Naruto Fateless (Naruto/Blood Omen crossover)
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I'm assuming Naruto was weaker than Kain and Raziel due to their both being MUCH older than him and thus had more time for their strength to develope. Or does it have more to do with Kain being the Balance Guardian and Raziel's destiny to be the Soul Reaver? Anyways, great to see more of your writing Fosfor :hail: :hail: :hail:
Very interesting that the Kyuubi's power persists though it's soul(lifeforce?) has been devoured. I can only imagine what manner of havoc this development might force on Akatsuki's plans. Picturing them trying to rip the Kyuubi out, only to get it's unrestrained, uncontroled, near limitless chakra exploding into their faces.
Very interesting that the Kyuubi's power persists though it's soul(lifeforce?) has been devoured. I can only imagine what manner of havoc this development might force on Akatsuki's plans. Picturing them trying to rip the Kyuubi out, only to get it's unrestrained, uncontroled, near limitless chakra exploding into their faces.
So does that mean that Naruto has the same abilities that a Lasombra would have? Anyhow great story Fosfor, it's nice to see a good Lok crossover given just how rare they are.
Just one question are you using the power system of BO or the rest of the LoK series for Naruto's growth while he was in Nosgoth? The reason that I'm asking was that both would've created different Naruto's. I mean in BO a newly risen Kain was capable of tearing his way through over a dozen bandits while through the over games you have trouble simply killing one of them.
Just one question are you using the power system of BO or the rest of the LoK series for Naruto's growth while he was in Nosgoth? The reason that I'm asking was that both would've created different Naruto's. I mean in BO a newly risen Kain was capable of tearing his way through over a dozen bandits while through the over games you have trouble simply killing one of them.
Naruto is no longer a wraith, or even a vampire. He's human. Well, mostly. Some of the abilities persist, but that's more to do with the seven years as the Kyuubi's host and the way Moebius tried to kill him than anything else. The 'form' of Kyuubi is dead, nothing can be done about it. The soul is gone. But the power remains. The seal prevent Naruto from drawing on it, but he will certainly try to make his way around it. He had lived in 'get power or they will kill you' mode for too long not to be tempted.
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A little bit of both. The age is a major factor, though. Naruto has no idea just how old he is. He couldn't excatly measure time in the Spectral Realm and later he had traveled through time so much it all became a jumbled mass. He had fought in several wars, served in Kain's vampiric army for a time, learned from Vorador, met Janos Audron and several of the Pillar Guardians. Ironically, Naruto was friends with Ariel before she was killed. But he is much younger than both Raziel and Kain and gained power at a slower rate, since he had no 'benefactor' to help him out (Kain had Mortanius and Raziel had the Old God). On the other hand, Kain is all about power, so is Raziel. Naruto was an epxerienced and qutie powerful sorcerer and had many of the skills Kain would deem useless, like his Blood Script trick.
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I almost wanna say screw the Naruto Manga/Anime plot, just give us tales of Naruto's exploits in Nosgoth :snigger:
So beyond adjusting to the fact that he's a living breathing human being again, with non of his familiar cast of antagonists breathing down his neck, exactly what goals in life is this Naruto gonna have? You mentioned he wanted to recreate his weapons as close as he can. Is he gonna try to regain the immortality that his vampiric/wraith nature gifted him, without the drawback of having to drink blood or suck souls? I can't imagine this Naruto wanting anything to do with being Hokage.
So beyond adjusting to the fact that he's a living breathing human being again, with non of his familiar cast of antagonists breathing down his neck, exactly what goals in life is this Naruto gonna have? You mentioned he wanted to recreate his weapons as close as he can. Is he gonna try to regain the immortality that his vampiric/wraith nature gifted him, without the drawback of having to drink blood or suck souls? I can't imagine this Naruto wanting anything to do with being Hokage.
He's having vacation. B) But seriously, he will want to learn as much about his home as possible, explore the opportunities and gain access to Kyuubi's power. Besides that.. he'll just keep drifting on a whim. Or that what he thinks. The plot will thicken soon enough. :snigger:
THe boy will start missing Nosgoth onc the shit hits the fan.
THe boy will start missing Nosgoth onc the shit hits the fan.
Well, here is another chunk. A little 'fast forward' to the time Naruto is ten, with some sceneds thrown in. Tell me what you think.
*
The flow was highly erratic, not something he was used to. Though how much was it the fault of his current body and lack of power and how much was the difference between Nosgoth and this place he couldn't tell.
His body scooped another portion of delicious noodle soup while his mind wandered.
Ayame was the first. She was closest and therfore easiest to reach.
There was warmth here, kind spirit. She focused on her job and obviously took pride in it from what he could see and sense. She radiated accomplishment, kindness and joy. But she was far from soft, he had found that quickly. Under that velvety kindness there was a hint of steel that he could appreciate.
He extended his ethereal senses.
There. A woman with a child. A daughter. The woman was absorbed with her child. She radiated a feeling of calm exasperation, something he came to associate with lecturing parents. The girls was sad, depressed. She wasn't in tears, but close.
He probed a little bit deeper before recoiling as a sharp jolt of distaste, tinged with a bit of fear ran trough the mother. The girl started to give off confusion.
'Strange...'
Soon the pair was in his field of vision, before walking by quickly, the mother dragging her pink haired daughter behind her.
He cocked an eyebrow.
'Pink hair? How... odd.'
And he could swear that the distaste was directed at him. Along with fear.
'Why?'
No matter. He had enough things on his plate as it were.
He exteneded his senses once again, gliding over the knots of feelings and miasma of emotions before freezing.
'What the...?!'
Something recoiled his mind with an almost physical force.
'What in Audron's name...?' He frowned , throwing discreet glances around him until he spotted a tall, blond man looking around with narrowed eyes.
Quickly, he withdrew his presence before the man noticed just where it was coming from. The blond relaxed visibly, but still looked around carefully.
'Oh now this is interesting. Some kind of mental power? And quite formidable for a human as well. Very interesting indeed.'
He would have never expected to find things like that in his home, but the place just kept surprising him.
Good. He would hate to be bored. But there was a lesson there as well, a valuble one. To avoid the overconfidence and greed.
'Something that Kain, that blasted egomaniac, had never quite learned.' Naruto scoffed. 'And look where that got him. A ruined empire, a broken world and all of his accomplishment being slowly ground to dust by his own hubris. Vae Victis, indeed.'
"..uto? Naruto?"
He blinked.
"Yes?"
Ayame looked at him carefuly.
"Are you all right?"
He looked at her quisically.
"Because you looked all... zoned out. Not here, as if thousand miles away I mean."
He smiled lightly. And here he thought the girl was absorbed in her work.
"No reason to worry, Ayame. I was just thinking."
She looked at him for a moment, before smiling.
"Well, I guess you're nervous about the Academy. It's going to be all right, you'll see."
He blinked.
"Academy?" He asked puzzled.
*
'A school... teaching the children from young age a trade of assassin. My oh my. Vorador would have loved this place.'
He had remembered ninja, of course. But his memory wasn't as accurate as he would have wished. He remembered warriors, more akin to knights than anything else.
Assassins weilding supernatural powers to stab others in the back under the cover of the night? Oh, that was much more up his alley.
Even the brown haired instructor's obvious uneasiness around him didn't manage to kill his good mood.
'There is no place like home.' Naruto decided, nodding to himself.
And his... class, was such an interesting bunch, too.
'Oh yes.' He thought with a smirk looking at the blonde girl sitting in front of him. The power was exactly the same like what he had felt in the blond man a day before, but far less focused or controlled. It had far less shields and walls placed arond her mind as well.
'Placed by her, anyway.' He forowned. There were bariers, but they weren't hers. Proably made by that blond man. A father? An uncle? They seemed to far apart for siblings, though you never knew.
'No matter, I have time to find out.'
And there were plenty of other interesting brats around.
Like that boy and his dog. Naruto felt an odd link between them, almost akin to the bond formed between a vampire and his animal famliar. That alone was worth looking into.
And that boy with the glasess...
'Insects. A living hive. Ingenious.' Naruto almost shook his head in amazement. As a vampire he could command insects and vermin. He had not lost the ability but, like his Dark Gift, it was greatly weakened.
The insects barely paid any heed to his commands and the rat he had found a day before didn't listen to him at all.
