[AN:] As the audience is the most important part of the dynamic of writing, far be it from me to disappoint you. I have heard several of the complaints about the tension levels being to high, and while I planned on increasing them in this chapter to their peak before letting off in the next, I went back and did a re-write of what I already had. I hope this slight easing of tension for the moment can appeal to a wider audience. This is a bit of a long chapter to fit, with the opening scene at the beginning of April and the scenes afterward picking up where last chapter left off in the last week of February.
To those who are concerned, the doujutsu wasn't really for a power boost, it was for an subplot that will begin in this chapter. Also, be aware that in my rendition of the Narutoverse, Kekkei Genkai are not 'power boosts' merely a biological form of jutsu, requiring just as much training to perfect. The Sharingan isn't 'instant mastery', it's more akin to seeing a jutsu and memorizing a scroll that tells you exactly how to perform it. You must still train it. However others are latent, and simply increase base capacities. Not all are created equal, and these, much like normal genetics mean that some people are genetically pre-disposed to being faster, while others are predisposed towards strength, intelligence, obesity, etc. It is simply taken to a greater extreme, as in the case of the Nara, Inuzuka or Akamichi clans and so on. There are certain exceptions to this rule, such as the Sharingan or other kekkei genkai, which are 'power boosts', though they come with side effects, just as kinjutsu like the Eight Gates do, proportional to the size of the 'boost'. These effects can range from ones health (in the case of the Hyate clan kekkei genkai), one's sanity, or simply being so chakra intensive that they're quite impractical (like Itachi's 'Amaterasu' or 'Susanoo')
Also, for those of you who are concerned, I don't do harems, except as gag crap for my close personal friends. In serious pieces it will never happen without an outrageously, incredibly compelling reason and hundreds of thousands of words of character development. So don't expect it. If any relationship beyond friendship develops in this fic, it will be a long time, and there will not be any explicit pornographic content (lemons), at most it will be mildly erotic with any actual intercourse occuring offstage. Though I have bylines in erotic fiction, I like to seperate it from my other work, so no, just no. Sorry if I've disappointed any of you.
On a personal note which may affect the story, I seperated the cartilage of one of my ribs from my sternum, but I'm doing better with the pain at the moment, so it shouldn't affect anything yet. If it is aggrevated further I might need harder painkillers which could affect my performance, so there could possibly be delays in the future if I'm not careful.
Naruto groaned as he woke up, the smell of food cooking pulling him from sleep. He lay there for several minutes staring at the ceiling as his mind awoke fully. He blinked several times trying to remember what day it was. It had become very hard of late to keep the days sorted out in his mind. The past month felt like years, was it really just a month and a quarter since they'd returned?
He blinked at the calendar on his wall and groaned. It was only the first of April. He yawned deeply as he slid out of bed and marched into the kitchen, only to find Haku setting out breakfast for both of them. He glanced at her briefly before closing his mouth again and sitting down. Once her back was turned he checked it carefully for signs of tampering or strange tastes before admitting to himself, much to his confusion, it hadn't been sabotaged in any way, for the third day in a row now.
He looked up at Haku as she ate from her bowl without returning a glance. She'd shaved her head again recently, removing the fuzz of hair she'd grown. He yawned sleepily as the pre-dawn silence stretched on. He opened his mouth to speak a full three times before finally finding what he wanted to say.
"It's alright," he said softly and Haku's head shot up with a curious look on her face.
"What are you talking about?" she asked as she tilted her head at him.
The past month had been about as strange as it could get. It was like watching him age in front of her eyes, and it was becoming increasingly hard to really get what was going on in his mind, or maintain her sharp tongue. After the first three weeks or so of spite it just made her feel weary, rather than more alive like it had at first.
He wasn't really an asshole, and that really made making his life hell hard. Well, it was still easy to do, but not nearly as satisfying. She was worried that she'd really begun to break him down though. Despite her original intentions to do just that, or at least try to push him into killing her, it just felt horribly wrong in her stomach. He just seemed older each day. It wasn't his face or his height, but for every day that passed his eyes looked like he'd aged a full month. He'd been working so hard as well, especially on less chakra related subjects, with large numbers of Kage Bunshin.
"I mean it's going to be alright," Naruto said as he carried his food to the sink, "I just… when I woke up this morning I felt like the world had changed without me noticing. I meant that I think it's going to be okay. I'm not sure what I mean. Nevermind."
Haku raised her eyebrow at him, dropping her dishes in the sink and heading into her own apartment to change. As the door closed she couldn't help but wonder how much had really changed, and if it all really was 'alright'.
"So what do you think?" Iruka asked as he cracked open his beer in the lawn chair placed on his apartment roof as the blond and his constant shadow walked out of sight below their vantage point. The pair were returning home from the fuuinjutsu practice that Haku had just insulted him during, and he'd blown up at her for mocking his apparent stupidity.
"I think it's progress," Kakashi said with a shrug, "Kindness will make him like you, caring will too, but it won't get him to open up. The constant needling is already cracking him."
"I still think it was a bad idea for you to let Lee confront Sasuke when Sakura was there, though I have to admit it was funny to see Naruto's expression when I tricked him into thinking that I'd gone to everyone for advice," Gai said with a laugh before it twitched downward into a frown, "It's like you're trying to destroy your own team."
Kakashi frowned intently, "I know, but what am I supposed to do? Sasuke has begun to immerse himself in the Sharingan and it's already yielding its power. I'm not sure about Sakura at all, something has been off with her since the debacle in Nami. Then there's Naruto… and Haku. It's becoming hard to keep it all together anymore," he said with a tired expression.
"I think that's part of your problem," Gai said with a shrug, "You're trying so hard to control their development. They must be people. If I tried to constantly manipulate Lee into being like myself it would fatigue me and only bring conflict."
Kakashi grunted, "But we're ninja, we're trained to manipulate from the time we learn to walk," he said as he swirled what was left of his beer in its can.
"But not our friends, and the same applies to students," Iruka pointed out, "There's a time to lay down the ninja and be human."
Kakashi just grunted.
"Perhaps," Gai said as a thoughtful expression crossed his face and he rubbed his chin with his thumb and forefinger, "Perhaps if you let them grow in their own ways and simply act as a guide along the path you will find more success. If your Uchiha truly will not turn from his path, then at least you have made an effort to help, rather than to control him. If you became an advisor then perhaps you could nudge the kunoichi of your team into finding her own nindo. Even Naruto would benefit from such treatment."
Kakashi rubbed his temples and leaned back before tossing the empty can in the recycling bin a few feet away.
"He's begun delving deeper in the Sharingan. Its signs are already showing. I understood his actions in Nami no Kuni immediately after awakening it. It was to be expected, as he had never had to cope with its effects before," Kakashi said sadly, "But nothing I can do can persuade him from the fell power it offers. I can hardly blame him. It tempts me as well sometimes, and I don't even carry the unique weakness to it inherent in the Uchiha blood, it reminds me of the glint (a white powdery drug) I fell into before Minato-sensei beat it out of me."
Neither of the two beside him spoke, opting instead to look anywhere but at him.
"I wish things were easier," Kakashi said, grimacing as he realized that his depressed mood was ruining his buzz.
"It's just a matter of adaptation," Iruka said, "If a tactic isn't working, change it."
