Pop! Goes the Bunshin

By Silver Dragonfly


Naruto suddenly stiffened and hissed a muttered curse, lifting a hand and running it through his hair in frustration.

"Naruto-san? Is everything all right?" the young woman who had been guiding him toward the village of Hidden Mist asked in concern.

"Ah, it's fine. Just remembered something I had forgotten is all." He explained and gave her a reassuring grin.

She studied him for a moment before accepting his answer, and then continued to lead him through the village.

Inwardly, Naruto sighed. That was the tenth Kage Bunshin that had been 'killed' by either bounty hunters, marines, or other pirates in the last two weeks. This last one had barely left Konoha before it had been popped. His uncle had to be getting a bit pissed by now. Hell, Naruto himself was getting fed up with it. This was one of those times he really wished he could overcharge the Kage Bunshin for more durability. He'd tried to do that, several times in fact. Unfortunately, they just didn't work that way. Overpowering the jutsu simply meant volume instead of quality; a lot of volume in his case, but not what he'd been hoping for in practice.

Naruto had even tried some with nature energy, which were in fact far more durable, but they had their own risks. He wasn't certain a Kage Bunshin formed with nature energy could make the jump across worlds and still be stable. He couldn't seal a nature-formed Kage Bunshin in a scroll, either. Having Bunshin gather the nature energy in that world seemed favorable, but he wasn't sure if nature energy flowed the same way it did in the Elemental Nations and the last thing he wanted was to start sinking The Red Force with stone toad statues when it went wrong, if it did. He also wasn't certain that a clone turning into a toad wouldn't also rebound back on him.

The worst part of the whole mess right now though wasn't even the Kage Bunshin durability factor, but that he wouldn't be able to send a replacement for a couple of weeks, at best. Most likely it would be a month or more. The anchor to the seal matrix that he used to send the Kage Bunshin was in Konoha, and that was where he would not be returning for some time.

Stupid diplomatic mission keeping him away from the village, but he couldn't say no when he had been asked to take this mission. It meant too much for him to be helping to establish a lasting peace across the Elemental Nations to refuse. It had been Ero-Sennin's dream. A dream Naruto had inherited, and one which they were too close to achieving after the Fourth War to throw away just because Naruto didn't want to play nice with dignitaries and travel all over the Elemental Nations. He'd have to explain it to Shanks… that and other things, he realized.

He wished this last Kage Bunshin had had time to tell Shanks he wouldn't be around for a while, and he hoped his uncle would forgive his sudden absence.

Naruto briefly considered making a scroll and summoning Gamatsukai to deliver it, but no, that would take months and put Gamatsukai at unnecessary risk. He would just have to be patient. His nose wrinkled at the thought. He definitely needed to do something to make it clear to the different factions of that world that he was no pushover soon, and a Kage Bunshin was just not going to cut it.

He slipped his hand in a pocket and linked a finger through the handle on the specialized Kunai he had hidden there. In that, at least, this mission was serving a second purpose. He'd found several old markers his father had set up that he had been able to restore for his own use. After this tour of all the Elemental Nations, he'd have a network of the markers and would likely be able to travel from one end of the Elemental Nations to the other in minutes. He only needed a few more long-distance tests with the Toads and he'd be ready for the biggest jump of them all.


Shanks, carefree, redhead, pirate, and one of the four emperors of the New World, was not happy, nor was his crew. The last Kage Bunshin had been killed over a week ago, and there had not been a new arrival since. Shanks had checked the strange seal daily, if not several times a day, to make sure a message hadn't arrived in place of one of the clones, and he was beginning to worry when each day passed with nothing appearing. Had something happened to his nephew? Was the blonde mad that his clones kept getting killed? He had never seemed bothered by the accidents before, but the last few had not been accidents. He knew the kid was not exactly innocent as a shinobi, but he didn't know if he had truly understood the danger the bounty poster had brought. Shanks himself was realizing he'd underestimated just how attractive a potential "weakling" family member of his would be to the leeches. This had led to his current brooding mood.

It did not matter how many times he had accidentally popped the Kage Bunshin that was his nephew by mistake. It did not matter how many times the clones had been dispelled by his crew mates. The fact that ten… TEN, of his nephew's clones had been 'killed' by outside parties left both him and his crew in a very, very sour mood.

