AN: Don't really have much to say! Once again thank you for the support and love you're showing me! Here's the next chapter (much earlier than expected!)
"Okay Gaki, good luck but you know you can still turn back and sign with the toads" Jiraiya teased, hoping his student would reconsider. But the small smile from Naruto, let Jiraiya know what he was going to say already.
"Thank ero-sennin but Ameya came first. I'm not going to turn back on her now" Naruto rejected, whilst Jiraiya rolled his eyes at the nickname, following an unfortunate incident at the bathhouses a few days ago. Naruto continued doing the hand signs for the summoning jutsu and slammed his palm on the ground. However instead of summoning Ameya, Naruto was the one that disappeared.
(Unknown Location)
The first thing Naruto noticed when the smoke disappeared was that he no longer stood with Jiraiya in one of the training grounds, instead he was stood in a swamp reaching his shins. The swamp was surrounded by a rainforest-like environment. Large, thick trees surrounded the landscape wherever he looked, thick and green bushes covered the grounds and the base of the tree trunks. He was stopped from his analysing by a low growl behind him, looking back it took him a second to find the source of the growl. A large golden jaguar with black spots eyed up Naruto's form from one of the many thick branches, its sharp, large white teeth in full display highlighting the murderous intent it held towards Naruto.
"Ah shit. Not again" Naruto sweat dropped and got ready to engage in a fight. However, before the jaguar could pounce, the black blur of Ameya appeared and tackled it to the ground.
"I told you to behave Hikari! You just had to cause a scene! Mother said she'll deal with Naruto! Stand down!" Ameya growled out and exposed her fangs to show her seriousness. However, Hikari quickly flipped Ameya off him before placing one of his large paws against her throat.
"Stupid little sibling. What makes you think you can boss me around. You're millennia too early to try and challenge me. Let alone boss me around. If you so much as sneeze, I will slit your-" He wasn't able to continue as the form of Naruto appeared and kicked Hikari away from Ameya.
Landing a few metres away, Hikari roared and was about to lunge at Naruto before an even louder and deafening roar resounded around the small rainforest. Instantly Ameya and Hikari lowered their heads and made themselves smaller by laying closer to the ground. Naruto meanwhile, understanding the situation, decided to make himself less hostile and adopted a relaxed stance whilst keeping an eye out towards the direction of the roar. He refused to bow or submit to anyone who hadn't earned it. A few seconds later, the large form of a Leopard, similar in appearance to Hikari, appeared from between the bushes and trees. Naruto guessed this was the leader of the clan judging by the reaction of the two feline cats. However, he was also amazed by the stealth and power extruding from the leopard. Until the very last second where the head was visible, Naruto was not able to sense or see the form of the large beast. Only once its head appeared from the bushes did Naruto straight away feel the pure aura originating from the clan leader. The aura only grew stronger and more suffocating with every step taken towards Naruto until it stood face to face with the young Genin.
Naruto by no means was small, standing at a proud 5'6 at the age of 11, however the matriarch matched that height whilst still on all fours. At the distance they were at, Naruto was also able to identify the little details but clear details present on its muscular body. A large scar was present on its face going from the right ear, down to the corner of its mouth in a diagonal fashion, rendering its right eye blind and shut. All across its body were numerous scratch and claw marks, whoever this leader was, they had experienced a battle filled life. The booming voice of the leader took Naruto out of his musings.
"So you're the little cub that managed to slime his way into our contract without my approval?" The leopard growled out and stalked Naruto's form by walking around him in a circle, analysing every single part of him.
"Chikara-sama please – "
"SILENCE! I don't want to hear you once again repeat your excuse of trying to do what's best for the clan! What do you know about running this clan?! You're still a cub yourself!" Chikara growled out and cut off any excuse Ameya was ready to present. "From my own daughter as well? I expected better from you." Turning back around to look at Naruto, Chikara couldn't help but notice Naruto wasn't paying attention but was rather zoned out. Taking it as disrespect, Chikara struck Naruto in his chest using her muscular tail, sending him flying against a tree.
