Chapter 2
Returning and Lord of Flies
Beta: Old man of the mountain/Darklord331
Naruto had managed to make a long trek across the land. After leaving Kusa he continued traveling on foot through the many different nations in between. Naruto avoided any patrols of ninjas and avoided drawing attention to himself.
He knew that in time that the Leaf would come looking for him when word got around about the destroyed prison. If that was the case; he was sure that Jiraiya would come looking for him and throw him into another cell to keep him from becoming a threat due to his hidden power.
But in reality he had no interest in dealing with people from his old home and viewed it more of an annoyance. He knew that even with his new found power there was no way that he could win against someone with more experience and talent than him so he needed more time to train his new found powers and learn some new skills.
Sukuna on the trip had taught him a different form of chakra control to improve his overall performance and make his power less draining or overwhelming is the better term. This training method required him to flow his chakra into different parts of his body. It focused on shaping it around his limbs and even creating images and symbols on the tip of his fingers and then focusing through one finger and becoming more complex.
Naruto hadn't managed anything that Sukuna could do with his chakra but he was getting better to the point that he can make more than 10 letters in a row without losing his momentum.
From this; Naruto managed to improve overall his control to the point that he could consider his control enough to rank among Chunin but he was not confident enough to say he can win against them yet.
But he felt like he was improving.
Naruto arrived in Wave and yawned,
"Man that trip sucked but good to be back among familiar people in a familiar location."
"Indeed, it is good that we are back but I have to ask, what are you goals for being here?"
"Well I figured we can try to scare up some time to train that way I can get my body up to par with what is needed for some of your techniques while we also work on starting my studies into Dark Chakra and Light Chakra."
"Hm, that is interesting but I think we should work on mastering your Light first as right now you already have that down to a point and that will make our transition through this period easier. Plus with Dark Chakra there is the chance you might lose yourself to it so it is better to hold off until we are further into our training."
"Okay, also I thought about visiting Inari and see how he is doing and letting the family know what happened. Might as well I mean it is likely they might encounter shinobi from Konoha soon and it is better to be ready."
"That and having a place to lay our heads would be good as well."
"Yeah that too."
Naruto started his way to the bridge and saw a plaque at the end of the bridge and read it.
The Great Naruto Bridge
Named after our savior who freed us from Oppression and showed us the way to prosper once more.
"It would seem your impact here was greater than expected."
Naruto sighed,
"Yeah I guess it was."
Naruto continued to walk through the village and it was so different than when they were here the first time.
The market place was overflowing with people; trades were going on, people were talking peacefully to one another, children were playing in the streets without fear, and people were just enjoying life.
The atmosphere was so much happier than it ever was when they were under Gato.
It was almost like they were forgetting the past.
Almost.
Naruto walked through more of the market and was just admiring the different kinds of stalls and the different kinds of trinkets that there were here and there. But he didn't have any money so buying anything was out of the question but he could at least admire some of the craftsmanship of some of the weapons, clothes, and even the fancy jewelry that was being sold.
Naruto could only smile at the sight but soon felt something hitting his back and turned around.
At his waist was a small bow with a hat on his head, he had black hair and black eyes, and he was hugging his waist tightly.
"Big brother Naruto!"
Naruto smiled,
"Inari." Getting free he turned around and hugged the child and he was just as excited to see him as he thought. He was hugging his neck tightly and Naruto could only hold him close feeling the warmth coming from this hug.
Next he saw a woman with black hair and black eyes running around and then gasping,
"Naruto is that you?"
"Hey Tsunami how are you?"
The woman smiled and quickly hugged the child close while holding his head to her chest. Leaving a small kiss on her head.
"Nice to see you again Naruto how are you doing and why are your shirtless?"
Naruto laughed,
"It is a bit of a story; I don't want to talk about it here though."
Tsunami saw the hurt in his eyes and the feeling of anxiety welling up inside of the boy and quickly nodded her head while turning on her heels.
"Come on, father should be home from managing some stuff at the port so we can talk back at the house and he should be excited to see you too."
Naruto smiled and followed the two back to her house.
Not much had changed by the looks of it but it was still a very warm environment to the point that even Sukuna said it was what home is meant to be. Welcoming and comforting nothing more, nothing less.
