Chapter Two: Confusion and Explanations
"Someone's headed our way, on a horse," Karin warned from the flank, her eyes opening as the five ninja ran across the open field of the grass land outside the forest of trees. The five shinobi just left the forest, and they were glad to be out in open air… Hopefully away from those… Things.
"Maybe they can give us directions," Sakura said hopefully, keeping a pace with Naruto as they ran with their arms sagging by their sides. Hinata was still riding on Naruto's back, and silently waited for what was going to happen next.
"Don't provoke whoever it is," Sasuke spoke up, shooting a meaningful look at Naruto, "This isn't our land, and as far as they know, we could be the enemy."
"Yeah, yeah, I know, bastard," Naruto grumbled. He hated how Sasuke just automatically took the lead the minute they got here. Who the hell died and made him leader?
As they continued, the figure in the distance steadily drew nearer. Sasuke signaled for everyone to stop and they did, Naruto letting Hinata down and off his back to sit on the ground safely. They then faced towards where the figure was approaching, waiting for the person to approach them.
Once he was close enough, Naruto could see who was on the horse. A middle aged man, with longish black hair but was shaved off in the middle section down. The closer he got, the more Naruto could see his face. His eyes were silver, cold, he had a placid expression on his face, but despite his serious expression, he was rather short for his age.
'I think he's even shorter then Sakura,' Naruto thought to himself in amusement before the man finally was able to get to them, and tugged on his horse's reigns for it to slow down and stop in front of them. Now that he was close enough, Naruto could see that he was wearing a green cloak, it had a symbol on the back and a smaller patch on the shoulder that looked like two wings: one blue the other white, with the white overlapping the blue slightly. He couldn't really see what he was wearing underneath, but noticed he was wearing white pants and dark brown boots with harnesses strapped over his thighs and running up into his upper body, that was covered by the cloak. At his sides, were odd metal devices strapped to his waist and lower back. He noticed that there were handles in one of the slots, was that his weapon?
'A solider?' Sasuke thought to himself but didn't say anything.
He observed them all silently for a moment, confusion now etched into his serious features. The group stared back at him for a long moment.
"What are you brats doing all the way out here?" The man spoke, his voice surprisingly deep and masculine.
'Who is he calling brats?!' Naruto's temper flared and he opened his mouth to retort something about the man's height, but Sasuke put a hand over his face in a signal for him to keep his mouth shut.
"We got lost," Sasuke spoke up in a cool tone, his hand falling back to his side, "Do you know where Konoha is?"
The dark haired male arched a brow, "I've never heard of such a place."
The five froze for a moment and all looked at each other in alarm. They knew there had to be some sort of mistake.
"Where are we right now?" Karin demanded, stepping forward and elbowing Naruto out the way so she could get a good look at the dark haired male.
Levi arched a curious brow and replied, "You are east of Trost and North of Zhiganshina not to far from the forest of giant trees. You're between Wall Rose and Wall Maria."
The five looked at each other in deeper confusion, "What?" Was all Karin could say in response to that, "I'm very confused, you're saying that you don't know where Konoha is? Have you ever heard of the five elemental nations?"
Levi's expression didn't change, "No," he replied before sighing and giving the group a once over. How the hell were they out here alone, no maneuver gear or weapons, and manage to survive on their own? There was only five of them, but five was a crowd, and it attracted titans. He should probably get them back to the group and get back inside Wall Rose.
But there was something off about them. Not to mention their looks and clothing. The redhead looked like she just broke out of prison. One had pink hair and a fucking diamond on her forehead. One had the creepiest looking eyes he's ever seen, milky white with no pupils. Did the blond one have whiskers or were those just markings? The only one that looked remotely normal was the black haired one.
"Wait a minute," Sakura spoke up and looked up at the captain, "We have no idea where we are here, and I don't kno-"
"Silence, brat, and let me speak," Levi cut her off, "If we stay around here, we'll have trouble soon. Too many people dawdling in one place isn't good. Now, all of you come with me to meet up with the rest of my soldiers, and you can explain yourselves once we get back to wall Rose."
With that said, Levi tugged on his horse's reigns and had her start trotting back towards where his soldiers were waiting for him, and the five shinobi figured they had no choice but to follow. They all looked at each other silently, before taking off running to catch up to him. Naruto bent over and lifted Hinata princess style before taking off after his companions.
After a few moments of jogging in silence, they reached a group of soldiers. Some were wearing similar cloaks to the short man, and others were wearing tan jackets over undershirts where the harnesses were connected.
