I'm back my lovely readers. I am terribly sorry about the prolonged absence but this was a result of the combination of extra hours at my real job, panic over the nation possibly defaulting and me then loosing my government college loan, and a short illness. Enjoy my friends.
I hope that all who read this find enjoyment in doing so.
Dedicated to my best friend.
My name is not Masashi Kishimoto, therefore I do not own Naruto.
Behind the scenes on the set of "The Tale of Team 17"
The pair of actors walked into the massive warehouse that had been modified into the set of the up and coming new show The Tale of Team 17. The young woman looked around at the massive piles of props and staging equipment that were scattered about, her gently curling dark brunette hair swirled around her shoulders as her head swiveled from side to side. Her light yellow shirt with mid-length sleeves perfectly complimented her chocolate brown skin, and her intelligent emerald eyes scanned the people nearby searching for the director. On her side stood a tall young man with red, scaly skin, a dark blue shirt, black shorts and a massive neck. Along his neck formed on each side three parallel lines that were obviously gills. His mouth was filled with sharp serrated teeth and his short black hair sat well trimmed above his pointed ears and silver eyes. He stood with a calm look on his face as he too searched for the director. They both noticed the man at the same time and made their way over to him simultaneously.
The man they approached was quite tall, nearly six feet and two inches in height. He wore jeans over filthy looking tennis shoes and an extremely clean white tuxedo jacket over a blue shirt and a blue bow tie at his collar. He had short light brunette hair and over his blue green eyes he wore square rimmed glasses. The man was not particularly in shape, his belly not any semblance of flat, but was not what would be considered fat. He turned to the two actors and a wide grin spread across his face.
"Ahhhhh welcome Nicole, welcome Ryuudo. I trust that the shooting went well yesterday for your show?" Nicole returned a soft smile of her own and gently answered,
"Why yes it did, thank you for asking. The others are all quite excited to be getting a break from the nearly constant shooting we've been doing lately." The director nodded in understanding,
"Yes, it can be quite difficult to maintain such momentum for too long a time, especially for children, which is why we ourselves are just returning from a break. The stars of our show are so young they deserved a break from the action." He then turned to face the fishman standing on Nicole's right. "I must say you are extremely imposing in person. The children will be so delighted. They are quite the fans of yours good sir." Ryuudo blinked in surprise,
"They are?" He had never had 'fans' before. Most of the fan base their show garnered was directed to Mika and Akio.
"But of course! When we told them you would be making guest appearances they nearly lost their young minds." He glanced over Nicole's slender shoulder and smiled. "Speak of the little devils." Before Ryuudo could turn around he felt three small bodies impact his back and legs and three sets of small, strong arms wrap tightly around him.
"You're really here! I can't believe it!" cried out the young Kushina, tightly wrapped around his middle back.
"I have all of your action figures Ryuudo! Even the factory error one that curses!" Said Minato from his left leg.
"Can I have your autograph?" Asked Satsuki from his right leg. The director laughed.
"Now now children, let us act as professionals hmmm? Please release the kindly fishman." The three children all mewed in complaint. The director simply lowered his glasses and glared over them at the three before saying, "Don't make me call your parents now." The three turned pale and quickly released the fishman, though they all remained very close to their favorite actor. Ryuudo quietly laughed in a nervous fashion. Nicole leaned over and scooped Kushina up in her arms gently saying,
"Oh aren't you all the cutest children in the world." Kushina blushed and asked to be put down, to which Nicole kindly agreed.
"Ahem." coughed the director. All of the actors and crew hands around the set immediately turned to face the director and author of the show, faces rapt with attention. Ryuudo and Nicole noticed the action and followed suit. "That is much better. Now, ladies and gentlemen we will begin shooting scene six in five minutes. Remember that while this part of the story is chronologically following the last installment of our own series, it will be placed a year or two into the past of our guest actor's characters. Please do your best to assist our esteemed guests in fitting in and keeping up with our story during their stay." He then slowly looked over every single face in the building, stopping for a moment on each and every one. He then clapped his hands together and the entire crew shot off to their duties to ready the set to begin shooting.
