It had been two years since Naruto met Hinata and only a couple of exciting things had happened, where I had been notified by the Hyugas that Hinata's mother was in critical condition from an illness and because I had become very experienced in medical ninjutsu, they brought me over to the Hyuga compound where I had to spend several hours healing Hinata's mother and the Hyuga were grateful for my help and as for the second interesting thing that happened, Jiraiya had gone to the hidden sand village to build relations and by strengthening their Jinchuriki's seal before Jiraiya had Naruto to come with him to help connect with whoever the Jinchuriki was.
Koharu and Homura naturally opposed and I was also uncertain about it since god only knows what might happen while they were gone, but Jiraiya assured me that everything would turn out okay in the end, so I spent the entire week wondering if everything would turn out okay as I continued going on missions before I was allowed to be promoted from a Chunin to an Anbu operative and went on highly classified missions until Naruto and Jiraiya came home, then I asked them how it went and Jiraiya explained that the sand village's Jinchuriki's seal had been strengthened and Naruto made a few more friends.
I was relieved that things turned out okay in the end and that Naruto made a few more friends while we were now in one of the training grounds after those two years had gone by as Jiraiya and I instructed Naruto to perform the necessary three ninjutsu to pass the academy, though the toad sage and I had come to an agreement that the academy's curriculum needed to make a few changes since it should be more challenging than what I know so far because the students need to be more prepared than that, then Naruto performed the three jutsu perfectly until Jiraiya and I nodded in approval.
"Good work, those are the three academy ninjutsu you need to master if you want to graduate and, as you can see, it's a piece of cake when you have such awesome teachers as me and your father," Jiraiya boasted, making me roll my eyes as Naruto bounced from excitement.
"Wait, does that mean I can graduate already?" Naruto questioned in realization, looking starry-eyed while I nodded.
"Jiraiya said that those three jutsus are necessary to pass, not the only thing you need but yeah, we're sure that you'd be good to graduate in two years," I confirmed, causing Naruto to beam happily as he did a fist pump.
"Yeah, take that Sasuke because I'm going to graduate two years before you!" Naruto cheered victoriously, but I held up a hand to calm him down.
"Whoa, don't get too ahead of yourself because you're not going to skip any academy year," I cut in and Naruto started pouting.
"What? But why? If I already know what they teach at the academy, then going there is pretty much a waste of time," Naruto pointed out before I sighed.
"True, but we're not teaching you everything the academy does since things like math, physics, biology, and geography might not seem useful for a ninja at first but they are, so that's why the academy is still important and I wouldn't bother sending you there if that wasn't the case," I explained until Jiraiya cleared his throat to cut in.
"Besides, your father and I are going to have a talk with the Hokage and see if he can do something about making the academy's curriculum a bit more challenging since a ninja needs more than basic e-rank ninjutsu to do their jobs and they don't even teach tree walking for crying out loud! Also, we want to teach you some other abilities that will take some time," Jiraiya added and Naruto tilted his head in response to that.
"And that would be?" Naruto asked curiously.
"Sealing jutsu, some more advanced ninjutsu, being able to dispel genjutsu and if possible, control of the Ninetails' yang chakra since it's our goal to make sure you gain some level of mastery over those abilities before you graduate," I pitched in before Naruto hummed thoughtfully and nodded in agreement.
"I see...so no matter what you decide to throw at me or how hard the academy gets, I'll pass with flying colors!" Naruto claimed as he pumped his fist until Jiraiya chuckled.
"Kid, that inner fire is something every teacher wants to see in his students so, now that you showed us what you're capable of, I think that we can fulfill your request," Jiraiya said and Naruto's eyes widened excitingly.
"Alright, elemental ninjutsu!" Naruto cheered while I smiled at his enthusiasm, then Jiraiya produced a small light brown rectangular paper.
"This is litmus paper and it's used to determine your elemental affinity so you channel chakra into the paper and based on how it reacts, you can determine your affinity and start to practice with elemental jutsu once you begin to learn it while Jiraiya has a fire affinity and I have two," I added and Naruto reached out to hastily take the litmus paper from Jiraiya's hands before he focused on pouring his chakra into the paper and it split in two.
