Chapter 4

"So, what happened back there Jiraiya?" Fuu asked as they had made it back to her village within the night. The rest of the gennin were sent to a hotel to sleep as the best medics in the Waterfall took care of Naruto's chakra depletion.

Sitting just outside the room with Naruto in it while having a good view of the hotel to make sure no one snuck in to do anything to the ret, Jiraiya sighed as put away his pen and scroll. "Nothing that you haven't already figured out, Lady Fuu. It was an error on my part bringing two gennin teams as if I knew he was involved…"

Seeing the toad sannin clench his fists, Fuu shook her head as she sat besides him before uncorking a bottle of sake and taking a swig. "That's not what I meant. I wanted to know how blonde here was able to control the fox's chakra to such a degree… He was only using a fragment of the demon's power, not even a tail's worth and still caused that amount of devastation… Has Konoha been creating a weapon?"

Jiraiya snorted at her question, but it was well appreciated as it got his mind off of his old teammate showing up as everything winded down. "You should know better then that. Sensei opposes it and as long as he is in office and not Danzo, we will never create a living weapon. …No, Naruto somehow managed to subdue the chakra for protecting his friends alone."

'But that makes me wonder… Did his AI have anything to do with the fluid transfer of chakra and power? That would explain how he was able to use it so effectively.' Jiraiya thought as he let his mind wander to Naruto's Shinra Tensei.

Fuu frowned at Jiraiya's response, knowing better then to believe that entirely. "That is a load of bull, sage. The only way a demon vessel can subdue their demon's chakra is if they are on good terms with one another and if they have a similar mind set. So you expect me that blonde has anything in common with the blood thirsty fox that loves to dominate whatever is weaker then it is."

Shrugging his shoulders, Jiraiya picked up the scroll he was writing on and examined it before rolling it up and summoning a small toad. "Take this to the third, Gamagichi. He needs to know what happened here."

The small toad nodded before disappearing in a plum before Jiraiya turned to Fuu, who was angered that he had ignored her. "Whether you believe it or not that is what happened, Lady Fuu. I agree that the demon is all of what you said, but Naruto is able to keep the demon under check and draw out less power then any vessel I have seen and use it more effectively. It may be because of the Rinnegan, maybe it isn't. No one knows."

Looking at the sannin, Fuu sighed before taking a deep swig of sake. "I see… One more thing before you go… What is with that boy? Ever since the Hokage sent him on this mission, I've gotten the feeling he sent him for a reason… And I'm not sure what."

Smirking as he could see the young woman was extraordinarily frustrated as the young blonde was eating at her emotional defenses, Jiraiya shrugged. "I have no real clue. All I know is that boy could befriend a cold blooded killer and turn him to the light in time. …He is just like that… And I suppose a lot of people just don't want to be on his bad side as he has a lot of dirt on everyone."

This made Fuu look at him strangely before she sighed as he jumped down and headed to the hotel, probably to get some rest. Sighing before finishing off the bottle, Fuu looked into the room to see the sleeping blonde lying sound asleep. There was just something about him that she couldn't put a finger on, but it was a quality that made him… Well, tolerable unlike the rest of the vessels she had met.

"Dammit, I must be getting soft." Fuu commented to herself before she jumped down and headed to her home. "Well, it could be worse. I could have done what the bug told me to do. …That would have been very awkward as I prefer older men."

After waking and being released by the medics, Naruto found the next hour to quickly pass by and found himself before the entrance of the Waterfall. He was somewhat fuzzy on what happened on the mission, but he was slowly filled in by everyone.

'I can't believe I was able to use Shinra Tensei like that… I've been trying to do that for months, almost a year now, but now I suddenly use it like that to that magnitude? How is that possible?' Naruto wondered as he scratched his head as he was unsure if he could repeat such a feat.

"The only thing I can come up with is that in desperation, you found yourself in a zone and it caused you to be able to temporarily master the jutsu. However, when we get back I want to see if we can duplicate it with smaller amounts of force." Zagger responded to Naruto's questions as the AI was analyzing the fight over and over to see if there was something that triggered it.

