A Peaceful Interlude

I walked through the gates of Konoha - after checking in with the eternal chuunin guards, of course - working on my latest project - an ice rose, and it was beautiful.

I had left a contingent of clones behind, after we crossed the ocean back into the land of fire. By letting them work on my little project, I had effectively achieved the ability to manipulate ice, if only a little.

Rasengan was truly the ultimate masterpiece for shape manipulation - requiring a person to effectively form a storm in their palm, and then force it to stay in a single shape, it will gift the user with great ability to manipulate shapes with chakra.

Add in an element to the mix, and you have a vortexual hurricane you need to contain - a control disaster - and will gift the user with extreme shape manipulation potential. Though, the requirement to learn something of that magnitude is several years worth and thousands of clones worth of memories...

So, while gettin my chakra used to the idea of creating very cold water - ice - I was shaping it, little by little, into a flower. My thoughts were along the lines of if I could form something delicate, then I would be able to quickly and effectively form something simple.

Though Hakura's mirror ability had to be a blood-limit, not something I could exactly copy easily. My eyes may be able to see the flow of chakra similar to a sharingan, but I didn't have the ability to actually copy techniques, even with my memorization skills.

I ignored the people watching me concentrate on my flower as we walked up through to the Hokage's office, secretary allowing us instant entry. 'Though, now that I think about it, we never did get reinforcements. Wonder if lazy Kaka-baka actually asked...'

Walking in, I felt jiji watching me intently, but I ignored him in favor of my new project - another flower petal. I was nearly finished, and had to constantly reinforce the flower with ice chakra to keep it cold. 'Ice is such a great weapon, you could form your weapons from thin air... That actually gives me another project to work on.'

"Kakashi, report." I blinked at his oddly serious voice. Maybe that was his mission voice though. I hadn't really heard him in that tone on D-Ranks though. Maybe serious missions?

I listened to Kakashi as he went through the whole spiel of our mission going from C to B to A, our encounters, and my negotiations - which allowed us to locate the threat Finally he went on to talk about my allowance to train while Kakashi took out Gato and his men, something which he didn't put further input on - I assumed he would retell that part later - and about Haku sharing her secrets with me, leaving out her gender secret.

Eventually the report came to a close as I finished my flower. I pushed a bunch of ice element chakra into the flower, still having trouble getting the right mixture of wind and water down for long term use, to keep it freshly frozen. I looked up with a true smile on my face - something I only showed those closest to me.

"It seems she's enjoying her newfound ability…" Jiji had to put that in though, "Would there be any way to teach something like that to others?"

I knew he would be required to ask, I was a little miffed that he did though, but I pushed it out of mind. "Sorry jiji, the only reason I can do it is my exceptional manipulation... Or my special chakra. In order to share this technique, I would need the person be able to kage-bunshin on a similar scale to me - probably only an Uzumaki, Senju, or a Jinchuriki would have the chakra and time to put into something like this. Then I would have to teach them a couple techniques I am not willing to part with to anyone but family or similar."

He nodded in understanding. Truly few people could wield clones like Naruna. And if what she says about the elemental control is true, then it really does require a Kekkei-Genkai to use without special circumstances. Probably only her own children would be able to copy her on this.

"Very well, unless you have something to add on, Naru-chan, you are dismissed." He looked pointedly at Kakashi, sure to get more on this 'Gato' Business.

I went over and sat the newly created Ice Rose on his desk and proceeded to walk out on his warm smile. I knew he would appreciate the gift, despite its temporary life.

Having worked hard on training for the last two weeks, I proceeded home to sleep and cuddle. My tail happily wagging the whole way bag at the thought of finally getting some sleep in safe arms.

I awoke feeling cold the next morning. Whimpering a little, I reached out, hoping to find warmth, despite nothing nearby. I whimpered a little more, snuggling into myself, letting my five tails blanket around me in substitution.

A giggle was heard a moment later, "missing me already? I just barely got ready."

I Opened my bleary eyes to see my comfort standing in front of the bed, realizing only then the way I had been acting. My ears flowed downward in embarrassed shame of myself.

"S-sorry, I can't help myself-ttebane." Then another giggle causing a slight pout on my face. 'Honestly, she just gets off on teasing me! I swear!'

"Come Naru-chan, I'll make breakfast, you can help if you want."

I followed after her, only pausing a minute to adorn my clothes. The plants actually kept my body clean for me, absorbing my body's excretions, such as sweat and scent, and instead scenting me in flowers, both directly on my skin and on the outside of the outfit.

