Okay, on to the next chapter. There are a few things that I want to get out right now before I go further so that I don't have to deal with people complaining, yes Naruto will gain a good amount of power, in the upcoming chapters, no I do not plan on him becoming a god. I plan on actually raising the entire skill level of everything by simply exploiting a simple 'unique' training method that everyone sorta overlooked. If you've read any other fanfics then you know what I mean... and by releasing that training method, I can essentially raise the power level of everything. So yes, I will be making people a lot stronger, no I will not be making things any easier on them. Also... I feel I need to post this here, as to avoid the shock later, as I stated early on, this is a darker fic, and Naruto's past is a lot darker then I've let on. That was intentional. As you see from previous chapters how his feelings and the explanations of his past don't match. Instead of feeling sad about being neglected, Naruto reacts with fear and anger... so in the upcoming chapters you will begin to understand just how horrible his life is, and I want to warn people that I will be getting pretty graphic, no I'm not going to try and win any contests by describing horrible beating in gruesome detail but there will be detail and I'm going to try and keep it realistic but also stomach churning, so I just want people to be prepared because things have been rather 'tame' up until now. Anyway, let me know what you think and please enjoy!
To answer your Questions:
Guest: Probably, that or he does just like to troll people.
AkashimaUchiha: Very true, I will take what you have said into account and I hope that I can use your suggestion in the near future.
Kunoichi of the Moonlit Night: Oh you will see why everyone is acting the way they are very soon, and you'll get why this story is about to get really painful.
Thinking
Demon Thinking
Demon/Jutsu
Naruto, The Runaway Chronicles.
Chapter 7
"Two more days..." Naruto thought as he sat in his room.
"Only two more days and you can finally tap that." The Fox joked.
"Fuck off, I'm not in the mood for your shit." Naruto hissed in reply.
The Fox only made a face in it's cage, as it decided to avoid an argument and remain silent. Ever since yesterday, Naruto had been in a foul mood, and the Fox didn't blame him. Naruto barely slept during the night, and spent all morning in a state of tension, unable to relax for fear of the Leaf deciding to show up.
"Naruto." Came a voice from the door, Naruto looked up and saw lady Ayane standing at the door with a curious expression on her face.
"Oh, Hi, Lady Ayane. What's up?" Naruto asked as he adopted a fake smile, and focused his attention on her.
"Sorry for just barging in, but the guards have been at your door knocking for the last twenty minutes and you weren't answering." Ayane explained, as she glanced over her shoulder at the two guards that always stood outside Naruto's door, both looked only slightly worried.
"Oh... sorry about that guys, I was just deep in thought. So what did you need?" Naruto asked with an embarrassed scratch of his head.
"Daso wanted to talk to you when you woke up." Ayane informed him.
"Oh... well I'll go see the old man right now." Naruto stated with a fake veil of happiness as he got up from bed and headed to the door.
Ayane just watched him walk past, she held a distant look about her, as she felt an aura of anger about him, even as he hid it behind smile.
-A few moments later-
"Naruto! Good of you to join us." Daso said with a large smile as Naruto entered the main hall.
Naruto was surprised to see upon his entrance, that Lord Ay had returned, along with Bee, Cee, Darui, a white skinned, blonde haired woman, a dark skinned, red headed woman, and a guy with dark skin and white hair.
"Lord Raikage... it's good to see you again." Naruto greeted him with a formal bow.
"It's good to see you are well, as well, Naruto." Ay returned the greeting.
"I recognize most of you, but who are the new guys?" Naruto asked as he eyed the three unidentified individuals.
"This is Omoi, Karui, and Yugito. They are fellow comrades from the Cloud that I have brought with for my own reasons." Ay informed him, curtly.
"Okay... well, nice to meet you." Naruto said, making a face, as he turned to look back at Daso.
"So this is the nine tails, huh?. Bee was right, he almost looks... haunted." Yugito thought as she eyed the boy with interest.
"But he is handsome kitten, I wouldn't mind seeing what kind of stamina he has developed." The Two tails purred, to Yugito's embarrassment.
"How have you been Naruto, I heard about the Leaf's attack yesterday?" Ay asked, a slight amount of compassion, evident in his voice.
