Chapter 39
Letting Go

Land of Grass
Shiin Clan Compound
Storage Room

Tayuya woke up early in the morning while Naruto was writing furiously in a scroll. After realising that she had dreamt that entire situation with Sasame, she needed a few minutes to get her emotions under control the most prevailing ones were despair and anger but she bottled them up and directed her attention to Naruto who had not noticed she was awake.

"What are you doing Naruto?" She asked curiously, she hadn't stood up to walk over to him due to the fact that her legs were very stiff and still technically healing.

"Wha!" Naruto jumped in shock, well more like twitch energetically at the sound of her voice and then quickly covered the scroll and ink splashed up onto his cheek by the movement.

"Ta-Tayuya! You're awake!" He turned to face her and smiled while rolling the scroll up very quickly.

"Yeah, I am. Why're you spazzing out?" She asked suspiciously as Naruto put the scroll away.

"Oh! That! Yeah, I was just thinking of new Ninjutsu to use. One of my Dads!" He said still smiling with a hopeful look in his eye.

"Whatever." Tayuya let the subject drop.

"Are you okay?" Naruto asked her earnestly after a moment of silence.

"I'm fine." She grumbled and began to stand up.

"Are you sure? I mean you basically passed out right in the middle of the building." Naruto asked as he held out a hand to her.

"I'm fine!" She repeated and slapped his hand away.

"If you're sure." Naruto said worried as Tayuya got to her feet and wobbled a little.

"I did find something good for you though." Naruto said and held out a different scroll to Tayuya.

"What's this?" She asked taking it from him. She opened it and was relieved that it was just a simple tool storage seal instead of whatever he gave her last time.

"The Fuma left your family library untouched, so I sealed every scroll I could find into that one." Naruto answered her.

"What!?" Tayuya was deeply shocked at what he said.

"My Clan's Jutsu!" She said with trembling hands as she looked at the scroll.

"Yeah, I looked for everything there are at least 100 scrolls in that." Naruto said.

Tayuya looked at Naruto with shaking eyes and then she reached out and hugged him tightly.

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" She repeated while holding him tight to herself.

"You're welcome!" Naruto squeaked as Tayuya pressed herself against him. Obviously, he was blushing from the tip of his head down to his neck was dyed in red.

They stood there for a while, Tayuya was shaking and Naruto eventually wrapped his own arms around the girl who seemed to relax ever so slightly at the touch.

Then Tayuya remembered who she was hugging and suddenly pulled away with a huge red flush across her cheeks.

"Let go of me!" She demanded blushing. Naruto let go of her instantly and she took a full 2 steps back from him.

"Perve, bet you just wanted to cop a feel." Tayuya said venomously as she fought her own embarrassment.

'You're the one who hugged me.' Naruto thought with his own blush. He didn't say it however since it would probably make her mad.

"Arha!" Tayuya coughed into her hand. "Anyway thanks for saving my Clans scrolls. I can use these to get stronger."

"Like I said it's nothing my Kage Bunshin found them." Naruto said scratching the back of his neck with an embarrassed smile.

"How do you know the Kager Bunshin anyway? I thought that was a Senju Clan Ninjutsu." Tayuya asked him with genuine curiosity.

"My Dad, he stole the Hiraishin and the Kage Bunshin from them." Naruto answered slightly confused.

'Wasn't that common knowledge?' He thought still scratching the back of his neck.

"Those rumours were true!" It was Tayuya's turn to be shocked.

"Erh, yeah I mean I wouldn't know the Kage Bunshin if it wasn't." Naruto said forcing his arm down.

"You know most Ninja make shit up to be more threatening so when the word went around that Namikaze Minato had stolen Jutsu from the Senju Clan, everyone thought it was just him trying to sound badass." Tayuya said.

What she said was correct Ninja would often spread stories about themselves in order to appear more powerful and threatening than they actually were, it was half information control but half intimidation as well. People would not know what was true and what was false which was only ever an advantage for Ninja especially Ninja without a Clan to back them up.

"Damn! Your old man really is a badass." Tayuya was personally very impressed by that.

