"Hello, nice to meet you" Naruto said as he walked closer to the duo, Araya and Yodo who looked surprised at his appearance
"His name is Naruto Uzumaki, not the Hokage's son. You two back away we are going to spar." Shinki said in calm tone
"Araya" Araya said as he walked away
"Be careful leader can be very strict. Yodo" Yodo said with a cool tone as she also retreated to give them space
The both of them took their place, standing 10 m away from each other, "Why don't you start?" Naruto said with a teasing smirk, in a tone that implied that he was looking down on him. It was a tactic to unhinge his opponent as a foe losing his cool is better for him in all situations.
"I wish to see why you are so confident so how about you start?" Shinki did not take the bait and his iron sand drilled into the ground while he was talking
'Let's see if he can react to this casual attack.'
"Okay" Naruto said as he took out a shuriken and threw it casually towards Shinki
The attack might have been nothing to Naruto but in Shinki's eyes it was really too fast as it broke through the sound barrier and entered his range instantly. He blocked with ease with his magnetism but he was astonished that was done with such ease.
'His attack is too fast that means his body is trained to high degrees.' Shinki concluded and attacked with his iron sand from beneath but it didn't pierce through
"Hehe, did you think I didn't notice. Earth is my element so try harder or else I will be disappointed." Naruto chuckled and looked at him with contempt
'Come on show me how good you are.'
Shinki finally got serious, the iron sand floated around him and with a thought it pelted Naruto in the form of bullets. 'Let's see if you can dodge this.' Shinki thought as readied a spear just in case and was waiting for Naruto to try dodging.
Naruto saw the incoming attack in slow motion as it was not close to his speed but it came from everywhere with little space in between, unless he transformed into smaller form he wouldn't be able to dodge completely. Naruto decided to show Shinki that his power was not much compared to others in this world; he was too confident and arrogant with his skills.
'I hope he is okay with being shown humility. I think the Kazekage would agree as he should already know my level.' Naruto thought as he stood there with no intention to move and clapped his hands with enormous speed which caused a shockwave to form that stopped the iron sand drizzle and spread to Shinki along with duo.
Naruto quickly used his wind manipulation to cancel it before it hit the duo while Shinki used Iron sand to block it successfully as he was only blasted away with minor damage.
"You did well stopping that but do you really think..." Naruto said as he closed in and from behind he whispered into his ears
"You can beat me" he finished as he placed his hand on Shinki's head
"I give" Shinki muttered in calm tone but inside he was completely shocked; his world was breaking down in front of him. He felt that he had let down his father and the clan as he didn't even make the other side be serious.
'I have shamed my clan with this battle.'
'All my work has been worth what, why was the battle so one sided.' Shinki questioned as he felt heavy inside his heart
"Calm down Shinki, you did well for someone brought up in a peaceful world. You would have been stronger if the Kazekage had trained you with utmost seriousness." Naruto said as he put his hand on his shoulder, he knew how it felt when things were different from what you lived in.
"How are you so fast and strong?" Shinki questioned as his heart understood the reasoning a bit
'Yes, I would have been stronger if Father was serious.'
"I trained hard enough to break my bones every day, bled so much that anyone else would die and endured all kinds of physical and mental abuse. You can do it as well but no to the same degree as I have naturally fast healing which accelerated my growth along with large chakra reserves." Naruto answered truthfully as he wanted to be friends and this was not something that secretive, anyone who looked into it could have formed this answer.
Shinki listened and imagined such hellish training which made him understand and at least come to terms with his loss somewhat.
"Thank you for explaining and for the spar, it has opened my eyes to the wider world and how narrowed my view was." Shinki said in a formal tone as he walked away
'I will ask father for a harsher training model, if Naruto is this strong and father fought him he should have been also trained in such a manner.' Shinki thought as he headed for Gaara filled with fighting spirit after so long
"Sorry about that, I almost hurt you guys." Naruto said in a friendly tone as he approached the duo that had just seen something miraculous
"You beat Shinki" Yodo said with disbelief
Naruto nodded, "His training was less than mine that's all. Also he was supposed to show me around but he looked so serious so I didn't stop. Can one of you show me around?"
