Naruto's movements were like lightning as he evaded the spatter of fireballs that descended upon him, melting the snow they crashed into and leaving puddles in their wake. A quick series of hand seals and liberal stomping into the puddles created a plethora of water needles that he fired back at his approaching opponent, but as expected, they were expertly evaded. He couldn't help the proud smile that developed as he caught the fists that slammed into his palms from Tayuya in the second stage of her cursed seal. His smile became a grin in the face of her snarl in their test of strength that was broken when she forcefully disengaged, backtracking as quickly as she could.
He knew the trap was coming before the golden chains even sprouted from the ground under him, but the two clones of Karin that came at him from either side brandishing kunai with explosive tags did surprise him. Substituting with one of the clones, he kept his eye on Tayuya attempting to discreetly place him under a genjutsu as the clone he switched with was wrapped up in chains and detonated the tags. The sudden explosion was enough to break Tayuya's concentration, but he didn't get the chance to capitalize before the snow he landed on faintly glowed, then it unleashed hell in the form of an overpowered Electromagnetic Murder jutsu.
"Well, fu-" was all he got out before the massive lightning jutsu flooded the immediate area with wild, untamable currents of electricity. The sight of Naruto getting zapped six ways to Sunday by a seal of his own making transformed Tayuya's snarl into a wicked grin of her own.
"Gotcha, shithead," she gleefully reveled in schadenfreude.
Karin poked her head out of the snow beside her, and even she couldn't contain the victorious smirk that overtook her. Their four-layer misdirection worked beautifully, and it was one of the few instances in the year-plus they've been training with Naruto that they legitimately got the better of him. They'd certainly ride this high for weeks.
When the jutsu ended, Naruto was left lying in a newly formed puddle with a shockingly familiar seal inscribed in a scroll lying beside him. When two sets of footsteps crunching through the snow reached his ringing ears, he brought his head up to gaze at them with nothing but the purest of pride. "You took one of my lightning traps and buried it under the snow."
"Led you right into a trap," Tayuya gloated. "Within a trap."
"Within another trap," Karin added from the ground.
"That was fantastic," Naruto replied with a genuine smile, then he shook off the lingering effects of the jutsu and climbed back to his feet. "Karin, if I didn't know any better, I would've assumed you were from Iwa. The way you're so comfortable tunneling under the battlefield to set up intricate traps is honestly one of a kind."
"My earth affinity helps," Karin bashfully muttered, now unable to meet Naruto's proud gaze upon the praise she was receiving. She had half a mind to retreat underground entirely.
Naruto simply shook his head and chuckled at her behavior. "I've put this off for long enough. You've more than earned this."
He bit his thumb and went through a familiar set of hand seals before summoning a large scroll. Tayuya quirked an eyebrow at the implications while Karin's eyes widened, and her full body quickly rocketed out of the snow and back onto the surface.
"You don't mean…" she breathlessly whispered.
"Get over here," Naruto warmly beckoned, and she damn near flashed to his side with the giddiest look on her face. "I'd offer it to you, too, Tayuya, but I figure you're already spoken for."
Tayuya nodded. "I'm good with my Doki."
"Tell me more about your Doki," Naruto hummed as he unrolled the summoning contract for the Salamanders. "How'd you come across that kind of contract?"
"Orochimaru got it from Oni no Kuni, apparently," Tayuya shrugged. "Something about a priestess being paranoid about it, so she was eager to get it out of her hair. I didn't ask too many questions when he offered it saying that it would pair well with my aptitude for genjutsu. He left me to figure out what to do with it, though."
"Makes sense," Naruto nodded while Karin was signing her name in blood beneath his own. "Oni is full of all kinds of weird stuff. Kurama says it's just remnants from the creation of the biju. We'll have to check it out at some point."
"All done!" Karin excitedly informed.
"Awesome," he replied before rolling the scroll back up. "Pay attention to the sequence."
Naruto bit his thumb and flew through the sequence a second time before slamming his palm to the snow, and in a puff of smoke arrived Aoimori with playing cards in hand. Immediately reacting to the sudden cold, Aoimori looked around until his annoyed gaze landed on Naruto.
"Damnit, Naruto, I was in the middle of a hand!" he groused. "I have a straight flush! I was about to clean Ibuse out!"
"Sorry 'bout it," Naruto said, decidedly not sorry about it. "We got a new summoner."
Aoimori lit up in mild surprise, then he turned to Karin and silently stared at her for a lengthy moment. His large, black pupils that took up the majority of his eyes were focused on her and her alone. Karin did not fidget under his amphibious scrutiny. She did not and no one could prove otherwise.
Then, Aoimori removed his gaze from Karin and set it back onto Naruto. "She tried it yet?"
"That's what we're doing now," Naruto confirmed before turning back to Karin with an encouraging smile. "Alright, Karin, I want you to pour as much chakra as you can into it. I want to see what your baseline currently is; just try not to kill yourself."
Karin nodded with her face set in determination. With a deep breath, she went through the sequence of hand seals and slammed her palm to the snow with a cry of "Summoning Jutsu!"
The resulting puff of smoke was much larger than Naruto and Aoimori were expecting, and even Tayuya had to take a few steps back to get clear of whatever the hell Karin had just called upon. When the smoke cleared, Karin was sitting atop a massive, fiery red Salamander that towered over the trio.
"Holy shit," Tayuya muttered.
"Holy shit is right," Aoimori agreed in muted shock. "On her first try??"
"Yo, Kenji!" Naruto called out to the fully matured battle salamander.
The confused salamander turned his eye towards their chief summoner and smiled. "Naruto, good to see ya. I don't see anyone to burn; what'd you summon me for?"
"It wasn't me. It was my apprentice sitting on your head."
Kenji's gaze shifted upward to the presence he had only just now noticed. "Oh, didn't even feel ya up there. Careful, my skin is poisonous."
Karin was only mildly alarmed by that revelation before a realization hit her, and she looked down at Naruto with a shit-eating grin. "Mine is bigger than yours!"
Silence filled the snowy field for a brief moment before it was broken by Tayuya's snickering. Those snickers quickly devolved into a fit of raucous laughter. Never would Tayuya have ever expected the neurotic mess that was Karin to make a joke like that at her knight in shining armor's expense.
