Previous Translations: Yorokobi - Pleasure/Delight/Joy
Yokubo - Desire/Lust
Kajo - Excess
Shifuku no Kurushimi - Blissful Throes/Blissful Suffering
Tatakainouta - Song of Battle
Zeitakuna Kutsu - Luxurious Torment
Hentai-ryu: Erokenho - Pervert Style: Erotic Fist Art
Konton - Chaos
Kanzen - Perfect
Henka - Change
Harakainokeru - Dispel
Aka-en - Red Flame
Aoi-en - Blue Flame
Kiiro-en - Yellow Flame
Orenji-en - Orange Flame
Tankoshoku-en - Pink Flame
Maho - Magic
Chishiki - Knowledge
Unmei - Fate
Nozomu - Hope
Hoho no Chenja - honestly this one is a mess, but roughly means Changer of Ways
Ryuketsu - Bloodshed
Chikara - Strength
Meiyo - Honor
Budo - Martial Arts
Ikari - Rage
Jumon - Incantation
Himitsu no Sewanin - Secret Caretaker(Keeper of Secrets)
Sento - Combat
Same no On'na - Shark-Woman
Maebure - Harbinger
Shibari no Ashikase - Binding Fetters
Kanpeki - Perfection
Reikan - the closest English word would be Inspiration, but it specifically refers to 'a divine creative impulse'
Sekkyo-sha - Preacher
Aijin - Lover
Kaen Hosha-ki - Flame Radiator (Flamer of Tzeentch)
Himeiwoageru - Which Screams (Screamer of Tzeentch)
Shikkan - Disease
Ai - Love
Zetsubo - Despair
Mi Haito - Undivided/Not Divided
Shibo - Aspiring
Koki - Exalted
Chakra no Bato - Coruscating Chakra/Chakra of Coruscation
Gyokai - Industry
In case someone somehow doesn't know, Hi - Fire
Don'yoku - Greed/Avarice
Yokuatsu - Tyranny/Oppression
Yami no Chichi - Father of Darkness/Dark Father
Raimeiton - Thunder Release, what Naruto has decided to name his mix of wind and lightning chakra
Shuryoju - Hunting Beasts (same word for plural or singular), an alternate name for Fiends of Slaanesh, best word I could find for them
Konton no Omo - Lord of Chaos
Kemonojin - a very jank way of translating Beastmen into Japanese, basically would mean Animal-Human
Gyumao - Ox Demon King
Eiyu - Hero
Gyumahime - Ox Demon Princess
Kajomahime - Excessive Demon Princess
Shikamaru awoke with more of a groan than a yawn, although he felt like he was doing both regardless, "You shouldn't move too much, your ribs are fine by now but you're still probably exhausted." Shizune spoke from across the small tent.
Shikamaru blinked blearily, wondering when the Hokage's assistant had joined his mission, "My team?" he asked in a tired tone.
"All doing far better than you." Shizune responded dryly, "I already healed Choji-kun and Ino-chan, both only had superficial cuts and minor muscle damage." she informed calmly, knowing that knowledge tended to calm those who understood such things.
Shikamaru sighed, a long suffering sigh, "How lucky." he grumbled, confusing the iryonin attending him with his attitude towards the concept.
Shizune wasn't entirely sure how to respond so she set the disdain for luck aside for now, "Well, speaking of luck, you and Ino-chan apparently gained the favor of some Kami for that fight." she commented, and to Shikamaru's credit he managed not to flinch at the knowledge others now knew he was marked, "So, welcome to the club I guess." the woman added with a nervous laugh, "I'm kind of surprised you got marked by the same Kami as me." she continued, cheerfully and unaware of the minor crisis the young Nara was silently and secretly having, "I never expected Ino-chan to get that mark either."
Shikamaru was curious about Ino more than anything now, "Who marked Ino?" he asked, unable to contain his curiosity.
Shizune blinked, "Uh, all of them I think? It's an eight pointed star, like Kakashi-san." she explained, not sounding very certain of the information she was relaying, "I'm surprised neither of you got a blessing for that performance though, I guess because you both fought the same opponent." she mused.
Shikamaru had no idea himself, "So, do I have to join the Konton Gundan now?" he asked, failing to suppress his annoyance at the idea.
Shizune shrugged, "I don't know about that, but you probably should." she explained, "It's safer if you understand the Kami you're being favored by." she added to try assuring the morose young genin it was a wise decision.
