Shinobiville
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto and DC Comic characters.
Italics: Thoughts
Chapter 2 – Past and Present
Hot Springs Village is a place that is on everyone's to go list. Hot water from the springs are natural, giving the village authenticity. There are many hot spring resorts in the village with their own different style of decoration. That was the only way each resort can compete against each other. Tourist decides for themselves what style and theme they want and attends that resort. Of course, tourists usually stay in the village for a couple of days which means every resort get customers who wants to try something new. Each home in the village even has their own personal hot springs where they can enjoy a private hot soak
With the speed Naruto was going, he overshot Jiraiya and made it to the Hot Springs Village first. It takes approximately two days to get here from the Wasabi Clan if the Old Pervert Sennin doesn't make any stops. This gave Naruto time to do the things he wants to do such as visiting the local casinos. It was a habit he got from Tsunade who took him outside the village once in awhile to help her win money and pay off her debt. It was a good tradeoff. She got to have her debt paid off while Naruto got away from the village and learned technique on how to use his already insane strength more efficiently. Since he was still underage, he had to use Henge no Jutsu to get through the doors.
It was in a casino a few months ago that he discovered to have an x-ray vision ability that works similar to the Hyuuga Clan's Byakugan. Although he can't see the chakra system within the body, he could still see through solid objects besides things made of lead. The dealer at the dice table had been cheating at the time by changing the number of the dice to suit his winnings. It was the first time Naruto was losing since he always had amazing luck with gambling. The x-ray vision began to kick in once he badly wants to see if the dealer was being underhanded. After that event, Naruto began to practice his doujutsu and found many different ways to use it.
A few days later, Jiraiya finally managed to arrive. He was rather tired from the journey so he planned to rest for awhile before enjoying life at the Hot Springs Village.
"We're going to head back to the Hidden Leaf soon kiddo," said Jiraiya. "I promised your father that I would look after you for three years which I did."
Naruto's expression became sad. "Do I really have to go back?"
"You know that you would have to one of these days. Don't you want to see your father again? Don't you miss your friends?"
"Sure I miss him but I don't have many friends. You know how it is for me back at home. I could hardly walk around the village without being sick all the time. Most of the time I stayed indoors at home where I train and study. In fact, that was the reason why I'm here in the first place. Dad thought it was best for me to get out of the village and stay away from the green glowing meteor rocks. Whenever I am near them, I felt sharp pain throughout my body and all my strength disappears. People use to think I was weak and stuff."
"But you aren't weak right? You kicked that Hyuuga's genius butt during the Chuunin Exam."
"Because people thought the green meteor rocks were beautiful, they started to wear them as accessories. That was the reason why I couldn't leave the house until there was a mission outside the village or you or Tsunade brought me out. The Chuunin exam was very important so I inspected the arena and made sure there weren't any meteor rocks that would cause me to not perform in top condition. Everything was alright until the next day I found out Neji was carrying a rock on the bracelet it wore. Talk about a bad case of luck."
"Dad said I amazed a lot of people by performing some high level jutsus and showing off my insane speed and strength. I knew I had to stay a long distance away from Neji because of the green rock. If I got around fifteen feet from it, the fight would be over. Everything was going fine until I grab a huge chuck of earth from the ground and planned to throw it at Neji. That guy shot an explosive kunai at the earth I was carrying and then I got blinded by the dust. He used that time to dash towards me and hit all 64 of my chakra points. He didn't let up after that either, because he hit the chakra point again that supposedly damages the heart."
"I guess he was pissed that I was giving him a hard time when I was suppose to be weak. A genius like himself was nearly beaten by a weakling like me really hurt his pride. I don't know how but I still managed to move around. However thanks to the combine forces of the meteor rocks and the attack, I started coughing out blood. I used that blood to summon a toad before I was going to pass out."
Jiraiya was laughing hard. "Yeah, I remember how hard it was for you to bite your thumb and produce blood to perform a summoning. We had to use the green meteor rocks to weaken you in order to draw some blood."
"I was lucky enough to be able to summon Gamakichi with the strength I had left. He used his long tongue to snatch that meteor rock and ran away with it. He bought me some time to regain my strength. Neji was furious and attacked me again by hitting all 64 chakra points for the second time. It must be embarrassing that he has to do so much work while all I did was slap his forehead once to knock him down. I still don't know how I could survive through that fight. I was so sure I was a goner."
"A lot of people from the audience cheered and clapped for me. It was one of the first times I felt like a winner except of the opposite. Back at the academy, I was overshadowed by Uchiha Sasuke even though I did well on everything. Everyone liked him because he was different and special due to his bloodline. On the other hand, I was thought as weak and often been compared to him by the other kids."
