Those Who Are Lost
Chapter 2
The Shinobi with No Name
Hey there guys! It's AraelDranoth here, bringing to you the next chapter of this story which will focus on one of everyone's favourite clans: The Uchiha.
It's time our second protagonist made his appearance and here it is.
Disclaimer: I do not in any way claim ownership of Naruto or Naruto Shippuden. These brilliant stories along with their amazing characters are the rightful property of Masashi Kishimoto (and his army of lawyers!).
Gou woke up that morning feeling like it was going to be the best day of his life yet.
Why wouldn't he after all? Here in the Lands Unknown, the concept of chakra and the ability to shape and mould such a mystical force was little more than a fairytale told to children just before they went to sleep.
Back in the Hidden Countries he was nobody. Originally hailing from the Village Hidden in the Grass, Gou had quickly risen to the level of Jounin displaying an aptitude for fire jutsu, a skill considered to be unusual in a Shinobi Village which specialised in poisons, assassination and earth style techniques rather than that of fire ninjutsu. He was considered to be an honourable shinobi with a remarkable skill set, one that was invaluable to his Kage and Daimyo against the Hidden Grass's numerous enemies.
At least until he defected of course. That had been over a decade ago though and he had spent six of those years running around the Hidden Countries like a headless chicken before he had made his way to this place.
Now here, in the Lands Unknown, he was a god. It turned out that Hunter-nin didn't venture out into foreign lands, or any shinobi for that matter. It's what made it the perfect place to start a new life away from the humdrum drama of the shinobi world.
In just a few months he used his gifts to take control of various groups of bandits and raiders to create his own private army to do his bidding and they wasted no time in doing so. His men had terrorised the local villages into paying tribute in order for his gang's 'protection' from other gangs. Those that defied or resisted his rule were dealt with swiftly, subject to horrifying illusions that culminated in them taking their own lives or just plain torture and execution, depending on his mood that day.
When he was feeling bored or in need of practice he'd take a life himself if only to prove the point of his superiority to the sheep under his thumb.
As he lay there in bed, surrounded by the naked flesh of the young girls from the surrounding villages that he had 'chosen' to be his brides, a single thought crossed his mind.
My life is perfect.
He had no idea what was coming.
Kamui let out an uneasy snort beneath him, obviously sensing the same thing he did. He was being followed.
Sasuke had sensed them a while back; they'd been stalking him for a few hours now and had grown bolder, closing in bit by bit until they were close enough to spook his horse.
Reaching down he brushed Kamui's neck gently, trying to soothe her as best he could. Any other horse would have bolted by now, considering the number of people hiding in the surrounding brush. He could hear the unsheathing of weapons and the heavy breathing from the surrounding vegetation from atop his saddle.
There were roughly two dozen or so of them poorly attempting to conceal themselves in the hopes of waylaying him.
This is what I get for using the Merchant's road I guess.
Since he had entered these lands, he had been held up several times, none of which ended well for the people who did so.
"It's alright girl, just a few rats. It's nothing we can't handle."
Kamui may have been nervous but she was hardly about to bolt from a fight, not with a rider like him.
Sasuke spurred her forwards into a light canter, appearing as if he had not noticed the ambush waiting for him just around the bend.
Though he would never admit it, he found himself mildly surprised at the gall of these highwaymen. This was almost never heard of back in the Hidden Countries, bandits there could almost smell the chakra coming off of trained shinobi and avoided them like the plague because of it. He supposed that if there was one thing he had learned all this time in the borderlands it was that things worked quite differently.
He could sense the circle closing around him, the bandits clearly thinking that they had entrapped fresh new prey. They definitely had no idea just how wrong they were.
Up ahead, one of the men stood in the middle of the road, dressed in simple merchant garb with a travelling cloak upon his shoulders, his attire no doubt chosen specifically to put victims at ease before the trap was sprung.
Deciding to humour him, Sasuke continued onwards only coming to a stop a few steps from the man.
He greeted Sasuke with a charming smile stepping forwards and reaching forward to pet Kamui's nose.
