Howdy folks. Here's chapter 6! Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or the abilities in this story from other literary or animated works. Give credit to where credit is due.
Chapter 6:
Naruto yawned as he listened to Hayate explain the rules of the preliminaries match to lessen the numbers of participants for the third and last phase of the Chuunin Exams. He eyed the board on the wall with a bit of interest before smirking when the first match was called out.
"Hm, now this is going to be an interesting fight." Naruto said with a smirk which caused Sakura to look at him in question.
"Why do you say that, Naruto-sensei?" Sakura asked their team's pseudo-sensei.
"You're not going to drop it, are you?" Naruto deadpanned, annoyed at being addressed as sensei despite being somewhat true. Sakura's honorific garnered a lot of curious and surprised looks from the Genins who heard it.
"You already know the answer to that." Sakura harrumphed.
"I give up!" Naruto sighed before answering Sakura's question while keeping an eye on Sasuke as the boy finally discovered Akado Yoroi's ability to suck chakra. "Sasuke's opponent has a pseudo-bloodline that allows him to absorb chakra through his hands. This means that your teammates would have to work on mid to long range fighting or hit hard and fast at close range to bring him down. He can't afford to let this match drag too long since his stamina would take a beating."
"What do you mean pseudo-bloodline? This is the first time I heard of that." Sakura admitted. She read almost all the books in the Shinobi Library when she became a Genin but didn't find any reference to a pseudo-bloodline.
"Actually, I was the one who gave it a name." Naruto said proudly causing Sakura to gawk at him. "It's not really an official term but I call it when I see." Seeing Sakura's confused face, he decided to explain. "Alright, let me see if I can explain it. You already know for a fact that I am considered as the Chakra Sage, right?" Sakura nodded while those who were listening started backing up in fear.
They heard of the Chakra Sage and his other alias – the White Shinigami. Why in the world was he a Genin? Why was he in the exam? Is the Hokage mad? Many of the competitors gulped and starting praying to any deity who was listening that they wouldn't be paired up against the blonde.
"Hm, a bloodline is a unique hereditary ability. More or less, it allows a person to use a unique set of skills or abilities that others could not. For example, the Byakugan of the Hyuuga Clan gives them the ability to see through object that also results in giving them a 360 degree visions." He didn't broadcast the fact that there was a flaw to their perfect sight. After all, they were in a competition so being a tattle tale wasn't nice. "Same also with Sasuke and his Sharingan. A pseudo-bloodline is an acquired ability that behave similar to a bloodline. If the right conditions are met, anyone can create a unique ability through hard work, study, and practice. This is what Akado Yoroi achieved. He was able to turn his chakra into a magnet of sorts that sticks to an opponent's chakra and absorb it as his own. Besides, you and your teammates have a pseudo-bloodline as well."
"What?" exclaimed a surprised Sakura.
"Let me see. Tell me if I'm wrong, before I taught you the Tree Walking exercise, you only know the Leaf Floating and Leaf Sticking exercises correct?" Sakura nodded, not trusting her voice to answer. "You got the Tree Walking exercise in 10 seconds flat when you walked up your tree. No one has ever gotten that exercise in that short a time. This means that you are inherently capable of controlling your chakra, your small reserves notwithstanding. This is one the reason why I chose to teach you medical jutsu and genjutsu since your perfect chakra control would be a boon to you in those two fields. In regards to Sai, tell me this, are there any other shinobi or kunoichi in Konoha that can infuse chakra to ink and use it to create animated constructs?"
"Now that you mention it, Sai is the only one I know who can do that." Sakura admitted before turning to her teammate. "You're the only one who can use your ink jutsus, right?"
Sai nodded, his face showing no emotions though he was inwardly surprised at how accurate Naruto was in his summary. Chakra Sage indeed.
"Well, now that you understand the concept of pseudo-bloodline, take the time to interview some of the shinobi in Konoha, you will find out that there are plenty of them who acquired and cultivated such abilities." said Naruto before a smirk appeared on his face. "Oh look, Sasuke's done."
Sasuke was definitely done. He was able to surprise his opponent with a quick taijutsu attack that left Yoroi stunned before firing off small fireballs from his mouth with only one hand seal. After being declared the winner, Sasuke walked up to the stands where Naruto and his teammates were before the blonde addressed him.
