Those who were unhappy with my tweaks to the story, another author named NXSE has adopted it, give it a try.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto, OH GOD WHY AM I SO POOR?!
Anyways, guys I'm back with this new chapter. BEFORE you READ it, keep in mind that, I was away from the site from last June so it's been a year since I last updated (or wrote for that matter) so there may be some errors in the chapter that I may have overlooked unknowingly. Kindly PM me the errors and I will see what I can do.
Also now I have a laptop that is up to my standards and thus I will try to cook out more updates soon. My other two fanfics will receive an update in a week, so if you are a reader of those, keep an eye out.
P.S. Now I am perfectly settled in this country and I will start getting into the groove soon.
CHAPTER 8: The secrets of Uzu
Naruto stopped mid way in drawing his sword as he saw the look of determination and confidence in both the Konoha Jonins.
'Hm, their posture is relaxed while their muscles are stressed at the same time, from what Tobirama sensei told me these are the signs of a prepared Shinobi with a cool mind,' thought Naruto before switching his sword with a Kunai in each hand, dropping in a protective stance in front of Tazuna and his fellow Genin.
Naruto wasn't overconfident but he knew that he was the most powerful genin present and had the highest chance of protecting the client as well as the remaining squad. That didn't mean he couldn't help his sensei, he will keep an eye on how the battle proceeds and will interfere if the need arise.
Sasuke on the other hand watched the fight with his sharingan blazing, trying to copy any technique that might be useful against his brother in the long awaited fight of the Uchiha brothers. The remaining four genin were standing guard on four sides of Tazuna, the shinobi instincts that the academy had drilled in their heads kicked in the moment Zabuza unleashed that devastating attack.
It was safe to say that they won't go down without a fight, even if it was a fight ending in a few seconds.
"Asuma, do something about this fog will you, I can't see a damn thing with my sharingan in this fog and to top it off, Zabuza is a master of the silent killing technique of Kiri," said Kakashi with a hint of uneasiness in his voice as he was heavily relying on his sense of hearing and smelling in the dense fog. He may have a great sense of smell and hearing, but he was no Inazuka to have the reflexes to go with. Even if his senses detected Zabuza before he attacked, it will be too late to defend or dodge the bloody attack all together.
"Sorry Kakashi, I may have a great mastery of Futon release but this fog is in a greater quantity. I can sweep it with a couple of futon jutsus of mine but it will be a waste of chakra in the end because he will cast it again using the already moist air of this dense vegetation of island," answered Asuma as he channeled futon chakra in his trench knives, making them vibrate with the chakra flow.
"Alright, I will fight him as the main opponent while you protect the client and the genins," said Kakashi as he prepared to dive into the battle.
"Don't worry, I will provide the needed backup from the sidelines and if things went out of hand, I will step in, damn the consequences," said Asuma as he received a nod of appreciation from the cyclops before jumping backwards to land in front of the genin teams.
"Genins, Septa formation!" shouted Asuma as all the genins assembled in the Septa formation around Tazuna as Asuma was standing directly in front of him.
"Well, well, well, it seems I will only get to face Sharingan no Kakashi today. Suits me but please do tell, out of Heart, liver, brain, spine, Kidney, Jugular, Lungs, which one will you prefer?" asked Zabuza's voice as he displayed perfect utilization of Kirigakure no Jutsu.
Kakashi tried hard to concentrate on the voice of his opponent as his sharingan darted from side to side, trying to catch any glimpse of movements made by Zabuza. He couldn't rely on his sense of smell because the moisture in the air was mixing the smells up, rendering his smelling sense useless.
Suddenly Zabuza appeared in front of Kakashi,Kubikiribocho in mid swing as he tried to decapitate the famed former ANBU captain. Kakashi reacted pure on instincts as he jumped high in the air, spinning in mid air as the large sword passed under him harmlessly. Kakashi out stretched his left leg in the swing as he kicked the head of Zabuza with all his might.
