A Bone to Pick (Naruto SI)

Chapter 5: The Rising Stocks of Kumo

Itsuki Kaguya, Hidden Cloud Village

I stood in there in the Orphanage gym alone, upside down on the roof, covered in rocks that roamed around my body, and with a hand to my chin as I pondered.

It had been over a week since I received the training weights from Habichi-sensei, and let me just say, as an anime MC - because this is indeed my world now and these ninjas just live in it - my respect for my fellow MCs had reached new heights. This shit was no joke.

To my immense disappointment, they were the not the cool, practical sounding training seals that I had heard about in many fanfics, but the less cool, impractical physical weights. If I ever got into a fight with them on for some reason, I'd have to hope my opponents were as polite Gaara and wait for me to take them off.

It was a set of five pieces: a vest weighing 60kg; two arm weights weighing 20kg each and two leg weights weighing 30kg each.

Now, 160kg does sound insane when you first hear it. Especially for a four year old …but this is the Naruto world.

Chakra really makes that much of a difference here. So much so that the average untrained civilian would handily whoop any of the top MMA fighters of my old world.

I am also, quite proudly, not your average four year old, but a super four year old. After just a few months of abusing my Recovery Chakra as much as I could, along with my natural genetic talents for all things Taijutsu, I'm physically on par with the students in the later years in the academy. And that was only physically, in a spar they would have no hope if I used my Dead Bone Pulse.

So 160kg for me? Doable, but only barely.

But that was on the first day.

It's a very weird feeling. A continuous strain on my body that weighs me down throughout the day, but with my Recovery Chakra, it gets slightly easier as the day goes on. And in the morning, when my body is completely healed, there is a very noticeable difference. Not enough to completely get used to the new weight, it's still a workout, but enough to know that I might have to get new weights soon.

I'm not sure how long it took Rock Lee to adjust to his, but I'm sure it was far longer than it will take for me.

They really are incredible things. Free training by doing nothing but moving around? That's the kind of efficiency the grind calls for.

Kumo is actually very encouraging on their shinobi to use these weights, and had a pretty helpful system to get them.

When handing me the weights, Habichi-sensei explained that starting from your fifth year, if you wanted to buy training weights then the village would pay for the majority of it and grant you a loan for the remainder. After graduation, 40% of the pay from any missions you do until 20,000 ryo is reached will be deducted, with D-ranks paying between 5000 ryo all the way to 50,000 ryo in some extreme cases. If the weights are still in good condition however, then they can be returned back to the academy and largely reduce the loan.

This all meant that at the age of four I had found myself in debt.

Which also implies the existence of the ninja IRS.

I wasn't wearing them now however. I had to base my training schedule around an optimum way to use my Regeneration Chakra, as it completely restores my body to perfect health and vanishes any gains I would have been making that day.

So, mornings were for Kekkei Genkai practice, which I had been doing for sometime now. I had been focusing on trying to fuse my bones into more complex shapes when I push them out, but the control for that was still beyond me it seemed. Simpler objects, like swords which are closer in resemblance to my bones have become an easy task after a lot of practice. But giant bone drills like Kimimaro had used are still a ways away.

I had taken a break from my efforts to have a moment in my thoughts, specifically thoughts about how I can take my bloodline even further. Not in the short term, but in the future.

I had a strong belief that the very pinnacle of what I could achieve with the Dead Bone Pulse was transforming it into the All-killing Ash Bones. The very ones which Kaguya Ōtsutsuki wielded to fight a Six-paths amped Naruto and Sasuke.

There were no doubts in my mind that I was a direct descendant of hers, either on the Hamura line or the Ashura line. My bloodline is just too similar and we literally share a name. Much like the Uzumaki and Senju Clans, the Kaguya Clan must've been blessed with powers of the body, and not of the eyes like our Uchiha and Hyuga cousins. This would also explain why my Chakra reserves are as large as they are.

So, the question remains: how the hell can I recreate that move? If there was a prerequisite, then having the Dead Bone Pulse would surely be it. But what else am I missing?

There are a few random recipes in the Naruto-verse which can cook up some ultimate powers. For example, if someone possessed the Sharingan, they would only need to add the DNA of an Ashura reincarnate and an Indra reincarnate, and boom, Rinnegan.

Would I need something like that?

Do I need to take the eyes of a Hyuga to make myself more reminiscent of Kaguya? Or do I need to go to the moon and take the Byakugan from Toneri's line instead?

Is that really what it would take?

My thoughts were interrupted when the Head Matron walked into the room, followed by a man I hadn't met before.

"And who dares to challenge the gym leader?" I put on a stern expression as I looked at them, still upside down and still in the body of a child.

