Chapter 13: The new danger and a search for a new Hokage
Ryouske looked up at the sky as he continued to walk down the road to the next town that he, Naruto and Jiraiya were to search next for the woman known as Tsunade. Jiraiya and Naruto were chatting away, while Ryouske was deep in his thoughts, "Why does Lord Fourth look so familiar to me? Where have i seen that face before?" he thought to himself.
He was snapped out of his musings when Naruto called out that they were at the next town, making Ryouske look up at said town. It seemed to be a town that was known for its hot springs at the hotel that they had just walked into to book a room. After they had booked a room, Ryouske decided to go and check out the town and to be alone with his thoughts.
As he walked through the streets of the town, his mind constantly went to Karina and the sadness that he saw in her eyes when she saw the photographs. He wanted to take away that sadness and replace it with joy, but he did not know how. For the second time that day, he was broken from his thoughts when he noticed Naruto and Jiraiya up ahead, with Jiraiya having taken Naruto's frog wallet full of money on the basis that a ninja should not get too enthralled in money.
Chuckling at his friend's displeasure, Ryouske walked up to him and patted his shoulder, "Don't worry, Naruto. At least he left you with 200 Ryous to spend on yourself," he said trying to cheer his friend up, who grinned after a while and nodded. They continued down the street, looking at the festival stands that were around them, deciding which stand to go to first. Ryouske looked at Naruto, who had just poked his shoulder and handed him 100 Ryous, which Ryouske quickly tried to give back, but Naruto shook his head, "Ryo, take it. I can spare it if it means that my friend can have a good time," Naruto said grinning.
Ryouske grinned and playfully punched his shoulder, calling him an idiot but took the Ryous nonetheless. They first decided to get something to eat and stopped at a Ramen stand, where both ninja ordered a Miso Ramen, which they happily gulped down and proceeded to a Dango stand next to it. As they walked down the street eating their Dango, their attention was drawn to a mask shop, which was selling white masks with different designs painted on them, some in the form of dogs, some of cats and the like.
Naruto's attention came to a white mask that had orange markings on it in the design of a fox face, while Ryouske bought a white mask that had grey markings in the design of a wolf face. Just as they were about to walk out, however, Ryouske's attention was drawn to an odd mask and when he looked closer, he could see why it was different from the others.
Unlike the other masks that were white, this mask was a deep black and had silver markings around the face in the design of a dragon face, complete with small white fangs drawn onto the mouth and also unlike the other masks, the eyes of which were coloured but had a small hole in the pupil to see out of, this mask had full eyes of blood red with slits in them.
Ryouske turned to the stand owner, who had spotted Ryouske staring at the mask, and asked him about the mask, pointing at it. The stand owner smiled and took the mask down to let Ryouske hold it, "You have interesting taste, young man. This mask was designed after the fabled dragon of the heavens, a beast of legend that was said to have ruled the skies long ago in times of old, bringing fear and suffering to those who opposed its awesome and mighty power, before it disappeared."
Ryouske raised an eyebrow, "What happened to the dragon?" he asked the stand owner who shook his head, "No-one knows. Some tales say that it was killed long ago when shinobi were first discovering chakra. Others say that it just flew away to distant lands, bored of the skies of the Elemental Nations, no-one knows." Ryouske looked down at the mask and suddenly a smirk appeared on his face as a certain dragon queen sprang to mind, "Valora is going to find this interesting" he thought.
The stand owner shook his head frantically when Ryouske asked him the price of the mask, "No, no, no. Take it as a gift. I can see that the tale of the Dragon of Heaven interests you so, please, take the mask free of charge," he said with a grin. Ryouske returned the grin and put the mask into his bag, shaking the man's hand as he did before leaving with Naruto. When they were on their way, Naruto looked at Ryouske and smiled, "You had Valora in mind when you got that didn't you?," he asked, making Ryouske nod, but say no more which Naruto did not mind.
Suddenly Naruto tripped and the contents of the big grey bag he was carrying on his back, which Ryouske noticed was Jiraiya's and Naruto had his brown one being on his front now, all over the floor. They picked up the contents, but noticed a logbook of Jiraiya's money and when they looked they draw dropped so hard that their jaws were almost on the floor. Ryouske was the first to recover, "That..that is a fuckload of zeroes," he elegantly stated making Naruto nod and a vein appear in his head, "He has the nerve to take MY money when he has this much of his own, that pervy bastard!."
