"So this girl is from the Kurama clan?" Naruto asked curiously as he and the Sandaime made their way through the forest just on the outskirts of Konoha. The aged man, certainly not up to tree-running in his recovering condition, simply nodded. Naruto was sure he would have taken a puff on his pipe if he hadn't been practically banned from it by the medical-nin, at least until he was recovered. The redhead had to say, he had never seen the old Hokage antsier or more agitated than those first few days without his calming but woefully unhealthy tobacco.
"Yes, Yakumo Kurama, a rather tragic story I'm afraid." Hiruzen replied softly, his eyes betraying his regret he felt over whatever had been done to the girl. "She was a child with many hopes stacked upon her shoulders, the potential saviour of her clan. She was the first to awaken their long dormant Kekkei Genkai in generations, a taste of which you saw earlier today." Naruto just nodded; he was still trying to wrap his head around all that 'painting lightning into existence' business.
"So their Kekkei Genkai is to paint something and make it real?" He questioned, shuddering at the thought; that could be a terrible and dangerous ability if used incorrectly; it was like having a small amount of power over reality. However Hiruzen shook his head slowly, releasing a drawn out sigh.
"Nothing so specific I'm afraid; the Kurama clan has always been deeply Genjutsu based, it was only natural for their inherent abilities to reflect this. No, their Kekkei Genkai is to not just produce some of the finest Genjutsu outside of the Uchiha clan, but to briefly make everything in that Genjutsu real. I myself have seen it develop in many different forms; I once even knew of a young boy that would sing to produce his techniques, the lyrics themselves becoming reality as he sang them." Naruto grimaced at that, unable to overcome just how broken that all sounded as an ability.
"And if one of them didn't require a medium, such as painting, or… singing to produce this effect?" Naruto asked, almost hesitant of the answer; to his relief though the old man simply shrugged.
"It has never occurred as far as I am aware, however the Kurama clan is an old one; far older than the Sarutobi for sure. If such a person were to exist, I'm sure they would be immensely powerful." The man seemed almost wistful at that as he stared up toward a large cabin they were making their way towards. "To make or unmake the world as one saw fit, within the scope of their Chakra capacity; it would be truly fearsome." Naruto could only nod as they walked up to meet the two guards awaiting them in front of the main entrance.
They were dressed almost like medical ninja, making Naruto wonder just what their purpose here was. He found a more familiar face as an ANBU seemed to phase into existence in front of them, down on one knee for the Hokage's sake. His presence Naruto could understand; from the sound of it this girl's powers were something of a liability and her mental state was questionable at best. Although apparently that hadn't stopped her from going for a stroll and nearly vaporising both him and the Hokage; as it was he was going to have to re-built that map table from scratch.
"So what exactly is the deal here?" Naruto spoke up, turning to the wizened Kage. "From the way you spoke it seemed like this girl's powers were supposed to be sealed away; why is she going around attacking the village?" Hiruzen grimaced at that, motioning for the redhead to follow him inside as the various guards went about their business.
"The Kurama clan's Kekkei Genkai has always been a complicated affair. They can never knew precisely when the abilities will manifest, although it is usually in their teens if at all. However in the rare cases, like Yakumo-Chan, when they develop early on, they are unstable and often cannot control them. Something strange happens in their mind and it is almost as though they create a split personality; another consciousness that takes control of the power until the clan member is able to use it properly." Naruto nodded slowly; it sounded more like something a Yamanaka should be dealing with but nothing too bad so far.
"However in the case of Yakumo-Chan, well, the second personality became rather malevolent. It resulted in this 'Id' using her powers to burn down her family home, killing her parents." Naruto grimaced at that; he would hate to know that his own abilities had been used to hurt somebody dear to him. "Yakumo doesn't know this; in fact she has no memory of it; however the other side of her personality was sealed away and with it, or so we hoped, her abilities." Naruto nodded; sealing he could understand at least.
"So the seal is weakening?" Hiruzen shrugged rather helplessly as he motioned to a door they had arrived at.
"I was hoping you could tell me; she is right through here." He stated offhandedly, causing Naruto to raise a brow.
"You want me to go in alone?" He questioned incredulously while Hiruzen just motioned to the door again.
