400 follows already? Thanks a lot guys.
Naruto blocked an incoming kick from Ko before retaliating with a punch with his right fist. Ko quickly shifted to the right and grabbed Naruto's outstretched arm. He pulled him in and threw him, but Naruto didn't lose his balance and landed on his feet, arms raised in a defensive position.
Naruto charged again with his fist pulled back. Instead of punching at Ko, however, he swung his arm downwards and used the momentum to twist his body as his right foot kicked upwards. Ko was forced to quickly step back as he hadn't been prepared to guard against an attack aimed high.
That was unexpected! Ko thought to himself.
"You've improved. You don't charge in recklessly anymore, and know when to be on the defensive. Well done." Ko complimented.
"Thanks, you're a good teacher too." Naruto replied.
"I heard Hiashi-sama wanted to talk to you after training, so we'll stop here today. Go ahead and take the rest of the day off, you've earned it."
With a quick thanks, Naruto turned around and ran off.
Wow, that spinning move really worked! Naruto spoke to Tamamo.
Of course it did, why did you think I spent so much time training you to be able to spin in place so much?
Hiashi frowned as he watched his daughter spar with another Hyuuga girl. There wasn't anything wrong with Hinata's Juuken form, per se, it just didn't seem like her heart was in it. If it had only happened today, then he could understand since she had just found out that her mother was getting poisoned for a while now. But her lacking performance wasn't anything that had just started recently, for it had been going on for quite some time now.
He watched as Hinata parried an incoming palm strike, leaving her opponent open for an easy counterattack. It was a very clear opening in her opponent's stance, but for one reason or another, she didn't capitalize on it and hesitated.
Obviously, her opponent wasn't going to just stand there with her guard down. The girl quickly backed off before preparing another round of attacks.
Hiashi wondered if he was doing something wrong. He wished his wife was by his side right now, but she was staying in the Konoha hospital at the moment. Normally, the Hyuugas had their own team of competent medic-nins in the clan, but with what happened recently, it was wiser to leave her with the village hospital instead.
"Uncle Hiashi-sama!"
Hiashi turned around to see Naruto approach him.
"Hello, Naruto. How was your training?"
"Ko-sensei said I did really well today! So he let me take the rest of the day off."
"Is that so? That's good to hear." Hiashi raised an eyebrow. Ko was a bit of a slave driver when it came to training. But then again, it was that attitude that made him into a fine Hyuuga guard. Whenever he was off duty, he was actually rather laid back.
"You said you had something for me, uncle?"
"I do, but why don't we watch Hinata spar first?"
Naruto took his usual spot next to Hiashi and watched Hinata spar with her opponent. Unfortunately, Hinata seemed to be losing.
"Come on Hinata! We believe in you!" Naruto cheered twice as hard since no one else could hear Tamamo cheering for her as well.
We? Naruto's word choice didn't pass by Hiashi unnoticed. He was pretty sure that Naruto was referring to Hiashi and Naruto himself, but for some reason, he gave off the impression that we was referring to someone else.
Hinata's eyes widened at the sound of her friend's voice. There was no way she was going to lose, not when her friend was watching!
"HAAAAA!" Hinata slipped through her opponent's guard and slammed a double palm strike into her chest. In an instant, she was knocked down to the ground.
Everyone looked wide-eyed with surprise, especially the elders.
"See? She's totally awesome!" Naruto stated like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
Hinata helped the other girl up before running over the Naruto and her father.
"I won!" Hinata ran up and hugged Naruto. Hiashi looked on with an amused expression, making Hinata give a small 'eep!' and she quickly backed off.
"That you did, daughter. Why don't you go inside and get cleaned up?"
Hinata bowed and ran off, and Hiashi turned back to Naruto.
"Ah, I believe I have something here for you."
Hiashi reached into his robe and pulled out what looked like a small pendant with the Hyuuga clan symbol on it.
"You've done a great service for myself as well as the clan. As the clan head, I would like to present you with this."
He put the pendant into Naruto's hands as he continued explaining.
"Only a friend and ally of the Hyuuga clan is allowed to bear this mark. If, for whatever reason, you require assistance from a Hyuuga you aren't familiar with, simply show them that mark and they will be happy to assist you. Be sure to take good care of it." Hiashi explained calmly as Naruto stared at it in amazement.
"Also, ninja commonly wear their clan symbol on their clothing. Though you aren't a Hyuuga, you may wear the Hyuuga clan symbol on your ninja clothing if you so choose. As the head of the clan, I will permit it."
