Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Small Gods ❯ Sword Song ( Chapter 10 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Author's Note: I do not like 'Deus Ex Machina' plots, God Machines, plots where an easy quick fix to every problem. No man should rightly have that power without earning it the hard way. Naruto will suffer but, not unecessarily, to gain all that he needs, and more.

Morning in the desert was a rather confusing affair for Naruto. He woke to find that he was, strangely enough, still on the ground. To make a long story short he was completely disorientated from waking up…normally.
Until he stood up.
“What the hell?!”
His legs and arms felt like leaden blocks. Looking down at his ankles and wrists he found that odd cuffs and manacle bracelets had been attached to him, too tight to remove, and too strong to break. There was an unknown kanji etched onto the metallic surfaces, angular and stick-like.
Naruto groaned.
“MORI!” He shouted.
“Come down here and take these off me you bastard!”
Naruto waited for a few seconds and then a whirling wind announced the presence of the irritating man.
“You!” Naruto shouted and pointed accusingly at the robed menace.
“You take these -- these, things offa me!”
Mori eyed Naruto with a serious air.
“Do you want my guidance or not?” He said plainly.
Naruto huffed into silence and crossed his arms defiantly.
“I’ll take that as a yes, from you at least.”
Mori picked a piece of rock dust off his shoulder and flicked it onto the ground.
“In that case,” he said. “Those stay until I say otherwise.”
Naruto was not happy.
“Pft, whatever! What are they anyway?” He complained.
“Those,” Mori said. “Are Anima Raccoglitori, they put pressure on both your spirit and your body. As to how I got them, that is something I am neither predisposed to share with you or anyone else. Starting today you will be training with them until you are able to defeat me without taking them off.”
Naruto wasn’t amused.
“How am I supposed to move fast enough to beat you wearing these!?” He cried.
Mori gestured towards a coil of rope piled next to Naruto’s back pack.
“The same way,” he said. “That you got used to untying those weighted knots. If my suspicions about you are correct you should be able to master this area of the training in relatively no time at all.”
Naruto glared at his new instructor distrustfully.
“And what suspicions might those be eh? I don’t know how you found out that I’ve got that damned demon inside of me but I’m nobody’s puppet, you got that?!”
Mori just nodded.
“I understand perfectly Mr. Uzumaki. I would not expect you to act otherwise. As to my knowledge of you, I may live in a dust pan of a place but I am neither blind nor deaf. Word travels Mr. Uzumaki, even to the most distant of ears. Now, can you move comfortably in those?”
Naruto blanched for a second. What? Oh, the cuffs. He flexed an arm up and down, it felt okay.
“Yeah, I guess so.” He said. “But I still don’t understand.”
Mori, if he had had a visible face, it would have been in covered in complete exasperation.
“Let me explain something about these,” he said calmly.
“Up until now you have simply been stretching out your muscles every morning. Toning them so that they could handle extreme weight without tearing and becoming damaged. That was the easy stage.”
Naruto’s eyes widened. Surely he couldn’t be serious.
“The Raccoglitori are the second phase.”
Dear god he was.
“Each week they will double in weight, for four weeks. What you are feeling now is the weight you have been lifting so far. The Raccoglitori will be on you at all times, and as an added twist they will also limit your spirit power or chakra, cutting it in half every week.”
Naruto couldn’t believe his ears.
“WHAT!” He complained loudly. “That’s not fa--.” He was cut off.
“Shush!” Mori scolded. “I’ve not finished yet so pay attention.”
He continued.
“Because of the limiting effects of the Raccoglitori you will be forced to adapt, quickly and efficiently to their limitations. There will be no excuse for waste. If you decide it is too hard or ask for a break I will fail you. That will be the end of your training.”
Naruto’s eyes grew angry and he growled.
“Like I’d do that!” He said.
“Listen,” he pointed a defiant finger at Mori and ranted on.
“I’m not some loser who quits just because it gets rough. I may not be the brightest ninja, or the most skilled, but I’m going to be the Hokage of my village someday. I swear, even if I have to cut off my arms to achieve that much, I will!”
Mori’s shoulders shook. Naruto’s angry expression melted away. What the?…
“Well! That’s good to hear! Now I won‘t have to worry about driving you to the brink of death!”
The man broke out laughing. Naruto let his forehead drop into his hand with a groan. Man, this guy was freakier than Sakura on a bad day.
The laughter died down.
