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The Great Toad Sage of Mount Myōboku looked into the great spherical crystal before it, eyes narrowed and webbed hands moving in a rhythmic motion. Through squinted eyes the Great Toad Sage observed Ben Tennyson walking entering inside Konoha through large wooden gates . "The times are changing."
"What do you mean, Ojiji Sama?" Gamabunta regarded the revered toad patiently. "What do you see?"
"See for yourself, child. Look into the sphere and tell me what you see?"
The Toad Chief did as told and beheld the crystal with trepidation. " An odd child walking with Minato's only alive student, Kakashi Hatake."
"Oh, but he is far more than that, Gamabunta…"
"Why would I have any idea about a random kid...the symbol on his chest...it's the same one from the mysterious bracelet his brother used to wear. The one with the souls of ten thousand creatures" the chieftain added.
The Great Toad Sage gave a jarring, senile laugh. "I believe this boy to be the one he told me would one day come wielding the eyes of mystic reincarnation and he would one day shoulder the fate of the world with it, and guide the Child of Prophecy to the light that would dispel the impending darkness. "
"Who is he, Ojiji Sama?" Gamabunta asked. "Do you mean to say this one is the Divine Moon Sage? But I thought-"
"As did I, Gamabunta, but I have dreamt of this child. I have seen glimpses of what lies ahead of him and I cannot shake this odd feeling. I have not felt like this for centuries," the Great Toad Sage shared cryptically.
"This isn't a good news." Gamabunta swelled, his voice filled with a bit of concern and fear of sort "When the one who is sent down from heavens to become a god of creation, the child of prophecy, who is supposed to calm the world becomes corrupted by the darkness and hatred of humanity, transforming into a destroyer hellbent onto reducing everything into nothingness. The divine moon sage appears to restore the order and aid the new chosen one... "
"You are right, Gamabunta," the squinting toad whispered tiredly. " The road ahead will be long and arduous. No matter what species we are or what clan we belong to. We must seek to understand and help one another before it is too late . "
"I understand, Ojiji Sama," Gamabunta said and looked at the crystal sphere once more. "I will inform Jiraiya right away."
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Soon enough, Ben found himself wandering in the streets of konoha. Surprisingly Zabuza left him with a lot of funds to work with and he had to admit despite the apparent dislike he had for the demon swordsman, couldn't help but feel grateful about that. The pay he received from Tazuna wasn't much considering they were still very much short of funds. He tried looking around for the sign of Ichiraku ramen amongst many stores as the escorting ANBU said the ramen stand was right there but he still couldn't find it. He looked up at the cloudless sky, it was about lunch time, if he couldn't find the said ramen stand in time...
The dango shop doesn't look half bad, may be I can...
"Hey! Ben!"
The young hero turned at hearing the familiar voice and saw Naruto waving his hands at him with a cheerful smile, walking alongside him was a young man around his original age with a scar running across the bridge of his nose.
"Hi, Naruto!"
Ben replied jovially, he was both confused and irritated at the sight of the villagers looking at them with disgust and hurry off somewhere. As if Naruto was some sort of demon. Sure Kakashi did tell him that Naruto was hated by the villagers but he really wasn't expecting the situation to be this bad. It didn't make sense for a child to be treated this way in his own village, especially one as peaceful as Konoha. Thanks to him channeling the abilities of his loboan alter ego Blitzwolfer he managed to overhear some whispers of "Fox boy" and other similar names from the villagers.
I don't get it. Did his family do something he is being blamed for? And why are they calling him the fox-brat and ...Jinchuuriki? I must get to the bottom of it.
"Hey, Ben!" Naruto grinned, "What did Jiji and Kakashi-sensei want you for?"
"Didn't you hear the news?" Ben chuckled as he held up the hitai ate which was around his shoulders, 'I have been officially inducted as a ninja of Konoha. "
"Awesome!" Naruto cheered, "I really hope you can replace Sasuke."
"Don't get your hopes up." The young man around Ben's original age sighed, "They will surely make your team a four men cell, it wasn't that uncommon during my genin days."
"Ah, well." Naruto shrugged, he clearly seemed disappointed at that though, "Still it will be cool having you there with me and Sakura-chan!' He then called out to young man in an enthusiastic tone, "Iruka-sensei! can Ben come with us?"
"Why not?" Iruka grinned as he stuck out his hand which Ben gently shook, "Naruto told me how you stood up against Zabuza and his companion Ben-kun. We were about to get some Ramen. Would you like to join us?"
"Sure, It will be my treat." He introduced himself with a smile
The scarred chunin waved his hands, "It wouldn't be right. I am Naruto's teacher." He looked away
"It's okay. I insist." Ben laughed heartily, " You probably don't eat as much as Naruto."
"Umino Iruka, Nice meeting you Ben-san."
Naruto clapped the young Tennyson on the back, "Come on Ben! Hurry up! I am starving."
