9526: Hey guys. Long time no see! I'm really sorry for the wait. Let me give a brief explanation on the reason why I haven't uploaded my chapter. I got grounded for about a month and a half for something really retarded. Then when I got off the hook, barely, my computer decided "Hey let's make my user get even more pissed off and let a virus in, and I had to fix it.
So, let's get this thing started!
Disclaimer: I do NOT own Naruto
Chapter 2: Teachings of Kiri
Naruto sprinted through the gates, after meters of running he stopped. The blond looked around his surroundings and tried to absorb as much of Kiri's masked beauty as possible. There was just something about the mist that put him in a trance, entrancing him frozen. Finally words were able to escape from his mouth "Wow, it looks so cool" he whispered just loud enough for the whole group to hear.
Yagura smiled as he walked through the gates as well, "Yes maybe if we have some free time, I can arrange a tour for you" the Mizukage suggested, which Naruto responded with a large smile on his face. Naruto ran again to break away from the group to see the village's nearby buildings. As he ran, he slowed down to look at a Japanese castle that was seen in the distance due to its large rooftops.
The sight of it made him stop all advances of movement, as he attempted to examine the distant building of the castle. The rooftop was blue and the castle itself was twisted into a misshapen arrow head. The twisting went from the bottom part which began to twist up and as it twisted it thinned out to a platform made that's tiles were azure blue. Near the platform of the tower was an emblem that matched the blue of the tower with its own shade. Inside the round emblem, rested the kanji of water standing out proudly through the mist.
Before Naruto could even go any farther, the boy was knocked to the ground. The boy grunted in pain as he hit the ground. He rubbed the back of his head as he slowly sat himself upright; Naruto looked up to see what he ran into to see a villager around the age of 30. The man looked down to see who he hit "Watch where you're going kid" the villager snorted as he walked around the blond boy. Just as he began to walk around the ex Konoha citizen, he stopped frozen in his tracks. The villager's frame began to shake terrible in fear as to see who he was facing.
Naruto turned around to see the leader of his new village. Yagura stared down the villager that he had petrified by fear. His pols of violet showed not even an ounce of understanding for the villager's act of rudeness, which made the villager's body shake even more with fear. "Is that the way you act towards a new citizen of Kiri?" he asked coldly, his words piercing through the man's heart. The villager shook his head violently. "No Mizukage-sama!" he said.
"Then say you are sorry to Uzumaki Naruto, your fellow citizen" he ordered.
The villager whipped around to face Naruto, and in a flash he stretched his hand out to the blond. Naruto looked at the hand and grabbed it. The villager slightly pulled Naruto's hand, not hard enough to send the boy on the ground with his face in the dirt, but so the new villager will be back to his feet. Once Naruto was steadily standing on the ground, the villager backed away and bowed to the boy. "I'm sorry! Please, accept my apology!" the villager called.
Yagura raised his hand to the man, so he can motion the civilian to cease his apology. "You may go now" the Mizukage said waving his hand off to dismiss the villager, who ran off from the Mizukage. Naruto looked towards the direction where the man had disappeared. This was the first time someone actually said sorry for being rude to him; normally he would have thought he would feel relieved that someone had apologized to him. But how the man said was as though he was forced to, as if it wasn't natural. It seemed as though just as Yagura showed up, the villager's personality changed. Yagura turned to face the young blond and sighed "I apologize Naruto; usually my villagers are not so discourteous towards a new villager."
Naruto looked at Yagura, snapping himself out of his thoughts. "Oh um it's okay" Naruto assured his new guardian. Harusame turned around to the chunnin bodyguards "You may leave now" Harusame ordered, "Inform Utakata that I shall return in a couple of hours."
"Hai, Harusame-dono!" the chunnin called
"And while you're at it" Harusame stated as he reached for Naruto's back. The blond turned his head around.
"What the hell are you doin old man?" Naruto demanded. His question was answered when the elder ripped off his book bag from his back. The force of the pulling was so strong, that Naruto practically collapsed to the ground. He moved his legs as if by luck, maneuvered itself to stay strong on the ground,
"Take this with you" Harusame finished while giving the book bag to the chunnin on the right side.
"Hai, Harusame-dono!" the chunnin called as they both made the same hand seal, just as they made the seal they disappeared in a burst of water.
"Hey! Give it back!" Naruto yelled at the chunnin guards that were no longer there.
Harusame rolled his eyes and transferred his focus toward Yagura "So how shall training workout?" he asked his friend. Before the Mizukage could even answer his advisor's question, he was cut off by a human screech:
"HOW DARE YOU SELL THIS!"
The group turned to the location of the sudden outburst. A couple of shops to the left, a man were thrown outside through the door. The man flew through the air and slammed right into a hard solid brick wall. The man had black hair and glasses; he struggled slowly to sit up right against the wall. His body ached from the effort and looked at the door he was thrown through, and looked at his body cut out on the door. Naruto looked in shock.
"Hey mister, are you okay?" the blond called as ran towards the injured man. Before he could even take five steps towards the man, the door that the man was thrown through rocketed toward him. Naruto looked at it and screamed as the door flew towards him. Naruto scrambled on the floor just as the shops flying entrance flew across his head, scarily bonking his head on the way. Naruto held the back of his head with his one hand and groaned in pain. "Ow" Naruto looked at the man cowering on the buildings wall. The black haired man curled his body up to form a human ball; the door harmlessly hit the brick wall above his head.
"Why is this book on your shelves?" a woman asked angrily as she marched out of the shop, holding a book with the title Icha Icha Paradise on the cover of the orange book. The woman had long red fiery hair with the exception of the blue hair that was part of her few bangs in her hair. She had ruby eyes and wore a black tank top with a matching pair of pants, with a bright orange sash tied around her waist. There was also a twin pair of katana attached to the back of her waist. On her chest was a necklace was a small golden sun, and tied on her right arm was the headband for Kiri. The Kiri kunoichi shook her left fist at the injured man.
