ch 2

Naruto prodded the fire with the stick in his hand. The distant howl of a coyote the only other sound other than the crackling of the small campfire. He glanced across at the prone body of Senjii, the swordsman he had set free yesterday. The man's face looked peaceful as he rolled in his sleep, both hands clutching his sheathed sword to his chest.

Naruto frowned, yesterday he would have hazarded a guess that Senjii was an older man, but his face had seemed to drop years of worry when he got his sword back. He looked to be no older than twenty, twenty five maybe. A young swordsman with a very high level of skill, Naruto thought.

"Ahh." Senjii stretched out with a groan. "That was a good nap." He glanced over at Naruto, his black eyes boring into Naruto's steel blue.

"So what's your name My Lord?" Senjii asked with a grin.

Naruto's mouth dropped open. "Wha…what?"

"Well I owe you my life, so my life is now yours." Senjii smiled as he sat up and rubbed behind his head. His eyes closed as he chuckled. "It's my honor at stake you understand."

Naruto blinked three times then shrugged. "I'm Naruto. Uzimaki Naruto."

"Well then, my Lord Naruto." Kenji stared at Naruto intently. "Where are we going and what's the plan?"

Naruto looked back at Senjii and grinned. He had been thinking about it ever since leaving his new home. Naruto had grown up alone and didn't' want to spend his entire life that way. It was time to make a start. "Well, I'm starting my own village. I plan to get jobs a Ninja would get, and get the money I need to build my village."

Senjii stared at Naruto with his mouth open for a full minute. "You're serious aren't you my Lord."

Naruto grinned nervously. "I know it's a lot to do, but I think if we took it one step at a time we can do it. I never give up! That is my ninja way!"

Senjii stood up and paced, pausing to glance at Naruto every now and then. Naruto seemed almost oblivious to this as he went about cooking dinner.

"Fate has certainly led me to an interesting companion." Senjii muttered. "My Lord…" He began.

Naruto cut him off. "Please, call me Naruto? That my Lord stuff just sounds weird." He made a face and went back to the task at hand.

"Ok" Senjii sat back down with a thump. "Your goals are amazing and worthy. I will dedicate myself to helping you achieve them."

Naruto looked up and grinned. "Thanks Senjii"

Senjii smiled back. "So where are we going to build this village?"

Five minutes later

"Kenji come back! It's all true I swear it." Naruto shouted at the angrily storming off Samurai.

Senjii stalked into the forest, looking to sit alone and quietly for a while. My new Lord is a madman. What a cruel fate to befall me, the best swordsman in the world.

Konoha

Lee stood looking at the rising sun. For weeks now he had stared off in that direction, the direction his friend Naruto had been driven off into. No one had seen or heard from him since. Lee had tried talking to Sakura about it, where would Naruto have gone? But she could barely form words to speak. She had cried for several days. Lee himself had cried, sorrowful tears of youth, he insisted. Such cruelty at the hands of the villagers they were sworn to protect. Lee could not understand it; could not believe it.

Of course, the retribution of Naruto's friends had been swift. Tsunade had sent Hiashi Hyuga to the hospital with a broken skull, ribs and spine. It was doubtful any of the Medical ninja there could heal him. In fact only Tsunade might have been able to, and she flat out laughed and refused. She had then teams up with Jiraiya and found every ninja and villager who had run Naruto out of Konoha and beat them all within an inch of their lives.

Kakashi had run into a few who were laughing at what they did the next day, and from the stories Lee heard Kakashi's wrath was something to behold.

The council had elected Danzo to be the new Hokage. Many had been disgusted with the politics, but the undercurrent of the village was that Tsunade had been too forgiving to the beast that was Naruto.

Lee sighed as the sun shone glared at Konoha. It was his own imagination he was sure, but it felt like the universe was judging them, and not in their favour. Tsunade, Shizune and Jiraiya had left the village. For good it seemed. Jiraiya had spit on his hometown and vowed he would not return. He set off looking for Naruto. No one knew where Tsunade had gone.

