AN: Another chapter, and the next logical step in Naruto's development. The next chapter should be quite obvious regarding what it's going to be about, and after that it will be the second and last mini-arc before ninja school! I'm sure all of you have been dying to see the more regular cast of Naruto turning up, so don't worry, they'll be there. I don't know how close Naruto will be with any of them, but we'll see what happens, 'kay?
Beta'd by: The trolling SnarkLord
Chapter 13 – Relaxation and Focus
Naruto grumbled to himself as he continued practising his shape manipulation and nature transformation. While he could make a fireball the size of a tangerine with but a thought, and those that were between the size of an apple and a small melon were doable, he couldn't make one that was both football sized and stable.
The concept was rather simple. All he had to do was pour enough fire-natured reiryoku out of his hand to make a sphere big enough, grab it, compress it, and spin it. Voilà! You had a spinny ball of doom-fire that, if made unstable enough, would explode when thrown.
However, as soon as said spinny ball of doom was made larger than his fist, it had a tendency to collapse inwards on itself and explode prematurely. Thankfully, the basic medical potions Hinoe made – which he wasn't skilled enough to make himself yet – healed the burn marks he kept getting from such accidents.
He'd tried several different ways of reinforcing his 'magic ball', beyond simply repeating the same thing over and over again until it just had to work. His first attempt had been to create a smaller, more dense sphere of reiryoku as a 'core' for the technique, but that simply made the explosion that much more spectacular when it did fail.
His second attempt at improving it had been inspired by cart wheels. He had made denser 'spokes' that were supposed to support the reiryoku construct from within. However, while these did work a little, they tended to act more like shrapnel than anything else when the sphere, inevitably, collapsed in on itself once more.
As things stood, the only way that Naruto could see of actually getting this damn thing to work was to solidify a 'shell' of reiryoku at the edge of the ball, and that meant more control exercises for him. The way Naruto's youkai 'jutsu' worked meant that they relied completely on his mental focus and ability, meaning new techniques were difficult, yet when they became familiar enough to him, it didn't take any focus at all to make them work, as forming them that way was now a 'habit' or something approximating that at least.
Still, his fireballs were awesome, even as small as they are, and he'd taken to juggling them as entertainment for the kappa and some of the other youkai. He'd even figured out how to make them different colours, and also how to make them switch colours while still active as well.
He'd earned a rather surprising amount of money by going around some of the villages and towns in Fire Country and putting on a performance every now and then.
Dismissing the fireball for now, Naruto decided to try working on something else to avoid becoming too frustrated by his lack of progress in that area. With this in mind, he turned to working on his shiki. His human form shikigami were functional, and actually usable in a battle setting, and his falcon shiki were good for delivering messages, if nothing else yet.
In the months since he'd managed that, he'd also made his first lot of wolf form shiki! They were very clumsy at first, but once he'd worked out how they were supposed to move, he'd taken to riding them all over the forest. It was exhilarating to ride them, going at speeds he couldn't go by himself. They were even large enough that he'd be able to ride them when he was an adult.
Of course, after this breakthrough, his skills with shikigami had reached another plateau. So, rather than eking out minor improvements here and there, he'd focused his shikigami development in an entirely different direction, one inspired by his tsukumogami friends from Iron Country.
Pulling out a short bit of wood from his pocket, Naruto used a sharp knife to etch the required symbols into it. Once he thought he had it right, he put the knife back into its sheath and stood up. Taking a breath, he channelled his reiryoku into the bit of branch and hoped for the best.
Instantly extending from each side of the roughly cylindrical bit of wood grasped in his left hand, two black 'arms' formed, twisting back on themselves and then turning slightly outwards again. From the tips of each 'arm', a thin black thread appeared, growing until it met in the middle and fused into a single string.
Grinning, Naruto looked at the shikigami bow he now held in his hands. It was longer than he was tall, but then again it was supposed to, that's how yumi bows were made after all. He'd already solved the problem of arrows as well. While he couldn't yet make a 'flame javelin', he could make a 'flame arrow', which was less than half the length a javelin was.
Taking a breath once again, Naruto began to form a fire dart in his right hand. Slowly, he began to lengthen it, even making it spin clockwise to make the shape easier to maintain. Eventually, the flame arrow was long enough to be put onto the bowstring.
Spreading his feet, he raised the bow and drew back the string, the arrow 'nocked' in place. Taking aim at a target he'd constructed and placed at the edge of the lake the kappa lived in, he released the bowstring.
Thud.
