Intentionally short but it does a good job of showcasing what I want it too... and it is going to set up a longer timeskip, maybe three months after this? Not sure...
A month... a month had passed since the death of Azula and with that passing of time, color returned to his world. Naruto felt like he could smile without it being an insult to her memory... like the light of the sun was warm again. It was slow going but sooner then he expected he felt right again. Maybe it was Kyuubi's company, that he wasn't always alone to wall in his memories. Maybe it was from training day in and out, mastering and manuvering himself to become as powerful as possible.
Who knew the reason? In reality it really didn't matter much, only that he had grown and would continue to grow...
In the last month he gained a full grip on the Monk's unnamed Taijutsu style, which was very leggy and emphasised control and patience. Listening to your opponent and react with patient and careful planning, as to not kill them. It was an amazing capture technique and went well with the kill strike specific nature of Azula's more agressive style. He enjoyed mixing the two styles, even if he only had the scrolls for the basic to mid level techniques in this martial art. Mixing his styles together, he called them Crimson Fox Taijutsu in honor of his false title and identity.
As for sealing, he picked up five scrolls on defensive seals, mainly to repel attackers, fortify walls, increase sensory stuff and to seal away enemies and to unseal them. That last part made the Fox leap for joy, knowing it was that much closer to release, and Naruto joined him for that feeling since he could relate to the feeling of being trapped. The seals were in a vastly different style then what Azula's paltry lessons could manage, and what advanced stuff Kyuubi knew. The styles mixed together well and by the months end Naruto realized he had a talent for sealing, enough to blend the styles together to create his own seals, or at least the theories of them... he had ideas to create a barrier that would protect his sleeping body physically and by alerting him to danger, he had an idea to unlock other jinchuuriki's seal ( Which was way beyond him but in theory it made sense) and one that would mimic the shadow possesion jutsu. He could only hope that one day he would manage it...
As it was, he could cast seals to reinforce walls and detect people and increased the gravity on others if placed on then or other objects. The last one was his only battle specific seal, and one he managed to write on a dozen or so tags, eager to place on anyone he could. Sadly he had no explosive tags on him to learn from, but that was on his list to learn...
Regular jutsu was next and he was particurally proud of what he found. Six scrolls that involved mastering fire and wind chakra, the most and least occuring Chakra natures ( had no idea what his nature was) and so set his clones to mastering both. He had Six jutsu for fire and three for wind...
Residual Sparks- A D Rank jutsu that created a series of sparks to light pastes or set a campfire
Flying Embers- A D Rank jutsu used to blind enemies with a series of small embers using a low level of power
Fireball jutsu- A C Rank technique that set out a single large fireball
Flare- A D Rank that caused a flare of fire chakra used to illuminate a dark area.
Body Heat Relevation- A D Rank used to heat the body in cold area.
Rigid Veil- A C Rank tehcnique, and Naruto's favorite, that created a veil of fire like wave of water or mist that blinded anyone in the vicinity. He would use it on Sasuke eventually, he swore as much.
Then for Wind jutsu he had the following.
Gale Palm- A C Rank technique that sent a blast of air from joined hands, used in conjunction with Kunai or the like.
Breakthrough- A D Rank technique that evolved into the Great Breakthrough with more chakra, it created a blast of wind from one's diaphragm, the power of which was determined by chakra output entirely.
Beast Gale Palm- A C ranked techique that blasted sharp blades of chakra in a more condensed way then the regular gale palm.
He set to mastering the techiques and incorporating them into his normal combat style, which required a lot of handsign training which was hard as he barely used them. However what he did excel at was using the fire or wind chakra to enchanting his blade with extra power. It made the Flash samurai technique all the more powerful, burning a path through his clone sor slicing them up with thin veils of powerful wind chakra.
After the month of training with these skills, he was certian he was approaching the average Chunin rank, but he still was lacking experience even if he was fighting his clones like crazy... which led him to his current goal, fighting and killing Bandits and Missing Ninja. To accomplish this he found more Bingo books, as Azula had taught him, and sought them out based on prior locations. Sending his clones out, via Kyuubi's powers, he found a few bandit groups in the local area... none seemed to be very powerful but at least one had a chunin, or ex chunin, from Mist in their midst...
