Chapter Five: Hizashi's gift;
"Why couldn't we make the the first Obake mask that way too?" - "It wouldn't be as useful and I wouldn't be able to connect to it and talk to you like this. Plus you wouldn't be able to control it."
"It's just, this was so much easier." - "Yeah and useless to both of us."
*Sigh* Naruto just finished the seal for the owl mask. He was almost disappointed. He expected it to be another grueling slug fest. He was wrong. It only took him three tries, and only because he had to review some line work to write the portion of the seal without the other 90% of the runes connected to it.
When his mom had told him he would make the mask today, he hoped she would fail to find an owl. He wanted another day off before he had to learn something new. He just hated Fuinjutsu that much. The legendary tales of great shinobi gods and their allies may have included Fuinjutsu in the captures of the tailed beasts but ultimately for Naruto, It was nothing more than a headache and he'd rather learn some cool Ninjutsu or become a master of hand to hand combat.
Now was the hard part, or easy part depending on how you looked at it. Naruto had to place the mask on the owl's face and hold it still long enough to seal it inside the mask. Kushina had left the owl tied up and blindfolded on the counter. It had slept there and remained calm this whole time. Birds tended to calm down with a mask over their heads. His mother said it had something to do with dulling its senses so it doesn't get overwhelmed with everything going on around it.
Naruto was still wearing the fox mask. Without transforming, it didn't allow his mom to talk to him face to face or pull him into her mindscape but they could talk through their link in the mask, and Naruto could feel the connection vaguely. It felt like he was connected to the mask in two different places, but he couldn't exactly feel where, and the connections faded the instant he tried to follow it without transforming, and he knew transforming would instantly throw him off the trail.
Naruto removed the hood off the bird. It stared straight at him but didn't struggle or bite at him. 'It's waiting.. It probably thinks I'll let it go or maybe it decided that it's just not worth attacking me over. It was a fox that snatched it so it doesn't really have any reason to be scared of me.'
"Hey mom, what kind of bird is this? It doesn't look that much like an owl and it is really big."
"That's an Eagle-Owl I think. They eat fish so this one was probably following the migration to collect easy meals. That's still an owl though, It will work for the mask." - "Oh, I guess that's all that matters... It won't hurt it right?"
Naruto asked in a whisper. He liked the owl, it looked at him with curiosity and even a little trust. He didn't want to hurt it.
"No, he'll be perfectly fine. He'll just live the rest of his life connected to someone else. He'll be well fed and taken care of. You know... some of the nicest people in Konoha are Hyuga. If they weren't so closed off you'd probably already know, but perhaps it's because they are such a reserved family that none of them seem to have a bad bone in their body."
"Also, it won't hurt. That's just not how seals work. This one won't even make him feel like he's trapped. He will live his entire life outside the mask. The only thing he'll have to do is get used to being connected to someone else when he comes out to live his life."
"Really? That's a relief." Naruto relaxed and lifted the mask. He brought it up to the owl's face and let it check it out for a moment. The owl pecked it and decided it had lost interest. It began turning its head and assessing Naruto to try and see what he would do next.
"Ok, It's time now. No more waiting." He psyched himself up as he held the Eagle-Owl down by pinning its chest beneath his weight. Naruto didn't have any more time to get ready. It was time for the struggle. The bird kicked and tried to flap its wings and tuck away its face but it was fully bound. It couldn't escape unless Naruto released the ropes tied around it and It didn't take long for it to figure that out as it instead tried to peck at his fingers from behind the mask. It could feel it was being drawn into the mask and it didn't like it.
*Screech* Vehemently protesting its capture it started pushing its head towards its feet and tried to push its feet towards it head to kick the mask away. "Mom!"
"It just doesn't want to be sealed Naruto, you're not hurting it."
"But-" - "No ifs, ands, or buts about it. This is a free animal Naruto. Would you want to be trapped in one place when you've lived your whole life free?"
"If he just wants to be free, isn't what we're doing wrong?" - "No, for a very simple reason."
"Then, why?" - "Because, Naruto. We aren't hurting it. We're giving it a better life than it probably ever would have had on its own. Even if it wants to be free, it mostly doesn't understand that it won't live trapped in that mask, like it's afraid of. It will only live when the mask is used, and it will only die when it reaches old age. It's just scared right now."
"Plus, Naruto, we need to do this, remember? We are doing this because we have to, not because we want to. It's for Konoha." Again, Kushina lied to her child, but he was too young for her to trust with the harsh truths of the world. Animals eat other animals to survive, and even the animals that don't eat meat will still kill others for food. Things that need to be done just need to be done, and things that are helpful need to be done too before its too late and you find out you needed them.