The arrow impacted the target, and while it was not the centre, Naruto was happy that at least it was working like it was meant to. He could work on accuracy whenever he had spare time, but right now, the bow actually worked like he wanted it to! Also, given that it was a shikigami rather than an actual bow, he could make it stronger when he had more arm strength in the future, meaning the arrow would travel faster, keeping it as a valid weapon to use against faster and stronger opponents.
Now for the final test!
Being as gentle as he could, Naruto withdrew his reiryoku from his shiki-bow. In the same way it had been formed, the black substance that all shiki were made of began to retreat back into itself. The bowstring split in half and shrank into the arms, which proceeded to shrink into the wooden core of the shikigami.
When the bare wood was revealed, rather than instantly disintegrating as paper talismans tended to do, the wood was cracked through with black veins of… something. Well, at least the bow hadn't completely disappeared yet, though judging by the way the cracks were spreading, this type of wood at least was no good for repeated use of his shiki-bow technique. Perhaps Hinoe or someone else would know of a material that could withstand repeated applications of reiryoku.
It was progress though, and if he learned how to accurately aim his bow while riding one of his wolf shiki, then Naruto believed he had succeeded in making himself a mobile and effective fighter. It was rather ironic that horse archers were more synonymous with samurai when he was on the path to becoming a ninja.
Slowly and steadily though, he would get there eventually. It had taken him almost two years to get to this point, and while he was approaching the level of a fresh genin, he wasn't there yet, and he wouldn't be for a while either. He had to be careful about how he went about strength and stamina training at such a young age after all, he didn't want to stunt his growth or anything, and while that left him as a rather physically fit almost seven year old, that was in comparison to others his own age, and not even at the level of those three to five years older than him, the actual genin.
On top of that, Naruto's skills so far were focused on basic weapon usage – as far as using his tsukumogami and things like clubs and shields went – and the few basic 'ninjutsu' style techniques he had went – which so far amounted to low-level fire manipulation and 'force blasts'. He had supplementary skills as well, trapping and potions, but they were support techniques rather than active ones.
Maybe it really was time to start delving into illusions and other misdirection techniques? They'd certainly be useful.
"You look focused, Naruto." A male voice commented from the tree branches above and behind him, making the blonde spin on the spot.
"Shin?" Naruto asked, catching sight of the one and only bakaneko in the forest. "Hi there, you startled me for a moment."
"You were as focused as you ever are." Shin shook his head. "Pay more attention to your surroundings or you are going to end up dead, Naruto. Ninjas must always be aware of a potential threat."
"I guess." Naruto mumbled.
"So what is on your mind?" Shin asked. "Is it just your archery, or is it something else? Has Tsurara's attempts at moulding you as she wants gotten to you? Has Madara annoyed Misuzu again?"
Naruto grimaced at that. It turned out that 'secret project' of Tsurara's had been icing over a cave she'd found and shaping her ice to make it resemble a human dwelling. She'd invited him to stay with her, but it was just too damn cold for him, and while he'd been polite about it, she still pouted at him and directed watery eyes in his direction.
"It's nothing like that, I'm just really nervous about becoming good enough." Naruto admitted. "The kappa have watched some of the clans as they train their kids, and the ones that actually take their training seriously..." He sighed. "I'm doing the best I can, but I'm neither Hatake Kakashi or Itachi Uchiha. Those two were already stronger than me by this age, and some of the clan children seem to be heading that way too. I mean, look at Sasuke Uchiha! He's apparently learning how to make a fireball bigger than a human, and I'm having trouble making one as big as my fist. Their physical conditioning is also better than mine, they know just how far a human body can be pushed without going too far."
"Is that what has got you so worked up?" Shin asked. "If that is it, I don't see what the problem is. True, in a straight up fight, it sounds like you would lose against those your age, but so what? Ninjas don't fight fair if they can help it, is that not true? Rather than compare the size of fireballs in a strange parody of a genitalia measuring competition, use your shikigami, use traps, use ambushes."
The bakaneko shrugged. "You don't fight with your fists, Naruto, nor do you fight with your 'magical ninja powers'. You fight like a commander, a general, with your shiki as your troops. Play to your strengths rather than your opponents, and while you may not always win, you will always do better than if you had chosen to do otherwise."
Naruto sighed, but there was a slight grin on his face. "I suppose that's what I'm trying to do." He chuckled. "I mean, who else in the village is going to try and ride a wolf with a bow and arrow in their hands?"
Shin raised an eyebrow. "There is a clan with super-sized mutts, isn't there? Don't they ride their dogs into battle?"
"It was a rhetorical question." Naruto grumbled, pouting at the cat youkai. "And no, as far as I know, the Inuzuka don't actually ride their partners into battle."
