Naruto: Uchiha no Densetsu
Chapter 21: Set in Fate
With sheer strength, Kakashi managed to deflect the large sword, much to everyone's surprise. However, the man named Zabuza once again swung his sword with precision, aiming to sever Kakashi's torso. Kakashi shifted to the right slightly and parried the sword and directed it towards the ground. He quickly followed it up by aiming his right hand coated in electricity towards Zabuza's head. With quick reflexes, Zabuza ducked under Kakashi's hand and dissolved into water. He then rose from the water in the ocean and to Tazuna's surprise, stood perfectly balanced.
"You got some nice moves there, Kakashi…" Zabuza chuckled as he rested his sword on his shoulders. He smirked as he could sense the slight tension developing in the genins. But inwardly he was analyzing his chances of getting out on top. He believed he could most likely take Kakashi in a one on one fight, but the blonde kid was a whole different matter. He glanced at the shinobi who was given the moniker of Shiroi Shinigami and noticed that Naruto hadn't moved from his place at all. The tales of the blonde Uchiha had reached even Mizu no Kuni and in a practical scenario, he would like to avoid fighting Naruto at all costs. Yet, every cell in his body wanted to test the blonde's strength and confirm if the rumors about his battle prowess were indeed true or not.
Kakashi jumped in front of his team and lifted his headband, showcasing his fully matured sharingan.
"Oh? The sharingan already? You honor me, Kakashi. Then, I shall also fight with my full strength." Zabuza stated firmly. The genins of team seven had their eyes widened on hearing that their sensei had a sharingan. Out of the three, Sasuke was the most shocked as he wondered just how Kakashi got his hands on a sharingan or the fact that he never told his team about it. But he kept quiet as he intently focused on the two jounin level shinobi fighting before him.
Kakashi and Zabuza once again ran at each other, and Zabuza performed a vertical swing. As the large sword came down, Kakashi jumped and aimed a kick to Zabuza's right arm. But the Kiri swordsman easily blocked the kick with his elbow and in a show of impressive strength, pushed Kakashi back. As Kakashi backflipped and landed on the ground, he performed a few hand seals and called, "Katon: Kakiryuu no jutsu". A fire emerged all around the white-haired jounin and took the form of a dragon which then proceeded towards Zabuza with an intimidating look. Not deterred by the katon jutsu, Zabuza performed his own set of hand seals.
"Suiton: Suiryuudan no jutsu" The water around Zabuza rose to about fifteen feet and took the form of a giant dragon with glowing yellow eyes. As the two opposing jutsu collided with each other, a natural mist now formed in the area. Kakashi instantly became highly alert of his surroundings as he aware of Zabuza's specialty. Zabuza quickly hid his presence in the mist and moved towards Kakashi's direction. Sensing danger behind him, Kakashi immediately turned around and blocked the giant sword. The two battled in strength for a few seconds but Zabuza soon overpowered Kakashi and cleaved the jounin in half. To his surprise, Kakashi dissolved into water and the next second, he found a hand covered in sparkling electricity sticking out of his chest.
"It's over Zabuza." Kakashi whispered behind him. However, Zabuza chuckled and also dissolved into water. Kakashi had to immediately duck down as heard the swishing sound of the sword cutting through the air. He instantly proceeded to jump away, but Zabuza reacted a tad bit quicker and managed to get a small cut on Kakashi's left arm. Instead of following after Kakashi, Zabuza once again jumped towards the ocean. As the mist cleared, Hinata, Sakura and Sasuke were alarmed on seeing Kakashi panting and clutching his left arm. Sasuke began shaking slightly as he once again felt the fear creep up his spine. The same fear he had felt the night his clan was murdered.
'So, this is how jounins fight. I'm not even close to their level. If this continues, I may just go crazy This is insane. So much killing intent.' Sasuke thought with beads of sweat rolling down his face. He glanced towards Naruto and was surprised that the blonde stood in his place calm as a tree. Yet again, he cursed his own lack of power. He brought a kunai close to his thigh and proceeded to stab himself slightly to divert the sense of fear elsewhere. He gritted his teeth but kept his calm. Hinata and Sakura were not faring any better. Even though they appeared to be relatively calmer on the outside; inwardly they too were quaking in fear. This was the first time they had witnessed two jounins fight to death. And from the looks of it, Zabuza had the upper hand. Tazuna, however, was having the worst time of all. He was down on the ground and clutched his head in pain. All of this was beginning to get too mortifying for him to bear.
As Kakashi regained his bearings, he stood upright and narrowed his eyes towards Zabuza. Having a taijutsu spar with him wasn't a clever idea since Zabuza clearly had greater strength than him. His only option would be taking him by surprise and use a raiton jutsu to counter his suiton ones. But, before Kakashi could even make a move, another mizu bunshin of Zabuza arose from the scattered water behind him and kicked him towards the ocean. Zabuza quickly performed a set of hand seals and as soon as Kakashi neared him, he called out the name of his jutsu.
"Suiton: Suiro no jutsu" And Kakashi was immediately trapped in a sphere of water. A highly alarmed look appeared on Kakashi's face as he struggled to breath or even get out of this jutsu. Zabuza panted a little and breathed a sigh of relief.
"Well, this one's done… Few more minutes and he'll die in there." Zabuza laughed out loud. The genins hesitantly took a step forward but still apprehensive whether they'd be able to do much if their own sensei couldn't. "You kids think, you can take me on? Don't mock me! You'd die instantly. It'd be better if the Shiroi Shinigami fought me himself. Maybe then you'll have a chance." Zabuza taunted. On hearing that, Naruto started chuckling as he stepped forward. Sasuke, Hinata and Sakura lowered their gaze as they knew, Zabuza was right.
