The Mad Sage Of Uzushio, A Naruto Fan Fiction:
Chapter #10: Teaching Baca Kage
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Chapter 10
Teaching Baca Kage Shikigami
Help Me Out Here Konohamaru! And Stop Staring At My Daughter!
Shintaro awakens groggy under a full moon, laid out on a cushion on the wrap around deck of the tree house, the party inside seemingly still in full swing, with koto playing, story telling, and dirt dishing. He makes his way inside to find that the Uchihas have already moved a considerable amount of furniture in, along with themselves, in the course of his few hours of unconsciousness, turning the picnic into a moving in party, no doubt with Ishitara’s help.
Sasuke:
I’ll take the pagoda… and the house… even if it is in a tree…
Sakura:
It’s bigger than our apartment!… with more guest rooms!…
Sasuke:
We’ll even let you use one… if you show us how everything works…
Shintaro:
How what works?…
Sakura:
The plumbing… where exactly is… the plumbing?…
Shintaro:
There is no plumbing… I can’t really do plumbing… or proper electrical… But my design was made to be improved… but livable in the meantime… but just for me… I can always add more I suppose… later… Now that we have time… Do you have any requests?… besides opening up a hole in the floor… for the facilities… This is a tree house after all…
Sasuke:
I like it as is… It’s cushy… compared to what I’m used to… But the nursery will need upgrades…
Sakura:
And the kitchen!…
Naruto:
Oi!… Uncle Shintaro!… Uncle Shintaro!… What’s next in my training?…
Sasuke:
Ai… Teach the blind monkey to do another trick in my tree house…
Naruto:
Hey!… But… yeah!…
Shintaro:
Do you know anything about shikigami Naruto?… It is a technique… that is a part of the art… of the clan specialty… While the Uzumaki Clan owns no monopoly on the art… mind you… we were traditionally pretty good at it… It provides a good means of delivery… for the Uzumaki Clan fuinjutsu… But the technique itself in general… as an art… dates back to the Sage of Six Paths… as a part of his original ninshu… And Many ancient sage traditions have traditons of shikigami that predate all of that… including Mount Myoboku!…
Naruto:
Jiraiya taught me shikigami… But I can’t really use it for anything… except playing with the kids… Himawari’s much better at it than I am…
Shintaro:
But you know the basics?…
Naruto:
Ai… Jiraiya showed me… But Himawari is better than me… Poor Himachan is passed out on a cushion though…
Shintaro:
Never mind Himawari for now… I want to see what you can do…
Naruto:
But… I’m blindfolded… ya know…
Shintaro:
I didn’t say anything about what you could do with your eyes… I want to see what you can do with your hands… and with your chakra… relying upon your senjutsu and your chakra sense… That is your training remember… I told you that I would be adding to your training regimen… consider shikigami now on the list… If you know the fundamentals… then you should know the Skin Paper Peel jutsu… and the Shadow Clone Paper jutsu… or perhaps even the Blood Ink jutsu… Between those… and your sage mode chakra… and some basic origami skills… you should be able to rely upon your hyper sensitive sage mode chakra sense… to compensate for the blindfold… That is your training!… No more complaining!… Get to it!…
Naruto:
But… I only know silly tricks… for entertaining kids…
Shintaro:
I don’t care!… Show us your silly tricks!…
Sasuke:
Ai… Show us all your silly tricks…
Sakura:
Sasukekun!…
Shintaro:
Get on with it!… Baca Kage!…
Naruto focuses on the area of his hands and forearms, maneuvering his head around almost involuntarily as he does, as if trying to peek through holes in his blindfold that aren’t there. Shintaro takes a seat next to Naruto on the couch, as bits of his skin start to peel off as bits of paper, as if Naruto himself were made up of paper like a paper clone, but without ever completely peeling his arms away entirely. The wind picks up slightly around Naruto as the bits of paper swirl around and form a poorly formed paper clone copy of Naruto, with bits of paper already peeling away from the clone before even completely being properly formed, until the paltry paper clone peels away entirely and fails.
Naruto:
Medocuse!… That’s why I can’t use really use it… ya know!… I just can’t get the paper clones to hold together…
Shintaro:
Never mind the paper clones that your no good at and don’t need… Show me the silly kid stuff that your supposedly good at… Entertain me like I’m a child… Do a good job… and I just might return the favor… which would probably be easier…
Naruto:
Ai… Hey!…
Naruto goes to work with a flamboyant presentation worthy of a kids puppet show. Himawari, risen from deep slumber to full alert status at the chance to play shikigami with daddy, pulls up a cushion and sits in next to daddy, then joins in on the fun. Multiple papers peel off of Naruto and form into small origami frogs that hop away throughout the tree house. Himawari joins in as several bits of paper peel off of Himawari’s open palms, forming into individual paper origami cranes, before flapping their paper wings and flying away.