"Speaking of which," Gai said quietly, "I'm going to begin giving Naruto koan as well as famous ninja sayings to study and have him discuss them with me. I'm hoping it will make him more inclined to think things through, at least when he has time. If I'm lucky it might help him learn to start reasoning things out, rather than simply making huge illogical leaps to understanding something."
Iruka nodded, "That's actually a pretty good idea. Convince him that the secrets to martial prowess lie inside them. Once he gets the hang of it I'll lend you my copy of the Art of Subterfuge by the Rokudo Sennin," he said with a grin, "If you can actually persuade him into learning how to think properly he'll be a real force to be reckoned with."
Kakashi snorted at Gai's eccentric taste for the esoteric, "We're shinobi, not philosophers," he said with a smirk at Gai.
"Namikaze-sama was both," Gai said, bringing the rooftop to complete silence.
The hot (though to the natives of Hi no Kuni it was rather cool) March sun was enough to make her sweat bullets, even inside with the fan on. Naruto insisted she was mad to have it on, but it was the only thing that made the temperature tolerable. The last thing she had expected to hear was an incessant pounding on her door.
It confused her for a moment. Naruto had gone out this afternoon to do the new meditation exercises Gai-sensei had given him on the day she'd been invited to join the taijutsu practices to fill her admittedly large gap in that skill, four days ago now. The strange Green Beast had insisted that if she was to become a kunoichi after her probation she couldn't let her skills atrophy and since she was there he intended to teach her.
With Naruto gone it didn't leave anyone else who might bother her. When she opened the door to find Naruto's younger teammate, the Haruno girl, standing there it only added to the confusion.
"Umm Haku-san… can I talk with you?" Sakura asked hesitantly, "Naruto isn't around, is he?"
Haku shook her head while motioning the girl in through the door.
"What's going on?" Haku asked, "Did Kakashi-san send you to get Naruto for a mission or something?"
Sakura shook her head and sat down on one of the canvas chairs Naruto purchased for her a few days after she moved in, along with her own bed.
"I wanted to ask… umm… well you're older than I am, and a kunoichi so…" Sakura said, as her expression shifted back and forth while she looked for the right words.
Haku mentally groaned. Living with nearly a dozen shinobi and not a single other girl for so many years had given her a decided discomfort with 'girl-talk'. The prospect of being singled out by the pinkette, who had already joined her list of annoying people just below Naruto, for girl-talk was not her idea of fun.
"I wanted to ask why you became a kunoichi," Sakura asked as she bit her lip.
"What?" Haku asked as her brow rose.
"I meant… why you wanted to become strong. It was for Zabuza right? He was like your father or something," Sakura said.
Haku didn't want to go into her… complicated… relationship so she decided to approach it differently.
"I wanted to get away," she said as her mind went back to her earliest memories, "I wanted to make the pain go away. It wasn't a good reason, but it was enough of a reason that when Zabuza-sama asked me if I wanted to become his tool I was more than willing to accept."
"You wanted to get away?" Sakura asked with her face scrunched up in confusion and Haku sighed.
"Mizu no Kuni is a brutal place. Those with bloodlines are treated like they bear diseases and are often killed if they lack the protection of a clan," Haku said, her tone dropping to just above a whisper, "My father found out I had the Hyouton [Ice Release] kekkei genkai, and killed my mother for it. When he tried to kill me… I got scared and my bloodline reacted, killing him."
The blood drained from Sakura's face as she listened to Haku speak.
"I had no family after that so I became a child whore," Haku said, "I was always hungry, cold and getting hurt. I always tried to hide that I had monstrous blood. When Zabuza-sama found me and saw value in what everyone hated, I was desperate for hope, something I'd lost a long time before."
She shook her head and gave a stark laugh, "I was desperate for a reason, a purpose for living. Before Zabuza-sama claimed me there wasn't any reason for me to live. I just existed from day to day. Afterward I had a reason. I had to become strong to protect the one person who would care for someone with cursed blood," she said before her voice became thick and heavy, "Then I failed, and I…"
Sakura waited for her to finish her abandoned sentence before frowning, "You mean, you did it so you had a purpose for existing?" she asked, "Not because you loved him as your father?"
Haku's laugh felt like lead falling on the floor, "Maybe. I don't know. Why are you asking me this?" she asked as she stared blankly out the window, Sakura's words echoing in her head.
"I wanted to know why you were strong," Sakura mumbled, "The trip to Nami no Kuni made me feel like I was the only one who couldn't keep up. I don't ever want to be a burden like that again."
"What is your reason for being a kunoichi? " Haku asked to prevent any further questions that would make her head hurt, or worse, her chest.
Sakura blushed, "Well, I guess it was to catch Sasuke-kun's eye," she said with a giggle.
Haku's jaw fell open.
"You mean you go out into the field and risk death, crippling wounds, dismemberment, and rape just because you have a crush on a boy?" Haku gasped out as her eyes widened as far as they'd go.
Sakura's blush turned even darker than before her confession and she looked a bit embarrassed.
"I mean, no," Sakura said as she tried to figure out what to say, "I had a reason to join in the first place, but I… ugh. Haven't you ever wanted to be with a cute boy?"
Haku's eyes went a little glassy for a moment as she lapsed into memory before shaking herself like a wet dog.
"So he did something major, like saved your life, or something like that?" Haku asked in disbelief, "He must have like saved you and your entire family or something right? After all he is an Uchiha."
Sakura blushed, "No, he didn't, but that's why I like him, the Uchiha are so cool," she said with a perverted giggle.
The glass of water Haku had just taken a sip of fell from her hand to shatter on the ground.
"Wait… what?" Haku said as she blinked rapidly, "You… actually… wow… you must have both the compassion and love of a saint or be completely psychotic evil."
"Wuh?" Sakura asked as her face screwed up in confusion.
"We're talking about the Uchiha clan, right? With the Sharingan? The doujutsu that not even Kumogakure wants to get a hold of? The Lords of Madness?"
"What are you talking about?" Sakura asked.
Haku groaned as she clutched her head.
"The Uchiha are one of the few clans that no ninja will ever trust, ever invite into their home, or marry into the clan of," Haku said, "Out of the two, the other being the former Bachiatariko clan who bore the Akuma no Naizai [Demonic Indwelling] kekkei genkai, which died out several years ago, the Uchiha are the more universally loathed. The Akuma no Naizai is a curse that was placed upon the clan that transforms the members of that clan into demons when they lose control of their emotions, a curse given against their own volition."
She shuddered before continuing, "The Sharingan however was a power bargained for," Haku said with a nauseated expression, "They agreed to serve the Mumei Hitotsu [Nameless One] in exchange for a power that follows no laws of logic, which defies reality and is a corruption of the abilities of the gods themselves. The only price is the mind and the soul, one the Uchiha willingly pay. That's about all I can tell you that's common knowledge, outside of the stories. Zabuza-sama warned me to be careful about them when he first took me in, and to hide in their presence. One of them ruled Mizu no Kuni, with only his eyes visible, his face always hidden. He is who turned our nation into a bloody wasteland and turned brother against brother, husband against wife and father against child."