"Pity, it would mean the dogs were where they belong." Shin mock-sighed.
"Try saying that to Madara." Naruto grinned up at the cat.
"No thank you, I'm not suicidal." Shin retorted with a smirk, relaxing on a branch.
Relaxing as well, Naruto fiddled with the core of his shiki-bow, and once again manifested it from the etched wood. He was pleased to note that, despite the degradation of the overloaded wood, the bow it made was just as good as his last one. He created several fire arrows and launched them one by one towards the target he had set up.
Shin watched in silence as Naruto went through the motions of creating an arrow, knocking it on the bow, firing said arrow, dismissing it when it did or did not hit the target, and then repeating the process all over again. It was actually quite hypnotising, and he didn't realise just how focused he became on the blonde human until Naruto dismissed his bow, only to have the wooden core fail and disintegrate.
"You'd be better off using wood from a kodama's tree for that, the older the better." The bakaneko commented.
"Do you have any idea which one around here is the oldest?" Naruto asked him.
"Yeah, it's the one about forty feet west of Sen's napping spot, you know where I'm talking about?" Shin replied.
"Where he always passes out when he has too much to drink?" Naruto clarified.
"That's the place." Shin confirmed.
"Thanks, Shin, I might just head on over there and see if the kodama is willing to spare a bit of a branch." Naruto said.
"No problem, Naruto, take care now." Shin bid him farewell as Naruto wandered off towards the tree in question.
xxxxx
Akiko looked across at her class as they all worked relatively quietly on the task she'd given them. It always made her smile when she saw children hard at work and learning something, it made her proud of all of them. Of course, she did have her favourites too.
Suzume was quite the bright young girl, and when she actually focused on what was in front of her, she got it done really quickly. She had to make sure to check over her own work though, as she did have the tendency to make a mistake here or there from going too fast.
Shihei was another one she liked. He shone best when she set them working in groups, as he always made sure that everyone got to do something they were good at, and that one person didn't have too much work piled on top of them. The fact he was always willing to help if he could didn't hurt either.
Her eyes then landed on the one she was most fond of, Naruto. The blonde boy had already finished the questions she'd given the class and was currently scribbling away in a notepad of his own. What exactly it said, she had no idea, as all of his personal notes were written in the youkai language or were seals, which to her looked like a literal scribble or strange little pictures respectively.
She remembered the last time she had visited him in the forest, where Naruto had shown her his wolf-shiki. She'd even ridden around on one as it ran all over the forest and even leapt through trees like a ninja. It had been a bit scary at first, but once she'd gotten over that, it was exhilarating, though what was best about it was Naruto's happy laughter as he rode another pitch black wolf alongside her.
He was such a happy boy. It was a shame that no one really knew him aside from herself. She knew that he called the Hokage 'Old Man', but she also knew that Naruto didn't visit him very often, and that he was more of a kind stranger than anything else.
She calmed herself down, reminding herself that Naruto had many friends amongst the youkai. They might not be human, but that didn't mean they were any less than anyone else. She recalled the disaster that was introducing Naruto to her nephew and niece.
Everything had been fine up until they'd tried playing a game with the other children at the park. It was then that mothers came and dragged their children away from Naruto, telling them to stay away from him. Naruto, knowing why they did that, wasn't particularly bothered. However, her sister's kids and the handful of others who weren't dragged away began asking questions that they weren't allowed to answer, and that only made the mess even worse.
Recently Akiko had begun to wonder what it really was that the Hokage was smoking, some things just made no sense at all to her. It was the Hokage himself who had let people know that Naruto was a jinchuuriki, claiming that the Yondaime had wanted him to be seen as a hero that kept the nine-tails at bay. He'd then, when people had needed a scapegoat and turned against the child, forbidden them from talking about it, which really hadn't made the situation any better.
If he had simply not told anyone about Naruto being a jinchuuriki, then so much of the negativity could have been swept under the rug or simply burned out over time. The only other option was to educate people about what being a jinchuuriki meant, and that was just impractical, not to mention even she had difficulty understanding seals, and Naruto had tried teaching her a few of the ones he used.
Not that he'd succeeded, or at least not very well. As a civilian, her chakra reserves were tiny, not to mention she had no formal training on top of that. Even then, Naruto didn't use chakra in his seals, instead relying on reiryoku, the spiritual half of chakra. At most, Akiko had been able to create a faint match flame to Naruto's fist-sized spinning fireball, and it had taken all of her effort to keep it there for three minutes, whereas Naruto could pretty much maintain his indefinitely.
