Shinobi no Kami
Chapter 3
A/N: A lot of you don't seem to understand how Kimimaro managed to beat Shisui. There are mutliple factors to take into account. The first is that he is not plagued by his illness, meaning he can fight better than we saw. The next is the fact that Shisui had been training previously, he had a fifth of his overall chakra, barely any stamina left and no Soldier Pills to refill his chakra and stamina. Kimimaro on the other hand was fresh and ready for battle, that and he had been observing Shisui train so he knew everything what Shisui could do. Then there is the biggest fact, this is FanFiction, nothing makes sense here. The Naruto world is where people can manipulate the elements, create clones of themselves, stand walls, do Jesus like shit such as walk on water and have children kill their entire clan in a single night. If you wanted it to be realistic then stop reading this fic.
Now that it is out of the way, I'd like to thank shapeshifter340, Bongoloman, Ezeakel, JSua, hennesswayswagg83, Brady420, xirons20, anarion87, jrayeni and animeficfan for your reviews.
Ezeakel:The reason why Naruto isn't suffering from the memory lash that he should have is because of the fact that he has the Kyuubi that helps him stop the memories from damaging his psyche too much. Then there is that fact that Jiraiya has been having Naruto dispel small groups of Kage Bunshin's at a time to allow him time to recover from the rush of memories.
JSua:No, Naruto isn't the last of his clan only those who were involved in the Coup d'état are involved in are dead. The pairing as of yet is undecided, but I'm gonna post a poll soon. As for Tsunade and Shizune, they will teach him a few things so in a way they do count as senseis, but at the same time they won't be.
"Normal speech."
'Normal thought.'
"Jutsu."
"Demon speech/translations."
'Demon thought.'
-X- Line Break -X-
Two figures walked through the Land of Forests, one looked to be in his late forties with long spiky white hair pulled back into a ponytail. He wore a green, short shirt kimono and matching pants under which he wore a mesh armour that was revealed at his wrists and ankles. He wore handguards, a black belt, traditional Japanese sandals and a red haori with two yellow circles on it.
The next figure looked to be ten years old, he had shaggy blonde, shoulder length hair and blood red eyes with a reptilian pupil. He wore a single black hoodie that was slightly unzipped revealing his mesh shirt armour underneath. Covering his legs were simple ANBU style black pants tucked into black shinobi sandals. Strapped to his forearms were armguards and on his back was a simple wakizashi blade.
It was dark out, the sun having long gone down.
"Naruto, what are your eyes picking out?" The taller figure asked.
"Nothing yet, Ero-sennin." Jiraiya nodded his head. The eyes Jiraiya was on about were a gift from the Kyuubi to Naruto. They weren't really a gift, but more of a way to stop him from relying on the Sharingan as much. In terms of abilities, they allowed him to see things from ten miles away and allowed him to see in the dark.
"They should be around here somewhere. The village isn't too far away."
"What exactly is the mission again? You never told me." Jiraiya looked down at Naruto in confusion.
"Didn't I? I could've sworn I did." Naruto shook his head in answer, shrugging his shoulders Jiraiya explained the mission. "Well, pretty much there's a group of missing ninja that call themselves, the Shinobazu. There are four members, here are there profiles." Naruto took the file and read through the contents.
The leader of the group was Shura, he was a man with long brown hair, small eyes and red markings on his face. His main weapon of choice was an umbrella that could do multiple things such as, shoot senbon, flames, and metal wires and had a hidden sword inside of it.
Then there was Gantetsu, a man of great stature with black hair held back in a ponytail and a black goatee. The only thing of note of him was his great strength.
The next member was a very feminine man called Monju with light blue hair held back in a ponytail and black-coloured eyes. His outfit consisted of shorts and a purple tank top. The man's main and only showcased techniques was his wire techniques.
The final member was a man called Toki with short cropped brown hair and black eyes. His outfit consisted of a white headband wrapped around his head, green armless robes and a drilling device located on his left arm.
Overall the group was nothing special.
"Sarutobi-sensei gave us the mission to eliminate them. But to capture the leader, he believes that there is something more at work." Naruto hummed as he thought of what that could possibly mean. Before he could truly think about anything, his eyes picked up on movement in the village.
"They're there." As soon as those words left his mouth, the two shot off through the trees. The quickly managed to arrive at the village and when they did they watched the four members of Shinobazu tearing through the village.
"Naruto." Looking up to his sensei, he saw that gone was his perverted and carefree godfather, instead he was replaced by the battle-hardened shinobi that made his grandfather. "You take Gantetsu and Toki." Nodding his head, Naruto shot into the direction of Gantetsu who was currently in the middle of squeezing the life out of two separate people.
Appearing, he drew his wakizashi and slashed at Gantetsu's outstretched arms. Lucky for the bulky man, he managed to jump backwards and avoid the slash. A little ways away, Toki only just flipped backwards to avoid a horizontal slash from a clone. Instantly Toki and Gantetsu moved so that they were back to back, while the two Naruto's covered each end of the street.
"Everyone, get out of here now." Naruto ordered and the remaining villagers rushed away.
"You got balls kid. I'll give you that." Toki said. "But you better be prepared to pay for what you just did…" He raised his right arm showing off his drill like device.
"You're gonna say somat real cliché like, you'll pay with your life." He made his voice sound deeper to mock Toki. It worked because Toki ground his teeth together. "Are you done talking now, I have things to do and places to be. Beating your asses into the ground isn't one of those things."
"Alright brat, you asked for it." Raising his right arm into the air, he channelled chakra into it and watched it spin around madly.
Seeing this, Naruto charged forwards and Gantetsu met his charge. The large bulky man swung his fist round to strike Naruto, but he simply moved his body to the side and simultaneously slapped it to further knock it off target. Gantetsu once again went to hit him however, Naruto repeated the same manoeuvre.
"Gantetsu move!" Toki shouted and the bulky man jumped to the side. Naruto quickly ran through a set of hand seals just as Toki exclaimed, "Tsuchi Kurenai (Crimson Earth)!" The drill part of the device shot forwards towards Naruto's direction.
