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A MAGNANIMOUS shout out to TheKing91, Yamajiji, biginferno, Dawood Saqlain, Arraia, firetemplar415, Bakeneko, InfernalGenocide, 777torn777, Primarx, anthonym3, Banjo the Fox, KakeruPB, lord 7th, ojko24, Saiyan prince1, TigrezzTail, Apocalyptica, bumike99, skfff and . You all made my day, thank you all so much :)
I've wanted to say this for the last few chapters; I have not forgotten about the Kurama clan. I keep forgetting to put it.
There's still a fair bit left in his story before it's finished. I don't want to say how many chapters are left, but I will say that the story isn't done yet.
This chapter will reveal a few things about Naruto's past.
Want to know what I'm talking about?
Read to find out. Enjoy…
CHAPTER 23
The next morning
Grand Council Room
Crystal Citadel
The Grand Council room was a place the Snow Daimyo, Doton Kazahana, met with foreign dignitaries in his Crystal Citadel.
For this particular meeting, the room had been refashioned and the long, rectangular table had been replaced with a somewhat smaller square table with magnificent chairs placed on each side. The table was by no stretch of then imagination plain; it had the same proud elegance as the rest of Snow country. It was carved out of expensive wood and given fine, golden details.
Naruto joked in his head that the trees the table and chairs were carved out of were most likely watered by the tears of orphaned babies.
The masked man chuckled mysteriously with a tiny smile on the corner of his eyes, a small humming sound that attracted Kamina's attention as Naruto pulled her seat out for her, pushing it back for her to sit down comfortably.
"What's so funny, Lord Naruto?" she adjusted her long skirt and straightened her impeccably ironed white button up shirt with her black gloved hands. She nodded her thanks to the gentlemanly action of the masked Leader and sat up straight in her chair, the perfect picture of icy confidence and control.
The tall blonde took his own seat on the side of the table left of Kamina, right of Doton and in front of Mifune, as the other two men plopped down as well. He waved flippantly. "Don't worry about it."
Mifune unclipped his katana and wakizashi from his side and one of his two guards behind collected it with a deep bow, holding both of his Daimyos important blades with both of his hands and his torso respectfully slightly inclined forward. Doton, not a shinobi that had specialized in a specific weapon but his fists and his ninjutsu, only sat up in his seat while his two assigned guards stood at attention behind him. Kamina unbuttoned her right cufflink and showed a storage seal drawn on her inner wrist, she unsealed a pair of hand greyish blue fans and gave them to one of her guards behind her. The scientists buttoned her wrist back up.
Naruto flicked his left wrist and his blade appeared in his hand, no plume of chakra smoke or a blur of speed; it wasn't there one moment, and then it was there, and it wasn't pouring Naruto's smoke, like rumours said it would. The other Leaders looked to the assassin's weapon, scrutinizing it; it was a common ninjato but made out of the much coveted Whirlpool steel solely found on the island of the Uzumaki clan, like how obsidian steel could only be found in Darkness. The single cutting edge was bright hot red, even as the ninjato did not have any of Naruto's volatile chakra active inside the chakra metal. The rest of the blade was a dark shade of stainless steel silver. The guard was square and made from a strong tree from Whirlpool country and the handle was plain black. He gave his ninjato to Kushina; the redhead tilted her torso forward as she collected the short blade with both hands.
"That's a fine blade, Lord Naruto." Doton complimented, eying Naruto as he went on and took out a set of kunai and shuriken from a different seal, both ninja weapons made out of the cursed obsidian steel, and a handful of ninja wire. "How much would you sell it?"
"Not for sale." The masked man answered simply, giving his wide brimmed hat to the Sea Monster standing at attention behind him.
"Come now-"
"It was a gift from my brother, Torune." The man said firmly and fixed Doton with a blank, emotionless stare. Doton hid his gulp and laughed nervously.
Kamina asked Naruto, directing his empty blue eyes from Doton. "Was it a ninjato you had trained with first, Lord Naruto?"
"I started with a kunai and shuriken, like you did, Lady Kamina." He replied easily and the woman smirked, impressed at the smart answer; all ninjas first trained with a kunai and shuriken, whether they were medics, hunter ninjas or powerhouses. It was a sort of general rule whichever country was involved, besides Iron country, for obvious reasons.
The agreement before the Four Daimyos could begin negotiating a neutral deal between their four influential nations was that all the Daimyos would be unarmed, even if their guards were not unarmed.
This was to show their intentions for peace.
Naruto, accepting that he was the primary person in the room that they were more wary of being around, given his global notoriety, had gone past what his counterparts were doing and unarmed himself right down to the basic shinobi weapons on his person.
Anyway, if all hell broke loose, he didn't necessarily need a weapon to slaughter them all.
As the strongest-and fastest-person in the room, it was Naruto's unvoiced role to not lose his cool, for he could already see the three country Leaders eying him cautiously as all their guards sealed their master's weapons away.
Any sudden movement, any flare of chakra or if he lost grip of his emotions for even a split second, the others would react before they hoped he would.
It was just something Naruto had long since accepted.
No matter how many times they to tried to get a rise out of him the other day and how many times they would try to rile him up today, as well as for the days to come, he must remain calm. The other day was merely to see if the youngest Wealth Nation Daimyo was mature enough to stand with his counterparts; the four of them could agree that they didn't want another war but they could just as easily scrap this meeting at the perceived threat to their lives.
On a normal day, Naruto would have been pleased with himself seeing the shaded fear and hesitation in their eyes, but now it was…annoying.
If the Ghost in Glasses really wanted to kill them, he would have done so already.
Take when Doton asked Naruto to sell the blade his late brother had gifted him, something that almost got under Naruto's skin; the Ghost would have punctured the Snow Daimyo's jugular with his pointer and middle fingers long before the man could blink twice, way before Mifune could pull out the dagger he had hidden on his torso, under his clothes and long before Kamina could withdraw the capped syringes filled with what looked like fast acting poison from the back of her skirt, tucked inside the high waist at the back.
Naruto's quick eyes saw all of their concealed weapons, and how their bodies were geared to react at any sudden movements.
The blonde smiled slightly and motioned to the centre of the table, as the guards walked backwards and stood by the walls, far away from the Leaders so that their weapon were also a fair distance from them. At the centre of the table were two rolled up scrolls, a pot of ink and a quill jutting out from the ink pot. There was also a pencil and a rim of paper on the somewhat wide table.
