Chapter 1.1: First Master
Naruto began to wonder if he should trust this woman. ‘Should I worry? She did get rid of the villagers but I don’t know how to get back home? ...Nah, I trust her.’ He stared at the woman’s mask from behind as they were still walking. “Where are we going?”
She turned her head at him for a moment before looking ahead again and continue her track through the forest. He huffed then looked to the side. His eyebrow rose when he noticed there were less trees the further they went. Soon they entered a clearing with a small hut at the edge. It was mystical because he never saw creatures of metal and so many tiny animals before.
His savior released a small sigh then collapsed on the grass. She removed her mask and revealed a lovely smile. Naruto, however, never seen anything this peaceful or beautiful in his short life. The light was hitting her in a way that her red hair was glowing brightly and the animals nearby surrounded her.
‘Wow…’ Naruto was stunned by the sight and couldn’t believe his eyes. She had strange markings that surrounded her eyes and a pair of small fangs protruding from her mouth. Her face was frowned slightly but it seemed natural on her.
The mildly malnourished boy sat next to the mysterious yet beautiful woman, enjoying the peace between them. The bright sun shining on him, warming him with its pleasant glow yet the cool breeze gave him a blast of fresh air. The animals were playing and some of the foxes tugged on him clothes only to cuddled by the boy.
The woman suddenly said, “My name is Kinetic Intelligence or K.I. for short.” Naruto looked at her funny. “I am the second soul inhabiting this body. I can only form in forests so I’m trapped to this area as man made roads block my field of influence. The other soul is Kia Ina, also known as Dr. Ina. She creates these amazing machines to encourage growth in our feudal society but it comes with a cost. Her soul can only appear in a work area, such as a lab or a shop. This causes us to be trapped by the world’s twisted sense of humor. Despairingly, the forest stops at the edges of the village and most towns. We are isolated, alone.”
She turned her attention to the sadden boy. “However, you can help us though. You are able to freely travel into the village and the dirt road that stops me is accessed through you. Help us and we will help you.”
-Two Years Later-
“Sister Kia! This trap is too hard to escape from!” A nine-year old blond whined to his adoptive sister. Dr. Kia Ina experimented created a trap that draws from nature chakra and transform it into spirit energy. The metal bear trap then creates a dome of ever ending chakra repealing material. If the person inside uses chakra, then it would start the draining process and drain their prey into unconscious.
Naruto sighed then flared his spirit energy from his throat and gave an energy shout. The trap’s walls wavered slightly, wobbling in and out of existence until a small tear appeared. He lunged through the hole and rolled onto the dirt.
He pouted, “You guys always use me as a test.”
She gave him a proud smile, “ Yes, but you finally learned how to use your spirit energy without destroying things. Now you can take your inventions and don’t have to expect them to explode mid use when you head back to the village.”
Naruto grew a lot in his time living with Kia and K.I. He learned how to create spirit machines; machines powered by spirit energy. Spirit energy was a type of life source that only spirits could use and because Kia and K.I. live in the same body they produce twice the amount of spirit energy than the normal person, allowing them to use the energy at any time. To help Naruto find his spirit core they had to split his soul from his body, causing excruciating pain for the boy but at the same time his soul was strengthening. They had to repeat this process over fifty times due to his soul being slowly dissolved by the Kyuubi's more powerful soul.
Eventually the child learned how to use spirit energy but they said it had a forgotten name. The forgotten names were Reiryoku and Reiatsu. He was confused what was special about the names until they told him the meanings. He has a large storage of Reiryoku, potential energy, while Reiatsu was the manipulation of the energy. He was a powerhouse for Reiryoku but his control was horrible. All he could do was send a trickle of Reiatsu into items or pour his reserves into something and hope it explodes.
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They told him that once there were beings of great power who could use the power to wage large wars, fight lost spirits and call on the powers hidden deep in their soul. They remember that the wars grew out of control causing them to merge and use their powers to escape. They told him that they have worries that others of similar situations may have followed their trail and came here to. Their main issue was they did not think he was strong enough to escape or fight back.
Naruto shook off their worries by showing he was a wonderful student. He could use chakra with ease and learned many of their theoretical jutsu within months. He loved welding and crafting items that can be powered by both chakra and reiatsu. Also, he became a master in manipulation due to his love of collecting dangerous failed experiments. More often than not the blond has caught the duo in many traps and loopholes, providing to be a troublesome person to talk to while being a amazing profiter.
Among his training he learned how to extend the length of Hoto, a footwork technique that uses reiryoku to improve manipulation and speed, to the point he could travel to and from the village in two minutes if he was standing in their field. This gave them a false comfort that he could come home at any moment.
The jinchuuriki smiled at his adopted parent. “Come on Kia. I’m ready! Send me off to be a ninja!”
The dark skinned woman sighed. “You know you have to go to the academy first but yes Nari. Come on.”
She was standing in the door frame then gestured for the child to enter the small cabin. Naruto smiled at her, beaming with excitement, before rushing through. He sped through the living room and sat on a tall wooden chair near the weapon vault. He felt the wait for the doctor to reach him was agonizingly slow. When she finally did make it to the vault he was chewing his nails in a fit.
She calmly opened a drawer and gave him a glowing cube. It was 10x20 centimeters by diameter and was mostly black, excluding the glowing blue veins of chakra and orange reiatsu.
She turned to him with a somber aura. “This…this is yours.”
He noticed something was wrong and saw the tears welling in her eyes. “Kia-nee, what is wrong?”
He slid off the chair and hugged her, pouring all his concern into his sky blue eyes. She gave a choked sob and held him close. She dropped to her knees and buried her face in his golden hair, trying to calm her heart but crying even harder. He didn’t know what to do but he knew that she need him. He stood there and rubbed her back as her hard sobs entered his ears. They stayed like that for a few moments until she regained her composure.
She backed away, still on her knees, and gave him a good look. She felt a swell of pride, hope and sadness in her heart when she saw his confused baby blues. She cracked a smiled then reached inside of her pocket. He studied her face, ignoring her actions but completely aware of any change about her.
After a few seconds she shown him what was in her hand.
It was a custom headband. In the center was a whirlpool similar to the ones in Konoha but it has waves carved inside the whirl. Around it in a thin, shallow cravings were circuits connecting to two separate Kanji. One said Soul (魂) while the other said Spirit (気). When he took a closer look he could tell there was a simple storage and summoning seal powered by a faint stream of reiatsu.
He looked at her with a shocked expression. “Is-is this for me?”
Dr. Ina nodded. “Yes. I decided it would be your first coming of age present but a symbol of something more.”
He tied it to his neck, feeling so a home with the orange cloth draped around his neck and hearing the metal clang with his goggles. The young inventor looked at her, “What was the other meaning?”
She laughed, the joy bubbling from her once solemn face. “I mean that you are officially apart of our small clan of three, The Alchemist, and you are not only the heir but our only son.”
He jumped in the air with a big whoop. He could not believe it; he was going to be the leader of clan. He laughed in glee; eager to be their official son!
Wait…Son?
Naruto turned to the smiling redhead then gestured to himself. “Son?”
She blushed but kept a steady gaze. “Ah. Yes. K.I. and I think we might as well settle down and find a way to split. We decided to get married when we figure out how to separate.”
He stared at her.
“We also decided that in any situation we will always consider you as our son. Even if you don’t appreciate two moms we will be the greatest-” She was cut off when Naruto jumped into her arms and started crying.
She understood his reaction and held him close. She knew that despite the chaos in his life and fact he has been hurt a lot, all he ever wanted was a family. A mother, a father, maybe some grandparents.
He had all he needed now.