At that moment they heard the booming laugh of the pervert in question and headed to the source, stopping to get some chocolate covered squid along the way. They were not surprised to find that Jiraiya, being the lecherous man they knew him to be, was in a bar surrounded by beautiful women with a bottle of Sake on the table…right next to Naruto's empty frog wallet. Jiraiya noticed them and waved at them, "hey squirts, had your fun already?" he asked right before he squealed and the girls ran away, it seems Naruto had jumped at Jiraiya and was now bashing on his head because of the loss of his money.
As he was bashing Jiraiya's head, one of the squids in Naruto's hands flew out of it and hit the crisp white suit of a man who had just entered the bar with an associate. The man looked down at the stain and glared at Naruto, who had stopped bashing Jiraiya. The associate glared at Naruto also and stepped forward, "Hey kid! Do you know whose suit you just stained?" Naruto looked at him and frowned, with Ryouske leaning against the wall with is arms crossed, ready to enjoy the show that was about to begin.
Naruto raised an eyebrow, "No and I don't care, I'm busy beating this pervert," he said, turning back to Jiraiya. The man in the suit stepped forward, "You little punk. This suit was brand new and you can pay for it, that's 100,000," he demanded making Ryouske scoff and everyone turn to him. "There is no way that monkey suit cost 100,00. It looks like something you would find in a bargain bin, cheap and just screams "I have a small one"," he said smirking and making Naruto and Jiraiya laugh.
The man's associate then growled at Ryouske, "Watch your mouth you little fuck. The boss here is the legendary Dark Ninja, a Chunin from the Village hidden in the Stones." This made Ryouske laugh and widen his eyes in mock admiration, holding his hands to his heart in mock joy, "The legendary Dark Ninja?! Oh boy, where's my autograph book?" he asked, once again making Jiraiya and Naruto laugh, but now the rest of the bar had joined in. The Dark Ninja turned to Jiraiya, who had cleared his throat, and sprung to attack with Jiraiya smirking at Ryouske and Naruto, "Pay attention you two. This is that A-ranked jutsu I told you two about."
As the man jumped, Jiraiya held his hand out flat with the palm facing up and within his palm a blue swirling orb of chakra appeared, spinning rapidly. As they looked on with interest, Jiraiya thrust the orb into the man's abdomen and with a yell, the Dark Ninja was sent backwards, spinning like a pinwheel as he went, and right into a stand of water balloons, knocking it over.
Seeing that jutsu, Ryouske suddenly knew where he had seen that Jutsu before, but it was just a guess that could confirm his suspicions. Jiraiya walked up to the Dark Ninja, who had seemed to recognise him and offered his wallet so Jiraiya could pay for the damages to the stand and for Jiraiya to buy 100 water balloons for god knows what.
They later found themselves in the forest outside of the town, with Naruto stood in front of Jiraiya and Ryouske lying in a tree branch with his back against the trunk as usual. Jiraiya asked Naruto what he could tell them about that jutsu that he used, to which Naruto replied he sent the man spinning like a pinwheel. Nodding from the answer, Jiraiya formed another spinning orb in his hand to show Naruto and Ryouske, "right, spinning," he said as they looked on.
Jiraiya then tossed Naruto a water balloon and held one up in his own hand, which started to convulse and bulge as if the water was trying to get out, until suddenly it burst in his hand. Naruto yelled out in amazement, while Ryouske's eyes widened as he watched Naruto suddenly get excited, "Oh I get it. You used your Chakra to spin the water inside the balloon until it popped," Ryouske said making Jiraiya nod.
"Right, Ryouske. That is the first step to learning this jutsu: Rotation," he said making Naruto scratch his head in confusion. Jiraiya threw a water balloon to Ryouske, who caught it without even bothering to look, and soon began to walk away, "I'm going into town to search for information about Tsunade. You guys stay here and practice the rotation while I'm gone," he said walking out of sight.
Naruto soon began to try his hand at the stage, while Ryouske just looked at the water balloon, contemplating if he should even TRY to learn this jutsu, although after a while he decided to give it a try to see if this jutsu was actually worth learning. He held the water balloon and focused his chakra on making it flow around his palm to try and churn the water, but had no luck as the water balloon just stayed in one piece. He looked over to Naruto, who seemed to be getting very frustrated with popping the balloon and chuckled at his friend's determination as he continued to try and pop the balloon, with Ryouske doing the same.
Jiraiya eventually came back with news that Tsunade had been spotted in the next town over and they began their journey to the next town, hoping to catch up to Tsunade. They got to the next town and soon checked into the hotel. After they had explored the town for a bit for information on Tsunade, Jiraiya and Naruto became distracted by a cute brunette smiling at them, causing both of them to argue about who she was smiling at, "Here kid, take my bag and my scroll back to the room. Why don't you sit in there working on your chakra control or something," Jiraiya said, handing Naruto his bag and scroll and walking off to follow the woman.
