God of Wind 200: Two things, the Nara clan can't adopt him because of the simple fact that they have to maintain clan dynamics and power and giving the Kyuubi to one clan would unbalance the power between the clans. And second of all, they would start wondering about his heritage. And we can't have that can we?
So here we are again with another chapter of Naruto Nara. I might have to rewrite some of the earlier chapters but it's up to you guys. The Chunin Exams won't be starting this chapter. Naruto is about to get some major upgrades while I introduce and develop more of the Konoha twelve who will get a lot more screen time.
Naruto's fear was unfounded. Kakashi didn't actually explain it to them and Zabuza was bored so he decided to scare the kids by exaggerating the facts.
And after a quick explanation from Kakashi, both Sasuke and Sakura calmed down considerably.
"So, dobe, you have the nine-tailed fox within you. That explains why you can catch up to me." Sasuke smirked, "Looks like you are worthy of being my rival, after all."
"Your rival, I could kick your ass any day, Uchiha!" Naruto's voice changed to worry, "How are Imari and Tsunami?"
"They're recovering. Inari was inspired by you to stand up for his mother and I hear he actually got one of them." Tazuna said gruffly, as he entered the room with a broom clutched in his hands, "And I have to say, kid, you definitely took out my anger for me. There was nothing left of those bandits other than blood."
Naruto looked down at his own palms. He really expected to feel the weight of guilt bearing down on him but all he felt was nothing. Those men had tortured Inari and his mother. They didn't deserve Naruto's guilt.
"We have to talk about that, Naruto." Kakashi spoke up gravely, "We have to tell the Hokage about this incident and get someone to teach you to control the Kyuubi's chakra. If you lose control, you could harm someone you weren't intending to."
Sakura took all this news very well, much better than Kakashi was expecting.
But inside Sakura felt incredibly guilty. Her parents had always warned her to stay away from Naruto because he was a demon and she had always listened to them without truly trying to understand Naruto's predicament. That was why he suffered all those things that he had said that dinner with Inari.
Also, now she felt an even stronger motivation to train. Naruto was strong and he had the Kyuubi inside him, while Sasuke had the sharingan. She alone had nothing but Kakashi had talked about her physical strength as if she could be the next Tsunade. And at that moment, the pink-haired girl made a serious promise to herself. To train as hard as she could so she could stand as equals with the others on her team. No matter whatever it took.
"So what about you guys?" Kakashi questioned Zabuza and Haku who were both leaning against the wall, "Are you coming back with us?"
"Sorry, I just heard some news that the rebellion against the Mizukage have made major progress. I know a certain woman among them that would skin my balls if I ditched them for another village so I'd better go help them."
"And I'll follow wherever Zabuza-sama goes." Haku added.
"So, technically we are meant to subdue missing-non wherever we can but I'm sure the Hokage will ignore us if we happened to let you go." The one-eyed ninja smiled, "Also by the way, Naruto, because if your efforts to help the people, they have decided to name the bridge the "Great Naruto Bridge" after you."
Naruto looked around, genuinely surprised.
"It was only thanks to you that Gato was killed and we were saved so we thought it fit to name the village after you."
Everyone continued to chat for a bit, until they all decided it was time to leave. Exiting the house, Zabuza and Haku said goodbye to Team 7 as they dashed into the woods while Team 7 did the same.
"Heh, I never expected this mission to be such a success." Tazuna murmured to himself, "It was all thanks to those kids. Who knew they could be so strong?"
Soon enough, Team 7 made it back to the village. Kakashi gave a debrief to Hiruzen.
"So you're telling me, that you fought one of the seven swordsmen of the mist, defeated them, then Naruto went berserk and killed Gato who is one of the richest men in the Elemental Nations, and then you let the two missing-nin go!" Hiruzen sunk into his seat, resigned at what he had just heard.
"It's the C-Rank curse." Kakashi replied coolly, "But what are we going to do about Naruto using the power of the Kyuubi?"
"Don't worry. A certain someone is returning to the village soon and he is very excited to meet his godson. So from what you've seen, do you think they're ready for the Chunin exams?"
