FSDYT Notes:
A big thanks to the reviews. Also to the pms I got about what exactly is this story?
Well quite frankly this story is my own what was going to be a short story turned epic length "let's have an adventure" (It became such when I wrote 10 chapters in one day. I then realized this was going to be epic)
In short this story is a sort of what happen from the start of the Naruto anime to like its present. Though easily you'll enjoy the trip until we get to the present that the Naruto world is in now. Also don't think you will know what will happen in this story.
This is no story telling of what in the Naruto anime past. (You know that lame story of basically someone writing exactly what is happening in cannon without any creativity) Nope this story is 100% original and unpredictable.
Well enjoy the read and feel free to ask any questions (of course only the ones that I could answer without telling everything about this story)
NINE DAYS PAST| WHIRLPOOL COUNTRY| UZUSHIOGAKURE|
A bright sunny day beamed rays of life-giving light across the large village and the large gathering of people.
Yet, these people dressed in black to pay respects to the dead had no care for trivial things in the moment such as a sunny day. As today was a day of mourning for the many long past warriors that had finally been put to rest in their Uzu homelands soil.
The mass funeral as organized as it was still kept a low hum of cries in which the family members and friends of the departed let lose their anguish as they lay individually white roses upon the many tombstones in a procession of saying good-bye one last time.
Arata with every member of the council stood off to the side of the funeral grounds as each watched whole families walk pass their dear beloveds grave only to place a flower and a few tears, down upon a head stone then have to visit another.
The General would have let out a shudder at the factory assembly style funeral ring of sorrow. He saw before him; if it were not for he like many of the council members had to play the unshakable pillar of the village role. To show everyone else that they were grieving too but the dead had done what had been expected of them, like true warriors in fighting and dyeing for their homeland.
A shiver ran up Arata's spine suddenly as he saw a person lay a flower upon his mother's grave. He did not know if it was out of memorial or accident but he knew she had been dead long ago. . . not like the fresh new warriors who were joining her. . . sadly in this final resting place.
"WHYYY!" rang out the voice that thundered upon all the gathered ear's
Arata was one hundred percent sure that cry of hate filled sorrow belonged to none other than someone who knew the dead. He could hear it now as it was the voice of a woman no one seemed able to comfort, that had broken the line of procession as she crashed with two small children upon the tombstone before her hugging it dearly.
He was stricken with almost as much sorrow as the woman was letting loose with her cries as he saw some try to pry her from the emerald blue and white tombstone.
As if God had set out to judge Arata then saw the woman's eyes creep over to him as she was held back from her dear beloved's tombstone by a crowd of mourners who tried to control the situation.
"YOU!" the woman called out
'Oh God no!' he thought to himself knowing what was to come next as he saw the woman with tearful eyes glare at him.
He could see what she was about to unload on him but had been spared when a blue armored figure came to the woman and crowd to take her plus the two children away.
Looking over to his father who still had the stone visage on his face, probably built up from many funerals he had attended with his time as the leader, Arata spoke to him "I'm leaving"
The man looked over to his son and nodded "We have stayed long enough and it is winding down. . ."
"It is time you dealt with other stuff anyway you are a busy man, I'll be by later to speak to you" the man to Arata's other side spoke
"I'll let you finish up things here then Shuji-sensei" were his last words as Arata let himself be surrounded by his father's chakra and be body flickered away.
Arriving in his office thanks to his father's body flicker. Arata was unsuspecting of the eight in all black figures he saw in the room awaiting him.
"What is this?" he immediately asked but received no answer.
At once the eight figures charged head first at the Uzumaki leader brandishing kunai released from hidden compartments in their sleeves.
Immediately the Uzumaki became concerned with his father's safety but as he looked behind him to see the man, he found out he was nowhere to be seen. Confusion then set in as to where his father went.
Though the confusion did not make him forget that he was under attack as his eyes went back to the eight threats speeding towards him. Defensively Arata drew his sword and swung to make the eight attackers jump back.
"Who are you people?" Arata asked while at the same time thinking 'Drown all in the bloody shadows. Reflect on despair'
The eight masked figures immediately put their hands up as they saw the sword transform and their very visible shadows move across the floor over to where Arata was, essentially making them helpless and a second shy of death.
One of the eight figures took off their mask and unveiled the face of Arata the Third.
"Dad?!" asked Arata shocked but not willing to lower his guard.
"Well done son you sure are worth your title of: Arata the Blood Ocean. To believe you could actually kill so many of us before we got the time to act" spoke the man with a proud smile.
"Speed and precision is the name of the ninja game. Now what is this about father?" Arata asked sheathing his sword as it went back to its first form.
