Disclaimer: The following is a nonprofit Fan based story; Naruto, Naruto Shippuden, and One Piece belong to Toei Animation, TV Tokyo, Funimation, any other studio, Eiichiro Oda, and Masashi Kishimoto. Everything you read here belongs to them except for; OCs, all my custom Devil Fruits, any original Jutsu, and the plot, they belong to clashofthelegends, which is me.
Rise of the Kaizoukage
Chapter III: Help is on the Way
October 17
Naruto had been on the run for a whole week. He avoided entering any form of civilization without some kind of disguise in fear that people would recognize him. Roughing it for a week seemed to do wonders for him. He had run out of food and water roughly a day ago had not slept in three days because he didn't want to get caught. If it was not for Kurama's soul Naruto would have been gone down so much sooner. So Naruto continued his journey for another day before exhaustion got the better of him.
"Wow your survival skills are sure lacking kid."
"shuddup stupid fox"
"I told you to pack enough to last you a week."
"It's been a week Kurama!"
"See this is what you get for listening to me!" Kurama said as if it was common knowledge.
"WHAT!?" Naruto practically screamed "This whole 'run away' thing was your idea in the first place!"
"Yeah, well whatever. Let's keep moving before and leaf shinobi find us."
"No good I really need food and …Yawn… some sleep." Naruto said as he propped himself against the tree and closed his eyes before drifting off to sleep.
About ten miles away
"Naruto was here Kakashi." Pakkun said as Kakashi and his team of anbu arrived
"Thanks Pakkun can you find anything else?" Kakashi asked worried. Kakashi was never one of the people who hated Naruto at all he had simply forgotten that he was there most of the time. Kakashi dreamed of the day when Minato would let him train both his children. He already put in the request to have both on his team when they became Genin.
Minato had told Kakashi about how important it was for them to retrieve Naruto alive from his kidnapper. But the more they followed Naruto's trail the more Kakashi doubted that he was kidnapped. Pakkun was an excellent tracker but he could only find Naruto's scent which usually meant that he was alone the whole time. The rain storm two days ago had really thrown them off for a while but Kakashi felt like they were getting close.
"Judging from the scent I would say that he is roughly ten miles east of here."
"That puts him almost at the coast. If he goes out to sea we will never find him. Alright men you know what to do!" Kakashi said as they began to run east. 'Hold on Naruto we're coming.'
Back with Naruto
Naruto began to stir after sleeping for a good ten minutes getting his bearings he got up ready to the final distance, however a noise in the bushes caught his attention. Scared that it was an anbu Naruto pulled out a kunai ready to defend himself but he was totally unprepared for what came out.
A tiger came out of the brush. It was defiantly not a normal tiger because it was at least three times the size of a normal tiger it easily carried half a carcass of a normal sized tiger in its mouth as it looked around. The beast had tons of scars all over its body most noticeably the long scar running down its right eye as it set its sights on poor little Naruto. With a massive chomp the beast swallowed the carcass whole as it began to quickly move towards Naruto. Getting faster with each step Naruto closed his eyes and waited for the monster to attack.
Suddenly the sound of slashing swords filled the air followed by a low growl. Naruto opened his eye just enough to see the monster fall to the ground dead. Standing before him was an imposing figure wearing a dark green robe with a red sash around his waist. The Man had green hair, three earrings on his left ear, a black bandanna tied to his left bicep and three sword sheaths on his right hip. His Katana were a beautiful yet fearsome sight to behold. The blade in his left hand had a flame like design in it and gave off an aura that made Kurama nervous. The blade in his right hand was black with a distinct red edge and its guard had flower edges this blade practically screamed awesomeness. His final sword was still in its sheath but the hilt was white and gave an aura of something Kurama couldn't put his paw on.
"Hey you OK kid?" The man asked as he sheathed his swords.
"Yeah I'm fine. Thank you." Naruto said as he got into a bowing position.
"I wonder if the idiot cook can cook this thing?" the swordsman said not really paying attention to Naruto. "Not like he could kill something this big." He added with a grin
"Um what's your name Mr.?" Naruto asked not really sure how to handle this situation
"You know it is customary to introduce yourself before asking for another's name" the man said as he turned around. Getting a frontal view of the man Naruto noticed that he had two distinct scars on his body, one over his left eye (like Kakashi) with a much larger scar running from his left shoulder to his right hip, just looking at it made Naruto shiver thinking about how much that one hurt. "Oi kid aren't you going to introduce yourself?" he asked snapping Naruto out of his trance.
"Oh yeah. My name is Naruto. And you are?" Naruto said extending his hand
"Zoro. Roronoa Zoro." The newly named Zoro said taking Naruto's hand and shaking it.
"So Zoro what brings you all the way out here?"
"I should be asking you the same question." Zoro retorted
"I asked you first." Naruto said holding his hands up defensively
"Well I went out for a walk this morning then when I started to head back to my ship the whole Island's geography changed on me and to make things worse those idiots moved the ship. So I figured I might as well bag some food before I get back and that kitten over there looked tasty." Zoro said pointing his thumb at the monster of a tiger
"I told you why I'm here so tell me why you are here" Zoro said as he sat cross legged across from Naruto and pulled a bottle of Sake out of nowhere as he began to drink
"Well I ran away from a hellhole of a home about a week ago and I have been living in these woods ever since. Trying to get to the ocean since it's been a dream of mine for a while now."
