(And if you must know, I have no experience with real sword fighting techniques. Or fighting in general. Except for kicking people when they're down. So yes, I'm bull shitting around. But then again, Kishimoto isn't exactly working in the realms of realism if he can have a guy beat the crap out of another guy by striking him 126 times in a span of a few seconds with just your TWO FINGERS WITHOUT BREAKING.)
Typical: It's Female!
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"SSSSSSSAAAFE!"
Despite mounting disbelief by the Naruto attached to his head, Inukage Tetsuya had successfully leaped the span of the entire river in one bound. Complete with cloak billowing out bad ass-like and everything.
And with that and two days of non stop running, the two Samurai had successfully made it across the border of Leaf territory into the buffer country between it and the Mist islands.
"Oi, Naruto. Get off; we're out of the immediate danger, so we can walk now instead of you mooching off my free ride."
"Hey sensei, how did you jump over that river? It was huge!" Naruto asked as he slid down his human perch.
"First, I told you to call me 'sama'. As for the question… eh... it's a bit complicated, but involves an energy in your body called Chakra."
"Chakra? What's that?"
"Like I say, complicated. I'll tell you the finer bits of it when have a place to sit down, but for now we still have to keep moving. Just not as fast."
With that the two moved side by side in an easy stride through the forest that slowly diminished in dimension, as compared to that monstrosity that was the Konoha forests. Still, Naruto was not exactly pleased.
"But then when are you going to train me?" The boy grumbled crossed his arms and shut his eyes in indignation.
How the hell does he walk with his eyes closed? "The heavy stuff that requires concentration we'll do while we stay in Mist territory. I can start some basic exercises while we're moving though.
"Yeah!" Naruto jumped up with a cheer.
"Though granted, I don't really now how to train people."
This caught the boy's attention.
"WHAT!"
"Hey, I never thought I was going to train somebody. Especially some kid from a ninja place."
"But…but then how did you learn your stuff?"
"Well, it wasn't really training in the normal fashion… more like sparring with some Mist prick everyday in my childhood, so we ended up training each other at the same time. However, my lack of formal training doesn't mean I don't know where to start."
The katana was thrust into Naruto's arms, nearly causing him to drop the object before he managed to drag it up to a useful height.
"Sensei! What was that for?"
Sensei again. Whatever. "First, I'm going to take that piece of crap you call a body and turn it into something useful in a fight. Until we get to civilization again, I want you to carry that sword. Lift that sword above your head continually. If you get tired… take a break or something. Just not a billion year one."
"And what are you going to do?"
Tetsuya easily retrieved the now familiar, battered and brightly colored cover design of a manga. "I will be reading volume four of Super Shiny Spinny Attack to keep me entertained for the… whatever amount of times again. Once we stop and it gets late we'll get to something that actually involves fighting."
With that, a snap of his wrist had the book open up in the elder Samurai's exposed hand, which he held his article in front of him while he walked off first. Naruto, disliking the thought of the heavy work before the cool stuff, grumbled, but obediently began thrusting the sheathed weapon up and down.
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Not a bad teacher. Not exactly a good one either. But at least he followed through with that nightly thing Tetsuya said he'd do.
Of course for Naruto, his initial vision of what that something involving fighting wasn't as great as he thought. Sure it was drilling. Stances, attacking thrusts, how to step back from an attack without looking like an idiot before you die, and so on. But it was mostly repeating the same thing over and over while the one eyed ronin swatted Naruto with whatever sprig of branch he could find whenever the boy messed up slightly, shouting something like-
Swat. "God damnnit! Get those arms stiffer! If you cut at me like that it'd move at a snails pace and fall out of your hands while you paper cut me!"
"OW! Do you have to be so mean?" The trainee mumbled, rubbing the back of his head.
"YES! You asked for this!" Wise Master answered, waving his stick around his head like an idiot.
Which was true. The asking for it bit, I mean.
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"Hmm… it's snowing…" Tetsuya watched the white flecks fall and wet the pages of his comic. Sure, it had been getting pretty chilly the past few days in the forest, but to get out into a clearing to find himself in an already growing pile around his feet… is his biological timepiece working right?
Feh, it's probably the work of some prick like Seasonal Wizard Vektar (Chapter 49, Volume 32).
Well, at least they were back in civilization again, proved as the older Samurai looked down the frozen dirt path that led down to the coastal town. From there they could take a boat onto the islands that had heavy Mist nin presence. Leaf ninjas surely wouldn't go into such political fiasco to chase a mere samurai and kid in a place like this.
Speaking of which… "Oi! Naruto! What's taking you so long? I'm at the town already." Tetsuya shouted back into the forest, annoyed that his student was taking his sweet time when they could take the same amount in the damn baths down the path.
