Naruto: Shadow Legion
Naruto: Shadow Legion – Chapter 19 [ The Next Level ]
Disclaimer: I Do not own Naruto or its Characters
O~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~O
Kin sat on a hospital bed following her interesting experience with the rest of the genin as Hana unwrapped the bandages on her shoulder to perform an evaluation, as well as potentially change the wraps. "At first glance it defiantly looks like it's mostly healed." Hana stated as she began taking a closer look. "But it's gonna take a little longer to heal to one hundred percent."
"That's good to hear." Kin stated neutrally as she sat in her hospital room "Do I really need to stay in a hospital room?" She asked in contempt as the medic stood back, writing some things down on a clipboard before beginning to take of her coat.
"Well technically if you can find a place to stay outside of here, no. Then again, there is essentially nowhere open at the moment given the chunin exams." Hana explained, draping her coat on a nearby chair that she then sat down in. "But there may be a possible location, given of course you're properly watched. It's certainly less secure, but theres more possible freedom as well."
"That sounds…good. What's the catch?" Kin asked as she suspiciously eyed the devious smile of her caretaker.
"Let's just say you and the owner have already met." Was all the context Hana gave. "Regardless I have a busy schedule right now so for now you'll be stuck in here. We can talk about this more tomorrow after I get off my patrol."
"Why are you doing this?" Kin asked as she started regaining some of her confidence lost in the forest. "Don't you consider me a security risk at least?" she asked as she felt a little disrespected in the level of nonchalance she was being treated with.
"Well of course we do. But at the same time, I'm the one in charge of how you're handled. I find this much more… interesting." Hana smiled as she turned back to look at the genin. "though don't misunderstand. This isn't entirely for your benefit either." Were the last cryptic words Hana spoke as she delivered them with a stoic demeanor as she grabbed her coat, tossing it at an unseen person out of view. "Take this to my locker, I'll pick it up later."
"Yes sensei." A feminine voice Kin pinpointed on the pink haired subordinate replied, scampering off into the depths of the building.
"She's strange… I can't get a read on her. She's so all over the place with her mood…" Kin thought as she mentally deciphered the words that the jonin had just left her. "At the very least I won't be forced to endure this place for much longer." She thought as she imagined the place she might be able to stay at.
Kin sat in thought for a while as she contemplated her current situation. Knowing that in a month a storm would come to destroy this village, she was feeling something interesting, hesitance. After the encounter with Orochimaru, it was clear that her worth to him only existed as a sacrifice to his greater goal of immortality. "This place is so different than what I have experienced, it feels… calm" She thought as her mind once again assaulted her.
"Your mission is over…" The voice of her leader once again slithered into her mind, invading her subconscious.
"I can do—" she tried to reply instinctually.
"No, you cannot, nor could you ever have…" the voice continued as it once again began to remind the kunoichi not only of her goal, but her failure. "Had you succeeded; the same outcome would have befallen you…"
"Stop…" she said as the words poisoned her mind, twisting and turning in her bed. "I can still be of use…" she faltered as the voice continued.
"You were always fodder for my ambition…" the voice continued as the strain on Kin began to become too much. "Now you can become a piece on my board…" The words echoed as the prospect of her uselessness gave way to a sliver of hope. "Doesn't that sound great?"
Kin was trembling in her hospital bed as the snake's voice dissipated, seemingly awaiting an answer, even though he was not there. "Stop… Stop…" Kin mumbled as she laid in her bed restless.
"Kin… be careful, alright?" another voice called in a familiar tone. As the worried request of another forced itself into her mind she began to calm. This memory being much more vivid than before as she could picture the warm smile of a faceless figure.
"This is your shot at redemption…" The voice of Orochimaru returned in force, playing on the words meant for another purpose, sinking Kin back into the depths of her own mind.
"I can't keep thinking about him. My connection with him is what nearly held me back from…" Kin's eyes snapped open as she remembered the words that Naruto spoke during the final exams, however it was fragmented, indecipherable. "I need to talk to him." She said aloud as she lay in the bed, staring at the ceiling, calming herself enough to allow her to pass into sleep due to her mental fatigue.
O~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~O
"So what exactly are you doing here?" Naruto asked as he approached his new sensei looking through a wooden palisade's crack.
"Research my boy!" he said in an excitedly quiet tone.
"Research?! What the heck are you—" Naruto began to chastise before Jiraiya quickly put his hand on the boy's mouth, muffling the sound.
"Keep your voice down!" Jiraiya scrambled out before the worst thing for him happened.
"HEY! IS THEIR SOMBADY OUT THERE?!" a very angry female voice called from the other side.
"RUN!" Jiraiya cried before sprinting away from the peep hole he was using, leaving Naruto in the dust.
"Wait up!" Naruto yelled after him as he began chasing down the pervy sage through the streets of Konoha.
Naruto eventually caught up enough to be running with Jiraiya, rather than after him. As the two continued their 'escape', their path eventually led them outside of the village as Jiraiya continued dashing off into the forest. "What is this guy? First a peeping tom, and then he just casually sprints out of the village? It's clear they aren't about to catch us." Naruto thought as he continued his run. "Where are we going?!"
"Don't worry, we're putting plenty of distance between them and us!" he responded, causing Naruto to give the sage a very disappointed look. "So he's just a pervert… great." Naruto thought as the sage suddenly stopped at river with a small bed of sand making a small beach along it.
