The Forces of Nature Chronicles presents
Book One: Wild Fire
野火
A fan fiction by: DarkHeroOrion
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any elements of the manga or anime, for that matter. Naruto belongs to the ownership property of one Kishimoto Masashi. In addition, any and all facets possibly incorporated within this fan fiction do not belong to the author of this work, and this fictitious piece is merely for free entertainment purposes only.
Age Disclaimer: This story will contain subject matter not suitable for those under the age of thirteen or for those that find mild language and graphic violence (death and injury included) distasteful or very offensive.
As usual, here's my generic text legend. You should know the drill by now:
"This is common speech notation."
'This is a thought process.'
The italics without quotation marks are used for dreams, flashback narration and text-related material.
"This is the speech of a summoned creature, spirit or bijū."
'This is the thought process of a summoned creature, spirit or bijū.'
This is the text used for technique casting, since the ninja in the manga do not shout out the names of their talents.
"This is the speech of a demon-host merger or the fusion of a mortal figure with an otherworldly power."
Premise: A single spark is all it takes to start a fire. Fire induces warmth, but it also leads to a destructive inferno. Naruto must rise to the occasion to grasp that which creates…and destroys. Will he harness this new power?
Prologue: That Single Spark
Five individuals huddled rather solemnly around the crackling campfire.
One, tall figure blankly stared at the burning cinders with his visible eye, since the rest of his face was covered by either the cloth concealing the lower half of his face, or the navy-blue bandanna hanging crookedly over his left eye. His lips imperceptibly twitched behind his half-mask into a small grimace as he recalled the harrowing ordeal from earlier that day.
The Demon Brothers, labeled in the bingo books as Chūnin-rank shinobi, had assaulted his squadron; most notably, the bridge builder and client, Tazuna, who had an equally morose look displayed on his wrinkled countenance, interlaced with guilt for lying to the patrons who chose to honor that contract, despite the ramifications or the growing issues that came with it. The drunken man lowered his conical hat to avoid the seasoned veteran's sweeping gaze as he glanced around the burning flames, taking in what his charges were doing.
The Jōnin of Team Seven, Hatake Kakashi, shifted his sight to the bushel of blond hair poking out of a blue sleeping bag. A soft sigh escaped his mouth while his lone eye shut in contemplation.
What did he currently think of the resident loudspeaker of Konohagakure, Uzumaki Naruto?
Aside from acting like the foolhardy class clown, he never really expected much out of the boy, but his acquisition of the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu altered his initial judgment. That boy was surprising; on that, there was no doubt. On the other hand, his compulsive behavior led the high-ranking shinobi to make comparisons between one of his young wards and a ghost of the past. In his mind, Kakashi felt it impossible to approach him, one on one…
Well, that, and the blond genin mostly kept his issues to himself, all the while hiding behind a smile as fragile as glass.
'Naruto seems fine on his own,' the older ninja tacked on as an afterthought. He would have to get to the boy at a later time, if the necessity arose.
Nevertheless, the boy acted rather irresponsibly in his first scuffle with another ninja, but that was to be expected for greenhorns that got their heads dunked under water for the first time. The testament lay in the fact that the boy was currently sleeping off the effects from the poison-laced claws, although he theorized that there was more to it, on a deeper level.
A slight rustling of clothes caused him to cut his exposed orb over to his matte black-haired student, Uchiha Sasuke, the presumed golden boy of the talented pickings from this year, who sat on a downed log near the impromptu campsite, bridging his fingers and propping them under his chin. He fixedly stared up at the starlit, nighttime sky, taking in the scenic wonder in his characteristic silence. Once again, a shallow huff drifted into the wind from the Copy Ninja's maw.
The elite ninja mused that he behaved so unlike that of his blood relative, Uchiha Obito, who was also his former comrade-in-arms that sacrificed his own life to save Kakashi's hide from evident peril. He vowed to respect the debt of blood owed to him from beyond to guide the lost Uchiha to the light. Even though that obligation stood prevalent, Kakashi felt that he was coming off as a bigot for helping Sasuke more so than the last, known Uzumaki in the Village Hidden amongst the Leaves. His late mentor would never condone such behavior; the manner of playing favorites to aid a solemn, grim individual.
