There seems to be huge misunderstanding of what 'Hunter-nin/Oinin' is.
For one, I think they're actually unique to Kirigakure. But well... there's no info if other village have it too so we can't be too sure. But according to wiki which take 'databook' as reference, Hunter Nin is a 'branch' of 'ANBU' whose mission is to capture missing nin, destroyed their body and so on. So even if I put Naruto as Konoha's hunter nin, he still answer 'directly' to Hokage. Why everyone seems to forget all ninja answer to Hokage is beyond me though~ The only division I could think of that's not under Hokage is 12 Guardians of Fire Country, which Asuma used to belong to. And I also wrote that Naruto's paternal grandfather, Muramasa was one before he retired. I will explore more of this back story in this chapter :)
Why I get so many request for Naruto to be a hunter nin is beyond me, but well... I will think about it though skill set wise a seal master would be good in that kind of delicate business next to medic nin.
This chapter is packed with LOADS of action like chapter 7-8, and to be honest I am a type of author who do better in debate/discussion dialogue rather than action. I did my best to depict an epic fight though~
11th Legacy: Resolve of Steel
"A man who trained his men to be emotionless weapons couldn't tell the worth of a Shinobi or jinchuuriki… and I refuse someone like him to grade me!"
Uzumaki Naruto
Koishi no Kuni (Country of Pebbles)
Shisui was furious that ROOT had had them, but he and Itachi would get their revenge soon or they're not Uchiha. The ROOT members who were unlucky enough to get trapped by Naruto's sticky ground seal were on their mercy now.
"Where have you guys taken him?" Shisui hissed as he readied another senbon laced with lightning chakra to be put in another non-vital but no less painful spot in the ROOT member's body.
Their hostages were incapacitated with binding seals and strong genjutsu, Itachi and Shisui didn't want to take chances. It was their luck that the ROOT teams were stuck on the ground when they found them, if any of them broke free they would be outnumbered again.
However that was as far as their luck went, since none of the ROOT members answered. They were all as stiff and silent as a doll, and seemed incapable of betraying their master. Itachi frowned at their lack of response then forced one of them to open their jaws. As expected there was a seal on their tongues that resembled Chinese binary codes. This must be the 'Iwazaru no Fuuin' Danzou stole from the tower. Itachi and Shisui contemplated on stepping up their interrogation to get around the seal, but unfortunately they didn't have time to waste on torturing Danzou's puppets. Considering what kind of life they've had so far, Itachi and Shisui thought a quick and painless death was an act of mercy on the ROOT members. Hopefully in the next reincarnation they would have a better life.
The Uchiha cousins then went in search of their friend, and not even once did they look back at the six burning corpses they left behind.
Those who descended from the Uzumaki clan were blessed with special chakra. Their branch family could use their chakra for various purposes, such as healing, but it pales in comparison to the main family. The main family's special chakra was more potent than normal chakra, which was why in spite of it not being elemental in nature, it could materialize and move at the user's will without a medium. However this special chakra of theirs had its drawbacks. It was so potent that it burned out their chakra coils, making it extremely painful to use for those with undeveloped chakra coils. Which was why even though Uzumaki children of the main family awakened it at eight, they never used it more than for ritual purposes during for their coming of age ceremony, which required a very little amount to show what kind of shape their chakra took.
Most of them didn't even use their special chakra for battle until their coils are fully developed. Usually starting at twelve, an Uzumaki would be able to use their special chakra sparingly. Hakurei had warned him to not use more than three chains at once, since while Kurama's healing could prevent the worst of the damage does not mean he should abuse it when he could avoid it.
Naruto was sure Hakurei would be really angry if he knew what just happened. Not only did he go against Hakurei's warning, he had done so to save two ROOT kids. He was dangling in the air, right in the middle of the ravine with four chains deeply rooted to the cliff face while the other two chains coiled around Sai and his brother. There are only two words to describe his position, oh shit.
When he saw that Sai was waking up he couldn't help but ask: "Hello Sai, how about a temporary truce?" He offered as the boy blinked owlishly at their situation, "As you can see… one of your teammates fucked up and blew us away, so here we are… dangling like idiots. Can you draw something to get us out of here? We can settle our mess later the moment our feet touches the ground."
Sai narrowed his eyes at Naruto, "Why should I help you? Wouldn't it be more beneficial for me to capture you here?"
Naruto snorted, "What makes you think you're have the upper hand now Sai?" He wondered out loud, "Just for your information, my chains are still coiling around your waist and I can kill you if I want." Sai frowned at that, "And I can get myself out of this mess, but the only reason I didn't is because I only have enough strength to pull myself up and I would have had to let you and your brother go."
The painter Shinobi narrowed his eyes as he fished out a scroll out of his pocket and started to draw a hawk. Shin who has just barely regained consciousness yelped when Sai suddenly grabbed his arm. Naruto released them from his hold and withdrew all of his chains except one to pull himself up.
It didn't surprise him at all that the moment he poked his head out of the ravine he had to duck from a barrage of shuriken. Activating his 'Hikou no Fuuin' Naruto jumped twenty feet above the ground, somersaulted and landed lightly on his feet. His eyes narrowed at the three squads of ROOT, and unlike those who attacked before they were as young as Sai. There are no adult in this group, the oldest was probably just thirteen to fifteen.
Something was wrong, Danzou had used children before but it didn't make sense to send them to go after him. Even if they were weaker than the adults it doesn't make it any easier for them just because he was alone. Naruto activated his 'Hikou no fuuin' again and fled to the deep forest, or rather to the sky above the canopy.
He would have used Kage Bunshin but he needed Shisui who was a sensor to track him down with his chakra to find him. This was a battle to survive, whatever Danzou wanted from him, that cripple old crone wouldn't get it!
"Shit!" Naruto cursed when he saw a barrage of kunai with exploding tags headed for his direction. He used Kawarimi to replace himself with a log, barely escaping with his life. "It seems that they're after my life." Naruto concluded from how lethal their attacks had been so far, but why would they want him dead? His death would be Konoha's downfall, or at least a trigger to it like what happened to Kusagakure.
Then again thinking of the political agenda of that old cripple could wait until he got out of this mess.
He gritted his teeth when his kunai clashed with a tanto, while he knew he had superior strength, even he could be pushed back like now when another ninja joined in. Naruto glared at the two as he was stuck blocking their swords with the kunai on both his hands. He could feel his left hand start to waver, he really had to get his left hand to be on equal strength with his right, he thought grimly before he activated 'flight mode' and slipped away from their grasp like water.
Naruto formed three seals in rapid movement, Tiger-Snake-Ram! "Fūton: Kami Oroshi - Wind Release: Divine Wind Current." Naruto whispered as a vortex of wind was created from his palm, blasting everything on its path including the two young ROOT. While he only had completed second stage of wind manipulation, contrary to what people believe, you didn't have to complete elemental chakra the training to use elemental techniques. Doing so just helps you if you plan on creating original techniques and increases the chakra efficiency of jutsu. Or in the case of the wind element, it allows shaping the wind chakra to its most lethal shape. Naruto has not perfected that stage yet but fortunately for him, he had enough chakra to make it up with sheer chakra overload.
Naruto swallowed when he saw them slam against nearby trees, crashing down to the ground in a painful heap. Naruto was sure he at least broke a couple of important bones of theirs judging from the sickening cracks he heard. He would have finished them off to relieve them of their suffering but unfortunately he could not afford that charity in an active battlefield, not when there were nine other ROOT members after his life.
As he kept dodging their assault and returned it in kind, he noticed something was wrong. They stopped trying to use lethal attacks and were actually trying to herd him to one particular direction. Naruto really didn't want to be herded like a sheep but the moment he noticed it, he felt a ripple of chakra caressing his skin and cursed out loud.
A barrier, they set up a fucking damned barrier! One that was no doubt strong enough to jam chakra signals, even a jinchuuriki's chakra.
