Chapter 6: A New Plan
Disclaimer: Disclaimers don't actually mean or do anything, but tradition is tradition. I do not claim any ownership of Naruto.
Preceding Authors Note: - Another chapter done, though I wouldn't be shocked if I realize I left in a dumb error. Which I will sneakily edit
September 24th Midnight, 2016 RY
Uncharted Forest
Campsite
After our battle and escape from the vault, we travelled in silence for the rest of the day. Now suspecting everyone of being in cahoots with the Leaf Village we camped out in the woods that night. We set up camp in a clearing at the bottom of a valley. It was only after we had built a warm crackling fire that the silencing tension that had gripped me fell away.
"So," I said my eyes glued to the dancing of the small firelight.
"So," Sasuke responded.
"Well that was absolute fucking mess. What do we do now?," I blurted out. Sasuke only shrugged in response.
"I mean honestly, I have no idea what the hell happened. First we were in a hidden bunker, next thing we were fighting for our lives against two different nutjobs, and then the next thing I'm holding a dying kid who apparently was possessed by someone else and that's who we were fighting. I just don't get it," I bemoaned, I was flummoxed by the situation. Sasuke sighed.
"So why exactly are those leaf ninja guys chasing after you to begin with?" I asked, the question snapping to the forefront of my overcharged head.
Sasuke's demeanor darkened for a moment.
"Look, I know you're a runaway ninja, that you were going to Orochimaru because he offered power, and that your former buddies want you back. I get all of that, what I don't get is why you need so much power in the first place," I probed.
Sasuke grimaced and looked away. He said nothing.
"Dude, whatever it is you should tell me. I need to know what hands we are both playing with here, I've shown you my hand. I told you about my world, I told you about the promise I made to Old Salt, and I've helped be the translator for a language you can't read. I'm not saying you have to tell me every time you wet the bed, but at least lay out what you're playing at so we can work together. We agreed to that right? Working together? So help me, help you. I can't do that if I know fuck-all about what you're actually playing at," I pleaded.
Sasuke was still dead for a minute, his breathing the only indication he was even alive. The inaction was broken by him letting a long exhausted sigh. He turned back to me. His Sharingan activated.
"Fine, but what is said here, doesn't leave here. Unless I say so, you will share this with no-one. Understand?" He said.
I nodded in response.
"Good, it all began…"
I sat and listened as Sasuke told his tale. He told me about his childhood, about his brother, and his family. He told me how his life had been shattered one day, how his brother had massacred every man, woman, child, and infant in his clan. How he used his Mangekyou Sharingan to trap his young little brother in a looping rerun of his family's murder. How he had taunted him before escaping into the night.
Periodically Sasuke would pause in his storytelling, either to throw more wood into the fire or to just stare into the dancing flames.
His tale did not end with his clan's death at the hands of his brother. He continued on to detail the rest of youth life. His loneliness, his ever present drive to grow stronger, his hatred, and his single minded focus on revenge. The grimness in his tale began to break as he detailed his graduation, and his genin team. His retelling took on more of a positive tone as he explained the team, the enigmatic teacher, the starstruck girl, and the loudmouthed rival. He recalled how they had suffered, laughed, and fought together. His voice became lighter as he detailed the antics and adventures, he and his friends had experience.
Unfortunately, the good times didn't last. His explanation of how he received his cursed seal, how his brother had returned out of his nightmares, and how he had been casually thrown aside by his brother despite his best efforts. The factoid that the Sharingan would gain power if he was to slay a friend, sent a chill up my spine. Failure after failure all piling up on him, hammering in the fact that he was weak. He had to do something, anything so that he could reverse what seemed to be an inevitable slide into failure.
His friends had noticed this sliding into darkness and did all they could to try and reverse his course. It was too little, too late. Orochimaru had dispatched a squad of goons who first beat him silly, then presented an offer to him. An offer to become stronger and to learn from the best of the best. It was the straw that had broken the camel's back, and Sasuke accepted it.
Sasuke's eyes had shied away from mine and had focused on the fire as he explained his betrayal. The dancing flame providing a judgment free listener.
The final act of the story being his awakening from the sealing barrel, and his fight with his friend Naruto. He mostly glossed over the details of the fight, but he focused on one thing. How when the end had come, he had been a hair's breadth away from killing his friend outright, but instead had spared him. His tale ended with him noting that he had been walking away from this conflict when I had both metaphorically and literally knocked him off his path.
We were both silent, I wanted to sort out my thoughts before replying. My eyes were glued on the dancing flame of the fire.
In short, Sasuke Uchiha was a deeply troubled kid who had been teetering on the edge of darkness for years, before bad luck and the machinations of others tried to push him over. This fate only being avoided by me running into him and knocking him off course. So now having been derailed from his previous path he found himself in an odd position with no real clear pathway to what he wanted, besides that of the vague promise of power I had stumbled onto.
Now, was it good that he had almost killed his friend by shoving his hand through his heart? No, that was definitely an unideal way to get one's point across. Similarly, betraying your village and joining up with a nutjob who wants your body for your super eyes is also something that could be called a "bad judgement call".
On the other hand though, the dude had so much emotional and psychological baggage that you'd have to rent out a semi-truck to carry it anywhere. I mean if my sister had gone nuts and killed everyone I had known and cared about I would also have a couple screws loose. Though, surprisingly he seemed to still have a core of ethics and goodness. So at least I could bet he wasn't an unsalvageable bad person, though he was definitely still carrying around a lot of darkness.
Now would the upside that he could be a good person again be enough for me to excuse what he had done to his friends and why he was chasing power to execute revenge against his brother?
Maybe? Honestly, I had no idea, though part of me was saying.
'Holy shit this guy is a loon, get the fuck away from him right now!'
A different part of me was saying.
'Look, he may carry more baggage than a 747, but he's still a good kid. He just needs a dependable pal, and some time away from all this ninja fuckery to get his head screwed on straight'
Either decision would be equally valid, at least they should've been in theory. In reality, I found I actually empathized with the kid and agreed at least in principle with him on some points. Plus, what else was I going to do? I sucked in a deep breath as I refocused on the living world.
"So everything is centered around you killing your brother?" I said not looking at him. He hesitated before responding.
"Yes" I looked up to see Sasuke's gaze still locked onto the fire.
"Well good then," Sasuke snapped up to look me straight in the eye. "Because from what you've told me it seems like he had an overdue appointment with my foot up his ass." I said with a grin. The look of abject shock on Sasuke's face was priceless.
"Y-you agree?" He stuttered in incomprehension.
"Fuck yes I do, he murdered his whole family, killed a bunch of innocent kids and infants, and mentally tortured a seven year old. He's a stain on the very concept of humanity, and I would not shed a tear if he had a brain aneurysm tomorrow. So yes, I will help you kill Itachi, because if you don't and I ever get a hold of him, I'll finish the job," I boasted with all the bravado a dumb teenager could manage.
A grin curled Sasuke's lip. "There won't be anything left after I'm done with him," he boasted.
"Good, make sure to at least leave enough of him so we can put him up in the 'Dumbasses who fucked with the wrong people' Museum," I said.