Nodding as Zagger had a point, Naruto's attention was suddenly brought to Hinata and Tenten, who were currently by themselves talking quietly to make sure no one was listening in on them. Absently wondering what they were talking about, he tried to move closer only for both of them to glare at him before shuffling away.

Figuring it was some girl thing that he wouldn't understand for a few more years, Naruto decided not to pursue and looked around. He noted that Lee was doing one handed push-ups, alternating his hand every ten, while Chouji snacked on a bag of chips, who knew where he got them from and Neji simply leaned on the side of the gate as they waited for Jiraiya to arrive.

Feeling everyone was leaving him out, Naruto groaned as he was getting bored as no one was talking to him. "Dammit… Where is Jiraiya? I would like to get home before Kakashi suddenly appears for no reason and comes up with some lame ass excuse explaining why he's late."

While no one knew Kakashi personally, Gai's students could only nod as they knew the silver haired jounin seemed to be late for everything and had really bad excuses, hearing him give Gai a few of them.

Shaking his head, Neji stood from the gate before his eyes bulged for a second before sighing as they returned to normal. "He's there… On that flag pole looking into the… Wrong side of the bath house." He said at the end with slight disgust in his voice as he knew exactly what the man was doing.

Knowing Jiraiya's perverseness already, Naruto twitched before he simply turned towards the flag pole before holding out his hand. 'Fuck waiting till we get home to duplicate it. Let's try it here.'

"Yes! Cause destruction and mayhem!" Kyuubi cackled leaving Zagger to simply sigh as understanding human thoughts, or a demon's at that, was just beyond him. He could understand emotions and motives, but not how they arrived at their conclusions.

As he began to focus and prepare for his Shinra Tensei, Naruto noticed that his vision almost seemed to focus into a straight path, almost like that of tunnel vision. Gathering a small amount of chakra, making sure the force would be enough to knock the pole out of the ground, he let go and his vision returned.

The next moment, the pole groaned before snapping from the gravitational force placed onto it. A moment later, there was a sudden and surprised scream as Jiraiya hit the ground before he started screaming as the pole landed on top of him, hitting him right between the legs.

Everyone that saw it cringed, even Naruto despite the fact that he had been the one to cause the said event. It just looked frighteningly painful.

"Ah, peeping again pervert?" Fuu's voice echoed before the village leader of the Waterfall appeared in a plum of smoke before she glared at the downed sannin. "Well I hope that teaches you a lesson. Don't keep your team waiting just to make a small profit."

Jiraiya simply groaned in response, wiggling around and writhing in pain. Shaking her head, Fuu turned to the six gennin before bowing ever so slightly. "Thank you all for your help. It's not much, but it is all I can do outside of the payment of the mission. …Naruto, I do, however, have something you might find interesting."

Looking somewhat surprised, Naruto stepped to Fuu with a curious look as he tried to figure out what she had. Honestly he didn't think he did that much more work then the rest of the team, but maybe it was something different or relating to their demons…

Slightly smiling, Fuu shook her head. She had no clue why but she felt she owed a little to him as she put them in danger and he had rescued them. And seeing that she could tolerate him compared to the others, she didn't mind giving him the gift she had.

Pulling out a scroll, she removed what seemed to be a very large fang that was nearly a foot in length. "Here, take this. I found it near Konoha years ago… It is one of Kyuubi's fangs, I believe. I thought it would be a good gift, seeing you are from Konoha and all."

Naruto instantly understood why she was giving him this. She knew he was the nine tails vessel and that this would have some value to him and to his demon. "Thank you… I'll treasure it."

Her smile widening just a little, Fuu then leaned down and surprised Naruto as she kissed him softly on the cheek before whispering. "Keep it with you at all. It may just save your life one day."

Still thrown by the kiss, Naruto only nodded his head ever so slightly as he somehow managed to catch what she had said. Fuu couldn't help but grin at his reaction waving to the rest. "Well I got to get back to work, so this is goodbye. Have a safe trip back and stay out of trouble, especially you."