Naruto spun around, ready to run out to the barrier's boundary. He had to destroy the barrier, continuing the fight inside would put him in a disadvantage. His eyes widened when he saw another barrage of kunai was thrown in his direction, and they had exploding tags on it. He activated his Hikou no Fuuin in reflex because with his normal speed alone he won't get away in time, however in a moment of panic Naruto misjudged the power he put on his seal and the blast the exploding tags released, he was blown away high to the air before crashing through a row of trees.
Shisui who had been running alongside him suddenly came to an abrupt halt and Itachi stopped a few feet ahead of him. After cremating the ROOT members, Shisui decided to track down Naruto's chakra which supposed to be pretty easy considering that Naruto didn't try to hide it. He was like a chakra beacon to a sensor Shinobi like Shisui. They had been running like mad when Shisui sensed from Naruto's chakra spike that he had been attacked.
"I lost him." Shisui whispered, Itachi blanching as the worst scenario played on his mind. "No… he is not dead." He assured Itachi, "Something is interrupting his chakra from sending out signals for me to track… "
"A barrier?" Itachi guessed.
Shisui nodded, "Most likely… one that is strong enough to mask Naruto's chakra." He scowled, "How the hell are we going to track him down now?"
Itachi gritted his teeth then glanced at the sword on his back, Tenrou, the heavenly wolf. "Do you remember what Naruto told us about Muramasa's Shiseiten?"
"About how they called out to each other?" Shisui muttered as he too, glanced at his Shibien. "But… Naruto's Shiseiten, Hokuto Shichisei (North Dipper Seven Stars)..."
"… is more problematic than it's worth." Itachi finished grimly.
Flashback
"Demon incarnate?" Naruto chuckled softly when Shisui told him that the old smith he was a frequent customer of was a fanboy of Naruto's grandfather. And then Shisui told him that according to Munechika, Muramasa was a great and saintly man but his swords were demon incarnates.
Itachi crossed his arms, wondering what amused Naruto. "I assume that's because his swords have been used to kill so many people?"
Naruto shrugged, "Every weapon in this world was born to be soaked with blood... one couldn't be called demonic for what it does to its kill." Naruto murmured, "My grandfather's Shiseiten however... are unique, it's one of few sentient weapons that exist in the Shinobi world, even among the seven swords of Kiri only the one called Samehada is sentient."
"But your grandfather managed to produce four sentient swords, a feat that is considered legendary to a blacksmith." Itachi drawled.
"Well... in a sense the Shiseiten have their own will, but that's just one part that got them called demonic swords..." Naruto sighed wearily, "When used... they'll guide you to a degree, trying to communicate with their owner... teaching you how to use them." Itachi and Shisui nodded at that, they had realized there was some sort of magnetic force that guides them to swing their swords in particular ways. "It doesn't sound so bad at first... but apparently those with weak wills would be consumed by their sword's stronger will and go ballistic for blood and power."
Shisui gulped at that, "That's... isn't that so similar with the relationship between a jinchuuriki and their bijuu?" Though in Naruto's case it was not that way.
Naruto nodded grimly at that, "Yes, but I am not worried for you and Itachi." He stated confidently, "You both have strong wills... and from what I have seen your swords approve of your resolve so it's unlikely they would try to dominate your will."
"... Naruto-kun." Itachi called, "If I may ask." Naruto nodded, "Who are the previous owners of these swords? And have any of them fallen to its power?"
Naruto clenched his fist. "Yes." He confirmed, "It's because... when my grandfather tempered the Shiseiten, he was only told by the Hi no Daimyou to create the strongest swords as a gift to his fellow Fire Guardians..." He shook his head, "At that time, according to Hakurei, the only thing on Muramasa-ojiisan's mind was forging the strongest weapons for the loyal guardians of our country... he was just newly promoted as Fire Guardian back then and hailed as the most talented blacksmith in his generation, he had no idea what kind of person would wield his swords..."
Namikaze Muramasa was the youngest guardian promoted by the Daimyou, he was eighteen when he was recruited. According to Hakurei, in spite of his talent and power as both a shinobi and blacksmith, he was naive when he was younger. He was a kind and gentle man, and personality wise, Muramasa wasn't fit for either profession but he had an iron heart when it comes to his duty. But even an iron heart was not infallible...
"What happened?" Shisui asked worriedly.
The jinchuuriki swallowed, "For the first few years nothing wrong happened, or rather something wrong already did but no one noticed... eventually one of the wielders became a traitor." He gritted out, "His sword was furious of the treachery... and in its rage turned its wielder to a mindless killer and slaughtered his benefactors for the coup."
Shisui blinked at that, "Well... that's not so bad?"
"To Hi no Kuni, yes." Naruto agreed solemnly, "But witnessing the traitor losing himself and being punished by his own sword made the other wielders fear theirs and they shunned Muramasa-ojiisan for it. The daimyou was livid that his guardians didn't trust themselves or their loyalties enough to wield the swords and stripped the three guardians who threw away their ownership of the Shiseiten of their positions... the previous daimyou himself was wary of the Shiseiten since their not just weapons but sentient ones at that... even so, he made a mistake and gave one of the Shiseiten to his first son, hoping to mend their strained relationship because he preferred his second son who was more talented and wise."
Itachi frowned, "It didn't... the sword killed his first son." Itachi guessed.
Naruto nodded, "Maybe that was the Daimyou's true intention, testing his son's loyalty..." He sighed wearily, "Muramasa-ojiisan was devastated that his sword was used by the Daimyou to kill his own son, so he requested to retire from his position and begged the Daimyou to let him bring the Shiseiten back to Konoha with him."
"Woah..." Shisui gasped, "That's a pretty big request! Why did the daimyou gtve in and let Muramasa and his Shiseiten go?"
"The previous Daimyou was fond of Muramasa-ojiisan and after everything, he didn't have the heart to force him to stay. However... he had one last request." Naruto waved his forefinger. "He requested Muramasa-ojiisan to leave one of the Shiseiten with him, a spear called Hokuraku Shimon... the shiseiten that took his son's life."
"...Wow." Shisui mouthed, "I don't know if the previous Daimyou was being stupid or awesome, no normal person would want the spear that killed their son to be anywhere near them."
Naruto shrugged, "That's why we have three Shiseiten in the Tower, Hokuraku Shimon is with the Daimyou's family... it became their family heirloom. Ojiisan was desperate to get away from the Daimyou's court as he couldn't bear to see betrayed looks on his comrade's faces, that they thought... he created Shiseiten with the purpose of testing their loyalty in mind, putting a leash on them...while in reality what the Shiseiten did to their traitorous wielders was on their own accord as swords that were forged for the loyal guardians of this country."
"I see..." Itachi murmured then glanced at the sword Naruto had on his table. " So this is the last Shiseiten in the Tower's possession... "
Naruto nodded grimly, "Two of the Shiseiten took a liking to certain families... Hokuraku Shimon stayed with the Daimyou partly because it loved their blood, while this one... my Hokuto Shichisei." Naruto gestured to sword with golden handle before him, unlike Shibien and Tenrou that had skin wrap as its handle. The sword was also as long as Shibien, and it was a two edged sword with a very prominent blue sheen on its blade that was a signature of his grandfather's swords. "It took a liking to its creator's line..."
"Is that why you hesitate to use it?" Itachi asked.
Naruto nodded, "While I have confidence in my will... the moment I give this sword my blood I have to... steel my resolve too..."
Itachi's eyes widened at that, "Because you're of Muramasa's blood?"
Naruto smiled at that, "I am his heir after all... that's why…" Naruto wrapped the sword with bandage that had seals written all over it. "…Until I am ready, Hokuto will have to stay asleep for a while."
The blond seal master groaned as he surveyed the line of trees he crashed against, thankfully he managed to reinforce his body with chakra in the last minute so he had not broken his back upon crashing but it was still painful. "Damn... how far did I get blasted from the barrier's border?"
