CHAPTER 5
Daku shadow clone 'Naruto' was currently at Naruto's special place.
He had an average-sized sketchbook in his hand and a pencil in the other one; he was carefully drawing a butterfly fluttering in the wind, with tree leaves floating around it. He altered the picture somewhat by making the old trees bend ever so slightly towards the butterfly, like they were watching the tiny insect move.
Drawing was one of the few hobbies the real Naruto had picked up to pass the time whenever he wasn't focused on his seal work or Wave country. Imaginative drawing was also what he did.
Fuinjutsu needed users to be imaginative, creative and innovative; especially when it came to creating new seals.
The clone perfectly imitated the real Naruto by keeping his back straight and his face blank. He breathed in slowly so as not to guide his hand astray and breathed out quietly.
The butterfly he had been drawing was long gone; he was drawing from memory. There were Daku water clones hiding around the clearing, keeping vigilant watch over him and his surroundings. The real Naruto had said that he would be back in a week or so, and that would mean he would have to be regularly replaced as 'Naruto' throughout so he didn't randomly poof away if, by some crazy chance, a stray weapon hit him.
The chunin exams he had been forced to attend two days ago were fairly uneventful and he made sure to tell the Hokage that, with the only semi-exciting thing that happened was when the Kazekage's son almost killing a Leaf shinobi, Sai showing ninjutsu and taijutsu prowess no genin his age was meant to have, and Hinata and Neji's fight—if you want to call it that.
'Naruto' would call it a glorified failed execution.
When he noticed that Neji's strikes were getting more and more fatal and Hinata was getting weaker and weaker he was forced to remember that the pale-eyed, weak-hearted girl was an integral part of Naruto's plans, albeit a still unknown aspect of the plan.
'Naruto' was forced to intervene.
The minor fact that she kept glancing at him made him curious though.
Hinata was on her knees, looking up at Neji pitifully and raised no defence for his killing strike until—
A silver rope shot down from 'Naruto's' spectators' box and wrapped tightly around Neji's neck.
He had unsealed the rope from a scroll in his pocket. It was one of Naruto's best works; he had to have the real Daku steal magnifying lenses to peer at the rope and draw tiny custom-made seals on each thread of rope. The paintbrush was too large and using only a hair from the brush would hinder his speed, so he had to resort to something he hadn't practised often. He used his chakra. Chakra exercises were also emphasised in the fuinjutsu scroll he had been given and he had practised leaf spinning and senbon balancing with his fingers. He had mastered the latter exercise but not the former.
He went further and performed exercises for each element, with only water and air coming to him easier than the rest so he correctly deduced he had those affinities.
He was fairly okay with channelling and separating his chakra. So he used his water affinity chakra to draw custom seals on each thread of rope, intertwining it again and thus his 'Snake rope' was created.
Though he had to add in durability seals so it wouldn't snap it was still a work of genius. The real snake rope was with the real Naruto; the one 'Naruto' had was the prototype. It could only stretch as much as the chakra he added in and he wanted to save his chakra for other things.
He flicked his wrist and dragged the Hyuuga back, rolling his eyes when the boy tried striking the ropes repeatedly. The proctor looked up at him with furrowed eyes and called the match in Neji's favour, disqualifying Hinata. The blonde boy shrugged and recalled his silver weapon, the rope uncoiling from around Neji's throat, releasing the purple-faced boy to fall to the ground, gasping for air.
The other jounin that had leapt down to save the girl was perplexed how a child that couldn't walk was able to save the Hyuuga heiress faster than them.
Hinata looked up at him with what he could call gratitude and a little bit of admiration.
Neji was stoic, glaring at him before he walked out of the arena.
Presently he was trying to make the drawing as realistic as possible, adding shadows, stray beams of light, intricate designs that would seldom be noticed and even slight afterimages left by the butterfly's wings. He was happy with what he got.
"Hey there, kid!"
'Naruto' stifled a groan when a pencil stroke skidded astray; he brought out an eraser and carefully rubbed out the mistake, making sure to acknowledge the person who had disturbed him without turning around. "Hello."
