Naruto took a break from his Taijutsu training upon seeing the Hokage enter the Namikaze-Uzumaki compound. What made him pause, however, was the serious look on his face that always spelled trouble which always seems to include him for some reason.
"Hey jiji. Nice of you to visit. What can I do for you?" greeted Naruto in a cheerful voice.
"Good morning Naruto. Training hard I see?" replied the Hokage, still serious.
Naruto scratched his head in embarrassment and gave the old man a goofy grin. "Yeah. Kyuubi is a slave driver. He doesn't want me to slack off in my training and want me to master Fox Fist style as soon as possible. He said that it would serve me well in the future."
"Indeed. Having a solid grasp on a Taijutsu style is basic in the Shinobi arts." He paused a bit, seeming to ponder his next words carefully. "Naruto, I came with some news though none of them are good at the moment so maybe we can go inside your house so we can talk?"
Naruto immediately picked up the seriousness of the matter so he nodded and guided the old man to the kitchen. When the old man sat down, he hastily prepared tea for his guest. He sat down after pouring both of them a cup.
"Now what do you want to talk about old man?" asked Naruto.
The Hokage didn't say anything but reached inside his robe and pulled out a small black book. He turned a few pages and handed it to Naruto. He picked it up and read what the page says.
Name: Namikaze-Uzumaki Naruto
Affiliation: Civilian, Konohagakure no Sato
Rank: A
Age: 9
Bloodline: Kamigan (God's Eye)
Abilities: The target is able to command the elements to attack and defend. Taijutsu-Unknown, Ninjutsu-Unknown, Genjutsu-Unknown.
Warning: DO NOT underestimate despite his age. Reported to be dangerous according to sources. Ability is able to destroy large numbers in a matter of seconds.
Bounty: 10,000,000 ryo
Status: Alive – Kill or Apprehend on sight
Naruto was shocked. He was in a book and it looks like he is a wanted criminal. This shook him to the very core. What is the meaning of this?
He looked at the Hokage's somber face. "What is this jiji?" His voice shook as he voiced out his question. The Hokage sighed.
"That Naruto-kun is a Bingo Book from Iwagakure."
"What is a Bingo Book?"
"A Bingo Book is like a wanted poster for all shinobis with a bounty on their heads. It seems that Iwa got word of your inheritance, how, I don't know. I would guess that someone from the council released your information outside the village. Iwa got word of it and immediately placed you in their Bingo Book with a large reward. Still a child but already an A-Rank nin." He chuckled over the last part.
"But why? I didn't do anything to them? Why would they add me in the Bingo Book and to be killed for Kami's sake." whined Naruto.
"Naruto, you need to understand that Iwa harbors a major hatred against your father, and in this case, your family. In the Third Great Shinobi War, your father decimated hundreds of Iwa shinobis with his Hiraishin. The Namikaze name is greatly feared in Iwa and it seems that this fear and hatred have carried on to you." The Hokage explained in a serious tone. Naruto sighed.
"I guess there is nothing we can do about this. I mean there is no way we can just send a word to their Kage and tell them to remove me from their Bingo Book." said Naruto in a dejected voice.
"Indeed. Don't worry Naruto. I have the ANBU on the case. They are on alert around the village and my spies outside the village are monitoring all shinobis they can find just in case some of them plan to go ahead with your bounty."
"Thanks old man. I guess I need to train harder so I can protect myself." said Naruto, smiling a bit over the irony of the situation. He always aimed to gain the respect of everyone through his actions, but it seems that he got the opposite. He hasn't even ventured outside the village and he is already known and feared by Iwa. It was ironic indeed.
"You're welcome Naruto. Now what I want to do right now is to test you. I have no doubt that you have come a long way in the Shinobi arts. I want to have a spar with you to see what you're capable of. I decided to see what you can do to alleviate this old man's fears when you become a shinobi of Konoha." said the Hokage but you can see the excited gleam in his eyes over the prospect of battling Naruto.
"Sure jiji. When you do want to hold the spar?" asked an over-excited Naruto.
"Why don't we adjourn to your training ground and have our spar there?" asked the Hokage.
"Sure jiji. Let's go!" he paused "Can you wait for me in the training ground? I need to change into my Shinobi outfit. If you want to spar then we might as well make this a Shinobi spar right?" The Hokage laughed.
"I wouldn't want it any other way Naruto. See you outside." With that, the Hokage left for the training ground while Naruto went up to his room to change into his Shinobi outfit.
