I DO NOT OWN NARUTO. WRITER'S BLOCK SUCKS!
Chapter XIV: Naruto's Acceptance
Naruto 'woke up' in his mindscape again, in front of the Kyuubi's cage.
Welcome back, kid. It seems as though your visits are more frequent now. I wonder why…
He yawned, relieved that he could at least breathe in this dimension. What happened? All I remember is Hinata hugging me and not being able to breathe…
Your body is fine. The female with the white eyes took you to your bed and treated some of your injuries. She had gone out to get more supplies. When you wake up, it will be very painful. Try not to go too far, as I can't heal you until the influence of my last injection of chakra goes down.
Naruto rubbed his neck again. Kyuubi, we need to work out a better method of me using your demonic chakra. I mean, it tears me apart every single time I use it… is there a way to, I don't know, dilute it somehow?
The fox snorted, putrid breath rolling over Naruto. Kid. You already have that power. Remember? Once you ascend to-
Yeah, I know. But I need an everyday solution. I mean, I can't go Guardian Mode for training or stuff like that. But that's beside the point! The few times outside a training environment that I've had to go into that mode-
Yes… well, that's not going to work, now is it? Well, what about your clones…
What about them?
As I recall, you made some chakra clones, under that senile old man that you called a master, and had them work on elemental chakra.
Naruto bit his 'lip', deep in thought. The only problem with that is the fact that summoning one of those clones would take up most of my chakra, as you have to be able to at least give up a quarter of your chakra to the summons's chakra. I could only summon four of my clones at most, and that would knock me out for a couple of hours.
Baka Gaki. Just fuse with the clones!
The same to you, Baka Kitsune. If I fused with them, I would get chakra overload. We're not all demon lords, you know.
Humans are so… weak! This should not be a problem for you.
Yeah, you invincible demon. Gloat away all you like. We weak humans, as you called us, can't be sealed away inside other humans! Booyah!
The Kyuubi did not appreciate the fact that he was sealed up inside Naruto, and that his jailor was taunting him about it very well. Growling, he hurled himself at the bars of his cage. While he failed to penetrate the barrier, it did shake the entire mindscape until all Naruto could see was the fuzzy outline of the fox.
Damn you, Kyuubi! What the hell have I said about doing that!
The fox sat back down and started licking its paws. You said not to. But since when did I start listening to you?
Naruto growled himself and severed the connection, thus ending the conversation before he could lose his temper. Despite being a multi-millennia old demon lord, as well as his ally and tenant, Kyuubi could really get on his nerves sometimes. The only way to get back at him was to go fox hunting, but the residents of the village had long since cleaned out the local population of foxes after Kyuubi's attack.
After fuming for a few more minutes in his mindscape, he started clawing his way back to consciousness. It was harder then usual. Imagine climbing a five-mile ladder. That was normal. Ok, so now you're wearing silk gloves with silicon padding, and the rungs of the ladder are generously coated with WD-40. That's how it was. Better then the first time he had gone Guardian Mode, though. That had been like shinnying up a ten mile pole coated with motor oil, without the use of his legs.
About halfway up, he paused and conjured up a small platform to catch a breather on. It wasn't really using that much of his chakra, but the concentration was giving him a headache. So far, he had slipped twice and only managed to grab on to the rung below after throwing a kunai with a string attached around the bars. Of course, all of this was nonsensical and outside the four dimensions of regular space, as he didn't have any of that physical stuff with him. It would kinda hurt if someone shoved a Kunai into his brain…
When he felt as though his brain was no longer in danger of explosion, he resumed the journey back to consciousness. By his reckoning, it took him twenty minutes to reach the top and the trapdoor to the outside world. Now all he had to do was open the damn thing. Someone else could open it for him, if they gave him an electrical shock or something similar, but that was highly unlikely unless Kakashi was around to stick a Chidori into his chest. Somehow, Naruto didn't see his former sensei doing that anytime soon.
So Naruto gripped the ladder as best as he could, cocked back one fist, laced it with chakra, and let fly. The trapdoor exploded upwards, taking his entire body with it.
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Naruto slowly opened his eyes. It was a real effort just do to that. It seemed as though every fiber of his body was on fire and the truth hadn't been that far off. During those chakra burning exercises, he had used fire techniques, some of the most draining, to siphon off massive amounts of energy. However, all that heat had to go somewhere, so he redirected some of it toward himself. He had healed them, but his skills as a medical ninja were poor, and while no longer skinless, he still felt the pain.
After making sure that none of his bones were shattered, Naruto forced chakra into his back, wedging his battered body into a sitting position. Sunlight streamed into the room, making his eyes water after spending the better part of three days underground burning off chakra and training.