'At least around fifty meters.' Kurama who had been too quiet for a while helpfully informed him, 'How the hell did you manage to get yourself in this kind of mess? AGAIN?!' The last part was said with exasperated tone.
Why is this third jinchuuriki of his always getting himself in trouble?! Heck! Mito, who was the wife of a kage had a relatively peaceful life. Even Kushina only got kidnapped once, and the daily problems she had were minor in comparison to her son. Naruto was already put into this kind of situation twice, and don't forget about the little problems he got himself into in a daily basis, which ranged from burning forests, explosions in his workshop, cooking attempts that come alive and his not so innocent and probably lethal little garden in the rooftop. The latter was undoubtedly the most dangerous and in the off chance that Naruto gets it in his pretty little head to pull a Hashirama and make second coming of the Shi no Mori (Forest of Death), he was sure not even a bijuu would venture there. How Naruto possesses a green thumb that could 'somewhat' rival the Mokuton was beyond him, but he had a feeling it had something to do with Naruto's chakra and seals he uses when watering his plants.
'I healed your chakra coils, good job stalling time for me to do it.' Kurama grunted. 'What did that old man Hakurei say about using your special chakra again? Don't depend on it until you're twelve! Our combined healing ability is not going to work forever for internal damage as delicate as chakra coils!'
'Not my idea, I had no choice! Once I get out of this mess, I am going to recreate Hiraishin or something since getting stuck in the middle of nowhere with hostile company seems to be a trend for me.' Naruto said mentally to his tenant in sardonic tone.
Naruto crossed his hands as he blocked a jump kick from his left, grunting as he was pushed away. The blond jinchuuriki gritted his teeth as he saw three ROOT members surrounded him, they were wearing snake (Hebi), Lizard (Tokage), and Bat (Koumori) masks, all of them then took an offensive stance. They wanted to confront him directly, there's no escaping this it seemed. Naruto parried a blow from right as he ducked and slammed his elbow into Hebi's stomach. His second attacker gagged as the air was squeezed out from his lungs. Naruto somersaulted over his head to dodge Koumori's kick, and then he threw a kunai that was enshrouded in red chakra.
The said kunai embedded to the snake masked ROOT. "Aaaaargh!" The snake masked ANBU's scream of pain echoed as he writhed in agony.
The other two were dumbfounded, why did their teammate scream over a small wound by Kunai? While the wound was deep, a trained ninja wouldn't let out such scream. Their eyes widened beneath their masks when they saw the kunai oozed red demonic chakra, and the wound darkened as their wounded teammate writhed in agony.
Kurama's demonic chakra was even more potent than the strongest poisons of Suna's puppeteers, the wounded man won't die right away but the pain the demonic chakra caused when they invaded a non-jinchuuriki or anyone who was not descended from the Rikudo Sennin was immense. He didn't like to inflict unnecessary pain to subdue his enemies but he wanted them to know that even though they had the upper hand in direct confrontation he was not harmless.
It was a warning, for them to stay away from him.
A warning which was ignored when the remaining two charged at him. Naruto knew then that it was not going to be easy to deter them. Naruto hastily activated his Hikou no fuuin and dodged the incoming right hook with light movements. He purposely let himself fall to the ground before he stopped his fall with his right hand and then swung his right leg in a sweeping movement that planted a painful kick to Koumori's shin. It didn't faze his attacker for long as the man pounced to pin him down. Naruto threw three Kunai which were easily dodged as the man shifted to the right and proceeded to pound him to the ground. Much to the ROOT member's shock Naruto dissolved into chakra smoke, and another puff of chakra erupted behind him and the next thing he knew a kunai was embedded to the back of his head that killed him instantly.
Naruto grimaced as he withdrew the bloodied kunai but kept his gaze to the remaining ROOT member who wore the lizard (Tokage) mask. If another Shinobi decided to join the fray he would be in big trouble, the reason he could handle the other two was because he caught them by surprise and he was not sure he could pull it for a third time. He glanced at the storage seal on his bandaged left hand, before he shook his head mentally at the prospect. He was not ready, not yet.
He expected the last surviving member of the team to attack but much to his surprise, Tokage jumped away from the clearing and fled. Naruto cursed as he threw a kunai with an explosive tag to the retreating Shinobi. When the smoke cleared and no body was found. This was bad; the next time they came back they would be more prepared for him. He had to find the barrier wall as soon as possible.
He gathered chakra to his nose, wincing when he smelt something strong that numbed his sense of smell. It seemed they knew how some jinchuuriki developed a keen sense of smell and removed that asset from his repertoire. "The sky..." He murmured, "Since when it become milky white?" Just now it was still blue with some dark clouds. "Ki..." He hissed, "Kirigakure no Jutsu?" Now they took his sight too? What the hell they were planning?
He heard something, a familiar sound and felt the vibration in the air, one that he associated with lightning chakra Shisui and Aizen used. His eyes widened as he realized what they were trying to pull. He jumped as his flight seals glowed, floating him twenty feet in the air just right above the cloak of mist. He winced when he saw electric current started to crawl through the air with high water vapor on it, though he realized that to pull this off whoever executed the Kirigakure no Jutsu had to have superb control over this technique or they would be killed by the lightning element attack. He couldn't stay afloat forever though so he had to get rid of this mist first.
Naruto was now really regretting not finishing his wind element training, but he had to make do with the crude proficiency he had. His nimble fingers formed six hand seals quickly before he descended back to that dangerous mist, Ox-Dragon-Horse-Dog-Bird! Naruto spread his arm then spun in a movement that resembled the Hyuuga's Kaiten as a massive ring of wind spread out from his hands. "Futon: Shougekiha no Jutsu- Wind release: Shock Wave."
The mist was swept clean by the Shock Wave of wind, and he managed to land safely to the ground with a soft thud. His eyes narrowed as he started to feed Kurama's chakra to his Hikou no Fuuin. Kurama's chakra was potent, and his young body could only handle a miniscule amount of it but he was running out of normal chakra and it would take a while for him to recover. Fortunately Kurama's chakra somehow managed to be compatible to his Hikou no Fuuin, unlike other body enhancing seals that explode upon contact with demonic chakra. It was probably because it was engraved upon his body and used was often enough, that it became like a part of his body. But just to be safe Naruto limited his time limit of feeding Kurama's chakra to thirty seconds and after that he had to wait for one full minute before doing it again.
But those thirty seconds would be enough to complete this one task. There were four lightning element users, all of them were around thirty to forty meters away from him, at two, four, seven and eleven o'clock.
In one short second four kage bunshin appeared under the cloak of chakra smoke and split to four directions. The original Naruto who was left in the clearing panted as tried to regain his lost breath, mentally counting on his head as he held a ram seal. Lowering the air pressure around his clones would allow them to move with unbelievable speed but they won't last long, kage bunshin in spite of their solidity was still a mass of chakra that could disperse easily. The lower the air pressure meant less oxygen, and while a normal human would have suffocated, and clone could only last as long as they could hold their breath.
"Three… two… one." Naruto counted down with a sense of trepidation of what he was going to do next. "Bunshin Daibakuha no Jutsu." He gritted out.
Four simultaneous explosions happened in four different directions, and Naruto gagged as the memory of four exploding clones returned to him. This time he was sure his attackers were dead, because before his clones exploded they had pounced on their targets. The numbing smell had gone because of his wind element attack and he could smell properly again. Naruto soon regretted the return of his keen sense of smell because the moment he sniffed the air, his nostrils were invaded by the scents of smoke, fire and the worst of all, the scent of burning flesh. His attackers were indeed dead, there's no way they were faking that scent.
'Oh no, you don't!' Kurama snapped, the bijuu's roar echoing in his mind. 'Don't pass out here; we're not out of danger yet! Don't you dare!'
