Chapter 2: Two Ninja and an ambush
About a month later
As Michael was traveling through the country of the ninja to reach the Midgar Library, he saw in the distance a pair of shinobi sparing. He watched intriguingly studying their fighting styles and techniques. Ninja 1 wore a green vest jacket, blue sandals, bandages on his right arm and leg, dark grey shorts, and a head protector that had a sort of swirl on it. He had long black hair and white eyes with no pupil just an outline of one. Ninja 2 wore an orange jumpsuit with a green vest with a red swirl on the back, and blue sandals and had spiky blond hair and some weird whisker like marks on his face. The white eye shinobi was fighting in a more martial arts style utilizing an open palm, soft fisted style, while the other shinobi was using a very unorthodox sloppy style of charging in headfirst.
Ninja 2 performed some kind of gesture with his hands about twenty clones of himself appeared and surrounded Ninja 1. They all rushed in to attack Ninja 1 but were easily dispatched when he used a defensive technique were he pushed out a large amount of his energy and spun in a circle extremely fast, deflecting the clones. After taking damage the clones disappeared with a "poof", leaving Ninja 2 to contemplate his next move. The white eyed shinobi then yelled out 'Byakugan' and his eyes morphed into a deeper white with veins running through the side of them. As he was about to go in to attack he threw one of his kunai knives in Michael's direction, Michael dodged it but ended up in the open, and the two ninja stared at him.
"Who are you, and why were you spying on us?" asked the white eyed ninja.
"I'm just a traveler on my way to Midgar," Michael said very cautiously.
"Then why were you watching us," asked the other ninja.
"Well, I've never actually seen ninja before so when I saw you two sparring, I was intrigued…" Michael explained until he was cut off as he and the two ninja were suddenly surrounded by a small army of ninja. The opposing ninja all wore large purple ropes tied around their waists and they also seemed to be on the brink of sanity. The three began to battle the small army of ninja; Michael was holding his own against them fairly well, even though he didn't know what to expect or how to fight them. The blonde haired ninja then put his hand out and yelled 'Rasengan" and a ball of swirling energy began to form in his hand. Seeing this, a group of the insane ninja jumped at the blonde one and he spun around in a circle hitting all of them with the energy ball in his hand. He then rushed in a straight line with his palm out hitting anyone in his way. The white eyed ninja was defeating ninja left and right punching them with extended fingers while yelling out a sequence of numbers. Michael was getting tired and decided to end the almost endless onslaught of shinobi. He jumped over a group of ninja and pulled his hands to his side and focused his energy into them, and when he was ready he pushed his hands forward and released a mass of energy into a group of the foreign ninja while yelling 'Hadouken'. The ninja were blown away and a large amount of them were slain in the explosion that followed the blast. Seeing about 30 of their comrades killed in one attack the ninja decided to book it before they were next and fled the scene, leaving Michael and the other two ninja just as quickly as they had come.
"Whoaaaa… what was that!" asked the blond shinobi.
"It's called the Hadouken, the signature technique of the Shatokan martial arts," Michael explained very confidently.
"So you're a pupil of Ryu then?" the white eyed ninja asked with a smile.
"Yes, you know master Ryu?" Michael asked in return.
"Yes, I do… but I'll explain everything when we get back to the village okay, it's no longer safe here," said the white eyed ninja scanning the distance. With that they left Michael had to run as fast as he could to keep up but they made it back to the village in one piece.
"Oh, and by the way, the names Michael, what's you guy's names," Michael asked as they walked through the village gate.
"Oh excuse me, I'm Hyuuga Neji," said the white eyed ninja.
"And I'm Uzumaki Naruto, and this is Konoha "The Village Hidden in the Leaves", said the blond haired ninja as he pointed to the town. Before they could actually talk Neji and Naruto had to report to their leader, the Hokage, about what happened out in the field. They told Michael that he could explore the town while he waited and that they would find him when they were ready. Michael was surprised at how normal a ninja village actually was, they had shops, food stands, a hospital, even a movie theatre. He walked by what looked like a school and saw that the ninja started out a really early age practicing their ninjutsu. He also noticed that the ninja had a raking system that they used to determine strength and skill amongst the shinobi. From what he heard walking around town after graduating from the academy the students become ninja of the lowest rank, a Genin, through training and upon passing a test known as the Chuunin Exam, they are promoted to a Chuunin. Upon further development of their skills they have the potential to become a Jounin, a leader amongst ninja who are also assigned a group of Genin to train and teach. After many years of training a Jounin may be promoted to a Sennin if they meet special requirements. There is also a special task force known as ANBU who execute classified missions of high priority and are extremely powerful ninja. The highest rank of ninja is that of a Kage, or shadow, and is only allowed one per village and also act as the leader and hand down orders and assignments to the lower ranks. Every hidden village is different and with their own secrets and techniques and a different Kage per village, Konoha's was the Hokage, or Fire Shadow. Michael learned that aside from techniques, there is also a form of special abilities known as Bloodline Limits that some shinobi of certain families are born with. After about 4 hours of exploring the town Michael's hunger started to kick in and decided to get something to eat at a Noodle Stand. Just as he was about to order Naruto walked in and sat next to him ordering Miso Soup flavored Ramnen.
"So… what do you think of the town pretty neat, huh," Naruto asked as he received his bowl of noodles. Michael went on to explain everything he saw and learned in the village earlier on that day, and Naruto was surprised at how inquisitive he was at such a young age and that he definitely had the potential to be a great ninja.
"We told the Hokage about the attack earlier and about how you helped us out with it, so in the morning we'll pay Konoha's glorious Fire Shadow a visit," Naruto said as he turned to his bowl of Ramen.
"Itadakimasu," they both said simultaneously as they began to eat their Ramen. Naruto then showed Michael to a hotel and he went inside and ordered himself a room for the night and got settled in. The room was a simple suite and had all the essentials that a hotel room should have a bed, TV, a dresser with a phone on it, and a bathroom. Michael also noticed a strange lamp post that seemed out of place but he decided to ignore it. After he got washed up and changed he laid down on his bed and attempted to sleep but couldn't… he had the feeling he was being watched by someone. Again he decided to ignore it and closed his eyes and tried to sleep. But little did he know that the odd, out of place lamp was anything but… it began to changed shape until the form was that of a shinobi holding a kunai. He slowly and silently began to creep up on Michael, and as he approached the young boy he raised his kunai in the air. Michael was wandering how long it was going to take for his stocker to finally come out in the open and waited patiently for the assassin to get close enough for him to counterattack. When the ninja was near the bed Michael leapt up and kicked him in the jaw sending him flying into the wall. The ninja quickly recovered but was knocked down again by Michael's fist colliding with his temple. The ninja then disappeared with a "poof" and Michael was left with a curious look on his face. The tension from the room left and Michael felt like he was no longer being watched so he relaxed and finally was able to go to sleep after a few minutes of scanning the room.