Author's Note:
First off I need to say I am so sorry for taking so long to release this. Not to make it sound that this is easy or I'm lazy, but for this series it takes honestly a few hours to a day to write a single chapter. Because of what's been going on I've been procrastinating this (trying to write an article portfolio with many articles is not easy, not to mention working on huge video projects eats up time).
So my question for guys is Should I Work On "Pirates vs Ninjas: Battles of Love and Will" to Completion Instead of Working on my Other Stories? Vote here or on this poll (micro poll /t/KEUjOZVOkM)
So without out further ado enjoy the chapter and Merry Júl/Winter Solstice/Dies Natalis Invicti Solis/Christmas/Hanuka/Kwanzaa/and for today Mother Night!
Chapter 4: Beware, Beware the Straw-hats They Come
"So this is Konoha" said Nami as her eyes scanned over the village. Though only at the gates of the village, the young navigator could tell that it was different from any other village or town she had seen on her travels thus far.
"Impressive isn't it?" grinned the old man.
'I won't call it that' admitted Nami in her head.
"The guards are going to check our caravans and it will take a while. You can go on ahead Nami-san."
"Are you sure?"
"Hai. You need to find your friends do you not?"
Nami smiled and nodded at the old man. "Arigatou Iwao-san, Hotaru, Atsuko. Ja na."
"Sayonara!" chimed the children waving at the young navigator. As she left the cart behind her, Nami walked into the village of Konoha and looked around slowly. She gazed at the architecture of the buildings, the villagers themselves, and the large stone face behind a large building, that had the faces of 4 men and one woman. It was like nothing she had ever seen before. It all seemed off to her. But then again, she had been nearly all over the known world in the long time she was at sea with the Mugiwara Kaizoku-dan, and she had seen things she would have never believed unless she saw it with her own eyes.
Nevertheless, there were clear warning signs that things were amiss. Firstly, and most worrisome, she wasn't able to smell the sea. How far inland was she? Second, there were no Marines about nor was there a Marine Headquarters of any kind. Now Nami knew that with Marines came trouble, but a town without Marine was like a town without...pirates. That was a wakeup call for her. No sea, no Marines, no Pirates, separated from her ship, captain, and crew, and to make things worse, her Log Pose was still spinning madly even after several hours of travel. Panicking would be stupid of her but she was starting to get worried. She needed answers and she needed them now. A talk with the locals may give her those answers.
Nami walked to a shop not far from the village gates which got the attention of the owner.
"Konnichiwa young miss. How can I help you today?" he asked with a warm smile.
"Yes, how long does it take for the Log Pose to set here?" she asked.
The shop owner blinked and frowned. "A what?"
"A Log Pose" repeated the navigator holding up the deceive that was strapped to her wrist. The owner looked at the Log Pose that continued to spin wildly.
"No offence miss, but that looks like a broken compass to me."
Nami frowned now starting to feel even more worried. 'He doesn't know what a Log Pose is? There is no one on the Grand Line that doesn't know what a Log Pose is. I could be in the Eastblue but this place looks nothing like it. What's going on?'
"You're lost aren't you? This is the village of Konohagakure, the largest ninja village in the Hi no Kuni (Land of Fire) and the capital. Are you looking for something or someone in particular?"
Things were not looking good for the young red-head. Then she noticed something from the corner of her eye. A yellow straw hat was bobbing in the crowd of people moving away from the shop. Could that be Luffy?
"Thanks anyways!" she said quickly and bolted from the shop. "Luffy!" she cried out to him. The straw hat didn't stop giving Nami no choice but to push through the crowd till she was able to reach him. "Luffy!" she said again placing a hand on his shoulder and causing him to turn around. But to her disappointment, it was not him; instead it was a middle aged man with facial hair.
"G-Gomen, I thought you were someone else" she said realising her mistake. The man grunted and kept walking away, leaving Nami feeling even more alone. Where on earth was Luffy?
xXx
"Ah?" said Luffy looking up. "Nami..."
"Is something wrong Luffy-san?" asked Hinata.
"Ya. I just thought I heard something."
"Humph, anyways" continued Naruto with pursed lips, "I still don't believe any of your crazy stories. As if things like 'Sea Kings' or 'Lapahns' or 'Hiking Bears' or any of those creatures exist." (a/n: Only now did I realise that Sea Kings share their names with the Pokémon Seaking. Yes I am that dumb -_-)
Luffy just stuck his tongue out at the blond. "Don't care what you think but it's true" he said picking his nose. "You're just dumb."
"Nani?!" growled Naruto getting ready to fight the young pirate captain. Thankfully Hinata quickly intervened.
"W-Well I'm a bit skeptical myself" she admitted drawing their attention to her. "N-Nevertheless, I-I think they are wonderful stories."