Shikamaru sighed loudly, "What a pain." he grumbled, earning him a disapproving frown from the iryonin for his attitude.
Ino was trying to distract herself from the new eight pointed star on her left thigh by fussing over Choji, the teammate who had been injured almost as badly as Shikamaru had been. The Akimichi was fine of course, but he let Ino do what she seemed to feel she needed to do by bandaging up his arms while Shikamaru was tended to by Shizune in a nearby tent. His injuries were pretty much entirely superficial, no cuts were deep enough to strike bone, open important veins or arteries, or even damage tendons.
Shikamaru meanwhile had suffered chakra exhaustion and some cracked ribs while Ino herself had a cut on her arm that was as superficial as any of Choji's despite looking far more serious due to it's length alone.
Asuma was proud of his students, but also concerned. He didn't know much about the Konton Gundan or the Konton no Kami, he knew Kakashi was made Buntaicho of the ninso black ops but not much else. The man sighed, wishing he'd arrived sooner to protect his students. He also wondered if perhaps the enemy jonin had somehow noticed him coming, he had no way to confirm it for certain but it would explain why she'd been so willing to abandon the genin under her command.
"Why did you let my genin fight a jonin?" Asuma asked Hana while his students were all occupied.
The chunin flinched at the accusation, "Sorry, I know how it seems but uh, Konton no Ninso can't really deny or interfere with challenges." she tried to explain, "Shizune-san can explain it a bit better from what I heard." she added, not sure how much she was actually supposed to say.
Asuma frowned as he didn't like that answer, but he didn't press the issue further since he could tell the young woman seemed apologetic at least.
Kakashi wasn't sure what was more surprising, that Ino had gotten the eight pointed star he had or that Shikamaru of all the members of team ten had been marked by Slaanesh. He looked to Tsunade to be sure the woman wasn't kidding before turning his attention back to team ten, Asuma and Choji not having left the Hokage's office yet, "I feel like we should consult Maemi-tan about this, probably Aoki too." he decided after a rather long and awkward silence.
Tsunade nodded in agreement, "I'll leave that to you, hold a meeting with the Konton Gundan properly for once." she ordered, "First though, I've been swamped with work, so I haven't had much time for it but I need to speak with you and Asuma-san. The rest of you are dismissed." she finished. Ino looked disappointed but Choji looked ready to leave.
Shikamaru looked surprisingly hesitant to leave but followed Choji after a moment, prompting Ino to follow suit. Asuma raised an eyebrow, "What's going on?" he asked.
"Just wait a moment, Jiraiya should be back with the old codgers soon enough, sensei trusted their advice so I might as well see what they think too." Tsunade informed calmly, "Ideally I'd prefer to keep this meeting to as few people as possible, but given who you two are I think it's worth having you two here as well." she explained.
Asuma was just more confused by the explanation, "What about Shikaku-san?" he asked.
"The man is a brilliant tactician, but you'll understand why I decided not to bother him with this soon enough." Tsunade answered vaguely, leaving an awkwardly long silence until Jiraiya arrived with Hiruzen's former teammates following. Homura didn't look too bothered to be there, offering a quick and shallow bow to the Hokage as he entered.
Koharu offered no such deference, "I do hope this is important." she grumbled, shooting an angry glare at Jiraiya.
Noticing who her anger was directed at Tsunade made a simple assumption and set aside her own annoyance at the lack of respect, "Kusagakure no Sato has offered to host the next Chunin Exams between our allied villages." she began bluntly, cutting straight to the point. Koharu looked more surprised than annoyed after such an announcement.
Kakashi realised why there were there, "Ah, shouldn't Kurenai-san be present too?" he asked, realizing this was going to involve their genin and likely the Konton Gundan.
Tsunade shook her head, "It will be up to her if she wants to nominate her students again, but you and Asuma-san are more experienced jonin and I'd like to know how you feel regarding your teams right now." she responded, explaining her reasoning plainly.
Kakashi gave a thumbs up, "Oh my team will dominate easily. I feel kind of bad for the competition honestly, but it'll definitely make our village look strong." he answered, proud of himself and understanding the need for their village to give off a show of strength.
Asuma couldn't help but feel a little competitive, "Well, I think if my students compete your team might have some actual competition at least." he remarked, knowing that their was more to the exams than martial power.
Tsunade resisted the urge to roll her eyes at the competitive air the two were giving off, "So you'd both compete with confidence then, good." she nodded.
