Disclaimer: I own nothing, but the computer that typed this.
The Lost Rider
Chapter 2
Meet The Ninjas
Everyone was astonished on what they saw. The young man that worked side by side with them had that kind of secret.
In the thickness of the fog, the two ninjas prepared for a second attack. Whatever stopped their chains meant that they now had some possible competent opposition.
"Rip off his head." the ninja on the right hissed, his voice sounding hollow. A notable feature was that he looked like he had a horn coming out of his forehead.
"Gladly," snickered the second, who had two horns.
The two ninja rushed towards the interloper with clawed gauntlets. Both had the intent to rip him to pieces.
Thanks to the X-ray vision the Sky High Finder provided, Psyga could see the two coming. Psyga grabbed the handles of the Flying Attacker and switched it to rifle mode. He fired into the mist causing the two ninja to separate.
"What the hell was that." the two horn said. He didn't get answer when Psyga sent his knee into his face. The shinobi recover he roared and lunged with his claws. Psyga dodged each blow with ease. Psyga grabbed the arm of the ninja and slammed his knee repeatedly into his stomach. The one horn came to his partner's aid before he was slammed by an invisible force. Psyga threw the two horn at his partner.
"Who the hell is this guy?" the one horned growled
"He's getting in our way. We need to kill the old man." The two horn said.
The two ninja were now visible for everyone to see. Both had breathing mask and clawed gauntlets. One horned word a black tattered cloak and the other wore a tan shirt and pants with black spots. Their horns were coming from their head bands.
The two ninja surrounded Psyga and used their chains to capture him. Before the chains could get around him, Psyga jetted into the sky. The fact the armored warrior posed the power of flight amazed everyone around.
"He can fly too?!" Both ninja said aloud.
Not replying Psyga dived at the two Mist ninjas. He used a blitzkrieg tactic to drive the two towards the edge bridge. The two were up the creek without a paddle, hell they didn't even have a boat. They never fought an enemy that could fly. His attacks were too quick and the every time they thought they could use their chains on him he would ascend or descend to avoid their attacks. They were so concerned trying to take Psyga down they failed to notice their position.
Psyga stopped his attacks and hovered in the sky.
"I'm giving you two one chance. Run or die" Psyga said.
"We rather die than retreat." The one horn said.
"Sucks for you." Psyga flew towards them at high speed. The two mist nin or Demon Brother say it as their chance. The fired their chains at the incoming rider. Psyga saw the attack coming and veered up to avoid the attack. He grabbed the chain with his armor hand and flew into the sky. The Demon Bros were still attached to the chain as the rider went higher into the sky. He flew over the water still holding the chain with the two ninjas still attached.
"Have a nice swim." Psyga joked before letting go of the chain. The two plummeted into the water. The height they were dropped was fairly high so their chain was 50/50. For good measure Psyga shot multiple times into the water. After shooting a few rounds he flew back over to the bridge and landed in front of Tazuna and the other. They all crowded around the boy. Psyga removed the phone from the belt and pressed the End Call button. The armor around his body vanished.
He looked at Tazuna. The look on the man's face told him he wanted some answers.
"I guess I got some explaining to do." Aaron said
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Later at Tazuna's house Aaron explain to Tazuna about his belt and how some of them worked. He still avoided telling about the mission the Beyonder sent him on. Right now Inari was asleep in his room and Aaron was talking with Tazuna and Tsunami. The old man looked at the young Rider and said to him.
"Well I got to admit you are way more than I expected."
"Thanks." Aaron said somewhat relieved. "Do I still have a job?"
"Of course you do." Tazuna said. "If you can beat the rest of those guys like that then this bridge is as good as built."
"Don't be so sure." Aaron said.
"Why not?" Tsunami asked.
"Those two were working for Gato, but I sense they have a loyalty to someone else. Aaron made had the power of telepathy, but he didn't use it much and was a little rusty so he didn't read the Demon Bros minds thoroughly. The only thing that he knew was that they along with their leader Zabuza were fugitives after failing to assassinate someone called the Mizukage.
