Monumental thanks to Dragon6 and NoneAvailable for reviewing this chapter.
Naruto: Legacy of the Rasengan
By: Tellemicus Sundance
Chapter 36--Scars of Battle
Creeping slowly along the horizon, the rain came as a surprise on the gathered shinobi. None of them had been paying attention to the weather, far too engrossed in the battle beneath them. Almost instinctively, sand quickly rose out of Gaara's gourd to shield him from the falling water.
Seeing the battle was now over, Gaara formed himself a small platform of sand. Ignoring the others, he stepped on it and floated down to Naruto's unconscious form gently. Thanks to the partial sphere he was encompassed in, he didn't see the blur of black that was heading towards Sasuke.
Gazing down upon the face of the boy who had been the starting point of his rehabilitation, Gaara couldn't help but feel slightly jealous. Uzumaki had just fought an amazing battle, possibly more so than their own. And Gaara had been completely unable to help without having to resort to using Shukaku again, which he had sworn off ever using again.
Naruto was resting at his feet now, relaxed, his breathing slow and even. The faintest hint of a smile was pulling at the corners of his face, as though even unconscious he was content with the battle being over. As he gazed down upon his rival and savior, Gaara spotted a new addition to the boy's attire. A green jewel hung around his neck on a badly flayed strap, it privately amazed Gaara that he was still wearing it after that battle.
Drifting his gaze upwards, Gaara was finally able to fully observe Naruto's wound. By now it had almost entirely healed. The dried blood that had caked the deep slash over his eye had long since been washed away. There was no indention in his skin to hint at an injury. Only the faintest change of color upon the wound was visible to naked and inexperienced eye.
"Is he alright?" the voice of a man he didn't know asked.
Glancing over to the Jounin that had just arrived, carrying the Uchiha, Gaara noticed the single Sharingan that was staring down at Naruto. After only a moment of searching his memory did Gaara put a name to his face. Hatake Kakashi, the Copycat of Konoha, wielder of a thousand jutsus, and recent jounin sensei to Team Seven.
"…Hai," Gaara said, returning his attention to Naruto. Gathering sand underneath the blonde, he gently hoisted him off the ground
Nodding, Kakashi turned to leave as he said under his breath, "For Naruto and Sasuke to fight here, of all places. It's…ironic…Let's go back to Konoha, Sabaku-san."
Zetsu watched as the party of Konoha and Suna shinobi recovered the two children who had been fighting only minutes before. He had watched the entire chase and following battle between the two while safely hidden under the surface of the earth.
He was of two minds on the battle, literally. One half of him was worried. Those two boys had displayed a level of skill and power that far exceeded all expectations he'd been given by Itachi and their leader. Now they were being taken home to recover, and then they'd train and further grow in strength. If they continued at the rate at which they were, he knew that they would be able to disrupt their organization's plans quite soundly in the future.
If it weren't for the fact that he'd been ordered to observe the battle, as well as what his other self thought, Zetsu would've rushed in there to kill the boys there and then.
Yet his other self was ecstatic. If those boys were this strong now, how much stronger would they be when the Akatsuki began to take more active roles in the future? He couldn't suppress the shivers of excitement at the thought. He wanted to have a big battle, then feast on their corpses in celebration.
"This is promising to get very interesting," his other self said. "Isn't it?"
"…Yes," he said quietly before tunneling away. Their leader would want to know of these developments.
Several hours later…
His body ached badly, as though he'd been used as a piñata at a party of sledgehammers or something of the like. His muscles were screaming in agony from exhaustion, and no matter how hard he panted he couldn't seem to hold it in for more than a second. His head was spinning horribly, but he somehow managed to beat back the disorientation and prevented falling back into the bliss of unconsciousness.
Opening his eyes, he found his vision to be as disorienting as he felt. Half of it only saw darkness, due to that half being covered in bandages. The other half of his vision took in the sight of a familiar white room, a hospital room. Turning his head slightly to the side, he found himself staring out a window and up at a extremely familiar monument.
He just stared at it for a moment, taking in the sight. I'm back, he realized with a small of relief.
Slowly, he watched as fast-paced and confusing series of memories flowed through his mind. They climaxed at the final clash of the Chidori and the Rasengan while they were suspended above the waterfall. As he remembered the accidental slash to his face, Sasuke finally realized why his right eye was bandaged.
Sighing slightly to himself again, a satisfied grin slowly crawled across his face. But it didn't get as large as it could've. The sharp stinging of the claw marks on his cheek prevented it.
The opening of the door to the room caused the weak grin to vanish instantly. Turning his head to see to who had entered the room, he spotted to people. The first was his teammate, lying in a bed next to him. The other person was the Godaime Hokage, Tsunade.
"I see you're finally wake," she said as she saw him. "Good…As you can probably guess, everybody has a lot of questions for you, Uchiha."
"…Hai," he said, returning his attention to the window with a blank face.
"Would you care to explain your actions to me?" Tsunade asked in a honey-sweet voice, trying to rein in her impulsive anger at the boy's lack of respect. "or would you rather I just put on probation and house-arrest until further notice?"
Sasuke just continued to stare out the window for a moment. Then he said, "I didn't want to leave, Hokage-sama, but I had no choice."
"How so?"
"You know of the curse seal, correct, Hokage-sama?" Sasuke asked, bringing his hand unconsciously up to the mark. Seeing her nod, he continued, "it was slowly taking over my mind. I could feel it…Then Orochimaru sent those shinobi to get me. They offered me a way to control the seal, a pill that I had to eat. But it reacted badly with my body and they had to seal me into…suspended animation for my body to adjust."
"During which time they took you towards Orochimaru," Tsunade inserted, understanding in her voice.
"Yes…" Sasuke couldn't help but to smirk slightly as he continued. "When I came to, I saw Naruto had followed me…like I wanted."
"Let me guess," Tsunade said, interrupting as she rubbed her forehead in annoyance. "you wanted to test the limits of the power when you woke up. And with Naruto there, how could you resist?"
Sasuke's face returned to its usual passiveness as he looked back upon the Hokage faces. As he stared at the Yondaime, he couldn't help but see a quite noticeable resemblance between the former Kage and his teammate. Shifting his gaze to Naruto, Sasuke saw the similarities didn't end. Naruto's features may have been younger and slightly softer, but they were still there.
Tsunade saw the suspicious gaze Sasuke was giving Naruto as he glanced between the monument and the boy. If she'd even cared, she might've made a remark to him about it. But currently she was more concerned with the new information she'd acquired from the Uchiha.
If she were to believe the young prodigy, she'd be extremely relieved. The boy was a genius and an Uchiha. It would only be natural for him to jump at the opportunity for 'free power' especially with what two of his life goals were. She also knew very well of the rampages caused by the escaped victims of Orochimaru over the years who also bore a curse seal. One didn't travel the world in search of casinos and following 'get-rich-quick' schemes without hearing something like a random slaughtering of a small village or port town by a monster that had once been a human being.
