So, a new day. The mission is a regular one today, D rank, collecting herbs. We quickly found the required brooms and went home. I created three clones in the morning and left them to pack.
The gates of the clan quarter. Slightly cracked paint, a general atmosphere of desolation, here and there attempts to fix something are noticeable. Spots of fresh paint, fresh boards in the wall of an old house, a piece of new light-colored slate on a dark roof. In general, the atmosphere is oppressive.
The house of the clan leader is made in a classic style. I push the door open. Sasuke is sitting cross-legged on a small elevation, smoking bowls of incense on his sides, he is wearing a clan kimono with an Uchiha fan on the lapel.
- The head of the Uchiha clan greets you, Uzumaki-dono. - Sasuke bowed ceremoniously.
- I greet you, Uchiha-dono. - I carefully kneel down and return the bow.
-Would you like some tea? - He asks the usual question.
-Thank you for the offer, I won't refuse.
Sasuke's face is filled with thoughts. There is no servant to bring tea, and it seems that his situation does not allow him to go himself. Finally, he just snorts and looks at me with a smile.
-Thank you for this little performance. For a couple of seconds, I seemed to return to the times of the clan's greatness. Let's go to the kitchen, and then I'll show you your house, it's on the next street. Small, but it will be easy to live in alone. - Sasuke stood up and motioned for me to follow him.
We were having tea when Sakura ran up and joined in.
-Sasuke! Do you know the main rule of jokes over cookies?
-Nope... - Sasuke takes a sip from a small cup.
-Don't make people laugh before tea. - I smile.
- I'll remember. - He nods with a serious face, and his eyes sparkle with joy. - Let's go, I'll show you the house.
He gave me a four-room mansion. I designated one room on the second floor as a bedroom, the next one as a rest room, I'll arrange something like what I saw in the ANBU dungeons. One lower room as a living room, I decided to designate the second as an equipment warehouse. A cozy basement after a little remodeling will become a great workshop for the future (I don't count the kitchen, bathroom and toilet as rooms). Yeah, and this is a small house, in Sasuke's opinion. It seems that he and I have different concepts of categories.
The clones quickly began to settle in the space... with cleaning. There was really a lot of dust. By five o'clock the house had taken on a satisfactory appearance.
After thinking, I created four clones (the ones created earlier were dispersed) and sent them one by one to my teammates to invite them for a talk. One ran to the store, the second stayed home, he will help cook dinner for the runner. - Naruto, why did you call us? - Sasuke asked when we gathered. - To talk about our team. Is there a training ground in your area? Lead the way. So. - I waited a bit, collecting my thoughts. - Our team is definitely an assault type. Sasuke is a front-line fighter. Sharingan, situational awareness and excellent taijutsu coupled with fire techniques will allow him to effectively act at the forefront of the attack. I am more of a support fighter. Huge reserves of chakra allow me to simply crush the enemy with powerful techniques without engaging in close combat, in which I will hardly ever be able to match Sasuke. Sakura, forgive me, but as a fighter you are useless, - the girl hung her head, not even trying to object. - But! As a medic you would be simply irreplaceable! In total: the enemy gets a fighter like a demon Uchiha, and a hail of techniques from me, counterattacks do not bring results, because Sakura will instantly heal any wound. I think we need to strive for this. Your ideas? - We must definitely let them speak out, we cannot impose our will.
- I think Naruto is right. - Sasuke nodded. - However, my sharingan only has one tomoe, and I do not know how to develop it further.
- I have a couple of ideas on this matter. Sakura? Why are you silent?
- I do not know. I can fight with you ... but I understand ... But losers who cannot fight go to the medic-nin! - she blurted out.
- Because of such an opinion, we have huge losses. Tsunade-hime generally insisted that each team have a good medic-nin, and that all shinobi know the basics of medicine. - I object to Sakura, raising a finger admonishingly.
- Really? Tsunade-sama said something like that? - Yeah. She practically threw her fists at me to prove it. Unfortunately, no one listened to her, but I personally agree with the idea, and you, Sasuke?