Naruto gritted his teeth as he struggled to stay conscious, but chakra exhaustion was something that not even an Uzumaki was immune to. He had to draw more chakra from Kurama to sustain his body, but that was not going to help for long. His young body was already too tired. "Ugh…" His blue eyes turned crimson and his whisker marks became darker. He fell down to the ground, just in time to dodge an ink animal that came out of nowhere, but the animated ink was able to shred his left sleeve. "Sai…" He mouthed out with a grimace marred on his face; he almost forgot that boy was still around.
He clutched his left hand; it was just a scratch that fortunately would soon be healed. Naruto cursed as he heard a roar, which no doubt belonged to Sai's ink animal. He also picked up the scents of remaining ROOT members, they were trying to surround him. He fled deeper to the forest as fast as he could, dodging the traps they had laid for him. He didn't know how many ROOT Shinobi were left after he killed six of them with his exploding clones, but there was probably more than one three-man cell not counting Sai and his brother.
In spite of his position Naruto couldn't stop a nagging feeling that something was really wrong on the back of his mind. He knew something was wrong the moment he started fighting with Sai and his brother, and when he fought inside this barrier. 'I concur…'
'What's wrong actually?'
'Meh… who knows how you humans manage your messes, though I got to say it's weird having only kids popping up since you got trapped inside the barrier.'
Naruto's eyes widened at that, Kurama was right! He was fighting for his life so he didn't really pay that much attention to their age, but these ROOT members were so young… the oldest he encountered so far was that brother of Sai who couldn't have been older than Itachi. That explained how they were much weaker than the ROOT teams he encountered before. These teams are not the same as ones he met before he was separated from Itachi and Shisui. They were trainees of ROOT, which explained why he could catch them off guard with exploding clones while the other team survived.
'When I fought with Sai I just thought he shouldn't be out of Konoha yet… not to fight me, Danzou should have keep his trainees out from sensitive missions such as abducting or assassinating a jinchuuriki like me.'
Kurama frowned as he heard what ran through Naruto's mind now, 'Great, so… the bastard sent his child soldiers after you instead of adult ones. I don't care why he did it, but I'm warning you! Don't you dare to hesitate! They tried to kill you! If there's one concept I understood about human's fighting, it was the 'I kill you before you kill me' concept!' Naruto winced at that as he dodged another swinging log. "I won't save your ass for being stupid, you hear me! Uzumaki Naruto?!'
Naruto swallowed, he knew it was inevitable to kill as a Shinobi, he already killed but it was still not an easy thing to do and it shouldn't be. He didn't know how Shisui dealt with killing but he and Itachi had the same belief when it comes to taking life. It was never a right thing to do but something you have to do and accept as part of a Shinobi's life. He and Itachi believed the moment you found it easy and thought of it as something right, was the moment you lost your compassion as human. Shinobi were beings that endure and make difficult choices in their life after all.
He always appeared to be prepared for anything thrown to his life, but his paranoia and pragmatic actions were because he was afraid of being wrong when he decides on his course of action based on his own feelings. There was always someone's feelings taken into account for every action he took, Itachi's, Shisui's, Tori's… his parents'… but never his own.
He closed his eyes. Then as he opened his eyes it was no longer crimson but azure blue he inherited from his Namikaze blood. Naruto jumped out of the lush forest, the seal he had on his bandaged wrist shone as he smeared his blood on it, and a sword appeared with small puff of chakra smoke. The sword fell to his waiting hands, and unsheathed it the moment his feet touched water's surface and ripples of water spread out.
Naruto narrowed his eyes as six figures appeared before him, and on the sky Sai and his brother were preparing an aerial attack. It seemed Danzou had indeed sent a whole class of ROOT trainees after him.
"Before you start attacking me…" He began in the calmest voice he could muster, "I would like you to know that… I am no longer going to run or hide from you." He stated firmly as he raised his sword, the bluish sheen of the blade gleaming under the sunset. "However… would you enlighten me as to why your master ordered you to kill me?" He asked with a frown. "My death won't serve Konoha's greater good, and Hokage-sama won't let him get away with this…"
One of them stepped forward and Naruto recognized the lizard mask, the survivor of the team that confronted him directly. "We're ordered to test your capability jinchuuriki, to confirm your worth as Konoha's weapon."
They answered, which meant Danzou wanted him to know the purpose of this assault. No matter how important a jinchuuriki is to Konoha, Naruto didn't expect Danzou to be willing to sacrifice so many trainees to achieve that purpose. "And you're willing to die for that? I have killed… at least seven of you by now, does their death prove nothing?" He asked in incredulous tone.
"It's not for us to determine." Tokage answered in clipped tone.
"Then how..." Naruto stopped in his tracks, his eyes widened in realization. It was not them who is to determine his worth for Danzo, because they would die serving that purpose. It was someone else who was going to do that. They were being watched! Damn! "You idiots! No one needs to die just because your damned master wants to know whether or not I am a worthy jinchuuriki to Konoha! What does he know about jinchuuriki anyway?! A man who trained his subordinates to be emotionless warriors couldn't tell the worth of a Shinobi or jinchuuriki… and I refuse someone like him to grade me!"
Tokage as expected for a ROOT member, especially one who was probably the oldest of the trainees Naruto had met so far was undeterred by his exclamation. "So you're an idealist Uzumaki-san? Why would a weapon like you bother to keep your emotions? It makes you imperfect… we Shinobi have to sacrifice oneself. Closing your eyes to the sunlight, distinguishing yourself in the shadows. That is the true form of ninja…" He quoted his master.
Naruto narrowed his eyes at that, "And that's why it matters not to you… that your comrades died for something mundane like determining my worth?" He asked in incredulous tone. "While it's true Shinobi have to give their everything to the village, it's foolish to turn your eyes to the darkness and live in shadow forever… those who don't acknowledge their humanity are nothing but hollow shells that would destroy themselves and achieve nothing!" Just like that man who called himself his teacher, a pathetic man who discarded his humanity for sole reason of avenging his fallen clan.
He wished he could have seen what kind of face these trainees made under their masks, to see if there's still hope left in their eyes. "Nevertheless… this is what we're set to do, this is our mission."
"I see… " Naruto narrowed his eyes, "Then let us fight, but I will let you know one thing." He warned them before he popped up a soldier pill to his mouth. Soldier pills were not safe for children under twelve years old with undeveloped chakra coils, but he would deal with the side effects later. "I choose to fight for what I believe in, something you should have done yourselves… that's what a true Shinobi is to me."
Itachi and Shisui gasped when they felt Tenrou and Shibien on their backs suddenly shook, pulsing as if warning them of something. "Well..." Shisui trailed off, "The good news is that our swords are calling for Naruto's now, but the bad news..." He snarled at the last part.
"He is cornered..." Itachi gritted his teeth in anger and horror, "Enough to force him to use Hokuto." He finished as he leaped to nearby tree followed closely by Shisui.
Shisui cursed out loud, "Damn… damn them! The moment I get my hands on them, I will use my cruelest genjutsu on them." He vowed viciously, "Emotionless cronies be damned!"
Itachi narrowed his eyes, "My thoughts exactly… and with that said…" He trailed as he formed nine hand seal so quickly that he blurred through them in a second, "Katon:Goukakyu no Jutsu- Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"
The giant fireball burned through the lush forest, leaving trail of fire in its wake. None of the Uchiha missed the four black blurs that dodged the grand fireball so they threw their fire seal powered shuriken rapidly. Four disks of fire tore down the trees and the fleeing Shinobi scrambled to dodge the incoming projectiles. But because Itachi and Shisui decimated the surrounding forest with their fire attack, there's no place to hide.
