AN:
jjcoop95, yes I try to add the little references when I can and where I think they'd belong in the story. I'm trying to emulate Eiichiro Oda(who I think is the best Mangaka out there barring none) in the aspect of developing every character. The reason that you didn't care about the two swordsmen(they were never given names in Canon) was because you weren't meant to, they were throwaway thugs of a villain that wasn't really focused on; but in this story, No one is a throwaway character. But about the popularity of this series, the reasons for this story's apparent lack of popularity could be attributed to lots of things, personally I just think it doesn't get much exposure; other stories tend to be unpopular because the author puts himself in a separate corner from his readers, doesn't read other peoples's works or respond to reviews. I respond to any feedback I get honestly because I love the feedback, I love that people enjoy my story and read it. But the popularity really doesn't bother me, I'm just really passionate about writing and the characters that I show and give life to in my stories. Thanks so much for all the support you give me, it's all greatly appreciated.
In order to make my story more popular though, I'm going to be writing several others in order to get my name out there. Every other week I will be posting a story about Roronoa Zoro as Captain of the Straw Hats, and once a month I'm going to be working on an OC Crew set in the One Piece Universe. Along with these, I'm going to write a limited series about Dracule Mihawk. You can look forward to these over the Summer if they seem like your cup of tea.
Also, I will be having some more philosophical intros to each episode/chapter now, since jj/the wider audience seemed to enjoy the last chapter so much. (Also because I love writing philosophically).
The Way of Heroes
A2 E8/10 Naruto Joins the Fight! The Poisonous Glass Gun vs the Great Rubber Boy!
What is a challenge? A person is defined by the obstacles in their way, the things that keep them from reaching their goals. The mountains they have to climb. Everyone has to climb their own mountains, some need help to do so, others refuse it. These struggles make the man, but sometimes the man makes the struggles. Through these struggles, like an invincible chain being forged, friendship beyond words is created, loyalty beyond comprehension is born.
A challenge is when life shoves you down, you get back up and keep fighting. When you challenge the world, it starts to shake, crumble. Then what happens next is most important. You either die, or you get to rebuild. Some men just want to destroy for destruction, and their challenge is the good people just trying to survive. Some people thrash against their challenges, but the greatest of leaders push through with all the calm in the world.
Because life is like a storm, and some people can act like the hail doesn't bother them, that they aren't going to get a cold. The people that refuse to coddle under the umbrella. But it's those people that drown in sorrow, that need help the most.
Sasuke Uchiha refused Naruto's umbrella, but he has his reasons. He's one of the few tortured souls that were betrayed by the boy holding the umbrella. The one who he looked up to, who protected him from the harshness outside. It was because he took that umbrella, that now Sasuke had nothing but hatred to keep him warm, and he wanted it that way.*
The Way of Heroes
Sasuke grunted, "Nice shot... Loser." Even though the Uchiha had only whispered the compliment, Naruto heard his praise loud and clear. The blonde declared, "Now that I'm here, it's going to be alright!" Sakura cheered, "NARUTO!" She smiled as the Fox Ninja eyed her, assuring, "You know how in stories the hero shows up at the last minute and then kicks butt?" Sakura nodded. "Well that's what I'm gonna do!" Naruto promised, pointing to the giant white dome.
Zabuza growled, "This brat again? Kakashi shouldn't you have trained him in Silence during your little training lessons?" Sasuke was now not only bleeding, but also more irritated than usual, he coughed blood, "Shut up Naruto, you're making my ears bleed too!" Kakashi groaned, What an idiot! If he had stayed hidden he could've been so much more effective. On the other side of the dome, Akame grinned licking his lips vilely again, "Such delicious conflict. Wouldn't you agree?" But Luffy didn't respond, right now he was too angry for banter.
