370AN: Hello all, its Dragon back with the next chapter of Mealstrom of Aura! As always I am sorry about the late updat but I have recently started two jobs to take care of my wife and baby girl, so finding time has been hard but I still very much enjoy writing these for you all. Either way, I hope you all enjoy the chapter as this got me into a bit of a writers block before I smashed that wall with a giant sledgehammer. Enjoy!
Chapter 13:
Proving Your Worth
Naruto groaned as he woke up, his body stiff and aching at the slightest movement. Ignoring the stiff pain, Naruto craned his neck to crack it as he stretched his body. This moment of peace broke as he opened his eyes in shock, remembering what transpired before his upbrubt slumber.
Shooting to his feet, Naruto observed his surroundings which was a damp jail cell with metal clamps on the walls. The cell let in little light and the draft from the tiny window sent chills down his body. He looked down to find his weapons gone and the only clothing he had was his pants. Along his body was the same black markings from the Suppression Seal that he was tagged with during his capture.
"So it seems that you have woken up," a man's voice spoke out from the nearby door which gained the young boys attention. Naruto looked towards the location and saw that it was Aoi, the same man who put the seals on him. He had his arms crossed over his chest as he gave Naruto a serious expression. "As usual protocol, we couldn't have you know of one of our hidden bases so we had to be sure you were unconscious."
The red-blonde did not say anything in response as he analyzed the area, trying to figure out a way to escape. Any way he could take advantage to squeeze his way to freedom.
"Now here's what's going to happen," Aoi said with his uncovered eye narrowing at him. "I'm going to ask you questions and you will answer them. Staring with this one: What is your name and rank?"
Naruto kept quiet trying to figure out why exactly he was being interrogated for. After a while, Naruto decided to answer his capturer as to not make things worse for himself. "My name is Naruto and I am an Academy Student."
"Don't play with me child!" Aoi said in an angry tone as he released some of his Killing Intent which only served to bore Naruto. "The abilities that you have apparently shown are too much for a simple academy level student! If you wish to lie to me then we have other, more extreme methods to get an answer out of you. Seriously, all this trouble over some brat. Back in my day, kids trained and stayed out of the way until they were ready."
"Shut up One-Eye!" Naruto yelled out feeling insulted. "I do train and I train very hard! You guys are the one's that attacked me first while I simply was exploring since I'm rarely on this side of town. I train really hard so I can protect myself, no more or less. While exploring, that Zabuza guy attacked me out of nowhere so excuse me for defending myself because I didn't want to die." He used his real annoyed and angered emotion at the situation he was in to help sell his little lie.
"And with your training, you were able to do Justus with no handsigns," a woman's voice spoke out getting both of the males attention. Naruto had to do his best to fight back the blush that appears on his face at how beautiful the women that walked into the room was.
She was a tall, slender women with beautiful green eyes and ankle-length, auburn hair. The hair was styled in a herringbone pattern at the back, a top-knot with a dark blue band, and with four bangs at the front. Two were short, with one covering her right eye and the other two were long, crossing each other over her impressive bust. She wore a long-sleeved, dark blue dress that falls just below her knees. The dresses left an opening unzipped on her left side, which showed off her legs. The dress only covered the underside of her breath a d the upper part of her arms. She had a skirt on, the same dark blue as her dress, which revealed she mesh leggings reaching down over her exposed knees. A bet was on her waist that Naruto assumed had her ninja weapons inside. On her feet were high-heeled sandals and shin-guards reaching up over her knees.
To Naruto, she was both beautiful and dangerous. The feeling she gave, which Naruto guessed was her aura leaking, told Naruto that she was leagues above him in power.
"Lady Mei, you don't have to waste your times on these types," Ao said in a respectful yet urgent tone. "Let me deal with these Purging Scum. I will get the information we need about Yagura's inner sanctum, even if I have to it to do it."
"The thing is Ao, I don't think you will get anything out of this young man," Mei replied as she put a hand on her left hip. "From what I can tell, this boy has absolutely no information on Yagura's military because he's not from the Hidden Mist." A smirk made its way on her face as she looked their young captive in the eyes. "Isn't that right, Naruto?"
