93Naruto of the true Ice
Ever since the Senju clan was formed it's members have been revered and even feared for their abilities on the battlefield. Just like with the Uchiha there hadn't been a single generation without outstanding prodigies. Nearly every member of the clan was blessed with bigger than normal chakra reserves and an atleast mediocre control over that same chakra.
That is not to say that every Senju or Uchiha was a prodigy or an exceptional shinobi. The fact alone that not every Uchiha unlocked the Sharingan was proof of that. Just like with every other clan there were those that just didn't have the drive or talent to become shinobi.
But in the end the Uchiha and Senju had a higher percentage of children with the ability to become shinobi then other clans.
When people asked themselves why the Senju were such exceptional fighters the answer „It's in their blood." was a suitable and sufficient explanation for most. But did it tell the whole story?
What exactly in the Senju blood made them such exceptional fighters. The Uchiha had their Sharingan and just like the Senju had a generally higher amount of chakra at their disposal then other clans.
But what was it that made the Senju that strong? The bigger then normal chakra reserves and the control necessary to make some use of it even with out much training was certainly helpful but chakra and the ability to use it to some degree still didn't make a good shinobi.
While it was rumored that the Mokuton of the Shodaime Hokage Senju Hashirama may have been the long lost Kekkei Genkai of the Senju, the ability to use Mokuton had never again occurred within the clan so didn't seem to be the right answer.
In the end the answer to all of it is that the chakra of a Senju has a substantially different 'structure' when compared to that of non-Senju. It gave their chakra a certain fluidity that remained until the body fully matured in regard to it's chakra. Meaning that until the chakra coils and the chakra core of a person have fully matured which happened around the age of sixteen their chakra could be 'shaped' in different ways. With this in mind it explains how Senju Hashirama was able to use Mokuton jutsu. He just used his natural affinities for Doton and Suiton and combined them, possibly by accident, and created the Mokuton that he became famous for. His brother Tobirama on the other hand had only one natural affinity, his being towards Suiton, which allowed him to focus on only this element hence making him the representation of the level that many Suiton users want to achieve even now, years after his death.
Senju Tsunade the officially last Senju today has used this Kekkei Genkai in a different way then her ancestors though she probably did so not knowing of it's true effects. She focused much of her time while training on the aspects of Iryo-ninjutsu which would explain her famous skills in healing. While the Shodaime Hokage was able to heal aswell. After researching this to the best of my abilities I have concluded that the healing that he was famous for was only self-healing which may have come with the essence of Mokuton being the creation of life to some degree. While he was also a known medic it is never stated that he was exceptionally skilled at it atleast compared to Shinobi that focused primarily on healing.
Since most of the clan's documents are not available for my eyes since only the current head Senju Tsunade could give anyone else access to them I can not confirm if other members of the Senju clan have had similar theories about the essence of their Kekkei Genkai.
'I hope that this theory will find confirmation before the Senju clan will be extinct. Since Tsunade does not seem have plans for having any children I hope that my children will be able to keep the clan alive once they are made aware of their heritage.' thought Minato before sealing the scroll after adding the date to the scroll that he had been writing on. 20th of february (1 month after Kushina has become pregnant)
It had been a long night for Sarutobi Hiruzen.
When he first sensed the Kyuubi's chakra he had obviously been worried. While he had been well aware of the risks that were involved with Kushina giving birth he had had faith in Minato and his skill in Fuinjutsu. Since he wasn't able to get any details from the now deceased parents and the nurse aswell as his wife were dead (that was one of the things that Minato had been able to tell him) he could only guess to what had happened in the cave. After he had brought Naruto into his now again office he had gone to the cave that Kushina was supposed to give birth in. After seeing the killed ANBU around the place he had known that something more had happened here but what that was he was not sure. After calling his most trusted squad of ANBU he had all the bodies recovered so they could be buried.
Now he was sitting in the Hokage office and was contemplating what to do about Naruto and the village population. At first he had wanted to announce Naruto's status to the village but he had thought better of it. While he would have to tell atleast the shinobi portion of the council as long as the civilians didn't know Naruto could grow up somewhat normally in the village. He wasn't sure if he would ever tell the civilians of Naruto's status or atleast not until Naruto could decide himself if he wanted them to know, but the Shinobi population would have to know eventually. And then there was the matter of his heritage….