"Um…K-Kakashi-sensei…"
A slender eyebrow rose to his hairline as his line of sight cut to his right at roughly one hundred eighty degrees. The hesitant voice that chimed in to shatter the silence was the third wheel that rounded out the squad: a kunoichi-in-training with cerise-colored tresses and what appeared to be a ruby-red cheongsam over a set of deep-green biker shorts…
Well, maybe black, but the ashen-haired shinobi felt unsure of the color. Putting that errant thought aside, his opinion of Haruno Sakura did not constitute much, at all. She was merely a follower of the crowd; always wanting to do that which was popular. Her actions spoke for themselves. She was not ready—physically or emotionally—to handle this line of work. The hanging thought that skirted about the Copy Ninja's mind hinged on whether or not if she would ever be ready to take this profession seriously.
In layman's terms, his succinct assessments of the three genin boiled down to this vexing conclusion: his team was doomed from the very beginning…
Either way, the girl had his attention. "What can I do for you, Sakura?"
The only girl of Team Seven let loose a shaky mouthful of air and gathered her thoughts into a coherent manner. She seemed less swayed by the two boys' competitive influences, now that the rush of adrenaline had long worn off. "Why…" she muttered in a hoarse whisper out of earshot of the client, "why is Tazuna-san so desperate?" She rubbed her temples through her rosette locks. "Why would he lie to Konoha and risk being murdered…just for a bridge?" Her jade eyes showed many shades of emotion: uncertainty, dread, hopelessness, and so on.
Kakashi pursed together his lips, taking in the context of the hidden question.
'Why should we do this?' he asked himself as he read between the lines.
"Well," their mentor replied after a few seconds, rubbing his chin in the process, "bridges can be the difference between decisive victory or a crushing and humiliating defeat; abject poverty and flourishing riches." He scooted his posterior to get comfortable on the log once more. "Bridges don't have to be concrete, you know. They often have symbolism behind it."
"Like what?" Sakura queried, not completely following. She racked her intellectual brain, but her shaken psyche hindered her coherent thinking patterns.
"For one, bridges join two points together," the Copy Ninja drawled as he cut back to the sizzling embers on the dry firewood. "Two roads converge and run parallel to one another. In addition, a bridge serves as an exchange for foreign ideas; an invitation to the outside world, if you think about it…"
'However,' he sourly reflected, keeping his dark musings to himself, 'something tells me this will all blow sky-high…'
In hindsight, Kakashi never really liked bridges, which made up one of his numerous dislikes. When it involved intervention by the ninja forces, they were often a hassle to destroy, but very messy to protect.
Oh, how he hated it when his gut proved right…
"Anyway," he briefly uttered, changing the subject, "you should get some rest. I'll keep an eye on things while I speak with our client about our terms." If the headwear could sink any lower on Tazuna's head, then it obviously did as such.
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(Approximately nine days later…)
'Damn it!' the elite jōnin cursed from within as he nimbly dodged a swipe from a really, really large sword, leaving a hazy line carved out of the chilling fog. 'I can't believe I jinxed it!'
He detested his instincts, but after almost twenty-three years of active service, said sixth sense saved his skin more times than he could count on his available digits…including his toes. Kakashi's intuition confirmed his suspicions…
Gatō, the greedy merchant who held a strong fist over Nami no Kuni, hired an A-ranked rogue shinobi under his league of henchmen. Momochi Zabuza, former ninja of Kirigakure no Sato who just tried to cleave him in twain, had an accomplice—a bloodline-wielding helper, at that—all along, much to the dismay of Kakashi's own lack of situational awareness. He knew something felt amiss, but it was a shame that he thought on that after their initial encounter, roughly eight days prior.