Shintaro:
That’s a pretty good grasp of the basics… both of you… I can work with that… Eventually you should be able to use it in combination with your wind style and the clan specialty… to deliver powerful fuinjutsu… powered by your senjutsu… But I’ll give you a preview… of what powerful demon hunter shikigami is really like… while also presenting a bit of the legacy of my Phoenix Flower… to the Uchiha Clan… Yukai!… Stop chatting up the Hyuga girl and come help your father with a lesson… My son Yukai… unlike me… is a genuine fire user… In fact… fire is his primary natural affinity… just like the Phoenix Flower herself… Which is why I gave him what I had of the Phoenix Flowers notes and writings… Yukai has spent years mastering the Phoenix Flower Shikigami Fire Dance… preparing to demonstrate it to you all these years… Because I made him promise to be ready to do so… in exchange for the privilege of access to the legacy of my Phoenix Flower… Yukai… Take Chocho and the Uchihas down to that part of the forest at the base of this hill… You can go ahead and clear all that out… It’ll make for a good herb garden… conveniently located…
Sakura:
Hai!… Hai!… That would be convenient…
Shintaro:
Sarada… when you observe Yukai’s demonstration… don’t just sit back and observe… Try to copy it… and join in… You might surprise yourself… with how well it might work… Naruto… You and Himawari can observe the demonstration well enough from the edge of the deck… Naruto doesn’t even need to move anyway… to observe everything that he’s allowed to observe… in the manner in which he is allowed to observe it…
Sasuke:
I’ll join you there… I can learn whatever I need to from the deck… I want to see what Sarada can do with your demonstration… But first things first… Before you give your demonstration… We’ve talked about it… about Itachi’s eyes… Go ahead and do it… Then Sakura can copy the Phoenix Flower as well…
Shintaro:
An excellent idea!… Are you prepared?… Sakurasama?…
Sakura:
Hai!… Sodesuyo!…
Sakura once again removes the gourd with Itachi’s eyes from her gym bag and places it on the table in front of the couch where Shintaro sits next to Naruto. Shintaro stands up and picks up the gourd and walks around to stand in front of Sakura.
Shintaro:
Here hold this and try to remain perfectly still…
Shintaro hands the gourd containing Itachi’s eyes back to Sakura, then begins a series of hand seals, as Sarada and Sasuke intently look on, carefully observing, each with their best eyes. Then Shintaro’s hands, the gourd, and Sakura’s normally green eyes, begin to glow an electric purple glow, as two electric purple orbs snap, crackle, and pop their way out of the gourd, and into Sakura’s eyes, disappearing harmlessly into them, dispelling the electric purple glow along with them. Sakura drops the empty gourd in her hands, as she raises her hands to cover her eyes.
Sasuke:
Sakura?!?…
Sarada:
Mama?!?…
Sakura:
Daijoubu!!!… Daijoubu desuyo!… Or at least… genki desune…
As Sakura reassures her family, she lowers her hands to reveal a matched pair of purple Rinnegan, both looking just like the left one when Susuke had them previously, having evolved more fully into their ultimate form, in response to another intense exposure to sage mode chakra.
Sasuke:
Sakura… Your eyes…
Sarada:
Their beautiful!… And they match now too!… Daijoubu desuka?… Sodesuka?… Genki desuka?…
Shintaro:
She’s fine!… The justu looks a lot worse than it is… to normal eyes… or so they tell me… I would never jeopardize the life of my great grandson at least!…
Sakura:
Great grandson?!?… Don’t tell me you already know that too!… Sasukekun?…
Sasuke:
Ai… It’s beautiful on you… the eyes too…
Sakura:
Sasukekun!…
Chocho:
Ai… Ai… They’re stylin… although not as stylin… as the yellow…
Shintaro:
Ai… I’m sure they’re lovely… The pair match each other now… most likely because of the additional exposure to sage mode chakra… something that I thought might occur… But I could not be certain… However… With all due respect to my grandson… I suggest you all go down and try out your new eyes… with Yukai’s shikigami skills… Chocho’s too… She doesn’t have the fire style skills… But she knows plenty of lightening and wind style shikigami…
Chocho:
But I’m not as good as uncle Yukai!…
Shnitaro:
You’re probably far better than you realize… ever since I removed the seal on your eyes… Just do your best and help Sarada with her shikigami… I guarantee you Chocho… you’ll surprise yourself… and Sarada… You can help Sarada copy jutsu… But I have to teach Naruto here by more traditional ways… Help out your granpa… will you?… Put on a show for the hokage and make granpa look good… in a manner of speaking…
Chocho:
Hai!…
Chocho finally takes off her sunglasses, having worn them all moonlit night, now desiring to show off for her friend more than her grandfather, as she runs off the deck after Yukai, joining him down at the foot of the hill.
Shintaro:
You two really should go with Sarada… and copy it together… as a team exercise… Go team Uchiha!… It is a jutsu that does lend itself to coordinated team effort… But Naruto will just have to learn the hard way… As far as team seven is concerned…
Naruto:
Hey!… I knew shikigami first!… ya know!…
Sakura:
Hai!… That sounds great!… Lets go!… I am eager to try these out… Everything seems… different now… Everything feels… different now…
Sarada:
Are you sure you’re okay?… You’re not lying to me about your health again… are you?… about the baby’s?…
Sakura:
We’re both fine Sarada!… Icu!…
Sasuke:
Boruto!… You come and observe too!… You might learn something!…
Boruto:
Hai!… Sasuke sensei!…
With this, Sakura runs off the edge of the deck to join Yukai and Chocho at the foot of the hill, followed closely by Sarada, with Sasuke and Boruto following suit.
