Chapter 3

Disclaimer: This is a piece of fiction. I do not own or claim to own the Naruto franchise. Lawyers remember the Streisand effect and sue someone else.

"Ok, explain to me again. Why and HOW DID YOU LIGHT MY CLOAK ON FIRE!" A birthday party had not gone totally according to plan when Muscius of all people had accidentally light Varus's cloak on fire with the power, now the group of boys were receiving a scolding of massive proportions.

"It was an accident," Muscius replied in a flat monotone.

"An accident? How the hell do you accidentally light something on fire without any source?!" Varus replied the anger in his voice even more inflamed. This was quickly going downhill, if we didn't either divulge the truth or find some other plausible explanation we would end up in a whole lot of hot water.

"I think, I might be able to better phrase my brother's sentiment," Cato interjected. Cato always did manage to bail us out with his words, and today he was going to do it again. He flashed a look of uncertainty to Caius before returning to his usual confident demeanor and launched into one of his many oratories."Well you see the prelude to this whole event occurred the first night off the island, which while you all slept peacefully we were assailed by a force beyond our comprehension," Cato then masterfully spun the a tale of unknowing, but responsible investigation of the power, in short total bs, "to conclude, I believe it was an accidental expulsion of this power from Musicus that result in Scaevolus cloak being lit ablaze."

"Bullshit!" Scandalous yelled while clutching the burnt remains of his cloak.

I watched as Arminus sighed as he rubbed his temples, " Could one of you guys show me proof that these powers do exist?"

We had only recently figured out any practical use for the power. We were only able to use it to stick leaves and clumps of dirt to our hands. These feats of power, these were laughably pathetic, but hey we had to start somewhere. Now the problem with us demonstrating our powers is that Cato and Furianus weren't able to do the dirt or leave demonstration with a 100% success, so if they failed in this demonstration it could destroy all of our credibility. So that left either me or Muscius, now Muscius would enver volunteer so.

I raised my hand.

"You can do something with this power Caius? Can you replicate what Muscius did? Because, this sounds very hard to believe," Arminus questioned as everyone turned to look at me with intrigue in their eyes. I sighed.

"Okay, Muscius what did you do?" I asked.

"I pushed power into the material much like with the leaf exercises." Muscius said as he gripped his shield.

"Well, then let's give it a shot. Scaevolus hand over your cloak to Caius," Arminus ordered.

"But, but" Scaevolus whimpered as he clutched his burnt cloak even harder than before.

"NOW!" Arminus commanded.

"Okay," Scaevolus handed the cloak off to me and sunk back. I had to suppress a laugh at watching the grown man act like a child.

"Now show me this 'power' you all seem to believe." Arminus said his face and tone both firm.

I took a deep breath. It was time to get to work. Controlling the energy is an experience that is not really describable. It was like having a 3rd arm, it's impossible to describe without having one. I started to draw the power from all around my body and pool it into my hand. Once, I had a big enough pool of energy, I pushed it from my hand to the fabric. To my disbelief I felt heat in my hand, and my eyes focused on a flame that I was holding in my hand. The flame was brighter than an oil lamp, it quickly burned through the fabric. I think we were all watching in astonishment, including me.

Doesn't your hand hurt Caius?" Muscius asked matter of factly. It was at this point that the answer was indeed yes. I proceeded to scream like a little girl.

"YEEEOOOOOOWWWW!" I scampered to a nearby river and dunked my hand into the cold water.

"Wait, Caius!" Scaevolus asked his face smothered with disbelief and confusion.

"Yeah," I answered as I soothed my hurting hand in the water.

"Did you... How did... How long have you been able to do that." Scaevolus asked tripping over his words.

"Since today apparently, by the way can we get going again? I am starving." I complained as the feeling began to return to my hand.

"Yeah, but you're going to have a lot to explain," Arminus said as he returned to path. We all followed him

"What else could you possibly want to know?" I asked as I tentatively pulled my hand out of the water and ran to catch up.

"Everything" He replied.

I had explained everything to Arminus minus the Anchorpoint business. He had interestingly just accepted the answer for what it was, although he did have us all demonstrate our abilities in front of him.