"Really?" The lemon topped kid quickly appeared up the path, still hefting Tetsuya's blade up and down in exercise. Just as he passed by his mentor, Tetsuya plucked the katana out of Naruto's pumping arms, and with an artistic swirl, simultaneously hit the back of the boy's head again with his covered blade while slipping it back into the sash around his hips that usually held his weapon.
"Ow! What was that for!"
"The exercises stop for now. I can't have you running in the same fashion in town, lest you wish to be seen as an idiot."
Granted though, even with the momentary lack of training, the few days were already showing the beginnings of fitness in the youth's body. Still, one mustn't expect too much yet from a child of only five years.
Naruto mumbled something about brain cells as he looked at the town a little better, accustomed to the head bashings finally. "So we're going to Mist from here?"
"Yeeeahup. But a quick break here first. Plus we need something for you, considering this weather. Hell knows what's it like in the main island if it's already snowing here…"
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Wasn't quite a city, but it sure as hell wasn't a quiet town either… a towity? Never mind about the intricacies of life, though, more important things need to happen in a tailoring shop.
"Naruto, don't bother getting anything interesting. Just grab a jacket and let's go."
Mumble, mumble. Lemon top disappears around an aisle as Charcoal top stays at the entrance and reads.
Shortly, Lemon top returns to Charcoal top-Sama with some…thing.
"Orange?"
"It's cool!" Interested party attempts, holding article of something up for Sama to see.
"…Put that back. You don't know where that thing's been."
"But Sensei-"
"It's sama."
"-It's a jacket!"
"That will get you killed in the most humiliating manner possible. Stick to darker-"
Wise master paused as he noticed something noticeable change in the atmosphere.
Something malevolent.
Could it be?
Tetsuya looked at his student's eyes and noticed something wrong about them.
They were no longer blue. They were now… now…
"BASTARD! DARE YOU USE THAT TECHNIQUE ON ME?" Tetsuya shouted at the top of his voice and drawing his sword at his student, alarming everybody else in the shop, which mainly consisted of just the bored and apathetic guy who ran it.
The Samurai was unawares that Naruto was somehow capable of the "Sad-puppy-guilt-trip-look". Now it was being employed on the unsuspecting warrior. Those lively blue eyes were now bubbling over with crocodile tears that threatened to spill, while his lips were being chewed up in that oh so disgustingly cute manner…
NO! NO! RESIST! Tetsuya's sword started shaking and perspiration started to build as the battle of attrition and will was fought.
RESIEEEEEEEEEESSSST! But how could he? Knowing full well that if he won that that upset look would be forever ingrained in his mind, only solvable by having the face change to the adjacent emotion…
The sword was dropped as Tetsuya fell on his hands and knees.
"Impossible… how…how could I lose to such a technique… even with my training in Super Shiny Spinny Attack?"
"YEAH!"
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The teacher followed listlessly and downright pissed as he watched his orange-jacketed student trot in front of him like he was damn king of the world, all pleased and everything. Now that Naruto was all ready for the cold, the only thing left was to try out what the towity's delicacies could offer. When the matter was brought up in the tailoring place, the blonde brat immediately shouted the many uses of Ramen and how it helped changed history. Tetsuya over the racket, managed to throttle out of the Tailor the location of a worthy enough restaurant over looking the harbor.
Thus, the path they took, incidentally part of which crossed over a bridge that spanned a small (now frozen) stream.
It was here that was typical of fate, that just before they walked over, the two samurai were apprehended by some mean looking thugs. Naruto frowned at the sight of these leering men, but Tetsuya merely wrote them off as part of the job. Typically in the stories he read, the hero usually got apprehended early on by a few moronic (or perverted, if it was a heroine) thugs, whose chief purpose was to be beaten down by the hero with utter elegance, grace and skill. Every time.
"Oi, oi, I wouldn't suggest walking over that bridge." One of the punks said. Though there was a bit of a sneer, one could hear traces of sincerity in that tone.
"Really? Why? Is it because if we take that detour over there, it'd be easy for you guys to mug us? Since that route IS isolated and devoid of eyewitnesses." Tetsuya responded sincerely as well.
Enemies of society, for sure, but that doesn't mean you have to be hostile to them. The group laughed good-heartedly while Naruto looked on a little confused.
"Nah, we may be dishonest in our trade, but not in our words. Its just part of our duty to warn people about that bridge."
"Really? What's about it?" Tetsuya asked to his peers.
Naruto, being of literally lower stature, decided to forgo the conversation and check the bridge from his current position. To the boy, there was nothing wrong about it. The only thing that could be of interest was the figure that was sitting on it.
