The Line of Entreri
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Forgotten Realms
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And he set off.
1 week later-
As Entreri was walking through Konoha he was reading a piece of paper.
'I'm supposed to find a certain Uchiha, master said that fighting him will increase my fighting abilities. Might as well start now.'
When he looked up from his reading, he noticed he was in the midst of a huge crowd.
'This seems to be a good place to ask around for him…'
He went up to a random, but knowledgeable looking villager and asked, "Do you know where I can find a certain Uchiha?"
The villager's eyes opened wide and he smiled. He then yelled for 'The Uchiha' and the message was passed down through the crowd until a boy, about Entreri's age, forward. Then everything went back to it's normal routine.
"I take it you're looking for me?" The boy asked. The boy had spiky black hair and an arrogant sneer on his face.
Entreri blinked a few times, examining the child, frowned, and looked at his paper again.
'Hmmmm… this doesn't seem right. The paper says that he a straight black hair, lines under his eyes, and is a bit taller and older looking…'
He looked up from his reading, still frowning, and asked, "What's your name?"
"Uchiha Sasuke." Was the reply, and with a touch of pride when he said Uchiha.
Another frown.
"That's not right. Nevermind. Could you tell me the whereabouts of an Uchiha Itachi?"
At this, the boy's eyes hardened into a cold glare, and he snarled, "What do you want with him? Are you some sort of hunter-nin?"
Enteri stood there, unfazed, and replied, "I was wishing to fight him… is there something wrong with him? Is he out of duty now?"
The boy, now known as Sasuke, then demanded, "Fight me."
"No. My mission has nothing to do with you."
As he was turning to walk away, he sensed Sasuke throwing a particularly vicious kick his way. So then he dropped to the ground, lifted up his legs, and caught Sasuke's leg with his feet. After catching Sasuke's leg, he spun his body, thus sending Sasuke spinning as well. While Enteri landed on his feet, Sasuke landed with a resounding 'Thud' at a wall.
The Enteri, dusting off his hands, then said, "Like I was saying earlier, my mission has nothing to do with you. The only way I would fight a random person, was if they were to atta-"
He was unable to finish what he was saying as multiple kunai and shuriken went flying at him. He frowned, then pulled out his sheathed dagger, and blocked all of the missiles. In a flash of movement, he was at Sasuke's face, and proceed to take the dagger by the blade (he was holding the blade part of the dagger, still in it's sheath) and slammed the metal hilt into Sasuke's stomach. While the Uchiha was flying backwards, he caught up to him and backhanded the boy with his hilt. When Sasuke finally stopped at the wall, he took the hilt and smashed it, not too hard, into Sasuke's forehead. And in one fluid motion, unsheathed the dagger and held it to the last Uchiha's throat.
"Do you give up? If you want to die, then by all means keep on attacking, but if you know what's good for you, then I suggest you cease your foolishness."
The boy, now with a small trickle of blood running down his face, grunted something that if you squinted hard enough, and tilted your head a little to the left, would remotely resemble a , "I give up…"
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Strolling down the marketplace, a grey-haired jounin was grinning and reading a certain orange book that we have all grown to know and love. He was thinking about the amazing 'G' rated content in the book and about what a wonderful day it was. At least, that was until he came upon an alley that had a stranger holding a dagger to his student's throat. Now you see, this was an alleyway that the cycloptic jounin took as a shortcut home, and never once before had he seen something like this. So he sprang into action, or rather, walked into action.
He calmly strolled up to the stranger and asked, "What are you doing?"
The stranger turned his head to face the newcomer, "I was attacked. I was defending myself, did so, and was about to leave."
The stranger then pulled his dagger away from the boy's neck, sheathed it and began walking away. But before he got far, he was stopped by the jounin.
"Sir, you're coming with me."
The stranger stared into the jounin's eyes, and the gray-haired man involuntarily shuddered at the sight that greeted him. The gaze that he was face with held no emotion, nothing. What was there, was a deadness, a deadness of the soul, mind, and heart.
