Bloodline
chapter 08
isdh
Inoichi leaned on the door jam of his daughters room. He did not even try to hide the grin on his face. His loving wife was trying to cut her way to through the heavy bramble branches as Ino hung in their thorny clutches. "And what did we learn from this experience?" His tone of voice gentle and not mocking, but showing that he was amused.
Ino snorted, "Do you mean, besides only practice my jutsu outside?" She then grinned, "Now I can trap and hold targets like Shikamaru and Choji. And if I read the scroll correctly, I can add poison and other effects to the thorns of my Toge Jutsu."
Her mother just shook her head and sawed through another branch.
Inoichi then remembered something. "I heard your calling out the 'thorn barricade'. Try 'Toge Ririsu'."
Ino looked at her father, then with nothing to lose, made the standard 'release' hand signs, and called out "Toge Ririsu![thorn release]" as she flared her chakra. The brambled branches retracted into the walls they sprang from, dropping Ino on the floor. But Ino fell for more then one reason; a feeling that she had not felt for some time; She was very low on chakra. Too low to do any more chakra practice today. "Thanks Mom, Dad. I think I now need a nap." she climbed on to her bed, picking up the scroll, and tucking it under her pillow. She was asleep in seconds.
Inoichi helped his wife to her feet, and cuddled her as they watched their baby girl. "No matter how strong she gets, she is going to need us for some time."
"How did you know that would release her, and why did you wait until I was half way to her before using it?"
"It is something I saw Shikaku do when we first started out. It was a wild guess if it would work, and I just remembered it right before I told her about it." He kissed her, "I swear to you, my love."
"Okay. Don't you still have to see that Uzimaki boy?" She pulled away. "Go, see to him, I will run the store, while our 'hime sleeps. Go."
He grinned, as he headed out for some ramen.
121
Ibiki asked some questions, Baki answered.
They sipped some tea. The tea was laced, and strong.
Ibiki asked some more questions, Baki answered the same.
121
At an old training ground, one that looked abandoned, four young genin were practicing their arts. Temari was dancing about waving her fans, causing many trees around her to lose their leaves as the wind from her small fans buffed and swirled about. Gaara sat in a sand pit as the sand danced around him. Naruto sat on a flat stone in the center of the field, focusing inward.
But it was Kankuro that was causing the most damage. His little battle top would spin and drive towards his target, an old shed, small ugly blades shredding the lower boards, before turning and driving back to him. The first few times he had to jump out of the way, but he quickly learned to tilt the inner gyroscope while mastering the throttle control.
Gaara was infusing the sand around him with his, and his alone, chakra. The sand in the gourd was a mix of the Tanuki's chakra, Gaara's chakra, and the blood of his fifty or so 'victims'. He would need to clean it later, but that required a few hours, and controlled running water.
Naruto was in his mind...
121
Naruto was in his mind...
Naruto sat at the tea table as the, now, small vixen ripped and tore a pillow in her teeth as her nine tails snapped and furled the air about her. As she would finish shredding the pillow, Naruto would wave a hand and repair all the damage. After 'killing and disemboweling' the pillow for the fifteenth time, she turned and glared at him.
"That is most unhelpful."
"I am not trying to be helpful. I am trying to get you past the rage and into a clearer set of mind. We have a big day. Among our basic training in my new bloodline and the foxfire, we have a lunch meeting with Yamanaka Inoichi, and I need to learn the basics of these beauties." Naruto pulled his new knives out.
"Pretty. Okay, I will tell you, your Bloodline gives you the ability to focus Fire and Spirit into a proto-element called Foxfire." She closed her eyes, and reformed into her 'human' form. As the silk of her kimono rippled into place, she knelt on the cushion across from her young host. "As to you using it, I doubt you will be able to manifest the green flame until our Seal is corrected. You will also want to learn Fūinjutsu. Your Father was a Master of the Seal, in fact he designed this one that holds me here. His master taught him the basics, and should be able to teach you the same." She cocked her head. "If I know the old peeper, he is going to want you to sign the Toad Contract. Once you get the seal adjusted, I will be able to offer you the Fox Contract. With Permission of the great boss of the Toads, you will have two Summon Contracts. A very rare accurance , as most Beasts do not like to share summoners."