The Hokage's jaw dropped when Naruto came out of the house and into the training ground. He looked just like Minato when he was his age. It seems that Naruto emulated his father's outfit into his own battle gear.
He saw that Naruto was wearing a black muscled shirt that revealed his lithe muscles underneath. He wore a dark gray cargo pants with multiple pockets that can easily hold small scrolls and supplies. He also wore a pair a black combat boots instead of the usual Shinobi sandals. Holsters were strapped on both his thighs, possibly holding kunais and shurikens. Over his shirt, he wore a white robe with blue flames at the hem. The sleeves of the robe were lose and almost reached his fingers. Over his heart is the insignia of the Uzumaki-Namikaze clan, on the other side, however, held a curious design, a fox with five tails each with a different color signifying his Elements.
"Minato, Kushina, you would have been very proud of your son." thought the Hokage.
Naruto approached the Hokage and gave him a cheeky grin. "So jiji, what do you think?" The Hokage gave an approving nod.
"You look good Naruto-kun. It seems that you based your Shinobi outfit with your father's. It suits you perfectly as his heir."
"Thanks jiji. So how do you want to do this?" asked Naruto.
"Why don't we start out with the Taijutsu first followed by Ninjutsu. Then we can go into an all-out spar. What do you think?" Naruto gave him an enthusiastic nod.
"Sure jiji. Anytime you're ready old man." With that, Naruto went into his Taijutsu stance.
The Hokage saw Naruto went into a battle-ready stance. It seems that Kyuubi's tutelage over the Fox Fist style suited Naruto very well. There were no holes in his defenses.
Naruto slid into a basic stance of the Fox Fist style. Left leg front and right leg back. His right hand was balled into a fist and pulled back to his right hips while his left hand was out in front with hands resembling that of a claw. Overall, it was an intimidating sight.
The Hokage nodded his approval over the powerful stance in front of him. He pulled off his robe to reveal his battle outfit similar to that of the Shodaime. He took off his Kage hat, threw it in one corner of the training field and got into a battle stance.
Naruto wasted no time in waiting. He tensed a bit then shot off at his opponent with amazing speed which shocked the Hokage. He took a swipe with his left hand which the Hokage easily dodged and lashed out with a kick to the ribs which the old man blocked an arm. The blow was definitely strong.
"There was a lot of power in that kick. To think that he didn't even channel chakra to amplify the blow." thought the surprised Hokage.
Wanting to get this show on the road, the old man lashed out with a well-aimed punch to Naruto's chest which was swiped away that effectively opened up his defense. Naruto took action and released a punch that almost got him but was barely able to block with an arm.
They continued trading blows for a few more minutes, none gaining an advantage over the other. What Naruto lack in experience he made up with speed and agility.
The Hokage seeing that Naruto's Taijutsu was effective, he decided to go all out and released a barrage of punches and kicks that slowly destroyed the young man's defense. After a few seconds of blocks and blows, the Hokage saw a hole in the young man's defense and quickly lashed out with a well aimed kick to the chest.
Naruto felt air left his lungs with the strength of the kick that sent him sprawling to one end of the training ground. He groaned but immediately got up and took up a defensive stance while waiting for his healing factor to take care of the damage.
"Very good Naruto. Your Taijutsu is definitely on mid-Chunnin level. It seems that the Fox Fist style suited you well. You can easily improve when you gain battle experience as you match your ability with other opponents. Now let's proceed with Ninjutsu. Prepare yourself." shouted the old man and went through a series of hand seals and released his technique.
Earth Style: Mud Bullets
The Hokage took a deep breath then shot out a couple of mud bullets at Naruto with amazing speed and accuracy.
Naruto was already healed when he heard the old man complimented his Taijutsu and told him to proceed with Ninjutsu. He was caught off guard when the old man sped through a series of hand seals and shouted an earth technique.
Not wasting any time, Naruto immediately activated his Kamigan. The Elemental Orbs immediately materialized around him then threw his arm out willing the Water Orb to release a torrent of water in front of him, successfully stopping the attack.
He raised another arm and commanded the Wind Orb to release a powerful gust of wind similar to the Wind Style: Grand Breakthrough that he read in one of the Wind Scrolls in his father's library.
The Hokage saw this attack and sped through another set of hand seals and slammed his hands on the ground.
Earth Style: Earth Wall
A wall of earth effectively blocked the attack but the strength of Naruto's wind blew a few chunks off the defense but his attack failed to reach the old man.
