The Next Morning
We had all gotten up in the morning refreshed. We had eaten breakfast together. Inari seemed almost too tired to speak, faint trails of tears on his face.
Kakashi had decided that Naruto and Sasuke would defend Tazuna at the bridge while Kakashi defended the home. I however would be going into town with Tsunami.
Town
Tsunami and I walked in toward the town. The buildings were in disrepair, the people looked like homeless people. Children dressed in nothing but sewed up pieces of rags. Plantlife seemed to be in a battle with the buildings over dominance. Vines growing down from the top, trees, and roots broke through the pavement.
As we walked in some of the people cowered from my appearance, most likely assuming that I was a henchman of Gato. Deciding to quell their fears I spoke, "Do not be afraid. I am a ninja from Konohagakure. My team and I will help build the bridge and rid Wave of Gato and his thugs. I promise you that."
The crowds cowering along the buildings and villagers walking about stopped looked toward us and had small looks of hope.
Tsunami also had a small smile on her face. She spoke in her soft and melodic voice, "Thank you Shinobi-san."
I only responded with a small nod. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw three thugs surrounding a young woman in her mid-twenties. Faint shouts could be heard. An obvious struggle could be seen as the woman was taken away.
"Stay here, don't draw attention to yourself," I spoke, leaving Tsunami's side. Thinking better of it than to leave her alone I left a shadow clone of myself to protect Tsunami as I went to go stop the thugs.
Walking over I commanded the vines on the buildings to wrap tightly around the wrists of the men. I commanded the pavement around their feet to turn into sand and immobilize the men.
"Hey! Let the woman alone. You will regret it if you do not." I yelled at the men.
One of the three men, probably the leader yelled back. "Yea? Why should we, Gato says that we can have any woman of our choosing." He was of medium stature only reaching my shoulders. He had long shaggy brown hair, brown eyes, and a face that was heavily scarred. He was dressed in a horrible brown and green outfit showing off his small dagger on his waist.
"Because you will die if you don't. Gato's word only has power as long as I am not around. So, if his word doesn't have power then let the woman go, now!" I shouted near the end of my lecture to the man. I put in a small bit of KI I into the mix to scare the three men.
The man and his two comrades started to shake. "O-ok, we will I promise, just let us go." The man stuttered. I stared the man in the eyes for a moment, brown staring into red eyes. ( image/upload/c_crop,h_1192,w_2121,x_0,y_111/f_auto,q_auto,w_ This is Shenlo's eye color).
I commanded the sand and the plants to let the men go. Watching as they fell to the ground and scrambled to getaway. I then turned to the woman. She was beautiful, red hair, wearing a blue gown with only a few strips of rag on them. She had beautiful blue eyes and a face that matched the heavens.
"Surely this can't be earthly beauty. Wait a second, she wears a small hairpin in the shape of a wolf. Her eyes are blue just like a wolf. The outline of her teeth could barely be seen through her lips. This is Yama-no-Kami(I tried researching it, the Okami aka the wolves are seen as messengers of the gods and are most commonly associated with the mountain spirit Yama-no-kami.)" I thought.
"Forgive me for my insolence, my lady!" I shouted as I dropped to my knees. All the villagers around the town plaza looked mildly confused. "This is Yama-no-kami, she who reigns over the messengers of the gods," I shout. The villagers all of a sudden all kneel on the ground.
The woman before me reached down and lifted my head up. "Rise up Shenlo Otsutsuki. You are a faithful warrior. Kami and Shinigami have a request for you. I as well."
I stood up slowly, the rest of the villagers also standing up. "What is their request?" I ask.
"They ask you to kill some individuals that have evaded death for plenty of years. Their names are, Orochimaru of the Sannin, Madara Uchiha, Obito Uchiha, Hidan, and Kakuzu. In return they will do their best to keep your loved ones from dying," Yama spoke.
I nodded, "I accept, and your request?" I asked.