The last words came out in a spitting hiss as her eyes narrowed to slits, "I can tolerate your Uchiha, because he is loyal to your village, our village, but I will never ever trust him," she said as her fists clenched so tightly it became audible.
Sakura looked at Haku as though she were crazy, "How can you say that? Just because one person is bad it doesn't mean that everyone is!" she shouted, "Kakashi-sensei has the Sharingan too!"
Haku shrugged, "He doesn't seem to be affected by whatever it is that makes them psychopaths," she said, "Unlike your teammate, who already scares me, not because of what he is, but of what he will be. You act like it's just a normal bloodline. It's not. The Uchiha were once a part of the Hyuuga clan. A person who has one kekkei genkai governing a part of their body can never develops another that governs the same. It is a bargain that changed their eyes and the reason every Hyuuga, save for the main branch, bears the caged bird seal. It keeps them from joining into the same agreement, which the Mumei Hitotsu offered to all Hyuuga. Why don't you know this? Doesn't your village teach you about the kekkei genkai within it?"
Sakura was staring numbly at Haku before shaking her head and replying by rote, her mind still stuck on Haku's words and her own came out in a mechanical tone, "The kekkei genkai of Konoha are not taught in order to preserve the secrets of the clan and assist in the common acceptance of the components of Konohagakure no Sato, ensuring peace," she said before her jaw clacked shut as her mind reached her own words, and she analyzed them in a more suspicious light.
"It can't be true," Sakura whispered, "It can't be… how do you know if we don't know?"
Haku frowned, "Its part of the famous mythological cycle, the Akuma Kami no Mouretsu [Rage of the Demon God]," she said, "It's really famous, 'Nine woods to bind him, nine seals to keep him, nine eyes to free him, but ten is the number of things unseen, the bane of all that was and is and what shall be. The eyes of those who look toward the sun, touched with black fire bring forth the one. Three shall go forth, two shall return. Six and six before eyes of nine. Three stand alone on hell's coming shores. The sage sown from the whirlwind, the true Lord of Chaos reaped from the shadows and the darkness twofold gave birth to the third. These shall stand witness when the Shadows begin."
By her singsong voice it sounded as though she were reciting a child's nursery rhyme as she continued, "Eight eyes watch when ninth seal breaks, shattered by the eyes of the blind. In the eye of the Lord of Chaos the Nameless is named and by the twofold darkness is the Lord of Chaos slain. Two hands make ten fingers, in ten pieces splits the world, ten he shall gather to bear forth his will and in darkness stand ten when all becomes still.'" she recited, then shrugged.
"Every child in Mizu no Kuni knows it. No one knows what it means, but when my mother taught it to me she said it was some sort of prophecy, and Zabuza-sama explained to me that 'those who look toward the sun' were the Hyuuga clan and the 'touched with black fire' meant the Uchiha. You can find a copy of the mythological cycle anywhere. Fortunately there aren't nine Uchiha left in the world to fulfill the 'Eight Eyes' part or at least not a fourth Uchiha if you count each eye separately or include Sharingan Kakashi, because everyone else who has ever had a Sharingan implanted in the past went completely insane within days of receiving it."
Sakura was just staring blankly at the wall, her mind fighting with what Haku was telling her and her own hopes and dreams.
"You're lying! It can't be true! There's no such thing as gods, or anything like that!" Sakura hissed before bolting out the door, her mind whirling and feeling more confused than ever before.
It wasn't possible. Fairy tales didn't happen, they didn't mean anything. Her father always told her so. It's why he hated the Shogun so much, because the Shogun claimed that he acted out the 'will of fire' of Amaterasu Oomikami, the Sun goddess. Her father said that it was all superstition to enforce the validity of the Shogunate and ensure that the merchant clans could never rise to real power because they weren't part of the 'three great houses'.
She ran off in the direction of her home as quickly as her feet could take her, praying that her father could say something to her that could prove that Haku's words were just superstitious tales, perpetuated by the nobles and believed only by the feebleminded.
"Good morning my two shining pupils!" Gai said brightly as he and Haku arrived at the training grounds and both averted their eyes from the light glinting off his teeth and fire in his eyes.
Haku was still looked bit surprised by being referred to as his pupil, despite having begun learning alongside Naruto for nearly a week now.
Gai grinned broadly and struck a pose, "I have mulled long hours seeking insight and have been enlightened as to what to teach you next," he said with a laugh, "So I will put off discussing the koan you were given until the end of our time together."
Naruto's eyes gleamed at the thought of finally learning something new, other than trying to figure out old, stupid, and annoying sayings made up by someone too witty for their own good that had nothing better to do than make his head hurt. He hated them, even if Gai-sensei said that understanding them was essential if he intended to become a Hokage. No wonder Jiji-san smoked tobacco. Maybe it helped him understand stupid koans?
"I have carefully analyzed your natural inclinations and other factors and finally determined that you are both utterly unsuitable to teach the higher arts of the Konoha Senpuu Ryuu," Gai said.
"WHAT?!" Naruto shouted in horror. After all their time together he had gotten to like Gai and didn't think the man would ever just abandon him like that.
Gai held up a hand to stop his panic, "No need to fret, I have come up with exactly what to teach you both," he said and Naruto swallowed the bitter taste that had welled up in his mouth, "You lack the level of strength currently to perform any of the higher techniques of the Konoha Senpuu Ryuu. So instead I will teach you the Hakkeshou Ryuu [Eight Trigrams Palm Style], the soft 'hard' style that the Jyuuken was originally based upon. Haku-san has a fluidity to her motions that makes her ideally suited to the Seichou Nami Ryuu [Serene Wave Style] from Kirigakure no Sato. As you have no prior taijutsu training beyond the very basics, despite being trained by a Taijutsu artist, you have none of the preconceptions that usually make learning the style difficult."
Gai produced a clone and divided the two apart and began running through the first motions each needed to learn. It didn't take long for Naruto to begin to have trouble.
"This is so uncomfortable Gai-sensei," Naruto grumbled as he moved his limbs through the strange and horribly uncomfortable positions, "Why am I doing this instead of working more on the Konoha Senpuu?"
Gai smiled, "Because now that you're reaching the point where you have rudimentary use of the speed control method you're ready to learn this," he said quickly, "It's very important that you remain loose while making these motions, if you tense up so it feels more comfortable it ruins the point of the exercise."
"But what's the point?" Naruto demanded as Gai shook his head and he had to start all over again.
"No, don't restart, you're too frustrated," Gai said as Haku glanced over at Naruto with a faint smirk, "Have you determined why I'm having him do this yet?"
Haku nodded rapidly, "Because when you use the speed control method it's doubly important not to have any tension on your muscles, because the loss of speed and impact power is magnified by the greater contraction strength, as well as the amount of chakra that has to be burned to keep your bones from snapping under the opposing forces," she said, excited to be included, "It's like the Seichou Nami Ryuu from Kirigakure no Sato. Zabuza-sama may not have taught me much in the way of taijutsu because he didn't want me to risk myself at close range, but he taught me how to recognize it."
"Very good," Gai said with a vaguely impressed expression, "That's why I suggested it as your taijutsu style. You have the sort of relaxed fluidity that will make you a natural at it. I am curious as to why, even if he wished to keep you safe, a taijutsu expert like Momochi-san would not teach you the arts."
