The Fox and Boar

Disclaimer: I don’t own Naruto or make any money off of writing this story.

A/N: Read, review, enjoy.

‘XXXXX’ – enter/exit a dream sequence


In the Darkest Corner

Naruto no longer needed help in controlling this chakra. His body was adapting to it more and more each day, still not at the pace he wanted, but at least he was growing used to it. By now he had moved deeper into the cave. His chakra system could handle the growing strain better. Before, he had to heavily shield his tenketsu from damage because that was where the main points in the chakra system where. Now all he needed to do was cover his body with a thin layer of chakra when venturing further into the suffocating atmosphere so that he could make it further. Surrounding himself in chakra was excellent practice for later in battle as it made him call upon decently sized amounts to enhance his movements and reflexes. He couldn’t count how many times that would have been useful in the past when he was sustaining heavy damage in a fight. Although it wasn’t as efficient as medical ninjutsu, it was a nice added bonus to be able to charge extra energy into an attack if the situation ever became dire. Judging by Naruto’s battle record; that was likely to happen a lot in his future…

That wasn’t the only inspiration to become skillful in this technique. Something was calling to him at the back of the cave. It drove him to work on his training so that he could see what it was. Each day his goal was to make it another twenty feet farther into the cave. Every single time he would work harder to accomplish that task. This cave was special in more than one way. Not only had it helped him grow stronger, it seemed to have a sense of familiarity about it. It was odd to think that for a cave that he had spent only two months in, but there just had to be some hidden meaning in Tsuande having sent him here of all places.

Naruto was progressing well. Even without the Kyuubi’s guidance, the blond was learning how to control the chakra. The first day was little more than a fluke, it was even expected that something like that happen. Using a foreign substance when one’s body had been raised on something normal was bound to have its drawbacks. Naruto was just glad that the problems were making themselves known now and not in the heat of battle.

Something told Naruto that this chakra held untapped potential, just like him. He only needed to activate it to fully receive its rewards. When molding the different chakras together, Naruto managed to enhance his older techniques depending on the balance of the mixture. It turned out that his new normal chakra was a combination of both light and dark. It was always running throughout his body. But that chakra could also be separated because of the seals on his arms. They acted like filters to allow more concentrated energy.

This ‘system’ was very balanced. Unless he used a specific hand, the chakra was clearer, almost invisible. While average chakra was always invisible to the naked eye unless in large amounts, this hybrid chakra would show different shades of black and white depending on how much power there was being used. It could manipulate itself to match Naruto’s emotions. Anger would desire more power and therefore lead to a ‘darker’ use and source. Happiness relied on a more hopeful attitude, calling upon a ‘lighter’ chakra. He noticed that when he molded chakra when infuriated from previous failed attempts, the chakra was blacker in color, and when he was happier than usual about succeeding at some new part of his training, the chakra took on a whiter tint. It was this basic understanding of his new ability that would lead to more efficient use in the future.

It had been many weeks since he first discovered the various types of Rasengan. Each new training session proved to be more worthwhile then the last. Every time Naruto would push the limits of his extended chakra capacity and stamina, it seemed to have grown a little bit by the next time.

“Today’s the day I’m going to get to the end of this cave!” Naruto said out loud, psyching himself up for the task at hand. He breathed in, and then exhaled slowly, letting the wind whistle quietly as it passed over his lips. Almost two and a half months of training were about to be tested.

Naruto coated his outer body with chakra, protecting himself as the cave began trying to yank the energy from his tenketsu. ‘As long as I can keep a steady stream of it going, I should be able to pace myself until I reach the back! This is really hard though…’

The entrance of the cave couldn’t have been more than fifteen feet wide. It was well hidden amongst the mountainside’s rocks and bland color. From the opening, it stayed the same until around forty feet inside where it suddenly expanded into a well sized room-like area. That was the widest part of the cave, which was now behind him. It stretched to over forty-five feet in width, averaging a twelve foot gap from the ceiling to the floor. All of the sides were smooth, as if carved out carefully over time. The deeper in the mountain from that point, the narrower the passage got. With the highest concentration of mineral being in the deepest crevices, it made sense that the tons of stone and rock that made up the mountain would add strength to cave’s overall absorption rate. The entire cave was shaped like an arrow head, providing space for varied types of training. Whoever built this place sure knew what they were doing.

