Character Name | Physical Age
Naruto Uzumaki | Seven years
Kasumi Uzumaki | Seven years
Kushina Uzumaki | Twenty five years
Kyūbi | Nineteen years [Ageless]
"Talk"
'Think/Mental Talk'
Chapter Four: Acquaintance
Uzumaki Library: Hidden Chamber
"So? Which one will it be, Naru-chan? Phoenix, Dragons, or Toads? And before you ask - no, you can't have more than one of these contracts."
Naruto genuinely considered all three of the options before coming to a proper conclusion. The toads were the worst choice because of there being another summoner alive - who was both a senior summoner and a potential enemy for all he knows.
That left him with only two choices - the phoenix and the dragon. Since he preferred fighting up and personal, the dragon's scales and strength seemed to give him the most advantage. Besides, he preferred combat type summons than the delicate nobles that the phoenix seemed - even though they might be powerful. He honestly believed the phoenix would suit his sister better.
Making up his mind, he answered his mother's question with a firm resolve. "Well, no offense to the toads or phoenix summons but I believe that for me the dragons will be better. I already have some good attacks and the dragons' defense will really help me, and since they are the best fighters of these three they will be the best choice for getting me out of tough situations.
Phoenix seems good too but they seem more offensive type with no proper defense abilities; phoenix fire sounds cool and all but I really need something like those dragon scales to help me last more during tough situations and give me a good defense."
Kushina nodded in acceptance at his choice. He didn't really have any good defensive abilities, and the dragon scales sound like more than a decent defense. Obviously, he probably already knew that they won't be easy to get. But Naruto was not known for backing down from tough situations; he will get them, no matter what; Kushina was sure about that, she knew her son well enough.
"Kaa-chan, if Onii-chan is going to have Dragon contract, then can I have the Phoenix contract?"
Kushina smiled apologetically at her daughter. "Sure Kasumi-chan, I'm sorry I didn't mention it yet but I was going to give you the other one in any case. I just wanted Naruto to choose first as he was leaving soon.
Now, I want both of you to write your name with blood here… and press your hands here…"
Hence, Naruto proceeded to sign the dragon contract while Kasumi signed the phoenix contract. After they were both done, Kushina put the scrolls back in their proper places.
She fixed them both with a stern glare as they finished signing their contracts. "Remember Naruto, Kasumi – when you summon for the first time, be ready for anything. Dragon and Phoenix summons don't let just anyone be their summoner. You will both be tested, and Naruto – I want you to be extra careful.
The Dragons believe that death in battle is the best way to die, as they are warriors. There has always been a very high casualty rate in their tests."
Both of them nodded. Kasumi made a silent note to summon only when she thinks she is ready, while Naruto decided he will pray for a long life before he summons for the first time.
'Pfft… as if some random dragon bitch will be able to kill the container of the great Kyūbi no Yōko!'
Naruto rolled his eyes at his tenant. 'You're right, the almighty queen of demons that is locked inside a human stripped off her power. Remember Kyū-chan, you can't think of all the battles we will have as plays anymore, you're no longer invincible and I am but a human who can be easily killed by the simplest mistakes…'
The demoness pouted rather cutely, but since Naruto was outside his mindscape he couldn't see it. 'You think I don't know that? But come on, do you have to keep reminding me how I got stripped off my power and sealed into you?'
Kushina, oblivious to Naruto and Kyūbi's conversation continued with warning them about the potential dangers of signing the contracts. "I want you both to be respectful towards the summons; they don't take kindly to insults. Remember they are both noble clans. And if at any point you think that you can't do it – please stop. I don't know what I will do if anything happened to either of you…"
"Don't worry Kaa-chan, nothing's gonna happen to us. We are too awesome to die." Kasumi tried to cheer her mother up, which somewhat worked as her mother smiled. But it wasn't very convincing and seemed bittersweet. What mother wouldn't be scared while sending both of her kids to their potential deaths? And a career as a ninja was full of risks and disasters just waiting to happen.
Naruto was going to leave for his journey now, and Kasumi was going to join the academy tomorrow. Kushina too would need to start taking missions again; they can't live forever just from their savings.
"Kasumi-chan, don't slack off on your training okay? Because when I come back, I will be a lot stronger than I am now, and then I want a spar with you." Naruto winked at Kasumi.
He honestly didn't want to leave them both, but he had to get stronger. And Kyūbi had absolutely refused to train him any further within Konoha. Something about some of her techniques being very unconventional and attracting too much attention.
Up until now, Kasumi had been avoiding thinking too much of being without her brother. But it was unavoidable now, when he was just about to leave. "Onii-chan, please… please just be safe ok? You promise you will be back right? You won't leave me, right?" She pleaded somewhat desperately. 'He's going to be alone for years, or maybe he will find someone else. What if he finds some other girl, and falls in love with her? Then they both decide to get together and leave me here... no no no, that can't really happen, right?'
