Chapter 40
The chapter to break 100k words!
The team of Rebel ninja watched the back of Raiga as he looked over the town of Katabami with Ranmaru next to him. "We had a good time here" said Raiga.
"we did" Ramaru replied.
Raiga picked up the small child and carefully placed him on the sack he had over his back before turning around to face the waiting Rebels "lead the way"
Xxxx
"the other person is still following us" Ranmaru whispered to Raiga as they jumped through the trees. Raiga glanced back "keep track of him, if he continues to follow us after we cross the border between Land of Rivers and Fire, I'll take him out myself.
Ao frowned as he listened to their quiet exchange. Someone has been following them? Judging be their tones it must have been quite a while. Since they left the town? Sooner? His single visible eyes widened. Did the man watch their fight? Ao let out a soft curse. An unknown enemy who knows all their skills. Ignoring his unease, Ao spoke up "there is a town near the border between the Land of Fire and Rivers. We can stop there for the night.
"perfect location. If he is from the land of Rivers, he would stop tailing us after we cross the border. If he is a spy, we would be prepared for him" Raiga mused.
Unknown to the older ninja, the members of Team Zabuza had much better hearing than they thought, and more stubble ways of communication too.
The next time Naruto jumped off a tree branch he made a pair of shadow clones and hid them in the shadows of the trees as the group passed over. The clones nodded at each other and jumped off in the other direction.
Xxxx
Tanzaku Gai, a town that made money off the vices of humans. casinos, brothels, pubs and many other similar attractions were in abundance in almost every street of the town. Of course, for the more touring people, there is the Tanzaku castle that contained the rich history of the town. But for the Rebel shinobi, most of the attractions would go completely unnoticed. Most.
Naruto let out another maniacal laugh and he collected his winnings from the slot machine, completely ignoring the owners who cried rivers of tears behind him.
It all started about an 3 hours ago when Ao told them to take time off but be back at the inn by 8. Since then, he has bankrupted 6 casinos (kicked and banned in all of them assuming they can recover), caused 26 people to go completely broke, almost mugged/assaulted 12 times and is about 8 million ryo richer than before.
Needless to say, Naruto was in a good mood.
Now, I'm sure you must be wondering, "but Mr Amazing Author! What about that ninja who has been tailing them?" Well that, my dear readers, is part of the reason why Naruto was able to be alone and so carefree.
*flashback*
The group of Rebel shinobi stopped at a decent looking inn.
"We will rest here tonight. Chojuro, Haku, Naruto, Fu, feel free to do whatever you want as long as you keep out of trouble. Keep together and don't get lost. Meet back at this inn at 8 pm sharp. Am I clear?" Ao asked.
"Crystal clear captain!" Naruto mock saluted. Ao narrowed his eyes "Raiga, come with me." He ordered and turned away from the mocking salute.
As soon as Naruto could no longer see Ao, he turned and started walking in a random direction "well, I'm off" he said.
Chojuro quickly hurried after him "but the captain said we must keep together!"
Haku folded his arms "there's something you're not telling us"
From her position behind the blond ninja, Fu could just barely make out a smirk coming across Naruto's face "I received word from my clones a while back. He's friendly" Naruto said and promptly collapsed into a puddle of water that circled the group once before disappearing.
Fu quickly connected the dots and let out a smirk of her own before remembering that Chojuro was still panicking. Her smirk quickly dropped and turning into a look of annoyance. "that sneaky little… leaving us to do the explaining" Fu muttered.
"leaving you to do the explaining" Haku smiled before following Naruto's example and collapsing into a puddle of water.
A few blocks away Naruto heard Fu's scream of frustration as he entered his first casino and began his journey to rich hood
*flashback end*
"oink"
Naruto blinked. A pig? In a town like this?
"oink"
Naruto looked around. Finally, his eyes landed on a fair skinned woman of average height with straight black hair that went to her shoulders wearing a long dark blue kimono with white trimmings and a white obi. She had her arms crossed and was talking to a blond-haired woman with twin tails wearing a grass green haori with the kanji for "gamble" on the back.
