Opening 3 - Resistance by High and Mighty Color

X

Hinata formed her fifth Rasengan that morning, panting slightly. "Jiraiya-sensei, I don't know how long I can keep this up. I've burned through over half my chakra already."

The sun was still rising over a certain lake just outside of Konoha, and Hinata was standing on its surface wth her signature ninjutsu in hand. Jiraiya was watching from mere feet away, while Naruto worked in the forest nearby, hoping to unlock a new Path of the Rinnegan. "Just once more," Jiraiya assured her. "I'm going to try one more trick, then we're done."

Hinata nodded, and bent down to slam her Rasengan into the surface of the water, forming a whirlpool as it whipped up the water it touched. Slowly, the sphere of chakra began to turn deep blue, and suddenly a teal bubble-like layer of chakra sprang up from the surface of the Rasengan. "Here it is," she declared, and held it out for Jiraiya to see.

The Toad Sage nodded, and closed his eyes, standing perfectly still on the water. "Hinata, don't move, and keep that jutsu just where it is. That's important." Hinata blinked, then nodded. "I said don't move."

"How did you see-"

"Shush." Jiraiya opened his eyes after a few seconds. "It's natural energy. You can't add the nature transformation to your Rasengan by yourself, but with the natural energy in the water, which already has that element..." he rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "The balance between your chakra and the senjutsu chakra isn't quite perfect, but it's close enough to use in battle..."

"Um... senjutsu, and natural energy... I wanted to ask you about that, actually..." Jiraiya blinked. "My Byakugan can see natural energy. And Orochimaru said he can make Cursed Seals and fill them with senjutsu chakra..."

"Ah..." Jiraiya rubbed his forehead, groaning. "Damn it, we have to sort this all out, right now." he sighed, and sat down, beckoning Hinata to do the same. "Hinata, I'm going to show you the highest point of my abilities, and then I'm going to tell you a story about the First Hokage."

"The First Hokage?" Hinata sat down next to him, nearly forgetting about the Rasengan she held. She slowly reabsorbed her chakra from the sphere, frowning at how much more difficult it was than normal. Not that it was ever easy; the ability to reabsorb one's chakra from a fully formed jutsu was the height of chakra control. She held her right wrist with her left, and fell perfectly still, concentrating on safely dissolving the Rasengan without hitting anything with it.

When she finished dissolving the Rasengan, she blinked several times in confusion. An odd feeling was flowing throughout her body, and in particular creeping up her right forearm. She turned to look at it, and screamed in horror, forcing Jiraiya to open his eyes.

Her arm was turning to stone.

"Damn it!" Jiraiya roared. "This is something you can't rush through, like with the Rasengan! It's dangerous!" he drew a small stone wand from one of his pockets, roughly the length of a kunai, and whacked Hinata's stone arm with it, hard. She yelped in surprise, but her arm immediately returned to normal. Jiraiya paused, and put away the wand. "How... how did you know how to do that, anyway?"

"I just tried to reabsorb my Rasengan!" she explained frantically. "Then my arm did that!" she shuddered.

Jiraiya clutched his forehead again. "This is giving me such a headache... Hinata, I need you to promise me you'll never do that again. Not with a Water Release: Rasengan, at least."

"O-Okay, I promise. But why? What just happened?"

"You absorbed natural energy directly into your body. To do that safely you need massive chakra reserves. And now you know what happens when you don't do it safely," he added harshly. Hinata looked down at her arm, and Jiraiya winced. "Sorry, but I really do have to make this clear. Sage Mode can kill you."

"S-Sage Mode?"

"Ah, right. I haven't explained yet. Sage Mode is what you get when you absorb natural energy into your body and balance it properly with your own physical and spiritual energy, the two components of chakra. The result is what's called senjutsu chakra, which is much more potent. In order to use this power, you have to remain perfectly still, and 'become a part of nature' so the natural energy can flow into your body. There are several animal clans that teach their own Sage Mode styles. I learned mine from the Toad Clan, and I was about to show you."

"When I was drawing the chakra out of the Rasengan, I was staying still. That made it easier to draw the chakra in..."

"What the hell's going on!?" Naruto roared and leapt through the trees with his sword drawn and his Rinnegan active. "I heard you scream, is everything alright?"

"I-I'm fine, Naruto-kun," she replied, still startled by her arm turning to stone. "I was just training with Jiraiya-sensei and I messed up. Everything's okay now though. Don't worry."

"Okay..." he replied hesitantly. "Be careful."

