Hello and Welcome to a new Chapter!

For those who aren't in the now, Ino won the vote. Now, like I said before in previous entries, I was debating whether or not to remove Ino from the list because I stated in the earlier chapters that I wasn't looking for a pairing that was considered "mainstream", and one of the reviewers did bring up that NaruIno was quite popular, which I failed to overlook. However, the rest of the readers have spoken, and Ino will be the pairing for this story.

I also hope you're enjoying those "In the past..." chapter entries I've been including where Wei Wuxian (AKA the YiLing Patriarch) is the star of the chapters. I didn't actually think the last one would go on for that long... But I enjoyed writing it nonetheless. And because I'm feeling rather uninspired with the main story, you're getting the next part to "The Swordsman" chapter (Sorry... :).

And, as I'm sure you've noticed, the action sequences in this story aren't very long, or detailed for that matter, and the truth is that I'm not great at writing fighting sequences. But for the sake of this story, I'll be sure to practice them.

Enough dilly dallying, let's get on with the story!

Thank you for listening to my rant.


The Swordsman (Part 2)


The YiLing Patriarch and Uzumaki Mito stood apart from each other, her single-edged blade reflecting light from the surrounding lanterns as she held it in front of her with two hands. The black-haired man drew his own sword, and held it in front of him, point towards her, with a single hand. Her violet eyes met his grey eyes, staring at each other and waiting for the other to make the first move.

"Why did you humiliate my student?" She asked, suddenly out of the blue. "Yoshiki says it was for no reason, but I wanted to hear it from you." She'd state. The YiLing Patriarch rose an eyebrow.

"How will I know you will take my word for it?" The YiLing Patriarch would ask, changing stance so that his sword-hand was behind him, instead having his off-hand in front of him with two fingers pointing towards Mito. She nodded in understanding at his concern.

"From one swordsman to another, I promise to listen if your reason is reasonable." She says with a small nod. The YiLing Patriarch understood.

"He was about to beat an elderly woman for accidentally spilling tea on him." The Black-haired man would say. In response, her shoulders sagged along with a sigh which escaped her lips. It was like she expected this...

"He had so much promise... it looks like he'll have to be disciplined." She says in sad manner, before her shoulders straightened back up and her eyes locked back onto his. It made him raise an eyebrow.

"Must we still fight?" He asked, his voice soft which betrayed his sturdy and cautious stance. She looked at him, to which she gave a single nod in reply.

"Even if it was a warranted punishment... I now wish to duel for the sake of personal curiosity." The Uzumaki would say. The YiLing Patriarch nodded in understanding, before giving her a smile. It has been a long time since he's used a sword, especially since he's been used to using his flute all this time.

"Then let us duel." He confirms. To which, to people with the common eye, she disappeared with a burst of speed, bringing her sword above her head and quickly bringing it down. A powerful overhead blow towards his head. The YiLing Patriarch quickly side-stepped to avoid the slash, before stepping on the sword once it was low enough to bury the edge of the blade into the ground. He then jumped off the sword and shot a mid-air roundhouse kick towards Mito's cheek. She bent her neck back and watched his foot sail an inch over her face. After the kick had passed she shot her head back into place, spinning her entire body to put a lot of weight and momentum into a horizontal slash. To which the YiLing Patriarch blocked with the flat-side of the blade, getting pushed ever so slightly at the strength of the strike.

He then parried the strike upward, causing the blade to go upward, but unexpectedly she let go of the handle of her sword as it went up, essentially throwing the sword up which allowed her to block the incoming spinning kick which came from the Patriarch with her forearms in a cross-formation, making her grit her teeth at the strength behind it. She pushed her forearms forward, which made her black-haired opponent to backflip and land on one of his feet before returning to a defensive position. She nodded in approval at this... this duel might actually be fun. Mito held out her hand and the handle of her sword which she threw up landed in her palm to which she quickly returned to a basic stance.

"You're good... in that short-exchange I can tell you're very experienced with your... strange sword." She says. The YiLing Patriarch nodded, looking down at the sword he had in his hand... before audibly sighing.

