Story Title: Apprentice of a Hero
Crossover: Disgaea 3/Phantom Brave/Naruto
Author's Note: Almaz is a hero character in Disgaea 3, I'd also be using several special skills from the Phantom Brave game.
Disclaimer: I do not own any story, plots or characters taken from Phantom Brave PS2 game, Disgaea 3 PS3 game and Naruto Anime/ Manga
Chapter 4: Konoha's Secret Dungeon Crawling Squad
Sarutobi rubbed his eyes wearily. The existence of Netherworlds where demons existed, the many different worlds out there, the many different realities, and the fact that a powerful human who could defeat demons without breaking a sweat, with numerous skills and bloodline abilities which he brought from demon merchants, AND defeated the three-tailed beast, had taken Naruto in as an apprentice. He had charged Naruto with the duty of protecting his own world and teaching Naruto the basics of his abilities… which had turned Naruto to somewhere chunin or jonin level in his specialization of weapons.
Two of the bloodline abilities given to Naruto allowed him to power up any inanimate objects to unlock their full potential, and also allow him to pass these skills/bloodline limits from the object into a person. Trying to understand how that worked was already giving Sarutobi a headache.
"So does that really contain the three-tailed beast?" Naruto asked pointing to the blue pearl he had handed to Sarutobi. "I mean Almaz sensei told me it did, but I can't imagine a tail-beast stuck in a rock."
"Naruto, the Kyuubi is sealed in you remember? If I am correct, it most probably contains the three-tails." Sarutobi said with a sigh as he stretched his chakra over the pearl to study it. "I've felt the demonic essence of the Kyuubi once, the massive chakra contained in this pearl bears a similar essence."
Naruto watched wide eyed as a pool of dark blue chakra formed around the pearl. Sarutobi frowned as he concentrated, forcing the chakra out. A blue beam of chakra shot out, striking the tree in the front of Sarutobi, blasting it to pieces.
"That's so cool! I can never get it to work no matter how hard I tried." Naruto exclaimed excitedly.
"That might be because of the Kyuubi sealed in you. The Kyuubi is mostly a fire elemental demon which might resist the chakra of the three-tails which is water elemental." Sarutobi said, staring at the destruction before him with a pale face. Thoughts of the amount of damage Naruto would be able to do with the stone if he ever managed to use the sealed powers of the three-tails properly was giving him heart burn. "Naruto, I am safekeeping the pearl."
Naruto looked at the serious face of Sarutobi and shrugged. "Take it if you want, I can't get it to work anyway. But now that you know my secret, can you please not tell anyone?"
"Child, I've never broken any of my promises I made to you." Sarutobi stated. "And I am not going to break any promises to you now. However I can see potential in using this Dungeon Monk bloodline for intensive training purposes, and your connection to the demon merchants that allows you to buy powerful items and bloodline abilities is an advantage to the village I cannot over look."
"Yeah! Almaz sensei gave me the coolest gifts!" Naruto said with a grin. "I will need to become stronger so I can protect this world as he meant for me to do."
"He sounds like a most honourable man." Sarutobi said with a sigh as he thought over all the information Naruto had told him. "Naruto, would you mind hearing the selfish request of an old man?"
"Ah… er sure old man Hokage. You're the only one who has been there for me throughout my life from the beginning." Naruto said scratching his head in embarrassment.
"I've a special team of ninjas that are extremely loyal to me and they could be trusted to keep a secret. I'd like for you to create dungeons for their training. You say that the maximum level of time you can keep someone in a dungeon is half a year isn't it?" Sarutobi asked. "And since they will remain ageless here, it makes for the perfect training spot. They would not be told anything of the Netherworlds or the demons, they'll only be told that you have a special space/time bloodline that allows for the creation of these sub-realities. Your bloodline is also a SS-rank secret. You'll of course be paid for your services every time we need a dungeon as secret A-rank missions that would be listed in public profile as A-rank research missions."
"SS-rank secret and A-rank missions! Wow!" Naruto said with stars in his eyes. "Sure, I can create dungeons for them if they wouldn't ask about the Netherworlds."
"Leave that part to me. But for the plan to work, we'll also need to create a cover for you so that if any of them ask you any questions, you'll know how to handle it." Sarutobi said thinking quickly. "It might be best if we let them think the Dungeon Monk, Blacksmith and Fusionist abilities are the one and the same. We'll also reveal that you've found your abilities a few days before the genin exams and have managed to train your skills to your current level after spending months in the sub-reality."