"As the youngest Leader here, I will be the one to write down our proceedings." He looked to Doton, the Daimyo of the first wealthiest nation, then to Mifune, the Daimyo of the second wealthiest nation and finally to Kamina, the Kage of the third wealthiest nation. Naruto wasn't the youngest because his country had recently joined the elite rank of four countries but because he was quite literally the youngest of the four Leaders. Mifune and Doton were the oldest, being in their late fifties, Kamina was in her late forties and Naruto was in his late thirties. His proposal was made to show respect for his seniors and so that his hands were occupied, reducing the tension in the air of them fearing he was going to strike them down. "Agreed?"
"Agreed." Kamina said with a thoughtful frown.
"…So be it." the hard faced samurai answered and crossed his arms.
"Let's begin." Doton said.
Naruto plucked the pencil and slid two pieces of paper towards himself; if it meant that the three Leaders would relax their guard so they could get something done, then he was fine being the secretary for that meeting for that moment.
The table was wide enough for the four powerful fighters to open their arms wide and only the tips of their fingers could touch, a stipulation Mifune had insisted on, keeping them all a bit away from the other but leaving no one isolated from the conversation. Naruto's condition was that they get a thirty minute break every two hours of deliberation. Kamina requested for an air conditioner.
The Four Daimyos looked at each other and Naruto got the ball rolling.
"This Neutrality Pact doesn't mean that none of our countries can ally and it also doesn't mean that all existing alliances are cancelled or changed to neutral. I see the Pact as a long standing agreement that our countries, no matter how long into the future and no matter who then leads it, will ensure to keep away from open conflict and resolve any problems we have privately." His serious blue eyes narrowed from under his medicated glasses and he fixed each person on the table with a hard gaze. He outlined to them in a strong voice. "The point is to not force our networks, our sources, our investments or our connections to choose a side. And the quarrels of other nations, unless we are directly concerned, is none of our business. As long as there is peace and understanding among the four of us," he slowly pushed his glasses up his nose and said, using the same firm tone of voice. "Then for the foreseeable future, there will be no more wars."
Much to Naruto's surprise, Mifune spoke up, adding his voice by simply saying as he scratched his bandage covered temple. "The last war must be the last war."
Kamina, her face straight and as serious as her male counterparts. "Any grievances we four may have will be settled before we sign the Pact," after it was written and clearly outlined, of course. "So that we all enter a clean slate and start afresh."
Doton's friendly smile lowered contemplatively and he hummed. "Here, here."
They, the Four Wealth Nations, might not have the largest land mass or the largest population compared to the Five Great Shinobi Villages, but they had the money, the connections and they had equal, if not more, loyal soldiers than the major hidden villages.
Presently, Naruto could confidently say that the ninjas of his country were far superior to Konoha's.
Hell, the Dark capital alone was much stronger, much more developed and more organized than the Hidden Leaf.
Major hidden villages already found it near impossible to infiltrate certified Wealth Nations, like how Konoha's Advance Guard had spent five years trooping through the snow to find a way past all of Chill's traps and into the hidden village. The first three nations weren't exactly war free at the peak of the war but the fighting couldn't be compared to that going on in the five great hidden villages. Except for Darkness, that had not participated in the war in any way that could be traced back to them (the Iwa incident), the three other countries had sent out their forces to fight in the war, or took part of the fighting in one way or the other.
Out of them all, Doton had lost most of his soldiers during the war, Kamina's main concern was forcing Konoha out of her country, losing more than a few able bodied fighters along the way, and Mifune had dispatched his samurai to spots around the continent where his country was actively invested in, like a rice mill in Grass country. The move of the samurai looked like he was sending out fighters to participate in the war and so had attracted unwanted attention from those villages and countries that had long since been gunning for them.
Doton had set up the meeting to investigate Darkness and to gauge the danger level of Naruto's country, Kamina had come to dig into Naruto's past for her own personal reasons and Mifune had come to the meeting-biding his time and waiting for the right moment-to restore his honour.
Naruto had accepted the invitation because he was curious to see how Darkness stacked up against Snow, Chill and Iron.
The four of them had come for the historic meeting for differing, personal reasons, but the ultimate goal was to get something done.
Lasting peace.
It took the four Daimyos three days of careful deliberation and negotiation.
Three days of back and forth and three days of barbed insults.
A break every two hours, and the meeting for the day would end nineteen hours after it had started. They would return to their sleeping quarters and resume as early as eight in the morning.
Doton had his personal secretary copy down the notes Naruto had made onto the scroll that had initially been on the centre of the table and each Daimyo read the long scroll to ensure not even a letter of their agreed terms was out of place.
A few points in the agreement entailed that the Pact did not make the four countries allies, that any alliances written before it still stood and that any alliance that would be written after it would be valid. The four countries would ensure to keep their dealings separate; no joint missions or joint investments, but if they ever reached a point in time that pooling their strength together was unavoidable then they would hold another meeting to arrange how best it should be done. That if their ninjas ever encounter each other during missions, they would give each other a respectable amount of space and only speak when they thought the other had Intel to aid in the mission.
One agreement proposed by Naruto was that Snow, Chill and Iron be introduced to the event Darkness, Suna, Kiri, Uzushio and River were already doing, which was the Bi-annual Chunin Examination, now called Chunin Exams. Naruto would gloss this over with his allies and, seeing as the exams had formerly only been between Darkness and Kiri, it wouldn't be too hard to convince the others to include the other three Wealth Nations. Now that there were three more countries added to the Chunin Exams and there were plans underway to differentiate each exam as best as they could, then there would be more variety and action going on in the exams. This addition was to foster goodwill among themselves. Naruto also kept in mind that Darkness and Hidden Mist would still have their own private events, so that the two closely allied countries had their own 'thing', like Darkness and Suna had The Suna Farm and Darkness and River had the Merchants Guild. Naruto was sentimental like that.
Mifune proposed that if a crime was ever committed by a Wealth Nation citizen to another Wealth Nation citizen inside or outside a wealthy nation, then the two countries would conduct a combined investigation, though the 'victim' country would be the one to take point while the 'suspect' country would be in an advisory position, to watch the happenings of the investigation to make sure it was fair and unbiased. If the suspect was found to be guilty of the crime after a thorough investigation, then the suspect would be taken back to their home country and punished accordingly, under the supervision of the 'victim' country. If there was no punishment, then there would have to be suitable reimbursement to the 'victim' country, one that would clear the crime. The main point of this point in the Pact was that the Daimyo of the 'suspect' country took responsibility of the crime, past the point where the suspect was proven guilty and ending at the point of reimbursement.
Kamina proposed that their sources and connections be different, if possible, and if it was unavoidable, then if an issue or argument was to arise, then they would help their investment settle the problem.
