Chapter 5 – Lesson 2: Life-force

See disclaimers on prologue.

Read and review! Constructive criticism is welcome! BETA NEEDED! This is my first real fanfic so advice is needed and welcome!

" " – human speech/writing

' ' – human thought

' ' – demon thought

" " – demon speech

A day passed after the duo's outing, and now Naruto and Obscuro were sitting in the library. Naruto was sitting on his chair while Obscuro was using the chalk and board. "Before we begin, you will be performing an exercise that will help you twofold. I presume you have studied the chakra scrolls I have given you?" Obscuro wrote.

Naruto nodded and replied "Yeah, I did. I know about chakra control, chakra flow and chakra manipulation. I also know about the leaf exercise and chakra-walking (1)." Obscuro wrote back "Good. Have you performed the basic exercises?" A moment of silent passed as Naruto let out an awkward smile and stammered "U-um, I studied them but I-I was busy with the rituals so...heh-heh?" This just prompted Obscuro to flick the blond again, earning the shadow-demon a shout of indignation from him. It wrote back "We will have to work on your priorities later. Fetch the scroll with the exercises."

Naruto dashed out of the room and came back a minute later with the aforementioned scroll. "Good" the demon wrote "open to the leaf exercise section. You will perform the exercise – it shall help you with your chakra control and give you an idea of what I shall instruct you to do next." With those words, a leaf flew in from the open window and lay on Naruto's forehead.

The jinchuuriki opened his mouth before sending a look of irritation towards the shadow-demon. 'Like that leaf just randomly flew in here' he thought. He then sighed, closed his eyes and focused on the leaf.

If one was to describe the sensation of gathering chakra, it would be like water rushing through the entire body before forming a pool at a specified spot. This was what Naruto felt as he gathered his chakra onto his forehead. After a few seconds of attempt, the leaf stuck firmly on his forehead. Naruto maintained this position for a minute, before another flick shook his concentration and made the leaf fall. He turned to the board with another frustrated stare before viewing the new message: "Do you remember the sensation of the flowing chakra?"

The blond raised an eyebrow and nodded. Obscuro wrote back "Good. Now hold this." At those words a small object was placed in front of him.

The object in question was a small, bronze-colored metal sphere that fit nicely in Naruto's small palm. Its surface was lined with connecting grooves and circles. There were two large circles on opposite ends. Naruto tilted his head sideways in confusion before looking at the board. Obscuro answered the unasked question "That is what we shall use to draw your life-force out. Now brace yourself, this might be a little discomforting."

A swarm of shadow tendrils lashed out and stuck to Naruto's arms and back. Naruto moved to react when he felt a massive surge of…something flowing through him and traveling through his body. If Naruto could compare, he would say that if his chakra felt like flowing water, then this new sensation felt like electricity, wild and uncontrollable.

The blond asked in a frightened tone "W-what did you do to me?" He looked at the board that now read: "I gave you a little push. Remember the leaf exercise. Remember the sensation of your chakra flowing through you as you pushed it towards the leaf. Now do the same with this. Focus this energy into the sphere."

Naruto blinked and took a deep breath. He remembered the water-like flow of his chakra and how he pushed it towards the leaf. He tried to "push" this new energy inside him into the sphere, only to find out it was harder than he thought; it was as if this energy was resisting him. Nevertheless, he kept pushing.

Several seconds later, he felt the energy reach his hands. To his amazement, Naruto saw that the grooves on the sphere were lighting up in a white light.

He heard the familiar chalk-scratch on the board and looked up to see the new message: "Good. What you see is your life-force, the first step of starting a ritual. Like jutsu, every ritual needs a set amount of life-force to activate. Unlike most jutsu however where you can pump extra chakra into it to make it stronger, you need to use an exact amount of life-force in a ritual. Otherwise, the ritual might implode on itself."

After reading the message Naruto said "That's new. But my arms are starting to feel really weird." Obscuro wrote back "Which is why I want you to practice this exercise every day for 5 minutes from now on." Naruto replied with a simple "Sure."

Obscuro wrote back "Do this for 5 minutes, go over your exercises, then go eat. I shall catch a rabbit for you. You will skin and prepare it."

During Naruto's stay at the mansion, Obscuro had shown him how to prepare meat and wild plants. The shadow-demon stated that this would be good practice for ritual preparation. Naruto went through with it because he could finally learn how to cook something so that he could eat. Food was scarce to him due to his previous experiences, so the thought of being able to get food on his own thrilled him. With this, he also gained knowledge on body parts and ingredient preparation.

Unknown to the boy, the other purpose in this lesson was to desensitize the blond to blood and gore. The shadow-demon knew that Naruto – due to his tenant – would be in encounters that will most likely force him to kill or bloody his opponent.

After couple of hours of gruelling exercises and lessons, Naruto went and skinned the large rabbit, then went outside, just near the house to light a fire. As he lit up a match when he saw that two human silhouettes were crouching on the tree branches a small distance away. Without warning, those two leapt at high speeds towards the blond.

