Naruto smiled as he ran up to the great bridge that connected the lands of Fire and Waves. As he ran up, he saw three people standing near the entrance to the bridge, apparently pointing out a freshly built statue. He smiled, as he recognized Tazuna, Inari, and Tsunami. He laughed, and shouted, "Hey guys!'
The three turned their attention to the boy in orange, and all of their mouths widened in great smiles. "Naruto!" Inari shouted happily, "You're back!" As the boys hugged each other, the old man quietly walked up to Naruto.
"Let's get some dinner in you," Tazuna said, "and we can show you your bridge!"
"What?" Naruto asked, confused until he saw a plaque on the side of the bridge entrance, with the words, "Great Naruto Bridge," spelled out in all capitals. The people of the wave had, unknown to our hero, named the bridge after him in order to honor him for helping free them from an evil business man named Gato. Of course Naruto, known for being hyperactive, did what any boy who had just had a colossal monument named after him would do.
It took approximately ten minutes for Naruto to stop freaking out.
"Thanks to you," Tsunami said, as she led the group through the market, "The market now thrives. We are trading with over three hundred ports through out the islands and other parts of the continent." She then sighed, and pointed to a man in a tan cloak lying on the street, "we have also become a refuge to poor fellows like him, he came from the islands surrounding Kiri, where he is trying to escape the constant war there. But refugees don't usually have the money, and go around begging for money. I guess this guy hasn't eaten for days." She then walked up to the man, and lifted his head, "Sir, I don't mean to intrude…"
The man who she had lifted up stabilized himself, groggily putting his arms down as anchors. He had dark skin, and white hair, and his eyes were covered with sunglasses. But the truly most noticeable feature he possessed was an enormous scar in the shape of an X right across his forehead.
"No thanks," the man said, "I need to get moving, I have a mission I need to complete."
"What," Naruto asked, "A ninja mission?"
"No," the dark man said, "A mission from God."
As the beggar began to disappear into the crowd, Naruto chuckled a little. "Yeah, and I'm the daimyo's wife."
After several steps, however, the man stopped. "Hey kid?" he asked Naruto loudly, "That's a ninja headband, are you one of them shinobi?"
"Sure am."
In a flash, the man jumped through the air, and attempted to slam his hand on Naruto. The boy was barely able to jump out of the way, causing the man to instead strike the ground. The ground splintered after several sparks came from his hand.
"What the heck is wrong with you?" Naruto asked worriedly. The taller man removed his sunglasses, revealing deep red eyes.
"Ninja are a disgrace upon the gods;" he said slowly, "And I Scar, a servant of our God Ishvala will make sure you never again breathe air!"
Scar lunged at the orange ninja, slicing up the wall that was behind Naruto after the boy dodged another strike. He was shocked as the building collapsed, with what appeared to be large gaping scars covering what remained of it.
'This guy,' Naruto thought, 'he's incredible. He can simply touch something, and make it fall apart. If he even grazes me, I'll be ripped to shreds.' He back flipped onto a nearby roof, as Scar simply stood there glaring at him. The larger man began to silently walk towards the building that the boy was standing on.
"It is pointless to run," Scar growled, "eventually you will tire, and then you will die, just like the others." He then opened the left flap of his jacket, revealing over thirty shinobi protectors, all ripped from the ninja he had killed. They had all Naruto was frozen, shocked at the sheer number of deceased shinobi, as Scar calmly walked across the street. Tsunami desperately tried to hold Inari back, not wanting her son to engage the frightening man. Her father, who had already fought several powerful foes, held no such fears of the renegade killer.
"Hey you!" Tazuna screamed at Scar, causing the dark man to stop approaching the structure, "You leave him alone!"
"Or else what?" Scar asked sarcastically, only to turn and see several men carrying crossbows standing behind the three civilians.
"Or else these guys will make you takoyaki," Tazuna said, as the men let loose a hail of bow bolts at the dark skinned man. He dodged under the first arrow, and then, grabbed the second, and then sliced it in half with his weird jutsu. He then saw that even more soldiers were coming to help the boy, and that this was not his best moment to strike.
"I'll be back ninja," Scar said ominously, "And next time I will have your hide." He then ran through an alley way, and soon disappeared in the maze of streets that created the town. Naruto simply jumped down from the roof where he had been hiding, looked at Tazuna questioningly, before speaking out what was on everyone's mind.
"What the hell is his problem?"
"I can't believe that I actually found the an actual surviving Ishbalan in a place like this," Kisame said, from the rooftop that he and Itachi had taken up, "I remember when me and the other Seven Swordsman destroyed that clan."
"Yes," Itachi said as a truth dawned on him, "I remember reading about that in your profile. You all slaughtered a giant clan with a legendary bloodline limit, the ability to disintegrate anything that they pleased by merely placing their hands on it. They did not appreciate the fighting in the mist village, so they left, causing the Mizukage to order their eradication. I heard that they killed over fifty mist shinobi before the Seven took them out."
"No," Kisame corrected, "they took out one hundred, including five squads of ANBU. The only one to escape was a boy no more than ten years old. He fled in a boat made by his father, who had been the leader of the clan. I remember that he actually tried to run up and fight me at first, so I swiped his head with my blade. The kid was still standing, so I hit him again, and then about five others rushed to help him. The little brat got put back in the boat and sent out onto the ocean while we finished off what remained of the clan."
"And this happened ten years ago," Itachi said, causing Kisame to nod.
"Right," the blue man said, "It was the first time the Seven fought together as one big unit. I can still remember how cute Zabuza and Kenshin looked when they each made their first kill on the battlefield."
"I also heard that their slaughter began the great purge," Itachi again asked, "Is that true?"