At the end she purposely pointed at Naruto, who looked indignity at her for a moment before smiling back as she disappeared, probably to her office to conquer the bane of most village leader's existence.

Turning to the group, Naruto suddenly felt two death glares bearing down upon him as Hinata and Tenten's eyes looked with his. He could only grimace in a comical fashion as he didn't understand what he did wrong.

His trip home was not going to be very safe.

"I see…" Sarutobi softly spoke as Jiraiya had finished giving him the report with the gennin and senseis in the room.

Sighing as Orochimaru was apart of what happened, he honestly didn't know what to do know. There was no doubt that snake was a threat to the village but at the same time he was also helping them by giving them information on the Akatsuki. He simply was a double edge sword and could suddenly be the cause of their downfall.

Rubbing his forehead as he put that out of his mind of now, planning to speak with Jiraiya and his top advisers about it later, he switched his thoughts to Kurenai's request. From what Orochimaru had said, he was seeking out Naruto to be a trump card against the Akatsuki. So letting him out was a bad idea…

On the same token, he was after many things so letting mostly everyone and anything out of Konoha near his whereabouts was a bad idea. And he would also be punishing the team for giving an outstanding performance in a dangerous mission.

That weighed his decision down as they were very deserving to leave the village on C-rank missions, just as Gai's team was. And what was the harm in letting them out every now and then. He let Jiraiya roam around and almost every woman in the world has Jiraiya on their hit list.

"Kurenai, for now you and your team will stay here in Konoha for a few weeks just to let this clear up. After that, I'll allow your team on C-rank missions." Sarutobi stated as he came to a decision that pleased not only his worries but would please them as well.

"That's fine with me. A think they need a little break after having a run in with an S-rank criminal." Kurenai responded, somewhat relived that she could still take them out despite what had just happened.

However, she knew she would have to train them harder then before as she could not afford any mistakes if the snake came for Naruto. She knew she stood no chance against him, but the least she could do would be to stall and allow her team to get far enough away so the snake wouldn't pursue.

"Good, both you and Gai are dismissed as are your teams. Jiraiya, I would like to talk to you." Sarutobi spoke as he waved for them to leave.

After a quick bow, Naruto turned and left immediately as he didn't plan on giving any time for Kurenai or anyone else to speak with him. While it wasn't in spite, well for Hinata and Tenten it was as they refused to talk to him on the way back, he really didn't want to talk right now. He finally made a breakthrough and he was going to be damned that he wasn't going to work on it.

Soon as he left the room, he body flickered away leaving Kurenai frowning as she really wanted to talk to her team. "Well that was rude. What was that about anyway?"

"Breakthrough." Chouji answered simply which made Kurenai look at him oddly.

Sighing and shaking his head, Chouji took out a bag of chips that he seemingly store in his pocket somehow before speaking. "He was finally able to focus Shinra Tensei on a single point for the first time and again later on when Jiraiya was peeping on women in the bath house."

Seeing Kurenai grin somewhat at what Naruto did for that, Chouji continued. "He probably wants to get to work on it as fast as he can so he can use its fullest potential again. He did that to Ino, Shikamaru and I a lot as he would discover something about his techniques and run off to test them. He means no harm by it."

Feeling a little better, having seen Naruto do such before, Kurenai nodded before her attention was suddenly drawn to Neji. "That's only part of it. The other part is these two," Nodding his head towards Hinata and Tenten, Neji continued, "Decided to treat him like a pariah on the entire way back. I know I would want to depart quickly if my friends treated me the same way."

As soon as he finished, Hinata grimaced while Tenten simply looked down. Neither wanted to admit it, but they were extremely jealous of Fuu kissing him and focused their anger on him as she wasn't available. Still, they both knew it was wrong for them to not even speak to him on the way back.

"Ah, I see. So Lady Fuu kissed him then." Kurenai said all-knowingly as she looked at the two girls with a tilted head and her finger at her lips.