"A monster resides in our village. Generally, it's too powerful to kill, but if we can ignore it, it'll starve to death." One of the thugs explained.
"Really? So it's on the bridge right now?"
"Yeah, so nobody tries to get near that thing. It's a hassle, sure, but if we're lucky the monster might leave."
Naruto squinted to get a better fix on the figure on the bridge, completely oblivious to the random murmurings of the adults above. The person on the bridge seemed a bit a bit too small to be an adult… it looked almost like a kid his age…
"Geez, man that means I'll have to take the long way… are you guys not really going to rob us?"
"Well…not really. We could tell right away from your looks you ain't even worth much to rob."
Naruto looked up, just to check where the attention of his sensei was fixed.
"Really? What 'bout this sword?"
With that, the boy took one step towards the bridge, and checked back on Tetsuya.
"Nah… ain't a brand name. Looks like some cheap store thing."
"Oi, oi! Now that's just rude to call the soul of the samurai a cheap store thing!"
With that, a Lemon top dispersed from the crowd of idiots. Pacing quickly up the length of the bridge, he quickly found himself facing his like-wise aged peer. It was a rather miserable looking child, a charcoal top like his teacher, whose face was pressed into its hugged knees. On its back were these thin pieces that were once viable pants and a shirt. Of course, considering this whether, thin pieces that were once viable pants and a shirt does not give much defense to the annual threat of bloody wintry freezing death by various household diseases and unnatural raises or drops in average human body temperature.
It was around the time you read 'Of course' that the miserable knee-hugging child noticed the new presence in front of him on the bridge hadn't passed by yet. So looking up, he found himself staring up at the boy in an orange jacket.
"…Who are you?" The miserable looking child asked.
"Uzumaki Naruto. You?"
"Haku…"
"Just Haku? What about the family name?"
"I don't have a family…" With that, miserable kid stuck its face back into its knees. Naruto was perplexed by the logic of lack of family names.
"That's weird… They gave me one when I went to the orphanage…"
Haku didn't respond to that. Still, Naruto continued.
"Hey, Haku. Is this bridge safe?"
Haku looked up in surprise at the question. The surprised expression translates in English to "You're on the bridge already, do you have to ask when you can see for yourself?"
Despite that, the boy without his family named asked "what?"
"You know, 'cause those guys over there said something like that." Naruto pointed the four men beside the bridge. Apparently the conversation had moved from the quality of the two samurai, if robbed, to the superiority of Super Shiny Spinny Attack over the Icha Icha novels.
"They were probably talking about me." Haku explained.
"Huh?"
"Around here, I'm a monster."
"Monster? That means…"
(Angst mode on) "All alone-"
"That's so cool!"
Miserable, now extremely surprised kid looks up… surprised. "What?"
"Yeah, I was surprised too. I thought I was the only one that everybody hated… but you're all alone too! Like me and Tetsuya-sensei!"
Around here, Tetsuya bade his farewells to his would be attackers. "So then, Naruto time to… huh? Naruto, where'd you- OH MY GOD!"
Naruto turned to see a tower of cloth with a one eyed head on top rush over to the two children. With a twist of his foot, the older samurai easily slid to a halt beside his student.
"Agh! You idiot! What are you thinking? Do you realize a dangerous monster is currently residing on this bridge? And-"
Naruto gave a sort of blank face and pointed at the Haku. Tetsuya followed until eye contact was established between the two.
"…Oi, kid what are you doing here? Do you realize a dangerous monster is currently residing on this bridge?"
"Um…sensei… that's the monster."
"Really? Man… that's really cool! For a while I was wondering if us two were the only ones that people called monsters…"
"You too, sensei?"
"That's sama, Naruto."
Haku just sorta stared. Perhaps this was all a giant delusional nightmare the kid was suffering from while in truth Haku was actually near death?
"But, it's still a hassle." Tetsuya agreed to himself as a hand from his cloak rubbed his chin.
"What is?" Naruto asked.
"Because a monster resides at this bridge, we are unable to pass…"
"What? But it's just Haku! And we're on the bridge already!"
"Hey! As Samurai…Ronin…whatever, we should at least follow some guidelines! If we didn't everything we stand for will fall into chaos, like those Ninjas! Look at them! They're weird! I mean, who calls buying groceries a mission…"
"Sensei…"
"However, this beast that blocks our path is merely an obstacle that can be defeated… therefore…"
Tetsuya pointed a finger with such reverence and energy at Haku that the kid moved back from the action and bumped his head against the railing of the bridge.
"YOU! Have a meal with us!" Was the command.
Again, Haku went, "Huh?"
