Sealkeeper: He Who Binds
Chapter 77 – Uncle Inu
Still more or less on target, I just have to finish chapter 82 today and 83 in the next few days in order to start a new project. Probably would have helped if I had gathered all the material for the Skyrim story I'm planning before I started writing but making it up as I go along has more or less become my style as of late.
Perhaps not the best, but it's worked so far I suppose.
Forgot to mention this in the last chapter but follow me on Twitter at Eyazahrid and visit my site Eyazahrid-dot-net for updates about your favorite subject- me. And the story too, I guess. I might occasionally talk about chapter progress, things going on within the story, and the rare little teaser that tells you nothing but distracts you enough for me to get away with things.
Ignore that last bit.
Probably something else I wanted to talk about but I can't recall, so let's begin.
As much as he knew he needed to get back to work, Naruto found that it had become rather difficult to focus.
He was on a team now?
After all this time, he hadn't even considered his Shinobi career, figuring he'd remain a Shinobi doing the occasional mission with Anko until he was just too busy. It wasn't like he actually needed the money, Nami no Kuni was already generating plenty of revenue even with most of the country's profits being reinvested into it.
Unless something happened, he shouldn't be hurting for money anytime soon.
So why was he still a Shinobi? Well, other than the obvious answer of never having gone to the administration office of the Hokage Tower and filing for retired status he supposed it was because despite holding other positions he couldn't imagine not being a Shinobi.
It was as much a part of him as being the father of the Wolves.
Now, however, that may have come back to bite him in the ass. A team would drastically cut into the precious little time he had to accomplish everything he needed to do for the House of Wolves and Nami no Kuni- which, he had to admit, he sometimes forgot were technically separate.- which mean the had to find a way to leave the team- the next Chūnin exam was five months off- or he needed to reduce his workload.
Considering he didn't even know all this work had existed- and it quite obviously did- then he was going to have to reduce it a lot more than he thought was a reasonable goal. As much delegation as that would take, he'd more or less be a figurehead.
He wanted to put off that inevitable change for as long as possible. Now that he thought about it, becoming a figurehead would more or less be his retirement, wouldn't it? Huh, it didn't sound so bad like that.
Naruto couldn't actually picture himself as 'retired', but assuming a position where he didn't do much of the work was the closest he could pull off. Now he just had to wonder how long it would be until Mai pushed him to retire because she thought he was working too hard.
The thought of his favorite Wolf brought a soft smile to his face. She really did work herself too hard trying to keep him from doing the same. Mastering that Kage-Bunshin would really help relieve a lot of the pressure on her.
It was also the only way he was going to be able to both get his work done and be part of team seven. He supposed he should be thankful it was team seven under Kakashi rather than replacing Neji on team 3 under Maito Gai. He was sure Kakashi would make allowances that would help him balance being both Shinobi and Daimyo whereas Gai would simply declare it a 'youthful challenge' and push him even harder.
Ah, that's where he had heard that word before. He wondered when, exactly, his Wolves had found themselves exposed to Gai. Then again, sooner or later everyone found them experiencing Gai because the Taijutsu master was always pushing himself with a ridiculous challenges that took him all over Konohagakure.
He was most definitely someone to be respected and admired, and if you're against him someone to be feared, but he probably wasn't someone to emulate. Trying to do the things that man did would probably kill a regular person.
Or drive them crazy.
Death would be a mercy.
But even with Kakashi's laid-back attitude and any allowances made for Naruto's convenience he still had to master- or at least be able to perform- the Kage-Bunshin.
Which left Naruto with quite the quandary.
Did he spend the rest of the day trying to get the Jutsu done and simply leave one of his clones here tomorrow to catch up on work while he met the team tomorrow or did he just try his damnedest to catch up on the work he already had and simply work on the Jutsu when he was done so if he didn't manage it he didn't have to worry about wasting time when there was so much work to be done?
Taking a look at the work he had yet to complete, the decision wasn't very hard.
He was due for a break anyway, wasn't he?
Sai frowned down at the report in his hands. He knew he was bad at numbers and finance, but there was no way they had made a mistake here.
Not on something so important.
