"How is meditating supposed to help me out with the Kyuubi? I mean I know it can help with emotional control and chakra control, but I still don't understand fully how that keeps the Kyuubi at bay." Naruto spoke up, gazing up at the two men standing in front of her.
Naruto heard the rushing of the waterfalls behind her and the rustling of the forest life around them as she tried to calm her nerves and relax her shoulders. Her arm still hurt from being burnt and her body was like a giant bruise. Her entire body hurt, making the places that did hurt hard to ignore. She was tired and hungry due to training from early in the morning to late in the afternoon for the past three days straight.
"You have to come in contact with the Kyuubi before you do anything else. If you are not able to contact the Kyuubi then you cannot establish the bond needed. It also helps to know just what you are dealing with at times. Once you enter your mindscape you can also start building precautions against the Kyuubi's influence until you can control its power." Roshi answered her.
His eyes darted over her form, taking in her stance and the way she was trying to relax but failing. Over the years he had trained her in multiple arts, including the ability to conceal her troubles. She was still shaken up from what Han and he had put her through. There wasn't anything that Roshi could do about her distrust right now.
The betrayal and fear the blonde had felt when Roshi had turned on her had been real. She couldn't just push those feelings aside even after Roshi revealed he was testing her. He had come at her with the intent to kill, the man who had situated himself in the place of her father had tried to kill her. The thought gave her pause and made bile rise in her throat.
"Could you leave…I can't relax with you peering over my shoulder like that." She spoke up, carefully not opening her eyes so she didn't have to meet her Sensei's gaze. Naruto had been avoiding looking at him since the training had begun because she knew that she would find the hurt her actions were causing residing deep in his brown eyes. She couldn't help her instincts, however, and she would continue to avoid him until she felt comfortable in his presence again.
A deep sigh spread over the silence, the sound of sandals shuffling away alerting her that her Sensei had reluctantly followed her request.
Reaching out, she couldn't find him anywhere close by.
Naruto relaxed, her shoulders trembling as the muscles relaxed. Her eyes opened as she hunched over, dragging in a sharp breath. She forced herself to breathe past the panic she had been hiding, before closing her eyes and trying again.
She had to at least try and do what Roshi had told her to. If she could talk to the Kyuubi then she could help Iwa, and maybe even help Roshi.
Naruto worked her way through several more calming breaths until all she could hear and focus on were the colors swirling behind her closed eyes. She blocked out the white noise of nature and pushed away from the feelings surrounding her body. Instead, she focused on delving deeper into her head.
The pain faded away and her head swam as her eyes snapped open. She felt wind rush by her face and nearly screamed when she dropped from the sky, falling past hundreds of spires spearing the heavens. The sky was dark blue like the night, and lanterns drifted on strings stretching from one peak to another.
Cool wetness basked Naruto's body as she plunged into bright blue waters, her eyes wide and terrified.
She didn't know what had happened, but whatever it was, it vanished when a hand pressed to her shoulder and her eyes opened again, only this time to the forest clearing she had settled in with Roshi.
The large Jinchuuriki, Han, was crouched before her with his hands on her shoulders. His eyes showed worry, and though Naruto couldn't see the fullness of his face, she knew he was getting over the shock.
"What happened?" The large man questioned her gently, his eyes softening as his hands dropped from her shoulders.
Naruto tried to get her mouth to work, to tell him what she had seen. It was hard, however, and she failed to even form a single word.
Just how did one explain that their inner world was Iwa's rockscapes on steroids or that she had nearly drowned in water that reminded her of the choking sensation of her emotions? How did she explain that as she looked at the lanterns decorating her mindscape, she had thought of her happiest memories? How did one explain that amidst the light, the darkness was growing?
Naruto didn't know how to put it into words, but the calm look that Han gave her said that he understood, that he knew exactly what she had seen without her saying a word.
Her eyes drifted up and looked to the red blur behind Han. Upon focusing, she noticed that it was Roshi. He had stepped forward and his fist was clenched as he looked at her with a reigned in expression. No doubt, he didn't quite know what to do with himself.
"I-I need to do it again," Naruto told him, her eyes firming as she strengthened her resolve.
I~~~~I
Shisui looked up at the sky, his gaze shifting through the clouds. He had always loved Iwa for its bright, cloudless skies, but today he was grateful the sky wasn't empty. Naruto had vanished not long ago with their Sensei, though the Tsuchikage had informed them that they needn't worry about her wellbeing. The Tsuchikage had looked troubled when he told them this, however, which led to doubts in Shisui's mind.
