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It only took me a couple of hours to realize that our journey was going to take us close to a week. Our mission to wave had taken us so long, because of Tazuna and his inability to travel like a shinobi.
Unfortunately, our journey was much further than Wave. And we would end up traveling even further by the end of the mission. Luckily, the Land of Tea didn't have any shinobi presence so there was no one to greet once we crossed the border. In fact, we didn't even know that we had crossed, until we were already deep into the country.
By the time we reached Degarashi Port, it had taken us 7 of the 9 allotted days to arrive. Lee and I were focused, but still playful along the way. We didn't encounter any foreign shinobi. We didn't encounter anyone actually. I forgot that we were supposed to have already met Idate somewhere along the journey, according to the anime. But I wasn't sure if I had even taken the same route to Degarashi Port to be honest.
They need to change the name of this capital.
I stood on a tall tree, looking over the massive city that had started as a port town, and developed into a capital city. There was no wall and from my vantage point, I could see that it had grown around the bay that the city was founded on. There was an industrial section that had factories with smoke billowing out, close to the port. Roads, in a grid-like fashion, ran throughout the city. There was one that cut straight down the middle and led to the port. It was a major road, and naturally was wider than the rest. There was another road, similar in size that bisected the city perpendicular to the main road. From there, rectangle-like grids could be seen of residential and market zones.
"When I heard Port, I didn't picture this." Lee said beside me as we took in the grand city laid out before us. It summed up my thoughts quite well.
"Same." I agreed before jumping down off of the tree we were standing on. "Says here the Wasabi family has an office downtown. We'll meet the head of the family there."
Without needing my two teammates' opinions, I took off in the lead.
"Jirocho Wasabi, pleasure to meet you."
The man behind the desk was middle aged with greying hair, a pot belly, and a kind demeanor.
"Naruto Uzumaki." I introduced with a slight bow before I turned to my teammates. "This is Rock Lee, and Sasuke Uchiha."
"You arrived earlier than expected." The head of the Wasabi Clan told me. "But that might work out in our favor…"
There was a chakra signature, larger than a civilian but not as large as Sasuke's, rapidly approaching the door to the office we were standing in. It was moving fast enough for me to question its intent. Instinctively, my chakra primed inside of my body. I even pondered drawing my sword, as I turned to the door.
They opened the door without even knocking, and then stopped as their body was halfway through.
It's hard to tell with Ibiki's scars, but I can see the resemblance.
It was obviously Idate. He was a little older than myself, and looked to be almost full grown. His dark hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and his face did not bear the same stress that his brothers did. Unfortunately for Ibiki, Idate had gotten all the looks in the family.
"Shinobi?! Really?!" Idate asked as he walked into the room. His face soured immediately, showing off his displeasure.
The head of the Wasabi family ignored him. "Like I was saying. It's good you arrived early, because I have received information that our rival, the Wagarashi family, has also hired shinobi. They have already been seen in the city." Jirocho said as he sent a look towards Idate, who was sulking near the door.
I nodded. "Do you have any specifics on the shinobi?" I asked as I was supposed to.
If this mission went anything like the anime, I knew who the enemy shinobi would be. Amegakure would assign Aoi Rokusho and his new Genin team to this mission. Aoi was a Konoha traitor, and the reason that Idate Morino was no longer a Konoha shinobi.
He had fled the village with the legendary sword of the Nidaime, and sold Konoha's secrets to Amegakure.
"All I know is that they wear the symbol of Amegakure, and one of them is a jonin with green hair." Jirocho answered, confirming my suspicions that Aoi was still the assigned jonin.
I couldn't help the nervousness in my gut once that was confirmed. In the anime, Team 7 without Kakashi was enough to take down the Jonin. But this was no anime, and everyone had consistently shown me that the people here were stronger than expected. I was eager to test myself, and hesitant to face a jonin.
"Green hair, Amegakure?" Idate asked, interrupting our conversation once again. "Aoi is here?!"
I could already see where this was going. I turned to the ex-shinobi. "Stand down." I told him with my serious voice. "That is my job, not yours."
