Disclaimer: First Chapter
Story Start!
Hiruzen felt proud.
At the same time he felt so worried about Naruto, since over the course of the Chunin exam fights the changes in his body had exceeded what they had started with. It was visible in the amount of his hair that had turned scarlet red, which was only about 5% of his hair. At the moment it just looked like he dyed his hair to give it a somewhat flame-like appearance, but the fact that just days ago his hair had been completely golden showed that the changes were speeding up the more he fought and used chakra or magic.
He was worried.
Naruto had also used quite a bit of the Kyuubi's chakra, and had defeated the Ichibi Jinchuriki in combat AND made friends with him. This by itself didn't worry him, but the fact that Naruto and another Jinchuriki had made friends could put other nations on high alert.
'Even more worrying is that the Kazekage is dead... so who was that man who sat next to me.' Hiruzen put his hands together in worry. Several of his ANBU had located the long dead body of the Kazekage, which was reported to have been dead for long enough that the man he spoke with in person could not possibly had been the Kazekage.
"Sup."
"Jiraiya, you and Naruto... do the two of you ever use manners?" Hiruzen asked as Jiraiya came in through the window. With the way Jiraiya acted, it was easy to tell that the two were two peas in a pod. "I swear, you didn't even raise the boy, and he takes after you, what with how perverted he is." Hiruzen could see that Naruto had inheritted the man's perversion to some degree as well.
Jiraiya just chuckled.
"Well, I am the boy's teacher... he's cute like me, way much fun than Minato was at that age." Jiraiya lit his pipe and started to smoke.
Didn't matter he was in the Hokage's office to him, what was more was that Hiruzen started to smoke with him in response.
"You have news?"
"Naruto's blood sample is done, and that woman's DNA and energy has become part of his chakra... Naruto is just like Tenzo. Only, instead of Naruto taking on the 1st Hokage's traits like Tenzo, his body is taking on this woman's traits... and they have a very high compatibility. Her DNA is very similar trait-wise to Kushina... since Naruto and this Erza have similar personalities, their chakra and magic just sync up easily." Jiraiya could only report something he had already suspected.
"Any way the process can be stopped or slowed?"
"Not that people with that skill level can do that. Even Orochimaru had trouble fusing DNA of shinobi together, the only medical ninja in the world who could help would most likely be Tsunade... and she..." Jiraiya rubbed the back of his head awkwardly.
Hiruzen nodded.
"Well... do you know where Naruto is right now?" Hiruzen asked with a smile.
He had some great news for Naruto.
"You plan to promote him to Chunin after that performance?" Jiraiya asked with a growing smile of his own.
That was GREAT news.
"Much to the annoyance of my old teammates, they believe a Jinchuriki should be kept Genin so that they can be watched by a Jonin... but if we don't make Naruto a Chunin, after the way he showed his skills during the exams, that would make it pretty clear something suspicious is up... is how I convinced them." Hiruzen said with a sly grin. He was all for making Naruto a Chunin from the very beginning, but he knew that he was one of the few who did approve of it.
Well, more people approved of it after seeing what Naruto could do.
Jiraiya just laughed.
"He's a complete fool, but I guess he is just like me that way... he attracts others to him!"
-Much Later-
Kakashi was reading.
Just reading.
'Naruto defeated Neji, Shino, Temari, and Gaara... he showed off amazing abilities, and he's becoming more like Kushina. I'm rather proud of him, but I hope Naruto's progress doesn't set off Sasuke too much.' Kakashi knew that those like Sasuke would take the growth of others rather poorly if it exceeded their own growth. He was worried about how Naruto's sudden growth could impact their team dynamic.
Not only impact it, but cause a dark transformation in Sasuke, who was already showing signs of the Uchiha curse. The hateful, cursed ways of that clan that went deep in their blood. Kakashi had been trying to push the ways of friendship and put a will of fire in Sasuke, but the boy was so focused on revenge that it was hard for him to get Sasuke to see how great his life could be if he let go of it.
'Maybe not let go of it, but at least not make it his reason for living.' Kakashi thought as he turned the page of his book.
There was a knock on his door.
He ignored it.
...
His window opened up and some familiar blond spikes showed, with some red mixed in, came crawling through the window. Naruto broke into his home with a grin on his face, with Kakashi just watching him do it.
"It's rude to enter a home unannounced."
"Says the guy that broke into my apartment to feed me veggies, Kaka-sensei, take a look at me... what has changed!?" Naruto asked with a grin, standing up straighter.
Naruto had abandoned his orange jacket.
Instead, he was wearing a white T-shirt underneath a brand new Chunin vest. Naruto had even taken his forehead protector off of his head and tied it to the front of his neck. He was wearing his new vest with pride, but his outfit wasn't completely devoid of orange now. He still wore orange pants to complete the outfit.
"... You haven't grown taller since the last time I saw you, maybe it's your hair, are you cutting it differently?" Kakashi asked Naruto.
"I'm a Chunin now Kakashi-sensei!"
"Ah... that you are, good for you Naruto, I'm proud." Kakashi just sent Naruto a thumbs up. "Tell you what, since you were promoted to Chunin, I'll teach you a new jutsu later." Kakashi wasn't going to spend any of his money on this, well he might have to spend a little money, but he was sure that Naruto should be rewarded with something.
