disclaimer: Look, the East is Burning Red!
Naruto: Moeagare Toushi
Chapter 12: Know Thyself
Yakumo Kurama was currently in metaphorical hell.
The first time she sparred with her current sensei (one Uzumaki Naruto), she found all her jabs were beaten to the draw, her power shots were slapped away or shrugged off, and that he regularly doubled the amount of speed and distance during endurance runs over her - all of this while maintaining that cutely annoying smile on his face!
"Shouldn't we be learning kata now or forms or sparring?" she asked, two weeks into her training regimen. "I'm in really great shape now, and I can remember some of the Academy drills we used back in the day."
Naruto shrugged. "You're not ready."
"But... I've become even stronger than my memories of me at my best!"
Again, Naruto shook his head. "You're not ready."
"What? Even Kurenai-sensei had me try things before - " Yakumo said, but her rant stopped short because she saw one of Naruto's eyebrows slowly and deliberately inch upward.
"I... I'm sorry, sensei," she said, quickly stepping back and bowing in the prescribed fashion.
"Don't be," Naruto replied. "And also - don't call me sensei. I haven't quite deserved the honor yet."
"So what should I call you?" Yakumo asked, confused.
"Senpai would be fine," the blonde replied. "Let's continue onward."
Three weeks into the appraisal, and all Yakumo did so far was to follow something Naruto called "frontal attack evasion". He'd charge headlong at her and tell her to defend his charge as best as she could - which she had difficulty in doing, for the most part.
And with the deadline looming near, she felt like she wouldn't pass the remedial test given her, which was why she ran up to her 'senpai' as soon as he was available.
"Naruto-senpai, please explain it to me," she began. "I haven't learned anything of note from you yet."
He was supposed to look indignant, offended, or even annoyed - but at this, he gave her one of those trademark foxy grins of his.
"About time you made it this far. Come on, I'll tell you on the way to the training ground."
As Yakumo began warming up, Naruto began his explanation. "Your defenses are lacking because you tend to think of how you'd react in terms of the Academy defense system. What I teach is something completely different."
"Is this based on what you told me before? 'No two battles are exactly alike'?"
Naruto nodded. "As of recently, when I try to attack, what do you think of?"
"Nothing," Yakumo replied.
"Excellent. It's what shishou calls the basic principle of the School of the Undefeated of the East," Naruto finished, grinning. "'Having no limitation as limitation; having no way as way', that is the key."
"So I'm supposed to learn a taijutsu school that does nothing?"
"Or everything, depending on how you interpret it."
"I think... I'm beginning to understand."
"All right," Naruto said. "Now... let's spar. How far you are from true understanding is what we'll try to find out today."
"...Thus, I am proud to reinstate Kurama Yakumo into the ranks of Konohagakure's genin. May your Will of Fire burn brightly."
Yakumo's smile was just as dazzling, and as soon as she took off homeward to give her uncle the good news, Naruto just lounged around the Academy until he felt a familiar presence drop by.
"Between assignments, Jiraiya-sama?" Naruto asked.
"Yep," the Toad Sage replied. "I must say, you're just as good a teacher as my last apprentice was."
"The Fourth?" Naruto asked, flabbergasted.
"How'd you know that so quickly?"
"Public record has the Fourth using Gamabunta as his mount when defeating the Nine-Tails. Gamabunta's a toad, you summon toads, a little bit of reasoning takes care of the rest," Naruto replied with a smile.
"Oh, I wouldn't be smiling yet if I were you, my boy," Jiriaya said. "You still have D-ranks to go through."
Naruto shrugged. "At least I can use the time between missions to train Yakumo further... and myself. Got a few new ideas when it comes to wind jutsu, need an extra brain to pick at it with me. You up for it, Toad Sage?"
"I'm no Wind affinity, but I have picked up a few chakra molding tricks in my travels," Jiraiya replied. "Drop by anytime you need some help."
Naruto simply smiled.
"I will, Jiraiya-sama."
"Look, there's only one good piece of advice I can give you now, Yakumo," Naruto advised, flexing his arms, legs, and torso as he went through his stretching routine. "The thing you call the Ido is ultimately a part of you. You can deny it and restart the cycle of it trying to take control of you... or accept it, coexist with it, and find what Shishou calls 'parity'."
Deep in the seal, the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox laughed daintily.
He put a reassuring hand on the newly-minted genin's shoulder. "Whatever path you take, know this: my door is open. From here on out, we're colleagues. Once again, congratulations on making the rank of g-"
His salutations were cut short as Naruto focused his eyes on an ANBU appearing close by in a puff of smoke. "Uzumaki," the frog-masked operative declared, "an urgent matter has come about. The Hokage requires your assistance."