"I already told you Kasumi-chan, you and kaa-chan are the ones I value more than my life. I will never even think about leaving you... You know that, right?" He tried to reassure them. Kasumi visibly relaxed after hearing him, but still kept her pleading eyes on him.
"Y-yeah, b-but…. I will miss you onii-chan..." her voice broke as she finally gave up trying to restrain herself and flung herself around her brother. Naruto patted her back soothingly as she cried for him, but as much as it hurt him to see her crying he knew that he still needed to leave.
Tears fell from the crimson haired girl's eyes as she thought about what her life was going to be like without her Onii-chan. 'Now I am going to be all alone. Kaa-chan is rarely home and Onii-chan is leaving...'
Kushina tried to speak evenly, but her voice still trembled. "I will miss you too, Naru-chan. Be safe, and keep in contact with us."
She still thought Naruto was too young to go off training alone, but she had prepared him as best as she could right now. Now all she could do was hope for the best. She could hold him here by force, but she didn't want to risk her own child hating her.
'Be safe, my little Naru-chan. I will trust you... I can't believe I'm trusting my son's safety to a demon queen, but you better keep him safe; or else I'm gonna pull you out of the Shinigami's stomach and rip you to shreds, dattebane!' (Shinigami is the God of Death)
Her eyes widened as she realized she had just spoken her catch phrase in her mind. She didn't want her kids to catch that bad habit from her so she had never spoken it for a few years now. It was to her great relief that neither of them had taken that habit from her.
'Damn, thank god they didn't hear it though...'
"I promise I will be back before you become a genin Kasumi-chan..."
"Alright Onii-chan, just please come back to me when you complete your training with Kyūbi-san. I promise I'll be good while you're not here."
Kasumi hugged him tightly and Kushina embraced them both into a motherly hug. After a while they all separated and Kushina gave Naruto a kiss on the forehead while his twin sister kissed his cheek.
"Good luck, Onii-chan! I promise I will be a lot stronger too when you come back!"
Even though she tried her best, she couldn't prevent some sobs from escaping her. Naruto frowned a bit, the more he stayed the guiltier he felt for leaving. 'I better get going soon, or they'll probably convince me into staying. And I can't say I don't want to...'
The redhead girl mewled with a blush as she felt her brother kissing her tears away. The blond whispered something into her ear causing her blush to darken. He waved them both goodbye and started to walk away, eventually disappearing over the horizon.
After a while Kushina looked curiously at her daughter, wiping a few stray tears away. She might be one of the strongest kunoichi alive, but she was still a mother. "What did he tell you, Kasumi-chan?"
Kasumi bit her lower lip as she suddenly found her sandal very interesting to stare at. "It's a secret."
Kushina smiled as she shook her head, inwardly praying to whatever deities are watching over them that Naruto comes back to her safely.
Five days later | Konoha Council Room
"Hokage-sama! We have just confirmed that Uzumaki Naruto has betrayed and left the village. We demand that Hunter-nins be dispatched to take care of him!" A civilian councilwoman, Haruno Rashi screeched.
Kushina glared at Rashi. "What the fuck are you talking about? I am the head of the Uzumaki clan, and I gave Naruto the permission to temporarily leave the village for a training journey. You have no say in the matters if my clan!"
"Now now Kushina-chan, no need to be that angry. Uzumaki Naruto cannot be declared a missing-nin as he is not a ninja, yet. Now, Kushina-chan, I believe you owe us an explanation as to why you sent your eight year old son away on a possibly life-threatening journey outside the safety of Konoha?" The Sandaime Hokage demanded with authority in his voice; most people would find it hard to deny his request, but Kushina wasn't most people.
She shrugged. "I don't owe anyone in this room anything, and I don't remember since when clan heads needed councils' advice over clan matters. But if it gives you any relief, I can assure you that Naruto-kun will be back in the village after a while."
The Sandaime raised a white brow curiously. "A while? How long is that exactly?"
Kushina just settled for giving him a mysterious smirk. "That doesn't concern anyone but me and my daughter. I don't remember anyone here being particularly worried about his health."
Shimura Danzō smirked. "Despite what you may want to believe Uzumaki-san, we are very interested in your children."
Kushina could practically feel his hunger for power from the other side of the room.
The redhead had always been wary of that old war hawk, he was almost as bad as Minato when it came to 'doing anything for the sake of Konoha'.
Kushina grimaced as she thought about it. 'And he's a certified baby hater like him too. I remember how he was once blamed for abducting multiple infants from an orphanage for training them to be Konoha's loyal soldiers. But that debate never reached a conclusion due to no one willing to go against his influence, not that anyone really cared. The asshole probably wants Naruto and Kasumi to be Konoha's loyal weapons like Minato did.
Fuck them all, I'll show them why half of my class had quit trying to be a ninja after that random asshole had dared to call me a tomato!'