"Fuck that! Aoi ruined my life!" Idate answered, before priming his chakra.
I felt it happening and I reacted quicker. Before the boy could plant his foot on the ground to speed off, I was in front of him with my hand on his chest.
"You are here to race. I am here to protect you. Do not compromise those two things." I commanded with a snarl. It was difficult for me to babysit this little shit with a straight face.
"It is fine, Naruto. Let him go." Jirocho told me.
I didn't obey immediately. Instead, I reached to my chest protector, and touched a seal on the side of it. A small amount of chakra and a puff of smoke revealed the letter from Ibiki in my hand.
"This is for you." I said as I handed the envelope to Idate and stepped aside. When the boy was distracted with the letter, I made eye contact with Sasuke.
'Tail' I signed to the Uchiha with a hidden hand. His sharingan flashed to life, and that was the only acknowledgement I needed.
Idate stormed out of the room. Sasuke gave it until he heard the door to the building close before he too left the room. His chakra signature quickly faded into the village, faster than I expected it to.
"Now, let me tell you the story of this race…"
"Got him." I called out, as I felt our target zip around the village.
I planted my feet, and changed directions. My chakra increased my speed, and I felt my teammates behind me do the same thing. Then we were off.
I had to compliment Idate. He was fast for a civilian. He wasn't faster than any of us on our worst day, but he knew the city well. It made tailing him difficult. Especially since Sasuke had underestimated the boy as soon as he had left the office. Sasuke had lost him, within a couple of minutes.
I tracked the larger than average chakra signature to a busy market. My team and I stopped on the rooftops not too far away.
"Lee, stick with him. Don't be shy either, I want you glued to his hip." I told my teammate and friend.
"You don't want me to tail?" Lee asked, curious. "Can I ask why?"
"I want to deter the enemy shinobi from attacking in the city. Civilians could get hurt. If they see you, they'll think twice about it. If they're smart, they'll wait until Idate is racing and ambush him somewhere on the route." I answered, giving him my thought process behind the order.
"Ah I see. Thank you." Lee said with a smile before he jumped off of the rooftop and landed in the alley beside us. He quickly walked into the crowd, and approached our target. My eyes were on him the entire time.
"I could have done it." Sasuke told me from his position beside me.
"I know." I answered. "Better than Lee, actually."
"Then why not let me?" Sasuke asked. Anger seeped into his tone. He was still angry that Idate had given him the slip.
"Lee needs the practice more than you do." I bullshitted.
In reality, I wanted Sasuke by my side at all times. This was my team, and despite my warnings to Lee about Sasuke's potential defection, he continued to deny it's possibility. I didn't want Lee getting hurt because of his naivety. Lee would be glued to Idate's hip, and I would be glued to Sasuke's hip. Maybe it would deter him from trying something on this mission.
"It won't happen again…" Sasuke said, and I could feel his anger slipping away into self-pity.
Is this how it happened in the anime? One thing after another for Sasuke? Did he spiral into Orochimaru's waiting arms?
"I know. You're a capable shinobi, Sasuke." I told him, trying to get his confidence back up. He used to be overflowing with confidence. What happened?
"Not as capable as you." Sasuke muttered, and I looked to see him clenching his fist and staring at it.
"Not yet." I agreed. "But with time you will surpass me." I told him as I stared into the sharingan. The potential he had with those alone could catapult him to S-tier, if he just gave himself some time to grow.
Before he could answer and put himself down more I spoke again. "If you continue to compare yourself to others, you'll never be happy. You should compare yourself to who you were yesterday, and then you'll realize how far you've come. If everyday you improved by 1%, in 3 months you would be almost twice as strong as you are now."
He didn't answer, nor did he acknowledge that he heard me. My attempts at being wise did not go so well.
"…Begin!"
Someone banged on a gong at the same time as the announcer began the race. My team and I stood on the rooftops of the dock warehouses. There was a massive crowd all up and down the beginning street.
I'll miss a fantastic parade following this kid.
"Where is he going?" Lee asked as Idate immediately took a turn down a random street at the beginning of the race. He was moving much faster than the other competitors as well, burning through chakra to reach his destination.