But he could still sense the insects just fine. Seeing the boy 'Aburame Shino' and registering what his senses told him was a shock.
And the black haired boy with the pineaple hairdo...
There was something odd he felt ever since he had seen him. But then he saw his shadow and that was that.
The boy was a shadow user. Different from than him, but a shadow user still.
There was no mistaking that aura.
He glossed over the girl with lavender eyes. He had no idea what purpose her eyes would serve, aside from the fact she obviously wasn't blind. The black haired boy several rows down was also unremarkable save for the fact that his whole posture screamed 'noble'.
The girl next to him was familiar. With the pink hair and rather large forehead, he recognised her immedeatly as the same girl that was walking with her mother when he tested out his empathic powers.
Rest of the class was equaly uninteresting to him.
'Though that might change.' He sat comfortably, small smile playing in the corners of his mouth. 'If anything, my world is just choke full of surprises. I have a feeling I'll like it here.'
*
Naruto almost felt like ripping the book to shreds.
'This is... inane!' The former wraith scowled 'Calculating the trajectory of a kunai in the wind? Who needs this kind of drivel?! In battle you either can or can't throw a dagger! You don't have time and a sheet of paper to calculate all the variables!'
He closed the book with a snort.
Only his deeply ingrained respect for the written word prevented him from throwing it to the ground.
The information held in old tomes often had saved his life. He had learned to prize the knowledge contained in the written word.
Even if he could barely read it.
'Bloody alphabet.' He scowled lightly. The strange symbols were nearly as hard to follow as the Low Ancient. They were famliar enough, he could read them if he concentrated and drew on his memories of home but...
'Something tells me I wasn't exactly much of a scholar before.' He thought with a wince.
A fact that he would endavor to remedy.
Knowledge was power and ignorance could kil better than any spell or blade. He had this lesson hammered into his stubborn head quickly enough during his time in Nosgoth.
'Knowledge is the blood of the mind.' He quoted Vorador mentally with a sigh, reaching for the book again. That some things contained in it were just plain pointless wasn't a reason to shun them all.
He proceeded to open the book, before a loud, sniffing sound interrupted him.
He frowned, but ignored it. It was none of his concern.
Then it was there again. And again. And again.
There was a brief silence and the blond relaxed, paying attention to the book.
Then there was a loud cross between a squeak and a snffle. And voices, too low for him to pick up the words but loud enough to interrupt.
Naruto gritted his teeth, eyebrow twitching.
'Well, now it seems that it IS my concern.' He thought with annoyance, closing the book.
Book in hand, he stalked to the source, only to find a small clearing with four girls in it. One was sitting on the ground and was in tears, clearly the source of the sniffles. The three other girls were standing over her, smirks on their faces.
'Bullies. No matter the age, the trash doesn't change.' He frowned. 'But they ARE interrupting me so...'
He started walking forward only to stop as several flowers flew straight into the lead bully girl's mouth.
'Oh?' He quirked an eyebrow, smiling. He turned to the source to see the famliar blonde from their class.
'Yamanaka Ino. Yes. The girl with mental powers.' He looked at her curiously
"Sorry." Ino said sweetly. "I must have mistaken that huge opening for a vase."
Naruto smirked, seeing the looks of outrage on the bullies' faces.
Ino smirked nastily.
"It might be weak, but that flower is poisonous." She looked at the black haired bully. "You better spit it out."
The ex wraith chuckled at the scared faces as they ran away.
'Vicious and effective.' He thought in amusement. 'Well done.'
He was about to turn on his heel and go back to his reading spot when he found something flying at him.
His relexes might not be up to par with vampiric ones, but they were more than adequate to catch... A flower?
He blinked.
"Well?" The blonde said angrily. "Should't you be following your friends?"
'Ah.'
Naruto looked at the flower, before smiling at the girl.
The pink haired girl opened her mouth, but Naruto cut in before she could utter a word.
"Those bothersome pests were not firends or even aquaintances of mine. No need to concern yourself, girl." He said twirling the flower.
Saskura nodded.
"H-he's right, Ino. He wasn't w-with Ami and the rest..."
Ino frowned.
"If you say so." She said finally, before looking at him curiously. "Hey, I know you. You're in our class! You're the odd guy that reads all day long! Uza...Uzi... Uzumaki! That's right! I knew you were familiar!"
"So it would seem." Naruto nodded curtly, ready to return to his book. "Now if you'd excuse me..."
"What were you doing here?"
Naruto blinked.
"What?"
"I asked, what were you doing here?" Inow said stubbornly. "You weren't here to bully Sakura-chan, but you came. And you laughed at the bullies. So... You must have come to rescue her!" She said triumpanthly.
Naruto quirked an eyebrow.
'Well, the noise of her crying annoyed me.' He thought. 'But whatever.'
Ino didn't seem to notice his expression as she turned to 'Sakura'.
"See, Sakura-chan. You have friends! Two of them!" She frowned thoughtfully. "Well, one and the half, really since Uzumaki here isn't a real person but a living book." She grinned. "But don't worry, I can bring him up to speed." She said confidently, before turning to him. "Hey, Uzumaki, come here. Sit with us." She pointed the finger to her left.
The boy frowned.
"I'd rather not. I have some reading to do." He said, trying to walk away.
"Oh no you don't! Some boring book can wait!" Ino scowled, grasping his arm. He could have ripped free easily, but it would hurt her. Which would mean she'd be angry and she seemed a type to hold a grudge. And he DID want to learn of her mental powers.
'Who knows, this just might prove useful.'
He sat down.
'Though just why do I have a feeling I have made a very troublesome decision?'
*
His skills at ignoring interruptions had become nothing short of heroic in recent years, but even he had his limits.
Besides, only one person was stuborn enough to ram at his door at this hour.
True to form, an annoyed silhouette of Yamanaka Ino stood at his doorstep, eyebrow twitching, scowl of female indignation on her face.
"Uzumaki." She said, vein visible.
"Yamanaka." He replied in the same tone.
"Must you ALWAYS ignore the polite knocking?" She hissed.
"If you call nearly knocking my door over with that battering ram of a fist..." He shrugged.
But Ino's attention was already too far gone to react to the usual barb. She had already gone into the apartament, an intense look of focus on her face.
She stalked through the two rooms untl she entered the small third rooom, no bigger than some closets.
She squelaed as she saw the glass containers.
"Naruto-kun!" She turned to him, eyes sparkling. "For me? You should't have!"
He glared at her.
"How many times must I tell you, woman. That perfume was an ACCIDENT!"
"I don't mind." Ino nodded sagely. "Sasuke-kun liked it, that's all that matters!"
Naruto sighed.
Ever since they entered that awkward age of 'liking' boys, most of the girls fixated on the brooding Uchiha scion like there would be no tomorrow. The 'noble' even had his own fanclub! It was utterly ridiciulous.
First of all, they were too young to know what 'love' really meant. Sure, as in some parts of Nosgoth, ninja matured quickly and marriage at fourten or fifteen wasn't unheard of. Though it was usually practiced by noble clans, it happened. But still... Second - Sasuke was as cold a fish as there ever was.
He knew the type. They obessed over things in a way that left no room for anything else. Besides, he doubted Sasuke would choose any of his kunoichi compariots even he he fancied any of them.
He propably wanted to rebuild his clan, not risk the potential mother of his children on missions. Ninja died often, even in times of peace.
It was the way of things. And if he ever chose a woman while still young, an older woman was a better choice anyway. He had seen enough of that in Nosgoth to know how it worked among nobles.
"No perfumes, Ino." He said forcefully. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to get enough of materials for my projects as it is?"
Though ninja practiced herbalism, the ingredients were ungodly expensive. Harvesting needed herbs on his own was much cheaper. Other mateials...
Oh, how he bemoaned lack of proper alchemy shops!
He wasn't the best alchemist around, but he was more than decent. But he still couldn't make some of his more effective potions since he lacked the ingredients or even some reagents.
'Lack of proper tools is also an inconvinience.' He thought with annoyance.
Manufacturing a proper alchemist's workshop and proper stock of ingridients would take large amount of time and funds. While he wasn't as bad off financially a he was when he 'returned' several years before, he still lacked the coin for an extravaganza like that.
'I shall make do with what I have.' He thought darkly. 'Not that I have much choice.'
