All right here's chapter two of the Tales of the Shadow Tale Pirates. If you're wondering how I'm getting these two released so close together it's because I had planned on having this one and the last one as one chapter but…
Anyway, here's the next chapter and it may just shed some light on who Naruto's pairing might be ;)
I don't own anything and please don't slam my grammar.
Naruto stood on the Thousand Sunny's deck in his element mode, one hand over a large jar of dirt, the other over a bowl of water. He was trying to concentrate, to control the elements around him, but every time he tried, it was either not enough power, or it was too much, either way he wouldn't control it.
"Damn it." Naruto muttered.
"Maybe this will help." Chopper said, holding out a small rolled up piece of paper.
"A doctor prescribing a cigarette to his patient, isn't that a little backwards?" Naruto said with a grin.
"Except this isn't a cigarette." Chopper said. "I call it a chakra stick, it's made up of stuff those ANBU brought with them to help them. It should help you balance out your powers."
"Thanks." Naruto said, putting the stick in his mouth and flicking this thumb, lighting it on fire. He took a pull on the stick before trying the power again. This time, the dirt and water flew up and started to mix with the air and the fire and lightning that were coming from Naruto's hands.
"Success," Chopper said with a smile.
"Chopper, I know you probably get this all the time, but Doc, you are a genius." Naruto said with a smile.
"Yeah," The Man-Reindeer said with a smirk, "I do get that a lot."
OP/N
Sasuke dropped down onto one leg as he was breathing hard, Komachi and Towa stood over him, their swords in hand.
"Come on Sasuke, you said you wanted to learn how to use a sword." Towa said. "How can you learn if your down on your knees."
"How can you teach when your student is down on his knees?" Zorro said, leaning against the deck railings. He walked forward and knelt down next to Sasuke. "Listen kid, these guys are working you hard, you can understand that they're working hard, sure, but everyone has got their own way." Zorro stood up and drew one of his swords. "Now let's see what you can really do." Sasuke stood up and picked up his sword and held it out to Zorro.
"Bring it." Sasuke challenged. He charged forward and Zorro locked blades with him. The two of them danced around for a moment before Zorro threw him back.
"Keep your movements smaller, I can tell what you're going to do before you do it." Zorro instructed. Sasuke growled before glancing behind him and getting an idea. He jumped back and shifted into his Bat-Man form. Flapping his wings he shot off of the ship's railing. Zorro had just enough time to draw a second sword to block Sasuke's attack. Sasuke flipped over him and shifted back into his human form with two swords in his hands. Zorro looked down and saw that his other sword had been taken.
"Not bad." Zorro admitted. He held his two swords in front of him, but was stunned when Sasuke threw his sword back to him.
"I can't explain it." Sasuke explained. "But I could hear a voice coming from the sword. It said that it was a part of your soul and that no matter how hard I would try, it wouldn't work for me, especially against you." Zorro starred at the young swordsman in training and then game him a smile.
"You've got a real gift kid." He said. "Towa, Komachi, you two just work on teaching Batboy here the basics of how to use a sword, leave the more advanced training to me." And with that, he placed his third sword in his mouth and tied a black bandana onto his head. "All right kid, come at me with everything you've got so that I know what to work with." Sasuke grinned and charged.
N/OP
Hinata stood on the deck, both her forearms turned into drills and looked around practice dummies that had been set up and charged at two one of them, piercing all of them and then tearing them apart by spinning the drill. Next she activated her Byakugan and launched a series of drills from her back at the 3 dummies behind her.
"Most impressive," Towa said, stepping forward and clapping, "now there's something I want you to do." He threw his arm out and poured chakra into the mark on his arm, using it to create a drill of own. "Come at me with the strongest drill you've got."
"Yes Towa-sensei." Hinata said. She created a drill on her right arm and then threw it out away from her extending it a good six feet before lifting it over her head where it widened to 3 feet at the base. "Spiral Spiral Breaker!" she shouted, shooting at by pumping chakra from all points on her body. Towa pulled his own fist back and thrust it forward to meet Hinata's drill. The two were deadlocked for a minute before Towa's chakra drill began to crack and then eventually shatter under the power of Hinata's Spiral Spiral Breaker. He jumped back at the last possible second so that he wouldn't be torn apart by the drill's power.
