I do not own Naruto or Digimon.
"Spirit Fusion!" normal speech
"Spirit Fusion!" thought/mind speak
"Spirit Fusion!" demon/Inner/Beast Spirit possession speak
Chapter 10
*Training Ground #7*
Night had fallen as Naruto breathed heavily after a session of training by himself as even though his team and Team 8 still had a couple days left of their break. He couldn't afford to slack off if he was to become the next Hokage.
"Alright…" Naruto said as he was catching his breath, "I think I'm…*pant*…getting that Wind jutsu down!"
"Good job Naruto!" AncientKazemon said as the blond was indeed making some good progress with the jutsu, "Just keep up that attitude and you may even have a chance to control one of the Beast Spirits!"
Maybe…Naruto thought as the idea put a fire in his heart until something came across his mind, Hey, Kinzoku-ji-san…
"Yes, Naruto?" the Legendary Warrior of Steel asked in return.
Do you have an idea as to why I'm able to get Kazemon's and Ranamon's abilities and powers down, Naruto began as this question had been bothering him since Nami, but I'm having difficulties with Agunimon's?
AncientWisetmon hummed in thought before he said, "Perhaps the difficulty lies within your elemental properties."
You mean my affinity? Naruto asked as he then sat cross-legged in thought.
"Yes." AncientWisetmon answered, "My theory is actually based on what BurningGreymon had said when you tried to contact him. With one of you natural affinities being Wind and Agunimon's and BurningGreymon's being Fire, you would have difficulty as even the smallest of breezes and create the wildest of fires from a single spark. However, since you also have a slight affinity for Water, you were able to have partial control since water extinguishes fire."
So whenever I'm using the power of Fire, Naruto thought as he tried to sum up what was said, my affinity is fanning the flames and putting out a fire at the same time? Doesn't sound like a firefight that could easily be won.
"It doesn't," the Legendary Warrior of Steel said with a slight cringe in his voice, "but do not be discouraged, my grandson, as I'm sure that we can find a way. Although…"
What is it? Naruto asked with slight concern as to what the Legendary Warrior would say.
"Well, if my theory is true…" AncientWisetmon said with slight disheartened tone, "then that could mean that when the time comes for AncientVolcamon to grant you his power of Earth, you will have an incredible amount of difficulty with as even though your control with the gift of Thunder is at an admirable level, you will still have some difficulty with the power of Earth."
Huh? Naruto thought in confusion.
"Perhaps you should ask Kakashi about elemental affinities." AncientTroiamon suggested, "He might know more about this since he has been a ninja for years. That, and…"
An embarrassed chuckle was heard as the Legendary Warrior of Wood then said, "…we really don't know how your world works in terms of elements. Ours worked completely different as anything can happen and is shared with yet another world that is completely different than your own."
Wow. Naruto responded at the idea of two worlds existing at the same time side by side like that, Well, I guess I have enough chakra for…
*rustle*
"What was that?" Naruto said aloud as he quickly got to his feet and looked around for the source of the sound. If anyone saw his power, save for those who knew, who knows what could happen. The blond waited to see if anything might happen, but nothing did after a short while.
"Must have been the wind." Naruto said as he then saw the moon in the sky, "Guess I have been training for a good while. Should get some sleep since today was the last day of our break."
Naruto cautiously left the training field, but not without taking a few glances to the sides as something was telling him that now wasn't a good time to train on his powers.
The next morning had found Naruto and his teammates waiting for Kakashi to arrive for their training.
"Yo!" said the very person, shocking the genin of Team 7 at the sight before them.
Seeing the sight of his confused students trying to get rid of a nonexistent genjutsu, Kakashi chuckled and said, "This isn't a genjutsu as I have an important gift."
The jonin pulled out a few pieces of paper and said, "I have here in my hands are entry forms for the upcoming Chunin Exams. To answer the question on everyone's minds, the Chunin Exams allow any genin who enter the possibility to become chunin, allowing them to accept more difficult missions and become closer to the ninjas you are trained to be."
The cycloptic ninja sealed the forms away as he said, "I'll give them to you after we are done with today's lesson I have planned."
Kakashi then pulled out three more slips of paper, but they were just blank pieces of paper as the jonin then said, "Now even if you don't enter the Chunin Exams this year, I think you should learn something that most chunin would be able to learn: Your elemental affinities."