"Ok mom..." With reluctance on his face, Naruto accepted his role and held the mask and bird in place. It didn't take long before a blue flash of light signified the owl's soul being dragged into the mask and its body turned black.
At first, Naruto was confused, his mom said it would take its body into the mask but just a moment later the body liquefied into ink and got sucked into the mask, replacing the missing runes with an outline of itself surrounding the seal that had the soul in it.
"It's all done Naruto, good job."
"W-will he really be happy?" - "Yes, honey he'll be just fine. He'll get to eat his fill and fly through the sky to his heart's content, seeing new sights every day, and he'll help keep the village safe. Hizashi won't mistreat him. You can trust him."
Naruto felt better about it all. He got down from the stool and got ready to clean the counter top and clean himself off. Wild animals were filthy and this one was no exception. What he wasn't expecting was for there to be the man in the funny mask standing there. Naruto jumped but soon calmed down as his mother reassured him. "Just answer his questions. Remember, you learned Fuinjutsu at the library."
"Uh... Hi I guess. How can I help you?"
The man looked Naruto up and down evaluating him before speaking. "How did you learn to do that?"
"Oh, that! They're called Obake masks. Do you know what they do mister? They turn you into an animal when you're wearing them and the animal controls your body unless you take control with your willpower. You see, I've been reading up on Fuinjutsu at the library but most of that stuff is really complicated and too dangerous for me to make so I thought I'd make something useful an-"
"Never mind, come with me, the Hokage wanted to know how you turned into that fox."
"Ok. By the way, that mask is a gift. I've already got a fox mask, obviously, so I'm giving that one to a man named Hizashi. He's from the Hyuga clan. Do you know him?" - "No..."
"Well, do you think-" - "Save it for lord third Naruto, I'm sure he's all kinds of curious about your masks and how you figured out how to make them."
"Man, I thought you'd be friendlier. You were hilarious when you fell out of that tree!"
"That wasn't me..." - "You sure? cuz I could have sworn-"
The man wasn't waiting anymore. With furrowed brows, he sighed and gripped Naruto by the jacket. "Naruto, he's going to take you to the third hokage. I want you to tell him how hungry you've always been and about how as a fox you've caught fish and found mushrooms. I want you to tell him how easy you knew eating would be if you could just turn into an animal." - 'Okay'
In a blur, rooftops disappeared beneath Naruto's feet. Frozen from fear and surprise, tearing through the air in the grasp of this man, Naruto could only wonder what the hokage would be like and why he'd be so important to get an audience. 'I'm just an unwanted orphan, Right?'
Soon, the whole world blurred and Naruto was suddenly standing on solid ground. He was in a room, and if his guess was correct, they had just jumped through the window. 'Not what I was expecting. Where's the servants, the tea and cake? All this stuff about lord this, lord that! This old man doesn't even have any maids.'
"Are you a phony mister? I don't think lords like it when you impersonate them. You should tell me now, so they don't think I've insulted them by calling you lord third!"
Hiruzen just took a drag of his pipe, not bothering to answer the boy. 'Naruto... I thought you would at least recognize me. You should have been taught about me in those lessons of yours. You should at least recognize the outfit.'
Naruto looked around the room. It was pretty spacious but sparsely decorated, mostly just a desk and a whole lot of paper scattered about. The old man sitting at the desk just smoked his pipe in silence. The man was dressed as a rice farmer of all things! Weird design aside.
"Why don't you tell me about yourself Naruto? How are you doing? I hear you've been studying well enough on your own."
"Hmm, well I read but I don't know what you mean. I just read useful or interesting stuff. When I found out I couldn't use the jutsu in the library yet I was a bit disappointed, you know. As for other stuff, I'm doing fine. I eat enough not to be so hungry all the time. Ah, you should have heard, but I made this mask! It's for that Hyuga fellow Hizashi, do you know him?" - "Yes, I know him. You made this yourself? What for?"
"Oh, well I figured out how to make these animal masks. Their pretty simple, so it was easy. Most Fuinjutsu is really hard, you know. So anyways, I've already got my own, but I wanted to make sure I got it down. I heard some kids talking about how the Ninjas have to protect the village because some mean people far away aren't happy with us or something. I don't know!"
"Anyways, so one thing I've read about is this really cool thing some ninjas have. It was called Dojutsu or something like that. Anyways, they've got these special eyes and all and one of the clans that does is the Hyuga. From what I read, the Hyuga can see reaaally far! Like so far we wouldn't even know what they're looking at."
"So, I just thought, what if I made them a mask? I chose an animal with good sight and I imagine from the sky you could see anything! I thought maybe if I gave one to a Hyuga, they'd be able to fly around and spot enemies for us and protect the village as a ninja should!"