That led up to his impromptu contingency act: giving his students tips on how to carefully harness and keep better control of their chakra, the vital essence worth its weight in powering techniques, and, to a greater extent, staying power when in a fight against another shinobi. The hardboiled Copy Ninja instructed the three on how to climb trees with chakra alone, and, with enough bumps in the way, each managed to complete it under the allotted time frame.
As he predicted with pinpoint accuracy, Zabuza was, once again, restored to full health after his false death state within the week. However, Kiri's renegade managed to find a way to circumvent his implanted Sharingan eye's deceptive arsenal of illusory techniques, or genjutsu, with the aid of his 'tool,' the one known as Haku, dissecting how he tricked him.
The experienced jōnin planted his feet into the pavement and lowered his heart rate, trying to get a sense of where that despicable man hid himself within his own chakra-induced fog—the Kirigakure no Jutsu.
What if he just attacked him as a distraction? Where would he logically strike once he had him occupied? Once the gears quickly turned in his head, Kakashi frowned ever slightly before dashing to the possible location of their patron and his pink-haired charge.
'Oh, screw me sideways…' the gray-haired assassin cynically remarked in his head, worrying over his squad. 'He lured me away to get to the bridge-builder! I have to hurry!'
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Within the frigid confines made by Zabuza's apprentice, a boy not much older than the two genin he surrounded appeared as multiples to their field of vision. He looked on, with a heavy heart from behind the unfeeling porcelain that concealed his identity, at how the pair struggled against being outclassed in just about every way possible. The slits over where the eyes were located matched well with the four, squiggly lines that went together with his master's crossed-out insignia, engraved on his plated forehead protector. It gave him a more chilling presence, despite his soft-spoken demeanor.
The loud one in the garish, orange jumpsuit only demonstrated a lack of talent and skill, for he slipped into Haku's Makyō Hyō Shō without any sort of attack plan, whereas any shinobi worth his salt would have easily prepared a counter-offense from outside the range of his bloodline limit, in order to bail out the comrade he trapped.
However, his teammate, the boy speculated, had eyes just like him. Those dark irises (now crimson and ablaze with his own kekkei genkai) showed that the boy had a chip on his shoulder and had something to prove. He was also a victim of circumstance, being the last Uchiha in Konohagakure, all things considered. Both of his foes were approaching their natural limits, but the more talented one managed to nick the hem of his forest-toned battle kimono with a grazing fireball.
For now, the ice-producing prodigy simply aimed for non-vital areas with his threadlike needles, wishing to some spirit out there to end either their suffering or the battle, itself, but a threat to Zabuza-san's plans overrode his personal feelings and had to finish the fight in earnest. Moreover, the Uchiha kid got used to his movements from a combination of his slowing down and the precognitive ability granted to the avenger through his ocular gift.
The orange-clad shinobi, however, tried to stand up, but to no avail. His body felt like lifting a sack of lead on top of his chest.
"I guess I have to end this now," Haku sorrowfully said as he flicked a volley of senbon in the downed boy's direction. Acting purely on instinct and a rush of adrenaline, Sasuke intercepted the salvo in the nick of time, but everything started to feel hazy and groggy as his vision began to quickly fade…
Such was the result of clashing ideals that met at a bridge…
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The Copy Ninja barely made it in time as he panted and heaved in front of Tazuna and his kunoichi charge, who he ordered to guard the former. His tactical vest was cut open and the blood freely fell onto the pockmarked bridge. Fortunately, Zabuza's Kubikiribōchō, a massive broadsword shaped in the likeness of a gigantic butcher knife, only grazed his chest region, since the flak jacket took the brunt of the impact.
"Kakashi-sensei!" the young girl screeched, the hand holding her kunai shaking violently. Had he not have arrived sooner…
She quickly squashed and pushed that daunting notion out of her mind.
"Looks like you were a little late to the party, Kakashi, and too slow to put up a proper guard," the tall, rogue Mist-nin snidely intoned as he tightened his grip on his Decapitating Carving Knife. The man's black muscle shirt clung tightly to his large frame due to sweat and his special mist technique. "Your wish to keep your little kids safe and out of harm's way made you lose your cool and further clouded that precious Sharingan of yours."
