9 Namikaze’s Inheritance Art of a 1,000 Seals Part 2

At the open field, the two saw dozens of massive rock and wood structures that were built into the hillside.

Leading through its entrance stood an elaborate orange Torii Archway, a large lake surrounded the area between the facility and the forest trees. In the distance, a series of stairs and bridges led up to the giant hill side's peak into several cave entrances, and an ancient-looking building hung off the wall next to the highest cave entrance.

As the two walked past the Torii and over to the red stone bridge, Naruto looked around and asked "Is this Dad's Estate?"

Kibo laughed, "This is the training cave! Your father and the Sannin Jiraiya perfected their Ninja Arts here, and we're gonna conquer it before Hinata's birthday."

Naruto scratched his head and asked, "Why?"

"The Namikaze compound isn't easily found, not without the key at least, I've heard that not even the current Hokage could find it," Kibo explained.

Naruto seemed to have wised up as his next words showed more intelligence than Kibo ever saw in the Canon, "So there's a chance he left something here that can tell us how to get there?"

"I just couldn't help but think, if your the Sannin Jiraiya trained here with his master, and he trained Minato here himself, then there's a good chance your father intended to train you here as well. If he left the Key anywhere then, it's got to be here," Kibo speculated. To be honest, all he needed was an object from the 4th to accurately locate the Namikaze compound with his Tengan.

"That does kind of make sense, if dad was going to give me the Namikaze's inheritance, it would be only when I completed my training, right?"

Kibo raised an eyebrow at Naruto's line of reasoning. When Naruto saw Kibo's expressive and unbelieving look on his face, the blond hero responded with a simple "What?"

". . . Keep reading books, Naruto," Kibo said in a joking voice.

Naruto slanted his eyes and said in a monotone voice, "Hah . . . Hah . . . Hah!"

Kibo looked to the entrance of the cave then at Naruto before saying, "I think it's time we start training."

Naruto followed his big brother stopped next to a nearby tree.

Taking out a Kunai, Kibo marched up to the largest tree he could find, and then handed the weapon over to Naruto.

"Climb this tree only using your chakra to hold on to your body, and use the kunai to mark your progress," Kibo said as he demonstrated, climbing the tree to the top before running back down.

"Whoa! That's so cool!" Naruto tried to do the same, but the moment he stepped onto the tree, the bark exploded.

"Did he instinctively access his Chakra? I haven't even told him how to circulate it through his Tenketsu! Maybe it's because the Fox isn't fighting Naruto at every turn now," Kibo thought as he used his Tengan to inspect Naruto's body.

"Too much Chakra, Naruto. Here try this exercise," Kibo held out his hand to the center of his chest and placed his index and middle finger up. Then, he proceeded to push a small amount of Chakra from his Dantian to his fingertips.

A glowing aura of Chakra appeared around his pronounced fingers.

"You have to feel the Chakra, moving inside you. Making this hand-sign will focus the Chakra from your Dantian to a single point. Once you're able to accurately sense your own Chakra, imagine that your energy is flowing like water inside your body in a single direction. Then place it into your fingers like so and. . ."

The aura began to grow brighter and taller, "Afterwards you need to slowly lower and raise the Chakra level getting used to the sensation. The slower you can move the flame the better your control will be. Now you try the technique I'm going to be doing training of my own." Kibo said as he raised the G-Suit's parameters to x5 Normal Gravity.

It was this was another first-time sensation since reincarnating, the feeling of weakness. Kibo's sage physique that gave him extraordinary strength did nothing for him at the moment. He felt like a regular human again.

Pushing his luck and cranking the suit up to x6, Kibo started to feel the strain of not being able to breathe properly. The suit's gravity was pushing and weighing down on every muscle, stimulating them as Kibo fought against the pressure.

At the moment, Kibo went from weight 41 pounds to 246 pounds.

It was almost too much for him to bear, he wasn't just lifting with his arms, but his entire body. However, Kibo continued to go about practicing his Ancient Dragon Fist Martial Art in this state.

The first set of these techniques required a certain stance to be mastered and the body strength to handle the weight of the attack.

As he went over the technique in his head, Kibo realized that the movements and breathing seemed to be based on a strange wooden elemental style. It required a lot of rooting stances to help the practitioner draw energy from the earth.

Kibo's feet were firmly placed into the ground as he placed his arms outward in front of himself, and formed his hands into a pair of dragon claws.

Lastly, he squatted into the horse stance and began meditating.

