An update!
ZZZxNaruto on WP chapter 2 is out too!
Short summary, Naruto is a Bangboo inventor alongside Sunbringer and lives in the basement of Bardic Needle.
Now, moving on with the chapter!
Enjoy!
"Old timer! Say hello to my daughter, your niece!"
A woman with the look of a 17 year old girl spat out the tea in her mouth. Her red-framed eyeglasses cracked comically and her jaw dropped to the floor as she stared at the gray-haired woman.
She had bluish-purple hair and blue eyes and was dressed in a blue and white qipao accompanied with navy leggings for easy maneuver.
Beside her, a girl at the age of 10 with brown eyes and brown hair tied in a twintail was as surprised as her master.
"S-Senti-san...I might hear you wrong, but do you mind repeating what you said?"
"Yup! Say hello to my daughter!" Senti lifted Stelle up in front of the woman's face. "Your niece, Stelle!"
The woman coughed up blood as it leaked from the corner of her lips.
She didn't mishear it.
How!? When!?
"Hello auntie! It's nice to meet you!" Stelle greeted the woman.
"H-H-Hello..." The woman stuttered robotically. She turned to her disciple. "S-S-Sushang, do you mind playing with S-Stelle for a moment? I…I need to have a talk with Senti-san..." She asked with a very strained smile.
"Y-yes, Master Phoenix…" Sushang turned to the little girl. "Stelle? Do you want to play in the yard?"
The girl struggled in Senti's arms before she plopped down to the floor.
"Sure!" She dragged Sushang instead and ran out of the room with laughter.
"*hic* I'm so proud of my daughter..." Senti wiped a fake tear only for the Master to interrupt her with a smile that didn't reach her eyes.
"Would you please tell me when you had her, Senti-san? And why have you only told me now?"
Senti raised an eyebrow.
"Eh? What do you mean, old timer?"
"Who's the girl's father? And why didn't you tell me that you slept around?"
"Father? What do you mean? And I didn't sleep around!"
"Right, you didn't sleep around and somehow Stelle is conceived..." She rolled her eyes.
"But I really didn't!
"Senti-san, children doesn't just pop out of nowhere!"
"ARRRRGHHHHH! I TOLD YOU I DIDN'T SLEEP WITH ANYONE!"
"AND HOW ARE YOU GOING TO EXPLAIN THIS CHILD THEN!? SHE DEFINITELY HAS YOUR LOOKS AND PERSONALITY!"
Seeing Senti didn't want to be honest with her, the Master decided to pull out something.
Senti squeaked seeing the 14th Divine Key, Slippers of Taixuan, in the bluette's hand before finally admitting it.
"I...I found her in the ranch and I took her with me to prank you..."
The woman sighed tiredly before calming down.
She adjusted her eyeglasses.
"Did you see anyone else there? From her attire, she isn't someone from around here."
Senti shook her head.
It was then they heard knocking at the front door and without waiting for them to answer, the door was slid open by a woman they knew.
"Ohooo," Senti stood up, turned to the guests and cracked her knuckles. "Isn't it Jingliu and Skirk! Is it finally that time of the year again?"
"Hello, Senti, it is indeed one of our reasons to come here." Jingliu answered before she ushered Naruto to step forward.
"Who's the mummy?" Senti raised an eyebrow as Master Phoenix sighed at her.
"Don't be so rude, Senti-san." Phoenix chided before she turned to three newcomers. "Jingliu, Skirk, it has been a while." The two nodded at the woman in front of them. "Who is the little one, if I may ask and is he...wounded?"
"It really has been, Fu Hua. 50 years, I think?" The master whose name was revealed as Fu Hua nodded before Jingliu continued. "Naru, introduce yourself and tell us why you are looking like that." Fu Hua raised an eyebrow at how affectionate she addressed the boy.
The redhead nodded before bowing respectfully at the two women in front of him.
"Hello, I'm Uzumaki Naruto, Master Jingliu and...Master Skirk's apprentice."
Fu Hua nodded and smiled at the boy but was also surprised that both Jingliu and Skirk would take an apprentice, well not the former but the latter since she didn't seem one to take a student under her.
"As for the reason why I'm looking like this is because I kind of used Kurama's chakra to kill Heliobi in the Fyxestroll Garden and it peeled off all my skin...basically I'm all meat without skin now."