Kakashi had been reprimanded. The new Hokage had sought to flex his influence over him. Kakashi smiled, pulled out his book, and threw his hiiate to the ground at his feet. He had resigned as a Konoha Ninja, choosing to go live quietly in his house and read his books.

Lee stretched preparing for his five lap warm-up jog around Konoha. He could not sit here and do nothing. What had happened was not fair. It was not right. He would talk to Sensei about it.

Naruto stared at the city sprawled before them. It had taken a few days for them to reach the city. It was at least three times as big as Konoha, Naruto decided, and the towers seemed to be taller than any he'd ever seen. Naruto could see some huge boats coming into dock, their sails billowing in the wind. People hustled about oblivious to each other, focused intently on whatever purpose drove them today.

Senjii sighed. "Welcome to Carachii. The city where anything can be found, bought, sold, stolen. The city of Sin in the West."

Naruto just nodded absently as they looked down from their vantage point on a hill on the outskirts of the city.

Senjii continued. "IF you want to earn money doing Ninja jobs, this is the place to come. Lots of missing Nin come here to vie for the freelance jobs that exist. But…" Senjii paused and smiled. "You need to first prove yourself to the overlords that you can handle the jobs, and would be able to get them done."

Naruto turned to look at Senjii. "How do you go about doing that?"

"Easy," Senjii replied. "You enter the Kumite. You fight the best fighters from around the globe. Ninja, Samurai, Monks, Street Fighters. Everyone comes here just to prove themselves and make a name. The ones who get noticed get jobs. Simple."

Naruto nodded. The First had explained to them that the Chunnin exams were pretty much for the same reason. So this Naruto at least understood.

"Well then, I have a contest to sign up for." Naruto grinned at Senjii, who smiled wickedly right back.

"Ladies and Gentlemen!" The ringmaster s voice boomed into the microphone. Naruto sat in the bleachers with a hundred odd other fighters. Senjii himself had also signed up. Naruto had no idea the contest would be this soon, starting only the day after they arrived. But he was glad he didn't have to wait long.

He tugged at his white shirt and sighed. He missed his orange.

"Welcome to the Kumite!"

Drums sounded all along the grounds as thirty drummers with rope tied around their heads and drums strapped to their shirtless bodies pounded out a fast rhythm. The crowd in the stadium went wild. The Kumite was big business to Carachii apparently. Thousands of people filled the stadium to look at the action.

"You all know why you're here! To see who is the best! Our reigning champ? Is he the best? Is it…Guerreraaaaaa?" The announcer dragged out that last name to thundering screams and applause from the crowd. A huge hulk of a man stood up from the bleachers and waved at them. His entire head was wrapped in a mask.

Naruto swallowed, hard. The man's biceps were bigger than Naruto's head. He really hoped he didn't have to fight him just yet.

"Without further adieu, our first matchup for the day is…." And so the matches began. Naruto looked on in amazement as the first few matches went on. These fights were not child's play. There was no referee. There was no draw, or conceding. You fought until someone was either dead or knocked out. Those were the rules. Naruto frowned at the brutality of it all, but a part of him relished the idea of beating someone to a pulp. Naruto realized he had a lot of anger pent up, and this would be the first fight he would have had since he got run out of Konoha.

"Next up! Naruto Uzumaki vs Paul Laureate'."

Naruto walked into the center of the ring and waited for his opponent to arrive. A Caucasian man who had a funny spring in his step.

"Fight!" The announcer shouted.

Naruto blocked as his opponent kicked at his head in the blink of an eye. Naruto was shocked at the man's speed. He was easily as fast as Rock Lee. Before he had time to think, Naruto was swept off his feet by a spinning ground sweep. Laureate kept the momentum of the spin and brought his other leg sweeping around to catch Naruto in mid air. It connected with a satisfying thud, but to everyone's surprise, Naruto just vanished in a puff of smoke.

