The God of Wind:

Hello Everyone,

Happy Mother's Day, be sure to show some love to the moms in your lives. Had a great time with my own yesterday celebrating with my younger brother.

Here is today's chapter, hope you enjoy. Chapter 12 is out on pat reon and Chapter 47 of Uchiha Chronicles was posted today.

The Humming Mist Arc:

Chapter 10: A challenge too difficult

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Leaf Village Training Ground 0, June 990 A.S. –

Naruto tried to act dignified, as Gramps guided him down a well-maintained dirt path. It was hard not to bounce with excitement. They were headed to his grandfather's private training ground, to meet a new tutor who would help him with his conditioning. He'd struggled getting to sleep the night before.

Because his bloodline took so much stamina to use, he had to be in peak condition, both physically, and mentally. He'd already begun the latter, having been forced to study with threat of losing the right to eat ramen. Now, he'd actually begin serious strength training. So far, the closest he'd had to that was practicing his Kenjutsu forms. Gramps hadn't told him who he'd be learning from, Naruto was so eager to meet them.

Perhaps it would be a powerful taijutsu master, with bulging muscles out the wazoo and a strict personality. Or maybe a wise old martial arts master. Though admittedly that was less likely, gramps himself could fill that roll. In the end his tutor wasn't anything like Naruto expected. There waiting for them as they turned the corner, was a girl.

She didn't look older than an academy graduate, wearing a cropped black shirt over a mesh armor bodysuit and short skirt. She was kind of pretty, in a punkish sort of way, with fair skin and her violet hair bound into a fanned ponytail. Around her neck an odd fang-like pendant hung about her neck.

Could she really help teach him about physical training? Naruto had to wonder. Though toned and athletic, there was nothing especially intimidating about the girl to indicate physical prowess. Though he knew from experience that was a bad measure. Gramps was an old fart but he could easily toss around any of the villages jonin, Naruto had seen it happen more than once on the rare occasion Gramps wanted to get a little workout in.

As soon as she saw Gramps, the girl crossed her arms moodily. "Oi, what's the big idea calling me out here for a special mission Lord Hokage?"

"Hello to you too, Anko."

Anko huffed. Her eyes flitted to Naruto. "That wasn't an answer. And what's with the squirt?"

"The youth these days are so impatient. As for your questions, I've a special mission for you, one that will be important for that promotion you want."

The girl's eyes brightened in interest. "Go on."

"This here is my adopted Grandson, Naruto. You've probably heard of him." Gramps placed a hand on his shoulder and continued. "He's ready to begin more … serious conditioning, and I thought you'd be perfect."

"I don't know if that's a great idea, babysitting isn't very appealing to me." Anko replied.

Naruto narrowed his eyes at the girl. He fired back without much thought. "Oh yeah? Well, I don't know how much a girl with arms as skinny as mine can teach me much about conditioning. Ya can't be all that strong."

"That so?" Anko gave him a sweet smile, too sweet. Eyes squinted, teeth gleaming, he found it a bit unnerving.

Before he had a chance to even consider her reply, Anko was gone, he felt a vice sinch down around his head. He registered the scent of maccha and red bean paste, then felt a fist being ground into his skull as the older girl gave him a noogie. The painful knuckles brought tears to his eyes.

"Not strong huh? Let's test that theory!" Anko flashed Gramps a dangerous grin. "On second thought, I accept. This brat'll be whipped into shape in now time." She declared. "Now, come on brat."

Anko drug Naruto away by his head, kicking and flailing all the way. Any protests were thoroughly ignored, and the few curses he let out earned an extra hard noogie and a "What your fucking language brat" from the girl.

'This girl is crazy!' What had he gotten himself into?

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Blood Arena Prison, March 20th, 997 A.S. –

Paranoia was an ever-present companion in the prison. Especially while Naruto was working on the seal. A week had passed since his first fight. A week since the first night he began studying the seal.