"Most impressive Hinata, I have nothing left to teach you my student." Towa said with a bow.
"Thank you, Towa-sensei." Hinata said returning the bow.
N/OP
Naruto stood over his elements, trying to meld them together but was having little luck.
"I should have known Chopper's Chakra Stick wouldn't be enough to really bring out everything I had." Naruto said, rubbing the back of his head.
"Perhaps you need something to help you focus." said a voice. Naruto turned around to see Brook walking towards him. Naruto shrugged. "Here, try using this." He handed Naruto a guitar. Naruto strummed the guitar and all of a sudden, the elements around him rose up but faded as the note faded into silence. "Perfect." Brook said with the best smile a skeleton could give.
"Can you teach me how to use this?" Naruto asked, smiling.
'But of course." Brook said. "But wait right here for a second." Brook walked into the ship for a second and came back with what looked like a giant two sided battle ax. One of the blades, the one that was curved upward was shaped like a demon's wing while the other one was a pure white and that of an angel. "This is the Valkyrie, I'm pretty sure it is the only other thing besides me to survive the Rumbar Pirates." Naruto took the weapon. Looking at it he saw that there were 6 strings attached to it and the head of it looked like a classical skull and crossbones.
"It's beautiful." Naruto whispered before looking at Brook. "I don't know if I can accept this."
"Strum it, then it will be decided whether or not you get to keep it." Brook said. "You see, this guitar has a mind of its own. It chooses and decides who is worthy of wielding it." Naruto took a deep breath and ran his fingers across the strings of the guitar. The sound that came from it was absolutely beautiful."
"Congratulations Naruto Uzumaki, you are now the rightful owner of the Valkyrie." Brook said. "Now, let's get to practicing shall we?"
N/OP
Naruto was leaning against one of Nami's tangerine trees practicing with Valkyrie, the chakra stick smoking between his lips.
"You know, if you were to ever grow your hair our over your face, you'd probably end up looking like Sanji." Nami said as she steered the ship.
"Is that a complement or an insult?" Naruto asked. He'd encountered the cook before and knew what he was like.
"A bit of both I think." Nami said with a smirk. Naruto laughed as he kept playing, combining his powers of wind and water to create a small rain cloud over Nami's trees. "So, when are we going to reach Alabasta?" Naruto asked.
"Probably in a couple of days," Nami replied glancing at the eternal poise.
"Naruto," Hinata said walking up the steps to him and Nami. Since their arrival, she had been working, particularly with Komachi and Nico Robin to help with her self-confidence. Her stutter was all but gone and she was wearing much reviling cloths, in most people's opinion she seemed to be taking after Nami's since of style, "can I speak to you, in private." She added glancing at Nami.
"Sure." Naruto said standing up and slipping Valkyrie onto his back. He followed Hinata into a private room for the two of them. After Hinata closed the door, she turned to him.
"Naruto, how do you see me?" she asked.
"Well, I see you as my best friend and I guess my sister." Naruto said with a shrug, his arms crossed.
"Naruto, I see you as so much more than that." Hinata whispered. "I see you as a gorgeous, amazing, inspiration that fills me with so much." Naruto's jaw dropped and he rubbed the back of his head.
"Hinata, I'm sorry I don't return your feelings," he took Hinata's chin in his hands and raised her white eyes to his sparkling blues, "but I can and will promise you this: no matter what happens, I will always be there for you. We're family and that's never going to change." He leaned forward and placed a small kiss on Hinata's forehead.
"Thank you, Brother." Hinata said, wrapping her arms around him in a tight hug.
"Anytime Sis," Naruto said returning the hug, "anytime."
N/OP
Sasuke stood on the mast of the ship, a smile on his face as the wind blew through his lightening black hair. He was beginning to love life on the sea, his time amongst the pirates had been great for him, Zorro teaching him swordsmanship, Sanji was teaching him his kick, and Franky was giving him tips about building things.
