From Ninja to Shinigami
Chapter 4: Strength of One's Soul
By: jacke44
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===Naruto's Mindscape===
As Naruto regained his consciousness, he felt the sensation of gentle fingers stroking his hair. Eventually gaining a sense of his location, Naruto noticed the man and woman who claimed to be his parents. Startled by this revelation, Naruto jumping to his feet he exclaimed, "Who are you and why are we in a sewer?"
The blond-haired man spoke calmly. "Everything's going to be okay Naruto; if you give us a chance we'll explain everything."
"Why should I even listen to you? I know exactly who you are, you're that bastard Fourth Hokage! It's because of you that I'm one of the most hated people in the village! Do you know what it's like to walk down the street of your village with people always yelling and screaming at you? To have almost every store in the village refuse to sell you something and to have angry mobs chase you down to beat you unconscious, only to wake up to see a nurse attempting to smother you? Or how about being sold food laced with poison, to have almost no friends; and the ones I could make I have to keep at arm's length to protect them. To go to bed every night not knowing if I'm loved, to have almost every teacher at the Academy hate you! And you think you have the right to be my FATHER?" Naruto pointed towards the Nine-Tailed Fox. "You put that inside of me and left me with no one to take care of me and to not even know why I'm hated for 12 years! No, you no longer deserve to call yourself a Father, if you really are my Father." The only thing either parent could do was hang their heads in shame. "And who are you supposed to be?" Naruto asked the red-haired woman.
The woman looked at Naruto with tears in her eyes. "My name is Kushina Uzumaki, and I am your mother."
Naruto's once warm eyes froze to an ice blue "Did you help him put that thing in me?"
The only thing that Kushina could do was nod her head. "I never wanted to do it. I begged him to seal the Kyuubi back into me, but I was already weak from having you, not to mention the damage that was done to me from the previous attack." She got down on her hands and knees with her forehead touching the floor. "Please forgive me Naruto, all I ever wanted was for you to be happy. I knew the village would never accept you, that's why I wanted the fox to go back inside of me, but we were out of time, and only an Uzumaki can contain the Nine-Tails. We made a mistake; we wanted the village to see you as a hero, but as you said, the villagers never did that. If you would just please give us a chance, we could make it up to you."
Naruto slowly walked up to her, bent down and put his hand on her shoulder, causing her to slowly look up at him before he wrapped her in a hug. He began to break down, crying into her shoulder. Standing off to the side, Minato was thinking about all the mistakes he made. Naruto released the hug before speaking. "Okay, now how are you both here?"
Kushina looked over to her husband. "Do you have any idea how this happened?" She asked.
Minato shook his head. "No. Naruto, what happened before you came in here?"
"Where exactly is here, anyway?" Naruto asked.
"We're inside your mind, it's a place where you can sort out your thoughts. It can also let you contact the Nine-Tails." Minato answered.
Naruto looked around the sewer-like room, with metal pipes running across the ceiling and water on the floor. "This is my mind? This is just great, now I owe Ino 1000 Ryo, she always said I must have a sewer for a brain." He commented, making both parents laugh before he jumped to his feet and pouted. "It's not funny, she's always teasing me about it!"
"It's going be okay, now tell us what happened." Kushina requested, Naruto nodding before telling his parents all about the Chuunin Exams, including his fight in the Forest of death with Orochimaru, all of the preliminary round matches, how he swore to beat Neji on Hinata's blood, and how his Sensei reacted when he asked for training.
"Naruto, who is your Sensei?" Minato asked with a frown.
"Kakashi Hatake, why?" Naruto asked.
Minato and Kushina become enraged. "Naruto, what else has he taught?" They dared to ask.
"The tree-walking technique." Naruto answered before they gestured for him to continue. "That's it."
"I always told you he was unstable Minato! Between the death of his teammates and Father, and the way he always clung to you, you should have taken his headband. I bet once you died, he put all his anger towards Naruto and blamed him for it!" Kushina accused.
"Wait for a second, you were Kakashi's Sensei?" Naruto asked.
Minato nodded solemnly. "I'm sad to say I was."