This made Naruto's eyes widen in complete shock at how the women figured it out so fast. This only asked for a split second, but that was all the women needed to confirm her statement.
Her smirk widening at their prisoner, Ao couldn't hide his displeasure at the information. "Lady Mei, are you saying that he is a spy?" Ao questioned as he glared at Naruto while grabbing a kunai.
Mei only gave Ao a side glance before returning her gaze onto Naruto. "If he was then he is a bad one due to not only gaining our suspicion, but that of the Mist ANBU as well," she said surprising Naruto once more. "You didn't really think that you got away from shinobi that were trained in stealth and infiltration. You were lucky that your young age made them not consider you a threat. Unlucky for you, you were found by my ninja and they don't forget a face."
"Well since you know that I am not working for this Yagura guy," Naruto said as he stared his heterochromic eyes into her green eyes. "Just let me go and I'll be on my way."
"You see that is where we have an issue," Mei replied, confusing the young guardian. Seeing his confusion, Mei explained. "Whether you meant it or not, your fight with Zabuza alerted Yagura's shinobi about one of our secret camp spots. That not only made us lose a strategic position in this civil war, but I lost quite a bit of shinobi who held back Yagura's forces who charged the area. I can't simply let you go after losing so much because of you."
"That was not my guilt! How was I supposed to know that you guys were hiding in that area along with the fact that I was attacked first!" 'Not only that, but I could not find them at all at first with Aura Sense.'
"While that is true and unfortunate, you will learn that life isn't exactly fair either. Due the current actions taken, many lives were lost and work had been compromised. Due to your actions, we will be watched more thoroughly by the Mist ANBU and it will make things harder for us. This of course will lead to more lives being lost. In the end, we are more at a loss than you are."
"Then what do you want from me," Naruto questioned with worry since he did not like where this was going. "What exactly are you trying to tell me here?"
"You are quite a smart boy for your age," Mei replied with a slight giggle from how amused she was. "From what I was told by Zabuza, after I tore into him for the incident of attacking you instead of observing if you were even a threat, you have quite the impressive set of abilities. If what he said is to be believed, you were able to do all sets of jutsu's without the use of handsigns. This just goes to show how skilled you are in the different techniques provided to you. Plus, I was told some interesting information that left me with quite the interest in you."
"What was that?" Naruto asked as he thought over anything significant that could help him get out if this whole thing alive.
"Then I guess I'll be frank with my question," Mei said as she looked Naruto in the eyes. "Do you possess a Bloodline Limit?"
Of all conclusions for her to make, he was not expecting that one. "Why do you think something like that?"
"As you are aware by now, we are in a civil war against our Mizukage, Yagura, who started a complete massacre of anyone possessing a bloodline. This massacre led to a lot of different clans being wiped out for no reason at all. Those loyal to the Third Mizukage lead these unwarranted killings with pure joy or loyalty. I lead a resistance to stop this senseless slaughter after my parents were killed by Kiri ANBU in a public execution. I barely escaped with my life during this incident. If you are in possession of a bloodline, then Yagura's men will be all over you in moments. While it won't make as much of a difference over the lost lives, we could use all the help we could get and you are shown to be skilled if what Zabuza said is true. So to help make up for the problems you helped cause, you will join the Resistance."
"Lady Mei, are you sure that is a wise decision?!" Ao called out in shock, unable to keep his composure. "Sure he was skilled and all, but he could be still be a threat to us, child or not. And if that isn't enough, his age could be a hindrance to us! He may not be old enough to be a use to us and may cause us to waste resources and lives being lost."
"Ao, this boy was able to take on the likes of Zabuza with simple looking techniques," Mei replied with absolute certainty. "Not only that, but our sensors are telling us that he barely used any chakra for any of those jutsu techniques that was explained to us. Trust me, he could be useful to us."
"Who said that I was joining you?!" Naruto yelled indignantly. "I had no plan to join some war that I am not apart of! I have things that I need to do no matter what!" Naruto was going to continue until he paused as he felt the increase of density in the area.