It had taken many painful attempts before he finally had it down. Ever since every moment of free time huddled in the cool shadows at the back of the cell, trying to work while not getting caught. Sasuke worked as a lookout, though luckily there hadn't been many close calls. Unfortunately, progress was slow. His biggest breakthrough was discovering they could actually use storage seals. The chakra expenditure was just barely below the 'cap' the seal placed on them.

Every time he felt he was making a breakthrough in understanding it, a new aspect of the seal would be revealed and through everything he thought he knew out the window. The worst part was, he had to check for every possible redundancy so he could figure ot how to counter it.

His eyebrows furrowed in frustration, as Naruto stared at the newest symbol cluster he'd discovered. It was a cluster related to the electrical shock they would receive. On a separate piece of paper, several columns were separated into different categories, Punishment, Chakra Limitation, Control, and Anomaly. Every new aspect was assigned a letter and number and labeled, before being jotted down in the appropriate category. The last category was quickly becoming the largest.

'This links it to our central nervous system, a failsafe to make sure we don't get too much and kick the bucket. Ain't that reassuring.' He mused sarcastically.

One of his earliest discoveries was the fact the seal operated by drawing on their own chakra to produce the shock, something he found a dark sense of irony in. Given how it was used, he was actually surprised by the failsafe. He marked it down under the "anomaly" column.

The more he explored the seal, he found little bits and pieces that didn't fit with his initial thoughts. Originally, he'd assumed it was a seal for torture. But pieces like this new cluster made him question such an assumption. It was as if there were two halves to the seal. One made by a sadistic mad scientist, the other a genius with advanced medical knowledge that didn't want it to cause too much harm. The sheer amount of medical knowledge needed to allow the seal to not only read the persons vital signs, but also adjust to the level that person could safely take, was staggering. Unfortunately, the side he'd dubbed the mad scientist was overriding the latter, even increasing the amount of shock it would deliver past the initial 'safety' threshold.

Naruto hummed to himself and circled another symbol. Hopefully, any day now he'd crack the code.

Suddenly he heard footsteps, Sasuke hissed out a warning. "Someone's coming!"

Quick as a flash, Naruto snatched up every bit of paper he could find, as well as his pencil, and resealed them into his wristband. He'd just managed to get everything stored away, and take a casual seat on his futon, when Haku walked in front of their opened cell door.

"Hello, I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"

Naruto waved his hand dismissively and forced a smile. "Nah, whatcha need Haku?"

On his futon, Sasuke shot Naruto an annoyed look, but the blond studiously ignored it. There was no reason to deny Haku, it would just draw suspicion. The only other option was letting him in on the plan, but nice as he was, they hadn't known the boy anywhere near long enough to just trust him with it.

"Well, I figured we could chat. Maybe exchange some stories about our villages and teams?" Haku suggested.

"Sounds good, not like we have anything else to do."

Naruto waved his hand, inviting Haku into the cell. The boy took it gracefully, taking a seat at the opposite end of Naruto's futon.

"So, what's the Hidden Mist like?" Naruto asked. Though he tried to hide it, Sasuke was clearly interested as Haku hummed in thought.

"Well, it's obviously covered in mist, there's a lot of swampland, so the buildings are tall, and cylindrical, with raised pathways to travel between them." The black-haired boy began to explain, the passion for his home clear to see. It sounded a bit dreary to Naruto, but Haku seemed to love it.

Eventually, Haku asked about the Hidden Leaf, and Naruto began to describe his home with just as much enthusiasm, with the occasional interjection from Sasuke. It was halfway through an explanation about his favorite restaurants, when Naruto noticed something that made his heart leap into his throat. A single piece of paper covered in his notes, laying just between his futon and the wall.

"And, uh, of course there's Ichiraku. Th-they have the best ramen in the village." Naruto looked at Sasuke desperately, shifting his eyes to the paper. As usual, the Uchiha wasn't too slow on the uptake. Sasuke even managed to keep his eyes from widening too far.

"I'm curious about your supply shops myself." The Uchiha spoke up uncharacteristically. He managed to draw Haku into a conversation about his choice in equipment.