"So is that it?" Naruto asked as he quickly arrived next to the man. "Or did you bring me here for a reason?"
"Well I'd rather do your training out here. It's much more calm… and far from the village." He mumbled under his breath.
Not believing that Kakashi would assign the confusing man as a sensei unless he knew they were good, Naruto decided to go with it, standing before his new master. "Alright, what's first?"
Giving a grin, Jiraiya looked back toward the young genin. "Well I have a few ideas." he said as he began moving through hand signs, then biting his thumb. "Summoning Jutsu!" he exclaimed, slamming his hand into the ground. Following the impact, a black seal manifested onto the ground, exploding into a puff of smoke.
Being engulfed into the smoke, Naruto's vision was obstructed for a moment as he called out. "Wait really? Summoning jutsu? What am I gonna—" Naruto stopped his question after opening his eye, revealing a toad the size of a horse. Quickly dispersing it, Jiraiya stood in an embarrassing pose.
"Impressive right?" Jiraiya said with a smile. "There are plenty of different summoning animals you can form contracts with! And lucky for you, I just so happen to have the toad contract with me!" he said as he patted the oversized scroll on his back.
"Wait really? You'd just let me use the contract? Just like that?" Naruto asked as the grin of the older man widened.
"You got it! That is if you're willing to commit to the toad style." Jiraiya answered as he placed the scroll before him.
"I—"
"Hold on a second. Don't be so hasty brat." The Kyuubi spoke from the mind of Naruto
Jiraiya quickly picked up on the moment of hesitation within Naruto. "Naruto, is there an issue?" He asked suspiciously, almost as if he knew something Naruto did not.
"Oh, it's nothing, I just space out sometimes." Naruto quickly replied as he mimicked embarrassment. "Anyways, maybe you should give me more details about the toads before I make any decision." Naruto continued in an attempt to stall the process so the tailed beast could explain himself.
"I suppose, but for what reason?" Jiraiya prodded, leaving Naruto to scramble for an answer.
"I just wanted to think about my options is all." Naruto expertly improvised as he shot a question towards the Kyuubi.
"What do you mean? Do you know of any other summoning creature's locations or something?" Naruto asked, awaiting the beast's response.
"Well if that's the case, at least allow me to show you the hand signs." Jiraiya offered, getting into a position.
"Hold on, don't answer. I need to learn this manually or risk revealing my secret to him." Naruto said to the Kyuubi as he prepared to analyze the sage.
Jiraiya looked back at Naruto puzzled as he said. "Why aren't you using the sharingan? If we were going to do this manually, we could've just stayed in Konoha." Jiraiya asked normally, causing Naruto's surprise to amplify.
"How did you—"
"Kakashi." Was all Jiraiya said as he gave Naruto a 'well duh' look.
"Oh… well in that case." Naruto obliged, activating his sharingan, two tomoe and all.
"Already on two huh? Impressive." Jiraiya complimented as he began to go through the scarce signs the technique required.
"Wait seriously? That's it? Why don't more people use this!" Naruto asked concerned as he awaited an answer from the man, mimicking the signs slowly.
"Well not only is the chakra cost enormous, but it's extremely rare to encounter a contract, let alone be accepted having signed the contract." Jiraiya explained to the still skeptical Naruto. "Look, I only know of five people alive that have used this technique. Myself, my two teammates, Lord Third, and Hanzo the Salamander." Jiraiya said as he put a finger up for each shinobi.
"Alright, fair enough." Naruto granted as the man simply smiled back at him. "So what other contracts are there? Surely those five can't be it right?"
"Well there are more, but I haven't encountered someone with the ability to utilize them." Jiraiya explained. "Frankly, I think the toads are your best bet considering the snake and slug are nowhere to be found, the salamander is in hostile territory, the monkey is for Sarutobi only, and the others are in locations around the world, some known, some locked away, and some unknown."
"I see." Naruto said before he began to think for a moment. Seemingly coming to a conclusion, Naruto asked his sensei something. "There's something I want to check out. Do you mind following me somewhere?" Naruto asked, causing the older man to become similarly skeptical to how Naruto was.
"Sure, but where?" Jiraiya asked in an unsure fashion.
"Basically my personal training ground." Naruto explained as he began walking in the direction of the Namikaze compound.
O~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~O
"Ice Mirror Jutsu!" Satsuki expressed as a single ice mirror appeared before her. As the exhausted kunoichi panted, looking on to her success, her stoic teacher merely looked on.
"Good, now again." Haku said calmly, causing Satsuki to hold for a moment, processing the request.
"Wait hold on, why? It's clear I can do it!" Satsuki asked in confusion as her frustration at repeating the jutsu over and over began to seep into her mood.
"Because the more you practice, the better the feel. Meaning you will be able to produce more mirrors." Haku simply explained.
"That's all well and good, but my chakra isn't going to be able to support this forever." Satsuki stated bluntly as she wearily got into position.
"Don't you think she could use a break?" Meizu asked from the entrance to the compound, walking out with a cup of steaming coffee.
"Perhaps. Satsuki, following this mirror you may have a five-minute break." Haku announced to an unsatisfied Satsuki.
