I don't own Naruto. Deal with it.
Holy crap I updated! Took me long enough, thank you to all who reviewed and stuff. You guys are what kept me going. Thank you very much.
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Pain. That was all Naruto was able to feel right now. Pure, burning agony that was spread all over his body. He felt it in his muscles, in his skin, in his bones. It was excruciating. The worst part was, he was conscious the entire time. He knew there would be pain, he was told there would be, but like an idiot he believed he could take it. He knew he should have stayed in bed today.
Flash back:
The day had started out fairly well; he had woken up from a very refreshing sleep, having depleted his chakra the day before. He had used his chakra to power Kushina, who was now able to interact with everyday objects, as she demonstrated when she cooked breakfast that morning. Yeah, life was good.
Deciding he should visit Hinata today, he left his home after equipping himself for target practice. That was his favorite past time. On his way out of the room, he noticed the lantern that his mother had left him. It was a huge blue steel lantern, easily as big as his forearm, and amazingly heavy. He still didn't know what it did. Kushina had told him that he was not to turn it on unless his life was in danger. She said the first time would be painful, and that if anything he should wait until they secured a dependable doctor before activating it. But that didn't mean he couldn't carry it around right?
When he arrived at the Hyuuga compound, he was met by two Hyuuga guards. Apparently Naruto wasn't welcome in the Hyuuga compound right now.
"It's nothing personal Uzumaki-san. But we were charged with the duty of not letting anyone not of the family inside the compound. Should Hiashi-sama give you permission, you will be allowed in. but can I take a message for Hinata-sama?" the guard asked politely.
"No, that's alright. But if you could tell her that I was here, I would appreciate it." said Naruto. "I need to get to the range anyway. Have a good day gentlemen."
"You too Uzumaki-san." the guard said. And with that Naruto made his way to the range. He loved it there. The wide open space, the feeling of concentration he felt when he was aiming down a sight, the single sharp BANG and the single kick to his shoulder…
Music to his ears.
Today Naruto was going to try the new pistol his mother left him. At least, he was pretty sure it was a pistol. It could have been a cannon, it does fire a bullet almost as big as his forearm. He had no idea how he was going to handle it, but hey, practice makes perfect.
However, when he got there, there was already somebody waiting for him. She was a tall woman, with striking features, a woman that anyone would find beautiful. She wore a red dress, with high heel shoes, a necklace around her neck. She had pink hair, something that Naruto found odd, but the woman managed to pull it off. She just had the a presence about her, and Naruto could tell that she had probably broken the hearts of many men.
"hello Uzumaki-kun.' she said in a warm, musical voice. "my name is Shia Haruno. I believe you know my cousin Sakura?" Naruto nodded. "ah, so it is you. Well Uzumaki-kun, I really don't like this assignment, but once I'm paid, I'm honor bound to complete the job."
And with that, she withdrew two senbon from her sleeves and Naruto found them in his kneecaps. He fell to the ground with a cry of pain. Shia, knelt down by the boy.
"I just want you o know Uzumaki-kun, this is nothing personal. I was paid to incapacitate you. But know this, if you survive, you won't be able to find me. I'm leaving the village tonight. But I tell you what, I'll give you something special if we see each other again." she said. And with that, she leaned down and kissed Naruto on the forehead, and vanished in a swirl of leaves.
Naruto wasn't quite sure what just happened. He had been minding his own business, and suddenly, a beautiful woman shows up and shoves needles into his knees, and then apologizes and kisses him. He would never understand women.
Then, he realized he had bigger things to concern himself with. A group of young men, all armed, had surrounded him while he was trying to get the senbon out of his knees. The were all smirking at him, and Naruto knew this would not end well.
"well well well," the leader began. "little demon-gennin. You really thought we would allow you to become a ninja while we were still around? Now I'll give you a choice. Give up being a ninja and you will get off with a few bruises and nothing worse. Or we can disembowel you. Your choice."
Naruto knew he was in trouble. He couldn't move his knees, and he couldn't reach his side-arm fast enough. Oh shit. "you should know by now guys. I haven't given up before, what makes you think I'll start now?" he said, trying to play it cool.