Yarui and Darui were still training to master that technique that Roshi-Sensei had shown them, but Shisui was finished with it only a day ago. He had more training than the others on focusing his chakra to a single point, and surprisingly enough he wasn't the one with the most chakra. His control was far greater than Darui's, who had almost double his reserves, which helped with his Jutsu. Naruto had nearly quadruple Darui's reserves from what he had seen, but she had almost no control. Yarui was the fine line in the middle of the spectrum.
Shisui slowly sat up, sighing as he thought about all that had happened the past week. After arriving back in Iwa, the three of them had bonded more than before. The moments in their training for the few days they had left them with more knowledge than what others would realize. And now, after all of that bonding and all of the moments where Shisui could look back on fondly, Naruto had up and vanished with their Sensei and left them to hear from the Tsuchikage that not only would they be in the Chunin Exams, but that they would be going without Naruto on their team and with a different Sensei.
Closing his eyes, Shisui thought back to their introduction to Kurotsuchi, the Tsuchikage's granddaughter. She was odd, and she didn't get along with Deidara at all. She was good friends with Iwashi however, and she didn't mind Hatori. She also knew the Lava Style like Roshi, but for different reasons than being a Jinchuuriki.
Shisui still didn't like her. He preferred Roshi's forward approach to training, rather than Kurotsuchi's observations and deductions. Roshi pushed them through exercises, no matter their current level, and upped the ante wherever he needed to.
"Ni-San!", "Aniki!" Two voices called to him. His eyes opened in time to view twin blurs of black that tackled him back to the ground.
Two heads poke up out of their rather large and billowy robes, the two kids smirking at him.
"We found you!" They shouted in unison, their bright faces pressing together as their multi-colored eyes gazed into his brown ones.
"Daiki, Enmei, what are you doing out of the academy?" Shisui questioned the two, raising a single brow at his younger brothers.
The twins looked to one another, having a silent conversation through gazes alone. Many people found this act terrifying since they both seemed to understand one another perfectly, but Shisui found it endearing that the two knew each other so well. They would be devastating as shinobi, but the two had chosen a less traveled route in Iwa.
"Seiichi-Ni had a mission and today was supposed to be a show-day anyways," Enmei tells Shisui, his mainly green eyes giving away his identity.
Daiki, the one with swirling eyes with more brown than green, nodded at him. "They let us go since we weren't able to practice the newest technique without him there to observe. It kinda sucks since we got it down!"
The child bragged, his eyes sparkling with mischief and pride as he looked up at Shisui.
Sighing, Shisui sat up and ruffled the twins' hair and smiled at them both gently. "I'm sure you did."
The two looked up at him from where they were piled on his lap. They both had black hair like his own, though it was a shade lighter. Their eyes were mixed with colors of green and brown, though they both had different prominent colors. Their hair fell over their faces still sporting baby fat, and they both wore twin pendants of medics in training and had on rather bulky black robes that showed their status as trainees as well.
"How is your training going?" Shisui asked the two, reaching to brush down the spikes their hair sported. Grains of dirt met his fingers, indicating the two had been roughhousing recently. There weren't dirt smudges on their robes, however, so they had at least listened to Seiichi and kept them clean.
"We learned how to amputate a leg, and then Seiichi-Ni showed us how to cauterize a wound with chakra! It was really cool." Daiki spoke with a large grin. He had always been the one morbidly fascinated with taking the body apart and putting it back together.
Enmei grinned and spoke up next, his eyes sparkling with eagerness. "Yup, and then he showed us how to remove poison and counter it! He said that I am almost at the point where I need a specialized teacher!"
Enmei was fascinated with poisons, so much so that the boy rather reminded him of his teammate. Or, Shisui supposed, Naruto reminded him of his little brother with her ability to utilize poisons and implement them into her natural style as well as theirs. She had dragged Darui down that road and the boy was still trying to find a way to make her bone eroding serum more potent.
Shisui still feared what the two could come up with if they ever met his little brother.
Then again, if Enmei needed a teacher, Naruto was one of the better candidates. Otherwise, it would be a priestess or a kunoichi, and not many practiced the art of assassination in Iwa. Naruto was of the few, along with Shisui's older brother Seiichi, and Naruto's mother, Lady Rida of the Bomber Clan. Lady Rida was infamous across the elemental nations for her poisons, nearly as much as Lady Chiyo of the Sand and Lady Tsunade of the Leaf.
"Hey, Enmei, how would you like to meet my teammate Naruto?" Shisui asked his little brother, figuring that it would only mean more bad news for the enemy if Iwa gained another poison specialist, especially one like his little brother. If Daiki learned a little more, that could only help.
The two were both medics in training, and they terrified most adults with their knowledge and willingness to learn. It was always wonderful to watch the faces of elders when they realized that the heirs of their clan were taking on such an ignoble art such as assassination through medicine. They had nearly had heart attacks after finding out what the two would specialize in.
