Chapter 24- Training Begins
He assessed his situation. Tenten had a kunai up against his neck, and ready to slice at a moment's notice. It took him a moment to sense her chakra active in streams emanating from her body. He realized that she made more tendrils, ready to attack his hands should the need arise. He was trapped, so he may as well admit defeat. Masaru let out a good laugh. "Looks like you do. I don't have any moves left."
She smiled, before looking at him with a frown. "Why did you do that? Why did you put the cute, little squirrel in danger?" She said, slightly pressing the kunai a little tighter.
He gulped, not wanting to deal with Tenten's wrath. "I was caught in the moment, and it was the only thing I could think of to figure out how your technique worked. And… I guess it was helpful to get my mind off things.
A puzzled expression crossed her face. "What do you mean?" She asked, releasing the kunai from his neck.
"I've got a lot on my mind today. The sparring session helped me to ease my mind at least a little." He then began to tell her about the events that had transpired today. About learning the fact the Kannyugan originated in the village, the escapades that he went through with Naruto and Shikamaru, both in and out of his mind, to the meeting he had with the Hokage regarding the mission, the problems that existed between him and Ino, and how he was going to have to train Naruto to use his Kannyugan.
"I… see." Tenten hesitantly said. In truth, she didn't really know what to say to him. So much has happened to him in just this one day. And he was looking for some inner peace, even if it was just for a moment.
Her thoughts were cut short by Masaru's voice. "Tenten-san. Perhaps you can help me with something." Noticing he had her attention, he continued. "Do you know anything about the Yamanaka clan as a whole?"
She was surprised about this question. "Why do you need to ask me? Shouldn't you ask…Ino?" She said as the pieces fell into place.
"You know I can't ask her directly. I did some thinking earlier, and from my memories, I figured that the problems I had with her stemmed not from her, but from her clan as a whole. If I know some things about them, I might be able to figure why I don't like her." Masaru explained.
"You sure you're not looking for excuses." Tenten teased.
"Positive. I did explain to you once about one's ancestor's memories in their mind, correct?" Tenten nodded. "Well, there is something I didn't really explain." He took a breath before continuing. "There are a few rare cases of it, but sometimes when an emotion bottled up in a memory is strong enough. It is possible for it to leak through and encase the person in it, should a sufficient stimulus arise to trigger such a reaction. A simple example of this could relate to a person's dislike of certain foods, even if they never tasted it. If they had an ancestor that hated it with a passion…" Masaru explained, but didn't finish his sentence.
"Then the person would feel that same hatred for the food. I think I get what you mean." Tenten said. She then took on a thoughtful pose. "I haven't spent too much time with Ino before, so I don't know a lot about the clan, but I heard that the clan originally lived in the Hidden Grass Village at one point. Why they decided to come here, I don't know. I do know, however, that the Yamanaka clan specializes in certain mental jutsus."
Masaru look at her disbelievingly. "Are you sure about that? Mind jutsus?" His mind was a mess of questions at the moment.
"Yes." She was concerned with the look on his face. "Are you okay, Masaru-san?"
"I…think I'll be fine. I'll think about this a little later. I just need something to get my minds off things. How about a little kenjutsu training?" He asked.
"Ok, but are you sure you'll be ok?" She asked, as she channeled chakra to the mark on her outfit, before reverting back to her battle kimono, complete with her weapons scroll, which had vanished with her other outfit. She smiled thinking about that. She then unfurled the scroll, and pulled out a katana.
"I'll be fine. Thanks for asking though." He said, before pulling out a katana and it's sheath from inside his coat.
Even though he did have a sword strapped to his back, he resolved to never use that except when facing real enemies. It was just too dangerous any other time. That's why he had this katana made for him, so that he'd be able to fight when it wasn't so serious.
"First, before we begin the lesson, let's see how far you've come on your own. En garde!" Masaru exclaimed.
"What the hell does that mean?" She wondered.
"Beats me. I just thought it sounded cool." He shrugged, before coming at her with the katana.
Several hours later, the two had called it a night, and left each other with much to think about in the days to come. Tenten broaching the subject of her bloodline with her teammates, and everything that seemed to pile up on Masaru's plate overnight. At least, now they would at least have the chance to have some temporary solace: the realm of dreams.