Yet, she couldn't just shrug off the boy's actions. He had left the village, unannounced, with a team affiliated with one of Konoha's most wanted criminals to gain more power. If she let him off with little to no punishment, he'd only be encouraged to leave again if the opportunity ever arose again. And if she knew Orochimaru as well as she hoped she did, the Hebi-Sannin wouldn't rest until he'd finally acquired the Uchiha's body for himself.
"Uchiha," she said, drawing his attention back to her again. "do you know why Orochimaru gave you that seal in the first place? Or why he is offering to train you?"
"Does it matter?" Sasuke asked, giving her an annoyed scowl. "I'm not there, am I?"
"He wants your body, or rather your Sharingan," she continued, ignoring him. "He gave you that seal in hopes that its uncontrollable urges would send you straight to him."
She knew she had his interest now. "In order for him to take your body, he will probably have to destroy your soul. That would make you nothing more than a spiritless, dead yet living corpse. That is what he'd have done to you."
She watched he looked away, his gaze was glazed over. After giving him a moment to process and analyze this, she continued, "I hope you realize what you'd almost gotten yourself into."
Sasuke nodded slowly, only half-hearing.
"Because you were officially a nuke-nin for little over a day, I am placing you under probation and temporary house-arrest, complete with a curfew." She had to steel herself to keep from smirking at his uncharacteristically surprised, almost disbelieving, gawk. "It will lifted when your sensei and teammates deem you fit to regain your prior privileges."
Sasuke just turned an absentminded gaze at the still sleeping Naruto. A memory of his willing encounter with Sakura before he left sprang to mind, as did Kakashi's 'advice.' Looking at the Godaime, his following statement was almost a whine. "Then I'll be on probation for the rest of my life!"
This time Tsunade did grin at his expense.
Two days later…
There was only one truly serious casualty acquired during the entire mission, Akimichi Choji. The first medic team she had sent out after the genin had discovered him and the corpse of an enemy shinobi by early morning of the next day. After properly disposing of the corpse, they rushed Choji back to Konoha with all due haste. Tsunade had been overseeing his survival, now recovery, ever since.
Early in the operation, Tsunade had quickly been able to discover the reasons for his current injuries. Thankfully the hospital had a book on the basic Akimichi body and common injuries since the clan was very unique and often acquired wounds that no other clan would. With the book, she had managed to find the cause about half way through the four-thousand page book.
She was positive he had used the forbidden soldier pills of his clan to battle. Each pill was capable of supplying an Akimichi with specific nutrients used to unlock the untapped potential chakra that was stored in their bodies. With each pill that was digested, the greater the amount of chakra and energy was pulled from their bodies. The third and final pill generated the most, far more chakra than the common Akimichi could handle due to the damage that was inflicted on their bodies.
In one sense, those pills were another method of opening the Celestial Gates.
Yet Choji, after apparently eating all three, was still alive. That had Tsunade going over a list reasons for how that was possible. The only reason that truly made the most sense to her was that he had been consistently and immediately drained of his chakra prior to taking the third pill. If so then while the pill gave him an enormous power boost, it was just enough to not burn out his body completely, thus saving his life.
By now the young Akimichi had mostly stabilized, allowing her the opportunity to take a short examination of the other injuries the team had sustained. In one room she found Inuzuka Kiba expertly bandaged, most heavily around his lower torso. According to the clippings of rumors she'd heard, he'd stabbed himself to force an enemy to leave his body after possessing it.
The stab wound was deep, almost fatal actually. Another few millimeters in any direction would've punctured a vital organ that, if not killing him, would've ended his career as a shinobi. And when she'd informed him about it, he just chuckled painfully.
Shikamaru, who only had a broken finger, was the least injured. She had passed him and the Suna kunoichi waiting outside Choji's operating room. The poor boy was horribly torn up emotionally and morally about his best friend being the only truly injured one to come back from the mission. She knew he was feeling doubts, questioning whatever choices he had had to make. But he'd have to work to work it out with himself if he still desired to remain a shinobi.
In the next room, Hyuuga Neji was being treated for second and third degree burns along his back, shoulders, and triceps. Along with those was a large number of bruises he'd acquired upon his torso and scrapes on his arms and legs. Traces of dirt and rock that were still partly wedged under the slowly healing skin and between the cuts had her guessing that he'd been subject to a landslide or something similar. But unlike his teammates, his life was in no danger of ending or being permanently ruined. At worst, he'd have one ugly burn scar on his backside for the remainder of his life. Neji was oddly unconcerned with the news when she'd told him.
As she was leaving Neji's room, she found Shikamaru standing outside and waiting for her. From the look on his face, he had a very serious question to ask. And probably not one she was going to enjoy answering either.
"Can I ask you something, Hokage-sama?" his face was grave, and his tone deathly serious.
Nodding, she beckoned him to accompany her as she made her last but most anticipated stop on her routine.
"Judging from what our mission objective was and all the uncertain factors at the beginning," he said quietly as he walked up to her side. "…shouldn't we have been assigned a medical specialist?"
Sighing, Tsunade nodded to him. "A long time ago, I wrote the same thing in a report on team survival and mission success rates. But…"
Glancing up at her, Shikamaru saw her head drop slightly at whatever she was about to tell him. After a moment, she continued, "But it's not easy to train medics to shinobi." That statement drew a sharp stare from Shikamaru. "A medic has an entirely different set of skills to master, a large amount of specialized knowledge, refine chakra control to a perfection, and the most important aspect of being a first-class medic…"
Now Shikamaru was curious. What was the most important thing to being a medic? But he wasn't going to get an answer as they turned the corner to her last stop.
Standing in front of the door to the room was a familiar pink-haired figure. Haruno Sakura stood uncertainly at the room's entrance, her hand reaching out to open the door, only to retract without touching it. From the half of her face that they could see, she looked depressed, scared, and worried.
"You're Haruno Sakura, aren't you?" Tsunade asked pleasantly.
Hearing her voice, Sakura almost jumped before recovering her wits. Turning fast to face them, she could only nodded uncertainly. The medic Hokage wasn't surprised by this reaction, in fact she'd grown accustomed to it. This was the first time Naruto's teammate had been before the new Hokage, so she was somewhat hesitant on how to react.
"…H-Hai…Hokage-sama," she said, stepping away from the door to bow formally.
"Well," she said, moving forward to grasp the door handle. "Let's go face the music"
What beheld the three as they opened the door was anything but 'music.' The hospital room was a complete mess; beds thrown over on their sides, cabinets were smashed or torn open and their contents thrown about.
