Still don't own Naruto
Chapter 71: The Joushugan
Naruto found a small hotel close to the center of town with a close proximity to the Palace.
'This place will be perfect. Close enough to get in and out quickly, and I will give me a reason to scout the area as it would be a good rout for an evening walk' Naruto thought as he payed for his room.
Naruto found his room and was pleasantly surprised to find it had a good view out over the the palace. The room itself was only small with a single bed and a small bathroom and shower, but he had a balcony that would give him a good access point to be able to leave the hotel later that night without being seen.
Once evening came Naruto decided to go have some dinner and maybe ask some of the local's what they knew about Hikaru. Leaving his hotel Naruto made his way towards the market district of town figuring that would be where most of the restaurant's would be.
'I should probably try a few different places, that was what Jiraiya sensei taught me to do when looking for information in a foreign village with no contact's' Naruto thought as he looked around.
Naruto found an elderly lady who was currently looking in a small fruit stall and decided to start his investigation with someone who would have known the village before Hikaru came to power.
As the old lady left the fruit stall Naruto pretended to accidentally bump into the old woman. "Oh I am so sorry maam, I lost my way, I was looking for somewhere good to eat and I wasn't watching where I was going" Naruto lied, if he hadnt seen the rather substandard quality of some of the ninja in this village he would have never even bothered with the excuse.
"Oh that's quite alright, I was not harmed at all, and.. Oh my, that hair, those eye's it is like I am looking at a young Minato Namikaze" the old woman stammered once she saw Naruto's face.
"Yeah I guess I do look a lot like my father huh, actually the shape of my face is more like my mother's I have been told but the way I have my hair hides that from most people" Naruto said.
"The son of the Yellow Flash... Oh my. Your father saved my life during the third shinobi war. This village was attacked by Iwa's forces as they were looking to get a foothold to gather there forces on the outskirts of the land of fire, I remember Hanzo the Salamander had locked down Ame, and Taki had sided with Konoha, and were impossible to find. Most other country's were too close to either Konoha or Suna so our village was there chosen target" She said.
'This will be perfect, she already seems to trust me because of my father. And she is bound to know something of where Hikaru came from at least' Naruto thought. "What happened when Iwa attacked?" he asked deciding to keep her talking for a bit longer before asking her any questions.
"It was horrible, the Iwa shinobi seemed to grow out of the ground below us and swarmed up the trees from the forest floor. At the time we had a sizable military but they were no match for the highly trained shinobi that came from Iwa. Ninety percent of the villages shinobi were wiped out in under a day. We had lost all but the palace in the center tree, and all of the civilians that could hold a weapon myself included were forced to fight them off, the others were held in the main hall. We were all so terrified that we might turn out the same way as the village of Uzugakure, and have the entire population slaughtered in the middle of the night while everyone was asleep. So we made sure to stay up around the clock to make sure that we were safe. By the end of the second day we were loosing hope, we had lost the courtyard and now the only thing that was keeping the Iwa ninja out was the reinforced chakra enhanced doors and what ninja remained firing jutsu's down upon the enemy from the upper levels" she said.
"That's horrible, how did you manage to get out of that mess?" Naruto asked.
"Konoha's ninja forces showed up and saved us by the next morning, we had lost most of our milatary force but most of the civilians survived. I can still remember how your father sped around making sure everyone was safe, he was brilliant he just seemed to ooze an air of authority about him. Anyway what brings you here, we don't get too many visit's from Konoha shinobi unless it is to renegotiate a teaty but we haven't had to do that in years" the old lady said.
"Well I need to get in to see the Kage, here I have an important message here for him from the Hokage, but I have been told by several people that it is impossible to get a meeting with him" Naruto said.
"Ah that does seem like the way things have been in recent year's. The Kikage was always a friendly man who cared so deeply for his people, but around four years ago he stopped coming out into public, then the quality of our elite ninja started to decrease, it was like the spirit was being sucked from the village" the old lady said.
