Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Fuinjutsu ❯ Accords ( Chapter 1 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Chapter 1.

010101010

After dismissing the young, unknown and dark-haired chuunin that had been guarding the camp, the team's sensei - the Yondaime! It's the fucking Yondaime! Naruto's brain yelled - finally turned his attention to the fully awake Naruto.

With all the strange thoughts running through Naruto's mind, he was distantly impressed with himself for managing to keep his cool as well as he did.

And looking at the blonde shinobi walking towards him, it was like watching a legend coming back to life again.

Naruto, like all of his generation had grown up with stories of how great the Yondaime was. He'd been the Hokage who'd willingly given away his soul to save his village. You simply couldn't help but feel respect for an individual like that. And not only that, but the Yondaime was also known as the Yellow Flash; war hero from the Third Secret World War. Lastly, the Yondaime was the person Naruto had worked his whole life to surpass.

At this realization, Naruto's thoughts screeched to a halt again.

I managed to get to a standstill with the Yellow Flash! His mind screamed at him. Naruto blinked to give himself time to process the thought. I managed to get to a standstill with the Yondaime! Konoha's Yellow Flash! Suddenly his lifelong goal didn't seem so far away and impossible anymore.

And Naruto was reasonably sure that this really was the Yondaime in front of him, and not some elaborate genjutsu cast by his enemies to trick him. After all, for whatever logical reason would any of Naruto's enemies conjure up an image of the deceased Yondaime and Naruto's own sensei turned child again? What would the purpose be?

Naruto was an experienced enough shinobi to not let simple mind-games get to him. No, this was something bigger. Something tied into all the weirdness he'd experienced since he'd woken up after Akatsuki's failed ritual.

Well damn, Naruto's mind finally settled down as he came to a conclusion concerning his predicament. This person in front of me really is the Yondaime Hokage. Those twerps over there are really Kakashi and his team, and I really did manage a standstill with the Yellow Flash. Damn I really am great! Was the self-satisfied conclusion.

If he hadn't been tied down, he'd have done a victory dance at his achievement concerning the young Yondaime in front of him. Or is that future Yondaime? Seeing as those chuunin earlier were talking about the Sandaime as if he still was the Hokage… Deciding to ponder that later, Naruto quickly changed the topic of his thoughts as the blonde (jounin?) in front of him came to a stop a respectable distance from the tied up former demon container.

Somehow I've travelled back to the past. Naruto concluded as all the facts finally came together. The living Yondaime Hokage was standing in front of him. The young Kakashi (Kami how weird to even think that) was standing somewhere behind his sensei. The Akatsuki were gone when he woke up, but had obviously been in the cave at some point in time (Naruto highly doubted that they'd leave him alone in the cave if they knew he was there). There was some kind of conflict going on between Konoha and Iwa that had lasted for at least two months.

From all this, Naruto could only conclude that he'd somehow ended up in the past sometime right after, or right before the Third Secret World War broke out for full. Maybe he hadn't really paid attention to the history lessons at the academy (and how he regretted this now), but he had lived as a shinobi for some years now and he'd managed to pick something up by having people like Sakura, Hinata, Shikamaru and Shino as friends.

“The seal…” he murmured to himself, completely forgetting that he had a damned good shinobi in front of him who would be able to hear him.

“What was that?”

At the sharp, clear voice directed at him (with no small amount of anger and maybe even irritation), Naruto snapped to attention faster than you could blink, but all he could think about was how strange it was to finally hear the Yondaime's voice. It wasn't at all how he had imagined it. He'd always imagined it to be heroically commanding with a mix of aristocracy mingling into the speech. Maybe even like a mix between how the Godaime and the Head of the Hyuuga Clan spoke. Instead the voice was commanding (and it really was commanding!), clear and musical in a way. Like the speaker was more used to laughing and joking than speaking seriously. Naruto could best describe it as a mix between how Jiraiya spoke and how the Sandaime spoke.

