Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto
Warnings: Violence , Gore and Lemons(Much Later)
Credits: If I may have used some Ideas that are not my own, I apologize. Some of the Jutsu's were taken from The Legend Of Kyuubi's Profile page so credit goes to him
Chapter 7
Naruto sat down underneath the waterfall, meditated, and soon found himself in his mindscape. He looked around and on not finding Kyuubi anywhere, figured that she might still be asleep. He entered his house and found her soundly sleeping in what was his room in the real world, and was Kyuubi's room in his Mindscape.
She was sleeping soundly, hugging a pillow shaped as a fox close to her. Naruto gently got on the bed so as to not wake her up, "Kyuu-chan. . . Kyuu-chan, wake up." Whispering softly in her ear.
"Mmhmm. . . wha. . ." Kyuubi yawned cutely and saw Naruto beside her and blushed slightly at his closeness. She then smiled and promptly grabbed him, laid him down and snuggling closer to him, rested her head on his chest.
"You need to get up Kyuu-chan, you said that we'll begin training in my mother's bloodline today." Naruto said reluctantly, enjoying their closeness himself.
"Just stay like this for five more minutes Naruto-kun" Kyuubi said barely hanging on to her consciousness.
"Sure. . ." Naruto said before he kissed the top of her head and rested. Barely two minutes after that both of them were sleeping soundly.
The both of them woke up after nearly an hour, they got out of bed and donned their training clothes. Although they could have just wished for it, they preferred to do things mundanely, using the time to wake up properly. He told her of his day, making her laugh silly after she heard what he did to the Uchiha. She softly kissed him on the lips to congratulate him on his graduation and as the rookie no less.
Walking towards the lake; their favourite training place they both sat down and Kyuubi explained what Naruto had to do.
"WHAT . . . you mean to say that I have to stab myself in the heart. What if I fail and don't manage to acquire the sword? Will I die?" Naruto asked frantically bordering on the edge of hysteria.
"Calm down Naruto-kun. Do you honestly think that I would advise you to do something that could even potentially hurt you never mind kill you? You are smarter than this Naruto-kun." Kyuubi said as she reached over and laid a comforting hand on his knees.
"I know that Kyuu-chan, but you can't tell me that stabbing yourself in your heart cannot be even a little disconcerting. So what happens to those who fail?" Naruto asked.
"Nothing much, they will obviously need medical attention for the stab wound but your heart will not be damaged. Your mother told me that the heart mends itself rapidly, thus leaving the person with only minor injuries. If you succeed, you will enter your interpretation of your soul where you will meet your Blade."
"Meet my . . . Blade?" Naruto asked confused. Kyuubi hadn't told him about this earlier preferring to keep her teaching of new techniques as a surprise.
"Yes. Your blade will manifest itself into whatever form most resembles its powers. Whatever happens after that is unique to every person and is usually decided by your Blade." Kyuubi said.
"Do you think I should tell anyone about this? It seems too risky, they would never allow me to do this, and I would feel better if either Baa-chan or Nee-chan were there to observe if anything were to go wrong." Naruto asked.
"Hmm. . ." Kyuubi pondered over Naruto's choices. Telling either Mei or Sakiko about this was out of the question. They were too overprotective of him. Although Naruto didn't need it, it always warmed his heart whenever they stood up for him. They reacted quite harshly against anyone that either threatened, made fun of or god forbid, hurt him. Mei would reacted immediately, and would either hurt or reduce them to tears with her words. Sakiko was more subtle, making her much more dangerous; she had a bit more control though, she didn't anger easily but her fury was not to be trifled with.
Shizune was a valid choice, but she was always against his harsh training to begin with. She understood his reasons and respected him for it, but she just couldn't bring herself to see him as a warrior. To her he was just her cute little brother who she was entitled to spoil rotten. She cared for him after any training accident and would hover around him for the next few days. Once when training with Jiraiya, he had gone overboard and had ended up breaking his arm and knocking him unconscious. The tongue lashing that he had received was one for the record books and she had ended her rant with a solid kick to his balls, leaving the perverted Sannin gasping and whimpering on the ground. They had wisely chosen to refrain from telling Tsunade about it as she would have pounded Jiraiya to paste for hurting her godson.
