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Arc 4, Chapter 1
3 Years Later
-Nadeshiko Village-
Bordering one of the Land of Water's many sea's lies an island country that harbors a single village atop the two massive hills- or rather, mountains that protruded from out the ground. The Nadeshiko village was located atop the two mountains which were connected, almost primitively, by a thick wooden and stone bridge with strong tight-ropes fastened between.
The Nadeshiko village was one of the last few villages that chose to isolate itself from the rest of the Elemental Nations, only sending out their young to battle and find a husband stronger than them to impregnate with.
Typical Amazonian type women.
Because of their isolation and outdated knowledge on what's happening outside, their Bingo books have not been properly updated since the: Fifty thousand slaughter that ended the Third Great Shinobi War, twenty odd years ago.
Minato Namikaze was the primary target for many of these women, for several years now.
And despite being not even a fraction of the Yondaime Hokage's age, that was exactly who Shizuka; the next leader of the village was going after.
Donned in her village's shinobi outfit, that consisted of a black and dark blue shirt that revealed quite a bit of her sizeable cleavage, typical shinobi pants and a black Nadeshiko headband wrapped around her forehead, she smiled and passionately waved her farewells to the crowd of people who came to see her off.
"Beat that blonde bastard, Shizuka-sama!"
"…Bring back some of his… you know, for the rest of us Shizuka-sama!"
Had that been said anywhere else within the Elemental Nations the person who made that comment would've been shunned as a pervert… But here… It was the norm to perv out over men, and even women.
"Yeah Shizuka, bring some back for me too!"
"No, me, I want to sire his child m'lady!"
Shizuka sweatdropped but smiled nonetheless at her rowdy and shameless people. "I'll bring back as much of the prize as I can, after I defeat and conquer the Hokage!" She proclaimed proudly getting another round of applause and cheers from them.
"Are you sure you want to go for the Namikaze, Shizuka-sama? I hear Jiraiya-sama has a new student around your age… a very promising one at that."
Shizuka shook her head waving around her waist-length black hair. It had to be Minato Namikaze, after all he was the strongest man in the world, and Jiraiya's first student. "The agreement you struck with the Toad-sannin states that I am allowed to fight and marry any of his students should I defeat them." Shizuka smiled as her eyes squinted dangerously. "And Minato Namikaze, the Yellow Flash of Konoha is his student is he not Sensei?"
"Yes, he is, Shizuka-sama, but many have tried, and all have failed… Besides what about your mother's," The large imposing woman; Tokiwa, frowned thinking of a word.
"Predicament?" Shizuka offered with a deadpan as the crowd slowly dispersed within the Amazonian village. "My mother is… weak," She cringed as though hurt by her negative view of her mother. "I am not. After I defeat Minato Namikaze and make him mine, I will return home and force that man to free my mother with Minato's assistance," she angrily swore, while slamming her spear onto the ground making a small crater in the stone floor.
She hated that she couldn't defeat her mother's current husband's strange mechanical contraption. But she was glad that she could fight him without any serious side effects like marriage, since he was by law, her father in law.
Tokiwa struggled to reply due to the fury and resolve in Shizuka's forest green eyes. So, she smiled and slammed her fist on top of her armored breastplate, an action she feels she's done a million times and would happily continue to do. "Then go Shizuka and don't return home until you've defeated Minato Namikaze or a husband that can help you save your mother by defeating Kokuyo-sama."
Shizuka forcefully wiped away the tears that threatened to fall from her eyes and smirked at her Sensei. Annulling one's marriage could only be done by the village's leader, and in order to become the leader of the Nadeshiko Village, there were two requirements. The first of which, she met; must be born from the current Village head. The second, however she did not; must be wedded.
"I'll be back before the year ends Tokiwa," she turned away from the brutish woman and her village. "Take care of mother for me until I return," she whispered to her Sensei before scaling down the mountain and disappearing into the dense woods that surrounded the bottom layer of her island.
"Hai, Shizuka-sama, that cowardly man shall not touch your mother as long as I am alive."
XxLine BreakxX
(Forest below the Nadeshiko Village)
Shizuka has never ventured this far into the forest, never having a reason to since the woodland's forest life; their game, tended to stay along the base of the mountain within reach.