"...eeaseee!" Ino batted her eyelashes at him.
"No." Naruto turned to his workshop. "Now, did you have anything of importance to discuss or did you come to pointlessly pester me for the perfume once again?"
"Ah, you're no fun!" Ino huffed. "Seriously, would it hurt you to..."
"Ino." Naruto snapped. He liked the girl, but there was something about her that just seemed to annoy him at times. If she wasn't so interesting and fun to toy with...
"All right, all righ. Sheesh." She muttered. "You know, Sakura's birthday is coming soon and I thought that..."
"No." Naruto turned away.
"Hey!" Ino protested. "Listen to the end, damn it!"
"No." Naruto sighed. "Ino, Sakura's mother doesn't like me. She never had. She never will. If I came to her birthday party she'd throw a tantrum like she did three years ago. No."
"That's what I'm talking about, you whisker-faced idiot!" Ino stomped angrily. "We thought about that and decided it would be best to do the party somewhwere else."
Naruto frowned, before shaking hs head.
"Restaurants are out. You know that."
Places of buisiness treating him like a leper puzzled him until he found first mentions of the Kyuubi in the archives he had access to as an Academy student. He instantly connected the spirit corpse with the demon.
Obviously the Yondaime Hokage couldn't defeat the beast via brute force so he had sealed it inside a container. Naruto aprooved. It was the best method. Though the choice of contaners irritated him. If the Yondaime was around, he would have words with the man. Not that he was all that angry, really.
More annoyed that nobody told him. And Kyuubi, even dead, was a far too useful resource to ignore.
'Not that I had found a way to use it. Yet.' He scowled mentally.
Still, he had managed to learn plenty, if less than what he wanted.
Amazingly enough, there was no jutsu manual in Konoha. Or rather, there wasn't one for anyone under the rank of chuunin, and even then you needed Hokage's permision. Aside from the course books for the Academy, but they only listed three jutsu that were avaliable to any ninja in the world: Kawarimi, Bunshin and Henge.
It seemed inane to him at first. After all, why restrict knowledge this way? Surely, more advanced techniqes should be kept from children, but some low level skills could be learned by the cademy students in their later years of their schooling.
But then he realized that the system was built this way on purpose. First of, many of the children in the class were from ninja clans or families.
They were trained in their family's jutsu. It seemed unfair to other children, but such was life. And if a student didn't pass, he wouldn't be able to reveal village's secrets by accident or sell them totother ivllage out of spite or for monetary gain.
All the Academy gave the aspiring genin were basics that wer later polished by their jounin instructors. Also, the jounin taught the genin any jutsu they deemed their students ready for.
It was a quite reasonable system, all things considered.
Naruto was shook off his train of thought by Ino's smirk. Slightly dark, gleeful and spelling trouble, it was a version of his own that Ino picked up somehow during the years of their friendship.
Naruto really didn't like that glint in her eye. It looked far too much like his own for his peace of mind.
"I'm not talking about the restaurant." She said smugly.
Naruto frowned.
'What is she...?'
Ino waved a small pamphlet and the blond's eyes widened.
Naruto snagged the paper. Sure enough it was a a copy of the deed to the entire building with his name on it.
The former wraith glared at his friend.
"How?" He demanded.
"Shin-ten-shin!" Ino sing songed gleefuly. "Come on, Naruto-kun. I'm a kunoichi with a prime espionage technique!"
He narrowed his eyes.
"Point." He said after a while.
The 'Rose Garden' was an accident, to be true. It was a restaurant and a club ran by Ayame's friend, Yukino he met in some bizare circumstances. It was quite a good place, with nice ambiance, discreet service and reasonable prices.
It was also practically in Red Lights district.
It was a set of rather bizarre circumstances that started with a drunken Yukino bemoaning her fate and Naruto having a bit of revenge on several enpretours by summoning a swarm of roaches. It snowballed from there. Now Naruto had over twenty percent of interest in the restaurant and shared ownership of the Meridian club in the neighbouring building, ran also by Yukino.
All quietly and under the table, of course.
It was mainly thanks to that that he managed to buy himself a new home. It wasn't a fortune, but it paid the bills. And buying this old, ran down apatrtament block was cheap. Though he still had no idea what to do with the rest of the rooms avaliable. Not many people wanted to live next to the 'Kyuubi brat'. Not that he minded, really. Peace and quiet were worth the price.
"Ino..." He sighed. "This is..."
"Not listening."
"Be reasoable, Yamanaka." He said.
"Not listening. AT ALL."
Naruto capitulated, before smirking.
"You know your parents will kill you, right?"
Ino grinned.
Naruto sighed.
'I'm getting soft in my old age.'
*
"Please... kill me now." Ino moaned.
Naruto snorted.
"I told you so." He muttered, trying not to smile.
Somehow, Ino smuggled a bottle of sake to the party. While Sakura was too afraid of her mother's wrath, Ino had no such compulsions. It took but two saucers of the mild rice wine for Ino to get completely wasted. The hangover wasn't pretty.
'What an amusing girl...' Naruto smirked, spying Iruka. As always, the chuunin used his patented method of dealing with a bunch of rowdy brats.
"QUIET DOWN YOU WORTHLESS BASTARDS!"
"Naruto... By all that is holy...! Kill me!" Ino moaned, clutching her head.
Naruto chuckled.
"Vae Victis, Ino. Suffering to the conquered." He nodded sagely.
Ino whimpered pitifully.
*
Naruto leafed though the course book.
'Trajectory, strategy, first aid... Rubbish.' He frowned. 'And that's supposed to be our course work for another year?'
He put the book down, before staring at the ceeling contemplatively.
He could have graduated the academy early. Sure. He could have done that a year ago, even. Granted, it was a school for ninja, but the pupils were children.
Catching up on theory once he could read fast enough was no problem. Physical skills were just a matter of conditioning. They might be called kunai, but a dagger was still a dagger and he had always been good at using those. Taijutsu was almost laughably easy for somebody with his extensive battle experience. Jutsu were a different matter altogether, but after two and a half years he was confident in his abilities.
So, what was there?
'No. The question is, just what do I want to do?' He scratched his chin thoughtfully.
It was a difficult question.
In Nosgoth, it had been surivival and going back home, but he had never thought beyond that. Once he returned, he just kept drifting on, amusing himself with some interesting diversions from time to time.
He wanted power. There was no question about that. But, in a way, that he already had.
'Even if I can't access it so far.' He though with annoyance.
Skill. Oh that he wanted as well. His original plan was to float through academy quietly, using the free time for research. Sadly, it was not to be.
While experimenting with his own knowledge was all fine and well, as an academy student he had very little access to Konoha's lore. And stealing it was out of the question. He had no idea what high level ninja were really capable of. Making a move like that, especially as... limited as he was now, would be foolish. He didn't survive for so long by being a fool.
'So, that leaves only the 'official' way. Promotion. Genin is only a peg above an academy student and chuunin lack anything of real worth. Jounin would be my best bet.'
Now, all that was left was to graduate the Academy.
'Now this... is going to be a problem.' Narto admitted grudingly.
Ever since Uchiha Itachi slaughtered his clan, the early graduation was harder to accomplish.
'Sarutobi...' The blond ex-wraith grimaced
The Hokage would be a problem as well. While the old man didn't exactly have time to take care of him, he watched him like a hawk ever since that fiasco with two upperclassmen. If not for Sakura's testimony, he would have serius problems.
Naruto had honestly tried to blend in. But as good as he was, he had no idea how to behave like a child. And he wasn't the nicest of people, he admitted that himself. Not to mention he answered rather... badly to the attepts at bullying.
He shrugged.
He still had no idea what the big deal was. The two boys were close to graduating anyway, so they should be ready for that kind of battle. And the broken bones and fractured ribs would heal. They started the fight. He just finished it. They were lucky he didn't have his sword or they'd have ended in the morgue instead of ICU.
'I did get a little bit carried away.' The blond admitted grudingly. 'Fools. Pulling out a blade in a fight like that. They should know things would get ugly. But I did overreact a little.' He snorted. 'Little maggots.'
Sarutobi had checked his seal twice, before summoning a Hyuuga to check his tenketsu.
'Propably to see if it wasn't the Kyuubi breaking out and influencing his poor, abused host.' Naruto smirked darkly. 'Though it is kind of dicffult to influence anything if you'e dead.'
