Chapter 8
Unknown-nin345: I'm going to make this author note brief this chapter. Just wanted to thank the loyal readers for leaving reviews and, as always, reading my story. Plus, I went back and edited my other chapters.
Now for the current poll standings (As of December 7, 2008):
Poll 1: Who should Naruto's pairings be? Haku is already in. You get two choices. Poll will be open until the beginning of the Chunin Exams.
Current tally is:
A-Tenten=3
B-Temari=2
C-Yugito=10
D-Hana Inuzuka=12
I decided to take out the Oc since she had only received one vote after five chapters of voting.
Poll 2: Who will my OC-Kakan be paired up with? Please choose only TWO women. POLL CLOSED AS OF NOV 5, 2008!
Votes are:
A) Oc (Extremely Shameless) -15
B) Shizune (will be 20) -13
C) Kurenai (same as Anko) -9
D) Anko (don't worry, she'll be younger than canon)-14
E) Other (P.M. me as to who) -2
Therefore, it looks like Himura Kakan is going to be paired up with another Oc and our favorite sexy snake mistress, Anko!
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any other ideas, lines, weapons, clothes, and/or names from other books, manga, fan fictions, and/or movies.
(Last Time)
Naruto came up to the crevice and saw that at his present size he could walk through it if he bent his head a little. "Well, never let it be said that we were cowards. Let's go through the crevice and see where it leads." With that, the two plunged into the darkness.
After much groping, grumbling, head-banging, and toe-stubbing in the pitch black crevice that seemed to be going on forever, the boy and his wolf finally saw the light at the end of their tunnel. They sped up a little as the light continued to grow larger and brighter. When they burst out of the crevice, the two had to close and shield their eyes because of the sudden change from darkness to light.
When the two could open their silver and gold eyes, again their jaws dropped slightly in awe. Before the boy and his wolf lay scores of large ponds, each with a pole of bamboo rising out of each, and in the middle of all these ponds were two large statues of dragons that seemed to be joined at the tail resting on a large stone pedestal.
"What is this place?" Naruto asked out loud.
"'The legendary training ground where you can become anything imaginable.'" Naruto looked over at Shippou, who was reading off of a conveniently placed at the wolf's height. "'This place is Jusenkyo Springs.'" The wolf finished and looked back up at Naruto, a wolf-y eyebrow raised. "What do you think it means by, becoming anything you can imagine?"
Naruto scratched his head in thought and looked back out over the ponds. "Maybe…" he said, "Maybe it has something to do with the water. Just to be safe, I think we should avoid falling into any of the ponds."
Shippou nodded, "Agreed." He set one of his paws on the in-between edge of two of the ponds and saw that it just fit. He drew it back and looked back up at Naruto. "I don't think you'll back able to walk through here, but I might if you shrink me down to pup size."
Naruto stepped over and placed one of his feet on the same in-between edge before agreeing with Shippou since his foot was wider than the path. He drew it back and said, "Alright, I'll shrink you down, just be careful when you're walking through okay?"
The wolf smirked. "Between the two of us, I'm the more careful one. If you were by yourself you'd always be rushing into stuff headfirst."
Naruto chuckled as he laid his hand on Shippou and began the size-changing process. "Well, if you were by yourself you'd never get anything done, 'cause you'd always think too much and by the time you get done, whatever it was you were thinking about would be over."
The now wolf pup looked up at the blonde boy and said, "Just don't fall into the ponds. I'll see you on the other side." With that, the wolf started carefully walking in the direction of the dragon statues.
Naruto watched him walk away before he looked up at the bamboo poles and sighed. "Zabuza-sensei should have given us lessons in balancing on small spaces. This might be difficult." He said to himself quietly.
After one last sigh, he gathered a small amount of chakra to his feet and jumped to the nearest pole. He landed on one foot, wobbling a little, and quickly jumped to the next one, almost falling off of this one. This continued for a while, until he had almost reached the dragon statue.
He had just leaped for the next pole when he glanced up at the dragon statues. One of the stone eyes, which had been unmoving mere moments before, turned slowly to look at him…and winked at him. Naruto was so startled by this that when he landed on the pole he wobbled dangerously for a couple seconds before plunging to the icy cold pond below him.
