Hello all, dialogue is hard. Thats my excuse for why the chapter took so long. I want to start responding to comment everyone leaves but know that if your comment is hateful or something like that I wont respond. Thank you for your continued support, it means a lot.
Flying Raijin- My argument would be that Naruto is still a novice at the jutsu and just like any other jutsu, loss of concentration could end it.
Big thanks to GOAT Obito for being a beta, Anyone else interested please send a PM.
Naruto woke up in the large king-sized bed and stretched out, trying to wake up. It was going to be a lazy day but at least he had ramen to look froward to. He did his morning exercises and left the compound, well home now. It still felt weird to call it home. It was leagues better than his old apartment but the size of the place really pointed out his loneliness.
No use thinking about that now, it was time to meet with his team to go over the mission and most importantly, eat a great lunch. Asuma sensei had mentioned he wanted to talk about their performance during the mission and where they needed to improve. Hopefully he didn't do the worst, that would suck. "Hey guys, how long is this going to take sensei? I haven't eaten for 2 days getting ready for the feast." His stomach growled like a wild animal, desperate for food.
"It shouldn't take too long Naruto but it takes as long as it will take. It's important that you three understand your weaknesses and strengths. I'm not going to pick on you but to get better you need to hear it." His three genin all sat. "First off good work all three of you. You three survived a Jonin level fight, maybe not all unscathed but nevertheless I couldn't be more proud." They all beamed at the praise, well Shikamaru didn't but he was smirking. "Ino, while you didn't fight much you did exactly what we needed you to. Your warning gave us the heads up we needed. Try to be a little more aware about danger when possessing someone or something." Ino's face got red from being singled out.
"Shikamaru, throughout the mission you did very well, all I would say is have options when shadows aren't available to be used. Don't become dependent on them." Shikamaru nodded along, his mom had already given him that speech when he told her what happened, but at a much louder volume. His ears were still ringing.
"Naruto, you shocked me to say the least. It's obvious you have been training hard on your own time and I couldn't be happier. Your chakra control is great for a genin, and your instinct is good for being so young. But you need more options, Ino and Shikamaru are specialists, you aren't. Add some earth and water release jutsu to your kit. I know the wood style is flexible and powerful, but you are the fighter of the team. You have to protect Ino and Shikamaru during their jutsu, so you need to be the best well rounded of the team."
"But both of you Ino and Shikamaru need to be training whenever you can. Especially during breaks like these. Now let's go eat."
Break
The team walked through town until they ran into a familiar face.
"Hey Tenten, is this your team?" Naruto waved, catching her attention.
"Hey Naruto, yea this is my team. Meet Rock Lee and Neji Hyuga and our sensei is Might Gai."
Looking at her teammates he saw the Bloodline Kekkei Genkai Byakugan. The Bloodline limit considered the second strongest in the village. The other two were twins? They were wearing matching green spandex.
"Nice to meet you all, this is Ino and Shikamaru and our sensei Asuma."
Lee moved forward quickly "HELLO, I'm Rock Lee good to meet you." He bowed deep and robotic. "So you are the Wood style user Tenten talked about please fight me." Tenten's face got red when he straight up outed her like that. Rock Lee was like a carbon copy of his sensei only smaller. The matching bowl cuts weren't helping.
"That's a great idea Lee, there's nothing like a fight to spur on the flames of youth. Ah hello Asuma, is he your student?" The bigger of the two twins spoke.
"Maybe some other time Gai, we were just about to have lunch after our mission." Hopefully he could hold Gai and his student off long enough to eat something. Gai was bad enough but another one with more energy, that was a problem.
"Ah a team meal, there is nothing that gets a team closer and more in sync with each other. We ourselves are going to eat as these three just completed their 50th D rank mission. They have the flames of youth guiding them."
"That's good, have a great time." Asuma began trying to lead his three away, they were still a little green around the ears to be meeting the blue beast.
Naruto had a light bulb showing above his head. "Why don't we all eat together? Tenten still owes me a team lunch for helping her train." Tenten and Asuma cringed, he didn't know what he had just done. She had grown somewhat immune to their sensei's antics, but he didn't know the monster he unleashed. Mentioning her only put her in the firing line as well.
Gai's face lit up and Naruto could have sworn there was fire in his eyes. "That's a passionate request Naruto, we will gladly accompany you. Since you have already helped Tenten we should all train together until our fingers bleed." Gai was proud, there was possible another student he could show the way of being a ninja.