She almost blushed as she recalled her chubby appearance during her pre-teens. She was so glad Kasumi didn't inherit that from her but still got her good looks. But that was probably because Kushina had always done the absolute best when it came to taking care of the twins and their health.
Kushina knew though, that till now Danzō had been unable to outmaneuver her; and he didn't want to risk her direct wrath, yet. He was one of the main reasons she was doing only S-Rank missions.
The S-rank missions are top secret; no one except the Hokage knows when an S-rank mission is given to a ninja or what and where it is. She couldn't let Danzō know when she was, and when she was not there to protect her children.
The aged Hokage sighed. He didn't particularly like the idea of turning children into weapons against their will, and while he wanted Kushina's children to be motivated into being loyal to village to a point that it becomes their dream to be a Hokage – he didn't want to completely 'brainwash' them like those ROOT ninja. Those guys didn't even have any emotions or the 'will of fire'. Any ninja without the 'will of fire' can never reach his full potential, that's what he believed.
Of course, what he wanted wasn't all that different from what his old friend Danzō wanted; but the slight difference was vast in Sarutobi's eyes. What Sarutobi achieved through subtle manipulation left longer lasting effect, and the ninja he turns into Konoha's loyal weapons will stay loyal to the village even if something bad happens to him.
What Danzō did on the other hand made it quite clear to his agents that they have no choice in the matter - as opposed to Sarutobi making them think that they chose to be loyal completely to Konoha. The reason for this was that as opposed to Danzō, Sarutobi had enough foresight to comprehend the possibility of his eventual death; after which most of Danzō's agents will be free to do anything they want.
Most probably, their first free decision will not be the same as what they had been doing while they were bound down by Danzō's program. So Sarutobi knew that his method provided Konoha with better and more permanent weapons as compared to Danzō's.
He won't let Danzō have Minato's kids, unless it was really needed to protect Konoha. Then he would have no choice, after all, safety of village comes before safety of two kids. He just hoped it never came down to it.
"Kushina-chan, please calm down. Danzō, I want to make this very clear right now – no child of this village deserves the treatment that you gave in your ROOT program. I had ordered you to disband it. You have disbanded it, right?"
Danzou inwardly face-palmed. 'I swear that old goat is retarded. He won't do anything to my program unless he finds 'solid proof' against me or I admit it myself. He doesn't really expect me to confess like a love struck teenager, right?'
"Of course, Hokage-sama."
Shikaku scoffed. "Tch... given your clan is on the verge of going extinct, why would you risk your last living male's life like that? Obviously you're not telling us your real intentions."
Sarutobi sighed. 'There is really not much that could be done here. It is a clan matter as per the laws and I'm certain that Kushina won't budge from her decision... And Naruto isn't the one I should be that concerned about, Kasumi will surely be more powerful. So I should concentrate on manipulating her to be more loyal to the village...'
"Alright, I don't want anyone to do anything stupid. Uzumaki Naruto is the responsibility of Uzumaki Clan and no one else is to interfere in their clan matters. Now let's move on to the other matters."
Kushina sighed in relief. For once, the dreaded council meeting had gone mostly in her favor.
With Naruto
'Okay Naruto, we are far enough from any human settlement, this should be enough.'
Naruto stopped running as he dropped down from the trees into a random clearing. 'Okay, so what now Kyūbi-san?'
'Let's see, why don't we start with experimenting with your Rinnegan bloodline? I want you to do that gravity technique of yours once again, but don't put too much chakra into it. Concentrate on throwing away that rock in front of you, and only the rock, not everything around it.'
Naruto gave a mental nod to Kyūbi and proceeded to concentrate chakra into his palm, he immediately felt a pull towards his eyes and then he executed the technique.
"Shinra Tensei!" (Almighty Push/Divine Judgment)
Only the rock was blown away with a great invisible force, none of its surroundings were disturbed.
'Hmph… it seems you lack a lot of control. Your technique was perfected by your Yogengan but it took ten times more chakra then it should have. You can only do it once every ten minutes and it will exhaust you completely after five tries. Damn.'
Naruto frowned. This technique was awesome, and it sounded awesome too, but he needed to work on it; a lot. 'How can I improve it, Kyū-chan?'
'Well, let me think. To be able to perfect it, you need to find out your flaws first. But your Yogengan won't let you do it the wrong way. Hm…'
'Isn't there a way I can tell that thing to stop fucking with my training?'
'I wish I knew, you can probably do it when you have enough control over your bloodline… but I think I might have a solution. Remember I told you I felt another person activating the Rinnegan recently?'
Realization dawned on his face as his eyes widened. 'Oh yes! I get it! You want me to observe how he performs Rinnegan techniques and then I can improve mine!'