This seemed to calm Naruto down but he still looked at Luffy with a bitter look. He did not like this man.
"Oh ya I forgot" said Luffy looking at Hinata "You said this was a ninja village right? Does that make you guys ninjas?" Both Hinata and Naruto nodded. "Can you do tricks?"
"Tricks?!" said Naruto frowning deeply.
"Hai" replied Hinata knowing that the straw-hat wearing man did not mean any harm or offence. She brought her hands together to form a hand deal and made sure to make eye contact with Luffy. "Byakugan" she said immediately causing veins to appear beside the young woman's eyes.
"Are you ok?" asked Luffy confused at what she just did.
"I'm alright. This is my Byakugan; my Dojutsu Kekki Genkai (Blood Limit Eye Technique)" Hinata explained. "My clan, the Hyuuga, are the only ones that are born with this Kekki Genkai and it allows us to not only see 360° around ourselves, but see through objects and at great distances. I can see as far as 10 kilometers."
"Oh I get it!" said Luffy hitting his right fist into his left palm lightly. "It's like having x-ray telescopes for eyes. Sugei!"
"Well...yes" replied the young kunoichi realising that wasn't a bad way of describing the Byakugan. "However, the main point behind the Byakugan is to cause internal damage with extremely precise palm strikes. By locating the Tenketsu (Chakra points) and striking them, you can shut down one's Chakra netwo-"
Hinata stopped realizing something about Luffy. He did not have Chakra. To be exact, he did not have a chakra network. It was common knowledge that whilst shinobi were the only ones you used their Chakra network, every human possessed one; even Lee who could not use ninjutsu or genjutsu had a Chakra network. Nevertheless, Luffy did not have one; not a single lick of Chakra anywhere in his body. How was that possible?
"Sugei. I don't know those things are but I bet Usopp would love to have that kind of ability" added the pirate grinning at how jealous his sniper would be when he told him about this ability.
"So what about you?" asked Naruto a little rudely. "Can you do any 'tricks'?"
Luffy smiled at the question and placed his right index finger in the corner of his mouth. He hooked his mouth and pulled so that his skin stretched 2 feet from his head. "I guess ya" he said.
Both Hinata and Naruto's eyes widened at what the black haired captain was doing. "Is that a jutsu?" asked Naruto half whispering into Hinata's ear. She immediately blushed at him being so close to her but managed to answer him.
"I-I-I don't th-think so" she said stuttering. Though her shyness was getting to her, Hinata was also very much confused by Luffy's abilities. "N-Naruto-kun, he doesn't have any Chakra."
"Like Lee?"
"N-No I mean he does not have any Chakra; as in he does not possess a Chakra network."
The blond frown. "Is that even possible? How can he do that then?"
"I don't know..."
"Hey how can you do that?" asked Naruto loudly pointing his finger at the pirate without even bothering to get the information inconspicuously.
"I ate the Gomu Gomu no Mi when I was a kid so I was cursed by Sea Demons to have a body made of rubber. It's pretty cool but I can't swim, which doesn't really matter since I could never swim to begin with ha ha!" explained Luffy.
The Konoha shinobi just stared at him as he laughed, not any wiser after listening to his explanation. When Luffy stopped laughing however, his thoughts drifted back to Nami and the rest of his crew, wondering where they were and what were they doing.
xXx
"Ha ha ha ha!" laughed a large black man taking a sip of sake. He was 6'5 with white hair combed back with a matching small white mustache and Petit Goatee. He wore a white haori and gold bangle bracelets with a matching gold belt engraved with the face of a boar. "I'm most impressed by your skills to be able to defeat Killer B."
"Yo so am I" said Killer B lifting up a few of his swords now sliced in two. "That final attack beat me in the blink of an eye." (a/n: I should apologize for writing that Killer B uses an eight sword style. I made the assumption that since the Hachibi was an octopus like demon and with eight tails, that Killer B used eight swords. Even the obvious does not seem to be in the world of naruto -_-. Doesn't help either that I was trying to connect Killer B's style with Hachi's. Not in a canon sense but just to peek Zoro's interest. I will fix that soon. I'm amazed no one called me out on that to be honest.)
"I'm impressed you actually survived that attack" admitted Zoro taking another hit from his sake bottle.
"Ha! You cut through Chakra blades! It's no surprise you made the Uchiha so afraid!"
"Speaking of which, what are we going to do with him?" said the green-haired swordsman pointing at Sasuke who was bound not far from them with a seal over his eyes.
"He is a traitor of the Land of Fire and the village of Konoha" said the Raikage tapping a large finger on a map. "If you return him to his village you'll probably collect a reward. Personally I think we should use him to get an edge on those Leaf bastards but if they have to deal with this many traitors and this kind of poor training, they'll destroy themselves without me even making a move."