His pompous attitude really grated on Kakashi's nerves, and he vowed to silence him once and for all…with the plan he had cooking up.
'Zabuza, you just sealed the deal…' he triumphantly mused when Kiri's Demon bent down to pick up the blood-soaked, horse-cleaving sword…drenched in Kakashi's precious life essence.
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Uzumaki Naruto slowly pried open his eyes, shaking the cloudy haze shrouding them. Once his vision cleared, he attempted to get up, but the blue-eyed shinobi only had the strength to roll to the side. His body ached from the puncture wounds brought on by aggravating the imbedded needles within his skin. The boy gritted his teeth while planting an elbow to prop himself up, carefully preventing the senbon in his limb from digging deeper and possibly drawing blood.
The unknown jinchūriki (to his teammates, most certainly) yanked out a few of those damned irritants as he looked on at the masked shinobi in his direct line of sight. Then, he thought he heard the sound of a dripping liquid. His glazed eyes cut over to the right to witness a staggering Sasuke, imitating the likeness of a porcupine, as he lightly swayed on his feet. The feeling of self-satisfaction and joyous glee dropped out in place of sheer horror. His fighting companion intercepted an attack that was meant for him.
"Really, Naruto…Why do you have…to be…such a burden…all the time?" the now-dark-eyed avenger airily asked, his eyelids growing heavier between pants.
"Sasuke…" The bright-eyed boy looked on as if time slowed to a creeping halt. His colleague shinobi, Uchiha Sasuke, began his descent onto the cold concrete, eyes closed. 'I thought he didn't give a damn about me! I thought no one cared…'
As the effeminate boy melted back into his mirrors, something sparked within Naruto. It was…as if the world froze before him. The ersatz hunter-ninja's voice became drowned out by the thunderous pounding of his own heart in his ears.
His teammate no longer moved. His companion-in-arms—his friend—stood stock still and as cold as the ice hovering over him from all sides, dotted with those insensitive needles. His vision swam at the sight of who was the first person to acknowledge his skills on the battlefield, despite the evident barbs and taunts thrown the blond's way.
The bewhiskered ninja found the power to stand on his own two feet once more, still speckled by that bastard's senbon barrage. His head still bowed downward, his mop of blond hair obscuring his eyes from his foe's view.
"Shut up…" he growled, feeling heat growing from his abdomen as he, himself, rose from one knee. The temperature seemed to steadily increase as steam began to drift off his small frame. Haku looked on, in rapt interest, as the boy snarled in deeper tones.
The guttural bark from Naruto's own voice caused Haku to sweat from behind the delicate porcelain. "You will pay…" Suddenly, as if a dam had ruptured, a spike in noxious energy poured off the young ninja's body like raging currents. The tainted, red chakra wildly erupted and shot up into the sky like an uncoiled spring. The rushing deluge of demonic essence ripped through the dried concrete on the bridge, leaving rivulets of unbridled might in its wake.
Ostensibly, the force that shinobi channeled into their talents was never seen by the naked eye, unless in elemental form, but this kid exuded that power by the bucket-loads with raw force alone.
Now resolutely standing, Konoha's scourge glowered directly through the reflections as if they were not there, willing the face of Zabuza's partner-in-crime to burst into flames upon first glance. Instead of the stormy, ocean-blue irises, his eyes shifted into a wine-red complexion with narrow slits for pupils. Naruto felt the rush of power from his unwanted tenant; the bane of his existence…the Kyūbi no Yōko. The flow of evil chakra elucidated the boy's perception as his face contorted due to its influence. His whisker-like birthmarks became shaded, giving his once serene visage a more bestial appearance.
