Once again before opening I would like to give credit too Meinos Kain for his concept exploration in what if #6 on his home site which gave me the necessary insight on to a subject that interested me to write this fic. I'm glad many of you are excited to see something new and i encourage all of you to check his site for his other what if's.
Chapter 6: Color of The Spirits Might
After a long night of pushing his body and mind to it's current limits, and then trying to inch his way past them, Naruto laid in the field sleeping, exhausted from the past few days which allowed him at most five hours of sleep. This morning he had slept till about noon, which was normally very unusual but Naruto's body was working overtime to repair any damage that had occurred during his training. Because of his late sleeping many forest inhabitants began to scurry around him and climb on top of him, using the boy as a perch or an object of curiosity to distract them from their lives.
The peaceful serenity of the forest animals did not last long however, as a young girl walked into the clearing while carrying a basket that was half full of various herbs and roots usually used in healing elixir that those that believed in holistic medicines used and swore by, including many shinobi the world over. The girl saw the young man and rushed over to his side to check on him. She grabbed his chin and moved his head to get a good look at his face and was taken back. "So it's you" the young girl said as she backed up "Your the one who helped wound my master Zabuza" the girl announced to the unconscious boy, revealing herself to be Haku, the fake hunter nin who disabled Zabuza to make a getaway " I should just kill you now" she murmured as her hand inched closer and closer to his neck, only too loose her resolve and shake the boy's shoulder.
Naruto groggily rose from his nap, licking his lips and yawning as he tried to banish anything that reminded him of how peaceful his sleep was. "What's going on?" Naruto wondered aloud as he turned and suddenly fond himself face to face with a very pretty girl.
"I saw you on the forest floor and got worried" She said as she tilted her head and smiled "You can catch a cold sleeping out here you know" She told him as she reached out and brushed some grass off his shoulder.
Naruto laughed, the notion of getting sick had become something of a foreign concept to him. " I don't get sick ..ummm...I'm sorry what's your name?" Naruto almost said boisterously, stopping when he realized he had little idea who he was talking too.
"Haku" she said kindly as she extended her hand in greeting " I came out here to pick some herbs for my poor father, he has been experiencing some rather brutal pain as of late" she said as she plucked several plants from the ground.
"Ohh...do you need any help" Naruto asked as he leaned forward a bit to talk to the girl.
The girl leaned back to avoid Naruto, blushing. She then smiled as she pushed him back "Your help would be most appreciated" she told him as she instructed him on picking the right herbs and how to pluck them.
The two worked and told stories of past experiences, Haku's of course altered to protect her identity, and Naruto's altered through pure exaggeration. The two laughed and picked herbs for what seemed like hours and eventually they just sat and talked, laughing at each others jokes and offering advice to each other on various things. After a while Naruto finally decided to bring up something that was on his mid. "So why did you and your dad come to wave?" He asked bluntly.
Haku stared back in shock "What?".
"Well I'm pretty sure your not from wave, you seem to clean to be from the city which is falling apart and to well dressed to be from he country side, not to mention that your dress looks fairly new and expensive" Naruto explained as he pointed to the few things he could see.
Haku froze, she didn't think of anything to say to that, she didn't believe that this kid could be so insightful and observant. She quickly reigned herself in though "My father is a chef with a dream of owning his own restuarnt, we got stuck in wave about two weeks ago when he came here looking for a fish that only lives in the sea around wave, We've been stuck here ever since thanks to this Gato guy" She said ending with a smile frown to sell the story.
Naruto leaned forward again, this time Haku did not lean away. He put his hand on her shoulder and without smiling he began consoling her "I swear to you Haku...i will liberate Wave, i will inpsire it's people to rise up and throw off the chains that Gato has set upon them" He pledged.
In a moment of weakness Haku began to cry, but quickly bottled it up and desperately tried to hold it in "Why do you insist on doing this things, fighting for people you barely know?".
"Because I need to get stronger, for one reason or another i need to get stronger" Naruto said looking solemly to the ground as he tried to think of the reasons why he fought...and found nothing.