The Rubberboy yelled, "Gum Gum - PISTOL!" As he whipped his now elongated arm into the Glassman, Luffy felt the crunch and shattering of glass as he hit the right arm solidly. But, this blow was different, it seemed as though as soon as Luffy broke skin, his punch lost all it's power. It came back a bit slower than usual too. Luffy looked at it, growling; along with the sting and the residual glass, a strange purple liquid could be seen in the shards within his knuckles. He felt dizzy all of a sudden, and the Pirate began to swoon back and forth across the metal of the bridge.
He steadied himself, wondering, "What -" He stumbled, "Did you -" He fell. " - Do to me?" From the ground he looked at Akame, who was walking towards his fallen opponent. "Oh dear, you didn't know about the modifications that they made to my body do you? Gato had one of his lab boys make a few improvements to my body. Now instead of blood flowing through my veins, Mensen gave me special chemicals. So now, any time you break the glass on my body, you get poked by basically a syringe." Akame bent down, kneeling on his haunches. "You should count yourself lucky your friends don't have to see this bit..." Then, the lunatic smashed his own fist onto the ground, shattering it into a million pieces.
The Way of Heroes
Haku recognized the blonde in the bright orange jumpsuit immediately. He smiled beneath his mask at the pleasant memories he had of him. The masked ninja left the large dome, and walked out to meet Naruto. "Alright, you're history! Check this out, Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Kakashi's eyes went wide as Zabuza threw four shuriken at his blonde victim.
The Sharingan Hero screamed, "Naruto move!" But the Fox Ninja was stunned with fear, unable to comprehend what was happening. His death was coming on a quartet of sharp projectiles flying at him at speeds a baseball pitcher would envy. But out of nowhere, Haku raised a single hand in one instant, and in another, the four shuriken shattered into harmless black pieces, which painlessly bounced off Naruto's soft flesh.
To the unSharinganed or untrained eye, it would have appeared just as it was described previously, but to the elites of the battle, the events were much clearer. Even then, to Kakashi and Zabuza, it was like playing a movie at six times the regular speed. Haku had whipped out four senbon needles out of his robe, then forced the black inky coating onto them, and threw the needles as nonchalantly as ever.
After all this, Naruto could only gasp as he heard a resounding whistle through the air, then a thud. Haku commented, "One of them hit a tree." Sakura was in awe, "What? How did you do that?" Tazuna gasped, as if he couldn't breath, "How - ugh - how did that boy do that?"
Kakashi got over his shock the quickest, scolding Naruto, "This is a battle not a talent show, don't let your opponent see your jutsu! The opponent's art is deception, always keep the enemy guessing. Even when using a single jutsu, you must distract an enemy first, and then catch them off balance, outmaneuvre them. You just turned yourself into a human target. First you made a big show of an entrance, then shouted out your jutsu like you just got Bingo." Naruto screamed his apology, realizing his mistake, "I'm sorry! I was just trying to rescue everybody..."
"Haku... Why did you stop my shuriken?" Zabuza asked darkly, but his protege had his back turned. "What are you doing? Look at me when I'm talking to you!" The Demon ordered, and Haku complied. He asked, "Zabuza, will you let me fight this boy my own way?" Naruto got into a battle stance, and pulled out a kunai, "Bring it on," Naruto challenged. In a flash, Haku was in front of Zabuza, and mask almost touched flesh. "I'm sorry Master Zabuza. I want to fight this boy on my own. I have never questioned your orders before, and I never will again," Haku reminded, and Zabuza seemed to take this into account.
"You're too soft Haku, as usual," Zabuza growled, and Sasuke looked up upon hearing this. Soft... He's right. He cut me up with his needles, yet he didn't hit a single vital spot. From inside his freezing prison, Sasuke looked at the enigma of a ninja in front of him. The same monstously powered individual that could break kunai and destroy moving shuriken was pleading with Zabuza, a man who was called a Demon. Is this what we're up against? These people aren't human! Sakura worried in her head, and she looked at Tazuna, who hadn't said a word, clearly as affected by these events as the pinkette was.
