Hey guys! I'm back again pretty quickly with another chapter. This chapter was a lot of fun to write, probably why it didn't take that long. I hope you guys like this chapter, because I feel it is fairly important.

As always please, please, please review the fanfic. Tell me what you think, what you like, what you don't like, what areas I can improve on. I like critiques and I like getting better!

Now sit back, relax and enjoy!

Chapter 25

"God dammit, Naruto!" Ishiri yelled.

Ishiri yelped and moved his head, barely avoiding the knifepoint that was connected to one of the training chains Naruto had just been given. The chain imbedded itself in the tree right behind the young fox. Ishiri sighed before turning and screaming. He ducked and covered his head with his paws as another chain came careening towards him. The chain joined the first piece of metal that was already imbedded in the tree, but not before clipping Ishiri's tail that was sticking up in the air.

Ishiri jumped off the ground with a scream of pain. He grabbed his tail with his front paws and hugged it to his body. He inspected his tail to see a chunk of fur missing and a decent cut in the middle of his otherwise bushy tail. He licked his wound twice before turning and glaring at the culprit of the attack.

"Every time you try a new jutsu I'm the one that gets hurt! Every God damn time," he accused.

"It's not like you're the only one with a few nicks," Naruto muttered under his breath. Naruto's shirt was torn to shreds and barely hanging onto his frame, showing the black shirt he had underneath that was also sporting a few tears.

The duo was sitting in a small clearing. Limbs of trees lay scattered around the clearing along with a few down trees. The scroll had made it seem so easy, simply pump chakra into the chains and they'd be able to move as the controller wished. Nothing was ever that simple, Naruto found out. His concentration needed to be precise or else the chains would take off in any random direction. A bird chirping, a falling leaf, or rustling bush was enough of a distraction for the young shinobi who had been taught to be ever vigilant. If Naruto ever took his eye off the chains, even for a split second, the chains would shoot off toward the new destination of Naruto's attention.

To top that off the duo found out about the danger of putting too much chakra into the metal. The chains meant to just embed itself into a tree turned into a complete demolition job that went three trees deep into the forest that surrounded the clearing. It was a mix of deep concentration and minimal chakra that was tripping up the young Genin.

"What does your mom say about the technique?" Ishiri question. "She had to have run into the same problems."

Naruto nodded. "Kaa-chan says that you have to become the chains, like they are your own chakra, but they also have to be separate from your mind."

Ishiri tilted his head. "So you need to be two people at the same time?"

Naruto shrugged his shoulders. "It says here that this 'teme-baka' kept on distracting her during her exercises and the same things happened to him that just happened to you. They must have been on the same team or something."

"This doesn't seem like a very good jutsu," Ishiri said. "I mean if you have to be so focused on the chains that someone could get the drop on you it doesn't seem to be very practical."

Naruto nodded as he leaned forward, putting his hands on his legs, which were crossed in front of him, and stared down at the scroll. "Maybe it becomes second nature or something," Naruto reasoned. "Right now I am so focused on getting the chakra amount right that I can't focus on anything else. I bet it turns into second nature after a while."

"Maybe we should try a single chain for now," Ishiri suggested.

Naruto shook his head. "Nah, Kaa-chan said she jumped right into two and three chains."

"Well roll the scroll out some more then," Ishiri yipped. "Maybe she can give you some tips or something because right now this jutsu is a dud."

"Agreed." Naruto rolled the scroll out a little further before big, bold letters could be seen with multiple arrows, underlines and exclamation points surrounding it. Naruto sweat-dropped at the message.

Mistakes were made! Start with only one chain!

"How much did you roll this scroll out again?" Ishiri questioned as he glared at his partner.

Naruto put his hand behind his head and awkwardly laughed. "Um . . . well . . . just enough to get the idea of the jutsu."

"So you mean my tail got shaved for nothing?" Ishiri barked. He took a step toward his partner, one he wasn't happy with at the moment, with a growl.

Naruto scooted back a bit with his hands in front of him defensively. "I wouldn't call it 'for nothing' Ishiri," he stammered. "I mean I did get the amount of chakra needed down . . . roughly."

