Chapter eight is here my readers!XD I'll tell you this one was the epitome of hard and I accidentally deleted it and had to start all over T_T. I should probably start the chapter before I start rambling so I won't delay it any further. Ladies and gentlemen and children of all ages, please take your seats for the next act of this fanfic is about to begin!
Chapter Eight: Good-Bye Land of Water
3rd P.O.V.
Inside a dark cave, Zetsu stood before the giant statue as a spiraling void formed and the man wearing the orange spiral mask came out holding an unconscious Kojiro under his arm. The man dropped Kojiro and walked over to Zetsu. "Is this the boy you were talking about Zetsu?"
"That's him." Black Zetsu confirmed with a nod. "Now that he's closer, I can tell without a doubt that his chakra's unstable. But I still can't figure out why it seems human but not human at the same time."
"What do you have planned for him?" White Zetsu asked looking to the blue haired boy. "With his chakra the way it is, the only good he will be is as a sacrifice for the impersonation jutsu."
"We'll take advantage of that unstable chakra." The masked man replied turning back to Kojiro. "If we add foreign chakra to his already unstable chakra network, then there will be a chance he'll go wild and destroy everything in sight."
"I see, so you plan to do that to the child." Black Zetsu said understanding in his tone. "If it works, then we'll have one less village to worry about getting in our way."
"It will be interesting to say the least." White Zetsu snickered. "I can't wait to see what kind of destruction this kid can cause!"
"Let's begin." The masked man weaved though numerous hand signs as the giant statue opened it's mouth and out came blue chakra that took the form of a dragon that enveloped Kojiro lifting him up in the air. The man clapped his hands together as red chakra started to leave the statue's mouth as well making it's way to the unconscious blue haired boy. The chakra went into Kojiro's mouth as he moaned in discomfort at the foreign substance going down his throat and into his body. "When he finishes what I have planned for him I'll extract it from him."
"That is of course if this kid does go berserk." Black Zetsu pointed out as he watched the red chakra force itself down the six year old's throat.
"I think I know something that'll guarantee him losing it." White Zetsu said with a grin looking up to Kojiro.
Kojiro P.O.V.
'I can't move.' Was the only coherent thought I could manage as I tried to make my arms and legs move only to feel pain shoot up them which made me remember the pain of being hit dead-on by an ambulance. I struggled to open my eyes but I couldn't see anything but darkness no matter which way I turned my head to scan my surroundings. 'Feels like I'm floating along a river. Does that mean I'm dead again?' the sound of something big surfacing from water reached my ears and when I looked up I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw a large turtle, but with a crab-like shell, spikes all over its body, and three shrimp-like tails. Under its shell, it has red, muscle-like tissue. It has a pair of human-like arms and hands, but no hind legs. its face is concealed between a large forehead and lower jaw, both of which have spikes. Its right eyes was closed, but I could see its left eye to see it was red with a yellow pupil. 'Isobu?!' My eyes widened in shock at seeing the three tailed turtle looking down at me. 'What the hell's Isobu doing here, wherever here is?! What's going on?!'
"Who are you?" Isobu asked in a timid manner making me remember his profile from the Naruto wiki in my past life. Not knowing what else to do, I decided to answer the giant turtlre's question.
"I'm Kojiro." I replied politely struggling to at least sit up, but pain shot through my body again so I just stayed in a laying position looking up to the giant turtle as I floated along. "Can I ask you for your name?" Isobu just continued to look down to me as I waited patiently for his response. I can see the contemplative look in Isobu's eye and I understood right away that he's trying to determine if I'm trustworthy so I remained silent and left him to his thoughts as I got lost in my own. 'The last thing I remember is laying in my futon about to go to sleep when I felt a hand being clasped over my mouth and when I opened my eyes I saw something red before passing out.' Realization dawned on me when I remembered something red that can make people pass out. 'Genjutsu! And not just any genjutsu, but a genjutsu from a Sharingan!'
"My name is Isobu." Isobu's timid voice forced me out of my thoughts as I looked up at the giant three tailed turtle. "But why do you ask for my name?"
"Because you asked who I was." I replied giving him a friendly smile from where I was laying. "It was only fair I did the same, right?"