"Me? And fight you? You're the one who shouldn't make me laugh, Zabuza. A washed-up shinobi like you is not even worth my time. You couldn't kill the Yondaime Mizukage, what makes you think you'll be able to even lay a hand on me?" Naruto stated with his hands folded across his chest. Zabuza gritted his teeth in frustration at the blonde's taunting but kept his cool.
"Well, why don't you show me then?" Zabuza replied confidently. To his surprise, Naruto simply turned around to look at the three genins. As Naruto turned around to look at his teammates, the three genin were surprised at the warm look on Naruto's face. It was very rare to see Naruto give that look. But it also made them feel safe. That look alone told them to go forth and show their powers. It told them to believe in their own strength and that he'd have their back if something went wrong. With new found confidence, the three genins fearlessly stepped forward. Zabuza laughed at the stupid confidence that three kids were now portraying and decided to see what they were capable of. It was his belief that a person could not consider himself a shinobi unless they had taken a life. And from the fear he had sensed in them earlier, he was sure these green genins would not be able to do much. Oh, how wrong he would turn out to be.
Sasuke took out a fuma shuriken from his backpack and to Zabuza's surprise performed one handed seals with his free hand. Coating the fuma shuriken with raiton chakra, Sasuke threw it towards Zabuza. The Kiri swordsman was yet again surprised when the single fuma shuriken multiplied into four and all of them flew towards him at a fast pace. Creating five mizu bunshins, each clone managed to deflect a fuma shuriken but for the slight moment he had diverted his gaze from the genins, Sakura and Hinata had already performed their own set of hand seals.
"Raiton: Rakurai no jutsu" Hinata fired small bolts of electricity towards the five clones which were immediately dispelled from the electric shocks. Sakura placed her palms on the water that was on the ground and proceeded to form four small whips of water. The small water whips proceeded to travel through the water on the ground and as soon as they reached the ocean, they instantly increased in size and the four water whips instantly latched onto Zabuza's feet even though he tried jump. He managed to keep his left hand submerged in the water sphere that was holding Kakashi, for a while, but soon one of the water whips that latched onto his foot flung him away. As soon as Zabuza's hand was out, the water sphere surrounding Kakashi dissolved, thereby freeing him. Sasuke, Hinata and Sakura smiled widely as they were successful in freeing their sensei even though they didn't manage to scratch Zabuza one bit. Naruto also smiled on seeing the teamwork shown by team seven and he was certain Kakashi would be proud of what he'd seen.
"Hmph… they just got lucky. But they do seem to be smart on their feet at least." Zabuza said, as he landed on top of the water. Kakashi was relieved to have gotten out of that jutsu. He was struggling to hold his breath and if he had to spend a few more minutes trapped in that sphere, he would have definitely fallen unconscious.
"You're not fooling anyone Zabuza. You were forced to let go." Kakashi stated as he calmed himself. Opting not to reply, Zabuza started performing a long string of hand seals, which was also mirrored by Kakashi. 'How is he doing that? He's doing it even faster than me!' thought a surprised Zabuza.
"How…" Zabuza started.
"… can I read your mind?" Kakashi finished, making Zabuza's mind stumble. Before Zabuza could even finish the hand seals for his jutsu, Kakashi completed molding the chakra for the jutsu.
"Suiton: Daibakufu no jutsu" Kakashi said out loud as a huge water cyclone, turned on its side formed beside him and smashed into Zabuza with great force. Consequently, the Kiri swordsman crashed into the trees on the land and fell unconscious instantly. Kakashi then fell on his knees as he had used quite a lot of chakra in this fight. Much more than he had expected. He covered his sharingan eye with his forehead protector and proceeded to walk towards his team. The team seven genins promptly walked towards Kakashi on seeing his tired state. They were thoroughly amazed by Kakashi's strength but more intrigued by the fact that he also possessed a sharingan. Sasuke had decided to question him regarding the eye once they reached Tazuna's home.
As Naruto walked towards Zabuza to finish him off, he suddenly stopped in his tracks and looked up see another shinobi sitting on the tree. From the looks of it, he supposed the shinobi was a Hunter ninja from Kiri.
"I thank you, Konoha shinobi for finishing off Zabuza. I had been tracking him for quite some time." Said the masked shinobi. Naruto was momentarily surprised at the gentle and kind voice but kept his eyes focused on the hunter ninja. By now, the other members of team seven had also noticed the masked shinobi and were staring at him with caution.
"Are you here to take him?" asked Naruto. The masked shinobi nodded and jumped off the tree to stand beside Zabuza. He then implanted two senbon needles in Zabuza's neck making the other people believe that Zabuza was indeed dead. Though a little suspicious, Naruto decided to give the Kiri shinobi the benefit of the doubt. Since Kirigakure had recently come out of the civil war, it would be natural that the village wished to clean up its mess and gather their precious tools.
"I wish you luck on your mission, Konoha shinobi." The hunter ninja said before he picked up Zabuza body and disappeared from the area. Almost immediately, Kakashi fell on the ground as his body was too tired to stand up.
"Kakashi-sensei! What happened? Are you all right?" Sakura asked worriedly as she knelt beside him. Tazuna breathed a huge sigh of relief as he saw the danger before them had ended. He was a bit more satisfied than before about the group of people protecting him. But, now that he stared at the blonde kid, he couldn't believe his eyes that he was the shinobi known as the Shiroi Shinigami. He had only heard tales of the man a couple of times from Gato's underlings. The rumors described the Shiroi Shinigami to be a being of pure terror, that anyone who dared opposed him would meet his death ultimately. But the more he stared at the blonde, the more he found those rumors to be unbelievable.
'These shinobi are freaking crazy…' Tazuna thought in disbelief. Turning towards Kakashi and his team, he was surprised that the man could even stand after the fight he had just witnessed.
"Tazuna-san, how far are we from your house now?" Hinata questioned.
