Outsider Chronicles: Swirling Blades
Ever wondered what it'd be like to be seeing the events of one of those 'Naruto is a hidden badass' stories in person? Well, now I do. Its...interesting. Unfortunately, that also means that Sasuke is a pain in the neck and I have some incredible powers of my own. Aww well, I guess I'll just have to ensure I'm the best I can be.
And we're back. This is where I start doing some stuff that'll really set me apart from the other Naruto authors, and also introduce a character who has gone through three different redesigns to get to where she is now. Anyway, Enjoy!
Chapter 10
Zabuza was...disappointed. When he had heard that the Demon Brothers had been defeated by the Shinobi Tazuna had hired, he'd been exited. He'd been hoping for a decent fight for once. When he'd seen that the team leader was Kakashi of the Sharingan, he'd only got more excited. Surely a team trained by the legendary Copy Ninja would be incredibly strong...right?
At first it seemed that he'd get his wish when Kakashi matched him blow for blow, even managing to copy his Water Clone through the mists. Then, once he had got the upper hand and trapped Kakashi in his Water Prison, he had turned his attention to the kids. Thats when things started to go downhill quickly when the brat with the ducks butt hairdo stepped forwards and arrogantly demanded that he release Kakashi and hand over his sword in the name of the 'Great Uchiha Clan', egged on by the screeching, pink haired crossdresser.
Zabuza had been completely floored by the utterly incomprehensible demand. He knew that the Uchiha clan had a reputation of being arrogant, but they usually had the skills to back it up (even if it was stolen half the time) and weren't stupid enough to simply demand their enemy's surrender like that. And that pink howler monkey...thing, how in the world did it become a Ninja? Wasn't the Leaf supposed to be the strongest in the Elemental Nations?
His opinion didn't improve in the slightest when he created a Water Clone to deal with the brats and the Uchiha brat swaggered forwards the Clone, only to get smacked aside in a single move. The pink thing then promptly proved that she was an awful Ninja by abandoning the old man and rushing to the Uchiha's side. Now, normally Zabuza wouldn't give a damn since it made his job easier, but now he was just insulted. Those two were an insult to the title of Shinobi. At least the other kid was at the ready, although there was something odd about him.
"Enough playing around," he hissed, "Time to die old man."
The Water Clone moved forwards as the pale kid tensed. However, before the Clone could attack, Zabuza instinctively snatched his sword off his back and used it as a shield to block something that streaked out of the trees so fast that it was only his razor sharp instincts that stopped him from being impaled. Even so, the projectile still sent him skidding across the water and penetrated through Kubikiribocho before it stopped, an inch from hitting his eye. An instant later, his Water Clone exploded, the sheer force of the arrow blasting the water all over the clearing.
"What the hell," muttered the Demon of the Mist as he stared at the black arrowhead protruding from his blade.
He didn't have long to think of how scarily powerful a bow would have to be to penetrate one of the legendary Swords of the Mist, that usually required high impact Jutsu to damage, before the newly freed Kakashi went on the assault. Looks like this job might be interesting after all.
Shiki's POV
"Holy shit, what is that thing made of!?" I spluttered.
The Black Arrow was a low ranked Noble Phantasm, meaning that its Armour Piercing concept wouldn't work against higher level Noble Phantasms, but it should have been more than enough to destroy any Mortal Weapon! I really needed to get a good look at that sword. Still, I'd managed to free Kakashi and taken out the Water Clone, so that was a good start.
"Did you get him?" asked Yamato.
"No, he blocked it with his sword," I said, "Kakashi's free though and is fighting him. We should hurry."
Yamato nodded and we took off through the trees again. We arrived just in time to see Haku knock out Zabuza with her Senbon.
"A Hunter nin?" muttered Yamato, narrowing his eyes at Haku.
Then, they widened again as he hoisted Zabuza onto his shoulders and moved to leave.
"NO, Shiki, stop him!" snapped the former Anbu, "Hes a fake!"
I immediately fired an arrow at the Hyoton user, but was too late as he vanished, leaving the arrow to bite deep into the wood of the tree behind him.
"Tch, thats not good," I said, a little sore that I'd missed.
The non-useless members of Team Seven whipped around as we dropped into the clearing, weapons at the ready, but relaxed when they saw us.
"Yamato, its good to see you," said Kakashi as he pulled his headband down, "I take it you're the reinforcements Lord Hokage sent us?"
Yamato nodded.
"Thats right, and it looks like we arrived just in time," he said, "Shiki, do what you can to help Sasuke, Naruto, catch Kakashi."
"Thanks," said the cyclops, right before he collapsed onto Naruto's shoulders.