What the young Uchiha loved most about it was that here, he wasn't Itachi's little brother. Here he was his own man and could forge out who he was without having to worry about his brother's shadow.
Using the tree walking technique he'd learned, he started to walk down the mast and back to his cabin when he heard something: a faint crying. Curious he walked over and stood next to the crying person and was surprised to find that it was Hinata.
"Hey, what's wrong?" Sasuke asked, kneeling down next to the Hyuga girl.
"It's just, I made a fool out of myself in front of Naruto earlier." Hinata said through her tears. "I told him that I loved him and that he only saw me as…his little sister." Sasuke gave a small half smile and put his arm around the crying girl. He was surprised when she threw her arms around him and started to sob uncontrollable into his chest. Unsure of what to do, he just wrapped his arms around her and let her cry. When she finished, she looked up at him and smiled.
"Thanks." She said.
"For what?" Sasuke asked confused.
"For just being here," she said with a smile.
"No problem." Sasuke said with a smile. Hinata looked at him, and something about his new silvery hair and gold tan along with the way the moon light hit him just made her blush a bit.
"Well, good night." She said, walking away, hoping he hadn't seen her red face.
N/OP
The Straw Hats+5 stood in the shadows of the Alabasta Palace while Queen Vivi and King Kohza's daughter Cici was rightfully crowned the Princess of Alabasta. Naruto was stunned by how pretty the young girl seemed. She looked a lot like her mother but had inherited her father's hair color.
"She's kind of cute." Naruto muttered, half hoping no one was listening.
"Yeah, cute," Hinata whispered, except her eyes were fixed on the third member of their ninja in training trio. However, no one heard her; when the ceremony was over the crew walked into the palace thrown room to the sight of the smiling blue haired queen.
"Luffy!" she exclaimed, jumping off her thrown and throwing her arms around the captain's neck. "I'm so glad you made it."
"Like we were going to miss out on little Cici's coronation." Nami said looking around. "Where is the girl of honor?"
"Probably hiding, she's not that use to strangers." Kohza said. "By the way, who are your new shipmates?"
"They're more like our guests on the ship." Luffy explained. "The kids ate some devil's fruits and were brought to us for training."
"I see." Vivi said, "Well it's very nice to meet you all."
"Thank you Queen Vivi." Komachi said with a bow. "I am Komachi, this is my partner Towa, and these are our students, Sasuke Uchiha, Hinata Hyuga and, uh oh, where's Naruto?" the rest of them looked around but there was no sign of the blond ninja in training.
"Oh no, we've got to find him." Towa said.
"Is he a dangerous boy?" Coza asked.
"Nothing serious, but he's a notorious prankster." Nico Robin said with a smile.
"Oh, all right then." Kohza said, sitting back down on his thrown. "Things get so dull around here sometimes, having a prankster around my liven things up a bit." Komachi and Towa starred at the king while Sasuke and Hinata giggled quietly to each other.
The blond in question was currently wandering around the castle. It reminded him a lot of the Hokage's tower, except, well, it was an entire castle and not just a tower. He was brought out of his musings when he heard something. It sounded familiar and then it hit him, it was the sound of someone training. Peaking in, Naruto saw the she was doing what appeared to be some dancing with some shining objects in their hands. Squinting, Naruto saw that they were knifes. Naruto took another step into the room and then he heard a squeak. With a grimace he looked down at the loose floorboard. When he looked up again, he saw a dagger come flying at his head. Reacting on instinct, he whipped Valkyrie around and played a cord. A gust of wind blew out the knife back towards Cici who ducked at just the right second.
"Sorry, sorry, I didn't mean to do that, it was reflex." Naruto said running towards her. "Are you all right?"
"Yeah, that was amazing, how'd you do that?" Cici asked, looking up into Naruto's bright blue eyes while Naruto gazed into her own.
"Devil Fruit power," Naruto said quietly. At the doorway, someone cleared their throat snapping the two children out of their trance.
"Not interrupting anything are we?" Sasuke said with a smirk, Hinata giggling by his side.
"Need something Sasuke?" Naruto replied with a glare.