"Damn, Whiskers, you just gonna take that?" Tayuya asked between laughs.
"I would never let my apprentice talk to me like that, but that's just me," Aoimori attempted to egg him on from his new place on top of Naruto's head, at least until Naruto annoyedly knocked him off his perch with the flick of a finger.
"Alright, alright, we've had our fun," Naruto cut in with a roll of his eyes, though he was quietly proud of her for breaking even further out of her shell. "Is she accepted as a summoner?"
"Would you have allowed us not to?" Kenji asked with a raised, nonexistent eyebrow.
"No."
"Well, there you go," Kenji chuckled.
"Fantastic!" Naruto grinned. "I want to take these two back into town for some stuff I had made for them, so I won't be taking up anymore of your time."
That bit of info got the attention of Tayuya and Karin, but neither were able to question it before the giant salamander's booming voice filled the area once again.
"Actually, the elders wanted to speak to you," Kenji informed, his tone becoming serious. "They think that it's time to complete your training."
Naruto joined his two companions in their surprise. "That so?" Upon Kenji's nod, Naruto continued. "Aoimori will stick around with us for a little bit while we take care of business here, then. We'll travel back to Kuromizu Swamp with him once we're done. That work?"
Kenji nodded in acceptance, then he bowed his head to allow Karin to slide back to the snow before swiping the summoning contract with his tongue and reverse summoning.
Once everyone was situated again, Tayuya set her sights back on Naruto. "What was that about getting something made for us?"
Tayuya wasn't sure if the devilish smile that Naruto developed excited her or put her on edge. It was likely a little of both.
Temari knew she didn't yet possess the strength of an S-rank ninja. Hell, before her training began, she wasn't even scraping A-rank. However, she couldn't ignore how much training with Pakura was doing wonders for her. Her chakra reserves were already sizable to begin with given how much she had to pour into her fan for her strongest attacks, and they had only grown even further due to the obscene quantity of high-level wind jutsu she had to throw at Pakura in order to even stand a snowball's chance in hell against her. Her reflexes and reaction speeds had drastically improved, as well, in large part from having to defend against impossibly fast taijutsu strikes and getting peppered with bruises from head to toe. Even her creativity with casting jutsu without the use of her fan had increased amidst the many instances of Pakura outright snatching her fan out of her hands and savagely beating her with it until she could properly defend herself.
All in all, what she had learned from all this (and was painfully reminded of as she laid sprawled on the sand of the training ground) was that Pakura was a complete and utter slavedriver.
"I didn't fucking tell you that you could take a break. Get your sandy ass up before I start breaking toes!"
…Slavedriver might have been too generous, actually. She was totally fucking insane. And breaking toes? What the hell sort of twisted threat was that?
"FIVE!"
"Alright, alright, I'm getting up!" Temari hurriedly assured, doing her best to ignore how much everything hurt as she struggled back to her feet.
"Actually…" Pakura hummed. "Take five. You need a breather.
"Oh, thank god," Temari uttered as she collapsed back to the ground. If Kankuro saw her right then, she knew he'd be laughing his ass off at her, but she didn't care. He didn't have to endure this kind of torture.
"You're making excellent progress, Lady Kazekage," Baki complimented, handing her a bottle of water that was readily accepted.
"Thanks, Baki-sensei," she muttered, ignoring the twitch of his eye at her insistence on calling him her sensei. "I don't feel like it, though. It's not as bad as it was when we started, but I can still barely keep up with her even now."
"Well, I don't really expect you to at this point," Pakura chuckled, drawing a curious eye from Temari. "I haven't been going easy on you. It'd be weird if you could hang with me so soon."
"I don't know if that's encouraging or demoralizing," Temari deadpanned. "I know I have a completely different level to get to, and you've stomping me into the ground every step of the way only reaffirms how much farther I have to go."
Pakura stepped over to her probe form and kneeled down with an encouraging smile. "Don't be so hard on yourself, kid. We're training you up to be a Kage, but I still gotta be strong enough to kill one."
…Well, that wasn't at all unsettling. Temari's paling visage was then directed to the shifting sands near the entrance of the training ground where she spotted her brother quietly making his way toward them.
"Gaara?" Temari questioned. "What are you doing here?"
"You are not the only one who needs to train," he answered in his typical, monotonous drawl. "There are people as strong as Pakura-sensei that will eventually come for Shukaku. I must be prepared for their inevitable arrival."
"Right, can we talk about that?" Temari asked Pakura, sitting up from her place on the sand. "There's a whole other group out there other than Akatsuki that's populated only by S-rank missing-nin? Exactly what are the odds of that?"
"Higher than you'd think," Baki answered, earning everyone's attention. "Legendary shinobi don't grow on trees, but those that aren't killed during wartime usually become so disillusioned with the shinobi existence that they either retire and never look back, or they simply forsake their villages entirely. It happens quite often."
"I'm living proof of it, though not for lack of trying on Rasa's part," Pakura shrugged.
"The notable exceptions to that rule are jinchuriki," Baki continued. "A rogue jinchuriki is any village's nightmare, so they typically have close relationships with the Kage of their village to prevent that from happening. Think the Raikage's brother, Killer Bee, or even Gaara."
Temari nodded at the new information. It seemed that her training to be a proper Kage was more than just physical.
"Anyway, we suspect Tsuki no Me will be moving on jinchuriki pretty soon, which is why you have no time to waste," Pakura stated, ending the discussion for now and returning her steely gaze to Temari. "Now, break time's over. Gaara will be assisting in refining your situational awareness. Get back on your fucking feet."
Temari sighed in defeat. It was going to be another long day.
It was inevitable that the group of four would find themselves at a ramen stand to satisfy Naruto's insatiable craving for the noodle dish despite the plethora of street vendors around. Karin, Tayuya, and even Aoimori were more than used to his antics by now, and no amount of empty ramen bowls could faze them anymore.
The same could not be said for the ramen chef or any of the ramen stand's other patrons, however.
As Naruto polished off his fourteenth bowl of ramen amidst the incredulous gaping of civilian and samurai alike, he turned to his two students with a bright smile. "So, I mentioned getting stuff made for you two."
