The remainder of Naruto's last week flew by in a flurry of snakes, mist tag, and getting punched in the face. Oddly enough sometimes that was all at the same time!
The boy quickly realized, with the help of inner Naruto number one, that this new personality was a result of the Mind Partition getting stronger. After a little thought between the three of them, and quite a few insults from the new personality, he came to realize that Anko was the reason why it formed. She had been forcing him to split his concentration with the different training techniques she used, doing chakra control, elemental techniques, and keeping his balance at the same time. That had made it so a new conciseness was needed, the ability to do so provided by the bloodline, while the only person he had had contact with had been a blatantly insulting sadistic bitch, giving the new part of his mind a personality.
Naruto decided he would call it his inner-Anko.
Naruto was actually having mixed emotions about the actual Anko. After the day in the clearing, when he signed the Hebi contract, she had resumed her carefree attitude. He had seen her shed a tear, one single tear. Yet for someone like Anko it was … well, amazing.
'Please! She probably had something in her eye. Maybe she was thinking of different ways to torture us and got so happy over the prospect that she shed a tear in happiness!'
Inner Anko was kind of annoying, by the way.
Shaking the thoughts from his head he kept walking towards his teams meeting spot, remembering his chakra sensing exercises, which actually involved doing the other four exercises with his eyes closed and Anko trying to throw chakra saturated Kunai at him. Needless to say he got wet, stabbed, fell from high heights, and stuck halfway through the earth on several occasions… ok, most of them.
Still, at least that was the worst of them, the silent killing exercise simply consisted of playing "Kunai Tag" while walking on water and in a shroud of mist, another technique he was able to copy while she did it.
Summoning was pretty fun, that was for sure! All of the different personalities, and different abilities, of all the snakes. And she had introduced him to the only large summon that she was able to safely call forth, Oronoukon. She had also given him some warning for summoning.
"Ok, listen up, and listen good! There are a few things you need to know about summoning kid, most of which can get you killed if you don't do it right!" seeing him nod, a very serious look on his face, she went on, "First thing, when you summon, the size of the summon is comparable to the amount of chakra you will need to spend. If you try to summon a snake when your low on chakra, and it needs more than you got, then it's going to try and take it from you! That will kill you. Second, DO. NOT. SUMMON. THE. BOSS!" she said this part right into his ear, yelling the words one at a time, "Manda, the boss snake, will kill you if you summon him. Usually he tries to get sacrifices for his service and, if you were to actually provide them, he might actually work for you. Of course, the second either I or any other Shinobi hear of Manda being summoned, your dead meat. Thirdly! Tell no one!"
This was actually the hardest for him to take, "What! What you mean tell no one? How are my teammates supposed to adapt if I don't tell them? I-" whatever he was going to say was cut off by her killing intent.
"Listen, brat, the people who need to know, know. The Hokage, me, and you! The Hebi contract is not a very well looked upon one, we summoners who use them are seen as traitors." Watching him go wide eyed at this she explains, "I know you're not a traitor, but Orochimaru was, as was I when I left the village with him. Besides, with the fox inside of you people really won't care to listen to reason if they find out. So I will repeat myself: tell no one, not even your own sensei."
This bothered Naruto more than a little, but who was he to argue? 'Beside,' he thought to himself, 'One day I'll be Hokage and people will see me and the snakes in a new light!'
Realizing he was finally at the meeting spot he looked around, not seeing or sensing anyone. Well, he was early. Sitting sideways, with his feet on the railing to the small bridge where they would meet, a stream of water flowing by gently, he closed his eyes and concentrated on both sticking to the railing and sensing chakra signatures, something he wasn't to good at.
It took only fifteen minutes for the first person to show up, though Naruto honestly wouldn't have recognized her at first if he wasn't familiar with the chakra she had. Well, it might have been the fact that her hair was cropped close to her head and she was wearing a dark red tee-shirt with black pants that went down to just past her knee's, the back of the shirt sporting her usual white circle.
"Sa-Sakura-chan?" he asked, disbelievingly, "Wha-what happened to your hair!" he asked pointing, causing the girl in question to blush.
"Baka! I'm just trying out a new style!" she said, turning around, showing off a fine a- "And stop staring at my butt!"