It did not matter that none of the hits had actually been fatal, just inconvenient. No, what mattered is that others had dared to attack him at all, and there would be payment made for that.

"Captain," Benn's voice reached him from outside the shadowy corner Shanks had been brooding in. "We are making our approach to Hunter's Cove now."

Shanks' eyes flashed and a dark smile crossed his lips. He had been too charitable to this cove of pirate hunters lurking on the edges of his territory. They had avoided confrontation with the Red-Haired Pirates, and so he had let them be. They had even made themselves mildly useful in clearing out all sorts of rookie riff-raff. They had crossed the line, however.

Seven of the recently deceased clones were at the fault of residents of Hunter's Cove.

Shanks rose to his feet and stepped out of the shadows to survey his crew, eyes glinting in the moonlight. He hardly raised his voice as he gave his orders. "No quarter, burn every rat-hole, hovel, and slum. This cesspit has hurt one of our own."

There was a resulting roar of approval as The Red Force glided into the port. Alarms across the shoreline began to clang.

Shanks eyes glinted and his tone was dark. "Open Fire."

No sooner had the words left his lips then cannon fire roared out from the sides of the ship to shower the piers and portside buildings. Hunter's Cove had no hope. A great red dragon had come to visit and it would leave nothing in its wake.


Blue eyes stared in surprise at the oil lantern glowing softly in the dark room. It had taken him far longer than he had wanted to make the trip. He had worried that Shanks would be angry, or not want him to come back, but as soon as the clone had taken form and opened his eyes, he had spotted the glowing lantern waiting. There was no other reason for a lantern to have been left burning in the nearly empty storage room. He blinked and then grinned; time to get to work. He stepped to the side and immediately began studying the seal matrix on the floor. In moments he had brush, and ink in hand and began making adjustments and additions; the brush moving in quick steady movements

There was a rush of footfalls outside the door and the blonde-haired clone looked up in surprise from where he crouched just inside the hatch before it was thrown open. The clone went tumbling as the hatch connected with his backside. There was a soft popping sound and the clone was gone, brush and ink pot falling to the floor.

Shanks' wide eyes froze and then a wail escaped his lips as he sunk to the floor, collapsing against the hatch door casing. His nephew had returned… he had sensed it tickling the edges of his haki, just as it always had before, and then it was gone again. His gaze traveled downward to the seal matrix and he immediately spotted the small changes and additions. He had spent quite a bit of time studying the intricate marks in the past two months since his nephew's last clone had been killed. The lines, swirls, and marks told him stories, and yet kept their secrets just out of understanding. He worried, suddenly, briefly, that his nephew had been working to seal the way shut, but that didn't feel right.

There was a sudden yellow flash, and power exploded across Shanks' senses. He heard distant shouts of shock from other areas of the ship, and his eyes opened wide as blonde hair framing a familiar face with blue eyes and whisker marks came into focus before him. There was power in those eyes; power, strength, knowledge, mischief, and so much more but most of all longing and hope.

"Sorry it took me so long Shanks-oji. As my sensei would say, I got lost on the road of life."

Shanks blinked, a grin slowly spreading across his face and then loud laughter filled the room and spilled into the corridor behind him. This was his nephew –no shadow— the real thing this time, and he wondered at how he ever could have doubted the potential the shadow clones had hinted at. The boy's haki sang with power and strength and Shanks could only grin. He reached forward, and when the teen accepted his offered hand, he tugged the boy to him quickly, holding on tight.

"You had me worried, kid." Shanks whispered despite his grin as he embraced the boy tightly, not having to worry about making this one vanish in a whoosh of displaced air.

Naruto could only return the embrace, a grin as large as his uncle's stuck on his face.


Thank you for reading! This chapter came to me some time ago and I had to write several of the others afterwards that would actually fit before it. (I also had to come to terms with the fact that the plot bunnies and my muse were not going to leave this project alone.) So thank you to all your patience in waiting for the real Naruto to arrive. ~.^

On a side note, I have joined the Tumblr community and will be posting bits related to my fanfiction works there going forward. This will include some sketches and doodles (or at least links to them). A link is now available to both my DeviantArt and Tumblr accounts in my author profile.

One Piece and all its characters © Eiichiro Oda

Naruto and all its characters © Masashi Kishimoto

Special Thanks to my beta readers (and sounding boards): Blue Melodie, Inazuma Pocky, & Aria Ino.