"Your quite a violent person i can tell" Haku said as she stood up "You fight for powers sake, and gain power for fighting sake all in an effort to become stronger" She stopped suddenly as she turned around and began again "Following this path will only make you loose your way, if you fight for reason, if you fight to protect someone precious to you, you will become truly strong, you will become a shield among a sea of blades" And without a word more Haku left the clearing, opting not to throw in her usual curveball about her gender that would have marked her departure to let the message sink in more.
Naruto simply sat there in shock as he stared at the place Haku had occupied mere moments agon, mulling over in his head the implications of Haku's words. "They call me a sage" he mumbled "But i serve no purpose other than the kami's will" Naruto said in self examination "I'll never prove myself like that but...a shield among a sea blades huh?" Naruto mumbled as he stood up from his spot on the forest floor and moved to leave the clearing.
TENGU
Naruto found himself enjoying lunch with Sasuke and Sakura, who looked pretty well off for two people who were supposedly training that same morning. there were also shifty glances and stares shooting back and forth between Sasuke and Sakura then him, as if he was the topic of a silent conversation. He quickly got fed up with with the awkward silence and just erupted "Alright you guys what is it?" He asked, a little agitated by how odd the silence was.
Sasuke swallowed whatever food he was chewing and sighed. "Listen you and I know that Kakashi is more of a drill instructor then a proper teacher, that's why we need you to teach us your battle meditation".
"My battle mediation isn't something i can just teach you guys" Naruto said, outrage by Sasuke's suggestion.
"Naruto your battle mediation technique, made you stronger in an instant we need that edge to defeat Zabuza and his accomplice " Sakura argued "Anything Kakashi can actually teach us is probably too advanced at this point, we all need to be at our best, now we have three days left should be enough for you to teach us at one of your mantra things".
Naruto began grumbling as he weighed his options, he couldn't let his team just die but the mantra's were his thing and the one thing that he could pass on to his family some day, but if he died here because his team wasn't prepared then what was the point. "All right, but I'll only teach you the most basic Mantra...I call it effortless, it essentially allows you to attack or move with little to no effort by cutting your burn rate in half, I use it a lot when I practice Muay Thai or use the Meditation upon Motion Mantra which doubles my burn rate so effortless bottoms out the ill effects" Naruto explained to Sakura and Sasuke.
"So wait you can stack the effects, most jutsu don't do that even if they are totally different" Sakura exclaimed as she began taking notes on Naruto's Mantras.
"Thats cause their not jutsu, the mantras switch the strain from the physical to the spiritual aspects, the only danger I can think of is getting caught in the mantra endlessly which would break your body down over time" Naruto said.
Sasuke got confused quite easily" what do you mean switching the strain to the spiritual and the endless mantra and the body break down" Sasuke ranted unsure of how to handle the foreign concept of Naruto's Mantras.
Naruto sighed as he went to explain " Our spirit is like our body, it can go stronger with strain, but it will also be sapped of it's power for a short time, causing an emotional deadness and a restriction on our chakra's ,our instincts and any spiritual senses that we have for a temporary period, Falling into a mantra endlessly would eventually crush your spirit entirely leaving you an empty husk unable to use Chakra but it's highly unlikely, but if it does happen, or if you simply use a mantra to long your body will begin to break down because it's natural limiters are being ignored entirely, it's simple really, just stop with the questions okay, i tell you everything you need to know when we start training" Naruto finished as he began eating again.
"Alright, new technique time, what's the first step" Sasuke said eager to begin training again.
Naruto then scowled, finishing him and Sasuke's little personality swap "Let me finish my food"
Tengu
The next few days went by slowly, mostly because of the training needed to begin using the mantras was a slow and somewhat boring processs. However, after two days of constant meditation and stiff muscles Sasuke and Sakura had already gotten the hang of activating the Effortless mantra. By midday on the third day Naruto decided that they had effectively mastered the mantra effortless, which simply meant that they could control and fade in and out of the mantra fast enough to be used in combat. This meant very little though as there was only one practitioner of battle mantra before them and he had created the technique only a month or two ago. The real achievement in all this was the three new "Mantras" that had been developed by the end of the day.