Jiraiya cast an appraising look at Hinata as Naruto vanished back into the forest. "I don't like it when he worries about me instead of himself," she explained sheepishly. "I understand how he feels. I'm the second person who ever reached out to him and the closest one to him in the world, so I can see how much he'd be afraid of losing me. That's why I need to show him he has nothing to be afraid of."

Jiraiya smirked. "I gotta write that into my next book," he muttered. "Ah, that can wait. As I was saying, the toads are one of many races of animals that have learned to harness natural energy and can teach it to humans like myself... and you. Which brings us to Hashirama Senju, the First Hokage."

"So, the First learned senjutsu from his summons?"

"No." Jiraiya grinned. "He figured it out himself, the way you've been doing until now. The story goes that the First was meditating in a grove of trees he formed with his kekkei genkai, the Wood Release. He found himself sitting perfectly still, one with nature, and he could sense an energy in the trees that he hadn't put there. The legends argue over how long it took him to develop a proper Sage Mode, but we do know he developed in in time for, and used it in, his battle against Madara Uchiha, a battle that created the Valley of the End. In fact, it was Hashirama's power amplified through Sage Mode that created the valley."

"So he developed his own Sage Mode... why is that so significant, over just learning it from an animal?"

"My own Sage Mode in the Toad Clan style is still incomplete. I can't perfectly balance natural energy into my chakra, which means I take on the physical traits of a toad, and on top of that even a perfect Toad Sage Mode will still emulate a toad, just slightly so. But the First created his own personal senjutsu style, and the new physical traits he showed were matched to his own body, not an animal. A Human Sage Mode, unique to an individual wielder."

"Matched to his body," Hinata repeated. "How so?"

"There are artworks that depict the First Hokage, and a few that show him in battle against Madara Uchiha. A few of them are sketches he did personally of his own Sage Mode. The only physical changes he showed were dark facial markings that he believed represented his chakra element. His kekkei genkai, the Wood Release. Now I can't say for sure, but I believe his Sage Mode was vastly more powerful than mine or any other human's. That could be just because he had more chakra, and could therefore mix more natural energy into it, but... I don't buy that."

"So you believe a Human Sage Mode being used by a human is stronger. The way a Toad Sage Mode being used by a toad is stronger than a human Toad Sage can be?" Hinata frowned. "And you want me to try and create my own?"

"Not now. Not with the kind of chakra reserves you have currently, but I suggest you develop those reserves to at least Jounin-level. If you can do that, with your chakra control as a Hyuuga, you might just be able to develop a Human Sage Mode. That'll take you years, but there's something else you can already do. Today you showed me something I considered completely impossible! You mixed natural energy into a jutsu you had already formed, and not only that, but you did it with the Rasengan, which is made of chakra spinning at high speeds, when a living being can only gather natural energy when they're completely still."

"I can see how that would seem impossible," Hinata agreed, then glanced down at her formerly petrified arm and hand. "But I have one more question. When I pulled the natural energy out of my Rasengan, I nearly turned to stone! How did Hashirama Senju manage to get Sage Mode right the first time, without turning to stone? Or if he did turn to stone, how did he turn back?"

"No one knows, but if you want my guess, I think... if he got it right the first time, it was luck, but he would still have to balance the natural energy properly every time after that. The First possessed incredible force of will, which might have let him force some excess natural energy out of his body, but he was also a level-headed and serious man when he had to be. He probably absorbed the natural energy very slowly and carefully until he had enough."

"Slowly and carefully..." Hinata triggered her Byakugan and looked around at the natural energy in the forest and the lake. So much power... it could easily overwhelm anyone I know. Hokage-sama, Jiraiya-sensei, Naruto-kun... the First must have been so slow and careful, even with the chakra reserves he had to help him. "I can see this is going to take me a long time," she said finally, then turned off her Byakugan and stood. "But I will do it one day. I was born able to see this power, and I was lucky enough to have a sensei who can help me with it. I have the motivation to learn it, and I know I'll one day be ready for it. I'm going to be a Sage." She recalled her battle with Neji, and added silently, this is Fate, Neji-niisan. This is the kind of goal people are supposed to reach for.

X

"Summoning Jutsu!" Naruto roared once again, and pumped as much of his chakra into his hand as he could, slamming it into the ground, hard. A perfect summoning fuinjutsu spread out over the ground, but nothing came out of it, and Naruto groaned. "Ugh, it's like the Clone Jutsu all over again, damn it! Summoning Jutsu!"