Koharu frowned, "Who would be competing? Kusagakure, Amegakure?" she questioned, wanting more information before she voiced an opinion on the matter.
"Sunagakure as well, and Takigakure." Tsunage began, before her eyes shifted as she considered how to word what she wanted to say, "Also, it seems Kusagakure thinks Kumogakure should compete." she added.
"That's a trap." Homura said bluntly, "No, wait, that's too obvious, but what else could it be?" he wondered, a little thrown off as he registered what was said.
Koharu was visibly surprised, "They wouldn't go after our war assets so blatantly would they?" she asked.
"Hang on," Kakashi spoke up, "Amegakure again?" he asked, "I know we have some peace treaties with them, but aren't they upset my students killed some of theirs and took back the relic of the Nidaime they stole in the past on a C rank mission when they crossed paths?" he asked curiously.
"Clearly they aren't interested in starting a war with us over such things." Jiraiya answered with a shrug, "They're as neutral as ever, old Hanzo has become a real shut in it seems." he explained, "Hasn't left his fortress of a home in a while now."
Asuma was surprised at that information, realizing the Sannin had just divulged information from his network, "When did I get promoted to advisor in training?" he wondered aloud.
Tsunade scoffed, "Hardly, although maybe for Kakashi, since he'll likely retain the position with Naruto." she joked, then she realized what she said as everyone looked surprised at what she'd said. No one in the room had missed it, although said as part of a joke, Tsunade had implied Naruto indeed would take the hat when she retired, "Why are you all looking at me like that?" she challenged despite knowing what had caused the surprised looks.
Kakashi chuckled, then started laughing, "Nothing, just didn't think it would be said out loud so soon I suppose." he answered, causing the surprised faces to turn to him next, before Jiraiya started laughing as well.
Asuma raised an eyebrow, "Alright, I'm not placing any bets on these exams if we're still in." he answered.
Tsunade cleared her throat as Kakashi and Jiraiya composed themselves, "Back on that note, it's not like Iwa or Chigiri are joining in." she pointed out.
Koharu nodded in agreement, "True enough, I see why Kusa may be making treaties with Kumo, my main concern is Iwa shinobi being allowed in disguised as Kumo shinobi, so you should definitely organize to send a messenger to Kumo to ask them personally if they're joining." she spoke, earning the surprised expressions for herself.
"Woman you are going to give me whiplash." JIraiya joked nervously, "Sending a messenger to speak with them? I know mail can be intercepted but-" he continued.
"Precisely, this is too important a matter to leave to chance, ideally a meeting with the Kage and Shinobigashira of each village is a given, but I propose this so that if Iwa intends to impersonate Raikage-dono we know in advance." Koharu explained.
Tsunade blinked owlishly, "That's a good idea." she mused, "Jiraiya, you've been wanting a mission with Naruto-kun, here's an A rank." she said, "Take Kakashi-san for that matter." she added.
Jiraiya almost choked on his own spit, "Oh I don't like this idea." he said bluntly.
"I agree!" Koharu huffed, "Naruto Uzumaki is Jinchuriki and genin, sending him is dangerous and risky to his health, not to mention it could be viewed as a declaration of war." she lectured.
Tsunade shrugged, "They probably won't notice, and Naruto could use the experience." she explained flippantly, almost lazily.
Jiraiya narrowed his eyes, "I see your point, if you're sure I'll try to be careful." he said, dropping his goofy act given the situation.
Kakashi sighed, "Oh my Kami, Naruto is the designated iryonin for this mission." he bemoaned quietly.
Jiraiya flinched at that realization, "Uh, hey Tsuna-hime," he began sweetly, sweating at the glare he received for the old pet name, "Could we please borrow Shizune-chan, I'll be good I promise." he requested with as much politeness as he could muster, concern for his own life fueling his self control and choice of words.
Tsunade raised an eyebrow, "No, Naruto-kun will insist on learning from her and burn himself out." she pointed out, "You'll be fine, he knows not to use Hoshi chakra inside people now." she added.
Jiraiya and Kakashi both went pale, "Now?" they questioned in unison, equally concerned.
"Can Haku-chan come?" Naruto asked immediately as soon as he was made aware of the mission, earning him looks of annoyance from Jiraiya and pouts from the girls of his harem at the blatant favoritism the blonde showed towards Haku in regards to asking who he could take on missions.
