles of your feet. Think of creating a small suction as you're doing so. When you've got it down, try walking up the tree and use the kunai to mark your progress."
With swift, determined nods, the three of them began.
—~ ~—
Thirty Minutes Later...
For what had to be the hundredth time that day, Naruto was sent flying back a few meters from his tree, blasted back by the force of his own chakra, to impact solidly on the ground.
His breath rattling and his now bare chest covered in rapidly healing bruises, he pushed himself back up and stormed angrily back to the tree.
Just as he was about to begin, Yūgao called out to him.
With a frustrated sigh, he walked over to her.
"You called, sensei?"
"Sit down, drop the frustration and listen attentively."
Less than three seconds later, her commands had been obeyed.
Well, except for the 'drop the frustration' part but who could blame him?
"Now I know that it might seem a bit discouraging that you haven't been able to go above three feet off the ground but I want you to understand that for someone with borderline Kage-level chakra reserves, that is astounding progress, especially considering that you've accomplished that height in just half an hour of training." Yūgao complimented. "You're doing a great job and don't get yourself bogged in your frustrations. That's the easiest way to hamper your own progress. Instead, channel that frustration into your mind. Use it as fuel to think of a more efficient way of completing an assignment or exercise. Brute force cannot always break through problems."
Releasing a big sigh, the genin nodded. "Thanks for that, Yūgao-sensei. I guess I was forcing myself to try harder instead of 'trying smarter' as Anko-sensei would put it."
"Good. It's always good to acknowledge your faults when they are shown to you. That way you can recognize them as faults and work on them." Yūgao advised. "Now, onto the real reason I called you here: what do you know about the Kage Bunshin no jutsu?"
His brow furrowed in confusion. "Uh... I know that it creates solid copies of one's self and is very good on spy missions and that it is considered a kinjutsu because of the massive amounts of chakra necessary to pull it off without succumbing to chakra exhaustion."
The former ANBU nodded. "That's all very true Naruto, though even chūnin can perform the jutsu within reason. However, why do you think kage bunshin can be sent on stealth missions instead of the original?"
Now he looked positively stumped. "Honestly? I don't know."
"That's where the true power of the kage bunshin comes into play." Yūgao smirked. "When a kage bunshin is dispelled, it sends all accumulated knowledge back to the original."
She stopped there to let it sink into him.
Less than ten seconds later, the blond leapt to his feet happily. "So that's why I kept feeling like I was seeing from multiple angles after I beat Mizuki-teme and after sending the clones at Anko-sensei that day! I was seeing the memories from each clone!"
"Exactly." She smiled.
"Oh man! I could read a library in a day!" He yelled. "I could get multiple books and, in a day, become smarter than Sakura-chan! Hell even smarter than Iruka-sensei and Hokage-jiji!"
"Calm down!" She snapped. "You might be able go do all that but that will be explored later. Right now we need to get your chakra control training started and to do that I need you to make-" she paused to count the number of trees she wanted him to use. "-make twelve clones and send them to the trees around this clearing. Have them start up the tree walking while you watch attentively and try to think of ways to help out. For every clone that dispels, make another until you have one that successfully makes it up the tree. Then, sort through all the memories. Pick up the good stuff and thrash the bad until you're sure you have a good idea of what works. Then, try it out yourself." She finished.
"Um... How do I make twelve clones?" He asked sheepishly. "The last two times I just threw all the chakra I could into the jutsu to make it work."
"This time, try to actively channel your chakra. Control it. At the same time, focus on the number twelve. That should help."
The blond nodded happily and then put his fingers in a cross-fingered seal.
'Twelve clones. Twelve clones. Twelve clones.' He chanted mentally, eyes tightly shut as he prepared to send out the chakra for the jutsu. "Kage Bunshin no jutsu!"
When he snapped his eyes open, he was faced with about thirty Narutos.
"Nice start. We'll work from here." Yūgao said. "Now, to dispel them, have them think of returning to you. That should work."
A few seconds later, two of the clones disappeared amidst simultaneous 'pops' and bursts of smoke.
The original, still seated opposite his sensei grinned. "I can dispel them as easily as they can dispel themselves. Two new things we've learnt."