"Now what do we do?" Tazuna asked.
"I make be able to fly, but I can't be everywhere at once." Aaron sighed.
"Maybe we could get some help." Tsunami suggested.
"Where?" Aaron asked.
"The closet ninja village is in the Land of Fire. That's pretty far and Gato has a good chance to get rid of me if I go." Tazuna said.. He looked over at Aaron.
"You can't go either Aaron. Someone has to protect the bridge."
Aaron crossed him arms. "Great. We really boned now, unless.."
"Unless what?" Tsunami asked.
"I could use the Psyga gear and fly Tazuna to the mainland then comeback here."
"That's a great idea. We can leave first thing in the morning to avoid detection." Tazuna agreed.
Tsunami became a little worried for her father's safety.
"Are you sure that's a good idea?"
"If we leave early enough and avoid detection Tazuna should be safe." Aaron said.
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Later that night Aaron was sitting on the roof of the house. He was unable to sleep. He decided to practice his sword style to calm his nerves.
Inari had woken up when he heard something on the roof. When he checked he saw Aaron practicing his sword style. It wasn't a normal kata, is looked more of a dance. Each move was precise and graceful. Inari was curious about Aaron since he first met him. He had protected him mother and grandpa for no other reason than just it was the right thing to do. It reminded him of what his father did.
Aaron took noticed that Inari was watching and stopped. He smile at the younger boy.
"Couldn't sleep either?" He asked.
"Why are you helping us?" Inari asked
"I'm not the guy to stand around a let people suffer." Aaron responded.
Inari gave him a hard glare. Aaron put his hand of Inari shoulder.
"I heard about Kaiza. He was a true hero and he wouldn't want you to cry." Aaron said.
Inari got mad that Aaron mention his father. "Don't think you two are the same. Your only strong because of the armor. Without it you probably a weakling too." Inari cried.
"Oh, Yeah?" Aaron said. "Check this out."
Aaron pointed to the water that surrounded Inari's home. Aaron right eye shine a deep blue light. A rumbling could be heard as the water rippled. Aaron raised his hand and as his hand rise so did a large orb of water rise from the lake. The orb was half the size of Inari's home. The little boy gasped at this.
"How are you doing that?" Inari asked.
Aaron put the water orb back into the lake.
"It's something that I worked at mastering." Aaron smirked.
"But the armor?" Inari asked.
"I use it so I don't waste my own power with the scum that Gato hires.
Inari looked at the older boy. He had more power than he had ever seen, and all he wanted to do was help him and his family. Maybe Inari could start believing in heroes again.
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A week went by after Tazuna left. Aaron was able to take Tazuna to the Land of Fire without problem. Well the problem was him getting back alive. During the time he was gone Aaron and the other continued to work on the bridge. Fortunately no one had tried to attack the bridge. When Aaron wasn't working on the bridge he was going to near countries and smuggling food and medicine for the people. The people of wave began to call him the Masked Rider or just the Rider for short.
Today Aaron was training while Tsunami and Inari were doing chores around the house. He kept the Rider Gears near him at all times just to make sure. He wished that he could go and finish Gato already. But he wasn't an assassin. He started to practice some to the finishers that each gear hand in combo with his powers. Inari had started to warm up to Aaron. The younger boy constantly asked him questions about his armor or his powers.
The door slammed open and the sound of feet could be heard. Aaron was about to reach for a his sword, until he sensed what was going on. Tsunami and Inari was nervous before someone yelled.
"I'm home." Tazuna's voice rang throughout the house.
Tazuna walked in the house with three children and an older male being carried by two the children. Aaron rose an eyebrow.
"Glad to see your back alive." Aaron said, he eyed the children. "What's with the kids?"
The three children scowled at him for his remark.
"These are ninja I hire." Tazuna replied
This took Aaron by surprise. These kids were ninja. One was a dark-haired boy with a brooding look on his face. He wore a head band over his forehead, unlike the one the Demon Bros wore, it had the symbol of a leaf on it. He was also wearing a blue shirt with white short and blue sandals. The next was a girl with pink hair and green eyes. She wore a red china dress with black shorts and blue sandal. Her headband worn like a bow. The last one was the oddest. This boy had blonde hair and blue eyes. He was wearing an orange jumpsuit and blue sandal. His headband was worn the same way as the brooding kid.