Of course, I still had to remove my panties to do the naughty, but I didn't have a period, something I was immensely thankful for since I hadn't needed to take care of that in my last life either; athough a heat cycle might just be worse. And I might not truly need to eat to survive either - such an odd thought that was.

In the end, I was able to wear my entire outfit at all times, unless I wanted direct contact with someone, such as my adoptive mother. Otherwise, I would probably keep it on at all times, like on the last mission. Letting that silken texture caress my body…..

I was snapping from my thoughts when the scent of breakfast broke through the door. 'She has already started!' I rushed out to go help her, ears twitching in self-shame again.

Later I walked out, waving to my mid-twenty-year-old caretaker. Hurrying through the streets, hair aflame behind me, reflected by my weaving tail, I headed towards my secret cavern. My clones were sure to have something good, and I could get them started on more manipulation.

What I hadn't expected was for the cavern to have disappeared. More that the entrance had disappeared. And yet the clones hadn't popped - of that I was certain.

So I created a clone, let it pop, and waited. A moment later I walked through the wall... Or rather my clone walked through the wall to come face to face with me…. And then she started giggling, tail wagging in reflection. I was laughing at my own dumbfounded face…

"Just, what? Huh?" I couldn't explain it. The clone just slipped through the wall like I would expect Tobi to. But I was horrible at genjutsu. I couldn't even cast the simplest one. So it had to be something else.

Eventually my copy stopped giggling enough to respond, "It's a seal to create a genjutsu. We figured out how to create illusions that copy the surroundings."

Again, I was dumbfounded. That was actually ingenious. And I hugged myself... who hugged back… I was weird today, and I couldn't help it. I had learned so much these past few days that I finally had to let it out. So I laughed with my clone. And laughed.

"Well, I'm glad you're happy, but don't you think you should come in? We still need to apply the 'last resort'. And we finalized the specifics. We still can't accurately tell the chakra usage though, but it will need a lot."

I nodded. 'Though a lot for a person might not be much for me. I wouldn't doubt if I had more chakra than the rest of the village combined...' I followed myself into the cave.

When I reached the bottom cavern, the change was unexpected still. The place was twice as large. 'My clones have been busy… Did they do this with nothing but pure earth manipulation? I still haven't actually learned a single set of hand-seals for elemental techniques and yet they're manipulating the ground like putty! It took so much longer the first time I tried expanding this place!'

I was once again floored for the umpteenth time in the last few minutes. My clones have been doing just as much as I have. My continual learning of shape and elemental manipulations over the last few weeks had to have had put these clones into overdrive.

I continued after the copy until she came to a stop near a bunch of clones writing on paper with ink and brush. They turned to me us and stood up, as if they were expecting me - 'They probably were'.

"Alright, remove your kimono, and and lay down. We will put this seal on your belly, where the Hakke no Fūin Shiki used to be, or rather, just under it. You still need to keep your parent's chakra available in case you ever need to use this seal, as a precaution, and I don't want those two piece moved or changed for fear of losing that chakra."

I nodded, and followed her instructions. At least I trusted myself enough to place a seal of such magnitude on my person.

"This is an extremely complex seal, far more than anything else we have used so far, and several times larger than your last seal. Not something you really want messed up. So rather than using the simple and quick method, we are actually going to write it out to ensure zero mistakes occur."

' And now I'm nervous… ' I let myself lay still while she slit my palm to gather blood - something she had to do several times - and started writing. It was ticklish over my skin, but I didn't move out of fear. I really didn't want to experience dieing. Let alone figure out if I really could die yet.

My twelve year old form lay flat on my back, exposed upper body, ink being written across my body, and around the ground around me, a surreal experience. It was kind of like one of those scans I got in the hospital - extremely boring, yet you have to sit still until it's completed.

After several hours of multiple clones writing out the seal, something that looked like a picture from above, a vortex, it had been completed. Around me the vortex was similar to the in design to the Uzumaki swirl - a rather ingenious design in sealing - yet it had two points extending from the circle rather than one. A similar design was on my belly, but rather than being made out of smaller squiggles, the one on my belly was a singular piece, surrounded by texts.

"Anyone see anything out of place…? Okay! You ready?"

