This chapter has a lot of time skips; this is done to help speed things up.
I do not own Naruto.
Talk now – normal talk
What now – normal thoughts
Speak – biju, higher being talk
Listen – biju, higher being thoughts
Tenten blocked another punch with both of her arms crossed in front of her head, he's strong alright, she quickly used her right arm to move Naruto's own attacking arm away and sent an open palm strike to his face that he dodged quickly. Naruto, in response, came in closer and lowered himself slightly and sent a punch to her stomach, she blocked it with her left leg stopping the blow while gritting her teeth from the force of it.
She panicked when Naruto smiled, he can catch my leg now and hit me with his free hand, rather then getting away from him she came in closer and placed both hands on his shoulders using her free foot she launched herself up and then jumped over and behind Naruto. It's still good I still fit with the style. As soon as she landed she through a straight line backwards kick towards Naruto using her right hand as ground support. Naruto dodged it and grabbed her leg, he smiled and pulled her leg towards him, Tenten knew she would hurt her arm when she saw Naruto's action, it's my mistake, the next moment she hit the floor and the air left her lungs.
When Tenten recovered she saw that she was still in the dojo, she was on a mat with Yukimura who was nursing her shoulder; she sighed. Well at least he didn't get me in a submission choke hold this time. Naruto and Sayaka were meditating a few feet away from her. "How long was I out?"
Yukimura gave her an encouraging smile. "Just five minutes."
"Oh." Better then last time.
"You still have some problems using just the academy style."
"Uhh, yes, it's hard to separate all the elements of the other styles I've learned, my body just reacts and I end up using them." The purpose of the spar had been to use just the academy style of taijutsu, she couldn't give too much away with her real style, thus she had been practicing to uses just the academy style and to only later reveal more of her actual style.
Yukimura nodded. "It's understandable; we taught you much more advanced forms and with the spars you've had it makes the academy style obsolete. The academy style itself is designed to be much more malleable so more people can pick it up and then slowly add their own elements later on or discard it entirely. It's meant to provide a good foundation for people, because of that it is simpler; the problem with your training is that you're instincts scream at you to use the more advanced forms that have been drilled into you."
Tenten furrowed her eyebrows thinking about her situation. "Hmmm, so I should keep practicing then?"
"Yes" he patted her on the head, "we still have time until the academy starts, once it does you can slowly reveal some elements."
She nodded. Her training the past few months, well months outside perhaps, she guessed that she had spent a year, perhaps a bit more or less in the god realm in the past few months, maybe it will be two years here before the actual year back in the real world ends. She had met Naruto in the early summer and late spring and now it was near the end of august, it had been around three months since she had started visiting the god realm at the end of each week. Tenten shook her head. Now I know why Naruto acts so much older, it's because in many ways he is older, and now I'm older as well.
Tenten relaxed as Yukimura massaged her shoulder gently, she was pleased with how things had been going for her lately; she didn't feel so alone anymore and had gotten training in a multitude of fields, including her much needed vocabulary, she hadn't looked back since. Her fighting skills had gone from street rat to an actual novice fighter; sadly she couldn't show such a thing off in public without rising to many eyebrows.
Her small fights at the orphanage were amusing to her now, while before she had viewed them as dangerous and they felt like an incredible event, now they seemed so small and insignificant they barely even registered to her anymore. It was for the best that she was a dominant figure there, leaving her so called opponents on the floor, at least no one tried to rob her now anymore, not that she hadn't moved a part of her things to Naruto's apartmen already.
Yukimura was right if I strike the sheppard the sheep will scatter; she had fought some of the so called tough kids from the orphanage and beaten them down, making an example of those children had made the others think twice about crossing her.
Fights were still a common thing at the orphanage and as long as things didn't get too serious they were allowed to continue, she couldn't change anything there by herself, there were far too many children for her to defeat on her own. And even then if she succeeded they could have teamed up and beaten her afterwards, if they actually worked together.
Even if they didn't the problem was that it required her constant presence in case someone got a wise idea about trying something while she was away. The thought of training someone to help her had crossed her mind as well but the problem was that she would in turn become the very thing she had been fighting before. That didn't include if one of the kids she trained didn't become one instead.
A while back I would have never thought such a thing. At the very least the caretakers didn't allow large gangs that would steel from other children to form in the orphanage, things were still stolen but it was more on an individual level between children rather than an organized gang of them.
She realized that learning the physical part was easier, learning about the laws of power and war were a lot harder, and that didn't even begin to include the part about trickery, that was still something that she dreaded no matter how needed it was. She simply liked the fighting aspects more, especially some of the opponents Yukimura and Sayaka created for her and Naruto to fight. While they both had fought individually against the opponents, they had also worked together as a team, with varying results of course, the first few times trying to fight together had been a disaster but eventually they had made progress.
She wanted to shout it to the high havens, and she did shove it in Naruto's face when they had fought a strong female fighter that had hair buns like she did, Sayaka had commented how the woman that had moped the floor with them had been called Chun Li and had been a strong fighter in her time. Tenten had asked Yukimura to tell her about the woman alongside the others as well, she enjoyed fighting against Chun Li in her spars, even if she would lose quickly. Her thoughts were cut short as Yukimura tapped her on the shoulders and she opened her eyes.
"Alright it's time for the next part now."
Tenten nodded and walked towards Sayaka, it was more about preference now, while Naruto would go with Yukimura to learn about alchemy and herbalism she herself would go with Sayaka to learn about blacksmithing. They both knew a little about the other subject, and she would further study alchemy and herbalism in the future to become more competent at it, she just picked up things related to blacksmithing much easier.
Yukimura nodded looking at the vial Naruto had given him before handing back to him. "Yes that would be a good poison Naruto."
He smiled. "It's still not that potent, it's a shame I can't enter training ground 44, who knows how many plants there are in that place."
"Don't worry you can investigate that place when you're older; now place the new recipe in the book."
Naruto nodded and went to a book on a small table, after he had started working on making potions Yukimura had suggested to write a journal and then several books with all of the potions he made, both successful and with warning about the ones that proved to be a failure. He had managed to create a few potions using the plants found in the forested areas of Konoha, he reasoned that the village had some place where specific plants were grown or that perhaps some of the clans managed the issue.
His potions and small pills that he had been making weren't different from the chakra and blood pills that the shinobi used, the difference lay in their complexity, he was still starting out and the people making the pills in the village must have had research notes on how to make the pills from the years they had been making them. Still its better then nothing, the few potions and pills I've made can come in handy in the future. "Done."
"Good now we can move onto the next part."
He hesitated a moment and bit his lips before speaking. "Before that I wanted to ask about the progress you have made with the new knowledge on chakra."
Yukimura raised an eyebrow at him before nodding. "Quite a bit actually, it's still not safe to teach you any of the jutsu yet; I will say that the S class jutsu are looking good though."
His eyes widened. "That's something alright."
"Yes, we got lucky on the small scraps we found on seals in the teachers lounge, chakra seals have similarities with the magic seals and runes; with it we have been able to advance things a bit on the seal front. It would still help to have a seal master's brain to pick or a proper how to book, a theoretical discussion and study would be a true life saver."