The man looked at the woman with fear in his eyes "I-I'm sorry, but ratings are off the roof with this book" he replied in fear. In a flash, the kunoichi was upon the man and held him up to her eyes by the collar. "Not in the face!" the shopkeeper covered his face with his hands.
"Oh, now you're asking for it!" the woman shouted as she cocked back her free hand in the form of a fist, ready to strike the man down with her fist. She was interrupted by a pebble that bounced off her head. The kunoichi looked at who threw the rock at her head. What she saw, was a blond about the age of 8 looking angrily. A kid, she thought in surprise. How dare this child disrespect Manami, the Beauty Hidden in the Mist? In fact, she was so surprised that she dropped the shopkeeper on the ground; that crawled quickly away from her.
The woman shinobi by the name Manami put her hands on her hips and leaned over to inspect the blond boy that was beneath her. The fiery hair woman studied Naruto so close, that he can actually feel her hair lightly tickle his face. Naruto jumped back in surprise of the sudden entering of his personal space. "Back of lady!" Naruto shouted. The outburst of the new Kiri citizen earned him a fresh large lump on his head. He held his head around the area where the bump was delivered.
"What the hell was that for!" Naruto shouted at the woman.
"You have some nerve hitting me kid!"
Manami grabbed Naruto's golden hair, and pulled him up to her view. Naruto glared back at the woman with an equal intensity. "I don't think you realize who you're messing with" she said to the boy. "Maybe I should teach you a lesson. Then you'll learn to respect me, Manami the toughest female of the Seven Swordsman of The Mist" she considered to herself while shaking her fist at the boy for an added effect. A bead of sweat formed on the back of Naruto's head.
"You wouldn't dare!" Naruto shouted. Manami looked at Naruto with an evil sneer on her face. "You don't know what I would do" Manami said evilly.
"Manami! Where are you, I wanna go to another store" a woman's voice sang from the shop that Manami had barged out of. A teenage girl around the age 15 walked out of the store. She had black hair that went to the midsection of her back by a ponytail that began to form at the base of her neck. She had a light blue skirt that goes to her thigh midway, and a white short sleeved shirt that revealed her stomach. On her neck was a navy blue scarf that had the Kiri symbol on it, acting as a headband. Towards her backside was a short sword positioned sideways, the sheath was white while the hilt was bronze. The girl had violet eyes.
The violet eyed teen puffed out her cheeks and glared at her companion. "Manami!" she whined. "You promised we would go shopping wherever I wanted today." The girl cast her look down towards Naruto who was turned to face her after his captive turned to face the teen.
"OMG! He's so cute!" the teenage girl exclaimed and in a flash, she had Naruto in her arms in a huge oxygen depriving hug. Naruto choked as he tried his best to breathe in air but to no avail. The teenage girl whipped around to face the fiery haired woman. "Manami, how could you hurt someone this cute?" That comment made Naruto's face turn into a rosy pink in embarrassment I'm… cute? He questioned himself in his mind.
"Chiasa, who asked you?"Manami grumbled at the younger girl. Chiasa looked at her and immaturely stuck out her tongue. A large tick mark appeared behind the older swordsman's head, which pulsed slowly. "I'm your senior you brat! Give me some respect!" said Manami as she jabbed the air in front of Chiasa.
"Back off, you're just in a bad mood because you know I'm cuter than you." Chiasa insulted while slowly stroking Naruto's hair who sighed in relief, despite the two people arguing over him who each had a blade. Well the fiery haired one has two, but being constantly intimidated by evil glares is starting to be less and less fear striking.
"What did you say?" Manami roared advancing closer towards Chiasa.
Now it was Chiasa's turn to inch closer. "I am C-U-T-E-R than you. And you know it!"
"You flat chested bimbo!"
"I'm not the one who gets men crawling away from me on their hands in knees!" the shop keeper crawled backwards in fear as he overheard their argument and learned that the last insult was related to him. Manami noticed the sudden movement and shot an evil glance at the shop keeper. Said shop keeper jumped to his feet and hopped in a nearby barrel. Content with getting the money hungry shop keeper occupied, she faced her target.
Chiasa chuckled lightly "O look what you've done know Manami-hime." Said Chiasa, her voice drowned with sarcasm. "Your charms have yet again showed another man your beauty"
"Shut the hell up!"
"What is the meaning of this?"
Both women and Naruto turned to the voice to find a not so pleased looking Harusame and an even furious looking Yagura. With a last vengeful cast from Manami and a playful one from Chiasa, the two of them took steps apart from each other and faced their village leader. To Naruto's relief, Chiasa's grip slackened giving the blond a golden opportunity to escape from the hyper teen's grasp.
Yagura took a solitary step away from Harusame. "I am still waiting for an answer" he repeated annoyed of the absence of an answer. Manami glared at the barrel that was holding her target and in a flash, she withdrew her blades. The blades were bland but had a hidden fiery feeling just by gazing at it. The hilts of the blades were obsidian black with small details of red flames painted on the hilt. On the flat end of the left blade was inscribed in the blade was the kanji for eternal. The left blade's twin was the exact copy of its clone. Instead, on the blade inscribed on it was the kanji for blaze.
In two quick swipes, one for each blade, the swords-woman sheathed her weapons in their respective sheaths; making a slight swishing motion of the sheathing of the weapons. With wink at the Mizukage, the barrel collapsed into itself from the 4 pieces of barrel that was left. Inside the collapsed barrel, was the shopkeeper, franticly trying to hold the pieces of the barrel together with his hands, which kept on falling out of his hands. The spectacled man looked to see what had caused this force that blew his cover. His irises bounced off his eyes in the excited search for the attacker, but his saw made his eyes freeze in one spot. "Mizukage-sama…" he whispered loud enough for Yagura to hear.
The shopkeeper scampered out of the barrel's rubble, his hands painted with blood from the splinters on the barrel and scrapes of metal that held the barrel in place. Once out, he bowed towards the Mizukage on his hands and knees. Manami whipped around towards the shopkeeper. "This pervert over here, is selling this because of the money he gets" her words were laced with venom as she spoke; her words were as sharp as the weapon she sported. At the end of her sentence, she tossed the orange book she held in her hands at Yagura's feet.