"Aw crud, I think I broke this one so let me have another," Naruto groaned in disbelief and I smiled reassuringly at him.
"Don't worry, the paper didn't break because if it cut in two, then that means you have an affinity for wind and it's the least common affinity in all the nations, even the land of wind," Jiraiya assured before Naruto perked up.
"Awesome! I have a rare affinity, unlike Sasuke who has fire like everybody else!" Naruto cheered, only he paused and looked at Jiraiya sheepishly before he added, "Err, sorry uncle Jiraiya, I didn't mean to-"
"It's okay, but don't get too excited since having a rare affinity does have its downsides," Jiraiya stated.
"Really? Like what?" Naruto questioned before I cleared my throat to get his attention.
"Because there are not a lot of people with wind affinity, that means there are fewer people to teach you and create new jutsu but I do recall that there's only one other wind user in the village and he's one of the Third Hokage's sons so I think Jiraiya and I can get him to teach you some advanced jutsu but for the time being, let's stick to something simple," I replied before Jiraiya went over to a tree and plucked a leaf from one of the branches until he handed that leaf to Naruto.
"Listen up, we want you to use your chakra to cut that leaf in two, just like you did with the paper," Jiraiya instructed and Naruto didn't look happy to hear that.
"Why?" Naruto asked in confusion before I sighed.
"Naruto, we told you this a million times already so, before learning the 'cool stuff' as you so eloquently put it, you need to learn the basics first and this exercise will help you mold wind chakra. What, did you expect that we were going to teach you how to produce a tornado or something like that?" I remarked dryly with a sweatdrop.
"Well...yeah since Sasuke can create fireballs and I need something to counter that if I want to beat him," Naruto said until Jiraiya made a face at that.
"Okay, let me explain as to why that's a very bad idea because elemental chakra is like rock paper scissors and, just like how rock beats scissors but gets beaten by paper, some elements are weak against some and strong against others so, in your case, wind is strong against lightning but weak against fire.
Basically, if you try to counter Sasuke's fire jutsu with wind jutsu, you will only make his attacks stronger and they will really ruin your day because of it," Jiraiya explained and Naruto slumped his shoulders.
"What?! Then I'm never going to beat him!" Naruto whined dramatically, looking depressed as he fell on his knees.
"Don't say that, you can learn water jutsu if you want," I reassured and Naruto looked up at me.
"But you and Uncle Jiraiya said that my affinity is wind," Naruto pointed out in confusion.
"Yes, but that means that wind jutsu will be more powerful, consume less chakra, and will be easier to learn so that you can learn jutsu from all five basic elements. Think of it as the use of your arms, where your right arm is the dominant one but that doesn't mean that you can't use your left arm as well, though you use the right one more because you have more dexterity," Jiraiya explained with his arms crossed.
"So teach me water jutsu instead," Naruto said and I shook my head.
"No, you have to learn jutsu from your elemental affinity first before we can move on to other elemental jutsu and once you have your affinity jutsu down, you can master the element that counters the element you're weak against since, after mastering fire, Jiraiya here learned earth jutsu because earth beats water and water beats fire," I stated and Naruto appeared to understand what I was talking about.
"I see...man, this is far more complicated than I thought," Naruto muttered as he rubbed the back of his head.
"Of course it is so why do you think your father and I don't want you to graduate too early? The only reason why we want you to stay in the academy longer is to make sure you're properly prepared once you go out into the field," Jiraiya pointed out and Naruto nodded.
"By the way, Uncle Jiraiya has fire but what affinity do you have, dad?" Naruto asked me.
"My affinity is water and since I learned some earth jutsu, I can combine it into mud jutsu and make things more difficult for the enemy," I replied logically.
"So, is it possible to have more than one affinity," Naruto questioned curiously and Jiraiya nodded.
"It's possible, but they're extremely rare outside of bloodline limits, even more than people with wind affinity so let's get started because we won't teach you any new jutsu unless we see you cutting that leaf with your chakra, now the key is to try to compress your chakra into a blade as sharp as possible," Jiraiya instructed, then Naruto got to work on channeling his chakra into the leaf while we watched closely.