And so Naruto determined it was time to fight them...
Oh and, the best thing that happened in the last month, he was in the Bingo book afterall... the Crimson Fox, a C rank criminal with A rank stealth abilities wanted alive for breaking into and stealing from the Fire Monks. It was a real accomplishment and one he felt oddly proud of.
:::
Dressed and transformed to look like his Crimson Fox persona, he shot from his hiding place to where the Bandits were, twenty two miles from the town Jiriaiya was leeching from. The camp wasn't very big, many thirty people strong and only one of them being well trained, the Chunin from Mist. Naruto was ready for the crowd... Gathering six clones, he had three cast a fireball jutsu and three cast a breakthrough jutsu. The result, a massive fire ball that obliterated the entire camp with a loud explosion.
Screams and the stench of burning flesh filled the air, making the Main Naruto clone gag. He was dedicated to watching, to make sure there were no survivors by fighting them off,...but for long as a single massive burst of water exploded from the center of camp, signalling the rise of the very pissed, very large Mist exchunin.
"Who the fuck did that?" The man bellowed, whipping around, searching for his assailant. Within moments his eyes turned to and met the Naruto clones. "You, you killed my men, nearly killed me. Who the fuck do you think you are?"
The clone laughed, hiding the horror of butchering a lot of people so brutally. "I am the Crimson Fox and you are my newest prey. Prepare yourself, I am getting bored here." Pulling out his sword, the Clone fell into a stance.
The Chunin pulled out his own blade. "Challengeing an Ex Mist Ninja to a swordfight, you must really be dumb, boy."
"Or I am that good, really it's up to you to figure out."
They met in the center of the flames, and several things become apparent. The Chunin was not that talented with a blade, but he was physically much stronger then Naruto clone or not... but slower as well. Naruto had the edge here, pulling his sword away, only to slice through the man's belly, making him groan and attempt to kick the clone away. The clone dipped under the kick and sliced up, carving a path through the man's legs and lower back. He saw fat and flesh and wanted to puke but held back, throwing himself away as to not get his ass handed to him.
The chunin whirled around, eyes filled with hate and flames. " I will enjoy carving you to Pie-ARH!" He choked, as three Kunai slammed home into his throat, courtesy of the other Naruto's clones hiding in the distance. He fell, blood pooling around his mangled body, twitching a few times until finally he lay still...
The main clone approached, and with a single swipe, beheaded the exchunin. "Well, that will be fun to show our real self... let's get this body prepared and ready to deliver to the nearest Black Market ... whatever it's called."
The other clones nodded, and each began to stamp out the fires so they would not spread. Before they left, they buried a fragment of Azula's ashes, a reminder of his first kills forever etched into the world by the tree that would grow from her remains.
'''
Miles away, the real Naruto would barely hold back the urge to vomit as the memories slammed into his soul. The mark of murder now lay on him, as it had never done before. The concept had seemed so easy, stemming from being raised in a shinobi village... but the reality was far harder then anything he would have guessed. Still, to his credit, he showed no signs of his distress around Jiraiya as they walked away from the town on to the next one. He hid it well, all too accusted to masking his emotions from the worthless man pretending to be his mentor.
That Jiraiya was so unobservant and didn't seem to really care for Naruto helped a lot.
'To imagine I have ten more months of this crap... til I can reveal my true self, showcase what I really am and what I can do. It is hell but it does keep me safe... I cannot wait to break free either way. I wonder how powerful I will be when I do eventually return to the Leaf? Any ideas Fox?'
"Easily as strong as a jonin at your current rate of growth... who knows though, as to the specifics. Your clones change your potential vastly... with them you could approach S rank, low S but still S none the less. With my power atop of that though... you would be almost unbeatable."
Naruto smirked. 'I'd like that.'
Chapter end, tell me what you think in the reviews.
This was fun to write.
Love, your Ninja Overlord,
Mika.