"Roughly?" Ishiri shouted in exacerbation. He opened his mouth to chew his partner out even further when he froze. "Did you hear that?"

Naruto quirked an eyebrow at his partner. "What are you talking about?"

"Something smells off and there are faint footsteps approaching," Ishiri said as he lowered his body to the ground, tail waving behind his body. "And I can't smell Konoha on whatever it is, not even a bit."

Naruto reached back into pouch and produced three shuriken. He got up and into a readied stance. He felt chakra flood his nose, ears and eyes. He began to pick up a familiar scent and the faint footsteps of a person circling the clearing. "Yeah I hear it now," Naruto muttered.

"Code," Ishiri muttered back. His tail began to dance in a more fluid motion. "10 o'clock, inside of 100 meters but outside of 50."

Naruto's free hand began to move in his own signals. "Single person, wearing geta. Older male by the smell."

"Smells of ink and tabacco," Ishiri pointed out.

The duo stayed put and readied themselves before the sound and smell vanished. Both froze before going back to back and scanning the clearing. They couldn't pick up a single sound or smell from the environment around them.

"This is bad," Naruto rasped.

"Yeah, he could have left but those footsteps were approaching us before they vanished," Ishiri pointed out.

The paired turned when they heard a rustling from their left. The tension in their bodies seemed to disappear when a pair of dice came flying toward them. The dice hit the floor of the clearing, rolling and ended at their feet harmlessly.

"Dice?" Naruto asked in disbelief. His disbelief was shattered when the pair of dice enveloped the duo in an explosion. Naruto and Ishiri went flying. Naruto hit on his back and rolled into a crouch. He sent the shuriken flying into the forest where the dice had come from.

Three cards came flying out of the clearing spinning. The pieces of paper hit the shuriken, the projectiles deflecting off each other as if the cards were metal. The cards stayed suspended in the air before another explosion ripped through the air. Naruto had jumped out of the way of another volley of cards that came flying out of the cloud of smoke. Naruto gasped when he felt something cut his side.

He put his hand on his side before bringing it up to see blood. He looked to the flying cards to see that they had ripped through the side of trees before being embedded in trees deep inside the forest. Naruto's head whipped around when he heard the sound of a fire jutsu.

Ishiri dug his paws into the dirt to stop his skid before jumping into the offensive. He used the smokescreen provide by the explosion of the three cards to get into the forest. He bounded up a tree and got behind the person that had attacked them. Ishiri reared his head back and launched it forward allowing a torrent of flames to spew from his mouth.

His target turned at the last second and bounded into the clearing to avoid the technique. Ishiri jumped up and twisted his body, sending senbon-like hairs from his furry tail at the unknown assailant.

The man jumped back again but grunted in pain as one found its way into his thigh. He had turned around quickly when he heard another jutsu come from his second opponent.

Naruto took a kunai out and put into his mouth as he went through hand seals in a hurry. He saw his chance as the unknown opponent jumped into the clearing, away from the flames of his partner. He pulled out the kunai when he was done with the hand seals, wind immediately wrapping around the knife. "Wind Release: Wind Drill Jutsu," he shouted as he threw the kunai. The kunai began to spin at a high rate, the wind whipping around it turning into a tornado-esque projectile.

The assailant had to act quickly. He reached into his haori and produced a simple playing card. He threw the card out before bring his off hand up with his middle and pointer finger straight and together, the other's clutched. "Fuin," he shouted. The card turned straight so it was vertical to the ground, a sealing appearing almost instantly. The seal sparked to life before a purple barrier appeared.

Naruto's jutsu connected with the barrier and caused an explosion that enveloped the strange man from his view. Ishiri jumped down and into a battle-ready position, the forest beginning to burn behind him from his jutsu. The smoke began to clear. Naruto peered in, his jaw dropped at what he saw. The barrier was still up but the man inside of the barrier was the real surprise.

"Sa-Satomi?" Naruto asked in disbelief.

There, standing before him, was the peppered haired, smoking gambler he had seen yesterday. The man turned to him with a cheeky smile.