"Don't touch my horse." He told him sharply in warning "She's a biter."
Appropriately, the smile vanished and the man's hand froze outstretched for a moment before slowly falling to his side the smile returning as it did so.
"Fair enough" The man told him before grinning widely "Greetings there friend! You look like you've had a hard journey so far."
"You've no idea 'friend'" Sasuke replied, chuckling softly under his breath. The man nodded sagely as if he understood what Sasuke meant.
"Well then you're in luck, there's a town a few miles down the road where you can rest and resupply for wherever you're headed Mr…?" At this, Sasuke raised a single slender eyebrow.
"Does it matter?"
The man looked taken aback for a moment before shrugging his shoulders nonchalantly.
"I suppose it doesn't."
"Thanks for the information." Sasuke told him before gently spurring Kamui forwards. Then the man made his first mistake; he grabbed the reins.
"Woah, slow down there friend. You see the town is in dire straits financially and as such our benevolent leader has instituted a toll on this road for all travellers coming into town." The man explained that painted smile still presenting itself, causing Sasuke no small amount of irritation.
"I don't have any money." To this, the man cut him off with a wave of his free hand.
"I'm sure we can come to some other arrangement. Your horse, that sword, maybe that necklace you're wearing? That should just about cover the fee… why don't you hand them over?"
"That's not going to happen." Sasuke answered, narrowing his eyes and assessing the situation. The man dropped his grin into a grimace, stepping back until there was a few feet separating the two.
"Now that's a right shame." He let out a sharp whistle and almost immediately men began filing out of the woods to surround the horse-bound shinobi.
"You see the boys and I have our orders from the boss and he would just love the shit you got on you. The boys and I have to earn our keep or we and our families go hungry tonight. So what do you say fella? Don't you want to help your fellow man?"
"This is your warning. You won't get another so listen closely. Back off before we both do something we don't want to." Sasuke told them seeming bored of the conversation they were having.
The man let out a small sigh and shook his head disappointedly. "I tried doing this civilly but it seems you don't know how to treat people nicely, so now we got to not only take your stuff but teach you a lesson about what happens when you mess with the boss-man."
Sasuke dismounted from Kamui, retrieving Kusanagi as he did so from its place amongst his saddlebags. He thought about placing Kamui under a mild genjutsu to prevent the steed from spooking if things got bad but decided against it considering some of their previous adventures.
"I don't want to fight you, just get out of my way and nobody has to die today." He told them as a final warning, arms at his sides, fingers brushing Kusanagi's hilt and seeming completely at ease despite the number of swords pointed in his direction.
"You think you can take us on? Our boss trained us in the mystical ninja art of taijutsu! Do you have any idea how many lives we've taken with the skills he's taught us?! We're going to destroy you!" The man boasted loudly incredulous of the Uchiha's suggestion.
So their boss is a shinobi? Interesting…
"No." He told them, his eyes turning from obsidian to something much darker.
"No?" One of the bandits asked another unsurely.
"I don't think I can take you. I know I can. Last chance, let me pass."
The men all laughed and jeered,moving forward and closing the distance between themselves and their prey.
"Kill him. Bring me the sword when you're done, the rest goes to the boss." The man ordered before turning around and walking away, confident in the skills of his boys. He heard them roar and charge forward and heard the sound of flesh being pierced by cold hard steel. Whereas most would have winced at the sound, the man almost shivered with satisfaction. That was a lot of steel for one body but the traveller was a fool and deserved it.
He hadn't taken his fifth step before the screaming started.
"You think you've won?! You think this is over?! Boss Gou is going to rip your eyeballs from their sockets for what you've done!" The man roared, his grin long gone and a wild look in his eyes as they flitted from side to side, desperately looking for anything that could help him escape from this nightmare had found himself in.
Seven seconds.
It had taken a mere seven seconds for this traveller with no name to massacre his comrades. Massacre was definitely the right word as the forest floor and the Merchant's road was littered with detached limbs, spilled guts and the odd decapitated head here and there.
Just seven seconds… this guy isn't human! The man thought to himself, failing to prevent the wave of panic from engulfing him.