Isobu began to half submerged himself until his one open eye were at the same level as my body. I turned my head to the side so I was looking Isobu in the eye and we both didn't say a word to each other. I was about to say something when I was suddenly pulled down and I unconsciously held my breath as I looked down to see what was dragging me down and I immediately regretted it when I saw a scaly hand gripping one of my legs dragging me down. I followed the hand to see it was connected to an equally scaly arm of a humanoid silhouette.
'What the hell is that thing?!' I thought eyes wide in panic as I tried to shake my leg free but the creature just tightened it's grip. The creature turned its head back to me and the sight of a pair of glowing yellow eyes wasn't helping the panic attack I was having right now as I doubled my effort to get free. 'Let go! Let me go!' I tried using my other leg to kick myself free but the creature wouldn't let go no matter how much I struggled. My lungs felt like they were on fire and held my hands over my mouth trying to keep the air in. 'Can't... breathe... can't... hold it.' I shut my eyes as the air I was holding forced itself out of my mouth that was quickly filled with water. 'I'm going to die!'
My eyes shot open and I quickly sat up breathing hard drenched in cold sweat. 'A dream?' I looked around and sighed in relief to see I was in my room at Mrs. Shinomiya's house and placed a hand over my chest as I tried to calm my rapidly beating heart. 'Thank god, it was just a nightmare.'
"I bet you think that it was all a bad dream, don't you?" I jumped at the sudden voice and looked up to see what looked like a Venus Flytrap growing on the ceiling before it opened for me to see a man with green hair and yellow eyes whose body was completely black on the right half and white on the left half. "I assure you it wasn't."
"Demon aloe plant!" I couldn't help but blurt out as I backed away from the man until my back hit the wall. "What's a demon aloe plant doing in my room?!"
"That was an unexpected reaction." The black half commented while the white half snickered as they split apart.
"First of all, we aren't a demon aloe plant." The white half said as they detached from the ceiling and flipped to land on their feet. "Secondly, this isn't your room."
"W-what are you talking about?" I stuttered out as I looked around my room only to watch it shatter and in its place was a dark cave. My eyes widened in shock and my body shook at the sight of a giant, earthen-colored humanoid entity with a decayed appearance, a body shaped into a robe, and a number of spike-like protrusions on its back with nine eyes and shackled arms and legs. 'The Gedo Statue?!'
The sound of snickering forced me to tear my gaze away from the Gedo Statue back to the plant man. "Oh look, he's scared."
"He should be." The black half said as they slowly approach me. "It would make our task easier if he is scared."
"W-what t-task?" I asked anxiously afraid of what they're planning. "W-What d-do you want with me?"
"We know about that unstable chakra of yours." Black Zetsu replied to my shock at the knowledge of them watching me. "We want you use it."
'Why does Zetsu want me to use my chakra?' I thought as I tried to stop my body from shaking. 'This is definitely different from watching everything from a screen or reading from a manga!' I looked around the room to find an escape route but couldn't find one. 'I need to find a way out of here!'
"Is something wrong kiddo?" My eyes widened in shock at the familiar voice and looked back to Zetsu to see that in his place was a man with short blue hair with his bangs to the sides framing his face and brown eyes wearing the mist ninja headband, a blue long sleeved shirt under a flak jacket, and black pants grinning down to me. "You look like you've seen a ghost."
I couldn't believe my eyes that started to water at the person in Zetsu's place. Standing in front of me was my father, Kosuke Kurosawa, the man that went missing with my mother. "Pa-papa?" Without me knowing, I was reaching out to the man before his form changed back to Zetsu. "No." My outstretched hand quivered as my head shook in denial. "They can't be..."
White Zetsu started to laugh at the devastated look on my face. "That's right, although they didn't make it easy for us!" Tears ran down my face when Zestu started to change form again into a beautiful woman with long silky smooth auburn hair and lime green eyes the same shade as mine wearing a black shirt under a flak jacket and black pants. "No wonder they were called the mist's strongest combo of their generation."
"You're lying." I managed to say quietly as Zetsu returned to normal. I couldn't stop my body from shaking at the thought of their words being true and my parents are truely dead. "It's just a trick."
"If you want proof of our words being true, then look over there." Black Zetsu said pointing to one part of the cave and I followed his finger to look where he was pointing to see two figures laying on the ground. My body felt numb when I recognized who the two figures laying on the ground were and I didn't want to believe what my eyes were seeing.
