Author's Note: Welcome back, everyone! It's been about 8 months since I first posted this story and I'd to take a moment to thank you all. 417 favorites and 528 followers as of the time of this chapter going up. Your support has given me a lot of confidence in my writing skills. Once again, thank you all.

Disclaimer: Naruto and Inuyasha belong to their respective owners.

Dialogue Legend:

"Unforgivable" – Normal dialogue

'Unforgivable' – character's thoughts/speaking to Inner Demon/Inner Spirit

"Unforgivable" – Jutsu name; Inner Demon/Inner Spirit/Supernatural Being speaking to someone on the physical plane.

'Unforgivable' – Inner Demon/Inner Spirit/Supernatural Being speaking to someone on or from within the mental or spiritual plane.

Review Corner:

God of Wind 200: I should have elaborated more on why Naruto didn't return the favor during his Academy years; between only going to his official classes once a week and having tons of knowledge and combat training drilled into him by Ceto, returning the favor slipped Naruto's mind by the time he started attending classes consistently after Iruka became his primary teacher. Chapter 25 has been updated to state that.

However, even without that clarification, your "logic" is what's overboard here and I can prove it with a real-world analogy. Let's say I'm in college and one of my professors is a dick to me. A classmate notices a blatant example of the professor's dickery and calls him out on it. I'm very grateful and decide to do something nice for my classmate as a way of saying "thank you", but before I get the chance she confesses her love to me. According to you, if I decide to make my "something nice" an agreement to go on a few dates to see where things go, that decision is "just stupid in every kinda way". By your reasoning, basic human decency mixed with an ounce of social tact translates as utter lunacy.

At this point, Naruto does not love Kiba, but he is open to the idea of loving her. That's why he's willing to court her: to see where things go. The other reason you gave makes even less sense. Hiruzen's law is still in effect, so Kiba doesn't know that Naruto is a Jinchuriki and would have no reason to repay the "favor" the whole village "owes" him for just existing. When Naruto used Kurama's Chakra in the preliminaries, Kiba had already been whisked away to the infirmary so she didn't see that.

Chapter 26 – Sasuke's Journey and A New Team's Trial!

"So, this Tsunade person, what's she like?" Sasuke asked Jiraiya. The pair had left Konoha at dawn and had spent the time since moving as quickly as possible without overexerting Sasuke toward a destination known only to Jiraiya. It was now noon, and Jiraiya lessened his pace while he answered Sasuke's question.

"Well, to start with, she's one of the Sannin like me, though she hasn't been an active Shinobi in years." Jiraiya sighed. "She lost both her brother and her lover in the Second Shinobi World War. To her credit, she soldiered on as best as she could after that, but in the end the grief was too much. At the peak of the Third Shinobi World War, Tsunade left Konoha and has spent the years since gambling the Senju Clan's tremendous fortune away. Luckily, the Senju had so many assets at their peak that not even Tsunade's endless losing streak has put a dent into their coffers yet."

"Hmph, she must be a terrible gambler if all she's done for years is lose!" Sasuke grunted.

"HAH! That's the Kami-damned truth!" Jiraiya chuckled. "I used to say that if she ever started winning big it would be a terrible omen, though that usually ended with me punched through the nearest wall. Of the Sannin, Tsunade's the best at Taijutsu."

"At her peak, sure, but since she's been inactive for years there's no way that's still true." Sasuke accused.

"You're right. Both Orochimaru and I prefer Ninjutsu over Taijutsu, but as she is now it's unlikely she can keep up with either of us. All the more reason to retrieve her as soon as possible." Jiraiya resumed his earlier pace, making Sasuke jog to keep up. "After being poisoned by Kurama, Orochimaru's been trying to use his spies to track Tsunade down. My spies have been feeding them false information, but that only works for so long and I suspect they've already caught on." On that ominous note, Jiraiya stopped talking.

4 Hours Later

"That's far enough for today." The Toad Sage declared as the duo reached a stretch of road frequently used as a campground.

Sasuke looked at Jiraiya like he'd grown a second head. "Didn't you say we needed to find Tsunade as quickly as possible? There's still plenty of daylight left!"