He shook his head. "And does aren't lying around."
"Sadly no, perhaps in time we can find some one to better aid us on that front. Still we are working on creating magic seals from the base up on one project."
"A shame dear sensei's skills don't include seals." He added a bit of spite in his words.
Yukimura rolled his eyes. "She isn't that bad now is she?"
He furrowed his eyebrows looking at Yukimura. "The only reasons she's helping me now is because of guilt, because of the belief that she will have some sort of redemption out of it."
Yukimura shrugged his shoulders. "At least she is trying to do something to make up for past mistakes."
Naruto crossed his arms over his chest. "Only after she thought she had driven me to suicide not before it."
Yukimura sighed. "Be that as it may you could still look on the bright side."
He sighed. "I'll try."
"Now if there nothing else."
He smiled. "Actually Tenten and I wanted to ask about…"
Yukimura poured himself more tea. "Things are going well with her."
"Indeed." Sayaka intoned holding her tea cup with three fingers; her pinky and ring finger were held closed. "She has made good progress; it is a shame that her chakra reserves are naturally so low."
Yukimura shook his head. "It is to be expected given her origin, still if she continues her hard work…"
Sayaka smiled. "She will be a true legend who rose through the ranks thanks to her hard work and despite her common origin" the next words from her mouth dripped with venom "unlike Konoha's precious Yondaime"
Yukimura smiled and nodded. "Exactly."
Sayaka leaned back into her chair; they were both in the living room. "You must be happy though, she is getting closer to accepting your morals and way of thinking."
Yukimura sipped his tea. "Children are so malleable at this age and given the amount of time spent together it is natural for them to look up to us and attempt to emulate us."
Sayaka scowled at Yukimura. "I do not particularly enjoy the fact that Naruto seems close to being morally bankrupt and that Tenten is not far behind."
"He is not morally bankrupt, you know this well enough, and given where they live it is to be expected for their morality to be a bit…" he searched for the proper word "different."
Sayaka narrowed her eyes at him. "And your attitude and teachings do not interfere with such a thing at all."
"You are here to balance things out are you not? And I do not tell them to murder innocents."
"No you do not, but given their future profession everything will be seen in grey and it will be far easier for them to fall down a slippery slope from there."
"They will not" he added more force to his words "I am certain of it, with those stories we told them we have placed a good solid foundation."
Sayaka grimaced. "Given Naruto's treatment by the village he will have a far more difficult time holding true to his morals."
"Then we must trust in his training and have faith in him." For a moment both Yukimura and Sayaka's eyes glowed yellow. "Well that experiment went well."
"Indeed, we will be able to set the plan for his landlord in motion next year."
"Tsk, I had hoped for it to be enacted this year, but I suppose this will do as well, setting all the pieces is half the fun of the game, with the discovery of his solid henge and the plans for the books, it is good enough for this year."
Sayaka's face took on a thoughtful look. "Yes, it is, we will need to get them used to the idea of killing people for when we raid the temple."
Yukimura hesitated for a minute. "Yes, you are right" he sighed, "killing animals on the hunts here has done a good job of laying the ground work for that."
Sayaka took on a harsher tone. "It is one thing to kill an animal and a different thing to kill a human being."
Yukimura lowered his head and looked into his teacup. "There is still time before that; after we get them more used to it we will have them perform their first kill on a mock mission here. It will be during the summer break when we they will have more free time and will not be supervised by the academy instructors."
Sayaka nodded placing her teacup on the table. "Indeed, at the very least the event is a few years away."
"Yes, we still need to disable the Hokage's crystal ball."
"Getting the Hokage out of the office while Naruto remains there to pump your magic into it and to help change a few things related to it while giving the user an impulse to stop wanting to make frequent use of it for its more practical side." Sayaka shook her head. "Tying this to the Uchiha massacre seems like our best bet chance, however given how far away it is tying it to Naruto's landlord may be give us more freedom then we currently have."
"Yes, orchestrating another event that won't have large ramifications is more difficult to achieve, our simulations certainly prove this."
Both Yukimura and Sayaka's eyes glowed yellow once more. "Oh? So the children want to see a fight between us do they?" Sayaka face took on a predatory smile. "We should oblige shouldn't we?"
"Yes" Yukimura chuckled, "and I think I will use my Inari form."
Sayaka raised an eyebrow at him. "Things have been going well enough on that front, in time it will be yours entirely and a few answers to people's prayers won't hurt. Now what form should I use?"
Naruto and Tenten looked on at a forested valley with a river that reminded them of Konoha without the buildings and wall, it even had the large mountain that normaly had the Hokage monument. They were currently in a transparent box of sorts suspended in the air to the right side of the mountain looking towards the valley the saw small lights begin to appear there.
The both of them swallowed heavily as from the surrounding trees light blue flames emerged and more then half the valley began to glow from them, slowly all of the flames began gathering at one point and forming a pillar of light that broke apart as a roar was heard through out the valley.
Where the pillar of light once stood in its place a thirty meters tall and two kilometers wide golden fox with nine tails that had a light blue fire at the tip of its tails and its feet stood. The fox had a muscular body and a white mane around its chest and lower jaw with red and white ropes tied in a ribbon around its lower neck that ended with a bell on each end near its own knees. From what Naruto could see the tips of the fox ears were also white as was the underside of its body.
Both Naruto and Tenten gulped and began to tremble. "It's too big!" Naruto couldn't even nod. Was the Kyuubi like this?
A screeching noise filled the air snapping them out of their daze, both Naruto and Tenten looked up to the sky in the other part of the valley were the clouds were parting as something descendent from them. At first all they could see were a pair of bird clawed feet, just one of its claws was larger then a full grown adult.
Slowly the creature landed from the sky and touched the ground; it stood at fifty meters tall and its shoulders were twenty-eight meters wide, it had the body of a strong man covered in red fur, the lower part of its body from its abdomen down to below the knee were of a blood read color, just above the knees it had two horizontal white lines with strange symbols they didn't understand.
They noticed how the creature had two red horizontal lines across its feet as well, its upper body was or a red color and the chest area had a white mane as well, its head had an eagle's beak and with dark red mask that covered its face with blue marks on it and a white feather with a blue tip atop of it. Its sharp clawed arms ended just below its knees, they noticed that it had he same strange symbols from its knees on its arms as well. The creature had three feathers with golden tips on each shoulder and a pair of massive red wings that ended with golden feathers that had two horizontal red lines on them. Naruto and Tenten squeezed each others hands looking at the creature.
The two creatures eyed each other as they stood in the valley slowly moving their claws, the fox began the attack, the blue flames on its tails become brighter and ghostly faces appeared on them, the faces then become small fireballs which it launched at its opponent, the bird creature raised its fists into a block withstanding the attack rather then dodging it.
The fireballs had barely made any scratches on the winged creature's body, it surged forward its massive clawed feet leaving holes in the ground it walked on. Its fists erupted into flames and it made a swipe towards the fox with its left hand that the fox managed to dodge quickly by dodging down, the winged creature spun around and attacked again with its right clawed hand, the fox that had gotten up dodged this time as well by jumping backward but couldn't evade the blow completely as the fire from the winged creature's crimson claws hit it in the chest leaving marks there and causing it to howl in pain, the ropes on its chest were now slightly burned and the bells rang as it thrashed.
