CHAPTER – 5

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Anime.

AN: Thank you all those who showed their appreciation, it compels me to make it better and keep on writing.

Sorry for the long absence, but my mid-term exams were going on. I really had no time.

Please review. I'm just a humble author who likes to see others enjoying my work.

All the OCs that I use belongs to 'Scarease'. Any OC that will be my original will be mentioned. Thanks to him for the excellent OCs.

"Talking"

'Thinking'

'Flashback'

"A tea trader and a bounty hunter!?" Kisuke asked astonishingly.

"Bounty helps with the funds" she nodded.

"Look, right now, we all want to escape from these pirates, and strangely enough, our plans happen to be the same. So, how about a truce?" Naruto suggested. Emi thought for a second, then nodded. Her relaxed body personified her thoughts. They'll withdrew the weapons and relaxed as well.

They all settled down in their own deep thought.

"So Emi, where are you from?" Kisuke said, striking a conversation. She looked at him,

"My name is all you need to know about me. I'm not telling you anything" she said, getting a little aggressive at the end.

"Sure" Kisuke said, waving his hands. "We don't need two hot-tempered women in here…" he mumbled to himself. After getting two glares, he quieted down.

The pirate ship set sail after a short time. None of them knew where they were headed. The only goal was to wait for the ship to reach the land and get off as soon as possible.

Two days later:-

In two days, Emi's status had gone from offensive to neutral. She had told them that she was an orphan and she had trained under a Ronin. She didn't let anything other than that slip.

Emi was about the same age as Haku with unique blue-green hair tied in a ponytail. She carried a katana and her outfit was black, body-hugging top and slim black pants, completed with black boots. She seemed to like black a lot.

"Man, we're lucky that the food stocks are at the hull." Tayuya said, finishing her meal. The team mumbled in approval. Emi nodded.

Staying a couple of days with them made her more comfortable with them than before. She admitted that they were a nice company, but didn't drop her guard for a second. She couldn't just trust shinobi very much.

They were all in an after-meal relaxed state, when the ship rocked abruptly and stopped.

"They dropped anchor" Tayuya clarified.

"Did we already reached a land" Kisuke asked.

"Don't come to conclusions yet, they may have targeted another ship or something else" said Haku.

Naruto walked towards the hull entrance and lifted off the trap-door a little. He could see the deck a little. There seemed to be chaos. Several pirates were surrounding the Captain, while he was yelling at them.

"Where are they!?" the Captain yelled.

"W-Who?" said one of his boys.

"Those fucking shinobi! They were hiding in the ship and you didn't know!?" he said angrily.

Naruto's eyes widened. They had been found.

Suddenly, the Captain's eyes met Naruto's.

"There's the bastard!" he pointed towards Naruto.

"Fuck" Naruto mumbled and closed the door.

"Run! We have been found!" he shouted to his teammates. Hastily they all nodded and got up with their backpacks.

"Smash the hull!" Naruto shouted. He had a plan.

Naruto formed a Rasengan and blew up a wall. Water rapidly flooded in. Seeing his example all of them did the same. Using the water, Haku for a Water Dragon and begun smashing the hull to pieces. Tayuya summoned her demons and did the same. Kisuke used explosive notes and Emi, she began cutting the pirates that were coming down through the trap door.

Soon, all that was left of the hull was just rubble. The team managed to escape through the holes and swam up to the surface. The ship began to rapidly drown.

They all used chakra to run on water and with all the speed they could muster, they began to run away from the drowning ship. Emi too began to swim.

The land could be seen, but it was still too far away to reach just by swimming. But that idea didn't came into her mind. All she thought for now was to somehow get away from the ship.

Suddenly, the water they were on began to shake. They heard a roar and the mass of water they were on turned into a Water Dragon. The Dragon rose high, engulfing all of them in his body. He roared once again and smashed all of them on the deck of the sinking ship, dissolving himself in the process.

Though in pain, the team and Emi managed to get up. In front of them was the pirate Captain.

"You brats thought you can get away, huh!?" he shouted.

"After all you did, I'll kill you'll myself!" he yelled. His fellow pirates roared and took out their weapons. They charged at Naruto and others, while the Captain began making some hand-seals.

Out of anymore options, the team, including Emi decided to fight. They all began making hand-seals, except Emi, who unsheathed her sword.