"Look at you… you look like a corpse. Everybody says you're a monster, and that they can't cross over the bridge. But the monster is a brat I can tip over with a finger. Not scary at all. A mediocre monster for people with mediocre fears. That's why I'm gonna clear off this bridge, and take you out for a meal. At least one bowel of noodles-"
"Ramen!" Naruto suggested.
"-like Ramen, should be enough to make you look presentable enough. Really, who wants to be afraid of a brat…" Tetsuya mumbled to himself as he began to wander off the bridge.
Naruto turned a grin to his once-miserable-once-surprised-still-totally-confused comrade. "So Haku, let's go!" Grabbing a pale wrist, the younger samurai dragged his companion off the bridge with him.
Nearby, in the shadows of the buildings, two figures watched the ending exchange.
"It's been rumored that the child is an outcast because he carries Bloodline, Commander."
"That sounds useful to me. I want that power."
"Yes, Commander."
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"Bloodline Limit? What's that?" Naruto said, obviously oblivious to this new idea. If you must know, he was eating a Lobster dish that in no way, the three of them could pay in a… hell knows how long.
Monster or no monster, Haku had a very special gift. Despite his mediocrity, his presence was so horrible the restaurant they were in currently was filled only half way, straight down in middle. One half had all these pissed off regular customers looking at the other side of the restaurant, the empty side, which seated the two Samurai and the pretty mediocre kid. The moment they entered with Haku, the spot they sat in had everybody in the other surrounding tables storm out. So Tetsuya, being the damn leech he was, was taking the partially eaten dishes around them and piling them onto their table. ("Doesn't matter, it's on their tab anyways.")
"You don't know, Naruto? It's right here." Tetsuya mumbled out of his drumstick planted in his mouth. 'Right here' apparently was the Super Shiny Spinny Attack comic he pulled out of his crème mantle. "Some fatass named Lucky Big had something like it in chapter 9, volume 72"
Naruto made a face at the cover. "That doesn't explain anything…"
"It's an inborn ability that's passed down by the family." Haku told quietly, "Because it can be used as a weapon, everybody here hates people with Bloodline Limits. It's the reason why my family is dead."
Naruto sort of looked sad there.
"Oh… that's pretty bad…" Tetsuya nodded to himself as he continued to drape himself across the back of the chair.
For a few minutes the conversation was killed. The older samurai didn't really know why, so he decided to move to the next relevant thing.
"Say, Haku. Why do you talk like a girl?"
"Excuse me?"
"Well, you do talk with all them 'atashi's 'n stuff. What's with the feminine talk?"
"Don't you care my family is dead?"
"Well… yeah… but my family is dead too… and Naruto doesn't have any family, and we've been pretty alright so far, so I don't think you'll find too much pity from us."
Maybe it was the food, but Haku sure was being livelier than his previous emancipated form. Anyways, the kid huffed in annoyance, "If you must know, I talk like a girl because I am one."
Tetsuya raised an eyebrow.
"What?"
"…You lie."
"What? Why would I lie about me being a girl?"
"I don't know! But I just can't see you as a girl. You just look more like a man to me…"
Naruto being himself, was generally perplexed "But… Haku looks like a girl. What makes you think she looks like a man?"
" 'Cause Haku looks like a girl!"
Silence.
Sighing from the obvious doubt, Tetsuya explained, "It's like this. I've traveled around a lot. I've probably been all over this continent at least two or three times over. Every single time I've been in a conversation with a crowd, the effeminate one is always a guy. Every single time. I've seen so many effeminate males in my time, I came to wonder about two things. One is how mankind will continue to reproduce if everybody is turning gay. Second is at the rate I'm seeing so many effeminate males, it will only be a matter of time before I see a masculine female. Hell, the only way I can tell if an effeminate person is a girl is if she got boobs. But even then, I wouldn't be surprised if one day we'll invent some crazy thing that puts boobs on men, too. These are truly dark times we live in…"
Silence.
Haku still spoke up, "But I AM a girl!"
"Bloodline, huh… maybe her power is to cause insanity by the confusion of her gender…"
"Hey!"
"Sensei!"
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Perhaps it was fate. Most likely it was fate. Since the hero failed to first time to beat the crap out of the moronic thugs with utter elegance, grace and skill, one could suppose the system would never rest until such event was fulfilled. Thus:
"Seriously Naruto, I don't see why you have to defend her." Tetsuya grumbled as the three left the restaurant that faced the shore side. Setting down the path, the samurai, along with their monstrous guest found the path halted by two rather unruly looking individuals.
The two of them both wore headbands with a metal plate on them. The markings being four waving lines, they were Mist ninja. The one in the back was pretty ugly. Along with his forehead thingus, a metal horn was attached to forehead plate and a gas mask covered his jaws. He wore a black and rough cloak over his brown army colors. On the right fore arm was a heavy cylindrical device that ended with clawed hand.
