Hello there everyone, Dragon and Sword Master here…Hey, who threw that?! *ducks* Okay…guess I deserved that. Anyways, while I still am working on my ambitious Card Captor Sakura / RWBY story, The Cards of Remnant, fellow fanfic author Pain17ification has put several stories up for adoption. I have decided to take two of them on: this ambitious Paper Mario / Naruto crossover as well as the Naruto / Tales of Vesperia crossover as well. (It…also gives me the excuse of playing it again and go for the 10 hour Speed run attempt. I stopped at the desert because that place is hell)
Now then, like Pain17-sama here, I'm going to not have the paper stylized elements as well as the Jiraiya bashing as he does. I'll list the reasons that he listed at the bottom of this chapter as well. Now then, without further ado…ehm…*channels Balan*
Welcome one and all, big and small! The geek, the nerd and all the in-betweens. To a wonderful new adventure! Brought to you by the crazy mind of Pain17ification and Dragon and Sword Master …I bring to you:
Maelstrom and the Thousand Year Door
Chapter One: Prelude to a New Adventure
Looking out the window of the hotel room that a blonde-haired male teenager was currently occupying, the male let out an aggravated sigh as he looked out the window. While he noticed the beauty that was within the Land of Fire, the land that he had known all of his young life, the young man wasn't fully looking at it, but reminiscing about events that had happened just a year ago, lightly rubbing the scar from where his attack would have killed him over the orange jumpsuit that he wore and let out another sigh.
'Sasuke…was the bond of friends between us really that meaningless to you?' he asked, knowing that he wouldn't get a response. With everything that happened in both the blonde and ravenette's lives, the young man thought that they could be friends…but that was quickly dashed in their early years. Shaking his head lightly, his hair moved in front of his face as he blew a puff of pressurized air up and trying to move them without much success.
It was now a year since that fateful battle with his brother in all but blood at the borders of his village, and he still remembered the downcast look from their female teammate, Sakura Haruno, as he had come back empty handed. It was the first time that he hadn't been able to make good on his promise, but he then promised her that come hell or high water that he would get him back. It was the reason why he was on this training trip in the first place… 'even if I have learned hardly anything this past year with Ero-Sannin' he thought as he let out a light growl. The blonde would have thought he'd have been taught something by one of the three Sannin, Jiraiya, but apparently the world had it in for him when it came to teachers who were terrible at doing that job.
"All he wants me to do is focus on the Fox's chakra!" he exclaimed darkly before moving to sit on the non-descriptive bed before letting out another grumble before closing his eyes. Focusing on said Fox, he let his body relax as he meditated, the sensations and surroundings of the hotel room fading away as he delved into his subconscious. Opening his eyes, he saw the familiar setting of the dark sewer with pipes on the walls with blue and red chakra wisps coming off of him. Moving forward and ignoring the water that was lapping at his feet, he moved towards the seal that held his greatest strength (when it cooperated) as well as the reason why he was so hated: the Great and Terrifying Kyuubi no Kitsune.
Noticing the caged bars and the paper seal holding the chakra being in place, he strolled towards it, taking note of the large crimson eye opening up as he stood in front of the bars.
"Kyuubi," he stated calmly, the calmness of his voice actually coming as to a surprise to the young man, making note of it to look into that question at a later date.
"Boy" the Kyuubi replied as he made himself comfortable and moved his head so that it was resting on its front paws, nine crimson tails laying lazily behind the beast. "Not that I care, but why are you here?" it asked as the blonde just shrugged, gaining both the ire and the curiosity from the kitsune.
"Nothing really… I just wanted to thank you for helping me back then against Sasuke. I…I really appreciate it."
"Oh? And what brought this on, Monkey?" The Kyuubi asked as he raised an eyebrow, wondering what the male in front of him was on about. Not once had he been thanked by any of his jailors and while he would never admit it…it felt nice actually.
The male frowned lightly at the 'Monkey' comment but decided on ignoring it for the time being. "Nothing really Fox, just…I've realized that I'm not as strong as I thought or believed myself to be, while on this journey with the pervert. That fight with Sasuke one year ago…it was a real eye-opener. And with that revelation, yes I know it's a big word coming from me, shut up," he stated as the fox started chuckling at that admission, "I don't have much going for me. A few ninjutsu, a boatload of chakra and a half-ass Taijutsu style but without you…I'd be dead several times over. Haku, Orochimaru, Neji, Gaara, Dotou, and now Sasuke… each time I either won those battles by dumb, sheer luck, tapping into your chakra or both to win. I'm not as strong as I thought I was…and it sucks."
"I thought you had a spirit like fire. Why does it sound like you're all of the sudden giving up? What are you getting at here?" it asked as his crimson eyes bore into the male, his cerulean eyes staring back at him, narrowing lightly as he was accused of having a hidden agenda but while his face portrayed anger, his voice did not.
"Honestly…nothing. I'm not trying to get anything out of this, Fox. I'm just letting you know that you were right; that I'm not as strong as I thought I was," the blonde stated with a light shrug of his shoulders.
"Of course not. While you had guts in spade, well…let's just say you can take solace in the fact that I found you trying to back up your multiple claims and promises were amusing to witness." It stated before moving a little, switching paws before laying his head back down on them once again.
"Hey now, no need to rub it in," he muttered. He knew that there were many people above him when it came to strength, but he was going to get stronger. "And besides, just because I'm not strong now, doesn't mean I won't get stronger in the future! The Pervert is going to use these next few years to make me a complete badass just like Jii-chan was. I know it, dattebayo!" he exclaimed as he pointed towards the fox semi-defiantly, boisterous laughter coming from the fox.
"Is that right, Boy? If that is the case…then where is that wart-riddled hermit at now, hm?" it replied, a smug look on the face as his jailor visibly deflated at such a question. "He's probably indulging in those so-called 'vices' of his that he warned you about when you first met him and went after that slug woman, isn't he?"
The young man cringed visibly at the accusation and while he wanted to defend his future teacher…he couldn't since he knew that the fox was right and sighed before nodding at that once.
"Yeah…you're probably right…"
"Then if you plan on getting, in your words, 'stronger in the future' then how exactly do you plan on doing that if that monkey is always acting the clown and gallivanting like the fool he pretends to be?!"
"I…I don't know," he finally admitted, looking down as he knew the Kyuubi was correct.
"Let's also not forget that this so-called Sannin swindled you out of your own money for his personal pleasure, nearly killed both you and me just to get you to summon, left you to your own devices to learn a powerful jutsu that could have done irreplaceable damage to your body and left you on your own when those two cloaked shinobi were on the hunt for you because of me."
"Alright, Alright, I get it!" the male exclaimed after Kyuubi's comments. He had winced at each comment that was brought up and remembered how true each statement the fox stated had been correct. IF Jiraiya had stayed, then those two nuke-nin wouldn't have even made the attempt. Hell, Itachi even said that fighting Jiraiya of all people would have been either a loss or a draw. "Then, oh great fox, what do you think I should do?!" he asked. The boy was at his wit's end here and while the Kyuubi wanted to give him even more sass for his retort, he decided to throw the blonde-haired youth an olive branch.