Naruto let out a growl-like sigh before shaking it off. "Okay, let's get back to what we were talking about. After he ditched me, I had a fight with my other teammate. After that, I decided to get some fresh air and train in a place where I could have peace, so I asked the Hokage if I can come to the Land of Waves. During my mission here weeks ago I found some strange building in the forest, so I decided to come here and see what was in it. It turned out that the building was a failsafe built by a man named Mayuri Kurotsuchi, who was from another world. After that, I had Nemu give me the serum, he said that it would boost the strength of my soul and the spiritual aspect of my chakra." He explained, describing the lab
Kushina pinched her nose in exasperation. "Naruto, that was incredibly reckless, you had no idea what was going to happen, or what could have happened." She chastised.
"I know Mom, but I really didn't have much choice." Naruto responded with a shrug.
Minato snapped his fingers in realization. "I think I figured out what happened! This serum was supposed to strengthen your soul, when I sealed the Nine-Tails in you, I put a sliver of mine and your mother's souls into the seal to help you in the future if the Fox ever got out of control. I believe it increased the strength of our souls as well."
Naruto blinked in surprise at the theory. "How long do you think it's going to last?" He asked.
"I'm not sure, originally we'd have a few minutes, but if this serum has increased the strength of the souls, it's impossible to tell." Minato said.
Kushina pulled Naruto into a hug. "I really don't care, I'm just happy to have time with my son. We'll figure it out later, maybe this Mayuri can help us if he has had dealings with souls."
Suddenly Naruto started to disappear. "What's happening?"
"It's okay, you're just waking up," Minato explained.
"How do I come back to see you?" Naruto asked.
"Just concentrate on clearing your mind; remember we will always love you." Kushina said.
===July 13, 9:33 AM, Wave Country, Mayuri's Bunker===
Naruto came back to consciousness, sat up on the table, looked to his right at Nemu waiting patiently. "Are you okay, Naruto-kun?" She asked.
"Yeah, I'm okay." Naruto replied as he got to his feet.
"That is good to hear." Nemu nodded with that tiny smile of hers.
"So how did it go, Nemu? Did the serum work?" Naruto asked, putting his clothes back on.
"We are going to have to do a few tests; if you would wait, I will go get the equipment ready," Nemu said, walking over to some machines.
As she did that, Naruto thought to himself. 'Was that all just a dream?'
"It was no dream, Naruto-chan." Kushina's voice came out of nowhere.
Jumping in surprise and quickly looking left and right, Naruto found no explanation for the sudden intrusion. "Mom? What's going on?" He asked, confused.
"It's okay Naruto, your mother and I were able to tweak the seal, and now we can communicate with you. All you have to do is just think what you want to say." Minato's voice chimed in.
'Please tell me you can't look outside because if you can, this is going to be really embarrassing having my parents stuck inside my head. I'm never going to ever get away with anything.' Naruto complained.
"Don't worry about that Naruto, your mother was quite the hell raiser growing up, one of the monikers that she got was the Crimson Maelstrom, because if anyone ever made fun of her red hair, she usually caused collateral damage. Case in point, she once destroyed an entire dumpling restaurant when the owner said that she was eating like a pig and told her to get out. It took two full squads of ANBU black op's, our whole graduating class, and the promise of a month supply of ramen to calm her down." Minato brought up with a chuckle.
'That's good to hear, remind me to tell you all the stuff I did.' Naruto responded with a grin.
"There's no need for that Naruto, we can just scan your memories, technically, we are inside your mind." Kushina said.
'Fine, just don't go snooping too much, there are still some things I don't want you to know.' Naruto said.
"You mean like this crush you're starting to get on a girl named Hinata?" Teased Kushina.
'Okay, I've definitely got to find a way to get you out of my head.' Naruto said, cheeks pink. Suddenly, he heard his mother's laughter in his head. 'What's going on in there?'
"She just found the memories concerning all your pranks; how could you paint the Hokage Monument?" Minato asked, waterfall tears on his face when he saw how his own face was vandalized.