"Why, so there is, and you'll need it for what I'm about to teach you!" Jiraiya rebuked. "One of the reasons you nearly died while fighting Gaara is that you ran out of Chakra very quickly. Chidori is your strongest Jutsu, but it's a massive Chakra investment. Activate your Sharingan; I'm going to show you a Jutsu stronger than Chidori that only costs a fraction of its Chakra!"

Sasuke obliged, and Jiraiya held out his right hand. With incredible slowness, Minato's signature Jutsu appeared in Jiraiya's palm. With his Sharingan active, Sasuke could see that the condensed ball of Chakra was exponentially more powerful than his Chidori. He could also tell that using it required complete mastery of Shape Transformation, far beyond what was needed to form Chidori.

"This is the Rasengan; your Chidori was born when Kakashi tried adding Raiton Chakra to it. What he ended up with was a Raiton Jutsu that has some similarities to the Rasengan, but is far weaker." Jiraiya's words caused Sasuke to doubt his hearing. The Rasengan was an absolute example of Shape Transformation; adding a Nature Transformation to the equation was impossible!

"Furthermore," Jiraiya continued, "Chidori – and its upgraded version, Raikiri – have a key weakness the Rasengan lacks."

"Tunnel vision." Sasuke grimaced.

"Exactly; in order to use Chidori or Raikiri without suffering from tunnel vision, you need some form of extrasensory Jutsu to enhance your reaction time. Rasengan, despite being used in the same way, doesn't have this drawback because the Raiton Chakra flowing through your whole body while using Chidori or Raikiri augments your movement speed beyond what your brain can keep up with." Jiraiya ceased the flow of his Chakra and the Rasengan fizzled out. "Since it doesn't incorporate a Nature Transformation, the Rasengan retains its full effectiveness regardless of your opponent's techniques."

"And it doesn't use hand seals either, so you can easily catch your opponent off-guard with it and I can use it even if I don't have the Chakra to maintain my Sharingan!" Sasuke smirked.

"You got it! Now, what's the biggest difference between Rasengan and Chidori?" Jiraiya asked his temporary student.

"Rotation." Sasuke answered. "When you first started to form the Rasengan, the Chakra composing it was spinning rapidly in several directions at once."

Jiraiya smiled in approval. "There are three stages to mastering the Rasengan. Rotation is the first stage and is fundamentally similar to the Water Walking Chakra exercise." Jiraiya produced a storage scroll and withdrew one water balloon from it. He then used the Rasengan's first stage to destroy it before handing the scroll to Sasuke. "You'll train in the Rasengan's first stage until nightfall, and not one second later. Hanyou or not, you don't have Naruto's massive Chakra reserves and we'll be getting up at daybreak to continue our journey."

Sasuke nodded before removing another water balloon from the scroll.

Hokage's Office, Two Hours after Jiraiya and Sasuke Left Konoha

"With this, the new Team 9 is officially formed!" Asuma, currently Acting Hokage with Jiraiya gone and Hiruzen still recovering, signed the final piece of paperwork needed to dissolve Team Guy and create a new Team 9 to replace it. Zabuza, Haku, and Tenten nodded in affirmation, while Medusa – also a member of the team per Zabuza's request – bowed in appreciation. The paperwork included the forms needed to draft the Gorgon into Konoha's military and the eyewitness testimonies of several Shinobi who saw her feats during the invasion, which were more than sufficient to grant her the rank of Jonin. She wore her Hitai-ate on her upper right arm, halfway between the shoulder and the elbow joint.

"Before leaving, Jiraiya-sama left explicit orders that Team 9 was to undergo an A-Rank mission immediately after being formed. Tenten-chan will likely be doing most – if not all – of the work for this mission, but to be safe all of you are assigned to it. Something tells me this will get complicated." Asuma handed Tenten a storage scroll. "Your mission is to repair Naruto-dono's sword, Tokijin! Payment for the mission will come from Jiraiya-sama's checking account."

"We accept this mission!" Tenten spoke for her team and withdrew Tokijin from the scroll. The weapon's pitiful state nearly brought the young blacksmith to tears. She ran home, trailed closely by her teammates. "Hephaestus-sama! I need your he – " Tenten nearly tripped when she noticed something very wrong. The warm, soothing aura that had been present since the Grecian God of Fire first took up residence in her home was gone!