The actors shot off to the makeup counter, Minato and Kushina leading their guests there. Minato reached across the counter and picked up a jar filled with red pills. He popped one in and drank some water in order to swallow it. Ryuudo and Nicole stared in amazement at the transformation it wrought in the twelve year old youngster. Ryuudo stammered out a statement of amazement,
"Y-your ears! They-"
"Yeah I know." chuckled Minato in response. "The director says he got these pills from a good colleague of his, I think the name was Hotspot-something or other... Anyways they alter my appearance to fit the part I play."
"Astounding, just like the kind he gives the others on our set." said Nicole. A member of the costume crew handed Ryuudo his concealing costume and looked Nicole over once before smiling and leaving her outfit as it was. Ryuudo grunted as he got into costume while the youngsters got on their own costumes.
"All actors to their marks! Shooting in two minutes." cried the deep commanding voice of the director across the building. The three youngsters lead the guest actors to their marks and approached a small set off to the side that looked like an office. At the desk sat an actor with white hair and a scar on his face and standing across the desk stood an actor with a black ponytail. "Annnnnd action!" Shouted the director, the man with a plan, who went by the name Dan.
Chapter 6: How to Make Friends and Defend Clients
"Then here is your first C-rank mission. You are going to serve as bodyguards for a pair of young travelers as they travel from here to a large port town on the eastern coast of the continent in the land of waves. They have traveled here from the far west coast and have thus far been guarded by a team from Iwagakure, but that team was recalled to handle another matter. So to assist out allies Konoha has agreed to take over the mission from here. You will guard the two and their belongings till they have safely crossed the great Naruto bridge and then you will hand them over to the protection of a team from Kirigakure. From there your mission will be complete. They hired ninja in fear that bandits might prey upon two lone travelers. However, the protection of a squad of alliance shinobi should be enough of a deterrent to continue to keep bandits from trying anything. As such this mission has a low combat risk and should be uneventful. Do you understand your mission objectives?" The three young genin and their jōnin sensei nodded in unison and replied,
"Yes Hokage-sama." The Hokage nodded and motioned towards his assistant Moegi. She opened the office door and into the office walked two people. The first was a young woman who looked about eighteen years old. Next to her stood a very tall, heavily cloaked figure. Thick wrappings and cloaks covered all of his features, he even wore a pair of goggles over his eyes. Not an inch of his skin remained uncovered. He looked like a member of the desert tribes from the Land of Wind.
"Hello," said the young woman "my name is Nicolette Kichida, but my friends call me Nicole. This here is Ryuudo, but don't mind his clothes he's just... shy about his appearance." The cloaked figure next to her nodded and in a deep voice that sounded relatively young as well said,
"Hey."
"These are the clients." said the Hokage to team seventeen. He turned to the clients and said, "This is the team of ninja that will be taking over the protection duty you have paid for until you reach territory protected by our ally village in the east. They will protect both your persons and your belongings, you have my word." The cloaked man grunted,
"They are much younger than the last group. You allow children to fight as warriors in this land?" Minato's face erupted in anger, shouting
"Who are you calling children? I can kick your ass!" Kushina simply laughed at the foreigner's ignorance of their customs. Satsuki calmly replied to the statement
"Yes, it is quite common actually. And though we may be young we're stronger than we appear to be. We are trained shinobi, so make no mistake in thinking we are incapable." Her calm eyes met the goggled stare of the man for a moment as Kushina held Minato back from assaulting their client.
Nicole smiled at the confidence the three showed in their own abilities and placed a hand on Ryuudo's shoulder.
"It's okay Ryuudo. I feel like we can rely on them." The cloaked man seemed to relax a measure from her vocalized trust in the three, though still seemed almost ready to pounce in defense of the woman at a moment's notice. Shikamaru stepped forward and spoke up,
"You have nothing to worry about, I've been training these three kids myself and they can absolutely protect you. Besides, if it makes you feel any better know that I will be there to protect you as well." Ryuudo looked the man in his mid thirties over and relaxed another measure. Nicole smiled at the release of tension in her companion and turned to the four shinobi before her. She bowed deep and gently said,
"Thank you. We truly appreciate your protection." This calmed Minato down instantly and the three all smiled at the polite teenaged woman. "If I way ask, do you all have names you are allowed to give us that we may call you? I'm sorry, but I'm still a little sketchy on how this whole 'ninja' thing works..." Shikamaru grunted and rolled his eyes in annoyance at her innocent and apologetic ignorance.