A short walk to Ichiraku's, well a walk for most of them. Gai and his clone Lee had done it on their hands drawing a lot of attention. Thankfully they calmed down a bit after they sat down and weren't going to eat with their feet or something like that. Ino sat next to Tenten, as far away as she could from the two spandex wearing weirdos.
Asuma and Gai sat aside deciding to let their student meet each other and to catch up themselves. The six genin sat at a newly placed table. Ino sat with Tenten, the only other girl among them while Naruto was placed near Lee and across from Neji who still hadn't said a word. He reminded him of Sasuke but with a much greater air of smugness about him.
Ino and Tenten chatted away while Naruto dug into his meal with gusto until he realized he should probably interact with everyone and not just stuff his face. "So Lee, what jutsu do you use?" He wondered what he used, it must be powerful to warrant wearing green spandex in an obvious afront to common sense fashion.
Lee was about to answer until he was silenced. Neji decided to answer for him. "None. He can't use jutsu, unlike everyone else he cannot perform ninjutsu or genjutsu. He will forever be second place." He answered like he was looking down to a bug. Lee didn't seem like it affected him at all and just caried on.
"One day I will defeat you Neji, but yes Naruto it is true. I cannot use jutsu." Determination still in his eyes after saying something like that.
Naruto was dumbstruck, that didn't make sense at all "How did you pass the academy then? You have to learn the clone jutsu in order to graduate right?" He didn't remember anyone in the academy like that.
Tenten turned away from Ino to address Naruto's question "While you can't usually pass without it Lee is a special case. Our sensei Gai trained him specially and had to get special permission from the Hokage."
"Yes without Gai sensei I wouldn't be able to reach my dream, becoming a great ninja without ninjutsu." Flames seemingly dancing in his eyes.
"That's great Lee, I had to retake the exam 4 times until I passed. And even then, it was kinda like you. Since my clones are made from the Mokuton I was passed, barely." It seemed that like him Lee was another screw up.
"Then you are both failures, pathetic." Neji was looking at Naruto especially like he was below him.
"What the hell do you mean?"
"You are both failures, fate has determined you will be one forever. It's an insult that the one to inherit the First's style would fail something as simple as a clone." He got up and left money on the table for his meal. "Destiny cannot be changed Naruto, Lee will always be held behind because of his lack of chakra coils. You will be held back because of how you act, don't think no one knows of the student held back because he skipped and acts like a child." And with that he left the table and his teammates.
"Sorry about Neji, he can be kind of intense but he doesn't mean it, at least not all of it." Tenten tried to do some damage control, Neji's attitude meant that almost everyone disliked him.
"Why is he like that?" Ino was attracted to the bad boy aloof attitude but compared to Neji, Sasuke was like Naruto. There was mean and secretive and there was MEAN and being an asshole.
"We shouldn't really say." His team uncomfortably shifting in their seats. Gai saw the confrontation and decided to step in.
"I'm sorry for my students' words. He has seen how unfair the world can be and it has corrupted his passion. I would ask that you don't hold it against him for now. One day I'm sure he will change. Come Lee, we must raise our spirits, it's time to train."
"Hai Guy sensei" he jumped up "It was wonderful meeting you all." Bowing low again. He and Gai rushed out of the restaurant blowing up a cloud of dust as they raced through the streets.
"That was weird." Shikamaru said yawning and stretching.
"You get used to it after a while." Just another day for Tenten with two Tasmanian devils as a teammate and sensei. "But anyway, how was your mission? You all were gone for a really long time."
Ino started "It was hard but thanks to me we managed to get through it. After all they are just boys." She and Tenten laughed.
"If I remember Ino, Naruto carried you back bridal style, right?" Shikamaru teased and Ino and Naruto went bright red. It seemed they had forgotten about that. Although Naruto himself didn't do it he did it through the clone and remembered it.
"Ooooo do tell." Tenten egged on.
"I-it was just a clone." Ino recovered flushing her face back to normal.
After a filling meal Tenten left to go find the rest of her team stating they can't be left alone too long. "Naruto, we need to talk with the Hokage." Asuma told him to pay for his meal.
"How could you have gotten in trouble already Naruto? It hasn't even been a full day." Ino teased.
Naruto ignored her "I didn't do it sensei, wasn't me." He held his hands up.