Jiraiya would be perfect, but he couldn't keep a secret from Tsunade to save his life. She would immediately come to know about it whether he wanted to tell her or not. Add in the fact that the concerned party was Naruto himself, and you have a situation that you would rather not deal with. Jiraiya who had remained an active Ninja was much more aware of the threat and would often train Naruto to the bone. His perviness aside, he was like a cool uncle to Naruto.
Looking at the choices, Tsunade was their best choice although convincing her would be a humungous task. She would likely refuse, but Naruto would take his chances.
"I think that telling Tsunade would be the best choice Naruto-kun" Kyuubi said after a while.
Naruto sighed. "I figured as much, Nee-chan would freak, and the girls wouldn't let me out of their sights for even a minute for the next week if I were to tell them. They can be quite bothersome that way." Naruto said smiling fondly.
"So then what do we do in the meantime?" Naruto asked.
"Why don't we go for a swim and after that we could catch up on our sleep?" Kyuubi said already beginning to take off her clothes.
"Wha. . .What are you doing Kyuu-chan?" Naruto stuttered standing up quickly and turning away from her, his face turning bright red. He heard some shuffling noises and then felt her hands go under his raised ones as she pulled him flush against her and resting her mouth near his ear whispered, "Just changing into my swimsuit Naruto-kun."
Naruto turned around and saw that she was indeed dressed. He looked at her triumphant face and realized that he had just been pranked. Kyuubi just stuck her tongue out at him and dashed into the water giggling the whole way.
Timeskip - That Night
Naruto was standing nervously in front of Tsunade's room. He knocked, which was unusual for him. Usually he just barged in. Hearing a muffled 'Come in' he opened the door and saw that she was reading one of the scrolls and taking notes.
Tsunade looked up from her reading to see Naruto shuffling from the doorway. She wondered what was bothering him, he wasn't his usual self. She got up from her seat a concerned look on her face. "What's wrong Naruto-kun? Are you feeling well?"
"Baa-chan I need a favour. It has to do with my training. . ." and Naruto told her what he had to do in order to train further in his mother's bloodline.
"I refuse! Naruto you are taking a huge risk, however small the repercussions might be, I forbid you to . . . to stab yourself. Have you gone mad?" Tsunade asked shaking Naruto slightly.
"But I need you to do this for me Baa-chan; you are the only one that I trust that even has the chance of allowing me to do this. And besides, due to my regeneration the wound will probably heal itself. I am just asking you to be there as a precaution." Naruto asked his voice full of determination.
Tsunade sighed at seeing the determination shining in his eyes, even if she refused, she knew that Naruto would just do this as soon as he was able to give them all the slip. He was a master at hiding whenever he didn't want to be found.
"Fine Naruto-kun, but please think this through." Tsunade stated and swiped at her eyes turning away from him, making a shooing motion towards the door.
"Don't worry baa-chan; I'll still be around to annoy you for a long time to come." Naruto said softly before he stepped away and went on his way.
Tsunade laughed softly, Naruto could be pretty dense sometimes but would always say thing that strike away your insecurities. She was always worried that she had been cursed to have her loved ones taken away from her. When Shizune had informed Naruto of this he had sat down with her and had a long talk. She had stared incredulously at him when he had systematically shown her his point of view on the things that she had been blaming herself for. It didn't cast off her fears completely, but she felt as if a huge load had been lifted from her, both of them had come out of the situation with a better understanding of themselves and each other and had cemented their relationship.
"Damn brat. . ." she said smiling.
Naruto then spent the rest of the evening with Mei and Sakiko, they trained some, had dinner and had fun with Shizune. All of them had noticed a slight change in Naruto's behaviour but didn't comment on it, figuring that if it was important enough, he would tell them.
That night, after everyone had gone to sleep Naruto and Tsunade made their way down to the training ground. When they reached there they were surprised to see Shizune standing there, arms folded across her chest and a just staring at them.
Naruto wondered what she was doing here. He knew that when Tsunade promised him that she wouldn't tell anyone, she meant it.
"Hey there Nee-chan, what are you doing here?" Naruto asked casually.