The second guy, in the front wasn't as descriptive, but still ugly. His forehead protector was askew, the village symbol against one temple, and the tails of the long bandanna coming from the other side. Like the other guy's gas mask, lots of bandaging went over the guys lower face and neck, so not much to see there. The vest and uniform meant that he was at least a ninja Jounin, putting him at the top of the traditional ninja military, untraditionally meaning if you factored in the generally desk job pervasive Kage and rank pervasive ANBU. Oh yeah, and there was that phenomenally huge sword on his back.
"Er…" Tetsuya pushed his right arm through the sleeve of his cloak to scratch his head, "Are you here to rob us?"
"What?" The Jounin one raised his… bit of skin that once had an eyebrow on it, upwards at that question.
" 'Cause, there were some guys at the bridge who were thinking of mugging us, and you two look kinda unruly enough to be muggers, so I was just wondering…"
The guy behind the Jounin stepped forward with a bit of a growl-hiss "Bastard! Are you insulting us?"
While the tension was enough to drown Haku and Naruto, Tetsuya just absent-mindedly pondered with a finger to his head, "Maybe… insulting people is sometimes useful when you're fighting, I've been told."
The Jounin snorted, but pointed a finger at the group, "We want that kid."
"Kid?" The Samurai looked behind him to where to finger was pointing to see Haku. "Haku? But, she ain't mine, so how are you going take her from me?"
…Is this guy an idiot? The gas mask guy could not help but wonder at how clueless this man was turning up to be. The Jounin kept on the issue.
"Hand the child over to us. We're not going to see talent like that get wasted on some washed up fossil like you."
"Hey! Don't call my sensei that! I should kick your ass for that!" The five-year-old student angrily waved his fist at the two.
"Oi! Naruto! When did you learn to swear like that?"
He didn't get a response, but then again, the answer would be probably wasted as well on that washed up fossil. So Tetsuya moved on to the issue. "Well, personally I wouldn't mind giving up an orphan to a friendly organization so that the kid has a future…"
"Sensei!"
"But talent also gets wasted if the kid going, doesn't want to go, you know?" Tetsuya raised his hand with a shrug.
"So what do you suggest then?"
With that he sucked in a large portion of breath and turned to his companions.
"Haku…"
"Yes?"
"If you become a ninja there are marvelous amount of benefits considering your skills and if you do become one you will get to do things like learn how to fly through the air and summon giants robots to come out of the ground to shoot laser beams at people and live in giant underground fortresses fill full of treasure and beautiful women or men in your case and get paid inordinate sums of money for trivial tasks like finding lost pets and buying groceries for rich people which is no problem since you will learn how to fly through the air and stick to walls and other crazy shit and if you do become a ninja you will gain a large amount of respect among your peers since you have the amazing ability to kill at will and will live in luxury covered in gold and surrounded by whatever is your pleasing in a hot bath with funny little water jets that spray pressure at you and stuff while you become part of a powerful military that has the power to conquer countries and perhaps one day you get to assume the title of Kage which makes you one of the most powerful people in the continent and-"
There Tetsuya ran out of air, and reduced himself to a few hacking dry coughs before turning a sheepish grin to the girl. "So, how about it?"
"Even if I went, there's nothing there for me. I'd be too different. They are ninja. I'm just a monster, with no future belonging to me. I belong with other monsters…" Haku quietly replied
Silence.
"Psst."
Naruto heard a sound above his head and turned up to find nothing that could have made the noise. Tetsuya near to him didn't seem to notice.
"Psst, Naruto!"
Wait a second… that whisper sounded like-
"NaruTO! Up hheeeere!"
Naruto looked up, the only thing up there being Tetsuya's head. But then he noticed Tetsuya's lone eyeball gazing intently into him, while the rest of the body was stock-still to disguise the fact he was whispering.
"Whisper Naruto!"
"What?"
"What did she say?"
"Haku?"
"Yes, Haku! What did she say?"
"You don't understand?"
"She's talking in angst! I don't understand that language! What did she say?"
"You can be really rude sometimes, sense-"
"TRANSLATE! NOW!"
"She said no."
"No?"
"She said she wanted to go with us."
"SHE WHAT?"
"So you'd rather go with the monsters, huh?" The Jounin chuckled, turning the two samurais' attention to him, "That's fine…"
"Really?" Naruto exclaimed.
"…I needed to stretch my legs anyways…"
"Stretch…your legs?" Tetsuya raised the eyebrow this time in confusion.
"I'll just kill the two of you here, and then take Haku. Those two cute little monsters won't stand up to the Demon of the Mist." The Jounin with a voice that was a ninja winning combination of acid, steel, and ice, while his right arm reached for the handle of his large blade.
