Naruto: The Marimo Shinobi

In the Hokage Tower

Team 7 were standing in front of the Hokage's desk as they had completed their mission to retrieve the Fire Daimyo's cat, Tora for the 85th time that week. Team 7 was made up of three fresh out of the academy genin: Sasuke Uchiha, the Rookie of the Year and the lone survivor of the Uchiha massacre. For the most part, he was quiet and ignored everybody while his whole aura and the way he carried himself made it seem as if he believed he was better than everyone present. He was wearing a dark blue high collared shirt with the Uchiha Clan emblem on his back, white shorts and blue sandals. He had raven black hair in the shape of a duck's backside and onyx-colored eyes, he was a very handsome boy which coupled with his brooding and skill gained him the attention of many girls between the ages of 10-16. He wore a blue forehead protector with a symbol of a lead etched into it. Next to him, reveling in his presence was Sakura Haruno. She was a very intelligent girl and had a bright future ahead of her, but alas, her potential was being restrained by her unsurpassed rabid fangirl state of mind, she loved every moment with the Uchiha and would constantly pester him for dates constantly, despite the brooding boy's consistent rejections. She had lusterous, long pink hair which fell to her back and jade green eyes, the same forehead protector tied on her head, she also wore a long red, chinese-style dress with black bicycle shorts underneath for mobility. Her most notable feature, however, was a larger than normal forehead. There was a white circle on the back of her dress, the symbol of the Haruno family. And last, but not least, was Naruto Uzumaki. He had bright blonde hair, sapphire blue eyes and a blue forehead protector tied around his forehead. He had on a hideous and blinding, bright orange jump suit with a white high collar and blue shoulders with a red swirl on his back. The strangest feature about him besides his outfit, were the 6 whisker-like marks on his cheeks, three on each one. They made him resemble a fox.

Usually, Naruto was all smiles and laughter, BUT considering this was their 85th time catching Tora and they still weren't getting higher-ranked missions, he had to say something to end the madness. "Old man. I'm sick of these stupid, pointless missions your giving us! Can't you give us something better like saving a princess from a power-crazy tyrant or slaying a sea-monster terrorizing a village?"asked Naruto as his eyes lit up at the thousands of exciting missions his mind came up with. Sakura, who had stopped basking in the Uchiha's "glory", heard Naruto's request and his disrespectful tone when addressing the elderly Hokage and hit him over the head while her inner-self was cheering Naruto on. 'CHA! GIVE US SOMETHING MORE CHALLENGING, YOU DAMNED OLD GEEZER! ONCE WE GET ONE, WE'LL SHOW SASUKE-KUN OUR GREAT SKILLS AND THEN HE WILL PROCLAIM HIS LOVE FOR US! SHANNARO!'shouted Inner Sakura. Sasuke agreed with Naruto's statement, but he would never say it out loud for fear of losing his rep. The said-Hokage took in some of the smoke from his pipe and blew it out. "Kakashi-san, do you believe they are ready for a higher-ranking mission?"Sarutobi inquired as he continued smoking. Kakashi, the jounin in charge of Team 7, looked at the old war chief over the top of his pornographic novel. "Eh, they have been on a number of D-ranked missions, I believe they can handle a C-rank mission for now."said Kakashi. Sarutobi thought about this and looked over the genin once more. "Very well." Sarutobi finally said as he looked over the C-rank mission scroll. Sasuke and Sakura smirked 'CHAAAAA! THE POWER OF TRUE LOVE ALWAYS PREVAILS! SHANNARO!'shouted Inner Sakura, Naruto had a similar reaction. "WOO-HOO, WE'RE FINALLY GOING ON A COOL MISSION! I CAN'T WAIT! What is it?"asked Naruto glancing at his grandfather-figure. "You will escort a bridge-builder back to his home country, the Land of Waves and protect him from any bandits during the journey as well as while he finishes building the bridge in his village. Bring in Tazuna!"commanded the Hokage as an old man with grey hair a bit on the plump side wearing a sleeveless v-neck shirt, an obi, pants and a pair of sandals. He wore glasses and a pointed hat along with a towel around his neck. He reeked of alcohol, which probably had to do with the fact that he was drinking from a sake bottle on his way in. "These brats are the ninja who are supposed to protect me on this mission? They all look like weak, cry babies who would run away at first sight of danger, especially the midget with the dumbass grin on his face."stated Tazuna. Naruto bellowed in laughter "Whose the midget with the dumbass grin on his face?"he asked looking at his teammates still laughing. Sasuke and Sakura stood next to him showing him theit obvious height differences. Unsurprisingly, Naruto charged at the bridge-builder yelling threats of death to him, but he was restrained by Kakashi's grip on his collar. Kakashi gave Tazuna an eye smile "Don't worry Tazuna-san. I am a Jounin, so I will make sure nothing goes wrong during this mission." while Naruto only furthered his attempts to free himself and kill Tazuna which made everyone in the room sweatdrop.

