A/N: I'm so sorry that I'm late! I tried to update before my school started two weeks ago, but I missed the timing to finish off the rest of the story...
I won't be taking a hiatus, but the updates will be excruciatingly slow from now on. With the school projects, tests, and SATs, I doubt I'll be able to write too much.
Putting that aside, I brought to you the longest chapter yet...it goes over 10k words! It may not seem like much to the experienced writers, but it was a helluva long one for me.
Thank you all for taking your time to read my story!
"Observation" A blond spoke in a whisper as he stared at the drinks that were laid out on the counter.
Black Coffee: Bitter coffee with high caffeine. Drives off sleep to an extent. Decreases fatigue by 5 percent.
Warning: if taken excessively, the user may become uncontrollably hyper.
The young blond had been standing around for a while now, as he was checking out every single drink that he could lay his eyes on. He was determined to know what he would need to drink for certain effects. He would have 'observed' the food as well, but since they had to be ordered from the menu and were not in plain sight for him to see, he'd have to take his time with that.
"Observation" He said for perhaps the fifth time.
Green Tea: Tea that retains a slightly greenish hue. It has a calming effect and drives off sleep. Decreases fatigue by 5 percent.
"Hey kid, stop being indecisive and order something." The lady behind the counter told him off with an annoyed tone.
He ignored her.
"Observation"
Orange Juice: Freshly squeezed, pure orange juice. Increases cheerfulness and decreases fatigue by 3 percent.
Thinking that he'd looked enough for now, Naruto casually walked up to the counter and ordered with an air of nonchalance. If he saw the violent twitching eyebrow of the woman, he did well in ignoring it.
"I'll take a bottle of green tea and two bottles of orange juice." He slightly paused. "Can you recommend me anything that can give a lot of energy after a harsh training session?" He cocked his head slightly to the left when he asked a question.
The woman at the counter sighed when she realized that she couldn't stay annoyed boy who was asking an ingenuous question. "I'd recommend smoked salmon, barbeque, bean salad or baked potatoes with sour cream. Well, there's a diversity of food here, most of which are pretty healthy, so you should try all of them sometime."
"Thanks, lady. I'll take smoked salmon and potatoes then." Naruto grinned at the woman and left to sit on his table.
Feeling refreshed and invigorated, Naruto happily walked down the hall. Who knew eating and drinking did so much in decreasing his fatigue? Now that he was privy to this knowledge, he could train even more than he did the last night. Of course, when he meant by 'more training', he meant spamming more shadow clones.
"Hehehe…Muhahahahahahahaa!" Unknowingly, he let out an evil laugh at the prospect of abusing his shadow clones so much as well as the exponential growth he'd be showing the world.
"My, you sound so cute with that evil mastermind laugh, foxy-kun~" An amused voice came from behind Naruto's back.
Naruto's entire posture went frigid. He knew that tone, that voice, that unhidden mirth...
'Of all people I could bump into while having a moment, it had to be her?' He cried anime tears in his mind.
"Uhh…hi there, Kazehana. Fancy seeing you here." Naruto gave her his most nonchalant smile he could as he turned around to face her.
The purple haired woman was standing only a few feet behind him, with her arm still in a sling. Nonetheless, she seemed to be moving without much obstruction, if the way she swayed her hips as she approached him indicated anything.
In fact, she seemed to be doing a little too good. Her dangerously twinkling eyes, the small smile on her sultry lips, and her furiously bouncing breasts didn't lose any of their attractiveness. The last one especially caught the young blond's eyes. The way the two globes jiggled up and down made him want to clasp it in his mouth and-
'Bad Naruto! Bad!' Naruto gritted his teeth in an attempt to banish his thoughts. Tearing his eyes away from her dangerous appendages to her eyes, Naruto chanted in his mind. 'Lee and Gai are hugging. Lee and Gai are hugging. Lee and Gai are...Gahh! I think my brain received permanent damage...but at least it got the job done…'
When Naruto shook his head out of the horrendous imagery, the woman was already next to him, draping her slender arms around his neck from his left side.
Her hot breath licked Naruto's ear when she sensually whispered to him, "Does foxy-kun enjoy what he's seeing?" She pressed her body on his arm to fluster the boy even further.
The boy's body stiffened for a moment from the unexpected gesture. But he recovered almost immediately, flashed a devilish smile, and turned his head to directly face Kazehana's teasing countenance, his lips only centimeters away from her own.
"Oh, I definitely am, Kazehana. And if you keep this up," Naruto paused and widened his smirk, showing his fangs. "I might just…do things to you." He purred as he inched closer to her lips.
Kazehana widened her eyes at the bold comeback. She'd intended for him to redden in embarrassment and become a stuttering mess so that she could find some entertainment in the boring building she was stuck in. But for him to react so assertively…she would need to make a tactical retreat for now. She couldn't afford to lose her first kiss here simply due to a miscalculation, no matter how tempting it may be.
Still keeping a small smile on her face, though not without some effort, Kazehana slowly slid her arms off the boy's shoulders. "Ne, you're no fun, foxy-kun~" She whined, putting a pout on her lustrous lips.
Naruto closed his eyes and smiled, stretching his lips to a thin curve. With his whisker marks, he truly looked like a humanoid version of a fox.
"But Kazehana, I only offered you what you seemed to want. You were the one who backed off, you know?"
The purple haired woman huffed and turned around, not wanting to admit that she had lost that round.
Unknown to her, Naruto was busy calming his drumming heartbeat and keeping the blood from rushing up to his face. He was still very inexperienced in the aspect of dealing with women, so her sudden approach had surprised him greatly. But he wasn't Jiraiya's disciple for three years for nothing. He'd been to brothels hundreds of times to drag his sensei out of the place, out of the clutches of very scantly clothed women.
He was even offered service once, when it was his fifteenth birthday. He had declined, of course, wanting to keep his chastity for his true love. But Jiraiya kept on insisting that he needed some experience, saying that he'd need to create a defense mechanism for seduction missions, so they compromised on limiting it to heavy petting and dirty talking.
Naruto silently thanked ero-sennin, kami bless his perverted old soul, for forcing him to take up on the experience. It was his only saving grace against the voluptuous woman, because she was apparently very taken to teasing others sexually and watching them squirm from embarrassment, according to her profile. If he hadn't sobered up fast enough, or let his eyes wander a bit more, he probably would have been putty in her hands by now.
