DECLARATION OF WAR – NARUTO VS SHAO CHIN
Near the Volcanic Ring
With the cries of his sister, Naruto's eyes open. He looks down at his hands to see brilliant shining 'life' energy pouring out through his skin, manifesting into an aura that surrounds his body, clinging to it. He realises straight away that this is a divine 'life' cloak. After all his meditation it has paid off, he has broken through and become a class 7 warrior at last.
The moment that the cloak manifests around Naruto, Shao Chin digs his heals into the ground, halting his progress towards his prey. Something about Naruto makes him hesitate. When Naruto's eyes snap upwards to look at him, he feels for a rare change that he has become the prey. He leaps back immediately, so that he has eyes on all of them, Naruto, Ming Dai and all their allies.
"Hey Naruto, it looks like all that meditation finally paid off," Kurama says.
"Looks like it, and it looks like some things have changed," Naruto answers.
"That guy is different, isn't he?"
"Yeah."
"So, are you going to do something about him?"
"I think I should probably say hello to all the others first."
"Good idea."
Naruto looks at the people around him, first to his daughter. She hasn't aged a day he thinks to himself before realising that she wouldn't have. A master of divine energy having understood an element, Himawari wouldn't have aged at all. Still, after more than a year stuck in his inner world, thinking about nothing but the principles around the 'life' element, it is blissful to see her again.
"Hello Himawari, you look like you're doing well."
"Hi dad, you certainly picked a good moment to wake up."
Next Naruto looks to his immediate right, to his mother. She seems like she has been upset. And there is a child in her arms. Clearly plenty of time has elapsed since he went to sleep. Seeing his mother again, he feels like a child, like he has come home at long last. Alas, their home was taken from them a long time ago.
"Hello mom."
"Hello Naruto."
"Who is this," Naruto asks as he kneels down and inspects the baby.
"She's your little sister."
"Wow isn't she something special. What's her name?"
"We were waiting for you to wake up before naming her," Kushina reveals. "Himawari was right you know. Couldn't you have done us all a favour and woken up a bit earlier?"
Naruto doesn't answer, instead smiling. 'Life' is a complicated element, more so than he ever realised before he went into meditation. It is an element that only two people have ever understood and the other one was the genius who united Homeworld against the Dark Dimension and became the first emperor. Others have become class 7 warriors with the help of coincidence, leading them to events that help them to make realisations about their element. Some have become class 7 warriors through perseverance and effort, but none have required more determination than him. Determination has thankfully always been Naruto's strong suit.
Next on his list of people to greet is his father. He's clearly become a father again, something he seems quite happy about. He's smiling too, hopefully that means he's happy to see Naruto. When asked he confirms this, again praising Naruto's timing in returning to a conscious state.
Then is Ming Dai. Naruto walks over to his heavily injured comrade and kneels down next to him. Despite being a master of healing, he is no doctor. Even without any medicinal expertise, he can tell that Ming Dai has suffered sequential beatings. He is barely able to move anymore but is still very much awake. Whoever attacked Ming Dai, presumably the old man standing nearby, clearly took him apart with some precision.
"Hello Ming Dai," Naruto says, "You're not looking very healthy. I assume that you've been doing most of the fighting while I've been unavailable."
"Yeah," Dai sighs. "I'm not going to miss it now that you're back. Please don't leave it until the last moment next time."
"No promises."
Naruto places his hand on Ming Dai and suddenly 'life' energy rushes into the latter's body. Wounds from battles with Shao Chin disappear and he returns to almost perfect condition within a matter of seconds. It's remarkable to behold and even more so to experience, Minato notes that Naruto's powers are significantly stronger than before. No less than can be expected for a man of his son's talents.
Ming Dai hops to his feet and grins, clearly there is nothing to worry about anymore. Shao Chin's hesitation only makes him more certain of that. The smiling idiot who just stopped meditating is the one in control of this situation.
