Chapter Four
Naruto inhaled the contents of his sixth bowl and placed it aside. He patted his stomach and grinned at Ayame. "One more please."
"Thought I might find you here," Jiro said and smiled, leaning against the inside wall of Ichiraku.
Naruto turned to smile back at Jiro and did a salute. "Yo, Jiro-sensei. You gonna buy me some ramen or what?"
"Well, let me think," Jiro looked at the ceiling with feigned thoughtfulness. "Nope."
Naruto pouted. Suddenly, he looked alarmed as he stared at Jiro with wide eyes. "Are you going to ask me questions about the different hand seals again?"
"Nah, I just came here for a bite," Jiro said nonchalantly. He sat down and smiled at old man, Teuchi. "Pork ramen, please."
"Hai, hai," Teuchi said and smiled at his two favorite costumers. "And miso for you, Naruto?"
The blondie nodded in between gulps.
They ate for a while, enjoying each other's company. By Naruto's sixteenth bowl, and Jiro's seventh, the sun was already setting.
Jiro turned towards Naruto. "Hey, mind if I walk you home, Naruto?"
Naruto looked up from his last bowl and smiled. "I don't mind."
Jiro nodded and stood up, Naruto following suit. Jiro placed a handful of notes on the table and waved at Teuchi and his daughter good bye. Once they were outside, they both headed for the northern part of the village.
"Neh, Naruto," Jiro murmured, breaking the silence.
"What is it, Jiro-sensei?" Naruto looked up, his eyebrows knitted in a frown.
Jiro hesitated and looked ahead, flashing a smile at one of the shopkeepers they passed by. "Are you ok living alone? I mean, the Uzumaki estate is a very large place; I myself still have trouble looking for the exit once I'm inside."
"I'm ok with it," Naruto said and smiled lopsidedly. "I still have trouble finding the bathroom sometimes. It might not be so hard if someone was to live with me." He looked pointedly at Jiro's direction.
Jiro sighed. "You know I can't live with you. I have the Kyozuka estates to worry about as well." He took a glance at Naruto before looking back at the cobblestone floor. "You know, I'm still willing to adopt you."
Naruto stopped at Jiro's words and looked down. "I-I don't think I deserve it."
"What do you mean?" Jiro demanded. "Haven't I told you about the incident twelve years ago? I owe you, Naruto. You saved this village, taking that-that thing in. If it were not for my father's folly—"
"My parents would still be alive. The Fourth wouldn't have died. The villagers won't hate me." Naruto looked at Jiro's eyes. "And I wouldn't have met you."
"Naruto—"
"You're a nice guy, you know," Naruto blurted and scuffed his foot on the cobblestone. "If I were in your shoes—"
"You would still have helped, Naruto," Jiro said and smiled weakly. "I know you."
Naruto rolled his eyes and grinned sheepishly. "Ok. What about: if someone else was in your shoes they'd have run away from the problem and blamed it on others."
"I know that too," Jiro whispered softly. "But, Naruto, you have to understand. I have been your teacher for two years now. And at first, I have to admit I was a bit uncertain. I was a stranger to you and you to me. But watching you struggle each day, I wanted to help, Naruto."
Naruto snorted. "Never figured you for one of those dramatic ones, Sensei," Naruto teased.
"Yeah well, I had to say something didn't I?" Jiro smiled. He touched Naruto's shoulder. "I am serious you know."
"I know," Naruto replied. "And I accept."
"Really now?" Jiro asked and raised an eyebrow. He grinned at Naruto. "Well, those hours of talking to the mirror finally paid off!"
Feet which were not human walked through a white hall with light blue scrawls and designs littered around the place. On all fours, the beast looked majestic. The soft jingle of the two earrings on its left ear filled the hall with a rhythmic pattern.
The beast stood up in the middle of the room. Together, beasts and humans surrounding the room stood up for a moment. The beast nodded and all sat down.
"The clan head has spoken," Ifrit boomed. "He wishes to adopt the gaki."
