Howdy everyone!
I've somehow settled into a routine of putting up chapters somewhat semi-regularly! Miraculous, right!? Let's see how long this lasts.
Apologies, I probably went a little overboard on the Time/Space jutsu thing here, but I want to clarify now that this Naruto is at least a little more in line with what I think we all expected after the training trip.
Everything in Shippuden so far has happened in more or less the same way, but Jiraiya effectively did his job a little better during the training trip. Sure, if Naruto was training with some Chuunin for two years I wouldn't expect much more than making a bigger Rasengan, maybe some physical training and a couple of jutsu. But Naruto didn't train with a random Chuunin! He trained with Jiraiya! Jiraiya of the freaking Sannin!
Now, if Jiraiya wasn't used to training people it would be as bad, but he trained the fourth Hokage. He must have done at least a little more for Naruto! Of course, he's Jiraiya, so he regularly goes off drinking and peeping, but in my fic he at least had bursts of motivation to try and polish Naruto up a bit.
Mini-rant over. Enjoy the fic people!
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Naruto's head snapped up, his eyes dilating as the sun stabbed into them. Mud and water tarnished his orange jumpsuit; his back and shoulders ached from where he had impacted against rocks on the riverbed. That was no matter, the bruises would fade within hours. The river behind him ran murky brown due to the dirt kicked up in the blast. The blond coughed one last cough as he gathered himself.
In the distance he could see smoke rising into the air. There was a glow closely associated with an intense fire, however there was an odd tinge to the dark glow. Up above the horizon was a gathering of dark clouds rife with blue flashes as lightning gathered. 'I bet Sasuke's there, trying to be all dark and dramatic!'
He looked to his right, the drenched child was sat in the mud trying to wipe some grime from his face.
"Hey, kid. You good to move?" The child's orange eyes jolted up to stare into his.
"Uh, yeah. I'm good." The boy seemed to be in a little bit of a daze and quite possibly lost in thought; despite this he got up and brushed himself off. Naruto was already on his feet, his outfit more brown than orange and black.
"Then let's go!" Naruto wasted no time in leaping off into the tree line, the boy behind him following suite. Four puffs of smoke appeared near him as he jumped between branches. Three of the four shadow clones completed a diamond formation around Boruto, whilst another clone fell back to act as an early warning system. He tried to keep a leash on his pace so that he wouldn't leave the boy behind.
They travelled in silence, even nature hardly made a sound. Many animals had gone quiet due to the chakra-induced storm brewing in the area as well as the large explosion that had occurred not long before. The Jinchuuriki winced occasionally as the orange masked man brutally decimated the remaining clones, however, the memories stopped as one clone observed the man falling in on himself, twisting and swirling as he faded from the world. He filed that away for later use as he remembered some advice he had been given by Jiraiya on his training trip.
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Jiraiya stood opposite Naruto as the boy held rocks to his own shoulders with chakra. Each rock was nearly the size of his own head. The Uzumaki's attention was directed at his teacher as he squatted repeatedly; sweat ran down his torso and he was a little red from the exertion.
"So, now do you get why Iwa feared the fourth Hokage so much?" The boy grunted with effort as his teacher queried him.
"Yeah, I guess. I mean, he could be anywhere in the fight just like that, right? Teleporting is faster than the fastest of ninja, so you can't really react if a guy just vanishes and pops up behind you."
Jiraiya nodded. Though both of them weren't major fans of theory, Naruto was starting to understand the importance of it as Jiraiya delved into how the boy's hero became what he was.
"Pretty close, most of that was right. You were wrong on not being able to react. A ninja with Time/Space ninjutsu is potentially one of the most dangerous opponents you could ever face, Kami forbid you do, but with your luck I've got a feeling you'll face one before you even hit Chuunin." He ignored Naruto's indignant cry.
"That's why I want you to be prepared. You've hardly started your ninja career, yet you've already faced down a Bijuu, multiple A and S ranked opponents as well as what was quite possibly an undiscovered boss-summon." Naruto glared at the man.
"That was one time Ero-Sennin! That doesn't count!" Jiraiya laughed at Naruto's expense.
