Hi everyone, I'm back! Let's get this started! Three years since I updated this, and I have no excuse.

If you would like to petition to be my lemon writer, pm me, and we'll discuss an interview.

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Blasterdog: Thanks, dude

Darklord98: Honestly, a good guess, but no cigar

Ultima-owner: Lol

Unnatural Reader: Thank you

Grounded Forever: No, I am not a psychic, but thanks

Cerulean Knight: Yeah, he was an Uzumaki. I was trying to not outright state it, but not be too vague.

Ironman088: Thanks

Guest: I have a plan regarding Ameyuri

Ejammer: Thank you, I do plan on making it at some point in the future.

Swiftrabbit: Yeah, it's really unfortunate

RC-01138: I'm updating right now

2446vili: don't worry, I have plans, and thank you

Allhailthesith: He just didn't feel like keeping it.

Crackermack: Thank you for your words of encouragement

JackBacon: ASDF FTW!

SpencerDorman: I have no idea if and when I'm going to post Red and Silver

Kalavuna: Are you saying that this story suffers from that, or are you just giving a general complaint?

Avidra: I'm sorry you feel that way

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"Hello": Human Speech

'Hello': Human Thought

"Hello": Demon Speech

'Hello': Demon Thought

"Hello": Technique

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Sitting in the siddihansana stye in the middle of the array, Naruto closed his eyes, and when he opened them, he was staring at a massive gate, held shut by a seal tag, the floor flooded with several inches of water.

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Upon further inspection of his surroundings, it was revealed that he was in a sewer; numerous large industrial pipes making seeing the actual ceiling near impossible in the connecting tunnels. The room he was in was so massively tall that it was in fact physically impossible to see the roof, it being lost in darkness.

The gates in front of him also had a few additions as well. Several Shimenawa ropes that were almost twice as thick as he was tall were affixed to the front of the gates, with numerous shide tags hanging from them. They were held up my massive silver spikes in the walls next to the gates. In front of the massive gates was a Torii gate, as well as one at each of the much smaller openings to the side passages to the rest of the 'facility'. Looking down, he noticed that, as always whenever he did this, he was still sitting on the paper, with the four katana around him; the water halted by an invisible wall, simply hanging in mid-air, leaving the paper completely untouched.

Looking up, he could see the large, uncaring eyes of the beast within, staring at him apathetically. The creature had been like this for a while now, ever since Naruto and his Jiji had imposed the much harsher restrictions on the seal, he had grown lethargic, sparing no effort to even move around all that much. It didn't even shift, simply cracking it's eyes to the minimum required to actually see it's host.

"What do you want?" Drawled the Kyuubi, the entire sentence coming out in a single whispered breath, showing it's unending boredom.

"Why do you insist upon doing it?" Stated the blonde, both of them knowing exactly what he was talking about.

"What else would you have me do? With what you and that accursed old man did, I don't even get an impression of a feeling of the outside I so desperately craved."

Looking from the beast to the actual seal, Naruto could see that while the bars were more or less fine, the actual paper keeping them together looked like it had been found in a six thousand year-old cave, yellowed and flaking, ready to fall apart at the slightest touch.

"Why do you resist, why do you not give in? The unending pleasure that absolute power can bring is a very beautiful thing. You have seen what I can give you, so why do you not let me?" As the beast talked, small, slender tendrils of red power slid through the bars, circling Naruto, almost seductive in their movements. As they approached him, they were stopped, almost as if the swordsman were in a glass box; halting, like the water, at the barrier formed by the edges of the paper he was sat upon. The tendrils then began to move along the barrier, almost caressing it, causing a shudder to run through Naruto.

Yes, yes he did know the pleasure. Each time it happened, it was harder and harder to get away from. The first time he had had a true taste of it was roughly a year after he had met his fuinjutsu teacher. The man had been studying his seal, and had decided to see what loosening it would do. They had been in a completely desolate area, when it happened, nothing around for hundreds, maybe thousands of miles, except snow, rocks, and pine trees.