The winged creature spread it massive wings that looked to be one hundred meters wide, and soared into the air, the two of them could now see its full body with all of its details, how the different shades of red of its body and the golden of its feather and clawed hands and feet worked to give it a fierce look. Its white mane and dark blue markings on its face accentuated its intimidating aura, it muscles were visible as it clenched its massive fist; to Tenten it looked majestic, she felt like the creature could burn away all the evil in the world.
It roared once before it began to flap it massive wings, the fox looked to back away before it howled as a small cut appeared on its chest, it continued to howl as it backed away trashing about. Tenten couldn't see exactly what was happening with the fox or what the winged creature was doing; Naruto seemed to have read her mind as he spoke from near her.
"The wind! It's actually using the wind as a weapon creating blades with it and chopping at its opponent!"
Tenten looked closer and could faintly make something out traveling from the creature's wings, but to her it was more of a silhouette shaped like a black bird then any blade she had seen.
The winged creature finished of its attack with one massive gust of wind sent towards the fox that sliced into it and the earth around it raising clouds of dust from the ground obscuring it, the creature touched the ground again in front of the mountain it had been before. Not a moment later the fox surged out of the dust cloud and slammed head first into the winged creature's stomach sending the both of them crashing into the mountain behind them and destroying it in the process.
The fox used its tails and wrapped them around the winged creature's arms and legs to keep it pined down, it lowered itself on its hind legs before ramming into the winged creature's torso again causing the earth to rumble as it did. The winged creature howled in pain, it began to move its arms only to be blocked by the fox's tails, with effort it moved its left arm and it quickly saw the fox sink its teeth into it eliciting another round of howls.
The winged creature trashed around and even with the fox's tails holding onto it managed with great effort to raise its right arm and then bring it crashing down onto the fox's head. The fox instinctively bit deeper into the winged creature's arm as the blow fell, a moment its concentration broke and the winged creature brought its fist back down like a hammer onto its skull dragging the fox's tails with it.
The fox loosened its grip on the winged creatures arm as another blow fell upon it, it released it hold and brought its head back up creating a small white fireball above its mouth while the fires of its tails intensified burning whatever they touched. The winged creature grabbed the fox's snot closing its mouth with its right hand and forcibly raised it upright then hit it with it left fist, as the fox's gripped loosened further it used the chance to free itself from the creatures tails.
As the fox stumbled back the winged creature's fists erupted into flames once more and it thrust the both of them into the fox's chest the force of the blow together with the wave of fire of the blow sent the fox flying back and crashing into ground cracking the earth were it hit. The shockwave of the blow was felt through out the valley as cracks appeared and the earth was raised and in places trees caught fire, the winged creature arouse up bleeding from its left hand and more scorched from the fox's fire.
The fox emerged wobbling from the dust cloud badly injured, the ropes around it body were now gone, it had burn marks upon its chest and was bleeding in several places, its pure white mane was now crimson from its own blood, it's golden body was no better of as it covered in dust and the blood the two mixing together to create a muddy appearance for the fox.
Even with all the injuries it had taken Tenten could see that the creature still had fight in it, the fox's eyes were filled with defiance and it barred its teeth as if to challenge the winged creature and strained raising it tails once more.
The winged creature used its wings and soured into the air a good distance then it raised its fist horizontally to its wings and flames erupted from them again, the creature began to spin slowly at first and then faster, the air surrounding it with great speed as if answering the call of its mistress, she understood what it was doing a moment later when the fires of its fist spread through out it's new construct, it had created a tornado of fire. The next moment the winged creature and its tornado began to descend upon its target with force.
A massive howl filled the valley again, Tenten shifted her gaze from the fire tornado to the fox who sunk its clawed feet into the earth and closed its eyes. "It's going to try and withstand it!"
"There's no way it can withstand that kind of attack it should try and dodge."
She bit her lip as she shook her head. "It has to have a reason for doing such a thing; I don't think its accepting death just yet."
The fire from the fox's tails suddenly erupted becoming much larger as the fox opened its eyes, determination clear in them; it sent four fireballs in front of it at different points with another five in the middle of the four. The five fireballs arranged themselves in around the central fireball forming a circle around it, small flamed wires shout of the fireballs and began to connect with each other and the other four in every which way until they were all connected and it now resembled a wall of blue thin wires.
The fox brought its tails close to its mouth and created a large fireball that was condescend into a smaller one and shot it forward into the five other fireballs in front of it causing the flames to erupt from the wires creating a solid wall of blue fire in front of it.
The processes was quicker then she thought possibly as the winged creature and its fire tornado had been descending down upon it the whole time, it looked now that the winged creature couldn't or wouldn't alter its path anymore and continued towards the wall. As the tornado of fire impacted the wall of blue fire both Naruto and Tenten instinctively shielded their eyes, they didn't see what happened but the sound that filled their ears was that of a thunder that shook them to their being before silenced engulfed them and blinding light took their vision away.
A lifetime seemed to pass before Tenten's vision returned; she rubbed her eyes and looked towards Naruto who was rubbing his eyes as well, she place a hand on his shoulder.
"I'm alright, you?"
"Yes" she nodded "I'm fine."
"Is it over?" he asked still rubbing his eyes.
She flicked her gaze back, the destruction done to the valley was immense, the last clash between the two creatures had incinerated the trees in the valley and not even ashes remained, the largest change however was a dark massive crater, the fire from the clash of the two attacks had turned the earth black. The sky was now filled with storm clouds and looked only moments away from unleashing a storm to drown out what was left of the valley.
The fox stood in front of the crater with what looked like a grin on its face, it looked more fatigued but bore no new marks of the battle. The wall it created must have stooped that attack entirely, then what about the other creature? She looked towards the crater but couldn't see anything inside of it, was it destroyed? Her gaze shifted to around the area before her eyes landed on the winged creature's left leg, she looked towards the destroyed mountain and could make out the creature's body even with large chunks of earth that covered it. "I think it won."
As if on queue the winged creature began to stir and arouse slowly from the ground, it now looked far more battered then the fox did, its red color had changed to a black one, large scars littered the creature's body, its chest was now covered in dried blood and its shoulders were hunched over, the creature's breathing was heavy.
The fox's grin grew larger as it dug its claws into the earth and raised its tails up, the blue flames on its tails become brighter, and ghostly faces appeared on them. The faces then become fireballs in the shape of dragon heads which it launched at its opponent, the winged creature raised its right hand and sent a flamed claw strike at the oncoming attack only for the fireballs to be unaffected by the flame strike. The winged creature closed its wings before the fireballs hit it causing white flashes on impact sending the creature flying back and crashing into the ground.
Moments passed and it looked like the fight was over before the winged creature managed to get up, it looked to be on its last leg, the creature spread out its wings again and flew high up into the air, much higher then it did before and began to make large circles in the stormy sky slowly increasing its speed.