"Naruto, that one time counts when you somehow end up fighting a never-before-seen squid the size of the Hokage tower. I doubt there are any other Genin, Chuunin or even Jounin that find themselves in that situation when going to find food!" Naruto scowled as he continued to do another set of squats, but a smile eventually worked its way onto his face at what he considered to be a subtle compliment. It went unsaid, but he also came out on top, which was more than could be said for most that encountered creatures of that size.
Jiraiya went back into lecture mode, but a smirk hovered on the edges of his lips. "My point is, you seem to have a knack for facing foes most ninja would never face in their entire career, so I want to make sure you are prepared. After all, if you want to be Hokage you're going to have to reach the classification of S-ranked. Usually, an S-ranked ninja has something that puts them far above the typical ninja, and though it's rare, Time/Space ninjutsu is one of the possible advantages your opponent may have. It's also one of the most dangerous, as there are rare cases of users being known as double S-ranked."
Jiraiya cleared his throat. "Now, I don't claim to know any Time/Space ninjutsu outside of summoning techniques, but I do know a fair bit of theory due to sealing as well as helping my student out with his feared Haraishin. I know it will be hard for you to understand all of it, but I'm going to teach you the theory behind it so that you can at least try to observe the possible flaws in such jutsu and survive an encounter with any users. Heck, maybe when you're older and can attempt it with minimal danger you'll get lucky and burn up the last few of your remaining brain cells to create your own unique Time/Space jutsu! Not before I deem you ready though, as meddling with time and space for the purpose of a technique is an extremely dangerous affair."
Jiraiya's booming laugh echoed through the forest as Naruto roared and leapt at him.
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Naruto snapped back to attention as he began to repeatedly run through hand seals in his head. He would need a closer look at the masked man's jutsu to figure out any weaknesses, but he could at least prepare his own counter. He did this by repeating a set of hand-signs in his head. He did this with painstaking difficulty - the set of hand-signs used many unusual ones outside of the standard twelve - and he relied on his clones to keep watch.
It was only towards the end of his training trip that he had finally devised his own Time/Space ninjutsu technique, though it had been deemed as rather useless. The technique required a Shadow Clone to use the hand-signs at the same time, and the technique had originally required one hundred hand signs. He had reduced it to eighty at this point in time due to parts of the jutsu requiring the same set of hand-signs used in the basic Kawarimi, and every Konoha ninja that followed the log could manipulate their chakra into that jutsu without hand-signs. Still, eighty hand-signs in a single sequence were near-impossible for him to remember in the midst of a fight, and he had to revise them every time he had any intention of using the jutsu.
The technique itself allowed him to switch places with a Shadow Clone no matter where they were, and the same applied if someone else were to find a way of replicating the hand seals at the same time. Jiraiya had complimented him on his grasp on the theory of Time/Space ninjutsu whilst simultaneously berating him for secretly going through the dangerous process of creating such a ninjutsu and creating something nearly useless.
"If you're going to go behind my back and make a dangerous Time/Space jutsu, at least make it useful Gaki!"
The ninjutsu effectively did the same job as the Kawarimi, only it could work across incredible distances and would work with another participant. The hand seals were extremely difficult and lengthy, and the log would typically do just as well. After all, the log was almighty, so why use an inferior replication?
But in this instance, Naruto had to admit to himself that simply having his own Time/Space ninjutsu ready in his mind could be a boon when facing another user, even if his took an eternity to cast and had very little effect.
Boruto, meanwhile, was busy with his own thoughts as they hopped from tree to tree.
'Could this guy really be my brother? I mean, he looks like Dad, but he hasn't even asked my name yet. He's focused on something entirely different now that we're safe...'
Boruto was starting to tire, not physically, but mentally. The events of the day thus far were making the boy moody and sluggish, but he tried to hold himself together as the two travelled at a good pace.
A sharp crack of thunder caught the attention of both blonds.
Lightning was dancing across the sky with increasing ferocity as they neared a ruined complex. Black and red fire raged against each other on the opposite side of the complex. The lightning coalesced above the compound in an instant.
