Chapter 20: Arising Power
4 long years later
It is true when they say that war breeds heroes and legends. It bred Senju Hashirama, first god of shinobi and the strongest wood release user. It bred Uchiha Madara, the strongest and most villainous Uchiha of all that wielded the perfect Susanoo ultimate jutsu of mangekyou sharingan. And many more ninjas.
The current war was no different. Since the war started, many people had already died. Being prominent and strong is no excuse to die in the battlefield. Even the third hokage and second god of shinobi Sarutobi Hiruzen and the third Tsuchikage, the fence sitter Ohnoki of both scales, both of which survived multiple wars in their lifetime finally succumb to their age and was overwhelmed getting killed by some no name ninja.
Since the last war, even kages were forced to war. Of the original high ranks of Konoha, only the fifth Hokage, copy cat ninja Hatake Kakashi and the toad Sannin remained. But the situation is not too bleak, for one the green beast of Konoha Mighty Guy finally rose to S-rank after being forced to constantly fight. Many of their enemies died too, as soon as the word of Senju Tsunade's death arrived. The toad sannin disregarded all high commands and left the battle field against Iwa to go to battlefield against Suna and managed to kill Baki of wind blades and avenging his beloved teammate.
The battle against Kumo had remained almost passive since the last two years, the leaf ninjas and Akatsuki are expecting their last jinchuuriki to try and win that war again but since the battle with the yellow flash, the last jinchuuriki of Kumo did not emerge. Leaf ninjas would have believed that the Nibi jinchuuriki was killed in action by the yellow flash if not for the constant spying information from one of the Akatsuki and the copy of their massive army, Zetsu.
But as war heroes die, new legends arises to take its place. Since the battle of rain two years ago, there had been multiple appearances of people in black mask and hooded coats. Some of which could do various unexplained abilities that should have been impossible, people dubbed them as "Mystery Rank."
The first one of these people and probably the most mysterious is the White Mist. Since her appearance two years ago, the news had quickly spread and flabbergasted one particular clan. The Iburi clan is a clan known to have the Kekkei Genkai that allowed them to turn into mist, but none of them could freely use such ability without getting killed by a simple wind breeze let alone strong rains. The ability of the White Mist to turn into one with careless abandon and not get killed by such factors is unheard of and since then Iburi clan had been trying their best and failing to find her.
The White Mist power level alone is that of an S-rank, but when she summons her pet ally. The monster named Nue, could fight multiple people by itself a feat that only people of S-rank caliber could do, not only that but the world was enraged because this summon in particular had the ability to use a kekkei genkai itself, one that is long thought dead.
Few months after her appearance, another one came. This person's eyes continuously switch from black to red, an unknown doujutsu. The person in question was quickly identified for his fighting style especially by his brother in Akatsuki. But the said brother's jaw dropped at the feat he is able to do, any Uchiha can quickly copy and use a jutsu but the man in question goes beyond that. A jutsu that the man copied himself will be fully mastered within seconds upon seeing it even surpassing the one he had copied from as he is sometimes seen using the jutsu that the owner itself did not think possible.
Not only that but even a whole taijutsu kata could be fully usable by the said person once he saw it completely. Not to mastery level as that required the perfect body physique but enough to outfight an enemy with his own style. Couple that with his ability to cast genjutsu flawlessly in the middle of the fight while continuously fighting, his own brother dubbed him as the Perfect Uchiha. Being able to do Uchihaistic feats that not even Madara himself was able to.
The third one on the list and probably the most famous, people will always recognize who he is for his ability to use very specific signature jutsu. But the he rocked the world by himself when the said person started using at least five jutsus at the same time, all of which are high level one. Such level of chakra control was unheard of.
Shinobi mathematicians such as the A-rank Nara Shikamaru tried to calculate how much level of chakra control does he have by basing it on the feats that he already did and all that came out as a result is a zero over zero fraction, or as they say indefinite. An indefinite level of control and he doesn't even seem like he was being pushed to his maximum.