They all grinned before twelve took off toward the closest trees. The remaining sat by the original and watched earnestly...
—~FLASHBACK ENDS~—
That had been the start of the blond's breakthrough. Within an hour of creating the first set of clones, one of them had made it up to the top.
Uopn dispelling that clone, Naruto had paused to sift through the information from about a hundred clones (most of the early ones had his luck and got blasted off their tree into others, prompting an instant dispel). He then grinned, stood up and pointed to the two girls who were hanging off branches like their sensei had done before. "Watch me." was all he said before he proceeded to casually walk straight up the tree and then right back down.
After his show, he had explained what he got from the memories. He had come to understand that the tree walking exercise was for two purposes. The first was to master channeling chakra to the soles of the feet, something that they had all agreed was a bitch to do in the first place. The second, though, was to master being attached to a surface while battling external forces. While Kazehana had deduced as much, hearing it from him had definitely sealed it.
The goal was to learn how to use chakra to anchor one's self to a vertical surface while fighting off the external influence of gravity on the body.
Yūgao had been so shocked after hearing his explanation that she momentarily forgot to explain the next part of the training to them.
When she finally got out of her shock she told them that the exercise was only truly mastered when one could be hurled from a spot and instinctively stick to any vertical surface and battle for an hour while attached to the vertical surface.
Right now, they all had the 'instinctively attach yourself' part down to a tee. However, the girls had to bring their reserves to the point that they could run up and down the tree for an hour non-stop while Naruto had begun the 'battle for an hour' part, taking the period to also get in his new water based 'Tai Chi' taijutsu practice as he battled against one of his clones.
"KAZEHANA!" A yell snapped her out of her reverie.
She turned to see Tsubame, face flushed, glaring at her from her tree. "What?"
"You're asking me?" Came the snappish reply. "I was talking to you and you just zoned out on me! What the hell was that?"
"Sorry." The redhead had the decency to look sheepish. "Got lost in thought."
"Anything to do with him?" Tsubame's flickered over to Naruto then settled back on her friend's.
"Yeah... I couldn't get why he's being distant though." Kazehana sighed. "He just locked himself away starting from a week ago."
Tsubame stopped her laps up and down the tree to glare at her blond friend. Her normally soft, almost cloudy, gray eyes flashed with steel-like determination. "Then we're going to make him tell us."
—~ ~—
"What the hell!" Naruto yelled as he ducked beneath a crescent kick from his opponent. "You're supposed to help me train! Take my head off!"
Opposite him stood... Himself.
Well, a clone of himself.
"Oh I'm sorry boss." It replied mockingly. "I thought it was my job to help you get more practical knowledge on our new fighting style."
"Yeah it was." The original growled. "Until you tried to kick me in the fucking head!"
The clone just shrugged. "The style is based on flowing around attacks and striking from angles that would be difficult to dodge. Y'know, kinda like water would flow around obstacles and wear them down by eroding their weak spots."
"Thanks for that joyous reminder." The original snapped before turning to another clone that was seated higher up in th tree. "Time?"
"Thirty-two minutes and forty-six seconds!" It yelled back happily. "Our new best time!"
"We still have to work on it." Naruto replied tersely. "Anko-sensei sensei said that we need to get it down so that we can do this in our sleep. Getting distracted during the fight is something we need to work on shutting out."
Turning to another clone, this time on another tree, he yelled out: "Dispel! We need to know how well we're progressing in the style!"
Immediately, a series of pops sounded, accompanied by puffs of smoke from different places around the tree the original was on.
Gritting his teeth, the original sorted through the memories of his clones. Due to the multiple angles of view, it took about thirty seconds to clear his head.
"OK. We have the katas down pat but the flow from one kata to the other is still a bit disjointed, especially when we try to jump around from kata to kata randomly." He stated as the memories settled in. "We also need to complete this kata stage of practice because, according to one of us, we need to get so used to the Style that we can throw in our own moves to counter anyone who might have even a base understanding of our style."