"These are the ninja. You got to be kidding?!" Aaron said
The blonde kid didn't like his what he heard.
"Hey! We really are ninja! " The blonde said.
"Right, whatever you say kid." Aaron scoffed.
"This was all we could offered. I had to lie about it being a C-rank mission when It might be a B-rank." Tazuna explain.
Aaron sighed at this.
"You get what you pay for." He thought
The older man than was being carried groan. The man had gray hair the defied the laws of gravity. His headband covered his eye. He wore a blue jumpsuit with a green vest over it.. The lower part of his face was covered with a mask. The two boys that were carrying him put him down on the coach so he could rest.
Aaron turned to the three kids.
"So who are you?" Aaron asked
"Sasuke Uchiha" The brooder said
"Sakura Haruno" pinkie said,
"I'm Naruto Uzumaki. And I'm going to be the next Hokage. Believe it.!" Blondie announced.
"What the hell is a Hokage?" Aaron asked
The genin looked at him like he was stupid.
"Aaron here is from far away, so he doesn't know much about shinobi" Tazuna explained.
The blonde was about to explain what a Hokage was unlit Tsunami came in.
"Father, your home." She greeted.
"How's my super daughter." Tazuna replied.
The genin did their introduction to Tsunami. Inari was gone. He was probably by himself some where. The genin were now at the table, while Tsunami was preparing food for them. Sasuke was sitting at the table looking emo, while Sakura sit next to and was smiling like she hit the jackpot. Naruto was looking anxious.
Aaron was looking at the three studying them.
"Okay. The kid Sasuke is an emo-brooder. Sakura is probably one of the biggest fan girls I ever seen. That Naruto kid is hyperactive and a loudmouth. Great." Aaron thought.
"So you three are going to continue this mission, even with the danger?" Aaron said.
"You bet. Nothings going to stop us." Naruto said. "I swore I'd protect the old man and I always keep my promises."
Aaron smirked at this, he was being to like this kid.
"So what happen to the guy that was with you?"
"Kakashi sensei was fighting a ninja named Zabuza. We ran into him on the way here." Sakura explained.
"Zabuza. You mean the guys that the Demon Bros were working for?" Aaron asked.
"Yeah. Kakashi sensei used up all his chakra using his Sharingan to fight him. Luckily a hunter-nin finished off Zabuza." Sakura finished
Chakra? Sharingan? What were those. Aaron would have to read their minds later to find out what they were. The main thing was that Zabuza was dead now and not a problem for them any more.
Naruto grumbled a bit. He was disappointed that the one hunter-nin killed Zabuza so easily when they went through hell to defeat him.
A soft groan caught everyone's attention. Kakashi stirred as he came to. The three Genin immediately got to their feet as they went to see their leader. Tsunami was likewise heading there to see if he needed anything.
"How are you feeling, Sensei?" she asked with some concern.
"Bad," Kakashi groaned. He attempted to sit up, but his movements were stiff. "I don't think I'll be able to move properly for about a week."
"Then don't move!" Tsunami ordered sharply. As a mother she was very strict with her bedside manner.
"Yes ma'am," Kakashi nodded as he lay back down.
"Your Sharingan maybe powerful but it ate away at your chakra." Sakura commented
Kakashi didn't respond. His face or what anyone could see had a look of deep thought on it.
"I think Zabuza might still be alive." Kakashi said. Everyone was in shock by his new.
"That's impossible. We all saw the hunter-nin kill him." Sasuke said.
"Hunter-nin a special shinobi that hunts down and destroys ninja that betray their village. The bodies of ninja may contain jutsu, medicine, and other secrets that could be used against them. The only way to make sure that those secrets are kept is to completely destroy the body." Kakashi informed.
"So shouldn't he be dead by now." Tazuna said.