This time the seal glowed orange as it appeared, then nothing. Why are you trying to unlock the Animal Path? Kurama asked. The Preta and Naraka Paths seem more like what you'd want.

"The scroll said the Animal Path was a nice stepping stone to the harder Paths," Naruto replied out loud, not bothering to talk in his head. "Honestly I think the Preta Path would be cool. I can absorb ninjutsu with it, as long as I can catch it with my hands, and I have to have enough chakra left to theoretically cast it myself. But what's so special about the Naraka Path? Summoning the King of Hell to interrogate people? Not my style."

Idiot. First of all, keep it down. You don't know who could be listening. Now, the King of Hell has three powers. One is interrogation; no one can lie to the King of Hell. But the other would interest you far more: healing. The King can heal those who pass through its mouth with your permission.

Healing? That actually sounds great, but what's the third power?

Transportation. The King can appear in one place, take a person into its mouth, then vanish and reappear somewhere else, still carrying that person.

Okay, I'm sold. But the scroll said that Path was harder! How am I gonna do it if I can't even figure out the Animal Path?

So says the boy who can make a maximum of two clones, and yet he can use the Drilling Air Bullet.

Fair enough. Naruto pulled his mother's scroll out of his pouch, and read the section on the Naraka Path aloud. "The Naraka Path revolves entirely around the use of an entity called the King of Hell. Its powers include forcing a victim to answer questions truthfully or die, healing the user or anyone else he or she desires, and teleporting between given coordinates with passengers in its mouth. To unlock it one must mentally call forth the King of Hell and meet its challenge, then... bleh. Pull out its tongue and sever it. This initiates the summoning contract, blah blah blah..."

Naruto paused. "...The King of Hell is shared by all Rinnegan wielders, and it will refuse to lend its power in a battle between two such individuals, closing off the Naraka Path to both until the conflict is resolved." Naruto frowned. The fact that anyone knows that means two Rinnegan wielders have fought before. Two Uzumaki Clan members with their doujutsu awakened.

Which raises the question: how many Uzumakis before you have awakened the Rinnegan? And how many of those ended up fighting each other?

How many of those left Uzushio? Naruto realized. How many had kids? He shook off those thoughts. It could be none. Even if there are more Uzumakis out there, let them live in peace where they are. Now come fight me, King of Hell!

"Enma-sama will pull out your tongue." Naruto's eyes widened as a hellish purple cloud of fire rose up out of the ground in front of him. The ethereal image of a giant demon's head flickered within the flames, then solidified and opened its mouth in a roar. "Come to Enma-sama!"

"So that's your name." Naruto summoned his cutlass, and leveled it at the demon. "Naruto-sama will pull out your tongue!"

"You will speak only to answer Enma-sama's questions!" the demon commanded, and Naruto's right hand burst into purple flame prompting him to drop his sword in pain. The flames vanished and he clutched his somehow unharmed hand. "What is your name?"

"Naruto Uzumaki."

"You lie, Naruto Namikaze!" The beast opened its jaws wide, and an arm of bare flesh with no skin reached for Naruto's mouth.

"I'm not lying," Naruto yelled back and stood his ground. "Uzumaki is what I've been called my whole life, and it's the name I've called myself. It's my name!"

The arm retracted into the mouth of the King of Hell. "What is your worst fear?"

"Losing the people I care about."

The demon roared in anger. "Do not hold back the truth! Answer, or Enma-sama will pull out your tongue! What is your worst fear?"

Naruto scowled at the monster. "Hinata dying! That's what I fear over everything else. I could have everyone else turn their back on me, I could see Konoha flattened, I could die failing to prevent it all from happening, and I'd take that over her dying. Are you happy now?" he picked up his sword from the ground, and pointed it at the King again. "Now that I've picked one person over everyone else I care about? Huh!? Is that enough for you?"

"What would you do to save her?"

Naruto's scowl faded, replaced by a confident smirk. "Anything. Just like last time someone asked me that. Now open wide!" The King of Hell opened its jaws again, and its monstrously long tongue slithered out, pointing directly at Naruto's head. He stepped forward and grasped it, then whipped his sword upward and cut off half of the demon's tongue. "Guess what, Enma? You're gonna help me do it! And I won't stop with Hinata. I..."

I want to show you that you can lean on me, and count on me, and never have to worry about keeping me safe.

"She and I will protect this whole village and everyone in it! We'll stop Akatsuki, save the world, and whatever happens after that, we'll handle that too!" Naruto tossed aside the severed tongue of the demon. "Together."

"...You speak the truth."