From the ground Naruto launched himself at Laureate'. Unfortunately for Naruto, this was no Chunnin match. Laureate saw him coming and stepped back just enough to avoid the uppercut. He then spun and kicked the real Naruto flying. Naruto landed with a thump in the dust to the cheering of the crowd.

Naruto recovered quickly and quickly formed the seals he needed. "Kage Bunshin!" with a loud puff, one hundred clones covered the Arena floor. Laureate looked puzzled for a second then smiled acknowledgment at Naruto. With a nod, Naruto's clones and Laureate launched at each other.

What happened next was a blur of dust, blood and puffs of smoke. But in the end Naruto was down to only twelve clones, and Laureate' lay unconscious in the dust.

"Winner! Naruto Uzumaki!"

The crowd cheered for Naruto. He smiled and wiped the dust from his eyes. Something about thousands of people cheering you on a few months after an entire village tried to kill you and banish you; it just seemed to soothe Naruto.

Sanjii's fight was next, and it astonished Naruto how quickly it went. Sanjii had just appeared behind his opponent in a red flash. He was putting his sword away as blood spurted out of his opponent. Seriously wounded but not dead, Sanjii explained. There was no honor in killing for no reason.

Naruto grinned. His new friend was a great fighter, and a decent person. Something Naruto had come to value. He made a mental note to ask Sanjii how he moved so fast later that night.

Just as the sun was setting and Naruto was thinking all the matches for the day were done, the stadium lit up with fire from hundreds of torches. Sanjii who was sitting next to him leaned in and explained.

"There is no rest, no sleep. We fight until only one is left standing. "

Naruto nodded.

"Naruto Uzumaki vs Romero Aguila!"

Naruto moved to the center of the ring and looked on as a man with a metal mask over the front of his face and two short swords in his hands leapt all the way from the bleachers to the center of the ring. Naruto whistled, that was a good jump.

"Fight!"

Naruto wasted no time this time around, and attacked first. He launched a series of kicks and punches that were all easily dodged by Romero. Romero shrieked like a girl and Naruto could see the two short swords swinging. They put two shallow cuts on his forearms. He drew back and contemplated his next move. Those swords would be a problem.

Romero shrieked again and dove at Naruto swords first, twisting in mid air to simulate a corkscrew. Naruto rolled to the side and came up with two clones on either side of him. One clone rushed in to fight and distract Romero, while Naruto and his other clone formed a Rasengan.

Sanjii watched in fascination for the second time as Naruto created his ultimate Jutsu. Once it was complete, the other clone leapt into the battle. So the clones were attacking from left and right, while Naruto lunged down the middle.

The tactic partially worked. Romera took the Rasengan to hi midsection and went flying backwards, but he seemed to be twisting with the movement, and ended up controlling the impact of it. Romera landed on his feet at the edge of the ring. With a shriek he jumped back in the air, high above Naruto, arcing down, his legs preparing for a final kick on Naruto.

Naruto was stunned, no one had ever been able to take a Rasengen and shrug it off. He rolled to the side again and in desperation threw a brace of kunai at Romera. Romera knocked them all away, left right , up, with his swords and kept coming after Naruto, slicing right into him.

With a puff of smoke, the last visible Naruto in the ring vanished. Romera looked to the ground again waiting for Naruto to spring out of it. His eyes darting left and right, head tilted down, he did not see the last kunai he had parried into the air come hurting back down to him. Nor did he see when it changed back into Naruto and kicked him at the base of his skull.

"Winner Naruto Uzumaki!"

Sanjii smiled and shook his head sadly at the same time as Naruto, exhausted, took his seat next to him.

"You've very clever Naruto. But cleverness will only get you so far. You must become stronger if you want to form your own village."

Naruto's eyes glared at Sanjii. He wanted to be mad, but he couldn't. He could see the logic of what he was saying.