"They left me a little rattled, but I'm alright. Cant wait to see their faces when they see me and Nayumi wed." Naruto replied, with a distant look.
"I see... are you sure that you don't want me to do something about it?" Ay asked, almost begging for Naruto to allow him to kill the Leaf nin who were dumb enough to enter his lands.
"Nah... it's fine... they aren't worth my time, and if they aren't worth the time of some no name guy like me, then they certainly aren't worth the Raikage's time." Naruto replied with a cool grin.
Ay stared at him for a second before smirking, if anything he admired Naruto's guts. Ay knew all to well how difficult life could be for a Jinchuriki, and it took a lot to face that kind of past.
"So Naruto, Daso tells me you have decided to accept in becoming his apprentice." Ay stated, after a moment.
"Yeah...I'm really looking forward to learning from Daso, I'm hoping to raise my skill level so that I am at least competent in all areas." Naruto replied.
"You are already very skilled Naruto, if I may ask, who was your teacher?" Ay asked out of curiosity.
"The only person I really consider to be my sensei is the nine tails." Naruto replied curtly.
"You leaned from the nine tails?" Yugito asked with surprise.
"Yeah... it taught me a lot about ninjutsu, taijutsu and genjutsu, it also taught me how to use seals. Sadly the fox and I aren't compatible since he's fire and I'm wind, but he was still able to teach me a lot of useful new techniques. He and I spent a lot of time relearning the fundamentals, and repairing the damage the Leaf did." Naruto replied, with a bit of distaste at the end.
"What did the Leaf do?" Cee asked, with a curious look.
"According to the Fox, my first teacher in the academy was sabotaging my training. It was only when Iruka sensei was put in charge, did I actually start learning things. But even then, this bastard named Mizuki kept screwing with me, to stop me from passing, and he kept messing up my training. When I finally became a genin, and got an actual sensei, he was to focused on training the stupid Uchiha. So I never got the training I needed to become a competent ninja." Naruto replied with a bit of anger, as he recalled how he was always screwing up no matter how hard he tried.
"Bastards." Karui hissed with distaste, which earned her a nod of agreement from Omoi, who continued to casually suck on his lollipop.
"So... what did the nine tails teach you, exactly?" Ay asked, his eyes keen and focused. When it came to the two and eight tails, they were more focused on teamwork, rather then training. They taught their Jinchuriki a few things but they were more focused on working in tandem with each other, rather then passing on jutsu. So Ay was naturally very curious to learn what Naruto had gained from the nine tails.
"Like I said, he taught me how to fight, and how to control my chakra, he also taught me a lot of the fourth Hokage's seals, and a unique training method to increase the speed that I learn." Naruto replied with a grin.
Ay recoiled slightly from hearing that. "He taught you some of the fourth's seals?"
"A few, most of the one's he learned were from his previous host, Kushina, but he was able to learn a few others from the fourth, through her. He was also able to steal a few from the fourth when he fought him, a long time ago." Naruto replied, like it was no big deal.
"What kind of seals did it teach you?" Ay asked, with immense curiosity.
"What do you think I should do Fox, should I tell him?" Naruto asked, internally.
"I don't see why not, in fact you could use this to your advantage, by telling him you could strengthen your bond with the Cloud, while at the same time, potentially damage the Leaf." The Fox replied, with an evil grin.
"Well... if I tell him that... do you think I should tell him about the fourth?" Naruto asked with a bit a hesitance.
"Yes... the Raikage, actually faced the fourth in battle, just like Daso, maybe the two of them could help you answer that question." The Fox replied after a moment of thought.
"Right... I'll do that." Naruto agreed as he refocused on Ay, and the other Lightning Nin.
"We should probably go somewhere more private." Naruto stated as he turned to leave.
Ay and Daso had to stop themselves from grinning. Privacy meant secrets, and in this case, it was the fourth Hokage's secrets.
"Bee, Yugito, come with us the rest of you, wait here." Ay ordered as Daso, and Ayane followed after Naruto.
A few moments went by before they made their way to Daso's room, which Naruto knew had privacy seals on it.
"This should be a good place." Naruto commented before looking at Daso, expectantly. Daso simply smiled and led them all into his room, before closing the doors and activating the privacy seals.