Tayuya summoned her demons, which immediately brought wrath to the pirates. She decided to leave the boss to the others.

Kisuke yelled "Fire style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!" and began annihilating the pirates, deciding to leave the Captain to the others.

Naruto ran straight to the Captain, and Haku threw a few senbons towards him.

Deciding to engage him in a close-combat, Naruto took out his kunai and slashed him. The Captain cursed, being disturbed in the middle of his ninjutsu. He ducked under Naruto's slash and caught his dominating arm. Seeing a few senbons coming, the Captain flung Naruto towards the senbons.

Being unable to do anything, Naruto was forced to take the senbon attack. The senbons sunk deep into his flesh, and at the same moment, he popped out of existence. The Captain's eyes widened for a second.

'A Shadow Clone!' he thought. His surprise faded immediately and he smirked.

'Now this would be a lot of fun' he thought.

The real Naruto cursed. He looked at Haku. They both nodded and ran towards the Captain.

Emi reached him before they could and began attacking the Captain with her sword. He skilfully dodged her strikes and took out his kunai. Immediately after, he began parrying her strikes while smirking.

Emi cursed and jumped back a little. She held her blade horizontally at the top of her head.

"Try to parry this! Wind Dancing Blade: Signum Cuts!" she shouted and the blade glowed. She swung her swords wildly, producing a sharp wind aligning with the swing after each swing.

'Ooh, a samurai…' the captain thought.

The sharp wind cuts flew towards him, who was already making a few hand signs.

"Water style: Barrier" he said and the water from the ocean flew between Emi and him, effectively absorbing the sharp wind cuts. Smirking, he changed his hand seal.

"Water style: Water whips" he said and the water wall changed its shape and formed two whips a few metres long. The Captain clutched the whips and began attacking Emi.

She tried to cut the whips, but they had chakra infused in them. Forcefully, after getting hit a few times, she had to fall back.

Naruto and Haku swiftly joined her side. They all decided to engage him together. Naruto formed two scores of Shadow Clones. Half of them ran towards Kisuke and Tayuya to help them fight the other pirates.

Haku began by for a Water Dragon. The opponent did the same, but the difference was the size. The Captain's Water Dragon was at least thrice the size of Haku's. Haku attacked nonetheless, backed up by the projectile throwing Naruto clones.

Naruto clones were continuously throwing kunai and shuriken and after every few seconds, a random clone used 'Wind Style: Daitoppa" to exponentially increase the projectiles' speed and power.

The opponent was formidable. He expertly piloted his Water Dragon to deflect all projectiles, but one of them found its mark. A shuriken imbedded deep in his left shoulder, cutting the tendon and making the entire arm useless.

He howled in pain and with extreme difficulty, steered the Water Dragon towards the group.

The Dragon growled and with full force attacked them. Luckily, the dragon dissipated at the last moment, saving them from any fatal injury. But the extreme force of water was still alarmingly high, which popped all the clones and threw the trio into the ocean.

After a few seconds, Naruto, Haku and Emi climbed up on the ship again. The Captain was already waiting with his katana drawn out.

Emi's eyes widened,

'That's one awesome katana' she thought.

'The Tsuka (hilt), Kissaki (Tip), Tsuba (Guard)…they're all well-made' she admired internally.

'I'm taking that sword!' she thought and charged along with Naruto and Haku. They were all damaged and hurting here and there because of the Dragon, but taking on a Jounin in a pure Taijutsu fight was no joke, even if he didn't had an arm.

With his dominant arm, the Captain swung his sword expertly, making offence and defence at the same time. Though Naruto, Haku and Emi were attacking simultaneously, they were still having problem in even touching the man.

Finally, Naruto fell back and used a 'Wind Style: Daitoppa', making the Captain lose his balance for a moment. This moment was all they needed. Haku prepared to throw a senbon at his neck. Seeing his intentions, Emi tried to parry the Captain's horizontal swing.

She successfully blocked the strike, but the difference in power was simply too much. With raw power, the Captain lifted off the blocking Emi from the ground. Utterly surprised, she lost her block and the sword immediately cut her on the left bicep. Before the sword could reach her chest, out of instinct she jumped back, avoiding a fatal injury.

Haku successfully threw the senbon before the sword reached him, but didn't manage to get out of the strike range. The sword reached his abdomen, but he too out of instinct jumped of the way. He was still cut, but it was a minor wound.