She refused to admit it, but she was lost…
"If I just continue forward, I'll be fine. It's an island after all," she chuckled to herself before walking straight into a tree that looked out of place within the forest. Seeing a bright red apple at the top of the bizarrely huge tree she grimaced when her stomach grumbled.
She looked past the tree at the seemingly endless forest that seemed to get darker and denser the further she peered and then back to the apple.
"I've got time to waste, Namikaze isn't going anywhere… I'll need my nutrients for when I fight him after all!" She smirked and stabbed her spear into the ground before jumping on top of it.
"Up we go," she murmured as she skillfully leaped from off the spear onto the bark of the tree and used her chakra to stick to the tree's trunk. She frowned as she calmly strolled up the tree.
There was an amazing amount of chakra within the tree- Powerfully strong chakra at that.
Arriving at the top of the tree and plopping down on the branch the apple was located on, she plucked it and bit into the fruit.
She blushed at the sweet, yet slightly sour taste of the apple. It was perfect. "Mmmm," she moaned and squirmed in delight. "When was the last time I've eaten an apple," she murmured to herself.
She suddenly went stiff in alarm, but still bit into the apple again.
Apples weren't native on their island, only available from traders or whenever one of her fellow warrior kunoichi's brought back one or two from their travels. She blushed and bit the apple again, finding the taste to be too good- and also rich in chakra just like the tree she picked it from.
"Are apples supposed to be this refreshing," she finished off the apple and stood up on the branch about to jump down and continue her journey only to stop when she saw another apple hidden within the lush green leaves of the tree.
She glanced down at her spear, then the apple, then her spear, and then the massive full moon in the sky. She quickly swiped at the apple and widened her eyes when she saw even more of the delicious delights behind the one she just plucked.
"I'll take a quick break and then pick back up my journey, a warrior's got to have a full stomach, and her beauty sleep!" she cheered and dug into the apples.
XxLine BreakxX
Shizuka awoke early in the morning beating even the sun and stretched her limbs ecstatically in the air. "Phew," she sighed out contently while glancing at all of the apple cores littered on the branch where she slept.
She couldn't remember the last time she has felt this energized.
Sending a glance at the rising sun she grinned and took a step off the branch. She landed on the ground next to her still impaled spear, and after dislodging it from the earth she faced her grin towards the green forest.
It was time to go- she had enough energy to travel for days on end now thanks to the strange apples. Hours after she consumed them, she could still feel its chakra coursing through her veins warming and comforting her body. She'd definitely get past the forest despite its denseness.
XxLine BreakxX
Shizuka vehemently slashed past a thick vine and shrub that stood in her way. Much to her annoyance, the forest only grew thicker with every step she took.
Stepping over the shredded bush with a weary sigh she brought her gaze up to the red-orange sky and groaned dejectedly. It was already late afternoon judging by how the sunlight was waning further away from the forest.
"Don't worry Shizuka," she spoke in a mannish tone and hugged herself pretending to be a nice and gallant man. "You've got an entire year, to escape these woods and defeat the Namikaze…" she stammered towards the end, when she saw that there weren't any trees in front of her, well directly at least.
In front of her was a small circular plain of grass encircled by the thick woods that she's been venturing through all day… and the day before that.
"Why is that here," she inquired, tilting her head at the massive butcher knife like sword impaled in the stump of a cut down tree. Filled with curiosity as for why such a weapon would be located here in the middle of an unpopulated forest, she walked towards the sword unaware of the pile of leaves swaying lightly from a breeze of wind.
"I wonder if," she said aloud and wrapped her hands around the hilt of the sword. She gave it a slight pull, believing that her strength alone would be enough to retrieve the sword. She glared and added some chakra with her pull when the blade didn't move an inch- again not a reaction from the sword.
"Stupid sword won't budge at all," she huffed slowly and glared at the sword before seeing one of the little red delights that she's grown to love in the corner of her eye. As if on que her stomach grumbled, her mouth already watering at the prospect of eating another apple.
"Might as well," she hummed and plucked a few apples from a tree. Dropping down next to the stump and the unmovable blade she silently filled her stomach with the apples.