"Sweet! When can we start?"
"We need the Seal realigned first. Then you will need to improve your chakra control. With control and proper alignment, we can take things to the next level." She blinked, then smirked. "I got an idea. You can still pull a clone or two, correct?" at his nod, "If you alter the hand signs in this manner," she flipped through a few hand signs, "You can summon me as a Shadow Clone, and still control my actions, by dispersing me when I get out of line. I will also only have the chakra that is given to the clone."
Naruto grinned, as he faded out.
121
Grinning, Naruto broke to the world around him. Gaara was lost in a minor sand vortex, his sister was dancing three feet in the air as the air currents pulled at her tresses. Kankuro was holding the battle top ten feet before him, at chest level, as it spun blades in both directions creating both lift and thrust.
Naruto clapped his hands, disrupting the the discipline of the sand trio. The sand was sucked into the gauntlets, as the Vortex crashed. The kunoichi landed lightly on her feet, but her hair was a mess.
But the top...
...the top darted across the field, and bit deeply into the stone under the Kyubi Jinchuuriki, causing it to explode.
The young blond tumbled through the air to land in lump at the kunoichi's feet.
"agh!" Naruto grunted before kipping to his feet. "Okay, Who is up for Lunch!" he stopped and frowned before working through the hand signs for his new clone. As the smoke cleared, a redhead of his size and basic build was at his side.
"Baka!" she punched him in the head. "Tell me when you are going to summon me!"
She smoothed her kimono down, and adjusted her obi. "Now you said something about lunch?"
Rubbing his head, Naruto just grinned and led the way back into town.
121
The Hokage sipped his sake from the small bottle, as he sat across from the jonin Baki.
Baki sipped his tea. "Gaah! This tea tastes nasty. How much more of this laced Tea, do I need to drink?" He eyed the Sake in the Hokage's hand.
Following his line of sight, Sarutobi Hiruzen sighed, then passed the man the bottle. "Why did you tell us? Why not try to conceal this?"
Baki took a sip from the bottle, swished it about to rinse his mouth out, then swallowed. "I agreed with the Kazekage's reason for the assault, but not the means of the attack. We are being slowly choked off by our Daimyō, who is using your village to do our work. Over half of our contracts this past year were given to your village instead of ours."
Sarutobi frowned. "We were told that your village did not have the man power to do the jobs. We were told by the Wind Daimyō and his agent that the Kazekage was over worked and needed us to handle the overflow. All contracts were handled by the Elder Counsel. I will be taking steps to correct this. Me and the Fire Daimyō."
121
The redhead clone triggered Gaara's senses. There was something off about 'her'.
'Of course there is. Kyubi-chan is using the Biju Kage Bushin.' Shukaku's deep voice grumbled in his head. Like when he use to hear the whispering of 'Mother.' "While you can not use the kage bushin yet, you can and do use the suna bushin, I have a verient that you might get a kick out of. I refer to it as 'Biju Suna Wa'moho'(Biju Sand Mimic). It would give me the basics of a Suna Bushin, but allow me to embrace our elemental jutsu as needed." The Biju rattled off the hand signs.
Gaara flipped through the hand signs and slammed his palms into the sand pit he was standing in. "Biju Suna Wa'moho!(Biju Sand Mimic)" The sand of the Pit slowly gathered, condensed as it grew, and shaped itself into a Monk that looked a lot like a black haired Gaara, complete with the 'coon mask about the eyes.
Temari and Kankuro just looked at one another, then shook their heads. Having just meet the Blond Jinchuuriki, they did not know what was going on. But they knew something was off with their little brother, he was not as crazy, or as bloodthirsty as he was just yesterday.
Yesterday when the Blond had touched him.
Touched him with green fire in his Hands.