"Yeah, I'm sure. On that topic, are the rumours true? Are we really going to-"
"Yes we are going to invite Iwa to the Chunin exams. In fact, three of the hidden villages' Kage have agreed to join us in the final round. Kiri is still dealing with the civil war but other than that this will be the biggest chunin exams ever hosted."
Kakashi raised his eye incredulously, "Are you sure that's a smart idea?"
"I'm sure. This is a chance to solidify relations with the other villages and hopefully prevent any chance of their being another great ninja war."
The Hokage looked up from his paperwork with a resound look, "Besides, it's time to see what the future generations of Shinobi can do. And I have no doubt that they'll surpass their ancestors."
(A few days later, at a popular Akimichi restaurant)
"I don't believe it!" Kiba said brashly as he stood up, "There's no way you guys completed an A-Rank level mission on your own."
All nine rookie graduates had gathered their excitedly to talk about their missions. Naruto had ordered his favourite bowl of ramen(still worse than Ichiraku's) while Sakura explained what had happened. Of course, they omitted the part where Naruto used the Kyuubi's chakra since Naruto wanted to keep it a secret at least for now but other than that she told the full story, with Naruto and Sasuke jumping in to explain their battle with Haku.
At the end of their explanation, a few of them looked dumbfounded while Kiba refused to believe what they said actually happened. Until Naruto pulled out a massive wad of money from Gama-chan
and waved it at Kiba.
"We got paid as much as ninja get paid for an A-rank mission as well."
Hinata continued to stare at Naruto silently all this time while slightly blushing.
"He's become so strong!" she thought to herself.
Hinata had continued her training even when Naruto was absent and she had grown stronger. However, when she faced her sister in combat, she couldn't bring herself to harm Hanabi so often ended up losing. Her father wasn't very happy about that.
"So, Hinata-chan, we've got to continue our spars don't we! I got to see how strong you've become."
Hinata nodded while furiously turning red.
Naruto wasn't oblivious and he noticed the girl's growing affection towards him. He didn't know how to take it yet. Hinata was a really nice girl but the idea that someone else would love him for they way he was seemed so alien to him that he'd never really considered the possibility of romance.
Eh, he'd decided later.
The food arrived and everyone munched into their meal. And each team started to recount what happened when they started training.
The normally stoic Shino went first.
"So, Kurenai-Sensei made us practise our clan styles to see…"
It took a long time before they finished and everyone left to go to sleep.
From then on, Naruto's life settled into a pattern. He'd train for a few hours, visit Shikamaru's house occasionally and play Shogi with him before eating ramen. Then he'd give himself some free time before heading out to meet with his team or spar with Hinata in the evenings.
Naruto was making quite good progress with his training. First, he'd visited the library to pick up some new scrolls. Currently, after carefully examine a thick Fuuinjutsu book had found out that he was level four in terms of sealing which placed him at low intermediate. Considering there were only ten levels, Naruto considered that good progress.
In terms of ninjutsu, Naruto realised that he needed to train his affinities more so every day he would devote at least thirty clones for water training. It felt good to know that his repertoire of justsu was rapidly expanding.
He also managed to double his seals and when he had them off, Kakashi remarked that he was getting quite close to Jonin level speed. So to increase his speed even more, he decided to master the shunshin. Only for his clone to vomit the first time using it and to dispel after falling face first into a river nearby.
Yes, Naruto also needed to work on his chakra control.
But what he kept more secret was his shadow training. After doing a bit of research. Naruto learned about the traditional way to use his shadows through the shadow possession only for him to realise that his ability was slightly different from the usual. Instead of just being able to manipulate his shadows on the floor or a surface, he could actively create shadows in the air.
So he immediately tried to make a massive orb from the shadows, and devoted quite a lot of his chakra reserves into it. The black mass that manifested into his hand felt powerful as he slammed it against a tree only for the tree to explode.
"Okay, never doing that again." Naruto whispered to himself as he tried to avoid a rapid domino of trees falling on each other.
It turned out, after a bit of experimenting- through means that may or may not be considered legal like taking control of a villager that hated him and making him punch himself in the face- , that he struggled performing the shadow possession jutsu and that using his ability to manifest shadows in the air came more natural to him. And so inadvertently, he managed to pick up the shadow stitching jutsu on his own.