"Well, Zorro said I need to make my own sword. King Kohza said something about a space rock that crashed into the place a few years back." Sasuke explained. "I figured you with your Ele Tsuchi powers could help."
"Yeah, I'll even help provide the fire and water for it if you need it." Naruto said.
"Wait a second!" Cici screamed. The three ninja in training looked at her. "If you're going outside, I want to go too." Sasuke scoffed.
"You're a princess; shouldn't you be wearing a dress or something?" He said. At that Hinata slapped him upside the head.
"Need I remind you that back home you and I are like royalty Sasuke?" Hinata said. "Which mean's I'm something of a princess too."
"Yeah but you're a ninja, there's a difference." Sasuke countered. Naruto sighed.
"How long have you been practicing with those knifes?" He asked.
"About a year now," Cici said proudly.
"All right then, you're coming." Naruto said. Sasuke and Hinata starred at him as he took Cici by the hand and started to lead her out of the room. "Maybe while we're making Sasuke's sword, you could talk to our sensei Komachi into teaching you a few more skills."
"Really?" Cici said with a smile.
"Yep," Naruto said, taking Cici's arm and leading her out. Sasuke and Hinata stopped and looked at each other.
"Any idea what just happened?" Sasuke asked. Hinata shook her head. They both turned around to catch up with their two friends.
N/OP
Naruto walked around the desert. He was in his Ele Tsuchi mode, his entire body was made of earth. He was practically gliding across the sand, his feet seemingly merged into it.
"We're getting close, I can feel it." Naruto said until finally, he found what he was looking for it. "It's right here."
"Hinata," Sasuke said. Hinata nodded and mad her way to where Naruto had marked.
"Spiral Spiral Tunnel!" her entire body from the head down turned into a drill as she dug down into the sand.
"Is she gonna be ok?" Cici asked.
"Relax, Hinata may not look it, but she's as tough as it gets." Naruto said. "I wouldn't call her my sister if she wasn't."
"I found something!" Hinata called up.
"Then hang on." Naruto called back down, taking Valkyrie off his back Naruto played a power cord on the guitar, a large black shot up out of the ground with Hinata standing on it. "One space rock and pretty girl," He said with a smirk.
"This is great and all, but how are we going to get this thing back to the palace?" Cici asked. The three ninja in training smiled at the girl before they each got on a side of the space rock and lifted it up. Cici's eyes bugged out and her jaw dropped. As the four of them made their way back to the castle, they soon were ambushed by a small group of bandits.
"Well, well, well, if it isn't the princess and three…little…super strong…kids." The apparent leader said before he caught sight of the three kids holding up a giant black space rock.
"Yeah, we're three little kids, acting as the princesses bodyguards, and if you want to try anything, we will beat you within a few inches of your life." Naruto said.
"W-well we've still got you beat in numbers." The leader said glaring at the kids. Sasuke rolled his eyes and glanced at Naruto who nodded. The three of them put down the meteorite and stepped in front of Cici. Naruto held Valkyrie in his hands while Sasuke drew the training sword he worked with.
"What do you think Uchiha, looser pays for ramen when we get back home?" Naruto asked.
"You're on Uzumaki." Sasuke said with a smirk.
"I'll take some of that action." Hinata said popping her knuckles. The bandits charged forward and then in almost a flash they were down on the ground, weapons had been chopped apart, swords were shattered and several of them had broken bones.
"So, what have you got?" Sasuke asked.
"I got three of them." Hinata said.
"I got five." Sasuke said with a smirk.
"Nine," Naruto said, returning Valkyrie to his back, "and Sasuke's sword." He added as the blade snapped and fell to the ground.
"You broke my sword!" Sasuke shouted, pointing the broken weapon at Naruto.
"Would you believe me if I said it was an accident?" Naruto asked.
"The first thing I'm going to do when I make my new sword is kill you with it." Sasuke growled.
"We'll just have to wait and see how that works out." Naruto smirked. They turned back to see Cici standing there next to the space rock starring at the three ninja in training.
"Hey is she ok?" Hinata asked. Naruto walked forward and waved his hand in front of her face. He whistled and snapped his fingers in front of her face.