Minato had told him of his relation to the Nidaime Hokage and with it the Senju clan when he became a Jonin. When he arrived at the sight of the Kyuubi's sealing Minato had only been able to tell him two things, One: he wanted for Naruto to be respected for carrying the Kyuubi some day and two: that he had to read a certain scroll and the letter that could be found on Minato's desk at his house.
Having read both the letter and the scroll made Hiruzen wonder what the future would have in store for the little boy. One thing was certain though. The little blond haired blue-eyed child laying in his office right now was basically destined to be a great Shinobi and he would do his best to give him the best chance at doing so.
For now he had a council meeting to suffer through.
After much discussion between the Hokage, the Elders and the Shinobi Council it had been decided that Naruto could not be put in the care of any of the clans. Instead he would be put in an orphanage so he could be looked after for the first years of his life.
While Hiruzen and some of the clanheads hadn't necessarily been happy about the decision they also knew and understood the reasoning behind the action.
Hiruzen would have taken Naruto in himself but his duty as Hokage wouldn't allow to care for a child that young. Another thing that prevented Naruto from being cared for by any of the clans was his Senju heritage. While only Sandaime knew of it he was aware of the fact that Naruto would hold a high amount of political sway in the village when he was old enough so he couldn't let any of the clans be able to get him on their side for the future. Should Naruto prefer certain clans over others on his own later on that was his decision but Hiruzen didn't want him to be influenced because of his heritage too early.
He was still not sure at what point he should tell the village of Naruto's status as a Jinchuuriki and a Senju. Another problem were the Uchiha. When Sarutobi had announced that the Kyuubi had been sealed in to Naruto the clanhead Fugaku had gained a expression that was half angry and half plotting. While Sarutobi didn't distrust the Uchiha as much as his sensei Senju Tobirama a certain amount of weariness had still rubbed off onto him.
After thinking about it Hiruzen had decided to have one of his ANBU watch Naruto just to be safe.
So for the next 4 years Naruto grew up like any normal child in the orphanage that he had been placed in. The only difference being that Naruto got a couple of visits from the Hokage every month. While he wasn't aware of this fact at first it had been explained to Naruto the last time that they met when Sarutobi had told him some stories from his youth.
When listening to these stories Naruto couldn't help but imagine himself becoming a Ninja one day. He had seen some of them around the village but it hadn't happened that often. So the next time that the Sandaime came to visit and take him with him to his office Naruto immediately asked if he could hear some more stories about Shinobi.
At the end when it was time for Naruto to be brought back he asked the Sandaime the one question that would set him on a path towards greatness.
"Can I become a Shinobi too?"
Hiruzen had at first been surprised to hear the question so soon. Although he had anticipated that Naruto would someday ask him about it he didn't think that he would do so this soon.
While real training was obviously not possible since Naruto's young body wouldn't be able to sustain physical conditioning he could still start and learn about chakra and the necessary knowledge that was attached to it.
"Very well Naruto-kun, I will give you some things that you can read so that you are better prepared. Since you are a bit young for real training we will focus on giving you the knowledge you need. Should you need any help understanding the things written in the books just ask me the next time I come to see you." said the Sandaime. After that he went to one of the bookshelf in his office and took out 4 books and one scroll before placing them in the bag Naruto always carried when he went outside.
"Thank you very much." said Naruto with a big smile that reminded Sarutobi for a moment of a certain red-haired Kunoichi. The Sandaime was stopped from remembering any more when he felt two small arms around him. Looking down he could see Naruto hugging him. Seeing this the Hokage hugged back before the two separated. After saying a quick goodbye Naruto left the Hokage office and the Hokage tower before making his way to one of the usually vacant parks.
Since this park was very close to the training grounds for the Shinobi not many civilians used it and the few Shinobi that came here mostly focused on themselves when they were in the park. Naruto liked to come here and just sit in the grass and listen to the leaves rustling in the wind.
