Chapter 6: A Hero's Growth Part B
Two months had passed since Anko started living with Naruto and Ryu. Naruto had spent several afternoons in quiet contemplation, searching for Kyubi. After all, if he had the power, and the blame and responcibility that go with it, why shouldn't he use it? Not depend on it of course, that would be just stupid. But as a trump card, one of the many he had.
As Naruto went to the training grounds that morning, he saw Ryu already waiting for him with a serious look on his face.
"Ohaiyo otouto. We have some things to discuss today. You have been wondering what the Sharingan effect is for some time now correct?" Seeing Naruto nod, Ryu continued. "As you know, the Sharingan is a very powerful bloodline, a most useful tool. Of course some abuse it to the point of depending solely upon it, but that stupidity is outside our scope. You see, if you look at it, the Sharingan has several abilities that can be broken down to several different effects. First, and most obvious one, is the ability to perceive time differently, causing it to slow down in the user's perspective, increasing the reflexes dramatically. As a secondary effect, the 'tunnel vision' caused by high speed movement disappears. Then, we have the ability to predict the future as some say, though I think it is mostly paying attention to the most minute motion of the enemy's body, allowing you to know what they are going to do before they do it, by virtue of micro-movements, such as tensing the muscles." Naruto nodded, he had read all about the known Kekkei-Genkai. Information is power and all that.
Ryu continued in the same tone. "Next we have the ability to see and copy any Jutsu used, as apparently, the Sharingan grants the user eidetic memory. That way, someone with adequate control could copy any ninjutsu simply by viewing the handseals and hearing the name. Lastly, we have the ability to break down any Genjutsu, as well as place them via eye-contact. With me so far otouto?" Ryu got a nod and a questioning look. "Well, you see, while useful, there are ways to gain the same, if not greater abilities via training. Once completed, these abilities consist the Sharingan Effect. Of course you're wondering what I mean. Let me explain. The ability to perceive time differently can be accomplished through meditation, and a special branch called Battle Meditation. You will be learning them next year, as they take up too much time. Next we have reflexes and the lack of tunnel vision. I've started heavy speed training on you and even taught you the first steps to my own speed technique Shunpo (Flash Step). Of course, it's going to take some time for you to perform it, but when you do, you'll 'force' your body's reflexes to speed up, progressively eliminating the tunnel vision effect."
Naruto almost jumped around at the prospect of learning Shunpo. He had seen Ryu use it a few times and he was stunned with the final speeds. Ryu would become almost invisible, attacking from any direction imaginable, and a few unimaginable ones, able to evade almost any blow, or attack from both left and right almost simultaneously. Naruto of course didn't jump around, knowing he'd just get noogie'd for doing it. Ryu smirked at seeing the blonde blob of energy contain himself. It had been very trying to teach him self-control. "To gain the ability to copy any Jutsu, I've started you on ninjutsu theory and application as well as study and analysis of handseals. What you will learn will be a dream amongst dreams for Sharingan users. Instead of just copying a technique as it is performed, you will gain the ability to break it down to its basic components. In other words, while it will take you some time to analyze, break down and recreate the technique,making your version better. Why? Simply because even if an enemy skips out on a handseal, or uses one-handed ones, you will be able to deduce the complete version by seeing the results or knowing of the Jutsu. In the same way, you will later on be able to change a technique to suit you. For example, someone uses a Raiton on you, but you are not good enough at it yet to use it as a Raiton. You will learn how to break it down and recreate it as a Fuuton or any other element you wish or need. The enemy spits a fireball, you send them a ball of compressed water. You will learn to use Ninjutsu accurately and effectively, even if its the first time and in heavy combat."
Naruto stood gaping. He'd be able to do all of that?!? "A-aniki... are you sure about what you're saying? I mean, I've just started out on this path. You sure I can handle the responcibility of it? What if... What if I loose control of Kyubi? What if..."
"Ah shut up gaki. Minato trusted you and Kushina chose you. You'll be fine. If there's anyone that can hold Le Grande Furball back, that's you."
