Chapter 10
The golden katana (part 2)
Naruto walked into the arena to find Mifune already waiting for him. "Ah good morning Naruto. Nervous?" Mifune greeted.
"Good morning Mifune-sensei. Yeah, can't believe it's been 2 months already."
"Yes, time sure flies doesn't it? Well, we've kept the crowd waiting long enough don't you think?" Mifune smiled before calling for a microphone.
"Ladies and gentleman. Good morning!" the samurai leader waited for the roar of the crowd to die down. "Today is a special occasion. As you may have heard. In the last two months I had taken on a student. Today, I will personally battle him to see if he has trained enough to be recognized as a samurai in all but allegiance!"
the crowd was shocked. To become a samurai in two months was unheard of. The chances of him becoming one in that short of time are very low, even if he was trained by one of, if not the best swordsman alive. "Now, I'm sure you have your doubts, but I'm sure that my young student will shock you all. Now let the battle begin!" the crowd cheered once more.
"Ready Naruto?" Mifune asked as he handed the microphone back to the ref. Seeing Naruto nod, Mifune motioned for Naruto to be given a sword as he got ready himself. Both swordsmen got in a ready position. Both prepared to both defend and attack.
The ref let his hand fall. "Begin"
The two circled each other for a moment before Naruto charged, aiming for a stab to the stomach. Mifune twisted out the way before holding his sword to Naruto's neck. "I thought I taught you better than that Naruto."
Naruto smirked, "you did" Mifune barely had any time to figure out what he meant before the Naruto in front of him dispelled in a poof of smoke.
"Shadow clone. Impressive Naruto, I didn't even see you make it" Mifune praised.
"Thank you sensei, I've been practicing" Naruto said as he revealed himself transformed as a rock and kicked at Mifune who used his sword to block. Naruto changed tactics and use the sword as a spring to jump away.
Naruto sheathed his sword before crossing his fingers. "Shadow clone jutsu"
Mifune narrowed his eyes when he saw half the arena filled with clones. "Good move, surround me with clones and hiding yourself but not making enough to hinder your movements" The first clone attacked with a punch to the chest that Mifune ducked and used his body like a spinning top to trip the clone before kicking it at another, dispelling both.
"You know you won't defeat me that easily right?" Mifune looked around.
"Yes sensei, guess I'll have to kick it up a notch, twin slash!" A pair of clones got in front and behind Mifune, both already in position for the twin slash. Mifune tensed. Both clones charged at the same time. Thanks to his superior experience, Mifune managed to find a small gap and deflecting the clones into each other.
"Well I guess using it against a trained swordsman is bound to be different to using dummies. Good thing I prepared." Mifune narrowed his eyes even further. What did Naruto have planned that he didn't know about? "Transform!" Naruto shouted.
16 clones got in position around Mifune. Two to his sides, one in front and behind him and another 4 diagonal to him. The other 8 stood about 2 meters behind them. They then all transformed into poles that were stuck to the ground. Mifune was confused. "Poles?"
"Sensei, this is something I prepared to show you yesterday before you cancelled the training. Something I have been working on for a little over 2 weeks." Naruto announced. "Water style: Glimmering water chains!" chains formed around the poles on the outside. Effectively trapping himself inside. "One-slash barrage"
Mifune sweated a little. 8 clones, each at one of the clone poles. And if the name as any indication, then each of them would use the one-slash. Though Naruto's speed and execution of the one-slash was nowhere near his, 8 of them would be no easy feat to avoid. "Prepare yourself, sensei"
Then all hell broke loose. Each of the eight clones attacked in a seemingly random pattern of one-slash. Mifune had no time to think about the attacks as he was forced to block blow after blow. "Is it just me or are these clones speeding up?" Mifune thought.
"The one-slash barrage. First trap the opponent by creating two layers of poles. One in front, and one a bit behind them. Then close the gaps in the outer layer with chains. This has two functions. One, to restrict their movement further. And two…" Naruto stopped his train of thought for a moment to observe the scene. "For the clones to use their momentum to increase their speed. The clones attack in a seemingly random pattern, but in fact, they look for the place that would be the hardest to defend. They start in the normal one-slash, the frontal assault, then, on the return, they use the downwards slash, the back assault. Though I am not proficient at it yet, that is the main point of it"
Finally, the clones reached a speed which they couldn't see and made a mistake. One clone went too fast and crashed into another clone. This caused the other clones to lose concentration and crash into each other. Naruto hung his head. "Well that was a little embarrassing."