His eyes went wide when the Zabuza in front of him dissolved in water, leaving him wide open for attacks from all the sides. The Kiri nuke nin utilized this opportunity as two more Zabuzas appeared on both sides of Kakashi, ready to reduce him to shreds with their large swords.
Kakashi was in a desperate situation as he knew he will not get out of this situation unharmed. Taking out a kunai, he reinforced it with Doton chakra before blocking the strike of one of the copies. The other Zabuza smirked as a cruel smile spread on his lips under the mask, right before he could deal a fatal blow to Kakashi, his eyes went wide with horror as a shuriken was lodged in his neck from behind, the Zabuza again dissolved in to water, signifying it to be a Mizu bushin.
Asuma stopped his kunai holding hand in mid swing, before turning his head to stare at Naruto in amazement, the blonde's hand falling back to his side after delivering the well aimed shuriken to the enemies neck. Naruto decided to not meet his sensei's eyes lest risk unnecessary questions.
Asuma was quick to sort out his priorities as he turned back to observe the fight between Kakashi and Zabuza. The mist was starting to get thin after the short fight, maybe the real Zabuza had decided to stop hiding in the mist and face Kakashi one on one. Asuma was keeping a sharp eye on Kakashi, not that the copy ninja need it after all in absence of that thick mist, his sharingan was blazing intensely, darting at the sudden movements of Kiri nuke nin.
"I thought you wanted to fight me seriously, all I see is a mouse trying to hide by jumping from tree to tree," said Kakashi just as he reached behind his back to pull out an explosive tag. Slowly wrapping the Fuinjutsu tag on the hilt of a kunai, Kakashi sensed his enemy on the riverside and turned to face him.
Zabuza was standing on the river's water as he sped through blinding hand signs,
"Suiton: Suigadan (Water style: Fang Bullet)" finished Zabuza as he launched a water bullet straight at Kakashi.
Kakashi used his explosive kunai and threw it at the technique, igniting the fuse in the process.
Just as he finished his move his eyes widened in surprise as another Zabuza appeared from beneath the water surface of the river, already finishing another set of hand signs.
"Suiton: Bakusui Shōha (Water style: Exploding water shockwave)" announced the new Zabuza, spewing a large wave of water from his mouth, targeting Kakashi.
Kakashi was already in the process of performing his own hand seals but he knew he won't be able to finish the technique in time. Asuma decided to intervene and quickly went through a short series of hand seals.
"Fūton: Renkūdan (Wind style: Drilling air bullets)" and he fired multiple bullets at the water shockwave, reducing its power considerably and saving Kakashi from being swept away by the tremendous they had successfully deflected two attacks of Zabuza and will soon switch to offensive but they stopped in their tracks when the third AND the real Zabuza appeared in front of his two clones. A mischievous grin was on his face under the mask as he held a ram seal.
"Suiton: Daibakufu no jutsu (Water style: Great waterfall technique)" exclaimed Zabuza as the river water behind him swirled to form a tsunami like wave, ready to submerge the whole Konoha team in a single swing of Zabuza's arm.
"Suiton…"
Zabuza swung his arm in a dangerous arc as the wave was launched in the Konoha nins' direction.
"Suiryūdan…"
The wave thundered with great power as it destroyed everything in its path, even Kakashi had to choose whether to drop the idea of using another jutsu against this one.
" no Jutsu (Water style: Great water dragon blast)" finished Naruto in a whisper as the moisture around him was literally turned to water behind his back, taking shape of a large Japanese dragon with yellow eyes.
The dragon roared and launched itself at the wave coming towards its creator. On the other side of the wave, Zabuza and his clones heard the roar of the dragon and the grins on their faces vanished instantly as another shout of the same technique was heard.
"Suiton: Daibakufu no jutsu (Water style: Great waterfall technique)" finished Kakashi as the Dragon collided with the tsunami like wave in front of him, showering him in tiny droplets of the now destroyed technique as his own wave was formed from the water of Zabuza's technique. The water dragon surprisingly survived the battle of dominance with the Momoichi's technique and now raced towards the original Zabuza, followed by Kakashi's technique.
