Naruto: Multiverse Character Templates

Konoha's ANBU headquarters.

Natsuki read through the documents Asahino had given him.

They contained information on the current situation in Amegakure.

Things were much the same as before. Nothing significant had happened.

"Have you ever heard of Ice Release?"

Natsuki set the documents down.

"I have heard a little about it."

Asahino immediately replied, "Kirigakure once had shinobi who possessed Ice Release."

"Investigate whether there are still any Ice Release shinobi in Kirigakure."

Natsuki instructed, "If there aren't, investigate the villages in the Land of Water where it snows throughout the year."

"Yes, Lord Natsuki."

Asahino bowed slightly before turning to leave.

Since the investigation involved the Land of Water and Kirigakure, it would not be appropriate to leave it to Akatsuki or Kakuzu.

Using Konoha's ANBU was the simplest solution.

Natsuki was not worried about Hiruzen learning of it either.

He planned to arrange for Haku's mother to join ANBU, just as he had done with Chino and Fūshin.

In that case, Hiruzen would have nothing to complain about.

After all, Ice Release was a powerful kekkei genkai. Having someone with that ability join Konoha would bring nothing but benefits.

Natsuki stood up. After thinking for a moment, he headed to Jiraiya's residence.

Minato and the others usually trained there.

Natsuki wanted to know how Minato's training in the Flying Raijin Jutsu was progressing.

After spending two months in the Land of Snow, he had come to understand the value of space-time ninjutsu more than ever.

Without space-time ninjutsu, returning to Konoha was far too troublesome and wasted a great deal of time.

Unexpectedly, Jiraiya's residence was empty.

Jiraiya was not there, and neither were Minato, Uzumaki Kae, or the others.

After a moment of thought, Natsuki returned to the Senju clan compound.

He had only returned to Konoha that day.

After bringing Yahiko, Konan, and Nagato back to the Land of Rain from the Land of Snow, he had not stayed long before leaving.

At the Senju clan compound, Nawaki and Kushina were still training.

"Do you know where Minato and the others went?"

Natsuki got straight to the point.

"Minato came by two days ago. He said Lord Jiraiya had returned and was taking them on a mission."

Nawaki immediately answered, "But he didn't say where they were going."

Just as Natsuki had expected.

If all four of them were absent from Konoha, there was only one possibility. They had left on a mission.

"Why are you looking for him?"

Nawaki exhaled and stopped practicing Water Release.

"I wanted to see how well he has learned the Flying Raijin Jutsu."

Natsuki smiled and asked, "Aren't you curious?"

"Of course I am."

Nawaki puffed out his chest proudly.

"The Flying Raijin Jutsu is an S-rank ninjutsu created by my granduncle!"

"Have you and Lady Tsunade ever tried learning the Flying Raijin Jutsu?" Kushina suddenly asked.

"My sister tried, but she couldn't learn it."

Nawaki shook his head.

"I haven't tried yet, but I doubt I could learn it either."

"The Flying Raijin Jutsu is an S-rank ninjutsu. Most shinobi can't learn it."

Natsuki comforted him, "There's nothing wrong with not learning it."

"I think you should give it a try."

Nawaki explained, "Your reaction speed is extremely fast. You might actually be able to learn the Flying Raijin Jutsu."

"When I have time, I can ask the Hokage for permission to study it."

Natsuki had originally intended to refuse, but a thought suddenly occurred to him, so he agreed.

He would eventually spar with Minato, and there was a good chance he would awaken a character template related to space.

When that happened, he would need an explanation for using such abilities.

The best solution would be to claim that he had modified the Flying Raijin Jutsu.

By now, Natsuki had already proven his talent for creating original ninjutsu.

It would not seem unreasonable for him to create his own space-time ninjutsu.

"Aren't you free right now? After hearing you talk about it, I want to see the Flying Raijin Jutsu too."

Nawaki smiled.

"Besides, it's almost noon. We can visit the Hokage's office and make it back in time for lunch."

"I'm coming too!"

Kushina immediately stopped training and ran over to Natsuki.

Before he could speak, she wrapped her arms around one of his arms and looked up at him with wide, blinking eyes.

"Then let's go."

Natsuki patted her head.

At this point, refusing her would have been difficult.

Kushina cheered and pulled him outside.

The corner of Nawaki's mouth twitched as he followed behind them.

The three soon arrived at the Hokage's office.