A grin pulled on Tabui's face, but it was a small thing that was overridden by the bout of tension in her features. "The owner of this gym. Now, get down from there. You have a visitor." She pointed to the man beside her.

Just because I hadn't met the man didn't mean that I didn't know him. After coming to this world, I made a mental list of any characters I could remember from the story who would be alive at this point, and the man in front of me, who may have had few moments of screen time, was one of the most important men in the world.

It took me a while to remember him from the brief backstory he featured in, but once I had he was marked down as someone to be very wary of. There was no mistaking his appearance, with green hair on one side and white on the other, dark skin, a large blue tattoo streaking across his eye and a smile across his face with no emotion behind it.

It didn't take much to see the deep depression that wracked the man.

This was Blue B, the eight-tails Jinchuriki before Killer-Bee. A man who struggled with his incomplete control over Gyuki and on occasion rampaged across the village.

Because of this he was not allowed to leave Kumo, which made sense as he'd be a pretty big liability on the battlefield.

Despite the quiet voice inside of me that wanted to see such destruction and face it head on, I decided to try my damndest to not piss the guy off. He had yet to lose control while I had been in this body, but it didn't take much imagination to know the amount of havoc he could cause.

Why the hell was this guy here?

"Hey there, you must be Itsuki. The names Blue B, and starting right now, I'll be your Kenjutsu instructor."


While I had been sparring with Tabui for months now with my bloodline, she was not a Kenjutsu user. She knew little things she had picked up over her career, and could explain some of the basics to me, but much of what I had was self-taught, over countless hours of trial and error against my Head Matron.

My gameplan was based around the idea of an unrelenting, unpredictable assault from all possible angles and tanking any hits they might throw back at me. A beautiful symphony of violence made for the chaotic war god that I'll become in fights when I'm older.

I'll expel bones from absolutely everywhere on my body, chaining together almost nonsensical combos that are only possible with the flexibility that my body allows. But it was a style that was still in the development stage.

Blue B on the other hand was like a vision of me with years of practice.

Apparently, incomplete control did not mean no control, as my new sensei sprouted out six tentacles to match my crazed assault, trying to give me some visual tips of how I can refine my movements as we sparred.

He used a similar technique to Killer-Bee's eight sword style used in the story, but stated that he personally preferred to use a single sword.

My new instructor agreed with my choice in fighting style, believing it to make the most of all my natural advantages and decided to help me cultivate it rather than teaching me an already known technique.

Kumo did not have much information on my Kekkei Genkai, let alone instructions for any moves past users created. So, it's pretty much up to me to make everything up from scratch.

It's crazy how much you could learn from a single sparring session, and given that we were both stamina demons, we went on for quite some time with very little breaks, only to discuss areas that I needed to work on.

Blue B seemed like a pretty nice guy. Though each sentence you spoke to him did feel like walking on a mine field. In my past life, I always thought it was incredibly dumb for the villagers to ostracise their Jinchurikis. Their literal ninja nukes, made to protect you, but can easily turn you into their target. A major goal of each village should be to keep their Jinchurikis as happy as humanly possible at all times.

But honestly, after meeting Blue B, I really got it. If I didn't have my healing and suppressed urge to throw down with the eight-tails, I'd be feeling pretty nervous around him and would definitely avoid him. Someone else, someone much stronger than me can keep the dude from being depressed.

The guy definitely didn't deserve it, and it happening is clearly what's causing him to lose control of himself, which only adds to his depression even more. It was a very tragic loop.

But I do have those things however and wasn't scared of the guy. I was actually very happy that he was chosen to be my teacher, there probably wouldn't be anyone better for it in the village.

Without a hint of exhaustion on either of us, Blue B decided to call it a day, "alright, we'll be doing this both mornings of your weekends from now on. Be here at 6am sharp." Here being his personal training ground near the Raikage office.

"You got it sensei. Thanks for this, I learned more today than I probably did in the last month. All thanks to that ridiculous style of yours," I looked at the extra swords he was sealing away.

"Ridiculous? Nothing ridiculous about being practical, Itsuki. It's an unexpected style I can switch to with enemy shinobi likely having no experience against anything like it." He tapped a giant horn I had sprouted on my forehead in an attempt to headbutt him, "and if it is ridiculous, I have no idea what to call whatever this is."

Trying to make me feel embarrassed? Impossible.

"I'm built to be ridiculous, sensei."

He thought about that for a moment, "that's not inaccurate to say. You'll be quite the overwhelming force when you're older. Though, we may need you to incorporate an actual sword in that style. Have you started elemental training in the academy yet?"

I shook my head, "our instructor said that'll be in a couple weeks."

