Chapter 7: Eagerness and Consequence
Finding out about one's biological family, specifically when you've never known anything about them before is something we can all appreciate as being an intense emotionally taxing event which requires time to process and absorb... Fortunately or unfortunately for the young Uzumaki boy a certain million year old plus entity sealed in a book was in no mood to deal with his wielder having yet ANOTHER emotional breakdown. So after letting the boy cry for a good 5 minutes he finally decided to interrupt.
'Alright already! Enough with the waterworks! I'm in no mood to watch another 3 day long mope fest thank you very much.'
'*sob*B-but…!'
'Do you remember what I told you right after we first met?'
'*Sob* You mean...about not having your wielder seem weak?'
'Yessss. And how do you think you look like now with all that moping? I admit you've probably had to go through more emotionally upheaving stuff than the average person would in this amount of time, but come on kid! Your ancestors were a proud bunch from what I recall, do you really think your honoring them by acting this way?'
'...I don't know.'
'The answer my little naive wielder is no! So stand up, wipe all the snot and tears from your face and man up before you make me regret helping you this far!
'I...you're right.'
'Damn straight I'm right! Now come on. Let's see what kind of stuff your ancestors had lying around this place.'
Thus thoroughly...chastised?...comforted? It was hard to tell sometimes what intent the odd entity in question had when he did things like this, but whatever it was it did wonders for Naruto's disposition. Without a moment's hesitation he had wiped his face clean with the back of hand (which he then proceeded to wipe on his pant's leg) and proceeded to look at everything in sight with new found gusto. Much of the place had been picked clean of anything of value to most people. However Naruto was not most people. Even a single dusty photograph of his lost relatives, or the little tidbit about how his family were long lived was like a goldmine to the attention starved boy.
More importantly, beyond discovering objects and knowledge of sentimental value there were other things discovered that would prove to be of a more immediate tangible use to the boy. Kunai and shuriken of a grade that while fairly common to most, were almost always found to be just out of his reach given his limited stipend and the fact the locals kept gouging him. There were also several scrolls of various low level techniques, common enough that whoever it was that had raided the place had apparently not thought to take them and an extremely basic book on seals. However despite the giddiness these last two objects brought to the boy Xy insisted that he not try messing with them just yet.
'But why?'
The book encased being paused in its task of as Naruto put it "doing his freaky book eating info copying trick" from the books and scrolls they had discovered so far to turn to the boy.
'Naruto seals are an extremely finicky and precise subject. Granted as an Uzumaki your ability with them will probably be far further ahead then your average rookie, for some reason your clan had an almost instinctive understanding of how certain shapes and mathematical principles effected the results of seals, however it is still quite a dangerous topic. Heck the first explosive tags were invented after some dabbler screwed up a set of storage seals he was trying to improve. Blew his arm clean off and ended up bleeding out! His brother at least made a mint though by copying his dead brother's last notes and then marketing the result as a weapon...but I'm rambling. Point is they can be quite dangerous. As for the other scrolls while they aren't necessarily dangerous, they aren't going to necessarily be useful until we figure out what elemental affinity you lean towards.'
'Elemental affinity?'
'I'm not sure whether to have expected you wouldn't know what it is given its probably a more advanced matter or to be annoyed that you don't so I'm going to lean towards the former and save myself from developing a frustration induced ulcer. *Exhale* Elemental affinity is basically put what element you are strongest at wielding and which one you are weakest at wielding. Typically with most people you will have one or more elements you are strong at and one or more elements you are weak at, with the latter being usually those which naturally oppose the former. For example someone strong in fire jutsu will usually be weak in wielding water jutsu though that is not always the case. Earth users are typically weak in using lighning, lightning with wind and so on and so forth. Some individuals have no affinity, meaning they have no specific advantage in using one element over another, while some extraordinary individuals like the sage of six paths have affinity in all the elements. There are also special kekkei genkai that allow users to mix two or more elements in unique ways, and at the same time give a person an affinity towards the two or more elements that make up said element, such as the wood release allowing users to not only use plants but which also gives them an affinity for earth and water release. It's an important thing to know both to shore up your weakness against certain elements and at the same time to prevent you for wasting time on techniques which will cost you a ton of more energy to use due to not having affinity for them'
'So then why don't we find out now and save ourselves the trouble?'
'Unless you happen to have some chakra conductive paper lying around I'm afraid...wait actually never mind. Now that I think about it I think I saw some of that stuff in the basement we came out of earlier.'
So said the two immediately made an about face and headed back toward the basement storage room. Sure enough between two sets of boxes was a pile of what to the untrained eye was nothing more then a batch of ordinary paper.
'A bit water-stained but it should still work just fine. Good thing this sort of paper is necessary in order to make certain sorts of seals, otherwise we might not have lucked out like this'
'Neat! So who how exactly does it work?'
'Easy. Just take a piece of paper and try to channel your chakra through it. How the paper reacts to the energy will tell us precisely which element or elements you have an affinity for.'
