Rest and Earth
I do not own Naruto or The Gamer
"I don't care if no one likes me, I wasn't created in this world to entertain everyone." – Houtarou Oreki
Previously on Cloud Gamer
I laid back against the wall and summoned a shadow clone. "Watch the place will ya?" The clone didn't respond but sat on the side of the boat while I closed my eyes for a short nap.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~ So, this is Christmassss ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sho returned a few hours later with a young man with shaggy black hair and onyx eyes. He gestured towards the boat and Sho nodded while my clone dispersed to wake me up.
"So, you're a hunter? That's so cool!"
"Yeah, I know, I am pretty cool."
"So, what do you guys do? Steal like pirates? Fight super ninjas that even the major villages are afraid of? Save princesses for money!?"
"We do whatever we want."
"Woah!"
The young man continued to chirp gleefully while Sho blew his own horn as they walked up the ramp to the deck. "Hey Sho, is this a merchant?"
"Yeah, he got kicked out of an inn while I was walking around so I brought him back here."
"Why did he get kicked out?"
Sho slapped the young adult on the back and pushed him forward while laughing, "let him explain!" he said through snorts.
"Well first, what's your name?"
"I'm Yugi, provisional merchant and master chef!" He pointed a thumb to his face and smiled with his teeth shining brightly.
"O-kay, and Yugi, why did you get kicked out of the inn you were probably going to stay at?"
"They said something about 'not touching their staff' but I ignored it when Sho dragged me here."
I looked at Sho and he was openly laughing at Yugi's recollection. "Nah, that ain't what happened. You grabbed the waitress's ass and the owner kicked you out!"
"Sho! This is just a kid! Don't use that language!"
I slapped my forehead loudly and brought the fish up over deck using the rope on my sword. Yugi's eyes sparkled and he brought out a small notepad to jot down some things before he put it away.
"Very good! Okay, does this place have a kitchen?" He looked around and his face started to pale as he viewed the massacre from earlier in the day. "Did you really only just notice that?"
He put a hand over his mouth and nodded frantically, running over to the side of the boat, and throwing up. I sighed out loud and looked over to Sho, who was still laughing wildly. "Go find a kitchen, this place should have one. I want to get to know Yugi a bit more."
"Alright, have fun kid."
Sho dropped into a door, and I hooked the net back onto my sword while slowly rubbing circles on Yugi's back. He eventually stopped his stream of barf and pulled a bottle of water from his bag, chugging it before breathing deeply. "Wow! You guys are brutal!" I nodded and pulled up the fish again, Yugi snagged a few from the net and looked at them closely.
"I found the kitchen!" Sho called out from below us. I put the fish back down while Yugi was still holding a few. I walked downstairs and saw a decently furbished kitchen with barrels for dried foods, a sink, a long counter with several appliances hooked up to a generator in the corner.
Yugi pushed past me and laid the three fish in his hands over the counter. Sho quirked an eyebrow and I watched surprised as he masterfully whipped out a knife and cut straight through the first one's neck.
"Yugi! Those aren't supposed to be cooked!" Sho cried out.
He ignored Sho's howls and pulled his knife across the belly and down to the tail. I walked around him to get a better perspective of the cooking. Yugi's eyes, they had a sort of glow to them, like he was a robot being programmed to perfection for this task.
Yugi cut through the spin of the fish and opened up the creature, swiftly scooping out a small blue sack and gently placing it in the sink. I could barely catch the action before he moved onto the next step, cutting it open like a butterfly and digging through some cupboards below to pull out an iron skillet.
"Is he actually going to cook a treasured fish?" Sho said out loud with wide eyes, I nodded, and Yugi turned on the stove with a bottle of cooking oil in his other hand. He splashed a couple of tablespoons in the pan and placed the bottle back down while sifting through another cabinet, placing several seasonings above his head while the pan heated up.
Sho grabbed out a plate and Yugi seasoned the fish with a couple of spices before placing it in the pan and wiping his head. "What was that Sho?" He said while wiping his hand with a tea towel.
"Those aren't for cooking, we need a special organ from inside of it to sell, specifically to you."
"Huh!? I thought it was a rare delicacy! But is that the organ you are talking about?" He pointed to the blue sack in the sink that had been kept perfectly. "It didn't look like it would taste good, so I removed it."
"I have no idea if that's it, but this fish better taste damn good for the heart attack you gave me."
"Do parrot fish even taste good?" I asked, in either of my lives, I had never had a parrot fish or even knew they could be eaten.
"Of course, they do! No where near as good as the trout in Wave, but still amazing!" Sho yelled passionately.
"Yeesh, alright I get it." I surrendered, preferring to watch Yugi's perfect cooking than argue with a very charged middle-aged man. Though 30 isn't middle-aged.
Yugi flipped the fish for a quick 10 second sear at high heat and placed it on the plate, cracking some salt and pepper over it and handing it to Sho. "Try it, I think it turned out pretty good."
The fish almost had an ethereal glow to it, and somewhere in the background were angels singing in praise. "T-This is pretty good?!" Sho gawked while looking down at the dish, it was simple sure, but this could outdo the most expensive ingredients in the world in my opinion.