"Great, we're guarding the loser." Sasuke commented.
All three of us jumped off of the roof and quickly moved to follow him. He turned down some random streets until we arrived at a smaller dock, with a sleek looking ship tied to it.
"On that ship." I commanded as Idate made it on the ship. The sailors immediately began untying the ship and getting it out into the ocean. I burst forward and jumped down to the street. My team followed.
When we reached the docks, the ship was already 50 feet away. But that was negligible for a shinobi. All three of us jumped the rest of the distance, and landed on the deck of the ship quietly.
Every single head on the ship turned to us in shock, including the captain. I saw their eyes flicker to my headband, and then realization set in.
"Idate! You didn't tell me that Shinobi would be hitching a ride!" A man that I assumed was the captain yelled out.
"Damn it." I heard Idate mutter. He wanted to lose us on the seas. I had yet to meet someone with a worse sense of danger in my life. Did he not realize that a jonin was out to kill him?
"We'll offer you and this ship protection, in exchange for the journey." I called out to the captain, uncaring if he accepted the answer or not. I was staying on this ship, regardless of if he approved.
The captain sighed and narrowed his eyes at me. "Just stay out of the way of my men!"
I sat on the deck of the ship near the prow, where there wasn't much activity during the day. Beneath me my massive personal sealing scroll was rolled out on the deck. The one thing this long sea journey had done, was allow me to finish building out my newest jutsu.
And thanks to the clones I had jump off of the boat last night, I had practiced with it already as well. Once I received the memories, I had the fuinjutsu applied to my skin while the others slept. Even though I had clothes on, I knew that there was an Uzumaki swirl applied to my left rib, which would blossom into many more lines of fuinjutsu across my body with an application of chakra.
I glanced over to see Lee doing a single finger handstand push up. Sasuke had somehow managed to get his hands on a leaf in the middle of the ocean, and was training his lightning affinity with the leaf.
Once again, I was reminded just how broken Shadow Clones were. Yes the sharingan could memorize jutsu, but could it memorize what it felt like to convert your chakra to another element at the highest level of control? The answer is no, it cannot. But my shadow clones had mastered two elemental chakra natures within a couple of weeks.
I knew Sasuke would take longer than that just to master one of them.
"Land ho!"
I prayed a quick 'thanks' at the fact that the journey across the ocean was finished. I quickly rolled up my personal sealing scroll and sealed it away into the wristband on my left wrist. Then I turned to my teammates.
"Get loose, they'll most likely attack soon."
When I told my team to get ready for an attack, I didn't think it would mean that the Amegakure Shinobi would be waiting patiently for us at the docks that our ship was heading towards.
We were fifty yards out when they revealed themselves. They were lounging at the very end of the longest dock of the small city we were arriving at. Ships were already docked there but they were obviously merchants of some sort. All three of the shinobi wore the clothes that covered their entire identity. Just like the anime.
"Enemy Genin." I called out from my position at the front of the boat. I locked eyes with the one that was closest to me. He motioned for his teammates to get ready.
They wasted no time in hopping up and joining him at the front of the docks. The three of them started making hand signs slowly, and it was then that I realized why they hadn't bothered with an ambush.
"Water ninjutsu incoming!" I called out, as I prepared myself to counter them.
It would be easy enough to just dodge whatever they planned on throwing at us. But that would mean that the ship we were on, including Idate, would be attacked instead. I could not condemn the sailors, nor my charge, to death by drowning. I jumped ahead of the ship, and raced towards the three Amegakure Genin. I was hoping they would need a lot of time to complete whatever jutsu they were doing together.
I was wrong.
I barely made it halfway when they finished their hand signs and thrusted their open palms towards the ship. The effects were immediate and impressive. The water underneath the docks surged up and towards our ship, in the shape of a massive wave. It was the kind of wave that capsized ships the size of the one we were on.
Four shadow clones appeared next to me. I had no choice but to counter with my own ninjutsu. Unfortunately, I did not know any water ninjutsu to counter. So I decided I would have to overpower my known jutsu and pray that it worked.