Ryouske chuckled and shook his head as they watched Jiraiya disappear into the crowd, "That pervert never changes. As soon as a cute woman gives him the look he scampers off chasing her ass," he said making Naruto nod in agreement but then frown at Ryouske," How come you weren't staring at her? You are quite pervy yourself," Naruto asked Making Ryouske shrug.
Ryouske looked down the street as his thoughts turned to Karina, "I guess women like that just don't interest me," he absently said but soon looked at Naruto who suddenly grinned widely, "Oh, I know why. It is because you prefer Karina don't you Ryo?" he said with a chuckle, making Ryouske blush bright crimson and run after him towards the hotel, eager to punch his smirking face.
They decided to sit in the room and wait for Jiraiya to come back, with Naruto working on his chakra control and Ryouske lying on his back on his back with one arm behind his head, and the other holding the dragon mask in front of him, which he looked at with interest, his thoughts turning to his mysterious dragon summon. Suddenly there was a knock on the door and Naruto opened thinking Jiraiya had been turned down pretty quick, until he saw a man he did not recognise.
The man was wearing a black, foot long cloak that was patterned with red clouds and a ring on one of his fingers. He had black hair that ran down to the middle of his back and wrinkle lines down the sides of his nose and under his eyes which, both Naruto and Ryouske noticed, were Sharingan. Naruto looked at the man, thinking that he was Sasuke at first but seeing the difference between them. Ryouske, however, was staring wide eyed at the man's Sharingan, knowing just who he was, he was from the Bingo Book, the book that detailed the most notable criminals in the Elemental Nations, and was a wanted criminal from the Hidden Leaf Village, as evidenced by the leaf headband around the man's head that had a slash through the symbol. "Itachi Uchiha…." Ryouske said.
Itachi looked at Ryouske with a blank stare, "So, you know who I am? You must have had a peek at the Bingo Book then I see. I'm not here for you though," he said as he looked down at Naruto, "Naruto, you are coming with us." Naruto shook his head and backed away, just as Ryouske held his hand behind him and his katana appeared in his hand, which Ryouske swung at Itachi as he lunged for him, making Itachi jump back and for both of them to end up in the hallway.
It was in the hallway that Ryouske noticed Itachi had a companion. The companion was a man wearing the same cloak as Itachi, but this man had a strap on the front that held the sheath for the man's sword on his back which, Ryouske noticed, was huge and wrapped in bandages. The man had blue skin and a ring on one of his fingers just like Itachi's. The man's eyes were small and white, with small gills underneath each eye, his nose was pointed like a shark's and his teeth were long and jagged like a shark. He was wearing a Hidden Mist Village headband, which had a line going through the four vertical lines that symbolised the Village Hidden in the Mist, that held his blue spikey hair up.
Ryouske recognised this man from the Bingo Book too, his name was Kisame Hoshigake, the man who tried to kill the feudal lord of the Land of Water. Naruto came out of the room and looked at the pair of criminals, confused as to what was going on, that is until Kisame stepped up to Naruto sporting a fanged grin, "Itachi, maybe I should cut off one of this kids legs so he can't get away," he said.
Ryouske stood in front of Naruto, his katana held in front of him, and a fierce look on his face, which made Itachi and Kisame widen their eyes in surprise, Ryouske had activated his Sharingan. Kisame looked over to Itachi with a raised eyebrow, "Hey, Itachi? How does this kid have a Sharingan? I thought only the Uchiha possessed that eye power?" he asked his partner, who just looked at Ryouske with a frown, "Boy, how do you have the Sharingan? Why are they different colours?" Itachi asked the boy.
Ryouske just glared at Itachi and tightened his grip on his weapon, "It was a little "gift" from Orochimaru. They are different colours because they are mutated, but that is all I will tell you." Itachi looked at Ryouske, seeming to process this information when, all of a sudden, a voice yelled Itachi's name making them all look at the source, which was Sasuke standing at the end of the hallway, glaring at Itachi.
Kisame grunted towards Itachi, "Itachi, this kid also has a Sharingan and he looks a lot like you, who is he?" Kisame asked Itachi, whose face betrayed no emotion as he looked at Sasuke, "He is my little brother," Itachi answered. This answer made Kisame grin widely revealing his sharp teeth and look back at Sasuke, "I thought the entire Uchiha clan were wiped out in a single night, by you Itachi," Kisame said, making Ryouske and Naruto's eyes widen in horror.