"Yeah! I don't have too much to work with here, so it's pretty basic." Yugi replied while seasoning another fish and placing it in the pan. Sho grabbed out a fork and sat at the counter on one of the barrels of dried food. He lowered his utensil to the plate and without any pressure, he sliced through it like butter. Sho looked down at his plate and squinted his eyes from the shining light emanating from the dish.
Yugi smiled while Sho dug in slowly and filled the room with a loud moan of delight. The chef placed a fish on another plate and offered it to me, I accepted graciously and put a small piece of fillet into my mouth.
It was sweet, and also fatty, but it just melted into my mouth beautifully and the feeling could be compared to cocaine in euphoric dopamine goodness.
Yugi laughed at my face, but I ignored it to continue eating while he picked at his own plate, giving a small grunt of enjoyment, but nothing more.
"It was alright, I guess. Maybe a 6.2 out of ten, that puts it in… 58th place, right behind the lightning catfish in lightning country."
"You some sort of reviewer as well?" I asked while he continued to whisper to himself and right down more notes.
"Exactly! I want to open up my own restaurant after my journey is finished, only sourcing the best ingredients for my customers!"
"Wow, is everyone travelling the continent these days?" Sho remarked while patting his belly. Yugi smiled widely and took our plates, stacking them next to the sink.
"So, what do you want me to do about this?" He pointed down at the blue blobs of extremely precious goo.
"I'll get it, don't worry." I said, swinging around the counter and scooping them into my inventory. "Woah! How did you do that!?"
"Street magic, learnt it from my dad."
"Cool!"
I walked up to the deck and pulled my sword from the mast, dragging all of the fish onto the deck. "Hey kid, Yugi will be following us around from now on, he wants the extra protection, and I want the good food."
"Heh, I also want more of that stuff. Can we get Yugi to remove the organs from these so I can store them? I don't think its useful to keep them alive anymore, they take too much work."
"Breaking the law at such a young age, but yeah, I'll get him to do it." Sho walked back through the door and down some steps while I summoned Komai.
"Hey Komai, we found a merchant to buy the fish, can you fly us to iron country now?"
"Of course, let me know when you're ready to go. I wanted to bask in the moonlight anyway."
"Have fun." I said sardonically while walking down the steps to the kitchen. Sho and Yugi were talking when I lugged the entire net into the kitchen. "Cook man, do thing."
"Baby man, I do thing." Yugi replied while making a weird face at me, I blew him off and cut open the top of the net. He grabbed out the first fish and began to remove the organs before placing the parts in separate piles.
"First goal is Iron country; we'll be there for a couple of weeks and then we will loop back around south towards the land of crescents. Our next country we get to will be Earth country though. So, Shin, you might want to hide your hair or something."
"Yes sir." I put up a mock salute and started to store the chakra organs and fish into my inventory, Yugi looking over in amazement every few seconds.
After we finished, I brought Yugi up to meet Komai while Sho checked his supplies and grabbed extra food from the kitchen. And after half an hour of preparing, we were off to the land of earth.
9 hours later
"Oi Shin, wake up, the ground's getting pretty rocky, so I think we crossed the border." Sho nudged me on the shoulder, and I rolled over to ignore him.
"5 more minutes." I grumbled out.
Sho slapped me upside the head, and I sprung up to hit him back. He dodged my swipe, and I slammed my palm straight into Yugi's face, causing him to roll back on the saddle and yelp out in pain.
"Shit! You alright Yugi?" I asked, crawling over to the young chef that was rolling around in pain.
"Youch! You hunters are no joke!"
I let out a breath and turned around to the front of Komai. He was currently focused on flying ahead while I looked down at the ground. There was a bright light being reflected off of something on the ground.
"Hey Komai, is that water down there?"
Komai twisted his head downward but quickly swerved to the left, almost throwing me off his back. "What the hell!?" Sho yelled out while holding himself from falling to his death.
Just then, a large harpoon soared past Komai's wing and into the air. "A fucking harpoon!?" Sho yelled out while Komai swerved again to dodge another harpoon. I looked up and saw something attached to the harpoons, several slips of paper slowly sizzling on the sides of the barbs.
"DUCK!" I yelled out, everyone kneeled over and the sky above us was lit up like fireworks. It felt like the heat of the sun being blasted on my back.
From the smoke in the air, Komai blasted out and began to fly downwards to try and land, an air battle wouldn't work. Komai was heavily injured and coughing while he landed softly on the ground, apologizing before he disappeared back to his realm.
"Shit, I'll protect Yugi, sense out any enemies." Sho commanded, I nodded and activated my dojutsu. There were several presences surrounding us, a couple of them were sparky and volatile while the others were rigid and commanding.
"9 enemies, 2 have some sort of weird chakra that feels sparky, the others are earth release users."
"Explosion corps, fuck, we can't fight here."
I looked around the area and it was a closed off plateau with 2 cliffs on either side of us, perfect for causing a collapse. One of the explosion corps moved through the ground onto one of the cliffs above us and became even more static like.