Five injured and three dead against unknown rebel forces, but none of the rebel's few Jōnin-level Shinobi had been seen. There had to be some sort of mixup here, otherwise they had missed something major.
The fact that the latest base Yagura's forces managed to take- after a surprisingly grueling battle- had been filled with fresh supplies that the rebels shouldn't have access to only added to Sai's suspicion. He briefly considered sending word to Naruto but thought better of it. Tsukiyomi was in charge of the Wolves, Nami no Kuni, the Hyuuga, and was an active Konoha Shinobi.
He had enough on his plate for now, Sai didn't need to add to it before looking into the matter himself.
Besides, it was probably just a mistake.
Kakashi was ecstatic.
Beyond ecstatic, even. There were no words to properly convey just how goddamned pleased he was to hear that, at long last, he would be his little brother's Sensei.
Oh, he couldn't wait to start training him. They would start light with some low-Jōnin activities but after that it was straight into the ANBU Requalification Regime. Normally used by ANBU operatives to get their asses back into shape, ARR was both the fastest way to get ANBU ready and also a sound you'd make a lot throughout it.
What better way to get ready for ANBU than to throw yourself head-first into the fire and start doing the same training they did?
The only training more intensive was locked deep within the archives, never to see the light of day. Designed by Maito Gai after an ANBU agent tasked with revising the training regime passed the task onto the Taijutsu master, it had only been used once to punish that same ANBU.
He died 34 hours into the regime, having accomplished almost half of it.
According to Gai- who was soon thereafter brought to the Yamanaka to ensure it could not be created again- the regime had been intended to serve as a warm up and he hadn't even started designing the regime proper.
Kakashi would never subject his little brother to something so cruel, but that wouldn't stop him from using it to taunt the rest of his team. It wouldn't be as fun without Sasuke there to scowl everytime he talked about Naruto, but having the real Naruto on the team was a more than fair trade.
He'd say he got the better deal, actually.
Idly, Kakashi wondered just how large his team was going to end up being. He knew the Wolves were very fond of him and expected there to be at least one of them following the team, but he wondered if it would really be just one or if he was about to have a full platoon to perform D-rank missions with.
That was actually kind of funny, because there's no way he was going to be having his little brother doing such chores when they could instead be training.
C-ranks it was.
Those clients had no idea what kind of deal they were going to be getting. It was like a buy four get six free deal. Hell of a bargain when Kakashi was sure the Wolves were all Jōnin-level.
It was going to be an easy month before they started going on B-ranks. Gennin weren't supposed to go on those, but he was sure he could call in a few favors to fix that. No point in hindering his brother's progress with missions too far below him.
Kakashi was sure he could have Naruto up to Jōnin level within four months, if everything went to plan. Now all he needed to do was start a war to increase the number of combat missions and give him the ability to grant legitimate battlefield promotions.
Couldn't be too hard.
Now, which country did he want his Genin to be facing?
He thought he had hurt the other day, but that was nothing compared to the way his entire body screamed in agony now. Every Tenketsu in his body seemed to throb angrily, shooting hot knives deep into his muscles. His skin could no longer feel the texture of anything around him, instead it felt as though an army of ants were constantly marching up and down every inch of his skin and taking every opportunity to bite him.
Naruto paused only a moment- it was all he could afford- before moving his fingers into position and calling on what little Chakra he had. There wasn't much left, which almost guaranteed another failure, but he knew it should be possible to use a fraction of the Chakra if he controlled it well enough.
He could barely control his legs at this point, so something as volatile as Chakra was unlikely, but he was determined to try until he collapsed. It wasn't going to be long now, he thought wryly.
The Wolves had tried to get him to stop earlier but unlike last time he had remained firm. He needed to get this down tonight and if that meant spending the entire night trying then he would. When they started growling every time he made the seal he just growled back. He only had to do so once, for none of them would dare challenge him.
Which was good, last thing he needed at the moment was to deal with insubordinate Wolves even if he knew he really should have retired for the evening some hours ago. A quick peek at the sky showed that night had begun long ago. In fact, it was probably closer to morning than it was to evening. He shouldn't be at this still, it was likely doing more harm than good at this point, but he was so close he could almost taste it.