Standing as proudly as they could in the center of the mess were Naruto and Sasuke. If it weren't for the differences in height and hair color, they looked almost identical due to all the bloody bandages that were covering their bodies and one of their eyes. The expressions on their faces were that of infuriated disgust and anger. At least that's what their audience thought they were, but there was no real way of knowing for sure. Not while the two boys were trying to beat the other down with their bare fists.
"You damn fool!" Naruto cussed, as he hit Sasuke in the face to accent his point. "What were you thinking?!"
Sakura recoiled immediately. What's going on here?!
A quick backhand knocked Naruto slightly to the side and gave Sasuke time to recoil. "I was very confident!"
"And that justifies leaving?!" the Jinchuuriki snapped, throwing a punch to Sasuke's stomach.
"I already told you why!!" the Uchiha snapped back as he caught the blonde's second fist and sent his own punch.
"Do you even know what he--" Naruto dodged and backhanded Sasuke. "--wanted you for?!"
"It doesn't matter," Sasuke growled as he slowly straightened himself. "I'm not there, now am I?"
Anger was rolling off both boys in almost visible waves as they grabbed the other's hospital shirt collars and tried to heave the other off his feet. Sasuke had slightly better success than Naruto.
"Naruto? Sasuke?" Tsunade said in a honey-sweet voice, finally drawing both boys' single eyes upon their audience. That was when Tsunade's anger flooded the room, washing over theirs like a tsunami. "What are you doing? This is a hospital, not the Chuunin Exam!"
For a moment, they just stared at the angry Hokage, various emotions playing out across their only visible eyes. Sakura's breath was caught in her throat as she truly took notice of the injuries that they were bandaged for.
According to the rumor mill, her two teammates and friends had fought one another. And while Ino, who'd heard from Shikamaru, told her that the fight had supposedly been breath-taking, she knew that if these injuries were the result of it, she never wanted them to fight ever again. But there was a feeling in her gut that told her something else. That they'd fight each other without hesitation or any consideration to her feelings anyway.
And from the looks that had finally settled upon their bandaged faces, she knew that her instincts were about to be confirmed.
"You're right," they said simultaneously. Glancing at each other, they nodded before looking back over at Tsunade. "Excuse us."
Releasing each other, they turned and leapt out of the shattered window without even a second glance. Rushing to the window, Sakura looked down to see what had become of them. They landed in front of the entrance of the hospital, in the midst of a crowd that had gathered around the debris of the window.
Backing away in surprise at the sudden arrival of the boys, the crowd watched with Sakura and Shikamaru as he joined her side. As though nothing had changed, Naruto and Sasuke resumed their fistfight. Tsunade growled to herself as she turned and walked away, taking the more civilized way outside.
"That was the stupidest thing you've ever done, teme!" Naruto ranted.
"I knew what I was doing!" Sasuke snapped back, ducking under Naruto's punch. Grabbing his outstretched hand, he turned and threw the blonde awkwardly over his shoulder. "And I knew you'd come to stop me!"
Rolling over awkwardly, Naruto pushed himself partially up before charging headfirst at Sasuke, yelling, "You still betrayed Konoha!"
"I didn't betray anything!" Sasuke yelled back, trying in vain to dodge.
Sakura couldn't help but gasp. He didn't? Her mind was reeling back as it tried to process what she was hearing. Then that night…what was he…? He was only pretending?! I told him I…and he used me to…! Despite being justifiably embarrassed, anger welled up inside her. How dare he do that to her!
"Get away from him, demon!" a sudden voice screamed.
From her vantage point, Sakura watched as one of the gathered men who was watching the fight suddenly dash in towards the blonde. Naruto had only enough time to skid to a halt and look questioningly to the side before he was tackled to the ground.
If Naruto hadn't been so seriously weakened after his overuse of youki the other day, he would've easily been able to tear the man off him. The man was very strong for a civilian however. He had a very ripped body, no doubt from extreme manual labor. He clamped one hand down on Naruto's throat, closing his windpipe easily.
"You will not speak to the Uchiha like that again if you value your life, demon!" the man growled, a chorus of agreement quickly circulating from the gathered crowd.
Before she could follow her teammates' example and jump through the window to start pummeling the man senseless, a loud shout, laced with a wave of strong killing desire, erupted from Sasuke.
"STAND ASIDE!!" Sasuke yelled.
The crowd, who had unconsciously began forming a living wall to shield their prodigy from the monster, turned in surprise to the dark-haired boy.
"THIS DOESN'T CONCERN YOU!!!" Sasuke continued, pushing his way up to the man who still held the struggling blonde.
Walking up the man, his arm snapped out and grabbed the large man by his own throat. It made for an interesting sight to see a twelve-year-old boy holding a man that was easily three times his weight in muscle mass off the ground until he released Naruto.
Throwing the man aside, Sasuke turned an angry glare upon the crowd as he continued. "This is between me and the dobe! Now get lost!"
"Now," Sasuke said, ignoring the crowd's disbelieving gawks as he returned his attention to his rival. "where were we?"
Naruto threw a fast punch that impacted heavily. Despite his still-weak body, Naruto was able to knock the wind from Sasuke's chest and throwing him off-balance. Withdrawing, Naruto threw a fast punch to his face which sent him stumbling backwards before he finally tripped and fell.
Jumping as high into the air as he could manage, Naruto yelled out, "You still left!"
He had intended to drive his knee into Sasuke's torso. But at the last second, Sasuke rolled to the side. Naruto's knee hit the stone road with punishing force. Before he could recover, Sasuke slid his hand along the ground and gathered up a clump of dirt. He tossed it into Naruto's single eye, momentarily blinding him.
As his rival cried and tried to wipe the offending soil from his eye, Sasuke struck out. He hit him with a chop in the side of the neck. The blow wasn't strong enough to do any permanent damage, but it was more than strong enough to knock the blonde to the side and away from him. Standing up, Sasuke backed away and tried to regain his breath.
Dirt hit his face from Naruto as the Jinchuuriki climbed to his feet. Blindly following his sense of smell and hearing, Naruto yelled out, "No fair, Sasuke!"
Blocking Naruto's punch, Sasuke punched him in the chest with as much strength as he could manage. Apparently it was enough to break several ribs, as well as having the bonus of throwing his rival away from him a short distance.
"I may have left, Naruto," Sasuke said, holding up his fist. "But I had never intended to join Orochimaru for anything…only to gain control of the curse seal!"
Finally clearing the dirt from his eye, Naruto held up his own fist, "So you left because you could get strong the easy way…? Have you no real pride?!"
"What do you know of pride?" Sasuke growled, his fist beginning to glow from all the spare chakra he could generate in his still very weakened state. "You have never fought an honest battle in your entire shinobi career!"
"At least I don't go running off after false power!" Naruto yelled, his fist also began to faintly glow. "My strength's all from hard work and determination!"