"If the Id personality is breaking free, she will not exactly be happy to see me for sealing her away in the first place; no, a fresh face will be best." He offered sagely, his hand twitching at his side for his pipe. After a moment Naruto just sighed and ran a hand through his hair, wondering how he got into strange situations like this. Oh right, Shinobi… occupational hazard. Gently he opened the door, narrowing his eyes at the irritating creak it gave off before stepping into the darkened room. The blinds were all closed but there was enough light to make out the various paintings scattered around the room, as well as the young brown-haired girl sitting in front of an easel and a blank canvas.
She didn't acknowledge his presence so for a moment he just walked about the room, admiring some of the images on display. They really were excellent pieces of work, even if their subject matter was a little… morbid. He paused as he came across an image of a woman he recognised to be Kurenai with what looked to be a sear of light passing through her body. There was another of the Hokage mansion in flames as well as some of specific, high-ranking people he knew in the village, none of them particularly pleasant.
"You are an excellent artist; I especially enjoy some of your later works." Naruto offred with a small smile as he motioned to the large painting of the Hokage tower being struck by a brilliant bolt of lightning.
"Who are you? Are you another doctor?" Naruto shook his head as he walked back so that he was in front of the girl; she seemed content to stare at the blank canvas. He couldn't help but notice the resigned tone to her voice; it sounded so lifeless and lacking energy. In a moment she reached for a small paint palette and began furiously painting on the blank image, her eyes dead focused.
"No, I'm a Jounin; I thought we could talk a little." He looked at the image she was creating but it was too early to tell what it was, just abstract colours without any evident purpose. "You seem to like painting?" He flipped a small ink brush out of his pouch and span it in his hands with a smile, eliciting no reaction from the girl. "My father tried to get me into it when I was very young but I always lacked the patience; running around was a lot more fun." He grinned as he pulled out a small notebook, his hand blurring as he etched quick but steady lines across its surface.
"I think I got a little better at it though." He revealed a small ink drawing of Yakumo; it was a little crude but for having drawn it in a few seconds he thought it was quite nice. The girl didn't even glance around to look at it, making the teen frown as he pocketed both the notebook and the brush. "I guess you know why I'm here." Yakumo finally responded to him with a small nod, her eyes never leaving the canvas.
"You've come to re-seal my powers, just like she did." For the first time her eyes left the painting to glance briefly at the picture of Kurenai; Naruto would be talking to her about this later. Naruto could only shrug though, glancing back at the painting again only to glean nothing from it.
"Maybe, we'll have to see after I examine the seal; do you know where it is?" Without a hint of shame Yakumo shrugged her kimono-like shirt down, revealing a small and inticate seal on her mid-back. A brief glance told Naruto it was likely Jiraiya's work and he couldn't say the man had done a shoddy job. The problem was that sealing became an abstract art when it came to things like these. Sealing away an object or even Chakra? That was straightforward. Sealing away an aspect of a personality or a specific ability? That was a lot trickier.
However even glancing over it briefly, combined with the small pile of notes Hiruzen had provided him on their walk over, Naruto could instantly spot a small error, more in judgement than the actual sealing. For some reason Jiraiya had decide to treat Yakumo and this other personality of hers as separate entities; the human mind was never so black and white. Years of working with more than a few Yamanaka had taught him that much. It would be more efficient to treat them as two fragmented sections of a whole; more complex yes, but better overall. The problem was that after so long of being not only separated, but spiritually forced apart by the seal, he had no idea what would occur if he was to try and force the two entities to merge again.
The Hokage had said that the Id was there to control Yakumo's powers when she was young; he guessed whether or not this would work depended on whether or not she could control the ability. It would be simple enough to re-enforce the seal already present; but that would be more of a patch job. Naruto dislike doing things half-way; in fact he was a bit of a completionist most of the time, much to Anko's occasional ire. So when Yakumo felt the cold ink begin licking at her skin she was a little shocked; none of the other 'doctors' had done anything like this.
When it was over she felt no different; at least until a sudden and sharp pain racked her mind, causing her to scream out and collapse from her chair, brush skittering uselessly across the floor. For a while Naruto watched her writhe on the ground, not in pain, but as though she was waging some kind of invisible struggle. Occasionally tears would stream from her eyes and she would cry out in a heart-wrenching tone that made Naruto want to pick her up and reassure her everything was okay. However she was unconscious so there was little he could do but wait.