"Elemental affinities?" Sakura asked in innocent shock, "So soon?"
"Yes." Kakashi said as he handed each of his students a piece of paper, "Now the paper you're holding is a special kind of paper made out of a tree that was grown and fed with chakra. These react to even the smallest amount of chakra and reveal what your natural element is. Like so…"
Kakashi held a piece between two fingers and in a quick moment, the paper suddenly crumpled into itself.
"Whoa…" Naruto gasped out as everyone's eyes were on the crumpled paper, "How did that happen?"
"The chakra paper responds to chakra to reveal your natural affinity." Kakashi answered, "The paper responds differently to certain elements. As you have seen, the paper crumpled up due to the Lightning affinity that I possess. If I had a different element, the paper would have reacted in such ways: Burn into ashes for Fire, split itself for Wind, crumble and turn to dust for Earth, and become soggy and damp for Water."
"So what comes out of knowing our affinity?" Naruto asked as Sasuke rolled his eyes.
"By knowing our affinity," Sasuke said with a deadpanned tone, "we learn what elemental jutsus that matches our affinity more easier."
Sasuke added chakra to his piece of paper, causing it to burn into ash, much to Naruto and Sakura to be a bit shocked at how easy it looked.
"Sasuke's natural element is Fire," Kakashi said as he looked at the ashes on the ground, "a common element for those here in the Land of Fire, but also unique to the Uchiha Clan as an elemental affinity can also be passed down a clan."
"So what about that hunter ninja?" Sasuke remembered how that ninja was controlling ice, "Is it possible to have more than one element at the same time or even create and possess an element like ice?"
"Yes as anyone can possess multiple elements at the same time, most possessing only two elements at most." Kakashi answered as he also remembered that day, "However, there are certain clans that can possess an extra unique element that is impossible for others to use as freely. That hunter ninja we faced had the unique ability, a kekkei genkai that allowed him to create and manipulate ice, meaning that he came from a clan that could use this element just as freely as the Uchiha could with Fire. This is an advanced topic, so we'll save it for a future training session. Naruto, Sakura."
Said ninjas looked as Kakashi then said, "Go ahead and apply chakra to the paper given to you and we'll see what elements you have."
The two genin nodded and done as they were told and focused their chakra on the paper. The results were immediate as Sakura's crumbled into dust while Naruto's was split in half with both sides becoming soggy."
"Well this is interesting," the jonin said with slight curiosity in his voice, "Sakura possesses an Earth affinity while Naruto has both Wind and Water affinities."
Sasuke tightened his fist at how the blond idiot had TWO elemental affinities with one of them being Water. It shouldn't even be remotely possible for Naruto to get just ONE element so easily!
"So aside from learning jutsus better," Naruto asked as he ignored the look the Uchiha was giving him, "what else about them we should know?"
"Well Naruto," Sakura began as she had read up on this subject, "certain affinities are stronger when paired against other elements. Think of it as a game of rock-paper-scissors: Fire is strong against Wind, Wind is strong against Lightning, Lightning is strong against Earth, Earth is strong against Water, and Water being strong against Fire."
"Good explanation Sakura." Kakashi said with an eye smile before he looked at his students, "If looked at our elements only, we would see that Sasuke would be able to defeat Naruto's Wind with his Fire, but would lose to Naruto's other element of Water. Naruto would be able to defeat my Lightning with his Wind element, but he could also be defeated by Sakura's Earth element while she would be defeated by my Lightning element. However, one is not actually limited to their affinity when learning jutsus as anyone can learn different elemental jutsus. It's just that when learning jutsus that are the same as your affinity will be easier but will still take years to fully master that element."
So that's why I'm having trouble with Agunimon, Naruto thought as he looked at the damp pieces of paper in his hand, So that means Kinzoku-ji-san was right, which also means that I'm going to have a lot of trouble when I get the power of Earth. Guess that's what he was trying to say last night.
"Now then," Kakashi said as his voice snapped the blond out of his thoughts, "Let's begin training, shall we?"
*Hokage's Office*
The Sandaime was looking over some of the paperwork when a breeze flew by him suddenly.
"It's great to see you again," the elderly man said as he looked to see a man with long, spikey white hair wearing sage-like garbs sitting in the now opened window, "Jiraiya."
"I actually got here as fast as I could once I got word about him." Jiraiya said as he jumped down from the window, "How is Naruto doing anyway."