He found it to be oddly disconcerting and reassuring at the same time. The thought that the Yondaime wasn't serious and heroic all the time - but maybe more of a humorist - kind of made him seem more of a human being, as opposed to the untouchable legend he would become. In a strange way the realization reassured Naruto. Somewhere, in his subconscious, he'd maybe always thought that he wouldn't cut it as a Hokage with the way he acted and looked at life. All the Kages he'd known or met (the Sandaime, Tsunade, Gaara and even Orochimaru (though he was a fucking lowlife who didn't deserve the title at all)) were always so serious in their work. Even the Sandaime, who sometimes took time out of his work to eat and chuckle at Naruto's antics, was always sombre and serious when it came to matters concerning the village. Naruto hadn't really wanted that for himself when he became a Hokage. He'd wanted to be able to be both serious and humoristic when it came to matters concerning the village.

Considering his distraction, it was no wonder that all Naruto managed to get out as a response to the Yondaime's question was a confused “huh?”

Unfortunately, this only seemed to aggravate the blonde in front of him further.

Blinking rapidly in slight surprise as Naruto read the expression of his captor, he quickly smiled disarmingly and somewhat sheepishly. If he hadn't been tied down, he would've been scratching his neck in embarrassment. As it was, he had to make due with what he had.

“Eh-heh-heh. Sorry, I wasn't paying attention. Lost in my own thoughts you know?” Naruto dearly hoped he was believed. It was the truth after all.

The Yondaime looked sceptical, but somewhat mollified.

“You could get killed by not paying attention in the presence of enemies,” the blonde finally said with a piercing gaze directed at Naruto.

Naruto twitched, but wouldn't allow himself to show any other sign that the Yondaime's words meant anything to him. Besides, Naruto reasoned; it's not like Isee the Yondaime and his team as enemies. Theyare the ones feeling threatened by me.

The Yondaime didn't give him time do answer, and Naruto didn't really mind seeing as he had nothing to say at the moment. For once, he was cautious about his own actions and words. After all, if he really was in the past, then there was no way to tell what sort of chaos a careless word or action could bring to the future. No, he was resolved to play the situation carefully until he had time to think about his predicament. Only then would he decide how to deal with his situation. He only hoped that he lived long enough to come to a decision at all.

“You mentioned a seal. What were you talking about?”

The Yondaime finally broke him out of his musings and Naruto blinked. What kind of question is that? Shouldn't he be interrogating me about my allegiance to Konoha or Iwa? Or at the very least find out what my name is?

“Seal?” Naruto asked in a confused voice, hoping to buy enough time to find out which direction the Yondaime was going with his questions. Well, he was a Fuinjutsu Master. Ero-Sannin said so himself, Naruto finally reasoned. Maybe he's just curious about new seals, or possible seals the enemy may have.

Seeing the foreboding expression on the Yondaime's face, Naruto quickly deliberated what to do. It was obvious that his interrogator was expecting an answer soon.

…Well what the heck. It's not like it could hurt my situation anymore. The seal I made was totally innovative. There's no way I'll be able to ruin anything just by showing it to the Yondaime. And maybe, he added as he made himself ready to give a very basic and abbreviated (and even false) explanation of his predicament of the seal,maybe he'll even be able to give me some help, or at least some tips as to what may help me.

“Well, it's like this,” Naruto began as he saw that he'd finally pressed the Yondaime's patience to its limit. “Someone placed this seal on me and then someone else did something that made it totally mess up my chakra coils. I was travelling to Konoha in hopes of getting a second opinion on the seal from the Seal Masters living in the village.” Gauging the Yondaime's expression, Naruto decided that he seemed curious enough for him to go on. “I didn't know that there was a conflict going on between Konoha and Iwa.” He tried to explain. If the altercations had only been going on for two months now, then it was a safe bet that not everybody knew about it yet, weather they were civilians or ninja.

The Yondaime's eyes tightened, but he didn't say anything as he nodded for Naruto to continue his explanation.

Naruto tried to scratch his head while he thought, but the rope holding him kind of ruined his attempt, so he gave a sheepish smile before he continued again.

“Well, I was on my way to the village when I came across the chuunin patrol, and I was about to show myself to them when you came and scared the crap out of me,” Naruto finished with an embarrassed cough.

The Yondaime's eyes tightened again as he deliberated Naruto's words, before he finally said something.

“And where is this mysterious seal of yours located?”