Shippou, who had already reached the statues, quickly ran to the edge of the pond and stuck his head below the surface to try to pull Naruto quickly to shore. He blindly snapped at nothing before he managed to sink his teeth into the collar of Naruto's jacket and heaved. The wolf was surprised at how light his friend had become while pulling the body out of the water.
When he was able to let go and see how his friend was the wolf's jaw dropped straight to the ground. Instead of the boy he had been used to as his familiar, there lay a girl!
Said girl sat up and rubbed her head. "Owww, note to self: never fall headfirst into a pond of ice-cold water, will lead to major head ache." She looked around and saw a still gaping wolf pup. "What's with you?"
Shippou pointed a trembling paw at her. "You. New. Look."
"What the heck are you talking about?" Naruto asked back.
"Go…look in the pond," Was all that Shippou would say in response.
Shrugging Naruto stood up; walked over to the pond she had just fallen into, and looked down into it. The boy-turned-girl was silent as she stared into the pond for a good minute, not saying or doing anything, then straightened back up before she looked over at Shippou and fainted.
Shippou rushed over and tried slapping her with his paws a couple times, and then he moved to her ear and yipped piercingly a couple times, until he was fed up with it. The wolf pup trotted over to one of Naruto's hands, looked up at his friend's face, and bit down on the hand.
"YOW!" Naruto shrieked as she bolted upright while Shippou released the hand. She quickly grabbed the wolf pup where his neck met his back, where the fur was the loosest, and held him up at eye level. 'Thankfully,' Shippou thought, 'the eyes are still the same.'
"Why did you bite me Shippou?" Naruto asked the wolf pup.
"Well, you sort of fainted after you saw what you look like now. It was hard to wake you up; I had slapped your face and even barked right over your ear." The wolf pup meekly explained.
Naruto's face softened as she set Shippou down. "Oh yeah." She said softly. The boy-turned-girl stood up, walked back over to the pond to see what she looked like, and promptly turned a bright cherry red. She still wore the same clothes as when she had been a boy; which presented a flaw for her now female body since the stomach wrapping did nothing to cover up her new…err, upper chest additions.
She quickly whipped off the large scroll on her back and unrolled it before stopping on a specific kanji. She palmed it and channeled a small portion of her chakra into it, in a poof of smoke a black t-shirt appeared. Naruto quickly took off her jacket and pulled on the t-shirt, followed by the sleeveless jacket, properly covering her female form.
With that done, she went back over to the pool to look at her new features. Her hair had turned a dark green color, but she still had the silver arrowhead stripe running through it. The green locks fell down to her shoulders and framed her face with bangs that came down to her eye brows along with two longer ones that reached own to her cheeks. The two slanted whisker marks had darkened and turned a shade of violet for some strange reason. Other than her hair, facial features, and new body shape that could have belonged to a girl a couple years older, nothing had really changed.
She looked over at Shippou and smiled sheepishly. "Well, this is probably the second weirdest day of my life."
"Oh, really?" The wolf pup raised an eyebrow. "Which day would be the weirdest?"
"The day I met a talking wolf."
Shippou put a paw over his heart and said, "Oh, that hurts you know. Here I've been a loyal friend and you call the moment we met the weirdest moment of your life."
Naruto giggled at her wolf friend. "Yeah right. You, a loyal friend? There's been plenty of times when you sided with Haku-chan instead of me."
"True." The wolf pup conceded. His canine face grew serious as he asked, "Do you think there's a way to reverse this or at least change back to being a guy?"
Naruto shrugged as she turned back to the large scroll and started looking through it. "Don't know, but for now I'm going to warm up a bit." She palmed a specific kanji and a battery-powered water heater appeared along with a water bottle. The green-haired girl turned on the heater and poured the water from the bottle into the small pot attached to the heater. A couple minutes later, she lifted the pot after sliding off her jacket and poured the hot water on herself.
Shippou blinked and his jaw dropped once again in shock. "Naruto! You're a guy again!"
The now-male Naruto spun to his familiar. "What?!" Before the wolf could answer, he turned to the pond behind them and looked at his reflection. He brought up both of his hands and pressed them flat against his chest, then reached down to feel in between his legs and sighed in relief.
He sat back down and brought a hand to his chin in thought. "So hot water undoes the change. I wonder…" He reached over to his bottle and poured what little remained onto his head, turning back into a girl.
