AN: Another chapter done, and I'm still waiting on suggestions for what Naruto can do before he starts the academy (or even during it). So far, I've only got a few things: An adventure in a swamp with hostile swamp creatures, going to Iron Country to see if they can find any weapon-type spirits (tsukumogami), and one time a powerful youkai kidnaps Naruto from the forest to eat him. I would really appreciate it if you guys could either flesh these ideas out or add some ideas of your own, please, it would be a big help for me. Ah, another thing, two things actually. First off, Madara Uchiha and Madara the inugami have absolutely nothing to do with each other (the former is a Naruto character and the latter is from Natsume Yuujinchou). Madara is in fact a rather common Japanese name for dogs, their equivalent of calling a dog 'Spot' or such like. Next thing, how powerful Naruto is. Is he going to be stronger than canon? Obviously yes. Is he going to curb stomp everything in his path? Hell no! His taijutsu will be good but not exceptional (suffering from a lack of a specific style), and by the time he learns ninjutsu, he'll have trouble with human techniques because of the way he was taught youkai techniques. Also, his youkai techniques won't instantly win him any fights, currently their more for utility than anything else, like a reading light, basic psychokinesis, etcetera.
There's a forum link on my profile, or you can use this: topic/139203/149040634/1/General-Spirit-s-Balance-Discussion
Beta'd by: The trolling SnarkLord
Chapter 5 - Mizuchi
Naruto looked on in wonder as the land of fire was laid out below him like a living map, though it was so much more than just that. He could see everything for hundreds of miles around, and more than that, he could see things shift and move. He could see flocks of birds (and even some bird type youkai flying at a lower altitude).
He could see mountains, and even one – that he had to take a second look at – youkai pretending to be a mountain! The sheer power it must have to not only be a physical part of the landscape, especially with as large as it was, but to also force regular humans to ignore its obviously non-mountainous features… It chilled Naruto to the bone.
It also brought to life just how real youkai were to him. They were not the 'monsters' he'd thought of them as before, and they were not 'human' by any stretch of the imagination, no matter how many traits of his race they echoed. No, they were beings that existed alongside humanity, but who followed different rules, whose minds and bodies were not things that could be easily comprehended by a human.
They were youkai, and that was that.
It wouldn't change how he interacted with them. He wasn't suddenly afraid of them, but neither did have a sudden respect for them – anyone who'd seen the kappa playing around and having fun would have trouble with this. What he had was an understanding of them.
"It's so beautiful." Naruto murmured, looking at the country from high in the air. "Now, where's the Valley of the End?"
"Ahead of us, look for the waterfall and statues." Madara told him.
"I think I can see the mist from the waterfall." Naruto said. "I'm guessing that's where we're going to start the search for this water youkai?"
The closest kappa nodded their head. "Yeah, yeah! Power gathers at waterfalls, so it's the best place to look for powerful, higher level youkai."
"Huh? I didn't know that." Naruto commented, to which Madara snorted.
"Significant places always gather power." He told the blonde. "Waterfalls, the centres of forests, the peaks of the highest mountains, the depths of the earth, the centres of lakes, and so on and so forth. I'd be surprised to not find a youkai or two in such places."
"So shouldn't there already be something at the Valley then, before this 'new' youkai moved here?" Naruto wondered.
Madara snorted. "That valley wasn't always what it is now, and is actually younger than your home village. It was formed when two ninjas fought each other – don't ask me who, I don't remember – and so to us youkai, it's really new, so it's not to surprising that no one has taken it for their own until now."
Naruto was silent as he thought about that.
To really old beings, just how little did years mean? The old men around the village, Naruto had heard, complained about 'kids these days', 'back in the day', and stuff like that. How then would something that was hundreds of years old, or more, see the paltry few years that Naruto had been alive, or even how old the ninja villages were?
"Pay attention, kid." Madara called out to Naruto. "We're almost there, and it'd be a shame for you to get eaten because you weren't paying attention, at least not before you can buy me more manju."
Naruto smiled. "I'll keep that in mind if I ever need your help again."
"Heh, you got yourself a deal, blondie." Madara chuckled, before heading back starting to descend.
xxxxx
Akiko, Naruto's teacher, had a troubled look on her face.
Even though it had dried, she could still see the webbed hand print on Naruto's homework. It didn't look like a purposefully done prank, it was too irregularly shaped for that, and she could even see the contours of the 'hand'. Naruto also wasn't one for mischief, he was too focused for that.