But after roughly a month of training, Naruto decided to head back to the Higurashi weapons shop to see if he could buy anything else. After all his wallet was full as he had rested some clones to complete D-Rank missions for him.
Oh, how he loved the clone jutsu.
But as he was heading there, he spotted Tenten standing with two other boys and a man with a bowl haircut and was that a green jumpsuit? Even Naruto who had quite a terrible sense of fashion, as Sakura kept on reminding him, could tell that was a terrible outfit.
"Hey, Tenten!" he cried out, waving.
"Oh, it's you, Naruto, right?"
"Who is this fine young gentleman, Tenten?" Might Guy asked his student.
"Oh, I'm one of the students who graduated just a few months ago. My Sensei is Kakashi, if you know him."
"Kakashi! Of course, I know him, he is my eternal rival. Yosh! If you are Kakashi's rival, then I must implore you to face one of my students in a spar. I must see how he is training his students."
"If you are a student of my sensei's rival, then I must proclaim you to be my own rival! I graduated the dead last of my class but I have grown much stronger since and I will prove myself by defeating you."
"Uh, what's going on?" Naruto was super confused.
Tenten pushed Lee back firmly.
"Sorry about that, Naruto. Let me introduce me to my teammates. This here is Rock Lee. That's our Sensei, Might Guy. And that guy over there is Neji Hyuga."
"Hyuga? Does that mean you know Hinata?" Naruto asked curiously.
Neji had remained quiet and impassive the entire time, not even acknowledging Naruto as being there, but as soon as Naruto mentioned Hinata's name, Neji leveled him with a deadly glare.
"She is a pathetic weakling, a failure to the clan and to the main branch, and isn't worth anything to me." Neji spat.
"What are you talking about?" Naruto's voice turned cold, "Hinata's a powerful shinobi. She isn't a weakling."
"Heh. It is her fate to be weak. Just as it is your fate to be mediocre."
"Fate? Who believes in fate? People can be weak but grow stronger. Hard work can overcome any weakness."
"Yosh! Guy-Sensei! He is one of us!" Lee chanted, "Naruto-san, would you mind joining us for training?"
"Uh, sure. You guys look strong and I'm always willing to improve my Taijutsu."
Both of them looked overjoyed at his response and immediately started to hug each other as a beautiful sunset appeared behind them.
"LEE!"
"GUY-SENSEI!"
"LEE!"
"GUY-SENSEI!"
They embraced each other and started to cry tears of joy after finding a potential sparring partner.
"My eyes!" Naruto covered his eyes at the sight at what appeared to be the worst genjutsu that he'd ever seen.
Even Neji grimaced and turned away while Tenten just sighed.
"You'd better come with me. Training's finished anyway."
"How do you put up with your team?" Naruto asked as Tenten gave him the weapons he needed, "You've got that Neji, such an arrogant prick, and then there's Lee and Guy."
He shuddered.
Tenten looked at him sympathetically, "Neji's not that bad. About Guy-Sensei and Lee, I don't know. But remember, you have to see them as well now. Now that you've signed up to train with them."
Naruto's face gaped in horror before he fled the shop hurriedly while Tenten chuckled.
From there, he started heading to Taijutsu training with Guy and Lee once a week. And every time, it was the most hellish experience of his life. The amount of physical conditioning both of them did was crazy.
But Naruto impressed both of them as when he was sparring with Lee, without his gravity seals on, he was able to go toe to toe with weightless Lee in terms of speed. But in pure strength, he stood little competition.
As he went home, bruised, battered and exhausted, he knew that every session with Lee and Guy was bound to be this painful. But it worked. Naruto felt his strength slowly increase until eventually he could start to match Lee's strength. That was when he was first introduced to the eight gates. And that didn't end well.
Naruto was still pretty pissed about the way Neji talked about Hinata and during their next meeting while they were sparring, Naruto asked Hinata about Neji.
"Hey, Hinata, recently I met one of your relatives. I think his name's Neji and when I asked him about you, he seemed furious. Do you know why?"