"My request for you is, for you to find something to care and love equally as your skill as a warrior. I ask that you continue in your journey and be a caring person who does what is right." Yams requested.
"I will my lady, I will," I responded. A moment later a bright light surrounded her. I looked away so as to not be blinded by the brightness. Once the bright light faded, and I looked back, Yama was gone.
Tsunami approached me. "You must be a good person to be visited by a goddess. Come, I must do some shopping," She spoke.
"Very well, I must do one thing first," I say as I make hand seals for the kage bunshin. A moment later fifty copies of myself filled the town plaza. "I want ten of you to work on fixing the buildings. Another ten pushing back the plant life. Another ten to help contractors build more housing to help the people not live on the streets. Ten to patrol the streets as guards to keep the bandits at bay. Finally, another ten to go and hunt animals to feed the people and children." I yell out to my clones.
The clones quickly went off to what they were told. Tsunami and the villagers looked grateful.
Tsunami and I continued further into town. Going from store to store trying to find ingredients that she needed. If one store didn't then it was on to the next. We were on our way to the next store when I got the memories from the clones working on repairing the buildings and those getting rid of the plant life. I made more clones and told them to patrol more, and to find any building with any indication of Gato.
The sun was now setting in the sky. The sky turning orange, pink, and purple. The clouds contrast in the sky. It was almost dream-like. The setting sun turned the buildings and streets orange with its afterglow.
Tsunami and I started the journey back towards her home. The streets were nearly abandoned after the building of the new homes and the repaired buildings were being fixed. My clones occasionally pass by us with a salute, their right arm held in a bicep curl with their fist closed over their left pectoral muscle.
Tazuna's Home
We had finally reached the road leading to her home, the trees trailing past the road toward the bridge. We had made it into the kitchen, I was helping cut the food for dinner when Kakashi walked in. A few minutes later Naruto, Sasuke, and Tazuna walked through the front door, obviously tired after a long day's work.
A half-hour later and dinner was ready. We all were sitting at the table eating food when Inari burst through the front door. He walked into the dining room. Once he met my eyes he yelled, "Why do you even try?"
Everyone at the table stopped eating and looked between Inari and me.
"What do you mean?" I asked confused.
"I heard what you've done for the village. Why do you try to defeat Gato? He's too powerful! You all will just die, just like Kaiza!" Inari yelled.
"Because If we don't try and stop him, who will? Everyone in this village has lost hope and courage, so If I don't lead by example who will?" I ask.
"What would you know, I bet you don't know the meaning of pain. I bet you just sit in your village all happy and everything, I bet you don't know the meaning of loss." Inari shouted getting angrier with every sentence. Kakashi and Naruto looked down slowly. Sasuke had a far-off look on his face. The room suddenly got cold, the air stuffy and heavy. Inari stood frozen, Tazuna looked like he was in pain, and Tsunami looked scared.
"Who are you to tell me if I don't understand the meaning of pain? Everyone in this room had felt pain. Kakashi, Sasuke, Naruto, and I more so than you three." Inari, Tsunami, and Tazuna looked surprised. "Kakashi when he was our age accidentally killed his teammate, he watched his other teammate get crushed by a boulder. His father committed suicide from ridicule by his friends. Kakashi lost his sensei twelve years ago during an attack on our village. In the last twelve years, he has probably watched countless other comrades die to other shinobi in the world. Sasuke, probably felt the worst pain out of all of us because he grew up with his family. Only for his family to be ripped away from him when his brother slaughtered his whole clan. Naruto lost his parents the day he was born, he faces ridicule from the village every day for something that isn't his fault. He has had multiple assassination attempts on his life since he was born. More than any politician in the world. I as well lost my parents on the same night as Naruto. I also faced ridicule by our village for being associated with Naruto, I faced sexual, physical, emotional, verbal, and mental violence every day. I left my village at the age of seven to get away from it. Since then I trained to become a shinobi so I wouldn't face discrimination again. In the process, I became a very dangerous and well-known shinobi. I have killed seven of my sensei's at the end of a two-year training period. I've killed multiple people, I still hear the screams of those unfortunate enough to cross blades with me. I watched two of my teammates die in front of me, killed by two people who I have vowed to kill." I continued, "Your grandfather was forced to watch as he watched the person who he viewed as a son was killed by the man who now holds Wave in his grasp. The same with your mother. I can understand your pain to a certain degree, but that doesn't mean that I let that event cripple me. Your grandfather risk's his life building a bridge that will help wave, and you tarnish the name of Kaiza and disrespect your grandfather by crying in your room every night, instead of working to become better? Tell me, who is the person who doesn't know the meaning of loss?" I asked putting venom into my words.
