Chakra Chakram Chakra
Summary: Naruto/Xena xover. Gabrielle returns to the Land of Japa to mourn her friend but unwittingly stumbles on the hidden shinobi continents during the formation of Konoha. How will the shinobis handle the chattery, fiery and independent warrior bard?
A/N: MWAHAHAHAHA…yes, I know a Naruto Xena cross over is definitely a ridiculous notion but it's sooo fun. Also, taking cue from the Xena series, there is no language barrier in this story as there are none in the series. Also, spoilers for the end of XENA and all of it, actually, and for Naruto too! Yay, thanks for reading and review please!!
Chapter One: Return to the Land of Japa
Gabrielle didn't know how she got herself into these kinds of messes. Xena seriously rubbed off on her, but the Warrior Princess had ten years of evil warlord enemies and victims she always needed to be wary of while Gabrielle had…well…not much she could remember. Dahak was gone, so was her daughter, and the Gods were definitely gone with the exception of Aphrodite and Ares, but those two would never do anything to her (or so she thought).
Maybe the Land of Japa truly hates her. Of all places she could lose her only friend and lover, it had to be in this unforgiving foreign place, and now it was out to get her, as if Xena wasn't enough. All she had wanted to do was mourn the anniversary of the Warrior Princess's sacrifice in peace, but Japa was not going to let that happen without some sort of trouble.
It was an innocent morning for Gabrielle, collecting some herbs in the forest when a sudden vertigo overtook her and sent her reeling. The world seemed the spin around her and she could feel the morning's breakfast coming up into her throat. An invisible force threw her into the ground and she effectively blacked out.
When Gabrielle had come to, she was lying on the forest floor. Her head was throbbing with a dull pain and the grogginess had not left her. She pushed herself up and stumbled, swaying this and that as she attempted to stand up. When she had some of her sense back into her control, she looked around the forest to find that she didn't recognize any of it. Of course, stranger things have happened. From then, she explored her new surrounding trying to figure out what had happened. What suddenly caused her to collapse? How did you end up here? Trying to get her questions answered, she wandered the forest for some time seeing not another soul for hours. Gabrielle sighed. Has she suddenly died and had gone to some sort of afterlife realm? Was this forest her resting place? She pouted—if she had died, she wanted to be with Xena, and she knew if she died she would be with Xena—so this was not death. Then what happened. She continued her trek through the forest.
Presently, Gabrielle observed with interest at the small star shaped blades that she had found in the forest. It was like the chakram, but pointier and smaller. She had once seen weapons like these the last time she was in Japa but she had never really seen it used. She carefully picked up the star weapons and slipped it into her pocket.
With practiced caution, she continued her journey through the strange land, walking on the dirt road, thinking of a way to get back to port and perhaps even go back home to Poteidea. For the last year she had been wandering the world wherever her whims would take her, taking on the role of lone warrior and performing various heroic deeds. The world was strange to her, but the pain of losing Xena made her oblivious to it.
When the sun was still high in the sky, Gabrielle ventured into the forest hoping to find a small stream to fill up her wineskin and relieve her parched throat. It wasn't difficult to find a small running stream, which had to be the best thing that happened to her for a long time. Smiling to herself, the blond battling bard cupped a palmful of water and lapped it thirstily, savoring the feeling of the cold water as it passed over her tongue and down her heated throat. After she was sufficiently satisfied, she took out her wineskin and filled it up with water.
After traveling with Xena for several years, battling everything from despicable warlords, demons, and even Gods, Gabrielle senses had been honed nearly to perfection. Sure, compared to Xena's they were weak, but it was enough to hear a small blade rip the calm winds about her and headed straight to the back of her neck. She whipped around and caught the incoming weapon, barely catching the hilt of the weapon as the point of the blade grazed the tip of her nose.
That was close, she thought, heart pounding wildly from the surprise. She looked at the strange weapon—it was not like any dagger she had seen before. The iron blade was diamond shaped, perhaps as long as her palm, and had a short handle with no guard. Instinctively, Gabrielle looked around, trying to catch sight of her attacker.
The Land of Japa really hated her, didn't it?
There was some rustling in the trees. Gabrielle pocketed the strange weapon and instinctively reached for her two sais at her feet and pulled them out.
"What good reflex you have, little girl," a taunting voice said to her. A second later, three men, dressed in black some sort of strange samurai-esque outfit appeared in front of her. Gabrielle was taken aback—how did they appear like that so suddenly?
"Tell me, what clan are you from? Your blond hair is…suspicious…" said the man in the middle. Gabrielle guessed that he was the leader.
"Attack first and ask questions later, huh?" she snarled at them, "I don't know what you're talking about!"
"No?" said the middle man, sounding disturbingly amused, "Are you not a shinobi?"