Kibo could feel a surge of Natural Energy slowly beginning to bubble warm the inside his body, "Is this Earth Nature Essence?"

Kibo felt like he had become a plant. Each of his toes became his roots firmly attached to the ground, the sun nourished his body and Chakra.

While absorbing the Land's Nature Essence, Kibo's stance began to resemble a tree.

After a few minutes, the boy's muscles began to itch.

During the first hour, his skin began to change from his usual light complexion and into a reddish hue. To Kibo, it felt like millions of tiny hammers pounding on his entire physique, both inside and out.

Sweat dripped from every pore and dripped onto the ground, forming a small puddle at Kibo's feet.

When Kibo's knees started to shake, he was about to stop and Seiryu spoke, stopping him, "Keep at it, young Kibo. My nature is that of wood and pond. The martial art you practicing uses wood suppresses land, and in turn, the earth nurtures the body. The longer you can keep this up, the quicker your physique will evolve."

Kibo listened as he tried desperately to hang on, on the second hour; it felt like those hammers had grown more than twice in number and in pain.

Naruto watched Kibo carefully. Seeing the look of determination on Kibo's face and the effort he was putting into his training, Naruto was inspired pushed himself even harder.

The blond Uzumaki kept trying to reenact Kibo's Chakra Aura Training, he placed his body in the same position and began gathering all his chakra to his fingertips.

After more than 300 failed attempts, a 10 foot Aura appeared making Kibo whistle before laughing and saying. "That's an Uzumaki for ya!"

Over the next few hours, Kibo coached Naruto while continuing his own training. After forcing himself through the pain, Kibo found himself able to handle the irritation and pain better than before. The feeling of making his physical body stronger by the second was getting rather addicting.

"Hopefully this doesn't turn me into a masochist," Kibo thought as sweat continued to fall off his body.

Kibo then looked over to see Naruto fiddling with the Chakra resting on his fingertips. The non-fire Chakra kept bursting up and down, adjusting it to several feet and everything in between with sporadic bursts. Seeing Naruto having trouble with his control, Kibo offered his advice.

Although Kibo couldn't claim to be a master of Jutsus yet, he could, however, boast as one of the world's greatest Chakra Controllers. Kibo even had a Perk to prove it as well.

Thanks to Kibo's steady advice Naruto started to get the hang of it. Although he wasn't as good as Kibo when it came to demonstrating the technique, within a few more hours, Naruto learned to actively change the height of his Chakra Aura at will.

"Good, now try the tree-climbing exercise again," Kibo said while still holding the horse stance.

This time, when Naruto tried to step on the tree, he didn't fall right away.

Naruto smiled with an elated expression before he sprinted half of the way up the tree. Feeling himself lose his footing, Naruto marked the tree before falling.

Kibo stopped his training for a second and caught the blond hero by the scruff of his collar. While holding him like a kit, Kibo slowly pulled Naruto closer before shouting in his ear, "SLOWLY NARUTO!"

"Oww!" Naruto yelped before he rolled across the snow-covered terrain.

"You need to learn to adjust to every little minute change! The slower you can go the better your control will be," Kibo scolded.

Kibo didn't tell him that to walk on water he'd have to move his Chakra a lot faster. But that lesson would come in due time, for now, finding balance with solid objects was his training.

The sun had started to set and Naruto was covered in wounds that were being quickly healed by Kurama's Chakra.

Naruto was surprised when Kibo said, "It's because Kurama's not fighting with you anymore. So the Chakra flow isn't being reduced, that's probably why you were able to sense it so soon. I wouldn't be surprised if he was feeding you the Chakra until you got the hang of controlling your own."

[Inside Naruto's Mindscape]

"Naruto, tell that kid to shut it!" Kurama grunted.

Naruto giggled before saying, "Thank you, Kurama!"

"I'm not doing it for you, once you open that seal I'm out of here!" If Kibo heard this he would have said "Look at the embarrassed foxy."

Naruto still laughed and said, "I don't think you will. I trust you."

[Back in Reality]

"Talking to the Tsundere Fox?" Kibo asked

(A/N For those who don't know what Tsundere is you missing the joke. It means someone that hides their affection with harsh words. There are two types as far as I'm concerned, an overt Tsundere, and a closet Tsundere.)

Kibo could almost hear Kurama's hateful cries because of that last comment, "Human I will take a bite out of you someday." or something along those lines. Kibo wasn't too far from the truth.

It took him all day, but Naruto had finally gotten the hang of the Tree Climbing Exercise.