"Fūton: Daitoppa (Wind Style: Great Breakthrough)!" Releasing a large gust of wind, it slammed into the drill and forced it back in the direction it came. Not allowing this advantage to go, he charged forwards however, Gantetsu appeared in his path. Not slowing down, Naruto used the bulky man's knee as a springboard to slam his knee into his chin. Using the momentum the Uzumaki flipped over him and continued onto Toki. "Katon: Haisekishō (Fire Style: Ash Pile Burning)!" From his mouth, gunpowder covered the area around Toki. With a quick spark made from flint placed in his teeth beforehand ignited the gunpowder.
With a scream of pain, Toki jumped out of the flames trying desperately to take of the drill lie device from his right hand. The heat from the flames having been conducted by the metal.
Turning around, Naruto quickly raised both arms in a cross fashion to absorb most of the impact from the kick he received from Gantetsu. Even so, the power behind the kick lifted him off his feet and shot backwards. However, from his back multiple chains shot forward and wrapped around Gantetsu.
Using this, he slowed himself down enough for him to safely land on the roof of the nearby building. The chains then receded back towards him and pointed towards Gantetsu once more.
"Kongō Fūsa: Piasu no Maruchi (Adamantine Sealing Chains: Multi Piercing)!" More chains sprouted from his back until around fifty silver chains with pointed tips were all pointing straight at Gantetsu. Then they all shot forwards at great speeds and the bulky man had no way to avoid them.
Toki, who had managed to recover looked over towards Gantetsu to see him been pierced over and over again until there was a single large hole through his chest. Gritting his teeth, he turned towards Naruto, but he knew that fighting him would be hopeless and so he ran.
Seeing this, Naruto quickly used a Shunshin no Jutsu (Body Flicker Technique) to appear in front of him with his wakizashi in hand. The end pointing straight towards Toki's heart. Due to the speed in which he had been running, the Shinobazu member had no way to slow down and so found himself pierced through the heart by Naruto's blade. Gasping in shock as blood spilled out from his mouth, Toki dropped to his knees only held up by the blade in his heart. So when Naruto pulled his blade from its fleshy confines, Toki dropped to the ground face first.
"I tell you what kid, it's creepy to see how strong you've gotten." Naruto nodded his head in agreement. Despite killing multiple other enemy Shinobi in his four years since his first kill, Naruto still had to spend time to get used to what he had just done.
After a few moments, Naruto finally returned to normal.
"Yea, I still haven't found anyone that give me a good challenge." Jiraiya faked been hurt by clutching his heart." "Stop been an idiot Ero-sennin. I want someone around my level of strength so that I can fully find out my limits. Fighting you right now is getting quite tedious. You know everything about me and I've figured quite a few things about your fighting style. No one has been able to match me blow for blow without holding back loads. I want a fight were I know both sides are going all out." Jiraiya nodded his head, he too knew the feeling well once. "How'd it go other on your end?"
"Come on Naruto, have some faith in me." Jiraiya said.
"I would if you weren't a hopeless pervert." Naruto began walking only to find that he was alone. Turning around he saw Jiraiya curled up in a ball with a raincloud above his head all the while mumbling, "I'm not a pervert; I'm a super pervert. Why does no one get that?" Sweat dropping, Naruto shook his head and continued walking paying no mind to his godfather.
Jiraiya meanwhile, had recovered and was walking a ways behind Naruto. The boy had changed a lot over the past four years. In terms of strength he would place him around Chunin level with an intellectual mind that allowed him to excel.
Already the boy had impressive mission record. One hundred percent completion rate, which is impressive considering he had done thirty C-rank missions, ten B-ranks and a single A-rank. Jiraiya had also introduced Naruto to his extensive spy network and had also begun helping him run it all.
There was one problem though. Naruto was reaching his limit. Every Shinobi had limitless potential at their fingertips however, too much power at a young age would destroy the body. Therefore, the body would personally limit itself as a result. Only when a child reached their maturity would the walls that kept their potential locked away would crumble. However, for this wall to crumble fully you must reach your limit before your maturity otherwise it will only partial breakaway. It was one of the reasons why there were so little Jōnin.
For a shinobi though, to have your potential be limited was dangerous. It was for that reason that the age of maturity for a shinobi was much lower than that of a civilian. A first generation shinobi would have maturity at the age of fifteen. Those shinobi descended from shinobi, whether they be clans or not, would have a maturity at the age of eleven. It was the reason why that was the graduation age of the academy.
Naruto had been training nonstop, constantly getting stronger and stronger for the first four years of his training. Then when he gained the Sharingan, the training increased even more. Using the Sharingan's ability to copy Ninjutsu and Taijutsu, Naruto could instead focus on mastering that instead of learning.
Last year they travelled to the Land of Iron so that Naruto could begin learning Kenjutsu and just like with Fuinjutsu, he took to it like a fish out of water. It was only in the past year that they had begun taking missions so that Naruto could gain real world experience.
The only area he hadn't improved was his control over Kurama's chakra. Even with Kurama working alongside him, it was still incredibly potent and poisonous for his chakra coils. He would have to wait until he had hit puberty before he could fully begin to gain control of its chakra. As of right now all he could do was channel small amounts into his body to increase all of his fitness capabilities.
If things continued, eventually the only thing he could improve would be his skill. That alone could make him a powerful shinobi. That was until Naruto reached puberty and then nothing would stop him from becoming one of, if not the greatest shinobi.
-X- Line Break -X-
To Naruto, the journey was long and uneventful. Unable to learn anything new, only able to make sure that his current skills stayed at their current level. That was one of the reasons why Naruto had spent most of his time this year doing missions. Without the ability to improve his skills, he felt no need to spend his time at the cabin.
Proper missions were in short supply as legally, he wasn't a Konoha Shinobi and therefore wasn't allowed to do ranked missions. That's why, Naruto was registered as a mercenary under the employee of Konohagakure.
In that time, Naruto had been all over the Elemental Nations completing missions and killing traitors of Konohagakure. However, due to the work of Jiraiya, his spy network and the Sandaime his exploits had been kept quiet from the rest of the Elemental Nations.