"I am honored to meet a strong warrior and thank you for this experience. But I will excuse myself as I have something important to take care of." Araya said in a respectful tone and dashed away with high speed movement Jutsu
"Well I am free and they have already left so I will accompany you." Yodo said in a cool tone after gathering herself from the event
Naruto looked her closely and realized how different the style of clothing was now, 'And what is that in her ears?'
"What is that?" Naruto couldn't help but be curious
"This is for listening to music and it is connected to this device called the N-Pod" Yodo said as she took out the tiny device and Naruto looked carefully but he couldn't understand how that worked.
"Want to try?"
Naruto nodded and she put one of the ear buds in his right ear from which he heard a rock song which made him feel that he wanted to fight and dance.
"It's good" Naruto said with a smile, as he kind of enjoyed and wondered if he should buy one
"Isn't it, my team mates really don't understand so how about we go to music shop?" Yodo said in proud tone and showed joy as someone strong showed interest in similar hobby
"Okay, can you recommend more as I am not used to this?" Naruto went along with it as he realized he need a hobby to calm his nerves after training otherwise his life revolved around training and work
"Of course it will be my pleasure." Yodo said as she dragged him away
'Just like I thought they were not really strong nor did they have that stench of blood on them. But it should be fine with such strong leaders what could go wrong. The kids of the new age deserve to have happy life; our time was filled with conflict so it was necessary so it is not needed now.' Naruto thought as he followed along
'Who is she?'
'Doesn't matter, it seems I have got the first person for the peerage. Her abilities seem very interesting but let's test it through battle.' Sona thought as she stared at Konan and indicated to Hinata to take down the foe without killing
Sona gathered her powers and shot out multiple water bullets that ripped through the air, heading for Konan who dissolved into paper and covered the area. Many of the paper changed shapes into spears and were hurled towards Sona who created a barrier of water for protection as she was surrounded.
'Truly marvelous' Sona thought with a calculating smile as she saw Hinata drop from the sky onto the reformed foe with Juken heel drop. Just like expected it cancelled the foes ability and caused it to be smashed into the ground from the force.
Sona joined Hinata as they both looked down on the ground to access the opponent, "She isn't down, at the last moment I felt her move back so the affect was lowered." Hinata said in calm tone as she didn't feel any threat from this opponent.
Sona nodded and waited to see more, when suddenly countless shuriken were shot around them and exploded. Sona had blocked with her barrier but even that hadn't been enough with the amount of explosives causing her to get damaged and same went for Hinata who had blocked with rotation but the final burst had gotten her, she fell to the ground mostly unharmed in a ready position as she lost concentration from her transformation jutsu.
'Sona, we can afford to go easy on her. She is strong and we might lose limbs this way.' Hinata sent a mental transmission to Sona about her opinion of the fight
'You are right, what she has shown is good enough. Take her out with extreme prejudice.' Sona sent as she launched a water dragon from the magic circle which collided against Konan's wings as she blocked the move while still being surrounded by countless explosive paper floating around her for safety.
Sona kept control of the dragon to keep Konan occupied while Hinata clad herself in her cat like chakra form which formed a phantom over her body and her arms were two lions.
'Let's see how good this move is against human beings.' Hinata thought as she launched herself at Konan, the chakra protected her form the damage of explosions and she hit Konan with consecutive strikes on her face and chest. The foe lost concentration and she was dragged by the dragon into the earth creating a crater, unable to do anything as her chakra was disturbed and scattered with each of Hinata's touch.
"It's over, she has multiple fractures and I can't see any healing ability working." Hinata announced the result with a confident smile and great joy inside her heart at being successful with her new move.
"Good, now let's go talk to my new subordinate." Sona muttered as she landed on the ground and walked towards Konan
Sona looked at Konan who was still conscious but in pain, "Do you want to work for me? I will heal this pain and make you stronger along with providing many other benefits."
But Konan didn't respond and only continued to struggle, "Little one, don't bother talking to the clone. She can't understand what you mean." Sona heard a male voice and turned around to see three men come out of the woods.