"Hey kid."

"Naruto you know this guy?" Ishiri questioned from the other side of the barrier that separated the duo from the man on inside.

"Sort of. It's that guy I won some money off of yesterday," Naruto responded.

"Well what the fuck is he doing here attacking us?"

"Huh didn't know you had an animal contract," Satomi said nonchalantly. "Pretty good for a kid your age. Even puts up a pretty good fight. Gonna have to find some place to get this thing patched up." He grunted when he pulled out the piece of hair from his leg. He examined it a bit and whistled. "Good technique, thankfully wasn't laced with poisoned."

"Enough about that!" Naruto shouted. He pointed at him with an angry look in his eyes. "Why are you here? Why did you attack us? And why do you know fuinjutsu?"

"Man kid you sure got a lot of questions." He bent down and began to look at the chains before turning to the main scroll that Naruto had received. "But I guess I can cut my answer short: I'm taking this scroll kid."

"Hey that's a family scroll," Naruto responded with a snarl.

"I know kid, that's why I'm taking it." Satomi seemed to accentuate his point by flipping the scroll up and down in his hands a few times. "The Uzumaki were always known for their seals, but they died when Uzushiogakure fell. Been searching a long time for a surviving member of that clan. Imagine my luck when an Uzumaki just happens to fall right in my lap at my own gambling stand, and he happens to have a scroll on him with Uzumaki seals in it."

"How'd you know I had that scroll?" Naruto howled.

Satomi just shrugged. "Didn't honestly, but I figured if I followed you enough you'd study seals of some type and I'd take what you had when I got the chance. Out here, in the middle of the forest, best chance I was probably going to get," he explained as he gestured around the trio to the trees and clearing.

"You're going to give those back right now," Naruto declared as he took a step forward.

"Sorry, no can do kid. Now if you don't mind-" Satomi was cut short when Naruto let out a roar and ran forward, a Rasengan in his right hand. He howled and threw his hand forward, the blue sphere of chakra colliding with the barrier. Satomi's head shot back and he laughed. "Good luck trying to break this seal kid. This is my best barrier seal."

"That's my Kaa-chan's scroll," Naruto grunted. He pushed harder and harder, he could feel the barrier begin to give. He gave one last push. "I won't let you take it!"

Satomi's eyes widened when a crack began to appear in the barrier. Suddenly the barrier shattered into a purple light. He jumped back to avoid the sphere. He reached into his haori and flipped into the air. He slapped a card on Ishiri's back, who came barreling forward with paws lit on fire. He landed and made another single hand seal. "Fuin," he said. Ishiri yipped and hit the ground with a thud.

Naruto moved through the barrier, a smile on his face. His smile turned to horror as the black lines that made of up the seal suddenly began to wrap themselves around him. He felt his muscles seize, his breathing becoming heavier and his heart rate soaring. He hit the ground with a thud and skidded to a stop next to his downed partner.

"P-poison?" Naruto muttered out weakly, lifting his head to see Satomi smiling down at him. His vision was shaky at best, blurring and barely focusing.

"A counter measure I designed in the seal," Satomi gloated. "If the barrier were to ever break then the ink and seal would wrap around what broke it, this time you. The seal was made with a special type of ink that is laced with a poison that acts on the muscles of the body, effectively stunning the victim. The brilliant part of the seal is that the poison only activates when exposed to chakra. I took it from these spider summons I met some time ago. Their summoner was kind enough to give me some of their poison. It's one of my best seals if I do say so myself. Don't worry it'll wear off in a couple of hours but by then I'll be long gone." Satomi turned to leave the pair before Naruto's voice stopped him.

"You're not going anywhere."

Satomi turned around to respond before gasping. Naruto was struggling to his feet. He seemed to be partially glowing in a bright orange and yellow mixture of chakra. He paused when he saw the Genin's eyes. His eyes were piercing yellow, the same as his fox partner's.

"I won't let you take my mother's scroll," he roared and jumped forward, a kunai in hand.