As the sun and it's brilliant rays of light disappeared; Shizuka with her fifth apple raised to her mouth, ready to devour the fruit- suddenly sighed. It was a deep and sad sigh, full of remorse and most importantly, shame.
"I've already wasted three days just trying to leave the Island while mother waits for me to save her…" she said while taking a bite out of the apple. She sighed again, this one more out of pleasure rather than guilt like previously. "Can I really beat Namikaze…? What am I even doing, I can't even beat that bastard Kokuyo?" She brought her knees up to her face and draped her head over them depressingly.
"I don't know what you're doing… but you're going to get fat if you eat to many of those you know?" a dry voice replied from a pile of leaves, causing Shizuka to widen her eyes and finally take notice of the leaves.
She raised her head from her knees and glared at the pile of leaves with an annoyed blush over her nose and cheeks. "What do you know," she turned her head away with her arms crossed beneath her breast unknowingly pushing them up. "You're just a stupid heap of leaves, go and do leaf things. I'm on an important journey, looking for my soon to be husband."
The shrub of leaves went silent for a moment, causing Shizuka to deadpan and wonder if she's lost a screw or two while lost in the seemingly endless forest. Just when she was about to push her conversation with the shrub to the back of her head, it spoke again.
"Oh, good luck with defeating Minato then," it's tone was full of mirth, clearly not taking her goal seriously. "Those apples are filled to the brim with enough chakra to last you an entire day… how many did you eat exactly?" it asked with two sharp and narrowed purple eyes peeking out from within its leaves.
"Huh, I don't know five," Shizuka answered with an apple raised to her mouth, and eyes widened in dread.
"That's much more than five you idiot!" an arm shot out of the bush of leaves and pointed at the numerous eaten and discarded apples along the ground. "Yep, you're going to die…"
"Wait huh, die!?" the Nadeshiko kunoichi shouted dropping the apple she was nibbling on, grabbing the bush by its shoulders. "What do you mean I'm going to die!? I'm too young and beautiful to die! I need to marry and save my mother before I pass on!" she exclaimed while shaking the leaves.
"…From obesity in fifty years…"
Her look of saddened desperation shifted into a more sinister expression. She reached for another apple… and then her spear.
Plopping the apple in her mouth and biting into it spitefully she let it fall to the ground unfinished and pointed her spear at the talking pile of leaves. "Ready yourself creature," she ordered with a burst of prideful anger. "I, Shizuka, next leader of the Nadeshiko village challenges you to a duel!" she smirked readily into the bushes dull purple eyes.
"Mm, no," it answered not interested in her challenge. "You shouldn't waste food, you know…" it's whisper trailed off remembering how joyful the residents of Kusagakure (Hidden Grass Village) were for those very same apples.
Shizuka glared not expecting such noble words from the animal, bush hybrid, but still nudged her spear against its leaves to hopefully rile it up. "I demand for you-" She paused her speech when a second toned and lean arm sprouted out from the bush.
Assuming that it was going in for the attack; she face planted in disappointment when it picked up the apple she was eating earlier. "What… are you doing with that?" she stuttered seeing the apple disappear within the bush where she could only guess it's mouth was.
"…Finishing off what you wasted, some people would die for these," the apple core shot out of the leaves smacking Shizuka in the face making her glow red in hot anger.
"That's it, consider yourself dead foul creature!" she thrusted her spear forward and laughed haughtily when it punctured the leaves.
Jaded purple eyes stared at her in un-amusement.
She pulled her spear and frowned in concern when it didn't budge- just like when she tried to retrieve the cleaver-like blade.
"Sorry…?" She offered an apology just as a fist came rocketing downwards on her head. "You'd hit me, a lost girl?" She asked with tears swelling in her wide green eyes and a scarlet lump comically growing on her head.
"Go home, there's no way you're strong enough to beat Minato," the bush rolled its narrowed eyes and allowed the spear to fall to the ground. "Your best bet is waiting for him to grow weak with old age, before you even attempt to fight him," it continued scornfully, turning its back to her.