She was actually reminded of the rumours she'd heard about Naruto, how he told tales of invisible monsters no one but he could see. Was this, somehow, proof of Naruto's claim? He'd calmed down quite a bit in the last half a year, and if he'd found a 'monster' friend, or one that at least protected him…
Of course, the real question wasn't about that, it was what was she going to do now? She could just ignore it, that was the simplest option, and everyone would just get on with their lives. She could bring her 'evidence' to a higher power, the headmaster of the school, the village education board, or even the Hokage, and allow them to deal with it.
However, Naruto was her favourite student, and while not everyone in the village hated the blonde child, there was most definitely animosity directed at him from other people, and she didn't know who bought into that hostility and who didn't, so passing on this information could be bad for Naruto.
That left, what, confronting Naruto herself? What would she even say to him? 'Hey, Naruto, there's a webbed hand print on your homework, did a monster touch it?' That sounded ridiculous… but Naruto was a child, and so asking directly might be the easiest way to get an answer.
But then what?
If Naruto's 'monsters' turned out to be real, what would she do? She couldn't see them herself. Heck, as Naruto was the only one who had ever mentioned them, maybe he was the only one who could see them! So what then? If they'd been around as long as she imagined they had, if they actually were real, then they weren't particularly harmful to humans, were they?
Even Naruto, who could see them, had never been physically harmed by them, only scared.
Akiko sighed and groaned in frustration. She was a civilian teacher for goodness sake, not even a ninja instructor! Honestly, what was she doing contemplating the existence of invisible spirits that may or may not exist? Still, her own damned curiosity wouldn't let her leave it alone, so she had two choices; either she confronted Naruto herself, or passed it up the chain.
Which one should she go for?
xxxxx
With his feet firmly on the ground, Naruto looked at the Valley of the End from a different perspective. Whereas from above, the statues either side of the waterfall had looked large, now they were absolutely massive. Hundreds of feet tall, they loomed menacingly above the shorter than average five year old, despite the fact he was stood on a ledge that was about chest high to them.
Madara sniffed the air. "There is definitely something here, and it's no weakling either."
"Is it really close?" Naruto asked. "Can you smell which direction it's in?"
Madara nodded. "Yeah, it's close, and it's downwards, at the bottom of the waterfall."
Naruto looked over the edge and gulped at how far down it was. However, he couldn't see anywhere to stand down there either. He said as much to Madara, who shrugged his shoulders.
"Humans have a trick that lets them walk on water, though I've no idea how they do so myself." He said.
"I know that one!" One of the Kappa offered. "They… erm… they push their chakra out through their feet! Dunno how that makes them walk on water though, but that's how they do it!"
Naruto frowned. "Wait, I thought chakra made them stick to things, isn't that how they run up and down trees and walls?"
"Maybe it does both?" One of the kappa guessed.
"But sticking and pushing off are opposites of each other." A confused Naruto mumbled.
"We can find out how they do it later." Benio commented. "Just have the kappa spy on one of the newer genin teams and see what their teachers tell them to do. Weren't we supposed to be checking out rumours of a strong youkai right now?"
"But how can we check it out?" Naruto asked. "I can't get down there, and even if I could, I can't stand on water. I don't think the kappa will be happy to go alone either."
Madara huffed. "Well, we could always try and get their attention." He said, before taking a deep breath.
Madara then howled as loudly as he could, the sound echoing all around the Valley of the End.
As the sound faded, Benio turned to Madara with an incredulous expression on her face. "Did you really just do that?" She asked. "We have a powerful youkai who has just moved into the area, and you go and disturb them without even trying to find out anything more about them?"
"I'm no weakling, we'll be fine." Madara huffed in response, with Naruto making a mental note about the inugami's pride.
"Well you definitely got their attention." Naruto commented, drawing the two's attention to the large body of water below them that was now roiling and shifting as whatever was below it rose to the surface.
First, a serpentine head rose out of the water, followed by a similarly formed body. Large fins, or perhaps wings, appeared next, and kept on rising, higher, and higher, and higher.
Naruto was frozen in shock. This youkai… it's head was larger than Madara was, it looked like it could swallow him whole in a single bite, and despite having risen up to the same level they were stood at, the back end of its body had yet to leave the water. Just how large was this water dragon?