Hinata sighed deeply, sorrow tainting his words, "Neji is my cousin and he used to be so nice to me. But then one day, something horrible happened. Kumo came to the village fir some sort of peace talk and during the night, they tried to kidnap me. But then my father stopped the Shinobi and killed him. Then Kumo insisted that it they had no intention of doing anything and demanded reparations. So they sent Neji's father, my uncle instead. I'm pretty sure he's never forgiven me for what happened and every day since then, he'd always speak to me coldly. He used to be one of the kindest people in the clan but because of what happened, he hates me."
Hinata looked like she was about to cry so Naruto jumped in to defend her.
"That's stupid, it's not your fault that they tried to kidnap you. That's so unfair!"
Naruto then promised to Hinata, perhaps rather rashly, that he would defeat Neji and change his mind about the Hyuuga clan.
Hinata smiled at him before looking up with a confident air in her face that Naruto had never seen before, "Don't worry, Naruto. Thanks to you, I've gotten stronger. I will show Neji that I'm worthy of being a Hyuga!"
Naruto gained a lot of respect for her that day. Hinata's new determination finally flowered and in taijutsu alone, she was able to defeat him with weights on and master the Eight Trigrams 32 Palms. Though it hurt a hell of a lot when his chakra points were closed.
Other than that, everything seemed to be progressing smoothly. Although he did occasionally feel like someone was spying on him but every time he tried to find that person, the sensation subsided.
So around one and a half months into his training after the Wave mission, Naruto was extremely surprised when Anbu arrived at his doorstep one evening, asking him to come to the Hokage.
Hiruzen sat in his chair, a wad of paperwork on either side of him that seemed to multiply before Naruto's eyes.
"Hello, my boy, take a seat."
"Why did you call me here, Jiji?" Naruto asked.
"Well, I heard that you got into Fuinjutsu recently from Kakashi and that you've been training none stop for the past month or so and well there's a Fuinjutsu master in Konoha that wants to see your skills."
"Really?" the prospect of meeting an expert excited Naruto.
"In fact, he is one of the strongest Shinobi alive in Konoha right now."
"So where do I find him?"
"Tomorrow morning, check at the hot springs to try find a white-haired man and then you'll recognise him."
Naruto ran out of the building to get some early sleep excitedly while the Hokage pulled out an orange book from underneath his desk and continued to read, giggling occasionally.
"Oh, Jiraiya, you'd better give me that new copy of Icha Icha soon. I can't wait to see what Jana-chan's up to."
The next day, Naruto eagerly set out towards the hot springs to meet his new teacher, bringing with him a small backpack of projects that he had been working on.
But as he arrived, he saw no-one. Puzzled, he started to look around until he saw a man with white hair and red and green clothes crouched next to a bush while holding a pair of binoculars to his eyes.
"Hey, what do you think you're doing?" Naruto demanded, "Are you my teacher?"
Jiraiya turned around and tried to quiet him only for an angry female voice to cry out, "Girls, I think there's someone spying on us."
"Quick, kid, come with me! We've got to scram!"
Naruto barely even got a word out before Jiraiya grabbed him and disappeared.
The next thing Naruto knew he was in Training Ground 7 and the white-haired man towered over him while flickering through his book of notes.
"Damn it, kid, you interrupted my research."
"Research! That was plain old peeping. Who even are you anyway? You don't look very strong."
Jiraiya puffed up his chest and stretched out his hands, his clothes dramatically billowing in the wind.
"I am Jiraiya of the Sannin, the hero of Konoha, and the great toad sage of Mt Myouboku, also known as the Toad Hermit. The wooer of women, the master of writing and the legendary author of Icha Icha." He struck a dramatic pose.
"Uh, what's that?" Naruto was just filled with even more questions every time this man opened his mouth.
"Oh," Jiraiya'sface turned green, "Don't worry about it. You'll learn about it all when you get older. Don't tell anyone about what you saw me doing, okay? Or I won't teach you."
"Fine, Ero-sennin."
"What did you just call me?"
"Ero-sennin. Pervy sage. It fits you. Considering what you were doing back there."