"Tokijin is a Youkai blade." Hephaestus' voice boomed in all of Team 9's minds and a brief overview of the Namikaze Clan's history was seared into Tenten's brain. After waiting a few moments for Tenten's mind to absorb the information, he continued his explanation. "If it was in peak condition, it could withstand my aura for a time but in its current state it would be purified instantly and become little more than scrap metal."

"NOOOO! Please, there must be something, anything you can do!" Tenten begged.

"There is. I cannot aid you directly, so I will provide transportation to one who can. The land occupied by the Elemental Nations is vast but only represents a small portion of this world. The Namikaze Clan once held territories in distant lands, and many of their former vassals are still willing to aid the Namikaze, should the need ever arise. The Youkai swordsmith Toutousai is among them. He forged Tenseiga and mentored the one who forged Tokijin. Go now, your transportation awaits just outside."

Team 9 left Tenten's house and were shocked by what they saw. A bronze crane large enough for three adults to sit on its back was sitting in the street. Zabuza, Haku, and Tenten mounted the mechanical bird and Medusa unfurled her wings. "Alas, I would have preferred a test flight before flying to foreign lands so soon after my wings have healed."

"This is the test flight, though I have no doubt your wings are up to the task." Zabuza replied. Before Medusa could respond, the crane took off. Once the crane was high enough in the sky to ensure the resulting shockwave would have no impact on Konoha it broke the sound barrier several times over, achieving Mach 10 almost instantly. Medusa had to channel a huge portion of her Mana into her wings to keep up. The automaton's magic kept the three humans riding it safe from the extreme acceleration and maintained a breathable mini-atmosphere. This atmosphere also recharged Medusa's Mana, allowing her to maintain her current rate of speed indefinitely.

Half an hour later, the crane neared a volcanic mountain and descended toward its base. Partially buried in the volcano was the skull of a massive Youkai. The structure of the skull seemed to suggest the Youkai was a reptile of some sort in life, but too much of it was either buried in the mountain or missing entirely to know for certain. The Youkai's jaws formed the "door" of Toutousai's home and four empty eye sockets served as windows. After its passengers disembarked, the crane shrunk to the size of a large dog and followed Team 9 inside.

Tenten appraised Toutousai's forge with a critical eye and found no flaw. Despite not having seen use in years, if not decades or centuries, the forge was in excellent condition.

"Well, this is a first!" A statue of a humanoid Youkai near the back of the house spoke. It was dressed in a green haori with black horizontal strikes on it and matching hakama. "Never seen a Gorgon in person before, heard plenty of stories though." The statue moved closer to Team 9 and the scroll containing Tokijin flew out of Tenten's hand. The statue transmuted from stone to flesh, caught the scroll, and summoned the blade within with a pulse of Youki.

"So, Tokijin, how'd you break this time?" Toutousai flicked Tokijin and a mournful hum filled his home. "That's terrible! It's been over a hundred generations since you last had an owner who actually appreciates you and he's now comatose while you're half-dead after clashing with a divine blade!" The Youkai swordsmith yelled before turning to see his new guests. An unseen force rippled through the house as Toutousai appraised them.

"A human, two demigods, and a Gorgon. The current Namikaze Lord keeps unusual company. This is good, very good!"

"What do you mean?" Haku asked.

"I'm getting old, girlie. For now, my strength and skills are still at their peak, but give it another two or three hundred years and my body will start giving out on me." Toutousai sighed. "I've served the Namikaze since the beginning, more thousands of years ago than I care to remember at the moment. Even most Daiyoukai don't live that long, and I'm not one of those. My statue form prolongs my life, but my body still gradually ages. I need a successor, and Hephaestus' granddaughter is a perfect fit! Fundamentally, there's not much difference in the techniques used to forge divine and Youkai weapons. What sets them apart is the energy fueling their powers." Toutousai turned to face Tenten. "What's your name, kid?"

"Tenten, and I'll gladly accept your offer!"

