Chapter Four – A Lesson in History
"Now that you've shown me your jutsus, why don't I show you one of mine?"
"That's it?" he asked good-humorously, raising an eyebrow in mock amusement, after a moment of silence.
As if on cue, his surroundings darkened visibly; the reds and grays, and blacks became more prominent against the green grass which dulled and faded. Clouds rolled and thundered along the horizon, blocking out the sun. The birdsong ended. The wind caressed his cheeks and grew stronger, until he could hear it howling in his ears and feel it slapping against his face.
Naruto-sama.
He did a whole three hundred sixty turn and found, to his dismay, that his teammates were gone. The grip on his kunai tightened. Where had they gone? Where had Fujino gone for that matter as well?
Naruto-sama.
Darkness crawled towards him, making him take a step back. Normally, he wasn't intimidated so easily by his opponents, but this opponent was both faceless and formless. How the hell would he defeat this thing?
Naruto-sama!
The blob continued to lurch forward, gathering strength with each step. It grew larger, and larger, until it surpassed Naruto's height and stood over him, towering him. Naruto sent his kunai flying, but it simply passed the cloud of darkness, as if it was an illusion.
Damnit, Naruto, wake up!
For a moment, he saw black, and felt his head begin to ache rather ferociously. "Fuck!" He growled. His hand immediately reached for his forehead while his eyes surveyed his surroundings which had changed in the blink of an eye. White and blue overwhelmed his vision, and it took him some time to grow accustomed to the harsh light streaming from his teammates, his teacher, and the plant life which enclosed them. "The hell?"
What you're seeing right now is chakra, Naruto-sama. Chakra, not only from those people, but also from Nature itself.
Does it always hurt this much? Naruto thought, blinking back tears.
Not really. If you could moderate the amount of chakra you're putting on your eyes right now, I'm sure the brightness of the chakra you're seeing would lessen to a degree which your eyes can handle.
Okay then, I guess I'll try that. Naruto focused on the chakra on his eyes and started taking some of the chakra away. How did you know, though? That I could see through the genjutsu this way?
I didn't. I just hoped.
Naruto removed the rest of the chakra which lingered in his eyes, and felt something...different. It was as if something was being blocked inside him. An explosion of pain suddenly erupted from inside his chest, making him gasp for air. He fell to his knees, and the last thing he saw before his eyes fluttered shut, was his teammates running towards him, looking awfully concerned.
"Where...am I?" Naruto wondered, fixing his gaze towards a large metallic dome in the middle of a forest. He took a step forward, and then another, pausing to glance to his right and left. The forest was a tightly-knit one; he could barely see beyond the trees which were clumped together like a group of gossiping washerwomen on a sunny day.
"And so we finally meet on my turf, Naruto-sama," a most familiar voice interrupted his troubled thoughts.
"Ixion?" Naruto regarded the man with wary eyes, before beckoning to his surroundings. "Where the hell are we, Ixion? Is this another genjutsu?"
"We are in your mindscape, Naruto-sama," Ixion explained patiently. "Normally, you can only access this place through meditation, but I believe that because you still hadn't cut off completely your connection to me when you fainted, your subconscious inexplicably brought you here."
"And when were you going to tell me about this place, if I hadn't gotten here sooner?"
"When I believed the time was right, Naruto-sama," said Ixion, seemingly unfazed by Naruto's penetrating glare. "Your mindscape is where you can converse with all of your Aeons at the same time without straining your mind, and where you can learn how to do jutsus from us. Okay, so that doesn't really explain a lot. I suppose it's time I straighten up some things." He walked towards a bench just outside the dome and sat on it, patting on the space on his left. Naruto sat down as well and raised an eyebrow, signalling him to continue. "Now I know you've gotten accustomed to talking to me in your head, and frankly, I'm a bit surprised you haven't asked me how that was possible."
"Well, with so much going on, that was the least of my problems," argued Naruto.
"I know, I know. Thing is, being able to talk to me in your head....it's a lot more complicated than you think. You see, one of the requirements of summoning, is to establish a Mind Link between the summoner and the Aeon. Seeing as I was your first summon, I took it upon myself to establish that Mind Link between us. I knew you would be a good master, and I knew that you needed my help to become a worthy successor to the Kedamono name, and so I created a connection between us. Another requirement is Junctioning. Now, I may be able to talk to you through the Mind Link we share, but it's very different from having me junctioned to you. If I was junctioned to you, not only can we talk to each other mentally, but you would also gain an attribute of mine, because junctioning to you would mean entrusting a part of my power to you. For example, I specialize in lightning attacks so, if I'm junctioned to you, then you will have an affinity with lightning jutsus and if someone hits you with a jutsu of that element, you can absorb it instead of taking damage."