Naruto slowed down, already winded from the trek. His clear chakra was already disappearing faster, forcing him to mold more to continue shielding himself from harm. The cavern was now dwindling to less than nine feet across. That meant he was close to the end, really close. Naruto thought back to when he nearly choked on the chakra enriched air during the first day of training. Now every time he inhaled back here, it seemed hollow, like there wasn’t enough oxygen to support his lungs. But he pressed on, determined to keep his promise to himself.

His old record was passed long ago. For some reason, it was easier to move forward today. The natural light couldn’t reach this far back. Not being one to think that far in advance, Naruto never thought to bring a flashlight or lantern. Lucky for him, his constantly energized white chakra made a decent enough substitute. Another good tip to remember for later…

His left hand shined dimly in the darkness. Up ahead, maybe twenty or thirty feet in front of him, there was something on the ground, resting against the back wall. “YOSH! I’m almost there!” Naruto boomed in the enclosed area. His joy was evident as it echoed throughout the well carved cavern.

Naruto saw what the object was: a giant scroll. That was puzzling. “What the…?” he thought out loud as he approached the oversized object. He lifted it over his shoulder. The thing rivaled Jiraiya’s summoning contract in weight. He sighed heavily, now fully realizing how tired he was. It was probably best to be moving back in the cave right about now. One thing really struck him as odd though, besides the fact that the scroll had been deserted in the back of an old cave for who knows how long, was that it bore the exact same symbol as the one on his jacket that Sarutobi had given him so many years beforehand….

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Naruto sat down as soon as he reached the safer part of the cave. He held the scroll tightly in his lap, admiring the size of it. He took a deep breath and then untied the silver ribbon that bound the side around itself. On the other side of the flap was a pair of names.

Namikaze Minato

Uzumaki Kushina

’That sounds familiar…’ Naruto thought to himself. He knew that he had heard the name ‘Namikaze’ before…but where? Oh well, it’d come to him later if it was that important.

He unrolled the large scroll four feet. Inside was a round summoning circle, inscribed with foreign characters. The center of the page was worn out in a spherical pattern, a small spiral leading out from the middle. ‘Huh. I wonder…’

Naruto touched the paper, sliding his digit slowly over where it had obviously been used before. His chakra moved of its own accord from his index finger inside of the paper as it went, causing a streak of light to beam from where he trailed over the scroll. A small cloud of smoke rose from the circle after being fully activated. Naruto jumped back, scared that something bad might’ve happened. He watched with shock in his eyes as another more delicate looking scroll popped out from the billowing cloud. Then another launched up from it. Soon dozens were flying up from the ground, falling into a disordered pile in front of the severely confused blond.

He nudged himself closer, curious as to what else may jump out from the mysterious scroll. The smaller rolls of paper stopped shooting from the larger, letting the smoke dissipate with the cave’s stale air. Naruto looked to his left, then to his right, and then picked up one of the newly summoned scrolls. This one was pink on the edges, crimson in the center. On the top showed the Konoha leaf proudly, just below was the name of Namikaze Minato.

Naruto pulled one hand over, unraveling the piece of paper and carefully scrutinized over it. His eyes darted up and down, glossing over much of the text printed on it. ‘This is…a…a guide to A-Class jutsu! Where did this Minato guy get it? He must’ve been a jounin or something to be able to know this level of jutsu! I wonder if all of them have this sort of stuff in them!’

Naruto rolled the scroll back up, setting it aside for easier access and picked up another one. This one had lines etched across it cross ways. In the center of the pale blue paper was a miniature whirlpool. Naruto pulled it open carefully, making sure not to damage the tattered edges. Along the top border was a navy blue line of text.

“May the person who learns from this scroll pay tribute to one of the few remaining taijutsu styles of Shiogakure no Sato by passing it on from this generation to the next.”

“When was there ever a village named after the tide? Damn…I really should have paid more attention to Iruka-sensei’s history lectures… Whoa! There’s some complex stuff in here! I better keep this one out too! All these manuals are gonna be so cool for me to learn some new jutsu from!” Naruto once again couldn’t contain the glee in his voice. Not only had he been able to make it all the way into the cave, but he also managed to find an amazing array of teaching guides. Today was a great day.