"Well, you made it to the top of the tree, ready to head back home?" Kibo asked.

Naruto looked up and smiled before saying in a satisfied tone, "Yes! Let's go home!"

Naruto really liked saying that, the blond held onto his goofy grin as he thought that he finally had a real home to go home to.

While they walked back, Naruto asked Kibo, "What's next?"

"Tomorrow you learn how to walk on water!" Kibo said as he almost laughed seeing Naruto's expression become suddenly fascinated.

"We can walk on water?" Naruto asked with stars in his eyes.

"Yes, as long as you use the same technique that you learned here today," Kibo replied.

While they walked side by side, Kibo noticed Naruto holding a small log of wood.

"What's that?" Kibo asked.

"It's a log," Naruto said with a tilted head.

"I know it's a log, what's it for, smart ass?" Kibo responded.

"It's a present for Hinata!" Naruto answered.

"You're giving her a log?" Kibo asked in an exasperated and silly tone.

"No!" Naruto looked at Kibo like he was a moron, "I took this off the top of the tree I climbed, so I'm gonna turn this into her present! Baka!"

Kibo stopped for a second when he thought, "Did Naruto just call me dumb? I better check out hell later, it probably froze over."

[Mean While at the Hokage's Mansion]

Sarutobi was in a meeting with an all too familiar one-eyed, grey-haired, Anbu member.

"Kakashi, what do you think of Yamato, is he telling the truth about finding one of Orochimaru's labs, or is it a trap?" The Hokage questioned.

Kakashi placed his hand on his chin before saying, "Probably both! Danzo isn't dumb enough to give me a false location. If he really wants my eye, he's gonna have to make the bait good enough to be convincing, Otherwise, he wouldn't be able to lure me into such an obvious trap."

Sarutobi sighed, "Okay Kakashi, your work is done. I'll pull you out of Danzo's Anbu."

"No need for that yet!" Kakashi interrupted his Hokage before adding, "I think Yamato can be saved. He doesn't see eye to eye with Danzo, and his personality is more suited towards the will of fire."

Sarutobi sighed then spoke with great authority, "Very well then. Tomorrow is your last mission as a member of Danzo's Anbu Faction. I order you to discover Orochimaru's lab and bring back the one who inherited Hashirama cells."

"Yes! Hokage Sama!" Kakashi said as he saluted Sarutobi.

[Back at the Hoshi Clan's Estate.]

Kibo and Naruto were welcomed home by their adoring parents. The two ate a big meal and headed to bed after a shower. The Next morning they told their parents they were going out to train again.

"We found an awesome place to train, so we'll be going there until the end of the week." When Kibo said this, his mother looked as if she remembered something.

"Oh yes! I almost forgot! We've received an invitation to attend the Hyuga Heiress's birthday party," Niwa then looked to her father and husband before continuing to speak, "Probably because of their interest in your eyes. It appears your Grandpa and Father have been bragging about how it rivals the Byakugan and Sharingan."

Aka and Jun began whistling and acting oblivious as Kibo stared them down and thought, "How are these guys, Ninjas?"

"Well, Naruto was invited by the Heiress herself, but having an invitation is good as well. After all, Naruto didn't let her finish speaking, so they probably wouldn't let him in," Kibo said as he took the card into his hand.

"I said I'm sorry! Why you got to keep bringing that up?!" Naruto complained with a red face.

"That's what you get for calling your older brother dumb," Kibo shot back.

Seeing that the invitation announced that he could bring a friend Kibo cheered up.

"Well, Naruto's my +1 duh!" After saying this, the two left the house when Kibo was suddenly be tackled by red-blur. "KIIIIBOOO!"

Bam! Kibo was knocked to the ground with his head hitting the concrete step.

"I came over yesterday to see if you were awake yet! And you were gone!" Karin sat on top of him while she started to cry into Kibo's shirt.

Kibo feeling very embarrassed, patted her head and said, "I'm sorry. Naruto and I went out to train. You can come and join us if you want."

"Really?!" Karin responded without a tear in her eyes.

The sudden shift in emotions made Kibo go straight-faced while implying, "Those were crocodile tears!"

Karin laughed and noticed Naruto before throwing a hand up and asking, "Heya, Naruto! How are ya doing?"

"Better than my Nii-Chan," Naruto replied trying to stifle his laughs.

Karin lifted an eyebrow at the Nii-Chan comment when Kibo plucked her off of him, stood up, and explained Naruto's adoption.

