Chunin Exams 5/?: Fuinjutsu Craze

-Naruko, Location: ??????-

Her ink pen slowly moved across the scroll leaving red script imprinted on it, her blood imbuing into the special chakra paper the scroll was made out of. The room was silent apart from three separate breaths - two of them being her own. 

The slow scratching of Naruko's pen continued for a few more minutes before she leaned back, eyes glancing to and fro across the scroll. "This should work, what do you think?" With that said she pushed the scroll across the table, causing it to stop directly in front of a golden retriever-sized dark orange, nearly brown fox. The fox looked up, its eyes opening from his slumber. 

"Mhm...." Slitted red eyes roamed the scroll before snorting. "Barely. But, it should work. The only problem is that he won't be happy."

At those words from the small version of Kurama Naruko snorted. "Who cares? If he wants to try something we'll just beat him up."

Kurama grumbled at that before closing his eyes. "I don't relish fighting one of the few things that can kill me."

"Baah! Don't believe in that, y'know. He's just an old fossil created by another old fossil." There was only a snort in response. "Yeesh, have some faith in me. When have I ever steered us wrong?"

A red-slitted eye opened, staring her down from across the table. "Your past version caught every Biju then decided it was smart to give it to every other major Ninja Village. Your past version created the worst possible Shinobi Ranking system man has ever conceived."

"Well - you can't blame Hashirama for being dumb on ME! It's not like I can use Mokuton or anything." The second red-slitted eye opened, glaring at her, and Naruko shuffled awkwardly. "Okay, not YET. The third step for water and earth isn't perfected, and you being inside of me is making it difficult I understand now why that Hokage version of me with Six Paths chakra wasn't just using Wood Style."

"I hardly believe you can't use the Ninjutsu you invented a thousand years ago, and multiple versions of you since have used." 

Naruko shrugged. "No offense Kura-chan, but uh, your chakra REALLY doesn't like it. Something about the wood styles ties to the Shinju Tree."

Kurama shivered at the mention of the tree. "Well, good anyways. You don't need that blasted wood style. That Rasengan of the Fourth Hokage is a much more proper Jutsu."

"You only say that because he mimicked the Bijuudama!"

Kurama sniffed, a bit of pride running through him. "Well, I was the one that first used the Bijuudama and its variants, teaching the others. It's good to know even a thousand years later the humans are still only making pale imitations of my majesty." 

'You only used it first because you're the biggest shard of the Ten-Tails with the most chakra, and your gift is raw chakra manipulation compared to the others who got Kekkei Genkai or other unique abilities...' "What was that? I think someone was complaining about the vast sensory abilities, chakra regeneration, wound regeneration, easy mastery of all non-elemental jutsu, on top of oh-so willingly giving you access to the greatest chakra in the entire world they have. Would you like me to give you a Dojutsu or Kekkei Genkai on top of that?"

Naruko in response? Nodded. "Sure! A Dojutsu sounds good. How about giving me Speed Release as well?" Kurama stared deadpanned for a few moments before shaking his head with a huff. 

"You always need to win."

"Not true! I lose all the time... to myself." Some time passed as Naruko continued working on the scroll, occasionally dipping the ink pen into her blood, before she looked up. "Kurama."

"On it." One of his tails lanced out towards the corner of the room, and a moment later a surge of memories flooded Naruko. 'Ugh, another failure. Maybe I should have just accepted the Mount Myoboku contract.' 

"It lasted longer than last time."

Naruko frowned, "But not long enough to even enter an improper Sage Mode, once I reach a certain amount it floods in too fast. I think our combined chakras are actually too strong, and at a certain point are acting as a magnet." 

Kurama nodded. "Likely. There's also another reason the Sannin learned Sage Mode so early in their career, and why that Hokage of yours can't do it."

Naruko raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Why?"

"The closer you are to nature, the more it wants to be with you. So obviously, compared to the Sannin who learned it after only mastering their first or second element..."

Naruko's eyes widened, "Of course! It doesn't help that the Monkey Clan has no element - or you could even say it has all the elements. Say, compared to the Toad clan that clearly is Water and Fire, the Yang of Lady Katsuya, and the Yin and Earth of the snake clan. On top of me having mastered or mostly mastered all five elements on top of great proficiency with Yin and Yang..." 