Tenten looked perplexed at the sight she wasn't sure what the creature wanted to do but she had a sickening feeling in her stomach, it felt like her body had accepted that she would meet her end here and it no longer told her to run as there wouldn't be a point to it. She hopped at least that the two of them would be safe; their little room hadn't been damaged by any of the attacks. Tenten heard Naruto's voice from besides her, he hadn't said much either since the battle began; neither of them could take their eyes of the sky.
"What is it doing? It doesn't look like its retreating so…"
As she looked up at the sky Tenten thought that she could see something behind the bird creature, something small barely noticeable but that seemed to follow it, she looked closer and while she could see that shape of it, something seemed to be moving behind the creature before a moment later when the creature plowed through it in its movement. Is it dead? She looked back and there was still something there. No.
A moment later Tenten froze realizing what the creature was doing with its strange movements, her heart felt like it stopped and that the world had gone grey and still, she could see everything unmoving like in a painting, she wanted to reach out and touch Naruto but her own movements were locked in place all she could do was look around, she blinked once and the world returned to colors again. "It's going to attack."
"Huh?" Naruto asked puzzled.
Tenten felt like she could feel her heart in every part of her body. "Remember its earlier attack?"
"What are you…" he stopped when he saw it as well.
By now it was clear what the creature was doing, slowly it began to take shape, the outer ring took the shape of flowing grey rivers, the clouds in the middle looked like a restless grey sea during a storm with waves rising and falling, she gulped, there! In the middle of that sea a small black hole appeared and the sea looked to be slowly drained by it, with each passing moment the hole grew larger and larger it looked to be swallowing everything within itself, the waves she had seen earlier grew more restless now. It was from within that whole that the something emerged from it, the clouds there were rotating and appeared to descend from the storm downwards, Tenten would swear that she heard the sound of a raging waterfall; the creatures reappeared inside of it, right in the heart of its proud creation.
"A tornado." Naruto final spoke finding his words.
Tenten nodded, the creature had created a tornado but one that was four kilometers wide and by the looks of it wasn't done with it just yet, both Tenten and Naruto would remember the event as the first true bowl loosening moment of their lives. She gulped her eyes never leaving the sky, she knew on some level what would follow as the creature had used a similar attack not long ago but not on the same scale as this one.
Almost as if reading her mind the creature began to move inside of the tornado increasing its strength as it descendent downwards towards the fox, a moment later she closed her eyes as waves of fire hit their small room. The creature had finally done it, the tornado and the sky itself were now on fire and descending towards the fox, the entire sky as far as the eye could see now looked like an ocean of flames.
The fox roared in response, the flames on its body became more intense and quickly enveloped its body burning the area around it, the fox looked towards its oncoming enemy and howled one last time as it prepared to meet its enemies challenge. The fox jumped into the air and it body seemed to close in on its self as it began to spin very fast, something that caused the flames on its body to erupt in a fiery inferno, which now turned its body into a ball of swirling white fire. From within the ball came a new roar that filled the air before a mystical dragon emerged from the fire charging forward to destroy its enemy.
The white flame dragon surged forward through the sky while at the heart of the fire the tornado the winged creature moved forward covered in flames as well, the two met in the sky and everything turned white from the impact.
Yukimura and Sayaka looked at the unconscious Naruto and Tenten with smiles on their faces.
"Well they did want to see a fight between us."
Sayaka smiled looking at the two passed out children. "Yes they did, and now we will need to work to make sure they get over their shock."
"We still have time before they need to return and after this experience I doubt they will get shocked by anything else during their lifetime."
"Indeed, they could watch biju fight one another and not be that shocked about such a sight. Personally I'd find that rather tame compared to our battle."
"True enough, now let's get them back to their rooms, and see about a change of cloths for them, they still have a far bit of training to finish."
Sayaka chuckled and nodded. "Or we could just take them to the bathroom directly." She smiled. "To help them freshen up."
Yukimura laughed and shook his head. "That could work as well."
For every battle honor, a thousand heroes die alone, unsung, and unremembered.
Itachi Uchiha slowly cleaned the blood of his blade, the shadows around him appeared to weave a cloak of darkness around him, he didn't notice such a thing, he was concentrated on his task. He had known full well of the darkness that he would be stepping into when he signed up for Anbu, they were the unseen shadows that moved in the dark. Self-sacrifice a nameless shinobi who protects peace within its shadow, that is a true shinobi.
Since joining Anbu he had been distinguishing himself during missions, managing to earn the praise of his team members and even the Hokage after a particular mission. Many considered it an honor for one as young as him to join Anbu; his father had called it taking up the rightful place amongst the best that the village had to offer.
It mattered little to him, he was simply doing his duty, the missions Anbu did helped to ensure that the chances of a war between the great nations occurring was kept low, no matter what sacrifice was needed he would gladly make it to ensure that a new war would not occur. Even with its dark side and its inconsistencies the village is the last best hope for peace.
He wanted the young generation to be spared the sight of horror that war spawned and left deep marks on the souls of those who fought in them. This was something his father never understood, even if he supposedly fought in war, he still placed the good of the clan above the good of the village, try what they might his clan could never accomplish what Konoha could in terms of ensuring peace. The needs of the many must be placed above the needs of the few.
He hoped the matters between the village and his clan would be resolved soon before they escalated further and more drastic measures would not be needed. A shinobi must endure the hardships that are thrown his way; I wonder if you remember this father. Itachi relaxed his shoulders as he made his way towards his locker the cloak of darkness dispelling from around him, he still had time before his next mission, time that he ended to spend at home with his friend Shisui and his little brother. The thought that Sasuke would never have to step foot on a field of war helped to spur him during the darker missions of Anbu.
When Tenten woke up she checked her surroundings again, seeing the ordinary orphanage room she stretched and yawned, while going to the god realm was great the problem was that her body would be comatose while she was there and even on her return it would take a small period of time for her to fully return and awaken. Sadly given her future profession she wouldn't really be able to travel to the god realm while on mission, except under special circumstances.
The excuse that she was a heavy sleeper was one thing, but both she and Naruto would come close to a medical condition if people found out about it. It wasn't so bad if one was safe in their one home, sadly at the orphanage one tended to try and steal things from another while people slept, she doubted anyone would try it on her anymore but there was always someone that thought that they could succeed, either thanks to luck or some great skill they thought they possessed.
She wrapped her blanket tighter around herself, its state left much to be desired but given the conditions at the orphanage it could have been far worse, she missed the comfort of her bed in the god realm, even Naruto's bed at his apartment was better. She couldn't tell what time it was but given how none of the other children were awake she guessed it wasn't even seven in the morning.
After she had accepted the offer to join Naruto, Yukimura had given her a mark to allow her to travel to the realm without having to be near Naruto. She started spending more time with Naruto in the forested areas in Konoha away from prying eyes, while the training in the god realm was great she still needed to train her body when she returned to it.
The two of them had visited the god realm with their physical bodies at the end of one week to help further their training but couldn't do as often as they wanted as they would grow much faster then the rest of the children in Konoha and would raise alarms. They had at one point slept one afternoon near the portal to the god realm rather then in Naruto's apartment, the area was well hidden and Yukimura and Sayaka had both placed some protection around the place.