"If we hurry, we can reach in an hour most likely. Kakashi-san can rest in the guest room. I believe he's extremely tired." Tazuna said with a bit of respect. As the group once again began making their way to Tazuna's house, Naruto couldn't help but shake the feeling that they were being watched or followed. It was disturbing because he couldn't feel any chakra signatures close to them. He decided to simply ignore the feeling for now and followed Tazuna.
As Naruto and the group went out of sight, the space near the shore distorted into a spiral shape and a pale skin man with a small gourd strapped to his back stepped out.
"Ohhh… I finally found him. The lost prince of our clan… let's see just how good you are with those eyes of yours…" the man quietly said to himself as he laughed a little.
Tazuna's house, Nami no Kuni
About an hour later, the group from Konoha had finally reached Tazuna's house. It was a simple two-story house with a porch on the front. The door was opened by a beautiful young lady with long blue colored hair. She wore a short sleeved pink shirt and a long blue colored skirt.
"Tou-san, you're back!" exclaimed the lady in delight. From the look ono her face, it seemed she was quite worried.
"Yeah, these shinobi from Konoha escorted me along the way and will be staying with us until I finish building the bridge." Tazuna replied in relief and invited the Konoha shinobi behind him inside the house. Sakura and Sasuke immediately entered the house to get some much-needed rest. They were quite winded from the journey and the fight they were involved in. Hinata was about to follow when she saw Naruto stop.
"Kakashi-sensei, I think I will go scout the area just in case. You should go and take some rest." Naruto said. Kakashi understood the meaning behind Naruto's words and simply nodded. Getting himself off Naruto, the white-haired jounin wobbly stood on his own leg. Chakra exhaustion is among the worst scenarios a shinobi could suffer from. If not taken caution, one may even perish from the lack of chakra inside the body. Naruto turned around to walk away when he was stopped by Hinata's voice.
"Where are you going, Naruto-kun?" Hinata questioned.
"Oh, don't worry Hinata-chan. I'm just going to look around for a bit. You guys should go and rest. All of you did some good work and need to recover your strength. I should be back by sunset." Naruto replied with a smile. Hinata eased up a bit on hearing that but still felt as if he was hiding something. Looking into his eyes, she could always say if he was being completely honest or not. But she decided to trust his words.
"Alright, be sure to come back soon okay? I'm sure Tazuna-san's daughter will have meals prepared for us." Hinata said. Naruto gave a gentle nod and walked in the other direction, towards the town. Hinata then proceeded to help Kakashi walk into the house.
With Naruto
As Naruto walked through the middle of the town, he was saddened on seeing the state it was in. It was the middle of the day and there were hardly any people to be seen. A lot of the shops appeared to be broken down with a closed sign outside of it. Some of the shops which were open seemed to be inadequately stacked with products. Based on what he had seen up till now, he could see why the people of Nami no Kuni despised Gato so much. The businessman had taken away the people's livelihood and terrorized them to an extent that people barely came out of their houses. His ears suddenly picked the sound of few people arguing and when he turned to that direction, he was surprised to see a few thugs holding an old man by his collar. Naruto decided to move closer to the shop, so he could hear what they were arguing about.
"Your tax was due a week ago, old man. When do you think you're going to pay?" scowled the man who was holding the aged man's collar. The thug's two companions were standing behind him with cocky smirks on their faces.
"Please! Just give me another week. I'm still a little short of the amount." The old man said pleadingly with pure horror on his face.
"Gato wants the money now, old bastard. You were given enough time. You either pay now or lose your life." The thug stated as he took out a knife from his pocket and pointed it to the old man's neck. A few tears rolled down the old man's face as he shut his eyes in fear. He cried and hoped for someone to come and help him and the thug simply enjoyed the look of terror on the old man's face. He pointed the knife a little closer to the man's neck, drawing a small amount of blood. However, he suddenly stopped when he heard some noises behind him. Turning around, he was surprised to see his two companions down on the ground with their throats slit wide open. He suddenly backed away a little when he felt someone tap his shoulders.
"Who the hell are you?" the thug yelled when he saw a young blond boy stand beside the old man.
"No one you need to concern yourself with. So, you work for Gato, huh?" Naruto questioned calmly. The thug was yet to notice the Konoha headband on Naruto and raised his voice slightly this time.
"So, what if I do? You don't want to mess with the boss over here. He'll have you killed in no time." The thug stated quite confidently. He raised his hand holding the knife and pointed it towards Naruto who portrayed a blank face. Before the thug could even blink, he was punched in his gut and flew back, hitting the wall harshly. Naruto walked closer to the fallen man and held him up his shirt.
"Where is Gato's headquarters?" Naruto asked firmly. His rinnegan bore into the man's eyes and the thug found himself hypnotized by that strange eye.
"It's on the north-western front of Nami no Kuni. It's surrounded by trees and several missing ninjas for protection." The thug replied fearfully. Without further thought, Naruto took out a kunai and implanted it in the man's head, killing him instantly. He turned around when he heard a gasp. The old man took a few steps back in fear when he saw the young kid kill the man. Naruto's face turned a little soft on seeing that. Civilians were not used to seeing someone get killed and hence it was normal for the old man to have a look of apprehension etched on his face.
"It's alright. You're safe now. I promise you won't have any troubles from these thugs or Gato any longer. I have been sent by Konoha to rid Nami no Kuni of Gato and his men." Naruto said kindly. Still a bit in shock, the old man breathed a sigh of relief and thanked the blonde for saving his life. Naruto chuckled awkwardly, not really used to being thanked by civilians. He was just doing the job that was assigned to him. Still, he was kind of glad that he could save the old man's life.
