Chapter 9: Return to Konoha
(Cue Song Heart of the Village by Dale North from Project Majestic Mix: A Tribute to Nobuo Uematsu)
Five days had passed since the battle on the bridge. After the battle I unsealed all the food I bought and we had ourselves a nice dinner. Sasuke and Sakura were recovering. Kakashi was watching over them. And Naruto, Zabuza, Haku, the Demon Bros and I helped fix and finish the bridge with Tazuna. At first I was asked a lot of questions from the town's people. Like "What were those wings?" or "What was that sword you used?" I managed to sum it up in four words. "It's a ninja thing." The populace accepted this and so I and my friends were treated like heroes. They even gave me a nickname. "The Angel Warrior" I thought it was a cool name.
The first thing I did was to get some casual clothes for Zabuza and his group. They complained at first, well the men did, but I told them that they looked like nukenin. They ended up getting some but only cause I was buying. Zabuza settled with jeans and a white shirt while keeping his zori sandals. Meizu and Gozu went with jeans as well but Meizu went with a green t-shirt, while Gozu went with an aqua t-shirt. The two looked quite handsome without the heavy, baggy, dark clothing and masks. But Haku went for an ice blue t-shirt and skirt which went down to her knees. I decided to get out of the clothes that I was wearing and chose a white pair of three quarter length pants and a black shirt which also had two angel wing traces on the back. Naruto came out of the store wearing black three quarter length pants and an orange shirt. I guess that even though he was forced to buy clothes that would one day get him killed, he still liked the colour.
The rest of the time we spent there was good. As we worked with Tazuna I learned lots of things about my new clan members. By the time the bridge was finished we acted as if we had been friends for life. Zabuza, even though he had killed many people, was a real softie. The twins were really friendly when they weren't using the tough act. And that Haku was actually a lesbian. Now that threw me for a loop. For most of the time Zabuza sealed his sword into a scroll for easy carrying unless on a mission.
Eventually the day came for us to leave. Saying our goodbyes was emotional for some like Naruto and Inari as they bawled silently. I shook Tazuna's hand. "We'll see you later guys," I said as we started walking over the bridge to the mainland. The trip was easy going with Naruto and Sasuke squabbling every now and then. It all started when Naruto was recounting his victory against Gozu when Sasuke butted in.
"Shut up weakling," he said as he was pissed that he got defeated.
"What'd you say?" Naruto said.
"I said you're a weakling," Sasuke repeated.
"I know you are but what am I?" Naruto countered, grinning.
"You're a dobe!" said Sasuke heatedly.
"I know you are but what am I?"
"You're an idiot!"
"I know you are but what am I?" The two then started saying the same thing.
"I know you are but what am I? I know you are but what am I?! I know you are but what am I?!! I know you are but what am I?!!! I know you are but what am I?!!!!" Naruto ended the match by saying "Infinity!" after his sixth consecutive "I know you are but what am I?" Sasuke developed a twitch above his right eye but didn't say anything back.
Those two weren't the only ones to argue. Kakashi got into a heated argument with Zabuza who called him an "Old Man" due to his silver hair. Kakashi countered with "Eyebrowless freak!" The rest of the verbal match went like this.
"One eyed hypocrite!"
"Cow lick haired idiot!" After this it got quite personal. Nevertheless we enjoyed the entertaining verbal bouts. Zabuza won by the way. He smirked all the way back to Konoha with Kakashi sniffing every now and then.
As we walked through the gates Izumo and Kotetsu waved us in. We trooped to the Hokage's office straight away to report on the mission and to talk about my new clan members.
The Hokage was surprised by all this but stated that I didn't break any laws by accepting them into my clan. He then asked if they wanted to be instated as ninja of the Leaf Village. They all nodded and the Hokage said that he would send word on a time for them to be tested; to judge whether they would be Chunnin or Jounin. I then remembered something to ask to the Hokage.
"Sir, I would like to add an alias to my ninja profile please. The people of Wave gave me the nickname 'The Angel Warrior' and I would like to be recognised as this in the future, please." Sarutobi smiled. "Very well, with these facts I am obliged to list 'The Angel Warrior' as one of your aliases in your ninja profile. You may leave now." The Hokage said as he went to pull out my file. We then walked back to the Namikaze Compound and showed Zabuza and the rest around the complex.
"Man! What a place!" exclaimed Zabuza. Meizu nodded. "You guys have a great crib!" he agreed. Gozu and Haku just looked at the place opened mouthed. Naruto and I then showed them to their new rooms. After 30 minutes to let them settle down we met up in the lounge room and I retold my story. They took it better than I thought. Zabuza looked a little shocked but nodded. "It all fits into place now. There's no way that someone could have just found Soul Calibur lying on the ground." Meizu and Gozu nodded. Haku looked at me and asked, "So you are dead in your own world?" I nodded. "Yeah. Not how I pictured myself dying but I guess when your time comes then you can't do much about it. At least I died saving people. I have no regrets."