"Commander," A tall man with neatly combed blond hair stepped forward to greet the newcomers, his eyes straying over the group for a moment before he continued, "Are these the ones that were wandering about?"
"Yeah," Levi replied.
Erwin narrowed his eyes, "How-"
"We'll discuss this once we get back inside the walls," Levi cut him off. He didn't want to discuss this here, sure they hadn't had any casualties as of yet, only some went M!A, but he didn't want to risk anything.
"Okay," Erwin cast another curious glance at the five shinobi before turning back to his men, "We're moving out!"
Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Hinata and Karin all ended up seated in one of the carts being pulled by two horses. Karin and Sakura sat side by side one the end, both their faces confused. But Sakura looked more scared then confused, while Karin looked rather calm and was just lost in her thoughts. Hinata was seated on the side, her legs stretched in front of her and a worried expression on her face. Naruto and Sasuke was sitting side by side at the front. Their backs leaning against the cart. Naruto had his legs crisscrossed in front of him while Sasuke's knee was drawn upwards with his arm resting on it.
The sound of an extra set of hooves approaching pulled Sasuke out of his thoughts. He looked over to see a girl with short brown hair and honey colored eyes riding up next to them. She stared at Sasuke for a long moment, Sasuke returning the stare for a few long moments before color appeared on her cheeks and she looked away. Sasuke thought that maybe she wanted to say something, but she ended up just galloping forward.
'That was strange,' Sasuke thought to himself before looking back down at his lap, 'Maybe she was just curious about the newcomers.'
They rode on in silence, soon they came upon what looked like the biggest wall they've ever seen. They all looked up in complete awe as the stone gate raised to let them in.
"Whoa…" Naruto murmured as they were pulled in, looking up in excitement and curiosity as they passed through the busy streets of the town they were now in.
"Uh guys," Sakura said as she sat up on her knees and looked around, surveying her surroundings carefully before she looked at the rest of them, "I have this feeling… That we're going to be here for a while…"
The group fell silent and let those words sink in for the rest of the ride.
About a half hour later, they were in the Scouting Legion's office or whatever, and was talking to the blond man, now known as Erwin, and the midget of a commander, Levi. Hinata, Sakura and Naruto all sat on a large green couch, while Karin and Sasuke stayed standing, too tense to try and sit down. Sakura and Sasuke were trying their best to explain everything, but the more they tried, the more they realized how hard it was to believe.
"So what you think is that this, Obito person somehow cast you out into a different universe?" Levi sounded like he wasn't buying it, but he had to say, stranger things have happened. But was it really possible to just throw a few brats into a completely different world, and for what reason?
"It may sound crazy…"
"It's true," Sasuke said and crossed his arms over his chest, "I thought about it on the ride here, it's the only explanation. Obito has some incredible powers, sending us here… Tch, it was probably like childsplay," he murmured in irritation and raised a hand to his chin in thought.
"So what means would this Obito use to bring you here?" Alright, Levi will play along and see where this conversation went.
"He probably used some special jutsu on us. A trump card, to get rid of us in case things went to hell for him during the war," Sasuke told him and crossed his arms over his chest.
"What's a justu?"
Sakura, like the lovable smartass she is, spoke up this time, "Jutsus are the mystical arts a ninja will utilize in battle. To use a technique, the ninja will need to use their chakra. To perform a technique, the ninja will bring out and release the two energies of chakra. By forming hand seals, the ninja is able to manifest the desired technique. Because of the extensive number of hand seals and different combinations, there are thousands of potential techniques to be discovered."
Levi stared at her like she was speaking a foreign language, "What is chakra?"
Karin spoke up this time, "Chakra is essential to even the most basic technique; it is the molding of the physical energy present in every cell of the body and the spiritual energy gained from exercise and experience. Once molded, it can be channeled through the chakra circulatory system, which is to chakra as the regular circulatory system is to blood, to any of the 361 chakra points in the body. Through various methods, the most common of which is hand seals, the chakra can then be controlled and manipulated to create an effect that would not be possible otherwise, such as walking on water, exhaling fire or creating illusions.
By molding different ratios of the two energies, new colors and much stronger types of chakra can be formed. Most ninja have a natural affinity to one type of chakra, but they have the capacity to create elemental chakra apart from their own affinity. There are five basic types, each stronger and weaker to another, but their relations, weaknesses, and strengths to each other are all explored. There is also the dealing of Yin and Yang and the balance of mental and physical energies. In addition to these five elements, certain kekkei genkai can mix elemental chakra to form new natures, for example it is possible to mix water and wind into ice. While many ninja can use more than one type of chakra, very few are able to use them simultaneously."