"I mainly learned to use my kekkei genkai and to act as support for him where I wouldn't be in as great of risk," she said before shrugging, "I never had a real interest in it anyway, as fighting someone face to face is a good way to get killed."
Gai grinned broadly, "Taijutsu is very necessary when in active duty. It is not mere brawling at all," he said with a grin, "Taijutsu is the great equalizer. When facing an opponent who is of great physical power, often your ninjutsu and genjutsu techniques are not enough. No matter how great the mind, if there is a great disparity in the flesh then no amount of trickery can equal it. Taijutsu masters are fast enough to escape your deadliest attacks; skilled enough to snatch your best kunai throw out of the air and they can reinforce their body to withstand the greatest impacts."
"But what about the Kawarimi?" Naruto objected, "I told you what happened to those Kirigakure nukenin when I made that mistake."
Gai chuckled, "Perhaps it's time that I show you the true extent of what taijutsu mastery is. There is a reason taijutsu is linked to both ninjutsu and genjutsu," Gai said, "Because it transcends the bounds of possibility imposed by concrete reality, observe."
Naruto watched in shock as Gai removed dozens of exploding tags from his pouch and proceeded to paper them over his body while walking a fair distance away. He then dropped into a low stance and made the activation hand seal, causing the delay period before the tags detonated to begin. The instant before they went off Naruto swore he saw Gai's body glow as a golden haze sprung up around him before he disappeared in a hellish conflagration of destruction. He was further stunned when Gai walked out of the crater without a smudge on his face, a hair out of place or his clothing singed at all. Even if he reinforced his body that much it should have at least ruined his clothing.
"Taijutsu is the sublime art of the body," Gai said with a grin, "A taijutsu master can go beyond what the minds of many can accept as possible. There are usually several components to any taijutsu style, the Kata [forms] the Ryuu [style] and the Kagayaki [Radiance]. Each is a separate step on the path to mastery. Without chakra, only the Kata can be performed, this is what civilian martial arts embrace."
"Most non-specialists only perform the Kata and merely empower it with chakra. Once a taijutsu artist has grasped the 'spirit' or essence of the Kata they can move onward to the Ryuu stage. This is where things like Lee's Konoha Senpuu, the attack that the Konoha Senpuu Ryuu is named for, become possible. Do you wonder why when Lee performs it things near him are forcefully pulled inward into the path of his attack? This is because he has crossed the gap between form and style," Gai said with a grin, "At this point taijutsu begins to meld the mind with the body."
"Without the overwhelming intent behind the technique it would merely be a very fast rotating kick," Gai said, "However when the mind becomes united with the body, the chakra that saturates it begins to exhibit strange properties, this is the purpose of meditation within taijutsu. By bringing the body into unity with the mind, the chakra in the muscles no longer simply strengthens contraction but reacts in ways reminiscent of other forms of jutsu."
"Wait, how?" Naruto asked in confusion.
Gai laughed, "That is a debate for the ages, but the Yondaime Hokage had it best, I believe. He once said in a lecture that 'Man is a Fuuin inscribed upon the universe, unseen to any eye for its vastness and compactness rise beyond the ability for any to grasp in its whole. The flesh, the spirit, the mind, they are all part of this ever changing, self controlling seal.'," Gai said, "Of course that isn't precisely true, as it is said that Hyuuga Hiashi is capable of seeing kekkei genkai imprinted within the flesh. It is also supported by the way a Reader can extract jutsu from a deceased body."
Naruto's jaw dropped slightly and even Haku looked shocked.
"Hence, according to the Yondaime's theories, the mind, through great meditation can superimpose seals, though not perceived in the manner of mere symbols, into the flesh in some sort of resonance, so that when that connection is held and chakra is applied, it is as though the flesh is the Fuuin," Gai said, "And the body becomes one with the art."
"The final stage of a taijutsu artist is when body, mind, and spirit become united; this is known as the Kagayaki. When this occurs the body transcends the limitations of known reality. The famous, or infamous depending what whim itched his mind each morning, Sun Wu Kong of Tsuchi no Kuni [Earth Country] reached this point nearly four hundred years ago, where he could pluck a hair from his body and it would arise into a copy of himself, not a mere bunshin, but of his own flesh and blood, as real and true as he. He could stride the clouds and change his shape into all manner of things, according to legend," Gai said, "But he was like my Lee. He was incapable of Genjutsu or Ninjutsu. He merely mastered the arts of the body to an extent no being has been able to perform since."
"What you saw with the exploding tags is one of the few Kagayaki even I am capable of. For the brief time I can maintain it, it makes me realer," Gai said with a look at Naruto, referencing back to their previous lessons, "Than the reality around me. It is as though physical reality is a mere genjutsu that cannot truly physically affect me. However it is not something that is simple to perform."
Both Naruto and Haku were staring at Gai as though he had sprouted a second, or possibly a third head.
"This is why actual ability in taijutsu is important. Even at a lower level of ability than that of Kagayaki, a taijutsu artist becomes capable of channeling their power in a way that can shatter the walls of a Doton: Doryuuheki [Earth Release: Earth Style Wall], a very effective defensive ninjutsu. Their knowledge of their body allows them to rely on other senses when faced with genjutsu," Gai said before smiling at Naruto, "What happened to your eyes, it is why only taijutsu artists with A-Rank skill begin using chakra to enhance their senses unless they are part of a clan with a genetic predisposition to such enhancement. Only at such levels of ability can it be done safely. Taijutsu is not merely about physical fighting, but all arts that use the body itself."
"So taijutsu… it's like ninjutsu and genjutsu, just using the body?" Naruto summarized and a drop of sweat formed on Gai's brow in exasperation.
"Err… Okay," Gai said slowly, "Think of it this way, using taijutsu does not mean that you should abandon fighting from the shadows, it is merely another tool for such combat. It can allow you to survive if you fall for an enemy's feint, and perhaps turn the trap around if they move for the kill in person. Taijutsu is an Art, and can be used in the manner of any art."
Naruto scratched his head for a moment before shrugging, "Not sure I really understand yet, but okay," he said and Gai just laughed.
"Now, you seem to have relaxed a bit," Gai said, "Get up and moving."
Naruto grumbled briefly and stood before assuming a pose and beginning the movement through the form.
"Boss! Hey Boss!" a familiar voice called out as Naruto wandered the streets of Konoha alongside Haku.
"Oh hi Konohamaru," Naruto said with a broad smile as he turned around to see the dark haired boy and his two friends running to catch up with them.
"Hey boss, you wanna play ninja with us today?" Konohamaru asked and Naruto chuckled and rubbed the back of his head while he blushed under Haku's questioning gaze.
"You 'play' ninja?" Haku asked as her lips quirked upward in amusement.
Naruto frowned at her before grinning, "One must be both ninja and ningen [human], as the flesh contracts to deliver the fatal blow the heart and spirit must expand in an equal proportion. For a ninja to be deadly, his ningen must be filled with joy," he said with a laugh as he quoted one of the things Gai had given him to think about, a quote of the Yondaime Hokage, rather than one of those stupid koan sayings.
"Wow Boss, that's deep," Konohamaru said soberly, which was just too much for Haku and she began laughing so hard she cried.
"Naw," Naruto said in the grin, "Figuring out the sound of one hand clapping is deep, that's just a good quote."
