Cry of the Soul Swords
Book 1 - My New Life
Chapter 1: My Death and Rebirth
(Cue song Morning, Morning from Chobits OST 1)
The sun hit my eyes, signalling that it was morning and that it was time for me to get up. I groaned; I really did not want to get up. I thrashed round, trying to get back to sleep. A futile attempt. Slowly I opened my brown eyes and surveyed my surroundings. A small room with a bookshelf, a desk with a computer on top and a small set of drawers next to my bed. A TV stood at the end of the bed with a PS2 and X-Box 360 wired to it. This was my room. I got out of my bed and walked to the bathroom. I turned on the tap and splashed myself to get awake. I then got into the shower and started washing myself and brushing my teeth at the same time. After I had finished I walked out and dried myself off. Walking back into my room I dressed myself in a red shirt with a white fox on it. Foxes are my favourite animal. I pulled on a pair of black cargo pants and my socks and shoes. I quickly brushed my long, black hair and pulled it into a long ponytail. I then turned to the bookshelf. There were a couple of books there. Books written by David Eddings and Phillip Paulman. But on the shelf under that there were three pictures. The first one was of a man wearing a white shirt and a kind smile. This was my dad, who had passed away when I was 16. The second picture was of a man and woman, arms round each other and also smiling. This was my Mum and Step-Dad who I loved very much. They too, passed away in a car crash when I was 18. The third was a little strange. Firstly because it was a pic from an anime and secondly it was from Naruto, a famous anime at the moment. In the picture was the main character, his two team mates and teacher. If you were a fan of Naruto then you would know what it looked like. Naruto was giving one of his team mates a dirty look, while he just looked disinterested. The second team mate had this really girly expression on her face, no doubt happy to be next to Sasuke; the one Naruto was looking pissed at. The girl was called Sakura. Their teacher, Kakashi, was ruffling Naruto and Sasuke's hair while smiling into the camera. I smiled at all three pictures.
"Well, I'm off. See you when I get back," I said as I walked out of the room, swiping a breakfast bar, my iPod and my books as I walked out of the house.
My name is Josh Ryu Kitsune. It used to be Josh Anthony but I did not like my last name so I changed it to the Japanese names of my two favourite animals; Ryu for dragon and Kitsune for fox. Since my last two parents died I have been living alone. I had the chance to move in with some of my mum's friends but I politely declined. I didn't want to become a burden. And so now I have been renting a small unit while I attend Uni. I became obsessed with anime as an escape from the harsh reality. I know it seems that I run away but I can be in my own little world and can retreat to it. My favourite is the anime Naruto as you've probably already guessed.
I caught the bus to the train station and had boarded the train. The Uni was a fair way away and so I sat down as the train started speeding up. I started to entertain myself as I listened to my music on my iPod. The song was called Together we fly by Scudelia Electro from King of Bandit: Jing OST. A good song to listen to when you are travelling. I started thinking, what it would be like to live in Konoha, the place where Naruto lives. In watching the anime I had already finished the first series and was well into the second, Naruto: Shippuuden. I could name each event that unfolded, even the filler episodes. Sounds lame, I know, but it was just such a damn good anime.
I looked out of the window and notice that there was something wrong. 'Aren't we going a bit too fast?' I thought. The landscape was flashing past at very fast speeds. And it seamed that we were getting faster. Suddenly there was an explosion in the front car and the heat swept through the second carriage. A few people started screaming. I sprang to my feet.
"Everyone!" I yelled and everyone turned their heads to me. "If we move to the back of the train, we stand a better chance! Let's go!" Everyone started pushing forward as they tried to get to the third carriage. I pushed forward to the front carriage, thinking that there might be someone still alive. The automatic doors still worked and I stepped into the front carriage. It was hot, very hot. My eyes stung and started to water as I searched. I found two schoolgirls that looked like they had been knocked out.
