I own nothing
It is the third of March 2015 as I write this, It'll probably be a while until you see this though, I do have an excuse though. Break.
Transcending
Chapter 12
...
"Fuck." A simple one worded sentence to describe exactly how Naruto's day had been going.
Absolutely fucking terrible.
Naruto ducked underneath an sword slash and kicked the wielder in the stomach.
"Subtle, he says. Sneak past, he says." Naruto grumbled as he span around an ax swing and wildly punched a man in the face, transferring blood from the giant cuts on his arm to his opponent, he then glanced to his side to Ashura's unconscious body, "Damn it Ashura."
The blonde quickly stomped on the heads of his two adversaries to make sure they were out, before closing the door to the small apartment he dragged Ashura into and pushing a large cabinet infront of it.
"Deep breaths, ok..." Naruto took calming breaths, "Shinobi rule number... ah screw it who cares what number? Always assess the situation."
He looked to his mentors body, then to around the apartment, "Alright... this isn't too bad. It doesn't look like anyone else is-"
The door was suddenly banged, making the cabinet shudder, he heard men screaming on the other side.
Naruto growled, "And I spoke to soon."
He grabbed Ashura by the collar and started to pull him, he opened the door to a small food closet and shoved the man in, "Okay Ashura..." He looked around, "These walls are pretty secure, stay here." He knew that Ashura couldn't hear him, but speaking helped him stay calm.
His vision suddenly blurred, and Naruto looked to his right arm, multiple large cuts traveled all the way up his arm, and blood was gushing out at a completely unhealthy rate.
Naruto reached into his pouch and rummaged through for a moment, the banging on the door increasing.
"Where is it... come one..." There was a yell of 'open up' on the other side of the door, "Hey! One moment!" Naruto yelled as he dug around, "Oh shit, please don't let blood ruin this..." He begged as he held a small slip of paper, a paper bomb.
He laid it on the floor infront of the cabinet, before running to the opposite end of the room to a window.
He waited, the cabinet was cracking under pressure.
The door came crashing down, explosion following seconds later.
Naruto flew out of the apartment in a ball of fire, slamming painfully into a merchants cart.
He winced, still feeling the heat, "Sorry about your... cabbages sir." He winced even more at the stand owners face, Naruto slowly got up and rolled his shoulders, trying to get at least some of the pain out.
"You bastard!" Naruto originally thought it was the cabbage man that said that, but his senses noticed the arrow coming straight towards him from a rooftop.
He dived out of the way and ran into an alley, another large group of mercenaries following him.
Naruto glanced at his limp arm as he ran, it didn't matter if he could outrun his foes, he could collapse from blood loss any moment now, and running was only increasing his bleeding.
Naruto looked ahead of him only to see a large brick wall in his way.
"You are trapped now you little bastard!" A merc yelled from behind him, but Naruto barely paid attention as he rushed towards the wall.
He channeled as much chakra that his blood depleted body could muster into his left arm, and cocked it back, right as he ran into the wall he punched it. The wall came down instantly, causing the group of men to stop and stare for a moment as dust filled the air.
Nobody was there when it cleared.
"Thank the Sage for pre-made Shinobi medkits." Naruto muttered as he bandaged his arm, he was leaning against a tree in the outskirts of ancient Shinseimura and was panting immensely.
He probably lost two and a half to three liters of blood, and he was feeling it. His will power was the only reason he wasn't collapsed in the middle of the town.
"I am so stupid!" He yelled to himself as he prodded his right arm, he couldn't even feel it, "I just HAD to try the experimental technique... and you know what? It's all Ashura's fault."
Naruto felt his vision blur and slowly leaned his his back into the tree.
"Sleep would be good. Good but stupid, I shouldn't sleep." Naruto spoke to himself as the world started spinning.
"Yes!" A voice echoed through the trees, "Slumber is unadvised for thou!"
Naruto tried to get up, only to fall face first into the dirt, he struggled to his feet and glared drowsily around the forest, "W-where are you!" He yelled.
A figure jumped infront of him, "It it I you malfeasant reprobate!"
It was... a... Naruto couldn't find the words.
Tights? On a man?
Naruto's mind took much longer than necessary to fully comprehend the hideous thing infront of him.
Green tights ran up his muscular legs to a strange green skirt/ shirt combination, the shirt had long green sleeves, and to top off the disaster the strange man had a green hat with a red feather on it.