"That would be awesome," Naruto spoke slowly, awe written all over his face. "So...is there anything I need to do, for me to be able to junction you?"
Ixion raised a large scarred hand and uncurled his index and middle finger. "Two things, Naruto-sama: first of all, you must know everything there is to know about me, and secondly, you must have my consent. The same goes for other Aeons, though they tend to require something before they would agree to junctioning with you. Summoning is all about the trust, and for you to be able to summon any of us, you will have to earn our trust, just as you plan to earn the trust of the villagers."
"So...wait. Why would I need to know about you, and what exactly happens during a summoning? Coz you know, I thought that what I had been doing in the past with that gun I use...I thought that was what summoning was about."
"You need to know about me so that you can utilize my power to your utmost advantage. It's sort of a safety precaution too, because being junctioned to you, I am also inadvertently giving you some of my weaknesses. This might become a disadvantage for you during certain fights. As for your second question, you haven't actually summoned us, Naruto-sama. When you summon us, you'll be bringing our entire selves into the physical plane. What you did was simply tap into our power, and draw out a bit of it. If you really want to do massive damage against your opponents, you'll want to summon us the proper way, and that means doing these three requirements."
"Three requirements?" The young shinobi asked incredulously. "I thought there were only two of them."
"The third requirement is for you to..." Ixion paused and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I think maybe I'll show you how the last requirement is done."
The two of them walked inside the humongous dome and into a maze of hallways which Ixion seemed to know quite well. Thankfully, Naruto had learned to memorize his surroundings fairly quick from those memory exercises he learned at the academy, which made it possible for him to create a mental map. After the sixth left turn, they finally arrived at a double-door entrance. Ixion pressed his hand against the metallic frame, and the doors slid towards their respective sides, allowing the two of them access within.
"Where is here?" Naruto inquired for the umpteenth time that day, looking at the room with growing interest. It was completely bare and devoid of any colour which made Naruto wonder if they had gone to the right place.
"This is called the Memory Room. Here, we can access the memories of the original ancestors of the Kedamono clan."
"Hey, Ixion, I've been wondering about that," Naruto spoke, frowning. "If I received their bloodline, does that mean I'm a Kedamono too?"
"Technically, you are a Kedamono, but since the clan has long since died out, and you've been given a clan symbol of your own—one that is very different from the original clan's—I think it's safe to say that the Uzumaki name now owns the Kedamono bloodline."
"So I won't be called Kedamono Naruto anytime soon?" he asked hopefully. "Because Kedamono really doesn't suit me."
"You may keep the Uzumaki name, Naruto-sama," answered Ixion patiently. To the room, he announced a date, a time, and a name before folding his arms as if to say that he was waiting for something.
The room shifted and changed, making Naruto jump. They were in a different room now; a shabbier-looking one with a low ceiling and candles lined up in a row, burning rather brightly. There was also smoke in the room, though Naruto found it odd that his nose wasn't reacting to it.
In the middle of the room stood two other people—a bald man wearing nothing but a loincloth and a woman carrying an earthen bowl and a brush. She was painting something on the man's back, and after a moment's hesitation, Naruto stepped forward to take a closer look at what she was painting. What he saw made him gasp, and he turned immediately to Ixion for an explanation.
"Before you can summon one of us, you will have to create a contract with us via your body. As you can see there, the woman is painting the picture of an Aeon onto the man's back. It's very much like tattoos, except that after the ceremony, the image fades into the skin until the man decides to summon that particular Aeon, in which case it reappears. For the ceremony itself, the summoner must go into a trance-like state with his Aeon. In that one moment, they will share one body and mind. You needn't worry about how that is done exactly because the first Aeon who will agree to become your summon usually leads you through the process step by step. We do it this way because the members of the Kedamono clan have always been very hands-on people; they don't waste their time talking about theory."
"You mean, I'd need to have someone paint the picture of the Aeon on my back? But how can I...a Kage Bunshin!" Naruto grinned and tugged Ixion's shirt excitedly. "I can have one of my clones paint the image for me. That is possible, right?"