"Absolutely not, it's bad enough we're going." Jiraiya answered, "Yes, all three of us make this mission complicated, but it's probably fine." he said at Naruto's confused look, scowling as the blonde just looked more confused.
"It's a delicate political situation, but you three are the only ones who can." Maemi explained in terms Naruto actually understood.
"You can't come either." Jiraiya added bluntly, surprising the Familiar.
"What!? But I have to be with Naruto-sama!" Maemi screeched, offended at the very idea she wouldn't be able to help her master.
"He can summon you later." Jiraiya responded flippantly, not seeing the big deal.
"The bond of Familiar and master is different to what you have with a normal summoned beast you perverted cretin!" Maemi snapped, stomping her foot and huffing, although not accomplishing much in the way of a threatening aura.
"They'll consider you a weapon and a threat." Jiraiya explained, clearly annoyed with the Muse for her rebellious attitude and still not understanding why she was so insistent.
Naruto frowned since he didn't like it either, "Maemi-chan, can you bond with one of the girls until my magnificent self gets back?" he asked.
"Dibs." Hinata said quickly, seeing it as her chance to establish herself as the head of the harem. No one objected, although Maemi continued to fume about the situation even after she agreed that it would work. The Muse decided she would ensure Hinata trained harder than ever to earn the right to have a Familiar in the first place, especially one like her as she had an ego to consider.
"We leave tomorrow," Jiraiya began, "but for now, you and Maemi are wanted at the Hokage office." he added, gesturing vaguely towards the tower in a lazy manner before using shunshin to go ahead. Kakashi followed suit without a word, although in his case he left to fetch Sasuke.
Naruto and Sasuke both wondered why they were called to the Hokage office until they saw Shikamaru and Ino, "Really?" the horned blonde asked while giving the young Nara an incredulous look, "Slaanesh-kaasama marked you?" he asked in complete bewilderment.
Shikamaru found he oddly took offense to that but kept his cool anyway, "I am a perfect strategist after all." he bragged, it had allowed him to win against stronger and faster opponents more than once.
"Perfectly lazy." Naruto shot back without missing a beat, prompting a snort from Ino who looked embarrassed to have let that noise slip and avoided eye contact with her annoyed teammate.
Sasuke was hard to read, having a beak made most of his expressions similar, but he seemed bored, "So, another with the same mark as Kakashi?" he asked with a look to Ino, Aoki having told him his guess which surprised the others with the accuracy.
Ino nodded, "Apparently, I don't really get it though." she said, noticing Maemi had been staring intently at her with an unreadable expression.
Suddenly Maemi looked surprised, "I recognize that boon!" she said with a point to the Yamanaka.
Shizune and Tsunade exchanged a look, "How?" the older iryonin asked with a raised eyebrow, "We didn't even know she had a boon and we did a check up." she explained.
Maemi scoffed, "I didn't recognize it until I heard her speak, of course you didn't notice!" she lectured, "That girl can taunt!" she proclaimed, earning blank stares from everyone in the office, the Imp could detect the lack of impressed minds and figured she better elaborate, "I mean, better than normal, she's got innate sense of how to anger anyone and will almost instinctively say the right thing to piss them off and goad them into attacking." she explained, "It'd take someone with colossal self control to resist being taunted into a blind charge."
That explanation changed everything, although Shikamaru was just nodding in understanding as if that explained everything, "Oh! Taunt me!" Naruto dared curiously.
"Don't." Maemi, Tsunade, Jiraiya, Shizune, and even Sasuke all said in unison in deadly serious tone, Ino blinked owlishly but followed the advice of everyone else, not wanting to test her ability on Naruto anyway.
Tsunade sighed, "Alright, mystical taunting abilities aside, Ino and Shikamaru are set to join the Konton Gundan." she pressed on, "I'll add them to the patrols for now." she added before making a dismissive gesture to shoo the group out of her office.
Knowing they were heading rather far north and high up compared to sea level combined with understanding more about geography thanks to Maemi meant Naruto didn't need to be warned he should wear his umanori hakama, he decided he liked knowing things in advance since it was so useful. The journey itself was mostly boring, and the horned blonde was particularly annoyed by his lack of weaponry.
Namely, Naruto had been forced to leave behind his Raito, as apparently taking the legendary Kiba, the fanged blades imbued with the power of lightning, to Kaminari no Kuni was a bad idea. Naruto had also been forced to relinquish two other swords, and had barely been allowed to bring the katana of his clan and his wakizashi because neither of his sensei had wanted to argue further with the irritated young blonde.