"The Kyuubi vessel?" A man with long spiky hair, wearing a SOLDIER uniform, spoke.
Ifrit nodded solemnly.
"Isn't that the demon that was supposed to be infused with—?"
"Hush now, Zidane," a woman in an orange jumpsuit swatted her husband softly. "You know he still doesn't want to talk about it."
The blonde lashed his tail angrily and pouted. "I was just asking, Dagger."
"Asking will get you nowhere," a woman wearing a black dress with a tight bodice and a moogle on her shoulder glared at Zidane. "Or haven't you figured that out yet?"
"I say we let him have the kid," another blonde man with a blitzball uniform said.
"But he is not of our blood, Tidus," a beast with blue fur and white hair interjected. "Shouldn't the man just find a wife?"
"I like the kid," Tidus said and grinned. "He reminds me of me."
"Besides, Jiro feels that he owes the boy," Zidane added. "So let's just get him to adopt the kid already."
"You just want him to be part of the family because Cloud here didn't want to join the Blondie group," the moogle-carrying woman smirked. Cloud rolled his eyes.
"When will he do the adoption ritual?"
"Tonight, Yuna-sama," Ifrit answered and looked at his former summoner.
"We are equal beings here, Ifrit," Yuna said and smiled. "No need to call me that."
"Perhaps we could interfere with the adoption ritual," Cloud suggested.
"We're going to sabotage it?" Tidus asked. "But isn't that evil?"
"What he means is: we can talk to the boy halfway through the adoption ritual," a man wearing a leather jacket and annoyed expression on his face answered.
"That way, we can decide whether or not he is fit to become a Kyozuka," Shiva said and nodded in understanding. "If he is as good as our dear clan head says he is then he will become a Kyozuka in name and in blood."
"And if not, he will only have the name of Kyozuka. Not the bloodline," Bahamut smiled, sharp teeth showing, "Very well." The King of Dragons looked at everyone around the room, "All those in favor of this idea, raise their hands."
Almost everyone raised a hand. After a moment's nudging, Tidus and Zidane also raised a hand.
"I believe that the matter is decided. Ifrit?" Bahamut looked questioningly at the Aeon.
The red-haired beast gave Bahamut a grateful smile, "Thank you." He nodded to the rest. "Meeting adjourned."
Naruto sat in the middle of a circle of runes. He had his vest off and the left sleeve of his black shirt was rolled back to reveal a mark of a dragon wrapped around a staff; the ink which was used for it was still wet.
"You ready?" Jiro asked his student quietly. Naruto looked up from his place and nodded. Jiro formed seals on his hands. "Uzumaki Technique: Bloodline Fusion!" He tapped Naruto's head with his index finger and his ring finger twice.
The runes crawled towards blonde ninja-in-training, all of them heading for the mark on Naruto's arm. When the last of the runes had gone, there came a blinding flash.
"Neh, Jiro-san," Naruto looked up at the orange-haired Jounin. "Where are we?"
They stood in a large empty hall. The whole room was painted in white; Naruto could not even distinguish the size of the room because it looked like there were no boundary lines.
"I don't know—"
"That is because you have never been to this part of the Palace," Ifrit spoke as he walked towards them. "You have only been to the Council Room."
Jiro snapped out of his reverie and bowed to the beast, "Ifrit."
"Jiro! How's our favorite summoner?" Zidane asked and grabbed Jiro in the head, ruffling the man's hair.
"I'm fine," Jiro said with a slight smile on his face. He frowned. "But why did you bring us here? If you disapproved of the adoption—"
"It's not like that, old pal," Tidus said and grinned. "We just wanted to meet the boy ourselves."
"You could have done that after the adoption ritual," Jiro said, an annoyed expression on his face. "We don't want to overload my son with everything at once."
"You call the gaki your son already," Griever cut in. "Don't you think it is a little too early?"
"I've looked upon him as my own for quite sometime now," Jiro answered back; his tone rising.
"Now, now," Yuna said and smiled. "We didn't do all this just so you two can bicker."
Naruto watched them with his confused face on. "Neh, neh, Nee-chan."