Well apparently, these guys weren't up for witty banter. one of the men swung his knife, and slashed Naruto in the chest. And that was the opening shot. Suddenly, knives, clubs, and feet were raining down on him. His ribs were broken, his arms and legs slashed, his face bruised. Oh, wait his face was also slashed now. Naruto was on the ground now. He didn't know what to do. He had no weapons, they were thrown away by the men when they had arrived. Maybe he had a knife, a pistol he forgot about, or just some random stick he could hit them with. He started to slowly brush his hands down his sides, checking every pocket for anything that could help him.
Then his fingers hit the lantern. And he remembered his mothers words. 'do not open unless your life is in danger'. and with that, he pulled the lever, and the lantern ignited.
The lantern squeaked open and suddenly chakra burst from Naruto with so much force it knocked the men back into a wall a few feet behind them. His chakra raged like an inferno, and began to sink towards the lantern, which in turn was absorbing the chakra as it arrived. Once the lantern had gathered enough, it began to expel the chakra, covering Naruto again.
Then the pain started.
End Flashback.
Naruto felt his bones shatter and regrow, felt his muscles tear and repair themselves, felt a pressure in his head that just kept building. His body began to grow, muscles bulging through his clothes. He began to get taller, and when combined with his new muscle mass, it began to tear his clothes apart. His hands grew, his legs elongated, and Naruto felt everything.
The pain lasted about five minutes, and by that time Naruto had already passed out. However, the lantern was still on. Naruto's body began to stand, standing at an impressive 6'5", much taller than he was before. His body also widened, giving him the dimensions of Ibiki Morino. And as suddenly as it started, the growing stopped. The pain turned into a dull ache, and the lantern still glowed blue.
"kill, kill, kill,"
One of the men looked at Naruto, who was still holding the lantern, and nearly pissed himself in fright. The lantern still glowed that eerie blue, and because Naruto's back was to the sun, the shadows on his face were illuminated in a blue glow by the lantern. His eyes were blank, his pupils contracted, and a blood thirsty grin on his face, the slash across his face glowing white in the light.. Naruto began to hear a voice in his head grow louder.
"kill, kill, kill."
Naruto picked up his pistol, which he could now lift with ease, and popped it open. He retrieved a single round from his pouch, and slammed it into the breach. He flicked his wrist, and the pistol closed with a satisfying CLACK!
"kill!, kill! KILL!!!."
Naruto aimed at one of the men, and pulled the trigger.
And missed by mile.
Despite now being able to wield the pistol and load it, his body was not used to the recoil his gun produced, and the round had instead tore up the ground next to the man's foot. The shock of the recoil however, had snapped Naruto out of his stupor, and forced the voice out of his head. Using the moment of clarity, he reached for the lantern and shut it off, putting a stop to the voice, and ending the urge to kill the men. However, the strain on Naruto's body was too much, and he passed out.
The next thing Naruto saw was the hospital ceiling. His bones still ached, but other than that he was fine. His body felt heavier though. He lifted his arm and brought it to his face. And then he screamed.
His arm was massive, muscular and covered in scars. Which was weird, his scars usually healed. But anyway, he threw off his sheets and discovered that he was now the size of a large bear, with more scars all over his body.
"what happened to me?!?!" he screamed.
"I can answer that." said a familiar voice. Naruto turned and saw that Kushina was standing in the room, along with a shocked Hinata, Tenten, and Shikamaru.
"Kushina? Hinata? Guys? What are you doing here? And what happened to me?" asked Naruto.
Kushina walked up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. Hinata just took a look at Naruto's scars and started crying and gave Naruto a hug.
"well Naruto-kun, you turned on the lantern. Said Kushina. "by design it was supposed to modify your body to fit the role of an Anti-Tank Trooper. It's supposed to increase your size to enhance your strength so you can handle the weight and recoil of the pistol easier. It also enables you to instinctively know how to load and fire the pistol." She said.
"well what about the scars? My scars always heal up." said Naruto, still examining his now scarred arm.
"well, the lantern by design increases your healing rate when it is activated. However this isn't the same as with the Kyuubi. It accelerates your normal healing rate, and normal people scar." Kushina explained.
"uh huh. So that's what happened." mused Naruto. Hinata was still crying on his shirt. "why are you crying Hinata-chan, I'm alright, I really am."
"I just feel so guilty!" she sobbed. "if I had gone with you today, this never would have happened!"