Bingo book dubbed him The Untouched, because of the speed and mastery of jutsus that allowed him not to be touched and not to touch unlike his father's usage of his teleportation jutsu. There are many more on the list since it started. All of which with notable skills but this three remained on top.
~~BREAK~~
Naruto and Sumire now at sixteen years old still like sparring with each other. Sumire had grown into petite woman with just enough curves to hint what she will exhibit in a few more year and freely flowing purple hair that now reaches her waist.
Naruto on the other hand had grown into the somewhat feminine structure like his father. With his hair he decided to cut short so that people don't confuse him for his father, so you get the idea.
For some reason, as they grew he realized that he likes being in the presence of the girl,no, woman a lot more. He didn't really give much more thought about it but he let himself do as he likes. Said woman noticed it from what he observed, Sumire would blush a couple of times and even stutter back to her old persona but she would let him do as he likes. So they got used to him brushing her hair with his fingers, people saying they look cute as a couple and then both of them denying with red cheeks, the routine goes on.
He dodged another sword slash from Sumire and parried another with a glass like kunai with his mangekyou ares mark at the handle. "You really ought to take it easy with your kenjutsu" he teased as he tried to slash horizontally to the woman with a kunai in his other hand. Sumire reacted by putting more effort in the parried sword and fully rotating deflecting both offending weapons away as Naruto shunshined back again.
"Never" she smiled. She went to attack again only for Naruto to reappear in front of her in a yellow flash, his hand on her stomach making her grimace in pain before he teleported back to the glass kunai he left mid air.
"You dirty bastard" Sumire said as he smirked. He still remembered the reason he asked his father to teach him hiraishin.
FLASHBACK
It had been a few days since their rescue mission in rain. Spies set up from all around the world had been reporting the news circulating about the white mist. He's happy for his team, as unstable is Sumire's senjutsu now it is still enough to give her the raw power to match an S-rank and his teammate Sasuke had probably been there for a while now since he and his bijuu is on friendly terms. " I was supposed to be the best of the three of us" he grumbled to himself in jealousy. In his opinion, it is okay to act like a child if no one sees it.
"Still having your monthly period?" he heard Sasuke's voice as the raven haired approach him, he looked towards him "Fuck you" he muttered before looking away to dreamland. Sasuke raised an eyebrow to this 'when did he start saying such words?' he thought as he teased the blond "jealous?" he said with infuriating smirk to the blond. "No! And whatever" the Namikaze denied fervently "where's Sumire anyways?" he asked trying to change the topic.
"I've seen her earlier practicing that senjutsu move with her summon, you know? It irks me that I can't do that" Naruto snorted at him "you have a batter at your stomach and an all powerful pink eyes what more do you ask for?" he said sarcastically.
It was Sasuke's time to snort "we reached that level first, but we both know that in time you will too. And what made me jealous is you have the potential for senjutsu too coupled with your purple version of 'pink' eyes you say. And don't even start me with chakra battery, you don't even need one once you mastered merging with Samehada. Damn sword is too overpowered giving you the power of Senjutsu and allowing you to steal chakra just by being close that it's so unfair" he complained.
Naruto smirked "If you put it like that then I really don't have anything to be jealous about eh?" he said. Sasuke nodded "Oh and I forgot your mangekyou, but I probably will get mine after I kill my brother…." the full Uchiha said casually making Naruto frown " damn! You're an awful devil" he commented as they stared at each other….. before both burst into laughter.
Sasuke stood up "So I'll see you later alright?" he asked as Naruto smiled "right."
Right when the Uchiha left a poof of smoke announced the arrival of a summon 'reverse summon' he thought as the smoke dissipated to reveal Katsuyu in smaller form. He raised an eyebrow, he never thought of summoning the slug again when he decided to leave Konoha and never in his dream did he think that he would be able to talk Tsunade again but here is her summon in front of her, probably to communicate a message.