"I see that you've been practicing. A bit weak still but you're getting there." Naruto pointed out with a smile that made Sasuke grin.
"I'm still working on familiarizing how my chakra is molded without hand seals so that's all I can do on such short notice." Sasuke shrugged nonchalantly but he was inwardly happy to achieve such a feat.
"I can definitely see that. You're in the right track. Give a year or two, you could do most of your jutsus without hand seals. Let me know if you need any tips." Naruto offered as he gave the Uchiha a pat on the back. "Did your hickey act up?"
"No. I'm grateful that you were able to seal it. Thanks…sensei." Sasuke said with a smirk since he knew that title was an annoyance to the blonde.
"Not you too!" Naruto mourned causing Team 7 to snicker.
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Naruto was shaken awake by Sakura. The match after Sakura where both she and Ino knocked each other out was boring as hell. He took a nap after telling the resting Sakura to wake him up when it was his turn to show off.
"What is it?" Naruto asked groggily as he rubbed the grit out of his eyes.
"It's your match now, Naruto-sensei." Sakura told him with a smirk on her face since she already knew what's going to happen.
"Huh?" Naruto asked stupidly before his eyes strayed to the board. "Inuzuka Kiba. Must be Hana's little brother." He murmured before standing up and patting the back of his pants. He walked over to the railing to see his opponent already down in the arena with a cocky smirk on his face. "I better get this over and done with."
With that, he jumped high into the air and began his descent. However, instead of falling down, he used chakra to create invisible stilts that connected to the ground and gently lowered himself similar to an elevator garnering a lot of incredulous and surprised looks from the spectators. He touched the stone floor with his white coat flapping a bit before settling down, his hands not even exiting his pockets.
"Sorry for being late. I fell asleep." Naruto told Hayate who nodded.
"No worries. We didn't wait long anyway." said Hayate before going into a coughing fit which Naruto saw was faked. After all, he was the one who removed the swordsman's ailment a year back after studying the disease and coming up with a chakra-based technique to scoop the problem out of the man's lungs. "Are you ready?" The two nodded. "Fight!" he shouted before jumping out of the way since he didn't want to experience what Naruto was about to do to the poor boy.
Kiba settled down into a taijutsu stance while eyeing his overly calm opponent. His sensei, Yuuhi Kurenai, warned him to be careful of the blonde and to use everything in his power to defeat him. If it was starting to become dangerous then he should forfeit immediately. He didn't understand why he should so he ignored that order. However, he had no problems going all out since that was what he wanted to do to tell everyone in the area he was the Alpha Male. It was a minute later that he finally lost his patience since Naruto was whistling without a care in the world.
"Hey! Aren't we going to fight?" Kiba growled in irritation causing Naruto to level his lazy gaze at him.
"Hm? Yes we are in a fight. I was actually waiting for you to make the first move." he drawled lazily. He punctuated his point by releasing a wide yawn of boredom.
A tick mark appeared on Kiba head before lunging forward with a loud cry, his clawed hands taking a swipe at Naruto's midsection in which the blonde didn't bother to block. Naruto merely jumped back a bit resulting in Kiba missing by a scant inch from his target. Growling in anger, Kiba attacked again, this time unleashing combos after combos that Naruto dodged with ease without any wasteful movements. He was also dodging Akamaru's lunges easily while keeping up with Kiba's attacks. To the spectators, they likened Naruto's move to a dance.
It was five minutes later that Kiba was slouched, panting from the effort of trying to hit his opponent who was looking for something in his many pockets. Akamaru was also looking quite winded from trying to get a bite out of the blonde was panting on his side, his tongue comically on the side of his jaw.
"Take me seriously, damnit!"
"I am…as soon as I find what I'm looking for…aha!" Naruto exclaimed triumphantly as he pulled out his hands to showcase the items he was looking for – a cigarette lighter and a pack of cigarette. He easily flipped the lid open with a thumb and made a chucking gesture causing a stick to pop out halfway from the pack. He pulled it out completely with his lips and lit it up with the lighter. He took a long pull before breathing out the smoke with a loud sigh. "That hits the spot."