"I did nothing wrong."
But finally, Entreri went along with the jounin without any trouble. Actually, it would be better to say, they patched Sasuke up, patted him on the back, and sent him along his merry way. (mostly Kakashi's doing…)
When they reached their destination, which turned out to be the Hokage Tower, they requested immediate audience with the Sandaime. After about a 30 minute wait, they got in.
"Hokage-sama, I'm here to bring a person who I found attacking my student, Uchiha Sasuke. Sasuke-san wishes to press charges."
"Ah. I see, Hatake-san, good work, you are dismissed." And with a wave of his hand, Kakashi poofed away in a cloud of grey smoke.
Now, the Hokage turned his attention to the average built boy, expecting to measure the child up, but instead, to his surprise, found the kid looking at him, as if making assumptions, and measuring HIM up.
"So, may I ask you, what is your name?"
At this, the boy, froze for a second.
'Your name is, no, was, Naruto.'
"My name… is Entreri." When the Hokage heard that fabled name uttered from the lips of this child, he was shocked. But after regaining his composure, he motioned for the boy to sit and so Entreri sat. When he looked at the boy, he was once again amused/disturbed. He was amused by the fact that where most children fidgeted and stared at the ground, the boy looked him right in the eye. But he was disturbed by the eyes that the boy had. They held too much knowledge, seen too much pain. They had looked beneath the bed and discovered that there really were monsters lurking in the shadows.1 And he also made the same observations that Kakashi had made. Those eyes, they were dead.
"Entreri, I would like for you to come walk with me."
The boy just nodded and followed the old man out the door and onto the streets. They walked and just walked in silence until they came upon a run down looking ramen shop named Ichiraku's Ramen. Inside it was a young boy who was inhaling the ramen like air. It seemed as if the boy would never sense their presence so the Hokage announced himself with an "AHEM."
At this sudden noise, the boy looked up from his ramen slurping with irritation, until he recognized the Hokage. The boy's eyes widened in surprise and he began choking on his noodles. He fell to the ground gasping for air, until finally it passed. When he found himself again, he stood up and bowed deeply to the Hokage, and a slight nod to Entreri.
"Yes Hokage-sama?" The Hokage then smiled at the young boy, and then said,
"Ah…Kaoru, it's nice to see you again, I would like you to give…" The Hokage seemed to be stuck in indecision as to whether to say Entreri's name "…Entreri here, a tour of the village."
"Gladly Hokage-sama!" And with that the two were off, Kaoru prattling on about this and that, talking about all the gossip going around the village, and Entreri slowly soaking it all up, storing it away for later use. When they were walking around a shady part of the village, they heard a beating going on, it seemed that a man was beating his wife.
"Entreri c'mon, we gotta help her!" But no matter how much Kaoru tried, Entreri didn't move to help.
"What's wrong with you? Why don't you help?!?"
Entreri's face was impassive, "Didn't your own textbooks state that ninja's and assassins jobs are not to protect, but to kill the enemy? Only when a mission's objective is to protect the person, do you do that, but otherwise, it is not our job to do so."
Kaoru's face grew angry, but then tears began to well up in his eyes, "What happened to you? Don't you have any emotions? Feelings?"
At this Entreri sank into deep thought as Kaoru ran off to go help the lady in distress. Emotions, a thing that he had deemed useless years ago, a thing that he had buried so far back into his soul, so deep, and watered with the blood of his enemies until it was a centimeter from being erased from his existence. And now, a boy he had met for the first time in his life, brought it back up. He stood in shock, as the centimeter grew to two centimeters, and slowly started reaching up from its deep grave. But sensing this, he stamped it back down. Although the crisis was over, the damage was done. The blood caked dirt of his soul was slightly cracked.