Shintaro:
Ishitara?… Can you take your sister… and your new boyfriend… along with Hiashi and the others… out onto the deck for the show?… Domo…
Ishitara begins to play, and the entire party inside, is transplanted and arranged out on the deck, complete with furnishings, in Ishitara’s own special way. Shintaro sits back down next to Naruto on the Couch he was sitting on before, but now with the same couch sitting out on the deck for the Show with Naruto still sitting on it. Hinata now joins them placed on the couch next to Naruto, on his other side from Shintaro. Hiashi and Choza remain reclining and sipping sake, in the same chairs they were sitting in before, feeling no reason to move based on where Ishitara had placed them on the side of the deck. Ishitara places herself and her koto between the group on the deck, with Shintaro and the others on the couch, with Himawari and Hannabi, on one side of her, and her sister Karui and Konohamaru on her other side, all sitting on the same cushions they had before, now instantly transplanted outside onto the deck, transplanted and arranged around Ishitara, arranged neatly by her as such.
Shintaro:
Konohamaru?… Is it?… A Sarutobi… If I’m not mistaken… Do you know anything useful… of shikigami?… Or are you only interested in chatting up my daughter?… Either way it may interest you to know that the art of shikigami… is among my daughter’s limited means of communication… along with her music and her Super Beast Scroll technique…
As if to prove a point, Konohamaru begins to perform the same jutsu that Himawari had performed, with paper cranes flying out from his palms. But then Konohamaru flashes some hand seals, before a whirling wind sweeps up all his paper cranes and transforms them into paper flowers while multiplying them, and surrounding Ishitara with them, whirling above her head. Then Konohamaru flashes some more hand seals, and all of the paper flowers burst into a bunch of brightly and differently colored harmless flames, as Ishitara applauds.
Karui:
Smooth Operator…
Shintaro:
Don’t knock it Karui… He demonstrates both artistic flare… as well as basic competence… I can work with that… And I’ll need him… Or more to the point… Naruto will need him… And he does come highly recommended… by Mount Myoboku…
Naruto:
Mount Myoboku?… Talked to you?… About Konohamaru?…
Shintaro:
Ai… As he is also a member of that tradition… I figured that he would have to figure prominently in your training regimen…
Naruto:
My training regimen?…
Shintaro:
Ai… One of your training tasks… is to help Konohamaru train… to make his mastery of senjutsu… of practical use at least… In the process of teaching him… you will unavoidably clarify things to yourself in the process… helping you bring your own mastery to a higher level… A process you may be somewhat familiar with… Even if you may not have realized it as such… Wakarimasuka?…
Naruto:
Uh… sure… ya know…
Shintaro:
That’s okay… I didn’t think so… Our mutual friends on Mount Myoboku say that you often have to learn by doing anyway… In addition to being your unfortunate student… Konohamaru will have the unenviable task of helping me teach you the Uzumaki Clan legacy… of fuinjutsu… Plus… now that I know he can do it… shikigami as well… If he’s going to be hanging about chatting up my daughter all day anyway… we might as well put him to good use…
A chain of explosions erupt from the foot of the hill, as Yukai’s demonstration begins.
Karui:
Saved by the boom…
Yukai:
Give me some more targets Chocho!…
Chocho:
Hai!… Hai uncle Yukai!… Hai!…
Shintaro:
The principle purpose of demon hunter shikigami… is to deliver paper on target… Not just paper bombs… but paper carrying seal formula… in order to seal demons… without having to get close enough for the demon to bite your face off… or far worse… A demon that is not sealed… is not defeated… Simply blowing it up… accomplishes nothing but a waste of time… unless your doing more than that while you’re at it… which is the real trick of the art… My own grandfather invented the Super Beast Scroll jutsu… in part to serve similar purposes… Both are an adjunct to the clan tradition of fuinjustu… The ultimate purpose of which… is demon hunting…
Himawari:
Your… My… Our ancestor invented the Super Beast Scroll?…
Shintaro:
Ai… My grandfather… Naruto’s great grandfather… your great great grandfather… was the formal founder of Uzushio Gakure No Sato… as part of the one nation one village system… in solidarity with his apprentice Senju Hashirama… co-founder of Konoha… to whom he had taught senjutsu… among other things… In fact he had served as advisor to the head of the Senju Clan… since before either Senju Hashirama or Senju Tobirama had even been born… But the Uzumaki didn’t invent shikigami… nor demon hunter shikigami… There are many traditions of demon hunter shikigami… Including the Uzumaki tradition… based primarily on wind… the one that I taught to Jiraiya… which I learned from my grandfather…
Sarada:
That’s great Chocho!… But more targets!… I’ve almost got it down!… But more targets!…
Sakura:
Hai!… Sarada!… Hai!…
Sasuke:
Boruto!… you too!…
Boruto:
Hai!… Hai!… Sasuke sensei!…
Himawari:
Did you learn shikigami?… granpa?…
Shintaro:
Your grandfather and his brother Hizashi both practiced a different form of demon hunting… something that… in the demon hunting world… is known as a loaded blade… centered around the Hyuga sword style… the Gentle Blade…
Hiashi:
That was then… But I’ve been expanding my palette… as you like to say… Perhaps not shikigami… But I still know how to swing a loaded blade… The incident… with the Uchihas however has disturbed my own complacency… and has caused me to rethink my guidance of the Hyuga Clan… up till now… The Hyuga Clan are due for an overhaul… Nothing like this should have been possible under the Hyuga’s watch… Not in Konoha!… The Hyuga… All the Hyuga… are going to start training… as soon as my head stops hurting… the day after tomorrow… perhaps…
