I do own Naruto. I do own a soul gem.
After nearly a month of extensive medical and calligraphy training with the help of hundreds of shadow clones, Naruto was ready. While Shinno was truly pressed with Naruto's drive and devotion to learn anatomy and medical techniques, Naruto knew he still had a long way to go before being on the older man's level. The kind man had even showed Naruto how to access the first of the hachimon gates, and although Naruto lacked the physical prowess that was usually needed his uncommon healing ability allowed him to bypass this limitation. In fact he could access the first gate with no drawbacks whatsoever, except feeling immensely fatigued after prolonged use. If his muscles shredded though, he would just heal within a day and then be that much stronger due to the nature of how muscle increased strength. In essence he could actually use the eight gate release to actually train his body to the level where he could safely access more gates, therefore multiplying his strength each time he used it. It was brilliant!
Amaru had also been a quick study of the academy jutsu, and the girls body was becoming stronger and stronger to the point where she could now take nice jigs with Naruto in the morning. Naruto loved his girlfriend, her kindness and genuine personality always made him feel warm when he was near her. He hadn't even thought about Naori at all the past few weeks, despite the fact that his shadow clones that were sent to the leaf were summoned multiple times by the Hokage. Naruto didn't want anything to do with her now, and he honestly just wanted to forget about the girl that still stung his heart when he thought of her. He had thought once that he had used Amaru to help him forget, but he had immediately dispelled that notion within himself. That wasn't the type of person he was, and although he may have done it on an unconscious level he truly loved his little redhead. So much in fact that he never left her side at all, not even once. Shinno had told him they were far too dependent on each other, but Naruto didn't care about that. He loved her clinginess, and she loved his vice versa. There was also some great news that he had recently gotten from Shinno, news that Naruto had wanted to get his entire life. He was going to be a father it seemed, and when he had first heard he had literally bounced around for days on end with a huge smile of contentment.
Things were finally coming together for the Uzumaki, and so for the first time and hopefully the last time in his life he was going to leave Amaru for a few days at the longest. Not by herself of course, as he had halted his training in order to create an overly powerful clone that would take at least four or five days to dispel. He wasn't going to worry her with his trip to whirlpool, and he had even been making Phoenix clones to explore fire country just to make sure he could find the village again. He now could pinpoint his location on the map if the elemental nations he had, despite his horrible sense of direction sometimes. As the blonde gave Amaru a deep kiss that channeled all of his love for her, the sparks that flew between them could almost be seen with the naked eye. After walking out of the room and creating a smokeless clone silently, he sent the powerful doppelganger back into the room while he shunshined away into the village, pulling out his compass and making sure he was facing westward. Transforming into the Phoenix form that had mesmerized the villagers and had somehow led to a Naruto fan club, the young shinobi took to the skies in a flapping of fiery orange wings headed toward his ancestral homeland.
~1 Day Later~
Naruto was lost. Compass and map of the nations be damned, the blonde realized that air travel wasn't as easy as it might seem. The problem was that while flying he would most likely change direction slightly every so often, but eventually those small adjustments in trajectory would become large deviations. At least he knew he was near the coast of fire country, now all he had to do was find a village of some sort to identify his location. After another half hour of flight, Naruto decided to send clones in all directions, and after getting a little curious he decided to check out the large volcano he could see had off in the distance on a remote island.
Wow. Naruto had never seen a volcano before, and circling right over the dormant mountainous terrain he tried and failed to peer inside and see some lava or what was it called? Magma? Whatever. After a while Naruto began to get a little bored, if only a little, and decided he'd circle around the volcano and see what else was on the island. It wasn't even fifteen minutes later that he found out. Death. There were remains of human carcasses scattered about the small village Naruto flew over, and the blood looked so fresh the boy could say it might have just happened before he came to the island. He saw a young woman's chewed up head laying on the ground next to a man's leg that was shredded apart at the middle of the thigh, and so many other gruesome sights.
He didn't know what sort of monster could have caused such destruction, but it damned sure wasn't a kitten. Searching for any survivors Naruto saw no one, but since he had enhanced hearing the blonde did catch something far off.
"HELP!"
Shunshining toward the voice at once even though he was in the air, Naruto soon enough found out what exactly was behind the massacre. Well at least he saw it, but he didn't know what the fuck it was. A giant maggot with tentacles!? Gross! But surprisingly the source of the a team for help was the main thing Naruto focused on, and for a moment he thought he was looking at his mother. Then suddenly the long glowing chains of adamantine broke apart, and the large worm like beast that was being restrained was freed and instantly went to finish the only threat to its existence. She had been the only one on the island to be able to combat it, as those chains somehow stopped its innate ability to absorb chakra. Perhaps after it absorbed her as well as the last remaining summons here, it could manifest them as well.