And so he did. With his hands formed into the requisite hand seal Naruto proceeded to channel some of his energy toward the paper between his fingers. At first nothing, but then finally the paper suddenly split right down the middle.
'So?'
'Hm, judging by how it reacted I would say you have an affinity for wind jutsu. Useful but rather rare in this part of the world. It's far more common in the Land of Wind (dead give away that name there). As a result if you see a Sunagakure ninja expect at least one of them to be a wind user. It's a powerful style emphasizing close to mid-range combat mostly which is both strong against lightning and as an added benefit it can augment an allied ninja's fire style jutsu. At the same time, that very same added benefit means it is no defense against those fire style jutsu should they be aimed at the wielder. The only exception to that rule was the augmented wind style granted by the extremely powerful bloodline called the typhoon release, as the winds that can be produced by a bearer of that bloodline are so intense they can snuff out nearly any flame thrown in the user's direction. That style however was rare even in my time. Still as long as the wind style is higher ranked than the fire style it is possible even for a normal user of wind to pull the same stunt off or even blast the fire style back at the opponent who launched it. I would not recommend it though unless you are absolutely certain your attack is superior to your opponent's.'
'Wow.'
'And speaking of wind...am I the only one feeling a draft in here?'
It was an ordinary statement, one that under normal circumstances would have never resulted in anything other than a brief acknowledgment. In this case however the results were far more profound than anyone at that time could have guessed.
Turning about to try and find proof of the previously mentioned draft Naruto quickly found it and in a most unexpected way. On the floor, dancing in the updraft caused by the draft, a sliver a paper floated through the air. The very same sliver of paper in fact that had been cut when Naruto had been trying to find his affinity. Idly Naruto stepped forward to catch it only to find himself tumbling forward as the floorboard he stepped on suddenly gave way beneath his foot. Cursing Naruto rose up and glanced back to glare at the spot only to find Xy floating over there. Once more Naruto heard the book based being mutter some strange syllables and...something began to rise out of the hole.
It looked like some sort of glass orb with a hinge in the middle and held in a small 4 clawed dragon hand. On the base of the claw was written a strange series of runes. Within the orb was a smaller engraved orb on a metallic rod.
'The hell is that thing?'
'That my boy is the million ryo question. Though judging by the rune on the inner orb it looks like another blood driven contraption.'
'Geeze, what was with my relatives and all the blood based things?'
'Eh maybe they just had a thing for the color red. A majority of the clan members WERE redheads after all. Whatever the reason is kid I can safely say this is minor compared to some of the stuff I've seen. I've seen entire suits of armor powered by blood and souls. So this is nothing by comparison Na-what the fuck do you think your doing?!'
The panicked cry came out a moment too late. In that eagerness oh so common to youths, Naruto had popped the larger glass orb open and once more set to nicking his finger. Instantly the smaller inner orb began to glow. Then at almost the same instance the outer orb without any prompting snapped shut on its own and began to spin. About them tiny lights like fireflies or embers in a fire began to light up the walls like a planetarium at least until they suddenly snapped together to form a beam that hovered on one spot for almost ten seconds. Around it spun runes representing something, which Xy took careful mental note of before they vanished almost as quickly as they had appeared.
'Well that was rather anti-climactic don't you…?'
* CRASH *
Before he could finish his remark Xy had to bear witness to the sight of his companion suddenly getting sent flying through the air as he was struck by yet another one of those strange beams from the device. Despite Naruto's no longer holding onto it the device continued to hover there all while the beam kept pouring energy into the boy. Gobsmacked, Xy at first didn't know how to respond...that is until the boy began howling in agony...
Deep within the boy's subconscious an exhausted chakra based being was busy cursing up a storm. For the past several days the Kyuubi had redoubled its effort at relentlessly bashing away at the gate of its new prison and for good reason too. It was bad enough to be trapped in a human, that was something it had accepted it was going to have to deal with time after time...but there was no way in hell it was going to have anything to do with that damnable book or anyone associated with it! Ignoring the pain that touching the gate had caused the beast had struck the barrier with every ounce of force it could muster again and again, but in the end it had all proved to be for naught. No longer able to sustain the onslaught the beast collapsed.
Many people had many different opinions about the tailed beasts. Some assumed they were nothing more than mindless animals or living natural disasters. Others assumed them to be divine punishments or wise ancient beings manipulating things on a scale mortals couldn't understand. As for which if any of them was right, there was a lot of evidence pointing in a lot of different directions...including one piece of evidence that severely would have made observers question the beasts intelligence. Namely the words uttered by the fox as it lay there panting in exhaustion.
"At least things can't get any worse."
They could in fact, and they did as Murphy's law struck with a vengeance.
An unholy screeching sound unlike anything heard before echoed throughout the cavernous bowels of the seal. The lights, those manifestations of the boy's subconscious previous attempt to be a clown, things which had been slowly dimming as more and more evidence of his home town's sins against him began to present themselves suddenly blazed with an unnatural carmine hue like cold dying stars before exploding under the strain of a massive power surge. The beast howled as bolts of energy emerged from the burst lights and arced through the water that always pooled on the floor of the seal. The walls around the cage seemingly began to crumble under the bombardment but unfortunately for the beast it was not a thing to be celebrated. For as they crumbled something else rose to take their place. A series of interlocking gears, revealed to be the source of the screeching, rose and in their wake they dragged what looked to be pillars lined with spiked and barbed golden chains.