"Now is that a way to speak to me?" The man expected him to snap his head in his direction and maybe grovel at his feet, but 'Naruto' was above doing that. "The man that makes ladies swoon and men jealous. The great and gallant Jiraiya!"
"I speak to everyone this way; you are no different." He was still gently rubbing out the bothersome line that was disrupting his picture of tranquillity. "Can you tell me what you want, Jiraiya?" He could practically feel the man's shoulders slump.
"Old man Hokage told me you're a real whiz with seals."
"I try my best. Why do you ask?"
"Isn't it obvious? I, the Gallant Jiraiya, the strongest of the Three Legendary Sannin, the toad summoner, the author of the bestselling book in all of the elemental nations, is here to give you some tips and maybe, just maybe…if you impress me enough…I'll take you on as my apprentice!" He didn't get the response he wanted; 'Naruto' was still busy cleaning off the line and trying to make as little mistakes as possible. "I can even add the toad summoning contract…"
"I am fine with where I am in fuinjutsu, but thank you for coming, Lord Jiraiya." That was two boldfaced lies in the span of a sentence, on behalf of the real Naruto.
"Aw c'mon, kid! I'm here to help you!" He walked to the boy's front and crossed his arms.
"And I have acknowledged that, but I also said I am fine with where I am." He didn't drop the sketch pad to look at the man, he was tracing over where he had rubbed out.
"Oh yeah? What level are you on now?"
"Level nine—"
"What? I'm on level eight and a half! How did you get so far up?"
"Years of study and nothing else but study."
"But I have been studying all my life!"
"No. The history books say you've been studying fuinjutsu since you graduated from the academy. Factor in your unsavoury hobbies, quite frankly you haven't done enough with your sealwork."
"Hey! I'll have you know my stories explain the intricacies of the female body; you should read it sometime," Jiraiya barked, opting to defend his novel series.
"I tried reading it," the man perked up, "and I was sorely disappointed. 98% of the book is about sex, and I am not interested in that presently. But I would have to give it to you; it was very graphic."
"That's good enough for me. Also," Jiraiya jabbed a thumb over his shoulder, "can you tell me why two Hyuuga are stalking you?" the child didn't even flinch, which Jiraiya summarised because he already knew.
"I saved one and I almost strangled the other during the exams." Naruto hummed. "You can go back to the Hokage and tell him you weren't successful, Lord Jiraiya."
The toad sage fully covered his surprise that he knew the old Hokage had sent him, though he did sigh sadly and asked, "Are you sure you don't want a toad summoning?"
"I wouldn't need it; I can't walk well enough to fight and I don't have anyone close enough to me to send messages to. It would be useless." The man nodded and left; his pride reduced somewhat that the child he didn't want to raise had already surpassed him. When Minato and Kushina had named him Naruto's godfather he didn't think the two would die the next day. He didn't see when 'Naruto' nodded to his back or when a black blur followed after him.
'Naruto' then flicked his pencil-holding hand to where the two Hyuuga were hiding and two blurs dropped behind them and deposited them a few feet in front of 'Naruto' before they could use their byakugan to see who had ambushed them so quickly. Both Hyuuga were far enough away from each other so Naruto wasn't too afraid of separating a fight.
"Hinata, I thought I remember telling you and by extension your teammates, to never come back here?" Speaking of the shy Hyuuga, he had been communicating with his boss's boss and they now had a purpose for the girl. The real Naruto wasn't necessarily using her though, what he had in mind would benefit both Hinata and him, and by extension the rest of the new minor village/country alliance.
"I-I know, Naruto, I j-just came to say thank you for saving me." She bowed and 'Naruto' nodded, looking up from his drawing.
"It was no problem." He looked at Neji, who was unsurprisingly scowling at him. "Now, why are you here, Neji?"
"I came to see who you were." He scoffed, smirking. "And I see that you're just a crippled waif that is fated to forever stay in that chair." Hinata gasped at his insult, fully expecting 'Naruto' to retaliate but was surprised when 'Naruto' just nodded and stood up.
"I can stand, and I can walk. Maybe not well and not for long, but I can do that at least." He sat back in his chair. "That's defying your so-called 'fate'." He leaned back, relaxing. "My seals help me walk."