"That's good. As strong as your bones are, the most powerful sword techniques come from coating your blade in elemental Chakra. Since you'll be specialising in close range combat, you'd be at a severe disadvantage if someone were to use that against you."

Huh, he has a point. That's gonna ruin the whole flow of my-

Wait.

Wait. Wait. Wait.

The All-Killing Ash Bones were classed as a Kekkei Mōra. A level of technique which incorporates all five nature transformations.

Is that what I need to do?

If I could somehow push out a balanced amount of each elemental release into my bones at the same time, would that then make the same Kekkei Mōra?

And if it's possible to conduct five different elements at once, then it would mean that one should be doable too.

A wide smile bloomed on my face as I wasted no time, pulling my horn off of my head.

"Sensei!" I excitedly yelled right next to him as I tossed the weapon, "try to channel Chakra through this!"

He raised an eyebrow, but didn't question the idea. With his hand at the bottom, Blue B's eyes widened as lightning Chakra sparked across the horn. The once white bone now sported a light blue hue as it sang out its electrifying song, filling the silence between us.

'Universe, what did I ever do to deserve all this?'

Blue B had not taken his eyes off of the powered-up weapon, "only the most expensive Chakra metals can conduct this well. Itsuki, just how many of these can you make?"

This all meant that at the age of four I had cleared my debt.

Suck it, ninja IRS.


"Alright brats, get off the floor and go home. This little stroll should not be tiring for a shinobi!" Habichi-sensei had arms crossed as he lectured the collapsed heaps of children.

It indeed was not a "little stroll". Rather than sparring for the last hour of the day, he had us run over 25 miles in that time instead around the academy training ground, all the while throwing blunted weapons at us that we were expected to dodge.

Well, for them it wasn't a little stroll. For me though, it was a light warm up.

As such, while everyone else was on the floor whimpering, I stood right beside my sensei and mirrored his pose.

"You tell 'em sensei! These brats don't know the meaning of hard work! If they think that was bad, then we should run twice as far next week! That'll teach them!" I reprimanded them alongside our instructor.

"Hmph! Damn straight Itsuki! You slackers just made sure that your Mondays will be a living hell from now on!" Our instructor gave them a look that promised pain.

Did they not know they were in the springtime of their youth?

As the class began to make their way out of the academy, Habichi-sensei stopped me.

"Come with me boy, your day's not over just yet," he turned around, not looking back to check if I was following.

I perked up at that, "ooh. Is my headband ready, sensei? If it is, I'd rather we do this in front of the whole class tomorrow," I moved to catch up to him and walk in stride.

He didn't respond to that or even turn back around. Only to slap the back of my head when I reached him. "No. It's not your headband. You'll see when we get to the classroom."

As we walked to the classroom, sensei asked me how I was getting on with my training weights and was surprised when I told him I'd probably need heavier ones by the end of the week.

"Huh, the next ones up are for the final year students. Good work, kid," he nodded at me.

And unlike my current set, I wouldn't need a loan for any new ones. I had been commissioned by the village to make as many swords that I could, being paid 50,000 ryo a piece.

It was far cheaper than what was charged by the tradesmen from the Land of Iron, and the Raikage's assistant actually offered to pay me higher sums. But I really didn't need it. With how easy they were for me to make and how high in demand they were, I was making plenty.

I also wasn't just going to let some of my village's ninjas die to make a few extra ryo.

The Hidden Cloud Village had the most Kenjutsu users out of any village, only the Samurai from the Land of Iron had more.

So, me coming along and granting an easily accessible way for our forces to have high level weaponry had done much to increase my stocks among the Shinobi population. If I walked around the village, I would have ninjas who I had never met before nodding at me with one of my swords strapped to their backs.

When I can make even denser weapons, or even more sophisticated ones like Shurikens, I'd have the whole market to myself if I wanted to price them low enough.

When we reached the classroom, he reached under his desk and pulled out a long, strip of some kind of paper. "Before I give you this, you need to know its importance. I've already gone over the 5 natures with your class, and I trust you remember them, correct?"

I nodded, "Fire, Earth, Wind, Water, Lightning. Everyone is naturally talented in at least one affinity."

"That's right. Your Chakra naturally leans towards at least one element, meaning that molding into that nature is far easier and has less wastage, with secondary affinities being the same but on a lesser level. But these are only starting points. Think of it as a race towards complete efficiency, with your elements beginning the race at different places. These elements get closer towards that goalpost with training, which is why it is recommended to prioritise working on your main nature, as it has the biggest headstart."

He waved the paper forward, "This is Chakra Litmus paper, and it will measure precisely that. Unlike Chakra paper, which will only tell you which affinities you have that are past a certain level, this will give you a complete run down of how close each element is to complete efficiency."

