"Is that so?" replied Naruto, "Well, I shouldn't either," he finished with a dark grin.
"This is no good, you aren't controlling yourself properly," said the demon chastising his student. His words were only met with silence as his host concentrated on the person in front of him. Despite his best efforts, Naruto was still not able to harness his emotions properly. Although he could still tap into the Nine-tails' power to a certain degree, if he exceeded that amount, his emotions went awry. Once that happened, there was no telling how he would act.
"That stance…" Kakashi pondered, "There aren't any openings. I'm going to have to draw him out." "Here I come!" he called out aloud.
Speed was definitely not an issue for him. His days in the ANBU were not for nothing. Considering the fight had gone on long enough, it was time to start using his normal capabilities, but he was still not going all out. Against a genin, though, it was all he needed.
A quick burst of speed, a side-step, a slight feint and he was inside Naruto's guard, slamming his fist into his opponent's temple – it was a clean hit.
Instead of flying backwards from the sheer force of the blow like he was supposed to, Naruto, in fact, did not move at all. It was as if a fly had settled on the side of his head. Even more surprising was a warm glow wrapping around the boy's body. "Chakra…?" asked Kakashi before an open handed slap to the top of his chest sent him reeling backwards.
"I'm flattered you noticed," smirked the blonde genin.
"This is definitely a by-product of the Nine-tails. I wonder if the seal has loosened beyond control." "You gathered chakra into your body to reinforce yourself," the jounin observed, "Not bad for somebody like you to be able to do that."
"Not just to my body," said an emotionless Naruto.
"That's true, that hit to my chest was more powerful than it should have been." Even though he was a genius, anybody could have figured out the connection between the two statements. "I see," Kakashi said as realization spread across his face, "You gathered chakra into your hand…although it's not nearly like my Raikiri." "But for him to channel his chakra so quickly…and that killing intent! It's almost the Wave Country all over again."
"It looks like they're going to attack each other again," whispered Sasuke to his teammate, "But it doesn't matter, one week of training isn't enough to allow him to beat Kakashi-sensei."
"Or is it?" continued Sakura without taking her gaze off of the other two.
Despite his calm outward appearance, the utmost depths of Naruto's inner self was in turmoil. Despite his training in the Forest of Death he had not fully mastered his new style. If he had been able to hit his sensei it was because he had been underestimated, and that was likely not going to happen again. He could always gather more power, but that would mean losing himself even more. It was folly to challenge a jounin of Kakashi's level as he had done so, although he still did not realize it.
"He's using that stance again," Kakashi observed, "I guess he's about to…here he comes!"
[ "Right foot seventy percent, body thirty percent," ordered Kyubi.
Responding to the order, Naruto adjusted the chakra levels in his body accordingly as he slowly lifted his leg. Taking his time, he paid close attention to synchronizing the flow of his chakra with his kick. As his leg neared the apex of its arc, so did his chakra. Despite the slow, deliberate movement, some bark chipped off of the tree he was aiming for as his foot connected.
"A perfect transfer, very good," the demon said with praise, "Although, you must now start doing it faster." ]
Once within Kakashi's range, Naruto diverted from his head-on path and feinted. As expected of a jounin, Kakashi saw through the feint, but instead of blocking he side-stepped and allowed the attack to pass by. As he spun around the fist, he brought his own up and aimed it at his student's head. It was too late though, Naruto had already flowed chakra back to his body in defense so the punch had no effect.
Attack, block, counter, feint, dodge, followed in rapid succession as each shinobi probed the other for an opening. It seemed that they were evenly matched, though Naruto received several hits, while his sensei took none. On and on it went until, in an act of frustration, Naruto over-extended himself and lost his balance. Seeing the high amount of chakra in the attack, Kakashi spun out, but the extended hand still grazed his elbow and knocked him slightly off balance as well.
He was not a jounin for nothing though. In half a heartbeat he steadied himself and jumped back for a counter-attack. Naruto's lack of mastery of his new style proved to be a significant dampener. While struggling to regain his balance, he forgot that his chakra still remained concentrated in his hand, while his body was left virtually undefended. In that small time margin, Kakashi lived up to his rank and punched the genin square in the stomach.
"I'm impressed your still standing," he called out to his student, "You took several of my attacks."
"You once said the Hyuga taijutsu style was the oldest and strongest in the village," said Naruto instead of replying, "That's not quite true. Mine goes back several hundred years."
"I see, so it is as I thought," Kakashi said while adjusting his mask, "Ryu no Mai…right? The flow of chakra through your body to increase attack, defense, and speed."
"Yup!" Naruto answered with a wide grin.
"Well, it looks like he's back to his old self," Kakashi noted, " but he could have only learned about that old style from the Kyubi. If their memories are merging, it could be trouble. I'll have to inform Hokage-sama about this." "Well, the exercise is over and you've all failed miserably," he said out loud, "I guess we'll just have to run D-ranks until it gets better," he added in a song-song voice. Ignoring the collective groans of his students, he offered a wave and disappeared to attend to his business.
"Geez, that's just like him too," muttered an annoyed Sakura, "Disappearing like that."
"Naruto, baka," growled Sasuke, "Why didn't you come help us instead of taking your sweet time?"
"Huh?" replied the blonde genin, "What are you talking about?" Ignoring Sasuke's dropped jaw hanging wide open, Naruto kept on with his usual manner. "I don't really remember much about what happened – just that Kakashi-sensei hurt me a little," he finished with another wide grin.
"You mean, you really don't remember?" the pink-haired kunoichi asked skeptically. A vigorous head shake answered the question with finality. "Geez, now we're going to be running D-rank missions forever!"