"I hope they accept ash."
"They do, but we have to label it properly otherwise they might just throw it in the dumpster"
We both laughed, the grave atmosphere of the past hours melting away. Were we being stupid?
Yeah. Did it matter? Not in the slightest.
We continued to joke around until the pull of hunger clawed us away from our joking. Fortunately, Sasuke had thought ahead and had laid out a couple small game traps. Checking them we found he had snagged a single rabbit, which in Sasuke's experienced hands rapidly became a collection of rabbit kebab sticks all slowly roasting over the fire.
The smell of cooking meat awakening my stomach to the fact I hadn't eaten breakfast before I had been intercepted by Ino during my jog. It was like I had lived more in this one day than I had in several months. The pace of everything was dizzying, yet I could remember it all and knew for a fact that only 12 hour, 26 minutes, and 48 seconds had passed since I had started out on my jog.
"Food's ready," Sasuke said, snapping me out of my ruminations. In short order we demolished the rabbit kebab in front of us as a tornado would through an Oklahoma trailer park.
Our hunger sated, in unison we sat back and sighed in contentment. The fire was crackling, the bugs were chirping, and the moon hung overhead. It was a moment of serenity, and life was good.
"So what now?" The question ripped me out of my contented haze, and back into reality.
"Hmm?"
"So what's the plan now?" Sasuke asked again. That was a good question, I had no idea.
"Uhh," I drawled stupidly.
"We should open that book to see if it points the way to something."
"Good idea," I said as Sasuke moved over to sit beside me and handed me the book.
I examined it. No clear outside markings, and it was just in a plain hard binding. I flipped open the book and examined the page. English letters and numbers covered the page, just not in any discernible order. I frowned and flipped to the next page. It also was a soup of letters and numbers. I started flipping page after page, the majority of the book was the same letter and number spaghetti, though there were some diagrams and drawings, though the labels were also nonsensical chains of letters and numbers. I flipped ever faster, making sure I could commit every single page to memory before I even started to try and figure out what to do.
"Fuck, I think this book is written in a cipher," I groaned.
"Can you decode it?" He asked.
"Maybe? There might be a key hidden in here somewhere, I did read a book on old ciphers 3 years ago so I'm not working blind, but I'm not sure," I said as I flipped back to the first page and started to try and decode the letter soup.
"So there's a chance?" Sasuke implored. I pursed my lips. On the face of it, I had no idea. But, a little tugging at the back of my consciousness told me that I was missing something. In recent months, I had learned to listen to the little hint my brain would whisper to me.
"Probably," I said with a lot more confidence than I held.
"Okay well that's something, so again I ask what do we do now?" Sasuke asked.
"Well, I guess we can't go back to Kohama, and it would probably be best to keep on the move so that no-one can zero in on our location. You're the local, do you have any ideas?" I ventured. Sasuke shook his head.
"I've been in the Leaf village most of my life, my knowledge of where to hide is extremely limited."
"Damnit, wait I might have a place for us to go." I snapped my fingers as a memory flashed through my mind.
"Where?"
"Honnobe, it's in the Land of Waterfalls. One of my friends was transferred there before Kawaguchi had his fort raided. If he's still there he might be able to point us towards a place that's safe and out of the way," I explained.
"Do you know how to get there?"
"Yep, that's where I was initially going before I ran into you," I said.
"Great, then I guess we go there. In the meantime, let's keep decoding the book to see if it can give us any hints," Sasuke nodding excitedly.
"Sure, but in exchange you need to teach me how to fight better. Having faced real ninja today, I can safely say I have no idea how to actually fight. I just got lucky today if I have to face a real opponent. I'm fucked," I said. Sasuke nodded in agreement.
"I've already been thinking about that, and I might have a plan to help train you, though it might not work," Sasuke commented. I blinked in surprise, the fact that he had already been thinking about it was slightly touching in a 'he vaguely cares about me' way.
"Huh, cool." I responded. We sat in silence for a moment before a yawn escaped my mouth as the enormity of the day crashed over me.
"Tired?" Sasuke asked.
"A bit," I deflected, stifling another yawn.
"You should sleep, it's been a busy day."
"What about you?" I inquired, my eyes already starting to flutter.
"I have some stuff to think about. I'll take care of the fire before I go to bed," Sasuke deflected.
"Gotcha, should we set a watch?" I said.
"Probably, but honestly I just don't care enough at this point to," Sasuke responded.
"Well if ya do, feel free to wake me," I said as I scrunched up my backpack to use as a pillow and laid down.
"Noted," He commented. The warmth and crackling of the fire lulling me to sleep.
September 25th Midnight, 2016 RY
Rogers Mindscape
?
It was an odd sensation going from awake to asleep to awake. I was standing atop a grassy hill, a river valley stretched out before me, and a pleasant breeze tussled my hair. It was a very familiar place
"So is this going to be a regular thing going forward now?" I said to no-one in particular.
"Wow, just woow. No 'thank you for masterminding a way to kick a hijacker out of our mind'? No, 'Thank you for coming up with a battle plan and then doing all the hard work'? Not even a 'Hey, I respect you and your hard work in keep me sane and don't worry I won't read anything strenuous'? Instead you hit me 'So is this going to be a regular thing now?' God you are such a fucking prick," I turned around to see the annoyed grimace of myself staring back at me.
"You know you're calling yourself a prick right?" I reposted. In response, Other me flipped me off. I laughed.
"I kid, I kid. Anyway, can I call you Other me? We never really hammered out the whole name situation last time I was here," I commented. Other me raised his finger to talk, but I cut him off.
"And, yes I know you're actually me. And that you're just a metaphorical representation of my consciousness that deals with memories and other background stuff. But, still at least it would make it less confusing for both of us," I preempted. Other me sighed.
"Sure, fuck it. Never mind how stupid it is to name your own consciousness 'Other me,' regardless we can still roll with it," Other me responded.
"Okay, and I am thankful for you. That first plan you came up with worked to perfection," I complimented. Other Me stood a bit taller.
"I wasn't just the first plan, but almost every other calculation and smooth motion you did today was my work," Other me boasted.
"Wait, really? The rock throw at Orochimaru?" I asked.
"Yep!"
"The boat slide?"
"Also yep"
"Even the waterfall stunt?"
"Still me"
"Lemme guess, you also choreographed me doing the limbo under Orochimaru's sword,"
"Right again," Other me beamed. I balked for a second before a sly grin curled my face.
"Wait, did you also engineer me rolling and sticking my elbow into the chest of a certain blonde brain hijacker?" I said, wiggling my eyebrows. Other Me's face flushed.
"I'm not sure w-what you're talking about," He deflected. It was odd making yourself embarrassed.
"Oh ho ho, you're not getting away that easily buddy. We both know what we felt and saw. You're a real sly dog aren't ya? Here I am fighting for my life relying fully on instinct, and you're in the background making sure we roll straight into the same gal who hijacked our mind and stick out our elbow to stabilize our gun in such a way that conveniently pokes other 'things' I am truly impressed," I teased.