She looked down at herself and placed a hand on her chest to make sure of the change. "Okay, cold water will change me into a girl." She looked over at Shippou and her lip quirked slightly. "And we just happen to be in the land of water, that's some rotten luck, huh?" She sighed and stood up suddenly, pausing as she felt her breasts bounce a bit. She looked down at her chest and said, "I don't think I'll ever get used to you two."
"Maybe you should get a bra?" Shippou suggested; struggling to keep a grin and a laugh suppressed.
Naruto glared down at the wolf pup. "Keep that up and I'll toss you into that pond. I don't think you'll turn into a she-wolf though."
Shippou stopped in his tracks and bowed his head. "Shutting up."
Naruto nodded and threw on her jacket before re-sealing the water heater and rolling up the scroll. She then secured the scroll back in its place in the small of her slightly curved back. The green haired girl turned and walked around to the other side of the statue, Shippou following behind her.
Now on the other side of the statue the two could see an actual door leading into the cliff-face. However, the two of them still had to make it past the rest of the ponds. Shippou immediately began making his way on what little ground he could to the door, still silent as he thought on whether or not Naruto would've actually thrown him into the pond.
Naruto stared at the bamboo poles for a second, rolling her shoulder and loosening up a bit.
With a small shout, she leaped to the nearest pole once more, nearly falling over this time due to her breasts. She looked down at them and said out loud to no one, "Maybe I should get a bra." Without another word, she leaped from one pole to next, grunting in annoyance every time her breasts bounced against her chest. Thankfully, she didn't fall into anymore of the ponds, despite her aching legs and sore chest.
When she finally made it to the patch of land that was connected to the door she immediately fell down onto her back (after she had removed the scroll), breathing heavily. She turned her head over to her wolf friend, who was sitting on his haunches looking at her, and laid a hand on his head. Naruto laughed lightly and rubbed Shippou's head gently.
"Well, this has been an interesting bit of travel. Makes you wonder what else we'll face." She head to the wolf pup. With a sigh, she stood up and re-attached the scroll. She tilted her head at the door and said, "Shall we be going then?"
Shippou nodded and Naruto opened the door. On the other side was a dark tunnel that looked more like a hallway in a building than the inside of a hunk of rock. Naruto looked down at Shippou and placed a hand on the wolf's head, this time the wolf grew to his normal size. Together the two made there way down the tunnel; after a while, they emerged from the long, dark underground passage and found themselves not that far from the port town they had been aiming for.
The girl and her wolf walked down the road, but instead of entering the two turned left and made their way down a rarely traversed path. Through woods, they silently walked until they came to an out-of-the-way cove that nobody visited because it people said it was haunted. This wasn't the case though.
In the waters of the cove, a small ship lay berthed. About the ship scurried kage bushins (each dressed in varying seaman gear), shouting orders and snippets of conversation to each other. They had been sent here after Naruto's mothers seal disappeared. Naruto had seen a wrecked and broken-down ship in the cove when they had first arrived in Mizu no Kuni, when the seal had vanished; he had sent a large group of kage bushin to the area to rebuild the small ship.
The fruits of the clones' labors were now realized; the ship had been rebuilt and restocked with supplies along with gunpowder and cannons. The cannons had been forged from scratch since they simply cost too much to go out and buy, so the Naruto clones had improvised and made their own. Finally, the flag had been designed with Naruto's clan symbol in the center, along with a red sparrow on one side and a white wolf on the other that stood out against a dark-green cloth.
Meanwhile, as the female Naruto and her familiar were walking up to the ship, a clone noticed and shouted warning to the head clone that had been left in charge of the rebuilding. This clone leapt down, waded through the water (not changing to the female form), and walked up to the female Naruto, a kunai held at the ready. He was wearing a black pirate hat with a red bandana underneath it; there was a gold hoop earring in his left ear; a black vest over a puffy grey long-sleeve shirt with a black jacket over that covered his torso; over his legs were loose black pants that were tucked into brown boots; and finally he had a cutlass hanging from his right hip (A/N: Think Captain Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean). On the ship, other clones readied their own knives or shurikens.
At ten paces from each other, the three on the beach stopped and the clone gazed inquisitively at the green-haired female before him. "How many men will a dead man say are on his chest?" He asked the girl standing before him.