"Meh, whatever. I'm going to get some ramen."
Walking towards his favorite ramen stand, Naruto's brow was slightly creased in worry by the fact that his memories of the earlier exercise were too blurry to remember. He recalled performing his Ryuuken Endan, but everything afterwards he just simply could not. Worse, his new sensei was lecturing him, and seemed to enjoy it.
"You fool," rumbled the demon, "A little more and you would have gone completely under. You are not capable of controlling such power yet."
"Gomenasai, sensei," the boy replied apologetically, "But I still don't know what you're talking about."
With a mental snort, the demon explained, "Of course not, bringing out such emotions is akin to being another personality. Therefore, you do not remember what takes place."
Naruto frowned at that last piece of troubling information. He would need to become a lot stronger in order to control more of the Nine-tails's power. It would not do to allow these brief amnesia periods to last any longer. If he were to kill somebody in that state, it would be a wonder how soon the other villagers would hunt him down.
"Hey hey, sensei. How was my fight with Kakashi-sensei?"
"In terms of taijutsu, an outsider would say it was even. However, you allowed several hits to connect that should not have."
"Whatever, I still cannot control my chakra perfectly – that was to be expected."
"For ninjutsu, he clearly held the upper hand. Copying your technique without the Sharingan is no small feat. But, you've yet to reveal your genjutsus."
"Best I should save those for later, sensei."
"I'm glad to see I've imparted at least a little wisdom to you."
"You're so kind."
As the Nine-tails demon inside of him continued explaining to him how the battle had proceeded, Naruto resolved to never go so far as to completely give himself up, unless under extreme circumstances. Hopefully, he would never have to, but the life of a shinobi is never certain. Ideally, his control would continue improving over time, thus eliminating the need.
"Pay attention," the demon interjected, "As I was saying: your control has improved, but you still take too much time when shifting your chakra."
"It's only been four days since I've learned though," Naruto explained defensively, "My chakra control still needs to get better."
"Of course it does, that is why you must continue training it."
"Not a minute's respite with you, is there?"
"You expect to get better just sitting there?" came the demon's thoughts, dripping with sarcasm.
"Of course not," sighed the boy in resignation.
Meanwhile, after taking leave of his students, Kakashi had immediately left for the Hokage's office. The events of the day's small exercise troubled the gray-haired jounen immensely. After knocking, a muffled "come in" was heard through the door, and he entered.
"It's about Naruto, isn't it?" Tsunade asked after a quick glance from her paperwork.
"You are as perceptive as always Hokage-sama," Kakashi replied, "I think Naruto is merging more and more with the Nine-tails."
"What makes you say that?" she said, giving him her full attention.
"During a training exercise, Naruto was acting strangely, and afterwards he could not remember why he acted that way."
"Go on," she urged.
"Also, since our mission to the Lightning Country, his improvement rapidly increased. He's able to use to use water, fire, and earth type jutsus…"
"That in itself is not something troublesome."
"…and earlier today he was using an archaic fighting style, Ryu no Mai."
"Ryu no Mai…" pondered the Hokage, "That hasn't been used for centuries because it consumed too much chakra."
"But it's perfect for someone like Naruto, who holds immense amounts."
"True, but how did he learn it, the last scroll containing any information about it was lost before he was born."
"Perhaps the Fourth not only sealed the Nine-tails's spirit, but his personality as well," offered Kakashi.
"Perhaps. Jiraiya understands the seal better than I do, but I believe it was designed to allow some parts of the Kyubi to merge with its host."
"So its memories as well?"
"Again, perhaps," Tsunade replied deep in thought, "But there really isn't anything we can do, except hope that Naruto is able to withstand the temptation of such power. Jiraiya is better with seals than I am, and more familiar with the Fourth's work. If need be he can place a three part seal, but that might end up hurting him more than helping."
After paying for his meal, Naruto once again headed for the outskirts of the village to practice some more. All along the way, the demon recounted various events from the far past. Although he would definitely not admit it, he apparently enjoyed telling stories from his millennium long existence. Naruto was so wrapped up that he failed to react when somebody from around the corner plowed into him and sent them both sprawling.
"Gomenasai!" exclaimed a soft, but nervous voice, "I'm so sorry, I wasn't looking."
"No, its my fault," the blonde genin said rubbing his head, "I should have been paying att…Hinata-chan?"
"N…Naruto-kun," she gasped as her hands flew to her mouth in surprise, "W…What are you doing here?"
"Oh, me? Uhhh, I'm taking a walk I guess…but why are you blushing like that for?"
"W…What?" she asked feigning ignorance, although she knew very well her face was a dark crimson, "Oh no! My stuff." Strewn all over the road were the contents of Hinata's bag.
"Don't worry," Naruto exclaimed, "I'll get it for you," he said with a wide grin.
While Naruto hustled around picking up the stray articles, Hinata took the opportunity to dust herself off. It was so embarrassing to meet somebody, especially him of all people, this way.
After running after the more volatile items, Naruto presented them back to their owner with another of his trademark grins. As she reached out to accept it, both their hands brushed each other's for a fleeting moment, but it was enough to send sparks down Hinata's arm, and leave a strange feeling with Naruto.
"Umm, I really need to get back to my team," she said averting her eyes. Quickly turning around, she left with a quick good-bye. Not saying anything, Naruto gazed after her as she half-ran, half-jogged to her destination.
"Why does she always act so weird?" he wondered, unknowingly rehashing the age-old question concerning women.
"Isn't it obvious?" the demon sneered, "Or do you always lose your wits in the presence of a female?"