The two of them were currently entering the Land of Lightning. Their destination was Kumogakure. There, Jiraiya would deliver the heads of their latest kill. A Kumogakure Chunin that had killed her fellow teammates escorting valuable information on the Daimyo's palace's defences. If this had gotten in the wrong hands it would have damaged the reputation of Kumogakure, but would have left it weak until a new Daimyo was elected.
Thankfully Naruto, who had memorised the Bingo Book had recognised her instantly and sprang into action. The fight had been quick, she had all but surrendered when Jiraiya revealed himself. Allowing Naruto to quickly separate her head from her shoulders.
The village gate reminded him so much of Konoha, though the gates of Konoha could have change since the time he had been away.
"Halt." One of the gate guards commanded, Jiraiya and Naruto did so. "ID is needed for you to enter Kumogakure." He added. Nodding his head, Jiraiya pulled out a single card and showed it to the gate guards.
"The kids with me." Jiraiya said and the guards agreed with him.
"You will need to speak with the Raikage before you can conduct any business in the village, but I'm sure you already know that." The second guard added.
"Alright then Naruto. Let's give this to the Raikage and then we can get out of here." While Jiraiya had nothing against Kumo or its people, the longer they stayed here, the more likely someone was to connect the dots between Naruto and Minato. If they connected those dots, then it wouldn't take long until the entire Elemental Nations heard of it.
The walk was quick. Thankfully it was early morning, six o'clock to be exact. Due to the higher altitude the air was thin, but the sun was out much sooner. The Raikage tower, much to Naruto's curiosity was exactly the same as the Hokage's. Maybe all the Kage's had their towers built by the same person.
His belief in this was further cemented when he saw the design of the office itself. Exactly the same, except with different colours as the Hokage's.
Another difference was the man sat behind the desk. He was over six feet in terms height of pure muscle and had black skin colour. His outfit consisted of a white haori, large golden vambraces on both wrists, he also wore a golden belt, torn shinobi pants, and Kumo shinobi styled shin guards and sandals.
"Jiraiya-dono. It is good to see you again." The Raikage inclined his head as a sign of acknowledgment. Jiraiya returned the nod with one of his own.
"And it's good to see you as well, A-dono." The Gama Sennin (Toad Sage) took note of A's eyes flickering towards Naruto and widening ever so slightly in shock. "This is my apprentice, Naruto Uzumaki."
"Uzumaki?" Jiraiya had to stop himself from wincing at mentioning Naruto's last name. He should have remembered that while A was against attacking Uzugakure, he was also a rival of both Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki. Both had been the only Shinobi to ever defeat him. Minato in a match of speed, and Kushina in a match of durability. Of course he would recognise Naruto's last name. "Tell me boy, who are your parents?"
"I do not know, Raikage-sama." Naruto informed and the Raikage nodded his head, but the brown skinned Kage gave Jiraiya a glance.
"That is fine. Now, why did you come here?" Jiraiya had to supress a smile, unlike the other Kage's who spoke in riddles, the Raikage didn't beat around the bush. He wanted answers that were simple and straight to the point.
"We came to deliver this." He pulled out a scroll and placed it on the desk. As soon as it happened, killing intent was directed towards him and Naruto. Behind the two, a small group of ANBU shinobi appeared and pointed their blades at Jiraiya and Naruto's vital organ.
"How did you come by this?!" The Raikage stood up abruptly, his right hand slamming into the desk cracking it, but not destroying it completely
"We had assumed you knew. One of your Chūnin killed her teammates and was planning to give this to Iwagakure from what we remembered." Jiraiya informed and while not fully believing Jiraiya and Naruto were still guilty.
"She's in your Bingo book to prove it." Naruto added on. A studied them both before pulling out a book from his draw. He flicked through it for a few minutes before grunting.
"I did not know of this, or the mission that authorised such a low level protection." He placed the book on the table. "You have my thanks for returning this information.
"Meh, its fine." Jiraiya waved him off. "Naruto, why don't you look around the village for a while?" Naruto slowly nodded his head and left the room leaving the two adults in the room.
"So that's Minato and Kushina's kid? What? Don't act so surprised, he looks exactly like Minato and the only Uzumaki I know close enough to Minato, is Kushina." There was a pregnant pause as Jiraiya seemed to tense. "Don't worry, his secret is safe with me. I never hated the two, I respected them. I want to see if their kid will be just as good as them, can't do that if he was killed by Iwagakure shinobi."
Jiraiya once again nodded his head and allowed his form to relax.
"I'm also guessing he is the Jinchūriki of the Kyuubi no Yoko." Again, Jiraiya tensed, but this time his eyes hardened, reminding everyone in the room that Jiraiya was a Kage level Shinobi that had survived through two wars. "Am I wrong?" A questioned.
"You are." There was more silence as the two stared at one another. "What do you plan to do with that information?"
"Nothing."
"Come again." A chuckled in amusement at seeing the shock on Jiraiya's face.
"Nothing. I will do nothing. Though I would like to see how he stacks against a Jinchūriki of my own choosing."
"He wouldn't stand a chance against your brother."
"I know. I was thinking the Jinchūriki of the Nibi, Yugito Nii." Jiraiya pondered this for a few moments. He could see the pros and the cons to agreeing to this. Well, the pros and the con. The pros was that Naruto would find someone near his age of equal strength and would also be able to see where he needed to improve himself. The con would be the fact that, Kumo a relative wild card so far would be aware of his abilities. That was a dangerous thing in this world.
Jiraiya stood there for a few moments, slowly contemplating the offer before nodding his head in agreement. It would be good for Naruto to not only meet another Jinchūriki, but know how to fight one. The theoretical side only worked for so long.
"Well then, find your apprentice and I shall organise for the stadium to be prepped for the battle."
"Will do." Then Jiraiya performed a quick Shunshin no Jutsu (Body Flicker Technique). Leaving the Raikage alone in his office, slowly a smirk came across his features as he stared at where Jiraiya once stood.
'Naruto Uzumaki. Let's see if you have the potential to surpass your parents.'
-X- Line Break -X-
After leaving the Hokage tower, Jiraiya didn't have a clue on where Naruto could possibly be. He looked around the civilian district of the village, then he searched the military district, before going to even the red light district.