"Ok." Naruto said with an eager nod.
"Now Naruto, you've said you possessed a cache of items that you've powered up during the training sessions with this Almaz fellow." Sarutobi requested. "In those powered up items contain skills and bloodline abilities that you currently have no use for. Would you mind if I buy some of them from you to pass to my trusted ninjas?"
"Sure, but since Almaz sensei refuse to help in the training fights, I could only summon low level monsters to train against. The items they dropped are not very rare or powerful." Naruto explained as he opened his small bottomless pouch and somehow managed to pull up a large book. "This is a book of all possible skills/abilities that Almaz sensei gave me. Powering up my current cache of items only net me skills and bloodline abilities of C-rank and below."
"That would be enough at the moment." Sarutobi said accepting the book and began flipping through it. "I see the Sharigan and Byakugan are listed as B-rank bloodlines and there's even prices listed in the descriptions for their purchase. Simply amazing, but it also highlighted the fact of how powerful the demons of these Netherworlds are if they are able to treat bloodline abilities as mere merchant products. Your teacher Almaz had the right idea. It would not do for too many people of this world to learn about the demon worlds. Who knows what disaster might befall this world if the demons' attentions are drawn to us? But I wonder Naruto why you are not able to just create items with the Dungeon Monk bloodline as opposed to monsters?"
"From Almaz description, the Dungeon Monk bloodline is a reality manipulation ability that taps into the energy of all realities. Living things left a distinctive signature in the energies from various realties. The Dungeon Monk ability randomly picked a few of these living signatures and cloned them into the sub-reality with whatever equipments that they were wearing. As these clones do not possess any souls, they are an inhumane version of the real thing." Naruto explained. "Inanimate objects that are not alive do not leave any distinctive signatures, thus the Dungeon Monk bloodline can never be used for item creation as their signatures cannot be detected in the wild energies of realities."
"I see… whatever the case, the Dungeon Monk bloodline is a powerful and interesting ability." Sarutobi mused as he looked at the skills and bloodlines book. "And with a team of ninjas, you might be able to create more powerful monsters for them to fight against which would increase the rarity of the loot."
Sarutobi looked at the spread of green hills around him, handing the book back to Naruto.
"But enough of such matters. Now that we are here Naruto. How about showing me this monster creation ability of yours." Sarutobi said as he took out a kunai. "It's been a long time since I've a serious fight, I'm afraid that I've become rusty."
Naruto's face light up with a grin as he hefted his sword. "Alright I'll do it! It's my first time fighting with old man Hokage."
As his face ceased into concentration. Naruto wished his Dungeon Monk abilities to create mid-level monsters for him to fight. After all, old man Hokage was here, surely mid-level monsters would not be too much trouble for him.
Sarutobi's eyes widen as a dark haze covered the surrounding hills, condensing into the physical forms of humanoid monsters with pig like nose.
"Those are orcs." Naruto said as he swings his sword in an attack position. "They are quite capable with the axes and maces they wield."
"Naruto, what were you thinking when you created so many of them?" Sarutobi shouted as he waved at the hordes of orcs rampaging towards them. Loud roars sounded in the sub-reality as the ground shook with their advance.
"It'll be alright old man Hokage." Naruto shouted as he formed the seal for the Shadow Clones Technique. Fifty over shadow clones puffed into view wielding the same green sword. "Charge!"
Sarutobi sighed and shake his head as he watched the horde of Orcs clashed into the horde of Naruto clones.
"I guess I better get serious. The monsters looked to be genin or chunin level in their attacks, but there's a lot of them. I'll need to use an area wide technique." Sarutobi said exasperatedly. His hands flashed into a long string of handseals. "Fire Dragon Technique! Phoenix Flames Technique! Firestorm Technique!"
In the thick of the fighting, Naruto looked up to see the descending fire techniques that wiped out a whole section of the Orc hordes. A thought ran through his head as he unleashed his various sword techniques as well as wind spells against his enemies.
Old Man Hokage is really very powerful!
OoooO
Hayate looked wearily at Anko who was biting into her dango angrily as she leaned beside a large wagon laden with food and water. There were two other wagons beside them that were similarly laden with supplies. Add the three wagons together and they would have enough food, stocked to last a small squad of ninjas for a month.
He had no idea what had happened. One moment he was waiting his turn outside the Hokage's office to discuss what to do with the Uzumaki Naruto child, the next minute the Hokage had charged out of his office, handing him an S-rank mission which was to get Anko and had the two of them prepare three wagons full of food and water to last twelve people for a month. He and Anko were also ordered to pack enough clothes and basic necessity for a month long mission.