Yagura looked at the book lazily with one eye and bent over to pick up the book. When he brought himself up, he sighed as he read aloud the title of the book. "Icha Icha Paradise." However, Harusame was not as calm as his friend.
"How dare you bother us with such a nuisance" Harusame lashed.
"Why you!" Manami growled at the advisor.
Yagura put his hand in front of Harusame's path. Harusame growled before stepping down into his place beside his colleague. "Manami, you shouldn't cause such chaos on the streets."
The fiery haired swords-woman growled under her teeth, while poking her nose towards the clouds that was being held up by the skies. "Whatever." Chiasa turned towards Manami and poked her tongue at her senior swordsman.
"That's what you get"
"You little...!"
"And Chiasa, you are just as guilty." The black haired woman quickly jumped in shock. Manami made a quick glance over to Chiasa, sneering at the younger woman. Chiasa's face turned cherry blossom pink in embarrassment as she looked at her feet.
"But Yagi-sama! " Chiasa whined at the Mizukage, while quite red in the face.
A large tick mark formed on the right temple of the Mizukage "What have I told you about calling me that?" he asked while his question lashed at Chiasa. She began to lightly laugh in embarrassment while scratching her head. "Sorry about that Yag- I mean Mizukage-sama" she said correcting herself.
"Anyways you are both members of The Seven Swordsman of the Mist. I suggest you should act more professional, instead of acting like children." Yagura lectured to his subordinates. Both swords-women looked down at their feet in shame.
Yagura traced his eyes towards the blond child and smiled "Come now Naruto. We must make hast if we want to make it to the tower before sunset" Yagura said. Naruto looked at his new guardian with ocean blue orbs and nodded gingerly. As Yagura turned tail to leave, Naruto slowly followed the Mizukage's moving steps while continually looking back at the women who were pulling him back and forth like some sort of ragdoll. They weren't so bad, Naruto reflected his encounter with the two. Though the red head gave him chills in his spine that felt as though it was vibrating at a rapid pace. As he peeked over his tiny shoulders, he saw Manami's face twist in a nasty sneer.
The blond shivered slightly at the sight and decided to turn his glance towards Chiasa, who blew a simple kiss towards him. At first he thought none of it but remembering the death gripping hug he received from her. This made him jump even higher in the air in fear. Yagura turned towards Naruto and simply smiled at the boy's fear of one of his most annoying shinobi. "What's wrong Naruto?"
The boy slowly turned towards the Mizukage and with a sweat drop he decided to answer "Those guys are weird" Naruto whispered.
"Bunch of nuisances if you ask me" Harusame snorted. The councilman looked past his spectacles at the blond and smirked. "You know, I'm beginning to like you brat."
"Brat?" Naruto asked angrily.
Yagura sighed as the two argued back and forth as they traveled. This is going to be one long walk to the tower, he mourned mentally.
Scene Change:
As the group walked, they branched out from the city buildings. During their walk, the scenery changed into a forest that was lightly caked with mist. Sidewalks and streets transformed into grassland and trees. Naruto looked left and right in awe as he noticed the beauty of the forest draped in mist.
Finally, the group encountered a large cement staircase with a large gate that hung from the air. The gate was pitch black, over the top was the kanji for water tower. However, the kanji was ocean blue. Near the top of the gate, the black and the blue began to smear into a beautiful mix. Naruto stopped to read the sign hung over his head, "Water Tower?"
Harusame turned back at Naruto while standing on the middle step of the staircase "What are you doing?" he asked "Don't you wanna see your home?"
The blond shook his head from the trance to look at the elder "I'm coming, just hold on" Naruto retorted as he began to race up the stairs. With his short legs, Naruto practically had to hop from step to step. In almost a minute, he zipped past Harusame and Yagura who was just about a step or two higher than the Kiri advisor. As Naruto dashed ahead, a smile streaked on his face.
"Hey slow down brat!"
But all of Harusame's insults were drowned out. Naruto was way too happy for anything to smudge his mood. He was just seconds away from seeing his new home, marking the beginning of a new life, where no one could hurt him. While running, he past many rivers, streams, and other bodies of water that only gave the forest a more serene look. Just thinking about the idea of living with the leader of Kiri, made him feel as giddy as a toddler receiving a brand new toy.
What Naruto saw in front of him while standing on the last step of the staircase made him halt in his path. There was a large opening before him that measured about half the size of the football field and covered with cobble. Around the opening were white walls that formed a large rectangle. Along the vertical walls were 8 small wooden doors that looked as though it lead to a room. The floors of the houses, which were wood, were all connected to each other to form a walkway for each side of the castle.
In front of the rectangle was the castle Naruto had seen in the distance just as he entered Kiri. The building was enormous enough from the distance, but seeing the giant building made the blond feel even smaller. The building looked about 6 stories tall; it looked as though the very tip of the tower was reaching towards the sun itself, even if the sun was cloaked in the haze. The sunlight gave the rooftop the appearance as though it revived the ocean blue coloring of the rooftop that was beginning to wear off from time's cruel pull.
"Wicked" he whispered. Before Naruto could venture even further from the castle grounds, several bubbles drifted from the air and began to float in front of the blonds face. As they stood their frozen suspended in the air, Naruto couldn't help but marvel at the shape of the bubbles, they're perfect. I wonder who made these. Naruto thought curiously.
Suddenly the bubbles burst in front of his face erupting in a cloud of smoke. The smoke formed a cloud around the blond's face. Naruto began to cough as he inhaled the smoke. It scratched at his throat as breath. What's going on? Naruto thought as he furiously waved his right hand back and forth, clearing the smoke. Just as the smoke began to fan out from his face, he bent over and clutched his knee caps, the last scrapes of the smoke coughing out of his lungs as he hung there.
"Who are you and what are you doing here?"