Rage gripped Kiba and was about to attack when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Surprised, he looked over his shoulder to see his opponent standing calmly behind him. Flabbergasted, he looked at the area where his opponent was to find an afterimage already fading. What speed! He wasn't prepared when he felt the hand leave his shoulder before something impacted on the middle of his back sending him flying forward and crashing to the wall with a loud crack before sliding to the ground in the daze. He groggily pulled himself up, ignoring Akamaru who was whining beside him. He shook his head to get rid of the cobwebs before facing his opponent who was now giving him a serious look.
"Inuzuka Kiba. You are a very powerful Genin specializing in taijutsu and Inuzuka-based ninjutsu involving your canine partner. You will go far in your shinobi career. However," Naruto face took on a grim countenance. "You let your emotions rule you and your desire to fight will get you killed one day."
"What are you talking about?" growled Kiba. He felt so humiliated being treated like a kid whose hand got caught in a cookie jar.
"First, when the match started, you let my calm exterior fool you. Instead of being calm yourself and study your opponent, you immediately jumped to the conclusion that your opponent is not taking you seriously which is not true. Overridden by your emotions, you attacked me without bothering to plan nor did you take the time to study me and come up with ways to easily defeat me. With that said." Naruto disappeared to appear in front of Kiba with a hand on his chest. "You need to train more and control your emotions. Chakra Palm!"
A burst of pure chakra flew out of Naruto's palm to slam into Kiba's chest. Naruto drastically lessened the output since he wasn't aiming to liquefy the boy's organs; instead, he made it so that it had a bludgeoning effect. The resulting force of the blow blew Kiba back to the wall, spread-eagled with a crater behind him. He tilted his head to the side to dodge Akamaru aiming to gouge his eyes out and easily slapped the dog to the side with a bit of chakra added to knock the dog unconscious.
"Akamaru!" shouted Kiba despite the pain he was in. It felt like his body was hit by a sledgehammer.
"You don't have time to worry about your partner, boya." Naruto said lazily as he calmly placed a palm on Kiba's chest. "Go to sleep and think about your shinobi career carefully. I don't want to see Hana's brother dead in a ditch somewhere just because you let your instinct and emotions control you. Crash!" this time, Naruto let his chakra surged through the boy's body, shutting down his tenketsus while rendering the boy unconscious.
Naruto sighed again before placing his hands on his coat's pockets and strolled back to the stands, totally ignoring the silence that permeated the air and the announcement of his win coming from Hayate.
"That was harsh." came Kurama's voice in his mind.
"It was meant to. Hana is a good friend of mine. I don't want her to cry because Kiba died a fool. If it takes a harsh beating to cram that lesson into his head then so be it."
"Good point."Kurama mumbled before his tone took on a leering tone."Good friend huh?"
"Shut up, Kurama."
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Naruto sighed after finishing his tenth bowl of ramen. Today was his cheat day, a day where he could partake the Food of the Gods without limit. He was about to order his next bowl when he felt someone appear behind him.
"Anything I can for you ANBU-san?" asked Naruto without bothering to turn around, sighing since his day-off would be ending before it could even get started. It's been only two days since the preliminaries ended and his gut feeling was telling him that he won't be getting any rest anytime soon. Heck, he hasn't even started training yet though he made a mental note to rectify that soon enough. Being lazy wasn't really advisable considering what was going to happen in the future.
"Hokage-sama requests your attendance in his office, Uzumaki-san." said the ANBU before disappearing in a swirl of smoke and leaves.
"I guess I'll only be eating ten bowls today." Naruto murmured as he placed some money on the counter before calling out to the ramen chef who was already preparing his next bowl. "Thanks for the food, Teuchi-jiji."
Ichiraku Teuchi appeared from the back and frowned at the ten empty bowls on the table.
"You're going on a diet, Naruto-kun? I'll be out of business if you do." the chef said sadly causing Naruto to laugh.
"The day I stop eating ramen is the day I'm committing suicide, Teuchi-jiji." Naruto said jokingly, which in his mind, wasn't far off the mark. "Actually, I have to cut my cheat day short since the Hokage is looking for me."
"Ah. Carry on then." said Teuchi in understanding as he started ferrying the bowls to the back to be washed. "Come back when you're free, Naruto-kun. I don't want my number one customer to go hungry now."
"Will do." said Naruto before exiting the ramen stand. He decided to walk to the Hokage's office since he wasn't in a hurry. It took ten minutes to get to the Hokage's office and entered immediately since the old man was free. He noticed that the Hokage wasn't alone.