"None at all, because dead men tell no tales." Naruto answered the coded question that had been arranged to make sure that it was in fact him, or her as the case may be, and not someone else that had found the ship.
The Naruto clone lowered his kunai and smiled. "Still practicing that transformation technique, eh?"
The female Naruto shook her head and said lightly. "Nope, fell into a magical pond that changed me into a girl. For now, I can only change back when I pour hot water on myself, until I can find a way to reverse this curse. Hang on a sec." The clone nodded and Naruto formed the cross-shaped hand seal used to make a Kage Bushin. With a shimmer a second green-haired, female Naruto showed up behind the original. Naruto turned to look at it and nodded to herself before she dispersed the clone, receiving an odd thought from it.
She turned back to the clone in front of her and nodded at it. "Prepare to set sail, Captain." She reached into her pocket and drew out a silver eagle that had its wings spread out to both sides squatting on a branch. She then pinned it to the clone's chest, right above his heart. "This will make it so that when I summon clones to manage a ship, you will be summoned first and foremost. Every ship needs its own Captain, plus I don't know enough about sea fare to be of any use here."
The clone looked down at his chest for a good long moment before looking back up at the female Naruto and saluting. "Ma'am, or Sir, whichever works, I may bear the rank but ye are the true captain." He lowered his arm and voice. "I'm grateful for this ma'am, but I'd be glad if ye had another of these ranks, for me first mate." He explained to her.
Naruto smirked and said. "I thought that might be the case, so I asked Kakan to make another of lesser rank." With that, she pulled out two small silver bars that were connected by two thinner bars of silver, the rank of Lieutenant. "Here, give this to your first mate."
The clone accepted the rank and nodded to his creator. "Thank ye ma'am. If ye'll follow me, I'll be showing ye to yer cabin for the voyage since ye said ye don't know much about sea faring." With that, the clone turned and began walking to the ship.
The female Naruto twisted to look at her backside and thought to herself, 'Wow, that clone was right. I do have a good ass!' Done with the thought she turned back to the ship and started following the Captain clone, Shippou at her side.
When they reached it the Captain shouted, "Throw down a gangplank and be quick about ye lazy dogs!!"
Several of the clones shouted, "Aye, aye Captain!" as they moved to lower the gangplank. The long plank of wood landed at the feet of those on land with a dull thud. Without further preamble, the Captain walked up the plank, followed by Naruto and Shippou. Up on deck, the clones still had kunais and shurikens at the ready as they stared at the female Naruto and the wolf.
"Stow away yer weapons ye pack of ingrates! This be the one who created us, she's going through a little bit of a gender crisis but it still be the same person." The Captain shouted at the other clones. With a little bit a mumbling of 'aye, captain' the crew obeyed. "Now back to yer stations and make ready to sail boys! We weigh anchor as soon as our passenger gets settled!"
"AYE, CAPTAIN, AYE!!" The crew shouted as one. In a flurry the large group of differently dressed Narutos went off to do what it was they did on the ship. One remained behind and strode up to the Captain. He had dyed his hair black (except for the arrowhead stripe) and was wearing a blue vest over a grey short-sleeve shirt along with blue-black pants that were tucked into worn brown boots.
"Capt'n," He started in a low whisper. "You know the tales, it be bad luck to bring a woman on board."
"Mr. Gibbs! That will do. This be the one who created us and set us with the honorable task of building this magnificent vessel. It would be far worse not to bring her on board." He reached out and pinned the two silver bars to the clones left shoulder. "This be pinned on ye to make sure that when she summons a crew to manage this vessel, we be two who will be called for certain, as the Captain and First Mate. What say ye now Mr. Gibbs?"
Mr. Gibbs, as he was called, looked over at his new rank before he looked over at Naruto, smiling and bowing. "Welcome aboard the White Diamond Miss. Koujaku. It be a real pleasure, having the creator of us maggots onboard. I hope ye enjoy the voyage." With that, he straightened back up and moved off to give orders to the other clones.
The Captain looked over at Naruto while gesturing at the clone named Mr. Gibbs. "I and he found a book in the story one day call Pirates of the Caribbean and we sort of took the identities of two of the characters in the book. Everyone else, we just call Mr. Sparrow, as it were. Come on, I'll take ye to yer cabin." With that he started walking along the deck to the aft of the ship, where the helm was, with Naruto and Shippou following.