As the two talked, Naruto took advantage to quickly grab the last piece of paper and discretely stuff it under his pillow. With the danger averted, the tension bled from his chest before he rejoined the discussion. He wasn't sure how long they were there chatting. When it came to discussing teams, Haku listened politely as he described Sakura, but when Naruto mentioned Kakashi, the boy let out an exclamation of surprise.

"Kakashi? You don't mean Kakashi Hatake, do you?"

"Yeah, I do." Naruto replied hesitantly.

Haku smiled brightly. "Kakashi was a member of the team who aided the rebellion. What a small world we live in."

"Guess it is." Naruto chuckled. "So, what about your team?"

"Well, my teacher is Zabuza, one of the Seven Ninja Swordsman. He's the one that rescued me after the … accident. One of my teammates, Chojuro, is training to be a member himself. As for the last, well, she's a lot like you. Spirited, I guess you could say." Haku described them with excitement.

They chatted for a while longer, but Haku departed, leaving Sasuke and Naruto alone. His teammate gave him a harsh glare. "That was way too close dummy, be more careful."

Naruto shrugged. He couldn't argue much, it hadbeen a narrow escape. He was reasonably sure Haku wouldn't turn them in, but it was better to be safe than sorry. He breathed a sigh of relief as he pulled out the stray sheet and sealed it away in his arm band. Part of him was tempted to take the rest out and begin again, but after the scare, he thought it was better to cut his losses for now.

As it turned out, that was a wise choice. Only a few minutes after Haku, he heard footsteps again. He dismissed it as a prisoner returning to their cells. Yet, they didn't seem to stop.

He didn't pay it much mind, until a shadow fell across the cell. Naruto glanced up, his eyes widening as he saw Takeru's face poking through the wooden beams with a mad grin. The man looked decidedly out of place amongst the clean, almost clinical prison walls, with his vibrant kimono and well-groomed slick hair. Behind him, the looming figure of Itojiro stood like a wicked statue, his head was what was blocking the light. Naruto fought to keep the scowl off his face, though he was less successful at hiding his snark. An entire week in cramped conditions, sleeping on a lumpy futon, had him grumpy.

"Well, if it isn't our gracious host. How can we help you?"

His tone dripped with sarcasm. Takeru simply chuckled. Everything about the man spoke of badly hidden sleaze, even his laugh.

"You should watch your tongue; you might cut yourself with it. Although perhaps … shock would be a better verb." Takeru feigned as if he was going to pull out the control device. His grin widened as Naruto instinctively flinched. The terrible shock from his first day still lingered in his memory. "Now that the pleasantries are out of the way, as you've no doubt guessed, there's a reason I came here. It's about tonight's fight night."

Takeru licked his lips, an excited gleam in his eyes.

"You see, I want it to be special. Your first couple fights were so easy I hardly got to see anything, so I'm giving you tougher competition."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "And who did you have in mind?"

"Your opponents are going to be from Itojiro's team."

"You make them fight in the arena too?" Naruto couldn't contain his surprise. It seemed rather risky, to have the lives of his best guards in danger like that. Behind the noble, Itojiro chuckled. His mask gave it an eerie, muffled sound.

"Nobody makes us do it." The gangly giant of a man leaned forward. "That's part of the attraction of the job, we get to cut loose and kill a couple of you chumps every once in a while. Hope you bring you're a-game, because otherwise you'll be leaving the arena in a body bag."

Takeru chuckled at his pet shinobi's words.

"Well, I'll leave you two to prepare for the big fight." He began to walk away, but paused, just within sight of the cell, and turned back with a serpentine smile. "Ah yes, one more thing, you'll be fighting as a team."

The pair of men finally slunk away, and Naruto let out a breath he'd been holding. Takeru was bad enough, but there was something … off about Itojiro. Naruto wasn't overly squeamish. Though he'd had a hard time of it in the moment, even his first kill was something he'd prepared for and made peace with, and he was well aware of some of the darker aspects of their business. Still, there was something about that man that sent alarm bells off in his head. Itojiro seemed to relish that dark side.

