Wow, thank you all for your enthusiasm and requests for more chapters! I do love reading your reviews and learning what you've enjoyed / what you want to see more of. I'm working out how to balance the many revisions of my novel with new chapters of Sealmaster. Updates will likely be slow, but I hope to keep them coming. To those of you who asked (thanks!), right now I'm pursuing traditional publishing rather than self-publishing.
Also, I confused several people in the last chapter with the pregnancy scare. Karin, with her possessive attitude towards Sasuke, was making a rival of Naruto for Sasuke's affections. When Naruto made a gesture towards her stomach—touching it like a pregnant woman might—Karin's wild imagination jumped from Naruto making a play for Sasuke to Naruto being pregnant by Sasuke. A bit nutty, I know :) Also, back in Chapter 11, Naruto put chakra into Karin's body to save her life, and Naruto, who doesn't fully understand how babies are made beyond the mechanics of it, wondered if putting chakra into Karin could have resulted in a pregnancy. Again, it's their nutty personalities and general misunderstandings at work.
Indestructible
Naruto let her legs dangle from her perch in a tree and bit the end of a pencil. There were so many new rules to keep straight. Iruka-sensei had suggested she write them down five times a day, but she was already starting to forget what she was supposed to write. She twiddled the pencil between her fingers, scratched behind her ear, and started stabbing the pencil into the tree bark. The point broke off, and Naruto studied the jagged end happily. How could Iruka-sensei expect her to write without a pencil?
A strange tightening in her abdomen arrested her attention.
Kurama, she thought to her bijuu, it's the damn seal again. What's going on? The thought transported Naruto to a world within her mind where trees grew in fertile land. Kurama lazed by a stream, letting his tails sway idly, as though caught by a breeze.
No idea, gaki. It's not bothering me. He yawned, revealing a set of glimmering fangs.
So if it's not bothering you, it doesn't matter? asked Naruto.
Depending on my mood, yes.
Damn fox.
Damn right.
Naruto snarled in a most-foxlike manner. Stupid Kurama. One minute wise and helpful, one minute bloodthirsty, the next wily with some plan to sow terror in the minds of the populace. (On such occasions, Naruto would request death-defying assignments from Obaa-chan to let Kurama unwind. The fox had accepted captivity for the duration of Naruto's life. That didn't mean he relished it.) At the moment, Kurama was content to act like a limp rat, letting his tongue loll out from his mouth in a pose of ultimate relaxation.
Why couldn't one damn thing stay the same? Kurama had been interested in the seal before, but now that it was acting up again, he couldn't care less. She had come to rely on his support, and he withheld it without even a lame excuse. More than any other emotion, anger connected them. That was what Naruto wanted to feel right now: anger to rouse Kurama and get the fox back in her corner. But instead, a sense of dread—almost…almost desolation tugged at her, drawing her into a gloomy embrace.
Nothing could be wrong with the seal. She wouldn't allow it. She would ignore the pain, and it would go away. Good plan. Naruto was startled by the sudden appearance of tears in her eyes. Damn, what was this nonsense? She'd had a shocking morning, true, but the danger of pregnancy—both Karin's and her own—had passed, had never even existed, according to Iruka-sensei. It was just Karin's version of insanity. What a relief. Naruto couldn't begin to imagine herself as a fath—as a mother. Changing diapers, feeding, and burping. A blonde-haired munchkin with blue eyes…Naruto's eyes watered again.
Damn.
Sasuke's arrival came with little warning: a small breeze and a gentle dip of the tree limb. Naruto frowned when she realized how close Sasuke was standing. "I need a distance of no fewer that five feet between us," she said, reciting one rule she did remember.
Sasuke's brow twitched in annoyance. He'd expected something of the sort. Now the trick would be to get around it. "How the hell are we supposed to spar if we can't hit each other?" he asked her.
"I, er…I don't know. No taijutsu, just ninjutsu and genjutsu, I guess." Naruto frowned. "Rasengans and Chidoris are out because they're close contact, and that's lame. But you can still use Katons and the Chidori senbon, and I've got my Futons."