Naruto knew that he couldn't critique another's man fashion, with the orange eye sore that he was wearing. But this was thousands of years in the past, it must be a crime to dress like that.
The man had an teasing smile and playful brown eyes, but everything about the look he was receiving sent Naruto the wrong way. He could tell that the man was as sharp as a blade.
"Hello." Naruto prodded experimentally.
The man did a little hop, before bowing, "Greeting to ye. That is quite the wound you have hither, dost thou journey to a privy to attend to it?"
Naruto gave the man the most confused look ever, "What the hell..." He muttered under his breath, he was done will all the crap he was having.
"Hell!?" The man cried in outrage, "Thou has spoken the domain of the dammed!? Thou art woodness!"
Naruto brought his hand up, "Hey! Just calm down. And leave... and speak an actual language. Because I do not want to cause any trouble, alright?"
The man laughed heartily, "Nay! Meknows who thou art. The strange boy in orange who come to defile my great village!" He dangerously reached for a bow on his back, that Naruto just noticed in his blurry mind.
Naruto gritted his teeth, "Look you Robin Hood rip off. We are just passing through and 'thy' men provoked us. So it is not my fault."
"Robin hood?" He asked in confusion, "I am Guapo! The king of the forest and master thief and bandit. This village is mine and thou has soiled it with thine corrupt body you swine!"
Corrupted swine? Ok. Ass beating time. Naruto had lost the last straw hours ago.
"I am going to enjoy beating the shit out of you." The blonde growled as he cracked his knuckles.
"Ahh Damn it! Am I hungover?" Ashura muttered with a weak raspy voice as he tried to look around.
He got up slowly only to almost fall over, grabbing a shelf to support himself, "My head is agony." He panted as he slowly put his hand on... bread?
His vision started to clear, he was in a pantry.
The answer to his confused mind suddenly came, "Oh crap. Naruto." He looked around for the door and opened it, stepping into a completely destroyed room.
He glanced at a giant pile of bodies in disgust. An explosion blew a large group of people to pieces, and he almost stepped on what looked like a mutilated eyeball. Ashura walked to a giant hole in the wall out to the street. There was a trail of destruction leading all through out the city, Ashura frowned.
"Wait... what happened?" He couldn't remember.
Earlier
Ashura eyed his young companion, "What is bothering you?"
Naruto stared at his cup of tea with worried eyes, "Well... there is an entire faction of people trying to kill us. And we are relaxing and drinking tea, in the complete open."
Ashura chuckled a little as the server brought him his fifth cup, he slowly took a sip, "I loved this tea, and having a clear mind will only aid us in a battle. Besides, those hooligans are too wild to properly appreciate a calming cup of tea."
Naruto raised an eyebrow, "Or... you just want your fix before you withdraw."
"That could be it also."
Naruto stared at the door nervously, "Ashura, I have that feeling. You know, the one in your chest."
Ashura nodded slowly, "The feeling of fear, excitement, and anticipation all in once. And that can't even begin to describe it, I love when that happens."
The blonde put a hand on his chest, feeling the steady pulse of chakra in Hamura's disc, "I am very much feeling the fear, the odds are stacked against us without chakra."
Ashura set his empty cup down, "Naruto, do not worry. I will be able to handle anything in our way."
"Arrogance?" The adolescent questioned.
"No, well placed confidence."
Ashura rolled around a corner, Naruto following closely behind him.
"See down this alleyway? An archer ontop of the roof." Naruto slowly peaked his head past the corner to confirm, nodding slowly.
He looked back the way they came from, "Well we can't go back to the street, we barely got past there undetected. And now the rooftops are out. What now Ashura?"
Ashura peaked again before gaining a thoughtful look on his face, before a smug look appeared, "Don't worry, I got this." He gestured Naruto to move back before holding his shakujo out infront of him. The staff started to glow with whitish chakra before it started to morph shrink and morph, it slowly formed into a boomerang.
He chuckled at Naruto's perplexed expression, "The Yin-Yang Release. It allows me to create and reshape anything I want. Although I have not fully learned it due to my sudden transportation."
Naruto nodded slowly, "Will I be able to learn that at any point?" He asked completely at awe with the concept.
Ashura nodded and smiled at him, "I'm sure you can, but first lets take out this sentry." He adjusted the grip of the boomerang, "I have not used one of these since my youth with Indra."