While his masters had an impassive look, both Hua and Senti sweatdropped at him.
"Are you cooked well done?" The latter asked him and Naruto deadpanned at her.
"You're asking me the same question Stelle did... Speaking of her, is she here?"
"She's in the other room, playing with the old timer's student."
Naruto sighed in relief. Despite only knowing her for a few days, she's basically Kafka's adopted child which meant she was his...sister? Step-sister?
Hua then knelt at his eye level.
"Hello Naruto, my name is Fu Hua but you can call me Hua." Naruto nodded at the woman. "And this one beside me is Senti-san...you can say that she is me–"
"But a lot better since I'm the strongest and the best in the world!" Senti interrupted with a grin, causing Naruto to deadpan at her.
Jingliu saw the incredulous look on his face and put a hand on his shoulder.
"It is true. Senti and Hua are a lot stronger than both of us combined, Naru."
The redhead whipped his head at his master. "Wait, really?"
Both masters nodded at him.
"Please do not downplay yourselves." Hua chuckled at the redhead's masters.
"Both of them are over 50.000 years old and you could imagine how much wisdom and strength they've accumulated over the time." Skirk added out of nowhere, gaining a gasp from the boy who dropped his jaw hearing their age.
"That only applies to the old timer since I'm way, way much younger!" Senti grumbled while Hua's eyebrow twitched at the mention of her age.
That's when Stelle appeared out of nowhere and patted Hua's chest, much to her surprise, climbing over to Senti and patting hers as well before she touched her own as if comparing something.
She turned to the two ancient women and gave them a smug look.
"Imagine having the same breasts size as a child while being that old..." Stelle whispered but Naruto and the women in the room heard it clearly with the former's face turning pale and his masters having a small smirk on their face.
Hua's eyes were shadowed by her bangs while muttering the word 'unfair' repeatedly and as for Senti, she was already chasing Stelle with a slipper in her hand.
Sushang was flabbergasted as to how a girl her age managed to slip out without her knowledge and was currently trying to help Senti catch Stelle.
Jingliu then cleared her throat, gaining Hua's attention.
"Celestial, actually, we came here with a request."
Hua arched an eyebrow.
"We want you to train Naruto in Taixuan martial arts if it's possible."
Naruto dropped his jaw. A third master!? He hadn't even started with Skirk yet and he was already getting a third one!
"But, aren't the two of you his masters?" Hua asked.
"Yes, but it wouldn't hurt for him to have another master, would it?"
The three women looked at Naruto.
"How far is he in your training?" She asked the blindfolded woman with a hand under her chin.
"6 months and I'm having him to polish his basics while training his mind and body."
Hua nodded.
She understood very well how important the basics were in everything.
"He's also training in the arts of Shinobi from his homeworld based on the memories of his parents merged with him."
The Celestial hummed. The information about the boy piqued her interest. She knew both Jingliu and Skirk came from different worlds, therefore the Phoenix wasn't surprised to hear Naruto was the same, no, it was the Shinobi arts that intrigued her.
"And...why, if I may ask, are you training him so hard at such an early age?" Hua asked, curious about her fellow masters' reasons.
"In his world, being a child soldier is normal and Naru himself was already getting training from his caretaker before he left...and besides..."
Jingliu glanced at Skirk, telling her to follow up.
The shorter girl gave her a small nod.
"He's an Otsutsuki, a descendant of one, to be precise." Skirk answered, gaining a surprised look from Fu Hua.. "And I have a feeling that the boy will be involved in many things in the future..."
Hua nodded slowly.
"Otsutsuki...I've heard of myths and legends about them in the previous era..." Hua mused grimly. "It was said they traveled the multiverse of multiverses, dimensions and worlds to enact Otsutsuki Will and existed before the creation of the universe itself."
"You're very well informed, Celestial. Here I thought that people of this world wouldn't have known about them." Jingliu nodded, impressed with the Phoenix.
"It was a story passed on from generation to generation in the Previous Era and I heard it from my father..." Hua smiled fondly as she remembered the past. "From what I found out after I joined the Fire Moth, the Otsutsuki were the oldest beings in existence, even predating the Sea of Quanta and the Imaginary Tree and existed outside of them...but as far as we know, those were unconfirmed myths and Dr. Mobius decided not to pursue it since there was no proof that Otsutsuki existed..."
"How did your father and the others hear about the Otsutsuki then?" Skirk asked
"That's what we'd like to find out." Hua replied wryly.