The boy shivered at the thought. Luckily for him, Kazehana didn't notice his small bout of weakness as she was still facing away from him.
Deciding to change the subject before she realized that he was only bluffing, Naruto asked the first thing that came into his mind.
"Hey, Kazehana. Why do you call me foxy-kun?"
Once again caught off by the unexpected change of topic by the blond, Kazehana blinked. Then putting on a smile, she swerved her body to face Naruto again and pointed her index finger at his face to make her point.
"It's because of your whisker marks, of course! And the way you act and smile…it just reminded me of a fox the first day we met!" She replied in a chipper tone.
Naruto shrugged. He guessed that it would be something along those lines. It was just that he was surprised to be recognized as a fox, because no one pointed it out when he was still in Konoha, probably because they hated associating anything with the kyuubi. Well, at least she got the animal right. He'd hate to be called anything else…like a cat. He still felt foaming anger at that damned demon hellcat Tora for scratching his face off at least a hundred times. He grunted at the thought in distaste.
Mistaking his grunt for a disapproval of her answer, Kazehana quickly added on to her answer, though in a cheeky manner.
"There's also the fact that you never gave me your name, foxy-kun. How is a lady supposed to call you when she doesn't know the man's name?"
"…Oh."
He didn't know that, nor did he expect it. He had simply chalked it up to her flirtatious character or her weird quirk of calling others by their nicknames.
"It's Naruto. Naruto Uzumaki." The boy looked at Kazehana's eyes as he introduced himself. "You'd better remember it now that I personally told you my name!"
"Fishcake? Your name is fishcake?"
Kazehana giggled as she watched the blond boy's face twitch in annoyance. It seemed as though this wasn't the first time he'd heard the joke. But she wasn't going to let go of the blatant chance to embarrass the boy. She was going to milk this for all its worth, more so because her first attempt at teasing the blond backfired.
"It's maelstrom, dammit! It's a totally awesome name! Why don't people just get it!" He barked in indignation.
"Moh~ Now I'm having a dilemma of choosing between calling you fishcake-kun and foxy-kun~" She dramatically sighed as she placed both her hands on her cheeks, shaking her head sideways in faux concern as she did so.
A growl nearly reverberated through his throat. He should have known that the woman wouldn't bother calling him his given name even if it was given to her.
As he was about to throw a fit like he would have before his training trip, his brain suddenly whirled with the extra intelligence points he had used. It was then that he came to realize that he would be giving the woman the pleasure of satisfaction if he responded with hot air to her taunts.
No way in hell would he allow that woman to snatch his victory with just that, especially not after he had to go through that troublesome acting.
Naruto quietly released a small breath through his mouth and neutralized his facial expressions.
"You can call me whatever you want." The blond offered without much emotion in his tone. But his eyes twinkled as he continued speaking. "But I'd like to let you know, dear, that I will reply just in kind, wind flower-san." He smirked in triumph and started to walk away from the woman.
Before Kazehana could comprehend that she had been one-upped again, Naruto increased his speed and left the hallway, laughing quietly to himself while relishing in the sweet taste of victory.
"Ah…he left already? He's an interesting one, that child." She said to no one in particular. Then she closed her eyes as though she was trying to feel for something.
"The wind blowing from him is strong…but fleeting." A genuine smile was plastered on her face. "I'm looking forward to seeing you again…Naruto-kun."
The young shinobi was once again outside, stretching his body to ready himself for the harsh training he would be receiving.
"Damn, I forgot to check her stats…" He muttered to himself while he was pulling on his left arm. "That woman…she really knows how to make me lose my composure." He squatted down and stretched his legs. "It'll probably be best if I avoided her, for my mental health's sake…Though knowing my luck, I can bet my future ramen that I'll be seeing her soon."
While he was muttering to himself, a certain Sekirei noticed the boy and walked towards him.
"If you took the pains to arrive early, would it not be more efficient to start training properly, Uzumaki?" Miya admonished disapprovingly.
"With you as the trainer? No thanks, I'll stick to warming up my body." He grinned at her as he stood back up. "I want to return to my room with my body intact, you see."
Miya didn't know why, but she suddenly had an urge to grab the boy's whiskered cheeks and drag him across the ground. Strange. She shrugged the feeling off and stared at the boy.
"Oh right!" The blond exclaimed and slapped a fist on his palm as his face brightened, leaving the woman standing in front of him confused of his sudden change in demeanor. Without waiting for her reaction, he turned around and inaudibly muttered to summon his inventory, from which he swiftly pulled out his daggers with one hand as he did the previous day. Fortunately, Miya couldn't see him pulling things out of thin air as his back was blocking her view.
"I was wondering if you could help me learn how to use these." Naruto handed the daggers to Miya, the blades pointing toward her. She delicately grabbed the blades with her fingertips and deftly swirled them both into her palms to properly examine them. Her unchanging expression kept Naruto on the edge as he awaited her assessment.
"These…" Her gaze on the daggers lifted to look at the blond's eyes. "…are an interesting set of weapons you've chosen."
Without losing her elegant posture, the woman turned her body to the left and widened her legs slightly, all the while flipping the dagger on her left hand to a reverse grip. She then swiped the left dagger to the right, which was followed without pause by a horizontal slash with the dagger on her right hand. The movements were swift and succinct, and would have been nothing but a blur had Naruto not been a shinobi.
Naruto couldn't help but be awed by her adroitly handling the daggers, the daggers she probably had never held before, when she went through an improvised kata on the spot, her movements flowing from one to the next. How she could figure out the usage of the weapons with just a glance, he'd never know.
She indicated the end of the impromptu kata when she drew a large cross with both daggers in front of her chest, before flipping the weapons once more and placing them beside her hip and into her brown belt. Miya then straightened up and plucked out the daggers again, and moved towards Naruto to give them back.
"It is not my expertise, but I can teach you the basics." She spoke with a blank face, a direct contrast to Naruto's ear-splitting grin. "But this doesn't mean that we'll stop the hand-to-hand combat training. I'm protracting the training session to the afternoon." She declared without any consent. Not that he cared. He would've agreed to it anyway. He wasn't upset at not being given a choice. Nope, he wasn't.
