Naruto: Responsibilities
Naruto stared up at the ceiling of the tower's small infirmary, bored out of his mind. Sasuke has still been unconscious when they reached the tower and got to open the scrolls, summoning a relieved Iruka-sensei. The chunnin's mood had changed abruptly upon seeing them and he had practically dragged the two genin and their insensible team-mate to be looked over by medic ninja. When he heard their tale of S-class shinobi and mind-altering seals he had instantly gone looking for someone higher up the food chain and not come back since.
Sakura had been escorted away a while ago to give the ANBU a full report as she was the one who had been conscious for most of the experience, leaving the blond to while away his time being held under observation in light of his recent injuries. Sasuke was still unconscious, lying quietly in the bed next to him and being looked over by an ANBU –Low jounin chakra levels, scent of ink, pine needles,chamomile and blood but all ANBU smell like that last one- Who was probably the Black Ops seal specialist. Not that he was likely to be even as good as Jiraya of the sannin, let alone Ame-kaa-san. He was probably about Kakashi-sensei's level though: competent in the basics but without the understanding needed to soar.
The blond sighed. After being blasted away from his team by the wind jutsu he'd been swallowed whole by a massive snake summons. In order to escape he'd made a dozen shadow clones and had them help him cut his way out, which had been efficient but very messy. His rapeseed-oil-green kimono would need careful cleaning to get the blood out and his obi was not in much better condition. Naruto had then dashed back to rejoin his team, clashed briefly with a shinobi he recognised from the team's sessions with the bingo book as being Orochimaru of the sannin then been sealed up and passed out from the shock of losing touch with Yoko.
Sakura had woken him up with one of his own shock tags -an unorthodox but effective method- and had him examine the toxic seal the snake summoner had inflicted on Sasuke. The fuuinjutsu involved had been extremely complex, way beyond Naruto's current capabilities, but he'd recognised enough of the components and how they fitted together to know it not only needed to come off, but had to be done quickly. That it could be done fairly safely, if unconventionally was a bonus. Luckily for the Uchiha transferring, fragmenting and restricting complex seal matrices was something he did know how to do: demolition was much easier than construction.
Before unsealing himself and finally passing out again so he could heal, Naruto had managed to remove two fifths of the original seal matrix and completely purge it of both the organic compounds and the jyaki it contained. Unfortunately the slavery matrix was one of the pieces that couldn't be safely removed, but Naruto had successfully realigned the whole seal to his own chakra before it had a chance to set, so Orochimaru had no hold on Sasuke whatsoever.
The blond just knew he'd be grilled extensively by every last seal expert the village could dig up -which would probably include Jiraya of the sannin- as soon as this phase of the chunnin exams ended. In fact, if anyone official had an inkling, his tou-san would be added to the list of interrogators. Naruto wasn't looking forward to the experience.
Yoko had been fairly quiet since helping Naruto purge the seal, probably because he was concentrating on healing the blond's injuries and further upgrading his body's healing mechanisms. What both bijuu and jinchuuriki were worried about was the effect the sudden influx of demonic and natural ki would have on Sasuke's body.
Youki was mutagenic: all the kekkai genkai's Naruto had so far seen and Yoko had heard of were the result of human DNA being exposed to some form or other of demonic influence, either by simple exposure, breeding, experimentation or some kind of curse. The natural chakra in Sasuke's system would reinforce his very cells, encouraging them to use the potentially toxic youki to adapt and improve rather than simply deteriorate under the onslaught, killing the dark-haired boy slowly and painfully over several years. That Sasuke was now likely to live a long time unless someone deliberately ended his life was something Naruto was not sure the Uchiha would be grateful for in the end.
Naruto himself was the son of the previous Kyuubi jinchuuriki, conceived within and carried to term in the same body as the bijuu. This pre-natal exposure was the source of the foxy traits he'd apparently been born with, like the whiskers and slightly more fang-like canine teeth. Becoming a jinchuuriki himself in the first day of his life had only built on what was already there.
Sasuke on the other hand was an Uchiha with an active kekkai genkai and as pure blood as that rather inbred clan could safely orchestrate. This meant -according to Yoko- that his demonic heritage was mainly tengu. Black, feathery hair, black eyes, arrogance and thieving tendencies were the dominant traits of his corvid ancestors, accompanied by an instinctive distrust for those who were not a part of his flock or 'murder', as it was properly called. Sasuke's murder had been the Uchiha clan until they all died and he had only recently rebuilt it. The new murder included Naruto, Sakura and Kakashi-sensei as the central unit with Ame-kaa-san and Yoko around the edges and Itachi somewhere in the grey zone between extended family and outsider. Naruto suspected these inherited isolationist tendencies where what had kept the Uchiha clan apart from the rest of the village from the moment of Konohagakure's founding.