"Naruto…if you want to have any chance to get any better, then what you have to do is take your training into your own hands. If that idiot wanted you to use my chakra within a month just to summon dumb amphibians…then what do you think he'll want you to do with it now that he has you to himself for a few years?" it asked.
Naruto wanted to just bark something out but stopped himself and think about it for a few seconds. "Let me guess: You'd make it next to impossible for me to meet his expectations, wouldn't you?"
The fox let out an evil-like grin at hearing that. It would have unnerved most men, but Naruto had seen it once to many times to be unnerved by it by now. "But of course. What do you take me for?"
"An overgrown bunny with anger issues?" Naruto commented, tilting his head to the side in the attempt to look cute. "Or like Granny Tsunade when she's had one too many and forgot to reapply her Genjutsu? I'm not exactly sure what you're going for here…"
"Insolent brat! I try giving you an olive branch and you return my offer with crude comments? How dare you?!
"Well what do you expect from me, Fox?! I barely know enough to make for a competent Genin! I can barely control my chakra; I have two combat ninjutsus to my name and one of those need a damn clone to help me complete it! And so far, all that pervert has taught me is how to dispel Genjutsus, something that should have been taught to me by Kakashi-sensei after those chore-like missions! But no, he had to blow smoke up Sasuke's ass like everyone else did in the village! So you tell me Fox, what do you want me to do?!"
The bijuu bashed its head against the cage and snarled, making Naruto step back just a tad subconsciously at the actions from his tenant. Annoyed, the most powerful of the Bijuus let out another snarl. "I don't need, nor want, to hear you whine like a pathetic child, you monkey! I thought using your name would have made it seem like I was trying to help you out, but apparently I was wrong. You always go on about proving people wrong and that the impossible is possible. Well then, prove it! You can't have someone hold your hand through everything in life, brat! You're not an infant…are you?"
Naruto glared at the fox before he cut off the connection between them and refocused on the room he was in. "Damn fox…" he muttered, hating that it was right. Too frustrated to do anything else, he laid back down on his bed and eased himself into a difficult sleep.
(Break)
"Alright kiddo, let's see how far along you are on summoning," Jiraiya declared late in the morning after the conversation between Naruto and Kyuubi. A conversation that while still on the blonde's mind, was something that he didn't mention to his sensei. Hiding a frown as he realized that Jiraiya was just going to have him focus on summoning again today, he nicked his thumb with a canine before going through the hand seals for the ninjutsu. Placing his bloody palm on the ground, he saw the seals for the jutsu appear on the ground before with a poof of smoke, the son of Gamabunta, Gamakichi, appeared.
"…You're kidding me, right?" Jiraiya asked with a flabbergasted tone in his voice. He had been training the kid for months now, and he was still at this pitiful stage of summoning?
"Hey!" the toad cried out indignantly. "I'm awesome!"
"You're a child who can't fight," the Toad Sage immediately responded, shutting down the summoned prince of the toads.
"And you're a lousy pervert who can't teach," Naruto replied in defense of his summon, his frustration with Jiraiya bleeding over from his inner thoughts to the outer word. Shocked at Naruto's response, Jiraiya turned towards him, shock clear in his voice:
"Whoa…where did that come from?" he asked, not realizing that he had basically just given the said blonde free-reign to air his grievances with the elder male in front of him. If he knew what was about to come next, Jiraiya would have never let those words come forth.
"Ever since we've met, you've done nothing but drill me on summoning and having me figure out a complex jutsu on my own! When you're not doing that, then you're off with MY MONEY, wasting your time with women who sell their bodies for profit, doing crappy research for your smut or getting your ass beat because you're found when you're perving on said women! In fact, you're so perverted that I have to resort to using my Sexy Jutsu just to keep you at least the little bit motivated in training me!" Naruto exclaimed, breathing heavily after that rant.
"You know, most people would have been happy to receive my training! Or have you forgotten that I…?"
"…trained the Fourth Hokage?" Naruto asked, cutting the old man off. "Oh yes, because it's not like I've heard you use that line so many times before," he commented sarcastically. Seeing the pervert attempting to speak again, Naruto narrowed his cerulean eyes at him that were slowly starting to become crimson. "You've used that line how many times now to try and pick up women?" he asked.
"I'll have you know that I'm a damn good teacher, you brat! You just don't know how to appreciate what I'm offering you!" Jiraiya shouted back, clearly angry at what his student was saying.
"Oh really? And just what have you offered me, you goddamn pervert?!" he shouted out before quickly continuing, not done with his tirade just yet as he answered his own question. "A quick death? Or did you conveniently forget that you pushed me off a fucking cliff, into a ravine even, with zero chance to save myself unless I pulled the boss summon out of my ass? It's a good thing I pulled that miracle off otherwise you'd have had to explain to Jii-chan why I didn't show up to the Finals!"
"Now listen here, you ungrateful brat! I taught you one of the Fourth Hokage's greatest ninjutsus known throughout the world!"
"Taught?! All you did was give me water balloons and rubber balls to pop while only giving me the vaguest of clues on how to even do it! What's even worse is that I have to use a bloody clone in order to complete it since my chakra control sucks!"
Jiraiya narrowed his eyes after hearing that. "Oh? And whose fault is it that you have crappy control over your chakra? In fact, teaching the Rasengan should have refined it." He stated as Naruto let out a growl before summoning chakra to his hand as he attempted to use the technique without the aid of his clones. The only thing that happened was the chakra haphazardly swirling around before ultimately dissipating.
"You tell me; did that look refined to you?! If you had actually helped me with the Rasengan, then I'd probably be doing a whole lot better with summoning or my Kage Bunshin!" Naruto exclaimed hotly.
Without thinking about the consequences of his words, the Toad Sage yelled, "Well maybe the problem is that you're a terrible student! It's not my fault that you can't learn what I'm trying to teach you!" and right after he said that and realized just what a mistake he made. The look of rage and anger evaporated from Naruto's face and a look of deep hurt replaced it for a nanosecond before transforming into an angry glare.
"Fuck you, Jiraiya…" was all that he muttered as he left the summoned toad and the hurt Toad Sage in his wake.
"You know…you're a real class act, Jiraiya," Gamakichi said as he finally spoke up after the two started going at it verbally. Frowning at the white-haired male, he continued. "From what pops told me, you were just as bad as him back in your youth, and you didn't have a Bijuu stuck in your gut like he does to drag you down. So if he's a bad student as a Jinchuuriki, what does that make you?" he asked before vanishing in a plume of white smoke, leaving Jiraiya alone in the clearing with his thoughts.
Jiraiya sighed as he realized that both Naruto and Gamakichi were right. He had been a terrible learner and struggled with everything that was taught to him when he was Naruto's age. And to make matters even worse with the comparison that the toad prince had made, Naruto had a valid reason for his difficult time learning: A Bijuu stuck in his gut, multiple people passing him over or even outright ignoring him, or hell sabotaging him indirectly and otherwise. He had ignored all of that when taking Naruto on in order to save a little face after being told off by someone less than half his age.