"So... what is it you wanted to keep secret?" Ay asked, as they all gathered in the center of the room.
"It's about the fourth. I'll tell you everything I know, but I need your guy's help, with answering a question that I just cant find the answer to. But first I need to tell you about my seals." Naruto stated as he took off his shirt and let it fall to the floor, revealing his nine tails seal along with several others on his body.
Ay quickly scanned them, and made a note of the incredibly complex seal design that obviously held back the nine tails, he then scanned the rest of Naruto's body, and made a note of the several other seals that were branded onto his skin.
He had several pentagonal seals on his forearms and chest, he also had one on either one of his calf's, all five of the seals were the same. Naruto also had two circular seals that were on his wrists, that Ay recognized as storage seals. Their was one seal on Naruto's back that was square, with a circular pattern in the center of it, and finally their were two seals on the bottom of his feet.
"What are all of those?" Yugito asked, as she circled him scanning all the seals.
"They range, from simple storage seals, that I hide weapons in," Naruto began to reply as he tapped the two seals on his wrists, "Too more complex seals that the nine tails stole from the fourth." Naruto finished answering as he motioned towards the other seals.
"What do they do?" Daso asked curiously.
"Well... first, the Fox learned these seals when he fought the fourth, at some point in the fight, the fourth came into direct contact with the nine tails, and it was able to scan his body with it's chakra, from that in memorized a few of the seals on his body, before it was sealed away. It taught me the seals and then he me replicate them to see what they do." Naruto began to answer.
"...And that is?" Daso asked as he held up one of Naruto's arms to examine the seal that was on his forearm.
"Well these ones are what the fourth called Weighted Chakra Seals. Essentially by funneling a lot of chakra into one of the seals, you can get it to act like a weight. According to the Fox, there is no limit to how heavy they become, so you can just keep adding weight for as long as you want." Naruto explained, for a moment the others stared at him before they all recoiled in horror.
"ARE YOU TELLING ME THAT THIS IS HOW THE FOURTH HOKAGE MOVED SO DAMN FAST?!" Ay yelled at him.
"I don't know if this is how he got so fast, but I do know, that know one has ever faced him at full speed." Naruto replied with a solemn look.
"What!? What do you mean by that?" Ay asked, slightly in shock from that statement.
"It takes a lot of chakra to increase the weight of these seals, about whats needed for a C-rank jutsu. And that's just for a pound of weight. I've only had these seals for three months, and currently I'm up to twenty-five pounds on both arms, fifty on both legs and another fifty on my chest. The problem with the seal is that you never get that chakra back, once it's in the seal you can never get it out. You can deactivate the seal whenever, but you can't hope to get the chakra out of it. Also because of that if you accidentally put on to much weight your screwed." Naruto explained, to which most of the Cloud nin just gaped at him.
"Are you saying that the fourth never took that weight off? That he was always fighting handicapped?" Ay asked with shock.
"He never released any of his seals, not against anyone and when I tell you just how strong he really was, you'll have the same question I did, 'why did he let the nine tails kill him?" Naruto replied with a thoughtful look.
"Ho... how strong was he?" Ayane asked.
"How much weight did he wear Naruto?" Ay asked solemnly.
"According to the Fox's calculations based of how my seals work, the fourth fought with fifteen hundred pounds on both legs, one thousand pounds on his chest and seven hundred and fifty pounds on both arms." Naruto replied, with a grin as he knew what was coming.
"ARE YOU SHITTING ME!?" Ay roared at him as the rest of the group face faulted in shear shock.
"How could he even stand with that much weight?" Ayane asked with awe.
"He had been practicing for years, I guess." Naruto replied with a shrug, as he watched them get back to their feet.
"That's impossible! If the fourth wore that kind of weight he would have hit with the same force as Tsunade, he would have shattered the ground with each step, not to mention the fact that with a single punch he would have torn his arm right from it's socket with that much weight." Ay countered, with disbelief.
"All things he took into account. The Fourth had a unique seal on his upper back, that the Fox and I have identified as a High Density Seal which he used to make his bones denser, so that they wouldn't break, he had another High Density Seal, that he used on his tendons so they would be strong enough to hold together under the enormous weight. These two seals probably added about three hundred pounds of weight to his body, but it also made it damn near impossible for him to break a bone." Naruto answered his complaints with a grin.
