Chapter 4: Orochimaru intervenes
Two figures stood in a clearing, one having shoulder length green hair and wearing an Amegakure forehead protector, a tight blue and grey sleeveless jumpsuit with a blazing yellow sword of electricity flaring in his right hand and an umbrella styled weapon on his back, his name was Rokusho Aoi, an A-rank missing-nin from Konoha, now a jounin for Amegakure no Sato after defecting there.
The other figure stood motionless wearing a high collared dark grey cloak black lining around the edges, which covered the lower part of his face from view while a straw hat covered the upper part of the shinobi's face from view, keeping his eyes shadowed, though it was obvious that the shinobi could see clearly even with his face obscured. From beneath the cloak, one could see two legs clad in black baggy pants and black shinobi sandals that held up his pants at the shin.
"Rokusho Aoi, you have something I want, the Raijin, sword of the Nidaime Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato – I suggest handing it over less you suffer a quick death" the cloaked figure stated emotionlessly, sending a shiver down Aoi's spine who then glared at the cloaked figure with a sneer on his face, the wind in the area blowing fiercely causing the trees and other shrubbery to sway in the wind.
"What makes you think I'll do that? Also, what makes you think you can beat me so easily, hm? By the sound of your voice, you're just a kid, probably trying to make a name of yourself by killing someone as notorious as me!" he yelled back over the wind "I'll show you why I'm a jounin and what the legendary Raijin can do!" he proclaimed while charging straight at the cloaked figure who stood motionless.
"Too scared to move? Your cloak and hat don't hide your fear boy!" Aoi yelled as he closed in for the kill.
That was as far as he got forever, it all happened so fast that Aoi didn't know what actually happened. The cloaked figure before him swerved out of the way of the first strike by leaning backwards out of reach from the cackling lightning blade, and then he did the most bizarre thing, the figure latched onto Aoi.
"This is no time for hugging me you queer…" Aoi didn't get to say much more though as he felt numerous blades quickly strike his body before being pulled out as the figure let go of Aoi, allowing him to stumble back in shock. Aoi looked down at his torso to see several small specks of blood appear through his jumpsuit, however, what surprised him the most though was when he looked up at his opponent, instead of the cloaked figure from before, he saw something that looked like a puppet with six limbs wearing a tattered cloak that had several punctures in it and an oddly shaped head. The last thing Aoi ever saw before darkness claimed him was the very same cloaked figure approach the puppet from behind it and sealing it away in a scroll.
Uzumaki Naruto looked at the body of his latest victim, not up to his usual standards admittedly, though he did not kill this missing-nin for the money. He had finally got a tip a few weeks ago about there whereabouts of the Raijin, the lightning blade of the Nidaime Hokage, and it apparently was in the hands of his fool who so readily waved it around like it instantly meant his invincibility – it was obvious that it did the opposite though, causing him to think he was much better then he really was; how someone like this could be a jounin, he would never know.
Walking over to the corpse, Naruto removed the head and sealed it away in a scroll that he keeps all his bounties in before handing them in. The technique he used to seal the head in the scroll was one he taught himself, wanting to learn the intricate art of Fuuinjutsu after reading so much about it; it was probably for the best seeing as he should know all about the immensely strong seal placed on his stomach as he could.
After sealing away the head, he took the brown cylindrical hilt of the Raijin sword before rolling up the cloaked covered sleeve of his left arm, showing three main kanji figures surrounded by other sealing kanji tattoos. The two main symbols were the kanji of 'one' and 'two' that were in red while the kanji around it was random but essential for the sealing of powerful objects on one's body, if nothing, it made for a cool looking tattoo.
Nicking his right thumb with one of his teeth, Naruto used the now bleeding appendage to swipe blood across the symbol for 'two' and then applied chakra to it. Immediately, there was a small puff of smoke and in the clearing, was now the lifeless body of the Nidaime Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato who was turned into a human puppet by the young man in the clearing.