"A mizuchi." Benio breathed quietly. "I had thought that they'd all died out."
"Who is it that disturbs me now?" The massive creature grumbled, though Naruto thought it sounded rather tired in all honesty.
"Ah, Naruto, save us!" The kappa cried out, diving behind a confused Naruto, who wanted to know why they hid behind him instead of Madara.
"Um, hello there." Naruto started off awkwardly. "Er, sorry about disturbing you. We heard rumours about a new youkai moving in and decided to come say… hello to our new neighbour." Naruto's explanation had the lilt of a question to it, as he wasn't exactly sure what he was saying.
"A… human?" The mizuchi murmured, looking at Naruto. "One that can see me?"
"Um, yeah, my name's Naruto, what's yours?"
"My name… it is Ran." The mizuchi replied.
"Water Lily, huh?" Benio commented. "Appropriate."
"Well, it's nice to meet you, Ran." Naruto waved at the mizuchi, who appeared bemused by the blonde child. "Um, I hope you don't mind me asking, but why did you move here?"
"I am not offended, Naruto." The mizuchi shook her head. "As for why I am here? I got fed up. Previously, I resided in Water Country, but the incessant fighting there annoyed me. I decided to find somewhere away from humans who did nothing but kill each other until the water I resided in turned red with their blood, and I found this place which is rich in power, and even better than that, currently uninhabited."
"I didn't know there was that much fighting going on in Water Country." Naruto said. "I mean, the third war was over years ago, wasn't it?"
Ran huffed. "They fight amongst themselves. On one side are those whose blood tastes normal for a human, and the other side has strange flavours to their blood." She shook her massive head. "I should know, their life fluid soaked my waters until I could hardly get the taste out of my mouth."
"Their… blood had flavours?" Naruto wondered.
"Bloodlines." Madara was the one to explain that. "Unique abilities and affinities that are passed down from parent to child. Your village is full of them, you could probably even name the clans with bloodlines."
"Ah, you mean like the Uchiha, the Hyuuga, and so on?" Naruto asked.
"The red eyes and the white eyes, yes." Benio confirmed, having learned human stuff alongside Naruto as she was with him in his lessons, albeit as a butterfly that rested on his head. Those two were amongst the most well known clans of Konoha, and even the civilian children knew about them, along with those such as the Senju and Sarutobi.
"Wait, does that mean the clans are fighting with their village in Water Country?" Naruto asked. "Why would they do that?"
The mizuchi shrugged, the motion rolling along her serpentine body. "I neither know, nor do I care. I would not have bothered with it if they kept it away from me, but I absolutely refuse to remain in those tainted waters any longer, it is unhygienic!"
"Okay, I guess that's your choice." Naruto said. "Well, it was nice to meet you anyway! If you feel like visiting, I live in Konoha, which is that way." He pointed towards the village. "Though I don't know how you'd get there, the rivers are smaller than this one is."
"I appreciate the offer, little one." The mizuchi said. "However, I am powerful enough to transform myself if I wish to, and can shrink myself to a more reasonable size. Do not be a stranger here yourself, I received few enough visitors before, and hearing any stories you can tell me would be wonderful."
"Okay then." Naruto replied. "I only really know a few stories about the village, but I'll see if I can find out some others for you."
"I look forward to an exchange of words with you." Ran bowed her head. "For now though, I need to rest and recover. Farewell, Naruto."
With that, Ran sank back beneath the water.
Naruto turned to the others. "Did you guys know about anything happening in Water Country? This sounds really important."
"I've been with you all the time, brat, if you didn't hear anything, how could I?" Benio shrugged.
"I rarely leave the forest, what would I hear, and why would I care what humans do to one another?" Madara added.
"We've heard nothing, but we can find out!" One of the kappa chimed in. "There's loads of kappa in Water Country, so we can send a message to them and see what they can tell us."
"How are you going to send a message?" Naruto asked.
One of the kappa shrugged. "Plenty of bird-type youkai love flying all over the place, one of them will be happy to take it for us."
"Huh, that's pretty cool actually." Naruto said. "I wonder which is faster, ninja courier or bird youkai?"
"That's really great and everything, but can we head back now?" Madara interrupted them. "There's a bag full of manju just waiting for me back there."
"Very well, we did what we came here to do, let's go." Benio said, chivvying the kappa and Naruto onto Madara's back.
