chapter 8

Hiruzen [POV]

"You should leave the kyuubi brat to me, I'll make it to be Konoha's greatest weapon"

An old man with bandages covering one of his eyes, a cross shaped scar on his chin and using a walking stick said to Hiruzen.

"Danzo, how many times do I have to tell you that I'm not giving you that child? He is the child of the 4th, and I won't allow him to be made into a mere tool"(Hiruzen)

"So you're just going to waste his talent like that!?"(Danzo)

"Waste? I think you're getting too old, you forgot that Minato managed to rise up to be one of the strongest kage from a mere orphan. And Naruto managed to survive by himself for two years in the woods without being found out, which shows how much talent he has. Sure there are suspicion that he became a spy but the anbu and root haven't find anything suspicious from their watch"(Hiruzen)

Danzo scowled at Hiruzen but didn't say anything. Hiruzen knows he doesn't believe what he said, but even so he can't have the village treasure become a tool for Danzo.

*Knock knock*

A knock on the door disperse the tense atmosphere in the room. A voice called from outside.

"Hokage-sama, this is Shisui, I come to report"(Shisui)

Danzo turned around and left without saying a word, Shisui was surprised that the door was opened without any answers and calmed himself and got inside after Hiruzen gestured for him to come inside.

"So how is it?"(Hiruzen)

"The mission was successful and no problem showed up, the detailed report is in this document. In Naruto's case, the two attackers stated that they did it in revenge to kyuubi for killing their family six years ago. As you command, the two are handed over to Ibiki for further investigation"(Shisui)

"Alright, what about Naruto?"(Hiruzen)

"He's save, and currently I leave him with Itachi"(Shisui)

Hiruzen paused for a bit before asking Shisui again.

"What do you think about Naruto?"(Hiruzen)

"I think he's a talented kid, from what I saw in the attack, he has quite the talent if he can use genjutsu like that and be able to stand his ground against two stronger opponents at that age. I heard Kurenai has been teaching him so he at least have a good foundation in taijutsu and genjutsu, and he is good with shuriken from all the hunting it seems"(Shisui)

"Is there anything special about his genjutsu?"(Hiruzen)

"No, his genjutsu can be said as a variant of henge jutsu, what I meant is that the way he use his genjutsu are good considering his age"(Shisui)

"Ah, so that's what you meant"(Hiruzen)

Hiruzen was actually asking about the genjutsu being special, but it seems Shisui didn't know that Naruto learned this genjutsu on his own. He hoped he could get an opinion from the Uchiha, but it seems he expected too much from that short battle.

"Alright, I leave Naruto to you, I can't guarantee he won't be attacked if he is alone today, but tomorrow it should be safe enough, but just in case, I'll order an increase in the village patrol for a few days. You are dismissed"(Hiruzen)

"Ha!"(Shisui)

Shisui answered and left the office. Hiruzen takes a puff of his pipe and thinks of how he should proceed from here.

---

"Tenzo, call Kurenai here"(Hiruzen)

Kurenai seems to open up to Naruto, and Naruto is close to Hinata, Kurenai's adopted child. If he could get Kurenai to teach Naruto genjutsu, not only he can get Naruto's trust, he can also train Naruto earlier without being too obvious. And if Naruto did receive tutoring from an unknown person, Kurenai might notice it as she gets to know him.

*Knock knock*

"Hokage-sama, this is Kurenai"(Kurenai)

After a few minutes, a knock on the door brings Hiruzen back from his thoughts. Kurenai arrived while he was lost in thought it seems.

"Enter"(Hiruzen)

Kurenai enters the room, wearing her shinobi attire. White bandages like clothes decorated with seal marks. It helps enhance her genjutsu, making it easy to put people into genjutsu, and also strengthen it. Though she is above others in genjutsu even without it, earning her the title of genjutsu mistress, this seal boosts her ability even further.

"Kurenai, you are close with Naruto, yes?"(Hiruzen)

"Yes that's true"(Kurenai)

"This morning he was attacked inside the Naka river forest, he was saved by Shisui who was on his way back from mission"(Hiruzen)

"Shisui explained that Naruto used genjutsu to deceive the attacker and use it to attack back, did you teach him that?"(Hiruzen)

Kurenai was surprised, so she really didn't teach that to Naruto. So his information wasn't wrong on that side.

"I see, so he is born with great talent in genjutsu then"(Hiruzen)

Kurenai seems to understand his thoughts as she asks.

"So I'm to teach him genjutsu?"(Kurenai)

Hiruzen didn't deny it. He takes a puff of his pipe before speaking.