XXXXX

Naruto sat in a distorted meadow. All around him, wind blew in circles, creating small whirlwinds. Each picked up dust and debris, throwing in the other direction a moment later. Naruto’s blond hair waved angrily in the breeze. He saw as the twisters collided and bounced away from each other only to throw themselves at another. The storm grew in ferocity, kicking up more dust to shield the powerful battle of wind from his vision. The tornadoes were rampaging constantly, threatening to overpower the boy if he tried to ruin their fun.

Naruto ran into the disorder, ignoring the mayhem that was being created by a set of spiraling tunnels of death. He stopped in the exact center. His jacket was whipping wildly around him, trying to break free and join the wind. Naruto just looked on, taking in the destructive beauty that was this perfect storm. One whirlwind came closer, eventually encircling the small figure. It imposed its power on Naruto, but no matter how hard it tugged on him, it couldn’t lift him. Soon it moved on to continue clashing into the other vortexes.

The sky was dark as the clouds were scattered across the heavens. Even when the earth was being destroyed around Naruto, he felt no fear. It seemed so natural for wind to be able to do this. Lightning streaked across the skyline, enlightening the dark scene before being consumed into the hellish wind storm. It couldn’t dare raise up against such a force.

The wind rampaged all around Naruto. The boy could only close his eyes and enjoy the wonderful sensation of being surrounded by a fearless power. Only destruction was being left in its wake but still, it was so nice to experience. All the gusts of wind suddenly changed. They converged on the lone boy, bringing their paths of annihilation together on one point.

An explosion rocked the once peaceful meadow. Shock waves rang out from the single target as all of the wind settled simultaneously. A circle of clouds was blown back, revealing the sun. It lit up the ground around Naruto, who wasn’t even fazed by the attack, as the remaining clouds in the sky began to cry. Rain splattered everywhere on the Earth. The moisture in the air was heavy. It weighed down on Naruto as the small circle of light seemed to protect him from the growing downpour.

The area became filled with water instantly, creating a lake in the middle of nowhere. The water level grew taller but the ring of light still kept the flood back. Then the liquid rose up higher, forcing the clouds to cease keeping him dry. All around Naruto there was water as it fell in on him. He was held under by the magnitude of it all but he never once felt scared. Soon enough he bobbed to surface. The sky had reclaimed its darkness, casting a dark shadow on the sea.

From high up, you could only an orange dot in a mass of blue. Naruto floated indifferently, allowing the body of water to build up in size. The boy surrendered to the harsh water, enjoying the way he swayed with it. His arms rest atop his torso as he drifted across the reflective surface. Naruto only heard the continuous rainfall as it relentlessly fell into the sea.

From his left, a wave rocked him. It soon towered over the blond as it carried him into its mammoth size. It fell in on itself, creating more waves in its stead. Naruto was forced underwater for the second time. The ocean of water was calm underneath, not displaying the distress that it did above. He stayed motionless as an invisible current dragged him under the water. He didn’t need to breathe. For some reason, his body was at peace with the substance as it weighed against him with a tremendous pressure.

Once more he rose to the surface, allowing the tides to wash over him as he was dragged off in the overpowering current. The blond could only smile at how wonderful it felt to be under control by this majestic element. He blinked as a single raindrop fell on his face from the placid sky.

XXXXX

For the last few days, Naruto had been reading up on the different types of elemental jutsu from the scrolls he had found. His natural affinity was of course wind, but the other one that really caught his attention had been water. Ever since that dream, he seemed entranced with the element. It seemed so similar to his first, but was different in many aspects. The only scroll he had found with much information about this chakra manipulation was a serene yellow with blue markings along it and held the symbol of the whirlpool, just like the one with the taijutsu instruction from the Shiogakure.

Naruto found the water element very interesting. It was weaker than his wind element in the offensive sense, but then again, the wind element was designed for offense. But what really set it apart from his current nature was its defensive properties. The nature was easy to figure out once chakra was accumulated but forming the correct amounts was what the text said was the hardest part. Water was a tricky element to fight with. If it wasn’t properly formed or if it was thrown off by incorrect mixtures of energy used to create the chakra, it would fail. By utilizing the environment, this nature could be stronger in battle than his current wind-based chakra. One of the greatest assets of learning the water element was that it covered his wind’s fire weakness. That could prove most useful in battle.