"You did," Tayuya nodded, slightly annoyed at all of the unnecessary preamble. "Can we get on with it?"
Naruto reached into his cloak and retrieved two scrolls, tossing either one to his two students. "Straight from the greatest blacksmiths on the continent, made from the purest chakra metal you can find."
Their interests sufficiently piqued, the two redheads undid the sealing scrolls, and the contents drew different reactions from the two. Karin stared at the pair of clawed gloves with curiosity and intrigue, whereas Tayuya's eyes were wide and glued to the pristine flute sitting in her palms.
"It's…" Tayuya began, completely lost for words.
"Iron," Naruto grinned. "You said you preferred it over bamboo back in Uzu."
Tayuya's gaze wrenched from the flute and met Naruto's own, a faint glimmer of something in her brown eyes that Naruto couldn't quite place. "You remembered that?"
"Of course," he said, his grin softening into a fond smile. "You were really excited about the instruments we found, especially the flute to replace the one you lost. I didn't want you to have to settle for bamboo if you wanted a better one, though."
Tayuya was once again rendered silent, vaguely registering Karin's hand gently rubbing her back. She stared back down at the flute in her hands, taking stock of the red engraving of a dragon coiling around the body of the instrument. She didn't even care how cliché it was. It was beautiful.
"That's not all," Naruto spoke up again, retrieving a third scroll and unsealing a set of metal bachi. "I know you held onto the shamisen, so I got a few bachi made from chakra metal for you to make casting more elaborate genjutsu with the shamisen even easier."
She numbly accepted the bachi into her hand, now at an even greater loss for what to do, what to say, or even how to feel. She didn't even register her eyes welling up until the dragon became slightly fuzzy through the veil of tears. She just didn't know how to process any of this; genuine gratitude outside of undying fanaticism was a concept that simply didn't exist serving under Orochimaru, and no one ever went out of their way to gift anyone anything without expecting something of greater value in return.
The gesture especially wasn't lost on any of the samurai also at the ramen stand. Chakra metal was expensive, even in Tetsu no Kuni. Getting several tools fashioned out of it was bound to cost a pretty penny, so one had to really care for another person to get them a custom-made tool that would likely need to be repaired or outright replaced after constant wear and tear.
"Are you crying?" Karin softly asked her, breaking the silence and making Tayuya freeze at the realization.
"Shut the fuck up," Tayuya snapped as she furiously rubbed the tears out of her eyes, but there was no heat to it.
"I didn't forget about you, Karin, you adorable, little mole," Naruto chuckled, which only increased at Karin's blush. "Those clawed gloves will not only make subterranean travel a lot easier, but you can coat them in all sorts of poisons that you'll become a lot more acquainted with as a Salamander summoner. They're also made from chakra metal, so streaming earth chakra through them should make them nigh unbreakable."
Karin beamed at that. She already knew a fair bit about poisons from her time in Kusa, but Salamander poison was famously on a different level. She also got a strange satisfaction from digging that she couldn't really explain beyond her earth affinity affecting her in an unorthodox manner.
"What about me, boss?" Aoimori spoke up from atop Naruto's head. "What gift did I get?"
"Oh, it's convenient that you asked; I was just drafting up a contract with the ramen chef to sell you to him for his new salamander ramen recipe he's experimenting with," Naruto casually explained, making Aoimori go pale.
"It's about time we head to Kuromizu," he nervously chuckled.
Naruto nodded, then he dropped a wad of cash in front of the ramen chef. "You guys ready?"
When they nodded their assent, Naruto grabbed onto the two, and Aoimori reverse summoned them to the realm of the Salamanders. After the puff of smoke dissipated from the ramen stand, the chef was left in utter befuddlement. He could only blankly stare at the wad of cash left behind in the now vacant places at the counter, absently missing the chuckling from the samurai in attendance.
"Did that salamander just fucking talk?"
The group arrived in front of a cabin overlooking a large pond, and Karin and Tayuya were immediately captivated by the almost chatoyant quality of water. Hues of every color imaginable and even a few that weren't shined off the surface of the water, presenting a glassy mosaic from the stillness of the water.
Tayuya was the first to react. "I expected the water to be… y'know…"
"Black?" Naruto finished, receiving a nod from both Tayuya and Karin. "Yeah, the name's a little misleading. It's actually quite colorful here."
Tayuya could certainly see that. She had only heard scant tales about Ryuchi Cave, and most of them depicted the realm of the Snakes to be far less colorful than what she was seeing now.
"It's named that way not because of the color but because just about every body of water here is saturated with poison," Naruto continued to explain. "You build up an immunity to it over time, but don't drink the water regardless."
"Good to know…" Tayuya murmured, absently taking a few steps away from the pond. It would also explain the almost acidic quality of the air given the humidity of the swamp.
"Ah, Naruto, it is good to see you again," came a weathered voice from the door of the cabin that swung open, revealing a salamander roughly the size of a person with leathery, black skin peppered with yellow markings all over and a cane in hand as he approached. "And I see you brought your apprentice; our newest summoner, I presume?"
"Good to see you, too, Kodai," Naruto greeted. "And yes, I brought along my two charges, Karin especially for being the newest summoner."
"Well, it's about time," Kodai groused, ungainly making his way towards the group with his cane. "Only having one active summoner quickly becomes boring."
"Why does he have a cane when he's walking on all fours?" Tayuya whispered to Karin, who only shrugged in response.
"Where's Seidai?" Naruto asked the elder salamander.
"Being a lazy putz as usual," Kodai scoffed.
"I heard that, you old prick!" another elderly voice shouted from within the cabin.
"We're the same age, you geriatric kumquat!" Kodai shouted back, angrily swinging his cane that Tayuya was increasingly certain he didn't even need.
Seidai angrily shuffled out of the cabin toward the other elder, revealing his own leather, yellow skin covered with black markings. "You watch your mouth, you wrinkly bastard! I hatched three seconds after you!"
"We're fire salamanders! We didn't hatch from eggs!"
"We didn't?"
Kodai's cane impacted Seidai's head with a loud thwack. "No, you buffoon!"
