Naruto-Excalibur
Episode 1- The A-Ranked Mission
What I really plan on doing is saving the action-packed part for the next episode. But for this chapter, I'm going to try to set up all the scenes so you can fully understand what's going on. Also, this is going to be the last chapter in this episode. The next episode should be out and completed in a couple of days.
Disclaimer: Oh, and before I forget, I still don't own Naruto or it's sequel because it originated from a manga in Japan and I'm an American who just wants to share his version of the series.
Forewarning: I just wanted to alert you that there are some characters that you might not remember or recognize in the Naruto series in which you'd want to find out before you get confused. So before you read the third chapter, make sure you have some reference site open just in case.
What I Would Have Done Differently: If I owned this series, I would have set Orochimaru with an Akatsuki-like team name the Sound Ninja 9. It would consist of Kimmimaro, Sakon, Udon, Tayuya, Kabuto, Kidomaru, Sasuke, Jirobo, and Orochimaru himself.
The four finally made it into the Hidden Star Village. Once they reached the entrance, Konohamaru stopped them.
"Something wrong?" Jiraiya asked.
"Yeah, what is it Konohamaru?" Naruto added.
"Well, uh, you see, I have to go use the bathroom." Konohamaru giggled nervously. The other three's face dropped and Sakura let out a sigh.
"I'll take him. You guys just go on ahead." Sakura suggested and Naruto and Jiraiya nodded.
"Hurry!" Konohamaru begged, clutching his part with both his hands.
"Ok, come on." Sakura ushered as she and Konohamaru went into some bushes.
"Pervy Sage, if you don't mind, I would like to find an old friend of mine." Naruto asked as the remaining two entered the Star Village.
"Ok Naruto, but I think it would be best to visit the Hoshikage first." Jiraiya suggested.
"They have a new Hoshikage?" Naruto asked.
"Yes, and you're about to meet him right now." Jiraiya said. Right as he finished, they entered the Hoshikage's residence. There Naruto spotted someone he knew dressed in white robes.
"Sumaru!" Naruto exclaimed.
"Naruto? Is that you?" Sumaru asked.
"Yeah, and now we're supposed to escort one of your caravans to the Hidden Stone Village." Naruto explained.
The three settled and sat on a rug in the center of the shelter. Sumaru nodded and stood up.
"This way." he beckoned and the two obeyed.
Sumaru led them outside the residence and around the continued forward until they spotted a hut with a caravan in front of it. Surrounding the caravan were 6 people, a few of which Naruto remembered.
"Mizura, Hokuto, it's been a while!" Naruto exclaimed.
"N-Naruto, is that you?" Hokuto asked. Naruto approached them and grinned as the two of them had shocked faces from their reunion.
"It seems as though the ninja have reached the Star Village." Zetsu informed. "Good."
Pain responded. "The plan will begin very soon."
"But there is one problem." Zetsu said. "There are three more ninja of the same village heading after them. I think they know we're onto them." Pain sighed.
Let's see. Who to send to deal with the problem, he thought.
"Let me take care of it." Sasori asked.
"Alright, but make it quick. I have an assignment for you." Pain replied.
Sasori nodded and slowly left the hideout.
"Pain, do you really think Sasori can handle these leaf ninja on his own?" Kakuzu asked Pain as Sasori's disappeared in the forest ahead. Pain turned to Kakuzu and nodded.
"Of course. Sasori's abilities are extraordinary and like I you should entrust him with this task. Normally in this circumstance I would have sent Itachi, but Sasori will be a great decoy for the three leaf ninja that decided to but in." Pain explained. "Don't worry, Sasori won't be long. He hates to be kept and keep others waiting."
To that, Sasori continued walking with a wicked grin on his face as he listened to Pain's explanation.
"Ok, we shouldn't be far from the others." Neji stated as he jumped off another branch. The three ninja sped at a rapid pace, hoping to keep up with the others.
"How far are we?" Kiba asked, energy draining from him after a while of insane speeding.
"We're almost there." Neji replied.
"What exactly are we heading for anyway?" Shikamaru asked.
"They're escorting a caravan from the Hidden Star Village. I believe that Naruto might still be there." Neji responded. Shikamaru nodded and the three headed on.
"All right, is everyone ready to go?" Jiraiya asked as a dozen people including Hokuto and Mizura, who explained to Naruto how he doesn't need his crutches anymore.
[ "Well ever since you left, I was thinking about how helpless I was, but I knew that the star training was to blame. Every day I relied on Hokuto to help me motivate myself to get out of bed. Sumaru noticed what was going on and took pity on me. He used a form of medical ninjutsu to restored the parts of my body that became severely damaged from the star training. He had just became Hoshikage, and he took the time to master the technique." Mizura explained.
"Yeah, I understand all that, but I have one question. How did Sumaru become Hoshikage?" Naruto asked.
"Simple, because his heritage. He is the son of two heroes, and he and everybody else believes he can restore the honor this village once had." Mizura answered, his eyes beaming towards Sumaru. Naruto was beaming too. Not only was he proud of Sumaru, he admired him. It's only been 2 years since Naruto visited the Star Village, and Sumaru is the Hoshikage. Naruto grinned at him and that caught Sumaru's attention. He walked up to them with a smile on his face.
"Did Mizura tell you everything?" Sumaru asked. Naruto nodded still beaming at him.
"If you keep your eyes like that, it'll be sure to fall out." Sumaru said, trying not to look at Naruto's eyes. Naruto finally calmed down, and he stared at Jiraiya talking to the local women that happened to be around them.