It was only when he felt a brief flare of chakra that he instantly recognised as his apprentices. Sighing as trouble found his godson once more, Jiraiya shot off in the direction that the chakra flare came from.
What he found was something he expected. His student fighting against Kumo shinobi. Giving another sigh, Jiraiya jumped down into the area and instantly took note of Naruto and his attackers where in. As soon as they saw him they stopped and looked towards him in shock.
Naruto was stood, his blade in the air as he held back a single brown skinned young girl with red hair, who was trying her hardest to cut Naruto in half vertically. In his other hand he held a kunai, which was stopping the sword of a brown skinned boy with white hair. A little ways away, another Kumo shinobi with blonde hair, cut short with breasts already beginning to develop had just cut through one of his apprentices clones.
"Sup Ero-sennin. Took your time didn't you." Naruto commented jokingly while jumping back and landed beside his godfather.
"What happened here?" The elderly man asked in amusement. Naruto himself, snorted at the thought of how things came to be the way they were.
Flashback
Exiting the Hokage building, Naruto allowed his mind to wonder as his body took him on a quick stroll. His mind was alight with new ways to become stronger. It was the only thing he seemed to think of. It was the only thing he wanted to do, grow stronger and stronger so that no one could rip those precious to him, away from him.
"Oi, civilians aren't allowed over here! So get lost!" A feminine voice exclaimed angrily. Snapping back to reality, Naruto took in his surroundings to see that he was in a clearing. A training ground no doubt.
His eyes then trailed towards the origination of the voice and there he saw a young girl around his age. She was brown skinned with short, spiked red hair with a bandana holding it back. On her back was a small wakizashi. Look at her facial features he could see that she was angry for some reason. Instantly his mind deduced that she was hot headed much like he used to be. "Hey, I'm talking to you!"
"Come on Karui, he's probably lost." A brown skinned boy with white hair and something in his mouth tried to reason. "Let him go."
"No. Civilians aren't allowed here, that's the law. Always has been always will be." Karui continued heatedly.
"Is that how you treat your civilians in Kumo?" Naruto asked with a raised brow. Behind the two he finally took notice of another girl. She didn't have the brown skin of the other two and had shortcut blonde hair. He also took note of her developing breasts and the cold gaze she regarded him with.
"What'd you say?!" Karui stalked forwards gripping the handle of her sword tightly until she came to a stop in front of him.
"You heard me." Naruto smirked at her, loving the reaction he got out of her. "It's funny really, you preach about been Konoha's equal and yet, Konoha treat their civilians much better than you treat yours. Looks like Konoha will always be better than you." Karui snarled angrily.
"That's it you peace of shit!" She drew her sword and went to strike at the Uzumaki only to find that she couldn't move her hand any further. The sharpened edge of her sword stopping just inches away from his head. "What the hell!"
"Did you really think that someone as weak as you, would be able to hurt me?" He regarded with cold indifference, but also arrogance to damage her pride. It was a simple mind game, drive her mad with anger so that she is more likely to make mistakes.
'Oh god, what do I do?!' Omoi thought in panic. 'Karui's gone and fought this guy we know nothing about. What if he's a Kage's apprentice and takes u captive or worse, kills us?! What if this guys the son of a Daimyo?!' There was a few more imaginative 'what if' scenarios that went through his mind. Then his eyes flickered towards the other person. 'Samui's not doing anything, but Karui.' His eyes then flickered towards the redhead to see her thrown away like a rag doll.
The redhead landed on her back with a grunt before getting to her feet. With a roar she charged forwards and went to strike him once more, but Naruto shifted to one side. Due to this unexpected action, Karui stumbled forwards.
"What are you two doing? Help me bring this fucker to Raikage-sama, he could be a spy!" Karui roared before sprinting towards him.
Seeing this, Naruto summoned his blade from the seal in his wrist and held it by his side. The brown skinned Kunoichi faltered before continuing her movement. His eyes instantly picked up movement from behind him and saw the boy running at him. His sword also gripped tightly in both hands.
Summoning a clone to stop the boy, he turned to face Karui and raised his sword blocking her downward slash. However, he quickly had to react and pull a kunai from his pouch using it to hold a second sword at bay.
Looking towards the holder of the sword he saw it belonged to the boy.
Due to the lack of memories meant that his clone hadn't been dispelled, but it was currently been preoccupied. He assumed it was due to the second Kunoichi.
Flashback end
"I leave you alone for ten minutes and you already get into a fight." Jiraiya sighed and shock his head causing Naruto to give a sheepish laugh. "Anyway, we gotta go back to the village and wait for a bit."
"What for?" Naruto questioned curiously. All the while the three young shinobi watched on curiously.
"A's ordered a match between you and a shinobi of his choosing." Nodding his head, Naruto used the Shunshin no Jutsu (Body Flicker Technique) to exit the clearing. Jiraiya meanwhile looked towards the three shocked young shinobi. "I would suggest not attacking my apprentice again. I can tell by the lack of headbands that you are still in the academy, no matter how skilled you are. My apprentice would destroy you without much effort on his part."
Karui growled but withheld herself from attacking the legendary shinobi, Samui gave nothing away and Omoi bowed his head in apology. Seeing this, Jiraiya nodded his head and disappeared the same way Naruto did.
-X- Line Break -X-
Yugito Nii, the Jinchūriki on the Nibi growled as she felt the corrosive chakra of the Biju inside of her coursed through her body. Even now, at the age of fourteen and having trained for three years to learn to use her Biju's chakra and still it caused her pain.
Slowly she willed it to disappear and once it did she dropped to her knees panting heavily. The strain of using such chakra exhausting her body to its limits.
"Mind telling me why you came here even though I said I don't want to be disturbed, C?" A blonde Kumo Jonin appeared from the treeline and looked at Yugito with amusement in his eyes and posture.
"Raikage-sama wants you to go to the stadium, you have a fight." Groaning, Yugito got to her feet and stared at C. She rolled her eyes internally when she saw the way his eyes roamed over her body. Even though he was five years older than her he was still attracted to her. But she knew it was only lust and not love. Call her old fashion, but she would only be with someone that loved her.