Haku couldn't resist the urge to bite at that, "So, oh wise one, what is the sound of one hand clapping?" she asked as she caught her breath.
"Oh that's easy," Naruto said, "'Cl' , because the sound of the other hand clapping is 'ap'."
Haku just looked at him strangely for a moment before shrugging.
"Hey boss, is this your new girl?" Konohamaru asked, "Does the pink one know you're cheating on her?"
Naruto blushed deeply and Haku scowled.
"NO! I'd as soon date him as a pillar of light would open from the clouds to the sound of angelic singing and a white dove landed on his shoulder," Haku said with a glare.
At that moment the clouds broke and a dove landed on Naruto's shoulder, trying to get at a speck of food on his mask. Haku's scowl deepened.
"I still don't hear…"
At that moment the Konoha orchestral choir began singing in their practice hall, just across the street. Haku's face turned bright red.
"Wow boss," Konohamaru said in reverent tones, just before the bird started pecking him in the head and making angry cooing noises.
"I'm going to kill you," Haku hissed in embarrassment, "And that's just a choir, not angels singing."
Naruto heaved a sigh of relief as he shooed the dove, now revealed to be an albino pigeon by its red eyes, off his shoulder, "Thank kami, I was scared for a minute there. Come on, let's play with him."
Haku scowled, "How exactly does a ninja play ninja?" she mumbled in frustration.
"Easy," Naruto said, "You and Udon get to play the forces of Iwa and me, Konohamaru and Moegi will be Konoha! I get to play the Yondaime!"
"Oh dear Susanoo save me from these crazy people," Haku mumbled at the insanity before her as Naruto and the kids, of which at this moment Naruto was showing he was one of as well, dragged her off to explain the rules.
Sitting on a bench down the street a white eyed, dark haired girl in a beige jacket watched them walk away with wide eyes as she bit her lip, unable to hear more than Haku's original claim that she'd only date him under conditions that from her perspective had just been fulfilled.
"Stupid foreign tramp," Hinata mumbled before clamping her hand over her mouth in horror at her own words before sighing heavily in depression, "It's not like he'd even look at me. I'm just a shy, dark weirdo with no real talent."
A polite cough as someone settled on the bench next to her drew her attention and she blushed heavily as she realized she'd been heard, by her teammate Shino no less.
"Oh, umm, hello Shino-kun," Hinata said, blushing furiously as Shino adjusted his black sunglasses, "I, umm, I didn't know the team was meeting today."
"We are not meeting," Shino replied, "I decided it was an appropriate time to speak to you, if you'll permit me to discuss a personal matter."
Hinata's eyes widened a bit at his words. Shino never discussed anything personal, even though the Aburame were one of the strongest allies of the Hyuuga clan, and she'd encountered him dozens of times at family functions, even before they'd become teammates.
"Umm… what is it Shino-kun?" she asked nervously.
"I understand that you are disappointed about the team arrangements," he said quietly and as Hinata opened her mouth to comment he continued, "Not that you dislike your current team, merely that you wished to be in another."
Hinata didn't know what to say as she shifted uncomfortably, doing a poor job of hiding her embarrassment.
"And I understand that Uzumaki-san's new… changes… have given him an even greater level of interest than before to you," Shino said slowly and Hinata nearly fainted from pure mortification, "But I also understand a bit about Uzumaki-san."
"You do?" Hinata squeaked as she steadied herself to keep from falling off the bench if he decided to hit her with another shocking statement. She had believed she was the only one who had ever bothered to learn anything about her crush… before that black haired… Hinata reminded herself that such words weren't polite, even in her head.
"I would like to believe that I do," Shino said as he relaxed against the tree, "I think that you might find the strength to approach him if you emulated some of his more recent changes, this new attitude he has embraced."
"How do you know about that?" Hinata asked in surprise.
"It is spoken about in several places," Shino said, not particularly willing to mention that it was his father who suggested he say it, at the request of Hinata's father.
"Umm, okay," Hinata said with a frown, "But I'm not good at all."
"You were the fifteenth ranked student in our class, Naruto-san was the twenty seventh," Shino said simply, "When we graduated, you were far above him. It is fair to reason that if you labored as he does that you can at least keep pace with him, no? Perhaps that will bear more fruit than simply pining away."
"But," Hinata said as Shino stood, but he didn't stop. She just stared at his back as he walked away.
Shino headed straight for his clan compound while mumbling to his insects.
"It is a bit frustrating to be a messenger," Shino said to himself once he was a distance away, with his pensive expression concealed by the flaps of the high collar of his coat that hid his face, "But it is necessary to act out the will of the clan, to ensure good relationships with allies."
"Why are you here?" Hiashi asked as his head turned to view his eldest daughter who had just slid open the paper shutter and stepped into the dojo.
"Umm, I wished to s-speak with you Otousan," Hinata said softly and Hiashi raised a single eyebrow.
"Then speak. You are not some branch member to ask permission merely to speak… yet," Hiashi replied sternly, "But speak quickly; I am training your sister."
"I wish to join your training lessons again," she said softly and Hiashi kept his lips from twitching into a smile.
"I have no reason to train a child who has no desire to become stronger," Hiashi said as he turned his gaze to Hanabi who had dropped low and delivered a double palm strike to the solar plexus of her imaginary enemy.
"I…err, I wish to become stronger," Hinata said as she began to press her fingers together before clasping her hands in embarrassment and shoving them behind her back.
"It is what you always say," Hiashi said harshly, "You always wish, a thousand wishes a day in your head, yet you never bleed for what you desire. It is just that which makes you such an unsuitable heiress."
Hinata's head hung a little lower and Hiashi felt a flash of disappointment before her face came up again with a look of determination.
"I cannot be left behind," Hinata whispered softly, "If I am left behind… I can never reach what I wish for."
"Go change into something more suitable and return quickly," Hiashi said tonelessly and Hinata scrambled out the door, tripping on the step and tumbling into a heap before scrambling back to her feet and running for her room to change.
Hiashi turned his head back to Hanabi as thoughts traveled through his head. It was both pleasing for a plan to work, and a bit disappointing that she could not summon the strength to put real effort forth for the sake of her own family. She whined and moaned about how she disliked the ways and traditions of the Hyuuga clan without bothering to learn the necessity behind them. She whimpered that her family did not care for her when she would not rise to do her duty to her family, abandoning them to her own self misery.
It was only the fortune of that man's child developing white eyes that made her believe she actually had an opportunity to chase after him. It was only for a boy she knew nothing of; save for her own idealized dreams of him that she wanted to be stronger. It was only her growing jealousy and a favor owed called in that could push her to make the decision to become stronger. Hopefully that would change as time passed. With the troubles the I-Ching foretold for their clan, a strong leader was necessary, one who would not falter under the weight.
"You look more like you're fighting constipation than meditating," Haku's voice teased, utterly breaking his tenuous concentration.
"Gha! I almost had it!" Naruto whined as his eyes opened and he glared at her.
"No, you were nowhere close," Haku said with what Naruto thought was a soft and knowing smile before he blinked and realized it was more of a smug smirk, "You were way too tense. The point isn't to find stillness by tensing up until you don't move; it's to relax so that you are no longer trying to stay motionless. Weren't you listening at all to what Gai-sensei was saying?"