Naruto's pupils dilated. His heart began to hammer within his chest, forcing blood throughout his body hard enough that he could feel the slight pulsing in his head. Adrenaline mixed in with this blood, putting his muscles into overdrive as his chest extended and contracted rapidly. He had to force himself to take a breath before taking action, as a terrible tight feeling clutched at his lungs in an attempts to keep them contracted. Memories of a lightning bolt piercing through his body flashed in his mind, and he took action immediately. Launching backwards at an angle, he grabbed Boruto and clutched the boy close to him whilst anchoring them both back-first to a large tree in hopes of giving them cover.
First was the crack, the crack of silence breaking, the crack of the Uchiha compound imploding, the crack of lightning splitting the heavens. Next was the shockwave. It tore through all in its path, reigning destruction upon the landscape. What was almost a wall of dirt rippled out from the epicentre, destroying trees and buildings alike.
Naruto did not expect the sheer power behind the technique and cried out as the tree they were anchored to toppled. Boruto screamed as his ears popped. All he could hear was ringing, and all he could taste was dirt. He lay like that for a few seconds, struggling to regain control of his body. Boruto's orange eyes gradually opened to meet a shining blue. Dust left behind from the blast gave the area a feeling similar to an ancient building finally disturbed. It caked everything and swirled through the air, limiting vision.
Naruto grunted. "You okay kid?" He nodded slowly, and his attention turned to the two clones that had somehow survived and were now struggling to hold the tree. It was then that he noticed a streak of red. A branch had pierced Naruto's left triceps, the same arm was shaking as it struggled with the weight of the tree that he and his two clones were supporting.
Boruto quickly scurried away through the dirt in case the clones dropped the tree, and Naruto did the same after reaching back and snapping the branch impaling him close to where it entered the skin with a barely restrained growl. The youngest blond was awed as the older teen stood up straight with a grim look on his face whilst the two clones dropped the tree and started to check Boruto over for any injuries.
The more experienced of the pair picked a reasonably thick stick from the ground and tore his own sleeve from the opposite arm, wrapping it around the stick he had retrieved from the floor. Without hesitation, he shoved the stick between his own teeth and bit down hard. Boruto couldn't help but watch the gruesome scene as Naruto clenched and unclenched his jaw, testing the strength of the wood between his teeth before his right hand grasped the small branch impaling his left arm. The wince told Boruto all he needed to know about how painful the simple action was.
It was then that Naruto, with a great roar of pain, tore the branch from his arm with a wet squelch and crimson lifeblood flowed more freely down his limb. The stick in his mouth cracked under the stress as he reflexively bit down.
He continued to grind his teeth into the wood for several seconds as he waited for the pain to pass. When it did, he spat out the sleeve-wrapped branch and clenched his fists.
"Dude! That's gonna bleed all over the place! You need to sort that before we go anywhere." Naruto halted his preparation to continue travelling towards where he believed Sasuke to be.
"I'll be fine. We need to hurry." Naruto went to leap away again, but a hand tugged at the back of his jacket. It was one of his clones, and it looked slightly concerned.
"The kid is right boss, it looks pretty bad."
Naruto took a deep breath and calmed his urge to race after Sasuke. "You're right. Gimme a hand with this, would ya?" To his clone's credit, it simply did as it was told instead of arguing. Between the two of them they quickly tore off Naruto's remaining blood-soaked sleeve and made a basic bandage that did little more than halt the flow of blood.
"Should we really be moving if you're hurt?" Naruto looked to Boruto as the child spoke up again.
"Hey, don't you worry about me. This is nothing! Now, I gotta make sure my friend is okay, but I'm still going to keep you safe. Stay close, okay?" He gave Boruto a big grin and smoothed out his now-sleeveless jacket. The younger boy couldn't help but grin back; it was infectious. They definitely had to be related, this guy's smile was so familiar, just like his father's!
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Kakashi briefly gave his squad a signal to move in behind him, but to stay in a relatively open formation. The last thing they needed was to all be caught by an area of effect jutsu when close together, as they would only impede any unique defensive jutsu.
The combined group of ninja slowly made their way through the ruins of the compound. Various hallways remained intact whilst others fell, and there were even some new makeshift corridors formed by jutting stone and brick splitting different paths. Dust fell in generous helpings from the ruined buildings with the disturbance. This was irritating for the ninja that occasionally had to put up with it, but with any luck it would work as an early warning system. After all, Itachi was not a man you wanted to be surprised by.
