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
Renkinjutsu = Alchemy
Naruto was bored out of his mind, the highlands leading up towards Kaminari no Kuni were barren, sparse of life with occasional outcroppings of upturned rocks breaking up the grass more as they approached the steppes. As far as Jiraiya had told them, they were going to a village at the bottom of the steppes that was still technically within Hi no Kuni.
The only thing of note that had caught Naruto's attention was the sight of a falcon swooping down in the distance and taking a sparrow out of the air, a sight that both surprised and annoyed the young blonde. Confirming it absolutely was possible, and the hermaphrodite did not want to be slower than some bird, his determination colored by his lack of knowledge regarding exactly how fast a diving falcon could go.
However this happened as they were entering the highlands, so Naruto had plenty of time to get bored, practicing his new Hari Jigoku and occasionally just making Rasengan, practicing doing it one handed with minimal focus and maximum speed, but Jiraiya silently noted the blonde still had a ways to go with chakra control.
As the tops of the buildings of the village they were approaching came into view Naruto heard something, distant and carried by the wind but he was pretty sure he could investigate with his speed. Jiraiya and Kakashi both perked up in surprise as their blonde student leaped towards the village at high speed, neither having heard anything and both wondering what had caught his attention like that.
Not wanting to risk anything, the two older shinobi followed after the youngest member of their group. It didn't take Naruto long to come upon the village, landing on the roof of a larger building to glance around for the source of what he heard. He saw nothing at first, then he heard another scream and leaped towards it, seeing the people of the village gathered around a scene. A beast was attacking the village, which didn't seem like a common occurrence.
The beast itself was large, like a lion but half again as big at least, with gleaming golden fur, Naruto wondered how such a beautiful and magnificent lion came to this area, then he saw the mark on its flank. The only explanation for that mark was Orochimaru's experiments, but the mark itself, which usually brought him great joy to see, was the same as his own mark. The large lion bore the mark of Slaanesh on its right flank, and was terrorizing a village on the border of Hi no Kuni.
Naruto couldn't help but feel responsible, the monstrous feline had already killed an old man, left an old woman dying, and was now stalking at a younger woman. So the blonde readied his katana and leaped, performing an aerial iaijutsu strike as he came down at the beast, swinging the sword out of its sheath and into the head of the lion. With a loud clang his sword bounced back up, jarring his arm and nearly disarming the alarmed genin.
Thankfully the force of the swing and carried some kinetic energy into the bizarrely hard to cut beast, the lion pulling back and shaking its head, growling at the newly arrived young shinobi. Naruto was visibly surprised, "Uh, nice kitty?" he tried, wondering if maybe he could tame it due to his horns and sharing a mark with it.
The lion roared in response and leaped at Naruto, who swiftly gripped his sword with both hands and lifted it to swing down as he stepped to meet the pouncing lion, halting it with his blade in its shoulder. However the beast was as hard to cut there as the skull and was merely pushing back with a yowl of anger, more annoyed by the counterattacking blonde than harmed. Then it leaped again, and as it became predictable in the Tatakainouta, Naruto ducked in under the lion and shoved a Rasengan into its midsection.
This time the beast did yowl in pain, and the watching villagers were forced out of their stupor to step aside as the monstrous golden great cat was launched towards the edges of the center of town, shifting from its shoulders to its feet in a display of agility before bounding away and out of town. Naruto frowned, realizing even the Rasengan had barely hurt the thing, "What even was that?" he wondered quietly to himself, almost expecting an answer from Maemi and disappointed to remember she was still in Konoha.
Kakashi and Jiraiya had arrived in time to witness Naruto fending off the monster, both silently amused by his hero complex and the way he was clearly rescuing a young woman. Unfortunately the locals noticed a similarity in iconography involving the flank of the beast and the left arm of the horned ninso, "You yokai! That monster is your pet isn't it!" one man spoke up boldly, drawing attention to the mark of Slaanesh the blonde had incorporated into his clan symbol on his left sleeve.
Naruto frowned, sheathing his sword as he considered that, "I don't think so, at least if it is mine I wasn't informed of it." he mused, choosing his words poorly due to his own confusion given the situation. He didn't even think to correct the yokai remark anymore, it happened so often.
"As if we'd fall for that!" Another, slightly younger man spoke up next, "It had that mark on it's back right leg!" he pointed out, pointing accusingly at the left arm of the ninso who had technically saved them.