As the destructive demonstration continues, burning a swath through the underbrush at the foot of the hill, Shintaro pulls out his ocarina again and begins to play. A whirlwind rain storm with sideways blowing rain, and a myriad of tiny paper flowers flying through it, blows through the flaming devastation surrounding the shinobi. As the tiny paper flowers blow through the devastation, multiplying and spreading within the whirlwind, they settle upon all the various flaming surfaces, smothering them. As the paper flowers and the whirlwind rainstorm blow through and surround the shinobi, Shintaro himself suddenly flies up off the couch next to Naruto on the deck, and flies over to his grandson and their family among the smoldering ruin at the bottom of the hill, as the paper rain storm begins to clear and Shintaro stops playing.
Shintaro:
Well… I think that’s enough devastation for one night… You can always destroy more stuff later… Perhaps… The family that destroys together… stays together… I suppose… I was serious about the herb garden however… Is anyone up for some moonlight gardening?… I have all of the usual assortment of medicinal herbs that your familiar with… plus a far more comprehensive… far flung and exotic collection… including some things not native to this planet… which I cannot plant here… as it would be an invasive species… and would lead to potential environmental disruption and imbalance… Before we begin in earnest… are there any specific requests that I should know about?…
Sarada:
Can I get my own place?!?… I mean… It’s not that I mind or anything… But moving out would make more room for the new baby… I’m just looking out for you mama…
Shintaro:
Perhaps a garden house then?… You can help your mother and I look after the medicinal herb garden… earn your space… in a manner of speaking…
Shintaro begins to play his ocarina again and earth works spring up creating artificial terraced steps from the top of the hill down to it’s foot. Backed up against the now terraced hillside, a sprawling single-level slightly elevated traditional wooden architecture style building, springs up in the space between the terracing and the smoldering devastation. The single floor level wrap-around covered deck is raised a few feet above the ground level, with a few wooden steps leading down to the ground level, and sliding traditional wooden frame panel doors with paper panels. Wooden sticks grow up out of the garden dirt with symbols carved in them indicating the names of various plants.
A seemingly endless flurry of prepared seal paper, with an endless variety of seal formula, flies out from Shintaro’s loose sleeves, born aloft on the wind dancing to the tune of Shintaro’s ocarina. Cherry blossom trees spring up here and there around the garden house for shade, as seal paper flies around on the wind like multiple coordinated flocks of starlings. But they fly in to hit designated target flower beds, like smart paper bombs. As salvo after salvo hits there designated seed bed targets, a rapid explosion of vegetation springs up out of the ground where they hit, filling every available scrap of land around the garden house and on every terrace of the hill. Various depressions sink down within the ground and fill with water. Lines of mild depression sink down along connecting lines between pools providing sustained irrigation from a nearby existing river system, some of which comes down from the mountain behind the hill to the west, bordering the Uchiha property immediately behind the hill where their tree house now sits.
An elaborate stone archway aqueduct springs up to connect the mountain stream to the top of the hill, where a newly grown flow adjustable wooden paddle wheel and chute system, now fills a new wooden water tank, high up in the tree house, as well as irrigating the terraces below, before pooling in another new wooden water tank, on the terrace just above the new garden house. Then the aqueduct continues down to reconnect with the existing river to provide and overflow valve for the adjustable irrigation system. As the garden house water tank fills with water, connecting wooden chutes and paddle wheels spring up and grow out as needed to connect and supply an elaborate mechanical wooden water clock system springing up in the garden in front of the garden house. The water clock starts to turn as it fills with water and begins to keep approximate time for the sake of it’s purpose in the timed distribution of water to different parts of the garden. An elaborate system of tuned wooden wind chimes springs up in the garden, plinking and whistling as they appear. Stone garden candle lanterns spring up every few meters along the wrap-around deck of the garden house before Shintaro stops playing and basks.
Shintaro:
Well… How is that then?… I can’t do plumbing… But I can do irrigation… Didn’t someone say something… about a temple fortress?…
As Shintaro basks, he loses consciousness and collapses again, from the extreme effort required for his earth style as well as his wood style, on top of all things related to shikigami gardening. Shintaro awakens groggy, stirred by the rays of the morning sun and some familiar scents of home, laid down on the same couch that he had sat upon the previous night, still out on the deck where Ishitara had placed it. Naruto and Konohamaru are sitting in the chairs previously occupied by Choza and Hiashi the night before, with Konohamaru keenly listening to the sounds of Ishitara’s koto wafting up from the garden house.