"Jiraiya-kyofu." he greeted the white-haired man in the room. It would seem that his godfather, Jiraiya of the Sannin, came back for another quick visit. He was mostly out of the village, sometimes for years on end because of his spy network – an important asset to the village. "When did you get here? I heard from jiji that you were in Kumo checking on your spies there."
"I was but decided to come home. I got here a few hours ago. You're looking good, gaki." said Jiraiya with a smirk. "I heard from sensei that you took care of the Uchiha's seal and advanced to the third round of the Chuunin Selections Exam. Good job."
"Thanks, kyofu. Besides, I took care of the Cursed Seal to give the pedophile a headache and to protect Sasuke. The kid is already coming out of his shell and it would be a shame for Orochimaru to ruin his future like he did with Anko." Naruto said with a smirk before turning to a relaxed Sandaime. "Why did you call me here for, jiji?"
"I didn't. It was Jiraiya who actually wanted you to come here and meet with him." replied the Sandaime, his eyes not straying from the scroll he was reading with a serious frown on his face. Naruto recognized the scroll as Jiraiya's report. Whatever was written inside must be serious for his surrogate grandfather to take it seriously. He decided to play ignorant since this wasn't his concern. Well, it wasn't his concern unless he was going to be involved in it in one form or the other.
"Oh? That's a first." Naruto noted as he eyed the grinning Toad Sage. "Well, I'm here now so what are we going to talk about?"
"I plan to take you out for a bit of training and I think its fine time that you get the last part of your father's legacy." Jiraiya told the curious teen.
"Last part of his legacy?" Naruto asked with a tilt of his head. "I already mastered the Rasengan though I didn't add any element to it yet since I want to master some affinities before I do so. I know how the Hiraishin works but I'm still coming up with my unique formula before using it since its draining to use father's shiki instead of my own. So…what legacy are we talking about?"
"You know that your dad can summon toads, right?"
Naruto perked up immediately.
"You're going to teach me how to summon?" Naruto asked in excitement. He spent considerable resources looking for a summoning contract. Ever since he learned of Anko's ability to summon snakes, he wanted to have an animal summon of his own. Sadly, Anko couldn't let him sign the snake contract because Orochimaru has the master scroll for the snakes. He used quite a lot of money for information on other summoning contracts but their owners wouldn't want to part with them being an important asset or a clan heirloom. This was also the reason why he created a pseudo summoning contract with Kurama.
"Of course. Considering how good you are with your chakra, I daresay that you'll get this done in no time flat and leaves us with plenty of time to work on other skills you want to improve. I heard from sensei that you still haven't mastered your unique taijutsu style."
"You got that right. Sparring with Anko can only do so much for my taijutsu and Kurama isn't really what you call a taijutsu expert to spar with." Naruto said dryly. Sure, he can learn a lot from Kurama due to being a fox, an animal with wild fighting instincts. But if he wanted to master his taijutsu style then he needed to fight with a taijutsu expert to do so. "If it's you then I am sure I can work out some of the kinks. So when and where are we going to do this?"
"Training Ground 41 should be available and big enough for summoning." the Sandaime offered before giving the two a long look. "Just don't destroy it. I have to dish out money for repairs if you do."
"We won't." Jiraiya replied. He turned to Naruto only to find him gone causing him to chuckle in amusement. "I guess he's too excited to wait. See you later, sensei."
With that, Jiraiya jumped out to the window after his godson while the Sandaime went back to his reading.
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"JIRAIYA! WHY THE HELL DID YOU SUMMON ME?" shouted a furious Gamabunta after he was summoned by Naruto on his first try. Naruto was on top of his head with a triumphant smirk on his face though from the toad's reaction, Gamabunta didn't know he was the one who summoned him.
"Jiraiya-kyofu didn't summon you, Gamabunta-sama. I did." said Naruto from his perch on the giant toad's head.
"Eh? Who are you, gaki?" asked Gamabunta prompting Naruto get off the toad's head to the ground to give the huge toad a better view of him.
"Uzumaki Naruto, or if you prefer Namikaze Naruto, the son of Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina." Naruto introduced himself with a polite bow to the talking amphibian. "As I said earlier, I was the one who summoned you." To drive his point home, Naruto released the full force of his chakra causing a pillar of blue energy to erupt around him, startling the Toad Boss.
