Naruto: An Uprising Shinobi

by Jamesco1292002

What if things were different? What if Team 7 was a four-man team? What if Sakura wasn't on the Team. What if there were more Jutsu? What if Naruto was more serious and smarter too? What if there was someone who was always by his side, ready to defend and encourage him? What if there was a new bloodline limit? What if all these questions were answered? AU, some OCs introduced.

9. Chapter 9

"Talking"

'Thoughts'

"SCREAMING/YELLING/SHOUTING"

"Jutsu"

"Tailed Beast Talking"

'Tailed Beast Thinking'

Sound Effects

Date & Time

|Location|

[Flashback]

[+]

Chapter 9: New Clothes and Techniques

[+]

A day after the Wave mission

May 25

13:47

|Ichiraku's ramen shop|

Iruka was busy enjoying a bowl of what Naruto would call 'the food of gods' when he suddenly felt a slight breeze coming from his left, taking a look in said direction he noticed that the seat to his left was now occupied by a certain blond teenager who had whiskers on both sides of his cheek and a trademark grin plastered on his face.

"I arrived just on time, didn't I Iruka-sensei?"

Iruka allowed a smile to grace his features, "Yes you did Naruto-kun, so how about some bowls of ramen before we go shopping?"

Naruto smile grew at that, "I thought you will never ask?"

Now you must be wondering why Iruka is taking our favorite blond shopping, the answer is quite simple the academy teacher hasn't been able to spend some quality with the Uzumaki ever since he graduated from the academy, so the Chunin decided to change that and what better way to start than offering some ramen.

After a couple bowls of ramen, the two chatted amicably about irrelevant things until they came to a shop with the sign 'Higurashi's Weapons and Ninja Apparels' emblazoned above the door.

"Wow!" Naruto gaped in awe at the sheer size of the shop, "They must have an entire armory of weapons and stuff here!"

"Among other things," Iruka said with a smile, "Higurashi's is the best shop in the village for ninja tools and equipment. The quality of the custom-made weapons is legendary, as are the regular wares. You'll find some good stuff here, Naruto."

"If they will sell to me." The blonde reiterated bitterly, glancing to the side.

"They'll sell to you." The Chunin reassured him, "I've known old man Tatsuhiko for years. He's tough, but fair and has never refused to sell to a customer that I know of."

Heartened by Iruka's encouragement, Naruto followed him into the shop.

[+]

Inside, the main floor of the shop was rack upon rack of swords. Katana, Ninjata, Nodachi, Tanta, Yoroida shi, Wakizashi, Chokuta, Kodachi, Tachi and even a handful of Zanbata were literally filling the room.

A long counter at the back of the room was loaded up with kunai and shuriken, ninja wire and soldier pills of all kinds. A girl who appeared to be a year older than Naruto sat behind the counter polishing a kodachi. She had brown hair done up in a pair of buns on her head, dark brown eyes and wore a pink top. A hitai-ate was tied around her head to signify her status as a shinobi of Konohagakure.

"Oh? Welcome to Higurashi Weapons and Ninja Apparels." the girl placed the blade on the counter when she noticed them, "Iruka-sensei, it's been a while."

"Tenten, you look well." Iruka replied, "Is Gai still driving you nuts?"

"Oh yes," Tenten replied sourly, "YOUTH this and BURNING BRIGHTLY that. Lee is just as bad."

"Sound's tough." Iruka chuckled before glancing at the back, "By the way, where's Tatsuhiko?"

"Oyaji's out of town to bring in a new shipment of chakra metal." Tenten answered before gazing at his companion, "Anyway, who is this that you've brought with you?"

"This is Naruto Uzumaki." Iruka introduced his ex-student, who smiled at Tenten, "He's looking for some kunai, shuriken, as well as a new ninja outfit."

"Well he definitely needs a new outfit." The female Genin said with a frown, "Those kami-forsaken orange monstrosities are barely holding themselves together."

"Well excuse me." Naruto grumbled.

"Ah, don't worry about it." Tenten flapped her hand at him, "We'll find you something to replace that outfit. How much have you got to spend?"

Naruto pondered for a minute, "I lost count at 100,000 Ryo." [1]

Tenten gaped at him for a moment. "That... that will get you quite a lot." she said at last, "Which would you like to get first? Weapons or clothes?"