Having a relatively large amount of youki seeping into his chakra system would likely bring Sasuke's tengu inheritance to the fore, making him less swayed by the emotions of others, less inclined to pander to others' sense of superiority and much more judgemental. Tengu enjoyed creating chaos for its own sake, targeting the arrogant and powerful while showing mercy and kindness to the poor and humble. They were also truly excellent at illusions and could cause forgetfulness, so Sasuke's sharingan was likely to receive a massive power boost.
More worryingly there was a chance he could gain certain inhuman characteristics such as Naruto himself was gradually gaining from the integration of the Kyuubi's ki into his own reserves.
Being kitsune, Naruto had fangs, increasingly sharp nails, sensitive whiskers -his markings weren't 'just' tattoos anymore- and generally foxy features and behaviour. The pranks were derived as much from his fox background as his Uzumaki heritage, but the cross-dressing was pure kitsune. Sasuke however was tengu so his nose would get pointier and possibly longer, as would his ears. Stronger nails and sharper teeth were also possible.
As Naruto would over time absorb the entirety of the Kyuubi's power he would eventually -around the integration of the fourth tail of bijuu chakra- grow a fox tail of his very own. Sasuke however was unlikely to sprout wings, despite the fact that his genetic predisposition to do so was far greater then Naruto's own: Sasuke had less than half a tail's worth of ki in his seal, nowhere near enough to push his body into creating a new set of limbs.
Naruto was only able to absorb as much youki as was currently being channelled into him due to his genome undergoing almost constant tinkering at the paws of his tenant: it was an unfortunate necessity if the blond wanted to go on living, since a nine-tailed bijuu contains more chakra than even ten humans can safely absorb. Yoko was continuously and subtly changing his genome, ensuring only viable and positive modifications were allowed to persist and reinforcing all the sections it was not allowed to modify, such as those that governed his general appearance, temperament and preferences. Sasuke however would never need to transition from being a product of highly selective breeding into the shadowy and painful world of being a test subject. And I intend to see to it that no-one ever tries to push him over that line. Not Orochimaru or anyone else. No human scientist could ever be as meticulous and careful as Yoko, nor do they have the experience and understanding of the subject my tenant has.
There was a commotion outside the door of the infirmary and Kakashi-sensei slid in through the half-open door, shutting it firmly behind him and cutting off the noise. He glanced at the ANBU standing over Sasuke then focused his lone grey eye on the blond jinchuuriki:
"What did you do exactly and why?"
Naruto swallowed hard, scrambled off the bed and stepped forward so he was standing over his unconscious team-mate. "The seal is very complex and heavily layered," he said huskily as he stared down at the cluster of three dark red commas on Sasuke's neck, "but I recognised parts of it in my initial examination and Sakura identified some of the chemicals it was creating. Together we learned enough to determine it would either kill Uchiha Sasuke outright or damage his body and mind so badly that his shinobi career would be ended prematurely." he paused, going over what he himself had seen and what Yoko had told him during his own prolonged unconsciousness. "The first thing I did before even examining the seal was use a temporary delay matrix to prevent the seal from taking effect at once. After my initial scan determined the seal was harmful I transferred as large a section as could safely be broken off to a third party, in this case a sacrificial squirrel." the blond shuddered. "Sakura had to help me kill it; what that small section of the matrix did to the creature was awful. After that I was even more determined to curtail the seal's effects as much as possible, so I did a more in-depth examination. Since the section I'd broken off contained most of the instructions for the poisons that were causing immediate physical damage I felt I had the time."
"Then what?" Kakashi-sensei asked, waving a hand to pre-empt the waiting ANBU's questions.
"There was a minor chunk of the toxin matrix still attached and at least four other sections, but I had no way of purging the poisons still in his system or destroying the remaining loose seal fragments. The seal core was similarly beyond my reach as over half of what remained was too densely structured to fragment and powered by a broken off piece of Orochimaru's own chakra that the seal was using as a template and guide. It looked a bit like a sealed shadow clone really. The only way I could think that would work to both cleanse the seal and burn out Orochimaru's influence was to channel youki into the inner matrix and usurp the seal before it had a chance to dig into Sasuke's chakra system and become impossible to eradicate." Naruto cringed in anticipation of what was to come. What he had done was not unprecedented, but it was rare enough that it was likely no-one in Konoha had ever heard of it. Except Ame-kaa-san, of course. Maybe tou-san as well.
"Usurp?" Kakashi-sensei repeated softly as the ANBU behind him stilled completely.
"A seal is a framework for chakra, no more and no less," Naruto quoted softly. "I essentially burned Orochimaru's chakra out of the framework and replaced it with my own, destroying the remains of the toxin matrices and a whole chunk of other stuff that the youki was incompatible with. Balanced youki, Sensei: red to burn out the taint and yellow to reinforce the body and promote healing. There's a bit more of the yellow really," he added pleadingly, "and not a speck of Orochimaru's influence left anywhere in the seal, I swear. I even checked twice and so did Sakura-chan."