"Damn right I do, believe it!"

"You are worthy. Your whim is my command henceforth." The demon closed its bleeding mouth, and vanished along with its flames.

"That leaves two more," Naruto declared, and resealed his sword in his ring. "The Animal and Preta Paths." Naruto deactivated his Rinnegan, and turned to leave the forest in the direction of Hinata and Jiraiya. Time to talk to Pervy Sage about learining some new jutsu. Any suggestions, Kurama?

You have sufficient power to crush your enemies... perhaps one more offensive jutsu for good measure, then learn some defensive and supplementary jutsu. You humans are pathetically frail, and you need to deal with that problem.

Okay. Supplementary and defensive jutsu to go with my attacks. I think I'm gonna learn some jutsu for all the elements. That's gonna impress whoever hands out the Chuunin promotions. I wonder what Hina-chan's gonna work on.

Naruto yelped and drew his sword when an ANBU assassin in full gear and a cat mask leapt out of the trees and landed right in front of him. "Naruto Uzumaki?"

"What is it? Ya could've given a friggen warning, ya know!"

"Apologies. Force of habit, I suppose." The ANBU shrugged, and pulled a scroll out of a pocket on his flak jacket. "The memories of some of your more devious pranks might have given me a subliminal motive to return the favor, but I digress. Hokage-sama sent you this." He handed the scroll to Naruto.

Naruto unfurled it, and read aloud, "Report to the Hokage's office to be debriefed on the situation with Mizuki Tora. Bring Hinata, Kiba, and Gaara with you for your..." Naruto blinked.

"What's wrong?" the ANBU asked with innocent concern.

"S-rank mission assignment." Naruto blinked again. "S-RANK-"

"Keep it down, you idiot!" the ninja slapped a hand over Naruto's mouth, muffling his scream. "You don't go yelling stuff like that out! Village secrets, and all that. I take it this is your first time receiving one?" The ANBU froze, and vanished in front of Naruto to be replaced by a log.

The Jinchuuriki's eyes widened when he saw a kunai speeding toward said log, and he jumped back just before Hinata switched places with her thrown weapon, Byakugan active. "Naruto-kun, are you alright?" she cut him off just before he could reply, and shoved him out of the way of a tree branch that was growing toward them at an unnatural rate.

It stopped several yards away from both Genin, and the ANBU agent descended from the treetops for the second time. "Hinata Hyuuga? What the hell's wrong with you, throwing a deadly weapon at an ANBU elite shinobi!? If I hadn't seen you save Naruto from my Wood Release, I'd have assumed you were an assassin under a Transformation Jutsu. Be more careful."

"Wood Release," Hinata repeated, then glanced at the offending tree limb. "You're a Senju?"

"...My codename is Tenzou, and yes, I obtained my kekkei genkai through the First Hokage's DNA. But that isn't important right now. I've fulfilled my mission and I'm done here. Good luck." Tenzou Substituted with another log, vanishing once again.

Hinata turned back to Naruto, and admitted, "I couldn't see his mask from behind. All I saw was a ninja with his hand over your mouth to keep you from screaming... mmf!?" Hinata squealed in surprise when Naruto jumped forward and kissed her, but almost immediately she found herself looking around and realizing one very important fact. We're alone out here... maybe now I could try... just try being a bit bolder...

Naruto's eyes snapped open as he was pushed backward and pinned against a tree by Hinata, still kissing him."H-Hina-chan!?"

She briefly stopped the kiss to reply, "Yeah?"

"...Where's Pervy Sage?"

Her eyes immediately widened, and she stepped away from Naruto, blushing a deep cherry-red. She turned on her Byakugan and spotted Jiraiya thirty feet behind her, giggling and bleeding slightly from the nose. "He... s-saw that."

"...Of course he did," Naruto flushed with both embarassment and anger, then asked quietly, "Are we gonna kill him?"

"No," she replied, and glared over her shoulder. "We need him to train us, then we can make him wish he was dead. We'll have to let him think we haven't caught him, until then."

"Yeah, how's that going by the way? Your training?"

"I started learning about senjutsu, and I was learning some new water jutsu when you screamed and I came here. What about you?"

"Unlocked a new Path of the Rinnegan," he replied with a shrug. "So, you're learning senjutsu?"

"Not quite learning it yet," she admitted. "Just learning about it. I need to build up my chakra reserves before I can use it, but I'll get there."

Naruto nodded, and a dark thought crossed his mind, bringing out an evil grin. "Hey, I know how we can get back at Pervy Sage right now. You know where he is, right?"