Kurama nodded before his snout awkwardly moved into some kind of bastardization of a horrendous smile. "Of course, much like Hashirama who there were already rumors of her being the strongest person alive when she learned Sage Mode, you will be all the stronger for it - especially while learning with no teacher, and no summoning contract to filter it for you. Once you master it - you should truly master it, not like that Father of yours. Or how it's taken decades of that foolish Toad Sage to get where he is now." The disdain dripped from Kurama as he finished his small speech before he once more closed his eyes.

Naruko's orange-tipped nails gently tapped the table for a few moments, taking in the speech and the new information. "Interesting... then I wonder, how hard will the Sage Mode be if I added a few Kekkei Genkai?" Kurama's eyes didn't open, not that she expected them to. "Interesting. Maybe I should try it... no, no. I need the Sage Mode soon, just in case. But the question remains, will it be ready for the Chunin Exam finals? Oh well, it doesn't matter either way, I shouldn't need it... as long as I get this correct."

With that said, she worked on her little pet project for another hour, before beginning to work on a different scroll. One that in the immediate was nowhere near as important as the first one - yet for the long term was infinitely more so. 'Imagine the day our Genin are as physically strong as Jonin, our Chunin as strong as the 'Elite' Jonin, and the Jonin as strong as Kage...' staring at the scroll, a mad grin slowly made its way across her face. 'Every generation has slowly improved our training methods across a thousand years, all accumulating to this hoard of knowledge! With my father's notes, Uzumaki Fuinjutsu, and...'

As her thoughts trailed off Naruko gripped the table the mad grin only widening, 'it's only a matter of time. Each generation has to take a step forward in progress, or else we'll slide back. We actually see this in my own generation if I hadn't taken over - somehow, someway, most of the Konoha 12 were deemed not fit for Jounin for one reason or another, that's unacceptable! We have clan heads that aren't even Jonin NOW! It's disgusting. We have tens of thousands of active-duty Shinobi, yet how many Jonin do we truly have? Our ANBU are pathetically weak for where they should be, with all the resources poured into them.' 

Staring at the scroll laughter bubbled up. 'No more! When this is completed, it'll be one of the many steps that we need to take to become a true superpower - and the first true step to securing our world from outside forces. Not only that but with this...'

Her hands clenched, remembering her own training that had stalled. 'I've mastered every single Bodyflicker exercise. There are no weights that can fit my speed training, and I've almost gotten to the highest weight for the rest of my body... but with this! With this, I will no longer have that limitation! Double, five times, ten times, a hundred! I'll be able to infinitely increase the weight on me, no one's training ever stopping - the only thing stopping them is their determination and will!' 

At that thought Kurama's eyes snapped open, "Including us."

Naruko grinned, understanding exactly the 'us' he meant. "Indeed why don't you thank your great, wonderful, and beautiful Neesama for that?" He snorted closing his eyes again. "Hey, that's rude y'know! This is a wonderful gift for you, and yet you don't even thank me for it?"

"Ask again when it's actually complete." 

"Neh - neh! You just admitted you'd thank me one day. You do love me Kuramaaaaaaaa~"

"How about your 'third' project?"

The words where were perfectly innocent, yet Naruko could sense the mockery, and in response, she groaned. "It's so bad! It's so fucking bad Kura-chan. I didn't think it would be so hard, y'know? It shoulda been easy."

"Creating the most important Fuinjutsu to ever exist was never going to be 'easy'. It's something even the Sage would not be able to do."

Naruko snorted at that. "Of course not! That old man was creating everything himself, whereas I have a thousand years of research and effort for dozens upon dozens of different pathways for chakra. This SHOULD be easy!"

Kurama's tails swayed slightly, yet his eyes remained closed. "You know it shouldn't be easy. You're just complaining because you're finally truly struggling with something. You knew very well before starting that this would take you years, if not decades to complete, I should know, you ranted to me for hours about how it would be the final step in revolutionizing the Shinobi World, and Chakra, forever. How you would on the back of this ascend an entire world to Godhood, each Shinobi one day surpassing the Sage."

Naruko pouted shaking a finger at him. "You-you! You big bully, stop picking on your big sister! Let her complain freely, y'know?!? Besides, you know this Fuinjutsu is far more important for you and everyone else than me! It's not even going to work on me!" 

Kurama's tails stilled for a moment before he growled. "That's your own fault." 