Sasuke gritted his teeth, Is he just trying to humiliate me? Kakashi shook his head, It's impossible. Naruto can't hope to match this kid. He looked at Haku's bowing head, which Zabuza noticed. He muttered, "Relax Kakashi. Sit back and enjoy the show. I don't think either of us could match my pupil's strength anyway." The Demon turned toward Haku. "Alright Haku, but don't disappoint me," Zabuza granted his student the priviledge.
Haku bowed, and in an instant was a few feet in front of Naruto. Naruto called him out, oblivious to the difference in power between himself and the masked ninja, "That stupid mask and that bogus story! You think you can get away with a stunt like that?" "I'm sorry," Haku apologized, and Naruto gasped, not expecting this from an enemy. "But it's like your Sensei said, lying to an opponent, lying to one's self... That is the true art of the shinobi. Please don't take it personally."
"But you, you're different from most ninja," Haku said, "You care about your friends more than most. You have ambition, a dream, people to protect. Loyalty. You deserve better -" Saying that, Haku seemed to be distracted for a moment, as if remembering something that he'd almost forgotten. But he quickly shook off this nostalgic memories, and became ready to fight.
The Way of Heroes
The Rubberboy shakily tried to get to his feet, but a savage kick to his ribs brought Luffy down again. Akame whispered coldly, "Where is that power Strawhat? That delicious motivation..." Luffy shouted, "RIGHT HERE!" Suddenly the future Pirate King shot up, slamming a fist into Akame's bald head. With a sound like a vase breaking, Akame hit the ground pleasingly.
While the assassin had been knocked down, he was not out. Akame beamed with vicious broken shards for teeth, blood dripping from two that were barely hanging onto his purple gums. Luffy cracked, "Why are you so happy Brace Face?" "SHUT UP YOU RUBBER BASTARD!" The Glassman charged, purple liquids sloshing around where his veins should've been as he did so. Luffy dodged the first punch, then he realized it was no longer a punch.
All the hits and smashes were becoming too much for Akame to recover from. "You can't grow your arms back can you?" Luffy asked, but the Glassman didn't respond, he closed his crimson eyes as he continued a barrage of wild swings. Luffy noticed more details of each arm as he avoided every punch. Scarred knuckles. Stitched, pale hairless arms. But it was the hands that were the most terrifying: looking more like broken beer bottles, his hands were nothing but edges of glass now.
On the rail of the bridge, two animals watched the fight from a far. One, a vulture in sunglasses cawed quietly to the beaver next to it. The beaver wore matching sunglasses, and on a sketch pad jotted down various notes on the battle. Finding the scribbles completely illedgible, the vulture pecked at the mammal's writing hand, and the beaver dropped the pen. He made an odd noise, and bent down to pick up his pen. But before he did so, the vulture swooped down and snatched the writing tool up with it's beak.
Zooming through a drawing, the vulture drew a copy of Akame's face, crooked, glass teeth showing in a broad smile. The beaver, peeved, yanked the pen out of the vulture's mouth and crossed out the man's visage off the paper. The beaver penned 'Mr. 13' on it, then scribbled more legibly this time. It wrote, 'Search for replacement Mr. 7 resulted in failure. Leaving the Land of Waves and returning to the Grand Line.'
The Way of Heroes
"I will kill that boy for you Naruto. You deserve better. I'm going to go liberate your soul," Haku commented nonchalantly, and gracefully rubbed the scratch that the blonde's shuriken had marked on his mask. He pressed the wall of the igloo-dome, and the ice became transparent, allowing everyone to see Sasuke, who crouched, ready for battle. Naruto exclaimed, "So that's where Sasuke is!" Kakashi looked past the Uchiha, noticing Luffy had become evenly matched with Akame.