Sasuke managed to create a mantra that doubled, tripled, or even quadrupled his strength for brief periods of time but for an equal amount of energy burn. Sakura created a mantra the boosted her mental prowess , allowing her to actively use more of her brains natural ability to process information by boosting her brain usage from the average10 to 50 percent. Naruto however managed to create a mantra that had an outward effect, namely deflecting small projectiles and if charged long enough it could create small craters. The three young ninja's trained them selves to the point of mental and physically exhaustion, but none more so than Naruto,as was custom.
This is what set the situation the next morning. Exhausted and still sleeping Kakashi made the decision to leave Naruto behind, with written instructions to operate as the families guard when he woke up. It would be a nice day off for the boy for all the work he had done in the past week and as a reward for sharing his own technique with his team, something that m any shinboi found difficult to do as they were in general a secretive bunch. Naruto was still in his Futon rolling around in his sleep as he was being bombarded with whispers much like the one that he encountered at the lake. "The young sage saved my lake/ my debts will be re payed/ one more tale to tell/ one last web to weave, the thief you seek will be a traitor/ red faced and long nosed" The whispers echoed into his ears like a sultry sirens voice, and kept repeating the message.
Suddenly Naruto snapped upward, shaken from his sleep by the same force that provided the voice. The force left suddenly too leaving Naruto exhausted as any other person would be when waking up. Stretching his arms Naruto got up and got dressed, and in his blind haste ripped his clothes right from under the note that had been put on top of his robes earlier. Cracking his neck and attaching his pouches of kunai and shuriken, as well as stashing his gourd into the sash that kept his robes bound. In a panic he hurried down stairs realizing that his team had left him behind. As he made his way to the stairs he heard a commotion and shouting coming from he floor below. "Hey Waraji i heard something upstairs, I'm going to check it out" an unfamiliar voice shouted out, followed by the clinking of a sword as he moved up the stairs.
Naruto panicked, and tried to find a hiding place in the hall that he could use, but no such luck. At that point a long haired man in a wool cap and a long heavy jacket stepped into the hall himself to see nothing. " I could have sworn i heard something" Zouri, gatos most trusted body guard, said as he walked through the strangely empty hall.
Suddenly there was a creak from above, Zouri quickly drew his sword expecting a sneak attack from above. However there was no sign that anyone had ever been up there. "Damn Ninja, got me freaking out and there not even here" Zouri mumbled before he heard Waraji scream from down stairs.
In his rush he stumbled down the stairs and rolled, colliding with the wall. Though he was in pain Zouri managed to get up but he was soon pinned down by a blade going into his shoulder and into the wall behind him. "Fucking Ninja" Zouri shouted out only to be punched in the jaw and knocked out.
Naruto sighed as he removed the blade from the samuari's shoulder and wiped it down before collecting hi sword as well and deposting the two blades on the table. "Sorry about the blood" Naruto said off handedly as he deposited the blades on the kitchen table.
"Its no problem Naruto-san" Tsunami said as she got up from the floor and stepped over the fallen body of Waraji to go and grab Inari "You saved us, you saved me and more importantly Inari thank you, thank you" Tsuanami said through her tears of joy.
"Your welcome" Naruto responded with a slight smile " but i need to know where my team went..."
"To the bridge... they went to guard my father together because their afraid that since Zabuza is supposed to have been recovered today that they would need all hands on deck but they left you here to hold down the fort" Tsunami said.
TENGU
"What the hell is going on here" Tazuna shouted as he ran up to one of his fallen friends who had been brutally butchered.
"it seems like Zabuza decided to make a second attempt" Kakashi said as he felt a surge of chakra wipe over the area and summoning up a fog.
"It been a while Kakashi" came the ubiquitous voice of Zabuza " And i see that those brats still follow you and just like last time that little brat is shaking in his boots scared out of his mind" the cold raspy laugh of Zabuza followed as the area was soon filled with Zabuza clones.