The redhead smirked. 'Yes, and if that fails then I'm afraid only way for you to improve will be trial and error method. In other words, keep doing it till your Yogengan stops correcting your technique – which will mean you have perfected it to the required level.'
The blond gave her a nod as he accepted her words. 'Okay, let's get going then. Direct me!'
'North-west, towards the rain country.'
Rain Country | Three days later.
It was raining. It always was, everywhere he went for the last two days. 'No wonder they call it the rain country. What else would it be called? Only a god can stop this rain!'
"Well, we're here."
'Indeed we are, but we haven't found him yet.'
"I guess I should keep training while we look for him, any ideas?"
'Have you thought of reversing the pull of gravity from Shinra Tensei?' Kyūbi suggested.
Shrugging, Naruto decided to give it to try. Almost immediately, information started flooding his memory, and he felt like he knew a new technique.
"Banshō Ten'in!" (Universal Pull)
The wooden branch of the tree he was pointing at broke from the tree and started flying towards Naruto. He immediately canceled the technique.
Unfortunately for Naruto, Kushina had not taught him all the laws of motion. So he got hit in the forehead by the wooden branch.
"Ow!"
Kyūbi laughed at her container's plight. 'Hahahaha! You beat yourself with your own technique! Pffft...'
Naruto growled in frustration. "Shut up! I canceled the technique while the branch was still in the air! Then why did I get hit?"
'You idiot! Imagine you are pushing a wooden cart down the road with great force, after you stop pushing it, will it stop by itself immediately.'
Naruto chuckled sheepishly as he realized his mistake.
The fox demoness seemed silent for a while as she contemplated the new technique. 'This technique can be very useful if you are able to perform it right. You can kill a surprised enemy before he even realizes what happened. But you will need to be careful with this one, as you will be pulling things towards you, this will be very risky as well.'
Naruto paled a little as he realized that the training he would have to go through while perfecting this technique won't be pleasant. "I can only imagine what would have happened if there was a kunai instead of that wood log."
She chuckled lightly. 'Indeed. Now if you didn't notice, there was very little chakra flow towards your Yogengan when you performed Bansho Ten'in, and it used very little chakra as well. I would say you can do this every ten seconds for hours.
However, that doesn't mean you have mastered the technique yet. You should be able to do it with both of your hands. And if it is possible, attract two objects towards each other instead of you, or maybe completely control the path of your target.
Unless you are able to do all that, I need you to keep working on it while we travel. Not much, just use small stones for your practice while we look for your relative.'
He gave her a mental nod. 'Okay.'
'Oh and Naruto, once you are able to do this completely, and we don't find that person, then we should move on to the dragon summoning. After all, we can't waste too much time looking for just one person, we have to get back to your family within five years.'
'Hai.'
"Bansho Ten'in!"
Three Weeks Later | In a Valley Near Amegakure
'Naruto! Stop!'
'What is it, Kyū-chan?'
The demoness waited for a while in silence as if expecting him to come up with an answer. 'Do you feel that? There are a lot of chakra signatures here, and they are very strong too. If I had to guess, at least fifteen of them are high-jōnin level. And one is at least kage level. I need you to hide your presence as much as possible and investigate this.'
Naruto was honestly a bit scared being this near to so many powerful ninja, some of them might be capable of easily taking him down. 'Okay, with any luck they won't have any sensory type ninja. It will be impossible to feel my cloaked presence in the middle of so many high level chakra signatures.'
Fifteen Minutes Later
Naruto was now looking at a very intriguing sight.
A half-crippled man who he recognized as Danzo from his mother's description was standing on top of the valley with the man with more than kage level chakra. He seemed to be the leader of all the Ame-nins in the valley except those two who were standing down the valley.
Whoever he was, he was very strong. Alongside him stood at least fifty more ninjas, all higher than chunin level, with at least fifteen ANBU level among them.
But they were not what caught his attention, oh no. What caught his attention was the red haired man standing down the valley, or more specifically, his eyes.
That rippled pattern around the pupil with bluish grey shade was not something people get to see every day. Those were his eyes, his ancestor's eyes. If this person had those eyes, that means he was a relative.
He was family; there was no way Naruto will let him die here.
But what could he do?
'Don't forget that he has the Rinnegan, and he is much older than you, so he must know how to use it better than you. Such a person cannot be easily defeated no matter the number of foes. I think the only reason the fight has not commenced is because 'our' enemy has a hostage.'
As if responding her words, in front of the cripple there was a blue haired girl on her knees with a kunai pressed to her throat.
It was then that the man with a gas mask on his face started speaking in a menacingly calm voice. "Nagato, if you kill Yahiko and disband the Akatsuki then I will let you and Konan go unharmed; what do you say?"
'He is lying.' Naruto mentally informed Kyuubi.
'How can you be so sure? I mean it is a possibility yes but...'
Naruto shook his head, he wasn't guessing. 'I can tell he's lying. I can also tell that the cripple wants the redhead's eyes.'