Naruto:
Sasuke!… He’s awake!…
Sasuke:
Ai!… Bring him in here!…
Naruto and Konohamaru get up and escort Shintaro inside, where he finds Shikamaru, Choji, and Kakashi, having joined Sasuke, engaged in a mild interrogation of his son Yukai, gathered on cushions around a large square stone hearth, with a small smoldering paper shikigami, smoldering on behalf of a small kettle hanging in the center of the central space, just above the stone hearth, a familiar smell of Uzu Tea wafting through the entire home.
Sasuke:
Sky lanterns?… Flying through space?… I would say that you must be joking… normally… But I don’t know why I should be surprised… by now…
Yukai:
Hai!… Hai!… A whole flotilla of sky lanterns… But there’s no point in talking about that kinda stuff now… not until you can see it for yourself cuz…
Kakashi:
I wouldn’t dismiss anything at this point… when it comes to Shintaro sensei…
Shintaro:
That would be wise… You wouldn’t want to make me grumpy… little Kakashi… We need to have ourselves a talk… about my daughter…
Kakashi:
Your daughter?!?…
Shintaro, Naruto, and Konohamaru all grab themselves floor cushions and take available places around the stone hearth in the center.
Shintaro:
Ai… Shizune is my daughter… after all… And I could sense who the father of her child was… by virtue of the chakra within the pregnancy it self!… I knew that you were the father of my daughters child… and not for the first time either… Eh?… Little Kakashi?… Don’t bother lying!… Even if I couldn’t sense it… I don’t have to be sensitive… to feel the desperation in you right now… Fortunately for you… I only just learned of her existence myself… So I’ve long since lost all legitimate right to act so paternal… I just wanted to let you know… that I know… and I’ve got my eyes on you now… in a manner of speaking… But you better hope and pray… that Tsunade never finds out… She’s not nearly so forgiving… as I am…
Naruto:
Wow!… I can feel it too ya know!… really desperate!…
Kakashi:
Naruto!…
Shikamaru:
As fun as roasting my former boss may be… We have some official business to talk about… regarding my hokage… and your training…
Shintaro:
Did he screw something up already while I was unconscious?…
Naruto:
Hey!… I am the current actual hokage ya know!…
Shintaro:
That title always meant less to me… than being family… and a sage… You’ll be a far more useful hokage… as a shikigami pushing sage… than as a paper pushing bureaucrat… Training your Uzumaki chakra sense is one of your most important training tasks… as hokage… Because it trains one of your most powerful asseta… as the hokage… Outside of your senjutsu itself… nothing could be more useful to you in your duties… as hokage… By the time he takes off the blindfold… I virtually guarantee you a more useful hokage… if not a much more powerful sage… And he doesn’t have to quit working… He just has to learn how to work in more useful ways… On the job sage training… in a manner of speaking… With the limitation of the blindfold he will be required to master other skills as the challenges to be overcome for his training… training and work challenges… that he must overcome relying upon his Uzumaki chakra sense… and senjutsu!… leaning upon them for everything… making them both stronger as a result… making your hokage more effective in every way… except for pointless paperwork… even before the blindfold comes off!…
Shikamaru:
Ai… Wakata… Mendocuse…
Shintaro:
Besides the blindfold… and having to remain in sage mode as continuously as possible… His main body is required to be a bit of a homebody… in fact a strict homebody… generally… otherwise he’s just going to have to send a clone… while still under training conditions and restrictions… Any kind of bureaucratic paperwork will have to be restricted until he can learn how do so under restrictions… my way… That is the program… Or you could always get a second opinion… from our mutual friends on Mount Myoboku… Go ahead Naruto… Summon your old master… Hear it from someone else besides me…
Naruto:
Alright!… I will!… Ya know!…
Naruto performs some hand seals, then bites his thumb to sever the skin and get blood on his hand, as he plants his hand on the floor next to him in performance of the summoning jutsu. Suddenly, a small elderly frog in a cape materializes, with odd tufts of white hair on his chin and head, as well as eyebrows.