Rubbing the back of his head he laughed hesitantly, "No- I wouldn't… um, nice style?"
Looking at him with a wry smile she started to thank him, right before Sasuke showed up, "A new style?" he asked, a small chuckle in his voice, "More like she lost a bet with Kakashi and had to destroy the dress and cut the hair off."
"Sasuke-kun!" she wined, smiling.
Sasuke himself had on a new attire as well wearing a black one piece suit with a high collar and bandages showing from both his legs and arms, "Well, Naruto, seems some things don't change, hn? Still sticking with those ridiculous goggles?"
Indeed Naruto was still wearing his orange outfit, though the jacket front was being left open, revealing a plain black shirt underneath. The only other change was also the fact that he had four thick water bottles hanging from his belt.
Standing around there, talking, Naruto couldn't help but feel it was all just… right.
"Well dobe, you manage to learn anything useful?" he asked mockingly, Naruto's response being to smirk at him before throwing out his chakra at the boy's forehead, stunning him for a few brief seconds, enough for him to fall backwards.
"That answer your question?" he asked innocently, Sakura actually grinning at Sasuke's misfortune.
"Maa maa, Naruto. But was that really necessary?" asked their masked sensei, only a few minutes behind the others.
"Necessary? No. Fun? Yes!" was the response.
Standing up tall the jounin looked down on the three genin, a serious look on his… eye. "Alright then, the games are over. Two months ago you lot were hopeless, greener than any group of genin I had ever seen. You were all headstrong, childish, and lacked the proper training to take on missions like the two we have lined up."
"Two missions, Kakashi-sensei?" asked the pink haired girl, adjusting her pouches she wore around her waist, "I thought you only wanted to do a few missions a month and we already have two for the first day?"
"No," he said, looking down on them, "We have one mission that will start today, and one that you were specifically requested for." This last apart made them all go wide eyed, "Don't be too surprised, after the news about the mission to Wave spread there was quite bit of a stir up at The Gato Corporation. Many of his more illicit operations started coming to light and now his company is being dissolved by Rai no Kuni where it was founded and operated. The Raikage has petitioned the Hokage to send the team who witnessed both Gato's death, as well as the conditions in Wave, to report on all of this in person. So you're going to meet the Raikage."
The three of them looked awestruck, it was one thing when you go to another country, even to another hidden village, but to meet a foreign Kage… things like that didn't happen every day, especially when you were a genin still.
"Furthermore," the man went on, "as a sign of goodwill he has offered his brother to teach you three for the duration of your visit while Gato Corporation is finish being dissolved." With this he fixed them all with a look, sending a tiny touch of killer intent at Naruto to make sure he had the boys attention, "The Raikage's line is said to hold a very powerful bloodline, one that is very dangerous. We could all learn quite a bit on this trip."
"Another bloodline boss, this could prove good!"
"And the bloodline of a KAGE no less! This'll be great."
'Yup'
Now that all three Naruto's were in agreement, giving a small nod to Kakashi in turn to say he got the message, their captain carried on.
"But, that is not the mission we start today. No I requested a mission for us yesterday. It is the very hardest of C-rank missions and the hardest kind you will be sent on for solo missions when you are Chuunin. We have a missing nin to catch!" all their faces lit up at the prospect of a real fight, something to test themselves against.
"Alright listen up! The Shinobi is a C-rank missing Nin from our home sweet home, Konohagakure. He was a genin when he left, never being able to pass the Chuunin exams and was passed up four times for field promotions because he was too brash. Name: Urame Muda. He left the village seven months ago, killing his one remaining teammate, Ami, before he left." At this Sakura's eyes went wide, remembering the older girl. "Apparently Urame was upset because they were being moved to the reserves due to their sensei being reassigned. She saw him packing to leave and tried to stop him. He killed her with his strongest technique at the time of his betrayal, Katon: Ash Pile Burning, taught to him by his sensei, Asuma Sarutobi."
"Recently one of our spies intercepted a message from him going to a Curry shop in Kawa no Kuni. The message said to deliver a package to their location at an unnamed time, giving directions to their hideout, a large cave."