Unless you were a vampire, of course. But they weren't really dead.
'Undead, more like.' He frowned thoughtfully. 'Or should it be unliving?'
He forced his mind to get back on track.
He pondered the matter for a good while, rejecting plan after a plan until there was only one option left.
'Well, they do say that simple is best.' Naruto thought dourly.
*
"I want to see the Hokage."
The secretary glared at him.
"Saurtobi-sama is busy so why won't you..."
Naruto ingored her whine, nasal voice and simple walked by her.
The woman jumped from her seat, grabing his arm.
"You can't...!" She screeched.
Nartuto looked at her legs.
"Hmm.... Is that a roach?" He said thoughtfully.
The woman's looked down, her eyes widening as she noticed several big cockroaches marching cheerfuly up her calves.
She screeched, letting him go momentarly.
Naruto walked by her calmly.
'How beneficial little creatures they are.' He thought with a smirk. 'Unlike that whiny waste of flesh.'
*
Sarutobi lit his pipe, looking at Naruto thoughtfully.
The request was unusual, but not unexpected.
Ever since the... incident three years ago, Naruto had changed. The blond became quiet, reserved, focused.... And far more violent, both in his taijutsu practices and out of them.
As much as he'd like to blame the Kyuubi, it seemed that that one last assassination attempt was one too many for the child. Though the change was radical, he had seen nins undergoing drastic personality changes when they had their brush with death.
And Naruto was periliously close to dying that day, three years ago.
When he had learned that the blond left hospital without his supervision, Sarutobi was furious. The woman responsible was accused of negligence, thrown out of hospital and blacklisted. There was no hospital in the Fire Country that would take her in now.
Though there was one positive aspect of the situation. The blond became focused. Some might say obsessed, but he knew better.
He had seen obsessed. He had taught obsessed. Naruto wasn't like Orochimaru. He didn't have the raw, animialistic hunger for power that overshadowed anything and everything else.
It was as if the boy was testing his limits and exploring. The pace was fast, true, but there was no rhyme or reason to it, not like Orochimaru. It seemed that the boy just studied whatever struck his fancy. He had borrowed several texts on herbs just yesterday, while he had been researching the history and uses of Fuuma shuriken just a week before.
Hapazard, but he had to admit that the boy was tenacious. When he had learned of it, he just thought the blond borrowed all the books he could find, returing them when he got bored with trying to mull through them. It astonished him, during one of their monthly ramen excursions he insisted on, that the boy not only read the books - he had understood them. Not completely and not always, but he understood enough.
It was then that Sarutobi started to pay more attention to Naruto's progress at the Academy.
After a month of careful observations and gentle prodding, he realized that the boy wasn't using half of his ability during the lectures. It was as if he simply wasn't interested.
Even his taijutsu was average, and that raised Sarutobi's eyebrow.
How can a student who sent two last year students that were a step from graduation to ICU, have average taijutsu marks?
He used his sphere to watch over the boy's training out of curiosity.
True, his form wasn't as focused as the picture perfect taijtsu that the Uchiha heir displayed and bore little resemblance ot Hyuuga Neji's artful jyuuken. In fact, it didn't even look like the Konoha-ryu taijutsu taught in the academy. It was simple, violent brawling with odd mix of Konoha-ryu thrown in. Very effective brawling.
Many would scoff at that, preffering clear cut moves of standarizied martial arts, but Sarutobi knew better. Good brawlers were unpredictable and could be a bane of traditionally trained martial artists. And there were taijutu styles that were as 'free form' as they could, without losing their edge. The savage Inuzuka fighting techniques, for example.
So it was obvious to the old Hokage that the boy had potential. Problem was, he didn't seem to use it. And unless he became a shinobi, Sarutobi didn't have means to force him. Not that he wanted to, it was always better to let people develop on their own pace. Too much pushing could sometimes ruin very promising talents.
'But it isn't like it's actually pushing when he's asking, after all.' Sarutobi thought wih a small smirk hidden behind his clasped hands.
"Tell me, Naruto... Out of the three major shinobi arts, genjutsu, ninjutsu and taijutsu - which one is the best?" He asked finally.
The blond blinked.
"Well, they are equal." Naruto frowned. "In theory, at least."
Sarutobi raised an eyebrow.
"I'm not asking about the official academy stance, Naruto. Which one do YOU think is best."
The blond cocked his head to the side thoughtfully.
"For me or in general?" He asked finally.
Sarutobi smiled.
'Good answer, my boy. Good answer.' He reached to the drawer, taking out a small stack of papers. He leafed through them for a few seonds, befor putting them down.
'This just might work. And I will kill two birds with one stone as well.' He thoght. 'But how do I... Hmm...'
He picked one of the documents and helf it for a second, before throwing it at the blond.
"Here. Take it."
Rising an eyebrow, Naruto reached for the item... only to have it slide out of his fingers.
'Odd.' The blond frowned, reaching out agiain. The sheet fell on the desk gently. Naruto reached to pick it up. The moment his fingertips touched the surface, they slid off it again.
Naruto's eyebrows shot up.
'Why does it...' He looked at the Sarutobi, who watched him with clear interest. 'A test of some kind, then.'
Naruto looked at the sheet toughtfully
'So he must have used chakra to somehow make it slippery. I can't grasp it normally. So how can I...? Hmm...' His cerulean eyes narrowed. 'I have a few options here. I can use the kunai... But that would be too easy. Besides, this is an official document. I can't exactly damage it. Overpowering it with raw chakra propably won't work. It would just fry the paper. So what would...' Naruto looked at the old man. 'Clever bastard.' he thought with geniuine appreciation.
Carefuly, he channeled some chakra into his palm. It was actually a very basic skill, but it required a good chakra control. It was easiest to do with hands. Or one's own forehead.
Calmly, unhurriedly, he let the chakra coated hand touch the document and stick to it.
Sarutobi puffed on his pipe thoughtfully.
The excersise was simple, but it had shown judgment and control as well as ability to read 'underneath the underneath'. The boy had passed with flying colors.
Now, the question was if he would agree to what the Hokage had in mind.
Sarutobi leaned forward.
"Naruto, I have a proposition for you..."
*
Well, next is Kurenai, who is going to be Naruto's teacher for the next two years. Kurenai is still Tokubetsu Jounin here, about year away from her promotion. Naruto won't be in a team, not for a year or two, at least.
Comments?
*
The flow was highly erratic, not something he was used to. Though how much was it the fault of his current body and lack of power and how much was the difference between Nosgoth and this place he couldn't tell.
His body scooped another portion of delicious noodle soup while his mind wandered.
Ayame was the first. She was closest and therfore easiest to reach.
There was warmth here, kind spirit. She focused on her job and obviously took pride in it from what he could see and sense. She radiated accomplishment, kindness and joy. But she was far from soft, he had found that quickly. Under that velvety kindness there was a hint of steel that he could appreciate.
He extended his ethereal senses.
There. A woman with a child. A daughter. The woman was absorbed with her child. She radiated a feeling of calm exasperation, something he came to associate with lecturing parents. The girls was sad, depressed. She wasn't in tears, but close.
He probed a little bit deeper before recoiling as a sharp jolt of distaste, tinged with a bit of fear ran trough the mother. The girl started to give off confusion.
'Strange...'
Soon the pair was in his field of vision, before walking by quickly, the mother dragging her pink haired daughter behind her.
He cocked an eyebrow.
'Pink hair? How... odd.'
And he could swear that the distaste was directed at him. Along with fear.
'Why?'
No matter. He had enough things on his plate as it were.
He exteneded his senses once again, gliding over the knots of feelings and miasma of emotions before freezing.
'What the...?!'
Something recoiled his mind with an almost physical force.
'What in Audron's name...?' He frowned , throwing discreet glances around him until he spotted a tall, blond man looking around with narrowed eyes.
Quickly, he withdrew his presence before the man noticed just where it was coming from. The blond relaxed visibly, but still looked around carefully.
'Oh now this is interesting. Some kind of mental power? And quite formidable for a human as well. Very interesting indeed.'
He would have never expected to find things like that in his home, but the place just kept surprising him.
Good. He would hate to be bored. But there was a lesson there as well, a valuble one. To avoid the overconfidence and greed.