"Things got a bit better when father outlawed the use of the green rocks after Konoha was attacked. He already knew the rocks were bad since it hurts me, so he had the special medical ninjas to do research on them for years. They found out that long exposure to the rocks gives people cancer among other diseases. Some people around the village already contracted the disease so father banned the use of it. It takes about as short as one year of exposure to contract the disease while some may take longer. People can recover if they haven't contract the disease by letting their cell heal overtime without any more exposure; however once you have the disease, its there for good. Those rocks work their magic a lot faster with me for unknown reason, which is what I want to find out. I want to be able to walk around Konoha like everybody else without collapsing on the street. It's a simple goal of mine. Sure, people may not wear those rocks anymore but it still on the ground and hidden at places where I don't expect."
"So what did Boss Jirochou tell you?" Naruto asked. "Did he have any information about the Akatsuki?"
"No, he said he hasn't heard of anything but he will contact us once he does. However, Jirochou gave me something as equally important. There seems to be a ninja from the Hidden Sound who has been making a lot of fuss lately. A member of their own version of the Anbus has been killing many ninjas from different villages. Only the ninjas of the Leaf have been spared, at least for now. That person has also earned a name that is beginning to spread out like yours but more infamous. Like all Sound-nins, he dresses in black and wears a mask of a bat. The mask itself is already freaky but the ninja's eye makes it even more fearsome. The eye color is red while there is a black fan wheel in the center."
"Red eyes and black fan wheel? The Sharingan?"
"He is called The Dark Shinobi, also known as Uchiha Sasuke the Batman."
It was nighttime now and Jiraiya was off to bed after a nice soak at the Hot Springs. He was frustrated because the only resort to have mixed bathe was closed due to renovations. They put up a sign to advertise their new and improve resort, which is scheduled to open in another week. By that time, they would be on their way to Konoha.
Naruto decided to take a short stroll around the village while he was thinking. He hasn't heard any information about Sasuke until now. He touched the right side of his chest and remembers how Sasuke made a hole there with his Chidori at the Valley of the End. It was freaky how the Uchiha suddenly changes into a winged demon which dramatically increased his powers. He was able to break through his invulnerability but not so much as going right through. Kakashi made it to the scene a little later and carried him home. The fist size wound had already sealed itself without any trace it was there by the time they got back to the village.
Sasuke wasn't all that bad of a person. He could have killed him but chose not too. In Naruto's point of view, there are still some things in Sasuke that was more important than revenge. Was it ties to the village, ties to his friends, or was it because Yondaime was his father that he was spared? No one knows the answer except Sasuke. Perhaps, the Uchiha hasn't gone to the deep end yet and may still redeem himself. Naruto always believed in redemption. If not, how could his teammates forgive him without getting Sasuke back and accomplishing the last mission they went on together? It sounds like Sasuke had gotten stronger but so did he.
That particular year really sucked for Naruto. Hayate-sensei was killed during the month preparations for the Chuunin Examination. His two teammates were also killed during the mission to retrieve Sasuke. They were killed during the fight against Kimimaru, the ninja with the bloodline that enables him to control his bones freely. His invulnerability wasn't as strong as it was now. Some of the attack managed to place bruises on his body. His teammate Fuki had sacrificed his life needlessly by shielding Kasumi and him from the bone fingertip, shot forward by the enemy. Naruto asked him why and Fuki answered simply that he had forgotten how strong Naruto was and that he wanted to protect them both. This was the first time Naruto faced with a death of a friend. He became enraged and attack Kimimaru with all the strength and speed he got.
The Sound-nin was forced to use his level two curse seal after seeing his own bones breaking apart like twigs from the insane attacks. However even with the completed transformation, Kimimaru is still unable to match Naruto in terms of power. That was when an idea formed in the Sound-nin's head. Kimimaru ran away and plans to attack Kasumi instead. He knew the blond would come and stop him; therefore he laid a trap on the ground. As the blond came as predicted, spikes of bone shot out of the ground and immobilize Naruto like a bird in a cage.
Kimimaru's arm suddenly was encased by thick level of bones that he had condensed into diamond like hardness. To Naruto's shock, Kasumi tried to stop him but ends up being the first victim of the attack. Rage once again filled Naruto like never before. Naruto was already naturally strong but Tsunade's strength enhancement training made him into a monster. He moved his body around furiously like a wild man and broke out from the barrage of spikes. As Kimimaru charged him with his diamond hard bone lance, Naruto meets him with the Rasengan. The Rasengan tore up Kimimaru's arm and was sent flying with Naruto's free hand. The sheer power of the punch broke his harden skull and damaged the nerves in his brain.