Once Naruto calmed down, Sarutobi cleared his voice to get everyone's attention. "And because you are not the only rookie genin team to ask for a better mission and to promote teamwork, Team 10 will be joining you."said Sarutobi. At that moment, Team 10 which consisted of Ino Yamanaka, an attractive, pale blonde girl in purple clothes, arm warmers, forehead protector worn like a belt and blue sandals, Shikamaru Nara, a lazy looking boy with black hair held up by a band, reminiscent of a pineapple, fishnet shirt with a short sleeved gray jacket over it, pants, forehead protector tied around his arm and blue sandals, the last genin was Chouji Akimichi, a chubby boy with spiky brown hair covered mostly by his forehead protector bandanna, a green jacket over a white shirt with the kanji for Food, brown pants, blue sandals and a bag of chips in his hands. Their sensei was Asuma Sarutobi who resembled a younger version of their Hokage, but in standard jonin uniform and a black forehead protector bandana as well as a cigarette in his mouth.

"Ah Kakashi, you were assigned to this mission, too?"asked Asuma as he and his team walked into the room next to Team 7 and Tazuna. "Looks like it. Your team certainly looks interesting."said Kakashi as he smirked underneath his mouth mask. Asuma grinned and looked over Team 7 "I could say the same about yours."he replied chuckling a bit. Ino smirked widely as she glomped Sasuke in front of Sakura. "Hey there Sasuke-kun! You are looking as gorgeous as ever and I bet you are strong enough to breeze through this mission with no sweat."she said as Sasuke was trying to get her off, but to no avail. Ino glanced at Sakura, who was furious at Ino's boldness "Dammit Ino-pig, get off of Sasuke-kun! He doesn't want you hugging him."Sakura shouted. Ino then pulled down the skin under her eye and stuck her tongue out "Jealous forehead?"teased Ino. Sakura then began screeching like a banshee and arguing with Ino with poor Sasuke in the middle between those two. "Ugh this mission is gonna be such a drag."said Shikamaru with a scowl. "Hehe you lazy bum, aren't you excited for this mission? I know I am."said Naruto. Shikamaru sighed and muttered something about "troublesome blondes". Kakashi then cleared his throat to get everyone's attention. "As much fun as it is watching you all catch up, we have a mission to prepare for, so make sure to get all of your things ready for this mission in 2 hours then meet at the village gate."said Kakashi while Asuma just nodded in agreement. "Hai sensei!"said the genin and they left.