"oiiiink"
Naruto took a closer look at the pair. Then he realized, the squeal was indeed a pig. A pig that was wearing a necklace of pearls and a dark red jacket being squeezed in the arms of the black-haired lady.
Taking pity on the unusually dressed pig, Naruto walked up to the pair "hey lady, you might want to let up on the pig, unless you're trying to kill it, then maybe I could lend you a kunai, its much quieter that way."
The black-haired woman wheeled around with fire in her eyes "kill Tonton? How about I kill you?" she snarled with three senbon clutched between her fingers on her right hand while her left hand held the pig.
Naruto took a step back and held his hands up "relax! Sheesh. That's the last time I'm helping an overdressed pig"
The fire faded from the woman's eyes as she looked down at the pig. "huh?"
"oink" the pig replied.
"oh" she said and turned back to Naruto "sorry about that, I get a bit aggressive when people threaten to harm Tonton. By the way I'm Shizune, behind me is-"
"that's enough Shizune" the blond spoke.
"yes ma'am"
Naruto watched the exchange with a slight sweat drop. "anyways, I'm Naruto and I'll just be leaving now. Continue with whatever you were doing but try not strangling the pig this time. Bye!" he quickly said and hurried off back to the inn.
Shizune turned around to see the blond lady watching the back of Naruto as he left. "What is it Tsunade-sama?"
"it's nothing. Now tell me where you hid my saki!"
Xxxx
Haku sighed happily as he walked through the streets. It's been a while since he has been this relaxed. He loved his brother and sister, he really did. But it was nice not to deal with Naruto's antics and Fu's overbearing attitude once in a while.
He hummed a random tune to himself and glanced at some of the goods on display and frowned at the prices. One particular necklace caught his attention. It had a small blue stone that was encased in a silver casing hung from a piece of leather. Normally this wouldn't be very interesting, but this stone seemed to be pulling at his chakra. Very slightly, but it was there. Haku held it up and inspected it closely. There was no doubt, this was a chakra stone. These stones are rare and only found occasionally in deep underground mines. No one knows why exactly or how they were made, but it was said to be fossilised chakra trees from hundreds of years ago.
Depending on how it is used, the stone has different responses. The stones in pure form constantly sap a small amount of chakra from everything that it touches and once their source begins to grow low, the stone releases the chakra back and restores the chakra. Stones that are melted down for steel are able to release chakra waves such as the ones the samurai use. The most well-known one is the chakra paper that can tell a person's affinity.
Haku unsealed a scroll from his pocket and released a case of ryo that amounts to almost triple the asked price. He placed it on table of the confused and slightly apprehensive owner of the stall. "keep the change, stones like this one are well worth it" he said as he walked away.
Xxxxx
Fu moaned as she eased into the hot springs. The mildly hot waters easing her stiff muscles and removing the dirt and grime of the day's travelling. She couldn't remember the last time she could relax like this. The green haired jinchuriki thought about everything that has happened the past few years. Meeting her adopted brothers and her adopted father, the missions they took, that time Naruto gave her a gift… Fu shook her head clear of her thoughts. "why am I thinking about that?" she wondered and began to clean herself.
A few minutes later she submerged herself in her memories again. Meeting the blacksmith, Gato betraying them on the bridge, coming to the Rebel side, meeting Mei, Mei flirting with Naruto... Mei flirting with Naruto…Mei…
"that's it!" Fu declared as she stood up "I'm getting out!"
Xxx
Chojuro nervously paced around the room. He attempted to follow Fu but she was fast and agile so he lost her in the crowds, he then tried to find Naruto or Haku but that ended quickly when he was swamped by the many street merchants. When he finally escaped them, the near hyperventilating boy ran as fast as he could to the inn and has been there ever since.