"Okay." Chorused Naruto and the kappa.
xxxxx
The next day, when Naruto went to school, he noticed that the teacher looked rather distracted, and she kept shooting him looks as well for some reason. He racked his brain to think about anything he might have done to cause that, but kept coming up with a blank.
At lunch, when he asked her, Benio couldn't think of anything either, and told him not to worry about it and just take things as they came. If the teacher had a problem with Naruto, well, they'd just have to straighten things out with her, wouldn't they? It wasn't likely that simply him being Naruto was a problem for her, she hadn't been acting like that just the day before.
It wasn't until the end of the day that they got an answer though, when she asked Naruto to stay behind for a few minutes.
As the other children filed out of the room, Naruto stood before the teacher's desk, and waited until all of the other kids had gone before asking her why she'd held him back and if he'd done something wrong.
"No, at least I don't think you have." Akiko answered him. "It's just, as I was marking homework last night, I found something unexpected on yours, a hand print of sorts. It's just, this hand print wasn't normal, it was webbed, like a frog's feet are."
Naruto paused, realising that one of the kappa must have left a hand print on his homework when they'd been asking him to come play with them. He hadn't noticed at the time, as he'd just finished his homework and was glad to have friends to play with.
"Now, Naruto, I'm not going to get mad, I'm not going to shout, and this is just between you and me, okay?" Akiko took a breath. "The… 'monsters' that I've heard you apparently talk about, they're… real, aren't they?" She stumbled over her words, as if she wasn't quite sure about the words that were coming out of her own mouth.
Slowly, hesitantly, Naruto nodded his head. "They say that they're actually youkai." He told her, though his voice was barely louder than a whisper.
"They do?" Akiko asked, before seeing how Naruto was looking. "Listen, Naruto, I understand that this might be hard to talk about." Goodness knows, no one had ever believed him before. "Still, while this feels really weird to me, I'm not calling you a liar. However, I'd like to know how you can see them, if the… youkai ever told you that."
"They don't know how I can see them, it confuses them too." Naruto answered, his voice regaining some of its strength. "They said that people with the sight have pretty much died out, and that they only know of one person who might be able to see, and they're in Demon Country."
"I see, and are there any youkai around right now?" Akiko asked.
"Only Benio here." Naruto indicated the butterfly on his head.
Akiko looked confused. "I thought youkai were invisible monsters only you could see?"
"Benio doesn't normally look like this." Naruto told her. "Stronger youkai can transform into things visible to humans, or even reveal themselves as they are. Here, watch Benio as she turns back into her true form."
Obligingly, Benio cancelled her transformation, returning back to her female human-like form. To Akiko, it appeared as if the butterfly had suddenly vanished into thin air, and she whipped around looking for wherever it had gone. "Wha-"
"Benio's not the weakest youkai, but she's not super strong either, so she can only appear to humans as a small creature, and she likes to be a butterfly or dragonfly more than she likes being an 'ugly and unappealing bug'."
Akiko saw the butterfly then reappear on Naruto's head, settling back on his hair.
"Yesterday, you kept looking out of the window, and I couldn't see anything when I tried to look, was that a youkai thing too?" She asked.
"Yeah." Naruto admitted. "The kappa had heard a rumour of a strong water youkai being in the area, and they were gathering loose change to buy manju to bribe Madara with, so he'd take us to the Valley of the End."
"Madara? Valley of the End?" Akiko had so many questions racing around inside her head.
"Yeah, Madara's an inugami, and he's one of the strongest who lives nearby." Naruto told her, getting a bit more excited as he shared some of what he knew with another human, even if she was an adult! "The Valley of the End is where the youkai was, a huge mizuchi called Ran."
"That's nice." Akiko told him, in the tone of one who wasn't really sure how to respond. "So youkai are your friends?"
"Some of them are." Naruto replied. "I've been told stories of some of the nastier ones though, and I'm going to have to learn how to look after myself before I meet any of them."
Akiko inwardly raised an eyebrow. Hadn't he said, just a moment ago, that he'd gone looking for a new youkai at the Valley of the End? Or did he think that was safe because he had other youkai with him at the time.
While Akiko had prepared herself to at least try and accept that there might be more to the world than she knew before the previous night, she'd not quite expected as much as Naruto was telling her. She'd thought, perhaps hoped, that if spirits actually existed, they'd be weak little apparitions that could do little more than scare someone, or might perhaps be as strong as a civilian, but it sounded like they were so much more than that.