"but it did happen, and it was bound to happen anyway. So don't cry Hinata-chan, I'll be fine, and you have nothing to feel guilty about." said Naruto. He then turned to Kushina. "how are you here anyway? I thought you had to stay at the house?"
"normally yes." said Kushina, "but now that you activated the lantern, I can be stored inside it when necessary. I had Raigin bring me when he first came here. He left to go bring everyone some food, he'll be back in a minu-"
"HOLY CRAP HE'S AWAKE!!!" screamed a very upset Raigin as he burst into the room carrying takeout. "It's about damn time too. You've been asleep for hours. How are you buddy?" he asked.
"I'm fine Raigin. I just seem to attract the strangest things don't I?" said Naruto grinning.
"that you do buddy, that you do. Now, we may have a problem. You out grew your weapons. There is no way you can hold your equipment now, so I'm going to see if I can get you a bigger set. If you tried to use them now you would probably crush them."
Naruto pouted. "and I just had them cleaned and calibrated! Not to mention I was comfortable with them."
Raigin sighed. "I know Naruto. But if you continued to use them, they wouldn't feel right. It would be like holding a twig in your hands."
"fine." whined Naruto. "but I still want a carbine. I like the idea of a little extra leeway if I miss."
"ok." said Raigin. Suddenly, Raigin's smile turned evil, and Naruto shivered. This would not end well.
"Guess who needs to buy new clothes? Your sudden growth spurt finally got rid of that orange monstrosity you call a jumpsuit." Laughed Raigin, pleased that the hated orange would soon be gone. (that's right. I never mentioned it, but Naruto is still wearing the jumpsuit. Not any more ;)
"but I still have more at home!" shouted Naruto childishly. He really liked the jumpsuit.
"well you outgrew them!" Said Raigin.
"crap. Well, I'm getting a hat with this new wardrobe. And it shall be fancy and awesome! I'm thinking a wide brimmed duster, I saw a western a little while ago and Doc Holiday was in it…" Naruto began to ramble.
"Ok, that's enough. As long as orange is kept low and dark, you can get what ever you want." Raigin interrupted. He had already been subject to Naruto's hero worship of Doc Holiday, and it was annoying at this point.
"now, until I get your new weapons, I want you to practice with that pistol now that you can use it. I will try to have your replacements by the end of the week. Now, I have things to do, so I'd ruffle your hair, but your taller than me, and it wouldn't… feel right now. Almost like its lost its novelty. Ah well, I'll think of something. I'll come back later. Enjoy your time with your roommate." and with that, Raigin left the room.
"I have a roommate?" asked Naruto, looking around. He then saw the old man sitting in a bed on the other side of the room. The old man looked confused, like he couldn't remember why he was here. He then saw Naruto looking at him. "Hey," he said. "you want to hear the story about the time ah met the Loch Ness Monster?"
"Not really no."
"oh it was a good seven or eight years ago." he continued, ignoring Naruto. "me and the little lady were out on this boat you see, all alone at night. When all of a sudden, this huge creature, this giant crustacean from the Paleolithic era come out of the water."
"It was so scary lord have mercy I jumped up in the boat and said 'Travis! What on earth is that creature!?!' " came a voice from Naruto's other side. Turning, Naruto saw an old woman, most likely the man's wife.
"He stood above us lookin' down with his big red eyes" "oh it was so scary" "and I yelled, I said 'What do you want from us monster!?!' and the monster bent down, looked me strait in the eye and said, 'I-I need about Tree-fiddy.'"
It was then Naruto new that this would be a long stay.
FEW HOURS LATER
"and that was the third time we met the Loch Ness Monster," the old man continued, Naruto at this point was trying to ignore them, but the story was just so interesting even if they wouldn't shut up.
"then there was this other time I believe it was July," he began again
"August." his wife interrupted.
"August, I heard a knock on the door. I open it, and there was this cute little girl scout."
"oh she was so adorable with her little pigtails and all."
"and she says to me 'would you like to buy some cookies?' and I said 'sure, what kind do you have?'. she had the Thin-Mints, Graham crunchy things," "raisin oat meal." "raisin oatmeal. And then I said 'I'll take a Graham crunch. How much will that be?' and she looks at me and said. I need about tree-fiddy."
"tree-fiddy!"