"Um, what's going on??" Karin whispered to Naruto.
Naruto sighed. "These are the sages of Kuromizu Swamp: Kodai and Seidai. They're twins."
"Not by choice, either," Seidai grumbled, picking up on their conversation before setting his sights on their primary summoner. "There you are, you blonde dipshit. You've been ducking your senjutsu training for years!"
Naruto winced. "I really don't want to implant a poison sack into my body."
Seidai's almost pitch-black gaze narrowed, unnerving Naruto even more. "Who says you have to go about it the way Hanzo did? That brainless fool only did so because he could never master senjutsu. Those who complete the training develop a natural immunity to most poisons anyhow."
"I'm assuming that's what you called me here for, then," Naruto surmised.
"Only if you feel that you are ready," Kodai answered this time. "We believe you are, but it is ultimately your decision. Whatever you decide, we'll use the time to immerse young Karin in the Salamander arts."
"That, and the fucker you stashed in the temple," Seidai added. "He's still in stasis, but he's ass naked. It's weird."
Then, Seidai's gaze shifted to Tayuya. "Who's the third wheel?"
Tayuya's eye twitched. "I have a fucking name."
"Well, what the fuck is it?" Seidai pressed.
"My Foot In Your Ass if you keep it up!" Tayuya growled.
"Tayuya," Naruto hastily cut in before things devolved any further. "Her name is Tayuya."
The two voids that were Seidai's eyes minutely narrowed at Tayuya before he smiled. "I like this one."
"Come, we've lallygagged enough," Kodai spoke up, turning and meandering toward the cabin with his cane. "We can continue this discussion on the way to the temple."
Seidai followed behind his brother, grumbling along the way. Naruto shook his head in a mixture of amusement and exasperation before motioning for Karin and Tayuya to come along. Karin quickly followed, whereas Tayuya huffed and reluctantly did so, as well. The Uzumaki trio entered just in time to see Kodai completely shatter a large boulder with a single whip of his tail, exposing a ladder that led to an underground tunnel.
As the group made their way down the drop and into the tunnel, Seidai's gaze landed on Tayuya once again. "I'd ask why Sunshine didn't offer you the contract, but I can smell the stench of oni on you. What contract do you hold?"
"Doki," she said simply.
Seidai nodded with a hum. "Interesting. It's been some time since I've encountered Doki. There are many fascinating, ancient anomalies lurking within the jungles of Oni no Kuni. I wonder if that old fuck, Moryo, is still around or if someone finally put him out of his misery."
"We can only be so lucky, Seidai," Kodai chuckled.
"Bah, he'll get himself killed at some point," Seidai shrugged before returning his gaze to Tayuya. "You use any weapons?"
Tayuya was a little put off by the sudden inquiry into herself specifically, but she figured there was no harm in answering. "Just my flute and a few other instruments."
"Genjutsu?" Seidai asked, and Tayuya nodded. "I figured as much. You're overflowing with Yin Release chakra, much like Naruto and Yang Release. Salamanders aren't exactly known for genjutsu, but it always pays to be versatile, so we can teach you how to use a kusarigama or something. We tried to get Naruto to take up a weapon, but he already has his chains."
Tayuya took in the information, biting down on her initial inclination to refuse the offer. She was content with the tools she already had, but there was a lot of truth to what the old crone had said about versatility. She was a hell of a lot more versatile than before she started training with Naruto with her much improved ninjutsu and taijutsu capabilities, that was for sure. Maybe adding yet another dimension to her skillset wouldn't be too bad of an idea?
She didn't give an outward response, but Seidai could see the considering glint in her brown eyes as she mulled it over. He opted not to press the subject further, though, instead turning his attention to the approaching entrance to the sacred temple of Kuromizu.
"Age before beauty," Seidai snidely remarked, stepping aside to allow his minutes-older brother to enter first despite already being behind him.
"Oh, shut it, you boorish nincompoop," Kodai grumbled before entering the large room.
"Bite my shiny, poisonous ass," Seidai shot back, following behind alongside the other three.
Karin and Tayuya were met with another striking sight upon exiting the tunnel. The torchlit room they entered was circular with many more passageways feeding into it, and in the center of the room sat a large pool of an almost ethereal liquid that illuminated the room in a sapphire glow. Ensnared by the alluring call of the vibrant ether, Karin and Tayuya steadily approached the pool and peered over its rim, gazing into the dreamlike mere to see…
"Why the fuck is there a naked man in here??"
Surprisingly, it was not Tayuya who said that. Karin was gaping at the scene in equal parts confusion and revulsion, and Tayuya, after coming down from her bewilderment at that outburst coming out of the mouth of Karin of all people, couldn't help but share her sentiments.
"What exactly is this?" Tayuya asked the two sages, motioning to the pool.
"It is a stasis pool," Kodai answered, and upon the blank expressions he received from the two girls, he continued. "It is effectively a separate realm where time is irrelevant. Under normal circumstances, you do not age, think, breathe, or even function while inside. You simply exist."
"Under normal circumstances?" Karin questioned.
"We use it as part of senjutsu training," Seidai responded this time.
Karin and Tayuya waited for him to elaborate, but when he did not and only silently returned their gaze, Tayuya quickly grew annoyed "And??"
"That's for sages to know, you nosey, little shit," Seidai gruffly responded, only raising Tayuya's ire.
"So, this stasis pool is basically a portal to a whole other dimension?" Karin asked, the skepticism in her voice obvious to everyone present.
Seidai scoffed. "The Toads have a senile clairvoyant, the Slugs are all the same person, and the Snakes have somehow completely furnished a cave network with electricity and HVAC without possessing any arms. A pocket dimension that exists outside of spacetime is where you draw the line?"
Karin opened her mouth to respond, but she slowly closed it when no rebuttal came to her. She could only sigh in concession of the point. Nothing in the ninja world made sense; she should already know that by now.
"I believe we're getting sidetracked from our primary objective," Kodai sighed, eyeing the nude Daimyo floating in stasis. "If you'd please, Naruto."
"Yeah, yeah," Naruto lowly acquiesced.
