บท 205: Chapter Five: The Rising Child
The next week was far harder than learning to contact the fox apparently. After Naruto woke up and told Roshi that he had contacted the fox and what the bijuu wanted, Roshi wrote it down on a scroll and used a messenger hawk he had to see if Oonuki would approve of the terms so that Naruto could begin using Kyuubi's chakra safely. So Roshi spent the time waiting by showing Naruto just what he'd be able to do with the bijuu's power.
He took him to the lake where he then started channeling chakra from the Yonbi. Roshi was soon covered in a brownish-red cloak of energy that shaped itself into the shape of a monkey with three tails. "I've almost got total control over my demon. This is something all jinchuriki can do, the chakra cloak. All it is is the demonic chakra leaking out of your body and taking on the shape of your beast around you. This grants you better defensive abilities along with greater strength and speed. However, without training you can lose yourself to the beast. While I'm like this, I have a much harder time holding back from flat out obliterating my enemies and from just going around destroying everything around me." He explained as he turned off the cloak. "All jinchuriki also gain something unique depending on the bijuu that can be accessed even without using their chakra. For example, watch." He then turned and started making hand-signs before spitting out a large glob of lava that started steaming and cooling when it hit the lake's surface. "By having the Yonbi within me, I can use Yoton Jutsu. (Lava Release) Normally this is only for those with the Kekkei Genkai, however I gained it due to my bijuu."
"Cool! Does this mean I have some super awesome power from Kyuubi?" Naruto shouted as he stared at Roshi with stars in his eyes. Said man took a moment to bask in the child's' awe before getting serious again.
"You should, but I don't know what it will be. Han, the other jinchuriki, has Jouton abilities. (Steam Release) You might get another element or something completely different. I've heard from Iwa's spies that the current Hachibi Jinchuriki didn't gain an elemental ability from his bijuu. Neither did the Sanbi's if the reports are right." Roshi said as an afterthought. Naruto nodded and started thinking about what he could have when Roshi spoke up again. "Even if Oonuki says no to Kyuubi's terms and you have to force it, you'll still get whatever ability the seal grants you in addition to its chakra. And before you even think about it, no. Do not go into the seal and ask the fox about this. Wait until we get the old midgets' answer and then you can talk to the fox about it." Naruto sighed but nodded. The two spent the rest of the day sparring on the lake to help Naruto focus and build up his strength.
The next morning however was eventful. The hawk returned with Oonuki's response, which was as expected. 'So long as Kyuubi's target wasn't an Iwa shinobi they were agreeable terms and Naruto was clear to proceed.' After breakfast, Roshi told Naruto to meditate and work out the finer points with the fox. Since the boy no knew what to look for in his head, he managed to reach his mindscape in about ten minutes and was standing in front of the cage holding the mighty bijuu. "So, I'm guessing you have your leader's answer?" Kyuubi stated as he once more lowered his head to be closer to the child.
"Tsuchikage-oji-sama said that so long as your target isn't from Iwa and doesn't later become a valuable part of Iwa's forces, we're free to kill him on sight." Naruto said as he walked a bit closer to the cage. Kyuubi smirked at getting what it wanted as Naruto tilted his head and squinted his eyes. "So uh… how does this work exactly? Do you just give me chakra when I ask and that's it? Or is there some kind of long and complicated thing I gotta do?" Kyuubi was surprised but his the fact from the boy. He had honestly expected that to be it, a quick confirmation and then he'd be left alone to be the boy's secret power. Now he could see that he might be able to milk a slight few comforts from the boy without harm.
"Well for one, we need to establish a mental link so that we can speak with one another without you having to come into the seal. This will make it easier to give you my chakra, as well as let you speak with me through your thoughts so I can help you in other matters if I am able. A side effect is it will let me see and experience the world through you, so I'll know what's going on around you without you having to explain it." The demon explained. Naruto nodded, finding it agreeable. "Also, if possible; could you change this cage? I hate this sewer and would prefer something more comfortable."
"How do I do that?" Naruto asked as he tilted his head to the side in a way that would've had women screaming 'KAWAI!' and hugging him. Kyuubi shrugged its shoulders, or did whatever the fox equivalent of the action would be.