He quickly stepped out of hiding and took a second to aim, before launching the projectile towards the rooftops and running down the alley.
The archer caught the movement out of the corner of his eye and turned, he noticed Ashura and was about to yell something before he was smashed in the back of the head by the transformed staff, his limp body went tumbling off the roof straight into Ashura's arms.
Ashura dropped him like a sack and quickly caught the falling boomerang, morphing it back into his usual shakujo.
Naruto ran up, eyeing the body a bit apologetic, "That had to hurt."
Ashura glanced back only for a moment, "A shame. Come now, it's almost noon, our plan to go early failed."
"Failed because someone wanted tea." The blonde replied back dryly.
"Yes, now let's go."
Ashura frowned at the larger contingents of mercenaries marching through the streets. The village was now in high alert and sneaking through was getting harder and harder by the passing moment. The seemingly mindless thugs were becoming more and more thorough with their search, a possible sign of a more intelligent leader to the group.
Ashura ran quickly to a lone soldier with his back turned, sweeping his legs out from under him and running past. Naruto followed up behind him and slammed his fist into the downed man's temple before continuing down his path.
They stopped at a more secluded alleyway and peaked into a main street, no one in sight. Ashura gestured to his companion to wait and sprinted across the road, a mere flash of white the only sign of his movement. He jumped into an empty stand and looked around. Before waving Naruto to follow.
When the blonde got into the stand he took a deep breath, "Alright Ashura, what now?"
Ashura looked behind them to yet another alleyway, "This should take a left and head up hill, hopefully to the top of it."
Naruto nodded as the started to walk, as they made a left and went up hill he felt a heat in his chest.
"Ashura, it's reacting." He said as he pulled out Hamura's disc, it was slowly warming as he walked he tentatively stopped walking and the heat stopped growing.
Ashura looked at him with a raised eyebrow, gesturing him to speak, "Well." Naruto began, "I think it gets warmer the closer we get. I think."
"A game of hot and cold?" Ashura asked rhetorically, "I used to play that with my children when they where young." He said slightly nostalgic.
"Oi! old man." Naruto called, "Don't get lost in your shit right now, do it after we find whatever we need to."
Ashura nodded, "Yes we shou- ah crap."
"What?" Naruto questioned, the sound of a stampede was his only answer, "Oh..." Naruto commented as a large group of armed men ran towards them from the way they came, "...Shit indeed."
They didn't even need to scream the cliche 'run!' as they bolted up the alley, heading farther and farther up hill.
Luckily, the hill was angled and was gaining bigger and bigger slope to it as it got closer to the mountain peak. And Naruto and Ashura was in much better physical condition then their chasers, who was starting to tire from running uphill.
The alley way split into two directions, Naruto looked to Ashura for guidance. Then suddenly felt a spike of chakra.
Ashura yelled in in pain and collapsed.
"Ashura!" The blonde yelled, "Get up!" Naruto looked to the approaching enemies and gritted his teeth, "Come on!"
Naruto tried to pull him from the shoulders, but Ashura was using both arms to grab his forehead while he screamed murder.
Naruto looked around for any advantage before he raced to the end of the alley, using his chakra to augment his strength as he dragged a wooden cart from it's resting place. It was most likely used to transport heavier cargo into shops, but it was perfect for Naruto's plan.
He rolled it down the alley sideways, the cart passed over the prone Ashura and down the slanted alley, gaining more and more speed as it traveled.
It mowed down the men as it shot down the alley, creating a domino effect and sending all of them tumbling down the pathway.
Naruto smirked as he grabbed Ashura and heaved him up, "Damn Ashura. You need a diet." His joke went unheard as he tried to run as fast as he could.
Unfortunately, even with his chakra enhanced strength, his shoulders couldn't even fit Ashura's size, and his strength still wasn't enough to carry him any other way. So Naruto was left slowly dragging his mentor to safety.
Ashura let out a pained moan as he clutched the corners of his forehead. It only fueled Naruto more as he ran into the door of an open apartment, he quickly set Ashura down and wiped the sweat off his face.
"There!" Naruto's reflexes saved his head as a he ducked underneath a sword slash. Another group of men managed to follow him.