So Maemi and his harem were keeping an eye on most of his weaponry for him, not that Jiraiya or Kakashi wanted him disarmed, but he couldn't comfortably wear his shuriken holster with his hakama, so his other weaponry was a kunai stashed in his hakama, four shuriken and four senbon stashed in his kimono, and two more senbon in his hair, which had been tied back in something that could loosely be called a ponytail, although with it's volume it couldn't be tied very tightly.
As well as general irritation, Naruto was bored, "Why are we traveling so slow?" he asked rather quickly into the trip.
"To give their scouts plenty of time to spot us, it lets them know we aren't being aggressive." Jiraiya answered while continuing to look ahead.
Naruto frowned as he glanced around, he couldn't detect anyone watching them, but he supposed it was so they didn't speed into their sights too quickly. Given how fast he could go at times he found that understandable, but it did mean their journey would take longer than he'd like.
Once they stopped to make camp, still in Hi no Kuni, in a field near the road with a couple of boulders, Naruto thought this was being a bit too careful as he reconsidered the actual distance, but Jiraiya distracted him with a subject that always captured his attention, "How is your Hari Jizo?" the man asked with arms crossed, bringing up the deciding factor in why they were moving slowly so early in the trip.
Naruto immediately performed the jutsu, eager to show off and prove he could practically turn his mane of hair into a full cowl, completely ruining the bit of twine holding his hair in a loose ponytail and causing his senbon to slip out and fall to the ground.
Jiraiya nodded as he appraised the efforts of his student, "Good progress," he praised, "alright, I'll teach you Hari Jigoku now." he informed with a nod, performing Hari Jizo himself to demonstrate what he meant. With a burst of chakra he launched chakra hardened hairs at a boulder, showing that despite being like senbon in appearance they could tear through solid stone, "Try not to stab yourself." the Sannin warned blandly.
Naruto was a bit less eager to throw his chakra at the jutsu with that warning, "Uh, I don't want to go prematurely bald." he said hesitantly, worried despite how cool the jutsu looked to him.
"Your hair is constantly shedding throughout the day, this just looses the strands that are already fallen out and would come out with a brush anyway." Jiraiya explained, "If anything, this is like brushing your hair with your chakra in a way." he added with a shrug. Naruto frowned but proceeded to attempt the derived ninjutsu, staying as focused as he could to try and avoid stabbing himself by accident.
Sasuke's eye twitched when he learned Kakashi was on a mission with Jiraiya and Naruto, deciding at that moment to return to his home and summon a teacher like Aoki suggested. While performing the Kuchiyose no Jutsu he focused on a teacher, and what emerged was a gold and red Horror with a golden mask shaped like a crescent moon, holding a staff topped with the symbol of Tzeentch and reading a book with some symbol Sasuke didn't recognize on the red velvet cover.
The Horror even wore a white toga, sort of, not correctly, more like a loin cloth really. It had a knife with a ripple blade that was completely exotic to Sasuke tucked in the fabric too, "Hm, what, why am I here?" the Horror asked curiously, revealing to the surprised Uchiha that what he had thought was a mask was the Daemon's face.
"I called you to teach me." Sasuke answered bluntly, wanting to get right to the point.
"How bold of you." The Horror retorted with a feral grin, "You want to learn do you mortal? Should I teach you your place?" it asked dangerously.
Sasuke leveled his killing intent on the Daemon and activated his Sharingan, advancing it to its glowing blue state, gold tomoe spinning ominously around his yet unchanged pupil, "My place is above yours." he declared arrogantly.
The Horror laughed at the prideful declaration, "You know not what you fuck with, brat." it giggled in amusement as its colors shifted around its body, "I am a Herald! Exalted among Horrors, ah, do you even understand these words? Maegure? Yes, I am maegure, koki among Horrors." it explained.
Sasuke raised an eyebrow, not understanding the big deal and ignoring Aoki's warnings, "So if I kick your ass in a one on one fight I'll probably get something good from Tzeentch?" he asked mockingly.
The Horror blinked slowly, "You're quite the violent ningen aren't you?" it asked rhetorically, smile still present on its mask like face, "Hm, you wear no armor, yet you have weapons, interesting combination. Ah, you have some very light armor." it mused, waving its staff vaguely at Sasuke.