Asuma laughed "It isn't that kind of talk Naruto, besides claiming innocence wouldn't work anyway. Let's head out. Ino, Shikamaru, don't plan anything tomorrow just in case." Naruto might decide he wants to tell them and that could go very bad, worse comes worse another day of training never hurt. Hell, he wasn't sure how Naruto would react. His can do attitude has held up so far but what about learning he had a demon held inside him.
Before that train could catch steam Naruto awakened him from those thoughts "Asuma, how did you do that thing where you walked on water? I haven't heard anything about that or tree walking for that matter."
"Well, the short answer is chakra control." Naruto face lit up, he was really good at that. "You are probably thinking you are already great at it, but the problem is you only have it halfway down. That rigid constant flow that defines tree walking is just one half of chakra control and your right, you have that down for a beginner. Water walking uses a different application of control.
To be able to walk on the water's surface you need to be able to change your output and location the whole time you are on the water. A tree is solid matter, it doesn't change. Water is ever flowing and moving, and it requires you to adapt your chakra flow to match."
Naruto's brain hurt; he didn't realize what can of worms he was opening when he asked. This was his main problem with teachers and tests. He was a visual and active learner, doing was better than hearing and now he had to sit on all this information while he couldn't go out and test it himself.
"Your training with the flowers helped you learn the hard way about constant chakra flow, I'm willing to bet the house jutsu thing you're doing needs a variable flow to work. But it's a lot harder to get the hang of it than you think. Water walking is a Chunin skill because of its difficulty. Most genin, or at least young genin can't understand the practical application of it. Tell you what, ill show you and the team it soon, besides you probably are gonna need it." He mumbled the last part.
"What was that Asuma sensei?"
"Nothing, here we are."
Before he could think more, he realized he was already in front of the Hokage's large double office doors. They must've been talking a good while to get that far. Hopefully this wouldn't be another lesson because he was still reeling from the impromptu one, he just had. The old man looked every bit his age, just like when he told Naruto about his parents, uh oh.
"Ah Naruto, Asuma please take a seat. I'm afraid it's going to be another hard talk today."
"Meh what else is new Jiji? Lay it on me." His confidence in himself was a lot better when dealing with people now that he knew his parents' names. Before he was Naruto the orphan, the troublemaker and screw up. Now he was Naruto Senju, or Uzumaki, or Namikaze he had options now and a real sense of belonging to all three. Besides what else could they be talking about that would hit him as hard as his parents.
"Naruto, what do you know about the Uzumaki clan?"
"Not much Jiji, we didn't talk about them in class and I haven't even gotten through much of the library I have. All I know is my mother was from it right?" The only clans they taught about in school were the active clans in Konoha.
"Like you said your mother was a member of the clan but there is so much more." Hiruzen got up from his chair and walked around the room. "The first Hokage's wife was a Uzumaki as well, the Senju clan and the Uzumaki clan has a long history dating back to before the first great ninja war. They were close allies before the Uzumaki clan was betrayed and scattered."
"The Uzumaki were exceptionally skilled at sealing jutsu, it was their main source of income those days to hire out their abilities to those who needed it. But it was those abilities that caused their allies to betray them. Their greatest feat is considered to be the sealing of all 9 tailed beasts."
"Those children born from the Uzumaki clan are born with abnormally large chakra pools, much like yourself, and the women born possess a rather unique bloodline ability. These two traits make the women of the Uzumaki clan predisposed to being considered for a unique position."
"Your mother and Mito Uzumaki, the first Hokage's wife, were the two previous jinchuriki of the 9 tails."
"I'm sorry Naruto but the night of the 9 tails rampage the 9 tails was unsealed from your mother, the previous jinchuriki of the Kyubbi. To stop the rampage your father and mother sealed the beast inside you."
Naruto looked down at his stomach and after a pause asked, "Is that why everyone treated me like garbage?" He already knew the answer and it made all too much sense. The looks he got when walking down the street. The shopkeepers throwing him out, all the times he was called monster and demon. To be honest, it doesn't bother him as much as he knows that it should. No one ever told him especially the old man and he was pissed because of that but at least he knew why everyone hated him. The silence he got was as much of a yes as he thought it would be.
"How?"
"Pregnancy weakens the seal of any tailed beast as the mother's body focuses on the needs of the unborn child. We don't really know what exactly happened that night as no one close to your birth survived. It's my belief someone instigated it but I have been told I believe that because of the loss of my own wife." Asuma remembered that night. It affected everyone's life and he wasn't immune, his mother never came home that night.
"What does this mean, I have a monster inside me, I mean if my mother was pregnant with me and that's why the 9 tails got loose doesn't that mea-."