Naruto turned towards the voice, making him look towards the rooftops of one of the dorm rooms. There was a very thin boy with brown shoulder length hair stretching out with his back leaning against the sloping rooftops, his right arm resting under the back of his head, while holding a bamboo bubble blower that looked as though it belonged in an antique store. His skin was fairly pale and had amber colored eyes. He had bangs that covered the left side of his face including his left pair of amber eyes. The boy wore a sky blue kimono shirt that was detailed with tiny bubbles flowing towards the torso of the shirt but stopped at the solar complex. The collar had a background color of orange with a trail of bubbles on top of it. Over his shirt was a plain white shirt. Tucked under the kimono top, were a pair of navy blue pants that went a little above his knee caps.
The boy with brown hair held a bamboo bubble blower in his hand. His eyebrow twitched in annoyance "Who are you?" he repeated as he got up from the rooftop and hopped off from the rooftop. With a soft thud, the boy landed on the ground while resting his hands on the ground and landing in a squatting position. The pair of amber eyes never deterred away from the blond's face.
Slowly the boy rose to his feet and walked towards the former Konoha citizen. The browned haired child inspected the blond from all angles; Naruto's fronts, sides, and his back.
Finally after being examined for 5 minutes, Naruto began to become incredibly irritated "What the hell are you doin!"
The boy's stance straightened and stood facing Naruto, amber clashed with ocean blue. For moments the two glared down each other. A strong breeze swished around them as they constantly started at each other. The hair on the top of their heads swished back and forth. As they stood in that trance Naruto realized that the boy in front of him was a couple of inches taller than him. The staring contest was cut short with the noise of footsteps. The two turned to the sound of the footsteps.
First, Yagura stepped off from the stairwell followed by Harusame. The two men returned the glances back at the two. "So you two have met" Harusame announced as he began smirking towards the boys.
"What are you talking about?" Naruto questioned beginning to get annoyed.
The councilor turned to the boy that was recently blowing bubbles and began to walk towards him. He stopped at the boy's left side. The boy looked up at Harusame and made a quick bow of respect to him and straightened back up. "Harusame-sensei, who is this boy?" the brown haired child asked, putting emphases on "boy". Naruto snapped toward the other kid.
"What was that?"
"People like you have no business here" the boy countered coldly.
Before Naruto could respond to the insult, Harusame shot a look at him to silence him. In a flash, Harusame's fist swiped at the boy's head. "Utakata what's wrong with you?" he asked critically as he waved his fist at his student. "Is that the way you greet a classmate?"
Utakata looked at Naruto as he placed his hand on the large bump that was on his head. Naruto also showed a confused look on his face and returned the look. "Classmates!" they yelled in unison.
Harusame growled under his teeth "What are you two? A pair of parrots? Yes you're going to be training together" he announced.
Utakata turned his gaze towards his master "Please sensei, reconsider. That kid probably hasn't even began shinobi training." He said "I've trained under you for almost a year now, there's no way he can catch up with what we're doing."
"This was the idea of the Mizukage, so if you want to argue with his decision" Harusame growled "go ahead." Utakata clenched his teeth in fury. He looked down at his feet to show respect to the kage standing yards away from him watching him carefully.
"I will leave Naruto's training to you, Harusame. But do return Naruto to me before sunset so he can begin his night training" Yagura called out to Harusame.
"You know you're a slave driver right?" Harusame retorted, with a large tick mark appeared on the temple of his forehead.
With a drop of sweat dripping from the back of his head, the Yondaime Mizukage laughed nervously at his friend's statement and formed a hand seal. The air around him began to gradually get heavier in seconds, forming a small cloud around him. Soon, the veil of mist dissipated taking Yagura with him. Harusame sighed and faced the two boys.
"Umm Harusame-"Naruto began to ask before a blow to the head interrupted his question. The blond gripped his head as his head began to vibrate in agony from the blow.
"That's Harusame-sensei, boy" Harusame lectured to the blond.
The blond robbed his head with one hand "Harusame-sensei, what can I do?" Naruto asked "I mean I was going enroll in the academy in a year, so I don't know much about being a shinobi."
"I heard that you wanted to become the Hokage, back when you lived in Konoha. How do you expect to do that when you're already thinking about quitting?" Harusame smirked at the boy's sentence. Naruto cast his eyes down upon the ground below him, his eyebrow twitching in annoyance of the old man. What's this guy's problem? The blond asked himself in thought.
The council man continue his triumphant sneer over the boy as he began to stride away from the boys "I have already figured out this problem." The teacher continued. He turned around to face the boys again when he was about a couple of feet from them. "Which is why, Utakata, you will make sure that Naruto will be caught up with our lessons. If Naruto deters in any of our lessons, not only will he be punished, but you will also be punished."
"But-"
"No buts! 100 runs up and down the stairs!" Harusame roared.
"Hai Harusame-sensei" Utakata mumbled under his breath. He turned to Naruto "Let's go newcomer" Utakata began jogging towards the staircase, his jog quickly turned into a sprint as he passed Naruto. The blond ran after his senior classmate, running as quickly as his little legs can carry him.
"Wait up!" Naruto called out as he ran. When he got to the staircase, he looked down at the last steps to see Utakata tracing back up the stairs. Naruto stood up straight when the boy passed him. A few beads of sweat streaked across his face, as Utakata took a half minute rest stop. The boy turned back around to be facing the staircase again for another go.
"If I were you, I would start your runs" Utakata whispered harshly to his new classmate before rushing down the cement stairs again.
"Why?" he shot back. For a second, a spike of ominous energy shot up from behind. Naruto looked to his rear through the corner of his eye to see Harusame tapping his foot impatiently. The advisor crossed his arms across his chest, but what made Naruto had to look back was the look in his eyes. It showed no emotion, just a message: "Move or pay dearly." which sent shivers down the blond's spine.
The blond took another peek down the staircase and gulped at how far he ran up the stairs the first time. Maybe, I might be able to outrun the guy Naruto planned to himself. His eyes snapped in revelation as he realized what he had just said. Get it in gear, Naruto; no one said training to be a shinobi will be easy, Naruto said mentally smacking himself in the face as he ran down the stairs.
As he ran, he felt the air swish against his face as he went down the stairs. Normally, running down stairs is relatively easy. But in this case, it was torture to the boy. It was as though he was running a race without any end to it. After what seemed like an eternity of running, the blond stepped down to the final steps of the staircase. Naruto began to pant at the effort of his run.