"Not so fast, Tenten-chan, being a Youkai swordsmith means you have to be able to manipulate demonic energy, more commonly known as Youki. It's not enough to just collect a Youkai's body parts and craft them into weapons or armor; several groups of demon slayers have done that over the eons and none of their blacksmiths could be considered Youkai swordsmiths. Normally, it would be suicide for a demigod to try manipulating Youki. The divine power flowing through your veins would tear your body apart as it fought to purge the Youki. But you're at least a thousand generations removed from Hephaestus according to the sensing spell I cast earlier. I can work with that no problem, but it's going to hurt like Hell until your body adapts to it!"

"Does Tenten need to become a Youkai?" Zabuza asked.

"Essentially, yes, but strictly speaking she'd be what some people would call a Warlock: a human who pledges their service to a supernatural entity in exchange for power or knowledge." Toutousai clarified. "In exchange for agreeing to be my successor and not use what I teach her for evil, Tenten gains the ability to create and control Youki and will eventually learn all of my techniques. A great bargain, if I say so myself!"

"Indeed," Medusa chimed in, "the pacts established between a Warlock and their patron are often lopsided in the patron's favor. More equivalent exchanges have occurred, but I have never heard of an arrangement that favors the Warlock to this degree."

Zabuza was silent for a few moments, then turned to Tenten and said "It's your decision."

"We have a deal!" Tenten shouted in response.

"Thank you for this, Tenten-chan!" Toutousai cried tears of joy. "Now, you lot sit tight for a few minutes while I draw up the contract for our pact. Normally, a verbal agreement between us would be enough, maybe a blood oath if we wanted to get real formal about it, but Namikaze law states that any Warlock who has a Namikaze or one of their vassals as their patron needs a written contract. Zabuza-kun, with the Namikaze Lord incapacitated, you're the most senior member of the clan so you'll need to look over the contract on Tenten-chan's behalf before she signs it. Being my Warlock makes her an honorary Namikaze, so she's your subordinate in more ways than one now.

Zabuza nodded and Toutousai conjured parchment and an ink brush out of thin air. Given its simplicity, the contract was ready in less than ten minutes. Three copies were made, one for Toutousai to keep, another for Tenten, and a final one to be placed in the Namikaze vault once Naruto recovered. Zabuza, well-versed in deception, saw nothing in the contract that was cause for alarm and was impressed that Toutousai had added an "included, but not limited to" clause that listed examples of what he considered acts of evil. His eyebrows nearly shot out of his face when he read the last such example – killing children and using their fat and blood as ingredients to craft a sword – but he concluded that it was a bad experience with a rival swordsmith or even a wayward apprentice. The Terumi Clan was not the only clan in Kiri's history that had tried their hand at crafting supernatural weapons and many of their competitors had used less than savory methods to compensate for their lack of skill. Most of those clans had been casualties of Kiri's numerous civil wars, and Zabuza didn't doubt for a second that Mei would soon order the execution of any who remained if she hadn't already.

"The contract is great; Tenten-chan, read it all the way through and sign." Zabuza handed her the ink brush as well. Tenten took several minutes to fully absorb everything in the contract and then another few minutes to steel her nerves. The contract stated in no uncertain terms what being a Warlock would mean for her. She'd still be human in body, but her soul would be infused with Youki. Not enough to transform her into a Youkai or Hanyou, but the spiritual composition of her soul would be irreversibly changed. As Toutousai said, she would essentially be a Youkai in spirit.

"And done!" Tenten said with steel in her voice as she signed the last copy.

"Perfect!" Toutousai snapped his fingers and his copy vanished while Tenten's and Naruto's were rolled up and secured with red ribbons. The ribbon for Naruto's copy was outlined in gold to signify that it was for the Namikaze Lord's eyes only.

"I said it before, but I can't stress enough that this will hurt!" Toutousai's body glowed with a fiery aura. "No sense in delaying it any longer, here we go!" Toutousai breathed a torrent of flames at Tenten. After impacting her, the flames were steadily absorbed into her body. During the process, she felt like she was being stabbed with knives but it was over before the pain could become unbearable.

"That wasn't too bad!" Tenten laughed.

"Wait for it." Toutousai warned. "The initial infusion is relatively painless but being a Warlock doesn't change the fact that you're a demigod! Any second now, your divine blood will try to reject my Youki and then you'll be in for a world of – "

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Tenten screamed. Medusa conjured a spherical wall of water around her to mute the sound. Just because she was in agony didn't mean everyone else's ears needed to suffer.