Zoro simply nodded at the man's words and took another swig. 'That reminds me, that fishman looking one with the weird sword' he thought, remembering how he had cut his head off. 'I cut him…I felt Wado Ichimonji cut his flesh. But there wasn't enough blood on my blade to come from both of them. Now that I think about it, there wasn't even a body left. A Devil Fruit ability maybe?'
Suddenly from the doorway, a kunoichi with long red hair, amber eyes, and a white bandana variant of the typical ninja forehead protector burst in with a worried look on her face.
"Someone is fighting with King-chan!" she shouted.
"Someone or something Karui?" asked the Raikage putting his sakazuki cup down.
"Well it can yell obscenities so I'm guessing it's someone" she replied.
Killer B tossed his now worthless blades to the ground and ran out of the room.
"Mind if you tag along with him?" asked the Raikage raising his sakazuki to his lips. "Knowing him he'll kill whoever this 'someone' is before we get any information from him."
"As long as you babysit" replied Zoro jabbing his thumb at the incapacitated Uchiha. The first mate finished his drink before sliding his three katana into his haramaki and walking after Killer B.
Despite the former pirate hunter's terrible sense of direction, he did possess a pair of very sharp ears. Due to this he was able to locate the jinchuriki at the edge of a strange forest made of large spikes. He was about to ask him who was "King-chan" when several large wild animals came hurtling from the forest crashing around them. Finally, a very large gorilla burst from the darkness in a wide arc before wrecking into the ground. Killer B was about to call upon Gyuki's power when something began to appear from the shadows shouting obscenities.
"Damn stupid gorilla pissing me off!" he shouted "Getting in my way, not letting me find Straw Hat and the others. I'm gonna BBQ you and enjoy eating you whether you taste good or not!" (a/n: For future knowledge, whenever Franky's dialogue is in italics, it means that he's speaking in English; in an American accent to be exact, though which accent I have no idea. I'm thinking maybe Elvis.)
"Oh Franky" called out Zoro with his arms crossed.
"Eh? Roronoa! I'm glad to see you. Have you seen the rest of the crew?"
"Nah I've been on my own since we got separated. I see you've been having fun."
"One second I'm on the Sunny Go, next second I'm alone in a weird jungle with every animal trying to eat me. That's not Supa in the slightest!" It was then that the shipwright noticed the Kumo nin cradling the giant gorilla and weeping to his right. "Who's he?"
"That's Killer B, a weird ninja swordsman I met" explained Zoro. "And I think that's his pet King-chan."
"That's his pet? Sorry bout that but he was trying to kill me" said Franky fixing his hair.
"I should kick your punk ass!" said Killer B wiping his tears, "but since this is all a misunderstanding I'll let it pass."
"Thanks. Nice shades by the way" added the blue haired cyborg extended his hand.
"Likewise bro!" replied the jinchuriki shaking his hand.
"So…what's the plan?"
"We're heading for the village of Konoha" explained Zoro. "I took out a traitor of the village and we can get some money out of him of we take him back. The leader of this village, Killer B's brother, said that Konoha would be the best place to look for Luffy and the others."
"Going back to bounty hunting eh Zoro?" grinning Franky scratching his chin. "Yosh. I like this plan. It's Supa!"
"Right. Want a drink before we go?"
"Ya, you got any cola?"
xXx
"Did you find anything Robin?" asked Chopper quietly in his Walk Point. To avoid arousing suspicion Chopper had entered the village with Robin in his regular deer form. Though it did cause many heads to turn, he was able to pick up the murmurs of the villagers calling him a "Summoning Animal" and one of the "Nara's" deer. It did not make any sense to him but since it did play in his favour, he allowed the false associations.
Robin walked out of the bar she had been in to ask for information and had a small frown on her face. "Sadly I found nothing in regards to the location of the crew" she said slowly preparing to say something even more important. "What I did find however has led me to a rather...scary theory. Also you can speak freely whilst you are in that form Doctor-kun. It seems to be rather common that animals wear clothing and can speak."
"Hontoni? (Really?)" said Chopper raising his head. "Arigata (Thank goodness)...what scary theory?"
"I do not believe we are in the Grand Line" she said. The doctor's eye widened in fear.
"N-Not in the Grand Line?! How is that possible? Where are we then?"
"I do not know. We can toss aside the theory that we ended up here in the same manner we did to get to Skypiea...that much is certain. However, we did get here by a most unusual way, due to that violet light no doubt."
Chopper looked down at the ground with worry. He was worried about the others and the Thousand Sunny. If they didn't know where they were, or how they got here, how were they going to get home?
"What are we going to do?" he asked looking up.