The others laughed this, "I guess we know why he never made it to Chuunin!" noted Sakura, smiling fiercely.
"Yes, yes, though you must treat this serious!" he said firmly, stopping the laughter, "That was a mistake true, but he left seven months ago and has had plenty of time to train and had been a genin for a year and a half before that, with formal training. Not to mention that the technique he used to kill his teammate is an upper level B-rank jutsu, able to cause third degree burns and explode as he wishes. This is going to be the most challenging you have ever had before, mainly because I will not be participating."
All of them started to protest, finally though Sasuke started to speak for them, "Kakashi, with us actually going into combat like this… wouldn't it be better if you were present?"
Kakashi looked at the boy blankly before answering, "Oh, I will be there, but only to take care of any higher class Shinobi that may be there. I want to see how you've all grown these past weeks."
"And there's no better way to do that than full on combat!" yelled Naruto, earning an eye smile from his sensei.
The four of them took off from the village not fifteen minutes afterwards, with Sakura taking note of what supplies they had and would need. Taking off Sasuke was at point, his Sharingan activated. According to the message that they had intercepted the enemies hideout was a large cave to the south west of Konoha, only a few hours run from the village.
When they arrived they stopped for a break, watching the entrance for any movement or guards, neither of which was spotted. Soon they were moving out, Sasuke on the left, Sakura and Naruto on the right, hugging the walls. All too soon they came to a fork. Choosing to split up the Uchiha went left, the other two heading straight.
The cave was surprisingly dry, considering the lushness of the area that it was located in. Walls of green and blue indicating it wasn't always so dry.
-Sasuke
Walking slowly, making sure his steps wouldn't echo, Sasuke kept wandering further down wards into the cave, soon coming across a large wooden structure against the final wall of the cave, going up to where the rock had been hacked away and blasted by something. At the base of the structure was a large body of water, running swiftly underneath the structure.
More important though, was the fact that the boy could see a flickering light coming from the man made hole at the top of the cave. Looking closely at the structure he could see the crude design it used, obviously made so it would creak no matter where you stepped on it.
'Hn, it's an advanced warning system. Crude, but effective.' He acknowledged, choosing instead to scale the walls beside it, dropping in on whoever was inside.
Unfortunately for the Uchiha, he was dealing with something beyond him… or his sensei.
Dropping down into the doorway as silent as he could, the raven haired genin quickly made two hand seals, his eyes gleaming with the Sharingan and his fingers traced with lightning.
The room he stumbled upon was small, no more than fourteen fifteen feet at any side, lit by a single lantern that hung from the ceiling, the smell of blood was thick in the air, the source of which soon became quite clear to Sasuke as he walked in.
Hunched over a bloody corpse was a… figure, black tendrils coming off its body and piercing into the chest of the cadaver, two arms attached to the tendrils were holding the body still. The rest of it was covered in blue and grey clothing, save around the eyes, which were a solid blue. From the half of the face he could see Sasuke was able to identify his hitai-ite as being from Taki, though a long slash was going through the middle.
Watching in sick fascination, Sasuke saw as the tendrils pulsed, as if they were sucking the corpses heart blood out through its chest.
"You picked a very bad time to try and be a hero, child." It said, dropping the body and calling all of the things back into his body, his arms reattaching near the shoulders. "You haven't run yet?" he asked emotionlessly, "That was a very stupid thing not to do."
Though the Uchiha could see it, the attack was far too fast for him to dodge. Wiping his right arm out it sailed at the boy, hitting him in the stomach and launching him out of the cave and off the wooden scaffolding. As his vision blackened Sasuke saw the thing in a Shinobi's skin look down at him from the top of the wood structure. And then he hit the water and knew nothing else.
Standing at the top Kakuzu looked down in disgust. Sticking one hand out to his side he summoned forth the black threads he used to fight, a single mask going with it, an eagle design on it. As the large black blob settled it began to take shape, forming legs, arms and a torso, thin wire like wings sprouting off of its back, "This base has been found out about, destroy the room, the scaffolding, kill the prisoners and my… apprentice." and he begun to chuckle, jumping down to the bottom.