Seeing that the old man was able to block his attack, Naruto released the Water Orb from its position and command it to take position on top of the field waiting for further commands. When he saw the old man release his defense, he shouted "Now!"
The Water Orb who was innocently hovering over the battlefield released a continuous stream of water that shot off to the Hokage with pinpoint accuracy. He saw this and jumped out of the way but the water seems to follow his movement like a predator to a prey. He continued to dodge but was caught off guard when he heard the crackle of lightning. He looked at the direction of the sound and saw a stream of white lightning heading his way, aiming to electrocute him.
"Shit" the Hokage cursed over the double attack and replaced himself with a log when the attacks hit him.
Naruto saw the Hokage effectively dodging his water attacks and fired off his lightning wave for a pincer move. The attacks hit the Hokage dead center that caused a large shockwave that caused the ground to shake. When the smoke died down, all he saw was a large burnt log in the middle of the crater that his attacks created. He heard something behind him only to turn and saw a large fireball screaming towards him.
"Damn it." He reacted instinctively and a wall of earth shot out of the ground to block the incoming ball of fiery death.
The attack was effectively cut off but the old man wasn't done yet. Seeing that Naruto was blinded because of the wall of earth he created to block his fireball, he teleported behind the boy and released a stream of red-hot fire.
Fire Style: Raging Inferno
Naruto felt the Hokage behind him but he was ready this time. He recalled the Water Orb from its vantage point on top of the battle field to his side then commanded it to release a powerful jet of water. Both attacks collided between them causing a large amount of steam to appear.
Getting tired of basic attacks, Naruto prepared his Orbs for his ultimate attack that he practiced a few months back. "I hope your ready old man. Have a taste of my ultimate technique!" Naruto shouted and threw both his arms out to the Hokage.
The Elemental Orbs followed their master's command and floated in front of his outstretched hands and got into formation. The orbs took its place in front of Naruto creating a circular formation, like that of a five-pointed star similar to his Kamigan and rotated, slowly at first then at high speed that made them appear as a blur. Without warning each orb released its own set of attacks while spinning, releasing a twirling mass of Elemental barrage in a steady stream that definitely reeked of power and destruction.
The Hokage saw this and paled. Each of the elemental attacks packs quite a punch but all of them together will surely kill him. It has enough chakra to turn him into dust. In desperation, the Hokage sped through a series of hand seals for his own ultimate defense and slammed it on the ground, hoping against hope that it would hold against Naruto's powerful assault.
Earth Style: Ultimate Defense: Kami's Embrace
A 7-feet thick slab of earth appeared around the Hokage creating a semi-circular shield around him that met the attack head on.
Naruto's attack hit the thick shield of earth causing a shockwave. The shield held so Naruto kept the attack on hoping to break the old man's defense. A few minutes of stalemate, Naruto was almost depleted of chakra so he stopped the attack and promptly fell to his knees gasping for breath. When he looked up, he saw that the Hokage's shield was sporting cracks all over and the part that got hit by his attacks was cracked and showing signs of giving way.
The Hokage felt Naruto's attack subside so he allowed the shield to crumble and saw his surrogate grandson kneeling on the ground panting. He was proud of the boy for his achievement. That last attack was definitely powerful. The boy was young so his chakra reserves weren't at its prime so it is only normal for the boy to almost pass out of exhaustion after all the attacks and defenses he released during their spar.
He walked over to the boy and knelt down. "Are you ok Naruto?"
Naruto took in a deep breath to satiate his craving lungs, still exhausted over the last attack. "Yeah…I'm alright…that last attack was supposed to only last for a few seconds but I kept it up for so long that it drained me." The Hokage nodded.
"Indeed. The last attack was so powerful that I have no choice but to bring out my own ultimate defense. It was one of my personal techniques that created a thick shield of earth strengthened by my own chakra. If you kept that attack up for a few more seconds then it would have broken through and obliterated me." said the Hokage, his voice spoke of how proud he was of his achievement.
"But still I wasn't able to beat you old man." said a dejected Naruto.
"Come now Naruto. I'm the Hokage. I should be strong enough to protect the village and those I love. I wouldn't be much of a Hokage if I was brought down easily, would you?" chuckled the old man.
"You're right. Hehehehe I guess I was just expecting too much of myself." said Naruto, a sheepish grin on his face.
"Nonsense. You did more than I expected and proud of you my boy. You held your own against me and I'm sure that you can easily protect yourself when the need arises. Now, let's head over back to your home. There are some things we need to discuss especially with the Academy opening in 2 months.