"I think one of them is doing something up above." I said out loud, bringing my blade out of my inventory. Sho whipped out a kunai and Yugi stood in-between our backs, quivering slightly but staying wary to warn us.
*KABOOM*
The cliffs surrounding us collapsed in a shower of fire, launching rubble everywhere. I quickly formed 3 shadow clones that slammed rasengans into the largest boulders while I blocked a hand that tried to grab me from underground.
Sho grabbed Yugi and jumped onto the top of the cliff, leaving me below and taking away the attention of several shinobi. My shadow clones surrounded me in a manji formation, each holding a large kunai blade of their own.
"Alright fellas, we have 3 still underground around us. One of the explosive ones as well."
"We know dummy, we're you."
My clones smirked back at me before one of them threw their blade into the air, reaching his hands into the skies and forming two palm sized rasengans to slam into the ground, causing two large craters to from with an Iwa shinobi lying unconscious in the middle.
"Ready for more?" My clone said as he caught his sword out of the air. The Iwa shinobi appeared from the ground with furious faces on them, seems like they didn't like their comrade being taken out in one hit.
"The yellow flash's justu, you must be his apprentice. We'll ship your head to him with a bow!"
'Oh, so that's it.' I put my sword away and made 6 hand seals, a blade of lighting chakra coating my hand. My clones flicked through hand signs and spat out large globs of water all over the ground and area.
"Lightning and water make… a quick death!" I blasted forward and shoved my hand through one of the Iwa shinobi's hearts, carrying the body up on my arm and infusing the blood with my chakra before slamming it into the water and sending several amperes of electrical current through the bodies of my enemies.
The explosion corp member managed to jump away at the last moment, avoiding all damage and landing on the walls of the cliff. "Earth style: Rock bullet!" He yelled out, launching 4 massive boulders from his mouth straight at me.
I stopped time and looked at the boulders flying towards me, inwardly smirking as the time ticked down. When time resumed, I blasted forward and propelled myself off of the rock bullets towards the enemy, using them like jump pads midair.
"How the hell is that even possible!?"
I didn't respond but brought up the corpse of his ally, his eyes widened with a fire of rage burning inside of them as I launched the corpse of his fallen comrade straight into his arms.
He caught the body with a growl, but his eyes widened when I clapped my hands together and a large thorn of blood skewered through his abdomen, killing him instantly.
"GAH!"
My head snapped to the top of the cliff where Sho and Yugi were, now, only Yugi was standing there, slowly backing up. Sho's body was flying out of a cloud of smoke down the cliff face.
One of my clones jumped up and caught him while the other 2 shot up to block the shinobi from attacking Yugi. They were both slapped away with an explosive smack in the face, not even leaving them time to react. The memories of my clones returned to me, and I poured swift chakra into my body, there was no way I was going to win without it.
I twirled around and slammed my foot into the back of the shinobi's head, knocking him away slightly. "The yellow flash's disciple, what an honor it is for me to be the one to kill you." He growled out, spitting out a tooth that had fallen loose in his mouth.
"An honor you won't receive, I decide when I die." I responded, readying my blade with a tight grip. I dashed forward with all my strength, setting my posture a single step in front of the enemy, 'haze sword technique: Lotus strike!'.
My sword launched forward toward his throat but at the last second, he pushed the blade away with a slam of his hand, leaving my left side open, but he didn't follow up.
I quirked my eyebrow and he pointed down, I looked at my sword and instantly flung it away to avoid the explosive tag that was attached. The shinobi vanished from my view, and I barely had enough time to block a hook to my left side, ducking under the blow and returning a palm strike to the liver, which was blocked by his elbow. He attempted to sweep my legs, but I jumped over his foot and tried to kick him in the head, but he grabbed my leg and threw me into the ground, creating a crater where I fell.
"The one who killed you was named, Bolton Akafura." He picked me up by my neck and was about to end my life before Sho appeared with a large scar covering the right side of his face, landing a solid kick to Bolton's head.
I regained my breath and Sho stepped in front of me, "stay back for this one." My eyes widened slightly but I sat down on the ground, he seemed to almost glow in that moment, the man I respected most in either of my lives, Shoma Yuiki.
"Don't die old man, you still got a couple of your good years." He flicked back a thumbs up to me and spat out 4 balls of water. "Aw, now my pretty face is ruined." Sho chuckled while walking forward and whipping out 2 kunai in reverse grip.
Bolton jumped out of the dirt covered in water and mud. Sho raced forward and tried to slash the shinobi across his torso, only slightly cutting the enemy who returned with a palm strike to the side.
Sho stumbled back a little bit but fell over entirely when his torso suddenly exploded. "SHO!" I yelled out, but he held his hand up for me to stop. "You stay, I'll finish this."
The visage of Sho disappeared in a cloud of dust and Bolton came stumbling out of the dirt minutes later, holding his chest in pain while Sho followed him, walking slowly. "WHO!"
"WHO THE HELL ARE YO-"
Bolton was silenced by his voice box being ripped out by Sho's bare hand. "The one who killed you." Sho put his kunai straight through the man's forehead and promptly fell unconscious.
