Naruto took a deep breath. He put every ounce of his being into focus, letting chakra soar through him like lightning, willing it to do his bidding. He knew that if he fucked this up, it would make the cliff jump look like a love-tap.
Firming his resolve, he sunk into the Hiraishin. For a second it felt like he was falling, then he was motionless, in a void.
He opened his eyes and realized that he was, in fact, in a void. All around him, he could see...coordinates. He could see every Hiraishin marker made in history...all at once. Time was slowed to the point that you could watch a bullet fired from a gun for an hour before it hit it's target.
Then it hit him, 'I don't have to leave this place...I could literally stay here until I starved to death and it would be minutes outside...this is the true power of the Hiraishin, how my father killed 300 Shinobi in a single battle. It took weeks for him…'
Then he laughed in his abyss.
--
Hinata stood in her private training room, going through the movements of the 128 palms with a special cadence. One that her cousin had so dutifully shown her by training in her room.
Neji got some sort of sick joy from using her training room. some sort of victory over the main branch, she guessed. What Neji didn't know is that she always watched, learning the techniques as he did. It took her longer to get them, so she wrote down the katas and practices in scrolls for later use.
Juken wasn't an easy style to master, by any stretch. It took a true prodigy to create new moves, but it didn't take a prodigy to learn them.
She returned to the moves of the 64 palms, which should've been her birthright, that she also learned from Neji. The circular motions were difficult, but not impossible to complete on a dummy.
Eventually, she saw Neji coming into the room.
"Come to keep me c-company, or d-disrespect me again."
Her stutter was still there, but it was more intentional now. People found it disarming, which was beyond useful as a Kunoichi, and she thought it fit her personality better.
Neji was clearly surprised to see her, she didn't know why he didn't check with his eyes before entering.
"Like I'd keep company with a disgrace like you."
"Love you t-too, Nii-san."
He huffed and walked away. He and Hanabi would always just be them, she supposed.
--
Sasuke Uchiha sprinted around his house. He had made a make-shift track to practice on after training with the likes of Naruto and Lee, where one's lack of stamina became immediately evident.
He had learned to enjoy the burn a good run gave you but he wasn't running for pleasure right now.
One of the younger Uchiha that the Yamanaka were fostering had gone missing, he and Izumi were enraged. At first they thought it might be Root, but Danzo had made a deal with them that prohibited that and Danzo wasn't dumb enough to break that deal, so now the problem became a lot bigger.
He had to start running to fight the need to rip out information from every person he saw, but after he calmed down, there would be hell to pay. Kayumi Uchiha would be found, or this world would end seeing red.
--
Ino Yamanaka wandered through the rather newly finished 'Whirlpool Gardens', looking at the wild arrays of lilies. She loved it here, even more so than the flower shop.
She had come to this safe place to ponder about the future, as every good preteen did. The future scared her. She knew most had a similar fear, but she doubted that the fear went quite as deep as her's did.
The future brought her an intense dread, beyond anything else she'd experienced in her life.
Ino, down to the core, liked control. She had perfect control over her mind, damn good chakra control, near perfect control over her body, and a large degree of control over her friends.
She liked to think about Naruto's flowers. No matter how chaotic they looked, no matter how densely packed or evenly dispersed, they had a look of organization.
The future was something Ino could not control. Something constantly changing.
--
Sakura Haruno was holding a fish.
While this may seem like something insignificant to most, it was of incredible importance to Sakura, as moments before, she had been holding a *dead* fish.
"Wh-what the fuck."
The fish in her hand, she decided, should not be alive, so she channeled chakra into its brain and ended it.
'did...did I just make a zombie?'
--
Hiruzen Sarutobi sat in his chair, working through his never ending supply of paperwork that seemed to find its way to his desk with a vengeance.
"Hey Jiji"
"Gah-what the hell!"
"You were wrong, it only took me 9 months."
"Can you not do that please!"
"What are you going to give me if I stop?"
"...I'll take you to ramen tonight. You can tell me all about how you mastered a Kage level Jutsu at 11."
"Hey! 11 and three quarters."
"Okay, Naruto."
"Also, I didn't master it, this Jutsu is hell on your body. I can do it maybe 5 times before I pass out."
"Is that so?"
--
Itachi Uchiha stared directly into the sick eyes of the Sannin in front of him. Kisame twitched to his right.
"Let her go, Orochimaru."
"Kukuku, Itachi-kun, I found the perfect little host right here, yet you won't help me? After all we've been through?"
"I can't do what you're asking anyway."
"You awoke eight of them. Not one, not two, but eight. Why could you possibly not do it again?"
"Because it takes a lot more than pain or torture to open the Mangekyo Sharingan."
"I'll get what I want, Itachi, you know that."
Itachi sighed, but he knew Orochimaru was right, and that meant it was time for his end. Kisame, knowing the sigh from the 4 years working with Itachi, readied Samehada. Kisame had stuck with Itachi after Itachi revealed that 'Madara' had lied about who he was. Itachi had never been anything but honest with Kisame, and they covered each other's weaknesses, so they stuck together for the most part. They had met on an assassination mission, or guard mission for Itachi, that went sour.