"Ma-mama, papa." Laying dead on the ground in a pool of their own blood with green spikes piercing their backs were my parents, Kosuke and Akane Kurosawa. I got to my feet and slowly walked past Zetsu towards the bodies of my parents. 'They can't be dead. It's another genjutsu, it has to be.' When I reached the bodies, I fell to my knees and reached out to them to feel their cold skin against my warm fingers. The tears running down my face wouldn't stop when the revelation that this wasn't a genjutsu hit me. I didn't know when I started, but my anguished screams echoed off the cave walls and my body felt like it was on fire.
3rd P.O.V.
Both Black and White watched in fascination as the ground around the screaming Kojiro started to make cracks filled with boiling water and the steam melted any nearby stalagmite. The melted stalagmite began to become molten hot lava surrounding Kojiro and his dead parents as the six year old continued to scream in anguish, his tears evaporating into steam the moment they hit the molten hot ground.
"See, I told you this would set him off." White Zetsu said as the lava and steam continued to circle around the blue haired boy.
"That may be the case." Black Zetsu said taking a step forward only to back away when the steam suddenly began to expand before going back to circling around Kojiro. "But we can't get close to him without getting melted in the process."
"It's because of his unstable chakra." Both Zetsu's looked behind them to see the masked man appearing in a spiraling void. "With the revelation that his parents are dead, the boy is unconsciously tapping into his chakra making more unstable and out of control." He took a step forward and the steam expanded again only for the man to walk through unfazed by it. "Now that's he's out of control, it's time for him to use that unstable chakra." When he reached Kojiro he reached for the boy's shoulder when a blue glass-like spike erupted from the ground seemingly piercing the masked man in the chest. "Oh, this boy is full of surprises." He gripped Kojiro's shoulder forcing the boy to turn around and look him in the eye. The moment Kojiro looked into the eye hole of the mask his expression went blank and the steam began to dissipate and the spike shattered.
"Is it safe now?" White Zetsu asked from the far end of the cave.
"Obviously considering the lack of acidic steam." Black Zetsu replied and the two got closer to the masked man and Kojiro. "I take it the boy's under your genjutsu now?"
"For now." The masked man replied looking down to Kojiro. "It was a bit difficult with his unstable chakra, but he should be under control long enough for what we have planned for him." He made a ram hand sign and an opening formed before looking down to Kojiro. "Go and destroy the hidden mist village, leave no survivors." The boy nodded numbly before walking towards the opening and exiting the cave.
"I knew that would work." White Zetsu snickered looking towards Akane and Kosuke's bodies. "No child can keep their emotions in check after seeing the dead bodies of their parents."
"It still annoys me that it took longer than we expected to kill them." Black Zetsu commented before looking to the masked man. "What will you do if he breaks free of your genjutsu?"
"If he does then I'll kill him." The masked man replied as the opening closed and he walked over to the giant statue. "All we need is for him to use his unstable chakra along with what we gave him to destroy the mist village. And when that's done we'll extract it and move along to our other plans."
"I guess I better send one over then." White Zetsu said as he made another copy of himself that began to change its form to a short boy with short, messy, grey hair, which fell over the right side of his face and spiked up on the left. He also had pink, pupiless eyes and what seemed to be a stitch-like scar running from under his left eye, all the way down his cheek. His attire included a grey, sleeveless shirt with the mist forehead protector attached to the front, as well as a short-sleeved mesh armor, which he wore a green poncho. He also wore a turquoise sash around his waist, paired with a matching green apron over his pants and a pair of brown boots. Along with it, he is carrying a club with uneven sized hooks, which bared a green flower on the larger end on his back. "A village would need their 'Kage' should it be attacked after all."
Kojiro walked through the fog stumbling when he tripped on exposed tree roots but continued to walk with a blank expression on his face. Growling could be heard as a pack of wolves surrounded Kojiro with a hungry look in their eyes. Kojiro stopped walking not the least bit fazed by the sight of the wolves that were walking circles around him waiting for an opportunity to pounce.