Walking up to the pool, he was met with the Daimyo of Kaze no Kuni, just as naked as the day he kidnapped him. He reached in and yanked him out of stasis before chopping him in the back of the neck to knock him out before placing him on the ground a good distance away from the others to begin the ritual. He lifted his palm, and Aoimori, still atop Naruto's head, handed him the scroll containing Kushina's hair. Retrieving another scroll from within his cloak, he unrolled it on the ground and smeared the hair across a jutsu formula inscribed on the scroll, resulting in a large, intricate seal spreading out and surrounding the unconscious sacrifice.
The others watched on in curiosity as Naruto took a deep breath, then he went through a set of seals at a deliberate pace before clapping his hands.
"Summoning Jutsu: Edo Tensei," Naruto muttered.
Recognition crossed Tayuya's face as she flashed back to the invasion of Konoha. She idly wondered how the hell Naruto came to know the same technique that Orochimaru had, though she ultimately wrote it off as likely a Konoha kinjutsu. Karin quickly pieced together what Naruto was doing, and a look of pensive worry developed. She grabbed Tayuya's wrist and motioned for them to step back and give Naruto the space he'd need for this, like Kodai and Seidai had already done given they were privy to what Naruto's intentions were.
Within the seal, ash rose from the spot below the Daimyo and enveloped his form, briefly covering him from head to toe until it disappeared to reveal a lithe, redheaded woman in his place. Her eyes fluttered open, and she sat up when she took in the strangeness of her surroundings. She thought she was in the Uzumaki Temple at first, but the lack of masks and mysterious blue glow told her otherwise. Her eyes scanned over the two salamanders beside two redheads standing near the wall until they landed on a pair of cerulean that made her heart stop…
Wait, her heart was never beating at all. What the hell was going on? Actually, that really wasn't important.
"N-Naruto?!" Kushina hesitated, slowly climbing to her feet and taking in every single detail of the man standing before her that looked so much like the precious newborn that she spent her final seconds with.
"Hey… mom…" Naruto muttered with an awkward wave, only to be nearly bowled over by the flying, red and green blur that slammed into him.
"Naruto!" she sobbed into his cloak, clutching him like a vice.
He minutely tensed up upon the contact, which did not go unnoticed, but he forced himself at ease and jerkily brought his arms up in an unsure attempt at returning the hug. At best, he only managed to awkwardly pat her on the back.
Kushina was… concerned (and admittedly rather put out) at how uncomfortable she could feel her son was in that moment. At the very least, he was earnestly trying to reciprocate the affection, and she could certainly feel that. However, it still felt so… restrained? Yes, restrained was the right word.
"Are you okay, Naruto?" she asked, concern pouring off of her in waves as she finally got to look at her son's teenaged face up close.
She had so many questions, actually. How did this happen? How was she there? She knew she wasn't alive, so why wasn't she in the Pure World anymore? However, all of those were secondary to figuring out what was bothering her no longer newborn baby so heavily.
"It'll be easier to show you," Naruto sighed, and Kurama's chakra manifested around his hand before he hovered it over the seal.
Then, he took Kushina's hand and placed it atop his own, and within moments, the chakra imprint that was coded into the seal returned to a familiar reservoir and rejoined its brethren. Some color returned to her lifeless complexion and the cracks marring the skin on her face mended somewhat, but it wasn't enough to make a significant difference. Still, it accomplished its goal, as Kushina was quickly brought up to speed by the memories that the chakra imprint contained through "watching" his life. A myriad of emotions bombarded her mind: surprise, grief, sorrow, fury, but most of all, pride and joyful relief.
"You left Konoha," Kushina said. It wasn't a question. There was something in her tone that Naruto couldn't quite place, and he assumed the worst.
"Yeah, uh, sor-" he began before she placed her finger on his lips to shush him.
"Don't apologize," she insisted with a watery smile. "You did the right thing, y'know."
"Huh?" was all Naruto could manage in his astonishment.
"You left in search of the happiness that you were being denied," Kushina explained, her smile growing warmer and her thumb caressing his whiskered cheek. "You found a better life. You found a family. You found strength."
Her gaze shifted to his two companions against the far wall, and her smile grew even more. "And you paid all of that forward when you didn't even have to."
Kushina giggled when she noticed Karin faintly blush at the newfound attention before turning back to her wide-eyed son. "I am so proud of you, Naruto. Regardless of what happens, what path you choose, or who you even consider to be your mother, I will always love you, and I will always feel the purest of pride for the man you've become, y'know."
To say Naruto was stunned would be a gross understatement. He didn't really know what to expect from this meeting, but he was prepared or have to defend his bond with Konan or navigate an awkward interaction with someone who had a much stronger attachment to him than he had to her. In reality, he was fighting back tears of his own at the unconditional love and understanding he was receiving, and when she wrapped him into another warm hug, he no longer had any trouble returning the embrace in full.
"It's okay to cry, honey," Kushina softly assured him, and that did it.
Despite the assurance, the tears that streamed down Naruto's cheeks were moderately strangled, mostly out of habit. Even so, he melted into his mother's grasp and allowed her to shower in him nearly two decades' worth of affection.
Kushina reached up and planted a kiss on his forehead before giving him the most loving smile she could muster. "Please, give Konan and Nagato a 'thank you' from me for doing such a fantastic job with raising a phenomenal man."
Naruto sniffled, but a smile broke through, nonetheless. "I will."
Kushina ran her hand through his hair and then pinched his cheek with a laugh, then she turned back to the room's other occupants and approached Karin and Tayuya. "Now, you two, get over here! I wanna meet my son's friends, especially if they're Uzumaki, y'know!"
Kushina left to harass her two living clansmen as Naruto observed with a chuckle, noting the two sages saddling on either side of him.
"How do you feel, Naruto?" Kodai asked, his aged tone both knowing and concerned.
"…Weightless," Naruto responded with a long, relieved sigh.
"So, you're finally ready?" Seidai inquired, unable to completely hide the satisfaction behind his usual abrasiveness.
"Yeah. Let's do it."
