Third Person POV ~
And just like that 2 months passed for Naruto with Gai and his youth. Now his Taijutsu was a mix of Gai's strong fist, boxing style and his street style with a little mix of his own movement which made it more unpredictable. He decided he was better with keeping his style unpredictable than any particular Kata. That didn't mean he didn't know any. His style was more focused on speed, swiftness, body agility and quick strikes. His fighting stance was somewhat in appearance like an animal, a predator out for his prey; body crouched, right leg ahead, left leg behind a little bent, arms in a boxing stance and palms using like claws.
Naruto's Fuinjutsu impressively progressed really fast. Under Jiraiya's guidance, while on his training trip, he had learned basics. Jiraiya had been patient enough to teach him proper kanji, katakana, hiragana, how to keep handwriting neat and all the rookie information needed for basic sealing. Had he continued teaching Naruto, he would have reached Level 2 quickly. According to books Naruto read, there are total 10 Levels. In these two months though, he had reached Level 3 without much difficulty. Currently starting Level 4. He had already made a few of his own seals, basics of course. Some of it included flash smoke tags, soundless paper bombs, paint exploding bombs and same like them with variations.
Naruto's Ninjutsu arsenal drastically expanded too. He had unbelievable number of clones to help. He had checked for his affinity and the results had surprised him greatly. His chakra paper had splitted in half with a rather satisfying sound, it continued to soak one piece of the splitted paper. Just when he concluded that he was one those lucky ones to have 2 affinities, the other dry part of the splitted paper had burnt to ashes.
He had Futon, Suiton and Katon.
Wind being the strongest then Water and then Fire. He was kind of weirded out by the fact that he had water and fire both, that time Kurama had commented it was because of him being sealed within Naruto. Biju had their own affinity and because Naruto and he were on good terms he had allowed Naruto to use his affinity. He had explained the fire wasn't like normal fires, instead it was rather stronger, it had the capability to turn bones to ashes in matter of minutes. Naruto had noticed, the Katon jutsu he uses, unlike usual had a stronger shade of red with a tinge of blue and black.
Being wind his strongest element, wind jutsus came easily to him, a knowledgeable ninja would know that wind was the hardest to master but Naruto had succeeded in getting down 10 jutsus.
Water his secondary was good to him as well, it was strong enough for him to manipulate and perform jutsus without any source of water body nearby. That meant he could produce water, from humidity and moisture, from thin air. He could perform 5 Suiton jutsus.
Fire unsurprisingly wasn't so tough to use but he chose to keep it minimum. For now at least. Fire jutsus weren't so hard to learn and he had mastered 4 basic ones already.
He had mastered 2 of the lowest rank of normal Katon jutsu and Kurama had huffed at him, seemingly offended. When Naruto had asked if something was wrong, he had scoffed at his face saying why wouldn't he try to use his 'Kitsune Katon'. Naruto had raised an eyebrow, because hell if there was anything mentioned by the name of Fox Fire in the jutsu list. Kurama had rolled his eyes at him, Of course there wouldn't be kit. They are mine and only my Jiji and siblings knew I had my own affinity." He had said. Naruto's eyes had brightened up hearing that he had asked if the Biju could teach him and Kurama had narrowed his eyes at him then huffed again. Of course I will. I do not wish to have a weak host."Kurama had stated and Naruto had cheered cuddling in his tails. Which of course resulted in him being thrown to the real world. Harshly.
Truth be told, he really didn't care if he had a single or all five basic elemental nature transformation. He likes Ninjutsu.
He had noted that his strongest complimented the other two greatly but that didn't stop him learning other elements.
Because of his thirst to learn further of different elements, he had continued and with a little more effort had learned 5 Doton and 3 Raiton, which could be offensive and defensive, jutsu.
Another reason why he was so drawn towards ninjutsu was because unlike other Ninjas, Naruto could use multiple jutsus and he wouldn't even break a sweat. He had abnormal amount of chakra after all, not to mention his stamina wasn't something one could laugh at. He was determined to become a versatile Shinobi and giving a little importance to Ninjutsu for a while wouldn't hurt nobody. He had to start taking missions soon, he would need them.
He had experimented and made a seal, seal for himself that helps him manipulate chakra all over his body with more ease, having inhumane amount of chakra had disadvantages too. The seal was made in such a way that only could be used twice. It was customized solely for himself, seeing that he had rather unique chakra pathway and that the seal needs a constant supply of chakra, which he could provide. If he is successful with the seal not burning, he would try to make it permanent and tattoo the seal on his body. He had named it 'Chakra Manipyurēshon Fuin'.