Shao Chin watches curiously, this Uzumaki Naruto is not what he expected. This man is the most feared enemy of the empire, the one who the emperor so desperately wanted him to kill. He seems like the most harmless man in the world. As his parents hand him their daughter and he cradles his sister in his arms, he seems so peaceful. Yet this man holds within him the power to topple empires? Just what is so special about him? Why does he feel this hesitation in his gut?
Ming Dai smiles as he watches Shao Chin. There is indeed something about Naruto, something that it's almost impossible to place your finger on. There is something that makes you want to follow him, to see what he will achieve when he is allowed to run. This past year Homeworld has calmed slightly, as if it has been waiting for his awakening, as if it were the calm before the storm.
Now that Uzumaki Naruto is awake how quickly will things change.
Naruto gently passes his sister back into the arms of their mother. He then turns his attention to the one person he has yet to address. He walks past Ming Dai, placing a reassuring hand on his shoulder as he does so, and approaches the white-bearded man who has watched this whole encounter.
Naruto stands in front of Shao Chin with a confident smile.
"So, who are you?"
"I am the hunter from the jungles of Jakka and the country of Seblix. I am a hunter sent after you by Emperor Furst Jonas. My name is Shao Chin and you are to be the greatest hunt of my life."
Naruto frowns and scratches his head, "I don't really care about any of that stuff. Were you the one who hurt my family and my friend?"
"I am."
"Why?"
"I just wanted to get to you, Uzumaki Naruto."
"Well then, I'm standing right in front of you. What will you do now?"
Shao Chin pauses for a moment before throwing his blade at Naruto. The moment it escapes his hand he rushes forward, keen to close the distance between himself and his prey. He wants to end this quickly, if he is able to defeat Naruto there is no guarantee that he will be able to defeat Ming Dai again afterwards.
Naruto watches as the blade flies towards him, calculating its path. He could easily dodge this if he wanted to and after doing so could readily maintain the distance between himself and Shao Chin. However, if he were to dodge the blade would continue onwards and hit Himawari behind him. So, he raises his hand, straightening his palm like a knife and slaps the side of the blade when it is just in front of his face, knocking it past him and his allies.
Shao Chin arrives in front of Naruto and throws the first strike. Of course, Naruto retaliates with a series of his own strikes, a combat adept as Shao Chin has come to expect. He goes for the same tactic he used against Ming Dai, attempting to dodge at specific time intervals to lure Naruto into his timing, creating an opening for the perfect counterattack, an opening to take Naruto down in one hit.
Shao Chin has missed something though. Ming Dai is not all concerned that he is using the same tactic on Naruto.
Shao Chin dodges to the side of one of Naruto's strikes, convinced that he has tricked the shinobi, convinced that Naruto has fallen into his trap. He steps forward quickly, ready to strike Naruto from behind having switched to a quicker tempo all of a sudden. However, he is not so lucky as he expected, as he moves to Naruto's rear, he is greeted by Naruto's swinging foot.
The shinobi lends a powerful roundhouse kick, sending Shao Chin tumbling away.
As Shao Chin gets back to his feet, he looks at the shinobi again and notices that he looks completely different. Now Naruto's skin is coloured bright orange beneath his 'life' cloak, and a cross pattern has appeared in his eyes.
"Trying to throw off my timing?" Naruto notices, "I've fought against the 1st Hokage, against Uchiha Madara and Uchiha Sasuke. You're going to have to do a lot better than that if you want to beat me hand-to-hand."
Ming Dai grins. It's exactly as he suspected; Naruto's fighting skills are far greater than his own. There is no way that Naruto will fall for any of Shao Chin's tricks which are primitive compared to those of a shinobi.
Shao Chin laughs. "You want to compare notes with me? I stormed the meeting of the most powerful people in the world and lived to tell the tale. I've seen tenacity and strength like you wouldn't believe and I'm still here! You think your experience compares to mine Uzumaki! You don't scare me at all, you are just the latest in a long list of prey who thought they were too powerful for me."
"The difference is that Furst let you live, my opponents didn't do the same for me. If you think that surviving in the emperor makes you so tough, why don't you beat me and prove it?"