"You should know considering the circumstances." the Sandaime said coldly as he glared at the man before him, "And don't even think you can use your spy network as an excuse this time."
"So the seal Minato placed on him is starting to weaken already?" Jiraiya said with slight foreboding gloom, "Wouldn't think it would happen already. Guess the villagers somehow caused it to wither at a faster rate."
"Actually we want you to take a look at Naruto's seal as something had happened to him." the elderly man said, much to Jiraiya's shock, "You, my student, are one of Konoha's finest seal master meaning that you would have the proper knowledge of certain seals."
"I'm not one to brag if Naruto's involved," the sage said with a stern tone before he had noticed something, "and what do you mean by 'we'?"
"We should get the preparations ready to examine Naruto's seal started," the Sandaime said as he got up from his desk, "I'll explain everything along the way as I'm sure Naruto is busy at the moment."
"Of course Sensei." Jiraiya said as he followed the elderly man out of the office, just wondering what had happened to Naruto.
*Sealing Chambers*
Time had passed to Koharu and Homura stood near one of the pillars in the chambers while Jiraiya was looking over some of the preparation seals he had made when the Sandaime walked in with Naruto walking next to him.
"So what's going on?" the blond asked as he gave a cautious look at the two elder advisors. Naruto easily knew that those particular two would mostly treat an unwanted ink stain better than him.
"We just need to check something with your seal, Naruto." the Sandaime said as he then pointed to Jiraiya, "This is Jiraiya, one of my students and a master with seals. He will be the one to take a look at your seal and he does know about your new power, but understand that we need to see how your power is reacting to your other seal."
"Alright, everything's finished." Jiraiya said as he saw no flaw, "Now the only thing we need you to do is to strip down just enough for us to see the full seal."
"W-What!?" Naruto said in shock and fright, "I-I-I can't get naked in front of you guys, especially her!"
The two elder advisors had to let out a sigh at the sight until Koharu said, "You do not have to be completely naked, boy, just enough so that Jiraiya can check on the seal."
Naruto gave the advisors a cautious glare but decided to take off his jacket and shirt, leaving his torso bare.
"Okay," said Jiraiya as he motioned the blond towards the center of the writings, "now for this next part, you're going to have to be put to sleep so that we can be able to get a look at the seal without trouble."
Before the blond could object, Naruto was already put to sleep through the courtesy of a genjutsu by Jiraiya.
"Now for the second part." Jiraiya said as the seals around the room began to glow while the unconscious Naruto began to float with a drawing in the form of a spiral surrounded by writing going outwards.
"There it is," Jiraiya said as the seal on Naruto's stomach stared at him and the elders, "the Eight Trigram Seal used to contain the Kyuubi inside Naruto. This seal allows anyone to seal anything away, but apparently Minato had a different idea."
"What do you mean?" Homura asked as he looked at the seal on the blond.
"My student left a small space between the two Four Symbol Seals which would allow the Kyuubi's chakra to mix with Naruto's." Jiraiya said as he examined the seal even further, "This means that Naruto might be able to use the Kyuubi's chakra, but at the cost of gradually weakening the seal."
"So anytime Naruto would use the Kyuubi's chakra, the seal on him becomes weaker?" Koharu asked as she had remembered how cut up she would see the blond one day and not have a single scratch on him the next morning, "How does that even work?"
"The seal used actually forces the Kyuubi to protect Naruto by providing its chakra to Naruto," Jiraiya said as he stole a glance towards the elder advisors, "a prime example would be Naruto's increased healing rate. It doesn't draw as much, but if enough time was passed or multiple life-threatening injuries had occurred, Naruto wouldn't be able to hold the Kyuubi back anymore, releasing it right wherever Naruto would have been standing."
"Dear Kami…" the Sandaime said as he and his advisors had completely slapped looks on their faces, "That means that Naruto is an unstable time bomb that could either explode within seconds or years!"
Koharu and Homura turned completely pale as they had actually had a hand in the blond's torment by letting some of the ones who have beaten the boy into a bloody pulp go with MINOR charges. They suddenly realized that the longer Naruto was tormented, the shorter the fuse attached to said blond would be.