"Gee thanks." She said in a grumpy tone as she went through the hand signs. "Ice Mirror Jutsu." She said with minimal enthusiasm as she formed yet another mirror. After the materialization of the mirror, Satsuki promptly sat down panting, taking as much time as she could.
"Your one strict teacher." Meizu stated, removing his mask to reveal a scruffy goatee, complete with unkept stubble. As the man took a sip of his coffee, his junior in age responded.
"Perhaps, but quite frankly at the pace we're going, she's already surpassed expectations." Haku admitted as Satsuki turned to look in confusion.
"If that's the case then can't I learn something else?" she asked, causing Haku to look downwards, seemingly breaking her stoic demeanor.
"I am untrained in many of the ice techniques my family possessed. Outside of the mirrors, and the few minor jutsu I have already shown you and your eyes, there isn't much more I can do outside of help you perfect the basics, or help you derive your own jutsu." Haku explained as Satsuki looked back in shock.
"Is that why you wanted to train me? So the style wouldn't die with you?" Satsuki questioned.
A nod answered her question as the neutral face of Haku returned. "Your five minutes has passed, please return to your stance." Haku said plainly.
Standing back up, a smile on her face, the determined Satsuki replied. "Right!" as she began forming the signs once again. "Ice Mirror Jutsu!" she cried with a strengthened resolve, materializing two mirrors instead of the one she had been capped with.
The usually unreadable Haku once again broke her nom as she let a tiny smile appear on her face. "You may learn the mirror prison yet."
"Yo! Satsuki! Training going well?" a familiar voice called, drawing the three's attention to the nearby forest as Naruto emerged with a prickly haired older man.
"Naruto? I thought I told you I was training here! Go away!" Satsuki exclaimed in annoyance, thinking her teammate had come to spy on her.
"If I wanted to see what you were learning I wouldn't have announced myself. I just wanted to drop by, say hi, and then take another crack at getting into that library." Naruto explained, cracking his knuckles.
"Oh, okay. If that's all then… wait again? Why are you trying to get into the library now? Are the ones you have access to not enough?" Satsuki asked as she processed the words Naruto just spoke.
"You and I both know that the books on those shelves I can read, have been read. But I wanted to see if there was something in there is all." Naruto explained, causing the old man behind him to look down at the genin impressed.
"So you honestly think there might be one in there? It looks to new for it to be hidden shrine or something." The older man teased.
"It hasn't always been like that." Naruto said as he remembered all of the home improvement he did for conditioning and core exercises back when he was younger. "Anyways, lets get out of their way." He said, heading towards the compound with the unknown man in tow.
"What on earth could he think he'd find in that library?" Satsuki thought as she watched the man casually able to enter the gate, tipping off Satsuki's suspicion.
O~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~O
"Wait hold on, I'm a little confused on what you mean. You want me to do what now?" Ino asked the seemingly crazy instructor as she simply laughed.
"I'm telling you to play mind games! It's your specialty, right? Just implement your family jutsu into combat!" She said simplistically, eluding to the idea that this was a simple matter.
"That's what I thought you said. How exactly do you expect me to do that! We don't exactly have anything like that in our arsenal." Ino exclaimed in confusion.
"That's even better! That means that the fighting style we're going to cultivate is unique!" Anko replied in a way that was almost too excited. "Then once that's done, we can work on your interrogation skills!"
"Okay. Two things. One, how is interrogation going to help me in a 1v1 tournament. Two, are you suggesting that not only are we going to invent a COMPLETELY new jutsu based on the mind jutsu's of the Yamanaka, but we're also going to incorporate it into a fighting style?" Ino asked in a genuinely concerned manner, given the current state of her sensei.
"Well the interrogation stuff can wait until after the final exam, it's not necessary for the tournament, but it would be invaluable for you to learn it!" Anko explained excitedly as Ino's nerve calmed for a moment. "And in terms for number two, that's exactly what I mean!"
Ino simply stood dumbstruck at the sheer tone of casualness that the woman in front of her, especially considering the concept of a new jutsu/fighting style. "I already have a really good fighting style! Why do I need to change it?! Let's not even begin to get into how extremely difficult it is for a veteran shinobi to create a jutsu!"
"I'm, not saying we throw out your current style, just add some… improvements." She said, licking her lips in a way that made Ino slightly uncomfortable. "And in terms of creating a jutsu, in all honesty given your heritage, it should be slightly easier to create the one I have in mind. Especially since its relatively basic in concept, and you have plenty of sources to draw inspiration from!" Anko urged as she became more and more excited.
"What do you mean? I get the idea I may have the possibility of maybe a small jutsu, but what do you mean by sources? None of my family have probably ever done whatever your thinking." Ino said as she looked the woman up and down, checking to make sure she was alright.
"Well maybe if I explained you'd understand. Basically I want you to have a move that plays mind tricks on your enemy. Essentially a genjutsu that can throw off your enemies in the midst of combat, while also being so subtle that it's near impossible to tell!" Anko explained.
"I'm already pretty good at that given my heritage, why would I need to learn a new style? I have genjutsu."
"That's the thing! I'm talking the most minor changes! Heck, the only reason I know you can do it is because of your experience with the human mind! Imagine if you could make somebody believe you were a few more inches to the left, even for a few milliseconds. It would completely throw them off balance!"
