Chapter 534: Who Attacked?
"Konoha's most secret and sacred jutsu! Thousand Years of Death!"
Kakashi hit Naruto with the hand seal and sent him flying. Naruto fell into the water while holding his backside. As he drowned, he thought, 'Not like this! I trained so much. I can't be defeated so easily. But how do I defeat him?'
Naruto made the Shadow Clone hand seal but stopped as his eyes widened. Naruto suddenly had an idea. He thought, 'Wait, I can only control a few Shurikens. What if all my clones control them as well? Also, I don't need to defeat him. I just need to…'
Immediately, he created several Shadow Clones inside the water and swam out. Naruto made small talk with Kakashi waiting for him to turn his back. As soon as he did, almost a hundred shurikens were launched from the water. At the same time, his clones jumped out as well, surprising his two teammates.
Kakashi turned around and noticed every Shadow Clone weaving hand signs. He muttered, "Hmm, impressive. However, it's still not enough."
Instead of dodging, Kakashi just grabbed the Shurikens one by one and threw them into the ground, ensuring that they stuck there. Naruto thought, 'Now!'
'Wind Release: Wind Retrieving jutsu'
He quickly weaved hand signs and used the jutsu on the bell. The bell was yanked from Kakashi and flew towards Naruto. Unfortunately, Kakashi disappeared and appeared next to the bell and grabbed it before it reached Naruto. He said, "Not bad, not bad. However, this isn't enough to be the Hokage."
Realizing that using Wind jutsus wouldn't help him much, Naruto shouted, "Let's just beat him up!"
Naruto and his clones engaged against Kakashi in Taijutsu. Kakashi easily dealt with him while observing his skills. He analyzed, 'Hmm, his Taijutsu is much better. It looks like Fujin sparred with him to give him some experience. And he has decent control over Wind as well even though he doesn't have any destructive jutsu. Fujin likely only wanted to improve his basics.'
Within a couple of minutes, all of Naruto's clones were dispelled while he too was beaten back. Kakashi asked, "Is that all you can do?"
Naruto wiped his face while thinking, 'I know Fujin asked me to not use them against an ally but he asked us to come at him with an intention to kill. Also, he is so strong, so it shouldn't be an issue, right?'
Naruto made another set of Shadow Clones who surrounded Kakashi and immediately jumped away, confusing Kakashi who wondered, 'What is he up to this time?'
His eyes widened as he saw every Shadow Clone grab a couple of Kunai that had explosive tags attached to them and throw them at him at close range. The Explosive tags all exploded at the same time, covering the area in dust and smoke!
Sakura watched with a dumbfounded expression as her eyes widened. She exclaimed, "Did Naruto blow up Sensei? And when did he become so powerful???"
Even Naruto was surprised by the degree of Explosion. He hadn't ever exploded so many explosive tags at the same spot. He thought, 'So that's why Fujin asked me to run away and to not use this tactic on an ally. How many dangerous techniques does big brother Fujin know? He casually told me about this idea while we were eating dinner!'
Kakashi, who hid some distance away, looked at the explosion with wide eyes as he complained, 'What the hell has Fujin been teaching him? If he used that against a fellow Genin or even a Chunin, they would likely end up dead! I was nearly caught off guard as well!'
For someone like Kakashi, dodging that wasn't a big deal. If he wasn't fighting newly promoted Genins, there was no way he'd be off guard. However, if Naruto used this tactic against an ordinary Chunin in this manner, very few would be able to stay unhurt.
It took some time for the dust and smoke to clear. Once it did, no one saw any signs of Kakashi.
Sakura thought in shock, 'Did Sensei really get blown up? Will I also be blamed?'
While Sasuke squinted his eyes and observed, 'There is no sign of blood. As expected, he got away. Still, when did Naruto become so strong? If he used that against me, I would have been injured.'
Naruto looked around while wondering where Kakashi was when his eyes landed on a bell lying on the ground next to a tree. He wondered, 'Did he drop it while escaping?'
He quickly went to pick it up. Unfortunately for Naruto, that was a trap and he hung upside down from the tree branch. Kakashi appeared and picked up the bell while lecturing Naruto again.
