Naruto: Tango with Death

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I'm not sure how much time passed before I finally decided to leave the Sacred Water Pool. Gracefully stepping out of the water, I looked down at my body, and even I was surprised by the changes.

Not only had I healed completely, not leaving a trace of a scar on my body, I also had grown in height. I was around 4ft before, that is about 1.20 meters tall. Now however, I had grown a full foot, reaching 5ft, or 1.50 meters tall.

This was an extreme growth spurt. My… womanly attributes were also getting bigger.

I could also feel my body had grown stronger, again, and by a rather strong margin.

This change was quite unique though, and hopefully wouldn't come again, for I had paid a quite terrible price for this power up.

The way one got stronger was by tearing their muscle fibers and letting their body naturally repair them, to make them stronger. I did not just suffer micro muscle tears though, my entire body was injured, my chakra drained and my spirit drained. I had hit the absolute lowest point I could, and it was healing from that state that granted me this power up.

So while theoretically I could replicate this power up, I would rather not mutilate myself. Even I had fucking limits.

Anyway, good news is that my perception did not decrease as I closed the Gate of Opening and Healing.

Instead, the Gate of Opening, Healing and Life were all half opened, granting me the increased perception of the Third Gate.

I did not immediately return to Konoha either as I had to first go to the Statue of the Sage of Six Paths.

While my half opened Gate of Life provided me with a stream of Yin Chakra, it only helped regulating my chakra, but it couldn't match the speed at which I absorbed Yang Chakra.

Right now, my Yin-Yang ration should be around 30-70, which wasn't very good. And since the Gate of Life only helped regulating an incoming flow of Yang Chakra, probably to cope with the Gate of Healing's Yang potency, it wasn't doing much in regards to my Yin Chakra right now.

So I spent a few hours in the statue. Those were fruitful hours too as my perception having yet again increased, I went from 10 seconds for a single Tenketsu to 4 seconds.

As a result, my training sped up once again, and two hours later, I managed to master my first S Rank Jutsu completely. I was now capable of using the S Rank Jutsu, Water Severing Wave, in nearly an instant, and without any hand signs.

This was quite significant, because while S Rank Jutsus were fearsome, most people needed a long time to activate them. As for me, I could fire it at any time, provided I had the chakra of course. But this wasn't too big of an issue as my chakra reserves had increased massively, and I was now capable of using the S Rank Jutsu five times in a row before emptying my reserves.

A part of me wanted to continue learning my other Jutsus in the statue, but I had left long enough already, so I returned to my world.

I reappeared within the Fortress, and looking around I could see several of our soldiers looking at me worriedly, and about to attack.

However, after a moment, I heard someone shout, "Stand down! Can't you see that's the Owl!"

The men looked shocked, and I turned to look at the man who had yelled. He looked tough, yet as I looked at him through my mask, I saw him flinch a little. Still, he made a military salute and said, "The Hokage has asked us to pass you a message, Miss Owl!"

Owl? My Anbu name is Spider, not Owl…

I nodded slowly at him, and he added, "You are to return to Konoha as soon as possible."

I hummed lowly to tell him I understood, and disappeared as I sped toward Konoha. To go faster, I opened the Gate of Opening and the Gate of Healing. The way back to Konoha was thus quite painful, but not as much as before.

The way back to the village was even faster than when I went to the Fortress with Shisui a few days ago. As I arrived at the village, I closed the Gates, and stopped at the large entrance of the village.

I sent a look at the two ninjas on duty, and seeing them nod at me silently, I nodded back before heading towards the Hokage's tower.

I quickly moved from one roof to another, and before long I arrived at the Hokage's Tower. The Hokage's Assistant, Saeko, looked at me in awe, and so did everyone I passed by, and she pressed a button under her desk.

As she spoke to Minato about my presence, barely a second passed when the door to the Hokage's Office swung open.

Minato stuck his head out and said in a hurry, "Come in!"

I nodded and followed after him as he closed the door behind me. The two of us left alone, Minato said, "Are you alright?"

I moved to one of the windows, and leaned against it as I basked in the sunlight, and replied, "I'm fine. I recovered from my injuries, if that was the question."

Minato nodded slowly as he sat in his chair, and said, "Everyone's talking about you."

I smiled and added, "They are talking of the Owl. I didn't think it would spread this far, this fast."

Minato played with one of his three pronged kunais as he said, "You terrified Kumo's army, and took off the arm of their Nibi Jinchuriki. People even say you made Kumo flee on your own."

I snorted and replied, "The bitch fired a Bijudama at me, I think we are even."

Minato smiled and said, "You really did take it on? How are you even alive?"

I rolled up my sleeve and said, "As I said, I'm fine, but it is only because I have a much stronger healing factor. My entire body was burned to the hundredth degree, and a few of my bones were broken."

Minato looked a little sad, but he said, "That is still impressive. I wouldn't survive that kind of attack."

I smiled and said, "You wouldn't ever let it touch you either."

Minato shrugged, and after a moment of silence, I asked, "What about you and Kushina? How come the Raikage was so confident in letting one of his Jinchuriki attack us, instead of assisting against you?"

Minato's face turned a little ugly as he replied, "The Raikage found some helpers. One you were familiar with, Kisame Hoshigaki."

My eyebrows rose, and I asked, "Were they wearing black robes with red clouds on it?"

Minato nodded and added, "Kisame has joined the organization Juzo was part of. Probably took his place."

So Kisame ended up joining the Akatsuki anyway. But Itachi couldn't be his partner, and Juzo was dead, so…

"Was there someone else?"

Minato nodded, again, and revealed with a conflicted face, "Orochimaru of the Sannin."

Well… that was surprising. But thinking about it, Orochimaru had left after trying to steal Itachi's eyes. Since Itachi hadn't joined in this life, then that could explain it.

So I looked out the window and asked, "How did the fight go then?"

Minato sighed and replied, "A little boring, if nothing else. No one really got injured."

I nodded, before asking, "That's good. What about the other villages?"