"Am I boring you? Cub." Chikara asked as she slowly walked forwards, towards where Naruto was beginning to dust himself off and slowly get up.
Wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth, Naruto couldn't help but smile a little. "Damn, you really are strong. Ameya has never been able to hit that hard" Naruto began and continued on, after seeing Chikara wasn't going to say anything, "I was just talking to the Kyuubi about your differences in appearance. First Ameya's brother and now you. You all look so different, but I didn't get to hear its reply because you interrupted us. And the name is Naruto. Not cub." Naruto said and ended his sentence with a sharp look towards Chikara, trying to brush off the previous aura that had him pinned.
'Interesting. Maybe he does have a backbone. And the Kyuubi too? I knew I smelt fox on him, let's see what else he's got´ Chikara thought amusedly. "I'll humour you, cub. We are all part of the panthera clan. A genus of the Cat species, Felidae, if you want to be pedantic. Ameya has this colour to her because she is a melanistic version of a jaguar. You can't tell the difference yet because Ameya is still young and Hikari would kill you before letting you get too close but you can tell a jaguar and leopard apart by their rosette spots. Hikari, as a leopard, as complete black rosettes which are bundled closer together, similar to his older sister, although she is also melanistic. Myself and Ameya, as jaguars has black rosettes which are golden within but have some smaller block spots inside." Chikara explained and was amused by Naruto's instant reaction of squinting his eyes to identify the different fur patterns each feline had. Not letting her amusement show and continuing on with her explanation,
"Anyways, the panthera is a clan compromised of lions, tigers, jaguars and leopards. At least until tigers and lions started a civil war between each other and almost wiped the whole clan away. The jaguars and leopards tried to stay out of their dispute since they do have the raw physical power over us and when both factions were weakened, us remaining two factions fought them off and banished them from our clan. Their numbers few and weakened, we were able to achieve that goal, however also suffered many casualties." Naruto's eyed widened at this proclamation. Not just was the summoning world as complex and diverse as the human world, but they also had their own wars and problems. He knew of the hate between the snakes and toads from the Konoha library but he didn't know this was something that could affect other clans too. He gained another realisation as his eyes widened even further, which Chikara picked up on, and continued "as you might have figured out by now. We were in our weakened state a few years ago and nearing extinction especially since we had no summoner anymore and had to fend off attacks from the banished lions and tigers. This would have been around the time you met little Ameya and she made you our summoner" Chikara growled out and gave Ameya a sharp look.
"So what's the issue then? Surely having a summoner is a good thing? What Ameya said was that this would help bring the clan back to full strength since without a summoner you were losing strength?" Naruto asked heatedly but had to jump back quickly to avoid the paw swipe directed at his head. Before he could retaliate, the form of Hikari jumped down to join his mother.
"Let me take it from here mother. Don't waste time with this delinquent" he asked and continued with the explanation once Chikara laid down whilst continuing to stare at Naruto. "The issue is that you weren't chosen by kaa-sama. In the future, at some point sooner or later, there will be another civil war between the lions, tigers and remaining panthera. Although they currently don't have a summoner, due to their strict rules and conditions, when they do eventually get one, it will be an extremely strong one to match their power. We need the best of the best, and quite frankly? You're not it. You're a kid. However, we can't kill you off, a clan that kills of its summoner essentially become an outcast. No other human would ever sign their contract and we would be doomed. We might have regained our strength, but this is a temporary win. The next time the panthera clan fights, it could be for the last time" Turning around to give Ameya a heated glare, "this is why she messed up. A summoner needed to be chosen by Chikara-sama who matched her conditions" Hikari finished off and disappeared into the bushes, seeing his mother stand up and call Ameya down, he knew what was going to happen, so he had to quickly prepare.
"What's done is done. And although I can't punish you directly cub. Ameya will be punished. I am enacting the clan law, a battle to the death. Should you win, you will be the next clan matriarch. Should you lose, you can die knowing your shame will be gone with you" Chikara explained and stepped back a little to give Ameya a few minutes to prepare herself.
