A/N: I LIVE! Sorry about kinda falling of the face of the earth; high school is a bitch sometimes. Oh well, such is life. Now, my story will probably be explanation heavy in the upcoming chapters, so just be prepared. On with the story!
Kage Bunshin - Jutsu(I don't think I'll be having NINJAS call out their moves that much though. It will probably be made fun of a lot in this story.).
I will feast upon your entrails - Extreme anger or demonic speech/thought.
Do angles go back to heaven when they die? - Thought/Flashback stuff.
OH MY FUCKING GOD - Emphasized speech or shouting.
Anything in apostrophes, 'blah blah', occurs within the mind, be it mental communication(which will be present) or just plain thoughts.
And any combination from here on out is up to you guys to decipher.
Recap-
"What do you wa-" His question was cut off as Anko dropped from the ceiling, simultaneously shoving the other set of dango in his mouth. He glared at her slightly as he ate the forcefully fed food. "THAT, little Naruto, is a gift, from moi, of course. That should cover the shirt too, and if it doesn't, then I can get you a few more. Regardless, I just decided to pop in. Su casa es mi casa, as they say. Now, where is your porn..." As she trailed off, Naruto choked on his dango. In his head, he heard Kogo laughing at him. 'Life is gonna be interesting for a while.' Sighing, he got out of bed and let Anko search for what she would never find, a small smirk present on his face. 'Little does she know that I don't need books/videos. Working in a whore house with perfect memory and recollection skills has its perks. Besides, I'm five... fucking pedos.' With that, he went through his normal morning routine and went to work.
Moving on-
As he returned from work, he came home to find Anko sleeping on his couch. Rather annoyed that she had taken over his couch, he walked up to her and pondered the best way to wake her up. 'Oi, Kogo-chan! Can I create water or a light electrical current with the chakra I manipulate outside my body? Like, right now.'
'You could eventually, but you don't have anywhere near the skill to do that just yet. Let me; I kinda wanna see how she reacts.' Letting Kogo take over, the normal changes took place. He/she just waved her hand, and water just appeared above Anko. It stayed for a while before Kogo-Naruto just dropped her hand(I'll just say her for the "possessed" Naruto here.) and it all just came crashing down.
As Anko jumped up and fell off the couch, Kogo-Naruto just pulled all the water out of the couch, making it evaporate before going back into Naruto's mind. 'Take it away, Naruto-kun.' Coming back into control, his face was immediately caught in a headlock, the back of his head pressing against something soft.
If he could see behind him, he'd probably be scared, but as it stood, he was just trying to breath properly. "Totally... worth it... No... regrets," he managed to choke out, only serving to make Anko tighten her hold. As his vision darkened, he could only think one thing 'Completely worth it... hopefully...'
Sometime later- Forest of Death
Naruto snapped back into consciousness when he felt the cold touch of water on his scalp. Just as his head was being completely submerged, he managed to pull a shunshin directly behind whoever was holding him and kick them into the body of water. Taking in his surroundings, he saw that he was in the forest of death, and that it was Anko who was holding him, as evident by her climbing on top of the apparent river she'd been kicked into. Shrugging his shoulders, he looked over to Anko to find her pulling herself out of the water, glaring at him slightly.
He rolled his eyes before doing another shunshin over to her. Appearing over her, he put out his hand in a gesture of help. She reluctantly took it, before suddenly grinning and dragging him in. As he fell in, he only thought, 'Fuck. I need to learn to actually swim.' Even though he couldn't actually swim, he used some of the principle behind water walking, which he was taught by Haitatsu, to push his head to the surface. After glaring at Anko through his hair, which now fell to his face, he did a quick shunshin to the riverside and made a clone to inform him of his current state of dress.
When it dispelled, he scowled and began muttering to himself about "stupid snake ladies". As Anko climbed out, laughing at him, he used his new found control over chakra to put just under the amount for a physical construct into a pulse, figuring it would push off all the water that wasn't held in place.
Finding his idea to be correct, he repeated this multiple times with stronger pulses until he was relatively dry, though he let his hair stay the same. 'I kinda like the look... Wish it was black, but I don't feel like dying it.' Shrugging at his internal pondering, he looked over to Anko, who was finishing up replacing her coat. He just waited until she was done before asking, "Is there anything else you wanted? I doubt you'd bring me to this forest if you just wanted to dunk my head in the water."
She, while straightening out her jacket, just said, "Guess." When getting no response, she just looked into his deadpan eyes and said, "Fine. I want to know how you did that transforming thing yesterday. I told you about myself, so now it's your turn to tell me something I DON'T know."
Sighing, he sat down and said, "Sit. This is gonna be a bit of a monologue, so you might wanna." As she complied, he asked Kogo, 'Should I reveal much to her? She IS still loyal to the old man, so it could backfire easily.'
'Do as you will. If you think she's trustworthy, then go ahead. If not, then don't.'
