I grunted as I took on the fifth lightning bolt for my body tempering and stopped the Lightning Forged Method for today. It's been a month, and I have already gotten used to my almost suicidal routine. I walked back to camp feeling numb and aching from the natural electricity running through my body. It was a short walk as I just went to one of the tall peaks near the basin.
As I walked, a sensation I have gotten familiar with for the last two weeks hit me. I was being watched. I didn't know who or what was watching me in this practically uninhabitable mountain range, but I largely ignored them as I was just going to let them come to me instead of bothering to look for them. I didn't care, really, since I felt no malice or ill intent, which I was very familiar with from my time in Konoha.
I entered my camp as the feeling of being watched didn't go away, and I got my next dose of poison. I sat cross-legged in my tent and drank the poison. It was tangy with a slightly smokey flavor. I am seriously beginning to consider making poison cuisine a hobby of mine, as none of the poisons I have ingested tasted terrible. While I waited for the poison to kick in, I worked on my Breathing Style.
I finally managed to find the breathing pattern that maximizes the amount of oxygen in my body. I haven't named it yet as I was working toward the Total Concentration Breathing state that maintains the state even while I sleep. After that, I am will try and work Chakra into the equation to try and further improve it. As I worked on my Breathing Style, the poison hit me.
It was hard to breathe. It was almost suffocating, my neck constricted, my lung felt squeezed, and my heart felt like it was stabbed. The pain continued for what felt like forever until it started to fade away, and I pulled myself up to head to blood cauldron. Walking was difficult as it was hard to keep my feet steady and balanced. After nearly falling a few times, I found myself at the blood cauldron as the smell of burning blood hit me, mixed with various herbs.
I stripped off my clothes got into the boiling blood, and winced. I practiced my Breathing Style while I was boiled alive and felt an unpleasant tingling sensation all across my body. Thankfully, the giant foxes from my Summoning Clan were willing to provide their blood for the Chakra Beast Blood Cauldron Method. I even went for a mix of their blood to match my elemental affinities since they also had elemental affinities.
Although I still felt that annoying feeling of being watched even now. Great, I have a peeping tom. I hope I am not dealing with a Jiraiya who has an interest in pre-teen boys.
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" He's insane."
Yoruichi muttered to herself as she watched the unknown blonde fail to commit suicide by lightning. Jokes aside, she was stunned to find someone camping out in this practically uninhabitable mountain range. She was even more so stunned by what he was doing, using the Lightning Forged Body Tempering Method that should only exist in her father's clan library. She entered the Lightning Rod Mountains to use a divergent body tempering method that her Grandfather, Almighty A, made for his son, her father, since the original method was too dangerous.
Only her grandfather and a handful of ancestors ever managed to complete the original Lightning Forged Method. Needless to say Yoruichi kept an eye on the young blonde for the last two weeks and was once more stunned by his progress. When she first saw him, he could barely stand four bolts of lightning, and now he was walking away from five. While keeping up with her own training, she always made time to keep an eye on the suicidal blonde.
Yoruichi watched him strip down and dive into the strange boiling red liquid, and while she had never seen naked men outside of her father and Uncle B, she had to admit she was curious about what she saw—a muscular body littered with scars on a boy that couldn't be older than thirteen years old. Most of the wounds didn't look like typical injuries from live combat but possibly from training, as they were more concentrated around his arms and legs.
She watched the boy bathe in the red liquid and wondered what it was for.
" Does it help him recover from the lightning?"
Yoruichi wondered aloud and turned her eyes to the other strange site in the camp, the number of Clones doing various activities. It was strange to her as most Clone Jutsus required direct control from the user to work, but it shouldn't be possible to use Clones to perform do many different tasks without causing the user's mind to overload. One group of Clones was maintaining the barrier around the camp, another Clone was mixing and concocting something, and another team of Clones seemed to be mining ore.
Yoruichi has heard her father, the Fourth Raikage, lament more than once the fact that the Lightning Rod Mountains were likely rich in Chakra Metals but couldn't be dug out without electrocuting the miners to death from the lightning passing through the ground. The Shinobi part of her wanted to report this, but the Court Lady part of her wanted to wait and see just how much the blonde could mine before strong-arming him into handing over the ore.
Yoruichi watched the camp with interest and was tempted to make contact with the strange blonde. After all no one outside her father's Clan, the Raijin Clan, or Raikage Clan, as they are more commonly known as could survive residing within this hostile mountain range. She soon wrinkled her nose as she could smell the moisture in the air increase, and that meant rain. She hated being out in the rain, and being out in the rain within the Lightning Rod Mountains was even worse because the natural lightning would increase in intensity.
Yoruichi quickly started to run to her own camp to wait out the rain and thought to herself.
" Well, if he can survive here, he isn't weak and can't be underestimated. Rather than come to his camp, why not make him come to me on my terms."
The dark-skinned Kuniochi smirked as she made plans to trap her unexpected neighbor, as it would be more entertaining than simply watching him.
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I sighed in relief as I bathed in just regular old water in an oil drum. It was a nice change from the boiling blood, and I felt all my aches from training fade away. Funny thing, while crude oil did exist within this world, nobody was really using it outside of being a light source, so oil drums aren't a thing, and I had to make one from scratch. Why? Why not?
It's nice to stand from my feet to my neck to be covered in hot water. Although I could do without the peeping toms but, unless I feel malice or ill intent from them, I am content to just ignore them. Suddenly, all my hair stood on end, and I ducked into the water. I heard metallic clanging for a few moments, then summoned a Shadow Clone from outside the oil drum. A moment later, I got a rush of new memories, Shuriken littered the area, and none of my other Clones got dispelled.
