Naruto: Amongst the Whirling Tide Chapter 12

Hi all,

Here’s the next chapter. We get a glimpse into Kumogakure, and Naruto pays Kurama a visit.

Chapter 12

The man delivered a powerful punch to the boxing bag. The momentum from the impact was so great that it broke the chain holding the bag and sent it crashing to the ground. Frustrated, he stomped over to his desk and forcefully slammed his hand onto the table, causing it to collapse beneath him.

"Mabui!" A shouted. "I require a new desk and the boxing bag needs to be repaired."

His assistant. Mabui stepped into the room and observed the destruction in front of her. Mabui was a young woman with dark skin and striking green eyes. Her light grey hair was neatly pulled back into a bun, with two bangs framing her face on either side. There was no expression on her face, yet A could sense her exasperation.

"Rakaige-sama, could you please refrain from destroying the desks?" Mabui asked. “This is the fourth one in the last week. If you need to express yourself, please direct your frustrations towards Killer B."

“Is he annoying you again?” A asked, leaning back in his seat.

"If he dares to rap another song in my presence, I will not hesitate to toss him out the window."

“Only B can get on your nerves,” A smirked, before sobering. “Has there been any news on Darui?”

Mabui shook her head, finally allowing her face to reveal some emotion. "I have sent your latest orders to him at the designated location, but I have not received a response from him. I am afraid that the worst has happened to him."

He leaned forward to rest his elbow on the desk, only to remember that it was no longer there. “Darui did send some intel before he went silent. The actions of the new Hokage are quite concerning. We are in need of additional information, but it appears that Darui got too close and has been captured or killed.”

“Darui would kill himself before he would allow himself to be captured,” Mabui said. “Being captured in Konoha increases the likelihood of divulging all of your secrets with the Yamanaka clan residing there.”

The Raikage growled, reluctantly accepting the harsh reality that Darui was most likely already deceased. As his trusted right hand and an exceptionally skilled shinobi, Darui was someone the Raikage heavily relied upon. The decision to send him to Konoha immediately following the appointment of a new Hokage now seemed like a mistake However, there was little choice but to act swiftly in response to the unexpected news of Danzo's ascent to power. He was well aware of Danzo's ambitions, and it was imperative to counter him before he moved against the other hidden villages. He had no illusions, even with the recent invasion, about the true strength of Konoha. Even if they had two jinchuuriki, they still couldn’t compare to Konoha’s military strength.

His thoughts were interrupted by a messenger bird that came flying through the window, landing on the perch placed beside it. Mabui walked over and retrieved the and retrieved the paper attached to its leg and brought it over to A.

The message was encrypted with Darui’s own secret code, so it reassured him that it was legitimate. Browsing through the letter, A’s eyebrows rose in shock. “Darui sent a message stating that he is in imminent danger of being captured by Itachi Uchiha. However, he expresses hope that the valuable intelligence he has gathered will reach me.”

“Itachi Uchiha?” Mabui asked. “Isn’t he a rogue-nin working for the Akatsuki? Why would he be working with Konoha?”

“There’s always the chance that his status as a rogue-nin was a cover.” He murmured as he continued reading through the letter. A bark of laughter escaped him when he read the vital intel Darui had gathered.

“What is it?”

“It seemed like many prominent shinobi have abandoned Konoha,” A said. “They have been severely crippled in terms of their military strength. This is an amazing opportunity.”

“Are you going to launch an attack on Konoha?” Mabui asked, not looking thrilled with the idea.

"No way!" A exclaimed, forcefully punctuating his words by stabbing the paper with his hand. "I intend to track down the deserters and integrate them into Kumo. Even the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi has turned his back on our village. Just think of the immense military strength we would have if they were to join us. We could easily claim the title of the number one Hidden Village, without resorting to war."

"It would not be as simple as that," Mabui stated, perusing the letter herself. "The deserters pose a significant threat in their own right. They have several S-rank shinobi amongst their ranks, so it would require a substantial force to capture them. Furthermore, we must first locate them."

“We will try diplomacy first,” Raikage said. “If that doesn’t work, then we will use everything we have to subdue them. With Konoha distracted with Suna, it should prove easy enough to do without attracting attention, depending on their location.”

