Akuma no Heya (going under reconstruction)

by Narutobi9980

An SSS-rank Criminal in his world, Naruto was eventually on the verge of losing everything, including his life. That was when, the newly reborn and all-mighty God, Tsunizu, sent him into the body of another Naruto, the 4' 9', ramen-lover of the Leaf! Now with a clean slate, can he make a new life for himself in this Akuma no Heya (Demon Chamber) knows as the shinobi world?

3. Chapter 3: First Hunt

Chapter 3:

It was a day after the test, two days and a night after the massacre.

The civilians of Konoha were quick to find out that 40 or so people just disappeared within a single night. Panic swept the streets.

The Hokage was quick to answer, he claimed they were moles for Orochimaru, and exterminated by the Elite Anbu. Since most of the missing people were part of many delinquent gangs, it was believable, enough.

That chapter of Naruto's new life was closed, but it was evident just how much of his power carried over to this new world. Not like he was going to show it at all.

20+ years of being a high priority criminal does a lot to anybody. Although the best part about being a high priority criminal means you can still be expected to maintain some kind of living standard, and not resort to petty crime to live on, all while being free from the laws.

But it does mean that whenever one goes out in the open, a very high level of stealth and carefulness must always be maintained, as per Rule #4, dictated by the classic book, A Criminal: The Guidelines for Masterful Anonymity, written by Naruto himself in his days as a criminal:

'Rule #4: To maintain anonymity, as per definition, one must be indistinguishable. But the easiest way to do so, is to simply limit any show of power. By lowering oneself to the level of a powerless weakling, most gazes simply ignore oneself. Any, Any, Any strength displayed, regardless of location, time, or circumstances, will be the equivalent of a beacon revealing yourself.'

As such, Naruto passed the academy test with barely passing grades, a 62 out of 100, where 60 was passing second worst scorer received a 84 out of 100. Sasuke, the highest scorer, received a 99 and Kiba received a 98.

Since the Hokage was busy doing paperwork for the deaths of over 40 people, the Genin squads have not been made, and hence the now recently made Genin received a holiday until further notice.

When Naruto reached Genin for the first time, he was automatically put in the battlefield, and forced to fight as a meat shield against people at High-Chunin level and greater. Most of his friends didn't make it past a week. Most of the genin in his class were killed after a month. And after 2 months, Naruto was the only surviving genin in his entire class.

All in all, a holiday was unexpected, yet a new experience for him to enjoy.

Naruto expected about a week of free time.

On day one out of seven, Naruto decided to fix up many of the problems in his lifestyle currently.

"Blunt Kunai, lopsided Shuriken, No ninja wire, no explosive tags and sealing tags, a utility pouch with a hole in it, sigh. What a sad arsenal of equipment."

I.N. started raging inside his Mind. Wonderful white noise by the way.

Deciding that today's agenda would be to refurbish his equipment, Naruto got to work.

He wandered around the streets, and found the Weaponry Store. He walked inside and found a girl a little older than him, two buns of hair on her head, a kunai spinning in her hand like it was second nature.

She noticed the Blonde, and immediately recognized that scratchless, polished headband that adorned his head.

"You must be one of the new graduates!" She said in an excited voice. The kunai in her hand stopped spinning and was now pointed at Naruto. "So! Hopes glittering, dreams vivid, confidence rising, the graduate steps into the weapon shop, looking for a weapon that can lead them through his long and perilous journey! They stare at themselves in the mirror, posing with all the weapons, and leave with the weapon they find the coolest. Fortunately for me, I can use literally any weapon I get my hands on! What about you?"

Not in the mood to entertain her fantasies, Naruto got straight to the point.

"30 kunai, steel alloy, 5 and a half inch blade. 50 shuriken, 4 pointed, steel alloy, 1 and a half inch blades each. 400 feet ninja wire, in 4 parts, 100 feet each. 20 explosive tags and sealing tags, and 2 utility pouches, please." Naruto calculated the prices, and it came out to just barely below his entire money reserves. He would have to hunt his dinner tonight.

Tenten was rather flustered at the clear and concise order, as well the lack of curiosity in the weapons around him. Flustered enough to make sure one more time.

