21. Welcome To Nami No Kuni
The two boys stood back to back, Naruto stood with his hands in his pockets; his red hair blowing in the breeze, his fringe covered his eyes, blocking them from the assailants view. Sasuke was in a slight crouch a growl slipping through his lips.
"Whose smart idea was it to leave without weapons?" whispered Sasuke harshly, Naruto just stood focused on the ring of men surrounding them.
"You are a ninja, deal with it" said Naruto just as harshly, Naruto watched as the man threw a heavy punch towards his head, Naruto dodged to the side, and with a leap a hand latched onto the man's shoulder, using momentum, Naruto charged his body with fire, and flipped over the man, as Naruto landed, the guy bent backwards horribly due to Naruto's height compared to his own. Naruto then simply lifted the man as if he weighed nothing and launched him into the side of one of the buildings. Sasuke heard the crash and felt Naruto stand back behind him.
"You brats" yelled one of the other men, Naruto scowled and with an elegant flick of his arm out to the side, a circle of blue swords began revolving around himself and Sasuke. Sasuke looked at them in awe, he was about to touch one, when Naruto hissed slightly.
"Don't touch" growled Naruto, the leader of the group looked un-afraid.
"What are you waiting for grab the brats" yelled the man, Naruto smirked slightly.
"Can I just say, anyone who is hit with this will lose a limb, if it impales you, you are instantly dead, just a touch will leave you with severe untreatable burns" said Naruto simply, Sasuke quickly withdraw his arms into himself. The large man just sneered and moved forward.
"He's bluffing, Ninja are supposed to protect lives" said the man, Sasuke watched as Naruto raised a hand and clicked, the blades suddenly moved; they were revolving above the leader, each was pointing down diagonally, each ready to spear him on command.
"Try me" said Naruto simply, the men scowled and began murmuring; they admitted defeat and retrieved their friend from the wall. The leader looked up at the blades as the still followed him, each of the men walked down an alleyway.
"Please, ninja-san, don't let them leave, they are Gato's thugs. They will just torture us more" said a family who were hiding their children behind them, Naruto's cold gaze moved over them slightly.
"Naruto, just release the swords" said Sasuke, Naruto just clicked his fingers, and quick screams were heard from the alleyway, a blue light shone out before it died down. Sasuke ran to the mouth of the alley and looked at the six piles of ash. He turned and looked at Naruto, who had just decided to walk off. Sasuke followed quickly a scowl on his face.
"We need to scope the area, but I think we have seen enough. You?" questioned Naruto; Sasuke just made a grunt and nodded. Sasuke once again gave Naruto the once over, he was simply just like his brother, Sasuke found it eerie how similar they were, but Naruto wasn't completely cold, he was skilled, Sasuke would never forget the ass kicking he had received from Naruto, but Naruto had that subtle warmth, he cared, clearly enough to kill six men who were terrorizing a town. Naruto looked at the sky and sighed.
"How did you make those sword things" asked Sasuke, Naruto just shrugged.
"A lot of hard work" he answered simply; Sasuke bristled slightly but nodded anyway.
TU
Naruto felt his eyes fly open, a cold sweat on his body. He felt his eyes squint in annoyance slightly, he could tell he was used to the nightmares now, that every time he woke up, he just found something different to do, the bags beneath his eyes were the only thing showing his lack of sleep. He stood and threw on his t-shirt, after strapping his tanto on, he was made jump by a simple page turn.
"Awake already Kakashi-sensei" asked Naruto simply, Kakashi gave a brief chuckle.
"Sasuke told me about yesterday" said Kakashi simply, Naruto shrugged.
"They were terrorizing a village, so I dealt with it" said Naruto, Kakashi gave a nod, and Naruto sighed as he sat down on the bed once more.
"Naruto, whilst I admit you are much like your father personality wise, it's not good to lock it all up" said Kakashi, Naruto shook his head.
"The Kyuubi told me, the seal placed on me as a baby forced a lot of my consciousness to the subconscious, so when I opened the seal prematurely, it affected my emotions in a more serious manner than what was thought, my emotions are so muted that they very rarely come to the surface. I can feel them, and I know I am feeling them, but my body doesn't reveal it, well except for my eyes, but even then, if I concentrate I can even block that" said Naruto simply, Kakashi nodded and looked up from his book.
"At what cost Naruto, you have been through a lot of changes; you also have a lot of power. Plus a doujutsu I have never seen before." Said Kakashi, his statement was left hanging in the air.
"I don't know sensei, Kyuu is also withholding information. I am just going with the flow" said Naruto simply, Kakashi raised an eyebrow.