“Seriously though,” said Mori. “This will be the hardest training you have ever experienced. You will need to learn how to control your chakra implicitly, there can be no errors. But the first thing we will do is get you to learn a proper fighting technique. I have noticed an inexcusable lack of discipline in that area. You simply rush in and deal the best cards in your deck without thinking, that kind of act can be deadly in the ninja line of work. So starting today we are going to go into town and get you a proper weapon to learn with. Since you seem to favor close combat I would recommend-…”
“A sword,” Naruto stated firmly.
Mori looked at him curiously.
“I was going to say daggers,” he said. “But a sword would work just as well. Any reason why?”
Naruto became guarded and silent.
“That’s… my own business.” He said quietly. There were some things he wasn’t ready to share yet. Such as the fact that a certain man now wielded a katana with ease. He could, so Naruto would have to as well.
“Fair enough,” said Mori. “I’ll stay out of your past as long as you stay out of mine.”
Naruto nodded in assent.
“Deal,” he said. “Now lets get that sword!”
Mori grinned under the bandages on his face.
“Lesson one,” he said impishly. “Speed must remain constant, no matter the load being carried or distance traveled. Catch up to me. If you can!”
And with that he sped off towards Suna at an unforgivably fast velocity.
“Damn it, Mori you bastard!” He shouted.
“WAIT UP!”
The sun was especially bright that day.
Suna was usually a fairly quiet village, until starting three months ago, every once in a while, a hurricane of energy flew into the sandy streets. The townspeople looked up with some apprehension as a cloud of dust rocketed towards the village, right on schedule. It was at this same moment that Gaara was coming back from some business inside of the village common square. He never really got used to it when Naruto barreled into Suna, sometimes into him. But it was an interesting change of pace nonetheless. What he was not expecting when he also saw the trailing skein of sand was the person in front of the chaos.
It was a tallish man covered in a heavy wrap of desert robes and bandages where his skin should be. He glided over the ground so swiftly it appeared he was flying. That man…It just couldn’t be possible. Was he?…
A familiar shout rose up from behind the man as he zoomed by.
“Gaara!” Naruto screeched to a stop in front of the confounded Kazekage.
“Hey you in there?” He said in concern. Gaara was still staring at the now stopped figure of Mori in the settling dust. Naruto looked to see what had disturbed the Kazekage and was puzzled.
“I know he’s a little funny looking, but what’s the deal with your face Gaara? You look as if you’ve seen a ghost or something.”
Gaara’s gaze shifted to a more normal platitude and he faced Naruto calmly.
“It’s nothing,” he said.
“I just mistook your friend there for someone else. Who is he?”
Naruto scratched behind his head in embarrassment. He’d forgotten to introduce his new mentor altogether.
“Oh right,” he said. “This is Mori. Mori this is Gaara, a friend of mine. He’s the Kazekage of Suna!” Naruto said proudly, as if it was something he had accomplished himself.
Mori bowed low and straightened, looking directly into Gaara’s eyes.
“Mori’s a bit of a strange hermit I found out in the desert. Gaara?”
Gaara’s hands were clenching and unclenching in a worrisome manner; Naruto noticed. Gaara shook his head slightly and put a hand up to stop Naruto’s questioning.
“I’m fine,” he said. “Please continue.”
Naruto’s expression didn’t lose all of its troubled taint. Something was wrong…
“Alright, well, I ain’t going into details but he says he’s gonna train me. Simple as that, and we’re here to get me a sword today. Know any places around town where I could find one?”
“Yes,” said Gaara. “The village has a standard armory that we outfit our ANBU with, nothing you are unfamiliar with. I can give you one out of the stock.”
Naruto was about to follow Gaara to the armory when a small sound caught their attention.
“Ahem…” Mori coughed in a not so inconspicuous way.
“Actually, I would prefer it,” he said politely. “If Mr.Uzumaki chose his weapon from one of the older stocks. I believe Suna has small cache of war surplus like most villages. Is it possible you could take us there instead?”
Gaara’s eyes narrowed.
“It is…possible,” he said slowly. “But it is a very old armory. It hasn’t been opened in the last twenty years. Most of the gear has deteriorated and is only used when the village has absolutely no other choice.”
Naruto was getting a little irritated.
“Yeah!” He added enthusiastically. “Why get some rusty toothpick when he’s offering us something practically brand new?”
Mori’s black eyes flickered from under his hood.
“You will understand once we reach that point. Now,” he stated. “Shall we go?”