-Naruto/Sakura
Following the walls, quickly and quietly, the other two were heading upwards, feeling the air get steadily heavier as they traveled upwards. Signs of the cave having been carved out becoming more and more clear as they traveled, with wooden supports being found ever few yards or so.
Amazingly they did reach an opening eventually, a large pit in the middle of the ground, seeming to form a steep slide to who knows where. The amazing part was that the slide seemed naturally formed. Edging their way around it the two found themselves at another dilemma, as there were four or five doors leading out of the room, non with windows or any sort of indicators that they recognized.
"I hope those aren't all rooms for missing nin!" Sakura whispered, hearing it echo in the cave. "Kuso!"
Seeing as their silence was broken anyway Naruto made several clones, popping noises guaranteeing they would be found by anyone in there, "Ok, I'll send a clone back to Sasuke and sensei each to let them know what we found, the rest will open the doors while we stand back!"
And they did so, two clones silently making their way back the way they came, the others walking over to open up a door each. Before the first could even touch the door though, their enemy made himself known. Blasting the door off its hinges with a fireball sending it flashing out to hit anything else that might be there.
With sick fascination the two watched as Naruto's clone was destroyed, a figure stepping out of the room. He was taller than them, nearly fifteen years old, hair a light red and eyes a violent orange, wearing black suit and a green vest similar in style to the Konoha Chuunin vest and gloves with metal backers on them. They had found their target.
"Well, what do we have here?" he asked, more than a little annoyed, "I was trying to have a little nap and next thing you know a couple of little Konoha twats are poking around, trying to get into something they just ain't ready for." A maniacal smile on his face.
Without even hesitating Naruto pulled free a kunai in his left hand, punching a hole into two of his water bottles, "Sakura, cover me while I go in there and kick his ass!" he ordered, not looking back to see the girl pull out three kunai of her own.
Throwing his kunai he made several quick seals, "Water Sword!" and in his hand appeared a short sword made of water, only two feet tall. Slashing at the boy they started a game of cat and mouse, where Naruto would try and hit Urame, who's smile only increased at the sight of the sword, while Sakura tried to pin him from afar, only to have him deflect the kunai with the metal backs of his gloves.
Naruto had managed to hit the boy a few times along the arms, but never anything deep or debilitating. Getting upset Naruto finally overextended himself, giving the boy a chance to latch onto his arms, making the boy spasm before tossing him against a wall, making the blond slump down. "Pathetic!" he yelled, turning around, meeting a fire jutsu face on.
"Katon: Fire bullet jutsu!" she yelled, spitting out the ignited oil as he tossed Naruto aside. Hitting him right in the kisser. At first she had a smug look on her face, which turned to horror as his grinning face came into view, running straight for her. Jumping for the wall she pulled out a handful of shuriken, releasing them in a hail of metal before making three seals, "Katon: Blazing Shuriken Dance" setting the shuriken… well, ablaze!
The boy just smirked some more, batting the flaming weapons away like he had before, ignoring the heat that they were releasing, even going so far as to catch the last one and throw it back at her, dodging out of instinct.
"You just don't seem to get it do you?" he said, forming a single tiger seal, "I'm a Muda, I'm Fireproof!" and with that he started firing off a grand fireball, only to get a kick the back before he could get more than a puff of smoke out.
"Fireproof, eh?" was Naruto, standing behind the older boy as he stumbled, "I like the sound of that!" and he jumped forward, bringing his foot across to try and hit the boy in the head, only for it to be blocked by nuke-nin's arm. Pushing off Urame he touched back down, dashing forward with a punch catching the boy in the gut.
"Why you!" he choked out, grabbing Naruto by the shoulders he once again tried to throw him, only to have the blond disappear in a puff of smoke that blocked his vision, "Leaf Whirlwind!" Seeing the orange blur in the smoke he quickly ducked underneath the first kick, rolling back to stop the second from hitting as well. "Please, I may not be able to use the moves but I had to defend against them during the Chuunin Exams!" he yelled, tauntingly as Naruto's second kick flew by hitting air.
"Oh, the exams you couldn't pass?" Naruto asked innocently.
Running forward he and Naruto were soon grappling hand to hand, as Sakura watched in awe at her teammate's performance.