Tasted like copper, honestly, but that could have been the blood in his mouth. His body had not taken the stress to his Chakra System well. Considering his body had made use of Chakra since birth, that was understandable. Those rare few Shinobi who lost their ability to form Chakra in their bodies often died within months, their bodies simply unable to adjust after a lifetime of support from a system no longer there.
Luckily his had never gotten quite so bad.
He probably should go in for a checkup, though. Better safe than sorry and all that. Maybe when he had more time. Hmm, that probably wouldn't be any time soon, if he was honest. Now that he thought about it, it was kind of surprising Mai hadn't said anything about it either. He guessed she had just forgotten too and it didn't feel right to ask her to start. She already did far too much for him as it was.
Orochimaru had sent Tayuya to make sure he was cared for- in her words, at least, the Wolves took very good care of him- so maybe that was something he could ask her to keep track of for him. Gods above know he had too many things to keep track of something as unimportant as his health.
Putting it like that, why bother her with it? He dismissed the notion entirely. If he thought it was unimportant, why would he make someone else waste their time on it? He'd just write it down somewhere and if he didn't loose it he might eventually find the time to ensure his Chakra System was fine.
Well, not getting worse at least. He knew it wasn't 'fine' in anyway other than the fact that it did function still. Like a dull knife, it could still stab just not very well. Usable, though, and better than nothing.
At the same time, one normally didn't start caring for a worn blade. It was usually just time to replace it and, if you'd learned from your mistakes, you would take proper care of the new one from the beginning. Unfortunately, that wasn't exactly an option for his Chakra system.
Not as far as he was aware, anyway.
He'd add it to the list of things to look into when he found the time.
The first thing on that list, most ironically, was to find enough time to make the list.
He'd make a mental note and hope he didn't lose that too.
Such thoughts, however, were better explored at a later time. He had one last chance to get this right before he had to call it a night. Digging for every scrap of Chakra he could he began weaving it together tightly, connecting every Tenketsu with a braided rope of Chakra in a way he imagined was very much like his chains- and perhaps that was where he was making mistakes- so that he could push it all out in a shape roughly similar to his own. If done correctly, the Chakra lost in pushing it from his body should be drawn to the likeness and add substance in his form.
If the Bunshin's Chakra System wasn't properly formed it would collapse instantly, if it didn't have enough Chakra to take on his appearance it would quickly leak away as smoke- a potential use, he noted- and if he overloaded it- not that he had enough Chakra for that- the construct would be too dense to function and would just sit there as a solid lump of Chakra until its integrity was compromised and it turned into smoke.
Honestly, he expected this attempt to end in smoke, but he was also prepared for the possibility that he didn't even have enough to create the Bunshin's Chakra System.
Only one way to find out.
Chakra bound, he pulled it gently to the surface and, checking once more to ensure it was tightly woven together, he pushed it from his abused Tenketsu. He could have sworn he saw flickers of red and gold, but that was probably just his vision failing him.
Surrounded by the smoke of yet another failure, he fell swiftly into the sweet embrace of unconsciousness.
The door was thrown open with a loud bang but before she had fully opened her eyes hands had already grabbed her and started dragging her out of bed. She panicked naturally, striking out with Chakra scalpels that came to her almost as naturally as breathing at this point. One of her captors went down, but it felt like two more pounced on her.
Arms pulled behind her, the rest of her body was brought from her personal quarters and, judging by the direction she thought they were going, into her team's shared workspace. It had only taken a moment and with growing awareness she realized that the people around her were Wolves and that the table in the center of the room was no longer empty.
Instead, Naruto lay on it in nothing more than his pants.
She was cognitive enough at this point to realize she had been awakened at o'dark-thirty in her capacity of Head Physician to the House of Wolves and that they themselves were simply too panicked to retain any sense of professionalism.
Yet another clue as to how high in the hierarchy Naruto actually was.
They brought her all the way to the table, despite the fact that she was perfectly capable of getting there on her own at this point, and she set about performing the standard diagnostic Jutsu automatically. From the corner of her eye, she could see Rusted dragged into the room the same way she had.