Naruto blinked guilelessly. “On my stomach,” he answered in an honest and clear voice.

Yondaime held his gaze as he checked Naruto over as if he was dubious to the whole tale. Inwardly Naruto winced as he couldn't really blame him. Most, but not all of what he had said was true after all.

“That's an unusual place for a seal to be grafted.”

Naruto was about to answer when he was interrupted by the sudden and silent appearance of the young Kakashi. He said some quick, silent words to his sensei before he disappeared just as quickly as he had come. Naruto didn't miss the sudden tenseness in the Yondaime as he turned back to face Naruto.

“It seems we've run out of time.” He said urgently and silently as he regarded Naruto with wary eyes. “I don't trust you at all, so please forgive my actions if I'm wrong.”

With that said, he was gone before Naruto could utter the baffled “huh?” that was on the tip of his lips. Naruto quickly noticed that the rest of the team and all their equipment were gone too.

What the hell? Did they just leave me helpless in a possible hostile area? Was the incredulous thought that entered Naruto's mind.

It didn't take long for Naruto to pick up the near imperceptible sounds of a group of approaching nin.

Well fuck. Naruto thought. Judging by how fast Yondaime and his team disappeared too, these people are not friendly. Struggling frantically with his bonds, Naruto mentally promised to beat the crap out of his idol if he managed to get out of this situation alive.

He didn't really have many options, if he had any at all that is. Whoever had tied him down had done an excellent job of it and as long as he didn't have any access to his jutsu, then he was helpless in the situation he found himself in now. When he wasn't tied down, he'd at least had the option of managing with taijutsu and speed.

Stilling his movements in the hope that the approaching group would pass him by, Naruto focused on calming his breathing and hiding any chakra that may have signalled his whereabouts. With how tightly his chakra was tied to his body though, he kind of doubted that it was possible to sense it unless direct body contact was added to the equation. Still, it didn't hurt to be on the safe side.

As the approaching group got closer and closer, Naruto very much doubted that they'd miss him in their search. They'd probably found some unhidden tracks left by Yondaime's team.

He was proved correct in his assumption when a sudden silence signalled that the group had stopped just beyond his sight.

Mentally cursing, and knowing that he'd been seen, Naruto began to wriggle around more fervently, intent on biting though the rope if he had to. It was no use though. The rope tied him to the tree trunk from the behind and there was no slack to work with. The only result of Naruto's valiant attempt to get away was that he chafed his wrists up until they began to bleed lightly.

“Well, well, well. What do we have here?” A sinister voice suddenly sounded from the trees.

Naruto froze and turned his head towards the area where the voice had come from, hoping to high heavens that Yondaime was still around with his team. It could be possible if the Yondaime had decided to use Naruto as bait for the approaching group.

It seemed that someone else in the group might think so too, as an irritated voice suddenly broke through the gloating of the first one.

“Shut up, you idiot! Don't you find it suspicious at all that we came across an abandoned and tied up person here in the middle of the forest bordering on Konoha's territory? This reeks of a trap to me.”

“Yeah!” Yet another voice joined in, and now Naruto could clearly see three persons slowly making their way towards him while on the lookout for anything suspicious. “Lets just kill him as quickly as we can and get out of here. He's not our mission, but now that he's seen us, we have to silence him.”

The two others nodded grimly as one of the three drew a kunai.

Naruto tensed and opted to try to buy more time.

“Oi, Assholes! What do you think you're doing at Konoha's border anyway? You're all from Iwa right? Do you have any papers allowing you entrance?”

Okay, Naruto conceded as the group started chuckling in amusement, so maybe resorting to standard shinobi protocol when encountering suspicious characters at the border wasn't the smartest move to make when he was the one weapon-less and tied up. Still, he mused, as he noticed that one of them was about to retort. He'd learned long ago that people often had a bad habit of saying more than they should when they were confident in their own victory. The fact that he'd just amused them immensely was just a plus. They were more likely to humour him now.

“You're quite confident for a pig about to be slaughtered” The one holding the kunai said.

Naruto made a non-committing sound at the back of his throat.

The goon with the kunai took it as a sign to continue.