"This may sound like a weird question but was this around the time that Hikaru became the Number two in the village?" Naruto asked.
"No Hikaru had been number two for around a year before we noticed any change in Kikage-sama" the old lady said.
'Hm a year, like the same year that the last couple of jonnin commanders lasted in there jobs before they were forced to retire, no doubt about it, there is something going on and it just stinks of Hikaru's involvement' Naruto thought.
"Thanks for your time, again I'm sorry for bumping into you" Naruto said with a smile.
"Oh that's alright, it was an absolute pleasure to meet you my boy" the old lady said.
'Alright so that is something, now let's see what some younger people think of Hikaru, there has to be a reason why nobody seems to be questioning what is going on' Naruto thought as he began to look around the small square, eventually his eyes came to rest on a small dango shop with a bunch of young waitresses. "That looks like a perfect place to gather some information" Naruto said to himself and entered the dango shop and sat down at a table and picked up the menu.
Naruto ordered his dango and waited for it to be delivered. When it came his small plate of dango was delivered by a young girl around his age with deep purple hair.
"Here you are sir" she said placing the plate on the desk and turning to leave.
"Wait... Would you like to join me, I don't know anybody in this town and in truth I was hoping I would have been able to move on without having to stay. It's nothing against the village of course, it is a beautiful place. However I am on an important mission from Konoha and need to move on to my final destination" Naruto said.
The young waitress blushed red and didn't really hear anything past Naruto's offer for her to join him. She just nodded slightly and sat down.
"What's it like living here?" Naruto asked to sound as though he was interested.
"Oh it's not so bad, it is peaceful. We don't get many visitor's though, certainly not many ninja like yourself" she said with a smile.
"I see, well I don't really know how long I will be here for. I need to see the Kikage personally but I have been blocked from entering the Mansion" Naruto admited.
"Yeah nobody is allowed to see, Kikage-sama anymore, it is Hikaru-sama's orders" the waitress said.
"Who is this Hikaru-sama, what is his job here in the village?" Naruto asked.
"He is our protector, and he now run's the ninja forces" the waitress said.
"Isn't that the job of the Kage?" Naruto queried.
"At first it was Kikage-sama hired him as his assistant. As time progressed however Hikaru-sama began to prove himself as a top ninja, and was eventually promoted to head of the Ninja departments, and when Kikage-sama stopped making public appearances he took over as second in charge" the waitress said.
Naruto had just finished his last stick of dango and was mulling over what she was saying. 'He was nothing but an assistant, and he became the strongest ninja in the village? Well it is not unheard of, but still, he went from being an office assistant to second in command of the village in just over a year. I think there is something wrong with the Kikage, and he is using him as a figure head to rule the country from the shadows whilst being seen as a protector by the younger generation. Brilliant plan, he is manipulating this entire village and nobody can see it' Naruto thought.
"Thank you for talking with me while I ate, your company was much appreciated" Naruto said as he payed for his dango and left.
The waitress seemed rather sad to see Naruto go, but returned to work and was pleased to find the blond had left her a rather healthy tip.
'Ok now I need to talk to some of the ninja, maybe they can shed some light into how Hikaru got into power' Naruto thought as he made his way towards a shinobi bar.
The shinobi bar was a drab place, there were shinobi who looked like they had been drinking all day over in a corner and the whole atmosphere of the place seemed depressing.
Naruto looked around to try and find a group of people who would be good for some information. In one corner there were the three guards that had prevented him from entering the mansion. Naruto contemplated going over to them, after all they would have been bound to know something about Hikaru. However after remembering his last encounter with the three mentally inept ninja he decided against it. Then Naruto saw the two ninja who had stamped his passport when he was entering the village. 'They will be perfect, if I know anything about gate, guards is they are always looking for something to talk about' Naruto thought remembering how talkative Izumo and Kotetsu usually are.
"Hi mind if I join you guys?" Naruto asked as he approached the two man who were enjoying there sake.