2 hours later

Naruto walked towards the gate with a backpack on filled with clothes, water, a ton of cup ramen, extra kunai and shuriken and 2 Fuma shuriken as well as a futon. He saw that Sasuke, Sakura, Chouji, Ino and Shikamaru had already arrived. "Where are Kakashi, Asuma and Tazuna?"asked Naruto looking around for them and as if on cue, the trio had appeared next to them in a swirl of leaves. "Yo!"said Kakashi and Asuma. Tazuna looked a bit nauseous from the Shunshin. "Is everyone ready?"asked Asuma, everyone nodded. "Alright, let's move out!"said Asuma and they walked out of the Village gate then Naruto started cheering. "Wewt! This is awesome!"yelled Naruto while the others just shook their head at his behavior. "He's even more energetic than before..troublesome..."guess who said that "Oh come on! This is the first time I've been outside the village. Hehe It's so exciting."said Naruto while grinning. "By the way, I should probably warn you guys."Kakashi suddenly said. "Recently, in the Land of Waves, there have been sitings of Hiko Shinkaze roaming around the area." Asuma, Tazuna, Shikamaru and Sakura looked at Kakashi in shock and slight fear. "What?"exclaimed Sakura. "Are you sure, Kakashi?"asked Asuma, Kakashi nodded his head. "Should we really be going on this mission then?"asked Asuma. "Don't worry, it's only one minor setback, besides he might not even be near our area and even if he is, we'll handle him as best as we can."said Kakashi which reassured Asuma, Tazuna and Shikamaru. "Who is Hiko Shinkaze?"asked Sasuke, curious as to what kind of person could cause two powerful jounin to be this cautious. "Yeah why are you guys so afraid of him?"asked Naruto 'What's so bad about this Hiko guy..?'thought Naruto with a very confused expression. "Hiko Shinkaze is a famous bounty hunter..."started Asuma "He is from the Land of Iron, where the samurai originate, and he hunts anyone with a bounty. Many people have said he is extremely strong and as violent as a demon, but 3 times more horrifying."said Asuma with some going down his spine. "I heard he was a bloodthirsty beast who cuts down his bounties like an animal bent on carnage. He has been called nothing worse than a living, breathing demon in human form."said Tazuna shivering violently as he put in his knowledge of the terrifying man. The genin became very terrified now even Sasuke was a bit unnerved. Naruto was feeling a mix of terror and awe 'Wow! That guy sounds really strong and really scary at the same time. I hope I never meet him.'Naruto thought. As they were walking, they passed a puddle in plain sight on the side of the road. Now, there has been no rain at all for 3 weeks, so what would a puddle be doing on the side of the road, you ask? Well, that's exactly what Kakashi and Asuma were pondering 'Must be a jutsu' thought the jounin as they walked past it. At that moment, 2 shinobi in black cloaks and gauntlets with sharp, poisoned claws attached by a chain.

The shinobi dashed towards Kakashi and Asuma, wrapping their razor bladed chains around the two then pulled causing them to rip to bloody shreds. The genin and Tazuna looke on in terror and disgust. Naruto was especially shocked and kind of scared "Ka-Kakashi and Asu-Asuma are de-" he was cut-off by the enemy shinobi springing into action once again towards him "Die, brat!" they both said. Naruto shook off his fear long enough to form his favorite hand seal "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" he shouted as two shadow clones appeared then they slid to the shinobi sliding right through their legs causing them to get knocked into the air as Sasuke jumped and kicked them both back and then threw a kunai into their chain making it lodge into a tree. Naruto threw a shuriken to hit the kunai's handle to make it go in deeper. The shinobi cursed that they were restrained, but didn't have much time to complain as Naruto and Sasuke were dashing at them with kunai drawn. Then, suddenly, they released the chain from their gauntlet, freeing themselves surprising Naruto and Sasuke. "Surprise surprise!" said one of the shinobi as he dashed towards Tazuna, but Sakura and Ino moved in front of him to block. The shinobi looked like he was going to tear right through them, but he suddenly stopped. "What the hell?" said the shinobi as he looked down to see his shadow connected to a long, black line which led to none other than lazyass, genius Shikamaru Nara. "Kagemane no Jutsu. Success."he said with a smirk as Chouji who had activated his clan's Baika no Jutsu, expanding into a large, round human ball then he rolled over the trapped shinobi at high speeds, knocking him out. The other shinobi seeing his partner's defeat sped towards Choji and kicked him towards Shikamaru, but Chouji reverted to normal size so they crashed into the ground. He continued to speed towards Tazuna, ready to shred Sakura and Ino, but they stood their ground even though they were terrified. However, Naruto ran blindly in front of them ready to take the hit for them causing him to get scratched by the shinobi's claws, but then suddenly two figures came out of nowhere kicking the shinobi back into a tree knocking him out. When Naruto focused more clearly, he saw that it was Kakashi and Asuma smirking. "Miss us?"said Kakashi. Everyone looked confused as hell "What the hell are you two doing alive?"Naruto asked shocked. "We saw you three get ripped to shreds."said Ino, then she looked over at where they were "killed" and saw two chopped up logs. "You were saying, Ino?"said Asuma grinning then he turned to the defeated nin.