They had been screwing themselves over for years without even realizing it…
The seal on Naruto's stomach then began to glow as a new drawing appeared and surrounding it. The drawing had ten different circles with the kanjis for 'Fire', 'Wind', 'Thunder', 'Earth', 'Water', 'Steel', 'Wood', and 'Ice' in them near the tips of the outward writings on the Eight Trigrams Seal with circles with the kanjis for 'Light' and 'Dark' hovering above the seal. Lines soon connected to create a picture of a person wearing a horned helmet with an odd symbol made of lines between the horns.
"What kind of seal is that?" the Sandaime asked as he had never seen a seal like what he had saw.
"This is the seal that we had placed on Naruto." said an unfamiliar voice as the group looked to see Naruto awake, but his eyes were glowing.
"Who are you?" Jiraiya asked as he was on guard for anything.
"You have nothing to fear as I am not the Kyuubi and Naruto is safe in a dream. I am AncientGreymon." the possessed Naruto said as he then looked at the Sandaime, "We finally meet face to face…in a way."
"So you are one of the Legendary Warriors?" Homura asked as he looked at the possessed blond, "So what are you exactly?"
"My friends and I are powerful warriors from another world filled with creatures called Digital Monsters, or Digimon." AncientGreymon said as he got a certain look from the advisors, "We, however are known as the Legendary Warriors as we have once faced off against a powerful being by the name of Lucemon. We then passed down this power throughout many a generation until we decided to aid young Naruto here. We saw something that none had ever believed he could ever possess…boundless potential."
"Anyone can have potential," Jiraiya said as he studied the picture made by the overlapping seal, "it's just how that potential is molded determines the kind of path that person follows."
"Indeed," AncientGreymon said as he noticed Jiraiya looking at the seal, "but actions always speak louder than mere words at times."
"So what exactly does this seal do?" the Sandaime asked cautiously.
"The seal you see before you helps suppress the Kyuubi's power to where only Naruto's death or the boy himself can release the Kyuubi onto the world." AncientGreymon explained to the group, "It also protects Naruto's mind from being manipulated by outside forces to not only protect the boy, but those who enter his mind as well."
"Care to explain that because we have a clan that specializes in mind manipulation jutsus." Homura said as he was unsure of the dangers entering a person's mind.
"The power we have granted him takes on two separate forms of the element they wield: a Human Form and a Beast Form." AncientGreymon continued with his lecture, "While the Human Forms are stronger and easier for Naruto to control, the Beast Forms of the elements are difficult as they are raw and primal power. They are driven on pure destructive instinct until Naruto can reign them in under his control, but we would only wait until we believe he is ready to control a Beast Spirit. An unfamiliar presence inside Naruto's mind could give any of the Beast Forms Naruto doesn't have control over an opportunity to control the boy."
"Has he tried to use one of those Beast Spirits?" Koharu asked as she was concerned for the safety of the village considering just how powerful the Beast Spirits are.
"Only twice as the first time was to only give him a small taste of their power." AncientGremon admitted honestly, "The second time however was when Naruto was under heavy emotional stress."
"So just how dangerous can one of these Beast Spirits be?" the Sandaime asked as even though he had gotten a good idea from the mission reports from both Team 7 and Team 8, what better source than those that truly know about a Beast Spirit.
"The Beast Spirits have about half of a Bijuu's power," the Legendary Warrior answered, getting shocked looks from the group, "but they are difficult to control as their power is more on a primal level. We are waiting until we believe Naruto is ready before even letting him try and converse with any of the Beast Spirits of the elements we have granted him."
AncientGreymon then looked at Homura and Koharu as he said, "We have also viewed the world from inside the seal and we are not giving the Uchiha child our power as we fear the darkness that resides in his heart. We have also placed a failsafe on our seal that we have not told Naruto about."
"And that would be…" Jiraiya said as he needed to know about this seal's failsafe.
Silenced echoed through the chamber until AncientGreymon said, "Should someone try to rip out our power by force, then we shall release all ten Beast Spirits along with the Kyuubi, which would completely destroy Naruto's body. While the Beast Spirits are to return with us to our world, only the Kyuubi will be left behind to wreak whatever havoc it desires."
Jiraiya and the Sandaime both hummed uncomfortably, but it sounds like with this kind of power, anyone could easily decimate just ANY village possible. The elder advisors hid their cringes as due to the village favoring the last Uchiha in their village, Sasuke has become a bit…driven. The both of them agreed that doing anything harmful against Naruto would be relative to creating a suicide pact that no one would be aware of.
"What elements have you allowed the boy?" Koharu asked, wondering just how strong Naruto could be.