Chains that looked PAINFULLY familiar. Chains that suddenly launched forward like hungry serpents seeking prey.
"Oh FUCK ME!"
Slowly the pain receded, not totally mind you. Enough that Naruto wasn't wishing he were dead with every passing moment. Now instead there was only a bone deep sort of soreness. As it cleared so to did his vision to reveal first the shadow and then the form of an ancient being he was slowly growing familiar with.
'Still alive?'
'Yeah...ugh...though I sort of wish otherwise.'
'Good! Now what have we learned from this little endeavor?'
'Um don't touch or activate things I'm not supposed to?'
'Almost. The correct response is don't touch or activate things whose functions you are unaware of, or whose consequences for doing so are not things you are willing to accept, but good guess.'
'Speaking of...what happened to that weird thing?
'Well the that is easy enough to explain. I blew it up before it could blow you up! For proof you need only look to your left.'
And sure enough lying to his left the smoking remains of the strange contraption lay there in a crumbled heap of broken glass and fused together metallic slag.
'Wow...thanks man. Any ideas why my relatives apparently made a magic murder ball to kill me with?'
'I'm not so sure that was the intent at all my boy.'
'Oh?'
'Oh yes. Now admittedly I'm not exactly sure what the device was meant to do given the limited amount of time I had to examine it, but I don't think its intent was malicious...that means evil by the way'
'Yes I KNOW what it means thanks and frankly I have to say your nuts! You didn't just experience feeling like your skin got replaced with molten lava!'
'THAT was not the intent of the box! Like I said I don't know exactly what the box's intent was but I DO recognize what sort of energy it was giving off.'
'And that was?'
'Well to put it bluntly it appeared to be a mix of scanning, healing energy and natural energy with just a dab of space-time stuff thrown. As far as I can tell I think it was possibly a healing device.'
'Well you sure as hell could of fooled me!'
'I know your upset but before you get mad at your ancestors I think you should know that what happened might have been my fault...or at least my presence that is'
'...explain please?'
'I believe that the device sensed my energy flowing through you as it has since our connection was first forged and well I think the box mistook either it or the energy of your new seal as something malicious and as a result...well tried to purge it. I was insulated from the blast because of the nature of my extra-dimensional container. As I've stated before I technically speaking am not actually here I'm actually trapped in a pocket dimension linked to this book and just transmitting energy through it, a fact which protected me from the blast. Now again this is all guesswork and I'm still sort of fumbling in the dark but that's the best idea I've got at the moment.'
'Huh...well now I suddenly feel bad about that thing being broken'
'Well don't feel to bad. I'll take it with us and try and see if perhaps I can do something to fix it and maybe figure out exactly how it worked.'
At this Xy paused and with another set of muttered incantations caused a random storage scroll to float over to where the remnants of the device remained. There was a poof and the object was gone, after which the piece of paper suddenly floated over to where Xy was and slipped between the back-most of his book's pages and the cover.
'Also...' the being began before pausing unsure of how best to put what had happened in as tender a way as possible before his wielder interrupted and made him decide once more honesty was the best policy.
'Also what?'
'Also there were some unexpected consequences.'
Before the boy could question him further the book suddenly muttered another set of strange words and what seemed to be a thin reflective piece of glass appeared floating before Naruto's face. Not that he understood why. Everything seemed alright. Same whisker marks, same blue eyes, same red streaked blond hair…
Wait…
WHAT?!
The boy at the realization immediately reached up and gave his hair a good yank, something which not only hurt, but also served to provide proof he was not under an illusion in the form of a red tipped blond hair which he held up between his two fingers to examine more completely in the faint light. It was real alright.
'Xy, explanation please! NOW!'
'Well it was an Uzumaki device...and the Uzumaki were mostly red-heads...maybe the device activated some of your latent genetic traits? Or at least the latent traits in your new body, like I said I'm still a little unsure about...
'NEW BODY?!'
'Yes...did I forget to mention that? I thought I mentioned that. Oh that's right, I never told you how exactly that energy surge saved your life. Yeah basically kid your soul and the fox got transferred into an exact copy of your old body. Or at least it used to be before this whole mess'
'HOW THE HELL DO YOU FORGET TO MENTION SOMETHING LIKE THAT!? GAH!'
Before Xy could respond to the emotionally unstable boy he was forced to dodge as what looked like a chain shot out of the boy's back and nearly impaled him before it smashed a hole in the nearby wall.
The silence following this whole mess felt like a heavy smothering blanket as the boy could only stare in shock at what he saw before him.
'Well...that's new huh?' the book encased being muttered in shock. Eyes as wide as plates Naruto found he could only nod in agreement at the sight.
A/N: Happy Birthday to the U.S Marine Corps and a happy Veterans day to all of you and all the folks serving in the armed services!