Sighing, he began his short tale. "You are about to be trusted with more information about me than any other, so you can't tell ANYONE else." At her nod, he sighed, preparing himself to reveal a few secrets. "I won't go too much into things, since a lot of details are involved here, so let's just say I got some abilities from having the strongest demon in existence sealed inside my tummy. I've been studying fuinjustu under a former Anbu member, so I can understand a bit of my seal. This, combined with Kyuu-chan's knowledge of the seal she's strapped behind due to observation, allowed us to figure out that I gained her ability to manipulate shizen chakra, or nature energy, as I prefer to call it. I won't explain it too in depth, but it is pretty much nature's chakra.
"Now, since I can manipulate that, and it's chakra, I can use it as a power source. Since it isn't my normal power source, or my power at all for that matter, my body changes to better accommodate it whenever I use enough. If I only tap into it for a quick refill when I'm low on chakra, then it won't happen, but I was training to balance it with the energy inside me, which I accomplished. Said accomplishment resulted in that. Since I found that I grew, I just released all of it from inside me when you'd trapped me, shrinking back to normal and escaping."
Anko was silent for a while, just staring at him. After making Naruto uncomfortable as hell for about 30 seconds, she asked, "Are you sure you're five?" At his nod, she sighed. "Just checking. Most five year olds can't even grasp the concept of chakra, and yet, her you are, pulling this bull out of your ass. If you stay, you'll be a kick ass jonin in no time flat, mark my words." Getting up, she continued, "Wanna train with me? I only did a C-Rank earlier, so I am feeling a bit bored. There wasn't anything really good left today."
Having been taught about mission rankings already, he just nodded; anything below B-Rank sounded like bitch work if you asked him. Academy students could do D-Ranks, and probably C-Ranks too.
"So," he began, "Wanna just get right into a spar, or what?" At her nod, he grinned and sped at her with his top speed, not wanting to underestimate what he felt was a jonin level opponent. Sending a clone out in front of him mid-dash, he put as much chakra into a burst as he could, getting behind her just as the clone reached her. Still rushing forward, he saw the clone get dispelled by a roundhouse kick and her fist come flying out towards him. 'She saw through that one easily, huh.' Dodging as best he could, he tried to get her before her stance was reset from the kick. The attempt was in vain, however, as her foot sped to the ground, and her stance became solid once more.
With her renewed solidity, she grabbed the fist he'd sent at her while attempting to get her off guard. Fortunately for him, with their height difference, she found it a bit troublesome to throw him over her shoulder. Unfortunately for him, her foot was also closer for the exact same reason, and she had no problem using that fact to her advantage Bringing her leg up a bit, she brought it up from a bit behind him and kicked him in the leg. Hard. As his knees were buckling, her kick just continued, pulling him off his feet, though his fist was stilled gripped by her, giving her a perfect opportunity to throw her airborne opponent. Doing exactly that, she spun around once, gaining a considerable amount of speed, before letting him fly, aiming for a tree.
Once she let go, he was rocketed towards the tree. Instead of just letting the collision occur, he made two clones appear in front of the tree in order to slow him down. They did their job and, with a mental command from him, joined in on a three manned assault. Discreetly, he used the kawarimi no jutsu and caused the left clone to take the place of him, the original, in the middle. They all dashed towards her, using chakra to become blurs to anyone under jonin in skill, though they were facing a ripped off jonin.(A/N: Her tokubetsu jonin rank is complete bull in my opinion, if you couldn't tell.) The one in the middle jumped up and attempted to deliver an ax kick to her head, though Naruto doubted it would get through.
Not noticing the switch, due to the lack of smoke from good chakra control, Anko just blocked the ax kick from what she thought was the original. Thinking she'd gotten the biggest threat, grabbed his leg and attempted to use him as a bat to disperse of the other two. Swinging from right to left, she dispelled the clone on her right and was going on to the left before she noticed that the one in her hand had dispelled on the hit as well. Bringing the swinging arm in towards her chest, she just blocked his strike with her left hand before sending the previously swinging hand out in a lightning fast jab to his stomach. Unable to avoid the blow, he just took it and flew backwards. "Not bad, gaki," she complemented. "But I've been in this business for years. You'll have to do better to even put a scratch on me."
As he was face down, she couldn't see his grin. 'Doton: Moguragakure no Jutsu is a success.' Just as he finished this thought, a clone popped up out of the ground behind her, making enough sound to draw her attention on purpose. As she was turning around, he jumped up and began to channel chakra for one of, if not his strongest technique. Both he and the clone began to do this, though the clone was quickly stopped by Anko. She just threw a kunai at its head and, as it dispelled, whipped her head back to Naruto. He, on the other hand, managed to finish the technique. Puffing out his chest, he mentally screamed 'FUTON: RENKUDAN!' before unleashing an extremely compressed ball of wind with as much of his chakra kneaded into it as he could manage in the time period.
Unfortunately for him, even though it hit, and seemingly destroyed Anko's body, she melted into mud. His senses went off, telling him that there was a large chakra signature that just appeared above him, but he was momentarily drained from the technique and could only look up as Anko brought her foot down on his face. As everything went black for him, he could only think 'FUCK! SECOND TIME TODAY!' Kogo's laughter in the background did nothing good for him in that moment.