"And I hope you won't tell the doctor about Naru's origin."
Master Phoenix shook her head with a smile.
"Don't worry, it will be a secret between the three of us." Hua adjusted her eyeglasses. "As for your request, I agree to train him."
Hua turned to Naruto who tilted his head in confusion to the side.
"Since my students couldn't use Honkai energy like I do, I devised a method for them to be able to use Taixuan Eminence by utilizing their chi but none managed to do it." She knelt in front of the boy and placed her hand on his chest. "I wonder if you'd be able to do it with your chakra...and if you could, how strong will it be?"
"Umm..." Naruto interrupted. "How are we going to arrange my schedule though? I mean, I still need to study, right master?" Naruto turned to Jingliu.
"Shadow Clone." Jingliu said, reminding the boy about his skill.
Hua fixed her glasses, intrigued about this shadow clone before Naruto made a clone of him as Jingliu asked.
"Everything his clone learns will transfer back to him but it comes along with the fatigue."
"Interesting..." Hua mused as she poked and carressed the clone's cheek, causing him to purr. Since his skin was already healing on his face, he wasn't hurt by the touch.
Hua smiled fondly before she caressed the clone and he leaned forward to the woman asking for more.
Its ears and nine tails popped up, surprising Hua a bit but still continuing with her caressing.
Skirk, who didn't know that Naruto could purr since she only trained him with his tails, began to stroke the original's cheeks whose guard was down.
He began to purr with ears and tails popping out into existence.
Jingliu joined in doing the same to the original and before long, Senti, Stelle and Sushang joined them after seeing the three older women caressing Naruto who now had tails and fox ears.
Eventually, the day ended with the women and girls being healed by his fluffy tails.
"Araa~" A woman with long, curly, green hair wearing a lab coat and glasses hummed in her lab reading the report from her assistant. "Is this reading correct, Klein?" She asked, receiving a nod from a small girl with wavy green hair wearing a baggy lab coat with green highlights.
"Mount Taixuan? Hua's place then." An unsettling smile crept to her face. "If you think you can come unnoticed, you're terribly wrong, visitor-san."
A few days later, Naruto could be seen sparring with Sushang in the training area in Mount Taixuan with Hua and Senti as the referee while Stelle was just munching the snacks the latter gave her since she wasn't interested in training.
It could be seen that despite being around the same age, Sushang was easily overpowering Naruto in the arts of swords but neither of them could land a hit since the latter was too fast for the former to catch.
"Stop with the cat and mouse game and hit each other already!" Senti yelled out since they were dragging it too long.
Hua sweatdropped at her daughter.
Yes, daughter, even if Senti denied it.
She still acted immaturely after all.
The cat and mouse game, as Senti called it, continued for another 30 minutes until Sushang exhausted herself and Naruto managed to land a hit on her head with a loud thud.
"That hurts!" the girl said as she quickly nursed her head.
"Finally!" Naruto cheered with his fists pumped up.
"You only beat me because you have more stamina!" Sushang pouted.
The two students of Hua and Senti argued before they heard Hua clapping at them while Senti was going after Stelle who wouldn't share her snacks.
"Master Phoenix/Hua-sensei!"
"Good work, you two." Hua praised and the two students blushed. "Naruto, you managed to defeat Sushang because of your enormous stamina and prolonged spar. That was one way to win against someone better than yourself and you did it nicely." The boy nodded his head at the master before the latter turned to the girl. "Sushang, I don't understand why you went easy against Naruto, do you mind telling us?"
"Uhm...I just don't want to scare my fellow disciple like others because I overdid it..."
Naruto frowned. He knew something was odd but he didn't expect that she was going easy on him.
"Hey, why would I be scared of you if you went all out against me? I mean, isn't that how training works? I had to dodge master Jingliu's earth-scarring sword everytime I trained with her..." he shuddered remembering how Jinglius scarred the ground.
"Really?" Sushang looked at her fellow disciple. "You won't stop being Master Phoenix's disciple even if I go all out in our training?"
"I won't...but...I'm curious how strong you are when you're not holding back..."
Sushang looked at Hua who sighed but nodded at the girl.
She went back to the side and became the referee once more.
"Uh...what are y–" Naruto saw Sushang making a hand sign he knew as half ram before ethereal swords formed in the air, filling up the training area and stabbing into the ground. Sushang jumped into one of the swords' hilt and smiled at Naruto who gawked at her.