"Mhm." She nodded, and led him to Jiraiya, who blanched when he saw them approaching, but was too scared to run. "Now what?" she asked, standing before a quivering Toad Sage.

"Naraka Path," Naruto said simply, and Jiraiya froze.

The King of Hell rose up from the ground in a plume of purple flames, and roared at Jiraiya, "Did you see something you were not supposed to see?"

"I-I don't-"

"If you lie, Enma-sama will pull out your tongue! What did you see?"

"They kissed," he said weakly, pointing at Naruto and Hinata.

"And what did you do?"

"I-I m-memorized it for a s-scene in my n-next b-book," Jiraiya whimpered.

"And you will not use that memory, will you?"

"N-no, never, I s-swear!"

"Enma," Naruto interrupted. "If you lie, I will pull out your tongue. Are you capable of harming Jiraiya against my orders?"

"No," the monster said immediately, then cast its glare back at Jiraiya. He and Naruto spoke in stereo then: "Remember those words. 'Against my orders.'" Jiraiya nodded, and the King of Hell faded away.

"Pervy Sage, don't ever spy on me and Hina-chan. It's creepy."

"Please don't summon him again!" Jiraiya begged. "I swear I'll never peek on you two again!"

"Deal." Naruto turned to Hinata. "Did I go overboard with that?"

"Maybe a little," she admitted. "But I think we can take his word now."

"As if you couldn't before!" the sage protested, now less terrified and more angry. "And don't get any wrong ideas, I'm not a pedophile. I was gonna make your characters in the book a lot older. Say, early twenties." Jiraiya wiped away the blood from his nose. "Seriously though, don't ever use Enma on me again. I once saw Nagato use him, and I know what he can do."

"Nagato?" Naruto repeated.

"The boy I knew who had the Rinnegan. I'll tell you some other time."

"...Fine," Naruto sighed. "Hina-chan, we need to get Kiba and Gaara anyway. The Hokage wants to see us."

X

Hinata sat perfectly still with her eyes closed in the Hokage's office, with Naruto to her right and Kiba to her left. Amazing... natural energy flows through this room almost as much as on the lake. I can feel it- The door swung open, disrupting the natural energy in the room. It retreated away from all four of the Genin, and Hinata's eyes snapped wide open. Is that what keeps people from absorbing natural energy while moving?

"I won't waste time here," the Hokage announced firmly as he passed them and slumped into his chair. "I need to know everything you know about Mizuki's abilities. Everything he showed you. I know he has a high-speed movement jutsu that blows the Body Flicker out of the water completely, but I don't know which one."

"Pulse Step," Naruto answered immediately. "He called it the Pulse Step Jutsu."

The Hokage breathed a sigh of relief. "I was afraid it was the Flying Raijin," he admitted. "If Mizuki had the skill to learn that jutsu, then every other jutsu in the scroll would be within his abilities. As it stands, he's a major threat to this village. What else did he use against you?"

"He used a Summoning Jutsu to teleport myself, Naruto-kun, and later Gaara into his grasp," Hinata recalled. "There was also some kind of Fire Release jutsu that he used by cutting himself."

"The Burning Blood Sacrifice creates flames hot enough to incinerate a human body in less than half a second. It's a B-rank kinjutsu," The Professor recited. "not a major problem. There are jutsu that can block it. But if he has the Human Summoning Contract..."

"There's a Human Summoning Contract!?" Naruto asked incredulously. "You mean he can summon anyone he wants, right to his hands?"

"No. It requires the summoner to be able to see and reach for the target." The Hokage unfurled a small scroll he took from his desk, and unsealed the Scroll of Seals within, drawing looks of surprise from Team Eight. "And the contract is here, built into the Scroll of Seals. Mizuki would not be able to copy the contract and sign it elsewhere, so his signature is here." the Hokage unfurled the scroll and found the summoning contract. "Taking that ability from him is as simple as erasing his name."

"Why wouldn't you destroy something that dangerous?" Kiba asked. "Who the hell would even write a Human Summoning Contract? Who could?"

"The Second Hokage was a shrewd man," the Third answered. "He wasn't cruel and he did no wrong by his people, but he believed the ends justified the means, and he was rather... creative with the means." he coated his hand in fire chakra and burned away the ink of Mizuki's name, leaving behind the unharmed paper. "As you can see, he protected this scroll. If I recall, his reasoning was for future generations to use it when necessary, rather than be forced into the terrible undertaking of actually writing it a second time."