Mei Terumi let loose a quiet sigh as she leaned back in her chair. Kiri had rebuilt very nicely over the years and had finally regained its former strength. Her shinobi were finally happy, her civilians were at peace, and the nation was finally healing from decades of strife and turmoil. People no longer needed to side eye their comrades for fear that they were dissenters. They needn't longer look over their shoulders for fear that they would be targeted for any number of contrived reasons. Citizens of Kiri and Mizu no Kuni as a whole, shinobi or civilian, could simply enjoy the respite for however long it lasts.
It was amazing what finally being unified did for a nation.
It would still take some time to reach the heights it had inhabited prior to the Sandaime's reign of terror and Yagura's even bloodier dominion, but Kumo wasn't built in a day…
…They really needed a new expression.
Still, the period of peace did not put her heart at ease. In fact, it truly did the opposite. She had grown so used to dysfunction, deception, and plain old genocide that a Kirigakure without all of that was just far too unusual. She knew it was illogical; she knew it was just the scars left from the village's dark days and the bloody civil war that freed them of that darkness. Even so, things had been far too quiet, and that made her nervous.
The knock at her office door was exactly the distraction she needed from her spiraling thoughts. Calling for them to enter, Ao stepped inside looking somewhat frazzled. He bowed to her and then fixed her with an even more serious stare than she thought he was capable of, and that was already a high bar to clear.
"Lady Mizukage, there have been massive chakra spikes in the southwest exterior island chains," Ao reported.
Mei's eyes widened a fraction. She always knew when to trust her gut, and it seemed that her gut was right on the money.
"Do you think it could be the Sanbi finally reforming?" Mei asked grimly.
"It's highly likely," Ao nodded, his expression just as grim.
"Then we need to get a sealing team to its location to secure it," Mei declared.
That took Ao aback. "So soon, Lady Mizukage?"
Mei sighed and nodded. "I abhor the idea of creating yet another jinchuriki, but we border a nation that has two of them, and we know Kumo's philosophy in regard to projecting their power. Our pact with Ame and Akatsuki will ensure that we won't be caught with our pants down in the event that they decide to invade, but I'd rather we not be totally dependent on them. We just relearned what peace is, and I'd like to prolong it as much as I possibly can."
"Understood," Ao replied with a salute.
Sasuke's chokuto clashed with Yukimaru's katana in a vicious battle for dominance, one that Yukimaru appeared to get the better of. Intensity shined off magenta eyes like hard chips of tourmaline against the three spinning tomoes of Sasuke's matured Sharingan. A hard shove forced Sasuke back, and he quickly formed a chidori in hand to stream the lightning through his chokuto before launching back at his foe. Yukimaru responded in kind by channeling wind chakra through his katana and resuming their clash. They were deadlocked, which was a common occurrence recently.
Over two years of nonstop training and vicious sparring taught Yukimaru that in the ninja world, speed was everything, particularly when your opponent could predict your moves with a glance and counter appropriately. When they began training together, Sasuke was so far ahead of Yukimaru that it felt like a legitimate waste of the Uchiha's time to humor him, and that wasn't even factoring in the cursed seal. With that reality in mind, Yukimaru trained himself into the ground and then some to not only catch up to Sasuke in short order but to also smash past whatever ceiling he or anyone else might have thought that he had, and his growth rate was explosive as a result. His chakra reserves were already considerably larger than Sasuke's, so he could afford to run himself ragged for a lot longer, and he could also compensate for the disparity in their taijutsu by perfecting his use of destructive ninjutsu until he could bridge the gap in their taijutsu spars.
Yukimaru had largely been able to bridge that gap by exploiting a weakness of the Sharingan, or rather, a weakness of Sasuke's human need to blink. Everyone needed to blink, and that fraction of a second where his eyes were closed was a fraction of a second that his Sharingan wasn't reading Yukimaru's attacks, so he jumped on that small opening whenever he possibly could. It wasn't like Sasuke had a water affinity that would allow him to keep his eyes from drying out, so he'd have to blink at some point, and that was when Yukimaru would strike the hardest and knock Sasuke on the defensive. Unlike Sasuke, Yukimaru did have a very strong water affinity and could keep his eyes moistened in perpetuity if need be, effectively eliminating his own need to blink and ensuring that he would never miss the opportunity to strike Sasuke in the split second he'd be nerfed.
All of that was to say that he had grown fast enough to mount what amounted to a surprise offensive in the fraction of a second that it took Sasuke to blink, and his abundance of potent chakra could allow him to make himself physically strong enough to overpower Sasuke in a struggle when it came to that. That all sounded mightily impressive, at least until Sasuke activated his cursed seal. Doing so immediately jettisoned him past Yukimaru in both speed and strength, as well as calling upon the enhanced sensory prowess afforded by the natural energy within the seal to be able to defend from Yukimaru's attacks even with his eyes closed, rendering his "blink offensive" completely and utterly moot.
Fucking cursed seals. Such cheating bullshit.
As expected, the flame pattern of Sasuke's cursed seal expanded from his shoulder and marred the left half of his face before Yukimaru was ruthlessly kicked away, ending the deadlock. Before Yukimaru could return to his feet, however, he found Sasuke's chokuto at his throat and Sasuke staring down at him impassively… or the best attempt at impassivity since the faint quirk of his lips betrayed his satisfaction.
Knowing he was beaten, Yukimaru sighed. "Alright, fine, I concede. I haven't yet discovered a counter to your cursed seal, and I'm not taking my chances with trying and failing at learning Snake Sage Mode."
"The fact that you consistently push me to use the cursed seal at all isn't insignificant," Sasuke remarked, helping Yukimaru back to his feet.
"Fair," Yukimaru conceded before looking to a tree at the far edge of the clearing they were using for their spar. "We gonna address the interloper that's been watching us for the last 15 minutes?"
Sasuke merely grunted, then another chidori crackled to life before he swung his arm back in their voyeur's direction. "Chidori Senbon."
A shower of thin streams of electricity pelted the tree line, forcing the spy out of his spot and into the open. The interloper revealed himself to be the deathly pale bane of Yukimaru's existence and consistent annoyance for Sasuke, Sai.
"Hello, Dickless, Fatherless," Sai greeted with a smile as fake as Danzo's limp, drawing an agitated twitch of Yukimaru's eye.
"Why am I 'Fatherless' specifically?" Yukimaru huffed. "I don't think there's anyone in any of the bases whose parents are still alive."