I wasn't. Last time I had a seal placed on me of this magnitude, it left me in pain for years. I had finally figured out what went wrong too. Apparently the seal was laced to combine our energies to allow my chakra networks to grow a bit faster. But only would it be safe to use chakra after five years, when the seal changed itself to just inject little bits into my system rather than slightly merging them. It was supposed to make me a bit stronger overall, from the start.

But when I molded chakra before I was ready, before anyone thought I would or even could, the seal forced a full merger, leaving behind the fox's husk to dissolve and me with my permanent changes to become what it used to be. My father of this world obviously never took into account my potential tampering of my premature body.

This seal though, it wasn't forcing anything into my body, it was just setting up a double layered delayed activation seal over this one written on me. That way if I ever needed to use it, I just force the delay and my chakra flows into the seal to activate. And then there is the removal seal in just in case - though that's just a precaution I doubt will be needed.

Finally I nodded, coming out of my thoughts.

"Alright girls, move away! This will take a moment…" She shifted from her position to next to me, to directly over me, avoiding the symbols surrounding us. "Here we go!" She slapped her palm over my belly, a second set a seals spreading out over the area, converging with each piece of the far more complex seal under it.

"Jikan no Shiwa! Chien Fūin!" The sealing array around me started getting sucked into itself, flowing back into my body, and into the swirling vortex covering my belly. Eventually every last text was absorbed into the vortex, and it stopped twirling around, leaving nothing else in view, except that, and then it faded from sight.

Immediately my clone popped, letting me absorb her view of everything. I sighed in relief. Everything worked out. I had my final contingent set up. My secret weapon, while preparation would be difficult, and incomplete, was workable. And I was starting to actually master the elements. It was relieving, truly. I had completed years of work, everything over all that time, settled onto my belly. And I was content. If I couldn't win, I still wouldn't lose. I just hoped it wouldn't come to that.

Over the next few weeks, I worked more on my elemental manipulation. My ice control was at decent levels. I could create an ice petal in a few seconds, allowing for a full flower in a mere few minutes, something Yuugao was ecstatic about. She loved my little creations.

I had since worked on Mokuton. Creation of a plant form was vastly more complicated than creating simplistic ice. I couldn't help but wonder how the man had managed it. Yamato had required seeds to perform the technique without nearby plant-life, yet Hashirama could do it with a mere handsign. I didn't actually need to learn Mokuton to do the some of the things Hashirama did, but I still required life to already exist in order to manipulate it. Being in a rocky area cause issues otherwise.

Physically creating the element from pure chakra takes a bit more effort than just drawing it out of the air or surroundings. I eventually achieved little bits of green from my combinations and slight biological knowledge, but had yet to achieve a full creation. My thoughts had wandered about whether I actually needed the seed at all, and rather just move on to the life part of it. But I was happily working through it.

I moved onto other projects during this time as well - creating a strong heated wind, or warming water. Not quite the results that I wanted, but I was working on them - getting the correct chakra combinations and variations takes a while to figure out, and is what clones are for. I'd get the eventually, then maybe once I figure out how to combine all the dual elements, I could move onto the triple elemental techniques. 'Blast release would be amazing...' I really couldn't help but pine for that one.

Possibly my clones greatest achievement during this time, or my achievement - they are me after all - is something they accidentally stumbled upon. Something that I could never have thought up, something so magnificently fantastic that I just can't put it into words. Elemental shadow clone transformation technique! 'Okay the name still need work...'

During a random experiment, they managed to create a clone in the form of solid fire with the shape of a fox - my natural one-tailed fox shape to be specific, which had grown from palm sized to almost hand sized when sitting. 'I'm truly cute in this size too.' Basically, I created a shadow clone with a few manipulations here and there going on at the same time, and the mixed chakra came out in that form. I was lucky enough to remember the formation of the jutsu through my special chakra memory.

It basically works like a shadow clone, aside from the fact that they are unable to manufacture more clones of themselves, but takes my natural fox form for some reason, and has an added element added to it, which I decide upon the formation of the clone. So I now had another clone jutsu to add to my skillset. Something I eventually decided to name Genso-Bunshin.

With Genso-Bunshin, Bakuha-Chi-Bunshin, and my long used Gensei-Bunshin where I summon the plants into a clone, my clones were definitely deadly in battle. I can honestly see Naruto's fixation on the technique of being able to copy yourself.

There was also Kakashi. After my little fight with Zabuza, it seems he has started forcing me to spar without my resistance seal every other day, and that's on top of the sparring I do with it on, with chuunin level speeds. It's only for an hour or so, but I can't disagree to extra training. And the man is FAST. The sharingan is like cheating! I swear his speed is only thanks to Gai's forced rivalry.