"We need to find a way to get in contact with Captain-san and the rest of our crew" said the older woman putting on a pair of sunglasses. "This village is a 'cultural' centre of sorts. This is the best place for us to locate our dear friends. As long as we stay low of course. Shall we?"
Chopper nodded and walked alongside the archeologist as they made their way through the strange new village.
xXx
Sakura was breathing heavily as she ran through the crowds of people in the village streets. Her eyes scanned everyone she passes trying to find her blond teammate. She finally did spot him walking with Hinata and another man that she did not recognize. She pushed her way through the crowd till she was able to get her hand on Naruto's shoulder.
"Sakura-chan? What's wrong?" he asked turning around.
"Tsunade-sama needs to see the both of us immediately!" she said anxiously.
"Why d-"
"There's no time let's go!" Sakura cut in pulling him away from the other two getting both herself and Naruto into a run towards the Hokage building. Hinata watched them go with a worried look on her face. Though she knew that if the Hokage needed to see Naruto that urgently, it was not for good news and she felt her heart drop seeing him leave.
Luffy on the hand watched them leave in confusion. "What was that?" he asked pointing at Sakura. "She's got the same hair as Kobi."
"That's Haruno Sakura-san. Naruto-kun's teammate and...friend" she said, looking down at her feet when she said friend. Luffy simply looked confused at what was going on but said nothing.
xXx
"What you mean?!" shouted Naruto as he slammed both hands onto Tsunade's wooden desk. The middle-aged woman rubbed her temples instantly regretting telling him the news.
"Sasuke has been caught by a bounty hunter in Kumo and is going to be arriving soon. The Raikage sent this letter by hawk saying that his own brother will be escorting both Sasuke and the bounty hunter here" she explained.
"But why does he have to be arrested?" asked Naruto loudly. "Sasuke is finally coming back home, team 7 will be together again. You can't arrest him for no good-"
"URUSAI!" shouted the Senin silencing the room. With her face filled with fury, she threw open one of her drawers and ripped out a large file folder before slamming it on her desk. Sasuke's name was written on the label making Naruto and Sakura nervous as their leader opened the file. "Whilst you two have been daydreaming about saving Sasuke, I've been keeping an eye on him. Over the past two and a half years he's not only become one of Orochimaru's best soldiers, but has become ever stronger than him as about 3 months ago killed him and set free 3 more powerful mutated experiment to form his 'Hebe' team. His goal of course is to kill Itachi."
"But if he killed him then he'll come home" said Sakura trying to turn the situation around.
"Wishful thinking" snapped Tsunade flipping over to another page in the file folder. "After successfully killing his brother he has joined Atatsuki and has taken part in the hunting of Jinchuriki."
"B-but that's not..." said Naruto weakly.
"To make matters worse" continued the blond medic angrily, "The Jinchuriki he was trying to capture was the Raikage's own brother. I'm actually amazed that A is even allowing Sasuke to be returned alive since not only did he try to kill his brother, but 2 months ago Akatsuki killed Kumo's second Jinchuriki Nii Yugito of the Two Tails." She slammed a photo of the young female Jinchuriki onto her desk so her apprentice and "successor" could see. "I'm sure this is his idea of a joke and is rubbing it in our faces that have so many missing-nins to deal with. I can't believe he hasn't taken this as a declaration of war, which in reality is just that!" Feeling that her blood was boiling she pulled out one of her secret bottles of sake and took a hit before hammering the bottle on her desk.
"Because of these acts and many more, I have no other choice but to arrest Uchiha Sasuke and have him executed."
Naruto and Sakura gasped in unison not expected Tsunade to make such an extreme decision.
"You can't do this!"
"There has to be another way!"
"My decision is final as is the council's. And let me make something very clear" she added rising from her seat and pointing to each of them as she spoke. "If I catch either one of you interfering with this, I swear that you will be stripped of your ranks by dishonourable discharge. That's all I have to say. Shizune! Show them out" shouted Tsunade closing the file and dropping it back into her drawer.
As the remainder of Team 7 walked away from the Hokage's office, they felt sick to their stomachs unable to think of a way to save their "friend" from his fate.
(a/n: I fuckin' wish this happened in the series but NO, logic and reason is not on the menu. Pisses me right off.)
xXx
Usopp mumbled to himself while hugged the top of the tree he was perched in. He was holding himself upright with his legs as he adjusted the zoom on his goggles to get a good view of the land around him.
"Yoooosh..." he said finally dialling in his goggles correctly, bringing in the village of Konoha into view. "There it is. Sanji! I see it! Half a mile dead ahead!"
"Good job Usopp! Nami-san, Robin-chwan, do not fret. Your knight in shining armor is on his way!" he shouted bolting in the direction of the village.
"O-Oi Sanji! Wait for me!" yelled the sniper trying to climb down the tree without killing himself.
Next Chapter: A War Within Our Walls.
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