"Yes, except you forgot one thing: whoever paints the Aeon's image on your back must be a damn good painter." Ixion reminded him. "You can be many things, Naruto-sama, but a painter? You'd have to be the luckiest man on Earth to have the kind of natural talent that would allow you to learn how to replicate images at a very fast rate. And even then, you would need a competent teacher."
In the Heavens above, a certain Lady of Luck burst into laughter. Oh, you have no idea.
"Well, I'll cross that bridge when I get there," Naruto spoke offhandedly. "For now, I'm more worried about getting step number two done. Just one last question, Ixion. The paints used...are they mixed with something?"
"Just a drop of your blood will do."
"Good," Naruto beamed at Ixion. "So, you said I can learn jutsus here?"
Shizuru ducked under the window and slipped inside her office, quickly removing the kimono she wore.
"Back already, Shizuru?" Natsuki asked, studying the reports which were laid out on Shizuru's desk. Her eyes flickered for a moment to meet Shizuru's gaze, smiling in amusement. "Another ruined kimono? And here I thought I was hard on my clothes."
Shizuru merely shrugged and walked inside the bedroom they shared, quickly changing into a pair of loose trousers and an undershirt. "We had to cut the mock battle short. Naruto did not take to my genjutsu well. I did a double-layered one: a visual genjutsu and a body genjutsu, making it impossible for them to expel chakra from their bodies to cancel it. Naruto kept trying to force the chakra out of his body anyway, causing blockage on his coils. He'll wake up soon enough. He just needs some rest."
"Did you bring him to the hospital?" Natsuki leaned against the doorframe and raised an eyebrow in question. "By the way, you're wearing my shirt again."
"It fits me better." Shizuru said with an innocent smile. "And anyway, he doesn't like hospitals. Like a certain someone I know," she teased.
Natsuki made a face and beckoned for Shizuru to follow her. "I hate hospitals because they always ask too many questions afterwards."
"Not shinobi hospitals," quipped Shizuru.
"I've read the latest reports about our Kumogakure friends." Natsuki growled, ignoring Shizuru's words. "They're harbouring two Jinchuuriki. Did you know that? I can smell a war brewing in the horizon. I really doubt it's a good idea to hold the next Chuunin exams here. Not at this time."
"Must you always point the blame to them? I may not like them for what they did to you during the Third Great Shinobi War, but they've behaved as far as I'm concerned. I've killed enough of their people, and that's compensation enough for me. As for those two Jinchuuriki, they're one of Kumogakure's worst kept secrets ever. I'm surprised you only found out about them now. If we should be investigating anyone, I say we investigate Sunagakure. I heard they're planning to send their young Jinchuuriki here next month for the exams. They'll be dealing the most damage, if they suddenly decide to attack us."
Natsuki crossed her arms and frowned. "I'm sorry. I guess you're right."
"Ara, ara. Who would have thought Natsuki-chan had it in her to say those two magic words, ice queen that she is?" Shizuru's smiled dropped as she sat stiffly on her leather armchair. "I know you've always shown an interest in the Kedamono clan, Natsuki. Can you tell me anything about them?"
"Why the sudden interest?"
"Because one of my students might just be a part of that clan, even though it's been gone for about fifty years now?" Shizuru rubbed the bridge of her nose and accepted the cup of tea Natsuki gave her. "He even has one of those guns you've always wanted to use."
"Really now? Well, you should go ask him if he is, once he's awake."
"I plan to, but right now, I'm interested in learning about the Kedamono's history. If he is indeed a new successor of that clan, then I want to be prepared and give the proper training he deserves."
"I suppose I should begin with one of their more...well-known myths. A hundred years ago, a great evil was born. It was formed from the greediness of men who coveted and conspired against each other, and it thrived in the darkness of their hearts. This evil was known as Sin. Now, Sin was a very powerful fiend that ravaged through the land, bringing chaos and misery in its wake. The gods from above saw this threat and decided to do something about it. That was when they decided to appoint heroes who would do battle for them, the Liberi Fatali, the Children of Fate. They knew that no weapon or jutsu could defeat this terrifying beast, so they did the only thing that they could do: they offered their powers to the chosen ones. Time passed, and the Final Battle approached. They attacked with much fervour, every one of them putting their life on the line. Of the ten who attacked that day, only three survived. They were the youngest of the group and the ones who bore the smallest amount of power. The seven who died found that they could no longer move on to the Farplane where the souls were to be kept until Judgement day. They say that those seven souls were too heavy from the power entrusted to them by the gods, and could not fly high enough to reach the eternal skies. Instead, they were bound in a different dimension, known as the Void, where they would spend the rest of their days in silent contemplation. The three remaining Liberi Fatali knew this was unfair and decided to create a contract with those seven spirits. The contract would allow them the ability to roam the lands once more, and become its guardians for all of time."
