Chapter 11 - The fear of nature

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{Kushina pov}

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This night was suppose to be her one chance to see her first born. To tell him how sorry she was for what they unintentionally forced him to go through.

Seeing Naruto hug his leg, it felt.. heart warming. It was as if her family was complete once more. Then it all fell apart..

All because of Jiraiya 'protecting' Naruto. The moment the scuffle between houzu and the pervert came to an abrupt end, he was questioned. In his defense he had explained that he heard Naruto call him his big brother. Swore he saw houzu move to attack him.

But why would houzu do such a thing? He had no memories of who they were or who he originally was.

But she knew why Jiraiya attacked him...

He was afraid of the boy. Thought he was unstable. Dangerous. After all, that's what the reports from the elder council described him to be.

But not once did the old man try to validate these reports. Instead he just took the reports at face value.

The worst part about the whole debacle? Minato continued to defend his teacher. It was like his common sense flew out the window when ever jiraiya was in the vicinity.

Luckily, Houzu wouldn't be charged..

She wanted to leave. Take the kids and return home. Prophecy be dambed! But kushina knew Minato would not allow it. She was tired of hiding! She missed her friends! She missed Ichiraku's ramen!

Coming here was a mistake...

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{Houzu pov}

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Although he was satisfied with punishing Jiraiya. He honestly wished he just killed the bastard...

He use to admire the guy in his first life. Now? Houzu couldn't stand the perv! He final understood why most of the people he fought didn't take old sage seriously.

His immature attitude and theatrical poses severely discredited his image as one of legendary sannin.

Shaking his head Houzu decided to drive off the image of the old sage from his mind and concentrate on his newly acquired gravity chamber.

...

[Gravity chamber obtained.]

current limit: 20x normal gravity

Size within: 400 meters

[Enter] - [Exit]

...

Pressing the enter option he was instantly transported to a white expansive circular space. Farther away in the midst of the room he could see a console similar to the one inside the many gravity chambers in the dragon ball series.

Walking over towards the contraption houzu carefully examined the device. The controls were quite simplistic. Thus it was easy to manage. Just to be safe he increased the gravity of the room by 1.5 times the normal gravity of his planet.

In doing so he instantly buckled under the increase in his body's overall weight. Sweat perspirated from his skin as he began to struggle to his feet and started to run.

He could feel his body adapting to the new enviorment by the signs of steam emitting from his body and the convulsing of his muscles. But still he continued onward. Wanting to break free of the shackles that were his body's current limit.

~ 3 hours later ~

...

[Jogo Template: 48.47%]

...

'So close.. just a little further..

...

~ 5 hours later ~

[Current gravity: 4.0 x]

"Haah... haah... haah..." houzu gasped as he continued his training regiment. The air felt heavy, breathing was difficult, his muscles ached and burned, but still he continued.

Km run: [11,290/12,000]

"Just a little further..." he huffed as he increases his running speed.

[Speed]: High-Hypersonic

...

~ 1 hour later ~

[Limit breaker] - (stage 24) - {complete}

[Reward] - Attribute ticket x1

...

"Thank christ that's over!" Houzu gasped as he slowly made his way towards the console and returning the gravity to its normal setting.

With a thought he brought up his inventory and looked to his remaining tickets he saved over the last 2 years.

...

[Inventory]: training weights(250.lbs)x3,

Kunai x2,169, Shuriken x6,627, Paper bombs x561, Attribute tickets x8,

Ryo x2,500,000.

...

Just as he suspected two years ago the tickets weren't as frequent as the other rewards inside the inventory. In some stages if awarded money, in others weapons and tools.

While the cash was useful, the problem was he couldn't risk spending it within konoha's walls. If he did so the banks and citizens would only make a case that he stole or even robbed them of their finances.

Which is why he planned to buy a great deal of souvenirs from the capital once the tense situation within subsided.

Retrieving the tickets he saw they all were different metallic colors.

Tier ticket x 3

Strength ticket x2

Speed ticket x 3

Without any hesitation he quickly used all the tickets. Houzu could feel his power grow exponentially as well as his reserves. Hearing a chime from the system he quickly brought up his status.

...

[Name: Houzu Uzumaki]

Age - 8

Gender - male

Race - Human/Curse

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[Template: Jogo]: 79.04%[new]

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[Tier]: 7-B > 6-C

Strength: Class K > Class G

Speed: High Hypersonic > Massively Hypersonic+

CE: S+ > SS

Chakra: A > A+

[Without CE or chakra: Class M,

High-Hypersonic+ speed.]

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...

[Due to host reaching past 50% in their template they have unlocked another template slot.]