"My power is NOT false!!" Sasuke yelled.
With cries of anger, they threw their fists at the other with all of the last of their weak strength. Both punches raced in smashed into the other's face, throwing them awkwardly to the side after impact. Stumbling, they tried to remain on their feet. It was no longer a fistfight to prove the other wrong. It was test of will, the last one standing would be eternal victor.
They fell together.
"Morons," Shikamaru muttered, causing Sakura to flinch in surprise. "Fighting before they have even recovered."
"…Yes," Sakura said, having a sudden wave of déjà vu. "…I think they…always will."
Shikamaru was quiet for a moment before nodding. They probably always would have some form of rivalry, forever trying to outdo their first and ultimate rival. Glancing over at Sakura, he couldn't help but feel slightly sorry for the poor girl. She would probably never be anywhere near strong enough to stop them from killing one another in the years to come.
"They are getting very strong, Sakura-san," he said, earning a glance from the pink-haired girl. "…You'd do well to follow their lead."
Sakura was quiet for a moment, turning her attention to the unconscious boys in front of the hospital. Tsunade-sama had finally arrived and was gathering up her rowdy patients while barking orders at the crowd to dissipate. As she stared down at her friends, an inspiration rose up inside her. Turning back to Shikamaru, she found him walking to the door, intent on leaving.
"Shikamaru-san," she called over, when he paused in the doorway she continued. "…I won't follow them…I'll make my own path to become as strong as I can be."
Glancing over his shoulder, the young Chuunin saw the look of steely determination in her expression. She was deathly serious. He sent her a slight grin before he walked away.
Later that night…
He watched and waited as the happenings of the hospital took place around him. It had taken a long time for him to arrive this far. Especially with how slowly he had to sneak here, and how long he had to observe the frequency of guests that visited the room.
The cool night sky of early autumn cast a blanket of serenity over the hospital. It was deceptive in the way that it promised peace. A promise that was not going to be kept, not if he had anything to say about it!
It took a lot to drive a Hyuuga over the undeterminable edge of rationality to insanity. They are usually apathetic people whose only real emotions were anger, fear, and twisted humor. To normal people, they could make icebergs in the artic seem warm and inviting.
But to the shinobi who both knew them and who had to work them, it was often speculated on whether or not the entire clan had gone insane. How can a person just shrug off a major event or moral crisis, like taking a person's life, so easily? Some people were known to go insane after the first life they had been forced to take, regardless of the circumstances that lead up to it.
It was for stuff like this that many shinobi secretly believed the whole clan was crazy or deranged. But for Hyuuga Higyou, it was quite clear he'd definitely gone way over the edge. After losing everything from he held dear; his position and power, pride and honor, even his dream of one day becoming the new clan head, he could come to only one conclusion.
Revenge!
If he could just dispose of Uzumaki Naruto, the traitor Hyuuga Neji and Hiashi, and hopefully even those worthless bitches for clan heirs, he could one day reclaim all he'd lost. He'd be welcomed back into the clan as a hero! He'd have done away with those pests that had been forcing a change upon his beloved family that they didn't want or need. In their gratitude for his incredible accomplishments, the clan would most likely name him Clan Head. Maybe even Hokage!
Thoughts similar to these had begun rising into his mind. Becoming louder, more numerous, more convincing, all the way to becoming a mental chant. Yes, he would have his revenge and reclaim everything!
Using all of his considerable, if now deranged, intelligence, Higyou had easily escaped from the prison compound that he'd been sent to. After returning to Konoha, he'd spent his time planning and eliminating schemes of how to kill those who stood in his way to power. He'd decided to start with the demon, since the beast was proving the most difficult to kill.
When news of it being hospitalized from a fierce battle reached him, he leapt at the opportunity. Now here he was, standing in the darkened hall outside the door to the room that held his most deadly enemy.
This time, he would not fail! He'd do it himself.
Thoroughly searching the room with his Byakugan eyes, he spotted his enemy quickly. The boy's chakra was fainter than usual, with a thick coating of youki welling up around his tenketsu, as though trying to be expelled.
So I was right, he realized, torn between triumph and fear. The Kyuubi truly is in control of the body now. I must kill it now, while it's so weak!With the expertise of an ANBU, Higyou slid the door open silently. He padded his way to the boy's bed with the grace of a leopard about to strike. He was as silent as a shadow, so as to not disturb the Uchiha boy who slept in the next bed over.
'Now, the moment of truth, Higyou thought as he brought his hands up to begin the sequence of a long handseal series for the Sentakushi Nou Sakujo.
While he felt that his beloved clan's jutsus were the greatest ever conceived and developed, he was not above finding the information on how to beat them. Higyou was well-aware that Hiashi would not willingly relinquish his position. It would hopefully come down to fight between the two of them. And if Higyou knew the one jutsu that the Kaiten was vulnerable to, he would be given an excellent wildcard.
Finally completing the complex genjutsu, he sent his mind sliding into the sleeping boy's head. With the boy naturally unconscious and unaware, it was all-too-easy for Higyou to squeeze past the boy's mental defenses.
His vision as he entered the boy's mind was unclear. He couldn't see from all the fog as he traveled, occasionally avoiding a shadowy wall or slipping into a crevice in them. What he saw when his vision finally cleared startled him. Whenever he'd ever used this jutsu before and he'd slipped past the victim's mental defenses, he would find himself before a door that led the way into the person's mind and memories.
He saw a pair of doors now.
One was an elegant, golden paneled door with beautiful carvings of leaves, trees, and fires in the wood. There was a simple, silver doorknob to door. Upon the front of the knob was the kanji for 'light.'
The second door was the polar opposition of the first. It was made of a rough, black wood. The hinges on the door were rusted with slight signs of recent usage from the footprints in the dust that rested on the ground in front of the door. Carved sloppily into the wood was a single figure that was clearly the image of a leaf, silhouetted by flames. Upon the rusty doorknob was the kanji for 'dark.'
"What the hell is this?!" Higyou screamed in absolute fury. Even in his unconscious mind, the beast was trying to further humiliate and ruin him!
Forcefully calming himself, Higyou began to think carefully. He had limited time to finish his work before his chakra supply diminished and he was ejected from the boy's mind. Now the 'light' door was most likely the beast's frontal personality that it displayed to the world as it carefully plotted its schemes for destruction and death. Why should a great beast like the Kyuubi no Kitsune hide the secrets of its vile jutsus in the front personality? No, what Higyou was after was probably hidden behind the 'dark' door.
With his mind made up, he moved forward and grabbed the rusty doorknob. He gave it a turn, but the knob wouldn't budge. Adding a bit more power and leaning heavily on the door, he tried to force it open. But the stubborn door was firmly sealed closed.
