*Psht*
Kiba slashed through Seimei's throat once more, but behind those eyes, the desire to struggle had vanished, leaving only pleading shimmers of a man who had been tormented beyond belief.
Naruto smiled gently as he twirled the blade
"My~ how many times has it been now? Why can't you just repeat one~ simple~ sentence~?" Naruto chuckled
Kurama watched in silence, and even he couldn't help but shudder
[Uh...are you faking it or do you really not know]
Naruto's smile widened
"Right...your throat has been pierced this whole time, how could you have spoken?" Naruto said
Hope suddenly shone in Seimei's eyes as he tried his best to nod
Naruto then sighed
"But why didn't you tell me? Jeez, made me waste all this time" Naruto asked as he continued to twist the blade
!?!?!
Seimei wanted to cry, he had wanted to surrender after the first dozen times, but this b*stard kept stabbing his neck after it regenerates! He could hardly make any sounds, much less talk! And he had to galls to blame him for that!?
'Crazy...my master is crazy' He cursed in his heart, though the command had gradually set in stone after he was tortured for a while, so as much as he curses Naruto, he now sees himself as his subordinate.
Seeing Seimei slowly sink into the idea that he was now his underling, Naruto chuckled and withdrew his blade.
"Seimei, obtained"
[Another slave, huh?]
"Slave? No~, he's a...intern, right, an intern, how can you call someone a slave, Kurama" Naruto shook his head and said
[...which f**ker was it that was calling them slaves just earlier] Kurama scoffed at Naruto's words, feeling disgusted by his jinchuriki's shamelessness.
"What? Who would say that? Surely not me~" Naruto dismissed it casually and huffed
He then turned to Seimei, who slowly got up
"M-Master" He said
Naruto chuckled as he reached out a hand, causing Seimei to twitch from fright. Though he only patted Seimei's shoulders.
"We'll be working together for life now, good luck" He said
Seimei nodded
"Of course" He replied respectfully
Naruto then turned his attention to the remaining four, all of which had woken up already, though three are pretending to still be unconscious with their heads buried...
"Now, I will give you all a choice, work for me, or die, then work for me after I bring you back, your choice, I won't judge you based on your choice"
'What f**king choice do we even have'
The three, knowing they couldn't avoid it, slowly picked themselves up and glanced at one another.
*Gulp*
"We greet master" They all got onto their knees and said
"Hahaha, that's a good choice, but to make sure you don't betray me...maybe I should just kill you and revive you with edo tensei" He muttered
!!!!
"W-We can implement bombs inside ourselves, one that you can detonate at will, h-how about that?" The large man hurried and said
"Hm, that's still iffy, if you're the ones who plant it, doesn't it mean you have ways to disarm it?" Naruto replied
"P-Poison, you can give us poison then, and feed us antidote every now and then that suppresses the effects" The woman said
"Hm...that one seems more plausible, I like your idea, as a reward, I'll put you in charge of the other three" Naruto smiled
"Thank you master" The woman's eyes lit up as she shot a glare at Hoki, as if saying 'Just you wait'.
Naruto laughed
"Man, I'm too nice for my own good" He said sincerely, making those in the room shudder
Nice? One would describe him as many things, but to them, nice, is not one of them. Of course, no one voiced it out, keeping it all in their heads.
His eyes curved into a crescent shape
"I will make sure I put you five into good use"
-Konoha-
Fu stretched her arms as she left the Hokage's office
"Man, I wanna sleep, I thought that after dad left, I'd get some time, who knew his clone would immediately call me over" She sighed, ready to go back and drop onto the bed.
On her way back, a flash of golden hair caught her eyes.
"Ah, Ino-chan" Fu waved her hands as she called out with a big smile
Ino heard Fu's call, and turned around, seeing the cheerful girl running over. Immediately, her mind went into lockdown mode, as if sirens rang inside her head.