I poked my head out only to duck my head again to avoid a new Shuriken being thrown at me. This situation was odd. I felt no malice, no ill intent, and certainly no killing intent, as I could pick up any of those because of my training and experience, yet I was being attacked. I could still feel the peeping tom's presence eyeing me from within the oil drum.
" What do they want?"
I thought to myself, but regardless of why, I couldn't be passive anymore. I summoned more Shadows Clones as a distraction to slip out during the smokescreen. First things first, I need my clothes on because I am not about to fight naked for some pervert's pleasure.
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Yoruichi smiled as she now knew the Clone Jutsu was being used by her neighbor.
" Shadow Clones. What is a thirteen-year-old tree hugger doing in the Land of Lightning?"
She wondered quietly to herself as she threw another barrage of Shuriken at the strange giant metal cup the blonde was bathing in, destroying the Shadow Clones and waiting for the blonde to pop his head out again to take potshots at him. The dark-skinned Kuniochi was having a bit too much fun at the blonde's expense. Thankfully, the usual number of Shadow Clones were gone, aside from the ones maintaining the barrier, as this would quickly turn more troublesome than expected.
" If I remember correctly, Shadow Clones, while fragile enough to pop at the first solid blow, are physical enough to attack with Taijutsu and can even use Ninjutsu but likely require large amounts of Chakra to form. They also possibly pass on information to their user when dispelled. "
Yoruichi recalled the intelligence her village had on this Ninjutsu and reevaluated Naruto.
" So he's probably not just physically strong but has immense reserves of Chakra. A battle of attrition is a bad idea with him; I need to spring my trap quickly."
She thought to herself with a smile, as this game she started might not be as one-sided as she originally thought.
" Is there a particular reason you decided to attack me on my day off, or are you just a f*cking a*shole?"
Yoruichi looked at the source of the voice with a playful smile. Naruto, now dressed, looked at her with an unamused look but thought.
" At least my peeping tom is a woman and not some old man."
The dark-skinned Kuniochi answered with a question of her own.
" You do know you're in the Land of Lightning, not the Land of Fire, right? Hidden Leaf Shinobi-san."
The blonde scoffed before bluffing.
" Looks like either you're alone or haven't gotten the time to seek out your village's help; otherwise you would know I'm no Hidden Leaf Shinobi."
Yoruichi's smile didn't fade, but her mind pondered.
" Is he bluffing, or is he not really affiliated with Konoha?"
The dark-skinned Kuniochi retorted confidently.
" I am more than enough to handle a little intruder like you."
Naruto wondered internally.
" How strong is she? If she's around Genin or Chunin level, I can manage her on my own, but if she's a Jonin, then I'm going to need to summon Soushi for backup."
The two Shinobi were on guard against each other, and a question appeared. Who would make the first move? Naruto was completely comfortable at playing the waiting game while Yoruichi was getting anxious about the new information she had just gained about him. The dark-skinned Kuniochi struck first as she used the Body Flicker Jutsu to launch herself at the blonde.
" Fast."
Naruto thought while he followed her movements but made no effort to evade because this gave him a chance to test how strong Yoruichi was. The dark-skinned Kuniochi punched the blonde in the face but was surprised to find that he tanked the punch easily. He thought to himself after getting punched by her.
" I hit harder."
Naruto immediately compared Yoruichi's punch to that of his Shadow Clones that he used to train his Taijutsu defense. The blonde immediately grabbed the dark-skinned Kuniochi's outstretched arm and pinned it behind her. She thought to herself with a sobering realization.
" His physique is on par with father's, at least in durability."
Naruto then asked Yoruichi.
" After spying on me for weeks, what made you decide to pick a fight now?"
" Oh? So you knew you were being spied on and didn't do anything?"
The dark-skinned Kuniochi asked back while deflecting the question, and the blonde increased his grip on her arm as he said.
" I'm the one asking questions here."
Yoruichi smirked as she performed some quick one-handed hand signs, and her legs got coated with Lightning Nature Chakra before pulling her legs up in the air and unleashing a barrage of Nin-Taijutsu kicks.
" Lightning Style, Stun Coat Jutsu!"
The dark-skinned Kuniochi shouted in her mind as she used her Ninjutsu-enhanced kicks to break free from Naruto. The only damage the blonde took was to his shirt, much to his annoyance, as he dusted himself off and thought.
" Looks like body tempering was worth doing as those kicks and that punch hardly hurt."
Yoruichi took some distance before organizing her information on her neighbor.
" High strength and stamina plus durability on par with father coupled together with immense Chakra reserves. This is going to be harder than I thought it was going to be."
However, the dark-skinned Kuniochi grinned as she was looking forward to the challenge of taking on the blonde. Naruto cracked his neck as he got ready to attack for the first time, as his plan now was to knock her out and question her later. He didn't waste his breath as he clenched his fists and was a bit excited to see how his body-tempering training turned out against a new opponent.
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Meanwhile, at the Land of Hot Springs, Soi Fon was stuck in line trying to get manjū for Yoruichi. She frowned as she tapped her foot impatiently while waiting in line and muttered to herself.
" Hurry up already. I want to get back to Lady Yoruichi!"
The line moved slowly as the petite girl waited to get manjū for her charge, and she gave a small prayer.
" Lady Yoruichi, please be safe."