"Yeah, he's the strongest!" Naruto agreed with a smile.

"No shit." Tayuya muttered.

"So what do you need to here?" Naruto asked, he had a vague idea why she came here but Tayuya never outright said it.

"I just wanted to see what was left but now I think that was a bad idea." Tayuya admitted looking around at the storeroom they were in. The sad truth was that this room was probably the most preserved room in the compound.

"What about now?" He asked her gently.

"You've given me these scrolls. Could we stay here for a few days so I can practice some of our Jutsu?" Tayuya asked holding the scroll tightly to her chest.

"Erh, okay sure. I've got some Jutsu I want to practice anyway." Naruto answered with a smile.

"We have some training grounds to the east." Tayuya said to him.

"Nice we can go there to practice then." Naruto said with a winning smile.

"I don't think that's a good idea, our Jutsu can be indiscriminate sometimes so I think it would be for the best if we practised separately," Tayuya told him seriously.

"I have my own training ground in the north and we can use those Clones of yours to alert each other in case something happens." Tayuya explained to him.

"That's fine with me." Naruto said with a shrug. Internally however he was absolutely ecstatic.

'This means I can practice my Yoton without her seeing. ' He thought happily.

"So I'll take you to the training grounds and I'll go to my own." Tayuya said making her way to the door.

"Wait we have something important to do first." Naruto stopped her.

"What?" She asked confused.

"Breakfast." He said with a smile and Tayuya sighed at hearing that.

"Fine." She gave in easily. She was very hungry right now anyway.

Later
With Tayuya

Tayuya had led Naruto over to the now dilapidated Shiin Training Ground and told him only to contact her if he detected anyone coming and she would do the same for him if she felt someone coming.

Tayuya went to her favourite place near her old home, the lake that was nearby which was the last place where she felt safe.

She was sitting on the same rock that had appeared in her dreams ever since the last battle of her Clan. Naruto was okay but he was not family and though he seemed honest to her you could never be sure about Ninja unless they were family.

"Urgh." She groaned and forced that train of thought from her head and instead tried to concentrate on the scroll she had taken out of the Sealing Scroll that Naruto had created which contained all of what remained of her Clans power and knowledge.

The Current scroll she had out was the Advanced Flute Ninjutsu and Genjutsu scroll it was something she would have gotten her hands on it sooner if the Fuma didn't attack and ruin everything.

'This is what Shiin was preparing me for.' She thought reading the scroll. The man everyone called Grandfather had an eye for talent and after Tayuya had learned to summon her Doki and use them as a catalyst for other Jutsu he had called her into his office and informed her that she was to learn the advanced arts of their Clan as she had reached the required skill level.

Tayuya brought her flute up to her lips and gave it a gentle blow, the note was flat but it echoed throughout the clearing even with the lake next to her which looked as blue and beautiful as ever like nothing had ever changed.

Tayuya began playing the basic tune within the advanced scroll, it came easily to her and within around 10 minutes of practice, she got the tune down perfectly.

This was the most important part of learning any of the more advanced music Jutsu as this tune was the base from which all the others would be derived and it would be the opening that she would play before choosing the next tune and subsequently next Jutsu she would use in battle.

She moved on to the next section of the scroll and it was a Ninjutsu that used sound to; in simple turns create a small localised explosion that would do more internal damage to the human body. She remembered that Arashi used a variation during the battle when they fled from here.

'This will be useful in the future, I know Naruto is a front line fighter so I have to be supporting him in the back.' Tayuya thought with her eyes shut as she concentrated solely on the music.

There was a time before everything when all she wanted was to play music for the sake of playing music and not learning to kill people or trap them in illusions so someone else could kill them. But now she was forced into the role of the sole survivor, the last scion of the Shiin Clan who while not a great power did hold territory and respect.

"I'll learn all of this and even if our Clan is gone. I can at least pass this on to my kids." Tayuya vowed to look down at the scroll as tears formed in her eyes.

The worst thing about being the last of anything was that eventually there would be none left. The only way for Tayuya to keep the Shiin Clan alive in some form would be to have a family of her own and pass the Shiin Ninjutsu, Genjutsu and Taijutsu down to them so that they can do the same in the future.