"Oh yeah," Kisame nodded, "The other clans thought that just letting the kage go around and slaughter people who didn't agree with him was awful, so then began the great purge and the decline of the village of the mist."
"It does appear that this Ishbalin blames all ninja for the loss of his family," Itachi concluded, "this may not bode well for our capture of the fox." He then turned, and motioned for Kisame to follow, "Come now, we must tie up one of your old loose ends."
Kisame sighed sadly.
"Everything is always my fault isn't it?"
Naruto, just now recovering from his near death, was doing one of his favorite activities. This was actually his third favorite thing in the entire world to do. The first was being a ninja. Ever since he was little, Naruto had always strived to be a shinobi. Unfortunately, due to the great Nine-Tailed Fox Demon being sealed inside his stomach, he was an outcast, and for the first part of his time in the academy, the teachers refused to even give him the time of day. That all changed when he met Iruka, the man who first was willing to consider him a human, and not a monster. Iruka helped Naruto reach his goal, and become a shinobi of Konoha.
The second most beloved part of his life was his friends. Iruka was his first friend, and then the members of Team Seven were the next. Kakashi was like the lazy uncle that you constantly wanted to hurt, but could not help but respect. Sakura…well she seemed like a friend any way. Guess the same went for Sasuke too. But then he met some other friends at the Exams. There was the brave Lee, who he had come to think of as his most friendly rival. Then there was Shikamaru, the lazy genius who somehow managed to kick ass and complain about having to do it. Shino was cool too, he could actually relate to the bug boy, considering they were both shunned for what they contained. Finally there was Hinata, the nice, shy girl who had given him medicine after his first fight in the third part in the exam. They had helped bring out his skill, and all of them were dear to him.
And finally, Naruto's third favorite thing in the world to do was eat. Yes, our hero seemed to be affected by a weird Japanese hero tradition, that they all are afflicted with bottomless stomachs. Yes, he could never seem to eat enough, whether it was his beloved ramen, freshly roasted fish, or even a simple plain bowl of rice. If there was anything that could pull our hero from training, it was food.
And right now, he was enjoying a tasty stew with crawfish and vegetables laced in the broth. He smiled as he sat and reminisced about his first visit to wave, and lapping up his fourth bowl of soup, he finally remembered why he had come to the Wave in the first place.
"Hey," Naruto said to the elderly man, "Tazuna, I need to ask you something."
"What is it kid?" Tazuna asked with concern.
"Well remember how I told ya I was on a mission," when the bridge builder nodded, Naruto continued, "well; I am looking for some really strong guys to bring back to the village."
"Now why would you be doing that?" Tsunami asked, worrying for her son's idol.
"Our village was recently attacked by the Sound," the ninja admitted, "and while my team is still intact, we not only lost a lot of ninja, we also lost the Hokage."
"You mean that old man that assigned you to protect me?" Tazuna asked sadly, "That's too bad kid."
"Well," Naruto continued, "We did get his student to take over, and then she sent all of my class out to go find new people to bring in."
"That would make sense," Tsunami said, "but Naruto, why would you come here, you know we have no ninja of our own."
"Well I thought Tazuna might know someplace where some really strong fighters live," the young ninja explained. Tazuna scratched his jaw, before his eyes widened.
"Hey, remember that guy on the street," Tazuna said, "If guys like that Scar live in the islands around the Land of Water, I am sure you'll find a great new ninja."
"That sounds awesome old man; I'll get right on it!" He said, before collapsing, "maybe after a little nap."
The three hosts sweatdropped.
At that very moment, on a small island near Water Country, a large group of bandits, pirates, and other ruffians stood in front of a small village. They were all flashing weapons, screaming out obscenities, and making a general nuisance of themselves. In the fronts stood a particularly large man, with a full beard and a giant ax.
"Alright men!" the giant shouted, "We are the fiercest band of rogues in all of Water Country. We can finally begin our quest to rid ourselves of that accursed Daimyo! Let's start with this village, and then move onto the capital!"
The crowd of men roared, fully intent on wiping out the entire village. That was before someone threw a small rock, which smacked the leader on the head, giving him a huge lump.
"Will you shut up!" A bald man shouted, as he lazily walked out of the village and then pointed a rather large spear at the leader of the bandits, "You ruined my nap!"
"You truly are such a boorish speaker," another young man, this one with long black hair and three feathers attached to his hair, said, "It truly fits your appearance, you are truly ugly!"
"Oh yeah!" the leader shouted, "Well get ready to die pretty boy!" The giant of a bandit charged across the field towards the two. He took the ax of his shoulders, and prepared to cut the two in half. When he reached them, he gave a mighty swing.
CRACK!
The entire group of bandits were stunned. Standing, with his bare hand gripping the blade of the ax, was a man as huge as their leader. He had his hair in spikes, and his eye was covered with an eye patch. Even more revealing, were his scars. His entire face looked like it had been mutilated by a large number of blades.
"Oh," the man said to the bandit, "you want a fight do ya?" he then used his right hand, the one that was not holding the ax blade, to pull out a sword.
"Well then get ready for a fight!"
He then sliced the ax carrying bandit in half, smirking as the robber's blood covered his face. The group of bandits attempted to retreat, only for the three men to rush into the crowd of rogues and begin to massacre them. Sitting on the top of a roof was a young girl with a large smile and bright pink hair. Her smiled widened as the large man decapitated a fleeing bandit, and the blood and gore continued to flow. She sighed happily.
"I'm glad Ken-chan gets to have fun again!"
Naruto yelled happily as he began to board a small ferry that was going across the see to a small island just off the main Water continent. He was grinning, imagining the ease that he would have in finding a new strong ninja.
I wonder if he has ever heard of Advil.
AN: Well, I hope you like the first characters I choose for this story. I hope to get the next one out as soon as possible, but don't expect it for a bit.