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Atum-Coma: The City Hidden in the Nexus

By Demonabyss

Chapter 10: Yo Ho, Yo Ho, A Pirate's life for me

In the dark night, high above the clouds were no one could see, a massive ship with black sails made its way over the land. The Stormbreaker, the largest ship to ever sail the skies, moved with a grace belied by its size. Black sails unfurled as a group of smaller ships accompanied it in its hunt. At its helm stood the regal pirate queen Ruby Heart as she made her way over the elemental countries, looking for any target worth pillaging for the building of Atum-Coma, the city hidden in Wave or rather Nexus.

Once the anchor had been placed in Wave country, a deal had been struck with the locals. In return for eliminating the crime lords, the darkstalker refugees would be allowed to settle there. Needless to say there was an odd period of adjustment on both sides, but everyone adapted well enough. Then construction began. They would build a massive city that would be as great, intricate, and varied as the number of creatures that would inhabit it. Construction had already begun as more and more refugees began to flow in through the portal. Naruto was getting better at keeping it open. He would open it every few days in order to not wear the thing out and allow the Key to rest. Still, with all those darkstalkers coming into the newly renamed country of Nexus, many more supplies were needed then what was available. It had been renamed due to the portal and the fact that the very landscape was about to get a serious makeover in the coming years. Sure trade had started up again and supplies were being shipped in from the Lost Zone, what their old world was now being called, but it wasn't enough. They still needed far more supplies and information then was available. So it fell to her, Admiral Ruby Heart, to get those supplies and information by any means necessary. In short, by looting any settlement she felt like with a couple exceptions. One of which was Kohona. One they were the most powerful ninja village despite recent set backs and two, it had been a request from Naruto to leave it alone since the Hokage of that village had actually been decent to the boy. In any case, Ruby Heart was reveling in her new position as commander of the sky fleet and the fact that she now had permission to do what she did best; raid, pillage, and plunder to her black heart's contempt.

The sky pirate chuckled at the thought of the energetic fox boy. Having had to play bodyguard, she got to know him fairly well. He was always on the move and a very creative little guy. He also had no prejudices whatsoever towards any being, darkstalker, human, or otherwise. 'That will serve the lad well in time,' she thought as she sailed the starry sky. The kitsune was endearing to just about everyone he met, even Morrigan and Demitri Maximoff liked the kid, and that was saying something. The boy was also useful with his knowledge, however limited, of this world. Thanks to the information about ninjas and how the villages work, spies had been sent out to all the villages to collect information on them as well as techniques that those of Nexus could use. They had to be choosy though. Techniques like the normal Clone Jutsu wouldn't work well for darkstalkers. Now the Shadow Clone Jutsu was another story. A single darkstalker, with their uncannily high chakra reserves, could become a literal army with that technique and now suffer any of the drawbacks. Despite the limits, Naruto's knowledge also helped them to begin the set up of a type of government. True it would be a little more "unique" then the other villages', but Atum-Coma would have a Kage just like Kohona once everything was set up. In any case it wasn't any of Ruby's Heart's business.

Right now her small fleet was sailing over the northern area, between the Moon and Cloud countries. She had been raiding settlements for the past couple weeks, leaving no survivors, or anything else for that matter. The best part was that the villages' best trackers were useless. They could track anything on the GROUND, but as soon as the raid was over, all her crew members went skyward, it was perfect. She was broken out of her thoughts by one of her crew members, a male naga, slithering up to her. "Admiral, we've spotted an ssssmall encampment below. It sssseems to be made up of Cloud ninja ma'am," he hissed as respectively as he saluted.

Ruby Heart just grinned. "Cloud ninja so close to Fire country? We capture them and we might get some interesting information and or plunder. Besides, I understand that Lord and Lady Wulfenbach need some new … subjects for d'ere work," she said with a chuckle, causing the naga to shiver a little bit. He wasn't sure which was more frightening, what the Wulfenbachs could do to a being with their experiments or his admiral when she was in one of her moods. Frankly, neither he nor anyone else wanted to find out. "Get the raiding parties and tell retract all sails, I'm going down me' self. I need a little fun," she said with a chuckle. The naga shivered again, strike those last two statements, his admiral in one of her moods was much worse then anything the Wulfenbachs could do.