"Hence the name Aeons," interrupted Shizuru. "After a while, they also acquired other contracts, from minor gods to heroes who were greatly revered during their time. How about the branches? Weren't there three of them?"
"Yes, the Kedamono clan was divided into three groups: the Warrior clan, the White Mage clan, and the Gunner clan. These three were created by the original Liberi Fatali—the remaining three who had managed to live on. Kaien Garamonde, the oldest, led the Warrior clan; Poromu, the youngest, led the White Mage clan; and finally, Avain Kiniasu, led the Gunner clan. The three clans prospered together and lived in relative peace for several decades. They were a humble people and rarely made fights with other clans, insisting early on that they had no interest in wars. However, other clans grew jealous of their power, and it did not take long before fights broke out. One man saw them as a threat to the people and had amassed an army to drive them out and kill them. It only took him two years, and he would have failed too, if it were not for the fact that the Kedamono clan refused to fight against them." Natsuki's eyes narrowed and she gripped the edge of the table she was leaning against a bit too tightly. "If Naruto really is their successor, then that means he'll be constantly in danger from the other power-hungry clans."
"You know as well as I that even without that, he's already in danger. He is the Kyuubi's container after all."
Natsuki nodded. "Well? What happens now? What should we do?"
"I'll talk to him; maybe warn him about showing off to other people. He was carrying his gun all day the other day, but I guess I didn't make the connection then. He'll have to keep his gun hidden, I suppose." Shizuru refilled her cup with tea and asked, "How many do you think still remember the Kedamono clan?"
"Not a lot of people I think. If anyone still remembered them, I would say that it would be the old ones. Didn't Naruto live in the Toshikasa district? His neighbours would know."
"They seem to be rather fond of him, so if any one of them were to know, they would choose to help him, rather than subjugate him or drive him out." Ruby red eyes flickered to inspect the cup's rim. "I'll talk to him once I find the time. For now, I'll let him rest."
"Oh man, oh man!" Naruto pumped his fists in the air. "I think I'm in heaven."
"I find it hard to believe that I'm hearing this from you right now," remarked Ixion, an expression of bemusement across his face. They were standing inside the Archives where the different Kedamono jutsus were housed and Naruto was currently doing a victory dance at his little find.
"Neh, Ixion, do you know how this is all possible?" Naruto inquired, looking up at the Aeon. "I mean, I've never heard of anyone having their own library in their mindscape."
"The Kedamono clan was being hunted down by various people, a couple of years back. They knew that their time was almost up and decided to do a set of jutsus, burying their knowledge deep within the recess of the human mind as a security measure. Of course, as you already know, there are still some Kedamono scrolls lying about in their manor—only a member of the clan would be allowed to step inside the place anyway—but the information there isn't sufficient for anyone who plans to mimic the clan's abilities."
"Any information about the different Aeons here, Ixion?" Naruto scratched his chin and looked thoughtful. "If there was, not only would I be able to get to know you guys for Junctioning, I would also get some clues to the whereabouts of the other Aeons."
"That's a good point, Naruto-chan," an effeminate voice interrupted the two, making them turn around. A well-endowed woman with vibrant blue hair and a matching set of eyes smiled at them, thin lips perking up ever so slightly. "And yes, there are scrolls here detailing about our once mortal lives and the abilities which we possess. I can lead them to you sometime, but for now, I prefer idle conversation. I hope you're not in a hurry to learn all this?"
"Not at all," Naruto spoke confidently, matching Shiva's smile with one of his own. "You look even prettier when you're not in paper."
"Thank you for the compliment, Naruto-chan. I appreciate it." She offered him her hand and slipped it underneath his elbow, holding it tightly. "Come, let us go to the sitting room. I'm sure you would like to meet Cerberus as well."