- Yes. Here's the training ground. What did you want? - I look around. A couple of trees, makiwara, throwing blocks, a large pond.
- Joint training. I'll show you something now. - With these words, I run up and stand on the water. Envy flares in Sasuke's eyes and reluctantly fades. - This is an exercise in chakra control, but first you need to learn to walk on walls...
We returned at night, tired, but incredibly happy. Sakura immediately walked quite confidently on the tree, but she struggled with the water until sunset, diving under it every now and then. Sasuke mastered the trees by sunset, he didn't want to try to step on the pond, because it was already cold. I instructed both of them as best I could, and trained myself with thirty clones.
Sasuke, who was in a disgusting mood at first, after he dashingly beat me in hand-to-hand combat, beamed with a satisfied smile. True, his mood was slightly spoiled by the fact that after the sparring I practically had to be carried.
The clones did their best with the dinner, it turned out tasty, filling, a lot, and enough for breakfast.
The next day we decided to test ourselves for predisposition to the elements. Sasuke had long known his fire and lightning.
Sakura took the identification paper first. A slight tension on her face and the sheet of paper began to fall apart, rotting before our eyes.
- Earth! Simply magnificent! Protective and delaying techniques, with a relatively small attack potential. Ideal for a medic. - I say, and I grimace inwardly, because the earth is incredibly gluttonous.
- Yeah... - Sakura is dissatisfied, apparently hoping for something else. - Your turn, Naruto!
I take the sheet of paper uncertainly. I am an alien, who the hell knows, maybe I don't have any elements at all. Eh, to squeeze a leaf between my fingers, a crumb of chakra. What??? It falls apart, shrinks and gets wet. What should I do with it?
-Naruto, wind, water and lightning? Rare luck. I heard that some people had four at once. Like our sensei, for example. Geniuses...
-The fox has fire chakra... - I blurted out.
-So you have four elements to develop. - Sakura looks with envy.
-Yeah. And it's four times harder for me to develop each of them than for you to develop one! If it were just water or lightning, it would be good... how long will I have to train? - I grab my head.
-What do you think I should develop first? - Sasuke switches to a businesslike manner.
-I want lightning, but I think wind, it will enhance your fire techniques. - I answer after a minute's pause. Sasuke nods thoughtfully.
-I don't know how to train your elements. Are we going to the library? Or should we try to find out from Kakashi? - Uchiha asks.
I create clones that go looking for sensei. We ourselves move towards the library. On the way, we miraculously meet Kakashi, I quickly dispel the clones.
- Kakashi-sensei!
- M-ma. Hi guys, what do you want? - Sensei portrayed melancholy with his eyes.
- We have questions about studying elemental techniques! - Sakura says. Hatake stumbled on level ground.
- It's too early for you to do this! First, you need to strengthen control, for example, walk on walls. I've been putting off this training for a long time, but I think it's time to do it. This is done...
- We already know how to run on water, Kakashi-sensei. - Sasuke interrupts. - We need techniques of all elements.
- I can help with fire and earth. I understand lightning quite well, a little about water, but I can't be of any use with wind – I don't have it. Asuma-sensei uses wind. And Danzo-sama, of course, but I doubt he'll train anyone. – The captain answered, hopelessly putting the book away in his pouch.
-Kakashi-sensei, let's go to the training ground! We'll need all your skills! I have earth, Sasuke has fire and lightning, and Naruto has all the elements except mine! – after this phrase, Kakashi choked on air.
-Four elements at once, Naruto-kun? Have you mixed anything up? – his voice was filled with suspicion.
-No, Kakashi-sensei. The paper showed wind, water and lightning, and also fire from my bijuu. That's right, four elements.
-Who told you about…
-Hokage-sama. – I'm answering an unasked question.
- I see. Well, since you are so enthusiastic, get ready for hellish - the sensei emphasized - training. Rest today, and tomorrow I will be waiting for you at six in the morning at training ground #11. Bring food for two days with you. Naruto, teach your comrades shadow clones, they will be very useful to them. I need to make plans. - Disappeared shunshin.