"I tried calming it down, but it didn't listen to me." Naruto tried to reason, "So it's not mine, I think." he added, looking disappointed about that.
Jiraiya hopped down, "It's likely the work of Orochimaru, but I'm not sure why one of his experiments is this far to the north-west." he mused, "There could be a lab nearby." he added as Kakashi hopped down slightly behind him to his right.
"Orochimaru?" That name had some fearful mutterings from the onlookers, but one particularly young man was not impressed.
"Oh please, the snake man?" The young man asked sarcastically, Kakashi would guess the fellow to be somewhere between Haku and Kabuto in age.
"Yeah, my old teammate." Jiraiya answered blandly, giving the hint to most that he was Jiraiya of the Sannin. A few older people backed off at that, some others following their example as the crowd dispersed, a few remaining to watch.
"As if I'd believe that boogeyman is behind it when a yokai with the same markings is right there." The young man scoffed in disbelief.
Naruto frowned, "But I'm not a yokai." he answered, confused by the annoyed look of disbelief he received from the young man.
"So you're a Gyuma?" The young man asked skeptically, clearly not believing a word Naruto was saying, the young blonde took offense to that.
The hermaphrodite was getting sick of being compared to an ox, like he was related to mere cattle, "These horns are a crown damn it!" he snapped angrily, and that clicked in his head, a look of revelation taking over his expression, "My magnificent self will deal with that lion." he decided, crossing his arms and nodding as if that settled it.
Jiraiya groaned, "I suppose we can stay in town a couple of days, but we can't afford to wait around, we have a mission to finish." he reminded the blonde genin, pleased that the blonde nodded in agreement although he wondered if that was confidence or arrogance.
The young man didn't look placated, and Kakashi noted a few confused onlookers lingered still, "You still haven't explained your connection to that bakemono!" the young man insisted, directing his accusatory attitude towards the young blonde sharing a symbol worn with the beast in question.
Naruto shrugged, "No idea, but Slaanesh-kaasama marked it so whether or not it is mine, it's the responsibility of my magnificent self and will be dealt with accordingly." he declared, Kakashi was surprised at how much better the blonde was at talking but wished he put less effort into sounding so self important. The jonin did notice his student was unsettled by the lion having the same mark of Slaanesh, but much like Jiraiya he assumed Orochimaru was behind it.
Naruto also wanted to blame Orochimaru, but he felt less certain than his sensei. He felt less certain in general without Maemi around, but he kept that to himself, although both his sensei had noticed he'd become more introspective during the course of the mission. The Muse had been teaching him to think more, among all the other training, but as she had explained herself as an extension of Slaanesh's will the young genin couldn't help but look to the Imp for approval on all his decisions, and with her telepathy this took barely a thought.
Maemi usually approved anyway, but lacking her presence was not something Naruto was used to anymore. So he wondered how best to handle the strange monstrous lion, he wasn't even sure what it was called. The best nickname he could think of was Kajoshishi for now, and due to the mark it shared with him he did want to tame it. Riding in to battle on the Serpents and Steeds from Slaanesh was cool, but a blade-proof lion with gleaming golden fur marked by Slaanesh would be even cooler.
Just the mental image alone had Naruto longing for it, but there was a major issue. The lion did not obey him instinctively, likely because it wasn't a Daemon. Yet the Beastmen who now inhabited the forest of death were not Daemons and they acknowledged his right to rule, the fact he was considering his rule over others as a right not really occurring as strange to the blonde as he considered that the lion must simply be too wild and not intelligent enough to understand it should obey him.
"Figured out a plan to deal with that big cat yet?" Kakashi asked dryly as he and the blonde followed Jiraiya towards an inn, the young man who had been the most confrontational glaring after them.
Naruto continued to frown, acknowledging the question with an annoyed huff before he answered, "It's not completely invincible, my Rasengan hurt it after all." he mused.
That was actually the part that concerned Jiraiya though, "A Rasengan to the underside of the torso should completely take out a big cat, even at that size, so don't underestimate whatever it is." the old man pointed out, wanting the blonde to have plenty of warning just in case.
Once the blonde was sure of where they were staying he dropped off his leg weights and leaped away, not bothering to ask permission first, "Hm, he may be a little too independent for a shinobi." Kakashi mused to himself, wondering idly if the blonde was still close enough to hear that.