Finally she stopped after almost five minutes, although for everybody involved it seemed like much longer. She opened her bloodshot eyes slowly, standing up on shaky legs before looking around the room like it was the first time she had seen it. When she spotted Naruto a number of indecipherable expressions flashed across her features before she finally settled on tears, rushing across the room suddenly and wrapping her arms around him tightly, sobbing loudly into his chest. Shell-shocked from the sudden contact Naruto just stood there uselessly for a few moments before shakily rubbing her back in what he hoped was a comforting manner.
"I-I didn't know… I didn't know." She sobbed, tears staining the front of Naruto's flak jacket as she held onto him tighter. The redhead simply sighed as he rubbed her hair and back, looking down at her with soft eyes.
"It's okay." He could only assume with the merger of the two personalities that the memories of her burning down her family home had come back to her, as well as the implications of that. He would still recommend she see a Yamanaka for a bit of therapy and to see there was no lasting damage or untoward effects. But he figured at this point his job was done; at least Yakumo would be better off. He didn't notice the Hokage watching from the door, a sad but proud smile on his face as he slowly nodded before leaving, only growing more confident in his decision.
Naruto kicked his feet up on his study's desk, leaning back in his swivel chair as he re-read the notes he had already made for what felt like the fifth time. Ever since learning about Yakumo, the Kekkei Genkai of the Kurama clan had held his fascination like little else. The idea of creating form out of nothing but Chakra was an incredible concept; it would be a brilliant and dangerous tool to wield if properly controlled. Just thinking about it made him giddy; the idea of being able to place a Hiraishin marker wherever he liked, with nothing more than a thought.
However right now that was all the idea was, a thought. A concept and being able to put it into practise were two very different things and as for right now Naruto could see little in the way of making it a reality. He just didn't know enough about it to even begin to conceive replicating it through a technique. Not to mention the sheer concentration it would likely take without the right genetics; still, it was something for him to bat around. He guessed it had something to do with Yin Chakra, the basis for most Genjutsu as well as techniques such as the Nara clan's shadow-style. Ensui had taught them a little about Yang and Yin Chakra, mostly as a thought exercise; never did he think the information would be this useful.
However even Genjutsu users like Kurenai had only a vague concept of Yin Chakra and its properties, understanding it more through application than in a theoretical sense. That was useless, Naruto needed to understand it if he wanted to reverse-engineer it and create something new. This wasn't the type of thing one could simply try at until they got right; it would require a bit more thought and tact. That was why, for the last five days, he had spent the majority of his free time outside of training his Genin in his study, looking through old notes from the archives.
"You're going to give yourself an aneurism if you stare at that paper any harder." Anko's voice suddenly cut in, startling the redhead and nearly causing him to fall backwards off his chair. Swiveling around, he caught her standing in the doorway to the office, smirking at his surprised reaction.
"How did you open the door?" He had a tonne of seals on that door to stop people disturbing him; even Anko… he liked his alone time occasionally. Anko simply smirked, buffing her nails on her shirt with an imperious expression.
"Hey, I picked up a few tricks over the years." She replied smugly, only to catch Naruto giving her a deadpan stare.
"I left the door open by accident, didn't I?" He shot back, causing Anko's smirk to devolve into a grin.
"Yep." She chuckled, sauntering in and plopping herself down on her boyfriend's lap shamelessly; it helped she was clad in little more than an over-sized shirt. "You've been really absent minded these last couple days, almost reminds me of when you were learning the Hiraishin." Naruto grimaced and even Anko's eyes turned downwards; they weren't exactly pleasant days, for either of them.
Anko watched with intense amusement as Naruto took more than a few calming breaths, his battered and bruised body shaking slightly from a mix between exertion and Chakra-depletion. He stared so intently at an innocuous little tri-pronged kunai on the other side of the back-garden she thought it might simply explode. Slowly, very slowly, he began going through hand seals; less than one might imagine for such a complex technique, but then the Fuinjutsu picked up the slack somewhat.