"Leaving me to exploit the opening…" Ino finished as she became surprisingly startled at the concept being surprisingly doable, and intelligent. "Not to mention because of such minimal effort, it wouldn't be that obvious to find out."
"Exactly!" Anko praised as she knew she hooked the genin.
"Wait, but that would require such control, concentration, and skill, it might almost be more of a hindrance than a help since I only have a month to train it." Ino questioned as she looked back towards the torturer.
"I knew you'd say that! That's exactly why you should do it! Most Yamanaka aren't exact great hand to hand fighters. You on the other hand are quite frankly the most expert in that field. And the only two clans I can think capable of that level of perception control are you, and the Uchiha. But the Uchiha, or the few that are left, only use powerful genjutsu that completely messes with the mind, and they don't have the expertise when it comes to the human mind." Anko elaborated.
"And because I know so many Uchiha already… wait a minute. Can't Uchiha see through genjutsu anyways? Jinchuriki too?"
"I said that it was essentially a genjutsu. But if you used your Kekkei Genkai to plant the image into their mind directly, then strike, so long as you don't use your eyes to do it, you should even be able to fool them!" Anko once again explained in excitement.
"Okay why are you so excited, it's kind of weird. Not to mention that it may sound all well and good, but you're forgetting I pass out when I enter someone's mind, AND I have to hit them directly with the jutsu." Ino continued as she kept noticing more and more questions pop up the more, she gets excited about this possible trump card.
"Oh that's easy. We'll just develop the jutsu to not do that." Anko stated victoriously, as if she had just figured it all out. "And I'm excited because you have the natural gift all people like me would die to have! And if I can't have it, I'll damn well make sure I train you myself!"
Ino looked into her new teacher's eyes and saw the excitement permeating from the ex-proctor as she let out a smile. "Well then sensei, you best get brainstorming on ideas. We only have a month to get this right."
"Yeah! That's what I like to hear!" the excited Anko exclaimed as she grabbed Ino's wrist, dragging her in the direction of her office.
O~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~O
Kiba was panting following the end of his training session with Kurenai and the recently released Shino. While his training was going well, Kiba felt as if mere sparring would only get him so far in his training. "Alright, I think we should call it a day." Kiba expressed as he lowered his guard.
"Kiba, I know Hinata just woke up, but we still have half a day, I'm sure you can visit her later today." Kurenai expressed as she too lowered her guard, followed closely by Shino.
"Not to mention your fundamentals could still use some work. Your control is still—" Shino began, being interrupted by Kiba.
"Yeah yea, control training at home. I'm not going to the hospital; I have some personal training I gotta do." Kiba explained, putting a suspicious eye onto his sensei.
"Oh? So you're actually doing your control exercises?" Kurenai asked in surprise as she asked the question in disbelief.
"Yes and no. but don't worry! I have a plan." Kiba explained as he gave his mentor a large grin.
"So you have another training regimen outside of mine and your personal training?" Kurenai questioned suspiciously. "What exactly are you training?"
"I'm honing my instincts with intensive training. When I'm done, Neji is going to regret ever being—"
"Kiba, control." Shino paid back Kiba's interruption as he stunted the Inuzuka's vengeance.
"Alright!" Kiba said as he had plenty of times before. "Regardless, this training is going to help me control my instincts, rather then let them take full control." Kiba elaborated, putting a surprisingly proud face onto his sensei.
"Really? That would be a step up, I can't wait to see your results. You sure we can't join you? Help out?" Kurenai asked, wanting to genuinely see the training Kiba was doing to meet this impressive goal.
"Sorry, but quite frankly, you guys aren't exactly what I need for this training. My instincts are already better than yours so it wouldn't exactly help that much until I already made some progress and can test it out a bit." Kiba explained to the disappointed jonin.
"Very well, good luck on this new training then." Kurenai said with a smile. "I'm going to go see Hinata, so if you need me, head to the hospital."
"I don't know if I'll make it until late tonight, I doubt I'll see you there." Kiba admitted as he turned to leave the training area.
Kiba began walking down the old road toward the Inuzuka compound. The overgrown and wild nature of the plant life that lined the path was very calming to the boy, growing up around it most his life. Kiba looked towards the forest as he saw a clansman taking his ninken on a high speed 'walk' through the trees. Making a safe distance from the Inuzuka, he soon cut into the forest, walking towards where he had been told to meet his newest sensei. Making his way to a secluded part of the forest, Kiba simply waited for his training to begin.
"You're early." A voice said as a light fog began to set in, rapidly evolving into a thick mist, making it near impossible to see.
"Well I can't help that, I'm pretty excited right now!" Kiba admitted with a smile as Akamaru jumped onto the ground next to him, giving an excited bark."
"Curious. You're excited for excruciating training." The voice called out as Kiba was struck hard in the face, causing him to start careening into a nearby tree.
"So I guess we're starting strong." Kiba stated, wiping the blood off his cut lip. Kiba then closed his eyes, getting into a defensive stance.
"Confident are we." The voice stated from behind him. Taking the bait, Kiba swung behind him, hitting nothing but mist as he received a powerful blow to his back side. "Really? You think I'd make it that easy?"
"Not really, I just thought I was fast enough." Kiba admitted as he readied himself again.
"You fool. Focus on finding the real me, using my voice as a base, using first you're sense of hearing to follow my movement." The voice stated simply.