'Something that Kain, that blasted egomaniac, had never quite learned.' Naruto scoffed. 'And look where that got him. A ruined empire, a broken world and all of his accomplishment being slowly ground to dust by his own hubris. Vae Victis, indeed.'
"..uto? Naruto?"
He blinked.
"Yes?"
Ayame looked at him carefuly.
"Are you all right?"
He looked at her quisically.
"Because you looked all... zoned out. Not here, as if thousand miles away I mean."
He smiled lightly. And here he thought the girl was absorbed in her work.
"No reason to worry, Ayame. I was just thinking."
She looked at him for a moment, before smiling.
"Well, I guess you're nervous about the Academy. It's going to be all right, you'll see."
He blinked.
"Academy?" He asked puzzled.
*
'A school... teaching the children from young age a trade of assassin. My oh my. Vorador would have loved this place.'
He had remembered ninja, of course. But his memory wasn't as accurate as he would have wished. He remembered warriors, more akin to knights than anything else.
Assassins weilding supernatural powers to stab others in the back under the cover of the night? Oh, that was much more up his alley.
Even the brown haired instructor's obvious uneasiness around him didn't manage to kill his good mood.
'There is no place like home.' Naruto decided, nodding to himself.
And his... class, was such an interesting bunch, too.
'Oh yes.' He thought with a smirk looking at the blonde girl sitting in front of him. The power was exactly the same like what he had felt in the blond man a day before, but far less focused or controlled. It had far less shields and walls placed arond her mind as well.
'Placed by her, anyway.' He forowned. There were bariers, but they weren't hers. Proably made by that blond man. A father? An uncle? They seemed to far apart for siblings, though you never knew.
'No matter, I have time to find out.'
And there were plenty of other interesting brats around.
Like that boy and his dog. Naruto felt an odd link between them, almost akin to the bond formed between a vampire and his animal famliar. That alone was worth looking into.
And that boy with the glasess...
'Insects. A living hive. Ingenious.' Naruto almost shook his head in amazement. As a vampire he could command insects and vermin. He had not lost the ability but, like his Dark Gift, it was greatly weakened.
The insects barely paid any heed to his commands and the rat he had found a day before didn't listen to him at all.
But he could still sense the insects just fine. Seeing the boy 'Aburame Shino' and registering what his senses told him was a shock.
And the black haired boy with the pineaple hairdo...
There was something odd he felt ever since he had seen him. But then he saw his shadow and that was that.
The boy was a shadow user. Different from than him, but a shadow user still.
There was no mistaking that aura.
He glossed over the girl with lavender eyes. He had no idea what purpose her eyes would serve, aside from the fact she obviously wasn't blind. The black haired boy several rows down was also unremarkable save for the fact that his whole posture screamed 'noble'.
The girl next to him was familiar. With the pink hair and rather large forehead, he recognised her immedeatly as the same girl that was walking with her mother when he tested out his empathic powers.
Rest of the class was equaly uninteresting to him.
'Though that might change.' He sat comfortably, small smile playing in the corners of his mouth. 'If anything, my world is just choke full of surprises. I have a feeling I'll like it here.'
*
Naruto almost felt like ripping the book to shreds.
'This is... inane!' The former wraith scowled 'Calculating the trajectory of a kunai in the wind? Who needs this kind of drivel?! In battle you either can or can't throw a dagger! You don't have time and a sheet of paper to calculate all the variables!'
He closed the book with a snort.
Only his deeply ingrained respect for the written word prevented him from throwing it to the ground.
The information held in old tomes often had saved his life. He had learned to prize the knowledge contained in the written word.
Even if he could barely read it.
'Bloody alphabet.' He scowled lightly. The strange symbols were nearly as hard to follow as the Low Ancient. They were famliar enough, he could read them if he concentrated and drew on his memories of home but...
'Something tells me I wasn't exactly much of a scholar before.' He thought with a wince.
A fact that he would endavor to remedy.
Knowledge was power and ignorance could kil better than any spell or blade. He had this lesson hammered into his stubborn head quickly enough during his time in Nosgoth.
'Knowledge is the blood of the mind.' He quoted Vorador mentally with a sigh, reaching for the book again. That some things contained in it were just plain pointless wasn't a reason to shun them all.
He proceeded to open the book, before a loud, sniffing sound interrupted him.
He frowned, but ignored it. It was none of his concern.
Then it was there again. And again. And again.
There was a brief silence and the blond relaxed, paying attention to the book.
Then there was a loud cross between a squeak and a snffle. And voices, too low for him to pick up the words but loud enough to interrupt.
Naruto gritted his teeth, eyebrow twitching.
'Well, now it seems that it IS my concern.' He thought with annoyance, closing the book.
Book in hand, he stalked to the source, only to find a small clearing with four girls in it. One was sitting on the ground and was in tears, clearly the source of the sniffles. The three other girls were standing over her, smirks on their faces.
'Bullies. No matter the age, the trash doesn't change.' He frowned. 'But they ARE interrupting me so...'
He started walking forward only to stop as several flowers flew straight into the lead bully girl's mouth.
'Oh?' He quirked an eyebrow, smiling. He turned to the source to see the famliar blonde from their class.
'Yamanaka Ino. Yes. The girl with mental powers.' He looked at her curiously
"Sorry." Ino said sweetly. "I must have mistaken that huge opening for a vase."
Naruto smirked, seeing the looks of outrage on the bullies' faces.
Ino smirked nastily.
"It might be weak, but that flower is poisonous." She looked at the black haired bully. "You better spit it out."
The ex wraith chuckled at the scared faces as they ran away.
'Vicious and effective.' He thought in amusement. 'Well done.'
He was about to turn on his heel and go back to his reading spot when he found something flying at him.
His relexes might not be up to par with vampiric ones, but they were more than adequate to catch... A flower?
He blinked.
"Well?" The blonde said angrily. "Should't you be following your friends?"
'Ah.'
Naruto looked at the flower, before smiling at the girl.
The pink haired girl opened her mouth, but Naruto cut in before she could utter a word.
"Those bothersome pests were not firends or even aquaintances of mine. No need to concern yourself, girl." He said twirling the flower.
Saskura nodded.
"H-he's right, Ino. He wasn't w-with Ami and the rest..."
Ino frowned.
"If you say so." She said finally, before looking at him curiously. "Hey, I know you. You're in our class! You're the odd guy that reads all day long! Uza...Uzi... Uzumaki! That's right! I knew you were familiar!"
"So it would seem." Naruto nodded curtly, ready to return to his book. "Now if you'd excuse me..."
"What were you doing here?"
Naruto blinked.
"What?"
"I asked, what were you doing here?" Inow said stubbornly. "You weren't here to bully Sakura-chan, but you came. And you laughed at the bullies. So... You must have come to rescue her!" She said triumpanthly.
Naruto quirked an eyebrow.
'Well, the noise of her crying annoyed me.' He thought. 'But whatever.'
Ino didn't seem to notice his expression as she turned to 'Sakura'.
"See, Sakura-chan. You have friends! Two of them!" She frowned thoughtfully. "Well, one and the half, really since Uzumaki here isn't a real person but a living book." She grinned. "But don't worry, I can bring him up to speed." She said confidently, before turning to him. "Hey, Uzumaki, come here. Sit with us." She pointed the finger to her left.
The boy frowned.
"I'd rather not. I have some reading to do." He said, trying to walk away.
"Oh no you don't! Some boring book can wait!" Ino scowled, grasping his arm. He could have ripped free easily, but it would hurt her. Which would mean she'd be angry and she seemed a type to hold a grudge. And he DID want to learn of her mental powers.
'Who knows, this just might prove useful.'
He sat down.
'Though just why do I have a feeling I have made a very troublesome decision?'
*
His skills at ignoring interruptions had become nothing short of heroic in recent years, but even he had his limits.
Besides, only one person was stuborn enough to ram at his door at this hour.
True to form, an annoyed silhouette of Yamanaka Ino stood at his doorstep, eyebrow twitching, scowl of female indignation on her face.
"Uzumaki." She said, vein visible.
"Yamanaka." He replied in the same tone.
"Must you ALWAYS ignore the polite knocking?" She hissed.
"If you call nearly knocking my door over with that battering ram of a fist..." He shrugged.
But Ino's attention was already too far gone to react to the usual barb. She had already gone into the apartament, an intense look of focus on her face.