Forcing back a fresh wave of fury, Higyou stepped into a Jyuuken stance before hitting the door with a powerful blast of chakra. The door emerged without so much as a scratch. That told Higyou something he'd already suspected. For the door to remain closed against his will to enter, the beast must have an exceedingly powerful will to resist. Especially if he was being 'attacked' in his sleep, with no knowledge of the deed.
"Heh heh heh," a deep, dark voice thundered behind him suddenly. A voice that he'd only heard once before, and only in growls of inconceivable fury. The Kyuubi!
Whirling around to face the voice, Higyou let out gasp as he finally and fully realized where he stood now. Apparently the 'outer defenses' that he'd bypassed earlier were pieces of a larger cavern. Standing prominently in the center of the gigantic chamber was a magnificent golden gate. Resting midway up the gate was a simple slip of paper that held the kanji of 'seal.'
But Higyou's attention was drawn irresistibly to the colossal figure that towered so far above him behind that golden gate. A pair of burning red eyes stared down upon him with black amusement as another deafening chuckle thundered through the cavern.
"Foolish mortal," the Kyuubi growled out, a sickening grin of wicked teeth became visible. "Seeking this Jinchuuriki's death…"
Then the red eyes narrowed as the terrifying waves of the Kyuubi's killing desire flared up. So much foul, evil longing to tear his body to pieces and spread them over the four corners of the planet washed over Higyou. It left him utterly frozen in place, despite even primal instinct screaming at him to flee. But he couldn't…not while the beast was staring straight at him!
The sound of squeaky hinges turning probably would've caused him to jump in terror if he weren't frozen in place. The squeaking was the only sound that filled the cavern for a moment. Then, finally, the beast shifted its gaze to whatever had occurred behind him.
Somehow finding the willpower to breath again, Higyou forced his suddenly-stiff neck to turn just enough to see what was behind him. What he saw was the Kyuubi's human form, right down to the blonde hair and whisker marks. But the eyes were different. They were slitted, red, and filled with as much vile rage and loathing as the large pair behind the gate.
"How nice to meet you, Hyuuga-teme," the demon-boy being said, sneering evilly. "I was hoping to have someone to play with."
An equally powerful killing desire flared up from the demon-boy. Only now it was much more focused, far more potent due to the proximity. "Let's play, bastard!"
Caught between a rock and a hard place, Higyou did the only thing that a halfway rational person would. He fled. Utilizing all of his remaining chakra, he blasted himself clear out of the cavern and away from the two demons that meant to do him bodily and psychological harm.
Snapping back into his body with the force of freight train, Higyou reeled back. Stumbling, he tripped over his own feet and fell heavily to the floor behind him. Breaths coming out in mere pants, he couldn't help looking around in a panic. Where was he? Was he safe now? Were those demons still close by? Or were they just playing with his head and were about to attack now? Thoughts running around these lines were racing through his mind at a million miles per hour, too fast to be properly acknowledged or comprehended before fleeing to be replaced.
Then he saw the sleeping form of the beast that was about to kill him. With a gurgled cry of absolute terror, Higyou turned and dashed for the newly replaced window. He didn't even stop to open it, just lunged out and broke through it in his rush to escape.
Landing awkwardly on the ground below him, he felt something in his old legs give way. If he were so frenzied, he would've felt it at least. But as it were, he didn't. So he tried to stand, only to collapse back on the ground. But that didn't stop him from trying to crawl away.
He never noticed the dark silhouettes of a squad of ANBU descending upon. All he could see was the vile red eyes that assaulted him from all directions.
That night, Hyuuga Higyou truly lost everything.
Early the next morning…
"And that's what happened?" Tsunade asked, torn between annoyance and relief.
"Yes, Hokage-sama," the ANBU Captain reported.
It was very early in the morning, the dawn sunlight was just now peaking over the horizon. Tsunade, who'd been once again sleeping atop a pile of paperwork that needed reviewing, had been politely awoken by the ANBU Captain to hear the latest report.
Apparently after the squad of ANBU who'd discovered the imprisoned and recently escaped Hyuuga Higyou in front of the hospital, they'd tried to arrest him again. But the Hyuuga, ranting mad from the report, had somehow snatched one of their wakizashi and slit his own throat, dying very shortly afterwards.
Thinking for a moment, she looked up and said, "Did you find what he was doing at the hospital?"
"Not exactly, Hokage-sama," the ANBU Captain reported. "But he seems to have fled from the room that Uzumaki and Uchiha were sharing. Yet both boys were asleep when we checked on them."
"They weren't pretending to be asleep, were they?" she asked, ironing out all details.
"No, Hokage-sama," was the reply. "Uzumaki may be good at deception and stealth, but he isn't as good as an ANBU."
Nodding to concede the point, she resumed thinking carefully. She had a feeling that Higyou had been trying to finish what his assassins couldn't. It made the most logical sense. But something must've happened to have caused him to go crazy like that.
If he had merely been trying to kill Naruto, that wouldn't have been enough. Perhaps he'd tried to do something else before killing him? If so, what could he have wanted to do that would benefit him more than just finishing his goal? The answers to a deranged man's motives were confusing and elusive. So she just sighed and shook her head to clear them.
"Was there anything else that needs to come to my attention?" she asked, resting her elbows on her desk.
"Negative, Hokage-sama."
"Dismissed," she said as she began shuffling through various papers.
As the ANBU disappeared in a small cloud of smoke, Tsunade sighed. Digging through her desk, she pulled out a notepad and opened it to her recent impromptu research. Unlike her perverted former teammate, this research was purely for academic understanding. And the subject was her favorite enigma genin, Uzumaki Naruto.
Based on the report that Shikamaru had given her, as well as comments gathered from the various team members, and her own numerous analyses of the boy, she felt she had a pretty good understanding. Tsunade knew where his demonic-humane chakra came from and why it was so powerful.
Neji claimed to have seen Naruto open the first two of the Celestial Gates. That was an important detail and it helped her greatly in uncovering her information. In conjunction with what she and Jiraiya could gather from Yondaime's seal on Naruto, it made perfect sense.
The purpose of the seal was to not only imprison the Kyuubi no Kitsune into Naruto for all time, but to slowly transfer the Kyuubi's youki to the boy. Since the seal was powered by Naruto's chakra, this gradual transfer from youki to chakra helped to strengthen not only Naruto's chakra supply, but strengthen the seal as well. But the change from youki to chakra was a slow process apparently, taking up to a month at most.
During that time, the youki that was transferred to the boy would be stored within his body's cells. This provided his body the opportunity to adjust to the youki for whenever he was forced to utilize the kitsune's power directly like in the invasion. Once the youki had been transformed into chakra, it would be added to the boy's chakra reserves.