"You sure you aren't interested in one of these swords?" Tenten said, pointing to the sword section. "We got a Zweihander here! And to its left a Flamberge. The snake-like blade really helps when piercing and stabbing and sliding. Below it is a Kukri and a Billhook. On the other side there, we have Chakrams, shadow Shuriken, tomahawks, and throwing knives. There we have a trident, a Scythe, a dual ended Scythe, a pike, a staff. You don't want any of them?"

After a glance, Naruto shaked his head. Further flustering TenTen.

"Why tho?" TenTen asked, she was really curious as to why this newbie had no interest in the weapons.

This "newbie" simply wasn't interested. He has mastered every weapon in the shop there, and fought hundreds of people using them. He knows their insides and outs, but eventually he realised a very simple enlightenment and that was.

A kunai and shuriken are possibly the best weapon a shinobi could have.

Lightweight, expendable, maneuverable, reliable, aerodynamic, sturdy, comfortable, storable, ergonomic, defensive, offensive, long-range, mid-range, close-range, fusible, tactical, and above all, deadly, Kunai and Shuriken.

When you think about it like that. Any other weapon suddenly becomes a compromise not in your favor.

For now, Naruto suddenly felt like he wanted to play along with her fantasies.

"I can use them all, and I ended up just preferring kunai."

To be fair though, Naruto loved a nice, longer than usual, tanto, but he needed to become a bit more stronger on his ninjitsu side before he felt comfortable enough to be using a tanto.

TenTen was amused.

"I like a simple guy like you, who can appreciate the quality of Kunai. But it really ticks me off that you claim that you can use them all." Her smile slowly faded into a frown.

"Duel me." she said after a pause.

"No."

"Duel me, I insist."

"I refuse."

"Fight me you arrogant newbie!"

Naruto paused for a bit and revelled in the irony.

"...I decline, you ignorant fool."

Criminals also never back down from a word game.

Tenten lost it.

Grabbing a Longsword from the rack, he charged at Naruto. Immediately, when in range, she let go of one of her hands and the hand still on the weapon thrusted forward.

CLING!

Her jab was parried by a kunai.

Putting her hand back on the weapon, she jumped back and brought the sword upwards diagonally and took a big leap forward, while swinging down diagonally. Naruto dodged, but TenTen expected it, bringing the sword forward while drawing it up into a reverse crescent swing.

A/N: A crescent Swing is wheel the blade swings in a curved motion, where the tip goes from Up to Down. A reverse Crescent is when the tip starts down, then goes up. This only works for double edged blades, like a longsword.

Naruto was shocked that a kid knew how to maneuver the weapon like that, since usually genins resort to an Attack and Reset battle style, where one swing is down, and if it fails, they position the blade for another swing, hence creating intervals when the weapon is not attacking.

What Tenten just did was connect two swings, following a Connected Motion Battle Style. It usually leaves no interval between strikes, but extensive control and forethought is required.

Naruto blocked, and slid the blunt part of his kunai across the blade of the longsword, severely blunting the weapon and making it lose its balance. Naruto stepped forward and finished sliding the Kunai across the edge, and got to the hilt. Now that the distance between the two were less than a foot, Naruto shifted the Kunai for the sharp part of the blade to be touching the width of the sword, and with a push, snapped the blade of the longsword off the handle.

The young weapon master widened her eyes at how easily the blade snapped, that too from a kunai. But defeat was not an acceptable answer. She immediately picked up a spear from the rack near her and jabbed forward in an obvious way.

Naruto realised the Tenten was attempting to premeditate the flow of battle. For a shinobi, allowing the opponent to control the flow of battle was equivalent to losing the battle already.

He jumped up in response, contrasting to the sidestep which was the obvious answer. The spear tip passed safely below him, and Naruto landed on the staff of the spear, his added weight making Tenten stumble forward.

Naruto ran forward on the spear, gaining distance, then jumped to the side in a mid-air cartwheel, slashing the spear.

Unfortunately, his reach was still small as compared to his experience in a full adult body, so the weapon wasn't fully cut through, but there was a deep slash in the spear.

Tenten realised that any weight on the spear would cause it to snap. So she switched it out for a kunai.

"Well, your skills with a kunai are well proven. But can you deal with another kunai?"

A smirk grew on Tenten's lips, clear evidence that a kunai was her speciality as well.