Doton pressed that there be a person from among the four of them that visits each Wealth Nation, acting as a representative of all of them within their different countries. This was the point in the agreement that took longer to solve, for Naruto blatantly said that he didn't want any of them inside his country or near his borders, Mifune didn't want any shinobi to stay in Iron for longer than two days and Kamina greatly disliked the idea, for she just didn't see the purpose of a representative visiting each country, not when they were all going to be neutral to one another. Doton pushed harder and harder, until Naruto's Chunin Exam point was considered and included in the Neutrality Pact.
Doton had to swallow his pride and seethe to himself, for a few minutes, that his ploy on entering Dark country had been foiled and by the same person that had been blocking him nonetheless.
The Neutrality Pact simply meant that each of the four countries was going to be neutral to one another, that they were not going to actively or passively seek out trouble, they were going to respect each other's space no and that they would hold a Conference of Wealth Nation Daimyos every five years.
The Neutrality Pact was finished.
All that remained was for the four Leaders to sign to make it official.
Before that could happen, Doton cleared his throat, dabbing his forehead with a handkerchief. "This is a binding contract that would last until the end of time, as such, before we sign and proceed with decades of peaceful neutrality, I insist we clear the air and address any grudge or grievances wen may have for each other."
Mifune's eyes narrowed and bored into Naruto's own, Kamina and Doton looked at themselves and at the two.
It was the tensest five minutes of silence they had ever experienced.
Naruto raised his hand and sat forward on his seat. "If we're going to air out our grievances, I have to say this," His blue orbs slowly narrowed back at Mifune. Doton swallowed thickly and prepared for all hell to break loose, until Naruto's head swivelled to Kamina and he said in a nonchalant tone. "Lady Kamina has been farting for the past three days and until now I've refused to say anything about it."
The scientists face immediately turned red and she shot up out of her seat. "I have never!"
The blonde cast his face away from the blue haired woman and closed his eyes casually as she grit her teeth, rearing her fist back, fully intent on breaking all of Naruto's teeth; strength might not have been her forte but in that moment she felt righteous fury bubble out of her pores. Naruto sniffed with his arms crossed, fearless. "After every break." He shook his head and wiped away a fake tear. "Silent but deadly."
"Women don't fart!" she bellowed in rage, her hands now positively shaking, itching to strangle the life out of the assassin.
Naruto scoffed. "I beg to differ." He had lived with Sueki, Kushina and Konan before. He could recall a prank Kushina had pulled on him when she was younger; the tomboy had out right farted in Naruto's face. He had punished her by grabbing her head and farting right back into her face. The Leader fought down the laugh that threatened to leave his lips and came back into the moment. "And you're supposed to be a scientist…tch." Naruto smirked and opened one eye as he heard the guards and the Snow Daimyo chuckle under their breathes, knowing full well that Naruto was only joking. He turned back to her and raised his hands up, laughing nervously. "Sorry."
The red faced, blue haired ice woman panted angrily, her fingers wiggled and flexed, cracking painfully with each action, almost having a mind of their own as they neared Naruto's neck. The woman then sucked in air, gently closed her eyes and closed her fists and exhaled through her nose, losing some of the red colour on her face except for her traitorously embarrassed cheeks as she heavily sat back down. "That wasn't funny." Her neck snapped around with her body and she glared death and destruction at her silently chortling guards, whose laughs almost spilled out into full blown rumbles. Their faces cleared of all emotions and changed into expressionless as quickly as their mistress had glared at them. Doton's own guards were finding it increasingly hard to contain themselves, Kisame was doing breathing exercises, trying to look unruffled, and Kushina was gnawing on her fist, tears poured out from her eyes. Kamina straightened herself in her chair and steeled her gaze at her cool eyed Darkness counterpart, the flush on her cheeks refused to leave. She jabbed a finger at Naruto and said strongly. "Fart jokes are not funny; they are crude and immature."
Naruto then started to feel bad for making Kamina the butt of his joke. "Yes, I'm very sorry. It was just that everyone was so tense, y'know."
"And out of everyone here, you picked me?"
The blonde nodded to Mifune. "He would have attacked and he…" their eyes trailed to Doton and the three Leaders, except the Snow Daimyo, screwed their lips to the side and averted their eyes; it would have been more…believable if Naruto had accused the older man of befouling the meeting room. The more unexpected, the better and unfortunately, Kamina fit that description. "Again, I'm sorry."
The woman silently grinded her teeth, her frosty blue eyes digging into Naruto's, until she grunted with a wide smirk. "…You'll have to make it up to me, Lord Naruto."
Strangely enough, Naruto didn't sense the usual wave of lust pouring out of her and directed at him but more curiosity if anything. "As long as you're not asking for my blood, tissue samples or my chakra. You have five minutes." The other men found his words odd but a jovial glow shimmered from the scientists eyes at the approval for her to go ahead and ask him about his past. She whipped out a notepad and opened her mouth, screeching to a halt as Naruto lifted a single finger. "After the meeting." Naruto directed his eyes to Mifune and he said. "Don't you have anything to say, Lord Mifune?"
The tension gradually seeped into the meeting room once again as the samurai across from Naruto looked at Naruto hatefully.
Naruto wasn't intimidated.
Mifune then slowly eased himself forward on his chair, pushing his hands into his side of the table and saying in a low, deep voice. "Your student…she murdered four hundred of my warriors."
Naruto cocked his head to the side and furrowed his eyebrows. "Then why are you angry at me?"
"Because she is your…student." He growled through his tightened jaw and his fingers grasped the edge of the table, making the wood creak under his grip. "You told her to kill my men, Ghost." A snarl crawled up the Iron Daimyos face and he gnashed his teeth. "You did."
The bespectacled blonde rolled his eyes and sighed. "Is that what this is about?" his reply was Mifune's fingers finally cracking into the edge of his side of the table. "I never ordered Sueki to kill your men," they all saw it coming, as a slight smile slid up the corners of Naruto's eyes. Doton contemplated jumping in, Kamina as well. "But," honesty and sincerity shone through Naruto's blue eyes, even under the light smile as he continued. "I would have ordered her to kill your men all the same."
The samurai smashed his fists onto the table and rose onto his feet, enraged. "You dare-"
"It's just how I trained her." Naruto shrugged, maintaining eye contact with the samurai.
"Four hundred fine men and women." Mifune rumbled. "Four hundred fathers and mothers-"
The blonde man rolled his blue eyes again. "Oh don't give me that." he narrowed his eyes up at the standing man. "Those 'four hundred fathers and mothers' were ordered by you to storm Ame, to destroy and dismantle our home. My student was being an exemplary ninja; she protected our home by neutralizing the threat in the quickest and most chakra efficient way."