When he came back to reality, he saw that Kaoru had done 'justice' to the offender and had sent the lady on her way to the hospital to get her wounds treated. And finally he was back. Seeing Entreri still standing there, slightly dazed, he went up to him and slapped him. Entreri recoiled in shock, and from the strength of the blow. He brought his hand up to the place where he had been struck, pulled it away and saw a slight smear of blood. He shrugged it off and began walking away.
"Hey! Yeah, you!" Kaoru shouted at Entreri's back, Entreri, hearing this, turned around.
"I heard you beat up the all-mighty Uchiha today." Entreri then cocked his head to the side in interest.
"I thought it was about time someone knocked him off of his high horse."
When Entreri thought the boy was finished, he began talking, "It was not my objective to as you so elegantly put it, 'knock him off of his high horse'. I was looking for an Uchiha Itachi."
"So that's what started the fight…" Kaoru put on a 'I-know-something-you-don't-know' face.
Entreri, sensing the other's knowledge, inquired deeper, "What? How did I provoke him?"
"Well, a few years ago, Sasuke's brother, Itachi, killed his, as in Itachi's, best friend. All this was in order to achieve the highest form of the sharingan, the Uchiha's doujutsu. After killing his best friend, Itachi then proceeded to slaughter every single Uchiha clan member except for Sasuke. He then used his newly acquired Mangekyou Sharingan to put Sasuke into an extremely strong technique, the Tsukiyomi. So now, Sasuke has sworn eternal vengeance against Itachi. He's an avenger now." The last part was stated as if it were the most obvious statement in the world. So when Kaoru was finished talking, he nodded his head showing finality.
"Ah. I see. Well, I take my leave." And with a turn of the heel Entreri disappeared in a blur.
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The next day-
"Entreri, I would like you to accompany Team 7 on their mission to Wave Country. It is an escort mission, and it will be to test your abilities."
"I understand." Entreri bowed and turned to leave.
1 hour later…
Entreri was waiting at the West Gate with the other members of Team 7. Entreri was holding 4 files in his hands and was currently reading one of them.
'Haruno Sakura. Comes from a non-shinobi family, single child. Below average skills in all departments except for theory and chakra control due to small reserves.'
He looked at his pink haired teammate, who was ogling her 'sexy' raven haired teammate and fantasizing about their future family. Entreri closed the file.
'Uchiha Sasuke. Last living loyal member of the Uchiha Clan. Only survivor of the Uchiha Massacre. High fire ability and has not yet acquired the Sharingan. Above average chakra reserves, high genin level ninjutsu, average taijutsu, and lacking in genjutsu.'
Entreri closed the file and glanced over at Sasuke, who was currently scrutinizing the new addition to the mission and sending death glares. Entreri noticed this, shrugged, and pulled out a new file.
'Hitachiin Kaoru. A third generation shinobi. No special bloodlines. Loud, brash, and considered the dead-last of the academy. Large chakra reserves, longs to be the Hokage, and is above average in ninjutsu, but highly lacking in other skills.'
He once again glanced over, but this time at his other teammate, Kaoru. Kaoru was sitting on the fence with a sloppy grin on his face and pointedly staring at Sakura. Entreri sighed, much disappointed, and opened the last file.
'Hatake Kakashi. Son of the famous 'White Fang'. Possess a sharingan eye, and is rumored to have copied over a thousand jutsu, thus giving him the nickname 'Copy-Eye Kakashi'. Highly skilled in all departments. Also famous for his only original technique, the Chidori and his chronic lateness which spans from about 1 and a half hours to 3 hours.'
He looked around but found no sign of Kakashi and Tazuna, the person they were to protect. He closed the file and put his hand on the hilt of his trusty dagger, which was currently strapped to the left side of his hip. He had changed his outfit for the mission, and was wrapped in bandages covering his arms, chest, and face. His blond hair was covered by his cloak and had a kunai, shuriken, and senbon holsters strapped in various places on his body. He also had a utility belt filled with various weapons, like wires and explosive tags.
The Entreri was starting to feel bored when Kaoru approached him.
"So… Entreri. You excited?"
"Not especially." Entreri responded in his usual monotone.