Mifune once again stood in the middle of the poles. "Very impressive Naruto. Even I was hard pressed to defend against that. I don't think I would have lasted much longer there.
Naruto sighed, "Ah well, good thing I still got more clones."
Mifune widened his eyes. He had totally forgotten the other clones. He settled in a stance similar but yet still different to his one-slash. "I'm afraid I can't let you do that Naruto. Flash!" With that, he coated his sword in chakra and swung it in an arc all around him, dispelling the poles and most of the clones. "I've seen enough of how well your clones can attack, but how about one on one?"
Naruto nodded dispelling the rest of his clones. "Alright, kenjutsu then." The two got together in the center of the arena and once again circled each other.
Naruto went for the same opening as his clone did before. He went for a strike for the chest. As before, Mifune twisted out the way and attempted to put his sword by Naruto's neck, only for it to be deflected. Naruto feinted left and slashed right. But that wouldn't work on an experienced swordsman such as Mifune who saw right through it and blocked it.
Naruto saw this as an opportunity to disarm him. He used his blade to hit the base of Mifune's and twisted. Then time seemed to slow down as the samurai leader's sword fell out of his hand and stabbed into the dirt.
Though before he had a chance to hold the blade to Mifune's neck- a sign of a win, Mifune bent back and grabbed his sword then swinging it up, he knocked Naruto's sword away. Before holding his own sword to Naruto's neck. "Good move Naruto, but not good enough to beat me"
Naruto sighed once again, "yeah, and here I was thinking I had you with that last move."
"Winner, Lord Mifune!" the ref announced before handing the microphone to Mifune while the crowd cheered.
"My people! You have all witnessed the skill of my student! Is there any who denies his right to be recognized as a samurai in all but allegiance?" The crowd roared in approval. "Well there's their answer Naruto. Congratulations."
Naruto just stared in shock before giving a genuine megawatt smile. "Thank you Mifune-sensei" he bowed.
"My pleasure, Naruto" Mifune said as he bowed back.
"That wraps up today's battle! Thank you my people! Have a good day!" As the people slowly made their way to the exits, Mifune turned to Naruto.
"Meet me in my office as soon as possible"
Xxxx
When Naruto reached Mifune's office, he found Zabuza and Haku waiting for him. They both turned to him when he entered. "Good work Naruto. I see you had mastered the shadow clone jutsu."
Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "I trained a lot"
"Anyways, Zabuza said that he has contacted his friend in Mist and that you will be leaving by tomorrow…"
"But because Mist is a little more chaotic as of late, we will wait a few years before it either dies down, or heats up to the point of where we have to offer our services. Either way, in the next 3 years, I will be training you and we will be going around as mercenaries."
Naruto nodded "Is that all?"
"No, I have one more thing to talk to you about Naruto. Zabuza and Haku, you two can go rest in your hotel. I'll be quick with him." The two nodded and headed out, leaving Naruto and Mifune alone. Mifune stood up and went behind the bookshelf to get something that was hidden from Naruto's sight.
"This is a katana passed down from samurai leader to samurai leader. Legend has it that it was given to the samurais as a gift by the sage of the six paths himself. Many say that when giving it to us, he foretold that one day, a child of prophecy would come, and this katana would help him save or destroy the world. I believe that child is you Naruto."
AN: yeah I know, a little evil to leave you on a slight cliffhanger. Nothing really to say besides that ZV seems to be busy so I don't have these chaps beta'd. I plan to recheck them sometime soon if only to add in some line breaks and stuff. Feel free to point out any errors.
Again I have created a facebook page for this and I will try post stuff like story updates on it. Any suggestions on what I could do would be appreciated.
Also, it appears that the fanfiction reviews are down again, so if I don't answer any questions you asked in a review just Pm me or message me on my facebook page
Reviews:
BlackDragonShinigami: thanks, here you go
Please Read my Stuff: yeah, I'm still a starting author, so expect the chaps to be around this length. For now at least. Also, no need to thank me for updating. I should thank you for reading and reviewing.
AmbertheCat: well I hope this didn't disappoint
Shapeshifter340: here you go
Dragonman109: I would have updated yesterday, but I was out so I only had time to work on it today
Noahendless: very good question. In fact I am surprised no one thought of it yet. The reason is because that I plan to give him a sharingan. Now I'm not telling you too much since that would be spoilers but that's basically it. Well that and because I couldn't think of much else ^.^ll