Hiashi didn't really expect Naruto to understand the significance of everything since he was still just a child, but he was sure that he would understand as he got older.
Meanwhile, Tamamo was practically shouting in Naruto's head.
Do you realize how important this is? This is basically his way of calling you family!
"Remember, if you ever need help with anything, the Hyuuga will be happy to assist. That is all."
With that, Hiashi turned and left.
Huh, guess your uncle Hiashi likes you after all.
I still remember the first time I snuck into Hinata's room, I thought he was going to throw me back onto the streets when he caught me!
He is a nice man underneath that cold mask of his, though. So since we have some extra free time while Hinata is getting ready, more training?
Yeah, let's go!
"Otou-sama, do you know where Naruto-kun is?" Hinata asked her father.
"I believe he's out by that tree in the empty field that you two seem to be so fond of."
"I see, thank you!" With that, Hinata bowed and quickly ran off in search of her friend.
Actually, I wonder what Naruto is up to. Surely a quick break couldn't hurt. Hiashi pondered to himself as he decided to check up on the two.
The sewer of his mindscape was slowly starting to crumble. Large cracks ran along the walls, and a few scant rays of sunlight were seeping into his inner world. Though the ground was still covered by water, there were a few plants that were popping up here and there.
"Now," Tamamo started explaining as she got into her lecture mode, "from what I can tell, this world is devoid of magic. As a spiritual being from another world, I can't survive without magical energy. Fortunately for the both of us, it seems that the natural energy in the surroundings is an acceptable substitute. Usually I gather and convert it while you sleep, since it seems to be easier to handle when your body isn't moving. Do you understand?"
Naruto nodded, and she continued her lecture.
"While that's good and all, it takes a lot of natural energy to refill my reserves, and this seal makes pulling energy from the outside really difficult. I could pull chakra directly from your body instead and convert that into mana, but I would prefer not to. Since you're not really calling upon my powers, I don't use up a lot of magical energy, and I try to store any excess energy too, but you can only store so much in your body. What does this mean for us? I don't really have much mana to spare if you ever need to call upon my powers in a real fight. Which brings us to why I called you in here today..."
With a wave of her hand, Tamamo summoned her mirror to her side, the Suiten NikkÅ Amaterasu Yano Shizu-Ishi (Eightfold Blessings of Amaterasu).
"Why waste mana when you can just hit your enemies with this mirror?" Tamamo exclaimed cheerfully, making Naruto facefault.
"But, but throwing fireballs is so much cooler!" Naruto exclaimed.
"Now, now. While I'll let you use my powers to defend yourself, I don't really want you to throw magic around just yet. Maybe when you're older, your body can store more energy, and hopefully I'll have gotten better at converting it into mana as well. Besides, everything I teach you has a purpose. Watch this."
He watched as Tamamo fought against an invisible opponent, her claws and kicks amplified by wind magecraft, and when she flailed her arms, the floating mirror followed her movements and flew through the air like a projectile.
"See? If you use my powers, you're also fighting alongside my the mirror as well. It uses less energy to strengthen your own body with magic instead of firing it directly. What seems like pointless flailing is actually to guide the mirror where you want it to go. When you get better at it, you'll be able to move it with just your thoughts."
Tamamo demonstrated as the mirror flew according to her will without having to lift a finger.
"Woah, that's pretty cool!" Naruto exclaimed. "Although I still think fireballs are cooler."
Tamamo chuckled. "Well maybe if you complete my training properly, I'll show you how to do this."
With a wave of her hand, a circle of ofuda appeared in midair. She pushed her palm forward and a torrent of flames shot out towards the wall, searing the wall as it left a portion of it glowing red hot.
Naruto was looking absolutely giddy as Tamamo suppressed a smirk.
"Now, now, hurry up and get stared." Tamamo shook her head as the boy was already out of his mindscape.
Naruto was out by the tree training according to Tamamo's instructions. He practiced the clawing motions that Tamamo did, as she explained that his fingers wrapped in wind magecraft could potentially do more damage than simply punching the opposition. With the assumption that ninjas usually wore light armor, slashing attacks would do more damage instead of blunt attacks. He practiced his kicks and spins as well, as she emphasized that mixing taijutsu and ninja arts with her floating mirror and her sorceries together would make a very deadly combination.
He stopped to catch his breath, only to see a bewildered Hyuuga Hinata staring at him with wide eyes.
"Oh, er, I can explain?"