Mindscape
Naruto brought himself into his own mind before he could become fully unconscious. He appeared in front of Kogo, naked as per usual, and just stared at the bijuu who was laughing at him. Deciding that it was payback time, he smirked before making his own imitation of one of her tails out of chakra and smacking her on the top of the head. "Now that you've calmed down," he began as she looked at him with a small glare, "do you think I could do anything about the seal yet? I decided to come in here after being knocked out so I could get something done, at least."
Deciding to cut to the chase, she responded. "Well, you have already mastered intermediate level fuinjutsu and have made reasonable progress into master level fuinjutsu, so I say you could alter the youki flow, or something, but I'd rather you don't stop the seal from draining my power into you. If anything, I say you should increase the flow." Seeing his confused look, she elaborated. "I've told you of my other half before, but we aren't identical. He has more chakra while I have more control. We are reflections of this worlds hatred and the possible outcomes. I represent what happens when one is filled with hate and rage but manage to control and focus it, fueling themselves to become more powerful, while he would represent one who has allowed hatred and anger to control them, driving them to find more and more power to fuel whatever goal they have. His representation, his meaning, gives him more raw power, while mine allows me to refine my smaller amount so that I could keep up.
"The seal changes things, though. I, like you humans, have my own, technically finite, reserves. Even though they are being refilled constantly, the seal puts a constant strain on them, letting them grow. I still retain my control by practicing it in here and using the sensing technique, while the seal is letting my youki reserves grow. The other Kyuubi has the same seal, but his reserves are growing while his control isn't up to par. If you increase the amount your draining from me, you'll not only make yourself stronger faster, but make me stronger than him, since I'll have the best of both worlds." Naruto nodded in understanding and agreement. He'd been taught all about chakra and chakra theory by Haitatsu, and youki was pretty much suped-up, demon chakra, at least as far as he could tell.
"So," Naruto began, now having a goal, "how do I go about controlling the flow?"
"Well, I figure there are two ways to go about it; either manually, from in here, or using fuinjutsu, from outside. I'm pretty sure you need a key to loosen or tighter the seal, since loosening too much is just releasing me, but you should be able to get in done in here. You've allowed me pretty much free reign in here, so I'm able to monitor the relative path my youki takes as it leaves to be trickled into you. I don't let it normally stay fully manifested, but I'll show you what I found when I followed it.
Leaving Kogo's "house", they went outside to the never-ending forest that surrounded her home, Kogo leading the way. As they walked, the area around her house filled itself in, creating a a path. Said path lead to a river, though this river wasn't what one would call normal. It was anything but, actually. Running in the river was what looked like blood, though after a second concentrating on it, Naruto's eyes widened as he realized that it was actually Kogo's raw youki. "Whoa... The seal weakens your youki so much when I use it. It completely outclasses mine in... everything.
Kogo didn't respond to the comment, but one could feel the pride coming from her. Instead, she just pointed down stream. "I'd assume that where it leads is where you can adjust things. Good luck, Naruto. And remember, in your mind, you are God. Up until now, you've been on my side, but when you get there, you'll have FULL control."
After she'd given him the helpful reminder, he nodded and began to follow the river. After walking for a while, he had a thought. "She could've just put me at the edge of her side. That fucker..." Sighing, he just kept walking, reaching what seemed to man-made, highly mechanical dam. 'It's processing the youki,' he realized. Deciding that lowering the amount of processing the youki went through would speed up the process, he did just that. Concentrating on the sight in front of him, he slowly lowered the amount of processing the youki would go through. He did this so he would have time to feel the effect it would have on him.
After a while, he decided to settle on an amount that would be a little stronger than his own youki, intending to force his body to improve to keep up. "There we go. I can just come back and increase this again when mine are of an equal strength." Deciding that his course of action was satisfactory, he moved on, walking past the processing mechanism built into the seal.
As he passed it, he felt an odd sensation pass through him. Not wholly unpleasant, but odd. The best description would be... empowering. 'I haven't been on my side in a LONG time. I kinda forgot what it felt like.' Continuing along the river, he eventually found a giant lake, though it didn't look like anything on the mortal plane. It was a swirl of colors, colors that didn't generally go together but... worked somehow. There was a deep blue that he could see, a black with red wisps flowing from it as it mixed, an reddish orange that seemed to be getting redder by the second, and even hints of green being added, though it wasn't as prominent as the other colors.
He knew that these were energies mixing within him, so he focused on the edge of the lake, trying to find a source for each. He saw the mouths of 2 rivers beside the one he was at, and the beginnings of one forming as well. Focusing on them individually, he discerned, as best he could, what each of them were. The blue felt like his normal chakra, and the black felt like his youki. He'd gotten used to both of them by now, so he had a pretty good grasp on their general feel. The green was a bit harder, since it felt like chakra, but it wasn't his chakra. After a bit of thinking, he likened it to natural energy. 'Hmm... It seems like I'm building a connection with nature, to the point where it's power is becoming naturally accessible. Good, this means I can use it easier in the future.' The other was, by process of elimination, Kogo's youki, which he confirmed by comparing the feeling he got.