"Let's see," Naruto said, and rushed forward, his kunai in a reverse grip, in front of him, his other hand trailing behind him as he ran. He lowered his dashing speed significantly, as much as he could actually, but TenTen was still clearly surprised at the velocity of the rush.

After a moment, the kunai made contact, and Tenten held her ground, though the evident shaking in her arms told Naruto she was using all her strength to repel his attack.

'This kid's strength is insane!' she thought.

The standoff continued and finally Tenten gave up and jumped back.

'No you don't' thought Naruto, leaping forward at the same time as Tenten, causing her to have no time to regain her strength as the standoff continued.

'Now!'

Naruto suddenly pulled back his onslaught, and in a full swing, swung at TenTen's kunai.

She was pushed back, and brought to her knees but she held on. Naruto however wasn't gonna give it up, and immediately swung again, pushing Tenten back as her kunai flew out of her hands, landing somewhere on the other side of the store.

"I admit, kunais are your strong point."

"Same to you, miss…?"

"TenTen. I'm TenTen."

"...Miss TenTen."

Naruto finally put his kunai on a rack in he store and helped TenTen back onto her feet.

"Sorry about the 2 weapons I broke…"

"It's fine, for a good battle, I'll handle it, plus you get your order for free! No one has beaten me in a weapons battle before, so I officially make you my arch nemesis. Understand?!"

"Sure, if you got a decade or two to train yourself to my level." Naruto boasted, a smile on his face.

After a minute or two, Naruto was out of the shop, a new utility pouch filled with fresh equipment on his hips and a backup one in the bag on his hand.

Putting it inside a seal, Naruto made his way to the next place he wanted to go. Training Ground 44, where he hoped to master (or rather re-master) his skills in this smaller body. He also hoped that he could absorb some of the Demonic Energy stored inside the monsters.

TenTen picked up the broken tools, and noticed that Naruto left his kunai in the store, and picked it up. She barely touched it and realised something was wrong. It felt improper in her hand, like it was missing something.

'Huh?' She examined it closely.

"This kunai…. WAS DISBALANCED THE WHOLE TIME?! AND BLUNT?! I FRIGGIN LOST TO A CHILD WITH A DEFECTIVE KUNAI?!" A shout echoed from inside the weapons shop.

'Imagine what the gaki could do if he got a real weapon…' an evil smile plastered on her lips, her eyes glittering and unfocused. Clearly her imagination was getting out of control.

---

By theory, Activation was done in a room called an Akuma No Heya, a room filled with extremely potent Demonic energy. Enough energy to kill an army thousands of times over and over. One must sit and absorb this energy for a week.

There are conditions.

No water, food, sleep, rest, and breath. Yes you have to hold your breath for a week, although artificial oxygen made by chakra is allowed. No sound must be made, no movement must be made. No thoughts must be formed. Not passing any of these conditions will cause the Demonic Ki in your body to explode and shuts down your heart, brain and lungs, since the Akuma no Heya acts as a aggravator and producer, causing the usually dormant Demonic Ki to act erratically and frantically, causing it to become increasingly powerful.

If all these conditions are upheld, then the demonic energy that one spent a week absorbing, will transform into a form of chakra, forming a black chakra coil next to your blue one. This chakra coil is as big as the amount of Demonic Ki you absorbed, and is perhaps more dangerous than the test itself, since the body might burst internally from the sudden surge in power.

But, this chakra is compatible with the 3 Forbidden Styles (Shijutsu, Kierujutsu, and Ansatsujutsu). But there was a reason Naruto wanted to quickly store up as much demonic Ki as possible.

In Ansastujutsu, a very special and advanced technique called 'Mind Dominance" was used to control the victim, search their memories, and even destroy/implant certain thoughts or events in their head.

Meaning it was a perfect tool for infiltratration, information tracking, and even puppetting (assuming one could insert a year or two's worth of memories in his head where he was devout to a single person, often oneself, he was a puppet for him who would follow his orders).

But, a bug in this style if you will, you can also obtain memories of the victims training, meaning you can grow exponentially faster. Although your body does not have the skills to implement it, your mind can guide the body accurately and precisely, at least to the level of the victim.

Wait, quick review.

Naruto's physical capabilities carried over, including his martial arts, fighting techniques, and movement based skills, but unfortunately, his jutsus and chakra based skills were abandoned.