Naruto laughed silently. "Yeah, I guess you're right Ani-sensei. That's why I'll..."
Naruto was interrupted by a poof of smoke as a henge'd Kage Bunshin revealed himself behind Ryu and attempted to impale him. Ryu dodged to the side, causing the clone to stumble forward. Naruto dashed forward, used the falling clone as a springboard and launched himself at Ryu while drawing his swords for a double strike. Ryu jumped back to dodge, but had to move again as the first clone used his right hand to twist himself an inch from the ground, leaving his left arm to throw a few senbon needles at Naruto's head, knowing that Naruto would miss and leave Ryu open for attack.
As the senbon flew by Ryu's head, he noticed there were wires wrapped around the middle. The clone's hand twitched and they tried to wrap themselves around Ryu. The slightly green coloration of the senbon revealed them to be poisonous to the Dragon Rider. Ryu quickly drew his swords and moved them to block Naruto's incoming swords. As he sent them to the side, he quickly dodged to the side and made a slow swipe with his swords, cutting off Naruto's legs.
It was not to be however, as the clone quickly substituted himself with the original and was dispelled. Ryu's eyes widened as Naruto's blades touched his throat.
"I win aniki."
Ryu's surprised look turned to a grin as he twitched his left sword. Naruto felt some pressure at what differenciates men from women. "I think not otouto. I think it's a draw. Good work with the clone. Even though I had to limit myself to Chuunin strength, it's very good for someone your age and training time."
Naruto grinned. It was nice having someone tell you you're good. Though he also realized that whenever Ryu complimented him on doing something well, he also not only increased his criteria, but also gave him much more to do.
Naruto had slowly been getting to know Anko as well. It took a few talks and some... tips... on the best places to peep on Ryu when he goes bathing, but Anko spoke to Naruto about her past a bit. Naruto of course was more than a bit pissed off about the treatment the village had given her. He could understand his own troubles, seeing as he was a constant reminder of what the people had lost, like a festering wound that never healed, but Anko was a whole different story. To shun her, even a bit, because she was the former apprentice of Orochimaru... well it was a bit aggravating for the blonde.
In the last two months, Naruto had began helping his aniki in the forge. Ryu would go to Konoha every week and buy a large amount of various metals. Naruto helped Ryu in the forging to increase his own endurance as well as learn first hand how something is forged. Then, he would get the lower-grade metals and try to forge something of his own. Naruto's inventive mind began working overtime, thinking up various gadgets he could make and use. His room's desk was filled with numerous scrolls detailing Naruto's insane ideas and projects. Being a beginner in fuuinjutsu, and just having learned how to make a sealing scroll, Naruto always had a scroll on him with writing supplies in case he had an idea.
So far he had started up ideas for quick-release mechanisms stored in his bracers to quickly draw a weapon. Ryu's books on mechanics and engineering also helped Naruto create the blueprints for various ammunitions, such as senbon, kunai or explosive notes or smokebombs. Naruto had no illusions that he'd get to make them on his own, but if he could make the blueprints and then give them to an engineer of sufficient skill, then maybe he could make it work.
Time progressed slowly for the blonde jinchuuriki. Day in, day out, he would practice his sword arts, learning more and more about the Uzumaki clan, and especially the warriors of the Uzumaki clan, the much dreaded Uzumaki no Kenshin. A group of warriors that could fight on par with the strongest of enemies, never wavering or retreating in the field of battle. Naruto too, wanted to be a part of that group, but he knew he wasn't nearly at the level reaquired. He had learned patience though. He would wait until the time was ripe to lay claim to his heritage.
Naruto's training had increased even more after he learned of the Sharingan Effect. He pushed his body to the limits, and often enough even beyond that. Due to Kyubi's chakra being able to heal Naruto, he could afford to push himself beyond the edge, knowing that the next day he'd be fine. Maybe a little sore, but fine.