To its credit, Shizuka frowned in thought considering the bushes words before glaring at it again. She needed to defeat and marry the Hokage, now. Besides, how dare a mere pile of leaves disrespect her? She was a Nadeshiko, and a bloody good one at that, the kind that appeared every century or so!
According to her mother and sensei…
She weaved through hand signs.
"Futon (Wind Style): Nadeshiko Gale Chop!"
Her hand became coated in a thin layer of glowing whitish-yellow wind chakra. The forest, that she hadn't noticed darkened, was illuminated by her hand as a few of the leaves covering the woodland creature in front of her swayed against the wind resonating from her hand.
Shizuka reared back her hand and swung downward intent on splitting it's body in two only to freeze in shock and unprecedented fear when it turned around and merely glared at her.
She was stopped, with but a glance. The killing intent behind its eyes was tremendous. She saw her own body being ripped in two if she decided to follow through with her attack. It was warning her, she realized.
Just as the wind from her jutsu left her hand like extinguished flames, the leaves surrounding the glaring purple eyes fell to the ground revealing a stark naked boy, around her age.
His hair which was tied into a messy ponytail was dark- as dark as the night sky above them. And his face was fair but held a bitter expression.
"I don't take kindly to threats, if you still want to fight then I won't hold back against you, girl or not," Ken said in an even tone blowing a strand of his hair out of his face.
Shizuka blushed at his naked body before her bright face lost all of its color.
She'd just lost to this… to this rude boy.
By the customs of her heritage and village, she was to marry the first man who could best her… She's failed before even leaving the island.
She wanted to cry.
"Huh…?" She forced back the tears that threatened to fall from her puffy eyes when the boy got up from his sitting position with just a single leaf covering his lower regions. He stood over her with his glare still present, although in a more annoyed manner rather than with anger.
"I'm… not ready for this yet, kya," she shrieked hiding her face behind her fingers ironically with an eye peeking out at his nude body.
"Kya?" Ken frowned in confusion before a nose bleeding redhead came to mind. "You're a pervert, aren't you? Whatever… just go home, you're no match for Minato the way you are." He turned his back to her and picked up the fallen leaves, gathering them all up.
Sitting down in a meditative form, he channeled his chakra, all the while ignoring how Shizuka's eyes widened in awe and forced each of the many leaves to cover his body again using his amazing chakra control.
"That chakra," the Nadeshiko glanced at the pile of apples she gathered. "Did you make these?" She asked hesitantly. The chakra she felt flowing through the trees, the apples, and now her stomach all felt similar to his.
Pure, and natural.
"Stop staring at me and leave already before I make you."
She ignored his threat.
She couldn't go home now even if she wanted to having lost against him, and she now doubted even more that she could come remotely close to beating Minato.
She sobbed into her hands.
Loudly.
And unpleasantly.
"Go somewhere else with that!" Ken snapped with his eyes crinkled in disgust. "Didn't I tell you that you shouldn't eat too many of those!?"
"It..s yo-your f… fault, that I'm cry-crying! Not th-the apples!" She wailed and bit into another apple. She didn't want to marry him, nor return without the Yondaime Hokage as her own. "I eat when I'm sad… just thought you should know that considering…" she paused, crying, and consuming more apples at a faster rate.
"Considering what…?" Ken didn't want to entertain the hysterical girl's behavior, but it's been some time since he's spoken to another person.
Two years to be exact.
His eyes drifted over to Haku's former master's sword. He idly wondered when he would be back, he did only say that he'd be gone for at the very least a year.
He hoped he was all right.
"Considering that... I'm now your wife!" She cried out, kicking her legs against the ground much like a child. Gone was the proud Nadeshiko Kunoichi who eagerly awaited a battle with the strongest ninja, all because of a nudist covered in leaves.
Ken's narrowed eyes closed as he sighed, "Go away, I'm not interested in marriage, especially with you."
"No, I'm not going back without…" her eyes glinted as she thought of a solution to all of this. If she just killed him then she could continue her travels without worrying if word of her lost made it to her village.
Ken shot open his eyes with an irritated expression when Shizuka threw her half-eaten apple at his face. He just wanted to peacefully meditate and wait on Haku to return from the Land of Water, but the smirking kunoichi standing over him seemed to really want to press his buttons.