Five Wind Release: Great Breakthroughs, smashed into the base of the wave. I shoved way too much chakra into the justu's. My clones popped, because of all the chakra they used. Thankfully, it caused the waves to capsize and fall before they even reached my position halfway to the ship.
I felt Sasuke's chakra race towards my position on the ocean, and I took off towards my opponents before they had the opportunity to throw more ninjutsu at us. Lee would stay back with Idate, as I instructed. Our opponents decided to grab the umbrellas on their backs instead, and start shooting senbon in our direction.
My sword graced my hand and deflected the senbon that I couldn't outright dodge. Sasuke did the same with a kunai. We weren't touched by the weapons and we continued our assault.
Only I stopped as soon as I felt a chakra signature spike behind me. As soon as I felt it I knew it wasn't Lee or Idate as it was way too large for that to be the case. When I turned to the ship, I saw Lee and Idate both jumping off of the ship and landing in the water. They too were deflecting a hail of senbon from an opponent.
The Genin were distractions.
I started heading back towards where Lee had landed in the ocean. Him and a green-haired individual engaged in a small taijutsu bout before dancing away from each other. As I traveled the rest of the distance I did my best to analyze my newest opponent.
Aoi looked just as he did in the anime, only this was the real world and not a drawing of the man. His hair was dark green and styled meticulously. His eyes were purple, and he had a feminine beauty to his face. I knew without a doubt that he was a lady killer wherever he called home nowadays.
Lee matched the enemy jonin in taijutsu two more engagements before I arrived back at their fight. As soon as I did, Aoi drew The Sword of the Thunder God from his lower back, the weapon he stole from Konoha before defecting and selling her secrets.
"Oh no, you have reinforcements mini-guy." Aoi said mockingly as he held the hilt of the Nidaime's sword up in front of him. He didn't have it activated though, which I found weird.
"How do you know about my sensei?" Lee asked as he held his hand out in front of him in the strong fist opening stance.
"He's an ex-konoha ninja Lee. He betrayed Konoha for power to Amegakure." I answered, before the enemy could answer him.
"That's right! Tell me, did Guy ever get over his weakness to genjutsu?" Aoi said as his sword activated. A yellow blade of chakra extended from the hilt in his hands, in the shape of a jian. Only it surprised me with how stable it seemed, compared to how the anime showed it. There was no vibration, there was no instability at all. It looked as stable as steel, but it was yellow and made of chakra.
That was the first sign that this man was more competent than the anime showed him. The second was the way his left hand rose and formed a one handed seal. I felt his chakra move through the air and layer itself over mine and Lee's. I broke the genjutsu with plenty of time to spare. Aoi took his opportunity to attack. I defended, as I knew Lee wouldn't break out of the genjutsu in time.
Lightning chakra danced along my own blade as I raced in front of Lee. Aoi let with a thrust, meant to pierce Lee's heart. I deflected it up, so that I could slash across his chest. He didn't allow me to because of his skill with the blade. He twirled the sword in his hand with ease that I struggled with and turned my deflection into his attack.
I ducked, and his sword passed over my head. My right foot lashed out and I spartan kicked him away from me. I barely dodged a retaliatory swipe of his sword to my leg, that would have been fatal if it landed.
He's good.
Four more clones appeared next to me and raced to engage Aoi.
"Guy-sensei has no weaknesses."
I touched Lee, who was behind me and sent a burst of chakra through his system. His eyes focused on me, and then he frowned. Realization set in immediately.
"I need you to go help Sasuke." I told my friend and teammate as I pointed behind him to the docks where Sasuke was dismantling the three Genin. He didn't need Lee's help, but I needed Lee away, so I didn't have to protect him. Lee nodded and took off, realizing that Aoi would be a hard fight for him.
"And I need you to start running!" I told Idate, who had been watching the fight with a frown. He must have been surprised at his former sense's skill and power. Luckily, he did as I said and began following Lee to the docks.
"Impressive. I don't believe I know your name." Aoi said as he popped the last clone with a punch to the arm. Shadow clones could be so fragile sometimes.