"We also need to work on assimilation speed of our memories when we dispel!" The clone with the timer yelled. "Thirty seconds is way too much time. We could get killed in that amount of time in a real battle if what Anko-sensei says is true."
The original nodded as did his sparring clone. "When we get home, I'll try to remember to create a couple of you guys and have them read some stuff and then dispel. We'll use that as 'assimilation' practice."
"Start small." The spar-clone advised. "Master assimilating one clone's memories instantly and then move on to two and so on."
"Got it." Naruto nodded as he brought his hands together to form his unique seal. "Let's go aga-"
"Blondie!" Tsubame shouted from below. "Get your ass down here! We need to talk!"
Immediately he tensed and began to run through a mental list of things he could say to get her off him.
"Boss." The sparring clone called out and fixed a serious look on his original. "I think you should tell them."
"Wonderful idea! Why didn't I think of that first?" Naruto shot back, sarcasm oozing from every word. "Oh wait, I did. And I'd rather have them as friends than chase them away-"
"They've been with us since we were six." The clone cut in plainly. "They've stated with us through all of the shit we've gone through, including having their apartment thrashed, getting spat on whenever some drunken idiot saw all three of us on the road and being looked upon with hate just because they've chosen to remain friends with us. Hell they stayed after hearing what we have stuck in our gut. They didn't even care about that. Keeping this away from them is being very unfair to them."
"What if they leave after I tell them?"
"Tell us what?" Tsubame asked, causing Naruto nearly leap off the tree.
By the time he turned to glare at his clone, he was hit by the smug memories of both his sparring partner and the timer.
'Conspiring bastards.' He thought to himself as he turned to find himself facing his best friends. "Hey Tsu-chan, Hana-chan! What's up?"
"Drop it." Kazehana replied instantly. "We've been with you since you were six. Don't you think we wouldn't notice you pulling on a mask from ten yards away?"
Naruto sighed tiredly and began to walk down the tree, prompting Tsubame to reach out and grab his shoulder as he walked by. "The hell do you think you're going?"
"You wanna know what's wrong with me right?" He asked, to which they nodded. "Well, let's get comfortable. It's a bit of a long story."
After the walk to the base of the tree, they took their seats, both girls seated opposite him, looking on eagerly.
"Last week, after we got home from recieving the resistance bands... I spoke with the Kyūbi..."
—~FLASHBACK~—
Aww man!" He groaned as he turned to walk away. "What sort of stream flows into a grate?"
Just then, he felt more than heard a distinct growl.
He didn't want to turn back. He really didn't. Yet something in the back of his mind... That instinctual feeling in animals that made them look into the eyes of a predator... Forced him to turn back to the cage.
He was met by two glowing red eyes, one human sized, the other... Let's just say that he never knew that irises could be larger than a full grown human.
"So... My jailer finally sees it fit to answer my summons..." Something growled out from behind the cage.
Naruto very nearly shit his pants as loud footsteps echoed down the hall.
And then... It stood in all its demonic glory before the blond.
"Hello brat."
Immediately, the blond started backpedaling. "This is a dream. This is a dream. This has GOT to be a dream."
A laugh rang through the sewers. "You might want to pinch yourself then. Though I can assure you that such a simple method of shock won't be enough to pull you out of here."
Fuck the fact that the idea came from... something... He closed his eyes and tried it anyway.
When he opened his eyes... Yeah, his nightmare was definitely right.
"Who the hell are you?!" He yelled. "And where the hell am I?"
"From last to first: you are in your mind. As to who I am... Figure it out."
With his brain being fueled by an insane amount of adrenaline, it didn't take ten seconds for him to figure it out.
"You're the Kyūbi!"
"Give the brat a prize! He finally got it!" Came the response.
Finally, the feared bijū, the nine tailed demon fox, stepped into the light...
And froze the twelve year old's thought processes.
The first thing that happened was that the larger pair of eyes dissipated into a red haze. Then, out of this haze stepped a woman.
She was about as tall as Anko, with crimson hair and scarlet eyes and she wore a simple kimono.
"What the- How the- You're a girl?" Naruto sputtered in shock.
"Do not compare me to a female of your species." The woman replied instantly. "I simply chose this form as it would be the best to relate you without having you run about like a fool."