After settling in Naruto was given one of Tsunami's husband's shirts to help cover himself.
Naruto thanked her and settled in and wondering how they were going to react. I mean, he was about to tell them the same village he fought valiantly, the same one they made a trade deal with, that same village betrayed him and sent him to prison. On trumped up charges and even marked him as a traitor even though his teammate, who they met, was the one that ran out of the village.
How would they react?
Naruto wasn't sure but he was sure that no matter what he would never hold this back on anyone if they didn't believe him. I mean, he did this to himself and he praised the village for everyone to hear and now it was coming back to bite him on the ass.
"Relax brat, people change, things change, nothing ever stays the same forever trust me I would know."
'You stayed the same person that you once were in that box for all this time.'
"Hmph, touché brat."
Naruto soon saw an old man walking into the house and he smiled,
"Hey brat good to see you."
Naruto laughed,
"Yeah good to see you too. I hope you don't mind me being here."
"Not at all brat we owe you big for everything you have done but where's your team? I mean did they just send you, now that I think about it where is the headband you ninja love so much?"
Naruto frowned and clenched his fists and sighed,
"Inari, Tsunami you guys might want to come in here as I don't want to repeat this."
The two nodded and joined him and Tazuna in the living room.
There he recounted his story from the time of the exams, to when he stopped Sasuke from running, and even mentioning the point where he was sent to prison.
He didn't tell them about Sukuna in fear of how they would react but he felt it was for best to leave it to the need to know people.
Inari was crying; how could they?
Naruto was his hero, he was his brother figure. He was like his father, he was brave and courageous. He was a man that was willing to fight against those that oppressed him without any fear of his own life. He thought Konoha was like that too and that they were heroes.
But hearing about his treatment at the hands of the village, Inari wasn't sure he could see the village in the same way anymore. In his eyes, he realized that it wasn't the village that saved him and his family, it was Naruto. He was the one that saved them, he was the one that inspired them, and he was the one that stood with them through the battle and rallied the people.
In his mind; Naruto was the real hero of Wave and the Leaf just took advantage of him like Gato did to them.
He was furious.
Tsunami was heartbroken; a boy only a few years older than her son, he was treated so terribly. He was done dirty in a way she can't describe. She couldn't help but cry, his pain and suffering, it was all too much for her.
When he talked about his time in prison he didn't say it but she could see him shake slightly. That was something she saw in those that were raped. Those that were abused, ones that were beaten and mistreated.
She knew for a fact; Naruto had suffered sexual violence while in prison and no one saved him.
This horrified her to know that he lost any ounce of innocence due to the village seeing him as a monster and wanting him sent away.
She can't, she just can't fathom how he survived.
Tazuna on the other hand? He put his bottle on the table, he just didn't feel like drinking. He felt like vomiting, the hypocrisy wasn't lost on him.
Originally the team was going to abandon him and leave him to the wolves. It was Naruto that motivated them to actually continue on the job and try to protect them. Even though he did lie about the mission and didn't have the money to offer them at the time that was appropriate.
He knew that the boy probably did it for his pride but he also knew he wasn't going to abandon him or this mission.
Tazuna then saw how he came to their home and after seeing him; he noticed the stark difference between him when he was in Wave to now. He was more mature, his mind was sharper, and he was more closed off. He wasn't sure why, but he knew something happened and he didn't want to look into it or talk about it. But from the look on his daughter's face and the stories he heard about prison, he got a pretty good idea of what happened.
If he could he hang everyone that was at that prison for daring to harm an innocent boy.
But that raised the biggest question; why was he here?
"Naruto," turning his head to the old man, "Why are you in Wave?"
"Dad! He has nowhere to go! You're acting like we should just throw him out or let his village know about his location!"
Inari glared, "No way, those assholes did this to him and you want to do him like they did! No way grandpa I won't allow it!"
Tazuna waved his hands,
"Wait hold on that's not what I'm saying!" He coughed, "What I meant was, was there any reason in particular you came to Wave, I have problem him being here and hiding out as long as necessary. But I just wanted to know if there is some kind of secret objective he is looking to accomplish."