The weight she felt bearing down on her shoulders was a heavy one indeed.

"Enough Moping!" She scolded herself and stood up from her cross-legged position.

"I'm getting at least half this scroll memorised and I'm going to be able to do the other half in my sleep!" Tayuya psyched herself up as the wind whipped up and blew her dark pink hair all over the place.

"For the Shiin and for my future." She said bringing the flute back up. There was a bright fire burning in her chocolate eyes, Tayuya would not let this situation beat her.

She refused to fall into despair instead she would overcome this tragedy and make herself into one of the strongest Kunoichi the world had ever seen.

'I'm not going to lose anything again.' She vowed as she played her flute.

With Naruto

Naruto was having a hard time getting the Yoton to work. The main problem he was having was the simple fact that he had no idea how Fire natured Chakra felt or acted, he only knew the most basic of Doton Ninjutsu but it was enough for him to get a good grasp on how Earth Chakra felt within himself and how to use it for Ninjutsu.

He had nothing like that for Fire however and he did not know a single Katon Ninjutsu which meant he had to go off Yoton scrolls which did not really explain Fire Chakra due to the fact that all Kazan Ninja were expected to already know how to use Fire and Earth Chakra before they even started on learning how to use Yoton Chakra which was obviously a combination of the two.

"Hmmmmmmmmmm." He let out a very long hum as he read over the Yoton basic scroll which was where he started for obvious reasons.

The scroll itself outlined a basic Ninjutsu which involved creating a single ball of lava within the stomach using Yoton Chakra and expelling it like most of those types of Jutsu. It reminded Naruto of the Uchiha's signature Katon Ninjutsu where they basically spat a fireball out.

"Mixing Fire and Earth. What does Fire Chakra feel like?" Naruto wondered to himself as he crouched over the scroll which was laying on the ground.

'Could I try an exercise for another Chakra Nature but make my Chakra hot instead.' Naruto wondered as he stood up and stretched his legs, he had been squatting over the scroll for a while now.

As Naruto stood there and wondered how best to approach the problem a strong gust blew and scattered the leaves that were previously laying on the floor after falling from the trees that surrounded him.

The training grounds Naruto was standing in were rather private with high stone walls along with large trees that did their best to obscure anything within the grounds.

"Maybe?" Naruto grabbed a leaf from the wind and stared at it curiously.

Usually, when one was training their Wind Nature they would attempt to split a leaf with only their Chakra. Now Naruto had an idea forming in his head that instead of making his Chakra sharp he could make it hot instead and burn the leaf.

"Worth a try!" Naruto said cheerfully and enclosed the leaf in his hands.

'Hot. Hot. Hot. Hot.' Naruto mentally chanted as he shut his eyes and concentrated on making his Chakra hot instead of sharp.

"Come on!" Naruto grunted as he tried to raise the temperature of his Chakra through instinct alone.

After around 5 minutes of concentrating there was a small 'Pop' and Naruto took one hand away and looked down to see a smouldering leaf, the edge had caught fire but went out quickly and the edge of the leaf was just smoking in his hand.

"Yes!" Naruto shouted happily and loudly. This was a massive leap in progress, he would be able to get it quicker now that he had a baseline to work off.

Naruto was very much a physical learner, he had to do things in order to learn properly as such when it came to exercises like Nature Transformation or Chakra Control Exercises his learning process was to do it over and over again until it became near instinct for him to do it properly.

So Naruto learned the best way he could, by picking up another leaf and trying to make it burst into flames with his Chakra alone.

He was eternally grateful that the Chimera Jutsu gave him the fundamental Chakra Natures needed to use the Kekkei Genkai he absorbed. He was born with a strong Wind affinity and a weaker Water one both coming from his parents as he found out that his Dad and Mom both had weak Wind affinities which resulted in him gaining a strong one.

It took around 20 minutes for Naruto to create an actual flame then it took another 40 for him to create the flame and maintain it without it going out in seconds.

"Stay alive." Naruto chanted as he cupped his hands together and shielded the flame he had created from the wind that was still blowing through the training grounds.