The next second, her form dissipated and reformed into that of the large-as-fuck demon fox that had nearly wiped out Konoha twelve years ago. "Or would you rather we speak this way?" Its now androgynous voice boomed out.
"No! I mean previous form please!" Naruto babbled.
The bijū's form dissipated and reformed into the female once again. "Now. We need to speak."
"Wait what?" Naruto did a double take. "You're the reason my life went to shits as a kid because you just HAD to live up to your reputation as a demon and go ballistic on Konoha! If it wasn't for your insane acts-"
"You wouldn't know those two girls you happen to be with so stop winning like a damned bitch." The transformed bijū snarled. "You think it's been difficult for you?"
"Hell yeah I do! Got something to top years of being treated like thrash? Years of being beaten, bruised and spat on, years of being looked down on like I was a nobody for something I never had any control over!"
"That's it?" The Kyūbi scoffed. "Boy, I was YOKED into servitude! Me! The Lord of all Bijū! Yoked into serving some bastard, acting like I was nothing but an animal! Then I was finally released from my bondage only to be tossed into another! Sealed into some no-name witch! I have lived about a century of my existence locked away in humans! I finally was released a while back only to be once again thrown into damnable bondage by the bastard that held me the first time! When I was somehow released from THAT bondage I never had a chance to even gather my senses before being bombarded by a host of you puny humans! I was brought down by a toad! A fucking toad that stabbed me with its weapon all before I was sealed into you. So don't yell at me about suffering boy! I know damn well what it is and you have had it easy!"
"You expect me to believe that bullshit?" Naruto roared at the bijū who had, sometime during its rant, returned to its primal form. "You expect me to believe that the reason you're stuck inside of me is that you were controlled by someone? Well then I wonder who gave you the title of 'Lord of the Bijū' because I don't think any other bijū would be controlled by a 'puny' human!"
A loud explosive sound rang through the sewer.
It turned out to be the sound of the bijū's paw slamming into the gates of its cage. "I swear if this thing wasn't here I would have eaten you and been done with you! You have the gall to think that I would bother myself lying to you? What would it profit me? Your pity? Your sympathy? Well take them to your grave! There are forces out there that even bijū must succumb to and just as your human law of gravity affects even the most powerful of you so must I succumb to such powers! You think I want to ravage and pillage your villages? To what end? Supposing I needed food you really believe that a thousand of your kind would satisfy me? Or if I needed a source of entertainment do you think your foolish ramblings and encounters will entertain me?"
"I dunno being the entity of hatred and rage though I would think that you'd just hunt us to satisfy your sadistic tendencies."
"If I wanted to display 'sadistic tendencies' then the Elemental Nations would be nothing but ash! Or have you forgotten that I have the power to level mountains with a flick of any one of my tails? I have been around MUCH longer than the existence of your villages!" The Kyūbi roared back.
Naruto was about to yell some more at the bijū when something it said clicked.
If it really had been around longer than the shinobi villages then why hadn't other places experienced its wrath? Could it really be that humans had been too biased to actually consider the side of the bijū?
As he sank deeper into thought, something the old Hokage said to him a few days back resurfaced in his mind...
We are humans, Naruto-kun, and humans have a tendency to fear what they don't understand. They don't understand fūinjutsu and so they believe that the Kyūbi's soul must have taken yours over.
Humans had never understood bijū and do they were afraid of the power that the creatures had...
"Kyūbi!" He shouted uncertainly. "I'm sorry."
The large fox paused in its rant to look over the boy suspiciously as it altered its form to that of the woman that it had first taken. "Sorry? What for?"
Naduto could hear the sarcastic scoff in the bijū's tone but he chose to shrug it off. "I'm sorry for behaving like an ass."
"Really? Come now, what lead to this sudden change in reasoning?"
"Basically, you tried to be civil with me, going as far as to take a form I am familiar with just to ease my fears yet I acted like the beast we believe you to be. That was wrong."
The Kyūbi was almost impressed with the boy. He had gotten over his rage and he admitted to his own faults. With a sigh, the bijū in human form decided to acquiesce to its own faults. It had been through two hosts who barely ever allowed it to see the world. If it was going to be cooped up in this boy's head then it damned well wanted to enjoy itself here.