The Uchiha's eye widened in alarm as his Sharingan could see the way the Daemon manipulated its chakra, but then it did something rather complicated before turning gold and shining at him like a light, a light that hit his hitai-ate and turned the metal to lead. The change was minor, but it was added weight that was uncomfortable, he was strong enough to be unbothered for mobility though despite the buckles of his medical brace also turning to lead. He realized whatever the Horror had done turned things arbitrarily labeled as armor to lead if they were metal.
"I'm honestly not even mad that I can't copy that," Sasuke said and the Horror's eyes widened, "this jutsu is worthless." he mocked and the large eyes of the Horror narrowed before combusting.
"Useless eh?" The Herald questioned before thrusting its staff at the winged shinobi, unleashing a bolt of flame.
Sasuke narrowed his eye and flapped his wings with a surge of chakra, sending the bolt back bigger with the aide of the wind chakra his wings turned chakra to.
The Horror was struck, engulfed before the ball of flame exploded after impact, the added chakra from Sasuke enhancing the power. The smoke cleared and the Horror stood, charred but not dispelled, "Alright, that was impressive. kid gloves are off then." it decided, suddenly serious and the grin replaced with a frown.
Sasuke smirked, "Bring it on." he challenged eagerly, lifting his avian left leg slightly and crouching on his humanoid right leg. The Horror waved its staff yet again and this time a golden light shot the Uchiha in the torso, Sasuke glanced back in surprise to see a golden arrow shot sticking in the ground behind him, shot so fast even his Sharingan perceived it as a mere ray of golden light.
The Uchiha figured if he wasn't coughing blood, he wasn't mortally wounded, probably, so he still had a chance, "How do you like that, an attack that can't be dodged for your dexterity build." the Horror mocked in amusement, grin returning quickly as it mocked the bleeding young genin.
"Alright, if I win, teach me that jutsu." Sasuke insisted eagerly, trying to ignore the pain in his torso as best as he could so he could focus on winning.
"You're no normal kid huh? What's wrong with this world, I like it." The Daemon decided, "Alright, kid, show me you can-" he began when Sasuke's left eye, the false one of gold, suddenly ignited with yellow flames as symbols of Tzeentch, flowing with scintillating colors as if a light show broken only by his skin, crawled from his neck to dance across his exposed skin, "Oh, definitely not normal." the Horror realized.
"Aka-en!" Sasuke declared, throwing a red bolt of flame at the Horror, proving he already knew the basics of Mahojutsu to the Daemon. The Herald blocked it with a simple barrier as its large eyes narrowed into a curious expression of interest. The Uchiha followed up by thrusting his hands forward, "Tankoshoku-en!" he announced as pink flames burst from his palms and rolled outwards into a cone towards his opponent.
The Horror hopped into the air and back away from the flames, evading being marked by them, then Sasuke surprised his opponent again by splitting, one half of himself leaping back to glide in the air as the other charged at the red and gold Daemon while weaving hand signs. The flying Sasuke was also weaving hand signs, but much slower, and his Sharingan was closed, but both used the golden flame.
"Chidori!" The charging smaller version of Sasuke declared as he thrust his left hand, pulsating with Raiton chakra, at the Horror and through its barrier, only to be blocked by the staff of the Daemon. Having a palm thrust blocked by a piece of metal was painful for the Uchiha, although he thought it hurt his pride a little more he went on the offensive, swinging a right round kick at the head of his opponent for a feint only to pull back and punch with his left arm, his bones dislocating almost naturally, with barely a pop, to deliver his punch into what would be the soft part under the ribs if the Uchiha thought for a moment the Daemon even had ribs.
Horrors didn't tend to bother with a humanoid form, even the ones who had the power of focus to resemble it better, at most going for vaguely humanoid. The Herald proved the use of this by opening up a fanged mouth but Sasuke was already pulling his arm back into a more natural place, the bones reconnecting far too easily to be natural. The Horror realized that was one of the boys boons, then it realized it had been adequately distracted from the other Sasuke, who had changed from more common hand signs of the zodiac to esoteric hand signs.
Sasuke had split more than his body, but by giving himself two minds he could truly multitask, one to focus entirely on offense while trusting the other to reverse engineer the strange Katon no Jutsu his opponent had used. In doing so the Uchiha had learned two things, the jutsu of Daemons contained more hand signs than he was used to and some he didn't recognize, and that staves could be used to bypass hand signs for said jutsu.