"The Hunter nin used senbon to make the kill and then carried Zabuza's body away right?"
Tazuna and the three genin nodded.
"Senbon were originally made for acupuncture not battle. To kill with senbon then one must hit certain area's of the body. Likewise if certain spots of the body are hit they can create death like state."
The genin's morale sunk a bit. The biggest threat they faced was still alive.
"If you had roughed him up bad enough along with hitting him in the neck. Should Zabuza be out of commission for a while too?" Aaron asked.
Kakashi nodded. "Right. The needles have to be remove a certain way or they could either cripple or kill Zabuza. Hopefully he's out of the way long enough for me to recover. By the way I didn't get your name."
"Aaron Rokutaro Holt. Please call me Aaron or Roku." Aaron introduced.
"Grandpa." Inari yelled as he entered the room. The little boy gave the old man a big hug.
"Inari. Where have you been?" Tazuna asked as he greeted his grandson.
"Just out." Inari said. He looked at the ninja around them. "Who are they." He asked pointing at the ninja. Inari was clearly unimpressed by the ninja around him.
"These are the ninja that are going to help." Tazuna answered.
Inari frowned. "They should leave. They'll only get hurt."
The three genin was offended by his remark.
"Inari." Tsunami scolded. "These ninja were brave enough to protect your grandfather all the way back here and are still going to protect him."
"That's right. There's no way I'm running away from this!"
"We don't need your help we have the Rider!" Inari cried. "He's way stronger than you are."
This caught Kakashi's attention. Aaron was caught off guard by this announcement. He thought Inari didn't believe in heroes. Was his impact on the kid that powerful.
"What was that?!" Naruto yelled. He pointed at Inari. "Listen up! I am Naruto Uzumaki! Future Hokage of the Leaf Village!"
"You're not a hero!" Inari frowned. "You don't even compare to the Rider! The Rider helps us everyday! He brings us food and medicine! He doesn't even ask for anything in return!"
"Why you-!" Naruto growled as he began to walk over to whack Inari on the head for being rude. Well, he would have if Sakura and Sasuke hadn't restrained him. Naruto struggled for a few more moments before he calmed down enough for them to let go.
Inari just turned to leave the room. As he was leaving, he looked at the collected ninja, "If you want to stay and die, then go ahead. Just don't get in The Rider's way."
"I apologize for my son." Tsunami said.
"Don't worry about it." Kakashi said.
"Excuse me. But how is the Rider?" Sakura asked.
Tazuna turned to the group of ninja and sighed. "The Rider is someone who appear not to long ago in Wave. And ever since he arrived he had been fighting against Gato."
"Inari and I were the first one's who saw him in action." Tsunami added. "He defended us against a group of mercenaries that Gato fired to kill us."
"The next time he appeared was when he defeated the Demon Brothers at the bridge." Tazuna said.
Aaron was pondering why Tsunami and her father hadn't told the ninja he was the rider. Not that he minded. For right now the fewer people who knew his identity the better.
"He defeated both of them by himself?" Sasuke asked. At first he last Uchiha wasn't concerned with whoever this Rider was, but after knowing defeated both Demon Brother caught his interest. Maybe if he was able to defeat this Rider he was one step closer to his goal.
"How did he do it?" Naruto asked.
"He used some strange weapons no one hand seen before and he also flew." Aaron said trying not to brag.
"He flew?" Kakashi asked.
"Yeah, it was something we never seen before. He was like lightning as he took those two a part."
The ninja was surprised a the this knowledge. Someone who could fly very unheard of. Was this Rider using some unknown jutsu. Sasuke was thinking that if he could find the Rider's secrets he'd be closer to killing that man. Sakura was wondering what kind of jutsu could make someone fly. Naruto was thing how cool it would be to fly.
"Is there anything else you can tell us." Kakashi asked.
"Recently he began to bring supplies, like Inari already told you." Tsunami said.
Kakashi was in deep thought. The were too many variables in the mission. First the missing nin Zabuza and he helper and now someone was around helping the people of wave. Whatever was going on he had to prepare for the worst.