"C'mon, wake up you guys!" I yelled over the roar of the flames. The girls slowly woke up, coughing in the smoke. "What happened?" one asked. "It seams there has been an accident. I need you girls to move to the back of the train while I search for more survivors ok?" The two girls nodded and started crawling along the ground to avoid most of the smoke. The one that spoke turned around and yelled, "Be careful!" before joining her friend. I continued forward to the most damaged part of the train. Sadly it seamed that these people were not so lucky as the girls. There were smoking corpses everywhere. I kept myself from hurling the contents of the breakfast bar onto the floor and started to turn around when two things happened. First were flashes of lightning from the driver's cabin. The second was the obliteration of the front carriage. Just before I was incinerated my last thought was 'I hope the others will live,' before the intense flames instantly ended my life.
Floating. That's what I felt like as I regained consciousness. I opened up my eyes to see nothing but white. 'So, I guess that this means that I'm dead and that I'm waiting to be judged for whether I should go to heaven or hell.' I thought as I floated there.
"Hello, Josh," came a kind and very feminine voice. I twisted my head round to see a very beautiful woman dressed in white, standing next to me, smiling. A wealth of long, golden hair framed her breathtaking face as two, deep blue orbs gazed back at me. 'Man! If all angels are this beautiful then I think I'm going to enjoy my time here,' I thought. Her smile widened. "That's very nice that you think I'm beautiful."
"………. I should have known you could read minds," I grumbled. 'Idiot, idiot, idiot! Now she probably thinks I'm a perv.'
"I should also say that I'm not an angel," she said.
"Welcome wagon?"
"No,"
"Mesenger?"
"Nope," Her smile was getting wider.
"Umm…secretary?"
"No silly. I'm God,"
"………………………….WHAAAAAAAAAAT!!"
The goddess started laughing at this and it was melodious, the laughter seeming to hang and tinkle in the air. It was…enjoyable but I was still scared shitless. God, or rather, Goddess, was standing in front of me. "I-I'm sorry. I meant no disrespect,"
The goddess waved my apology aside. "Don't worry about it. I actually brought you here to ask you a favour."
'She wants me to do a favour for her?! Wow,' was all I could think before I reigned in my thoughts and answered her. "What would you have me do?"
She smiled again, something I would never get tired of seeing. "I need you to seek out a sword for me. It is an evil sword that has reawakened and I need you to recover it for me. Don't destroy it, for that would upset the delicate balance of good and evil in all that I have created. I'm sure you've herd of the Ying-Yang?" I nodded. The concept was very familiar to me. "Well everything I made had this foundation built into them. The universe must have balance. This is the task I want you to do for me."
"This sword sounds very familiar," I commented for it sounded like the Soul Calibur games. The goddess smiled and recited a verse that I knew well.
"Transcending history and the world, a tale of souls and swords, eternally retold."
I was stunned. "How do you know that verse?"
"The characters and the story may be made up, but the swords are real. I had both swords in my possession but Soul Edge was stolen from me, broken into many pieces and sent to a certain planet. There it was scattered all around the globe. At first I didn't worry for there was no danger. But after 12 years someone is trying to reconstruct Soul Edge. You must wait until the sword is complete unless you want to hunt for all the pieces." I nodded, seeing the sense in that.
"So, where is this place?" I asked. The goddess then smiled widely and said, "It's where your favourite anime character lives,"
'Where my…. Oh COOL!!' I thought. "Where Naruto lives!?" I asked. She nodded. "WHOO HOO, YEAH! ALRIGHT!!" I shouted. I was blown away. 'I could see Naruto,'
"There is another thing I need to ask you to do," asked the goddess as I calmed down. "I need you to befriend Naruto and keep him safe from harm. You'll need his help in your quest."
"Absolutely ma'am! I won't let you down!" I said, bursting with happiness. Then a question popped into my head. "Why did you choose me for this mission?"
The beautiful goddess smiled and said, "Because, for some reason, you seem to be resistant to the possession of the Soul swords. I do not know the reason, as unbelievable as that may sound. But I'm not letting this chance slip away." I again nodded. I was not going to complain. "So, when do I leave?"
"You'll leave as soon as I give you some upgrades to help you on this task I have set for you. First I am going to chance your appearance. Any preference?" she asked. I didn't need to think about this. "Can you change my hair to white and make it spiky in a certain way?"
