Nothing Else Matters
An Uzumaki-centric story
Chapter 8
"Weird Statues and Weirder Rituals"
(Uzu no Kuni, a few kilometers away from the hideout.)
"Do you feel anything different, Naruto-kun?"
Naruto looked around with his enhanced sight, it was as if he was seeing for the first time. He was seeing things to the tiniest detail, from the smallest insect to the faraway mountains of Hi no Kuni with stunning clarity. He could see it clearly even though it was hundreds of kilometers way. He looked towards his mother and took his first glance at her with his new eyes activated. She seemed even more beautiful than before, her hair, which was a blinding shade of red, only served to accentuate her majestic facial features and her perfect figure. He shook his head to rid himself of his blush that was slowly invading his cheeks.
"It's amazing, Kaa-chan, I can see everything so clearly now."
"As I've said before, sharp vision is not the extent of this eyes' powers, Naruto-kun. How's the drain on your chakra, do you feel tired?"
"It drained a lot out of me when I used it when I was ill, but the chakra consumption is manageable now. I still need to expand my chakra reserves and improve my control though, I can only hold the highest level for a few hours without using techniques." Speaking of his Dojutsu's techniques, he knew none of them. As soon as he got the okay from Akahana, he had literally dragged his mother to start training him in his new abilities.
"The more you use it, the more your body will adapt to it, lowering the chakra cost and making it more efficient. We'll start by doing some chakra control exercises. According to Hagoromo's writings, the Rinnegan's abilities are mostly instinctual. After you're done with the chakra control exercises, we'll have a sparring session. Hopefully some of your Rinnegan's abilities will manifest instinctually as a result of the fighting."
Naruto nodded with a visible excitement. Kushina brought out a scroll from one of her pockets and laid it out on the floor, channeling chakra into it, a large slab of steel appeared. "This weighs five hundred kilograms, try to lift it with your chakra using the chakra sticking technique you learned in the tree climbing exercise."
Naruto moved towards the slab and put both his hands on top of it, he channeled chakra to his hand, making it stick to the slab firmly. He attempted to lift the slab without any physical support, but he failed, the chakra in his hand had dissipated because of the strain of trying to lift the giant ingot.
Kushina crossed her arms and watched her son struggle to complete his task, he had been improving greatly as of late. He would undoubtedly leave his sister in the dirt in terms of ability in no time, though knowing Kimiko. She would just find a way to be his equal in strength, even with the eyes of the sage at his disposal.
A couple of hours later, Naruto had managed to raise the slab a couple of inches of the ground before his chakra gave away, a marked improvement from the way he started the exercise. Kushina clapped her hands to stop him before he tried his hand at the exercise again. "Enough Naruto-kun, you've progressed well. Now we'll have a spar to wrap up."
Naruto wiped the sweat from his forehead and walked so he was directly in front of his mother. "Let's begin, Kaa-chan."
Kushina got into a fighting stance. "Stay sharp, Sochi, I won't take it easy on you."
(Two weeks later)
"This is so frustrating. How am I supposed to use the Rinnegan if I don't know what it does?" Naruto said while his mouth was stuffed with food.
"Naruto-nii, you shouldn't talk with food in your mouth, it's impolite." Kimiko said in a reprimanding way. Naruto rolled his eyes and chewed his food.
"Naruto-kun, you have to be patient. I'm sure you'll get it eventually." Akahana said with a gentle smile on her face.
Naruto smiled after hearing his aunt's encouraging words. She was always very supportive of him no matter what he did. It was a nice change. "Hai, thank you Hana-oba-chan."
In a few minutes, they had finished their meal. Kushina put her utensils down and wiped her mouth with a napkin. "I need you all to meet me in the training grounds below, the ceiling should be high enough to accommodate our needs. Honoka, bring the Ichibi with you, we'll start the sealing process."
Giving a barely noticeable nod, Honoka stood up and left the room, leaving the rest of the inhabitants, save Kushina, curious about what was happening. "Oka-san, what's happening? I thought the Ichibi was already sealed?"
"It was sealed, we just couldn't utilize it's power, as minuscule as it is. If we can seal the Ichibi successfully, we'll start going after the other Bijuu more actively." She said confidently. After her piece was said, Kushina stood up, the other occupants of the room following her towards their destination, the biggest training ground in their not so little base. It had an extremely high ceiling that would be able to house the Juubi, it least in it's current state. It was mightily impressive considering the damned thing was underground.
Arriving at the middle training ground, she turned to Naruto. "Naruto-kun, do you remember what we talked about? About the summoning jutsu I taught you?"
Naruto nodded firmly. "Hai, kaa-chan, I do."
"Good, now remember, the beast bends to the power of your eyes. If it starts going out of control, just subdue it with your eyes, neither your chakra chains nor your Mokuton will work on this one." She patted him on the head and jumped away from him,the other Uzumaki following her lead.
Naruto went though five hand seals and smacked his open palm on the ground. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu" in a puff of smoke a monstrosity emerged. It looked to be the colour of wood, and had two arms which were shackled together by what looked to be an iron chain. It's upper body was a mishmash of different strange body parts jutting out. All in all, it was quite the disgusting sight to see, not to mention the feeling of hollowness, hunger and want that emanated from the husk.