"Lights are on but nobody's home." Naruto sighed. "Think you two can carry the rock while I carry her?" Sasuke and Hinata glanced at each other and nodded. The two of them picked up the rock and carried it while Naruto carried the Princess of Alabasta bridal style.
When they reached the castle, Coza nearly blew the roof off the palace.
"Boy, what do you think you are doing with my daughter?" He roared.
"In my complete and total defense, while I did ask her to come with us, we also defended her after we were ambushed by bandits." Naruto explained. "After she saw us in action she just kind of passed out." Kohza continued to glare at him but then Cici started to stir in the blond boy's arms. Her eyes slowly opened and she looked up at Naruto before blushing deep crimson.
"Is there a reason I'm curled up in your arms Naruto?" She asked. Naruto couldn't help but grin.
"You passed out after you saw me, Sasuke and Hinata in action." Naruto said. "We took care of those bandits and there you were wide eyed and out of it."
"Oh." Cici said simply. "Um, can you put me now?" Naruto went a little red in the face himself before he set the girl on her feet.
"Well, now that that's all said and done," Sasuke said, ruining the moment a bit, "you've got to help me make a sword out of this lump of space." He jerked his thumb behind him with a smirk. Naruto nodded and helped his friends pick up the meteor and carried it to the weapons forge.
N/OP
For the next few days, Naruto, Sasuke, and Hinata worked hard to try and create a new sword for Sasuke. As it turned out, the chunk of space rock was extremely hard to take apart to forge. It turned out that the only way to actually heat the thing was to combine his fire with his wind, and that only made the rock soft enough for Hinata to start drilling off pieces of it that Sasuke started to use his hammer on. While the three of them worked tirelessly on their creation, Cici was working hard with Komachi in bettering her knife fighting skills. Her mother and father were not entirely crazy about their daughter learning to fight but then, they had to tell themselves, they too had to do some fighting in the days when they were the princess and the rebel leader.
Once day, Cici went into the forge to tell the three ninja in training that lunch was ready, only to find them all passed out from working so hard. She looked over and saw a long black sword laying on an anvil not far from where they were asleep. Creeping over them, she reached out to touch the blade only to find her hand grabbed at the wrist. Looking up, she saw Naruto standing there with tired but alert eyes.
"I wouldn't touch that if I were you Princess." Naruto said, letting go of the girl's arm. "It may not look it, but the blade is still very hot, and probably a little electrified."
"Electrified?" Cici asked.
"In our line of work, getting hit by lightning is pretty likely," Naruto explained, "so to best take care of ourselves; it's good to make sure we won't get shocked." He gave a smile which Cici replied.
"I just came down to let you know that lunch is ready." Cici said.
"Thanks." Naruto said, standing up and stretching. He glanced over at the still sleeping Sasuke and Hinata and shook them both awake. "Come on guys, chow time."
"Right," Sasuke said, scratching the back of his head and helping Hinata to her feet. Together, the four of them walked upstairs for lunch and then finally made it to the main dinning room to her a chorus of "Surprise!" that nearly gave them all heart attacks.
"Who, what where, how, why, when," Naruto spluttered getting a laugh out of everyone.
"Naruto, don't you know what today is?" Komachi asked, grinning at the boy. It had taken a couple of months, but the Straw Hats and ninjas had gotten both Towa and Komachi to remove their masks. Towa had something of a pointed face with green eyes that was half covered by long red hair. Komachi had the kind of face that could only be described by many of the older males of the crew as angelic with bright blue eyes and wavy blond hair.
"No, should I?" Naruto asked scratching his head.
"It's your birthday genius." Towa said, giving the blond's shoulder a good hard shake. As soon as those words left the ANBU's lips, a smile broke out across Naruto's face.
"Oh man! We've been at sea for so long that I'd completely lost track of the days." Naruto said excitedly.
"Yeah, the Grand Line'll do that to ya." Zorro said nodding.
"Um, Naruto," Cici said. Naruto looked over at princess. She pulled a hat from behind her back. It was made of leather and hat three points on it. "Captain Luffy said that all great pirate captains wear hats so, I thought I'd be the one to give you yours." She said, blushing slightly.