Realizing that his success with Minato had gone to his head, Jiraiya now knew that it had made him arrogant as an instructor. Compared to Naruto, Minato was a genius and didn't need anything other than someone to point him in the right direction; that was what Jiraiya had done and due to that, Minato had created the prized technique that he had taught Naruto…the same technique that was taught to him by Minato himself! The student had surpassed the teacher in that moment…and that's how Jiraiya knew how bad he messed this situation up.
"Good job Jiraiya…you surely fucked this one up," he muttered to himself with self-loathing in his tone before Body Flickering out of the clearing.
(Break)
"Stupid Jiraiya…what does he know?" Naruto growled out before putting his hands in a familiar cross sign hand seal before summoning a small army of clones. He didn't even have to tell them what to do as they all got into a battle stance before charging at him. He didn't realize that a small amount of Kyuubi's chakra was leaking into his system due to his intense anger at the pervert. Working on autopilot, he moved in-between his clones and started taking them down with simple punches and kicks. As he was doing this, he noticed exactly how easy it was to take clones of himself out…especially when he was able to see how bad his fighting style actually was. 'Do I…really fight this badly?' he mused before ducking under a haymaker punch from a clone and jumping backwards to dodge a slash from a clone's kunai.
Taking a kunai out of his pouch, he dodged another punch before slashing the clone in the stomach and watched it dispel before quickly taking the last of the clones out with two slashes, wondering why he had felt the phantom pains of the clones dying. Done with his exercise for the time being, he stretched after putting away his kunai. Sighing lightly, he moved towards the tree where he placed his jacket and a few other things on his person and took out the small little notebook he kept with him.
He needed a break from everything, especially after that outburst of his to Jiraiya. Plus…his muse had been sparked while he was ranting at Jiraiya and wanted to make as much good use of it as he could before it left him again. Not many people knew this since they decided it would just be easier to pretend he didn't exist, but the blonde enjoyed reading adventure stories. Just because he pretended to be an idiot didn't mean he actually was one after all, and since he liked reading adventure stories, he decided on trying to write one himself.
After finding out that it was the super pervert who wrote the smut that his former sensei, Kakashi, read all the time in public then he figured he could do it as well. Besides, if a super pervert could become a famous writer so easily, how hard could it actually be? With those thoughts in mind, he started skimming over the story that he wrote so far.
While he was a little self-conscious of naming the main character after himself, he figured that it was something that many authors did when they were starting out. Oturan Uzuki was the name of his character, and he was trying to rescue the Princess Momo from the clutches of the evil Ryūkame and his underlings. So far, he had written about his character fighting four shinobi brothers at their ancient fortress with the help of a 'traitor' and a hostage, braved mountains and ancient ruins with the help of a mailman, helped ghosts stop a monster that was devouring their kind, and with the help of a light bulb, was able to take out a general that was locked inside of a child's toy box. Now, he was writing about how the hero and his six companions were riding on a giant whale to an island that housed a sacred volcano and the tribe that protected said volcano from outsiders and thieves. (1)
"What do you even hope to accomplish with this book?" the Kyuubi asked, tilting his head to the side. He honestly didn't see the point of writing and wondered what the brat would say to answer his question.
'I just want to see how people will respond to something that I write. I know I won't have much luck when it comes to being well-liked, thanks to holding you,' at this, the fox snorted at the light insult but Naruto continued as if he didn't hear him. 'But maybe, just maybe, then I can be famous as a fantasy writer,' he said before noticing the disdain look on the Kyuubi's face. 'What? It could happen, especially since Jiraiya has made it big writing that smut of his!' he stated as he defended his hobby.
"Your desire for acceptance by your fellow monkeys is almost pitiful…but the drive you have for it is commendable."
'Am I hearing things…or is that you starting to come around, fox? You know…we could be friend if you just give me a chance. I wouldn't mind starting over with you…'
Hearing this, the Biju just rolled his eyes at that. "And why, pray tell, would I want to be friends with you?"
'Maybe because I'm the only person that you can talk to at the moment?' the blonde quickly retorted.
"And…your point?" the fox asked, quickly shutting his jailor down with a deadpan tone. Naruto had to think about his response at that point, causing the fox to continue to stare at him as he thought up a response.
'My point…is that I'm trying to show you I'm willing to let the past be the past. To create some sort of connection with you that is more than just tenant and landlord. I honestly want us to be friends if you're willing to at least try.'
The fox scoffed at hearing this. "Again, why would I want to become friends with someone the likes of you, Naruto?" he asked as he laid his head down on his front paws, looking at the young man in front of him intensely.
'…You're not going to make this easy for me, are you fox? I'm being honest here when I say that I want to establish some sort of connection here with you, either as friends or something besides the obvious. Is there anything that I can do to prove that to you, besides removing the seal?'
"…"
'…'
"…"
'Well…if you can think of anything, let me know. I'll see what I can do to fulfil it,' Naruto stated awkwardly before cutting off the connection and resumed writing. His muse was still highly active and wanted to continue while he still had inspiration
'...Well, if you come up with anything, let me know,' awkwardly finished Naruto before he cut off the connection and resumed writing.
[Break]
As the day passed by with Naruto making a notebook of things he noticed while the clones were sparring with each other, Jiraiya had finally come by and collected him. The tension between the two of them was so thick that it could have been cut with a kunai. As they walked, Naruto was still angry at the fact that the man who was supposed to teach him had wasted a year of his life when he could have been getting stronger. Once they reached the next village and got a hotel, the blonde asked for a separate room at the check-in desk. Not having the heart to make a scene in front of hotel clerk, Jiraiya allowed it. It was this reason alone why Naruto was on the floor above the Toad Sage. He had been looking over his notes on what he could improve Taijutsu wise before being shaken out of his thoughts.
"Boy" the Kyuubi commented, startling Naruto as he jumped and instantly got into a defensive stance. Seeing that there was no immediate danger, he relaxed just a tad.
'Geez Kyuubi…you scared me! What's up?'
"You said that you wanted to start fresh, correct?"
'I did. Why, did you come up with something?'
"As a matter of fact, I did. You remember how the toad summoner was able to alter the seal on you?" the fox asked as Naruto visibly flinched. He remembered that memory and was man enough to say that it wasn't one of his proudest moments. It was halfway through the first year with the Bastard that Jiraiya took it upon himself to loosen the seal a bit in order to give him more access to the fox's chakra. The problem with that though was the fact that Naruto was nowhere near ready to handle the corruption and negativity that came with it. This caused the blonde to go into a berserk rage as soon as he accessed it. Shaking his head to get his thoughts out of the past, he nodded.
'I remember that day, it sucked. Your point?'
"Only a practitioner of seals could have any chance of doing what he did, even if he did have the key on hand for it. So here's what I want you to do; I want you to search his belongings for anything relating to Fuinjutsu, the art of sealing."
'Why?'
The Kyuubi let out a light sigh at this. He was tempted to scold the boy for his rude question, but he decided to let it slide, just this once especially since it was a good question. At the same time, however, he couldn't show the boy kindness…not yet anyways.
"I'm getting to that, brat. With enough training and practice, then you could find a way to alter the seal enough to benefit the both of us without any repercussions. When that happens, we'll become a true Jinchuuriki and Bijuu team."