"Kyuu, it seems Naruto is closer to the Kyuubi; Perhaps even mental communication. That would explain his lapse on the way here" thought Kakashi, Naruto unsealed a simple brown book on sealing. Its author was Mito Uzumaki.
"Seals?" questioned Kakashi, Naruto nodded as he pulled the bookmark from its page.
"It is so confusing, yet easy at the same time." Said Naruto simply, Kakashi nodded and carried on reading. Naruto looked at Kakashi and smiled slightly.
"What was my father like when he was with mum" asked Naruto, Kakashi gave a chuckle.
"He was awkward, Kushina-chan was so full on; she would randomly jump on him with a large smile. From what I could see though, they were very much in love. She would frequent the team with a picnic when we were training, Obito…Obito had the biggest crush on her. He would try and outshine Sensei with poetry, for Kushina-chan to just stare blankly. In all honesty she only had eyes for Minato-sensei. Though that got her a tonne of trouble with the fan-girls" laughed Kakashi, Naruto smiled sadly, as he looked out of the window.
"Did dad have a lot of followers?" asked Naruto, Kakashi chuckled.
"Oh yeah, the amount of times he was caught in the hot baths. He would just stutter and flush like a little girl" Kakashi chuckled, Naruto smirked.
"I bet mum didn't take that?" said Naruto with a fond smile on his calm face. Kakashi laughed briefly.
"I watched as a group of girls walked away with busted lips, ripped hair and broken hearts" laughed Kakashi, Naruto smiled slightly. They both fell into a comfortable silence, Naruto returned to his reading, whilst Kakashi lost himself in memories. Naruto looked to the door and sighed as it was thrown open, Sasuke was stood with crossed arms.
"Kakashi, are you actually going to train us" said Sasuke, Sakura peered around the door, the sun barely rising.
"Sasuke wake you huh?" asked Naruto, Sakura sneered slightly, but nodded anyway. Kakashi sighed as he moved to the door way and put a hand on Sasuke's head.
"Sure thing Sasu-chan" said Kakashi, Sasuke growled and threw a scowl at Naruto.
"Get up idiot" said Sasuke, Naruto sighed and grabbing his coat he followed his team out of the house. They walked silently through the quiet woods. Once they had come to a clearing Kakashi turned and looked at his team.
"Okay team, since Zabuza is going to be up and running in a week's time, I need to train you all. Sasuke, whilst your chakra control is minimal, taijutsu is also good but your speed is slow. You really need to work on your chakra control. That way you may be closer to activating the sharingan. Sakura, exemplary chakra control and knowledge to boot; as I said before, a Medic Nin may be your forte. So I will get a few scrolls and apply for a tutor at the hospital. Naruto, your chakra control is the best in the group. With also good all round skills, you kenjutsu is good but still premature. Taijutsu is marvellous and your super strength is also quite good. But you need some genjutsu training, throwing around your genjutsu is the quickest way to deplete your chakra. So I will create three clones, each will help you train. I am going to sit here and the first to complete the days training gets a rest, the last to complete their training has to do it all over again, as does the rest of the team" said Kakashi, Sasuke and Sakura stood with wide eyes, Naruto just looked bored. Kakashi quickly created three clones and sent them on their way. Naruto just sighed as they reached another smaller clearing, the clone just sighed also.
"So what shall I do Kakashi-sensei" asked Naruto, Kakashi just smirked beneath his mask.
"Well considering I am the real Kakashi, I think I want to know about your doujutsu" said Kakashi, Naruto scowled.
"Hokage-sama said I shouldn't he said it needs to remain as secret as possible" said Naruto, Kakashi tsked slightly.
"I am your sensei, if anyone needs to know it's me" said Kakashi, Naruto sighed and activated his Rinnegan. Kakashi looked closer to inspect it.
"At first it was the Rinnegan" said Naruto, Kakashi raised an eyebrow.
"At first? So it has changed then?" asked Kakashi, Naruto nodded slightly, his red swirls seemed to spin slightly.
"So what's the verdict?" Asked Naruto, Kakashi sighed, he stood up and rubbed his chin.
"I don't know I have never seen anything like it. Its colour is reminiscent of the sharingan, but the spiral itself, I have no idea." Said Kakashi, Naruto nodded seriously, he stretched his arms above his head, popping his joints.
