After treating Jay, Kakashi left Pakkun close by to alert him if the boy woke up …
After, Kakashi went outside to try and give his genins an extra edge against Zabuza who would probably be on the hunt for them …
In the backyard of Tazuna's home …
[Kakashi] - … Alright my cute little genins … it's time for some crunch training … -
Sasuke and Sakura looked at each other, wincing slightly …
[Kakashi] - Now, now, don't be like that, with Zabuza on the loose and us stuck in what's basically a warzone until Jay wakes up … I can't have you guys dropping to exhaustion due to training, that means we will be doing advanced SPIRITUAL training … -
Sasuke winced a bit more as he remembered what that meant with his practices with Itachi-nii …
Poor Sakura, who wasn't as advanced as Sasuke was on the torture/training Itachi employed, asked the dreaded question …
[Sakura] - Spiritual training ? Sensei ? -
Kakashi's eyes shone with mirth.
[Kakashi] - Well yes my cute little genin, muscle memory is still memory and what better way to train memory than with a good old dose of … advanced genjutsu … -
Kakashi's hands seemed to move in slow motion as a string of handseals was performed …
[Kakashi] - Now just a reminder, don't try to break the genjutsu with the dispelling technique, the training is for you to beat the illusion the old fashioned way … now sit down … -
Kakashi would need to recover his chakra after this, but it should be fine … his genins needed a crash course in bloodlust resistance and to get muscle memory for a few basic reactions to Jounin speeds …
[Kakashi] “Another day or two before I summon Akino and see what Hokage-sama has to say about this mission …”
Kakashi waited for Sasuke and Sakura to sit before carefully placing his hands on their heads … if caught off guard, a contact genjutsu was almost as dangerous as medical ninjutsu …
Kakashi snorted at the saying … a ninja caught off guard is a dead ninja, even a simple Kunai to the eye is more than enough … hopefully Sasuke and Sakura won't get too traumatized by the training …
[Kakashi] - Impress me, my cute little genins … -
*** *** ***
Sakura felt her mind skipping a beat before she opened her eyes to an empty backyard … she was supposed to be training … Did she sleep ? … Why did no one wake her ? … Something didn't feel right …
Sakura tried to get up and look at her surroundings but a sharp pressure made Sakura's knees weak … her legs buckled as she tried to keep her balance …
A prickle at the back of her neck made her heart lurch as her mind screamed danger … She tried to get down into a roll but her legs didn't obey her in time … Sakura felt the sharp pain of a blade bisecting her in half before …
Sakura felt her mind skipping a beat before she opened her eyes to an empty backyard … she was supposed to be training … Did she sleep ? … Why did no one wake her ? … Something didn't feel right …
There was a distinct feeling that she almost knew what would happen …
Sakura was already getting up before the pressure smashed against her and her mind screamed ‘Danger’ …
Sakura scrambled to duck and roll, performing an academy textbook substitution … just a hair too late … the edge of a blade caught her neck as she was retreating … Sakura saw her own body for a few moments as her head spun around before …
Sakura felt her mind skipping a beat before she opened her eyes to an empty backyard … she was supposed to be training … Did she sleep ? … Why did no one wake her ? … Something didn't feel right …
Sakura was already getting up and rolling out of the way, even as her legs stumbled due to an enormous chakra pressure, her hands were already performing seals … Sakura didn't have the same chakra capacity as Sasuke, but you can't spend your days with an Uchiha and not learn a Fire jutsu … it's just courtesy at that point …
Sakura blew a plume of fire that hid her form, and brightened everything around her … she only had a moment to look at the blur before a gigantic sword cleaved her in half as she tried to retreat … Sakura saw her own legs give a step as her top half slid off her lower half before …
Sakura felt her mind skipping a beat before she opened her eyes to an empty backyard … she was supposed to be training … Did she sleep ? … Why did no one wake her ? … Something didn't feel right …
Sakura's eyes sharpened slightly, her body answered before her mind could think too much …
*** *** ***
Jay woke up inside his mindscape with a gigantic fox staring at him from behind sealed bars …
Jay immediately became annoyed with the Seal placed on those bars … it was almost mocking …
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
***
Despite Jay's efforts into Fuinjutsu, he was still far away from mastery … one of the things Jay uncovered about the art was that it was an art form, not a science …
Each inscription carried the writer’s chakra, intent and understanding … Each activation phrase of a seal read more like a poem than a set of instructions and to make matters worse, there was no unified way to make seals, no unified language …
Seal script was, quite literally spaghetti code … half bits of badly copied pieces of instructions haphazardly glued together to make a poem that, a lot of the time, only the writer could make sense of …