Gaara nodded succinctly and turned on his heel, leading the way to the traditional mansion of Suna’s Kazekages. He never looked back at the man next to Naruto, swathed in an air of cryptic ambition. A thought came to Gaara as suddenly as a meteor hits the earth. That man…
He moved like the wind.

The door was ancient; the hinges squealed in abject protest when they moved, like nails on a chalk board. All three party members cringed when it came to a stop. The loudest screech of all filtered up through the barren stone stairwell that evoked dungeons in the mind. Gaara brushed a decade’s worth of fallen mortar from his arms where he had opened the door for Naruto and the mysterious visitor…Mori.
“This is the post-war storage room.” Said Gaara into the dark of the room. He stepped into the dingy gloom and lit torch in its bracket. The small space was flooded with flickering amber light that reflected eerily off stacks of piled weaponry.
“What a mess!” Naruto said loudly as he stepped into the elderly chamber. There was an aura of death clinging to it. Cutting through the darkness as clear as day.
Mori strode forwards to a pile of cluttered katanas and kicked them lightly. They clattered to the floor in a panoply of cacophony, like the rattling of metallic bones.
“Thank-you Gaara-sama,” Mori said shortly. “I’m sure we can find something in here to suit Mr. Uzumaki quite nicely. If you would be so kind I would like a bit of privacy for the both of us while he chooses the blade.”
Naruto sputtered into life.
“Hey!” He shouted in protest. “That’s just plain impolite man! He let us down here without for free and all you can say is ‘thanks for the favour, see ya later Gaara-sama’? Jeez! And Sakura thinks I’m tactless. She should see you. Gaara’s the freaking Kazekage! Show some respect would ya?”
Gaara’s mouth twitched at the edges. That was Naruto, ever the considerate. Heh.
“Its alright,” the young Kazekage conceded. “I’ll leave you two for now, but I’ll have a guard posted at the entrance to the stair just in case there’s a problem.”
Gaara stared pointedly at Mori, whose attitude signified the air of someone who is not quite concealing themselves to all eyes. That said, Gaara left the room in a swish of fabrics and his footsteps echoed down from the stairs.
“Yeash,” Naruto breathed. “That was my friend old man. Why’d you do that?”
“If he is indeed your friend, as you say, then he will not object to strongly to what I am about to show you.” Mori said placidly.
“Now,” he began. “I am going to teach you the most fundamental of basics in choosing a proper weapon.”
Mori picked up a rusty dagger and held it firmly in his hand.
“Older weapons are more effective when used with chakra because they have already been exposed to the various chakra types, or elements. When a crafted blade, such as this one, has been used for a long period of time by a person with a certain kind of element in their chakra it makes it far easier for the next user of that type to wield the weapon. A newer blade is often difficult to break in because the metal is fresh and there is no chakra imprint. The trick, is in finding a blade that corresponds with your element type. That, is accomplished by pushing a small amount of chakra into the structure of the blade itself, like so.”
Mori appeared to stand still for a second and then the dagger in his hand began to glow a bluish white. A low hum filled the air.
“Whoa!” Naruto exclaimed “Cool!”
“It’s a simple trick that any shinobi can use to find his or her ideal weapon. You will need to use this often to test other things as well, do not forget.”
Mori handed the dagger to Naruto.
“Now,” he said. “I have studied your chakra patterns for quite some time now, and if I am not mistaken your primary element is wind, the same as mine. We’ll go into secondary elements later, for now just concentrate on the blade and pouring your spirit energy into it. It should be easy enough now that has been opened up again.”
“Alright!” Naruto shouted. “I can do this.”
He stared at the dagger as if it had said something particularly offensive and scrunched up his face in harsh concentration.
“No no NO!” Mori shouted.
“Doing it that way is treating your blade like an enemy! In battle you cannot afford to fight with your partners or your tools. Think of it like an extension of your arm that you are only filling with what should be there, your chakra. Remember that, your sword is not just a weapon, it is a part of you. Learn to control it like any other limb or muscle and treat it as such.”
This explanation made absolutely no sense to Naruto. He never was extremely good at figuring things out. Which was one of the reasons, he supposed, that Mori sent him so many damned riddles in his notes. It was frustrating, but maybe there was one way…
“So I just, think of it like any old limb right?”
Mori, didn’t, care.
“Yes, yes, now try or go home.”
Naruto stuck his tongue out at Mori momentarily and then began to calm himself. He could never make something go exactly as he wanted unless he had perfect quiet…most of the time. As the pommel of the dagger grew warm by the heat of his hand Naruto focused on its feel. Imagining that this was only a part of him that was rejoining the body. It reached the point where it was becoming difficult to differentiate between what was his hand and what was the dagger. Naruto was almost tempted to open his eyes and see, in a slight panic, if his had was still there, whole and separate. He decided, now was as good as any time.