"Sure, just focus the image of what you want in your mind and I'll do the rest," she said. I brought up a picture in my mind. I remembered an ad for Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII and seeing Zacks hair after he inherited the Buster Sword. I then felt my hair shorten and morph for a few seconds. Afterwards the goddess summoned a mirror and I was able to see my new hairstyle. It looked really cool. We then proceeded with other changes. Soon I had eyes as blue as the goddess' eyes and I now wore a black muscle shirt with black cargo pants and a white leather trench coat that was reversible to black. Included was a pair of black, steal capped combat boots. I had slipped on a pair of white leather, fingerless gloves. I was now quite muscular and felt really strong. Although she shrunk me so I looked like 13 years old, but I could handle that.
Then we moved onto powers. She allowed me three techniques. When I asked her why she answered, "You shouldn't become too strong at the moment and that you should pick up more skills as you move on." I chose Shadow Clone Jutsu, the Kamehameha Wave and the Fire Shunshin where instead of shunshining with leaves as most Konoha ninja do it's with flames. "I chose that so I could look badass," is the reason I gave for that skill. Summoning was next and I was given enough knowledge to make myself a seal master. I was also able to choose what summoning contract I wanted to sign. I wanted to choose the fox contract but after learning that Kyuubi was the boss summon of the fox clan and that I would need to summon her so she could approve I decided not to sign it. I didn't want to muck up the seal if I summoned her. In fact the reason why Kyuubi went nuts is because a large shard of Soul Edge smashed into the fox. It seemed that the Bijuu were guardians of the elemental countries. So I asked if, as a side quest, to free Kyuubi from the piece of the Soul Edge that was corrupting her. She said if it was possible. So instead of the foxes I decided to ask for a custom summoning contract. I called it "The Element Summoning Contract". There were over 20 summons on the scroll. She also allowed for me to choose a summoning jutsu. I chose a jutsu that summoned big angel wings. It was called "Sylpheed Wings". I thought it was cool.
Next was choosing a bloodline limit. This was hard as I had so many to choose from. I finally chose one where if I touched an object, I would instantly be able to use and master it. For example. If I pick up a musical instrument that I've never played, I would be able to play it and use it perfectly. Or if I picked up a sword, I would know all the forms and be able to preform them flawlessly. However that is only to use them. It doesn't mean that I would have the strength or the physical aspects that I might need to correctly use the object. The goddess though that was very fair and complemented me on the choice.
After all was finished she handed me Soul Calibur to use as a weapon. She explained that it could shape shift into whatever weapon I wanted and that it would be useful to find a shard of Soul Edge. She also explained that it would act as a communicating device in case I needed to ask questions or if I just wanted to talk. She said this last part with a wink in my direction. I turned around so she couldn't see me blush. After I had controlled myself I asked her, "Do you have a name?"
She smiled softly and nodded. "You can call me Sophie,"
I smiled back. "Sophie, that's a nice name," I said. For a moment I thought I saw her blush faintly but it must've been my imagination. I looked down at Soul Calibur. The sword was in its original form which was exactly the same design as the Soul Calibur seen in the fourth game of the Soul Calibur series. I decided that until I was able to physically wield the sword in its original form I would change it into a broadsword shape. I willed it into that shape and then looked down. The sword was now roughly 46 inches long. The blade was 40 inches long and 2 inches wide. The handle was 6 inches long and had a white strip of cloth wrapped around the handle all the way to the hilt. On the end of the handle was the blue spherical jewel that seemed to radiate with blue light. The blade looked like a blue, shimmering crystal had been fashioned into the shape of a sword. It reminded me strongly of a sword in Final Fantasy X called the Brotherhood, at least that's what I think it was called. 'Oh well,' I thought as I did a few practice swings before sliding it into a white sheath that Sophie supplied. Like the sword, the scabbard could also shape shift. Finally she gave me knowledge to pass the Genin Exam when I enter for the test, as well as the Replacement Jutsu and the Henge. I asked if I could keep my iPod and she agreed, even upgrading it so it would never run out of battery power. She also upgraded the earphones so if I turned the volume up the earphones acted like powerful speakers without damaging them. She also handed me a wallet that looked like a fox. "The walled will never run out of money but try to restrain yourself from going on a big shopping spree," she smiled at me.