"Even still, I've seen the fourth move. He moved with such grace, that theirs no way he could have had that much weight on him. He would have broken trees and crushed the ground beneath he feet with that much weight." Ay tried to rationalize.
"Very true, and once again the fourth thought of that." Naruto began to explain as he suddenly spun around and delivered a spin kick directed right at Daso. Out of reflex Daso casually caught the kick, he was about to speak when he noticed Naruto's grin.
"Did you feel that old man?" Naruto asked. Daso looked at him for a moment then at Naruto's foot, he could clearly see a simple circular seal on the middle of the bottom of his foot. Daso made a face as he realized that he hadn't in fact felt the kick, there was almost no energy behind it.
Naruto pulled back his foot as he continued to grin and he began to hop up and down in place, everyone stared at him for a moment before Yugito finally peaced it together.
"You're not making any noise." She commented as he continued to hop in place. The others glanced at her before returning their attention to Naruto. They all listened careful and realized that he was barely making a sound, even though he was clearly hopping up and down, and was actually slamming his feet to the ground.
"Those seals on the bottom of your feet... they absorb energy, right?" Yugito asked to which Naruto simply grinned and stopped jumping.
"The Fourth used these seals to absorb the energy his body gathered while moving. He called it the Light-step Seal, it essentially aloud him to move with absolute silence while at the same time stopping his body from releasing it's own kinetic energy. The drawback is that you can't fight with the seal active, so before a fight I always release mine. The fourth however was able to release his the moment before he struck an opponent and then reengage it right after he delivered the strike. I mainly use it for sneaking, as it absorbs around ninety nine percent of one's kinetic energy." Naruto told them keeping his grin.
"The Fourth Hokage was truly a genius." Daso commented as he noted how lucky he was to be alive, if the Hokage had really been this strong.
"...And do you wanna know the horrifying thing? He never released these seals, not even against the nine tails, and when I tell you about his other one, you'll see that there is something really, really wrong, here." Naruto told them as he turned and showed them the seal on the center of his back.
"This is a chakra suppression seal. I use it to hide away some of my chakra, so that I have an ace in the hole in battle.
"Mine isn't nearly as affective as the Fourth's... his held back almost seventy-five percent of his chakra, which means coupled with his weights and other seals, that we only ever saw about ten percent of the fourth Hokage's true strength." Naruto stated with a distant look, as the others just shook their heads in disbelief, all the while they were all asking themselves the same question, why did the fourth let himself die?
"That man became a SS rank threat... and he was only using one tenth of his true power... I just can't fathom that." Daso said in disbelief as Naruto put his shirt and shoes back on.
"Well believe it... I've been struggling to find out the answer to the question that I know you are all asking yourselves... why would he let himself die? And why did he hold back during the third great ninja war?" Naruto told them with a far away look.
"That is a good question Naruto... why did the fourth refuse to utilize his full strength. It what you say is true then he could have destroyed the entirety of Kumogakure during the way... but he didn't." Ay stated with the same far away look.
"He also let the three of us live." Daso reminded Ay as he motioned to him and Bee.
"You're right... why did he allow us to live? Why didn't he destroy Kumo and end the war? Why didn't he use his full power on the Nine Tails? Why did let himself die?" Ay asked aloud.
"I don't know... but what I wouldn't give to get into the Fourth's estate back in the Leaf." Naruto stated with a shake of his head.
"How much of your chakra is sealed?" Daso asked out of curiosity.
"About twenty-five percent. I save it for a special occasion or if I'm in a jam." Naruto replied with a shrug.
"I can't believe he was that strong... how is that even possible?" Ayane asked still stuck on the info about the fourth.
"Simple..." Naruto answered for her as he made a shadow clone without a hand sign, which everyone noted to be unique.
"I don't get it." Yugito stated, staring at him in confusion.
"You know how you can send physical clones out to gather info, and when they pop, what they learn comes back?" Naruto asked with a cheeky grin.
"Yeah?" Yugito answered, but suddenly Ay's eyes widened in realization.
