XIII Ninja
By James The Fox
" Ladies and gentlemen I am proud to say that, right now, in my hand, I have-" (looks at now-empty hand) "-what the?"
Little sister, Holly: (holding the seventh Potter Book) "MINE! You can read it once I'm done."
"You could of asked before taking it from my hand like that!"
Holly: "You could of asked before taking it from my room."
"Why you..." (Jumps at sister, who sidesteps.)
Holly: "Imperio."
(Author turns to audience.) "I'm a fool. I should never have defied my great, all powerful sister. As penance, I shall now bestow upon you a new chapter. Thank you."
The next day, Team 9 set out once more. Naruto, despite having been incapable of moving yesterday, was atg the head of the group, talking enthusiastically with his teammates.
'That kid... his recovery powers are amazing. I guess the Kyuubi can be useful after all...' RiD grinned. He was shaken out of his thoughts when he noticed a mist rolling in. His eyes narrowed, knowing that this wasn't a natural mist he was seeing... "Everyone, guard postions. Protect the bridge builder!" Everyone quickly surounded Tazuna. Naruto stayed in front of him, Hinata took out a kunai and stood with her back facing Tazuna's right, while Llednar put his hand on his sword (although he didn't draw it) and took Tazuna's left side. RiD drew his sword, putting himself in a combat stance.
"That stance... it looks... so..." Roxas trailed off. "It's not possible."
Meanwhile, Hinata activated her Byakugan. After a few seconds, her eyes widened. "Llednar-san!" She called out just as a large sword came at the Twem Clan heir. Llednar grinned, blocking the blade with his own. He locked gazes with the man wielding the oversized weapon.
"I'll bet that you were hired by Gato," he drawled.
"Very perceptive of you, brat," the ninja said.
"May I ask your name?"
"Since you were so polite... Momochi Zabuza. Why do you ask?"
"Oh, no reason." Llednar said in a dainty tone. "I just need something to write on your gravestone."
"Tough talk for such a little Genin. Can you back it up?"
"Certainly." Llednar suddenly forced Zabuza back, spinning his sword, which suddenly started expeling a sickly green mist. "Shinen! (Abyss)" He rushed at Zabuza, barely missing as the Swordsman sidestepped. However, as he thrust his sword, a portion of the green mist traveled from the blade to Zabuza's side and was absorbed by the skin. Not noticing this, Zabuza swung his large blade at Twem, who backflipped back to safety. "Now all we need to do is wait..." he muttered. RiD grinned.
"You did a good job. I'll handle things from here." He rushed at the Swordsman of the Mist, clashing with him. RiD ducked under a horzontal swing and jumped into the air, sword pointing down as he desended. Zabuza dodged backwards, landing in a nearby lake. The silver haired Jounin sprinted on the water as Zabuza formed a flurry of seals.
"Suiro no Justu!" he roared just as Rid was 4 meters from hitting the Mist nin. As sooon as the justu was finished, water came up and trapped RiD within, forming itself in a sphere. RiD's eyes widened as Zabuza started forming seals with one hand. "Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu! I'll deal with you later," He growled to his captive as several more Zabuzas formed themselves from the water in the lake. The clones walked out of the lake, towards Team 9.
"Ok, that isn't good. What should we do?" Naruto asked Organization XIII and his teammates.
"If we can hold them off for long enough, my Abyss technique's poison will take him down," Llednar said.
"Yeah, but they outnumber us. Naruto-kun could summon some Shadow Clones, but Zabuza's Clones are likely going to be too much for them to handle..." Hinata sighed.
"Watnbdwanbdwatnbd..." Axel chanted.
"... Water not bad..." Xemnas contemplated. "...Axel, you're a genius."
"Wat- Wait, what?" Axel said, shocked by what Xemnas said. "I mean, of course I'm a genius. G-E-N-I-U-S, got it memorized?"
"It's simple. We'll fight fire with fire, or rather, water with water."
"Wait... Naruto doesn't have any water justu, so how will we..." Everyone looked at Demyx. "No. No way. You're totally sending the wrong guy. Send Axel, send Roxas, send Larxene, send anyone, just don't send me!"
"Too late for that, Demyx," Naruto replied mentally. With a resigned sigh, Demyx was enclosed in a ball of Chakra, which shot a beam straight up. Naruto's hair suddenly became neater, although it was still spiked int the front. His blue eye became green, and he grinned as he looked at his opponent. "OK, guys. I'll distract them until the poison sinks in. You just keep Tazuna safe."
"Sorry for doubting you, but how?" Llednar asked.