"Well, that seems all finished. Do you have anymore questions before I send you to a point roughly a mile away from the gates of Konoha?" Sophie asked. I shook my head. She smiled at me. "Ok. I will keep you updated from this end. Talk to you soon," she said before I was swallowed by light.
(Cue Song Daylight of Konoha from Naruto Original Soundtrack II)
I felt my feet touch the ground and I opened my eyes. I found myself on the side of the path leading to the giant gates of Konoha. Feeling the excitement welling up inside of me I started walking towards the entrance. I eventually got to the gates and two ninja jumped in front of my way. I recognised them as the two Chunnin that were weeding out the weaklings before the First Test of the Chunnin Exam. 'Izumo and Kotetsu. No doubt I'll see them again,' I thought.
"Halt and state your business in Konoha," said Izumo, trying to sound important.
I smiled warmly and said, "I'm here to see the Hokage about citizenship in Konoha and permission to enter the Ninja Academy." Izumo and Kotetsu looked at each other before looking back at me. "Wait here. We'll have ANBU escort you to Hokage-sama," said Kotetsu. I didn't have long to wait before an ANBU appeared. She, this much was obvious, had a cat mask on. 'Must be Yuugao Uzuki,' I thought. I saw the long dark purple hair flowing round her head. 'Yep, definitely Yuugao,'
"What's going on here?" she asked. Izumo answered. "He's here to see the Hokage, ANBU-san," Yuugao looked at me then beckoned with her hand. "Well come on. Let's go," she said, a bit disgruntled with having to baby-sit someone. As we walked through Konoha apparently there was a bit of a commotion. I was just about to ask what was going on when I found the source. Naruto's greatest prank. Painting of the Hokage stone faces. I started laughing and Yuugao looked round to ask what was so funny but she didn't need to as I just pointed at the monument. Even though her face was masked I got the feeling that she was also smirking. Pretending not to know all the details I asked, "Who did that? He must be good,"
"His name is Naruto and he's a ninja-in-training delinquent," was all she said. We stayed in silence as we made our way to the Hokage tower. 'I'm having a blast seeing Konoha for the first time. It's definitely a lot livelier than I thought it would be,' I thought. We arrived at the tower and started to climb. There were so many steps. 'I wish I could just chakra walk up this damn tower.' Eventually we reached the floor we needed to be on and stopped outside his office. The secretary looked at me as Yuugao explained that I was here to see the Hokage.
"Well you're in luck. There's a spot open now if you're ready to go in?" said the kind secretary. "Thank you, miss," I said as she opened the door. I walked inside. At the opposite end was the old man. After thanking his secretary he got up and cast a privacy jutsu on the room. I looked around, confused before Sarutobi smiled kindly at me. "Well it seems that you are Josh,"
"How did you…" I began to say but his answer cut me off. "I had a visit from your friend Kami-sama,"
"Ooooh. Then I guess you are briefed on the situation?" I asked.
"Yes I am. Kami gave me two sheets of paper. The first one was a fake ID for the records and the second was your details on your real skills. I've already filled out the form for your citizenship and I was just about to contact the Academy to have you transferred. If you are free now we'll go to the class that's graduating tomorrow."
I stood up and bowed. "Thank you for being so understanding about this Hokage-sama." Sarutobi shook his head. "Don't worry about it. I won't go against Kami-sama. Not today anyway. And you can just call me Sarutobi."
"Very well Sarutobi," I answered. "By the way, you do know that I know of the presence of Kyuubi inside of Naruto and that the Kyuubi is not evil at all, but under possession of a shard of Soul Edge?"
Sarutobi nodded. "The last one really threw me for a loop. I almost had a heart attack when she said that she was Kami." I laughed. "I had a similar reaction myself. Sophie seems to like surprising people."
"Oh so that's her real name eh? Well, I just want to say thank you for wanting to be Naruto's friend, even if it's just to help you with your task," said Sarutobi. I looked him in the eye and said, "Even if that wasn't the case, I would still be his friend." Sarutobi smiled warmly at me and said, "Thank you. That means a lot to me and I'm sure it will mean a lot to Naruto as well. Now let's get going," He cancelled the privacy jutsu and, beckoning for me to follow, we walked out of the office.