"Now apply that to training. With the shadow clone jutsu, you can increase the speed at which you train. With just one clone, I can double my training speed, a jutsu that would take me fifty days to learn would only take me twenty five. Add two more and suddenly it's twelve and a half days, and so on and so fourth. Anyone can use it and it's how I guess the fourth gathered so much power. This training method is something that will revolutionize the shinobi world." Naruto explained with a proud grin.
"Oh and how is that?" Ay asked, eying Naruto intently.
"Well... this training method was one of the first things the Fox taught me and I've been using it for three years. I used it to increase the strength of my Rasengan as well as increase my chakra supplies and control. You see... you know your chakra reserve are like a muscle and by meditating you can increase the amount of chakra you have by a small amount. It takes a lot of meditation to grow your reserves even a little... so you have to spend a lot of time doing it. With this training method you can speed up the rate at which you grow your reserves by having your clone meditate. When I started this training I could make two hundred and fifty shadow clones... and I immediately put fifty of them to work on meditation while the other two hundred worked on chakra control, by doing the water walking and tree walking exercises. With fifty shadow clones increasing my reserves and the rest increasing my chakra control, I was able to vastly increased the amount of clones I could create, thus increasing the speed I could train. An added benefit was that after doing the shadow clone jutsu thousands of times, and increasing my chakra control I was able to learn how to do the shadow clone jutsu without hand signs." Naruto explained with a wide grin, as most of the Cloud nin face palmed at how simple this method was. Ay was positively livid, upon hearing this, the potential for the Cloud sky rocketed.
"So if you can do the jutsu without hand signs then why don't you do it more often?" Ayane asked.
"Another trump card." Naruto said with a shrug.
"Yo, foo... how many clone are you up too?" Bee asked, which drew everyone attention.
"After years of training with this method, and all the increases in my chakra reserves and control, coupled with developed affinity for the jutsu since I've used it so many god damn times, I believe at last count I was up to three thousand seven hundred and six." Naruto answered with a grin, as everyone face faulted.
"Boys got his own personal army." Ay thought with a scratch of his head, if a part of him ever regretted following through with Daso's plan, it was long gone now.
"I have great Chakra control since I always devoted more of my energy to chakra control then my reserves, but even so... the Fox says I now have more chakra in my body then two kage, combined. Sadly I don't have many jutsu since the Fox doesn't know how to control wind." Naruto informed them.
"That's insane... not even lord Bee has that much Chakra." Ayane expressed her disbelief.
"Thank you Naruto for explaining this training method to us... with it we can ensure that the Cloud's power grows." Ay thanked him with a warm smile.
"You're welcome... I just want to be helpful... since I don't know many jutsu, I only really had time to learn seals and increase my reserves and control, but now I've got so much chakra that I don't need anymore. The Fox says if I used all my clones in a similar training method for the next ten years, I would have more chakra then it does. Granted I'm taking into account adding in all the new clones I could create at the end of the day. With fifty clone working on just chakra control, I can add ten new clones to my arsenal each day. With a thousand clones I can make two hundred new clones each day, in five days I would have a thousand more, which I could add to my training to get over four hundred a day and the cycle would just continue from their. Though I never used that many clones since I'm worried about what will happen if I ever had that much chakra in my body." Naruto explained with a cheesy grin, trying not to sound to proud of that.
"This boy... you have found the key to breaking the limits on shinobi abilities." Daso explained in awe.
"Hey... no need to go that far... I'm just lucky that I can use so many clones. Most people can only use a few so their training would take longer. So what if I've got an insane amount of chakra? With barely any arsenal to speak of, their isn't much going for me. I can use the Rasengan a ridiculous amount of times, but without knowing other combative Ninjutsu, their isn't much I can do with all this chakra." Naruto replied modestly.
"You are right... we will be sure to change that. I may be lightning based, but I still know a thing or two about wind style, and I will be sure to find you a competent wind style teacher that can help you." Daso promised with a proud grin.
"Naruto... since you were kind enough to offer this information up to us, I find it only right that I ask you, if I may use it to help the Cloud grow? With a training technique like this we can radically change the way shinobi fight. And we can ensure that the Cloud prospers." Ay informed him.