She stalked through the two rooms untl she entered the small third rooom, no bigger than some closets.
She squelaed as she saw the glass containers.
"Naruto-kun!" She turned to him, eyes sparkling. "For me? You should't have!"
He glared at her.
"How many times must I tell you, woman. That perfume was an ACCIDENT!"
"I don't mind." Ino nodded sagely. "Sasuke-kun liked it, that's all that matters!"
Naruto sighed.
Ever since they entered that awkward age of 'liking' boys, most of the girls fixated on the brooding Uchiha scion like there would be no tomorrow. The 'noble' even had his own fanclub! It was utterly ridiciulous.
First of all, they were too young to know what 'love' really meant. Sure, as in some parts of Nosgoth, ninja matured quickly and marriage at fourten or fifteen wasn't unheard of. Though it was usually practiced by noble clans, it happened. But still... Second - Sasuke was as cold a fish as there ever was.
He knew the type. They obessed over things in a way that left no room for anything else. Besides, he doubted Sasuke would choose any of his kunoichi compariots even he he fancied any of them.
He propably wanted to rebuild his clan, not risk the potential mother of his children on missions. Ninja died often, even in times of peace.
It was the way of things. And if he ever chose a woman while still young, an older woman was a better choice anyway. He had seen enough of that in Nosgoth to know how it worked among nobles.
"No perfumes, Ino." He said forcefully. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to get enough of materials for my projects as it is?"
Though ninja practiced herbalism, the ingredients were ungodly expensive. Harvesting needed herbs on his own was much cheaper. Other mateials...
Oh, how he bemoaned lack of proper alchemy shops!
He wasn't the best alchemist around, but he was more than decent. But he still couldn't make some of his more effective potions since he lacked the ingredients or even some reagents.
'Lack of proper tools is also an inconvinience.' He thought with annoyance.
Manufacturing a proper alchemist's workshop and proper stock of ingridients would take large amount of time and funds. While he wasn't as bad off financially a he was when he 'returned' several years before, he still lacked the coin for an extravaganza like that.
'I shall make do with what I have.' He thought darkly. 'Not that I have much choice.'
"...eeaseee!" Ino batted her eyelashes at him.
"No." Naruto turned to his workshop. "Now, did you have anything of importance to discuss or did you come to pointlessly pester me for the perfume once again?"
"Ah, you're no fun!" Ino huffed. "Seriously, would it hurt you to..."
"Ino." Naruto snapped. He liked the girl, but there was something about her that just seemed to annoy him at times. If she wasn't so interesting and fun to toy with...
"All right, all righ. Sheesh." She muttered. "You know, Sakura's birthday is coming soon and I thought that..."
"No." Naruto turned away.
"Hey!" Ino protested. "Listen to the end, damn it!"
"No." Naruto sighed. "Ino, Sakura's mother doesn't like me. She never had. She never will. If I came to her birthday party she'd throw a tantrum like she did three years ago. No."
"That's what I'm talking about, you whisker-faced idiot!" Ino stomped angrily. "We thought about that and decided it would be best to do the party somewhwere else."
Naruto frowned, before shaking hs head.
"Restaurants are out. You know that."
Places of buisiness treating him like a leper puzzled him until he found first mentions of the Kyuubi in the archives he had access to as an Academy student. He instantly connected the spirit corpse with the demon.
Obviously the Yondaime Hokage couldn't defeat the beast via brute force so he had sealed it inside a container. Naruto aprooved. It was the best method. Though the choice of contaners irritated him. If the Yondaime was around, he would have words with the man. Not that he was all that angry, really.
More annoyed that nobody told him. And Kyuubi, even dead, was a far too useful resource to ignore.
'Not that I had found a way to use it. Yet.' He scowled mentally.
Still, he had managed to learn plenty, if less than what he wanted.
Amazingly enough, there was no jutsu manual in Konoha. Or rather, there wasn't one for anyone under the rank of chuunin, and even then you needed Hokage's permision. Aside from the course books for the Academy, but they only listed three jutsu that were avaliable to any ninja in the world: Kawarimi, Bunshin and Henge.
It seemed inane to him at first. After all, why restrict knowledge this way? Surely, more advanced techniqes should be kept from children, but some low level skills could be learned by the cademy students in their later years of their schooling.
But then he realized that the system was built this way on purpose. First of, many of the children in the class were from ninja clans or families.
They were trained in their family's jutsu. It seemed unfair to other children, but such was life. And if a student didn't pass, he wouldn't be able to reveal village's secrets by accident or sell them totother ivllage out of spite or for monetary gain.
All the Academy gave the aspiring genin were basics that wer later polished by their jounin instructors. Also, the jounin taught the genin any jutsu they deemed their students ready for.
It was a quite reasonable system, all things considered.
Naruto was shook off his train of thought by Ino's smirk. Slightly dark, gleeful and spelling trouble, it was a version of his own that Ino picked up somehow during the years of their friendship.
Naruto really didn't like that glint in her eye. It looked far too much like his own for his peace of mind.
"I'm not talking about the restaurant." She said smugly.
Naruto frowned.
'What is she...?'
Ino waved a small pamphlet and the blond's eyes widened.
Naruto snagged the paper. Sure enough it was a a copy of the deed to the entire building with his name on it.
The former wraith glared at his friend.
"How?" He demanded.
"Shin-ten-shin!" Ino sing songed gleefuly. "Come on, Naruto-kun. I'm a kunoichi with a prime espionage technique!"
He narrowed his eyes.
"Point." He said after a while.
The 'Rose Garden' was an accident, to be true. It was a restaurant and a club ran by Ayame's friend, Yukino he met in some bizare circumstances. It was quite a good place, with nice ambiance, discreet service and reasonable prices.
It was also practically in Red Lights district.
It was a set of rather bizarre circumstances that started with a drunken Yukino bemoaning her fate and Naruto having a bit of revenge on several enpretours by summoning a swarm of roaches. It snowballed from there. Now Naruto had over twenty percent of interest in the restaurant and shared ownership of the Meridian club in the neighbouring building, ran also by Yukino.
All quietly and under the table, of course.
It was mainly thanks to that that he managed to buy himself a new home. It wasn't a fortune, but it paid the bills. And buying this old, ran down apatrtament block was cheap. Though he still had no idea what to do with the rest of the rooms avaliable. Not many people wanted to live next to the 'Kyuubi brat'. Not that he minded, really. Peace and quiet were worth the price.
"Ino..." He sighed. "This is..."
"Not listening."
"Be reasoable, Yamanaka." He said.
"Not listening. AT ALL."
Naruto capitulated, before smirking.
"You know your parents will kill you, right?"
Ino grinned.
Naruto sighed.
'I'm getting soft in my old age.'
*
"Please... kill me now." Ino moaned.
Naruto snorted.
"I told you so." He muttered, trying not to smile.
Somehow, Ino smuggled a bottle of sake to the party. While Sakura was too afraid of her mother's wrath, Ino had no such compulsions. It took but two saucers of the mild rice wine for Ino to get completely wasted. The hangover wasn't pretty.
'What an amusing girl...' Naruto smirked, spying Iruka. As always, the chuunin used his patented method of dealing with a bunch of rowdy brats.
"QUIET DOWN YOU WORTHLESS BASTARDS!"
"Naruto... By all that is holy...! Kill me!" Ino moaned, clutching her head.
Naruto chuckled.
"Vae Victis, Ino. Suffering to the conquered." He nodded sagely.
Ino whimpered pitifully.
*
Naruto leafed though the course book.
'Trajectory, strategy, first aid... Rubbish.' He frowned. 'And that's supposed to be our course work for another year?'
He put the book down, before staring at the ceeling contemplatively.
He could have graduated the academy early. Sure. He could have done that a year ago, even. Granted, it was a school for ninja, but the pupils were children.
Catching up on theory once he could read fast enough was no problem. Physical skills were just a matter of conditioning. They might be called kunai, but a dagger was still a dagger and he had always been good at using those. Taijutsu was almost laughably easy for somebody with his extensive battle experience. Jutsu were a different matter altogether, but after two and a half years he was confident in his abilities.
So, what was there?
'No. The question is, just what do I want to do?' He scratched his chin thoughtfully.
It was a difficult question.