"Aren't you forgetting something?" Sasuke held up his wrists, which were cuffed with chakra limiters. The limiters had blocked much of his chakra flow for two years. Since Inoichi had confirmed his innocence through mental interrogation and since Sasuke had been promoted to special jounin—Naruto's bodyguard, in fact—the limiters had been adjusted to allow more of his chakra to flow through his coils. Since then, Sasuke had endured pricking pains throughout his body, which heralded the full return of his chakra and itched like hell. In just two weeks, as his body acclimated to the greater influx of chakra, the limiters would be removed entirely. He could hardly wait to go all out in a spar with Naruto—they would certainly have to leave the village or risk its destruction. But right now, his chakra coils were too sensitive for even small-scale jutsu. Sakura had forbidden it for fear he would overextend and do serious damage to himself. In this, Sasuke was willing to obey. He would be like Lee for two weeks. Relying on taijutsu, pretending his body didn't even produce chakra. And forcing himself not to scratch.
"Eh," said Naruto with a shrug, "maybe we just shouldn't spar then. Yeah, that's better. I don't feel like it."
"What? Since when?" demanded Sasuke, watching her eyes dull. Where did this listlessness come from? So unlike Naruto. Just what had that Iruka-demon told her? "Are you sure he didn't mean no more than five feet? I mean, say the Hokage has a mission for us. When she calls us into her office, would you stand on the far right side while I stood on the far left, just to keep five feet between us?"
"I…hadn't thought of that. Yeah, that'd be weird."
Encouraged, Sasuke continued, "Imagine us going to ramen and having to shout at each from opposite sides of the bar. Does that sound like something Iruka would expect you to do?"
"No way," said Naruto.
"So maybe there are exceptions to Iruka's rule, or you misinterpreted it."
Naruto was not a total idiot. She knew for certain what Iruka had said because he'd made her repeat that particular rule aloud ten times, but Sasuke made a really good point. So now she had to wonder just why her most trusted sensei had given her such an impractical rule. It could only be that he still didn't trust Sasuke's loyalty to the village. The thought gave her pain. Iruka-sensei had learned to love Naruto, who was once deemed a monster. Surely her two most important people could learn to get along. If only Sasuke could be a little more outgoing. If only he would put that natural charm he'd buried deep down to good use. If only he'd quit scowling at anyone who so much as glanced his way. Of course, then he might not be Sasuke.
Her thoughts jumped to a concern she'd begun to address weeks ago, before her life was turned on its head with this insane gender transformation: Sasuke's future wife. Marrying some Konoha girl could only make the Uchiha more approachable, and maybe people would start to believe he was a Konoha shinobi for real. And once he had kids, the villagers would see him as a regular family man. Maybe there would be real peace between Konoha and the Uchiha clan forever.
Naruto looked up from her contemplations to study him. His kids, if he ever settled on a wife to carry them, would have hair as black as night and eyes to match. They would be average height, maybe a little taller, and smart. Of course, any Uchiha kids would be stuck-up pains in the ass, much like their father. She smiled.
Sasuke hesitated, unnerved by her roving eyes and, quite frankly, excited by it. He coughed. "What's with the creepy grin?"
"Is it creepy? I was just thinking about our future kids."
He choked.
"Repopulating Konoha with Sharingan brats," continued Naruto. "Can you even imagine? Little Sasukes and Narutos wandering around. Hey, Sasuke, do you even want kids?"
Kami-sama, thought a dazed Sasuke, completely derailed, what is this turn of events? Is she asking me—? Years, he'd thought. It would take years before Naruto even considered the possibility of marriage and a family—and with him, at that. But no, he mustn't hope. Fortune could not favor him, not after it had contrived to screw him over for most of his life.
"Our kids?" he managed.
"Yeah," she said. "I was thinking about it after the, er, conversation with Karin. I'm glad I'm not pregnant and all, but someday…" She drifted off for a moment in her imagination. "Anyways, that got me wondering if you wanted kids."
"Our kids?" he repeated.
Naruto rolled her eyes. "Uh, yeah, teme. That's what I said."
"Ha, uh." Sasuke wondered if the shot of pure happiness through the heart was lethal.
His mind raced ahead with visions of their progeny filling a reconstructed Uchiha manor. In all his hours of wondering how to get Naruto to look at him in a romantic light, he had never thought to start by mentioning children. How foolish of him. Of course she would want them. Naruto, who had never known her family, would be all the more eager to have one of her own. Through the cloud-like blur of contentedness, he recognized that they were starting in an unusual place, blowing past the preliminaries. But then, she always surprised him. Why should it be any different now? He took in her big blue eyes, serious for once, gazing at him…waiting for an answer. Answer her, dammit, answer her! he yelled at himself.
"Uh. Yes, someday. Yes."