"Your good!" he yelled in a greasy voice, "But you made one tiny mistake." And with that the boy rolled backwards, pulling Naruto with him and kicking the boy off into the pit not two yards away from him. "You need to be aware of your environment."
"NARUTO!" his pink haired companion yelled as he hit the edge of the pit with a crack, falling down into its depths.
"And then there was one!" he said in a gleeful voice, walking over to Sakura with that sick grin on his face turning a bit more, lecherous, "Oooh, I like the hair little girl. Very sporty!" pulling out a kunai he slowly stalked towards her, "I like sporty."
"Sorry, I don't do girls." She said, Pulling out two kunai of her own, running towards him. 'He doesn't have a real Taijutsu style, but he's fast and strong.' She thought to herself, ducking underneath a swing of his weapon, trying to slash out at him with her left, getting a back kick in the side. 'He probably relies on fire jutsu's, but we've kept him busy with Taijutsu.'
Sliding, she kept herself from falling with chakra, tossing her kunai as she went back, keeping him from forming anymore hand seals. 'We tried Taijutsu, I only know a couple of ninjutsu, and both are fire based. So that leaves one option!'
Jumping back he made three seals quickly, "Lets end this! Katon: Ash Pile Burning!" releasing a large cloud of burning embers and dust into the small area, obstructing her view of him. Looking around Sakura went to the only safe haven she could see.
After nearly ten seconds the ash had filled the air. Clicking his teeth it all ignited, making a large plum of flame and clearing out the air. Looking around he saw nothing, no body, no bones, no traps. Cautiously he took a few steps forward only for the girl to jump out of the middle pit and run right for him.
Running at him she made a single seal, three copies of her coming to her side. "Please, an Academy tactic like this?" he scoffed, making a single seal, maneuvering his kunai around his hand, "Katon: Flame Flower!" and he launched three large flame bullets, hitting all three copies. As the girl neared he took his weapon, stabbing right at her.
"Too bad." He said, shaking his head as he let go of the kunai, "I wasn't able to have any fun with Ami either." His eyes widened though as he saw her smile. Falling backwards she hit the ground, bursting into a hundred little butterflies that started to fly all around him. Bringing his hands forward he learned that his movements had been stopped. Trying to move his head did nothing and slowly a tree branch into view, covering his mouth.
"You killed Ami." Her voice came from behind him as a tree branch moved his arm, another placing a kunai in his hand, "Now you're going to kill yourself!" and slowly his arm moved, positioning the kunai at his heart. "Magen: Binding Tree of Sucidal Embrace!" and his arm plunged the weapon into his own chest, darkness overcoming him.
Pulling on the strings Sakura let the illusion go, binding him in ninja wire that now surrounded his whole body. Walking up to the unconscious boy she gave him a single kick to the head, "That's for Ami!" then she walked down and kicked him… elsewhere. "And that's for being a lecher!"
Flipping him over she started pulling out weapons and checking him over, pocketing his exploding tags, and making sure his bindings were secure. Suddenly the air changed, a strange sound filling it.
Plup, plup, plup, plup.
Looking up she saw some… thing, enter the room where they were. Stopping it started to look at her, its eagle mask tilting to the side as if it were thinking, before making a strange sucking motion.
A spike of chakra is all the girl had for notice, grabbing Urame with both hands and chucking him into the pit she followed after, barely missing the wave of air pressure as it struck the ground where they she had stood.
Going down the initial slide she saw as her prisoner rolled and hit the walls, soon falling again as the slide changed directions, going back on itself, twisting turning she soon found them leveling out. Standing the girl grabbed one of the missing Genin's legs, dragging him away from the shoot, already a faint echoing of the creature walking down the chute came to her ears, 'I have a little time to find Naruto and get out of here!' she thought, emerging into a dark room, torches lighting the walls and a faint sound of running water.
Not too far off she could hear people yelling, apparently seeing her. There were nearly a dozen people; men, woman and a few children even! All of them were ragged and looked weary, underfed. In the middle of everything she was able to see two figures, Sasuke who was only now coming too his senses, and Naruto who was starting to stand up.