Naruto was shown into a wide room with several comfy-looking couches, a bookcase in the corner, and a glass coffee table in the middle. It was very unlike any place Naruto had seen before, and he suspected that some of the furniture was foreign. "Yo, dude, what kept ya?"
Cerberus was shorter by a few inches compared to Ixion, and had long raven black hair tied in a ponytail. Like Ixion, he had a very solid build though wore a pair of manacles around his wrists and didn't have as many scars around his body. Whether that was for show or something else entirely, Naruto didn't know. Upon closer inspection, Naruto also noticed one disconcerting thing about this man: he appeared to have heterochromia—he had a single red eye and a single golden eye—making it hard for Naruto to stop staring at him. "Not answering, eh? Too scared to speak, brat?"
"Show some respect, Cerberus," admonished Ixion, frowning at Cerberus's behaviour. "He is our master now."
"So what if he is? Until he proves to me that he's worthy to be our master, I ain't catering to his needs. I have my pride, yo!"
"You want me to prove myself to you?" Naruto growled, glaring at Cerberus. "Fine then. Name your price."
"You've got guts, kid," Cerberus crowed. "Sure, I'll give you a test. If you can make anyone piss his pants in the next twenty-four hours, you can establish a Mind Link with me. If you can summon one of us by the end of the week, I'll even agree to Junctioning with you. What'd you say?"
"I accept, dattebayo!" Cerberus spat on his hand and offered it to Naruto. To the disgust of Ixion and Shiva, the boy spat on his own hand and immediately grabbed Cerberus's, shaking it profusely.
"I'm so glad we can do just about anything in Naruto-chan's mindscape," murmured Shiva, producing two handkerchiefs out of nowhere, and handing one to Naruto and the other to Cerberus.
"What about you, Shiva-san?" Naruto asked, wiping the spit off his hands and throwing the handkerchief over his shoulder, only to have it disappear in mid-air, thanks to the Encephalon's Magical Recycling Bin of Doom. "What do I have to do be able to establish the Mind Link with you?"
"You need only to ask, Naruto-chan."
Naruto pleasantly woke up to the sound of birds chirping in the distance. They had talked for a little longer, discussing the method in which Naruto could enter his mindscape not only through meditation, but also when he was about to fall asleep. They reasoned that if he were to train there as well, his best bet would be during the night so that it wouldn't conflict with his other training. Ixion also finally talked about the dress scrolls, much to the delight of Naruto. His only real problem was learning to create mannequins that matched his build, but other than that, it was a doable project, and Naruto looked forward to it.
In that time, he also discovered something very useful about having Ixion control one of his clones. Normally, he would only use one or two clones if he ever wished to research something. It just wasn't worth it to have so many clones study at the same, especially since he couldn't quite digest all that information at once. It was like trying to shove the whole container of milk down your throat, rather than just drinking small amounts of it. With Ixion, things were different.
For one thing, when the clone initially dispersed, Naruto would remember only snippets of its memories. It was only during Ixion's explanations that the information would trickle back in, as if Ixion was simply helping Naruto remember some details he had forgotten. This way, Naruto could understand all that information without feeling as if his mind was about to explode.
"And I can use Shiva and Cerberus too, once I get that old grump to join," he murmured under his breath, a silly grin on his face. He moved to a standing position and looked around, seeing both Ino and Shino some metres away, doing the water-walking exercise. After further examining his surroundings, he found footprints on some of the trees. This suggested that they had already completed the tree-walking exercise, something that had taken Naruto three days to complete. He was rather impressed that they had managed to do it in less than a day. Then again, they didn't really have the huge amount chakra he possessed, and he was really young then when he first did those exercises.
About to go to them and congratulate them on their progress—and maybe laugh at Ino who was soaking wet from head to toe or at Shino who actually looked disgruntled for once—Naruto's ears twitched and he turned around, straining his ears. He knew he heard something beyond the trees to his left, so he decided to investigate, his hands slowly doing the seals for a concealment jutsu. He raised his eyebrows at what he saw, and he bared his teeth, a low guttural growl rumbling from his chest. "Hey, teme, what the fuck do you think you're making him do, eh?"
Sasuke and Sakura were lounging underneath a large broad tree, both looking amused at some private joke—a private joke which involved Chouji having to run across the clearing, dragging a thick piece of log behind him. It was an arm's length in terms of thickness, and looked awfully heavy from the fatigued expression on Chouji's face.
"He's training, baka. What do you think?" Sakura scoffed.