Zabuza quickly used Kubikiribocho to block the dragon's fangs as his clones supported him from behind by placing their hands on his shoulders. The power of this technique was tremendous and to think it was fired by a mere genin for Christ's sake.
"HOLY SHIT!" exclaimed Kiba as he watched in awe how the Nuke nin struggled to hold his ground in front of that badass dragon technique. Even Sasuke was finding it hard not to get jealous after the display of such power from all the shinobi in the vicinity.
Just as the three Zabuza's were able gain some footing against the water dragon, the beast roared and Kakashi's technique reached the trio. The power of the jutsu was so tremendous that both clones were killed on the impact and the real Zabuza was sent trembling on the water surface, his grip on Kubikiribocho loosening as the legendary sword was lost the in the water hurricane. Zabuza's flight was interrupted by a boulder sticking out on riverside, Zabuza crashed in the said boulder at neck breaking speed and fell limp on its base.
Taking a breather to calm his raging blood, Kakashi pulled out another Kunai and appeared right in front of the downed enemy. Zabuza was sporting multiple injuries on his whole body, multiple concussions could be seen on the former Kiri shinobi as his breath came in labored fashion. His right hand was twisted gruesomely in a way no human hand could while one of his ankles was bleeding profusely, indicating the damaged ligaments and muscles of the said area.
Slowly peeling open one of his eyes, Zabuza stared at Kakashi with an unreadable expression before grinning painfully, a grin quite visible due to the absence of his face mask.
"Don't ever think that it was you who defeated the Demon of the mist, Sharingan no Kakashi. I lost the very moment I discarded that promising shinobi as a wet behind the ears genin. That blonde saved your life, I am proud to have come so close to killing YOU! I will-"
Before Zabuza could continue, three senbons came out of nowhere and lodged themselves in his lower neck, instantly killing the swordsman. Kakashi was instantly on guard as he leaped back and reversed his grip on the kunai, sensing an unknown chakra signature rushing at the site.
A masked Kiri hunter nin appeared in front of the former ANBU as Kakashi stared at the mask of the newly arrived shinobi.
"I am sorry to interrupt but it was my job to take him out. I've been tracking him down for the last two years but he's known to be slippery. Anyways, I would like to extend my gratitude for your help but now I must take the body to dispose of its secrets," said the Hunter in a surprisingly young voice.
Kakashi, as a former ANBU captain, knew the procedure well and thus decided to give the hunter what he needed. He lowered his guard and stepped backwards, allowing the hunter to collect the swordsman's lifeless body. The hunter quickly draped Zabuza on his shoulder before vanishing in a water sunshin.
Kakashi stood there for a while, a lot was on his mind as this fight wasn't like any ordinary fight with a rouge shinobi of another nation. They were talking about one of the legendary member of Kiri no Shinobigatana, a military unit famous for the unmatched swordsmanship of its members. Then there was the problem of that dragon, surely Naruto wasn't able to pull the very moisture out of the air at such a young age. Even if the air of Nami was far more moist than Hi no Kuni, but still, it would require more than just a strong affinity towards water to pull something like this off.
His musing came to a halt when Asuma appeared beside Kakashi in a flick of movement and tried to support the tired scarecrow jonin, wrapping an arm around his comrade's shoulders. Kakashi just allowed the Sarutobi to support him as the prolonged use of his second hand sharingan was starting to take its toll on his body. Even now he had the damn eye uncovered but luckily Asuma noticed it and adjusted his hatai ate to cover it.
"Are you okay, Kakashi?" asked Asuma out of worry for his comrade and friend.
"I am alright, just the chakra exhaustion from using it for this long," answered Kakashi in a tired tone, panting a little.
"Alright I understand, the genins are currently recovering from the shock of experiencing jonin level killing intent for the first time and as for Naruto, he is recovering the weapons that we used in the fight," informed Asuma as both the Jonins started to walk back towards their charges.
"That's not a genin you have their Asuma, I must say you hit a jackpot with Naruto there," said Kakashi with a light chuckle escaping his lips.
Asuma didn't know how to respond to that and settled with only nodding his head a little.