"Oh go fuck yourself, you think she was hot too," Other me said pointing an accusatory finger at me.
"Sure, I do. Doesn't mean I have the mental bandwidth to consider being that sly while I'm out there fighting to keep us alive, you have the time to consider and plot," I said bringing my hands together in a stereotypical villain pose. Other me just flipped me off. I made a villainous chuckle.
"Seriously though, I didn't call you here to get in an argument." Other me said a more serious tone, taking over his voice.
"Alrighty, so what's up?" I asked.
"Well, things didn't go exactly how I predicted they would," He said before looking up to me. I gestured for him to go on.
"Well, for one thing when you retook control of the body. I expected this place to disappear, I guessed it was a temporary construct. I mean it only came into existence because you got pushed out of active control of our body, so I reason that when you regained control this whole mindscape would dissolve," Other me explained.
"But, it clearly hasn't," I cut in.
"Yeah, exactly. It's still here which is weird, but also we don't know a lot about the workings of our inner mind so maybe this is normal," Other me speculated.
"Let's say it stays around, does this become the place my mind goes whenever we are asleep? Like, now instead of dreaming or whatever sleep is will I always be awake inside here now?" I asked.
"No idea," Other me shrugged.
"Okay, whatever we can figure it out later. What else do ya wanna talk about?" I asked.
"That was it mostly, just letting you know that we are going to be seeing a lot more of each other," Other me replied.
"Fair enough, hey wait a second why haven't I been overwhelmed with memories yet. I figured that when we blew the dam, things went back to how they used to be, but they didn't. What's up with that?" I asked.
"Oh, that is a good question to which my only response is I have no idea. Initially, I supposed we would get flooded with memories after that stunt, but that didn't happen because it seemed like our access to our flood of memories was a bit more restricted." He mused.
"Like, we have normal function memory again?" I asked
"No, more like the structure that we the consciousness sit in recognized a lack of control and tampered down on the memories, while I'm still busy fixing things," Other me answered.
"Huh, that's weird," I said.
"Indeed," Other me responded. We stood in silence, each of us staring at each other.
"So what's up with you and that Ino gal?" I inquired. Other me groaned. I laughed.
"No seriously, it's odd. You seem to actually have something for her, but I really don't have any opinion either which way?" I clarified. It was true, I honestly had no inkling why this other part of me seemed so hung up on a person I barely even knew. Other me fidgeted then spoke.
"Look, when you were fighting her for control something happened."
"Something happened?"
"Yeah. It was weird." Other Me trailed off.
"Weird how?" I asked. Other Me started to speak, stopped, then started again.
"It was like there was a two way melding of our and her mind," He said hesitantly.
"Huh? I didn't feel anything other than some vague mutual respect as I tried to kick her out, what the fuck are you talking about?" I asked fully flummoxed.
"You didn't feel it because I was filtering it out, it was just a flood of impressions, fragmented thoughts, and feelings. It was weird. It only happened for a moment, but I swear for a moment there was some kind of mental connection," Other me described.
"And now that you think you've mentally been linked with her you went full gaga? Let me remind you, I have no idea what you're talking about. I didn't experience nor remember any of whatever you're talking about right now? I don't give a shit about this girl and somehow you, who is also me is totally lovestruck?" I ranted. It made no sense at all, maybe I was just nuts but I swear the Other me had totally lost his marbles.
"I know you don't get it, because I'm keeping the memory of those impressions, feelings, and fragmented memories suppressed. I need to study what happened in more detail before I can state anything with any certainty." Other Me soothed. I groaned.
"Okay, at least tell me what you do know, and before you ask no I don't want you to unsuppress those memories. I'm quite happy not having girl problems on my platter along with the other massive heaping pile of shit that's already there." I said.
"Fine, what I can say for certain is that she used a jutsu to take over our mind. That jutsu was designed to only take command of the motor and sensory areas of our brain leaving the memory and personality sections untouched, additionally there are safeguards in place to ensure there is no interaction between her mind and ours. However, because our mind is wired differently our memory section wires directly into our sensory section of our heads. We used this to flood her with memories to weaken her control of our mind so we could retake control. So because of this she experienced a full dosage of our memories. When this occurred, some safeguard on the jutsu failed and whatever barriers it created to ensure no interactions failed. During this time period some sort of two-way communication channel between her mind and us was formed, we received a variety of memories, impressions, and feelings. I would assume she received a similar grouping of information from us with it being much more memory dense. Anyway, the information we received from her came to me, I experienced it and filtered it from being experienced by you, before it then just went somewhere else that I don't know about," Other me explained.
"Wait, so whatever we got from her is just gone?" I asked bewildered.
"Kind of? I experienced it so we can remember it, but the actual information itself just vanished into thin air. Poof!" Other me made an exploding motion with his hands.
"Huh, that's weird," I stated.
"Yeah, you can say that again," Other Me said with a grimace.
"Well shit, so what do we do?" I asked.
"You do nothing, but focus on keeping us alive. I'll take care of this situation, but I won't be able to help as much with cipher in the new book. I have my hands full as is, you're going to have to crack that on your own," Other Me answered.
"Gotcha, anything else or are we done here?" I asked.
"That's everything, you should be waking up soon anyways. See ya," Other Me said as I felt my awareness slip back into the nothing of sleep.
September 30th Late Afternoon, 2016 RY
Uncharted Forest, 1 Days Travel from Honnobe
Campsite
Over the following six day Sasuke and I fell into a comfortable routine. Wake up, eat breakfast, travel during the day, stop in the late afternoon, set up camp, train, catch, and cook food, and then go to bed.
The only thing that changed from day to day was the training Sasuke put me through, in short he identified two main areas where I would have to improve to be even somewhat competent, these areas being taijutsu and ninjutsu.
Fortunately, Sasuke had a plan to help me rapidly learn these skills. His plan revolved around my perfect memory, and abusing the shit out of it to learn information as fast as possible. It was funny really, the Sharingan's copying ability was really similar to my perfect memory.
For taijutsu, Sasuke would make me watch him go through a movement. Then, he would make me replicate it, but he would have me do it "frame-by-frame" where I would slowly move my body through the motions of whatever move I'm trying to copy. Sasuke would sometimes tell me to stop, and he'd manually adjust my footing, my stance, or any other numerous things that I would do wrong. The key would be that I would be able to memorize how each proper "frame" of the movement felt, so then I could move through those correct "frames" in rapid speed.
The result would be that I could copy Sasuke's high level taijutsu moves very rapidly, so within a couple of hours I could perform almost any move he could, albeit with less fluidity. The real kicker was that I had no real built up instinct or understanding for hand to hand combat. I had to think about every single thing I did, because fighting was as foreign to me as football as to Sasuke.
So we would spar, in fact that's all we did the majority of the time. I got the concept in principle, I had no built up instincts for fighting, so I would fight a lot to get those instincts. It just sucked, I got the crap kicked out of me again and again. I may have had the same moves as Sasuke. It was like we both had complete kitchens, but he was a professional chef and I was a five year old.