"Hiraishin no Jutsu!" Naruto called out in a somewhat hoarse, used voice as he vanished in a flash of red. It looked as though a streak of red lightning shot across the clearing, nowhere near fast enough to be the famous instantaneous travel Minato was so famous for. However it was angled off the kunai slightly and when Naruto bodily reappeared again his eyes widened. His forward momentum was far too fast to have any chance of him stopping himself, leaving him to slam right into a sturdy tree. Anko burst out into laughter as Naruto slumped back, leaving a vaguely human-shaped imprint in the bark.
"Shut up Anko!" Naruto shouted with a little more venom in his words than he had likely intended. "If you aren't going to be of any help why don't you just get lost!" Anko's eye twitched slightly at that, his lips curling up into a not-so-pleasant grin as she levelled a heated gaze right back at the young redhead.
"Hey, don't get pissed at me just because you can't get a Jutsu down!" She shouted back, only increasing the scathing look on Naruto's features.
"It's not just any Jutsu dammit; why don't you get how important this is to me?! You never take anything seriously and it's so damn infuriating!" He all but growled, his glare intensifying.
"I never take things seriously? What about you mister 'everything has to go exactly how I want it'? You can't lighten up for even a moment can you? You know what I don't need this right now!" She snarled back, turning and walking away; Naruto could be so damn irritating lately.
That had been a rather rough patch in their relationship; Itachi had left the village not too long beforehand and without Shisui's calming influence Naruto had thrown himself into training. The problem was the Hiraishin was by no means an easy technique to even begin to learn, even for a prodigy like Naruto. He had grown frustrated and short-tempered, quickly snapping at the smallest provocations. Anko was a naturally confrontational person as well, which certainly hadn't helped. Hell, if things had been a little worse the relationship might have ended before it even began. Luckily Naruto's captain at the time, Kakashi, had seen the stress he was under and had all but ordered him to take a small break from the corp. It had worked wonders.
"You need to take a break." Anko finally spoke up after they both finished dwelling on their less-than-pleasant memories. Naruto looked ready to argue but a single glance from her chocolate eyes had his tongue freeze in place. His whole body seemed to slump back into the chair as he tossed the notes back on his desk.
"Maybe you're right." He sighed, rubbing at his eyes and rolling his neck; he had been sitting in that chair for a bit too long.
"Isn't there something else you could be doing right now?" Anko asked inquisitively; it wasn't like Naruto to have absolutely nothing to do except work; she thought he had learned that lesson. Naruto was about to disagree when a thought occurred to him; he had forgotten something what with all the sudden obligations, responsibilities and surprises that had been heaped on him in recent weeks.
"Actually yeah, there it." He grinned suddenly as he got to his feet, carrying Anko up with him in a bridal carry before plopping her down in the chair. "Thanks for the reminder." He added, suddenly leaning down to steal a kiss, which she didn't mind in the least. Then, like a fleeting bolt of red lightning, he vanished, leaving Anko with a stupid grin across her features.
"Heh, still got it."
Naruto whistled a small tune as he kicked his feet up on the plain metal table that seemed to be the only furniture in the barren, featureless room. It really was an ugly place, just a large metal box with a table, two chairs either side, and a long mirror stretching across one wall. Of course, it was actually a one-way window that would allow people to listen in on the conversations held here, but most people knew that anyway. Normally setting up a meeting in here would take a few days at best, but it seemed there were perks to being a former ANBU captain and he Hokage's legitimate successor, should he so choose anyway; Naruto was still very much undecided.
"Ahem, Taichou?" An ANBU Naruto recognised poked her head around the corner of the door, causing the redhead to smile.
"Komachi! You really don't need to call me that you know; in fact, I should be calling you that seeing as you're the captain right now." Okay, now he was really beginning to understand how annoyed Kakashi must get every time he called the man that. "How are you; settling into the job okay?" The woman nodded quickly, obviously not here for a long chat as she opened the door wider.
"It is fine, the squad gives me a lot of support and your advice is often helpful." She replied, escorting a young redheaded girl into the interrogation room. Any personal effects had been removed, leaving her in a plain grey jumpsuit that the girl had taken the liberty of unzipping almost all the way down to her waist, showing scandalous amounts of flesh without actually revealing anything. Curiously enough she was also gagged; not exactly a regular occurrence for prisoners but from the way she was glaring heatedly at everyone in the room it was obviously for a reason.