"Of course you can use it... that's why I told you about it. If it helps the Cloud or the land of Lightning I would do anything. You guys have done so much for me, I just want to return the favor." Naruto replied with a warm smile.
"You are truly a noble and selfless soul Naruto Uzumaki, with this one training technique you have more then paid back whatever debt you would owe us." Ay informed him to Naruto's surprise.
"But you didn't stop there. You told us about the Yondaime and his hidden secret... and now we can join you in search of the answer, as to why he allowed himself to fall prey to the Nine Tails." Daso added.
"That too." Ay agreed,
"Thanks you guys." Naruto said with a warm smile, to which Ay, Ayane, and Daso all smiled warmly in reply while Bee and Yugito shared their own smile.
"So... where do we go from here?" Yugito asked after a moment.
"We move forward with Daso's plan. Naruto will marry Nayumi the day after tomorrow, and the Leaf will lose all legal rights to him. For now we just have to ensure the Leaf ninja that Daso invited over remain unaware." Ay informed them.
"Do you think they will show, Bro?" Bee asked.
"Yes... Naruto's the Nine Tail's Jinchuriki, they will come." Ay answered with a positive nod.
"Naruto... will you be alright?" Ayane asked, with concern.
"Yeah... I'll deal." Naruto replied with a distant look.
Suddenly he felt a comforting hand on his shoulder, he looked up to see Daso standing there smiling at him. "You did well yesterday Naruto. You kept you're hatred for them under control and you remained mostly indifferent. Just do that when they show up and there will be no problems."
"Okay old man... I can do that." Naruto said with a nod.
Suddenly there was a knock at the door.
"Yes, come in!" Daso called as he deactivated the security seals.
"Hey Dad." Nayumi greeted them as she entered.
"Well... look who's awake." Ayane greeted her daughter with a smile. Nayumi simply offered an irritated look in reply.
"What's up Yumi?" Naruto asked after a moment.
"Don't call me that." She hissed at him before turning to her father, "Dad... the guards just told me that those Leaf ninja are on their way here."
"Well... then we better prepare to receive them." Daso said with a nod as he headed for the door.
"Greeting lord Raikage." Nayumi greeted Ay as he walked past.
"Good day, princess Nayumi." Ay returned her greeting in a neutral tone as he followed after Daso.
"Hey Nayumi... you wanna go train?" Naruto asked.
Nayumi glanced at him, then down to some of her bandages, then back to him before grinning, "Sure."
-Meanwhile-
"Alright, now. Everyone remember what I told you. Do not antagonize any of the Cloud ninja, or Naruto. We are here as guests and as long as we know where Naruto is, we don't have to make any move against him." Kakashi informed the group as they approached the edge of the village.
"Keep calm Sakura." Sasuke whispered at her as they walked, he could tell how tense she was, and in a shinobi setting tension was always bad.
"Sorry... I just can't seem to calm down." Sakura apologized as she took a deep breath.
"I know what you mean. But we have to stay calm, otherwise any chance we have of bringing Naruto back, will vanish, along with out lives." Sasuke stated, with a distant look about him.
"I just hope we can clear this whole thing up. Naruto needs to come home." Sakura stated.
"Yeah... he does. But you saw the way he looked at us... he's obviously being manipulated somehow." Sasuke mused as they continued to walk.
"That's too light of a term... 'manipulated'." Shikamaru added, joining into the conversation.
"What do you mean?" Sakura asked as they made it into the city.
"I mean... the look in his eyes yesterday... it was a look fear. He was afraid of us... or more specifically you, Sasuke." Shikamaru clarified.
"Yeah... I wonder what that's all about." Sasuke mused, as he recalled the absence of any fear, the last time he fought Naruto in the valley of the end.
"I don't know... we just have to be careful." Shikamaru stated, as they made their way to the castle in the center of town.
"This is going to get very interesting." Kakashi mused aloud as they arrived at the castle.
"Yes it is." Sasuke agreed.
Okay that's it for this chapter... what the hell is up with the fourth? Why was he always holding back? Interesting questions... until next time! And yeah that warning at the beginning was just a heads up for future reference, and if anyone want to argue the basics of Chakra with me, just know that unless I got something hugely fundamentally wrong, I don't care... so Later!