"Yes, you are close with him, and he is talented in genjutsu. Well I won't say much, you're already close with him, I'll leave the judgement to you"(Hiruzen)

"I understand hokage-sama"(Kurenai)

"Alright, until tomorrow Naruto is under Shisui's protection, so you can ask or observe him after"(Hiruzen)

"I understand, I'll take my leave"(Kurenai)

---

Naruto [POV]

After Shisui leaves, Itachi helps Naruto and Sasuke with their technique. Naruto with the side throw, that he hasn't mastered as good as Sasuke, and Sasuke on how to be more accurate.

After that Naruto and Sasuke spar with each other, Naruto wins by focusing on evasion. Sasuke was focused on attacking, most of the time too reckless so Naruto managed to use the opening to win.

Sasuke swore that he would win and challenged him again and again, getting more frustrated each time he lost. Itachi had to give Sasuke a promise of helping him with taijutsu for him to calm down.

Finally Shisui came back and they separated as it was getting late. Naruto follows Shisui to his house after hearing Sasuke promise to him that he will win the next time they spar.

Shisui lives with his parents. His father is a former shinobi who became sickly after the last war, his father has been getting worse ever since and couldn't even recognize him and his mother now. So Shisui became the breadwinner of his family.

When the two arrive at Shisui's house, an older woman with long wavy black hair and black eyes greets them at the entrance. Shisui's mother is a kind looking woman, the wrinkles that start to show make her look like the picture of a kind grandmother in Naruto's mind.

"Oh who is this?"

"This is Naruto, the hokage asked me to look after him until tomorrow"(Shisui)

"Hello, I'm Shizuka, nice to meet you"(Shizuka)

The woman talked to Naruto sweetly. Naruto smiles and introduces himself.

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki, nice to meet you too"(Naruto)

"Come on in, dinner is almost ready"(Shizuka)

"Excuse me"(Naruto)

Naruto eats together with the family and for the first time seeing how it's like to have a real family. Of course he loves his mother, she is all he could ever hope for, but he longs for the normal interaction that others take for granted. Having his mother cook for him, eating together with his family, to just normally having your family there beside him.

That's why he wanted to hurry and build a haven where he could have that normalcy with his mother. But he needed a really safe place for that, and an ally who would stand by his side and protect him.

Shisui's father, Suisei, is bedridden and has to have someone to take care of him all the time, so when Shisui is on mission, his mother takes care of the father and Shisui would help when he got back like today.

After all that they go to rest for the day. Naruto wakes up in the middle of the night, making sure no one is awake and watching him, he sneaks out to the back of the house.

Once outside, Kurama slowly lets her chakra out and makes a copy of herself. She will find the Kurama clan while Naruto stays low just in case someone is still trying to attack him. She needs to find out the current state of the Kurama clan and decide how to proceed forward.

"Then I'll be going"(Kurama)

Kurama gives Naruto a hug and kisses his forehead before going on her way. Naruto gets back to the house and goes back to sleep.

---

In the morning Naruto eats breakfast with Shisui's family again before going back home. Shisui is a bit worried that he would be attacked again, but Naruto assures him that he should be safer now that the festival is over. Inside the village, the shinobi wouldn't attack him openly, and he can easily run away from the villagers.

Near his apartment Naruto meets up with the foxes and together they go back to his apartment and see if everything is fine. His front door has been torn open, and the inside is a wrecking mess.

Naruto didn't find anything missing but could tell an unwelcome smell, someone has been here. He didn't care much as he doesn't have anything that must be hidden here, but he and his foxes are really not a fan of dogs.

Though it is safer than yesterday, Naruto decided to stay low for a few days while repairing his apartment. In that time his mother managed to find the Kurama clan, they're living a secluded life just like what Shisui has told him. Currently she is observing them and searching for useful information so she can decide if they're still allies or if they have changed.

A few days later Naruto went to Hinata's house, doing his usual tag game with Hinata. After some time, Kurenai comes home and approaches the two.

"Naruto, I heard from Shisui that you can use genjutsu?"(Kurenai)

"Hmm? Oh! Yeah I can do something similar"(Naruto)

"Can you show me for a bit?"(Kurenai)

Naruto nodded and slowly made an overlapping clone but without the whisker and black mark on his face. After he's done, he makes the clone walk away from his body.

"I see, this is certainly interesting, a type of henge and clone jutsu, and you didn't even use hand signs to use it… What do you say I teach you genjutsu?"(Kurenai)

After analyzing Naruto's technique, Kurenai said to him with a smile.

"Sure, Shisui also told me that you are the best genjutsu user in Konoha, so I'm looking forward to it"(Naruto)

Naruto answered with a smile, with him learning from someone, he can use his illusion more freely in the future.

