Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or One Piece. If I did then paying for college would definitely be a hell of a lot easier.
Ikō: So how exactly is college going for you Skillet?
Skillet: Stressful and vomit inducing. So basically it's just like high school except more homework and the ability to drive around a bit more.
Side Story: Shichibukai of the Crescent Moon Kingdom
Chapter 1: Two Foolish Princes
Late at night, several Konoha chunin were on sentry duty outside the village walls. As all five of the great villages were now in the middle of the Fourth Great Shinobi War with the Santatsu Foundation after having finally disbanded the Akatsuki, and were now on very high alert as a result. The head of the sentry duty, Division 9 tokubetsu jounin Aoba Yamashiro noticed a trade caravan heading down the road to Konoha.
"It's just a trade caravan. Stand down."
"Not so fast! For all we know it's a group of Santatsu spies that have disguised themselves as a caravan. Pull it over." Aoba said before running up to the caravan and halting it in the middle of the road. It was then he noticed the company insignia painted onto its side "The Terran Group? State your business!"
Not bothering to step outside the caravan, the man inside spoke in a gravely voice "There's no reason to be suspicious Konoha-nin. I'm the CEO of the Terran Group and the former Captain of Division 2. I'm simply here to discuss business with the Yondaime Hokage!"
"The Yondaime has chosen to not retake the throne and choose the Godaime within the next month. There should be no reason to seek any sort of business relationship with him. Besides, the last person to seek out something like this from him was Gatō, and he was on of the Santatsu Shogun responsible for the Night of Kyuubi." Aoba stated his reasoning to the CEO.
"I assure you there's no reason to be suspicious!"
"Then you would have no issue with us investigating the contents of your caravan? Rishi, Gilda, search it for anything suspicious!" Aoba ordered his two subordinates, who followed the order and went behind the caravan to look around. However things got more than suspicious when the chunin tumbled back in the form of corpses, each with massive shards of glass sticking out of their head. Upon seeing this, the rest of the guard got into fighting stances while the enemy appeared.
He was tan skinned man with blue hair that was styled into a pompadour with a long braid coming around the back, and blazing yellow eyes. He wore a surgical mask that covered up the lower half of his face, a slightly tinted monocle, and a white high-collared robe with lighting bolt like blue stitched that clearly identified him as a Santatsu member. All of the guard members charged him, only for their attacks to go right through him as his body transformed into what seemed to be melted glass.
They then suffered a similar fate to their comrades, as he turned his hand into a blade of glass and proceeded to the butcher them with it. After having impaled Aoba through his stomach with the blade, the tokubetsu chunin tried to croak out through his pain "I know that the Santatsu couldn't be to far behind all this. You're a Logia?"
"That's right, I ate the Glass-Glass Fruit, so now I'm a Glass Man. And now as a traitor to Konoha, you shall fall to the hand of the Nitatsu, Dentist Salon." The man said his name, only to find that Aoba was now having trouble holding in his laughter at the sound of it. As a result he threw Aoba against a nearby tree, before walking over and releasing his mini Den Den Mushi, leaving him to bleed out in the woods with the rest of the guard "It's quite a shame none of them knew Haki isn't it Mr. CEO?"
"Indeed it is Dentist Salon. But I think that me and my employees can handle the trip to Konoha from here. In the meantime you should gather up some Shotatsu and make your way to the Land of Waves. That colony has been rebellious of our rule for long enough since Gatō's death." The CEO said from inside his caravan, while more men appeared from inside and began to drive him further south into the Land of Fire.
All while Dentist Salon watched him further into the woods that the country was famed for, before walking towards his own to the east in the form of the Great Naruto Bridge a mere ten minutes from their point of separation. In front of the bridge stood a statue of its namesake during his first battle against the Santatsu Foundation on the bridge seven years ago "So this is the mighty Cinderface that our Shogun are so interested in. No matter, he's just an obstacle against making Konoha what it should be. He'll fall to us in due time."
"Well this blows. Why do we have to start this damn mission out in the middle of the dessert?" Naruto said as he trudged through the desserts of the Land of Wind with his team consisting of himself, Tenten Virgo, Chouji Akimichi, Itachi Uchiha. Within the two weeks that the Fourth Great Shinobi War, Naruto had been getting mission after mission being requested to him "15 missions in two weeks. I can't even remember the last time I had to work this much."
"You can't be surprised Naruto; ever since the fall of the Akatsuki you've practically been the face of our village. Not to mention all the extra money you've been getting from all the A and B Rank missions you've been completing got you enough money to get a better apartment for you and Hinata." Tenten brought this up "Not to mention you got some money for your red-light district buddies."