Neji crossed his arms. "It doesn't change anything; you are still weak."
There were two ways to go about answering that obvious taunt; he could ignore it and wave him away or he could lash out with the arsenal of seals at his disposal. He chose the invisible third option: taunt right back,
"If I was weak, how did I stop you from killing her yesterday?"
"I wasn't ready. Next time, she wouldn't be so fortunate."
"I don't think so. Your unfounded animosity against a girl who literally couldn't hurt a fly is illogical, Neij. Go back home and get a life."
Neji grit his teeth and clenched his fist. "You have no right to say that."
"And you have no right to pick on a defenceless girl. Unless you get off on that sort of thing." 'Naruto' waved his hand flippantly and sniffed. "If you do then I advise you to go for therapy; it isn't healthy." He smirked minutely at Neji, knowing that the boy was just a few more insults away from pouncing on him.
"I have a valid reason for targeting Hinata, wheelchair boy." The Hyuuga boy growled before he smirked proudly.
"Oh, very inventive, Neij. Smart play on my minor disability," 'Naruto' said coolly. "My question for you, Neji, is why are you still here? Or is it that you also 'get off' on 'making fun' of disabled boys too?" Hinata stifled her laugh in her sleeve, a small giggle escaped her mouth and she bit the cloth of her sleeve. 'Naruto' briefly looked at her blankly then back at the object of his verbal attacks.
The poor Hyuuga was red-faced with steam coming out of his ears. "I do not get off anything!"
"Mhm, sure you don't," 'Naruto' said with a roll of his eyes and another flippant hand gesture. "You should go and train; I heard you were going to fight the Uchiha in the second round."
"That is true. I do not need to waste any more of my time conversing with…uncouth riffraff like you and this…weak excuse of a Hyuuga. Good day." He raised his nose into the air and sauntered away from the two. "And if you ever disrupt any of my fights again, I will end you."
"Whatever." Neji scowled briefly before he cleared his expression and walked off. "Now, Hinata, why are you here again?"
Now under the figurative magnifying glass of the object of her affections, Hinata's face heated up. "I-I-I-"
"Spit it out, girl."
"I-I-I came to say thank you for-for-for," she stuttered out something incoherent and raised her voice, "And to ap-apologise for-for my teammate; his-his attitude w-was uncalled f-for."
"Eh, it was nothing." 'Naruto' chose to fill in the blanks of what she was saying. She then nervously shuffled in front of him. "Yes?"
"Uhm… how were you able to do that…rope thing…?"
The clone pursed his lips and contemplated lying to her or telling her to get lost, but then discarded it; if a Sannin knows he could do seals as well as the Hokage and more than half of the ANBU, then why couldn't he tell her? "Fuinjutsu." She frowned in thought, slightly confused. "It's mostly about using kanji to do things ninjutsu or any other kind of jutsu can and can't do." the boy lilted at his explanation, screwing his lips to the side and muttering, "That's an extreme oversimplification of seals, but that's basically it."
She nodded. "Is that how you can walk, or how you beat Kiba?"
'Naruto' nodded. There was a long pause afterwards with Hinata biting the corner of her lips nervously. 'Naruto' quietly groaned in frustration. "Yes?"
"Is that how you're so strong?" the clone raised an eyebrow. "I-I-I mean you're so…confident and-and cool, and you're not scared of anything…"
"You have only known me for about a month, Hinata."
Her shoulders slumped. "I know."
He decided to humour her a bit. "Fuinjutsu was my way of coping with loneliness and depression." The boy revealed this with an honest shrug, divulging a secret piece of his soul to the girl, knowing well that Hinata would never tell another soul. The girl listened with so much attention and focus, that it brought a slight smile to Naruto's face. "I got so deep into it that I found it truly fascinating; seals tell me all sorts of stories, opening my eyes to a world in infinite possibilities, where even someone like me can walk. You can say my devotion to seals and my ability to use them makes me strong."
'So… to be strong I need to find something to be devoted to…' she stepped back and bowed. "Thank you, Naruto."
"For what?"
"For your words." She turned to go but Naruto stopped her.
"Hinata."
She swivelled around sharply, and answered a bit too loudly, "Yes!".