"My name is Shikamaru Nara. The one with indigo hair is Kushina Uzumaki, the one with pink hair is Minato Lee, and the short red-head is Satsuki." Satsuki blinked in surprise at the adjective 'short' then looked at her two teammates. For the first time she realized that she was indeed the shortest on her team, by several inches in fact. She huffed in annoyance and embarrassment at the realization. Kushina kindheartedly chucked at her teammate, while Minato yawned and adjusted his earmuffs.
Two hours later, at the gates of Konohagakure...
"You all pack everything you need for the mission? It's gonna be about a week's travel there and about three days travel back." asked Shikamaru of the three genin all carrying large backpacks. Kushina gave a wide Uzumaki grin and said,
"Yup sensei. We're ready to go." She turned to Minato and Satsuki and asked, "Is this the first time you two have left the village?"
Minato nodded as he stared in excitement down the road away from Konoha, his home. Satsuki glared at Kushina in annoyance and replied,
"What, like you've ever left the village either?" Kushina laughed and said,
"Actually I have. I've been to Sunagakure with my uncles a few times to visit my other uncle who lives there." Satsuki glared in jealousy and annoyance at Kushina before saying,
"Big deal."
Just then a wagon rolled up to the three, pulled by a horse with the Konoha symbol on its saddle and yolk. The wagon was finely carved of wood from trees native to the west coast and in the front just behind the horse protruded a small, ornate, green dragon head, smiling wickedly. Steering the wagon sat the cloaked Ryuudo and sitting inside the cabin was the lovely Nicole.
"Cool wagon." said Minato. "Looks like it cost you a pretty penny though because that's some damn fine craftsmanship." Ryuudo's chest swelled in pride beneath his cloak and he said,
"It was free, because I built it myself right after we arrived on the west coast." The shinobi were all impressed by his skill, Kushina asked,
"Are you a carpenter or something?"
"No." answered Nicole for him, "He's one of the world's most talented shipwrights."
"That's pretty impressive. So that why you two are heading for the ocean?" asked Satsuki. The two looked at one another before Ryuudo shrugged and Nicole nodded.
"Actually we head to the ocean because that is where both of our dreams lie. We're just cutting across the continent as a..." again she looked at Ryuudo, who this time shook his head in the negative. "Shortcut." she finished. Shikamaru, being nearly impossible to fool let alone by such a poorly disguised lie, simply shrugged and said,
"Fine, if you don't want to tell us that is fine, but be warned that any misinformation can influence our mission to protect you two." The teenager fell silent for a moment, concern clear on her face. Shikamaru shrugged again and waved their concerned look off. "Oh what a pain. Relax, I wasn't pressuring you to tell us. Just wanted you two to be aware of the risk your taking." The teenagers nodded conviction at one another and she smiled at the shinobi team.
"Thank you very much, but we will leave our story as is for now." Ryuudo's deep voice then said,
"We would like to leave as soon as possible if that is okay with you."
Later that evening...
The young shinobi walked in a triangle formation around the wagon, with Kushina in front of the horse, Satsuki on the rear left, and Minato on the rear right. Shikamaru slept lazily on the roof of the wagon, and Ryuudo steered the wagon. Nicole had been engaging the two rear guards in pleasant conversation for a few hours at this point, while Kushina occasionally switched on her Byakugan to perform quick scans of their surroundings.
"So you've been training to become ninja since you were all seven? That is amazing!" The two smiled with pride. Nicole's face then saddened. "Your lands are all so militant... there must be so much fighting all the time here..." Minato and Satsuki looked at one another in surprise, then Satsuki asked,
"Where you come from they don't have militarism?" Nicole nodded in the negative,
"No we do, a very powerful military in fact, but most of the world out across the ocean from here is controlled under a single government, so there is little large scale conflict such as war." Minato frowned in anger.
"So instead they are simply held tight under the fascist rule of some global government? That hardly seems better." Nicole looked even sadder.
"I suppose it isn't, but there are people all over the world who spend their whole lives defying the world government and living their lives how ever they want too, for better or worse. Admittedly usually for worse. The government ends up spending most of it's time and energy trying to wrangle in those people and the oppression of the government is in most places bearable, if not invisible." Satsuki looked sad at this statement,
"How sad... here there is no single power that all answer too, in fact the greatest power here would be the Grand Alliance, and membership in it is entirely voluntary." Nicole curiously asked,
"Grand Alliance?"