"That…imp sullied my country and dishonoured me!" Naruto smile froze on his face at how the samurai had referred to his student-his wife-. The corners of his eyes gradually tipped down from the smile, effectually cleaning his face of all emotion. Kushina pursed her lips in distaste and Kisame frowned. Mifune was usually a calm disciplined and level headed man; the outburst had surprised his samurai guards. "Your rat of a student dirtied my image before my people! Slaughtered my soldiers like pigs! Disgraced them! Gave them a coward's death! Disharmonized my home! That whore you call your student shamed me before my own people!"
Naruto placed his hands flat on the table and Kamina, feeling uneasy for being seated close to him, debated whether or not she should make the first move and sedate either men. The blonde man laughed quietly and stood up, tilting his head to the side and looking into Mifune's eyes. Now silent. "Listen to me, Mifune," Naruto said in a level voice, discarding the samurai's honourable title. "My student did what she saw as a deterrent; something to prevent another attack from you and everybody else." It worked didn't it? Iron couldn't have withdrawn from Ame any quicker. "Your pride is the reason you refuse to admit your mistake. She did what she did, and I would have done the same as well. Now and back then, I would have done the same-"
"Enough." Mifune said harshly. "I demand a duel."
"…A duel you say…" Naruto murmured to himself.
"For the honour of my fallen men, I will take your head back to Iron with me. Harmony will be restored." killing Sueki's teacher would damage the woman more than anything in the world, and that was what Mifune wanted to do. He jabbed a finger at the scroll they were all to sign. "You best get your affairs in order… your successor will be the one to sign this Pact."
Ten minutes later
Royal Training ground
Bat firmly stood before her master, her chin jutted out and speaking to Naruto, not as a BLAK operative. "Naruto-sensei, are you sure you want to do this?" she threw a brief scathing, red eyed glare over her shoulder to the master samurai waiting on the other side of the training ground. "I can take him."
The masked man chuckled and patted Bat's white haired head. "I've been meaning to stretch my legs, Su; this is the opportunity I've been waiting for."
Bat rumbled silently.
"And calm down, Kisame." Naruto said to the man standing to his right. The hateful bloodlust coming out of the shark man's body was making some of the Snow shinobi sitting at the edges of the fighting ground uneasy. "I'll get out of this, don't worry about it."
Kisame grinded his serrated teeth, directing his eyes to Mifune, as he handed Naruto his basic shinobi weapons, which the blonde strapped to his thigh and hip. Kisame mutely swore under his breath. "The balls on this guy…"
Naruto laughed aloud and slapped the Sea Monster's back. It was Kushina's turn now; the redhead quietly pulled Naruto's ninjato out from the storage seal on her forearm, handing it to her Leader with a glare directed to the centre of his chest.
"Finish this." She mumbled venomously; this duel was the thing keeping her back from using their four remaining days in Snow to go on a date with her idol. She had been silent and obedient for the first three days, content with cuddling with her uncle as he flopped onto the bed and gradually gathering the courage to kiss him. The kiss hadn't happened yet, as she was only able to plant a warm, hesitant kiss on his chin, but she felt her courage building each day. Naruto smiled warmly down at the seething tomboy and collected his ninjato from her. "Quickly."
"I'll try my best, Nana." At the familial name, the angry Uzumaki puffed out her cheeks and flicked her eyes around, hoping no one had heard her uncle call her that embarrassing nickname. Naruto looked to Bat and said. "In case I don't win-"
The BLAK Commander grit her teeth and stood up on her toes, jabbing a strong finger into Naruto's chest. "Don't even play like that, sensei." A nervous sweat drop slid down Naruto's face and he raised his hands in surrender, trying to stay in place as his wife jabbed his chest harder than the first time. "Kill this guy so we can get on with our day."
The masked black operative had hotly whispered her order to her husband, so no one outside of their small bubble heard it, and the spectators away from them found it strange that the Dark country black ops was threatening her master, the shark man was disrespectfully glaring at the master samurai, just barely reeling in his bloodlust, and the Uzumaki guard Naruto had brought with him clearly looked like she wanted to try something daring to her master but was too shy to do so, maybe because there were so many watchers about.
Naruto looked over Bat's head, at his opponent, a fair distance away from him and standing stock still. "Don't forget, Mifune; you asked for this."
The grey haired, wrinkled master samurai had taken off his simple purple kimono-like outfit and sandals and was in much more traditional samurai armour; there was a breastplate with four plates shielding his legs, matching shoulder pads and similar arm and leg guards. There was a white belt wrapped around his waist, which held a pouch at the back and his sword, Kurosawa, on his left side. Under his armour was simple dark clothing, with gloves and combat sandals, very different from the ones shinobi regularly used. Unlike some of the samurai in his ranks, upper and lower level warriors; he did not wear a mask. The armour was forest green and the edges of the shoulder pads and leg guards were dark red. His long grey moustache and goatee neatly fell down his face and his grey hair almost reached his waist, though the top of his head was wrapped up in white bandages, seemingly covering the place Hanzo the Salamander poisoned him on one occasion. Yes, Hanzo ended up being impressed by the tenacity and skill of the samurai back in the Second war, thus giving him the antidote not too long after Mifune was bested, and Mifune now also had an immunity for Hanzo's poison due to consuming the antidote, but if anything, his bandages gave him an air of control and poise.
Mifune was widely known to be a master of the Iaido, or Quick draw technique. Able to speedily dash up to an opponent and separate the persons head from his body long before his opponent could begin hand seals, flick off the enemies blood from his blade and replace the katana back into the sword before the victim knew of his own demise. The skill emphasized speed of the motion and preciseness of the strike. Mifune was once hailed by Hanzo the Salamander when they were much younger to have negated his use of ninjutsu, for Mifune never gave the man space to breathe. The man was also known to be a knowledgeable of all kinds of blades-though a master of the katana and wakizashi-, so much so that he could discern his opponents fighting style and act accordingly once he got a glance at the user's weapon.
Looking at Naruto's weapon of choice, a ninjato made out of light but strong Uzushio steel, which was a rare kind of metal that could conduct strong, potent chakra, his mind concluded that Naruto's upper body was heavy and powerful but he was fleet footed and swift. Naruto was versatile fighter; roundabout and cunning, which could easily be switched to straight forward and intimidating. Mifune could see that his opponents fighting style could do with or without his weapon.
Night terror was the name of Naruto's ninjato.
The man gave his subordinates parting fist bumps and ushered them to the side-lines.
Mifune's eyes narrowed as Naruto placed his right hand flat on the flat side of the blade, holding the handle with his left hand, and he gradually dragged his hand up the smoking weapon, sucking the smoke into his hand and channelling it back into the lethally sharp ninjato. The silver steel and the burning red cutting edge extended with his hand, passing the normal length of the weapon until the blade was exactly the same length as a normal katana, albeit with the same physical features as Naruto's ninjato.