'Actually, that was pretty easy, the security in the village really sucks. Okay, I'm going to cut the connection now, I got things I gotta do. I'll talk to the two of you later.' Coming out of his concentration to see Nemu walking back over to him, carrying several instruments. "How long was I asleep for, Nemu?" He asked.
"You were unconscious for 1 hour." Nemu had said before she put the instruments down. "This should not take very long." She assured him as she picked up the first instrument, beginning to wave it around his body; after the third pass it lets out 3 beeps. Completing the process took another 30 minutes before she set everything down. "You will be happy to know the process was a complete success, you should have no problems becoming a Soul Reaper." She announced.
"Thank you, Nemu." Naruto said with a smile before he walked over to the central computer. "Tell me something Mayuri, you said when I put the helmet on, you got all my memories downloaded, right?" He hypothesized.
"That is correct, Naruto." Mayuri's face came on screen.
"So you are aware that I have a demon inside of me?"
"I am indeed."
"Well, it turns out that it was my father that put it inside me, but when he was putting it in the seal, he put a fragment of his and my mom's souls inside of it to help me battle the Fox should it ever get out of control." Naruto explained. Mayuri gained an interested expression. "And now I come to find out that when the serum that was put inside of me, it not only boosted my soul, but it also strengthened their souls as well, and now I have both my mother and my father soul's inside my head."
"That is quite interesting, indeed." Mayuri said with a nod and a hum.
"You wouldn't happen to know how to get the souls out, would you?" Naruto asked.
"What do you take me for, a uncultured buffoon? Extracting the souls will be an easy process. I believe you are entirely underestimating my abilities. All you need to do is find two cylinders to put them in." Mayuri said after his mini-tirade.
Naruto chuckled slightly; though he was an echo in the computer, he was still Mayuri. "Do they have to be a particular type?" He asked.
"As long as it is not a living item, then no; I once saw someone put a mod soul in a stuffed animal. The results were... odd, to say the least." Mayuri commented.
"That's good to hear; when will you be able to do it?" Naruto asked.
"I should be able to get the machine working by tomorrow morning, as long as you can find two items to put the souls in." Mayuri reminded.
Naruto nodded his head and looked at the clock on the wall, deciding that he would head back to the house so that he could be there when the Inuzuka came to pick up Noriko. He knew she'll be very nervous and would like him to be there to help her. "I'm going to take the rest of the day off and let the serum work its way through my system, Nemu you can take the rest of the day off to just relax. I'll be back in the morning to start my training." He said, reaching into his pocket take out a few bills. "There's a village about a few miles to the west, why don't you go and have some fun?" Naruto smiled as he handed her the money.
"Thank you very much, Naruto-kun." Nemu responded with that small smile of hers, taking the money.
"And Mayuri, I'll try and find two cylinders for the souls, but it's not a rush job. I don't think having my parents make a miraculous comeback to life is a good idea, It could cause a panic." Naruto said.
"Very well, I will put it on standby until you give me the orders." Mayuri said.
===11:13 AM, Tsunami's House===
Naruto waved goodbye, making it back to the house in half the time it usually took to see Noriko playing in the front yard with at least a dozen children. Seeing Tsunami and Fuu sitting on the front porch watching the children playing, he spotted Inari running up to him. "Hey, Naruto!" The moment the other kids hear this, they all made a beeline for Naruto and surrounded him.
"Hey Inari, I'm taking it these are your friends?" Naruto asked, each had a big grin on their face.
"That's right! We were wondering if you could help us train, we want to be ninjas just like you!" One of the kids said.
"Listen to Inari, I don't mind training you, but taking on all your friends is a little too much... besides, I would need permission from their parents." Naruto said, before Tsunami caught his attention from the porch, waving a bunch of papers.
"All of their parents already sent a form saying that they can train with you." Tsunami said, having a great smile on her face.
"Please, please, please, please, please, you're so cool!" They all said.
"It would be so cool to be able to do ninja tricks!"
"Will you teach me how to breathe fire like your teammate?!"
"Forget that I want to learn how to walk up trees, that was so cool!"