With the Celestial Gates, it was a process of the user opening one of their hidden stores of chakra and strength. It was common knowledge that the gates bestowed enormous chakra potential, but at the cost of increasingly severe exhaustion. But what few knew was that when a gate was opened, it pulled the chakra right from the body's very cells. That was why, if the person was strong in chakra potential and reserves, he or she could unleash colossal amounts of power at a time. And if too much was pulled out from the cells (usually from the eighth and final gate), the person died.
When Naruto opened his gates, his body hadn't pulled out chakra. It had summoned the gradually changing youki that had been placed there from the seal transfer. That was why whenever Naruto somehow opened his gates, his chakra had a feeling of youki about it, and thus the kitsune silhouette. As well as why it was so much stronger than normal chakra, being a hybrid of chakra and youki.
As she stared down at these notes, Tsunade saw an ever-growing connection between Naruto's 'mysterious' ability and another. She could no longer deny the connections. Based on a comment made by Sarutobi-sensei not too long after that fateful night many years ago, the boy's numerous similarities, and this new information, it was very obvious. But because of the tragic events leading up to it, this left only one conclusion: Naruto was the last of the Tenrai Kekkei Genkai. And, for the life of her, she couldn't tell him yet. He was simply too young. If he knew he possessed the divine bloodline, he'd become so arrogant it would make Sasuke look humble. Of that she was very sure.
Sighing heavily, Tsunade rubbed the small headache she'd somehow acquired. Putting the notepad away, she looked about her desk in hopes of finding something to distract her…and she found it. It was resting gently on the farthest corner of her desk, as though someone had put it there to keep it from getting mixed up with the other papers.
Taking the small packet of papers, she skimmed the title for a moment before pausing. A reluctant smile spread across her face as she stared at the title. Combat Life Saver Sessions for the Standard Shinobi by Tsunade. It was the memorandum that she'd written more than fifteen years ago. Back when she was trying to start a new school of shinobi in Konoha, devoted solely to medic-nins.
Written down in the bottom corner was a scrawled handwriting that she knew she'd come to recognize shortly.
You're the Hokage now, Nara Shikamaru.
Later that morning…
He'd put off visiting for as long as he could. Always trying to make up some excuse to himself that could keep him away from them, but now he knew he had to talk to them. Both of them.
It wasn't that he didn't want to talk to them. Far from it actually. No, he just didn't know what he'd say to them, after seeing how fiercely and seriously they'd battled one another. They had fought upon a level that he would've been hard pressed to keep up with should he have had to interfere.
The fact that the two boys were many times stronger than he had thought they were, even if not naturally, made him hesitant. How could he very well show his face when he had not been able to stop them from doing the inevitable? Yet, with how things were between him and his two students, he had to speak with them.
That was why he found himself in this awkward situation. He stood in the room, looking down at his bedridden students. Neither of them were looking at him, only glaring at each other. But he wasn't fooled, their attention was solely on him as their curiosity to his presence nagged at them. Especially because he didn't have his nose buried in one of his books.
"So…" he said, feigning lightheartedness. "You two finally got to fight one another…how was it?"
"I won," they answered simultaneously, quickly throwing ugly glares at the other. "No, I did!"
"Actually," Kakashi interjected, before a repeat of the previous day started. "neither of you won…I'd say you were dead even from the beginning."
Snorting, the boys looked away from the other, too proud to acknowledge that he was probably correct.
"Why can't you accept that you're each as strong and skilled as the other?" he asked, exasperated. "It would make everyone's lives much easier."
"He is not stronger than me, kokuzoku!" Naruto growled as he glared. His voice returning to its bestial one as his visible eye turned red instantly put both Sharingan users on high alert.
"I seem to recall beating you around like back in the academy in the beginning," Sasuke said cautiously, yet with a smirk growing painfully across his face. If he tried to smile too much, his wound over his right eye would start hurting really badly, despite the bandages and healing cream. It only prompted him to remain as emotionless as he knew he should've been.
"Heh, but I still crushed you with the Ijoufu Suiryuudan!" Naruto snapped back with a satisfied grin, his eye flashing back to blue.
"Only because you cornered me," Sasuke growled.
"Oh yeah?!" Naruto said, sounding indignant. "You didn't have to go on a wild chase, fighting through hordes of Oto-nin, just to catch up to your ungrateful ass, bastard!"
Sasuke chuckled quietly as he watched his teammate. If his guess was right, Naruto was probably shifting through personalities. That would explain the changing eye colors and his shifting voice tones. "Neither did you, loser."
"That's enough," Kakashi said forcefully before Naruto could shoot back a retort. Turning to the blonde, Kakashi said, "Naruto, I want to talk to you about something."
"Really?" the blonde growled, glaring as best he could with one red eye. "…Well, I don't want to talk to you!"
"I just wanted to say I'm sorry about teaching Sasuke your Oboro no Jutsu," Kakashi said sincerely, ignoring Naruto's strange actions. "There was also a reason why I didn't try to teach you more than I have already."
"I'm not in the mood for your bullshit, kokuzoku!" Naruto snapped, his lips curling into a snarl.
"I didn't train you," Kakashi continued as though Naruto hadn't even spoken. "…because I thought you were doing just fine as you were…you didn't need me to hold your hand."
Sasuke and Naruto both sent glares at the man, but for different reasons. Sasuke caught the small implication in Kakashi's statement that he hadn't been strong enough at the time. The idea pricked his humbled pride considerably. Naruto just glared because he didn't like the man anymore.
"And why should I accept, much less believe that load of shit?" Naruto growled, his red eye narrowing.
"Language, Naruto," Kakashi responded, a reluctant smile on his face. Truly, it was for small things like that that he almost hoped Naruto would never change.
"What is so bad about teaching others your jutsus?" Sasuke asked, earning himself a fierce glare.
"Because they are MY jutsus!!"
"So you're just being selfish, is that it?" Sasuke asked, no emotion slipping through his mask.
"If you lived my life, you would be too," Naruto said, in a quiet voice.
"Heh," Sasuke grunted. "Just because you hide them won't stop people from learning them." Seeing the questioning glare Naruto was giving him, he elaborated, "That 'Enmaku' jutsu was pathetically easy for me to make on my own."
It slightly annoyed Sasuke, but he didn't let it show on his face. Of the few jutsus he'd either learned on his own or was taught that were originally Naruto's, he couldn't truly use them. Oboro, while undoubtedly effective, was too much of a liability to be helpful to him. The Kaze Doriru cost too much chakra for him to be able to use, in fact it wasted more chakra than Sasuke was truly willing to allow for a battle situation.
Even Enmaku had much the same restrictions, just in different ways. The one time he'd used it in that fight with Sakon, he'd barely been able to see the Oto-nin. After all, the smokescreen was comprised of a floating mass of his own chakra, almost hiding his enemy as effectively as it did him. At the time, Sasuke had played the psychological battle, trying to get under the boy's nerves.