I had to think about fighting, Sasuke just did it. It was one of the most profound skill gaps I had experienced in my short life. Sasuke was merciless, he would bob and weave around everything I threw at him before seeing a weakness and putting me in the dirt. It sucked, but I was learning.
When it came to ninjutsu, the skill gap between Sasuke and I was even wider. I knew three jutsu: The Clone Jutsu, the Substitution Jutsu, and the Transformation Jutsu. This was apparently totally inadequate according to Sasuke.
He planned to rectify this by making me learn new jutsu that he already knew, and by forcing me to refine the jutsu I already knew. In particular Sasuke wanted me to rapidly improve my Substitution and Transformation Jutsu.
So I had to practice these jutsu over and over and over. It wasn't difficult, just really fucking boring.
Practicing the Transformation Jutsu I cycled through images of random people I had seen before, both real and fictional. I had to admit it was something to cycle through being Elvis, Darth Vader, and Richard Nixon in under a minute.
Sasuke was initially befuddled by the parade of wacky transformations, but he rapidly grew used to just writing my behavior off as 'just the way things were'.
The Substitution Jutsu was way more boring to practice, but I did as I was told and substituted myself out for the log. I never could get a good answer out of Sasuke about why it was always a log or how the Jutsu actually worked. So I just threw those questions on the already massive TBD pile I had built mentally.
When it came to the new Jutsu, Sasuke picked out two in specific Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu and the Shadow Clone Jutsu.
Phoenix Flower Jutsu was apparently a simple ranged fire jutsu. You mix chakra into your outgoing breath which then turns into a number of small flying fireballs that fly at a target. The trajectory of small flying balls being alterable by direct commands from the user.
I easily learned the hand seals, proper stance, and minimum distance for the jutsu, learning how to actually turn hand seals into action was a whole other matter. There were three main components to actually making the Jutsu work, converting my chakra into fire chakra, parceling that chakra into a number of distinct fireballs, and controlling the fireballs after I had spit them out.
At the moment I was able to barely convert my chakra into the fire chakra I needed, but parceling that chakra up into distinct packets and controlling it was beyond me. So my current attempts looked more like a misguided jet of fire that lost coherence a couple feet away from my mouth.
Fire Chakra was very unstable. So if it had no guidance or structure it would sort of evaporate away its energy. Sasuke assured me that when I was able to parcel up the chakra into distinct fireballs this problem would be solved.
The other jutsu, the Shadow Clone Jutsu, was a whole different omelet to crack. For one part, it was murderously expensive chakra wise. On top of an already high fixed cost to use, the jutsu also divided whatever remaining amount of chakra I had and split it between whatever number of clones I created. The upshot was that the clones were fully solid and capable of independent action, or at least that's how Sasuke had described them.
When I had asked Sasuke what it felt like to actually use jutsu he just shrugged. Sasuke may have known how to do it, but he had never wanted to use it. Further, questioning only earned me the answer that he had "Ideological conflicts" with using it, whatever the hell that meant.
These difficulties had prevented me from actually attempting the jutsu until I was fully rested and was sure I could get it right. Now I was rested and ready to give it a shot.
"You watching?" I asked Sasuke. Every time I would do jutsu training, Sasuke would watch with his Sharingan since it was capable of seeing the chakra flow through my body. This allowed him to see what I was doing with the chakra and give me advice. Sasuke nodded.
"Okay here we go," I ran through the hand seals feeling the chakra inside me twist and fold into an unfamiliar shape. The constant flow of warm energy inside me quickened into a torrent of power that surged into the construct twisted within me, as if the air was filling a pre-made balloon animal. The construct swelled into shape consuming more energy than anything I had done to date.
I almost panicked at the amount of energy it demanded, the construct was voracious in its appetite for energy. But before I could get concerned enough to abort, the constructs draw on my energy slackened. It was ready.
"Looking good?" I said in between clenched teeth.
"Do it," Sasuke answered.
I reached within myself and grabbed ahold of the chakra construct, it was as simple as pushing it out and forward of me.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" I yelled as the mass of energy left my body and became something new and distinct from me. A cloud of white smoke popped in front of me.
The smoke cleared. In front of me stood a person; curly red hair, green eyes, pale skin, and a defined frame, draped in torn up dirt stained clothes. It was another Roger Walker. The doppelganger stared right back at me, before looking down and examining his hands.
"Huh that's neat," the clone noted.
"Concur," I replied automatically. Silence fell.
"Sooo, are you able to think?" I asked.
"I think so, or at least it feels like I'm thinking," the clone responded.
"Hmm, what's 8 plus 8?"
"16," the clone answered immediately.
"Okay, so you can at least do basic math. Can you remember any of my memories?" I asked.
"Our memories," the clone wagged a finger at me. "And yes."
"Okay, if that's the case then what's the first letter on the 5th line on the first page of the new book we got?" I asked. The clone didn't even hesitate.
"Q." Which was correct.
"Huh, cool."
"You and your clone are weird," Sasuke said.
"Up yours." We snapped simultaneously.
"Still weird," Sasuke mumbled.
"So now what?" The clone asked. I shrugged; the clone shrugged in return. I kicked a rock. Sasuke did nothing per usual.
"Holy Shit!" The clone yelled causing me to flinch.
"What?" I asked.
"I just figured out the cipher on the first page! It's so simple, how did I not see it before!" The clone explained, hopping up and down.
"Really?" I asked.
"Yes, it's so simple! What you have to do is-" My clone's explanation was cut off by a loud cracking noise. My eyes darted up only to see a large tree limb detach itself from the trunk and crash downwards.
"Uh oh," the brilliant clone stated before being crushed. The clone vanished into a puff of white smoke.
My jaw hung open. I looked over to Sasuke, whose mouth also was doing its best impression of a bug catcher.
"Did that really just happen?" Sasuke asked.
"I think so," I replied.
"Do you know what he figured out?" Sasuke asked.
"No, I mean he popped before he could tell me anyth-" I spoke before my brain caught up to my mouth and I realized I did know what he did.
The first page was another simple Caesar Cipher, when I had seen numbers in the page I had assumed they were encoded text. Instead they were actually coordinates, not pieces of the text cipher. If we took out the numbers and used the simple Caesar Cipher offset the text was easily decoded.
'If you have gotten your hands on this that means you've silenced Albert. Go to the listed coordinates to find real answers that aren't tainted by that madman. There you should be able to find the answers you're probably searching for, either way good luck!'
"Roger? You in there?" The question cut me out of my internal musings.
"Huh?" I said dumbly snapping back into reality.
"You were in the middle of something and then just stopped talking." Sasuke said, the implied question hanging in the air.
"Uhhh," I droned.
"The cipher?" Sasuke prompted.
"Oh right, so I may actually know how to solve it," I said excitedly.
"Didn't the clone die before it told us anything?"
"Yeah, but I know what he figured out…" I said trailing off as my statement prompted a new question. How did I know what my clone knew? He died before he could say anything so obviously, there was no way for him to communicate that the numbers in the cipher were coordinates not text. Yet, I somehow knew that implicitly when he popped. How did that happen?
"Uh Roger?" Sasuke asked a look of concern tracing his face.