Naruto sighed,
"Honestly; this is one of the few places I could get to without trouble and I felt it was safer here than anywhere else. Word would spread in other nations quick about my appearance and I can't afford that. I need time; to train, to recover, and to evolve." He held out his right hand and clenched it, "I was too prideful, I thought I could take on the world just with the confidence that I could. But I was a fool I suffered for my pride." He rubbed the scar on his chest, "It almost cost me my life. I was lucky he missed by a few inches but that won't happen again ad I can't bet on luck that it will happen again." Naruto sighed, "So, I needed somewhere quiet and peaceful that would allow me to train without interference and allow me to grow my skills to the level that they need to be."
Tazuna nodded his head and smiled,
"Well then, it is no trouble to me that you stay with us. After what the Leaf did, as soon as we pay what we owe, we will terminate our trade agreement with them." He snorted, "We have alliances coming in from other minor nations and even the Land of Iron, soon we won't need the Land of Fire's protection when we have other nations willing to come to our aid and fight for us."
Tsunami nodded,
"Plus we have some of those people from that other continent living here now. They offered to help protect us if something was to happen."
Naruto raised an eyebrow, other continent?
"Tazuna, Tsunami what do you mean other continent as far as I knew there was only the Elemental Nations. No one has ever mentioned other continents out there in the world."
Tazuna nodded and took a swig of his drink,
"You would be right but I heard an interesting rumor floating around a few years ago. Apparently there is another continent about 3 months sail away from here. They are supposedly a nation similar to ours but they are in the midst of a giant war that broke out between one nation against the other nations. Lately more and more people from those nations have moved into Wave and settled down in our little nation. Most of them are ex-warriors or people that did use weapons or other tactics and are looking for a peaceful place to sleep. They have become shop keepers, traders, and warriors for our village to help safeguard us from bandits and invaders."
Naruto was amazed; there were people powerful like that outside the Elemental Nations?
"What can they do?"
Tazuna laughed,
"One of them could control fire without doing those fancy hand movements that you ninja use."
"Really?" Naruto raised an eyebrow, that is impressive. How easier would his life be without having to use handsigns to create jutsus?
"In my time I created techinques with either a single hand sign or no hand sign at all. In time you can learn to do something like that as well. But this talk about nations without hand sign users is intriguing to me. I think it would help if we look into some of these people and learn more of this new land. Maybe, it can be a new beginning if we ever need it."
Naruto nodded his head,
'Agreed but for now we should get to work on training. So, I'll excuse myself and we can go see my friends and then begin.'
"Very well but I want to meet these fighters soon."
Naruto got off the couch,
"Well thank you all for the hospitality but I would like to get some training before the sun goes down."
"Alright but please be back before sun down Naruto."
Naruto smiled at Tsunami,
"Understood."
Naruto left the house and sighed,
'That's a mother's care huh? Interesting for sure.'
Naruto proceeded to walk away from the village and further out into the outskirts. There he found the spot he was looking for but what was going on there made his blood boil.
In the opening was the grave marked with a white mask with lines on it and another grave that was marked with a big sword that was buried with the blade in the ground.
However, there was someone there with a group of men, they were trying to remove the blade from the ground and struggling to accomplish this goal.
'Sukuna I need to kill these men.'
"Calm down brat, killing them will prove pointless if we don't know who they are. We should at least try to capture one of them alive so we can find out why they were trying to steal the sword."
'Fine but you do it, I don't think I'm strong enough to handle all of them still.'
"Right, better safe than sorry, see your learning."
Naruto closed his eyes and the markings appeared on his body again before they opened and showed red eyes staring on blankly.
Walking up he shouted,
"Hey bastards I would step away from the sword." His voice was deep and regal making the men by the sword turn. Most of them were terrified at first at the voice but seeing the person, they just laughed and scoffed.
The one with the sword smirked arrogantly,
"Hey brat, why don't you go piss off before I take this sword and cleave you in half? Don't know you who I am?"
"A deadbeat?"
"No I'm the legendary bandit known as Gozo, I'm the man that slayed the Might Zabuza Momochi and this blade is mine by conquest!"
"Yeah you tell him boss!"
"No one should stand against a man that defeated the Demon of the Mist."
"Fool will get killed for sure!"