"You should just take him for a ride kitten." And there was her perverted prisoner and friend, Nibi. Ever since C's attraction to her had been made clear, Nibi had been telling her to have sex with him. Something she vehemently refused to do so.
'No, Matabi. I'm only-'
"Going to have sex with someone who loves me. Yada, yada, yada." Nibi mocked in her best attempt of Yugito's voice. "You can be really boring sometimes."
"We best go, Yugito-chan." The Kunoichi in question nodded in agreement and the two quickly ran towards the stadium. It didn't take long, despite been exhausted from using her Biju's chakra. However, she could already feel her chakra and stamina been replenished. If she continued travelling at the current speed then she would be back to full strength in a matter of minutes.
When they arrived at the stadium they saw that people were already filing into the stands. She was quite surprised to be honest, while the people of Kumo didn't hate her, they didn't necessarily like her either. Only B, the Jinchūriki of the Hachibi was loved by the populace. So she didn't know why so many people were coming to watch the fight.
Probably to see her opponent, or at least see a Kumo shinobi defeat another shinobi. It could be either or both. Yugito didn't know.
"Yugito." Turning around, the Nibi Jinchūriki turned to see the Raikage and surrogate father stood giving her a small smile.
"Raikage-sama." She bowed and when she rose she had a smile on her face. One mirrored by A, who in turn indicated with his head for C to disappear. The Kumo Jonin did so and as soon as he was gone, Yugito embraced him.
Chuckling, the Raikage held her at arm's length and regarded her for a few moments before frowning.
"Nibi's chakra is still causing you pain?"
"Hai, I'm training as much as I can, but every time I use it, the pain only gets worse." Instead of seeing disappointment on her surrogate father's face, she saw pride. In her.
"It seems you're ready for the next stage of your Biju training." That made her smile return full force. "After this, I will recall my brother from his mission and have him take you to Genbu."
"Who exactly am I fighting?" The Nibi Jinchūriki questioned gaining a smirk from the Raikage.
"Naruto Uzumaki, apprentice of Jiraiya of the Sannin." The mention of the legendary shinobi shocked her. The man's last apprentice had become the most infamous living shinobi, capable of wiping out an entire army of Iwa shinobi in a matter of moments. She couldn't imagine what another apprentice would be careful of. "Remember your training."
Taking a deep breath, Yugito prepared herself for the oncoming battle.
"Good luck." Nodding her head, Yugito entered through the front entrance and made her way towards the centre of the stadium. Meanwhile, the Raikage watched her leave, his mind thinking on what this would do for her.
'This will be good for you, Yugito. It will remind you not to forget your shinobi training.'
-X- Line Break -X-
He had only been laid on the ground for around five minutes when the stadium started filling up. It took another couple of minutes until his opponent arrived and he took note of the natural grace in which he walked.
'Almost catlike.' Naruto said mentally earning a snort from his companion.
"What do you expect, she's the Jinchūriki of the Nibi, who takes on the appearance of a flaming cat." Kurama snarked. Giving a click of tongue, Naruto stood up and turned to face his opponent.
'Shut up Kurama no Baka.'
"Who you calling Baka, ningen!" Kurama roared and Naruto raised his pinkie to clear out his ringing ear. "Don't you dare try and mute me you motherfu- Whatever Kurama was about to say was stopped when Naruto cut off their connection. It had become a sort of routine for the two, both dissolving into an argument and then Naruto cutting the connection.
"Talking with the Kyubi?" Yugito asked. Naruto nodded his head and gave an exasperated sigh gaining a small laugh. "They don't know when to shut up, do they?"
"Nope. With the Kyubi, it's all about how great and powerful he is. About how I should feel honoured to be even talking to him. You get the picture." Yugito nodded her head.
"Nibi's a pervert. Plain and simple." This time Naruto laughed making her smile.
"Jiraiya-sensei's a pervert. No, he's a self-proclaimed super pervert." They could hear a faint 'damn straight' shouted from the crowd and both shook their heads. "But I think yours is worse than mine."
"Oh yea, I have to deal with the Nibi and her perverted thoughts whenever she sees a decently attractive guy or girl." Snorting in amusement, Naruto turned to face the proctor of their match. He was brown skinned and silvery white hair extending down to his shoulders with his left eye completely covered.
It was only then that they realised that they had missed the Raikage's speech completely.
"This is so dull." Yugito and even Naruto sweat dropped at the lack of enthusiasm in his voice. "Are you both ready? Well then, begin I guess." As soon as those words were said, whatever friendliness was between them was put aside. Neither of the two dared move before a single coherent thought of acting was shared between them.
Yugito went to charge forwards, but stopped when she saw him form five clones. One clone charged forwards first and Yugito met his charge. Yugito opened up with a roundhouse kick that the clone rolled underneath into a crouch with a shuriken in between each finger.
A quick flick and eight shuriken flew towards the female Jinchūriki. Smirking, Yugito pulled out two kunai and went to parry them when she heard the clone say five words that made her quickly leap out of the way.
"Shuriken Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique)." Those eight multiplied into hundreds that Yugito only just managed to get out of the way. But every time she moved into the safety of one wave, another would come towards her. While not necessarily important, it allowed Naruto to see how agile and fast she was.
'I'm getting sick and tired of this. I can't go in for the original as I will be left open to his clone and I'll also be outnumbered.' Yugito couldn't see any other way to get to the original without getting rid of his clones. That in turn meant using chakra and allowing the original to see her fighting style.
"You've got no choice kitten. He's young, around ten or eleven which means…"
'He can't use his Biju chakra properly.' The Nibi Jinchūriki leapt backwards avoiding another wave of shuriken her mind focused on what she had figured out. Due to his young age, Naruto was limited to less than a tails worth of chakra. She however was capable of using all two tails worth of chakra in the first version form and only single tail of chakra in a the second state.
"Exactly kitten, now go get him." Grinning, Yugito charged towards the clone. Rolling underneath another wave before appearing behind the clone. A few seconds later it disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
Smirking, Naruto nodded his head in her directions and two more clones shot forwards.
The first to reach her lashed out with a flying sidekick which Yugito stepped to the side avoid. Before she could take it out, the second clone gripped her wrist stopping her punch in its tracks. A sidekick to her stomach from the first clone knocked her to the ground and Yugito had to roll backwards to avoid an axe kick that would have crushed her head.