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Later in the forest near Tazuna's house the three genin were around their jonin teacher awaiting orders. Said jonin was holding up with a pair of crutches.
"Alright" Kakashi spoke. "At the academy you all told what chakra was right?
"It's the combination of spiritual and physical energy." Sakura answered.
"That's correct." Kakashi giving them an eye-smile.
"Why are you asking this Kakashi sensei. We can already use chakra." Said an impatient Naruto.
"The loser right for once." Sasuke said emotionlessly. "We can already use jutsu."
"While that's true. You can use chakra effectively.
"What?" the three genin blinked.
Kakashi explained to them that when they used their jutsu they wasted chakra and how much a liability that was. A shiver went down their spines as Kakashi told them that the only way to fix that was to go through life-threatening training.
Sakura gathered her courage and asked. "What kind of training are we going to do?"
"The train you will do is." He began. "climb trees."
The three were tempted to do a group face fault.
"How is climbing trees going to make us stronger?" Naruto asked
"Well since you can't used your hands then it'll make you a lot stronger." Kakashi replied
"Sensei, how are we going to do that?" Sakura asked.
"I'll demonstrate" Kakashi spoke before he made a hand seal. He collected chakra before turning towards one of the trees. When he was in front of a tree, he placed his foot on the tree, before he started walking up the side of the tree. He kept going until he was standing upside down on one of the branches.
"Wow!" Naruto cried. "That's cool!"
"So, how do we do it?" Sasuke asked emotionlessly.
"What you have to do is concentrate your chakra into your feet," Kakashi explained. "This exercise helps you learn better chakra control. Even veteran ninjas have problems doing this sometimes. In theory, if you can master this exercise, then you can master any jutsu out there. Like I said though, a theory."
Kakashi then threw some kunai down to his students, "Use these to mark your progress. Try to get a little higher each time. My advice is to make a run of it since you aren't used to using chakra this way just yet."
"Hah!" Naruto smirked. "This training sounds easy!"
The genin began training immediately. Naruto didn't get far as he didn't use enough chakra to stick to the tree. Sasuke on the other hand broke the bark on his tree when he applied too much chakra. Surprisingly it was Sakura who out did both boys. Kakashi made a comment about her being Hokage and the Uchiha clan not being so great.
Unknown to them Aaron was watching from afar. He was interested in what kind of train they were going to do. It kind of reminded him of some of the train he had done. Aaron was also getting weird vibes from Naruto and Sasuke. Sasuke's thoughts were full of anger and revenge. His main purpose in life was to obtain power. Aaron shook his head at the this. The kid was going down a dark path. Naruto thoughts were more pure than Sasuke. He wanted recognition and respect. Aaron could also feel another presence in the blonde. It was as if something was living inside of him. Whatever it was, it was evil. The force inside of Naruto reminded him of the Phoenix Force, though nowhere near as powerful.
"Why do they even bother." A voice said. Aaron looked behind him to see Inari still frowning.
"They're training to hone their skills." the older boy responded.
"There nowhere near as strong as you are." Inari said.
"Maybe, but I didn't wake up one day and was strong. I had to train and master my powers."
Inari frowned as they watched the ninja train. In the boy's mind they were just some people who were going to get killed. They weren't as strong as Aaron with or without his armor. When the younger boy looked up at Aaron, he was that he was gone.
Back where the ninja were training the two males were getting frustrated. Sasuke was upset because this training difficult for him, even though he was a genius. Naruto was mad because he wasn't making much progress either. Both looked at each other before turning their heads. One of the main reasons that they were upset because they couldn't out do the other.
"Arrrrgh. I'm gonna complete this no matter what" Naruto said as he ran up the tree. However he only got 10 feet up the tree before he fell. That's when something odd happened. The second he fell he just floated in the air. The rest of the team gaped at what they saw.
"Naruto, how are you doing that?" Sakura asked.
"I have no idea." the blond said
"Naruto, if this is a joke, please stop." the one-eyed jonin said.