"Hey, sure thing sit down, guess it's no real surprise that you are still here, nobody has been allowed to see the Kikage in year's after all. I kinda hoped they would have let an emissary from Konoha in though" one of the off duty ninja said.
"Yeah no such luck, I was told I had to talk to Hikaru-sama but he lives in the castle and never comes out unless it's an emergency, I mean how pathetic is that" Naruto said.
"Yeah I know, we were given guard duty for speaking out about him" the other guard said.
"Man that's harsh, so who is this Hikaru guy anyway, how did he get so powerful?" Naruto asked.
"He was Hired as the Kage's aid after he was kicked out of the ninja academy for cheating on his exams, I don't know he managed to pull that off though. Anyway the Kikage took pitty on him and gave him various jobs around the village eventually hiring him as as his personal aid. And that was when he started to prove he was good enough to be a shinobi, I don't know how it happened, but in under a year he became the strongest ninja in the village. The thing is nobody has ever seen him train" the man said.
"How is that even possible, nobody can just become the strongest ninja in the village without even training" Naruto said in disbelief.
"Yeah I don't understand how he did it either, truth be told I don't trust him, but there isn't much that we can do, anyone who has so much as thought about complaining about him or acting against hi is punished, eventually everyone just seemed to give up and accept that he was in command" one of the guards whined.
'There are far too many questions that need to be answered about his man, looks like I will need to break into the palace tonight, if there are answers they will be there' Naruto thought. "Well thank you for the company I think I better head back to my hotel, I still need to find a way to meet with the Kikage after all" he said in a friendly manner.
"Alright, good luck, and if you do find out why he wont show his face in public anymore, could you please tell us?" one of the guards said.
"Sure thing. I will make a point to ask him about it" Naruto said with a smile before leaving the bar and heading back to his hotel.
Naruto waited up late that night, until long after the lights of the village went out. Creating a clone he gave it one of his Hirashin kunai. He then threw another skilfully out of the window into the side of a large branch that was used as a road leading towards the palace.
Naruto appeared in the middle of the road, he had been careful to search the area for lifeforms long before he threw the kunai. From this point Naruto stealthily made his way towards the mansion compound.
Hiding himself between buildings Naruto quickly gathered some senjutsu chakra to sense for where the guards were. 'Kami, there are more guards patrolling inside there than the rest of the village has ninja' Naruto thought.
Waiting for a break in the guards movement Naruto threw in one of his kunai and flashed inside the compound. He then made sure to look around and check the entrances for seals that would detect intruders. Once he was satisfied that entering through one of the windows would be safe, Naruto slipped himself inside.
The moment his feet hit the floor however he felt his senjutsu seal activate indicating that there was a genjutsu at work. 'A genjutsu? Inside a building like this, I wonder what it did, well this place is a bit messy maybe it just hid the mess from everyone who looked around' Naruto theorized and then sent off to work looking around.
The mansion was completely unremarkable, sure the craftsmanship was excellent and there were some wonderful art works, but at the same time there was nothing that gave Naruto any indication as to what it was that seemed off about Hikaru and what may have been going on in the Land of trees.
Naruto made his way through various room's but most of them just seemed to be spare bedrooms that had not been used in year's. That was when Naruto made a discovery, despite all the guards that had been patrolling outside, there was absolutely nobody inside at all apart from two life signs on the top level. Naruto then focused harder to make sure he was not missing anyone and just as he was about to give up and just move on searching room for room he felt a small group of weak life signs underneath the mansion in what must be the basement.
Wasting little time Naruto sped off to investigate what the life signs were. Arriving at the basement he found that it had a large door that was locked from the outside. 'Who ever is down there is locked inside, maybe they know what is going on here' Naruto thought as he unlocked the door and made his way downstairs.
Naruto henged himself into a random ninja he saw while walking around the village and opened a door at the bottom of the stairs. Inside the room there was arround twenty people most of them looked like ninja simply lying around as if they were waiting to die.
"What the hell is going on here? Who are you people?" Naruto said shaking one of the men who was lying on the floor.