While Naruto didn't have any problem with the other people in the village he really enjoyed these quiet moments it made him just forget the world around him not having to concern himself with anything.
After a minute of just sitting there Naruto took out one of the books that the Hokage had given him. The title of the book read 'What it means to be a Shinobi'. After opening the book Naruto started slowly reading the book. While he was unfamiliar with a few of the words he could understand most of it since the book was written with the intention of explaining the basics of Shinobi life to children. It had been one of the books that the Sandaime had read when he was taught to be a Shinobi.
Naruto was so engrossed in his reading that he didn't even notice the sun starting to set. When he finally looked up from his book he noticed that it was already very late. If he didn't get back to the orphanage soon the matron would be displeased with him and he didn't want to have that happen.
After storing the book back in his bag Naruto started heading for the orphanage. While passing close to one of the training grounds Naruto could hear the sound of a person panting loudly. Moving closer to the sound Naruto tried to get a good look at the source of the sound by standing behind the tree in a position that allowed him to see the person but still be well hidden.
Standing in the training ground was a boy not much older then Naruto himself. He couldn't be older then 5 and had long dark-brown hair that was bound in a low ponytail. He was wearing brown training clothes and blue sandals that Naruto had seen some of the Shinobi wear. The boy was repeatedly flowing through the same movements. It seemed to Naruto that he was training to fight in hand-to-hand combat. After watching for a bit longer Naruto saw the boy stop his movements and drink a bit of water from a canteen that was standing not too far from him. While the boy was turning Naruto was able to catch a glimpse of his eyes. They were a pale white.
When he had first seen people with pale white eyes in the village he had thought that the person was blind but he had seen these people to often for them to all be blind. Naruto did notice that all looked kind of similar to each other though. When he had asked the Hokage about this the Sandaime had chuckled heartily before explaining to him that it wasn't a special kind of eye colour but the Kekkei Genkai of the Hyuuga Clan, the Byakugan. While he hadn't understood everything the Hokage had told him about it some of the things he had understood sounded really cool.
When Naruto stopped his train of thought he noticed that the boy was gone from the training field. So Naruto made his way to the orphanage as fast as possible.
It had been 3 weeks since Naruto had gotten the books from the he now read all of them. The scroll that the Hokage had given him was a actually a detailed explanation to meditation.
After he had read all of the books (some with the help of the Hokage), Naruto had wanted to try out some of the things mentioned in the books like unlocking his chakra. When he had asked the Sandaime about it he had agreed as long as he was there when Naruto did it.
While Naruto didn't initially like that he had to wait longer to do it he understood that the Hokage was a busy man and didn't always have time for him. But it also meant that he was all the more happy about being able to unlock his chakra today. The Sandaime had told him that he would visit today and then they would go and unlock his chakra. And to say Naruto was exited was an understatement.
Before he could think anymore about all the things he could when he had unlocked his chakra Naruto's keen hearing picked up three rather loud knocks. That way of knocking while making it sound incredibly patient but also giving you the feeling that you better not take your time in answering the door. He had only heard it the times that the Sandaime came to visit.
So with that thought in mind Naruto placed all the books in his bag and rushed down the door with the bag strapped to his back. When he got to the entrance he saw the matron opening the door and greeting the Hokage.
After Naruto had arrived downstairs and greeted the Hokage himself the two of them were on their way to one of the more secluded training grounds in the village. When they arrived the Hokage told Naruto to sit down in the middle of the field in a meditative position.
When Naruto had sat down and the Sandaime had made one or two corrections to his form the Hokage began instructing him on how to unlock his chakra.
"Now Naruto-kun, I want you to turn your focus inwards and ignore the outside. If you search you should be able to find a certain feeling in your stomach area that seems to be a locked away. Move towards that and pull it to the surface. If you do not find it immediately do not worry. For most people it takes a bit to unlock their chakra." instructed the Hokage in a lecturing tone.
After listening to everything the Sandaime said Naruto closed his eyes and tried to focus on steadying his breathing and just focusing on the calming effect of nature. While steadying his breathing took a while since he was still very exited Naruto was eventually able to do it.