Naruto did not want anyone to have access to these puppets other then himself, so, he sealed them away on his own body where only his chakra and blood could summon them from the sealing / summoning tattoos he placed them in.
Firing a quick Katon jutsu he learned from a scroll he found on a dead Konoha shinobi with one handed hand seals, he destroyed the rest of Aoi's body before getting Nidaime to grab the Raijin after throwing it at him.
Expert puppeteers were known to be able to control puppets with only one chakra string, if enough skill was shown and though Naruto could certainly do that with his regular battle puppets, he had a little problem with doing it with his human puppets, still requiring three strings to use them so they would be at their most effective. Even though that was technically plenty seeing as he could control both his puppets simultaneously with both hands, that did not stop Naruto from trying to be able to use only one strong on each to control them, who knows when he would need the extra hand in a fight?
With the Raijin in hand, Naruto made the Nidaime use his own chakra to activate the sword and do several experimental swings with a smirk as he went through a standard kenjutsu kata he saw once. It wasn't really essential that he learn Kenjutsu to control the Nidaime's use of the sword, the sword's usefulness was in using its lightning properties to send electrical shockwaves through his water jutsu, to make them more deadly. That and he doubted there was a blade that could block the Raijin for long anyway except for one of the members of Akatsuki who had a blade that would probably eat the chakra of the Raijin if they were to clash.
After he was sure that he had the control of his puppet down, Naruto sealed him back into his arm with the Raijin and used Shunshin to get out of the immediate area, disappearing in the wind.
As Naruto arrived at the place he had spent the majority of his time since Sasori-sensei had rescued him from Konoha, he immediately suppressed his chakra signature and hid in the shadows when he heard a voice other then his sensei's talking in a heated argument.
"Sasori-kun, I know you are the one that took the bodies of my two favorite test subjects, now tell me where they are and I won't have to kill you" threatened a pale faced ninja with snake like yellow eyes and long silky black hair, this shinobi was none other then Orochimaru of the Sannin, S-class missing-nin of Konoha. With him stood someone who Sasori had told Naruto was a spy for him in Orochimaru's midst who had silver hair and spectacles, from memory, his name was Kabuto and he was currently enrolled as a shinobi of Konoha as a spy.
"So, you come to my hideout, threaten my life when I have just come from a mission for Akatsuki and am exhausted and on top of that, you believe me responsible for stealing the corpses of two Hokages, if it were not for the fact that you outnumber me and I wasn't exhausted, you'd already be dead – be gone before my organization realizes what has happened and they forget whatever mercy they have given you and take your head in seconds" threatened Sasori back at his ex-partner.
Orochimaru got a cruel smirk on his face and before Sasori could react, Kabuto attacked, slicing off Hiruko's tail and arms. As Sasori leapt into the trees, ready to abandon Hiruko and use his ultimate puppeteer technique to kill his enemies a sword pierced him through the seal on his chest that contained his heart, the only part of his body that was still in tact and the only thing that could be used to kill him. The Orochimaru he had been talking to dissolved in mud as the real one materialized behind him after hiding under some invisibility jutsu.
"Was that wise Orochimaru-sama, now we can not find your best test subjects…" inquired Kabuto, despite the glare Orochimaru sent at him.
"The fool probably turned them into dolls, they would be no further use to me" he explained.
"What about Akatsuki? Surely they will want revenge?" asked Kabuto again as Orochimaru chuckled.
"Sasori-kun was much too careless, he assumed I did not know of his little apprentice he had been training" he replied with a cool smirk as Naruto watched on from the shadows trying to suppress his killing intent, he would not attack though for he too was tired after a long journey home and it would be foolish to do so against an unknown opponent.
"Who was this apprentice?" asked Kabuto, intrigued.
Orochimaru smirked again "The Kyuubi Jinchuuriki, it seems that Sasori-kun didn't share the same views as his organization so even if they seek retribution I can just let that information slip and they will search for Naruto-kun instead of focusing on me, remember Kabuto" he said, turning a glare at him "Do not question my motives again. I am not foolish and you are in no position to question me" he warned.