Well, this held true more for Tenten than for Masaru. He still needed to do one last thing for the day before he considered going to bed in the least bit. He needed to leave a message for Naruto to meet him at the training grounds in the morning. He only had one day left before leaving on the mission, and he wanted to get started on Naruto's training right away.
It was strange how things were. He had only known the boy for a few weeks, and already he's gotten a thorough grasp of his personality. He was loud and boisterous about his ambitions, yet he kept most else about him to himself. He was always quick to show everyone how he has improved by showing off some new trick he learned; yet he was reluctant to give off any weakness. He was always showed a smile in front of his friends, yet they never saw, the tears that appeared in his eyes whenever he was alone.
These traits showed Masaru he needed to build up the boy to be stronger. He didn't want Naruto to hold back his emotions. What he was doing now was incredibly self-destructive. Even though it wasn't a pretty thought, Masaru privately wondered if Naruto has actually contemplated suicide at least at one point in his life.
Shaking such thoughts from his head, he made his way to where Naruto's apartment was. He had only been here once before, and didn't stay long, given that the mess was enormous, but he needed to leave Naruto a message, somewhere he would see it.
When he arrived, he supposed he shouldn't have been surprised by what he saw, but it still shocked and angered him to no end. Written on the front of the door and the walls in rough graffiti were the words 'bastard' and 'demon' and 'go to hell!' He was beginning to realize the extent of the shit Naruto had to put up with on a daily basis as he stealthily crept into Naruto's place.
"Thankfully those seals are present on his apartment. Otherwise, he may as well have been murdered in his sleep." Indeed, there were strong seals placed on the boy's apartment. He didn't know exactly who had placed them there, but he was certain that whoever did it was extremely powerful, as well as concerned for Naruto's well being. Considering who he knew that strong that was concerned for the boy, along with stories Naruto told him in the past, left only two real options: the Third Hokage and Jiraiya.
He was no expert on seals. Heck, if his skills as a shinobi were ranked from best to worst, his skill with seals would be ranked the worst. This was mostly because the nature of seals was incredibly intricate, and required the chakra control necessary to 'write' the seal with your chakra. Not only that, but it needed to be perfectly written, else it would fail. Someone that possessed good penmanship skills would make a person a good seal user, something Masaru was severely lacking in.
Despite his handicap, he could see the seals were easily Hokage level. Taking a look at them as best as he could. He tried to discern what the seal's purpose was, based on what was written on them. It took him a few minutes before he could figure it out. From what he read, the seal was designed to allow entry to anyone that wanted to enter. However, if the person that entered had hostile intentions towards anyone or anything that was inside the barrier the seals created, then they would be repelled. It was also tweaked so that inanimate objects thrown with hostility imbued in them would be repelled, as well as prevent his apartment from catching on fire.
The seal was especially intricate, no doubt designed to give Naruto a safe haven away from all the people of the village who tortured him back then. Taking a closer look revealed that the seal has been intact for at least five years. Given that Jiraiya hadn't met Naruto until about three years ago, he concluded the Third Hokage placed the sealing jutsu on the apartment.
He smiled at the fact the old deceased man cared so much for the boy, but he remembered what he had came for, and quickly left a message in front of Naruto's ramen cabinet, knowing that would be where he'd most likely see the note. After that, he left for his own apartment to get some shuteye.
Tenten woke up in a groggy state. After the kenjutsu training with Masaru, she had just enough time to make a short meal before going to bed. She was so tired she fell asleep as soon as her head touched her pillow.
Now that the new day had begun, she got ready for the day. First, by getting a hot shower that would undoubtedly wake her up completely, then by preparing a simple high-energy breakfast coupled with a cup of coffee. Knowing that she might have to work with either Gai or Lee today. She would need all the strength she could get.
Making sure her battle kimono was on properly, and set to change to her bloodline outfit, she began to leave. Her reason for checking it came off from one of her earlier attempts at performing the jutsu properly. When she cast it, instead of switching to the outfit, she stood there completely naked when it occurred. Since then, she's been working to make sure it functioned properly, to prevent such mishaps. She knew perverted guys would jump at the chance to see her that way.