Shao Chin quickly draws the bow from his back and fires a trio of shots at Naruto, knowing from the way he avoided the blade before that the shinobi is duty bound to protect those standing behind him.
Naruto does protect the others. The first two arrows he knocks from the air using kunai, the third he catches by creating a solid plate of armor using 'life' energy. With the three projectiles stopped, he speeds up his dash towards Shao Chin, using the trees in this steep forested environment to vary his approach as much as possible.
Shao Chin watches Naruto approach but is unsure of how to counter it. If he were any slower, he would knock him from the air, but their speed is on par with one another. Naruto's movements are not like any beast he has ever encountered, there is an intelligence behind them and a total lack of predictability. Humans, they are truly the most difficult beasts to hunt. This human is more complicated than most.
Shao Chin lowers himself onto his hands, resting on all four limbs like a cat, waiting to strike.
Naruto suddenly bursts towards Shao Chin with an even greater speed than before. He recognises this style of defence and knows exactly how to counter it. He tosses a shuriken towards Shao Chin's hand, making sure to coat it in 'life' energy before it leaves the perimeter of his new aura.
Shao Chin hops back up onto his feet to avoid being struck by the shuriken and by the time he has wits back it's too late, Naruto is right in front of him.
Naruto unleashes a volley of strikes at an even greater speed than before, making it impossible for Shao Chin to dodge all of them. After the seventh blow has landed, he watches as Shao Chin's eyes roll backwards slightly and he recognises that he will have a chance, just for a fraction of a second. He creates a 'life' enhanced rasengan in his left hand and slams it powerfully into Shao Chin's chest.
For the birds above it is a spectacular sight as several trees fall at once. Shao Chin's body ricochets off them as the energy from the rasengan drives him back through the forest. The hunter gasps for air as he lands on his back, that blow was more powerful than any Ming Dai was able to land with his 'strength' energy.
Shao Chin hears Naruto approaching and quickly hops back onto his feet. He immediately calculates that he cannot allow another powerful blow like that to land, otherwise this fight will be over. So, he pretends to be groggy as Naruto draws closer, as the 7th Hokage forms another rasengan, this time in his right hand. Then, when the rasengan is slammed towards his chest, Shao Chin reacts.
A strong gust of wind, more powerful than any Minato can muster, slams into Naruto's arm in a concentrated beam, pushing his rasengan over Shao Chin's shoulder. This is Shao Chin's divine 'gale' energy. Using the opening created by the first gust, Shao Chin uses a second to push his arm forwards, striking Naruto powerfully in the face and driving him back through the clearing his rasengan created.
Naruto lands on his feet and smiles. Shao Chin may think that this makes their powers and abilities a bit more equal, but he has not begun to scratch the surface of Naruto's talents.
Naruto runs towards Shao Chin, slightly slower than previously to start with, reflecting the blow he was struck with before. Then, from in his divine cloak, 'life' energy begins to concentrate around his legs, healing them. Naruto's run speeds up and he approaches the hunter with the same pace as before.
Shao Chin readies himself to use 'gale' energy once again.
Naruto isn't playing around this time though. He begins by creating a rasengan in his right hand, but then that rasengan begins to spin faster and more powerfully. It quickly develops into a wind-style rasen-shuriken which he throws powerfully towards Shao Chin.
The hunter ducks beneath the rasen-shuriken, staying low as it expands over his head. He watches Naruto approach and waits for the perfect moment to strike. Another rasengan begins to form in Naruto's left hand and the moment has arrived.
Shao Chin unleashes 'gale' energy, aiming for Naruto's left arm, he intends to fire the rasengan back into Naruto's chest.
However, to Shao Chin's surprise, as the 'gale' energy approaches Naruto from the left, the 7th Hokage shifts his body slightly to avoid it. It shouldn't be possible, 'gale' energy can manipulate the wind in a hyper-condensed form, transforming it from a menace into an invisible killer that should be completely undetectable and yet his prey has somehow noticed it.
This happened all because of Naruto's training in Homeworld.
Shao Chin did not know about Naruto's power that he learnt from Nina and Juan. He did not know about the One True Sense Technique.