"I'm shaking in excitement" Sasuke grumbled as he began goign through the two mantras he had learned the other day.
"Go ahead Sasuke" Kakashi encouraged with his patented eye smile.
In a single motion Sasuke disappeared and then reappeared back in his starting point. The clones looked un effected until they suddenly burst sending water in every direction. Sasuke then dropped the Mantras and smirked not letting the slight exhaustion show. "It looks like these brats have matured...into worthy rivals I'd say, to bad the blonde one isn't here, lucky for him i have a epitaph ready for him when he becomes this squeads sole survivor, the Poet of Konoha what do you think" Zabuza chuckled, gaining the ire of team seven.
"Shut up" Sasuke shouted as he dashed forward only to be stopped by Haku.
"Your good but not good enough" she commented as she knocked Sasuke's Kunai hand out of the way and shoved him back.
The two continued to trade blows, Sasuke with his knife and Haku with her needles the battle went on and on with Haku holding the advantage. Sasuke then stared his berserk mantra to increase his strength again, ending in locked battle at double with Haku's needle slowly giving way. "You fell right into my trap" Haku said as she held up her free hand "While both of us have our hands a bit tied up only one of us can do this" A string of handsigns from Haku made team sevens eyes widen, especially Kakashi.
"One handed seals...thats nearly impossible the level of control needed is beyond most shinobi" Kakashi thought as he witness his opponent perform a feat that was impossible to many " to think one so young has mastered that!" He exclaimed.
Sasuke began to focus his chakra as well, but while planning his escape not willing to stay in the middle of the shower of attacks."HIJUTSU SENSATSU SUISHO" Haku cried out as the water leapt up from the ground and wrapped around the leapt back as the water clashed together around sasuke like two walls of spikes.
Team seven gasped in horror but the water dropped to the floor harmlessly, making the mask nin look around in a panic, "Too Slow" Sasuke whispered as he whipped around to hit the masked nin in the face. Unfortunately the punch was blocked, and when Sasuke went for the kick the Masked ninja ducked and knocked him away. Kakashi began laughing "Looks like your advantage just left, a week ago your were dealing with wet behind the ear rookies, if this happened then you could have won for sure, but it only takes on encounter like our last to put all the academy lessons into perspective, they may not be hardened warrior like your or me, but their fully capable, fully trained, fresh minds with fresh new ideas you've lost Zabuza ,admit it".
Zabuza snorted and snapped his fingers. His lackey nodded and stepped forward, performing another chain of hand seals. Once again the water leapt up from the floor and began forming into sheets "HIjutsu Makyo Hyosho"
The water froze into a series of mirrors that enveloped Sasuke in a dome. As team seven stayed focused on the mirrors themselves Haku stepped into them and surrounded Sasuke, leaving no blind spot or exit for Sasuke to exploit. Kakashi sprung into action to try and rescue his student but was stopped by Zabuza. He could only watch in horror as his student was attacked from all ends and was nearly torn apart from a hail of needles. Sakura moved to go help Sasuke and threw a kunai in hopes that it would be enough for her to get in and out, but those hopes were ill founded. Haku caught the kunai with ease and was about to toss it back when a Shuriken flew at her from the other side and knocked her out of her mirror leaving a nasty gash on her arm. An explosion then rocked the bridge as a plume of smoke began rising from one of the corners."That idiot" Kakashi said as his face dead panned at the sure stupidity of naruto giving away his position.
"Hey there everyone, Uzumaki Naruto at your service" Naruto announce as he saluted with one hand and kept the other limp and hanging obscured by the sleeve of his robes.
Zabuza smirked and suddenly launched an attack, as well as Haku. A barrage of Senbon and Shuriken made there way for Naruto and he charged in straight ahead. Kakashi begged for him to stop but his words fell on deaf ears. Naruto then smirked as he waved his arm "Seclusion of the Sage" the projectiles suddenly fell to the floor, all except one which Naruto caught by the whole in it's center.