Yuna looked at Naruto and tilted her head. "Yes, Naruto-kun?"
"What's going on?" Naruto asked and scratched his cheek.
"They wish to find out if you are worth it, gaki." Everyone turned around to see a barrier forming at the eastern part of the room. Two large eyes peered from the enormous cage. "They want to find out if you deserve the Kyozuka bloodline."
"The Kyuubi," Ifrit growled. Bahamut touched Ifrit's shoulder.
"No fighting," the King of Dragons murmured and shook its head.
"No fighting," the two blondies chorused.
The Kyuubi snorted and settled on its haunches. "Even if I wanted to, I cannot fight you, dobe."
"Why you—"
"Stop that!" Naruto shouted and glared at Ifrit for a moment before walking towards the nine-tailed demon fox. "I don't know who you are but people—or demons—who call others dobe are the worst type of people!"
The Kyuubi let out a menacing laugh, "That's because the Uchiha kid calls you dobe, dobe."
Naruto pouted and sat in front of the Kyuubi's cage. "Yeah well, Sasuke-teme's going to get his butt kicked someday. Believe it!" He pulled out his tongue.
Tidus chuckled. "The kid's got spunk. I like that." He looked at the blondie standing besides him. "What do you think, Zidane?"
Zidane grinned. "Only a true man has guts, my fellow blondie. I approve."
"We ain't asking for your opinion," the Kyuubi growled. A large red claw shot out of the cage.
Naruto appeared in front of the claw; his dagger embedded on it. He was dragged back by the strength of the Kyuubi's power. "I don't know who these people are, but they seem like good people so ya better not hurt them, ya hear?"
"Loud and clear, gaki," the demon grumbled. It pulled back its claw; the wound was already healing. "Just so you know; I went easy on you."
Naruto made a face and fell to the floor, gasping for air. He was exhausted from all the chakra he had to use to keep his feet planted firmly on the ground.
"I'm beginning to like him myself," Cloud said.
"I know," Squall smiled wryly.
Jiro looked at his student-turned-son with concern. "Naruto, are you alright?"
The blondie lifted a hand wearily and did a thumbs-up. "'Course I am."
Jiro smiled to himself and walked towards the boy. The Elders—the different Aeons and people—parted to let him through. "Good."
"Neh, Jiro-san?" Naruto said and smiled as he watched his surrogate father kneel besides him.
"What is it, Naruto-kun?" Jiro asked, tousling the boy's unruly yellow hair.
"Did I pass?" Naruto murmured.
Jiro glanced at the Elders who watched the boy quietly, each making their own decision. "I really don't know, Naruto."
Naruto woke up and blinked as he turned away from a shaft of sunlight which had escaped from the curtains. He frowned and moved to a sitting position. Even though he was still unfamiliar with living at the Uzumaki estates—a gift that Jiro had given him on his twelfth birthday—he knew that he was not sleeping there.
He already had a general idea of the different color combinations that each room in the estates had. The dark green and red combination of this one was not one of them. He surveyed the room with caution and noted that he was sleeping in a futon. The room itself was bare of any posters or other such personal belongings that made Naruto think that there was no one occupying this room; a guest room to be exact.
The events of last night came back to him in torrents. He rolled back his left sleeve and, sure enough, the Kyozuka's mark was not there. He frowned. Did that mean that he was not accepted? He stood up and grabbed the vest neatly folded on top of a chair. Something caught his eye.
He turned around and was stunned. In front of him was a full-body mirror. He touched his hair. It was still blonde, much to his relief, but his spiky hair had somehow turned even messier than normal. Not only that, but the spikes themselves were not uniform and branched out from his head like a bird's nest.
He turned back to examining his face and saw that his facial features were a bit sharper. His eyes were also a bit bluer than normal.
Furthermore, he had grown two inches which put him in the same height as one Uchiha Sasuke. He lifted his shirt and saw that his body structure was still the same.
"Good morning, Naruto," Jiro said and smiled from the doorway. "Did you like the changes?"