"Clothes." Naruto said firmly, "The kunai and shuriken came be purchased later."

"This way then." Tenten led them through a door in the side of the room. The next room was a smorgasbord of ninja clothes and armor.

"So what would you like?"

[+]

Next day

|Naruto's Apartment|

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

Bright, cerulean-blue eyes slowly widened to the loud beeping of an alarm clock. Groggily rising from the bed, the blonde Uzumaki rubbed his eyes before deactivating the bedroom accessory.

'Oi, Rise and shine Kurama!' Naruto yelled mentally to his tenant.

"Ugh. Five more minutes, Kit." Kurama groaned, rolling in his sleep. Naruto rolled his eyes at the reply then jumped out of bed ready to perform his morning duties/chores.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Five shadow clones puffed into existence and distributed the chores among themselves, SC 1 made the bed, SCs 2 and 3 tidied up the apartment then took the trash out, SC 4 made breakfast and lastly SC 5 fetched his clothes, while this was going on, the original was in the bathroom freshening up. He was almost done drying himself when the memories of each clones flooded his brain, tying the towel around his waist he left the bathroom for his bedroom and immediately smiled at his clone's choice of clothing.

[+]

45 Minutes Later

|Konoha's Rooftops|

Naruto clad in his new attire dashed/hopped across the rooftops of Konoha with one destination in mind.

'Wait till Sushi sees the new me.' He thought to himself, imagining the look on his friend's face.

"Mmmh … Now that is what I call a good night's rest." Kurama asked, now rising from his sleep.

'It's about time you woke up.' Naruto replied.

"Giant foxes do need their beasty rest, so where are you going to kit?"

Naruto rolled his eyes once more, 'I'm heading towards the Kishida residence.'

"To showcase your new clothes?" Kurama asked.

'Yes.' Was the blonde's reply.

"I don't really see the big deal why you humans wear clothes? The rest of the animal kingdom doesn't."

'It's because we aren't animals.'

"Of course you are, don't you guys eat other animals for lunch?"

'Yes we do, but…'

"Don't you guys defend your loved one from harm?"

'Of course but…'

"Don't you guys feel certain urges when your loved ones are around?"

"…"

"Don't you guys still rip off those clothes when you want to mate-"

'Ok ok fine, I agree that humans are animals now can you please stop.'

"Fine, wake me up if any interesting happens." Naruto wanted to make a reply but couldn't as he heard the snores of the now sleeping beast.

'I wonder how he was able to attack the village when most of his time is spent sleeping.' The Uzumaki thought.

"Actually it's 50% of my time." The fox replied.

'I thought you were sleeping?'

"I was until some brat couldn't keep his trap shut." Naruto sweat dropped at that before cutting off the connection.

[+]

|Kishida Residence|

Knock! Knock!

Few seconds later Atsushi opened the door and stared at the visitor, "Can I help you?"

"Yes, I'm looking for a Genin who goes by the name Atsushi Kishida." The person replied.

Atsushi analyzed the visitor at his door stop, "Sorry but do I know you?"

The 'visitor' in question wore a black long sleeved jacket with orange T-shirt underneath, black ANBU combat pants which had an orange stripe running by the sides, a Konoha forehead protector around his forehead and black shinobi sandals on his feet. At the top of his head, spiky blond hair was revealed, along with three whisker-like birthmarks on his cheeks.

'Wait… Blond hair? Orange stripes? Whiskers?' Atsushi then searched for one final feature which he found attached to a blank metal protector on the shoulder, a red spiral symbol which happened to be the Uzumaki crest, "Naruto?"

"Took you long enough." The now identified Naruto said with a grin, but on the inside he heaved a big sigh of relief, 'For a second there I thought that he wouldn't recognize his best friend.'

"I'm impressed that you finally got rid of that eyesore but where did you get these?" Atsushi asked as he walked around the Uzumaki for a closer look, "Most of the shops here wouldn't even dream about selling to you so which one?"

"Higurashi's Weapons and Ninja Apparels, Iruka showed me the place." Atsushi nodded at the answer.

"These are really good Naruto." Atsushi said greatly impressed by its quality.

Naruto grinned, "Good enough to attract the ladies?"

"We will see about that but I know someone who's already attracted."

"Really? Who?"

"Sorry but it isn't my place to answer that."

"Bummer."