Naruto nodded. She had assumed the Uchiha would not want his clan to die out with him, but Kami-sama, a dopey look was forming on his face, the likes of which she'd never seen him wear. The normally tensed muscles relaxed, and he even seemed on the verge of a smile.
"I figure our kids would be at war with each other like we were," she added, smirking.
"S-s-siblings often are," he said, not even caring about the stutter his excitement brought on.
She gave him a weird look. "Sure, I always thought of you as a brother. Later on, anyways, in Team Seven."
"What?" No, no, no. Something was off. A warning buzzed through his veins.
"Wouldn't it be cool if our kids ended up on the same team?" continued Naruto. "I don't suppose Kakashi-sensei could be their sensei, too. Hey, maybe Sakura-chan could be—or she might have kids of her own. You, uh, you haven't had a change of heart about her, have you? Cause then her kids would be yours, and that'd be good, too."
With every word from her mouth, Sasuke's horror mounted. In a flash, he saw his mistake, how the flood of his hopes and dreams had brought on such a spectacular delusion, defying all reason. Children, but not theirs. Two separate groups, forever divided. It was only by years of forced concealment of his emotions that he was able to choke back a gasp—what might have sounded like a sob. But it would not stay down forever. In a jerky movement, Sasuke spun around and took off.
"Oi, bastard!" called Naruto in surprise. "I'm sorry for prying! You don't have to run away!"
He tore through the forest.
"Fine, I'll spar!" said Naruto behind him, bounding after him from tree limb to tree limb. "Taijutsu only! We just can't tell Iruka-sensei!" When Sasuke broke through the tree line and raced across the cleared land towards the village proper, Naruto paused to watch his flight. He was graceful in motion, even in his uncharacteristic haste. She supposed she should be relieved he was running towards the village rather than away, but damn, what had she said to spark such a reaction? Naruto almost smiled. Count on Sasuke-bastard to shake her out of the doldrums with his insanity.
Her relief was short-lived. The seal on her stomach began to pulse and constrict. That's what it felt like, not so much a twinge of pain but a building discomfort.
Quit that, said Kurama.
Naruto reappeared before Kurama in her mental landscape. The fox's tails now stood on end, like a startled cat's hairs. Quit what? she asked him.
Whatever you're doing. I don't like it.
I'm not doing anything, said Naruto. Kurama scratched his head with his hind paw, and Naruto asked, Is it the seal? It's bothering me, too.
It's not that damn seal, he growled. I know what the seal's cage feels like, and it's not this…this itchy thing crawling under my skin.
Naruto frowned. Why is it affecting you worse than me? It wasn't before. Maybe it was time to go to Obaa-chan or Sakura-chan.
Without warning, the ground beneath her feet began to shake. Naruto was about to ignore it as an ordinary tremor when it happened again, more strongly. An earthquake? She closed her eyes, and her eyelids turned a faint orange as she channeled natural energy. Moments later, her eyes popped open in alarm. A mass of dark chakra was tunneling through the earth, rapidly approaching. Naruto had never felt anything like this chakra, vile and sickening and powerful. Adrenaline coursed through her veins as her rampant thoughts centered on one person—one snake: Orochimaru. Finally.
The seal had to wait. In fact, she welcomed this rude interruption. Endless hours of wondering, days of torture as she considered her mother under the snake's control. No longer. A sharp grin sprang to her lips as a golden glow encased her body. Nine tails shot to the sky in an explosion of chakra. Around her, trees shook to their roots, and clouds fled to the far reaches of the sky. Naruto in her golden cloak of the Kyuubi's chakra leaped high into the air over the area of land where the the incoming chakra was strongest. It had been too long since she'd taken this form. The feeling of being so alive, so powerful, how had she not realized how much she'd missed it? A Rasenshuriken swirled over her palm.
No, she wouldn't kill whatever monster Orochimaru sent at her. She would shred its every chakra coil into oblivion. Then send whatever remained to Ibiki. But, to her shock, the currents that created the Rasenshuriken suddenly wavered and broke formation. The jutsu blasted outward, catching Naruto in its release. Cloaked as she was, the blast did no harm to her body, only to her confidence. She hadn't lost control in ages. What the hell? Naruto touched down to the ground.
Shit. We shouldn't be doing this in the village, especially with the seal—
Oh, did you want to ask the big, bad monster to kindly leave Konoha's perimeter before it attacks? came the acerbic snarl. Hold it back until the ANBU arrive. Then get yourself to that damn frog to fix the seal. I can't stand this. Feels like my whole body is covered in hives.