"It was nice seeing you Komachi; stop by for some ramen some time." The woman gave a small, professional incline of her head before quickly departing the room leaving Naruto alone with the Oto kunoichi. "Hello." He started amicably, quickly reaching across the table and swiping the cloth gag out of her mouth. He quickly retracted his hand as the girl tried to bite his fingers, actually growling at him like some kind of feral dog.
"The fuck you want tree shagger? Not content to just leave me alone to rot in my shit in some crappy cell somewhere? Gotta drag me out to this fucking oven, sit me in these chairs that are as comfortable as rusty nails and talk on and on about your pansy-ass problems like some damn-" The girl suddenly stopped, her eyes going wide as Naruto swiftly reached across the table and flickered her in the forehead like a parent scolding a naughty child.
"Language. Now, I thought we could start with a name, from the reports you've been pretty uncooperative with the interrogators and I don't want to have to call you Otogakure Kunoichi for this entire conversation; it's a mouthful." The girl quickly recovered and sent an ugly sneer his way.
"Yeah I bet you know all about mouthfuls you ass-licking queer, you can take your name and shove it up your pansy- Ow would you stop fucking doing that!" The girl cried as she held her hands up to her forehead, glaring at Naruto with intense irritation. The flicks didn't even hurt they were just incredibly annoying. However she was only met with another flick, she couldn't eve react in time because Naruto was too fast.
"Fucking hell stop-" Another flick. "Ah you piece of shit-" Another flick. "Kami damn it you ass-" Another flick. "I will kill you motherfu-" Another flick; the girl's forehead was starting to look a little red at this point. "Okay fine! Fine! I'll stop fucking swearing you-" Another flick. "Oh come on I was even covering my forehead that time!" Naruto leaned forward before pausing, his fingers an inch away from the girl's face before blinking and leaning back, earning a sigh of relief from her.
"Good, I'm glad we got that sorted." The scathing look he got from the girl could have melted iron.
"So what the hell do you want you…" The girl trailed off as she saw Naruto's eyebrow raise and his fingers twitch subtly "…so what do you want?" Naruto just smiled congenially and kicked his feet up on the table again, surprising the girl with his causal attitude; none of the interrogators had been like this.
"I thought we could talk; like I said how about we start with a name, I'm Naruto." The girl scoffed loudly and crossed her arms under her chest.
"Why should I tell you anything? And yeah, I already know who you are; you're the dick that tackled me off the roof, Orochimaru told us about you." She winced, having realised she swore only to notice Naruto hadn't flickered her this time, just looking ahead thoughtfully.
"And what did Snake-face have to say about little old me?" He asked with a slightly amused grin, crossing his hands behind his head lazily. The girl narrowed her eyes at the lackadaisical gesture, shuffling on her seat uncomfortably.
"Just to be wary about you; he told all the lower-ranked members to avoid you if possible." At that Naruto's grin became almost blinding as he thought about Orochimaru warning his subordinates away from him; good.
"Oh, so you're pretty high up in his ranks Red?" The girl's eye twitched at the nickname before scowling, realising that she had just given away more in this simple conversation than she had in any of the prior interrogations; what was up with that?
"Don't call me Red." She growled out; it was almost as bad as Jiroubou constantly calling her a 'young lady'. Naruto just shrugged and swayed on his chair slightly, looking for all the world like he was just chatting with an old acquaintance.
"Can't call you much else without a name, can I?" Tayuya sneered but remained quiet for a few moments; it wasn't like it mattered… right?
"Tayuya." She grumbled almost under her breath; however it seemed the Jounin caught her name all the same, letting out that brilliant smile of his.
"Tayuya, that's a nice name; just Tayuya though?" For a moment a frown seemed to flicker across his features but Tayuya could have sworn it was a trick of the light; there was no way this walking smile was capable of frowning.
"Yeah it's just Tayuya, the fuck's it to y- ah Kami dammit!" Tayuya yelped as Naruto leaned back, his hand still in a vaguely flicking gesture, however his face was thoughtful.
"The name Uzumaki ring any bells with you?" The older redhead asked casually, his eyes searching; a smirk crossed his features as he caught a subtle flinch from the girl, her eyes immediately narrowing defensively.