She snapped from her thoughts as she traveled down the streets to the training grounds. People who saw her simply gave her a respectful nod, as they always do for shinobi of the Leaf. It wasn't anything out of the ordinary. Ninja protect their lives everyday, so they show respect for their saviors.
Still, none of them are truly aware of all the turmoil that occurs behind the scenes. The village council members, saying they always are looking out for the best interests of the village, are among the most power-hungry and corrupt individuals around. If it was necessary for them to kill each other of in a stave for more power, she was sure they wouldn't hesitate to do so. She was sure the fact that Homura-sama and Koharu-sama, the most levelheaded members of the council, are the only reason such a situation hasn't arisen to begin with.
She knew so much about how corrupt the council was because during the two and a half year trip that Naruto had taken, she had approached Tsunade-sama about her desire to be a great kunoichi, yet she reprimanded her for such a silly dream, saying that to be truly great, you don't try to strive to be great. You aim for a goal that is much more solid, rather than something so vague. She had been crushed by that response, but it had given her a chance to think.
She came to the conclusion that she loved to help others as best she could, and would strive to be a top advisor to the Hokage. Tsunade applauded her for wanting to follow such a dream, earning her a blush on her cheeks when she said that. Since then, she has been sitting in with Tsunade whenever she was attending a council meeting, allowing her to see politics at work. For her to be a successful advisor, she'd need to be aware of all the subtleties of human emotion that were involved around the table. She'd also need a lot of combat experience in the field in various different combat scenarios to know how to effectively aid the Hokage in deploying shinobi for various missions.
She gritted her teeth in annoyance as she thought about those snobby council members. On her first day, she could plainly see that they cared little about actually protecting the village at all, and only worried about their own hides. The only time they even considered an important course of action was when they found some way to benefit out of it themselves. It sickened her.
She sighed and attempted to calm down as she noticed she reached the training grounds. It wouldn't do any good for her teammates to see her such a way, especially since she promised herself she'd tell them.
"YOSH! The youthful flower of our team has arrived, Lee!" Gai exuberantly shouted to his student, who shouted along with him, much to her annoyance.
"Hello, Tenten." A voice said to her.
Tenten only turned to look at the man she secretly loved, who had his eyes closed, meditating. Even though he couldn't see anything, she knew he was able to tell it was her by their team's fiery welcome.
"Hello, Neji-kun." She said, and she managed to get him to open his eyes, which he seemed almost hesitant to do. When he saw her, or more specifically what she was wearing, his eyes held almost what looked like relief.
"You changed your clothes." Neji said, almost monotonously. She frowned slightly when she thought he was scowling. She sat down in front of him, and looked at him playfully.
"What, didn't like my other outfit?" She asked with a tease. Perhaps Masaru was right that Neji felt something for her. It was very faint, but she was able to see a small trace of pink on his cheeks.
"Not that. I was curious as to why you felt the need to change your attire." Neji calmly said. That was one thing she had to admire about him. He was able to keep his cool regardless of the situation he was in.
"I wore that outfit because I wanted to be used to it. It serves my needs efficiently enough. I'm wearing this now because I prefer this for casual dress, and battle in ordinary circumstances." She said in a voice that seemed out of character for her, since Neji looked at her weirdly.
"What are you talking about?" Neji asked.
Tenten sighed, before she began. "First. Lee, Gai-sensei, could you come over here, there is something I'd like to speak to all of you about." They both stopped the taijutsu spar they were having, and they were all sitting in a circle.
"Before I begin, I want you all to promise to not reveal this to anyone. It's not something I want to be made public just yet." Lee, Gai, and Neji had all agreed to her request, wondering what was so important.
Once she had gotten them to agree, she had begun to explain to them about her bloodline limit, and a small history regarding her family. She then explained to them (Neji mostly) the reason she wore the outfit was because it allowed her maximum capabilities of her bloodline. Gai had nodded thoughtfully at this moment, before he agreed with her reasoning. As a taijutsu specialist, he understood that incorporating the offensive and defensive capabilities of hardened metal on the skin would prove to be most effective.
"Could you please show us your bloodline, Tenten?" Lee had excitedly asked. Tenten figured he would be the one to ask, though she knew that the others would've if he didn't.