Akiko sighed. "Naruto, I just have a few questions for you. Do you think you can answer them for me?"
"Yeah, sure." Naruto responded.
"Right, first off, are you safe with the youkai?" She asked.
"I am, Hinoe's even teaching me some awesome stuff, even if it's not very useful in a fight yet." Naruto nodded.
Ignoring whoever this 'Hinoe' was, or what sort of youkai she must be, Akiko asked her next question. "Now, are you happy with the youkai?"
"Of course I am." Naruto confirmed. "Benio here is always with me, Hinoe is teaching me stuff, and I play with the kappa and kogitsune. I also get along with Madara, Riou, and others as well."
"Good." Akiko replied, even if most of those names meant nothing to her. "Now, is there anything you need that they youkai can't provide for you?"
"Nothing that I know of." Naruto told her. "Everything seems fine to me."
"Alright then, Naruto, thank you for telling me this." Akiko smiled at the boy. "I won't pretend that I understand anything about your… situation, but just know that if there's anything you need, and the youkai can't get it for you, come to me, and I'll see what I can do, okay?"
"Okay." Agreed Naruto. He was just about to turn and leave when he paused, and an odd look crossed his face, before he asked her something himself. "Oh, Benio asks if you know why the villagers don't really like me that much."
"I… do know why." Akiko hesitantly replied. "However, I can't tell you. The Sandaime made it a law that no one is supposed to talk about it. I think he meant for you to have a more normal childhood than you did, but… Anyway, while I can't tell you why you're disliked, I can say that it's not something you did yourself, and your parents, if my guess is right, have nothing to do with it either."
"My parents? You know who they are?" Naruto asked, eager to hear more, but was disappointed when Akiko shook her head.
"I don't know who they are, but if I were to guess, I'd say your mother is probably someone named Kushina Uzumaki. I could be wrong though, I have no way to be sure." She gave Naruto a sad smile, but he only grinned in response.
"Thank you, sensei!" He called out, waving to her. "It's more than I've ever heard before, so thank you."
Akiko smiled as she watched Naruto walk out of the door, but once he was out of sight, she slumped in her seat. Seeing that child so happy to hear about his parents, only for her to give him what amounted to a guess, it was heart-breaking. Such a happy young child deserved so much more than that.
To think, as well, that it wasn't even humans who were looking after him now, but youkai. What did it say about her species that another race entirely were looking after one of their own, one that was reviled and scorned in his own village, his own home.
"I am so not the person to deal with this." She muttered under her breath.
However, regardless of her aptitude, she was the one who had chosen to deal with this.
xxxxx
Naruto's birthday came, and as she promised, Hinoe watched over him as he created his first potion. He didn't ask where she got the metal pots he was using from, just like he'd stopped asking where all those scrolls of hers came from, she would just give him a mysterious smile and evasive answer like she always did.
"How are things going, Naruto?" Hinoe asked, keeping an eye on him.
"The tree bark is boiling, and the water's turning yellow. That means it's going well." Naruto said, looking at one that was essentially some sort of tea. "I've crushed the herbs I need and separated them into different small bowls. I've crushed the berries I need, and extracted the juice. Finally, Riou gave me a small vial of his blood to act as the spiritual reactant, as I'm not yet good enough to infuse it with my own spiritual energy."
"Very good." Hinoe praised him. "Now, while you add the next reagent, can you tell me how many doses this will make, and how to safely consume them?"
"I'm making enough for twenty doses." Naruto told her, adding the thyme. "Each dose should last around four hours, and I shouldn't take more than three doses per day, less if I take other potions."
"Well done, Naruto." Hinoe smiled at him. "Now, this particular potion has a rather weak effect, and won't make you drastically stronger, faster, or more durable than you normally are. The advantages of it are that it's a very simple one to make, doesn't require extreme precision, and has very minor side effects if you overdose on it."
"I know." Naruto said. "I want to work on healing potions next though."
"I'll consider it." Hinoe told him. "However, even the simplest of healing potions is far more complex and delicate than fortifying draughts."
"I know." Naruto sighed, before cheering up. "I'm just glad that Akiko-sensei got me some ninja-grade poison vials for my birthday."
"Well you don't want them to break, do you?" Hinoe shrugged. "A potion is useless if you can't drink it."