Along the way, though they came across a clone who was tying a rather pathetic line onto a peg. The Captain stopped and said, "Mr. Sparrow?"
The clone looked up. "Aye, Captain."
"What say you about the condition of this tack line?"
The clone looked down and fidgeted with the rope. "It be proper to my eye, sir."
"Proper?" The Captain asked as he stepped forward. He grabbed the rope and held before the clones eyes as he said, "It is neither proper nor suitable, sir. It is not acceptable, nor adequate. It is, in obvious fact, an abomination." He finished and tossed the rope back at the clone.
The clone started to redo the tying of the line as he spoke, "Begging your pardon, sir. But, maybe if you gave a man another chance."
"Shall I?" The Captain said smiling. He suddenly unsheathed his sword and stabbed the clone in the stomach. He leaned in to the clone's ear and said, "It's that sort of thinking that gets people killed." He pulled out his sword and the clone fell to the deck, making a small thud before he dispersed in a cloud of smoke.
A couple other clones had stopped to watch the exchange, some smirking while others shook their heads muttering 'Rookie'. They all snapped to attention though when The Captain looked their way.
The Captain gestured with his sword at where the clone had been. "Let this be a lesson to the lot of ya. You either be efficient or you be dead. We have lost speed because of this, and therefore time. Precious time, which cannot be recovered once lost. Do you understand?!"
"Aye, aye Capt'n!" The small group of clones shouted.
The Captain nodded. "I hope so. Back to yer stations and one of ye take the slacker's place." The clones shouted once more and one of them came to man the tack line that the other clone had been working on. The Captain along with Naruto and Shippou made their way, uninterrupted this time, to a door in the wall of the helm of the small ship.
The clone captain held open the door as Naruto and the wolf entered the room. It was roomy, with a table nailed to the floor in the middle of it that held various maps and map reading instruments. There was a closet that held various clothing in it (of the pirate variety), and a small bunk had been fitted into the wall. Along the back of the room were windows that would let Naruto look out behind the ship as it sailed upon the sea. Up on the wall by the door was a large map of the elemental countries.
Naruto beckoned the Captain into the room and pointed up at the map. "First we head for the waystation, once I finish my business there we'll head up to this island—here." She said, pointing first at the peninsula where the waystation was located, then at an island south of Kuminari no Kuni(1).
The Captain nodded, "As you command, Ma'am." He left the cabin and began shouting out orders to the crew, followed by his first mate who repeated the orders as the Captain shouted them.
In a short amount of time, the sails were unfurled, the anchor was brought up from the water, and the White Diamond began its maiden voyage. Good time was made during the rest of the day, and when night came most of the crew went below deck to catch some shut-eye since the sea was calm as a turtle going about its business. A light night watch stayed above deck, a small amount of lanterns providing light.
Inside the main cabin, the Captain was looking over the maps laid out on the table and discussing the best route to take with his first mate. "Well, before anything be certain we need the reports from the sparrows."
Mr. Gibbs nodded as he turned to the window. "Aye, the two birds should be back any second now."
"What do you mean?" Naruto asked from where she was bunking.
The Captain looked over at her and said, "We use the Sparrow summons to scout ahead of where we plan to go, just in case there be a storm or pirates along the course."
"Capt'n!" A voice shouted from outside. One of the clones entered, carrying on his arm two worn out sparrows.
"Set them on the table Mr. Sparrow." The Captain instructed. When the clone did that and the birds were drinking from a little water dish set for them, the Captain gestured to the door. "Go get some shut-eye sailor."
"Thank ye, Captain." The clone saluted and went off to get some sleep.
The Captain looked down at the two sparrows and asked, "Be there any danger ahead?"
The sparrow on the left shook its head. "I didn't see anything that might be a danger along the path you told me to fly over."
The Captain turned his head to the sparrow on the right. "And ye? Any danger that we should be warned about?"
The sparrow tilted its head to one side as it said, "Well I did manage to see a ship, about 10, or so, leagues dead ahead."
"Colors?"
"I couldn't tell. I spotted it after the sun had set and night had gotten under way." The sparrow said sadly.