'Ah, interesting. So that's why the elemental star part of your Yogengan keeps draining chakra constantly; it interprets people's intentions to you. Very interesting…'
He didn't want to miss the opportunity to meet another Uzumaki because he wasted too much time. 'We can discuss that later, for now what do we do? It is clear that if we don't get that girl out of there then we will lose the chance to meet another Rinnegan user.'
Kyūbi understood what he was going through, but she was a bit hesitant to let him endanger their lives for the sake of someone else. With so many effecient ninja against them, even with another rinnegan user they can't say for sure if Naruto will be unharmed.
However, she knew that if she didn't help him deal with the enemy, once the rinnegan user and his friend were down, Naruto will be next. Right now it was difficult to focus with so many chakra signatures in such a small area. But once one side was down they will have only one non-familiar signature remaining.
She won't be surprised if they decided to check who the unknown was, and she knew Naruto could probably die in such a situation. So she decided to let Naruto help the other rinnegan user in getting out of this situation, for both their sakes. 'Well Naruto, from my point of view – Nagato and Yahiko, as we heard their names are, can't do anything till we get that girl out of there. They can't get her out, if they try anything the girl dies.
Now this is where the easy part ends. You don't have any techniques to accomplish this task except the Banshō Ten'in.
I propose you first maintain a focal point on the kunai and the girl on the same time; this will take both of your hands. Then you will need to pull back the person who is holding the kunai towards the wall behind him. Just have the intention to do it and your Yogengan will pull the proper chakra and perform the technique.
At the same time you will need to pull the girl towards you using your right hand.
You fuck up a single thing and the girl dies. Can you do it?'
Now Naruto was honestly feeling some pressure of the situation on himself; but his resolve was still firm. 'It's our only hope…'
Kyūbi smiled, she was beginning to admire the determination this boy had. 'Good, now focus – one you get it – Initiate!'
With Nagato and Yahiko
Nagato was having an internal struggle with himself. He had no idea what to do in this situation.
He didn't want Konan to die, he loved her. He couldn't let her die – no, that was not an option. But how could he kill his own friend? Yahiko had been with him since the beginning. He gave him food when Nagato was starving, let him stay with them when he was homeless, gave him guidance when he was aimless, gave him confidence when he was hopeless. How could he? What kind of person would he be if he killed Yahiko!
No, that was not an option either. So what could he do?
"Nagato, please kill me and leave with Konan. You are the hope for this world's future. You are going to be the bridge to peace! You cannot die here. Please, fulfill my dream for me."
Unconsciously Nagato's hand moved towards his kunai pouch, and started to finger his kunai. But just as he withdrew it, he heard the name of a very familiar technique; his technique, a technique that needed his eyes to be used.
"Bansho Ten'in!" Naruto called.
All heads whipped towards the voice, and the next thing they knew a squealing blue haired girl was flying through the air, with a kunai in front of her, while Danzo's ROOT ninja that was holding her was falling backwards due to a very concentrated Shinra Tensei aimed on him by Naruto's Yogengan.
It was all going perfectly, till his eyes decided that instead of pulling the ROOT ninja towards the wall at his back, it will be better to push him away.
So the Yogengan had used Shinra Tensei on the now dead ROOT ninja's chest instead of the modified Banshō Ten'in like he intended; thus consuming a lot more chakra.
Naruto had no problems with that ninja dying, but he did have problems with the exhaustion that was going to set in after using two Banshō Ten'in's and a Shinra Tensei at the same time!
He was so busy mentally ranting that he didn't notice the danger until a kunai pierced his left hand and a blue haired girl crashed into him.
"Ow... that hurt like a bitch." Naruto groaned in pain.
"Konan!" Nagato and Yahiko yelled at the same time.
"Oh she is fine! She just passed out from too much Gravity focused on her, sorryabout that. I am with you for now by the way, now could you do something about those guys?"
Naruto, fortunately had the foresight to wear clothes that covered most of his body thus making him unrecognizable to most of the Konoha shinobi present.
With Nagato
He didn't fucking care who this kid was, but he knew that the fucking bastard Hanzo had almost killed both of his friends. And possible love interest, he mentally added.
'That fucking piece of shit, I'm gonna rip him a new asshole!'
Somewhere far away, Tayuya sneezed; feeling as if someone was stealing her style.
"Whoever the son of a bitch is that thinks he can fucking get away with fucking stealing my fucking copyrights can go fuck himself. Did you fucking hear that, you fucking piece of dog shit? I will rip your fucking dick off, you fucking asshole!"
Kimimaro, Sakon and Ukon, and Kidōmaru backed off from the crazy bitch while Jirōbō decided to reprimand her.
"You shouldn't swear Tayuya, that is unbecoming of a lady."
"Wouldn't you know how to be a fucking lady, you fucking shithead?"