"Watch, and believe..." Naruto said, raising his hand into the air. Water came out of the ground, absorbing into a ball on Naruto's palm. In a flash, the ball was replaced with Demyx's sitar. The ninja spun it around and held it as if he was going to play it, pointing at the Zabuza clones before he, indeed, did begin to play.
"Let's see how you do against my clones... Dance, Water, Dance!" Out of nowhere, various translucent colnes of Naruto appeared, all obviously made of water. They floated through the air, turning into music notes periodically and swinging themselves at Zabuza's Water Clones, effectively destroying them. The real Zabuza stared at the clones while RiD grinned. Leave it to the kid to pull this kind of thing off...
The last clone fell, and Naruto rushed with his clones towards the real Zabuza. Naruto played a riff, and pillar of water came up from below the water-nin. Zabuza, weakened slightly by the poison, was knocked away and, with another riff and pillar of water, into a tree. RiD landed on the water's surface, struggling to his feet.
"Alright, I'll handle things from here," RiD grinned at he rushed at Zabuza. However, just before he could get to him, several senbon needles hit the Swordsman, killing him. "What the-"
"Forgive me," a voice said from a nearby tree. "I felt that, since it is my job to hunt this man down, it was suiting that I finish him." RiD turned to face a boy of 12 wearing the mask of a Water Hunter-nin. "I thank you for your assistance. Now," He said, picking up Zabuza's corpse. "I must be going."
"Hey, wait a- hmm... that's strange..." RiD mused to himself.
"What's strange?" Naruto asked from the shore, having returned to normal.
"Nothing. It's... nothing." 'I thought hunter-nins destroy thier missing-nin's corpse right where they fnd them...' RiD sighed. This was turning out to be a really stressful mission...
"Alright... here we are. The Land of Waves"
"Wow... so, this is what it's like to be in another country. Kinda like being in a whole new world, huh?" Naruto asked.
"I guess you could say it like that... Listen guys, I've got something to tell you..."
"So, Haku... what information did you get from that battle?"
"The Jounin has some skill with the sword, but isn't anything you can't handle. The girl's eyes could be a problem... as is the boy in red. His sword had some kind of poison in it, but I know of some herbs that can, when made into a potion, clear that up. Meanwhile, I can handle the girl."
"And the blond in the brown clothes?"
"... I can handle him as well. He creates water, and I can control it."
"Good... As soon as I am able, we'll strike."
"WHAAAT? WHAT DO YA MEAN ZABUZA'S STILL ALIVE?" They were at Tazuna's house. Rid had just spilled the news to his team.
"It makes sense. I could still fell his heart and soul, Naruto," Xemnas said.
"Please, not so loud..." RiD complained, rubbing his ears. "Anyway, that's why, starting tomorrow, in addition to our guard duties, we will train. How many of you can climb trees without your hands?" Hinata and Llednar raised their hands. Naruto sighed. 'Of course... He didn't have a clan to teach him things like that...' "... I see... Alright. Hinata and Llednar will practice together and become stronger in thier skills. Naruto, I'll personally teach you how to climb trees." He said, forming his hand into a victory sign, his teeth flashing so bright that they'd give his old friend Gai's choppers a run for their money. "Everyone got that?"
"It doesn't matter." Everyone turned in shock to face a boy sitting on the stairs. he wore green overalls and a yellow shirt. his brown hair was covered by a white fishing hat. "In the end, you're still just gonna die!" The boy stood and walked up the stairs, leaving a silent room. After a while, Naruto broke the silence.
"Well, isn't he just Mr. Sunshine?"
"Man, this is harder than it looks!"
"Keep at it, Naruto! You'll get it eventually!
Next Time on XIII Ninja: Forest of Chakra: Practice makes Perfect!
(Free from imperio)"I'm dissapointed in this chapter, mostly because the acton wasn't really as... well, action-y as I wanted it to be. Llednar doesn't have many powers so far, Hinata was just sitting there, guarding Tazuna, Demyx-Naruto wasn't really as cool as I hoped for, and most of RiD's big skills can't be shown unless I want to completely give his identity away to anyone who doesn't already know it early. Ah well, next battle will reveal RiD's identity to all characters, so i won't have to hold back with him then. Now, I'm just gonna go to Holly's room and-"
Holly: "Imperio."
"Deliver her some snacks while she reads her book. After that I will perform like a circus animal for everyone else."
Shadow: "Awesome."
Naruto: "Totally, dattebayo!"
"In the meantime, I'll see you later-eh?"
Future James: "... You have seen NOTHING! I did NOT just alter a canon error! I repeat: you have seen NOTHING!" (vanishes)
"... Odd."