In Nosgoth, it had been surivival and going back home, but he had never thought beyond that. Once he returned, he just kept drifting on, amusing himself with some interesting diversions from time to time.
He wanted power. There was no question about that. But, in a way, that he already had.
'Even if I can't access it so far.' He though with annoyance.
Skill. Oh that he wanted as well. His original plan was to float through academy quietly, using the free time for research. Sadly, it was not to be.
While experimenting with his own knowledge was all fine and well, as an academy student he had very little access to Konoha's lore. And stealing it was out of the question. He had no idea what high level ninja were really capable of. Making a move like that, especially as... limited as he was now, would be foolish. He didn't survive for so long by being a fool.
'So, that leaves only the 'official' way. Promotion. Genin is only a peg above an academy student and chuunin lack anything of real worth. Jounin would be my best bet.'
Now, all that was left was to graduate the Academy.
'Now this... is going to be a problem.' Narto admitted grudingly.
Ever since Uchiha Itachi slaughtered his clan, the early graduation was harder to accomplish.
'Sarutobi...' The blond ex-wraith grimaced
The Hokage would be a problem as well. While the old man didn't exactly have time to take care of him, he watched him like a hawk ever since that fiasco with two upperclassmen. If not for Sakura's testimony, he would have serius problems.
Naruto had honestly tried to blend in. But as good as he was, he had no idea how to behave like a child. And he wasn't the nicest of people, he admitted that himself. Not to mention he answered rather... badly to the attepts at bullying.
He shrugged.
He still had no idea what the big deal was. The two boys were close to graduating anyway, so they should be ready for that kind of battle. And the broken bones and fractured ribs would heal. They started the fight. He just finished it. They were lucky he didn't have his sword or they'd have ended in the morgue instead of ICU.
'I did get a little bit carried away.' The blond admitted grudingly. 'Fools. Pulling out a blade in a fight like that. They should know things would get ugly. But I did overreact a little.' He snorted. 'Little maggots.'
Sarutobi had checked his seal twice, before summoning a Hyuuga to check his tenketsu.
'Propably to see if it wasn't the Kyuubi breaking out and influencing his poor, abused host.' Naruto smirked darkly. 'Though it is kind of dicffult to influence anything if you'e dead.'
Unless you were a vampire, of course. But they weren't really dead.
'Undead, more like.' He frowned thoughtfully. 'Or should it be unliving?'
He forced his mind to get back on track.
He pondered the matter for a good while, rejecting plan after a plan until there was only one option left.
'Well, they do say that simple is best.' Naruto thought dourly.
*
"I want to see the Hokage."
The secretary glared at him.
"Saurtobi-sama is busy so why won't you..."
Naruto ingored her whine, nasal voice and simple walked by her.
The woman jumped from her seat, grabing his arm.
"You can't...!" She screeched.
Nartuto looked at her legs.
"Hmm.... Is that a roach?" He said thoughtfully.
The woman's looked down, her eyes widening as she noticed several big cockroaches marching cheerfuly up her calves.
She screeched, letting him go momentarly.
Naruto walked by her calmly.
'How beneficial little creatures they are.' He thought with a smirk. 'Unlike that whiny waste of flesh.'
*
Sarutobi lit his pipe, looking at Naruto thoughtfully.
The request was unusual, but not unexpected.
Ever since the... incident three years ago, Naruto had changed. The blond became quiet, reserved, focused.... And far more violent, both in his taijutsu practices and out of them.
As much as he'd like to blame the Kyuubi, it seemed that that one last assassination attempt was one too many for the child. Though the change was radical, he had seen nins undergoing drastic personality changes when they had their brush with death.
And Naruto was periliously close to dying that day, three years ago.
When he had learned that the blond left hospital without his supervision, Sarutobi was furious. The woman responsible was accused of negligence, thrown out of hospital and blacklisted. There was no hospital in the Fire Country that would take her in now.
Though there was one positive aspect of the situation. The blond became focused. Some might say obsessed, but he knew better.
He had seen obsessed. He had taught obsessed. Naruto wasn't like Orochimaru. He didn't have the raw, animialistic hunger for power that overshadowed anything and everything else.
It was as if the boy was testing his limits and exploring. The pace was fast, true, but there was no rhyme or reason to it, not like Orochimaru. It seemed that the boy just studied whatever struck his fancy. He had borrowed several texts on herbs just yesterday, while he had been researching the history and uses of Fuuma shuriken just a week before.
Hapazard, but he had to admit that the boy was tenacious. When he had learned of it, he just thought the blond borrowed all the books he could find, returing them when he got bored with trying to mull through them. It astonished him, during one of their monthly ramen excursions he insisted on, that the boy not only read the books - he had understood them. Not completely and not always, but he understood enough.
It was then that Sarutobi started to pay more attention to Naruto's progress at the Academy.
After a month of careful observations and gentle prodding, he realized that the boy wasn't using half of his ability during the lectures. It was as if he simply wasn't interested.
Even his taijutsu was average, and that raised Sarutobi's eyebrow.
How can a student who sent two last year students that were a step from graduation to ICU, have average taijutsu marks?
He used his sphere to watch over the boy's training out of curiosity.
True, his form wasn't as focused as the picture perfect taijtsu that the Uchiha heir displayed and bore little resemblance ot Hyuuga Neji's artful jyuuken. In fact, it didn't even look like the Konoha-ryu taijutsu taught in the academy. It was simple, violent brawling with odd mix of Konoha-ryu thrown in. Very effective brawling.
Many would scoff at that, preffering clear cut moves of standarizied martial arts, but Sarutobi knew better. Good brawlers were unpredictable and could be a bane of traditionally trained martial artists. And there were taijutu styles that were as 'free form' as they could, without losing their edge. The savage Inuzuka fighting techniques, for example.
So it was obvious to the old Hokage that the boy had potential. Problem was, he didn't seem to use it. And unless he became a shinobi, Sarutobi didn't have means to force him. Not that he wanted to, it was always better to let people develop on their own pace. Too much pushing could sometimes ruin very promising talents.
'But it isn't like it's actually pushing when he's asking, after all.' Sarutobi thought wih a small smirk hidden behind his clasped hands.
"Tell me, Naruto... Out of the three major shinobi arts, genjutsu, ninjutsu and taijutsu - which one is the best?" He asked finally.
The blond blinked.
"Well, they are equal." Naruto frowned. "In theory, at least."
Sarutobi raised an eyebrow.
"I'm not asking about the official academy stance, Naruto. Which one do YOU think is best."
The blond cocked his head to the side thoughtfully.
"For me or in general?" He asked finally.
Sarutobi smiled.
'Good answer, my boy. Good answer.' He reached to the drawer, taking out a small stack of papers. He leafed through them for a few seonds, befor putting them down.
'This just might work. And I will kill two birds with one stone as well.' He thoght. 'But how do I... Hmm...'
He picked one of the documents and helf it for a second, before throwing it at the blond.
"Here. Take it."
Rising an eyebrow, Naruto reached for the item... only to have it slide out of his fingers.
'Odd.' The blond frowned, reaching out agiain. The sheet fell on the desk gently. Naruto reached to pick it up. The moment his fingertips touched the surface, they slid off it again.
Naruto's eyebrows shot up.
'Why does it...' He looked at the Sarutobi, who watched him with clear interest. 'A test of some kind, then.'
Naruto looked at the sheet toughtfully
'So he must have used chakra to somehow make it slippery. I can't grasp it normally. So how can I...? Hmm...' His cerulean eyes narrowed. 'I have a few options here. I can use the kunai... But that would be too easy. Besides, this is an official document. I can't exactly damage it. Overpowering it with raw chakra propably won't work. It would just fry the paper. So what would...' Naruto looked at the old man. 'Clever bastard.' he thought with geniuine appreciation.
Carefuly, he channeled some chakra into his palm. It was actually a very basic skill, but it required a good chakra control. It was easiest to do with hands. Or one's own forehead.
Calmly, unhurriedly, he let the chakra coated hand touch the document and stick to it.
Sarutobi puffed on his pipe thoughtfully.
The excersise was simple, but it had shown judgment and control as well as ability to read 'underneath the underneath'. The boy had passed with flying colors.
Now, the question was if he would agree to what the Hokage had in mind.
Sarutobi leaned forward.
"Naruto, I have a proposition for you..."