"well it was about that time I noticed this girl scout was about eight stories tall and a crustacean from the Pet-a-doge era." he continued
"The Loch Ness Monster." his wife said.
But the old man still had more. "I said 'Dammit! Monster! Get off my lawn!!! I aint' givin' you no tree-fiddy!' And he said, 'well how about two-fiddy?' and I said 'oh so now its two-fiddy? What is there a sale on Loch Ness Munchies or somethin'?"
"lord he was angry!" said his wife.
"Damn right I was angry!"
"not you the monster! He was about to kick your ass."
"ah shut your mouth woman."
TIME SKIP: 4 WEEKS LATER
Naruto was released from the hospital later that week. He had been looking forward to this day since he discovered he had a roommate. He had heard more stories about the Loch Ness Monster than he could stand. Once he was out, he immediately started training his body so it would be at peak performance once more. Lying in a hospital bed for three days really throws you off when you have a regular schedule. Once he got out, Raigin had presented Naruto with a new set of weapons, his rifle and carbine were bigger, and his sidearm now had to be a revolver, because they were the easiest to enlarge and make ammo for.
Hinata herself had made the revolver. It was black and brass, large caliber, and came with glow-in-the-dark sights, an 8 round cylinder due to its size increase, and a small flip out spike on the bottom, just incase.
Anyway, we join team 13 as they are finishing one of their many D-rank missions. The mission; capture Tora the cat. It seemed simple on paper, but when they tried to capture the beast, it lead them on a chase that had many senior ninja's laughing at the misfortune of the genin.
"I swear that cat is unnatural." complained Naruto. The others agreed. That cat was too damn fast to be a natural cat.
Finally, Shikamaru had enough. "screw it, Hinata, take it down. non-lethal please."
"on it." she replied, drawing a pistol. This one was one of her new creations. The barrel was made of pure chakra metal, and as such, could fire chakra bullets should she wish it to. She was trying to implement it into her Jyuuken.
Hinata took aim, and fired a chakra bullet at the cat. Now, because it was a chakra bullet, when Hinata fired, it made next to no noise. All you could hear was the click, and then the yelp of the cat, telling her that she had hit the target. Naruto began to laugh evilly. Shikamaru had a scary grin on his face, and Tenten looked put out that she didn't get to hit the cat. They moved forward and sure enough, the cat was out cold. Shikamaru quickly capitalized on the situation. "quickly Tenten, tie that thing up and make sure it stays asleep!" immediately feeling better, Tenten tied up the cat and swung it lightly into a tree. (don't condone animal violence, just referencing Monty Python)
"good work team." said Raigin. He had been watching the whole time and had been judging their teamwork. "a particularly good shot Hinata. You managed to hit the cat in its neck, very professional."
"thank you Raigin-sensei." said Hinata, beaming at her accomplishment.
"I still say we should have killed it." said Naruto, whose face bore scratches from the long chase. As it turned out, cats didn't like being approached by giant scarred genins that much.
"then we would have failed the mission Naruto." said Raigin. "now lets get going before it wakes up again."
They quickly brought the cat to the Hokage's office and gave it back to its owner. Naruto then immediately rounded on the Hokage. "these missions are complete bullshit Old Man!" he shouted. "I think you secretly enjoy watching me suffer, knowing that soon I will be leaving the village on missions and therefore not around for you to pick on!" he vented, eyebrow twitching. Raigin was just laughing at him behind the group.
The aging Hokage tried and failed to look innocent. "I have no idea what you mean Naruto." he said, not looking at Naruto. Now the entire team had twitching eyebrows. "however I do believe that with Raigin's permission you could take on a C-rank mission. After all, you are the only team that has actual combat experience with the Iwa incident and Mizuki."
" I say go for it Hokage-sama." Said Raigin.
"fine, I'll just call him in." he said "Tazuna! You can come in now!"
The door opened, and a drunk old man came hobbling in. "whatsh thish? Yous guys think yous guys are ninja? I can un-un-understchand the tall guy, but the resht of yous look like chil'ren to me." he slurred, taking a swig from his sake jug.
"well aren't you pleasant." muttered Naruto. Somehow he knew this mission would end badly.
Well, there it is. Not bad this time around huh? Well, you know the drill. Any questions just ask and I'll answer. CIAO!