"Oh, so now he's Gai-sensei to you," Naruto said with a grimace, "You don't have to rub it in my face that you can impress him while I just look like an idiot."
Haku sighed before pelting him in the forehead with a pebble, "You don't get it do you," she said with a scowl, "For someone who just suddenly seems to catch on to the strangest things, you really have no clue do you?"
"What's that supposed to mean?" Naruto growled as he rose angrily to his feet.
"It means that you're an idiot, but you're not stupid," Haku said in frustration, "It means that you aren't just ignorant, but you have no clue how to actually really learn anything until you just somehow grasp it out of nowhere."
"What are you talking about? An idiot but not stupid? They're the same thing," Naruto said as he began to stomp off, "You just like making fun of me."
Haku frowned intensely before hopping to her feet and chasing after him, "Well, I do like making fun of you, but if you get killed you get away from me. So it's my job to make sure you don't get yourself killed," she said as she elbowed him in the side hard enough to make him wince and hold his ribs.
"You're a total nutcase," Naruto said with a scowl, "I don't get you, how you come up with this junk. I mean, you don't try to kill me, but you try to spite me to death every moment since you've gotten here. This isn't about Zabuza. If it were about Zabuza you would have killed me already. This is about you, and whatever goes on in your crazy head."
Haku watched him turn away and march toward his apartment without another word, leaving her in shock at his words. She bit her lip in a mixture of pain and frustration. What he said was true, but it wasn't something she wanted to admit. If she really had devoted all of her being to Zabuza she would have just killed him and accepted whatever the consequences were.
She wandered along behind him, keeping enough distance that she didn't have to talk with him but not so much that she'd be breaking her probation.
She felt so entirely selfish. It hadn't been about Zabuza-sama, his confrontation forced her to stare that admission in the face. She had been thinking about herself the moment Zabuza-sama was dead, her own grief, and her own pain. That was why she made Naruto miserable. It gave her something to do. It kept her from feeling so totally lost now that she had nothing left to anchor her to anything in particular.
She had abandoned Zabuza-sama before he was even in the ground, without even thinking about it. That hurt almost as bad as knowing she'd never see his smiling face again in those rare moments he was at peace. Now she'd centered her whole life on someone else, the person who was at fault for the whole thing. Granted she was trying to make him miserable instead of happy, but now that she looked at it, the similarity despite the dichotomy made her sick to her stomach.
When she reached her apartment she slammed and locked the door to the bathroom the moment she was inside. With a heavy sigh she threw herself down on the bastard's looted futon before burying her face into the pillow and muffling a scream of frustration. When the smell of the person whose bed she'd stolen it from filled her nose she threw it at the wall and lay down on the floor instead. It was impossible to find any peace, just more thoughts that only made things worse. Damn that jerk for being so clueless yet suddenly seeing right through things that he should have just left the hell alone.
Naruto awoke the next morning with something cold pressed against his cheek he turned slowly before his eyes widened. Stabbed into the pillow next to his head was a butcher's knife. He shuddered as he edged away from it before slipping out of his bed. He pulled it free and hurried into the kitchen, depositing it into the sink without a word. There really wasn't anything to say to the girl who was eating cereal instead of his ramen that morning.
"You're out of milk," Haku said without looking up from her cereal and Naruto just nodded before throwing a skillet on to make a Kumo style breakfast of bacon and eggs rather than something more traditional.
Once the bacon was on he turned to face her and grimaced, unsure of what to say. Her hair had started to grow back in over the past three weeks since they'd returned to Konoha. She hadn't eaten well the first week but she'd lost the sallow look now, and actually looked like a member of the living. However the chill aura around her was worse this morning than it had been since the trip back from Nami no Kuni. It was hard to find anything to say to her, and the knife stuck through his pillow wasn't something he really wanted to talk about.
"Umm, your hair is growing back," Naruto said, grasping the only thing he could think of.
"So? What about it?" Haku asked as she fished the last bits of cereal from the milk.
"I just meant… Your hair is a pretty color, kind of blue tinted black, like a raven's feather," Naruto said defensively.
Haku sat down the empty bowl and walked into the bathroom while Naruto turned back to his breakfast. Once it was finished and safely in his stomach he walked over to the bathroom door and knocked.
"Are you still in there?" he asked and didn't get any sort of an answer so he walked inside to find it empty. He was surprised when he got in the shower that there was still a bit of hot water left, so he washed quickly before it ran out. It wasn't until he was brushing his teeth that he noticed that there was a wad of blue tinted black hair in the waste bin. He gave a heavy sigh as he rinsed out his mouth before calling out that he was getting ready to leave.
By the time they were out the door, Haku was walking alongside him, her hair shaved back to bare scalp once more. He tried several times to talk with her on the way to morning training with Gai-sensei, but the best he could get out of her were monosyllabic replies.
"We're here," Naruto called out as he saw Gai running Lee through some sort of meditative technique.
"Ahh, hello Naruto-san," Gai said with a smile, "I'd like you to work on coordinating basic footwork with the speed control method, while Haku-san works on the forms alongside your clones. I've got some work with Lee that I need to do for a bit, but never fear, Lee learns quickly."
Lee grinned and waved at them and Haku gave Lee a happy wave back. Lee had quickly forgiven her for the 'youthful prank' she'd played on Naruto, and his unwitting role in it. Naruto gave a big grin at Lee before moving off to the side to do as Gai-sensei instructed. It was a bit frustrating, trying to coordinate the most basic motions like this. So far about the only thing he could do was run in a straight line, and his speed control was so poor he was only moving at about seventy five percent faster than when he moved with the standard enhanced speed from the strength method.
It was so slow going, but even the little progress he'd made so far had been pretty cool. Sasuke had been so surprised when he'd suddenly dashed forward yesterday when they'd sparred, equal in speed to him, and caught him off guard. Of course Sasuke had quickly beaten him down, but he'd gotten off a solid hit, something he was proud of.
The trick to it all was that every muscle group was a different size, which meant a different limit to the total chakra that could be put through it. With the strength method, the differences were pretty uniform, but with speed control the proportional differences just became more exaggerated. The amount of chakra a pulse through his abdomen could contain would leave him screaming in agony if he put it through something like his tricep. When he was using the basic strength method, all he had to do was get the proportions right in the first place and then he just had to keep it steady in those amounts to each part of his body.
With each pulse he had to perform in less than a second he had to channel the right proportion of chakra to a muscle so that its strength of flexing wasn't horribly disproportionate to the rest of his movement. If he got it wrong it threw him completely off balance. Then he had to get that pulse to just the right amount were he was going as fast as the duration of the pulse would let him, then release it and repeat the same process with the very next muscle, using a whole different set of factors.
On top of all of it he had to get the right amount of chakra to his bones and skin to keep his movements from literally crushing his skeleton to powder or tearing him apart at the seams. Comparing it to learning how to walk all over again was laughable. It was like learning to walk in a dozen directions at once. The glacially slow pace he was improving at only served to make his concentration more difficult, as he could barely see his own growth rate.