Mei raised not only her killing intent, but her powerful and dense chakra to show how serious she was. Naruto didn't care about the Killing Intent, but the powerful chakra was enough to silence him as he could feel the Kage level of chakra wafting through the air.
"In that case," Mei replied with a completely serious look in her eyes. "We will just take your life to make up for the ones lost during the escape. It isn't completely ideal, but we will make due."
Naruto began sweating as he knew that his mission would be a complete failure if he were to die here. Ralts will be lost, dead or worse. "Your right," Naruto sighed as the chakra died down. "I'm sorry and I'll help you guys as best as I can." 'Or at the very least until I get Ralts.'
Mei's smile widened as her eyes became much kinder. "I am glad that we have an understanding, Naruto. Ao, let him out but keep the seals on until we are sure he is not going to try and run off."
Aoi, though not completely agreeing with his leaders order, nodded his head as he unlocked and opened Naruto's jail cell and let the red-tipped blonde out.
As Naruto walked out, he kept his gaze on his two captors. He didn't trust them given that they are forcing him to join their resistance.
As they walked out, Naruto looked down the halls and looked into the different cells that lined the way. Only two had other prisoners, but they were unconscious. As they walked out, Naruto was blinded by the sudden burst of light that hit his eyes, making him hide his eyes away for a moment.
Naruto quickly took note how few shinobi's were in the area as he had expected there to be a ton of shinobis to guard a prison. Then he remembered that there were so few prisoners but he was the only one to awaken.
'What's the use on wasting a huge defensive force to guard against two shinobi's and a child I wonder' he thought to himself.
"Well first we are going to get you integrated in one of our bases," Mei replied as she flashed her chakra for a brief moment. Before Naruto could ask her on what she was planning, a swirl of water caught his attention.
From the swirl of water appeared Zabuza Momochi and another young man with white hair and sharp teeth with a small tanto on his left hip. He was around the same relative age as Naruto himself, but about a head taller than he was. He was thin but lean with small and lean muscles. He wore a tan, sleeveless shirt and brown jeans with blue shinobi sandals to finish the look. He also didn't have a shinobi pouch on his person which surprised him.
"What is it you need Mei," Zabuza asked with his arms before he smirked at the sight of Naruto. "Are we going to kill the brat because I wouldn't mind a fight to the death with him before we do. His fight made me curious about what he can really do."
Naruto glared at the swordsman, not seeing the young boy looking at him curiously.
'So this is the boy Zabuza spoke about, huh?' he thought to himself as he looked the Uzumaki over. 'He doesn't look so tough to me. I bet I can take him on, no sweat.'
"He is going to help us in our fight against Yagura to make up for the whole incident," the beautiful woman responded as she put a hand on his shoulder. "I actually wanted Naruto here to face you in a sparring match so I may gauge his skill level with my own two eyes."
"I'll be more than happy to crush the brat a second time," Zabuza replied with a bloodthirsty look in his eyes and what Naruto assumed was a smirk.
"Actually sensei, I would like to be the one to face him," the boy said as he walked up with an excited and arrogant smirk. "He might be weaker than me, but it would be nice to have a little one to watch over." He chuckled at the end of it.
This only annoyed Naruto but he was stopped before he could say anything when Mei giggled. "That's fine by me, plus it will allow me to see your growth under Zabuza, Suigetsu. Well then, let's get going. Aoi, I'll leave the clean up here to you and Mokoto and Setsi."
"It will be done, Lady Mei," he replied as two other Mist shinobi appeared behind him. "I encourage you all to be careful around that boy."
Mei giggled as she tightened her grip on Naruto and smiled warmly to show that she had it handled. "You all stay safe and return to us alive. Let's go Zabuza, Suigetsu." The three Mist shinobi and Naruto all vanished in a Body Flicker."
Hidden Camp
In a swirl of water, they all appeared and were quickly surrounded by shinobi with their weapons drawn.
Naruto tensed up, ready to fight should he need to, forgetting he couldn't use his aura or chakra at the moment. But it was not needed when Mei handled the situation.
