Chapter 55: Seichōgan
Arc: Against Foreign Powers

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Naruto. Naruto is the work of Masashi Kishimoto, please support the original work.

Watching as Chisuke chuckled, his red hair somehow having strands of blueish white and his pupils turning a little pale, Naruto and the group cursed. This was the one controlling the entire Beast Wave, as well as the one who nearly defeated the entire Uzumaki clan alone in the past.

Just as Chisuke was observing them, a flash of red engulfed the area as Kurama rushed to fight Chisuke head-on. Inside Naruto's head, he heard Kurama's plan.

'Naruto, I'm just a clone anyway. Use this opportunity to gauge his skill.'

'Okay. Thanks, Kurama.'

After agreeing to Kurama's plan, Naruto signaled to the group to stay put and watch for an opportunity. Gaara and Zabuza understood his signal, but the rest were left to guess as they hid behind the three men.

What Naruto used was special hand seals usually used for covert missions, and he was a little worried that no one would understand. Thankfully, two managed to, and the rest were smart enough to follow along.

Naruto didn't explain to them either. It was stupid to divulge information in front of the enemy.

"What a reckless… clone? Huh? Why are there two of you?"

Chisuke chuckled, pointing at Naruto and Kurama, who was controlling Naruto's clone.

"What an idiot, you don't even know what a simple clone is."

Kurama scoffed, much to Chisuke's amusement. Chisuke shrugged, his eyes remaining dull and indifferent as if we were just mere entertainment tools in his eyes.

"I don't know about it because it's such a lowly technique. Now, you smell of foxes. I don't like foxes, begone."

To Kurama's shock, Chisuke only had to wave his hand to repel his assault.

"Bastard. Take this, Tailed Beast Bomb!"

Kurama, not taking kindly to being flung around, got into all four as he transformed into a miniature version of himself, complete with six tails and a tailed beast bomb in hand. Then, he charged at Chisuke at inhuman speeds.

"A chakra cloak. What an interesting way to use chakra."

Once again mumbling to himself and waving his hand, Kurama and his tailed beast bomb got flung away, not even having the chance to explode as the tailed beast bomb suddenly dissipated.

Meanwhile, Naruto watched with narrowed eyes.

'He's not using his Chakra Chains? Is it because he doesn't need it or that he can't? And how did the tailed beast bomb vanish like that?'

While he was racking his brain, Kurama sent him a discrete message.

'Naruto, that guy is somehow making me stronger. Be careful, I can feel his chakra invading mine. Before I dispel, I'll burn as much of it as I can.'

Chakra invasion? That's… fucking horrible.

One of his weaknesses is exactly Chakra Invasion. If another chakra source invades his system, he can't use his chains at all and his fuinjutsu will be a little weaker.

'Is this why the Uzumaki clan won only with heavy losses? I heard after the alien's attack, the clan's Fuinjutsu Masters were all killed aside from the Clan Head.'

Naruto's eyes widened in horror after realizing that truth, and when he came to be, Kurama had somehow become… bigger?

'His chakra is stronger and more potent too… but why does it seem strange?'

"What did you do?"

"Oh, don't be ungrateful. I'm just gifting you power, that's all."

Chisuke smirked, successfully gaining more of Kurama's ire.

"Whatever you did, it's a mistake to make me stronger!"

Kurama tried to attack again, this time, creating a bunch of using Naruto's chakra.

As the battle escalated, Naruto silently transferred a message to the rest of the group using chakra strings.

"Resist the chakra of Chisuke… or that alien's chakra. It will make you stronger, but I feel something wrong with it, so resist it as much as you can."

As he said so, he gripped Hinata's hand tightly. He brought her here to give her a haven, not to put her under stress.

Feeling Naruto's strong grip, Hinata smiled and shook her head, staring into Naruto's eyes with a determined gaze.

"Hinata…"

Suddenly, a hot wave of air blew past the entire group, making Naruto and Hinata avert their eyes from each other and back into the battlefield.

"Fuck… how?"

"How weak. I already gave you a minute, yet you only grew to this size? Such a weak seed. Is it because you are only a clone?"

Chisuke frowned, materializing a scythe from thin air that glowed green that he aimed toward Kurama. In an instant, Kurama's body exploded in a brilliance of green as Chisuke absorbed the green chakra, leaving behind Kurama and Naruto's chakra to linger in the air.

'The clone's memories didn't go back to me.'

Naruto's face was blacker than black from anxiousness, and everyone in the group was the same.

"Now, let's test you out. I wonder how good of a soil you seven are."