It was after a couple days of travel that we lay right outside of the first town in our way. Arminus as always was giving out last minute instructions as he handed out notepads and special styluses that put ink on the paper, they were called 'Pens'.

"Alright, explore and take as many notes of anything that stands out to you. Meet back at the east side of town by sundown. Be there on time," He commanded. We all nodded in understanding, before we all split off to go in our directions.

I had a lot of fun just walking around in the town. New smells constantly assaulted my nose as fragrances of cooked meat, baked bread, and many other unknown foods tormented my stomach. Brightly colored fabrics were sold in a multitude of vendors. Buildings as high as 5 stories lined the streets.

It was during this street walking that I met my first interesting character in this town.

"Hey you! Boy!" A man with a rat like face called over to me.

"Me?"

"Yes, you!" He replied. He was sitting behind a counter of his shop.

"What do you want?" It was at this point that I was extremely suspicious of this rat faced man.

"Nonono, you misunderstand my friend, it is not what I want, but what you need" He replied with a grin.

"How, can you know what I need?"

"It is clear you are not of this land, no? Anyway your line of work seems to be in the area of war, and my friend I deal with best tools for war." He was right about me being geared for war, although it wasn't a hard deduction considering I was still armoured.

"So what do I need according to you?" My skepticism was leaking through my voice.

"Well, you seem to be carrying a large pack around on your back, and you also seem to be not of this area so I offer you two solutions for your two problems you have. Here have a look at this," The rat faced man picked up a large book and set in front of him. "This is book filled with much knowledge of this land and its people, it also has information on the... well unconventional areas of knowledge."

"Unconventional areas of knowledge?"

"Yes, the stuff an academic either would dismiss or throw up at the sight of, but us roughnecks find very interesting and helpful."

"I'll take it, and what else ya got for me?" I quickly dropped a gold coin in front of him and watched as he greedily snatched up the coin.

"Ah, yes this other item will astound you my friend" The rat faced man said as he pulled a scroll and rolled it out in front of me. The scroll was covered in symbols and lines all of which I couldn't make heads or tails of their purpose. The rat faced man picked up the book and placed it in the circle which seemed to be the focus of all the symbols and lines.

"Now, place your hand on the print there," there was a hand shaped outline near the bottom of the scroll. I did as I was told. In a puff of smoke the book disappeared. That shocked me.

"What the… What trickery is this?" I yelled in confusion.

"None, at all my friend. Place your hand on the print again and be amazed," the rat faced man replied nonchalantly. I placed my hand on the print again, and the book reappeared with another puff of smoke. I picked up the book and began to flip through it.

"What is this sorcery?" I asked.

"It is not sorcery, merely a simple tool of the land. It can hold almost anything from a boulder to a bowl of soup, but I do not recommend storing anything living in there, lest it come out less functional that it went in, "I nodded as I internalized the warning given to me by the rat faced man. I placed the book on the epicenter and placed my hand on the outline, the book disappeared again. I took out two more gold coins and dropped them in front of the rat faced man who again snatched them up.

"Pleasure doing business with you, kind sir," the rat faced man pulled down a barrier and scurried out of his shop turning off the light as he went. I shrugged and walked away.

I continued to explore the city until my stomach and nose colluded and drove me to a market stall that seemed to be selling a strange kind of food that seemed similar to the macaroni he had in Capua. I tried to read the menu, but all I saw were strange characters that I couldn't understand. I squinted my eyes and the characters turned into readable latin. I blinked and made a promise to myself to drink more water.

"Can I take your order sir?" A woman with brown hair asked a notepad in her hand and pen in other.

"Uhhh, yeah what do you recommend for someone who isn't from around here?" I asked.

"Well," the woman turned around and looked at the menu, "the chicken ramen with tomato and other spices is very good,"

"I'll take that ramen with the tomato." I replied as I dropped a gold coin on the table.

"Alright! Gramps! we need a Chicken Ramen with extra tomatoes!" She snatched up the gold coin and walked into a room behind the counter area. An old man with a funny looking hat walked out knives in hand.

"I'll have your ramen ready in just a moment. I just have to grill some vegetables," he said as he took some ingredients and placed them on a flat shiny surface, they started to sizzle.

"What is that?" Caius asked intrigued by the shiny surface.