"Why are you here, Sai?" Sasuke cut straight to the point.
"I simply wanted to watch you two train," Sai answered, maintaining his blatant façade. "Both of you are far superior to me in kenjutsu, and I wished to see if there was anything I could gleam from watching you in combat."
Yukimaru quirked an eyebrow while Sasuke's expression remained flat. Neither were buying it, and even Sai knew that. However, it wasn't an issue worth escalating… yet.
"Did you gleam anything?" Sasuke deadpanned.
"Yes, I did," Sai nodded, his smile appearing to grow a touch more genuine, which did not go unnoticed. "Since you are done, I shall take my leave."
Without further preamble, Sai flickered out of the clearing, leaving an unamused Yukimaru and contemplative Sasuke behind.
"I'm almost certain that he was given an explicit directive to monitor you," Yukimaru spoke up.
"It wouldn't surprise me," Sasuke replied, not taking his eyes off of the spot Sai had just occupied. "That bandaged fool that Orochimaru is in league with is becoming a nuisance."
He paused, and an almost imperceptible shudder crossed over him. "Not to mention creepy."
"Creepier than Kabuto?" Yukimaru joked.
"No one is creepier than Kabuto."
"Ain't that the truth," Yukimaru chuckled. "Still, that guy unsettles me. Everything about him, even down to his chakra, is… off."
Sasuke finally removed his gaze from the empty space and turned to Yukimaru. "How so?"
Yukimaru frowned. "I can sense multiple chakra signatures within him, but I can't really place exactly what they are, just that they're emanating from different parts of his body. He's like a Frankenstein."
Yukimaru shrugged. "Wouldn't surprise me if he's one of those mad scientists that try to obtain different kekkei genkai by grafting the cells and chakra of different people onto his body."
Sasuke looked thoughtfully at his sparring partner. He hadn't actually considered that as a possibility, but it made a lot of sense. If that man was anything like Orochimaru, it could potentially draw some upsetting conclusions about exactly what was under those bandages on his face.
"…I don't like how he looks at me if ever we cross paths," Sasuke admitted with a scowl. "It feels as though he's trying to pick me apart, like he knows something about me that I don't. As a disgraced elder of Konoha, he just might. I haven't decided if it's worth figuring out what it is."
"You gonna kill him?" Yukimaru hazarded a guess.
Sasuke shrugged, turning back to the empty spot. "Maybe. I'm only here until Orochimaru has nothing left to offer us, then I'll dispose of him and Kabuto before he can attempt to take me as a vessel. Then, my brother. Should Danzo fall somewhere along the line, well, shit happens."
"You're putting an awful lot of trust in me with that information," Yukimaru commented, quirking an eyebrow at Sasuke. "What makes you so certain that I won't sell you out for conspiracy to commit treason?"
Sasuke snorted. "You speak as if you weren't already aware that those are my intentions. Hell, I wouldn't doubt that Orochimaru and Kabuto are already aware. Orochimaru is simply arrogant enough to believe he can overpower me and take me as his vessel before that happens."
Sasuke eyed Yukimaru again in his periphery. "And I know that you're not as loyal to Orochimaru as you claim to be."
Silence was the only answer Sasuke received for a lengthy moment. Yukimaru did not say anything, instead staring into the horizon as the wind gently cascaded over the area.
"I'm loyal to Guren," he finally said, breaking the silence. "I will avenge her by slaughtering every last member of Akatsuki. I figured you'd do the same to Tsuki no Me, at least until you found your brother."
"And Orochimaru?" Sasuke questioned.
"What about him?" Yukimaru responded, setting his gaze back onto Sasuke. "You're gonna end up killing him anyway. Whether he lives or dies has no bearing on my mission."
Sasuke nodded. He would never admit it, but he hoped that he wouldn't have to kill Yukimaru when he finally spread his wings and left to hunt down Itachi. He didn't know if he'd consider him a rival per se, but it would be nice to have him along for the ride when he did finally leave. From what he understood, Tsuki no Me operated in pairs, so he'd need someone there to prevent whoever Itachi's partner was from interfering in their fight. He wouldn't be surprised if Akatsuki functioned similarly.
"I'm just saying, Itachi, you've spent a third of your mission pay on pocky," Kisame said to his partner outside of a convenience store, his voice tinged with concern. "And that's just this month alone. It's not healthy, man."
"And I'm telling you, Kisame, I don't have a problem," Itachi curtly replied, his Sharingan narrowing dangerously at his partner.
The tension in the air was suffocating, bearing down on any and every unfortunate passerby in an onsen resort town near Yugakure. Then, it shattered when a pure white head with green hair popped out of the ground beside them.
"Hey guys!" White Zetsu cheerfully greeted as if he didn't just interrupt a failed attempt at an intervention.
Kisame sighed. "What do you want, Zetsu?"
"Madara called a meeting at the Mountains' Graveyard," he dutifully replied before his smile disappeared and his tone leveled out. "Attendance isn't optional."
The duo were surprised; it had been some time since Tsuki no Me had met in full rather than Zetsu delivering a message or Madara himself warping to their location. It meant that whatever they were set to discuss was of grave importance, so that could only really mean one thing.
'So, it's finally about that time,' Kisame internally mused, grinning at the likelihood that he'll get his rematch with the Kyubi jinchuriki once they're set to capture him.
Itachi, on the other hand, remained as unreadable as ever. He merely sent White Zetsu a nod before tucking the dozen boxes of pocky under his arm and proceeding down the road towards the edge of town. Kisame merely sighed again and followed behind him, the White Zetsu clone retreating back into the ground with its job completed.
Itachi knew that this call to meet meant that the Sanbi had finally reformed. Madara was preparing to move on the biju. He hoped that Naruto was sufficiently prepared for the storm ahead, as he did not have much longer before either Sasuke or his failing health finally took him from this world. Until then, he would enjoy all the pocky he wanted as the only pleasure he still had left in this existence.
No one, not even the Shinigami itself, would deprive him of his pocky.