"WHAT?! This can't be serious?! Ameya! She's kidding right?! She can't punish you for this! I will get stronger! You're saving the clan! She's your mother too! This doesn't make sense!" Naruto screamed out as he grabbed Ameya.
"Naruto-kun, please. I have to do this; she enacted the clan law. Its not something that is usually done but when it is, no one can get out of it. The panthera usually tend to avoid direct combat, which is why we never really use this law, but look around you. Hikari gathered the clan, mother made the preparations. I knew this would be a possibility the second I gave you the contract" Ameya began and wiped at the tears forming in her yellow, golden eyes, "my only regret is not being able to see you prove them all wrong and fight by your side. I will always be your shadow Naruto-kun" Ameya finished off and wriggled out of Naruto's grip and joined makeshift arena that was created for this fight. He was about to run after her, before the form of Hikari and one more black leopard joined in.
"Don't interrupt human. Laws might not mean much to your race, but they're sacred to us. Tell him Onna" Hikari growled out.
"My brother is sadly right, Naruto-kun. You can't get involved. As the eldest of the family, it will be my regrettable duty to stop you from taking another step" the strong and female voice of Onna rang out. Gritting his teeth and clenching his fists, Naruto was forced to abide and watch the fight as it just began.
As soon as the fight began, Naruto could see how outclassed Ameya was and that was with her mother holding back. That being said Ameya most definitely wasn't holding back. Even as Ameya was being cut and clawed out, thrown around and dragged through the muddy arena in the rainforest, she constantly got up and fought back twice as hard.
"Stay down. I don't want to keep you fighting you. Where did you even get all of this fighting spirit from? This isn't the Ameya I remember." Chikara mused as she dodged another paw swipe directed at her head before hitting Ameya across her face using her tail.
"This is from all of my fights with Naruto-kun. Maybe you wouldn't understand, but he is what we need in this clan!" Ameya growled out and go up once again just to be sent flying into a tree by a swipe from Chikara
"You don't get to tell me what this clan needs! I have sacrificed everything to ensure our survival including your father! I'm only here because of the sacrifice he made for us! I'm not about to let you throw this all away!" Chikara growled out and leant to the side to dodge the tired form of Ameya. Grabbing the black jaguar by her throat using her tail, Chikara let a lone tear fall from her eye as she whispered, but still loud enough for the gathered clan to hear
"Its over. I'm sorry my love" and proceeded to swipe at Ameya's struggling form using her strong paw.
Opening her eyes, Ameya could only see black, but she could feel she was being embraced, at least until the embrace disappeared in a plume of smoke and all she was seeing now was the form of Naruto still standing in front of her, although she could only see his back. However, what alarmed her was the pool of blood which was forming at her summoner's and friend's feet. Quickly getting up from where the shadow clone disappeared and running to Naruto's side she was quickly seeing why the blood was there. Instead of striking her, Naruto had appeared and taken the paw swipe himself. Four diagonal lines were carved into Naruto's torso, running from his left shoulder to his right hip. Each line leaking blood and adding to the small puddle of blood formed beneath him. Naruto himself was glaring pure fury at Chikara's form whilst blood was beginning to form at the edge of his lips too.
"I don't care about your stupid traditions, you're not harming Ameya any longer" Naruto said and was going to ready himself for a fight before he passed out and fell face first into his own blood.
(A Few Hours Later)
Opening his eyes, Naruto instantly winced in pain. Looking down he saw that his whole torso was covered in bandages and some blood was seeping through them. Remembering the previous events, Naruto winced at the memory of what had occurred.
"Damn. That really hurt. Thank you for keeping me alive Kyuubi". Naruto said as he entered his mindscape to give a small bow showing the genuineness in his thanks to the massive tailed beast, since he wasn't able to do in person.