What he didn't know was that Gai was inordinately proud of him, and Haku was extremely jealous. Her own training in the speed method, despite her much better chakra control, had moved so slowly that she hadn't been able to perceive her own improvement except when taken over quarter year periods. In weeks he was accomplishing levels of coordination that took months, and he wasn't even able to use shadow clones for this as the damage to his muscles that was inevitable for any minor mistake, until he got the full range of motion down to an instinctual level, would dispel his shadow clones so often as to make using them pointless.
The sound of an explosion nearby and the sight of Lee stumbling away disoriented from the wreckage of a massive log that had struck with such impact that it left scorch marks and had ignited some of its splinters broke his concentration entirely and he tumbled into a heap and managed to force a healing pill between clenched teeth to fix his wrecked calf muscle.
"Yatta!" Lee shouted as he began jumping around, "I did it Gai-sensei! I did it!"
"Congratulations Lee!" Gai enthused, "Now, you must make a promise to me. This technique is a Kinjutsu [Forbidden Art], and you must only use it if you must protect something very important."
Lee nodded, "I promise Gai-sensei!" he said before swaying, "Ugh, I don't feel so…"
Gai caught Lee just as he pitched over, dead asleep. He laid the spandex clad miniature of himself on the grass with a pleased laugh before walking over to where Naruto was standing back up and rubbing his calf.
"Whoa! What was that Gai-sensei?" Naruto asked in awe as he gaped at the crater the technique had left.
"That was the Ura Renge [Reverse Lotus]," Gai said with a grin, "It is a Ryuu technique that becomes available when you have mastered the first five stages of the ultimate sacrificial Kagayaki of the Konoha Senpuu Ryuu."
"Wow!" Naruto enthused, "Lee can already use one of those Kagayaki things you talked about?"
Gai nodded happily, "It is one of the simplest Kagayaki to learn, but for him to achieve it so soon shows just how brightly he burns," he said fondly as he propped Lee into a sitting position against a tree, "Now, let us continue to work on those motions…"
"AHHHH!" Naruto screamed as he flew through the trees before finally crashing into one hard enough to topple it onto him. He groaned as he shifted out from under it, really glad that the body reinforcement method was becoming one of his strengths. Gai-sensei had said that he already instinctually used it at a low level prior to beginning training, which made sense considering some of the beatings from Sasuke's fan girls he'd survived.
Naruto quickly replaced himself with a rock before bolting as quickly as he could to a new place and disappearing under the Kakuremino no Jutsu.
'What the hell was that freaky attack?" Naruto grumbled, 'I swear Kakashi-sensei is trying to kill us. He says he's using them on us so we have an idea how to react to junk, but I'm the only one he ever hits with this crap!'
A distance away Sasuke was in an all out assault on Kakashi while Sakura threw a half hearted kunai every once in a while. His frustration was only getting worse now that he had his Sharingan. He was seeing the jutsu Kakashi-sensei was using, but ones like this Fuuton: Diatoppa [Wind Release: Great Breakthrough] wouldn't work at all for him when he tried to practice them in the Uchiha compound courtyard.
He'd only managed to copy one jutsu he could actually use out of all of the 'survival training' Kakashi had been giving them, Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu [Fire Release: Art of the Mythical Fire Phoenix] and the quintuple fireballs it unleashed.
Even the moron's Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu didn't work like he'd hoped it would. It was a stupidly useless technique. While he could produce two clones, using them burned up so much energy so fast that he finally understood just how much of an idiot Naruto was. It was so pointlessly wasteful that it wasn't worth bothering with at all. He felt completely cheated out of the week and a half it had taken for him to even perform the technique right once he'd copied it.
As he unleashed his newly learned Katon: Hosenka on Kakashi the cyclopean bastard simply used the Kawarimi to escape, leaving a charred log behind where he had been.
Kakashi's eyes widened as he found himself caught in the 'slipstream' in between transport states the moment he had solidified where the log had just been. Being conscious during a Kawarimi didn't help much when you couldn't abort it midway to the exploding tags plastered on your destination. As soon as he landed on the branch where Naruto had been instants previous he leapt away from the explosion that immediately followed.
A ragged gasp ripped its way from his throat as a foot long wooden splinter shot through his bicep. The little bastard had used his own trick! Kakashi's eyes widened when Naruto crashed into him, wrapping around his waist as his hands completed the final seal of the Henge no Jutsu and his body warped into that of a massive snake with a diamond pattern on its back, its tail rattling wildly as the plummeted through the air. As its head reared back Kakashi watched in horror as its fangs slammed into the joint of his neck, pumping quarts of its necrotic venom into his carotid artery, jacking straight into his brain and beginning to destroy it.
The snake disappeared with a final hiss and Naruto howled in frustration as Kakashi melted into mud.
"Bullshit!" he yelled as he landed on the ground, "I call bullshit! Clones aren't allowed to take damage like that without dying!"
An instant later he was up to his neck in the earth and cursing as Kakashi swatted him on the nose with his orange book.
"Bad Naruto, no calling bullshit mid battle. That was the Doton: Daichi Bunshin no Jutsu [Earth Release: Art of the Earth Clone], and the Doton: Shinjuu Zanshu [Earth Release: Dual Suicide Decapitation Art] by the way," Kakashi said with a grin before disappearing once more.
Naruto sulked while trying to get free from the super-dense ground around him. While he tried to writhe free he thought about the differences between the Daichi Bunshin and the others he'd seen. It did feel unusually solid, and when he'd used the Kawarimi with it, he'd had to use extra chakra because it was heavier than it should have been. He hadn't thought about it at the time, but when he compared it to the other times he'd used the Kawarimi with Kakashi-sensei it did feel quite different. The only other difference was the taste, though he doubted how often he would be biting an enemy. The snake transformation had been more of a crazy idea than any real planned out tactic. It had certainly dealt with the Daichi Bunshin though.
It was a bit frustrating that he couldn't rely on his eyes for those sorts of split second decisions though. If he'd had more time to intently focus on Kakashi he would have seen the jutsu seals, but it had been so fast paced that he hadn't even been able to look long enough to confirm a chakra network.
The eyes were really cool, but it seemed that they became less and less useful the looser his focus was. Keeping a paranoid eye out in every direction reduced his focus down to little better than 'mundane' X-ray vision. Except for looking inside large solid or liquid things like the ground or a lake; the combined difficulty of focusing enough to see through it and scanning about it caused a lack of focus that was the reason he'd missed so much of Kakashi-sensei's fight with Zabuza when he'd asked him about it later. He just wasn't strong enough with his doujutsu to maintain intense enough focus to both see through things like ground and mist clearly, and catch everything that happened inside them.
"Maybe I should try to train that sort of thing?" Naruto mused, "If I can use these eyes better then I might not get caught by stupid clones that I don't have enough time to get a good look at."
He'd managed to free one arm when he heard Haku plop down next to him.
"They already left so I had to come over here," she said by way of explanation, remaining as closed lipped otherwise as she had been all day. She had seemed distracted all of the time as though trying to come to some sort of internal resolution
"You aren't going to help me are you?" Naruto asked and Haku smirked before inhaling directly above his hair before grimacing, pinching her nose and making a waving motion as though to clear his smell.
"Well, you certainly aren't a sunflower, even if you've been planted quite well," she said, finally partaking in the mockery she'd abstained from in favor of just being cold most of the day, seemingly having arrived at her decision, "And no, you're doing fine on your own."