Elder Frog:
Well Narutochan… Long time no see… I hope you’ve been training… at least a little… all this time…
Shintaro:
It’s neglectful!… Fukasaku sensei!…
Fukasaku:
Now now Shintaro sensei… I’ll explain how it is to my apprentice… And it’s neglectful!… inexcusably and irresponsibly… neglectful!… You would do well to follow the example of your protege… Konohamaruchan… He is very diligent in his training… although not as talented…
Konohamaru:
Hey!… Fukasaku sensei!…
Fukasaku:
It is what it is… I have great confidence in you… But you need some intense dedicated training… not simply showing up randomly in between missions…. Even Narutochan… would have had a hard time of it that way… the same thing prevented Jiraiyachan from fully mastering senjutsu… So that he couldn’t fully use it on his own… Not everyone can be Uzumaki…
Shintaro:
It was Naruto’s use of shadow clones… wasn’t it?… that allowed him to cross that threshold?…
Fukasaku:
Ai… It was his own innovation… necessitated by the Nine-Tales preventing us from merging… the way Jiraiya and I had to do…
Shintaro:
Well… Konohamaruchan?… Can you do that sage mode shadow clone thing too?… Do you even know the Shadow Clone jutsu?…
Konohamaru:
Hai!… But I can only manage single clone in sage mode…
Shintaro:
More than enough to start with… The fact that you can do it at all… is almost enough by it self… I have already limited Naruto’s use of clones to sage mode only… Even though you are not Uzumaki… the Sarutobi are quite similar to the Uzumaki in many respects… although they generally don’t run as hot wired… or as high strung… as the Uzumaki… Enter sage mode now if you can… and create a clone likewise…
Every one grows silent, as Konohamaru remains perfectly still for several moments.
Shintaro:
Keep in mind… what I told Naruto… One jutsu that can be used… while remaining perfectly still… is shikigami… Not to mention the wind style that you both share… although not to the same degree… not being Uzumaki…
Konohamaru:
With all due respect to the Storm Sage… Urusai!… Baca Sennin!…
Shintaro:
Well at least he’s heard of me… and he’s sensitive… kind of cranky really…
Konohamaru:
Urusai!… Baca Sennin!…
As everyone including the Baca Sennin remains silent, a sage mode shadow clone of Konohamaru materializes, then both Konohamaru and his clone begin to glow slightly. Both Konohamru and his Shadow Clone begin to emit bits of glowing paper, peeling off from their skin and their very aura, from all around their bodies, forming a solidly firm third clone, made of glowing bits of paper. As the glowing of the paper clone subsides, it begins to speak.
Paper K:
Well?… What do you think of that?…
Shintaro:
That’s a lot more than entertainment for children!… I can work with that… Could it be… that your protege has already surpassed you?… Naruto?…
Naruto:
I can do that too!… Ya know!…
Naruto sits as perfectly still as he can and conjures up four shadow clones, with the Kurama clone still hanging out down in the garden house with Ishitara and the others. As he does so, they all start to glow a similar glow, and peel accordingly. As they peel, the bits of paper all try to form multiple individual paper clones, failing to do so, in same manner as before, with assorted failed paper clone fallout, all over the tree house.
Sasuke:
Oi!… Baca Kage!… Your littering my new home!…
Naruto:
Hai!… Sumimasen!… Ya know!…
Shintaro:
Hai!… Hai!… Sodesuyo!… The student has become the master indeed!…
Shintaro whistles and the various bits of paper reform and take flight, as paper cranes born on the wind of Shintaro’s jutsu, as they fly outside and combust, turning harmlessly to ash just outside the wrap-around deck as they do.
Sasuke:
Tidy…
Shintaro:
More tidy than your friend here… That is also a justu that can be performed without moving… for you alleged students of senjutsu… who still think that is a limitation…
Fukasaku:
Hai!… That is truly no limitation at all!… It is more of tradition of the toads in particular… According to legend… the first toads to master senjustu did so while remaining perfectly still for the purpose of lying in wait for insects to come close enough to capture… requiring great patience and great vigilance… and great sensitivity to one’s surroundings… in order to be ready for the prey…
Fukasaku begins to croak incessantly, with the croak echoing throughout the new Uchiha Quarter incessantly. Fukasaku and his cape begin to glow, as they begin to emit glowing bits of paper, flying off born on the wind of old Fukasaku’s jutsu, forming a number of solid and firm paper clones of old Fukasaku, cape and all.