He was, but didn't consider the jibe worth returning for, nor did he take it as the scolding it should be, instead he was moving around the rooftops, familiarizing himself with the village and startling a few locals. From what Naruto could gather they were in a farming town, plenty of vegetables growing, hardy root vegetables from the looks of it, maybe some lettuce and cabbage he wasn't very certain. It looked like a small amount of sheep and goats too, and it looked like the pens for the animals had been damaged recently.
The young blonde was able to surmise swiftly that the lion had been a problem for at least a few days b7y the time he had arrived, worse was that some of the locals blamed him. That bothered him greatly, he hadn't been blamed for something he hadn't done in a long time by his reckoning, at least not so openly. What was equally concerning was the reason they blamed him, the lion was marked by Slaanesh, or at least it's fur had been colored with the same icon.
Naruto didn't have Maemi around to confirm it, but he'd felt it when he saw it, that mark went deeper than fur or flesh. He'd heard his sensei blame Orochimaru but usually Orochimaru's beasts and bakemono were unmarked, only sometimes his shinobi bore marks. People were marked, not beasts. To him this implied the lion must have something that made it worth marking, worth facing as a rival champion.
The blonde had never had to fight a fellow ningen marked by Slaanesh now that he thought about it, yet here he was preparing to fight what was effectively a bakemono Slaanesh had explicitly marked. It felt wrong in ways Naruto didn't understand, he wanted to know more about how it had been marked, wanted to understand that it was fine for him to kill it if he had to. Naruto had not faced a problem like this without Maemi's reassurance before, nor had anything marked by Slaanesh ever actually opposed him.
Then he remembered the sword, ages ago back in Nami no Kuni when fighting Zabuza he'd called a large sword, Daemon no Ken, with Kuchiyose no Jutsu. The Daemon within had been Slaanesh aligned, but had disobeyed and even argued with him. But he'd managed to communicate with the Daemon, promise it freedom for temporary cooperation and use it to take Zabuza off guard with its Daemonic abilities.
Naruto couldn't speak to lions, the beast didn't even seem sentient. The blonde was still trying to figure out why Slaanesh would mark a wild animal if not for him to tame it, so that's what he resolved to do. It was a very selfish way of thinking, but Maemi and Slaanesh had encouraged the idea that he was important, so of course he should think of himself.
There was an issue, Naruto had no idea how to tame a wild animal, no course he hadn't skipped covered it, none of his sensei taught him that, it hadn't come up in any of his recent reading, and he tried to think of what little he knew of it. It was like making the animal obey you, but how did people get around the language barrier? Naruto was very confused, and halted his patrol to go ask his sensei if they knew anything, then he saw an old man herding the sheep and approached him.
"Yo, Farmer-jiji," Naruto greeted lazily as he activated his Kujaku Myoho to hover down to ground level, recalling that civilians freaked out if you got too close too fast.
The sight was intimidating and unintentionally terrifying, but the old man had seen things in his time, "I'm a shepherd you blonde yokai brat." he shot back blandly.
Naruto was about to retort, then he considered something, "What is a yokai, technically?" he asked curiously, he knew it referred to what he considered 'magic bakemono' but now that he thought about it he had no idea.
"Anything could be a yokai, shapeshifting bakemono, kitsune no yoko, vengeful spirits of the dead, even altered things that were once human, changed by powers they could never understand!" The old shepherd ranted angrily, clearly oddly passionate about the subject.
"Oh," Naruto responded, confused but intrigued, "huh, I guess I'm that last one." he realized quietly.
The old man heard this and was observant enough to note this was apparently a recent development of some kind, but he stayed on his guard, "Good for you, now what do you want?" he asked, nervous around the uncanny genin.
Naruto was blissfully unaware of how unsettling his nigh perfect features were and grinned happily, showing off his fangs unintentionally, "My magnificent self noticed this lion has been a problem and attacking your herd right? Do you have any idea how one could tame it? My magnificent self should be able to force it to listen if not for the language barrier." he requested the information as politely as he could manage, unable to resist the ore-sama manner of self referral.
The old man stared incredulously at Naruto, "Are you serious?" he asked and the blonde nodded, "You can't tame a lion ya moron." he mocked dryly.