"Hai, Orochimaru-sama" responded the faithful servant as they both disappeared using Shunshin no jutsu, most likely heading back to Otogakure, the newly founded shinobi village in tea country.
Immediately, after Naruto was sure they were gone, he ran out to the clearing and pulled Sasori out of his protective puppet body, revealing a wheezing and dying human puppet who smiled weakly up at him.
"Naruto…you were smart to stay hidden…" complemented Sasori while Naruto kept quiet, knowing that these would be his sensei's last words.
"I'm…dying…but I should let you know…you have surpassed my every expectation as a student…you will be great" he said, as the light in his eyes started to dim "Don't be tied down…by a hidden village…and take my Sendaime…puppet…use it well…"
Naruto looked on his at his sensei's body, silent tears running down his face as he watched the first person who truly cared for him die in his arms.
"Take…my journals…they have large amounts of information…on Akatsuki's plans…other missing-nin…and Orochimaru…kill Orochimaru…you are stronger then he is…especially with the Kages at your side…" Sasori was now speaking to him though it seemed as if his voice was failing him, which was weird as he had no lungs or vocal cords necessarily to speak of, his sensei's body was eerily complicated, too much so for him to try and comprehend right now anyway.
"I may never have said it…but I did care about you…like a son…take care of yourself…Naruto…kun" he finished, the light from his eyes dimming as he died in his arms. Naruto let out a strangled sob he was holding in and furiously wiped at his eyes, not willing to show weakness, especially in honor of his dead sensei.
Naruto now took Sasori's heart out of the special seal he kept it in the chest cavity of his body and buried it near the cave he loved so much. Naruto then sealed his body along with Hiruko in a separate scroll after removing his special Akatsuki ring from his finger, not willing to let anyone happen on it and use the findings to their advantage, never to be seen or used again. He found the scroll in which he had sealed the Sendaime Kazekage in and unsealed it, revealing the spiky black haired Kage with a large gourd filled with poisoned Iron sand and covered in dark robes.
Naruto then set out to carve another seal tattoo in his forearm near the ones for his other Kage puppets that was this time green instead of red with three horizontal lines on top of each other, signifying the Kanji for 'three' surrounded by other sealing kanji before he applied chakra to the tattoo, causing it to shine with a blue light and envelop the Sendaime Kazekage puppet and seal it into his arm.
Naruto then went into the cave where he found all of Sasori's information scrolls and spent the rest of the night reading through them, learning all the information about every missing-nin of B-rank and above in the Bingo book from all over the shinobi nations, about the different hidden villages and what jutsus they each stored and specialized in, about the spies he had planted and what they had each reported to him most recently about their village's plans along with his research on puppets.
He didn't finish until morning the next day when he finally went to sleep in his regular bed in the hideout, not to wake for another five hours.
When he awoke, he stored all of Sasori's gear, puppets, information and scrolls in the same scroll he sealed his body and Hiruko in and separately sealed that scroll with another sealing tattoo on his right arm, not wanting it to fall in the wrong hands. He preferred sealing important things with tattoos on his person as he disliked having to carry a ridiculous amount of scrolls on his person constantly and in all honesty, they did look cool. He sealed it with the kanji for 'love' signifying the main feeling he felt for his sensei and savior for the past seven years and began with the project he intended on doing before leaving this place for good and setting out in the world on his own.
Naruto removed his cloak, hat and shirt to reveal his naked torso before molding some chakra at his navel to show the intricate seals holding the Kyuubi at bay. Naruto's main reason for learning Fuuinjutsu was so that he could understand his own seal better and now that he did, he found a way that he could improve on it to improve himself. Through Naruto's training with Sasori, one thing he realized was that the fox had an influence on his body, whether he liked it or not, and it gave him enhanced physical stamina due to the large chakra stores and also enhanced healing abilities. Knowing this, he set out to try and see if he could use the same idea to try and enhance some of his own senses using the fox as a base for that, namely his sight, hearing and smell, three senses that if enhanced would aid a shinobi immensely in battle and out of it.