Naruto managed to sit up for a few minutes, breathing heavily all the while. Now that the majority of the Demonic Contamination from the last shot was gone, his injuries were healing at an accelerated rate, though nowhere near what they usually would have been. He closed his eyes, feeling the smaller wounds close up.
He stayed that way until Hinata ran back inside his room, a scroll across her back and two bags of various medical supplies in her hands. When she saw that Naruto was sitting up, swaying in his bed, she rushed over and laid him gently back down onto his pillows.
"How did you get up?" she asked, in a voice that even Naruto couldn't pinpoint the emotions. Was it relief? Or could it be anger?
"One… of… my… bloodlines…" he managed to rasp out. "Independent… Chakra… has… mind… of… it's… own…"
Hinata took the scroll off of her back, unrolled it, wiped a drop of blood on the paper, and made five seals. "Summoning Jutsu!" she cried.
When the smoke cleared, Tsunade was standing there, scowling heavily. "Brat… you haven't changed one bit… who gave you permission to Haraishin out of the hospital? This might end your career as a ninja, you know that right?"
Naruto grinned painfully. "Not… a… chance… you… old… hag…"
Tsunade twitched, and without warning, punched Naruto in the stomach.
"Hokage-sama!" Hinata cried, horrified at what the Sannin was doing.
Naruto doubled up, blood dripping from the corner of his mouth, some of it dripping onto the sheets. When Tsunade retracted her fist, he coughed, spraying more blood everywhere. "Well, maybe this'll teach you to be more respectful, brat."
He didn't get the chance to reply, as the sudden loss of air and blood deprived him of the chance to speak. He did, however, get the chance to shoot Tsunade a grin that told her that he had not learned his lesson.
Oh well, maybe next time… she thought as she ran a diagnostic jutsu. After the results came back, the Hokage paled and immediately cut open his shirt, targeting the most critical of his injuries. His liver was almost completely pulverized, kidneys had contusions, and his heartbeat was somewhat erratic. Each one of them could be fatal, but all three together could kill even a Jinchuirki. Demonic chakra could heal bodily systems, but it couldn't be used in the place of those systems.
After those major injuries were healed, she proceeded to the less serious ones, such as reinflating part of his left lung, healing a series of nasty cuts that Hinata had missed, replenishing lost blood with hospital-grade blood plasma pills, and hooking him up to an IV to make sure that he wouldn't starve to death.
When she finished hooking up the last tube, Tsunade whacked Naruto on the head, eliciting a shout of pain and many a cry of "BAA-CHAN!" from our downed hero. After she had responded appropriately, the medical-nin turned to her younger assistant.
"Hinata, I'm giving you a B-ranked mission."
"Y-Yes, Hokage-sama."
Tsunade gestured to the bedridden blonde ninja. "You are to watch and guard Naruto Uzumaki until further notice. There may be assassination attempts, and we can't let him die. Also, if there are any further complications, just send for me again. And you…" She glared at Naruto. "You stay in bed for week. If I find out that you left, I'll have you confined there for a month. Your body can't handle any more training. I'm amazed that you're still conscious, as a matter of fact."
Naruto grinned back. "Just you wait, baa-chan… I'll be out of bed in three days… and I'll have enough energy to paint the stone faces again… just you wait…"
With those words, he passed out again. Tsunade had accidentally the supply of anesthetic in her office, but had decided to operate anyway. Just because she didn't have to cut him open to heal him didn't mean that he wouldn't feel pain as she stitched him together with chakra.
Hinata nodded, her face set. She would not allow anything to happen to her Naruto while she still had breath in her body.
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Two days rolled by, Naruto mostly snoring in his bed. For someone who had near boundless energy during the day, waking him up was about as easy as mixing water and oil. You could wake him up for a few minutes, but unless you did something to keep him up, he would fall back asleep within a few minutes.
Hinata didn't really mind the quietness in Naruto's house. In truth, she enjoyed staring at his sleeping face for hours on end, occasionally scribbling something in her diary for later reference. There was also a dark secret that the Hyuga didn't want to let out.
Hiashi Hyuga was a Closet Pervert.
Now, not a complete pervert, mind you. While it was true that he didn't go peeking into the hot springs every couple of days, it was common knowledge that he kept a concealed copy of 'Make-Out Paradise' on his desk at all times, enjoying a quiet blush when times weren't as demanding. In fact, it seemed that all adult male ninja of every hidden village seemed to enjoy those books. However, only a few openly carried a copy around and read it in front of everyone else, Kakashi being one example. It was an unspoken law that if you saw someone carrying one of those books, you should react with disapproval on the outside, but congratulate them on the inside.