Naruto's eye twitched, being told he couldn't do something was becoming annoying to the blonde as he'd had a nice long period of accomplishing his short term goals and getting his way rather well recently, the biggest challenge regarding training remained his chakra control and the most difficult jutsu remained the Rasengan. However much more recently he'd failed to cut a sparrow out of the air, and now he was being told it was impossible to tame a lion.
"Then why is the lion marked by Slaanesh-kaasama?" Naruto asked, not intending to question it out loud, but despite his facade of a grin the question contained all his frustration, startling the old man he was question.
"What?"
Naruto's eye twtiched again, he took a deep breath, setting aside his wrath as he tried to think of a solution, "Forget it, my magnificent self will find a way to tame that thing." he decided, turning and leaping away from the old man to return to the inn, sniffing out his sensei in the downstairs bar, well one of them at least. The blonde assumed Jiraiya was looking for somewhere to peep on women or something.
Considering how serious the genin had looked, Kakashi was surprised to see the hermaphrodite coming down into the bar, all eyes on the young form. The jonin couldn't really blame them, the young genin wasn't really unassuming, more heavily armed and he looked like a yokai, "What's up Naru-chan?" he queried when he noticed the genin was coming to see him.
"How do you tame a lion?" Naruto asked seriously, Kakashi heard a glass break somewhere in the room. Well that was awkward, everyone was staring at Naruto like he was crazy, the jonin wondered if they were right as he rubbed his chin thoughtfully, reaching for the whiskey he'd bought and slipping his mask down to sip it, making a show of leaving it in his mouth and tasting it to give himself a chance to think of an answer, "Stop being sexy and answer my magnificent self!" the blonde demanded impatiently.
Kakashi choked on his drink, pulling his mask back up to hide his flushed cheeks, "It wasn't intentional," he insisted, "but as for your question, I don't know cat body language, only dog body language." he answered, "You'd need to understand it's body language, maybe replicate it in some way. This is easier for canines, especially domestic ones." he explained.
Naruto frowned as his sensei confirmed this was a challenge, but much like when the jonin had explained why a sparrow was hard to cut out of the air it just spurred Naruto on. The blonde wanted to succeed at both tasks, but for now the lion taming felt divinely ordained so he would focus on that, "Alright, my magnificent self is going to hunt and tame the Kajoshishi" he decided, turning to leave with a firm nod.
Kakashi noticed more than a few eyes on him as the blonde left, but he didn't think he needed to do anything about the current situation, "More whiskey, I've got a tolerance." he said, shoving his glass towards the bartender.
Naruto was passable at wilderness survival, and the lion was big, not native, not truly natural really so it wasn't too hard to track. For some reason it tried to jump off rocks, which might obscure where it was going if it didn't damage the rocks it did this too and need to run along ground occasionally. It took the blonde a moment after doing so to realize he'd strayed deeper into the steppes and into Kaminari no Kuni, there was no real marker for the border where he'd gone after the lion.
Then he found it, a cave, and he could even see the gold fur of the beast within, "Alright, come on out!" Naruto challenged loudly into the cave. Unsurprisingly the lion came out with a red eyed glare at the blonde, but the young genin just grinned, "My magnificent self doesn't really get how this whole body language thing works, but maybe the soothing tones of my-" he began and the lion pounced at him.
Thankfully he had the Tatakainouta and was a trained shinobi who could move at high speeds, he hopped up over the beast's head and used it's skull as a platform to back flip away from it. The lion roaring in pain from the impact of his hooves against its skull. Naruto was annoyed the beast wasn't listening to reason, then it pounced before he landed, recovering faster than he expected.
"Chill out!" Naruto demanded as he activated his Kujaku Myoho, the pink Hoshi chakra bursting out like peacock tail feathers to flow over his arms and shoulders as he caught the pouncing lion, landing and skidding back slightly before he got his chakra under proper control, wrestling the lion back with the aid of the Hoshi chakra. Then the lion's claws tore into his haori, he liked that haori and it had the Kajo kanji emblazoned on the back, now it was torn up, as was the back of his kimono a little bit.
It took Naruto a second to actually feel the pain and realize his back had not escaped that clawing, more Hoshi chakra flared up to cover his back, neck, and head in a hooded cloak of pink chakra, the bottom edges still resembling peakock feathers as the young ninso struggled to toss aside the monstrous feline. To his alarm he simply lacked the strength and leverage, and the beast continued to claw at his back even after he protected it.