Shortly after finishing the training session with Naruto, Jiraiya and I were approached by an Anbu operative who told us that the Hokage urgently requested our presence and we arrived at the Hokage tower in no time with Jiraiya entering through the window of the Hokage's office and me hurrying inside the normal way, just before I also entered the Hokage's office and could see Hiruzen sending Jiraiya an unamused look.
"Jiraiya, couldn't you use the door like a normal human being?" Hiruzen questioned with a deadpanned tone as I went down on one knee and bowed my head as a part of my Anbu training.
"Sorry sensei, but you said it was urgent for me and Seth," Jiraiya said, then the elderly Hokage sighed before gesturing at the seats in front of his desk and we went over to sit down.
"Listen up, this is highly important and you also need to hear this Seth so Jiraiya, there is no need for you to continue your investigation into the Ninetails' attack," Hiruzen stated, causing me and Jiraiya to look at each other with bewildered looks before we regained our attention on the Hokage.
"Why?" Jiraiya asked in confusion until Hiruzen started looking at us gravely.
"I'm afraid it wouldn't do any good now because according to my sources, the Uchiha clan has been planning a coup d'etat for the past couple of years and they will stage it sometime during this week," Hiruzen explained and my eyes bugged out in horror while Jiraiya sucked in a breath.
"Then why are we still sitting here talking about it when we should stop it?! God knows how many people will die once the coup happens and we will be too weak to defend ourselves against an invasion from the other villages in the aftermath!" I exclaimed in disbelief before Hiruzen smiled at me reassuringly.
"Do not worry, I already have a plan in motion so the coup won't come to pass, I made sure of it," Hiruzen assured, though Jiraiya and I still didn't look convinced and we had remained silent to not pressure the issue.
"I see...the Anbu operative who approached us said that you had a mission for each of us?" I inquired and Hiruzen nodded.
"Correct, so you see, for the past few months onwards, the demand for A-rank and S-rank missions had increased dramatically and while that's seen as good income for the village, I believe that there's more to this since that amount of high-ranked missions is unseen in times of peace.
An S-rank mission means an S-rank threat so if there are so many S-rank mission requests...well, you do the math and some of the clients mentioned men in black cloaks with red clouds on them," Hiruzen explained and my eyes hardened at that while Jiraiya looked just as serious.
"The Akatsuki," Jiraiya said grimly.
"Exactly, they're finally making their move, whatever it is, so your mission will be to find out what they're trying to accomplish with this while Seth's mission will be of a different matter," Hiruzen stated while I frowned thoughtfully.
"So, you're concerned that they're doing this to bring our best ninja out of the village walls so that they can be killed off one by one easily?" I questioned and Hiruzen sent me a nod.
"It is one of the possibilities, yes, but not the only one," Hiruzen confirmed before Jiraiya stood up from his seat.
"Alright, I'll meet up with some of my spies and see what they have so you'll receive a report from me shortly," Jiraiya stated before he body-flickered out of the office, leaving me and Hiruzen alone.
"Now that he's gone, your mission will be explained, so you remember Shisui Uchiha, correct?" Hiruzen inquired and I nodded.
"Yeah, we're well acquainted," I answered stoically.
"Good, because Shisui will be essential to stopping the Uchiha clan by using his Sharingan on the leaders of the rebels to prevent the coup from happening, but there is a good chance that something will go wrong and if happens, you are to do your part by eliminating them," Hiruzen told me and I tensed up since I knew what he was talking about.
"I see...killing the leaders of the rebels might have severe repercussions," I pointed out seriously.
"Which is why Shisui must play his part in stopping the coup because I would rather prevent any bloodshed from happening and as you said before, a civil war in the village would leave us so weak in the aftermath that we wouldn't be able to defend ourselves from an invasion by bandits or the other villages, so you are to meet with Shisui Uchiha and he will give you the rest of the details," Hiruzen said, then I stood up and sent him a nod as he handed me a slip of paper that had coordinates to the meeting place on it.
"Understood, I'll move out ASAP," I declared stoically before I body-flickered back home and got geared up for the mission, then I strapped my sword to my back and placed an Anbu wolf mask on my face before body-flicking to where Shisui was waiting for me.