Through gnashed teeth, the invigorated genin let loose an inhuman roar from his throat, the barely contained heat from his ethereal occupant lashing out like an unrestrained inferno and shattering a vast majority of the icy reflections made by his enemy with little to no effort, whatsoever. Not only had that occurred, but the muscles on his body also began to expand at an insane pace, easily pushing out the accursed needles from his rapidly healing skin.
The false hunter-ninja felt the suffocating…evil coming from this mysterious youngster.
'His wounds are healing! Just who the hell is he?' Haku wondered in dread when those malevolent eyes stared directly at him, and not the mirror images. Inwardly, his adrenaline spiked as he tried to find a way out, but he doubted that the tide of battle moved in his favor, any longer.
Just like an untamed animal let loose from its confines, the boy got down on all four limbs and began to stalk for his prey.
"I'll crush you!" Naruto bellowed as he started a reckless charge.
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While standing guard over the now-sobered bridge-builder, Sakura trembled in her ninja footwear when she felt that wave of overbearing force wash over her delicate frame. Her emerald irises, filled with curiosity, swung to the right, where Sasuke-kun and Naruto were currently fighting against Zabuza's apprentice.
'It came from that direction…' she surmised, trying, with all her might, to cease her shudders, with no effect. 'Just what on earth is going on? I hope they're all right…'
XXXXXXXXXX
'Oh, no…' Kakashi quickly glanced back in the direction of that oppressive aura. Almost soon after that explosive burst of energy, the familiar taint of the foul beast's chakra petered out like it was never even there. 'It looks like Sensei's seal is holding, but I got to wrap this up…now!'
"Say, Zabuza," the Copy Ninja calmly began, twirling his blood-soaked scroll about and idly wondering why his voice did not echo, "I'm a little pressed for time, so how about we quit messing around and go for broke?"
A few meters downwind, he heard a haughty snort, followed by a mirthless guffaw. 'Giving away your position by not projecting your voice to another location…such a rookie mistake…'
"Try all you want, Kakashi, but it won't work," the Kijin dryly stated from his vantage point. "You're in my jutsu, if I recall correctly."
Kakashi merely shrugged, showing blatant disinterest. "Oh, well…I guess I'll have to smoke you out, then."
Zabuza's eyes became lidded with skepticism. "You're bluffing."
The smirk under his face-mask easily came and went as he ran through a string of hand seals. "For once, I'll humor you."
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No matter how many senbon he launched at the boy-turned-beast, Haku never had the chance to shake the boy or slow him down. When the Hyōton-user lodged his special needles into the blond, he easily overpowered and forced them out of his body with unrelenting power, shattering more mirrors than he could invoke.
The gentle-hearted kid tried to move to one of his remaining mirror fragments for temporary salvation, but he was easily intercepted with a rough, vice-like grip from a clawed hand. His assailant tightly held onto him before Haku found a burning fist planted right in the middle of the hunter-ninja mask, practically shattering it on impact and sent him skidding across the cold, wet pavement. Were it not for the durable piece of porcelain protecting him, Haku would have had the bones and cartilage in his nose completely shattered.
Naruto, hyped up on the power of a bijū, stormed in on his location, but when the fake oinin shakily heaved up his upper torso through gnashed teeth, along with a closed eye due to the strain, and looked up at his adversary, the blond stopped cold in his tracks.
'It's him…' Naruto thought, completely thunderstruck, as the power from his unwanted tenant began to quickly recede. He sported his normal features, once again; his carmine irises reverted to their sky-blue hue, his whisker-like marks dusting his cheeks became lines, and his mop of hair resumed its usual spikiness. The fading absence of power left him feeling a bit weakened and vulnerable.
"You're that person I met in the woods!" the now-blue-eyed genin shouted in disbelief as he pointed directly at him, fatigue beginning to settle within his frame. "Why didn't you say anything sooner?"
"If you knew my identity from the start," the downed shinobi responded as he shook out the stars from his vision, "then you would have held back, regardless of the circumstances." As Haku slowly got up again, he saw it in the boy's optical orbs at that point; that blissful naïveté and innocence only befitting a mere child. The blond knew not of what lay in store for the path of the ninja. His tone of voice came off as sympathetic, more so than anything. "Maybe, in another time, we could have been friends."