Following this she leaped backwards while simultaneously throwing kunai of her own. A wakizashi summoned by the second clone knocked them all to the side with the first continuing her charge towards her.
The clone went for a straight jab that Yugito ducked underneath before driving her fist into his stomach. The clone went up in a cloud of smoke and in doing so blinded her temporarily. This left her open to the jumping roundhouse kick that collided with her face.
The original Naruto meanwhile, watched Yugito engage his clones. They didn't last much longer and Yugito turned to face him. He smirked when he saw her panting just a little heavier. While he wasn't one to think of plans before he went into a fight. That didn't mean he wouldn't fight before he thought of a plan. No he created a single plan and if that didn't work, would then think of plans on the go. It had worked for him well so far. Why change it?
With another nod, the remaining two clones charged forward, both running through a set of hand seals.
"Katon: Zukokku (Fire Style: Intelligent Hard Work)!" The two shouted at the same time and with it, two balls of flames rushed towards Yugito. The Jinchūriki in question had just finished forming her own hand seals.
"Nezumi Kedama (Mouse Hairball)!" Hair shot forwards from her mouth before taking the shape of a mouth engulfed in flames. Naruto at first assumed the mouse would collide with his two fireballs, instead it split apart into multiple smaller mice and shot around them.
Straight towards him.
Reacting quickly naruto jumped backwards and watched as three exploded as they touched the ground. He had to manoeuvre his body as quickly as he could to dodge the remaining mouse's that shot towards him.
Landing on the ground Naruto summoned five clones and used them as a meat shield to slow the advance of the mice.
As soon as the smoke disappeared he instantly leaned backwards to avoid a swipe of Yugito's left hand. Time seemed to slow down as he watched her nails lengthen before everything sped up again. Pain was the first thing he felt, but he allowed his instincts to take over and lashed out with a kick to her sternum.
Grunting, both Jinchūriki jumped backwards to put distance between the two of them, both nursing their respective injuries. Naruto the claw marks on his face and Yugito rubbing her chest.
Both shared a smirk and Naruto summoned his sword into his hand, while Yugito flexed her claws dangerously.
-X- Line Break -X-
Jiraiya grinned madly as he watched his godson smile happily. He knew from experience that the look on Naruto's face was an indication of him enjoying the way the fight was going. Not many opponents had given Naruto this much of a challenge and while the fight was just beginning, he knew that Naruto was pushing himself to the limits.
"Your apprentice seems to be enjoying himself greatly." A stated gaining a nod of the head from Jiraiya.
"Yes, can't blame him though. If there's one thing Naruto loves more than training, it's fighting. Kid gets scarier and scarier the longer and harder a fight gets." A hummed as he watched Naruto and Yugito clash in a show of steel and nails. Sparks flying off as tiny cuts began appearing on their bodies. But the smile on both their faces only grew larger and larger.
"True, Yugito is much the same in some cases. Though she isn't one to enjoy fighting at the start." Jiraiya chuckled as he watched Yugito been forced backwards as Naruto's greater skill with the blade become almost deadly. Deeper and more cuts got through her guard and Yugito could do nothing but manoeuvre out of the way as best as she could.
"It seems Uzumaki is getting the advantage."
"Yes. While Yugito is faster and stronger giving her the advantage in Taijutsu, Naruto is very skilled with a blade. Could give even Jonin a run for their money in terms of skill."
"That's to be expected is it not? An Uzumaki's Kenjutsu style makes even Genin level Uzumaki a Jonin Kenjutsu user a challenge." Jiraiya nodded his head amusement.
"I remember when Kushina-chan first arrived to the village, still in the academy and completely destroyed two Chūnin in a straight up Kenjutsu fight." Both men chuckled at the thought of the fierce red head doing what Jiraiya had said. "He emulates both his parents perfectly."
"That he does, Minato's looks and calmness. With Kushina's brash and love for close combat."
"Let's not forget her durability." Jiraiya added, just as they watched Naruto take multiple hits before slamming the handle of his blade into her face.
"We can't forget that now can we."
In the room next door, C clenched his fist tightly. His eyes narrowed on the form of Naruto as he watched him say something that made Yugito laugh. Laugh! No matter how much tried, C had never gotten Yugito to laugh at something he said. All she ever did was brush him off with cold indifference and yet this outsider, makes her laugh with barely any effort.
He hated it, what made the boy so special that he got the Raikage to respect him, Jiraiya of the Sannin to train him and Yugito to smile. It wasn't fair. They had been teammates, it should be him that she should smile and laugh at. Not the outsider.
-X- Line Break -X-
Darui couldn't stop himself from smiling as he watched his friend and teammate smile. Not even when they were teammates did she smile like that. His eyes unconsciously trailed towards the Jonin box where C was stood.
'C ain't gonna be happy about this.' His friend like to believe that he was in love with Yugito, but that wasn't the case. C, like many other men only wanted to earn the right of 'banging the demon.' Groaning at the thought of what his friend might do as a result. 'This is so dull.' Though there was one good thing coming out of this.
Yugito would gain a wakeup call. Three years ago, Yugito had always focused on growing stronger on her own. However, after becoming Chūnin Yugito had become more focused on her learning to control her Biju's power. Now she was low Chūnin in terms of strength without her Biju, hopefully this would be a wakeup call that would remind her that the stronger her own abilities were, the stronger she would be when she used her Biju's power.
He whistled when he saw Naruto swing his sword sending a wave of flames towards Yugito at point-blank range.
Darui had to admit that this fight had been incredibly interesting so far. Both had an edge over the other. Yugito was more skilled in Taijutsu, Naruto in Kenjutsu, Yugito in Fire Style Ninjutsu, but Naruto's larger chakra reserves made him better overall. Both were rather weak in Genjutsu due to their lack of using it, all that remained was seeing about the final aspect. Biju chakra.
-X- Line Break -X-
Naruto and Yugito pushed against one another with as much strength as they could muster. Yugito's claws crossed over as she held back Naruto's blade. The two stood there for a few moments before both jumped backwards.
