Kenji had walked around all day and every person he asked kept telling him the same thing; He was in a district called Trost and they did not know the elemental nations. He understood why they didn't know the place, what with those colossal walls around the whole settlement. But never even hearing about one of the elemental nations? That was just crazy talk. He found a spot outside a closed stall and tried to sit in place to connect with the Kyuubi, maybe the fox would know something about it, though Kenji didn't exactly enjoy talking to the spiteful mass of orange chakra–

'Wait a minute... Chakra, I haven't felt any since I woke up here!'

It suddenly dawned on the fifteen-year-old that he hadn't felt a single Chakra signature all-day. Not from the woman at the store and not from the other people he'd been asking all over the barricaded town... Not even from the animals! That was impossible. Kakashi and even Jiraiya had made it clear that chakra was an essential part of every being's survival. And yet somehow, someway... This entire vicinity was devoid of any traces of it... Not a single ounce of chakra anywhere.

'What in Kami's name is going on?!'

Kenji pulled at his hair for a second before standing up abruptly.

'Hehehe... Finally cracking eh?'

Kenji's heart jumped.

'You...'

So the Nine Tails were still present in him. He'd been watching the entire time...

'What do you know, Fox?'

The tailed beast let out a growl.

'Seeing as I see what you see, I know as much as you do, which is currently nothing'

The recently appointed Chūnin let out a sigh.

Well, that was unhelpful.

Kenji started walking once more through the crowds of people, the walk slowly developing into a jog, then a run... and eventually, a full-on ninja sprint, this time towards the massive wall that enclosed the city... He needed to find answers, answers that most likely lay either on the top of the other side of the huge concrete obstruction.


To say that the inhabitants of Trost were surprised would be putting things mildly. Having a child breeze past all of them at an overwhelming speed would be enough to shock any rational human. The thing was, they never even saw the person's face or figure for that matter. But they were certain that by the size of the speeding human, it was not an adult. What confused most passers-by was that they could've sworn that a few moments later, they spotted a dot moving up their wall at the same speed. Some dismissed it as fleeting madness, others claimed to be seeing things and others assumed it was a member of the Survey Corps, but then again, they didn't swing by on hooks... That speed was purely reached on foot.


Kenji kept moving, the chakra he pumped to his legs continuously carrying him on as he ran up the wall. It'd been quite a while since he did this and he missed it; the wind pushing his hair backward, his arms pulled back as he darted upwards. This was one of the many thrills of being a Ninja.

Eventually, he reached the top of the wall and was mildly surprised to find that it was as thick as it was wide. He looked at the thickness of the wall and wondered what the people of this town were hiding... Or what they were hiding from.

"Hey, kid!"

Kenji's thought process was cut short as he turned to face the owner of the voice.

It happened to be a man, apparently in his thirties or so. He had hair that was a dark shade of blonde and his garb was nothing like what Kenji had seen before; a brown jacket that stopped somewhere above his midsection but had long sleeves, worn over a dark grey shirt and what looked to be white pants held up by a belt,the whole outfit was finished up with brown knee-high boots. The man also had two contraptions strapped to his thighs,but what exactly they were supposed to be, Kenji couldn't tell.

What he could tell was that the man was much less than pleased.

"What're you doing up here?" His voice was stern and commanding, almost prompting Kenji to withdraw to his normally timid personality once again,but the Ninja shook it off just in time.

"I'm pretty sure I'm lost"

"If you wandered here,then you definitely are" The man's eyes bored into Kenji's,but the boy knew better than to be intimidated by looks,after all Ibiki Morino was his proctor during the Chūnin exams and he'd survived mental pressure of the highest kind from Ibiki.

"I just need to know where I am" Kenji stated coolly.

"Where you are?" The man raised an eyebrow. "You're on top of the wall in the Trost district"

Kenji groaned. Not this again...

"No, I've heard that enough times today " Kenji walked past the man and towards the other edge of the wall. His arm was grabbed roughly.

"Kid, you'd better get off this wall unless you want your tooth knocked out"

Kenji narrowly resisted the urge to scoff. It seemed this guy had no idea who he was talking to. From the looks of his clothes,he seemed to be a guard,most likely for the wall. A common guard threatening a trained Ninja was highly laughable, in the Leaf village, an adult guard wouldn't dare threaten even a Genin.

"I'm sorry," Kenji started. "But if you don't let me go, I'll make sure you won't sit properly for a week"

"Why, you insolent little–"

*BAM!*

The man's fist was thrown directly at Kenji's face,but the Jinchuriki caught it with insulting ease. The man's eyes were wide with surprise at the boy's reaction speed and surprisingly strong grip,his fist shook in the boy's hand as he maintained eye contact. He noticed the subtle hint of intensity in the boy's light brown eyes and only then did he start noticing his other features; the hair,the eyes,the headband and skin tone. The boy was entirely different from others.

"I'm really not in the mood for this" Kenji said. "I just need to know where I am and I'll leave you guys alone"

What more did the child want to know? He was in Trost,the south edge of Wall Rose,there was no more to it.

Kenji freed the man's hand and turned away from him.

"I just want to go back to my home"

"Where is your home?" The man's voice somewhat softened.

"The land of fire," Kenji said. "Though I can guess you've never heard of it."

"The land of fire?" The man repeated. "I've never heard of such a place"

"Well, believe it or not, that's where I'm from"

"You..." The man's expression shifted from calm to surprised. "You're from outside the walls?"

Kenji nodded.

"There's life outside the walls?" The man seemed surprised,as if he'd never expected there to be life beyond the walls of this place.

Kenji walked towards the edge of the wall and saw nothing but a vast array of empty land for miles and miles. No villages or settlements in sight.

"Wait... You're saying there's been no other life outside these walls?" Kenji couldn't believe his ears.

"Yes" the man said. "None at all"

"Why?" The Ninja asked.

Before the man could answer,a voice called out.

"Ian!"

The blonde man,now known to be Ian, turned to where the voice came from and Kenji chose this moment to retreat. This new piece of information was strange in every aspect and he needed to actually think about it.

He once again channelled chakra to his feet and leaped across the top of the wall and back to the bottom. He had no desire to run so he simply walked back into the Trost district, mulling over this new piece of information.

Was he so far from home that these people didn't even know that the Shinobi continent existed?


SilentGentlemen - Kenji's most likely going to be joining the Survey Corps eventually... as for Naruto, I'll just advise you to let the story play out. *wink*

And yes, Chakra is going to be used very often in this story... I'll unravel more about Kenji's abilities like ninjutsu, Taijutsu and his elemental affinities as the story progresses.