In another part of the forest, three figures jumped through the tree branches. The figure on the right was a middle aged man with blue hair which is styled in a moused-up manner. His left eye was blue and his right eye was covered with an eye-patch. He wore a talisman in each ear with the kanji for a humble form of "to hear" written on them twice on each side. He is wearing a striped, grey suit, with a green haori that had white trimmings that stop halfway down, over them.
The figure on the left was a man with short, tufty blue hair, and dark eyes and pointed teeth. He wears square, black-rimmed glasses connected to ear protectors, a blue pin-striped shirt and camouflage pattern pants. He wears his forehead protector on the front of his holster and on his back was a wide, flat blade with two curved indentations near its base, creating a sort of cross-guard. Two handles are connected to one another by a short length of cord wrapped in bandages. He also has shuriken holsters strapped onto each of his legs.
The figure in the middle was a tall, slender woman with fair skin. She has green eyes, and ankle-length, auburn hair styled into a herringbone pattern at the back, a top-knot tied with a dark blue band, and with four bangs at the front. Two bangs are short, with one covering her right eye, and two are long, crossing each other on her bust, just below her chin. She is wearing a long-sleeved, dark blue dress that falls just below the knees. It seems to be closed at the front with a zipper, and is kept open on the front-right side from the waist down. The dress only covers up to the upper part of her arms and the underside of her breasts. Underneath, she wears a mesh armor that covers slightly more of her upper body than her dress. She also wears a skirt in the same color as her dress and, underneath those, mesh leggings reaching down over her knees. Around her waist, she wears a belt with a pouch attached to the back on the left along with high-heeled sandals, and shin-guards reaching up over her knees.
"Wait." The middle aged man said as they stopped on a tree branch casting a wary look around them. "Do you hear that?"
"I-it sounds like a pack of wolves." The blue haired man said nervously. "What are we going to do."
"Ao, see where they are so we can avoid them." The woman said calm.
"Yes ma'am." The now named Ao nodded as the veins around his right eye bulged. He was silent for a moment before turning to his companions. "They're twenty meters in front of us, and they have a child surrounded."
"A child?" The woman asked looking to Ao. "What's a child doing all the way out here?"
"I don't know." Ao shook his head his eyes narrowing. "Wait, somethings wrong. The wolves are attacking each other."
"Attacking each other?!" The blue haired man asked in shock. "Why would they attack each other?"
"How should I know?" Ao replied turning his attention back to analyzing the situation ahead of them. "If I had to make a guess, I would say it's the child."Seeing the confused looks on his companions faces he elaborated. "I'm not certain, but it looks like mist is coming out of the child's body and its causing the wolves to attack each other."
"Did you say mist?" The woman asked her eye narrowing a bit. "For now, we should get the child to safety before we continue on. Come Ao, Chojuro."
"Ma'am!" Her companion's said at the same time and they began jumping branches again. When they arrived, they saw Kojiro surrounded by mangled bodies of wolves before he continued to walk in the direction of the mist village.
"There's something wrong with that little girl." Chojuro commented watching Kojiro's back nervously. "It was like she wasn't fazed by the wolves at all."
"First of all Chojuro, that child is a boy." Ao said shocking the blue haired swordsman. "Secondly, I don't even think he's even aware that he's surrounded by mangled corpses of wolves." He pulled out a kunai and threw it towards Kojiro cutting the fabric of his kimono's sleeve. "See, he didn't even stop to look around to find where the kunai came from."
"He's most likely under genjutsu then." The woman mused. "But why use it on a child?"
"Um, it might have been for the mist." Chojuro suggested getting the attention of his two companions.
"Please explain Chojuro." The woman requested politely.
"Uh right." Chojuro said nervously adjusting his glasses. "Ao said that mist was coming out of his body right?" When the two nodded he continued. "If the mist can turn a pack of wolves against each other, what do you think would happen if he lets it out in the middle of the village?"
"It would be a massacre." The woman said in realization looking back to Kojiro. "We have to stop him and break that genjutsu. But be gentle, he's only a child."
"Ma'am!" Chojuro and Ao both jumped off the branch landing in front of Kojiro who stopped walking and mist started to leave his body.
"No you don't!" Chojuro reached for his sword holding both handles before swinging it like a fan blowing away the mist.