Naruto flicked the katana to his side, holding his left arm out with the longer blade pointed upwards. His back was straight, his legs were a little bit apart and bent slightly at the knees; Mifune recognized it as the River Stance, a samurai stance. Naruto was wearing his full shinobi gear and he adjusted his black half mask.
"You, Mifune, will die by a samurai stance." Naruto said. He bent down a bit more and Naruto's katana pointed at Mifune from over his head, touching the tips of his right hand on the ground. Changing from a lax River Stance to a tightened River Stance. A wry smirk then lifted up on the corner of the Ghosts face, asking. "Do you know fear, Mifune?"
"A samurai knows no fear."
Naruto breathed out and a small puff of smoke escaped his nose. "Then I will show."
The two fighters nodded to the proctor, Doton, and the man brought his hand down. "Begin!"
Mifune took the initiative and bounded forward towards Naruto, shooting towards the Ghost with his hand clenching the handle of his katana and his other hand holding the sheath, ready for the quick draw.
He made to draw his blade to cut the blonde from his right wrist to his left shoulder, effectively killing him.
His eyes widened and his heart shuddered.
The Ghost's bespectacled eyes briefly flashed with white energy and the shadows under his eyes darkened.
The master samurai's body froze as his blade was half drawn-
The Ghost came into existence before him in a burst of black smoke and the bright red edge of his katana cut upwards, slicing the front of Mifune's torso open from the base of his stomach, tearing open his sternum and cleanly ripping through his throat. Another small burst of black smoke came from behind him and the Ghost in front of Mifune's frozen form gradually phased out of sight as watery afterimages of the Ghost flowed behind him, he roared mutely through his unmoving, grit teeth, as the Ghost's weapon sliced through the lower part of his spine, directly above his pelvis. A poof of smoke erupted to his left and the Ghost's katana cut off his leg as if it was made out of water and the watery afterimages of the Ghost rushed to Mifune's left side after the last burst of smoke and sliced the back of Mifune's right knee.
Time unfroze and his body flopped forward onto the grass; his wide open torso bled out unhindered and the searing pain from his spine being severed tore through him like a bonfire.
His screams of agony were silenced by a katana blade jammed into his head.
-Mifune blinked and gnashed his teeth, halting his run and hopping backwards.
The Ghost chuckled lowly at the hasty retreat of his samurai opponent, still holding his aggressive River Stance. "Almost got you there, didn't I?"
Mifune bared his teeth and yelled. "Your tricks will not work on me, Ghost!"
The masked man sighed, almost in disappointment, and his terror inducing killer intent seeped back into his body as he said. "Worth a shot."
River Stance was the only samurai stance the Ghost in Glasses knew, and he wasn't too proficient in it. He had learnt it during a personal training trip to Iron country. The Ghost choosing to use the fighting style he wasn't even that proficient in was questionable but, in the mind of the Ghost, he hadn't gotten the chance to ever use the fighting style. He found it more convenient to try the style on a master samurai after a few sessions of using the style against his Smoke clones.
The technique the Ghost had use to show Mifune one of the hundred ways he could kill the samurai was directing a stronger concentration of killer intent at his opponent, much stronger than what he had done to Kakuzu all those years ago.
The bespectacled assassin had to give it to Mifune; lesser people had died of cardiac arrest once they were hit with Naruto's murderous intent.
Night Terror, the Ghost's infamous ninjato-now katana-began pulsing smoke from the fizzling red cutting edge.
The Ghost ran forward, the shadows under his darkened more, enveloping his face and leaving his blue eyes to shine brightly from the dark recesses. Mifune's heart had not stopped clamouring at the image of death he had seen and now, watching the Ghost come at him at high chunin speed, his feet were forcefully rooted into the ground.
The blues of the Ghost's eyes now resembled a frothing river, crashing violently against each other with enough power to create vapour.
The barren darkness covering the Ghost's face, as he took his time to approach, and the beams of cerulean glowing ominously at him…
He saw his death again.
Over and over again.
Night terror sliced through the base of his skull and out of his forehead.
The silver and red katana of the Ghost impaled his heart.
The blade of his opponent arced upwards and sliced through his chin, cleanly past his nose and the front part of his brain, and past his temple.
The ill-reputed weapon of the Legend class assassin swung horizontally and cut open his abdomen, spilling his guts out of his body and charring them black from being in contact with the water and lightning saturated sword.
A straight kick smashed into his chest with enough force for his very heart to shoot out of his body.
Mifune clenched his teeth and shook his head, drawing his blade just in time to parry the Ghost's stab for his throat, a shower of white sparks fell from the contact and the assassin moved the motion of his opponent only barely avoiding his strike and swung around, cracking a backfist into Mifune's forehead, sweeping the dazed samurai off his feet and stabbing his blade down, cutting into Mifune's throat.
The samurai shook his head and rolled aside.
His eyes bugged out when the illusions of his death lifted from his eyes, making him realize that the Ghost had not moved at all since the fight began, standing with Night terror at his side and pointed to the lush green grass.
That all this time, he had been fighting himself, rolling on the ground, like a mad person.
This wasn't an illusion.
This was the killer intent of the Ghost.
A dark smirk slid up the Ghost's dark face, mostly unseen due to the shadows covering his face but felt by every single onlooker around the training ground.
Chills ran through them as cool air swept through the training ground.
'Is this the true power of the Ghost?!' nearly all of them exclaimed in their minds; they couldn't even only imagine the things Naruto's murderous intent was showing Mifune.
They really couldn't.
Mifune had not fought the Ghost when he was seventeen, but the old samurai had watched once as the legendary assassin killed and maimed over a hundred Konoha shinobi using only a set of kunai and random explosions of speed.
Now, twenty two years later, he had not foreseen this much of a power increase.
Yes, he had expected the Leader of Dark country to be stronger; any person with sense in his head and was aware of the world around him would at least know that there was going to be a power difference between when a person was seventeen to when a person was thirty nine…
But not this much of a difference.
No one, not even the assassins former teacher, could have predicted this much of a change.
"Fight me, coward!" the master samurai roared and struck the side of his head with his fist twice, shaking off the fear threatening to overcome his mind. "Fight me!" he swivelled around on his heel, away from a stab to his spine and sliced his blade upwards, only cutting through a watery afterimage and forced to raise his katana to block an upward cut from Night terror. He predicted the feint, catching two more feints-a jab to his heart, which he parried aside, and a slice to clip off his fingers, which had his hastily lower his sword a little-but, as their swords clashed from a slice for his head, raining sparks on contact, the Ghost pivoted his right leg in a display of dexterity and swiftness, and bashed a wicked right hook kick into the other side of the man's head.
The old samurai tried to roll with the kick but his legs failed him after the first tumble, making him flop onto his face.