One of the Wolves dragging him in seemed to have an actual scalpel sticking out of his shoulder, but didn't seem to pay it any mind.
Rusted seemed to calm a bit when he saw her there leaning over someone with obvious Iryō Jutsu glowing green in her hand. He looked to either side of him to the two wolves that had grabbed him by the shoulders and dragged him out before his eyes landed on his scalpel.
"Uh, sorry." He shrugged weakly-as much as his position would allow anyway- and seemed genuinely apologetic. "You boys caught me off guard." Curling his abdomen he brought his legs from dragging behind him to stepping ahead where he quickly matched pace with the Wolves. "Now, who's our patient Kato-sensei?"
As serious as the situation was, she couldn't help the small smile that tugged at the corner of her lips. Rusted was Rusted and she didn't think there was anything that could keep that man's spirit down.
The Wolves, recognizing Rusted's intention to continue walking towards his new patient, lowered his shoulders slightly and allowed his arms to move back down to his sides. Both Wolves still kept a single hand on his shoulder but like the Wolf the Suna native didn't seem to mind.
It was less intrusive than a scalpel Shizune thought.
"It's Naruto-" She spared a quick glance at the Wolves and went for it. "-sama." The Wolves all seemed to stand just a little straighter at hearing him addressed more properly and Shizune once again had her suspicions confirmed that Naruto wasn't anywhere near the bottom of the hierarchy. She was starting to believe she had been wrong about Mai being Tsukiyomi's right hand, because it looked like that honor belonged to Naruto.
Rusted hesitated a little at that, which the Wolves noticed. They showed their displeasure with two low growls. He raised his hands before his chest in placating surrender but continued to walk towards the table.
Shizune understood.
Rusted was likely also aware that Naruto was a very important person among the House of Wolves and they had just failed him not long ago.
When Rusted was beside her at the table he looked to the Wolves still next to him and cocked a brow. With his hands still up he asked "Are you sure you want me to be a part of this? I heard Tsunade should be here in Konoha and I'm pretty sure she's much more qualified than I am."
The Wolf with the scalpel jabbed a finger towards him and flicked it to point to Shizune. "Assist her."
"Yep, yep, no problem. Assisting Kato-sensei." His hands had raised a little, as if to remind the Wolves that he had already surrendered and was willing to comply. They didn't seem to care. "So, Kato-sensei...anything I can help you with?"
"How much do you know about Chakra Systems?"
"Uh, I can tell when they aren't working?" Suna Medics were more focused on the flesh than anything else and while the Chakra System was a physical presence within the body it was much more complex than most Suna Medics cared to deal with. Back when they were allies with Konoha they would either ship patients that had damaged Chakra Systems to Konoha, would request a medic come to Suna, or would go to a hospital in Hi no Kuni's capital where the best medics were kept on hand in case the Daimyo ever got a cold.
Which naturally meant every Medic in Hi no Kuni that thought they had a chance at a position in the palace could be found within the city practicing their trade and hoping one of their patients was high ranking enough to have the Daimyo's ear.
They didn't, but Suna certainly didn't mind taking advantage of the surplus of quality Medics all looking to make rent.
"Good enough, I just wanted a second opinion." She gestured towards Naruto in a way that was clearly an invitation for him to perform his own diagnostic Jutsu. Suna didn't actually have that technique- if something was bleeding they could usually find it well enough- but one of the benefits Rusted got to enjoy in this arrangement was training from Kato Shizune, the graduated apprentice of Senju Tsunade herself. Doing as he'd been taught his hands took on the characteristic green glow and his brows immediately furrowed.
After a moment or two of moving his hands over the patient with the same result he shot his boss a confused look.
"Am I doing the technique properly, Kato-sensei?" Shizune gave a slow nod.
"Yes, your execution was flawless. You feel it too, then?
"Yeah, it's working but the system is definitely damaged." His eyes narrowed in concentration. "Damaged...but repaired?" Shizune gave another nod.
"Treatment for Chakra Withdrawal of some kind. Not perfect, but far better than losing your ability to use it permanently."