Fukasaku:
Did you think Narutochan… that you and Konohamaruchan… were the only sages to practice shikigami?… Slacker!…
Shintaro:
Now… Fukasaku… I told you I would take care of part of that… Oi!… Oi!… you should know… that I put in a koi pond… at Naruto’s house…
Fukasaku:
A koi pond?!?… Any koi?…
Shintaro:
None yet… Like I’ve said before… I don’t do koi…
Fukasaku:
Very well then… I can work with a pond…
Naruto:
What do mean… ‘work with a pond’?…
Shintaro:
He means… that a conduit can be made… a permanent portal between two points… as a short cut… between Mount Myoboku for example… and your garden pond… There has to be water… some set body of water of minimum size… Traveling outside of the conduit system requires more energy… as well as a partner to summon you… Conduit travel doesn’t require this… But it does require the access to it provided by the contract that you already signed in blood… For you now… it’s just a question of learning how to use it… Of course… if Fukasaku sensei wants to take you somewhere for training… even outside of current training restrictions… I simply cannot stand in the way between you and your master… So you may consider that… Fukasaku exception to your restrictions…
Sasuke:
Can he do that here?… We have ponds here… thanks to Shintaro sensei… Naruto will probably be spending a good deal of time here… even under restriction…
Fukasaku:
Ai… Uchihasan… I can do that here too…
Shintaro:
You know Naruto… It may interest all here to know… that all travel by such means… irregardless of creature or contract… is completely undetectable to the Otsutsuki… I should probably give Hiashi a koi pond too…
Fukasaku:
A well works even better…
Shintaro:
The Uchiha Temple of the Phoenix Flower… will work even better…
Fukasaku:
The Uchiha Temple?…
Shintaro:
Ai… A brand new one… in a very important place… Can’t you feel it?… the strengthened localized resonant connection?…
Sasuke:
What about the Uchiha Temple?…
Fukasaku:
You mean… at the site of the old Nakano Shrine?…
Shintaro:
Ai… You should see it… It will soon be a powerful access point… for the entire meta-verse…
Sasuke:
What if I don’t want a powerful access point?…
Shintaro:
I’m afraid that is now longer an option… since the massacre… The only way to control it… is to use it… It cannot be destroyed… And as it was… It was most likely the means by which the demons that attacked you and Sarada gained access to Konoha… bypassing the barriers that were put in place for other reasons… but would normally inhibit demonic influence… because no one here was guarding the gateway… that no one here knew about… In spite of the seal placed upon the marker stone by the black zetsu… Remember that no seal is perfect nor absolute… certainly none that we can make… since we are not gods… Again… remember the fate of Uzushio if you doubt that…
Fukasaku:
A demon attack?!?… Here?!?… In Konoha?!?… It’s outrageous!… Naruto!… Where were you when this was happening?…
Shikamaru:
Naruto was in the capital for most of that day… and arrived in time only to fight Shintaro here… as part of some sort of demonstration…
Fukasaku:
Even if you were here… would you have noticed?… Could you tell?… Eh?… Narutochan?…
Shintaro:
He’ll be able to when I’m done with him!… With some help of course…
Naruto:
I thought that I was supposed to be learning shikigami!…
Fukasaku:
Baca!… Shikigami is a tool of demon hunting… in numerous other spiritual traditions… not just those of Mount Myoboku!… But how Shintaro sensei thinks that he can teach shikigami to baca… is beyond my comprehension…
Shintaro:
Naruto already knows the basics… Jiraiya taught him… and apparently Naruto taught Konohamaru… Well enough to attempt to woo women with it… and quite brazenly too…
Fukasaku:
Well then… We’ll just have to make sure he learns the shikigami of Mount Myoboku as well… I didn’t even know Jiraiyachan had learned it… Did you teach him?… I never saw him use it… or even express an interest in it… Now I’ve been neglectful!… We’ll have to rectify this immediately!… With a full curriculum of toad sage wind and water style shikigami… for both Narutochan… and Konohamaruchan…
Shintaro:
I will be teaching the both of them my wind style shikigami techniques… as well as others… My grandson… and both his wife and his daughter… have already begun to learn fire style shikigami… among other things… But all of Konoha needs to learn these things… and more besides… All of the alliance needs to as well… You know grandson… Between you and your wife… the Uchiha Clan by itself contains apprentices of two thirds of the Legendary Sannin… With Naruto here in the mix… that accounts for a hundred percent… You all really should start a school… and pass on what you have learned… And not just here and there sporadically… but systematically… and on a widespread a basis… for sake the alliance… and for this planet… not just for Konoha…
Sasuke: A school?… Like what?… A school for gifted youngsters?…
Shintaro:
Well… No… That kind of sounds like a total creepfest… You might want to use a different name… if you don’t want people to think you’re some sort of child groomer… Perhaps a shinobi university of some sort… would fit the bill of what is required…
Shikamaru:
A shinobi university?…
Shintaro:
Ai… A post graduate training institution… for chunin or above… I use to teach a lot of much older chunin and jonin… when I first came to Konoha… largely to teach the clan specialty of fuinjutsu… to older more experienced shinobi… who ordinarily wouldn’t have the time or the talent to specialize… as the Uzumaki had done… Part of the reason why I included the academy… in your acceptable dwelling spaces for your main body… while under training restrictions… is because part of your training… is to teach others… not just Konohamaru… including at the academy… In fact I’ll make it a part of your homework assignments… in a manner of speaking… And that is also the reason why I think… that you all should start a university… for shinobi… here in the new Uchiha Quarter… I wasn’t kidding about the temple fortress… I’m really good with temple fortresses…
Shintaro takes on an aura of a traveling salesman, as he materializes a business card directly into his finger tips, then flicks his business card over to Sasuke, perfectly spinning in the air as it flies over to Sasuke, to be caught perfectly between Sasuke’s fingers, as he reads the card.