"Now be assimilated." It roared in its disgusting squelchy and gravelly voice.
Tentacles shot from its stomach toward the redhead girl at high speed, and the exhausted kunoichi resigned herself to death knowing she couldn't dodge and no one would come for her. Suddenly in a vortex of wind the tentacles were all severed apart, and Honoka was mesmerized by the blonde boys swiftness as he saved her life. She couldn't even register his speed as she was grabbed by another blonde and teleported away from the research lab entrance where the beast had cornered her, and as she arrived near the village she could hear the distant sounds of a battle commencing.
"I..I have to go back! It's my responsibility to subdue the beast, but I failed and now they're all dead! It's all my fault!" She hysterically yelled at Naruto who's eyes widened.
Suddenly she was in a tight hug which shocked her beyond belief, and holding her close Naruto told her with complete conviction." No! I won't let my family be put in danger! Just let me handle that thing and stay back!"
"Family!?" She exclaimed extremely confused.
"My name is Naruto Uzumaki, heir of whirlpool and future Uzukage. Believe it!"
"Her eyes went as wide as possible and she stuttered." I'm Honoka... Honoka Uzumaki! But our clan was destroyed so long ago, before I was even born! How are you!?
"My mother was Kushina Uzumaki, the granddaughter of the Uzukage Ashina Uzumaki. I've even gotten to meet him through a complex seal he designed on a mask. I was headed toward whirlpool before I came here exploring and look at what I find! This is so great! I won't let you die Honoka hime! You're family and I'll always protect you Dattebayo!" Naruto told Her excitedly.
The redhead girl actually began to blush a little which was unlike her, and Naruto didn't let her escape his hug and she even returned it a little despite her just meeting him. He really was family, even if distant, he was still an Uzumaki like her. Suddenly she didn't feel so alone in the world anymore, and she let herself just melt in another person's arms for the first time in a long while. She hadn't hugged like this since she was a child, and she was actually saddened when Naruto let her go with a deadly glare entering his eyes.
"It defeated my shadow clone, can you tell me anything about it besides the fact that my jutsu won't work on it!?"
"It can case genjutsu through its eyes, sense chakra, absorb ninjutsu, absorb other summoning animals, and shapeshift. It's supposed to be the ultimate counter to shinobi, and we were nearly finished creating it I'm the research lab when it escaped prematurely. It...slaughtered everything breathing. Only my sealing chains can subdue it, but it overpowered me and now there's nothing I can do!"
Naruto got a peculiar look in his eyes when Honoka mentioned chains, and as the beast dragged itself toward them disgustingly he created ten clones and one of them took Honoka far from the battle. Suddenly tentacles shot from its stomach again trying to ensnare her, but once again Naruto intervened as his clones a all shunshined in a circle around the summons.
"Your opponent is me!"
"So be it, your substance will be more fulfilling!" The worm retorted before roaring in shock at being bound again.
All the clones that circled it had thruster their hands out and adamantine chains with a golden glow shot and wrapped its squishy flesh tightly. Honoka was shocked beyond belief upon seeing the twenty chains Naruto had made so easily, as she had only managed about 15 or so and had trouble with those. Now she knew for sure he was Uzumaki, and a damned strong one to boot. Using the tree walking exercise to stay firmly planted on the ground, the clones pulled with all of their might as Naruto created two more that drew his swords from his back. As both clones held them like spears, Naruto placed his hand in a half ram seal as they threw then strongly at the monster's head and body yelling." Bamboo Shadow Blades!"
The swords multiplied into nearly a thousand and struck the squealing summons true making it appear like a pincushion. Seeing the beast wasn't yet dead, Naruto released the first gate and burst toward it at high speed, landing on its head and grabbing the various blades that were impaling it. He disappeared in many shunshins grabbing blades and tearing them through its body as he disappeared and reappeared continuously until it no longer struggled or made noise. Honoka was stunned by the brutality, and Naruto was literally drenched in blood and panting after slicing and the monster so thoroughly. After that the boy soon created a mass of clones to bury the bodies of the dead, which endeared Honoka to him because of his compassion. After paying their respects to the deceased, Naruto was a bit traumatised by having to see and move so many horribly mutilated bodies, but he still tried to stay positive and smiled at Honoka saying." Well, I guess they can at least rest now. I wish I had gotten here sooner Honoka hime, I'm so sorry!"
They had both washed up earlier at Honokas small house, and since Naruto had a chuance of clothes always handy he was no longer do weed in blood like before. And so Honoka had hugged him shushing the Uzumaki, and Naruto started to speak when she suddenly startled him with a kiss. Naruto returned the kids only a few moments before he broke apart from Honoka telling her." Honoka hime..I..we can't. I'm already seeing someone else, and I love her very much. If I had met you...I hope you understand...l.."