Kami, these people are stupid. Naruto couldn't help but think to himself. It even occurred to him that if he managed to get one of them close enough, he might even be able to pilfer a kunai too. That would always be a huge plus, so he decided to see how close he could get them to come. Maybe he could even enrage them enough to want to slit his throat up close in stead of just throwing the kunai at him. Hmm… now that sounds like a plan. After all, Uzumaki Naruto was a master in annoying and enraging people. Maybe he could use it to his own advantage for once.

The one with the kunai took a step closer as he continued to talk. They all seemed to have forgotten that they might be walking into a trap.

“It doesn't matter to me if I tell you or not,” Kunai-goon (as Naruto dubbed him) said. “You're going to die anyway after all.”

They all roared in laughter.

Naruto had to concentrate really hard to keep from rolling his eyes. Have they forgotten already that they're illegally entering a controlled border?

“You see,” Kunai-goon continued, “Konoha's not all that it's cracked up to be. It's grown weak over the years and Iwa has finally decided to do something about it. You wouldn't know this as you're a civilian, but we've managed to get several high ranking spies into Konoha's forces and now we're nearly ready to steal and decimate Konoha's only remaining strengths. We're making our way to Konoha so that we can meet up with some of our spies.”

Naruto allowed his eyes to widen in what he hoped looked like fear and surprise as he regarded the three approaching Iwa-nin.

“Spies?” He allowed his voice to sound incredulous. “There'd never be any spies in Konoha. It's the greatest village ever, and no-one would even think about betraying their Hokage.” Naruto hoped that he wasn't laying his act on too thick, he was far from the clueless looking genin he'd been years ago, but he'd been told by Hinata that he was an amazing actor anyway and acting was all he had to go on at the moment.

The approaching nin laughed again as they shook their heads in what passed as indulgence for them. “You're a fool Blondie. It's obvious that you're a civilian. Amongst us shinobi you always have to look underneath the underneath.”

Naruto's eyes tightened imperceptibly. Kunai-goon was nearly close enough now, only a few more steps were needed.

Snorting and throwing his head away arrogantly, Naruto aimed his insult at the one with the Kunai. “You're the one that doesn't know what you're talking about. You Iwa-nin are infamous for using quantity over quality. There's no way you'd be able to beat Konoha even if you have spies.” He declared confidently. Tauntingly.

Hook, line and sinker.

Naruto's eyes glinted as the Kunai-goon lunged at him in anger, and with swiftness he didn't know he possessed, Naruto angled a leg up to kick the kunai out of the shinobi's hand.

He had to act fast now before any of them managed to collect themselves from the surprise-attack.

Everything happened in a blur after that.

Just as Naruto managed to catch the kunai in his mouth, he felt the hair at the back of his neck stand as an instinct he hadn't really acknowledged before told him that they weren't alone anymore.

It was the same feeling he'd had each time the Yondaime had appeared behind him with no sign to warn of his approach. No sign that is, but the feeling of nerves tickling along Naruto's spine in agitation. It almost felt as if someone or something was calling him somewhere from a great distance.

The feeling occurred two more times before the sound of two bodies hitting the ground broke the sudden stillness that had descended over the forest.

Naruto's eyes widened in surprise, kunai still clutched in his mouth.

The Yondaime was standing unmoving in front of him, the Kunai-goon gripped securely in a submissive grip with a three-pronged kunai resting against the Iwa-nin's neck.

“Kakashi! Obito! Come here and secure the prisoner. Rin! Hide the bodies under the bushes over there. It will have to do for now until we can find a way to transport them to Konoha to be scanned information.”

The students acted quickly in fulfilling their sensei's commands, and Naruto couldn't help but be impressed. When he'd been their age, he'd been more likely to complain or ask senseless questions before he started doing what he'd been told.

“As for you…”

Starting, Naruto turned his attention from the kids running around to the imposing figure of the Fourth standing over him with a stern, but still somewhat intrigued expression.

“Huh?” Naruto said eloquently, completely forgetting that he had a kunai stuck in his mouth.

He didn't even dare to think about what would have happened to his more… precious parts, if the Yondaime hadn't been fast enough to catch the kunai before it landed. Naruto resolved there and then to forgive the man completely for leaving him helpless to three armed enemies.