"Even the silent waters can hold a deadly story by those with special blood," Mei said, making them pause as a young man with a strangely shaped sword wrapped in white bandages walked forward
"What stories do they tell?" he asked in a tense, yet shy tone and stiffened body.
"Stories of the tainted versus the pure," Zabuza replies with an uncaring tone.
The young boy gave a slight bow to the taller women, refusing to look her in the eyes. "Its great to see you back safely Lady Mei. I hope things went well with the prisoners in the Hollow Prisons."
"Yes it did Chojuro," Mei replied with a caring smile which caused the young man to blush in embarrassment. "It went so well in fact, that we may have a very skilled ally join our ranks."
"Am I correct to assume that is the boy," the now named Chojuro asked in curiosity. His response was a nod from the beautiful woman. He looked Naruto over, trying to see anything that can show him why a boy so young and among them originally, would join them.
Needless to say that he did not see anything.
"I know what your thinking Chojuro," Zabuza said getting the young swordsmans attention. "The brat here doesn't seem like much at first glance, but he definitely has some interesting skills to him. He will spar against the water brat over here so you will be able to see if he is of any use."
Chojuro looked towards Mei who nodded, approving of the idea. "That is fine, but may I request that I bring along my student as this spar will be between people of around the same ages, so this may be of some use to her to see fighters going at it. If at the very least, show her what not to do in a fight."
Mei agreed while Zabuza just shrugged nonchalantly. "Meet us by Lake Marai in a few minutes so the evaluation can begin. Be late and we will start without you," Mei said.
Chojuro yelped and vanished in a swirl of water, hoping to find his young student quickly.
Seeing the other shinobi chuckle lightly, Mei giggled at her meek shinobi before telling the others to disperse.
"Why didn't we just go straight to the battle ground?" Naruto asked finally. "That could have avoided all of this."
"Well against our policy to appear anywhere except desiganted areas," she replied with a serious expression. "You should keep in mind that we will kill first before wasting time as we do have to worry about spies." Naruto nodded, knowing he wasn't at liberty to argue. "Good, now let's go!"
With that they all jumped about the different buildings, though Naruto was being carried held by the collar of his shirt by Zabuza.
It only took the group about two minutes to reach a large lake with a few spike pillars sticking out it. The lake even had a few ships that were destroyed in its waters. Made Naruto wonder how many were under the lake itself.
Standing by the lake was Chojuro and a girl that Naruto has yet to meet. She wore a short sleeved black shirt with purple stripes along with long black pants that ended just above her ankles. On her arms and legs was fishnet armor, traditional ninja garb just like her light purple, shinobi sandals. Her purple hair was tied up in a spikey ponytail, that reminded Naruto of Shikamaru, by a gold band. Around her neck was a long pink scarf. On her waist was two kunai pouches on either side of her, making her ambidextrous.
"Good to see you found young Janine so quickly," Mei said in genuine surprise. "Its good to see you Janine."
Janine gave Mei a wide smile as her purple eyes sparkled in joy at her. "Its great to see you too Lady Mei. And her Suigetsu, good to that you didn't get yourself killed while you were out." She shot a teasing smirk that Naruto found to be kind of cute. Seeing Naruto there, she looked confused before looking back at Mei. "So whose the new cute guy?"
"This 'cute boy' is the one that is going to spar against Suigetsu," Mei replied with a smirk, always loving how forward Janine was with her interests. "He faced several of Zabuza's Water Clones and won. I wanted to see if it was skill or pure dumb luck. Either way, he could prove himself useful to us."
Janine looked surprised before looking at Naruto with interest. "Cute and strong," Janine said with no hidden intrigue. "Your hitting all the right buttons so far cutie. Don't disappoint me now."
This made Naruto blush as this has been the most to-the-point girl he has ever met. The fact that she was attractive in his eyes only made his blush brighter.
"OK enough of all that," Suigetsu interrupted, getting everyone's attention. "Can we get this spar started so I can rid myself of this three day boredom of no action."
Mei agreed as she made a quick ram seal and cried 'Release!' As soon as she said that, Naruto felt not only his chakra flow return to its quick pace, but also his aura returned full power.