"Suibian..." He'd whisper and let out an exasperated sigh. This would be so much more fun if he had his old sword with him. Mito raised an eyebrow, before taking this moment of distraction to dash forward and thrust the point of her blade toward's his neck, to which the Patriarch quickly regained his bearings to parry the blade to the side before replying with a slash of his own towards her neck. She quickly ducked and launched her foot outwards, sliding it along the ground in order to sweep his legs, only for him to jump up and thrust his sword towards her forehead, to which she'd parry it upwards allowing the Patriarch to return to a neutral position. Mito stood from her ducked down position and held her sword in front of her once again.

This time, the Patriarch was the aggressor, dashing forward in a surprising burst of speed and launching several horizontal slashes, to which Mito moved backwards and adjusted to block every strike, keeping up with the pace with a bead of sweat running down the side of her face. Her focus turned into surprise when the Patriarch switched the direction of the final strike, this time, turning and striking horizontally on her other side, to which she blocked with the flat side of her blade. Only for her to recoil her face in pain as she jumped backwards and breathed heavily.

The Uzumaki brought a hand up to her face, touching her cheek and seeing her palm stained with blood. She looked at the reflection of her sword and saw a shallow cut on the side of her face, bleeding slightly. She then looked at the Patriarch, who sheathed his sword. He brought both of his hands up, holding them together and bowing... strange, she's never seen a bow like that bebfore.

"How... did you get me?" She asked. He looked at her, as if she knew the answer already.

"I... was blocking. And then... did you use Jutsu of some kind?" She then asked, to which he shook his head.

"Think back. You already know how." He replied.

She did so, thinking back. And then it struck her. He built up momentum using those successive strikes before carrying that momentum to the other direction and striking. But when he struck, he did so with the flat-side of the blade. When she blocked the strike, because the blade was so thin, the tip flicked over her blade when she blocked it and nicked her in the cheek...

Mito breathed heavily. Despite the duel being short, it was very intense, and it demonstrated two things. That she has to improve on her own...

And that the man standing in front of her was very dangerous.

The Patriarch smiled, bowing at her once again. "I hope the duel satisfied your curiosity."

This time, she bowed back. "It did, thank you."

"You're hurt... let me repay you." The YiLing Patriarch would say, a smile making its way back onto his face. She rose an eyebrow as her expression softened, sheathing her sword.

"I have healers back in my compound... I don't need to be patched up." She says, to which he sighed and looked around... before looking back at her with a bright smile.

"Shall I treat you to a bowl of Ramen then?" He asked. Mito looked thoughtful for a moment, before her stomach began to rumble. Looking down at her belly, she frowned slightly before looking up to the smug smile of her opponent. She sighed and her cheeks reddened slightly.

"Very well..." She says, embarrassed and slightly defeated. The YiLing Patriarch simply chuckled and motioned a hand for her to join him as he sat down in the Ramen bar. The chef approached them both, nodding once again, although with a suspicious glance to the YiLing Patriarch and then turning to the Uzumaki and bowing.

"Welcome back Mito-sama! I'm very humbled to have you back at my establishment... Would you like the usual?" The chef would say very professionally, still bowed. The Patriarch snuck a glance at Mito, who simply sighed and nodded.

"Thank you, Fujio-san." She'd say.

"Fujio?" The YiLing Patriarch would repeat, raising an eyebrow at the chef.

"Hai! Fujio Kataka! At your service!" He'd say, bowing. The YiLing Patriarch chuckled a bit at the now professionalism.

"Fujio, you've never shown such professionalism when I'm here." He'd say with a playful sort of hurtfulness. Such a positive attitude brough Fujio back down, making the chef lean on the counter and chuckle.

"You're... something else." The chef would state. And the Uzumaki sitting nearby would agree. Her violet eyes were locked onto the YiLing Patriarch's, and she was filled with...

Interest.


(To be continued...)


And that's the end of that chapter. In the day's I've been finishing this up, I've gained some more inspiration. For this story and possibly another one I may or may not start.

For those of you who are current Netflix scene, you may know that, fairly recently, a series of Japanese movies were added to the movie roster under the name HiGH&LOW. If you're familiar with this series, I was thinking of making another Naruto Crossover.

(SPOILERS FOR High&Low)
When Smoky dies he's reincarnated as Naruto. And then we move from there.

Thank you all so much for your support and I'll see you in the next chapter.

Nitro 3