Back with Nagato, he tried to ignore the sudden shiver that was racing down his spine. Somehow he found himself back into his rage mode and did what the Uzumaki tend to do when their loved ones are in danger.
"Shinra Tensei!"
Some of the higher level ninja sensed the attack far earlier than it came. They were the best at what they did, thus when they performed A-rank techniques to block the incoming attack, they were confident it would work.
What they didn't know was that Shinra Tensei dispelled any and all techniques it collided with, and continued on till it completed the physical devastation it was meant to do. The only way to escape was to either escape from its range, or be able to survive the shockwave of gravity.
Hanzō growled as some of his best subordinates lost their lives to the rage filled attack of the rinnegan wielder. Only those who had decided to dodge instead of block survived.
The valley's wall in front of them was utterly destroyed by the blast of gravitational force; taking many more ninja with it. The sheer power behind the move stunned even Yahiko, who had witnessed the move many times before, but never to this level.
Yahiko shook himself out of his trance and then proceeded to show the enemy why exactly he was the leader of the Akatsuki. "Suiton: Daibakufu no Jutsu!" (Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique) Yahiko released a huge wave of water upon the enemies.
Naruto thought quickly and decided to aid them, what little he could in his exhausted state anyway. Deciding to pick on weaker opponents, he spotted a Konoha shinobi that looked ready to pounce on a distracted Yahiko.
"Bansho Ten'in!"
Pulling the surprised shinobi towards his left hand, he took out a kunai with his right hand and then just as he was about to get body slammed, he held out his right hand with kunai.
Needless to say the ninja didn't get time to think what he should do.
'That was a very simple but very effective strategy Naruto. Good going.'
'Thanks'
He noticed that even though Nagato and Yahiko seemed very powerful, they were being pushed back.
Yahiko seemed very skilled with water ninjutsu, and was continuously throwing B and A ranked techniques at the enemy, while Nagato was skilled with Gravity. He was able to use the Shinra Tensei every five seconds for twenty meters. That was pretty damn impressive. But what astonished Naruto was the fact that the red haired man was showing no visible sign of exhaustion.
In fact, there was only one emotion that was radiating off him right now, from what his Yogengan was telling him, it was rage; pure unadulterated rage.
'This is not good.'
If he used one of the more powerful Rinnegan moves, Naruto didn't want to be trapped inside a second moon in the sky. Oh no, he wouldn't like that at all, he wanted to be able to go back to his family after his training! They had to end this fast, before Nagato loses control.
"Yahiko-san! Nagato-san is losing control, we have to end this soon!"
"We don't need to, I can sense my friends heading this way, and they will be here any moment now."
Just then about twenty people, all about jōnin level jumped around the four of them in various defensive stances.
"Yahiko-sama! What's going on?" A bald man with a very unusual body shape asked.
Yahiko looked at his comrade gravely before explaining the situation to them. "Apparently Hanzō has betrayed us and joined forces with Konoha to eliminate us, this kid is with us for now. We must escape; we're not ready to fight an opponent of Hanzō's caliber yet!"
"Hai!" Even Nagato grunted in response, though Naruto could tell he didn't want to leave without killing all his enemies. With that the group started traveling in opposite direction of Amegakure; towards fire country's border.
Only half of the Anbu level ninja he had brought with him had survived. Most had died in the first attack due to being unprepared, but after that they easily got out of the range of an attack they sensed couldn't be stopped.
As they made a move to pursue the escaping group, Hanzō held up his hand to stop them.
"Hanzō! What are you doing? We can't let them go, you promised me I will get to keep that man's eyes!" Danzō sneered at the legendary masked ninja.
The salamander summoner gave the presumed cripple a cold glare. "Shut up you old fool! I didn't plan on fighting their entire group. If your incompetent ninja had not let that girl go, we would have had only the Rinnegan user left to handle. And during his mentally weak state due to the loss of his friends, we would have taken him out easily.
As it is now, I don't want to fight an entire group of A-ranked ninja with Yahiko leading them; especially when they have an enraged Rinnegan user on their side."
Danzō gritted his teeth in annoyance. He knew very well that if Hanzō and the rest of his men wanted, they could take down the escaping group. The reason Hanzō didn't do so was because he knew he will definitely lose many more of his best men. "But what about…"
"Our deal is over. If you want the Rinnegan, you can get it yourself. They are out of my country and that is all I want.
If they are not here, they can't cause a rebellion and I can do whatever I want. If they come back, I will deal with them personally or with allies who actually perform their duty well, unlike you."
With that, Sanshōuo no Hanzō walked off with his remaining troops; leaving a fuming Danzō behind.
While Danzō was a lot of things, he was not retarded; he had seen how easily the Rinnegan user was tossing his ninja aside like they were dolls. If Hanzō had helped him, he could have killed them all. But that fool! He had just let such an opportunity go!