"Good for you, Naruto! You're so lucky to have him as a brother," Karin stated.

Naruto said teasingly "If you keep pressuring my brother then one day you might become my sister-in-law."

"Oh my!" Karin acted embarrassed as she slapped Naruto on the shoulder.

"There kids, just little kids, let it slide," a red-faced Kibo thought as he stood at the front of the group.

Kibo then turned his back to the two and shouted, "Come on Naruto! We have to ditch the Anbu."

Normally this would be impossible for the three. Two people getting away from the Anbu was hard enough, and now that Karin joined in, a girl without any Ninja Training, they thought it would be even harder.

But because of the importance of an upcoming Anbu mission, Naruto's watchers were short of hand.

After a few tricks here and there, the trio easily ditched the Anbu B-Squad members and headed to the training cave again.

This time Karin joined in the training as well.

Kibo had her doing the same training he gave to Naruto yesterday and was surprised to see that Karin was a fast learner.

It only took her 5 hours to master Basic Chakra Control and tree climbing, while Kibo spent the time teaching Naruto water-treading.

Kibo strolled out onto the water surprising Naruto.

As the excited blond charged his Chakra into his feet, he ran out onto the water. Only, he didn't make it very far. Three steps in his feet began to sink.

Shocked by this, Naruto lost control of his Chakra and fell into the lake dousing himself in the pool of icy-cold water.

"It's cold!!!" Naruto shouted as he quickly ran back to shore and asked, "I don't understand; why did I sink?" while rubbing his body and dancing around to warm up.

Kibo walked over to Naruto and used his Star Chakra to encase Naruto and pull the water from his body.

After drying Naruto and keeping him from turning into a popsicle, Kibo explained, "You fell because control was too slow. Water is always in motion, so you have to constantly change the level of Chakra you're applying to the surface of your feet to match the water's movement. This requires the same control you use for the tree climbing only much faster."

Naruto tried to use Kibo's advice and rushed back out, this time he made it to 10 steps before falling in.

Kibo pulled Naruto up out of the water, dried him off, and said, "Again!"

Naruto charged his feet with Chakra and dashed out again. He did this over and over until he could finally stay dry. Whenever he messed up, Naruto would use his large Chakra reserves burst out with power to jump back to shore and start over.

Once Naruto could stay afloat, Kibo returned to the shore to practice his Dragon Stance.

After he got into place he held that position and continued to watch Naruto's progress.

The young Naruto failed spectacularly over, and over again. Around his 500th attempt, he looked like he started to get the hang of it. He was even starting to jump around and catch himself before falling in the water, only getting up to his knees wet.

"Wow! Naruto looks like the very definition of perseverance." Karin sat down next to Kibo, as she had finished her tree climbing training.

Kibo smiled and said, "Yes and it's that very spirit that will allow him to accomplish great things in the future."

Kibo then turned to Karin and asked, "Why don't you join him,"

Karin laughed because she knew Kibo wanted her to help Naruto.

"Hearing an explanation from multiple points of view can be helpful to him," Kibo thought as Karin attempted to walk on the water.

To her surprise, it wasn't as easy as it looked. She fell 3 times before she started to gain some control, causing Naruto quite a bit of heartache.

"No fair, how'd you learn it so quickly! I fell in thirty times before I got the hang of it!" Naruto said with tears in his eyes.

"It's easy, here let me show you a trick!" Karin then began to explain her process. The two chatted back and forth while exchanging information.

When the sun had started to set, Naruto could be seen standing proudly next to Karin on top of the surface of the water. Standing in place while no longer sinking was considered reaching mastery of the Water-Treading technique.

With a quick bout of speed, Naruto and Karin moved around wildly on the water's surface in a game of tag.

Kibo was surprised to see not a single ripple on the surface forming as two jumped back and forth.

With constant advice and direction from Kibo and Karin, Naruto was picking this up way faster than he did in the show.

He only needed people to believe in him and have the patience to explain these things in a way that he could understand.

Something he only saw coming from Jiraiya. Kakashi tried too hard on teamwork training and not enough time giving help to each individual member of their team. One should be able to focus on both teamwork and personal improvement of their students to be great master teachers.

Naruto then walked up to Kibo and asked, "Now can we take on the cave?"

Kibo crossed his arms and laughed before saying, "There are still two more phases to your Chakra control training. On top of that, these next ones will be a lot harder, and a little painful."

The two gulped after seeing that strange look in Kibo's eyes.