*
Well, next is Kurenai, who is going to be Naruto's teacher for the next two years. Kurenai is still Tokubetsu Jounin here, about year away from her promotion. Naruto won't be in a team, not for a year or two, at least.
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At first I was skeptical, mainly because I've never played Blood Omen. Now, I am truly enjoying this fic. Keep it up, Fosfor, may you never run out of inspiration. I really did like Sarutobi's test, it was well thought out and made sense. Moar. Though I am still excited to read your Yondaime is Naruto oneshot's sequel.
Yummy... :wub: :wub:
So, could you give us a bit of rundown what kind of things Naruto is able to do/ use right now.
Rundown for what kind of relationship he has with the others in his class/ Iruka could be nice (?Ino: semi-pest/ friend/ ally, Sakura a bit less directly so?) How has Naruto being different from canon affected them?
Likes Yukino (we seeing more of her?) and Inos perfume (what did he actually try to make?).
So, could you give us a bit of rundown what kind of things Naruto is able to do/ use right now.
Rundown for what kind of relationship he has with the others in his class/ Iruka could be nice (?Ino: semi-pest/ friend/ ally, Sakura a bit less directly so?) How has Naruto being different from canon affected them?
Likes Yukino (we seeing more of her?) and Inos perfume (what did he actually try to make?).
Fosfor, this was gold. It just...flowed. Everthing was logical, the parallels between Konoha's main Hijutsu and the Dark Gifts and Vampiric abilities of Nosgoth were subtle but unmissable, and the insight shown by Sarutobi was fantastic. This is a version of Naruto I've never seen done before, and I am enjoying it muchly.
And you used Vae Victus. :hail:
I live in hope of Moar soon. :drool:
And you used Vae Victus. :hail:
I live in hope of Moar soon. :drool:
List of abilities? Why not.
What Naruto can do: shadow maniplation (Cloak of Shadows, limited), passive empathy, minor telepathy (the 'voice') command over insects and vermin (very limited for now) eye hypnotism, alchemy (nothing outrageous, but far better than usual shinobi medicines or soldier pills) Blood Script spells (summoning the 'farsight bird' and one other) strong emphatic links with wolves and, to a limited degree, dogs (he used ot change into a wolf on regular basis, after all) Blood Gout (he can napiulate his blood to use it as a weapon and for several other things, but he doesn't know he retains the ability as of yet).
His senses are incredibly acute to esoteric emanations (like chakra) and he has natural (or unnattural rather) aptitude for genjutsu. As far as chakra goes, he has excellent control, knows all of the academy jutsu and a little bit extra. He can climb trees using chakra, as well as walk on water (watching genins train can prove beneficial, after all) and read on all avaliable topics - from ninja weaponry ot chakra-based medicine. Though any knowledge he has about hose topics is purely theoretical, except for some rare cases. All of this will be shown, so there is no need for the list, really.
The relationship are a bit strange. Ino, in Sakura's best interests, coaxed Narut to be her 'friend'. Somehow he became Ino's. Heh. And yeah, Ino is a bit of a pest at times, but Naruto likes her. She's interesting, if occasionaly shallow. Now Sakura will be the biggest change. Remember how Ino's presence changed her from a little sniveling brat to bossy (and occasionally bratty) Sakura we know to hate? Now imagine how this Naruto's presence as one of her two 'best friends' will change her? Heh. :snigger:
Yukino will show herself from time to time. She's Naruto's business partner and somewhat friend and she's mildly important. Aside from Ino and Sakura... Well, you'll have to see.
Though I can safely say he will be at least on friendly terms with Tenten, since her mother will make swords for him on regular basis.
Well, it's not like you can buy a broadsword in a ninja village, so he has them custom made. That and Naruto working on re-creating the Flay and needs plenty of large quasi-shurkien to experiment with.
What Naruto can do: shadow maniplation (Cloak of Shadows, limited), passive empathy, minor telepathy (the 'voice') command over insects and vermin (very limited for now) eye hypnotism, alchemy (nothing outrageous, but far better than usual shinobi medicines or soldier pills) Blood Script spells (summoning the 'farsight bird' and one other) strong emphatic links with wolves and, to a limited degree, dogs (he used ot change into a wolf on regular basis, after all) Blood Gout (he can napiulate his blood to use it as a weapon and for several other things, but he doesn't know he retains the ability as of yet).
His senses are incredibly acute to esoteric emanations (like chakra) and he has natural (or unnattural rather) aptitude for genjutsu. As far as chakra goes, he has excellent control, knows all of the academy jutsu and a little bit extra. He can climb trees using chakra, as well as walk on water (watching genins train can prove beneficial, after all) and read on all avaliable topics - from ninja weaponry ot chakra-based medicine. Though any knowledge he has about hose topics is purely theoretical, except for some rare cases. All of this will be shown, so there is no need for the list, really.
The relationship are a bit strange. Ino, in Sakura's best interests, coaxed Narut to be her 'friend'. Somehow he became Ino's. Heh. And yeah, Ino is a bit of a pest at times, but Naruto likes her. She's interesting, if occasionaly shallow. Now Sakura will be the biggest change. Remember how Ino's presence changed her from a little sniveling brat to bossy (and occasionally bratty) Sakura we know to hate? Now imagine how this Naruto's presence as one of her two 'best friends' will change her? Heh. :snigger:
Yukino will show herself from time to time. She's Naruto's business partner and somewhat friend and she's mildly important. Aside from Ino and Sakura... Well, you'll have to see.
Though I can safely say he will be at least on friendly terms with Tenten, since her mother will make swords for him on regular basis.
Well, it's not like you can buy a broadsword in a ninja village, so he has them custom made. That and Naruto working on re-creating the Flay and needs plenty of large quasi-shurkien to experiment with.
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Great stuff Fosfor, am a great admirer of your works. Moar and all that jazz 
.
One small problem i have, having not played the game, is that im not totally up to scratch on what all the abilities are.
Thankfully, most have been explained to sufficient degree in the thread at some point or other for me to be able to read the fic without missing out, but im wondering if someone could clear up what exactly is 'The Flay' which i ve seen referred to here and there, what type of ability is it and what does it do?
Im guessing if its got anything to do with flaying then it results in people getting skinned (alive?) Could someone kindly help me out?
. One small problem i have, having not played the game, is that im not totally up to scratch on what all the abilities are.
Thankfully, most have been explained to sufficient degree in the thread at some point or other for me to be able to read the fic without missing out, but im wondering if someone could clear up what exactly is 'The Flay' which i ve seen referred to here and there, what type of ability is it and what does it do?
Im guessing if its got anything to do with flaying then it results in people getting skinned (alive?) Could someone kindly help me out?
The Flay is a magical item which homes in on a victim before ripping every inch of flesh right off of them, leaving a skeleton and a puddle of gore. In Blood Omen, the more powerful enemies can withstand more than one Flay, and I vaguely recall Boss characters being immune to it.
Still, against a human foe, it's a one hit kill in a very messy fashion. ^_^
Still, against a human foe, it's a one hit kill in a very messy fashion. ^_^
Oro! Usually it's the other way around - I spend so long typing that I get beaten to the punch.
Oh, Fosfor, BTW - you mentioned the Old God in this snippet - now, I'll freely admit that it's been _years_ since I last played an SR game...but wasn't Raziel's tentacled benefactor the Elder God?
(Yes, I am that pedantic.) ^_^
Oh, Fosfor, BTW - you mentioned the Old God in this snippet - now, I'll freely admit that it's been _years_ since I last played an SR game...but wasn't Raziel's tentacled benefactor the Elder God?
(Yes, I am that pedantic.) ^_^
...Uhm, Fosfor, there's an 'edit' button, you know. You should use it instead of making four posts in less then twenty minutes. I could understand if someone posted after an edit or something, but as is, you're just needlessly cluttering up the topic.
Well, more on topic, it's an enjoyable story. One point is that you've not fallen into a trap that many authors do, with giving Naruto (i.e., the modified character) too many abilities. Actually, if anything, you've made him rather underpowered considering where he has been. That's not a bad thing though. ^^
Well, more on topic, it's an enjoyable story. One point is that you've not fallen into a trap that many authors do, with giving Naruto (i.e., the modified character) too many abilities. Actually, if anything, you've made him rather underpowered considering where he has been. That's not a bad thing though. ^^