"I think, you two are being total jerks here," Naruto spoke. He sent some chakra to the silver hoop on his ear, signalling for his teammates to follow him. Flexing his hand, he prepared to summon his gun again. He was still drained from their fight earlier, but he did get some rest, and there was enough chakra to do two more Overdrive shots at them. He raised his hand and pointed the gun directly in the middle of Sasuke's eyes. "And I'm going to fucking blow your head off if you don't stop torturing Chouji. I look out for my friends, and if any of them are threatened, heads will start rolling. Or in this case, blown up."
"Right, like you can do something like that. You may not be as bad as that dobe over there, but you're way under my league," Sasuke spoke, clearly unfazed by Naruto's threat. "And shouldn't you be threatening Sakura right now? I wasn't the one calling you a baka."
Naruto froze and cursed at himself mentally. Sasuke was right, that damn bastard. He knew he used to like Sakura—note the words used to—but he still didn't harbour enough hatred against the girl to try killing her. "You're clearly the mastermind behind all this. Sakura might be a complete bitch sometimes, but she would never think of something as heartless as this."
"For once, Naruto's actually right," Ino quipped wryly. "Sorry, Sasuke-kun, but Sakura-teme doesn't really have the kind of guts to make Chouji run like this. She might make fun of him verbally, but that's all she's really capable of doing. Also, Chouji can pretty much kick her ass in terms of taijutsu. I don't think she can threaten him into training. Not like you can."
"Caught in the act I suppose," Sasuke said lightly. His black eyes met Naruto's clear blue ones. "So, what're you going to do now? Kill me?"
Naruto-sama, you're not really thinking of killing the boy, are you? Ixion asked worriedly.
Shut up, Ix. Cerberus quipped, glee evident in his voice. Don't you know? A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do.
And that means scaring the crap outta arrogant bastards like him! Naruto pointed at a nearby tree to his right and pulled the trigger, slamming all of his anger into the gun. He didn't speak a word out loud—too busy trying to squash down the emotions clogging against his chest. Thunder roared from the barrel, slamming against the tree head on. It burst into flame, but Naruto wasn't paying attention to it. He was more interested in the fetid smell coming from Sasuke.
Well done, brat. Maybe there's hope for you yet. Cerberus sounded pleased.
I live to entertain, Cerberus. Naruto thought smugly. "So, you still want me to kill you, or do you promise not to be naughty anymore?"
"Fuck off," Sasuke said and hurriedly walked away. Sakura, who appeared to understand the situation, followed after him, her face a bright red colour.
"You didn't need our help," Shino said, though he did not sound irritated.
"I was hoping I could ask you guys to look after Chouji for me," Naruto answered back, helping Chouji untie the rope around his waist. "You okay, Chouji?"
"I could have taken them on my own," Chouji murmured darkly and sighed. "Okay, so maybe not, but they were right, you know? I really was holding them back."
"They're not right, Chouji," admonished Ino, patting Chouji's shoulder a bit awkwardly. "Yeah, so what if you can't keep up with them? They should be helping you to become better, not making fun of you like-like an animal."
"Yeah. Speaking of training, if you need help, you should go to us instead," offered Naruto. "We don't bite, and at least we're actually learning something. We don't spend our free time tormenting others. Unless we have to, that is."
"Naruto," Shino spoke warningly. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"
"Hey, it's not like we're going to tell him everything, Shino. He doesn't have to know about the other stuff. He can just hang out with us, and we can help him with some basic exercises—like that water-walking which, I must say, the two of you are doing quite well. It took me a while to perfect those exercises."
"You've already done them?" Ino asked, surprised.
"Okami-baa-san always did say I had awful control. Tree-walking, paper-walking, water-walking...I had to learn all of those if I wanted to keep up with the rest of you guys." Naruto shrugged. "It's real easy actually, once you get the hang of it. Come on, Chouji, I'll get you started with tree-walking. Then we do water-walking. See, the secret, has something to do with imagery."
Naruto whistled as he walked towards his apartment complex, feeling satisfied at a job well done. He had just finished creating an intricate trap outside one of the pubs near the Academy—one that was frequented by several of his past tormentors—and Nezumi, one of his clones who had been looking for an art instructor, had seen the tail-end of it.
Suffice to say, several men that night would be crying home to their mothers. They didn't quite piss their pants as was the original plan, but they won't be walking normal for some time in the next few days. Being bitten by a pack of crazed dogs down there in the unmentionables tends to do that to a person.