"You know that Sandaime sama will need to hear about this right?" asked Kakashi.
"The Hokage must know everything about the shinobis under his command, I don't see a problem with it," responded Asuma.
"I think we must use a different approach with Naruto here, first we shall talk to him ourselves and if we find something fishy with his explanations then it would up to the Hokage to take the matters in to his own hands," suggested Kakashi.
"Alright but all this ordeal will be going into the mission report, right?" asked Asuma, a little suspicious of his fellow jonin.
"We'll see," was all Kakashi said before blacking out on Asuma's shoulder, surprising the said jonin with the sudden increase in the weight on his shoulder.
"Damn Kakashi, when did you get so heavy?" cursed the Sarutobi with a sigh.
((((((((((((())))))))))))))
The teams, along with a knocked out Kakashi, reached Tazuna's home after a walk of two more hours of completely tiring jog. They were greeted by the bridge builder's daughter named Tsunami and her son Inari, even though the later of the two was nothing but brooding fuck in the eyes of Kiba, Tsunami's vibrant nature and welcoming smile was more than enough to balance it out.
Kakashi was soon deposited in a spare bedroom to allow some rest while Asuma and all the genins were seated in the main seating area of the house, conversing among them. Sakura, after countless tries of getting Sasuke to go out with her, was sitting with Hinata in a corner. Kiba was blabbering about how awesome that dragon jutsu was while Shikamaru tried to decide whether to tell him that it was Naruto who had fired the said jutsu. Sasuke was brooding in a corner with frown on his face, highly upset about his inability of copying any of the used jutsus.
Naruto was helping Tsunami with some cutlery chore when Asuma appared in the living room.
"Naruto, please come inside, me and Kakashi have something to discuss with you," he said before disappearing inside Kakashi's room once again.
Naruto politely excused himself from the kitchen and walked to the door of the room. Just as he was about to open the sliding door, Kiba snickered behind his back.
"~Someone's in trouble~" he commented in a sing song voice.
Naruto decided to ignore the Inazuka and walked in the room, closing the door behind him. As soon as he stepped in, he felt a sound barrier go up as Kakashi expertly finished the required hand seals. The tense atmosphere of the room surrounded Naruto while Kakashi shifted in a comfortable position on his bed.
"Naruto, we have some questions and we need completely honest answers," said Asuma in a stern tone.
"Easy Asuma, easy, I am sure Naruto will answer every question to the best of his ability, right Naruto?" said Kakashi to which the Genin merely nodded an affirmative.
"How come you know a jutsu of such caliber? We know that you have suiton affinity but we have yet to train you in that field," asked Asuma with a keen eye focused on his genin.
"Sensei, when you told me about my affinities, I wanted to learn about them as much as I could and thus I went to find any jonin with suiton affinity who was willing to teach me a thing or two. When I found no one willing, I decided to take the matters in my own hands and marched towards the fountains behind the hokage monument."
"There I found a couple of ANBUs training in the suiton ninjutsu and I decided to observe them for the time being. There was a leader of the group who was training with a suiton jutsu, I think he was trying to increase the chakra input of the dragon or something, anyways one of his teammates asked him to explain it to him and he did, unknowingly explaining it to me as well. I practiced the jutsu for about a month but every time my dragon was as big as a dog, never bigger."
"So how come your last one was as big as a house?" asked Asuma with sarcasm evident in his voice.
"May be the thought of Kakashi sensei getting hit or the danger to the whole squad was the reason, but I unconsciously poured a big load of chakra in my hand seals, the result was what you saw. Before I was too cautious in practicing that I never used much chakra because I didn't know what was the exact amount of chakra needed," answered Naruto with a look of realization on his face.
Asuma pondered a bit and realized that it really made sense, Naruto had a vast pool of chakra and in desperate situations such as that one, many new shinobi did the mistake of overloading the jutsus with more chakra. May be he really was innocent and did it unintentionally, but it still didn't explain the formation of the dragon from the very moisture present in the air.
"But how did you pulled the moisture out of thin air to make the dragon?" asked Asuma.