-Inside Ino's head-
(Using the mind clone jutsu, happening over the span of mere seconds)
"Emergency meeting!" Ino sat around a round table with a grim expression
Light flashed, shining down on three other seats.
One, was a young Ino, seemingly around 5 or 6 years old. The next was a male Ino, from when Naruto used the strange seal on her, and lastly, was a more mature looking Ino, seemingly much older than the current self.
"Main Ino, what are your thoughts" Genderbent Ino asked
"I don't know! Why would I have this meeting if I knew, you all give me ideas!" Main Ino cried out
"How bout you all? What are your thoughts on accepting Fu as our daughter" Genderbent Ino asked the other two.
Young Ino puffed up her cheeks as tears swelled in her eyes
"I don't wanna!" Young Ino cried out as her arms flailed
"I'm still so young, why should I have a daughter! I don't wanna! Don't wanna!"
Genderbent Ino turned to the young Ino and picked her up
"There, there, this meeting is a group vote, on that note, I also agree, it's too much for us, we hardly know Fu after all" He said
"I have no objections to having her be our daughter" Mature Ino raised a hand and said
"Any reason?" Main Ino asked
Mature Ino chuckled
"Be real here, I'm just you, but I need to act mature, if that's the case, the most mature response should be to be open minded, no?" She replied
"Grr, I hate that you're right" Main Ino cussed
*Clap*
Genderbent Ino clapped his hand with a smile
"Then, by majority vote, it's a no"
"Yay!" Young Ino laughed
"Well, I can't say I'm surprised" Mature Ino smiled
"Huff, alright, meeting over!" Main Ino said
-Real world-
Ino blinked, the meeting was over, and she quickly regained her composure. When she saw Fu run over, she smiply smiled like usual as she waved.
"Hey Fumiyo" She said
"Who? Oh right, my name" Fu giggled, finding it quite exciting that she's being called a different name, as if she's playing a game of hiding her identity.
After greeting Fu, Ino began talking to her, and realised that Fu, in reality, had no intention of calling her mum, nor mentioned that at all, which made her feel as if her meeting was for naught.
And the two found a common ground, talking about Naruto
"I sometimes wonder if Na-kun is actually dumb or smart, he sometimes says the smartest things, but then does the dumbest things as well" Ino sighed
"Right? How dare he force me to train in such a stupid way" Fu huffed as she stomped her feet
"It's not that bad after you get used to it" Ino said
Fu shook her head
"Not possible, he adjusts it every time he thinks I'm getting the hang of it, I quite literally cannot adapt quick enough" She groaned
"Wow, really?"
"Yep, and even after he left, he gave me a weird seal on my shoulder, I still have no idea what it does" Fu muttered as she showed Ino
Ino lifted a brow, and took a close look, as she stared at it, a sense of familiarity came to her. She felt that she had seen it before, on someone else...
As she stared at it, Sakura's face came to mind
"Ah..."
Ino gave Fu a sympathetic gaze as she patted her shoulders
"Um, Fu...if you want to rest, I don't suggest sleeping" She said
"Eh? Why?" Fu asked
"Cause...ah, never mind, I'm sure it'll be fine" Ino crossed her arms and muttered
'Na-kun probably won't overdo it, right?'
Their chat didn't last long as Fu wanted to go back and sleep, so while she left, Ino gave her a worried look.
"Good luck" She said
"For what? Hahaha, you're quite weird today, Ino-chan" Fu laughed, not understanding the implications behind Ino's words.
When she returned home, the first thing she did was take a shower, then leapt into her bed. Upon feeling the soft sensation of the bed, her mind was immediately clouded by drowsiness, her eyelids feeling heavier than ever.
"Ah~" Her eyes shut, and soon, snores filled the room
The moment she fell asleep, the seal on her shoulder shone, and her snoring stopped.
-Mind scape-
"Huh? Where am I?" Fu looked around, but saw only the white void, with nothing else.