Knowing that a swordmaster without his swords would be a sitting duck, Naruto asked Anko to help him with his Taijutsu, seeing as how the Tokubetsu Jounin was very good at it, and her hits hurt a lot less than Ryu's... In the same manner, he had started learning how to use Anko's favoured fighting style; two kunai held in reverse, a bastardized but very, very effective version of the Washi no Kamae. Combined with a scroll on his mother's Taijutsu style, Rasenken, or Spiral Fist, he knew that, while he would never be a Taijutsu specialist, he'd be more than able to hold his own.
The Rasenken depended on a very simple, yet effective rule; acceleration. High speed meant greater force, therefore increasing the damage dealt with every hit, not to mention it would be easier to land it in the first place. Because the room for the necessary acceleration wasn't readily available in a serious fight, the Uzumaki clan devised a way to make the most out of a small amount of room. Namely, rotation. By rotating in place, the user can increase the velocity of his attacks, while also maintaining an adequate amount of defence.
The basic stance had the user stand with the left leg in front, body turned to the right. The left hand was placed in front, making a curve as if embracing someone. The right hand was kept in the same way but behind the body, concealing it. The user could spin in any direction, depending on what he wanted to do, lashing out faster and faster in a small room, cutting down his enemy's evasive manouevres. Of course, like all styles, it had its drawbacks. First of all, the user couldn't easily charge an enemy, as the style wasn't geared for such motions. Similarly, it was focused more on taking down a single opponent, as opposed to fighting multiple enemies. However, it was a very explosive and effective style, one that definitely suited Naruto. Of course when he asked why to him it seemed incomplete, Ryu answered that the Uzumaki clan did that on purpose so that every warrior would take it and improve on it in his own unique way.
Naruto's anti-genjutsu training was going well too, helping him at least somewhat cover up his greatest problem. Of course, he wasn't that good at detecting them, unless they were very blatant, but he sure as hell could break them. The concentrated chakra burst he could release at any time, with barely any focus into it, was more than enough to shatter them. In the same sense, Naruto's studies at ninjutsu were progressing well. He still had to learn a single jutsu, but Ryu had been adamant on acquiring a good degree of control first.
As the days and weeks progressed, Naruto had learned how to expel raw, solid bursts of chakra from his hands and feet. Apart from being very dangerous in case they hit someone, it also helped him move very quickly, as the resulting explosion's shockwave blasted Naruto off in high speeds. Ryu gave a pleased smile when he saw it. The next day he took Naruto aside.
"Alright Naruto, time to up the ante a bit. As you know, you can blast raw chakra from your hands and feet. Now, I may not have said much at that time, but you have completed another step for the Shunpo. The Shunpo depends on three aspects, precision, power and resistance. You have completed precision by learning to perfectly control massive amounts of chakra without loosing control. That in turn led you to completing power, the burst of chakra that blasts you forward. Last is resistance and by that I mean the resistance of the air around us."
Naruto nodded and added his two cents. "Yeah, I kinda noticed that too. Every time I blast off, I feel an immense pressure on my chest and I'm not near the speed you go with the complete version. The faster you go, the greater the pressure so, if I go as fast as you do, it would crush me right?"
Ryu smiled, pleased at the intelligence Naruto was finally showing. "That is correct. Your body instinctively limits the amount of chakra sent for the speed burst so you don't kill yourself, so that's something you're gonna have to fix. On the other hand,you also have to reduce the wind's resistance, which is the hardest part. You will have to experiment with ways to do that, find your own answer to the question, you know? I could tell you how I do it, but I think that it's something you're going to have to learn for yourself. After all, not everything works for everyone. Take your time thinking it through and use your clones to test it. Oh, and for the record, you're using too much chakra, about 10 times the needed. After all, once you eliminate the problem of the wind's resistance, your speed will increase many times over."
Naruto nodded, already trying to think of a way to bypassing the wind's resistance. However, as much as he thought about it at that time, he couldn't find an easily applied way for it. As for the more complicated ways, they depended on seals that would do the work for him. However, he had neither the resources nor the knowledge with which to perform said task. Deciding to solve it another day, he turned on his heel and left, but not before throwing a shuriken, cutting a concealed wired, which in turn activated a hidden trap that sent a barrage of kunai at Ryu. Or where Ryu would be sitting if he didn't quickly shunshin away.