The man opened his eyes before giving Naruto a shocked yet urgent stare. "You must get out... Hikaru's genjutsu, it... it steals your skills and makes them his own. It is the power of the Joushugan. We are all his victim's who discovered what he was doing, he drained us so so much of our skill we forgot how to even walk" the man stammered out weakly.
'He drains people of all of there skill and steals them for himself! He must have placed a genjutsu on the palace that will slowly drain anyone who enters of there skill, and he restricts free entrance to this place so more people don't find out just what he is doing. This means that the Kikage will be just like these people, unable to move to get help and only just barely able to stay alive. "Don't worry, I will stop this I promise" Naruto said.
"Thank you, but be careful, he has absorbed all the skills and knowledge of over fifty of our ninja, he will be no push over" the man said his eyes pleading Naruto to save them.
"Heh don't worry about me, I can handle myself, then I will come back and save you, I promise" Naruto reassured the man before heading towards the exit.
Leaving the basement Naruto relocked the door then created a clone to inform his other clone waiting for word to activate his kunai for him to escape, that it was time to get to work.
It happened just in time too because it was at that moment Naruto realized that Hikaru was making his way downstairs directly to where Naruto was standing. The blond gave a sigh of relief once he was safely back in his hotel room. 'I need to act on this tomorrow, if I insist on him taking me to the Kikage, I can make sure that the man is at least still alive and then I can confront him about what he is doing' Naruto thought before lying down onto his bed and fading off to sleep.
The next morning Naruto awoke early not wanting to be late for his meeting with Hikaru. 'I have to play this right, I can't let him know that I am on to him, I can not even let myself think about what I saw last night' he thought as he got dressed.
Leaving the hotel Naruto made his way to the ninja HQ. Upon arriving there Naruto found that it was far busier today than it was the day before. "What's going on?" Naruto asked a girl at the office.
"Oh they have just arrested someone for breaking into the Palace" the lady said.
"Really how did they find out who it was?" Naruto questioned.
"There was a witness, he told Hikaru-sama who he saw. Hikaru-sama is questioning the man himself at this moment" the girl said.
'Fuck the guy I woke in the basement must of talked. But because of the fact that he has had all of his skills stolen from him he couldn't recognize that it was a Henge even up close, I wonder what will happen to him. But why would he sell the man out, the person I talked to seemed so desperate, I guess it's just another thing to add to the list of things I don't know about this guy. If that captive was right Hikaru has the skills of at least twenty Ki ninja' Naruto thought as he looked around for any sign of Hikaru.
"Uh I am supposed to meet Hikaru in the briefing room is it alright if I go in and wait?" Naruto asked.
"Oh yes, that would be fine, he will be with you shortly I am sure" the woman on the desk said.
Naruto entered the room and waited, outside Naruto could feel all of the people moving around outside, the village seemed to almost be on lock down. Finally the door opened and Hikaru entered. "Ah Namikaze-san, thank you for being patient. There is a criminal on the loose and we are currently looking for them" the skill stealer said.
"Really? I hope this will not effect my meeting with the Kikage" Naruto said honestly.
"No, not at all. We can head to the palace right away. But you must hand over all of your weapon's, it is simply a precaution, you understand of course" Hikaru said.
"No that's alright I understand, but do you mind if instead of handing them over I give them to a clone who can take them back to my hotel room?" Naruto queried.
"That will be fine, just be sure to remove all weapons and agree to a search" Hikaru said.
Naruto complied and handed all of his weapons over to a clone, it was not something he wanted but he had to comply.
"Good now if you will follow me, we can make our way back to the compound" Hikaru said and he began to lead the way.
When they arrived the outside was crawling with more guards than Naruto had seen the night before. "Wow, you have really tight security, it's impressive" Naruto complimented.
"Thank you, I pride myself on the ability to keep Kikage-sama safe" Hikaru said.
They entered the Mansion via the large front door's which lead into a huge open hall with a grand staircase at the far side, this place was clearly designed for the public and for the Kikage to host party's.