"Maybe I can thank her by making her some tea." Naruto considered. "Hey, there's some teas which are really good for you, aren't there?"
"There are, Naruto, even humans know that." Hinoe chuckled. "However… there are a few things we can do to make them more effective. Perhaps we can use that as your next little project instead of health potions, it's a much smaller step up in terms of difficulty."
"Yeah, I'll do that then." Naruto affirmed, before going back to checking on his potion's progress.
"Hmm." Hinoe hummed to herself, keeping an eye on Naruto and his brewing. "While we wait for the next step to be ready, why don't you practise with light a bit more? I heard from Benio that you'd thought of a way to practise both motion and light at the same time, care to share?"
"Huh? Oh, that." Naruto perked up. "Well, I thought that, if a single blast blows things away, then a constant one should keep things in place, no? Than, if I use my force gloves to hover the light ball above my hand, while at the same time controlling the light, then it'll let me train both abilities at once. Is that right?"
"Yes, that would work." Hinoe told him. "You're quite a bit away from that though. Splitting your focus is something you should only do when you know what you are doing with each individual action. You are months away from having that level of proficiency. Before you practise two different expressions of power, though, it's best to try it with one first."
"What?" Naruto asked, rather bluntly, not understanding what she was saying.
Hinoe sighed. "Rather than going for motion and light at the same time, try two motion effects instead, like this." With that, a small pebble rose up in front of Hinoe, before moving side to side, and then slowly drawing a circle in the air in front of her.
"I used two motion effects to do that." She explained. "One very vertical movement, and another for horizontal. Once you've learned how to control motion in bursts, you'll learn to control it as a constant release, and only after that will you learn to remotely control something else. You have a very long way to go until you get to that point, Naruto."
"If you say so." Naruto shrugged.
It had taken him about six months to work out how to separate his spiritual and physical chakra, use it as a sort of force blast, and also use it to light up a ball. Given that this was all ground work which he would later build on with more complex skills, it wasn't really that surprising that it would probably take him years to become at all accomplished in their use.
"Hey, Hinoe, you told me that light, heat, and motion were the easiest to control. If they're the easiest, that means there's more complex stuff, what is it?" Naruto piped up.
Hinoe narrowed her eyes. "I will tell you, Naruto, but only if you promise me that you won't mess around with them until I say you're good and ready for it. The other expressions of energy are very dangerous, and not to be trifled with."
"I promise." Naruto said, a serious expression on his face.
Hinoe contemplated actually telling him or not, but after a moment sighed. "The other expressions of energy youkai use are sound, corrosive, and raw power, and I don't ever want to hear of you messing around with them carelessly, especially not the last one."
"Um, okay." Naruto agreed. "But, how is sound dangerous? I get that corrosive energy destroys stuff, and I guess in its raw state energy is… difficult to handle, but what's so bad about sound?"
"Let me show you." Hinoe told him, before levitating three pebbles in the air in front of her.
"First, the most unpredictable, raw power." The first stone exploded with a bang, making Naruto jump. "While it is useful, allowing someone to do amazing things, like summon youkai, create barriers, and do numerous other things, it has a tendency to explode if handled incorrectly."
"Secondly, corrosive." The second stone suddenly hissed, before it began to fragment, eaten away at like it had been dissolved in a powerful acid. "Corrosive energy is difficult to create, as you have to condense your power quite a bit to use it, but once that's been done, there's very little that can stop it, and I've known youkai lose limbs and their lives when they've been careless with it."
"Thirdly, sound." The last stone, to Naruto's great surprise, shattered, and flew everywhere like shrapnel. "Another way of putting it is that sound is pressure, and despite how simple it sounds to use, and it is fairly easy to produce, it is very difficult to direct, as it naturally wants to expand outwards from the point of origin."
"Okay, no messing around with what I don't understand, got it." Naruto said, his voice slightly higher pitched than normal, his wide eyes still locked on where the third pebble had been, before it had been subjected to Hinoe's attack.
"Good." Hinoe nodded. "Now, keep an eye on your potion, we don't want your efforts to go to waste, do we?"
Naruto nearly snapped his own neck with the speed he turned towards the pot full of boiling bark, and seeing it ready for the next step, got to it.
Hinoe settled down, watching her student, and relaxed after the strain using her power like that had caused her. She much preferred to stick to complex, if less energy intensive, skills.
Still, she'd teach Naruto everything she knew, and see what choices he made in the future.