He rolled to the side as a sword stroke burned the grass, almost cleaving his whole body in half. Mifune flipped back onto his feet, ensuring to not use his hands and holding his blade close to his body as a bolt of lightning was shot at him.
The man grit his teeth as the paralyzing shot clanged against his sword, wisely realizing that the jutsu wasn't something he should out right block, he angled his katana downwards for the lightning based attack to enter the ground. He repeated this tactic as the Ghost shot bolt after bolt of paralyzing lightning, until the assassin zigzagged towards him, disappearing in a burst of smoke after the fifth step and re-emerging behind the old samurai, almost as if he had come out of Mifune's shadow.
The old man managed to bend his back, sacrificing the armour on his back to be torn open by Night terror.
Mifune turned around with a wide sideways strike, sacrificing his guard for raw strength and speed, hoping to end the man with that one attack, but his heart sunk as the blade harmlessly passed through the Ghost's neck, only a few wisps of smoke followed the blade as it left.
The Ghost dragged his sword back and thrust his right palm forward, into the unguarded chest of the master samurai.
The man's shoulder and shin samurai guards ripped off him as the palm strike threw him back, careening through the air and bouncing like a stone on the grassy ground.
The Ghost took his time approaching the old man as he staggered back to his feet.
Much like how Naruto could turn his whole body into lightning, fully utilizing his Lightning release bloodline, he could also turn his body into smoke using his Smoke release kekkai genkai. At the drop of a hat and at the very last second, he could turn his body into smoke. Outwardly, he wouldn't change all that much, unlike when he turned into lightning, but, in all sense of the word, he became a true ghost.
It was simply called Intangibility.
The only thing that had been able to affect the Ghost in this immaterial state was chakra-or an attack-from a tailed beast/jinchuriki under the influence of a tailed beast.
Both forms, Lightning and Smoke forms, worked seamlessly together for when the Ghost wanted to instantaneously move from one place to another, usually choosing to end up behind his victims, which made him look he had 'teleported' to his destination in a burst of smoke or how it looked like he had emerged from the shadow of his victim.
Smoke form was the harder of the two forms the Ghost could take up, not including the Ghost's Soul form as that form was a part of the White Noise technique and the Guardian form, which was what made the Silent Night technique. Smoke form took a lot of concentration to undergo, unlike when he was in his Lightning form but once he was under Intangibility he could maintain it for however long he wanted; he could pass through his opponents, force them to inhale the smoke from his body and destroy them from the inside.
The Ghost did not want the fight to end that way though.
Over the years, the Ghost had mastered his chakra, learned more and perfected his techniques to a fine point.
Lightning form was fast, Smoke form was untouchable, Soul form was untraceable and Guardian form was a combination of all three, though yet still a form on its own.
His body became tangible once more and he used the sole of his sandals to deflect a strike to his side, pushing his foot and carrying the sword to the side. The man's firm grip never left the handle of his blade so he too was carried along with the push, giving the Ghost plenty of time to spin on his heel and drive a bone chilling heel kick into Mifune's head, using the same leg he had used to parry the former strike. A crater formed on the ground as the samurais head crashed down.
Mifune coughed out blood as a kick to his abdomen tossed his limp body away.
He was severely outclassed.
The Ghost came up to Mifune as quickly as he had landed and stabbed his weapon down, cutting close to his left ear.
The older man's eyes briefly flicked to the sword, merely a quick look at the silver katana, and he saw it.
He saw the fear seated in his eyes.
He saw how his face twisted in realization.
A hand grabbed him by the front of his armour and lifted him up a little. A savage elbow cracked into his nose, bringing him back down onto the ground with a thud.
This cycle repeated itself five grisly times, each elbow making Mifune's face bloodier and bloodier as he glanced at his reflection on Night terror.
Doton ran in to halt the fight, intending to call it in the Ghost's favour, but the blue eyed phantom looked over his shoulder with a glowing white eyed glare.
The vengeful spirit continued his onslaught on Mifune's unprotected face, shattering his nose to the point it couldn't even be recognized anymore. The emotionless assassin, whose face was bathed in darkness and whose blue eyes glowed dangerously, whispered down to the bleary samurai he was brutally pummelling. "This is for insulting my student." Bang! "This is for your annoying pride." Crack! "And this is for wasting all our time."
Thwack!
The Ghost released the panting man, who had accidentally swallowed a few of his own teeth. He rubbed his sore elbow, cleaning the blood off and frowned down at the stubbornly-still-alive samurai.
"Better not forget this day, samurai." The Ghost said in a deep voice and raised his hand. Doton came up and motioned to the Ghost. "Today's your lucky day."
"Winner!"
Mifune, through his one open eye, looked up at the man.
He thought he would see Hanzo standing over his battered body.
"Y-Y-You…" he whispered shakily, his eyes quivering in their sockets. The Ghost raised an eyebrow as Doton hastily released his hand, the shadows on his face receded back to under his eyes and his blue eyes dimmed from their murderous glow. "Y-You have it…don't you…?"
The Ghost remained silent and the old samurai spoke again, as his guards and three Snow medics rushed up to him to tend to his wounds.
"H-Hanzo gave it to you…" he pointed a trembling hand up at the monster that had defeated him.
Mifune was certain, absolutely certain, the bandage covered wound on his forehead and throbbed with familiarity as the Ghost was crushing his head into a bloody smear.
A bright smile slowly crept up Naruto's face. "I have no idea what you're talking about, Lord Mifune." He collected the Neutrality Pact from Doton's secretary, the one that had written the Pact and the one the Four Daimyos had approved of. He went down on one knee and forced a pen into Mifune's hand. "Sign here before you pass out."
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Bat eyed her teacher suspiciously and Naruto shook his head. "I promise I'll show you once we find somewhere private." The vampire held her tongue and Naruto smiled gently, placing a hand on her shoulder and looking deep into her eyes. He saw the argument burning on the tip of her tongue and how her hidden face, shifted from expressionless to sad. "I've been ashamed of this for twenty two years, Su. Give me a bit more time."
His black operative wife screwed his lips to the side and nodded once. "…Ok."
The woman stepped away from him and phased out of sight. Kushina then stood before Naruto and handed him his katana, which Naruto reclaimed and slid his palm down the flat side of the sword, from the tip to the guard, and the weapon turned back into his normal length ninjato.
"…What was that all about?" she asked.
The man exhaled tiredly, blankly watching the other Leaders as they signed their names and placed their seals onto the Neutrality Pact, right there on the training ground. "Something I did when I was younger."
He didn't regret doing it.
He was ashamed of doing it.
"Is this a bad time…?" Kushina wondered casually.
"Hm?" the man grunted, deep in thought.