Well, this wasn't in the show.

He continued, "your classes fundamentals are adequate enough now that it's about time I get you all started on elemental training. But luckily for you, unlike the rest of your classmates who will be given Chakra paper tomorrow, you've been granted a piece of this instead at the expense of the village."

My brows furrowed. "No need for that, sensei, I've been racking in the ryo the past couple of weeks."

Lifting up his sunglasses, his serious gaze met my eyes, "given its rarer materials, and more difficult manufacturing process, it's a much more expensive item. One that many ninjas will only use once, if at all, to plan out their skillset. What you have done by making the weapons that you have, will save more lives for Kumo than you can count. Many of my own friends will make it back to the village alive because of you. You are of course free to pay for this, but the Raikage is more than willing to simply gift it to you, and insists that you use this rather than Chakra paper to aid in your training."

'If they're insisting...'

When I agreed, a rare smile graced his face. "You're not letting your talents go to waste. Keep up the hard work, and do Kumo proud, Itsuki."

I stared right back. "Of course, sensei. You don't have to tell me to train hard, the grind never ends for a ninja. That's shinobi 101."

Approval showcased in his eyes before he lowered back his sunglasses. "Ah, "the grind", that was the first lesson I taught you all. Good thing you've taken it to heart. Here," he handed me the paper. Looking at it closer, I could see the faint separation of five labelled sections across the sheet, each with a small drawing that clearly represented each element. "It is split into five segments, each corresponding to a different nature. As your Chakra travels through it, each segment will fill up based on how attuned your Chakra is with that element. Now, channel some Chakra through it."

I did as asked and pushed out a small amount, watching a deep blue colour rise up in each of the areas.

The earth-labelled segment rose the most, followed by the lightning being slightly less at the halfway point. There was a larger gap to reach wind, and then fire. The smallest by far was water, having barely risen.

"Hm. Your primary element is Earth; we don't have too many Jutsus for that. But we have plenty for your strong secondary affinity for lightning."

I squinted at the measuring tool, "why's my water element so low?"

"That's just your weak element. It's to be expected, most people have one. Though it's usually the weakness of their primary element. It's virtually impossible to get your weak element to a high enough level to use any Jutsus beyond the basics."

'What!? My Ash Bones!'

AN: Elemental Bones ahhh! One of the things I've been looking forward to the most in this fic.

Now, I know starting elemental training at 4 seems like a stretch, but Clan kids in Konoha likely do the same. Or the Uchiha Clan seem to at least with the fire element. It's the type of thing that's best to start as early as you can so when actual jutsu training comes up, you'll have a much easier time. And in the culture Kumo has in my head, as well as the fact that they're in war time, this made sense to me.

Side note, we're probably gonna have a lot more time skips from this point until graduation as I've gotten a lot of his bloodline stuff explained.

Chapter 6: Grounded

Ay, Third Raikage, Hidden Cloud Village

In Ay's entire life, he had never known defeat in a staring contest. Few would dare to even try, but the challenges still arose from time to time. This was one such time, and he had no intention of sullying his record.

The intense mental battle that was underway in his office was a great distraction for him, as the world had been testing his patience as of late.

Beyond the assault on the Whirlpool Village, most of the war had been stalemate on all fronts with little more advancements being made.

But that changed for a time after Itsuki began to arm Kumo's nin with his bone weaponry. Konoha was being pushed back on the Land of Hotsprings Border, which Kumo was focused on.

And soon, the leaf's predicament became even more dire when Kiri was armed with the very same wares from their own Kaguya.

It seemed the Kaguya's had never tested if the bones their bloodline produced were Chakra conductive. A foolish oversight, likely stemming from their limited history with the Kekkei Genkai, and the arrogance of those few members in never seeing the need to explore in elemental Jutsus.

Though, he supposed he couldn't think too harshly about them, given a child thought of the idea before him.

Kiri were not reported to be using as many as Kumo however, a sign of complications with the Kaguya Clan head, but as their push had already breached into the Land of Fire after the Uzumaki's destruction, havoc was truly wreaked on Konoha's eastern front.

This advantage was short-lived. Konoha's desperation led to them recalling that talented kid Jiraiya after over a year without sightings of him, which freed up Orochimaru to support the Leaf in the Land of Hotsprings.

The Hokage had also become far more daring, darting to nearby battlefields himself before scurrying back to his Village, forcing the retreat of any force unlucky enough to be facing him.

How he wished he could go out there and do the same. 'God of Shinobi my ass; I'd split him in two against my Lightning Armour.'

The idea of facing such a man was a glorious image. But for now at least, it had to remain as such.