Naruto flinched for a moment before shooting an accusing glare at Kakashi. The Jounin merely held up his hands in a defensive motion, completely and honestly innocent of the silent accusation. The defensive motion only caused Naruto's glare to grow more accusing. Seeing the look that Naruto was sending Kakashi, Sasuke couldn't help raising his one visible eyebrow. Kakashi knew that jutsu of Naruto's as well?
After a moment of silence, Naruto growled out, "What else have you stolen from me, kokuzoku? The Sarutobi no Jutsu? Kaze Kiwa? Rasengan?!"
Kakashi just stared at Naruto for a moment, his eye clearly reflecting his sadness. "I only copy the jutsus of enemies, Naruto," he said slowly. "A student of mine is far from being an enemy of mine. I also told you once that I only copied Oboro and Enmaku by accident."
The room was quiet for a moment, Naruto's gaze never wavering. Sighing to himself, Kakashi came to a reluctant decision. Holding up one of his hands, he dug into his chakra supply in preparation.
"I won't lie to you, Naruto," he said quietly. "There is one jutsu that I know that you created. However…" he began forming the chakra into a sphere in his palm. When the Rasengan was fully formed in his palm, he continued, "I've known this jutsu years before you were even born…I learned after watching how my sensei created it."
Naruto and Sasuke were both gapping at the familiar sphere of spinning chakra in their teacher's palm. In Naruto's mind, rationality battled with impulsive anger. Kakashi also knew the one jutsu that not only took the longest for Naruto to make, but was the one he was most proud of. How dare he!
Yet the ease of which he'd made the jutsu in his hand showed something else. It would take years of experience and practice to make it with as little concentration and effort that Kakashi had used. That would suggest that the man was honest when he said how long he'd known it.
But how could Kakashi learn it before him? Yes, he said that he'd learned it from his sensei. As far as Naruto knew, only he, Jiraiya, and the Yondaime knew the Rasengan. Naruto had vehemently sworn off teaching the Rasengan to anyone but his children and possibly his wife. Jiraiya had made it clear that he valued the jutsu far too highly to teach it to just anyone, even Kakashi. The Yondaime was long dead, so unless…he…
"You were the Yondaime Hokage's student?" the question was quiet, almost too quiet to be properly heard.
Letting the Rasengan dissolve, Kakashi nodded. "Yes…I learned it to help him create a jutsu that would be many times stronger."
"Stronger?" the boys asked. How could the Rasengan possibly get any stronger?
"Yes," Kakashi said, a smile spreading across his masked face. He could already see the interest of the subject making both boys' minds begin spinning. "The Yondaime had originally intended to create a jutsu that was composed of both types of chakra, shape and nature."
"But that's impossible!" Sasuke said, reluctantly awed by what the former Hokage had tried to do. He knew firsthand how difficult it was to manipulate nature chakra, especially an explosive power like fire.
"Yes, it most certainly was for him and I," Kakashi said good-humouredly. "Neither of us had been able to accomplish it. The Rasengan was the best we could come up with."
"But if you had both shape and nature chakra in one jutsu…" Naruto said, his blue eye hazing over he reviewed the possibilities. "that jutsu would…be the…ultimate jutsu!"
His eye was widening and a large, giddy smile spread across Naruto's face. He now had a new goal. He'd make the next stage of the Rasengan that neither his idol or traitor of a sensei could finish!
"That's what we were aiming for," Kakashi said good-naturedly, glancing between the boys.
Naruto was off in his own world, muttering incoherently to himself about chakra. Sasuke was watching Naruto with a frown, before looking away with a gaze of steely determination. A gut feeling rose inside Kakashi, he realized that the two rivals had just acquired a new goal to try to outdo the other in.
The door to the room suddenly opened to reveal Sakura and Hinata. The two girls stared as three pairs of single eyes turned toward their entrance. Staring for a moment, a slow smile rose to Sakura's face before a giggle escaped her lips. The giggle quickly turned into quiet laughter as she stared at the males in the room.
"What?" Sasuke demanded, hoping she'd stop laughing. It was a little embarrassing.
"You two," she said, pointing with one hand while trying to hide her smile with the other. "you look like Kakashi-sensei!"
"Eh?!" the boys quickly shot stupefied glances at their sensei before staring at each other. Then the truth of her words sunk in. Sasuke smirked slightly as Naruto's eye widened in horror.
"Oh kami, no!" he whined, sounding more like the Naruto they all preferred. "I've been scarred for life!"
"It's not that bad, Naruto-kun," Hinata said quietly, a blush lighting up her face as she walked over to him.
Lashing out, Naruto latched onto her with crocodile tears were pouring out his face as he purred out, "Hold me, Hinata-chan!"
With his face buried in the cloth of her jacket, Naruto never saw the fierce red blush that consumed her face. And as she almost lovingly patted his head and hair, she missed seeing the red glow on his cheeks.
The pair's actions drew several snickers from Kakashi as he was reminded of a…very interesting moment in one of his books that started like this. Sasuke just snorted and looked away, intent on not watching the repulsive scene. His eyes unintentionally settled upon Sakura, which reminded him of a moment on Wave Country's new bridge. That caused the faintest of blushes to appear on his face. All Sakura saw were hearts, roses, and cupids as the pair hugged.
"Get a room you two," a familiar voice growled out in a playful manner.
Hinata probably would've leapt twenty meters away and through several hospital walls in her embarrassment if the blonde hadn't had such a tight grip on her. Instead, she only ended up accidentally pulling the blonde from his hospital bed and sending him crashing to the floor.
Loud laughter and barks of amusement erupted from the doorway as Naruto picked himself up. Kiba was leaning heavily on the doorframe and the portable IV that was still connected to him. Aside from the large bandage on his torso, he looked perfectly healthy. Even Akamaru resting on his head seemed to be more cheerful than usual.
"So," Kiba drawled as he straightened himself. "When's the wedding?"
Hinata squeaked with embarrassment at her teammate's rather suggestive comment. Naruto, however, smiled broadly as he stalked over to his friend. "Probably on the day of your funeral."
"Oh!" Kiba said, grinning broadly. "Well, I guess that will never happen!"
"You shouldn't jump to conclusions," Naruto drawled, smiling evilly before he threw the hardest punch he could manage at Kiba.
His fist never connected. Rather it was caught by a gloved hand as Kakashi appeared next to him. Kiba, who'd just started to recoil, grinned at Naruto's surprised gaze. "No more fighting in the hospital, boys…You can kill each other when you've fully recovered."
Snorting defiantly, Naruto snatched his hand free before paddling his way back to his bed and Hinata. Turning to face the newcomer, Kakashi said, "What brings you here, Inuzuka-san?"