Naruto began stretching his back and legs, getting the stiff feeling to leave his body from being so restricted, you could actually hear some of his bones crack as he twisted his hips back and forth. "This feels so much better," he sighed in relief. "Remind me to never have one of those annoying seals on me ever again."
Naruto stood across from Suigetsu who only smirked confidently at him and it kind of annoyed him that he was being seen as a non-threat.
"Alright you two, I want you boys to fight like you are trying to survive," Mei said as she looked to the two fighters. "Me and Zabuza will stop the fight if we need to. All-in-all, go all out boys! Now begin!" Everyone besides Naruto and Suigetsu moved out of the way.
Naruto tensed his body as he looked Suigetsu over, analyzing his opponent as best as he could. 'A tanto, but looks standard on his left hip, making him possibly left handed. He has pretty strong muscles, so a heavy hitter but they are lean like a Hitmonlee's, so definitely speedy. He's taller than me so that gives him an edge in reach.' His train of thought was interrupted when Suigetsu called out to him.
"So, are you going to just stand there and stare at me," Suigetsu taunted. "I know I'm good looking and all, but I don't swing that way at all." This made tick marks bulge on Naruto's head before he decided on the fighting style to begin with.
Naruto took the speed boxing stance taught to him by the Hit Monahan clan a few charged forward with his fists clenched. Using only a bit of his aura to augment his speed to help him clear the distance rather quickly.
While the speed impressed Suigetsu, it wasn't anything new to him so he was able to block the punches thrown his way before striking with one of his own. Naruto was able to easily dodge with a spin but he stuck out his fist, hoping to connect with his face.
Suigetsu ducked under the fist and grabbed Naruto's arm and pulled the blonde forward before striking his side with a powerful kick that sent Naruto tumbling. He rushed forward hoping to stomp Naruto into the ground but missed as Naruto used his hand to move out of the way.
Using what was taught to him by the Hitmontops, he spun on his hands and slammed his kick into him. Naruto did not expect for his foot to go right through Suigetsu and for a moment he thought it was a Water Clone. This thought was dashed when the water reformed back towards Suigetsu a and hardened back into his opponent.
This lapse in attention left Naruto open for Suigetsu to slam his elbow into his chest which knocked the air out of him. This sent the red-blonde boy flying back as some spit left his lips.
Gritting his teeth from his pain, Naruto leaned back and flipped until he landed on his feet. He skid on the damp soil and easily regain his footing.
"What was that?!" Naruto cried out as he glared at Suigetsu who was still smirking at him. "I know for a fact that I hit you with my attack, so how was it that I just went through you like that?!"
"Its my clans bloodline that allows us to turn our body into water itself," Suigetsu explained with a grin. "In other words, your conventional means of attack will do nothing to me!" He then charged at Naruto, enjoying messing with him.
Naruto focused on him and easily dodged Suigetsu's strikes, ducking and weaving strike after strike. It was clear to everyone watching that Naruto had much better taijutsu skills than Suigetsu. The red-blonde kicked off the surprised boys chest as he gained a bit of distance. He also used aura to add more strength to the kick which sent Suigetsu flying back.
As Naruto landed, he thought over what just happened. 'So his ability isn't automatic, it has to be activated,' he thought as he gathered aura to his hands. 'That makes this a bit simpler for me to gain an upper hand.'
Naruto used his aura to create another aura staff and taking a fighting stance. This one was different than the one he used against Zabuza as it laid across his back as his right hand held it and his left laid forward. His legs were apart to the point he was almost doing a split. This is a stance similar to the Third Hokage's with slight modifications.
Suigetsu smirked as he pulled his standard blade with a toothy grin. "Let's go then kid!" He charged at Naruto, excited to cut into him.
Naruto easily dodged the blade strikes, not at all bothered by how close the blade was to him. Seeing an opening, Naruto struck the staff into Suigetsu's side which caused him to cry in pain. With a spin, Naruto sent the boy away with a swing to his gut.