"I am also curious to see it, Tenten. You have not used it in any of our sparring sessions." Neji remarked.
Tenten sighed, and concentrated her chakra up to the skin in her palm, and allowed it to seep out and form into a ball hovering in midair. "I didn't want to reveal it until I at least, got it somewhat under control. It could be dangerous if not under control. So I mostly trained it by myself, and on a couple of occasions Masaru-san assisted me in training."
Neji's interest was piqued at this point. "Masaru-san helped you out? Why does he know, and why is he helping you?" She couldn't be sure, but she was certain there was a hint of jealousy in his voice.
"He knows about my Ekitaikinzoku because he was with me when I first discovered it. He was a big help in showing me how to first make use of it. He also was the one who advised me to wear the outfit that I was wearing." She explained.
"He told you to wear that?!" Neji said, with a slight hint of anger in his voice.
Tenten was waving her arms in front of her frantically. "No, no nothing like that. He simply said I should wear something that would allow me to utilize it to it's fullest. Beyond that, everything was my own design."
"I see." He replied as he thought about it. Then he noticed the mark on her kimono. "What's that?"
"This?" She asked, when she saw him looking at it. "This is a special swapping storage seal. It enables me to switch between this and my other outfit at anytime. It's really helpful, but it took several days before I could get it working properly."
She then pushed chakra into the mark, and switched to her other attire. Neji merely looked away, which a definite blush on her face. Well the only way to get him over this. "Hey, Neji. How bout a spar? My bloodline against yours."
Neji got over himself quickly enough, and nodded. "Alright Tenten. Perhaps after training for the day, we could go to a teahouse for some tea."
Tenten was completely thrown off guard by this sudden request, and a small blush tinted her own cheeks. "W-why?"
"Well, I wanted to get the chance to know more about you. I've known you for years, yet I know so little about. I was hoping to change that." HE said.
"So, i-is it a d-date?" She stammered out.
"I… suppose it is, Tenten. Would you like to go on a date with me?" Neji nervously asked.
"YES! YES! I mean, of course I would like to go out with you, Neji-kun." Tenten said.
"Ok, Tenten-chan. I believe he should be sparring now." He said as he slid into a Jyuken stance. "Byakugan!" He cried out as veins bulged around his eyes, signifying that he has activated his clan prestigious bloodline limit. With that, he charged at her, ready to fight.
Masaru woke up extremely groggy not unlike Tenten. But unlike her, he was just trying to deny the inevitable by going back to sleep. The sun had other idea, and shone brightly on his face, forcing him to wake up to the new day.
He rubbed the sand from his eyes as he got into the shower, the steaming hot water waking him up completely. It was here he remembered that he was going to meet Naruto today. He groaned at the realization.
Getting together a basic breakfast of pancakes, eggs, and bacon helped him to build up his energy as he thought about training Naruto. He knew it would not be a simple task. From his observations, Naruto has learned from a wide variety of areas, yet the steps involved in what he needs to teach him are not among what he Naruto has learned. Masaru was hoping that Naruto had some basics down for what he needed to learn, but that was just incredibly bad wishful thinking.
It was going to be hell.
He had long since finished eating his breakfast, and was now walking down one of the streets to the training ground he was to meet Naruto at. "Still, although he may not pick up the concepts quickly enough, he'll be determined to learn them. Would give me some time to think as well."
He was so caught up in his musings he didn't realize he had bumped into someone. He was about to mutter out an apology when he got a good look at the person in front of him.
The long flowing hair, and pale eyes told him automatically it was Hyuga, but where Hinata's and Neji's eyes held kindness and sympathy, this person's eyes held nothing but a cold fury. The killer intent that he was letting off could easily scare the shit out of any lesser person, but Masaru had dealt with worse during his life, so he wasn't really buckled down by it at all.
A closer look revealed the man was wearing long, flowing white robes, and on his shoulder was the crest of the Hyuga clan. The fact he did not have the Caged Bird Seal told him that he was from the main family. He was also a slightly older man, which would mean that he would either be a Hyuga clan elder, of the head of the clan himself.
"Out of the way, boy. I have things to attend to." The Hyuga commanded.
"Who are you to tell me what to do? I'm not one of your servants. And what do you mean 'boy'? I'm clearly a teenager, you old fart." He got on Masaru's nerves with just that one sentence. He decided he was going to play hardball with him.