It was no fucking wonder that it was a dying art, Fuinjutsu required a different kind of crazy to comprehend and the more ubiquitous seals like explosive tags and storage scrolls were so widespread, that anyone with the barest knowledge of how to treat the paper and make the ink could simply copy the design and have it work …
During his studies Jay decided that he was better off ditching Fuinjutsu and simply making his own sealscript from the ground up … like making up new handseals …
It was an ongoing plan, but he was already able to make explosive tags and storage scrolls on his own language that was as incomprehensible to normal ninjas as normal Fuinjutsu was … try to explain lambda calculus notation and see if the Hokage doesn't put you in a room with a Yamanaka to check your sanity …
… Despite all that, Jay still was trying his best to memorize the ‘normal’ spaghetti code that was the normal Fuinjutsu sealscript because Jay could work on removing the Kurama's seal if he understood the damn thing …
And Jay didn't …
*** *** ***
Kurama was … Angry … but not the normal kind of anger he is used to having … Kurama is angry at Jay because he almost got killed … and that was not something Kurama was used to …
It was a mix of annoyance and hurt pride at his own emotions, because Kurama knew this was exactly what Jay planned from the beginning …
If Jay died … if his warden died … Kurama would dissipate and reform some years later as all biju did … Kurama would be free once more and he could enact his long awaited revenge on the pitiful Humans that dared to imprison him …
Kurama would be free to roam the world once more … Kurama would be free to be bored forever … just like before …
It was hard … incredibly hard to swallow his pride … Kurama could only do it because Jay wasn't a human … Jay was an entity, alien, different … Older …
… and as much as Kurama refused to admit …
Kurama didn't want this life of his to end …
Kurama was experiencing a life that felt vast … each moment carried new pleasures and comforts that Kurama never experienced before and wouldn't be able to experience again if Jay died … Kurama was still learning how to change himself to be able to feel those pleasures and as much as it hurt to admit, Kurama needed Jay for the time being …
And that was the issue Kurama was having, that's why Kurama was getting increasingly mad looking at Jay's figure simply staring at him and the Seal on the bars separating them without a care …
Kurama felt forced to help Jay … not because the Seal made it so, no … Kurama felt forced to help on his own volition … because Jay got to him … Kurama fell for the comfortable trap, he fell hard, his prison was so comfortable Kurama didn't want to get out and it was all Jay's fault …
Kurama's temper got the better of him and instead of waiting for Jay to say something before yelling at him, Kurama skipped straight to roaring his discontent …
***
Jay was waiting to see what Kurama wanted … the fox was staring pretty hard at him and Jay could see how angry Kurama was getting … Jay could assume why, but he would wait for the Fox to voice his thoughts …
And it didn't take long before Kurama snarled at Jay …
[Kurama] - YOU WORTHLESS MEATBAG PARASITE, WHAT WERE YOU THINKING ? ARE YOU TOO STUPID TO SEE FOR YOUR OWN SURVIVAL ? I HAD TO LEND YOU SOME OF MY POWER SO THAT YOUR FRAGILE SAC OF FLESH DIDN'T DIE AND INSTEAD OF BEING THANKFUL YOU JUST SEAT THERE STARING AT ME ?!?! SAY SOMETHING JAY !!! -
Jay gave a small smile to the incredibly angry fox.
[Jay] - Hello to you too Kurama, and look at that, you just called me by my name, I’m flattered … -
Jay winced slightly as Kurama bashed against the bars of the cage in anger.
[Jay] - Can you calm your temper and just explain to me why you are this angry ? I know that is not because I didn't say thank you, though I am thankful for your help … -
Kurama snarled, his chakra bubbling fiercely as he ground his teeth and tried to rein himself in … Kurama knew that Jay would simply ignore any noise made if Kurama didn't get to the point …
[Kurama] - You tricked me … you tricked me and now I'm forced to help you … -
Kurama saw Jay blinking in confusion.
[Jay] - How is anything I did a trick ? … I was very clear about what I was doing and what would happen, you're the one who took the deal … -
Kurama snarled but contained himself, his anger even hotter as reflected by the bubbling chakra threatening to spill out of the bars …
[Kurama] - Then what ? You think just because you gave me some toys I now owe you my power ? -
Kurama snarled, but deep down he was satisfied, he could deal with a transaction like that … it was simple …
[Jay] - No ? … I didn't ask for your power, I asked for stories, besides, you're just a young immortal. I would be too much of an asshole if I left you to flounder around until you figure things out yourself, especially since you still haven't figured out how to get a full life experience … -
Kurama's anger almost vanished as the words reached him, confusion marred the Fox's expression …
[Kurama] - Then what was that ? Why did you almost die if not to force me to give you my power ?! -
Jay blinked his eyes again in confusion.
[Jay] - I think we have some kind of miscommunication happening … What do you think happens if this body gets killed ? -
Kurama paused.