"Anyway." Atsushi said changing the subject, "You will have to take me to this Higurashi sometime later as Areku-san and I are currently rearranging some stuff."

"What kind of stuff?" Naruto inquired, slightly curious.

"Oh you know books… documents… scrolls." Seeing that he had caught the blonde's attention with the mention of scrolls, Atsushi led Naruto down into the basement then into a fairly large room.

Inside the room, one could see dozens of shelves in various locations, each with a sign that designated what it held.

One shelf had a sign that said Wind, the one to the left of it stated Fire, the one to the right said Lightning, another said Water, then Earth and going down line you saw, Taijutsu, Non-elemental Ninjutsu, Genjutsu, Bukijutsu, Kenjutsu, Fuinjutsu, Geography, Politics/Clans, Wilderness Survival, Tactics and Strategy, Medical, etc. Summary was the shelves were filled with multitudes of scrolls. Naruto curious about their source asked his green-haired friend where the scrolls came from, Atsushi released a chuckle before explaining that amount of scrolls that the secret vaults and clans of Konoha threw in the trash when they re-copy the info on newer scrolls was insane and that Areku-san has been collecting them for the past 12 years. The young Kishida had also helped his Oji-san in making copies which were sent to Arashigakure for 'safe keeping' but Naruto didn't need to know that.

Speaking of Naruto, the blonde suddenly found himself lying flat on the ground with a kunai placed at his throat.

"Who are you and how did you get in?" Areku asked with a cold glare as the kunai remained fixed in its position.

"Areku-san, it's me Naruto." Naruto said confused at the Jonin's reaction, he sent Atsushi the 'HEY! Back me up here' look but the latter shrugged then mouthed 'You're on your own'.

The Kishida Jonin lowered the kunai a bit, "Prove it?"

Naruto blinked, "Ok, shoot."

"What event convinced the Elemental Daimyo to help fund the construction of Arashigakure?" Areku asked, since only him, Atsushi and Naruto knew the answer.

"When members of the Kishida clan fouled an assassination attempt on the Daimyo's life by some rogue nins." Naruto answered correctly.

"If the Nisankugan is crossbred with another bloodline what happens?" Areku continued.

"If the other bloodline is a dominant one then both bloodlines are eliminated, but if recessive then the Nisankugan prevails."

"Atsushi learnt the Rakurai at what age?" Areku had already gotten off of Naruto but kept on asking.

"Seven." Areku smiled as that confirmed one thing.

"Sorry about that Naruto, I didn't recognize you without your hideous orange jumpsuit." Areku explained.

"HEY! What's wrong with orange?" Naruto asked sending a bit of KI at the two.

"Nothing." Atsushi replied way too quickly, prompting Naruto to direct majority of the KI in his direction.

"Let's just say nobody would have taken you seriously if you had kept on wearing that monstrosity." Areku said, coming to his nephew's help.

Naruto nodded slowly dispelling the Kyubi-backed KI, "So what now?"

"Now you guys head to your training grounds, I'm sure your teammates are waiting." Both boys nodded at that and quickly left.

Seeing that they were gone, Areku picked up a scroll which happened to be lying around and glanced at its contents.

'Hmm… History of the Hyuga clan and their techniques… How interesting.'

[+]

10 minutes later

|Training Grounds 7|

Both boys arrived at the training ground and found that the rest of their teammates were already present, Sasuke and Hinata also took note of the change in the blonde's appearance.

"Oi, Dobe." The raven haired called, "What's with the new clothes?"

"Meh, I had overgrown the previous one plus these are way better on the eyes." Naruto answered before turning to his female teammate, "So Hinata, what do you think?" He asked striking a heroic pose which had his male teammates roll eyes.

"Y-You look great, Naruto-kun." She responded while trying to fight down a massive blush which Naruto (Finally) noticed.

"I told you I will be getting that reaction from the ladies." Naruto whispered to his green haired friend glared at him.

"You get that reaction from her almost every day." The Kishida stated then realized that he shouldn't have said that. Naruto got confused at his statement and was about to ask what he meant when a figure made himself known.

"Yo." Kakashi said with a two finger salute.

"…You're early?" Sasuke asked slightly surprised that their Sensei came on time.

"And by two hours." Naruto added just as surprised as his rival.