We reached the academy and Sarutobi made the arrangements. When he was finished, he beckoned for me to follow. We both walked to the classroom where Iruka teaches. The old Hokage opened the door and we stepped inside. Apparently Umino Iruka had caught Naruto because said blond was tied up in front of the class.
"Hokage-sama, what brings you here today?" asked Iruka when he saw Sarutobi standing in the doorway. The Third walked into the room and whispered something in his ear and after a moment he nodded. He then turned to the class who were staring at Sarutobi and I. "Class, we seem to have a new student to participate for tomorrow's gennin test. I would like you to meet Josh Ryu Kitsune," he said as he introduced me. I looked at the class and spotted most of what would become the Rookie 12. Nara Shikamaru was looking like he had just woken up. He looked at me as I smiled at him. I caught a hint of the word, "Troublesome," before he went back to sleep. Akimichi Chouji was on his right, eating a packet of chips. He returned my smile. Next row down I could see Hyuga Hinata. Man she really was cute. As I smiled at her she looked down, blushing a bit. Up on the top row I spotted Inuzuka Kiba and Aburame Shino. Kiba was talking to Akamaru and then looking at me, then talking to each other. Shino was just looking at me impassively. To the window side I saw that teme, Uchiha Sasuke. What a perfect example of emo. He was looking at me as if to say, "He wouldn't last two seconds against me but he might have secrets I can use to beat him." Typical Sasuke. In front of the brooder was everyone's favourite violent banshee, Haruno Sakura. If I could predict her thoughts, she would be thinking that I'm no match for Sasuke-kun. Sitting next to Shikamaru was Yamanaka Ino. She wasn't as bad as Sakura and was definitely stronger that pinkie but she could use some more work. And finally there was Uzumaki Naruto, the boy who wanted to become Hokage. Currently he was looking at me. I could sense what was coming.
"Hey there! My names Uzumaki Naruto and I'm gonna be Hokage!" he said strongly. I decided to play along for a bit. "Oh! Well it's a pleasure to meet you, Future Hokage of Konoha," I said with sincere respect as I bowed my head slightly. Suddenly I felt everyone looking at me. Naruto on the other hand gave me his foxy grin. The resident banshee decided to speak up.
"There's no way in hell he'll become Hokage!" she yelled at the both of us, mostly to Naruto than me. His eyes took up a pained expression as his crush yelled at him again. I felt a hand on my shoulder and turned to see Sarutobi beside me. "I have to go now. Paperwork, you understand." I smiled at him. "Why don't you just use Kage Bushin's to do the work?" The man known as the professor and God of Shinobi looked at me, wide eyed for a moment before laughing loudly. This got everyone's attention. The old man clapped a hand on my back and said, "I should've known. I must finally be getting to that age. Thank you Josh, I'll see you later." And with that he walked out of the room but his voice could be heard loudly. "I got you now you evil bastards!"
(Cue Song Afternoon of Konoha from Naruto Original Soundtrack II)
I laughed softly. Iruka joined in, but soon settled back into being a teacher. "Okay class, because a certain someone missed today's lesson, you shall now review the Henge no Jutsu. I'll call out your name and one by one you shall come down and transform into an image of me. Okay, first up is Haruno Sakura."
The bitchy little weakling walked to the front of the class. She pauses briefly to look and blush at Sasuke-emo sitting by the nearby window. When she got to the front of the class she quickly shouted to the boy "Watch this Sasuke-kun" before putting her hands into a seal and calling out "Henge no jutsu!" There is a poof of smoke and in her place is a perfect copy of Iruka. Another poof of smoke and a jumping Sakura is seen. "Did you see Sasuke? Did you?" she cries before running back to her seat. Sasuke just looks aside, oozing arrogance so thick it was palpable.
"Uchiha Sasuke," sounded Iruka's voice.