Naruto's vision began to slightly disorientate as he took another breath of air. The blond looked up and felt his blood leave him at how many stairs was in front of him. It seemed as though the steps reached the skies above him.
As he looked up, he noticed Utakata running down the stairs quickly. With a quick hop from the bottom steps, he landed on the sidewalk that led to the first step of the flight of steps. Naruto looked at Utakata and slowly stood up. The blond panted heavily as he did so and began to take off at the stairs. The brown haired boy closely following him. The whole time they were running, the boy couldn't help complaining about the running he was doing, "Do you usually do this kind of stuff?"
The other boy stayed silent as he focused on running. A large tick mark appeared above Naruto's head when the boy didn't answer his question. The blond gazed at his path a head, "Aww man!" It was as though he barely climbed an eighth of the way up the stairwell. Naruto felt as though he was climbing a mountain than walking up a set of steps.
"Talking wastes needed energy" Naruto heard Utakata mumbled under his breath. Naruto turned his head towards Utakata. Man, this kid is weird he thought.
The blond turned back again at the steps before him. It seemed as though talking, as well as complaining, did waste energy as he saw the number of stairs drastically decreased. Suddenly seeing the amount of stairs left to climb brought joy to the Uzumaki's heart as he ran. His heart pounded with each step he took, the feelings he was feeling was identical to the ones he had the first time he made his way up the set of steps.
With a small hop, Naruto touch downed at the last step of the treacherous staircase. A silly smile streaked across his face. "I did it!" he called out congratulating himself, while he thrust his small 8 year old fist in the air. "2 down…" the blond looked once more down upon the stairwell, and 98 more to go he mourned mentally, his spirits dropped quickly, causing a tear to drop from his face.
-Scene Change-
20 Minutes Later:
Naruto panted heavily as he dragged his tattered and weary body up the stairs on last time. Every step he took, it felt as though he was walking in a pit of quicksand. With every step, the imaginary quicksand violently yanked him deeper and deeper into the "sand". It even tripped him up a couple of times, making him stumble, nearly taking him over the stairs. The sun blazed above his head as he walked, even with the mist dulling the flaming orb's breath, it still boiled the sweat drops that caked the blond's face.
Finally, after a lengthy battle between the cement and his leg muscles, Naruto grunted as he collapsed at the second to last step of the staircase. Dust cluttered in a small cloud around his face as he laid there on the uneven level of the stairs, the only thing that kept him from kissing the concrete was his tired legs that stood side by side. His feet pushed up on the step before his body, which stopped him from making a painful trip back down mountain of stairs.
I can't move!, he thought. He would have yelled his thought, but unfortunate for him, his mouth was too busy breathing in air to make up for the absence of oxygen. Every time he wanted to move his legs in order to get up, the leg he wanted to move will at best, twitch slightly. Other than that, his legs wouldn't move at all. "Damn" he whispered under his breath.
Suddenly, a shadow loomed over Naruto's fallen body. The shadow itself was small, about the same size as him but a bit taller, provided him with a small amount of protection from the sun's heat. Naruto struggled to adjust his head to who was above him; every centimeter was battle on its one to get the head up.
Utakata looked down at his classmate with hands in his pockets and sighed. He himself was quite winded; sweat plastered his face as he gasped for air. His lips were dry from the running, and licking them will only leave him with the bitter taste of salt in his mouth.
The elder student sighed and retracted his left hand from his pocket and stretched it out towards the boy on the ground. Naruto looked at the hand in a perplexed look, and lightly laughed at his face, despite the fact that each laughed deprived him of needed oxygen. Slowly, the blond boy's right hand began to rise from his right side and towards the brown haired boy's hand. Utakata in turn, embraced the hand that was lightly smaller than his. With a pull, the elder student heaved Naruto of the ground.
Naruto stumbled on his feet quite a bit so not to once again collapse on the soil floor. Finally after a battle for balance, the queasiness caused by the low amount began to suddenly to lightly lessen its grip on his body. He slowly looked up while he breathed heavily, Utakata was looking back at him from the center of the middle floor, and his hands on his knees while panting roughly, his eyes were glued to the floor.
How'd he get there so easily? Naruto wondered mentally questioned himself. He shook his head slightly, mostly due to the low amount of oxygen he was trying to make due. "I hate running" Naruto rasped while taking a step for each word. At the word "hate", he had recently stepped off the last step of the staircase. He stared at Utakata as he walked.
With each step, it felt as though he was being dragged down by a ton of weights, attached to each leg. As he walked, he slightly faltered, his body unconsciously controlling itself in, a desperate attempt for it to not hit the ground. It took just about all his energy to trudge one foot a single centimeter, and he had to repeat the struggle for movement each time to get away from the flight of steps he had barely conquered. The blond still trudged on, but the blaze of the sun made the procedure seem as though it would drag forever more.
After what seemed like an eternity of sheer torture by walking a small runway of, he noticed that he halved the distance between him and his fellow classmate. Naruto smiled to himself as he slowly made an unnecessary half revolution so that his back was now facing Utakata. The blond's mouth twitched slightly at the sight he was viewing. His heart overwhelmed in pride as he become conscious of the achievement he had successfully accomplished. He ran up what felt like the Hokage monuments over 10 times.
In fact, the shock of the completion of the task made all energy to his legs quickly dissipate. It seemed as though time slowed down as he free fell to the ground. His eyes slowly closed until only a small creak of blue iris was left to be seen. He felt the sun lightly kiss his cheeks as he descended. The whole time he was falling, there was a large toothy smile on his face. I did it… Naruto congratulated himself in his mind. When the blond's back made contact with the floor, a small thin cloud of dust puffed around his body. The small fragments of dust swept into the small creak of his eyes he left open.