"That's all well and good, but you're silent when you move." Kiba expressed as he was quickly swept off his feet with a low kick, hitting the ground hard.
"What kind of excuse is that. I may have trained to limit my sound to an inhuman degree, but nobody can be completely silent. Now matter how quiet, there will always be some sound, no matter how hard you may try." The voice explained as it echoed through the forest.
"Alright fine, I just gotta figure out were you are, and then—" Kiba tried to strike once more, hitting air, and being subsequently smacked in the back of the head.
"You're not ready for offense. Focus on countering me when I attack." The voice chastised as Kiba returned to his ready position. "I'll admit, had you not had your innate instincts, you'd hardly have enough potential to even have me consider training them. If your s—" the voice was cut off as Kiba sent out a strike, seemingly coming close enough for the voice's owner to need to dodge.
"Just because I'm still new at this, doesn't mean you can easily let your guard down. I'm getting used to your little speeches." Kiba said, interrupting the voice's last statement.
"Very good." The voice stated as the mist became even thicker than before. "Now let's see how you handle a change in pace."
O~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~O
"I don't think that's going to work." Jiraiya admitted as he watched Naruto attempt to brute force his way into the deeper library, attempting to pry the stone doors open.
Strained, Naruto replied. "Yeah, but this is the only thing I haven't tried yet!"
Jiraiya watched as Naruto released his grip on the doors, abandoning the forceful entrance. "Maybe you should try thinking about it like whoever owned this place." Jiraiya said sarcastically as he watched the son of his former student struggle with the door. "Come on Naruto, I know you can do this." Jiraiya thought as he already knew the solution.
"I've tried forcing it open with seals, teleportation, brute force, patience, even asking nicely!" Naruto admitted, causing Jiraiya's face to become much more amused.
"Asking it nicely?" the sannin questioned.
"I thought it might have a password or something." Naruto explained as he analyzed the door.
"Take a closer look at the door, what do you see?" Jiraiya asked, causing Naruto to turn and explain.
"Well it looks like it has the insignia of the Uchiha, the Senju, and the Namikaze clan on it in the form of keys, with three locks they could fit in. I tried looking at it through my sharingan, but no hints appeared." Naruto explained.
"Namikaze clan huh? Do you know the clan's history?" Jiraiya asked, giving the boy a hint.
"Well I know that Minato Namikaze married an Uchiha woman, Kushina. That resulted in the Namikaze essentially gaining the Kekkei Genkai." Naruto explained.
"Very good, and given your own heritage, what happened before that?" Jiraiya asked, revealing his knowledge on the boy's parentage.
"Did Kakashi tell you that too!" Naruto asked concerned, wondering if he could trust his teacher.
"No, no. I'm one of the few that Lord Third and Lord Fourth trusted with the information is all." Jiraiya explained to the still reluctant Naruto. "Now, what of Minato's past."
Still slightly shaken from the casual revelation, Naruto continued. "Well not many know of it, but his father was Tobirama Senju himself. He had a secret wife in Minato's mother, Masako Namikaze." Naruto answered, knowing there was no reason to hide this fact seeing Jiraiya clearly already knew.
"Correct." Jiraiya pronounced as he walked towards the door, standing next to the boy. "Now have you used any of that history to help you open the door?"
"Well yeah. I tried putting the events in chronological order, I've tried every combination of maneuvering the key other than that to see if it would budge, it didn't, and I've tried taking them all out." Naruto expressed as he was lamenting his failure.
"Maybe there are more ways aside from the proper order to manipulate the lock." Jiraiya explained, causing Naruto to have an epiphany.
"Could you help me for a second?" Naruto asked as he took out all of the insignia keys, handing Jiraiya the Uchiha key.
"He might just have it" Jiraiya thought as he readied the key. "On three then. One, two, three!" Jiraiya said as he and Naruto both placed the crests in at the same time.
*click*
"IT CLICKED!" Naruto expressed in excitement. "Its never done that before!"
"Well come on, finish it up." Jiraiya said, gesturing to the last key.
"Right!" Naruto said as he slowly eased the key representing the Namikaze into the center space, allowing it to sink into the key slot. As the rounded end with the stamped insignia merged into the flat wall, Naruto became upset once more. "Nothing happened."
As Naruto expressed his concern, the old stone doors began to slide upwards, revealing a staircase that headed underground as it slowly rose. With a loud bang, the door was completely open as the noise echoed down the oddly lit stairs. "Looks like it worked." Jiraiya said in a satisfied manner, messing with Naruto's silver hair. "Come on, we have some searching to do."
"You knew how to open it from the start, didn't you?" Naruto questioned as he began walking down the steps.
"Well maybe, but what kind of teacher would I be if I did the work for you. The only hint I gave that really mattered was the one about delayed placement, you figured out the rest." Jiraiya expressed, following the genin down. As he reached the bottom, he saw Naruto standing in awe at the size of the library. While not as large or extensive as the main Konoha library, this one was seemingly on par with the average clan specific libraries of say the Hyuuga, the Nara, or some of the other clans. This library likely contained all the techniques, history, and artifacts that belonged to the Namikaze clan, including some portions of the Senju and Uchiha libraries. "We better get looking." Jiraiya said, patting the genin on the back. "You seem to have a lot of reading to do."