Itachi narrowed his eyes at one of the masked Shinobi; he recognized that platinum blond hair anywhere. Shisui seemed to conclude the same, this ROOT member was a Yamanaka. All distinctive clans, especially those with bloodline or hereditary techniques would have nearly identical chakra signatures. Shisui was not as good as the Nidaime who could tell someone's clan just from their chakra, but he had been a teammate of a Yamanaka for few years so Shisui was quite familiar with a Yamanaka's chakra. Itachi moved his gaze to the black haired one beside the Yamanaka, his sharingan spotting tiny dots of chakra on the masked shinobi's body. This one was an Aburame.
"A Yamanaka…" Itachi announced coolly, "And an Aburame…" He didn't put it past Danzou to be able to worm his way to respectable clans like the Aburame and Yamanaka.
Shisui scowled at them, "How dare you show your faces to us! Not that I am complaining!" He cracked his knuckles, "As promised… you will be in a world of pain, and I will make it less painless if you get out of our way!"
"Shisui." Itachi warned, he was as furious as Shisui was but they couldn't afford to be reckless. Shisui fumed before he schooled his face back and calmed down. "As much as I would love to ask no more than you to get out of our way… I can't ignore the fact that your master sent a 'Yamanaka' to confront us… damage control just in case perhaps?"
Shisui quickly caught on what Itachi implied. That bastard war hawk intended to screw with them and got a Yamanaka to mess with their minds? It was one thing to do it to enemies and traitors, but to comrades? "You dare?! That does it!" He unsheathed the Shibien and his sword was instantly coated by lightning chakra. "Itachi, it seems they're not going to move anytime soon so I am going to make them."
Itachi narrowed his eyes, "So it seems…" He too unsheathed his blade but it was enshrouded in flame. "Make sure to incapacitate the Yamanaka first." He whispered, loud enough only for Shisui to hear, "We won't like whatever plan they have with an expert of mind techniques…"
The shushin expert grinned at that, "Of course Itachi!" He saluted before he swung Shibien down to a seemingly empty air, "Hono Ikazura (fiery thunder)!"
A torrent of lightning chakra jumped from Shibien and struck down the ground where the Yamanaka stood just a moment before. Itachi cut off their escape route, blazing fire bloomed out of the top of his sword and engulfed the four Shinobi. "Shakuran Entei- (Fire Emperor's Blooming Orchid)!"
Itachi and Shisui frowned when they saw the four bodies dispersed as a burning swarm of kikaichuu, the Aburama was a sneaky fellow.
Out of the four of Muramasa's heavenly blades, Shibien was the oldest, followed by its brother Tenrou then Hokuraku Shimon, and the Hokuto Shichisei he held was the youngest of them all. While all his grandfather's swords were temperamental to an extent, Hokuto being the youngest was not just the temperamental but also arrogant and stubborn which was why it stuck close to those who inherited Muramasa's blood. Hokuto, like any other Shiseiten desired wielders with a strong resolve, with strength in both mind and body. They valued only the genuine power of its wielder, thus using chakra that's not his own when using Hokuto was out of the option.
You could be their wielder, but apparently lowering their standards was not in the contract. Naruto had heard enough gory stories of wielders of the Shiseiten that fell victim to their swords, and the moment Naruto was chosen by Hokuto Shichisei, Naruto knew this sword won't hesitate to reject him the moment he was deemed unworthy, blood relation with its forger be damned. Naruto wasn't going to lie that the reason he never used Hokuto in a real battle or spar was because he was afraid his grandfather's legacy would reject his resolve.
But now that fear was so far away… there's nothing to fear as long as he believed in what he lives for, that was his nindo.
In terms of length Hokuto had a longer reach than ROOT's tanto and combined with its sharper blade, based on weaponry alone he had the better edge. His chokuto clashed with the tanto of his attacker, the one with mask of a bat but with different color than one he saw before. The second Koumori ROOT member was definitely younger than the first one and much weaker. He pushed on and cracks started to appear on Koumori's tanto. Which was no wonder since clash between blades are determined by sharpness. "Why don't you stop now?" Naruto urged on, pushing more chakra to his right hand. "This is a senseless battle, dying here wouldn't serve the greater good you worshipped so much!" Naruto shouted as he shattered Koumori's tanto beyond repair.
"Naive." Tokage whispered as he swung his tanto to Naruto's unprotected left waist, "You have a bad habit of leaving your left side open when you enhance your right hand with chakra." He warned the jinchuuriki. Tokage paused as a sharp pain came from his right shoulder.
"The naïve one is you..." Naruto returned, "Who discarded your emotions and strife to follow orders without your own judgment. " Naruto stated sternly, "Raising my left hand was not a bad habit, but because I am used to…" He trailed off as he pulled the blade that was embedded on Tokage's shoulder, earning a small grunt of pain. "…wielding two swords." Naruto said as he held two nearly identical swords, one shorter by one shaku than the other.
Hokuto Shichisei was an asterism that was formed by seven stars and divided to two groups, four stars are called Tokai and the other three are called Tohyo. The longer sword he held on his right was Tokai while the shorter one was Tohyo, this was the true form of Hokuto Shichisei.
Naruto pushed chakra to his feet which made the water surface explode due to chakra overload, which caused the jinchuuriki to narrowly dodge Tokage's tanto from cutting his leg. It seemed they figured out the existence of Hikou no Fuuin and wanted to damage the seal. Naruto swung Tokai down to the defenseless Tokage, but instead of aiming for a vital spot Naruto shattered his mask. The other ROOT members charged with their tanto drawn, Naruto ducked then in a split second gritted his teeth around Tokai's handle and formed half seal with his right hand. Three kage bunshin appeared in a small puff of chakra smoke, and Naruto could feel the familiar burn in chakra coils and distantly hear Kurama throwing tantrums about brats ignoring the dangers of going past their own limits. Great, Kurama was pissed.
Nah… he would deal with Kurama's tantrums later, it's not…
BOOM!
A loud explosion echoed through the air, but it was pretty far away. Naruto used the split second of their distraction to put a distance between him and the ROOT teams. Naruto caught the sight of smoke rising in two o'clock, it seemed Itachi and Shisui had a helluva time sating their inner pyromaniac. Though in Shisui's case, he was blatantly a pyromaniac who used both fire and lightning whenever he could. Hakurei looked ready to faint when informed that Shibien and Tenrou respectively had grown to be compatible to lightning and fire element chakra. It seemed the old seal master had a bad experience with the Uchiha and their pyromaniac tendencies.
Tokage looked unfazed by the smoke that was no doubt a sign that his comrades were in trouble by now, Naruto could see his face. Tokage was the same age as Shisui, with brown hair and eyes in the same color. Naruto didn't care how Tokage looked, but he had seen those kind of eyes before. He had seen it in Tori's, though it was slightly different. Those were the eyes of someone who accepted death. While in Tori's eyes it was laced with kindness, gratitude and regret for not being able to keep protecting him, in Tokage's it was a plain acceptance that he had to die.
As if death had to come to him just because the mission dictated so.
His Kage Bunshin charged to engage the other ROOT members while he chose Tokage as his target. He formed the offensive stance of his kenjutsu, and then he charged.
"Tonro: Ravenous wolf !"
There are seven blind spots in a human beings movement, and in this style the sword guided the wielder connecting these spots in a series of attacks that could cripple and then kill their opponent. Naruto scowled, if they valued their life so cheaply he would show them it was not that easy to welcome death!
"Komon: Giant gate!"
Naruto murmured as he stepped back, his hands spread out as he swung both swords in wide movement, sending wave of wind that hit all of them at once.
Naruto was well aware he was forcing his body to its limits to keep going, but he couldn't and wouldn't hesitate.
"Rokuson: Jovial life,
Mongoku: Zenith of Euphoria,
Rencho: Clarity,
Mugoku: Knight's song."
Naruto gritted his teeth as he forced his hands to form the last star of Hokuto Shichisei, crossing his arms above his head sending a wave of chakra above them which rained down, injuring the whole squad of Shinobi at once.