"Huh?" I replied realizing that I had again fallen into my own head. Sasuke only raised a single eyebrow in response.
"Oh right, how I know what the clone knew," I mumbled, before a lightbulb went on in my head and I snapped my fingers.
"I just got an idea," I said excitedly snapping my fingers as a new theory for why I knew the cipher crystallized in my head. I ran through the hand seals and performed the Shadow Clone Jutsu again.
"Okay, you two go behind a tree. Sasuke then you whisper something to clone who will then disappear," I explained. Sasuke did so without complaint, and followed my clone behind a tree. When a puff of smoke erupted from behind the tree, I knew at once my answer. Sasuke returned his expression one in skepticism.
"No I'm not insane, and yes I do think we need some food besides hunted meat," I said with a grin. The eyes of Sasuke widening was confirmation enough that I was right.
"So let's say after we go to Taki, we go where these new coordinates take us?" I suggested. Sasuke nodded in agreement.
October 1st Midday, 2016 RY
Honnobe
Tsunoda's office
We arrived at Honnobe in the morning and quickly got out bearings. Using the stored memory of the organizational ledges, I quickly figured out where we needed to go. It was surprisingly easy to navigate to the building that had been marked as the regional operations office, to my slight surprise I was able to get both Sasuke and myself inside by mentioning my own name. We were quickly shuffled through the building up into what was clearly Tsunoda's office.
He was apparently finishing up some other business, but we were seated on a comfy couch and set up with steaming mugs of coffee and pastries. Having eaten nothing except wild game for the past week, we gobbled up the pastries with gusto. It was as I was vacuuming up the last pastry that the door into the office swung open.
I swiveled my head towards the door. Before me stood the lanky form of what had been my first friend in this new world, Tsunoda. He looked at me as if I was the Ghost of Christmas Past. I stood up
"Rog," He said as he darted forward and enveloped me in a firm hug that I hadn't been expecting. He gave me a firm squeeze then released me and stepped back
"I can't believe it. All of sudden all correspondence stopped, no supplies, no orders, and no men. It was only because of a single man managing to get close enough to see that the fort was under Shinobi control. I assumed everyone was dead, that the whole organization was compromised. We went underground for a bit, but when no follow attacks against us occurred, we didn't know what to make of it. That's all beside the point, how did you survive?" Tsunoda rambled.
"Old Salt, we had just finished training in the woods when we returned to find the fort in flames. Old Salt ran in and burned all the ledgers and records before coming back out and telling me to run for my life." I explain inconspicuously omitting the fact that I was the one now in possession of the master ledger. "He gave me this," I pulled out the golden weasel necklace and showed it to Tsunoda. He nodded in understanding.
"So who are you and how did you come to travel with our knucklehead of an accountant?" Tsunoda directed the question to Sasuke. Now initially we figured we would have to lie about Sasuke's identity, but after more thought on the matter we just decided to say fuck it. We already had a new set of coordinates we had to go to, so it wasn't like we were going to be sticking around for dinner.
"I am Sasuke Uchiha, and your knucklehead accountant saved me from Orochimaru twice," Sasuke said in a nearly flat tone.
Tsunoda's face switching from good cheer to disbelief to outright horror in under 5 seconds was truly a sight to behold.
"D-did you Sasuke Uchiha?" Tsunoda stammered. Sasuke nodded.
"Wait, that was you guys!" Tsunoda's eyes snapped back to me.
"What did we do?" I asked playing dumb.
"Oh you know, just fighting a running battle in the middle of a busy town with both a Leaf village retrieval squad and Orochimaru the Sanin! The entire criminal underworld is an uproar, all the spies and informants within a 200 mile radius of Kohama have been put on high alert to actively search you guys out. I know of at least 6 different villages that have covert team's scouring the countryside and cities looking for you two! It's one of the biggest manhunts in recent history!" Tsunoda bemoaned.
"Oh, huh I didn't realize we drew that much heat," I chuckled.
"How could you not!"
"We've been traveling through the forest and have avoided civilization for the entirety of our trip." Sasuke answered.
"Hmm, yeah that would make a bit more sense. So that begs a new question, why did you guys come here?" Tsunoda asked.
"We need some help figuring out where some coordinates point," I answered. Tsunoda only raised his eyebrows.
"Let me get my map," Tsunoda said moving over to a filing cabinet and rummaging through it.
"Ah here's my biggest map," Tsunoda said, bringing over the map and laying it across his desk. Sasuke and I both stepped up to look at it.
"So what are these coordinates?" Tsunoda asked.
I gave him the set of numbers I had memorized.
"Jeez, that's really far out east, definitely out past the Mist Village"
"Does the place even exist?" I asked looking skeptically
"Yeah, it does. It's called Greenwater Lagoon, it's an island nation of apparently very odd folks. I've met a guy who claimed to be from there and he certainly fit the profile of being odd," Tsunoda mused.
"Okay, so how would we get there?" I asked.
"Hmm, your best would probably to depart from Biramoto Port, go north to Kingdom of Snow, and then hop eastwards, while doing your best to avoid port stopovers in either lightning country or water country. Frankly, all you need to worry about is getting to a port that's east of Fire, but not controlled by Water country. But, what I can definitely say is that you go to Biramoto Port and head north to clear the influence of Fire and Lightning country," Tsunoda said tracing the route with his finger.
"Is it easy to get a ship in Biramoto Port?" Sasuke asked.
"Oh yeah, in fact I have a guy I can recommend specifically, he's worked with us for a long time. His name is Motobe Atasuke, he owns a bar on the east side of the city wharf. Tell him, I sent you and that it's one of his many payments for the 'Double Shot Disaster.' That'll get you as far as Snow country, and after that I think you guys can sign up to work for passage, to get the rest of the way you're going," Tsunoda explained.
"Thanks Tsunoda," I said.
"Don't worry about it, I'm just glad that you're okay," He patted my shoulder.
"So we can head out for Biramoto Port tomorrow and catch up on old times tonight?" I asked.
"No, you guys need to get out of here now," Tsunoda shook his head.
"But we just got here, it can't be that unsafe to spend a single night," I said mildly hurt at our curt dismissal. Tsunoda shook his head.
"No you don't understand this city crawls with ears and eyes, I'd guess you've already been spotted, and your location already relayed to those who have an interest in you two. You kids have to go now. We're already cutting it close as is," Tsunoda said moving over to his desk grabbing a scrap of paper, he scribbled something on it before returning. He handed it to me.
"Here's the forwarding box to send me letters and packages. No matter where I go, I've ensured this box will always get mail to me. The crime world is in an uproar over Kawaguchi's elimination and things might get a bit chaotic. I've prepared to distance myself and my people away from the coming chaos. But, I want you to write to me when you reach your destination and you're safe. Got it?" Tsunoda grabbed my shoulder and gave it a squeeze. I nodded.
"I'm serious. I'm worried about whatever thing you've gotten yourself caught up in, but I trust that you'll make it out okay. Just keep safe, you got me?" Tsunoda said, his eyes locked onto me.
"I got you," I squeaked out, my voice cracking a bit. Tsunoda smiled, and gave my shoulder another squeeze.