"May I offer you something in return? Some fruits and vegetables? I apologize if I can't give you any money. Gato has imposed taxes on all the people who own shops here. And the taxes are so high, it's hard for us to save anything to support our families." The old man stated with lowered gaze. Naruto placed a comforting hand on the old man's shoulder.
"No, it's okay. You don't have to worry about anything anymore. Once Gato is gone, Nami no Kuni will be a safe place to live again." Naruto said gently. The old man wiped a few tears off his face and nodded, gratified by the young boy's words.
"But still I can't let you go empty handed. You saved my life. I have to give you something in return…" The old man insisted and looked around his store. He packed a few fruits and vegetables in a polythene bag and handed it to Naruto. Deciding to just please the old man, Naruto took the bag and sealed it into a scroll as the shop keeper looked at that in amazement. After bidding farewell to the old man, Naruto left the shop and quickly made his way towards Gato's location.
He was about a couple of miles away from Gato's base when Naruto suddenly stopped in his tracks. He had to immediately jump away when he noticed a hook connected to a red chakra wire just graze past him. As he turned around, Naruto's eyes widened in surprise at the person standing atop the tree branch. He had greyish-blue unkempt, short spiky hair which was kept in a ponytail. He had brown horns that grew from the back of his head and wrapped around to his forehead, with a small gap in between them. He also had typically clipped eyebrows as a symbol of nobility. He wore a long-sleeved, light-colored suits with a sectioned apron over it, along with a sash and carried a small gourd strapped to his back.
"Nicely dodged, young prince." Commented the man as he jumped to the ground. Naruto tensed up as he looked at the man before him cautiously. He was definitely an Otsutsuki.
"And who might you be?" Naruto questioned. However, the unknown Otsutsuki swung his chakra rod again. Reacting quickly, Naruto lifted his arm and deflected the hook with a pulse of gravity. He jumped back to gain some distance, in case the man attacked again.
"Names don't matter at this point. But our clan has been observing this planet for the past millennia. It's a shame that Kaguya had decided to betray us for pitiful creatures such as humans." The man stated, all the while having a prideful smirk on his face.
'Is this who that man had warned me about? But, its too soon. I have no information on the Otsutsuki.' Naruto thought worriedly. He glanced towards the man before him again and wondered how he could get out of this or if there were other people with him.
"Quite worried, are you? You're the last remnant of the Otsutsuki Clan's main branch on this world. And we can't have any traitors among us." The man said again as he lunged towards Naruto. Quickly forming a black chakra rod from his palm, Naruto also moved towards the Otsutsuki as the two clashed. Putting more force, Naruto managed to push the man back slightly. Freeing one of his hands, Naruto fired few more chakra rods to the man's chest. To the blonde's surprise, another hook branched off from the man's red chakra rod and deflected the black rods thrown by him. Jumping back, Naruto formed a few hand seals and placed his palms together.
"Suiton: Suishouha" Naruto said as he created water from thin air to form a tidal wave all around the Otsutsuki. In a matter of second, the water around the unknown man converged on him, hitting him dead on. However, Naruto found himself on the defensive as he saw another hook coming towards him through his suiton jutsu at lightning fast speed. As Naruto attempted to dodge the attack, the hook seemed to gain more speed and before Naruto could react, the hook had pierced him straight through the chest.
"Ughh…" Naruto groaned as he fell on his knees.
"That was quite the attack, little on. Let me repay that to you…" the man said. Naruto's eyes widened as his own jutsu appeared out of the man's gourd and a large wave of water was now falling towards him. Naruto tried getting the hook off of him, but nothing seemed to work. He closed his eyes and summoned large amounts of chakra. Just as the wave was about to hit Naruto, large amounts of chakra exploded from the blonde to form an ethereal silver colored warrior holding a scythe, around him. Naruto groggily stood up as the water around him settled on the ground. Summoning all his strength, he managed to take the hook off, but was intrigued when he saw blue colored chakra surrounding the hook. Before Naruto could realize what had happened, the man retracted the hook.
"You're a feisty one, aren't you? I can see why my superiors are so interested in you." The man said with a jovial smile, which seemed to confuse Naruto. Narrowing his eyes upon his opponent, Naruto's susanoo swung the large scythe at him which the man nimbly dodged. After a couple more attempts, Naruto fell on his knees as he coughed some blood from his mouth. Even his susanoo had disappeared at this point.
'What the hell is going on? I can barely stand on my two feet. Kurama?' Naruto thought as he called to his friend. Kurama was now viewing the man before him extreme caution.
'Naruto, you have to careful of him. What he took right now, was your chakra. And a large amount of it. I will lend you some chakra right now, but make sure you're not hit by that chakra rod of his again.' Kurama stated seriously. Naruto's body was soon engulfed in a thick red chakra shroud as he felt himself getting rejuvenated. He thanked his friend for the help and stood back up, once again.
"You're still too weak, young prince. Even though, you have the eyes of our clan, you don't know your own potential. You can't see your own destiny with those eyes of yours. It really is a shame." The man said with a shake of his head. Naruto remained calm as he calculated his chances of getting out of this alive. From the looks of things, the Otsutsuki wasn't even winded and Naruto highly doubted whether the man used even a fraction of his true strength.
'Kurama, I know we have never done this before. But I need your help right now. If I don't use everything I have, I don't think I can escape this situation. I hope you haven't gotten rusty?' Naruto asked his friend with a slight smirk.
'Hmph… Let's give him all we have!' Kurama replied as he sat in a meditative pose and placed his palms together. Large amounts of dense yellow chakra suddenly engulfed Naruto and coated his entire body which emanated from him, reminiscent of flickering flames. Nine magatama markings now adorned Naruto's back and collar, a sort of circular design featured prominently over his stomach and his whisker like markings on the face became thicker along with a pattern consisting of rinnegan-like marking above the nine magatama also appeared on his back. With the influence of using Kurama's chakra, Naruto's pupils which were completely dilated now became slit-like; whereas his rinnegan now appeared to be red in color, his mangekyo sharingan remained the same. As the large gist of wind that had appeared around Naruto settled down, the surrounding area appeared to be completely destroyed.