After getting a better understanding of the mixing energies within him, he looked down at the mouth of the river he was standing at. It had another seemingly man-made device before the mouth opened up. Comparing the flow of the river in front of it and behind it, he found that it was considerably slower after it got to it. 'Gotcha!' Finding his goal, he focused on it before gradually speeding it up. By time he was satisfied with the speed, it was more than twice as fast, since he figure the Kogo's stronger connection with nature would let her be refilled much faster than him.
Stopping for a second to just FEEL the energies, he was able to actually feel his chakra become more like youki. It was slow, obviously, but it was a fast enough process that he could actually feel it becoming more potent, and he liked it.
Deciding he'd accomplished his goal, he made a note to go back there on his own and just... feel before heading back to Kogo, making himself just appear at the boundary of their halves of the mindscape. Walking to her house, he entered after a while to find Kogo napping on her couch. Shaking his head, he decided to let her sleep; for all he knew, she was just getting used to the increased drain. Letting himself regain consciousness, he faded out of the mindscape.
Real World- a few minutes after he was knocked out
Opening his eyes, he looked over to where Anko was, finding her also napping, though she was on a branch with her back to the trunk. He sighed, thinking, Why are people so lazy today?' Getting to his feet, he noticed that Anko had just left him where she'd knocked him out, only turning him onto his back.
Deciding to both wake her up and push the limits of his chakra creation techniques at the same time, he went over to the stream that was still in the area and put his hand in it. As he pulled it out, he really focused on the water, examining each droplet as best he could. Since it was his first time creating a non-solid, he was just taking a few extra measures. Feeling as though he had a pretty good understanding of what he was trying to create, he tried creating water over the stream itself a few times.
After managing to get a handle on it, he created one above Anko's head... again, and dropped it. As it dropped, Anko began to sputter in surprise, even going as far as to fall out of the tree she was in. Being unable to handle it, he began to laugh uncontrollably. Not his best move, considering the crazy snake lady would try and seek retribution. Just as he began to realize the he should run, a cry of "Sen'eijashu" came from Anko, and multiple snakes came and bound him in place. Followed by an angry Anko, stalking towards him.
Fearing for his life, he did the only thing he could... spam the hell out of the Shunshin no jutsu until he was sure he was safe and AWAY from Anko.
An Unknown Time Later
Panting at using up so much chakra to travel more than halfway across the village, he gave himself some time to catch his breath. After managing to catch his breath, he decided to go and visit Hinata. After letting the increased flow from Kogo refill him with relative ease, he resumed using the shunshin no jutsu to traverse the village, this time heading towards the Hyuuga compound.
Appearing there, he decided to take the sneaky way in. Taking a moment, he thought of a way to get past the byakugan. 'Hmm... Dojutsu work in a similar fashion to a normal person's eyes, just on an extremely magnified scale, at least vision wise. Everybody gives off chakra naturally, and people's eyes naturally pick up on it, allowing easy vision...' Finally coming up with an idea, he asked Kogo, 'If I were to stop any excess chakra from actually exiting my body, would I be invisible to the byakugan, or at least the x-ray vision?'
'I doubt it. Unless you manage to make the chakra INSIDE your body invisible to them too, you probably can't. But, since they can't see natural energy, else they'd be blind from just activating the byakugan, you could, theoretically, be invisible to it if you let natural energy dominate your system. Don't try it, though; you don't have enough practice. The only way I can see you getting by them is using a shunshin and hoping they don't notice you at such high speeds.'
Sighing at the lack-luster way of getting in, he observed the guards in the front for a while and, with precision timing, shunshin-ed by when one of them was deactivating their byakugan and the other was about to activate theirs.
Appearing where he felt Hinata's chakra, he surprised here by popping up in her garden, hanging upside down in a tree with chakra. The branch was low, so his face was right in front of her's, though his eyes were closed in their usual fashion to go along with his grin, meaning he couldn't see her initial reaction. Fortunately for him, his chakra sensory technique is stable enough to be up 24/7 now, so he got the picture, and started laughing his ass off as if he'd seen it with his own eyes.
Hinata, and her apparently present family(including Neji and Hizashi), weren't sharing his enthusiasm, though the adults were smirking, attempting to hide their amusement. They were the Hyuuga, after all. Neji, on the other hand, wasn't aware of who he was, and reacted as one would to a stranger appearing in front of their family, using a ninja technique. He lunged at his face, aiming a jyuuken strike at his neck, intending to kill, having not had experience with just disabling techniques.
Naruto, having felt it coming, just timed his release from the tree with chakra, dropping to one knee as he fell and letting Neji fly right over him. Though, he caught himself and rushed again when Naruto had gotten up, trying to go as fast as he could. To Naruto, Neji was moving in slow motion. "Come on, Hyuuga-tan," he taunted Neji. "My grandma can move faster than this!"