Sasuke readied himself, sensing a shift in the temperature for the colder. Seeing his own breath in this giant ice box, the brunette tightened his headband and shivered slightly. Here he comes... The Uchiha prepared himself, and readied his kunai. Sensing Haku's energy, he focused on where it was strongest, and aimed his knife at the sheet in front of him. Sasuke only had to blink, and then he lost sight of his opponent. Haku whispered to him, "Behind you."
The Uchiha turned, seeing a dozen reflections of Haku in the mirrors, each had three senbon in an angry raised hand. He turned slowly, rotating his body. Gasping as he realized he was again completely surrounded, Sasuke could only dodge one of the rain of needles, then he was covered in senbon and blood.
As the ice had become clear, Naruto finally saw the evidence of the difference in power between the Leaf and the rogues. There's so many of them! How is he doing that? Sasuke can't even fight anymore! He's just so fast! Dozens of needles punctured his friends skin, Naruto screamed, "Sasuke!" "Sasuke!" Sakura yelled, concerned as well. What is that? Naruto thought, Sasuke's getting all ripped up, but we can't even tell where the attacks are coming from!
Sasuke coughs blood onto the ground, How is he so strong? "Because I have someone I must protect," The Masked Ninja answered the brunette's unspoken question. But Sasuke misheard him, replying, "I'm protecting something too! My honor!" "Only a warrior has honor," Haku cut coldly, continuing, "A warrior would accept his defeat gracefully. You have nothing, not even love for a friend who cares about you." Sasuke's heart could feel the ninja's words; knew how true they were. But he didn't accept them. He couldn't. Sasuke ignored the shinobi's analysis.
Haku's cold form surrounded Sasuke from all sides, a singal image in every sheet that created the walls around the Uchiha. How is he doing that? Wait - Sasuke realized, Could it be that he has clones hiding in the mirrors all throwing needles at the same time? No if it was just a Clone Jutsu than he wouldn't need the mirrors. Those mirrors are definitely the key to his attacks. But how does that even help me? What's my next move?
Kakashi called to his students, "Naruto, Sasuke think! You need to attack from the inside and from the outside at the same time!" Naruto cheered, "I've got it!" Sasuke agreed with his teacher's plan, thinking, It's all about positioning! Naruto and I are in the perfect position. If I attack him from here and Naruto attacks him from the outside... We could do it.
Meanwhile, while Sasuke was deep in thought, a harsh smell of someone's ramen breath invaded his nostrils. Naruto whispered, "Hey! I snuck in here to save you Sasuke!" In his surprise, Sasuke fell onto his butt. "Pretty cool move huh Sasuke?" Naruto asked, nearly begging for recognition from his teammate. Haku chuckled to himself, but didn't let the sound leave his mirror. Filled with disappointment, Sakura slapped her own forehead, driven speechless by the blonde's ignorance. Kakashi sighed, "Naruto you're supposed to sneak up on your enemies, not your allies. Besides, you just lost the entire point of what I was trying to say."
Inside the masked rogue's jutsu however, hostilities were blooming between the Fox Ninja and the Orphan Uchiha. Naruto crouched, face to face with Sasuke who was painstakingly pulling out the senbon from his flesh. The brunette's face was crimson with his agitation now, and he hollered, "Naruto! You are such a loser! You're a shinobi, think carefully before you move!" "Why the heck are you yelling at me? You should be thinking me for saving you!" Naruto yelled back.
"I don't need your help!"
"Shows what you know! You need all the help you can get Sasuke!"
"Naruto, how can you help me inside here - you know what forget it!"
Kakashi rolled his eyes choking, "Naruto is the building a reputation for being the most clueless ninja in the history of all shinobi. The more he helps, the worse things get." Sasuke then realized he had to rely on himself once again, he shouted, "That's it! I'm taking this jutsu down." Making a hand sign and focusing his chakra, Sasuke prepared his attack. But before he could execute his move, Naruto wondered, "Wait a second Sasuke what move are you using?"