Gradually, as the seconds ticked by, the ruins around them shrank until they were little more than half walls and chunks of rubble littering the area. The direction of the epicentre was obvious, and the hyper-alert ninja slowly made progress towards their destination with glass crunching and tinkling underfoot.
It was quiet at first, hardly noticeable, but an odd sucking whistling sound slowly filled the air. It set Kakashi on edge.
"Hinata, eyes forward, report." His tone was hardly more than a harsh whisper, but the trained heiress picked up on it with the ease one would expect of a trained ninja.
"Byakugan!..." The princess remained silent as they cautiously stalked the rubble. She observed before reporting in, waiting to give only the needed information.
"Two hundred metres. Sasuke and Itachi, unconscious. A...twisting in the air, the masked man. Several Naruto clones hidden within fifty metres." Kakashi and Yamato both nodded, with the latter holding up the Konoha hand-sign that gave the message 'proceed silently'. He appreciated the nod his superior gave him in return, as Kakashi still occasionally slipped back into the ANBU habit of assuming everyone knew to go silent, and some of the Chuunin weren't experienced in the procedures used in this kind of high-risk situation.
The scarecrow ninja made a simple hand signal that warned his subordinates to spread out and get into a standard formation for an ambush.
Dust sifted down from the still-crumbling ruins like small waterfalls, and an ozone-like feeling bit at the senses like a deep cold, reaching into the depths of the bones of those present. All ninja present were on edge, and Kakashi could feel the powder keg waiting to blow.
After around one hundred and fifty meters he came into the clearing caused by the wrath of the dragon. The combined ninja squads remained behind him, hidden from site by the rubble littering the landscape.
Kakashi's Sharingan eye slowly swirled, taking in every detail it could gleam from the masked man ahead of him. The orange of his mask was slightly discoloured with flecks of mud streaked across the surface. He could also make out the faint marking of a footprint upon the surface of the mask.
'So, Naruto figured out how to guarantee a hit on him. Well done. Now it's my turn to figure this out'
The man's Akatsuki cloak was also flecked with mud, more so towards the bottom, with his feet being covered with the wet sludge. The man's stance slightly belied his seemingly uninjured state. There was an inconsistency with how he distributed his weight, and his stance was uneven. Kakashi took this as a sign of a possible old injury. On which side, he could not tell, but once he figured it out he would not hesitate to capitalise upon it.
The scarecrow finally settled his piercing gaze upon the masked man's own. The thick mask cast a deep shadow inside of the headpiece, but one thing was clear. A Sharingan eye stared back at him, scarlet upon scarlet as they stared at each other. Kakashi's gaze was analytical, piercing and prying for information at the same time which the genius could use. The masked man's Sharingan glared back with hardly restrained rage. The man was trying to lay a stifling level of Killing Intent upon Kakashi, the feeling not unlike that of a great beast ready to feast, but Hatake merely pushed back with his own punishing glare.
Webs of chakra wove themselves over the two Sharingan-wielding men. Both were using their ocular techniques to thread strings of chakra into genjutsu, hoping to warp their opponent's mind, whilst at the same time using the threads to shatter ones assaulting themselves. Neither gained any ground, their spinning eyes matching each other perfectly.
The next moment passed in a blur. An instant after the last genjutsu weave had been attempted, Naruto was at Tobi's side with a kunai in hand, though it was a disguised attempt at passing by him to get to Sasuke's unconscious body. Tobi pre-empted this and instead caught the slash Naruto sent towards him. The next thing anyone knew, Kakashi was launching a vicious side-kick towards the masked man, launching him towards...a swirling spot on a rock?
Bam! Kakashi and Naruto were separated as Tobi popped up between them and delivered solid strikes to knock them from their feet. Tobi wasted no time absorbing Sasuke into his pocket dimension, but by that point the rest of the squad had arrived and were subconsciously guarding Itachi's body. Tobi decided to count Itachi as something he'd have to retrieve at a later date. Besides, he now had a very interesting lead to look into.
Even as the masked man swirled into nothingness, the Konoha ninja remained on guard for a long while, fully expecting a surprise return. That is, until Itachi Uchiha stirred and let out a gasp.