Both Hinata and Tenten looked horrified that she was able to figure that out so easily. No one else had figured out why they hadn't said a word, but then again everyone else around them until just now were guys…

Kurenai only laughed at their reactions before shaking her head at them. "Oh come on, I was your age too, you know. I know the whole bit very well and girls get easily jealous when the object of their affect is kissed by another girl, even if it isn't romantically, and normally take their anger out on the boy as it isn't possible to take it out on the girl."

Hinata simply became more horrified at her senseis words, knowing them to be true as that was exactly what happened. Tenten however objected. Loudly. "I'M NOT IN LOVE WITH NARUTO! I JUST SIMPLY LIKE HIM! AS A FRIEND! THAT'S ALL! NOTHING ELSE! NOTHING!"

Kurenai just busted out laughing as that made it even more obvious for her. Even Gai was chuckling at his student as he could tell she was in denial. But as soon as her head turned to him, his face straightened as he turned to Neji and Lee, knowing his time here was limited. "So my youthful students, I think I shall be off! I have a match against my eternal rival that I must not miss!"

There wasn't even enough time for Lee and Gai to start their normal routine as Gai flat out ran out of their so fast that he simply disappeared. Lee would be disappointed with him, but he knew not to anger women that much, especially when they had pinpoint aim and could castrate you with one well aimed throw.

Sighing as she planted a hand on her hip and shook her head, Kurenai sighed before she looked over the two girls. "Well, I'm going to check up on him as I've got to make sure and today technically would be his day on the schedule. …However, Hinata, Tenten; the next time you both see him I want you to apologize."

As Tenten opened her mouth to object, feeling they had did nothing wrong, Kurenai immediately cut her off with a stern gaze. "No, you must apologize to him. …He is extraordinarily fragile, whether you believe it or not. Words, or in this case no one speaking to him, hurt him more then any broken bone or wound."

All the gennin except one looked confused as to why that may be. The only one that knew why immediately was Chouji. "Yeah… He really has had a rough life as almost no one treats him with any respect and the few that do get ridiculed and hurt because of their connections with him. And because of that he tries to separate himself from all those he cares about so not to hurt them."

Feeling even more ashamed of their actions, Hinata and Tenten were ready to hunt Naruto down and apologize to them when Lee spoke. "But why? Naruto is a good person with a very fiery spirit. I noticed that he was ignored and picked on a lot in classes like I was, but unlike me he was tops in almost everything."

"Unless we ask Naruto, none of us will know. To be honest, I don't care that much but I do find it disturbing that such a force is treated with so little respect. It is a very dangerous game as he could snap and from what we saw against those Sound ninja… He could cause a lot of damage before anyone could bring him down." Neji responded with a mix of indifference and a small amount of reverence.

Nodding as that was the truth, Kurenai was about to embark on her quest to seek out Naruto's training grounds when she stopped and realized she had no clue where he trained on his own. Sighing, she turned to Chouji and brushed her hand through her hair. "You mind showing me where he normally trains?"

Chouji simply shrugged at her question. "Ask the white cloaked Anbu. He is one of the few that knows where it is located and the only reason he says that because it is a good place for him to train his special abilities. …That and he takes Naruto to the hospital the most outside of Kakashi."

Kurenai's jaw dropped as she knew who the white cloaked Anbu was and knew what his ability was. The fact that Yamato was there using the Mokuton(Wood) meant that Naruto, on a normal basis, cleared out a good portion of forest and he grew it back to give Naruto his targets back and to test his limits compared to the First Hokage.

Grumbling, Kurenai was about to set out to find Yamato or Kakashi when she suddenly noticed in the corner of her eye a huge cloud of dust and debris. "Never mind… I found it. …I feel sorry for Yamato as that is going to be a test of his limit if he keeps that up."

Before anyone could ask what she had just seen, Kurenai flickered away in a swirl of leaves and appeared in the dust filled crater. And as soon as she did she was forced to defend against Naruto as he threw a kunai straight for her jugular.