Once again surprised by his host's antics, not just for saving Ameya but also for this gesture, the Kyuubi grew a large proud smile but quickly removed it once Naruto stood up straight. "Stupid brat. You could have died! If you don't care about your life that's one thing but you know I would 'die' too! It would take me ages to reform!" the Kyuubi replied in mock anger, although Naruto couldn't really tell.
"I know, you're right of course. But I couldn't just let something happen to Ameya. She's family to me. Like you!" Naruto exclaimed and this time didn't miss the widening of the Kyuubi's eyes. Choosing to continue instead of teasing the large tailed beast, Naruto asked "but how come the wound isn't gone? You're usually really speedy with these kind of things?"
"Usually yes, but for some reason I wasn't able to completely heal the damage dealt by Chikara. Although generally weaker than us tailed beasts, boss summons are extremely powerful and even some of my siblings would struggle against some of the different boss summons" the Kyuubi explained with a thoughtful expression.
"Oh yeah! Didn't the toad boss defeat you or something?" Naruto asked and instantly had to leap backwards to avoid the nine tails looking to impale him but instead impacting the grass they were stood on, any damage instantly repairing itself since the mindscape wasn't an actual reality.
"The giant frog did not defeat me! The fatass simply landed on top of me when I was distracted trying to level your pathetic village. I ended up giving the frog a nice remembrance gift to his eye regardless! Anyways, you should be all healed up by now. Although you will have the scar, just be happy you're alive. Don't know how long that will last though, seems like you have visitors. Good luck and try not to die" The Kyuubi bellowed as it forced Naruto out of his mindscape but a small smile present on its large maw. 'Maybe just maybe he's the one old man. Maybe.' The Kyuubi thought nostalgically as it chose to observe the outside interaction through his host's senses.
(Back In The Real World – Only A Few Seconds Since Naruto Entered His Mindscape)
"Come to finish job?" Naruto asked sharply as he forced himself up even though he was wincing as he did so. His question was directed to the form of Chikara, although much smaller now to fit into the small room compared to her size earlier. She was flanked on either side by Hikari and Onna. However before she could reply, the form of Ameya came leaping from behind her mother and lunged at Naruto before embracing him in a fierce tight hug. Not seeing Naruto's pained smile, Ameya continued to give Naruto her thanks again and again until a small cough drew her attention back to the clan matriarch in the room.
"Mum, did you tell him yet?! Did you tell him the good news?! If not can I te-"
"Ameya shut up!" the voice of Hikari rang out causing Ameya to instantly be quiet.
"No Ameya, I haven't told the cub anything yet. You interrupted before I could begin" Chikara began, causing Ameya to grow a sheepish look and Hikari to roll his eyes whilst Onna remained ice cool, with no visible expression on her face. "Anyways, listen up cub. The elders were watching the spectacle earlier and called us into an emergency meeting. The circumstances of the whole situation have never been seen before. Not just did you interrupt a clan law, you also put your life on the line for one of us. No human has ever done so for us. Yet it doesn't change the fact that Ameya broke the law and acted on her own without the approval of the clan leader, me." Chikara explained, whilst Naruto was listening intently but was already formulating plans on any situation which may present itself. Continuing on, Chikara explained "The clan was divided evenly between what to do with you and Ameya. However, it was pointed out to us that you have something called the Chunin Exams coming up, correct?" Chikara asked, earning a nod from Naruto. "Good. It was decided that those exams will be used to determine your strength and worth to us. We don't care what your village or other humans think. You will have to impress us in order to clear Ameya's name and make us see you as a worthy summoner. I hope that is all clear, Ameya will stick around to answer any questions you may have. Good luck cub, who knows. Maybe by the end of these exams, I'll actually start using your name" Chikara said before simply turning around and leaving, Hikari following suit after giving Naruto and Ameya a haughty look and Onna following after him, but not before giving Ameya a small nod, barely seen by anyone.