As to how Naruto managed to pull that off...let's just say it involved cloth balls soaked in meat juice, a contraption modelled after Naruto's gun, and a great deal of timing.
You know, kid, you and me, we gotta make these plans sometime. I want to contribute to the chaos you're causing. Cerberus said all too cheerfully in Naruto's mind.
Naruto's only reply was to send Cerberus some more of his brilliant ideas.
Humming to himself, Naruto ran up the steps, taking two at a time, and was about to head to his room when a most familiar face greeted his sight. "Hash!" He ran towards the small, thin, aging man, slamming against him with so much force, one would think the older of the two would keel over in pain. "It's so nice to see you again, Ooyasan! How've you been?"
"I'm doing fine, Naruto-kun." He smiled toothily. "And you? How are you?"
Hash...?
"Oh, I have lots to tell you, Ooyasan!" Naruto tugged at his hand. "Come on and have tea with me inside." He dragged the elderly man towards his room.
Is that...Hashmal? Cerberus asked.
Yeah, you know him? Naruto answered back, ushering his landlord inside the kitchen.
I need a Kage Bunshin, brat. Cerberus said urgently. Right now.
With a shrug, Naruto summoned two clones, one for Cerberus to occupy, and the other to make tea. "I just got my hitai-ate, Ooyasan. Can you believe it? I actually passed! I mean, I knew I'd pass, but still! Aren't you happy for me, Ooyasan?" He leaned forward to take a better look at Hashmal's face and saw the man's deathly pale expression full of shock.
"What are you doing here?" Hashmal demanded.
"I think I should be asking you that question," Cerberus spoke flatly, his hands balling into ham-sized fists. "You left us, you bastard. You left us just before the other shinobis annihilated the Kedamono clan, and now, you're here trying to make favours with the new clan head?"
"New clan head...?" His gaze flickered towards Naruto. Finding his voice, he turned his hardened eyes towards Cerberus who was frowning at him. "I left for a good reason, Cerberus. It's not what you think."
"Oh really? Enlighten me then. Tell me what really happened that day."
"Poromu-sama knew that it would be futile for them to fight against the other clans. They had grown used to peace, and the idea of killing other humans was a foreign idea to them. Not only that, but they weren't prepared to counter the other clans' Kekkai genkais."
"I know that already!" Cerberus snapped impatiently. "But some still chose to fight, remember? You on the other hand, turned tail and fled."
"Poromu-sama gave me a special mission," Hashmal spoke levelly. "She asked me to look after the Kedamono estate in her absence. She also asked me to make preparations for the new clan head, from planting the Scroll of Summoners in the Hokage's storage room, to making sure that he or she gets the best possible education."
"Really now? So how come you've only appeared now to offer the brat assistance? You're a little late on the news, you know."
"I was busy overseeing the Kedamono's lands. And anyway, how was I to know that Naruto here would be chosen? I was never given a clue as to who would inherit the clan's powers! Poromu-sama simply told me that whoever would succeed would be very close to one of the Hokages."
"Whoa there!" Naruto said, shocked at Cerberus's touchy attitude and at Hashmal's words. "Slow down, you two. Can we start from the start? Coz I'm feeling kinda lost here."
"He's an Aeon too, just like us." Cerberus spoke. "This guy here, is Hashmal, Bringer of Order—the Esper of Earth."
A/N: S'okay, not only does FFN keep me from posting this yesterday, it also screws my formatting. Ah, hell.
Questions, comments, and one-word exclamations of joy are all welcome.
Speaking of questions, I have a few of my own. Who do you think should be Naruto's art instructor? I'm leaning heavily on Sai, though Tenten is also an option. I can also use Yakumo (from the filler eps). Any opinions about this would be greatly appreciated.
Also, a round of applause to anyone who can name the remaining three Liberi Fatali, and which Final Fantasy they came from.
Cerberus's description is based on Nora from the manga Nora: The Last Chronicle of Devildom created by Kazunari Kakei. So I don't own it, yo?
Oh, and I have an early warning for any Naruto/Hinata shippers out there: I'm not going to do a Naru/Hina pairing for this fic. I mean, I have nothing against their pairing and all...it's just, I need her to fill a different role for me. That's all I can say for now.
Word of the Day: Ooyasan – landlord