The blonde swordman worked tirelessly, striving to become stronger. He would be the first to wake up and the last to go to sleep. He pushed and pushed himself, often getting sprains and torn muscles for his troubles. But, regardless of it all, he persevered. His experiments on eliminating the wind's resistance for the Shunpo were also going well. Having brainstormed a few ideas, he had his clones practice each until he'd get it as far as possible. While alone the ideas didn't work that well, Naruto was putting together all he acquired from practicing them, combining them into a perfected final result. However, he still had to complete it.
Around that time, Naruto also took a more active part in the forge, learning how to forge his own shuriken and kunai. He started small, but progressed very well. Now, his work, while by far not the best, was good enough to be used or sold. Every kunai and shuriken on his person was made by himself. To Naruto, each and every item he forged was unique, each made in its own special way. He could instantly tell which shuriken or kunai he picked out of his pouch. Anko laughed when Naruto shared it with her, but quickly told him that it's only normal when someone makes something that he becomes attached to it. In return for her words, he gave her a few of his best throwing knives, razor-sharp dual-edged blades perfectly balanced for throwing. When questioned about their quality, he quickly proved how sharp they were by chucking a few of them right through a target dummy.
It was the final months of his year alone, or mostly alone, with Ryu that the ANBU captain decided to start teaching ninjutsu to Naruto. Having judged him to have enough presence of mind, experience and, of course, chakra control, he began with easy techniques to get him acclimated. Of course, since wind was Naruto's affinity, he focused on it by teaching him how to control it properly. Naruto himself started adapting the jutsu for his own uses, altering them and shifting them to better suit his style. He started with Fuuton: Toppa (Wind Style: Breakthrough), the 'young brother' of Daitoppa, a technique that created enough power to deflect incoming shuriken but not much else. On the other hand, it was easy for Naruto to learn how to use it without handseals, making it a very effective defence against ranged attacks.
On it he based a new technique Fuuton Kekkai: Kaze Doomu (Wind Barrier: Wind Dome), a defencive jutsu that made a dome formed by powerful wind gales. Building on the Toppa and later the Daitoppa, Naruto leaned the dreaded Kamaitachi no Jutsu (Sickle Weasel/Wind Blade Technique),adapting it for use with his swords by condensing the effects into the small width of a sword, as opposed to the wide area attack of a fan. Of course the bladed winds tended to veer out from the tip of the blade, progressively increasing the area of effect, but it was still much more concentrated than a fan's random cuts.
Ryu foresaw a lot of trouble for his adopted little brother so he sought to teach him even more about elemental manipulation. According to him, everyone had the power to gain an affinity for every element. However, seeing as how every elemental affinity 'awakened' made it harder to learn another, moreso if it is an opposing affinity, learning how to use all elemental affinities would be a pipe dream. Even so, going by the saying of 'aim for the sun, so even if you miss you will land among the stars', Ryu started training Naruto on the usage of the other offencive elements, starting with fire.
The over-exuberant blonde found it relatively easy to link with the element of fire, his explosive and determined personality resonating with the power within the fire's core. Using that as a basis, Ryu started teaching Naruto how to perform elemental combinations, first by using clones and then, progressively eliminating them as well. It was a slow going project, especially since, unlike wind, Naruto hadn't mastered fire, but the progress was there.
Now, their fights were more like elegant, bladed dances than spars, causing sparks to fly around as the blades clashed again and again. Their capabilities urged even Anko to pick up a kodachi and learn to use it, at least somewhat.
Naruto's original kenjutsu style, Kitsune no Kamae was going very well too, upping the maximum strikes to Rokubi, an attack that left even Anko reeling back.
It was finally the end of the summer for Naruto and the beggining of another year inside Konoha, or well mostly inside Konoha. Ryu's home would always be open to him and he didn't have to stay cooped up inside his little crappy apartment now. Naruto smirked victoriously as he marched towards Konoha's gates.