"Fine by me." Zoro said as he took another swing of Sake.
"Aren't you going to ask me why I ran away or even what my dream is?"
"No cause you see we all have our reasons for doing thing. It isn't my place to pester you with questions about yourself."
"By the way Zoro what village are you from? You don't have a forehead protector so I'm guessing you aren't even a shinobi." Naruto concluded as a small grin of amusement appeared on Zoro's face
Zoro laughed "A Ninja? I've been called many things but never a ninja. I am a Pirate." He said with a tone that resonated pride.
Pirate. The word just echoed in Naruto's mind, he couldn't get rid of these thoughts. In all the books he read pirates were not on his favorites list, but Zoro was different. If he was like a pirate from the book he would have let that tiger kill him but he didn't.
"Anyway Naruto you look pretty tired and hungry. Tell you what I'll take you with me if you help me find my ship OK?" Zoro asked standing up
"Sounds good to me." Naruto answered. Before he knew it Zoro swung Naruto onto his back while his arms hung around Zoro's neck. Using his right hand Zoro grabbed the tiger corpse and headed towards the shore.
"Um Zoro, East is that way" Naruto said pointing behind them
"Damn." Zoro said as turned around and was now heading the correct way.
"Wow. Just Wow. We are literally sixty seconds from the shore and this guy can't find it, I would not be surprised if he could get lost on a straight path." Kurama said to himself
"STOP RIGHT THERE!" a voice called out
Zoro turned around only to find himself face to face with twenty Anbu each with a leaf symbol on their forehead protectors.
"Naruto-sama we are here to rescue you and kill your kidnapper" the leader said "your family is extremely worried about you."
Naruto tensed slightly when his family was mentioned, though it went unnoticed by everyone except for Zoro. Speaking of Zoro because they found them like this Zoro was going to be killed for something he did not do
"Friends of yours Naruto?" Zoro asked feeling the need to protect the blonde
"Not really they are here to take me back to that Hellhole of a home. You should run these guys are Anbu level the best the village has to offer." Naruto warned
"The best correct?" Zoro said as he released the Tiger corpse and moved his hands towards his swords "then this should be fun." He said as he drew two of his swords and a wild grin crept onto his face.
Kurama could only think of two words to describe what he saw in Zoro right now "Oh shit."
"Hold on tight Naruto and shut your eyes" Zoro ordered Naruto hesitantly complied.
Zoro burst forward in a burst of speed that stunned the anbu, he was extremely fast. Before any could react slashes erupted from four Anbu around the commander.
Turning to the six shinobi on his right Zoro cocked his arms and unleashed two air pressure waves "Nanajuni Pound Ho" he called out as the wind sliced and blew away those poor Anbu.
Seven more anbu tired to get him from behind thinking they had the advantage with numbers at close range that is until Zoro said "Sai Kuru" and quickly spun around effectively dispatching those seven leaving only three anbu out of twenty in ten seconds. For these poor bastards Zoro gave them a death glare and the two more inexperienced anbu fell to the ground and literally pissed themselves in terror. Zoro bonked both on the head with Shusui knocking them both out cold. Suddenly Zoro sheathed his two swords as the commander looked confused Zoro said "Nitoryu Iai: Rashomon" as he suddenly appeared behind the Anbu leader and two massive slashes erupted on him.
"These guys were some of the best? What a bunch of wimps" Zoro said as he put his swords away. "Alright Naruto you can open your eyes now"
When Naruto opened his eyes he was met with the sight of twenty downed anbu to say he was stunned would be an understatement he was shocked to say the least. Zoro had taken down twenty Anbu shinobi in less than a minute.
"Come on kid let's get going" Zoro said as he once again headed off in the wrong direction only for Naruto to correct him.
Ten minutes Later
Kakashi and his anbu Team looked at the scene before them with wide eyes. Twenty battle seasoned Anbu were beaten to a bloody pulp. Thankfully none were dead though some may be if they didn't get treated right away.
"Your order's sir" one of the Anbu asked
"Pakkun what do you smell?" Kakashi asked his dog
"Well there are quite a few smells here Kakashi mostly this anbu team. But besides them and Naruto I smell another human small, one that I haven't smelt before. It hangs closely with Naruto's scent and goes west before turning around to go east. I would say whoever made this mess was carrying Naruto the entire time and he seems to have a benevolent side since all will survive. I just don't know what to make of it." The Nin dog summed up.
"Thanks Pakkun. Everyone gather up the wounded and head back to Konoha. We need to hold off the search so we can save these men. Get Jiraiya to pick up where we are leaving off. NOW!" Kakashi ordered 'whoever did this has Naruto-kun but it's hard to tell if they are friend or foe. Naruto if you are still alive I hope you can escape and comeback with us.' Kakashi thought as he and his team returned to Konoha.
And so ends Chapter three. How do you like that Zoro has made his grand entrance into the story. Please review; ask questions, leave comments but no Flames!
I will have Strawhats in next chapter.
I will see you all in chapter Four.