O~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~O
Sasuke stood in front of a rock as his fist connected with it, leaving a small crack, but also a bruised fist. "No, no, not a closed fist, an open palm. If you enclose your fist the lightning won't hit the target." Kakashi explained from behind him as he simultaneously flew through a multitude of hand signs, eventually gripping his wrist, allowing a condensed ball of lightning to manifest in his palm. "Chidori." he stated firmly before charging another nearby rock, slamming the jutsu into it with a massive impact.
As rocks and debris flew past and around Sasuke, he simply made slight movements to dodge the incoming earth. "I know I know; it just feels awkward when I'm about to make contact with the rock at full force with that form." Sasuke admitted as he stared into his own palm.
"Well then I have the perfect regiment to not only get you used to the feeling, but also strengthen your palm and wrist strength to handle the technique better." Kakashi stated in his usual casual manner, walking towards the nearby mountain side.
"Alright, what were you thinking?" Sasuke asked as he followed the quiet jonin.
"Every day we will meet at the base of this plateau. And then we're going to do some rock climbing." Kakashi stated as he grabbed his bag of equipment, slinging it onto his back.
Mimicking his master, Sasuke replied. "That doesn't seem that ba—"
"And we'll only be using our palms to climb it." Kakashi interrupted casually as he turned to give Sasuke a signature eye smile.
Blanking for a moment, Sasuke questioned his sensei. "I'm sorry, did you just say climbing the rocks using only our palms?!"
"Exactly." Kakashi stated as he began approaching the wall.
"I'll say this, you're as extreme as ever." Sasuke admitted as he grumpily stood next to his sensei, nose almost touching the cold stone in front of him.
"Well to be fair, we have a slight advantage over the average person." Kakashi admitted as he planted his hands onto the rockface, channeling a small amount of chakra into his hands.
"Easy enough. That means we can—"
"You only get to use your fingertips." Kakashi quickly expressed as he began scaling the cliff face. While Sasuke still processing his orders, Kakashi decided to bring him back to the real world. "You know if you're too slow, I might not be able to catch you if you fall."
"Right…" Sasuke scoffed as he latched his fingers onto the wall, focusing a small amount of chakra into each individual fingertip. "Well if I'm gonna do this, I might as well do it right." He thought as he looked up to see a massive summit for him to climb.
Kakashi looked down to see Sasuke slowly but surely making his way up to his elevated position. It looked as if he was still getting the hang of it, but by the time the month was over, he'd probably come back to do this just for fun. "There ya go, just needed to take the first step and now you're moving." Kakashi expressed proudly as his student reached his height. "However we still have a ton of rock to climb, and a lot of speed and strength to build up so unless you want to make things harder for you, I suggest you kick it into gear."
Sasuke watched as Kakashi began climbing at a steady pace. Not wanting to be left behind, Sasuke quickly began attempting to mimic the speed of the jonin. This was rather difficult as not only has his climbing been handicapped enough already, but the lack of experience definitely showed as he took longer to find the best crevices to latch onto. "You know, I'm actually kind of enjoying this training." Sasuke said to himself quietly as he relished in the burn in his muscles. "It's been awhile since a workout has hurt this much. Maybe I should update my own personal regiment." Sasuke thought as he reached for what appeared to be a stable grip.
"Sasuke, be careful." Kakashi called lazily from about 10 feet above him as he looked down.
Sasuke looked up as his weight was distributed onto the ledge. "What do you—" Sasuke cut himself off as the rock gave out, sending the stones careening down the mountain.
"Find a different grip before you strain your other hand too much!" Kakashi called down as he quickly began making his way down with only his upper body.
Sasuke quickly activated his sharingan as he looked around the mountain, using the slowed time, finding the next best grip just in his reach, grabbing the new point. "Don't get to scared, I got this."
"Okay good, not only were you able to save yourself, but you gave me another idea." Kakashi said as he closed the gap about five feet.
"Oh yeah? And what's that?" Sasuke asked as he made another reach for another cling point.
"No more using your sharingan." Kakashi said calmly as he looked down at Sasuke
"Great…" Sasuke thought as he gave Kakashi an annoyed look, casually pulling himself up to continue his climb.
O~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~O
"You asked for me?" Kin heard as the girl Sakura entered her hospital room.
"Yeah, I wanted you to check on my wound. Hana hasn't been back in the past few days, so I just thought I'd ask for you." Kin replied as she sat on the edge of the bed.
"Oh, that's all?" Sakura asked surprised. "Alright then." She continued as she began making her way towards Kin.
Being confused herself, Kin asked a question as Sakura began to slowly remove her bandages. "Did something happen to her?"
"Um… I'm not exactly qualified to answer that question. There was an incident she came across during patrol that she had to take care of. That's about all I'm allowed to say." Sakura responded half-heartedly as she continued to finish up on the bandages, before analyzing the injury.
"That's fair, I guess. She said something before she left about knowing about a place for me to stay, but she never told me where. I think she was going to show me, but I guess it'll have to wait." Kin replied in a sad and lethargic tone, noting the slightly softening face of Sakura as she took a quick peak at Kin's own face.