"Drop the act Naruto-kun. I saw the way you were acting the whole evening, and after that when I went to ask Tsunade something there was something off about her as well. I have known you for more than 2 years Naruto-kun. Now tell me why you are here and what are you hiding." Shizune huffed.
"Quite smart aren't you Nee-chan?" Naruto sighed. He then proceeded to tell her about his training plan for today. He was surprised when she immediately didn't reject the idea and march him to his room. His surprise must have shown on his face because she smiled sadly at him.
"You are an official Ninja now Naruto-kun, all that I can do now is advise you and help you, I can't stop you from training in whatever way you like; I never could really, but I liked to think that I could. Just promise me one thing Naruto-kun, please never leave out what you are training in because you think I won't approve." Shizune said.
Naruto felt a rush of affection towards Shizune, he just smiled at her and walked away from them and stood in a clearing. Taking Kyuubi's advice he released his Chakra and Gravity Seal. Controlling his sudden burst of chakra, he breathed out and got ready, taking a standard Katana he took a deep breath and stabbed it clean through his torso, impaling his heart.
Tsunade and Shizune were expecting Naruto to do this, but they couldn't resist the gasp that escaped from their lips. They grabbed onto each other, whether to stop the other or themselves they didn't know. They saw as blood dripped from the fatal wound, dribbling onto the ground. Then there was a sudden explosion of chakra and they were amazed to see that the sword impaling him simply vanished into particles of black light.
They began to approach him, not sure if his training was complete or not. Just as they were about to come near him, his chakra exploded out of him, surrounding him preventing anyone from interfering.
With Naruto
As soon as Naruto had stabbed himself, the world stopped around him, leaves on the trees stopped swaying, ripples in the lake froze in their place and everywhere he looked, he could only see himself as the only thing irrespective of whether it was alive or dead that was moving. He saw numbly as his Chakra swirled around him and formed a sort of protective barrier. He felt a sharp pain in his chest and he closed his eyes trying to ignore the pain.
When he opened his eyes, he saw that he was in a vast expanse of small hills covered in grass and could see that it was night time. The moon was bigger than he ever remembered seeing and was a sinister shade of red. Huge mountains whose peaks were hidden by storm clouds could be seen in the distance. He was lying on his back facing upwards and he noticed that there was not even a single star to be seen.
"Hello Naruto."
Naruto quickly flipped onto his feet and looked at the person who made the sound. He was clothed in a tattered black hooded cloak that was fraying out into tattered ends; his hood was hiding his face from view. He was slightly taller than Naruto, his body built for speed.
"Who are you? And where are we?" Naruto asked his senses on high alert.
"I'm your sword Naruto. Whether you are worthy of wielding me or not has yet to be seen."
Saying that, he lifted his hood and revealed his face. He was fairly young, maybe in his late teens. He had long ragged black hair, but had no other distinguishing features about him. He bent down on his knees and placed his open palm on to the grass.
Naruto sensed him concentrating his power and suddenly, the whole ground for as far as he could see there were various types of blades sticking out of the ground. He grabbed a sword near him pulling it out and swinging it a few times.
"Choose your blade Naruto." He said as he slowly walked towards him.
Naruto looked around; there was nothing around him that he was familiar using. Deciding to test the waters a bit, he took out two Kunai and held them in each of his hands. He looked towards the person standing in front of him and noticed a look of disappointment on his face.
"Let us begin." Saying that, he simply vanished from Naruto's sight. Naruto, sensing an attack from his right, ducked below just as the blade passed over him, still crouching he pivoted on his hands and tried to kick him, but he vanished again.
'This is going to be a long fight.' Naruto thought.
Naruto again sensed him, this time slightly behind his right side; he turned around and slashed at him. He noticed the look of surprise on the man's face and smirked slightly.
"It seems that you are well trained Naruto. That's good; it would make my job much easier. Choose a blade Naruto, one of the countless blades that you see before you is your Soul Blade. Find it and you will come to know my name, know my name and you will succeed in you training."
Naruto again looked around; closing his eyes he tried to find a connection, a gut feeling, anything that would help him complete this training. He felt a pulse, but it didn't come from any particular direction.
"Prepare yourself."
Snapping his eyes open, Naruto picked up the nearest blade. The man just vanished again.