I slowly walked over to Sho and picked him up over my shoulder, looking over at his resting face. 'What happened to you?' I thought, walking away slowly to find Yugi. I thought I was just stumbling in the dirt from the weight, but a sizzling noise from behind me drew my attention to Bolton's body. It was propped up with his thumb over his heart, digging into his torso.
His chest started to glow orange, pulsing in and out like a heart beating. 'Well, that can't be good.' I slowly shuffled even faster, stopping behind a rock where Yugi happened to be hiding.
"Sup, mind holding onto the old man for me?"
Yugi nodded quickly and I peeked over the rock to look at the corpse that was beating even faster now. I groaned and used the rest of my chakra to summon Komoru.
"Fly us out of here, now."
"Alright, it will be a bumpy ride since there's no saddle."
I helped Yugi onto Komoru's back and jumped up with Sho on mine. "Take off please, we need to escape quickly."
"Okay."
Komoru blasted into the sky, and I looked back at Bolton's body. It was turning red and starting to grow to abnormal proportions. When we were around 2km away, my ears began to ring extremely loudly.
"W-What is that?" Yugi stuttered out in fear, I slowly turned around and saw a large sun expanding towards at an alarming rate. "FUCK, SPEED UP KOMORU OR WE'LL ALL DIE"
"YES SIR!"
Komoru sped up even more and I watched the explosion come ever closer towards us, until it just stopped entirely. "Komoru, wait." The bat boss stopped and turned around so he could see as well.
The blast had stopped entirely, completely flipping off any physicist that would care. From the ground, a black mist, which I had originally mistaken for dirt was starting to cover and coat the blast in a black miasma.
"L-Lord Luminos?" Komoru whispered out, my eyes widened as the dark mist finished covering the entire explosion. It started to get smaller and Komoru flew forward towards the center, seemingly entranced by the event.
"Komoru!"
"…"
"KOMORU, STOP!"
He landed softly on the ground and shook us off, walking into the blast slowly. I ran after him, but his eyes had turned into the maroon color I was all too familiar with. "KOMORU!"
"KOMORU PLEASE STOP!"
Komoru completely ignored me and entered the black mist, his figure fading into the darkness. The explosion began to compress but Komoru was no longer there, his body had been lost forever to the void.
RIP Komoru, maybe you will be missed.
3rd Person POV
In the center of the wreckage, a small glowing orb was visible, floating barely a meter off the ground. "Well, this speeds things up, I didn't expect that old bat to just offer himself up. His remaining energy will accelerate plans greatly" A tan woman wearing an all-white robe with a black moon on the back snatched the gem from the air, inspecting it closely with her jade eyes.
"Miss Yoru, we need to leave. Dusk's target is coming to this location."
"I suppose we do, it's a shame, I would have loved to meet him, just to see what they think is so special."
A flutter resounded from the rocks surrounding the pair of master and servant, several figures wearing maroon capes stood menacingly. "Hand over the crystal Yoru, our goals still align."
"Change in plans, tell my mother she can call whenever. I think this'll do nicely as a pendant, don't you think?"
The cloaked figures launched towards the white robed woman and attempted to snatch the gem from her palms but met nothing but air in their hands as the pair had disappeared like a passing breeze.
"Miss Luna isn't going to like this."
"Not one bit."
They all vanished without a trace while Shin was still looking for his strongest summon among the wreckage, the boss of the bat clan, Komoru, who had lived over 900 years was already gone, his energy plundered for a dark cause.
No more bat boss ;(
9 Hours later
"He's gone Shin."
"He can't be, he just can't! What am I going to do about Komizu, what about the rest of the bats?! How am I supposed to explain this!?"
"Just calm down, it'll be alright."
Sho had woken up a short while ago, his body, especially face, were thoroughly scarred from the explosions. I couldn't control my breathing properly, my vision was darkening, and I still couldn't find my strongest summon among the wreckage, but why did that even matter? Him being my strongest summon, he was my friend!
"Shin! Breathe, just, breathe."
I took a deep breath and felt tears fill my eyes. Komoru, he taught me techniques, he helped me, he was there for me, and where was I when I needed him? I should've been more, if I just knew him a bit better, if I just worked harder, I could have saved him.
I bit my thumb and fumbled through some hand seals, using my regenerated chakra to send myself to the summon realm. "I'll be back soon." Sho attempted to reach out to me but I was gone before he could.
Noriki Cave
"Oh, hey Shin, you alright?"
Komobi was laying outside the cave while I slumped through the cave, following the directions I was told while my seal was being fixed.
When I reached Komoru's room, what used to be, I opened a crate at the back of the cave, one saved for special occasions. Usually, it would be another bat setting this relic up, but there I was, fumbling around with a large golden bell.
It was made to fit into a shrine at the highest peak surrounding the cave. I put it in my inventory and called for Komai, he crawled into the room and asked what I needed, he needed to rest because of his injuries so I didn't expect him to help.
"Who's the next best flyer here?"
"Komsa, why?"
"Please bring him here."
"Are you okay Shin?"
"I'm fine, don't worry about it."
Komai nodded and brought in a large bat with 3 white dots over his back and wings. "It is a pleasure to meet you master Shin, what do you request."