"Sauke-kun! Naruto!" she yelled, dropping the fire user and running over to the two of them, the people giving them a wide berth. "What happened? Is everything alright?"
"Hehe, yeah, I'm fine!" laughed Naruto, eyeing Urame evilly, "Just thought I would take a nap while you dealt with that scum!" Grinning at the boys antics she turned to Sasuke, who was likewise now starting to stand, a little more wobbly than Naruto, "But Sasuke here got his ass handed to him by a bucket of water!"
Glaring daggers at the goggled boy he stood up the rest of the way, "Let's see you get punched fifty feet down and drown in a river, dobe!" Turning to Sakura he started to ask what happened when the masked blob of black tendrils reached the bottom of the shoot.
"What the hell is that?" yelled Naruto, watching as all the people began to run for the opposite wall, "My clone that went to get Sasuke was blasted away by that thing." He said, pointing at it.
"Naruto, grab Muda and keep him safe! Whatever it is it tried to kill me up top with a wind attack." Yelled the girl, grabbing the unconscious boy's leg and shoving it into Naruto's hands.
"Wind you say?" was all Sasuke said as he grinned, glad to get a little revenge on whatever it was that knocked him out. Making several seals he told them, "Then hit it with FIRE! Katon: Great fireball!" launching a single fire ball at his enemy.
Whatever it was it knew better than to try and take the hit, jumping over top of them all and instead going after the people on the other side, launching several wind attacks mid air at their backs as they tried to break down the single metal door on the far wall. The devastation was wholesale, crushing some, tearing apart others, sending a spray of blood up into the air and all over the walls.
Looking on Naruto just stared horrified at this thing, "Fire, right?" he asked a now stony faced Sasuke and a furious looking Sakura, both of whom nodded.
"Katon:" all three of them yelled at the same time, "Grand Fireball Jutsu!"
-four hours later
As the last of Naruto's clones dispelled itself images of dead bodies being covered in dirt filled his head once more. The boy himself was still covered in the stuff, letting Sasuke and Sakura wash up first. Kakashi had come and found them after Naruto's clone had reached him, just about the time that they were taking out the Wind Mask.
They had taken their time after that, practically daring anything that would pick a fight with them to try. All of them had been covered head to toe in blood, carrying bodies out of the cave while Naruto had clones digging holes for them. All in all only one child survived the initial onslaught, having his right arm blown off by that monsters attack, but before they could get him patched up even he bled out after going into shock.
Naruto had also buried Urame up to his neck in the ground, making sure that he watched as they buried every last one of the dead. Right now Kakashi was most likely digging him up so he could start interrogating him.
Sasuke was looking through a bingo book, thrown at him by Kakashi, trying to find the missing nin he had seen, having washed up first while Sakura had been talking to Kakashi about their battle.
Looking around he wondered what he should do. Sakura was washing, Sasuke was reading, and Kakashi was-
"Naruto." the man whispered, coming up behind the orange clad youngster, making him jump in surprise "Stay quiet and come with me."
Leading Naruto away from the others Kakashi started talking, "Ok, I'm going to need you to tell m some stuff. Sakura already told me about the Muda Bloodline and I have a clone back there interrogating him for more information, I need you to tell me of any further developments with your bloodlines, and if you picked up anything else since being with Anko."
"Ok, well, I didn't get any bloodlines from Anko, first off, and-" stopping he watched as the man pulled out a familiar orange book and started writing in it. "What the hell are you doing?" he asked confounded.
Looking up at the boy Kakashi had a single wide eye, "Oh, that's right, you haven't read one of Jiraiya's books yet, have you?" he asked the boy, quickly passing it over to the boy, "Here, since you have a Sharingan you should be able to see through the genjutsu seals he puts on all his books."
Frowning Naruto opened the book up, looking at the first page. It was as if he was reading two books at once, he could focus on one or the other, either badly written erotica or… "Sealing basics for the Evil Containment Seal? How did you manage to get your pervy novel to be like that?" he asked confused.