While Kakashi was having fun with his new students, Fujin reached Yamakawa town in the Land of Rivers. The Yamakawa family was one of the strongest families in the Land of Rivers. Their family Head ranked among the top 5 strongest ninjas in that country. In a major village, he'd be considered a veteran Jounin. As a result, they built an entire town away from the main village to strengthen their family further.
While the walls around the town were inscribed in several seals by a SealMaster, they weren't an obstacle for Fujin who entered the town easily. He used Transformation jutsu to disguise himself as an ordinary person and openly strolled through the town as he recalled all the information about this family.
As usual, he activated his Space Time Sensing Technique and his eyes widened momentarily. He looked towards the central mansion and thought, 'That's strange. 24 people are living underneath that mansion. And it doesn't seem like a normal basement, rather they are a few floors underneath what would have been a normal basement…
Is Danzo spreading his wings or is someone taking inspiration from him?'
Fujin walked towards the castle without attracting any suspicion. When no one was looking at him, he suddenly disappeared underground and reached close to the underground base.
His eyes glowed as he noticed several seals covering that room and passageway to that location. He immediately became interested as he realized, 'It looks like Hiruzen's suspicions were on point. These seals have been inscribed by a Fuinjutsu Grandmaster! Sneaking inside will take a lot of time. If that Grandmaster is here, then that will be more or less impossible.
For Suna to put so much effort into this place, are they planning to create a secret outpost here? Hmm, yeah, the Yamakawa town is very close to the border with the Land of Fire. It will be the perfect place for them to rest after they travel through the vast deserts.
When they decide to attack Konoha, they can rest here until the time is right and then make a quick headway towards Konoha through the Land of Fire. They could sneak in small groups and later use Reverse Summoning to call a majority of their forces there. Alternatively, they could even cut through Konoha's Patrol squads. But that will be risky as messages could be sent.'
Fujin analyzed his observations for some time before sighing, 'For Hiruzen to send me here… It looks like Rasa is destined to suffer at my hands until his death… Still, I wonder how Hiruzen dealt with this in the original story. Kakashi will be teaching genins and Guy isn't a good option for a mission like this. Did he send Jiraiya? Or did Suna create a hidden base elsewhere because Konoha didn't destroy one of their bases earlier?
Oh well, it doesn't matter. I'll take this chance to study the seals for a bit.'
Coming across seals inscribed by a Grandmaster wasn't a regular occurrence. Every Grandmaster usually added their own twist to the seals. For someone like Fujin, who hadn't been a Grandmaster for long, studying them would help him improve much quicker.
Inside the room, there were 24 people. 22 were Suna ninjas while 2 were members of the Yamakawa family who the family head stationed for their convenience.
While Fujin was studying the seals, the Yamakawa family head appeared in the underground base and entered a room after knocking. Inside the room were a middle-aged man and an elderly man.
The middle-aged man, who was also an Elite Jounin, asked with a smile, "Hiromu-san, are the preparations complete?"
Yamakawa Hiromu smiled and answered, "Yes, Koichi-san. You can begin expanding this base in an hour. I have made all the preparations above. No one will suspect even if some disturbances happen as long as Okazaki-sama inscribes the seals quickly."
Okazaki was the old man who was also one of the few Grandmasters in Suna. Hiruzen never imagined that Suna would send one of their Grandmasters to this place. Grandmasters were something every village treasured. Sending them to a risky place was something they rarely did. If he knew, he would have sent Fujin much earlier and sent several Jounins to assist him.
Koichi said, "Good. We will get it done as soon as we can."
Hiromu said, "It has been a month since you started making this base. As per our deal, it is time for you to hand in the second scroll."
Koichi nodded and looked at Okazaki who handed a scroll to the Yamakawa family head. In order to make the Yamakawa family ally with them, Suna offered them a rank A jutsu for every month they stayed there. For a family with limited access to jutsus, this was a heavenly opportunity.
After thinking for some time and discussing the details with the Suna ninjas, Hiromu agreed to the deal. It was a win-win situation for both sides. The Yamakawa family got jutsus that could make them stronger and gain more influence in the Land of Rivers, while Suna got a safe base while only giving away jutsus that all the 5 Great Villages already knew how to perform.
Just as Koichi accepted the scroll, the faces of all three of them became serious as they looked above. In fact, they weren't the only ones who were surprised. Fujin was surprised as well as he wondered, 'What the hell? Who attacked the mansion before me?'