"I don't know. This is your mind, you should control its appearance." Kyuubi muttered as it didn't know itself. Naruto just nodded and closed his eyes and focused. Kyuubi could feel the boy channeling his chakra as well as his own demonic chakra subconsciously without realizing it. There was a large flash of red light and suddenly the area looked like the lake and forested mountain range that Naruto was currently with Roshi at. Kyuubi also noticed that its cage was gone, replaced by a rather large collar with a black gem shaped like the kanji for seal. Seeing that it was out of the cage, Kyuubi smirked. It was quite fine with its new arrangements. "Thank you child. This will work nicely."
"No problem." Naruto said as he was gasping and trying to catch his breath. He had just focused on the area he wanted and suddenly felt really drained. But Kyuubi was happy with it so maybe it would be nicer to him and help him out some more. "So um… how do we make that mental link?" He asked as he took a seat on the ground next to the bijuu. Kyuubi looked down at the boy before using one of its tails to tap him in the center of his forehead.
"Done."
"Wait that's it?"
"Yes, that's it."
"That was kinda lame."
"Not everything is some large and flashy technique kit." Kyuubi muttered as it curled itself into a ball, facing Naruto. "Now is there anything else?"
"Um… I don't think so… Oh wait! Roshi-san said that because you're in me I get some kind of cool ability in addition to your chakra. What is it?" Naruto asked as he stood back up and got ready to leave.
"Oh that. You've gained regeneration."
"Regerner-wha?" Naruto asked with a clueless look on his face.
"Regeneration." The fox repeated. "It means that you can and will heal from any non-fatal wound. If you get a cut, it'll be gone in minutes. If you break a few bones, they'll be fixed in a day. If someone chops off your arm, it'll be back in a few weeks or months. You can and will heal from any non-fatal wound. This also means you can't get sick and poisons at their worst will make you feel ill but they can't flat out kill you. Whatever doesn't kill you, will always be fixed." Kyuubi explained to the boy. Naruto looked a little put down that he didn't get some kind of amazing jutsu style but understood that healing and never getting sick were also blessings. It meant he could be an even greater ninja and would never have to worry about getting hurt too badly.
"Ok, thanks Kyuubi-san. I'll talk to you later I guess." Naruto said as he faded out of the newly redesigned mindscape. Kyuubi just closed its eyes and went back to sleep, wondering how things would be now that the deal was made.
After the meeting, Naruto explained everything to Roshi. The man grinned at Naruto when told of his regeneration. He then said he needed to test it and quickly tossed a kunai which stabbed him in the arm. After some cursing from the boy and laughing from the man, they watched as the wound seemed to steam as it closed before their eyes. Roshi also asked him to try and pull on Kyuubi's chakra so that they could see how it affected him. Said fox told him he couldn't handle a tails' worth of power yet because he was too young but still gave him some power which made his eyes turn red with slitted pupils as well as lengthening his incisors and thickening his whisker marks. Naruto explained that his young body couldn't handle a lot of power and Roshi nodded saying he expected as much. He then had Naruto go through a few exercises to let him see the difference Kyuubi's chakra made and the boy was surprised that everything seemed incredibly easy. After he finished the exercises he let go of his hold on Kyuubi's chakra and seemed to stare at his hands in wonder and awe. They spent the rest of the day fishing while Roshi explained some of the do's and don'ts of his bijuu chakra before going to sleep. Now that his training with Roshi was done, he would return to Iwa in the morning.
"Nice to see you again Naruto-kun. I hope you're ready for some more training tomorrow." Kurotsuchi said as she met the boy and Roshi at Iwa's gates. The boy just ran up and gave her a hug while Roshi kept up his slower pace.
"I missed you Kaa-chan. But now, I'm stronger than ever! Just you wait; soon I'll be a better ninja than you are." The girl just smiled at him before giving a short bow to Roshi.
"Thanks for training him Roshi-sama. I'll take him back from here. Do you have anything for Tsuchikage-sama or will you just be leaving again?" She asked. Not known to many, Kurotsuchi highly respected the Yonbi jinchuriki for his skill and ability with Yoton techniques. Especially because she carried that bloodline herself from her mothers side.