"You're an idiot, aren't you? I know that you know that I could've killed you in an instant," he groaned seeing her slowly reach for her spear. "Yet here you are looking for a fight again…" Truthfully, he had a soft spot for idiots. After all most of his former friends were, not to mention his father.
"And you're dead…"
"…Ken." He offered her his name.
"And you're dead Ken, my dear husband- Hey put that down!" She stopped her monologue when Ken ate the rest of her discarded apple and then flinched when he flared his chakra at her.
It commanded her to stand down and listen to his demands to flee back to her village. He was right, she knew that she was no match for him, but she couldn't give up on her mother's happiness, so she flared her own chakra in retaliation. It was miniscule compared to his, like a puddle to a vast ocean.
"I'm not a weak little girl anymore who can't fight! I'm a Nadeshiko warrior, next head of my great village!" Well that's what she wanted to exclaim before her vision went dark, and she fell into the blissful embrace of unconsciousness.
"Stupid idiot…" Ken groaned catching the knocked-out girl. Standing behind him, was a clone of his, with its semi-wooden hand raised in the air.
"Just wait a little longer Mother… I'll be back with the Namikaze to save you…" Ken's ears twitched some at her hopeful whisper.
"She's just like Oldman-Naido, Boss," his clone spoke picking up her fallen spear and laying it down next to the Legendary sword. "She's seeking Minato's help. Maybe you should help her like last time?" The clone stated its opinion before collapsing into a pile of wooden scraps.
Ken couldn't exactly argue with his clone's point of view considering that it was a fraction of himself and must've been something he too was thinking deep down.
He glanced down at Shizuka's sleeping face, "When she isn't whining, acting tough, or wasting food she's actually pretty cute." Laying her down next to his side, he closed his eyes once again going back to meditating.
The only thing flowing through his mind was a technique his ancestor Hashirama left behind in his journal.
Training and striving to become the strongest was the only thing he had left.
XxLine BreakxX
Shizuka's green eyes slowly opened, her nose twitched a little smelling something freshly cooked in the air around her. Letting out a blissful yawn along with a momentary stretch she smiled inhaling more of the delicious smell.
It was cooked fish; she'd recognize the smell anywhere no matter the type or from where it was caught.
Turning her head, her smile and good mood vanished when she saw the tell-tale signs of a campfire next to the stump where the massive blade and her spear lied. "Bastard didn't leave me anything," she grumbled, sneering at the tossed aside fish bones laying a little ways away from her.
Her mouth dropped and her eyes became flustered when she remembered that Ken; her husband, had knocked her out last night. 'Did… he do anything to me while I was asleep?' She questioned giving herself a once over, and then a second over…
Seeing that her clothing was the same right down to the same creases as the day before she sighed in relief. "At least he isn't as perverted as he looks," she mumbled picturing a nude Ken positioned over her sleeping form with a twisted lecherous grin.
She sweatdropped when she actually found the thought of Ken doing something to her kind of exciting… An ear-splitting crack followed with a booming thud against the forest floor shook her from her daydreams.
A breeze coming from where the booming impact gently brushed against her face, blowing her long black hair in the wind.
"Was that Ken?" After her encounter with him yesterday, she deduced that he was many times more powerful than she was, but surely he didn't make that explosion. Right?
"Where is that naked bastard?" she could've escaped the forest and continued on her journey to find, defeat, and marry Minato, but she knew that it was all going to be for naught. She stood no chance against some random forest ruffian, so her chances against Minato weren't even plausible.
She doubted that the Yondaime Hokage was someone with enough free time and generosity to rid her world of a man leeching off her mother and village anyway. He did kill over ten times the amount of people in her village.
Another snapping noise along with a second thud reverberated throughout the forest scratching against her ears. She covered her eyes blocking the wind from her face, this time prepared for the gust.
"Might as well waste a year with my husband," Kami, she wanted to throw-up saying that. She picked herself up from the ground, retrieved her spear and made her way towards where the racket was being made.
As she continued further into the forest, cutting down the shrubs and tall grass in her way, she winced with every snapping, booming, and then gust of wind that grew louder and more powerful with each step forward she took.