"Aren't you ninja's supposed to have an affinity? I've encountered some of you before and usually you have a specialty. Fire, water, Ice. I've seen many versions of this. But you've not shown anything like that." Sanjii's eyes casually took in the next match while he was talking to Naruto.

"I don't know if I have an affinity." Naruto responded. "Sensei never really spoke to us about it." Now that he thought about it, Naruto realized that Sanjii was right. Sasuke had been able to use lightning jutsu, so clearly he had a lightning affinity. Naruto wondered absentmindedly how he'd find out if he had any leanings towards a certain type.

Sanjii as if reading his thoughts muttered to him. "In battle we always find new strengths. Try something new and see if it works out for you. If not, well then…" Sanjii laughed a little. "Then you'll just lose."

Naruto stared straight ahead, ignoring the small laughter. I do not lose.

Sanjii had progressed again, defeating a nunchuku user in what was a surprisingly long bout. Well, long for Sanjii as it took over thirty seconds. During the last hour of fighting thought Naruto had been sitting with his eyes closed, forehead furrowed in concentration. It wasn't often that Naruto could sit quiet for so long and think.

"Naruto Uzumaki vs Leopard!" Naruto opened his eyes and walked into the center, the night breeze blowing cooly against his skin. He looked up and saw a gust pick up leaves and sweep them around.

Naruto's eyes opened wide and he looked back down to his opponent. A grin spread across his face, worth a shot right?

He leaped into the ring and landed in a small puff of dust. Anticipation coursed through Naruto. He was about to try something new, and that always got his juices flowing.

Leopard was a wiry man, with markings on his bronze body that resembled the great cat he was named after. His back was arched forward and his limbs looked a bit longer than they should have. Naruto's eyes assessed his opponent. Well, he does look the part.

"FIGHT!" The MC commanded and stepped away.

Leopard did not advance, he instead growled quietly and walked sideways, sizing up Naruto.

"You're little parlour tricks will do you no good here Ninja." A low guttural voice spoke. Leopard seemed to want to talk before he fought. "My style is unbeatable, especially for a kid such as yourself."

Naruto grinned. After enduring lectures from Sasuke and Neji on how inferior he was, this guy's words had absolutely no effect on him.

Naruto cracked his neck, then rushed in. He lunged at the man, pulling out a kunai as he ran. Leopard sprang towards him, baring his sharpened teeth and holding his fingers like claws. Naruto threw a punch, that was neatly blocked. A slash from leopard razed Naruto's arm and he swiveled to try a kick. He found his leg caught in midair and he was thrown high up. Leopard jumped up to kick him, but Naruto formed a Kage Bunshin in midair that pulled him out of the way.

Naruto landed a few feet away as Leopard came back down. In that pause in time before Leopard landed and would be able to attack again, Naruto decided he was going to try his idea.

He put both hands palm forward, keeping his elbows at his side and drew as much Chakra as he could to them. It all happened in a split second.

Leopard Landed.

Naruto pushed his hands forward, trying to force the Chakra out if his palms.

Leopard looked wide eyed as something hit him in the midsection. A blast of pure energy had exploded out of Naruto's palms, in the shape of a large, ever expanding wave. It radiated outwards, moving swiftly out and away from Naruto.

He stood there in shock as he saw Leopard flung backwards an impossible distance. But more than that, was that the shockwave didn't slow down. As it hit the stands where spectators and fighters alike were sitting, there was a sharp cracking of stone and splintering of wood. The stands blew up like a stack of toothpicks, debris and dust flying everywhere. Naruto could see some fighters and even a few spectators had leaped clear of the blast, but most hadn't.

Naruto fell to his knees, breathing heavily. Ok, too much chakra in that one, and I don't think it took the form of wind like I wanted.

Pandemonium reigned for a few minutes as people struggled to free themselves from the broken seating. Naruto sat in the ring, looking worried. He really hoped no one had been hurt.