Tenten breathed slowly as she began to go through the chakra exercises she had been taught, while she still went with the other orphans to the market to work there it wasn't as often as before, she would mostly help Naruto out with his food projects and he would pay her to justify her absence from the market. If others could steel from around Konoha she could well lie about were she worked, people didn't seem to care that much anyway. It still hurt knowing that Naruto had to make cuts to his own limited budget for her; at least Yukimura and Sayaka were close to enacting a plan to help Naruto make his own money, she herself was helping on the food front alongside Naruto. Apparently she had missed a few visits of people looking to adopt children, perhaps before she would have been angry with that, now she didn't care that much.
She breathed in before breathing back out as she moved on to the next exercise, this week Naruto would go on a small prank spree to help keep his mask in place and they would meet up later during the week. She finished her last exercise and stretched before getting out of bed, she lit a scented candle that Katsue had given her, sharing a room with some many other children had its own downside, even with Katsue's willingness to tutor her, she couldn't trust the woman after hearing how she had treated Naruto before her change of heart. She looked herself over before heading towards the kitchen after that she would travel through Konoha and to find some sort of work. Early bird get's the worm. Later she would practice her acting skills; she needed to be ready for the eventual meeting with the Hokage.
"So Naruto-kun, do you want to tell me why you decided to prank the academy and those shops?" Katsue asked sitting on the arms of a chair instead of the actual seat taping her foot on the ground.
"Ah, ha ha ha." Naruto laughed uncomfortably scratching the back of his head. He was currently in Katsue's apartment, after he had finished his pranks and returned to his apartment Katsue had visited him that evening twice, the second time she had hauled him over to her apartment. He admitted that the place looked good, Katsue had the place arranged well enough, it wasn't the first time he had been over to it either as he had eaten dinner with her a few times. Naruto guessed that she was worried about him; he was still technically five years old in the world's eyes so it was understandable. He dreaded if the two ever had dinner at his place and the Hokage decided to spy on him then and catch the two eating, chances were high that Katsue would take a fall down a flight of stairs, a very long set of stairs with rusty and sharp objects.
Katsue was wearing a dark purple shirt and a pair of beige cargo pants, it was something else that he had noticed about her after spending time together, the woman had a terrible fashion sense, her saving grace was that she spent a good deal of time wearing her shinobi attire that she thankfully didn't alter.
He cast a small look around the apartment to buy time before answering the woman's question; he noticed a few scented candles she had made days ago, near a dollhouse with yellow walls. It could be worse, it could be orange. From what he observed Katsue had several hobbies, one of them was of making items, them being scented candles and soap that she would give to some of the other teachers at the academy and to him and Tenten as well.
The other one that he couldn't quite explain was that she made doll houses, Katsue had been working on the one with the yellow walls for some time now, asking about it would only lead to her dodging the question. He couldn't tell from Katsue's past what would inspire such a hobby and it irked him to a degree for some reason.
"I'm waiting." She was tapping her foot on the ground faster now giving him a hard look.
If it's one thing that I'm grateful for is that you so predictable dear sensei. Naruto laughed a bit as he hit the ground with one leg and pouted. "Those shopkeepers were mean to me, and I saw the teachers in the shops and nearby agreeing with them, so I just pranked them."
Katsue grimaced and he could see a small amount of rage flicker across her face as well. "Uh... Naruto-kun, this isn't going to help your reputation, it will be important later for your career as a ninja."
Ha, yeah like I have a good one already. "They were still mean." He looked down to the ground. "I'm sorry you got hit as well sensei." The image of a feather covered Katsue knocking at his door and telling him not to leave flashed through his mind for an instant.
"Ah, I suppose these things happen." She padded him on the head. "I'm actually impressed with them."
"You are?" he asked hopefully sending her a hopeful look.
Katsue nodded. "Yes, they showed a lot of creativity and stealth to set them up."
"Thank you sensei!" Naruto smiled looking at the floor.
Katsue smiled padding his head again. "I have to ask were did you get the feathers and glue?"
"Oh that, heh, I got them from one of the farms in Konoha, I saw a man throw them away and kept them."
Katsue sent him a sharp suspicious look. "Did you go through the trash to get them?"
"Um...no." He answered in a slightly panicked tone of voice making it clear that he was lying and trying to hide it.
Katsue sighed as she rubbed her forehead. "Did you at least wash you hands after you were done?"
"Yep!" He nodded enthusiastically. "I even took a shower! I remember that you always have to wash your hands after touching something dirty."
Katsue nodded. "Good, though I want you to avoid going through peoples trash in the future Naruto-kun."
Naruto looked at her like she had grown a second head. "But they through away such good stuff, like the glue!"
"Uhhh, even if they throw away such things Naruto." Even with his training his mentality hasn't changed, considering his young age it understandable, but I'll need to change it in the future. "Wait that glue was expired?"
Naruto shrugged. "I don't know, the mister from the shop through it away so maybe, I checked the library for how to make my own though."
"Well, it's nice to know that you are putting our training to good use."
You have no idea. "You bet sensei! Before I didn't even know how to do half of the stuff I do now, it's great."
"Just be more careful next time and try to restrict the pranks a bit more alright?" Maybe I can get him to eventually stop the pranks altogether if he tones them down in time. I can't truly fault him for lashing out given his treatment and his skills with stealth are very good given his young age. I can see him becoming a trap master, but sadly people might panic if they realized how good he is at the pranks and how easily they could turn deadly if he replaced parts of them.
"Ok sensei" he looked at an object in the room "can you play a bit sensei?"
Katsue shook her head. "Not tonight Naruto-kun"
"Oh, ok." He wasn't ashamed to admit it, he liked hearing the woman play the guitar, it sounded relaxing to him, he had a small embarrassing moment when he had fallen asleep hearing her play and Katsue had taken him back to his apartment in her arms. "Ano about training this week sensei."
"Hm, yes what about it?"
"I don't know if I'll be able to make it, Ten-chan and I have to start gathering some of the fruits from around Konoha."
She remembered that Naruto did have a small garden on the roof and had a few plants at their meeting place in the woods as well. "Well that's actually quite alright Naruto-kun, we are far ahead with our lectures already, so we can skip this week, just remember to study up on what you already have."
"Hai!"
She wasn't lying when she told him that they were advanced with their lectures, the fact that Naruto already knew how to read and write had been a good boost for them and after cutting out large parts of what she considered unimportant from the curriculum in order to stick with the more essential aspects they had managed to make head way with the curriculum. She was already laying the groundwork for the academy three and would be able to teach them to him by next year.
Katsue grimaced slightly, she knew that next year Naruto would attend the academy again and that there were still chances that the academy teacher could get away with sabotaging him, she could agree with him not becoming a shinobi too young, she didn't want him or other children exposed to that kind of life early on.
The problem was the faulty education he could get from the academy teachers there that did more harm to him and could endanger his life in the future if it was bad enough. She figured that if she was his class teacher then she could help mitigate some of the damage done, or do so with their training after the academy hours were done. It was the reason why she has asked to become a teacher for a new class that started next year, already a part of the students were on the failing spectrum and the existing classes would need to be restructured. If I can get to be his teacher through the academy and with that Tenten girl as a potential teammate, his chances look a lot better.