"These mirrors are made of ice. You need heat to destroy ice, so figure it out!" Sasuke spouted irritably, and he called, "Fire Style - Fireball Jutsu!" Shooting a gout of flame out of his mouth, the brunette pushed himself, and for a whole minute a spray of a bonfire sprayed out of him. Eventually, he fell to his knees, breathing hard. He had used quite a bit of chakra, and he smiled as he felt the heat brush his skin as the bridge itself was glowing red from his jutsu. He taunted, "You feeling the heat yet?"
But when he looked up, everything appeared the same. Even the metal's appearance was back to normal, no longer discolored from temperature. Naruto hollered, "That didn't do anything at all!" Haku explained, "You'll need much more heat than that to melt this ice." The Uchiha grunted as he tried to recover, only for Haku to appear before them, with his reflection still remaining in every mirror. Then just as they recognized the familiar mask, they were thrown into a wall and the figure vanished.
As they recovered, Naruto wondered, "Where are these attacks coming from?" "We've got to find the real one," Sasuke said, and Naruto eyed him, nodding his head. Alright Naruto understands now... Sasuke thought, but he was proven wrong about his comrade for the second time today. Naruto jumped into the air and made a sign, yelling, "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" A dozen Naruto filled the air around the original, who shouted, "You've got a hundred mirrors? Then a hundred of me will smash them all! Then I'll find where you really are."
Unless your eyes are able to move at super speeds, you couldn't have followed the following sequence: out of three mirrors, three of Haku's reflections climbed out, diving into and off of all the clones, destroying them all just as quickly as they had been summoned. The real and only remaining Naruto came crashing into the ground right next to Sasuke, who still sat where Naruto had launched himself from in the first place.
Haku climbed out of a mirror close to Sasuke and Naruto at groundlevel, and he made a hand sign. Explaining, Haku adjusted his hair, "With my Secret Jutsu, I can move at Light Speed. Through my eyes, it appears you two are moving in slow motion." Kakashi heard this and gasped, "I knew it! It's a Bloodline Trait, Kekkei Genkai." Zabuza chuckled at his opponent's lack of perception, Kakashi had only figured it out just then.
Sakura asked, "Kekkei Genkai?" "It's like my Sharingan," Kakashi answered, "You can't learn it. You have to be born into it; it's written in your genetic code. Only specific clans have them, but they're extremely rare these days in the Land of Water." "But that means -" Sakura started. "Yes, even I can't copy that Jutsu," Kakashi said, "There's no way to destroy it. No way to stop him, unless you use the opposite elements of equal strength, then they would cancel eachother out. But as genin you three have no chance in doing that, and it would be twice as difficult for even a master to do, as Kekkei Genkai are often combinations between the Five Elements of Chakra."
"I couldn't break through," Naruto grumbled loudly, breaking the eery silence within the Jutsu. Haku and Sasuke both gasped at Naruto's sudden outburst. The blonde shouted, "So what? He's not gonna stop me. I'm not giving up and I'm not gonna lose here! Because I have a dream and no one is going to take it away from me! Someday I'll be respected in my Village, that's my dream. Someday I'll lead my Village, and be the greatest Hokage!"
Haku whispered to himself, "Dreams?"
The Way of Heroes
A skinny young boy wept on his legs on an icy bridge. He sat there, holding his legs to his chest for warmth. All he wore was a dirty t-shirt and small shorts, he was clearly homeless and hungry. Snow fell mercilessly onto his red neck, burning him with frostbite. His barefeet shivered in the cold, he remembered the struggles that he had gone through earlier to get food, then rubbed his bruising ribs as he remembered the punishment for such actions.
He looked up when he saw a tall man in gray armor standing above him. This man darkly murmured, "Pathetic little urchin," But as their eyes locked, the bandaged ninja saw something intriguing. The young Zabuza crouched down in front of the poor child. "No one wants you huh? Before Winter ends you'll die with nothing. Not even a dream," Zabuza remarked, and continued, "That's such a shame for a young child to struggle like that, but that's how the world is kid. Cold."