Eventually, he had designed a seal he was going to add to the current one that would unseal those particular senses, therefore adding them to his own – he had to however make sure that nothing else would unseal in the process so the fox could not attempt to release some of its influence on its container – he was sure that he could get in contact with the demon, but he had no desire to do so, not that he was scared, but he wanted to avoid that unpleasant experience.
Naruto laid out on his back with the seal exposed and used chakra strings to dip an ink brush into the pot of ink he had sitting beside him before he quickly and efficiently began to paint additional kanji around in a circular pattern around the seal. He had to be very specific in what he wanted to do or the unsealing could have any possible consequence, thus was the magic of Fuuinjutsu, the branch of shinobi techniques was nearly limitless and in that was its main weakness, you had to be deadly specific in your sealing or something could go horribly wrong.
Once he was done with painting on the seals, he observed his work and deemed it adequate before snapping three of his fingers together and adding chakra to each so that bright blue chakra could be seen on each fingertip; he took a deep breath before slamming it into the seal on his stomach.
Had Naruto known there would be pain in the procedure, he might have been able to brace himself, as it was though, he was expecting no such thing so when pain erupted in his head so large that he had never felt it before, he immediately blacked out.
When Naruto opened his eyes, he realized that he was in absolutely no pain, which was weird seeing as the last thing he remembered before passing out was an immense amount of pain in his head.
Looking around, it seemed that he was in an old and moldy sewer with shin high water everywhere. He heard the sound of water dripping in the distance while up above there were thick pipes leading down the corridor, the largest of which veering off to the left and into another room. Decided he had nothing better to do, and realizing he didn't feel wet as he walked through the water, he followed the larger pipes into a huge room with a gate that was over several hundred feet tall and roughly one hundred and fifty feet wide. The large gate seemed to be kept closed with a piece of paper with the word 'seal' on it. As he stepped closer to inspect the paper, he saw two
humongous eyes open each with red pupils and a large mouth filled with razor sharp teeth in the darkness – it didn't take a genius to figure out where he was.
"Kyuubi" stated Naruto without much emotion, knowing that if he showed fear, the demon would exploit it, though oddly enough, he didn't honestly feel fear, perhaps it had something to do with knowing how fail safe the seal was and knowing the great demon could do nothing to him. To his amusement though, it seemed the demon was annoyed at how he could instill no fear in his jailor.
In an incredibly loud and booming voice, the great demon responded "So it seems my container has tried to alter the seal and winds up in here, not scared of me are you boy?" the demon asks to make sure, its razor sharp teeth glistening in the light of the room.
Naruto rolled his eyes at the attempt to frighten him "I have altered the seal, unsealing some of your senses without you having influence over them, I imagine it would be beneficial for both of us so try not to fight it, it will be quite…annoying if you were to do so" explained Naruto in a tone that showed no respect or disrespect.
"Why shouldn't I you lousy monkey? You try and steal my demonic traits and I shouldn't interfere? I should kill you were you stand!" he replied, changing to a roar at the end, though Naruto stood there completely unfazed.
"You mean other then the fact that by unsealing your sight, hearing and smelling abilities that you too will be able to see, hear and smell what I smell? You are the one that should be grateful that I showed you such a mercy, I no doubt could find a way to seal off your access to the senses completely, though I really don't feel the need to as you have no control over them anyway" replied Naruto, eyeing the large Kitsune before continuing "The way I see it, you should be grateful seeing as in reality, you owe me more then you can repay with the pain I have been forced to live through due to your idiocy" hissed Naruto, both knew exactly that he was referring to him rampaging across fire country.
"Why should I be thankful?!" roared the Kitsune "If it weren't for me, you would be dead from the injuries you sustained!" he argued only to receive a humorless laughter from Naruto in return.