The boy in question stood up and slowly walked to the front of the class, his body language screaming 'This isn't worth my time'. With little or no effort whatsoever he made the seal and drawled "Henge no Jutsu", and a poof of smoke later revealed another perfect Iruka copy. The second poof of smoke showed the boy with his hands in his pockets, clearly not bothered at all by the task. And so the names were called out one by one, each student coming to the front of the class and performing a perfect transformation.
"Kitsune Josh," Seems like it was now my turn. I walked up the front where I was sitting next to Naruto. I had decided to talk to him after school. I put my hands into the right seal and said "Henge no Jutsu," and a poof of smoke later revealed myself as a perfect Iruka copy. I poofed back and started walking back to my seat when Iruka stopped me. "Josh, since you are new here, could you tell me a bit about your skills?" I nodded and whispered into his ear. "I know the Henge, Replacement, Kage Bushin, Flame Shunshin and my two secret techniques, The Kamehameha Wave and the Sylpheed Wings." Iruka at first looked stunned that I knew Kage Bushin but frowned in confusion at the last three that I said. I knew that he knew what the Shunshin was but was probably taken back that it was a flame one. 'And I'm sure that no-one knows the Kamehameha Wave or Sylpheed Wings.' I thought. I then walked back to sitting next to Naruto.
"Uzumaki Naruto" said Iruka.
Naruto huffed in irritation and walked to the front of the class. A smile flicked across his face. I knew what was coming. He gathered his chakra and formed the seals. Like the others, there is a poof of smoke and sound, but unlike the others, this transformation revealed a buxom naked blonde girl blowing a kiss in a revealing position. Iruka's eyes bugged and he shot back as his nostrils fired out a large fountain of blood, flying in a comical fashion in the direction of his desk. Naruto laughed as he released the jutsu "Hahahahahaha, I call that one my Oiroke no jutsu. Pretty cool huh?" Iruka quickly recovered from his massive nosebleed and used his special 'Demon Head' to yell at Naruto. "You Dumbass, don't invent stupid skills!" roared the teacher. The force of Iruka's yell blew Naruto's hair back and the whole thing would have been very impressive if it hadn't been for the two pieces of twisted tissue Iruka had jammed up his nose to prevent his fainting from blood loss.
(Cue song Stay by Fat Jon from Samurai Champloo OST - Departure)
At the end of the day I went in search of Ichiraku's Raman, knowing that Naruto and Iruka would show up there later. After a few hours I found it on the main street. By this time it was early evening and I decided to grab something to eat while I was waiting. I ducked under the cloth flaps and spotted Ayame at the front of the bar. Teuchi was probably cooking in the back. 'The smell of raman is so good,' I thought.
"Welcome to Ichiraku's Raman Stand!" Ayame said brightly as I took a seat. I smiled at her. "Ah so this is the infamous Ichiraku's eh?" Ayame smiled and said, "I didn't think we were infamous," She turned to the back. "Did you dad?" she called. Teuchi's head pocked over the short wall. "No, I didn't know either. So what will it be?" he asked me. "Two large bowls of chicken raman please," I replied. Teuchi nodded and went to work.
"So, you new in town?" asked Ayame. I nodded. "Just got in today. I'm at the Ninja Academy." She nodded back. "By the way, Naruto will be coming here soon. You better get ready," Her brown eyes widened slightly and she nodded while smiling knowingly.
As I sat eating my raman I talked to Ayame. There were no customers besides myself so she was free to converse with me. We manly talked about Naruto. It wasn't long before Naruto and Iruka walked into the stand. "Hi Naruto!" I said happily. Naruto looked at me and smiled widely. "Hey there….Josh, right?" he said. I gave him the thumbs up. "I was just enjoying some ramen. I guess you're here for some too?" Naruto flashed me a foxy grin and said "I like you! People who like ramen can't be bad." I laughed. "Thank you. I like you too. Want to be friends?" I asked. The blond boy nodded. Naruto and Iruka sat down next to me and Naruto ordered a large bowl of miso pork ramen as he took off his green goggles and placed them on the counter. Iruka ordered a bowl of beef ramen.