Shit! So things are going this way again. Ninjas… "Naruto!"
"Sensei!" The rebellious student took full responsibility of his role, now danger had arrived again.
"I know there's a ferry or something around here to leave this town across the water. Find that, get across. I'll hold them off here and catch up later. However, one of them is still going to follow you. Whatever you do, don't fight them. Just run. You still not trained enough to handle people like these. However, if you must fight, just stick the drills, don't be show off, and use this-"
Some small metal thing was thrown to Naruto, who frantically fumbled to catch it.
"What's this?"
"It's called a kunai. It works."
"But sensei! It's so short! Look at the size of their weapons!"
"Shut up and run!" Tetsuya angrily shouted back.
Naruto stiffened up at the sight of the serious teacher, before just nodding resolutely and grabbing Haku by the wrist again, before the two of them ran off.
"Wha-WHAT? Wait! I didn't say take Haku with you, you idiot! Are you trying to get yourself killed?" Sensei shouted at the two disappearing figures.
"Shut up sensei!" came the return call from the distance.
The nerve of that… how dare he back talk to me…
"Tch, how heroic." The Jounin snorted before turning to the gas mask guy. "You two. Get the kid back. Kill the blonde if you want."
"Yes, Commander." The gas mask guy easily hopped onto the roof before surging across the top of the town, chasing the two children.
"So… I guess we're gonna fight, huh?" Tetsuya drawled while his sleeved arm grasped for the katana and pulled it out.
"Looks like I'm gonna have to get through you first before I get that brat…" A blur of motion transferred the sword toting ninja to the water, where some force held him on its surface without falling through. Both hands folded into seals, but did not join. Immediately water began flaring up around him.
"Ninpou: Kirigakure no Jutsu…"
From the ocean, a fog suddenly fell over everything surrounding the Samurai.
"DAMNIT! You cheap bastard! What the hell is that sword used for then?"
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"Ferry? Aw, are you lost sweetie?" The woman said, with those annoyingly cuddly voices that Naruto just didn't have time for. This day, the boy learned the two things that were detrimental in his survival as a samurai. The first was his age. Though it was at times useful to be young (like getting that jacket of his), this wasn't one of those times.
The second was dead weight. As cruel as it was, Naruto could see why his teacher didn't want the blonde to follow him. Looking guiltily out of the corner of his eye, he saw Haku, thin and weary, frantically catching her breath next to him.
"We don't have time for that, Haku and I need to get to the ferry!"
"Wait a second isn't that…" The woman momentarily inspected the child before cuddly turned for horrified. "It's the MONSTER! Get it away from me!"
Door slam. Like every other house in the street.
"Damnit! We'll just have to do this the old fashioned way! Come on!" Naruto dragged his companion forward just in time for the both of them to miss a man-sized blur ripping through front of the house they just finished with, complete with the occupant within screaming at the explosion. The two of them looked back and followed the bladed chain up to its owner, the gas mask shinobi with the clawed gauntlet. Grabbing the chain, the mist ninja jerked back with enough force that the object that planted itself inside the house was pulled out, landing on part of the roof behind him.
"Shit! Here we go!" Despite the three years difference between the two, a frantic Naruto easily picked up Haku and ran (if you must know, by the back and the knees. Wedding style. It's both economical and efficient, given the situation.). Even with a larger object to carry, it was very lucky of Naruto that Tetsuya's sword was probably heavier than Haku, and he carried that for longer.
So while the samurai ran, the ninja followed along the roofs, throwing forward his gauntlet arm over and over, the chained object attached to it flying about, crashing into everything around Naruto, and often barely missing clipping the top of his head off as he ducked continually. Eventually the chained weapon crashed into the ground in front of him with enough force to kick up dust around the explosion. Out from it came another clawed fist that thrust itself towards the blonde samurai's face.
Only instinctual reflexes (from being raised in a ninja village) managed to back Naruto's face away from the claws before falling on his back, simultaneously throwing his companion of him, who rolled a few more feet away. Pushing himself up with his hands, he saw the claw belonging to a nearly identical gas mask wearing mist ninja; only this one was devoid of a cloak. Connected to his gauntleted left arm was the bladed chain.
There were two of them?
Something heavy landed behind Naruto then, and the chain was snapping to life already, the metal snaking around the boy's torso and arms before pulling him up from the ground. While he kicked around at the air, the two mist-nin gave sneering laughs.
"What's the matter kid? Afraid of dying?"
"Pah! I feel like we're giving you too much mercy by killing a useless wimp like you."
I… I can't die here! Not when Sensei and Haku need me! I just need that wall…
All he needed was that foot to reach the side of the building next to him. But just an inch or two too far…
"Let's get this over with and get that brat back to the commander."