The de-aged plumber only smiled at the knucklehead's exuberance , "Well, Okay I guess." The blond whooped happily and the trio went down the street for a while until they arrived at the small stand that proclaimed "Ichiraku ramen"
Naruto laughed and ducked through the flap, "Hey! Old man, Ayame-chan, I am back!"
The pretty girl working at the stand, most likely Ayame, turned around and grinned once she saw the blonde. 'Hi, Naruto-kun! Back from your mission?"
"Yep! And now Ben is going to treat us to Ramen." Naruto settled into his regular position as Ayame promptly handed over a bowl of his favorite Miso Ramen. Iruka ordered vegetable and Ben looked over menu inked out on the pine board behind Ayame.
"Ah, what'll it be for you?" Ayame asked kindly.
"Shio ramen, with lean chicken meatballs." Ben answered , "Now she is a sight worth waking up to." He absent mindedly thought to himself
"Coming right up...uh?"
Before Ben could come up with the best way to introduce himself, Naruto chimed in, towards much of his annoyance "His name's Ben!"
"Nice to meet you Ben-kun!" Once the Ramen was served, three of them dug in with gusto, though none more than Naruto. Who seemed like inhaling rather than eating. Ben could only stare , having never seen someone outside of his Gourmand allies eat so damn fast.
Iruka laughed at the look on his face, "See what I mean?" He asked, The teacher looking fondly at Naruto.
"I guess your wallet cleans out every time you bring him here." Ben chuckled
"You have no idea." An old grizzled man spoke, coming out of the backstore, "Don't worry, anyone who treats Naruto gets a big ol' discount. I don't want people to starve on my watch.'
"Glad to hear that." Splitting a pair of chopsticks Ben started eating to heart's content.
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Once the brown haired plumber was done with the Ramen , he quickly left to work off his meal, telling that if he got even a little bit fat, Kevin would never let him live it down. Iruka couldn't help but smile as he saw the pair, he knew that Ben was probably the only person in the whole village who didn't have any previous impression of Naruto. Despite the punishment inflicted on his wallet Ben didn't seem annoyed or irritated in the slightest, Iruka could certainly use someone like that around. That was something entirely new to the blonde and he could see Naruto was loving that, despite not even knowing that himself. Iruka quickly pointed him at one of the common training fields around Konoha, which was mostly used by genins and just like that Ben took his leave. Leaving the duo to wander on their own.
Iruka gave a large belch, sighing in relief as they started walking towards the Academy , "That was great Ramen. So now we are alone. Why are you upset?."
Naruto blinked, "Upset? Why would I be upset?"
Iruka's eyes rolled in annoyance, "Kid you have been alone your whole childhood until may be Shikamaru at the start of the academy. You are always upset. Of course you are very good at hiding it. But ever since you returned from your trip something has been getting you down. Spill the beans ."
Naruto shuffled, he really didn't like being read that easily by people around him. Mulling the problem over his head, he tried to come up with the best way to explain it but in the end he ended up blurting out everything, "Am I useless?"
Iruka raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean?"
"It's just that..." the examples started pouring out one by one, "Against the demon brothers I did pretty much nothing, against Zabuza Ben could have easily handled things on his own, even after practising tree walking I got nearly taken out by a water clone. Haku-chan always thrashed me when I asked her to spar with me. It took me nearly three weeks to get the hang of water walking." Naruto inhaled, "It just doesn't seem like I am doing much as a shinobi. Iruka-sensei!"
Iruka looked at him for a long moment before finally responding, "One of things which makes shadow clone unique is when you form clones, the chakra is evenly split between you and the clones you create. When you fought Mizuki you reportedly created several hundred clones. I am not sure how much of that was your "tenant's" doing but if Lord Hokage was left with of his current chakra, he'd probably collapse. I would probably die."
"Oh," Naruto looked down at himself in both awe and confusion, "So where does that leave me?"
"Well let's think about it . Nothing is set in stone of course, your body and mind still need to fully mature. Right now though, you are not the most strongest of fighters, and even with water walking exercise, your chakra control isn't fine tuned enough for Genjutsu. BUT..." He raised his voice as Naruto started to look sad again, "You have sharp senses, are incredible durable for someone around your age, your reflexes are not bad and let's not even get started on your stamina. However due to lack of proper guidance you are not as good as you should have been with your Taijutsu. You have shown time to time that you can be pretty good in anything you are interested in. But to become the Hokage, you need to be good at everything."
Naruto let out a sigh, he roughly had an idea what Iruka was talking about, he could still recall nealy being taken out by those samurai thugs and Zabuza's water clone.
"How do I get better? I will do it, whatever it takes." He spoke out with a determined look on his face.
Iruka grinned wolfishly, "You really mean that? Are you willing to give your word on it?"
Naruto thrust his chest out and stabbed his thumb back at himself, "I never go back on my word. That's my nindo. Believe it!"