Naruto reaches Shao Chin and slams his rasengan into the underside of his chin. The hunter begins to fly backwards but doesn't get far before Naruto grabs hold of his shirt, keeping him in position.
Shao Chin looks down, his neck aching as he does so to watch another rasengan forming in Naruto's hand. This one is different though. This time, the 'life' energy enhancing the rasengan is drawing not only from Naruto's divine cloak, but from their surroundings as well. The energy draws in incredibly quickly, creating a ball of energy many times more powerful than the one Naruto hit him with before.
Naruto's family recognise this as a powerful technique that Naruto invented when he came to Homeworld. A technique he first created to defeat Carmen and to enter the imperial-palace.
This is the life-gathering rasengan.
Shao Chin knows that he absolutely cannot be hit by this rasengan and win the fight. So, he tries his 'gale' powers one more time out of desperation. He creates strong gusts that approach Naruto from the left and right, hoping that if he notices one, he doesn't notice the other.
Naruto is no fool though. Suddenly, thousands of copies of Naruto appear, both to their left and to their right, blocking out the sun with their numbers. Clones cannot use divine energy like the original body, but when there are so many of them as this, they have their uses. Through sheer numbers, Naruto's clones completely eat up the class 7 'gale' attack coming from both directions, protecting the original from any harm.
"Life-gathering rasengan!" Naruto shouts as he slams the energy ball into Shao Chin's chest.
The explosion of energy is so powerful that it completely flattens the few trees left standing around them, creating a clearing for a mile in each direction.
At the centre of the explosion the two of the remain, the victorious 7th Hokage and his opponent, motionless in his arms.
"You did it!" Himawari yells as she and the others run over to congratulate Naruto.
Meanwhile, Naruto lays the hunter down on the ground, gently lowering his head onto the least uncomfortable patch of earth he can find. He looks at Shao Chin, thankful that he is still alive. He is different than Naruto was expecting. The Hokage expected that when he woke up, he would be met by the dogs of the empire, the mindless pawns doing what their master commanded. Shao Chin is a man of pride though, doing what he wanted for reasons of personal pride.
Naruto smiles down at Shao Chin, realising something very special about him and about the present circumstances. This is just the kind of man he needs.
So, Naruto places his hand on Shao Chin's chest and pushes 'life' energy through his body.
Air rushes into Shao Chin's lungs as he recovers. He coughs with the pressure of it all, looking up at Naruto as he does so. It is rare for the prey to be merciful to the predator, a rare treat but no different than he had expected. Naruto's moves spoke to his personality just as much as the chat he had with his family. Shao Chin recognises that he is a very different kind of animal than Furst Jonas. He recognises that Uzumaki Naruto is a good man.
"I must be losing my touch," Shao Chin groans, "That's twice I've failed recently."
"I won't hold a grudge," Naruto says as he kneels next to Shao Chin. "But I do have a condition. I need help from a man of your talents, help to uphold a promise I made before I began my meditations."
"I'm not here to run errands."
"But you do enjoy finding people, don't you?"
"I have already hunted you, there is no greater prey out there."
"There is," Naruto says, shocking Shao Chin, "I know someone who will be even harder to find than I was. A prey that a man like you will be unable to resist."
"What prey?"
"Her name is Hannah."
"Hannah? Who is that?"
Naruto smiles. Who is Hannah? That's a good question, he has almost no details to give. He first learnt about Hannah's identity the day before everything went wrong. The day before he lost contact with Sarada and the other Hokage, the day before he was separated from the Homeworld Military, from Clyde and Lara. That was perhaps the most tragic day in the history of the Hidden Leaf Village.
"Hannah is the daughter of two of the military generals," Naruto reveals. "Specifically, she is the daughter of Head General Lara and General Clyde."
"I know neither of them," Shao Chin replies, "Do you know where I can find them?"
"No, I don't."
"Do you know what this Hannah looks like?"
"No."
"Have you ever even met her?"
"No, I've never met her."
"Do you know anything about her at all?"