He had learned some basic exercises to test the water element. It required being flexible while constantly staying in motion. By standing still, he couldn’t keep up with the flow of the water chakra which could really backfire on him. So he moved out from his cave to be able to stretch his legs some while he trained to control water chakra. Most of the water based jutsu he had seen in the past required water first. But the scripture said that with the right concentration, chakra could be made into water to use instead. It was similar to how chakra was used as a life force with the mokuton jutsu. All it needed was the right type of chakra to work.

The next part of his training was taijutsu. Naruto had wanted to try the new fighting style, but it was difficult to understand at first. All of the motions required a wide stance, meaning that the user always had to be on his or her guard. That wasn’t one of Naruto’s strong points. He’d rather take the hit if it meant he could strike the opponent even harder. The other annoying part of this style was that it was a little predictable. A punch from it could lead in from only another punch, as the stance was too wide to be very effective otherwise. His natural style could attack from anywhere with anything. A kick could start from a head-butt or a dodge, and vice-versa. It was complicated to learn when he still preferred his old technique.

But being the persistent person that he was, Naruto found a way to work around that. All he did was modify the style to his liking, combining the best of his old style with that of the new. That wasn’t a simple task though. It took countless hours of working with it to make anything flow the way he wanted it to. Every time he succeeded in meshing the two together in some way, he found a problem with it. The stances were just too damn wide to work with. Naruto had to have dozens of pairs of kage bunshins spar for two weeks straight before he figured out how to fix that. Stay low to the ground.

By changing one’s center of gravity, one could become unpredictable and faster. The opponent was already at a disadvantage because of this. It was far easier to protect the torso than the legs, and this new approach gave Naruto amble opportunity to trip someone up. Half of his time was spent practicing taijutsu with his clone army and the other manipulating the water element. Each day was exhausting.

Finally, after a full month of daily practice, the combination taijutsu was complete. It relied on the opponent’s momentum and mass as the user, Naruto, attacked from a low standpoint to constantly break their guard. He would consistently whirl around and attack from behind, confusing the enemy. It was a pretty powerful tactic to employ, considering the fact that Naruto had put some serious time and effort into perfecting it.

The other part of his newly inspired training was the chakra formation. Since there was no guidance this time from a master of the element, Naruto went into it with very little knowledge except from the scroll. Even with the guide, he felt blind. After a certain point, it was all about the different types of water jutsu and hand seals.

With a little improvising, Naruto could train his clones with making water slosh around in mid-air. That type of task shouldn’t have been too hard when you thought about after all the time he had practiced with it, the only thing was, he had to create the water to manipulate. That was a real bitch to master. None of his attempts worked until he thought to use only his light chakra. The water was created easily from only the pure chakra. Then he tried with his right hand and the water formed. It couldn’t work with both chakras combined. Each time he tried, it would cancel itself out.

That little detail was very peculiar, especially when his wind element functioned fine with both chakras. Once discovering that useful bit of information, the training progressed much faster. Then after a while, Naruto didn’t have to rely on only white chakra or black chakra. The techniques worked fine with the standard mixture. ‘Maybe it was because my control over it was so weak at the time…’

Every day he worked hard on trying to complete his first jutsu the scroll described. This Kushina person was really skilled in her native element to be able to use almost twenty different high level water jutsu. Naruto didn’t even know that there was that many. The day came when Naruto thought that he had mastered one of the few less complicated techniques. He created a clone and started a test match.

“Suiton: Suiryuudan no jutsu!” Naruto spat out a fountain of water at the kage bunshin, who responded with a wave sent directly at his creator. Both blasts of water hit and fought for dominance, neither giving an inch. Naruto smirked before sending more chakra to his mouth. The added energy exploded in a cloud of mist as the clone was knocked back. Naruto had done it. He could now use two elements.

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Suiton: Suiryuudan – Water Release: Water Dragon Missile

A/N: Anyone wondering how much time has gone by, roughly four and a half months.