It had been a foolish thing, but an irresistible curiosity for the both of them. The aged samurai had apparently had too much faith in the strength of the seal. In an experiment, the man had loosened the seal by roughly 5%, thinking that it would allow Naruto to draw an additional 5% of the Kyuubi's chakra, but he had almost immediately gone into a three-tailed state, almost killing the man, if it weren't for Kentei and Mifune, who had been brought in for security. It had taken almost a full day, and impaling Naruto with seven of the Katana he was currently surrounded by, but they had gotten him under control. This, however, had lead to its own problem.

The seals on the swords, as well as the tampering with the seal on his stomach, was leading to degradation. The seal master, seeing this, had immediately begun layering seal, after seal, after seal, after seal, in attempts to patch the damage. The man would be the first to acknowledge that the person whom had designed Naruto's seal was an utmost master, someone who'd had expert teaching and years of experience. He however, was better. But no matter how much better he was, this particular seal was amongst the highest in its class, and not much could be done besides completely re-do it, and no one there felt like releasing the beast, just to reseal it, if they even could, causing the death of the old man, if not Naruto, Kentei, and Mifune as well.

This led to the current situation, whereupon Naruto could call upon barely enough chakra to change his eyes. This change, was not very beneficial to either the sealed, nor the sealer, in the end. Naruto was no longer getting a steady stream of the kyuubi's chakra, and it in turn was no longer able to influence the boy. Thus, it had to be sneakier, more cunning, more manipulative. It was forced to go from trying to brute force down the boy's defences, to finding cracks, weaknesses. And if there was one thing that was a common weakness in both its previous hosts, it was addiction.

Both were addicted to Ramen, and its second host had an addiction to adrenaline, the thrill of battle. This, unfortunately, had been suppressed when the woman had become a housewife, marriage and the civilian livelihood mellowing her considerably. The current Jinchuriki had never eaten ramen, due to Mifune's insistence that he eat that which was healthy, but he did get a rush from battle, training, and spars. Kyuubi decided to exploit this, attempting to use Naruto's weakened state after battle to exert its influence.

Naruto's life goal of becoming the best swordsman in the world was instrumental in this. The more he fought, the more he got injured, and the more he was able to tempt the boy.

The power during the fight with Hoki was exhilarating, but he was focused so much on Hoki that it didn't particularly affect him. His time in his three tailed state was also awe inspiring, but he was almost completely unconscious, and when he did come to, he had been nailed to the dirt by several lengths of steel. It was only after they had been removed, and the new seals applied, that it had happened.

The fox had tried to force its way out once more, but what once was a faucet, turned broken spigot was now a leaky pipe. If it wasn't able to physically see what it was doing, it would have thought it wasn't doing anything at all. The Biju had been forced to think, to strategize. It instead began to change what it was doing, making itself Pavlovian in nature, attempting to get the boy to associate it with pleasure. The result had been a child with hugely dilated eyes, a huge smile, drool, and a twitching body.

The three adults had been unaware of what exactly was happening, only for the seal master to place yet another layer of sealing upon Naruto, and them to return home to await the consequences.

Shamefully, as Naruto was only about six at the time, he was easily influenced, and wanted to feel the sensation again when he came to once more when he was released from the infirmary. This led to him trying to once again call upon the beast's chakra, wanting more, only to find that he couldn't. Seeing the new layers of seals, he realized that he was able to remove one or two, which he promptly did, only for nothing to once again happen.

The overwhelming urge was taking hold, and led him to drastic measures. Thinking about how he was hurt, last time, he stabbed himself in the arm, causing untold pain as he dragged the knife through his flesh. The pain melted into mind-numbing nothingness, however, as the chakra once more enveloped him.

The first time he did this, he was almost caught, as he had to clean the blood, and re-apply the seal.

The fourth time he did this, he was caught, having forgotten to redo the barrier.