"What's with all the random questions spike-head? Don't you want all of Orochimaru's dirty little secrets, or maybe the location of his bases or something? I'm just a grunt right?" Tayuya questioned heatedly, drawing in on herself as her posture became stiffer and her eyes more guarded. Naruto just chuckled softly as he absently pulled at one of his spikes, admiring the way Tayuya continued to try and insult him without swearing.
"My mother was an Uzumaki." He ran a hand through his vibrant red hair as if to demonstrate, causing Tayuya to look at him curiously, even if she tried to hide it. The girl sneered at him soon enough though, leaning back in her chair and looking away petulantly.
"As if I'd believe you just because you're a tomato head." She missed the way Naruto's eye twitched at that. "If you really were an Uzumaki shouldn't you be called that? They were a fucking big clan after all; why would you adopt some clanless name like fucking Namikaze, if- Ow stop that!" Naruto simply looked at the girl sternly as he drew his hand back before letting his expression soften.
"It's all politics; when my parents got married the Uzumaki were a dying breed; Uzushio had been long destroyed and the clan was scattered. Which name held more prestige, an up and coming war hero that was slated for the next Hokage spot, or an outsider clan that was all but extinct?" Tayuya seemed to scowl at that which only made Naruto grin.
"Yeah yeah, that's fu… that's damn fascinating and all." Tayuya quickly corrected her slip, hand instinctively going up to her forehead much to Naruto's amusement. "But what the hell has this got to do with me?" Naruto shrugged as he leaned back in his chair, looking at his hand absently.
"Not a lot, although you do seem to have a little personal stake in all this." He shrugged in an exaggerated manner before stretching his arms out lazily. "But you're right, red hair doesn't mean someone's an Uzumaki right?" Tayuya quickly shook her head with a scowl, causing Naruto to smirk. "But what about doing something like this?" Suddenly he stared at his palm intently, a look of pure concentration on his face as slowly but surely a long, golden chain of pure Chakra snaked its way out of his flesh. Tayuya simply sat there, enraptured by the sight as it swayed back and forth almost hypnotically.
"B-But I thought only Kaa-Chan…" The younger redhead muttered before seemingly realising her slight slip-up and immediately re-setting the scowl back on her features. "So what? You can make a pretty little chain, I bet it goes wonderfully with the rest of your jewellery right?" Naruto just frowned as he allowed the chain to retract back into his body; it took him a great deal of concentration to create that. He may have lacked the special property to his mother's Chakra but thanks to the Kyuubi his own was fairly dense. It was useless in combat what with the exertion and difficulty; but it was nice to have that connection to his mother.
"There's no need to hide the fact you're an Uzumaki, Tayuya; if it's the case then we're family." At that Tayuya scoffed, snarling at the older redhead venomously.
"Like it fucking matters." Surprisingly Naruto didn't flick her this time, simply allowing her to continue. "We're as much family as I am to that shitty ANBU that just hauled me in here; I don't know you, you don't know me. I'm from Oto and you're a tree shagger. You work for the Hokage and I work for Orochimaru; we're nothing alike and never will be." She finished, breathing a little heavier from her sudden venting tirade before sitting back in her chair and crossing her arms. "I think I'd rather be back in the fucking cell." This time when Naruto flicked her it was half-hearted at best and Tayuya didn't even cry out in annoyance.
"I don't think so." Naruto finally spoke up in a quieter voice than he used before. "Just because I didn't know you existed doesn't mean we weren't family." Tayuya just huffed and continued glaring down at the table. At that moment though anything else they might have talked about was interrupted as Komachi walked through the door of the interrogation room.
"Naruto-Taichou, the Hokage needs to speak with you; it's about the tracking seal on that Guren woman." At that Tayuya's ears perked up but she said nothing and Naruto quickly dismissed his former subordinate, walking towards the door after her. He thought better of it though and paused in the doorway.
"Konoha is quite lenient with its prisoners; if you are cooperative you could even be released into the village under the custody of a Jounin-ranked Shinobi for a parole period." When Tayuya didn't look up Naruto frowned. "Just think on it; it was nice meeting you cousin." And with that Naruto walked out, leaving Tayuya blinking in surprise at what he called her. However by the time an ANBU walked back in to escort her back to her cell her usual scowl was back in place, hiding the cogs turning furiously in her mind.