Naruto threw Ashura to the floor, "Ah fuck it." He started to channel as much chakra as possible into his arm, before releasing a massive torrent of pure wind chakra, most of the bandits were sent flying back all the way down the alley. Naruto collapsed as his right arm was completely shredded by the gales, "That... damn it."
Naruto instincts flared and he just managed to avoid a slash.
Present
"For the love of all things..." Ashura couldn't even finish his sentence in frustration, he tried to sense for Naruto but his head was still in immeAshurable pain.
He cursed, "Damn it! Old fashioned way it is." Ashura held his hand out and closed his eyes, standing in that position, almost a minute later something smashed through the walls of the apartment and into Ashura's open hand. His shakujo.
He changed the staff into a shining white katana using the Yin-Yang Release and jumped out of the apartment.
He could not allow Naruto to die. The staked where high enough that pacifism was not a priority anymore. Nothing was going to stop him.
"There he is!" A person yelled as Ashura stormed through the village. Multiple armed men came charging out of nowhere straight towards him. Ashura sighed, even more men to dirty his clothes.
He lowered his body and slashed through two men, before feinting away from vertical blow and slicing the attacker in the throat. The other men attempted to back off, but Ashura came crashing upon them, ending their lives.
"Such a pity." Ashura mumbled as he eyed his blood soaked coat, "They should not be throwing their lives at me like this." Another slash of his transformed shakujo took another life.
He jumped on top of a roof top, before throwing his swords towards an archer. The sword mowed him down before returning to it's owner.
Ashura's arm suddenly snapped up, catching an arrow heading for his head, he frowned at it before looking to his left. Another bowmen stood trembling, Ashura threw the arrow back, impaling the shooter in the chest.
An explosion came from the forest around the top of the hill, Ashura sprinted off towards it, leaving the bleeding body behind.
Naruto rolled away from an arrow, before ungracefully flopping on the floor to avoid another.
He jumped in the air and hurled a mass of shuriken to where he thought his foe was. Apparently the green in his outfit was more then just for looks, Naruto could barely notice him with the camouflage.
"Alas child! Death is upon thou!" Naruto growled. The annoying voice was the worst part, if anything the taunts motivated him more, the thought of shoving a tree down his throat kept him going.
Guapo jumped out of his hiding spot in the trees and rushed towards the blonde, smashing him in the chest with his bow. Naruto grunted in pain but grabbed the weapon, kicking Guapo in the stomach before the bandit jumped away.
Naruto's vision blurred from his light head, he needed to take a blood increasing pill, which would increase the production of blood in his body tenfold. His wound was wrapped enough that it shouldn't just leak out when he took it.
The issue was Guapo was giving no room to take a blood pill. As much as a prick he may be, the man had skills.
Naruto grabbed a kunai and slashed an arrow out of the sky, before he managed to use substitute himself with a log, which was impaled by another flurry of arrows.
How many arrows did this guy have? Naruto couldn't use many techniques with a useless right arm, he could only use the substitution because he mastered it, but his hazy mind could barely make out targets to switch with.
Guapo threw a knife at him, it span through the air and impaled into a tree right behind the blonde.
"Thou shall not fight?" He taunted, "Running shall not last forever! My arrows shall hit eventually!"
As much as Naruto hated to admit, Guapo was right, all he could do was run, and that wasn't even going well.
Ashura sliced through and killed a man for the umpteenth time today, luckily it was the last man blocking him from the forest as he ran off into the trees. Ashura glanced back to see men running after him, he couldn't look for long because the fire was a terrible sight.
Ashura did not blame himself for setting the village on fire, he blamed the mercenaries for trying to pick a fight at a blacksmith, and having the gall to bring explosive powder to try and blow him up.
He frowned deeply at the thought of the village burning, it made him ache at the thought of all the lives that are literally being turned to ashes down there, but whatever Hamura did had to be reversible, they just had to get to wherever the disc needed to be mounted.
He suddenly stopped... realizing exactly what was happening, the village was literally BURNING because of him. Ashura took a deep breath and looked to the sky, the sky suddenly boomed with thunder as rain appeared from nowhere. It started down pouring at a viscous rate, Ashura hoped it would be enough to kill the fire.
But unfortunate visibility dropped because the storm, and no doubt Naruto and whoever he was fighting would start moving now.
Naruto praised all the gods he could think of as Guapo slipped in the mud and fell.