"Thanks," Naruto said taking the hat, "but, I'm not a pirate, much less a captain."
"I don't know about that." Sasuke said, slinging an arm around Naruto's shoulder. "If the ninja thing doesn't work out, we could make great pirates, just as long as I'm the first mate."
"And what about me?" Hinata demanded with her hands on her hips.
"How does navigator sound?" Naruto asked, raising the hat and placing it on his head.
"Well, if I have to." Hinata said with a smile. Naruto returned it as he placed his new hat on his head.
"Here you go Naruto; I made this with Nami and Robin." Hinata said handing Naruto a jacket with what looked like flames around the ends of the sleeves and waves at the tail. A lightning storm was on the back along with what looked like a tornado and rocks.
"Aw sweet," Naruto exclaimed taking the jacket and trying it on. "How do I look?"
"Not bad," Luffy said, "Captain." Naruto smiled as he and everyone else enjoyed the cake that Sanji had baked for the occasion.
N/OP
The day had come for the Straw Hats to return to sea. With as they loaded up the ship, Luffy shook hands with the Kohza while Nami and Vivi were hugging each other good bye. Most of the rest of the crew were loading up the ship with the necessary supplies for the trip as were Komachi, Towa, Sasuke, and Hinata. Naruto however was standing apart from the crew with Cici wearing his coat and hat with Valkyrie strapped to his back.
"Looks like it's time for me to go." Naruto said, looking up at the Thousand Sunny.
"I wish you didn't have to go." Cici said, her eyes starting to tear up.
"Hey now," Naruto said, wiping her tears away, "don't you start crying. I'll be back some day." Cici took Naruto's hand in her own and cuddled up into it.
"You'd better come back some day, or else I'll have my father hunt you down." Cici warned, smiling up at the boy. Naruto returned the smile before pulling the princess into a hug.
"Take care of yourself Princess Cici." Naruto said with a smile.
"And you Captain Naruto." Cici replied. Breaking the embrace Naruto turned to the ship and jumped onto it, using the powers of wind to fly aboard.
"You all right Naruto." Sasuke asked, his sword, named Tri-Force, resting on his back.
"Yeah, I'll be ok." Naruto said, turning back and locking eyes with Cici. Her mother and father stood beside her just as Sasuke and Hinata stood beside Naruto.
"You'll see her again Naruto." Hinata said giving him a hug.
"How do you know?" Naruto asked.
"What you and her have bro, that's not something that can ever be broken." Sasuke said. "Just trust your family on this one, all right?" Naruto nodded and with one look back, turned away and prepared to set sail with the rest of the crew.
N/OP
Two guards stood at the gates of Konoha watching for anyone coming in. Slowly, out of the shadows of the trees, 5 figures emerged. Two of them appeared to be ANBU while the other three were children judging by their height.
"Halt," one of the guards said as they approached. "State your names and business in Konoha."
"Konoha ANBU Komachi and Towa returning from an extended mission," Komachi said.
"Navigator Hinata 'Giga Drill' Hyuga," said the only girl of the three children. She wore a loose open jacket, tank top and baggy pants. She had water blue hair and pale almost white eyes.
"First Mate Sasuke 'Darkwing' Uchiha," said the taller of the two boys. His hair seemed to be almost silver in color and his skin a shimmering gold. He wore a blue shirt, black pants, a black bandana was wrapped around his right bicep, and a katana with a long hilt was strapped to his back.
"Captain Naruto 'Nature Ax' Uzumaki, at your service," said the final boy as he removed his triangular hat to revile bright white hair to go with his bronze tanned skin. He wore a long coat with flame, wave, rocks, lightning, and tornado designs on it and strapped to his back was something that looked to be a giant, double bladed ax.
And there you go with chapter two, they're not real pirates yet, and they won't be for a while, but I'll get around to putting them on the high seas here soon enough. And I'm on the fence about putting Komachi and Towa in the crew, if anyone has any thoughts on it, I'm happy to listen.
Read and Review