NO!
"First-"
"-Kill!"
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There! Tetsuya ducked under the wide swing of the blade before stabbing backwards, easily piercing the weapon into the ninja's stomach, only to find the body to be 100 water, not 70. The water clone fell apart.
Missed… Came the glum thought before catching something out of the corner of his eye.
THERE! Leaping forward, Tetsuya lashed out to catch a surprised gasp before his vision found a roof and the Jounin on it that just dodged. A few more well placed cuts that missed put enough ground between the two so that the Samurai could slide into an even stance again, rather than run around and swing like at idiot.
"You… how can you see through this mist?"
"Oi, oi. Just because I'm half blind doesn't mean I can't See."
"Hmph… you're better than I expected."
"Come on! You're just going to leave and have a water clone distract me? Where's the fun in that? Come on, kill me for real! Or are you afraid that Haku is really going to get away?"
"Fine… I'll have fun cutting you to pieces with this knife…" Grabbing his the long handle of his 'knife' he threw the heavy blade onto the ground, which cracked an intimidating blast of air. Grabbing the weapon with both hands, the jounin flew forwards in a typical ninja hunch.
Hey, that's pretty fast. Pretty small initial target too. However, it looks like he's making that amateur mistake…Tetsuya decided as he slowly readied his swung his weapon into an attack.
To the Jounin who was about to cut his target in two, he found the Samurai's blade rising above his head for a slow chop before it suddenly reappeared in his vision suddenly spearing towards his face. Shocked the Jounin managed to stop and jump away before giving a wide swing to fend off the attack. The follow up didn't come.
"H-how did you move that fast?"
"You know, the hole on that cleaver is there for a reason…"
"What?"
"It's to measure distance so you aren't hitting the air in front of your enemy when you swing. Honestly, why do you think that sword of yours is so long? So you can reach farther than the enemy. Unfortunately, you're probably thinking 'I'm so strong that I can lift this sword, I can take anybody on', thus you get arrogant and try to get close. When you get close I become much faster than those wide swings of yours."
"Wh-what the hell do you know? You never saw this sword before anyways!"
Tetsuya snorted. "There you go with your superior ninja thinking… if you must know, that's a training sword given to ninja who have been elected to be a member or succeeding member of the Mist's Seven Swordsmen."
The ninja stifled in his growls at being read straight through.
"But don't worry! I'm sure it's a common mistake to think that muscle strength leads to superiority."
"You… how do you know all this? Who trained you? Samurai shouldn't know this!"
"That's what they think" came the haughty sneer, "The one who taught me to fight used that type of sword too, but he was only a Genin when he was elected…"
"Only a Genin… Wait a minute, him?" The Jounin expression turned angry.
"Oh, so he did something bad while I was gone?"
"To think that someone is affiliated with that man, the one who made a laughing stock of our village… looks like I stumbled upon a good day after all…" A blood crazed look overcame the bandaged face as he grabbed his cleaver in both hands again, and charged forwards.
"Oh-ho! Look at this! I made the ninja angry! Come on!" The Samurai taunted as he held himself sideways and paced towards the flying metal wing of death.
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"No! Let Naruto go!" Haku grabbed arm of the closest ninja, being the one in the cloak. With the extra weight to an already heavy weapon on his arm, the ninja lost the strength to pull back fast enough to rip the boy apart, though it did jerk some and left some gashes, from which the boy cried out from.
"Damn kid! Get off!" The ninja still had enough arm strength to swing his arm about with enough force to throw Haku off, knocking her against the side of the building. The force of the swing was enough to jangle the attached chain, swinging the boy samurai forward with enough force that he could kick off against the side of the building he so wished for. With that force, he easily twisted around and upside down, the chains encircling him falling loose as he fell out and into a roll.
"Damnit! He fell out! Kill him!" The cloaked one ordered to his connected partner. With simultaneous swings, their clawed arms whipped around the chain between them, bringing the bladed length towards the recovering boy. Naruto barely brought up his kunai in time to bounce the blade off, while the force blew Naruto away with a cry, until he also crashed against the side of a house in the street too. He didn't get up.
"Hmph. Too easy." The cloaked gas mask guy muttered before turning to his brethren, "You kill the boy, I'll get the girl."
"Fine."
It was when that ninja approached the still form for a final stab when they felt something noticeable change in the atmosphere.
Something malevolent.
What the- While the two looked around for source of the darkness, the ninja that was supposed to off the boy noticed his quarry standing up, head lolling down. It seemed that everything evil was originating from this brat.
"Wh-what are you?"
No response.