He had so many plans for a Rinnegan eye, and now who knows how long he would have to wait…
Eight Hours Later | Fire Country
"Alright stop! I think we can rest now. They are not following us." Yahiko ordered the group, which was immediately followed.
Once the other members of the group were off, setting camp, Yahiko set Konan down in front of a tree, then he joined Nagato in his 'who glares more at Naruto' contest.
"Um.. hello?" Naruto asked, somewhat uncomfortably. Geez, he saved these guys asses, and they are glaring at him? Ungrateful bastards.
'Now you know how I feel.' Kyūbi whispered in his mind.
Finally, Nagato sighed and mumbled something.
"Um.. sorry, what did you say?"
Nagato glared at the blond. The red haired male was sure the boy heard him, but was only trying to make fun of him. "I said thanks. How were you able to use that technique though?"
Naruto contemplated his next course of action, could he trust them with this?
He didn't know them much, but he knew that Danzō was a slimy bastard. And if that bastard wanted them dead, they automatically qualify for the 'Potential Allies' list Naruto had.
Before he could respond though, he was interrupted by the blue haired girl he saved.
"I..I… thank you, mister. Who are you?" Konan's voice was far from the usual confident and smooth tone it usually possessed. She was ashamed of herself for almost causing both Nagato and Yahiko's death. She believed if she was stronger their lives would never have been risked again like this.
If it weren't for this strange boy, she and her friends would have been probably dead.
Naruto seemed to think for a little while. "Hm..." As he paced back and forth in front of them, the Ame-trio got more and more impatient. Just as Yahiko was about to interrupt his train of thoughts, the blond made his decision and started speaking. "Can we go somewhere in private? I would like to keep this as secret as possible. I don't want to have my enemies know about me yet."
His eyes bore directly into the trios'. Even with the sunglasses covering his eyes, the three could feel that he was completely serious. It hadn't exactly been a very hard decision, he had known before being in this situation that sharing this information was necessary if he wanted to learn Rinnegan techniques from the other rinnegan wielder.
They gave him a nod and started walking away from the rest of the group. Once they were out of hearing range, Naruto stopped, which caused the other three to stop as well.
He slowly removed his sunglasses and exposed his eyelids. As he slowly opened them, two of the three witnesses gasped in shock, while Nagato's dōjutsu sharpened slightly. He seemed the least surprised by seeing the ripple pattern in Naruto's eyes.
The older rinnegan wielder had already come to the conclusion that Naruto had the Rinnegan as well. It certainly explained the sunglasses in cloudy weather and gravity manipulation. Yahiko and Konan however, were shocked. They didn't know anyone else who possessed the same eyes as Nagato.
"You have the Rinnegan?" Konan whispered.
Naruto smiled mysteriously at her, earning himself a confused look. "Yes and No."
"What do you mean?" Yahiko asked somewhat confused.
Naruto sighed. He once again reconsidered if he should really do this. Then he thought, what the hell, you have to give some to get some, right?
"I mean exactly that, Yahiko-san. This is the Yogengan; Rinnegan is one of its parts. My original bloodline – the Rinnegan was fused with Sharingan by its creator, Kyūbi no Kitsune. Later on, I activated my transcendent bloodline, the Elemental Star. The Yogengan is what I call the result of these three fusing together."
Yahiko and Konan were gaping. Out of all things they had expected, this was too much information.
Nagato on the other hand…
"Where did you get those sunglasses?" Nagato asked, excitedly.
Yahiko and Konan snapped out of their stupor and started yelling at him for going off topic. "What?"
Nagato pointed his finger accusingly at Naruto's sunglasses as he spluttered. "I mean just look at them! Any normal pair of glasses would have given any ninja with a trained eye at least a slight glimpse of his eyes! Even with my Rinnegan those glasses completely concealed his dōjutsu."
"Ah these!" Naruto said, looking at his glasses proudly. "These are a gift from my sister, since we have a lot of Byakugan and Sharingan users in Konoha who would have been easily able to see through any normal ones, she got these made for me from Kaa-chan. Not only do they cast a permanent genjutsu over my eyes while I am wearing them to look like normal, they also create fake chakra pathways to mislead the dōjutsu users who can see through them!"
"Awesome…" Nagato was drooling, while Konan and Yahiko were looking at him strangely.
Finally Nagato noticed their stares and answered their unspoken questions.
"Do you have any idea how hard it is to keep trying to hide your eyes from everyone? Most people who see mine either get scared, start worshipping me or they begin plotting against me to take them for their personal agenda." He deadpanned.
"Oh… I didn't think a simple pair of sunglasses were that important… hehe." Yahiko nervously replied to Nagato, who just grunted in response.
Naruto chuckled as he decided to get to the point. These people seemed like they could probably get along with him. "Nagato-san, now that we have broken the proverbial ice, let's discuss some family matters…"
With that Naruto started explaining to Nagato about the Uzumaki clan.