Sighing the scarecrow explained, "Jiraiya of the Sannin writes this series of books, making quite a bit of money off the actual erotica. However, seeing as he is a sealing master, he makes each book with a set of seals as a border. For Shinobi able to detect and dispel it, it reveals his written works on seals for all readers. That book, while still the first in the Icha-Icha series is actually a very advanced sealing text only sold in the Fire Country and, more importantly, Konoha. Halfway through the book though it is empty, leaving room for a person to make notes without them being seen as anything other than bad porn scenes." Reaching into his pouch he pulled out another book, identical to the one in his hands right now, "That's the first book in the series of sealing, feel free to read it and the notes I've taken inside of it… besides, the erotica isn't that bad." The giggling fit that insured told Naruto how much the man really liked it.
Skimming through the pages he looked over them briefly, "Um, Kakashi-sensei? I already know most of this stuff." He said, earning a strange look from the man, "What?"
"You know seals, Naruto?" he asked incredulously.
"Well, yeah!" he said, pocketing the book, "My new apartment that I found "stole" had a bunch of scrolls in them on seals and seal maintenance. Well, seeing as the building is made up with seals on nearly every surface I had my clones start reading up on them, though it takes awhile for them to make it through a scroll on their own."
'Hmm, this could prove interesting…' "Naruto, why don't you use seals in battle or training then?" he asked, knowing that the first seals taught where combat seals such as exploding tags and sealing scrolls.
"eh? There Ok but seals just aren't my thing. Now the second I can learn how to seal away my enemies whole or store chakra into something, then I might start using them!" he said excitedly.
"Yes, well the first is a highly forbidden technique and the second is considered S-rank when it comes to both difficulty and power. But we're getting off topic anyways, we'll talk more about seals later." Taking back his book he opened it up and started writing, "Ok, no Bloodline for Anko, only the rest of the population to go. What about the others, have you had any breakthroughs with them?"
"Yeah, I developed another split personality." He said wryly, "I call him, Mini-Anko!" getting a look from Kakashi he explained, telling him about the training he had to go through and how he thought it led to a new personality out of necessity.
"Hmm, that's very interesting Naruto. Well, I'll have to test your theory on Sakura." At this the boy cringed, hoping the girl didn't find out about it, "Well then, what about your Sharingan? You said you were doing a lot of sparring with Anko, did you get a second Tomoe?"
Taking off his Goggles he told the man, "No, when I looked this morning there was still only one, though maybe since the fight I got one, eh?"
"Yes." The man said, looking at the eye briefly before writing it down.
"Didn't think so. I really just- wha?" he asked confused, glad to have the goggles off.
"I said yes, You have developed a second Tomoe. Hmm, perhaps the eye only reacts to actual battles, if not even the hardcore spars that Anko had you doing did the trick…" he started writing some more, "Well, congratulations are in order then, you are now at the same level a Sasuke is, though he had his like that since the battle at the bridge. Let's move on." He said, watching in amusement as Naruto pulled off his Hitai-ite and trying to polish enough to see an eye.
"Nothing else to report, though maybe my fire jutsu was bigger after getting that losers Fireproof bloodline. I really haven't had time to work with the Hyoton at all and I need to learn how to open the eight gates before we can test the Key thingy."
"Right… and the Jinton is more or less automatic." Writing down a few last words he stood up, telling Naruto to head back to camp.
Getting back to camp, after finding a stream and washing up, he found Sasuke still glued to Kakashi's bingo book, reading through each of the entries. Sakura meanwhile was running her hands through her now half inch long hair.
"You know, I can actually see why boys like their hair this short." She said as he walk closer, "Personally I don't mind it all myself. Makes me feel… sporty!"
Shaking his head he pulled out the Icha-Icha book and read started reading through seals, even though he had most of them down… the man certainly made these books more personal than those dusty old scrolls. "So, what kind of bet did you make with Kakashi anyways?" he asked, "And more importantly what didn't you win?" skimming over the next seal that he already knew by heart… 'Hmm, Fire sealing method?' that was a new one.
"Well he said it would be impossible for me to learn a medical jutsu without some help from a medi-nin. I personally didn't see what the big deal was so I challenged him, thinking I would get to see beneath his-" looking over at her teammate she froze in horror, his face half hidden in a Perverted book.