To make everything worse, the whole thing had to be done with the utmost secrecy. The problem was, when you want a mission handled in a hurry and with extreme secrecy, normally you wouldn't ask for Anko, surely the Hokage knew that! That woman had been in a bad mood since the moment he had interrupted her lunch by handing her the mission. For the next few hours, they had been laboring to fill three wagons before driving them off into training area 78 which was a closed off section just for Anbu training. They had then let the horses lose and tie them to nearby trees.
Someone wandered into the training area, Hayate looked up and was surprised to see a pale faced Iruka carrying a stuffed backpack. He eyed Hayate and Anko cautiously and gave a weak wave.
"Hi." Iruka said smiling weakly.
"You must be kidding me!" Anko said in a pissed off voice. "Don't tell me you're here as well for the mission. What's the Hokage thinking giving an S-rank mission to a chunin?"
Iruka flushed, quickly moving to stand next to Hayate as both men maintained as far a distance from Anko as was politely possible.
"I am not sure." Iruka said scratching his head. "I received the mission right after school was over."
"School! School?" Anko slapped her head. "That's it. That old man's gone senile on us. He's asking a school teacher to do an S-rank mission!"
"Anko!" Hayate hissed, looking around the area quickly. "You don't *cough* talk about the Hokage like that!"
"Oh leave her be, you can't change her personality." A female voice said as Yugao stepped out into the clearing also carrying a large backpack on her shoulders. She grinned at Hayate who flushed at seeing his girlfriend. "Hayate, guess the Hokage finally paired us on a mission together. Hi… erm what's your name?"
"That's Iruka, the School Teacher." Anko broke in before Hayate could speak.
"Anko, you shouldn't go about bullying chunin." A deep voice said as Ibiki, Raido, Tenzo, Ebisu, and Asuma walked out into the clearing.
There was a swirl of leaves as Kakashi also appeared.
Anko blinked, observing the people around her before blinking again.
"Something's not right, what kind of mission need the Head of the Torture and Interrogation department, Anbu, special jonin, and even chunin level ninjas to complete?" Anko said as she straightened herself up, her expression suddenly serious.
"I am sure the Hokage has his own reason." Kakashi said, his head facing the adult book that he was reading. "Though I wonder what the preparations are being made for my team. I was told to drop everything, gather stuff I'll need for a one month mission and to come here."
"So was I, and the two of us were only just assigned to our teams two days ago!" Asuma said with a shake of his head. "I wonder what that man is thinking."
"He's your father, didn't he told you anything about the mission?" Anko prodded as Asuma's face froze and he looked away.
Yugao moved towards Anko and shake her head, silently motioning to her not to press the personal issue. It's common knowledge among higher level ninjas that the Hokage never got along well with his eldest son.
Asuma himself did not bother to reply, sitting down next to Iruka. There was silence as everyone waited. After a few minutes, there was the sound of movement out in the forest, everybody straightened themselves as the Third Hokage stepped into the clearing in his battle gear carrying a big backpack on his shoulders followed by… Naruto who was similarly outfitted except without any battle gear.
"… Naruto?" Kakashi said breaking the silence, his visible eye widening in surprise.
"Hi Kakashi sensei! We're going to have some fun!" Naruto said cheerfully, pumping his hands in the air.
A wave of killer intent suddenly swept across the clearing causing Naruto to freeze up.
"Hokage sama." Anko said sweetly. "Did you happen to misfile the rank of the mission? Cause an S-rank mission is not a FIELD TRIP!"
"I must also point out the peculiarities in this mission." Asuma pointed out bitingly.
Sarutobi gave a smile as he faced his gathered ninjas. "Ah, all will be revealed in a few minutes. EVERYONE! Gather around the wagons."
The gathered ninjas instantly moved towards the wagon at the command as Sarutobi turned to Naruto. "If you may Naruto, now would be a good time."
Naruto nodded, eyeing Anko carefully before he squeezed his eye shut in concentration.
"It will take a few minutes, I've never transported such large objects before." Naruto said before falling silent.
"Transport?" Yugao asked curiously.
Sarutobi shook his head and motioned everyone to be silent. A few minutes passed and several of the gathered ninjas, especially Anko began to get antsy.
"If this is some kind of joke…" Anko began before she was interrupted by Tenzo.