"… and what if they got ambushed by Cloud ninja and taken as slaves, forever having to live out the rest of their lives just fighting for their lives and living off grass and bugs! Ohhh what to do, what to do! Captain will be so angry! He's going to report this and I'm going to be exiled from the Rebels….no they cannot afford to have me running around, they'll just kill me! Will they slowly chop me to pieces and feed the animals? Hang me? Or maybe they would be merciful and give me a quick and painless death?" Chojuro muttered to himself and continued to pace the room.
Xxxx
Ao walked towards the forest they came from and stopped just outside of it and turned towards Raiga.
"what's wrong Captain?" Raiga mocked "something scare you? or maybe you're not comfortable with me walking freely like the others? Maybe you just want to kill me and say we were ambushed?"
"don't tempt me" Ao muttered "that's not what I called you here for. Someone was following us?"
"oh? You noticed it?" Raiga asked
"I heard you" Ao admitted unashamedly "any idea who? Someone after your head?"
Raiga shrugged "don't know, he's been following you. Kept the same distance away from your group since you guys got to Katabami."
Ao's mind raced through all the possible scenarios, from a person from Leaf keeping an eye on them to a spy to an assassin. "in any case, we have to confront him now. After this town, we head straight to a port that take us back to the Rebel's camping grounds. That is much closer than I would like anyone tailing me to get. We can't take them out during the trip because it might interfere with Konoha and I would prefer them not to be involved in this."
Raiga placed his hands on his Kiba blades "well, you're the captain. Ranmaru, where is the guy hiding?"
Ranmaru's muffled voice called out from insde the bag "about 3 miles north west from here" Ranmaru said. He seems to be just waiting there.
"Let's go" Ao said and jumped in the direction Ranmaru indicated.
xxx
About 2 miles in, Ranmaru spoke up again "he started moving" the small boy's eyes widened "he's fast!"
"How fast?" Raiga asked and took out his blades.
"400 meters away" Ranmaru said after a second.
"400 meters. That's enough for my Byakugan to reach." Ao thought to himself and placed his hand in a Ram seal "Byakugan" Ao mentally shouted and sent chakra to his stolen eye.
"He's here" Ranmaru said as Ao's world turned grayscale. Instantly Ao knew something was wrong. Despite the Byakugan being able to see in 360 degrees and detect anyone by seeing their chakra through objects without chakra, Ao couldn't see anyone. No, that wasn't right, it wasn't that he couldn't see his chakra. Ao could see his chakra just fine, the problem was that Ao couldn't see him.
Mist began to creep in all around the two ninja and one boy. "the hidden mist jutsu?" Raiga laughed "you are using the hidden mist jutsu on two Jonin level shinobi from the hidden mist?
Ao gritted his teeth and attempted to focus more chakra into his Byakugan to see through the cloud of chakra. Suddenly he felt a cold finger slide across his neck "dead" a voice whispered. The older ninja was so surprised he deactivated his Byakugan and once again looked through his normal eye. Through the mist, Ao could see 4 figures standing around him "I thought you said there was only one" he hissed and tried to get his heart levels under control.
"There is" Raiga said with the utmost confidence. "the rest must be clones."
"My illusions don't appear to be working on him" Ranmaru whispered in alarm.
Raiga frowned and raised his swords "Come out so I can give you a funeral!" he shouted before something impacted his chest. The swordsman looked down in shock as he felt the spot get wet, only to see his shirt was only wet with water and not his blood. His shock quickly turned into rage "Stop messing with me!" he roared.
His cry of rage was only met with a loud, unrestrained laugh of pure amusement as the mist cleared up.
"You should have seen your faces!" Mangetsu wheezed. The look on your face as you thought you, a proud member of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, taken down without even catching a glimpse of your killer." He then turned to Ao, "and you, a tracker who couldn't even track an assailant when a child less than a third of your age tracked me from over 3 miles away. Good work on that, Ranmaru." Mangetsu complimented with a smile.
"how did you know about Ranmaru?" Raiga questioned and got into a defensive stance.