Hinata, however, was curious when she saw that her father was grinning at a book as she passed by his office one day. That very night, she sneaked into the office and had a look at the book herself.
The results were not pretty.
The next day, she had transformed into Kakashi and walked into the bookstore, purchasing an entire set of the books, then transforming them and herself to look like Neji and some library books. After she got into her room, she had stowed the books away in various spots, reading them in the dead of night when she knew that nobody was watching.
Like father, like daughter.
Hinata Hyuga was a bit of a pervert.
Her case was nowhere near as severe as her father's though. She didn't ever read those books in daylight or even talk about them. She followed the unspoken law to the letter. However, once you gave a young girl something like that, it was bound to affect her in a negative way.
Hinata's dreams and fantasies were written in her diary, often very explicatively. There was a reason why her younger sister had decided to join the ranks of Naruto's fangirls. After all, the book was like a manual to all of Naruto's good parts and how to use them. What girl could resist that?
But despite the fact that the book in her hand was dangerous, she just kept on adding more to it. With every word and letter, the potency of the book would increase. If it ever got out into the general public, not only would the Hyuga's Reputation as a clan would be destroyed, but the fangirl ranks would swell and overflow any defenses that Naruto could put up against them. After that, the only alternative was to leave, and she didn't want that to happen.
Hinata scribbled another three lines before carefully closing the book, stowing the pen in her Kunai Pouch, and slipping the book into the said pouch, where it just looked like another book.
She got up and checked on Naruto's condition. Nothing had really changed, except that he occasionally rolled around in his sleep, almost dislodging the IV needles. The brief fever that had shown up the day after Tsunade had left was long gone, leaving him to mutter about ramen and training.
Hinata made sure that he was safely restrained before sending a shadow clone to the kitchen while she went to use the restroom. For some reason, bringing the porta-potty into Naruto's bedroom just didn't seem right, and even she had to eat.
Five minutes later, Hinata returned to find two cups of steaming ramen sitting next to Naruto's bed. However, on the other side of the bed, there were ten empty containers. She reacted instinctively, as she knew that Shadow Clones did not eat instant ramen, suspecting a hungry intruder had gotten in somehow and decided to have a free meal before killing Naruto.
She couldn't be further from the truth.
Naruto was sitting up in bed, all IVs removed from his body, happily slurping the cup ramen. His face showed no sign of strain or pain from the intense beating that he had taken and the surgery following it. All in all, she saw a guy in his late teens, enjoying a meal of instant ramen in bed.
The moment that the last noodle was gone, he threw the cup into the stack and reached for another. It was then that he noticed that Hinata was staring at him with tears in her eyes. Still hungry, he reached for the next steaming cup, and managed to take half a bite before she launched herself at him, hugging him tightly.
"N-Naruto-kun… you're all right…"
Unfortunately, when she tackled him, Naruto had lost his grip on the Styrofoam cup, causing the boiling contents to fly skyward.
In a true anime style, he extended his jaw, and after his high-speed training, started picking off the noodles and soup in midair. As the majority of the soup came down, still boiling, and landed in his mouth, steam exited through his ears.
"Ooohh… Hinata… that's hot!"
Hinata immediately seized up, her face burning red before she passed out in Naruto's lap. Naruto, of course, was confused.
"Was it something I said?"
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Hinata woke up half an hour later. When she opened her eyes, the first thing she felt was the softness at her back. Groggily sitting up, she looked around the room and found to her horror that the window was open and Naruto was gone.
Before she could even get out of bed, Naruto hopped back inside and shut the window behind him.
"Naruto-kun… where h-have you been?"
Naruto shot a glance at the clock on the wall. He raised one finger to his lips and shushed her, motioning for her to come nearer. Hinata obliged, curious at his behavior.
When he got to the spot, he spun her around to face the window and pointed to the Hokage Monument. "Hinata. Watch very carefully. This may seem like Déjà vu to you."
Before she could say anything, he started sealing and counting down.
"Three… Two… One… Boom!"
On the word 'Boom", the entire mountainside was shrouded in mist of every color. By the time it finished, not only was the Hokage Monument painted in every color of the rainbow, but the buildings nearby had also changed from their original color. The Hokage Tower was now a bright, blinding orange, not unlike what Naruto had wore in his youth. She could see other buildings, each a different color, or in the case of people on the ground, many different colors.
Naruto had modified a mist bomb, replacing the water with paint. The effects were devastating.
Even at this distance, Hinata could have sworn that she heard Tsunade shouting about a blonde gaki and castration.
The blonde in question grinned at Hinata, making her blush again. "Here, why not stay here for the night? That way, you won't have to donate any of your blood, and I won't have to undergo any unnecessary surgery."