Mabui remained silent.

“Get me, Team Samui,” Raikage ordered.

“Hai,” Mabui said, walking to the exit.

In a spectacular piece of poor timing, Killer B jumped through the window. “Yo! Killer B has arrived! So you no longer feel deprived!”

Mabui grabbed a vase and threw it in Killer B's direction, but he managed to dodge it while still rapping. In order to escape from the noise, she departed swiftly.

Massaging his forehead, A wondered why he had to deal with such aggravations so early in the morning. He desperately needed a way to release his stress. "B, how about we have a spar?"

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

A few days later, Naruto sat outside his tent, clutching the rubber ball. His wrist ached from excessive practice, but he couldn't bear to quit when he was so close to reaching his goal. With focused concentration, he channelled his chakra and rotated it rapidly, causing the ball in his hand to tremble violently. With a loud pop, the rubber ball burst apart in his hands.

“I did it!” Naruto exclaimed. “Only one more step left before I have mastered it.”

Feeling incredibly frustrated with this particular step, he considered using a shadow clone to assist him in concentrating his chakra and attaining the necessary power. However, upon careful consideration, he abandoned the idea, recognising it as a crutch that would diminish the move's effectiveness in combat.

Naruto stood up and brushed himself off before entering his tent. He looked over to where Kushina was peacefully asleep in her cot. She was adamant about not wanting to be apart from him, so he had set up a cot for her in his own tent. The girl had become really dependent on him, and it was hard to adjust to caring for someone when he had barely taken care of himself over the years.

Fortunately, his friends had taken it upon themselves to provide assistance in various aspects of looking after the girl, including teaching her how to read and write. The fact that she was a clone presented a difficult concept for him to grasp. Essentially, she had grown rapidly using his mother's DNA and had never set foot outside of the laboratory.

She was like a clean slate, devoid of the typical interactions that children experience during their formative years. Surprisingly, the lack of these experiences didn't seem to hinder her too greatly, as she displayed an impressive level of knowledge despite her limitations. Tsunade held the belief that the girl must have acquired information during her time in the tank, though the exact means by which this was achieved remained unknown to her.

Kushina had been subjected to multiple tests, all of which showed no signs of any cellular degradation. This gave him hope that the girl would be able to live a long and normal life.

Naruto settled onto his bed, but sleep was not his intention. Before retiring for the night, he intended to enter his mindscape and finally confront Kurama. He had been putting it off for a while, but there were a few important reasons why he couldn't delay any longer.

First, he made a promise to Kurama that he would free him someday. However, his lack of communication might be causing the fox to worry. He may try to get up to mischief in order to get Naruto's attention. Another reason was his desire to leverage the unique peculiarities of his mindscapes in order to accelerate his calligraphy training. Progress with mastering the skill was taking longer than he imagined. He intended to abuse his shadow clones for practice, but the memory feedback effect only functioned within his mindscape.

Naruto closed his eyes and entered his mindscape. The space had become more expansive since he first gained access to it, expanding outward to encompass his Chakra Core. His core was represented by three pools of liquid, which denoted all three types of chakra he had access to at the moment.

The largest pool contained a vibrant orange liquid, symbolising Kurama's chakra. This chakra served as his reserve for his tailed-beast form. Currently, its capacity was limited, as he struggled to handle more of Kurama's chakra. However, with time, his ability to manage it would improve and the pool would expand accordingly.

The second largest pool within Naruto’s core was his regular chakra, symbolised by blue liquid. Although he wasn't sure of the precise amount, Jiraiya had likened his chakra capacity to that of an elite jonin. With his Uzumaki heritage and the additional reserves obtained from Kurama's chakra, he was a chakra powerhouse, with ample room for further growth.

The third pool contained his gold chakra, which was a lot smaller than the other two. Although he didn’t know if it could grow much beyond its current capacity, it was still enough that he could use his Adamantine Sensing Chains for long periods of time.

Naruto approached the cage where Kurama lay still, giving the impression of being asleep. However, Naruto saw through the facade, noticing that Kurama's ears were perked up, rather than lying flat.

"Hey, Kurama. Long time no see," Naruto said. "I have something important to discuss with you."