"oh, that's easy. Naruto told me." Mangetsu crossed his arms "another failure of Ao as a tracker ninja. He made a pair of shadow clones right underneath your nose. Ao bowed his head in acceptance of his failure. "why are you here anyways"
"Ryuji-sama tasked me to keep an eye on this mission, just in case Raiga proved to be too much to handle, which he would have, if Naruto didn't get a lucky shot and Chojuro making him surrender. My original plan was to pass you tonight and be back at the camp before you did and act as if I never left, but that was impossible as soon as Ranmaru here sensed me. I'm sure Naruto already told Haku an Fu by now, chances are they told Chojuro too. So there's no point in hiding it anymore. I'll stay at your inn tonight and head back to the camp with you.
There were no arguments. There was nothing to argue about. The other two ninja walked defeatedly behind Mangetsu while Ranmaru silently smiled at the praises he had gotten.
Xxxx
*at the inn*
"Stupid overdressed pig, stupid badly tempered woman, stupid brain, stupid… stupid st- ow stupid table!"
Mangetsu walked into the inn to see the weird sight of Naruto cussing and cursing while hopping on one foot and cradling his other before ungracefully falling over and landed with a loud 'thud'. Mangetsu looked at him with a hint of amusement "I hope I'm not interrupting anything?"
"Just Naruto being Naruto" Haku assured him from his seat on the couch.
"Nothing unusual" Fu continued and sipped on her drink "ohh this coconut water is gooood"
It was then that Naruto noticed the new arrivals "oh, uhh hi sensei." He said before turning to Ao "Captain, I request a side mission to be added onto our current trip" he said "the mission is, to heal Ranmaru and allow him to walk freely again"
AN: a longer chapter to celebrate the breaking of the 100k word count! *throws confetti* I'm not sure about other authors but this is a pretty big milestone for me. next stop, 150k!
I tried to add as much humour as I could in this chapter (because who wants a serious and dull chapter to mark such an important milestone?) and to be honest I just added Tsunade in this chapter as a spur of the moment thing because…Tanzaku. Seemed fitting to meet her here like canon (yes I know the time is wrong because she shouldn't be here for another month since its only chunin exams now) and if you haven't guessed already, she is the reason for the extra side mission added at the end.
And our sort of not really mysterious tail has been uncovered! Yes, it has been Mangetsu the whole time!
On a side note, I've seen a few complaints about not enough action for Naruto's sharingan, I will try rectify this ASAP.
PS: if anyone could find me a Naruto world map (with all minor villages and as many towns as possible) I would be really grateful.
Reviews:
Wyrtha: yeah I was debating on killing off either of them but concluded that without the curry of life Ranmaru would kill himself and Raiga would kill himself (and/or attempt to kill everyone there) if Ranmaru died. As for mentioning about the tailed beast training, I do believe it was in one of the earlier AN as a reply to the many questions about it.
I'm a bit sceptical with the Zabuza strength levels. From what I read, he was once the leader of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen (unless I read wrong) so that indicates he must have been quite strong (not to mention how he went up against Yagura and Kisame and survived) but lost easily to Kakashi (who I still believe isn't anything about A rank without sharingan). My thought process is that Zabuza fought Yagura, (someone who even Itachi is wary of) and survived but basically died against Kakashi who was pretty much one-shot take down with Itachi's Tsykuyomi.
To be more clear, since Zabuza survived against Yagura, that should put him somewhere close to Yagura's level (and Itachi's too considering he had the same situation). the fact that he was said to be the leader of the swordsmen backs up this idea.
Kakashi on the other hand, lost badly to Itachi, putting him waaaayy below Itachi's level (hence Zabuza's supposed level) but still beat Zabuza. So I think Zabuza's skill was downplayed in his battle with Kakashi?
Thor94: thanks and yup
BlackDragonShinigami: haha
Specterchilypeper: thanks, I do believe I've already read Legacy (and I do admit it was a great story, should probably go back and reread it sometime) as for immortalized, I'll make sure to keep an eye on it. Sorry to disappoint but I don't plan to turn them into gods or anything of the sort by the end, if anything they will just be put into the history books as the greatest ninja of the time or something lol.
Noahendless: thanks