"What the hell is that?" Karin asked, looking at the thing with a mixture of disgust and apprehension. Kimiko nodded, wanting to know the answer as well.
"It's the Juubi's husk, it's currently powerless. Only housing a tiny sliver of it's complete power. We'll get it back to full strength and use it to it's full capacity soon enough." Kushina explained.
Naruto, who was standing on top of the thing, was struggling to keep his summon from devouring his family. It's impulse to consume chakra was very strong, he'd give it that. Channeling some chakra to his eyes, he was able to stop the Juubi's struggle against the chains that bound his hands. Naruto breathed a sigh of relief, it wasn't as hard as he thought it would be. Maybe it was because the Juubi was stripped of it's power that he was able to control it so easily.
"That has to be the most disturbing thing I've ever seen." Said Kimiko, her face scrunched in disgust and a slight bit of fear at the thing's face. The combination of the mouth being opened in a silent scream and the bandaged up eyes was utterly revolting, not to mention the thing just gave her a bad vibe. "Do you need us to seal the Ichibi? Is that why we're all here?" She asked her mother as Honoka entered the room with a scroll in her hand.
Kushina broke her eyes away from the creature and glanced at her daughter, flashing her a smile. "Yes, once Naruto's ocular powers improve, he should be able to seal the Bijuu instantly with the Gedo Kusari. Until then though, we have to do it the old fashioned way."
Honoka put the scroll on the ground, unrolled it a ways away from Kushina and chuckled. "I didn't know there was an 'old fashioned way' to seal a gigantic beast into the original container of chakra."
Kushina chuckled. "Let's just get this over with, the sealing will take a long time and I don't want to waste too much of it going back and forth with you." She looked away from Honoka to look at the rest of the room's inhabitants. "Each person should stand on one of the statue's fingers, I'll initiate and control the jutsu, you guys just focus on providing chakra." They followed her instructions, each standing on of the Juubi's fingers.
Honoka put her hands on the seal matrix. "Fuin: Kai"
Out of the smoke emerged the Ichibi's sleeping form. It was dwarfed by the Juubi, even though the Juubi was currently at a fraction of it's original power. Honoka jumped high and landed on the Juubi's right index finger. "Everyone, put your hand in the ram seal and let the Juubi drain your chakra." Kushina ordered.
"Fuinjutsu: Genryu Kyufujin". The Gedo Mazo's mouth opened ominously and out came nine ethereal dragons. Under Kushina's command, they opened their maws and bit the Ichibi from multiple angles. "Sit tight everyone, this'll take a while." Honoka said.
Karin, Naruto and Kimiko groaned in exasperation, they were Uzumaki for kami's sake, Uzumaki aren't very good at waiting. "This is a blessing in disguise, now we can have some long overdue family time." Said Akahana with a serene smile on her face.
(A day later)
"...This is so boring." Karin said, drawing her words out.
"Karin! Stop complaining, this is the third time you said that in the last five minutes" Honoka hissed through her teeth, speaking in a sharp tone to get her to shut her mouth.
"But Honoka-oba, nobody's talking. It's so boring, and we're only a day in. There are two more days to go." Karin said in an emotionally drained voice.
"Karin, shut your mouth before I come over there and staple it shut." Honoka said while gritting her teeth.
"Alright, that's enough. Stop acting like children, both of you." Akahana said.
"But she started it!"
"It doesn't matter who started it, Karin, I'm ending it. Now no more talking."
Silence reigned over the sealing chamber. The only sounds were the Ichibi's guttural groans of pain. The peace lasted for twenty more seconds
"But it's so boring." Karin said.
Everybody sighed exasperatedly at their motor mouth family member. "Fine Karin, what do you want to talk about?" Kushina asked.
"Summoning contracts! I read that the Senju clan has a contract with the medicinal slugs of Shikkotsurin, which summoning clan do the Uzumaki have a contract with?"
Kushina raised an eyebrow. "Good question Karin, I honestly thought you would ask a dumb question. This is good though, all three of you should be old enough to sign your own summoning contracts, except Naruto of course, he has the versatile and powerful summons the Rinnegan provides him with. We currently have the contract for the mountain lions who associated with the Uzumaki, I also managed to 'borrow' the salamander contract under the nose of that old fart Hanzo."
"Okaa-san, I thought you took all the belongings of the Senju from Konoha, why didn't you take the slug contract?"
"I couldn't find it then, it's most definitely with Tsunade, seeing as she's their current summoner."
Karin thought about her options before nodding determinedly. "I want the salamander summons, I already use poison as part of my arsenal, they'll only bolster my abilities."
"And I'll take mountain lions, Okaa-san can teach me how to utilize their abilities." Kimiko said.
"I only ever use the mountain lions as couriers, so they don't like me very much. I still know some combination jutsu you can do with them though. I'll be happy to help, Kimiko-chan." Kushina gave an easygoing smile to her daughter.
The Ichibi had shrunk in size once again, now being one third of it's original size.