Hikaru continued to lead Naruto up the stairs to another narrow corridor, there were multiple doors on each side and Naruto guessed that they were bedroom's, this area had not been part of Naruto's excursion the previous night.
At the end of the hall Hikaru stopped. "Here we are, now if you will just wait inside I will go and get Kikage-sama to come see you" Hikaru said.
Naruto entered the room but he did so apprehensively, something about this didn't seem right, but at the same time he didn't want to let Hikaru know that he was onto him. So he entered the room with out a fuss. This proved to be a bad decision for as soon as he was a good distance inside the door slamed behind him and locked.
"I'm sorry Namakaze-san, but you have come too far. You will become my most glorious capture, the skills of not only an Uzumaki but a Namikaze, once I have finished with you I will truly be invincible" Hikaru's voice rung out from some speakers in the roof.
"You cant keep me here, and your little genjutsu wont work on me, I am immune to genjutsu" Naruto said loudly unsure if Hikaru could hear him.
"Yes I figured as much when the person that broke in last night, was able move about the house without me draining there knowledge from them, of course it didn't take me long to extract what I needed to know from my captive's. Do you like them, because you will be joining them in the basement soon enough" Hikaru said.
"That's enough you sick fuck, I don't care if I don't have my Hirashin kunai on me, I'm kicking your ass" Naruto yelled and began to charge a rasengan. However no sooner had it formed than it faded. 'What the fuck, I cant use any of my chakra, even my restriction seals have deactivated themselves' Naruto thought in shock.
"Why do you think I decided to lead you to this room, it suppresses chakra and makes it impossible for you you to perform any jutsu. Now you will be a tricky one, because as long as you are in there I cant extract your skill's, so you will be enjoying the slow and painful experience that I have planed for you, and don't worry you wont die, you're far to valuable to me for that" Hikaru said and began laughing as compartments opened from the walls around Naruto and blades started to be shot out at rapid speed and instead of sticking into the opposite walls they seemed to faze right through them only to be launched back toward the blond from the other side.
Luckily for Naruto with his restriction seals no longer active he was able to dodge the first wave completely. "You're going to have to do better than that. Tell me, do you really think Konoha wont come looking for me? I don't know if you noticed this but I sent a message with my clone to summon one of my toad's, and if they don't hear from me in a couple of hours you will have all of Konoha coming down on you" Naruto said.
"And by that time, I will have all of your strength added to my own, your friends in Konoha wont stand chance, and I will finally be able to begin my dream to control all of the elemental nation's" Hikaru said still laughing.
"You think you can take all of my knowledge in such a short amount of time, it took you years to steal all of your power from everyone else what make's you think that I will be different?" Naruto said before quickly dodging another blade.
"Oh that is simple really. I took the others strength passively, over long periods of time so they wouldn't notice, or by the time they did it would be too late to stop me. You however I will steal your powers in one small session, but don't worry it wont hurt... me" Hikaru replied.
'Damn it, I need to get out of here, I'm going to end up a pin cushion if I stay here, but if I cant mold my chakra wont even be able to balance out my senjutsu' Naruto thought a he narrowly avoided a blade but as he landed was struck in the side of the arm with another one, Naruto went to remove it but found that as soon as he touched the small blade it dissolved. 'What the hell are these tiny blades, they look like senbon but are slightly larger, and why cant I touch them?' Naruto asked himself as he dodged another hail of the small blades.
"Ah I see you're admiring the workmanship of my blades, they are made out of a special metal that dissolves once it run's out of chakra. And with the room suppressing chakra they dissolve soon after they hit there mark, after all, I wouldn't want you to have a weapon after all" Hikaru said.
Naruto was now struggling slightly, he had not taken many hits but he had soon found that he was not strong enough to break out of the room without help. In a blind hopeless rage Naruto gave one last swing at the heavily reinforced door.
There was a loud clang and when Naruto opened his eyes he saw that he had left a dent in the door.
