168. The Four- Tails

"Thanks for your help, Izuna-san."

Shibuki thanks Izuna as he rebukes Fu.

"Fu next time… don't run away on your own. You would be grounded for the next month."

"But… but Fu wants to make some friends."

She points towards Naruto.

"He is Fu's first friend."

Sigh…

Shibuki sighs and apologizes to Izuna.

"I am sorry for the trouble."

He turns towards the badly beaten rogue shinobis.

"The Takigakure village will take care of these traitors. After that incident ten years ago, Takigakure has been short on manpower."

Shibuki orders his subordinates.

"Very well… then we will be on our way."

Izuna nods his head and signals Naruto to follow him.

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"Our next destination is the Land of Earth followed by the Land of Medicine."

Izuna and Naruto walk through the forest as Izuna summarizes the destination of their journey.

'My next target is 'Four Tails'.'

Izuna enters his mindscape as he releases a wisp of chakra from his hand.

'Together with this… I have amassed the chakra of the Nine-tails, Eight-tails, Seven-Tails, Six-tails, and three tails. I am only missing the chakra of Five-tails, Four-tails, Two-tails, and One-tail.'

The chakra wisp floats in front of him, together with other chakras.

'I got lucky with the Eight-tails chakra. That snake Orochimaru was harvesting Eight-tails chakra in one of his secret hideout labs.'

Sigh…

Izuna sighs and continues to move towards the Land of Earth.

'It seems to be almost impossible to harness the power of Sage of Six-Paths without the chakra of the Nine-tailed beasts.

I will use the chakra of the tailed-beasts as a catalyst to form the Six Paths Chakra.'

"Nii-san… can you remove the chakra seal? It is getting harder to catch up with your pace. Huff… huff…"

Naruto breathes heavily as he follows Izuna.

"Naruto… that's my normal pace… you need to train more if you want to become the Hokage."

"I will become the strongest Hokage… Dattebyo!!"

Naruto clenches his fist and raises them in the air.

Izuna takes out a scroll from his pocket.

"Pride located the jinchuruki of the Four-tails. Now it is my turn to get the chakra."

Izuna inspects the map on the scroll.

'Roshi… the jinchuruki of the Four-tails is the oldest jinchuruki of all. He has been a jinchuruki for over thirty years and can harness most of the powers of the Four-tails.

It would be a tough battle to fight without revealing my identity. My other alias as Yuito Yuki is still there. Kirigakure doesn't want to lower its reputation by revealing my identity as a shinobi of Konoha.

Their pride won't let them do so. So… they requested to keep my alias of Yuito Yuki as a secret and declared Yuito Yuki as a hero of the Mist.'

Both Izuna and Naruto continue their journey through the Land of Earth.

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Huff… Huff…

Naruto is breathing heavily as he is carrying a giant boulder on his shoulders.

"Not bad… Naruto… you improved a lot in these three weeks."

Izuna praises Naruto as he rests against a tree.

"Nii-san… in these past few weeks… you only trained my body, when would I learn a cool new jutsu. I am tired of this training."

Bam…

Naruto places the boulder on the ground and lies down.

Haah… Haah…

"That's too difficult with these weights on my body."

"Listen… Naruto… the chakra in our body is the spiritual energy through which we could communicate with Nature, elements, and even other living beings.

This chakra is stored in a vessel, which is your body. Now… in your case… the chakra reserves of your body are enormous as an Uzumaki. On top of that… you are also the jinchuruki of Nine-tails which increases your chakra reserves even further."

Hmm…

Naruto nods his head as he tries to understand the explanation.

"But Nii-san… what does it have to do with a new jutsu? Teach me a new jutsu instead."

"…"

Sigh…

Izuna shakes his head as he continues.

"Naruto… you need chakra to release a jutsu. You have plenty of chakras… but your body can't handle this much amount of chakra. Wait… I will show it to you."

Izuna takes out a water balloon from his pocket.

"Naruto… pour some water in this balloon."

"Yes… Nii-san."

Naruto pours some water in the balloon and stops after the balloon is at full capacity.

"Keep pouring…" Izuna orders him.

"But… but… the balloon will explode… if we fill it with too much water." Naruto hesitates.

"Exactly… it is like your body… your body is weak. If you use Nine-tails chakra with such body, your body will suffer grievous injuries."

Izuna remembers the incident from the original where every time Nine-tails took control of Naruto; he would be badly wounded.

'The chakra of Nine-tails might be able to heal him… but the process is similar to the Hundred Seals of Tsunade. It just speeds up the division of cells… cells can only multiply a few times in their life.'