"Take me to the highest peak."
Komai and Komsa froze before Komai dropped his head and left. "I shall gather the others."
"Let's get moving master Shin."
"Just Shin is fine."
Komsa flew through the hole in the roof and zoomed across the sky to a large mountain with a tower built on top of it. He landed softly on the roof, and I swung under, pulling out the bell from my inventory and propping it into place with a click. It was nearly 3 times my height but was surprisingly light.
I hiccupped and the images of earlier flashed through my head. 'Dead, Komoru's dead, forever, never coming back.' I had never experienced death of a close one and never did I expect to, but that was wishful thinking.
"Master Shin, just 4 times."
"Okay, so 4 rings?"
"Yes."
I grabbed the thick rope tied to the bell and tugged it, letting it swing. *GONG* 'I hate this feeling' *GONG* 'What's the point of having an overpowered game system, when I can't even protect 1 person?' *GONG* 'Maybe I should just give up.' *GONG* 'Just maybe.'
Komsa laid a hand on my shoulder and stopped the bell with his other claw. I turned around and looked down at the forest, it was the only time I had ever seen it this bright.
There were large torches lit inside of the caves and over the cliffs, a light for every life he added to, a flame for every good deed, and a stick in this forest for all who cherished and respected him. 'That's what he said, right?'
Komsa lowered his back and I climbed on. He slowly glided down to the cave and let me off when we entered the quarters. Komoko entered the room with some grey clothes and a necklace. "For you, master Shin. Tomorrow is the day of blindness, please select a successor after then."
"I need to select one?"
"Yes, it would be an honor for you to select one. Truly."
"Would you like for me to stay for tomorrow?"
"No thank you, please wear those and do not summon us tomorrow. It is a day of solitude."
"Alright, I'm very sorry."
"Explain the circumstances at the successor ceremony, arrive at 9:00 pm, no later, in two days."
"Okay, goodbye Komoko."
"Goodbye master Shin."
I made 3 hand seals and returned to my previous position in the land of earth, there was no way any of the bats, especially Komizu, would want to see me right now.
"Welcome back."
I looked to see Sho sitting on the ground while Yugi cooked something in a pot. I walked to where they were and sat on the stone, staring into the fire.
Sho shuffled next to me and patted my head, dragging my head into his shoulder. "It's fine, it's all fine kid. We'll get them back for this." Sho said, ruffling my hair until I stood up and stored the clothes I received into my inventory.
"I. Need some time to cool off."
"Sure, want some food before you go?"
"No thank you, goodnight, Yugi, Sho."
"Night Shin!"
"Goodnight kid."
I put my hands in my pockets and sat behind some rocks to think. Why was I so weak? I had been grinding my entire life, always gaining exp for something but I couldn't even get close to Kakashi, Guy or even Sho in a real fight, what was I doing wrong? Was I just not meant to fight? I gripped my fist tightly and felt the strain on my forearm, 'I have so many boons at my disposal, but my performance is subpar, what's wrong with me?'
"Nothing's wrong Michael."
"You decided to use it again huh?"
"Well, we didn't really want to interrupt the not so fun stuff. But nothing is wrong with you sure there could be some things you can improve in, like actual physical training, but you are above average in most fields of being a shinobi, especially for someone as young as 7 years old. You still need to mature anyway, so don't rush yourself and enjoy life, right? You only have infinite."
"Heh, I guess I do, wonder what will happen when I get bored."
"We might have something for that, something like- NIKA I FUCKING SWEAR TO US, I'M GOING TO SHOVE YOUR FRUIT FROM SO UP YOUR ASS YOU'LL TASTE IT TOMORROW, oh shit, this is still on isn't it."
"Yes, yes, it is."
"Until next time Sandro. Oh yeah, one last thing, we let your mum off the hook this time, but if she does it again, you won't be seeing her for another hundred lifetimes."
"Good to know, thank you, whoever you are."
"Bach, but you can call me Dion. Until next time, keep up the good show."
"Yes sir." I gave a mock salute while looking up to the sky, sighing deeply while my head dropped. 'Maybe some physical training would do me some good.'
I pulled out my technique vouchers and absorbed them 1 by 1, slowly watching the windows stack up in my view.
"New skill learned 'Swift release: Shadowless step (B – RANK)'!"
"New skill learned 'Adamantine attacking chains (A – RANK)'!"
"New skill learned 'Fire style: Phoenix sage fire technique (C – RANK)'!"
"New skill learned 'Earth style: Earth spear (B – RANK)'!"
"New skill learned 'Forbidden jutsu: Paper human transformation (A – RANK)'!"
'Neat' I let out a yawn and looked at the afternoon sun. It was a surprise nobody from Iwa had shown up yet when one of their squads was massacred.
My skill list was piling up nicely, but I still wasn't as strong as I wanted to be, needed to be. One thing piqued my interest though, a forbidden jutsu, my first one, "the paper human transformation?" I read out loud.
I activated the skill to see what it did, and an unbearable pain came over me, far more painful than even the cursed seal being fixed. "RAHHHHH" I screamed out in pain, shaking on the floor as my skin began to peel off in squares and flutter in the wind.