The earth trembled, vibrating with heightening frequency. Then the ground cracked, and rocks erupted from the chasm that formed. Powerful, black claws followed by slitted nostrils on the end of a huge, scaly maw broke through the earth. The monstrous creature hauled itself above ground, sending up a huge cloud of dust.
Naruto had meant to strike it head on the moment it appeared, but she stopped to gape at the monster's vastness. It was like nothing she had ever seen. Black, brown, and dark green scales shone in the sun, a mottled pattern, and black spikes traced its spine from head to tail. It walked on four legs, each with its own set of black claws that dug into the earth. The long, reptilian tail, covered with a club of spikes at the end, struck the ground with resounding force.
The dragon—for dragon, it was—released a roar so terrible that every hair on Naruto's body quivered. For a moment, she felt very small next to the creature whose bulk took up half the training field. How had Orochimaru gotten his hands on a dragon, if in fact this was Orochimaru's sick version of a gift? Who else could bring a dragon to Konoha?
Earth dragon, said Kurama, sounding shocked. I haven't seen one in centuries. It doesn't breathe fire, but any Katons would slide right off it. Hell, any jutsu will break on those scales. Damn things are harder than diamond. And that tail—watch out for the spikes.
Naruto spotted tiny wings on either side of the dragon's spine, near its front legs. The wings looked rather pathetic on the dragon's huge body. Can it fly? she asked Kurama.
No, those wings are vestigial.
Vegetable-what?
THEY DON'T WORK.
The dragon's head flailed back and forth, and its tail whipped about wildly. A few buildings were almost in range of its tail's destruction. They would splinter before the dragon like dry twigs. Kami-sama, if it got into the village proper, it would be like Pain's invasion all over again. Naruto could just imagine the villagers fleeing this very moment, grabbing their children and hightailing it to the refuge in Hokage Mountain. Depending on Naruto to save their homes and lives.
Definitely get it out of Konoha. That was the first priority. Naruto launched herself towards the dragon's head with surprising little thought as to how this goal could be accomplished.
Piss it off, Kurama suggested. You're good at that. Make it follow you.
Naruto reformed a Rasenshuriken, using two of the Kyuubi's tails to imbue it with wind chakra and control the rotation. The dragon's head grew larger as she descended towards it. When the dragon spotted her, it reared up and opened its jaws wide, prepared to swallow her and Kurama whole.
"Kage bunshin no jutsu!" A hundred orange-clad, pig-tailed clones popped into existence. The ones nearest the real Naruto grabbed hold of their maker in mid-air and redirected her away from the gaping mouth. Another batch of clones caught her and with a chorus of "Good luck, boss!" hurtled her downward, towards the dragon's nose. Naruto's aim was true: The Rasenshuriken buried itself inside one nostril. The dragon roared.
"Uh oh, boss!" called one clone on the far side of the dragon's head. "We've got a live one!"
"A live one!" yelled another Naruto.
"She's holding on for dear life!" yelled yet another.
"Who is? What is?" yelled the real Naruto. She landed on the ground and shot back upwards, underneath the dragon's throat, dodging a swipe of the deadly claws, and saw what her clones had first seen. A shinobi clung to the dragon's other nostril, her hands bloody from the effort of clenching razor-edges scales. The shinobi's black, spiky hair was held back in a ponytail. Her black shinobi gear and the huge cloud of dust had surely camouflaged her when the dragon first appeared, or Naruto couldn't have missed her.
Mitarashi Anko. Holy shit.
The dragon's head jerked upwards, striking some of Naruto's clones, which disappeared into thin air. Naruto winced when the clones' pain transferred to her.
"New plan, minions!" called Naruto. "Kage bunshin no jutsu!" The new clones leaped on the dragon's head while the originals shot to its feet to destabilize the dragon and bring it to its knees. Anko was barely responsive. How long had she been holding on as the dragon tunneled through the earth? Hours? Now Naruto's clones had to wrest the shinobi's hands from their grip on the dragon. Meanwhile, Naruto and five clones shoved Rasengans at the dragon's eyes. More clones dispelled when it raked its claws across its maw. One claw impaled an unlucky clone, and Naruto felt the pain like a solid punch to her gut.
High on the beast's head, Naruto spotted a few ANBU forming a perimeter between the dragon and the village. Good. Now she less to worry about.