Uncrossing his eyes (he'd been trying to make sure that everything was still intact), Naruto focused on the blonde in front of him again.

“Say what now?” He asked, still not completely over all the adrenalin that had been pumping through his veins as the Iwa-nin were taken down. He completely forgot about it though as what he'd seen finally registered in his mind.

“That was awesome!” He yelled in excitement, completely forgetting that he was the one being questioned here, he continued. “How the hell did you do that? Just how fast are you? Can you teach me? Just wait until I tell this to…” He was cut off as a seal-tag was placed across his mouth to keep him from continuing and he finally registered the amused, blue eyes looking at him.

Naruto couldn't quite keep a blush from crawling across his face and he looked down in embarrassment.

It seemed like the kids were done with their orders when he finally looked up again because they were all standing in front of him, looking at him with bemused and (in Kakashi's case) bored expressions.

Shaking his head in exasperation, the Yondaime let the silence continue as he gazed at the blonde riddle in front of him. It was the black-haired kid (Obito?) who finally broke the silence.

“Ano sa, ano sa… Sensei, he looks just like you. Well, except for those weird marks on his face, I guess.”

Naruto's eyes widened as the Yondaime's drew together in a thoughtful frown. He'd never really noticed it before, but now that Obito had mentioned it, Naruto had no problems at seeing the similarities between them.

How strange… there are some differences, but still, the likeness is uncanny.

The Yondaime seemed to draw himself from his musings finally as he focused all his attention on Naruto. Naruto felt the odd urge to cringe as if he stood in front of the Sandaime after pulling a particular spectacular prank.

“What's your name?” He asked as he ripped the seal-tag off Naruto's mouth so that he could answer.

Naruto blinked at the question. There was no way that he'd use his real name. He couldn't even if he wanted to. Who knew what it would do to the timeline.

“You can call me Rei,” he finally decided. `Ghost' was as good a name as any for a person stranded in the past. And if he ever found a different role for his romp into the past, the name had many other meanings he could use.

Blue eyes narrowed and Naruto knew that the Yondaime was aware the he'd given himself a false name. He also obviously had the insight and sensitivity to let it lie for the moment as he went on with his questions.

“And do you have a surname to that?”

“Mumei.” Naruto answered at once.

The blue eyes narrowed further. “Mumei Rei; Nameless Actor,” the Yondaime finally muttered, obviously settling on a different interpretation of Naruto's chosen first name.

Naruto blinked and shrugged, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.

Sighing, the Yondaime indicated Naruto's bonds. “Will you try to run if I release you?”

Naruto noticed that both Kakashi and Obito were about to protest to Yondaime's implied suggestion to free him, so he answered quickly. “No. I still have to reach Konoha to have the seal looked at. Being escorted by Konoha shinobi would help me to get through the patrols. I don't have any ID so the help would be useful.” Naruto said truthfully. He knew that the Yondaime was a Fuinjutsu Master, but the Yondaime didn't know that he knew so he had to play it safe for now.

An odd expression crossed the Yondaime's face.

“You really spoke the truth about the seal?” He finally asked.

Naruto nodded, noticing that the kids seemed to find him more interesting suddenly.

“You're not a civilian, are you?” The Yondaime asked another question. “The speed you moved with, both before when you managed to get a kunai to my neck, and now when you kicked the kunai out of that nin's hand. You've been trained in the shinobi arts.”

Naruto nodded again.

“Which village did you learn from? I notice you have no forehead-protector and even missing-nin keep theirs.” The Yondaime seemed to have decided to do the interrogation properly this time.

Naruto deliberated his answer for moment. “I learned from a couple of Konoha-nin, but they wouldn't be able to confirm it anymore.”

The Fourth nodded, taking it to mean that they were dead. “Are you a threat to Konoha, its leaders or its citizens?”

“No, not unless they are traitors to Konoha of course.” Naruto answered honestly. He'd always answer the same to that question and have the same honesty when he did.

Sighing again, this time more heavily, the Yondaime looked to be in deep thought as he deliberated what to do. Finally after a moment of silence that seemed to last an eternity, he finally spoke again. “You speak in riddles and half-truths, but other than your name you haven't spoken a direct lie yet. You do realize that if I trust you now and release you, I'll be held responsible for your actions if you run away or break any of Konoha's laws?”