"Ohhh… now, that's more like it. Show me what you can do, Naruto Uchiha Namikaze!" the man yelled loudly as he prepared himself. As Naruto steadied composed himself, he launched towards the man. Within a flash, Naruto appeared behind the man and went for a jab to his jugular. The Otsutsuki promptly turned around and swatted Naruto's hand, then aimed a punch to Naruto's gut. With lightning fast reflexes, Naruto caught the man's arm and punched him on his face. The Otsutsuki went flying back with force and hit several trees in the process. Flipping midair, the man regained his footing and blasted off towards Naruto. Naruto swiftly jumped above the man and kicked him in the back but was only able to push him a few feet away. Levitating himself in the air, Naruto pointed both his arms at the man and released a large wave of gravity towards the ground. In a few seconds, the entire ground below the Otsutsuki's feet began to shake violently followed by several trees getting uprooted from their place. The man tried jumping away but the force of gravity kept pushing him towards the ground which was making it harder for him to regain his footing. A deep crater was soon formed spanning about a mile in radius as Naruto ended his jutsu. He was amazed by how much his physical prowess, ninjutsu and speed were amplified when using the chakra cloak. This was his first time using Kurama's power and quite frankly, he never felt more power coursing through his body before.
As the Otsutsuki lifted himself from the ground, he dusted his clothing for dust and looked towards the levitating blond. While he had became familiar with the different bijuus that were scattered across this planet, he had never imagined someone to be capable enough to handle such large amounts of chakra so efficiently. He panted a little as he realized that attack had taken quite a toll on his body. He would have to stop underestimating the kid. Placing his palms together, the Otsutsuki molded large amounts of chakra and suddenly two large hands, made of stone rose from the ground and moved towards Naruto to squash him. In response, Naruto formed two large rasengans in both his hands and aimed it towards the two stone hands that were raining down on him from both sides. As the two rasengan impacted the stone hands, there was a large blast which caused the debris to fly all around the blonde. He formed a protective sphere of gravity all around him which automatically deflected any large pieces of rocks that came close to him. When he looked down, he was surprised to find the Otsutsuki to be nowhere in sight. His senses suddenly urged him to duck down as the fishing hook grazed the top of his head. He sighed in relief as he turned around to also find the man levitating.
"What is it that you wish from me?" Naruto questioned again with narrowed eyes.
"The chakra that resides in you. You have the strongest chakra on this planet. All the chakra belongs to the Otsutsuki Clan." The man stated as a matter of fact. Naruto prepared himself as he saw the man raise his arm but was confused when the space behind the man distorted to open a portal of sort.
'Jikukan ninjutsu?' Naruto thought.
"Urashiki Otsutsuki… remember the name. We shall meet again young prince. I must say, this little skirmish was quite entertaining." The man now identified as Urashiki said before disappearing from Naruto's view. Once the blonde was sure that the man had gone, he lowered himself onto the ground as his chakra cloak dissipated. He suddenly fell on the ground as he felt the toll of using such large amounts of chakra for the first time. He gasped harshly to regain his breathing. That was the toughest fight he had ever been involved in. But it also gave him an insight into what the Otsutsuki wanted with him in general.
A few minutes later, he heard some rattling noise and was surprised to see Kakashi standing beside him. From the worried look on Kakashi's face, it was safe to say that the jounin had never seen Naruto in such a terrible state. The moment he had felt Naruto's chakra he had rushed to his location. He was further alarmed when he also sensed the Kyubi's chakra. Up until now, he had never known Naruto to utilize the bijuu's chakra. But it also worried him as to who could have forced someone like Naruto to utilize the Kyubi's chakra. Looking at all the destruction around him, he was certain about one thing. This enemy would turn out to be a tremendous problem, not only for Konoha but for the entire shinobi world.
"What happened, Naruto? Who was that person?" Kakashi asked, as he picked the blonde up gently. Naruto somberly stared at the sky above him with a defeated look in his eyes. He knew he would have most likely lost the fight, if it had continued for longer. His body wasn't used to handling such copious amounts of chakra all of a sudden. He also realized that the man named Urashiki was right. He needed to learn more about his own eyes and powers. If what he understood was correct, he wasn't even close to using his entire strength and for some reason it terrified Naruto. He was certain that he'd be able to beat any shinobi if it came to a fight to death normally. But against threats like the Otsutsuki, he was merely a child.
"Urashiki Otsutsuki…" Naruto said weakly. An extremely surprised look appeared on Kakashi's face on hearing that name.
"Otsutsuki? As in related to the Rikudo…?" Kakashi said, barely in a whisper. Naruto nodded his head as he sat up. Even though he wasn't all that injured, it was his muscles that were sore and chakra coils that felt burnt up. "Just give me a minute…" Naruto said as he sat upright. He was grateful to have learnt senjutsu. His innate ability to harness the nature chakra in the world helped him quite often in tight scenarios. He immediately felt his muscles and chakra coils relax as the healing properties of the nature chakra worked its magic in Naruto. A few minutes later, Naruto stood up looking relatively refreshed from before. But one could still see signs of tiredness on Naruto's face.
"Yes, you're correct. The man identified himself as Urashiki Otsutsuki and claimed to be after the chakra that I possess." Naruto revealed. Still confused by the whole ordeal, Kakashi shook his head. All of this was simply too much for him to process at the moment.
"Let's get back to Tazuna's house. Everyone is worried. We can discuss the rest over there." Kakashi stated. Placing his hand on Naruto's shoulder, the two disappeared in a shunshin.