For the remaining of time of the day, Naruto asked Ameya all kinds of questions about her clan, whether it be ability, hierarchy, personality or even the civil war. Naruto asked it all and Ameya answered it all. Although the youngest of her siblings, Ameya learnt everything there was about her clan due to being of 'royal' blood, direct lineage to the matriarch. The most surprising pieces of information was that different panthera members had different abilities and capabilities. Ameya for example was more of an all rounder whereas some leopards and jaguars were exclusively used for stealth and others for combat etc. He found out that Chikara was a heavy combat user and could actually grow to the size of boss summons like Gamabunta or bijuus should Naruto ever summon her, although it was strictly advised not to until he was found worthy.
Once he was recovered and well rested, Naruto returned to his world and was instantly bombarded with questions about where he was, what the situation was and what happened for him to receive the massive scar. After checking with Ameya to make sure he wasn't revealing any secrets, Naruto explained to Jiraiya what had happened and what the next steps are. To say he was shocked was an understatement, he could have lost his apprentice and godson, although Naruto didn't know the latter part.
For the rest of the week, Naruto had been working with Jiraiya to improve his general fighting ability, with and without Ameya. Following the fight with Orochimaru, Naruto understood that he was too predictable for experienced shinobi. The snake Sannin was able to instantly figure out Naruto's attack pattern, especially his preferred method of appearing behind an opponent using his shadows. So Jiraiya wanted to make sure Naruto was more versatile in his attacks because although he wouldn't be fighting a Sannin every day, to be considered the best, he'd have to beat the best. Speaking of the snake, Naruto learned some very interesting pieces of information using Himitsu, one of the leopards from the panthera clan. Using the piece of cloth from his battle with Kabuto, and with Ameya cashing in a favour Himitsu owed her, the small leopard was able to identify Orochimaru's plan for the exams which were forwarded to the Hokage in order to prepare. Another reason why Naruto was training so hard to improve, he played a big part in this invasion. At the end of the week Naruto had managed to increase his gravity seal another level, now on level 5 out of 10, and was able to spar against Jiraiya for a few minutes…until the toad Sannin kicked up a slight notch, which ended in Naruto flat on his back, every time.
For the second week, Jiraiya and Zabuza figured they would train Naruto together, as the topic of the week was ninjutsu. Although the most fun, it was also the most intensive week for Naruto. After analysing his potential opponents, he realised two things. First, was speed of hand signs, he always tried to perfect his jutsu arsenal anyways to minimise the amount of hand signs he needs, however this was even more the case now due to who he might come across. All of his opponents had incredible speed, whether it was Lee, Temari's wind attacks or even Sasuke. He needed to be quick in forming and releasing his jutsus. The second was Gaara and was the main reason Zabuza was getting involved. Naruto needed more water jutsus in order to overcome Gaara's sand attack and defence. Using his shadow clones technique, he worked with Zabuza on his water affinity and worked with Jiraiya on a few jutsu ideas he had of his own.
The third and week were the two most vital weeks for not just Naruto's development but also for the survival of the leaf village. In the third week, Naruto was focusing on his fuinjutsu skills. Other than once again improving on his previous fuinjutsu skills and creating a few new seals, his two main projects involved a seal to overcome Gaara letting loose his bijuu and studying Haku's cursed seal in more depth. He managed to make progress in both seals but not where he would have liked to be. After working on it tirelessly, he was still unable to create the bijuu suppression seal, however he kept the one Jiraiya gave him as reference. Although that now meant Jiraiya didn't have any and would need to create a new one from scratch which would take approximately a week, even for a seal master like him. Unfortunately, he did not have the time to do so currently with training Naruto, preparing for the invasion and managing his spy networks. The second seal was the analysis of the curse seal which Orochimaru gave Haku. Unlike Jiraiya's previous work on it, Naruto was able to catch up to Jiraiya's level of understanding because unlike Jiraiya he did not have any other engagements, such as a spy network etc, and he had a live 'subject' in Haku so was able to analyse the seal carefully and accurately whilst also determining the effects the seal had on the victim. With Jiraiya's supervision, Naruto was able to disable and remove the part of the seal which contained the corruption formula, to poison one's mind. He was also able to remove the tracker seal and seal off the curse seal from affecting Haku's chakra network, unless Haku willingly would choose to use the seal. However, the most disturbing piece of information they uncovered was that Orochimaru had a piece of his soul sealed inside the seal. Every time the subject would use the seal, their willpower and control would grow weaker whilst Orochimaru's influence continued to grow stronger. Essentially, Haku now had the same curse seal as Anko, neither of them would feel the influence unless they consciously chose to draw on its power. When they tried to approach Sasuke about this, they found out he was gone with Kakashi on a training trip. After sending an initial message with a messenger hawk, all they received in return was Sasuke essentially telling them to do one, and to mind their business. Insisting that he did not need them to meddle in his business. Figuring he was best left alone, Naruto and Jiraiya continued on to the fourth week of the training, bijuu training.