"Mizuki used Shadow Clones," Naruto remembered. "He made somwhere around a hundred at my house, but he had to take a soldier pill afterward."

"A hundred!?" Sarutobi repeated, incredulous. "With his chakra reserves, that must have seriously damaged his body, specifically his brain and his chakra network. If he then went so far as to use a soldier pill to keep fighting... surely he knows the long-term damage that'll do to him..."

"He doesn't seem to care," Hinata admitted. "Either he believes he can be healed afterward, or he's willing to shorten his lifespan for power."

"I see." the Hokage frowned. "What else did he use?"

"A Fire Dragon Bullet," Gaara answered. "I take it that's not a kinjutsu, though."

"That was once Mizuki's most powerful jutsu," said the Third. "He frequently mentioned using it in his reports to finish his targets off. He's quite skilled with it, and I imagine he can use less chakra to form it by now."

"I can't remember any other jutsu he used," Naruto admitted, "but he had a Cursed Seal."

"That much I know." the Hokage sighed. "The four of you have fought Mizuki and chased him off, after you'd already been through individual matches against other Genin, and my ANBU tell me they can't find Mizuki. Your mission is to spend the next month in close proximity to each other, and if Mizuki attacks you again, kill him. Don't hesitate, don't think of bringing him in, kill him. This is an S-rank assassination mission and as such, you'll each receive pay of one million two hundred thousand ryou after it's complete. Please understand, I'd send ANBU if I could." he sighed again, and reached for his pipe. "You have your orders."

"Yes, Hokage-sama," Team Eight replied, shortly followed by Gaara.

"How often do Genin receive S-rank missions here?" Gaara asked quietly once they'd left the room.

"Somewhere around never," Kiba answered immediately. "What about in Suna?"

"Likewise. Only Jounin and ANBU ever receive such assignments there."

"Same here," Kiba stretched. "Hokage-sama's really putting a lot of faith in us."

"I don't see how. Mizuki would attack Naruto, Hinata and Sasuke whether or not we were assigned a mission to assassinate him when that time comes..."

"Sasuke," Naruto realized. "Orochimaru wants his Sharingan along with my Rinnegan. What if Mizuki goes after him instead of us!?"

"We should look around for him, maybe have him train with us for the finals," Hinata decided. "Strength in numbers."

X

"Chidori." Kakashi held up his lightning-covered hand for Sasuke to see. "My first original jutsu."

Sasuke inspected the mass of chakra with his Sharingan. "It looks... deadly. I like it."

"You haven't even begun to see what it can do. You might not like it once you've put it through someone's chest," Kakashi pointed out. He let the chirping lightning die down, and made a fist with his exposed hand. "Now, if the exam finals were the worst thing you had to worry about, I'd focus on teaching you total mastery of the Chidori, but we'll both be facing worse things than Genin next month. So for now, just show me a Chidori, then we'll move on."

Sasuke looked around at the barren landscape they stood in, strewn with boulders that looked like more than suitable targets for a lightning jutsu. He picked one, made the necessary hand seals, and called, "Chidori."

His hand lit up with lightning chakra and he stabbed a boulder with it, melting and tearing a sizeable tunnel into the rock. "How was that?" he asked, panting slightly.

"For your first shot, not bad. We might come back to that later, but for now we should work on other things. Namely your strongest elemental affinity, the Fire Release."

"I know plenty of fire jutsu. I want something new."

"What you want doesn't matter. What you can use to save your life does." Kakashi glared at the boy. "Countless Uchihas throughout history have become obsessed with revenge, Sasuke. It never ended well for them," he warned.

"Pfft. If you're trying to talk me out of going after Itachi, save your breath. I will gain power, and I will use that power to kill my brother."

"And then what? What'll you do once Itachi is dead?" Sasuke blinked. "I thought so. You don't see what happens after the subject of your hatred is gone. I do. You'll wander for a while with nothing to do. You'll feel empty inside, hollow, and I'll tell you why. It's because you won't get any satisfaction from your revenge, and yet you'll have no goals left to fulfill. In time you'll decide you want revenge on everything, and you'll start with the people you care about the most: Sakura and Lee."

"I'd never hurt them," Sasuke answered angrily. "I'd never-"

"You would." Kakashi lifted his headband and watched Sasuke with both eyes, then said coldly, "Mangekyou Sharingan."

Sasuke froze. "You... how could you possibly have such mastery over the Sharingan to use that!? You're not even an Uchiha!" he snarled.