"Good, now I won't keep you kids any longer. You need to put distance between yourself and Honnobe. By nightfall hunters will be crawling all over this place, so run fast and run far. Keep off the main roads and stay smart," Tsunoda said before letting go of my shoulder and stepping back.
"Okay. I'll be safe and I promise I'll write you the first chance I get," Sasuke was already standing and gave me a small nod. He started walking to the door. I followed.
"Good luck, Roger."
"You too," I said with a half-smile as I looked backwards. Tsunoda was looking at me, and he smiled. I smiled back.
October 6th Night, 2016 RY
Biramoto Port
Seaside Pub
We departed Honnobe in good order and spent the night unbothered in the forest. We continued our daily routine of traveling in the day and training during dawn and dusk while we made our way to Biramoto Port. We were unbothered during our 5 day trip by either animal or human foes.
We arrived at Biramoto Port at the crack of dawn, the sun kissing the horizon as the birds chirped. We sauntered into town with high spirits. The town itself was rather average, but this made finding the wharf and specific bar easy. To our chagrin the doors of the place were locked, so we detoured to a breakfast eatery. It was the first non-hunted meal we had in almost 2 weeks of being on the run. I nearly cried in joy as I scarfed down a platter of fried eggs and sausage, washed down with a hot cup of coffee. It was a small thing that made life less hell.
After our breakfast we returned back to the bar to find its doors open and the owner inside. Motobe Atasuke, was a short pudgy man, but he had a jolly demeanor and was happy to help us after we described our situation and the instructions Tsunoda had given us. In short order, Motobe had locked his bar and had taken us down the wharf to a medium sized cargo vessel. He found the first officer, who in turn found the captain. Motobe explained our situation to the captain and who was paying out the favor to transport us. Luckily, the captain had no problem with transporting us and instructed us to show up at this berth at the crack of dawn tomorrow. The ship would continue to take on cargo and supplies today, and depart tomorrow.
After having sorted out the details of our transit, Sasuke and I spent the rest of the day running errands around the port town in preparation of our journey.
For one part, our clothes were absolutely torn to bits. So we made it a point to equip ourselves with brand new clothes. Since we were technically on the run neither of us bought anything flashy. So we both loaded up with new shirts, jackets, pants, and shorts. Along with our new clothing, we also loaded up on travel gear. This included backpacks, sleeping bags, tarps, and other useful equipment. Our shopping spree lasted the whole day with us having made a dent in my money supply, but on the brightside at least we had toothbrushes again, so it was good with the bad. It was nighttime when we had finished our spending spree.
I found a pub that served dinner and we claimed a booth to eat and talk. It was near the back of the restaurant, so we had plenty of privacy and were generally out of the way. It had been a busy, but dull day so it was a shock when someone slid into the booth besides me.
"So either this is what you kids consider fine dining or secretive dining, both of which you're terribly mistaken," an aged voice said to the left of me. My head snapped up to examine the stranger.
He was an aged man, he had long white hair, and red lines traced downwards from his eyes. He wore a forehead protector with an odd symbol.
"Who are you?" I asked. He chuckled.
"I'm Jiraiya the great toad sage!" He boasted with a laugh. My eyes darted to Sasuke, he was tense, and his Sharingan was activated.
"Calm down Uchiha, I'm not here to drag you back to the leaf," the now self-identified Jiraiya said.
"Wait, you work with the Leaf village?" I asked.
"You're Uchiha friend should be able to confirm it," Jiraiya tilted his head at Sasuke. I glanced over to Sasuke, our eyes met, and he gave me a curt nod.
"Okay, so you're from the Leaf village, but if you're not here to take us back then what are you here for?" I asked.
"Now hold your horses, I'm starving, and I would think you kids are as well. Let's get some food first before we get down to business. Plus, in the meantime this means you guys can tell me what your side of the story is, and in turn I can pay for dinner," Jiraiya said jovially. He waved over a serving girl, who shuffled over.
During this quick lapse in Jiraiya's attention, I snapped my head to focus on Sasuke. He raised an eyebrow. I titled my head at Jiraiya, pointed at my mouth, then Jiraiya before doing a thumbs up/thumbs down. I wanted to know if Sasuke had any opinion on being open with Jiraiya.
Sasuke only shrugged in response before making a small thumbs up. I guess it made no difference what we told him, so might as well not introduce complications of trying to lie.
We all ordered big platters of food and drinks. The serving girl was quick with our drink's sake for Jiraiya, non-alcoholic juices for Sasuke and I.
"So tell me what the hell happened and why are you guys here now?" Jiraiya asked. So we told him everything. I started off with my tale, leaving out no details. Surprisingly Jiraiya accepted the fact that I was from a different place with surprisingly little shock. Once, we got to the point where I ran into Sasuke, Sasuke took up the telling of the tale. He explained how the Sound Four had infiltrated the village, beat him silly, and then offered him the deal of advancing his cursed seal for tutelage under Orochimaru.
Our food arrived and we commenced eating, I picked up the story from that point and detailed everything that happened up until we had arrived here, with Sasuke chiming in to clarify or add details. By the time the story was over we had cleared out plates. I was still hungry though, so I got a big fried calamari appetizer. Jiraiya had gone through 2 bottles of Sake and was now working on his 3rd.
"So that's basically everything. Any questions?" I asked.
"So did you really break the cursed seal?" Jiraiya asked, looking at me.
"Yeah?" I answered.
"How did you do it?" He asked with a surprising intensity behind his question.
"Do you really want to know?"
"Yes," He answered with finality.
I launched into an abbreviated explanation of what I discovered about the cursed seal, and how I had managed to use its self-repairing properties as my way to compromise and destroy it. I detailed the usage of unbalanced chakra, the usage of the chakra flare stack, and the chakra tap. Jiraiya asked frequent questions which I did my best to answer. By the end of it, Jiraiya did a low whistle before emptying his bottle of Sake.
"Damn, if that's all true then you are a real crafty kid. Orochimaru must be tearing his hair out trying to figure out how you did it," Jiraiya laughed.
"He did seem interested in knowing that, I told him to get bent," I boasted. This caused Jiraiya to laugh uproariously, drawing the attention of other patrons. He raised his hand to call over the serving girl.
"Excuse me dear, can you get me another Sake. Also, can you get these two fine young men a pair of Ale's," Jiraiya asked. The serving girl looked over at us, then back to Jiraiya.
"Are you sure mister?"
"I'm sure, here I'm sure this will make it worth the trouble," Jiraiya said while slipping a pair of coins into the serving girl's hand.
"I'll have your drinks out at once," She said with a cheerful smile as she darted off to get beverages. Jiraiya turned back towards us.
"I promised myself that I would buy anyone who could flummox that slithery bastard to ruin his day. You not only broke his stupid seal, but you also kept Sasuke out of his grasp. So for that you guys have earned two free drinks off me. Wait, you guys have had alcohol before though right?" Jiraiya said looking between the two of us.
"A bit on holidays with my parents, and once on a camping trip with my cousins," I said. Sasuke shook his head in the negative.