Satomi put the scroll in his haori before twisting and dodging the lunging kunai. Satomi grabbed Naruto's wrist with the kunai using his off hand. The brought another seal out of his haori and attempted to slap it on the Genin's back. He gasped in pain when Naruto twisted in mid air and connected a kick square to his chest.

He hit a tree with a powerful thud. He groaned and opened his eyes in time to duck and roll out of another Rasengan.

Naruto pulled his hand out from the tree and jumped into the limps above when he heard the sounds of more cards flying through the hair. He did a backflip from the highest point of the tree and ran through hand signs as quickly as possible. "Wind Release: Air Bullet Jutsu," Naruto shouted before letting loose four powerful attacks.

Satomi snarled when he felt he was running low on cards with seals on them. Damn I should have come more prepared. Oh well these will have to work. He took out his remaining cards and threw them at the attacks.

Naruto smirked from his jump when saw his jutsu go through the cards like they were nothing, the cards seemed to just hit and bounce off. Satomi only managed to dodge two attacks before one bullet caught his left shoulder. He cried out in pain before he got hit square in the chest by the fourth attack.

Naruto began to stalk over to his downed foe. "I told you I wasn't going to let you get away with my family's jutsu."

Satomi lifted his head with a smirk on his face. "Yo-you think won, aye kid?"

"Considering I just kicked your ass, yes, yes I do!"

"Think again." Satomi brought a hand up into another seal. "Fuin."

Naruto stopped dead in his tracks with a confused look on his face. A light from the corner of his eyes caught his attention. He turned to see one of the four cards Satomi had just thrown. His head whipped around again to see that he was in the middle of all four cards, each glowing bright blue.

"Shit," Naruto muttered before lightning seemed to jump out of the cards and strike him. Naruto howled in pain, electricity seemingly flowing through his body. He continued to howl before the cards finally stopped glowing and he hit the ground with a thud.

"Naruto! What did you do to him?" Ishiri barked from his spot on the ground.

Satomi pushed himself up off the ground, gasping for air. He had to admit that the kid packed a pretty good punch for only being a Genin. "Relax would ya?" he rasped out. "I merely locked his tenketsu up using lightning strikes that target the chakra network. Basically what the Hyuga do only much more effective."

"How do you know about the Hyuga? They're a Konoha clan." Ishiri and Satomi looked and saw Naruto struggling to move his head, his body face down on the ground.

"Should have known a Jinchuriki wouldn't stay down from that for too long," Satomi said. He saw the whiskered blond boy's eyes widened at a stranger knowing his secret. Satomi waved him off. "The Hyuga's techniques aren't that big of a secret, most clan jutsu aren't. But what makes the Hyuga's techniques impossible to replicate is the Byakugan. I simply skirted around it with some seals. As for me knowing about your little secret, well Jinchuriki aren't affected by poison and if they are the effects wear off quickly. But that's enough talk, I got to get out of here before this place burns down."

"Not before you give back that scroll."

Satomi felt something go into his haori. He looked down to see a big tongue come rushing out with the scroll in its grasp. He jumped to grab it but not before a being pinned to a tree but a black and red toad with armor that stood a little shorter than himself. He looked behind the toad to see a man with white hair beginning to walk into the clearing with more toads spraying water and working to douse the fire.

Jiraiya walked over and plucked the scroll from his toad's mouth. "Arigato Gama. You did good. You and the rest of the toads can go home now." Gama gave a nod and he and the rest of the toads vanished with the forest fire now in check. Jiraiya turned to the downed ninja next. "As for you, I can't say it's a pleasure to see you again Kashiwagi Satomi."

"Likewise Jiraiya of the Sannin."

"Y-You know this guy Pervy Sage?" Naruto questioned, still on the ground.

"Hai, he his from the all-but-extinct Kashiwagi Clan of Yugakure. They were rivals of sorts to the Uzumaki. Both clans were known for their seals but the Uzumaki were more respected in the shinobi community," Jiraiya commented.

"Bah the only reason they were more well known is because of their bigger numbers and their relationship to the Senju," Satomi spat. "We had seals that were just as good or better than the Uzumaki."