"So, Naruto-kun?" Karin said in a bashful and shy tone.
Naruto turned his head towards his cousin in confusion, why was she talking like that? "Yes, Karin-chan?"
"Do you want to go on a date after this?" Karin asked somewhat bluntly and shyly. Karin looked to the side to see her proud mother giving her a thumbs up.
"What?" Of all the things to ask, that was the last thing Naruto expected.
"No, he won't go on a date with you." Kimiko said in a conclusive tone.
"He can talk on his own, Kimiko, there's no need to answer on his behalf." Karin said in an angry voice.
While Akahana had the proud face of a mother watching her daughter grow up, Kushina and Honoka just looked amused at the situation.
"Well, I'm sure he wouldn't want to go on a date with you anyway, right Naruto-kun?" Kimiko said in a confident tone, no way her dear brother would want to spend time with Karin when he could stay with his sister.
"What's a date?" Naruto asked. Unlike Karin and Kimiko, he learned by doing and observing, not by reading. Living on a remote island surrounded by a somewhat xenophobic family, dating was a foreign concept to him.
His mother sighed. "A date, Naruto-kun, is something a man offers the woman when he's courting her, it can range from a picnic to a walk on the beach or a home cooked dinner. Men do this to start a romantic relationship with a woman." Kushina explained as if Naruto was a five year old, he might be a great shinobi, but Naruto had almost no experience in social interactions outside of family members.
Naruto nodded, signaling his understanding. "I'd love to go on a date with you, Karin-chan, we can take a walk on the beach and then I can cook you dinner."
Karin squealed in happiness while Kimiko's jaw dropped. "What the hell Naruto? I was supposed to be your first date." She said angrily. Right before a chakra chain whipped her on the back of the head.
"Ouch!" Kimiko shouted.
"No cursing, young lady." Kushina said.
Naruto looked at his sister's furious and pain filled face with no small amount of confusion. "I never said you'd be my first date, I didn't know what a date was five minutes ago!"
"You're supposed to notice these things Naruto, don't you know how a woman's heart works?" Kimiko said angrily.
"How should I know? I'm only ten." Naruto grumbled lowly.
"He wants to go on a date with me, Kimiko, there's no need to be jealous about it." Karin said in a haughty and victorious tone. The shouting and hollering continued for hours.
"Oh kami, please kill me." Honoka said while wincing from all the high pitched shouting and screaming the little devils had been subjecting her poor eardrums to. She loved the little tykes but they were even more annoying than Kushina before she mellowed out.
(Three days later)
"Okaa-san, they're here. What did you want to talk to us about?" Kimiko said, standing triumphantly next her brother and cousin, her mother giving them a cheerful smile.
"Yeah, why did you have to interrupt our date?" Karin asked angrily.
"Oh nothing much, I just have a mission for you three, but I'm sure you guys would prefer to stay here doing nothing." Kushina said nonchalantly.
Naruto's eyes glinted with excitement as soon as the word mission was mentioned. "A mission? We'll take it, right Karin-chan, Kimiko-chan?" Getting a nod from both, he looked at his mother expectantly.
"You won't all be going together. Me and Kimiko will be going on our own and Naruto and Karin will accompany Honoka to fulfill the other task."
Karin got a big smile on her face. "Oh, just me and Naruto for weeks on end, this will make up for our date getting interrupted." She said dreamily. It was just so romantic, not even that stick in the mud Honoka could ruin this for her.
Kimiko glared at the ground between her feet. "This is not fair." She said through gritted teeth.
While the girls were responding to their choice of companions, Naruto was focused on an entirely different matter. "Kaa-chan, what's our mission? It has to be something dangerous if we have to do it right?" He asked with an excited smile. Maybe he can finally unlock some of his ocular powers when he gets into a real life or death situation. Having such a powerful tool at his disposal and not being able to use was utterly frustrating.
"You and Karin will be going to Nami no Kuni, Honoka will brief you on your mission." Kushina turned to her daughter "You and me, Kimiko-chan, will go to hunting cats in Kaminari no Kuni."
A/N: That took a while. A bit shorter than usual as well. Sorry, I've been having a hard time writing this story. There's another story idea that's been gnawing at my brain for the last few weeks and I had a hard time focusing on this story. I will try to finish this story before I start another one and split my concentration on two plot lines.
I just want to gauge if there will be any interest in my next story, would you guys be an interested in a story that focuses on political intrigue, ideological and racial differences, moral and ethical questions and minimal amounts fighting/action? I know it's a somewhat out of the norm concept,but that's why I'm so interested in seeing it through. I'm looking forward to your reviews.
Translations:
Kuchiyose no Jutsu - Summoning Technique
Gedo Mazo - Demonic Statue of the Outer Path
Gedo Kusari - Chains of the Outer Path
Fuin: Kai - Seal: Release
Fuinjutsu: Genryu Kyufujin - Sealing technique: Phantom Dragons Nine Consuming Seals
Shikkotsurin - Damp Bone Forest
Nami no Kuni - Land of Waves
Kaminari no Kuni - Land of Lightning.