"Well, let us begin then." She took the daggers from him again. "These are the grips for daggers." Miya held the daggers like she did previously. Naruto scrutinized her fingers and their positions carefully. He was surprised to find out that they were quite different from the grips he used for kunai when in close combat, so he stared at her grip even harder.
Miya then changed the position of the two daggers by flicking her wrist, conveniently putting her fingers into a different position. "This is the other grip that you will have to memorize." She succinctly finished her explanation. Naruto studied the grips again, making his fingers encircle imaginary daggers to copy his mentor's fingers.
Without waiting any further, Miya put the knives back to Naruto's hands. "Now that you know the grip, alternate between them as you run to and from the MBI building." When Naruto incredulously stared at the woman with his mouth agape, she unsheathed her katana to begin her own training.
"Run for two hours." Were the only words he received from the woman. Slumping his back as he sighed, Naruto looked at the woman one last time before he began jogging with two daggers in his hands.
After taking three steps forward, he came to a halt and spun his head around to stare at Miya's face again, only to see her swinging her katana with incredible force, though without a hint of emotion on her shapely face.
Then was it a trick of light for him to have seen a small smirk gracing her lips?
The training as a whole wasn't too tiring for the blond shinobi. He was, after all, the kid who ran away from anbu for hours after a nice prank when he was still in the academy. Though he had fuddled up the grip a few times and dropped the daggers several times, he concluded that the training was overall a success. He could now switch between the different grips without nearly piercing his feet open. Yay.
When he reached Miya for the umpteenth time, Naruto noticed that it was lunchtime. But of course, having a trainer whose name was Miya, he couldn't even dare ask her for a break. And so, they moved on to the next course of the agenda: dodging training, aka survival training. His all time favorite.
She was much fiercer than she was the previous day, striking him at joints and vulnerable places like his abdomen and…his unmentionables down below. He wasn't really able to get up for a while after that hit. But it proved to be an efficient lesson, whether she meant for it to be or not, as his reflexes increased by a tenfold. Even his speed stat increased.
He wasn't really sure if he was supposed to be happy or not, after experiencing so many near-death situations.
After somehow dodging most her attacks for slightly over an hour, Miya finally gave him a lunch break.
Whooping in joy, Naruto plopped down to the floor to rest his aching muscles and bones. As he was about the slump down into a more relaxing position, Miya pulled out a large multilayered bento box from the grey haori she was wearing, and proceeded to lay it out on the floor.
The blond was absent mindedly wondering how such a slender woman could eat so much, before he did a spit-take at realizing something.
'Where the hell did she pull that ginormous thing from?! Does she know fuiinjutsu? Or does she have access to a space/time Inventory like I do?'
He stopped moving to stare intensely at the woman, which resulted in his awkward position of something that was half way between sitting and laying belly-down. Realizing this, he changed back to his previous posture of sitting down with his legs crossed.
"Where did…how did you make that huge bento appear out of nowhere?" He queried with a finger pointing at her haori.
"Hm? What are you saying, Uzumaki. I was holding on to this the entire time." She replied nonchalantly.
"All you were holding in your hands was your katana." Naruto stated with certainty.
"It is because I was holding it inside my haori. It's common sense, Uzumaki."
Though he wanted to protest otherwise, the young shinobi decided to leave things be for his mentality's sake.
When he opened up the inventory to pull out his own lunch, he realized that he forgot to bring any because he was having too much fun playing around with his 'observation' skill.
Naruto sighed. Kami must seriously hate him to put all his luck into useless gambling skills and leave the societal luck, which he desperately needed, almost completely void.
It would be impossible for him to survive another round of Miya's training in an empty stomach, meaning that he had to somehow get food for himself. Problem: it took nearly twenty minutes to go to and return from the MBI building and a bit more for the staffs to pack lunch, which by then the break would be over.
"Then the only choice I have is…"
Naruto glanced at Miya, who inhaling the food at the speed he ate ramen…elegantly. It was an interesting combination, he mused.
He shook his head at getting off track, before tentatively approaching Miya's eating form.
"Hey, Miya?" The only indication of her having heard Naruto's call was her violet eyes that now flickered up to stare at his face. The rest of her body, even her face, did not move a single inch from the previous position, as she continued eating at the same pace.
"Um…I kind of forgot to bring my lunch today…haha…" Naruto rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment. "So could you perhaps spare some food for me, please?" He bowed his head and clasped his hands together to show her how desperate he was.
Miya's eyes flickered back to her lunch before swallowing what was left in her mouth. Then she briskly replied, "No." And she continued eating as if nothing had happened.
"Oh, okay. Sorry." Naruto replied in a dejected tone. He then returned to the spot he had occupied previously with his head hung down in depression and his feet dragging.
Though he had been expecting that answer, he couldn't deny that he had a sliver of hope in receiving a bit of her lunch. And because of that small hope, the rejection bothered him a tad more than he thought it would. But he'd survive. Such feelings of dejection or hunger were not foreign to him.
As Naruto was busy brooding by himself, he didn't notice a certain lavender haired woman giving him furtive glances. The said woman was in quite a dilemma herself. Though the reason was unknown to her, she wanted to bring back the blond boy and feed him herself.
Miya furrowed her delicate eyebrows in confusion. This emotional business was more complicated than she had previously thought, she decided.
She thought of calling the boy over, or going there herself. But in the end, she concluded that he would be able to take care of himself. This would also teach him not to be forgetful.
Miya continued to eat her lunch, though not without glancing at Naruto every now and then.
"You're late." Matsu stated, her arms crossed and eyes narrowed in annoyance.
"Sorry Matsu, but the training with Miya got extended due to certain circumstances." Naruto sighed. "But if it makes you feel any better, I still didn't have anything for lunch." He grimaced. Damn his desires to keep promises. He should've eaten something on the way there.
"Ne, are you all right, Naru-tan?" She seemed to worry for his sake for a moment, before her mouth widened into a dopey smile, a slight drool hanging off it. "There's no food here, but if it's nourishment, Matsu can provide it especially for Naru-tan~. Kukukukukukuku" She started giggling like a perverted old man. "Just give Matsu your finger and Matsu will prepare everything for Naru-tan. Kukukukukukukukukukukuku-"
Naruto stood still for a second, confused. Then when he finally understood the innuendo, he jerked his hands behind his back and growled. "Keep your hands off me, you dirty woman!"