"Give him this scroll. It just tells him what I trained the boy with. Wasn't much really. I just taught him water-walking and how to draw on Kyuubi's power. It also lists what he gained from the fox and what changes he goes through when he uses its power." He said as he handed her a scroll. Roshi then ruffled the young blonds' hair before leaving for his hut once more. Kurotsuchi just said her thanks and goodbye before leading Naruto to the Tsuchikage's office. She needed to give him the scroll and they both wanted to know what Naruto could do now.
"Welcome back Naruto. I trust you've accomplished the training?" Oonuki asked. In all honesty, he knew he did. He just had to keep up with appearances though so he didn't mention it. Naruto stood in front of his desk and nodded enthusiastically to his superior and adoptive grandfather. Kurotsuchi handed the man the scroll Roshi gave her and then stepped off to the side. After a couple moments reading, Oonuki turned to the boy. "Roshi says you've received regeneration from the Kyuubi."
"Yeah and then he said he had to test it and hit me with a kunai. Annoying old fart." Naruto muttered Oonuki and Kurotsuchi chuckled but asked for a demonstration themselves. Not wanting to get stabbed again, Naruto pulled a kunai out and cut his hand before holding it up for them to see. Like before, the wound had a small bit of steam coming out of it as it closed up before their eyes. Afterwards, Oonuki asked him to draw on a bit of Kyuubi's power to show them what changes he gained. He did so and both nodded at seeing the changes in person. Kurotsuchi also commented that it made him look wilder, like some feral animal.
"Alright then, I think that's all I needed to see. Naruto, it has been decided that Kurotsuchi will continue your training here in the village and that one a year you will spend a month with Roshi working on your control over Kyuubi." Oonuki explained to the blond. The child nodded his understanding and was perfectly fine with it. "Also, once you're eight years old, you will be heading into the academy to learn with other children your age." Naruto nodded before the reality hit him and he gaped at the old man.
"But why? I mean, Kaa-chan told me I'm at genin level in lots of stuff already! Why do I have to go to the academy like the other kids?"
"Because she can't teach you everything. And because I will need her to start taking up the higher missions again. While it's true in some subjects you are far ahead of your generation, in others you are woefully behind them. And rather than hire private tutors to fix those areas, you will go to the academy and learn about them with the other kids." The Tsuchikage ordered. Naruto just slumped his shoulders but nodded his head. Kurotsuchi took this moment to speak up herself.
"Besides Naruto-kun, this will give you the opportunity to make some friends. And you'll get to show off to everybody. We know how you love attention." She commented with a grin. The boy seemed to brighten a bit at that.
The next year was simple for Naruto, but still somewhat difficult. They decided that he'd spend April with Roshi so Kurotsuchi spent the first three months pounding him into the ground with more physical training. Since they discovered the regeneration from Kyuubi, Kurotsuchi didn't have to bother holding back with his weights. As such, she packed them on as heavy as he could handle and had him exercise. Then once he got used to them to the point that he didn't feel them, he'd spend two days without them to get used to his body's true power before she'd throw on weights that were usually double what he just finished training with. By the time April came around he was glad to be leaving the village as she couldn't up his weights the moment he got used to them.
Roshi was fine with having Naruto for another month and spent the time having him practice meditating as well as sparing with him to help his fighting style. He also had him once a week draw as much chakra from Kyuubi as he could and then spar with him. This gave Naruto more conditioning to the demonic chakra, let him get used to the enhancements the bijuu's power gave him, and like a regular spar just helped him get better. Roshi never bothered him about his weights as he didn't care. After he was told the Kurotsuchi was being a devil with upping them all the time the old man had a long laugh and promised him that he wouldn't push him about them or anything other than the training he was already doing with him. Naruto also came to see Roshi as an uncle of sorts, seeing as both were jinchuriki and the old man had a calm, knowing air about him from his experience in the wars.