The Captain nodded. "It be alright. The two of ye did yer best and that be all I asked for. Until next time." The birds bowed and dispersed in twin puffs of smoke.
The Captain looked over to his first mate and said, "Rally the men and ready the guns. I want to be prepared just in case they be pirates."
"Aye, Capt'n. I'll get these cack-handed lazy dogs up and about. If they be pirates we be goin' up against then we shan't be going down without a fight." Mr. Gibbs said, grinning slightly. He left the cabin and as he shouted orders the two still in the cabin could here his voice. "All hands stand to your stations! I want movement you slimy sea dogs! Ready all guns, we have a possible fight coming up!"
There was a pause as a multitude of voices echoed the orders and they heard Gibb's voice again. "Ready those guns! Or it's you we'll load into them!"
The Captain looked over at Naruto and grinned. "Working's good and all, but the crew has been aching for a fight. Some complained that they would never get to see action." Naruto smiled back at him. The clone Captain put his black hat back on. "Well, best go see to the crew." With that, he walked out onto the deck and went up to take his place at the helm.
Naruto stood up and looked herself over. After the ship had set to sea, she had decided to change her clothes to get a better feel of where she was. Luckily, a clone had a little too much rum when he had gone to get some clothes apparently, since there was a small bit of female clothing in the closet, even underwear, and they were all in her size. Unluckily though, the underwear the drunk clone had chosen was a vinyl bra and thong that barely kept the parts they were supposed to cover, covered (though if she were honest with herself both articles of underwear were quite comfortable).
She had put on a brown, low-cut vest that came down to only an inch above the bra, its bottom stopped level with her belly button. Her light blue pants, decorated with painted black roses, hugged her waist and hips before going down to just below her knees, accenting her thighs. On her feet were high-heeled vinyl boots that came up to the middle of her calves. Over all this was a black version of her clan jacket, which ended just below her rear end.
Overall, she felt like she made one sexy pirate. It only needed one final touch: She reached back to the bunk and picked up a hat that had been lying on it. It was a small fedora-style hat with a couple differences; it was thinner and longer than the typical fedora, it had the front-right corner folded down to shade her right eye, and finally it had a small crimson feather sticking out of the left side. Thusly attired, she left the cabin and found the deck swarming with the clone crew, each scurrying about to complete whatever task had been assigned to that particular clone.
"Step lively boys! With a will!" Shouted the first mate, Mr. Gibbs, as he made rounds among the clones to make sure none of them was slacking off.
Naruto looked around and spotted the clone Captain standing at the wheel, holding it and his gaze steady. She made her way up to him and stood next to him when she made it to the wheel.
The green-haired female turned her head over the Captain and asked, "How long until the other ship is in our sights?"
The Captain turned an eye to her as he answered. "Not long, at our current speed we should be coming up on them any minute now." His eye quickly went down then back up. "I must say ma'am, ye certainly look very pirate-y."
Naruto raised an eyebrow at him. "Is that a compliment or an insult?"
His eyes went back to the front of the ship. "It be, most definitely, a compliment ma'am seeing as how pirate clothes were the only ones we could afford to outfit the whole crew in. Mr. Gibbs!" He shouted and his first mate turned to look at him. "Load the cannons and prepare the victory rum!"
Mr. Gibbs saluted. "Aye, Capt'n!" He turned to the crew and continued shouting, "Alright ye cack-handed deck apes make ready on the guns! Load 'em up an' roll 'em out!" The call was echoed throughout the ship, as powder was set into cannons followed by cannonballs while Mr. Gibbs headed below the deck.
After a couple minutes of silence, with the only sounds coming from the crew as they continued to load the cannons and make ready other weapons, a ship came into view. It was larger than the White Diamond and those on the clone-made ship could hear orders being shouted on it as well as the clanking of cannons being loaded. As they drew closer to it, they were finally able to make out the ship's colours: a white skull with two crossed swords underneath on a sable clothe; Pirates. Suddenly the ship, which had been sailing south turned towards them, coming up on the Diamond's right side.
"Hold lads!" The Captain shouted to the other clones. "Wait 'till were board and board! Those who be on the starboard side leave yer guns and switch over to the port side!" The clones complied, a couple sending the order down below the deck, and those on the left side of the deck left their cannons to head over to the right side of the ship, readying kunais, shuriken, and crossbows.