"Huh… I understand little but I get it. If I want to use that cool power, I would have to train harder."

Swoosh…

Naruto jumps with a new resolve and starts his training.

"This Naruto…"

Izuna shakes his head and continues to instruct Naruto.

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Another week passes in the blink of an eye.

At the borders of Land of Earth, in a distant village,

A middle-aged man with red hair and a tapered mustache and beard is chopping woods with an ax.

"Found him."

Izuna stares at the middle-aged man from a distance.

'I doubt he will happily offer me the chakra of the Four-tails. A fight is inevitable. I can't use my identity of Izuna Uchiha and Yuito Yuki to assault the jinchuruki of Iwagakure since it may create some political conflicts.'

Izuna makes some hand signs and changes his appearance.

'There are multiple Ronin from the Land of Iron wandering the world. I could change my appearance to one of them.'

Whoosh…

A heavy plate Armor covers Izuna's body. His appearance changes to that of a Samurai as he wields a sword.

'Roshi had some feuds with Samurais in his past. It won't be strange for a samurai to seek revenge on him.'

Izuna swings his sword as he walks towards Roshi.

'I have no prior experience with the Samurai way of the sword. I only saw a glimpse during the Ninja war.

It seems that Samurais are quite feared throughout the shinobi world. It would be a foolish decision on a shinobi's part to engage in a confrontation with a Samurai.'

Chop… chop… chop…

Roshi is chopping some firewoods.

Hmm…

He lifts his head and notices Izuna. A frown appears on Roshi's face as he grips his ax.

"What is the Ronin (Rogue Samurai) of the Land of Iron doing in the Land of Earth?"

Swish…

Izuna swings his sword and releases a crescent blade of energy at Roshi.

"Sword Style: Crescent Blade"

Swoosh…

Roshi jumps up in the air and dodges the chakra blade. He makes some hand signs.

"Lava Release: Scorching Steam Rock Jutsu"

He expels multiple blobs of lava from his mouth. The blobs solidify into multiple molten rocks that track Izuna.

Bam… bam…

Izuna dodges the molten boulders as they slam into nearby trees. The boulders hit the trees with a tremendous force and set them on fire.

Wham…

Izuna infuses chakra into his sword to increase its reach.

Swish… swish…

He swings the sword multiple times at Roshi.

"Kenjutsu: Iaido"

Izuna swings his blade with smooth, controlled movements and attacks Roshi. The sword knicks a bang of Roshi's hair.

Whoosh… whoosh…

Roshi performs a backflip and creates some distance between them.

"You are quite skilled with the sword. Looks like I have to get serious."

'Here it is.'

Izuna clutches his sword as he waits for the transformation.

"Lava Release: Chakra Mode"

Roshi claps his hand together. Four-tails appear behind him and his body gets covered in lava. The ground beneath Roshi melts.

Bam… bam…

Roshi kicks the flaming boulders towards Izuna.

"Kenjutsu: Raiden Slash"

Izuna infuses lightning chakra through the sword and slashes the boulders.

Whoosh…

Roshi flickers in front of him.

"Lava Release: Scorching Armoured Fist"

He punches Izuna with his lava coated fist.

Clank…

Izuna blocks the fist with his sword.

"Lava Release: Flower Fruit Mountain"

Roshi slams his legs on the ground and creates a volcano beneath him.

The volcano explodes violently, sending molten rocks flying in all directions. The volcanic shards bloom into a giant flower whose petals rain down on the ground.

Whoosh… whoosh…

Izuna dodges the flame petals and stares at Roshi.

'This old man is quite hard-headed. He sure is a tough nut to crack. But my job here is done.'

Izuna enters his mindscape where he releases a wisp of chakra from his hand.

'I guess… it is enough. The rest of the jinchurukis are hard to come by. They are too deeply secured within the bounds of their village.'

Swish…

Izuna sheathes his sword and bows before Roshi.

"I am sorry. I mistook you for someone else."

Hmm…

"I could see so. There was no killing intent in your blows, otherwise the sword of a Samurai is sharp enough to slice through a mountain. Better watch out next time."

Roshi scoffs at him and returns to his wood chopping.

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A/N:- People who are wondering why Roshi behaved the way he did is because I did some research and found that in past Roshi had some feud with Shinobi with Land of Earth being close to Land Of Iron and all. He was guilt-ridden by one of his act and thus left the village. Samurai's would often attack him and he would spare them if there was no malicious intent.

Some people could even remember when he first fought with Kisame he saw the bloodthirst and pointed out 'it doesn't seem to be the case of a mistook identity'.