Soon enough, the two were now standing outside Tazuna's house. Naruto was surprised when Hinata immediately tackled him to the ground.
"hey, hey… it's fine… I'm okay." Naruto said soothingly on hearing light sobs from her. However, she kept hugging him tightly. A few seconds later, Naruto somehow managed to push her off of him and look her in the eyes.
"What happened? All of us sensed that large chakra emanating from you… And we were all worried. I wanted to come with sensei, but…" Hinata said haphazardly. Naruto smiled at the worried state she was in. It calmed him to know that she was this worried about him, but at the same time he cursed himself that he had in fact worried her. Holding her by the shoulders, he guided Hinata to stand on her feet.
"I'm sorry to have worried you Hinata-chan…" Naruto apologized genuinely as he hugged her again. He glanced towards Sakura and Sasuke who were standing a few meters behind and nodded to them. They too were worried about Naruto. As they went inside, Kakashi asked Tazuna and Tsunami to excuse them for a while as they discussed the matter inside the guest room they had been given.
"What was that Naruto? It felt terrifying…" Sakura asked with a shudder. She had never felt such potent chakra in her life. And it scared her slightly to imagine how powerful Naruto actually was. While Sasuke too was worried slightly, he was more intrigued by what he had felt. Even though none of them were sensors, they were still able to feel Naruto's chakra. And to be frank, it simply felt other worldly.
"What I'm about to tell you is not a myth. Do you guys know about the Rikudo Sennin?" Naruto asked with seriousness. By now, Hinata had relatively calmed down as she had noticed Naruto wasn't heavily injured. Sasuke and Hinata nodded, having heard of the legendary man in several stories. However, Sakura looked on confusedly at Naruto.
"I'm not surprised that you don't know Sakura. Rikudo Sennin is the man who was claimed to have distributed chakra among the humans and is regarded as the father of ninjutsu." It was Kakashi who stated, to clear up the girl's doubts. A look of amazement suddenly appeared on Sakura's face as she learned that.
"Rikudo Sennin's actual name was Hagoromo Otsutsuki. He belonged to the Otsutsuki Clan which is an ancient clan. The Clan resides in another dimension of space-time and from what I have learned so far, they are seeking the chakra in this planet. One of them had apprehended me just now in hopes of either capturing me or taking my chakra. I'm not sure cause, the man could have certainly killed me if he wished to." Naruto explained. Everyone in the room were speechless on hearing Naruto's account. All of this just appeared to be highly unbelievable.
"Are you serious?" Sasuke asked in bewilderment. Naruto simply nodded, as he stretched his arms and legs a little. His brother had once told him that the Uchiha Clan were direct descendants of the Sage of Six Paths. So, maybe there was some truth to what Naruto was saying.
"Do you think the man will come again?" Hinata asked. "I think so. But I believe he was just testing my strength. He may not come anytime soon but he definitely will. And this is something that needs to be notified to all the other nations too Kakashi-sensei. Tou-san needs to be notified about this as soon as we get back." Naruto said, turning towards his sensei at the end. "That seems about correct. If there is a looming threat such as this, I don't think our village can handle it alone. But, as it stands now, we'll just have to be careful." Kakashi replied pondering over the matter. They all looked towards the door when they heard a knock and Tsunami entered the room.
"I hope I'm not disturbing anything. But the food is ready. I'm sure everyone is hungry right now." She said with her kind smile.
"We'll be out soon, Tsunami-san. I appreciate you telling us." Kakashi replied with an eye smile. Sakura got up and left with Tsunami to help her set up the table. As the two left, Kakashi cleared his throat to gain Naruto's attention.
"We still need to complete the mission at hand before we do anything about what we talked about…" Kakashi replied and Naruto chuckled awkwardly as he had almost forgotten about it. There was so much going in his mind right now, it was hard for him to focus at one thing clearly.
"Zabuza may still be alive." Sasuke said getting to the task at hand. After Naruto had gone, Kakashi had presented them with that possibility. "The shinobi who claimed to a hunter ninja did not follow the proper protocol for disposing a missing ninja and may in fact be an accomplice of Zabuza." Hinata cleared the fact.
"It is possible. None of us really checked if Zabuza was indeed dead or not…" Kakashi added. As Naruto absorbed the information, he concurred with Kakashi's conclusion. His stomach suddenly growled as a silly look appeared on his face. Kakashi and Hinata chuckled on seeing Naruto's face as she scratched the back of his head. Sasuke simply shook his head at that.
"Anyway, let's go get something to eat before we decide on anything further." Kakashi said. Soon enough, the four of them walked out of the room and they were immediately hit with the delicious smell of freshly cooked food. As they sat on the table, they were surprised by the variety of food that was cooked. There was pork, beef, vegetable stew, fried rice and even some desert for the end.
"Ahhh… all of this looks so beautiful." Naruto commented with a drool forming on his face. He could probably devour everything on the table but controlled himself to show some decency. "Close your damn mouth… a fly might just enter it." Sasuke stated with a smirk. The people from Konoha suddenly became eerily quiet on hearing Sasuke's words.
"Did… you just make a joke?" Sakura said with disbelief and everyone laughed a little at the little event. Sasuke became a little irked as to how everyone was surprised at him instead. Hinata slightly nudged Naruto to show him some restraint. He would always seem to forget his manners when eating his food. A few minutes later they were joined by a little kid who looked to be about eight years of age. Without greeting anyone, he simply took his seat and started having his food. Soon enough, everyone became quiet as they savored the delicacy made by Tsunami. Tazuna and Tsunami stole a few glances at the blonde after what they had felt a while ago. They were worried that Gato may have pulled something on learning of their intentions. But, seeing as the Konoha shinobi were doing okay, they didn't voice their opinions.