Hinata paused for a moment, thinking about his offer. Her home was just across the street and not that far out of reach, but until Tsunade expressly relieved her of duty, she couldn't leave. Not that she wanted to, in any case.
She nodded, not trusting herself to speak aloud. Naruto grinned and made a turning gesture with his index finger, obviously telling her to turn around while he changed. Hinata didn't want to take the chance, and just left the room.
Thirty seconds later, Naruto emerged, fully dressed. He made two shadow clones, one to go get anything that Hinata needed from her own house, the other to make a special run to Ichiraku's Ramen for a huge order. Both transformed into red foxes and scrambled out the door, desperate to get to their designated destinations before Tsunade could catch them. Naruto's father had put a seal in place that stopped the incoming of people via Haraishin and Shunshin without Namikaze blood or a contract, and the outgoing of people using those techniques altogether.
By the time that they had gotten to the spare bedrooms, the first clone was tugging at Naruto's pant leg, a small package strapped to its back. Naruto took the offered parcel and dispelled the clone, handing the bundle to Hinata. When she had unpacked in her room, the second clone dispelled, leaving Naruto the knowledge of the ramen waiting for them below.
After they had eaten their fill, (Or rather, Naruto eaten his fill, since Hinata barely touched her food) Naruto made another clone to go out and get some desert. Barely five minutes had passed, during which time he cleaned up the dishes to be sent back to the ramen shop, when the harassed-looking clone reappeared in the kitchen.
The clone handed him a bag that was bulging with dango and muttered something about a crazy snake lady almost mugging him for the said dango. The original had laughed, telling the clone that he was lucky that the order hadn't been for sweet bean soup as well. If that had happened, not even a Rasenshuriken could have stopped Anko's onslaught.
Hinata took more kindly to the dango, downing several sticks as Naruto ate them by the fives. When they couldn't seem to finish the sweet pastries, the blonde nicked his thumb and summoned a yellow toad, who seemed more than eager to take what was leftover. Gamatatsu opened his mouth and swallowed the dango, sticks and all, before waving a goodbye to Naruto and Hinata and poofing away.
Now that his stomach was full and no longer in pain, he could refocus on his training. First, however, he sent Hinata off to bed, saying that the bags under her eyes were painful for him to watch and that she really needed a good night's sleep. Naruto overrode her protests about the mission that the Hokage had assigned her, saying that he would take care of 'Baa-Chan' for her.
After making sure that her door had really closed, he descended the steps into his dojo, wincing at the sight of the state it was in. He had really no idea of just how much damage he had done. Now that he inspected the wall, the scattered training dummies, and the racks of destroyed weapons, Naruto did feel like burning off the chakra in this way was perhaps not the most efficient nor the most economical way.
Naruto sighed and crossed his fingers to make yet more shadow clones. One group he sent out back to retrieve the cement in his shed, another to build and replenish the store of dummies, and another to pick up the broken weapons, salvage what he could, and get the rest to sell to the scrapper.
Five minutes later, after he had sealed the wet cement so that it wouldn't slop all over the place, had a small pile of Kunai and Shuriken back in his pouches, and burned what training dummies that couldn't be recovered, he settled into a Taijutsu stance, eager to continue his training.
The problem with fighting Akatsuki was that they each had a power that canceled out the other's weaknesses. For instance, Deidara was dreadful at hand-to-hand combat and weak against extremely fast jutsus that couldn't be destroyed by him detonating a handful of his famous clay, but Kisame, with his three-tailed bijuu and that sword of his, could absorb and or reflect any Ninjutsu thrown at him.
As it was right now, Naruto, Lee, and Gai could all take on Kisame with their best Taijutsu techniques and still be killed. Kisame was practically indestructible in his body, thanks to the shell that turtles had. The only way to kill him was to chop his head off with either a chakra scalpel or some sort of weapon. Both of which were easier said than done.
For one thing, moving fast enough to get close to Kisame without being swallowed by one of his water jutsus was tricky. Not only was that a problem, but his blade, Samehada, despite its size and apparent weight, was amazingly agile. Naruto had seen him wave it around like a conductor's baton before completely destroying his chakra blade.
The only way to fight him was to go all out with Taijutsu or somehow beat one of the Seven Legendary Swordsmen of the Mist at a Kenjutsu fight. Something to this day, that nobody had ever achieved. Kakashi had managed to defeat Zabuza using his Ninjutsu, since that blade didn't have the ability to absorb chakra.
However, even Kisame was so fast. Naruto thought that if three of them went all out, they just might be able to defeat Kisame, albeit with the draining of all of their energy. That blade of his could expand, and if any of it touched them, their chakra would immediately start to be siphoned off. So they had to get better at weapons and speed. The last thing he needed was for Kisame to slip past his guard and cut his arm off.