Sasuke walked over to the man, who scrambled backwards until his back hit a tree trunk. The Uchiha knelt down and almost casually pressed Kusanagi's razor sharp edge against the fool's throat.
"I'm sure he'll try. Now tell me more about this boss of yours." He asked, the Uchiha's eyes flashing dangerously.
Gou laughed as his latest example struggled uselessly beneath his grip.
"I warned you Yagami. I warned you not to defy me, to just pay the tribute without complaint and ON TIME!" He spat, dragging the old fool along the ground, straight from his home out onto the street, his men having corralled the local populace outside to witness his actions.
The elderly man for his part struggled feebly in an attempt to fight back, frail hands clawing feebly against the cloth of Gou's sleeve. The shinobi for his part merely threw Yagami to the ground with a vicious smile immediately placing his boot on Yagami's throat.
"People won't be afraid of you forever monster! Your reign will end with you drowning in a pool of your own blood!" Yagami managed to choke out, his fingers scrabbling uselessly at the tyrant's shoes trying to free the crushing weight upon his throat.
Gou just nodded his head accommodatingly, increasing the pressure as he did so "Perhaps you're right but I doubt it. One thing is for sure though, you won't be there to see it."
He jabbed his foot down and to the side with a small influx of chakra, crushing Yagami's neck into little more than powder.
Immediately people began screaming, the cacophony only lasted a few moments before his men managed to corner the townsfolk and intimidate them into submission. Gou merely gave them all a winning smile, pacing backwards and forwards before the crowd.
"That gave me little joy but it needed to be done. You people need to understand that there are rules. Without these rules we have anarchy and we're stuck in the bad old days, remember those?"
The people just looked at him like the frightened, stupid sheep that they were. Gou sighed theatrically before motioning one of his men over.
"String him up as a warning to the others. I don't want any more of these idiots trying to resist my rule." He told him tiredly rubbing his eyes.
Peering into the crowd he found his target, his eyes flashing dangerously.
"Rin, come here." He called.
The crowd parted to reveal a small, mousy and suddenly terrified girl dressed in a simple white dress doing her best not to bawl in front of her friends, neighbours and family.
"I don't want to." The girl tried weakly to which Gou merely raised an eyebrow.
"Excuse me? What did you say wife?" He drawled, snapping his fingers and pointing to a spot on the ground between his feet. Slowly Rin shuffled forward, her head bowed and the tears now flowing freely.
The people of the town merely stood around, silent and watchful, helpless against their tyrants' power.
"Get on your knees woman! Or do you want me to get angry again?" He demanded, raising his hand in warning resulting in Rin dropping to her knees with a flinch. Gou smiled and gently caressed the girl's cheek. She was one of his favourite brides.
"Don't touch her you monster!" A man yelled from the crowd, most likely the girl's father and most definitely the wrong thing to say at that moment.
Gou sneered, backhanding Rin across the face causing her to fall to the ground, clutching her face in agony before her husband pulled her back up to her kneeling position by grabbing a fistful of her hair.
"You don't get to tell me what to do sheep! She's my property and I can do with her as I wish!" Gou roared into the crowd. A terrified hush fell over the crowd as they were forced to witness the look on Gou's face.
He faced the townsfolk with a sickening grin and his free hand raised in their direction, palm outward as if he were about to wave to them "It seems you people just don't get who's top dog around here yet. I suppose it's only right that I give you a reminder of that."
Red sparks fizzled around his hand as he gathered and focused his chakra into the points of his hand. It took merely a moment before flames erupted from his fingertips.
"Lessons need to be learned." Slowly he brought his burning hand closer to Rin's face, who no longer bothered to hide her terror, eyes wide and wailing loudly as Gou's hand came ever closer to her cheek, clearly intending to brand her as punishment.
It was at that precise moment that all hell broke loose. Gou was a former Jonin and he had spent months training the men under his command in the basics of shinobi combat. Despite being a veteran ninja even he jumped backwards in shock, immediately assuming a defensive position as his men suddenly dropped like flies, senbon needles lodged in the back of their necks.