"Sure~ but if everyone was using the Fuinjutsu, then no one could look on from the outside to make sure nothing went wrong. Besides, by then I'll be strong enough to fix everything if it DOES go wrong, whereas no one else would be. Or should I go and awaken Sasuke's Rinnegan now?" 

A feral growl rumbled out of Kurama, causing the room to shake, yet his eyes remained closed. "Don't you dare! That spawn of Indra is insufferable, and is certainly not worthy of the Sage's Eyes." 

Unseen, Naruko's mouth twitched upwards. "I agree."

"He's a horrendous, evil- huh?!?"  

"I agree. Sasuke is the worst possible person to be given the Rinnegan. But sadly, so are all the Uchiha. The curse on their bloodline runs too strong. But..." Naruko shook her head.

"There needs to be more than you and I Kura-chan. I am strong, but you know just as well as I do the limitations of Shadow Clones the stronger you get. At some point, even a single small increase in strength lets you fight dozens, hundreds, or thousands of shadow clones of someone only slightly weaker than you. It's the will of the Universe seemingly... Their useful, but it can't just be me alone. I can't fight every battle, every war. Nagato, the masked man, Kaguya, and everything else out there... I can't do it alone, WE can't do it alone y'know?"

There were a few moments of grumbling from Kurama before he nodded. "Fine, I get it. Just, why him?"

Naruko's lips twitched upwards 'Truly his hate of the Uchiha is amusing.' "Who else? Shall I slap some Hashirama or my own cells on Itachi and see if he awakens the Rinnegan?"

At that, the fur on his dog-sized body stuck up on end. "Enough you crazy woman! I won't listen to you anymore and this damn conversation!" with a poof of smoke he forcibly dispelled her clone that he was inhabiting, leaving her alone in the room.

'Hmph. That's what I thought. Now, how do I stabilize this vertex?'  Time passed, her pen scritch-scratching across the scroll, before finally she set it down. 'Ugh, truly difficult to figure out this training method. It would be so much easier in any other Shonen universe...' Shaking her head Naruko would slowly stand up stretching out her back a loud groan escaping from her mouth at the pop, pop, pop that came from her back. "Alright Kura-chan, let's see how much more we can push this seal before it fully breaks. 'Breaking the seal instead of unlocking it would truly be bad. The seal being lockable is one of our safeguards against the planet eaters after all.' 

With that thought, she stepped out of the room, and all of a sudden she was in a titanic training hall. 'Heh, who needs Wood Style for housing when you have Earth Style, infinite Shadow Clones, and Fuinjutsu?' "Let's work on control today buddy..."

Flipping through handseals she slapped her hands on the ground, causing the room to rumble before a large mound of earth appeared. With a second set of signs within moments she had created a brand new waterfall. 'Let's just slap a seal here...' "Ta-dah~ perfectly replicating Yamato. Now let's go 'Rama-chan!" One bubbly red tail appeared behind her as a vibrant red cloak of bubbling angry chakra seeped from her skin. "Test number one, waterfall walking with one tail..." 

-Kakashi Hatake POV-

"Hey there! I'm Mamashi Famake." Scratching the back of his head, he let out a big smile on his childlike face and ignored the deadpan look from Sasuke and Sakura. "I got lost from my Team, you wouldn't mind helping out a fellow Konoha ninja right?"

Sakura looked at Sasuke, who let out a sigh. "Sure 'Mamashi Famake' we can help you out!" The words that escaped from Sasuke were with the air of someone who didn't want to deal with what was happening. Sakura, on the other hand, was much more upbeat!

"Yeah, Sensei would get mad at us if she knew we let a fellow Konoha ninja be alone!"

A happy grin appeared on 'Mamashi's' face. "Thanks! Hey, hey. Isn't it perfect? You don't have a third member, and the scrolls let 3 people pass!"

Sasuke let out a sigh, while Sakura giggled. "That sounds like a plan Mamashi-san. I'm sure even our sensei would approve of it." A shiver went down his spine. 'Oh no, that means something is going to go wro-'  Time slowed down. One second turned into an infinite number as his hands blurred, his instincts trained from being on his version of Team 7 acting up. 

"EARTH STYLE: Multi Mud Wall!" His chakra surged wildly as his hands slapped on the ground, and a titanic multi-directional mudwall appeared, multiple feet thick on each side.

A moment passed, and he looked around having expected something to have impacted the Earth Walls by now. 'I'm not just being paranoid right? Never!'