The main reason that they were going to fight Kisame was not because he was the weakest member. Far from it. The reason that they were going to attack him first was because of his partner, Itachi Uchiha. They still needed Uchiha blood to unseal the last part of the scroll, and somehow, he didn't think that Sasuke would be kind enough to donate a sample.
However, when Jiriaya had left him, he had also left some of the secrets that he would need to survive the next couple of years and to finally stopping Akatsuki. One of those scrolls was the truth behind the Uchiha Massacre. He hadn't believed it, but after remembering that Itachi spared Sasuke yet again, it all fell into place.
Naruto needed to try to convince Itachi to return to Konoha, just as Hinata had started him off the path. It wasn't going to be easy, however. Itachi might have changed since the report was written over a decade ago. It only made sense. Spending a decade in the presence of eight of the most powerful and evil ninja ever to stalk the land would throw anyone's psyche for a loop.
If the couldn't get Sasuke back, then so be it. Konoha still had one loyal Uchiha. Sasuke would be killed, preferably not by Orochimaru in an attempt to get his body. While Naruto was pretty sure that he was dead, something was nagging at the back of his skull, telling him that the snake was still wandering around the earth.
All of this brought them back to fighting Kisame. It was true that Itachi might be able to stop Kisame fighting and even bring him back to Konoha with them, he had to be able to get in a couple of words first, without the giant slicing blade trying to turn him into fish paste.
With that thought, he strapped on his discarded weights, pulled up a stone training post, and went to work, trying to break the behemoth.
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Several hours and two sprained wrists and ankles later, the two-ton stone finally cracked in two, the rough edges carving out a small painting on the ground it slid on. He made two clones, who after much swearing and stubbing of toes on the said rock, lifted it out of the dojo and shifted it upstairs and outside to his backyard. It would make a nice centerpiece for his fountain after he got around to carving it with wind chakra.
Naruto wiped a layer of sweat and grime off his forehead with the sleeve of his shirt, wondering what to do next. The most obvious thing that he could think of was to go ask Tenten where to buy weapons. He needed a traditional sword to fight Kisame and Samehada, one that wouldn't break from high-speed impacts. Either a top notch modern blade, or even more preferably, one of the swords of legend.
He wasn't very likely to get either in this house, though. As long as Tsunade prowled the area around his house, it wasn't safe for him to poke his head out. The moment he did, Naruto had no doubt that Tsunade would defy the council and castrate him, thus ending the Namikaze and Uzumaki bloodlines.
So the only thing he could do was wait. Well, either that, or go out and challenge the Hokage to a Battle Royale and quite possibly destroy a large chunk of Konoha's Shinobi Force in the crossfire. While he relished the idea of showing off his true strength and get a workout, he had plenty of enemies as it was. The thought of the other elemental countries invading his home was enough to make him scowl.
If he could only restrain…
Naruto froze, struck by a certain thought. He could restrain Tsunade. However, it would be neither quick, nor easy, or clean. The plan, which Kyuubi had been so pleased to beam to him via their mental link, required him to use his lone Chakra clone and several thousand shadow clones, some second level Rasengans, and some bait. He had everything… except for the bait…
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Tsunade was fuming, one of the many jonin that were now camping in front of Naruto's house having just reported in. Apparently, Naruto had managed to modify the seal that regulated the control of objects in and out. He had disabled the out bit for inanimate objects and started harassing the ninja outside.
The reporting Jonin was pink from head to toe.
At first, Naruto had taken to dumping Mini-Rasengan over the walls, sending the unfortunate chunin who were on duty scrambling for cover and squealing like little girls. When the Jonin reinforcements had arrived, Naruto was standing on top of the wall, hosing the chunin down with ice-cold water.
The jonin, who had orders to take down and capture Naruto, saw the opening that he presented and attacked as one person, jutsus ready, ignoring the shouts of warning from the cowering chunin. A very bad idea, as it turned out.
The moment that they got within range, the Naruto on the wall whistled and ten more jumped up to join the first in a firing squad position. After a brief moment of focusing, all the clones started firing off loosely packed Rasengan. The spiraling balls of energy weren't enough injure the airborne ninja, but it was enough to knock the entire attacking line into the Hyuga estate, where a very irate Hiashi Hyuga was waiting.
That had gone on for fifteen minutes, or rather, until Yamato had showed up, building a diversionary trench into the ground to let off the excess water, and shelters for the soaked ninja to take cover in.