"I see." Rusted returned to his observations. "It's not a relapse," he noted. "But the system is strained, he'd been using it too much. I can barely feel anything, not enough to be used, so this isn't his normal amount." He looked up to Shizune for confirmation. "He's just collapsed from Chakra Exhaustion, hasn't he?"
"Very good." Shizune shot him a proud smile. She suspected this is what it was like to have an apprentice of her own. "Now, look here." She pointed to several points on Naruto's body, locations of the Major Tenketsu. It wasn't hard to tell where they were considering the skin was an angry red around them. Shizune grabbed the Suna Medics hand and pressed two of his fingers to their patient's skin.
"It's inflamed," He noted. "He was really pushing himself if he's managed to irritate his Tenketsu this much." Indeed, the normally hidden points of the Chakra System were hard to the touch, protruding slightly from the skin as if two or three grains of uncooked rice had been pushed under it.
The skin around it was also slightly warmer than the rest of the body. With that and the reddened color the answer of Chakra Burns was obvious. It was a mild case, considering Chakra Burns were usually caused by opening the Eight Gates or from contact with high levels of concentrated Chakra such as Biju or Taki's Hero Water.
Shizune turned her attention from her apprentice- she liked the sound of that- and her patient to one of the Wolves. Idly, she noted the scalpel was still sticking out of one of the Wolves' shoulders. She had to wonder if he was even aware.
"Do we have any of his medical records?" The Wolves just shrugged. She was his physician, that was something she should have had. "Alright, what about other doctors? He's seen someone if he had therapy for withdrawal." The Wolves in the room all shared a look before the one with the scalpel spoke up.
"Yakushi Kabuto is the one who treated him for Chakra Withdrawal, but he's currently in Nami no Kuni."
She gave an irritated sigh but nodded in acceptance.
"Is there any way we can request the records from him? I can't determine much without knowing where he was at previously."
"We can have those to you by 0900 hours."
Shizune shot the man a suspicious glare. While not terribly far, Nami no Kuni wasn't right down the street either. The clock on the wall also told her that they were going to try to get her the records within seven hours. No, that was doable. It was the fact that they were getting the records and bringing them back in that time that had her inner medic on high alert.
"Without killing yourselves, thank you." She ordered. Almost on instinct they snapped into salutes. Someone had trained them well.
Considering they reacted that way to her order, she had a feeling it was Mai.
"Good." She gave them an approving nod. "Naruto should be fine with a bit of rest but he shouldn't be pushing himself until I can determine if he's causing additional damage. It's possible that the stress has improved his system, but unlikely. Next time, try to stop him."
Again the Wolves shared a look.
"We did, he wouldn't listen."
"Then next time don't try to stop him, stop him." They looked at her as if she had grown a second head. For whatever reason they couldn't fathom the idea of forcing him to do something even if it was for his own good.
Gods above, he really had to be just below Tsukiyomi himself.
She gave them an exasperated look but shook her head. If they wouldn't maybe Mai would. The young woman was also over the Wolves so maybe she had more pull over the young man and could keep him from training to death.
Beyond that, the only things she could really try were giving him an order as the Head Physician of the House of Wolves or keeping him in a medically induced coma until he healed.
He wasn't sure if the Wolves would permit something like that but Mai might.
She'd try Mai first, then giving the young man orders, and she'd save the coma option for last. Hopefully it wouldn't come to that.
"Now," Shizune rested her hands on her hips. "Where exactly were you planning on keeping him? This workshop was designed for working on a puppet, not to serve as a medical center." Once more the Wolves shared a look before shrugging simultaneously- which was a little unnerving- and moving to pick him up.
From the corner of her eye she could see Clicky lean out from her own bedroom to see what was going on. She briefly wondered where on earth the woman had obtained the large red shirt with Hi no Kuni's stylized flame emblem on it in black. It was big enough to serve as a nightgown and struck the medic as something one would find in a gift shop, so where on earth had she gotten it?
Dismissing the thought- Clicky wasn't talkative anyway, so she'd probably never know- she turned back to the Wolves just in time to see them disappear through her own bedroom door. She stared for a moment, trying to determine if that really had just happened, and eventually just gave a defeated sigh.