The notion sounded appealing to the blonde Uzumaki, and he grinned at the fox who was offering him a way to establish a friendship and he quickly agreed. 'Just one question Fox…how am I supposed to get into his stu-?'
"The pervert is out of range with some random woman," the fox deadpanned, causing Naruto to sweat drop at that.
'Seriously?! You have got to be shitting me…' he muttered as he shook his head and made his way down towards Jiraiya's room. Easily picking the lock, he was unaware of a seal lighting up before corroding away thanks to the Kyuubi pulsing its chakra in a split second, negating it. Stepping into the room, Naruto checked Jiraiya's belongings. Finding a few journals, the blonde skimmed through them as he was annoyed to see that they were mostly images and notes related to the man's Icha Icha series.
"Come on…where the hell are his…oh," he muttered as he was able to answer his own question as the blonde was now holding a notebook stuffed with papers and sticky notes. "Here it is. Took long enough," he muttered to no one in particular.
"Good. Now get back to the room and take a look at it. Before you do, fix this room up, or else he'll suspect that someone was in here and make things even more difficult for us."
Nodding in response, the blonde replaced everything he found it before sneaking back out, locking the door and rushing back to his room. Locking the door behind him, he sat on the bed before opening the notebook to the very first page. "Alright now…let's see here…" Naruto muttered before starting to read. "The intricate Art of Fuinjutsu is one of the most diverse and difficult studies in the shinobi world. But through diligent training, mastery of this unpredictable skill is possible causing you to do things that few people believe to be beyond the realm of possibility…' that sentence alone caught Naruto's interest and he started to read in earnest now. He was already known as the "Most Unpredictable Shinobi from Konoha" and with how the notebook summarized Fuinjutsu, it was a skill right up his alley…
[Break]
After that, a few months had passed in relatively simplicity. Naruto worked in secret with learning Fuinjutsu with the help of the Kyuubi while getting some training and sparring in with his sensei. His relationship with the self-proclaimed super pervert had not improved after the argument that night but at least it hadn't gotten any worse. However, Naruto had a feeling that once he revealed his knowledge in the art of seals that Jiraiya would be either happy to see him taking after the male…or extremely pissed that he had stolen his notes to jumpstart his training. Now situated in another hotel while the pervert was…somewhere (Naruto really didn't care where the bastard went when he wasn't being trained), he was working on putting the final touches on one of the seals he gained from the book.
"Alright now…just need to fix this mark here, add a couple of strokes there. And now to adjust the formula…" Naruto muttered to himself as he looked over a large sealing array that he had been working on. Thanks to the Kyuubi, and several clones, Naruto had been able to quickly absorb the knowledge from the book. That was another thing that had changed between the night that Naruto pilfered the notebook and now; the Kyuubi was a little more tolerable of him. While he was still a pain in the neck when it came to giving him chakra during training, he was insanely helpful when it came to learning about seals.
It also didn't hurt that since the Kyuubi was a chakra construct given life, he had something similar to an eidetic memory either.
"You missed a couple strokes up top," the fox commented after looking over the construct for a few seconds. Nodding at that, he thanked Kyuubi before going to fix it, knowing that the fox was overlooking his work.
'And now? What do you think, Kyuubi?" he asked.
The Kyuubi looked over it for a few seconds before sending him the mental equivalent to a nod.
"It looks decent, knowing you. Go ahead and activate it."
The teen nodded and knelt down, placing his palms on the bottom of the seal. Pumping chakra into it, the array lit up in a whitish-blue hue, covering the room with its glow. After a few moments, bubbles of chakra before forming and float from the seal, each one taking on one of five colors: red, blue, brown, green and yellow. "So far, so good…" Naruto muttered as he kept watch with a clone nearby on watch, just in case Jiraiya came back before he was finished. Sure, he made a stronger than normal clone today and had it take his place with the man so he could focus on this but it never hurt to be overly cautious…
Shaking his head lightly to get himself focused on the sealing array in front of him, Naruto began to see the bubbles start to slowly float in a circular motion, almost as if it were some sort of carousel. He then noticed the bubble colored green float towards him. That bubble was soon followed by the one that glowed yellow; however, the yellow bubble shrunk down in size as it neared him. Soon after, both bubbles merged with his body as the surrounding bubbles rippled for a bit before floating harmlessly to the ground as the array died down.
'So…?'
"It looks like it worked, and it was accurate as well. It showed your Wind affinity, along with your lesser Lightning affinity, which I told you would be the case. Nice work, brat," the Kyuubi replied with a smirk on his face, knowing what Naruto's reaction to that would be.
'Hey! I'm not a brat!'
'Works every time…'the Kyuubi thought before rolling his eyes. "Quit fooling around. With this, we can now move onto the advanced set of notes. After that, we'll have to see what we can do to augment your knowledge."
Naruto smirked at hearing that before pumping his fist into the air. 'Awesome! Soon I'll be able to create my own awesome and amazing seals and get to show Jiraiya just what I can actually do!' he commented before flinching lightly and holding his head. "Ugh…looks like the clone I left with the pervert finally dispelled. Anything worth noting, fox?" Naruto asked as the giant chakra construct looked over the memories for a few moments, sorting them out.
"Lose the attitude, brat. But to answer your question, just a spar over the nearby river. The seal held up though, so the clone didn't immediately dispel after the first hit. Don't expect this deception to last for too long though. He's not an S-Ranked shinobi for nothing."
Naruto nodded at that, knowing the fox was right about that part, and ignored the first part of his statement. 'You make a point…I better personally show up for the next few sessions then, even if I hate his guts. Anyways…I had a question.'
"Yes?"
'How is it that I can understand Fuinjutsu so easily? I've never done this before you had me take that notebook, so…what gives?' Naruto asked as Kyuubi just stared at him for a bit. 'What?' he asked, getting a tad uncomfortable after being stared at for that long.
"Tell me, what do you know about the red swirl that is on all the flak jackets and mixed into the leaf symbol of your village?" it asked as he waited for an answer from the blonde. Seeing that none was coming, he let out a soft sigh. "Of course no one bothered telling you, not even that elder monkey you call a grandfather…"
'Oi, don't disrespect the old man like that! Only I can do that!' Naruto commented before getting a look from the fox.
"Idiot…I am older than all the humans on this planet at this point, I can call him whatever the hell I want. Now then, before I was rudely interrupted, I was going to tell you the history about that symbol. But if a certain brat I know doesn't want to know about it…"
'Alright Alright…I'm sorry.' Naruto muttered and looked away, not wanting to see the smirk that was probably on the dumb fox's face at this moment.
"Thank you. Now then, you might not believe me but that symbol is in fact the symbol of one of your village's greatest allies…and one of their greatest mistakes. It is a symbol of the Uzumaki Clan and their village that was within the Land of Whirlpools. You weren't just given that last name by coincidence Naruto Uzumaki…you are, in fact, an Uzumaki by blood.
'And…how exactly do you know all of this?'
"Because it was your mother and ancestor that held me before you; your mother was my second jinchuuriki. And Jinchuuriki is just a fancy term to call the nine people that hold me and my brethren." He waited for the monkey's brain to catch up with that statement, knowing he just gave his jailor several bombshells at once: the fact that he was part of a clan, the fact that there were more people like him and the fact that he knew who the boy's mother was. The fox was a little curious as to which one he would fixate on most, though he had a good idea as to which it would be.