"What!?" The green man yelled looking at the sky, "What sorcery is this!?" He glared at Naruto before firing an arrow, the arrow was veered of course by the raging wind and sent flying into the distance.
Naruto was now sure that someone was helping him out, he has never EVER been more grateful for a fucking monsoon to strike down in five second flat. And he doubted that he ever will.
He lunged at Guapo, kunai drawn.
Guapo lost his footing a little, but managed to parry. Blocking the cold steel with his bow, he kicked Naruto's ankle, and made the blonde stumble down before smashing him in the back with his bow.
Naruto recovered and span around, channeling momentum into a wild roundhouse kick straight into Guapo's unprotected stomach. Guapo hunched over slightly before drawing an arrow from the quiver on his back, holding it like a blade.
He swung the arrow at the blonde, Naruto put much more force into his blow, as expected his kunai broke through the shaft. But Guapo ducked before the kunai impacted, he took the remaining half of the arrow and stabbed it into Naruto's remaining arm.
Naruto cried out in pain and dropped his kunai, before backhanding Guapo in the face, sending the man flying back.
"Ah shit." Naruto glanced at his arm, the arrow didn't pierce any large blood vessels, so it could be removed. But his body was producing more and more adrenalin by the second, his blood was pumping too fast to move with an open wound, and he also left his bandages where ever he was sitting when Guapo attacked. He sighed and left the wood in his arm.
Guapo rubbed his eyes as he got up, his entire body was covered in mud, his hat fell to the floor to reveal curly blonde hair. His eyes sharpened dangerously as he shot pure daggers with his eyes at the blonde.
"Games are over." He muttered in a more serious voice, "The smoke. The village burning due to you cretins..." He pulled another arrow from his quiver, "I must end you quickly, my people need me."
"Finally done with the 'thou' shit huh?" Naruto said, trying to save whatever time he could in his shitty situation. "It's time to get serious."
Lies, but Naruto didn't want his foe to know that he couldn't feel any of his arms and that he was about to pass out any moment.
Guapo lunged, running at incredible speeds for one without chakra, Naruto gritted his teeth and tried to run, but slipped and fell like a rock.
Damn it. Naruto was on his back looking around, for any little thing to substitute with.
Guapo jumped in the air, preparing to stab down with his arrow.
Naruto found a target however.
The blonde was suddenly switched with Ashura, who brought both his feet up into a mule kick into Guapo's stomach. The man flew back into a tree.
Ashura got up and frowned at the mud on his clothes, before looking at Naruto, "You look terrible."
Naruto gave him a blank stare, "It's your fault. Having a stroke in the middle of a battle."
Ashura rolled his eyes and grabbed Naruto's right arm, "I am going to say that's infected..." He said, pulling the bandages off and channeling healing chakra into Naruto's arms, the wounds started to close, but it still had a reddish yellow tint around the skin, "Definitely infected." He muttered quietly.
"Yeah yeah. I realized that a while ago." Naruto said as he brought his now functional right arm up, and pulled the arrow straight out of him, "Ah shit! For the love of Sage Ashura! Quickly!"
"You seem rather vexed." Ashura noted as he fixed Naruto other arm.
Naruto looked at him dryly, "I've been having a shitty day, do you blame me?"
"Sir!" A masculine voice called, a large group of bandits rushed to Guapo side, "Sir! Are you alright!?"
One of the men looked at the duo and yelled, "Sir! These ones burned the village down!"
Naruto looked at his partner, "Wait..." Naruto's mind took a few to process what he heard. "What? Ashura...?" He trailed off.
"Complications." Ashura replied, "It was not me I swear."
Naruto gave him a suspicious look, Ashura sighed, "Not now Naruto. I shall explain as soon as we are out of this god forsaken time."
Guapo patted his soldier on the shoulder, "Fear not my friend. I shall avenge the lives by slaying these...these..." He took a deep breath, "And if I fail let my line be cursed by weakness."
Naruto and Ashura shared a look, by what the Guapo in the future acted like...
"Ashura" Naruto said, "I feel like we have a good chance, I'll take the leader. I have to beat the shit out of this guy, he's been asking for it."
"Actually..." Ashura grabbed his shoulder, "We're not fighting."
"What?" Naruto didn't even have a chance to look at him before he was pulled away.
"Oi! Hey hey! I can run myself!" Naruto jerked Ashura's arm off him, "What are we doing!? Why are we running away when we can probably beat all of them!"