"There'll always be another time, Haku," Naruto naively provided, hoping that he would see him again, but somehow, he highly doubted it.
"No…" Haku looked away, his face giving way to a pained look. "A tool can't be worth meaning if it hasn't fulfilled its purpose…"
"Wait…What are you saying?" Naruto felt at a loss as the bottom fell from under him in realization. "No…You don't mean…"
"Yes," the ice-making boy firmly stated, "I want you to…kill me, Naruto-kun…"
Naruto stood conflicted as he pulled out a kunai from his utility pouch and examined it with a critical eye. The steel, trowel-like knife stared back at him, callous as the object it was. This would mark his first kill in combat, if he went through with it. However, slicing down a defenseless shinobi seemed so…heartless and cruel, to say the least.
"Is this the only solution?" he queried within a gloomy whisper. "Is this the only way, Haku?" He shifted his sights from the combat implement in his numb digits to the boy who asked him a vital question upon their first meeting:
"Do you…have anyone important to protect?"
"…" Silence amid the miasma responded in place of the slightly older ninja as he looked away from those pleading eyes.
'I can't do this…' Naruto sadly reflected while loosening his grip on the kunai. 'This isn't fair! This isn't right!'
"No…" a disembodied voice, hollow and full of timbre, whispered into Naruto's left ear, "it is not…"
The blond in question quickly whipped his head in that direction, kunai now at the ready, only to meet no one there.
'What the hell?' He lowered his guard again and scratched his head with his open hand. 'What was that just now?'
"But…there is…someone you must seek to kill…" another bodiless entity hissed in indignation.
"Yes…Kill him…" a different voice growled, venom dripping off its words.
"End that greasy bastard's tyranny once and for all!" a fourth tone boomed over Naruto's now-pounding ears.
His body began to tremble, his nerves starting to fray. Naruto's breathing gradually grew short as his eyes frantically looked about in his growing state of panic. Then, out of the corners of his eyes, he caught movement; too quick to be noticed.
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Haku wondered what was going on with Naruto-kun's hesitant behavior. Had he not resolved his heart already to end another's life?
"Who's there?" the ice-conjurer heard the boy over his own thoughts. Haku's eyebrows wrinkled in bewilderment as he glanced to see Naruto violently swing his kunai all about the place.
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The blond ninja-in-training howled in dread as he saw them—iridescent bulbs of spectral energy…the source of all those pained shouts and wails.
His teeth clenched together as he tried to drown out those screams with his thoughts, but it proved futile. If anything, more of those souls hovered around him, easily dancing away from his slicing range.
"Go away!" the boy hollered while clamping his hands over his ears, kunai long since foregone and thrown to the concrete. "Leave me alone!"
"Slaughter that slime-ball, boy! Gatō must not escape!"
"If you can hear us, please, we need closure!"
Meanwhile, as Naruto attempted to shrug off the wayward orbs, Haku felt something crawl against him, causing him to profusely sweat, even though the temperature continued to plummet around them.
'Just who are you, Naruto-kun? What the hell is going on?'
Then, he felt it…
Something altered Naruto-kun's life force, but what that was exactly, he could not make heads or tails of it.
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The blond opened his mouth like he was on the verge of screaming as he felt something creep into his back. It was cold, slimy, and full of regret for crossing over. The yelp hitched in his throat when his eyes took on a green, ethereal tint and faintly burned akin to a low-powered flame.
Then, the bloodcurdling, spine-tingling bawl erupted from his frame as his legs gave out from fatigue and exhaustion, coupled with this new ordeal. His vision swam for a split second before darkness consumed him and fell forward.
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"Th-that wasn't the Kyūbi…" Kakashi muttered more to himself than his currently restrained opponent, who had his limbs weighed down with his ninja canines. He sighed to mask his confusion and let up on the concentrated lightning covering his palm.