"I believe you kid." Gamabunta grunted while his thoughts were going haywire. "Damn. He has enough chakra to summon me ten times with plenty more to spare. He is definitely Minato's boy."
"Do I have your permission to become the next Toad Summoner, Gamabunta-sama?" Naruto asked the giant toad politely. He knew that summon animals demands respect from their summoners and this was no exception.
"Respectful. I like you, gaki. Yes, I give you permission to become our summoner. However, we have to seal the deal by having a drinking binge together."
Naruto gulped.
"Uh, I don't think that's possible Gamabunta-sama. Considering your size, I don't think I can handle that much alcohol in me." Naruto said a bit nervously. Sure, he could drink but not that much. He would practically explode if he tried.
"Ha ha ha! You're right, gaki. I'll waive the ceremony then." the toad boomed before looking around. "Where is the pervert anyway?"
"He ran as fast as he could that way when I summoned you instead of a small toad." Naruto deadpanned, pointing at the dust cloud produced by a fleeing Jiraiya.
"GET BACK HERE, YOU PERVERT." Gamabunta screamed at the man before taking off in a giant leap, causing a mini earthquake when he landed. Naruto distantly heard a girlish scream coming from the same direction before shaking his head at his godfather's childish antics.
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Naruto spent the rest of the month learning about the toads. Since the lessons was between him and the toads he summoned, Jiraiya left him alone. The blonde didn't mind since there was nothing his godfather could teach him at this point in time though he haggled a day a week for a spar to hone his taijutsu.
Unlike other summoning animals, the toads were considered one of the strongest due to their diverse capabilities. Unlike some that specialize in one or two skills, the toads were a big family with different capabilities. For example, Gamabunta was a ninjutsu and kenjutsu specialist, as well as being the powerhouse in Suiton jutsus. Some have unique abilities, like Mise Gama (Shop Toad) that served as an inn, Moguri Toad (Diving Toad) for his infiltration techniques, and the Great Toad Sage with his prophetic abilities (if you can get him to remember what he was talking about). He also met Ma and Pa Toad when he summoned them from Mt. Myobokuzan.
Naruto had fun learning the toads' capabilities and trying to find ways to work it with his own arsenal of techniques. So far, the only thing he achieved during the month were collaboration techniques, mainly Fire and Oil, or Wind and Fire – both combination resulting in wide-spread area destruction that Naruto found intriguing. He also learned of Senjutsu from Pa Toad and the required training to use Nature Chakra that served as the foundation of the Sage Arts. Pa revealed that Jiraiya, despite the years being the Toad Summoner, wasn't able to complete the training but he was still considered a Sage. Naruto was looking forward to Sage Training since this was a new experience for him.
After all, if he was considered the Chakra Sage after all so it is only right to learn and harness Nature Chakra.
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Three days before the exam, Naruto was currently on his way to visit Lee. Gaara practically destroyed Lee's shinobi career by crushing the boy's bones and muscles, not to mention the damage he sustained for opening the Gates. He made a mental note to ask Jiraiya and the Sandaime if it was possible to bring Tsunade back to the village considering how the woman hated Konoha for taking away his lover and brother. He met Tsunade once during a mission and practically beat her at poker. She definitely earned her title as the Legendary Sucker. He would get her himself if he has to because he didn't want Lee to quite his shinobi career. Besides, Lee was the only Genin in Konoha that could give him a challenge in taijutsu being Gai's protégé and a training nut that rivaled his own.
His eyebrow rose upon entering Lee's room when he saw Gaara beside the sleeping Lee's bed, his sand already creeping up on the boy with an obvious intention of killing him.
"If I didn't know any better, I would say that you bat for the same team, Gaara-san." Naruto finally spoke. He felt the shift in chakra when the sand on Lee changed direction to wrap around him instead, ready to crush him. However, Naruto released a quick burst of his chakra that pushed the sand away from him and nullifying the energy that controlled construct. The sand fell to the floor harmlessly. "I wouldn't do that if I were you, Gaara-san. This is a hospital so fighting is not allowed."
"Why do you interfere?" asked Gaara coldly, his sand hovering around him, preparing for another attack.
"Interfere with what?" Naruto said calmly as he placed the basket of fruits on the bedside table and removing the sand from the sheets. "Killing a downed opponent?"
"Yes. He has to die to prove my existence."