"Do you really want to be strong?" she nodded slowly. The clone then unsealed a wooden chair and motioned for her to sit on it. "Let me help you…"
Besides, Konoha could always use a Hyuuga Hokage…as well as an addition to the new minor village/country alliance.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
In Wave Country, inside the Wave Leaders office, all the minor village leaders were discussing how to strengthen their villages.
They had talked about supplying money, resources and workers to Hidden Fang to construct a train station linking the village to Hidden Marsh and Hidden Chill, which was the furthest village. Hidden Waterfall was closest to Wave and Hidden Smoke, and Smoke was closest to Fang, which meant that if the train was fully constructed then communication and transportation of people and resources would be much easier.
Naruto brought forward three fully capable engineers in the Wave to aid in the construction of the tracks and the trains, as well as adding a highly-powered Daku clone to help with lifting heavy items, and lending Daku's experience in metal and woodwork. Kitsuen had provided his best Smoke release users to melt the iron and brought some of his best blacksmiths. Shibuki, Rinsuki and Yumi gladly provided money and supplies, as they didn't have such experts readily at hand.
Just as they were about to begin discussions on how to accelerate the ninja training in Wave, the doors to the office were thrown open and a hyperventilating demon brother was seen.
"What is the meaning of this!?" Samsato yelled in outrage.
"Humble apologies, Honourable Village Leaders, but a group of unknown ninjas have just attempted to infiltrate the walls. The seals worked and they were repelled."
How the seals protecting Wave worked was that every citizen's blood was keyed in, which meant that all newborns and deceased would have to register in and out periodically. To all visitors, temporary tattoos were stamped on their wrists, lasting only as long as they were to stay. Add in all the gates and gatekeepers to administer visitors' painless tattoos, and Wave was very well protected against infiltration.
What remained was to find a way to make the seals absorb enemy chakra and use it against them, like a virus. The seals create an active lightning forcefield and repulsed those without these requirements, depending on how much the infiltrator used his chakra so that Wave wouldn't be responsible for the death of a civilian who somehow got his tattoo rubbed out or a newborn child that had not been registered.
Naruto planned on immersing himself in how to make the seals differentiate between civilians and shinobi, giving very harsh punishment to attacking shinobi and only pushing the civilians back.
"Have they been captured?" Naruto asked calmly. He propped his head up with his right hand and was drumming his fingers on his wheelchair arm with his left. "Well?"
The lone demon brother used a split second to look at Daku, who was standing guard behind the boy, then at the other village leaders' guards also behind them, in the same position. This boy must be the 'Great Master' that Daku had been talking about…
"They are retreating to wherever they had come from; Haku is currently giving chase."
"What about Zabuza?" Naruto asked, fully updated on the happenings in Wave and who exactly was under his employ. The other village leaders as well as their guards watched the interaction with mild interest.
"He is out on a mission with my brother; they are not due to return till tomorrow."
The blonde boy rubbed his chin in thought before he said, "Even though Haku is a chunin and an expert hunter ninja, I still need those ninjas to be brought in. They've made me curious. Daku, I want you to personally go and assist Haku. Bring all the ninjas back alive—"
"If you don't mind me interrupting, Lord Naruto," Kitsuen said, cutting off the twelve-year-old Leader of Wave Country. Naruto paused and nodded for the large man to continue, "I propose we each send a bodyguard after your intruders. Since we are now allied, a breach in your security becomes a breach in our security."
"That's right," Yumi added. "I also believe it will foster a feeling of camaraderie if our ninjas learn to work with each other."
"All in favour?" Naruto said and all the leaders raised their hands. "Then it's agreed. Go after them and bring them back alive."
A guard behind each village leader, Daku included, obeyed the command and marched out of the office.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Haku, an ice release user, expertly crouched under a thrown shuriken and threw three ice senbon at the attacker. The plain masked person threw a kunai and impressively intercepted the ice senbon. The ninja turned around and kept pelting into the forest with his team not too far in front of him.