The Captain fell back in a slum and lost consciousness.

Haku grasped his wound to apply pressure and reduce the bleeding. Emi however, walked over to the fallen Captain and gripped his hairs. She forcefully lifted him off and with a swift, precise cut, severed the head off the body.

The site was menacing, with her holding the head, which was still twitching and spilling blood. She glanced at others. Naruto and Haku were shocked. Tayuya and Kisuke just finished up with the remaining pirates and were in the same state as the other two.

"What!? I'm a Bounty Hunter after all" she defended. Emi took out a sealing scroll and quickly sealed up the head.

The water flooded in the deck and they were reminded that they were still on a drowning ship.

None of them were particularly low on chakra or injured seriously, which was rather surprising. Fighting of a Jounin and killing him with almost no setbacks was not what they expected. All of them had at least a few injured bones, but this had been too easy.

On their part, Tayuya and Kisuke too fought with a couple Chunins, but they were beaten rather easily. The explanation to all this was that the ninja-pirates had been out to the sea for a long time and had robbed no one except civilians.

No training or no notable fights had in fact made their senses and reflexes dull, which had lead to their death. If the Captain would still had been an active Jounin, there was no telling what would have happened.

As the water flooded in, on by one, all the team members jumped onto the water, began to efficiently use chakra to run on water.

Emi quickly grabbed the fallen Captain's katana and strapped it on her waist. She was about to jump in water when the reality dawned upon her. The island was too far off to reach by swimming. She was a little exhausted and hurting, and on top of that, she wasn't an ace swimmer. It would be a suicide. She couldn't take a risk like that in any condition. Emi glanced around for a means to escape.

Unfortunately, there were none.

'Shit! There's not even a row boat. Why the fuck they don't have a boat on a ship!' she cursed to herself. The ship was rapidly drowning with no means for her to escape. Despite all lost hope, she began going through all the things she could do.

Just as she was thinking, she heard a voice,

"Want us to help you?" she looked towards the source to find Naruto standing on the flooded deck, asking her cheerfully.

"No!" she replied instantaneously. He raised his eyebrows, "Why not?" he asked. "If we don't, you will die in here" he said, as if it was a universal truth. Emi visibly grew angry at the statement,

"Even though I might not look like it, but I'm still a proud samurai; a warrior. I won't accept any more help from your team. Helping me with killing the Captain was more than enough. Anymore, and it'll stain my honour as a samurai!" she finished.

Naruto looked a little worried. "Is your honour more important to you than your life?" he asked. "As a samurai, definitely" she answered.

"I don't care about your honour. I don't want my comrade to die if I can prevent it in any way" he stated.

"Who says I'm your comrade!?" Emi yelled. "We just fought a battle together, doesn't that make us comrades?" he asked. "No, it doesn't" she said forcefully.

Naruto nodded, "If that doesn't, I know what does" he mumbled and locked eyes with her,

"Join me" he said calmly.

"What?" she asked, surprised. 'Is that how he recruits!?' she wondered.

"Join me and my team" he repeated. "Are you dumb?" she replied. "Do you think that anyone you barely know would join you if you want?" she said. Naruto shook his head in negative, "Not anyone I barely know" he said "I know you well, very well in fact"

Emi was shocked. 'What the fuck is he saying!?' but he said it with such confidence and maturity, it almost made her believe what he said to be true. There was a strange aura, but she couldn't recognised it.

"Are you senile!? I didn't tell you anything about me!" she stated it as a fact. Naruto nodded, "You didn't but your eyes did" he said. Emi was taken aback. He continued "You're just like the rest of us. It's your past, isn't it?" he said. She hastily closed her eyes. Her past brought out some very bad memories.

"Your eyes, they're lonely and cold. You're... shunned by the society aren't you?" he stated more than asked. Emi was shell-shocked, she wasn't expecting this. She looked at him. 'This guy…just like the rest of us he said…is he like me? Is he an outcast too?' she pondered.

"I don't need to say anymore" he said "sorry for bringing up bad memories. I understand that you don't want to join my team. That's okay. Good luck in surviving" he said and jumped off to the ocean, leaving her alone once more.

Emi was stunned. She finally recognised the mysterious aura.