Naruto groaned half heartedly as he managed to wiggle his other arm free and pull his body the rest of the way out of the ground, mainly because it had begun to soften and loosen once more now that Kakashi-sensei was nowhere nearby.
"Hey, do you know how he put me under there?" Naruto asked as he brushed himself off.
"The Doton: Shinjuu Zanshu?" Haku asked and Naruto nodded, "Yes, it's one of the simplest of the Doton techniques."
"Don't you need a manipulation to use them though?" Naruto asked and Haku shook her head.
"You need either an ambient source of an element or a manipulation. If you're on a mountaintop where there's only hard stone and no loose earth or weak rocks like sandstone that can be broken down easily by the jutsu, or at sea, you can only use Doton jutsu with the manipulation, however most ninja know a handful just because loose earth is such a common environment," Haku said with a shrug, "It's kind of like how my manipulation is wind, but I know a lot of Suiton jutsu. Mizu no Kuni is an island, though it used to encompass the whole archipelago, so Kiri ninja usually have a source of water nearby on their home terrain."
"I thought you had an ice manipulation or something," Naruto said in confusion.
"There's no such thing as an ice manipulation you dolt," Haku said, "It's just a genetic ability to mix two different types of chakra. Since I only have a wind manipulation I can mix my natural wind element with the water chakra derived from the ambient source to form ice. Of course on snowy terrain anyone could use Hyouton [Ice Release] techniques since the energies are already mixed together in the ambient environment. My kekkei genkai just allows me to blend them artificially."
"Huh," Naruto said with a grimace, "So I can learn Doton jutsu?"
"Assuming you had someone who was actually willing to teach you," Haku said with a smirk before standing up, "Well, I'm hungry, can we get something to eat?"
"Wait! Do you know how to use it?" he asked curiously and Haku turned and chewed on a finger as though she were thinking about a particularly hard test question.
"Yes," she said before turning around and starting to walk away.
"Well??" Naruto asked in exasperation.
"Well what?" Haku replied innocently.
"Will you teach me?" Naruto pleaded.
"No," Haku said with a triumphant smirk, "A ninja carefully guards their jutsu."
"What? No fair!" Naruto whined.
A kunai whizzed through the air and buried into the paw of a rabbit moving at a dead run sending it tumbling. A moment later three more kunai thudded into the rest of its paws while it shrieked in pain before the last nicked its spinal column just deep enough that its hind legs stopped thrashing but without severing any vital arteries.
"I guess that works for a capture," Sasuke said with a shrug as he reached the terrified rabbit and wrapped his hand around its neck to keep it from biting him while he removed his kunai, "Now I just have to be able to do that every time."
He turned his back from the squalling rabbit and walked off, deep in thought before tossing a glance back at it, "Eh, I'm not really that hungry. If it keeps squalling like that a predator will find it soon enough," he said before continuing onward while cleaning his kunai off and tucking them back away.
He made his way out of the woods and into the Uchiha compound proper before taking a seat on the steps of his family home. He'd refused to move out. The presence of the ghosts that haunted him when he was there only strengthened his resolve. They made him stronger, kept him from faltering from his path when he was younger and was unsure that vengeance was what was needed.
He leaned back and rubbed his temples to rid himself of the tingling headache that using the Sharingan for extended periods caused. It wasn't even truly a headache, and he couldn't maintain it long at all. Even though it was significantly less drain than Kakashi-sensei's implanted eye, the Sharingan was still a chakra hog. Sasuke could only keep his active for five minutes of full speed combat before he needed to turn it off to keep from flagging.
Still, those five minutes were enough for the 'headache' to start. It felt as though there were worms crawling out of the backs of his eyes and into his skull, little trickles of tingling. It wasn't even really painful. It just felt weird and exhilarating, like running at top speed, or fighting against someone with such a power disparity that it was a mockery of the enemy's skills. The only real headache came when you had to stop using it, then everything just felt sort of flat and empty in a manner completely different in feel from chakra exhaustion. He just wished he had enough power to maintain it longer.
Practice with Team Seven was starting to become annoying. While he still trashed Naruto in taijutsu spars he could see that he was getting better, and it was very worrying. Yesterday Naruto had done some sort of sidestep and pivot that was slightly faster than even he could accomplish and it had opened him up so that the blinding side kick that followed it actually struck home. It was even faster than he could react, though he refused to admit, even to himself, that it scared him.
The 'survival training' Kakashi-sensei was always giving them was even more frustrating. He felt like he was falling behind, even if all of that moron's successes were by cheating. Neither of them had come close to even touching Kakashi-sensei but seeing the moron get closer to it than he did was not acceptable. Kakashi-sensei wasn't even teaching them anything. The only useful technique he'd learned was another fire jutsu.
He'd been sure that Naruto had been getting extra training, but when he'd trailed him he only saw that stupid ice bitch helping him with his fuuinjutsu, practicing the useless academy jutsu or meditating. It was like the moron was becoming stronger out of nowhere. He was supposed to be catching up with Itachi but he was only falling further and further behind. Naruto and Sakura were only holding him back. Since the debacle in Nami no Kuni, Kakashi had refused to take another C-Rank until they'd 'recovered', which meant he hadn't had a chance to learn any new jutsu from foreign shinobi.
Shaking his thoughts away he stood and headed inside, his hunger finally overcoming his frustration.
"Danzou-sama," the girl said with a bow as she set a dossier on his desk, "This was brought in by one of Ne [Root]."
Like all of Ne, she possessed no true name, not even an identification number, and referred to themselves corporately, rather than as individuals. Danzou made a dismissive motion with his hand and she quickly left the office, anxious to escape the room containing her lord, who was notorious for his short temper in late March from the ache the weather caused in his joints.
Danzou picked up the dossier and flipped through it, frowning deeply at its contents. It was a message from one of his agents, given the name "Dan" for the duration of the operation. The report detailed a conversation between the traitor Orochimaru and his lieutenant Kabuto. In it his agent had discovered that Orochimaru intended to place the Ten Juin [Cursed Seal of Heaven] on the Uchiha scion.
Danzou frowned, "Orochimaru-kun… just what is the method behind your madness? You know that it cannot fully control an Uchiha. Even the imperfect method of implanting the Akuma no Naizai cannot overcome the instability of the Sharingan…" he muttered before his eyes widened and he pulled his desk open and pulled out another dossier and flipped it open, hastily pulling a photograph from it.
The picture was of a tree, its bark scraped off and a message written by the bloody finger of the corpse at the base of the tree. He had been one of Ne who had been dispatched to gather intelligence on Orochimaru. Written on the tree were two words, 'Fushi Tensei' [Immortality Reincarnation]. Danzou threw the picture on the desk and rubbed his forehead before his frown turned into a smirk.
"He must have perfected the Ten Juin, managed to give it the full Akuma no Naizai. He intends to tame the madness of the Uchiha with it and take the body for himself… to pit one true evil against the other and rule the body while the two are locked in conflict…" Danzou said before chuckling.
"That would make the Uchiha boy actually worthwhile," he said slowly, "Perhaps he'll be a better student than you, no Orochimaru-kun? Perhaps he will not falter and become careless in his insecurities and grief."
The silence in the room was his only answer.