Naruto had spent upwards of approximately three hours fighting, what he figured, was his blade. He had lost count of the number of times that he had picked up a sword that was shattered by him. Although he had begun to last longer with each subsequent broken blade, getting used to fighting with it, he couldn't figure out the pulsing that he felt. It had been growing stronger with time, to the point that he was getting seriously distracted by its presence. He glanced around himself; he could hardly believe that he had used up almost all the swords here, there was only one left. He had been using his Sharingan for quite some time now and it had enabled him to fight the man on somewhat even grounds, even with his inexperience in handling blades.
Naruto knew that he had to finish this fight quickly, he didn't have much energy left and he had received multiple cuts and numerous scratches throughout his fight. Although he could now track his opponent's movement much better than he had been able to when he had started off, he was getting exhausted. He glanced towards the sword; it was an axe type halberd. Naruto picked it up sighing with relief, he figured that this was his sword and finally this pulsating feeling he was feeling could stop.
He blocked a sideways slash to his chest, using his other hand to reinforce his guard and pushed the offending blade away. The man stumbled slightly as he was pushed backwards. Capitalising on the situation, Naruto dashed forward and jumped high landing towards the man's position as he held the halberd downwards.
The man looked up at him and swung his sword at Naruto's weapon directly. Much to the surprise of Naruto, this weapon shattered under the strong strike as well.
"It seems that you have not found your blade Naruto. I'm sorry Naruto, but it's time for you to die. Pity, you wouldn't be able to fulfil your dream now isn't it, Naruto."
Naruto quelled his anger at his opponent's mocking tone, it would not serve him well if he were to loose his temper in this fight. The pulsing feeling within him got even stronger, and it was then that Naruto understood. Concentrating on bringing out the feeling he gasped slightly as a wonderful feeling of completion filled him. He looked down at his hand and gazed at his sword. It truly was a work of art.
It was a daitÅ (Japanese Long Sword) with a black blade; the crossguard had four protrusions bent in the shape of an Indian Swastika. The hilt of the sword was wrapped in rough edges in black colour with a short length of chain hanging from its end.
He looked up at his opponent and now it was his turn to gasp, Naruto's eyes were alight with an unearthly glow that further emphasised his Sharingan, bringing the three black tomoe in sharp contrast against the golden eye. He saw as Naruto concentrated his power, making his chakra swirl around him, its colour slightly changed. It was now completely pitch black, so dark that it seemed to suck the light around it. On the edges it was tinted with a dark crimson colour. He watched as Naruto was encased in his own chakra, a pillar of dark light extending upwards. As the chakra spike died down, he saw Naruto approaching him, much like he had earlier.
"It would seem that you have finally found your Blade Naruto. I hereby accept you as my wielder and master, go forth Naruto and proudly call out my name . . ."
Meanwhile. . .
Shizune and Tsunade were nervously waiting for a sign, anything that would help them determine Naruto's condition. They were startled out of their thoughts when Naruto's Chakra spiked once before dying out completely. They saw that other than looking a little worse for wear, he had no other apparent injuries and the katana that he had stabbed himself with and the subsequent wound was nowhere to be seen, sighing in relief they had almost reached him when they were blown away by his Chakra, having been caught off-guard. They watched in slack jawed amazement as Naruto's Chakra was released to its fullest potential, although it had gone through an unusual colour change. As the Chakra died down, they saw as Naruto unsteadily got up on his feet and holding out his right arm in front of him whispered, Tensa Zangetsu (Heavenly Chain Slaying Moon). They watched amazed as small particles of Naruto's Chakra seemed to make a rough shape of a sword before Naruto swiped his hands to his side, revealing his blade to them.
"Hey Nee-chan, Baa-chan I completed my exercise and you didn't even have to heal me. Shizune ran forward towards him and began checking him all over for injuries and finding nothing that his regeneration couldn't handle just gave him a hug to congratulate him.
The three of them then proceeded out of the training grounds listening to Naruto's training and then turned in for the night after Naruto had dispelled his blade.
A/N: Please visit my profile and vote for the poll. It will help me make a decision as to how I should write the story henceforth. If anyone has any ideas or have a particular scene in mind that they would like to see, just Review and maybe if it doesn't interfere much with my ideas I may take it up.