"Hagun: warriors of destruction."
Hokuto Shichirenjuku- Asterism of the Seven Northern Stars.
Ignoring Kurama's protests about how screwed his body is right now, Naruto narrowly dodged Sai's ink lion while spraying the incoming ink beast with water in one swift swing of his sword. Sai narrowed his eyes at that, no wonder Naruto led them all the way to the nearest water source. Uzumaki Naruto had figured out that his ink animals were especially weak against water and unusable in rainy weather. Naruto seemed to have affinity for water like any other Uzumaki but it seemed that while he was aware of it, the jinchuuriki had nonexistent training for it. Which was why he opted to push chakra into the existing water to destroy Sai's ink animal. Then again at that age to master one element was quite a feat already.
Shin clenched his fist as he watched their fellow ROOT members fell one by one, it seemed that they were still alive but the last attack was vicious. Naruto from his observation used heavy, lightning-quick blows, which aimed to inflict immense damage upon contact, he was sure had the blond been in prime condition they would have been killed already.
"Sai…" Shin whispered, "Isn't this enough? Uzumaki Naruto is strong… stronger than any of us." He said firmly, "We should pull back now, there's…"
Sai shook his head, "Danzou-sama ordered them to fight and die to test Uzumaki's capacity, and we're ordered to observe nii-san… " Sai murmured, "We… can't disobey."
Shin heard Sai's normal stoic voice had a tint of doubt in it, Sai seemed to have second thoughts in letting their comrades die in the hands of Uzumaki Naruto as Danzou-sama ordered. "But…"
The painter shinobi narrowed his eyes as he finished a series of characters that took the form of birds and flew away. Sai had sent the result of their observations of Uzumaki Naruto and they would… "We can't disobey… let's join the fight now." And die as ROOT Shinobi who supported Konoha from the underground.
"Raijin Moraien-Lightning web!" Shisui whispered as web of lightning chakra spread out and caught the wayward ROOT members. It had been a long cat and mouse game, and they had decimated a good part of the forest with fire and lightning in the process.
Itachi craned his neck as he observed Shisui's handy work, it took quite a while to round them up and if not for their swords they would have been at a disadvantage. Fortunately the ROOT squad had no intentions of confronting them directly, which meant that this squad was the 'clean up' crew who was supposed to deal with the aftermath of whatever ploy Danzou cooked up. It was by sheer luck they happened to come across this team, and managed to overpower them. He had known Shiseiten was capable of throwing a lot of destruction, but he didn't expect they could use it like this to such effect. Still...
Badump!
Had he been someone else he would have felt wary to hold a sword that beats like a heart, an abomination in a sense. Of course that was a normal human's preconception, to be frightened by a weapon that had a will of its own and not mindless to be swung around. When he placed Tenrou near the Yamanaka's neck, Itachi could see even the stoic ROOT shinobi was wary when feeling not cold metal but something sentient and emitting killer intent more powerful than its wielder's. Itachi could almost see that instead of a metal blade, what rested against the Yamanaka's neck was a jaw of hungry wolf. The blond had the same opinion it seemed, judging from how he looked at Tenrou instead of Itachi who was holding it.
"Itachi." Shisui called out, holding a mask he had taken from one of ROOT members "Aside from that Yamanaka and one Aburame, the others are not from any clan I know of in Konoha." He shouted at the Uchiha's heir, "What should we do to them? We can kill the rest but regardless of their affiliation with ROOT the Yamanaka and Aburame... they're still part of Konoha's prominent clans..."
The ANBU frowned at that. Shisui was right, killing the Yamanaka and Aburame could get them and Uchiha clan in a lot of trouble. Danzou might use it against them later, while they had more pressing concerns now, to act rashly was not an option. "We have no time to waste with them... but it seems this Yamanaka is the brains of this mission." And he didn't like the implication of what a Yamanaka is doing in a presumably assassination/abduction mission.
Danzou either wanted to wipe their memories clean or brainwash them, and he probably planned to overwhelm them with numbers before doing so. However Danzou failed to factor in the Shiseiten's prowess, Naruto's seals and how they were used to being outnumbered by Naruto's clones. One would eventually learn how to fight efficiently when someone who had superior chakra capacity and stamina fought and outnumbered you in daily basis.
Itachi narrowed his eyes, "Well... we've incapacitated them, and we can't afford Danzou to discredit us, our clan or the tower..."
Shisui snorted, "I can imagine it already." The Uchiha's history with betrayal was still strong in the mind of old folks like Danzou, never mind his father had been loyal till the end. Unfortunately there were no non-Uchiha witnesses that could attest to their innocence, and Danzou could skillfully weave this incident to his liking. Too bad for Danzou, Naruto had a well deserved paranoia when it comes to him. Shisui turned to one of non-clan ROOT members, pointing at the dark haired man. "You will do." He grinned. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu." He whispered as a replica of him appeared. "Itachi, let's go! My kage-bunshin will mess around with them for a bit and we'll be scot free!"
Itachi sighed at that, "Very well."
CLANK!
Sai winced when his tanto clashed with the jinchuuriki's blade, his arms throbbed painfully because of vibrations from the clashing metals. As expected from a descendant of the Uzumaki clan, with brute strength alone each attack he intercepted felt like hitting the strongest iron from Tetsu no Kuni. No wonder his fellow ROOT trainees didn't dare to clash their weapons with the Uzumaki's. The ink user had fought Uzumaki for less than few minutes, but he had to admit defeat inwardly even before the fight ended. While Uzumaki Naruto in a sense had almost non-existent field experience, his fighting style was unconventional and unpredictable. He was also a type who grew stronger in real battle. Danzou-sama once told them that, someone like this was the most dangerous type of fighter and had to be finished in the first chance they had. However there was no such chance.
Uzumaki's fighting style at the first glance was graceful and smooth, but each strike from his sword was a heavy, lightning-quick blow which aimed to inflict immense damage upon contact. Normally he could match an opponent with superior physical powers like the jinchuuriki with catching them off guard with his ink animals, but since he joined the fray, the jinchuuriki didn't even give him a chance to pick his brush. Sai was well aware that even though the Uzumaki was winning; he was not uninjured at all. There were numerous cuts and bruises on him, and Sai was sure that Shin-niisan's tanto left a nasty gash on Uzumaki's side when he was distracted by Tokage. Their lizard masked comrade also managed to land a hit on the Uzumaki's left arm, which probably fractured the bone. But the reason Uzumaki Naruto was winning in spite of that was because he kept going as if those injuries didn't faze him at all.
Naruto struggled to keep his breathing even, it was difficult to keep fighting while ignoring his wounds. He had endured chakra coil burns for a while, and in comparison to that, the cuts and a fractured bone was no more than minor annoyance at best. Then again it was probably adrenaline that made him numb from the pain. Tokage, Sai and Shin. Only these three left, how many had he killed? All of them gave him the same eyes, eyes that say: 'just kill us and our mission will be completed.' Some of them even jumped and shifted when he attacked, making his own non-lethal attacks become killing blows. What the hell had Danzou done, that they thought their death was for the greater good of Konoha?
He shattered Tokage's tanto with one swift blow, and then he held his blade against the older boy's jugular. "This is pointless." He repeated with a hiss, "There's no greater good in this senseless battle, I am sick of it."
He expected a silence in response, but for the first time the ROOT trainee answered. "To you it is… " Tokage said as he grabbed Hokuto's blade and for a moment Naruto was almost relieved, but the blade was pulled right in front of the older boy's chest. "It seems you know a lot about us, which means you know what will happen in the end of our conditioning training to be a perfect Shinobi."
Sai and Shin stopped on their tracks, wondering why the older boy knew of the final test that was supposed to be a secret. "Touya!" Shin called out, "What are you talking about?"