"Impossible, you can't be strong enough with sheer strength to do something like that" Hikaru stammered for the first time in awhile now not gloating.
Naruto however was just as surprised, he had just found a chakra source that was not being suppressed. 'Well it looks like I don't have a choice' Naruto thought as he closed his eye's not bothering to jump away from the next bombardment of thing blades.
(Mindscape)
Naruto found himself in a familiar sewer walking up to a large cage. "Hey fox, it's time to get to work, I need some of your chakra" Naruto said.
"Why? Surely you don't actually need my help. I don't know whether to feel annoyed by this intrusion or amused that someone from a backwater village such as this, has forced you to come to me" Kyuubi said with a devilish smile.
"You can gloat all you want later, right now I need your chakra" Naruto said.
"Oh why not, it might actually be amusing to see what your opponent has to say, and I never did like people with Dojutsu's, even if I was created by one" Kyuubi yawned.
"Well you seem rather more, helpful than usual. I would have thought you would bitch and moan a bit more first before agreeing" Naruto replied.
"Hold your tongue you insolent whelp or I will rip it from your mouth. I simply decided to help because I cannot stand Dojutsu user's. I will tell you this however, watch what you think when you do confront this man" Kyuubi said.
"Cant stand Dojutsu user's? Is that why you interfered when I was about to awaken the Rinnegan?" Naruto asked.
"Well in part, that is true. But with that said, why would I want to let you have control over all form's of chakra, if I did that, you could use my power at will without my say so, after all, that is all that I am, a giant ball of chakra given shape, and consciousness. Why would I want to loose, what little influence I have over you when I could easily prevent it" Kyuubi said.
"Did you contemplate the fact that with control over Yin and Yang chakra, I could have released you from this seal without us both dying, all I would have had to do was use your chakra to create you a new body and kept enough of your chakra so that you would not have been missed, that is after all how the Rikudou Sennin created the Bijuu" Naruto said.
"The thought did cross my mind, but would you have really released me?" Kyuubi asked skeptically.
"Oh hell no, your a malevolent ball of condensed hatred, you're like Sasuke teme on crack, minus the fact that he is an emo. If I released you, you would have gone straight back to destroying anything in your path" Naruto said.
"Well, at least we understand how the other thinks" Kyuubi yawned before putting his head on his paw's and closing his eyes.
"It's not too late for you ya know. Some of the other Bijuu are nice, like Nibi, you could try and be like that" Naruto suggested.
"I'll pass, I cant stand that annoying cat, just take your damn chakra and leave" Kyuubi said and began flooding Naruto's system with his chakra.
(Outside the Seal)
During Naruto's conversation with Kyuubi virtually no time had passed, the same blades had only just become close enough so that they could not be dodged. Hikaru who had been watching the proceedings on a small computer screen seemed confused as to why Naruto had simply given up after he had made some sort of break through on the door when he left a dent in the door.
Then he felt a spine chilling feeling run down to his gut as an evil aura seemed to burst from Naruto and the blond was now covered in a thick layer of red chakra with fox ear's and a single tail swaying behind him.
"Impossible, the room is supposed to suppress and disrupt chakra, what is this" Hikaru stammered.
Inside the room Naruto opened his eyes just as the blades that should have struck his body bounced harmlessly off of the fox's cloak.
Naruto turned his head slightly to look straight at the hidden camera then gave a devilish smile before sending a chakra claw crashing right through the reinforced door's bursting them off there hinges and cracking the walls all around them.
"You better be able to run fast, because I'm coming for you" Naruto said to the camera, his voice changed by the demonic chakra.
Hikaru could only watch in shock as Naruto burred away from the screen. 'Demonic chakra, that mean's he is a jinchuuriki, how could I have not known this. Oh well it does not matter, demonic chakra or not he still is only as skillful as one man, I have all the skills and powers of close to fifty shinobi. And with the Joushugan he wont stand a chance' he thought arrogantly as he quickly made his way to a safe area to fight Naruto. This meant leaving the mansion and ending up in the courtyard.