"Oh, I'm listening Sakura." He said without looking out of the interesting book. 'So many uses for that one… could make an automated defense or a landmine of some sort…'
"NAR-U-TOOO!" She said menacingly, hitting him on the head as hard as she could, "What are you reading that perverted book for!" she yelled. "You're as bad as Kakashi-sensei! Talking to a sweet and innocent lady while reading that smut."
"Please, I know for a fact that you would like it if you just looked at it!" meaning she would see the genjutsu and be able to break it easily… that's not what she heard though.
"DIE!"
Carrying his bleeding student back home on his back Kakashi tried to think of some other training he could try to put Naruto through for his bloodlines. 'What he needs is time to train on his own or just one on one with me. Unfortunately the latter is out of the question while I have the other two as well and if I truly want to follow the progress of Minato-sensei's bloodline then I need to be there. Not to mention the possibility of someone seeing him if he trains on his own…'
Once inside the gate he addressed his students.
"Ok, you guys, we leave for Rai no Kuni in three days. Make sure you have all the equipment you need to get you there, including rain and cold coats. When you're in the valleys there it can rain for days on end while the mountains tend to be quite cold. Try to keep training to a minimum, you guys have worked hard and need to be at your best for the run there." And with that he Shunshined away.
Stretching his back out Naruto decided to go for a walk, 'It'll be good to just relax again… We've been training for a month straight and when we weren't training we've been on missions… my god! It's been nearly two months since I've had Ichiraku Ramen! Since before the Wave mission…' he was right, he had been so caught up with training he hadn't had a nice healthy bowl of ramen at all. Hell he had only gone out to eat twice, maybe three times since he had returned.
Walking towards the ramen shop he pulled out his wallet, a now bursting pouch of bills named Gama-chan. Even Naruto had been surprised by the amount of money they had earned from the Mission to Wave.
Furasshubakku no Jutsu!
The three Genin had just finished their 'spar' with Kakashi on the first day of training. Naruto was nursing a few blisters from when Kakashi had set him on fire, Sasuke's face was a mess of bruises, and Sakura's face seemed to glow a vibrant red. Walking they all prepared to go home and sleep.
"Oh, before you guys take off for the night." Said Kakashi, appearing in front of them in a cloud of smoke, "I just wanted to give you guys your pay for the Wave mission." Tossing each of them several thick wads of money.
Sakura, who was the most coherent at the time decided to play spokesperson, "Um, Kakashi-sensei? These are all in thousands! From what I heard the village would get less than half of one of these for a C-rank mission... less than a quarter… How much is here?" The other two boys just eyed their money, flicking through it once she said 'thousands.'
"Hmm, well, normally you would be right however the mission was bumped up a few rankings." Putting away his Icha-Icha, it being too dark to read after all.
"Whadya mean a few Teme-sensei?" asked Naruto, painfully putting the wad of cash in his pocket.
"Meaning it became an S rank mission that will be accredited to each of your files." Seeing them all go slack jawed he explained, "What, you think defeating one A rank missing Nin and his apprentice who had a bloodline, along with two Chuunin level missing nin, all of whom were in their natural fighting habitats, and saving a country from economic collapse and possible stopping one of the largest crime bosses outside of the Yakuza from gaining a foothold right outside of Hi no Kuni isn't worth an S ranking?" Watching them close their mouths and shake their heads he laughed while walking away.
Furasshubakku- Kai
He wasn't complaining though, he had a cool bloodline and a ton of money from all of that, not to mention how good it would look on his record. Stuff like that could get a Chuunin into the ANBU training programs. Hell, he wouldn't be surprised if Sasuke got drafted right after making the promotion.
Finally reaching his destination he walked right through the curtains, not realizing someone else was going the exact same on the other side, "Ichiraku, here I – wHoa!" slamming into the other person he felt their skin touch, followed by a very familiar sensation. For four seconds his miniature seizure claimed him, causing him to fall forward onto the person full force, only for him to be dragged back by two other hands on his own. That was very unfortunate for him.
The two people, whoever they were, both seemed to have bloodlines of their own, as before his initial spasm had stopped a new one started up, twice as intense as the last.
The last thing that passed through his mind as they put him down was a red eyed woman grabbing his jaw to look him in the face, causing him to seize up for a fourth time.