But in the words of Tsunizu, "Unless a skill is physical, and practically muscle memory [can the skills be carried over]".

Since his KI and Aura carried over, two purely spiritual and non-physical attributes, only when Naruto killed the 40 people attacking him, not before, the same thing could happen to his Chakra.

And since some kind of requirement is required to do this, a requirement still unknown, when the requirements passed, it will "kickstart" his latent Chakra skills.

Tsunizu, who was listening to this logic, chimed in.

- Going by recent events, this body already had impressive physical capabilities, so the requirement to gain your physical prowess might have been something simple enough that just moving was enough to pass it.

- When you were being attacked by the mob, this body's massive innate hatred fueled by your intolerance to danger passed the requirement to release your spiritual pressure.

'But this body's chakra is a mess. Absolute trash.'

I.N. cried for 2 minutes.

- So it is only natural that passing the requirement for using your chakra might be several times harder than it was for the other 2. Another thing to mention is that your 3 forbidden techniques, Shijutsu, Kierujutsu, and Ansatsujutsu, are chakra based indeed, but operate on a physical, chakral, and spiritual level, making them an anomaly impossible to carry over.

Eventually, he got to the fence in front of the 'Forest of Death', Training Ground 44. He jumped over the fence, no problem, and managed to get about half a kilometer into the forest.

He eventually found a small clearing and sat in its center, in a lotus position. Then he closed his eyes and flared out his chakra. He was actually attempting a sonar pulse, but since his control was too weak and his reserves so big, it just bursted out.

'Goddamn.'

Attempt #2 to successfully use a satisfactory sonar pulse. Failed.

Attempt #3 to successfully use a satisfactory sonar pulse. Failed.

… Attempt #8 to successfully use a satisfactory sonar pulse. Failed.

… Attempt #15 to successfully use a satisfactory sonar pulse. Failed.

… Attempt #64 to successfully use a satisfactory sonar pulse. Failed.

He sat the whole day doing nothing but attempting a Sonar Pulse.

Attempt #12,256 to successfully use a satisfactory Sonar Pulse. Successful.

"Alright!"

Elated beyond belief, Naruto did it again, still successful. And again and again until he was convinced he got it down.

It was a little after sunset and Naruto was confident in his taijutsu, so he went hunting.

He used his sonar and found a large caterpillar monster the size of a tree. Using his knowledge and wisdom as a monster hunter, he knew caterpillar monsters like these live in groups of 5-12, often which only up to 2 at a time come above ground for eating.

He shot a sonar pulse down and found another 7 caterpillars.

Total 8 caterpillars.

Naruto brought out his kunai and rushed forward, ¼ of his total speed since it wasn't that far, and used Silent step to silence his running.

His sonar pulse was detected by the caterpillars and he knew it as well, but remember what he did?

Attempt #12,256 to successfully use a satisfactory Sonar Pulse. Successful.

Satisfaction for this Naruto is equivalent to mastery of the technique and some. And hence, even if the monsters noticed, it probably came off as nothing important.

Within 20 seconds, he covered around a quarter of a mile and stopped within 15 meters of the caterpillar. He raised his kunai and silently jumped onto a tree branch. Making no movements faster than a sloths, he slowly shifted his hand into Kunai throwing position.

'Wait for it…'

'Wait for it…'

The caterpillar turned away from Naruto, so that he could go back underground. Of course it was the best time to hunt it down, but Naruto needed to first absorb its demonic Ki, and let it lead Naruto to the hive opening, where the other 7 were resting.

"SSSSSSHHHHHH" the caterpillar spoke, before using his tail to offset some dirt, revealing a hole.

"KHIII SHHHHHHH" spoke of a caterpillar from inside the hole and the caterpillar uptop jumped in.

'NOW!' Naruto threw his kunai as the caterpillar was midair in his jump inside the underground hole, and embedded itself inside a chunk of flesh between the opening of the Caterpillar's scales.

"KHAAAAAGGGHHHH" spoke the caterpillar and rolled to the side, the force of the kunai powerful enough to adjust the trajectory of the caterpillar's jump and making it miss its hole.

"Before it dies, store its demonic Ki!" Naruto spoke aloud. And jumped downward and landed right in front of the dying beast.

'Where is his chakra core?'

Naruto ran his hand along its body, and eventually found a surge of demonic Ki, a sickly, gruesome sort of feeling he would never miss.