Both Naruto and Tenten were at the Hokage monument looking over the whole of Konoha as the sun slowly set with evening approaching the air had cooled and up on the monument a small cool breeze had settled in.
Naruto shook his head, both he and Tenten had been wandering around Konoha today, and the results were disturbing. Tenten had managed to scout out the palace where important figures resided while visiting Konoha and discovered that it had no apparent outside guards. She had stayed close to the place and hadn't heard anyone inside of it either, or seen anyone enter or leave the place.
They chalked it to there being some sort of security seal inside of the building and some hidden guards, the place seemed too important to leave unguarded. They did consider the option that Konoha thought that the place didn't need any guards whatsoever, but that just seemed far too unrealistic for them.
Worse was that the gate guards would only superficially check the people entering Konoha and would take excessive long breaks, time in which the gates remained unguarded and anyone could enter the place. And all of the guards from the three gates in Konoha did this, they dreaded thinking about whether it was the same during the night.
Both Naruto and Tenten had managed to actually leave Konoha and explored the outside area for a short time, apparently Konoha had at one point had a large number of small outposts around it for early detection but most of them had been largely abandoned, exactly when was a mystery to them but it looked like most of them hadn't been in use in the last ten years. The few that remained looked just as rundown as the rest and looked understaffed; all in all it gave a bare bone appearance. Both of them decided to chock it up to an, hopefully, increased guard presence on the walls around the village, a short look there also dashed those expectations as the guards didn't look that numerous or interested in their duties.
A small walk around the walls of Konoha showed that the cracks existed in several places, while in other parts the cracks had been hastily patched up, a quick use of Yukimura's magic revealed a barrier of sorts around Konoha and seals on the walls as well. In the end they decided that a more comprehensive investigation of Konoha's defenses was needed, they decided to shelve the idea for the current time. If it their trip accomplished anything it had been that Tenten's opinion of Konoha had fallen more after seeing other parts of it with her own eyes.
Naruto sighed as he shook his head his gaze travelled towards Konoha's walls. "People are crazy for believing that these walls will protect us forever. Even though the walls have been intact for the past sixty years, there's nothing that can guarantee they won't be broken down one day."
Tenten nodded looking towards the walls as well.
Naruto gently caught one of her hands. "I want to see and understand the world outside. I don't want to die inside these walls without knowing what's out there! I want to see the real mountain peaks out there, the lakes, the snow, and the vast deserts." He grit his teeth as he squeezed her hand and spoke with conviction in his voice. "No matter what I will see them!"
Tenten smiled at him nodded, looking up at the sky wanting to get a view of the stars, she wanted to be remembered in the history books, now though after hearing all of the other legendary figures that existed and seeing Konoha's state she wondered what kind of legend she would be know as. Would she be known for her battle prows, her leadership, or perhaps, she placed a hand on the ground, would she be known as the person who pulled Konoha back from the edge.
The kages, while strong were more known in their own countries and villages; only a few ever achieved world wide recognition, and then those were of immense strength and talent. Is battle really the only why to gain recognition? No she knew that, but it was much easier that way, even the civilian knew a few things about the strongest shinobi that had walked the nations. Either way I'll need to get a lot stronger, and then I'll carve my name into the history on the Elemental Nation no matter how hard it may be and what may come against me.
"Sister?" He placed his hands over his mouth after he said that, they had gotten closer over the past few months but family was still a sensitive subject to her.
She smiled and gently touched her head to his. "It's alright little brother, I was just thinking about something."
Naruto smiled back. "Don't try to hard now I wouldn't want you to hurt yourself."
"I won't" she stopped she realized what he had said. "Oh really little brother?" She grabbed him in a head lock and her smile grew wider. "Prepare yourself!" A moment later her fist began to grind against his head.
Naruto let out a relieved breath as he sent his package, the bank is already taken care of and now I only have to wait for a reply. With the foundations laid by Katsue he had been able to learn the henge from Yukimura who had found the instructions for it amongst the academy notes, alongside the other two academy jutsu. His mastery of it and the discovery that it was far superior then what it was supposed to be had been a recent thing, practicing the technique every time while in the god realm had certainly helped the processes along.
With the solid henge under his grasp he had managed to get his hands on the addresses of a few publishing companies that where located in the country and hand sent them a few manuscripts from books that Yukimura was sure that didn't exist in the world.
Using the money he already had and procured from other places he had set up a bank account and rented a small mail box to await a reply.
While they might accept and it would help solve some of the money issues the problem is when they will want to meet the author. I can talk to them in Konoha but traveling to other cities will be an issue, if my absence from the village is discovered it would spell disaster for me.
I can play the reclusive author angle for one persona and the poor peasant from a small village for the other, even sister can help with this if her henge is a good as mine. Worst case scenario I abandon this plan or Yukimura has to squeeze out a small part of himself and take up the role of the author.
Still with my seal and the connection to the god realm its still up in the air if that is good idea and that it wouldn't end up doing more damage. Well I'll deal with it when the time comes.
Shinga smiled as he looked down on the corpses of the fallen bandits that laid at his feet, he realized that it had been a good idea to test his new creation outside of Konoha's prying eyes, the increased bandit activity near the border with the lower countries had been a god send to him.
The moon light revealed his appearance, he had long grey hair that was very spiky, it was especially spiked up on the front top part of his head, he wore bandages around both of his arms and legs.
Orochimaru was a fool to experiment on the loyal people of Konoha, as much as I may respect him as a fellow scientist, the man simply didn't know how to handle the Hokage, far better is to experiment a bit further away from view and on the scum of society. Besides my creation the Jibukugan is far superior to anything he had ever created, this new technique has the potential for untold power. He smirked. It is only to well that I am the only who knows how to control it.
Using the technique he could bring out the victim's negative or hateful emotions within their subconscious and use them to his advantage. While a few seemed to burn out from it, he kicked the corpses of the bandits; a few of the stronger ones lasted longer. The best part is the Jibakugan is stronger than hypnosis and irresistible, the ability to steal chakra from others is a dream come true. The abilities granted from theJibakugancould be compared to those of the fabled jinjuriki, even if our own is nothing but a failure in that regard. The technique can help turn the tide of battles in our favor and beyond that.
Shinga looked up at the night sky towards the moon. And yet even with all of this power I feel that there is more to it still, that the Jibakugan still has more potential waiting to be tapped, more power not yet unleashed. Perhaps I could even drain chakra from the land and give it to its master, such power would aid in toppling the other hidden villages. If planted near a hidden village and if it managed to absorb the chakra from there. A mad expression graced his face. I could achieve immortality and gain infinite chakra. He chuckled. In the end I will gain much more then you Orochimaru and I won't have to become a missing nin and cross the line of madness that you have gone far past, glory and power await in the distance to be seized.
"Alright and with that makes seven."