"Well miracles do happen." Atsushi added, 'Looks like he finally taking his duties seriously.'

"Actually I'm not really here." Kakashi informed.

"…What?!"

[+]

Some explanations later

"Let me get this straight," Naruto began, "You're a shadow clone and the real Kakashi-sensei isn't going to train us today?"

"Yes to both questions but don't worry my substitute should be here any minute now." The shadow clone replied with its face buried in a book commonly read by perverts.

"Can we at least know what's so important that he skipped training his team?" Sasuke asked with a visible scowl.

"Sorry but that's top secret."

"He's attending the unveiling of a new Icha Icha book, isn't he?" Atsushi deadpanned, glaring at the 'Kakashi' present.

The shadow clone began to sweat bullets as the others joined in, "Well you see… good bye." It said before dispelling itself.

"…"

"…"

"…"

"OK that's it Kakashi-sensei needs to be taught that his students are more important than some smut novel."

"How are we going to do that Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked, wondering how he will accomplish such a task.

"Easy, we prank him." The blonde replied with a devilish grin.

"I don't think that a good idea, Naruto." Atsushi said.

"I second that." Areku said as he body-flickered in front of the Genin. "Let me guess Kakashi ditched you guys?" He received a nod from each Genin. "And Naruto is planning to get back at him with a prank?"

Another nod.

"Well that's Kakashi for you, anyway I'm your substitute for the day."

Naruto and Sasuke smirked at the news however Atsushi wanted to know something.

"When did Kakashi-sensei notify you that you were our substitute-sensei?"

"4 minutes ago through a shadow clone." Atsushi nodded at the reply.

"Today I will be teaching you guys some Jutsus based on your chakra type (affinity) but before that, Shadow Clone Jutsu!"Three clones of the Jonin materialized out of the smoke bands.

"Sasuke you're with SC 1, Naruto SC 2 and Atsushi SC 3." The boys nodded then followed the shadow clones to different sections of the training ground where no will interfere with their training.

The Kishida Jonin then focused on the remaining student, "So how is your Gentle Fist training coming around?"

Hinata seemed confused as to why he was asking but answered anyway, "G-Good I guess."

Areku slowly nodded before developing an off look which Hinata had seen on her Kishida teammate whenever he was deep in thought. About 10 seconds later the Jonin reached into his backpack and pull out a scroll, "This may be of some help." He said while handing it over to the Hyuga.

"What is it Areku-san?" She asked after accepting the scroll.

"Open it and see for yourself?" was the calm reply.

Hinata gazed down at the fairly large scroll in her hands, it seemed quite familiar but she couldn't point out why. The Heiress dismissed those thoughts and proceeded to untie the ribbon, once that was done she unfurled it and read the first three lines before dropping the scroll in shock.

"Before you start panicking I didn't steal it," Areku defended.

"But how?" She whispered after composing herself.

"I found this copy lying around in the trash about 7 years ago; the original is still within the Hyuga compound." Areku explained further.

Hinata slowly nodded then picked up the scroll, "May I keep it?" She asked politely, back home only the elders and clan head had access to the prized scroll, anyone who wanted to learn a technique from the scroll had to be taught by members of that group and since she was seen as a failure in the eyes of the elders she didn't learn much.

"Sure it's basically useless to me since I can't use the Jyuken." Areku said before heading over to tree where he assumed his meditation stance.

Hinata followed suit but assumed a reading position with the scroll in hand, the Hyuga eyes was immediately attracted to a technique which seemed similar to the one she had difficulty learning.

[+]

(With Naruto)

"Ok Naruto, you ready to learn some water jutsu?" SC 2 asked.

"You better believe it." Naruto's enthusiastic reply caused a smile to appear on the clone's face.

"The technique I'm about to teach you is a defensive one so pay close attention." Naruto remain silent as the clone began to weave hand seals, "Now Naruto I can only perform this technique about three times before I run out of chakra so try to grab it at the first instant." The clone revealed.

"Will do." Naruto said as he began to memorize the hand seals.

"Water Style: Water Wall Jutsu!" The clone's cheeks puffed out before expelling a stream of water which quickly transformed into watery barrier about 3 meters high and 4 ft away from the clone, "Once the wall has been established you must maintain a constant supply of chakra in order to sustain it."

"Ok now it's my turn." He began weaving hand seals.