The caterpillar's tail curved, a sign that it was stiffening up due to losing its life.

'I don't have much time!' Naruto thought, and decided to just go for it. He cocked his hand back, finger pointed forward, and plunged his hand past the armour and flesh of the caterpillar, and found an orb of his beloved Demonic Ki the size of a pea.

In comparison, he needed about the equivalent of 2 Earths and a moon of Demonic Ki for a weak activation, meaning he doesn't have a lot of Black chakra but at least a chakra core.

'Looks like I need to hunt bigger. Let's at least take what we can get.'

Naruto crushed the pea of Demoni Ki and absorbed it into his belly next to Kurama, where it lay dormant until he found the Akuma no Heya.

Immediately after, two caterpillars came above ground and hissed at Naruto.

'Shit! Wait no, I can handle them. Stay calm Naruto.'

He stood up and shifted into a stance, his kunai back in his left hand in the forward grip.

"Come at me!"

They obliged, rushing at Naruto with speed far exceeding their size.

The one on the right got ahead and junged at Naruto, who ducked below the jump, while impaling his kunai inside the beast, successfully piercing the skin and many muscles.

Not forgetting the second caterpillar, Naruto stood up and prematurely pulled out his kunai, as the caterpillar lay behind him in a pool of green blood, and then flickered back about 15 feet.

The second caterpillar quickly changed direction and rushed, now making sure not to expose its underbelly to Naruto.

The blonde leaned forward, and when the caterpillar got close, he grabbed its head and killed the momentum.

He increased his grip strength and put his left foot forward while pulling his shoulders back. Without much effort, Naruto lifted the monster and flipped him over his head.\

Now behind the blonde, upside down and underbelly showing, the caterpillar was vulnerable.

Naruto immediately reached into its belly and absorbed its Demonic Ki, then single handedly ripped its head off with pure brute strength.

"Rest in Peace."

He repeated it to the other caterpillar, and like so, slowly baited all the caterpillars in the ground and absorbed their DKi (Demonic Ki).

After an hour of running around and sonar pulsing, killing all the small fry in the forest, and resting, Naruto felt comfortable enough to go deeper into the forest and start hunting seriously.

A grin formed on his face, and suddenly his clothes covered in monster blood no longer felt like the most ominous part of his appearance. His blue eyes now a deep crimson red.

Not because of Kurama, don't get me wrong. Kurama had no influence on Naruto's body as of right now except for the whiskers. His red eyes were simply the fruit of his insanely potent bloodlust and overall excitement for action.

Even his hair started to float a bit, and his clothing fluttered wildly despite lack of wind.

The spiritual pressure that Naruto could exert was so intense it could even affect the physical realm. A pressure that could by itself kill.

"Welcome to hell fellas, let the hunt begin."

The now excited blonde raced full speed, his steps leaving footprints in trees and his motions causing gales of wind.

One pulse, nothing.

Two pulses, nothing

Third Pulse, a Beast Lion, not powerful enough for Naruto to care.

Fourth Pulse, a Titanium Ape. A worthy opponent, but Naruto was aiming higher.

Fifth Pulse, nothing.

Sixth pulse, Velvet Cobra. Perfect.

Velvet Cobra: a 40-200 meter cobra with velvet scales, and light indigo underbelly, as well as a crimson skin. With a diameter between 1-4 meters, and a crushing strength far exceeding 14 Tons, if a cobra wraps around you, it is impossible to escape. Heavily territorial and insanely aggressive. Poisonous fangs, and 4 eyes, and a single pitch black horn, known to be one of the strongest materials naturally made, second to diamond. An infant has no horn and its 2 eyes are closed. An old, about to die, velvet cobra often has a broken horn, and cloudy eyes.

The real reason a velvet cobra is known for its insane strength is its ability to be able to use chakra, as well as having a chakra coil and a developed chakra pathway. Hence, it can also substitute and clone, some of the more advanced velvet cobras can even use shadow clones and basic fire style jutsus.

It can travel at speed averaging at 70-90 mph and reflex far exceeding most jounins, its hide and horn are equivalent to spoils of war, and a sign of strength. Why it was in the forest was beyond Naruto, but it wouldn't be for much longer.