"Should I thank the person responsible for saving me from a pit of deadly snakes when said person was the one for throwing me in the pit in the first place? I think not" said Naruto "With the alteration of the seal, you will see, hear and smell what I do while communications between us will be limited, the enhancements will no doubt make me more formidable and thus make the container of the 'great and mighty king of demons'" Naruto emphasized with air quotations "more famous and renown, not to mention that I could, quite easily, seal you off from those senses – the way I see it, you owe me more then you can repay, lets start by you telling me why it is that I passed out though" finished Naruto while looking at the Kitsune expectantly, not once wavering his voice as he addressed the very being that would cause lesser men to pee in their pants at the sight of him let alone a regular thirteen year old boy.
After several moments of silence, the Kyuubi probably decided his points were valid as he proceeded to talk without the previous animosity he held for his container earlier "The pain you felt was the result of you gaining my eyes in the sealing. When you attempted to gain my senses, you failed to realize that my senses may be enhanced by abilities or different properties that would carry over to you with this procedure. My eyes, in this instance, are special in the sense that they make a master of illusions should they possess them. As a Kitsune, I was a master of illusions, or what you may call 'Genjutsu' and my eyes allowed me to see through and create illusions by using my eyes or making eye contact with my enemies, you most likely have gained possession of this too and the pain was your eyes being destroyed only to be replaced by my own" explained the giant fox as Naruto grinned.
"They will allow me to perform Genjutsu without hand seals and break any Genjutsu?" asked Naruto, sounding extremely interested. Kyuubi just closed its eyes as if in thought before he opened them and mirrored Naruto's grin.
"I am pleased that my container sees the value in using such illusions and is not like all those other lousy meat bags that try and use flashy techniques to compare penis sizes; yes, you're ambition to create illusions without the use of petty hand seals will be possible if you make eye contact with your opponent, however, that only creates illusions targeted for said person you have made eye contact with, it will not work with area of effect illusions. You will also be able to see through any illusion – what kind of Kitsune would I be if I were to be fooled by others? These eyes are not technically a 'doujutsu' though as they are simply the abilities of my eyes, like how normal human eyes are designed to see by sending messages to the brain, mine were designed to be used as thus as well as see. You will not be able to activate or deactivate them at will seeing as you literally have my eyes now, they will look exactly like the ones you see here" he explained, as Naruto looked into its red pupils with black slits thinking how intimidating it would look when his opponents looked into his eyes.
"When you wake up, you will no doubt be assaulted by the smells, sights and sounds surrounding you and I suggest blocking off two of the three senses immediately so you can get used to them, then unblock one of the other two until you get used to it and so on. Now, if there is nothing else?" the Kyuubi asked, sounding irritated at having to impart his wonderful knowledge on a lowly human.
"Nothing" replied Naruto.
"Then you can leave with my thanks and best wishes, become strong with these gifts and leave me in peace, I may not be able to break out of the seal, but I sure as hell am not going to die because my opponent was weak, leave!" he finished as he forcefully expelled Naruto from his mind and back to the land of the living.
As Naruto opened his eyes, he was glad that he had attempted this in a cave as it was now morning and the sun was shining through the tree canopies outside onto the forest floor. However, the dripping water he could hear like a gong every two seconds and the itching of his nose were enough to want to outright murder someone.
Finding some tissues, he stuffed some into his ears and nose, hoping that he wouldn't get ambushed anytime soon as he needed to train his senses so he was not overwhelmed by their new power and how sensitive they now were.
Covering his eyes with his hand as to add some shade, Naruto stepped outside the cave, the glaring sun being covered by his hand and looked around in every direction in the forest. Looking out into the forest then back into the cave he noticed that he could see in both equally well, which was spectacularly well. It seemed that his sight was increased to that of a hawk, or fox would be more appropriate, as he was able to make out incredibly fine details such as nicks and cuts on trees over a hundred feet away, he was also able to see into the cave from outside as if it were lit within, which it was not as there was no fire on inside and the lamps were out. He came to the conclusion that these eyes must pick up light signals better then his old ones and send them back to his brain, allowing for vision in the night and better all around vision.