Senjii just sat in the good section of the stands and looked thoughtful. Naruto had in one move destroyed a quarter of the stadium. Senjii smiled at the thought that his new leader was that powerful, but he frowned when he realized he was that powerful but had no idea how to control it. That blast was clearly not intentional. It was just raw power.

Senjii made up his mind to ask a friend of his to come help train Naruto. It was a long shot, and the man hated Ninja, but it was all he could think of at the moment.

The announcer nodded at his staff and walked back to the center of the ring. He looked incredulously at this young man who had so easily…

He cleared his throat.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, the winner of this match is Naruto Uzumaki!" A great roar of approval and cheering went up from the remaining crowd. Naruto was a bit stunned. People were still climbing out of the ruins, but these people didn't seem to care. I guess it's that kind of place, every man for himself.

"Also, since we need to clear the area of bystanders, debris and a few bodies probably." Naruto shuddered at that, had he hurt anyone? "The matches are suspended for one day."

The mc looked down at Naruto. "Kid, can you try not to damage any more of my property when we resume?" He grinned widely.

"You're not upset?" Naruto asked.

"Hell no. When people hear about what just happened, I'll have more patrons at the continuation of the Kumite. Its good for business to have insane levels of power and fighting, its what the people want to see." He snapped his fingers, and Naruto saw a large guy pick up Leopard and fling him over his shoulder. He walked off to where Naruto knew the infirmary was.

"Hey Naruto!" Senjii called out. "You hungry?"

"Wow. " Senjii whistled low. "You sure can put those away." He gestured to the empty bowls of Ramen.

Naruto smiled as he slurped down his tenth bowl. "Well, it's not as good as Ichiraku's but it's pretty good all the same. And I haven't had ramen in a while."

A few patrons in the Ramen bar were looking at Naruto and whispering. Senjii chuckled.

"Well, I'd say you've succeeded in making a name for yourself. Every man, woman and child within miles of here now know your name, and that you can single handedly wipe out an army if you wished."

Naruto almost choked. "An army? Umm…it was just a Jutsu that I tried on the spot. Its not exactly…"

"Not exactly what?" Senjii smiled. "Complete? Yeah I could see that. But damn if it wasn't horribly powerful."

Naruto frowned into his bowl of Ramen. "It wasn't anything like I wanted. I was trying to use Wind Jutsu. I just wanted a gust of wind to blow him away."

Senjii laughed aloud. "I'd say the effect was the same. But you're right, that wasn't wind. That was pure energy." With a sigh Senjii continued. "Listen, I have a friend who knows about ninjutsu arts. He's not a ninja mind you, just a very knowledgable person. I think we should go talk to him when you're done eating. He could probably point you in the right direction."

Naruto's eyes lit up and he tilted the bowl back and drank it all in one gulp. "Done! Let's go! We only have one day before the fights start back!"

"Oi!" Senjii called out. "Old man! You still alive in there?"

Naruto looked on as Senjii banged on an old wooden door. A walled off compound with stone carvings of elephants and strange looking people with four or more arms adorned the pillars around the door.

"Senjii? Is that you?" A voice from within the compound replied.

Senjii grinned. "Yeah its m..."

Before Naruto could blink the doors were opened and a fist had knocked Senjii to his back on the ground.

A grizzled old man, with dark tanned skin stared down at Senjii. A glare on his face, his robes fluttering in the wind.

"I guess you're still mad about the thing with your daughter." Senjii said from the ground, not trying to get up.

"Mad? If you were not my brother's student at one time you'd be dead right now. My only daughter!"

Senjii grinned. "I guess I'm lucky, if she was here she'd have killed me herself."

"You certainly picked the wrong woman to leave at the altar." The old man nodded. His face softened and he extended his hand to Senjii, to help him up. "Even if I do understand the reasons, she's still me daughter. You understand?"

Senjii smiled sadly and nodded. Naruto made a mental note to ask about that exchange later.