"They did raise him with Sarutobi after all. They were probably the only people who didn't see him as a monster after all." Itachi put his two cents into the conversation, only to get a very harsh glare from Naruto. Itachi accurately predicted the cause of this was the fact that he'd accidentally bleached Naruto's normal red hoodie and bright shade of pink, which just so happened to be the swordsman's least favorite color "Come now, tell me you're not still upset about the pink jacket thing. You could be Chouji right now."
"Too fucking hot. Why am I even on this mission? Wouldn't it make more sense for a chunin like Shino or Konan?" Chouji groaned as his body fat caused him to store a massive amount of heat.
"Because they're all on different missions Chouji-san. I mean with the Santatsu Foundation running around our village has been busier than ever." Tenten explained to the overweight jounin before she and the rest of them noticed a bizarre sight. What was practically a parade of wagons and caravans riding through the dessert right towards them "Is that a mirage? Who would need this many caravans?"
"Our client most likely; but I still question why one would need all the transport we see now." Itachi pondered to himself, before a fat man with long black hair, wearing a blue robe, red hat, and a large quantity of jewelry barged out of one of the caravans.
"You mean this? These are all for my shopping, I come across so many wonderful things on foreign island, and let me tell you Shinobi Island is no different. I just kept buying and buying, and I had all this before I knew it." The large man approached them before stopping to introduce himself "My name is Michiru, the Crown Prince of Crescent Moon. You must be the Shichibukai my Papa hired to protect me."
"Name's Roronoa Naruto, the future Greatest Swordsman in the World. These are my squad members, Chouji, Itachi, and Tenten." Naruto introduced the rest of his team "Your King hired us to make sure you got back safely from your vacation."
"I've heard a great deal of your exploits against Orochimaru and the Akatsuki Cinderface-kun. I have no doubt that I'm good care." Michiru praised the swordsman, before he noticed the petite kunoichi nearby. Having a thing for pretty faces, Michiru decided to grab her hands "Well aren't you just the most pretty young lady. Far too pretty to be a ninja."
"Um...what?" Tenten grimaced, clearly finding the situation awkward.
Being quite the pervert as well, Itachi decided to make his own move on Tenten "I see that the Prince has quite the eye for lovely ladies. Indeed, Miss Virgo is a delicate flower who's beauty knows no bounds. Her pearly brown eyes, her silk like hair, her glistening skin, and goddess like curves. It is absolutely-"
"SHUT THE HELL UP SKIRT CHASER!" Tenten grabbed onto Itachi's ear and began shaking him around by it in annoyance with his lecherous raving. While Naruto laughed at the sight of the Uchiha heir being shaken around, Chouji continued to suffer in the sweltering heat. However he was quickly brought to his senses when a toy arrow hit him dead in the center of his hitai-te, only for the delirium caused by the heat to cause him to panic.
"WE'RE UNDER ATTACK!"
"Really fatso, that was pathetic! If that arrow was real you'd be dead." The source of the arrow revealed itself to be a young boy wearing white clothes and a large pair of clothes "Are you sure about these people Otousan? They don't even look like real ninja; especially not the blonde loser in the pink jacket."
Upon being insulted by the boy, Naruto responded by clicking his sword from its sheath "What did you say to me, you little punk?"
"Please forgive my Hikaru, Cinderface-kun. I'm afraid he's going through that childhood trend of mischief." Michiru tried to his excuse his son from any wrong doing while leading the shinobi back to the parade of caravans "Now we must make haste back to Crescent Moon, I'd hate to keep Papa and Shabadaba-kun waiting any longer before the Reverie."
While he and his father waltzed back into the caravans without a care in the world, Hikaru briefly sneered at Naruto "Filthy pirate."
Having noticed this, Naruto delivered his own glare to the young prince "I have a feeling I'm really going to hate this gaki."
"It's a big honor to meet you Cinderface-kun. You're like a superhero for the entire South Blue." Michiru continued to fanboy over the swordsman, who was currently carrying the overheated Chouji on his back "You fought the World Government, Otogakure, the Akatsuki, and hundreds of pirates and mountain bandits! You and the Pirate Hunter even took out the Black Eel Pirates of the West Blue. Imagine my surprise when I figured out you were hired to escort me and my son home from vacation."
"Gee thanks. By the way could you get my friend some water, he's not really good in the heat." Naruto pointed out Chouji's suffering, to which he was quickly given a bottle.
After practically inhaling the liquid, Chouji got a bit more color in his face and listened in on the conversation between Michiru and Naruto "I can't wait for you to see the island Cinderface-kun. It's a tropical paradise with the most beautiful sandy beaches and grand casinos."
"What about the food? Is the food on Crescent Moon good?" Chouji asked while Itachi jumped into the conversation.
"And what about the girls?"