Naruto was a bit overwhelmed, being surrounded by children asking question after question. "Okay, okay, just calm down, give me a moment to get some supplies and then I'll help you." He said, stepping inside for a second to bring out said supplies, seeing the kids jumping up and down in excitement. "How hard can this be? I helped Konohamaru and his friends with their training sometimes." He said to himself, approaching the children. "Okay kids, lineup! We're going to start with physical fitness, I want three lines going here, here, and here and I want you all to do 25 push-ups!" He demanded, all the kids going where they were told to go while Naruto smiled to himself. "See, this isn't so hard."
===Naruto's Mindscape===
"Your child is a complete moron, he has no idea what he's getting himself into, but this should be quite hilarious to watch." Kyuubi said.
All the mother and father could do was nod in agreement, before Kushina looked at Minato. "I still remember that day you came home from your first day of training your team. You swore you didn't want to go back because Obito was a loud-mouthed brat, Kakashi was a jerk, Rin was a fan girl for him, Obito hated Kakashi and add to that fact you had to chain the three of them together to make them work together was pretty funny." She giggled.
"And this is coming from the woman that took her 3 students and got them drunk the first night, then the four of you went to the hot spring and tried to look into the men's side?" Minato countered with a knowing grin.
Kushina face went bright red. "I thought we agreed never to mention that again..."
"You're just embarrassed because out of the four of you, it was you that got caught and your three students managed to run away," Minato said.
Kushina turned away, her face bright red while Minato laughed at her reaction.
===1:16 PM, Tazuna's Backyard===
After 2 hours of being a Sensei, Naruto was ready to rip his hair out, if the kids weren't asking for techniques, they were trying to slack off, and a few of the girls kept getting into trouble by flirting with a few of the boys instead of doing the exercises Naruto told them to do. Eventually, a Shadow Clone came back and canceled itself out, giving Naruto the memories. Nodding to himself, he addressed the children. "Alright, that's enough!" He yelled, the kids stopping their jumping jacks. "I want three lines again. I placed a flag half a mile down the path, I want you all run down this route, move around the tree, and back, if I find out you cheated, you won't get any more training from me, got it?! On your marks, get set, go!"
As one, all the kids instantly started running down the path; once they were out of sight, Naruto walked up to the porch, took a glass of lemonade off the table, and sat down with the ladies.
"So Naruto, how do you think the kids are doing?" Tsunami asked.
"Some of them are doing pretty well, if we keep this up, they should be good, and I'll be able to make a legitimate training program for them." Naruto praised, drinking his lemonade and waiting for the kids to come back.
===1:35 PM===
He could see the kids in the distance running to him, so he stood up and walked back out to the yard. As the last kid crossed the finish line, Naruto could tell the kids were done for the day. "Okay, that's enough for today, if you guys go up to the porch, you can have lemonade. I want you back here tomorrow at 8 o'clock sharp if you guys want to continue to train." He said, each kid smiled big, saying that they will be back before they all walked up the porch for drinks. Lost in thought, he wasn't paying attention to the three sources of noise barreling towards him, and thus paid for it when he was tackled by three large dogs, each one licking his face as he valiantly attempted to pry the three of them off.
"He's over here!" A familiar voice had come before three people laughed at Naruto alongside the children and Tsunami.
"Okay, Hana call them off!" Naruto begged.
"But Naruto, if you would just come by the compound more often to see them, they wouldn't be so hyper." Hana countered.
"Okay. okay... I'm sorry guys! I promise I'll come by more often!" Naruto promised, Hana whistled, her three companions backed up so that Naruto could stand up. Wiping his face to clean the saliva off, he pouted lightly. "I don't see why they are so hyper, it hasn't been that long since I've seen them." He commented, the only answer he got was three barks which he sort of understood. "Yes, I've missed you guys too." He reached out and scratched their heads before a white puppy jumped into his arms. "How's it going Akamaru?" He scratched the puppy's head behind his ears as it let out a bark before he put him on the ground. "So, do you guys wanna talk now or do you want to meet her first?" He asked the three Inuzuka.
"Let's talk first." Tsume said.