Far below the Storm Breaker, the Cloud ninja encampment was completely unaware of what was going to get the drop on them, both literally and figuratively speaking. They had just escaped from Hidden Leaf with their prize the five year old daughter of Hiashi Hyuuga, Hinata Hyuuga. They had used the ruse of a treaty in order to get into the village and kidnap her for her Byakugan. Once they learned the secrets of the blood limit, they would crush Konoha's most powerful clan. The girl in question was tied up tightly, gagged, and propped up against a tree. Though her Byakugan wasn't strong yet, it would do for what they had in mind. It also allowed the girl to be the only one to see what was going to and did happen next.

They came without warning, screaming and roaring like the animals some of them resembled. Hinata was scared, now more so then when she had been initially captured. Despite her age she was not stupid, she knew what these ninja wanted with her and what would likely happen to her if a rescue did not come. Now it seemed fate had something else planned for her. She had activated her Byakugan in order to find a way to escape or at least send a signal or something. Instead it had given her a few second warning as those monsters dropped from the sky. Some looked like animals such as being part snake, alligator, wolf, cat, and many others. A couple of them looked like walking corpses, literally. All of them were wearing strange clothes, vests, bandanas, boots, eye-patches, and wielding sharp curved swords, strange daggers, long thin blades, the likes of which she hadn't seen before. They were overpowering and ripping apart the Cloud ninja with frightening speed and ferocity. Ninja were trained at best to handle other ninja and whatever abilities or blood lines they may have. They were not trained to deal with nightmares such as these, especially not a whole army of them dropping out of the sky. One of the attackers particularly caught Hinata's attention. She was one of the few humans in the group and looked to be in charge. She wore dark colored clothes, had a large hat, long blonde hair, and had her right eye covered by a bandage. She fought as furiously as the monsters, maybe even more so. Once the battle was done, one of the creatures noticed her tied up helpless. He looked like a cross between a man and large crocodile. "Well, looky what we got here, a tasty little morsel," he growled licking his chops. However, that was as far as he got before a rather large anchor came down on his head, effectively knocking him out. Said anchor was being held by the one-eyed blonde woman Hinata had been watching.

"Now, now, that be no way ta treat a child," she said simply. She walked up as all the creatures made way, knowing that she was in one of her odd moods. The pirate kneeled down to the girl's level and undid the gag and ropes. "Now then, I be Admiral Ruby Heart. Who might you be girl and what is your purpose here?" she asked kindly but sternly, indicating that she wanted an answer.

The dark haired girl shook a bit and tried to calm herself before answering. "H…Hinata Hyuuga. I w…was captured by them from my h…home," the child explained frightened.

"And where is your home?" Ruby asked calmly though she already had an idea of where.

"Konoha," the pale eyed girl answered.

"I see," the blonde woman said softly. After a moment she smiled brightly. "Well then miss Hinata, it appears I just saved your life. As a result, you belong to me until that debt is paid, understand?" The girl nodded numbly not quite sure what this odd woman was going to do with her but knowing it couldn't be any worse then what those Cloud ninja were planning to do. "Good." She then turned to the creatures behind her, "Gather up the bodies and all the booty you can find. The girl is coming with us and if any of you mangy bilge rats lay a hand on her I'll shoot you out of a cannon me-self."

"Aye-Aye!" they all responded as they went off to do what they were ordered.

Ruby Heart turned back to the girl who was still shaking and staring at her confused and afraid. The pirate smiled softly and picked the girl up with her free arm and started back towards the long boats that would take them back to the Stormbreaker. Hinata shivered but was calmed when Ruby held her a little closer. "Don't worry lass, nothing will happen to ye with me around," she said softly as the boat went higher and higher. "And there she be." The Hyuuga girl gaped at the sight of so large a ship being hidden in the clouds. How anyone could miss this thing was something that boggled her mind. The stepped on board and the girl couldn't help but gaze at everything around her. She had never been on a ship before, let alone one this big and that could fly. The admiral turned to one of her men. "Once everything is secure and all crew accounted for, make sail for home. I'll be retiring to me quarters if there be any troubles." The man saluted and went about his work. Ruby then made her way to the back of the ship where the living quarters were, chuckling slightly at the girl she held and her obvious astonishment at her ship. She walked up to the higher part of the ship and through an ornate door leading to what looked like a small apartment. The pirate set the girl down on the bed before grabbing a chair for herself. "Now then lass, you'll be staying with me till I figure out a good way for ye to repay your debt." The girl nodded quietly, still not sure what she was going to do.