He had to stay by his nephew. The chances of the eight-tails breaking free was just too high, and even if his son and Kasumi Nii were to stay in his stead, he didn't have complete confidence in their ability to keep the casualties minimal.

And perfect Jinchuriki or not, there was no way in hell he would kill Blue B by extracting the eight tails from him to try for a new host. He could only hope his control would come in time, or wait for the day he inevitably passes on.

Though the latter was looking far more likely given the toll his latest outburst had taken on his mind. He hadn't even trained Itsuki since then.

'Though, that's done little to stop the boy from practicing himself,' Ay thought as he began to see the first signs of doubt in the eyes of the boy before him.

A frown overcame the once determined face of the academy student in front of him. "Hn!" Fumed the young Kaguya as he looked to the side.

Ay had to hold back a smirk. That had lasted at least five minutes.

His days were incredibly busy with the war, but he had some time to spare. And the boy more than deserved an audience with him.

Itsuki had waltzed into the room, stood in front of his desk, and had started mean-mugging him in silence with his hands on his hips.

Ay had to hand it to him, not many would be bold enough to try something like that.

"What do you want, boy?" Ay's eyes still hadn't left him.

"You already know what. We both know that you already know what."

He did in fact know the reason Itsuki came to his office. But the boy came here to negotiate, and it's a skill he clearly needs some work on.

"Show some respect to your Kage, brat," a stern look passed over the village leader. Seeing Itsuki nod, he continued. "Now, explain what you're doing here."

"To report an incident of discrimination."

"Oh? And just who has been discriminating against you?"

"YOU did. The academy teachers won't let me take the early advancement exams, and they all pointed at YOU being the guy behind it. I had to sit there and watch all of my close friends leave and go onto the next year without me. Nobody else was stopped …only me." Itsuki sniffed, "I came here to fight for the rights of all the Kaguya's in Kumo."

It was true. He had blocked Itsuki from being able to take any more advancement exams. Each year offers three optional exams to move early into the year ahead, with a mandatory graduating exam scheduled at the very end of each year.

Itsuki, in his first year of the academy, had taken all three of these exams, jumping all the way to his fourth year, and then passed his graduation exam to continue on to his fifth year. The academy only had six years of classes.

It was beyond absurd.

Truly, it made little sense to the Kage. Not him being strong enough to advance, it was easy to see he was leaps and bounds above his peers, but how he passed the written portions of his exams. With flying colours at that.

Who just learns four years' worth of content within the span of months?

Apparently this kid, the little genius. He probably would've gotten his headband within the year if given the chance.

Ay shrugged, "that's just the village laws, kid. Nobody's allowed to graduate from the academy younger than seven, and you just so happened to use up all your early advances. If anyone else had done the same, they wouldn't be permitted to move any further either."

That was a complete lie. The earliest age anyone had ever graduated just happened to be at seven, which was his son, but there was no law to stop him from graduating earlier.

But nobody could prove it wasn't true.

Itsuki didn't seem to buy this however. "A convenient law that I never heard of, which all the academy instructors just happened to not remember when I asked them why?" He deadpanned. "C'mon, I'm more than ready to be a Genin!"

"You might just be, Itsuki. But that does not mean that you should. We are not in a time of peace; to graduate now would mean you are sent to fight in the war, and I will not have someone your age on the frontlines. You've already done more than enough by arming Kumo as you have."

"Being in the academy is a massive waste of my time. I'm stuck in a classroom going over things I already know, when I could be training instead. It's eating into my gains, Lord Raikage."

That made the Raikage pause.

'Hm. He does have a point. Almost all of his spare time is spent training from what I hear, with no word of him taking days off. If that's his main concern, and not going on to take missions… yes. Yes, this is something I can agree to.'

Signing off on the Mass production of Itsuki's weapons like he had was not a choice he made lightly, as it had all but announced that the Hidden Cloud hosted a Kaguya.

A Kaguya with the Dead Bone Pulse at that.

He knew that assassins and ambushes would be planned for him. That infiltration attempts into his village would be at an all-time high. That it even had the chance of turning Kiri into their enemies.

Regardless, it was a decision he'd make again. The lives of the shinobi that it had saved made it more than worth it.

In truth, if Itsuki hadn't awakened his bloodline, he would not have allowed him to leave the Hidden Cloud. At least until he had fathered a few children.

But that was an "if" that did not come to pass.

He had awakened his bloodline, and everything he had planned had changed because of it.

As bountiful as a new clan will be for the Hidden Cloud, the might of an S-rank ninja of the calibre the boy could become, is something that had to be seen through. A waste would not be close to the description if he did not.