"Oh, this here" The old man pointed to the shiny surface. "This is an electric grill, had it for 10 years now. Well made piece of craftsmanship," he said as he used another metal tool to flip the ingredients on the grill.

"Electric? What is that?" I asked, as I pulled out my notepad and pen.

"You really are from a far away place, I guess the clothes aren't just some new fashion fad," The old man laughed before returning to flipping the ingredients. "Well, I guess it's, an electric grill because it is powered by electricity, as opposed to a wood powered grill which is powered by wood," he said as he went into the back room and brought out a hot pan with steam rising out of it and set it out on the counter.

"What is electricity" I asked.

"Well, I guess it is... um, I really don't know how to explain it," he laughed again heartily. As he poured the steaming water and noodles into a bowl and dropped the vegetables in. He picked up the bowl and set it out in front of me.

"You could go to the library in any old town and find out what electricity is kid" The old man said.

"Thanks, I'll look it up" I responded as I broke apart the chopsticks. I had learned how to use them from Cato who had knowledge of their use, strangely. I then proceeded to demolish the bowl of ramen. After thanking the old man for the ramen I then proceeded to continue exploring the town for the rest of the day.

I had a lot of time to ponder while I explored and I soon came to a conclusion. I had to get back in contact with Cincinnatus. I hadn't seen him since I talked to him and Socrates. Every night was an opportunity to learn, and every night that I wasn't learning was a night wasted.

As the sun began to fall below the horizon, I walked to the group meeting place. Everyone else was already there waiting.

"Barely, on time Caius. Now it's time for a midnight stroll, we are behind schedule so we will make up the time in the night, the next town is a twelve hour walk from here," Arminus dictated in his taskmaster voice.

"Thats insane," Furianus muttered to himself.

"Well, better start making it saner before you end up in front of the legate, then you can complain about the insane working hours," Arminus threatened as he began to walk. The other adults snickered and followed him. Cato patted Furianus on the back and followed Arminus. I sighed and followed Cato and Muscius.

"Why, I am I the only who hates all this damn walking!" Furianus stood up and ran to catch up with his friends.

'We all hate it, you just yell more.' I thought as I picked a leaf of a tree and put it to my forehead.

What followed was what I considered to be a hell week. Everyday we would explore a town from midday to dusk, then we would walk all night until daybreak. We only rested infrequently, and I never had time to get a good night's sleep. We learned quite a lot about the people of the land as we explored. Some of this knowledge was very useful one example of this was when Muscius figured out the usefulness of the mathematical notation system of the people here. I had no idea how it worked, but it managed to get Muscius to show actual excitement for once in his life, so it must have been important. I had my book and scroll, the book was extremely intriguing as it described a strange group of people called shinobi. His scroll was also put to good use as it held most of our armour and weapons.

It was after this hell week that Arminus determined our pace good enough for us to take a rest in the next town we were to visit. Fortunately, it turned out that the town we were going to visit was famous for its hot springs and relaxing demeanor.

We sauntered into town, and after some helpful local's directions we arrived at the inn which also held the famed hot springs of the town. The building was built in a style that had been seldom seen in the towns passing, but was not totally absent from the numerous towns they had passed. It was built with colored woods and papers, shingled roofs with ornate figure, and colored stone walls. Entering through an open door, we approached a woman manning a counter.

Welcome to Shima Baths, would you patrons wish for a day pass for the baths or would you like to stay the night?" The woman asked.

"Would this suffice for a night stay?" Arminus asked before dumping 10 gold coins onto the table.

"Do you have any Ryo, sir?" The woman asked quizzically staring at the pile.

"What's that?"

"It's money, it looks like this?" The woman pulled out one of paper pieces, they had gotten at the beginning of the mission. None of them actually knew how to use them so they ignored them and used their gold coins.

"Huh, yeah. Caius do you have those?" I had become the packrat of the group, so whenever someone didn't have something I was the first person they asked.

"Yep, here they are" I pulled the notes out of my bag and handed them to my mentor.

"Will this be sufficient?" Arminus said laying down a wad of paper.

"More than enough. Here let me take this and you keep the rest," the woman took a couple bills and left the rest on the counter. "Here are your room keys. The baths can be accessed on the door on your right, also our baths are mixed. Will that be a problem?"

