Outsider Chronicals: Breaking the Curse
Being reborn can be a pain in the ass as any Outsider can tell you. However, at least most are born as their own person. I wasn't so lucky and now I have to put up with being one of the most hated characters in Anime. Oh, and Fangirls. Help.
And we're back. Nothing to say here so lets dive straight in. Enjoy!
Chapter 14
Naruto let out a groan as he slowly regained consciousness. He slowly sat up, rubbing his head where it had slammed into the tree that had stopped his flight through the forest. He looked around, taking in his surroundings. The forest here looked old, far older than the rest of it, and seemed to be lusher and less twisted than the other parts of the forest. There were also the remains of what looked like a temple of some sort scattered throughout the area.
After checking his surroundings to make sure nothing was about to eat him, Naruto took stock of himself. Other than a decent sized goose egg on the back of his head from the impact with the tree, his other injuries were minor scratches. However, while he was unharmed, the same couldn't be said for his clothes, which were nearly completely torn up, leaving him in just his mesh under armour, the remains of his trousers and his headband.
"Aw great, thats all I need," grumbled Naruto, "I hope I can replace these…"
He turned to the carved out gap through the trees back the way he came.
"I don't have time to worry about that though. I need to get back."
He started to head back up the path the Great Breakthrough Jutsu had made, but before he'd gone more than a few steps, the sound of childish laughter reached his ears. Naruto froze, his hand leaping to the hilt of his Kunai.
"Ehehehe, oh me oh my, what have me here?" said a sing-song voice, "A little Ninja lost in the woods?"
"Whos there?" said Naruto, scanning the trees around him, "Show yourself!"
"Oh, thats no fun!" said the voice, "If you wanna catch me, you'll have to find me!"
"I don't have time to play games," said Naruto.
"Aww, thats no good," said the voice, "Hmm, I wonder if this will change your mind?"
Naruto suddenly felt something drop down behind him, but before he could react to it, he felt something tug at his headband.
"HEY!"
He spun around as his headband was snatched away, swiping at whatever had stolen it, only to hit nothing but air.
"Hehehehe, if you want this back, you need to catch me!" This time the voice came
Naruto spun to see the source of the voice stood up in the branches of a tree, dancing from foot to foot. What he saw made him stop and stare because the thing that had stolen his headband was not Human. It was small, only about the size of a child and was wearing tattered, reddish clothes that looked like they were made of leaves and a large, wide brimmed hat around which was wrapped Naruto's headband. Its face was bone white with large, orange eyes and it had a massive, toothy grin that looked a lot like the one Naruto used to wear when he pulled pranks.
"Who the hell are you?" asked Naruto, "What are you?"
"Skull Kid is me!" chirped the creature, "And Skull Kid is Skull Kid!"
"Alright then Skull Kid, give me back my headband if you know whats good for you!" said Naruto.
"Oh, thats not how this game works!" said Skull Kid, grinning down at Naruto, "You want this back, you need to catch Skull Kid!"
Naruto let out a growl.
"Damn it, I don't have time for this!" he snarled and leaped at the Skull Kid.
Before he could grab the little menace, it spun and vanished in a swirl of leaves.
"Nananana, you can't catch me!" yelled the Kid from a nearby tree, sticking its tongue out at Naruto.
"Why you little brat!" snarled Naruto.
The blond leaped after the Skull Kid, who took off thru the trees at incredible speed, giggling in its annoying voice as it danced around Narutos attempts to catch the little bugger.
"Screw this," growled Naruto, placing his fingers in a sign, "SHADOW CLONE JUTSU!"
Immediately, an army of clones appeared and charged the Skull Kid, who just laughed louder.
"Ehehehe, this games getting fun!" it said, "But now I get to bring out reinforcements to!"
It pulled a trumpet out of its tattered cloak and blew it. Immediately, something came dropping out of the trees and started destroying clones. They were puppets sort of resembled the Skull Kid, with gangly arms tipped with sharp claws that made short work of Narutos clones thanks to the surprise of their arrival. However, once they got over there surprise at the unexpected enemy dropping in on them, the Clones started fighting back and made short work of the puppets. However, there seemed to be a never ending number of the puppets dropping from the trees
Naruto ignored the puppets, leaving them to his clones as he took off after the retreating Skull Kid, following the sound of its laughter and its trumpet. He spotted the creature a short distance away, dancing on a branch in front of a solid wall of foliage.
"I've got you now!" shouted Naruto, diving at the Skull Kid.
The little being simply giggled and spun out of the way, allowing Naruto to sail past and through the wall of leaves. Naruto's eyes widened as he passed through the foliage and found himself hanging in empty air.
"CRAAAAPPPP!" he yelped as he plummeted down towards the forest floor.
KASPLOOSH!
And landed in a pond. Naruto surfaced, spitting algae tasting water as he splashed to the pond's edge and pulled himself out of the water.
"I am going...to…" Naruto trailed off as he got to his feet and saw his surroundings.
He was in a large clearing, surrounded on all sides with thick foliage. However, thats not what caught Narutos attention, no, that was the ruins that filled the clearing. It looked like a large building had once stood here a long time ago and time had reduced it to a mere shadow of its former self. Broken walls, statues and the remains of a stone doorway, as well as a triangle shaped crest on the floor that seemed to be glowing slightly.