'Wait…you knew my mother?!'
'Thought so' The Kyuubi mused.
'Who was my mother?! What was she like?! Did she love me?! Is she still alive?!' he asked rapidly causing the fox to laugh lightly at the rapid fire questions.
"Calm down brat; come into the seal and I'll explain what I can about her." He stated and in what felt like an imitation at that blonde bastard's most famous (or infamous depending on the country) ninjutsu, Naruto appeared in the seal.
'Please, tell me!' Naruto exclaimed with a pleading look on his face.
"Alright alright, calm yourself, brat. First, before I can tell you who your mother was, a little backstory on your clan. Don't worry, I won't bore you to death like your Academy sensei did. First, you need to know that the Uzumakis were known for their proficiency with Fuinjutsu, as well as their potent chakra and incredible life force, or their longevity for lack of a better word. If you wanted someone to do something that others said was impossible, then an Uzumaki would probably laugh in your face and then do it for you with a smile on their face. Your mother, Kushina Uzumaki, was special. She had a unique ability that was able to condense her chakra in order to make physical objects, and she usually used that to manifest them into chains that enough power to bind me, a Biju with near limitless chakra, and she did this while severely weakened."
'Kushina…' Naruto whispered to himself, savoring the sound of how his mother's name sounded coming from his lips for the first time in forever. A soft smile formed on his face as he heard how amazing she was. 'Wait. You said, 'was' and 'weakened.' How was she weakened, Kyuubi?' Naruto asked as he waited for him to answer his questions. He already had a feeling that his parents were dead as he refused to believe that his parents hadn't wanted him even though it was an insult thrown at him from time to time in his youth.
Kyuubi sighed at that. "I had a feeling that you would catch on to that. Are you sure you want to know? You might not like what you see."
'Please…I have to know. No…I need to know. What happened to her?' he asked, desperation clear in his voice as he asked this question. He wanted to know about his parents for the longest of time and here it was, an opportunity to find out exactly what happened.
Kyuubi sighed lightly after hearing this, and he just knew that bad things were going to happen as a result of him seeing what exactly happened, it was why he warned the boy in the first place. Moving one of his tails to poke between the bars, ignoring the pain at doing such an action, he let the tip of it stop right in front of Naruto, mere inches from the boy's forehead. "After this, you may have second thoughts about trying to get all buddy-buddy with me. Some of these things are not for the faint of heart. Are you sure you still want to know? This is the last chance to back out, and if you do I won't hold it against you."
'Show me.'
"Alright then. Just…remember that I gave you a way out," the Kyuubi said before poking his forehead with the tail and Naruto's vision went dark.
Coming out of the vision several minutes later, Naruto was wondering just how he was supposed to react after learning all of that. A man masquerading as Madara Uchiha that forcefully removed the fox from his mother? How was he supposed to take in the reveal that his parents gave up their lives for him and that the Fourth Hokage, his own father, had been the one to reseal the fox for the third time and inside of him? It was a lot to take in; especially knowing that the mortal blow to his parents was dealt by the fox itself.
[Break]
The following morning had Naruto seated on the rooftop of the hotel he and Jiraiya were staying at. The rising sun slowly illuminated his body as he looked downward with a thoughtful expression. Last night's revelation was quite the bombshell if he was putting it lightly. The fox was right to have been worried before showing him this information, but after taking a second to look at it objectively and not with his emotions jading his vision…he realized that the Kyuubi was as much of a victim in all of this as he was.
"There you are…" a familiar voice commented, a voice that Naruto didn't immediately react to. Looking up at the elder male, Naruto sighed at seeing his teacher.
"Oh…hi Jiraiya. I…I honestly don't feel like training today. I've…I've got a lot on my mind," he said with a soft whisper, interrupting whatever the man was going to say next. Seeing the man sit down next to him, he cocked an eyebrow in curiosity, wondering what his 'teacher' was going to say next.
"I noticed. Want to share or is this too personal?" he asked before seeing the death glare that his student was giving him and winced lightly. It looked like the glare that Kushina had given him when he had done something perverted in her presence and right before she threatened to use her chains on him.
"What do you care? I'm just your 'bad student,' remember?" he asked, causing the man to wince again before letting out a light sigh.
"Yeah…I deserve that. Listen Naruto…I shouldn't have said that back then. It was not only uncalled for but also completely unfair to you when you've been trying so hard to get stronger. You know…you were right back there," he stated before turning towards Naruto and giving the teen his full attention. "I haven't been the best teacher for you. I've left you on your own for so much because it was how I trained Minato, believe it or not. He was able to get so far on his own that all I really needed to do was point him in the right direction from time to time."
"So what? Am I supposed to forgive you for assuming that I was some genius ninja like he was? Newsflash pervert, I'm not him. I've had to struggle at every turn to get to where I am, and even then it didn't feel like I truly got anywhere."
"I know…I know…and I should have noticed right away since I was just like you when I was starting out. I always had trouble when learning a new jutsu or skill and deemed a loser my many of my peers, especially when compared to my teammates Tsunade-hime and Orochimaru-teme," Jiraiya said before letting out another sigh. "When I left you to your own devices…I won't lie here kid, I was expecting another Minato. I'm sorry that I turned you into a second coming of me before I became a Sannin…"
"Oh gee, thanks Ero-sannin," Naruto retorted, each word coated in sarcasm. "That makes me feel so much better…" taking a small breath to calm himself down, he continued. "What even made you think I was gonna be some prodigy anyways?"
Jiraiya knew that Naruto was going to hate what he said next but knew that ripping the band-aid off now was better than doing it lightly later on. "I thought…that since you looked like him, you might have shared that same learning curve, that zeal to succeed in anything that you put your mind to. It was wrong-"
"Wait. So…just because I look like him, you thought I would act like him? What the hell Ero-Sannin?" Naruto exclaimed angrily as he saw Jiraiya sigh yet again. Ever since he had been on this training trip with the super pervert, he had barely learned anything. In the middle of his rant that only the Kyuubi heard, he saw Jiraiya's lips move and say something that would be a mistake that would cause the relationship between the two to never be the same again.
"Why couldn't he be more like you Minato…instead of his mother? I could train him much easier then…" Not only did Jiraiya think he thought that to himself but unfortunately that wasn't the case. He had mumbled that line out loud and thanks to the Kyuubi's influence, Naruto had heard it.
"My mother?!" he asked, playing shock. "You knew my mother, and you never told me?! What the hell, Jiraiya?!" Naruto asked in a yelling voice, dropping the affection nickname that he had given the pervert when he had met him.
The man held up hands in a placating manner, trying to reason with Naruto. "Now listen, I was going to tell you but not right now. You weren't ready to know…" he started to say before realizing just how wrong that comment was to say to the young blonde in front of him. Blue eyes bled into red as Naruto quickly grabbed the front of Jiraiya's clothes and slammed him against the wall, his strength amplified by the Kyuubi's chakra.