Nodding, Naruto led them over to some trees and spent the next couple of minutes explaining everything he knew about Noriko; how he found her, what she and Tsunami told him, and his own observations of her ever since she woke up.
After listening to everything, Tsume and Hana both trapped Naruto in a hug. "Every time we think you're done surprising us, you do something like this, don't worry, she would be welcome to the main family." Tsume said, proud of him, after releasing the hug.
"Are you saying you're going to adopt her as your own?" Naruto asked, surprised.
"That's right, we discussed it on the way here. I've always wanted another kid in the house." Tsume said with that trademark Inuzuka grin, not dissimilar to Naruto's own foxy grin.
"Kiba I have always wanted a younger sibling too, not that you don't count, Naruto, you know that you're as much a part of this family as we are." Hana said with a kind smile, one of the more reserved and 'normal' of the Inuzuka.
"I know, that's why I sent that letter to you directly instead of sending it to the old man. So are you guys ready to meet her?" Naruto asked, getting three affirmatives, before leading them back to the house and into the living room to see Fuu, Inari, and Noriko playing cards, Tsunami sitting off to the side reading a book, the three kids looking up to see Naruto and three new people. "I'd like to introduce you all to Tsume, the head of the Inuzuka clan, her daughter Hana, and her son Kiba." He said.
Tsunami put down the book and stood up, falling into the gracious hostess role she seemed at home in. "Welcome to my home, my name is Tsunami, and this is my son Inari." She greeted.
The only teen girl of the bunch quickly jumped up and smiled. "And I'm Fuu."
Noriko slowly walked up to Naruto and he put a hand on her shoulder. "It's going to be okay." He said gently.
Noriko looked at the three Inuzuka's, only saying one thing. "Are you really my family?" She asked timidly, almost scared.
Tsume got down on her knees and put her hands on Noriko's shoulders. "That's right, you're a member of this family and nothings is ever going to change that. If you want you can come live with the three of us, you will have a big sister and a big brother, and I will become your new mother." She explained.
With tears in her eyes, Noriko lunged forward to hug Tsume. "Yes please!"
Naruto let them stay like that for a few minutes before speaking up. "Okay, why don't the four of you talk for a little bit and Noriko, just so you know, Hana came with her partners who're some of the biggest dogs you will ever meet."
Noriko quickly looked at Hana and ran up to her, hands clasped together as she jumped in place, excited. "Can I go meet them, please? I love dogs, especially big ones!"
Hana reached down to pick her up, sitting her on her shoulders. "Of course you can. We'll make sure to say goodbye before we leave, Naruto, we'll see you in a little bit." She had said before they headed outside.
Tsunami walked up to Naruto and gave him a hug. "I've never been more proud of you before as I am right now, you gave that little girl a new family." She said, proud tears in her eyes.
Just then, the four people left in the house heard a loud squeal from outside. "Oh my god, they're so big!"
"I told her they were big." Naruto chuckled as they ended the hug. "So Tsunami, is Tazuna coming home tonight?" He asked.
"He'll be home later tonight." Tsunami said, heading back to her chair and returning to her book.
Quickly running up to his room, Naruto returned with his own book, and sat at the table, beginning his next chapter.
Noticing this, Tsunami looked up from her book, curious. "What's that book you're writing about, anyway? You never did say."
Smiling bashfully, Naruto put his pen down and scratched the back of his head. "Well, I wanted to keep it a surprise, I've never told anybody what it's about but seeing as I'm working on the last chapter, I guess I can tell you what it's about, but you gotta promise not to laugh! It's a love/adventure story called Battles of the Heart: Love or Honor. It's a story about a young man from a family of warriors who hates to fight and wants nothing more than peace and a noblewoman who falls in love with him. They wish to see the land returned to a time of peace, as it was in her grandfather's time, for her father is a cruel and evil man who thinks that his daughter is useless because she has a kind heart and could never bring herself to harm anybody. So he decided to throw a tournament, and the winner will get his daughter's hand in marriage, and the man who loves her will throw away all of his beliefs to fight in the tournament to receive her hand."