"Well what now?" asked Zabuza. I smiled. "Now is the ceremony for you to join into my clan. I need you to recite my clan code and then I will brand you on the back of your hands ok?" I asked. They didn't have any problems with this so I started with the code.
"I pledge myself, to the Kitsune Clan. We shall fight against those that do harm to people that we care for, wether they be friends, family, partners, or those we have pledged to protect."
Zabuza was the first to recite the code. After he had finished he extended his hand. I drew Soul Calibur and touched the tip to the back of his hand. Instantly a simplified drawing of a fox's head with wings on either side showed up on his hand. The black markings pulsed with blue energy once before a new mark appeared above the fox's head. It was the kanji word for Cleaver.
"The main marking is my clan's emblem. The mark above that is your call sign. An alias, if you will." Zabuza nodded to say that he understood. The others all resited the code and received the clan's mark as well as their new nickname. Haku had the kanji for 'Ice Maiden', Meizu got 'Ying' and Gozu got 'Yang'. After the ceremony was finished I decided that we needed a maid to do the cleaning and cooking.
"Let's face it. The only female in this house is now Haku. The rest of us are all males and I'll be honest. I'm not very tidy myself. What about you guys?" I asked. All the guys looked sheepish. Haku smirked. "I always have to clean up after these guys." I sighed. "Well that's that. I'm going to put an ad in the local paper. With a house this size I think that we might need two maids but I'm going to see how one goes. If that's all we need then fine. After that we are going clothes shopping. We need you guys, and girl, to get yourselves a nice full wardrobe. Naruto, you're in on this as well. I also need to get some new clothes. Then we'll swing by Higurashi's weapons store to get you out fitted with anything you need. This is all on me by the way but it will be up to you to pay for your own things afterwards, ok?" I asked. They nodded. I then went and got a piece of paper and pen and wrote the ad down.
"Looking for a maid. Needs to be good at cleaning and cooking. No age bracket. Ring 62503090 between 6:00pm and 8:00pm to make an appointment for an interview."
(Cue Song Three Little Birds by Sean Paul and Ziggy Marley from Shark Tale - Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Pleased with what I had written we trooped off to the 'Leaf Journal' to put the ad in. Their office wasn't busy at that moment so we went straight on ahead. The receptionist smiled at me. "What can I do for you today?" she asked. I fumbled in my pocket and pulled out the ad. I handed the piece of paper to her and said, "I need this job offer in the paper." "For how many days?" she asked. I thought about it for a moment before saying, "Three days please." She smiled. "The ad will be in tomorrow's paper. That comes to 3000 ryo please," I gave her three 1000 ryo bills. "Thank you," she said, smiling again.
We then walked to the clothes store where I bought Naruto's white leather coat from. We must've been there for 2 hours. I chose a few black t-shirts and a few pairs of white ¾ length pants. I also got a couple of shorts in the same colour. I found a white hoddie that would be great for casual wear. After that it was just some socks and boxers. In one corner of the store there were a few shoes on sale. Skimming my eyes over them I found a pair of black sneakers. I picked them up and walked around to see what else I could find. I spotted a hat that I liked. It was a simple white cap with nothing on it. 'Perfect for putting my clan symbol on the front,' I thought. I decided that this was enough casual ware for the moment, so I sat down to wait for the others.
Meizu was the first out after me. His hands were full of light greens and blacks. Placed on top was a dark green beanie. It turned out that he had chosen a few black cargos and several shirts of different styles, all in light green. Tucked under one arm was a pair of green sneakers. Zabuza was next out. He had chosen a few grey cargos and several styles of shirts, some in white, some in black. One t-shirt had a black tribal print on a grey background. He also opted for a pair of sneakers that were black. Haku had followed Zabuza out. She chose a few more ice blue dresses in different styles but she also chose a few yellow shirts and light green, knee length skirts. A few more minuets and out came Gozu. It looked like he opted to go for jeans instead of cargos. He had a few light coloured shirts, mostly reds and blues, and had a pair of grey shoes. And last was Naruto. He chose to wear bright yellows, oranges and blues for both shirts and pants. A red cap with the Konoha symbol on the front in white was placed on his head.