"Someone tagged my chakra." Tenzo said surprising everyone. "That connection doesn't feel like it's done with a chakra force though."
"I felt it as well." Kakashi added staring intently at his student.
"Now that you've pointed it out, I am tagged as well." Ibiki said in a musing tone.
For a moment, nothing happened, then there were startled cries as the world around them twisted into splashes of bright colors. There was a horrible sensation of everything being compressed before everyone, plus the three wagons reappeared onto what appears to be a beach of some sort. The sandy coastline stretch into the distance and there was a large pool of water on the other end.
"What the **** happened?" Anko asked in shock looking around her.
"Anko! Watch what you say, there's a child here!" Yugao said in an aghast tone of voice.
"Tenzo, build a house with the Four Pillars House Technique over there." Sarutobi said pointing to a spot to his right. "Make it large enough for all of us."
"Old man, I think you own us some explanation first." Asuma spoke up, looking extremely irritated.
"Ah yes in a moment. I believe that the phrase, action speaks louder than words, will prove true in this case. I will show you through actions before explaining everything to you." Sarutobi said, raising a hand to stall all the questions.
"I will first separate all of you into four teams and reveal something to you before explaining.
Team Kakashi includes:
1) Kakashi as team leader
2) Raido
3) Iruka
Team Asuma includes:
1) Asuma as team leader
2) Ibiki
3) Ebisu
Team Yugao includes:
1) Yugao as team leader
2) Hayate
3) Anko
Team Sarutobi includes:
1) Sarutobi as team leader
2) Naruto
3) Tenzo
Everyone put your backpacks near the wagon and ready your weapons. Naruto, some low level ones to start us off would be good." Sarutobi said turning to Naruto who gave a nod.
"Ready our weapons? To battle what? Sand and water?" Anko asked sarcastically.
"Anko, please learn to be more patient and ready your weapons." Sarutobi replied in exasperation.
The ground shook and everyone turned to face the large wood house that Tenzo had built with his Wood Release technique. Kakashi's attention remained on Naruto who seemed to be at the center of everything that's happening. His eyes widened as noticed the dark haze gathering around them.
"Team Asuma, surround the house and protect it from harm." Sarutobi barked out as everyone began to notice the black mist gathering in the distance around them, some were even forming in the water.
"Team Sarutobi will guard the wagons." Sarutobi continued giving his commands. Yugao gave a gasp as shapes began to form out of the dark haze. "Team Yugao, you'll handle the destroying of all monsters on land. Team Kakashi, protect the waterlines and prevent the monsters in the water from reaching land! Mission starts now!"
For a minute everyone froze as they look on at the incredulous sight of a horde of humanoid flower creatures standing on two legs charging towards them and a group of women with tails holding tridents forming in the crystal blue waters.
"What…" Hayate sputtered, giving voice to everyone's surprise.
"LISTEN TO YOUR ORDERS KONOHA NINJAS!" Sarutobi bellowed. "KILL EVERYTHING THAT MOVES EXCEPT YOUR FELLOW NINJAS!"
"Kill everything that moves…" Anko said slowly as she glanced at the rampaging crowd of flower-people-creatures. A smile crept across her face as she licked her lips. "HAHA! Let's kill them!"
"Anko!" Yugao barked out as Anko charged ahead without waiting for her team. "That crazy girl, she's going to get herself killed! Hayate, move out!"
Hayate nodded, drawing his katana, shooting one last glance at Naruto who he was sure was the cause of everything, before charging into battle. All further thoughts were cast aside as he focused all his attention on protecting his girlfriend from the flower type humanoid monsters.
"Shit! They can shoot needles!" Anko cried out as she leap out of the way of the storm of sharp needles. "Oh that's it you bunch of sissies! No matter what flowers you're spawn from, you're going down hard! YAAAAA!"
"Why did the Hokage put her in my team?" Yugao wailed as she decapitated several of the flower creatures near her. They fell to the ground leaking green blood which smells of crushed flowers and dried earth. "I'm responsible if she dies!"
"Yugao calm down, we still do not yet know the full abilities of these monsters." Hayate spoke out as they began slaying the monsters in a circle, their backs facing each other for greater protection. Anko was somewhere in the midst of the green flower monsters, leaving a path of destruction behind her.
"Hayate! Some of the creatures are moving towards the wagons!" Yugao called out.
"I am sure the Hokage can handle a few of those creatures. Anko would be in trouble if we don't get to her soon." Hayate reasoned. "Yugao, I think we'll have to use the Dance of the Crescent Moon if we're to clear a larger section of these hordes of monsters."