After his synopsis, Naruto looked up to see both Tsunami and Fuu with their hands over their hearts and a look of love in their eyes. "Naruto, when you finish that book, I would like to read it." Said Tsunami.
"Can I read it, too?" Asked Fuu.
"The both of you are more than welcome to read it when it's finished. I'm actually considering seeing if I can get it published back in Konoha, a lot of the women I know have said they want to read it, too." Naruto said.
"Well hopefully, you'll be able to finish it before you leave," Tsunami had said before she returned to her book and Fuu went back to her cards.
Before anybody knew it, it was time for dinner, a knocking at the door getting their attention. "I'll get that, it's probably them." Naruto said.
"And we'll start dinner." Tsunami said, heading into the kitchen with Fuu.
Fuu looked at Tsunami and tilted her head. "What are we going to cook for dinner today?"
"Hmm... how does homemade ramen sound?" Tsunami asked with a smile.
"Sounds good." Fuu said with a smile.
Naruto opened the door to see Tsume and company. "How'd it go?" He asked, stepping outside with them.
"Well, she's definitely going to fit into the family. Just came to tell you we're going to head home." Tsume said as they to headed out to the front lawn, Naruto spying Noriko on the back of one of Hana's partners, riding it like a horse.
"You having fun?" Naruto asked with a knowing smile.
Noriko turned to look at Naruto with a wide grin. "This has been one of the best days that I can ever remember! Mom said that she would help me with my training, I even get my own partner!" She exclaimed.
"When we get home, what about the dogs that are here?" Naruto asked, remembering her friends.
"We went to talk to them, but they want to stay here, they said that this is their home. Are you going to come with us?" Noriko asked with a cute tilt of the head.
"I'm sorry Noriko, but I'll be staying here until the end of the month. I've got a lot of training and need to get it done, but if you behave, I'm sure your mom will take you to the fight at the end of the month." Naruto said, before turning to face Tsume.
"I'll make sure to check in with you a couple days before the fight." Tsume said, pulling the blonde into a hug. "I'm supposed to pass on a message for you, the Hokage told me to tell you how proud he is of you and just so you know, I put a reward into your bank account. I'm not going to hear you say no, you deserve this." She said, releasing her hug.
Before he could say anything, he was instantly pulled into another hug by Hana. "Thank you, little bro, we're all going to be in the stands rooting for you." She said, giving him a kiss on the cheek, the blonde trying to pull himself out of the hug to wipe off his cheek like a fussy toddler, Tsunami, Inari, and Fuu having come out to wave goodbye.
Naruto quickly bumped fists with Kiba who said. 'I'll see you later, loser.' He grinned, made his way over to Noriko and whispered in her ear. When he finished he saw Tsume and remembered something, then went over to her. "Before you go I wanted to ask you a couple things..." Tsume nodded. "...I know you noticed too, that her eyes have a yellow tint to them... is that normal?"
Tsume thought a moment. "I did notice and no it's not... usually. The only cases I've heard of something like this happening is when one of the parents isn't an Inuzuka, but we rarely marry or have kids outside the clan, but we're large enough to maintain genetic diversity."
Naruto nodded. "My other question I don't think I mentioned in the letter. I told you her mom was one of Gato's, playthings, and when we killed him she ran away and left Noriko... but how could a Inuzuka do that, have any Inuzuka women ever been lost on a mission?"
Tsume looked down at Naruto, almost glaring. "It's unlikely, even if the Father was an enemy that beat and raped her no Inuzuka woman would abandon her child, our maternal instincts are far to strong, we'd rather die... and no Inuzuka females have been lost in my lifetime, a few have been killed though, which is why I don't think her Mother was an Inuzuka..." Tsume glanced at Kiba. "...while not impossible as even the strongest will can be broken eventually, based on what I've seen and you told me, what probably happened it an Inuzuka male impregnated a civilian during a mission... you know how we are, especially the men..." Tsume said and gestured at her son. "...beyond that I don't know, but I was going to get a genetic test done anyway to see if she has any close, living relatives."
Naruto smiled. "Which is why you keep a tight leash on him, so to speak. Thanks, and would you let me know what you find?." Naruto said and chuckled.