Iruka laughed and messed his hair, "You silly little fool. You are mine now. I am going to make you do every kata you missed on during last three years, every test you failed and every assignment you didn't turn in." Chuckling somewhat menacingly the young instructor led Naruto towards the academy.
Naruto momentarily froze for a moment.
"Bloody hell! Even Iruka sensei can be mental sometimes."
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Following Iruka's directions Ben arrived at a specious wide training field. The young Tennyson maneuvered around the stumps while looking at the target range and the obstacle course. Thinking quietly to himself he then became engrossed in the ropes wrapped tightly around one of the larger hitting posts and stood before it curiously. Upon taking a good look at seeing how it was positioned, he then shrugged, after a minute or so for stretching his legs and warming up his arms in a manner of speaking, he began to run through some katas, exaggerating his moves in order to better improve his form.
Punching and kicking the target repeatedly, his blows rattled the stump from top to bottom, filling the area with the sounds of loud thumps and thuds. Hearing the wood crack and seeing it split before his very eyes, he pulled his fist away and looked down at it. He could clearly see an imprint of a small fist embedded in the very front of the target.
Pondering over what he felt about the contact for a moment, the young Tennyson let out a sigh and shook his head in disappointment.
It just wasn't the same. He really preferred when his targets tried to fight back and prove to be at least somewhat of a challenge before he beat them in submission.
"Are you a shinobi, young man?" A voice called out to him, causing him to turn around. Needless to say he was quite confused at he saw. A grizzled old man was standing on a nearby wooden bench. Half of his face covered by bandages, including his right eye and his right arm. He held a wooden walking stick in his hands but seeing his posture, it seemed like he was quite in shape for someone around his age. Just like the old man Sarutobi.
"I dunno. I am quite new to all this ninja stuff." Ben raised an eyebrow as something caught his eyes or more like nose.
It was hard to explain but his hyper evolved human form did have better sense of smell then most ordinary people out there. Nothing as extreme as vulpimancer or loboan but it was noticeable. And his guts told him there were people nearby. A feeling he was all too familiar with due to being the victim of the so called predator Khyber's constant assaults for many years.
He slightly tapped the dial on his chest, murmuring Ghostfreak under his breath. A silhouette of grey-white specter like being with a gaseous appearance and claw like hands appeared behind him for a brief moment as despite keeping his regular human appearance his body transformed into something else.
"It seems you are quite aware boy, Perhaps Kakashi has already taught you a couple of things about being a ninja." The man spoke again
The Ultimatrix bearer narrowed down his eyes, it seemed this man had been a ninja at some point in his life, a very good one if he might add. Even though the man hadn't done anything threatening yet, something about him just screamed dangerous. Similar to what he felt around Zabuza, just 20 or 30 time more intense.
"I guess news travels fast in this village." Ben replied in a nonchalant manner. Usually Ben wasn't the one to run away from a challenge. But his lack of knowledge about this dimension really put him on edge. And after seeing what shinobis can do firsthand he wanted to avoid a fight if possible at least until he gathered enough intel about the inhabitants of this world in particular.
"Tell me, what is a shinobi's greatest weapon?" The old man leaned on his walking cane, slightly cocking his head as he looked at him with curiosity.
"I don't know if I am qualified to answer that question. But from what I gathered so far from my battles I can safely say it has to be deception and trickery. " Ben replied casually, his intangibility already activated.
The man smiled at him for a brief moment, apparently satisfied by his answer.
"You have a strong foundation." The one eyed veteran tapped the can in his right hand once, "I see you can become legendary someday though you still have a long way to go. The fact it took you some time to realize I was watching you means there is still room for improvement. But I see that you already have made some arrangements to defend yourself ."
Ben slightly narrowed down his eyes. It seemed that this creepy old man was much better at reading people's movements than he was. Perhaps he was some seasoned elite shinobi sent by Hiruzen to sort of analyze him. He really didn't want to make a bad impression on the ninja president of Konoha since this place was going to be his residence for unforeseeable future.
Besides for the most part of his hero business he had been the act first think later kind of person and let Kevin or Gwen deal with planning and stuff. Unfortunately, in this dimension he was mostly left to his own devices and considering that the evil he Hamura warned him about belonged to this world, he had to get better at playing ninja as well.
"How can I become a better...shinobi then?" Ben asked out of curiosity.
Instead of answering, the one eyed veteran delved deeper into his robes causing Ben to tense up for a moment but he didn't need to as the old man drew from within his robes, a wooden board with a lot of boxes, and two bowl of pebbles, one filled with white and other filled with black.
That was weird, How come things like that kept popping out of nowhere all of a sudden?
"Game of generals." Ben spoke up, quickly recognizing the japanese variant of chess without much difficulty.
The one eyed veteran gave him a look of approval , motioning to the empty seat in front of him, "Do you know how to play?"
"A little bit." Ben nodded as he sat opposite the old man , feeling a bit uncomfortable due to the lack of wind which definitely had been there before.
And just like that a very interesting game between the Ultimatrix bearer and Konoha's infamous warhawk began.