Undeterred in the slightest, Matsu advanced toward Naruto, hands moving in disturbing motions once again. "Come here, Naru-tan. Matsu will give you something tasty~"
Acting on pure reflex that was literally beaten into him by Miya, Naruto lashed out a quick jab at the threat that was approaching him. Before Matsu was able to continue her perverse invitation, the words were caught in her throat with a soundless gasp as Naruto's fist met her solar plexus. Her eyes widened in shock at the sudden assault, but she was left unable to analyze the situation when her body skidded across the room and her head slammed on the wall with a dull thud. The redhead was instantly knocked out cold.
"Um...oops?" Naruto winced at the woman's now limp form, realizing the damage he'd done to her. He then approached her before crouching down to look into her face, and poked her cheeks repetitively with his index finger. "Hope you learned your lesson, Matsu. You never sexually assault people who can kick your ass." He chuckled quietly to himself.
"But…knowing the nature of openly perverted perverts, she'll probably sexually harass almost everyone she comes across. Damn open perverts and their resilience." Naruto shook his head in exasperation, thinking of a certain white haired man who never gave up on peeking on women even if he was beaten to the brink of death multiple times.
"Oh right! Almost forgot to do this, again." He stood back up, though his eyes didn't leave Matsu's body. "It was bad enough that I missed out on checking out Miya and Kazehana..." He blinked twice, rewinding what he just said in his mind. "Okay, that sounded…wrong. Meh. At least no one heard it." Naruto shrugged his shoulders dismissively.
"Observation."
Name: Matsu / No.02
Level: 51
Specialty: Technology
Gender: Female
Species: Sekirei
Condition: Fainted
Intelligence: 92
Speed: 18
Strength: 16
Dexterity: 56
"Woah, that's some high intelligence right there." The blond exclaimed with mouth agape. He had already surmised that she was a Sekirei with high intelligence considering her abilities and the perks they bring her, but for it to be such a high number, and for it to exceed the standard distribution of 3 stat points per level by 29 points…
There was much more to the pervert than she appeared to be. As he suspected, it would be beneficial for him to stay near her and get some guidance, though he would have to be cautious of some of her…extreme tendencies.
It wasn't long before the redhead began to stir awake. When her red eyes fluttered open, she was surprised to see two sapphire eyes staring at her.
"Ugh…Naru-tan…?" She lifted her head off the wall and gingerly felt the back of her head with her fingertips. She cringed in surprise at the large bump on the back of her head, which resonated with a dull ache when her hand breached it. "What…happened?"
"Uhh, sorry about that." Naruto replied sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck while he smiled apologizingly. "That would be my fault. I accidently may have punched you in the gut…sorry."
"Oh…"
Neither spoke for a while, creating an uncomfortable silence in the room.
"You don't need to worry about it, Naru-tan." Having rebooted her system, Matsu spoke in her usual chipper tone. "I'm a Sekirei, after all."
She then switched on her perverted self, as she continued, "In fact, Matsu doesn't mind men who play rough. Though S&M isn't really Matsu's preference, it can also be an interesting part of Matsu's experiments, kukukukuku~" And her drooling started again as she began muttering things that Naruto did not want to know.
"Oi, Matsu!" Naruto's shout snapped the girl out of her imagination. "Can you please control yourself for a moment and look at these for me? Miya is already teaching me how to use them, but I want to get some of your suggestions, too." He handed her the daggers from his belt. He decided to keep them on his body after training with Miya, after concluding that it would arouse suspicion if he didn't carry his new favorite weapons around with him.
Matsu showed immediate interest toward the blades, which was displayed by her enthusiasm in inspecting them, unlike Miya whose face didn't show a single twitch. It was a refreshing change to Naruto after having stayed with the near emotionless woman for so long.
"These daggers seem to be of pretty good quality." Her thumb glided over the
After thoroughly checking out the daggers, Matsu readjusted her glasses before she began speaking. "These weapons are meant for the user to attack without giving the opponent much time to retaliate, because they require the movement to be fluid and connected." She lifted her eyes from the blades to look at Naruto. "Actually, this is perfect for you because the martial arts form I was planning on teaching you focuses on speed and fluidity."
Naruto's interest peaked again at the mention of his new martial arts form. He gestured for her to continue.
"I've been doing some digging in the history archives, especially the ones in Japan, and I found a whole collection of documented scrolls. The one I chose for you is called Swirling Tides."
'Swirling tides? Sounds suspiciously like a name ninjas of elemental nations would come up with...' Before the blond could entertain the thought any longer, Matsu continued her explanation.
"From what I've gathered from your battle style, you seem to favor power over everything else, rushing in to get a strong hit rather than wearing the opponent out bit by bit. I'm not saying that it's a bad strategy, because you have the firepower to do so and those clones to maneuver yourself. But your form can definitely use some improvement."
Naruto slightly pouted at the criticism, but nodded along because he knew that it was true.
"This form would suit you well because you'd be able to parry most attacks with much less effort, and retaliate with more calm and accuracy. You'll be graceful and evasive like the tides, but you'll also be able to hit with magnificent force like the waves."
She finished with a satisfying smile on her lips.
"Wow, that's quite a research you've done, Matsu. How'd ya even find the thing?"
"This kind of thing is nothing to a genius like Matsu." The redhead proudly puffed out her chest.
To her surprise, Naruto slowly nodded in agreement before raising his hand to her head and petting it softly.
"Thanks, Matsu. I'm grateful that you put so much work into it for me. Even if you forced a favor out of me for this." He chuckled. "I guess I'll have to show you my absolute best, then. I don't want to let down my genius teacher down, after all."
Matsu turned her head away as she felt blood rushing up to her cheeks.
"W-well, we should get started. You have a lot more to learn than you think." She hastily stepped away from Naruto and rushed out the door, slamming it behind her as she left.
Naruto blinked. "What's gotten her so flustered?" He asked to no one in particular. "Meh, it must be a weird Sekirei thing." He shrugged before chasing after Matsu.
3 Years Time Skip
"What do you mean I won't age any more?!" A blond shouted in disbelief.
Naruto was sitting on his usual spot on the clinic bed in Takehito's lab when he heard the unrealistic news. He had been unprepared to hear such a thing, because for the three years he'd been visiting the lab, there weren't many changes that had occurred to his body. Though he didn't know if his second growth spurt was the experiments' doing or not. But that was neither here nor there. He did not want to stop aging! He wanted to get an adult-like and sage-y look like all the older ninjas had! Not to mention that people would look at him weird if they found out that he never got any older.