As her confusion was sinking in, her sense warned her of danger, and instantly ducked down as a silver light struck past where her head was.
"Eek!" She gasped, but didn't have time to look when the very same sense of danger rose once more.
She quickly rolled on the ground, and pushed herself up after avoiding the second strike. Her heart raced, both strikes nearly took her head, and the memories from when she was attacked by Orochimaru and the Akatsuki surfaced her heart.
She quickly flew up into the sky, and looked down to see what was the source of the danger, but as her eyes focused, her racing heart gradually died down, replaced with frustration.
"D-Dad!? What the heck is this???" She exclaimed
"Fu, I can't have you miss out on precious training time just because I'm away, so I made this dream world, I know, you're very grateful for this, and I won't blame you, this essentially allows for a twenty four hour per day training session if you wish so" Naruto smiled as he hung the blade over his shoulder.
Fu's eyes widened
"You can't be serious!? You made a seal for this!?"
"Of course, but it was developed by me a long time ago, but enough talking, let's start training" Naruto smiled
"No! I wanna sleep normally" Fu shouted back
Naruto rubbed his chin
"Well, if you don't want to, I won't force you, in that case, keep a low profile from now on" He said
"H-Huh? Why? Keeping a low profile is no fun" Fu puffed her cheeks up and said
Naruto shrugged
"You should know how many people hate me, being my daughter, you will be targeted, if you can't protect yourself, then the only option left is for you to keep low, and hide" He replied
"..."
Fu gnashed her teeth
"B-But I'm training plenty during the day with you"
"Yes, but do you think that training is enough if you were to face off against Orochimaru again? Or the other members of the Akatsuki? I know the hurdle is high, but I need you to be able to at least escape from them if you encounter them again" Naruto said with a serious gaze
His eyes remained steady and unyielding, unlike her mind.
Her hands clenched, and the helplessness of the past battles made her feel indignant. She slowly came to a conclusion, and her eyes shone with determination.
"Tsk...FINE! Come at me!" Fu yelled at she dove down
"Took you long enough" Naruto chuckled as he brandished the blade towards her
-Sunagakure-
Naruto reported the results back to Temari (omitting the part where he took them as subordinates), and stated that he had eliminated the four symbols celestial men, as well as the corpse of their ancestor, in those exact words.
"Was the elimination of a corpse...necessary?" Temari asked
"I felt like it" He replied
"Fine, do whatever you want with it, thank you for your help"
"Don't thank me, you're paying Konoha for this, on that note, how much cut do I get of it?" He asked
"Cut?" Temari lifted a brow, which made his heart sink
"Cut me a break, your only share is the ones your Hokage will allow you to have" Temari replied
"...s-so I get nothing then? Love your joke though, but seriously, I get nothing?"
"Hm? I didn't say you get nothing, you get however much Tsunade-sama shares with you, if you don't get any, it just means you didn't make the cut" Temari said calmly
"Again, love the joke, but not the context, that is no different to saying I get nothing, sis loves money more than she loves me!"
"That seems like a problem for you, not me" Temari shrugged
"Th-This is bullying!"
"I don't make the rules" Temari responded
*Sniffle*
-Hokage's office-
Tsunade was resting her head on the back of her seat, sleeping faintly as a light snore left her.
The silence...was quickly broken when Naruto teleported in, shocking her awake.
"Gah, you brat, be a little more quiet will you!" She exclaimed
But she then heard his sobbing
"Sis, I get a cut from the mission with Sunagakure, right? Right?"
Immediately, she understood what this was about. The mission was to assist the Kazekage after all, meaning, the pay is an insurmountable sum, so of course even Naruto would be tempted despite his current wealth.
But...