"What may I do for you Katsuyu-sama" he said trying to be respectful host. The slug appeared to be observing the surrounding as its antenna eyes roam around before realizing it did not know where it is so it returned its forcus to Naruto " I have terrible new Naruto" those words made Naruto temporarily lose his emotion guard, terrible news in shinobi world only means one thing, but he opted to ask anyway.
"W-what?" he asked hesitantly "Tsunade-sama….. died in the line of duty" the slug said breaking the boy's heart as he was not able to stop another tear. "No….." he said disbelievingly "It cant be….. she's the last Senju! She can't just die?" he tried wishing it was a prank.
"Unfortunately, she is still a human Naruto. A stab to the heart will still kill her" Katsuyu explained as the boy sobbed on his knees below folded arms. It took a while for him to speak "wh-who?" was his only word. "Baki of the wind blade" the slug informed already knowing what is in the mind of the boy. "She instructed me to gave you this before she died" she said before a scroll split from her body.
Naruto opened it to see as his eyes widened "the slug contract? B-but….. are you sure?" he asked hesitantly. "Hai, I would honor her wish to the end so please use it to great purpose. Before she died she believed to the end that you left for a greater purpose, she put her trust to you Naruto. She had trusted the will of the Senju to a boy of Uchiha lineage, that is how much he believe in you" Naruto was only able to nod "I will do my best Katsuyu-sama" he said as the summon vanished in a poof of smoke.
'Thank you Tsunade-sensei, I will avenge you and preserve your will' he thought, his eyes hardened in the next second 'I will train as much as I can. And then I will kill you myself…' he thought intent on learning the deadliest jutsu currently on the island.
FLASHBACK END
Unfortunately, by the time he mastered the jutsu and created his own assassination jutsu, the man had been killed by none other than Tsunade's teammate. The revenge two years almost three, but it was served nice as he would not have accepted anyone to have killed the man except for his iryoninjutsu sensei's teammate or teacher.
He was forced out of his musings when he received a punch on his cheeks making him fall on his butt to the ground "Ouch!" he said as he saw Sumire towering over him with a smirk "when did you even start punching anyways? I thought you only use your sword or try shoot people from a distant?!" he asked indignantly.
Sumire laughed "You were pretty out of it! I don't even need to sneak up on you as I walk straight and punch your blank face" she said funnily. Naruto looked at her deviously "Oh, your gonna pay" he said in a knowing tone. Sumire tried to run but he quickly took her hand and pulled her eliciting an eeep! sound as she fall towards him. She lost later as the battle between S-ranks were won by tickles.
~~BREAK~~
"when do you think those two will confess to each other?" Yuugao asked Sasuke as they walk towards the huge round table at the center of the village now surrounded by marble stones shaped like soldiers and engraved with seals. On the table is a seal, the finished product of Namikaze Minato's idea. 'I still can't believe that when they spouted those blablabla things they meant to say making a huge storage seal a village!'Yuugao thought still unable to fully believe it since it started to work two years ago.
Sasuke did hand signs that opened a portal beside the table. Nowadays they've only been using the island as a training ground or camping experiences for the next generation of ninja of their soon to be announced village. They decided to preserve the balance between living things in the island as much as possible as some clan and none clan ninja that joined them within the last four years started exhibiting skills that allowed them to work in tandem with the others living in the island.
Of course not just anyone can join them, within those four years they have tracked people with the blood of Uzumaki, Inuzuka and Aburame in them. They offered them home especially Uzumaki lineage since it is their ancestral place. One such Uzumaki by the name of Karin even exhibited ability to conjure chakra chains.
Anyways, back to the topic. " I don't know" Sasuke coolly replied as they both entered the portal and emerged on a not so different dimension. Sun still rises on the dimension itself and even rain if it comes to that, the complexity of such design was made by Minato himself and nobody really understands is geek words except his family.