Ignoring Naruto's plight, Takehito calmly explained himself.
"It's nothing damaging. In fact, I believe that this would be good for you." Takehito replied with a smile, unperturbed in the slightest by the blond's horrification. "The results proved that your blood and Sekirei blood are compatible, so I injected some of theirs into your veins. Though your body somehow purged the first few doses of Sekirei blood…so we ended up injecting approximately three liters of it."
"WHAT?!" Before he was able to begin ranting again, the scientist justified his reasons.
"Don't you want to be near the Sekirei, Naruto? I know that you've been especially close to the first three Sekirei, if the amount of time you're spending with them indicates anything."
"I don't see what that has to do with anything, Takehito. Stop trying to change the subject and explain yourself. Three liters of blood isn't something to take lightly to, you know." Naruto narrowed his eyes and growled at the man.
"To put it bluntly, you weren't an ashikabi material. Before you demand what that has to do with anything, let me explain myself. The Sekirei you're close to, they're eventually going to find their own ashikabi. And when that day comes, you probably won't be able to continue the same kind of relationship you have with them right now. From what I'm assuming, in only a few years, you'll be distant friends at best."
The man calmly took a sip of water and put it back on the stand next to him.
"But with this, now I can confidently say that you're an ashikabi now. A bit too much of the blood may have brought you to a place where you are some weird kind of hybrid between ashikabi and Sekirei, making you have some of the Sekirei's traits, but an ashikabi nonetheless. Not many people are ashikabi, you know. You should be happy about this. For someone like me, no matter how much I tried to wing one of the Sekirei, I would never be able to…" His tone took a bitter turn towards the end.
"Oh…I'm, uh, sorry about that…with Miya, right?" The boy's anger quickly turned to that of guilt. Having trained with Miya for three years, he slowly became her friend and her confidant on many different subjects. Her growing interest toward the man standing in front of him was one of them. During their lunch breaks, the previously emotionless woman frequently questioned him on the intricacies of relationships: what camaraderie was like, what friendship could be, and what love was.
Of course, Naruto couldn't answer all those things with confidence. He was almost always alone until he was admitted into his genin cell, rejected by his crush at least a thousand times with a punch to his head, and his first friend punched a fist through his chest. He probably wasn't really the best teacher for relationships. Regardless, he had made many bonds that he came to cherish throughout his ninja career, and he told Miya many stories behind each bond.
For the first few days, the blond was unsure whether Miya was actually listening to him or not. Not even a grunt or an affirmation was given to him when he unraveled his story. Only her piercing gaze was the initiative he was given to continue speaking. But after that phase, the woman's expressions stared to soften, albeit barely. And after that, she began asking him questions about his stories and insights. So when she first shared her emotions with him, the pride and joy he felt was insurmountable.
Then she realized that Takehito had more to offer her with the emotions department.
He, unlike Naruto, had many ongoing relationships that he could show Miya. He, unlike Naruto, was a fully mature man who had many years of experience on his belt. And he, unlike Naruto, was capable of loving like a normal person.
And so their roles changed once more. Although Naruto was still her closest friend and confidant, he was no longer her teacher. Takehito personally took over that spot instead.
For some reason, Naruto was displeased when she dismissed him of the position of her teacher. This was what it felt to be robbed of a student, maybe? Nonetheless, since it was Miya's choice, he decided to fully support her by helping her as a friend whenever she was in need. And as a friend, he was able to see her affection toward Takehito grow day by day, and he offered many suggestions on how she should act in front of the man.
But he knew that both of them were crushed when they learned that Takehito was incapable of winging her. How could he not, after watching the normally stoic woman break down in front of his eyes, crying her heart out? Although the two of them eventually came to terms with the fact, Naruto knew that Takehito was still guilt-ridden for not being able to give Miya the most important experience a Sekirei may have. And the blond himself felt bad for having encouraged Miya into such a situation.
That didn't mean that Takehito had the rights to use the blond's body as he wished.
"We had a deal, Takehito. You were supposed to keep the danger level to minimum, no matter how tempting the experiments were. I thought you were more rational than this." Naruto reproached the man with a disapproving look.
Takehito sighed in reply. But to his credit, the man looked ashamed of himself. "I apologize. I guess, I lost track of what I was doing at the prospect of turning a human into an ashikabi. Maybe I was being a bit selfish, but I didn't want what happened to us to happen again."
The two men stood in silence.
"Well, at least there weren't any backlashes. And on the good side, you'll be able to keep all your abilities of your prime until you die. Isn't this the type of power you wanted?" Takehito inquired.
"…I still wanted to be human, a shinobi, so that I could prove that I didn't need anything else to be strong…but I guess this is fine, too. It's not like it's going to give me that many super powers or anything." The young man shrugged.
"Hoh? What do I owe the honor of your visit, cockroach-san? I almost began to think that you were avoiding me on purpose." A grey haired woman smiled gently with her eyes closed. This didn't do much to hide her bloodthirsty persona, though.
Naruto was in fact avoiding her. After their first encounter, he didn't want to risk clashing with her, putting his training time as well as both mental and physical health in danger. As much as he wanted to back out of this, he had no other choice because of the damned mission from the game system of his. The reward of the increased control over the Kyuubi was too tempting to decline, not to mention the slowly decreasing amount of missions meant that he couldn't afford to ignore a single mission simply because he didn't want to do it.
"I…came to ask you for a spar, Karasuba." He really couldn't believe that he was saying this with his own mouth. He wanted to avoid this kind of situation even if he became much stronger.
"I accept. Get ready to spill some blood, insect-san. I'm looking forward to watching you squirm." Her grin widened before she sensually licked her lips as though she was imagining the taste of his blood.
Naruto had to grit his teeth to hold a shiver that threatened to come over his body. For some bizarre reason, the woman just reminded him of Orochimaru. She wasn't into learning all the jutsu in the world, or into raping little boys…well, hopefully not. He wasn't sure yet. Anyways, if he had to point out a resemblance, it would be the way she obsessed over being the strongest of all the creation, or the way she never let go of her targets. It just completely freaked him out.
But unlike the snake bastard, she was pleasant to the eyes. Her silky grey hair that cascaded down her back in a ponytail, her firm body that he could admire all day long, and her hand that was holding the katana, ready to slaughter whatever that was in her way…
'Wait, what?!'