"Dismissed, Yakumo," Naruto said as he turned to the girl he had just finished tutoring. "Oh, and remember what I said. The sky's the limit for you, now. Best you go meet your new team."
As soon as Yakumo was out of sight, both operatives nodded before taking off towards the tower via Shunshin.
Barely ten minutes had passed since the Hokage had dismissed Uzumaki Naruto, and now the blond special jonin was making his way through the trees at mind-numbing speed, bluish-white wind chakra augmenting each of his massive leaps through the branches. As he left leaves and small twigs billowing in his wake, the Hokage's words echoed in his mind.
"Uzumaki. You are to support a retrieval effort. Uchiha Sasuke has been taken by a squad of ninja from Sound. I have already sent a force ahead to pursue. Catch up, support, and if need be, take over mission command."
"Hai, Hokage-sama!"
"Dismissed."
As soon as she said the word, Naruto was gone in a wind-based Shunshin, and the Hokage had to smile at how prompt the boy who was rapidly warming up to her was.
His travels quickly brought him to the scene of an ongoing battle - the large silhouette of who was very obviously his fellow Konoha-nin Chouji being held up in the air. He wasted no time at all, diverting wind-natured chakra to his legs to augment his kicks and movements and flashing towards the fight to intervene.
Meanwhile, Jirobo of the Sound Five had just finished activating his second level transformation - and lifting his opponent. He was just about to fling the fat Konoha genin away when his eyes suddenly locked with a certain blond ninja wearing a Konoha forehead protector.
The next thing he knew was pain - excruciating, world-shattering pain that even his powered-up physique couldn't withstand - and his delirious gaze swung down to where the agony came from. Jirobo's face suddenly twisted into a rictus of pained disbelief as he saw a chakra-laced leg lodged firmly between his own two legs. The thought that his family jewels had taken a critical crack or several finally overwhelmed his threshold of pain, and consciousness began to leave him.
As it did, though, the Sound ninja's thoughts wandered back to the invasion of Konoha, and how a rampaging bijuu was supposedly brought down by a kick to the groin. Maybe it's the same guy here...
Naruto didn't waste time; summoning a small messenger toad to bring call in Jiraiya. As soon as a few pressure point strikes to his fellow Konoha-nin stabilized the backlash from Chouji's size-altering technique, he saw that his opponent had changed form. Gone was the red skin and horns, replaced with a Sound ninja whose unconscious face was still locked in a rictus of unimaginable pain.
"You still good to go, Chouji?" he asked, and Chouji shook his head.
"I was about to use my last-ditch technique against him... thanks to you, I didn't have to. I'm nearly out of usable chakra to fight with thanks to that... can I hold the fort until Jiraiya-sama arrives?"
"Good idea," Naruto replied, handing him a few binding tags. "Have those on the guy. Wouldn't want him thrashing around when he wakes up."
"He looks awful," Chouji observed as he was applying the tags. "What could you have hit him with to cause him to look like that?"
"Didn't really notice," Naruto said as he finished the seal sequence for the toad he needed. "Went for maximum damage in minimal time. You get the idea."
While Akimichi Chouji WAS in a death battle with the Sound-nin previously, even he had to wince in sympathy after the messenger toad disappeared and his contemporary was on his way to assist their team further; because he then understood what "maximum damage in minimal time" was.
As he flew through the tree branches, the spirit of the Nine-Tailed Fox within him started humming a tune. Naruto took a moment to take a glimpse into the seal to see the Fox - still in the form of Uzumaki Mito - doing a few practice katas while humming to itself.
I do kung fu.
And as he bounded from branch to branch, Naruto thought that it sounded like a great hook to something. Thoughts sprung to his mind as he closed the distance between him and the next ninja on the list.
I'm in a kung fu stance.
Black belt with some low pants.
He took another leap.
Hello there, can a ninja get a table dance?
Uzumaki Mito's dainty laughter echoed within him as he made amazing headway in a short amount of time, catching up to the next guy in the fight card. Thankfully, the Nine-Tailed Fox knew how to suppress its own chakra to mask their presence - it was one of those things both bijuu and jinchuriki agreed on from the beginning of their professional relationship.
We're in a house of flying daggers, the Fox added.
Stumbles and staggers, Naruto continued, but any further banter between him and the bijuu was cut short when he sensed an incoming projectile. With practiced ease, he dodged the arrow and sped forward.
It didn't take him long to see the cause: a giant spider and that Hyuuga fellow in Guy-san's team battling it out.
Are we going for the bait? Naruto asked.
Might as well give the thing a try now, the Fox replied.