"Tazuna-san, how long do you think it will take to make the bridge?" Sakura questioned to break the sudden silence had reigned over them.
"Hmm… I guess, in a week or so if I work for six or seven hours a day, provided I get help from other people in the town." Tazuna replied. While everyone had a glass of water beside them, Tazuna had his precious bottle of sake. For a moment, Naruto, Kakashi and his team wondered how the man could drink so much without ever falling ill but none of them said any word.
"Most of the people are extremely afraid of what Gato might do them. So, a lot of people who had agreed to lend a hand earlier, now backed off. Currently, there are only about four or five people more who still wish to help my father in building the bridge." Tsunami replied sadly. On hearing that, Naruto already had an idea in his mind that would certainly speed up Tazuna's work.
"I'm sure you wouldn't need to worry about Gato in a few days of time… I saw the state the town was in and it was truly sad. But, rest assured, if Gato sends anymore men after your father, we'll protect him." Naruto replied to cheer up the woman. Hinata and Sakura also nodded to show their support. A while ago when Sakura and Hinata were helping Tsunami in cooking food, she had told them about her husband Kaiza who was humiliated in front of the whole town and killed. They were appalled by the injustice Gato had done on this town and wanted to make the man pay.
"You will just die… why even bother?" they all heard the voice and looked towards the kid with surprise.
"What was that?" Sasuke asked rather angrily.
"I said, you'll just die. If you go up against Gato, he'll just hire stronger shinobi to kill all of you!" replied the kid angrily. Tazuna and Tsunami looked at him with sadness in their eyes while the Konoha shinobi were quite confused with such a reaction. Sasuke was about to retort the kid for babbling such insolence but stopped when he saw Sakura's pleading eyes. He scoffed at the kid and returned to his dinner.
"Inari, don't say such things. These shinobi have protected your grandfather on the way here. And I'm sure they'll protect him during his work too." Tsunami said to him as she placed a hand on his cheek. However, Inari simply shook off her hand in retaliation.
"What makes you think we'll die? Do you not hope that things will get better someday?" Naruto questioned. He was interested in knowing why the kid had such nihilistic views. Inari stared at the blonde grumpily for a few seconds before he stood up from his chair.
"There is no such thing as hope! My grandpa told me you're super strong but where were you when my father was killed two years when he asked Konoha for help? Konoha wasn't able to do anything then and even now you'll just get killed like the others." Inari ranted. Naruto widened his eyes as he realized who the kid was talking about. He felt saddened at the fact that the kid lost his father at such a young age. But, then again, he did not wish for the kid to have such a bad outlook on the world.
"There is always hope, Inari. You may not believe it now, but sooner or later you'll see it with your own eyes. There is a lot of darkness in this world and it's true that a lot of people go through some dreadful experiences. I, too have lost several people that were close to me, but I still have hope. I too had almost given up, but my friends had made me realize, it's not over until you give up. The moment you lose hope within yourself, is the moment you can no longer step forward." Naruto stated calmly. He could understand the boy's pain and sympathized with him.
"Just shut up! You're wrong! You're wrong" Inari cried as he ran upstairs, leaving his food cold on the table. Tsunami was about to go after him, when she was stopped by her father. "Give him some time. It hasn't been easy on him… or any of us." Tazuna said, and for once everyone could see the tired look on the old bridge builder's face. Someone who was barely hanging on to life. Once again, the living room fell silent. While Tsunami and Tazuna were worried about Inari, the Konoha shinobi thought about the injustice that Nami no Kuni had been suffering under Gato's rule.
Gato's headquarters, later at night
Gato worriedly sat in his chair inside his office with a look of apprehension on his face. Having been associated with black-market for several years, he had heard the name of Shiroi Shinigami. So, when he had learned from Zabuza that the shinobi himself that come to Nami no Kuni to help that wretched builder, he was concerned about his work in this nation. And from the catastrophe just outside his headquarters his men had told him about a while ago, he was certain it was the work of the Shiroi Shinigami. For a moment, he cursed himself for crossing Konoha's path. For a while, he had been transporting goods to the group called Akatsuki through Hi no Kuni. He believed th Hokage would not get wind of his works in the Fire nation, but now he realized how wrong he was. The Hokage would not send someone like Naruto Namikaze unless he wished to remove him from power.
Even though, he had more than hundreds of people working under him as his protection, he knew none of them would last against that man. Even Zabuza was down for a few days, who had fought another Konoha jounin. Even though it would cost him millions of money, his only other option was to hire a couple of shinobi from the Akatsuki to take care of the Namikaze. It was better to lose some money than his grip on this nation. He was brought out of his thoughts when he heard a knock on his door. Two shinobi dressed in high collared black robes with red clouds on it, entered the room. The two Akatsuki members stared at the small man for a few seconds before one of them spoke.
"Do you have the money you promised for this mission?" asked Hiruko.
"What the hell are you talking about? I wouldn't pay now. Once I know that the Konoha shinobi are dead, only then." Gato stated with a scowl. Kisame chuckled at the man's response and placed his large on the man's desk, cracking it a little.
"I advise you pay up now. My partner over here will not hesitate in killing you, if you don't." replied Hiruko calmly. Gato took a few steps back in fear at the large man's imposing figure. Debating with himself for a few seconds, he nodded. Opening his drawer, he took out a bag and handed it to the shorter shinobi. Hiruko opened the bag to check it's content and once satisfied, he enclosed it within a scroll and put it in his pouch. "Rest assured, Shiroi Shinigami will be taken care of." And with that, the two Akatsuki members disappeared from the office without any trace. The two of them then appeared on the battle scene of Naruto and Urashiki, to inspect the area. They were close to the borders of Nami no Kuni when they were contacted by Gato about this matter. Even they had felt Naruto's chakra and were greatly intrigued as to what could have prompted him to use such power. Kisame was practically giddy at the prospect of having to battle his target. He hadn't had a good fight in a long time and he knew for a fact that the Shiroi Shinigami wouldn't disappoint him.