"Water Style: Water Wall Jutsu!" Naruto's cheeks puffed out but instead of expelling a stream of water he expelled a large volume of water in the form of powerful torrent of water which tore through some trees along its path.

"I'm sure you know what you did wrong?" the clone asked the Genin who was now panting heavy.

"I… I used… too much chakra." Naruto said in between pants, the clone nodded at his answer.

"But on the bright side you were able to perform an overpowered Water Style: Water Wild Water without me having to teach it to you."

"…Sweet."

[+]

(With Atsushi)

"We start with a simple Earth Jutsu the 'Earth Style: Stone Fist' this requires no hand seals just some chakra, a fist and some earth." Seeing the confused look on the boy's face SC 3 decided to demonstrate.

Atsushi watched as the shadow clone coated its hand in chakra then smashed it into the ground before withdrawing, once the hand was fully withdrawn with was completely covered with earth.

"The aim of this jutsu is to maximize damage inflicted upon an enemy." The clone explained before walking over to a tree and smashing it. Atsushi's jaw dropped as the tree split into two parts before crumbling to the ground.

"The only down side is that the fist feels a bit sore or numb after the technique has been canceled." The clone concluded as it stopped channeling chakra to its hand canceling the technique.

The Genin Kishida nodded and began to channel some chakra.

[+]

(With Sasuke)

"My other self is currently teaching Naruto the Water Style: Water Wall while I will be teaching you its fire equivalent the Flame Wall." SC 1 said before weaving a couple of hand seals.

Sasuke watched as the clone inhaled a bit of oxygen then exhaled a continuous stream of fire which formed a flaming wall about 2 meters high and a foot thick.

Once the flames had died down SC 1 began to talk, "Now don't feel bad if you don't get it on your first try, it took me about…"

"Fire Style: Flame Wall Jutsu!" Sasuke interrupted then exhaled an almost identical Jutsu which left the clone speechless for some minutes.

"…How did you get it on…?" Then the answer struck him, "you used the Sharingan didn't you?"

Sasuke smirked, "You never said I couldn't."

"…Well played Sasuke… well played."

[+]

(Back with Hinata)

Fuzen Kaiten (Partial Rotation) — a simple technique created in the early days of the Hyuga clan but has been long forgotten as of late.

Procedure — The user hold out his/her right or left hand then initiates a semi-circular motion with the hand while releasing chakra from the palm's tenketsu creating a blanket of chakra capable of the deflecting most attacks.

Rank — N/A

Note— it is required to learn the Fuzen Kaiten before moving onto the Kaiten as this helping the acquisition of the latter much easier however records have shown that one can be able to learn the Kaiten without mastering the Fuzen Kaiten.

Hinata stared at the scroll for a few seconds then decided to give it a try. She held out her right hand and initiated the 180 degrees move.

[+]

6 hours later

15:27

All the Genins now reassembled at the clearing waiting for Areku to call it a day, each Genin had a smile on their face as they were able to fully master the respective jutsus assigned to them especially Hinata who after 3 tries was able to perform the Fuzen Kaiten. Naruto still need to work on the Water Wall but hey he accidently learnt the Water Torrent so he was quite happy with himself. Atsushi found the Stone Fist to be slightly different from his Lightning Fist due to his primary Lightning affinity but that didn't stop him from mastering it. Sasuke had learnt (Read copied) all the three Jutsus demonstrated to him (thanks to his Sharingan) and was willing to continue but SC1 revealed that he was low on chakra after performing the third jutsu.

Areku cleared his throat and was about to call it a day when…

"Yo." A certain someone said as he appeared in a puff of smoke, his face buried in a book.

All eyes immediately fell on the silver haired Jonin before going over to the book he had in his right hand.

Judging by it title seemed to be a brand new edition of the Icha-Icha series.

Kakashi had ditched them to go buy a perverted novel.

Seeing the amount of hate being directed at the Cyclops, Areku did the wise thing and immediately deserted the impending battle zone not before offering a silent prayer for Kakashi's soul.

The man in question was still reading his book slightly surprised that none of the Genins (particularly Naruto) had yelled at him for being late, that was until he was suddenly blasted with a lot of KI. The Jonin slowly raised his head from the book and noticed that Sasuke, Atsushi and Hinata had all taken battle stances with their various dojutsus activated and behind them was a horde of Narutos each wielding kunai coated with wind chakra.