Utakata would call this training trip a rousing success. He felt nothing but unbridled pride for his student as he sat in a bubble and watched her annihilate another landscape full of clones of himself atop a gargantuan wave curtesy of an Exploding Water Shockwave jutsu. Simultaneously, she rode atop the wave and dispatched any surviving clones that made it through the destruction with dual Water Whips. Occasionally, she'd disperse one of the whips and form a thin mirror of water with her free hand, reflecting whatever attack that any clones that managed to break through her perimeter threw at her. It was like watching a dance so fluid that there were no missteps, no movements wasted, and no openings left to exploit. She was a killing machine down there, and that said nothing of the destructive potential of the kinjutsu on her back.
Yes, yes, it was truly magnificent. She'd definitely kick Karin's ass. Tayuya's, too. Then, there would be no dispute over who had the better apprentice and the better biju.
"Damn straight."
As the final clone was cut down, the wave had reached far enough inland to lose the energy keeping it alive. Utakata descended to the ground and popped his bubble, then he approached a very winded Hotaru while giving her a round of applause.
"That was excellent, Hotaru," Utakata remarked. "Your focus has become phenomenal."
"…Thanks, sensei," she eventually managed through huffs. "Are we gonna work on the Fury jutsu more after this?
Utakata shook his head. "There isn't much more work to do on that front. You know how to gather the nature energy necessary for it after unlocking the seal, and you're able to safely detonate it without blowing yourself up and how much nature energy that takes."
"I guess," she muttered, but it was clear that she didn't really accept that. "We could try to find any ways to increase my output, though, and maybe shoot for two safe explosions instead of one!"
"Nature energy is not something to be handled carelessly, Hotaru," Utakata warned. "Overloading the seal beyond the limits we've been able to ascertain could cause a premature detonation of a magnitude that you may not be prepared to bear the brunt of. Besides, remember the rule about using self-destructive jutsu?"
"If the first blast doesn't kill your opponent, the second blast will kill you both," Hotaru reluctantly answered, unable to think of a valid counterargument.
"Indeed," Utakata nodded. "Besides, we wouldn't have time for it anyway."
"What do you mean?" she inquired.
"Our two years have elapsed. It's time to return to Ame."
Hotaru's eyes widened. That had completely slipped her mind; they were definitely due to return to Ame and rejoin Akatsuki's ranks. Was she even ready? Was all the training actually worthwhile? Would she even be worthy to receive a full induction, or would she just make a fool of he-
She was snapped out of her downward spiral by her master's hand on her shoulder and the encouraging smile he was giving her.
"You are more than ready, Hotaru," he assured. "You've worked yourself to the bone these past two years to become the deadly weapon you are now, and after you are christened with your official cloak, you will no doubt run circles around Karin in the best possible way."
"Oh my shit, you're still on this," Hotaru bemoaned, her developing smile from the encouragement flattened into a deadpan glare.
However, Utakata had already made another bubble to transport the two of them back home. "Come Hotaru, it is time to prove our superiority as a master and student!"
She sighed, but she couldn't fight the fond smile that formed at her sensei's antics.
"Man, it's been a while since we were all in one place, hasn't it?" Kisame grinned at the assembled missing-nin standing in a makeshift throne room within a cave system.
"Not long enough," Hidan grumbled. "This bullshit meeting is cutting into the time I could be spending by making sacrifices to Lord Jashin! Unless any of you fuckheads wanna pay the piper?"
"Hidan, shut up," Kakuzu growled from across the room, more than sick of his partner's indignant ramblings after enduring them the entire way to the base.
Hidan sneered at Kakuzu. "Or what? You'll kill me?"
"Is that a request, commie?"
"Bring it, you fucking blasphemer!"
"Enough," called a voice from the direction of the throne that Hidan could swear empty just a few seconds ago.
Sitting with his legs crossed and his masked head lightly resting on his fist was the man that led this ragtag group of the lowest scum on the continent. He was the one man with enough power to command a group of people who could individually decimate whole villages and annihilate entire nations should they work in tandem. He was the boogeyman of the shinobi world, a man whose name still sent shivers down the spine of any living shinobi unfortunate enough to have cross paths with him and make even the most harden veterans do a double take.
This was Madara Uchiha.
Well, to most of them, anyway.
Itachi had his doubts but couldn't say for certain one way or the other. He just knew that whoever was behind the mask was exceptionally dangerous and far more powerful than him.
Kakuzu also had his doubts, but his reasoning was a little more concrete. He had fought Hashirama once upon a time, and after he was casually tossed around like a child's plaything by the root of a tree, the venerable Shodai briefly flared the true breadth of his power to Kakuzu before letting him walk away with his life. It was the most terrifying few seconds of Kakuzu's life; nothing he had felt prior to that or the near century since had ever compared. He certainly had never felt anything even approaching that level from the masked man claiming to be the man that was Hashirama's equal…
Still, working for him was a chance to make more money, so why look a gift horse in the mouth?
"So, fearless leader," Deidara sardonically began, not making any bones about his dislike for the man simply for being an Uchiha like that bastard, Itachi, "what have you called us all here for?"
"I'm so glad you asked, Little Deidara," Madara replied, needling him back and drawing a scowl from the mad bomber. "We have waited long enough. The time has now come for our plans to be set into motion."
"The jinchuriki," Sasori muttered.
"Indeed," Madara confirmed. "With the Sanbi's return imminent, we strike while the hidden villages are distracted with petty squabbles and those upstarts in Ame."
He raised his head from his fist and stared the room down through the single eyehole in his orange mask, his Sharingan glowing menacingly in the darkness. "Sasori, Deidara, go to Suna and capture the Ichibi jinchuriki. Hidan, Kakuzu, you will go to Kumo and capture the Nibi jinchuriki. Itachi, Kisame, hunt down the Yonbi jinchuriki wherever he's hiding."
"What about the Sanbi?" White Zetsu asked from their spot protruding halfway out of the wall.
Madara's dark chuckle reverberated through the entire cave system. "I will go to Kiri for the Sanbi myself. It's high time they were reminded who really ran their village for so long anyhow."
I am inside your walls.
I think you all know at this point that I'm liable to take liberties with filler material/lore/obscure worldbuilding when incorporating it into the narrative. Don't worry about it, it's fine.
Thanks for reading.