"The brat finally deems me worthy of a visit," Kuruma said, opening his eyes and glaring at him malevolently. "Should I feel honoured?"

"You're lucky that I came as soon as I did," Naruto growled, folding his arms. "Funny how I had to learn about my heritage from my godfather when I had the opportunity to hear it from you first."

Kurama rose up and sat on his hind legs, gazing down at him. "Why should I have told you this information? It was not part of our deal."

"Ha! If I had known that you had the information about my parents, I would have made it a condition of our deal. But ultimately, trust is what matters here. You are relying on me to keep my word to find a way to release you, yet you behave in such a way that makes me question whether I can trust you."

“Brat! There is no need for any further trust! We made a deal, and as long as you stick to your end of the bargain, we have no need to interact with each other.”

Naruto smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes."I never specified when I would find a way to set you free. Perhaps I'll wait until I am in my twilight years before I even begin looking. Given that I am a Uzumaki, you might have to wait for quite some time."

“Treacherous human! None of you can be trusted!”

“You killed my parents!” Naruto yelled. “Forgive me if I don’t give a damn about how you feel.”

Kurama growled and lowered himself to the ground, pressing his head against the bars. “Was it my fault that I was imprisoned inside your mother? Or Mito Uzumaki. Was it my fault that Madara Uchiha manipulated me using those damned cursed eyes? Was it my fault for being captured by Hashirama Senju along with the other tailed beasts? Who then decided to distribute us among the hidden villages in a naive attempt to achieve peace. No, the responsibility lies entirely with you humans.!”

Naruto observed the growling Kurama, taken aback by the display of emotions from the fox. It was clear that there was a deeper story behind it all, one that Naruto had never contemplated from Kurama's perspective before.

"I've never heard your story before," Naruto said. "Why don't you tell me about it?"

Kurama turned his back on Naruto and lay down. “Not interested. I am going back to sleep so don’t disturb me.”

Naruto shrugged. It would take some time to break down Kurama’s barriers, it seemed. He retreated a distance from the cage and summoned five shadow clones.

“What can we do for you boss?”

“I need your help to speed up my training,” Naruto smiled.

“You want to spar?” One of the clones asked hopefully.

“I had something else in mind,” Naruto said.

He sat down on the ground. If he wanted his clones to help him with his calligraphy, then he needed to be able to create some materials for them to work with. Thanks to all the work he had to refurbish his mindscape, this was an easy task. He conjured paper, ink and brushes and handed them to his clones.

“I need your help to master calligraphy,” Naruto said. “Not only do I need to write flawless kanji , but I need to be able to write it fast. This will be your task for the foreseeable future.”

“Boss!” The clones groaned in disappointment.

“I know,” Naruto said sympathetically. “But it has to be done if I am going to learn Fuinjutsu.”

“What will you be doing?”

“Er…I will be conducting an experiment. So, get to work.”

Naruto observed them for a few minutes, ensuring they were performing the task correctly. Rather than starting from scratch, they began with his current proficiency.  He found the shadow clone jutsu to be utterly amazing, even when it wasn’t utilised in his mindscape.

When a shadow clone materialised, it copied an exact replica of his essence. This encompassed his thoughts, memories, life experiences, and abilities. If it weren't for the fact that they were still reliant on him to exist, then they could essentially go off and live their own lives if they wanted to. It took a lot of chakra for him to summon a shadow clone, but they could exist indefinitely as long as they didn’t use up all of the chakra that sustained them. Additionally, if Naruto was ever incapacitated, or affected in some way, that would likely cause the clones to disappear.

Naruto was not lying when he said he wanted to conduct an experiment. His aim was to determine whether his clones would continue to exist when he wasn’t in his mindscape. Given the unique characteristics of his mindscape, he didn’t believe it would be possible. Nevertheless, he was curious and decided to give it a shot. He exited his mindscape and returned to the real world where he was lying on his bed. Immediately, he returned to his mindscape and found his clones still there, working on their calligraphy,

Naruto grinned. It had actually worked. The first part of his experiment was over, but he wanted to try something else.

“Hey, guys, I need one of you to pop when I leave my mindscape again. I want to find out if I receive your memories when we are separated by the two different…er…

dimensions?”