"Our country has the largest all you can eat food buffets from a wide variety of different cultures, and the most gorgeous women in the South Blue. Well, aside from your island of course Itachi-kun." Michiru explained, which got both Chouji and Itachi visibly excited.
"YEAH ALL YOU CAN EAT!"
"BEAUTIFUL WOMEN!"
"ROAD TRIP!"
"ROAD TRIP!"
"ROAD TRIP!"
"ROAD TRIP!"
"Why did Neji bail on me." Naruto groaned at their cheers before he saw something emerging over the cliffs of the valley. Specifically a group of mountain bandits that were climbing down with intent to rob them blind "We've got company."
"I'll take care of it Naruto-san." Itachi said as he unsheathed his sword and charged towards the mountain bandits who didn't really seemed that threatened by the former Akatsuki chairman.
"Kick his ass boys! It's just one man!"
The man who appeared to be the leader of the group of thieves charged at Naruto with a spear, only for Itachi to dodge it with ease and grab onto the hilt of the spear. Itachi then proceeded to use his momentum to toss him off the side of the cliff before he found himself face to face with the rest of the group. However they proved to be no match for the Uchiha, who used his Sharingan to predict their movements and dispatch them with his own style of taijutsu.
All the while Michiru and Hikaru merely relaxed inside the safety of the caravan "Hikaru-kun, you really should watch the fight. Itachi-kun is really good at his job."
"Who cares, he's just some loser shinobi anyways. They're easily replaceable."
Ignoring the boy's insults with a growl, Chouji continued his conversation with the elder prince "So Oujisama, if you're a prince than that means you're going to take over the title as King of Crescent Moon right?"
"Of course, I plan on ruling the kingdom once my father decides to retire. But he's in really good health, so I don't see him retiring for quite a while. I still have plenty of time to enjoy the days of my youth." Michiru yawned as he lazed about in the caravan "Unfortunately he doesn't see it that way. He even made me go on this journey right before Reverie to broaden my horizons. So who's the king of your village?"
"We don't really have a king actually, we have a Hokage. But even then the seat is vacant since Jiisama died fighting Cell." Naruto explained to the fat prince, who seemed rather shocked by this revelation.
"You don't have a king? How do you survive?"
"That's a real mystery Oujisan." Naruto said with sarcasm dripping from his voice.
"So is the title of Hokage passed down from father to son or something?"
"Not quite Oujisama; you see there are 13 Court Guard Squads that protect our village, and each one has a captain that makes up the Shinobi council. From one of these 13 shinobi, the Hokage is chosen whenever the need for a new one arises. With any luck we'll have a new one by the time we get back." Tenten put her input into the conversation, while Itachi came back down the cliffs after easily beating the mountain bandits.
"That's dumb." Hikaru rolled his eyes at the shinobi, before continuing to mash the buttons on his handheld console.
The only thing this achieved was making Naruto even more annoyed with him than he already was 'I'm really starting to hate this gaki.'
'Just put up with it for now gaki. He may be a little bitch, but he's still a client of this job. And we can easily draw on his face while he's sleeping.'
'Ah touché Kurama.'
The journey across the dessert to the coast of Shinobi Island had taken the escort about a day and a half of travel, with them living in absolute luxury. Or at least Michiru and Hikaru did, while the team of bodyguards got the short end of the stick. Later that afternoon they came across a town that was currently hosting a traveling animal circus, which Michiru just had to go see. The circus was indeed quite a fun experience, with the animals and human performers alike putting on a great show for the audience.
After an entire show of grand experiences for the audience to enjoy, the ringmaster was moving onto the main attraction and grand finale "Now for the moment you've all been waiting for: Chamū the sabertooth tiger, and his primate partner Kiki!" The spotlight focused on the aforementioned sabertooth tiger who released a mighty roar and strutted down to the ringmaster, while a monkey wearing a red hat came down as well.
"That little monkey is so cute!" Tenten gushed over the tiny mammal, while Naruto focused on a different aspect of the show.
"I like the tiger. I can respect it as a fellow swordsman."
With the audience continuing to watch in awe, Chamū and Kiki started their performance by continuously hitting the ball back and forth to each other. This cycle ended when Chamū made his way back onto the podiums and leapt through several rings of fire. After landing safely on the other side, the tiger released another roar before Kiki landed on his head munching an apple. He then tossed the apple into the air, where it was shot into a target by a nearby archer.
After the monkey was given another apple, Chamū stood up on his hind legs and began swaying side to side "Now things become much more dangerous for our primate friend. If he's off by even a centimeter Kiki will be in serious trouble. Can Chamū pull it off?" The stadium hushed to a halt while the archer prepared to make his shot, only for Hikaru to hit it with one of his toy arrows out of nowhere.
"Easy shot."