He wasn't lying either. When training him, Haitatsu would occasionally, when he wasn't as fast, engage him in direct hand-to-hand combat. Even as an old lady, Haitatsu could move faster than chunin and even a few jonin.
Back with the "fight", Naruto was just dancing around Neji, who was a prodigy within the Hyuuga clan. Now, this was a shock to everyone there, even Hinata. She's had it drilled into her head that the Hyuuga were the strongest in village since she was old enough to understand. To see her her cousin, who'd time and again shown himself to be the best Hyuuga practitioner in his year and 5 above, being toyed with like that was a shock, though it was a good one. 'I know Naruto-kun trained already, but... wow. I wish I was that strong.' Seeing how strong both her cousin and her friend were, she resolved to get stronger so she wouldn't be left behind.
Meanwhile, Neji was getting frustrated at his lack of ability to hit Naruto. Every strike, every jab, every feint, every movement, all of them seemed to be predicted by Naruto. Every time he tried to follow up an attack, Naruto would dance his way around both it and him, forcing him to turn after everyone. 'How can he be so much faster than me! I am an elite; no commoner among my peers should be able to keep up with me!'
While he was thinking this, the adults had gotten over their shock and were just observing the little altercation, silently asking each other whether they should stop them. In the end, they just decided to let Neji use this as a chance to improve and get humbled by someone other than a superior Hyuuga. They too decided to benefit from it, observing Neji's technique and Naruto's counters to it in order to better use and teach the jyuuken.
After another minute if this, Naruto got bored and decided to just end it. Steadily increasing his speed, he kept dancing around Neji faster and faster, focusing on how well Neji kept up. When he was really struggling to turn in time to even focus on him, let alone launch an attack, Naruto smirked before sticking his foot into Neji's still moving feet, forcing him to trip on himself, almost taking Naruto with him. Jumping back, he let Neji fall to the ground, panting for breath.
Walking up to the downed Neji, smirk still in place, Naruto held out his hand to Neji as a sign of good will. Neji, on the other hand, was feeling more than a little annoyed that he was beaten with such relative ease. Rudely slapping Naruto's hand away, he got to his feet, brushed himself off, and asked in a rather rude manner, "Who are you, and why are you here?"
Responding, he just said, "It's impolite to ask someone's name without introducing yourself first."
Before Neji could provide a, most probably rude, rebut, Hiashi interrupted. "That, Neji-kun, is Naruto-kun. He's the one who saved Hinata, and I'd prefer if you don't attempt to murder him; we still owe him. Oh, and he's Hinata's friend," he told Neji, hastily adding the last part at a... look from his wife.
Neji just looked at Naruto in an odd manner, seeming as though he was choking on something. After a few seconds, he bowed slightly and said, "Forgive me for my rudeness Naruto-san." Naruto just took that in stride and responded, "Don't worry about it. You're not the first, nor will you be the last person to try and kill me. I'm fine, so no harm done."
At this, Hiashi looked rather guilty, knowing that he let his best friend's child grow up alone in an environment where attempt on his life would become common place before he was even a shinobi. Naruto wasn't lying though; attempt on his life came in a steady stream when he stopped giving the villagers the satisfaction of seeing him miserable. The other adults looked a bit guilty as well, knowing that Naruto wasn't even close to being the Kyuubi from their byakugan. They all remembered both the different feeling and LOOK the Kyuubi's chakra had. As they thought back on it, they couldn't help the slight shiver that accompanied the memory.
Neji looked at him curiously, not really caring about the endangerment of his life or whether he was telling the truth, but the reason a child would be targeted. 'What could he have done to warrant that?' Hinata had similar thoughts, though neither her friend lying nor the uncaring attitude of Neji ever surfaced in her.
Naruto noticed a generally somber mood had taken hold and mentally face-palmed. 'I shouldn't have said that one.' Kogo voiced her assent in the form of a grunt, letting him figure this situation out on his own. Trying to lighten the mood a bit, he got Neji's attention. "Oi! Neji-chan!" he called. "Wanna spar with me? You're not half bad, ya know. I'll even promise not to use my hands." The bulging vein on his forehead being the only sign of his annoyance, Neji just looked over to Hiashi, Kosen, and his father, Hizashi, for permission. Getting a nod from them, he settled into a starting jyuuken stance.
Before he could lunge at him, Naruto asked, "Do you want to join in Hinata?"
Before she could answer, and most likely say no, Neji just scoffed. "She's weak. I don't want her to get in my way here." At his words, both Naruto and Hiashi narrowed their eyes while Hizashi and Kosen just sighed.
Hiashi was about to reprimand him for that, but Naruto subtly gestured for him to hold off. "Is she now? How so, Neji-san?" Neji looked over at his father, who nodded, knowing that he was asking permission to explain about the Hyuuga clan to Naruto.