Naruto could sense the seriousness in the question and he nodded just as seriously, showing that he understood perfectly what the Yondaime was trying to convey.

“Very well then,” the Yondaime said as if that decided everything. “Obito, release him so that we can take a look at his mysterious seal.”

As the black-haired kid moved forwards to loosen the ropes holding him, Naruto raised an eyebrow in an unspoken question to the Yondaime. He obviously took the expression to mean that Naruto looked for an explanation to his actions.

Smiling guilelessly, the Yondaime shrugged and scratched his neck in a familiar awkward posture. “My name is Namikaze Minato, jounin sensei for team 7 and a certified Fuinjutsu Master. These are the members of my team: Hatake Kakashi; chuunin, Uchiha Obito; genin and Inuzuka Rin; genin.”

Naruto blinked, effortlessly faking his surprise as he mentally wondered at how weird it was to finally know the Yondaime's name. Then he got to wondering why he'd never really wondered about what his name was before. Next, he wondered how he could've missed the fact that the black haired kid was an Uchiha. He had the clan mark on his shirt after all. In the end he decided that he'd been blind sided because Obito didn't act like any Uchiha he'd ever met or heard of before. Lastely, he focused on the information about Minato being a Master in Fuinjutsu.

“Really? But that's awesome. If you could look at the seal I don't need to travel the whole way to Konoha.”

This was where the play he was playing was balancing on the edge of a sword. Naruto really did need to go to Konoha even if the Yond- Minato looked at his seal. He didn't believe that Minato would be able to figure out what was wrong when Naruto wasn't willing to give all the information pertaining to the seal. There were certain subjects (the Kyubi, the Akatsuki) that he simply couldn't divulge to anyone yet.

Naruto really did need to go to Konoha to be able to gain entry (read: sneak in) to the restricted section of the shinobi library where information on summoning and dimensional-theory was stored. In order to do this, he needed to get Minato to trust him enough to escort him and get him inside Konoha's gates. In a time of conflict there'd be no way for Naruto to get inside Konoha's walls without shackles binding him - or under heavy escort and possible surveillance - unless the one leading him really believed that Naruto didn't really need (or want) to go to the village.

As Naruto had hoped, Minato looked briefly startled at his exclamation before he rushed to get him to change his mind. “That may be Rei, but I'd still like it if you'd allow us to escort you to Konoha so that you'd be able to give the Sandaime an account of what the Iwa-nin told you. My team and I may have been witnesses to the conversation and we still have one of them alive to bring in, but it would bring even more strength to our case if you came with us.”

And with that sentence, Naruto knew that Minato was onto his play. But he'd also indicated that he was willing to see what Naruto was up to before he took any further actions. The excuse he'd used - that he'd like to have another individual there, one who didn't even have a forehead-protector - was completely transparent. There was no way that four certified Konoha shinobi wouldn't be considered good enough witnesses when it came to a case where the Stone were already suspected of foul play.

As a show of good will and full understanding of the situation, Naruto met Minato's eyes squarely as he nodded his consent.

An accord then, to see what the future brought and keep their dealings peaceful until something forced the situation to change.

As the rope around Naruto's wrists finally loosened and fell away, Naruto quickly brought his hands to the front to inspect the damage and to rub feeling into his hands again. They were already prickling intensely as blood rushed to the previously restricted area of his body.

“That doesn't look too good,” Obito commented with scepticism as he looked at Naruto's raw wrists.

Naruto smiled disarmingly as he brushed the concern away. “Don't worry about it. I'm a fast healer. It will be gone by nightfall.”

He didn't notice the interested glances that were cast his way at his words. He did notice though, when his vision was blocked by a head full of hair as the girl suddenly invaded his space to inspect the injury.

“Don't be ridiculous,” she said in a commanding and no-nonsense voice that Naruto had only ever heard before from Sakura or Tsunade when they were on a mission. A mission to heal that is. “Here, I'll fix it up straight away.” The girl (Rin?) continued as if healing strangers who'd been thought of as enemies moments before was a regular occurrence for the small girl.