Naruto was still weak in area of genjutsu, though he could make a few low level genjutsu and break almost all kind of Genjutsu. He wasn't even interested in genjutsu if you would ask him. He was fine with just being able to break them.
Naruto's aim was perfect, so naturally his shurikenjutsu was perfect as well.
He had surprised himself with his quick adaptation to any weaponary. So far in Bukijutsu, he could use Bo staff, nunchaku, and basics of Tessenjutsu.
Now this is one hell of a progress. Naruto now could perform Iryou ninjutsu. He had asked for help from Tsunade which shocked her at first but then made her unbelievablely happy. Tsunade gladly explained and helped Naruto with basics which came to him easily as he had read the books on medical field at least 5 times. He adapted mystical palm with difficulty, given his large chakra reserves and seeing it has only been two months but with the help of thousands of clones' unending hard work did him good. His temporary chakra manipulation seal had helped him here too. The thing that shocked him and Tsunade both was the color of light from his palm when performing mystical palm. It was shining golden.
It was of no much use to him, since him and Kurama share chakra his healing factor raised higher than it already had been in past.
He was aware of his Uzumaki bloodline healing factor also known as heal bite, which he found he had inherited from his mother as a part of his kekkei genkai, but it sickened Naruto to let other people touch him let alone bite him, he learnt Iryou ninjutsu so he wouldn't be forced to use such measures.
In the end he had grumpily confessed that he could heal but that didn't mean he liked to. It took at lot of his concentration and time. Honestly he would rather fight and not let anyone get injured instead heal. That didn't mean he wouldn't help anyone in need though.
Kenjutsu was something he was eager to learn but hadn't yet found anyone who could help him.
Naruto still had no clue about Senjutsu which pretty much annoyed him. He had only read about it in theory which lead him to mediation. And meditation helped him with almost everything; concentration, chakra control, refreshing his reserves, dealing with stress which subdued his foul mood about the topic.
Kurama and Naruto's relationship was on good terms. They were like ...cousins. Yeah cousins. Couldn't stand each other but would talk randomly, not before throwing a string of insults that is. Kurama wouldn't admit out loud to anyone even if he had to die, he had become fond of his host and Naruto of his Biju. The Demon Fox was the only one who knew the real him, whole and sole. Also one of those who Naruto talked to apparently.
He read in a history book about Uzumaki clan and had found a few details that interested him.
Uzumaki's usually wore Kimono, male and female alike, those battle Kimono he had seen paintings of in the books had mesmerized him, either they wore full length Kimono or just Kimono top and pair it up with shorts or pants or slacks or whatever they wished.
Uzumaki's kept their hair long. The royals, in fact had the tradition of keeping their hair past waist length.
One more detail about their appearance what he found 'So cool!' was earrings. Each one would have at least one ear pierced.
Naruto had contemplated in changing his style completely but in the end had decided on the contrary.
Still though, that didn't mean he couldn't adjust this and that, here and there.
It had been almost 3 months since he had left team Kakashi and not just his skills but also personality and appearance changed.
He no longer cared much about colors but one could spot a little orange on him most of the time. Orange color had a sentimental value; his mother - Red Hot Habanero, his father - Yellow Flash together made the Orange Hokage!
His style was something that would make Ino weep happy tears because finally there was a man in the village who could be called stylish. Finally!
He had even got one piercing in each ear lobe done.
Now he wore training gear consisting of plain net mesh thumb hole undershirt, black turtleneck short sleeved T-shirt with two blood orange colored horizontal stripes running on chest with red Uzumaki crest stitched on the back of shirt, paired up with black joggers which had two blood orange vertical lines running by each side of leg and navy blue calf length flat Shinobi sandals.
His mission garb consisted of black sleeveless turtleneck muscled undershirt, blood orange colored sleeveless V-neck zipper that hugged his torso and chest perfectly; it wasn't too tight or too loose - somewhat in between, comfortable and it also didn't restrict his movements, black ANBU style pants, he wasn't fond of bandage wrappings around his body so he chose to wear long flat open toe Shinobi boots that reached just below his knee; to keep their movements silent, trained Shinobi wrapped their shins and ankles with bandages but his shoes were specially made with a little fuinjutsu, seriously though fuinjutsu was so helpful, that he could avoid that (he had spent quite some time in searching for those perfect pairs and Kami did he feel like an appearance-obsessed kid but it was for duty's sake, no seriously!), he didn't like exposing too much skin all the time and he felt his arms were too exposed and unguarded so he proceeded to accessorise his outfit with black finger less gloves that reached til his biceps. He wore a simple black stud in left ear and black ring in right.