"You want to learn the Flying Raijin Jutsu?"

Hiruzen paused briefly before smiling.

"Of course. That won't be a problem."

For Konoha, the more shinobi who could learn the Flying Raijin Jutsu, the better.

After all, it was a ninjutsu of immense strategic value.

It would be even better if the shinobi who learned it belonged to the Hokage's faction.

Natsuki and Nawaki both met that condition.

"Follow me."

Hiruzen stood up.

The ninjutsu stored in the regular archive were all below S-rank.

S-rank ninjutsu and above were kept in a separate room.

"There are two types of ninjutsu stored in this room."

As Hiruzen opened the barrier, he explained, "One type consists of ordinary S-rank ninjutsu, while the other consists of powerful forbidden jutsu."

"The Scroll of Seals?"

Nawaki asked instinctively.

"That's right."

Hiruzen nodded.

"The Scroll of Seals contains every forbidden jutsu possessed by Konoha."

Looking at the barriers and traps surrounding the room, Natsuki became even more certain that Naruto's theft of the Scroll of Seals in the original story had been tacitly permitted.

Under normal circumstances, even a Jonin would have difficulty breaking into this room, much less an Academy student who had not yet graduated.

"The Flying Raijin Jutsu is an S-rank ninjutsu. The scroll cannot be taken out of this room."

Hiruzen removed a ninjutsu scroll from a shelf.

"Memorize it first."

With that, he handed it to Natsuki.

"Kushina, since you're already here, you should study it too."

Hiruzen smiled warmly.

If the Nine-Tails jinchūriki could learn the Flying Raijin Jutsu, she would be virtually unbeatable.

Imagine a jinchūriki who could teleport directly into the enemy headquarters at any time during a shinobi war.

She could launch Tailed Beast Bombs while teleporting away.

Moreover, the distance covered by the Flying Raijin Jutsu and the size of the objects it could transport depended on the user's chakra.

In the original story, although Minato mastered the Flying Raijin Jutsu, the distance he could teleport was limited.

For example, he could not teleport directly from Konoha to Sunagakure.

However, if Kushina learned the Flying Raijin Jutsu, her chakra as the Nine-Tails jinchūriki would be practically inexhaustible.

Of course, imagination was one thing, while reality was another.

Kushina most likely would not be able to learn the Flying Raijin Jutsu.

Still, there was no harm in trying.

"Okay."

Kushina nodded.

The three of them began studying the Flying Raijin Jutsu.

Hiruzen remained nearby and waited.

He thought that if even one of the three managed to learn the Flying Raijin Jutsu, it would be a tremendous advantage for Konoha.

Half an hour later, all three had memorized the contents of the Flying Raijin Jutsu.

"You may come to me if there is anything you don't understand."

Hiruzen returned the ninjutsu scroll to its original place.

Natsuki and the others nodded.

"Natsuki, I remember that you're interested in summoned creatures."

Hiruzen suddenly thought of something.

"I have a mission related to summoned creatures. Would you like to accept it?"

Nawaki immediately became excited.

"Our team hasn't gone on a mission in a long time!"

"You can read the details first."

Hiruzen smiled and took out a mission scroll.

Natsuki accepted the scroll and began reading.

ANBU had discovered an island called the Forgotten Island within the Land of Water. Many summoned creatures lived there.

A group of researchers had established an experimental facility on the island and were attempting to create the Ultimate Summoning Beast.

Their mission was to investigate the nature of this so-called Ultimate Summoning Beast.

After reading the scroll, Natsuki immediately remembered the incident.

There had indeed been such a storyline in the original series.

It involved Naruto, Might Guy, Yamashiro Aoba, and Yamato.

They had accidentally arrived on the Forgotten Island and encountered the Ultimate Summoning Beast.

How should he put it?

The so-called Ultimate Summoning Beast was remarkably weak.

However, the real point of interest was not the Ultimate Summoning Beast.

On the Forgotten Island, they had encountered the ghost of a woman named Honoka.

Ghosts, or perhaps some kind of spiritual entities, truly existed in the shinobi world.

Honoka was clearly a shinobi of the Uzumaki clan. She had red hair and knew the Uzumaki clan's sealing techniques.

She had been invited by other researchers to help study the summoned creatures.

However, the Ultimate Summoning Beast eventually went out of control and killed her along with the other researchers.

Her will remained behind and became a ghost.

"We'll accept this mission."