The flames in his hand intensified and he withdrew a kunai from the pouch at his side with his now free hand. His eyes darted from side to side, scanning the town square for the assailant. Gou grinned, almost shuddering with excitement at the prospect of impending combat. Only a shinobi could have dispatched his men with such speed and efficiency.
It had been a long time indeed since he had last killed someone who had even a lick of true shinobi training in them. He could almost taste the chakra in the air and such a sensation made him lick his lips eagerly.
"You must be this Gou that your boys just couldn't shut up about."
There.
A raven-haired young man wearing a sand coloured poncho with a surprisingly high collar that seemed to cover all but his lower legs. The man sat atop a horse as black as midnight and Gou could just make out a familiar glint of metal shining through the gaps in the poncho. A shinobi headband resting against the man's hip though at this distance he couldn't determine from which village this stranger defected. The rider approached the square, passing underneath the town archway, the setting sun behind him casting a long shadow that seemed to stretch all the way to the now sobbing civilians.
Gou smirked dangerously at this new arrival. "And who might you be?"
"Just a traveller on the road of life" This response garnered a raised eyebrow from the gang boss.
"I don't take kindly to people who think that they can just waltz into my town and attack my men. Lucky for you I'm feeling nostalgic; it's been a while since I've met a shinobi from back home." Gou grinned dangerously. "I've got use for a man like you. What do you say? Feel like becoming somebody important out here? Nuke-nin should stick together after all".
Sasuke narrowed his eyes dangerously at this offer, his rinnegan glowing softly but remaining hidden by his hair. Instead of answering him straight away he dismounted from Kamui once again grabbing Kusanagi as he did so and securing the blade to his waist.
He gave the horse a gentle slap on the rear. Kamui snorted and retreated at a canter, creating distance between the two ninja.
"It's an interesting offer. Got one of mine though; leave… along with your gang and don't ever come back." Sasuke made the offer stonily, his hands at his side and the tension in his muscles hidden by his poncho.
Gou stared at him incredulously for a moment before bellowing out a deep laugh.
"I'll admit it kid; you've got some serious balls! Threatening me of all people!? You look like you just made Chunin and you want to take me on? I'm a Jonin of the Hidden Grass, I'd destroy you!" Gou bit out in the midst of his laugh.
"I don't care. Last chance; leave or I'll make you." Sasuke tried warning him one more time. Personally he would have just dealt with him then and there but he was on this journey in the first place because he wanted to change.
To try to understand what he was trying to show me all these years.
Sasuke eyes narrowed dangerously, his Sharingan almost activating of its own accord as he took in the corpse of old man, sprawled out carelessly on the ground with his throat unnaturally flat. "You're a disgrace to the name of ninja."
Gou seemed to sober up at that. "Now that sounded like disrespect… I don't tolerate that boy. Such a shame too, I would have liked to have someone on my crew from back home but as I said before; lessons need to be learned."
The air grew still for a single beautiful moment before everything changed in the Lands Unknown forever. For the first time in the history of these lands, shinobi fought shinobi.
Sasuke and Gou blurred towards each other with such speed that to the townsfolk they seemed to simply teleport towards each other. The two ninja exchanged blows with such ferocity that each blow and block seemed to resound like a small thunderclap.
For the first time in history, the air of the Lands Unknown crackled with the very force of the shinobi's chakra, clashing against one another.
To them this wasn't just a duel between to ninja. This was a clash between two gods; Gou, the tyrant who had controlled and terrorised their lives for the past ten years and this stranger from a foreign land.
This shinobi with no name.
Well there you go guys! That was chapter 2 of Those Who Are Lost. I hope that you enjoyed it and I must warn you that I will be updating at least one chapter of one of my other stories before I continue with this one.
Please let me know what you think and please REVIEW! reviews and inspiration are the lifeblood of fanfictions and I use both to write my chapters.
Also let me know if you spot any mistakes so that I may rectify them immediately.
See you next time with chapter 3: The Girl with Lavender Hair.