"Wanna train right now? Kakashi-sensei won't come for about another hour or so." Kaoru energetically tugged on part of Entreri's cloak.
"Okay."
They both moved into a clearing and got into their separate stances. Entreri pulled out a dagger with its sheath. The dagger was out of the sheath, but wasn't his special dagger. Holding the sheath in one hand, and the dagger in the other, he held them in a cross shape, gripping his sheath backwards and his dagger normally.
"First Dance."
At this Sasuke, turned to watch the two combatants and wondered how Entreri would fight.
'I must find the source of his power. Maybe watching him fight will help me. Defeating Entreri will be a stepping stone on my path to finally killing Itachi.'
Meanwhile, back on the training field, Kaoru moved into a loose academy fighting stance. Both stood there waiting for the other to make the first move, when Entreri blurred out of sight. Sasuke gasped because he couldn't even see the cloaked figure move, and cursed himself for his weakness. Kaoru grinned and awaited the coming challenge. Sensing a presence to his left he attempted to block with a kunai of his own but had it deflected by Entreri's sheath. Then Entreri slashed at Kaoru's stomach with his dagger but Kaoru jumped back fast enough.
During the fight Kakashi had come upon the two and was watching silently in a tree.
'Interesting character. Wonder what he's like when he's pressured.'
Finally, Entreri, weaving in and out of his opponents movements and creating small nicks and cuts popped up behind Kaoru and held his dagger to his throat.
"I win."
And the fight was over. Kaoru was grinning like usual, determined to get stronger. Sakura, who had finally wrenched her attention from Sasuke's amazing spiked hair to watch part of the fight wondered about her resolve to be a shinobi.
Kakashi jumped from out of the tree and Tazuna came strolling down the path and the group set off.
Two days passed with Kaoru talking to Entreri about shinobi life and life inside of Konoha. To Entreri, Kaoru's words flowed over him like sunlight, in the process warming him.
Deep inside the dirt of Entreri's soul during those two days, a hand began reaching up through the cracks made by the previous attempt. Finally, when the hand reached the surface, instead of stamping it down like usual, Entreri reached down to the hand and pulled up. Out of it came something. It was in the shape of a man, and he was labeled, 'Friendship'.
On the third day, Entreri noticed a puddle in the road.
'Strange, it hasn't rained in days…' But he ignored it and kept on walking, when he noticed two presences next to Kakashi. Before he could react, the two ripped Kakashi to shreds using a chain that was in between them. Then the two focused their attention on Entreri, who seemed to be the next most powerful. They approached him and sprang forward. To Sasuke, Kaoru and Sakura, they only saw the special blade of Entreri's moved a centimeter out of its sheath, when both enemy shinobi got a nick on their cheeks.
"You die here."
But the two shinobi thought differently, "Hah, as if a small cut on my cheek could kill me."
"Sadly enough, it will." Then Entreri focused on the jewel embedded in the hilt of his dagger and the green gem began to glow. When it started to glow the two enemies began to feel their life essence flowing out of their bodies and into the strange glowing green gem.
"AHHHHHH---"
But their scream was cut off as the last bit of their essence was flowing from the gem to Entreri's body. He then opened his eyes and breathed out.
'I haven't killed anybody in a while. That felt…good. I am much stronger now.'
The three other genin stared at Entreri in shock. He had easily dispatched two B-rank missing nin without so much as breaking sweat. At that moment, Kakashi walked out of the forest clapping.
"Great job Entreri."
Entreri nodded his head and motioned for the team to move on. But Kakashi had other ideas.
"Tazuna, I believe you have some explaining to do."
Then Tazuna spilled the beans on Wave Country and Gatou. The team agreed to finish the mission, but all were on extra high alert for the next day. When they began to relax ( with the exception of Kakashi and Entreri) they were attacked. Attacked by none other than Zabuza.