"Oooh…. why do always find ways to end conversation?!" Yuugao asked deliberately. "Because I want to" Sasuke said as he looked around. The place is based on the island of Uzu no Kuni itself but except instead of trees, there were houses with the largest at the center of the village. It was unanimously voted that Minato be the one leading them. Surrounding the island is also body of water, but the water is fresh as the seals that fetch them and interconnected to the main seal they are living in is put to the river in the outside world. Somewhere in land of rivers if he remembered correctly.
However if you venture farther than that, you will only find a void black space filled with cubes floating around that is not really inhabitable. You can't even practice in that place as wind does not reach that place. He saw some people trying to catch fish as the water that flows in the seal also exits another seal in the same location.
He took his own fishing bait as he was followed by Yuugao " so when are you going to confess to me?" she asked when he was about to throw his line making him throw the whole fishing bait instead "w-what?" he asked blushing at her.
"Hahaha…. you should have seen your face" Sasuke glared at her "You know you caused me to let go of my fish bait right?" he seethed. "Oh come on Sasuke-kun, it's not like that's how we catch fish the first time we do it together!" she said cheerily as she jumped through the water not bothering to water walk and pulling the sorry ass guy with her. People stared at the romantic scene of what they thought is a couple as they try to catch fish and sometimes failing spectacularly as they stumble around.
~~BREAK~~
Silence is the only sound that prevailed as the Akatsuki members waited for their true leader to appear, who they thought is Uchiha Madara. The man appeared in a whirling hole in the space. "Madara, it seems we unnecessarily prolonged our goals with this war" the rinnegan eyed Nagato said using the body of Yahiko.
"Not necessarily, the villages are now weak and have small armies left as majority of Konoha forces are now zetsu clones" Obito said "No one can stop our plans now."
"I see no reason for prolonging the war, I will start my preparation to take down Iwa" Nagato said as Obito nodded "we will unleash the full power of Akatsuki to take down the villages force them to follow our commands and take their 'weapons'" he said ominously looking at Orochimaru.
"KUKukuku…. Hai, leader-sama. I will begin the preparation to be able to summon them….. all of them" the pale ninja said with a devious smile.
"Good, I expect this war to end within the next six months, it is time for Akatsuki to rule this world…."
~~BREAK~~
She just don't know what to think of it, she's not an idiot, she definitely notice Naruto spending more time with her for the past few years. At first she thought he was trying to get her on a date, but as time goes on, she is starting to think that the blond knucklehead genius doesn't even know what he is doing.
'he's been getting my hopes high for so long damn it!' she thought frustratingly. She likes the guys so much, much more from this world than her past world. But for her to reach out first instead of the guy is an awkward culture for her, no, it wasn't like she was thought how to act like a woman during her childhood but still….. awkward.
'maybe I should just kiss him and be done with it?' she internally sweat dropped 'nah, he might not like it. Maybe he really does not like me' she saddened on the idea. "You should just tell him you love him" a voice called out to her smoothly "Yeah you're right that might work" she said subconsciously before her eyes widen in realization, turning around she saw "Yuugao!" she said the smirking woman.
"So you really do like Naruto" the older woman commented.
"Nanananananananah….. I-its not like- thats not- I do but- no" she stopped talking seeing as she's not making much sense as she gave herself a sigh. She turned around again opting to observer her surroundings "It's not like he gives a damn" she said sounding like a sore looser. And Yuugao called her on that "You sound like a sore looser" Sumire clicked her tongue on that.
"Seriously, it's not like he will stop talking to you if you said your feelings" Yuugao cheered "but what if he doesn't like me?" Sumire asked.
"what if he does?" was the answer of Yuugao. Sumire shook her head "Maybe I'll give it more time" she said. "if that's what you want" the older one sighed. Sumire smiled teasingly "let's talk about YOU and Sasuke-KUN instead" she got what she was expecting as Yuugao blushed comically.