Naruto felt his temper boiling, wondering how the lion could dare disobey him, "Am I not Her favored son?" he wondered, faltering slightly, "His chosen?" his hooves skid across the ground slightly before he regained his focus and took a deep breath, "Of course," he decided, flaring more of his chakra and pulling out more Hoshi chakra, lifting the beast with the raw chakra just enough to form hand signs, "My might proves divine right." he declared, blending some quotes Maemi had read to him.
Hari Jizo was enough to force the lion to willingly pull back from Naruto, which was followed up by a Toppa to knock it off balance before he leaped up, his mane just as large and even spikier than his bestial opponent with the jutsu active. The young blonde twisted through the air at the lion, his right tricep pressing against the lower jaw of the large feline as he pulled it into a headlock. His Hoshi chakra shielded him from the panicking claws of the beast as it tried to yank him off, however his hooves had touched down before the lion could catch it's balance.
Naruto had enough chakra control and leverage to yank the monster to the ground, grappling with the lion as it twisted and writhed in his grip. The blonde was attempting to choke his opponent out, but with the size difference and how strong it was the lion was tearing into his Hoshi chakra alarmingly deep. He focused, trying to use a Kajojutsu he didn't practice with very much, he hadn't even really ever used it on himself before.
"Zeitakuna Kutsu." Naruto intoned, his chakra almost seeming to calm for a moment before flaring up even more wild than before. The lion felt itself starting to lose oxygen and panicked, striking more wildly as it rolled around on the ground with the horned young biped strangling it. Eventually the struggle slowed down, but Naruto didn't loosen his grip, holding tight until the lion stopped moving almost an hour after he'd activated the Kajojutsu.
Naruto was in agony, his muscles burned, and even his Hoshi chakra hadn't fully protected him from the frantic claws of the beast. He frowned down at the corpse of his latest kill, it was the biggest challenge he'd had in a while, almost impervious even, but the victory felt hollow, as to Naruto it felt a waste that the lion couldn't be tamed, that it had to die. The blonde wondered what he could salvage as he examined the corpse of the lion.
Then he saw it, by chance the lion had cut itself, so it wasn't fully impervious. Naruto took a claw from the lion and skinned it, using what little he knew to fashion himself a clean mantle with the lion's head as a hood, complete with mane, and the bottom half he fashioned into a skirt with the tail attached. It was well into night by the time he was done and his sensei found him considering the claws and fangs of the lion.
Kakashi noticed Jiraiya giving him a look and returned it, "Don't blame me for this." he said bluntly.
The Sennin sighed, "Whatever, hey, Naruto!" he called out, getting the attention of the purple eyed young hermaphrodite, "You solved the lion thing? I think you might as well wear that hide as proof, but I'll wrap that corpse up in a scroll just in case." he offered.
Naruto nodded but pulled out the largest fangs from the skull of his kill, piling them with the claws onto his own scroll, "Sure, I'll ask Tenten-chan and Maemi-chan what I should do with these." he decided cheerfully, giving away none of the thoughts he'd been having to his sensei. The response was so normal Kakashi didn't even find it strange.
"We should get that hide properly tanned." Jiraiya pointed out lazily as he prepared a scroll for the lion remains.
Naruto frowned, "I knew I was forgetting something about this idea." he grumbled, again lamenting that he was missing Maemi's advice.
As the sun rose the next morning, the people of the small farming village Naruto hadn't bothered to remember the name of stared in shock at the young blonde as he stood in the center of town wearing the skin of the lion who had menaced them for almost a week, "Does anyone know a tanner?" he asked loudly, "My sensei don't have the tools for tanning wild animal hides." he added dryly, looking annoyed.
"Why the hell would a ninja need to know that!?" Jiraiya snapped in response, snippy from his sleep being disturbed by worry for his student.
"What if you needed to impersonate a tanner!?" Naruto snapped right back, Kakashi sighed and flipped a page in his book, ignoring the plight of the author arguing with their shared student.
The villagers were understandably alarmed by this, "Holy shit he actually killed it." one of them said, prompting the spell to break and the rest of them to start murmuring among each other.
"Sacrifice a lamb to Slaanesh-kaasama as thanks!" Naruto declared boisterously to the growing crowd, Jiraiya just rubbed the bridge of his nose with an exasperated sigh.
Kakashi giggled at a funny passage in his book, disassociating from the situation and just making said situation more bizarre by doing it right in the middle of the situation. The villagers were very confused.