The pirate ship in front of them drew steadily closer and with it, the shouts of the pirates on board. Soon its bow was looming directly of the port side of the Diamond and a couple arrows from the pirate ship were loosed to the clone's ship. The flying missiles hit a couple clones, but since the impact was not hard enough to make them disperse themselves, they were able to remain on the ship.
"Fire!!" The Captain shouted when the Diamond and the pirate ship were side-by-side with Gibbs repeating the order below the deck. Like tremendous bursts of thunder, the cannons let loose their payloads and cannonballs launched toward the enemy ship. The pirate ship returned fire with there own cannons, destroying clones and damaging the ship.
The Captain saw the small holes that appeared in the wood and shouted over at the pirate ship, "Stop blowing holes in my ship!" He looked over at the stairway that lead below and shouted, "Mr. Gibbs! Get those deadbeats to aim for the powder magazine! We won't last long against these pirates if we don't take them down now!"
Mr. Gibbs poked his head out from the stairway and replied, "It be hard going Capt'n, we should have practiced more with the cannons so that the boys could be better prepared!"
"Well, we'll just have to do that later Mr. Gibbs! For now we need to take care of these here pirates!" He shouted to his first mate.
"Aye, Capt'n!" With that, he went back below deck, just as a cannonball passed where his head had been a couple of seconds earlier. For a while, all that could be heard was the thunder of the cannonballs, the shouting of both the clones and pirates, and finally the splintering of wood.
Naruto looked over at the Captain and asked, "How long do you think it will take for the clones to hit the powder magazine!?"
"Hard to say honestly!" The Captain shouted back at her. "We never took enough time to practice with the cannons, being more focused on building this here ship! It shan't be long though, their ship be bigger than ours which should mean that we hit it first; while our ship be smaller meaning it will be harder for them to find our magazine!"
A large explosion came from the pirate ship when the Captain finished speaking. The two at the helm looked over to see large flames springing up all over the ship. The clone crew on the Diamond, meanwhile, began cheering at their first naval victory.
Mr. Gibbs came running up to the helm and paused before the Captain, "Capt'n! We did it, we beat them!"
The Captain looked over at the clone and flatly said, "My eyesight's as good as ever, just so you know Mr. Gibbs." He looked over at his crew and shouted, "All hands, to your stations! Loose every sail so we can get back under way!" The crew, still cheering slightly, complied and all went back to their assigned stations. Soon, every sail was unfurled and the wind carried the ship away from the burning image of the now destroyed pirate ship.
Naruto looked over the railing of the Diamond as it slowly moved forward and could see the still bodies of the dead pirates. She touched a couple fingers to her forehead and then waved them down at the dead bodies floating in the water.
The green-haired girl turned away from the sight and looked at the Captain as she asked, "How long until we reach our destination?"
The Captain looked up at the position of the moon and thought for moment before he answered, "We should be there by the time the sun be rising in the sky. Ye might as well catch a few hours of sleep ma'am."
Naruto nodded and went back down to the cabin, where she found Shippou still asleep on the end of the bunk. She sweat dropped at how much of a heavy sleeper the wolf was and shook her head chuckling. She took off her hat and crawled into the bunk, pulling the blanket over her head and falling asleep within a couple minutes.
It felt like she had only been in the realm of dreams for a couple minutes when she felt her shoulder being shook. The green-haired girl poked her head out from underneath the blanket and closed her eyes due to the bright light shining in the cabin. Once she could see again, she could make out the clone Captain standing over her with his hand still on her shoulder.
She shook her head and asked, "What time is it Captain?"
"It's been daylight for a long while now and the sun be almost at it's highest in the blue sky. We dropped anchor when we made it to land and began making repairs to the ship. I came down to make sure you hadn't left without letting one of us know ma'am." He answered.
Naruto's eyes snapped open as she shot upright in an instant. "What?! Why the hell didn't you wake me up sooner? I could have gone to the Waystation and been back by now! Send off a messenger sparrow as soon as you can to Kakan and let him know that I've place the seal." She ordered in a hurry. She threw off the blanket and threw on her hat along with the weapon scroll as she made her way to the cabin door. Shippou jerked away and yawned loudly before he got up and hurried after Naruto. Naruto threw open the cabin door and quickly made her way over to the side of the ship closest to land with Shippou right behind her.