Naruto scratched his head and grinned. "I'm not really sure yet, but hey! At least no one will call me chibi anymore." He pouted. "I'm just a bit disappointed coz I didn't get your cool hair."
Jiro chuckled and beckoned for Naruto to follow him. "Your hair's actually cooler than mine. I think you got some of Cloud's genes."
"Cloud?" Naruto asked.
"One of the Elders," Jiro explained.
"So I passed their inspection then?" Naruto asked excitedly.
"Barely," Jiro said and sighed. "The conservatives didn't like the fact that you faced the Kyuubi head on, even if it was just the claw. The others though, liked you for that. Courage is one of the traits that all Kyozuka must possess. It's what kept them going when they were still alive: the courage to face others that are tougher than they are for the sake of those precious to them."
Naruto looked at Jiro. "If I pass, does that mean you're my father now?"
"Yes, Naruto," Jiro murmured and smiled.
"Can I call you Outo-san then?"
"Of course," Jiro answered back. "Now eat; I'm going to show you how to summon and doing so with an empty stomach is not advisable."
Naruto nodded and sat in front of Jiro. "Do you have instant ramen?" He asked and looked around.
"Sorry," Jiro said as he placed a bowl of porridge in front of Naruto. "This is all I have right now."
Naruto pouted and ate his porridge with a sullen expression on his face. Nevertheless, he finished every bit of the porridge. "I'm finished, Outo-san!"
Jiro gulped down the last of his porridge, wiped his face and nodded. "Very well, let's go outside."
Jiro stood up and walked towards the training grounds which were near the kitchen. Naruto followed him. "Neh, Outo-san?"
"What is it, Naruto?" Jiro asked and looked back.
"Why did the Kyozuka mark on my arm disappear?" Naruto asked.
"That's how it works, I guess," Jiro said and shrugged. "I got the adoption jutsu from one of the Uzumaki scrolls at your place so, even though I've studied about it, I still don't know the jutsu that well."
"Oh," Naruto said and nodded. "Ok."
Jiro sat on the grassy ground patted besides him. "Sit here for a while."
Naruto nodded and did as he was told. "So are we gonna summon or what?"
"In a little moment, Naruto," Jiro said calmly. "For now, I will explain the basics of summoning. Remember when I summoned Valefor?" Naruto nodded. "Well the thing is there are two types of summons."
"What are they?" Naruto asked excitedly.
"The first one is called Active summoning. Active summoning means you have to perform the jutsu to call a certain Aeon. If you are powerful enough, you can even summon more than one Aeon," Jiro explained. "Now, the other one is called—"
"Lemme guess," Naruto said, "Inactive summoning?"
Jiro chuckled. "Yes, it's called Inactive summoning. It is quite similar to Active summoning except in Inactive summoning you can summon an Aeon without seals."
"How does that work?" Naruto asked.
"First, you have to be junctioned to one. You can't just do that to an Aeon, especially if it has just recently agreed to be a summon of yours. To be junctioned to one, you must have the Aeon's complete trust." Jiro said seriously. "After you have gained an Aeon's trust and has junctioned to it, you can talk to the Aeon using Mind Link; basically, you can communicate to the Aeon via your mind.
You can also learn new techniques from the Aeon and its personality might affect yours as well. Be warned though that junctioning for too long will eventually lead to memory loss so it's a good idea to keep a journal nearby if you want to junction to an Aeon."
"You said that you can summon an Aeon without seals using Inactive summoning. How do you do that?" Naruto asked.
Jiro looked thoughtful. "Well, it's like this. In Active summoning, you have to create seals first to send a message to the Aeon that you need its help. But, in Inactive, you can just ask your Aeon through Mind Link to come out. The downside is: you are only allowed to summon one Aeon using Inactive summoning because you can only have one Aeon junctioned to you at a time."
"Oh," Naruto looked at Jiro and blinked. He then grinned. "How do I junction to one?"
Jiro smiled. "Remember when we were at the Palace?"