"I too acted rashly." The bijū spoke in a soft yet commandingly regal tone. It had acknowledged it's own fault but it damned well wouldn't give the boy room to think too much on that. "I should not have demeaned the pain you have gone through for my sake either."
Both stood, awkwardly facing each other until Naruto broke the silence. "Uh... So, is this a truce or something?"
"A deal." The Kyūbi said instantly. Now it could get what it wanted. "I am willing to offer you a fraction of my power in exchange for you allowing me to, through you, feel the outside world."
Naruto was stunned. The Kyūbi was offering him some of its power in exchange for the ability to feel through him...
Simple right?
Yet, somewhere deep in his heart, he felt afraid. People feared him because they believe that he was the bijū. Wouldn't allowing it access to his senses while accepting its power bring him ever closer to becoming what the villagers thought of him?
"Wh-what are the effects of having your more of your power?"
The bijū in question would have grinned if it wasn't unsure of the boy's reaction. As such it simply maintained its regal look. "You will become stronger, faster and your chakra reserves will grow larger. Your already heightened senses will become even sharper and your rapid healing will become faster."
"I meant negative effects!" Naruto snapped back. Upon noticing the almost amused smirk on the human-looking bijū, he reined in his fear-fueled anger and tried again. "Forgive me for that. I meant what are the negative effects of having more of your power flowing through me?"
"And what makes you believe that my power would have negative repercussions?"
"Ji- I was told by someone that survived your attack on Konoha that mere contact with your chakra caused intense chakra burns on the skin and then lead to some of the most horrible cases of chakra poisoning." Naruto replied. OK, maybe he had exaggerated a little. It wasn't like the bijū would know.
"And so you believe that my attempts to enhance your abilities with my powered is a subtle way of killing you to release myself?" The Kyūbi asked with an arched eyebrow. "Rest assurer, due to the seal placed upon you to keep me in this bondage, my chakra cannot hurt you. If it could, you would have died within the first six months of my being placed into you as that was the period that your chakra was weak and susceptible to any damage my chakra would have done to you. You're alive are you not? And the chakra burns... You think your really tough skin is what saved you from them when my chakra healed you countless times from your physical injuries? No, this seal ensures that my chakra cannot do any lasting harm to you."
"What do you mean by 'lasting harm'? And what effects will the chakra have on people around me?"
"Last to first: none provided you don't force it out. If you do, all bets are off. As to the first; chakra coils should not grow at the rate yours grows at. My chakra being passed through your system forcibly widens your coils fractionally every day yet these fractional increases can gradually harm you. Luckily for you, the same chakra that does such damage heals the damage almost instantly."
Naruto was stumped now. He couldn't see any disadvantages to this other than if he 'forced it out' which he had no idea how to do in the first place so that didn't seem to be much of a problem in the first place.
But still...
"I know how much you wish to think over this." The bijū said softly. It couldn't force the boy to accept, not at this point. No, now it had to resort to subtlety and cunning to obtain what it wanted. "As such I am willing to give you a 'demonstration' if you will."
"A demonstration?" Naruto asked skeptically.
"Yes." It said decisively, as much to convince the boy as to convince itself of its hastily thrown together plan. "For a week, I will allow some of my power to seep into your coils. It might be painful for up to six hours but that will be due to your coils expanding a bit faster than what is normal for you. During this time you will experience the power boost and its effects allowing you to make a decision."
"And if I don't?"
"I withdraw my chakra from you. It will be painful but necessary as to stay within terms of this agreement."
"And if I accept?"
"You will be summoned here again and we will finalize the agreement." The Kyūbi stated simply.
After minutes of deliberation that had the bijū on edge, the blond finally sighed. "I'll take the week long trial for now."
—~FLASHBACK ENDS~—
"So you're saying that the bijū you had sealed into you wants to make a deal?" Kazehana asked in shock.
Naruto nodded.
"And this deal will allow it to basically 'experience' the world around you through you in exchange for it giving you some of its power?" Tsubame added.