"How do you know Hizashi? Have you ever met him before?" - "I don't really know him, I just heard somewhere that he was the protector of the Hyuga. So, if that's his job, shouldn't he have one?"
"Maybe. You must really be brilliant to come up with this young Naruto." - "Not really sir. I hate Fuinjutsu. I really hate it. Its so boring and you have to learn about so many things to use it."
"So why learn it?" - "Well to be honest sir, It wasn't even my first choice. It was an afterthought since I can't use ninjutsu yet. I was already practicing fighting, and throwing kunai, I just needed to do something else, learn something else to replace ninjutsu."
"You want to be a ninja?" - "Well, yes. Ninja are respected. Ninja eat whenever they want and people welcome them with open arms and give them discounts. Most of all, Ninjas can protect the village and defend the weak. Ninjas are heroes. I'd rather be a hero than an outcast."
"An outcast..." Hiruzen frowned and rubbed his forehead. 'You understand don't you Minato? Kushina? Your boy needs to grow up strong. Nothing good would come of parading him around like a hero just to have the people hate him and spit at his feet anyways.'
'We don't have anyone that can take care of him. Jiraiya would bring too much attention and danger to him, not that he's fit to parent. Kakashi won't take the boy, and he's far too distant to be a good choice. If I arrange something he will be nothing but a target for the village. The boy demon caged up like an animal in its rightful place, they would think. Mikoto... There's no place worse for him than the Uchiha, not that I could allow it if it were any different.'
'This way... This way, the boy is out of the spotlight. There will be people who treat him as just another boy. I hope you can forgive me, But I truly think this is best.'
"Gramps! Hello! Have you fallen asleep mister? You've just been staring off into the distance. You're okay right?"
"Yes, Naruto, I'm perfectly fine. Forgive this old man for reminiscing. The older you get, the more things you have to think about and all that. Now, about that mask, can I see it?" - "Oh, yeah, here you are sir!"
Hiruzen took the mask from Naruto's outstretched hands. At first one might think it was ordinary but Hiruzen simply ran his chakra through it and examined the runes as they appeared. He looked down at the image around the seal. 'These runes, are almost childish. They're simple, but why do they work? It's just a drawing of an owl around the seal.'
"You drew an owl?" - "No sir, I just made the seal, the owl drew itself. Right now, that mask has the owl inside it and the body became that ink. When you put it on you have to think about transforming into the animal or else it doesn't do anything."
"I see. You said you already had a mask. Where is it?" - "Oh, one sec. Watch this!"
Naruto put his hand to his face and pulled the mask out of it. His skin stretched and receded as the mask appeared in his hand. Pulling his hand away revealed his face again. Then he put the mask back up to his face as he and the mask morphed into a fox on the ground. Naruto lifted his paw and pointed at the old man before reverting back to himself without taking the mask off. Instead the mask absorbed into his skin.
"See? Perfectly safe, and useful, believe It!"
"That was the mask's work, right Naruto?" - "Yes, I couldn't do that before I made the mask. Why?"
"Lord Third, if I may?" Hiruzen just glanced at him and handed over the owl mask. This would be the test. 'Is Naruto's seal responsible for that transformation or that demon?'
The masked man turned around and removed his dog mask from underneath his hood. slowly the hand holding the owl mask rose to his face and froze there for a moment before the man put his own mask on and morphed into the owl right in front of the Hokage. At first the owl flapped its wings as if ready to take off before relaxing. Its eyes replaced by a pair with intelligence.
Not even a moment later, one of the Eagle-Owl's eyes turned red as three Tomoe appeared. The owl glanced around and seemed to have a silent conversation with the Third Hokage before the old man nodded his head and the bird flew out the window. On impulse Naruto just had to ask. "The sharingan! Is he an Uchiha?"
"Don't you mind him now, Naruto. His identity is secret. Besides, if he were Uchiha, wouldn't both of his eyes be sharingans?" - "I read about the sharingan too. Isn't the whole reason their eyes aren't always red because it is too exhausting for them to use them all the time. Oh, so is this just a test? He doesn't need to use both eyes so he doesn't and all that?"
"Yes, Naruto, this is just a test. Though, even if it weren't, an Uchiha would probably only use one eye anyway because that's how birds look for food, by tilting their heads and using one eye at a time." - "Oh, I didn't know that. I just knew they could see pretty far so Dojutsu should be able to see even farther with a birds eye, right?
"Right you are Naruto. Right you are." Hiruzen internally sighed as he took another drag of his pipe. Naruto couldn't know what he was thinking but the man couldn't help but be disappointed.
'Too bad, these Obake masks are almost useless. Sure, they might help the Hyuga, but even the Inuzuka have a more useful transformation. Any sensor ninja could tell he wasn't a real fox or that Kakashi wasn't a real owl. It looks to be only useful in our own controlled territory where enemies won't care to find out what a ninja disguised as an animal was doing. If I'm right, they can't use jutsu with the transformation either.'