“Got it, boss!”

"Wait ten seconds after I've left before doing it."

Naruto left his mindscape and waited. Unfortunately, he didn’t receive any memories even after waiting a whole minute. It wasn't the end of the world, as it simply meant that he would have to be in his mindscape when he received his clone's memories.

He considered using the skill to learn new jutsu, but then realised this would be impractical. Each clone possessed a finite amount of chakra, and as soon as they depleted it, they would disperse and would need to be replaced. Not only would this become monotonous, but it would also deplete a significant portion of his chakra reserves. He preferred taking a more gradual approach and learning the jutsu himself. However, for more mundane skills such as learning calligraphy, it was perfect.

Naruto decided to leave the clones to practise in their mindscape while he slept. Tomorrow, he will find out the results of their efforts. If everything went according to plan, then he would soon master calligraphy and move on to learning fuinjutsu.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Naruto grunted as he felt a poke on his cheek. He blinked his eyes open and saw Kushina standing by his bedside, her curious gaze fixed upon him.

“Hungry,” Kushina said, rubbing her belly.

She had already finished getting dressed, but her hair was dishevelled and sticking up in all directions.

"Alright," Naruto said, rubbing his face. "Just give me a moment, and then we'll go get some breakfast."

Kushina nodded with a smile and ran off to put her shoes on. Naruto wasted no time and entered his mindscape. He expected the four remaining clones would still be diligently practising calligraphy, but to his surprise, he discovered them sprawled on the ground, peacefully napping.

Naruto's eyebrows twitched. “Hey, wake up lazybones. I am not paying you to sleep the day away.”

“You don't pay us anything,” one of the clones retorted.

"I don't want any lip from you. Why aren't you still practising?"

“It’s boring!” The clones yelled in unison.

Naruto facepalmed. It should not have come as a surprise to him. After all, he had explicitly mentioned that these were intricate copies of himself, meaning they would have inherited his behavioural characteristics. Although he had made substantial progress in other aspects of his training, sitting down for extended periods to write kanji still proved to be a challenge. It’s why he came up with this idea in the first place.

“Okay,” Naruto said. “Let's dispel one of you and see the results of a night’s work.”

He was hesitant to dispel all of the shadow clones at once because they had been in existence for approximately nine hours. The longer shadow clones remained, the more memories they accumulated, which increased the burden on his mind when he processed the information. Dismissing them all simultaneously might be too overwhelming, so it was best to proceed with caution.

Naruto executed a hand seal and dispelled a clone. At that moment, a flood of memories surged into his mind, primarily focused on writing kanji. Amidst these recollections, he also absorbed fragments of memories where the clones took great joy in mocking him. Could he even scold them when they were just acting in their nature? That they received from him.

He dispelled the rest of the clones one by one. After just one night, he managed to obtain a considerable amount of information on how to write kanji. However, relying solely on his clone's memories wasn't enough, as he had to physically write the kanji himself. Nevertheless, the muscle memory he obtained would ensure that he could cut down the work he needed to do himself.

Before leaving his mindscape, he summoned another five shadow clones and ordered them to continue practising. Opening his eyes, he climbed out of bed and quickly dressed in his uniform. Once ready, he joined Kushina outside the tent. Together, they headed toward the communal fire where numerous shinobi were already gathered, enjoying their breakfast.

“Naruto, over here!” Ino called, where she was seated with the rest of the gang. Gaara, Temari and Kankuro were also seated there.

Naruto grabbed Kushina’s hand and guided her to the table, seating her beside Hinata. “What do you want for breakfast?” Naruto asked.

Kushina's eyes lit up as she replied, "Miso Ramen."

“You have impeccable taste,” Naruto grinned.

"Naruto, you can't keep feeding her ramen," Sakura said with exasperation. "She'll end up a short little runt, just like yourself, eating such an unhealthy diet."

"I've actually grown an inch since I left Konoha,” Naruto proudly proclaimed. “I'm just a late bloomer,"

“A very late bloomer,” Ino muttered.

Naruto ignored her comment. He entered the restaurant to order some Miso Ramen for Kushina and himself. Unlike the food that was served outside, he had to pay for such a luxury, but he had more than enough Ryo after completing a few missions over the past few days.