Naruto and Tenten slumped on his bed; the two of them had just finished making the last batch of both kompot and jam. The small apartment building was a mess, filled with dirty pots and pans, packages of sugar that they had used as well as bits and pieces of the fruits used in the processes. The jars would be placed in the kitchen cupboards and a very few under Naruto's bed, the two of them had been gathering the different fruits and vegetables that Naruto had taken care of during the spring and summer and they were now storing them in the apartment building, there were a few things left to do before the winter arrived in full force.
Tenten let out an exhausted breath. "It's a good thing we got the rose syrup done at the beginning of summer."
"Yep" Heh I knew I did the right thing when I bought those roses in January.
Tenten ran a hand over her forehead to remove the sweat. "Will you sell some of them in the winter?"
"Yes, either to the caravans or the shops here, we'll need to look over what it cost to make them before deciding on a price."
She nodded. "Considering we don't have that many of them we'll have to be careful."
He hummed in agreement and looked up towards the ceiling. "Do you think you can spend the night?"
She answered in a teasing tone. "Ahh, is little brother scared of the dark?"
Naruto had a deadpan expression on his face when he looked at her. "Um no I just need someone to help me cut my hair."
"Nooo!" she grabbed Naruto's head running her hands through his hair "it's so fluffy!"
Naruto pouted and tried to get out of her hold. "It's not fluffy, it's cool and manly."
A man with a diamond shaped face, full meaty lips, a long nose, dark green eyes and shoulder-length muddy brown hair sat down on his bead, he wore a dark brown suit with dark cloak, a dark belt with a silver buckle and dark brown boots. The room had grey walls with the pain chipping and the wooden furniture had a grey tint to it as well, being from around time of the second great shinobi war.
The man massaged his own temples the weight of days event plagued his mind. After so much time searching, we've finally found the Box of Ultimate Bliss, the very same thing that will help us restore Kusagakure to its rightful greatness.
Both he and his wife had searched for the box that once allowed Kusagakure to take over the world in the long forgotten past. No it was chosen to be forgotten by the rest of the world to hide their shame, it was said that not eve the Sage of Six Paths could match the power of the box.
It was thought that the box would be able to grant the person that opens it any wish, but it required an immense amount of chakra to open. Already a list of people with large chakra reserves was being made, and even children whose reserves were large and could in the future grow even larger. Here he couldn't help but scowl, his own son had good reserves for one so young and in time his reserves could make him a truly strong shinobi, one that could bring glory to Kusagakure.
But what good would that do, Kusagakure is still a small village compared to the great ones as is our country; it has grown corrupt with the passage of time. The council members and I have our work cut out for us if we want to stir it back on the right path.
He looked at a picture of him and his departed wife touching her picture with his hand, I'm sorry my love I don't think I'm strong enough to sacrifice our son, you were the strong one. Perhaps if we don't find someone in Kusagakure we can attempt to capture a jinjuriki or a person with large chakra reserves, knowing you're son he may end up volunteering to open the box.
He hesitated for a moment. I will stand by him if he chooses such a thing; either way I will train him as best as I can beloved. My career is advancing and the rank of jounin is not far from my grasp. The man closed his eyes and hoped sleep would overtake him quickly and grant him respite from the problems of the world.
Both Naruto and Tenten looked out the window at the clear night sky; they where sitting on Naruto's bed and were wrapped in a blanket drinking hot tea.
Naruto took a sip of his tea. "It's almost time."
"Yes." The New Year was only two weeks away and they would both start the academy next year. Tenten smiled as she snuggled closer to Naruto who was wearing the sweater she had gotten him for his birthday, a few shopkeepers still held a grudge against him which made cloths shopping more difficult; she on the other hand had a much easier time buying cloths for him.
She had loved the look of wonder on his face when he saw that she had gotten him a birthday present, it had taken a while to save up money from some of the jobs done around Konoha as she didn't want to use his own money for it. Even if it was past it, they had celebrated her birthday as well a short while after she had joined them, Naruto had taken her sledding with the occasion. Though she couldn't see it she knew the he had a grin on his face when they went over the edge of the mountain because of her panicked look.
"Things are going to get a lot more hectic from now on."
She could tell that he was nervous, perhaps even afraid. A lot of plans to set into motion and things to deal with. Dealing with the people at the academy, meeting the Hokage, who by now must have known that she had gotten close to Naruto but had not mentioned it yet, herself moving in with Naruto and making sure the Hokage didn't do anything about it. She grabbed his hand and squeezed. "It doesn't matter come what may come we'll face them together brother."
Naruto smiled looking at her. "You're right sister, it's not like anything is going to happen anytime soon."
She furrowed her eyebrows looking at him. "You now it's bad luck to say that."
Naruto shrugged before a confident smirk graced his face. "Meh, my good luck can win against that bad luck."
She shook her head smiling at him. "Let's just hope you don't end up regret saying that."
"Our team work is great, if something rear's its head out we kick its ass."
"Heh" She grinned as they toasted their cups together. "Our teamwork has gotten very good in combat situations and out of them."
Naruto smiled. "Yep, what could possibly go wrong?"
The fire crackled as she placed another log before tightening her fur coat and heading towards the door, the smell of milk and cooked food filled the room.
"Look after your siblings and make sure they don't cause any problems my dear little bun."
Her eldest scrunched his nose and rolled his eyes as he crossed his arms. "Their almost asleep as it is mom; they'll be going to bed any moment now."
Nanao Oka kissed her soon on the forehead and picked up the package from the small wooden table near the door. "I'll be back as soon as I can, remember our sign."
Her son nodded. "Knock three times, and answer that you're the bear from the south."
"Good." Nanao watched her son fidget for a moment.
"May the dragons protect you from He who lives in the ice."
She smiled remembering how that old was said before someone dear ventured out into the cold when danger lurked around. "Don't worry son, it'll be alright."
She pulled the hood of her coat on her head and exited her home, she soon as she stepped outside of her house Nanao felt the cold air cutting into her flesh, in response she pulled the hood of her coat even lower and waited a moment to hear her son closing the door before she began to make her way towards her destination.
Nanao looked at the houses she passed by watching the smoke rise from their chimneys, their small village was nestled near the Ori mountain with the Hanan forest to the west and the great silver lakes to the east.
Their life was far simpler then that of the people living in the large cities of their country, but even those people were in the minority compared to the large number of villages that existed scattered through out the land.
People can say what they want but the horseradish and caraway of our country is the best in the world. Even if the amber trade wasn't flowing as before it still had its own small market and people still sought good made from it. They grew and traded their own crops at trade outposts or when the prices weren't good enough they would head towards the costal cities themselves with their merchandise, even if that did rarely happened.
But now it had happened, the trade outposts near them had been thrown into chaos, the few that remained unaffected had already honored the deals they had made and couldn't make other deals. A small part of the people that usually went to trade the goods and would return with other merchandise now came back empty handed and told the rest of them of what had occurred and how the others had left for the costal cities to sell their goods there.
Nanao scowled think about the cause of their troubles. And all because of some fight amongst the big city dwellers, I've never seen this daimyo of ours and yet with his death everything is thrown into chaos and our lives are disrupted. She admitted that the daimyo had done something good for their village when he had improved the roads linking it to the trade outposts and the other smaller villages but that had been it.