"Let's do it!" Yugao said temporarily cutting a space in front of her as her hands flashed through the handseals for the Shadow Clone Technique. In moments three clones of herself and three clones of Hayate stood back to back with each other, bringing their katana and swords up in unison. "Let's see how they'll fare with our next move. Dance of the Crescent Moon!"
The six shadow clones and the two originals began to flow across each other, forming a complicated pattern as they slashed out at the flower creatures near them in a wide circle. All of the monsters were killed although one of Hayate's shadow clones was destroyed in the process. Their efforts enabled them to reach Anko's side just as she was ducking out of the way from a storm of sharp flying petals.
"Petals attacks now!" Anko cried out in indignation as she charged into the monster horde again. "Stay still and let me slay all of you!"
Yugao felt a pounding headache as she resisted the urge to smash her fist into Anko's thick skull.
"If we survive this." Yugao gritted out through clenched teeth. "I am going to request for a team transfer!"
OoooO
The teams of ninjas who had started out fresh had ended up in a disheveled state three hours later. With the four teams working together, they had managed to clear out the monsters in less than an hour. They had then spent the next two hours scavenging anything of value off the creatures' bodies with reassurance from the Hokage that once they had done that task, he would explain. Naruto was an invaluable aid as he ran around pointing out which items on the dead monsters were of value.
He had called the fish women Mermaids and had pointed out that their tridents and their scales in particular were very valuable. The flower creatures were apparently named Flora Beasts, and their petals were extremely valuable. The various ninjas gathered were surprised when he had also healed their flesh wounds which pointed to a higher level of chakra control then was usually found in a genin. Kakashi in particular was eyeing his student whom he had consider a school dead last, and then a skillful swordsman with suspicions. Iruka was also surprised at the changes in Naruto, eying him in surprise.
"Anko you don't really have to squash their bodies like that!" Yugao was saying, a shade of green on her face as she carried the basket of petals back to the camp. "They are already dead! We just need the petals!"
"Like you said, they are already dead." Anko said with a shrug, hefting her own baskets. "We just need their petals, and they smell so good when their juices came out, like freshly mowed earth."
Yugao turned an even darker shade of green at Anko's words. Hayate put an arm around her shoulder in reassurance, shaking his head at Anko's antics as he carried his own basket.
"Anko, you really need to learn some restraint." Ibiki said from behind them with a frown on his scared face. "The dead should be respected. I do not totally approve of the Hokage's behavior of looting these creatures' bodies."
"But how did those monsters appeared and how did we get here?" Asuma said in a heavy voice. His team was assigned to help Yugao gather the petals. "I've checked. This is not some complicated genjutsu, everything here is real. I've a very strong suspicion that boy Naruto is at the root of everything. My father had been deferring to him several times before each event happened."
"If he can make more of these monsters appear again, I'd do whatever he asked of me." Anko said with a happy sigh.
Yugao rolled her eyes behind Anko's back as they walked back into camp. The two teams placed the baskets full of petals beside the wagons. Stacks of jeweled tridents and baskets of gleaming fish scales were already carefully sat aside in one corner. Yugao lead her teams back to where the Hokage and Team Kakashi were currently gathered.
"Yeech, all of you smell of fish." Anko said holding her nose as they neared them.
"You try plucking the scales off sixty over of those mermaid creatures without smelling as I do before saying anything else." Raido countered with visible irritation. "I felt like a fish monger in the wet market!"
"Now quiet down everyone. I believe it's time for an explanation." Sarutobi said, calling everyone to attention.
"At last." Asuma said darkly. "Stop treating us like your playthings father."
Sarutobi sighed as he looked at his son. "What I am going to reveal to you is an SS-rank secret. You'll be the only ones currently told of this and you're all gathered here because among all of Konoha's ninjas you are the most trustworthy and loyal to the village. For your case Iruka, Naruto specifically insisted on you being involved in this mission."
Anko's eyes widened at the proclamation of the Hokage's trust in her. For the first time in years, a blush crept onto her face as the Hokage continued to explain his actions in the hush silence. Iruka in the meantime turned to look at Naruto in surprise.
"You're not to reveal what I am going to tell you to even the village elders and most certainly not to the council. I entrust you with this secret for a child's life could be threatened if this information falls into the wrong hands." Sarutobi placed a hand on Naruto's shoulders as he continued. "Naruto possessed a very special and powerful bloodline limit that recently awakened.