"Good work." Ao commented getting behind Kojiro weaving through hand signs before clapping his hands together. "Water Style: Water Prison Jutsu!" The mist around them started to surround Kojiro trapping him in a sphere of water with one of Ao's arms submerged in it. Kojiro looked behind him to stare at Ao with his lifeless eyes as the water sphere started to bubble up and steam rised from it and Ao cringed at the burning feeling on his arm.
"Release it Ao." The woman said landing in front of Kojiro with her hands in the ram hand sign. Ao nodded and removed his hand causing the boiling water to fall with Kojiro landing on his feet and was about to retaliate when the woman placed her middle and index fingers against his forehead. "Release!" Kojiro's eyes widened for a moment before they slowly closed and fell forward into the woman's arms.
Kojiro P.O.V.
I groaned when I regained consciousness and I slowly opened my eyes to see I was in a forest staring up at a clear starry sky. I turned my head to the side to see a campfire burning brightly illuminating the clearing. I shivered when a chill went up my spine and I realized I was cold even though I have a blanket over me and I was next to a fire.
"Oh, you're awake." I looked up to see a woman with long red hair with her bangs covering one of her green eyes standing over me holding a cup. "Do you think you can sit up?" I blushed when I realized I could see up her skirt before looking away and nodding. She sat down next to me as I sat up and held out the cup to me. "Here, this should help warm you up."
"Thank you." I said shyly taking the cup before taking a sip and letting out a content sigh when my body started to feel warm. "So good."
The woman chuckled giving me a warm smile. "I'm glad you like it."
"So the brat's awake now?" I turned to see a middle aged man with an eye patch on his right eye walking over with pieces of wood in his arms followed by a younger man with a sword wrapped in bandages on his back carrying wood too.
"He is Ao." The woman nodded before turning to me. "Now that they're here, allow me to introduce ourselves." She gestured to herself. "My name is Mei Terumi." She then gestured to the middle aged man and the blue haired man respectively behind her. "And these two are Ao and Chojuro." She the gestured to me. "And your name is?"
'Should I tell them my name?' I thought looking down at my cup. 'I know they mean me no harm, considering what they did during the fourth great war, but I can't take the risk.' I looked to the trio from the corner of my eye to see that they were patiently waiting for my response, though Ao looks like he's ready to blow his top, before looking at my cup again to stare at my reflection. "...Kojiro."
"Kojiro huh?" Mei mused with a gentle smile. "That's a good name, your parents chose well."
"Speaking of which." Ao interrupted looking to me. "Where are your parents young man?"
I looked away from them when the memory of my parents resurfaced and my shoulders shook a little as I fought to keep my tears from falling. "They're... They're dead." I tightened my grip on my cup as the tears slid down my face and I bit my bottom lip. It was silent after that and I was grateful because I need time to collect myself before I have an outburst. I reached up to my hair for my mother's hair stick only for my eyes to widen when I realized it was gone and started to frantically look around. "My hair stick!"
"You mean this?" I looked over to Chojuro to see he was holding my mother's hair stick in his hands. "We didn't want you to feel uncomfortable while were sleeping, so we took it off." He then held it out to me. "Here."
I quickly reached out dropping my cup and grabbed the hair stick out of his hands and started to inspect it carefully before sighing in relief. "Thank goodness."
"It means a lot to you, doesn't it?" Mei asked gently and I knew from her voice that she was being careful of what she says. I just nodded holding the hair stick closer to myself. "Was it your mother's?"
Again I just nodded as I looked back to them when I noticed Ao's right arm was bandaged. "Your arm."
"Hm?" Ao looked to his arm. "Oh this, it's nothing, just a small burn."
'That's not just a small burn.' I thought when I looked at his arm carefully. 'Even though it's bandaged, I can still tell that those are second-degree burns from the gaps between the bandages.' It was then that I remembered what Ryuji told me about my chakra and I looked down to my hands with a remorseful look on my face. "I-I did that, didn't I?"
"No, you didn't!" Chojuro frantically said waving his hand in front of himself. "It was just an accident when we set the fire."
"There's no point lying to the boy." Ao said as I clenched the blanket over my lap tightly in my small fists. "It's true that you did this, but you weren't in control. Can you tell us how you were under that genjutsu?"