"What have you used your mask for Naruto?" Hiruzen asked curiously.
"Hmm? Well, the senses are really hard to get used to, but as a fox I've managed to forage for food and catch fish easier. I've even hunted rabbit, but they're really really fast. Mostly, I use it to move around without people bothering me. Some people treat me weird you know, like I'm an animal, except, when I am an animal, they treat me better! I JUST DON'T GET IT!!!"
As Naruto started pulling at his hair in frustration a flash of brown blur appeared and in its place was the man in the hood. "I trust It works as expected?" - "Yes Lord Third."
"As for you Naruto, I've already asked all my questions. Is there anything you want to ask me?"
"Um, sir? Can I have my mask back? I can't give it to Hizashi if I don't have it." - "Are you sure? I'll hand it over to Hizashi myself. Wouldn't that be much easier?"
"SERIOUSLY!? Sure! That was the part I was most worried about. I didn't think he'd take me seriously and I'd have to bow at his door and beg him to try it or something. Though most people think the Hyuga are pretty nice from what I've heard so I probably would have been fine."
"You know, you're not bad for an old geezer! I knew this one guy that-" -*Smack*- "Respect your elders brat! This is the Hokage and he's offering to do you a favor. You shouldn't be that loud anyway."
"But what if he's hard of hearing! He really is OLD you know!" - "Hahahahaha!*Cough, Cough* Stop it! Now take the rude boy back to his house, we've wasted enough of the young man's time. You remind me of my son when he was just a boy Naruto. You have a little time before you need to mature!"
Naruto grinned with a victory sign held up and stuck his tongue out at the masked man before he was violently whisked away and left on his own back in his kitchen. There was still cleaning to get done... 'Why did I have to forget about it?' Naruto groaned.
---Back at the Hokage's office---
"You called for me Hokage-Sama?" - "Yes, Hizashi, I have something for you."
'Is it a mission... I don't usually accept missions. It would go through through Hiashi first.' Hiruzen must have seen Hizashi's furrowed brow but instead of addressing his concerns he simply slid a certain owl mask forward.
"Hokage?..." - "Tell me what you think of that."
Hizashi assumed there must be something else other than the mask but it wasn't apparent. Confused, Hizashi picked it up and examined it with his Byakugan. There was a soul in there! It had a fully formed yin chakra and even traces of yang chakra, but there was a soul that was in stasis, unmoving, unfeeling, and uncaring. There was something else. A tether of sorts. The mask, and through it the soul, could connect to him if he put it on.
"That there is an Obake mask. Inside it is the soul of an owl. I can promise you, It has already been tested, but it allows you to transform into and control the owl contained within." Hiruzen took another drag on his pipe and Hizashi patiently waited for the rest of the explanation.
"I want you to have it. It's yours really. A small child figured out how to make that and after making that for himself thought it would be good for the Hyuga to have one. You'll understand after you transform. It should be quite useful to you"
Hizashi brought the mask up to his face but nothing happened. "Hokage..."
"You have to imagine yourself transforming into an owl, I believe."
With an annoyed look at the delayed instruction, Hizashi quickly transformed into the owl and was shocked to find himself not in control. He thought about pulling the mask off, and instinctually knew he could, but realized he could just take the reins and force the animal to obey him. Soon enough he took to the skies, awkwardly and had to give a little control over to the owl to observe and learn the ropes.
Hizashi flew over the valley and gazed down at the villagers. Everything was clearer than it should be. Just to be sure, he used his Byakugan. He could instantly see the difference between him and a normal owl. It looked like he was a soul wearing the owl's soul overtop. The transformation was fragile, and the flaws were obvious. This form leaked chakra.
Hizashi hypothesized that since this body wasn't his natural form, his chakra which is manipulated and molded into shape by the mask, is responsible for literally every function of this body, replacing all the natural functions. 'It doesn't matter what kind of sensor is present, if they spread their senses towards me it's over! I'm a beacon!"
Still, Hizashi would have a use for the mask. He never heard of anything like it. The only shinobi known to be able to fly was the Tsuchikage, and nobody really misses a human figure flying through the air so nobody pays that much attention to the sky except for birds that are out of place or suspicious. Hizashi knew that if he flew high enough and acted normal, he'd be able to spy on anyone with impunity. It wasn't practical though, Outside of Konoha such a tactic would either be too exhausting or too hard to set up ahead of time.
Hizashi returned to the Hokage and excused himself. He would need to plan, but Hizashi liked the mask. For now, he'd try to domesticate the owl trapped within. The next thing on his todo list was to inform his brother Hiashi.