That power…was not evil, but it was inhuman, and yet, he could not really place a label to describe it correctly. He felt the growing cold spots long before his charge's shout of anguish, but it did worry him a rather great deal. His frown soured even more behind his half-mask.
'There's one thing I hate more than bridges, and that's surprises…'
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On a far end of the bridge, a rather stout man with a receding hairline, dressed in a simple, black dress suit, grinned when he heard that cacophonous shriek. Ah, music to his ears! That was just what he wanted to hear; panic, terror, and more…
He supposed it was time to mop up the mess, once and for all.
He progressively walked forward, delicately keeping his damaged arm limp in its sling. His eyes glinted with unspoken brutality from behind his round, mauve-shaded sunglasses. The man felt emboldened to show up a bit early to see the aftermath.
"G-Gatō-sama, are we heading out now?" one of his mercenary goons asked among the strange looks each passed the other.
The balding man, now known as Gatō, the tyrannous mogul of his self-named shipping company, turned around and faced his squad of misfits with a haughty smirk. "The brats are dead. I'm sure of it! Now that they are, I think it's a fitting time to clean up. What do you say?"
"But…but, what about the Kijin?" a man with a bandanna covering his long, brown hair mumbled in fright.
"You don't think…he's dead, too, is he?" someone in the back of the band of soldiers asked among the pregnant pause, his identity unknown.
Gatō drummed a few fingers on his walking cane, his mood steadily growing embittered. However, his greedy smile exploded on his round countenance. 'Time for a little incentive…'
"If you go now," the tiny tycoon barked, "I'll let you have a piece of the women, but, you break it…you buy it!"
"All right!" a scruffy swordsman whooped as he held up his blade like a commanding officer. "Time to get some hot tail!"
The shouts of approval spread through his clustered crowd like wildfire as the oily magnate inwardly crowed over his plan working well to his advantage.
'Like sending lambs to the slaughter…and it won't cost me a single ryō…'
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A/N: Well, I guess I have some explaining to do, folks.
First and foremost, I will not be abandoning The Fox Druid series, even though I am still on the hassle of writing out those blasted fight scenes (not trying to rage and seethe, here). So, on that note, worry not. On the other hand, I realized that the story had been growing rather…dated, in terms of style and execution. In addition, I carefully read through most of the comments and reviews brought up in my first story…and I took them into consideration, for once. With that in mind, I introduce to you the Forces of Nature Chronicles, which, I hope to believe, will contain a more unique and much updated fic, barring some of the questionable things Kishimoto has managed to pull off in the most recent canon chapters. Either way, this series will keep close to canon as I will allow, with some evident changes.
I borrowed a few things from my Fox Druid series to implement in this branch continuum (sort of like an AU, in that regard), but the motif I plan to incorporate will have a different set of mechanics behind it. Bear with me while I hash out this series in the making. And yeah, I know that having an extra story will burden me, but, in case I don't feel like working on one story, I can easily hop to another as a mental aperitif, to keep the creative juices flowing.
As per the norm, I would like to give my thanks to the following individuals for making this upcoming series possible:
EliadS: Without his constant prodding and probing, I would still be doing R&D and out of practice with writing, in general. In addition to his masterful skills of weaving plots, while I run damage control, we got out most of the wrinkles…at least, I think…
Arashi the Solar Phoenix: As always, my go-to pre-reader never lets me down.
Weixuan18: He's another awesome pre-reader and quasi-beta, whenever the opportunity arises.
Feel free to leave me good reviews. I need enough encouragement to keep going. Your contributions are always welcomed. And yes, this marks my return from after a long time away. Until next time, ciao for now, and enjoy your day (or night, depending on your time zone)!
Hopefully, I'll get my act together to entertain you all. Later!