"Now then, Naruto, this is my Sword Array." Ethereal swords formed and floated around the girl, pointing at the redhead. "I dulled the blades but they will still hurt, so make sure to dodge them all~"
"E-Eh?"
An ethereal sword shot toward Naruto who quickly lowered its head to dodge it.
His eyes then saw another sword was already in the previous one's place and Sushang stood on top of a different sword hilt.
"Uh..." The boy looked up to his fellow disciple who was still smiling at him. "Go easy on me, please?"
"...Nope~"
Naruto looked at Hua who was only smiling at him.
More swords shot toward him and that morning, Naruto's scream echoed throughout Mount Taixuan.
The Uzumaki winced as Sushang nursed his bruises. While he managed to dodge them in the beginning, the swords kept coming at him relentlessly. It needed only one to stop him and all the swords would hit.
"I hope we won't do that too often..." The boy winced as Sushang applied the medicine.
"Oh no, don't worry. We'll return to sword fighting but this time I won't be holding back like today." Sushang grinned at him.
Naruto rolled his eyes before looking for his friend.
"Hua-sensei, do you know where Stelle is?" The boy asked, not noticing Sushang was pouting beside him as she nursed his wounds.
"Senti-san took her to the ranch to feed the Phoenixes." Hua smiled at the two while sipping her tea. She was planning a training schedule for Naruto after Jingliu and Skirk gave her their own. "Senti-san would have brought you two, but seeing Naruto's condition, I told her not to."
"I see–"
*THUD*
"Old-timer! This is bad!" Senti barged into the house with Stelle under her arm.
Hua got to her feet immediately. "What happened?"
"The Hyperion is approaching!"
The Celestial's eyes widened before turning to Naruto with a grim look.
"Naruto, listen closely. Whatever happens, do not come out without me telling you so, do you understand?" Hua stated gravely.
The redhead nodded before Senti put Stelle beside Naruto.
"Sushang, you'll be in charge here until we return."
"Yes, Master Phoenix."
Hua then turned to Senti and nodded at each other before leaving the house, heading for the plains where the ship would be landing. It had been some time since they came to visit and usually, it wouldn't be good news, especially since Naruto's arrival happened a few days ago.
"It has been a while, Hua~" A woman with a pair of light pink-green eyes and green hair said before turning to Senti who looked uncomfortable. "Herrscher, have you decided to be my lab rat~?"
"Nope! Definitely nope!" Senti crossed her arms before hiding behind Hua.
The Celestial smiled lightly before she adopted a serious look.
"Dr. Mobius, it has been a while."
"Ara~ it sure is~"
Nothing much changed, just added some more sentence and removed several.
After answering reviews, there is another side story which is about the photo of High-Cloud Quintet that some of you might have read!
Review corner!
Dragonkeeper10: probably Feixiao, Jiaoqiu, Yunli will make their appearance at IPC's opening ceremony later on, therefore that chapter will have quite a haul.
KakeruPB: lol, sometimes you have to mark your target first even if they're still younger :P
InfiniteNexusofChaos: she's younger and without anyone supervising her, she's out of control. but it'll be toned down later when she grows up.
DragonOfChocolateness: belated happy birthday! glad that you liked the present. And no, Childe won't be making an appearance though later on Naruto might go to GI universe by accident.
Guest1: Not for now, I plan to have him meet Firefly later when she saves him from Sparkle.
Toudou-sama: Thanks! Glad that you enjoyed it!
Guest2: maybe 5/6 in IPC's opening ceremony,yeah around that when he got separated from Stelle.
Guest3: imagine the feeling when your junior is your boss :P
Oryuken: well, I wanted to publish it on WP but I don't know how the readers will react since it's a bit yaoi...basically, shizu is summoned by naruto instead of leon. she grows feeling for him, naruto tells her to leave when his place was attacked, shizu canon timeline happens when she meets future hinata, the children, rimuru, got absorbed rimuru but her feelings for naruto is still there therefore making rimuru kiss naruto later on when they meet. TLDR rimuru himself grows his own feeling for naruto because of shizu's will and make himself a woman everytime she meets him.
Side Story 2
"Master," Naruto called out as he sat next to Jingliu with a photo frame in his hand. "May I know who they are?"