"You and I both know that's not how it works." Kakashi deactivated the Mangekyou, and covered his three-tomoe Sharingan again. "To be fair, I haven't yet unlocked any abilities to use with my Mangekyou, but I know how it's unlocked."

"Who..." Sasuke abruptly cut himself off and looked away, realizing his mistake.

"Who did I kill?" Kakashi closed his remaining eye, but not into one of his famed eye-smiles. "So you do know how it works." Sasuke flinched. "And you're considering killing Sakura or Lee, to gain more power."

"No," he replied through gritted teeth. "Itachi hasn't pushed me that far. I'll get stronger my own way."

"I'm glad to hear that, Sasuke. I hope you stand by that decision." Kakashi turned to glance at the damage from Sasuke's Chidori. "If you want, the two of us can do some research in the Uchiha compound, to see if there's any other way to awaken the Mangekyou... but you should know that ever since Madara, the first known Mangekyou wielder, no one has awakened it through any means other than the trauma of losing their closest friend. So don't get your hopes up; you'll probably need to go without that power."

"That's fine." Sasuke smirked. "I'll be better off killing Itachi with jutsu he's never seen before."

"Itachi can wait!" Kakashi snapped. "Right now you need to focus, Sasuke. Orochimaru is going to invade Konoha, and when he does he will send shinobi here to capture you! That is the more pressing matter!"

"Hn. Fine." Sasuke turned away to admire the damage done by his Chidori. "What's next, Kakashi-sensei?"

"How much chakra do you have left after that Chidori?"

"...Just over half," Sasuke admitted and sighed in frustration. "And I'm not happy about it."

"It's not surprising that the Chidori takes a lot out of you," Kakashi said kindly, relaxed once more. "Lightning isn't your affinity, after all, and you can't forget that the Chidori is an A-rank ninjutsu. If you were to use it enough, it might become your secondary affinity, but you'll always find the Fire Release less taxing on your chakra. Let's see how you handle an A-rank fire jutsu." Kakashi made a ten-seal sequence, and called, "Fire Release: Fire Dragon Bullet."

"That looks effective," Sasuke noted, watching the jutsu form with his Sharingan. "A Dragon Bullet... don't they usually take more seals than that?"

"I only know the full seal set for one of them, the Water Dragon Bullet. It takes forty-four hand seals for me to use, since water is one of my weaker affinities. I learned the Fire Dragon Bullet from the Third Hokage, whose skill with it lets him use an incomplete seal set. It's rather taxing for me, but you might be able to use it with better efficiency than the Chidori."

"So why teach me the Chidori first?"

"The Chidori's power is packed into a small area, and it can puncture through a defence that could stop a ranged jutsu like the Fire Dragon Bullet," Kakashi answered. "For instance, if you had been facing Gaara in the finals, you'd need an A-rank jutsu that could deliver all of its power to a single spot on his sand barrier, much like the Drilling Air Bullet Naruto used."

"I wish I could've used my Sharingan to get that one," Sasuke recalled with disappointment in his voice.

"You shouldn't. From what I've seen so far, Lightning Release might turn out to be your second or third affinity, but wind is either your fourth or fifth. Tell me, how'd you feel after that Air Bullet you used against Shino?"

"Not good. It took a lot more chakra for me than it did for the dobe."

"That's what I thought. As an Uchiha, you have the potential to copy jutsu from all five elements and gain all five affinities, but some will be much weaker than others. Wind is a very rare affinity to have outside of Suna and to a lesser extent Kumo, so it's not surprising that your wind affinity is comparatively weak."

"And for the record," Kakashi added with an eye-smile, "the 'dobe' naturally has massive chakra reserves as an Uzumaki, and on top of that he has a certain... condition that may or may not be passively boosting those reserves as well. That's not to say he hasn't worked hard to make proper use of his power, which brings us to my next point. You're not better than anyone else simply because you're an Uchiha. If you want to reach your full potential, you'll have to do what Itachi did: work for it. Your Sharingan will help, but it won't do it all for you."

X

"Wind Scar!" Naruto roared, and whipped his sword through the air.

Training Ground Forty-Two was even more of a mess than usual. The boulders surrounding the four Genin were sliced to pieces, scorched black, drenched with chakra-infused water, and ground into flakes of sand.

"Water Release: Water Wall!" Hinata made a hand seal in front of her mouth and blew out a deep breath of air. As it passed her fingers, the chakra-packed air transformed into water that spread out into a barrier between her and Naruto's attack. The wind blades splashed into the water, but stopped halfway through Hinata's defense. The Hyuuga heiress didn't hesitate to begin her counterattack. "Water Senbon Jutsu!"