The newly revealed Touya shook his head, "Everyone in this operation knew of it except you and Sai…" He gritted out, "I told them… or rather I passed a note to each of them because the seal will prevent me from talking."
"You know…" Naruto muttered in disbelief, "And so did they…" He glanced at the bodies of ROOT trainees around them. They died knowing Danzou would make them kill their surrogate brothers as a final test to be a full pledged ROOT member. "Then why?! Why you make me kill you?! Because death by my hands is more preferable than what awaits you?"
Touya titled his head to the side, "Maybe… but this is the death we choose upon ourselves Uzumaki Naruto. Maybe the first and the last thing that I know the reason of why I did it… as a human and a Shinobi, not a tool…"
"Is that so?" To ROOT, Shinobi is weapon and not human being. They were forced to throw away their emotions to become a perfect tool for Danzou. "So death is your escape route? You gave up the life your master destroyed? Has it never crossed your mind to try to find another way?"
Blood flowed the moment Touya pulled Hokuto's blade, slowly piercing through his chest. "Unfortunately Uzumaki… Naruto…" Touya gritted out, "This is the only way we know…"
Naruto gritted his teeth, "Coward…"
Touya nodded at that, "I am… I am a coward…" He coughed out blood, "Who killed his own brother to survive." Their eyes widened at that. "Guilt weakened me instead of turning me to a perfect weapon… I am a failure… our master deemed me as such, which is why I was sent to this… suicide mission."
"Touya…" Shin breathed out, "So… Saku wasn't killed in a mission?"
Touya nodded, "It's a test… " He coughed again.
It was dark, cold and quiet place… he was trapped in that place for days until he thought he was going to lose his sanity. Then suddenly he was told to kill his opponent and he would be freed and reunited with his brother. He was desperate and before he knew it he had killed someone in that dark place. Instead of became jaded and perfectly emotionless the moment he saw his brother's corpse, he was overcome with grief and guilt. There's no conditioning method that could yield perfect results, Danzou always had two results since he created ROOT and their conditioning method. The trainee that would be a perfect tool; coping with guilt and grief, their mind choosing to discard their emotions after they killed their surrogate sibling. And the trainee who failed, their mind shattered by guilt and sorrow. In the end those who fail choose to be killed in suicide missions rather than live as a failed weapon.
"So those who we're told… have failed to be full pledged members are…" Sai muttered in disbelief.
"Discarded in suicide missions." Naruto gritted out, "Then why those two too?" Naruto pointed at Shin and Sai.
Touya shook his head, "Unlike us… for Shin… the conditioning didn't work it seems…" Shin was even a worse failure than they were in Danzou's eyes, which caused Sai to be one as well. Shin had a strong mentality, and Sai's presence if anything didn't help. Sai was originally susceptible but Shin's presence prevented Sai from the worse of ROOT's conditioning. "A pair of brothers in our ops is inseparable, if one is a failure… another is marked as such too."
Shin gasped, "What the hell?! Sai and I are sent to this mission because of that?! But Danzou-sama promised me that…" Shin yelped when he suddenly felt jolt of pain through his body and fell on his knees. "Aaaargh!"
"Nii-san!" Sai called out, running towards his brother. "Hang on Nii-san!"
Naruto scowled, "Iwazaru no Fuuin…" He had heard from Hakurei that the pain caused by this seal was immense, and Danzou even used it on children. "You better watch your mouth… the pain alone could kill you…" He wheezed out then turned his attention back to Touya. "So… this is it for you?"
Touya's eyes started to flutter shut, nodding weakly at the jinchuuriki. And Naruto knew that the moment he withdrew Tokai, the older boy would die slowly because of blood loss. Naruto let go of Tokai, and then used his free hand to cover Touya's eyes while another was holding Tohyo close to Touya's jugular. "You're free now… " Naruto murmured, "May your soul find salvation…" Naruto said sadly as he felt the hand covering Touya's eyes feel the warmth of tears, and with one swift slash Touya of ROOT was no more.
"NARUTO!"
Naruto didn't know why but the moment he heard the familiar voice of Itachi and Shisui he felt so relieved, and his body gave in to exhaustion and injuries he suffered. Naruto didn't hit the cold-water surface because Itachi was quick enough to catch him. The Uchiha's scion looked pale and panicked, just like when Aizen almost killed him. Itachi was such a worrywart, he mused. Then again at the rate he kept endangering himself, Itachi might get a heart attack soon. He swore that since Itachi befriended him, the stress lines on Itachi' face have only deepened.
"I messed up again…" He coughed out, "So sorry Itachi… Shisui…"
Shisui shook his head, "Just shut up Chibi!" He snapped as he inspected Naruto's wound, he was no medic but he knew enough to know superficial wounds when he saw it. "Oh shit! A fractured arm… and you also lost a lot of blood! Can't you ask him to heal you now? These aren't life threatening for now but you're in a lot of pain and a trip to nearest medical facility is going to make it worse."
Naruto laughed softly at that, "Used too much…" He murmured incoherently, "Give me a day to sleep it off, and I will be fine."
"You're impossible." Itachi chided him, leaning the jinchuuriki's head against his chest. "A fractured arm is not something you could sleep off. Besides…" He trailed off, glancing at their surroundings.
One, two, three… added with the corpses they saw on the way here… how many of them had Naruto killed? Aizen was one case, contrary to popular belief; the first kill was not the worst thing a Shinobi experienced in their career in assassination. Especially since Naruto killed Aizen with unconventional methods and Naruto was more saddened by the death of his ANBU guards to mull over his first kill and the political chaos that followed. Now however, Naruto killed these shinobi in self-defense and there's nothing that would distract him from the guilt. He knew Naruto would recover but the pain will linger there.
And there are the two survivors of this mess, and judging from the situation they couldn't put up a fight anymore. Now that they had lost their masks at one point in their scuffle with Naruto, Itachi could see they were young. The black haired boy resembled Sasuke a little, and in the same age as Naruto and his brother. The white haired boy was a bit older, probably around ten years old. Itachi was snapped out of his thoughts when Naruto sat up and turned to face the two brothers.
"What do you want to do now?" Naruto asked softly.
That was a simple question but for some reason the two reacted as if Naruto just dropped a bucket of ice water on their head. "We don't know…" Shin admitted warily. They couldn't go back to ROOT after they failed their mission, and running away was next to impossible because of the tracking seal Danzou placed on them.
"Nii-san… what should we do now?" Sai echoed, the younger brother looked equally at a loss of what to do. He had been prepared to die for this mission but after watching Touya's death and suffering, he was not sure he was willing to do so.
Shin regretted answering Naruto honestly, how could he say that? He should be a reliable brother to Sai, and here he made his brother worried. Then again he really didn't know what would become of them. Shin's eyes widened when he saw Naruto walk towards them, his sword was sheathed but Shin was not a fool to forget this boy was the one who killed their fellow ROOT members. What if he thought they would better off dead?
Shin wrapped his arms around Sai who was still dazed from the whole ordeal and yelled at the approaching jinchuuriki. "I won't let you kill my brother! Stay away! Don't come any closer!"
Sai was stunned by his brother's hysteric shouts, Shin was always emotional but he never heard his brother act like this. "Nii-san?"
Naruto sighed wearily, "In case you forgot… I shouted myself hoarse to convince your comrades from throwing their life away, what makes you think I am going to kill you now?"
"Eh…" Shin blinked owlishly at that, and realized it made sense. The white haired boy was unwilling to let go of his brother yet though. "I guess…"
Itachi and Shisui who stood right behind Naruto-in case he collapsed again- sighed at that, it was so Naruto to try to talk his opponent out of their stupidity even though they tried to kill him. They had a feeling it would be a routine for Naruto.
"It seems unlike them you still choose to live." He smiled sadly at that, "Good… very good…" He laughed softly. "I have a proposition for you." Naruto offered.
"You do?" Shisui raised an eyebrow at that, "Since whe… hmph!" Shisui had his mouth covered by Itachi and wisely shut up.