When Naruto returned to Iwa, Kurotsuchi would once more up his weights and start training him more. She would also keep teaching him things ninja needed to know. His tactics weren't very good still, and he still couldn't beat Akatsuchi in shogi, but he was improving. Naruto also spent the time speaking with Kyuubi. For the most part the fox didn't care. It would laugh at his torturous training and how his 'Kaa-chan' would punish him whenever he cursed in front of her. The fox also took any opportunity to mock the boy's intelligence and belittle him. But at other times the fox just seemed to be the wise teacher that had lost interest in everything else. Naruto learned that while the fox hated humanity, it never wanted to attack Konoha in the first place. It just wanted to be left alone when a certain man came and placed it under a genjutsu and forced it to attack. Naruto did his best to keep the fox happy, feeling that it would possibly lighten up on the taunting (not a chance but Kyuubi wouldn't say it) and that it might be easier to use its chakra if they were friendly with each other. Which was true but Kyuubi didn't say it cause he just felt like insulting the boy anytime he could.
Naruto's life became very routine. Wake up and eat breakfast. Then train his body with the basic warm-ups before Kurotsuchi would start training him in the katas of the style chosen for him as well as giving him practice dodging by launching blunted kunai at him. A few times she would mix in real kunai or senbon to keep him on his toes and make sure he wouldn't just start talking hits because he could heal from them. After physical training would be lunch before she'd spend the afternoon training his mind in various things. Then dinner followed by some light workouts and finally sleep. The only differences were important festivals, birthdays, or the month he was with Roshi.
Kitsuchi was still indifferent to the boy his daughter was raising. He didn't like his heritage and openly admitted that if Oonuki didn't order it he would've killed the boy. But other than that he put up with him and occasionally helped him with his training. Mainly the dodging training because it gave him an excuse to cause him pain without repercussion. The man understood he was being raised to take out his birthplace and found it poetic justice, but he still took any chance he got to hit the kid. Though he wouldn't do anything when Kurotsuchi was around because he could tell his daughter genuinely cared for the boy. Had they met under other circumstances, she would've wanted to kill him just like any other Iwa nin would. However she raised him, and as such cared for him.
Akatsuchi would stop by every once in a while to help out. The giant of a man was close to Naruto because of his childish nature and gentle persona. He would test his own strength against Naruto to see how the boy was coming along and found that the boy was actually closing the gap as time went on, physically gaining on the giant. Naruto was faster, that was a given, but what was surprising was that Akatsuchi was actually starting to put forth a little effort to out muscle Naruto. Granted he was still holding back quite a bit, never using more than ten to fifteen percent of his strength, but for a young child not even in the academy to match even that much of the giant was impressive.
And then came Deidara. Naruto truly felt the elder blonde was an older brother to him. Naruto spent his time with his 'nii-san' training his speed and also his stealth. The two actually started a few small pranks in the village, usually involving absurd amounts of paint and flash bombs. And sadly, only about a tenth of the time were they even caught. Naruto's stealth skills shot through the roof while Kurotsuchi would shove him into the ground with training as punishment. Deidara would simply laugh and then use his claw birds to escape anytime they tried to punish him for the pranks. They were harmless and everybody knew it. It was just getting pranked by the annoying blondes of the village pissed many of the older generation off as it was slightly reminding them of their embarrassment at the hands of the 'bastard flash'. It was even worse because it was the son of said bastard doing the pranks.
Finally came the day Naruto would join the academy. He was wearing a black shirt with the Iwa symbol in red on his back along with some blue shorts and black shinobi sandals. On his wrists were weighted orange wristbands. While he wasn't going to be wearing the heavy arm and leg weights he did when training with Kurotsuchi, she wasn't going to let the boy go without weights at all. Concealed in his sandals were weights as well, having Naruto carry two hundred pounds grand total. But he barely noticed and Kurotsuchi promised him she wouldn't up his weights again until he became a genin. As Naruto entered the building he saw that people had mixed reactions to him. Most of the adults were staring at him either with hatred or sadistic grins. Hate because of his father, grins because they knew what he was being raised for. And the children's' reactions were mixed as well. Some with hate because their parents told them who he was, some of the girls with small grins because he looked kind of cute, but mostly with indifference as he was just another student like them. As Naruto looked around the class he was placed in he sighed. And then groaned when the teacher glared at him with obvious hate. It was going to be a long four years.
And thus, Arc One is finished. I know it was short but that's mainly because I wanted to mostly introduce how Naruto and the others react to each other and set the stage for the true story which is about to start. Next Arc is about his time as a Genin and will be longer because it will not only cover him and his team but it will cover what's been happening with Konoha since he's been gone.
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