An hour later, the enemy shinobi woke up, confused about where they were and why they were tied to a tree. "What the-"then they remembered and looked up seeing the Konoha-nin and Tazuna. "So you two are the Demon Brothers of the Mist."said Asuma staring at them with a hard glare. The said-duo kept silent as they cursed up a storm in their heads "How did you know about our ambush?"the two demanded. "A puddle on a sunny day when it hasn't rained for weeks. It was pretty suspiscious."said Kakashi. Kakashi then turned his gaze over to Tazuna who seemed taken aback by the seriousness in his expression. "Tazuna...we need to talk."said Kakashi "Ab-about what?"asked Tazuna, "Well you see, these two are Chunin from Kirigakure. They are trained to attack relentlessly no matter what."said Kakashi. "So what?"asked Tazuna now sweating bullets as he spoke. "So I even though I could've taken them out quickly before they even could start their assault, I needed to know who their target was. Me and Asuma, famous ninja with large bounties on our head, the entire group as ninja attacking ninja, or you, the master bridgebuilder. When you filed this mission, you never said anything about ninja hunting you down, just bandits and other low-level things. If you had mentioned foreign ninja attacks then the rank of the mission would have been B or higher and so would the cost of the mission."said Kakashi. Tazuna was now scared that he had been found out. "We are now beyond the scope of this mission and we also have to treat Naruto's poisoned wound."said Kakashi. Sakura and Ino nodded. Shikamaru really didn't care and Chouji just kept eating his chips. Naruto and Sasuke however, were itching for this opportunity, but Sasuke kept quiet. "Please, you don't understand. My people are in poverty and we could not afford a B-rank mission or higher. Even C-rank was a stretch, but all of the townspeople pitched in so that we could get help. Building this bridge is the only way we can change our lives. I swear once we gain the money from the bridge, we will pay for what the mission was worth."pleaded Tazuna. Naruto scowled then took a kunai from his pouch and stabbed his wound shocking all those present. "Na-Naruto!"shouted Sakura as she moved towards her teammate, but he turned from her as the poison bled out. "Old man...I won't let you down. Upon this wound, I solemnly swear to guard you with my life throughout the entire mission. Sasuke smirked then Shikamaru murmured a "troublesome" and then agreed to continue with the mission, Chouji agreed as well since Shikamaru was going. "I can't let the slackers go without some protection, so I'll go."said Sasuke then almost automatically Sakura and to a lesser degree, Ino agreed. "I don't know if we are exactly ready for this.."said Asuma. "It's ok. I'll just continue on this journey by myself, no doubt I'm going to get killed and then my poor grandson will be crying for his grandpa and then my daughter will have to sell herself as a prostitute to make ends meet and will curse Konoha forever."said Tazuna obviously guilting the jounin into it which caused everyone to sweatdrop.

"Well guys, I suppose we have no choice but to keep forward" said Kakashi with an eye smile as Asuma chuckled while blowing some smoke. The Genin all beamed and began heading towards the Land of the Waves!

Chapter End

Sorry guys, I know some of you must've been psyched that there was another One PiecexNaruto fic with the epic Roronoa Zoro as the main crossovee but I felt myself going in a direction where it wasn't Zoro anymore. Don't worry, Zoro lives on in my signature OC, Hiko. I'm sorry if some of you might be upset with the change but there was just stuff I wanted to do with this fic that needed a less apathetic and stern character, but its not as if Hiko lacks in those traits. Trust me, there is plenty of Zoro's traits and his own traits. Hiko is also based off of yours truly, who is a walking mass of complexes to say the least. Imagine as if Zoro wasn't born Zoro, but as a jet-black, fine wavy haired, with crimson eyes that resemble Naruto's when influenced by the Kyuubi minus the black slit, instead its just a typical round black pupil boy named Hiko who is just as obsessed with swordplay and even more obsessed about combat, martial arts and battle in general. You'll see what I mean if you stick around.

Ja Ne!