In vain we did not believe about hellish training! Four months flew by like one hour of continuous torture. Missions - sweet rest! Kakashi turned out to be just a monster worse than the canon Might Guy. I passed out just at the sight of a bed, there was no need to walk to it. Four hundred clones, a hundred for each element (Kakashi on the very first day brought a pile of scrolls about wind, managed to negotiate with Asuma) trained day and night, without breaks. I no longer cared about the number of clones, my head did not hurt.
How is that possible, physical exhaustion? No way! A shinobi, due to his shinobiness, cannot be ruined by training. Chakra will heal damaged muscles, relieve fatigue, and is not amorphous in itself - a healthy mind in a healthy body. Chakra develops together with the shinobi.
Sasuke opened the second tomoe and is about to get the third, in fire he reached the first B-rank technique, with the exception of the non-rank fireball - here, as much chakra as you pump in, so it will strike, in lightning he knows several E and C-rank techniques.
Sakura feels quite confident in C-rank techniques, some B will be given soon, but alas - too little chakra for anything else. During classes at the hospital, she managed to learn several medical techniques, but so far only C-rank, she still has a long way to go before sewing on limbs and transplanting organs, typical of B-rank.
I mastered the rasengan, which I basically don't need, just "for achievement". In all four elements, I confidently use C-rank techniques, I haven't grown up to learning B yet, as Sensei says. I have decent skills in tai and the beginnings of skills in kenjutsu.
We all know how to seal things in scrolls, extract them from there, create explosive seals. After checking, all the seals were dumped on me, because even my crooked ones worked better than the perfectly drawn ones of others. Well, the legacy of blood, enhancing runic magic, is something.
Today is a significant day. I decided to communicate with the demon inside me. Sasuke is sitting opposite, the sharingan is burning in his eyes, it is he who will immerse me in the inner world. Sensei is also nearby, as is Sakura, who will provide first aid if something goes wrong. My sensory senses another thirty people watching me very cautiously. The Anbu could not ignore such an event.
- Begin! - I say to Sasuke, and the last thing I see is the red color of his eyes.
Oh yeah, I completely forgot to tell you about the dojutsu. Sharingan - red eyes with several pupils. One small one in the center, around which additional ones appear as they develop, in the form of commas. Each comma-tomoe allows you to see more and better, and even predict the enemy's movements. Eyes with Sharingan give a huge advantage in gen and tai jutsu. The highest form of this dojutsu is the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan. Eyes that have great power and give access to truly terrifying techniques, such as Susanoo - a ghostly almost impenetrable armor, or Amaterasu - an all-consuming unquenchable black flame.
Byakugan. I know much less about it. It seems like it has no evolution stages, but it comes in different quality. This dojutsu allows you to see chakra and its channels, and also gives you a 360-degree view.
Rinnegan. A mythical dojutsu that I should have. It gives you power over all five elements, allows you to use gravity techniques, and resurrect the dead. No matter how much I put chakra into my eyes and strained, I couldn't notice anything like that. It seems like they lied…
Let's get back to our sheep, as they say. I'm standing ankle-deep in water, damp walls, rusty pipes. I don't like this! I create a hundred clones, they run off to fix and clean. I run my hand along the nearest pipe, according to my will and fantasy, the rust falls off and new, shining polished metal knocks out from under it. The labyrinth is slowly transforming. I walk forward slowly. It feels like about an hour passes. Then one of the clones dispersed, and a room with a cage was discovered.
I breathe hoarsely and try to stop my hands from shaking as I walk to the place. The last turn and…
-R-R-R-A-A-A! – a roar knocked me off my feet, dragged me along the floor and pinned me to the wall.
You can shit yourself like that! How can I talk to such a creature? Kami!
-HAVE YOU COME FOR MY POWER? – a voice knocks me down, not letting me get up. – YOU'RE PATHETIC! LET ME OUT, YOU INFERIOR!