He had to be very careful with the fire he had created, too little Chakra and it would sputter out and too much Chakra would make it go out of control and too large and would get extinguished when Naruto would cut his Chakra feeding it.

Naruto could feel the changes in his Chakra and now he had a good idea of just what Fire Natured Chakra felt like so now he actually had an idea of how to mix the stiff and hard Earth Chakra with the more free-flowing and hot Fire Chakra.

Naruto felt that out of all Chakra Nature's Wind was the hardest to control since it was about creating currents and the like then it would be Fire which wanted to spread no matter what followed by Water which was about flowing and moving then Lightning which was rather easy as lightning seemed to guide itself and Earth was the easiest to use despite the fact that he was manipulating rock and stone.

"Good." He murmured as he made the fire flare up with a burst of Chakra then let it disappear to nothing as he cut the stream of Chakra to it.

He walked back over to the Yoton scroll and slowly went through the Hand Signs and also began doing the same exercise as when he was first learning the Ranton. He imagined the Fire Chakra in his dominant right hand in order to have better control over it and the easier to control Earth Chakra in his left hand.

"Right." He muttered and stood up once again and turned to look at one of the walls.

Naruto went through the Hand Signs slowly and gathered the split Chakra and then combined it in his stomach. "Yoton: Shakunetsudan!"

Naruto felt the Chakra combine in his stomach and it got extremely hot to the point Naruto thought he did it wrong and was going to burn himself up from the inside.

But instead, he opened his mouth and unleashed a single medium-sized ball of molten earth which shot forward and smashed into the wall melting it and then kept going and hitting a tree making it burst into flames from contact.

Luckily for the forest and Naruto, it petered out after that and faded into steaming hot earth but Naruto now had a burning tree in front of him, in the middle of a forest made of very flammable materials.

"Suiton: Mizurappa!" Naruto blurred through the Hand Signs as he unleashed a huge burst of water from his mouth hit the fire and quenched it.

"That was close." Naruto commented as he wiped the sweat from his forehead.

'Tayuya would not be happy if she saw smoke and fire coming from over here.' Naruto thought walked back to the scroll.

"I got it though." He said aloud with a huge smile splitting his face.

"Now I can get to using the good stuff." Naruto kept grinning as he read onto the next Ninjutsu.

In terms of usability he had the best grasp of Hyoton because of the training he underwent with Haku while Ranton was limited to around 4-5 Ninjutsu, he was still learning that and of course, Yoton was the worst because he had only just got it.

His Chakra however had increased to the point where he could string the Kekkai Genkai Ninjutsu together without worrying about draining himself to the point of helplessness, he could easily use a Hyoton and then follow up with a Ranton and not feel tired.

'It's only going to get better from here.' He thought as he studied the scroll.

If he remembered them Naruto would regret saying those words.

?
?

Within a dark cave there was a laboratory if Naruto saw it he would have noticed similarities with Hiruko's own but Naruto was not there and this place did not belong to Hiruko.

In the cavernous dark room, there was a shadow walking back and forth, in front of the shadow was a long desk that had advanced equipment on it, along with jars that seemed to contain living things or lumps of flesh.

"My Lord." A figure knelt before a tall black shadow who was continuing its mysterious work like it was the only thing there.

"Is everything prepared?" A deep silky voice came from the shadow.

"Yes. We have done everything you ordered." The kneeling man replied.

"Make sure to achieve the objective no matter what. I must have the Sharingan!" The shadow turned and long black hair swished around and glowing yellow slitted eyes peered down at the kneeling man.

"Of course Orochimaru-Sama. Your wish is our command." He shivered under the cold gaze. It felt like he was being watched by a huge snake and he was a mouse.

"Go and do not return unless it is with the Uchiha's eyes." Orochimaru dismissed him with a wave of his arm.

The Kneeling man was gone in seconds and Orochimaru was left alone in the room with only the light from some lamps and the screens from his advanced scientific equipment to light the room.

"Soon I will obtain all in the world." He hissed in delight and turned back to his personal project.