The ice user glared at the intruder behind his mask and was about to rocket after the ninja until he sharply turned around and held an ice senbon to the neck of a rotund gasmask-wearing ninja. The ninja wore predominantly grey and black clothing; he had on a large black jounin flak jacket and plain grey undershirt and pants. He had a black dagger in a holster at his heel, a bit above his grey ninja sandals. The person raised his hand in a sign that he was on Haku's side but the ice user didn't drop his guard.
"Stand down, Haku,"
"Daku?" The ice user released the senbon and allowed it to melt, shuffling back when Daku and four more curiously dressed ninjas ran from out of the forest. "I do not mean to be rude, but what are they doing here?" They were the bodyguards of the Leaders, after all.
The ninja from Hidden Fang, a female, spoke before the dark shadow could. "Our leaders opted for us to join the hunt." She had waist-length frizzy brown hair and tanned skin with sharp facial features. Small canines stuck out of the side of her mouth. She wore a deep red flak jacket with white fang designs on its shoulders and sides. She had on ankle-length ninja pants and a long curved sword holstered at her side. She wore only a vest under her flak jacket, exposing her lean muscles and three fang tattoos on her left shoulder.
"We best hurry. They are getting away," was the cool suggestion of the Hidden Chill bodyguard. He had short shocking white hair, white eyebrows and chilly blue eyes that glared in the general direction of where the intruders had run. His voice sounded eerily like he was talking through a tube. His flak jacket was chilly blue, like his eyes and he wore a plain white trench coat that barely reached the ground. He had on stark black ninja pants with curious-looking shuriken holstered on both sides of his hip.
Daku mutely pointed at the Fang kunoichi to track the intruders and with a sharp howl, the woman leaped into the forest. The other ninjas followed suit.
Back in Wave Central, the Fang wolf companions howled in response to the call.
Naruto looked at Samsato curiously, still in the meeting room discussing matters and making agreements. The man gave him a sharp smirk and said, "The hunt begins."
The Fang ninja sniffed the air and flew through the trees, not touching the ground with her fleet steps bounding from tree to tree. The other ninjas sped behind her tirelessly. "How close are we, Billy?" the Hidden Marsh kunoichi asked from almost beside the Fang kunoichi called Billy. She had short black hair that lay down neatly on her head with coal black eyes. She had a slim build, further accentuated by the green and black battle kimono she had on under a dark green jounin flak jacket. She had on short, tight pants under her kimono that could barely be seen from the lengthwise slit on her right leg.
"Here," Billy said lowly and burst through some trees, tackling a featureless shinobi and smashing him against a tree. She then bashed her head against the intruder's mask and watched with grim satisfaction as the ninja crumpled to the ground, like a puppet with its strings cut, unconscious.
Daku took out his opponent almost as easily, taking his time to watch how his opponent fought and realizing it was similar to the Strong Fist taijutsu style.
He slapped away two blows and gave his opponent a rising knee to the chin, shattering the mask. As his opponent was airborne he shot his arm out and plucked a shuriken from the air, it targeted him, and threw it back at the attacker, nailing the ninja's right leg. He thrust his hand forward again and pulled his opponent out of the air, smashing him into the ground and knocking him out with a finger poke to the neck.
The Hidden Chill shinobi went through a short chain of hand seals. "Water release: Water drill" The jutsu drove his opponent to the Hidden Smoke shinobi.
"Smoke release: Smoke blanket." The gasmask the ninja wore began pouring out thick, inky smoke onto the helpless intruder. The featureless ninja began hacking into his hand, blood spurting out of his mouth, nose and ears. He slumped onto the ground a few seconds later with a swift neck chop courtesy of the Smoke release user. He accepted a fist bump from his tag team partner, the Chill shinobi.
The Chill ninja bent down and tied up their captive while the Smoke stood and watched the other bodyguards handle their opponents.
The Waterfall shinobi was swiftly dodging sword strikes from his opponent, not having a sword of his own to counter, and defying all expectations that one of his large body mass could move so nimbly. He quickly analysed the mysterious ninja's fighting style and applauded the lack of holes he saw in his offence. Though he did note that the person was a chunin, with the way he couldn't seem to increase his sword speed.
He sidestepped another sword stroke and swung his right fist at the arm, snapping the elbow and making the stranger drop their sword.