Maybe for her it was.

Naruto shrugged good-naturedly as he held his hands up for her to see. He knew better than to mess with a healer on a mission.

When she was done, he gave her a blinding smile and a heartfelt “thank you”. She nodded in response, a small frown on her face before she decided to speak.

“There's something awfully wrong with your chakra.” She said suddenly with no preamble.

Naruto nodded, and as if on cue, Rin's hair was replaced with a mop of sun-kissed locks as Minato took her place. “Right then, lets take a look at that seal.” He said it with so much enthusiasm and excitement that Naruto seriously wondered if he'd survive the unexpected meeting with the future Yondaime unharmed.

Not even getting a chance to protest, Naruto was pushed backwards as his (too large) shirt was pushed up to expose his stomach.

Rin `eeped' and turned away with a blush.

Obito leaned in to watch in obvious curiosity.

Kakashi snorted arrogantly and turned away to guard the new prisoner they'd acquired.

Naruto decided that now would be a proper time to swear. “Hey! Watch it damn it! You could've taken two seconds to ask and wait for me to take my shirt off myself.”

Minato froze as he took in the seal.

Naruto froze too as he took the time to go over what he'd just said; in his own head this time. Nope, didn't sound better there. He shivered involuntarily. Think before speaking! Think before speaking, damn it!

“What the hell kind of seal is this?”

Minato's incredulous voice broke Naruto from his self-reprimanding and he bent forwards awkwardly so that he'd be able to look at the seal too.

“Huh?” He said in confusion to Minato's question. He himself knew perfectly well what kind of seal it was - or at least what kind of seal it was supposed to be - but he couldn't tell the blonde jounin that.

Minato though didn't seem to notice his lack of response as he went on talking instead of waiting for (or demanding) a better answer.

“It looks like it's supposed to convert something, or at the very least…” He trailed off, obviously lost in his own thoughts. After a few seconds, he started talking to himself again. “And these lines, they remind me of the summoning contract with Gamabunta, but what could the purpose be? The symbols over here are supposed to trigger the seal into activating if something specific occurs, but I can't figure out what that could be.”

After spending many minutes mulling over the seal, he finally seemed to come to some sort of conclusion. “It's like this seal is only supposed to be secondary. As it is now it looks incomplete. If I were to guess I'd say the seal shouldn't even be active if it weren't for these lines here.” He pointed to indicate the key-lines in the seal that referred to the time-dimension Naruto had opted to use. Looking up at Naruto, he finally gave his verdict. “I'm sorry, but I don't think the seal can be removed or stopped from running its course. Messing with it now could possibly lead to your immediate death, but other than having tangled up your chakra coils, it doesn't seem to have any negative effect on you. It's strange though,” he added as an after thought. “When I examine you and the seal, it's like I can feel an enormous amount of chakra in you, but the next second the feeling is gone. Your chakra levels are fluctuating wildly, but I can't even sense that you have chakra unless I'm touching you. I'm just guessing here, but I think that the seal is also restricting some strange foreign chakra from flooding your system. As a matter of fact, the seal seems to be acting as a gateway for the chakra, only allowing small amounts to enter your body.”

Naruto's eyes widened in both surprise and alarm. He'd never have guessed that the Yondaime would be able to figure out so much of the seal and its purpose just by examining it once and without any other information on it. Jiraiya had used months to determine the seal's purpose and function, and that had been with heave amounts of information and hints given by Naruto. It seemed that the Fourth was as much of a Fuinjutsu genius as Naruto, if not more of one.

Noticing Naruto's expression, Minato quickly deduced that he knew more than he'd hinted at and demanded; “what more do you know about it?”

Naruto shrugged sheepishly as he pushed himself up and righted his shirt. “I don't really think I should tell you just yet.” He finally said. “We've only just met and neither of us really trusts each other yet…” He trailed off as he saw the disapproving (and disappointed) expression on Minato's face, and in the end decided to throw him a carrot. “I have dabbled a bit in sealing myself though, and I'd never have expected you to figure so much out just by examining it once. You have to be a natural.”

Forgetting his ire at the praise, Minato smiled sheepishly as he scratched the back of his neck. He neither denied nor confirmed anything, but both of them knew that what Naruto had said was nothing but the truth.