Returning to the table, he set down the bowl in front of Kushina and offered her a pair of chopsticks. She enthusiastically delved into her meal, slurping up the noodles, the same as Naruto did.

Shikamaru leaned over and whispered to him. "I still can't believe that you have a clone of your mom sitting at the table. Aren’t you freaked out?”

"Shh," Naruto hissed quietly. "I don't want her to know."

“If you don’t want her to know, then why don’t you explain to me why Gaara has been glaring at me for the last few days?”

“Maybe you’re imagining it?”

Shikamaru turned to face Gaara, who was seated further down the table and was met with an angry glare. He then shifted his gaze back to Naruto with a pointed look.

Naruto nodded. “Okay, I can see that Gaara has some beef with you, but why do you think I have anything to do with it?”

“I know how troublesome you are, Naruto,” Shikamaru said,

“Hmm, maybe it has something to do with how much time you are spending time with his sister?”

“What?” Shikamaru looked freaked out. “I am only twelve years old! I am not thinking about getting a girlfriend.”

“Yeah, you probably don’t have anything to worry about,” Naruto said. “At least Gaara doesn’t have any more homicidal tendencies anymore. Mother has been laid to rest.”

“Troublesome.”

“How is Rock Lee doing, Neji?” Naruto asked, noticing the teen who had just arrived.

“It will take some time before we find out if the surgery was a success,” Neji informed him,

“At least he didn’t die on the operating table,” Tenten said.

Naruto nodded. He had a feeling that Lee would recover soon and be back on his feet. He looked around at the other shinobi in the area and noticed Anto sitting with the other Jonin. Anko's presence served as a reminder for him to have a conversation with Sai, in order to assess whether it was safe to allow him to remain in the village.

He turned to Kushina. "Can you stay with Hinata? I need to have a quick conversation with Anko."

Kushina nodded, and Naruto stood up from his seat and made his way towards Anko's table. She glanced up from the dango she was eating, noticing the shadow cast over her.

“What do you want gaki?”

“Nice to see you too,” Naruto said. “How is the interrogation going with Sai? Making any progress?”

"How am I supposed to make progress when I am not allowed to use any of my more interesting torture techniques? Jiraiya has a soft spot for the boy."

“Perhaps Sai reminds Jiraiya of a younger Orochimaru, back when he wasn't completely deranged."

Anko was so disgusted that she spit out her dango. "Why did you have to go and make that comparison?"

“I want to see him,” Naruto said. “I believe I might be able to get something out of him.”

“You think you can do something I cannot?” Anko asked. “Care to put a wager on that?”

“The loser has to buy the winner ten servings of their favourite food,” Naruto said.

“Deal!” Anko said quickly, thinking that she was about to get some free Dango.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

“Hello, Sai. That is a creepy look on your face.” Naruto joined Sai at the table, noticing that his arms were chained to it.

Sai remained silent, his expression devoid of any emotion. Without delay, Naruto summoned his chains and fastened them around Sai's arm. Naruto could immediately sense that Sai had undergone the same training as the other members of Root. However, the training had not fully taken hold in Sai's case.

While his emotions were muted, they were nowhere as extreme as the other Root operatives he had scanned. Despite Sai's attempts to hide it, he could still sense his annoyance with Naruto's presence.

"Anko informed me about your lack of cooperation,” Naruto said. “Is there something specific that you want which would change your mind?"

An image of a picture book flashed in Naruto’s mind, startling him. He gazed suspiciously at Sai, wondering if the image he saw was related to the question he had just asked. If it was, then it marked a new development. Until now, he had never possessed the power to receive projected images from his target's mind.

Naruto rose from the table and walked over to the entrance. He opened the tent flap so he could speak with the shinobi who stood guard outside. “Did Sai have anything with him when we brought him here?”

The shinobi nodded in confirmation. "He had his equipment and supplies stored in storage scrolls that were with him. They were confiscated as soon as we arrived here."

“May I see them?”

The shinobi hesitated. “You will need permission from Anko-sama.”

“I will allow it,” Anko said, appearing in front of them/ “This better be worth it, gaki.”