"Remember Kisame, we are not here to capture the Kyubi jinchuriki. Leader-sama had warned us we'd most likely lose our life if we were to apprehend him alone. We are just to test his strength and report our findings to leader-sama. The kid has grown to be overwhelmingly powerful." Hiruko stated.
"It doesn't matter. I just want to test his strength for my own satisfaction. Anyway, why don't we just kill Gato and be done with him then? He won't be of any use to us…" Kisame replied.
"Considering that Konoha had sent the Kyubi here, I can only assume it's to assassinate Gato. Let them deal with him. He's no longer our problem… It's interesting that someone out there exists who could push Naruto Namikaze to such levels. I had definitely sensed him using the Kyubi's chakra. This is an intriguing development." Hiruko said, as he looked around. His eyes noticed several black rods on the ground. As he touched one, he immediately jerked his hand off them as he felt foreign chakra enter his body. 'What the hell was that?' Hiruko thought shiftily. He had noticed similar black rods on his leader's face and always wondered as to what they were. Opening an empty scroll from within his pouch, he placed it beside the black rods. Performing a few hand seals, Hiruko sealed a few broken pieces of the black rod for further inspection later. Meanwhile, Kisame looked around at the amount of water still lying around in the area and got further excited at the prospect that the Namikaze might turn out an impeccable suiton user. He could hardly control himself at this point.
Naruto currently sat deep within the forests in a meditative pose, focusing on his chakra. Even though, he had almost perfect control of his chakra, he wasn't entirely satisfied. The way he had observed Urashiki utilize chakra in his fight was on a completely different level. With his rinnegan, he had observed that Urashiki was able to mold chakra instantaneously. Unlike even the most skilled shinobi who took at least a second to mold chakra after performing hand seals, Urashiki did it unconsciously.
He had come to understand that during a battle, a shinobi wasted quite a bit of precious time performing hand seals or thinking about their next attack. If he could somehow make molding chakra for different jutsus and his taijutsu a natural instinct, he could certainly remove the limitation on his reflexes. Although, all of that was just a concept in his mind and Naruto wasn't even sure how to go around it. Moreover, until now he never really cared about using Kurama's chakra in a fight. And, he found his chakra coils to be highly strained after using it today against Urashiki. As he meditated, Naruto was also circulating a good amount of Kurama's chakra through his chakra coils to adapt to using bijuu chakra. While he knew, he wouldn't need it in most scenarios, he did wish to have it mastered. Especially against unlikely enemies, such as the one he faced today.
'You felt that didn't you?' Kurama asked. Naruto nodded as he had felt someone touch one of his chakra rods momentarily.
'Yeah, I did. And it was defiantly a shinobi.' Naruto replied. 'Are you going to go and check?'
'I don't wish to fight right now. It's possible that it was a random shinobi working under Gato who had come to check the area. There's no need to worry about that. We need to finish this mission quickly and get back to Konoha.' Naruto thought.
Unknown area
"Did you get it?" asked a man. He had a tall figure and wore a simple white kimono with a hood covering his face. His gaze lingered at the vast expanse of stars and planets above him. A few hundred feet beside stood a humungous tree whose height knew no bounds. At the top of the tree was a bud which appeared to be in its dormant state.
"Certainly…" stated Urashiki as he took out his hook which was surrounded by Naruto's chakra. The man absorbed the chakra through his palms and breathed a sigh of relief.
"We lost over half our people fighting Takeshiki-sama alone. Even though the boy was born a human, he has strongly inherited the powers of the Otsutsuki. Even now, I can sense the dormant powers that lay within him. Kaguya and Naruto Otsutsuki need to perish for the survival of the branch family. How has the boy's powers grown?" the man questioned.
"He's an impressive one, my lord. The Shinju's powers were scattered into nine tailed beasts on earth by Hagoromo, Kaguya's child. And Naruto holds the most powerful of them all, the Kyubi no Kitsune. His ability to harness chakra is quite admirable too but the boy can certainly grow a lot more. Although, he seems to have no clue about the true potential of his eyes." Urashiki explained briefly. The man nodded on hearing about Naruto.
"There's a great deal of loss written in the boy's future. Very soon, the time will come when he'll awaken the powers to create and destroy. Keep an eye on the boy, Urashiki. Four earth years from now, is when the boy's will, will be at it's weakest. I shall then send Momoshiki, Kinshiki and you to harness the boy's powers." The man stated as he closed his eyes. Urashiki bowed gratefully before his king as he slowly disappeared.
Author Notes: To make thing clear, Gaara is still alive. Naruto and his friends are all 14 years as of now. Now, for team seven, they will be involved in the coming fights against Zabuza and Haku much more heavily. Whereas, Naruto will be confronting Kisame and Hiruko and would try to learn more about the Akatsuki. Once the chunin exams get over, the Akatsuki will become more active in hunting down the jinchuriki. As of now, they already have the two, four and five tails with only the two tails being sealed.
I had to make slight changes to the ending of the story I had originally decided. Hence, the Nami no Kuni mission had to be extended up to the next chapter. With the arrival of Urashiki Otsutsuki, Naruto gets a newfound motivation to improve his skills even further. Early on in this story, when Naruto had just awakened the rinnegan, he often dreamt about fighting against three enemies whose powers could be compared to that of gods. Well, now you can guess, who those three could be. I do have a pretty good way for Kaguya's and Madara's involvement later on, in the story. The identity of the man speaking to Urashiki will be revealed much later in the story, but you guys are free to guess who it may be. When the real Madara gets introduced into the story, he will have a great amount of influence on Naruto's character.
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Until next time!