"Well, I guess we should get ready."

Sasuke gave a grunt of acknowledgement. He tried to hide it, but Naruto's sharp eyes picked up the extra paleness in his teammates face. He too, had been unnerved by Itojiro, it seemed.

"Let's start with thinking up combos …"

The pair descended into a discussion of their different techniques, and how they could apply them. One particular wild card they had to factor in was Sasuke's Sharingan. It could be a useful tool. By the time the guard came to fetch them, Naruto was fairly confident they'd come up with a solid plan. Hopefully, it would prepare them.

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A nervous energy shot through Naruto's body, as he and Sasuke ascended the ramp into the arena. The last time they'd faced Itojiro and one of his men they'd been totally overwhelmed. A prideful part of him wanted to chalk it up to surprise. With even a lick of time to strategize, he could run circles around anyone.

Next to him Sasuke stalked like a tiger freshly released from the cage, the frustration of their captivity poured off him. By the time they came out into the hot, blinding stadium lights of the arena. The ground was already stained with partially dried blood, it seeped into the ground slowly, as if the arena was sucking it up. Perhaps that's where the nickname came from. Blood Arena, where the ground itself was bloodthirsty.

Their opponents stood across from them. Naruto sized them up with a steady eye. A pair of boys, one with black hair and one with white, only a couple of years older than them at most. Their faces were almost identical, but the similarities mostly ended there.

The boys were almost a mirror of the other. On the right, the black-haired one. His hair was cut to medium length, and he wore a blue kimono top trimmed with aqua, over a pair of pinstriped pants taped at the ankles. He was short and wiry, with mischievous pale blue eyes. The white-haired one had cropped his hair short, his kimono top aqua green with a blue trim, and similar pants. This one was tall and powerfully built, towering slightly over his partner. His eyes were also blue, but they were cold as ice.

The differences in their size translated to their choice in weapons, a pair of wakizashi strapped to his waist for the black-haired boy, and a large nodachi, over a yard long, slung across the white-haired ones back. Though Naruto couldn't help but note the oddly shaped blades tucked into both their sashes. Long, and double-edged, with two opposing prongs on the back near the hilt and the front near the tip.

'Those must be one of the blades Haku mentioned.' Naruto mused, as the announcer began to introduce them. His baritone voice was filled with extra excitement.

"On the East side, we have two of our favored champions! The Terror Twins, Ichiro and Nijiro!"

The small crowd roared at the announcers' words. All around them, rich and sophisticated people baying for blood like a pack of demons. Their opponents lapped up the attention, the black-haired one in particular seemed to bask in it, blowing sarcastic kisses to the crowd as they rained praise upon them.

"And their opponents tonight, a pair of up-and-coming fighters, from the Hidden Leaf, it's Sasuke Uchiha and Naruto!"

Naruto and Sasuke got a significantly different reaction. Most of the crowd jeered at them, though there were a few cheers mixed in. Instead of praise, they had to dodge several pieces of trash as the crowd made their opinions known.

After the crowd had settled, and their opponents had stopped pandering, the announcer called a beginning to their fight.

"As always, the fight goes until one pair of competitors is incapacitated. Now, it's time. Fight!"

The second the last syllable was out, Naruto and Sasuke leapt into action. They'd already decided to hit hard and fast. With three quick hand seals each, they launched their techniques.

'Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!' Naruto unleashed a fierce gale of wind. It was quickly swallowed up by a fireball from Sasuke. The heat of the flames licked at their skin, as it roared towards their opponents.

This attack was their opening gambit, not meant to succeed, but to distract. Naruto didn't hesitate, he drew his sword and raced after the wall of fire, Sasuke close behind. He felt a grim satisfaction as the fire was halted and overwhelmed by a wall of water. 'I figured they'd have some water jutsu. Now, for phase two.'

Hssss

Steam exploded into a thick white cloud, obscuring the arena. He and Sasuke parted and leapt onto the walls, they used chakra to grip it, running horizontally to flank their opponents. As he finally reached the opposite end of the arena, Naruto sent out a pulse of chakra, grinning as he sensed his opponent's chakra signatures.