Shin and Sai looked at the jinchuuriki, wondering what Naruto wanted from them. Shin didn't know why but for some reason he had come to a conclusion that their fate was in the younger boy's hand now. "Proposition?" He echoed, hope started to swell on his heart when he saw Naruto reaching out a hand to them.
Naruto nodded, "You have nowhere to go now… and you have no means to escape Danzou's clutches on your own." He stated solemnly, "I… we can help you."
The older boy swallowed, they were in a pinch now but he was not born yesterday to be so naively accepting of help from someone they tried to kill just a moment ago. "What's the catch?" He asked curiously, "There's no way you'll help us without a boon or sort."
"True." Naruto admitted, there's no way the ROOT brothers would trust him if he offered help without a price. There should be a price for them to trust him. "But not at the moment…" He informed them. "First… come with me to The Tower and we will undo your Iwazaru no Fuuin first, and then we talk…"
Sai's eyes widened at that, "You can remove this…" Sai asked in disbelief, holding his mouth unconsciously.
"I do…" Naruto said with conviction in his voice, "We're the makers of that seal after all… your master stole it from us."
Shin swallowed, that was just too good to be true! "I still want to know why you're going to help us! What will you gain from this?!"
"… I would be lying if I say I want nothing from you." Naruto admitted honestly, "What I want is your trust… to follow me."
Sai looked at the blond wide eyed, looking at the offered hand and wondered why he wanted to reach out for it. Shin felt the same but could they trust this boy? "Where're we going?" Sai asked curiously and before he could stop his younger brother, Sai had grabbed the offered hand and seemed unwilling to let go anytime soon.
Shin was still skeptical but wherever Sai went, so did he. He reached out to grab the younger boy's hand, and realized Naruto's hand was very warm unlike theirs.
"To the new world… full of light…" He breathed out as he grasped their hands firmly in his. Danzou had trapped them in a shallow world of darkness, a twisted cocoon he created to his liking. The world out there was not perfect either, but… they would be no longer be emotionless weapons but their own person. This is their new world…
"Welcome… to the world."
Sai and Shin felt the warmth in their hands start to spread through their body, they were aware of the hardships they would face as the traitors of ROOT but… somehow they felt safer than ever when basked in this warmth. They couldn't fully trust Uzumaki Naruto yet, but for now he would follow him.
As requested by Halcyon Monarch, Naruto's stats.
This is not a solid stats yet but I think it will suffice...
Nin: 2
He is not bad in ninjutsu but he is only good in variety of Kage-bunshin, henge, kawarimi and wind element technique, and that because he overload everything with chakra. Typical of Naruto. So his slow score is because in this department he has small pool of techniques and I plan to keep it that way... quality over quantity.
Tai: 2.5, Str:3, Speed:2
While his style is unorthodox and unpredictable, his advantage over his opponent is because he surprise them... and he is not experienced enough.
He is fast but it's because of Hikou no Fuuin, naturally he has more strength than speed at this point.
Gen: 1
Dunno how to grade this department, Naruto would never specialize in this thing... he is better at breaking out of them though. His teammates are specialists in this so he would prefer other kind of skill to support them.
Int: 4
Naruto is smart... though it seems some readers misunderstood that I make him book smart type like Sakura because he tend to read a lot. In the first few chapters Naruto pretty much work his ass off and jammed everything he could get his hands on to his head... he is very young so it's easier for him to learn compared to his canon self. He also the type who think on the fly like canon Naruto when it comes in battle, which is ironic considering his paranoia...
Stamina:4
He is an Uzumaki and jinchuuriki, so no surprise here.
Hand Seals: 3
He is not bad at this but not at Itachi's level... though this is one area he would improve at.
Fuuin: 4.5 (4-Dan)
At least in overall skill this is one department he is the best at... Seal master in my story use the same system calligraphy uses, kyu/dan (beginner/master) ranking system that's used in other traditional Japanese art forms, such as martial arts. The highest is 9-Dan for seal master... so he is halfway to there already.
The stats is about how good he use seal in battle while the seal master rank is gained through test, it doesn't matter how good the seal he produce, he still have to go through the test one by one... It's a thesis kind of test which involve loads of research. For comparison it's like alchemist' research in Fullmetal Alchemist they have to submit periodically.
Kenjutsu: 2.5
He just started learning this, and the reason he could win against the ROOT trainees who are much better than he is in kenjutsu is because he has better sword. Like Asuma said in canon, the sharper blade wins.
Now... hopefully I did a good job to depict a good fight. It's not a curb-stomp battle at any rate since Naruto was a wreck and his opponents are too willing to die after putting a good enough fight. Power level wise Naruto have a LOT of upgrade since his confrontation with Aizen.
As for his elemental technique, I think I should explain that 'elemental affinity' training like Naruto did to create Rasenshuriken is not a must to use elemental technique. Uchihas are prime example... they mastered Goukakyu no Jutsu when they're young without any elemental affinity training. Normal elemental technique used hand seals to do both shape and elemental manipulation which is why it can be used without the exercise. Chidori while looks cool don't have much in shape manipulation... unlike Sasuke's variant of it. Rasen Shuriken in the other hand is purely manual shape manipulation which is why Naruto need the exercise.
BTW Shougekiha no Jutsu is a 'original technique' it's a basically a ring shaped Daitoppa and not just one directional attack.
Their kenjutsu techniques are taken from Samurai Deeper Kyo, so they're not my original. I would love to create some myself but I would rather to think of new fuuin than kenjutsu stuff.
Itachi's attack is taken from Hotaru while Shisui's is from Sarutobi Sasuke's... I contemplated that Shisui should have water element since his name is Shisui (Stagnant Water-what a name for an Uchiha) but discarded that idea for Lightning.
Translation of Hokuto Shicisen's technique is from Indonesian publisher... which I am not sure is 100% correct. Unfortunately I can't find other version... online one just say first star, second star and so on... Hokuto Shichisei's attack is wind elemental technique ^^
I am sure fans of HACK series recognize the last line, which is taken from Hack/GU. "Welcome to the world" indeed LOL
As you can see, in this story Naruto's therapy no jutsu is not 100% effective... then again they already lost the will to live so there's not much left to be saved.
In the last chapter I really sad a lot of you underestimate Danzou that much... as you can see in this chapter he has prepared a counter measure in case things go south. Too bad Itachi and Shisui caught the 'counter measure' team. There's no plan in this world that couldn't fail anyway...
My beta ask if Danzou would get in trouble with Hokage, well... Sandaime seems to let Danzou get away with a lot of things. However in this case later... it would be different, since it's not just between him and Sandaime.
By the way, a replay to anonymous review by Kazekira:
It's amazing how so many reviewer fail to be a critic when it comes to judging whether or not a Fic is great or if a Fic is utter shit, with calling someone's story a failure as anonymous reviewer. Which implied you have no guts to be responsible of your critique with sign up as a user. It's not a critique when you claim this fic is a fail seal master fic without explanation why, and to be honest... unless you can write a superb seal master fic like Myoushou no Fuuin or Guardian of fire, I will ignore you...
If you don't like prodigy Naruto fic, then don't bother reading 10 chapters of my story. If it's not your cup of tea you should have quit around chapter 4 or 5. Beside in my opinion... if a kid who can master a kinjutsu in few hours, completing rasengan in one month, etc I don't know what else to call Naruto as...
Yes, my story's pace is pretty slow... 10 chapters and only two years passed 0.0' incredible isn't it?! I keep the story in time period it is now because more explanations are needed and background setting for the time skip has to be written before I just jump to like... three years later. If my story is slow means I take my time to develop a good plot rather than rushing everything... and once again if a slow paced story is not your cup of tea don't bother to keep reading.
I don't mind critique, but I mind insult very much especially if the reason is because my story is not to your liking in term of plot.