Now Naruto tried to turn his focus inward and search for the feeling that had been described in the book he read about chakra and by the Sandaime moments ago. It was a while later that Naruto thought that he had found what he was searching for.
He didn't know how long he had been sitting there and meditating but if he had to guess he would say that it had been about 10 minutes now. Delving deeper Naruto was able to get a grasp on what he presumed to be his chakra. When he 'reached' it, the first thing that the feeling brought to mind for Naruto was the picture of a frozen lake surrounded by snow-covered trees. The feeling of chilly temperature accompanying the image didn't make Naruto feel uncomfortable, instead it had a calming and comforting feel to it.
Shortly after this Naruto let his own chakra envelop him to finally unlock it. At first it seemed like power was flooding his body and his veins felt like ice was running through them but it didn't cause him any pain. After the chakra had fully enveloped him a painful feeling started to appear all over his body. Before Naruto could stop the meditation and interrupt whatever was happening the pain ended and he fell unconscious.
When Naruto opened his eyes the first thing that he noticed was a white ceiling and a distinct smell of disinfectant assaulting his nose. After adjusting to the unnatural lighting in the room Naruto slowly sat up in his bed and looked around. He seemed to be the only one in the hospital room, so Naruto decided to wait for somebody to come and see him.
About 10 minutes of waiting later the door to Naruto's room opened and the Sandaime stepped into the room. After he closed the door behind him he walked towards Naruto's bedside and sat down in one of the chairs next to the bed.
"How are you my boy? And what happened while you were meditating?" asked the Sandaime.
"I'm feeling okay right now Sarutobi-ojisan, and I really don't know what happened. When I was searching for my chakra I thought I had found it and reached out for it. When I was 'touching' it I guess, I felt like I was on a frozen lake surrounded by snow-covered trees. It was cold but not uncomfortable it actually felt calming. Then it felt like ice was running through my veins but it wasn't painful. After that my whole body started to hurt before I passed out. What happened while I did that?" said Naruto before asking the question that he would really like to have answered.
He didn't think that this was in any way a normal process but something had to have caused the pain and maybe it had been visible from the outside.
"Well, at first nothing happened for about 10 minutes before I could see your chakra when you unlocked it. At first it was just a visible outline around your body later it looked like a vortex of chakra coalescing around your body. Shortly after that the vortex dispersed which was accompanied by a slight shockwave and your body was once again visible but you were already unconscious. Everything seemed fine but there were some changes…." answered the Hokage before trailing off at the end.
"What is it, what changed?" asked Naruto slightly worried that something bad had happened to him.
Instead of answering the Sandaime held up a mirror that had been lying on the bedside-table unbeknownst to Naruto. When Naruto looked into the mirror he was at first confused before he realised that it was him that was looking back at him.
"W-w-what happened to me?" asked Naruto while still looking in to the mirror. The reason for this was that Naruto's looks had undergone a slight change. Instead of his normally tan complexion his skin was noticeably paler but not to a high degree and that wasn't really Naruto's problem. However his normally sun-kissed blonde hair was now replaced by a snow-white shock of hair. It still had a certain spikiness to it but it didn't seem as noticeable with the change in colour accompanying it. His eyes had also changed a bit. His normally blue eyes reminiscent of the ocean were now one or two shades lighter and somehow reminded Naruto of the frozen lake that he had imagined when he had first reached for his chakra.
"It seems to me like the unlocking of your chakra caused these changes but I'm not sure why that is the case. All I can say is that they will be permanent because their seem to be fundamental changes to your body from you unlocking your chakra. That is all we know, I'm sorry Naruto-kun" said the Hokage before continuing in his thoughts 'Although the fact that his chakra froze some of the plants around him is rather interesting.'.
After telling Naruto that the next time they would meet they would look for some more books the Hokage left the hospital for his office.
It had been a whole year since Naruto had unlocked his chakra and much had changed for the young Senju. Ever since the Sandaime had introduced Naruto to the Shinobi library he had been going there as often as possible. While he wasn't able to access much of the library when it came to jutsu or other concrete styles or techniques he was still able to read up on the different Shinobi clans in Konoha and some of the basic information that was available about them. Another thing that was already available to him were the techniques taught at the academy.