0101010101010

Naruto sighed and nicked his finger on a borrowed kunai once again as he pressed the bloodied appendage to the parchment under him. He found it irritating how often he had to open a new wound as the other healed over.

He was using his chakra-infused blood to draw up a seal on a scroll Minato had given him. When the design was finished, he had to draw up a corresponding seal on one of the dead Iwa-nin. When the two seals were activated, the result would be that the body would be drawn into and stored in a sub-dimension controlled by the seal-scroll. Activating the seal on the scroll a second time would draw the body back to its original dimension.

This sealing method was most often used to store and carry large amounts of weapons, food or other equipment. Naruto remembered that a girl - Tenten he thought her name was - on Neji's team used to have a lot of storing-scrolls on her for her weapons. The only difference from storing small items like for example kunai and shurinken, as opposed to large object like dead bodies, was that the small objects didn't have to be painted with corresponding seal. They could simply be placed on a sealing circle drawn directly on the scroll.

Naruto had already learned from Jiraiya how to seal small objects. Sealing larger ones like he was doing now, was a new experience for him and in a way he was grateful to Minato for teaching him.

Minato had decided to use this method to both carry and conserve the dead bodies until they could be examined for information back in Konoha. In addition, he'd also wanted to use this as an experiment to see how qualified Naruto really was in sealing techniques. He'd sealed one of the bodies up first, letting Naruto observe the procedure, and then he'd commanded Naruto to try to seal up the last one.

So far everything was going well and as Naruto finalized the last symbol for the seal on the scroll, Minato came over to check it for mistakes.

“This is really well done.” He praised.

Naruto couldn't help but smile at the compliment as licked the residual blood off his finger. Minato eyed him as he did it and finally commented; “You really do heal fast.”

Naruto shrugged as carelessly as he could considering where this conversation might end up. “Yeah. It's an ability I've had since I was a baby. My mentors thought it could be because of the large amount of chakra I have.”

Minato nodded, seemingly accepting the explanation. Even without the strange fluctuating ball of chakra he'd noticed inside Naruto, he'd also sensed that Naruto had a large amount of stable chakra that only grew as the seal continued its mysterious task.

Focusing back at the matter at hand, Minato continued his evaluation of Naruto's seal. “I'd say you're as much a prodigy at sealing as myself seeing as you managed so well after only seeing the design done once. Still,” he added as he pointed out one of the last symbols. “This symbol here could've been done better. You see how it doesn't quite align with the character to keep everything balanced?”

Naruto leaned over to get a better look, and in the end he had to nod his agreement. “You're right of course.” He agreed. “I was in a bit of hurry there at the end, I wanted to get finished before I had to cut myself up again”, he excused himself. “Will it cause the seal to malfunction?” He finally asked.

Minato frowned before he shook his head negatively. “No, it should stay stable, but you can't really afford to make mistakes at sealing, even small ones can be fatal.”

Naruto nodded. He knew all this already.

“How long have you been learning sealing?” Minato finally asked Naruto.

Naruto scrunched his face up in thought. “I don't know… three years I think.” He finally answered.

“Definitely a prodigy then,” Minato concluded as he looked Naruto over. “Have you ever thought about becoming a Master? It would be a waste of your skill to do anything else. If you agree to sign a Contract of Servitude to Konoha, I could teach you myself, or ask my own sensei to teach you.”

Naruto chuckled awkwardly, not really knowing how, or what to answer.

A Contract of Servitude bound to one of the hidden villages was a serious show of commitment and faith from both parties involved. The contact would ensure that the one subjecting himself to it would be treated as close to a shinobi as a person raised outside the academy (a civilian in essence) could be. He'd be under the protection of the village and its shinobi. In return, the contract demanded total loyalty to the village and its inhabitants. Should the one signing the contact be suspected of foul play, he could be prosecuted as a certified shinobi under the full power of martial law. It was also expected of the one who signed that he would offer up any useful cervices or knowledge voluntarily if the village ever had use of the person's expertise.

Never giving an answer to Minato's suggestion, Naruto silently began the seal on the last Iwa body.

01010101010