But he didn't care; his body was far too tired to even send pain signals to his body. Naruto began to gaze at the clouds as his body rested from the torture he faced during his run. He panted heavily for breath, as he lay there on the ground. He had then just noticed how his shirt clanged tightly to his body. Sweat dripped of from him and slowly slopped down his body, creating miniature pools of clear body liquid on the dirt. The world through his eyes was like looking through a kaleidoscope. The color he was witnessing was a vast mixture of colors from orange to blue with tiny specs of white.
Even the voices above him were blurred.
"Sensei, Naruto is unconscious. What should I do?"
"How about something like this"
Suddenly, all Naruto could see was rushing water crashing upon his face. The water barged into his opened mouth as he panted. The invading water continued its campaign by entering his body, though it hydrated the boy, it did so in a wintry way. The blond spluttered wildly as he flapped his arms in a frenzy to get the water to freeze him to death. In a flash, he landed on his feet his body dripping of water.
When he was stable on his feet, he noticed that his vision began to adjust to the sights he was seeing. He saw Harusame looking at the blond, looking pretty bored out of his mind while maintaining a one handed hand seal. Beside him was Utakata looking down upon Naruto, breathing heavily with a blank look on his face.
Naruto shook violently partly of the freezing cold water that was poured on him, and the fact that he was enraged for the reason that seemed as though one of them caused him to literally take a bath on the ground. He glared at Harusame with pure fury in his blue eyes. "What the hell was that for?"
"No sleeping during training" Harusame stated plainly as he dropped his right hand, and placed them back into the sleeves a sly smile graced his face, angering the blond immensely. But, he wasn't foolish enough to add to his argument, it seemed as though every time he had thought of a comeback, his instructor's eyes denied the phrase with its own glare, intimidating the blond.
"Now that everyone is accounted for, let's commence part 2 of today's training" Harusame announced to his students. Naruto looked at Harusame, with his arms at his sides looking back at his teacher with a hint of irritation within his eyes. Utakata walked into place of Naruto, to be standing at Naruto's side.
Slowly, Harusame parted his hands slowly as he did a tip of a white cylindrical shape slowly began to reveal itself. Sapphire and hazel eyes slightly widened in anticipation of what was beginning to gradually expose itself. What's in his sleeve? Naruto wondered.
Don't tell me he's gonna- Utakata realized mentally. The answer to his question appeared after minutes of nonstop suspense. Now, Harusame held a white scroll that was tattered greatly. On the front of the scroll was a kanji that symbolized control.
"It just has to be this exercise" Utakata moaned in displeasure under his breath so that Harusame could not have heard his act of protest but loud enough for his fellow student could hear him. Naruto slightly turned his head to so that a small half of his face was looking back at the elder boy.
"Why?" Naruto asked. Utakata answered his question by pointing at their teacher. The blond looked back at the old man. Harusame began to unroll the scroll that he held in his hand, when the scroll was just about a foot long, his hands in a flash slipped his grip from the scroll. Just as the scroll began to make its trip to the ground, he pressed the tips of his left hand on the scroll. For just a split second, Naruto actually witnessed his fingertips go into the scroll itself; widening his eyes in disbelief. "Impossible." Utakata stayed silent the whole time, even though the spectacle appeared before his very eyes.
Harusame pulled out from the scroll, a twin pair of black batons. On one side of the batons were the kanji for chakra. With a smirk, he casted aside the scroll to the ground, which bounced on the ground when it stopped falling and began to roll a short distance from the class. Harusame tossed the clubs to the boys. Utakata caught his stick with ease in a quick swipe, while Naruto was practically his baton in his hands, the stick bouncing in up and down off his hands as he attempted to hold the baton in his hand. With a quick lunge, he secured the baton in his hands and released a breath in relief.
Got it! But what's wrong with this baton? I mean usually a baton wouldn't be this so hard to grab Naruto thought while looking at the baton that was nuzzled by his hands.
"Your next training exercise is simple" Harusame snorted. "Balance these batons vertically until sundown."
Naruto's eyes went from the baton to Harusame, to the baton, and back to Harusame. "Wait! How can anybody do that?" he yelled at his sensei.
"Not my problem" Harusame waved away his student's complaining and made a ram seal. Suddenly, his body began turning into liquid. The process began from his feet and slowly started to creep upwards, his aquatic body flowing in the wind a smile streaked across his face the whole time this occurred. In seconds, the old man's body was completely consumed by the air.
Naruto threw his hands in the air and growled to himself "Stupid Harusame, giving me a dumb riddle" the blond grumbled. He looked at Utakata and a bead of sweat dropped down the bottom of his head at what he was seeing. Utakata was sitting cross legged with his hands brought together with all his fingers pointing up while the baton was nearly perfectly still, with its first end pointing on his head the other positioning itself upwards.
"What are you doing?"
"What does it look like I'm doing" Utakata quipped at his classmate. Suddenly, the baton rolled off the boy's brown hair. Utakata shot a look of annoyance at the blond as he got up to retrieve his baton. Naruto's eyes followed his movements. From the minute the brown haired boy got up to the minute he returned to his place, once again with the baton balancing on his head.
How is he doing it? The blond questioned himself. Naruto walked towards Utakata's meditating body, and when he was close enough he dropped his body beside his classmate and imitated his sitting alignment. Every now and then, he would look over towards Utakata's silent body to adjust himself so his meditating stance as if he was looking at him for answers on a pop quiz.
When he just about copied Utakata's stance, Naruto placed the baton on his head the same position Utakata positioned the object. The blond smirked, thinking about how incredibly easy it seemed. But reality came in hard on the boy's head in the form of a perfectly round bump on his head. He gripped his head in pain; the baton barely rolled a foot away from the blond before it slowed to a halt. "Okay, let's try this again" he grumbled while rubbing his head as he returned to his stance.
The baton wasn't even in the air for a second before it came tumbling down upon his head once again. The wand once again created a bump on his head beside his previous bump, forming a matching pair of bumps upon his cranium. "Stupid training" he grumbled as he once again went to retrieve his item.
For minutes, the blond novice continued the process. But each time, he received a brand new bruise. Right now he was fuming. He couldn't do the exercise that he was assigned to do. His head ached from his bruises he had deserved; his face began to slowly throb in pain. Naruto snapped his neck towards Utakata's direction to observe his progress. It seemed as though the baton was steady in place on top of his head, with the exception of a couple of wiggles from the baton here and there.