"Um, what about me?"(Hinata)

"Of course I'll teach you too, with the chakra control that Hyuuga have, even if you didn't go deep into it, you can be a good genjutsu user in no time"(Kurenai)

Hinata makes a determined look as she smiles. Both Naruto and Hinata are eager to learn the new stuff, and so they ask Kurenai to start then and there.

"Ok, first, I'll explain about genjutsu to the two of you"(Kurenai)

"There are two types of genjutsu, one is the mind type and the second is the physical type. What Naruto just uses is the physical type, while the mind type is one that affects the mind, making your target hallucinating or similar stuff.

In Konoha, there are two kekkei genkai users that excel In each type of genjutsu. The Uchiha who excel in mind type genjutsu and the Kurama who excel in physical type genjutsu.

The first type of genjutsu, the mind type, is done by disturbing the target's chakra and targeting the brain and making it hallucinate, sleep, or just disturbing their senses like what the user wants. This is hard to do for those who don't have good chakra control and are smart. The best known users are the Uchiha clan with their sharingan.

The physical type on the other hand is easier to use, shinobi use their chakra and mold it to mimic something they wanted though it's not solid. But until today only has little variety compared to the first type. Common uses of the second type are clone technique and henge, a non lethal technique that is visible but not solid. The Kurama clan specialized in this, even more they can put people in physical harm with their physical genjutsu."

Kurenai starts with teaching them the simple one first, the jutsu that they'll learn when they enter the academy, the henge, and clone jutsu. As he was already able to do it, Naruto sat on the side while Kurenai focused on Hinata so they could be on the same ground later.

Kurenai teaches Hinata the necessary hand seal for the jutsu and how to mold her chakra. As a hyuuga, Hinata was able to coat herself with chakra easily, but to mold the chakra to do the henge jutsu she needs to properly imagine what she wants it to look like. Clone jutsu is a bit harder where she needs to control her chakra outside of her body on top of molding it to the image she has.

It takes her a while to be able to do it properly, even with Kurenai helping her along the way. then it's time for them to learn about genjutsu.

First, Kurenai teaches them how to know if they are inside a genjutsu. She explains that because the user needs to imagine the genjutsu they want to put their target on, there is alway a flaw inside it. by finding this flaw, they can tell if you are inside a genjutsu and proceed to dispel it. For both Naruto and Hinata, that is an easy thing as their eyes are special.

Dispeling a genjutsu is done by disturbing one's chakra flow, either doing it by themselves or with the help of others. Other than that, inflicting pain on oneself can do the trick too, though the injury might become a hindrance in battle so it is a last resort. And so Kurenai starts teaching them how to get out of genjutsu, alternating between him and Hinata, putting one of them in simple genjutsu and teaching the other how to pull them out of the genjutsu.

___

Kurenai [POV]

kurenai is watching the two kids learning to pull others out of genjutsu. While hinata has trouble deciding the amount of chakra wave to disturb naruto's chakra, naruto's natural large chakra reserve helps him easily make a chakra wave to disturb hinata's chakra. though that makes kurenai wonder how naruto was able to have that good chakra control with that big reserve.

usually having big chakra reserves since young make someone have trouble controlling their chakra. It's like handling a large axe and a carving knife. An axe is heavy and the balance is towards the front, making it powerful but harder to handle than a knife which is lighter and more balanced. A genjutsu is like a detailed carving and Naruto is doing it like he's making a carving using a large axe while normally you use a carving knife to do it.

"Were all the uzumaki like that?"(Kurenai)

Uzumaki are known for their talent in seals so it makes sense that they have good chakra control or they'll blow up all the seals they're trying to make. But it's envious that they can do that so naturally.

When she first saw him and Hinata having their spar, she was surprised at how Hinata was not afraid like usual. Changing her mindset from a battle to hurt your opponent to a game, making her more confident in what she is doing. Maybe that's what made him different, he didn't think like a shinobi. He didn't think of his chakra as a weapon, it's part of his body like his arm and legs.

It is known that the Uzumaki are a peaceful clan. Maybe that different way of thinking is what makes them strong even though they don't like conflict. When someone is holding a weapon, they would be careful, they would hesitate, and would be afraid of both hurting others and hurting themselves. But moving their limbs is an easy and sure thing, that's how they use their chakra, not as a weapon that can hurt but a part of their body.

Looking at Hinata, she knew this was the right way. The girl was not born a shinobi, she is a kind hearted girl that got stuck in a shinobi family. Kurenai decided to change her mindset too for the girl's sake, Asuma has been similar with the teaching of the fire temple so it's not novel to her, making it easy for her to decide. Asuma would be happy if he knew that she chose this way.