Over two hundred needles of shaped water shot through Hinata's Water Wall, aimed directly at Naruto. "Earth Wall!" he raised several dozen boulders into a wall that caught Hinata's attack, then immediately fell apart again.

"You left your flank open!" Kiba roared, and charged at Hinata. The idea for a free-for-all battle between them had been his idea, to better prepere them for an attack from all sides. "Passing Fang!"

"You did the same," Gaara informed him, and the flame-covered Inuzuka drilled headfirst into a wall of sand that grew into a dome to completely surround him.

"Phoenix Flower Jutsu!" Naruto and Hinata both called, and each launched a barrage of small fireballs at Gaara, who took cover behind a wall of sand. "You thinking what I'm thinking?" Naruto asked. "Three-stage vertical flank," he added quietly, and she nodded. "Shinra Tensei!"

Gaara felt something hit his sand barrier with considerable force, but it held, and he opened a small hole to see through. Hinata stood alone on the other side, forming seals for another silent Water Bullet, only to cut herself off mid-sequence, unseal her spear, and throw it with startling precision through the hole in Gaara's wall. He dodged what would have been a painful headshot, then looked up.

"Gotcha!" Naruto declared, and formed hand seals in midair, high above Gaara's sand wall. "Wind Scar!" Gaara merely swept the rest of his sand upward into a roof attached to the sand wall, stopping the attack easily.

Hinata, meanwhile, had Substituted with her spear behind Gaara and chose this moment to roundhouse-kick him into his own sand wall from behind. "One down!" she called, and jumped away as Gaara's sand collapsed down on him.

Kiba broke free from the collapsing dome of sand Gaara had kept him in, and shifted into Cerberus Mode with a wordless roar, then sprinted headlong toward Hinata, who Substituted with her spear again, returning to where she'd thrown it. Kiba simply snarled and turned toward her without slowing down.

"Drilling Air Bullet!" Naruto called, and blindsided Kiba with a condensed ball of forceful wind chakra that struck him in the side of his central head. Kiba was lifted off his feet by the attack, and spun around several times as he flew, roaring in shock and pain. When they landed, Kiba and Akamaru immediately split apart into their original forms, and Kiba sighed in relief with a jaw that was once again intact, with his fire aura inactive. "You left your flank open," Naruto echoed with a smirk.

"Bite me, ya psycho. That attack busted Cerberus' jaw in three places. It hurt."

"Last I checked, ass-kickings usually do."

"Why you-" Kiba rose to his feet and reignited his Hellhound Flame Armor, and moved toward Naruto with his fists balled. "Let's see how you like having your face caved in!"

"That won't be necessary." Three thick arms of sand reached out and grabbed all three Genin in an unbreakable grip. Gaara stood, with sand pouring out of his hair and clothes. "I've won."

"Didn't I kick you headfirst into a wall?" Hinata asked honestly, drawing chuckles from Naruto and Kiba.

"I wear a helmet," Gaara answered simply, and a few bits of his sand armor chipped off to demonstrate.

Naruto suppressed his giggling and said in as serious a voice as he could manage, "I surrender. Gaara's got us beat."

"It's another tactic our enemies might try," the sand wielder pointed out, and released the three. "Pretending to be unconscious or dead from a hit that did minimal damage. When you turn your back to them, they stab it. That's how shinobi are supposed to fight."

Naruto picked up his sword from where he'd dropped it to use the Drilling Air Bullet, and sealed it into his ring. "I guess we should keep that in mind," he shrugged.

Hinata turned to retrieve her spear, then froze. "N-Neji-niisan?" she asked incredulously. All eyes turned to where Neji had been watching the battle with eyes wide. "What are you doing here?"

Neji shook his head clear, and stepped forward with a scroll in hand. "Hiashi-sama has called for the two of you to meet him, immediately. I'm... sorry to interrupt your training," he finished hesitantly, then tossed the scroll to Hinata, who opened it.

"...the Riku Kesshou?" Hinata read aloud. "Why the Riku Kesshou?"

"What's the Riku Kesshou?" Naruto asked.

"It's one of the more expensive restaurants in Konoha, and the Hyuugas are frequent customers. That's because there's a room there that's soundproofed, sealed against the penetrating vision of the Byakugan, and guarded by ANBU. It's a meeting place for my father to discuss things he doesn't want anyone knowing." Hinata read further down the scroll. "Neji-niisan, this says he wants you to come with us."

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