Levi stared blankly at her for a brief moment, looking down at Erwin to see if he got any of that. That was a lot of information to swallow. The blond man was lost in thought, as if he was trying to comprehend what the two females just said.
"Wait a minute, so that means that you guys can use jutsus? You can exhale fire, create illusions? How is that possible?" Levi asked and looked at all of them.
"Well, not all of us can. Sasuke's the only fire user in our group I think, and I'm a healing type ninja," Karin said and gestured to Sakura, "She has brute strength, we're all different. The strongest ones of us here, with the most jutsus might be Sasuke."
Naruto huffed in annoyance, "I'm just as good as Sasuke!"
"Shut up blondie I wasn't talking to you!"
"That's enough," Sasuke intervened before they could start up a full on fight. Who knew with how explosive both their tempers are?
Levi and Erwin looked at each other at the same time, both having the same idea. They looked back at the group before them before Erwin spoke up, "Do you mind showing us some of these jutsus?"
Naruto and Sasuke both looked at each other then back at Erwin, "Sure," Naruto replied for the both of them and stood up, running a hand through his spikey blond hair, "Uh, we should do this outside then, we would destroy your office if we do it here," he said with a grin.
They were outside now, alone. It was only Naruto and Sasuke. The girls had gone off with some woman named Petra to go and get settled in. It was pretty obvious that they were stuck in this world until further notice, and the girls seems worn out from their adventure today. It was up to Sasuke and Naruto to convince Captain Levi and Captain Erwin that they were telling the truth.
"Okay, I can't do a major jutsu because I still haven't recovered my chakra yet, but I'll show you my main technique!" he did a handsign, and soon a clone appeared next to him.
Levi's eyes widened a fraction upon seeing a carbon copy of the blond standing next to him. The real Naruto held out his hand and the clone began to form his rasengan. Soon, he had his rasengan, and he raced towards the nearest tree, striking it in the center and blowing a huge hole right through it.
"Whoa…"
"Yeah, I'd show you more but I'm kind of exhausted from all that excitement today, show them your fireball jutsu, Sasuke!"
Sasuke shrugged and stood about a yard away from the tree that Naruto just struck. Naruto moved out the way as Sasuke did a handsign and raised his fingers to his mouth. He blew out a very large fireball through his thumb and index finger, setting the tree on fire. He turned away from it and planted a hand on his hip, walking back over to Levi and Erwin casually.
"Do you believe us now?" He asked, almost impatient.
Levi had gotten over his shock by now and crossed his arms over his chest as he replied, "I suppose so, yes, we do," he spoke for the both of them before his silver gaze met Sasuke's deep, black orbs, "I guess you guys are kind of confused on what you saw out there right, you told me earlier you ran into a monster?"
Sasuke and Naruto nodded in sync, "What the hell were those things?" Naruto murmured, not asking anyone in particular just wondering out loud.
"They are called titans," Levi began, crossing his arms and leaning his back against a nearby tree, "A century ago, they appeared suddenly, killing humans in vast amounts of numbers. Humanity was pushed to the brink of extinction. The remaining humans were able to build three walls; Wall Maria, Wall Rose, and Wall Sina. These walls served as a good defense against the titans, they were unable to get in. Humanity lived in peace for a hundred years. Then, about five years ago, the colossal titan appeared."
He took a breath and looked off to the side a bit, "The colossal titan was much more big then the walls, and it broke through the wall Maria, letting in a flood of titans. Humanity was at war again before we knew it. Many lives were lost that day, and civilians were forced to flee into the inner wall of Rose. The territory you were in, used to be human territory until the wall was breached. We've been trying to retrieve it, but no luck. Not yet, at least."
Naruto had a solemn expression on his face while Sasuke seemed apathetic and unemotional as usual. All of them were silent for a brief moment before Levi leaned off the tree, "I'm sure you're exhausted, why don't you guys let Petra escort you to your rooms, and I will see you in the morning. Tomorrow, I'll take you to Wall Rose and show you. Then we need to talk."
Levi had an idea, but he'd have to discuss it with Erwin tonight, get his input, before he could propose it to Naruto and his companions. He turned away and headed back inside, soon followed by Erwin. Sasuke and Naruto followed afterwards to go find Petra and be taken to their rooms.