I rise to my feet with difficulty. Why the hell does this demon have so much power? This is my inner world! I walk to the cage. Gigantic bars, as thick as the trunk of a mighty tree, darkness behind the bars, a red fog spreads across the floor. I disperse it with an effort of will. There is no paper that supposedly holds the gate in place. It is also not very clear how to operate this seal.
-I only came to talk.
-TO TALK? - Huge claws hit the bars from the other side. Animal eyes with vertical red pupils open. -WE HAVE NOTHING TO TALK ABOUT, HUMAN!
-Is that so? You don't want freedom? -I hit you where it hurts.
-WHAT DO YOU WANT? -I can barely stand on my feet.
-My name is Uzumaki Naruto, I am your jinchuriki. Now introduce yourself. -I gather my courage.
-WHY???
-Communication begins with introductions. -I try to be as calm and peaceful as possible.
-CALL ME KYUBI! YOU ARE NOT WORTHY OF KNOWING MY NAME.
- Speak more quietly, I can hear you perfectly well. Dispel the darkness in the cage, I want to see you.
- WELL, LOOK AND BE HORRIFIED!
I was truly horrified, but not by the greatness of Kyuubi, not at all. A huge skinny fox with drooping fur and protruding ribs was nailed to the floor of the cage with nails that looked more like piles. Only one paw was free, which he had used to slam the bars at the beginning, and his tails were nailed down. Blood was oozing from unhealed wounds, forming the same fog that I dispersed at the beginning.
- I'll go into the cage now and pull out the nails. Try not to twitch. - Kyuubi snorted incredulously, but said nothing.
He held his breath. One step, one more step... he passed the bars. The demon glanced at me sideways, but did nothing for now. I go to the very end of the dungeon, I'll start with the tails. I touch the first pillar, it disappears with a quiet pop. The demon is really huge! In an hour I barely freed the tails, now I've started on the paws and body, I'll free the head last and throw it behind bars, you never know.
- That's it! - I announce, jumping off the demon's nose to the outside.
- Why? Why did you do this? - There is relief in Kyuubi's voice, the wounds are healing right before my eyes. The tails are already overgrown and covered with fur in some places. Oh, miracle, I'm not crushed by the voice, the bijuu can speak normally.
- You are my bijuu. It is beneficial for me that you are strong.
- I am she. - The demon breathes out quietly.
- WHAT?
- I am she. The nine-tailed fox, Kyuubi-no-Yoko.
- Sorry, I didn't know. - My eyes are probably anime. - Forgive me again, but I have to go outside, we'll have time to talk.
With an effort of will, I expand the space of the cage so that even such a colossus is not cramped. The floor is covered with grass, the corner is occupied by a lake. One of the walls is covered with special pins, to itch. You never know? A huge bone completes the picture, so that there is something to gnaw on. The chakra is leaving in simply titanic quantities, for the first time I feel such an outflow.
- I'm leaving. See you later, Kyuubi. - The demoness jerked at such an address, but looking at the new cage, she restrained herself.
- I'll wait, Uz-zumaki Naruto. - I heard a rumbling whisper before leaving.
It seems that the first meeting went normally. We talked a little, improved living conditions, did a favor.
- How is it? How did it go? - The first thing I heard upon awakening.
- Normal, the biju is sane. We talked, nothing specific. How much time has passed? I'm thirsty. - I speak in short phrases.
- You were in yourself for six hours, Naruto-kun - answered the sensei, holding out the flask. Sakura sighed with relief.
- I'll try to make Kyuubi my comrade. Perhaps it will come to the point where it can be released outside without fear.
- Don't talk nonsense, Naruto! - the captain said harshly.
Well, we'll see about that! Sasuke assured me that now, to get into the inner world, all I need is a meaningful desire and a little meditation. While I'm there, the body sleeps, so I can visit the tailed one at night.
I listened to my feelings. The chakra circulation system is irritated, it has become much more demonic. The channels are stretching, rebuilding themselves for more aggressive energy. Even harsher than my white chakra. Unpleasant. And the control has probably deteriorated. But the fox is recovering and it seems the pressure on the seal has weakened, apparently the desire to break free has subsided.