"Duck!" Kakashi yelled, and Team 7 hit the deck along with Tazuna. But Entreri had other plans. He had already sensed the disturbance in the wind and felt the attack before it even came. Entreri pulled out his dagger and began advancing towards Zabuza in a zig-zag pattern, and blurred out of existence. He reappeared behind Zabuza, who blocked the attack by moving his giant sword with surprising speed behind him. Entreri then sprang backwards and planned another attack.
Before Entreri could attack again, Kakashi stood up and began talking.
"Zabuza, Demon of the Hidden Mist. Prepare to meet your end." He then moved his hitai-ate(?) up and revealed his sharingan eye. Sasuke gasped again and furiously thought about multiple things all relating to Sharingan, how, and sensei.
Entreri stepped forward to resume attacking but was stopped by Kakashi's hand. Kakashi began attacking Zabuza only to end up trapped in Zabuza's water prison. Entreri, in the meantime, was thinking about where he had heard Zabuza's name before.
Flashback
Entreri stood up and began talking to his apprentice, "Boy, there are things called silent killing techniques. But within that category, there are two types. The ninja version of the silent killing techniques, and the assassin version. What type are we?"
The 9 year old boy looked up, "We are assassins."
"Correct. In the ninja silent killing, there is a master of it. His name is Zabuza. At a young age, he slaughtered his entire genin class and was then called the Demon of the Mist. He would be a formidable opponent if you met him. Now, our type of silent killing, is much more dangerous, and like all our techniques, doesn't use chakra…"
End Flashback
'Ah. Zabuza, master of the ninja silent killing techniques… I remember.'
When he came back to reality, he noticed two things. Kakashi was stuck in a water prison (looking very sheepish…) and that there was multiple water clones heading his way.
"Zabuza. Supposed master of all the ninja silent killing techniques. A worthy opponent, or so according to my master."
"Ah. So you've heard of me before, then I guess you know of my illustrious past. And now, may I ask, who are you?"
"My name, is Entreri." And with that, he melted into the shadows. Kakashi, with his sharingan uncovered, saw nothing. He furrowed his brow and concentrated harder, but could find no traces of chakra.
Then, a black mist appeared around the water clones and as soon as it came, it left. But in it's wake, it had completely destroyed all the clones. Still no chakra traces. Once again, the black mist came, and this time, at Zabuza. When the mist dissipated, Zabuza no longer held the water prison and was on the ground with deep gashes all over the vital points on his body. Kakashi was dumbfounded, how could such a powerful technique use no chakra at all? Who really was Entreri?
Sasuke, Sakura, and Kaoru were all in shock as to how someone their age was so much powerful than they. Sasuke was jealous of the power that Entreri possessed and vowed to beat the secret out of him.
Entreri was walking up to the prone form of Zabuza and was about to use the finishing blow when senbon came out of the trees and finished the job for him. Entreri noticed that the senbon had entered the fake death spots on Zabuza's neck, but decided to let it go. After all, he was slightly winded from using his techniques. The hunter-nin that had 'finished' Zabuza off looked to be about their age.
"Thank you for your help in bringing the missing-nin Zabuza down. I'm going to be taking his body back to Kirigakure." With a bow, the hunter-nin disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
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Tazuna's House
Kakashi, after waking up from his chakra exhaustion (did I forget to mention that he passed out from it?) he turned to Entreri prepared to question him.
"Entreri, just who are you?"
Entreri, looking up from his food, "I am who I say I am. My name is Entreri."
Sasuke snorted, "Bullshit. Who are you?"
"Like I said before, my name is Entreri. Now if you would please stop pestering me, I would like to finish my food." Entreri began to concentrate on his food once more.
"Where did you get your power? Tell me."
Entreri looked up from his food again, and stared at Sasuke in the eye. The dead blank look that was coming from it scared Sasuke(although he would never admit it) and Sasuke resumed his eating in a meek manner.
Sakura on the other hand was in deep thought, 'Entreri…Entreri… where have I heard that before? Oh… no… it couldn't be, could it?'
"Are you Entreri, the disciple of Artemis Entreri?"