After an hour of interrogation by the three adults, he finally confessed what he had been doing, the manic look on his face when telling his teachers was utterly disturbing. This led to two years of never being left alone again, only being allowed to use the restroom by himself. This was combined with several more seals having been laid upon him, a lot of which were taken off as he proved to be more trustworthy.

On his eighth birthday, he was allowed to live with the other apprentices, who were all older than him, and on his tenth, he was given his own room.

It was also during this two year process that he discovered narcotics. He had very badly broken his arm at one point, and since he was sealed off from the chakra of the beast, he was given powerful pain medication to help. The first time he had taken it, he was instantly terrified of the incredibly similar feeling, and had at once decided to stop taking it. His teachers were worried about him, of course, but upon hearing his reasons, they had of course accepted his decision.

Each day was a struggle for him, and so was each battle. He had to take extra care to not be injured, so as to not have to go through the temptation.

Naruto simply sat there, his mouth suddenly feeling dry, as he held out a shaking hand towards the tendrils. The kyuubi shifted slightly, hoping against hope, before Naruto made a fist, slamming it into the array below him as he scowled.

"I warned you what would happen, Biju." Yelled the blonde, before he held his other hand over his stomach and twisted, causing a massive string of Magatama to wrap like a chain around the bars holding the cage shut, encircling even the seal tag. This led to the tendrils of chakra being severed, writhing like snakes as they slowly dispersed. The Kyuubi was also thrown into complete darkness, unable to see outside of its prison, even though it could still hear it when Naruto spoke.

"I do not enjoy what I do, but nor do I enjoy my trust being betrayed. In thirty days, I will withdraw this level of sealing. In this time, I want to to think of what you have done." With those words, the blonde was gone, leaving the fox to its cruel, dark solitude.

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Kumogakure

While everything was going on with the blonde, Samui too was going through introspection. Naruto wasn't her whole world, he wasn't the love of her life, he wasn't even really her boyfriend. However, Naruto was someone very special to her in a way no one else was. She still trained as hard as she was allowed (no sense exhausting herself right before the chunin exams) she still went on a few missions, and still did some community service besides. It wasn't as though Naruto leaving had destroyed her or anything, but it had hurt. Whenever she was alone, she would think of their strange relationship. Of the completely out of character thoughts that had gone through her head upon first meeting him, of him being hers, and the father of her children.

She pondered these experiences, and just couldn't explain them. Sure, she'd been horny at points in her life, masturbated, had a boyfriend. She had dumped his ass soon after her first time giving oral, a disastrous experience that she vowed to never repeat. She had experimented with Karui one night after the red-head had somehow gotten her piss drunk, another experience she vowed to never repeat, though it was far more pleasant. She had even tried 'nontraditional' stimulation once (1).

All these experiences had dulled her to the concepts of love and attraction, and then Naruto steps in, and crushes her. Were her thoughts simply a result of being specially intune with her instincts that day, a desire for a strong mate to sire strong children? Or perhaps she was just a lusty bitch under the cold bitch exterior.

Either way, introspection was the only real way for her to try to get through the situation, as she didn't feel it was something a shrink should be consulted about. It didn't interfere with her work, nor her training, but made her a little depressed that he left without much of a goodbye.

With that thought, she determined that she should simply take things at their own pace, maybe find another person to be with, to see if that same feeling popped up. Perhaps she'd simply find Naruto at some point, and have a conversation of their relationship. She knew where he lived, and she did have (limited) access to the Messenger Birds, even if she had to go through a lengthy application process for the privilege. Or, she could simply allow the cards to fall as they please. Were she single all her life, that would be more than fine with her, as she'd have more time to simply hone her skills, and advance in rank.