Since then, they had tried to take the fortress twenty times, each time getting pushed back to behind the wooden barriers. Worse of all was one time; Kakashi had dropped by to try hit Naruto with his Raikari. What Tsunade and Kakashi both forgot about was that the area was filled with water, and the Raikari was a blast of pure electricity. The resulting shock was enough to make everyone in the vicinity have Kakashi-style hair.
Needless to say, neither Gai nor Anko were too pleased.
After Anko had run Kakashi halfway to Suna and nearly castrated him to boot, Lee and Gai (after fixing his hair, of course) had tried a Double Dynamic Entry. Naruto countered with a Triple Dynamic Exit, stopping the spandex wearers and destroying the clones.
All of the jonin had tried their best techniques to no avail. And the worse was still to come.
Roughly two hours after the last assault attempt, a dark shadow was seen hovering over the street. Before anyone could react, six Naruto clones had dumped hundreds of gallons of chakra-infused paint on the now thoroughly pissed jonin.
That's when Ibiki, who was painted bone-white, ordered a jonin to report back to Tsunade and brief her on the circumstances here.
Fifteen minutes after the report, Tsunade had charged out of her office and sprinted toward the trouble spot. When she turned the corner upon which the besieged jonin cowered, Naruto unleashed a blast of water that blew everything downstream. Ninja, tools, and Yamato's cover were all carried away.
As Tsunade picked up even more speed, Naruto jumped down from the wall and with a huge cloud of smoke, created over ten thousand clones, some of which trod on the stirring jonin where the water had deposited them.
The Hokage didn't care, however, and just tore at the army of clones, each blow dispelling dozens of the doppelgangers. The real one, however, was busy creating a seal in the middle of the crowd. As the enraged woman got closer and closer, the said seal was completed with a flourish and disguised to look like another piece of pavement.
When the Hokage brushed aside yet another platoon of clones, she stepped onto the seal, which immediately rose from its paper form to bind around Tsunade's middle, trapping her arms in place.
As Tsunade struggled to get free from the seal, the clone army started touching each other on the forehead, disappearing as they did so. Their ranks thinned out considerably, until there were just two Naruto's left. One of them, the clone, touched the real one on the forehead, who immediately looked a lot bet after the restoration of that much chakra.
With a grin, he poked his head back into the house, shouting, "Hinata! Come out! Quickly! Now's your chance to run for it!"
Hinata, who had been waiting just inside the door, didn't need to be told twice. She grabbed the scroll that held all of her stuff and high-tailed it out of there, turned down the street, and ran off in the direction of one of the gates.
Naruto turned back to face Tsunade, who was still struggling to get the seal off. He chuckled.
"Don't bother, Baa-chan. It would take me five minutes to get out of that seal. And don't bother having someone try to unseal you either. My father and the pervy sage were the only ones who could disable it, and since they're gone, I guess it's up to me to get rid of it."
When Tsunade snarled even more, Naruto raised one hand. "I'll tell you what, Baa-chan. I made this seal so that if I got to outside five miles from it, the seal would self-destruct. I got a message from our dear old friend, the Kazekage, not too long ago, and I need to get there. When you feel like it, could you send Bushy Brow and Bushier Brow Sensei our way? I have a feeling that fighting Kisame again won't be as easy as last time, now that he's got a bijuu. Well, later!"
Before Tsunade could even begin to protest, Naruto flashed over to the gates, shut them, and ran off down the street, shouting apologies to the grumbling ninja.
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Locating Tenten wasn't too hard. The only problem was that the nearest seal to her was the target that she was using at that very moment. Haraishining there might be a very painful, if not fatal mistake. Or he could just run to where she was.
He chose the latter option. For some reason, he felt as if he liked the amount of blood that he currently had in his body.
As he approached the spot where Tenten was drilling weapon after weapon into the post while twirling, no doubt as practice for some new technique. Nothing really out of the ordinary, at least, not until a kunai left the whirlwind and flew straight for his crotch.
Naruto jumped, flipped in midair, plucked the kunai out of the air, and threw it right back at her, whose shuriken were enough to knock both projectiles out of the air.
Tenten stopped spinning, her katana held ready in case of a hostile, but relaxed when she saw it was Naruto who had his hands up. She sheathed the katana, and he lowered his hands, though they never strayed too far from his kunai pouch. Tenten was famous for her temper sometimes, and a couple of well placed senbon could really hurt.
"Hey, Naruto!" she said, rather brightly. "What brings you here?"
The blonde scratched the back of his head, grinning. "Eh, I need a new sword. One that won't shatter on high-speed impact."
It was Tenten's turn to look confused. "What's wrong with your chakra blade? I mean, that worked fine when you sparred against me, right?"