She looked over the rail and saw that the land was only a quick wade through the water away. She looked back over at the Captain and nodded to him. "See ya in a bit." With that, she vaulted over the railing down to the water below.
Shippou backed up a bit before he rushed forward and jumped over the rail shouting, "Geronimo!"
A quick wade through the surf and the girl along with the wolf stood on the shore of the mainland. The two looked back at the ship and Naruto waved before they took off through the forest to the Waystation.
--- (A half-hour later) ---
Naruto and Shippou burst through the foliage at the top of the waterfall where the waystation was located. Without pause, the two moved forward and quickly found where the symbol lay carved in the ground. Naruto summoned a katana from the scroll on her back and stuck it in the seal before turning it in the required direction, raising the doorway from the earth.
When the doorway was fully unearthed Naruto withdrew and resealed the katana back into the scroll on her back. Both the girl and wolf then went over to the stone doorway and entered down the spiral staircase, and then came to the stone hallway that led to the riddle wall.
Naruto placed her hands on the wall and one again channeled her silver chakra into the rocky surface. Just like when they first came to the waystation silver-y kanji lit up upon the rock wall.
Naruto read the riddle:
"Alive without breath;
as cold as death;
never thirsting, ever drinking;
clad in mail, never clinking.
Drowns on dry land,
thinks an island
is a mountain;
thinks a fountain
is a puff of air."
Naruto looked down at Shippou and Shippou looked up at Naruto. Both shrugged and said at the same time, "Fish." "Fish."
The kanji for 'fish' appeared before the kanji for the riddle rearranged itself. Naruto gestured for Shippou to do the honors.
"Grey as a mouse,
Big as a house,
Nose like a snake,
I make the earth shake,
As I tramp through the grass;
Trees crack as I pass.
With horns in my mouth,
I walk in the south,
Flapping big ears.
Beyond count of years,
I stump round and round,
Never lie on the ground,
Not even to die.
________ am I."
Shippou looked up at Naruto and asked, "What do you think?"
Naruto stared at the riddle, reading it in silence, before she said, "Oliphaunt am I."
The kanji glowed and the wall became the jell-o like substance, as it had been when they were last there. Naruto looked down at the wolf, which was still staring at him, and said, "The Lord of the Rings. It was good book." She looked back and said to the readers who are reading, "Seriously, pick it up and read it. They're all good books."
Shippou looked in the same direction that Naruto was speaking. "Who the heck are you talking to?"
"The readers of course. The author is making me do free advertising." Naruto said as she looked back down at the wolf before gesturing to the jell-o wall. "Come on, let's get this over with and head up to where Tou-san left us his stuff."
Shippou nodded and both entered the waystation. Once inside, Naruto made her way to the hallway that led to the bedrooms and took out the seal that Kakan had given to her back in Kirigakure. She slapped it on the wall and ran a hand over it a couple of times to smooth it out on the wall and make sure it would stick.
The green-haired girl then turned and went into one of the bedrooms. She quickly strode over to the closet and opened it, smiling when she saw its contents. Inside the closet were all manners of female clothing. Naruto quickly removed the scroll from her back and set it on the ground before she unrolled it. Stopping at the first empty space she came to she painted the kanji for 'female' with specific designs in it to allow for sealing.
Once she finished she got up and looked throughout the closet pulling down almost everything she thought would look good on her. When the silver and gold-eyed girl finished, she put the clothes down on the seal and placed her hand on them before channeling her chakra. In a poof of smoke, the clothing disappeared into the seal.
Naruto rolled the scroll back up and placed it back on her back. She looked back at Shippou who was standing in the doorway and asked, "What?"
Shippou tilted his head and asked in return, "Think you got enough stuff?"
"Haku can help me sort it out when we get back to Kirigakure. Come on, we don't have much time to get to Tou-san's place." She said, making her way to head back to the ship with Shippou following her.
End Chapter
Unknown-nin345: Hope you liked the naval battle I wrote, I don't really know a lot about them so I just went with what might've worked. The only real reason the clones won was that they got in a lucky shot that just happened to destroy the pirate ship. Nothing much else to say, except: NINJAS AND PIRATES RULE!!!
Remember the two R's and one V: Read, Review, Vote.