"Sure, since you brought her to us..." Tsume said then faced her group. "...alright pups, let's head out!" Tsume exclaimed.
Nodding at the signal to go, Noriko looked at Kiba with a grin. "Come on, let's race home big brother Kibble!" She said innocently.
Tsume and Hana burst out laughing, along with all their dogs and the trio on the porch.
Kiba shot Naruto the dirtiest look he could muster. "I'll get you back for that." He promised.
"Whatever you say, Kibble." Naruto countered, still with that playful smirk Kiba was beginning to hate.
As the new family headed out with big smiles on their faces, Naruto headed back inside once they were out of sight, smiling when he heard they were having ramen. Later that night, as he laid in bed, the only thing he could think about was what type of cylinder he was going to put his parents in. 'It would have to be inconspicuous, can't raise suspicion.' He told himself before eventually falling asleep.
===July 14, 7:40 AM, Tsunami's House===
Both Tazuna and Tsunami were suddenly awoken by a loud scream coming from Inari's bedroom. Rushing out of their rooms, they saw Naruto walking out of Inari's room with an empty bucket and a grin. "You have 20 minutes to be outside, or I'm tossing you into the ocean!" He called back, before seeing the looks on their faces. "He wants to be a ninja? Well, we're up at the crack of dawn for our training. I've already started on a pot of coffee for you both." He said, heading downstairs with Tazuna and Tsunami in tow.
Checking into Fuu's room, Tsunami shook her head. "That girl can sleep through anything."
Exactly five seconds short of his promise/threat, Naruto was out on the front lawn, looking at a watch he brought with him, looking up to see Inari running to stand in front of him, the other children joining them just short of Hurricane Naruto's descent, saving their young, innocent lives. "You know the drill, line up! Today, we'll be focusing on a technique referred to as the leaf exercise. It's one of the most basic chakra techniques taught in the Academy, and it'll help you unlock your chakra. I want each of you to go get a leaf from the trees, come back, and sit down." He demanded, the lot of them making for the trees to do just that, Naruto falling into his explanation of the exercise.
Unknown to anyone, the Naruto before them was in fact, a Shadow Clone.
===Mayuri's Bunker, Lab===
Naruto walked in to see Nemu sweeping the floor, the lieutenant turning to greet him when she heard the door open. "How was your night, Nemu?" He asked.
"It was very nice, I was able to pick up a few books from the village, and a few other supplies," Nemu said.
"That's good to hear." Naruto said, glad she was taking to acting on her own instead of only acting on orders before he made his way over to the central computer to type in a series of keys.
The machine in the middle of the room came to life, rumbling with its many functions going to work, before the door opened, revealing none other than Yoruichi standing there in the smoke. She stepped out and smirked. "I take it you're the new boss?" She asked, yellow eyes alight with a playful mischief.
"That's correct, my name is Naruto Uzumaki, but you can just call me Naruto. I hear you are the person to talk to about hand-to-hand combat." He said as he gave her a quick once over... her picture didn't do her justice. At 5'1" she was only a few inches taller than him, but beautiful, purple hair in a high ponytail to her waist... like a mix of Ino and Anko, that almost made him shudder, she had light brown skin, yellow eyes, black kunoichi sandals, black stretch pants with a beige sash belt, a black under shirt that's probably sleeveless and a short sleeved, orange over shirt with 2 white stripes at the shoulders... he really liked her taste is clothes. Her most prominent feature, literally, was a firm, very ample chest that rivaled any woman in Konoha. He wasn't surprised she wasn't carrying a sword, but she could get one easily.
Yoruichi's smirk got a little bigger, she's seen him give her a once over and that he lingered briefly on her chest. She'd bring that up later to tease him as he seemed to be the fun type who'd let her be herself, even though she knew she had to obey any order he gave her, but now wasn't the time for that, she was obviously her for a job. "That's right, but you should know I only train people who have the determination to stick through it."
"Then I'm the best you will ever get, I never back down from a challenge." Naruto proclaimed.
"Then let's find a training room and get started." Yoruichi said.
x
End Chapter 4