The Uchiha thrust his hands to make a diamond with his fingers towards the Horror while flowing Katon chakra to his hands, his right eye still shut as golden flames licked his feathered left eyebrow, then he pulled his hands back and swung them around each other in thrusting motions, focusing his Katon chakra in the air before finishing with the hand sign he started with, thus launching a ball of flames, "Got it!" he announced to warn his other half, who dodged as the one who performed the fireball flapped his wings to enhance the speed and power of the attack.
To the annoyance of the young Uchiha his spell was countered, "So he knows Harakainokeru too, huh?" the Sasuke who had been fighting to cover for his other half muttered, taking little solace in the fact he had managed to effectively copy a jutsu that had unrecognizable hand signs when he had never seen the hand signs, a feat only possible thanks to the golden flames letting him glimpse as many possible futures as he could focus on.
The moon faced Herald of Tzeentch hummed to itself, realizing how Sasuke had accomplished his impressive feat easily enough, "Alright kid, consider me impressed, color me dazzled and call me Amazed, I was not expecting you to be an actual Aspiring Sorcerer, I figured you were some entitled brat who managed to summon me by pure beginners luck, that you got some mutations that made you feel a bit more important than you are." it rambled at length.
Both of the left eyes of the two miniature Sasuke's twitched at the insults, "Get to the point." the hovering one who had actually cast the ball of fire grumbled as he landed next to himself and became his original form by stepping together with a twist of their flesh.
The Horror grinned, "I'll teach you Aqshy, ah wait, that word is foreign to you." it began, shifting to a frown mid way through, "Fire? Pyromancy? Katon? Enjutsu?" it tested words.
"No, I want that Kinjutsu," Sasuke began before frowning himself as he realized how that sounded, "I mean, the golden ninjutsu?" he asked, wondering what it was called.
"Chamon, Alchemy, Kinjinton? Renkinjutsu!" The Horror mused for a moment before deciding on a name that would make sense to the language of the natives of Sasuke's home, "Yes, I can teach this, Renkinjutsu, I suppose." it agreed, nodding its head and extending a hand, "In exchange, you will be My Student, and I your Patron." it added.
Aoki immediately warned Sasuke against accepting the hand, stating that the price the Horror had listed was far higher than it sounded, "I kicked your ass, you'll teach me as payment for forcing me to prove my dominance." the Uchiha retorted arrogantly.
The Horror returned to frowning, "Egotistical brat ain't ya?" it asked rhetorically, earning a glare of annoyance from an Uchiha who could not honestly deny the statement, "Fine, I'll teach you the basics of this form of what your kind would call chakra manipulation, you can figure the rest out on your own since I can't stay long without a contract." the Daemon lectured in grudging agreement.
Sasuke frowned at the stipulations, but at the knowledge the Daemon couldn't stay around long enough to teach reliably gave way to the realization he may have to fight a Herald of some kind to learn other strange jutsu, "Teach me how to make gold out of thin air then." he agreed, eager to learn that particular magic skill. His clan had been well off enough to leave him with some wealth, but he was starting to spend that lately.
The Horror stared at him a little longer, "Are you okay?" it asked, wondering if the Uchiha would just die and save him the work.
"I am in agony," Sasuke answered in neutral tones that were at odds with his words, "and I have no idea how to explain this injury." he added.
"So, I teach, I leave, you go get healed?" The Horror asked, and when Sasuke nodded it shrugged and proceeded to teach the young Uchiha the basics of what he wanted to learn.
Sakura stared at the shrine outside of her house in surprise, she'd dumped four skulls in the brazier and the flames had picked up to deposit what could almost be called a weapon at her feet. She didn't consider the brazier would potentially allow for less biological boons, but the issue was the large object with a vague resemblance to an axe was too big, and it likely would be too big for a large adult too.
Sakura picked it up, the thing had a handle as long at she was and the blade of the axe was half again of that handle. Being an axe the blade was extended out so she had an extra third of her own height as a haft to grip, she was surprised she could even lift it but she could tell swinging the weapon would throw her off her feet. It took Sakura a moment of lamenting her inability to simply stick to the ground to remember the tree walking exercise, if anyone ever asked she would insist she realized the secret to wielding oversized weapons immediately.
Upon arriving at a training ground and testing her theory the young kunoichi realized a very slight flaw in her idea, with a heavy horizontal swing she almost lifted herself anyway, cracking the ground beneath her with the pressure. The real issue however was nearly dislocating every bone in both of her arms, with the Daemonic left arm withstanding the force much better. Also she felt like she'd thrown her back out.