"Our…date…?"
Naruto was snapped out of his thoughts and he sent a wide grin to the adorable tomboy. "Ah, yes. We'll go out this night." He gave her a teasing, though pointed, look. "Don't wear anything fancy." The Uzumaki bit her bottom lip in sheer excitement but confusion still swam in her eyes.
Was that some sort of code to wear something fancy?
Did he really mean to dress casually?
What about semi-formal?
…Pyjamas…?
Naruto chuckled as he saw the cogwheels turning in her head, reflecting from her purple orbs. "Seriously. Don't wear anything fancy; wear something…casual, comfortable-" He paused when he felt the Dark country Supreme Commander seal on his left shoulder tingle; the seal was directly connected to all members of his council to speak directly to him, but only used for dire emergencies. He quickly deciphered the code and his eyes dimmed fractionally. "Let me go and talk to Sueki."
The vampire had found a secure location somewhere outside of the Crystal Citadel. It was the house of a Dark born Suna merchant, a citizen of Dark country and a respected trader in Sunagakure, from what Naruto could catch. The fairly large house was situated in a corner of Light city and was now being patrolled by his BLAK operatives and the whole place had been swept down from top to bottom of bugs or microphones, despite the Dark country trader insisting the place was private.
Kushina and Kisame followed Naruto as BLAK operative Panda came to the Snow Daimyos palace to direct him to the secured location.
Team Twelve welcomed him into the house, dropping to their right knees, placing their hands over their hearts and bowing their heads, while Team Eleven watched from the roof for any disturbances. The black operatives had also asserted the Dark merchant not be present to welcome his master into the house, that he would have time later to speak with 'Lord Naruto'.
Panda joined her teammates and motioned up the stairs.
"Commander Bat is upstairs. Third room on the left."
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Bat took off her BLAK mask and placed it on the dresser.
Naruto began speaking; he took her mind back twenty two years.
"I had just gotten you back from Hanzo," he said, slowly walking to her and motioning to the only chair in the room. Her red eyes looked at the seat, teetering in place on whether she should accept and sit down or insist her teacher sit down. Naruto silently looked to her, not speaking. The white haired lady sighed and gently sat down. "I didn't know where I was going, and I didn't care; as long as you were far away from that salamander…"
Naruto was low on chakra; he had spent his last few drops of energy retrieving his student as the old Kage dropped her and Konan, keeping his word as soon as Yahiko killed himself.
The rain had been in his eyes and he fled with haggard steps, carrying the fifteen year old vampire in his arms.
Naruto finally stopped under a tree outside of Ame but Naruto refused to let go of his friend, falling onto his knees and cradling her in his arms.
He finally got a good look at her.
Sueki's formerly crimson orbs were now milky white and there were purple veins streaking up her neck and onto her cheeks.
The little girl looked around, whispering in a trembling voice. "S-S-Sensei…?" the boy wiggled an arm around her and grabbed her searching hands. "S-Sensei…Is that you…?"
Naruto looked at her face worriedly, his foggy mind was trying to concentrate, trying to figure out what was wrong with her. "I'm here, kid. Sensei's here."
"I-I can't see." Sueki whispered tiredly, her hands squeezing Naruto's weakly. "Sensei, I can't see."
"I'll-I'll figure this out, Su." Naruto stammered, shaking the girl to keep her eyes open. "Don't sleep, ok? You can't go to sleep."
He did not know that veins were also creeping up his neck, these ones were toxic green, and his blue eyes were gradually dimming, turning white. His vision became weaker and sweet slumber called to him.
He refused to go blind.
He scratched for chakra to make a clone, even a weak one, to go and bring help.
He found nothing.
He was so…tired…
Out of the two women Hanzo had captured and taken hostage, Sueki was more stubborn. She struggled. She had kicked and scratched and clawed and snapped, raving like wild animal and fighting like a cornered lion until Hanzo forced her to inhale a large dose of poison mist, a stronger dose than his conscience would allow him any other time.
Sueki was sure at least her attempt to not get captured by the Kage would make her teacher proud.
Naruto felt his eyes droop as the poison in his system shut down his internal organs, turning his skin an ugly shade of grey.
He jumped and his eyes opened as…something…scampered out of the bushes before him and stood on its hind legs. It was just about a foot and a half tall standing on its legs like that and its skin was coal black with splotches of red markings here and there, similar to how a painter would splash drops of red on a black painted canvas.
The Ghost's vision was too dark to clearly see what it was.
The thing standing before the two dying friends silently looked on with eyes heavy from centuries of age and wisdom, before he opened his serrated teeth. The thing's saliva dribbled down from its tongue and it seeped onto its tiny, cupped hands. It waddled towards the masked blonde cradling his gradually cooling best friend. Naruto growled weakly, defensively, though unable to put up any kind of fight as the murky looking creature clambered up his back, ripped his half mask off his face, wrenched open his disfigured mouth and the saliva poured directly down his throat.
It tasted disgusting.
The effects were immediate.
The colour returned to Naruto's face and the life draining signs of the poison-the veins and his foggy eyes-left him as if they had evaporated from his body.
He still didn't have the strength to grab the animal perched on his shoulder, only hugging his dying friend closer to his chest.
The small creature skittered down Naruto's back and stood in front of his once again, proudly standing on his hind legs and looking up at the disfigured seventeen year old boy cradling his vampire friend in his arms. His beady black eyes glimmered as he examined the symptoms Sueki was displaying and the Ame rain mercilessly beating down on them, not hindered much by the tree, slid down the animal's slimy body.
Naruto looked back at the creature, a sagely looking salamander from first glance, and he begged without thinking. "Help her."
"…It is remarkable you are still alive, Ghost." The old salamander said in an even tone. "Hanzo used his best poison on you…sadly it is not the same poison he used on the girl." His eyes dipped down to the girl as she shivered, trembling from a cold only she could feel. Thin blood started seeping out of the corners of her lips. "Hanzo had to mix his poison with mine just to put her down. Strong girl."
Naruto didn't care what the salamander elder had to say. "Help her!"
"Hanzo…he asked me to bring you this." He shuffled to the boy and turned around, bending down onto his knees. On his back was a large scroll that rolled open on its own. There was only one name on the scroll.
Hanzo.
"Hanzo is passing our summoning contract to you, Ghost." The elder said in a monotone, keeping his emotions at bay. "It was his last order."
Even now, the fighting was still going on with Hanzo against Nagato.
"The cure can only possibly come if you become our summoner."
Naruto bit his thumb without thinking and signed his name onto the salamander summoning contract.
The scroll rolled back up on its own, just as the elder whipped around and bit down hard on Naruto's hand, sinking his serrated teeth into Naruto skin and pouring poison into the new summoner's body.