Gabrielle blinked, "What's that?"
The man raised his eyebrows and repeated, "What's that? Little girl, you are too good. Who sent you to spy on us, blondie?!"
Gabrielle's eyes twitched at the world 'blondie'. What the hell was up with these people? Why did they think she was a shinobi and a spy? The Land of Japa is always suspicious of foreigners, she understood that much, but accusing her of being a shinobi and a spy was taking it further than she liked.
"I really don't know what you're talking about," Gabrielle answered with a humorless grin, "But…I'm not a spy…"
"She's a stubborn one, men," the man growled, motioning to his two lackeys, "Let's teach her a little lesson."
Gabrielle frowned and got in her battle stance, but became confused when one of her opponents started to merely move his hands, making a succession of strange signs.
She could barely get out "What are you do—" when the man opened his mouth and let out a stream of fire—he was breathing fire! Now, Gabrielle have seen Xena do the wine and fire trick before—but this was different, the man was actually breathing fire!
Gabrielle took a cautionary leap back and watched in wonder at the conjured fireball.
Behind her, across the river, she heard a new voice say, "Suiton: Mizu no Tatsumaki!" A tornado of water suddenly appeared between her and the fire, effectively putting it out and sending her three assailants flying into the trees. Gabrielle whipped around to see the newcomers across the spring. She was surprised to find two men, both wearing similar samurai-esque outfit, although one had some sort of white fur encircling his neck.
"Are you okay?" one of them asked, frowning concernedly. He had long black hair and an honorable looking visage, and his concern seemed genuine enough to her. The other one held out his hands in one of those strange seal—unlike his companion, this man was pale with white hair and strange red eyes. Both had an aura of confidence and strength that was reminiscence of the warrior princess herself. Neither seemed even remotely threatened by her and her sais.
"Uh, y-yeah," Gabrielle managed to answer as she felt the water tornado disappear, "What was that?"
The two men looked at each other, blinked and looked back at her.
"It was a suiton, a water technique," the white haired man said with a shrug, "You must be a civilian."
Gabrielle looked at them strangely—ever since she took up being the warrior bard she hadn't been called a civilian. She frowned and said, "Thanks for helping me…but, who are you?"
The dark haired man smiled kindly and said, "I am Senju Hashirama, and this is my brother, Senju Tobirama—we are shinobis of the Senju clan. You are, miss?"
There were those words again—clan, shinobis! The names were also undoubtedly Japanese. She really was lost now. Not lowering her guard, she answered, "Gabrielle."
"Gabrielle?" the one called Tobirama repeated, "Strange name."
She merely shrugged, "Perhaps to you. Who were those men who attacked me?"
"Spies," answered Hashirama, "From a rival clan. These parts of the wood are Senju property. What are you doing here?"
"I don't know," Gabrielle answered before she could stop herself, "I woke up a day ago in this forest and have been walking since."
"I see," mumbled Tobirama, "You can't be a spy. You're too careless to be one."
Gabrielle didn't know if she should take this to be a insult or not—at least it meant that they were not going to be as hostile to her if they didn't think she was a spy.
"I'm not," she breathed, "But what are you guys? That man blew fire and you created the tornado? What are you, some sort of gods?"
The two men looked at each other again, visibly confused and looked back at her.
"No, we're not gods," Hashirama answered slowly, "Those were jutsus. We are shinobis. You really must be a civilian from a remote area."
"But by the way you caught the kunai, I must say you have some skill," added Tobirama with a smile. Gabrielle smiled uncertainly—yes…she had skills, especially after traveling with the famous warrior princess for so long…but she was not as nearly skilled as she wanted to be…not nearly as skilled as Xena.
"We mean no harm," said Hashirama kindly, "So drop your guard."
Gabrielle did not comply. She had been suddenly attacked just a few moments ago and she was not going to drop her guard.
"She's a suspicious one," Tobirama told his brother with an amused grin, "What should we do with her?"
"Come back with us to our compound," Hashirama said, "It's too dangerous for a civilian to be alone in these forests. We can offer you food, water and place to sleep and escort you back to you wherever you need to go."
Gabrielle narrowed her eyes at them—could she trust them? It's true they did save her, and the Hashirama person really seemed like a trustworthy person but Japa had not been the nicest to her. What would Xena do? Gabrielle stared at the two of them for several moments before she let out a defeated sigh. She probably did need their help or she'd be attacked by more of those shinobis, or even worse, never get out of the forest. Slowly, carefully, she let her guard down and slipped the sais back into their places by her ankles.
"Fine," she conceded, "Alright. I'll go back with you."
A/N: What did you think? Think this could work!? Yay, go Xena and Gabrielle! Thanks for reading and that review button is in mighty need of clickin'!