"Well the good news is that your shoulder has essentially healed, but it'll be a little sensitive for a few days. You won't need the bandages anymore." Sakura stated, causing Kin to simply turn towards Sakura to give a weak smile. "Bad news is Hana won't be back until tomorrow, so you'll probably have to…" Sakura paused as she saw Kin's face begin to revert to how it was moments ago.
Kin watched as the Kunoichi's gaze softened to a point that the average person could tell exactly what she was thinking. "I get it, I'll just wait until—"
"Actually, I have an idea of where she intended to send you, I guess I could escort you there and have the current occupants act as your guards until I can report to Hana." Sakura offered in a kind manner, giving Kin a reason to let a smile come back to her face.
"I thought you didn't like me? Why are you acting so kind?" Kin said with a perfectly mimicked tone of confusion.
"Well frankly, I'm still not the biggest fan of yours. But its clear that keeping you in a hospital room is negatively affecting your health. Not to mention Hana will probably rip me a new one If she realizes…" Sakura mumbled the second part as she fumbled for an excuse
"What was that?" Kin asked in a manner that made it sound like she didn't hear the comment.
"Oh nothing, let me just take care of a few things really quick and I'll take you there." Sakura stated as she swiftly exited the room.
"Well she seems to be all over the place. She probably feels guilty about not telling me about this sooner because of the way I looked when she walked in. I'll admit that was a bit underhanded of me, but the promise of a better place to stay on top of some plan she has is to intriguing to pass up." Kin thought as she awaited the return of her escort. Gazing off into the sunset, she watched as the sun eventually sank beneath the forest, turning evening into night as Sakura returned to the room.
"All set, we just have to make a few stops in the village, and then I can take you to your temporary living arrangements. I already have the approval of the… landlord." Sakura stated calmly, stumbling a bit on the title of the owner.
"Alright, anything to get out of this room." Kin admitted honestly as she stood from the bed. "So where are we stopping?"
"Well we have to stop at the research office to grab a little bit of extra muscle, then after that we're supposed to meet two more guards at the gate. I ended up running into Hana while I was finishing up. She told me she sent one of the triplets to get them prepped." Sakura explained as she led the sound nin out the door and down the hallway.
Exiting the hospital into the streets of Konoha, the slight cool breeze touched Kin's skin, causing goosebumps to appear on the girl's skin. "It's nice out." Kin admitted as she continued walking behind Sakura.
"I suppose. Nights like this are common in Konoha." Sakura explained with half her attention as she demonstrated the amount she has grown accustomed to the weather.
"I've been living underground for so long, nights like these rarely come by. I mean on missions I felt it but… they were always rare." Kin thought as she walked through the scarcely crowded streets with Sakura. "You'd think it would be a bit busier than this." Kin spoke aloud as she rotated her head from building to building.
"Well right now is a fairly conservative time of year. Since the chunin exams are almost done, a lot of people are saving money for the festival that comes before the final tournament." Sakura explained. "It's not so uncommon for the streets to be a bit more barren this time of year."
"I guess that makes sense." Kin admitted as she watched Sakura stop at a building, sitting on a nearby bench.
"Take a seat, she'll be out in a bit." Sakura stated as he gestured to the open spot beside her.
"I mean I guess that's—" before Kin could finish the sentence, the door opened to a clearly worn out blonde Kunoichi. Kin recognized the girl as Ino, the one who helped Naruto and his team carry her to the tower, and then subsequently showed her around town and then to dinner.
"I take it she was just as intense a tutor as she is a proctor?" Sakura said with a smirk, causing the blonde to shoot back a smile.
"Worse." She expressed as she sluggishly made her way towards the two. "You're lucky I'm already headed that way, otherwise I woulda just went home to crash."
"I mean I'm sure that when we get there a nice cup of tea will be waiting for you." Sakura teased as the two simply continued on, barely acknowledging Kin.
"So what now? Just head to the gate?" Kin asked, knowing the schedule, but also wanting to make sure the blonde noticed her presence.
"Precisely." Sakura answered quickly.
"Oh yeah, Sakura mentioned you were coming with us. You're gonna love this place." Ino said with a smile akin of a child anticipating a present on their birthday.
Kin simply looked on in confusion as the trio made their way to the gate. It was a surprisingly quick trip considering they didn't have to wade through tightly packed crowds, yet they could have made it their faster had Ino had just a bit more stamina. As they approached the gate, two cloaked men, along with two dogs, one seemingly at its peak, and the other in an adolescent stage. "Kin these will be your guards while your staying here. They'll essentially tail you wherever you go and play lookout whenever your asleep." Sakura explained as they drew close enough to see the faces on the pair.
"Well we actually have other guys on the day shift, we're just working nights." The older man explained as he pulled back his hood.
"I mean does that really matter?" the other quipped as he also pulled back the hood on his cloak.
"This is Koga and Mitobe Inuzuka." Sakura stated, gesturing first to the younger man, and then to the older. The veteran had long unkept hair down to his shoulders, and a wild scruff beard, while the wide eyed youngblood was cleanshaven, sporting a spiky new hairstyle. Each of them also wore the trademark Inuzuka face markings as well.
"Hello." Kin said nervously as she looked upwards at the taller shinobi.
"Their both chunin level, but quite frankly Mitobe should be a jonin at this point." Sakura added as she began walking passed the pair with Ino.
"Damn straight." The man replied with a smile as he followed the girls.