BOOM! A titanic wave of air shattered the forest in front of the wall, before buffeting the wall. Yet, the wall held strong.

Sakura and Sasuke stared at each other, dead looks in their eyes, and a second later Sakura turned towards 'Mamashi' "This is YOUR fault! This happens EVERY time we're on a mission with you! Sensei even said it happens with her too!"

He rubbed the back of his head, "Maah.... I'm sure it's fine, we should probably run though. Besides, I've never even met you before!"

Sasuke grunted, "Why? There's no one in this exam that can fight us."

"Is that so Sasuke-kun?" A haunting voice came from directly on top of the wall, a feminine figure, with long black hair whipping in the wind.

'Mamashi' let out a whimper. "No! No! Not again! Why does this always happen to me?"

Sakura sighed. "Who is it this time?" Instead of saying anything unlike his teammate, Sasuke simply activated his Sharingan, 3-Tomoe appearing in each eye, before he grimaced.

"We're surrounded by snakes with chakra."

'Mamashi' spoke up, answering Sakura's question. "Orochimaru of the Sannin, the most wanted criminal in Konoha's history... I knew I should have never come here! This always happens! Damn it, why can't I just go on ordinary missions, like saving a country from a tyrannical dictator who refuses to give up his position of power, all in the hopes of keeping his land forever snowing?" A force whispered into his head that he in fact didn't have a mission, and that he was willingly doing this, but like always - he ignored it. 'Shut up conscious! I need to focus on Orochimaru.' 

Orochimaru, from the top of the wall, sighed. "Stop acting the fool Kakas- GAH!"

A sparkling hand pierced directly through Orochimaru's heart, only for a moment later he turned into mud. "Maah.... I never play the fool, only the Jester, don't you know that Orochimaru-san?"

A second Mamashi appeared on top of the wall, "We should still run now though. We're not enough to fight Orochimaru, we're lucky he's in a playful mood."

A second Orochimaru appeared on a tree branch above the walls, holding a sign. "Out! Out! Out we go Team!" With that in a flash he scooped up Sakura into his arms and leaped forward, Sasuke following him, eyes and face still looking completely dead inside.

A second later and a titanic snake burst from the ground where they were just standing, and thousands of snakes came from Orochimaru's sleeves, rapidly closing in on them. "Every mission... this isn't even a mission and it's not happening!"

Hearing Sakura's slightly hysteric words, Sasuke would sigh. "It's only going to get worse when we start going on actual missions with Naruko-sensei Sakura." Behind them, the titanic snake was cut in half by a flash of lightning, before hundreds of the snakes were torched by the Shadow Clone.

A whimper escaped from Sakura's lips, still in the arms of 'Mamashi', even as they hurriedly ran away. "Luckily, it appears we've run into someone who can perfectly stall Orochimaru!" As 'Mamashi' said those words, Sasuke snorted. 

"Hn. I'm sure it was luck. Who can even fight Orochimaru in these exams anyway?" 'He's grown under Naruko's care. Without her, I'm sure he would be itching to fight Orochimaru... They didn't even notice his Killing Intent. Or at least, aren't focusing on it. Aah right, he asked a question.' 

"Well, it's only a clone of Orochimaru... or a few dozen of them. But it appears the Kazekage decided to group all of his children in a team and then throw them in the Chunin Exam. His daughter has been a Genin for six years by the way. His son who's the middle child has been one for 3 years, and his youngest son was so talented he didn't even go to the academy." 'Let them think Suna is still our ally, and that they weren't waiting nearby for Orochimaru's attack, just to 'soothe' us and our fears of a Jinchuriki inside of our village.' 

Those words were accented by a Tsunami of sand, a forest-rending barrage of wind, and hundreds of needles slicing through the air behind them. "Oh look! They made contact, time to run even faster now!" With a grin on his 'Mamashi' grabbed Sasuke by the scruff of his neck, and like a bolt of lightning booked it away from the fight behind them.

-Naruko Exam 2 Overwatch Clone-

"He did that on purpose." Eye twitching Naruko let out a sigh and leaned against the railing. "Fucking Kakashi. Fucking Orochimaru... Of course, Kakashi had to join my team, and Orochimaru had to attack my team." Shaking her head, she flicked out a Tri-Pronged Kunai filling it with wind chakra, and in a blur, it disappeared from her eyesight.

"Well, if we want to play like that... Let's see how our clones do this time, Orochimaru?" She disappeared in a flash.