[Please choose template]

[Dagon] - [Mahito] - [Suguru Geto] - [Hanami] - [Naobito zenin] - [Kento Nanami]

...

Considering his path as a curse it would be wise to choose the disaster curses for now. Mahito was out immediately, he wanted to become stronger not overpowered.

As for Dagon. The ability to wield water was subpar but it was his domain that interested him the most. To manifest a domain for not only battle but also as a means of privacy and leisure. But there was no telling what characteristics he would obtain from the being.

Hanami however interested him greatly. His ability was basically wood style. The most broken ability in this verse. His domain was also a mystery. A mystery he wanted to uncover. But there was a risk of danzo attempt to experiment on him or even orochimaru.

For a time houzu sat in his gravity room and meditated on his choice. Opening his eyes once more he extended his hand and pressed one of the options before him.

...

[Host has chosen 'Hanami' as their secondary template.]

[Name: Houzu Uzumaki]

Age - 8

Gender - male

Race - Human/Curse

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[Template: Jogo]: 79.04%

[Template: Hanami]: 5.0%

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[Tier]: 6-C

Strength: Class G

Speed: Massively Hypersonic+

CE: SS

Chakra: A+

[Without CE or chakra: Class M,

High-Hypersonic+ speed.]

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...

"Guah!" Houzu yelled as he felt his left arm begin to morph as what was once his normal pale looking appendage was now solid black with his fingers being left alone as a noticable hole resided in the middle of his palm.

His skin what was once abnormaly pale was now completely white along with numerous black tattoo like markings spread from the pitch black limb and onto the rest of the left side of his chest, neck and back.

Taking deep breaths houzu slowly rose to his feet on shaky legs as he pressed the option to exit his chamber and was back to where he originally set up camp for the night. Only to see the morning sun peaking over the horizon.

Sitting down once more he subtly raised his chakra signature in order for someone to notice his presence. He had no doubt itachi was searching around the entire perimeter of the capital for him.

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{Itachi pov}

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Opening his eyes he was met with the ceiling of his hotel room. Last night's festivities were... unfortunate. No matter where his friend seemed to go someone always seemed to want to pick a fight.

But one of the legendary sannin of all people? Was the man intoxicated? His actions seemed extremely unwarranted to the point of him questioning the man's way of thinking.

But what surprised him most of all was Houzu's capabilities. He had sparred with his classmate for a few years now and never saw that level of power he displayed last night.

Reaching up to rub the corners of his eyes. Getting out of bed, he went towards the bathroom to wash his face. As he did so he looked up to the mirror over the sink and activated his sharingan.

Itachi never desired to grow stronger, but he realized he was falling behind his comrade. If he continued to fall further he would only become a hindrance.

Suddenly he felt a spike of chakra emitting a great distance away. The chakra signature was all to familiar.

"Houzu?" He said as he quickly got dressed, retrieved his ninja utility belt and jumped outside his window towards the direction of the signature. Hearing someone running behind him he turned around to see Shinko following behind while still trying to put on bandana.

Seems she sensed the burst in chakra too. "Shino? What are you doing?" He asked as she seemed to huff in annoyance.

"The same as you dummy! To find houzu. After yesterday's events I'm a bit worried about him." Only to recieve a raised eyebrow from itachi. Causing her cheeks to redden in embarrassment.

"Grrr~ stop looking at me like that! I'm just trying to be nice. Not everyone on the village hates him! It's just... he's kind of scary to talk to sometimes.. you know?" She asked, earning a nod from the boy.

"I understand. But you get use to it eventually. You just have to get passed that hard shell of his. Even he can see you're a nicer person that 'those two'." She nodded as they both continued on there way.

Little did they know an older blonde woman was stealthily following the two as they over heard conversation.

After 10 minutes of travel the two came across a small camp a mile away from the city. The exact same location the spike in chakra was located. Unfortunately there was no signs of their red headed teammate could be found.

However the only thing that perplexed the both of them was the amount of vegetation in the surrounding area. From large trees to large numbers of beutiful flora.

"Aaaah~ this place is so beutiful! Look at the flowers!" Shinko squealed as her eyes turned into large cartoonist hearts. Running over to the flowers she leaned in and was about to take a wiff but was suddenly pulled away as a large wooden creature sprang out of the ground.

Aaaaaaaaah~! She screamed as tears spewed out of her eyes. Looking to her savior she saw none other than Houzu himself. However the two noticed his newest characteristics in the form of his newest arm and markings.

"Please be mindful of the flora. They're not fans of humans..." Houzu said as he raised his hand to the creature in which it seems to calm down and retreat back into the soil.

"Now... give me a status report on our mission."

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