The Way of Heroes
The robustly bellied Happy slid down the metal of the bridge's frame for the uptienth time. Happy ordered, "Lift me higher Dasher!" Still with his trademark grin plastered unhealthily onto his face, the giant of a man attempted to clambor up the frame again, like an obese boy in PE. Dasher grumpily muttered, "Hurry up Happy." But the other giant fell again, this time they both landed in the deep murky water beneath the bridge again.
They had been standing on a boat that had been tied to the beams that held the bridge up, but Happy's most recent fall led to both of them splashing into the ocean again. Dasher groaned, "We lost our hammers, what else can we do to get up there Happy?" The humungous enforcer shrugged as his fat legs kicked beneath the waves to keep him afloat. "Daddy's going to be real disappointed if we don't beat those guys before he gets here," Happy reminded, and Dasher nodded, still scowling angrily. "I know Happy, I know."
The Way of Heroes
"It was not my desire to be a shinobi. This life brings more struggle than most can take. It's painful. But this is for my purpose, the reason I exist. If you advance I will have no choice other than to kill both of you." Haku stated, somehow calm when doing so. "Then I will kill the kindness in my own heart, fully embrace the Shinobi Way. The struggles of a ninja and a heart will be forgotten, and this bridge will become the battlefield where our dreams collide," Haku continued.
Everyone on the bridge was silent, other than the slight scoffs and grunts coming from the two men who had eaten the Devil's Fruits as they tried to one up the other. "I fight for someone who is precious to me! That is why I am strong Sasuke! I live for him, and I face death for him; so that his dream can become reality. He can become something that he has wanted for himself since the day he became a ninja. The man I care about most wants to be a hero to his people. That is his dream. And for the sake of that dream, I will act like a true shinobi and take your lives," Haku pulled out a senbon for emphasis at this point in his speech.
In his own struggle, Luffy plunged his fist into Akame's ribs, who screamed with some horrible combination of jubilee and agony, "Take this Rubberboy!" And the mercenary plunged his jagged hands into Luffy's chest. Blood shot out from the new opening, and Akame threw Luffy off of him, sending the Strawhat Pirate into the rail of the bridge.
*These little introductions are inspired by the endings of each episode of Trigun, which I think is the best anime ever. When I write these little blurbs I narrate them with Vash the Stampede's voice in my head.
AN:
Next Week: The Sharingan Shatters and Super Strawhat Survives! Luffy manages to scrape by as he and Akame continue their slugfest, but Sasuke and Naruto aren't doing nearly as well.
Thanks for the view, see ya next week, and please remember to read, review, and get your game on!
But wait... There's more!
As a bonus: here's my description of the scenery during the Naruto Opening Theme Song...
The Way of Heroes
(Read the following with the Naruto Theme Song Playing).
Shaking furiously, a poster that says 'The Way of Heroes' erupts as Luffy and Naruto jump through it. The scenes shift to two kunai slamming into each other. Then Sasuke jumps into the air with a fuma shuriken in his hands. Team 7, Kakashi, and Tazuna all watch as Strawhat Luffy runs at them. A Gum Gum Gatling sends hundreds of fast punches into a dummy. Hinata slams a practice punching bag with palms, and Rock Lee goes ham on a manequin. Naruto focuses all his Chakra and summons an army of clones. Naruto struggles against ropes as he's tied to a pole with Luffy laughing on top of it. Kakashi is trapped by the Demon Brothers's chains. Sakura turns, Kakashi turns, and Sasuke falls to the ground. Naruto looks straight forwards, but then you realize that there are a dozen ninja behind him, and Luffy jumps, and ends up in front of him before a sheet comes down in front of both of them, reading 'The Way of Heroes'.