Getting his permission, he went on to explain. "Within the Hyuuga clan, their are secrets. I don't know all of them, and probably never will, but the biggest one, only known to those higher up in Konoha government if they're outside of the clan, is the Hyuuga Sōke no Juinjutsu(Hyuuga Main Family's Cursed Seal Technique). When the next heir to the clan turns three," At this he looked at Hinata with a neutral face up to mask his hate. "all members of the branch family of the Hyuuga clan are marked with it. Depending on the members of the main family, we are slaves, and the main family is quite large. Hiashi-sama and Kosen-sama are generally kind to both me and my father, but the others abuse their power. The worst part is that is can't be removed until death. This mark..."
As he trailed off, he removed the bandages he had on his forehead. "It represents an inescapable fate that is decided the moment you are born into this clan. I've been watching others as well, listening in for their past, and it is quite easy to tell the general path of their destiny. Losers are born as such, and grow as such. Murderers have telltale signs from early on. Those who grow to be truly powerful are born with that in their future... Those who are weak are born with that as their fate. We cannot fight it, we cannot change it. We can only be swept down the path fate has chosen for us."
After listening to his monologue, Hinata was sad, and Naruto was pissed. While she tried to keep tears back, using all of the self-control drilled into him by Haitatsu, he kept his face devoid of all emotion and just gestured for him to come at him. He did just that, using the chakra control that was drilled into him since he was even younger to blast off towards him at mid-chunin speeds. Resisting the urge to scoff, Naruto grabbed Neji's outstretched wrist mid-lunge.
Batting aside the palm that Neji brought up to follow up his attack with, he yanked Neji forward. While he was coming towards him, he brought up his knee and hit him in the stomach with the considerable amount of strength he possessed for his age.
Unused to being actually hit, let alone with actual force instead of a jyuuken strike, Neji fell to his knees, his byakugan deactivating as well. While he was down there, Naruto dropped down to his level with a squat. "Did you feel that, Neji?" Neji opened one of his eyes at the sound of his voice. "Would you say that I'm strong, Neji?" He got up and kicked Neji across the field before appearing on that side with a burst of speed, his foot outstretched for Neji for Neji to hit on his current course.
And hit it he did. His back impacted with the bottom of Naruto's foot, causing all the others to wince at the sound, and Kosen to cover Hanabi's eyes and ears. As Neji fell to the floor in a heap, panting from the beating he was receiving, Naruto grabbed him by the back of his collar and dragged him up to eye level as he bent over, forcing him to look into his eyes which were, unknown to Naruto, glowing a sharp, icy blue.
"Well, would you?" Neji nodded as best he could in his current state, a.k.a scared out of his mind while being beat the fuck down. "Thank you, Neji. Now, with your philosophy, this should be impossible. I was an orphan with the whole world against him making it past the age of two for... reasons I'd rather not divulge right now. Every villager hated my guts, and they still do. The only reason I'm alive is because of those pesky laws against murder, and an occasional "good Samaritan" visiting the village not knowing me, bless their ignorance. I am an outcast to almost all, a pariah if you will. But even our laws can't deter the most determined fools..."
Deciding that it'd be best to break him of his mindset now, he proceeded, releasing the partial Akuma no Genso: Nise Gaiken(Demon Illusion: False Appearance) he had on part of his chest. "I was two when I got this Neji." At this, he pulled down the collar of the black shirt he was wearing, revealing the kanji for lonely(寂しい: Sabishi) etched into his chest, right under his collar, along with a scar, seemingly from a stab, right under it.
As Neji opened his eyes to see what it was, the adults, sans Hiashi, stared in shock. Both he and Hinata looked on confused until what it was registered with them; they'd never seen such scars before. When it did, they joined the adults. "When I woke up in a ninja hospital, since we couldn't trust the civilian one, Hokage-jiji had outright told me that a ninja had "snapped" and attacked me, leaving the mark on the off chance I survived, which I did, just to let me know I'd never be accepted. I was branded like this from early on in life, but I'm not like you Neji.
"I won't let ANYONE tell me what my future is, that I'm fated to be alone. If I am alone, it's because I prefer it that way. If I want to have friends, to have a family, then I will work for it and MAKE it happen, and I don't care if it IS my fate. Being strong or weak is a choice, Neji. Strength is the power of one's own will, the power to forge your own path. A power we all possess and need only reach out and grab. Will you remain weak, Neji? Will you resign yourself to being a slave to those people, against your will, or will you fight to have your fate be one you want? Will you choose to be strong Neji?" He paused to let it sink in for Neji and calm down a bit before continuing, managing to start out in a whisper.
"Because, as you are, out of you and Hinata, YOU are the weaker one. She is at least trying to gain power, to stop disappointing those who expect more, to change who others have decided she is. You are letting your life be directed by those around you. For all your power, which is considerable for your age, you are WEAK, Neji." By the end of it, his voice, which he'd, impressively, kept DECENTLY level for the first sentence was now reaching past the point of just shouting, and was echoing across the entire compound for ALL the Hyuuga to hear. "If you have a seal that enslaves you, find some way to break it. If the higher ups in your clan are directing your life, bide your time and build both your power and strength before breaking free from the shackles that hold you down. Some people in this world have it worse that you Neji, and they continue to fight. So, before you take the coward's route and give in, remember: you chose to let that be your life."