"Well, youth is about learning and it's probably time you guys learn about the wonders and follies of alcohol," Jiraiya said jovially. The serving girl soon returned with another sake bottle and two steins of frothy beer.
I grabbed the glass mug. The glass was cool in my hand.
"Cheers, to both you kids managing to make it this far and not die," Jiraiya said, raising his cup of sake. I raised my mug, Sasuke cautiously raised his and we all clicked our cups together. Jiraiya took a pull from his sake cup and smiled looking at both of us, seeing which one of us would take a sip of our ale first.
I took the challenge and took a hearty swig of my mug. The bitterness and frothiness were similar to that of the beer my 17 year-old cousin John got me.
We were up at my cousin's cabin for the summer. John had a girlfriend, named Annie, whose family also had a cabin but on the other side of the lake. It was a warm summer night and the parents had already gone to bed, so John wanted to go see her. But, he wanted me to go along to be the front paddler of the canoe. So to get me to go he bribed me with a stolen 6 pack of beer and the promise that his girlfriend had a little sister who was my age and was cute.
Being the rational safety conscious 13 year old that I was, I agreed to go before John had even finished his spiel to convince me. We escaped the cabin, pilfering the beer and canoe in good order. We managed to get across the lake with good speed and soon were hanging out with the girls. They had a firepit with a small fire crackling inside. John and Annie set us up with marshmallows, graham crackers, and chocolate, before they disappeared to go check on something.
Annie's little sister was named Maya. She was short with curly red hair, freckles, a button nose, and brown eyes. She was a bit shy and quiet, but also she was cute and funny when she did speak. We took sips from the beers we had been given and made S'mores, while the insects sang and the fire crackled. Our hands even grazed each other a couple times, and I could swear she stared at me for longer than normal.
It all came to an end when the lights on the cabin went on and we heard Maya's dad yelling. Maya being the quick thinker hid me and the beer under the wood pile, making sure to pull the tarp over.
When her dad came over, asking what she was doing and if she had seen anyone. Maya explained that no she hadn't seen anyone out tonight, she was just down here making S'mores and listening to the beauty of nature. Her dad somehow bought it and told her to not stay out too much longer. An eternity later Maya came over and let me out from under the wood tarp.
She told me I had to go and that my cousin John had ran down the lakefront so I would probably have to go pick him up. She helped me pack up my stuff and waved to me as I paddled the canoe out to go find John. Who I found hiding out in a bunch of cattails? We laughed about what had happened, finished the beers, and paddled home. We saw Maya and Annie a couple more times over the summer, but that was the sweetest memory I had of the summer.
I would've gone back to that cabin this summer had I not been transported to this world. I wonder if I could've seen Maya again.
"Roger?" Sasuke's concerned voice cut into my musings.
"Yeah?" I answered, blinking my eyes.
"You okay?"
"Yeah, I was just remembering something, don't worry about it," I answered.
"Geez kid, how does beer set you off like that?" Jiraiya probed. I saw Sasuke shoot a glare at him.
"It's nothing, just some childhood stuff. Don't worry about it. Sasuke I think it's your turn now?" I said redirecting the conversation. Sasuke looked at his glass suspiciously.
"Come on, it's just a little beer," Jiraiya egged on. Sasuke shrugged and took a sip.
His face puckered up and he slammed his eyes shut. I laughed. Jiraiya laughed. Sasuke swallowed then gagged. We laughed even harder.
"It never gets old," Jiraiya said, flicking a tear away from his eyes.
"God, you should've seen the look on your face," I said in between laughing gasps. Sasuke just groaned. Eventually, our laughter settled down.
"So what do you boys plan to do now? I mean every village by now knows that the last Uchiha is out and about and will stop at nothing to gain possession of the Sharingan. Do you have a plan to not get caught up in the net of others?" Jiraiya asked.
I glanced towards Sasuke who gave me a slight nod.
"We are planning on leaving the five nations for a while, we have a destination in mind that might keep us out of the way," I offered up.
"Oh do you now?" He said his voice dripping in condescension.
"Yeah we do," I answered, a bit defensively.
"Does the Greenwater Lagoon ring a bell?" I asked. Jiraiya's eyebrows shot up.
"In passing, yes. But, I've never been there. Why do you ask?" He inquired.
"We have reasoning to believe that another link to whatever we found in the valley is connected to those islands, and that there may be something that we have to stop. We don't know yet," Jiraiya's expression darkened.
"Is this you saying there might be more people like that guy, you guys fought under the valley?"
"Yes, we think so. So that's why we are going there, plus it's out of the way so we should be fine until the heat here cools down." I explained.
"Is that why you are going?" Jiraiya directed the question towards Sasuke.
"Yes," He said with a nod. Jiraiya sighed.
"Well, that's what I had hoped and feared," Jiraiya said, taking another pull from his cup. Sasuke and I looked at each other before looking back to Jiraiya.
"I came out here in part to confirm you were free of Orochimaru's control, but also to see if you kids would be able to keep out of anyone's grasp for the duration, until it's safe for you to return." Jiraiya explained.
"Why would it not be safe right now?" Sasuke asked, his eyes narrowed in suspicion.
"Well, your little stunt has thrown the entire Leaf village establishment into an uproar. If you were to return right now, I can't guarantee you would remain free and not under the power of anyone. Some established powers would prefer to see certain safeguards be put in place to ensure you can't ever take such an escapade again. Tsunade and myself are strongly against this, but at this point it's still a possibility that she could be overruled. Which is why I'm happy you kids have a safe destination in mind. Because, it would be best if you two don't return to the village for a year or two. Tsunade needs time to get established and consolidate her power, so that when you do return she can ensure no drastic measures are taken to ensure your future loyalty. Do you understand what I'm getting at?" Jiraiya asked, looking between Sasuke and me.
"Crystal clear," Sasuke responded in an icy tone.
"Look, I know you still have your disagreements with the village, but staying out of Orochimaru's control is probably the single best thing that could've happened to you. He's a sick man and he would've twisted you in ways you can't even imagine. But, I get it you don't trust me which is while I'll throw you guys a bone. I once fought a guy from the Greenwater Lagoon and man he was a tough son of a bitch, he did claim to be a disciple of a famous teacher. He claimed he was the favorite student of a guy named Chiron." I inhaled a sip of beer and started coughing. The name Chiron sent me spinning in a mental train wreck. There was no way it could be that 'Chiron' right? Both Jiraiya and Sasuke shot me confused glances. I waved away their concern.
"It just went down the wrong way," I wheezed in between my coughs.
"Okay, but what I'm saying is that if you guys can find this Chiron and have him teach you, I'm sure you'll become very strong. The man I fought used strange techniques and weapons, but he was so good he nearly killed me. I never saw him after that, but if you guys can even reach a half of what he achieved you'll both be very strong," Jiraiya said.
"Makes sense," Sasuke mumbled.
"Additionally, I have a gift for you kids. Here," Jiraiya took out a small notebook with an intricate pattern on the cover. He placed it on the table.
"What is it?" I asked.
"It's a far-writing book." He answered.