All Sukuna could do at this point was release a small chuckle before breaking out into full laughter.
He was laughing so hard tears were rolling down his cheeks and he couldn't help but feel elated.
"You dumbass, I know one thing for certain."
A dark ominous aura started to form around Sukuna, his body was starting to glow with dark power, and all they could make out was his red eyes staring straight at them with a sadistic grin plastered on his face.
"You've signed your death warrant with that comment."
Putting his hand up in a half prayer he smiled,
"All of you can enjoy the afterlife."
The men were frozen by the aura but they screamed in fear and tried to run only to find their bodies falling to pieces.
An explosion of gore ranged out and soon the man trying to pull the sword screamed and ran. Forgetting the blade in the process.
Sukuna sighed,
"Well that was pointless so he was just your garden variety of a thief." He looked at the blood and with two fingers swiped through the air in a side ways movement.
The blood soon was pulled off the grass and floating in the air.
The blood converged on one point forming a giant ball of blood floating in mid-air.
Sukuna stared at the ball and with a snap of the two fingers, the ball vanished.
"All clean and ready for our lesson."
The tattoos vanished on Naruto's body before his eyes turned blue.
"Geez that never gets easier." Naruto held his head and could feel the ringing sensation going through his mind and just trying to center his balance was proving to be a challenge.
"You grow use to it the more we do it. But for now; without Dark chakra you will not respond well to the swap."
"Okay so now we begin training and what about that guy that ran? Shouldn't we go and find him?"
Sukuna shrugged,
"It be pointless he didn't know who we were and honestly that fool was probably a coward to begin with and won't dare show his face to other bandits and other nations are probably looking for him if he has been bragging about the sword for a long time. Personally; it would be more trouble and waste of energy to pursue him."
Naruto shrugged.
"Now then, we have begun your training in Light chakra while we were on the road but now we need to work on drawing out more of it. So first things first, focus on your chakra control that we talked about before and start trying to bring out more each time."
Naruto groaned,
"Got it."
Naruto got to work on making more letters with his chakra and just went along with this training method in the hopes of soon mastering his control to finally start learning more attack and defense techniques.
The bandit that was running had fled far into the wilderness and just sighed before slamming his fist into a tree.
"Damn brat, I the mighty Gozo forced to flee as if I was a minor bandit. How annoying," he rubbed his face smudging up more of the dirt and grime on his face, "What's worse, all my underlings are dead meaning I will have to start over from-"
He heard a crunch and quickly hid behind a tree.
Straight ahead was a man with black hair walking through the forest without a care in the world.
He saw the man was dressed in some fancy black clothes with a cloak around his neck to try and hide his appearance. He couldn't be sure but he swore the man's ears were pointy but he thinks it is a trick of the angle he was looking at him from.
'Plus this guy is rich by the looks of it. Meaning all I got to do is grab him and demand a ransom and then I the great Gozo can rebuild my group and start on my conquest of becoming a famous Warlord in the far future! I'll have nothing but sexy women all around me!'
He smiled and slowly walked up to the black hair man who was just walking aimlessly forward and just ignoring his surrounding.
The bandit slowly crept on him, closer and closer he was getting.
Gozo saw him stop, sigh, and turn to him.
Gozo saw the emptiness of his eyes, his black eyes just bore into him and all he could do is shiver.
"You should run, all that awaits you is death."
Gozo growled,
"You are the second fucker today that has told the Mighty Gozo to run! I won't let another brat treat me like this!"
The man sighed,
"Fine but I did warn you."
Gozo lunged at the man, reaching for his collar and aiming his knife at his neck to hopefully restrain him.
He coughed up blood, his body was feeling limp, and all he could do is feel a cold sensation washing over him.
Looking down all he could see is a dark, thing punching a hole through his stomach. He tried reaching to the thing but it just pushed further into his stomach and he coughed up more blood before going limp.
The being disappeared in an instance and the man could only sigh,
"Sixteen years old and I already have a body count of at least 400, how sad." He smiled at the sky, "God please, grant me my release, let someone come to kill me soon."
The man walked away from the body and all that was left of the man's presence was a swarm of flies that flew onto his body and started to slowly drain it and eat it.