Taking deep breathes, Naruto regained his composure. Looking Neji dead in the eyes, he said one last thing. "I had to grow up early on, Neji. I've learned how to protect myself and have begun to make my own fate. Now, Neji, I'll tell you the thing helped me start... Stop being a baby, Neji. The world isn't fair, and it will never be, so get over it and make the best out of the life you've been given."
Now that he was done, he pushed Neji onto his ass, got up, and turned around only to find that his audience had grown from 5 to at least 50. A good portion had come to investigate what was going on and ended up staying to listen to his words. Feeling all of their eyes on him, Naruto blushed and looked at his feet.
While Naruto was looking down, Hiashi made his way over to him and put a hand on his shoulder. "Don't be embarrassed, Naruto. You may have just changed the ways of our clan for the better. For too long have we been steeped in old, oppressive ways, even when they are against Konoha law. If we don't change, I fear that your speech's message will spread and our clan will destroy itself." As Hiashi finished, most of the Hyuuga watching nodded at him, and a few even smiled. Others either gave him a pitying look or frowned at him, most probably unhappy that an outsider was interfering with clan affairs or forcing their hand.
Naruto just grinned at him. "Well, I'm pretty sure slavery is against Konoha law, except for certain circumstances, Hiashi-san. You could change at anytime you wanted, even if others didn't; all I did was help you out, and let you do it without getting anyone arrested." As he finished, he went to leave, believing he'd caused enough of a ruckus for one day, but he was stopped by a hand on his shoulder. Turning around, he saw it was Hizashi and rose an eyebrow. Before he got to ask what the problem was, Hizashi bowed to him. "Thank you, Naruto-san." Seeing his surprised look, he gave a little elaboration. "You went out of your way to save my son from himself. And then ended up saving this clan from itself. I will say what they are too proud to: Thank you, Naruto-san." Naruto just grinned and gave him a thumbs up before shunshin-ing out of there.
Naruto's Roof
Appearing on his roof, he ignored the snickering coming from Kogo at his embarrassment and was about to begin his workout when a thought struck him. 'Oi Kogo-chan!'
'Yes, Naru-kun?'
'My clones have been getting through the master level material in the fuinjutsu texts, and I found that seals can be used to distort time and space. Do you think it would be possible to make a seal that would increase the density of all the gas in the air around me so that I could up my physical training? I've been getting fewer benefits from physical training as of late, and I don't hit as hard as a jonin, which I want to fix asap.'
'Well, you could do that, but then it would affect your breathing rather drastically. You would only need to pull in a little air to get the same amount of oxygen, but when you turned the seal off, your lungs wouldn't be used to having to work that much for air.'
'Weights then?'
'No, no. Those can only REALLY work the muscles they're attached to. For example, people tend to work their hip flexors when they do abdominal muscles, so then their hip flexors get stronger while their abdominal muscles barely get anything. Now, if you make it harder, by adding weights in your case, you'll be more likely to fall back onto your hip flexors, thus getting rid of the intended benefits. If anything, you should try that gravity seal you read about, or maybe the resistance seal. Actually, do the resistance seal. It works EVERY muscle in your body, and you can increase it infinitely without hurting yourself.'
Nodding in assent to her assessment, he made 3 or four clones to create the seals and try them on each other before he did it so he could know the effects first-hand instead of just through the book. While they were doing that, he did his physical training, though he set his body to autopilot so he could talk with Kogo. 'So, Kogo-chan, I was wondering about, well, you. You know everything about me, but I barely know you.'
'Well what do you want to know? It can't be too broad of a topic, or we'll be up here for a week. I've seen and done A LOT, ya know.'
Naruto had to think for a bit there. After a few moments, he asked, 'Do you have a family, Kogo-chan?'
Kogo was a bit surprised at the question but answered nonetheless. 'Well, I guess you could say the other bijuu are my family? Kinda. Not really, at least not anymore. We were really close, but eventually we were separated, either from being sealed or just exploring the world. Shukaku, the Ichibi, was sealed away rather early on by some humans, though most of us didn't really like him at that point. He is the weakest of us, and he got rather insecure about that, even though his defense was the best out of all of us, and he could technically seal us in the right situation. Meh. Eventually, he became paranoid towards the rest of us, then he just went bat-shit crazy. None of us knew why, but he did.
'Next there's Matabi, the Nibi. She was actually pretty close with me... and by close, I mean we were, ah, "fuck buddies", I think the term was. I could willingly switch between genders when I was whole, so it got rather kinky. She eventually got taken control of by the Shodaime Hokage, Hashirama Senju, a monster of a man if I've ever seen one. Actually, he got all of us except Shukaku. Ain't that a bit of irony for you.