"You mean the Elders' place?" Naruto asked. "Yeah, I remember that."
"Well, sometimes, you can dream yourself into going there. If you want to do it consciously though, you can go there using meditation."
"But what does that have to do with junctioning?"
"Once you are there, you can converse to any of the Aeons and can ask the Aeon you want if it can junction with you. Be sure that you are in good terms with the Aeon first or else it will adamantly refuse your plea."
"How does meditation work?"
Jiro sighed. "You close your eyes and make sure that your mind is free from any thought. Then, imagine yourself into the Palace and you'll get there."
"You sound like it's easy," Naruto grumbled and pouted.
"Well, with some practice, it will become easier," Jiro said. He stood up. "Now, I'll be showing you the hand seals to call forth your Aeon." He showed each one to Naruto and made the boy copy it. When Naruto had memorized the hand seals, Jiro spoke. "Right now, you can only summon one Aeon—"
"Why is that, Outo-san?" Naruto asked.
Jiro sighed again. "That is because an Aeon must approve of you first before it will allow you to call it. If you try calling out an Aeon that has not acknowledged you as its master, then it will either refuse to come out or it will and then it'll make you fight it."
"So it's like Junctioning?" Naruto asked.
"Yes," Jiro said and nodded.
"Which Aeon can I call out?" Naruto asked.
"Ifrit decided to be your first Aeon," Jiro said.
"Why?"
"Because it feels that it owes you, the same way I do," Jiro said, his head pounding from all the explanations he had to do. "It was the one that was supposed to be infused to the Kyuubi." Jiro glared at his son. "Now, no more questions; you are giving me a headache."
"Hai, Outo-san," Naruto said and pouted.
"Do the hand seals and concentrate on Ifrit's image. You don't have to worry about the words; it will come naturally to you."
Naruto nodded and did the seals slowly. He thrust his hand forward and shouted, "Kyozuka Special Summoning Technique! Come forth, Ifrit, from the fires of the Underworld."
He felt a large amount of chakra being ripped from him and took large deep breaths as he tried to keep himself from falling; before him, the ground underneath burst open, dirt flying everywhere.
A hand shot out from the hole and clamped on top of the earthy ground. Ifrit appeared in all its majestic glory and roared.
I take it that this is your first time summoning? Ifrit asked the young blonde as it jumped nimbly near him.
"Yeah," Naruto said and grinned. He fell to the ground, unconscious.
I am surprised. I expected him to call me when he is at least fourteen. Ifrit said; its eyes turned to stare at Jiro. I am even more surprised by the amount of chakra he had given me. Because of this, I can sustain my form for about five minutes even if he is asleep or unconscious.
"He is one powerful kid," Jiro said and smiled.
Will he be keeping his name or will he be Kyozuka Naruto now? Ifrit asked.
"I think it will be best that he keeps his own name," Jiro said and smiled weakly. "I don't want to be responsible for his clan's extinction."
With him as an Uzumaki, you still have no heir to take over the clan.
"What if I fuse our clans together?" Jiro asked hopefully. "That way—"
Ifrit frowned. There are large gaping holes in your plan. I suggest you either adopt another kid who will take over the clan while at the same time being closely related to Naruto or get yourself a wife and a kid.
"But won't it be unfair?" Jiro asked. "Naruto will have both the Kyozuka and Uzumaki techniques while—"
Then teach the other kid the Uzumaki secrets. Ifrit bristled, its voice, in Jiro's mind, was rising. Naruto will have your techniques but his own will be dominant and the heir you choose will learn the Uzumaki's secrets but it will be your own techniques which will be dominant.
"So that there will be a permanent alliance between the two clans," Jiro said and nodded in understanding. "You are a genius, Ifrit."
Of course I am. Ifrit murmured in the Jounin's mind. Now take that boy inside before he catches a cold or something.
A/n: The pairings for Naruto are still open. Jiro, on the other hand, I've already decided to make an OC. I hope this chapter has explained a lot... And the next update will probably about two weeks from now because our final exams are coming up and I'm not allowed near the computer...