Biting back a curse, Naruto tried to turn around and run back into the house, when Obscuro's shadow tendrils latched onto his feet keeping him rooted to the ground. He was about to raise his arms in defence, but blood flooded his sight.

Just as the two men – looking closer, they were leaf-ninja - were about to make the final sprint towards Naruto, giant shadow spears burst from the ground and impaled the two men. Hard enough to bisect them in an explosion of blood and guts.

Despite his growing desensitization, Naruto felt his stomach churn and bile arise in his throat. It was only thanks to his life in the village and Obscuro's training that he didn't puke.

He attempted to clear his head of the sounds of death that he just heard, when Naruto noticed something very, very odd and familiar.

The ground around him and the house was glowing red. Just like when he went "shopping" with Obscuro.

This time however, the glow seemed to form lines and several shapes. But as the lines were made clearer, Naruto understood.

"A ritual circle" he whispered in awe. "It's a giant ritual circle."

He felt himself turning sideways to see the small board that Obscuro carried. On it was written: "Correct. When I mentioned protection, I meant this. As you can see, anyone who tries to enter the house without permission will receive a very nasty surprise."

Naruto gulped and muttered "Yeah, that's protection." Obscuro threw a pebble at the two corpses and wrote "Time for a little test. Tell me, do you see anything different about them?"

"They're dead." He said in a flat tone. Cue pebble to forehead. "Ouch!"

Rolling his eyes, Naruto turned to look at the bodies. He cringed at the open hole across their sides, but something caught his eye.

"There's a lot less blood than I saw before." He commented. He turned back to see the new message "Correct. This is a continuous circle. It runs by itself for a period of time and needs the occasional boost to power it back up. In this case it's life-force from blood. The more blood that feeds it, the stronger the circle will grow."

Naruto whistled in awe. Then a thought came to his head. "Since nearly the entire village hates me, if they try and come here..." Obscuro wrote back "Yes. Like flies to honey. Very dangerous honey."

Naruto simply nodded, lost in thought. By then the grounds have stopped glowing. His stomach then growled. He snapped his head up and cried "Ah! The food!"

As the boy went back to preparing his meal, Obscuro used his shadows to swallow up the corpses. The shadow-demon started thinking about this little incident.

'It seems like the situation is starting to grow. I will make sure that the boy will grow with the situation and more. He will need more weapons and combat training if he wishes to survive. I will also need to accelerate his ritual learning to advance him to a combat level. To do that, I might have to take a few trips outside the village. Perhaps I shall bring him with me. It would do good for him to see what the world is like, as well as a few of its more hidden corners...'

It continued to ponder in thought until it felt several human presences arriving from the forest. Taking the board back into the house, it watched as two figures moved closer to the house. Opening the ritual barrier as to not arouse suspicion, Obscuro made the mental equivalent of widening its eyes, mirroring Naruto's surprised cry: "Hokage-san!?"

-Obscuro-

A few minutes earlier, in the Hokage's office...

Hiruzen Sarutobi was attempting to relax by reading an orange book and smoking his pipe after a frustrating council meeting. It went as usual, with talks of finance, patrols, intel, academy standards, and the usual back-and-forth argument of Naruto Uzumaki's existence. The latter case caused him to remember Naruto's monologue. He let out a sigh of tiredness.

"I should have expected this to happen" he whispered. The Hokage tapped his pipe against the table as he pondered what to do next. "His time in the village has caused him to be mistrustful of other people, this much I can tell." He said to himself. A thought then crept into his head.

'If I talk to him, maybe I can find out some things...' The Hokage got up from his chair and called "Weasel!" In an instant, the ANBU codenamed Weasel appeared before him. "Take me to Naruto's new residence immediately." Weasel bowed and grabbed the Hokage as they both disappeared in a burst of speed.

Soon enough, the two started to approach the area. "Has anyone attempted to seek out Naruto's location?" He asked.

Weasel simply replied "None that were successful. I made sure that the rest of the squad wouldn't say a word."

The Hokage nodded to this. They were about to enter the clearing when he felt his entire body shiver. It was as though an ominous presence was watching him and he couldn't find out from where. "Was this what you felt when you came here?" He asked. A silent nod came from the ANBU.

Nevertheless, as appropriate for the one with the title Shinobi no Kami (God of Shinobi), he took the final jump towards the clearing.

The house was indeed unusual, as it didn't match anything that the village had. The area surrounding the house seemed barren, as though the trees refused to grow there. Just a few feet in front of the house was Naruto, eating some meat by a fire.

'How come no one noticed this house before? By the looks of its age as well as its unusual appearance, people should have definitely seen it.' He pondered. The Hokage took a quick look backwards at their trail. 'Maybe because it's near the Forest of Death? Or its distance from the village? The trees seem to be blocking it as well...'

Mentally filing those thoughts for later, he approached the blond, who turned to him with a surprised cry "Hokage-san!?"