"The Grand Shinobi Alliance." said Minato. "It's an organization of allied shinobi villages who support one another and through the alliances channels resolve conflict peacefully. It's lead by the five most powerful shinobi villages who founded it in a time of war, Sunagakure, Iwagakure, Kirigakure, Kumogakure, and our village Konohagakure. The leaders of these villages form the council of five shadows who lead the alliance."
Nicole was amazed that such a government system existed.
"Wow... that sounds amazing. To think that a government like that could exist." Satsuki coughed to interrupt her.
"Actually it isn't a government, it is an alliance of independent military powers, you see ninja villages are military bodies, allied with but separate from the governments of the nations they inhabit. The nation's are still separate from one another and in conflict all the time. But thanks to the Alliance, we shinobi can usually resolve those conflicts without the nations resorting to violence."
"Why wouldn't the governments be included in the alliance?" asked Nicole. Shikamaru rolled over to face the three and with one eye open responded,
"Simple, governments are easily corruptible and are greedy. The shinobi villages are internally governed democratically, thus reducing the chances of corruption. By keeping the governments out of the alliance we keep the alliance free of their corrupting influence." This being a new revelation to Satsuki and Minato as well as Nicole all three simply said,
"Oh..." From the front of the wagon Ryuudo, who had heard the whole conversation, turned and added,
"But say that corruption found it's way into the Alliance. What then? The alliance is too powerful to dissolve in that event, and powerful enough for that corruption to hurt innocents. All governments, even your alliance are fatally flawed in that people run them." Kushina, who as the most world wise on her team already knew all of this, laughed at his statement. All eyes turned to her as she wiped a tear from her eyes and reigned in her laughter. "Something funny girly?" asked Ryuudo.
"The prevention of corruption and the preservation of peace. You silly foreigner, that's what the Uzumaki are for. So long as we're around we will always make things right again." she smiled at him with all the warmth in the world, her eyes burning bright with universal love and righteousness. Her teammate Satsuki rolled her eyes at Kushina and Minato softly laughed. Shikamaru smiled with pride at the similarities he perceived between her attitude and that of his old friend. Ryuudo huffed, clearly unimpressed, but Nicole smiled and nodded at the confident young woman.
"I wish I could be that sure of myself..." whispered Nicole to herself.
Four days later...
The group was now witnessing the slow transformation of their surroundings, slowly fading from dense forest to open prairies as they drew closer to the coast. Nicole had grown close to the group as the days had gone by, and referred to all of them by name. Ryuudo had maintained his distance from them all, staying quiet nearly the whole trip and only speaking to Nicole. He often checked in on her, asking if she was comfortable or if she needed them to take a break to rest. She would always insist she was fine, but he never accepted her word and would often insist on breaks on her behalf. The children had fallen in love with Nicole's strange foreign cooking as she had taken their supplies and mixed them with her own to create unique meals they had never heard of every morning and evening. Shikamaru had asked her several times where she seemed to be getting all the fresh produce she always seemed to have on hand, and she would simply insist they came from inside the wagon. He had had Kushina check the inside of the wagon and she had confirmed that the only thing in the wagon besides Nicole was a large anchor and a bag filled with seeds. He had however decided that he trusted their clients and laid his suspicions about her knowing some kind of ninjutsu aside. Around noon Nicole had retreated fully into the wagon to hide from the heat of midday and the three were silently manning their positions. Kushina flipped on her Byakugan for a moment as was routine, however this time she stopped still and kept it on for a moment, squinting as if not believing her eyes. She then shouted,
"We have company! And a lot of it! Bandits, poorly armed and clearly not trained but almost forty of them! Approaching rapidly from three-o'clock!" her teammates and sensei didn't hesitate for an instant and they brought their formation in tight around the now halted wagon. Ryuudo looked around in a panic and headed towards the interior of the wagon.
Suddenly a wave of filthy looking men brandishing poorly cared for swords and spears came running out of the trees on the far side of a clearing at the wagon's three-o'clock. The men quickly made it to the wagon and slowed down to surround the wagon threateningly. Ryuudo froze an arms length from the wagon door and glared through his goggles at the bandits. A man with two large broadswords who looked to be in charge of the horde walked forward and pointed at the shinobi.