"SHIN!" Sho jumped over the rock I was sitting behind as my veins started to bulge. "YOUR THROAT!" I looked down and saw the front of my throat peeling off and fluttering into the sky.
"KID, DON'T DIE ON ME KID!" The bottom of my face dispersed before I stared at Sho, my eyes growing dimmer by the second. His hands started to glow green before I was suddenly staring down at him from above.
"Up here."
Sho looked into the sky and stared right at me, his jaw slamming into the ground. I looked at my hands and they were still in small squares, but they fit together perfectly to create my hand. Behind me were two wings of paper, perfectly folded together. 'Konan?' I thought while looking around the rest of my body. The edges of my limbs were patchy and paper-like, but the rest was normal.
I attempted to create a rasengan in my palm, but the chakra got stuck inside of the paper and a swirl of small sheets was spinning around in a twister on top of my hand.
It was instinctual, controlling my own body like a jutsu. I imagined my hand as a spear and it became one, spinning around and compressing like a rolled-up sheet. I could still make normal jutsu and use them, but it was weird, it felt off somehow.
It's like learning how to ride a bike and then jumping on a skateboard and expecting it to work the same. I pushed my legs to the ground and slowly, my body unfolded and reformed at the position I imagined.
Sho picked up his jaw but was stuttering at a loss for words. "Y-Y-HUH!?"
"Paper, I'm paper now."
Sho's head slumped down and I patted it affectionately, "don't worry bud, it's a bit complicated." He let out a pitiful whine but shook off my hand, standing back up straight and holding out his fist. I pushed mine against his and he gave me a smile, which I returned happily before Yugi called us over for a late lunch.
"Can we stop waiting now!? I'm hungry!" He whined out, Sho chuckled a bit and pushed me forward into step with him before he sat on the dirt.
Yugi placed two bowls in front of us and filled them up with some sort of stew. "Sorry about this, I don't have many good ingredients here. When we get to a good town I'll pick up some good stuff."
I put the bowl up to my mouth and felt the warm liquid hit my mouth. "Holy shit! This is amazing!" Sho yelled out, blurting out the thoughts I had. He finished his bowl in seconds while I took it at a slower pace.
Yugi smiled and finished his own bowl while Sho shoveled a second one into his mouth. "So, what next? Are we going to defeat a samurai wanted by the entire world? Steal a secret treasure of an ancient clan?"
"You're way too excited for this Yugi haha."
"No way Shin, there is no way to be too excited for an adventure!"
"All of that positivity is going to electrocute me."
"Actually, lightning is negative particles."
"Put a sock in it ya old can."
"Yeah Sho, no fun at all!"
Sho shrugged and placed down his bowl before popping his joints and yawning. "It's only the afternoon and I'm so tired."
"We should still travel while the sun is up, I can't call on any of my summons for a couple of days so they can mourn."
"Yeah. Okay."
Sho stayed a bit more silent as Yugi began to pack away his equipment. We left the area quietly and followed Sho's compass east, hopefully we would reach the land of iron in a few days.
Tsuchikage's Office – Land of Earth
"They want what?!"
"A summit, Lord Onoki."
Onoki scanned over the letter once more, looking for any discrepancies or falsehoods. Konoha had sent out a letter to all nations calling for a kage summit to discuss peace treaties across all the major nations, something that usually wasn't done instead messengers being used.
At the bottom of the page, it was signed by the hokage, Minato Namikaze. He was sworn in as they war died down and had called for a summit near instantly as to discuss reparations and other matters between the 5 kage.
"Send a reply, Iwagakure will not be present during the summit."
"Yes Lord Onoki."
The subordinate bowed and left the room after Onoki shooed him off, continuing to stamp papers idly until the subordinate ran back into the room, flinging papers around from the wind.
"Lord Onoki, someone is here to see you."
"Tell them I'm busy and they can make an appointment."
"Ah, but you don't look very busy."
The Tsuchikage's eyes widened, and he pointed his gaze upward to the blonde-haired man now sitting across from him. "And what do I owe the pleasure, yellow flash?"
"Lord Hokage now Onoki, just here to formally invite you in person to the kage summit. Maybe pick up a souvenir or two for my wife."
"You can leave my office to start with, do this the normal way yellow flash, the war is over, and I won't stand for your antics."
"Would it not be nice to settle this peacefully in a neutral environment? Letters are a bit slow for my liking."
"If only the world worked as your naïve viewpoint dictated. Alas, it doesn't, and now I have another piece against Konoha." Onoki snapped his fingers and 6 ANBU members appeared in the room, holding different weapons and surrounding Minato in his chair. Minato smirked and disappeared in a bright flash of yellow light.
Onoki sighed deeply and waved off the ANBU members back to their posts. He looked back over the letter one more time and called in the same subordinate from earlier. "Deliver this letter to Konoha and the land of Iron and clean up the papers you messed up while you wait."
"Yes sir." The subordinate groaned, picking up the papers and slowly sorting them, her blonde hair blocking her face from view. Onoki picked up a pen and began to write his letter.