Naruto nodded and took one last deep breath of air then stood up. He stretched for a bit to loosen some of the muscles before heading over to the kitchen. He brought out the left over cake from the fridge and a pitcher of orange juice and placed it on the table.
"So jiji. What do you think of the spar?" asked Naruto wanting to know how he feared against the Hokage. He took a slice of cake and bit a large chunk out of it.
The Hokage sipped his juice and gathering his thoughts to give Naruto a proper evaluation. "Well, I can only say that I'm proud of you my boy. The spar itself was amazing and you were displaying skills that Jounins can only dream off. Your Taijutsu is easily Chunnin level and can even give off devastating attacks if you take time to channel chakra through them and your speed is also at Chunnin level."
"Heheheh I knew I forgot something. I forgot to remove my training weights. Heheheh" said a sheepish Naruto.
The Hokage was floored. Naruto was that fast even with weights on? This kid keeps on surprising him. "How much weight do you have on Naruto-kun?"
"Hmmm let me see, I'm at 200 pound each on my wrists and legs. So I guess I have a total of 800 pounds of weights on me." said a grinning Naruto.
"I…see." The Hokage felt his jaw drop when Naruto told him the amount of weights on his body. He immediately agreed that Kyuubi was a slave driver. Even the famed Maito Guy didn't have that amount of weights when he was at Naruto's age. "So if you remove your weights, I would say that you are at Jounin speed?"
"Yep. According to Kyuubi, I would be at Mid to High Jounin with my weights off." said Naruto proudly. The Hokage nodded.
"Amazing. It seems that you're training was quite serious eh Naruto? Well let's continue with the assessment of your skills. If what you say is true that you could have easily landed a blow when your weights is removed so I guess your overall Taijutsu is at Jounin level. Your Ninjutsu was indeed noteworthy especially on how you manipulated your Elemental Orbs, especially for that last attack. Can you explain it to me?" asked the Hokage.
"Sure jiji. I don't have a name for my last attack yet. I only perfected it last month when I saw one of Dog's jutsu while we were sparring. The attack was a combination of all five elements. What I did was to let the orbs spin in a circular formation in front of me at high speed. This way, when they release their attacks, it would come together like a drill. Aside from the elemental damage, Kyuubi told me that the spinning motion of all the elements will allow it to act like a drill that is able to bypass any forms of defense." Naruto paused a bit. "I guess I can call that attack Five-Elemental Drill or Elemental Drill." He finished excitedly.
The Hokage laughed at Naruto's child-like enthusiasm over the naming of his technique. "Indeed. The name suits the technique well. Now Naruto, in 2 months you will be attending the Academy so we need to talk about how you would be acting around the rest of your peers." The old man said in a serious voice.
Naruto cocked his head to the side, curious over what the Hokage was insinuating. "What do you mean jiji?"
"What I want you to do Naruto is to downplay your abilities. Your Elemental Orbs are already well-known throughout the village so you can use them as you see fit. However, I want you to downplay your overall skills to avoid alerting your enemies to what you are truly capable off. Remember, a shinobi's most powerful tool is deception so I want you to hide your skills and only bring them out in dire situations. You can be open with your skills once you have reached the rank of Chunnin." explained the Hokage.
"He has a point kit. Not only will you bond with your peers but you will surely have the element of surprise when you are in battle. If they don't know what you can do then they will be unprepared for it." advised Kyuubi. He was proud of his container. The battle was indeed amazing. The way he used his elements to attack and defend was noteworthy. The last attack definitely has potential, especially when Naruto's development reaches his prime.
"Ok old man. I'll do that." said Naruto.
"Thank you Naruto. Also, I want you to expand your supplemental jutsus. Since you already have the Elemental techniques down, I want you to increase your survival rate using supplemental ninjutsus. You didn't use any of it in battle so I guess you didn't take that into consideration during your training."
"Supplemental jutsus? What are those?" asked a confused Naruto.
"Those are the basic jutsus taught in the Academy. You already have the Bunshin (Clone) technique down so you might want to expand your repertoire with Kawarimi (Substitution), Henge (Transformation), and maybe Shunshin (High-Speed Teleportation). This will greatly aid you in battle."
Naruto was excited in learning those techniques. They sound interesting to say the least. He immediately created 5 shadow clones and instructed them to go to the library and search those techniques out and any other supplemental jutsus that he would want to learn. The Hokage chuckled over Naruto's enthusiasm and laughed outright when he created Shadow Clones and instructed them to go to the library to search those techniques out. Things will definitely be fun in the future with Naruto on the job