"How long will this go on?" Haku shivered.

"Not sure, I've never done this before myself and my knowledge on the subject comes from other Namikaze vassals." Toutousai answered. "If they weren't full of ox shit, then Tenten-chan's in for at least twenty-four hours of this, maybe up to forty-eight hours if she's unlucky. Once the infusion process is complete she'll need at least three days to recover, maybe up to a week. On the plus side, fundamental knowledge of how to create and control Youki is part of the infusion process and I threw in some memories of a few beginner-level Youkai spells.

Hi no Kuni

"I've got it!" Sasuke yelled in triumph. It had been four days since he'd first started training to master the Rasengan.

"Even with your Sharingan, that took less time than I expected; show me!" While Sasuke trained, Jiraiya had been catching up on the reports his spies had filed while he was stuck behind Hiruzen's desk. The reports were filled with bad news. For the moment, Tsunade's location was safe, but the regional overseer of his network had made it abundantly clear that he wouldn't be able to conceal it for much longer.

'At least Orochimaru's travel speed will be slowed to a crawl with his current condition.' Jiraiya thought bitterly as Sasuke conjured a water balloon from his storage scroll. Holding it in his left hand, the last Uchiha rotated his Chakra in over a dozen directions simultaneously. A few seconds later, the water balloon exploded.

"Excellent work, Sasuke-kun, but rotation is child's play compared to the next stage." Jiraiya withdrew another storage scroll from his kimono and summoned a rubber ball from it. Sasuke activated his Sharingan as Jiraiya held the ball out. In the blink of an eye, the ball exploded.

"What the FUCK?!" Sasuke swore.

"The second stage to the Rasengan is power. With the first stage, the Chakra is used in a continuous flow, but in the second stage you have to exponentially increase the density of Chakra channeled through your hand and make it explode in an instant! Give me your hands." Jiraiya ordered after finishing his explanation. Sasuke complied, and Jiraiya used an ink brush to paint a spiral on the center of his left palm and placed the scroll containing the rubber balls in his right hand.

"Focus on that spot while exploding your Chakra. It's not enough to just pop the rubber ball; like the water balloon, you have to completely destroy it." Jiraiya's eyes narrowed in thought. "Normally, the power stage is at least a hundred times harder than the rotation stage, but since you've mastered Chidori, which requires you to condense a huge amount of Raiton Chakra around your hand, this might be easier for you to learn than the first stage was. At the very least, it shouldn't be as hard as it normally would be."

"Got it!" Sasuke smiled.

Toutousai's Home

"Oooowww, my everything." Tenten moaned. She had not been lucky with the infusion process and had to endure the full forty-eight hours. Toutousai placed the girl in his bed once the process was completed and reverted to his statue form until she woke up. Blessedly, she slept like a log for the next two days. While she was still in a lot of pain, it was nothing compared to what came before.

"The ritual was a complete success!" Toutousai declared. "Once your divine blood got the hint that my Youki wasn't trying to corrupt or kill you it backed off. You'll have to ask Hephaestus to be sure, but you should still be able to benefit from his blessings without any side effects.

"She can." Medusa confirmed. "Demigod Warlocks are rare, but not unprecedented. Since Tenten's patron is a blacksmith, and Lord Hephaestus is the God of Blacksmiths, any blessing placed on her by her grandfather will have tremendous synergy with her Youki.

"So we can start repairing Tokijin as soon as I'm fully recovered, right?" Tenten sat up on the bed.

"Wrong." Toutousai denied while holding Tokijin. "Every other time one of Naruto's idiotic ancestors got in over their head and broke Tokijin, his blade was snapped cleanly in two. That's easy to fix; all I needed was a fang from the imbecile's Daiyoukai form to bond the pieces back together. This time, though, he's still in one piece but has deep cracks all over him. The structural integrity of the entire sword is compromised."

"That's still an easy fix!" Tenten countered. "You can heat the blade to a near-liquid state, add some metal to make up for what was gouged out by Samehada, and hammer it back into shape!"