It looks like she was up for the day.
She turned back to Clicky but the woman was quick to vanish back into her room. Nope, wasn't going to be bunking with the Puppeteer it seemed. She only considered asking Rusted to bunk with him for a second before discarding it.
That wasn't appropriate for her not-quite apprentice.
Plus he still hadn't washed the blood off his face.
Giving another sigh she switched off the light and headed to the kitchen to start brewing some coffee. She had a feeling she was going to need it today.
Naruko and Sakura watched warily as Kakashi practically bounced in excitement. Not only had he been only an hour late but he hadn't said anything to them. It was like he was in his own little world eagerly anticipating some event they didn't have the slightest clue about.
As time dragged on, he seemed to only grow more excited.
Naruko could have sworn she saw a tear in the corner of his eyes at the two hour mark.
Three hours after Kakashi had shown up- and four hours later than the team was scheduled to meet- they finally learned what had the Jōnin so excited.
Flanked by two Wolves, Genin Naruto entered training ground seven.
"My apologies for my tardiness," He spoke after a moment of silence. "My doctor gave me orders to rest after last night and I found it difficult to leave her bed this morning." Mostly because of the Wolves piled around him on the bed who wouldn't let him get up until they were sure he had gotten enough rest to go to the team meeting.
It was partially his fault for humoring them because he could have ordered them off at any time, but no one needed to know that.
Kakashi actually cried at that, manly tears rolling down the sides of his mask. He had never been more proud of the boy than he was right now.
Naruko and Sakura were stuck between irritated at his lateness, exasperation at hearing a Kakashi-level excuse, and embarrassment from thoughts about what his words implied.
Regardless of which feeling won out, both of their faces turned rather red.
"Naruko," Kakashi sniffled. "Sakura, I'd like to introduce your new teammate. Hatake Naruto." Everyone in the training grounds shot him an odd look- none more so than Naruto himself- and Kakashi raised his hands in apologetic surrender. "Sorry, sorry. For a second there I couldn't help but feel like he was my son."
The Kunoichi groaned but Naruto gained an amused smile.
"I'm not calling you Tou-san, Inu-nii." That caught the attention of the Wolves who instantly made note of their new uncle. Naruto could practically hear the gears turning in their heads and was already regretting his comment. His 'family' just kept getting weirder and weirder, didn't it?
He turned to his two new teammates and gave a shallow bow. "Good morning Genin Uzumaki, Genin Haruno. It looks like we'll be working together from here on, I hope we work well together."
Naruko shot him a grin and a thumbs-up that didn't give a youthful vibe to hide the disappointment she felt at such a formal greeting. They still had a long way to go if they were ever to have the relationship they once did.
Sakura gave a hesitant smile- still shaken up about Sasuke's abduction and the fact that she'd be working with the young man her teacher always went on about- and offered a quiet "Hello".
Kakashi was still sniffling in pride but didn't let that stop him from continuing. "Now, I know you're used to working with Tokubetsu-Jōnin Mitarashi on missions so this will probably be pretty different for you."
The two Kunoichi turned from their Sensei to their new teammate. What kind of missions had he been doing with a Jōnin-level Kunoichi? Kakashi either didn't notice or didn't care.
"We'll do some teamwork exercises for a week or so to get into the rhythm and then we'll stop by the mission office for a C-rank." Naruto gave a nod of acceptance, it sounded reasonable to him, and the two Kunoichi perked up at the mention of a higher level mission.
It was moments later that Naruko realized something vital and pointed an accusatory finger at her brother.
"Hey! You've never had to do D-ranks, have you?!"
Naruto blinked in surprise before asking blankly "There are D-ranked missions?"
He was aware of them, but the expressions on his teammates' faces were well worth pretending otherwise.
Perhaps the Wolves were rubbing off on him, he had been rather playful as of late.
He kind of liked it.
Oh, that's strange. There was no Mai in this chapter. How curious. I wonder if she makes any appearances in the next one...
Kukukukukuku
Until I next have your attention, suffer well.
-Eyazahrid