Ashura frowned, "Note what you said. Probably. I collapsed last time and my head is still in pain, there is always a chance it could happen again."
Naruto gained a frown of his own, "I don't like the fact that we're running."
"Remember that Shinseimura is collapsing on itself because of the fire, people are dying the longer we spend here. We need to find the way out of here."
"Fine."
As they approached the top of the hill the tree's started to lighten, Naruto landed on the ground and dusted off his clothes, he could feel Hamura's disc burning his skin, "Ashura, it's near- oh shit!"
He jumped away from an arrow and rolled to his feet, A completely angry Guapo jumped from the treeline.
"You are not escaping me. A master hunter!" He looked to the top of the hill, "So that is what thy ist after... My treasure!"
Treasure? Naruto looked at the top of the hill, there was no buildings or treasure, simply flat ground.
"Underground." Ashura's voice brought him out of his thoughts, "You buried it."
"Yes!"
Ashura brought his hands up, "Look, All we need is one artifact, an altar, we will not even take it."
"You killed my people." Guapo said seriously, "You die."
Ashura tightened the grip on his katana. "Naruto, find whatever the hell Hamura wants.
Guapo flipped his hunting knife in the air, grabbing it and rushing towards Ashura. The young sage stood his ground, rising his weapon up into a battle stance.
"Dig dig dig..." Naruto sighed.
Digging. Oh joy.
The blonde dug his fingers into the ground and scraped up a giant clump of wet mud, he threw it over his shoulder and dug his hand into the ground again.
His eyes trailed up to the raging battle between Ashura and Guapo. He almost growled as he saw Guapo move, it was becoming more and more obvious that the man was blatantly toying with him when they fought, and by the time he became serious Ashura already arrived.
His pride stung. He was outclassed by a chakra-less idiot in green and was now digging a hole into the ground.
"Sir!" Naruto sighed deeply, of course reinforcements are coming. Why wouldn't they?
Naruto said a mental 'fuck you!' to Ashura's completely stupid no chakra rule and created two shadow clones, the clones wordlessly went to the ground and started digging. The original cracked his knuckled and advanced on the group of men, looking to redeem his pride.
One of the clones sighed as he saw his creators silhouette rush towards a large group of enemies, "We can be so stupid sometimes..."
The other one nodded, grimacing as he pulled a slimy chunk of earth into his hand, "Yeah and..." His hand bumped something solid. "Oh shit."
"What?" His twin asked.
Clone 2 blinked as he cleared some more mud, finding wood beneath it. "I think... I think I just found it."
The other clone jumped in the air, "Yes! Ok let me see." He ran over and felt the wood. "It's... It's..." He suddenly deflated, "It's a tree root. You stupid fucking idiot."
"Hey!"
"Got it!" Naruto's voice rang around the mountain.
Ashura turned his head a moment to see two plumes of smoke and the blonde running from a defeated group of enemies. He sighed at the implications.
He suddenly ducked and avoided being decapitated. Rolling away and giving himself distance from his foe.
Guapo paid no mind to Naruto, distractions meant death, as he almost just proved. He tightened his grip on his knife and tensed his muscles, staring Ashura down.
Ashura rushed forward swiping his katana diagonally, Guapo parried with his knife and kicked Ashura in the stomach before attempting to driver his knife into Ashura's skull. Ashura grabbed Guapo by the wrist to stop the attack, before headbutting him in the forehead, sending both men stumbling back.
Guapo picked an arrow out of his quiver and threw it, rushing along behind it. Ashura flipped in the air and brought his foot down in an ax kick, Guapo grabbed his leg and slammed him into the ground before driving his knife downward.
Ashura pushed off his hands and mule kicked Guapo in the stomach, before quickly getting up and catching his breath.
"Damn it..." He muttered quietly, "I'm out of shape."
Guapo tensed up dangerously and threw a hand full of arrows at Ashura, he blocked all of them before narrowly dodging a dangerous swing.
"Naruto!" Ashura called, "You find It!?" He needed a way out.
"One minute!" Naruto replied.
Ashura's reflexes flared and he dodged yet another decapitating blow, he felt part of his hair get cut, "You have thirty seconds!"
Naruto frowned as he rummaged threw a large underground cavern for whatever he was looking for. The amount of treasure Guapo held... simply incredible.