The person, despite having a broken arm, didn't let up with their attacks, throwing blow after blow at the man. "Your determination is admirable, comrade." He leaned back from a wide kick and snap-kicked the leg that stayed on the ground, shattering the ankle. The victim swayed unsteadily on his lone leg and gurgled in pain when the Waterfall ninja grabbed his throat and ripped his mask off. The man, seeing the maniacal look in his eyes, thrust his hand into his mouth and grabbed his tongue.
Billy wolf whistled. "Kinky!"
The Waterfall shinobi rolled his eyes. "He has a suicide seal on his tongue. He was trying to activate it." Haku, not having an opponent, threw a senbon to the mysterious ninja's neck and the ninja slumped into blissful unconsciousness.
Meanwhile, the Marsh kunoichi swept her opponent's feet from under her and axe kicked her chest into the ground, forming a small crater. "Oops, it seems I overdid it…" she bent down and felt the ninja pulse, sighing in relief when she felt a faint beat. "Relax. She's alive!"
"Are you telling that to us or yourself," was the snarky response from the Chill shinobi.
"Whatever." She tied up her incapacitated opponent and lifted her onto her shoulders, the other bodyguards doing so as well.
"Let's head on back to Wave," Daku said and jumped into the tree line.
"Did anyone else see his fight?" the rotund Smoke shinobi asked. "I certainly didn't."
"Daku is very fast and very brutal. He knocked out his opponent and injured the one you were against, Smoke shinobi," Haku supplied. The ninjas were bursting through the forest back home.
Billy grunted. "Sounds like a challenge."
"He beat an A-rank missing ninja and held his own against Kakashi of the Sharingan and Asuma Sarutobi."
The Chill shinobi's eyes widened, breaking his cool expression. "He fought Asuma Sarutobi and Hatake Kakashi, and he lived?" his comrades were equally as shocked, even the brazenly strong Billy. "How? They're both A-rank!" Daku seemed to be out of earshot, but instead, he ignored them and kept tree-jumping.
"He fought them to a standstill, retreating only because of chakra exhaustion. I saw everything."
The group silently kept tree hopping, looking at the quiet Wave Leader's bodyguard with a little more respect; fighting to a standstill against two young A-rank shinobi was not something one heard every day. Add in the fact that both A-rank ninjas had special abilities and jutsu in their arsenal; Kakashi had his sharingan, and Asuma had his trench knives and his almost unmatched wind jutsu. It would take a terrible amount of shinobi experience and knowledge to be able to accomplish that.
Something Naruto's dark shadow had…and something that was still growing…maturing.
"Curious," the Marsh kunoichi said to herself.
Authors note
Jutsu list
Smoke release: Smoke blanket: this is an A rank technique that makes use of both a genjutsu—to make the victim believe he cannot breathe—and ninjutsu—to create a blanket of thick black smoke from the user, harmless smoke if not accompanied with this genjutsu—. This technique is only predominant to Smoke-release users and people who can perfectly combine fire, water and air affinities. The jutsu cannot kill, but it is still extremely lethal with its results.
Now y'all see why Hinata is even relevant in this story. Naruto wants her to become Hokage. In my opinion, Hinata is like wet, unmolded clay, with the right hands and expertise she'll grow into something very big. It's not exactly too late to change her into something revered; I think this is the perfect time to do so (after losing to her cousin in the chunin exams).
I don't like Jiraiya much, so his association with Naruto would not be all that positive. Not that I'll outrightly bash him, or maim his name and stuff. I acknowledge that Jiraiya is a legendary shinobi with almost unreachable skill but I also cannot get past the fact that he didn't look after his godson; giving himself the excuse that he couldn't handle children. That's a poor excuse if you ask me…
I honestly don't plan for the 'Minor Village/Country Alliance' to break up any time soon, if at all. Stay tuned and watch how these six minor villages rise to something only the major shinobi villages could compete against.
Daku, like I said in the first chapter, is the darker, more merciless, half of Naruto that has no inhibitions. AT ALL. I'm getting goosebumps just thinking of how strong he's going to be with Kyuubi's chakra.
If you truly want to see this, keep reading.
Things are getting good. Real good…
See you all on the flip side.
Please review.
Foy.