"Damnit! You're just a kid!" With that, the ninja reassured himself of victory as he swung down his weapon at Naruto with all his might. Even at that speed, the boy somehow sidestepped the attack without even looking. Before he knew it, one small hand had completely immobilized one arm while another grabbed his throat, with enough force to stop normal breathing, leaving a few tattered gasps here and there.
"Damn ninja…" The boy muttered, before staring the shinobi straight in the eye "STOP TRYING TO HURT MY FRIENDS!"
The ninja only looked in shock as he found everything evil borne in those eyes no longer blue, but torn out with nothing but the red of blood to see, cat's eyes like a demon was peering through a suit of a human boy.
The sight was promptly ended when a fist in his face and a blur of motion became all he saw. While that ninja flew through the streets like a thrown kunai, his brother, who watched, barely had time to register what was happening before swearing and attempting to detach the chain that connected the human projectile to him. Too slow though, and the other got picked up by the chain and flew through the air towards a demon child and his waiting fist.
Shit!
Crack.
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He's pretty good, he's got the speed to keep up with me. Tetsuya agreed as sweat flew off his head. He stepped forward into a duck as a swing went over him before he twisted around to the Jounin's side exposed from the swing. The ninja managed to intercept in time with the end of the handle that clashed with the katana tip.
A sudden wash of evil suddenly fell over them, originating further inside the town. Tetsuya twisted his head to the felt source of malevolency in surprise.
What the fuck was that?
"Ha! You got distracted samurai! You lose!" The Jounin laughed as his chain of seals ended on the position of Bird.
Shit! Just like a ninja to do that and be right!
"Suiton: Suiryuudan no Jutsu!" From the shore side, a giant sea serpent made of water exploded from the depths and hovered a few seconds before Tetsuya before it dived at him with enough force to smear him across the ground as a several month long stain.
"So we're ending this with one last move huh! Fine!" The Samurai moved all the chakra he could into his sword as he held it above him while the serpent closed in.
"DIE!" The Jounin shouted.
Just as the watery fangs nearly engulfed the samurai, he cut down with a blast of air so strong it traveled down the length of the Suiryuudan, cutting it in two, the resulting blast of water and air forcing back the Jounin and soaking everything around the battlefield.
As his vision cleared he saw the katana flying blade first towards him like a projectile. With a hiss he managed to reach out and catch the handle just before the metal in front of it plunged into his belly.
Ping.
A kunai following in the blind spot of the katana slammed into the back of the handle, and the wet sword slid out of the Jounin's grasp and actually into his belly, the tip coming out of his back.
One step back, then two, then the Jounin fell down. Tetsuya kept a straight face as he walked over to his enemy, who sputtered and coughed.
"Damn…damnit…" The Jounin mumbled, before giving a hoarse cry of pain as the blade was pulled out of him. The Samurai crouched down to get his face close to the ninja.
"You're a tough ninja. You should be able to live through that wound. Sorry about it, but I'm going to have to put this fight on hold for a while. I don't like that evil chakra coming out of nowhere when my student is not around me… so until then, later!" The Samurai quickly flicked the excess blood of his sword before sheathing it, and ran off quickly, hopping from one roof to another after his student.
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It was not long after Tetsuya ran off that the evil tension in the air dissipated. Still he was damn lucky to find slightly bloody Naruto blankly staring up into the sky, with two ninja several meters away, unconscious. The older samurai dropped off the roof and ran to his student.
"Naruto! What happened?"
"Sensei… I think I really am a monster…"
"…What do you mean by that?"
"I don't know!" The boy whined and he threw up his arms in frustration, causing him to lose his balance, barely held up with one unsteady step. "I'll think about it… later." The boy closed his eyes and fell down just in time to be caught by his teacher.
"Agh! Naruto! What the fuck?" The teacher mumbled to himself. Now what?
I suppose I'm going to have to carry him now…With a sigh he pulled the unconscious student into a piggyback before walking down the street. Soon enough he met up with the equally out of commission Haku.
And what do I do with her?
…
…
…
Damnit! How the hell do I carry two people at once?
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Next Chapter: The requirement is fulfilled. The gang wastes a chapter and thirty minutes to an hour of your life in a detailed account on the intricacies of training to be a samurai.
A/N: If you must know, I'm using Haku's filler Bloodline, meaning the one that is the manipulation of water. (Rant here about manga purists and how they're SO sure that Haku's Bloodline is super speed or mirrors, or that justu, or whatever other thing ). As far as I'm concerned, I want to use this one in my story, plus Kakashi went "Oh no, he's got a Bloodlimit", and left the thing at that. So what am I supposed to know? Anyways it's late here, and I didn't expect to write so much. Oh well. I suppose I'll worry about grammar and stuff at another time, but I really want to get this out as soon as I finished it.