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With Naruto, after his encounter with the Kyuubi, he was left feeling both unclean, and wracked by guilt over what he had done to the biju. And so, he decided to cleanse himself. Decked in a white robe, and clutching a string of prayer beads, he went to a very special hotspring, joined by several of the other samurai, similarly equipped. Passing a shrine, he waited in line. When it was his turn, he, like all the others, he first washed his hands at the small fountain, before stepping up to the shrine itself. He then tossed fifty yen into the box, he then bowed twice, before clapping his hands loudly twice. After doing so, he gave a short prayer for his loved ones, his dreams, and to be cleansed, before bowing once more, and joining those whom had already gone into the spring. Once there, he simply crouched in the water, chanting lowly with the rest as he bathed.

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.Cha no Kuni

.On a desolate part of the shore, there was a part of the shore where the water rose and fell several meters. It was at the time of lowest tide, where an entrance was revealed.

Lined with coral, the entrance was small, only able to fit two people side by side, and low enough to force most to tunnel was long, stretching roughly a mile, with a downward slope. Towards the end, the tunnel took a sharp upturn as it opened up into a large cavern, which stayed dry even when at high tide.

Small creatures were everywhere, all giving off a soft fluorescent glow, enough to see by. At the rear of the cavern were several tweed mats, arranged in lines in front of an altar. The altar was crafted from seastone and more coral, and upon it sat various fish skeletons, many of which were the only of their kind to ever be seen by humans, and in the direct center lay yet more coral. On top of this coral lay a large blue sphere. The sphere was about six inches in diameter, lightly pulsing with more blue light. With each pulse, small amounts of water flowed from the orb, gently flowing down to the cavern floor.

Behind the altar lay a massive skeleton. It was about sixty feet tall, and looked to be twice as long. The bones looked to belong to a mix of a lizard and a fish. The sleek ribcage giving way to a long neck, topped with a frilled skull. The 'hands' were long and wide, the tail looking more like an oar. The skull of the beast was a few feet above the orb, it's empty sockets staring like a silent sentinel. The whole of the skeleton was sprinkled with more of the small fluorescent beings, giving the entire thing an even more otherworldly appearance, one of them even being in the right socket, giving the bones a feeling of judging the proceedings in front of it.

On the other side of the altar were a group of roughly fifty people. Each of them were wearing robes of blue and green. These robes were decorated with yet more coral, sea stone, and fish bones. There were even some who were draped in various vegetation and scales, with one even having the body of a jellyfish balanced on their shoulder. All but one were kneeling before the altar, prostrating themselves while humming a seemingly aimless tune. In front of all of them was a single woman. Her robes were the only in the group to be completely plain, with no decorations whatsoever. Her head was shaved, and scarred, her eyes being a stunning seafoam green. She stood before the altar, arms spread, chanting in a language that only she knew.

This ceremony was just one more of the several hundred the group had done so far. Starting from when the woman first found the cave after nearly dying to a bandit raid. She had slowly one by one gained more followers for 'the lord of the sea', each person giving a little to the cause. Yes, giving to the cause, not to her, she did not deserve, the cause did. Maybe she had been enlightened, maybe she had suffered mentally from her experiences. Either way, she was happy, she was healthy, and she had a purpose.

Suddenly, during the middle of the ceremony, there was a loud bang, and the entire cavern shook. This caused the entire congregation to stop and look around, worried there was an earthquake, or something of that nature. They couldn't escape at the moment, since it was high tide, and the tunnel was flooded.

Again and again, boom after boom, the cavern shook, until all fell silent. After a brief pause, one last boom, louder than all the others happened, and the roof of the cavern came down, showering them with rubble and dust, crushing and killing several. Waiting for the dust to clear, a shape suddenly came barreling out, slamming into a group of them, splattering them into a red paste.

When all was calm, it was revealed to be a man, seven foot tall, short brown hair, built like an olympian god, smeared with red from the people he just killed. Suddenly, two more men dropped down from the hole in the ceiling, landing behind the adonis. Both of them were wearing deep green cloaks, one a foot taller than the other, with the taller of the two being a foot and a half shorter than the killer.

"Kill them, Renga" The shorter of the two told the man, causing him to grin, let out a massive yell, shaking the cavern again, and throw himself at the worshipers.