"Naruto Stop!" Asuma stopped his train of thought. He was going to work himself into a panic attack if he didn't stop and hear something he needed to hear. He grabbed the boys' shoulders and looked at him face to face. "Naruto, you are by no means any form of responsibility for the 9 tails attack. It wasn't your fault Naruto, please understand that."
"Bu but what do I tell Ino and Shikamaru?" IF he was lucky, they wouldn't talk to him ever again, but they might treat him just like so many before. Shikamaru had been a friend and Ino was finally warming up to him and he didn't want to lose them because he had a monster inside him.
"You don't have to tell them anything right now. Who are you? Your Naruto, not a monster, you're the same Naruto you've always been." Asuma assured him. "If you want to tell them then tell them but you've only been a team for a few months, it can wait if you're not ready. But I think that you would be pleasantly surprised if you did trust them. I won't say a word, its your choice to decide whether they know or not." He knew nothing he could say would change the sleepless night ahead of Naruto but he needed to know he wouldn't be alone.
Naruto's mind was going into overdrive as he thought about what he would even say to his friends. His leg shook up and down quickly as he went through his friends one by one trying to imagine their reactions. Would he have anyone after this? Would he be betraying their trust by not telling them?
"Naruto" Hiruzen brought him out of his thoughts "That was the last thing I was keeping from you. If you ever need to talk my door will always be open."
Naruto left the tower trying to decide what he would tell his teammates or would he just not say anything. It wouldn't feel right to keep it from his teammates, they had fought and almost all died together. The land of waves kind of bonded them, Ino especially wasn't nearly as bad as she was when they first worked together. Shikamaru had been one of his first friends, not caring enough to stay away from him like the others.
He got back home and fell down on his bed but sleep didn't come that night. His mind would let him get any rest. He finally couldn't stand it at 5 am and tried to train to take his mind off it. After an hour he couldn't take it anymore and decided he needed to talk with someone smart. So he headed straight to Shikamaru's house to talk to the smartest person he knew forgetting he was on his team.
Break
Shikamaru was annoyed. His mom had woken him up at an ungodly hour saying he had a guest. Who in their right mind would come this early? He didn't bother changing from his sleepwear and trudged his way to the door, wiping the bags out of his eyes the whole way. He pulled open the door "What?" to see his teammate Naruto looking even more tired than he was feeling.
"Naruto, what are you doing here this early?" Naruto didn't wake up early unless he had to, and even then he was usually late for the academy.
"Hey Shikamaru, I need your help. Can we talk?" Naruto was acting odd, not like his normal cheery self.
"Sure, but lets make it fast, its too early. Come on." Shikamaru lead him to the playground they used to spend time in. Though it had been years since they came there to do anything.
Naruto breathed deeply "Shikamaru, wwe're friends, right?"
"Yea"
"How big of a secret would it take to change that?" Naruto was twitching a little bit.
Shikamaru raised an eyebrow, he had a good idea of what this was about, and he was wondering when Naruto would find out for himself. "Naruto, I'm too tired for this. Does this have anything to do with a certain tailed beast?"
Naruto choked "WhWHat are you talking about? Of course, not I mean I have no idea what your talking about." It was like he was reading his mind. Shikamaru's face sealed his defeat. He sighed in defeat "How did you know?"
Shikamaru leaned back and had a look on his face that said 'really?' "Naruto, your birthday is the same day as the attack for one. Two, growing up no one wanted to go near you, and everyone was told to stay away from you. And finally, a lot of people called you demon and monster. All those together paint a pretty clear picture."
Naruto smiled a bit, he should have known that Shikamaru would have figured it out before he did, and he had the thing in him. "So, what happens now? Will you request a transfer?" He asked, hoping that the answer wouldn't be what he expected.
Shikamaru opened one eye and fell to his back, arms propping his head up. "Na it would be too much of a bother to do all that. Though if you keep waking me up this early I just might." Getting a small laugh from Naruto. It was weird seeing him so unlike himself. Who cares if he was on a team with the person holding the 9 tails hostage. Worrying about it would only be more work for him so better to just deal with it.
Knowing he was keeping at least 1 friend a great deal of stress left Naruto, unknown to both of them a third managed to hear everything they said.
Sasuke quickly left before they could notice him and had to calm himself down. What the hell had he just heard. Naruto had the 9 tails in him. He could only remember the stories his father and brother used to tell him about the night that nearly destroyed the leaf. He needed to think about what he should do after hearing that.