Easily catching it, Kurenai was about to yell out what his problem when she found herself knocked down by what she knew to be Shinra Tensei. Trying to get up from that, knowing it had been five seconds and he had apparently charged despite that blast, she froze when she felt his hand on her head.

However, it was quickly removed before Naruto sighed. "Don't try that again sensei… I get a little defensive when people suddenly show up and immediately act as a few people have tried to attack me here before. Mizuki being one of them."

"Sorry about that, I just wanted to check in and make sure you were okay." Kurenai stated as she stood up, a little frightened that Naruto's skills as he didn't let on he was this good in their training. "And I heard about Mizuki was executed for an attempted assassination against you, but I really didn't get the details…"

"It wasn't an execution." Naruto cut her off as he closed his eyes and turned away. "I ripped out his soul."

As Kurenai's face widened in fear of an ability like that, Naruto turned his gaze back to her. "You felt something odd in the back of your mind when I placed my hand on your head. You couldn't find a way to move as if something was piercing into your mind and soul." Naruto spat before looking around as the dust settled to see his latest results of Shinra Tensei.

Finding it unbelievable that a young boy could do something like that despite being a ninja and knowing he would have to kill, Kurenai trembled slightly as she found her voice. "Why would you learn something that horrible?"

"You tell me, sensei." Naruto simply answered with a rhetorical question as he knew that she knew why.

Seeing her flinch, Naruto plopped onto the ground before looking up to the sky and sighing. "I don't like it either, but I have to know something like that so that I can still defend myself if someone can get around all my other abilities. …I put all my focus into it after fighting Neji as he exposed my weaknesses and my inability to fight in close range."

"Mizuki just happened to be the first person I ever tried it on after I scanned his mind and realized he planned on killing me. In fear, I ripped his soul out on complete accident. Sure, the old man covered it up as he didn't want anyone to know that I could use something like that, but it didn't change anything."

"…I'd never been so sick in my life before that moment until I realized what could have happened to Tenten if Jiraiya hadn't been there to rescue her from my Shinra Tensei. …That is more of the reason I passed out then exhaustion. …I thought I might have killed her." Naruto said quietly, continuing to look into the sky.

Beginning to understand her student more, Kurenai's heart went out to the boy as sat beside him and placed her hand on his shoulder. "You could have told me this before so I could have helped. I might not look it, but I do know enough to at least help you and if not, I know people that can and would willingly help you."

Shaking his head, Naruto closed his eyes as his head tilted down. "I didn't entirely trust you until just now… When I scanned your mind when you flickered in."

Feeling ticked that he happened to read her mind; Kurenai understood his reasons not to trust anyone new. "…Well now you know I mean you no harm and only want to help. …But if you ever read my mind again…"

"Trust me, I won't. …I don't like having to read anyone's mind as I get more then I want every single time." Naruto grimaced as he placed his hand on his temple as his head pulsed in pain. "I get horrible headaches after I do it as it is… difficult for one body to hold the powers I do."

"So you get feedback from you abilities? I was beginning to expect it as I noticed how you seem to back off further every time you use Shinra Tensei." Kurenai stated as she looked at her student with some worry.

"The feedback isn't too great that it would affect me too horribly much, but it becomes a problem if I use them extensively." Naruto commented as he shook his head, a minuscule wave of malevolent chakra washing over his entire body. "However, Kyuubi recovers most of them immediately so it isn't often I show it."

Having sensed the tiny fragment of the fox's chakra, Kurenai frowned as she really didn't like that he accepted its chakra so easily. However, she knew at the same time it was mutual for the two so there was nothing she could really do.

"Anyways, I just came up here to see what was wrong but I know now. …However, I do think you should get some rest. I hear Ichiraku's missed you while you were gone." Kurenai grinned knowing how to get the boy's attention off of anything else.

"Ramen? …Meh, mine as well go." He was suddenly interrupted by his stomach roaring loud enough for Kurenai to hear it and bust out laughing. Naruto only grumbled before dispersing in a flicker as he was very hungry. Besides, he was more then successful with his test.