They tried to defend themselves, but they were completely helpless to do so before the might of Renga. They were peaceful, and had no weapons, they rocks and coral they picked up doing nothing but bounce off the tall man's skin.

Soon, only one was left, the head worshipper, who hadn't moved from her spot, only turning to watch the carnage, with a look of despair on her face. After a moment of silence, her expression morphed to one of anger, as she put her hands together. As she did, a blue aura enveloped both her, the orb, and the skeleton, as the water all raised and shot towards Renga.

So fierce was the water, that the man couldn't do anything. It wasn't enough to actually physically harm him, but it pushed him into the rear wall, making it impossible for him to actually move, slowly drowning him.

.Eventually, however, as the woman's victory seemed assured, the taller of the two cloaked men slammed his hand on the ground, causing black lines to appear, and the glow to instantly disappear. When this happened, the head priestess was only able to gasp in shock, before her entire right side was blasted off from the force of Renga's punch.

"Good work Hone, Renga." Stated the smallest of the three men, as he slowly walked forward towards the altar. Ignoring their responses, he simply reached out and grabbed the orb, bringing it up to his face, illuminating his smirk.

However, when he grabbed the orb, the cavern began to shake once more, as a loud groaning sound sounded out around them. With this, the skeleton began to tremble, the head slowly rising. This earned a tilt of the head from the one with the orb, who reached into his cloak, and slashed once with his weapon, before putting it back before anyone could see what it was. The beast continued to tremble for a little before simply falling apart, split perfectly in two.

Seeing this, the short figure placed the orb in an inner pocket of the cloak, before jumping up into the hole in the ceiling with the other two as the cavern flooded behind them.

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With Naruto

The time had come. A month had passed, and the next morning, Naruto, Mifune, and Kentei were slated to head to Konohagakure. The three of them would be there for the entirety of the Chunin Exams. What would normally take perhaps a week at most, due to the chunin exam preparations, other diplomats arriving for similar reasons, the political shitstorm that was Naruto, Sarutobi most likely to try and convince the boy to stay in the village, and the political pressure from various Daimyo would ensure that it would take much longer than that. Mifune's second in command, Okisuke, would be filling the role as leader of the country during their absence.

Currently, Naruto was in his room, dressed only in the skin tight black bodysuit that all samurai wore deciding what to take, and what to leave behind.

The first thing being that for this trip, he would forgo his normal attire, and dress in his personal set of Samurai armor. This would show his loyalty, and that he was a member of the diplomatic party. Hopefully, this would lessen the number of altercations due to his presence. He refused to wear the full headgear, though, leaving the helmet (those horns were ridiculous) and face mask, but taking the rebreather, as it would cover the whisker marks on his face.

Another thing he took being the four sealing katana, just in case. Several more weapons, including his spear and bow, sealed into his haidate; several books on seals, general supplies and toiletries inside scrolls that he'd keep on a harness at the small of his back.

Looking at himself in the mirror of his room, dressed in his full set of armor for the first time in over a year, Naruto's only thought was, 'this is where I belong, this is my home. Nothing that old man can do or say will change that.'

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Walking down the path to Konoha was uneventful, other than the group passing a pair of men in black cloaks with red clouds. Both were wearing the straw hats associated with farmers, so it was hard to see their faces. One was a squat man, seemingly crawling on all fours, a black mask on his face as well. The other was a blonde, with a strand blocking their face. As they passed by, the blonde politely tipped their hat to the three men, who each nodded in return.

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End of the chapter!

I'm not really all that familiar with japanese culture, but I tried really hard with Naruto's interactions with the Kyuubi and afterwards. I also tried to give some much needed character development, which I hope everyone likes, as well as a humanizing flaw to Naruto.

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1: It means she stuck something up her ass at one point

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Guess the quote:

That's not a knife...that's a knife

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Stay tuned for the next chapter of The Elemental Swordsman: Arrival in Konoha!

This concludes experiment log no. 5428