'Enemies? I couldn't sense them nor did Hinata?'
"Relax, we are not enemies. We are from Konoha, My name is Orochimaru." The man in the lead introduced himself in a relaxed tone
Hinata landed near Sona and looked at the man who had been one of the enemies of her past, "Clone? Who is she?"
"She is one of the enemies you would have met in the past little Hyuga, her name is Konan." Orochi looked at the smaller Hinata with an amused and interested smile
"Why did she attack us? I assume you made the clone." Sona continued while she was calculating what kind of benefits she could from such a man
"Yes, I made the clone. Why she attacked you, it's because you entered the territory without permission so she had not be tasked to let you in. Well, it's not your fault I had already planned this with your master. I am interested in this transformation into a devil so she was pawn for you to use and you have earned it." Orochi said invitingly while Yamato was shaking his head in annoyance as he had to watch the lady's younger self in danger.
"If you insist, I shall receive this boon with gratefulness." Sona said as she took out the bishop piece
'She is a magic type, this should help her. I want the queen piece to be someone truly exceptional like Naruto.' Sona mused as she used it Konan who went through clear transformation in front of them, she didn't resist as Orochimaru had calmed her down.
"That was marvelous and magical, she just changed from human to a different being and you just solved the problem of her waning life force." Orochi said as he touched Konan's body and inspected it
"Do you know how it works?"
"Negative"
"Too bad, how about you join us for lunch while I analyze Konan?" Orochi said as he picked up Konan
Sona and Hinata could tell he wasn't asking but commanding them to join so they nodded and followed. Both of them calmed a bit down seeing Yamato who was wearing the standard uniform.
"I see that you used the bishop piece so how about my son here for the queen piece. He is just being free loader and needs some work." Orochi said with a chuckle
His words caused Sona to focus on the other figure with white hair and a handsome face, he had a scar but it didn't mar his looks.
'If he accepts, I wouldn't mind as this Orochimaru is an exceptional being so his son shouldn't be far behind.'
'Sona, he has a bigger reserve than Orochimaru and could potentially be stronger.' Hinata provided the information she gained through her eyes.
"If he is willing"
"Little girl, you aren't worthy enough for me to work for you. If I slapped you right now, can you guess what will happen?" Log said casually, he wasn't in the mood to play along with his father
"Come on now son, don't be mean. I think you need some adventure to build up character though you are right so join them later when they have grown." Orochi said with a friendly tone which was underlined with a threat
'Asshole, couldn't he just give me a real mission already. That naïve Hokage is the bigger problem and the reason I can't go any assassination mission as much I want.'
"Thank you for receiving me personally Lord Seventh" Shino muttered in a formal tone as he stood in front of Hokage Naruto
"No problem. Though I wonder why you didn't go explore like your friends." Hokage Naruto asked with curious gaze as he sat on his chair
"I didn't find any logical reason to go out as it will be more beneficial to return home." Shino answered with honesty
"That's just like you. Here is the key to your team's house and you already have your band and ID so you can roam freely but you will have to wait for them if you want to receive missions outside Konoha."
"Thank you, I will excuse myself now." Shino said as he walked out of the Hokage building and looked as the new world entered his vision.
'It truly is the future' Shino thought as he looked at the countless techs after living in the jungle for a year
"Hello" A voice from ahead and he looked up to see a weird person
"Yes, do I know you?" Shino muttered in his usual tone
"I am Shino Aburame, commanded by the Hokage to guide you. So I am the future version of you." The Adult Shino said in a friendly tone as he had changed from his stoic self
Shino looked at his so called future and was disappointed, 'How weak and why is he showing emotions like that?'
'Has the Aburame clan fallen so far?'
'I had expected to be shocked by power because of seeing Naruto and Shikamaru but this is a complete travesty.'
'I can't believe I could fall so far.' Shino was agitated just by knowing who this person was that his body showed his reaction that the adult Shino understand what happened.
A.N Hope you enjoyed and comment
Thank you for commenting, it motivates me to write more and i appreciate it.