'So he has no skill in keeping up with his water body skill, his blade strikes, and my staff,' Naruto thought in amusement.
Suigetsu glared angrily at Naruto, not at all happy by how he was being handled. "Don't get all cocky just because you got a lucky hit in." Using a handsign, the lake bubbled before it shot up and rushed towards Naruto. "Water Style: Water Dragon Jutsu!"
While surprised by the fact that no handsigns were used by his opponent, but he recovered quickly. Seeing that there was not nearly enough power to match Zabuza's earlier one, meaning he can handle it.
Gathering air and aura in his lungs once more, he breathed out his attack. "Whirlwind," he cried out as the powerful blast of wind met the dragon. While not canceling it, it was enough to push the water jutsu a completely different direction.
"So, you can use techniques without handling," Suigetsu said in a nonchalant tone as he charged at Naruto who jumped around Suigetsu's strikes.
He swung at Naruto's neck which only went through it because of the Water Body. This was remedied when they reconnected almost instantly. The white haired boy began swinging his blade but paused when Naruto stabbed the staff into the ground between them. Using this, Naruto spun and hit Suigetsu in the jaw with an aura infused kick.
Opting not to waste this opportunity, Naruto held himself upside down on the staff and fired. "Flamethrower!" the stream of flames rushed at the recovering Suigetsu.
Using the chakra he gathered in his mouth, Suigetsu used his Water Style: Water Bullet. This was a massive version of the original jutsu allowed for a more destructive outcome. The jutsu becomes more explosive compared to its original purpose which was to pierce its target.
The two opposite elements collided in an explosive steam that covered the area more. Suigetsu quickly brought his blade up, not being able to see through the steam as easy as his teacher.
What he didn't expect was a blonde blur to slam right into his gut, causing him to spittle in pain. The pain was massive as he couldn't even focus enough to use his Water Body Technique.
Naruto smirked as his combination of Quick Attack and Rock Smash had worked well. And now he had him in close and try out the move he learned from the Electric type Pokémon.
Channeling the aura in his body, he grabbed Suigetsu's face and cried out, "Spark!" A light amount of yellow electricity channeled through Naruto's body and shocked Suigetsu, making the boy cry out in pain.
Naruto only had three electric moves under his belt with Spark being the weakest damaging one. Naruto could have used it in his fight with Zabuza while in the prison, but the backlash of being soaked would have hurt him too. Plus having been surrounded by enemies, wounded, and already wasted so much aura put him in a bad spot.
Hearing the cries die down, Naruto stopped and let Suigetsu go. The boy simply dropped to the floor, completely unconscious.
The downside of having the Water Body Technique made his family extremely weak to all lightning based moves. This make them do a bit more damage than a normal shinobi.
"Yes, most impressive Naruto," Mei said as she smiled at Naruto. "To be able to take Suigestu so easily is impressive given his skill set."
"Yeah, but he's more of a rush in fighter than a tactical one," Zabuza said as he lightly kicked the unconscious Suigetsu. "That entire fight him easy for the blonde brat to take control since he isn't as stupid and rash as he was. We have a long way to go before he could be anywhere near his brother Mugetsu's skill level."
"Yes, but Naruto here did splendidly," Mei said with a huge smile towards Naruto that made blush. "You were quite impressive out there as you have definitely shown skill and cunning throughout your fight. I was hoping to see you being pushed more, but to be able to take out Suigetsu there so quickly shows you as quite capable. After all, he is one of our best young fighters, right next to Janine here."
The said girl rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment before looking at Naruto in excitement. "You were amazing out there for taking out Wet Head down here so easily. You and I are going to get along just fine, Darling."
Naruto blushed as he stared at the smirking girl. "Just what is happening with my life?"
AN: At long last, my God! This took me absolutely forever to type. I'm so sorry this took so long, but everything just kept getting in the way. What with the new body, this virus, and starting a new job and looking for a new place. Not to mention bills up my ass, but I'm finally done with this chapter. I really don't have much to say so I hope this came out OK in my hurry and that you all liked the small spar and set up. As usual, Comment, Favorite, and Follow.
Dragon Soul94 is out!