Before Naruto was able to fully grasp the situation, Karasuba unsheathed her katana and jumped toward the panicking boy with both her hands on her beloved sword. Out of sheer instincts that were instilled into him by Miya, the boy was able to pivot his way out of the swing when the grey haired woman landed in a crouch just next to him, making a large gash on the floor of the hallway with her blade.
Naruto hurriedly grabbed both his daggers from his belt and stood in a defensive stance, pointing both his blades at the woman, ready to counter at a single notice.
"You can't be serious about battling in the building?! We'll bring the entire thing down on us, dammit!" He tried to reason to no avail. She was beyond reach once her blood started to boil. The only thing that would bring her to stop her attacking frenzy was putting her out of commission…or his death.
Like hell he would allow the latter to happen. But he'd have to formulate a plan before doing anything rash. Despite having improved leaps and bounds during the past three years, he couldn't risk a careless mistake on his part, lest her blade skewered him.
"Observation."
Name: Karasuba / No.04
Level: 59
Specialty: Sword
Gender: Female
Species: Sekirei
Condition: Frenzy
Intelligence: 25
Speed: 44
Strength: 48
Dexterity: 99
'Well, that's one good news. I'm at least superior in the speed department as well as some others, except for dexterity. But that was to be expected considering her expertise on swordsmanship.' He quickly deduced. Though his level wasn't quite on par with the Sekirei in the Disciplinary Squad yet, he could proudly say that he surpassed every one of them in at least three of the four stats.
Naruto: Lv.46 (exp: 1045/4600)
(0) stat points remaining
Intelligence: 78
Speed: 63 (+28)
Strength: 69 (+25)
Dexterity: 53 (+15)
Charisma / Attractiveness: 46 (+5)
Location wise, he was actually advantageous, as her katana wasn't as maneuverable as his daggers in the small hallway. But he didn't want to risk taking the entire section of the building down just because Karasuba went on a rampage. Not when he was under that same building. It hurt to lift himself out of the debris of an edifice. He did not want to do that again any time soon.
Ducking a wild slash from the woman, Naruto sprinted towards her with his body still hung low. Getting a boost of speed by applying a burst of chakra to the sole of his feet, he launched himself toward Karasuba before swiping his daggers at her, one after the other. She tried to dodge by weaving out of the attacks with minimal movements as she usually did, but was nicked by the boy on the forearms, unable to dodge fully due to his superior speed.
When Karasuba was still reeling from the shock of getting damaged by the blond, Naruto hopped backwards to put a distance between them, and went through a flurry of hand signs at an unprecedented speed, ending at the snake sign.
"Great Breakthrough!" He yelled as he created a moderate-sized gust of wind that threw Karasuba to the end of the hallway. Despite the distance she flew back, she almost immediately regained her balance and sprang back at Naruto as soon as her feet reached the ground. But the short moment of breather was all Naruto needed to sprint to the nearest window and jump off from the second floor. Enraged by the blond's escape, Karasuba naturally chased after the boy, shattering the window open when she leaped off the building.
Naruto didn't bother looking back, instead choosing to run at the top of his speed until he deemed the distance far enough from the building. After a minute or two of sprinting, he came to a halt and turned around to face the woman who was running frantically to catch up to him and hack him into pieces. And with a flick, the blond spun the daggers into an offensive grip and summoned his wind chakra to run violently over the blades, extending the length of the dagger only slightly.
"Vacuum Sword." He muttered to himself when Karasuba crashed down on the floor only a few feet away from him. The wind chakra became dense to the point that it was completely white and visible to the naked eye. And without stalling any further, Naruto swung the blade in the woman's direction, releasing large arcs of wind intended to hit the Sekirei. In a split second, Karasuba nimbly jumped over the attack, not losing any momentum as she approached the young man through the air.
Three blades clashed, creating sparks and intimidating amount of wind pressure around them, powerful enough to keep Karasuba on the air as they fought for dominance. Her grin widened when she was pushed away by the force, before she tightened the grip on her katana and started hacking it at the man with renewed vigor.
"Kyahahaha! This is great!" She cackled as Naruto swerved left and ducked her attacks with little difficulty. "Give me more. Show me more! I didn't have such a good fun in ages!"
Naruto found himself swept away in the woman's pace, not able to find the right timing to launch his own attack. The only reason he was able to last this long was due to his superior strength and speed. Karasuba's swordsmanship far surpassed his by a mile, and he found himself starting to falter the longer they clashed their blades.
"Stop being such a slimy cockroach and give me more of this feeling! This thrill! This exhilaration of battle!" She demanded when she saw that Naruto was once again distancing himself from her by leaping backwards so quickly that she couldn't close the distance easily.
Again, Naruto chose not to answer her directly. He knew that it would be a waste of his breath. So instead, he stashed away his knives and made a cross sign with his fingers, all the while staring into the woman's crazed eyes.
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu." Five clones appeared within a few feet from him, before each of them went off to engage the Sekirei in battle. Three approached her from different directions, with their daggers fully charged with raging wind chakra. They slashed at her at different intervals, though with perfect harmony.
She was hard pressed to defend herself. When she blocked two daggers and dodged another pair by swerving out of their way, yet another pair of blades threatened to slash her arm off. To make things even worse, two of them stayed at the back and threw wind attacks at her one after the other. It wasn't that she was against a good challenge every now and then. But for the human she was battling to sit at the back and watch without moving a finger…it was infuriating. A growl reverberated through her throat.
Karasuba wildly swung her katana in a wide arc to ward the clones away and pushed herself from the ground with great velocity, heading straight to the boy that was standing still and watching the battle. She grinned once again when her blade was merely inches away from bashing his head open. The boy's eyes widened in surprise and wasn't able to get out of the way in time, and the crown of his head connected with the sword, only for him to poof into nothing.
Before the Sekirei could even scowl in confusion, her breath was shot short by a dagger cleanly piercing between her ribs. And with a chop to the back of her neck, she lost consciousness, crumbling face first to the ground.
Naruto eyed the woman's fallen form, making sure that she didn't stand back up.
"Well. That was anticlimactic." He sweat-dropped at such a boring way to end the battle. He didn't think that she would go down with such methods. Weren't Sekirei some super charged aliens with amazing vitality and endurance?