I arrived at the location as the sun had long set but didn't find Shisui anywhere, making me confused at first until I picked up a faint coppery smell and I tensed up since I recognized it as blood so I followed the scent while moving down the side of a river until the scent got strong enough and I saw a body washed up on shore, making me alarmed as I hurried over to check on whoever it was while ensuring that this wasn't a potential ambush before I carefully turned the body over and was horrified to see that it was Shisui.
Shisui looked like hell with gashes and burns all over his broken body, but it was the hole in his chest and one of his eyes that was missing that made me feel like I was going to be sick as Shisui wheezed slightly to show that he was still alive.
"Wolf...is that you?" Shisui rasped quietly, using my alias to protect my identity.
"Shisui, what the fuck happened and who did this to you?!" I exclaimed in disbelief as I struggled to understand what I was seeing, but his body was in such a severe critical state so I knew that there was no chance I could save him and could only stay with him until he passed on from this world.
"Danzo...he...attacked me, said that...the Uchiha were...too much of...a threat to the...village so he...had to...take matters into his...own hands," Shisui gurgled out and I grimaced at the state of him while I was stupified by what I heard.
"Danzo did this?! But the Third Hokage wanted to prevent bloodshed, not cause any and that's why your Sharingan was needed!" I shouted in shock.
"Danzo...is convinced...that the Hokage...has become weak and that...the Uchiha must be stopped...by any means...necessary. Wolf, you must save...the Uchiha clan from...themselves so...take my...remaining eye and...use it to...prevent the coup from...happening...please," Shusui pleaded weakly with desperation in his remaining eye as he reached up to grab my arm, then his eye glazed over and his arm fell back down to the ground as his breathing stopped.
I just stared at who used to be so cheerful and gritted my teeth in frustration as I hit the ground with a fist, then I looked at Shisui's eye and felt sick that I was even thinking of going to desecrate Shisui's body by assimilating him, but taking and using his Sharingan to save the Uchiha clan was his dying wish so my chest wriggled before dozens of tendrils shot out and jabbed every part of Shisui's body before every bone, organ, muscle, flesh, and hair broke apart into tiny pieces until the tendrils went back into me with the pieces of a former human being absorbed until the only sign that Shisui used to be there was a puddle of blood.
I stood up silently as Shisui's memories flowed through my mind and the one with him being ambushed and badly injured by Danzo made an intense fury flare up at the Warhawk who thought that this whole thing should be solved by bloodshed, then I was surprised by the memory of Itachi showing up in the aftermath and Shisui forcing him to kill him but that's when I realized that every single Uchiha was about to be killed just to prevent a coup and nothing but horror filled me as wings formed from my back and I took off into the air, praying that I wasn't too late.
I flew as fast as I could to the Uchiha compound as the thought of people dead, even if they had nothing to do with the coup, motivated me to get there as quick as I could until I finally arrived in an alley that was inside the compound, but there was nothing but unsettling silence and the powerful stench of blood made me fear for the lives of the children living in here as I moved over to the exit and what I saw as I entered the street would always stay with me.
"Oh...god," I gagged out as I looked away from the scene of carnage and started heaving, bodies of Uchihas everywhere as they laid motionlessly on the ground while blood coated the windows and buildings with everything looking like a macabre painting.
'Jesus, this happened quick and it looks like these poor bastards either tried to run or put up one hell of a fight,' I thought in revulsion as I slowly moved through the compound and kept my senses sharp while I took out two kunai and held them in reverse grips in each hand.
"Seth, be on high alert because I can sense a familiar chakra that I haven't felt since eight years ago," the fox warned suddenly, and the amount of tension in his voice made me feel very anxious since whoever he was sensing was agitating him badly and that sent a chill down my spine while I kept moving.
Pretty soon, I arrived at the police station and saw Itachi's girlfriend on the ground and restrained in chains by a man with long black spiky hair and dark clothing, who decapitated Izumi instantly and I just froze up as the man turned to look at me and saw the orange spiraled mask that I recognized from Minato's description all those years ago.
"Well, what do we have here?" the man wondered in a deep voice while I was paralyzed at seeing the very same person who was responsible for causing so much death and destruction eight years ago.