He pushed.
The chakra slid into the blade like a key into a lock.
Naruto’s eyes shot wide.
“Holy shit.”
It was a soft utterance of oxymoronic proportions that Mori had no doubt heard in his lifetime before but, it left him crying with mirth.
“I never get tired of seeing that look!” He guffawed, a great thunderous peal of laughter.
“It’s like you have just added another piece to your flesh yes?” He queried.
“Yeah, kinda,” Naruto said in wonder. “Its weird, I can feel stuff through the metal. Not hot or cold, not feeling exactly, but there’s something like it. I’zat supposed to happen?”
“Yes,” Mori nodded. “Its good that you feel that, it means that you are more attuned to what the blade does. It will give you minute warnings on which way your enemies are going to turn next; nothing more, but it is a great advantage over those who just wield a weapon and do not know it properly.”
Naruto was still staring, fascinated at the dagger when he sensed an object being whirled at his head from across the room. Left hand snaking out faster than he knew, Naruto snatched the object from the air. It was a dull katana.
“What was that for?!” He exclaimed in anger at Mori, who was rifling through the rusty stacks of age-old metal.
“Test it.” Mori’s voice came out even more muffled than usual from beneath a pile.
“See if you can use it. We have a long day ahead of us. You’re going to test every single one of these ‘rusty toothpicks’ until we find one that is perfectly suited to you. I won’t settle for less and neither are you.”
Naruto groaned and dropped the dagger, beginning the process again with the katana.
And again, and again, and again…

Naruto was, well, tired, frustrated, hungry, irritated, and above all bored.
He didn’t know how many hours had passed, only that they were long and fruitless. Mori, much to the young shinobi’s disgust, had deigned to take a nap some time ago. Naruto was left in silence with the age old weaponry that was falling apart. He’d long since stopped holding every single blade and simply began passing a hand over each slowly to see if his energy would take.
No such luck.
His anger surfaced and Naruto aggressively pushed a stack over in frustration.
“Aagh!” He spat out.
“None of these work!” He kicked the pile one more time for good measure and plopped down on the floor. He sat for a moment in silence until a faint clattering prickled his ears. It was a mellowed sound because a sword, full in a leather cased scabbard was falling down the pile to rest benignly at Naruto’s feet.
He stared at it disdainfully, and then at the ceiling.
“I get the feeling,” he said. “That someone’s trying to tell me something.”
The sword just lay there, staring at him. He stared back. Naruto had the distinct impression that if he didn’t test this blade it would haunt him in his dreams like some nagging guilt. He hated that sort of thing.
Naruto picked it up and sighed.
“Fine,” he said. “One more time.”
He withdrew the sword from its sheath and was greated with a cheerful ringing. It was still sharp, he saw with some surprise, shiny as if it had just come from the forge. He grinned, perhaps it wasn’t so bad of a day after all. If this worked he’d have one hell of a wicked ‘toothpick’. It wasn’t very different from the other katanas, just brighter and more friendly.
Naruto closed his eyes and barely had to concentrate on focusing his chakra into the weapon before it blasted through the structure so easily he yelled in shock.
“Gah!” He fell onto his back, sword poised before his eyes in both hands. It hummed in his hands slightly and an odd crystal singing sound rang throughout the air as the edge of the blade burst into a flaming blue.
Mori started awake with a snort.
“Snnah?” He wandered up from sleep and then leapt to his feet upon spotting the ethereal light coming from Naruto’s new sword. It flickered and bounced off his features, and turned his eyes a phantom blue.
“Oh, you’ve done it! Good work boy, not even my own blades are that fluid. The last person to bear that one must have had it for an awful long time. You’re lucky, wind element weapons are rare. To find one in this condition is astounding.”
Mori clapped Naruto lightly on the shoulder in congratulations and then made for the stairs with a yawning stretch.
“Come Mr. Uzumaki. We havn’t all day to lie around!” He called down from the steps.
Naruto thought that was particularly hypocritical coming from someone who had been near snoresville two minutes ago. But he could not help the look of pure astonishment on his face as he thought of something that had just occurred to him.
“I didn’t find it,” he thought with some concern as he lay still on the earthy floor.
The sword continued to flicker and sing in the dimmed room, as if in greeting.
“It found me.”