Naruto was silent as he stared at the boy.
"Sabaku no Gaara, the youngest of the Yondaime Kazekage's children; the Ichibi no Shukaku sealed inside you when you were a baby, giving you the ability to use wind and sand effectively. You instinctively combine sand and wind for your absolute defense, as well as giving you many sand-based attacks." narrated Naruto. He interrogated his godfather for any information he had of Gaara since it was quite possible that he would end up fighting him in the finals. "You have assassins after you from your own village since you could remember and you changed from a frightened boy into a killing machine of mass destruction when someone close to you tried to kill you on orders from the Yondaime Kazekage, your father. Should I continue?"
Gaara couldn't believe what he was hearing. This insect knew him and he was still calm about it. Why wasn't he afraid?
"You know too much. I must dispose of you." said Gaara but before he could react, he felt something cover him from head to toe, effectively immobilizing him. He couldn't believe that his sand didn't react to this. He saw numerous blue strings coming out of Naruto's fingers.
"With your current mindset, there is no way you can defeat me Gaara. How could you? I was able to bypass your famed defense and if I channel enough Fuuton or Raiton chakra into my threads, you'll end up sliced meat or a charred corpse. Besides," said Naruto as he did a few one hand seal causing something to appear on his head in a haze of red chakra. The chakra combined to form Kurama, his nine tails dancing behind him as he glared menacingly at Shukaku's containers. The fox looked quite menacing despite in chibi form "You may have the one-tail inside you, my brother, but I have the nine-tails as a partner and comrade. You're out of your league."
Gaara stared in fear at the nine-tailed fox on the blondes head. He winced when his head was filled with his 'mother's fearful ramblings.
"Mother is afraid of you." Gaara said suddenly, eyeing the fox.
"Hmph. The voice you're hearing is not your mother, kid. You're Shukaku's container so it is only reasonable that he's trying to influence you." Kurama said with disdain. Despite being his brother, he never did like Shukakus self-destructing tendencies. "Being sealed in that kettle for a decade must have rattled his brain or something."
"That shouldn't be possible…wait a minute, don't tell me you were given a faulty seal?" Naruto asked incredulous. He was a Seal Master and seals used to create jinchuurikis should be powerful enough to stop mental intrusions from their beasts. What in the world was happening here?
Gaara gave him a questioning look.
"I don't know what you're talking about." said Gaara in confusion before feeling the binds around him dissipate. "What?"
"Show me your seal, Gaara-san." Naruto demanded, his anger rising at the thought of someone in Suna deliberately giving Gaara an incorrect, or worst yet, a faulty seal.
"Why?" Gaara asked, fidgeting when he felt the anger Naruto was exuding. Seeing Gaara getting uncomfortable, Naruto took a deep breath to calm down.
"A jinchuuriki is a bijuu's container and should have a seal that can stop mental intrusions from your beast unless you initiate it. The seal should suppress the bijuu to the point that it does not influence the container. Similar to mine, your seal should allow you to block any form of contact with your tenant even if you're using his power. If you are hearing voices in your head then we can safely say that it's Shukaku and the seal you have is not stopping him from doing so. I want to see your seal so I can check the problem, and if possible, correct it."
"That's a good idea, kit. Besides, it should give Gaara some sleep time without the overgrown raccoon taking over. His eye bags are so dark that he looks like a raccoon." said Kurama, eyeing Shukaku's container speculatively.
"That's a possible side-effect of having Shukaku whispering to him every day." mused Naruto before turning to the redhead. "So Gaara-san, would you mind if we go somewhere so I can check on your seal?"
"Why should I trust you?" the sand jinchuuriki asked wearily. He wasn't one to trust easily even if he was faced with a friendly face. A powerful friendly face.
"Aside from the fact that I could have killed you already when I had you bound in my threads? You shouldn't but it is a good idea if you trust me on this. " Naruto replied rhetorically with an amused expression on his face. "We are practically brothers. We are both jinchuuriki so I don't see why we shouldn't help each other."
Gaara stared at Naruto for a few minutes before nodding.
"I will show you the seal."
"Good, let's head to a training ground since I don't want any interruptions while I try to figure out what's wrong with it." said Naruto before making his way to the window. "Follow me." he told Gaara before jumping out with the redhead trailing behind him.