"We have given Naruto access to the powers of Wind, Water, Thunder, Fire, Ice, and Light." AncientGreymon answered with a stoic face, "But of course, he only has access to the Human Forms of those elements as he is not yet ready for the Beast Forms."
"I believe that we have everything that we needed, AncientGrey-sama." the Sandaime said as he looked at the possessed Naruto, "We thank you for trusting us with this information."
"You are welcome, but know this…" AncientGreymon said as he narrowed his eyes toward the group, "…it is not trust that allowed me to reveal this information. Honestly with how Naruto's life was, I personally want to possess the young boy and burn the majority of Konohagakure with a literal baptism of fire for their mindless treatment towards a living person who only acts as a container."
"Then why reveal this to us if it wasn't trust behind your words?" Homura asked, slightly wanting to avoid such a horrific fate.
"My reason is because I care for the boy." AncientGreymon said with a small, happy smile, "In the time we have known each other, Naruto has already began to see us as family with a few of us becoming being addressed as such. I regret keeping information about the failsafe from Naruto as I see him as a son of my own, but I fear of how he would react once he learns of it at this time."
The smile soon vanished as the Legendary Warrior then said, "I believe that I must return control back to Naruto as I am aware that you have the information needed but remember this: While Naruto is the container of the demonic fox that once nearly destroyed your home, actions taken towards Naruto can affect him greatly with his future decisions of what to do with his responsibility as a jinchuriki."
And just like that, Naruto's head slumped over as soft snores could soon be heard from the unconscious blond.
"So what do you think about this, Sensei?" Jiraiya asked as the glow of the seals slowly began to vanish while the sleeping blond gently floated onto the floor, not even showing the faintest sign of his slumber being disturbed.
"I already had Naruto agree that whenever he decides to try something with his power, Shikaku Nara and Shino Aburame, or any other member of the Aburame Clan, are to aid him should his powers become out of his control." the Hokage revealed as his advisors gave him a look at doing something without their knowing, "This is all I could do as the Civilian Council will try anything to have Naruto forfeit his power over to Sasuke, even by force if necessary. From what Naruto and AncientGreymon have revealed to me, this kind of power is not one that can easily be handled like some tool or kekkei genkai; this is something far more complicated and even dangerous if handled improperly. I am also thinking that Naruto's Uzumaki blood also allows him to easily contain all ten of those elements, Kyuubi or not, without exploding into a bloody mess. What we need is a way to help Naruto with his power."
"But who would be the best one?" Homura asked as he couldn't think of anyone save for Danzo, but with the revelation that AncientGreymon had given them, the Warhawk was out of the question.
"Both Nara and Aburame Clans can only do so much and the Yamanaka Clan wouldn't be able to do much." Koharu added as she was wondering if someone from the Hyuga Clan might work since they specialize in attacking the chakra network.
"That is a good question as I'm sure no one save for a few ANBU could…" the Sandaime said until an idea came to him, "…of course!"
"What is it Sensei?" Jiraiya asked he wondered who could help Naruto.
"A special ANBU that I have especially for Naruto considering his status of having the Kyuubi sealed inside of him." the Hokage said with a confident smirk, "And if this works, Naruto will not only be able to have help when training with his powers, but we will also have someone who can stop him if the Kyuubi somehow gains control."
"Are you talking about him?" Homura asked as he had an idea of which ANBU the Hokage was meaning, "Sure he has the power of the Shodaime, but could he stop one of those Beast Spirits?"
"We may not know until it the moment arrives," the Sandaime said as Jiraiya carefully picked up the sleeping Naruto, "but even if he cannot contain a Beast Spirit, he can still contain Naruto should the Kyuubi try anything."
"So we're going to put faith in him if either the Kyuubi inside Naruto or one of Naruto's Beast Spirits go out of control?" Koharu asked, wondering if Hiruzen Sarutobi had either lost his mind or something was in his tobacco pipe, "That's a lot of responsibility for just an ANBU."
"We must also remember that Naruto has much more responsibilities than what he could have since he is not only the jinchuriki of the Kyuubi," the Sandaime said as he lightly ruffled Naruto's hair, "but the jinchuriki of these ten elemental spirits."
What will happen now that the Chunin Exams are coming up? Who is this person that the Sandaime was talking about and could that person actually be able to contain a wild Beast Spirit? Don't forget to rate and review!
Ja ne.