Naruto shrugged and leisurely left for the building, waiting for a certain window to appear.
And with a 'ping', the grey screen appeared to congratulate him.
Mission accomplished: Defeat Karasuba in a spar
Reward: Access to Kyuubi's chakra
Exp gained: 3200 exp
Like many times in the past, another screen followed soon after.
Level Up!
Lv.46 - Lv.47
And like always, he ignored it until it disappeared by itself to put his mind to more pressing matters, such as the usage of kyuubi's chakra. He knew what using the fox's chakra entailed. Heck, he'd been using up to three tails' worth during his training trip. But it was a dangerous – and painful – shit to deal with. Not to mention that the fox was a bitch when it came to lending his chakra. So it was natural that he would wonder how the game would manage to give him access to the potent chakra.
He guessed that he wouldn't be able to find anything out unless he tried, and put a halt to his trudging. Then he called for the volatile energy that was residing inside him, starting from the spiral on his stomach. The change was instantaneous. His fangs elongated, nails sharpened, whiskers darkened, eyes changed into a sinister blood red color, and his body was encased in a shroud of red energy that was bubbling with power. But the most eye catching change was the three tails of chakra swishing behind his back.
"…It doesn't feel much different." Naruto said to himself as he rolled his fingers into a fist and flexed his muscles to lightly assess the increase in power. Sure, the surge of strength and power was immense, and made him feel as if he could take on anything in the world. But it wasn't anything new since the last time he'd used it. Even the tremendous amount of hatred and malicious intent didn't seem to have decreased in the slightest.
"Did the game just…scam me?" The blond's eye twitched at the incredulous thought. "I mean, the game system is a bastard, setting up all those near-impossible and suicidal missions, but it always gave me the proper rewards it was supposed to give…" He sighed and released the demonic energy from his system, returning himself to his original state.
Before he was able to do anything else, the scenery around him shifted without any warning, and he found himself in one of the places that he liked the least: his mindscape.
"It's been a while since we've seen face to face, hasn't it, brat?" A deep voice rumbled.
"Kyuubi." Naruto acknowledged the fox by nodding his head in its way. "Why'd you summon me in here? I doubt it was to share pleasantries."
"Of course not. I have no wishes to look at your ugly mug any longer than you wish to see me." The kyuubi lazily drawled on as he stared at the young man for any reactions. There was none. The human child definitely improved himself both physically and mentally for the past few years. The confidant boy in front of him was the proof of that. He didn't feel a waver or uncertainty from the boy steadily staring into his blood red eyes, not cowering even in the slightest from the killing intent and power emitted from his body. Interesting.
"Just get to the point, fox. Like you said, I don't enjoy staying in this sewer for an extended amount of time." Naruto's eyes narrowed in annoyance.
The kyuubi snorted at the boy's brazen attitude. "You sure you want to talk to me like that, boy? Before knowing what I am about to offer you?"
"Fine. Oh what did your grace want from this insignificant being? I am not worthy." He spoke in a monotonous tone while rolling his eyes in exasperation.
"Should have included the terrifying and marvelous king of the world that has no rival in power, or something of those lines, but I guess it is good enough for now." The gigantic fox smirked, showing off his razor-sharp fangs. Naruto only returned an incredulous look that clearly said WTF. "Pushing the dispute on my title aside, I did call you in for an important reason." This caught Naruto's interest, indicated by his straightened posture.
"…I am bored." The fox succinctly said. Naruto barely held himself from face-faulting.
"Kami, I knew that he was a self-centered, egoistical, pompous ass that believes that the world revolves around him, but this is a bit too much." He massaged his forehead as he felt a migraine coming. "Am I the stupid one for believing for just a moment that he had something reasonable to say?" He muttered to himself, though not quietly enough to stop Kurama from overhearing.
"What was that, brat?" The fox growled indignantly. "What would a puny human like you know? When I roamed around the land, there was no existence that could dare get in the way of my walk. I raised tsunamis and created earthquakes with a flick of my tail. I razed villages to the ground when a mere human irritated me-"
"Yet you are here now, behind those bars, sealed by the 'puny humans' you looked down on so much. You can barely hurt a fly in the state you are in right now. Oh how the mighty has fallen." The blond cut off the rant in a mocking tone.
The kyuubi snarled at his words.
"Do not try my patience, boy. I may be caged, but there are still many ways I can torment you in."
Though Naruto wanted to say otherwise, he held his tongue, knowing that nothing good would come out of antagonizing the biju.
"…Though I loathe to admit it, you are correct to an extent. Being imprisoned in a desolate mindscape for nearly a century is mind-blowingly boring. I'm so bored that I may just drive you mad just to have some entertainment." He paused for a moment. "Not that I would. It would get boring too quickly for my taste."
Naruto scrunched up his eyebrows, trying to figure out what the gigantic biju was thinking. One moment he acted like an egoistical, haughty fox that believed that everything was beneath it, and the next he looked like a weary, pitiful animal that was just tired of everything.
He wondered if this was the real kyuubi, or just another facade it put on to gain some sympathy points from him.
"So what's your point?" He finally asked.
"Nothing too hard. Just let me out of the seal." The kyuubi shrugged nonchalantly.
"No." The blond answered without missing a beat. "You already know that I won't let you out. Even if you can't touch Konoha anymore, I'm not willing to wait and see what you'd do to the humans in this world. As your jailor, I won't allow it." He walked up to the titanic beast and glared straight into its eyes without an ounce of fear.
"Meh. Can't say that I didn't expect that answer. I guess I'll have to offer something else..."
The fox didn't look too bothered by the quick rejection. In fact, it seemed a bit too smug in Naruto's eyes. This spelled trouble for the young blond. He would have to tread a bit more carefully than he originally had thought.
"I told you that I'm not letting you out. Even if you offer me all the riches in the world, my mind will not change." He said in a firm tone, keeping a steady gaze on the beast in front of him.
"Such an impatient brat. I wasn't asking you to let me out. I know well enough that nothing would get through that thick skull of yours once your mind is set. You proved that enough the few times we interacted in the past." Kyuubi huffed. "No, I was going to offer you a proposition that even you would find appealing."
Naruto opted to not say anything again. He simply settled for watching the fox's every move.
Kurama ignored the young man's lack of reaction and continued speaking.