"Naruto," Senjii turned to him and smiled. "This is Sensei Tenchi Shiritori." Senjii turned to Tenchi.

"Old man, this is Naruto Uzumaki. My new nakama. And the man I've sworn allegiance to for saving my life."

Tenchi looked between the two. "Sworn allegiances are not to be taken lightly. But neither is a life debt. I hope you honor it properly Senjii."

He turned to look at Naruto, sizing him up. "So you're Jiraiya's student's son."

Naruto's jaw dropped, Senjii did a double take.

"What?" Naruto asked. Jiraiya's student?

Tenchi nodded. "The fourth leader of your village, Minato something or the other. I met him once when he was travelling with Jiraiya. He had to be your age I guess. You look exactly like him. So unless you are him and have learned an age defying, death defying Jutsu, you're his son."

Naruto rocked back. His mind couldn't process any of this.

Tenchi looked at him and seemed to make up his mind about something. "Ok come inside. We will talk away from the prying eyes and ears of the street."

"Old man, Naruto here needs to learn to control his power. His obliterated a quarter of the stadium today." Senjii said with a chuckle. "You should have seen it."

Tenchi with his back to them, was making some tea on the stove. The quiet trickle of water from the garden was a sharp contrast to the fighting they had seen just a few hours ago.

"I didn't need to see it, I felt it." Tenchi turned back and brought the tea tray and rested it down before Naruto and Sanjii.

"Aww, no sake?" Senjii groaned. Tenchi squinted and backhanded Senjii across the face. Senjii flew across the garden and landed underneath a small fountain.

"No alcohol in my house." Tenchi said calmly. "You know that."

He turned back to Naruto. "So what questions do you have for me?"

Naruto grasped the teacup in his hands, threatening to shatter it with his grip. He had so many questions.

"My father was the fourth?" was all he could manage to say.

Tenchi cocked his head to the side, "So they didn't tell you? Odd. He's a hero know to many around the world." He shrugged. "Doesn't matter much though does it? You are who you are regardless of parentage."

Naruto looked up incredulously at him. "Doesn't matter? I had a father who was a hero! But then why," Naruto's hand subconsciously touched the seal on his stomach. "Why would he do this."

Tenchi's eyes grew very serious and he stared at Naruto. With a start his eyes snapped wide. "You're THAT Naruto! The vessel."

Naruto nodded ashamed. Tenchi grinned and came at Naruto.

"Thank you. Every day you save so many lives, it is an honor to have you in my house." Tenchi grasped Naruto and gave him a bear hug, squeezing him tightly.

"Um.." Naruto had never met with this reaction before. Most people were scared of him. "You're welcome? But how come…"

"How come I'm not scared? Because I know about the seal and what it does. I know how hard it must be to maintain it, the effort, and the sacrifice you must go through. Not many could handle that responsibility. You are saving the world every day. Countless lives could be lost in a blink of an eye if your prisoner was to escape." Tenchi sighed and looked to where Senjii was getting out of the fountain.

"His father was killed by the demon you know." Naruto looked stricken. He saw a wet smiling Senjii approach and was scared. When he found out he would shun him like everyone else, the one friend he had made since leaving Konoha.

"Senjii, this is Uzumaki Naruto of Konoha, the jailer of the Demon Fox." Tenchi said matter of factly.

Senjii stopped in his tracks and his eyes grew steely. Naruto saw a range of emotion cross his face. Sadness, anger, hurt. He wondered what Senjii would say.

"Naruto, you…you keep that blasted fox locked up?" Senjii asked slowly.

Naruto nodded, afraid of the outcome of this discussion.

Senjii looked at him then got down on one knee. He drew out his sword and extended it across his palms at Naruto.

"The oath I took once is not strong enough. My debt to you will never be repaid. My sword, my life, is yours. I shall protect you for eternity, this life and the next. On my word as a Samurai, on my soul. I do swear it." Senjii had tears streaming down his face as he spoke.