"…I messed up didn't I?"

The answer came in the form of 4 jutsus being launched at him.

[+]

Summary of the next 10 days

To put it straight Kakashi managed to survive (To the Genins' disappointment and annoyance) but not without receiving a few injuries here and there. The Jonin was able quell their anger by promising to teach them some jutsus and taking them on a C-rank mission once their break was over which they gladly accepted.

The mission was to deliver an important package to a town in the Southern part of the Fire country; the package happened to be valuable as the team encountered a decent numbers of bandits and thieves. Nothing a couple of determined Genins couldn't handled, actually it quickly turned into a game as each member kept count of how many bandits he or she could defeat.

In the end the package was delivered and the mission completed in less than 3 days, however when the Team 7 arrived at the gates of Konoha they meet an ANBU wearing a cat mask.

"Naruto Uzumaki, the Hokage requests your presence at once." The masked shinobi stated, "Please accompany me to the Hokage Tower."

"Is there a problem, Neko-san?" Kakashi asked, curious about what occurred during their absence.

"Actually yes, a day after you and your team had left something disturbing occurred that requires Uzumaki-san's presence." The ANBU replied.

Atsushi turned to his blonde friend, "Naruto?"

"I didn't pull off any prank I swear." Naruto replied immediately.

"Don't worry Uzumaki-san; you aren't the one in trouble." The ANBU assured before turning to Kakashi who knew what she wanted.

"Alright then, Naruto off you go."

Naruto nodded and walked over to the ANBU, who grabbed his shoulder and vanished with him in another swirl of leaves.

[+]

|Hokage Tower|

Hiruzen Sarutobi rubbed his eyes tiredly as he knew this would not be a pleasant talk for the boy for the boy sitting in front of him.

"Jiji is something wrong?" Naruto asked worriedly.

"I'm sorry Naruto-kun but someone was able to break into your apartment and vandalize it."

"So they finally managed to break in?" The blonde sighed, "What's the damage?"

"Every piece of furniture has been smashed to pieces, every wall has been painted with the words 'Demon Brat' or 'Spouse Killer' on their surfaces, all books and scrolls have been either torn or burnt and every door and window in the apartment has been smashed as well." Neko-san answered this time, "Whoever carried this out was very thorough."

"Aw man! My landlord is going to be pissed at me for this!" Naruto groaned.

"He said we should give this to you when you return." The ANBU said handing over a letter to the teenager, "It is an eviction letter."

"WHAT?!" Naruto yelped, "Where would I live in?"

"Naruto-kun, do you have your wallet?" Hiruzen asked, "It wasn't in the wreckage."

"Gama-chan never goes more than a hands length away from me!" Naruto said as he pulled the toad-design wallet from his pocket.

"Good. That's something at least." Hiruzen nodded, "Areku has offered to temporary shelter you while I prepare a new place for you to live in."

Naruto sagged slightly as he leaned back in the chair with another sigh.

"That's good but I'll have to go back to the apartment to check if my hidden stash of books and scrolls is among the ruined stuff." He grumbled.

"Neko, go to Naruto-kun's former apartment and search it for any hidden compartment that houses any books or scrolls." Hiruzen ordered with the ANBU obeying quickly.

"So any idea of who could have done this?" Naruto asked.

"They are already in the Interrogation & Torture department and have confessed to their crimes, tomorrow they shall be executed as a warning to others."

Naruto frowned a bit, "Do they really have to be executed, Jiji?"

Hiruzen sighed sadly, "Yes, if not others won't learn."

[+]

4 days later

June 9

With some help from his teammates, Naruto had moved into his new apartment. It was slightly larger his previous one plus the rent was half of what he paid for his previous one, once the Third found out about that he requested that his previous landlord refund Naruto of all he had been illegally charged for or be locked up. Naruto's new landlord happened to a close friend of Hiruzen's who also didn't see Naruto as the Demon fox. Turns out that the hooligans weren't able to discover Naruto's hidden stash which the Uzumaki was thankful for, Team 7 returned to the wonderful world of D ranks missions much to their dismay but they couldn't do anything about it since they were only Genin.

[+]

Omake

A week after the Wave incident

|Naruto's Mindscape|

"Ok Naruto I need you do a few things for me." The Kyubi began.