Twenty minutes later
"So your Mother was Uzumaki Shiki? Have you ever heard of anyone named Uzumaki Kushina?"
Nagato's eyes widened in shock; this boy knew his aunt's name? "How do you know her? That was her sister's name!"
"Really? She is my mother! I guess we are cousins then, huh?" Naruto grinned.
Nagato gave him an hesitant nod, not quite able to fully comprehend the aspect of having a living relative himself. "I never thought I would get to meet any of my relatives again. Where is Kushina-san then? And can I meet her?"
Naruto nodded as he didn't see any harm in telling him about it. "She is in Konoha… and of course you can meet her, but not right now. Konoha is full of greedy bastards and if they notice you there, with your rippled eyes in a showcase and all, they will start acting like hormonal teenagers in the girl's side of the hot springs."
Nagato seemed a bit downtrodden at the idea of having to wait. "Oh, so what do we do then?"
The blond pondered on his words for a while before replying. "Well, I initially was looking for you so that you can teach me how to better use my Yogengan. Then once I am a bit better with it I will take the a summoning test.
Once I pass it I will send one of my summons to tell Kaa-chan about you. Then we can arrange a meeting. Does that sound okay?"
"Sure, but be warned, I have never tried to teach anyone else anything, so I really don't know much about teaching." Nagato replied sheepishly.
The blond waved his worry off casually. "Eh, don't worry about it; I will watch you perform with my eyes completely activated. Just show me what you want to teach, and tell me the things that you can't show in the open yet – and I should be able to get the basic concept. From there on I will need to try on my own."
That seemed fine with him, so Nagato nodded. "Well then, what are we waiting for, let's see what you got!"
The blond gave him a confused look. "What do you mean?"
The grin on Nagato's face was somewhat scary. "I mean... you have to spar with me!"
He only had the time to widen his eyes and say two words. "Oh shit..."
"Let's begin, Shinra Tensei!"
'I wonder if it is an Uzumaki tradition to torture your relatives and try to kill them?' Kyūbi mused as her container was flung back by Nagato's gravity attack.
Yahiko and Konan immediately left to watch from a safer distance.
Naruto meanwhile was in a world of pain. Never had he been on the opposite side of that technique. Nagato had managed to surprise and catch him off guard; it was a good lesson for Naruto, never let your guard down.
"Okay, now that you are up. We can truly begin. Chibaku Tensei!" [Planetary Devastation]
A black sphere of concentrated gravitational chakra was thrown in the sky above Naruto. Nagato seemed a bit winded after using the technique, so Naruto was immediately on guard.
Panic struck him when he was lifted up in the air along with most of the ground around him, towards the sphere of chakra. By his estimation if he was unable to break free from the technique, he would be squashed like a bug and his remains would be trapped inside an earth sphere.
'It seems this is the powered down version of the same jutsu that the Sage used to create moon to seal Juubi's body. Fascinating.' She wasn't concerned about Naruto's life, she knew Nagato had no intention of killing her container. And she had already grown somewhat immune to pain after the boil baths she had felt during Kushina's 'training'.
Meanwhile, Naruto began going through his list of possible actions, and only one seemed good enough to escape. He started pushing about ninety percent of his remaining chakra into his eyes and hands, with all his strength put in his last ditch effort he called out his technique.
"Shinra Tensei!"
A huge shockwave of gravity from the blond disrupted Nagato's technique in a thunderous crash of titanic forces and pushed all the rocks and dirt away leaving only a lone figure floating overhead.
Yahiko and Konan seemed amazed at the massive devastation the two Rinnegan wielders were causing; even more so considering the blond was merely a child.
When Naruto's concentration finally broke, he pushed most of his left over chakra to his feet to minimize the damage from the impact of his landing. After that he blissfully passed out.
"Don't you think you overdid it a bit?" Konan asked Nagato. Nagato was always sort of shy and hesitant when it came to harming anyone, this was not like him.
The Rinnegan wielder sighed. "Konan-chan, I will be honest with you. When those bastards had us trapped at the valley, I realized what could have happened if I had hesitated even for a bit. We all would have died. I don't want one the last remaining of my family to die like that.
By the time we are done, I will make sure he is a hardened ninja who will use his powers to protect all that is precious to him, and destroy everything that stands in his way without any hesitation or guilt."
Konan and Yahiko were somewhat shocked upon hearing this. They always had to console Nagato that it was okay, and they were doing it only to achieve a better world each time Nagato had to take a life.
But this new Nagato, he just beat the shit out of his newly discovered cousin just to teach him a simple lesson; do not ever let your guard down and never hesitate.
After a while, Konan smiled. It seemed Nagato had finally understood what he was aiming for, and what he wanted. Without any further words they picked a now unconscious Naruto up and went back to their camp.
Chapter End