Naruto slowly made his way through the ruins, all thoughts of the Skull Kid now chased from his mind in the face of these incredible ruins that were so unlike anything he had ever seen before. His feet lead him through the door where he found himself in a large, circular area with a pedestal that looked like it once held a sword placed on a small diaus that held another triangle shaped crest, a truly massive tree and a stone sarcophagus nestled between two massive roots. The lid of the grave depicted a man clad in a tunic and a hat with a longsword and shield resting on his chest. Spaced evenly around the area was a number of statues, all depicting similar men of all ages, from children the same age as Konohamaru to young adults, all in the same tunic and hand and wielding similar swords and shields.
"What is this place?" asked Naruto.
"This is the Temple of the Hero," said a voice.
Naruto jumped and looked up to see a masked figure stood in the branches of the tree.
"Who are you?" asked Naruto.
The figure didn't answer, instead jumping down to land in front of Naruto and slowly stood. It was a person, slightly shorter than Naruto and wearing body obscuring clothes that hid their gender. They consisted of a dark blue bodysuit with light armour covering the chest with a red eye-like symbol painted on it, four large daggers strapped to their hips, black, thigh high boots and bandages wrapped around their wrists. Their face was covered in a white scarf and their hair was covered by a bandanna with only a few strands of black hair sticking out. Strapped to their back was a golden lyre.
"I am Sheik of the Sheikah tribe," said the person, bowing slightly, "We have been watching over this place for generations, waiting for the day the Hero would return. Tell me, are you the Hero?"
"I don't know what your talking about," said Naruto.
"Are you sure?" asked Sheik, taking the lyre of his back.
Naruto narrowed his eyes as Sheik began to play, before they widened as he recognized the song. Almost without realizing, his hand went to his pouch and pulled out his ocarina, moving the instrument to his lips and joining Sheik in a perfect duet. As the two Ninja played, the backs of their left hands lit up with golden glows, revealing triangle shaped crests on the backs, even through Sheiks glove. The statues around the room also lit up, as did the triangle crest on the diaus. As the music reached its crescendo, beams of light shot from the statues and hit Naruto, covering the blond in a golden glow that hid him from view for a moment, before fading and revealing that his tattered clothes had been replaced by the same green tunic and hat that the statues wore. Strapped to his back was a longsword and a metal heater shield bearing the triangle crest, a red bird and the Leaf Village emblem.
The music slowly faded as the two Ninja finished playing and lowered their instruments, before Naruto noticed his sudden change of clothes.
"Whoa, what happened to my clothes?" he asked as he examined his new gear.
"That is the garb of the Hero of Legend," said Sheik.
"What Hero?" asked Naruto.
"According to legend, long before the founding of the Elemental Nations, there was a war between the people of the Goddess and the Demon Race," said Sheik, "The Goddess won and sealed the Demon King Demise away, but not before she was forced to send the Human Race into the sky to protect them. Thousands of years later, the seal was broken and a Hero was forced to battle and stop the Demon Demise with the aid of the living incarnation of the Goddess. He succeeded, but in his final moments, Demise placed a curse on the Blood of the Goddess and the Soul of the Hero that they would forever be haunted by an embodiment of his rage. Time and again throughout history, the world has come under threat from this embodiment and time and again he had been stopped and defeated by the Hero and the Princess."
Sheik indicated to the surroundings.
"This place is a monument to those heros, built by the last remnants of the people of Hyrule and protected by their ancestors over the Ruins of the Temple of Time."
"What does all this have to do with me?" asked Naruto.
Sheik pointed to his left hand.
"That symbol is the symbol of the Hero," she said, "Each time the Hero is born, he bares that mark. It is the Triforce of Courage and grants its bearer protection from Dark Curses and supernatural skill with weapons of all sorts, especially swords."
"So thats why I was able to use Sasukes sword so well," said Naruto, "This things so cool!"
Naruto froze.
"Oh no, my team!" he gasped, "I-I need to find them!"
He turned to leave.
"Naruto, wait!" shouted Sheik, "You'll need this."
He threw something at Naruto, who caught it and found that it was his headband.
"Thanks," said Naruto, "I nearly forgot about this."
He turned to leave again, but paused.
"Hey wait, how do you know my name?" he asked.
"Not important, now go, your team needs you," said Sheik.
Naruto hesitated for a moment longer, before he nodded and took of into the trees, leaving Sheik alone.
"Good look...Naruto," he whispered.
And we're done with this chapter. Bit short, but its got everything it needs.
So, Naruto is the most recent incarnation of Link and the Elemental Nations may or may not be Hyrule way, way in the future. The song they played was Zelda's Lullaby for those interested.
Who do we think the latest incarnation of Zelda, and thus, Sheik is?
I've added a few abilities that the Triforce of Courage grants its holder, mainly because I can't think of a single other reason as to how Link could use half the crap he gets in the games without some sort of supernatural help.
Well, I had fun writing this one. Next time, we're back to Sasuke. Until then, leave me a review!