"Just like the kabuki plays." One child whispered to another, the younger kids nodding sagely as if everything made perfect sense.
Eventually Naruto was directed to the local tanner, who was also the woodsman and trapper. The man was a large bearded ginger who was hesitant to let the blonde watch him work until he heard the horned ninso had indeed killed the golden furred lion and he would have the distinction of being the one who worked with such a unique pelt. He couldn't deny to himself a curiosity about working with a pelt that resisted blades and arrows, even a gun from what he heard.
To his disappointment, upon inspection, he found the job impossible, more annoying since he'd negotiated a good price from Naruto, "No point, this hide isn't decomposing. It doesn't need to be cured or tanned for some reason." he said, visibly confused and irritated by his own observation.
"Sweet!" Naruto cheered, not finding that suspicious at all and putting the combination mantle and skirt on over his kimono and hakama, "Man, these are heavier than they look, y'know?" he said with a grin to the tanner, who nodded but scratched his head in confusion.
"Can we go now?" Jiraiya asked blandly, not impressed by what he viewed as a minor side quest. Naruto grinned and nodded, ready to go.
The villagers watched the three ninja go into Kaminari no Kuni, before one of them spoke up, "What was up with that oxen yokai?" the young man who had blamed Naruto the most asked. No one could agree on an answer, but one old man pointed out something many of them missed.
"She referred to a Kami as her Okaasama." The old man intoned, looking vaguely stunned by that realization, this only incited more arguing.
Naruto was brimming with confidence, completely and blissfully unaware of how his sudden entrance, solving of the problem, and subsequent exit along with his words and actions had impacted the town. Jiraiya wasn't considering it either, having grown moderately used to how absurd Naruto could be, Kakashi was similarly used to it by that point. The young blonde was reminded of his earlier failings with the birds when he saw a bird.
The blonde swiftly grabbed his scabbard and leaped, thumbing his katana to his right hand to perform an iaijutsu strike that missed even worse than his others. Naruto was so surprised he stumbled as he landed, Jiraiya laughed at the failure as the blonde frowned in confusion.
"Damn, this gold fur is really heavy." Naruto mused, realizing the cause for his sudden drop in how close his blade was getting.
Kakashi had noticed a slight similarity with the golden fur and Kiba's iron scales or Sakura's brass skin, but he still assumed the lion was one of Orochimaru's experiments unleashed upon the world.
Hinata wondered how Naruto handled Maemi, "Um, I don't have Naruto-kun's stamina." she tried to point out.
"Your breathing is still steady and you can talk," Maemi retorted, "so you haven't put forth equivalent effort yet either." she scolded, the meaning behind those words registered to the Hyuga, who understood but was alarmed by the implication of how hard her blonde lover trained.
The Imp had been guiding Hinata mostly, but had been willing to help others marked by Slaanesh as long as she knew Naruto approved of them. So mostly she'd been helping members of his harem get better at Kajojutsu or guiding them in training she'd already helped the blonde who had built said harem. Isaribi was spared the training, the Imp understood that the fishy girl had no interest in being a shinobi like many of the others.
Kin and Tayuya both were made aware of how much they'd let themselves slack off, although Tayuya was still more dangerous than most of the harem and had her Juin to back up her power too. Karin and Haku had the least difficulty keeping up, the former convinced that it wasn't going to kill her and the latter implying he was used to such rigorous training. Said implication made Kin and Tayuya appreciate the effeminate teen a little better, the older girl wondering if her Juin was actually enough to overpower the ice user.
Hanako had stopped making as many escape attempts, watching the others train a few times and annoying herself as she found herself becoming comfortable living in the Uzumaki household. She was starting to believe they weren't actually trying to breed a super soldier at least, or if they were then they were waiting until the potential mothers weren't needed for active field duty to throw off the instincts of the former Kiri kunoichi.
Otherwise though, even to Hanako's paranoid mind the Uzumaki household just seemed to be training. The jutsu weren't what she was used to, nor was the Muse guiding certain training, but it was definitely just regular, albeit intense, training. Hanako was still confused by this, but she watched Maemi carefully, recognizing that the Imp in some way had taught special jutsu and encouraged those currently training beyond their limits.
Kurenai was annoyed at having to wear a special made mask, even when just getting groceries. Unfortunately she and her student were carriers, apparently some other marked Aburame had become carriers for things as well. The jonin kunoichi didn't know exactly how many diseases were quarantined at the Aburame clan holdings, but she was concerned that an enemy village might take it as a biological weapon during a future attack.