"Unreal" Naruto whispered to himself in awe at Utakata's focus.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of observing the club finally dropped down on the brown hair boy's head thumping him on the head. He looked down upon his equipment, his forehead giving birth to a new coat of sweat. He rubbed his head where the baton had struck him, and traveled towards his baton. After retrieving the object he walked back towards where he was sitting and began settling down in his meditating stance.
Before he stacked the baton once again on his head, he turned to face Naruto's look and stopped his motion. "What do you want?"
"How the hell were you doing that?" Naruto yelled.
"I'm focusing my chakra" Utakata mumbled. The blond looked at Utakata as though he was crazy and asked Utakata a question he was really expecting:
"What's chakra?"
Utakata looked at him in a quizzical glance as though Naruto was joking. Even though he had no official training, besides today, he should at the very least have some sort of idea of what it was. "Y-you're serious?" Utakata asked.
"Just shut up and give me an answer!"
The elder student sighed and muttered something about dumb blonds before he continued to answer the question. It didn't seem as though him knowing what chakra is would help him, maybe more time of embarrassment would give this Naruto person a clue that he doesn't belong here. "Chakra is the combination of 2 forms of energy. Physical energy, which is energy gathered from bodily training, and spiritual energy, which you get from meditation and mental processes, like emotions. Mix it together and you get chakra."
The blond thought about what he had just heeded and smiled at the hint he was given "Thanks Utakata"
The boy rolled his eyes at his new classmate. "I only said that so when you messed up, Harusame-sensei can't say that I didn't help" he snorted.
A tick mark formed at the right temple of his head, just as I thought he was actually being nice Naruto thought infuriatingly. Naruto looked at his baton and reflected at Utakata's words as he returned to his spot and placed himself in his stance. When he first thought of exercise, he instantly recalled the running he just did and mentally shivered at the feelings of pain in his legs he experienced.
As he placed the baton on his head, he began thinking about the second part of Utakata's advice. When it came to emotions, his mind came to a blank. What did he mean? The blond clutched the pendant that was lying on his torso I'm beginning to miss gramps. Then a thought flashed in his mind, the answer to the last part of the definition became clear. Just as fast as the answer came to his mind, he released the baton.
He began to think about how he missed the only man who actually treated him as a member of his family. He remembered the feelings he had when he was living in Konoha. Though the inhabitants of Konoha wanted nothing to do with him, they probably hated every inch in his body. But seeing the old man's face, which held so much warmth whenever he sees him; to him it was all worth it.
But it seems as though he won't be able to see that face for a while. Suddenly, he began to feel a strange sensation in him that began to creep inside of him. It was at first boiling hot, to the point where Naruto wanted to retreat to reality to stop the burning. But something made him grasp onto this strange mental state of mind. The hotness began to slowly dissipate until it went from an uncomfortable burning to comforting warmth.
Naruto began to feel a sensation, as though he was covered by a blanket that was just recently ironed. At the moment he felt like no one could even touch let alone harm him. In a word: invincible. All of a sudden, he felt something slipped. What was that? Soon the concentration went by him and the feelings he was experiencing quickly evaporated.
Slowly, Naruto's creaked open his eyes. It was as though the world he was seeing was in high quality. The mist itself radiated its transparent colors, to his eyes the sun was barely covered by the mist. He looked around him, every object that fell upon his sights contrasted with amazing sharpness. Naruto was lost at words at what he was seeing.
Then he remembered why he had suddenly come to. He didn't have to look far at what had caused the interruption; his baton was once again on the ground. The blond looked at the abandoned stick for a while. He noticed that his breathing became more and more ragged, he felt as though he had once again completed another journey on the stairs but this time, it felt as though he was wearing weights during his imaginary run.
Naruto turned around to check up on Utakata's status. The brown haired boy looked back at the blond in disbelief. In fact, he was so incredibly surprised by the progress of the former Konoha citizen that his own baton toppled off the top of his head, bonking him on the had as the stick dropped to the ground. The object bounced twice, it didn't bounce anymore because the stick was once again in his hands.
The blond smiled and gave him a toothy smile which was supported by the peace sign aimed at his fellow student. "Hey I made the baton fall down later", this comment caused a tick mark to materialize on the back of Utakata's head. The elder boy released a breath of air that he was holding in to calm himself before returning to his trance, causing the baton to straighten.
Naruto turned his attention back at the baton ahead of him and sighed as he got up. When he reached his feet, he noticed that his body began to ache tremendously each minute he stood. The blond slowly picked up his leg and moved it slightly forward. Moving the leg blossomed flowers of pain over his body with each step. He grunted in pain and swallowed down his wanted screams of agony down his throat. With that one step, the baton was practically in his face, all that was needed was to bend over and retrieve it.
He leaned his body over to grasp the baton; every advancement of his hand was its own battle. Each inch brought pain to spread on his arm, but he wouldn't quit. Finally, the baton was in his grasp. Naruto panted as he brought the baton to his face and then snapped his head towards the sky to see that the yellow orb in the sky barely had a hint of orange.
I'm starting' to hate Harusame. The blond began the trek back to his position. But, the journey alone was pure torture; finally he sat back down in his lotus position. "Okay, let's concentrate" Naruto said to himself as he placed the stick back on his skull. Quickly, he clapped his hands together and began to search for the strange sensation he had discovered from the beginning.
Scene Change:
On the 5th floor of the Kiri Tower, Yagura was observing the two training through a window on his left with his arms folded across his chest. The Mizukage was leaning on part of the window with his left side. The whole time he had entered the tower, he stood out the window witnessing the two's training. But the focus of his examining was a certain blond. Even he had to admit the training Harusame was giving the boy was quite cruel.
As if on cue, a large droplet of water pulsed up from the wooden floor. Just as the artificial rain drop began to its decent towards the ground, it exploded into a hundred of smaller droplets. The water lightly tapped everything that was in its radius, including the outfit of Yagura. In the center of the body of water was the man he was just thinking about, Harusame looked at his leader with a smirk on his face.