A flicker of recognition passed through Entreri's eyes and he nodded.
"Yes. I am his indirect disciple. 7th generation Entreri, master of all the assassination techniques and owner of the Entreri blade. I never lied about my identity."
Now it was Kakashi's turn to be amazed.
'So that's who he was… I see how he is so strong… but how strong could he possibly be?'
"Entreri, after dinner, I would like to test your skills."
Entreri, now weary from all the comments and questions directed at him, nodded, and once again, began eating. He went undisturbed until he finished his food. After all the dishes and things were put away, him and Kakashi went out.
"Now Entreri, this is only a test, no need to go all out."
A nod, and then a shuffling of feet as Entreri took his stance. Before Kakashi could react, a blade was pressed against his neck.
'Impossible, he's still standing right there…' And just as he thought that, the image of Entreri melted away.
"What you're seeing… is my afterimage." Kakashi's eyes widened.
'He's faster than Gai…'
"Was that a good enough test for you? If so, then I will take my leave." Entreri bowed and disappeared into a shadow.
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That night…
Dream / Flashback
"Boy, this technique, is called the black mist."
The teacher stepped back into a shadow and disappeared. The boy stood there bewildered, and wondering where his master had gone. He blinked. And when he opened his eyes, he was covered in what appeared to be literally, a black mist. The next moments were filled with the noises of cutting and tearing of cloth. Finally, when the mist faded, all that was left, was the lone child, standing there, with his clothes torn and two slice marks on each cheek.
"That was, the black mist. It's a technique that utilizes our superior speed and dagger mastery. If you noticed, all the cuts on your clothes were precisely aimed above the vital veins, arteries, and organs. When you use it in a fight, it will kill. Try and block me this time."
The black mist came back and once again, the child was submitted to the attack. But every once in a while, the clanging of blades rang out. This continued, until finally, the boy dropped forward from exhaustion. The master reappeared from the black mist and crouched over the boy.
"I would never say this while you were awake… but… you're a good kid."
The prone figure twitched, but stayed unconscious. The master gave a small smile, picked up the boy, and disappeared in a blur.
Three years later-
"Boy, try it again."
The boy that was addressed took a deep breath, and stepped back into the shadows. Around the master, a black mist formed. Flashes of silver weaved in and out of the mist and blades continually rang out, finally, the sound of metal piercing a person's skin was heard. The mist dissipated and the boy was standing panting with exhaustion.
"You mastered it. Even top notch shinobi wouldn't be able to block half the attacks you did." And with that comment, the cloth on the master's cloak ripped in half, and a small trickle of blood ran down his back. The master smiled.
End Dream / Flashback
"Alright kids, time to wake up." Their sensei announced and woke the four children laying on the floor. Kaoru mumbled a few incoherent words and turned around, Sakura got up blinked, and went to use the bathroom, and Sasuke sat up, glared at his sensei for interrupting his sleep, and got up. Entreri on the other hand, was still sleeping.
Kaoru, finally roused from his sleep by his grey-haired teacher, was about to poke Entreri when he felt a slight rush of air, and the feeling of cold metal against his throat.
"Who sent you?" Entreri whispered.
1 Line paraphrased from a line in The Soulforge by Margaret Weis
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A/N: Sorry I haven't updated in a while. I just started school and I got hit by a test real early and I had trouble recovering.
Ummm… there's going to be constant flashbacks of Entreri's training so don't think that I just leave it all alone. (If you thought that I was just going to ignore his past… then… you're wrong!!)
Don't worry, Entreri isn't God. He's not all powerful. He's ownage, but remember, just because he beat Kakashi, doesn't mean he can beat everyone. If you read the manga, Kakashi really isn't all that high and mighty if you compare him to somebody like Itachi or something.
Also, I would like to take a poll. In the manga, there's that short bit about the Amekage. If you agree that he looks totally ownage, then tell me. I want to know if I'm all alone in my thoughts… or if people agree with me.
