What if a mysterious stranger had the power to see past what a person hides? What if Naruto had this same power? See the impact this has on him. NaruHina, possibly others
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of the characters in it. The characters are the property of Masashi Kishimoto.
Insight
Chapter 1-The Mysterious Traveler
He had been traveling for quite a while now. He was reaching his limits now. His body ached, his lungs felt like they were on fire. He thought that his muscles would give out any second now. It seemed like this might be the end of him.
The warrior, also known as a shinobi, had been running from enemy ninjas for several months now. After he had killed their shinobis, they sought out revenge on him, but he was gone in a flash just like that. Since then, he has been fleeing from them. But he always seemed to be just one step ahead of his assailants. Just when they think they've got him pinned down, he gets away before they even realize that he's there.
But it seems he pushed his luck a little far this time. He had exhausted too much of his chakra training at his last stop when they came upon him. He wasn't able to perform his genjutsu, which would enable him to get away unnoticed from there location, no matter how hard they tried to find him.
"Dammit, they're catching up to me," He murmured to himself. He estimated their distance behind him. "Hmm, about 2500 meters behind me. Too close for comfort. I gotta do something to throw them off my trail." By channeling what little chakra he was able to muster, he was able to create a single shadow clone. He sent the clone down a side path, and with it traveling down a side path, he began to get to work. He was careful to conceal the tracks he created, as well as dispose of any evidence that he had been in that location; broken branches, ruffled bushes, whatever would potentially reveal that he has been there. These shinobi were no fools; they would easily pick up even the smallest traces of his presence in the area unless he was meticulously thorough in covering his tracks.
It's actually quite amazing that he was able to all of this as fast as he did, considering his current exhaustion. His pursuers were rapidly approaching his position, and if they caught him, in his weakened state, he would undoubtedly be killed.
After he was certain he was done covering his tracks, he went on his way. With his tracks covered, and his shadow clone purposely throwing them off course with the trail it made, he felt safe. However, being safe didn't mean he could put off guard. He still had to maintain the clone, and there was still the chance that his pursuers wouldn't be fooled by his trick. It is for this reason that he didn't take the time to set up traps to slow them down. Doing so would tell them which way he went.
Right now all he could do is hope, and pray that he would be able to escape.
The pursuers, already hot on his tail, had been especially careful in their chase. Their pray had had often set up traps to stall their progress. However, these did nothing more than stall for a few seconds, but this was more than enough for their prey to get away. Any experienced shinobi knows that a few seconds is all it takes for anything to happen.
These ninjas, whose headbands displayed a bunch of wavy lines, which indicated that they were from the Hidden Mist Village, were getting on their last nerves. Their target had always managed to get away, no matter how hard they tried to catch him. They never could figure out how he kept getting away from them each time.
Several times they had cornered him, and yet each time he got away with the slightest of ease. All they could deduce was that it was some kind of genjutsu. However, they had never heard of any jutsu that would allow such an easy escape from such a difficult position. They had heard of Jiraiya, the legendary Toad Sannin, had developed a jutsu that did something similar, though they were positive that it wouldn't work in the scenarios they got their opponent in. The fact they saw him perform no hand signs for a jutsu was another mystery in of itself.
Soon enough, the leader of the ninja trio had come to a stop. He was a tall man, of medium build, that could probably pass off as a lightweight bodybuilder. He didn't wear too much clothing, since it was his belief that extra clothing was not at all necessary, as it tended to slow shinobis down. The only clothes he wore were a pair of pants designed to trap heat in, the traditional sandals, a couple of pouches designed to hold weapons, and a dark navy blue jonin vest to signify his rank.
"Shinosuke-sama!" yelled out one of the followers. The two of them wore clothing similar to that of their leader, now identified as Shinosuke, though other than that, they were pretty bland. The only difference was that these two were chunins while he was a jonin. "Shinosuke-sama!" The two followers had stopped not far from their leader, since they knew not to get too close to their leader.
Shinosuke was well known in the Hidden Mist Village for being quite ruthless to everyone around him, even his own followers. The Mizukage, the leader of the Hidden Mist, was well aware of his behavior and reputation, yet did nothing about it, since it served as an example to his people to not disrespect their superiors. As for Shinosuke himself, he cared little about those around him, yet he still followed the orders of the Mizukage completely.
In fact it was the only reason that he took this assignment. His mission: to find and assassinate the warrior that had killed a team of Mist ninja on a mission near their village. Eyewitnesses to the event were able to get a description of the ninja, so Shinosuke would little trouble identifying him. As he learned how good this ninja was, he suddenly hadn't felt the need to follow the objective of the mission like originally intended. Now he sought to fight this shinobi one-on-one, solely for the thrill of the fight.
"Shinosuke-sama!" one of the underlings shouted, out of breath. "Do you think you could slow down for just a bit. We can't keep up with your speed."
Their leader turned to him, his emerald eyes glaring at him. The follower was instantly petrified, feeling like he would die right then and there.
In an instant, Shinosuke had vanished, and all of a sudden had the Mist chunin down on the ground, with a metallic pole being pushed down on his chest. From a cursory glance, one would assume that the pole was lightweight. However, as the petrified shinobi could attest to, it was in fact very heavy.
"If you cannot keep up with me, it means you are weak. If you are weak, that means you should be dead." Shinosuke simply said, still glaring down at hid underling.
"P-Please don't, Shinosuke-sama. I-I'm sorry. I p-promise I won't complain anymore." The frightened chunin stuttered out.
"Hmm, since you so loyal, I'll let you live… for now." Shinosuke said as an afterthought. Turning around, he looked at his surroundings, his short silver hair swaying in the breeze.
"Something the matter, Shinosuke-sama?" The other chunin asked with curiosity.
"Yes. It seems that our target is being quite careless this time around." Before his minion could ask further, he continued. "He's leaving out a trail for us to follow. His exhaustion must be making him forget to cover his tracks."
"Are you sure, sir. It seems like an obvious ploy to throw us off our course." The follower contradicted.
"No. He couldn't have done that. The other potential path he could have taken would lead him to the Hidden Leaf Village. From our travels, I learned that he tends to steer clear of shinobi villages, for some reason. He knows the terrain of these regions well, so he would know that the other way leads to Hidden Leaf, and would avoid it like the others. So there's only one way he could've gone." Shinosuke said as his downed lackey was getting up.
"Alright you two, let's get moving." Shinosuke said, as he started ahead. The two followers said nothing, and followed after their leader.
"Looks like I gave those guys the slip." said the stranger as he could sense that they were going down the path his clone had set up for him. It seems the gods were smiling down on him this day.
"I should make my way towards the village . Hopefully someone there will be able to help me." He thought as he began making his way to the Hidden Leaf Village, trying to ignore the extent of his injuries.
Author's Note: Hello, this is my first story , so please rate and review.