"Oh, like that lightning thing you killed Haku with, or-"
"Not the Raikiri, I was thinking of teaching you something my teacher taught to me. Actually, I made that technique because I didn't have a lot of chakra to use his technique with... it's called the Rasengan... I'll teach it to you later though, not right now." Kakashi waved a hand at Naruto.
Naruto hugged him.
"That's awesome! Thanks, now I've got to go see Iruka-sensei... and tell him that we're the same rank now!" Naruto jumped out of the window after the quick hug. "Come on Erza, you've got to meet Iruka-sensei, he's awesome... I bet he will treat me to ramen as a bonus." Naruto looked next to him as if talking to somebody.
Somebody that Kakashi could not see at all.
Kakashi pulled his headband up and looked next to Naruto, just out of curiousity, and he could see a very faint something there that wasn't very defined. It looked like it might be a person, but he couldn't see it very clearly. He pulled his headband down when Naruto jumped out of the building, making his way to a different part of the village.
"Who is Erza?" Kakashi tilted his head in confusion. "... Is the Kyuubi tricking Naruto?" Kakashi was a little worried now that something was off about Naruto.
He needed to talk with the Hokage about this.
Kakashi vanished in a burst of speed.
-10 Minutes Later-
"... Huh?"
"Naruto lost a hand and eye, and when he got replacements, he gained the abilities of the woman who he got the replacements from." Hiruzen didn't feel the need to keep Kakashi out of the loop. Kakashi would still be working with Naruto a lot, so it was important to keep him in the loop.
Kakashi was just confused.
"So... like Tenzo with the 1st Hokage's cells."
"Yes, but it seems that Naruto's body is far more suited for adapting to changes. This Erza woman had red hair, fair skin, a rather curvy figure... well she bares genetic similarities to Kushina, meaning she and Naruto share enough similarities that adding her DNA is slowly changing his body." Hiruzen knew of several shinobi who had some similar things with their DNA.
Ninja were not allowed to have random blood transfusions for a reason, they needed blood from family members to save their lives. If that couldn't be used, then medical ninjutsu would be used to convert their hair into new flesh.
"Naruto's body is similar to the Gold and Silver brothers."
"Yes, since her flesh became part of him, her flesh is changing his body. Very similar to how those brothers gained some of the Kyuubi's power by eating it's stomach flesh." Hiruzen knew most shinobi would die by putting the flesh of another in themselves, but those who survived would mutate and gain new abilities from it. It was a dangerous operation usually, but Naruto was a survivor and his mutations thankfully seemed to be rather tame in comparison. "By the way, keep a close eye on Naruto and Sasuke. Make sure that Naruto's growth doesn't cause too much strain between them." Hiruzen was prepared to make a call on that subject if he needed to.
"I will... by the way... who is Erza exactly?"
"She's the ghost that has fused to Naruto's soul... kind of. It seems that Naruto can let her possess his body, and it's her magic that he gained from their bond." Hiruzen didn't exactly like calling it magic, but it was purely a spiritual technique that involved no chakra to use. It wasn't like Yin release jutsu that used Chakra + Spiritual energy, it was pure magically spiritual energy.
It meshed very well with chakra through since chakra could already mesh with either physical or spiritual energy, but it was that mesh that was causing some of the problems they were having.
"Magic huh... seems crazy... but Naruto willingly used the Kyuubi's chakra as well, so I'm not sure what to be more worried about." Kakashi mentally weighed those two things.
Naruto using magic sounded fine on paper to him, but Naruto's use of the Kyuubi's chakra was always going to be something he worried about.
-With Naruto/Erza-
"Cake."
"Eat the cake... eat it... eat it." Erza whispered into his ear as they walked with Iruka, who was excited for Naruto to become a chunin. They had passed by a cake shop, because Iruka had promised to treat them to whatever he wanted as a present. Naruto wanted ramen, but Erza wanted Naruto to eat some strawberry cake to celebrate. "Cake is much more of a celebration food... it's good for the soul." Erza whispered into Naruto's ear.
"Oh, lets get some cake instead, when was the this bakery is pretty good to." Iruka had heard Naruto say cake.
"But... the ramen."
"We always have ramen, but this should be... no, you're right, ramen is special to us isn't it?" Iruka grinned when he saw Naruto's face.
"Caaaaaake! Come on Naruto, reward me for this. Don't I deserve some cake after being dead and alone for so long... come on... you know I can only experience cake through you." Erza complained as she crossed her arms, floating next to him.
Naruto whimpered.
"... damnit... cake... lets get some cake instead... we can get ramen another time." Naruto felt bad for Erza, he really did. She helped him a lot during the exams, so he should reward her for that as well.
Erza turned and sent him a thumbs up, a cute smile on her face.
"By the way, we should go kill and eat a bear... from what I remember a long time ago, somebody I knew killed and ate one, and I wanted to try it too." Erza wanted to see how far she could push Naruto to go with food. Even as a ghost she was drooling at the thought of getting to experience all of the interesting foods of this world.
Naruto started to drool.
That actually sounded like it would be good.
After this, it was off to the forest to eat a bear.
Chapter End!
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