"Hah, why should I give you any?" She smirked in response
"Sis, don't be like this! Do you know how much I suffered there? I almost got sucker punched by an old fossil!" Naruto cried out
"So what? Your acting is awful! Don't expect to even get a penny out of me" She scoffed in response
"Gasp! I brought out my A game! How dare you say it's awful"
"Naruto, your acting is so obvious that even kids don't believe it" Tsunade rolled her eyes and said
Naruto groaned
"I guess I wasted the eye drops for nothing" He muttered
"Now shoo, I'm going back to napping" She waved her hand and said
"Tsk, fine, but you're treating me this week at 'that' place" He grumbled
"Yeah, yeah, sure" Tsunade said nonchalantly as she leaned her head back and fell back asleep
Naruto left soon after she fell back asleep, though his mood was still low as ever.
"Urgh, all that money, all pocketed by sis, hah, serves me right for being oblivious about their deals" He muttered
He left the office, and went back to see how Fu is doing with her 'training'.
When he arrived back home, he found her asleep on the couch, with a scrunched up face as her teeth gnashed. Her expression was filled with frustration, her arms would sometimes flail around, and sweat rolled down her face.
"Yep...she's definitely training well" He smiled
"Why are you looking at her like that" A face poked out from behind
"Gah, Kimimaro, learn to make some noise when you move, scared the f**k out of me" Naruto gasped
Kimimaro smiled faintly
"It's just how I move" He replied
"Hah...fine, how's your body now?"
Kimimaro clenched his fists tightly
"Wonderful, the problems I have experienced in the past have all vanished after the first stage of the experiment" He said
"Any side effects as if yet"
"There are instances where my emotions become unstable, especially when I find out a certain someone ate all the food I was preparing for everyone" He replied, his smile no longer looks friendly, and his gaze darkened.
Naruto rubbed his chin
"Tayuya, right?"
"Right" Kimimaro nodded
"Beat her up" Naruto suggested
"Already did it" Kimimaro responded
"Wow, efficient" He chuckled
Kimimaro simply smiled in response
"You two are close" Naruto said
At this moment, Tayuya burst from the side and grabbed Naruto's shoulders
"We're not! He's too unreasonable! All because of you!" She shook Naruto as she yelled loudly
"Me?"
"He used to be so kind and sweet, but ever since he started observing you, he changed, give me back the old Kimimaro!" Tayuya shouted
Naruto's lips twitched, holding back his laughter. He glanced at Tayuya's desperate eyes, then at Kimimaro's faint smile.
Kimimaro's gaze towards Tayuya was casual, but he saw a flicker of joy flash through them when Tayuya was describing him in the past.
'Ooh~ looks like this household is just filled with love~'
"Enough about your complaints, Kimimaro, can you use your kekkei genkai without issue now?" Naruto asked
"Mn, it's not completely without issues, but I can use it for an extended period without side effects" He responded
Ever since he sustained heavy injuries from attacking the Kazekage, he felt that every passing day was a trial, with immense pain invading his body constantly. But after Naruto and Tsunade's treatments, he felt light, as if a boulder was lifted from his body, no longer suffering from the tearing pain of his self destructing body.
A white blade seeped out of his wrist, sharp enough to cut through boulders.
"My ability to manipulate bones has become more refined, the bones are tougher, and the regeneration is no longer overtaxing my body" He said
Naruto rubbed his chin
"Seems like the experiment isn't wasted, but it's not complete, at the moment, your bodies only contain the Yang chakra of Kurama, the chakra isn't dense, and since your natural Yin is also higher than normal people, you don't feel an issue yet, but in the future, it will become burdensome as the Yang chakra intensifies, so I was thinking of removing the seal soon" Naruto said
"Eh?" Tayuya gasped
She quickly thought about this, and frowned
"No! This thing is the only thing making sure I don't get surpassed by those two, with how fast they are growing, I'll be outmatched!" She exclaimed
Naruto rolled his eyes, he knew that she meant Haku and Hinata when she said 'those two', but she really had nothing to worry about.