The disc was burning his skin now as he held it, it was almost showing him exactly where. Whatever it wanted was so close he could literally feel it.
Something caught his eye, an altar, it was barely illuminated. It was simple, made of some type of stone, but the design on it...
The Rinnegan. Eye of the Sage. And the pupil was carved out, exactly indented in a very familiar size. Naruto stepped up and slowly pressed the disc in.
"Ashura! " He yelled as loudly as possible, he watched as the disc slowly started to rotate, "Something is happening!"
He felt the wind start to pick up as the disc increased its rotation.
"Ashura now!"
Ashura gritted his teeth as he stabbed a lackey in the stomach, before spinning around to dodge Guapo.
Without Naruto to help everyone was fighting him, and doing a bit too well for his liking.
He desperately jumped out of the way of an stab, and was sent tumbling to the floor, his katana flying away from him. Indra would be laughing at the pathetic show of skills he was displaying. He was still in his prime yet he fought like he was an elder.
He channeled his chakra into his throat and let out a throaty yell, everyone bar Gaupo was blown back by the sound wave.
"Guys." Guapo spoke up for the first time in a while, choosing to fight in silence, "Go."
"What!?" A random man yelled, "We will not leave you alone! We stand together to the end!"
Guapo faced his people and yelled, "Save the innocents! I will not let a tyrant destroy the village I love! Go! And I will join you later! I promise."
A man clenched his fists, "It is our oath to always keep a promise, you made that rule."
Guapo smiled sadly, "Aye, and I will keep it."
The men left slowly, not liking their leader's decisions. Ashura stood across from Guapo, locking eyes with his enemy.
"You are strong." Guapo said, "We could of been good friends under different circumstances."
Ashura nodded, "Maybe."
Little did Guapo know that Ashura's katana was now floating in the air, hovering silently behind his back.
"Why?" Guapo questioned, unaware of his doom approaching, "Why attack my village?"
"They attacked us first." Ashura replied, "We came only looking for answers, to find an artifact long left by my uncle, none of this would have happened if you responded with hospitality." His sword straightened, the tip pointing directly at the village leader.
Guapo frowned, "So only a misunderstanding caused this?" He looked down for a moment, "Come. We do not need to fight."
"Even after I killed your men?" Ashura took a tentative step forward.
"Ashura held out his hand, a small smile on his face, "I think that conflict can be stopped with words, I have been trying in this violence forsaken world to keep this little village safe, to keep out the pain of the outside." He clasped hands with Ashura, "I think that we can make peac-"
He couldn't finish. He was already impaled.
Guapo fell to his knees, "A... shame." He coughed out blood, "Sorry guys... broke my promise so quickly."
Ashura's katana slowly floated over to his hand and transformed back into a shakujo, Naruto came running up moments later, "You got the asshole? Good. Let's go!"
Ashura stared sadly at the body, "Guapo's blood is the key..." He remembered the drunk saying.
"Key!?" A voice yelled, the two men turned to see a figure running away, Naruto tried to pursue, but Ashura stopped him with a hand on the shoulder, "No more."
They hopped down into the Guapo's treasure room.
"Wait." Naruto suddenly said, "The rumor. Guapo's blood is the key to power, I just realized." Ashura gave him a 'continue' motion. "The rumor... must have been started by us! The man who heard us! He must have told everyone and it must have changed over the years until we heard the one from our time."
"It doesn't matter." Ashura said detachedly, staring at Hamura's disc, it was spinning intensely, "I just want this to be over."
And like that, they disappeared into light.
'I am sorry.'
'Huh?' Naruto thought to his companion as he laid infront of the Sage's statue, staring at the stars.
'I... I was rash and overconfident. I attacked making false accusations, causing a major conflict that should have been avoided. And then I overestimated myself, even before I fought Indra I spent many years inactive, spending time with my family. I was rusty and didn't want to admit it, and it almost got me killed fighting both Zetsu and Guapo.'
Naruto stared at the sky, looking intently at the moon "I was more then overconfident." He began quietly, "I was arrogant. I though that those men where much weaker then me just because I had chakra. Guapo was toying with me, and his men nearly got me even when I used my abilities. I... I still have a long way to go if I'm going to change the world.'
'When WE change the world. Together.'
Naruto smiled slightly.
