Materializing in a side alley, Kushina near immediately bombarded him with questions about his bloodline. Some he could answer, while others he didn"t even know himself.As they stepped into the crowded streets scouting for a shop selling office utensils, Kuhsina almost had to yell to be heard over the noise.
"So, what"s the name of your bloodline?"
"Hmm, now that you point it out, I guess mine has never been named."
There was still much left to be discovered. In several ways, Fuzen"s bloodline was beginning to feel unnatural to him, and that it couldn"t be defined within the bounds of how other bloodlines was cla.s.sified.
"That just seems... wrong. Don"t it all bloodlines have names and such?"
"That might be true, but mine doesn"t."
To Fuzen, it wasn"t important what it was called, or even if it was called anything at all. Not now at least. In the future, he may have a different opinion.
To get his full attention, Kushina grabbed his hand and pleated with big violet eyes.
"Tell me what it feels like?"
Fuzen couldn"t help his sudden outburst of laughter knowing exactly how that could be misunderstood.
Resorting to an endearing sort of anger, Kushina stomped the ground and demanded to know why he was laughing.
"It"s not what you did, but what you said and how you said it."
"I don"t understand, explain it to me!"
Shaking his head Fuzen explained to her exactly what he meant, and by the time he finished, her face had turned several shades of red.
Desperate for a way out, she went all-out searching for a place to buy the new pencil he"d promised.
After a while of looking around like a confused chicken, her search led to a small shop. Much to his surprise, Kushina wanted an exact replica of the one he"d sabotaged. Not that he minded at all.
Having paid for the pencil, Fuzen engulfed both of them in darkness once again. He one last stop in mind before they ended their day together.
As they materialized a second later, an impressive view opened up before them. "Wow! I"ve never been up here before."
"Few people have."
Standing on top of the First Hokage carved into the mountainside, the two of them could see the entire village below.
Considering the consequences, the widespread smile on her lips dimmed a bit. "We"re not going to get in trouble, right?"
"Nah, I"ve been up here plenty of times before and they have never managed to capture me."
Even though he didn"t quite answer the question, Fuzen could still sense her smile return once again. "I like how nothing worries you. I wish I could be more like that?"
With no one stopping him, he sits down to get comfortable and takes in the spectacular view. "n.o.body is stopping you Kushina. You can be whatever you want?"
Following his lead, she sat down next to him. "Even if that dream is to become the first female Hokage?"
"Sure, if that"s your dream. However, from what I"ve seen from the current Hokage it"s not all that fun."
She shook her head from his ignorance. "It"s not about fun. It"s about gaining the respect of everyone."
"But why? I don"t understand why you would care about gaining their respect in the first place? Those sorts of things seem useless to me." Fuzen turned to face her. "Living your life for someone else is no way to lead a life."
"You kind of selfish, you know that?"
"Thank you." He took it as a compliment. "Being selfish isn"t a bad thing. I mean, how else can you be honest with yourself and others about your wants and needs?"
"You might be on to something."
"Of course I am, I"m a genius didn"t you know?" He teased to lighten the mood. "By the way, I thought about your previous question."
A giggle escaped her mouth. "Which one? I"ve asked so many today."
"You know, the one about how my bloodline feels."
Kishina blushed remembering their previous conversation but nodded in acknowledgement. "I remember!"
"Whenever I use my bloodline it kind of feels like I"m tapping into some dark void of s.p.a.ce. I don"t know if that makes any sense?" He wasn"t sure it did but he hoped it answered her question.
Looking thoughtful, she mulled it over. "I have an idea for a name if you are interested to hear?"
Fuzen gestured for her to continue.
"Going by what you said and how I felt when you transported us using your "Shadow Walk", I think your bloodline should be called Void Release."
"Hmm...Fuzen of the Void Release." He tested how it sounded out loud. "Not bad at all, I think we can work with that."
During a pause where none of them spoke, Fuzen thought back to what he"d told Osamu about not fighting for fun, which was just a big fata.s.s lie. He did fight for fun, but he figured it wasn"t something that would be seen as a positive thing among a shin.o.bi village known to strive towards peace.
Admittingly, Fuzen might have gone a bit overboard during his spar with Minato, so he decided it wouldn"t hurt trying to patch things up with Minato before left the Academy. As long as the guy knew Kushina was off limits, and he honestly had to be r.e.t.a.r.ded to not get it after his latest beating, Fuzen would mind being friends with him.
They stayed together until after the sun went down and Fuzen decided it was time to bring Kushina back to her estate. Not used to her staying out after the Academy finished, he noticed the staff appeared more than a little relieved when she returned home.
Besides practice, a lot of time was spent in the company of Kushina. While he didn"t have to learn anything in taijutsu or ninjutsu cla.s.ses, genjutsu cla.s.s proved surprisingly useful. Despite the fact he couldn"t perform any elemental nature transformation besides his own Void Release, they found Yin Release being a non-elemental nature transformation didn"t stop him from performing genjutsu. Having read Fuzen personal file, Osamu was quite surprised this talent had gone undiscovered considering his natural affinity towards Yin Release had been well doc.u.mented.
Jumping at the opportunity to help, Osamu encouraged him to continue practising it. As the obedient student Fuzen was, he did as told and kept throwing genjutsu"s directed at Osamu during cla.s.s.
It wasn"t what intended to happen when he told Fuzen to practice, but Fuzen didn"t give him the option to refuse. One-sided deals were perfect to ensure you always got what you desired. With members of the Uchiha clan revered as some of the most powerful genjutsu users in the shin.o.bi world, he was an ideal practice partner Fuzen wouldn"t pa.s.s up on.
He learned there were two main parts to consider when using genjutsu. Its delivery and the believability. It didn"t take more than a week before small genjutsu"s managed to bypa.s.s Osamu defence. For now, Fuzen was keeping things simple. Using eye contact as his medium, he could create minor illusions which could prove effective in combat if used at the right time. He still had a long way ahead if he wanted to perform anything close to affecting the sense of touch, extraction of information and other uses. They all required much more practice.
Another upside to genjutsu training was a better chakra control. It was a byproduct he hadn"t considered, yet it improved the effectiveness and power of his already learned skills.
His "Body Flicker" became faster as a larger amount of chakra could be moulded and expending it instantaneously. "Shadow Walk" could no be executed in the time it took for him to take a single normal step, making him disappear and reappear within less than a second. Both the size and power of gravitational influence using "Black Sea" experienced significant improvements. For the new offensive technique, he was working on it meant Fuzen was able to cover each finger in a coating of black death that removed anything touched from this plane of existence.
Even though the month at the Academy went by fast, he never forgot his regular check-up with Tsunade and from her, it became clear the skirmish with the other Hiden Villages had stepped and that the Second Great Shin.o.bi War was approaching fast.
By the end of the month, after cla.s.s was over, Fuzen went down to the Osamu"s desk and laid down his request for early graduation.
From his position behind the desk, Osamu gave him a thoughtful expression. "Normally I"d never consent to any student below the age of 8 to be allowed to graduate." He seized the paper that had been put down in front of him. "However, from what I"ve seen during this month and knowing you"d submit this request I"ve already scheduled a test for you tomorrow."
Fuzen eyes widened in surprise. "That unexpected, but an appreciated gesture."
About to leave this cla.s.sroom for the final time, Osamu called out to him.
"Be careful out there, kid."
"Oh... you don"t have to worry about me. This is practically half the reason I was born."
"Half?"
Giving Osamu one of his famous signature smirks, Fuzen left. Leaving the mystified teacher alone to ponder what the other half might be.