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Naruto cursed to the high heaven after taking a brief glance at Gaara's seal when the redhead showed him.
"What's wrong, kit?" asked Kurama in confusion. Despite being the most powerful bijuu in the Elemental Nations, he couldn't make a hide or hair of fuuinjutsu no matter how much he tried. He did try with Naruto teaching him but it was a wasted effort since the idea wouldn't stick.
"Whoever did the sealing was either suicidal, just plain stupid, or did it on purpose." answered Naruto before cursing again, oblivious to the confused look on Gaara's face.
"Explain." said Gaara, wanting to know what's going on despite enjoying the curses coming out of his…brother. He made a mental note to try some of them since they were quite…colorful.
Naruto took a calming breath before answering.
"The seal you have is called the Three Pillar Suppression Seal. It is a basic seal for temporarily suppressing a bijuu's chakra within a host. In most cases, there should be other seals added to it to make it more effective. The Three Pillar Suppression Seal effectively seals a bijuu's power but not its consciousness. In other words, you can safely use ALL of Shukaku's chakra without any side-effects but Shukaku can easily connect to your mind and influence you, hence the lack of sleep. That is the reason why you are hearing his voice. To summarize – your seal is a power block but it lacked its opposite, a mental block." explained Naruto. "Tell me, what was the last time you had any sleep?"
Gaara blinked before answering.
"Sleep? I never sleep." He answered causing Naruto to stare at him in horror.
"So you haven't had any decent sleep ever since?" the blonde asked immediately, wincing at the idea of spending twelve years without a restful night's sleep.
"As far as I can remember, sleep is something I haven't done." Gaara said with a shrug as if it wasn't anything new.
"Damn it. We are fixing that seal right now." Naruto declared. "Take off your shirt, Gaara."
"Why?" asked the redhead but he was already taking off his shirt, revealing the small seal matrix on his shoulder.
"So I can fix your seal right now. I'm going to upgrade your seal with a mental blocker so you can lock Shukaku out of your mind if you want to. Meaning, you won't be hearing any voices unless you want to converse with him or shut him up entirely so you can get some sleep." explained Naruto before seeing sand on Gaara's skin. "While you're at it, you might as well take off the sand armor protecting you; the seal I'm planning to add must be directly applied on your old seal."
Gaara nodded as he disengaged his sand armor. It peeled from his skin before dissolving into sand grains and flying back into his gourd. He ignored his mother…no…Shukaku screaming at him to kill the blonde container. Even Gaara had the common sense to ignore that. He wasn't stupid enough to engage someone who could easily kill him or to upset Kyuubi who was currently staring at him intently like a guard dog. It was a humbling experience to face two individuals more powerful than him.
"I'm ready."
"Good. Let the sealing begin." said Naruto as he channeled chakra to his finger, drawing a series of seal matrix with a blank area in the middle. He used his chakra to place the script over Gaara's old one; he made a few more corrections until he got everything correctly. All that was needed was to activate the seal to link it to Gaara's. "This is going to sting a bit. Uzumaki Fuuinjutsu: Mutsugami Yokusei no Fuuin!"
Gaara bit back a scream when he felt the glowing seal matrix embed itself onto his skin. He could practically feel his body burn as foreign chakra surged through his coils before making its way to his head. He felt something click as the pain left him, falling to his knees and panting from the strain his body just went through. He gasped, finally realizing that he couldn't feel or hear the presence in his head that has existed since his childhood.
"I can't hear him anymore. I don't feel him anymore." Gaara said with some amazement.
"The sealing works then. I'm proud to inform you that you are no longer under the influence of a bloodthirsty Shukaku." Naruto said proudly before a thought occurred to him. "Try using your sand techniques please to make sure everything is working correctly."
Gaara nodded with a smile on his face as sand flew out of his gourd to cover him like a second skin. He grinned as he created a couple of sand shuriken before throwing them at Naruto who dodged them easily while giving the sand-nin a questioning look.
"Since you want me to test my sand then shouldn't it be wise to use it in a spar….brother?" Gaara suggested, liking the feeling of being in full control of his body without Shukaku muddying things up.
Naruto grinned as stretched his hands to the side, fingers outstretched before manifesting his chakra threads.
"I like the way you think, brother." said Naruto before lunging at top speed with Gaara doing the same, his sand flanking him for an attack.
End of Chapter 6.
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