'Genjutsu?' I looked to Ao with a confused look on my face. 'I was under a genjutsu?' I looked down in thought trying to see what I remember. 'I remember I was celebrating my birthday with Mrs. Shinomiya and Ryuji and looking out my window to stare at the full moon. I can't remember anything after that except seeing my parents' bodies in a dark cave.' I then look back to Ao and shook my head. "I don't remember."
"You don't remember?" Ao repeated in surprise and I nodded in confirmation and he crossed his arms in thought being careful of his burned arm. "Probably so you won't be able to recognize them if you were to see them again."
"For now why don't you get some sleep Kojiro?" Mei suggested gently pushing me down and pulling the blanket over my chest. "You had a long night."
I gave her a small smile and nodded. "Thank you for the drink Miss. Mei, it was really good." I then closed my eyes and fell into a dreamless sleep.
3rd P.O.V.
"What should we do about Kojiro?" Chojuro asked casting a worried look to the sleeping six year old. "We can't take him with us."
"I agree." Ao nodded agreement as he tossed a piece of wood in the fire. "I don't think it's a good idea to leave him in the village either, if that mist is what I think it is, he'll be dead the moment the village learns of it."
"No choice then." Mei suddenly said walking to the duo. "Kojiro will have to leave the Land of Water until we can make this land better for everyone."
The next day, Kojiro opened his eyes to see he was riding piggyback on Ao and started to rub the sleep out of his eyes.
"You awake kid?" Ao asked suddenly startling the boy.
"Uh, yeah, I'me awake." Kojiro replied holding onto the middle aged man's shoulders as not to fall off. Kojiro looked ahead of them to see they were approaching a harbor. "What are we doing here?"
"You're going on that ship there." Ao said putting emphasis on 'you're' nodding his head towards a ship that just docked as he knelt down so I can get off. "I'm only here to drop you off."
"What about Miss. Mei and Mr. Chojuro?" Kojiro asked looking around for the middle age man's companions.
"They went on ahead." Ao replied kneeling in front of Kojiro. "Listen kid, you need to get on that ship and leave the Land of Water."
"What?" Kojiro had a look of shock on his face. "Why?"
"Because if you don't then you will die." Ao replied calmly and Kojiro's eyes widened in shock at what the man in front of him said. "We have reason to believe that you might have a Kekkei Genkai and because you might have one is why it's dangerous for you to stay here."
'Oh yeah, people with a Kekkei Genkai were persecuted and even killed.' Kojiro thought with a sad look on his face.
"It's time Kojiro." Kojiro looked up to Ao's stern gaze. "Get on that ship and don't come back." Kojiro opened his mouth to protest but Ao cut him off. "This isn't up for debate, you're getting on that ship even if I have to drag you."
Kojiro hung his head in defeat and nodded. "But I don't have a ticket or money to buy one." Ao cleared his throat and Kojiro looked up to see he was holding out a ticket.
"Mei got this for you and wishes you the best of luck out there." Ao said looking to the side.
Kojiro lookded from Ao to the ticket and back before smiling and taking the ticket. "Thank you, Mr. Ao." He then ran to the ship and Ao vanished. Kojiro gave his ticket and got on the ship. The shipe began to leave port and Kojiro stood at the back tightly gripping the wooden railing as he watched the place of his birth get farther and farther away. "Good-bye Landa of Water, Mrs. Shinomiya, Noriko, Ryuji. I promise I'll be back someday."
Do you know what time it is? You guessed it! It's time for me to reply to your reviews to show you readers how much I care about your opinions and support for this fanfic!
SilverDragon1218: I don't know, who do you think it is? Sorry to leave you hanging like that, but you gotta admit it built up your anticipation to learn what happens next right? Thank you for support and I look forward to your future reviews as always.
Rodvek97: Glad you like it. Don't remind me! It broke my heart in two to write that T_T. And I thank you for taking the time to read my fanfic and I look forward to your future reviews.
Luckyshot8: Yeah, that was a nice touch wasn't it?
Hayato Hyuga: Happy to hear I haven't disappointed you, I'll do my best.
Guest: Glad to hear that you think Kojiro's mother is a nice lady.
KitKedd: Happy to hear your less stress from reading my fanfic and happy to hear it helped. And I thank you for reading and I'll be waiting to read your future reviews.
And with that, this act has come to a close and I look forward to seeing you all again for the next act.