"Wasn't ready?! I wasn't ready? Where the fuck do you get off telling me when I am or am not ready to learn the truth about my parents?! Who do you think you are to determine that?!" he yelled, glaring at the man he was holding with barely contained rage.
"Your…god…father…" he stated with strained breathing as he saw his student bare his fangs at him dangerously before unceremoniously letting go of the elder male and letting him drop to the ground in an undignified heap.
"Get…away from me…" Naruto growled out as he kept a tight leash on his anger but it was slowly starting to fray. Jiraiya decided to honor the boy's request and left, using a Body Flicker to get away so that Naruto could hopefully calm down and that he could patch things up with his student. 'Well that definitely could have gone better. Good going Jiraiya…' he stated as he mentally berated himself.
[Back with Naruto]
Naruto took a few minutes after Jiraiya left just sparing at the spot which held his godfather for a few seconds as his eyes switched between cerulean and crimson constantly. Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath before letting it out, he let out an angry yell that could have been heard for miles.
Not that Naruto cared right now.
Once he was semi-calm again, Naruto reentered his mindscape and stood in front of the fox. "Damn perverted bastard…" he muttered, not expecting the Kyuubi to sympathize with him. He was still angry though and didn't mind if the fox heard his ranting or not.
"Gotta admit Naruto…I didn't expect him to say he was your godfather either. I thought the only link he had to you was teaching your father," the Kyuubi commented as he noticed Naruto pacing back and forth, muttering to himself from time to time.
"…Does anyone think I can handle whatever is connected to me?! My parents, you, my godfather…hell, I bet even the old man lied to me too whenever I asked about my parents!" he exclaimed as a figurative light bulb appeared over his head. If Naruto wasn't so angry, the fox would have made a snarky comment about how it took him so long to figure that out. However, even he knew that this wasn't the time nor place for such a comment.
"Boy…what are you doing?! You'll kill yourself!" Kyuubi exclaimed as he noticed that Naruto had started reaching for the seal that kept him caged within the boy's mindscape. He was panicking as he noticed that Naruto was starting to pull at the seal…before he saw a hand grabbing at his wrist.
"I wouldn't do that son…"
"H-huh?" Naruto asked, the comment breaking through his haze of anger and turned towards the new presence beside him. A few moments passed between the two before Naruto realized who this was as he took in the blonde hair, blue eyes and the white cloak that the man was wearing. "D-dad? H-how are you here?" he asked, shocked.
"Well, when I sealed the fox into you, I placed a portion of my chakra in as well, so that I could show up if you tried taking the seal off too early," Minato stated as he answered his son's question.
"Too early?"
"I designed the seal to slowly siphon chakra from Kyuubi and into you at a constant rate. Too much of his chakra at once will overwhelm your chakra network causing you to explode. I highly doubt you want to become a bomb of blood and guts after all."
"Like it would even matter to anyone…" Naruto muttered. Minato narrowed his eyes at that but was distracted from saying something to Naruto at that before hearing the fox speaking.
"Well now, isn't this nice?" The Kyuubi mused mockingly. "I didn't think that you'd be here, or that I'd see you again, Fourth."
"I did this for my son, Kyuubi. It's not like I wanted to see your ugly mug again either" Minato snarked back. Before the Kyuubi could make another comment, Naruto interrupted the both of them.
"Dad, the fox has actually been helping me a lot in my life. It helped-"
"Yes…I know. While I couldn't interact with you since the conditions weren't met, I was able to witness your life from within the seal. I cannot even begin to tell you how sorry I am that you had to go through with all of that. I'm also highly disappointed in both Sensei and Kakashi-kun for not doing more for you when they should have. Do know that both myself and your mother will have a few choice words for the both of them when they pass over, of that I can assure you," Minato stated as Naruto nodded at that, glad to know that both of his neglectful teachers would be getting some karmic justice.
"Then…why are you still here dad? You did your job of stopping me from releasing the Kyuubi and killing myself so shouldn't you have gone by now?" he asked, his head tilted to the side to show his confusion. Minato chuckled lightly at that and ruffled his son's hair at that.
"Hey!" he stated, causing the man to chuckle lightly before he removed his hand.
"To answer your question, Naruto, I'm staying around to tell you to just be careful when it comes to delving into the art of Fuinjutsu. Fuinjutsu is a dangerous art and if you're careless, you could die. That isn't something either myself or your mother wants for a long while. Especially when you have so much to live for."
"You mean like how you want me to be this Child of Prophecy that you didn't live up to be? I'm not a hero dad, I'm just Uzumaki Naruto," he stated with a light sigh before feeling his father's hand place itself on his shoulder.
"No, you're not. You are my son, and no matter what you do in life, for better or for worse, I believe in you." He was about to say more before his eyes widened as he saw someone else starting to form behind Naruto.
"We both do, Sweetheart…" a woman's voice whispered softly into Naruto's ear as the young male felt two arms wrap around him from behind.
"M-mom?" Naruto asked softly and in surprise as he turned his head enough to see someone with stunning red hair. It was the only conclusion that he could come to and was so surprised to see that he was meeting both of his parents…even if the circumstances for this family reunion could have been better.
Smiling lightly, the woman turned him around so that he could face her. "Just look at you," she gushed. "Oh, my baby boy turned out to be so handsome!" she stated before hugging him again and smirking at her husband. "He's much better looking than you were at his age, Girly Boy," she stated, causing Naruto to chuckle at his mom's nickname for his dad.
"K-K-Kushina!" Minato exclaimed, sputtering at the old nickname, a tick mark growing on his forehead as he heard his son and Kyuubi's laughter enter his ears.
"Oh calm down Minato. You know I'm just teasing," Kushina replied before breaking the hug and stepping back from her son for a bit so that she could get a better look at him. After a few minutes of silence, she spoke up once again. "I'm glad to see that you're doing so well with Fuinjutsu, even if old Fuzz Butt had to get you started down that path," she commented, getting a snort from her son at the nickname for the fox.
"Brat, you even think of calling me that and our deal is off!" The Kyuubi quickly exclaimed before turning towards the female that used to contain him. "And would you rather I have done nothing, woman?"
"Of course not," she answered immediately. "I just wish that he started learning out of interest and not as a last resort to get better. I swear when that old pervert kicks the bucket, I'm gonna kick his ass back to Earth just so that he can die again, 'ttebane," she commented, getting a light laugh from Naruto and a look from Mianto to Naruto that said 'See? I told you so.'
"…'ttebane?" Naruto asked with a chuckle, making her blush in embarrassment. Before Kushina could comment on her verbal tic, he continued. "Thank goodness I'm not the only one who has a weird tic, 'ttebayo," he commented which got a small laugh from his mother as well as another hug from her.
"At least you got something from me. You look like a miniature version of Girly Boy over there," she commented with a teasing smirk and heard a light sigh from his father and he could have sworn his dad saying something along the lines of 'I'm never living that down…' but wasn't sure. "Though I do wish you got my hair color as well…" she said with a light sigh.
"Me too! It's an awesome color, mom!"
Kushina smiled as she heard that coming from her son and gave him another hug. "Thank you," she whispered into his ear before letting him go. "Did you know that there are three very special words that I say only to the men who love my hair?" she asked.