Jiraiya opened his mouth to defend his honour before looking at the kid more closely with a fond smile. He was the perfect blend of Minato and Kushina. He had Kushina's attitude but according to Hiruzen, all of Minato's intelligence. Apparently, he'd also inherited the other part of him too.
"Okay, kid. It's time to start your training."
Naruto finally started to fill with enthusiasm, "Finally, what are we learning? Please teach me a new jutsu."
Jiraiya smirked.
"First, you got to show me what you've got. From the Hokage, I learned that you were learning the art of seals while also being good at elemental jutsu. Those are all stuff you normally learn at jonin. So I want to do a little test. Fight me, and give it all you got, or you won't stand a chance."
Naruto smirked, his goofy exterior fading away, as he got into a stance. Time to see if all that training with Guy and Lee meant anything after all.
"Also, I know about that other power you have."
Naruto froze, "Are you talking about the Kyuubi?"
"No, I'm talking about your shadow kekkei genkai."
"Oh, the old man trusted you enough that he told you about that?"
"Not really, I'll tell you later."
Jiraiya was not looking forward to the conversation where he would have to explain why he didn't visit Naruto all these years as his godfather.
The spar began with Naruto weaving through hand-signs and creating twenty clones that ran forward to attack Jiraiya. But the white-haired man effortlessly overwhelmed the clones only for Naruto to unleash a powerful wind jutsu.
"Wind Style: Vacuum Bullets."
Naruto sprayed several small wind bullets toward Jiraiya who vanished and appeared behind Naruto.
"What? I didn't even see him move!"
Naruto released all his gravity seals and barely dodged the chop to the neck, engaging Jiraiya in close combat. Using his Uzumaki fighting style, Naruto was able to keep Jiraiya at bay but he was getting rapidly overwhelmed as he was knocked back by a powerful palm thrust.
"Is that all you got?"
Suddenly, the ground underneath Jiraiya turned into quicksand forcing him to jump into the air only to get hit with a powerful jet of water as Naruto threw a shuriken at him.
"Shadow shuriken jutsu!"
The shuriken multiplied and then exploded in the air but Jiraiya used the explosion to propel himself at Naruto who released a fire dragon that he had stored in a seal.
But the white-haired Shinobi barely flinched as he kicked Naruto into the air. But the boy managed to land on the ground and realised that he was the real deal. Jiraiya may look quite goofy but Naruto had no doubt that he was even stronger than Kakashi.
So suddenly shadows began to swirl around Naruto as he launched them at Jiraya who weaved through them without much effort only for Naruto to ran forward with a black mass in his hands that he slammed it into his shoulder.
Jiraya saw the orb and suddenly flashed back to when Minato had shown him something similar. It looked like Naruto had inherited the unique variation of the Nara kekkei genkai that his father had and found a way to make something that was basically a shadow rasengan. Of course, not nearly as powerful but it still hurt.
Oh, he wasn't going to let Naruto off that easily. As Naruto landed the orb, Jiraiya landed a devastating punch on Naruto's face knocking him back as Jiraiya launched forward to finish him off.
Only for Naruto to sink into the ground and cry out, "Shadow Possession, success."
Jiraiya froze as shadows held him from either side by Naruto's clones.
"Nice, trick, gaki. But it's pointless."
Suddenly, Naruto felt himself engulfed in darkness. As he shattered the genjutsu, Jiraya had already dispelled his clones.
"Earth Style: Earth Spike!"
Naruto burst out the ground, his butt narrowly missing an earth spike that rose up into the air.
"Well, this is going to be much harder than I thought." Naruto said out loud, sweat dripping down his brow, "But I'm not giving up yet, I've still got the power of youth!"
Naruto's eyes widened at what he just said.
"Ohnoohnotheyvecorruptedmenoo." He blabbered out.
"Well, I think that was pretty good for a spar." A voice came from behind, "But you didn't use your fuinjutsu much."
The real Jiraiya came from behind, astounding Naruto.
"Was I fighting a clone the entire time? But then it should have dispelled."
"What you fought was a blood clone." Jiraiya concentrated for a second and the clone dissipated, "It takes hits like a normal human. But to make it, you need to be at quite proficient in sealing. And right now, I saw you use an explosive tag and a storage seal but I really don't know how good you are."