To any on looker though it looked like the needles and Shuriken had collided, causing an argument between Zabuza and Haku. Sasuek used this to his advantage and tried to plan an escape but was caught off guard by Naruto who suddenly appeared beside him "Hey Sasuke, I'm here to rescue you!".
This unfortunately just blew apart of barrel of restraint "ARE YOU RETARDED ,NO STEALTH ,NO CAUTION, NO TACTICS, NOW BOTH OF US ARE STUCK IN HERE" Sasuke roared catching the attention of their captor.
"WELL FINE IF YOUR GOING TO BE LIKE THAT I"LL JUST LEAVE" naruto shouted back, letting his calmness slipp up and let loose some pent up rage.
"No one is leaving" Haku announced as she muscled her way into controling the conversation. Ice began to crawl up the gaps in the mirror trapping them and keeping everyone out.
"THEN WE"LL JUST MELT YOUR MIRRORS KATON:GOKAKYU NO JUTSU" Sasuke roared as a ball of fire erupted from his mouth and hit the mirror.
Steam rose from the mirror but revealed it to be un harmed, as well as the person inside the mirrors. "Fire won't melt this ice" Haku stated plainly in an uninterested tone, asserting that her two opponents weren't worth her time.
"
If thats not going to work i'll just keep punching till i find you or these wall shatter" Naruto shouted as he leapt up into the air. Needles flew at him from all side, only to stop suddenly and fall to the ground, like all the energy put into their motion had been drained. "As long as I'm in seclusion i will be a target too far for anything you throw to reach no matter from where its thrown" Naruto stated as he brought his hands together into a familiar hand seal "KAGE BUSHIN" he announced as a cluster of clones appeaerd mid air and aimed for a mirror.
Haku panicked, her main means of attack was disabled leaving her defenseless against the blonde, and the dark haired one was in the middle of the cluster, if she tried to get to him she would be attacked for sure and even if she could use ranged attacks on him that still left the problem of the blonde. "Screw it" she thought as she sprung into action. Using the superior speed granted by the mirrors she leapt out and destroyed the clones with the sen bon gripped like claws before throwing them at the unsuspecting boy, imbedding three in his shoulder before SECLUSION drained the others of their energy, making them fall harmlessly to the ground.
"This is going to take a while" Sasuke mumbled as he watched the mirrors in hopes of seeing anything that could help.
TENGU
Meanwhile Kakashi and Sakura looked on in horror as realization struck both of them. "It a kekei Genkai, a bloodline isn't it sensei, that means your sharingan is useless against it right?" Sakura asked, the wealth of knowledge that she had acquired coming into play.
"Yes Sakura, but we have bigger problems, one is Zabuza, now that our team is divided he has an easier chance of dispatching his target with just you guarding him, two is Sasuke and Naruto are dealing with a hardened killer alone" Kakashi explained before dodging a slice from Zabuza.
"Focus Kakashi, we still have to settle the score" Zabuza rasped out as he heaved the sword up again and began his attack.
Kakashi ducked out the way and kicked Zabuza in the chest. Zabuza went stumbling back but Kakashi managed to fly back by using the kick as a base of a jump."I'll make this quick" Kakashi said as he moved to his headband and grabbed the edge. as he did Zabuza charged, knife at the ready, Kakashi tried to catch the blade but only managed to have it be shoved into his palm, all in the effort to protect his eye.
"Are you really that afraid of the sharingan eye?" Kakshi asked as he lifted up the head band.
"I FEAR NOTHING" zabuza roared as he called out the Kirigakure no Jutsu, summoning up the thickest mist he could muster.
Kakashi began to panic, unsure of how to read the situation. "The mist is so saturated with chakra the sharingan can't see a thing, even without my sharingan eye i can't see, how does he expect to fight in a mist this thick?" Kakashi asked himself only to hear slight noises before blocking the onslaught of attacks from Zabuza.
"YOUR A FOOL KAKASHI, i was a proud member of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, we all know the silent killing technique, but only I was a true master, i can hunt you down by sound alone...even the faintest heartbeat is a signal to me" Zabuza laughed out through the thick mist.