As one, he and Sasuke launched themselves into the cloud of steam. It clung to his clothes as Naruto kept his eyes on a shadowy form within the cloud. In one clean swipe, the head of the black-haired twin parted from his body. Less than a meter away, Sasuke's kunai pierced the back of the white-haired one's skull.

Naruto took a deep breath; the steam was refreshing. In the end, the fight wasn't as hard as he'd expected. Perhaps these two had been over –

Splat.

His thoughts sputtered and died. Naruto stared in disbelief as his opponent's head hit the ground and collapsed into a pool of water. Behind him, the body collapsed as well. "Don't tell me …"

The hair on the back of his neck stood up, and Naruto smelt burnt plastic. He spun on his heel, his eyes widened in disbelief as the black-haired boy came bounding through the thinning mist, his wakizashi's wreathed in blue lightning.

"Sup, I'm Ichiro. Do me a favor and don't die too quick!"

Naruto ducked under the boy. Ichiro flew overhead bounced off the ground and tried to slash him, but Naruto had already channeled chakra through his sword. He swept aside another swipe and tried to return a slash of his own. Undeterred by the setback the Mist shinobi spun on his heel and went for another strike, but had to retreat as Naruto lengthened his sword and tried to stab the boy.

Ichiro danced back with a cackle.

Despite himself, Naruto felt his blood pump quicker. This guy was fast, and skilled. He couldn't remember the last time he'd had an opponent so strong. 'This might be fun after all. Though I'm curious, what the other ones deal is.' In the confusion of the first attack, Nijiro had ended up on the other side of the arena. Yet he hadn't moved to help his brother.

Sasuke, taking Naruto's moment of contemplation for hesitation, growled. "If you're just gonna stand there, then I'll press the advantage!" He shot past Naruto, lightning sparking along his kunai as he slashed at Ichiro. The black-haired boy dodged, even as Sasuke readjusted and made a slash right where he was going. Ichiro still got out of the way, he threw a taunt at Sasuke.

"Whoa, that was fast."

The Uchiha growled and began to move faster. Naruto frowned. "Dang it Sasuke, we shouldn't rush in, we don't know what they can do. You should stay back and observe like that Nijiro is doing!"

"No chance, I can see everything with the Sharingan!"

Contrary to Sasuke's assurance, Ichiro danced circles around him. His body seemed to be fighting itself as the Mist shinobi moved faster than he could physically react. 'The Sharingan might be letting him see what's gonna happen, but he still can move that fast physically. This Ichiro is way faster.' Ichiro cackled madly as he spun around Sasuke, threatening to slice him to pieces with his erratic circular swings. There was nothing for it, he had to intervene.

Naruto raised his sword and prepared to intervene. Before he could even think to move towards the fighting, Nijiro surged forward. The white-haired boy was deceptively quick, he crossed the distance in a heartbeat, his Nodachi crashed down onto Naruto.

He met the blow with the flat side of his sword. His arms shook under the strain. It felt like the force of a river lay behind Nijiro's blade. Teeth grit, he just managed to force the blow aside. There was no chance to rest, Nijiro was already going for another slash. Naruto raised his sword again.

At first, he planned to simply move his head, but he noticed something clear and fluid glimmering around the silver blade. Without time to think, he contorted his body twisting agilely out for the way. It was just enough to dodge a crashing water whip that pulverized the floor into rubble.

What had that been, some form of water chakra flow, he wondered. There was no time to ponder, with his unfair speed, Nijiro had already brought his sword around for another swing. This time Naruto was prepared, a white haze climbed his silvery blade. He'd meet chakra flow with chakra flow!

"Lookout, they're switching."

'What the hell does that mean?' With the blink of an eye, Nijiro was gone. In his place was Ichiro, already spinning like a mad top. It was too late to change the angle of his sword, Naruto had no choice but to dodge. Pins and needles shot down his right arm, as the edge of Ichiro's blade gave him a shallow slice. He was just about to prepare to match Ichiro's speed, when Sasuke gave another shouted warning. Suddenly he faced Nijiro again, a water whip already extended and ready to tear into Naruto. He was just able to slice through the tendril with wind chakra.