'Isobu, the Sanbi, was pretty chill with everyone, though no one every got too close to her. She used to be really solitary and rather timid, so it made sense that she'd go off alone, then got captured. Son Goku, the Yonbi, was a proud fucker. Strong, but way too proud for his own good. He was really lucky to be as strong as he is, because he challenged everyone up to the Nanabi to a fight at least once. Gyuki, the Hachibi, managed to kick his ass though.
'Then there's Kokuo, the Gobi. He's a dog, dolphin, horse thing. I could never figure that one out. He said he was a horse, but... You'll understand if you ever see him. Anyway, he was also very proud, and actually managed to force Gyuki to try in their last fight, so I'd say he's earned his pride. He's also rather old fashioned, so he always came of as polite, even when insulting one of us. After him, there's Saiken, the Rokubi. She was actually rather kind to most everyone, and the most willing to help. Her acid hurts like a bitch though.
'After her, there's Chomei, the Nanabi. Last I saw, she was energetic, happy-go-lucky even. She even calls herself "Lucky Seven" Chomei. But that's a facade of sorts that she'd created. Son, and later, Kokuo, bullied her, calling her an "insignificant bug", among other things. Probably because she is a bug, but that's not the point. I was actually her support among the bijuu, so I'd say we got along just fine.
'Almost to me! Gyuki, the Hachibi, is as proud as most of us bijuu are. He's pretty smart too, though he's also rather to me, though that's probably due to te fact I had ranked their power by tails. Though, it was accurate... sans Son, which is probably why he's annoyed. Regardless, he's strong. REALLY strong. If you ever get the chance to meet him, take it, but do NOT piss him off. I am, when whole, the strongest by far, but when he was mad, he made me try a considerable amount to beat him down.
'And finally, Moi. I, and I am most definitely tooting my own horn here, the strongest thing alive!... when I'm whole. Right now I'm building back up to that power, but whatever. I-... Actually, I have a better idea. Instead of just explaining about myself, I'll make you understand me. A long time ago, our "father", the Rikudo Sennin -yes, that Rikudo Sennin- created the precursor to modern ninjutsu. It was called ninshuu, and it was used to connect people spiritually through chakra so that understanding each other and having a peaceful world was possible. People eventually began to knead it within themselves to create ninjutstu of today, but that's beside the point. I'm going to connect with you so that you can understand me, hatred and all. Do you want to?
Naruto didn't even have to think for a second. 'Of course!' As he was answering, though, he'd noticed that he'd completed more than 50 laps and his legs were letting him know. 'Gimme a sec'. I'll come in there, so I gotta stop my legs from killing themselves.' Stopping and checking on his clones' memories, he saw that they'd finished a while ago. 'That is gonna be hell for a while.'
Sitting in a lotus position, he made a few more clones to practice his control with everything and went into his mind to meet Kogo.
Into the Mindscape we go!
Appearing in Kogo's house in his usual attire, or lack there of, he found her laying on her couch, upside down and facing him. "Hi, Kogo-chan. So, how is this done exactly?" Smiling at him, she explained the process to him. "Okay, this is basically just taking the energy within yourself, without kneading it like for jutsu, and just concentrating it to a point of contact, say your hand. Then you just, well, make contact. This'll be easier for you since, with your clones and such, you've gotten used to just pushing your body's energy outside of your body without kneading it.
'Now, this is going to be something of a temporary merger. You'll see everything from my perspective, feeling what I was feeling, thinking what I was thinking, etc. Same for me, though both will only take the blink if an eye. You'll do through my life, and understand me... hatred and all. Do you still want to proceed?' With a nod from him and a determined look, she told him one last thing. 'I've only ever kept one thing from you, and I don't do things for no reason. Please don't overreact.'
With that said, Naruto, who had been doing the process while she was talking, reached out his hand. She did the same, and when their palms connected, both of their vision faded away.
A/N: And I'll leave it there. I have a week of, so I can probably bring out 2-3 chapters, maybe more. Oh, and Ninshu may or may not be explained in the next chapter. I haven't decided whether or not to leave it for a flashback, but I probably will. I've spent too much time in his childhood stage in my opinion, so I need to move things along. Shit is gonna start going down at least two chapters from now, so don't hate me if they aren't to your liking... Actually, hate as much as you wish, just don't review with hate. Constructive criticism, on the other hand, is welcome. Now, onto what we all know is the most important part of this whole chapter, the HAREM!
(Bold=Confirmed, Italics=Probable, Normal=Possible
Kogo(Fem Kyuubi)
Fem Haku
Fu
Hinata
Fem Sasuke
Fem Gaara
Fem Hidan
Yugito(She got enough votes by last time.)
Anko: 2
Temari: 2
Tenten: 1
Shion: 3
Shizuka: 1
Matabi(Nibi): 2
Fem Kakashi: 1
Thanks for the input peoples! I'd rather not just thrust my pairing out there, since I like around fifty... jk, just 5. Also, even if they aren't on the list for the harem, I'll probably make a few other characters girls, just to balance out the gender thing. Thank you for reading, as usual, PM me if you have anything to say. BYE GUYS( or GALS)!