"What's a far-writing book?" I followed up.
"It's a book that allows whatever you write in the pages to be transferred to another book that it's paired with, no matter how far away the books are from each other," Jiraiya explained.
"You want us to write in it to communicate with you?" Sasuke asked.
"Yes, I want to get updates, so I know you kids are okay."
"What's in it for us?" Sasuke asked.
"I can be almost anywhere in the world within a couple of days, so if you guys get into trouble I can bail you out if you write to me. Additionally, if we stay in communications I can report to Tsunade that you guys are not-rouge, but just assets in the field. Which will make it a lot easier for you guys to return to the Leaf when things have calmed down. Finally, I can pass on information I get about certain other rogue Uchiha ninja," Jiraiya said, wiggling his eyebrows.
"We'll take it," Sasuke said immediately.
"Good, I think that takes care of all the pressing business. Oh yeah have you kids gotten accommodations yet?" We shook our heads at Jiraiya's question.
"Good, I got two rooms at a nearby hotel. You guys will stay in one of them, I'll make sure you don't get taken in the night by the swarms of ninja that are out hunting for you two," Jiraiya said. We both nodded in agreement.
The rest of the time at the pub was spent eating our snacks and drinking our liquor before we all retired to the hotel for the night. We slept unbothered that night. The next morning Sasuke and I boarded our ship for our journey to snow country.
Side Story: Dreaming a New Tomorrow
Date:Unknown
Location Unknown
It was a warm sunny day; the birds were chirping, and the wind was blowing. Ino sat on the shoulders of a man she knew as her father. They stood among throngs of other people all who were watching an indistinct tall white and orange object.
"And the handoff to Atlantis's onboard computers. Atlantis now in control of the countdown," a loud voice announced. That confused her, so she tapped on the head of her father.
"Daddy, what does that mean?" She asked, her voice high pitched and childish.
"It means that now the rocket is in charge of when it flies, not the ground base," the deep voice of her father answered.
"Oh," she replied, but before she could ask a new question the announcing voice spoke again.
"Firing chain is armed. Sound suppression system is active. T minus 10," A wave of excitement ran through the crowd, and she felt a small tingle build in her fingers.
"Nine. Eight." The crowd spoke along with the announced voice.
"Seven. Six. Five." A loud roar started to drown out the announcing voice. A white cloud exploded around the white structure.
"Four. Three. Two. One. Zero. Liftoff of the Space Shuttle Atlantis!" The crowd went wild cheering and clapping.
In the distance the white and orange object began to rise under a pillar of bright fire. Ino's father was cheering and clapping. She was cheering as the white and orange object rode the pillar of fire into the sky.
"Atlantis is on its way to the International Space Station; Atlantis is now into alignmen-" A deafening rumbling that seemed to reverberate and beat at her skin overtook her. Her ears hurt, but she kept clapping as the object soared into the sky. Ino could hear nothing but the roaring rumble of the object as it pierced through several thin clouds.
The rumble died down as the object climbed ever higher.
"Fifty-five seconds into the flight, all systems operating normally. Atlantis at 900miles per hour, 6 miles altitude, 9 miles downrange." The object seemed to start going more sideways rather than upwards. This worried Ino but nobody else seemed to notice.
Ino continued to watch as the object became more and more distant as it headed towards its destination, space. She wanted to go there too, to go among the stars and the planets.
"Isn't that amazing Rog?" Her father asked, excitement tinging his voice. She was about to agree when something stopped her. Rog? Who was Rog? Ino reached up and grabbed a lock of hair, it was curly. She pulled it down to see. It was red.
The world fell apart.
"Guh!" Ino gasped as her eyes shot open and she sat bolt upright in bed. Her eyes darted around taking in the view of her bedroom. She fell back into bed. Her heart pounding in her chest and her breathing ragged.
It had been a dream. One of the many dreams she had been suffering from ever since she had returned from the mission to retrieve Sasuke. Every time she seemed to live out a memory of the boy whose body she had taken over.
Her father had hypothesized that this was her mind's way of processing the vast amount of information that had been dumped into it all at once. This was in addition to the other weird things that had started to happen to her.
Sometimes she would find herself humming tunes that she didn't know. Other times she would have images flash in her mind in response to some word she heard or sight she saw. Perhaps the worst was when she found herself using words of a language she didn't know. It only made people look at her weird, when she started hissing in a weird language whenever she stubbed a toe.
"I need some fresh air," She said to herself as she rolled out of bed. It was becoming a habit for her in recent times to go up to her roof when she couldn't sleep. Ino glanced over to her wall, pasted on it were sheets of paper with a variety of drawings.
That was a thing her dad had recommended for her to do when she started suffering from the dreams, to draw out the scenes or striking elements of the dreams. So now the wall was covered in a variety of drawings ranging from a flag with stripes and stars on it, to a group of men wearing silly uniforms and helmets throwing an oblong shaped object. The most striking of them all was of a human shaped figure standing on a grey cratered surface, the figure is in a bulky white suit with a reflective visor down.
Ino shook her head, and walked over to her window. Throwing it open she was able to scamper up the wall of her house to the tiled roof. She walked to the top and stared up at the full moon that shone down light on the village.
It was a beautiful sight, but it caused something to stir in her something that she had only recently discovered. A deep ravenous hunger turned to fire, a desire to win, a desire to go beyond. It was hard to explain, but she wanted to go to the moon. She wanted to go to new places, to do things no-one else had before. For the first time in her life, her sight was set on something beyond the village and those in it. She didn't know how to explain it, but she did know that she wanted more out of her life.
She reached up and tried to grab the moon. Annoyingly, it stayed where it was, and she was left with just an empty hand. She frowned.
Something in her had changed, there was a new piece inside her that howled for her to win no matter what. It was a novel feeling, to have such a deep desire to win. Whatever had happened inside that boy's head, she had left with something new as a part of her. Whether it would be a good or bad thing in the long run was something she didn't know.
"You win this time, you won't get so lucky next time," She said to herself as she stared at the bright orb in the sky.
What she did know about this new part of her is that it would be one hell of a ride wherever she was headed.
Post Chapter Author's Note: Annnnd that's a wrap for another chapter! You would not believe how quickly I was able to get out the majority of this chapter before spending two weeks on a single scene, ugh. Also I havent started rolling out the new addendums to end of every chapter and doing edits to old chapters whoops.
Difficulties aside I hope you enjoyed this chapter for its more character interaction focus. I hope to start ramping up character interactions more and more as the pace of events can slow down slightly.
Moving ahead I do plan to have Sasuke and Roger actively do stuff during the timeskip era, though I plan the majority of events to occur in the new little area I'm creating. I hope you all enjoy it, I'm doing my best to try and cook up something moderately unique. It is my hope that i can use this time and space to mould Sasuke and Roger into more interesting people before they re-enter the standard Naruto plot, though maybe some elements of the plot may come to them.
Finally, I cannot thank you enough for continuing to read what I write. Though, to be honest I'm hoping more folks review. Reviews are probably the best fuel to keep me writing, but also don't feel compelled to do so. You enjoying this is reward enough. Thank you!