"We have no business with you ninjas. Leave if you don't want your kiddies hurt. We're here about the pair of freaks we heard were coming this way. Word is they are just freaky enough to fetch a pretty penny. So hand them over." Kushina glared at the leader and shouted,
"Konoha shinobi would never abandon their clients! We will defend them, and send you crying home to whatever hole you crawled from!" The man laughed and icy cold chuckle.
"So be it. Get 'em boys." The horde charged like wild animals at the shinobi. Ryuudo slammed open the door and grabbed a firm hold of a chain attached to the anchor. He turned to defend his companion, but was shocked at what he saw.
Only a few meters away the bandits were being decimated. He saw a pink blur fly amongst the foes, followed by the sickening crunch of breaking bones as he pummeled the bandits attempting to reach the wagon with a fighting technique that was strong, fast and fluid. Though the bandits tried to cut him with their weapons, none could land a hit as he parried their attacks with small metal knives he had heard them call shuriken. He saw Satsuki form some shapes he had never seen with her hands. She shouted,
"Fire style: Burning Finale Jutsu!" Then from her mouth erupted small fireballs that exploded like fireworks on impact with the bandits, setting groups of them on fire and outright knocking others out from impact. She mowed down rows of bandits with this technique, and soon many bandits fled from before her. He then saw piles of unconscious men surrounding Kushina. He puzzled over how she knocked them out so quickly when he saw her fighting in the midst of the bandits as they all tried to hit the young shinobi. She skillfully deflected their attacks with only her hands by attacking their arms before their weapons made complete swings at her. He then saw her give three open handed punches to one of the men's head, one on each temple then one on the middle forehead. She left behind in those locations three paper tags covered in strange runes that then glowed for a moment. She cried out,
"Combat Seal: Unconsciousness Seals!" The man crumpled unconscious on the ground before her as she continued to fight the other bandits. He turned to see Shikamaru still on top of the wagon, watching only half interestedly. Ryuudo recovered from his shock and yanked the chain hard, hurling the anchor at a group of bandits distracted by Satsuki's attacks. His anchor bowled over dozens of the bandits and he then realized just how weak their opponents were.
From inside the wagon Nicole watched with sadness at the violence ensuing in her defense, feeling responsible for the whole situation. She saw the three children fighting for her safety and felt in her heart it was wrong to expect that from such young children. Shikamaru suddenly appeared next to her in the wagon, and she jumped in surprise.
"You don't need to feel guilty. This is our job, even if it is a pain in the ass sometimes. It's not your fault the bandits showed up, it's their own fault for being bothersome idiots. Fighting to defend your friends isn't the same as fighting for yourself." She gave him a look of confusion, so he elaborated. "Fighting for yourself is wrong, it's greed. But fighting for your friends, that isn't greed. It isn't wrong to fight for those people. Our precious people. Think on that, and please enough with the guilt." He rolled his eyes at her and disappeared. She looked down at her hands and gently smiled at his kind words.
Outside the battle was nearly over, as the last few bandits were beaten senseless by Minato's lightning fast fists. The leader lay wheezing with his broken ribs and Shikamaru walked over to tower over him.
"That really wasn't smart, taking on a team of shinobi. Have you guys ever even held weapons before?"
The leader turned his head in shame and ignored the man.
"Fine, have it your way. You're not even worth arresting. We're leaving and if you value your lives you won't follow us. You're lucky you fought genin because anyone else would have just killed you all. At least you all survived. Be grateful of that." Ryuudo put away the anchor and got the wagon moving down the path again, as the genin reformed their traveling formation and excitedly chattered amongst themselves over how amazing their first real battle had been. Minato turned to Ryuudo and asked,
"Were you swinging around an anchor back there?" Ryuudo was quiet for a minute before answering,
"Yes." Minato waited for him to elaborate, but he did not. So instead he whistled and said,
"Wow, you must be really strong to swing an anchor. But you know it seems like a weapon with a lot of weaknesses. Even with your strength it takes a while to make a full rotation, so anyone with some speed can run right past your weapon and get at you."
Ryuudo remained silent at this statement, trying to ignore the child, despite the fact he knew him to be correct and had nearly fallen victim to this flaw several times already. Satsuki spoke up adding,
"I would add a smaller, faster weapon on the other end of the chain, you know to defend yourself with if the occasion arises." Ryuudo grunted while under his cloak his cheeks turned red with embarrassment at not having thought of that himself. Nicole could tell he was reacting this way and her sad expression lightened slightly.