"I'm low intermediate in sealing."
Jiraiya grinned, "Low intermediate? Then you should be able to crack this seal."
He handed Naruto a sealed chest and instructed him to spend the rest of the day cracking it.
"What about training?"
"We can start training after you crack the code."
So Naruto tried his best. The first layer of the seal matrix was easy. It required you to channel chakra in a very specific way that need quite good chakra control but since Naruto already knew water walking, he was fine.
But then the real challenge arrived. Naruto studied the seal and quickly realised it made no sense, at least according to the rules the Fuuinjutsu book had taught him. There were two halves of the seal and they were interconnected. Naruto could probably shattered the seal by punching it hard enough but tried his best to find a way inside.
After three hours of doing nothing but pondering over the security seal, Naruto gave up and headed to Jiraiya who had come back to him, covered in bruises.
"I see you got what you deserved." Naruto grinned but not without much enthusiasm.
"So did you crack the seal."
"I'm sorry Jiraiya-Sensei but I can't. I don't think I've learned this before and even with all my practise I could only make it past the first layer."
"What did you say, kid?" Jiraiya leaned in eagerly, "Jiraiya-Sensei? That's what I like to hear."
"Fine, Jiraya-Sensei! Just tell me the answer already."
"Well done kid, you passed, you were never supposed to solve the seal," Jiraiya chuckled at Naruto's expense, "It's actually a level 8 security seal. One I got from one of your relatives. The Uzumaki clan."
"What?" Naruto's anger was replaced with surprise.
"That's right. He was one of the worst seal-masters in the whole village but he was level 8. If the Uzumaki clan were put on our measuring system, the average member would be level ten with the Uzukage being level 20. There is no-one currently above level 10, that's why it's the maximum but the Uzukage was the best seal-master that ever lived. He killed three Kage at once and killed thousands of Shinobi before he went down."
The blonde Uzumaki took the information with a sense of awe and wonder. He knew he was part of the Nara clan but he never knew the Uzumaki clan were so powerful.
"How are none of them left, then?"
Jiraiya's face darkened, "Most of them were killed when Kiri, Kumo and Iwa launched a joint attack on the village because they feared its power. Konoha sent aid but it was already too late. Before they went down however, even with a huge disadvantage in terms of numbers, they weakened all three villages considerably. Something from which they are still recovering."
"But why did you give me an impossible test?"
"To teach you some humility, gaki. Just because you're a genius doesn't make you the best. You've got a long way to go."
Naruto slapped his forehead. He couldn't believe he had to train with this guy. Though he had to admit that Jiraiya was pretty strong.
"So, I'll see you tomorrow, where the training will really begin." Jiraiya waved his hand and disappeared with blood starting to leak out of his nostrils, probably to some brothel.
After a long day, Naruto headed home. These next few months were going to be very painful.
So that's the end of this chapter. Thanks to Kaisha Agariba Hiniku for giving me the idea of making a physical shadow orb. I was intending for the shadows to be able to rise off the ground th ask to Naruto's pure chakra output and then trap people in shadow possession but the idea of a shadow orb sounded much better.
It feels so strange to be coming back to fanfiction after a year because so much in my life has changed. Like me moving to the other side of the world, for example.
But enough about me, here's the question of the day. And this is a very important one.
How would you fix the power creep in Naruto?
Personally, in this story, I probably intend to make all the Shinobi just a little stronger than normal with Kage-level Shinobi having the power to fight whole armies. If we increase the scale of the conflict later on, the power creep won't be as bad. There are some fics that I've read that completely get rid of the power creep, like this one Kakashi time travel one where they made it so that a team of chunin could kill a Kage and Kakashi without a sharingan could beat Madara as strategy is more important than power. But I don't really like that too much since well, tailed beasts like Kurama have existed from the beginning and they are incredibly powerful so Shinobi shouldn't be too weak either. But I do intend to make it so that every character has time to shine, like the Konoha twelve for instance.
Next chapter, we get to see what the other members of Team 7 are up to before introducing all the characters that are going to be in the Chunin Exams. And boy, there are going to be a lot of teams.
So see you next time. Z-Genesis, out.