Kakashi then realized what was going on. Locking onto Sakura's chakra he ran towards her and sure enough began to sense Zabuza more clearly, he even began to hear the sound of the mad mans blade. He moved to defend the bridge builder and his student. "TOO LATE" Zabuza bellowed as his blade cut through the air like a bolt of lightning
TENGU
Naruto was on his knees exhausted, holding up seclusiong for so long had worn on him and at the first sign of the mantra being dropped Haku bombarded him with Senbon. Sasuke was faring better, mostly unscathed he had been dodging everything with great difficulty, but things were slowly getting easier. "She's slowing down...thats good..." Sasuke mumbled as he stood up on his exhausted legs.
"this is getting annoying" Haku said to herself as she launched another barrade of missles, this time aimed at the prime threat.
Sasuke moved and grabbed Naruto pulling him out of the way of the incoming needles. "Thanks" naruto managed to say before going unconcious from the spiritual strain as Sasuke leapt out onto the field and tried to take down Haku.
Sasuke stood still, watching Haku dash from mirror to mirror, seeing the faint blurs dashing across the air. "Come on focus" Sasuke berated himself, forcing his eyes to focus more an more, until the image of Haku became clear.
"No it can't be...The sharingan!" Haku exclaimed in surprise "I need to end this" She said as she leapt out of her mirror once more, intent on killing on of her prisoners.
"She's going for Naruto" Sasuke said in realization as he moved to pick up Naruot, but realized he was to slow. He did the only thing he could think of.
TENGU
"Ughh..." Naruto groaned as he forced him self out of unconsciousness , the firest thing he noticed was a familiar figure standing over him "Sasuke?" Naruto asked weakly as he pulled himself onto his knee.
Sasuek suddenly fell limp to the floor, bleeding from many places all over his body, needles embedded into his trembled in shock unable to comprehend what he was seeing. " He sacrificed himself for you..." Haku said plainly as she stepped out of her mirror in an attempt to get close and end this useless fight "He had the upperhand and would have won...but he gave it up all for you..." Her voice grew colder and colder with each word "pity...her had such potiental...when compared to you" She was trying to anger Naruto , make him sloppy, unaware of what beast she would unleash.
"Shut up" Naruot mumbled as he stood up, eyes obscured by his hair.
"What?" Haku stammered, taken back by the malice irradating from his voice.
"I SAID SHUT UP" Narutos face was contoured into a visage of rage as a cloak of red chakra over took his form
"I WILL KILL YOU" Naruto bellowed, shaking the ice mirrors as Haku made a retreat into them.
Suddenly a plume of yellow chakra erupted from him along with the red. The two began fighting for dominace enveloping each other and blending together. His robes top suddenly came undone as the spiritual fabric began to unravel and reform into a simple red silk cloak decorated with a sun symbol. The solar symbol on his chest began to warp as well, turning into a tapestry of tattoos extending over most of his pectoral and onto his back and shoulders. His hair turned a deep red and became long, it was picked up into the plumes of energy, whipping back and forth excitedly. His eyes turned a deep purple color, with a piercing and dominating gaze. He then took a deep breath and roared upward .
An onlooker dressed in fine robes stood above the battle field, surrounded by many others dressed like him. He nodded to the others as he cleared his throat. "The young sage has awakened, his ascension has begun".
NArutos roared continued as the two plumes vanished in the midst of their blending. His face was then calm as he turned towards the real Haku, frightening her forcing her to move, but he still followed. A deep breath was then followed by a hard expulsion. His chakra reemerged in the plume, but this time it was a radiant orange. "Fear the color of my aura" NAruto spoke harshly as he lifted his arm and slowly turned it around, bringing it into a fist "For it is an extension of my might" A hard punch was then thrown, shattering the dome and throwing haku to the ground.
"You will Suffer" those were the last words Haku heard before a fist collided with her face, sending her world into darkness.
AND THATS A RAP, I hope to get chapter seven out soon. see ya.