"How dare you! I am Hiashi Hyuga, the head of the Hyuga clan. You will be reprimanded for your lack of respect." Hiashi said, activating his Byakugan on instinct. Masaru thought that although he was the head of the clan, he sounded pretty insane.
"I don't give respect to pompous asses. If you want me to show you respect, you have to earn it." Masaru calmly said, though with a violent undertone that indicated he was pissed off.
"You tread a dangerous path. I'll give you one more chance to apologize for your deeds, before I kill you." Hiashi said calmly in return.
"Aren't you going a little overboard with this, Hiashi? I don't show respect, and you suddenly decide the only proper course of action is killing an infidel. You must be messed up in the head or something." Masaru said.
"I'LL KILL YOU!" Hiashi screamed, before launching a Jyuken strike at his heart. It connected, and Masaru was sent flying back, until he was replaced by a log, that is.
It took only an instant after that Masaru showed up in front of Hiashi. "You really need to calm down. I don't think high blood pressure for someone your age is very healthy." He said as he dodged one of the Byakugan user's attacks.
"Shut up! You are lowlife filth, and must respect his betters." Hiashi said, and Masaru closed his eyes, and was seriously wondering if the man in front of him had some sort of split personality disorder.
Then he heard his comment about him being lowlife filth. That instantly got on his nerves heavily, and something that he hated about nobles. They always used their class as a means to exercise the right to do whatever the hell they wanted to do with someone of lesser class they were. Even though he knew he shouldn't, he supposed Hiashi should know exactly who he was dealing with.
"You want to try to talk down to someone that should be considered just as politically powerful as you?" Masaru said, opening his eyes with the second level of his Kannyugan active. This was a little trick he learned sometime ago, but was far from mastering it. The trick worked in that he was able to split his consciousness between a person's mind and the real world, that way he could interact with both of them. It wasn't easy either, since you would be receiving sensory input from two completely separate locations. Any normal person, who wasn't able to control their own mind, would be easily overwhelmed by the experience.
Even now, he hasn't completely gotten it down. Masaru was able to, at best, travel through another person's mind as he and Hiashi were having the conversation. He learned that Hiashi was the father of Hinata, and the uncle of Neji, plus a few embarrassing secrets that he held.
Hiashi was surprised when he saw the new shape of the boy's pupils in front of him. He vaguely remembered seeing this somewhere before, but it wasn't before a long moment that he remember where he had seen them.
"You- You are a member of the Enjin clan, correct?" Hiashi asked. Masaru chuckled.
"Seems you haven't forgotten, but yes, I am one of the clan." Masaru said.
"Impossible. That clan died out fifteen years ago!" Hiashi exclaimed, causing Masaru's eyes to widen a bit.
"So they died when the Kyuubi attacked, I'm guessing. Apparently some of them survived, since I'm here." Masaru revealed.
"Who else survived?" The Hyuga head asked him.
Masaru decided to play with him a bit. "That's for me to know, and for you to not know. For now, at least. The day will come when the other survivor will be revealed. But for now, it's not your concern."
After Masaru's cryptic message, he moved at high speed to get behind Hiashi, with his back to him. "One more thing. Don't go around telling anyone what happened here. Otherwise, I'll reveal to the entire village your deepest, darkest, and most embarrassing secrets." Hiashi's head shot around to face him.
"H-How do you know those?" Hiashi stuttered, surprised someone like him was able to figure out his secrets, yet carry a conversation with him.
"I'm that good, that's why. Now, I have things I need to do." Masaru then left a perplexed Hiashi, who only scowled after the young man, before his eyes narrowed.
"Something must be done about him." Was the one thought running through his head.
Masaru had made it to the training ground a few minutes after his encounter with Hiashi, and was scolding himself for using his Kannyugan so recklessly.
"I shouldn't have done that. Mom said to never use the Kannyugan in anger." Was running through his mind as he punched a tree. The force he put into it was enough to put a sizable dent into the bark, but nowhere near enough to topple the whole thing.
He sighed to himself as he thought about his encounter with Hiashi. The only thing he knew for certain was that the man just rubbed him the wrong way. He was just that irritating. He wouldn't be surprised, though, if his own mother held something against him.