"No. What are they?" he asked, not seeing both Minato and Kyuubi smirking at the younger blonde before seeing the female leaning down and giving him a kiss on the forehead.
"I love you…" she whispered into his ear causing Naruto to blush at the words. This was the first time that he heard those three words coming from someone who loved him unconditionally. Feeling another kiss on his forehead, Naruto couldn't help the grin that formed on his face after hearing those words. It almost caused him to miss what his father said next. Almost.
"As much as I want this moment to last…I'm afraid that this reunion will be short-lived," Minato stated as Naruto stepped back from his mother and looked at them both with confusion.
"What do you mean?" he asked, panic starting to seep into his voice.
"What he means is that their chakra is fading and will soon vanish. I can feel it filtering out as we speak."
"But I have so much to ask them!" the boy exclaimed as tears began to well up in his eyes as he considered what would be the last, and only, time that he would either see, or speak, with his parents. Naruto started wiping his eyes lightly and muttered that he shouldn't be crying in front of his parents like that.
"Naruto."
Looking up and seeing his father in front of him, he saw Minato kneel down and gave him a light hug. "I know that this is hard to accept son, but I want you to remember that your mother and I will always be with you, no matter what. Now then, before we go, I want to give you something before our chakra fully fades away," he said before placing his hand on top of Naruto's stomach, right where the seal laid. Everyone watched as the seal glowed an orangey-red color, almost as if there were flames coming from Naruto's body before spreading up towards Naruto's right arm. While they didn't burn, Naruto could feel something happening and noticed that once the light died down, black markings appeared from the elbow all the way down to his fingertips.
"What's this?"
"That, my son, is the key to the seal holding back the fox. Since you and it,"
"He." Naruto commented instantly. Throughout all their training, Kyuubi had asked to be referred to that particular gender identification instead of an 'it.' Naruto didn't question it and would make sure that his father would respect the Kyuubi's wishes as well.
"…him. Since you and him are starting to connect further than your mother was able to, I figured that you should have that," Minato finished explaining as he ignored his wife's huff as he pointed out one of her shortcomings in life.
"Wait. You…you really think I'm ready?! I mean…I'm not like you or mom, dad…" Naruto replied as shock was seen clearly on his face and in his voice. "I'm not a genius like you or a badass like mom is…" he commented in a low voice, looking down at the floor while saying all of that. And he really believed all of that, thanks to the years of abuse thrown his way. Before Minato could say anything, Kushina gave her husband a look and moved towards their son, gently placing a hand on his shoulder.
"Son…listen to me. Sometimes in life we get knocked down and have to fight our way back up. Sometimes, those moments last but a day, and for others, those moments last months, years or even a lifetime, like for you," she started to say before placing a hand gently underneath his chin and pushing upwards, making his blue eyes meet her own. "However, what really makes someone a splendid shinobi isn't brains or brawn. What really makes them splendid is having the guts to stand up after getting knocked down. To stand up to whatever the world can throw at them with a smile on their face and that there is nothing you can't handle. We have both seen you do exactly that Naruto, both myself and your father. And that is why I…no, we believe that you are a splendid shinobi, sweetheart. Besides…you're Naruto Uzumaki, dattebane. There's nothing our son can't handle," she stated with a grin on her face before frowning lightly as she noticed that she was starting to fade away. Looking back, she noticed that Minato was as well.
Smiling back at her, he hugged his mother once again. He knew that he wouldn't be able to do this again, but Naruto didn't care. He knew that his parents loved him and that was enough for the teenager.
"Naruto…" Minato started to speak, getting his son's attention as he looked at his father one last time. Even as he continued fading, he continued to speak. "Don't ever stop fighting for what you believe in. You carry the wills of Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki with you, so don't ever doubt yourself, alright?" he asked as Naruto nodded.
"Promise of a lifetime dad. I might make mistakes along the way but…I'll do what I think is right. I'll make sure to make you proud!" he stated as Minato fully faded away. But before his chakra finished filtering out, Naruto swore he heard the words:
"I know you will…my son."
Kushina was holding back tears as she held her son one last time before kissing her son's temple and pouring all of her love into it. "I'll see you again, Naruto, but don't you dare make me see you too early, okay? Get old, fall in love, and have several children to fulfil that giant family that you've always dreamed about, 'ttebane," she commented, trying to sound stern and motherly.
"I promise."
"Thank you. And I know that if an Uzumaki makes a promise, then they never go back on it," she added as she started to turn more into ethereal mist. "Thank you…for being our son…Naruto. I love you…" she was able to say before fully fading away after saying that and leaving Naruto alone with the Kyuubi once more. Naruto stared at where both his mother and father once stood with his own set of tears running down his face.
"Mom…Dad…" Naruto whispered as he felt tears running down his face. As a soft smile unconsciously formed on his face, the words "I love you both too" slipped from his lips. He was glad that the Kyuubi was staying silent after seeing and hearing all of that and turned towards the fox. "Kyuubi…thank you."
"You're thanking me…for what?" the Kyuubi asked as he stared down as the blonde boy. "If you're thanking me for staying mostly quiet during that you don't have to. I had nothing to say to my former jailor or the person who sealed me into you other than the greeting that I did. Now then, what are you going to do after meeting those miserable apes?" he asked, confused as to why Naruto was chuckling lightly at his actions and words.
"Whatever you say fox. Your secret of being a softie at heart is safe with me. I wouldn't want to ruin the reputation of the 'Greatest Bijuu' after all," Naruto teased as he ignored the grumbling of the said fox and tuned him out for the most part until he calmed down.
"So…after that small reunion, what now?" he asked, the fox curious as to how the blonde would respond. He hoped that this interaction with his dead parents wouldn't set him back or anything like that and was glad to hear what his answer was.
"Now? Now I keep training! I can't let them down!" he exclaimed.
[Break]
After the reunion with his parents, another month had just flown by as Naruto had flung himself into his Fuinjutsu training with gusto. Not only had he perfected his calligraphy but had also created a few seals as well: storage, exploding and a few barrier seals as well. And while he could have gone to Jiraiya and asked for his advice, he was still bitter about how the old pervert had hidden such crucial information from him about his family. 'Just another one to add to the list of many people who hid info about who I am,' he thought bitterly as he was working on another seal of his own creation. This one was much larger than his Elemental Reading Seal, the seal that he had first created on his own and after selling the formula and a few of the seals to his friend Gaara, who was now the Kazekage of the Hidden Sand, Naruto didn't have to worry about where his finances for getting the necessary materials for his sealing arts came from.
He was still surprised that he had found out that his friend had become Kazekage before he had become Hokage. He had found this out after meeting up with the redhead as he was doing a patrol around the village. Naruto had congratulated him after learning that fact and was treated to lunch by his fellow jinchuuriki. He was glad to see how different Gaara had become after their fight during the Invasion at the Chunin Exams three years prior.
Another thing that he was proud of that happened during the month was that he had finished his book, edited to the best of his abilities and had sent it to the same publisher that printed Jiraiya's books. He knew that using his real name would probably cause the book not to sell well in his home village so decided to use the name Kaze Ichiraku so that it would sell well there too. And to his pleasant surprise, it had. He had found out wherever he and Jiraiya went that The Seven Trials was selling off the shelves as if they were hotcakes. He had even heard that the publisher was having trouble keeping up with demand with how good it was. It also didn't hurt to hear that his book was selling better than Jiraiya's.