Three days later at the Great Naruto Bridge...
The group sat around a campfire at the outskirts of the small village that lay just beyond the edge the Land of Waves side of the bridge. Shikamaru sighed in annoyance, wondering aloud,
"Where could they be? The team from Kiri should already have been waiting for us to make the hand off." Ryuudo stared at the village, suspicious of the delay in their guard change. The children however were lightheartedly sharing stories with Nicole.
"So I beat him to within an inch of his life, hahahaha. That taught him to keep his hands to himself." said Kushina laughing at Minato's expense.
"I didn't do it on purpose..." Satsuki blushed and looked at him dreamily.
"He just couldn't keep his hands off of me forever could he. I just think he needs to wait a few years is all."
"It was an accident Satsuki!" shouted the blushing boy. Nicole simply laughed at them all. She then looked over and noticed Kushina was once again rummaging around in a small sack she kept in her backpack.
"Kushina what are you doing? Every night you rummage through that same bag." Minato and Satsuki shared a knowing smile and ignored the conversation they each had already had with the girl. Kushina looked up and blinked in surprise before smiling and asking,
"Would you like to see?" she pulled out of the sack a small photo frame and carefully passed it to Nicole. Nicole took it and looked it over for a minute before her instincts recognized what it was. Although the outfits were foreign to her, as were the altar like surroundings she just knew that it was a wedding photo. In the photo stood two young adults hand in hand on a altar, the man wearing a formal garb of orange and black, and the woman wearing an all white gown. They both smiled brighter than Nicole had ever seen anyone smile before in her life. Her eyes darted up for a moment before she blushed and looked back at the photo. After her blush subsided she then realized that the two looked familiar. The woman had the same eyes and hair color as Kushina, and the man had the same hair type and facial structure as the girl.
"Oh! They're your parents. You must miss them so much when you're on missions like this." she gave Kushina a warm and understanding smile while she handed her back the photo. Kushina laughed and said,
"No more than at any other time."
"What do you mean? Are they always off on missions themselves?"
"No hehehe, they are just dead." Nicole's smile shattered at the girls casual reference to the death of her own parents.
"Oh my! I'm so sorry! I didn't think... You must miss them so much. I can't imagine how hard it must be." Kushina laughed again.
"Oh I'm not sorry. They both lived really full lives, lives with no regrets. And yeah I miss them all the time, but it's not so hard. I know they loved me and for me that's more than enough." Nicole was in awe at the girls wisdom and strength. "Besides I have my uncles to look after me. I say goodnight to them every night using this photo. That's why I keep it with me even out here." She put the photo away and turned her smile back to Nicole. "Is there anyone you think that you couldn't bear to loose?" Nicole blushed and nodded slightly in the affirmative. Kushina laughed and said "I bet they feel the same way about you. But neither of you is right. The only bad thing about death is that we think we have lost the person forever. But we haven't, because in their memory lives a part of them that can never die." Nicole smiled and hugged the wise young girl.
"Thank you Kushina, you know an awful lot for such a young girl."
"Shishishi, I guess I get it from my parents."
Shikamaru looked up and saw a hawk flying straight for their location. He stood and put out his arm, which the bird alighted on and held out one of it's legs. He removed a paper from that leg and let the hawk fly away again. He unrolled it and read it before pocketing it and addressing the genin.
"Guys, we have news." The three assembled before him for their debrief of the situation. "Kiri's team had to be recalled for another matter that Kiri deemed more important. They asked us to finish the mission ourselves and see them to the far east coast, then aid them in getting themselves transportation."
"Cool!" said Kushina. "We get to hang out with Nicole some more!" The other two snickered in agreement as everyone laid out for sleep.
Six days later...
"Well here we are, the farthest east coast town." said Shikamaru to the group as they all stared out at the infinite mass of the ocean. The salty spray felt to Ryuudo like a welcoming home, and he had to fight off the urge to hurl himself into the ocean and not care who sees. "Now we need to find them passage across the sea, which will not be easy since most local sailors refuse to go too far out to sea."
"That will not be a problem." said Ryuudo, surprising the others greatly, except for Nicole of course. "I can build us a ship. I will simply need your assistance with the gathering of materials and I will have the ship done within a week."