I let off with the KI and the temperature returned to the world. Inari ran off to his room in tears.
Tsunami and Tazuna looked shell-shocked. "Is what you said true? Has all that really happened?" She asked. She looked to Kakashi, receiving a nod. Then to Sasuke, then Naruto, and then me. We all nodded, barely visible tears traveling down our faces.
"That's horrible. I'm sorry to hear that." Tsunami said.
Naruto and I stood up simultaneously. "We are going to go train Kakashi-sensei," Naruto spoke.
"Very well, be careful and do not work too hard," Kakashi shouted as we left Tazuna's home.
Naruto and I split off in different directions as we wanted to train separately to vent off our feelings.
Naruto had been working on learning the Rasengan and trying to learn the Hiraishin. I had an idea of how to start working on my metal release jutsu. I had come up with a seal to put on the inside of a jar that would keep metal inside it at a melting point to keep it easy for me to form jutsu(Immagine Gaara's gourd of sand, but it will be liquid metal).
I had three jutsu that I planned to work on, the first was the Metarurirīsu: Metarudoragontekunikku(Metal release: Metal Dragon technique). It is exactly how it sounds. Just like the Water dragon jutsu or the fire dragon jutsu, it is a large metal projectile in the shape of a dragon's head. It would be classed as A high B-rank to low A-rank jutsu, depending on the amount of chakra.
The second was, Metarurirīsu: Maruchidoragontekunikku(Metal release: Multi Dragon Technique). This technique would form a large cloud in the sky. Metal infused into the said cloud would form into multiple projectiles in the shape of multiple dragon heads. Shooting down toward the ground, upon impact with the target or near a target they will explode. This will be a high A-rank jutsu.
The third was, Metarurirīsu: Ame no ken no odori(Metal release: Dance of raining swords). This technique sends a flow of metal that shoots high into the air, forming a large metal ball in the sky. It will slowly change form into hundreds upon thousands of high-density swords made from common metals, ranging from steel to iron, and even copper. This technique will be classified as a High A-rank jutsu, Borderline S-rank. Once elemental affinities have been added to the technique then it will enter into the realm of S-rank techniques.
I made six hundred clones to work on the techniques I had Ideas for. Two hundred clones for each. They all spread out among the large forest. For every clone that made progress on the technique, I made it dispel sending the knowledge to the rest, and so on for every breakthrough.
I made one hundred and fifty clones for my weapons. I made fifty for the scythe sending them out to practice. Another fifty for the naginata, and another fifty for the broad sword. I then increased my gravity seal to level six and increased the resistance seal to the point I could barely move. I then proceeded to run several miles, and do constant physical exercise.
After four hours of this, I worked myself into unconsciousness. Resulting in the seals going back to normal. The clones lasted another forty minutes before dispelling in groups of twenty every five minutes. Which took another two and a half hours to complete.
Check out the Community for the Tale of the Elemental Reaper of Death. Put some entries in there tell me what I should add-in, or what you think I should put in. Give me advice on what to change. Don't forget to leave a review and tell me what you think of the story. Tell me how I am doing and give me advice on how to get better as a writer.
As always stay tuned for the next chapter It will be coming soon.
King of the Four Horsemen :D