He nodded. "Yeah, against you. But you're not wielding a two hundred pound blade that shreds and eats chakra as well, right?"
She paled. "Are you talking about fighting Kisame and…?"
"Yeah, Samehada. I realized that my chakra blade couldn't cut through other chakra-infused surfaces, such as a chakra scalpel. Meaning if I fought a medical-nin, god forbid, I couldn't use my sword. I need a new blade. Do you know one around here that sells those?"
Tenten bit her lip. "I suppose you could try at my parents' shop… they have some blades that could meet your needs, but, I have to warn you, they aren't cheap."
Naruto tapped his vest. "Money's no problem. I'll take the best you've got. Now… where is, eh, your parents' shop…"
She sighed. "I can't believe that you've never been there before… Well, come on, if you're really gonna buy one of those dusty blades that we've got in our back room, then I suppose I can't stop you."
With that and a flourish of her hands, all of the weapons came back to her and she sealed them up. After making sure that nothing was left behind, she took off, Naruto close behind her.
When they got to the shop, he took a good look around to get his bearings. Ichiraku's ramen wasn't too far away, three blocks toward the Hokage tower, and he could even see his old apartment.
With a small tinkle, Tenten pushed open the door of the shop and went inside, calling, "Mom! Dad! I'm home! And I brought a customer with me!"
A middle-aged man walked out from behind a curtain, beaming at her daughter. "Welcome home! I have to say, it's been a while, hasn't it? And who's this behind…"
He stopped in mid-sentence, jaw dropping. "Yondaime… is it…"
Naruto grinned. "Nope. Pretty close guess though, jiji. Try one generation later and missing for seven years."
A vein in the man's temple bulged. "Young man, I am forty-five, and I am not old!"
"Whatever you say."
He growled, but decided to put it aside for the moment. "Now, what can I help you with? Kunai? Shuriken? Senbon? Metal Wire?"
Naruto shook his head. "I can make those. No, what I need… is a top-notch sword."
Tenten's father raised an eyebrow. "Alright then. Let's get your needs. Are you right handed or left?"
"Right-handed."
"What kind of fighting?"
"High-speed and extreme contact."
"Any preference to the blade length and shape?"
At this, Naruto reached into his pocket, pulled out the hilt of his chakra blade, and flicked it on, handing the hilt over to Tenten's father. The shopowner took a careful measure of the blade, noted its sharpness, and saw where the chakra was wearing thin, indicating where the blade was mostly used to strike.
"Hmm… interesting combination… three foot blade, medium cut, three-quarters slash, very fine grain, even for a chakra blade." He looked up. "Why use a straight blade? I mean, I've got nothing against them, but why not use a katana? They're faster and the blade itself is sharper."
Naruto shrugged. "All of my Kenjutsu techniques require a straight blade. My sensei never learned how to use a katana, and being nearly ninety years old, didn't feel like learning a whole new style. Besides, straight blades are more durable. The last time I fought using a katana, the damn thing shattered halfway through the fight. I can't afford that now. If the blade shatters in my next fight, I'm dead. Thanks to that piece of sharkskin…"
Tenten's father's reaction was almost the same as his daughters. "Samehada… you're gonna fight Kisame? I know you're good, but even my daughter couldn't match one of the seven legendary swordsmen of the mist…"
"I know, and that's why I'm using a straight sword. Now, do you have any, or not?"
Biting his lip, the man responded. "Hang on, let me go back and check."
Naruto nodded, and Tenten's father rushed into the back of the store, where the sound of falling metal could be easily heard in the front of the shop.
However, Tenten wasn't paying any attention to the racket that her father was making. Her attention was on Naruto.
"Are you really going to fight Kisame?"
Naruto nodded again. "Unfortunately, yes. It's not Kisame I'm after, though. I'm after his partner, Itachi Uchiha. We can't seem to locate Sasuke at the moment, so Itachi is the only source of Uchiha blood at the moment."
"Isn't that-?"
"Yeah. The murderer of the Uchiha Clan and why Sasuke is driven to kill him. I only hope he's still alive."
"What do you mean?"
Naruto sighed. "If Sasuke caught wind that Itachi was anywhere within fifty miles of him, then he would go on the war path. Itachi isn't as strong as he used to be, and if Sasuke kills him, then he will be the last Uchiha. I'm no fan of the fire-breathing and power-hungry idiots, but their stored jutsu are sure useful."
Tenten looked confused. "Why do you want Itachi back? I mean, he killed all the Uchihas, he's the reason they're all gone!"
He grimaced. "I can't say why I want him back. If I told you, then baa-chan would have my hide before I got out of the village. If she gives me permission, I'll tell you."