Sueki had stopped moving now.
"Quickly, Ghost, your saliva is now the cure." The elder said hurriedly and Naruto gently pried open the girls mouth…
Naruto, presently, took off his half mask and showed his wife his mutilated maw once again. His teeth clattered as he said, pointing at the serrated, needle-like rows of teeth. "The salamander elder called this the Approval of the Salamander. Hanzo only had his venom sacks…I have that and this."
Sueki's eyes widened and she gasped in realization. "That's why you're immune to poisons…" His teeth were something she had assumed had been caused by his Lightning release bloodline, or from using Silent Night against the former Amekage. Her red eyes then dipped. "Why didn't you ever tell me, sensei?"
"I was ashamed to think Hanzo, of all people, was the one that saved our lives." Naruto shrugged limply. "I haven't thought about those salamanders until the old samurai mentioned Hanzo." He remained still as he felt a pair of soft hands touch his cheeks.
The vampire sighed heavily. "Sensei…I'm not disappointed in you."
"…I know."
"I'm happy you did that to save my life."
"You are…?"
The woman scoffed and rolled her crimson eyes genially, breaking her emotionless façade. "Of course I am; I would have done the same in a heartbeat."
Naruto's eyes glittered and he looked away shyly, saying in a timid voice. "You…don't care that I'm ugly…?"
Sueki giggled and pressed herself closer to her husband, very much liking how his arms wrapped around her. She beamed up at him and responded. "Oh Naruto, honey…you were ugly when we first met and you're just as ugly now."
"Pshhh, you're making me blush, Su~"
She tapped the hollow bone that was supposed to be his nose. "I love you all the same."
The happy couple exited the room, Sueki only slid her mask back on as they marched down the stairs.
Naruto could only hope, like the past twenty two years, he wouldn't ever need to use his salamander summons.
Later that evening, as Naruto was rushing about the city and preparing for his date with Kushina, Bat and her team called for his attention and relayed to him a message Umara Kurama, clan head of the Kurama clan, had sent them via walkie talkie.
Minato Namikaze was making suspicious movements around the country; first coming back to Konoha to find that he had no house and no money, then he left the village the next day to the Fire capital to meet the Daimyo, according to one of Naruto's sources inside the palace, and then ROOT tracked Minato to Hidden Mountain, where he bought a house atop one of the many mountain ranges within the village's border. While his comrades that had returned from Chill had either killed themselves after suffering from the memories of that village, or had taken to drugs and alcohol to make themselves forget, Minato moved about with vacant eyes and unfocused steps.
ROOT knew of a handful of places Minato had gone in his search for the truth and with each revelation, the blonde lost more and more life in his eyes.
Umara was uneasy when her clan mates had sighted Minato scouting the outside of their near empty clan compound.
Naruto knew a ticking time bomb when he sees one-or hears one-and Minato was just about to explode.
He sent Team Twelve to Konoha to personally deliver a message to Umara, and then they would return to Darkness, to the BLAK Headquarters in the Night Forest, to assemble a force of black operatives for this delicate mission.
The Kurama clan was coming back to Dark country.
Side-Info
Night Terror: this is the name of Naruto's ninjato. It was a gift from his late brother, Torune Uzumaki, and was so far unnamed until two years later, during a not-so-friendly spar with Sabaku no Tetsuyo, Sandaime Kazekage, where Naruto bypassed the iron sand defence and stabbed the weapon into the Kazekage's side. The man experienced nightmares that night and had said that his wife complained to him of his 'Night terrors'. Naruto discovered that some of his chakra had leaked into Tetsuyo through the ninjato and he subsequently took his chakra back. Torune Uzumaki had told a lie when he said that the blade had been crafted not too long after Naruto arrived on Uzushio, for he had called his best weapon maker six months before and ordered for the blade to be made, using the finest and purest of Whirlpool steel and the strongest of the trees. The man had done had long since observed that his then future brothers chakra would melt through any normal weapon and so formed a custom array of seals to ensure that the weapon did not succumb to the Ghost's chakra.
Naruto's ultimate aim is to make Night terror a legendary weapon, similar to the like of the Seven Swords of the Mist, the Nidaime Hokage's Raijin no Ken, the Grass cutter long sword and Madara Uchiha's Gunbai, so from the very first day he got his ninjato, he has been pouring exactly half of all his chakra into the storage seal at the base of the blade-not the seal at the tip of the blade-and before he went to sleep he repeated this process of pouring in half of his total chakra reserves. There is no known limit to the storage seal Torune crafted. The function of the seal at the tip of the blade is to either push Naruto's chakra out of the sword and into the victim, once the ninjato was plunged into any part of their body, or was to suck out chakra from the intended victim.
There are speculations going around that Night terrors anility doesn't end at cutting, stabbing, slashing and chakra draining but also, when the victim is nearing the bottom of their chakra reserves, the ninjato may also be stealing the souls of its victims.
Night terror is a secondary store for Naruto's chakra on the occasion his reserves finish and it is also, in a way, an extension of his will.
There is a high possibility that once Naruto reaches a particular point in the use of his weapon, it is most likely Night terror would become semi-sentient, or completely, sentient.
River Stance: this is a samurai stance Naruto had learnt from a ronin during his personal training trip in Iron country. It is neither a common nor uncommon stance among samurai inside or outside of Iron country, and the reason Naruto had learnt the style was to get a deeper understanding of how samurai fought, allowing him to devise better ways to handle them quickly and cleanly.
River Stance makes use of fluid, smooth motions, transitioning attacks though it has weak blocks. Another reason Naruto had chosen to learn River Stance instead of any other style within his reach (Like Thunderstorm Stance and Rain Stance) was so as to train in his less dominant water affinity chakra, using movements and following thought processes that weren't necessarily as fast as his lightning affinity chakra but no less deadly. In the space of twenty five years, Naruto has only used this stance five times.
It is the only samurai stance Naruto knows.
Authors note
I thought of whether or not I should add a side-story to the end of this chapter or leave it under this note. The side-story is mean to be of Naruto training Kushina before she goes for the Chunin Exams, to give you guys an idea on how Naruto, Kushina and Sueki fight …so I decided to push the side-story to the next chapter.
End it on this note, y'know. This chapter is long enough.
Does anyone want to read that side-story?
How was this chapter though? They've written and signed the pact, Naruto maims Mifune, Naruto has the Salamander Summons (thus having venom sacks and sharp teeth, one thing more than Hanzo) and the returning the Kurama clan back to Konoha is underway (but…not just yet).
A lot of stuff happened, my dear readers. Drop your thoughts on the events that took place and the revelations we came upon. Please stay safe, wherever you are in the world, and I will see you when I see you.
Foy.