Glancing at the clock, Akiko realised she'd gotten lost in her thoughts for longer than she'd imagined she had. Thankfully, there were no raised hands, meaning none of her students needed any help with any of the questions. It was almost the end of the day though, so she needed to dismiss them and send them out to their waiting parents.
"Alright, class, pencils down for now." She waited a moment, the clacking of wood on wood sounding out as they did as she told them. "For homework, I want you to finish any of the questions you haven't managed to do today, and I want it done by Thursday, okay?"
"Yess, Akiko-sensei." The class chorused back to her.
"Good, make sure you do." She nodded her head. "You can pack your things away and go home now. I'll see you all tomorrow."
The class once again did as she said. She watched them put their things in their bags and head towards the outside. Naruto lagged a little behind the rest, partially because he had his notes and other things to pack away as well, but also so that most of the others would have left before he headed home himself.
"So, are you making any progress on whatever you're working on now?" Akiko asked once it was just the two of them in the classroom.
"A little." Naruto admitted. "Making new seals is hard when you don't really know what you're doing, and the books on it are only available to genin and higher ranked ninjas."
"Seals?" Akiko tilted her head in confusion. "I thought you were getting quite good at them with Hinoe teaching you."
"Oh, youkai seals are fine." Naruto said. "It's just… you know the seal on my stomach, the one holding back the kyuubi? We're trying to figure out a safe way of interacting with it. There are three consciousnesses in the seal, and Riou suggested we try and figure out who the other two are. I mean, this is a seal on my own body, I really should know what it's all about, right?"
"The seal... if I remember right, you said it was connected to your own mind, correct?" Akiko mused. "In that case, couldn't you, I don't know, meditate or something and find out that way?" That was a guess on her part, she didn't know if it would even work like that.
"Two of the minds are dormant, and I don't know what would trigger waking them up." Naruto told her. "The only other mind in there is the sealed away one, the kyuubi itself, and everyone is reluctant to let me face that by myself right now. They'd be fine if they could possess me and meet the kyuubi as well, but we don't know right now where they would end up if they possessed me. Would they be on the 'me' side, or would they be shunted straight into the kyuubi's cage with it?"
Akiko shrugged. "I know absolutely nothing about seals, so I really couldn't tell you." She said. "Whatever happens though, good luck with it. If there's anything I can do to help, just tell me and I'll do what I can." She smirked slightly. "Maybe the kyuubi needs remedial maths lessons?"
Naruto laughed lightly at that, Akiko joining him, before he gained a contemplative look on his face.
"I wonder why the kyuubi is sealed up inside of me anyway." He muttered. "It's just a little weird, isn't it? They must have been wandering the world, doing whatever they wanted, for hundreds of years, and then along comes Hashirama Senju who just captures all nine of them and hands them out like presents. What happened to the nine-tails then though? Did he seal it inside of someone or just let it go, and why? How did the kyuubi even get as close to the village as it did on the day I was born? Surely someone should have noticed something that big before it started actually attacking?"
"I don't think he sealed it." Akiko replied. "Didn't Madara Uchiha fight Hashirama Senju after he went around collecting the biju and giving them to the other villages? You know, the fight where he mind-controlled the kyuubi and used it to try and kill the Shodaime."
"I think so." Naruto replied hesitantly. "But after that, the biju kind of all disappear from the history books outside of wars and battles, the kyuubi especially, as it doesn't turn up again until the attack on the village."
"Maybe you could try asking it?" Akiko suggested, not quite believing what she was saying. "I know they're supposed to be 'beasts', but… well, it can't hurt to try, can it? I mean, youkai aren't even supposed to exist, yet we both know that's not true, so..."
"I guess." Naruto looked a little lost. "Honestly, I hadn't thought of something like that, it's a bit embarrassing."
Akiko chuckled at Naruto's faintly pink face. "Well there you go, I gave you an idea. I can do something after all."
"Of course you can do things!" Naruto suddenly burst out. "I mean, you're a teacher! You help people every day. If anything, you're better than any kind of ninja, and if I wasn't going to be one, and if I couldn't be an explorer, being a teacher would be a really neat thing to be!"
"Okay, Naruto, calm down." Akiko told him, slightly embarrassed herself there. "Thank you for saying that, and I know being a teacher is amazing, I chose to be one myself after all. Still, there's nothing wrong with being something else, and I think you will become an awesome ninja in time to come, and who knows, maybe you'll become an explorer too? Ninja get vacation time, don't they?"
"Um, I think so." Naruto paused in thought. "I mean, they accept missions when they decide to do them, and their training is left in their own hands… so I don't see why they couldn't have time off. I imagine that they'd have to give notice though, because the Hokage sometimes needs to send for ninja with particular skills or knowledge, which means he needs to know who is and isn't in the village, right?"