What was going on? His first thought was substitution, but that made no sense. You couldn't substitute with another person. 'Unless maybe their signatures are close …' He frowned and tried to extend his senses. Despite having different affinities, the brother's chakra was perfectly in sync.

He heard Sasuke grunt in pain, but Naruto had his own issues to deal with, Nijiro bore down on him with a powerful–though thankfully not water enhanced–blow. He tensed his arms and core to absorb the blow. And then everything changed. Suddenly, it wasn't the Nodachi in Nijiro's hands. It was the odd pronged sword that had been sheathed at his brother's waist.

Shwik!

In one smooth motion, the odd sword sliced through Naruto's sword. A lingering electric tingle ran through his arms, stunning him. He heard the sound of Sasuke's kunai shattering but was far more concerned forcing his body to move out of the way as Nijiro's weapon switched back to the Nodachi. He pedaled backwards in a panic. 'They can switch weapons too? How can we fight them, there's no way of knowing what's coming.'

With no chance to unseal another blade, and not wanting to give up the secret of his wristband, Naruto was forced to draw a kunai and try to defend. From there, things only got worse. He and Sasuke were forced into a corner. The two brothers treated them like pinballs, bouncing them around and constantly switching so they had no clue which would attack from where, or even what weapon was being used. It was made worse by Sasuke's constant warnings.

"To your left!"

Nijiro appeared, Naruto had been expecting it, the shout startled him and made him take a shallow cut to the forearm.

"Duck!"

Sasuke flew overhead, on a reckless course for Ichiro, only to be kicked away when he switched with Nijiro.

He was trying to help, but all it did was break Naruto's concentration and kept him from planning. Naruto wasn't innocent, more than once he got in the way of Sasuke throwing a weapon. But it grated on his nerves. Finally, he snapped.

"Shut up and worry about yourself!"

"As soon as you stop getting in the way dumbass!" Sasuke growled back.

Naruto was so heated, he barely noticed that suddenly there was a lack of attacks from their enemies. As he and Sasuke bickered, Ichiro pointed at them and laughed.

"Man, so much for the famous Leaf teamwork. You two can hardly stand each other, let alone work together. And to think Lord Takeru thought you could challenge us. Your sensei put up a way better fight while guarding pinkie."

The barrage of insults jarred Naruto from his anger. Enough to notice something off. Looking around, he realized something. "What happened to the other one?

Nijiro was nowhere in sight. Not on the floor, there weren't any new holes in the ground. That just left … Naruto's eyes shot up, and his heart leapt into his throat. Perched on the arena wall was Nijiro, a massive amount of water gathered around his sword. It writhed and rose, forming a serpentine dragon. Naruto noticed him just in time for the boy to swing his sword. At the same time, Ichiro unleashed a ball of lightning from his special sword.

"Waterfall Dragon Slash."

"Lightning Ball!"

It was too fast to react. Naruto felt himself get picked up and carried by the water. He tossed and tumbled, before slamming back first into something hard. He let out a gasp as the air was driven from his lungs, somehow managing not to inhale any water. Seconds later, Naruto felt a slight tingle. Ichiro looked at him oddly. "Huh, that should have knocked you out. Oh well. Nijiro, finish it, would ya."

He was too lightheaded to react. Nijiro fired a ball of water at him. It slammed into his head with the force of a bowling ball. Naruto felt his consciousness slipping away. As he drifted into black unconsciousness, he heard the announcer declare Ichiro and Nijiro the winners.

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Well, what did everyone think? Naruto and Sasuke struggled against powerful and crafty opponents. How will they react? You'll have to wait until next time to find out.

As always, thank you to all of you patrons. Chapter 12 of this story is up on Pat reon, and Chapter 47 of Uchiha Chronicles just got posted. You can find me at the patre on web domain by adding /rinnetaicho at the end of the url.

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