"While you were away I was able to gather many people who would make it their goal to pass the tests to get in to this new division. Yes unveil yourselves as I give to you T.I.D.E." announced the man proudly
The seven figures each were suddenly surrounded in a plume of smoke that cleared as fast as it had come.
Arata viewed the men and women before him with tentative eyes scanning over them very methodically as they stayed stone still under his gaze.
From what he could see head first; the T.I.D.E. members wore a dark blue mask that had exposed eye holes but the mask itself seemed modeled after no real person as it's features were blank and lifeless. Fitting to every member's face but somehow morphing their true features yet it did leave out the hair styles of the different members.
Arata could see the advantages the strange mask could give its wearer, as no one who saw it could describe something that was description less. He knew for a fact that his father's skill was behind this strange identity hiding device.
Further viewing the bodies he saw they wore a large vest that looked sort of bulky as it was rectangle shaped on their body, held by straps on their shoulders and across their sides to give a sturdy fit.
While at the front many zipped pockets were all over what could be called the body vest that spanned to the lower pelvis featuring a six inch sheathed knife, possibly referring to the division's close combative or sneaky nature.
Even though Arata was viewing them from just the front he could make out on the T.I.D.E. members backs a set of four scrolls going straight down held there by what possibly could have been Velcro maybe.
An on their shoulders were what he figured was the T.I.D.E. symbol; a large red wave and what looked like a number that had a cross and was different on each of them was slightly visible. Completing their uniform was simple black pants strapped with holsters and dark almost black colored sandals.
"T.I.D.E.? What is this?" the younger Uzumaki asked confused "Is this truly the division you have made?"
"Well it did not take as long as one would think seeing as I had a great potential pool to tap and thus . . . T.I.D.E. was born, with the express purposes like you wanted 'a division to help move us to the future' an they will as our head of intelligence and information gathers as well as our on call saboteurs they are perfect for the title they have"
Arata rubbed his chin on such an idea " . . So they have great tactics, are great information gathers, do a bit of demolition work, and are experts at it. I would have to of course as leader see them in action though I bet this is why you fake attacked me?"
The old leader gave a shameful nod "Yes son, though it seems that impression was a dud on all of our parts. Though there are a few things this division has gathered that would impress you"
"Before that who are these guys and what's with those numbers on them?"
"Ah so you have noticed. . . Well it is their rank which all members have except these seven before you are captains and the only pluses. See, I have designed this ranking system like this so that it is unique and more mysterious on things such as identity but not on strength. They need no names as they are but numbers. The strongest having the number with a plus on them denoting his exceptional skill and attributes. . ."
"Please do explain more" the General coaxed looking specifically at the man he saw that had a plus sign and number one on his shoulder.
"Well for instance, captain one here has a one because he is the best in the division. Being the only elite that has an upper tier level of skill in all fields. A real shining example of what the division is. While others still ranking in the upper tiers of skills as they are pluses. The difference between the negatives or other non-captain members who start from negative eight and so one. They are exceptionally strong or good at one field which would be a skill that would be good to have in a group, alone they are not efficient enough. Not say like Captain One here."
"So the rest or negatives are not full T.I.D.E. efficient without other members in a group with them but uh Captain One here could?"
"As well as each other captain here. They are the back bone of the division and make sure all skills are appropriately used by bringing others together to complete a mission. This ensures the rate of failure for a mission no matter what it's rank or difficulty is kept low"
"But does this not mean T.I.D.E. is only able to complete seven missions at any given time?"
Arata the Third nodded his head "Yes that is what it means from an information gathering stand point but that is actually all we need. As this division limited in captains it is. It is not limited in members or capabilities; gathering intelligence on what is happening all around this country as well as in foreign affairs in the other need to know about countries. Do not worry about capabilities as under Captain One's command he has over forty members in his squad"
"And he is still able to work abroad in secrecy?" asked the General curious knowing the ideal four men to a squad was an international staple of mobility and stealth.
"Yup using all members to their full ability. You would be shocked by what the ''more is better combined with the quality quantity'' approach does. With more men he was able to do a covert operation that you would be proud of" spoke the man with a smirk
"What would that be?"
The man known as Captain One stepped forward to Arata as he reached from his back then pulled from it one of the scrolls kept there and presented it to his leader with a bow.
Arata took the scroll and looked to his father with a quizzical stare.
"That in your hand is a capability this new division possesses. In the scroll is battle plans belonging to Kumogakure and info on the captains of their division that is leading the attack soon: The Gold and Silver brothers. Captain One and his division was able to gather Intel on them."
With great appreciation Arata spoke to the Captain "Thank you this will go a long way in battling them"
The man gave a perfect salute then stood back in line with his fellow captains.