"You shouldn't have taken her, Orochimaru, you really shouldn't have. Close your eyes, Kayumi."
--
The rookie nine stood in a circle on the Naka river.
"Well, we're genin tomorrow, team. So this is the last time this will likely ever happen. Let's make it a good fight."
They were having a free-for-all on the water, whoever won would get free food for the first year of being Genin. You only lost upon passing out, all of Hi no Kuni was free game.
"I'm going to throw this kunai into the air, and when it lands, we begin.", Naruto spoke again.
He threw it into the sky, then primed himself.
It hit the water and everybody moved.
Hinata went for Shikamaru, knowing he would try to wait out the others.
Sakura ran to the bank, knowing she couldn't keep up combat on the water with her limited reserves.
Naruto made forty clones, then placed down a sealing barrier, he couldn't lose if nobody could reach him.
Sasuke went for Ino, knowing she would win via attrition if they weren't careful.
Choji got an extended fist hit on Kiba and sent him under the water, where a cline of Naruto was currently keeping him.
Shino sent a swarm of kikaichu at Shikamaru in a similar strategy to Hinata.
Shikamaru sent a shadow possession towards Sakura on the bank, but failed to notice Hinata, and became the first person to feel what Hinata's 64 palms felt like, taking him out of the fight.
Kiba was successfully held long enough to tap out, so the Naruto clone brought him to shore and used Kiba's own chloroform against him. Something all of them kept on hand now, just in case.
--
Sasuke made it to Ino and they locked eyes. Ino knew it was the wrong thing to do when she was dragged into the Tsukuyomi.
"Well fuck."
"Yup."
"Well, what are you going to do to me in here, my dear captor?", Ino said suggestively.
"Shut up Ino."
--
Sakura looked at Hinata after the other girl had dragged a groaning Shikamaru to the bank.
"Well, I don't suppose you'll let me run?"
Sakura had gotten pretty far in muscle enhancement and her Taijutsu was nothing to scoff at, but her main strengths were Iryoninjutsu and Genjutsu, neither of which helped against a fucking Byakugan.
"No"
--
Choji and Shino were standing on a bank opposite Hinata and Sakura.
Choji charged Shino but he never made it. Shino sent a veritable tide of bugs at the Akimichi, draining his chakra far too fast.
Then Choji was knocked out by a fist that emerged from the swarm.
--
Sasuke put Into to sleep in her mind, then cancelled the Tsukuyomi.
Ino slumped to the ground in the real world, making Sasuke ever so slightly guilty.
He then walked back towards the river and saw Shino standing over Choji. Shino's head whipped towards Sasuke while a swarm of bug hid his face to prevent the situation Ino got herself in.
Grinning, Sasuke charged.
--
Hinata put Sakura's still body next to Shikamaru, then she looked at Sasuke and Shino fighting. She then looked at Naruto, sitting nice and happy on the river.
She loved the boy beyond belief but even she had limits, and she wanted cinnamon rolls.
All of a sudden, 40 Naruto's came from the trees towards her. Activating her Byakugan, she went through her last resort.
"P-please don't h-hurt me Naruto-kun"
"Huh", said 40 clones.
"8 trigrams 128 palms!"
--
Sasuke was pushing his Sharingan to the limit, not a single Kikaichu could land on his body and he knew that.
Normally, Shino couldn't even get close to matching his Taijutsu, but Shino had other ways to help him now.
'so...so many bugs.'
--
Hinata breathed heavily after taking out the 40 clones. Then she grinned as she pulled out around 100 explosive tags.
She looked at Naruto on the river, who had wide eyes and was very scared.
Her grin widened as she sprinted towards him.
--
Shino's Kikaichu finally thinned down to a point that Sasuke could gain the advantage, then Shino realized a crucial mistake, he could hear Sasuke breathing now.
Sasuke smiled maliciously, then started singing.
Shino tried to cover his ears but it was too late. His world went very wobbly for a second, then it went dark.
"Sound technique- Vicious Lullaby"
--
A brilliant explosion went off, incinerating Naruto's barrier. When the smoke cleared, she saw a battered Naruto...that proofed out of existence.
She then felt something cold against her neck.
"Sorry, Hinata-chan, but I really wanted a year of ramen."
Then Hinata was staring at darkness.
--
Sasuke was blinded by an explosion.
When his vision cleared, he could see Naruto standing on the river, staring him in the eyes with no fear.
Sasuke then realized that his chakra was too low for the Sharingan.
'He waited us out...the sly bastard.'
"raaAAHHHHHHHH!"
--
Naruto and a couple dozen clones dragged his friends to their respective homes.
Hinata wasn't knocked out, she just liked to be carried places, so she certainly acted the part of a slumbering princess.
Once everyone was home, Naruto Hiraishined back to his compound and began finishing up his plan for Mizuki and the next day...