The great dragon rumbled a long sigh. "My kind are few in this world, Naruto Uzumaki. Ninja developed jutsu to best us, defeat us. I hold no grudge against them, for many of my brethren…ah but that is a story from well before your time."
"What?" Naruto wondered. "Um, I mean, how does that relate to me?"
"Simple, my young friend. I am going to teach you that jutsu."
Naruto frowned. "But…if you can teach me, couldn't Sasuke copy it with that eye thing you mentioned?"
"Mmm," the dragon agreed. "I will have to adjust that…and you seek to conquer your rival Sasuke? His affinity to Fire is a poor match to your Wind-"
"I have an affinity to winds?" Naruto asked. "What does that mean?"
"-but that is well suited to his Lightning. So it seems that strengthening your affinity to Water is in order…yes that will do nicely. Prepare yourself!"
"For wha-!?" Naruto yelled, tired of not knowing what the dragon was saying. He didn't get the question out, though, as he was suddenly encased in ice.
Time sped sideways for half an eternity.
A heartbeat later, Naruto ate his way out of the ice prison. Large chunks of ice simply vanished into his mouth as he ripped his limbs free with little effort.
The large dragon slowly faded from view, leaving Naruto alone in the cavern. "Fare well…dragon slayer."
Naruto blinked…and a chemlight fell on his head. Well, he knew what to do about that.
Kakashi felt a slight tremor and looked back at the hole. He caught sight of shifting shadows – his light was on the way back up. "Um."
"I'm out of here," Pakkun advised before ending his own summons.
Kakashi blinked as the next moment the light appeared, thrust out of the hole and held in a pillar of ice. "This is strange," he observed.
"Happy to see me alive, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked.
Kakashi looked at the ice. "Naruto?"
The ice flew into the air and Naruto hopped out of the hole. Kakashi noted another ice platform just under the rim and felt a slight pang of regret that Naruto had not learned to fly somehow. "One and only," Naruto said with a grin. Behind him, the chunk of ice returned to the ground and shattered.
Naruto spun around to stare at the torn up ground and melting ice. Kakashi looked Naruto over. "Yeah, you're still Naruto," he agreed.
"He made ice?" The Hokage asked.
Kakashi nodded. "The cavern was filled with pillars of ice. Best I figure, he jumped from one to another to make his way back up."
"The Hyoton," Sarutobi mused. "I thought it lost a generation ago. Well, this changes things."
"What is there to change?" Kakashi asked idly. "It isn't like there are individuals in the village who would want to see the jynchuriki fail but now won't risk a potentially useful bloodline."
Sarutobi gave Kakashi a look. "That was the most exposed underneath-the-underneath you have ever said, Kakashi. You're slipping."
"Sorry."
"Has Naruto demonstrated any other abilities than just making large amounts of ice?"
"Much of his jutsu is used without hand seals," Kakashi said. "But he thinks anyone can learn it if they start as children."
"What does he call it?" Sarutobi asked.
"Dragon Slayer," Kakashi said, slurring the foreign phonemes slightly.
Sarutobi grew very still. "Naruto…is a Dragon Slayer?"
Kakashi's eye narrowed. "You've heard of it?"
"It's an ancient jutsu. And Naruto is an Ice Dragon Slayer? Not Wind or Water?"
"Ice," Kakashi confirmed. "He hasn't shown any wind or water techniques, although he certainly has the capacity."
The Sandaime sat back heavily. "A kekkei genkai dragon slayer. And one as loud as Naruto."
"What do I need to know?" Kakashi asked.
"The same things his teammates need to know," Sarutobi said grimly. "Assemble team seven in training ground six in one hour."
Kakashi nodded and vanished in a puff of smoke.
Sarutobi sighed and took a moment to think before calling in the ANBU to secure training ground six. The Dragon Slayer jutsu. The ability to fuse elemental chakra into the body completely at will. It was old, it took a huge reserve of chakra...and more than likely Konohamaru would be set on that path by the end of the week. Sarutobi was more than clever enough to realize that if Naruto thought his newfound skills could be taught, he wouldn't hesitate to take on the Hokage's grandson as a student.
Naruto seemed to have a talent for giving him headaches.
Naruto ran a coin shaped chip of ice through his fingers as he waited.
“This is impossible,” Sakura said again. “Naruto, with a kekkei genkai?”
“You keep saying that,” Naruto complained. “I'm awesome. What more do you need to know?”
Sakura grabbed the ice coin and crushed it in her hand. “You are not awesome!” she yelled. “Sasuke is awesome! You are just an annoying...an annoying...”
“Annoyance?” Sasuke suggested.
“Right!” Sakura enthused.
Naruto cupped his hand into a loose fist for a moment and formed a new ice coin, which he resumed flicking through his fingers. “I don't get it myself. It's just ice. What's so special?”
“You slept through the nature transformation class, didn't you Naruto?”
“Ojiisan?” Naruto asked, mildly surprised. He sniffed the air a moment. “Why do you have ANBU securing the area?”
“I see your sense of smell has improved, too,” the Hokage said with a friendly smile. “While we wait for Kakashi to actually get here, I will review chakra nature for you.”
“What's chakra again?” Naruto asked.
Sarutobi sighed. “Is Iruka the only decent teacher in that school?” he grumbled.
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(Posted Tue, 29 Nov 2011 15:31)
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