Sasuke:
‘Uzumaki Shintaro… Enchanted Spaces… For Magical Places… Have Brush And Scroll…. Will Travel’…
Shintaro:
I’m quite well renowned… among the demon hunters of the meta-verse… With any demon hunter you may find… that knows anything… They’ll know my name… and they’ll know my temple fortresses… are the best in the meta-verse… Big beautiful temple fortresses… Huge!… The best ever!… If you don’t have enough room here… you could always use my old valley of exile… between the two large peaks just west of here… where I spent my exile as punishment… before I left under supposedly temporary reprieve… for the sake of the investigation of the fall of Uzushio… My old hapless apprentice Might Dai and I… built a temple complex up there… hoping some day it might be the training grounds for a new demon order of Konoha… But that was before I mastered the wood style… We had to build the structures the old fashioned way… back then… But I can do far more now… than I ever could do then…
Shikamaru:
And I suppose you’ll want compensation… for all of this…
Shintaro:
Ai… But only in kind… in one form or another… I generally avoid reliance on monies of any kind… Because they are always changing… from place to place… from planet to planet… and from time to time… You wouldn’t believe the crap that passes for money in some places… Just little bits of paper with an authoritative looking stamp on it… They use that stupid crap here too… all too common really… It’s a total waste of time chasing after that stuff… There’s simply no way to keep up with that crap… Because it’s always changing… all too much really… and all too fast… And it’s all too easy to fake!… for a master of the shikigami arts…
Shintaro holds both of his palms open facing upward in front of himself, as a small piece of paper is generated within both of Shintaro’s upturned palms, then unfolds into a pair of bank note sized pieces of paper, exactlyly the size of the currency of the Land of Fire, one in each hand. Blood begins to seep out of his pores in his hands and forearms and move over the paper in his palms to form blood red markings on the pieces of paper, matching exactly the pattern if not the color of the markings of a high denomination issue of currency of the land, before quickly changing color to green, rendering them perfect copies of the currency in question. Just as the perfect forgeries come into being Shintaro’s palms, paper shadow clone copies of the notes appear above the originals, then another, and another, until the stacks begins to pile up in both palms. Shintaro finishes his jutsu then slams both stacks down on the floor in front of him.
Shintaro:
There… If you’re baca enough to think that is actually worth anything… then you baca are welcome to it… But see how much that is going to be worth… when more and more people master the shikigami arts… Tsunade always loved that trick… and would insist on going gambling with it… all the time… which always just led to more trouble!… That is why I never want to waste time chasing after that stuff… It simply cannot be trusted… To the extent that I deal with it all… I may keep accounts in currencies that I have to use more routinely… as a convenience… But only because it is simply and literally… the cost of doing business… nothing more and nothing less… beyond that it is merely a mindless trivial pursuit… impossible to keep up with… or to trust… unless you’re a baca!… Don’t waste my time which such trivial nonsense!…
Sasuke:
So what do you require?… in exchange?…
Shintaro:
Serious commitment… I require only… that you put in your own efforts… as part of your own due diligence… for the sake of your own futures… and for the sake of all respective posterity… I can do very little of any substance by myself… in spite of what you have seen here… I require people… time… and effort… more than anything else… The rest I can provide myself… All of which is a waste of time and effort by it self… without help…
Shikamaru:
That’s… not a bad idea… in concept… Since the war… the quality of shinobi has gone down noticeably… and the demand for shinobi has actually gone down as well… because of the peace of the alliance making it hard to keep skills sharp… if they can be developed at all… The shinobi trade has largely been cursed… by the blessings of the peace that they earned…
Shintaro:
My grandfather believed… that the fundamental purpose of all shinobi… should be to eliminate the need for any shinobi at all… an impossible task for sure… But what would happen to the poor shinobi… who ever managed to accomplish this impossible task… My grandfather believed… in finding the answer somehow… in the here and now… He believed in emphasizing the artistic aspects… of the shinobi’s art… With skill in art of high enough caliber… that skill can have both the power to inspire… as well as to destroy… He invented the Super Beast Scroll jutsu… largely in service to this principle… But most shinobi don’t… and can’t… put in the time for that sort of thing… they have practical life and death requirements to consider and to prepare for… In fact… When I attempted to teach Tsunade senjutsu… she stopped short… even though she could have mastered it… Because she needed something more reliable… and quicker… and she was one of the Legendary Sannin… How are the rest to fair better… without a shinobi university… of some kind… somewhere?…
Shikamaru:
That’s no small price to pay… People’s time… cost ‘monies’… and resources aren’t infinite… neither is people’s time…
Shintaro:
If it’s a treasury you need… I happen to possess the Blood Treasury of Uzu… The seized pirate booty… from the foundation day… of the Kingdom of Uzu… seized and never spent or cashed in… at it was blood money for a blood treasury… from piracy… as it was known in Uzu… I rescued it from their secure vaults some years ago… where they had been abandoned by fleeing Uzumaki… I have been holding on to it all these years… not having any rightful claim on it… as I was just hoping to find some useful purpose for it… something worthy of it… more worthy of it than I was… Consult with whoever you must… Make whatever arrangements you must… or think you must… I will be here for the duration of Naruto’s training… and the training of the others regardless… at a minimum… But I will not be enough by myself… for what is coming to this planet… And if it comes to it… I will take my family and take my leave of this whole planet… when the time comes… My commitment… to concerns about the fate of this planet… is fundamentally limited to yours… I have absolutely no interest in trying to save a planet that can’t be bothered to save itself… not when my family and I… don’t necessarily have to share it’s fate…
There Is No Alone!
Forever Never Ending!
There Is No Escape!
There Is No Point In Pretending!
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