She looked disappointed, but it was masked by the reappearance of her father, who was hefting a wooden case. Naruto peered over as the man wiped his brow, entered a rapid series of numbers, and popped the top.
Inside was a sword, straight as an arrow, shining silver in the light coming in from the windows. Next to it was a green sheath, all of lying in silver velvet. The effect was enough to make Naruto's eyes water.
After a nod from the shopowner, he reached forward and picked up the sword, checking the physical properties of the blade.
"Hmm… eighty four inch blade, medium-coarse cut, three quarters slash… what kind of grain is this?"
"Ah, that would be the pearl grain. The outer layer has been fused with extreme heat into a seamless weapon. It's very expensive though, and only the finest examples can be used in combat. I am very pleased to tell you that this is one of those examples."
Naruto nodded. "All right, I'll take it. And… ouch…"
The man nodded sympathetically. "Yes, and this is why this fine blade has been sitting there all this time, just gathering dust. Nobody in this village can afford it? Could I interest you in a cheaper model?"
The blonde shook his head, reaching into a back pocket, while his other hand went for a pen in his vest. Taking out a checkbook and the said pen, he quickly wrote out the amount that the weapon master had requested, placed the check on the table, and got out a blank scroll.
As the two weapon users watched in amazement, Naruto scribbled on the paper, rolled it into a tube, slipped the sheath into the paper tube, placed it on the counter, and rapidly made a series of seals. After fifteen seconds, the paper flowed over the shrinking sheath, eventually melding into one color.
As soon as the chakra flow stopped, he picked up the blade, slipped it into the six-inch sheath, tied the entire thing next to his shuriken pouch, thanked the two dumbfounded brunettes, and left the shop, quickly turning in the direction of Ichiraku's Ramen.
When the tinkle of the bell finally faded into silence, Tenten's father looked at her. "I want you to marry that boy."
Taken aback, she replied, "Why? I mean, he's a good guy and all, but isn't Neji as well?"
The shopowner raised one hand, ticking off the good points of Naruto. "First of all, he's the son of the fourth. Two, he's way more powerful then Neji will ever be. Three, they don't come any better than Naruto. Four, he's gonna be Hokage soon. And five, he's rolling in dough. Look at just how much he slapped down for that sword!" he pushed the check over to Tenten, who glanced at the figure written on the line.
Her jaw dropped and a vein twitched in her forehead. Naruto had just slapped down five point three million ryo for a sword! Even she wouldn't pay that much for a blade, albeit one crafted by the some of the best smiths in the land.
"Still, I'm not going after him. I doubt that Neji will be too pleased if I left him, and besides, half the village is on his tail. I'd have no chance."
Tenten's father shook his head. "Alright, but I'm telling you, they only come once in a generation…"
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Naruto had already sent a clone ahead to warn Ayame that he would need a massive order of ramen, enough to feed him and four others for a month. Needless to say, the amount of ramen needed to feed the blonde for a month did not come cheap.
When he got to the restaurant, he rolled open the scroll as Ayame gestured for him to come into the kitchen. Moving that much ramen was impossible for any person, or even a shadow clone army to do in an effective timespan.
It was quite lucky for the entire town that Ichiraku's carried their own flour supply for making noodles, as the amount that would have been taken from the food supply would leave mass hunger behind it. It got so bad that Naruto modified the seal to pick up the boxes instead of him actually touching it.
After paying for the ramen, (Which emptied out his wallet) he waved a cheery goodbye and took off for the gates facing Suna.
Fifteen minutes later, the shout from the Hokage alerted the whole village that Naruto was gone.
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Author's Note.
HEYO!
Whats up?
Yeah, i know it's been like, over two weeks since i updated.
Writer's block is a bitch.
I tried to make this chapter as nice as i could, but ehem. some things i could never get straight.
Anyway, hope you enjoy this one, since i dont really like the wording of this one. It's more filler than anything else.
Oh, and before i forget.
I created Forums for this piece, so if you want to go and discuss with other readers about the plot of this piece, go right on ahead. just read the rules first... PLEASE!
Also, i created a poll, but i'm not so sure if it's working right. PM me if it doesnt show up.
And that should be it... i think
Ah, yes, the announcer part...
Ehem...
Naruto has gotten away with a quality blade and a huge store of ramen! Where has hinata gone? Why does Gaara want to see them? Find out next time on, Timeless Chapter XV: Kazekage Explaination!
Ah, so thats over with.
Anyway, sorry for the long wait. i'l try to write faster next time.
Until next time, please, Please, Please, Please Please, PLEASE, review Review Review, Review, Review, REVIEW!
Signing off:
Xingster
P.S. Please use the forums and the poll... i set them up for a reason, you know...