The three jutsu mentioned in a book that he read about the current curriculum were E-ranked which meant that even civilians were allowed to look them up. Another thing that he had learned was how one trained to better control their chakra. The book about the academy talked about a leaf-sticking exercise used in the academy to let young children get their first grasp on chakra control.
One of the first books that the Sandaime had given him had been about chakra and everything related to it. That book had talked about different exercises like tree-walking and water-walking but it didn't explain what exactly one had to do to learn them. Since he hadn't been sure which of these books was right and which of the exercises he should try he had asked the Sandaime the next time that he visited.
When he had heard his question he had explained to Naruto that he should try the leaf-sticking exercise since it would show him how one controlled his chakra in the basic sense. After that he could try to change the exercise up to make it harder using his own imagination.
So that's what he did. While the leaf-sticking exercise had initially been hard because the dumb leafs just kept being blown away by his chakra he hadn't let that deter him. So after half a day of trying he had finally done it. When the leaf was finally sticking to his forehead Naruto had realised just how hungry he was so he didn't train anymore that day.
After that Naruto had changed the exercise by using more then one leaf and trying to stick them to other bodyparts. When he had gotten it down with 15 leafs he tried to levitate them with chakra alone. Learning all of that had taken him about 3 months. Since other chakra control exercises weren't available to Naruto as of that point he had started to learn the three jutsu taught at the academy …. or he had tried to. While Kawarimi and Henge were easily mastered by Naruto the Bunshin gave him some problems but he had done it at the end. Even so he was still restricted to making atleast 3 clones any lower then that and he couldn't do it. When he had finally given up on doing it and asked the Hokage for advise he had been told that the Bunshin took virtually no chakra. So since his chakra reserves were quite high (atleast low-Chunin level but he didn't know that) for his age and he didn't have the necessary control it wouldn't be possible for him to do it for now.
So Naruto left it at that and focused on other things then the dumb Bunshin. For example taijutsu. While he only had access to the academy style of taijutsu he was still able to train his strength endurance and speed separately, so that's what he did.
While training taijutsu one day he had also been made aware of his current watcher.
Flashback
At the moment we can see Naruto in one of the secluded training grounds in the village practicing his taijutsu. He wasn't really sure if his movements were correct since he only had the scroll from the library to go off but he didn't let that stop him.
Right now Naruto was going through the forms once again to commit them to memory. When he finished his last form he was surprised to hear somebody behind him talk. Usually his sense of sound and smell were enough to detect anybody close to him.
"You have to use that style differently." said an emotionless voice from behind him. When Naruto whirled around he saw a boy, judging by the body structure, with his face hidden behind a porcelain mask. Naruto immediately realised what kind of mask this was. It was the kind that Konoha ANBU used.
While Naruto had never seen one in person he had read about the ANBU forces in the library and had been immediately intrigued. They handled all those missions no normal team of Jonin's can accomplish safely. ANBU had to undergo special training before being allowed on higher-level missions. To be accepted into the force itself wasn't hard basically every Shinobi of Chunin rank or higher could join. If you finished the complete training programme though you were a real part of ANBU.
The person Naruto was looking at couldn't be much older then 10. When he looked at the person again Naruto realised that the ANBU agent had said something.
"Huh, what do you mean?" asked Naruto. While he only learned this taijutsu style from the scroll he got he was fairly sure that he was doing this right. The problem was that taijutsu was normally taught from teacher to student because of this reason. You just can't see if your own stance is right.
"What I mean is that the style you are using is an offensive style. You however are more defensive in your taijutsu movements. That means you either adjust to the style or search for a new one. The style taught at the academy is only supposed to be a foundation anyways." said the ANBU.
"So I should be more aggressive in my motions when using this style?" asked Naruto after listening to what the ANBU had said.
"Yes. If you shift your weight and then lean your torso differently it's easier to start of a fight with that style. It focuses on continuously attacking right from the start. For that you need to able to take the rains in a fight. An explosive opening can help with that." explained the ANBU agent before the stance that Naruto had used before.