Kekkei Genkai were truly wondrous things, they allowed for the extension of Ninjutsu beyond what could be achieved with mere skill and Orochimaru was very skilled but what he wished most was for the Sharingan which would get him all Ninjutsu in the world then he would move onto an old project which he abandoned after his partner on the project left.

'First the Sharingan, then the rest of all the world's Kekkei Genkai.' He thought with glee as his goals were now in his sight.

"Kukukukukukukuku." He laughed lowly and it echoed throughout the empty cave.

Land of Fire
Uchiha Clan Outpost

In the northwestern portion of the Land of Fire was a large rocky plateau which was extremely rare in the heavily forested Land of Fire. The Uchiha had long held the western half of the country and as such, they had outposts all over the west from north bordering the Land of Grass, Rain and Rice Paddies.

It was within one of these northern outposts that Sasuke found himself in after doing a rush of missions on his Father's orders.

Sasuke stood on a balcony overlooking the nearby forest. He had been sent here to the northwest of the Land of Fire on a joint mission with the Hyuga again.

Himself and Neji had been dispatched to find missing villagers, reports of people going missing in the north-west had been growing for a while and it was at the direct request of the normally silent Fire Daimyo that the Uchiha had dispatched himself and Neji once again to find out the truth of the dark rumours coming from the north.

"Sasuke." Neji's voice came from behind the door and was accompanied by two polite knocks.

"Come in." Sasuke called and turned around to face Neji who entered his room.

"I have been looking out over the surrounding areas and there is nothing except us and the guards." Neji said as he sat down on the nearby couch in the room.

Sasuke took a seat on a wooden chair instead. "That's what I expected, I was hoping that maybe we'd come across at least the bodies of the missing villagers."

"I think this will be a more difficult mission than first thought. It's no animal or bandit making these people disappear." Neji said sitting straight with his hands folded politely in his lap.

"I know, one of the guards said he thinks it might have something to do with the White Snake." Sasuke sighed as he said the name.

"The White Snake? Is he not a myth made to scare children?" Neji asked looking rather surprised. Well as surprised as a stoic person like him could which meant he raised an eyebrow.

The White Snake was a rather recent myth in the Land of Fire. According to the myth around 40 or so years ago, a white snake appeared in the Land of Fire and through mysterious means took on a human form and learned Ninjutsu somehow. After the Snake got strong enough it began to devour people and especially Ninja and those with strong Chakra.

Of course, it was just a myth and was mainly used to scare children and provide a more fun explanation of why Ninja disappeared in the north beyond getting killed and left to rot by enemy Ninja.

Sasuke personally thought there was probably an insane Ninja from one of the many Ninja Clans in the Land of Fire who went around killing people and got the nickname that way. Then of course time turned the simple boring story into an exciting one with monsters and the like.

"I know but the guards up here certainly believe in him." Sasuke crossed his arms looking rather unhappy.

"Nevertheless we have our mission whether it is a myth or monster we must deal with it. The Honour of the Uchiha and Hyuga Clan rests upon our success." Neji said.

"I know." Sasuke sighed minutely.

"I'm going to rest. Are we leaving at dawn?" Neji stood up.

"Yes." Sasuke nodded. Ever since they were paired together they both rose with the sun and the question was more a formality than anything.

Sasuke looked over at the balcony and felt a cold wind blow inside.

'Why do I have such an ominous feeling about this?' He wondered to himself as he stood up and shut the door.

'It's just the atmosphere. This is just a standard mission.' He thought about locking the door and checking it twice.

If only Sasuke knew how insane his life was going to get in the coming days.

AN:

Here you are Chapter 39 done on time on Thursday. I don't know when 40 is going to come out as in England we have a bank holiday on Friday and Monday and I don't tend to write when I'm off work for some reason.

Anyway, look forward to the Chapter 40 super extravaganza I'm hoping to make it a big 10,000 word one as a celebration of actually getting this far because I never would have thought that I'd end up with a 40 chapter Naruto story but here we are.

Translation:

Yoton: Shakunetsudan=Lava Release: Scorching Missile

Suiton: Mizurappa=Water Release: Wild Water Wave