"It's no joke. It's me." an unfamiliar voice said. The ninja squad looked up in the direction that the voice came from. The person they were looking at was an odd looking fellow.
He work black armor with yellow lines decorating it. The line made an X on his chest. His helmet had a silver mouth guard and blue visor with the yellow lines making an X on his face. On his waist was a belt the hand a cell in the center and what looked a upside down 4 on the side.
"Who are you?" asked Kakashi.
"You must not be really good ninja if you can't guess." The armored man said teasingly.
With a swift motion of the hand Naruto was floating in the air toward the ground landing on his feet. The figure leapt from the tree he was sitting in. Instead of falling to the ground he too floated gently to the ground.
The figure looked at the shin obi with an analyzing gaze and so far he was not impressed. Aaron knew not to underestimate people based on appearance or age, yet he felt that these kids were not understand what was at stake.
The ninja wear looking cautiously at the new arrival. They never seen anyone as oddly dressed as he was and the attitude shout confidence. They were also unnerved how he could sneak up on them and how he suspended Naruto in the air.
The masked man shook his head as he saw the ninja in front of him. He knew that Kakashi was into the mission to help the people of Wave and the blonde was also here to help or at least protect Tazuna. The problem lied with the Sasuke and Sakura. The Uchiha was here to show how his power has grown and the pink-haired girl was only on the mission because her crush wanted to continue.
Sasuke got tired of the silence and spoke while drawing a kunai.
"Who the heck are you?!" the Uchiha asked warningly.
"He's the Rider" a familiar voice said.
The ninja looked over to see Inari coming toward this. The little boy walked over to the armored warrior.
"You're the Rider?" Kakashi asked.
"Yep. Just called me Kaixa for now." the now dubbed Kaixa said.
"What were you doing here?" Sasuke asked "Spying on us?"
"I was curious of the ninja that were hired by Tazuna. So I came to check them out." He said.
"Let me guess. You wanted to see some cool ninjas train. Huh?" Naruto said with some ego.
The Rider turned his attention to the blonde boy.
"It'd be nice to see some cool ninja. Can you show me some of your skills?"
Inari looked at his idol. The young boy new that Kaixa was stronger than them, so why was he so interested in them?
"I want to see you the skills you used against that Zabuza guy."
"How?" Sakura asked.
"It's simple" Kaixa chuckled. "I want to spar with you, all three of you."
The three young ninja looked at each other, the three of them against him? If this guy was as tough as people how would this turn out? Naruto thought it was a good way to show his stuff. Sasuke wanted to see if this guy lived up to all the hype and how strong he had become. Sakura was the only worried about their chance.
Aaron, disguised as Kaixa, chuckled as he read the minds of the three ninja. He knew that they were good, but he was better, even without his armor. He wasn't better because of his powers, but he had more experience. These kids were fresh and this was their first life or death mission. Aaron spent a lot of years training and fighting giant robot, monsters, evil mutants, and alien armies along side the X-men and other superheroes groups.
Kakashi was having his doubts about this idea. It would be a good idea for them to get some combat training. However, he had no ideas of what the Rider was here or his abilities. The only thing that he knew was that he could levitated things, how he wasn't sure. Aaron took notice of the older ninja's distrust.
"Don't worry I won't hurt them." Kaixa assured. "I'll even give these three an hour to rest before we spar. I don't want them whining that they lost because they were too tired."
The genin took his words as an insult.
"Okay that's it. In one hour you're going down." Naruto yelled.
Inari looked at the boy with a angry glare.
"Like you could ever beat the Rider. He could beat your sensei and that Zabuza guy easy." Inari yelled.
Before any more yelling could start Kaixa planted a soft punch on Inari's head.
"I told you, Inari, as strong as I am there are people stronger than me." He said. "And it's because there are stronger people than me I train to get stronger."
An Hour Later
The three ninja were well rested and ready to fight. Unknowingly to them they had idea what they were up against.
End Chapter
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The genin are about to go one on one against the psychic warrior. Who can the beat someone that can read their minds move objects with his mind and manipulate energy and matter with telekinesis? Find out in the next chapter.