That pervy sage, I knew this was gonna happen. We can't have one mission together where he doesn't stare at women. Man, this bites.
Sumaru laughed and leaned against the caravan. "I see Master Jiraiya is familiarizing himself with the local women, huh?" he asked.
"That pervy sage. Knowing him, he must be trying to spend the rest of the day with every one of them." Naruto said, disappointed. Sumaru noticed and put another smile on his face.
"Don't worry, Naruto. Jiraiya's time in this life is not very long. Let him enjoy it, like you should enjoy yours." Sumaru explained, trying to motivate him. Naruto pouted and let out a sigh.
"Yeah, I guess you're right. That pervy sage is pretty old, but not as old as Grandma Tsunade." Naruto said, still pouting.
Sumaru chuckled and stared at Jiraiya. The two stood there until Hokuto spoke up.
"Ok Sumaru, we're all set." Hokuto said, with her eyes closed, her left hand clutching her right behind her back, and a wide smile. Sumaru grinned back.
"Ok, you and Mizura are in charge. I'm entrusting the two of you and Naruto to escort the caravan safely." Sumaru said, still smiling.
Jeez, what's wrong with these guys, Naruto thought.
"Don't worry," Hokuto responded. "We'll make sure the caravan is safe, Lord Hoshikage." Naruto scratched his head as he tried to understand what's going on. Sumaru, still smiling, walked up to Hokuto and planted a kiss on her cheek. Naruto's eyes popped out as he watched.
"Huh?!" he blurted out.
Hokuto was still smiling and she smiled even wider at that. Naruto still looked puzzled, but Mizura was grinning too.
I bet you it's going to be like this the whole mission, Naruto thought. Naruto turned to see Jiraiya walk up to them.]
"Oh, finally done with you research huh?!" Naruto asked, crossing his arms. Jiraiya tried to put on an innocent face as he tried to explain.
"Hehe, oh, well um..." Jiraiya trailed off then his expression changed to a serious one.
"This is no time to be joking around. Let's go." Jiraiya said and started walking away from the caravan.
Says the guy who was just flirting with girls a minute ago, Naruto thought.
"Hey, what about Sakura and Konohamaru? Should we wait for them?" Naruto asked.
"We'll meet up with them outside the village." Jiraiya replied and Naruto nodded.
As the caravan started to move, Naruto remembered something.
"Sumaru! Wait, I need to ask you something!" Naruto shouted. Sumaru began heading for the Hoshikage's residence when Naruto stopped him.
"What is it?" Sumaru asked. The caravan halted with the civilians confused.
"I just wanna know...what happened to Akahoshi?" he asked. Sumaru turned around and smiled.
"Put right in the Hidden Star Prison." Sumaru replied which left a sigh f relief come out of Naruto.
"Don't worry Naruto, we'll take care of things from now on. Just make sure the caravan arrives at its destination." Sumaru said, still smiling. He then turned and headed for the Hoshikage's residence.
Shikamaru leaped off another branch and sped up to Kiba.
"Do you sense it?" Shikamaru asked. Kiba took a while to sniff the air then he slowly nodded. The three were in a formation organized by Shikamaru. Kiba in the lead because of his sense of smell, Shikamaru in the center to hit the enemy with the Shadow Possession Jutsu while the enemy is distracted by his two comrades, and finally Neji in the back because of the Byakugan which can detect enemies trying to sneak up on them from behind. Shikamaru made a similar formation during the time when he was the only Chunin, and now he decided since they had to keep a lookout for Akatsuki, the team should wisely use it again.
"What should we do?" Kiba whispered.
"Just let this play out." Shikamaru answered as he let Kiba speed ahead.
Shikamaru slowed down to let Neji catch up to him. Neji's energy was draining every second since he was using the Byakugan for quite some time. As soon as the two were in whisper range, Neji nodded.
"I see. So you can sense it too?" Neji whispered. Shikamaru nodded as he explained to him what he told Kiba. Neji nodded to that and Shikamaru sped up and the three were back in formation, unaware of the identity of the incoming threat. Then suddenly, Neji gasped and tripped on a branch and slowly fell. He almost hit the ground before Shikamaru came to the rescue.
"Sorry, let's keep moving." Neji said, panting heavily.
"No way Neji, you must be exhausted." Kiba responded, walking up to the two.
"Yeah, Neji. Using your Byakugan for this long must have drained your energy. Let's rest here." Shikamaru said.
The camp was set up in less than ten minutes with a nice fire blazing. Neji layed on the ground with his eyes closed, but still heavily panting. Just as the group grew weary, two kunai knives flew straight towards Neji.
"Look out!" Kiba shouted as he tossed two kunai knives at the ones heading for Neji. All four knives collided and dropped to the grass below which woke Neji up. He crawled to his two teammates who were standing up and scanning the area for the attackers. Neji rested against a tree near them, still weak from using Byakugan for so long. After a short while, two Sound ninja walked out of a clump of bushed across from them.
One of the ninja wore a mask similar to Kakashi's mask but was blue. The ninja had red hair that was spiky like Naruto's, a sleveless red chunin vest, a sound ninja headband, black pants, and had a the purple knot that Orochimaru usually wears on his back. Not only did he have hair like Naruto, he looked like Naruto too. The group gasped as they realized that his partner was no other than Sasuke himself.
Well it took me a long time to finish this and I'm sorry that I didn't finish sooner but I had a lot to do and never had enough time. When I finish with the next episode, I'll be sure to post it right away. If you have any questions or wish to hear about what's going to be in the next episode, message me or leave a review and I'll try to respond as soon as possible. Thanks for reading this episode and I hope you liked it.