'Iwagakure, will formally accept the invitation for the 5 kage summit taking place in the land of Iron.
Signed, Onoki Kamizuru'
The Tsuchikage tossed the letter over to his secretary which she caught easily and left the room without messing up the fixed piles of paperwork.
Onoki laid back in his chair and stared at the roof before sighing heavily, "I don't know how to feel about him, should I hate his guts for killing so many of my own? Or should I respect his willpower and strength? Ugh, I need to find a successor soon."
He pushed his chair back up too quickly a hit his hip out of place, whining in pain and slumping over his desk. "Very. Soon."
Shin POV
"How much longer until we reach the border on foot?" I groaned out, my feet were starting to hurt, and Yugi wasn't getting any lighter. "Still a couple more days kid, we can stop at Rose town though on the way."
"And how far is that?"
"We should be there tomorrow evening, if not then the day after."
"Ugh, really wish Komai was here right now."
"Same."
"Are there any relics or something we can collect on the way?"
"Not without causing an international disaster."
"What about bounties?"
"I need a rest from combat, I mean, look at my face." He pointed to the left side of his face, which was thoroughly raw and pink, something that wouldn't return to normal. "Fucking explosions." Sho growled out.
I brought out my bingo book and flicked through the pages while Yugi took a break to stretch his legs. "What about this one?"
"I already said no-. Actually, I might have one more fight in me."
I scanned the page and smirked, this one would be a little bit of a step up from the past bounties, but the reward well made up for it. A frivolous bomber from Iwa that stole many seals and scrolls.
Amber Akafura
Age: 24
Description: Blonde hair with dark blue eyes, last seen wearing Iwa jonin attire
Affiliation: N/A (Previously Iwa)
Notable Abilities: Explosion release, Minefield jutsu, Explosive snap
Bounty: 2,250,000
Crimes: Theft, Desertion, Murder, Espionage
Recent location: Nam Village in the land of Earth
"This is an old issue of the bingo book though, so we need to pick up another."
"How old?"
"About 2 weeks, why?"
"Nam village is east of Rose town, and even further east of that is the capital. He could be escaping this way; we should still pick up another issue just in case though."
I nodded and folded over the corner of the page as a bookmark. Snapping the book closed while Sho brought Yugi onto his back. Sho leaped onto some rocks, and I followed straight after him, the terrain was very rough to navigate if you weren't sticking close to an expert, or at least someone who knows the place.
17 hours later, Rose town in the land of Earth
"That. Took far too long to find." I panted out slowly, we had been navigating the same mountain range since daybreak and only just found the town, even then, we had to follow a merchant cart around several dozen dangerous cliff faces to enter.
"Thanks captain obvious." Sho panted while cracking his back. Yugi bounced on the balls of his feet happily, how I envied his position of being carried around and not having to watch for a rolled ankles or a snaring branch that would attempt to attack you.
Rose town was a very dull place, housing many buildings but most of them were living spaces for the hired miners that would work around the mountains, collecting rare and expensive minerals to export. Many of the buildings were made of wood, but the few that weren't were workshops or some sort of storage facilities.
I entered the hunter's office and stood at the end of the line, there were 3 people in front of me, the one at the front wearing a black cloak while the other 2 were chatting amiably behind the cloaked hunter.
The cloaked man nodded something at the clerk and turned around to leave but I got a good look at his face before he exited, blonde hair, blue eyes, and the top of a jonin vest was sticking out from the middle of the cloak he wore.
The other 2 hunters also spotted him and after he left followed quietly from the building. The clerk at the front called for me and I nodded, stepping forward to look over the desk.
"Where's the nearest bounty office?"
"Next door, they've been complaining about a lack of prisoners."
"How much for the newest issue of bingo book?"
"6,000 ryo for one."
"Yeesh that's steep."
"Well there have been quite a few improvements to the format of entries, though some things are gone. It also contains many more entries, entered by the kages themselves."
I pulled 12 thousand ryo from my inventory and passed it over the counter. He flicked through the bills and stacked two red books with golden borders in front of me. "Thanks."
"No problem, come around if you need a job, the mines need some help."
I nodded and left the building, stashing my books and activating my dojutsu. There was Amber's explosive chakra signature moving quite quickly towards the center of town and he was being chased by the two from earlier I presumed, though they had lowered their chakra signatures while moving.
Surprisingly, I could sense Sho near the town center himself. He was probably waiting for Yugi or something like that. I separated my back into 2 wings and hopped into the air, soaring to follow my target.
He was laying low in an alley with the other 2 hunters still searching around for him. Below me, Amber was sitting behind some crates to catch his breath while I was stationary, over 30 m into the air.
I formed a shadow clone that was also flying, and when Amber was about to make a move, I dropped from the sky and attempted to slam my foot on his head. Amber dodged by jumping backwards but my clone dropkicked him from the back, launching him through the dirt and towards my feet.
I unraveled my fingers into small needles and threw them with my other hand, piercing his shoulders before the paper flew back to my hand.