Yagura turned towards his elder and sighed deeply, his face turned to a frown "You know that shunshin gets on my nerves" he complained with a tick mark pulsing at the temple of his head as the water from the old man's jutsu slipped off his face.
"Sorry, but it was too tempting to resist" he sneered as he walked towards the window until he was about an inch from the window and standing beside his comrade, and looked at the blond. The baton was standing perfectly still against his head. "Curious are you?"
"You can call it that" he smirked at his friend. "You know filling those batons up with chakra to unbalance their chakra control was a dirty trick. I'm beginning to question if Utakata is having trouble with the exercise."
"What? I was curious to see if that Naruto kid had what it takes to keep up" Harusame said simply while holding his hands up. For a while the two observe the blond and noticed a thin outline of blue chakra drape over the boy's body. The blue coating was so radiating that it even covered the baton in its grasp. "I'm impressed; I didn't think he would grasp the concept of chakra so quickly"
Yagura looked at his pocket and retrieved a scroll that had the kanji for aura on a blue tag. The scroll itself was elegantly shaped. It was about as thick as a regular scroll, and greatly resembled an hour glass "I thank you Harusame for lightly awakening Naruto's potential with the training he received. For it will be needed for what shall happen next at sundown"
Harusame looked at his friend and smirked. "Considering the progress he made just by my training, I wonder what shall become of the new member of Kiri" It seemed as though his words hit a brick wall considering that the young kage focus was on the scroll entirely.
His eyes traced the scroll back and forth of the scroll, as though he could unravel the contents of the scroll with his purple spheres. Slowly he raised his free hand towards the scroll, and clasped his hand on the scroll his finger slide towards the edge of the scroll, in the act of opening the scroll. But the paper didn't open even as a tiny spark of white colored lightning ignited on the scroll, shocking the Mizukage's hand; making him withdraw his opening hand.
So the Hokage-sanma was correct; only Naruto can unravel the scroll.
Flashback:
"The terms of the transfer of Uzumaki Naruto to Konoha are complete" Homura announced to the congressmen of Kiri and Konoha. It had been a trudging effort from both sides to settle the details of the transfer that will accommodate to both lands, which took hours but it was done. Yagura was incredibly wiped from the discussion and now was the time to leave the room, bidding farewell to their new allies in arms.
There was a tradition that was done to mark a new chapter of alliances with shinobi lands. The land holding the conference will line up, from the three representatives of the council standing side by side in a straight line, leading to the door of the, having the kage of the land at the end of the line. The visitors will walk down the line shaking every member of the line's hand.
Harusame stood up from his seat followed by the Mizukage. As they walked down the line, the members of the Konoha council shook the hands of their new allies, giving them comments about how excited they were to be comrades; with the exception of Danzo who said nothing and grudingly shook their hands while glaring holes on their foreheads. The two ignored his looks and went on to the man he called them here.
Hiruzen smiled as he shook both their hands at once "It will be an honor to work at your side" the senior kage commented. The Kiri men smiled respectively back and continued shaking his hand. The Hokage ceased his shaking and let go of both of their hands. He turned his head towards the Mizukage. "Yagura may I have a word with you?"
Harusame turned towards his leader, Yagura turned to face his friend and nodded his head in a way to dismiss his comrade. "Fine, but don't spend more than an hour here" he instructed his leader like a child as he walked down the hall.
The Hokage turned to his left "May we have some privacy?" he asked. Homura and Koharu nodded and walked out of the room, followed by Danzo who looked back at the two kages as though he wanted to stay in the room to listen to the upcoming conversation. But orders were orders and he didn't need more critics on his methods.
When the doors closed, Yagura looked at the old man there was silence when the doors closed. Finally, curiosity got the best of him "So what have you brought me here to talk about?" he asked.
"About Naruto" he said simply.
"What about him?"
The Hokage materialized his pipe and inserted the pipe in his mouth and inhaled. When he exhaled, he made sure his face was pointed to the side "There is no doubt that once he has accepted Kirigakure as his new home, he will attempt to become the preceding Mizukage." He informed the junior.
Yagura nodded. "This is why he shall train with Harusame"
"That's not the reason why I have called you here." Hiruzen continued. He walked closer to the conference table. "I am not obligated to reveal the identity of Naruto's family, but I can say that his family was actually a clan."
The Mizukage raised his eyebrow at this statement, and faced the Hokage. "That's remarkable, and you want to openly hand him to Kiri?" he asked critically.
"I'm the only person who has this information about Naruto, the rest have already died' Hiruzen stated plainly. "Now then, there is reason to suspect that Naruto has the kenkai genkai of that clan."
"How did you deduce that?"
"It's known that a member of Naruto's clan has an extraordinary amount of chakra. You witnessed the magnitude of his chakra just by looking at him isn't that right?"
"Yes I have" he answered. He thought back at his meeting with the boy. Not many know this about him, but he is a sensor. Just by looking at him, he had a raging amount of chakra crammed up inside of him, in fact to him, his stomach was radiating chakra. Then it came to him. "So you expect me to unlock this power for you, correct?"
The Hokage nodded slowly and went in his robe pockets and went shuffling in his pockets for an item while he was holding his pipe with his teeth. Finally he withdrew a scroll that resembled an hourglass and had a blue tag with the kanji for aura on it. "This scroll represents the techniques members of his clan can learn." He said as he took on more look at the scroll before handing it off to the Mizukage.
Yagura inspected the scroll, it was light and it emitted off a feeling of ancient flow by touching it. The young man went to unravel the scroll, but was caught short by a small spark of white lightning electrocuting his hands making him retreat his advancing fingers.
Sarutobi Hiruzen looked at him "The scroll will only open for members of Naruto's clan, no one else may open the scroll" he said.
End of Flashback
Yagura continued looking at the scroll. We shall see what this mysterious clan has to offer.
-End of Chapter-
9526: What could be hidden in the scroll that was entrusted to Yagura by the Hokage, find out on the next chapter? Don't forget to comment and review!