"I know that she was born in a laboratory. I know that her divine ability grants her supreme instincts. I know that she once travelled with a talking owl. That's it."
Shao Chin grins. Naruto is right, this hunt might just be the greatest he has ever gone through. It is as if Hannah was designed to elude him. Furst Jonas is the most important man in all of Homeworld, a man who dwells in palaces and associates with kings and queens. Uzumaki Naruto is the man always on the run, hiding from the imperial guard. Hannah is a completely different animal, beyond either of them.
"Alright, I'll do it," Shao Chin says as he raises his hand.
Naruto takes Shao Chin's hand and pulls him to his feet. In a matter of moments, he has converted the hunter from an adversary into an ally. Ming Dai marvels at his abilities, knowing that this is likely what Headmaster Sora saw in him from the very beginning. This is the same quality once possessed by a young Endou Akashi.
"I'm glad for your help," Naruto says, "But I have to warn you. Don't attack Hannah, not under any circumstances. Her divine ability is incredibly strong. Apparently, nobody from within her battle class can defeat her. If she's a class 7 like us, then we will have to work together to defeat her."
Shao Chin grins and begins to walk away. Would he ever be willing to agree to something like that? Hannah is now his prey; he doesn't let any of his targets off so lightly. However, it's clear to him that Naruto is a good person, perhaps he will allow this one to keep her life once he catches her.
The hunter pauses and turns back to look at the man who defeated him.
"You know, it was only for a few seconds, but now I've met both you and the emperor," he says, "It was enough. I know who I want to win this war. Good luck, Uzumaki Naruto."
In Response to tarunfiction's Question
About my update time and other subjects
There is no particular time of day that I update, I really wish I had that much discipline.
I would write longer chapters but I just don't have that much time available, roughly 3000 words per chapter is about my limit.
I have a full-time job on top of everything else but hopefully one day I can make money from writing and spend more time on it.
A full power Kaguya at full power would have been a class 4.
General Clyde was trained to this level for invading pocket worlds.
Most pocket worlds don't have anyone as powerful as a full power Kaguya in them though, which is why the majority of generals are class 3.
Although she was strong, even Kaguya wouldn't have been able to resist a Homeworld invasion.
Thanks for reading.
In Reponse to brendan2011's Question
About the possibility of awakening a second element later
Yes, it is possible to awaken a second element much later than the 1st.
I would say more but that would be giving away spoilers.
Thanks for reading.
In Response to Engineer's Questions
About various subjects
OK, as for the number of different pocket-worlder groups there are quite a few.
- Naruto is with his parents, Himawari and Ming Dai.
- Sarada and the majority of the Hokage are in one group.
- Mirai and Temari are with Clyde and the military.
- Boruto is searching for Naruto.
- Sasuke and Sakura are seraching for Sarada.
- Shikadai, Inojin and ChouChou are searching for their deceased parents.
I can't possibly comment on Hinata's powers without giving spoilers.
There are indeed three Kuramas:
- with Naruto
- with Minato
- with Tobirama
Thanks for reading.
In Repsonse to 4Sigma's Question
About Naruto's sister
If you mean from a narrative point of view, I can't say without giving away spoilers.
From a scientific point of view you would have to ask an expert.
As for whether it is dangerous, yes it is, but children are born during wars, some conflict goes on for years.
Thanks for reading.
In Response to m'j doom's Question
About Hinata
I appreciate your interest in the subject.
In my mind that means I've done something well.
I'm afraid I can't say.
Thanks for reading.
In Response to AyyMD VEGA's Question
About a wiki with character details
There is a wiki for this story but I didn't create it.
I do have a notebook full of character details that I've stored locally, but this is where it gets confusing.
I also have details about the future of the characters in the notebook, so I hesitate to update the wiki.
When the story is done I will fully update the wiki.
Thanks for reading.
In Response to Plot armor jutsu's Question
About summonings
It's an interesting idea which to be honest I hadn't thought of myself.
As my previous statement implies, I currently have no plans relating to summonings.
That may change as I plan future parts.
Thanks for reading.