This was the reason she was out tonight, to visit a neighbor and bring them some milk, poor Atsushi, the woman's husband had left with the trade caravans for the costal cities and her father had gone with the other men to the silver lakes to gather more fish. Tamura is stubborn old man. She briefly shook her head in disapproval. Now Atsushi only has her younger brother to help her with the household and her children.
Nanao tightened the scarf around her neck and mouth, this winter had been far colder then the others that she could remember. The winters in their country were harsh and cattle were essential for their survival, about one half of the cattle were slaughtered before the age of four years, allowing most cows to produce at least one calf and making both meat and milk production possible. Her twin cattle were now a proud seven years old and were used as dairy cattle, they still have a two or three years left in them.
Meat was after all a seasonal product, and the slaughtering was mainly done at the end of the grazing season. The people had to make careful assessments and decide how many animals could be overwintered, with the strongest and most productive animals being retained and others slaughtered for meat. Pigs were lifesavers for many, they were kept for meat and were usually sent off into the forest to feed on mast, they were an efficient means of recycling food waste and turning it into consumable meat.
Her gaze shifted to a light in the distance not far from the village outskirt, the place were they burned their dead, as they had done since they could remember, a way to deny He who lives in the ice his desire. She scowled for a moment. There were many legends of the old enemy and he had many names, the twisted heart of winter and the father of blizzards. The people would burn their dead to make sure he would not come for them, to raise them as his troops and ravage the land.
Old stories created and told to children to scare them of the winter, the true reason was that with the land frozen as it was most of the time it was simply to difficult to bury the dead in the ground, shovels had been broken attempting such a feat and good men had died from it as well needing to be burned alongside the recently dead.
For a moment she remembered her grandmother's saying how they had not created the stories, they had simply inherited them from those who came before them, those that walked the snowy paths marking the passages for them. Those who fought alongside the dragons to drive back the creatures spawned of the enemy and created the wall to keep them safe. Bah, she continued walking, old tales that don't mean anything anymore.
She could see Atsushi's house not far from her, a light could still be seen in the window and smoke poured out the chimney. Just a bit more and I'll be there and then we can… her thoughts were interrupted as a loud shriek tour through the village shattering the sleepy atmosphere. A moment later a shout ran out. "TO ARMS, to arms, to…" before it quickly died.
What's happening? She desperately looked around herself as lights in houses quickly appeared, it had been years since their village had been attacked and even then there had been only a few wolfs, almost a decade had passed since men that had been driven out of their own village attacked theirs. Then in the distance she saw something coming down from the Ori mountain, flickers of silver descending down towards the village. It can't be, those are…
"Nanao, Nanao answer me!"
She turned around and saw her friend Atsushi who had a large wooded club near one of her legs, the door to her house was opened and Atsushi's brother was in the doorway wielding a small axe.
She looked at the startled woman. "Atsushi?"
"Nanao do you know what's happening?"
"I…" she swallowed heavily, all around her lights were being light in the houses and people were emerging from them wielding what they could, a flicker of silver caught her sight to the right. "It's…" Her eyes widened as a moment later an icy hand grabbed Atsushi's head, the woman's face contorted as the hand began to squeeze blood trailing from her eyes, nose, mouth and forehead where the creature had sunk its claws into it.
She blinked before Atsushi's head popped like a ripe tomato; she briefly managed to raise her hands up to her face and dropped her package as she had her friend's blood and flesh smeared on her face. She didn't know how long it had taken her to clear her eyes to see again, but that time was filled with the terrified cries of her fellow villagers. When she finally opened her eyes she could see that in front of her laid the body of her friend, farther away she saw Atsushi's brother laying face down in the snow at the entrance to their house, a large hole visible in his back from which blood was pouring out.
Nanao cast a look to her right from where the claw had come from, there stood a tall and gaunt creature looking at her; it looked almost human, bathed in the moonlight the creature was of the purest silver she had ever seen, the only part that was dirty was it's right hand as it still had the blood of her friend on it. The creature tilted it's head looking at her, silver eyes borrowing into her soul, a moment later another flash of silver caught her attention this time it was much closer to her, looking down she saw the creature's clawed left hand imbeded inside her chest, the creature pushed it's own hand further in and Nanao felt the cold slowly take her.
As the life drained from her body she tried to think of her children, how her oldest would attempt to protect his siblings, of her husband who had left to visit the trade outposts to see if the situation had stabalized, but as she saw the bright light from the village outskirts another thought plagued her mind. It doesn't matter if we burn our dead they will kill us all and transform us into them. Nanao slowly closed her eyes as she fell to her knees, remembering her grandmother's stories. I hope the dragons are real as well and that they will rise to battle the old enemy like in the legends.
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Chapter 10 - 12775 words
Completion date 04 VI 2014, publication date, mostly likely 5 IX 2014- I cut out a few scenes from this chapter to get the ball rolling and progress the story, Tenten's birthday party was amongst the ones that took a blow, you can expect an eventual flashback with that.
- More training with Naruto and Tenten while in the god realm got cut as well, it would have occurred after the battle between the monster forms of Yukimura and Sayaka.
- The chances of Tenten getting adopted dropped a lot after she started hanging out with Naruto while Yukimura did say that in some variations she did get adopted, here she doesn't want that anymore.
- Can anyone tell where I got the ideas for Yukimura and Sayaka's new forms?
- I'm still getting used to writing fight scenes and the large monster ones are even harder to write.
- A better writer could do describing a tornado justice, I personally can't.
- I do regret not having a few more scenes with Katsue added
- I'm failing to capture the thought and speech of small children; With Naruto it's more understandable why he's this way, not so much with Tenten.
- One explanation I came up with as to why Naruto is said to have failed the graduation exams is that he tried to take the exam early on. If the academy lasts five years and they are taught all the jutsu they need to graduate in the third year, Naruto could have actually tried to graduate early on and failed two times before failing a third time with his own generation. If those three jutsu were a requirement to also pass the class then he should have failed when he got to the current generation just as before. Overall I don't think Kishi put too much thought into the matter and just went with magic number three.
- I have to think that the academy three would still take some time to master, yes Naruto is plowing through the material but he isn't Minato to pick things up so quickly, getting the hang of the three should still take a while. The three may sound simple but they are still complex to a degree, think about it, one of them uses illusions to create a false image over the user's body, you still need to practice visualizing that image, holding it and then walking around with it. Another one has you literally changing your place with another item to evade an attack, I'm still not sure how it's done, do they create a chakra whirlwind around the object to switch with? How do they mold their chakra for the basic three? It probably takes some time using your chakra that way. And yes I know that Kakashi was most likely to master them early on, as was Itachi.
- Shingeki no Kyojin quotes present and accounted for.
- What was the building were Gaara killed Dosu? Well here it has a purpose
- What explanation is there for Sasuke leaving through the fucking front gates of Konoha? Maybe they were really undermanned, but holy hell to leave the gates unguarded? How about closing them, or just leaving one person there, it just seems so bad that Kishi probably didn't think about a reasonable explanation for it. I doubt the sound four where stupid enough to try and enter Konoha through the front gate while killing the guard.
- I'm still not sure how Suna and Oto managed to sneak up on Konoha during the exams