"What parts of the seal do remain and what do they do?" the copy-nin asked after a brief pause. Naruto shuffled closer and channelled a pinch of youki into the red markings on his team-mate's neck. The seal responded as any of his own creations would -proof the take-over was perfect- causing a massive and heavily mutilated framework to manifest around Sasuke. It rather reminded Naruto of a half-gutted building.
"This is a slavery matrix," -he pointed to the spherical design in the very middle- "this is some kind of tracking seal I don't know how to activate and, erm, Yoko says the big dense bit over here is supposed to activate recessive genetic traits and adjust the rest of the body to suit." That bit took up about two-thirds of the entire structure. "There was a mutation matrix attached to that but it was one of the bits that got fried and fell off. The rest is partly suppressants so his body won't fight the changes, partly a fuzzy boundary to disperse the more potent chakra into his system without giving him chakra overload. As it is now I think the seal will act as a simple booster with the distant possibility of making him activate a few recessive Uchiha traits in the long run."
Naruto did not mention tengu: Sasuke deserved to find that out first as it likely qualified as a clan secret and it was up to him, not Naruto who would be told. "Yoko being what it is though I expect Sasuke's lightning affinity will be enhanced and he may develop a secondary affinity." the blond added, offering up a distraction. "It may make his moods slightly more volatile as well and will definitely reduce his control since his chakra is now more potent. Other than that he should be fine, but I think kaa-san's the best person to determine how he'll be affected in the long run."
"Ame will be examining him once the second exam is over," Kakashi-sensei said lightly, "as will others. Explain the slavery matrix if you please."
It wasn't a question. Naruto leaned forward to examine the relatively small group of symbols. "It's a pain seal like the Hyuuga caged bird seal," he said bluntly, "and probably modelled off it. There's a subliminal obedience matrix as well but it doesn't overcome a person's will, just makes the, ah, owner's suggestions more palatable. If Sasuke hated me it wouldn't force him to do what he was told. If the brainwashing chemicals were still running around his system there might be a problem but I broke that bit off and it's completely gone. The slavery seal is handseal activated but keyed to the chakra of the seal itself: only the person whose chakra is in the seal can set it off."
"So that would be you now, Naruto."
Naruto bowed his head, awaiting his sensei's verdict. "Not quite, sensei: it is Yoko's youki in the seal, tempered by my own chakra for compatibility. We would have to work together to set it off."
"Can the slavery matrix be removed?" the ANBU asked. Naruto couldn't believe the man even asked the question; maybe it was just so the Black Ops soldier could cover his back by saying he'd asked.
"No, it can't. It's the core of the entire matrix, the foundation everything else is built on. Trying to tamper with it would probably kill him and cripple him even if it didn't. Gomen nasai." He paused, cocking his head on one side to listen to his tenant's urgent words. "Yoko says that by the old laws I am now partially responsible for Sasuke's health and well-being. Using youki binds me to some very old charters between humans and true youkai and imbuing Sasuke with some makes me responsible for what he does with it, so I'll have to teach him the laws and ensure he abides." The blond made a face. "Kind of like an adoption, except he's my brother-in-arms not my kid. Eek."
"We'll go over the details properly later," Kakashi-sensei said firmly. "In the meanwhile I want your word you will not activate the slavery seal at all."
"Unless he deliberately uses the youki within it for unnatural purposes, I so swear on my name and my tenant," Naruto said softly, both eyes meeting his sensei's one and begging the jounin to understand it was the best he could offer.
"Good enough. Then as soon as Sasuke wakes you will both be released to pick out a room on the upper floors to stay in until the exam ends. There's a mess hall so you won't be short of food and a few other teams wandering about. On the last day you have to come back down to the arena on the ground floor for the official ending. Got that?"
"Hai, Sensei," Naruto said gratefully.
"I am very proud of all of team seven and you in particular," the jounin said quietly. "I know many higher ranking ninja with far more battle experience who would have crumbled under the pressure you three were placed under but you persevered and triumphed."
Naruto grinned happily at his sensei's gentle praise. "Arigatou, Kakashi-sensei. We're the best 'cause you trained us to be! Tell kaa-san and the others I'm okay, please?"
"I will, Naruto-kun," the copy-nin said, ruffling the blond's slightly untidy set of interconnected braids on his way out.
A/N: More on bloodlines and where they come from and what Naruto has done exactly. I trust the 'whys' are plausible enough for everyone.
A/N2: I am putting this up a day early because for some reason I can't upload at the moment, so everything will be stalled until the site starts cooperating again. I am NOT pleased about this: I have two chapters of 'Fangs' I wanted to upload today and have been summarily thwarted. I hope the problem goes away so I can share where the plot is going.