What? He likes it that way. He looked cool and you can't deny it. Dattebayo!
He was no longer a knucklehead but unpredictable still stayed in his personality. He was calm, not stoic yet he never spoke much anymore, but there was always a small smile on his face however.
The glares and insults reduced but were still there but no longer would he care because whenever this would start feeling overwhelmed, he would talk to Kurama or think about his training or parents which always calmed him.
He liked the shadows, though not so much to make it home. He was more of a bright side person, like the sun; bright, warm and beautiful. Jiraiya often called him Sun and he liked himself that way.
Being a jinchuriki of Kurama had it's perks, his skin was smooth and scarless, his body temperature would baffle any medic but he was fine staying warmer than natural. He didn't have to spend a lot on his hair either, like Sakura had instructed him to do, his hair, to him at least, despite being ridiculously spiky was smooth and fine enough.
He was planning on letting his hair grow longer than his father, he wanted to grow them until he could tie a reasonable ponytail.
One word - Uzumaki.
Currently he looked like a replica of Minato when he wasn't stuffing his hair in his forehead protector or was pinning or tieing it in little messy ponytail. He liked the ponytail, no offense but he wasn't fond of those wings- errr ... eartails like his father liked to keep (they just don't go with the whiskers), that was more like Sasuke's forte.
He had come to meet Tsunade one day and had let his hair open. Tsunade had had a mini heart attack when Naruto had appeared seemingly with an innocent expression, feigning obliviousness to his resemblance, but the twinkle, that he managed to hide from his Baa-chan, in his eyes had said otherwise. She just couldn't unsee it. Minato with whiskers. Though unlike his father, Naruto was not so muscular. He had lean muscles not bulky. His body could be described, in a single word, as compact. He had always been a scrawny kid and his height hadn't grown all that much in these years. His posture straight and confident unconsciously demanding obedience and respect.
Body language and aura calm, smooth and warm. His walk graceful and soundless. He had trained in stealth and information gathering as well.
The best part about Naruto, his eyes.
His eyes, like always, held mischief but now they were deep,wise, calm, kind and gentle. One would never know he was someone who has been neglected, beaten, tortured and given hardships since the beginning of his life. Those azure eyes were just so mesmerizing with that glint of innocence and wisdom mixed together, one could literally fall deeper and deeper in them.
People still pause to look at him but these days not to glare but to admire the beauty. It did affect Naruto in the beginning, he would get embarrassed. He had long forgotten about seeking attention, he had reasoned with himself that when he does something that would gain him acknowledgement he will get their respect. He didn't have to go shouting in their faces saying give me respect, acknowledge me and shit. But with time he adjusted to the new attention he was receiving and, what would give past chibi Naruto a heart attack, he didn't pay attention, totally ignore or give no second thought to it.
People don't see him much anymore, maybe have twice or thrice in these last few months, not more. But needless to say whenever they would, there would be smiles and brightness in the area.
Tsunade did see him, he would barge in with questions about medicine, theories and results of seals, requests for certain few things. Kakashi had been trying to locate Naruto, he hadn't hunted him down like he was tempted to but was close. Sakura had shrugged it off. Sai didn't really pay any mind. Iruka, however just like Tsunade saw him oftenly. They would have dinner together at least once a week. He knew about the progress of his pseudo brother/son and he couldn't be prouder. He was glad Naruto was growing into such a fine man.
It was time for him to rightfully ask for his family's possession and start doing missions.
Hokage Tower ~
Tsunade was having a good day minus the exclaims about the never ending paperwork. She was having a peaceful day and thought nothing could disturb her until a polite knock came.
Knock knock!
"Come in." she said not looking away from her paperwork where she was furiously scribbling.
"Grumpy as usual Baa-chan." greeted an amused Naruto.
Without looking she threw an empty sake bottle, which Naruto successfully dodged, and snapped, "I told you to stop calling me that gaki!"