The clones had just gotten Anko to the ground when a now-familiar twinge in Naruto's abdomen swelled in strength. A cold feeling swept across her body, all the way to her fingertips and toes. It was coming in waves, much like the initial convulsions caused by her nature seal's disintegration. Every one of her clones shuddered and disappeared as though dealt a lethal blow, and Anko was left on the ground, nearly unconscious and entirely defenseless, at the dragon's mercy.
A wave of dizziness swept over Naruto, and for a brief moment, she felt separate from her body, not in control. This isn't fair! she howled inwardly. The dragon reared up on its haunches, throwing its head into the air and roaring. Naruto realized the dragon's intent: to land with every bit of force it could muster and set off a small earthquake. She darted under the dragon's descending feet, grabbed Anko, and slipped out from underneath just before the full weight of the dragon crushed them both. The ground rippled and shattered as the dragon's body expelled chakra and wreaked destruction across the training field and into the village beyond. Destruction Naruto should have prevented.
What the hell's going on with our chakra? she yelled at Kurama. She created another horde of clones, which hauled Anko to safety as the shockwave through the earth died down.
You figure it out! Kurama snarled and raked his claws over his ears and neck. It's driving me mad!
Well it's messing with my attacks! Can't you control it?
It's your body, he spat.
"This can't be happening!" she shrieked to the heavens. "The seal's fine! I know 'cause I'm a goddamn sealmaster!" Her body constricted again, and a golden tail whipped around wildly, destroying the few hardy trees that had survived the dragon. "In training," she added to the destruction, a weak apology.
She was an Uzumaki, a Namikaze, the future Rokudaime Hokage. She would not be brought low by some stupid seal. Yet there was no denying she wasn't in control, not entirely. If other shinobi tried to help her, she could even kill them. Gritting her teeth, Naruto forced Kurama's chakra back inside her. The golden cloak faded. In its place, natural energy flowed into her body. But summoning sage chakra took stillness, and her whole body was squirming on the inside. She couldn't maintain the calmness necessary to mold natural energy. Naruto nearly ripped out her hair in frustration.
I get it! shouted Kurama. The moment you released my chakra, the heinous itch became more of a tickle to me. It's your damn hormones, Naruto. The natural rotation of your chakra has been altering since you became a girl, and now some spike in your hormone level is speeding up the change in rotation—
Speak so I can understand you!
Kurama spoke through clenched teeth. For eighteen years, your chakra rotated clockwise like all males. Since the nature seal the Yondaime Hokage stuck on you wore off, your chakra's been reverting to counter-clockwise, the female rotation. I knew that was happening, but the change was barely noticeable, given how little you've molded chakra lately. Now, with you going all out using my chakra—and because your damn, irritating hormones are mucking things up—the rotations are either canceling each other out momentarily or making your jutsu's uncontrollable.
Naruto really only understood one thing: This is normal for girls?
Hardly. I remember it with Kushina, but it's a thousand times worse with you right now. Most girls adjust to this years earlier while their chakra is still immature.
What rotten timing. Her stupid, girl body. What she wouldn't give to be a man again, with all her proper parts and none of this damn hormone nonsense. Naruto needed to defeat this dragon quickly, before either one of them could do more harm. Sheer force could perhaps topple the dragon, but even if she had the monster in chains, she couldn't crack those scales.
Fine. Naruto had never gone for precision anyways. All she needed was for her chakra to work for half a minute. "Kage bunshin no jutsu!"
In moments, hundreds of clones carried swirling blue-white orbs and launched themselves towards the dragon's belly. Their combined strength heaved the hapless dragon into the air. As one, the clones screamed, "U—"
A second wave of clones took their place and kicked the dragon higher: "—ZU—"
The third: "—MA—"
The fourth: "—KI—"
Then Naruto shoved an Odama Rasengan right into the spine of the airborne dragon. "Naruto Rendan!"
With the final thrust of power, the flightless dragon sailed high and far through the cloudless sky. A villager might look up to see a dark streak arcing past a few leagues of Konoha's surrounding forest, much like a meteor that shed no light.
Naruto watch it go with satisfaction. See, it can fly.
Ha. And when it lands, it'll only mangle and maul half of the Nara's ancestral forest.
Damn. She cracked her knuckles.
What are you doing?
Gonna go catch it.
Naruto raced off without calling for backup. The ANBU could busy themselves with damage control. She didn't need or want their help. If her chakra was on the fritz, then the sensible thing was to fight the dragon until her chakra saw fit to be normal again.
Idiot logic, gaki.
Naruto shrugged. Fear of physical harm had long since ceased to phase her. Boy or girl, she was damn near indestructible.