I rolled my eyes as I walked over to where Sakura was still fussing over Sasuke.
"Move it pinky," I said as I shoved her to the side.
I had little respect for the girl before this, but she'd just proven that she was completely lacking in any form of ability as a Ninja.
"Wha...HEY, DON'T PUSH ME SHIKI-BAKA!" she shrieked and moved to punch me.
I slammed my palm into her stomach without looking. It was a blow that shouldn't have hurt a Ninja with any form of muscle, which is why I was so shocked when she collapsed, gasping for breath.
"What the...Sakura, do you have any muscle at all?" I asked.
I reached out and placed a hand on her head without waiting for a response and scanned her. What I found was, frankly, rather sickening. There wasn't a bit of muscle on her body that was supposed to be there as a Ninja. Her body was what I'd expect a normal 12 year old girls to be and her Chakra was barely above Civilian level! What the hell had Kakashi been playing at?!
I made a note to ask him later and turned my attention to Sasuke. A quick glance revealed that he wasn't badly hurt, other than a small cut on his temple that wouldn't even require treatment and a rather large goose egg on the back of his head. Yeah, he wouldn't be waking up for a while and when he would, he'd have one hell of a concussion.
"Oi, Pinky, pick Sasuke up and lets go," I said.
"DON'T ORDER ME AROUND!" she shrieked.
I fixed a glare on her and leaked a small amount of KI. Yamato had taught us how to do that a few weeks ago. Sakura whimpered and backed down. With that done, I returned to my Team.
"Hows Sasuke?" asked Yamato.
"He'll have a concussion, but other than that, he's fine," I said, "Its Sakura I'm worried about. She doesn't have any muscle and her Chakra is pathetic. I'd be surprised if she can create a Clone without using nearly a quarter of her reserves."
"Thats not my fault," said Kakashi, "I've tried to train her, but she refuses point blank to do anything. I'm pretty sure the only reason she shows up to training is so she can stare at Sasuke."
"The Pink Banshee is completely unsuitable as a Ninja," said Sai, "Dickless isn't much better, but at least he can fight."
"Why haven't you dropped them then?" asked Yamato.
"Are you joking?" scoffed Kakashi, "The 'Great Uchiha', not a Ninja? The Elders would eat me alive!"
"Thats a good point, but what about Pinkie?" I asked.
"I've tried, but the Civilian Council keeps overturning it," growled Kakashi, "I was hoping that I could use this to convince them to actually become decent Ninja, but if not, I'm going straight to the Hokage."
"You should have done it a long time ago," said Yamato, "But we can discuss this later, we should get going."
He turned to Tazuna.
"How far is it to our destination?" he asked.
"Not far now," said the old man, "Follow me."
We followed the old man through the forest until we reached the shore again where a relatively large wooden house with a dock sat on the edge of the water. As we approached, the door opened to reveal...a 12 year old girl. Interesting. Still, its not like I had any reason to question a difference like this when Naruto was also a girl and I had the Unlimited Blade Works. She was the same height as Naruto and had short, black hair with her bangs held back by white clips and blue eyes. She was wearing a dark blue top and a white skirt.
"Welcome back Grandpa," said the girl.
"Thank you Miyu," said Tazuna, "Is your mother around?"
Miyu shook her head.
"She went into the village to get supplies," she said as she eyed us curiously, "Are these the Ninja you hired?"
"Yes, they are," said Tazuna, "Could you help us get Kakashi and Sasuke settled?"
Miyu nodded and led the way upstairs to a room where we put Kakashi and Sasuke down on the Futon she set up. Naruto and I shot a disgusted look at Sakura, who was completely out of breath from carrying Sasuke the short distance, before we turned to Yamato for our orders.
"Shiki, Naruto, I want the two of you to set up security Seals around the house," said the Wood user, "Considering the state Zabuza was in, he won't be moving for a while, but I don't want to run the risk of him or his employer sending goons to take us by surprise."
"What are you talking about?" asked Sakura, "Zabuza's dead, right?"
"No, hes still alive," said Naruto, "The 'Hunter-nin' used Senbon, a weapon that is immensely difficult to get a kill shot with, but can easily be used to place the body in a near death state. Plus, he took the body with him whereas any competent Hunter-nin should have just taken the head and destroyed the body there and then."
"SHUT UP NARUTO-BAKA!" shrieked Sakura, "STOP TRYING TO BE COOL FOR SASUKE!"
Naruto blinked.
"What?" she deadpanned.
Since I don't want to scar you, I won't relay exactly what Sakura's next rant included, but the basic jist of it was that Naruto was obviously trying to impress Sasuke because he's obviously the only boy worth anything in the Leaf. Once she was done, everyone conscious in the room just stared at her in complete and utter shock.