[Kurama] - You die and I get dispersed taking a few years to reform … -
[Jay] - Right … but my soul also simply goes to tetter another life that's beginning, if I end up in a human again, a few years with the body growing and my consciousness back on that stand by you saw before I start everything over with what I know … I’m even establishing some accounts with my windfall so that I’m able to withdraw funds instead of having to start over from scratch, it will be weird to explain how a random person came to know the account details, but what can you do ? This is only my second run after all, and my first one barely lasted a day … -
Jay snorted remembering his short time as a snake and how he quite literally blew himself trying to use the ‘external Chakra's that seemed to be way more abundant in that specific cave … thought the Dog Temple that Kakashi took him to also had ‘more’ of it than normal …
[Kurama] - So what ? Should I just let you die then ? Waste years painfully reforming only to be recaptured ?! -
[Jay] - Yeah, please no, if you can keep helping I'll be very thankful, I honestly don't want to lose this body so soon, it's almost a crime that I got so lucky this early into my run in this reality … I feel like I can actually complete the speedrun with only two lives, that's honestly a record you know ? … -
Kurama grunted, trying to calm himself as Jay kept talking about things Kurama didn't quite understand …
[Kurama] - You keep talking about these ‘runs’ … but you never explain it … what are you talking about ? -
Kurama grunted …
[Jay] - You weren't much of a talker you know ? You didn't ask, I didn't comment … -
[Kurama] - I'm asking now, will you answer or not ?! -
Kurama snarled.
[Jay] - Temper fox, mind the temper … and you remember that I said I'm an explorer of realities right ? … Well, I make a bit of a game when I get into a new reality like this, I keep track of how fast I'm able to advance any civilization I encounter enough to annex it to the Empire, a speedrun of progress if you will … -
Kurama paused as something like dread gripped him …
[Kurama] - … You are a conqueror … -
[Jay] - Not quite, more of a colonizer … but even that isn't quite right, the Empire has no need for anything really … don't worry your pretty little head, living in the Empire is a sweet gig, no scarcity, endless entertainment … compared to this … -
Jay gestured around with a measure of pride.
[Jay] - … is basically an utopia … -
Jay gave Kurama a big smile before shrugging.
[Jay] - Besides, part of the process is making said civilization willingly advance, and that takes a while. Can you imagine this ninja culture actually progressing ? … -
Jay shook his head.
[Jay] - I'll have to change that first and let me tell you, changing a whole culture takes a lot of time and bodies … revolution is always so messy, especially when dealing with empowered people … I have yet to establish some sort of religion around my reincarnation so I can keep the progress I made … -
Jay gestured with his hands …
The more Kurama heard the more anxious he became … Kurama still remembered the conversation where he accused Jay of being an Otsutsuki … only for Jay to shrug and call those beings a minor nuisance …
Kurama's mouth shut with a click … he needed to think …
Kurama turned back into the cage and went to lie down …
Jay took Kurama's silence for what it was and got out of the mindscape and into the real world …
*** *** ***
Alright so … a few things about this chapter …
Cannon Naruto had team 7 training treewalk to exhaustion during those days …
First things first … Treewalking should be an academy skill at minimum, genin not learning that before starting their careers isn’t flying, especially since konoha’s ninja move by jumping over trees and rooftops all the time …
Second … they are in hostile territory … They don’t know if Zabuza is the ONLY ninja in Gatoh’s employ … they also know that Zabuza had a partner (The ambu ninja that faked his death, we know is Haku but they didn’t) … Kakashi leaving them to train to exhaustion with no fucking supervision it’s just WAAAAAAAAAAAAY too irresponsible … like really, Naruto blacked out in the middle of a forest and if PLOT didn’t make Haku a little ‘kind soul’ bitch, Naruto would have been DEAD … so … yeah, another loss for Cannon Kakashi …
Third, they could barely resist the Bloodlust the first time, Kakashi had to snap them out of it but they were still affected, shouldn’t THAT be the focus of their week of training ? ( Cannon Kakashi should literally book it after encountering Zabuza the first time but the less we talk about how irresponsible he is the better, apparently cannon Kakashi wanted to get rid of his genins in any way possible … )
Fourth, genjutsu … despite the Uchihas having the crazy plot Red-Eye’s, they are NOT the only ones that can use that shit … And using mind altering illusions to make people enter a dream-like state can be used for other things besides combat … like MIND TRAINING … Weeeeee genjutsu for the win.
O yeah, that leaves me with a Fifth thing … How the hell are Hyuuga and Uchiha supposedly ‘Imune’ to genjutsu ? … it makes no sense, so what if they can see chakra ? Genjutsu isn’t dealing with ‘Faking’ something, Cannon Naruto genjutsu is literally putting people in dream-like states in a chakra fueled psychedelic trip … Ain’t no ‘Seeing’ out of it … that shit makes no fucking sense so yeah, no magic eyes no-seling an entire ninja art, the Eye’s can give you a solid advantage, but they ain’t an ‘I win’ button.
Also, Jay and Kurama interaction in there for extra flavor.