Unlike most clans, Shisui's clan placed the heirship of the clan within the power of the individual children. The birth of twins was extremely rare and their survival even rarer. Taking it as a sign of power, the heads had declared the two Heirs.
It was funny, Shisui had figured at the time, that the position that neither he nor Seiichi had wanted be gifted to their younger brothers.
"Wait, Iwatoshi Naruto!? As in the Bomber Princess?!" Enmei nearly squealed, his voice rising an octave as he pushed on Shisui's chest. The older raven was forced to brace his hands on the ground lest he topple onto his back again.
Shisui chuckled and nodded, his heart feeling lighter. With the aid of his brothers, he would find Naruto in no time at all.
"Let's go grab Yarui and Darui then, they can help us." He spoke up, pushing upwards and rising to his feet. The twins let out surprised yells as they both tumbled over and landed on their backs below him. Shisui gave them a raised brow before he started walking toward the training area he had left his teammates in. The twins scrambled up behind him, rushing over and walking quickly to keep up with his long stride.
"How about a game of ninja tag?" Shisui questioned the two as they headed toward the grounds. The two traded looks and they grinned at him in eagerness.
"You both are it, if you get me before I reach my teammates, then you get a free dinner anywhere you want tonight. If not…Then I get to decide where we eat." Shisui bargained, earning devious looks.
Almost immediately the two lunged for him, earning a light chuckle as Shisui vanished in a shunshin.
He landed on a building several feet ahead. He waved at the two and started running over the rooftops, leading them to follow after him in an effort to get their free dinner.
Shisui sped up as the two scaled the buildings, chakra pulsing under their feet. They had apparently gone through the rock-climbing exercise as well. They were just full of surprises.
Shisui flipped over a large spire, dodging a hand that swept right under his leg. He landed and rolled to the side to avoid another hand aiming for his back. Large areas or hard to maneuver areas were always the best when aiming at a target. The head was the least likely to get hit, but the chest was full of vital areas and it was a large target.
He ducked under another strike and vanished in a blur, replacing himself with some clothes hanging from a laundry line. Another step and he was coming upon the gate leading to his teammates. The twins were hard on his heels, using their small sizes and chakra control to keep up with his enhanced speed.
Shisui figured he'd have to work on their speed again as he ran to the gate without the aid of the Shunshin. He took his time as he crossed through, ducking to avoid a kunai to his head.
The boys were just now getting serious. They knew they would have to up the ante if they hoped for a free dinner of their choosing.
Smirking, Shisui whirled around and knocked several Kunai off course. He flipped back and pushed on his hands to spring up in the air. His hand worked through the kunai that Darui had given him, pre-strung with wire. He launched the kunai to a nearby spire and tugged, sailing away from the twins as they both shot past where he had been, their palms aimed at where his chest had been.
"Woah, Shisui, what are you-" The sound of Yarui's carefree voice entered his range as he flew past the spire the Genin was latched on to.
The twins dashed and flew after him, their blurred figures bounding from spire to spire, springboarding right at Shisui as he drew near to the spire he had launched his kunai at.
He flipped around and landed his feet on the spire, causing the top to crack as he pushed back and dove under his brothers. He rolled to a stop below Yarui's pillar, turning to face the two boys as they both landed in the dirt.
"Nice job you two, but you need to work on your speed," Shisui told them with a pleased look entering his eyes.
Yarui dropped down beside him, looking over at the boys sprawled out panting in the dirt.
"Ninja Tag?" He questioned, earning a nod.
"I wanted to introduce them to Naruto, and then I challenged them to a game of Ninja Tag to get your guys," Shisui informed Yarui, earning a nod from his fellow Raven.
"Good to know. Darui left a while ago to help his sister with something, but I'll help you find Naruto. She ought to be around here somewhere." Yarui stated, not even questioning Shisui's reasoning.
The twins rose, both of them scowling at Shisui momentarily before they heard Yarui agree to help them find the elusive Naruto that Enmei practically idolized.
"So, what do we do first Shisui?" Yarui deferred to his partner, used to taking orders from the other raven or Naruto at this point when Roshi wasn't around.
Shisui hummed, glancing to his brothers and then back at Yarui. "How about where we saw her leave? Roshi-Sensei is the type to go straight ahead rather than create a winding path to confuse the enemy."
Yarui nodded and the two gestured for the twins to catch up as they walked in the direction they had seen their teammate vanish to only days prior.
Neither of them really knew what to expect, other than Roshi training Naruto into the ground.
It was still odd that Roshi had singled her out for training, however, since he had never once done the same thing before. Roshi had always operated on the principle that they should work and train together so that they could help each other identify weaknesses and strengths and share strategies to progress in their training together. Roshi had never once separated them like this. It was…troubling.