"If you tried that when you'd first summoned me," Genkei began to muse, "you'd likely have torn your spinal column out of place, ripped up your abdominal muscles, dislocated your arms, and probably caused organ damage." he listed off dryly, "So I'd say you've gotten much stronger, excellent work, Sakura-sama." he praised sarcastically.
The Haruno glared at her Imp, getting the impression he was trying to annoy her. The fact Sasuke apparently had issues with Aoki sometimes helped, but it annoyed her how fond of each other Naruto and Maemi were in comparison. She grit her teeth as she propped the axe against a nearby training post and massaged her aching back and shoulders, "Ugh, I don't even have the energy to punch you for your cheek." she grumbled.
"I do not have cheeks, I am basically animated armor." Genkei retorted dryly, clearly not minding the threat of violence at all.
Naruto frowned, not because of his progress with Hari Jigoku he was mostly fine with that, but because he had a headache. They'd been rather frequent when training with kage bunshin or using the physical copies of himself for book work too often but he'd been pretty careful and hadn't suffered one lately, so he wondered what he was doing differently to cause his current duress. The birds chirping didn't help, if anything they just annoyed him due to the minor pain they caused in his skull.
As he was trying to think of what could be causing his current problem, he heard a bird chirp particularly close by and noticed its flight would bring it within range of his katana. Naruto reached for the scabbard with his left hand and thumbed the guard with his thumb as his right hand moved to meet where his left placed the handle, near dislocating his shoulders to pull off an iaijutsu strike with the weapon he was still a bit short for in a display of flexibility and power.
The bird continued to chirp as a shift of its wings pulled it out of harms way, Naruto blinked owlishly after the small bird with his mouth agape as he was stunned that he'd missed. Kakashi and Jiraiya noticed this and the Sennin couldn't resist a laugh at the expense of the blonde genin, "You can't hit a swallow in flight with a sword, dumbass." he mocked, "You'd need the Sharingan to pull that off." he explained at the irritated look he received from the hermaphrodite.
Naruto continued to frown since he was certain the Tatakainouta should be predictive, then he realized he only heard it in battle. He frowned at the conundrum, he was pretty sure he could use it to predict an opponent and strike where they would dodge but pulling that off without any killing intent in the air was pretty much impossible. The blonde had never really considered such a weakness, although he supposed it wasn't an issue in a life and death fight yet he couldn't help but feel it was an imperfection.
So with newfound determination, and a focus that surprised both of his sensei, Naruto began to track the flight path of the birds as they traveled, occasionally taking a swing at one. Jiraiya watched his antics with exasperation, figuring the blonde was wasting his time. Kakashi thought similarly but he was curious since Naruto did have the speed, he just didn't have the ocular powers and reaction speed required to alter the direction of his cut in the midst of swinging his blade.
The Sennin was mostly annoyed because he'd just taught the young blonde a new ninjutsu, and instead of practicing with it he was attempting to cut birds out of the air. Kakashi watched for a while, he didn't consider himself much of a swordsmen but he was proficient with kenjutsu despite preferring shorter and easy to conceal blades so he recognized that Naruto was indeed improving in his attempts. The hermaphrodite was clearly irritated by his inability to hit the birds in flight however.
The Hatake had learned that his blonde student was definitely not good at learning with verbal or written explanations, needing visual stimuli or just practicing something he'd seen performed for most things. Still, he figured he should probably explain something to his student, "Naru-chan, birds can feel the shifting air from your sword swing with their feathers." he explained shortly, keeping it brief and to the point.
Naruto frowned in confusion, wondering how he was supposed to actually overcome something like that. It almost sounded like the bird had a similar ability to his Tatakainouta or the Sharingan's predictive abilities, so if he could cut a bird out of flight then he would have the ability to perform a cut that even the Sharingan couldn't dodge. This thought served to spur Naruto on, the young blonde's headache forgotten in the wake of his newfound goal.
New Translations: Fun fact, kinjutsu typically means forbidden technique, but the sound Kin can be spelled as forbidden, gold/money, or even an onomatopoeia for a light sound such as in the name of Kin Tsuchi, hence Sasuke's confusion coming up with a word for 'gold techniques' and ending up with the same word for 'forbidden techniques'.
Kinjinton = gold incantation release
Renkinjutsu = Alchemy