Ryouske looked at Itachi, his fists clenching until his knuckles turned white, his teeth gritting in anger. "How the FUCK can he just stand there as if it didn't affect him? How can anyone slaughter their entire family as if it was nothing?" Ryouske thought to himself, being someone who had not known his family. Itachi just stared at Sasuke as the boy panted from the running he had just done and glared at Itachi, "It is just as you said brother. I've fostered my hatred for you all this time, just to see you DIE," Sasuke said.
Itachi just looked at him and then turned back to Naruto, "Sorry, you don't interest me at the moment," he said without emotion, making Sasuke growl and charge up a Chidori, "WELL GET INTERESTED," Sasuke yelled as he ran at Itachi, dragging the Chidori along the wall, only for Itachi to grab Sasuke's wrist when he came close and bend it downwards, cutting off his Chidori. Itachi then kicked Sasuke right in the stomach and slammed him against the wall, holding Sasuke by the collar as he blankly looked at the teen, "You don't have enough hatred to face me and you know something," he leaned in close to Sasuke's ear, "You never will," he finished with Sasuke yelling in pain and going unconscious.
Naruto looked at Sasuke, wondering what the hell had happened to his best friend, while Ryouske stood there, amazed at the power of the Sharingan. Just then, the walls of the hallway turned to flesh, sucking Sasuke into it's depths and when all four ninja turned to the source, Jiraiya was standing there, the woman from earlier over his should unconscious, who he laid on the ground against the wall.
Jiraiya smirked at Itachi, "Itachi Uchiha. How nice to see your face again, just to let you know though, you AREN'T getting Naruto," he said making Itachi just watch him blankly, "Naruto is the prize the Akatsuki are after and we WILL have him." Jiraiya chuckled, saying how he could now take out both Itachi and Kisame at the same time, when both criminals ran around the corner, followed by a loud noise.
The three of them followed, only to stop when they saw a gaping hole in the wall that was ringed with black flames, which made Jiraiya uneasy. "Don't touch it Naruto," Jiraiya said as Naruto intended to do just that, "they aren't just any ordinary black flames. To burn the stomach lining of the mountain toad, who can bretah fire, is astounding."
Jiraiya then walked over to Sasuke to check on the boy, when all of a sudden, someone flew through the hole to kick Jiraiya away and when they saw who it was both Ryouske and Jiraiya deadpanned, it was Might guy wearing his usual green jumpsuit with Chunin jacket over it and red headband around the waist and sporting his usual black bowl hair cut. After much apologising from the man and explaining why they were out traveling, Guy took Sasuke back to the village, leaving Naruto with a GHASTLY green jumpsuit for him to wear in training.
They soon headed to the next town and decided to head to the local bar to see if they get could get information on Tsunade. Just as they walked inside, Jiraiya turned to look around and spotted a blonde woman sat in a corner with a black haired woman. When he looked closer, he immediatly ran over and grinned widely, "TSUNADE! I found you," he exclaimed making Naruto and Ryouske raise an eyebrow, was this really the great Tsunade? Some blonde woman, drunk off her ass?
Her blonde hair seemed to be collar bone length and was done into two small ponytails that hung down her back. Her eyes were a deep hazel and on her forehead was a blue diamond symbol. She was wearing a grey blouse with black leggings and black high heels and over the blouse she wore a green jacket. When he saw her Ryouske looked her up and down...and then promptly got a nosebleed, her chest was HUGE. When he had his noseblled under control, Ryouske noticed that she seemed to be in her early twenties, yet from what Jiraiya told them, Tsunade was almost as old as he was.
Her companion was a oyunger looking woman, who had neck length black hair and dark eyes. She was wearing a black- blueish Kimono and open toed sandals. They sat at the table together, with Ryouske leaning against a collumn near the table with his arms crossed and eyes closed. Jiraiya pulled out a deck of cards and him and Tsunade ebgan to play as he told her of what had happened to their teacher, Hiruzzen.
Jiraiya looked over his hand of cards and sighed as he spoke, "In their infinite wisdom, the village has decided to name you...the Fifth Hokage," he said, making Ryouske open his eyes wide and for Naruto to slam his hand down and scream, "WHAAAAAT?!"
Chapter end.
I personally liked writing this chapter, especilly the training of the Rasengan and the itachi encounter. Let me know what you guys think eh?
This is HaremKing666 signing off. Stay pervy everyone