"Don't forget to join us!" Koga said in an excited tone as he gestured for Kin to follow them.
Quickly picking up her feet, Kin began to make her way back to the middle of the pack as she wondered. "Where exactly are they taking me?"
O~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~O
"Hey Naruto, I think I found something!" Jiraiya called from the opposite side of the room, housing mostly artifacts and storage boxes.
Dropping the book that had distracted him with the history of the warring states, Naruto moved over to see what his mentor had found. "What is it? The contract?"
"Maybe, I just have to… there we go!" Jiraiya exclaimed as he hefted one of the largest old wooden boxes off of the top shelf of the area.
"That things the size of a large dog! What could possibly be in there?" Naruto asked as he watched Jiraiya head back to the top shelf.
"Well its not the contract, it's to spacious to just house that, but there's more space up here. I think it may be in it since it's the last place we haven't checked. That is of course your hunch was right. Go ahead crack it open." Jiraiya expressed as he began searching the crevasse behind where the box was found.
Taking Jiraiya's advice, Naruto bit his thumb, allowing a drop of blood to land on a piece of chakra paper before placing it onto the obviously sealed box. Opening the lid, Naruto was met with an odd surprise. "Interesting it's in a box like this down here. It's just a set of blue warring states era armor. We have a few sets like this upstairs."
"Oh? Is it just a set of blue armor? How about you take a closer look" Jiraiya sated slyly as he continued his search.
Naruto looked closer into the box, spotting a finely crafted sword, along with the interesting discovery of fur, covering the neck portion of the chest piece. Picking up an interestingly shaped headband, it finally hit Naruto what exactly he was holding. "This is my grandfathers' armor…" Naruto spoke softly as he glanced back up at Jiraiya.
"That it is." Jiraiya said as a smile wedged its way onto his face, grinning at a new find. "But that's not all I found." Jiraiya said excitedly as he pulled down a similarly sized scroll to the one he wore. "Looks like you were right."
"This is a lot more than I expected…" Naruto said in shock. Do you know what kind of contract that is?"
Well I don't know exactly, but considering it's down here, and your father was a toad user himself. I'd think it's the summons your mother used." Jiraiya elaborated. "That is of course Tobirama didn't have a summon we just didn't know about."
"What did my mom use? You must've been around the village when she was still here." Naruto asked as he hoped for something .
"Well while I wasn't around too much, I do know that she occasionally had a little fox tailing her when she walked around on her own." Jiraiya said with a thoughtful expression.
"Wait, foxes? Are you sure?" Naruto asked as he grabbed the contract, opening it to see two fingerprints with dry blood in the columns, alongside two different names that read "Mito Senju" and of course "Kushina Uchiha".
"I am certain. I remember all too well how she spoke of them. It was somewhat of a tradition that Kushina took on upon meeting Mito and her own summons." The Kyuubi stated with an embarrassed tone.
"Well that would have been nice to know." Naruto thought as he looked at his still bleeding thumb.
"Well to be fair brat, I did warn you not to be so quick to take him up on his offer with the toads." Kurama explained as Naruto looked back to Jiraiya.
"I think I would like to follow in my mother's footsteps. I mean, it is seemingly a tradition after all." Naruto stated with a fox like grin that would make his mother proud.
"Well I guess I'll just have to find another prospect to train in the way of the toad. But if you think you're ready, I suppose… HEY! I was talking!" Jiraiya expressed in a tantrum like response as Naruto was halfway through writing his name on the contract.
"What? I'm just signing the contract." Naruto said innocently as he placed his thumb onto the designated space.
"Well I guess that's to be expected. Let's start properly training the technique tomorrow. For now, let's head back up." Jiraiya exclaimed in a disappointed fashion.
"I guess that should be—" Naruto heard the doors of the compound slam open as a familiar voice echoed down the stairs.
"Here we are! Your new accommodations!" Ino said with a surprisingly weak sounding enthusiasm.
"Well it's about time she showed up…" Naruto said tiredly as he began making his way up the stairs.
O~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~O
Authors Notes: Hello readers! I hope the second day of training properly laid out the jutsu each of the finalists presented are going to be working towards. A few obvious statements I should get out of the way. I will not be focusing on Yugito, Gaara, Neji, or Temari due to their status as villain/antagonist/outsiders. Shikamaru is getting noticeably little screen time, or word time? Anyways, this is due to the fact that similar to in canon, he didn't exactly do much in terms of training outside of basic drills with team 10. He will get a segment in the next chapter; however he will not be getting as much focus as the more proactive bunch. Ino's training in particular is very unique to say the least, keep reading to see more! Another elephant in the room is the Kin plot that has a side focus within the chapters. I just want to say that I'm really having fun writing the plot that I intended to be a simple 'villain perspective'. In terms of the Namikaze library. It is smaller than every other clan library, however it has a very specified selection of various high level Senju/Uchiha techniques on top of the jutsu that belong to the Namikaze, and the various artifacts and informative books littered throughout. The reason the compound has Tobirama's armor is because not only are the Senju awol and gone, but I find it reasonable that he gifted the armor to his son. Finally, the addition of the fox summoning was done purely because not only is the concept interesting, but it also makes sense in the way that Naruto isn't a mix of toad in fox. I know this decision will be controversial, but it's set now. The next chapter title reveal is [Physical and Emotional Progress].