"Oh, I just wanted to tell Naruto something," Kiba said, turning a peculiar gaze on the blonde. "You may have beaten me twice, Uzumaki…but I swear that one day you're going down!"
"Ha! Don't count it, dog-boy!" Naruto shot back, grinning widely. Kiba returned the grin.
The challenge had been accepted.
Before he left, Kiba shot over his shoulder, "I wouldn't mind fighting you too, Sasuke!"
Glancing over at the Inuzuka in slight surprise, Sasuke just smirked. "You'd lose. You know that."
"But I'll get better each time!" Kiba called back as he started limping away.
"I think you have new rival, Sasuke-teme," Naruto said, grinning broadly.
Snorting, Sasuke glared at Naruto. "He's not even worth the effort."
"Really?" Sakura said, grinning slyly at the bedridden Uchiha. "I seem to remember you saying something like that about Naruto once."
"He did, did he?" Naruto asked, giving his teammates a knowing grin. "Careful, Sasuke, you may make the same mistake twice."
Sasuke just glared at him, but before turning a literal blind eye to the remainder of the conversation.
"Oh, good," a new voice said. It was Tsunade. "You're all here."
"Hokage-sama," Kakashi said, as he turned to face her. "What do you need?"
Walking over to Sasuke, she said pleasantly, "I just came by to check on Sasuke and Naruto's eyes."
Reaching forward, she gently unwound the bandage with the expertise she was renowned for. Setting the bandage strands aside, she removed to soft padding carefully. What she revealed when she stepped back was a trio of slash marks over Sasuke's right eye. The scars were currently covered in thick scabs and it was clear that there would be permanent scars in their place.
Tentatively, Sasuke opened the eyelid. It revealed his dark eye, completely unharmed. Upon having his vision restored to normal, Sasuke let out a small sigh of relief. Thank all the kami in existence that he still had the use of both his eyes!
Nodding in approval, Tsunade flashed through a small series of handseals. With a soft glowing of green chakra over one of her hands, she rested her palm upon Sasuke's scar. Closing her eyes, she concentrated her chakra into the optical organ, searching for any damage.
Upon finding none, she withdrew her hand and said, "Okay, you should be fine. I couldn't find any further injuries. But I highly suggest you avoid fighting for a few days unless you want to reopen those cuts."
Ignoring Sasuke's small nod, she turned to Naruto. After gently repeating the unwrapping of bandages, she waited for a moment as he stared up at her. "Open your eye, Naruto."
"…I can't," he said. To prove his point, he tried. All he managed was a faint twitch of the eyelid but nothing more. "I can't…use it at all."
A small gasp from Hinata was the only sound in the room for a moment. Thinking it over in her head, Tsunade tried to understand why the Kyuubi hadn't healed it properly. This should've been similar to Naruto's battle against Kabuto, where the Kyuubi had helped her heal Naruto's more serious injuries in a fraction of the time. So why hadn't it repeated it with his eye? Was it too delicate of a heal to be done alone? That struck her as highly unlikely.
Moving her still glowing hand upon Naruto's closed eye, she searched long and deep into the organ. After a long moment of thorough searching, she found nothing wrong at all. The organ was healed completely, maybe even in better condition than it had been in. So why couldn't he open it?
"What do you mean you can't use it?" Sasuke demanded suddenly. "I saw you using it when we were fighting."
"I don't know!" Naruto snapped, turning a red half-glare on the scarred Uchiha. "I was mad and I was fighting! How could I--"
Then it hit her.
"Naruto," she interrupted. "I need you to mold a little of your…secondary chakra."
"What?!" Naruto nearly screeched, his blue eye widening in fear. This earned questioning gazes from all others in the room. "No! No way! I'm not going to--"
"Just a small amount," she snapped, exasperated.
"But--"
"NOW, Naruto!"
Growling resignedly, he cast a furtive glance at the others, particularly Hinata, before bringing his hands together to form the hitsuji handseal to focus his chakra. Closing his eye, he reached into his body for the energy that was there. He didn't have to delve into the seal on his stomach to draw up the youki though. All he did was mold the remainder youki that was clogging his tenketsu.
As the small amount of demonic chakra began to circulate through his body, he stopped and looked questioningly up to Tsunade. With two red, slit-pupil eyes.
"…I was afraid of that," she said quietly. That damn, conniving kitsune! It did this on purpose so Naruto would be more inclined to use its youki! Though this discovery did help to further prove her assumptions about the youki in Naruto's cells combined with the Celestial Gates.
Letting the small amount of youki slip away, his right eye returned to its normal blue. The moment it did, his red left eye closed reflexively.
Upon seeing Naruto's eyes turn red and then return to blue, Hinata moved forward to examine her friend. As he glanced over at her however, she lost her nerve and moved away with a blush.
"So," Kakashi said, almost scaring Naruto who'd forgotten about the man. "Naruto can only use his eye when he uses that…secondary chakra? That could be a problem in the future."
"How so?" Naruto snapped, glaring at the man with two red eyes now.
Kakashi merely shrugged, not feeling the need to explain himself. Not that he needed to though. As shinobi, it went without saying that anything could happen in the future.
And Naruto was suddenly somewhat hesitant about the future.
(Author's Note) Okay, I think that's enough for this chapter. So what happened? Kakashi and Naruto finally had an actual 'conversation' since the Exam, giving Naruto a new jutsu goal. Tsunade seems to have something planned, at the suggestion of Shikamaru. Hyuuga Higyou has finally been permanently disposed of. Sasuke and Naruto still seem to be at the other's throat with their rivalry. And Sakura has finally truly set a goal for herself, to become strong in her own way.
Now what is this Tenrai Kekkei Genkai? It obviously has something to do with the Celestial Gates, doesn't it? But why be called the 'divine' bloodline? And Naruto's the last of the line? She must know Naruto's heritage! Yet she isn't telling him (and neither am I!). So many questions surrounding this new development eh? I can't wait to see what you guys think this bloodline thing is. I wonder how many of you will even come close to the truth. For the record, I'm not telling anyone anything about it until Part 2.
For the record, I don't recall ever even hinting that Higyou had been executed. A high-ranking Hyuuga council member executed? Hell no! It would've been very bad press when the story came out, and we all know it would've. Plus, can any of you actually believe that the other councilors would allow such a powerful member of their beliefs to be killed? I'd say the chances would be none to nonexistent.
Are there any last minute questions that need answering, besides the Tenrai Kekkei Genkai? This is your last chance before I end this portion of the story. Don't miss the next and final chapter of Naruto: Legacy of the Rasengan!
Hitsuji--ram
Tenrai--thunder, heavenly, divine, inspired, heaven sent, sound of wind, beautiful poetry
Final chapter: Things are winding down. Paths are being taken, destinies chosen, and new goals formed. The Rookie Nine will never be the same again when: Team Seven Splits.