And so they all set out to locate a tree with what Ryuudo had called 'the right wood' although the shinobi were confused as to why he had told them that even a single tree would be enough. It was Satsuki who stumbled upon a tree, a tree native to the region known as a woolwood. The wood was renowned for being among the strongest of woods, while still being light as wool . Ryuudo asked Minato to retrieve a seed from the tree, then handed that seed to Nicole. She walked off towards the shore and asked them all to stay with Ryuudo. Kushina however couldn't help but peek with her Byakugan, and what she saw amazed her. Nicole planted the seed and with a wave of her arms a whole grove of massive woolwood trees stood before her. Kushina told Shikamaru, who said he had already assumed as much and that she could ignore it for now. The group then set to work cutting down and carving the wood Ryuudo needed. Following a detailed plan he had provided to them they created for him everything he needed, they even purchased a sail for the ship from the nearby town, although Satsuki kept trying to alter his plans, insisting she could make 'improvements.' Only six days later, and after a few feats of inhuman strength on Ryuudo's part that amazed the shinobi, Ryuudo had finished the ship. The finishing touch was a figure head that they all had a hand in creating,
"To give the ship the gift of our eternal friendship" as Nicole put it.
"So what's it going to be called?" asked Minato. Ryuudo stopped, and said.
"Actually... I'm not sure, I had not given the name any thought yet."
"It's the Draco Bliss!" Said Kushina. "So that those it carries will always know strength and happiness."
The evening the ship was complete...
"It has been quite the adventure visiting this land." said Nicole. Kushina was openly crying as Satsuki and Minato both held back tears.
"We're never going to be able to visit you!" cried Kushina. "We'll never see you again!"
"Now now." said Nicole. "I'm sure we will see each other again. Friendships like ours are almost magical that way." She comfortingly winked at the three, which combined with her words stopped the waterworks from Kushina. Shikamaru walked up to Ryuudo and put out his hand. Ryuudo looked down at it, then back up to Shikamaru's face.
"You want to shake my hand? We've barely spoken this entire trip."
"You've barely spoken to anyone this entire trip, it was really bothersome. Your too quiet, you will never make it through life if you cut yourself off from others. I know Nicole is great but you need other people too you know." Under his cloak Ryuud blushed hard. "Besides, we fought alongside one another, that is better than a thousand conversations. So... friends?" Ryuudo took one last look at the hand before slowly taking it in his iron grip and shaking it.
"Very well, friends." Shikamaru smiled and patted him on his broad shoulder.
"That's the spirit." Ryuudo loaded the remainder of their belongings onto the ship and assisted Nicole in boarding the magnificent vessel. The shinobi waved at the ship as Ryuudo weighed anchor. Nicole leaned over the railing and waved back at them all, tears in her eyes.
"We will miss you! Someday we will see you all again I promise!"
"We'll be waiting Nicole!" shouted back Kushina. The shinobi watched as the ship sailed off into the distance, and did not move a muscle until they could no longer see the ship at all.
"Well, guess it's time to head back, what a bother this mission was. Come on guys." said Shikamaru, taking off at a shadow blur, followed by the genin.
Out at sea on the Draco Bliss...
Ryuudo shrugged off the cloaks and dove into the ocean, letting his severely dried out skin absorb some moisture and finally using his gills again after so long away from the ocean. Nicole laughed at his eagerness to swim again. She took one last look towards the disappearing coast line of the continent as they set out to follow their dreams. She knew in her heart that she would see them again, one way or another.
Dear Readers,
Greetings readers. I apologize again for the prolonged absence, but I promise that I'm back to stay. Just to clarify, in case any had not yet figured it out, this is indeed a crossover chapter. It is a crossover between my Naruto fanfiction and my esteemed colleague Hotspot0626's One Piece fanfiction. The title of their story is "One Piece: Rise of the Pirate Queen" and I highly recommend reading it. The bold type at the start was a play off of the second chapter of their Omake for their fanfiction. It is set in the past of their fanfiction, so as not to disrupt their story and still allow me to bring two of their characters over to my fanfiction. As always I encourage the submission of reviews, as well as the submission of Original Characters. Thank you all so much for helping me hit two thousand hits with this story. Please keep reading and thinking. Remember that democracy cannot work if everyone is only concerned for themselves, and have a great week.
Love,
Danthemanwithaplan7