It was the aura of a legend, the aura of a born leader, the aura of a divine personality. It may sound like she was exaggerating, but it was truly what she felt. But she couldn't dwell on that now.

He had made his offer and she had declined. She didn't forget that she was a samurai and her pride comes first, even if the Kami-sama himself comes to request. She would only, truly and faithfully follow the person she herself chooses to.

And Naruto…he couldn't be the person, could he? Nope, not a chance…but maybe, it would have been possible. She should have given more thought to the offer, but it doesn't matter now. Right now, she had to survive. She picked up a large piece of wood, about two by one metres in dimension. Along with it, gathering all her will, she jumped on the ocean.

The sea was rough. She was splashed by waves time and again. Somehow she balanced herself. She held the wood with her arms, and using her legs to throttle, Emi started moving forward using all her might. After an hour, she had crossed about one fourth of the path, but strangely the sea had gotten rougher. The wood plank helped her float and rest. She was resting, holding the plank when her senses alarmed her. She looked forward, and saw a giant wave headed towards her.

She was almost out of gas. Her legs were going numb and her arms loosened around the wood. The violent wave would have been enough to scare any other person, but she was a samurai, and she will fight till the last breadth. Emi gave a battle cry and used all her strength to grip the plank as firmly as she could.

The wave hit hard. She was thrown away by the force of nature, but she didn't let loose the plank. Along with the wood, she went underwater.

The moment the wave had hit, she had realised that it wasn't going to be a happy ending.

As she went deep in the water, her grip began to loose. Finally, her willpower was overcame and the plank left her deep in the ocean. Running out of breath, her body instinctively opened her mouth. The water deliberately entered her body.

As the water flooded her lungs, she started losing sight and began to drift into unconsciousness. There was a strange peace. All Emi wanted was to close her eyes and sleep.

'Fuck! What am I thinking!? I can't die in here!' she encouraged herself. She started moving her arms and legs, desperately splashing underwater. She once again realised her struggles were in vain. She was already too deep in water. The past flooded her mind.

Memories; bad memories. Those which she wanted to forget. . The faces of her parents, faces of those people who beat her, tortured her mentally, and sometimes physically. The orphanage she was in. The village in which she was born at; Hoshigakure. And finally, the face of an old man.

"Old man…" she mumbled in pain.

She was just about to loose consciousness when she felt someone grip her hand. She looked at the face. It seemed familiar. But before the memory could her, she was unconscious.

Naruto was standing on the ocean. He was waiting. He had watched that wave, and he had watched Emi in the middle of that assault. He couldn't help it, it was his nature. He just couldn't let a comrade die. A few metres ahead of him, there was a splash and Haku came out of the water, bringing along Emi.

"She's alive, but it's critical" Haku said. Naruto nodded. With a hand-seal, three shadow clones come to life. He looked at Tayuya, she nodded and picked up Emi. She had read a book or two about how the human body worked. She couldn't use the med-ninjutsu in the least, but she could at least give her a quick check-up. Tayuya did a fireman's carry and held her firmly. She nodded back at Naruto, who in turn made a few hand seals.

Tayuya jumped upwards with all her might. When she was at the top of her trajectory, all four Naruto executed a 'Wind Style: Daitoppa' at the same time towards Tayuya and Emi. They made the wave as broad as they could, to avoid injury.

As she was hit by the simultaneous waves, the enormous force threw her forward with severe speed. She had already braced herself for the impact, so it only hurt her at minimal. Now, all she had to worry about was the landing…

This mode of transportation, though dangerous, was extremely fast. Naruto expected the girls to cross at least half path in the single jump. Fortunately and by extreme luck, Tayuya landed well and started to cross the remaining path. She had to hurry.

'Fuck! Don't die on me' she thought and increased her speed.

By the time Naruto, Haku and Kisuke reached the island, Emi was peacefully lying on her back.

Tayuya was beside her and a small fire was already lit. "You guys reached fairly fast" Haku commented. Tayuya nodded, then glared at Naruto "I'm never doing that again" she said intimidatingly. Naruto shot his hands up "Hey, it was an emergency." He said "The next, I won't give a fuck. Do you even know how I landed!" she replied.

"Did you give her mouth to mouth!?" Kisuke butted in enthusiastically. After a dose of killer intent, he fell back. "So, how is she?" Haku asked. The redhead nodded "She is fine. She'll wake up after some time I think" she answered. "Looks like you handled your first patient rather well" Haku said, smiling. Tayuya nodded and smiled "I think so."