Chisuke said as the scythe faded away. He stood there, waiting for us to attack him, confident of his victory.

"What an arrogant guy. What's the plan?"

Zabuza asked.

"What else? Kill him!"

Naruto yelled and created a hundred shadow clones, filling the area with white smoke. Zabuza used the opportunity to cover the area with mist, while Hinata activated her Byakugan. Temari was busy strategizing, Kankuro manipulated his puppets after unsealing them, and Gaara sneakily spread his sand around the area.

Haku was nowhere to be seen, but Zabuza was the same.

"Interesting bunch. I can't sense that burly guy with the sword, and the other boy is barely sensible. Meanwhile, that guy with clones… ugh, what a headache."

Hearing Chisuke's careless ramblings, Naruto squinted as he thought of a possibility.

'Can he not distinguish between clones?'

"Everyone, use whatever clone you can!"

POOF!

Seeing more carbon copies of everyone around, Chisuke's eyes finally twitched.

Naruto's guess was spot on.

'So far, he's not too deadly. That'll change when he goes on the offensive, but for now, he's much better to face off instead of the real Clan Head.'

The Clan Head was a Fuinjutsu Master, and only a Fuinjutsu Master can defeat another Fuinjutsu Master. Jiraiya and Orochimaru were special cases, as they didn't focus solely on Fuinjutsu. One could argue that both were Fuinjutsu geniuses as even without putting all their attention to Fuinjutsu, they were able to become Fuinjutsu Masters.

"So troublesome."

Chisuke muttered, waving his hand and dispelling about half of Naruto's clones at once.

"Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu."

"Ice Release: Demonic Ice Bullets Jutsu."

"Collaboration Jutsu: Ice Dragon Jutsu!"

Chisuke stared on fearlessly as a beautiful dragon that looked as if it was carved by an artisan appeared on the battlefield with a roar.

"Impressive. The chakra is woven in such a complex manner. I'm afraid that I can't do that, sadly."

Sighing, Chisuke waved his hand again, easily breaking the Ice Dragon into bits.

'Is that all he can do? Wave his hand and instantly delete whatever was in the way?'

Naruto's eyes twitched, forever annoyed and afraid of the mysterious technique.

"If only that damned guy didn't put this restriction on me, all of you would've been fertilizers by now."

Chisuke chuckled, watching as sand crawled up to his ankles.

"Hmm. This chakra feels a little similar to the clan's signature techniques. Let me see… Seichōgan!"

Suddenly, the world seemed to stand still as Chisuke observed the chakra enveloping the sand. After a mere three seconds, his eyes, which had turned into a brilliant gold and green, turned back into their pale brown, which now seemed a little paler.

"Three seconds? Really? That's my limit?"

Laughing incredulously, Chisuke paid no mind to the observing gaze of Naruto's group.

"A dojutsu. This has become even more complicated."

Naruto mumbled, taking out a scroll.

"Golden Dragon Scroll: Fire Dragon Guardian!"

Using up two-thirds of his chakra reserves, Naruto summoned his signature fire dragon and wrapped it in chains.

"I guess it's time to take it up a notch."

Zabuza smirked and disappeared again. Gaara nodded and only raised his arms, lifting what seemed to be an ocean of sand. Haku could only support Zabuza, while Kankuro and Temari were stuck trying to find the right opportunity.

Meanwhile, Hinata was also looking for opportunity, when she realized something horrific.

"His eyes are starting to resemble more and more of the Byakugan!"

Hinata yelled, gathering the attention of everyone around but she didn't care. If that alien's eyes were truly the byakugan…

"Damn it, when will the surprises end?"

'He has an invisible attack that can repel any of us. He has a dojutsu… two dojutsu, and he can invade our Chakra Systems and kill us remotely. What a terrible foe.'

Naruto cursed, ordering his dragon to charge down at Chisuke.

"Since you all seem to be putting it your all, let me do everything I can too. Grow!"

As the alien muttered one word, everyone felt an invasive chakra trying to enter their bodies, but thanks to Naruto's warning, they were all able to block it in time.

As the dragon got closer to him, Chisuke narrowed his eyes while raising his palm, making the fire dragon freeze completely still, but it was able to twitch and struggle.

"Hm?"

The alien tilted his head, looking at the ninjas who were opposing him.

'I don't think anyone figured it out yet. How did they know to resist?'

"Oh well, it doesn't matter even if you know. You'll succumb to Growth sooner or later."

Chisuke chuckled, his laughter filled with mockery as it echoed throughout the ruins of Uzushiogakure.

Fun Fact: Seichōgan is based on the word Seichō from Japan, meaning growth.

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