Shinra Tensei was at full function. Now it was time to move to the next technique Zagger had set out to test his gravitation skills to their limit.

"Ugh… My head. What the hell just happened?" A young girl with black hair stated.

The entire room around her was pitch black and she couldn't see a thing. Not that it was any different then any other time she awoke, the only difference was that she normally had someone answer back. Now most of the time it was Tayuya telling her to shut the fuck up, but she didn't even get that.

Becoming worried, she tried to sit up before pain racked her entire body. She nearly screamed out and tried to thrash, but found that she had been strapped down to the bedding she had been lying on.

"Now, now. Don't struggle too much. You are still recovering from the injuries you suffered from your last fight." A dark and sinister voice spoke before cackling as the room began to dimly light up thanks to the computer lights.

Knowing the voice, she was worried as this wasn't Orochimaru and struggled even more. "Kabuto you perverted fuck, let me go! …AHHHHH!" She suddenly began screaming as an even greater pain began surge through her body, dwarfing what she had felt when she had awoken.

Almost losing conscious before the pain finally subsided; Kabuto seemed to scribble some things down before tapping the computer with a pen. "Now that is interesting…"

"What is it that you have found, Kabuto?" Another voice said as a shadow appeared besides the silver haired ninja staring at the computer.

She immediately knew it was Lord Orochimaru simply from his raspy voice. However, that made her even more afraid as she knew that he conducted many experiments and if she was here…

"It seems that after being subject to a powerful blast from Shinra Tensei, the subject has gained immunity to it. …How is that possible my lord? To not be affected by gravity?" Kabuto said as he was utterly astonished by what he had found.

Freezing hearing that she was immune to whatever this Shinra Tensei was, she didn't understand what happened. Then she remember a voice… A single voice.

She suddenly found herself before a bunch of downed Konoha gennin before she saw a blonde haired boy jumped in front of his friends just as Zaku used his most powerful attack. He wasn't too horribly beaten up, but his appearance could have been better. The blood leaking from both of his ears was a tell-tale sign to what had happened to him.

But it was the look in his eyes that made her feel… She didn't know what she felt. She never had felt this before. It wasn't contempt as that was what she felt towards her so called team members. But she really couldn't think more as he held his arms up as if to catch Zaku's attack. However, it seemed more likely as a deep red and malevolent chakra began to surround him.

Then she heard two words from him she could never forget.

"Shinra… TENSEI!"

What he said… It was the same thing that Kabuto had just mentioned. Was that what Shinra Tensei was? An attack that used gravity to repel anything from the owner.

"Kin, can you hear me?" Orochimaru's voice suddenly broke the girl's attention as she looked up at the leader of their rag-tag village.

She noticed that her straps had been taken off and she nodded as she slowly sat up, ignoring the numb pain she was in. "Yes, lord Orochimaru."

Smiling at her, Orochimaru looked over her a few more moments as if he was examining her. "You don't know how valuable you have just become… You just might be the key I have been looking for."

Not sure how to react to what he had said; Kin stayed quiet as she knew Orochimaru had a bad temperament and decided not to question what he had said. If she had somehow become important to him, it was a good thing. That meant she would get better treatment around here.

Still looking over her, Orochimaru crackled before he ran his hand over the side of her head. "From now on, I will be personally training you. You will become one of my elite warriors… One that will capture Uzumaki and bring him to me so he can become my next vessel."

And with that, Orochimaru turned and walked away, only stopping to give Kabuto his orders. "Give her a room of her own. She will no longer stay in the barracks with the other rift-raft."

Watching as he left, Kin wasn't sure what had happened… But whatever had was wonderful. …She finally was a somebody.

Jutsu Translation

Shinra Tensei - Heavenly Subjugation of the Omnipresent God

A/N: Sorry for a late chapter update. This one would have been updated quicker, but things got in the way so I had a hard time finishing the last portion. If there is any questions, leave a review or something. Peace Out.