"What can of things?"

"I want you to tweak the seal so that we will be able to share senses; it… gets dull just lying around in a cage. I miss the feel of the wind, the scent of flowers and the sounds of nature around me. This will also set up a mental connection where I can be able to contact you without you having to come here."

Naruto nodded, "How will I do that?"

"You just need to rip off a piece of the seal."

"Wouldn't that cause the seal to collapse thereby freeing you?"

"No and besides there are several fail safes and backups that the piece missing won't even weaken the seal at all."

Naruto thought over it and decided to trust the fox, he walked up to the cage and with help from Kurama was lifted up to the seal.

"How much will I have to rip off?"

"Just rip off the size of your thumb nail." Naruto nodded and ripped off the said amount. Once that was done a red chakra swirled around him before it was absorbed into his body.

"That felt… pleasant."

"Now we will be able to communicate mentally and you will develop soon some of my senses and abilities." Kurama concluded.

"Like what?"

"My heightened sense of smell and hearing then here's my ability to detect negative emotions and some others which you will to find out on your own?"

The Uzumaki simply nodded his head before closing his eyes and entering some kind of concentration trance.

After a few seconds had passed, Naruto broke the silence.

"Hey Kurama." began the blonde.

"Yeah?" the fox answered.

Almost immediately after the nine-tailed fox spoke, the biju froze in stunned disbelief as the oppressive cage that held it hostage for thirteen long years disappeared.

After the cage was gone, the leaky sewer landscape seemed to shift and morph until it became a large and wide open expanse.

The Kyubi now stood on a massive grassy field, which seemed to extend for miles upon miles. There was a large forest to the east that led into a horizon filled with mountains. On the west, the ground elevated for hundreds of meters until it became a rocky-ledge. The sky which used to be a bleary grey, was now a bright cerulean-blue with white wispy clouds, a roaring yellow sun, and an expansive rainbow.

Finally, a necklace with a paper tag that had the kanji for 'seal' printed on it appeared on the Kyubi's neck, signifying the end of Naruto's landscaping.

"… How did you know this was my second request?" Kurama asked.

"Nobody likes living in a sewer so I changed it." Naruto said as he looked around, "What do you think?"

"I can't believe I'm saying this but thanks kit."

"You're welcome now I have to return to my Teammates." Naruto said as he faded away, leaving the Kyubi to discover his new habitat.

[+]

A/N: Some sections were rushed I admit, but I really want to introduce the Chunin exams in the next chapter so I had to summarize some sections.

Naruto will learn Fuinjutsu after the Chunin exams under Ero-sennin in case anybody was wondering.

Now I will break down the development of each member of the team over the 4 months since they graduated.

Sasuke

- Has been loosening up ever since Naruto saved him from a fangirl problem (Omake in Chapter 24)

- Ever since unlocking the Sharingan, the Uchiha has been ransacking the Uchiha Clan Library for strong and powerful techniques.

- Has been sparing occasionally against his teammates especially Naruto.

- Has been working on his speed and reaction times.

Hinata

- Improved her confidence by about 37% (At least she has stop fainting and stammering whenever Naruto is around so that counts)

- Unlocked the ability to see an opponent's chakra network and pressure points (Before the wave mission she couldn't so she had to memorize their locations)

- Working on improving the Jyuken (Gentle fist) by studying some of its lost/ forgotten original techniques.

Atsushi

- Has been working with his Oji-san on learning some water and earth jutsu.

- Assisting Naruto with some history lessons.

- Worked on improving his speed, strength and reaction time.

Naruto

- Improved vastly on his chakra control and correcting his taijutsu stance.

- Worked on his physical condition and diet.

- Learnt a couple of wind and water jutsu thanks to the use of his shadow clones.

- Worked on improving his speed, strength and reaction time.

- Gained significant knowledge on Shinobi skills and the rest thanks to some shadow clones who infiltrated the village's library under a henge to avoid being detected.

- Secured a deal with Kurama on how to use his chakra and power.

- Finally got rid of that eyesore of a jumpsuit for a proper shinobi attire.

[+]

[1] – Thanks to the loot gotten from Gato.

Anyway hope you are enjoying the fic, please review because they are really helpful.

Stay safe and importantly stay at home.

24/12/20: Minor changes.

Total number of words: 5590 words

Jamesco1292002