"Not that simple for two reasons." Toutousai rebuked. "First, Tokijin is a sword of lightning, so aside from a Daiyoukai's fang – which we don't have – the only materials that can be used to repair him have to come from Youkai capable of manipulating lightning, ideally a fang since that's what Tokijin's already made of. Second, Tokijin's biggest problem right now is that the blessing of the sword that damaged him is still clinging to him like a bad habit! Some blessings, I can purge, but this one's way too strong for me. A lightning Daiyoukai's fang is the only thing powerful enough to cleanse Tokijin. One should be enough, but I'd prefer to have two just in case."

"D-Daiyoukai? You mean we have to fight something as powerful as Naruto?" Haku's eyes became saucers.

"Our quarry is likely far stronger; keep in mind that Naruto-sama's Daiyoukai powers are still immature." Zabuza grimaced.

"You're in for one Hell of a fight, that's for sure, but Hephaestus planned for this." Toutousai turned to the mechanical crane. "Gimme."

The crane swelled to its original size, walked toward Toutousai, and opened its mouth. From a hidden compartment, twelve baseball-sized spheres made of quartz dropped to the ground near Toutousai's feet.

"Purification stones, and very high-quality ones at that. Just the thing needed to make an anti-Youkai field!" Toutousai picked one of the stones up, and the claw on his right finger glowed red-hot. He began carving Kanji into the stone. "I can key these to only affect our target, and I happen to know the location of a lightning Daiyoukai. By the time I'm done setting up everything you'll need to deploy the anti-Youkai field, Tenten-chan should be fully recovered. Medusa-san, you can't help in the fight. Your Mana has divine properties, so any attack you make against the target will ruin her.

"Is there anything you can tell us of our prey's abilities?" Haku inquired.

"Aside from the fact that she's absurdly powerful? No. I've never seen her fight and don't know anyone who has, likely because they all died in the process!" Toutousai mused. "The anti-Youkai field will severely cripple her, but it's going to take everything you lot have to eke out a win." With that declaration, Toutousai fully concentrated on preparing the purification stones for Team 9's task. Tenten groaned and laid back in bed. She wasn't tired but knew she needed to rest as much as possible. Zabuza, Medusa, and Haku left her to it and moved a fair distance away to discuss strategies for the hunt. The Gorgon still intended to contribute to the mission; there were other ways to aid her teammates than direct combat. Haku memorized the entire conversation so she could bring Tenten up to speed when she was ready.

Chapter End

Well, Zabuza's first mission as a Konoha Shinobi is a doozy! Team 7's first mission outside of Konoha was a C-Rank turned A-Rank; this mission is an A-Rank turned S-Rank since having to kill a Daiyoukai for its fangs can't possibly be anything less. Good thing Jiraiya's checking account has "a lot of zeroes" according to Naruto since the fee for an S-Rank mission is at least one million Ryou.

While teaching him the Rasengan, Jiraiya gave canon-Naruto the bare minimum of guidance for two reasons: to teach him how to be self-dependent and to stress to him just how difficult learning an A-Rank Jutsu can be. Rasengan is an extreme example of A-Rank Jutsu difficulty since the complete mastery of Space Manipulation needed to form it makes it borderline S-Rank, but the principle is still sound. Sasuke already knows how difficult A-Rank Jutsu are to master since he knows Chidori and he's been mostly self-dependent since the Uchiha Massacre. Not only that, but Jiraiya knows that Orochimaru is trying to find Tsunade and that there's a good chance he'll succeed before Jiraiya and Sasuke can persuade Tsunade to return to Konoha.

For all of those reasons, Jiraiya has much more incentive to give Sasuke clear instructions on how to master each stage of the Rasengan than he did while training canon-Naruto.

From what little we see of him, Toutousai seems to be a conventional swordsmith aside from using Youkai body parts to forge blades. However, Kaijinbou's use of human blood and fat to forge swords indicates that Youkai swordsmithing can be more of an alchemical process than pure metalwork. Since Toga wouldn't have gone to just any Youkai swordsmith to forge his blades, we can safely assume that Toutousai is a master of all aspects of his craft. With that in mind, I'm expanding Toutousai's knowledge base here to cover other types of blacksmithing, including the construction or modification of objects needed for powerful spells/rituals like an anti-Youkai field.

For anyone wondering "Why a crane?" for the automaton, the crane is one of Hephaestus' sacred animals.

Thank you for reading!