'Ok. What the fuck happened to you two? I get a terrible headache and take a nap, and suddenly you guys are confessing your love to each other. What the hell...'
'So Ashura...'
'Yes?'
Naruto frowned slightly as he walked with his team back to Konoha, 'What happened to your head? It must have been terrible to incapacitate you.'
'I have no idea, but I still have a lingering pain in the top left and right corners of my forehead. It's fading though with time.'
Naruto nodded, before looking at his female teammate, "Oi Sakura, what are you doing?"
"Shut up Naruto, I'm reading." She had her face in a book as she walked looking much like their teacher.
"Hey I'm just asking!" Naruto defended himself, "I mean you look like Kakashi-sensei over their, for all I know you could be reading the same book."
Sakura looked confused, "What's wrong with sensei's book?"
Naruto stopped, his jaw nearly dropping.
"What!?" He pointed to the giggling Kakashi, "You don't know what Icha Icha is!? What kind of live have you been living?" He noticed Kakashi's look on him ,"Oh HELL no! I don't read that trash, but it's a household name in Konoha due to it's writer."
Sasuke spoke up, "Who is the writer?"
"Jiraiya, the Sannin." Naruto answered.
Sasuke raised an eyebrow, "A book written by such a powerful ninja? Maybe I should check it out."
Kakashi chuckled even more at Naruto's gobsmacked face, before taking a few moments to calm down, "Hey hey, maybe you shouldn't read these, Sasuke is fine. But Sakura your parents might get angry at me."
The pink headed girl got even more confused, "Why?" She turned to Naruto, "What is that book about?"
Naruto sighed, "Please drop it. All I wanted to know was what you are reading. Let's go back to that."
"Oh." Sakura held up a thick book, "Well I just finished it, but it is 'The Adventures of Robin Hood.'.
Naruto instantly thought to the green clothed man from the past, "... Hey Sakura. Tell me about it."
She lit up ,"OK! Did you know it takes place in Shinseimura?"
Naruto had a feeling where this was going, "No, but don't worry about spoiling it, I'll probably never read it."
The girl nodded, "Basically, it takes place in the distant past, before chakra was even a thing. Robin Hood was a man who hated the war torn world and tried to help people by stealing from the rich to give to the poor. A common thing people know about him these days. But basically it follows his tales and him growing a group of thieves and men to help people."
Naruto pursed his lips, "And Shinseimura?"
"Well after about... three fourths of the book he becomes the leader of Shinseimura. And he and his men enjoy a time of peace in the village, where he enforced the rich and the poor, trying to make people equal, think of him as the first communist. For almost the rest of the book it was him trying to calm the resistance growing against him despite his righteous deeds."
"You said almost."
Sakura stared at the cover of the book ,"Well at the ending two people come, people called them demons, but the book never talked chakra powers, I am positive it was just saying that they where ruthless killers."
There was a lump in his throat, "And... did Hood defeat them?"
Sakura frowned, "That's my only issue with the book, the two men destroy Robin's men, killing a few of his trusted friends also. While one of them distracted him the other burned down the village, which actually happened in real life. The village burning, I'm not sure about everything else. Anyways it turns out they where after the treasure Robin acquired over his journeys. The book ends with Robin standing alone against the two men, the epilogue says he never came back to Shinseimura."
'A lot different then your account. Yet pretty accurate.'
'Shut up.'
'Oh? You upset that the first legend about you is one of a villain and not a hero?'
'I am too. But in other matters, I do not remember that kind of story in my times, heroics like that suited Guapo, but I never heard of Shinseimura burning down.'
'For some reason I do though, it is obvious. You changed time.'
'But how!' Naruto thought angrily, "What exactly happened to Hamura for THIS to happen!? To bend reality!?'
'That is exactly what he wants us to discover.'
"So." The Hokage questioned, "How was your first C-rank? You look rather sour Naruto."
Said blonde tried to form a smile, but failed, "I just... I expected more. The bandit attack was cool though."
"Oh? Bandit attack?" He looked to Kakashi.
"A small complication." The scarecrow clarified. "We dealt with it and got the papers from Shinseimura. We're good."
The Hokage took them, gazing over them for a moment, "Very good. You can get your pay in the actual mission room. You are dismissed."
Naruto's first adventure as a ninja is of a bad guy, just because he is Naruto doesn't mean he is always the hero. Things will get MUCH darker for him in the future.