Again, the blond nodded.
"And you are currently on the last day of the trial deal?" Kazehana again.
"Yeah. And I don't know whether to accept or not." Naruto sighed tiredly. "Im sorry I didn't tell you straight up but I was confused. I mean, making a deal with the bijū that nearly eradicated my home?"
"The deal will make you stronger though..." Tsubame reminded him. "The Kyūbi also voluntarily told you what the negative effects were."
"How am I supposed to believe what it said?" Naruto groaned. "I don't know whether to trust us or not."
"How's about we take this to Hokage-jiji?" Kazehana suggested. "He might have an insight into this that will help."
Tsubame slung her arm around the redhead's shoulder and pressed her cheeks into hers. "And that's why she's the brains of our team. Now come on! We need to get going before Anko-sensei and Yūgao-sensei get back from their training!"
Witb that, they jumped to their feet and dashed out of the old Uzumaki training field.
About a minute after they left, both of their purple haired jōnin-sensei walked out from behind a small copse.
"Yet again I feel pained that our little genin forget how highly ranked we are." Anko said as she pulled out a stick of dango from a purse within her trenchcoat. "Do they think we aren't always watching over them?"
"That's beside the point." Yūgao stated as she reached over and popped one of the sweet dumplings off her partner's stick, much to Anko's chagrin. "I'm just glad that he finally opened up to them. I was afraid of what you said you'd do if he didn't."
Anko just shrugged as she bit off one of the dumplings. "Meh, little torture would do him some good."
"Still good of him. Anyway, how close are you to hitting Hokage-sama's stipulations?"
"He said we should get ourselves up to mid A-ranked right? Well, I should be at high B right now. All I need is to start accepting missions."
"Same here." Yūgao agreed. "We should tell Hokage-sama today."
Anko shook her head. "We need to get the brats up to speed on how to battle other shinobi. They might be better than most rookies already but we need to get them up to chūnin level by the time the exams roll around. I'd say we should push them through the next half, maybe one month. The focus would now be on battle smarts. Thinks to do and not do in a fight, how to strategize on the fly, shit like that."
"And bukijutsu." Yūgao added. "I think they'll need to get their weapon usage down and get familiar with a weapon that they will enjoy using."
"You're just looking for a new 'Kenjutsu Mistress of Konoha'." Anko shot back playfully.
"And if I am?" Yūgao asked. "Can I have a dango?"
"Oh hell no! You took the last one without permission!"
"Which means I'm trying to be civil to you now." Yūgao shrugged. "I could take it again without asking."
"Just try... WAIT! DAMN IT YŪGAO I WAS FUCKING JOKING!"
—~ ~—
"So you're saying that I should take the deal?"
Hiruzen nodded. It was a hard decision to make, even for him, but as he had told Naruto, a Hokage sometimes had to think of the Village he lead over his individual shinobi.
Right note he was shooting blind but he hoped to the heavens that the Kyūbi was being serious. "You should. It would make you stronger which will make you more able to protect your loved ones."
Naruto glanced around the room. All the faces around him; Rangiku Tsubame, Kazehana and the old Hokage were at peace with this decision, it seemed.
"Alright." Naruto nodded firmly. "I will speak to the Kyūbi today, I think, and tell it that I accept."
"Good." The old Hokage smiled as the boy and his friends turned to leave. "And Naruto-kun?"
"Yes jii-san?"
"Don't hold things like this inside next time. We are a family. Family share stuff with each other."
The blind boy froze in his tracks for a minute before sprinting back to wrap the old man in a hug.
After half a minute, he left with his friends.
"Was that the right thing to do, Hokage-sama?" Rangiku asked with a small frown. "Making a deal with a bijū doesn't sound like a very good idea."
"I agree with you, Rangiku, but sometimes one has to take risks..."
—~ ~—
And cut.
Happy New Year everyone !
A big shout out to all my reviewers, Favorite-ERS and Followers!
I love you all!
As a new years gift to me, can I get at LEAST TEN REVIEWS? Please?
I swear I feel like I'm writing for myself sometimes...
Anyway, its still moi,
The Ethereal Lord.