"Alright team!" Naruto said "Get ready, we're making a camp here! Start on your chores everyone!"

"What a pain in the ass" Tayuya mumbled. "I can't do it. I'm too tired" Kisuke declared and sat down on the sandy beach. "Why don't you do something for a change?" Tayuya said. Naruto sweated "You mean I should do everything don't you?" Tayuya nodded. "But I'm tired too!" Naruto whined. "It's okay. A team always depends on its leader" Tayuya said "Yeah, and you're out leader, aren't you" Kisuke said, joining forces with her. Naruto looked at Haku, who merely shrugged "You do have a monster stamina" he said. "Fine" Naruto said and made ten shadow clones, who immediately left to complete their respective tasks.

"Now that's what I was talking about" Tayuya said.

The clones finished bringing up the wood and went hunting. Haku and Kisuke were roaming around, trying to figure out where they exactly are. Currently, they were on the beach on an unknown land. At the edge of the beach, the forest started. From the looks of it, it looked like a continent rather than an island. From the direction they were travelling in, they had an idea where exactly they were. There was fog all around, which only confirmed the suspicion.

At this time, being in the Land of Water was the worst case scenario. The whole land, especially Kirigakure were engrossed in an exceptional Civil War. If they were caught by any side of the war, their death was inevitable. Not only both the sides were strong, the ninjas of Kirigakure are known to be exceptionally fierce. Haku had faced it first-hand and Naruto had fought Zabuza, who was a Kiri-nin to the core.

They camped up at the middle of the forest, in a clearing they had found. Tayuya carefully enclosed the whole clearing in her 'False Surrounding Technique'. They all decided to stay here and prepare for the worst case scenario. They may have defeated a retired Jounin, but fighting an active one is on a whole new level. It was decided that they will stay here for atleast a few months. They will train harder than before and in that time, they will invest their free time to build a boat. As soon as the boat is finished, they will get the hell out of here as soon as possible.

At least that's what the plan was. They just hoped they don't come across a Kiri-nin while escaping, and that's why they were training so hard.

Emi woke up the next day.

When she opened her eyes, she could see something red. Soon, she made out that it was someone's hair. She heard the person shout "She's awake!"

Slowly, she got up. Her head was throbbing and her lungs were hurting. 'It hurts…to breathe. That's right!' she realised 'I was drowning…and then someone saved me' She once again looked at the redhead "Tayuya!?" she asked surprisingly. Tayuya smiled "Long time no see" she said.

"Did you save me!?" Tayuya shook her head in negative. Before she could answer, Emi shouted "Where's Naruto!?" Tayuya whistled "Is that what a girl asks when she wakes up?" she teased her. "This is serious!?" Emi shouted back "Where is he!?"

"I'm here" a voice came. Emi turned her head to the side to find Naruto and the others standing there "Did you save me!?" she yelled. "Nope, it was him" Naruto pointed towards Haku.

"Why!?" Emi said to Haku. "Couldn't be helped Emi-san. Leader's order" he replied back. Emi stood up on her feet. "Hey! You should rest!" Tayuya said, but Emi rushed towards Naruto.

She pushed him, hard. Naruto somehow managed to stay up. "Why the fuck did you save me!? I'm samurai dammit! I have my own pride! You just can't do anything you want! Who the fuck do you think you are!?" she shouted relentlessly. Silence reigned the clearing. Naruto had lowered his head and Emi was staring at him. Naruto looked up, and locked eyes. "Your comrade" he replied.

Emi was speechless. She felt that aura all over again. The same aura she felt at that time. She sat down on her knees. She looked at everyone else's face. They all smiled at her. She realised it. There really were people who accepted her as who she was. The old man had said,

'Don't worry. You will find people who will accept you as you are. You will find your own comrades'

Tears began rolling down her cheeks, 'Fuck! I'm a samurai! Don't cry!' She got up and said "Naruto. Can you ask me again? What you asked me at the ship" Naruto smiled "Will you join me and my team?" Naruto said.

Emi grinned and nodded "Sure!" she said. "Great. Welcome aboard" Haku said and everyone else cheered.

AN: If you find any mistakes or plot-holes, feel free to correct me.

Smell ya later!