Sphere
Author: Bounty Hunter Darcy
Summary: Yuna's search for Tidus leads her to Konoha where she must take part in the search for Akatsuki in order to obtain the sphere that is held by Uchiha Madara. Yuna, Rikku and Paine are greeted by a new face that agrees to help them in their search and even joins the Gullwings. But what's this? Someone is out to get Yuna? Who is it? Read and find out.
Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy X or X-2 or Naruto. They belong to Squaresoft and Masashi Kishimoto-sensei.
Scroll 01
Yuna woke on board the Celsius, fresh and ready for a new day. She dressed in her Gunner outfit and hopped down onto the floor of the ship. She smiled at the sun filtering through the high windows and turned to the Hypello behind the bar.
"Good morning, Barkeep."
The blue creature blinked at her and said,
"Good morning, Mish Yuna. Anything I can do for yoo?"
"Not today, thanks."
"Yunie! Yunie!"
She turned as Rikku came running into the room, clad in her usual bikini top and khaki-colored skirt.
"What's up?"
Rikku held up a finger and caught her breath. When she had finished, she looked up at Yuna and said,
"Buddy's getting a sphere reading from some big unknown world with the Five Great Shin...uh...Shin...er; maybe we should just go ask him."
Yuna's heart rate sped up and she raced after Rikku down to the bridge where Brother and Paine were waiting. When Paine saw how exhausted they looked, she shook her head and said,
"You didn't have to run all the way here."
Yuna ignored her and jumped off the platform onto the floor, not even bothering with the stairs. She went up to Buddy and asked,
"Where did you get the sphere reading?"
Buddy looked up at her and asked,
"Didn't Rikku tell you?"
"Er, well, she tried. She couldn't pronounce one of the words," Yuna said.
Buddy shook his head and said,
"The reading is from some far out world. It doesn't seem to have a name, but it has a number of countries."
He hit a button on the panel in front of him and a map appeared on the sphere near Paine. Yuna, Rikku and Paine approached it and saw 14 countries on it. She turned to Buddy and asked,
"We don't have to search all of these countries do we?"
Buddy shook his head and put the ship on autopilot. He stood and approached the large sphere, saying,
"Nah. We're getting a reading from somewhere around..." he looked at the map and said, "Here."
He pointed to a large country called the Fire Country and Rikku groaned,
"But it's so big!"
Buddy pressed a button and the picture zoomed in on a smaller city called Konohagakure no Sato. Roughly translated, it meant 'The Hidden Leaf Village.'
"The sphere readings were coming from somewhere here and there was another one that was on the move and is being blocked using some for of technology unknown to me."
Yuna and Rikku's eyes widened. Technology unknown even to Buddy? Paine looked over at the map and said,
"Shinra doesn't know anything about it either. I've already asked and he said that the most he can tell us is that the main five countries are run by 'Kages' while the lesser countries are run by daimyos."
"Which five?" Yuna asked.
Shinra approached the sphere too and pointed them out, counting them off on his fingers as Buddy zoomed out so that the whole map was visible again.
"The Fire country, the Wind country, the Lightning country, the Water country, and the Earth country are run by Kages. The rest are almost like regular villages except they have beings who are called 'Ninjas', or for better word, Shinobi. Hence the name of the five...The Great Five Shinobi Countries."
Yuna and Rikku whistled. Brother was standing looking at the map, a faint frown line on his forehead. He looked up at Rikku and said something in Al Bhed that Yuna translated for Paine. Rikku responded and Yuna said,
"He asked her if she remembered the story that Cid told them all when they were younger about ninjas living in secret using something called 'genjutsu' or 'illusionary arts' to hide themselves and their country. Rikku said she did and now they're off to look for books on the Shinobi countries."
Indeed, both Rikku and Brother had disappeared into the hall leading to the elevator, which left Yuna, Paine, Shinra and Buddy to look at the sphere in wonder. After a few minutes, Shinra went back to his seat at the computer and started typing things up, looking at maps and counting the spheres that they had already collected. Buddy went back to his seat and switched off the autopilot. Yuna continued to stare at the screen and Paine just watched her.
After a while, they could hear Brother and Rikku talking in Al Bhed and the doors slid open to reveal Rikku holding a large book with what looked like Al Bhed symbols on it. Brother followed her with a slightly smaller book, which was written in Al Bhed.
"What'd you find?" Yuna asked.
Rikku sat cross-legged on the floor and opened the book at random, flipping through pages until she stopped almost right in the middle.
"Here we go...Shinobis."
She read a little before Yuna and Paine sat with her and Brother unceremoniously tossed the smaller book onto the open larger one. Rikku cursed at him in Al Bhed and moved the book before looking up and saying,
"It says that Shinobis are ninjas who fight using a series of things called 'jutsus.' There's Ninjutsu, which is the most common. It translates into 'Ninja arts' and they use 'chakra' and hand signs to manipulate that chakra into something."
Yuna looked confused. Paine spoke up first, voicing the question on Yuna's mind.
"What kind of something?"
Rikku looked back down at the book and ran her finger down the page, stopping at the bottom.
"Things like...whoa!"
Yuna moved around behind Rikku and asked,
"What?"
She too read the lines and said,
"They can be used to form clones or 'doppelgangers' which can be actual clones with their own chakra reserves called "Shadow Doppelgangers' or just illusory ones that poof when they're hit."
Paine was sure she must have misheard.
"Uh, poof?"
Yuna nodded.
"That's what it says."
Paine shook her head as Rikku continued.
"They also have things called elemental jutsus. That must mean things like fire, water, wind, wood...wow, even lightning! These guys are tough!"
She turned the page and said,
"Next is the genjutsu which Shinra already explained. The ninjas use chakra and hand signs to make illusions, which can trap the enemy in their own mind for a long or short period. Last is taijutsu, or martial arts. That's pretty much it."
Yuna took the larger book and sat back to read it later while Rikku picked up the smaller book and opened it.
"Here, read this," she said.
Yuna and Paine took the book and began to read.
'Ninja Positions'
Each Hidden Village
breaks their ninja rankings into different levels of skill. This
classification then helps determine what ninja level is needed to
complete the mission. Higher difficulty missions require the
utilization of higher skilled ninjas. These levels include Ninja
Academy Student, Genin, Chuunin and Jounin. The Kage sits at the
highest of the Five Great Shinobi Countries as the village
leader. Within these rankings, a ninja may join a particular
group, which uses their skills in special ways. These specialized
squads can focus on one field of work such as the hunting of ninjas
who have gone missing and left their hidden village, or medical-nins
who act as doctors.
Clan Guide
The countries and
villages of the world are only as strong as the clans, which inhabit
it. Throughout the world, unique jutsu abilities are passed down from
generation to generation. Some abilities are passed down through
genetics (bloodline), while others are skills and abilities only
known to those in the clan. Also, note there are
Yuna and Paine flipped through the various clans until one caught Paine's interest.
"The Uchiha clan...hmmm..." she said vaguely.
She flipped a page and saw a much longer biography but Yuna closed the book and said,
"Okay, it sounds as if they're really strong even at genin level so we'll have to be careful around them, but we do need to get those spheres that Buddy picked up on before The Leblanc Syndicate do."
She and the other two girls stood up and approached Buddy.
"Take us to Guadosalam so we can stock up on potions and things then we'll go to the Village Hidden in the Leaves under cover of darkness."
"Gotcha," he said, switching course to Guadosalam.
Yuna took the larger book back to the room where she slept; passing Barkeep and going up to the loft where she could read in peace.