Natsuki returned to his senses.

"Great!"

Nawaki was delighted.

Envy flashed through Kushina's eyes.

She could not go with them.

The three bid farewell to Hiruzen and returned to the Senju clan compound.

After lunch, Natsuki went to ANBU headquarters.

"I need the names of every member of the Uzumaki clan."

Natsuki summoned Kenpei and gave him the order.

"Yes, Lord Natsuki."

Kenpei immediately accepted.

Although the task was somewhat sensitive, it was not difficult.

Many members of the Uzumaki clan had previously relocated to Konoha.

All of them had been officially registered.

Investigating the remaining clan members would also be simple.

After all, Natsuki only needed to confirm a single name.

In the original story, Honoka appeared to be in her twenties.

However, she had been a ghost, and her appearance remained the same as it had been at the time of her death.

In other words, no one knew when she had died or how old she truly was when she encountered Naruto and the others.

Natsuki's idea was simple.

He wanted to determine whether anyone named Honoka currently existed among the members of the Uzumaki clan.

If she did, and she had already been invited to the Forgotten Island, then he could arrange for her to join Akatsuki.

Natsuki had always felt that Akatsuki's research department lacked someone capable of leading it.

Honoka would be suitable.

The thought made Natsuki laugh.

He was beginning to resemble Orochimaru, bringing every talented person he encountered back to Otogakure.

However, he was still better than Orochimaru after his fall.

At the very least, Natsuki would not force talented people to kill one another.

Natsuki returned to the Senju clan compound.

"Natsuki, when are we leaving for the mission?"

Nawaki asked impatiently.

"Wait another two days."

Natsuki casually offered an excuse.

"We'll leave after I learn Water Release: Water Trumpet."

During this period, he had been studying ninjutsu from all seven chakra natures.

He had spent most of the two months in the Land of Snow doing exactly that.

Because he possessed the talent for all seven chakra natures granted by the Hatake Kakashi Template, his progress had not been slow.

Only five Yang Release ninjutsu remained, all of which were medical ninjutsu.

Natsuki had originally planned to include the Mystical Palm Technique among those five medical ninjutsu, but after thinking about it carefully, he decided against it for now.

The Mystical Palm Technique was difficult to learn.

It would be better to learn five less difficult medical ninjutsu first and unlock the three-tomoe Sharingan from the Hatake Kakashi Template.

With the assistance of the three-tomoe Sharingan, learning the Mystical Palm Technique and other ninjutsu would become much easier.

Of course, the reason he had given Nawaki was only an excuse.

He was actually waiting for the results of ANBU's investigation.

Two days passed in the blink of an eye.

At Konoha's main gate, Natsuki, Nawaki, and Nonō were registering their departure.

Only the three of them would participate in this mission.

Tsunade had said that since they were all already Jonin, they should try completing missions as a three-person team to gain more experience.

Natsuki suspected she was simply being lazy.

After registering, the three headed toward the Land of Water.

The Forgotten Island was located within the Land of Water, but it was far from Kirigakure. They were unlikely to encounter any Kiri shinobi.

As they traveled, Natsuki took out a scroll.

Kenpei had given it to him, and it contained the names of every member of the Uzumaki clan.

Natsuki read through it and found Honoka's name.

She was indeed a member of the Uzumaki clan, but she was not part of the clan's main family.

She was of mixed blood, and her father was not a shinobi.

Even in a major shinobi clan, not everyone possessed the talent to become a shinobi.

For example, many ordinary clan members lived within the Uchiha clan compound.

Those ordinary clan members were also important to the Uchiha clan.

They earned money.

Those who could not become shinobi often became merchants.

Honoka's father had done the same.

While conducting business, he met Honoka's mother, a shinobi from the Land of Water.

Natsuki suspected that Honoka's father was also involved in the experiment on the Forgotten Island.

Experiments were notoriously expensive and required vast amounts of money.

The fact that the Forgotten Island had gathered so many researchers meant that several complicated forces were undoubtedly supporting it from behind the scenes.

However, Natsuki did not care.

After all, Konoha stood behind him.

On the morning of the third day, the three arrived at the Forgotten Island by boat.

"Why are there so many summoned creatures on this island?"

Nawaki asked in confusion.

They had encountered many summoned creatures as soon as they stepped onto the island.

Their numbers greatly exceeded what they had expected.

"Perhaps the environment here is well suited to them."