He smiled at the boy and greeted him "Hello, Naruto-kun. So, this is your new home?" Naruto looked at him with wide eyes and nodded. He approached the fire and asked "May I sit?" Naruto nodded again. Sarutobi sat down and pulled out his pipe. He turned to the boy and asked in a calm tone "I am sorry for not noticing your situation with the orphanage sooner. I made sure that this wouldn't happen again."

Naruto tilted his head and said "Oh. Thank you, but I like it here better." He then returned to eating the meat.

The Hokage simply nodded and sat in silence, smoking. A few minutes passed as the sky grew red with the setting sun approaching the horizon.

The Hokage looked towards Naruto and asked "Naruto, do you know what I do?" The boy looked towards him and replied "You're the village's leader. You protect it and its citizens."

"Very good. Who else protects the village?" Naruto raised an eyebrow and answered "The ninja, why?"

'Time to see if it's true.' Sarutobi took a drag of his pipe and asked "How would you like to go to the academy to become a ninja Naruto?"

Naruto opened his mouth slightly before closing it. Raising his eyes up to the sky and humming, he looked back at the Hokage before saying: "No."

Inwardly, Sarutobi sighed in sorrow. To the boy, he asked "Why?"

Naruto fiddled with the remains of his food before asking "People become ninjas to protect the village, right? To protect their families? Why should I become a protector to a village that hates me?"

Raising an eyebrow at the boy's statement while thinking 'He is very smart for his age. No thanks to the villagers...' He responded by saying "If you give them the chance, they will see past their hatred for you." Naruto simply shot back "You mean their hatred for the fox."

Drawing a breath in alarm, he leaned towards the blond before asking in a serious tone "How do you know?"

Naruto widened his eyes and scratched his head for a moment before answering in a nervous tone "I-I saw him when I first fell asleep here. He told me what happened." The Hokage frowned and asked "Did it say anything else?"

Naruto shook his head. "N-no. He said that they hated me because they think I am him. That I k-killed their families."

Sarutobi went and clasped Naruto's shoulders. "They are wrong. You are NOT the fox. You are its jailer, its vessel. You are the hero of this village." Naruto shook his head again and said "The villagers don't think so, and I don't intend to change their thoughts. One thing the fox did tell me is that humans don't change and hate what they don't understand."

"That's not true. People can change." Naruto simply replied "Even after years of hatred?"

Sarutobi nodded and let go of the boy. Naruto slumped down before looking him in the eye "That still doesn't change my mind. I'm not becoming a ninja." The blond stood and started heading towards the house.

Sarutobi sighed and asked "You learnt how to read yourself, am I right?" Naruto turned and nodded. Knowing the boy's desire for knowledge he said "There are things that you need another person's help to learn. The academy can help you with that. If you're a student there, you can use the library.

You can also make friends with other children there. I made it a law for the villagers not to tell their children about your burden. They can still see you as you, Naruto."

The boy looked down in thought. The Hokage took note of the darkening sky before asking "Why don't you come to my office within a week to answer me? Take time to think about this. I just wish to help you Naruto."

He turned towards Weasel who nodded. In an instant, both of them were jumping through the trees back to the village.

'If he does choose to come, I might have to do a check on the teachers. I can't have them ruin his attempts at learning.' Sarutobi thought as he approached his office. 'He needs to be a ninja to protect himself, even if he doesn't see that.'

-Obscuro-

Naruto entered the house and went up to his bedroom. He sat on the bed and sighed. He looked to his desk and saw his notebook and his makeshift attempts at ritual circles. He rubbed his head as he couldn't get the Hokage's words out of his mind.

Obscuro's board soon floated into the room. On it was written "Interesting talk. He does have a point you know. About learning from others."

Naruto nodded and said "I know. But that means I'll have to protect that village. The village that hates me. Their looks never changed as I grew up. People don't change.

Also, if I do become a ninja, he will find some way to keep an eye on me. He'll find you and all of...this and he will take me away."

Obscuro wrote back with blinding speed "That will not happen. I swear it. Although you do raise a few good points. I shall dwell on this. Good move with the whole 'Kyuubi' thing. I have taught you well. Go to sleep"

Naruto smiled at the praise. This was the first actual praise that the shadow-demon gave him, apart from the usual "correct" or "good".

He yawned, took a quick bath (again the water in the tub was clean) and went to bed. He closed his eyes, and soon fell asleep.

Deep within the seal on the boy's stomach, the great Kyuubi no Yoko (Nine-tailed Demon Fox) stirred. Over the recent month, it had noticed the changes within the boy, most notably when he drew on his life force today.

"Heh-heh-heh. This is turning out to be differently than I thought. A human picking him up maybe, but I have never heard of your kind before shadow-demon. One day, the three of us will meet. I'm sure we will have a rather...interesting talk. Heh-heh-heh-heh..."

Hello and welcome to another chapter! I have an idea for one person in the pairing (secret), but what do you think I should do with the academy?

Read and REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEEEWWWW!

(1) Naruto has only read the scrolls. His desire for knowledge rather helps him in that regard. But he does NOT know how to perform them (save for the leaf exercise). I am trying to not make him a genius – merely determined.