Naruto did not know what to say. Senjii got up abruptly and walked off, around the corner of the garden for some privacy.

Tenhi looked sadly at him go. "I hope you understand how much that boy will do for you now. His parents and baby sister were slaughterd by that fox when he was not more than five years old. He survived on pure luck. He hates the demon, but he knows there is no way to kill it."

"So how can I help you Naruto. Ask anything of me."

Naruto looked into his tea. He forced all the thoughts about the demon, his father and Konoha to the back of his mind.

"I need to learn what my affinity is, and I want to get stronger. Strong enough to build my own village. A village where no one is persecuted or hated. Where everyone can live together in peace."

Tenchi sat down and sipped his tea. "You certainly dream big. I can help you with the first part easy enough. That tree over there is fed Chakra, or Chi, so just pick a leaf and hold it in your hands. It will tell you what your affinity is."

Naruto got up and walked towards the oddly pale brown tree, which stood out in the lush garden of greens and flowers. He pulled a leaf off and held it. He turned to show Tenchi, the leaf had split in two.

"Wind." Tenchi said simply.

Naruto stared at the leaf. My affinity is wind, and I found a place to live hidden in the clouds, accessible only by wind. The gods might not hate me that much after all.

"So now you need to understand what wind can do." Tenchi rose up and gestured for Naruto to follow him. They walked into his house, and into a large training room.

"This is a chakra room. The walls cannot be damaged by any form of chakra, the wood is made from that tree you saw outside. So fire, water, wind; it doesn't matter what is directed at the walls, roof or floor, no damage will be done." Tenchi walked to a wall and pulled down a sword from a rack of weapons.

"I don't know how its taught in Konoha, but in my clan, Chi skills are taught with a weapon." Tenchi threw the sword for Naruto to grasp. He took one look at how Naruto held the sword and took it back.

"Nope, clearly not a sword user." He turned back to the wall and pulled down some nunchaku, with the same result.

Narutu spoke up. "But I've never used these before, couldn't I learn?"

Tenchi did not turn to look at him while he was picking the next weapon. "I have no time to teach you to use something you are not born to use. Everyone has one weapon, one style that fits them perfectly. It would be easy, flowing, for you to learn to use that." He picked up a wooden staff and threw it at Naruto.

Naruto caught it easily and held it at his side. Tenchi squinted his eyes. "Ok, you're a Bo staff user."

Naruto felt the staff in his hand, it did actually feel pretty natural. The hard oak staff was slightly longer than he was, but it felt perfectly balanced in his hands.

Tenchi smiled. "This makes things easier. The basics of Bojutsu is that it's very similar to hand to hand combat. So the moves can apply to unarmed as well as armed combat. I've no time to train you on the art, but I can show you how to channel your chakra into wind. The rest is up to you. If you survive the Kumite, and I'm more sure of that now than anything else, then you will come here for me to train you in Bojutsu for exactly six months. Is that clear?"

Naruto frowned, but nodded. Six months was a long time to postpone his plans. As if reading his thoughts, Tenchi shook his head.

"Your goals are admirable, but until you're stronger you cannot attain them. You must see the logic in this."

Naruto sighed, and gave in. Tenchi was right. Naruto needed to become strong enough to be Kage of his own Village, he was nowhere near that level now.

"By the way, I didn't even ask, where do you want to build this village you dream of?" Tenchi asked as he guided Naruto to the center of the dojo.

Five hours later, Naruto still swung the Bo. His hands would have blistered already if he didn't have the healing power of the Kyuubi.

Tenchi watched him sweat and work. So Naruto had found Livingston and the Island in the Sky. Tenchi had met the man once and liked him. A sincere human being. A faith in a place that no one else believed in. Tenchi had much to think about as Naruto built up the Chakra in his staff and swung it, releasing a burst of wind.

Senjii sat in a corner and watched on in satisfaction. Proud of his association with Naruto.