Smirking at one another, they both waited and took account of each other's injuries. Yugito's hair had at some point been cut loose allowing to flow freely down her back, her pants were cut resembling tattered shorts and her top ad multiple cuts and tears. Her smaller wounds had been healed, while the larger are deeper ones seemed to have been cauterised. Though blood still stained her clothes.
Naruto on the other hand seemed to be as good as new. It would have looked like he was uninjured, but the mutliple cuts and tears in his shirt revealed that he had in fact been injured.
"Katon: Karyū Endan (Fire Style: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet)!" Yugito and Naruto roared and from her mouth a large amount of flames raced forwards, taking the shape of a dragon as they did so. Naruto wasn't finished, knowing full well that Yugito's dragon would overpower his own easily.
"Fūton: Reppūshō (Wind Style: Gale Palm)!" The wind burst from his clone's hands and combined with dragon increasing its power and speed. When the two dragons met, both went up in an explosion of flames. It still shocked him to know that it took a wind powered fire technique to match Yugito's own techniques.
Not allowing Yugito to get in close, Naruto and his clone ran through more hand seals.
"Katon: Haisekishō (Fire Style: Ash Pile Burning)!" Yugito knew how dangerous this technique was, having heard tales of it been used by the Sandaime Hokage in all three Great Shinobi Wars. Rushing towards it, she threw her kunai towards the left before performing a quick Kawarimi no Jutsu (Body Replacement Technique) to escape the blast.
This left her open to the next attack.
"Raiton: Hebi Mikazuchi (Lightning Style: Snake Thunder)!" From the originals left hand a bolt of thunder taking the shape of snake shot forwards and struck Yugito. With a scream, the Nibi Jinchūriki was flung backwards before rolling to a stop.
Groaning, Yugito pushed herself to her feet, her body still steaming and her hair slightly frazzled. Blowing some hair out of her eyes, she narrowed her eyes at him.
"Do you have any idea how long it takes me to get my hair straight. Then you go and mess it all up." Shrugging his shoulders, Naruto allowed his body to relax and Yugito followed his lead. Then she took note of his uninjured state. "It's unfair you know. Your healing ability, it's unfair." Yugito spoke up gaining a chuckle from Naruto as he rolled his shoulder. A pop sounded as Naruto groaned.
"We're shinobi, we don't fight fair." It was Yugito that laughed this time.
"True, true." The two smiled as they felt their blood pumping in preparation. "In that case. Allow me to show you what I have accomplished." She crouched and her hair began waving in the wind. Her canines lengthened into fangs as her eyes seemed to glow an even darker shade of blue. Naruto instantly took note of this and tensed in preparation, but even he was unable to react quick enough to stop the punch that slammed into the side of his face.
The force behind it lifted him up off his feet and temporarily he froze in the air before been flung backwards.
With a grunt he hit the ground and skidded and rolled along the ground. Gritting his teeth, Naruto embedded his blade into the ground and he slowed down. Coming to a stop he was once again unable to do anything as Yugito kicked him in the chin.
Slamming into the wall, Naruto spat out some blood and watched Yugito walk towards him slowly. Outwardly he looked to be in a great deal of pain, inwardly however, he was waiting for the correct moment.
'How much longer Kurama?' Naruto asked mentally.
"Not long, your injuries are almost healed." There was a few more minutes as Naruto kneeled on the ground panting heavily as the crowd roared happily at seeing the unknown shinobi been defeated by one of their own. "You're done."
'Thank you, Kurama.'
"Hmph, don't mention it."
"You've lost Naruto. Don't continue, I quite like you." Smirking Naruto pretended to shakily get to his feet.
"Thanks, but no thanks." Then Naruto punched her unexpectedly. There was a snap as Yugito stumbled backwards and then the Kyuubi Jinchūriki followed up with a drop kick to her chest launching her further away.
Both got to their feet and stared at one another before Yugito began laughing.
"You were already healed weren't you?"
"Yep, just waiting for you to get close." At that, Yugito's grin became downright devilish.
'Ready Matabi?"
"Give him hell, kitten." Nibi said in agreement and from Yugito's body, power unlike anything Naruto had thought possible burst forth. A blue cloak of bubbling energy formed around her and from it a single tail took place.
"So this is a Biju's power." Naruto whispered in shock. In his training he had barely been able to bring out half a tails worth of chakra and even then it was only for a short period of time. Yet Yugito was able to bring out an entire tail without any strain. Grinning at the thought of a proper challenge, Naruto ripped off his tattered hoodie and mesh armour. While he wasn't overly defined, for a boy his age he had a fair amount of muscle.
The one thing that stood out the most was multiple seals decorating his body.
"Thanks for the strip show, I guess." Snorting amusement, Naruto formed the ram seal before a few of the seals glowed brightly, before disappearing. "And what exactly did that accomplish?"
"Weight seals." That little piece of information made her freeze slightly in shock.
'He's been fighting this entire time with weights on?!'
"Oh kitten he is perfect. Strong, smart, and in a couple of years' time he will be quite handsome." Despite herself, Yugito blushed. There was something about Naruto that was incredibly attracting, his blonde hair, blue eyes and incredibly adorable whisker marks were part of that attraction. So was his strength. But the main thing was the way in which he didn't ogle her unlike every other man. She wasn't vain, but she knew that she was beautiful. However, that had made it incredibly difficult to find a man who wanted her for her, and not how she looked.
Her teammate, C liked to believe he was that man, but he wasn't. He was just like the rest of them.
"You ready Yugito?" Smirking, the two shot forwards at great speeds.
-X- Line Break -X-
Samui smiled as she watched Karui and Omoi sit there in shock as they watched the boy they had assumed to be a spy evenly fight their friend Yugito. All of them knew in a straight up fight, only Samui could match Yugito, but even she would lose eventually.
"You just had to go and start a fight with him didn't you, Karui?" Omoi said while said girl glared at him.
"How was I meant to know that he was this strong?!" Karui shouted at Omoi and before another fight could start, Samui intervened.
"You weren't, he knew that he could beat us and he played with us. Made us believe we had a chance so that he could figure out how we all fought before revealing his true power." Her voice was cold and indifferent, much like her eyes. Giving a click of her tongue in annoyance, Karui sat down and watched as Yugito began using her Biju chakra.