My latest project and weapon design was something I had started after I had learned to manipulate ice. I wanted either a retrievable or disposable weapon. Preferably the former. Using what was left of my savings, I ordered chakra conductive metal, produced in the form of thin senbons. This latest design would compliment my primary defensive style, and reform it into a mid-ranged style.

I had originally taken to the weapon when I first lengthened my sleeves - they could hide both hand-seals and senbon. I actually enjoyed them better than kunai, even if they did less damage, the trade-off made up for it..

It was a concept I came up with thinking about the formation of Shouton jutsu Hakura used in the show. Of course the result would be far more dangerous to the opponent. The weapon would require extreme use of fuuinjutsu, something I could provide in troves. So I got to work.

Using my special ordered senbon - something I had to relearn to throw precisely again - I went to work, popping clones out to work the details. When it was finished I just had to place a senbon into the middle of a Seal Circle and proceeded to form the weapon.

The result was gorgeous in both design and to sight. Half the senbon were an onyx black colour, while the rest were snow white, changed by the seal itself, with my new vortex emblem to provide adaptation, distortion, stability, among other special features - it was a truly unique seal and could be applied to much of my creations for better results.

The senbon had multiple seal designs stored, including resistance to bending, breaking, solidifying their durability, and more specifically Hiraishin - I could teleport to or summon back the senbon.

The actual senbons would absorb my chakra and spread it out over a flat length, and into the form of slightly weighted fans of compressed chakra, despite the shortness of the needles. The width and length of the fan is specified in the seal itself, they would expand from a 15cm senbon into a 20cm long fan, with the width expanding to 90 degrees, 45 on each side of the chakra conductive metal. It easily maintains its shape when thrown.

The white needles would automatically manipulate my special chakra into wind nature - I wouldn't have to think or worry about manipulating the chakra. While the black senbon will form the fan based on the nature of the chakra absorbed. The chakra is heavily condensed into the fan requiring large amounts, but solidifying the fan itself into physical form and sharpening the edges, along with the neat ripple designs created on the transparent chakras, was completely worth it.

I had taken to calling my new weapon Senfa, and started applying them to my style. They require a massive load of my chakra, though that's compared to humans, and is insignificant on my reserves. Needless to say, only Uzumaki, Senju, or Jinchuuriki would be able to truly utilize their capabilities. But as of now, only my chakra is inscribed into the seal for use.

I also ended up applying some special seals to my long gloves. I knew I would be doing something like that eventually, but I hadn't wanted to apply them directly to my skin. Tattoo's just weren't something I enjoy, even if they can be hidden.

Which is why I created my shoulder length gloves and thigh length socks - they had multiple purposes. I would have plenty of room for seals along their lengths. The seals are hidden, just like the blood seal storage on each of my palms, so even without my sleeves on, nobody would realize the seals exist until they are used. They would also keep my limbs warm, especially so since they're alive. And their silken texture against my hairless skin is just heavenly...

The seals interwoven included personal barriers, special abilities from blood-limits, self-preservation, reflection, even an invisibility seal - I had applied a multitude of the seals I had in the making. The issue was fitting them all together on my gloves, and which side to apply them to. They were pre-charged for instantaneous release, and could be sustained through adding chakra. That way if I didn't have time to apply the seal directly, or it's just too complex to instantly create, I could still use one. I couldn't help but hope to avoid a reliance on them though.

Something else I had only just realized and learned was that I wasn't releasing my yin energies, yet I was releasing yang. I was releasing the masculine energy into the ambient air while absorbing, or rather keeping, my feminine Yin energies. While I only absorbed Kurama's Yang into myself, I knew I had converted much of it into my own Yin. And I couldn't help but wonder if this had an affect on my mindset since I would always naturally have more Yin energy inside me at all times... Of course this was only an assumption I couldn't verify.

The only other notable event was my sixth tail growing in before my thirteenth birthday - something I found odd since it happened after my tenth, eleventh, and twelfth, though it wasn't that far away either, so it wasn't a big change.

I had summoned myself to the fox clan's den for that news, like every year past that I had grown one. Yuki had wanted me to let her know of any changes a grown tail put me through. So far they didn't even cause a power increase, rather I was just increasing in power at a steady rate, and my tails were more of an indication.

Other than that, I just needed to watch for that long-white-haired-man, and wait for the next event I could change for the better.