When what Kibo said next made Naruto switch from scared to jumping for joy, "Let's go grab some food at Ichiraku, I starving!"

"Ichiraku?" Karin asked with a puzzled look on her face.

Naruto instantly chimed in informing Karin of the greatness of Ichiraku ramen.

[Meanwhile at one of Orochimaru's lairs.]

Bam! An explosion from the ceiling leading into a cellar rang throughout the building.

Two silhouettes came down from the room above and into the underground lab.

The smoke and dust quickly faded away revealing two Anbu members standing side by side. The two were Kakashi and Yamato.

The room was full of research papers and various pieces of mechanical lab equipment. The two started to head towards the central part of the lair when Yamato pulled out a Kunai and tried to stab at Kakashi.

However, as he stabbed him in the back, a puff of smoke appeared in Kakashi's place, leaving Yamato's Kunai inside a log.

"Substitution Jutsu, when?" Before he could speak further. Kakashi held a Kunai to Yamato's neck.

"Why don't we calm down and have a nice long chat," Kakashi calmly spoke next to Yamato's ear.

In response, Yamato's body suddenly turned into a wooden puppet and said, "We have nothing to talk about!"

Yamato quickly went through his hand signs and wooden pillars quickly encased most of Kakashi's body.

"Why didn't you dodge?" Yamato asked, knowing full well, that Kakashi was fast enough to avoid being imprisoned.

"Because I want you to join Sarutobi's faction. Yamato you're not fit for the darkness of Danzo. You belong in the light alongside the Hokage," Kakashi stated with a straight-face.

Under Yamato's mask, the young Shinobi's expressions were betraying him. He actually agreed with Kakashi and the current Hokage's methods, but his place was at Danzo's side. Yamato didn't know of any other way to live.

After settling his conflicting emotions, Yamato could only think of one way out.

"Kakashi what's so great about the Will of Fire? After all, you used your friend as a tool too, right? You killed her," Yamato said with a tone of mockery.

Kakashi's eyes widened before he shouted, "You don't know what you're talking about!"

"Yes, I do! Her name was Rin right? You used her death to further your status in the village, didn't you? If the great Kakashi is capable of killing a Jinchuuriki then everyone would forget about your traitorous father."

Kakashi felt anger boiling under his skin as he looked to Yamato, "Don't talk about Rin like you know something."

CHHIII!

The wood surrounding Kakashi shattered revealing a powerful blade of Lightning Chakra surrounding his fist.

With a blinding burst of speed, Kakashi charged at Yamato dragging along the lightning in the palm of his hand.

Yamato placed up dozens of wooden barriers to try and stop Kakashi, but it was no use. Kakashi's Chidori easily cut through them and broke through his defenses.

When Kakashi had finally reached Yamato, Yamato thought it was finally over; he wouldn't have to betray the village's goals or Danzo.

However, the killing blow never came.

Kakashi stood over Yamato with a sad look in his eyes. "I failed to protect them. I failed to protect her because I was alone. Yamato please join us. I don't want to see any more of my friends die."

Yamato was stunned at Kakashi's mercy. The words he spoke had a great impression on the young Shinobi. As Yamato laid there, contemplating Kakashi's words, he could only sigh as he thought, "So I'm a friend, huh? Not a bad feeling."

"You stay here, I'm gonna check out the rest of this lab," Kakashi said to the immobile Yamato.

After looking around for a while, Kakashi finally found what appeared to be the main lab, three transparent brightly lit pods were filled with a green liquid.

Once Kakashi saw what was inside, he was stunned and horrified.

The first chamber appeared to contain a large snake with a human face.

The second appeared even more human. It was looked like a muscled lizard-man covered in white scales.

But it was the final pod that made Kakashi breathless. A young-looking boy with snow-white hair was curled up into a ball, floating inside the chamber's liquid.

Kakashi began to read the nearby papers seeing the first two were labeled as failures he expected the third to be a success. However, it was labeled as a failure because the clone refused to obey Orochimaru's orders.

"Subject shows no signs of being compliant. He constantly tries to escape and kill the original. There are request to send the subject back to the lab in order to be scrapped and reused as spare parts." Kakashi was about to place the scroll down and grab another when the glass surrounding the first two tanks began to crack.

Two large Orochimaru snake clones began to charge at Kakashi. He attempted to use his Chidori but using the Sharingan to attack Yamato earlier had left him spent.

The giant human-faced serpent leaped out to snap its jaw's on Kakashi's neck.