Was it petty? Maybe a little. Did he care? No, not really.
He was also pleasantly surprised when the publishers had sent him a note from none other than Koyuki Kazahana saying that she loved the novel and would love to create a movie based on it. She wanted to meet with the writer and discuss about that as well as any changes that would have had to be made to change it from book format to movie format. This letter had thrown Naruto for a loop, especially since he didn't think his book would be that much of a success. He had hoped it would be but this…this was even more than what he was hoping for!
"Stop going down memory lane, you'll make a mistake if you don't," Kyuubi stated as he broke through Naruto's thoughts. He had been quite impressed with Naruto's work and had begrudgingly admitted it after a while. He also warned not to let it go to his head.
'Sorry Kyuubi,' he stated as he shook his head lightly and got his focus back. Right now, he was working on putting the finishing touches to his newest seal. Finishing the last brushstroke on the huge sealing array in front of him, Naruto wiped a little bit of ink off of his forehead as he stood up and started looking over his handiwork. "Alright…it looks ready. If this works, then the Transportation Seal could help establish better connections between other villages," he said as a small smirk came across his features. He had heard about his father's famous Hiraishin no Jutsu and had used that as a starting point for the idea that led to the seal that was in front of him.
"I wouldn't get your hopes up, Naruto. There's a very weak cease fire agreement between the five villages for one. And we don't even know if this will work or not yet either. Though I bet you wouldn't mind using this to visit that snow princess you saved if it does work. I'm sure if you tell her you're the writer of that Seven Stars Book then she'd be pleasantly surprised. Maybe even ask for you to stay…" the Kyuubi commented, teasing the jailor. Naruto felt his cheeks heat up at the comment but said nothing about that as he decided to respond to the 'business' side of what the fox had said.
'Oh don't be so negative Kyu! You gotta think with the glass half full!' he commented as he used one of his more positive nicknames for the fox. If he had called the Kyuubi that when they had first made this deal, then Naruto knew he would have been met with a scathing remark. He was glad that the Kyuubi had come around, or at least started to come around.
"Half empty or half full, doesn't matter to me. All it is just water in a glass."
'Let's see if you still believe that after it works!' the Uzumaki challenged as he stepped back from where the paper laid on the floor of his hotel room before activating it. Like many seals before, it gave off the usual whitish-blue glow to show activation and Naruto could see a small distortion starting to form from the array's center. However…that's when things started to go horribly wrong as the array then turned an ugly black and a column of violet and black energy surrounded the room, Naruto being forced into the center of the array by an ominous crackle of thunder and wind. Before Naruto could say or do anything else, the column of chakra broke through the ceiling of his hotel room and through the roof of the building, catching the attention of the shinobi forces of the village.
Arriving first was the Kazekage, his siblings and a few of the village's ANBU Squad. One of them made a step towards the barrier, but Gaara's sand was faster and tried piercing the barrier. However, the sand instantly broke apart and disappeared, causing Gaara's eyes to widen before ordering everyone to not make any contact with it. Moving close to the cylindrical column of light, the redhead was able to stare down and noticed the frantic look on his friend's face moments before his friend disappeared into nothingness and the column of light to disappear. "I'm sorry Naruto…my friend. I couldn't do anything to save you…" the Kazekage whispered as he stared at the space where his first friend stood just a few minutes before. Turning back towards his shinobi forces, he requested them to get down there and to start investigating while asking his siblings to start on damage control. He didn't want any other members of his village to be hurt as well as to find out what just happened to Naruto. He then sighed before muttering how he was gonna have to send a messenger hawk to Konoha and explain to Tsunade what just happened as well, not knowing that he was also signing Jiraiya's death warrant by doing so.
With Naruto
Naruto blinked his cerulean eyes open as he found himself hurtling through a vortex of swirling light, grunting in effort as he tried moving against its natural forces. Knowing that he would be unable to make it back to where he came from, Naruto was going to do the next best thing. Moving his right hand with considerable force towards the seal, the Kyuubi could see what Naruto was about to do and was alarmed.
"Kit!? What the hell are you doing?!" he asked as Naruto felt his fingertips reaching the seal that was on his stomach. Naruto ignored what his friend said and started to smile a soft, sad smile. Kyuubi knew that this particular smile was for him and him alone.
"Oi, brat! What in the hell are you doing?!" he asked again as he rammed himself against the bars, worried about his friend/jailor.
'Remember me, my friend!' Naruto stated ominously before making a twisting motion on the seal in front of his stomach, unlocking it. With the cage open, the Kyuubi was quickly ejected from the boy's chakra core and sent hurtling back towards where they came from when they first opened this portal into…wherever this place was and passed through the jagged opening while Naruto was forced onwards into the vortex of light. He didn't notice, or realize, the small red wisps of chakra reaching his body and altering it.
The last thing Naruto knew was a bright light that engulfed his vision…and then nothing.
– This is a reference to the original Paper Mario story/plot on the Nintendo 64 / Nintendo Switch Online store (I believe that its currently on the NSO store but since I don't have one, I'm not entirely sure)
DASM: And with that, the first of three chapters that Pain17ification has written originally has been modified by myself.
As Pain and his beta explained previously, they chose to bash Jiraiya which honestly, I decided to run with that as well. At the beginning of Part 2 canon wise, Naruto had more basic knowledge, a better control of his chakra, how to dispel Genjutsu, a bigger Rasengan and…that was about it really. No elemental training, no cool new techniques…nothing. All Jiraiya did was want Naruto to get a better hang of the Kyuubi's chakra/youki/what have you when the fox was nowhere NEAR to being in a cooperating mood. And quite honestly, I have to agree with them here. The training trip was mostly a waste and used as a time skip so Kishimoto could continue the story and progress towards the end (which where the fuck did all the stuff about Kaguya come from?!)
Anyways, that's my wrap. I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to be working on next: either the second chapter of this, the Naruto/Tales of Vesperia story I also adopted from Pain17, a new chapter of my RWBY/CCS story "The Cards of Remnant" or what. Or maybe something a little older?
Furthermore, as I said in an author's note for The Cards of Remnant: I'm quite the busy person between everything that happened when COVID 19 reared its ugly head, the fact I'm doing most of the work at the warehouse where I work at…I sometimes just come home and want to veg. I'm trying, truly I am. All I ask from readers/watchers is to please, be patient with me.
Anyways, Dragon and Sword Master ending things here. I'll see you on the next Angry Joe…damnit, wrong thing. On the next episode of Dragon Ball…no no, not that either. *Sighs* let's just end things here before I make more of an ass out of myself than usual.
Blake: Quick note from DASM. His keyboard is currently on the fritz (keys don't register, keys double tap, etc.) among other things. He will not be able to write/type/post until he either gets it fixed or an external keyboard. Also...he has seen all of your reviews concerning his friend, MercenaryGrax. He unfortunately knows nothing about the radio silence. Last Contact from him on either the Discord or otherwise was in January of this year.