Amber shifted his hand to the ground and propelled himself into the air with a large explosion. My clone was dismissed, and I flew up into the air with a kick to his chin, he tilted his head back and attempted to grab my leg, but I spread my leg apart and flew backwards to dodge the explosion that resulted.
My wings became a bit shorter while my leg was reformed with a mixture of charred paper and normal. I formed my left arm into a large spear blade, flying forward to skewer Amber on the tip of it, but he ignited the air with a snap of his fingers, launching himself out of the way.
"I didn't think Iwa would send a kid after me, have the really run out of forces?"
I swiped again with my left arm, but he dodged out of the way and attempted to grab my arm. I lifted it out of the way, but he grabbed my wing instead and swung onto my back, blowing my wings up sending me spiraling to the ground.
Amber flipped over my back, kneeing me in the face and grabbing my shoulders for another kick. I disassembled my torso to dodge the kick and reformed it around his leg, flipping him towards the ground and kicking him in the chin for even more momentum.
*KABOOM*
Amber crashed into the town square with a gigantic explosion, bringing memories back of the previous day. I shook my head off those thoughts and gathered my body back into place before landing on the ground.
I looked below when the dust settled and saw Amber's corpse, but its hair was a bit darker than earlier. From the dirt perhaps? His chakra signature suddenly moved below me, and my ankle was snared before I was pulled underground.
There was a large sinkhole underground I was dragged into, Amber holding his hands on the ground. "Sup kid!" He launched several explosions from his hands that caused the place to rumble from the pressure.
I walked forwards and felt a squish under my foot before it suddenly exploded with great force. "Minefield jutsu, my specialty." I stumbled backwards and triggered another explosion, singing my body even more, so much so that my paper was becoming far harder to control.
"Not a very chatty one, are you?"
"Fuck off."
"My, how rude! Bad kids get punished!" Amber snapped his fingers and set off a chain reaction of explosions across the hole, bringing down the streets from above, the rocks setting off even more mines.
I made 26 hand signs in quick succession, sprouting 2 golden chains from my back and planting them into the ground as legs. They carried me up to the top of the hole before Amber appeared in front of me, snapping his fingers and flipping me backwards. I grit my teeth and flip forwards with my legs out, slamming my heels into his shoulders and sending him straight into the ground.
I was about to carry myself further up until one of the chains was destroyed from below, forcing me to swing around on 1. Amber climbed up the other chain quickly, sporting a new crushed nose and bloody mouth.
When he was about to reach me, I dispersed my chain and fell towards the ground to dodge a swipe at my neck. While falling, I flicked through hand signs and looked up towards Amber.
"Fire style: Fireball jutsu!"
His body was covered in my inferno, but his descent did not slow down in the slightest. I barely formed one of my wings and spun out of the way before he slammed into the ground and set off several larger explosions that covered my vision in smoke.
"NO. MORE. FLYING."
I spun around while Amber tore through my remaining wing and set off an explosion near my head, making my ears ring loudly. Amber appeared before me again and uppercut my chin with explosive power, launching me high into the sky where I could see civilians running away from the destruction. I could sense Sho still there, perhaps helping someone?
My body spun around midair and plummeted towards the ground before I could think any more. I flicked through hand signs and coated my entire body in earth chakra, absorbing another 4 explosions that resulted from my impact.
The paper that made up my body became dark and rigid, feeling dozens of times heavier and denser. I could barely move while the jutsu was active, so I sensed Amber's chakra signature and found him jumping towards my location. The jutsu stopped being active and I jumped away to escape another explosion, Amber blasting out from the smoke with a fist cocked back.
I blocked the punch but the power behind it launched me into a wall, sending splinters and cracks along the side of the sinkhole turned crater.
Amber launched towards me and slammed another fist into my stomach, pushing me further into the stone wall. 'Iron skin!' I activated, feeling the pain from the explosions becoming numb while I slowly moved out of the crater, towards him.
Amber kept punching several more times against my body, but I stopped him, grabbing his face and covering the blood on it in chakra. "Say ahh." I growled out, turning the blood into several caltrops and slamming his mouth shut. He let out a pained scream and I slammed my fist into his throat, making 2 more chains appear from my back that skewered his stomach.
As I willed, the chains pried his body apart until it split, covering the area in blood and guts. I pushed myself out of the crater and up to the surface, looking like a tomato on a stem.
I saw Sho sitting on a roof and looking over at me. "SHIN!" My chains brought me towards him as disappeared when I reached the roof. "What is it?" I asked, his face was red so he must have been working hard.
"YOU."
"Me?"
"YOU."
"Yes?"
"YOU DESTROYED THE FUCKING INN I PAID FOR YOU IDIOT!"
Sho attempted to grab my neck, but I jumped off the roof to dodge. An angry Sho was far scarier than any S – Rank criminal, especially when he had the stamina to chase you.
The chapter is finished, very epic! Also yes, Shin is wearing the clothes for the day of blindness which if you didn't know, references the fact that bats lose a lot of their vision capabilities when there are many sounds around them, and for the bat clan, they play music with several rudimentary instruments to mourn the loss of their leaders.
Who do you think will be chosen as the next leader? Is this story even good? Let me know!
Cya! - tired