She seemed to be saddened by his words as she looked down to the ground at his rejection. While she had been trying to cheer him up with her kids, she did have an interest in being with the strong, kind, and cute shinobi that was from her lost clan. She hadn't expected him to be in a relationship already, but She was glad that he was honest enough to tell her instead of two timing.
"Its alright Naruto kun...I'm Sorry for-"
Naruto hugged the girl tightly again cutting her off and saying softly." Don't be sorry Honoka hime. I've wanted companionship my while life since I'm an orphan, and believe me I think you're beautiful and strong and smart too. We may not be in a relationship, but I still wanna get to know you more and I want you to come with me! I'm headed to whirlpool now and it'd be great if we could go together, we can learn lots of new things and see where we come from!"
Naruto really made it hard for her not to be interested in him when he held her like this, and the fact that he was an orphan like her made it worse. Opting to try and see what her competition was like, the red headed Uzumaki agreed to travel with the blonde to whirlpool, asking him about his girlfriend and how they would get there as well.
~1 Day later~
As two birds flew over the destroyed village that was once prosperous many years ago, the orange one descended swiftly with the red one quickly following suit. Honoka had easily learned the transformation after Naruto explained the anatomy of birds because of her extensive research on animals and ninja training, which she had admittedly taught herself from a scroll her mother left when she was young before she died. Honoka had made her Phoenix transformation her favorite color, which was the shade of red her hair was. She had learned a lot about this Amaru girl from Naruto and she admittedly was very grandfather of the way Naruto spoke about her, and the clueless boy didn't even know that she had no desire whatsoever to meet her. Well unless it was to compare their beauty. The way Naruto talked it was like she was the best thing since ramen noodles, which they both had a similar addiction to which made her like him even more.
She definitely wasn't some sort of fangirls or anything like that, but Naruto despite being two years younger than her would be the perfect guy for her and she longer for companionship just like any orphan would. The fact that his life had been so hard and yet he had been so strong willed and determined to push forward made her respect for him skyrocket even more than his saving her had. The blonde also had promised to train her personally soon, and she was looking forward to the private time they'd spend together. The previous night they had stopped off at Port City which was almost directly west of whirlpool, and staying in a cheap motel the two of them had actually fallen asleep together holding each other tightly. Naruto was certainly being innocent and wasn't perverted at all, but he just seemed to genuinely want to hold his family member close now that he finally had one. They had talked about many things, mostly about her research on the summoning island and his life in Konoha. They also pigged out on ramen which was fun, as they had a contest to see who would finish first. Naruto barely beat her too, but She vowed to win next time. The other thing that they talked about was where they would settle down at, which Naruto admittedly didn't have a clue where to go. After little prodding by Honoka who didn't want to waste resources, Naruto had collected a large sum of ryo from around the summon island village since the residents were all dead now. Altogether they acquired about 40,000, and although she knew there was probably more it was good enough.
The Swirling Tides village was in shambles, and Honoka didn't know how Naruto would find anything in this mess. Skyscrapers were obliterated and the remains were scattered across the landscape. The stone walls along the outskirts were crumbling and thick vegetation nearly grew over them. And then there was the humongous hole directly in the center of the village where it looked like a huge meteor had impacted the ground. Naruto seemed to move with purpose despite all of this, and after the blonde created 50 clones to search around along the river he told her." Granddad said to look for a tree that blooms white flowers during the spring, and that it's somewhere along the river that goes through the center of the village. Come on let's look for it too!"
"Sounds like a dogwood tree Naruto kun. That looks like one right there although it isn't white. Let's check it out!"
Impressed by her knowledge of flora, Naruto and Honoka made there way the the tree and Naruto immediately began digging with a kunai instead of using his clones. He had a feeling that this was the tree, as it had some sort of seal engraved in the bark and it was larger than many of the others that were around. After a while of digging the blonde did indeed find what he was looking for, and after searching though its contents the first thing he did was sign his new summoning contract, and honored as well when he handed it to her.
Then after learning the five handseals, both of them drew a bit of blood and performed them, slamming their palms into the ground simultaneously. Naruto summoned a lavender colored feline with two tails that introduced itself as Espeon. Honoka summoned a black feline with golden rings on various places that said it was Umbreon. Then the two summons seemed to notice each other, and all hell broke loose.
HOPE YOU GUYS LOVE THE CAT SUMMONS AS MUCH AS I DO, SINCE THEY ARE THE EEVEELUTIONS. PLUS THEYRE IN A POWER STRUGGLE, ESPECIALLY ESP AND UMB. REVIEW.