Jiraiya just folded his arms and shook his head. "And yet you could never seal a tailed beast. You were rivals to the Uzumaki in your own minds and no where else."

"Shut up," Satomi barked. "We were a proud clan, we fought with honor and only used our seals to help and defend our homes."

"Is that why you attacked Naruto? For honor? As revenge, a sort of last one-ups-man-ship to spite the Uzumaki name?" Jiraiya questioned with a foot on Satomi's chest to keep him in place.

"Revenge yes, but I have no ill-will towards the Uzumaki," Satomi said before groaning as Jiraiya pushed harder, the tree creaking in protest.

"Then why attack and take the scrolls."

"You know as well I do Jiraiya that my clan was decimated, slaughtered in cold blood after Yugakure decided to disarm itself and stay out of another needless war," Satomi explained. "The Kashiwagi, we saw what happened to the Uzumaki, we didn't want that same thing happening to us. We decided to drop our militarization, stop accepting requests as a hidden shinobi village, but not everyone agreed. So you can imagine my surprise when I come home from my last mission as a shinobi to my family slaughtered, my entire clan, by that monster."

"Hidan of the Akatsuki," Jiraiya finished for the man.

"Yeah the very same one." Satomi's eyes fell with a sad look. "My seals are no match for him, I tried everything but nothing worked."

"So you sought out the one clan that could have seals that would beat him," Jiraiya again finished for him. He got a nod as a response. "You tried looking for the Uzumaki Library." Another affirmative nod. "And throughout the Elemental Nations thinking some Uzumaki fled, but didn't trust Konoha thinking we had betrayed them."

"You read me like a book Jiraiya," Satomi said with weak laugh.

"What happened to your family was a terrible, terrible thing Satomi, but it took place 20 years ago. Let it go, start over. There is still time to resurrect your clan, your family," Jiraiya reasoned.

Satomi shook his head. "There is no starting over for me Jiraiya. I held my wife and baby girl in my own arms, their blood staining my clothes. How can I move on when I already lost everything?"

"Give up on that dream, it will only kill you Kashiwagi."

"I've been dead for twenty years Jiraiya. Twenty long years," Satomi said with one last smile before pooffing into smoke and being replaced with a log.

Jiraiya hummed before checking the scroll. Satisfied that it was the original he went over to the two downed males. He looked curiously at the fox and the seal on his back. "Huh he actually made a decent weight seal," he said as he took the card off of Ishiri.

Ishiri sighed, a weight had just been lifted and it felt good. He pushed himself up and shook a little bit. "Thanks for that old man, now come on we got to get to Naruto."

"Wait, are you his summons?" Jiraiya asked.

"We liked to think of it as more of a partnership," Ishiri responded.

"Is thiat why the kid was hell bent on not signing the Toad Contract?"

"Oi we don't share!" Ishiri bit back.

"But toads are so much cooler than foxes," Jiraiya pouted.

"Are you going to sit there and complain or are you going to fucking help me here? Naruto never stays down this long!" Ishiri scolded.

Jiraiya sighed and walked over to see Naruto unconscious. He bent down and picked the boy up, carrying him in his arms. "He must have passed out during our chat. If your not use to your tenketsu being closed then you find your energy gets zapped pretty quickly. I'll get him to the hospital if you want to head back to wherever you come from."

"I'd prefer to monitor you when you have my partner Gama-summoner," Ishiri said with a snarl.

Jiraiya just shrugged. "Suit yourself you mangy mutt." Ishiri didn't have time to respond before Jiraiya was bounding his way to the hospital, Naruto in his hands along with the chains and the scroll.

•••••

Kurama's tails swung behind him in a bored manner, his mind thinking of what had transpired. The same pull from the gates had happened, but this time he had let his chakra go freely, he even pushed more into the seal.

"Why does this Kit's chakra accept mine so readily?" the beast pondered with frustration. "Is his will that strong?" An image appeared in his mind, the image of man with a staff in hand and robes that reached the ground. Kurama grunted and settled his head in his paws. "This vessel is becoming more and more interesting everyday . . ."