Like always he ignored her and laughed instead. She finally took her eyes off from her paperwork and looked at him.
She had heard about his blonde gaki getting attention in a positive way these days and she couldn't suppress her smile seeing how handsome her surrogate son/brother looked.
"I'd like to talk to you alone, mind sending the ANBU out for a while ttebayo?" he questioned.
She rose an eyebrow but nodded again and waved her hands, 4 ANBU disappeared.
Naruto scrunched his face in confusion, Tsunade noticed and asked "What's wrong?"
"There is still an ANBU here. I really need to talk to you alone Baa-chan." Naruto replied firmly and narrowed his eyes as he felt the flicker of panic in chakra of the hidden ninja.
This time it was Tsunade who was confused, "I did send my ANBU away, there should be no one here apart from us."
Naruto nodded thoughtfully and started talking, "So Baa-chan I wanna start taking missions again."
What Tsunade and the hidden ninja didn't notice that Naruto secretly made a chibi shadow clone that stealthily walked up to the hidden nin and put a restraining seal on them.
Before Tsunade could reply, Naruto walked to the side where the nin was lying, Tsunade watched him confused and before she could question him he returned with a frozen Shinobi with black hooded cloak and plain white porcelain mask. Tsunade froze and her eyes widened.
Tsunade's breathing hitched, "ROOT." she gasped.
"ROOT?" Naruto questioned while dispelling his chibi clone, Tsunade didn't even get a chance to squeal at it.
"Impossible! Sensei disbanded ROOT because of their ways. How didn't any of us notice before he was here?" Tsunade said in disbelief more to herself than to the sunshine blonde.
Naruto removed the mask of the nin, scribbled on a little white sheet delicately, did some hand seals and pasted it on the man's forehead with his index and middle finger, closed his eyes. Naruto opened his eyes after a couple of seconds and looked at Tsunade with exhausted and sad eyes. Tsunade tensed but waited for him to talk. "I'll erase this part of his memory and place him where I sensed him in the first place. Can you put him in a genjutsu showing that all the ANBU have not gone and we are just talking casually? I'll make sure he doesn't realize it's a genjutsu dattebayo." Naruto said calm yet tiredly.
Tsunade nodded dumbly and complied.
Naruto turned to her giving her full attention this time, "We must talk about this somewhere else. This is a really important matter and should be taken seriously. I will explain later everything but right now we need to head to my parents' mansion. You lead the way and please conceal your chakra signature. I am not yet aware where the location is."
Tsunade tensed and looked at him, noticing all seriousness she pushed the questions aside, for the moment. She put a hand on his shoulder and they both disappeared in a puff of chakra infused smoke.
They arrived in a clearing, Tsunade walked forward with Naruto flanking on the right side, body tense, eyes moving in all directions searching for any possible threats. Tsunade's smile didn't falter at that. She was proud her gaki was more attentive now. He had definitely progressed. When they reached in an isolated area, in middle of the forest's clearing. There was an undetectable high level genjutsu which she was aware about, only because she had read of it in her Sensei's notes. She knew she wouldn't be able break it because Kushina and Minato both were high level seal masters and they had protected their home.
She was surprised to find that Naruto was already aware she wouldn't be able to open the seals and only be able to disable the Genjutsu. She did so and they came across iron gates from which they could make out the huge beautiful mansion.
What once looked like a normal scenery dispelled and they came across iron gates with a blood seal. Tsunade didn't have to instruct Naruto on how he would have to open it.
Naruto didn't bother voice his awe but his eyes regained the excitement and he tried to look everywhere at the same time. He was awed to see the mansion but that could wait, duty calls couldn't.
He was surprised to see no dust around, he guessed his parents would've put seals for cleaning. He motioned for his Hokage to sit and he himself opted to stay standing.
"What I came to talk to you about today was regarding my heritage and family possession Hokage sama. All your questions will be answered I promise you that. It is not important at the moment." He began respectfully and this time Tsunade didn't flinch at the formalness. She had grown used to it. "Who we saw as you Hokage sama referred was a Ne member under the command of one Shimura Danzo. The first seal I used to immobilize him was a restraining seal that I had recently developed. The second seal, was most important, I used it to check his memory, I found he never disbanded Ne and continued in secret without the Hokages being aware. From the reign of Sandaime it has continued to yours. Hiding such vital information and running an organization right under the nose of Hokage, terrorist or not, is a crime alone. Not to mention I found a few more interesting things. As for why I erased his memory is because, he is put under a seal which will bring him instant death if he were to speak of Danzo and obviously he, meaning Danzo will receive the information." Naruto paused letting the information sink in Tsunade's mind. Scowling she nodded for him to continue.
