A Set of Broken Blades

By

Ragnorokrising

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Chapter Five: New Shield

Naruto woke up two hours later, in a strange house. He groaned as he ripped apart the giant paper seal holding him down. He looked out a window to see a giant smoke cloud rising from several miles away.

"Oh, so the great destroyer finally awakens." some one said. Naruto turned to see who it was. A smile lit up on his face as he saw one of the few people who could make that happen.

"Jiraiya, I haven't seen you in a few months." he said solemnly. He turned to the window and his smile faded. "I remember going unconscious…" he stood up slowly and walked over to the window. Several new feelings entered his body.

Remorse, confusion, and fear.

"Unconsciousness is the same as sleep… I fell asleep and the Kyuubi was released to wreak havoc."

"He didn't cause any havoc it's just the fact when he shakes himself clean fire falls everywhere." Jiraiya said laughingly. Naruto turned on him.

"You think this is funny? That creature ended my mother's life! You people say there was no hope for her to live! You had a Bijuu with limitless chakra to give Tsunade! She could have saved her whenever she wanted!"

Jiraiya sat as still as a rock. He'd never seen this before, no one, not even Minato, had.

A cascade of tears slowly made its way down Naruto's face, wiping away grime and dust and leaving two pale trails on his face.

"Naruto, no, Tsunade couldn't have." Jiraiya spoke slowly and evenly, reaching behind his back for a paper seal incase something went wrong. "A Bijuu's chakra is too potent for someone unless they are a newborn. Someone whose chakra pathway has not developed. If Tsunade had used Kyuubi's chakra, she and Kushina would have died."

Naruto slowly calmed down and sat back down on the floor across from Jiraiya.

"Why are you in Wave anyway?"

"A spy of mine went missing a few months ago and I've been looking for leads."

"What's his name? Tazuna may know."

"It was Kaiza. Last I heard from him, Gato had just arrived in the country and he was going to try and stop some of his men from harassing people." Naruto wrote the name in the air with ash.

"Jiraiya, I assume that you were informed of our battle with Zabuza Momochi."

"Yeah, and I told your dad. However the village can't spare any ninja right now so you're on your own at the moment."

"That's not what I was referring to. When I was fighting him he… he destroyed my ash shield easily. Can you help with that?"

"I could but I can't without harming your mental health." Naruto raised an eyebrow. "When your father placed your seal, he placed a second, more stable seal over the original. The seal limits the amount of youki that's able to enter your ash and uses your chakra to replace it. Since your chakra isn't as strong as youki, it's not so much of an impenetrable as it originally was."

"Can I get rid of the seal?"

"You could, but it would end badly. I suggest you talk to Kyuubi. He might have some kind of helpful hint."

They walked down the stairs to the living room where Asuma, Shikamaru, Sasuke and Tazuna were eating lunch.

"Hey, tar breath, how's it going?" Jiraiya called loudly to Asuma.

"I told you not to call me that!" Asuma yelled back.

"Asuma, Jiraiya, stop acting like kids." Naruto said sternly.

Sasuke and Shikamaru's jaws fell open as their Jounin sensei and a Sannin started to mutter apologies to a twelve year old Genin.

"Now, Asuma, teach these two Tree Climbing, Jiraiya, come with me, and bring ink and paper."

Asuma grabbed Sasuke and Shikamaru by the collar and hauled ass out of there. Naruto and Jiraiya disappeared somewhere into the forest.

Naruto formed a dome of ash around himself. He called to Jiraiya through the ash, making his voice sound like an echo fading away in a cave.

"Place several seals around and on the dome. I'm going to have to sleep to see the Fox. You just stop anything that tries to come out."

"Okay brat!" Jiraiya yelled back.

Naruto danced easily through hand signs. "Ninja Art: Forced Sleep Jutsu!" Naruto's head sagged as sleep over took him. The inside of the dome started to heat as Naruto flew through his mental space to his mindscape.

He'd only been there once before, and it was by accident. It's also why he got a new room.

He dropped down into a giant field with flowers made entirely from different colored flames and trees formed of ash. A giant lake fed by a stream which led to a water fall were placed off to the side and the liquid wasn't' water, but lava. A giant fox with a bandage wrapped around its leg opened a single massive eye and closed it quickly.

"What'd you want Naruto?"

"You live in my head. You should know what." he said, starting to sit down. One of the trees broke apart and rushed underneath him, forming a cloud for him to levitate on.

The fox sighed and pushed itself up slightly.

"You want to know if there's a way to strengthen your shield." he yawned and used one huge paw to rub his eye. "Well there isn't. The ash shield can't get any stronger."

"That's impossible. Can't you teach some kind of technique to strengthen it?"

"Well, there is the Armor of Ash. It forms a shell of ash over your body that changes color to match your skin and hair color. But that would take to long to learn and it buts a huge strain on your stamina and chakra as well as labor your movements."

"What about a new form of shield?" Kyuubi started to laugh. "No, listen. You're the Bijuu of flames and at the end of the fight with Zabuza, flames blew Zabuza away. Can't you make some kind of shield like that?"

"Yeah, that might work. Just give me some time. Until then, let me sleep. Jiraiya's getting tired of holding back my physical form." he plopped back down, closed his eyes, and went to sleep.

The world around Naruto started to stretch out into a flat surface before he opened his eyes in the real world. He was curled in the fetal position inside the dome.

Jiraiya was outside with several clones quickly painting seals while he and several more formed hand signs and chanted.

The dome suddenly exploded into blistering white heat. The clones were dispelled while Jiraiya's clothes were scorched slightly.

Naruto dropped to the ground as the ash flowed into the belt seal. Some one threw a kunai knife and Jiraiya caught a glimpse of Sasuke.

A hand shot out and grabbed the kunai. It melted into a gray goo and sloshed to the ground. The fire withdrew and disappeared.

"The fox works quickly." Naruto said before he started to swoon. Jiraiya slapped several seals on him quickly as he started to snore.

"Sleep tight brat. You're gonna need it."