I looked around to make sure that everyone was here. I then paid for the purchases and we exited the shop. I turned around to my friends. "Now that we have taken care of casual, now we'll get us some formal wear." I said and walked to another shop. This one was responsible for formal clothes such as kimonos, yukatas, formal dresses, hakamas and more. After half an hour of thinking about the design of our yukatas we put the order in and I paid up. We then visited Higurashi's for stocking up. The twins looked around where the cat claws were while Zabuza talked with Tenchu about making some adjustments to his sword. Haku was looking at all the different types of sebon needles and Naruto was stocking up on his kunais. Since I didn't need to buy anything yet I decided to take a walk. Making sure that Naruto knew where I was going and handing him my wallet for the purchases (also reminding him to not go on a massive shopping spree) I walked out of the store and strolled along the small river that runs through the town. As I was looking at the water I was not looking where I was going and so I bumped into someone. The person gave a small cry as they crashed to the ground. I spun around ready to start apologising but stopped short as I saw the sight before me.
(Cue Song Crystal Note by Scudelia Electro from King of Bandits Jing: OST)
A beautiful girl with long bright orange hair was on the ground in front of me. She looked to be 16 years old. Parcels were scattered around her. She looked up at me and I saw her bright orange coloured eyes. 'She's cute…' I thought. I then realised that I was staring at her and shook myself mentally. I extended my hand to her. "I'm very sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going." I said. She smiled shyly as she grasped my hand. "That's alright. I was spacing out as well," she said in a soft voice. I helped her up and we started picking up her things. Once finished I handed her things back to her. "Thank you," she said. "No problem," I said, smiling kindly. "What's you name?" She looked down at the ground and smiled softly. "Um… my name's Tatsuta," she said shyly. "Tatsuta, that's a nice name," I said thinking out loud. By this time the sun was setting, washing Konoha with a rustic colour. The light was shining off her hair, deepening the orange colour. I had my breath taken away. She was quite beautiful and her hair enhanced her round face. Her voice then broke me out of my musings. "Um… what's your name?" she asked. I slapped my head. 'Idiot!' I looked back at her and smiled. "My names Josh," I said gently. Tatsuta smiled at me. "Well it was nice meeting you Josh, but I have to be going now. I hope we meet in the future," she said. "Yeah," was all I could say as she walked away. I stood there for a few minutes before walking back to the store, all the while thinking about the orange haired girl named after autumn.
(Cue Song Junsuisa na Iyashite Iku from Da Capo TV Original Soundtrack)
When I arrived back at Higurashi's, everyone was waiting for me. Naruto slapped his hand on my back. "Hey Aniki, we were just about to leave you," he said as he gave me back my wallet. I smiled. "Well I'm here now. You all finished?" I asked. Meizu and Gozu brandished their new cat claws. Unlike their old ones, which were quite ordinary looking with no special markings other than a serrated edge, these were made of a black metal called Obsidian. The claws were slightly longer and without a serrated edge. The ends of the claws were tipped in some sort of silver coloured metal, giving them the appearance of real cat claws.
Looking at Haku she held up some sort of disk launcher. I looked closer at it and recognised it as a Blaster-Edge. Pretty much what it does is shoots a serrated disk at the target, the disk slices into it and then returns to the launcher. It seemed like you had to pump chakra into the weapon so the disk could return to you. Otherwise it would be like using a slightly oversized shrunken. The weapon also seemed to be designed for upgrades. The reason I recognised the weapon is that Rinoa from Final Fantasy VIII used this weapon.
Zabuza's zanbato was getting remodelled and Naruto just seemed to get some more kunai so we walked to Ichiraku's for dinner. When we all walked in Ayame and Teuchi looked happy that we were still around. As we ate Ayame was looking at Gozu in a slightly lustful way. Gozu was oblivious to this though for he was digging into his ramen. It seemed that it was the first time he had ramen. The same was for Zabuza, Meizu and Haku as they all were slurping down the noodles.
After eating we said goodbye and received a stuttered reply from Ayame that was directed at Gozu. We walked home and everyone pretty much went to bed after that. I stayed up to continue my research into Naruto's seal. I worked well into the night. Around three in the morning I found the missing piece that I needed. I decided to wait for morning and so I just packed up and went for a quick shower. I then hopped into bed and didn't wake until much later.
I awoke to whiteness. I got up and saw Sophie smiling at me. I smiled back. "Hi, Sophie,"
"Hello Josh. I see that you are going to extract the piece of Soul Edge from Kyuubi tomorrow," she stated. I nodded. "Do you have a way of sealing it?" she asked. I shook my head. She smiled again. "The technique for this job is called 'Soul Sealing'. The seal is stronger than Shiki Fuujin and it uses energy from Soul Calibur. All you need to do is touch Soul Calibur to the piece of Soul Edge and say 'Soul Sealing'. You need not worry about sending the piece to me for I will come down and get them myself after you have all the pieces. Now I'll let you get on with sleeping."