Hiashi Hyuuga was furious as he was worried. The Hidden Cloud had stolen his daughter on her birthday just after the treaty was signed. He couldn't believe this had happened. Actually, he could believe it, he just didn't want to. Even worse was Hidden Cloud was asking for his head since their ninja had been killed. It was all ridicules. First off, their ninja hadn't even been killed within Fire country and certainly not by and Hyuugas. Second, his daughter had been lost as well, meaning they had lost just as much, if nor more then Cloud. Lastly, the real culprits hadn't been found. Even the Inuzukas hadn't had any luck in tracking the real killers. They had found the Cloud ninja campsite, or what was left of it. It appeared that the camp had been taken by surprise and was ransacked badly. The tracks and smells left behind were confusing to the Inuzukas to say the least. They reported smells and track belonging to large reptiles, large cats, wolves, the dead, machines, and other things they couldn't identify, but that wasn't the weirdest thing. The weirdest thing was the fact that said tracks and smells didn't leave the camp. While the Cloud ninja's scents could be traced back to Konoha along with Hinata's, the unknown scents couldn't be tracked anywhere. It was like they had all simply disappeared. Even more puzzling was the strange female scent they had detected mixed with his daughter's. It was human and yet it wasn't. They weren't sure what it was, only that whatever being it was as near or close to the ocean which made the Hokage suspicious.

Ever since that woman who claimed to be a Kuang-shi, a darkstalker, had come weird things had been happening all over the elemental countries, especially in Wave. Raids like what had happened at the Cloud ninja camp were becoming common all around except near Konoha. They were always quick and clean, leaving no witnesses or evidence at all. The rumors coming from Wave were also suspicious. Apparently trade had started up again, allowing the country to restore itself and yet no one knew what was going on there. Any merchants who went in and came out had seemingly no memory of their stay in Wave other then anything directly related to their business and even those memories were foggy. The Hokage also knew that other hidden villages had sent in spies to see what in the world was going on. As far as he knew, none of said spies had returned or reported back which was why he was reluctant to send his own. Even stranger were the rumors of the creatures that were starting to inhabit Wave. It had just been a few at first but had grown to an amazing number and seemed to keep growing. All this just made the Hokage worry not only about Konoha and the elemental countries but also for Hiashi's daughter. The old man hoped the girl was all right.

Hinata wasn't sure what to think of her situation. On one hand she had been kidnapped from her home, owed a life debt to a strange pirate woman, and was stuck on a massive flying ship heading for who knows where filled with all sorts of creatures that all looked like they wanted to eat her. On the other hand, the little girl never remembered having this much fun back at home. It had been a couple weeks since she had been brought on board the Stormbreaker by Admiral Ruby Heart and quite honestly it wasn't nearly as bad as she thought it would be. After a day or so, when the pirates all learned that Hinata was under Ruby's "interest" they didn't treat her like a prisoner and more like another one of them. For the little girl it was strange. Ruby had told her to learn as much as she could about the ship and pirating, in order to better fulfill the debt she owed. Ruby had said this with an odd smile on her face which made the girl wonder. The pale eyed girl found most of the crew to be relatively friendly towards her and we're willing explain things, though it did take some getting used to on both sides. For one, the pirates found it amusing that the girl was so shy around everyone with the exception of Ruby. For Hinata, it was getting used to the pirates' manners or lack thereof. In the Hyuuga household everything was manners, posture, appearance, protocol, and strictness. Here there was protocol in the sense of running the ship, but that's where the similarities ended. The pirates tended to be far more open and loud, swearing here and there, and other such things. True they wouldn't do anything completely perverted or such around Hinata, less they wished to get shot out of a cannon by their admiral or worse, but they were still much more emotional and outgoing then the Hyuugas. There was also the matter of getting used to their schedule. It was completely reversed from what she was used to. Instead of sleeping at night and working in the day it was the other way around. Still overall it was a far better outcome then being killed and or tortured for her Byakugan. At the moment she was sitting next to Ruby Heart while on deck. They had made anchor in Wave, or rather Nexus as it was being renamed, to drop off their loot and restock. Some of the pirates were singing as they drank and relaxed for the morning before turning in for the day.