Kanji/Rōmaji Guide
忠忍 Chūnin: Middle Ninja; also known as a "Journeyman Ninja"
上忍 Jōnin: High Ninja; also known as an "Elite Ninja"
木ノ葉隠れ（の里）Konohagakure (no Sato): Village Hidden among Tree Leaves; in English TV, Hidden Leaf Village
下忍 Genin: Lower Ninja
波の国 Nami no Kuni: Wave Country; in English TV, Land of Waves
霧隠れの里 Kirigakure no Sato: Village Hidden in the Mist; in English TV, Hidden Mist Village
首切り包丁 Kubikiribōchō: literally, "Decapitating Carving Knife"; a massive broadsword shaped like a giant butcher knife, passed down from generation to generation amongst the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist. It has a circle cut out of the top and a semicircle near the handle, with a detachable hilt.
千本 Senbon: dual-pointed needles that have little in the way of killing power, but easily make up for it in terms of targeting acupressure points
人柱力 Jinchūriki: literally, "power of human sacrifice"; a moniker given to those speculated to contain or confirmed to harbor a tailed beast sealed within their bodies; oftentimes, these demon vessels view this label as derogatory and profane
九尾の妖狐 Kyūbi no Yōko: Nine-Tailed Demon Fox; rumored to be the most destructive tailed-beast in existence on the mortal plane
鬼人 Kijin: literally, "Demon Man"; Momochi Zabuza's moniker given to him through his ruthless deeds and actions in Kirigakure, prior to his defection
尾獣 Bijū: literally, "tailed-beast"; the chakra-engines of destruction that either roam the elemental nations or sealed within living, human vessels
追い忍 Oinin: "hunter ninja"; in English TV, "tracker ninja"
両Ryō: the currency used in the Naruto world; according to the databooks, ten Japanese yen equate to a ryō
Jutsu Guide
影分身の術 Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Replication Technique, also known as the Shadow Clone Technique): B-rank ninjutsu; other than standard clones, they are, in fact, bodies, and not illusions; any experience or knowledge the clones gain during their existence is transferred to the user once they are dispersed but causes mental fatigue when fully dispelled at one time (as for its multiple variation, the practitioner of this technique creates shadow clones en masse and is an A-rank forbidden technique) (Narutopedia)
写輪眼 Sharingan (Copy Wheel Eye): kekkei genkai of the once-famous Uchiha clan and one of the three great ocular eye techniques, or dōjutsu; unlocked after a stressful event or emotional condition, the evolutionary progression of this bloodline limit is indicated by the number of comma-like marks, or tomoe, around the red irises; the user is granted an advanced perception of clarity, allowing him to detect chakra by color, detect if someone is under a genjutsu, or, at the third tier ability, copy and memorize jutsu the active wielder witnesses, apart from other kekkei genkai-related techniques (Narutopedia)
霧隠れの術 Kirigakure no Jutsu (Hidden Mist Technique): D-rank supplementary ninjutsu; this displacement technique is a specialty of the Ninja from Kirigakure, where one causes a mist to spring forth by lifting up some water, then goes in and out of sight at will from within the pearly-white realm. The mist's thickness is controlled by the amount of chakra kneaded into it (Narutopedia).
魔鏡氷晶 Makyō Hyō Shō (Demonic Ice Crystal Mirrors): unknown rank offensive, close- to mid-range kekkei genkai hijutsu; unique to Haku, this jutsu encircles an opponent with over a dozen mirrors fashioned out of ice. Haku can then enter one of the mirrors from the outside and travel between any of the mirrors at an incredible speed; in fact, the time in transit is almost instantaneous. During transit, Haku can throw senbon needles while remaining virtually unassailable. If the mirror Haku is currently in is shattered, Haku can leap out of one of the fragments and continue his attack. Though they are made from ice, they are pressured with enough chakra to resist fire almost completely. While inside the mirrors, Haku is moving so fast that the outside world appears to move in slow motion. (Narutopedia)
血継限界 Kekkei Genkai: literally, 'a technique limited to inheritance by blood,' or 'bloodline limit'; abilities genetically passed down in specific clans; these traits cannot be copied or taught to anyone outside of those family branches
氷遁 Hyōton: literally, "Ice Release"