"So what now" asked Naruto, Kakashi eye smiled and lifted his sharingan eye
"Cast a genjutsu" said Kakashi, Naruto did as told. Sasuke glared at the tree, he hadn't been able to get any higher, and the Kakashi clone just flipped another page in his book. Sasuke ran to the tree and quickly channelling chakra to his feet he ran up the tree, he ran past the previous scratch but almost instantly, he was rocketed off. He quickly scratched the tree before flipping and landing heavily on his feet.
"Gah, Kakashi how do I do it" asked Sasuke, Kakashi just sighed.
"I have told you many times Sasuke, feel with your chakra, you will be able to get it once you do" said Kakashi, Sasuke snarled and ran to the tree once more. Kakashi perked up and smiled.
"What" snarled Sasuke as he landed on the ground once more
"Seems Sakura won" said Kakashi simply, Sasuke snarled and ran at the tree with renewed vigour. Sakura sighed as she led staring at the sky. The Kakashi clone had brought her to the clearing and had then dispelled. She had got the tree climbing ability down after the third try. She had felt elated that she was first, but it was soon soured as Naruto walked through the tree line brushing his hair backwards. The Kakashi clone nowhere in sight, Naruto just smirked inwardly; Kakashi had substituted with his clone without releasing a slither of chakra. He congratulated Sakura and heard the frustrated yell from Sasuke in the air. Naruto was leant against the tree reading a book; Sakura was also reading a scroll on medicinal chakra as Sasuke came stumbling through the tree line. He glared at Naruto and Sakura. Kakashi smiled and led them back to house, he was happy already with the progress each of them had made. But he realised that Sasuke and Sakura were a long way off fighting Zabuza, Naruto would probably win if he used the Hiraishin, but Kakashi knew Naruto had been asked not to use it. As they sat down to eat, Tazuna and Tsunami smiled at the team.
"Thanks Naruto, because of you, we have more builders working on the bridge, many feel hope" said Tazuna, Naruto looked calm, his eyes soft.
"That's quite alright" said Naruto simply, Tsunami smiled.
"So what did you kids get up to today" asked Tsunami, Sakura smiled proudly.
"Kakashi-sensei taught us tree climbing, I won against the boys, technique was so easy any idiot could do it right Sasuke-kun" said Sakura with happiness only to be shot down by a glare. Sasuke was glaring hotly at her.
"Some people are struggling Sakura" said Naruto with a little smirk. Sasuke glared hotly at him.
"Like you could do better Idiot" growled Sasuke, Naruto simply put his hand beneath the plate of food, and whilst walking up the wall and ending up on the ceiling, the food was also stuck to the plate with chakra.
"Sorry Sasu-kun, but I had this drilled into me during the month training" said Naruto calmly; Sasuke glared harder willing for the food to fall. Naruto simply dropped from the ceiling and landed back on his seat. Sasuke glared and shovelled the food into his mouth faster.
"Kakashi, I am going to train" said Sasuke, Kakashi sighed as he stood. They were all stopped by a crying child.
"You are all still so stupid, you should run away. Gato is too strong" cried Inari, Naruto felt his eyes close slightly.
"Still going on about that" said Naruto simply, Inari glared at Naruto.
"You are the worst, so calm all the time, you would be the first to die" said Inari, Naruto sighed and returned to eating his food.
"Please go away, you are depressing" said Naruto, Inari cried and glared at the same time.
"What would you know about anything, you, a spoilt ninja, you don't know what it's like to grow up here, constantly afraid…" but Inari was but off by an ice cold glare.
"Please, little boy go back to crying towards the sea, your father would be ashamed. He died for this village…" everyone realised Naruto had frozen, a sad look in his eyes.
"He died for you, and you taint his memory by being a whiney little brat, nobody cares for your tears. Your mother and grandfather also miss him, yet they keep on going for you. You, who have stopped, please just go to Gato and ask him to gut you himself, because he isn't the one hanging the blade over your head. You are" said Naruto simply. He stood and glared down at Inari, his silver eyes flashing red spirals. Inari whimpered, tears in his eyes.
"Naruto" muttered Kakashi, Inari ran from the house, Naruto turned and bowed to Tsunami and Tazuna.
"I apologize for the harsh words spoken." Said Naruto as he turned to leave, he passed by Kakashi who gave him a nod. Sasuke stood with a confused look in his eyes; Sakura just looked at Kakashi who was looking down. Naruto had returned later that night, apology in his eyes.
Another Chapter well done, I actually liked this chapter, it really showed the interaction that each character has with eachother, and how the world changes because of Naruto.
I have received a few reviews about things they don't understand, please know that I am with-holding information on purpose, a few surprises here and there are good ;)
Till next time.
Nate