Yo Ho, Yo Ho! A pirate's life for me.

We pillage, we plunder, we rifle and loot.
Drink up me 'earties, Yo Ho!
We kidnap and ravage and don't give a hoot.
Drink up me 'earties, Yo Ho!

Yo Ho, Yo Ho! A pirate's life for me.

We extort, we pilfer, we filch and sack.
Drink up me 'earties, Yo Ho!
Maraud and embezzle and even hijack.
Drink up me 'earties, Yo Ho!

Yo Ho, Yo Ho! A pirate's life for me.
Yo Ho, Yo Ho! A pirate's life for me.

We kindle and char, inflame and ignite.
Drink up me 'earties, Yo Ho!
We burn up the city, we're really a fright.
Drink up me 'earties, Yo Ho!

Yo Ho, Yo Ho! A pirate's life for me.

We're rascals, scoundrels, villains and knaves.
Drink up me 'earties, Yo Ho!
We're devils and black sheep, really bad eggs!
Drink up me 'earties, Yo Ho!

Yo Ho, Yo Ho! A pirate's life for me.

We're beggars and blighters and ne'er-do-well cads.
Drink up me 'earties, Yo Ho!
Aye! But we're loved by our mothers and dads!
Drink up me 'earties, Yo Ho!

Yo Ho, Yo Ho! A pirate's life for me.

Ruby Heart smiled to herself as the girl Hinata watched her crew have some fun. The moment she looked into this girl's pale eyes, she saw something. It was a longing for freedom, to be free from her family's rules and strictness. The problem was she had already resigned herself to her fate long before she even realized she had a choice. 'Well, I'll just have to change all that,' the pirate thought to herself as she looked down at the compass in her hand. It was still pointing directly towards the girl, confirming what the pirate already knew.

DARK TOME: Flying Ships

Sky Ships: Sky ships are a unique form of transportation. Similar in appearance to normal sailing ships, sky ships, as their name implies, fly and sail the sky rather then the sea. Originally developed by wizards wanting an easier way to get around, the sorcery and magic needed for sky ships was later stolen and adapted by normal people. This resulted in the creation of sky sailors and sky pirates. Sky ships are able to fly due to an intricate network of magic lines weaved into the structure, similar to that of leylines, the unseen rivers of supernatural energy that flow through the planet. They are propelled by either wind sails, propellers, or by additional magic. Many of the larger ships, such as the Storm Breaker, are moved through the use of wind sails or possibly propellers as it would take a massive amount of magic and control to move something that large without disrupting the network and causing the ship to fall to the ground. It is this same reason that use of magic on sky ships is limited, however it should be noted that the larger the ship the larger amount of magic that can be used without having to worry about damaging the network. Other then these differences, sky ships sail and operate almost identically to normal ships. To date, the largest sky ship is the Storm Breaker, captained by Admiral Ruby Heart.

Air Ships: Air ships, like sky ships, are large vessels that transverse the sky. However, while sky ships look similar to their water bound cousins, air ships take on the appearance of large blimps. Another key difference is that air ships use no magic whatsoever in regards to flying or movement. Instead they rely solely on propellers and similar devices. They are completely technology driven. This also allows magic to be freely used on air ships whereas it would no be possible on sky ships. They were originally created by various Sparks to hold mobile bases and laboratories. In general they tend to be larger and slower then sky ships but can take more punishment and do not need to dock anywhere for repairs. It should also be noted that while not as maneuverable as sky ships, air ships can go much higher and can change their height without having to move forward or backwards. To date, the largest air ship is Wulfenbach Castle, captained by Commander Krosp I

AN: I've been bouncing this idea around in my head ever since I first started this fic. I've seen a lot of fics showing what would happen if Naruto were raised by someone else, but not that many on Hinata. So I figured if Naruto were getting a new life, why not someone else? What would happen if Hinata weren't raised with Hiashi, whom everyone knows is a jerk to her, and the always prim and proper Hyuugas and instead by someone different? Well you can't get much more different then a flying ship full of pirates that belongs to a city full of darkstalkers. I'm sure this will make things interesting later, especially when she meets her father and cousin again.