Title: One Year Later 1
...
Shun observed his two latest students go at it with the various bounty hunters and couldn't help but be proud of their achievements.
Now, the two both had various scars on their bodies that now qualified them as pseudo-war veterans.
Although with Karin's healing abilities, those scars were quickly healed much to Shun's disappointment. He at least expected them to carry the scars, if not for anything, then intimidating the others.
However, Shun was later made aware that the two didn't need any form of intimidation.
The more they fought, the more ferocious their invisible aura became.
Any weak minded person would instinctively feel pressured in their presence, and any strong person will still feel it and know to either steer clear or try a face off with Lady Death.
Due to not having a moment of peace, the two maintained this aura till they finally reached Nagi island.
From there, Shun stopped paying attention to them.
Despite knowing that Nagi wasn't on his island, he was still not in the mood to meet either his student or daughter, so he quickly retrieved the drone.
As for why the drone was always following them, it wasn't just for entertainment purposes, but also for protection.
The Akatsuki were still at large and no one, not even Shun, knew what was going on in Obito's mind sometimes.
With that, Shun continued paying attention to his duties while still maintaining watchful eyes on the people that mattered...
...Naruto and Sasuke.
These two have become really strong right now.
Orochimaru didn't particularly cover Sasuke's body, but due to wanting to know the limit of an Uchiha up and close, he put extra attention in training him.
Numerous degenerates existed in their masses in this world, and Orochimaru was never short on them.
He made sure to capture any and all Rogue Ninja that he or his subordinates came across in their time outside.
These were the people that were used to sharpen the sword that was Sasuke.
Orochimaru had made sure that Sasuke fought till his stamina was exhausted daily before lecturing him on a thing or two about elemental natures and their manipulation.
He was really interested in how far Sasuke would go in comparison to Itachi.
He had met Itachi up close and felt how terrifying he was even when he wasn't consciously trying to show it, he felt the same way, or even more pressure in Shun's presence, and considering how much Shun had planned for the little Uchiha, he too had expectations.
Since no one taught Itachi personally and he was that much of a genius, how much would his brother be with good guidance?
Unfortunately for Orochimaru, he failed to account for Shun. Since Itachi was personally taught by Shun, there was likely no other teacher better than him alive.
As for Shun, to show appreciation for Orochimaru's selfless efforts, he modified the Curse Mark of Heaven that had been injected into the sound four, bringing their physical bodies to a half of what Jūgo's body could achieve.
As for Kimimaro, Shun directly removed his cancer cell using dust release.
Similar to Itachi's illness, Kimimaro's cancer was one caused by excessive use of a particular Elemental Chakra.
Itachi's lungs were affected due to excessive use of Fire, or just Microscopic Polyangiitis. Inflammation of the blood cells in simpler terms.
As for Kimimaro, it was just tuberculosis. Tuberculous was a bacteria that could attack any part of the body, lungs, spine, kidney and even the brain.
Kimimaro's was a case of the lungs.
Orochimaru, despite all his expertise in human biology could treat that.
So repeating what he did in Itachi's case, he simply disintegrated these bacteria.
This helped Sasuke find an even tougher opponent to test his mettle against, and adding Jūgo the trio quickly became sparring partners and lately friends.
They were all people with a scarred childhood so they quickly got along after a brief introduction of their respective childhoods.
Jūgo still went on his rampages, but that only served to help Sasuke advance his Genjutsu prowess.
"You should try meditation sometimes. Perhaps it'll help you." Sasuke had once advised but Jūgo shook his head.
He had once tried it and it didn't bode well, for some reason, when he does meditate, a foreign energy always finds its way into his body and mind, changing his human physiology as well as causing his conscious mind to take a back seat view while a foreign consciousness takes over.
Sasuke had shrugged as he didn't know what else could work, after all, meditation never did work on him, Shun had tried to teach it to both he and Naruto but it only worked on Naruto.
And by working, it meant that Naruto quickly fell asleep while sitting.
And speaking of Naruto, Sasuke always wondered how strong he would become, afterall, he had been growing stronger in both his physical strength and chakra manipulation.
Since physical strength was Naruto's specialty, he wondered if he could now confidently beat him without having to go all out, afterall, Naruto only relied on physical strength, Kage Bunshin and that absurd Rasengan.
Thankfully, he had properly mastered his Chidori and even advanced it to the Raikiri and other variations.
(A/N: They're both the same thing, only more refined. Kakashi could also use the Raikiri but Sasuke had more variations like the Stream, Blade and others.)
And speaking of Naruto, during the two and a half years he spent with Jiraiya, other than mastering his chakra control in different environments Jiraiya took him to, he learnt how to properly meditate.
He didn't know, but it was due to the weird medicine Shun had given him after his defeat to Sasuke.
Shun had told him it'll increase his chances next time and left it at that. He had also told him that he should try meditations. That was the easiest way to enter his seal and meet with the person who killed his father.
Shun had explained Kurama's side of the whole story and told him to do as he pleased when he met him, and that was exactly what Naruto had been doing in his spare time.