"Naruto Uzumaki. I'll be the one apprehending and delivering you to Ibiki for interrogation, and maybe just a bit of revenge on his part." I told him, engaging my opponent in a bit of customary banter.
"Ha! He would love that. I fucked up his face pretty bad the last time I saw him." Aoi retorted confidently. He didn't believe that I could deliver on my statement. I would have to show him. "Unfortunately you and your friends will die here, along with Idate."
He swung his sword lazily in the air, and I felt his chakra spike. A ball of lightning extended from his sword and raced through the air towards me. I was surprised, but not surprised enough not to react.
I dodged, almost as lazily as Aoi. But then I saw the way he was holding his sword at me and the grin on his face. I felt the chakra of the jutsu change directions quickly, and race towards my back.
It wasn't until it was almost on me that I activated my newest jutsu. Fuinjutsu lines extended from the Uzumaki swirl on my ribs, to cover my torso. Of course, nobody could see that though, because of my clothing. What they did see was a red ethereal barrier, the shape of a rib cage, covering my entire body.
It looked exactly like a red version of Anime Sasuke's partial susanoo, only it was just the rib cage, and not a skeletal arm. It was also larger and extended about five feet in either direction of my body.
The ball of lightning impacted the red rib cage protecting me. It sizzled against my newest defensive technique, and didn't even leave a black soot mark once it dissipated.
"What the…"
5 chakra signatures appeared behind me. The kind that was vaguely familiar. Almost like I had felt them in a dream, or a long time ago. That wasn't the worrying part, however.
I felt Lee's chakra surge behind me. It surged so much that I knew he had activated at least the second gate. Worry and panic ran through me at the thought of Lee needing to use that against his opponents.
What is happening back there? I need to end this quickly.
I sealed my sword before I sent more chakra to a specific spot on the susanoo seal, and straight black lines could be seen extending down both of my arms to my hands. The lines traced my bones underneath my skin, including my hands and fingers.
Red skeletal arms formed off of the rib cage surrounding me. My arms lurched forward towards my opponent and the skeleton surrounding me copied the movement in real time. I had Aoi in my susanoo's left hand before he could react. The skeletal fingers wrapped around him near his torso, and ended in his knees. It was so large it covered most of his body, and definitely locked his arms by his side.
The downside to this knockoff version of susanoo, is that the arms are tied to my arms. Meaning to move the skeletal arms, I had to physically move my own arms and the skeleton would mimic me. This was not something that a mangekyou fueled susanoo was limited by.
An Uchiha's susanoo could move independently of the user's body. Or a better way of putting that would be that the Uchiha could control the susanoo, without needing to move their body. It was mentally controlled. If I were telling the truth, I had absolutely no idea how to fix that problem with fuinjutsu. At my current level, I was locked into what I had.
But I had a work around for the current state of things: The Shadow Clone.
Without the need of my hands, I summoned another Shadow Clone beside me. He calmly walked forward and produced a chakra suppression seal from his kunai pouch and slapped it on Aoi's forehead despite his struggles.
As soon as I saw the man had lost consciousness, I deactivated my lesser susanoo and turned around. What I saw caused me to immediately sprint across the ocean I was standing on, towards their direction.
Sasuke was surrounded by the newcomers that I had sensed earlier.
A giant of a man, with dark red skin and orange hair stood opposite of Lee trading blows as only a select few in this world could. He had no shirt on to cover his massive belly, but he did have one distinct article of clothing that keyed me into what the fuck was going on.
"Hahahahaha…" He laughed in joy as he and Lee went at each other.
Around his waist was a purple rope that acted like a belt, tied into a bow.
A/N: Boom!
It has started although I am going to let you all guess as to what it is that I am talking about!
Naruto reveals what fuinjutsu he's been working on recently. And it is a seal based susanoo! Who guessed it? I think some have hinted in the reviews before and I think it has been a suggestion before. It is also BROKEN! That jutsu of Aoi's could have dealt serious damage to other ninjas and it just fizzled out against Naruto's susanoo.
What do we think about this?
What do we think about Lee's opponent?
Let's talk in the reviews!