It was Kakashi who answered his question.
"Asuma, Naruto is an Uzumaki and Uzumakis are known worldwide to have unparallel mastery of the suiton element. Thus the answer is simple, it's in his blood," said Kakashi with an eye smile.
Asuma felt like kicking himself, of course he knew that the Uzumakis were as legendary in suiton as they were in kenjutsu and Fuinjutsu. He must reduce his smoking a little because it looked like it had started to affect his brains.
"Alright Naruto, you may go now but make sure to ask me first before trying to learn any elemental jutsu on your own in future," said Asuma while poking Naruto's forehead.
Naruto only nodded and left the room, closing the door behind his back.
Once outside, he ignored the noises made by Kiba and walked towards his teammates. Shikamaru was lying on the floor in his signature lazy Nara pose, on seeing Naruto approaching he yawned and stared at him when Naruto came to a halt in front of him. Hinata, who was sitting besides Shikamaru also looked up, curious as to what Naruto needed from them.
"What happened?" asked Shikamaru with mild interest
"Shikamaru, Hinata, tell Sensei that I'll be training a little with my taijutsu so I may not come back before four to five hours," said Naruto curtly, gaining nods of understanding in return.
With the task done, Naruto quickly walked out of the house in search of a suitable training area for some light training. He needed to think through his strategy for the future again, with the situation with Asuma and Kakashi, it was now important that he changed his plan a little to improvise with the continuous changing situations of time.
Reaching a suitable clearing beside the seashores, Naruto scanned the area for any type of inconvenience. There was little vegetation in the clearing because of the beach sand mixed in the soil, just a few patches of grass here and there with a couple of old looking trees in the middle. Deciding to work on his taijutsu, Naruto started attacking the trunk of a tree with vigor.
'I must gain some power on my own or the Sandaime will definitely become vary of me and may take a less timid approach. At least if I gained some form of power from training or fighting an opponent like Zabuza, then the Hokage will not suspect anything out of place,' thought Naruto as he increased his speed by adding a little chakra to his limbs.
'I should've retrieved Kubikiribocho after defeating Zabuza on the river, it would've provided me with enough excuse to at least justify my growth a little. Yes, I may have a solution to this situation, all I need is a weapon of some strength and I can start using some of the training Tobirama Sensei taught me in the Kenjutsu lessons,' He thought and in the heat of the moment, he charged a fist with a little too much of chakra before delivering a devastating blow to the tree trunk.
"Shit!" he exclaimed as a good chunk of the tree's trunk was blown apart from the strength of the blow.
A scroll came rolling out of the busted tree trunk as Naruto stared at his now bleeding knuckles before noticing the scroll at his feet. He reached down and lifted the scroll to examine, it was a pure blue scroll with golden spirals visible all over it. Naruto decided to first check the scroll for any kind of nasty surprises and started using his fingers to get a feel of the scroll.
Just as he was about to finish, some blood from his injured knuckles dropped on the scroll and the scroll started to vibrate dangerously. Naruto's shinobi instincts kicked in and he threw the scroll away while also leaping backwards with all his might. The scroll collided with a nearby tree and fell at its roots, while Naruto landed a good five meter away from his position. The scroll flattered open as steam came out of it in copious amounts, obscuring it from Naruto's view.
Once the steam dispersed, Naruto cautiously approached the scroll that was lying completely open on the forest floor. On close inspection, Naruto could make out something written on the scroll in blood.
"My Uzumaki clans mate,
This is something I am writing with my own blood due to the situation I have found myself into. Our village Uzushio is on the verge of being destroyed as Kumo and Iwa forces are currently storming the royal lands of Uzumaki clan. I am the third general of Uzu shinobi forces, Uzumaki Tenshi, and I was supposed to hold the enemy in wave. The enemy forces were just too much for us and here I am, leaving one of the legendary heirlooms of our clan in this scroll in hopes that one day an Uzumaki will find it and restore the fame of our village Uzushio.
Just push your pure chakra in the seal and if you really are an Uzumaki, Hiraishin will be yours for the taking."