This had a major advantage for Hikaru in that he now could get men loyal to him to help take Naruto down. "Men hurry here, the emissary from Konoha has attacked me, we need to put him down, he is a jinchuuriki and he has lost control of his Bijuu" Hikaru said.
A large group of shinobi gathered around behind Hikaru just as Naruto emerged on a higher balcony his chakra tail swaying behind him.
"You see, he has lost control and is trying to kill Kikage-sama, we must stop him at once" Hikaru said.
"You, are really pathetic, I am still in control, in fact I don't even need to use Kyuubi's chakra to beat you" Naruto said his demonic energy fading back into the seal after Naruto was able to suppress it.
"Men, I order you to kill the ninja from Konoha at once" Hikaru ordered.
"Don't, this man is not what he seems to be, he is nothing but a looser who has stolen all of the knowledge and power that he has from other ninja, your Kage included. That is why he has not been seen in public, Hikaru stole so much of his knowledge and power, that he can't even walk just like all of the ninja that are being held in the basement of this castle" Naruto said activating one of his senjutsu seals.
"Don't listen to him men, they are nothing but lie's told by a foreign ninja to get you to turn on me so he can escape. Now I order you you attack that man, but leave him alive, just barely" Hikaru said.
Several groups of ninja shot at Naruto, the three mentally challenged palace guards among them. Needless to say they were no match for Naruto who dispatched them with practiced ease.
Naruto was pleased to see that there were large groups of the ninja who didn't attack, and he could see on there faces that they wanted to hear the blond out at least.
"What are you doing, attack him at once" Hikaru said starting to loose his cool. His eyes had both changed to an almost black, red color and it was clear that this meant that he was very angry indeed.
"They don't believe your lie's anymore, Hikaru. You have lost" Naruto said.
"I have not lost at all boy, you will not turn my men against me" Hikaru yelled and began running through some hand signs. "Katon: Fire Flash jutsu" he screamed before sending a large sheet of flames at Naruto at a ridiculously fast speed.
"Suiton: Water encampment wall" Naruto said quickly performing the required seals and drawing the water from a nearby fountain.
When the jutsu droped Naruto shot forward to punch Hikaru in the face but somehow Hikaru blocked it.
'What the hell, he moved to block me before I even showed him what type of move I was going to do, it is not like the sharingan's genjutsu effect that shows the next move someone will make, I am not effected by that. This is something different' Naruto thought, as he went for a leg sweep only for Hikaru to jump back before Naruto even had begun to move.
The white haired man smirked at seeing the confused look on Naruto's face. "You can't beat me you know, I know everything you are planing before you can even put them into effect" he said his gloating attitude returning.
'How is that possible, unless! He can read my mind!' Naruto thought in realization.
"Congratulation's you figured it out, now you know how pointless this is to continue. I have the skills of over fifty high ranked ninja, you are nothing but a single jonnin, and what's more, I can tell you are thinking of using a Fuuton, jutsu right now. Feel free to try, I do ever so love my massive variety of Katon jutsu's" Hikaru gloated.
"So you say you're as strong as fifty ninja huh, well that may be true for your average shinobi. But I am a Uzumaki, and my father was the Yellow Flash. Last but not least you forget, I'm from Konoha and we are not normal shinobi, it's time to finish this" Naruto said charging forward.
"Hikaru quickly got out of the way while Naruto's senjutsu enhanced punch destroyed a water fountain sending debris flying through the air, and the water shooting uncontrollably out of the ground.
"A nice speech but I could still tell what you had planned" Hikaru taunted.
'Damn it he is right, any planning is useless, even if I come up with something on the fly he will know immediately' Naruto thought. He then remembered what Kyuubi told him. "Watch what you think... That's it, Kyuubi is a genius" Naruto said out loud.
"Talking to yourself? It is understandable, after all you will loose here" Hikaru said.
"We'll see about that!" Naruto yelled and charged forward once again.