Jingliu took the photo into her hands, it was a picture of Yingxing, Dan Feng, Jing Yuan, herself and Baiheng.
She smiled, though it was really hard to notice.
"This was our group, the High-Cloud Quintet and you obviously know the first one from the left."
Naruto raised an eyebrow.
Seeing his confused look, the woman pinched his cheek.
"That's Yingxing."
Still not recognizing the name, his eyes squinted into flat lines with his head tilting to the side.
She pulled his cheek harder, causing the boy to wince.
"You know him as Blade and he learned swordmanship under me in the past."
Naruto's eyes widened.
"But...he doesn't have white hair!? Isn't only old people like you have white hair, maste-"
Jingliu glared at him.
"...sorry."
"Next to him is...Dan Feng, he...was forced to undergo molting rebirth and eternal banishment for what he did..."
"What did he do?"
"...he tampered with the Ambrosial Arbor he was supposed to watch, committed a great crime and sin by tampering the Transmutation Arcanum, which is a ritual among the Vidyadhara to escape reincarnation, into allowing other species to be incorporated into Vidyadhara, revived our deceased dear Foxian friend and cursed Yingxing with immortality..."
"Uh-huh..."
Jingliu turned to her apprentice.
"You didn't get that at all, did you?"
Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.
"Only a few things like Ambrosial Arbor and Transmutation Arcanum since I...kinda skipped that part in the books you gave me..."
Jingliu pinched his cheeks.
Even if she was infatuated with him, she wouldn't allow him to skip his study.
"You're re-reading them after we're done, understood?"
"Y-yhesss!"
Nodding to her disciple, Jingliu continued with the picture.
"Next to Dan Feng, you know who they are, my other apprentice, Jing Yuan and myself..."
Naruto nodded before they moved on to the last person, a Foxian woman with light purple hair.
Jingliu's stern look softened before she opened her lips.
"Her name was Baiheng and as you guessed, she was our dear friend who died in a war against the Emanator of Abundance, Shuhu." Her voice trembled a bit recalling the memory. "Only a tuft of her hair and few drops of blood left behind where she stood and using those remains, Dan Feng decided to resurrect her by turning Baiheng into a Vidyadhara."
Jingliu turned to Naruto.
"You know, Naru, you're the same as her, full of energy and positivity."
"She was the first to reach out to me, bringing me variety of wines from different worlds. She turned my hobbies from practicing swordmanship and killing my enemies to enjoying the wines she brought to me and even now, she still does."
Naruto listened with rapt attention before noticing something amiss.
"But, master, I haven't seen this woman ever since I stayed with you."
Jingliu smiled and before she could answer her apprentice, the sliding door was opened by Stelle and Bailu.
"Naruto! I brought you two smoked patties and a puffergoat milk like usual and some snacks!" The Vidyadhara greeted with a wide smile on her face.
"Again?! When can I have my ramen!?"
Naruto whined, already forgetting the question he asked his master.
"Shush! You can't just eat noodles all your life or you'll become skinny and short! You need to balance your diet! Doctor's words!"
"If he doesn't want them, can I have it?" Stelle asked, drooling as she smelled the smoked patties.
"Nope! Here, a Tuskplr Wrap, Berrypheasant Skewer and a milk for you!"
The Healer Lady unwrapped the packs before she gave them to Stelle and Naruto their lunch.
She then turned to her friend and with a wide grin, she called out to the woman.
"Jingliu! I've got us some Songlotus Cake and a good wine to go with it!"
The woman smiled, seeing Baiheng's grin overlapping with Bailu's.
"Wait! You're not an adult yet!" Naruto interrupted! "No wine for you!"
"You can't be serious!?"
Bailu's eyes widened fearfully seeing Naruto snatched away the wine in her hands.
"But I'm much older than you!"
The Vidyadhara whined.
"...I don't see it and as long as your body is still a child like me, you're not allowed to drink alcohol!"
Gasping in shock, she dropped to her hands and knees.
"But...but..."
"It's fine," Jingliu interrupted, surprising Bailu and the rest.
The Vidyadhara thought her friend wanted to help only to be betrayed by the woman.
"As Naruto said, you're still a child, you should drink milk to grow big. I'll enjoy the wine."
Shock clearly marred her face since Jingliu was chuckling at her.
A word escaped her trembling lips as her eyes teared up.
"...SO UNFAIRRRR!"
END