With a rather disturbing grin, Naruto flashed back to the few weeks he had babysitting Yakumo and two reserve corps genin who were earmarked to team up with her as soon as she got the headband. Right now, they were limited to D-ranks, and the three of them were fairly self-sufficient in taijutsu for him to spend a lot of his time crafting jutsu in the meantime.
Making your own jutsu was like playing with blocks: you had the material, the blueprints, all that was left was your imagination and making sure that what you built fit together well.
A few weeks in, he already made headway with his afterimage-generating Wind technique; moving at sharp angles made his moves even more unpredictable. Training to use the Rasengan also gave him a lot of ideas when it came to molding chakra for a jutsu - his pick of ninjutsu were all one, two, or three hand seal techniques... or pure shape manipulation based off the technique the Toad Sage taught him.
In one of the training grounds Naruto frequented, he held out his hand, and felt the whistling as he summoned the wind into the palm of his hand.
This seems so easy now, he said to himself as he saw the the orb of rotating wind chakra shining ever more brilliantly in his hand.
"Finishing Strike: Wind Release... RASENGAN!"
The orb blossomed into a white sphere, and he grinned as he figured out the next thing to do. Channeling wind chakra to his foot, he hurled the stabilized ball of swirling wind chakra into the air and punted it towards a boulder he saw in the distance.
One satisfying explosion later, Naruto grinned. "I think I'll call that 'Dragon Shot'."
If you want to be flashy, the Fox replied via the seal. How about something for stealth operations?
A light bulb went on in Naruto's head as he realized what the Nine-Tails was implying.
You're a genius! I could kiss you right now but it would just be awkward as heck.
A moment of silence went by the training ground before he heard the Nine-Tails' voice.
...yes, it would be rather awkward.
Back in the present, Naruto decided to give his new technique a try: after fishing out a Konoha standard kunai, he lazily threw it towards the multi-armed ninja on top of the giant spider, gathered wind chakra in the tenketsu on his foot, took up a stance...
Wind Release! Naruto thought.
...and swept his foot in a graceful arc, unleashing the burst of wind chakra when his foot went parallel with the kunai; the boost sending the projectile hurtling towards the target with unimagined speed.
Wind God Flash! the Nine-Tails finished.
It was all over after a few moments: Naruto didn't intend to use the projectile to hit the spider ninja, just to distract him long enough for Neji to finish the job. With just half a second to move his head to avoid getting a hole blasted through his noggin, Kidomaru moved... only to meet a palm strike to the head that scrambled his entire nervous system into an emergency unconscious state just to keep its owner alive.
Boom, Naruto said, with the Nine-Tailed Fox finishing his phrase. Headshot.
With the threat neutralized, Naruto disengaged the lock on his presence, revealing him to Hyuuga Neji. After giving a thumbs-up more in line with his sensei, Neji acknowledged the greeting with a flash of his own chakra.
The special jonin smiled to himself as he sped onward, to the rescue of his fellow Konoha shinobi.
The pursuit continued, as Uzumaki Naruto, special jonin and journeyman practitioner of the School of the Undefeated of the East pressed onward to accomplish his current mission. Deep within the seal, though, the Nine-Tails felt that something was amiss.
Naruto. Can you let me feel the wind on your skin?
Why, what's up? Also... I can do that?
You can allow the seal to let me experience your senses. Didn't the old Toad summoner tell you this?
...right. Okay, give me a moment. I see a teammate in need, he replied as he felt a familiar presence catching up to him. He slowed down and finally stopped, putting a finger to the wind to try to sense what had gotten the bijuu sealed within him all worked up.
"I can still fight," Hyuuga Neji said as he took up a spot on the next branch over.
"I know," Naruto replied. "See anything?"
"Inuzuka Kiba is in trouble against another one of those Sound ninja."
"Give him the assist. More help's on the way."
"Roger," Neji answered. "You sure you can continue the pursuit on your own?"
"Thanks for asking, but I can handle this."
And with a mighty chakra-enhanced leap, Naruto was on his way again.
Ugh. Okay, you can ease off the seal now. That was a fair bit disturbing. I cannot begin to calculate the depths you humans can sink to.
What do you mean? Naruto asked, as there was a definite undercurrent of dislike in the bijuu's voice as he cut off the connection allowing it to feel his senses.
Source of disturbance dead ahead. You'll know what I mean when you get there.
I'll have to ask for more details after this.
Sure thing. Don't let me distract you - mission first.
It was right after the bijuu finished its statement when Naruto burst into a clearing with the signs of a fresh battle around. As soon as he got within striking distance of the ongoing battle, his eyes met an ongoing tussle: the chunin leading the pursuit team was currently tangled up with a red-headed kunoichi wearing the Sound-nin uniform.