"I would like you to call Jiraiya-sama, I might have a plan for ROOT and he may be able to counter the seal. They aren't criminals just mindless bodies or rather tools if I may say so."
She nodded, "I will do that, anything else you suggest?"
"Hai. When he arrives I would like you to replace all the seals around the office in secret with his help. I don't have an evidence, it's just a safety measure. And add a warning tap in the seals so either he or you get the information if the seal has been tampered."
She nodded, "Good thinking." and urged him to continue.
"Danzo once worked with Orochimaru." he said after a minute. Her eyes widened.
"I see..." she muttered softly.
Naruto continued on another topic this time, "Now about why I came to meet you in the first place, I would like to inherit my family's or may I call it clans' possession. I am the sole survivor of both the respectable clans in the whole village which gives me the right. You do not have to worry about me saying the word out loud, I don't hold any interest in that. Secondly, I'd like to start taking missions again and if you plan on starting me with D ranks, respecting my current rank, I wouldn't complain though I would like them in multiples so I can move ahead fast. We both know my abilities are much more than that of my named rank, I proved my self well with my sealing and sensor abilities. I hope you'd give me a chance." He said with a grin.
Tsunade wasn't entirely dumbfounded by how Naruto was speaking and had reacted professionally in the situation. While teaching him Iryou she had seen how her fellow blonde could become serious and act proffesionally when needed. He also had a habit of opting formal speech in serious situation. Like always it only filled her with more pride.
She smiled, "Remind me to pass you the three scrolls which were to be given to you when you were 18 and told about your parents but now that you already know might as well get it over it. As for your possession, who am I to stop you? It's rightfully yours. But I would like to know when and how did you come to know about your parents. As for missions you can start with C ranks and move ahead."
He nodded "Okay. Well baa-chan, after reading about the Yondaime I had doubts about him being a relative of some sorts but when I let my hair grow, I noticed I look more and more like him. Though it didn't confirm anything I still had my doubts. As for my mother, there is only one name with Uzumaki surname in the graveyard closest to Yondaime and my birth date. I read about jinchurikis and tailed beasts too. No much information is there but one thing was clear that the seal weakens during child birth. My birthday was on the same day which was hinting something. Still I had no evidence so I kept it in the back of my mind. I figured no elder would tell me, remembering my past experience so I decided to talk to the Kyuubi."
Tsunade was in shock, she jumped and grabbed his shoulders "Are you okay? Did it do something to you?" she questioned frantically.
Naruto's eyes hardened, "Kyuubi is a HE not an IT, Tsunade-sama. He is someone who has been with me since day one, don't you dare insult him. If it wasn't for him, maybe I wouldn't have received such treatment or who knows? But one thing for sure is that, if it wasn't for him I wouldn't have been alive." Naruto answered in a calm monotonous voice which made Tsunade shiver.
She gulped, "What did he tell you?"
"I apologize for my behavior. He told me what happened and about the attack. I also met my parents in my mindscape which cleared all my doubts hence me here." he answered.
She was still shocked but nodded, "I'll send word to Jiraiya we shall talk more about this then. Your missions will start from tomorrow, come and retrieve your scrolls and missions. I'll be heading back. Is there anything else you wish to talk about?"
He hesitantly nodded, "I have a.. uhmm.. question?"
She rose a brow, "Go on..."
"Ano I wanted to learn about Senjutsu. There is no information available. I was wondering if you could help me ttebayo?" he asked with hopeful eyes.
She laughed at the blonde's antics, "Sure gaki! But for now I'm heading back."
He smiled gently and nodded, "It was great to have you as my first guest at my new home Baa-chan. Have a great day." and bowed.
She ruffled his blonde locks fondly and smiled when he chuckled at the touch.
"You've grown Naruto. I'm proud of you." And with that she disappeared.
"I'm glad Baa-chan, I'm glad." he mused to himself smiling.
*-*
Futon - Wind Release
Suiton - Water Release
Katon - Fire Release
Doton - Earth Release
Raiton - Lightning Release
Tessenjutsu - Iron Fan Technique
Chakra Manipyurēshon Fuin - Chakra Manipulation Seal