"Wow, you have a great eye young lad. But let's see you handle this shot!" The ringmaster signaled Chamū to run around the ring, with Kiki still holding up the apple "If you can hit the apple under these conditions, you win a prize!"
"You think he can actually make it?" Chouji wondered aloud through his bites of popcorn.
"I suppose it's a possibility." Itachi glared at the apple being spun around on the monkey's finger.
To the surprise of just about everyone watching, Hikaru actually managed to make the shot causing the stadium to explode with applause "Way to go son! You definitely deserve some sort of prize after a feat like that. Now what to give you..."
"I'll take the tiger." Hikaru almost immediately pointed towards the tiger prowling around the ring, to the shock of the ringmaster.
"Say what?...Um sonny, I'm afraid that while he's tame, Chamū can still be pretty dangerous when he's in an uncomfortable and unfamiliar environment." The ringmaster tried to explain this to Hikaru, only for Michiru to interject with his own opinion on the subject.
"It's no problem sir, in fact I kind of like the idea of having my own circus. We'll just take the whole thing off your hands, with the right amount of money of course."
The ringmaster stammered for a moment, before his eyes turned into Beri signs and he collapsed to the ground. All the while, the four man team of shinobi watched in annoyance "I'm beginning to see why this man has such a large parade of caravans." Itachi groaned with exasperation clear in his flat voice.
In the waters of the South Blue between Shinobi Island and Crescent Moon Island floated a large raft-like ship with three black sails with the lowest one having three evil looking skulls. This ship was one of 10 belonging to the notorious Blackbeard Pirates who ruled over a large portion of the New World. At the moment, the captain of the fifth ship and navigator of the original crew, Lafitte was on a business trip in the South Blue with the Santatsu Foundation and was meeting with one of their members.
"It's quite rude to be this late. Where in the world could that man possibly be this late in the day?" Lafitte wondered aloud as he stood on the deck of his ship along with several members of his crew, before he saw the strange site of what appeared to a be a human-shaped storm cloud descending onto the ship "It's about time Soramaru-san. Do you have the transponder snail from the new king of Crescent Moon?"
"Of course Lafitte-san. Just remember that your captain also has to fulfill his end of the bargain before he can get what the Foundation has promised him." Soramaru said as he materialized into a full human and landed, before taking out a baby den den mushi from his sleeve and handing it to Lafitte.
Within moments the den den mushi began to ring, causing Lafitte to answer the device and a high and gravelly voice to speak through the snail. This voice belonged to Shabadaba, the minister of Crescent Moon who was noticeably unhappy "What shit are you Santatsu dunces trying to push on me? Kakeru got away because your men couldn't get the job done properly!"
"Stop spewing crap old man." Kongo said from nearby Shabadaba, which went through the den den mushi as well.
"I turned the bastard's innards to stone, so even if he got away for now he should still be dead soon enough." Ishidate joined the conversation.
"No matter, so tell me are the two royal brats coming home from their little vacation soon?" Shabadaba shrugged off his hired help's objections to his criticism to ask Soramaru of Michiru and Hikaru's status.
After clearing his throat out for a moment, Soramaru answered in his usual serene tone of voice "They should be setting sail to Crescent Moon by sunset Oo-sama. I'll send a storm out then with the help Lafitte-san, and we'll capture them then for execution."
"You make it sound too easy Soramaru-san; don't forget that the previous king has hired shinobi from Konoha to protect his intended successors, and one of just so happens to be the Cinde-" Laffite tried to explain to the Nitatsu, only to get interrupted.
"What are you thinking? Don't mention that man while Ishidate-san is on the phone!" Soramaru tried to shut up the former navigator before Ishidate could hear, but it was far too late for that and the former pirate captain was able to figure out what they meant.
"So that Cinderface-gaki is guarding that fat idiot of a prince?" Ishidate gave out a low growl from the other side of the den den mushi before he began to chuckle "Perfect, this is the entire reason I joined this stupid organization in the first place. I'm going to give that wannabe bounty hunter his just desserts for what he did to me 7 years ago!"
(A/N): Good news: More Ninja of Santoryu! Bad news: It's just a side story, and the main one is still on hiatus. More bad news: It likely won't be off hiatus until sometime next January of February. Hell, the entire reason I'm writing this story is to tide over fans of the main story while I'm stuck dealing with my first semester of college, which keep in mind hasn't been easy. But on the bright side, this story should be a lot shorter, with only about 3-4 chapters and my other stories, Malevolence and Part of a Family (especially the latter) will take precedence after that. That is assuming the second half of the term doesn't eat me alive. Wish me luck that won't happen and please be patient for more chapters. And for new readers, I have to ask that you read the main one first, so this one will make a lick of sense. And don't worry, it gets a lot better as it goes on.
See you next time!
. . .