If he could take a guess, Hiashi might send assassins after him soon enough. He'd seem like the type of guy who would do anything to shut people up. He'd just need to be prepared for when that occurred.
He then heard the ruffling of leaves nearby, and knew who it was. He turned to face the sound, and saw Naruto entering the clearing.
"You wanted to see me, Masaru? I want to get to training so that I can bring back Sasuke." Naruto said.
Masaru inwardly chuckled. He sure did have a one-track mind. "Actually, that's what I wanted to see you about. I know you want to use the Kannyugan as soon as possible, so from this point on, I'm making it a point to train you myself in how to use it."
Author's Note: Hope you all liked this chapter. I tried to make a good scene there between Masaru and Hiashi, but Hiashi isn't one of my favorite characters, so I took the chance to just mess with his personality as I saw fit. Also, if there are any more encounters between those two in the future, you can expect Masaru to come out on top everytime.
That thing I did regarding the barrier protecting Naruto's house doesn't seem to farfetched in my opinion. From what I've seen, everytime we see Naruto's apartment, it's in impeccable condition, despite the fact that he is hated by the villagers. It wouldn't be unexpected for them to try and raid and destroy his house whenever they damn well pleased, especially since it would probably be common knowledge where it was. So I figured there was something done to protect his house when he wasn't around. The fire-proof thing was just something I added as well, to explain why the place he lived was never burned down.
There are a couple of things I forgot to post when I made the previous chapter, but I'll quickly list one here, and the other for the new jutsus. For Tenten's Ekitaikinzoku, I forgot to include that as a result of the bloodline, she also contains a genetic varient that allows her body to build up muscular strength at an accelerated rate compared to other people. The reason for this is that when the metal comes out of her body, it's density can be quite heavy, and she might very well strain herself under the weight of her own jutsu. So I included it as a means to compensate for it.
I know it isn't something I want to say, but don't expect there to be another update to this story for several more months. The reason for this is that I've got multiple things going on in my life that need some sorting out, and trying to write this story is just going to make it more difficult to juggle everything. Once I can get settled into a workable scenario, then I'll try to get some more of the story done. In the meantime, I've got a couple ideas for stories that I haven't seen on this site. If anyone wants to, they can take up the challenge to writing a good story based around the idea I have given.
Story 1: The Kyuubi Nine
Scenario: What if Naruto isn't the only person that the Fourth Hokage sealed the Kyuubi into. What if instead, he divided up the power of Kyuubi into nine separate bodies, each one receiving the same power. How would they all grow up containing a portion of the power that nearly destroyed the village? Pairings for this story I'll leave to anyone that'll want to take it.
Story 2: (no workable title)
What if the Cloud had been successful all those years ago, and had managed to successfully abduct Hinata on that night? But instead of just simply taking her eyes away, she's raised to despise Konoha, and all who live there. What will it take for a certain blonde Jinchuuriki to remember what she has left behind and come home. Pairings Naruhina, anything else at the author's discretion.
If anyone does decide to write either of the ideas I came up with, you can go and use them. I only ask that you send me a message informing me that you decided to take up the challenge. I'll look forward to it if anyone decides to try it out.
New Jutsus
Ninja Art: Rock Spire- A ninjutsu technique utilized by Masaru. It operates by sending a wave of chakra into the ground, at which point you direct where you want it to go. When ready, it will shoot up a spire of rock straight from the ground, either impaling the enemy, or sending them up in the air. How large the rock spire is depends on how much chakra is put into the techniques creation. D-Rank
Sealing Jutsu: Anti-Hostility Barrier- A jutsu that at one point was utilized by the Third Hokage. By placing special sealing tags onto certain surfaces, a barrier range can be created from the tags. Once active, the jutsu will permit entry to anyone who enters, but will bar entry to anyone that might hold hostile intentions towards anyone or anything existing in the barrier space. The jutsu was tweaked so that it could sense the hostility that would exist in weapons that are thrown towards the barrier space, so they would be repelled as well. It was also designed to prevent hostile fires from occuring with in the effect radius, so they wouldn't get lost.
Next chapter: Chapter 25- Chakra Streams
Eyes Of Truth
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