Taking a deep breath, Shisui focused on the task at hand and broke into a run. He didn't glance back to tell if the others were following, already knowing that they were steps behind him.
I~~~~I
Naruto looked around her mindscape, walking overtop the water that went deeper than the eye could see.
She had discovered that the upper part of the mindscape was a lot like the spire forest outside of Iwa, only the spires reached past the clouds and deeper than she could ever fathom. The lanterns above water were filled with memories, and not only happy ones. Each string help multiple ones and each lantern held nearly hundreds of moments she had ingrained in her thoughts. The water below her was filled with emotions, thoughts, and actions.
The kunoichi had walked past hundreds of spires of varying heights and discovered that her mindscape was endless. The lanterns always lead her back to where she started, however, as they started to fade away and lessen in number the further she got.
She had yet to find the Kyuubi, but she had a feeling that the Kyuubi was hidden deep under layers of protection. She had a feeling that the Kyuubi resided in the waters under her feet.
Looking down, she couldn't find the bottom of the endless pool. The waters, clearing a calm at the top, faded to black deep down.
Sighing deeply, Naruto looked up and wondered if drowning down there would affect her at all. Her mental state was hardly sane, but she didn't want to damage herself any further.
Shaking her head, Naruto made her decision and let go of the chakra holding her up, her legs dropping in the water. Her body even out as she sunk with her back facing the bottom, her hair trailing up after her as she watched the light fade away above her.
Her eyes did not sting and the water did not enter her lungs as she breathed in carefully. Instead, it felt like she was simple above ground.
She twisted around in the water, gazing down into the abyss. She pushed forward, swimming further down.
Her head popped out of the water, and she nearly gasped. Her entire world had flipped, the bottoms of the spires sticking to the ceiling of the cave she had just entered. Upon pulling herself out, Naruto found the waters to be black at the top and grow lighter the further down they went, forming a mirror image at the bottom exactly like what she had just seen.
Rather shaken, Naruto took the moment to calm herself and look around again. She was back in that cave she had woken up in when Roshi had knocked her out. The crystal she had seen before had been covered, leaving a ghastly glow around the edges of the cavern.
"So you've finally come back, mortal." A deep rumble echoed, leaving Naruto to look up and gaze at the flooded cave that the Kyuubi resided inside. The crystal bars were still in place and the fox still lay inside of them, the winding seals made of vines glistened with moisture.
In the blink of an eye, the water was gone from the floor and the crystal was left over, gleaming like black quartz mixed with the greenish-jade growing up from the ground.
"Kyuubi-Sama." She spoke softly, her eyes adjusting to the modified space. She stepped forward, continuing until she stood in front of the bars.
The Kyuubi gazed down at her in content, his slit pupils glaring into her soul.
"Do you hate me?" She asked, stepping forward. Her limbs trembled as she stepped directly in front of the bars. If the fox wished to reach through and grab her, he would have no troubles.
The Kyuubi continued to stare at her for several moments. Finally, its mouth opened wide in a large and terrible grin.
"Hate? I despise you. My jailer, my prison. You worthless mortals dared to trap me in this place. You can hardly even handle yourself. You have separated the thought of me from yourself, leaving an entire world between." The Kyuubi sneered at her, his red eyes flashing dangerously.
Naruto sighed, sitting down where she stood.
"Will you tell me your story?" She asked the fox, calmly gazing up at him.
She wasn't afraid. She wouldn't back away.
Naruto completely confused the Kyuubi as he looked her over.
The Kyuubi lunged, it's jaws snapping in front of the girl's face.
Naruto kept staring at him, a flinch working down her body. She did not spring back, however, nor did she try to get away. She remained where she was and said nothing as she waited for him to start speaking.
"You are a persistent meat bag. Foolish too…but that is to be expected. Leave me, I won't tell you anything." The Kyuubi snarled and turned, facing away from her and ignoring her presence.
Naruto sighed but remained seated in front of the cage, closing her eyes to meditate as she waited. This would take a while, but she had all the time in the world. Here in her mindscape, time passed as she wished it. Right now, she could remain for years and still come out seconds after she went under. The Kyuubi had no chance against her. She'd just have to wait until he deemed her a nuisance enough to tell her whatever she wanted to get her to leave. That shouldn't take long. Naruto let out a heavy breath and relaxed.
Thus, the hours she would spend waiting for the Kyuubi's reply began then.
I~~~~I
Here you go! So sorry that this took forever to publish, I just really didn't know what to do with this chapter. I finally figure it out, so here is the finished product. I hope you guys enjoyed it and I plan on getting out the next update a lot sooner than this one.
Thank you so much for reading and reviewing, you are all amazing!