Akiko shrugged. "I'm a civilian, what would I know?"
"Fair enough." Naruto smiled.
"Now off with you, most of them will be gone by now." Akiko told him. "I'll see you tomorrow morning, Naruto."
"Bye, sensei." He bowed his head, before heading out of the door, his mind turning over Akiko's words.
xxxxx
"Are you truly, completely sure you want to do this?" Hinoe asked seriously.
"Yeah, Naruto, the kyuubi is a scary thing!" Tsurara added, hugging him from behind.
"What's the worst that could happen?" Naruto asked. "The seal is connected to my mind, yeah, but as I am not the nine-tails myself, there must be some sort of barrier between the two that stops me becoming what is within me. Given that, the most the kyuubi will be able to do is make noise or look threatening, and I'm not going to do anything rash just because it said something to me."
Benio transformed from her butterfly form and stood in front of Naruto, visibly agitated. "Listen, brat, the kyuubi is ancient. It's had centuries to learn how humans work, what makes them tick, and if it is remotely intelligent, then it should have been smart enough to learn a thing or two. It could be very persuasive."
"Some youkai have been around as long as the tailed beasts have, how many of them properly understand humans?" Naruto countered. "You exist in the same world, see the same landscapes, and even live in the same space, yet a lot of you have never really thought about humans, have you? They're there in the same way that a dog is there, that a bird is there, right? That's how a lot of you thought, isn't it?"
Benio's eyes hardened. "Yes, it's true." She growled. "However, there is no guarantee that the kyuubi is the same. Regardless of what humans may claim, the biju are neither demons or youkai. They are an entirely different existence that breaks the basic laws of reality even more than we do. They are perpetual, self-sustaining masses of energy given physical form, so their logic might in no way resemble anything you're familiar with."
"I'll never know unless I try and make contact." Naruto stubbornly stood his ground. "It's less of a risk than one of you possessing me and possibly ending up in the same place as the kyuubi is. At least I have the advantage of going at it from my side of whatever divide exists in there."
Benio huffed. "I don't like this." She stated, before looking over to the side. "Well, do you two have an opinion in this matter or what? Speak up."
The two tsukumogami glanced at each other, before Takame stepped forwards. "You are correct in saying that there is a risk, but there is also a risk in leaving it alone. When she investigated the seal, Hinoe noted that the biju's corrosive chakra was eating away at the seal. It is slight, and it would take decades to fully erode at its current pace, but it's better to face your problems early, before they become too big for you to handle."
Masami nodded her agreement. "If you know something is going to happen anyway, it's best to do it where you're safe, no?" She said. "Sooner or later, he's going to be meeting the kyuubi within him. Whether that be when the seal eventually breaks or if he is ever forced to draw on its power, it's going to happen. Hell, he might die and meet the kyuubi then or something."
She shrugged. "I'm with Takame on this one, take things seriously from the start and you'll live longer." She then grinned slightly and sauntered forward, swaying her hips as she did so. "Of course, this also means you should have some fun when you can. My one and only wielder was a courtesan, and she knew how to have a 'good' time." She winked at them, laughing aloud when Naruto blushed bright red.
"Ah, teasing people is so much fun." Seeing their looks, she tilted her side to the side. "What, did you think I meant something else?" She sniffed. "Perverts, the lot of you."
Tsuyukami laughed lightly, shaking his head.
"Ah, I needed that, things were getting a little serious there." He looked to Naruto. "Do whatever you think is best, Naruto. If you think talking to the kyuubi might achieve something, go for it. If you think it'll only cause problems, then don't do it."
"We don't even know if this is going to work." Naruto mumbled. "Akiko-sensei admitted she knows nothing about seals or jinchuuriki, so meditation might not do anything at all. Even if it did, maybe this seal is different and it keeps our minds totally separated or something."
"Weren't you saying 'you'll never know unless you try' a moment ago?" The masked shrine youkai responded. "So what if it does nothing? All it means is that it doesn't work. I really don't think simple meditation would be harmful to you, it would be a rather bad flaw in the seal if that was the case."
"You're right, I was." Naruto acceded that point. "So that's what I'm going to do."
Sitting down in the middle of the clearing, Naruto began to regulate his breathing. He focused on nothing but that, blocking out everything else to the best of his ability, until there was nothing but his own breath. In. Out. In. Out. In. Out. Eventually, that began to fade, and he didn't focus on anything.
The youkai in the clearing watched as Naruto's regular breaths slowed, until he could probably be mistaken for being asleep, especially with his eyes closed.
They waited, hoping for a positive outcome for this situation.