(A/N: This isn't Hirashin as in the flying thunder god, its Hiraishin with an I meaning Lightning rod/blade)
Blinking a couple of times and coming over the fact that this man really wrote a lot for someone on the verge of death, Naruto shifted his gaze to the seal visible further down the scroll. The general wrote that an Uzumaki will be able to gain something from it. Deciding to give it a go, Naruto placed his palm on the seal and pumped some chakra into it. The seal started to glow and Naruto quickly pulled back his palm for good measure.
In a puff of smoke a blade handle came out of the seal and started to spark with electricity, the handle of the blade was shining like glassware with a dark blue tint to it. Its whole structure was looking like it was forged out of a single piece of glass. The blade was yet to be seen as it was still embedded in the seal.
Slowly Naruto decided to approach the blade with caution. Slowly he touched the handle of the blade and instantly felt a tug at his chakra. He would've pulled his hand back if it wasn't for the sudden sparkling of the blade's handle, it mesmerized Naruto long enough to make him grasp the handle of the blade firmly in his hand. As soon as he gripped at the handle, the chakra that was drawn from him a few moments ago came back to him in threefold.
His eyes widened in surprise as he felt the sudden return of his chakra from the blade's handle. It wasn't well known but Naruto was a pretty decent sensor in terms of chakra. He may not be able to distinguish between tens of chakra signatures, but he had a good idea of recognizing his own as well as his comrades chakra signatures. The chakra that was returned to him had another kind of chakra in it, which was in double the amount of his chakra, a pretty powerful one at that. Even though the amount wasn't much considering Naruto's vast reserves of chakra, it's potency was on another level.
Blinking away his surprise, he looked down at the half-visible weapon before taking a deep breath and pulling out the weapon. It came out to be a small tanto, almost dagger like blade with same bluish blade shining in the sunlight. The weapon was looking like an item from the heavens, the beauty of this blade was unrivalled in Naruto's eyes as he inspected it by rotating his arm slowly. The blade was perfectly made without even slightest of error, as the marksmanship of the sword was something he had never seen in his entire life. The weight of the blade was also neither too heavy or too light, just that, perfect.
Deciding to give it a few swings to check the sharpness of the sword, Naruto gripped the handle tightly and turned around to aim a swing at a tree beside him. Taking a breath and relaxing his stance, he recalled the teachings of Nidaime regarding the swordsmanship. Concentrating on the tree in front of him and feeling the perfectly fitted handle in his hand, he swung at the tree.
"HAH!"
In mid swing, the blade sparkled and absorbed loads of chakra from his entire right hand.
BOOM!
The blade went through the tree trunk like a hot knife going through butter, in a flash of light the swing was finished and the tree burst into splinters of wood and leaves. Naruto's eyes were wide with surprise at the display of power as he was showered with leaves of the damaged tree. Just as he was about to return back to his normal stance, his eyes drifted towards the wraith bringer, Hiraishin. The petals of flowers and leaves those were unlucky enough to fall on the still blade's edge were split in two by it.
If it was someone else in Naruto's shoes, they will be grinning from ear to ear after getting their hands on such a weapon, but Naruto was not like others, he was instead sweating from thinking about the possible dangers if this blade ever fell in the wrong hands. He will have to master this blade soon and will only use it as a last resort because flaunting it in front of the whole world was the last thing that he needed to do right now.
He decided to seal it for the time being and decide what to do with it once their current mission was finished and he was back in Konoha. Quickly sealing it in a storage scroll, he rolled it back up and stuffed it inside his coat. Glancing around at the devastated area, he gave a sigh and quickly flickered away in a burst of speed.
Behind his back, he failed to notice a small sparrow, chirruping on a tree. As soon as the ninja was gone, the bird flew down to sit on a huge rock. As soon as the tiny legs of the sparrow touched the surface of the rock, the upper half of the rock started to slid sideways before falling to the side, revealing a smooth cleaved surface still smoking hot red in color.
The sparrow just tilted its head sideways before it flew away and disappeared in the thick fog of Nami no kuni.
TO BE CONTINUED….