"The pause won't be for too long, and I won't remove it until you both awaken two tails worth of chakra, the removal will last only until I retrieve the Yin half of Kurama, and those two won't be able to surpass you any time soon, your chakra pool has always been large, more so than the average person, and with two tails worth of chakra from a tailed beast, it'll take them another few years to completely surpass you" Naruto said
Tayuya immediately felt relieved when she heard that, and revealed a goofy smile
"Eh? If that's the case, alright~"
Seeing how quick she was to be satisfied, Naruto was a little speechless.
Pfft
Kimimaro let out a faint *puff* of hair from his mouth, his joy was obvious when he saw Tayuya smile like that.
Tayuya didn't notice it as she was too happy, skipping away with light steps.
After she left, Naruto nudged Kimimaro
"That's your type?" He asked
"Ahem, I don't know what you mean" Kimimaro's expression became neutral as he responded calmly
If Tsunade was here, she'd point at him and say to Naruto, "See that? That's a good actor". His expression was natural, as if what happened earlier never happened, and the shift was instant, making Naruto wonder if he was mistaken.
"I see~, she actually asked me to prepare something the other day, and she was very excited about it, guess you don't need to know" Naruto said calmly and turned around to leave.
The moment he turned, Kimimaro grabbed his shoulder
"Helping a gentle and sweet man who cooks for you every day won't be too much of a trouble, will it?" He said with a gentle smile
"...your face changes faster than mine, you know that? Even I need to adjust myself when I change faces, but you? Wow, just wow" Naruto muttered
"Thank you for the complement, sir" Kimimaro responded respectfully
Naruto let out a helpless sigh as he smiled
"She said she wants a new flute, the old one is getting worn down from her battles against Haku and Hinata, especially Haku, who keeps freezing her flute, I can teach you how to make it" Naruto said
Kimimaro's expression became warmer as he listened
"Thanks" He said
"You're welcome, by the way, take out the carrots in tonight's dinner please" Naruto responded
"Sorry, that won't do" Kimimaro replied
"I just helped you out" Naruto asked
"Helped me? When? I don't seem to remember" Kimimaro scratched the side of his cheeks as he wore a confused look
!?!?!
'D-Did I just get scammed by my own subordinate?'
[Bwahahaha! First time for everything!] Kurama burst into laughter
"Kimimaro, you can't be serious"
Kimimaro wore the same perplexed look, seemingly genuinely confused about Naruto's words.
"I'm sorry Naruto, if I did something wrong, I apologise for it, but I truly don't understand what you mean"
Naruto was stunned
"K-Kimimaro, you've changed!" Naruto exclaimed
"Why are you saying the same thing Tayuya says now?" Kimimaro sighed helplessly
Naruto was on the verge of coughing up blood
[Kid, I always thought you were the number one most shameless person, but it seems I misjudged you, no matter how tall a mountain is, there is always a taller mountain] Kurama let out a faint sigh as he witnessed firsthand, a shameless man who put even Naruto to shame.
Naruto, for once, had to admit, he had completely lost to Kimimaro when it comes to shamelessness, there is no competing with this natural born actor.
He heaved a deep sigh
"Fine, you win, just don't expect my help again with this matter" Naruto said, this time, he left Kimimaro no time to speak and directly teleported out the house.
Seeing him vanish so quickly, Kimimaro knew he had won this argument, and a smile gradually rose on his face.
As for Naruto, he initially wanted to return to train with Fu again, but since she was still training in the dreamscape, he decided to focus on his own training.
He teleported to the desolate land where he tests his beast bombs, and summoned dozens of clones.
Naruto formed a seal, enveloping himself and the clones. The world twisted for a moment before returning to normal. He then looked up.
"Ready?" He smile
"When you are" The clones smirked back
*Ding*
The clones rushed him from all directions, throwing kunais and needles at him. Naruto lifted the blade, and skimmed past the kunais with the flat of the blade, changing the trajectory just enough to miss him.
He stepped back as a clone came down from above, and delivered a kick at him. But the clone twisted his body in the air, and latched onto his leg.