He bears the ability to manipulate space/time itself, creating a small reality that exists outside of time and space. He is now currently able to maintain that sub-reality as he calls it for a period of half a year, while only a minute of time passes by in the real world. He is also able to summon hordes of random monsters into this sub-reality. I will not bother you with the technical details, but you should know that these creatures that are created are flesh clones of the original creatures, they bear no souls, which results in their hostility against any living beings.
This makes it a perfect training ground, as one could virtually spend months of intensive training here without aging and return back to our own world after only a minute has passed. The loot that were collected from the monsters are also real and permanent and of tremendous values. Naruto possessed a few other abilities as well through his bloodline which I would not explain at the moment, but I am sure that all of you can imagine what will happen to Naruto's if even this aspect of his bloodline is revealed."
"If I had not experience everything first hand. I would not have believed it." Ibiki said slowly looking at Naruto who was grinning at them. "But once the secret is out, the council will turn this child into a power pawn, and that's nothing compared to what the other ninja villages would do if they know of the existence of such a bloodline. Such a powerful bloodline might even be the trigger of wars between the ninja villages."
"You truly are the number one surprising ninja of the academy." Kakashi said shaking his head wearily at Naruto. "But that did not explain how he gained his skills with the sword."
"We'll leave that matter aside for the future." Sarutobi said giving Kakashi a look that said the topic was closed. "We'll rest for the day. Since the sub-reality has no passage of time, we'll begin the next day after the timer rang at the sixth hour. You'll all be under intensive training here for the next one month worth of time or until our food supply ran out." Sarutobi ordered as he looked at all his trusted ninjas.
"Go rest and freshen up. We need to shift all our supplies into the house tomorrow before we really begin our training. Naruto, you can spend your time on the other task I assigned to you. Team Sarutobi would be permanently assigned to guarding of the house so you'll not be in any serious combat. Hayate, Raido, Yugao, I'll like the three of you to coach Naruto in your individual sword techniques." Sarutobi continued looking at the three ninjas he had singled out. "Naruto has agreed to share his sword techniques with you three as well. Alright Konoha ninjas, stand down, you're all dismissed."
"I'm not sure what the kid could teach me, but I'm off to have a bath." Raido said as he moved towards his backpack to get some fresh clothes.
"Well you guys can bath in the lake first. We ladies will come after you've finished." Anko said with a sniff at the fishy smell drifting from Team Kakashi. She turned to see Ibiki walking away from the house. "Ibiki, where are you going?"
"The monsters created by the kid may be soulless creatures, but I'll still like to give them a decent burial. It's only right after we've gained so much from their bodies." Ibiki said simply before walking away.
Sarutobi looked at Ibiki's departing back and sighed. "Ibiki's right, we should respect the dead, whether they are soulless or not. That's the Konoha way. Resting time will be extended to eight hours. Those that wish to help Ibiki with the burial of the Flora Beasts can do so. I'll handle the burial of the Mermaids. Naruto the task assigned to you is more important, concentrate on it."
The rest of the ninjas watched as the Hokage made for the lake while Naruto nodded and moved towards where the loot they had gathered from battle were placed. Anko shrugged and walked in the direction Ibiki had disappeared to while Yugao pulled Hayate to follow after the Hokage.
Iruka hesitated, dying to talk to Naruto about what had happened but then looked at the Hokage's retreating back.
"Yugao, Hayate, go and help Ibiki." Kakashi ordered. "My team already had the smell of fish on us, we'll help the Hokage. Raido, Iruka let's go."
"I don't like fish." Asuma said dryly as he turned to Ebisu. "Ebisu, go help the Hokage, I am going after Ibiki."
"What!" Ebisu gaped at Asuma as he walked away. He shook his head as he made his way towards the lake muttering to himself. "That Asuma, isn't this a misuse of his team leader position? … This has been one messed up night. I suppose I should be glad that the Hokage trusted me enough to let me into this mission but…"
Naruto glanced at the sunglass wearing ninja as he disappeared into the distance and grinned, it had been fun to see the surprised expression on the faces of so many of the jonins. As long as they did not know of the Netherworlds, no harm would be done. Now he had another task to do.
Reaching into the basket of petals, he took out a single petal and concentrate on it, pumping all his chakra into the petal as he used his Blacksmith skill to power up the single petal to unlock all the skills that the single petal could possibly contain. A blue glow surrounded the petal as it absorbed the chakra.
The night was young and there were still many items to power up.
OoooO