"Kick his ass Yugito!" Karui exclaimed much to the agreement of the crowd as they too cheered for the Nibi Jinchūriki. Even Omoi was cheering beside her as they watched Naruto get knocked around.
Samui however, watched in a calculative fashion as she studied Naruto. She could tell Naruto was waiting for something, his lack of action proved that line of thought. It was once again proven when Naruto knocked Yugito back.
"What the hell happened?!" Sighing at her teammate's brashness, Samui explained it for the red head.
"He was waiting for her to get arrogant before striking. A simple tactic used to turn the tide of a battle if done correctly." Her interest in Naruto was peaked the moment she saw him at the clearing, more so when she saw him fight Yugito evenly. Now as she watched him reveal the fact this entire time he had been fighting with weights made her interested on him completely.
'Uzumaki Naruto. Let's see what else you can do.'
-X- Line Break -X-
Grinning, Naruto gripped Yugito's fist in one hand before throwing one of his own. The Nibi Jinchūriki's head whipped to one side, but she went with the momentum and spun round and performed a flawless spinning back fist. Placing one foot on her stomach, Naruto pushed off her and back flipped slowly through the air.
"Fūton: Kūki Dan (Wind Style: Air Bullets)!" Multiple bullets of compressed air shot towards Yugito who barely jumped out of the way in time, though one skimmed her arm and launched her to the side.
Using this, Naruto shot forwards and did a quick jab-cross-jab to her stomach and then a spinning hook kick to her temple. He went to continue after her however, the area he stepped in exploded. Using this temporary distraction, Yugito shook her head and allowed more Biju chakra to circulate through her body.
Slowly a second tail formed and Yugito winced slightly as she felt it temporarily burn her. That feeling soon faded as her body grew accustomed to the potent chakra.
When the smoke cleared, she saw Naruto lower his arms, as his pants were now shorts and burnt at the ends. She tensed as she crouched into a position. The ground beneath her feet cracking and crunching.
'He's open.' She thought.
"Wait kitten…" Whatever Matabi was going to say was cut short as Yugito shot forwards. It was only when the elder Jinchūriki got close to the younger did she see the smirk on his face. Seals on his body glowed before disappearing and Naruto leaped out of the way just as Yugito punched the air in which he once stood.
Yugito spun round and went to strike once more, but found herself unable to move. Looking down she saw chains slowly slithering up her body like snakes. Thrashing around as she tried to break free. It didn't work as they chains only tightened.
"There's no use." Naruto said as he slowly ran through a set of hand seals allowing her to see each one. "The more you resist the tighter they get." He then came to a stop and crouched down. The chains dissipated and Yugito shot forwards but ran face first in a pale blue shield. "Uzumaki Fūinjutsu: Tsu no Pointo Fūin (Uzumaki Sealing Techniques: Four Point Seal)."
"You planned this." Her voice was filled with realisation as she looked at the barrier.
"Yep, but I'm not done." Then he went through another set of hand seals before the five points inside the barrier glowed blue. "Uzumaki Fūinjutsu: Gogyō Shūsoku Fūin (Uzumaki Sealing Technique: Five Elements Convergence Seal)."
Five seals all positioned in a way that resembled a star glowed blue, in the centre of each one were five different kanji. Each of them for one of the five elements. Fire, wind, water, earth and lightning. From each an attack belonging to that element shot forwards towards a single point, the area where Yugito was stood.
There was a loud explosion and the entire stadium shook for a few moments as smoke covered the inside of the seal.
When it dispersed it revealed Yugito on her knees bleeding heavily with chains once more
"I'm going to repeat what you said to me. You've lost Yugito. Don't continue, I quite like you." Despite the situation, Yugito smiled, but then she frowned when she felt the chakra cloak around her weakening.
"It's the chains, kitten. They're absorbing your chakra." Matabi informed making her eyes widen in shock.
"I'm guessing you've figured it out?" Naruto asked rhetorically. "You see, the one thing that makes these chains so deadly is not the fact that they can bind a person completely and I can control them at will, but because they only require my chakra to create them. After that they use the targets own chakra to keep them active when he or she is bound." There was silence as the two stood their panting as the crowd waited with baited breath for the next part.
"Proctor." Darui looked towards the kneeling Yugito. "I surrender." The two shared a nod and then Darui announced the victor.
"Winner, Naruto Uzumaki of Konoha." There was silence before the civilian sector of the crowd cheered loudly for a well fought match. Even the shinobi gave a polite clap as a sign of respect for the two young shinobi.
Smiling, Naruto walked towards Yugito as his chains dissipated from around her form. Yugito returned his smile and took his hand as he helped her onto her feet.
"When did you place the seals down?"
"Throughout the fight. Before the fight I placed a seal on the ground that acted as a sort of camouflage for any seal placed on its surface. Then whenever I placed my hand on the ground I would draw part of the seal combination onto it. And due to the camouflage seal-
- I never knew." Yugito finished. "Gotta admit that's good."
"Thanks."
-X- Line Break -X-
Grumbling in annoyance, the Raikage handed over a large roll of money into the awaiting hands of Jiraiya. The eldest of the two men laughed uproariously as he counted the money greedily.
"Like I said A, you don't bet against my apprentice and hope to win. Even if the odds are stacked against him, he'll find a way to win." Sighing, A stood up and Jiraiya copied him
"I will admit, I was too caught up in their fight to notice him place the seals on the ground." Jiraiya nodded his head in agreement, he too had nearly forgotten about that.
"Like a wise man once said. Never enter a battlefield were an Fūinjutsu master has had time to set up. And while my godson is no Fūinjutsu master, you allowed him time to set up for a battle. While it looked like the two were equal. Yugito was dancing to his tune the entire time."
"Just like his mother and father liked to do." Snorting Jiraiya walked out of the room followed by the Raikage.
A/N: Sorry about the late update, but I hope you enjoyed it like I enjoyed writing it. If you did please leave a review to tell me what you thought and also if you have any improvements. It doesn't have to be much, just a simple 'Good chapter.' Anyway thanks for reading this.