"Shiki," said Yamato.
I Traced a Kanabo and smacked her over the head with it, sending the howler monkey to lala land.
"Right, I am definitely sending her to a Yamanaka when we get back to the Village," said Yamato, "That is NOT normal. Even for a Haruno."
"Why in the world would she think I liked Sasuke in any way?" asked Naruto with a shudder, "Besides, I've already got the perfect man for me."
I rolled my eyes as Naruto kissed me on the cheek.
"Alright dear, lets go get our job done," I said.
With Shadow Clones, it didn't take long to surround the house with enough Seals that not even an ant could get through without us knowing about it. With the last Seal complete, we headed back to the house where we found that Kakashi was awake and making plans with Yamato. Since Sasuke and Sakura were apparently completely useless, the plan was to spend the next week training them then have them protect Tazuna with Sai while Team 11 and Kakashi went against Zabuza and Haku. That might be a bit of an overkill, but we were Ninja. We don't play fair.
We were just putting the finishing touches to our plan when Naruto and I stiffened. We'd just felt a presence cross out Seal line. There was only one, but they had an incredible amount of Chakra, at least Jonin levels, and they were moving fast.
"Someones coming," said Naruto.
Yamato and Sai tensed and we immediately ran downstairs, just in time for the presence to arrive at the door. We all tensed further, ready for battle. Then, the door opened.
"Tazuna, Miyu, I'm home!"
CRASH!
We all faceplanted as the tension fled.
"Oh my, do we have guests?" said the woman, as we got to our feet, "I take it that your the Ninja Tazuna hired?"
"Yes, thats right Ma'a…" started Yamato, but froze as he saw the womans face.
Naruto wasn't much better and was gaping at the woman while I felt a massive headache coming on. Why you ask? Well, Naruto and I recognized her from various pictures around her house of Kushina and her friends while Yamato probably knew her from his time in the Anbu. How was that possible you ask? Well, apparently the change wasn't that Inari was a girl, but instead that Tsunami had been replaced by the supposedly dead Mikoto Uchiha. I think this is going to be a very uncomfortable meal.
Third Person POV, Zabuza's hideout
"Well well, lookie here, the great and mighty Zabuza Momochi flat on his back," sneered a man with an Ami headband and a paper umbrella on his back as he entered the room where Zabuza was resting.
"Fuck you Aoi," growled the Swordsman of the Mist, "I'd like to see you go up against Kakashi of the Sharingan and come out on top."
Aoi Rokusho scoffed.
"Easily with my Sword of the Thunder God," he said, batting the weapon that hung at his side, "I told you I should have gone."
Zabuza growled and moved to get up, only for Haku to shove him back down.
"Stay still Zabuza," she said, "You need your rest."
She turned to Aoi and fixed him with an ice cold glare.
"As for you, if you don't shut the hell up, I'll trap you in an iceberg."
Aoi scoffed, but didn't say anything else. Despite his arrogant nature and confidence in the power of his sword, he wasn't willing to test the Ice User.
"Frankly, I'm more interested in the one who did this," said a third voice from where he was examining the damaged Kubikiribocho, "Whoever it was is an incredibly skilled archer."
"Why would you care?" growled Zabuza, "Your a swordsman."
"True, but I can feel an energy coming from this arrow," said the strange man, "I swear I've felt it before, but I cannot put my finger on why. Perhaps if I meet the owner of this energy I'll know why."
He stood, brushing off his purple hakama and adjusting his insanely long sword that lay across his back.
"Yes, I look forwards to facing this mysterious Archer," said the man.
Aoi scoffed.
"I thought you were supposed to be an Assassin," he said.
The man laughed.
"Assassin, Ronin, wandering Swordsman, I am all those things and none at all," said the man.
Aoi rolled his eyes at the Swordsmans antics.
"Enough," growled Zabuza, "It'll take me a week to recover, so go and prepare."
The two other Swordsman nodded and left the room to make preparations.
"Zabuza…"
"Quite Haku," growled Zabuza, "Just make sure I'm ready to fight as soon as possible."
The Ice user nodded and turned back to the medicine she was preparing. This was going to be a long week.
And done. So, Mikoto is still alive and seems to have taken the place of Tsunami. And just who is Miyu? Don't worry, I do actually intend to explain all this next chapter.
Zabuza and Haku have help because if they didn't, they'd be steamrolled and that would be no fun. Plus, this gives Shiki the chance to add the Sword of the Thunder God to his UBW. But just who is this mysterious other swordsman? And what is it that he can sense about Shiki's energy?
Sakura is delusional...nothing new there.
Anyway, this is done, so I'm gonna sign off. Please leave a review!