And part of that process demanded that he exit the village borders and face enemy nin.

"Alright." The Raikage agreed.

"Alright?"

Ay paused for a moment as he took his feet off his desk and leaned forward, looking at the young ninja-trainee, "for a Shinobi to truly grow, strength alone is not enough. Experience is vital for all ninja. If you have none, then the second you encounter anyone half decent, they'll tear you apart. Confidence is something which takes years to gain.

Falling to the misdirection of the enemy because of overconfidence, or hesitating for just a moment to think of your next move has spelt the end for many. Practice takes time to become instinct in battles to the death, the stress of the inexperienced will falter against the ruthlessness of the battle hardened.

You are no fool, Itsuki. You understand well the importance that you have in this village. Ensuring you reach your potential is vital, and is the reason you've been given the extra resources when others haven't. But your safety is even more important."

Itsuki's brows furrowed as his village leader continued, "you are right, the academy is holding you back. Your body is unique in that it allows you to train for far longer than others, and given your academic talent, the academy can do little for you. But under no circumstances will I be sending you out without proper reassurances."

Ay shook his head, 'it would be much simpler if he graduated at the normal age, instead of in his fucking daipers.'

"What kind of reassurances? You want me to have a bodyguard? For me to get stronger first?"

"Yes. I don't know when the war will end, but it doesn't look like it'll be any time soon. If you graduated from the academy this year, I believe it will still be ongoing, and if you are not at a level I find suitable, I cannot allow for you to be put onto a Genin team. Any Jonin's we can spare for the role are still needed for the warfront, and to take their teams with them after a short training period in the village. It would put you in too much danger that you wouldn't be ready for."

Itsuki sighed, "I'm gonna be stronger than you by the time I'm on my first mission."

"No need to exaggerate boy, you'll be taking missions far before then. It brings me no joy to have to make this decision, but just as it is with Blue B, it's one that must be made."

Itsuki's expression looked a touch guilty at the name.

He did not seem pleased with the choice, but seemed to understand. The boy had closed his eyes and gave out an exaggerated exhale through his nose. "How over protective of you. Have you not seen what I can heal back from?"

"I've heard, which is one of the reasons I'm permitting you to leave at such a young age. But as I said, you are right in that it would be better to graduate sooner rather than later, so you can take the advancement exam. And once you feel ready, you can ask to take the graduation exam too. From there you can dedicate your time to training, and at the rate you're going, I'll likely give you the okay to join the war before it's over."

'Though I really do hope it's over by then. But if the boy is ready, I will not hold him here any longer than needed. It would be disrespectful to his hard work, and what he has done for Kumo.'

Ay truly despised that he had to keep his nephew in the village, and he would be loath to do the same to Itsuki.

"Thanks, Lord Raikage." Itsuki smiled at that, "I'm gonna start working on my lightning element soon, so I could use the extra time."

"Hmph. I hope to see that element well nurtured. With your reserves, there's a lot you can learn." The Raikage went back to putting his feet on the desk as the conversation took on a lighter tone.


Itsuki Kaguya, Hidden Cloud Village

And that is how you work a negotiation!

I had very much suspected that the Raikage had plans to keep me from leaving the village, and that fear only got worse when I was stopped from getting ahead in the academy.

The plans I had made to become a rogue nin proved unnecessary, it seemed the Raikage wasn't as strict of a guy as I thought.

Or he just knows that any resentment from me would be detrimental for Kumo, so it would be good to keep Itsuki happy.

I was honestly surprised when I was allowed to take all those advancement exams last year.

God, I'm glad I wasn't born in Konoha.

For now, I don't really mind staying in the village. There was a quiet voice, yelling at me from deep down to get out there and get some Konoha blood on my hands, but realistically, I'm not ready.

I'm mostly just hard to kill. But by the time I do go, I'll be far more than that.

And training was definitely not chore to do. Like the Saiyans, I had become an addict to all things exercise related, and actually felt a kind of peace when doing it.

With all the constant training and my body naturally growing, my Chakra levels jumped up over the last year. My reserves are probably somewhere between the high Genin to low Chunin range.

And I'm only five. Almost six. But still.

But Chakra reserves can't unlame you, or however the saying goes. Having all that wizard juice is pointless unless you know what to do with it. Which is why I've been going ham all year on getting my earth release up to snuff.

And I do mean all year, the earlier stages to practicing control over the element involves crumbling increasingly bigger rocks, and then reshaping said crumbles back into the rocks.

Something I could do during lessons given my reserves while I barely pay attention.

Seriously, I really underestimated how easy the academy would be. The most complicated thing they taught was a somewhat advanced level of geometry.