The guards saw a tall for his age child with spiky blond hair and startling blue eyes walk towards them calmly. He wore black trousers lined with blood red and covered with pockets for easy retrieval of items. On each side he had a belt and leg pouch, obviously carrying a lot of combat equipment. On his feet, steel-toed black leather boots made a distinct sound as they casually strode towards Konoha. On his chest is a black shirt with a roaring fox head in red, while a pair of sheathed blades protruded from behind. A long scarf made of three colored linen clothes, one for each color, red, yellow and orange, covered his face while also trailing behind him.
The mysterious person walked casually through the gate, not even sparing the guards a single glance. As soon as he was inside, he released a small burst of chakra and vanished mid-step in a small swirl of wind and leaves. The ANBU that watched the scene were even more stumped as they couldn't track the mysterious stranged. It was as if he knew what they would do before they even thought about it.
Outside the Hokage's office, a shinobi, for it had to be one judging by looks alone, materialized. He glanced calmly at the secretary and asked in a muffled, quiet voice.
"Is the Hokage inside?"
The secretary blushed a bit at the voice. Heck if he was a few years older she might have tried dating him. Such calm voice, gentle eyes and muscled body... Stopping the fangirlish squeal that threatened to come out of her throat using nothing but sheer professionalism, she nodded. Before she had time to ask what he wanted or tell him to wait for an audience, she had the oddest feeling... Those gentle eyes turned evilly mischievous, reminding her of a certain someone. Before she could gather her bearings, the mysterious shinobi raised his leg and kicked the door.
Hiruzen Sarutobi has having one of his rare breaks from the dreaded paperwork. He had the strangest feeling of foreboding as an oddly familiar chakra, that he couldn't exactly place however, flickered outside his office. The next thing he knew was that one of his doors was coming right at his desk and he had to dodge quickly. A man, no a teenager, strode casually in, as if he didn't just blast a door to pieces. Sandaime's eyes widened as he realized who it was, but before he had time to react, his hidden ANBU guards appeared to take down the offender.
As the two ninjatou made to strike the mysterious person, the edges of his eyes lifted, indicating he was smiling, but there was nothing warm or nice about that smile. Instead the figure's hands moved amazingly fast and caught the blades between the pointer and the thumb, easily holding them in place. Before the surprised ANBU had time to react, another, exactly the same, figure appeared in front of the pair of ANBU, arms to the side with a pair of short, curved blades held in reverse. Which meant that the blades' edges were placed comfortably, for the tresspasser at least, on the two ANBU's necks.
Sarutobi coughed a bit and spoke calmly. "I would appreciate it if you didn't kill my ANBU you know..."
The figure snorted, as if fiding it incredibly funny before snapping the blades in half. The ANBU just blinked at the now broken swords they held. A discreet motion of the Kage's hands dismissed them before they could speak however.
Sarutobi sighed. It was such a good day too... "You're always causing so much trouble aren't you Naruto-kun?"
Naruto chuckled. "I woulnd't be my mother's son if I wasn't now would I? Besides, you've done much worse old monkey."
Sarutobi chuckled a bit, relieved to see that at least most of Naruto hadn't changed. "I guess that's true. So, how have you been my boy?"
Naruto smirked and lowered his scarf, letting the freaked out secretary confirm the fact that she had just blushed at Naruto of all people. "Couldn't be better old man. Now, I guess we have a lot to talk about. After all, I haven't forgiven nor forgotten your failings." At the end of the sentence, Naruto's voice turned ice cold, sending chills down Sarutobi's spine. He was glad to have followed Ryu's advice about praying. Naruto had more than enough reason to do whatever he wanted to him.
A/N: Finally another chapter and the begging of the academy mini-arc. Hope you liked it so far and as always read and review. Even though I am not sure on the quality of this chapter. So long without writing has disappointed my Lady Inspiration and she hasn't gifted me with much of her grace lately... Hopefully I will be back in her good graces soon though :D