Walking over to the nearby stream, he bent down and looked at the reflection of his face in the clear water to see two slitted black pupils surrounded by blood red irises in the middle of his white eyes, it truly did make for an intimidating and cool sight. After spending several minutes fooling around and 'posing' with different glared to 'see how they would look' Naruto chuckled quietly to himself and spent the rest of the day standing in the middle of the clearing with two of his main senses blocked off as he tried to spot different minor details in the area. He then ran around at high speeds to see if his sight could pick things up while moving at said speeds, and to his delight, it could do so wonderfully. Finally, he looked up into the sky without looking directly at the sun to find that he had gotten used to his eyes to the point where they were at least better than his old ones.
After making himself some dinner by catching some fish and eating them in over a fire, he spotted a small squirrel on the other side of the clearing and decided to see if he could use his new eyes' power on it. Focusing chakra through his eyes, and focusing on what illusion he wanted to place
the unsuspecting Squirrel under, he performed the Genjutsu. As he did so, he felt the chakra mold itself behind his eyes before being expelled through them into his opponent, the squirrel.
What happened next put a big grin on his face that would not get whipped off for quite some time, the squirrel scurried over to a rock that he had tricked it into believing it was a piece of meat and attempted to eat it, only to gnaw at it with confusion as the juicy piece of meat would not be punctured.
Naruto awoke the next morning, keen to work on his hearing next as he took out the pieces of tissue he used to block out most of the sound coming to his ears. With enhanced hearing, it was like a double edged sword, he may be able to hear extremely well, but that could be used against him should someone attack him with sound techniques like shinobi from Otogakure would or if they simply used loud sounds to distract him, so, he would have to learn to regulate sounds coming into his ears so that he would not blow his eardrums when trying to hear out his opponents from a distance.
He sat next to a roaring waterfall which at first almost deafened him but he got used to it as he tried to pick up other sounds in the surrounding area despite the booming sound coming from behind him. This exercise took him several days in comparison to his eyes, which he had slowly gotten used to more as the days went by, but after four days of practicing his hearing, he was finally ready to train his smelling so it was up to par.
His newfound sense of smell was much easier to get accustomed to as all he needed to do was plant several different odors around his camp site at different distances away such as poisons, food, animals and flowers and try to pinpoint each one with just the use of his nose. At first it was hard to distinguish between all of the different smells his senses were assaulted with, as he could also smell the dew on the trees and grass, the smell of something burning, animal droppings, mold on the cave walls and such, so he changed his tactic by walking around the forest and taking in the smell of as many individual substances he could including the things he placed around the forest as well as different animals, trees, even going so far as to go into the closest town and taking in the smell of different people, alcohol, building materials, foods and cloth. This was by far the longest sense to train as really, it probably would never stop being trained as he could always find something new that would give off a new scent, so, all he tried to do for now was to control his sense of smell so he was not bombarded a horrid stench every time someone decides to pass gas in his presence.
It had now been roughly a month since he altered the seal and began to train his senses to a point where he was satisfied. His hearing was back to normal, but he got such control over it that should he want to hear things at a distance such as a whispered conversations over a hundred feet away, all he would need to do is apply chakra to his ears and he could focus on where the sound was coming from to hear it. His smell was coming along nicely, now no longer feeling the need to empty his stomach whenever passing a used toilet or when someone passes gas in his immediate vicinity, which he was immensely grateful for. The most fun he had though was with his sight as he placed minor Genjutsu on unsuspecting villagers and even some lowly bandits for fun and while making money which to his delight, worked extremely well.
Now though he faced the problem of still needing experience if he was to ever stand a chance against his enemies and needing a steady source of income. The thirteen year old decided that he would leave the place he had come to call as home for good, as it only brought him bad feelings now with the death of his sensei, and travel the shinobi world, obtaining technique scrolls, getting bounties and gaining valuable fighting experience. He may be strong, but if there was one thing Sasori-sensei taught him it was that 'there was always room for improvement' and he intended to do just that.
Donning his dark grey cloak and straw hat, Uzumaki Naruto set off into the world and began his travels.