Tough for kids younger than ten, but I can see how Naruto could scrape past his exams.

As I was making my way towards Blue B's training ground, I went over the jutsu I wanted to practice in my mind.

Controlling nature release jutsus was a lot harder than regular jutsus. And schmuck with shoddy control could pull off a D rank elemental jutsu, the control needed is just that bottom of the barrel (although a low control could make the chakra cost frankly absurd for what they're worth).

But C ranks are where the learning curves come in. Well, except for a very few select techniques. Jutsu like the earth one Shikamaru had the whole Shinobi alliance learn, which is classed as a C rank earth move in name, but only needs the control of a D rank jutsu. It is only ranked as such because of the much higher chakra costs compared to D rank jutsu and its much more impressive output.

The rest of the C rank moves are not so easy however; if your control is below a certain level in that nature, don't even bother trying it buddy.

It's basically a refinement thing. When you mold your Chakra into a nature release, you're not converting all of it. Unless you've completely mastered it, some or most of the Chakra going into jutsu will not be elemental, with the ratio depending on how efficient you are with that element.

So, when attempting to cast nature release jutsu, if the technique requires an efficiency above what you can do, it just won't work. It's also why better elemental control will vastly reduce the costs of jutsus.

For someone's weak element, this is usually the cap that they reach if they work hard at it (except for the really dedicated few who focus on their weak element all their lives for whatever reason). Even if it's your natural affinity, it still takes some practice to get to this stage.

For me, it took nine months of pure earth release training, at the intense rate I had, to reach a high enough refinement to use the easier C rank techniques. The harder ones still need a higher level of control to cast.

Which did make some sense as the Uchihas would've had to train their kids before they taught the fireball jutsu, which Sasuke could only manage around seven years old.

The current Jutsu I was aiming to get down was the classic, Earth Release: Hiding like a mole Jutsu. The very technique you could use to practically swim underground, pop up underneath an enemy, flip them off, then pull them underground with you. I can already cast it, but I can't consider it learnt until I can get the hand seals down some.

I had a couple more C rank moves under my belt, and even more D ranks. 'But I really should start on my lightning release training. If it took this long to get my primary affinity up to this level…'

If only there was a certain scroll in the village I could sexy jutsu my way into stealing to help with my training.

But alas, the secrets to the Shadow Clone training method are currently locked away in Konoha, so I'll have to make do.

I had also, as of yesterday, finally solved the problem of my spine blades.

My spine was the strongest bone in my body (though I'm not sure if that's the same for everyone), as such, I try to use said bone as much as possible.

The only problem was that pulling it out meant that I would also be pulling out the bone spurs (the spikey bits along the side). They're good for some situations, but for times I just want to use a sword, not so much.

And after a very long time of getting it into something which cuts into things rather than rip through them, I had finally, and frustratingly figured it out.

Just add a ton more of those bone spurs to resemble the edge of a blade.

As I walked inside of the training ground, I had a few more ideas of what I could do with this.

But as I veered my head around, I sighed. It seemed like I would be the only person there again today.

One Month ago

"Oh shit! Sensei, calm down!" I yelled as crimson red bubbles began to cover my instructor. I backed away, but still held onto hope that I could prevent this quick enough before he completely loses control.

Blue B had been far quieter all day, he didn't want to talk about it when I asked, but reports had come back for the names of those who died in the latest battle with Konoha. I could only assume that to be the reason, so didn't pry any further.

I wasn't entirely sure what had set him off, one moment we were going at it in sparring, and the next he had a dark look on his face and was stabbing through my lung, before horror overtook him upon realising what he had done.

I wasn't a sensor, I had no clue how Chakra felt beyond my own, but I had no doubt that the sweltering, oppressive weight roiling off of Blue B wasn't being felt across the whole of the Hidden Cloud.

Being at its epicenter, it was a challenge to move around.

But the Head Matron ain't raise no bitch, some Killing Intent would not be enough to stop me, so I internally swiped a bone across a few muscles to jostle myself out of it.

He didn't seem to be hearing me if his snarl was any indication. Or the skin that was peeling off, adding a whole new level of danger about what was occurring.

Well, nothing more for me to do here. A skilled Shinobi always knows when it's time for a tactical retreat, and I was nothing if not a-

Before I had even realised, my scene shifted as I was flying backwards above the clouds of Kumo, a trail of blood filling my vision. Looking closer, I saw a pair of familiar, falling legs far away down on the ground below, behind a monstrous, completely shrouded figure.

His eyes were no longer his, replaced by white voids, with three tails flailing behind him.

To my horror, as I glanced down a little further, I recognised the absence of a very vital part of my body.

'There's no way I'm about to die like a Pokémon villain.'