For the next hour Naruto listened as the agent show his stance and then showed him how to adjust it for that style. While doing so he explained why those changes were important for the effectiveness of the style.
After that the next hour was spent getting Naruto to memorise the right stances. When they finally finished with the last kata the ANBU agent once again spoke up.
"You did well, Naruto-kun. You should rest for now and go eat something. I will see you some other time." After that the ANBU agent took a step away from Naruto and shunshin'ed away.
Flashback end
Ever since then Naruto had met the same ANBU agent once a week during training. Sometimes he would correct Naruto or just answer some questions he had. Naruto wasn't sure why an ANBU was helping him but he wasn't complaining.
Right now Naruto was sitting in his room in the orphanage. Yesterday he had been told that he was supposed to meet the Hokage today and that it was important. So right now Naruto was getting ready to head to the Hokage tower.
When it was time Naruto left the orphanage after telling the matron not to worry. When Naruto had gotten to a less crowded place he focused some chakra to the soles of his feet before jumping up to the rooftops. Naruto had read about this in the library and had sometimes seen Shinobi do it so he had immediately set to learn it.
It only took Naruto two minutes to get to the tower this way since he didn't need to look out for civilians. When he got there he climbed the stairs and told the Hokages secretary that he was here now so she could inform the Hokage.
After five minutes of waiting the door to the office opened and a old man exited the office. His right eye was covered by bandages and he was using a cane. He seemed to constantly frown and gave off the feeling of a wise and experienced person.
When the man passed Naruto his eyes seemed to linger on him for a bit longer then anything else before he left. When Naruto looked back to the secretary he saw her motioning for him to enter the office now.
When Naruto entered the office he saw the Sandaime sitting behind his desk and reading something. After closing the door Naruto sat down in one of the chairs in front of the desk. After a minute of reading the Hokage looked at Naruto and smiled his grandfatherly smile.
"Thank you for coming Naruto I have something that I need to tell you now that you are close to starting at the academy." started the Hokage.
When he heard this Naruto just nodded. He understood that some things were too difficult to understand at a young age and he didn't hold it against his grandfather figure that not everything about him was told to him immediately.
"What I need to tell you concerns your heritage and with it your Kekkei Genkai. Ever since you unlocked your chakra I was able to confirm that you possess the Kekkei Genkai of your clan. That clan is the Senju clan. With that you have access to the Senju compound in the village and to some degree the Senju fortune. That means that from now on you will live in the Senju compound. When you are old enough you will be able to get a seat on the council if my student Tsunade has not returned to the village until then. She is most likely your only living relative." ended the Hokage with a somewhat saddened tone.
After that the Sandaime explained some of the things that being the heir of a clan such as the Senju entailed for Naruto. When all had been explained the Hokage took Naruto to the Senju compound and explained that he would get a monthly allowance from the Hokage and that his status as a Senju would be revelead to the village soon.
When the Sandaime left the sun was already setting, so Naruto entered the main house of the compound once again. After walking in Naruto saw a scroll and a letter laying on a table that was located in a room at the front of the main house. It looked like it was supposed to be used to greet guests as far as Naruto could tell.
Taking the scroll and letter with him Naruto left the room. He guessed that the letter had some money in it so he could buy all the things he would need but he had no idea about the scroll.
When Naruto had found his way back to the master bedroom he took his clothes off and laid down in the bed with the scroll still in hand. Opening the scroll and reading the start of it Naruto realised that it was a scroll containing knowledge or more likely theories about the function of his Kekkei Genkai.
Naruto didn't sleep very long that night.
Thanks for everyone that has read this story. I have taken the time to spellcheck every chapter so that people won't be scared away by the bad spelling or grammar as much.
I will try to update the story as soon as I can and I want to express my gratitude to everyone that followed, favorited or reviewed. It really does help me a lot. The rant that could be found here before can be started anew in private if their is any interest but it's not something that should be here since my opinion is made rather obvious by my style of writing as Naruto as a character anyway.
Once again thank you all for reading.