Natsuki answered casually.

"The only unfortunate thing is that none of these summoned creatures are particularly strong."

Nawaki sounded disappointed.

If they encountered a summoned creature powerful enough, he could take it for himself.

"What exactly is this Ultimate Summoning Beast?"

Nawaki changed the subject, sounding interested.

"The name makes it sound incredibly powerful."

"You'll understand once you see it."

Natsuki smiled.

"I suggest you don't expect too much from this so-called Ultimate Summoning Beast."

Using the map provided by ANBU, the three located the laboratory on the Forgotten Island.

"We should infiltrate it first."

Natsuki thought for a moment before speaking.

"Then let's compete and see who can find the Ultimate Summoning Beast first!"

Nawaki was full of enthusiasm.

With his current strength, infiltrating a laboratory would not be difficult.

"Fine."

Natsuki turned toward Nonō.

"Nonō, wait here for us."

He was not worried about her safety.

He had brought a squad of ANBU shinobi with them.

After speaking, Natsuki and Nawaki entered the laboratory one after the other.

Natsuki activated electromagnetic sensing.

In the next instant, he detected a violent and chaotic mass of chakra.

It was clearly the Ultimate Summoning Beast.

To Natsuki, it felt like a collection of many different kinds of chakra.

It appeared that the experiment on the Forgotten Island involved stitching together all the summoned creatures on the island to create a new one.

Natsuki thought of Hiruko's Chimera Technique.

Its effect was to merge five different kekkei genkai into one body.

However, before developing it, Hiruko had experimented on summoned creatures.

In the original story, he had summoned a hybrid creature made from a dog, a bird, and a two-headed snake.

Compared to the Chimera Technique, the Ultimate Summoning Beast on the Forgotten Island was extremely unstable.

Its different chakra signatures seemed to have been forcibly stuck together and could collapse at any moment.

Natsuki did not rush to find the Ultimate Summoning Beast.

He quickly sensed every researcher within the facility and eventually identified Honoka.

The reason was simple.

Members of the Uzumaki clan generally possessed unusually large chakra reserves.

The person with the most chakra had to be Honoka.

Natsuki headed directly toward her location.

When he reached her room, he raised a hand and knocked on the door.

"Come in."

Honoka's voice came from inside.

Natsuki opened the door and entered.

The first thing he saw was a red-haired young woman who appeared considerably older than Kushina.

"Y-You are?"

Honoka thought Natsuki looked familiar, but she was not certain.

"Natsuki of Konoha."

Natsuki introduced himself.

"You're Natsuki? Why are you here?"

Surprise appeared on Honoka's face.

Long ago, when Tsunade and the others had supported the Uzumaki clan and driven back the shinobi from Kirigakure and Kumogakure, she had seen Natsuki from a distance.

There was even less need to mention the Second Shinobi World War. Natsuki's outstanding performance had made him famous throughout the shinobi world.

Honoka had heard stories about him many times.

"The Hokage ordered me to investigate the Ultimate Summoning Beast."

Natsuki answered honestly.

"What does the Hokage intend to do?"

Honoka fell silent for a moment before asking.

"I just examined the Ultimate Summoning Beast."

Natsuki did not answer directly and changed the subject.

"Judging from its current condition, the Ultimate Summoning Beast will most likely never succeed."

"Why?"

Honoka hurriedly asked, "Wouldn't sealing techniques work?"

"Sealing techniques can only force all the chakra together. They cannot make the different chakra types truly merge."

Natsuki shook his head.

"If they cannot merge, then the Ultimate Summoning Beast is destined to become a mindless monster."

"I should have realized that long ago."

Honoka sighed.

After all, she had already tried many times, and not once had she succeeded.

"If you truly want to continue the experiment, I know of a forbidden jutsu capable of producing a similar result."

Natsuki smiled slightly.

"I have established a research department, and it happens to need someone to lead it."

Honoka froze.

Was he inviting her to become the head of his research department?

To be honest, going to Konoha offered far greater prospects than remaining on the Forgotten Island.

"The researchers you know can come with you as well," Natsuki added.

Honoka immediately made her decision.

She had been invited to the Forgotten Island because her father was also involved.

However, Natsuki's offer was far too generous. He was even willing to let her bring the researchers she knew.

Moreover, Konoha had once saved the Uzumaki clan.

Whether out of gratitude or personal interest, she had no reason to refuse.

(To be continued.)