Lava Release: Rubber Sphere!

My back sunk into a thick rubbery surface that broke my momentum, the substance quickly engulfed me as I was slowed.

"Take him away, Dodai!" A loud rumbling voice could be heard.

"Yes, Lord Raikage!"

The entire sequence must've only taken a few long seconds, seconds spent in pain far more agonising than any I had put myself through.

But that pain then began to numb throughout my body.

I was pulled towards the ground as I felt the jutsu fade around me, the rubber-like substance spreading across the floor.

Emerging back into the world, I was able to see both myself and the slack-jawed, eye patched man before me. To my belated joy, "holy fuck! Hahahaha! I'm fucking immortal!"

I stood on my very naked, but more importantly, very whole lower half.

What the hell was I thinking? That I would really die over something as small as that. Did I forget who I was?

'Fuck a Sensu bean!'

With my tactical retreat proving to be a success, I charged up a ram seal. Pumped up on more adrenaline than I had ever felt before, I had to get ba-

A firm grip hoisted me up from under my arms. "Let's go!" Dodai roared, utilising his own ram seal and pushing us into a Body Flicker.

'My boss fight!'


Blue B, Hidden Cloud Village

Present

How? How did it happen again?

How did he let it happen again?

It had been two years since he'd slipped. Since he'd promised to keep himself isolated, away from anything that could make him break.

He had made peace with being alone, only the conversations with his cousin and uncle to keep him sane. It was his duty. It was what he had to do.

They were the only ones strong enough to survive if anything happened. Anyone else is just an added chance of letting the eight-tails take over.

But then he met Itsuki.

Was forced into meeting Itsuki. He had refused his uncle at first, telling him his fears, why it was bound to end in chaos, but he'd made it a mission.

Uncle Ay had said it would be good for both him and Itsuki, that they both needed it, and in time he would see that it was for the best.

And it was for a while. Meeting the boy every week was a highlight for him, something to look forward to, a kind of normality he had craved for years. It had eased his burden.

But his fears had proven true.

Itsuki had been concerned for him, worried about how he spent his time by himself on his mountain peak when he was not around.

So, one day, Itsuki began to invite others to their training sessions. An excuse to meet him. Only one on the first day, then more thereafter. Ninjas he had become familiar with after selling them weapons, many he no doubt bribed to come with discounts, or even completely free wares.

He had shown he didn't understand his burden either. But Blue B had forgotten it himself. Meeting Itsuki had done so much for him, it had given him one more person to chip away his loneliness.

Was it so wrong to hope for more? Even if they only came as a favour to his student, it was better than nothing.

It had gone on that way for months, and he had grown to be less guarded around them, and their meetings began to feel genuine. That they had come because they wanted, not because his student asked. He had come to care for them and he felt their care back.

It was how he had met Hanobi.

The time he had spent with her, it wasn't just on the training grounds, with her it something far more. It hadn't been long, but to him, after the long years of emptiness, she was…

But then they had all gone back to the war.

And when he heard the news about what had happened to her…

It was pathetic. He had blamed Itsuki, blamed him for them ever meeting, blamed him for giving him hope, and when Itsuki asked what was wrong, he began to fall. To fall into the pits of rage where the monster inside of him was always waiting.

Before he knew it, his blade had run Itsuki through. And he had realized his mistake, of how wrong he was to place his blame on a child. A child he had come to call a friend. One of the closest people he had in his life. And how he had tried to kill him.

Was he truly that pathetic?

He was.

And then it was too late. He lost control. Nobody had died, his uncle had stopped him before he could go that far. But it was a near thing.

Everyone that ever gets close always gets ripped away from him. How many times did he have to learn that lesson? How many times did he have to feel that pain.

"You'll feel it again," the monster inside of him spoke. "The very second you give me an inch, I'll take them all away."

"I know," he whispered, his voice and empty husk.

He couldn't face Itsuki after what he had done. He couldn't face anyone. There was no apology he could possibly make to make right the wrong he had caused his friend.

Never again could he break the vow he made to himself; he had to stay alone.

After days of sitting alone on his mountain top, without food or rest, he wandered back to his home. But sunk deep into the wooden steps of the entrance was a long, ivory blade, segmented along its length, indicating what it once was.

Next to it was a note: 'Gotta try harder than that to get me, Sensei! See you tomorrow for training!'

AN: The Kumo seals aren't as powerful as anything Konoha can whip up, and going a little off of what Gaara's seal is like, Gyuki's able to manipulate Blue B's emotions somewhat when he gains a little bit of control.

Side note: did you know that humans can actually regrow their fingertips sometimes? I didn't.

I know way too many bone facts now.