Naruto Uzumaki Tsunizu: A 10 year old child, standing at 4'11'' (he grew a little bit since Naruto's physical capabilities that carried over gave him some height, he still is growing in fact.), and a mental age of 42. He can reach speed up till Mach 3, but only for 20-30 minutes. He considers 120 mph his 'full speed' which he can maintain for greater than a week. A grip strength of 12 Tons, pushing strength of 26 Tons, and pulling strength of 23 Tons per hand, he can easily lift most things in the world with just a tug.

Although Naruto still can't use his chakra coils properly, the Velvet Cobra has a one-up there.

A moment passed and they were staring at each, their fangs bared and ready to pounce. Any sound, or movement would trigger a bloody beatdown.

Suddenly, a random frog stepped on a twig, and the two beasts disappeared. Sounds of slashing and piercing echoed throughout the forest.

The two were running alongside each other, trying to gain some distance over the other so that they could launch an attack.

The high speed pursuit slowed down ever so slightly, and Naruto jumped up, just in time to avoid a tail whip from the snake, who arched his body to the left to avoid a kunai slashing down from the midair Naruto.

The two clashed, constantly overcoming each other's attacks while countering with their own. Naruto in his past life could've killed something like this in a split second, using his Ansatsujutsu.

It had been about 40 seconds, and battle ensued.

Now, 40 seconds might not be long, but as the strength of the opponent and yourself grows, the shorter the time of each battle. At certain levels, the battle was decided within the first move.

Hence, at the level where Naruto and the Cobra stand, 40 seconds was far too long. It was a rare phenomenon, when two enemies are so perfectly contradictory, or so perfectly similar, that their actions are negated in an endless cycle.

'Gotta pump it up I guess.' thought Naruto.

Before we move on, let's make it clear, a Velvet Cobra is EASY for the current Naruto to beat. He wore capes made out of their hide and tantos made out of their teeth. When he was a criminal, animals like these were no more than games.

And now, he simply wishes to rebuild his fundamentals, and possibly get used to this body, hence, he had to cut off a lot of his skills, and use only basic maneuvers and martial arts.

And not Naruto's kind of Basic, but literally, genin level fighting skills. But unfortunately even Naruto's impression of genin was relatively high.

'Ah, here goes nothing.'

The redness in his eyes grew brighter and now let out a light sheen.

The Velvet Cobra hissed, and summoned his chakra to the horn on his forehead. A fireball slowly grew at its tip.

"I refuse" Naruto spoke and the fireball disappeared. Instead, there was a hand, and a mystifying darkness atop the Cobra's head. From the darkness emerged Naruto, and the one on the ground turned to dust and flew away with the wind.

'Dual Appliance: Image-Creating Step X Instant Shadow'

Image creating step creates an afterimage of yourself that can be sustained for as long as you can maintain it. It involves taking a step, then jumping back to the original position, then taking two steps, then jumping back. Then three, and back, and 4 and back, and so on until you get where you need to be without dropping the afterimage.

And Instant Shadow basically allows your muscles to flex in certain, inhumane ways, to shroud you self in shadow no matter where you are.

These 2 skills are Naruto abilities, along with about 28 others that he calls, "The Tai-Nin-Gen-Jutsu," since one replicates ninjutsu-like abilities and plays tricks on the eyes with just sheer physical ability.

The premature, now dead fireball from the serpent nwo smoked inside Naruto's hand. Sure it singed, but nothing he wouldn't recover from in a few minutes.

His other hand punched the top of the cobra's head, and then punched it again with the same force, for good measure.

He slid off from the side, making sure to drag a kunai along his flesh as he did, and upon touching the ground, continued running alongside the length of cobra, the kunai still slicing through its flesh.

When Naruto got to the center of Cobra, he pushed his kunai deep inside, and carved out flesh. Eventually he saw a DKi orb the size of 3 basketballs.

Without a second thought, he plunged his hand inside and broke the orb, absorbing it through his pores and storing it where the rest of his DKi was resting.

The Velvet Cobra died, a futile battle it all seemed, his opponent not even harmed, the scorch marks on his hand were already gone. Yet, it was the best battle he had in his life, even his fellow Velvet Cobras couldn't compare.

"Thank you, Blonde Shounen."

His words sounded like a weak hiss, but Naruto understood and bowed deeply.

'Rest In Peace.'