XxLine BreakxX
Shizuka peeked her head out from behind a tree and scowled when she saw Ken, still as nude as the day before, standing in front of a ginormous tree that made the one she slept in two days ago seem like a mere sapling.
Seeing the purple of his eye concentrated solely on the tree she figured that he saw her but wasn't paying her any mind. He hasn't done anything gentleman like for her yet, so why would he now, she supposed.
He raised his arm with his hand poised right for where he was staring. She didn't see him bring it down, but the aftermath was clear, a clean slice through the base of the massive tree.
The creaking, and then snapping was proof enough of the strength behind his attack. The tree fell to the ground vibrating the entire area she was in. When the breeze of wind followed after like it had done so, so many times on her way here, she neither flinched nor covered her eyes.
Instead she stared in amazement as another tree, just as big the one before it grew in its place. She was so fascinated by the shocking action that she missed the tree that had just been cut down, sink, and crumble into the ground, making way for the tree that was falling in its place.
She lost count of how many times he cut down the tree, grew another, and then cut it down again. He moved robotically and kept his gaze focused firmly on the tree, with a determined glint in his eyes. She watched him for hours, silently and shamelessly appreciating his body's physique.
"Ken what are you training for…?" she mumbled looking into his eyes as the night sky drove away the bright light of the sun until they were drenched in the darkness of the night.
XxLine BreakxX
"You're still here?" Ken asked huddled in his bundle of leaves, when Shizuka sat down next to him and the stump that held the legendary sword. Frowning at her strange silence he asked, "A-Are you hungry?"
Shizuka shook her head placing her spear on her crossed lap and took out an apple with a cheeky grin, that reminded Ken too much of Naruto.
She officially needed to leave now.
He closed his eyes and nodded making the leaves stuck to him ruffle signaling that he heard her. "Why haven't you gone, home yet? Isn't your friends and family worried about you?" He questioned hoping to get her to go away.
He wanted to be alone.
Shizuka frowned, but bit into her apple with more gusto, "Why are you here," she asked bluntly. "You train and meditate all day, all alone. Doesn't that get lonely Ken?" She finished the entire apple and threw its core at his shocked face, amused by the sudden shift in his eyes.
That was the first time she's seen his eyes soften, at least for a second before they narrowed again.
Glaring at the second apple she brought out and bit into Ken scoffed, "I'm perfectly fine here all alone," he lied subconsciously. "I've got nothing to do anyways, besides train to become the strongest…" he whispered his proclamation before continuing. "What about you, why are you spending your time gawking at me, when you should be getting help to save your mother?"
He didn't feel as good as he thought he would when her glare shifted into a sad sulk. He wanted to apologize but chose to remain quiet.
"I cant even beat you, so what's the point of trying to beat the guy you're training to become stronger than?" Shizuka sadly laughed with tears forming in her eyes. "No matter how much the villagers praise my strength and no matter how much I say that I'm not like my weak mother, I am. I'm weak Ken… That's why I'm here hiding in this forest biding my time before I return home without the savior me and my mother needs." By this point she was openly crying and shaking with her head rested against her spear.
It wasn't ugly or as disgusting as her episode yesterday, instead it was saddening and almost poetic as the stars lightly glittered above her and Ken.
Ken gulped, he hated seeing people cry. Especially cute girls… 'Karin…' he forced down the shame he felt knowing that he was probably responsible for many of her shedded tears over the years he's been gone.
"Why are you crying Ken?" Shizuka managed to get out in between her sobs, as a lone tear rolled down from one of the leaves attached to his body.
"Why don't you just ask for help, you idiot," Ken asked in a heavy tone ignoring her question while forcing back any other tears from escaping.
"Will you help me then Ken?" she tearfully grinned, placing all of her hopes into him saying yes. "Can you help me save my mother from her marriage that was forced on her by a cheating bastard?" she blinked when a hand shot out from beneath the leaves and rested atop her head.
The way his hand patted her head and his eyes shone through the leaves told her that he agreed before she even asked.
Chapter End
An: Pretty fun chapter, hope you all enjoyed have a nice day.