"I'm willing to give you free access to my chakra. All I ask in return is to allow me to see, hear and feel the things you do. At the moment I'm willing to do just about anything to get rid of this endless boredom."
The last shinobi searched the kyuubi's form for a sign of deceit. This was almost too good to be true. A nearly incessant and volatile source of power without much hazardous power struggle between them? For such a simple price no less?
"Is this a new plot of yours? Found some sort of way to take over my body with the small access to my senses?" He scowled at the fox.
Kyuubi rolled its eyes, irritated by the stubborn boy's unwavering answer.
"Were you not listening to me the past five minutes I've been talking? I told you that I was bored out of my mind. You try staying confined to a bed for a century. You'll probably want to rip your finger off for entertainment." It scoffed. "Besides, I don't want to control your puny body anymore. Just keep your mind open just enough for me to sense things."
Call him stubborn and difficult, but he didn't want to trust the beast so easily. Its animal body was that of a fox, the icon of cunning and deviousness. Not to mention the centuries, maybe millennia worth of tricks that it learned throughout its life.
But the game system did offer him the kyuubi's chakra as a reward for his most recent mission. And the game always gave him what it said it would, including a dwelling he could stay in, wind jutsu that should have been extinct along with the shinobi generation, and weapons that upgraded themselves along with his growth.
These past experiences only made the kyuubi's offer more enticing, knowing that it wasn't a scam in any way. Though if there were any negative consequences, he had yet to see.
"…Fine. We can try this for now." He began speaking. "But if I sense even a slightest problem, the deal's off. Understood?"
"Yes, yes. You humans worry too much. Just give me enough amusement and I'll be fine." It offhandedly said.
The blond disregarded the fox's attitude in favor to finding out how to open up the sensory connection. Though he had so confidently agreed to the proposition, he had not a single clue on how he should get about the issue. Did he will it open? Or did he have to meddle with the seal? Or was it something else entirely?
He cursed to himself when nothing seemed to work. The fox was going to have a field day with this.
"Oi, fox." He called out.
The fox grunted in a reply.
"…How…do I open up this sense-connection thing?" He gritted his teeth in annoyance when the fox started chortling at the boy's expense.
"After pretending to be all mature and intelligent, I guess you can't change your character that easily! Once a monkey, always a monkey, I say."
"Shut up fox, and tell me! You want to stay bored until I die?" He retorted in irritation.
"Bah. Just put your fist on mine, and will your senses to be open to me." It curled up its paw into a fist and raised it to the boundary of the prison.
Naruto stared at it warily, wondering if this was the right thing to do. And tentatively, he raised his own and bumped it to the fox's.
Red energy encompassed them both, like it did when Naruto used the biju's chakra. But the energy was much less malicious and easier to control. It was almost comforting, in fact. He let go of the last bit of the doubt he held for the deal, and allowed the powerful energy to wash over him. When he was starting to get relaxed by its presence, the kyuubi cut the power off.
"Finished. Now run along. I don't want to look at your ugly mug any longer." It made a shooing gesture with its gigantic paw, before it rested its head on its arms, getting ready to take a long nap.
Though slightly peeved at the abrupt discontinuation, Naruto closed his eyes and willed himself out of the mind scape without wasting a moment longer.
When he reopened his eyes, the sun was already setting in the real world. Though the afternoon was very eventful, not much time had passed. Not that it mattered to him. He was already on his way to being, he dare say, one of the most powerful people in this world. Well, as far as he knew. As long as there weren't any other time-travelling ninjas or aliens from outer space, his spot was pretty much secured for now.
Kami, he sounded so conceited. Talking to kyuubi probably messed with his head a bit too much. Yup. It was all the kyuubi's fault. He wasn't getting a big head or anything…though being a bit more careful of his attitude doesn't sound like a bad idea right now…
He shrugged off the train of thought. This wasn't a time to be evaluating himself. He had better things to do, like checking out the newly earned skill of his.
Naruto summoned the window containing his skill set.
Skills:
Observation (lv.22)
Shadow clone jutsu (lv.56)
Sexy jutsu (lv.2)
Rasengan (lv.76)
Henge (lv.13)
Kawarimi (lv.32)
Surface/water walking (lv.73)
Wind release*
Jinchuriki mode*
He pressed the 'Biju mode'.
Jinchuriki mode:Allows the user to access a tailed beast's chakra at will. Its effects can vary from physical enhancement to biju-based attacks.
Version 1 (lv.12) : Creates a shroud of the beast's chakra around the user.
One-tailed 10 min (str +20, spd +10)
Two-tailed 9 min (str +30, spd +15)
Three-tailed 8 min (str +40, spd +20)
Four-tailed 6 min (str +50, spd +25)
Five-tailed 3 min (str +60, spd +30)
Six-tailed 30 sec (str +70, spd +35)
Seven-tailed 0 sec (str +80, spd +40)
Eight-tailed 0 sec (str +90, spd +45)
Nine-tailed 0 sec (str +100, spd +50)
Version 2 (lv.1) : The physical manifestation of the beast appears on the user's body, enveloping dark red chakra on the body. It almost seems like a miniature version of the beast.
"Ugh. Seems like I'd have to work harder to get better at using this. Even with the fox's consent, I can barely go into the six-tailed form. Though it is a great improvement from the three tails I was able to access three years ago." He mused, reminiscing of the past.
Since his schedule was already full, he decided that he would lighten the load of wind release training, and use that time to work on managing kyuubi's chakra instead. If he wanted to get to the nine-tailed form, he had a long road ahead of him, not to mention the other quirks the jinchuriki mode would bring him.
He broke out of his thoughts and dashed towards the edge of the island, excited to do a yet new exercise that would bring him closer to his goal.
On the Next Chapter:
"You can call me N. Assassin. Highest caliber you could ever find." He gruffly spoke to the plump man.
"That's what everyone says. How do I know that you're the real deal?" The plump man cockily asked.
Before the head director could even blink, Naruto appeared behind the man's back and put one dagger on his throat, and the other on his chest, right over the heart.
"That good enough for you? Or do you want more?" The masked blond unleashed some of his killing intent as he spoke intimidatingly.
The plump man's breath hitched, trying to pull away from the blades to no avail.
"I-I'm good. Sorry for doubting you, good sir." He replied pitifully, in a squeaky tone.
A/N: Again, I'm not sure when the next update will be, but please keep tuned!
-Yuna the Ninja-