The shinobi nodded and left to gather Sai's gear. Upon his return, he handed the storage scrolls to Naruto, who then withdrew into the tent.

“Let’s see what we have here,” Naruto said, laying the scrolls on the floor, while Sai watched him intently.

Naruto began by opening the first storage scroll and discovering a collection of ninja tools inside. Moving on to the second scroll, he found clothing and an extra uniform. It wasn't until he finally opened the third scroll that something truly interesting caught his attention. Within it, he discovered a massive scroll that was blank, much like the one Jiraiya carried on his back. This scroll also contained a compartment that stored some brushes and ink.

“Are you a fuinjutsu user?” Naruto asked with interest.

“That’s one of his abilities,” Anko said. “But the scroll is primarily used for something else. He uses his artistic skills for a technique called Super Beast Imitating Drawing. He possesses the ability to sketch beasts and infuse them with chakra to bring them to life.”

“Interesting,” Naruto murmured.

Setting the first scroll aside, he reached for the next one. To his relief, it contained exactly what he had been looking for. As he opened it, he couldn't help but notice Sai's reaction – the sudden tension in his body and his fixed gaze on the picture book.

Naruto was about to open the book when Sai slammed his hands on the table. “Don’t you dare open it!”

Anko's eyebrows rose at Sai’s reaction and reached out to take the book from Naruto. He avoided her, getting up and returning to the table. It would have been a major error to give the book to Anko, as it could have caused Sai to turn against them completely.

“You may have been a Root operative, but it appears that your training had some deficiencies. Naruto said, placing the book on the table. "I sincerely hope that we can work together to help you overcome the effects of your mental conditioning and welcome you as a valued member of our village."

Sai extended his hands,  and the chains had enough slack for him to grasp the book. With a sense of relief, he secured the book and couldn't help but let a small smile slip out.

=-=-=-=-=-==-=-=

Naruto was on a patrol mission for the village. His shadow clones made him an effective patrol, as they allowed him to cover a large area by himself. The mission had been uneventful and painfully dull. As he finished for the day, he began making his way back to the village.

A week passed, and Naruto was kept busy with training, missions, and looking after Kushina. He had made incredible progress with the final step of learning the Rasengan, although it still remained frustratingly beyond his reach.

The third step was referred to as containment. This involved combining the first two steps to create a sphere of chakra in his hand. To help visualise the desired shape, he was provided with additional balloons for practice. Mastery of this step meant being able to form a sphere of rotating chakra inside the balloon without it popping. However, achieving this proved to be extremely challenging, as it required precise chakra control.

To assist with the third step, he dedicated himself to improving his chakra control. It proved fruitful as, by the week's end, he had achieved mastery in water-walking, an accomplishment that greatly benefited him. Moreover, his efforts in perfecting the third step also resulted in continual refinement of his chakra control. It appeared as if it was a chakra control exercise of its own. This outcome was not surprising since the Rasengan was the embodiment of pure chakra manipulation. It was no wonder that mastering the jutsu was taking so long.

Thanks to his shadow clones' diligent work, Naruto had nearly mastered calligraphy. He had perfected the brush strokes and was currently focused on improving his speed. Once he reached a certain level, he planned to start learning fuinjutsu. Given the strong foundation he had established, he anticipated making rapid progress.

The village was steadily progressing thanks to the extensive work happening at the encampment. The sides of the encampment had expanded considerably after clearing out a significant amount of debris, and there were already plans in motion for constructing new buildings.

As he arrived back at the encampment, he heard a commotion. Curious to investigate, he hastened towards the origin of the sound. It led him to the stairs, the very ones he had climbed to reach the encampment the first day. He noticed Yusuke, the captain of the boat they had taken to come here, speaking with Jiraiya, Hiashi, and Inoichi.

“What’s going on?” Naruto asked.

“Yusuke has spotted a ship heading towards the island,” Jiraiya said grimly. “It is hosting a flag of Kuri no Kuni, our neighbours to the east.”

“The Land of Mist?” Naruto asked. “Is their presence a good or bad thing?”

“That has yet to be determined," Jiraiya replied.

So, what do you think? Finally caught up with the schedule, and now it’s on to this week's chapters.

Thanks for reading.