Conversing with Kurama was tiring and frustrating at first, but being who he was, Naruto didn't give up on an opportunity to make a new friend.
So after incessantly disturbing Kurama for more than a year, the fur-ball had begun speaking a few times whenever Naruto told him about his days.
Naruto noticed this and often teased him, but being the Fox he was, he didn't forget to make Naruto know his place with a little show of pressure.
Although doing this made the seal backfire on him, he still enjoyed the panicked expression of Naruto at times like this.
One more year passed and the two had begun chatting amicably, however, Kurama still saw him as every other human while Naruto still saw Kurama as the Demon Beast.
Despite how friendly he may appear, Naruto still held some hatred towards the Kyuubi and Kurama knew this, after all, his specialty was sensing negative emotions.
Since Kurama didn't tell him his name, he didn't also tell him he had a human form, if he did, Naruto wouldn't have had to always strain his neck whenever they talked.
This was all about trust.
A few short months passed and Shun dropped by, telling them that he had been appointed as a captain and his life was basically over.
Naruto, not understanding this, beamed in joy for his elder brother figure, but Jiraiya, understanding it, shared a bottle of sake in his condolences.
Although confused, Naruto didn't bother to ask why they both had depressed looks on their faces and began to tell Shun all about his experience, both with Jiraiya and Kurama.
Apparently, Jiraiya still had feelings for Tsunade, this was why he didn't court Last Death by trying out Naruto's limit with the Seal.
Afterall, considering how strong Naruto's body was now, he could use more than the initial four that scarred him in the original timeline.
The four tails was the limit of the Naruto of that timeline, and it still managed to injure the mighty Jiraiya, in this timeline, considering his improved physical and spiritual strength, the Sixth tail might be when he'll begin losing control.
That's yet to be tested but Shun felt it was the case. Of course he didn't tell this to Jiraiya as he still expected him to try his chances with Lady Death.
After the meeting, he dropped off a new set of clothes for Naruto.
Shun had specifically created the clothes, knowing full well of the future events.
He made them destructible, yet repairable. Not just repairable, but auto-repair.
He had also dropped off a set for Sasuke too. They both repaired as they absorbed the natural energy in the air. They both didn't know this but Jiraiya noticed it.
He didn't point it out directly but still praised it to which Naruto beamed and said.
"Right? Right? My Nii-san is a genius."
"What he said." Shun added. Although he knew Naruto didn't understand why he was being praised, he could deny the fact that he was indeed...A Genius.
"And to top it off, it has a transformation ability as well." Shun said and explained.
Basically, it could transform to whatever mode it felt was suitable for certain battles.
(A/N: I don't know about you guys, but it always baffles me how Naruto's attire always changes whenever he enters sage mode and out. Also, during the Fourth War, I was more than baffled, but I came to watch the action so I didn't let it bother me.)
"I don't get it, but it sounds awesome!" Naruto continued to praise to which Shun graciously accepted.
"You should know the reason already lil bro."
Naruto laughed and Shun joined as well causing Jiraiya to also smile happily, however the look he gave Shun told Shun that he too needed one such attire.
Considering his line of work, why wouldn't he need one.
"You're a Fuinjutsu Master. Create one yourself." Shun snorted. It was already late at night, so after making sure Naruto was fast asleep, Jiraiya and Shun had their own private discussion, and at the end, Jiraiya asked for a set to which Shun harshly rejected.
Smiling wryly, Jiraiya couldn't help but shake his head. If The Seal for Transformation was so easy to master, the Uzumaki clan wouldn't have been annihilated.
In fact, if the numerous things the Uzumaki could do back then were so easily mastered, why would they even be worth banding together to attack.
They were even able to summon the Hand of God in a kamikaze attack when they saw they couldn't win.
Yes... The whole world, due to the words of the survivors of the Uzumaki Attack, all think that the hand of God was a suicide attack initiated by the Uzumaki clan in a bid to take the Shinobi of the other three villages with them.
After seeing that the civilians had managed to escape the island, the Uzumaki confidently unleashed that SSS-Rank Technique that totally annihilated the forces of three entire Shinobi villages.
This went a long way to prove how dangerous the Uzumaki clan was.
And yet, similar to the Uzumaki, the Tengoku clan was even more terrifying. The only thing that set them apart was that while the Uzumakis decided to leave secludedly, the Tengoku clan chose to surround itself with other clans to form the mighty village that no one dared think of going against.
"I guess we won't be seeing much of you..." Jiraiya muttered as he watched Shun prepare to leave.
"Not really, I'm a genius, remember? Currently, one of my willing clones is doing our duty over in Hanagakure, so I can do whatever I wish till he decides he's done." Shun shrugged nonchalantly.
However, he was feeling really down.
How could his own clones refuse to be of use to him, the original?
They even oftentimes argued that they were the originals.
How absurd was that?
Perhaps being a genius wasn't all that good..?
Nah... That's not possible. It's simply because we're all Geniuses.
Shun concluded and disappeared.
His next stop, Sunagakure…