In the last week, Naruto worked tirelessly with the Kyuubi on establishing a more persistent and safer link between bijuu and host. It involved a lot of meditating and communication between the two parties. What neither Naruto or Jiraiya knew, was that the Kyuubi was already willing to lend Naruto more chakra a few months back but Naruto had never asked. It was quite happy that its host was willing to trust it and work in unison together in order to grow stronger and showcase the ability of the mighty Kyuubi as it said.
"That's it gaki. Focus, don't let the emotions control you. To control my power, you need to be in tune with your emotions and your negative feelings. If you let them consume you, you will lose all" the voice of the Kyuubi rang out inside Naruto's head. Naruto meanwhile was stood in front of Jiraiya channelling the Kyuubi's chakra. Four Naruto clones had the training ground surrounded with a Jiraiya clone backing them all up. They had set up an Uzumaki barrier – Uzumaki Fuinjutsu: Hidden Whirlpool. A technique from his mother's scroll which depending on how much chakra is supplied into it and how many people are involved in the barrier will decide how effective the jutsu works. The scroll explained that when used to its maximum effectiveness, it can even conceal a whole hidden village, the way Uzushio was. For Naruto's case, he was only trying to conceal the chakra he was leaking to the rest of the village so that no one would discover his secret. Speaking of Naruto, he was currently leaking the red malicious chakra of the Kyuubi. His eyes were slitted, his hair grew more feral and wilder, and his fangs and whisker marks grew more defined. Around him a red chakra cloak was forming, and two swishing red tails were swaying behind him. However, as a third tail was beginning to grow, the cloak was losing its refinedness and becoming bubblier, and Naruto was beginning to growl more. Which is when Jiraiya was growing more worried.
"Okay brat. Let's call it a day here. Try to call the chakra back and rest up." Jiraiya said in a friendly manner but was secretly beginning to mould chakra in case the situation called for it. Luckily for both of them, Naruto still had enough control and quickly withdrew the chakra before it could escalate. "Okay! Really well done gaki. Tremendously proud of you! Rest up for the next two days and go over some of the strategies we spoke about, don't train and let your body rest up. I'll see you on Monday, it will be a massive day so make sure you're ready" Jiraiya said and patted his student's head affectionately.
Giving Jiraiya a bright smile in return, Naruto head home and begun thinking about Monday and his role in everything. No matter what will happen, it was going to be a hectic day.
AN: I figured I'd add a small explanation of the leopard/jaguar/panther thing in case people had questions. Panther is exclusively for the melanistic versions of leopard and jaguars. Whereas jaguars and leopards will have small differences between them so please excuse me if I make some mistakes.
Also, since he won't play as much of an impact in this story, I decided Gamabunta received his scar through the fight with the Kyuubi, can't remember if its true or not. But we'll roll with it!
Let me know what you think! The next chapter will be the whole finals and I'll see how much of the invasion I fit in. I usually aim to write around 5K-6K words, but if you want longer chapters, please let me know! I'd be happy to increase the length, I just don't know what you'd prefer!