"Don't look into his uncovered eye because he'll put you in a powerful genjutsu!" the fox shouted urgently, the panic in his tone making me flinch and quickly lower my gaze to the man's feet so that I wouldn't be caught in a genjutsu.
"I can sense that you are one of the Ninetails' Jinchurikis so at least that cuts my search down in half, now I'll capture you and find the other half of the Ninetails once you're secured," the man stated calmly before I held up my two kunai in a combat stance.
"Do not even think about it, now run because he's too powerful!" the fox exclaimed, and I knew that he was right since someone capable of controlling a tailed beast is far too dangerous to take on alone, so the only thing I can do is exercise a tactical retreat and release a powerful burst of chakra to alert every on-duty and off-duty ninja so that reinforcements can show up to assist.
Suddenly, the man released Izumi from his chains and charged at me with a speed that took me off guard before I was forced to backpedal to keep my distance while making sure to avoid eye-contact and prevent getting grabbed, then I weaved out of the way of the chains and slashed at him many times but the blades of my two kunai passed through him like he was a hologram and that's when I started panicking.
'Fuck, he can make himself intangible!' I thought and flipped over a grab, just before I found myself wrapped up in chains and struggled to get free until I was slammed down into the ground and created a crater.
"I have you Ninetails and now that you are secure, I'll locate and capture the other half," the man said calmly while I was coughing from getting the breath knocked out of me, then hearing him say that made me enraged as a shockwave erupted from me before destroying the chains and sending the man flying into a wall.
I snarled as I rose up with steam rising off of me and my injuries healing but then my canine teeth and my nails grew sharp while my hair became wild before dark thick whisker marks appeared on my cheeks and my eyes turned blood red with slit pupils, then red bubbling chakra came out of my body and covered me as I got down on all fours with three tails and long fox ears forming from the chakra as I growled until tentacles of flesh burst out of my back and whipped around with my face extending and cracking into mandibles.
My mask broke and fell to the ground as my body grew into an insectoid creature that shouldn't even exist before I sucked in a deep breath and roared while the man was standing still either in abject horror or morbid fascination until I scurried at him at lightning speed, swinging my tentacles and claws at him to either impale or eviscerate him as he was forced to dodge the lethal attacks that would instantly kill him while also making sure to become intangible as well, then I swung a mutated hand and the red chakra covering it extended forward before enlarging to crush the man.
The man jumped out of the way as the chakra hand slammed down to make an imprint before I sensed that more than one person was arriving fast and Hiruzen, as well as many ninjas of different ranks from Chunin to Jonin and Anbu, had quickly arrived and paused with paralyzing horror on their faces when they saw me until the man I was fighting had scoffed at the overwhelming odds and started to disappear in a swirling vortex.
"This isn't over," the man declared until he was gone, then I calmed down with the red chakra receding before I changed back to my human form and sat down to rest.
"Shit...that took a lot out of me," I groaned slightly before the others were able to snap out of it and start securing the area as Hiruzen approached me.
"Are you okay, Wolf?" Hiruzen asked and I waved up at him in response as my energy started regenerating.
"I'm good, just wasn't expecting to fight someone who can make ranged and physical attacks pretty much useless so I need to go home and get some rest," I stated and Hiruzen nodded.
"Very well, I'll send a messenger tomorrow to come and get you once this whole thing is dealt with," Hiruzen told me before I got up and left, heading back home until I stripped down to my boxers and laid down before I was suddenly pulled into my mindscape and found myself staring up at the fox, who was gazing down at me with a deadly serious expression.
"Boy, we need to talk," the fox told me and I was wondering what he wanted to talk about as the fake snowstorm raged on.
A/N I know, ending it on a cliffhanger is irritating but this is as far as this chapter will go and Kurama wants to have a serious talk to Seth about after they both survived their first encounter with Obito, so things will get interesting in the next chapter.
Speaking of the next chapter, it's time for Seth to acquire Yin Kurama's full power and gain the full tailed beast transformation but the tailed beast transformation will be a complete giant replica of Yin Kurama while the giant chakra avatar will come later in the Shippuden arc, so I hope you're excited.
Well, let me know what you think and stay tuned.