The kunoichi had already transformed and was fighting off Nara Shikamaru's Shadow Possession - she was about to succeed, as it was receding, and...
Whoa, the way his shadow's arm is going all over her is kind of distracting, Naruto thought out of the blue.
...a pulse of absolute anger rocked the forest as Naruto's fellow Leaf-nin was thrown off rather violently, dispelling the shadow attack.
Yeah, I think I know why you're disturbed now, Naruto said wryly to the bijuu in the seal.
The last thing Naruto saw before his vision turned into a haze of red was the horned kunoichi beginning to play her flute.
When the chakra of the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox finally faded from him, he found himself on the forest floor, with Shikamaru propped up on the tree on one end, and the Sound kunoichi a sopping, twitching mess at his feet.
Okay, what just happened?
Tell you later. Get your comrade to tie her up and bring her back to Konoha for some examination. Your mission is still ongoing.
Gotcha.
"Oi, Shikamaru," Naruto said as he walked over to his colleague. "You back with us?"
He groaned and forced his eyes open. "You beat her?"
"Yeah," Naruto replied, though he as of yet didn't know how. "We've got ourselves a nice prisoner here. Get her trussed up - still have some unfinished business."
"On it. You said you caught up with us - where's Chouji and the others?"
"Took care of their problems as well; they should be coming over any minute now."
True enough, the pursuit team did - each of them carrying sealed-up and unconscious Sound ninja with them. Accompanying them were the genin team from Sand, led by Jiraiya.
"Just like the cops in soap operas," Naruto groused with a partially theatric sigh. "Show's over back here, but Uchiha Sasuke is nowhere to be found."
"There were four of them," Shikamaru explained. "Then a guy picked up the barrel Sasuke was imprisoned in and went off. I ran into Rock Lee; he should be engaging the fifth Sound ninja now."
Naruto smirked. "Continuing pursuit, then. Wouldn't want to be late."
"Hold up, kid," Jiraiya said. "After we wrap things up here, we'll try and catch up to you if we can."
"Understood. Uzumaki Naruto, heading out."
And in a flash of wind, he was off.
As the trees gradually thinned, Naruto asked the bijuu within him another question.
What did you do? Why'd you body-jack me?
The Nine-Tailed Fox shrugged. Our senses are different enough that what you call the illusion arts do not affect us as much. The woman's arts were powerful enough to affect you even with my chakra through your coils; I, on the other hand, do not have such a handicap.
Besides, the tailed beast added, the seal seems to have agreed to my judgment and allowed me to do so with minimal restraint. I have to say, you are a great deal more powerful within the seal than without - or maybe that's the seal talking.
We'll hash it out with the old Toad Sage's help later. Business now.
Indeed. I've exhausted my chakra through your coils, so you should use more finesse against whoever you're up against.
Thanks for the heads-up.
Back in the real world, Naruto had just run into the last of them - a white-haired ninja looming over Rock Lee, holding an odd staff, about to shove it into his fellow Konoha-nin's skull...
...which did not happen as a sandal-clad foot boosted with wind chakra hit the Sound-nin square in the face, followed up by another burst of wind chakra from the soles of said foot that sent him flying several feet away.
"Ah!" Rock Lee exclaimed as he pulled himself to his feet. "You have arrived in time, Naruto-san!"
"Where's the Uchiha?" Naruto asked as he dropped down into a fighting stance. No wonder Might Guy likes to yell during this technique; the kiai helps exert more force.
"Still in the barrel," Lee answered. "He's kept me at bay for some time now and just overpowered me. Perhaps with the two of us working together..."
Naruto cracked his knuckles. "Great idea: let's do it. I have a feeling we'll need more than that to beat this guy."
The Sound-nin looked at them with disdain as he took up a stance with that odd white staff of his.
"I will fulfill Orochimaru-sama's will, or die trying," he declared. "You will not get past me."
The journeyman snorted and gave Lee a short glance. "We'll see about that."
Chapter 12: END
Author's Note: I honestly didn't want to ape another story too much. However, I wanted to make a certain passage of another story better and give it some polish so that one, Naruto wouldn't be too overpowered (nobody likes kill hogs in League of Legends when facing bots, this time Naruto does an assist or several), and two, the random song lines wouldn't be too egregious and flow well with the story.
The song is "Kung Fu Yu" by BBOSS, aka the One Finger Death Punch trailer song.
Jutsu Encyclopedia
Wind Release: Wind God Flash
A supplementary technique based on Naruto shooting bursts of wind chakra from his tenketsu. Instead of a large burst of wind chakra, Naruto can focus the burst into something more compact and effective. The first usage of this technique is a functional upgrade of the Wind Release: Gale Palm, more specifically used to improve the velocity of thrown weapons.