Before he died from the attack and the disease he had, Kimimaru let loose what was his final attack. Diamond hard spikes shot out from the ground again, but this time it covered what seems to be the entire valley. Naruto was unharmed by the spikes as he dodges the sharp tips and sticks to one of them like a spider to a wall. The blond looks at his hand and saw that his opponent's weapon had indeed pierce into his hand before crumbling in the sight of the Rasengan. Naruto took a little breather to mourn his friend's death before continuing his one man chase after Sasuke.
Naruto was still on his short stroll until he saw a hawk above him. Without thinking, Naruto blew a whistle to call the hawk down. The bird as if commanded by the whistle flew down and landed on the blonde's left hand. He was always good with birds since they were around the house a lot. Birds usually carry messages in and out from his home so he gets to play with them. Birds were an amazing creature to Naruto. They get to fly freely in the air without any problems. Unlike him, they don't have to worry about being sick wherever they go. Suddenly, he senses killing intent.
Many kunais and shurikens flew towards Naruto. With his free hand, the blond caught a mixture of shurikens and kunais in the middle of his fingers while doing the same with his right foot. Another kunai was flung at him, which he simply caught with his mouth. Fear came to the attacker once Naruto started crumbling the weapons with his hand and snapping a kunai apart with his toes. He could tell the attacker was female but can't exactly see whom it was or even what village she belongs too. Naruto drops all the mashed up weapons and tosses the kunai from his mouth back to his attacker. The female ninja dodges by shifting her head away. In that spilt second, Naruto ran up and caught the sailing kunai from behind the girl and place it at her throat.
Once he had gotten closer, Naruto saw a face that hasn't seen in years. "Aren't you Neji and Lee's teammate? What are you doing here?"
Tenten turned her face around to see who it was that knows her. To her surprise it was Naruto, the boy who took down Neji at the Chuunin Exam three years ago. It was a feat that she thought couldn't happen. "Naruto?"
The two began to walk beside each other and talk about old times.
"So how is everyone doing these days?"
"It's the same as usual. Everyone is doing fine. The village has been quite busy preparing for the next Chuunin Exam. What are you going to do about it?"
Naruto was confused. "What do you mean?"
"You don't know? I hear that you are the only one in your class that is still a Genin."
"What was that? Everyone is a Chuunin now but me?"
"That's right, even Lee and I are both Chuunins while Neji is now a Jounin. I still have to thank you for that. The things you told him had changed him. You told him that we each choose our own destiny and if we wanted freedom, we will have to fight for it instead of waiting for it to be handed to us. He also promised not to do stupid things again like involving innocent people in his quest."
Naruto starts to remember back at that time. "Yeah, I told him that I would help him if he wishes to gain freedom but stop him if he involves innocent people again."
"Hiashi-san had a long talk with Neji. He has been happier ever since. They say that he would have remained a Genin throughout his life if he continued to think the way he did. Anyways, thank you." Tenten looks at the blond beside her and a feint blush appeared on her face. "You've gotten taller than me now. It also seems like you have gotten a lot stronger too. I would have died if it someone else from another village."
Naruto smiled at the comment. It looks like people are finally beginning to notice him. "So why did you attack me back there?"
"The hawk you have is supposed to have a message for me. I thought you were an enemy ninja so…."
"So you jumped in conclusion and could have killed an innocent person or even a member of our Hidden Leaf."
"Sorry." Tenten felt ashamed now. She had attacked him without thinking. But for her to apologize like this without complaining or arguing, it meant that she has great respect for him.
"Anyways, let's read what the message says." He felt bad about lecturing her but it was the appropriate thing to say in this situation. He just doesn't like senseless killing.
Tenten took the note and began reading. Her head shot up and looks at Naruto for support. "Lee is in trouble. He was supposed to meet me here after our last mission but he got sidetracked with something else along the way. He spotted some suspicious Sound-nins and is following them. It seems like they are planning something and Lee went out to find what that is. He wants reinforcement."
"Understood, Jiraiya is also here with me but he is asleep. That old man is hard to wake up when he starts snoring. I'll go and leave him a message so that he'll follow us once he's ready." Naruto ran back to his room and prepares his tools for the upcoming mission. Before leaving, he left the note by the table.
Author's Notes:
I'm hoping to introduce the plot next chapter. Seems like the Akatsuki is up to something big and every villages is going to be in trouble, not just the Leaf.