Arata looked over to his father and asked a bit nervously "Are these the same brothers that-"
"Yes, they are the very same that tried to capture the Nine-tailed Fox and failed an was eaten by it but survived days in its stomach. They also are known to wield that fox's very chakra and have the other Treasured Tools of the Sage of Six Paths." informed the man with a sigh
"Damn, so that is where the rest of those weapons went. . . Hashirama wasn't telling a lie then, they had been stolen and by Kumo no less"
"It is great we know what they intend son. I am sure you will be able to handle them no matter how powerful they are. Also here you would want to see this too. . ." said the man retrieving a book from his pocket then handing it to his son.
Arata regarded the book with faint interest as he looked at it then back to his father.
"It's sort of now the world's ninja magazine and hit book. Don't ask who made it because truthfully I am not sure myself but I know everyone questionable that kills has one"
Impressed by such an idea of someone placing bounties on high-ranking ninja. Arata looked at the book with a more stern gaze as he made a mental note to read its every page. Even if it did look to be excessively long.
"We will be leaving you my son but know now, with T.I.D.E. around there will always be a few at your call and protecting you. Well we are off, there is a lot of info to gather in the world."
Nodding the General watched as he saw all the new divisions captains leave in a poof of white clouds then his father leave shortly there after.
A thought crossed his mind as he saw his father leave. He wondered aloud "What rank are you father?"
Knowing the man was long gone he made his way to his large desk filled with surprising enough not a single piece of paperwork at all. He then took his seat laying the important scroll on his desk but kept the black book in his hand.
He saw on the book's front in dark grey writing; Bingo.
"Wonder what the hell that could mean?"
Opening the book to its first page he almost had a heart attack as he did a quick scan of what had been wrote and the picture on the first page.
The page showed what was the very exact image of Arata and if that was not scary enough it had key battles he was in and his title with all of his public associations. Even his age, weight and all descriptions of him hell they had his weapon in there too.
It was as if someone had done a full biography on him and if that was not upsetting enough they had given him a rank with first page.
Now fully curious on who could or would create such a book he scrolled through the pages and was shocked once again as on the very next page, there was a full dedication to Tobirama Senju. It seemed he too got the full documentary effect plus the familiar; S-rank.
He kept flipping through the pages only to grow even more shocked as every page had a famous shinobi on it with all the Kages given separate pages too.
Going back to Tobirama's page of the book he shook his head as he realized what he had missed at the very bottom of the page in bold letters; was a bounty.
Immediately he figured out why and how a book like this would be popular to killers. . . or more precisely mercenary assassins. Though this book itself did have its uses as he did not know Tobirama killed in total: two-hundred six Sand ninja in the River country battle, but in some other skirmishes over fifty ninja.
The book just in a few glances proved its unique deadly accuracy.
"Yes this thing could be very useful" he said to himself scanning the page and seeing a list of Tobirama's favorite jutsu that he actually saw the man use.
But his attention slowly was pulled directly towards Tobirama's bounty set on him by. . .
"No way! Iwagakure has a bounty out on him for thirty million! Jeez you can buy an island for that price!"
Realization hit Arata that this truly was a hit book. A hit book that was an actual free for all for any would be ninja trying to strike it rich or anyone who could produce the marked ninja's head to the awarding village or person.
Scrolling back to his own bounty he saw and gave a sigh at, because of its many who wanted his death.
"Iwa wants me dead. Yeah no shit, I'm an ally to Leaf. Oh a measly, twenty million. Yet Tobirama gets a flat thirty, cheap bastards. Hm, Kumo wants me dead too, of course I killed your Raikage. But they don't know that. So I bet it's . . . Wait!"
Fear gripped Arata as he saw the large number of the bounty. He then connected the dots of why T.I.D.E. was even doing full on infiltration missions of Kumo.
Quickly Arata scanned back to the excerpt dedicated to him and almost damned himself for missing the neat print of words that were right after his accomplishment of killing one thousand ninja in the battle that earned him his moniker.
"Suspect in death of the Shodaime Raikage in an invasion on Kumogakure. Believed to have attacked Raikage and killed him and guards with zanpakuto that wielded red water. Same red water was seen wielded many times in other battles." he read with dread
"Holy shit! They connected the dots. . . dad knew it from this and they know it too from my other battles DAMN!. . . No wonder why they put a bounty this large on me and are planning to attack" Arata quaked dropping the book on the floor and immediately opened the very important scroll.
As the book hit the floor by the throne like chair, somehow it was able to stay open and showed the extreme bounty on: Arata of the Blood Ocean. Placed on him by Kumogakure and its Second Raikage. An outstanding bounty of fifty million; if caught alive or killed.