Naruto watched with narrowed eyes and arm out as the grayish blue mass of chakra moved around the clearing, taking the shape of a ethereal blue hawk for one second only for it to fade back into a formless mass the next. It circled around the edge of the trees two more times before landing on the rock next to him, once again taking the form of a hawk.
The bird itself had a…almost ghostly appearance, with the main feature being its glowing purple eyes that gave off the only other light in the otherwise pitch black room.
Even while in a recognisable form the bird held no details, just a grayish blue mass of chakra with eyes. Every twitch caused its form to blur slightly, as if it was struggling to keep its form.
Naruto was sweating now, his arm shaking slightly as he tried to focus. He held it for another two minutes before letting out a gasp and his arm fell, the bird instantly losing its form as he did so.
When it did the mass of chakra loss all its form and streamed into his body, the chakra quickly being absorbed through his skin, sending a sudden new rush of energy through his body as it did. Letting out a sigh as he lay back on the rock, Naruto took his hoodie that he had set on the rock next to him and used it to wipe away the sweat on his face while frowning at seemingly nothing.
"Better…but still not enough…" The soft voice of You said in his mind, the voice echoing slightly as it did so.
Jumping to his feet Naruto started slowly walking around clearing for a few minutes to stretch his legs, before sitting back down on the rock.
"Again…" You said to him, a hint of amusement in the voice as Naruto let out a tired groan.
Naruto's hands flashed through the few Hand Seals he needed, even if they were slower than most genin would be able to, taking in a deep breath as he did.
"Soul Release: Spirit Summoning Jutsu."
Letting out his breath, Naruto watched as once again the grayish blue chakra was released from his body and streamed into the air.
It swirled in the air for a moment, before slowly lowering to the ground and moulding into the shape of a large ethereal rat, which like the hawk had glowing purple light for eyes.
He held the last Seal for a moment, letting it go and held his hand out towards the rat. As he did so the tips of his fingers flashing with chakra before it faded away.
Naruto let out a sigh as he moved his hand and the rat followed it almost like a puppet on strings, shifting in and out of focus like the hawk had as he climbed up the rock and onto his knee where it sat staring at him with its blank purple eyes.
Naruto absently noted the cold patch slowly spreading across his skin around where the rat was sat, followed by the sensation of pins and needles.
This was the first Jutsu Naruto had made himself, with help of course. With the Scroll on Hand Signs and You he had been able to start creating his own style of Jutsu based off of the abilities that he got from being the 'Jinchuuriki of Death', the ability he was using a the moment was one which he had based off of the summoning Jutsu he had seen both Jiraiya and his father performing.
It had taken time to figure out the correct sequence, and a few near misses but they were going in the right direction.
The Jutsu took the same amount of chakra to create the Spirit as Naruto gained from eating its Soul, and when it was released the chakra returned to him minus a little depending on how long it was summoned and what he had it doing.
He had worked out from discussions with You and experimentation that the Souls he devoured acted similar to batteries, which meant that he could draw on the chakra that a Soul possessed and use it to bolster his own reserves, there was a side effect of this though as if he drew too much energy from a Soul it would not have the time to recharge and would therefore destabilise and disperse.
An issue with his newly made technique though, was that the sudden drop in chakra while not life threatening was exhausting, and even though when it returned it was like getting an adrenaline rush. The second issue was that at the moment it was very hard to control the Spirit after it formed, and if he didn't concentrate would just act like a normal animal and do its own thing.
The advantages of the technique though were however more than worth the effort to learn it, as well as the time he was putting into it.
Along with getting the chakra of the Souls he consumed, Naruto also got their most recent memories, it was limited though as the memories he absorbed could be anything from the last few days to the last few months.
It was a little odd at first, and had given him more than a few headaches before he had gotten used to it. Then there was the fact that his Spirits had more in common with ghosts then he had expected, and were able to actually move through solid objects. It was useful skill to be sure but still very surprising when you see it for the first time.
Fortunately when it came to summoning the Souls as Spirits he was able to get all of the memories they gather whilst on the mortal plain when they were released.
Unfortunately though he was still having a problem with making them solid enough to actually attack, because at the moment they just passed through everything they touched.
But despite this it was definitely turning into a very useful Jutsu, already he was thinking of ways it can be used for scouting.
This time Naruto let the Spirit go before he started to strain, the chakra floating back into his body once more.
...
As it turned out, Naruto's chance to escape came sooner than he had been expecting. Barely four weeks after his tenth birthday were his parents once again called to another Council meeting. And just like last time they once again left him with his sisters.
He waited about an hour after they left before he claimed that he was tired and so was going to 'bed' early, neither Mito nor Erza thinking to argue or question him. Sometimes being seen as weak and frail was useful.
Once he was in his room Naruto worked quickly, gathering everything he was taking with him and packing it all into a small bag, with everything important sealed into the Sealing Scroll Itachi had given him for his birthday.
He then put the black coat on; making sure it was zipped up before climbing out his window. He then used the drainpipe to climb down, before running to his usual exit behind the bush at the back of the families training ground.
By this time the sun had just started to set, making the shadows longer and giving him more than enough cover as he carefully made his way through the village and in the direction of the North Gate.
He had timed it perfectly, arriving just as the last few merchant caravans were lining up to leave before the gates were locked for the rest of the night.
Bracing himself in the shadow of one of the nearby buildings that lined the main road out of the village, Naruto started to count in his head.
'1…2…3!'
Jumping out of the shadows Naruto rapidly closed the distance between himself and the last caravan in the line, rolling as he hit the floor until he was face up looking at the underside of the caravan and at the slightly rusty metal frame.
He then used the first and only chakra exercise he had learned from the scroll Itachi had given him, channeling it to both his hands and feet so he was sticking to the underside of the now moving caravan and using the dark colour of his coat to blend into the shadows again.
Naruto tried to make himself as comfortable as he possibly could.
...
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