'Another kick to the head, you would think he would learn that isn't going to work on me' Hikaru thought lazily as he moved to block.
The problem was, it wasn't a kick to the head that came, it was a punch in the gut. Hikaru was sent flying and could not react in time to stop Naruto from planting a rasengan into his chest. "How?" Hikaru managed to splutter out before he was sent flying.
Naruto walked slowly over to the man who was trying to pick himself up off the ground only to fail miserably. "It was quite simple really, I am surprised it took me so long to figure it out. You know what I was thinking and planing, not exactly what I was going to do, I simply decided to think one course of action and to do another, I said what I said out loud so you would not be focusing on my thought's when I thought up how to beat you. You're just like so many others you rely too much on your bloodline limits and you forget how to be a shinobi without them" Naruto said condescendingly.
It was at this moment a guard showed up with a man supported on his shoulder's. "The Konoha ninja was right, Hikaru has been stealing other peoples skills and making them his own for year's, anyone who found out was put into the basement of the palace" the guard said.
"Then, he need's to be punished for his crimes" another said drawing his blade.
"I don't really like this, but I think it is the only way you will get your Kage back and everyone will be returned to the way they were, it is unforgivable to target comrades for your own personal gain, and the fact that he has kept everyone who's abilities he has stolen alive tells me that if he die's or they die, the power will be returned" Naruto said sadly.
"Hikaru, for harm to shinobi of the village of Kigakure, and conspiracy to harm foreign shinobi from an allied village, we sentence you to death" one of the guards said before driving his katana through the white haired man's heart.
Suddenly before everyone's eye's the man who just moments before seemed to be a useless wreck that needed to be supported by a guards shoulder's, seemed to spring back to life. "Hey I'm me again, I can walk, and I can remember how to perform my jutsu" the man said.
About a minute later there was a loud noise coming from a balcony near the top of the mansion and an elderly old man stepped out. "I, feel everything returning to me. Hikaru must have been stopped. It feels good to set my eye's upon my village once more" the elderly man said.
Upon the sight of the old man and hearing him speak there were loud roars of approval from the gathering crowd. It did not take them long to hoist Naruto into the air and start cheering him as the man who saved the Land of Tree's.
The Kikage heard the commotion below and came out to see for himself. "Is this the man who saved me from Hikaru's jutsu?" the man asked as he approached where Naruto was still surrounded by a large group of ninja.
As they dispersed they left Naruto there alone to face the elderly Kage. "Uh hello Kikage-sama, it is nice to finally meat you" Naruto said with a sheepish smile.
"Oh my, this feels familiar, the last person who saved this village looked just like you, I have no doubt that you must be the son of Minato Namikaze" the elderly Kage said.
"Yeah I guess I am. Oh I need to give you this letter, from Tsunade Senju. The Godaime Hokage" Naruto said.
"Godaime? What happened to Hiruzen, did he finally retire again?" the Kikage asked.
"I am afraid to tell you that, the Sandaime died over three years ago" Naruto said.
"I have been out of the loop way to long, come boy, I wish to speak to you in private, you need to tell me how you saved me and my village" the Kikage said.
Naruto followed the old man and they spent the next few hours simply talking about what has happened, the destruction of Konoha, which lead to the reason Naruto had come to Kigakure in the fist place.
Once they had finished there talk the Kikage declared Naruto a hero in there country and asked if he could stay for a few day's so they could celebrate properly.
Naruto kindly refused stating that he still needed to travel to Demon country before his mission was over. Naruto left the Land of Tree's later that day and began heading north east towards his final destination.
End Chapter!
So what do you think, did I make it believable, and if not, would like to know what I could do better, that was my first real attempt at creating a character so I would like some feed back on what I could do better.
Anyway I hope you enjoyed it, now to think up another problem for Naruto to face in Demon Country. Well until next time.
Quick shout out to Danfrogger, who gave the the translation 'Joushu' for mood, that I used. Also a thank you for supplying me with a website that will translate for me. just in case anyone else need's one. ..