Naruto immediately jabbed his blade towards the clone, but another clone had gotten close, and latched onto his arm.
"Tsk" Naruto, using his free hand, shot two needles down at the clone grabbing his leg before delivering a powerful elbow strike at the clone behind him.
*Puff*
The clone below was struck in the neck, immediately dispersing, though the clone behind, having endured the pain, did not disperse.
But that was not the end, the clones around did not hesitate to launch fatal blows at him, from strikes to his neck to his heart, they pulled every dirty move possible, even throwing sand at his eyes.
A clone even took the liberty to spit at his face, resulting in a vicious beating from the main body.
*Psht*
As well as he defends and retaliates, he could not stop all of them. A kunai pierced his back, but he didn't stop.
*Psht*
Injuries stacked, blades clashed, and blood seeped out of his body. Every time he clashed blades against a clone, he felt as if his head was ringing, the weight of the strikes, the beating of his heart, the sounds all rang next to his ears.
*Huff*
Naruto wasn't the only one that suffered, the clones did as well, their numbers dwindled, and before long, only one clone remained. Naruto had dozens of injuries stacked on him, while the clone was in perfect condition.
"HAH!" The two yelled, and their blades struck one another's.
*Ding*
His head spun, but he bit down on his tongue, using that to stimulate his mind, keeping his consciousness.
The clone slashed horizontally, aiming at his neck. Naruto quickly raised the blade up diagonally, allowing the clone's blade to run along the flat of his blade, pushing the clone's blade upwards.
He then slashed at the clone when it was wide open, but the clone's final expression wasn't that of panic, but a smirk.
Naruto's heart ran cold as a blade came from behind, piercing through his chest.
"You lost again" The clone laughed
After the blade pierced his chest, the world twisted again, and the injuries on Naruto vanished. His eyes opened up, and the clones that he had destroyed had appeared again.
"Illusion cycle two, continue" He said as he brandished his blade at the clones
The same events occurred, though with different results. On the second run, Naruto eliminated all the clones, but he ended it with many fatal injuries, and his eyes shut again.
When his eyes opened, everything was reset once more.
"Illusion cycle three, continue" He said
The cycle kept repeated, he experienced death over and over again, yet his expression remained firm after each cycle.
"Cycle seven"
"Cycle thirteen"
"Cycle twenty five, CONTINUE!"
Night fell, and Naruto was standing in the forest, panting heavily as sweat rolled down his paper white face.
The clones all had similar expressions, each looking more tired than the last. One had to know, none of them have dispersed even once, everything had occurred through illusions he set up, so even for them, fatigue has stacked up immensely.
"Phew...cycle fifty five, complete, good work team" Naruto said
"Good work boss" The clones chimed
Naruto nodded, and instead of dispersing the clones, he returned home first, landing in front of Zabuza, who was cleaning his blade.
When he appeared, he fell to the ground, and at that moment, all the clones were dispersed.
*Tss*
Naruto's eyes widened as he experienced the numerous deaths of the clones, but he held everything in as he twitched on the floor.
Zabuza stared at him silently and sighed
"You still won't tell me where you went?" He asked
Naruto clenched his hands tightly as he bore with the pain, his head shook
"Still a no, huh? The first time this happened, I was worried you wouldn't have made it, you screamed for almost an hour, well, at least now, you're holding on quite well" Zabuza muttered
He shook his head helplessly, he has seen this scene all too many times already, and each time it happens, Naruto's fighting style becomes more refined.
He could only imagine what Naruto did, but he would never guess that he treads on life and death numerous times by doing this.
Physically, Naruto is alright, but mentally...
*Phew*
Naruto heaved a deed breathe out as he absorbed the knowledge of all the clones, his expression softened as he sat up.
"I can't tell if you're determined, or desperate" Zabuza said
"I'm awesome" Naruto replied with a smug grin
"...whatever you say" Zabuza said calmly before going back to cleaning his blade