She was pretty sure Tsunade wouldn't use the entirety of the ninso marked by Nurgle at once though, the woman clearly wanted them to be used more precisely, at most two were to a mission at a time for this reason. Kurenai wasn't sure what had prompted it, but Tsunade had only done two Konton patrols entirely of marked Aburame in the past, the red eyed woman wasn't sure what had happened but she assumed something had gone wrong, or at least worse than Tsunade wanted.
It took Kurenai a moment to realize she was questioning her Hokage, even privately. She frowned at herself, wondering where that had come from.
Gai was training his students, Tenten said she'd wanted to show him something, then asked him to wait before running off. He was glad she was so full of energy, Lee was going through taijutsu drills and Neji was doing similar but with different drills entirely. For a moment he was confused, as he heard something soaring through the air and turned to see a ball, made up entirely of kibaku fuda.
Thankfully the orb of explosives was nowhere near he or his students, but the distance it had been thrown was alarming, as was the velocity it was traveling. Then Tenten was next to him with a shunshin as it exploded on the surface of a nearby river, throwing water up to cause a brief shower like rain, "Cool right?" the girl asked proudly.
Gai nodded slowly, wondering how she'd launched it so far but not sure how to ask.
"Why are you trying to kill birds in our land?"
Naruto didn't recognize that voice, turning to meet the woman who was talking down at him with her arms crossed. A young blonde woman, with long hair bound with taut bandages, dark eyes and she wore red lipstick. She wore a short-sleeved black and purple blouse and black pants, both of which had a design similar to clouds on them, purple fingerless gloves and a chain of blue beads wound around her left hand. She also wore the standard Kumogakure hitai-ate, sandals and a shuriken holster, which was strapped to her right thigh.
Jiraiya was sizing the woman up, she was attractive but more importantly she was a kunoichi, "Sorry about him-" the old man began to excuse.
"Him?" The young woman asked incredulously.
"My magnificent self is divine!" Naruto insisted cheerfully, resting the blunt edge of his katana against his right shoulder and his left hand on his hip above the scabbards in his sash, "So who are you anyway, Oneechan?" he asked, and both of his sensei sighed since it was about as polite as the blonde was going to get.
The woman looked visibly annoyed with Naruto, "I'm Yugito, a kunoichi of Kumogakure no Sato, and you're in our neck of the woods, Konoha." she said dangerously, getting to the point.
"We're on a mission to speak with Raikage-dono." Jiraiya spoke up, not wanting to give the woman a reason to get violent. If he accidentally hurt her trying to defend himself it could cause an incident.
"You brought that to speak with Raikage-sama?" Yugito asked, raising an eyebrow and directing her incredulous gaze at Naruto.
The young blonde frowned, "What?" he asked, not getting that he was being insulted until his sensei spoke up.
"We're trying Naru-chan on this mission, at least some basics." Kakashi spoke up, downplaying what they were doing.
"Konoha training involves trying to cut birds out of the air now?" Yugito asked with a smirk, amused by the ridiculous training method.
"No, that was Naruto's idea." Jiraiya stated bluntly, not wanting any credit for that idea.
"My magnificent self will eventually succeed!" Naruto insisted, sheathing his blade, "By accomplishing the impossible, this kenjutsu will be Kanzen!" he added with the same passion he usually had for matters relating to his god. Kakashi realized idly that the young blonde had apparently chosen kenjutsu as the art to perfect, given his base taijutsu and the blessings granted by Slaanesh the jonin supposed it made sense, he was just surprised the blonde could tear his focus away from ninjutsu for anything.
Jiraiya was still skeptical, "Yeah, so he says, anyway, Yugito-chan, can you escort us to Kumogakure no Sato?" he reiterated, "We know the way if you're busy with a mission right now, but we do have to speak with the Raikage about the upcoming Chunin Exams." he explained.
"Upcoming Chunin Exams?" Naruto asked, visibly surprised, "Can I go?" he asked curiously.
Kakashi nodded, "Oh yeah, you're going." he said firmly, he was confident all three of his students would be eager to go and prove themselves.
Yugito narrowed her eyes at the interaction, "Alright, I was just about done patrolling anyway." she decided, agreeing to escort them to her home.