"Naruto, why did you vandalize such a place? You know what the Hokages are, right?" asked Iruka after finishing his mouthful of ramen. Naruto looked up at him, slurping up a large quantity of noodles into his mouth and finishing them with a large gulp.
"Of course I do. In other words, those who carried the name of Hokage were the number one ninjas in the village, right? And I hear the Fourth one is a hero who protected the village from a monster fox."
"Then why did you…?"
"Because I'm going to surpass them all. Some day I'm gonna be Hokage, the greatest Hokage this village has ever seen. Then I'm going to make everyone in the Village recognize my powers." Iruka paused from his meal and looked at his student, a puzzled expression on his face with a noddle sticking out of his mouth, then smiled.
Naruto turned to me and said, "You believe me, right? In class, you called me Future Hokage. Did you really mean it?" I put down my bowl and turned to him. "Yes, I do. I'm very good at reading people's natures just by looking at them. When I look at you, I sense that you are fiercely loyal. That you support your friends. And that you try your best at everything you do." Naruto gave me this huge grin, so big that he had to close his eyes. Then he turned to Iruka.
"By the way Sensei, I have a favour to ask." Iruka looked at the blond, then at his empty bowl. "You want another bowl?" he asked. Naruto shook his head then clapped his hands together "Could I borrow your leaf headband, just to try it on please pretty please"
"Oh this thing…" Iruka brought his hand to his headband "…sorry, but this is proof that you have graduated school and that you're a real ninja. You'll get yours tomorrow."
Naruto pouted. "Stingy!" Iruka laughed and said, "Is that why you took your goggles off?"
"I want another bowl!" yelled Naruto. I laughed as Iruka opened his wallet and sighed in defeat. "Don't worry Iruka, I'll rescue you." I turned to Naruto. "In celebration of our new friendship, I'll pay for Naruto's next 5 bowls!" I declared. Naruto whooped for joy as Iruka and I laughed at his antics.
"By the way," said Iruka as he focused on me, "I've never seen white hair on someone so young, and you seem so mature for your age." I smiled warmly at him. "Thanks, Iruka-sensei." "Also, what are the two last jutsus you told me in class?" he asked. Naruto also listened in.
"Normal shunshin is done with leaves right?" Iruka nodded in acknowledgement. "Well mine is with flames instead." Iruka nodded in understanding. "I guess you have fire element manipulation then." Iruka confirmed. I nodded.
"Ano sa, ano sa, Iruka-sensei, what does shunshin mean?" asked Naruto. Iruka automatically moved into his lecture mode. "The technique, Shunshin, is a teleportation jutsu. It allows you to move short distances almost instantaneously. Normally Shunshin looks like a puff of white smoke as you disappear. Leaf ninja prefer a whirlwind of leaves spiralling round themselves for a second before dispersing after the jutsu is executed. This tends to be showier. But people who have strong elemental sides can customize their shunshin in their element. Josh, would you demonstrate for us?" Iruka asked. I nodded and focused on the other side of the street and preformed the jutsu. Flames erupted around me, swirling around me before I felt pulled toward the spot I visualised. My feet met firm ground instantly afterwards. I then flame shunshined back to my seat. Iruka looked impressed. Ayame looked at me in awe and Naruto just flung his arms around me screaming, "Can you teach me that jutsu, please, please, please, please, please, please!!"
"Calm down Naruto," I said as I pried him off me. "I will eventually okay?" This seemed to pacify him for the moment as he went back to his ramen. Iruka spotted my sword and asked, "That's an interesting sword. Mind if I have a look?" I nodded and unstrapped the sword and slowly pulled it out. Iruka looked in open mouthed wonder as the sword came out. I only pulled it out half way before sliding it back into its white sheath and strapping it back to my waist. "That has got to be the most beautiful sword I have ever seen. You should show it to one of my previous students. I would know she would like to study the sword," he said. 'Probably Tenten,' I thought.
Iruka stood up. "Well it's getting late. I'll see you two tomorrow for the test ok?" I nodded and Naruto turned in his seat. "Bye Iruka-sensei!" he called before returning to his ramen again. Deciding that it was time for me to find a hotel I paid for Naruto's ramen, leaving a generous tip before saying goodbye to Naruto.