"That will definitely not be a problem" Varus responded with a smile as he headed towards to the hot springs entrance.

"Sweet!" Furianus yelled and began to speedily make his way to the hot spring entrance.

"Caius you coming? Or are you going to be a pansy and sit in the room the whole time." Furianus said over his shoulder.

"I'll come just let me put all the stuff in the room." I replied.

"Boys, meet at our rooms, an hour before sundown," Arminus yelled before heading off to his room.

I strolled around the inn, until I found the room we would be staying in. I opened the door with the key and set my pack down inside. My shoulders ached after having carried my pack for almost a week straight. I needed that bath. I locked the room behind me and I found my way to the hot springs.

The entrance to bathing room was different from those in Rome, but that was to be expected. The room held several wooden cubbies to hold the clothes and everything a patron would have on hand. I sighed, before stripping off my clothing and placing it in a cubbie. I picked up a towel and hobbled my way over to entrance into the water. The bath was built upon a pool of stones, with the surrounding area being that of stones as well. This inner bath was built with a passageway to the outer bath, long strips of cloth fell from the roof of the passageway to almost waterlevel. They must have acted as steam insulators! I waded through the water and passed through the cloth drapes.

The sun was bright, and I shielded my eyes before they adjusted and he had a good look around. There were plenty of old people relaxing, young people awkwardly joking around and adults conversing. I picked out Furianus attempting to hit on girls, I didn't get Furianus's lust for women. Cato and Muscius were talking in a group of friends, although Cato did most of the talking while Muscius would make one line quips that were sometimes funny. My mentor and the other adults were talking in a group having a relaxing time.

As I stood in the water I felt all my strength begin to leave my body. My legs became wobbly, so I waddled over to an edge where an underwater bench lay. I sat down on it and rested my head on the edge. My eyes fell shut as my mind began to wonder. Listening to the noise around me was therapeutic in a way. This was heaven.

This tranquility was eventually disturbed when two other voices started whispering near him. It sounded like an old man and a young woman. If I had been more awake I probably would have been annoyed, but I was too tired to care. Eventually the woman left the old man alone. Sighing, the old man slumped into the water.

"Heh, the sight of a lovely woman is never unwelcome. Wouldn't you say kid?" The old man announced.

I opened my eyes and scanned the area, nobody else was around them. THe old man must have been referring to him.

"I don't know. I guess that's true" I replied in a lazy voice.

"Ah well you are too young to understand the value of the female form. Anyway, you must be a foreigner." That perked my attention and caused me to change my sleeping position to an upright sitting position.

"What makes you think that?" I said as I blinked the tiredness out of my eyes. I got a good look at my new acquaintance, he was a semi-old man with a lot of white hair and red paint lines on his face.

"Well, you guys certainly don't look like locals. Plus, you don't think no one is talking about the 8 foreigners that look like the rumors of the new people that crushed the combined armies of Wind, Lightning and Earth. That's bound to get people talking, plus I am reporter. I pick out the oddities, they always have the best stories to tell. By the way my name is Dachi Gennai," He held out his hand. I had no idea what a reporter was supposed to do.

I still took his hand and shook it, "Caius, Caius Nonus. So what does a reporter do anyway?"

"Wow, you guys really are foreigners! A reporter is a person who travels around and learns about news that is going around, we then go back and publish for everyone to read. Do you think you could answer some questions for me?" Dachi said as he pulled out a notepad and began to scribble furiously. I was a little wary of Daichi, so I came up with an excuse to involve someone else.

"Could you hold on a second? I gotta ask my mentor if this is ok," I said.

"Sure," Daichi replied. I stood up and waded over to where Arminus and the other adults were still conversing. Explaining the situation, Arminus followed me back over to Dachi.

Hello Mr. Dachi, my name is Arminus and from what I hear you want to interview my apprentice about us being foreigners, excuse my self-interest, but what do we get out of this if anything?"

"Well, how about a trade then, you tell me about yourselves; your people, your history, your intent. And, I'll give you an insiders look into the many places I have been to, and give you some contacts in high places," Dachi said.

"We'll take it. How about my apprentice talks to you now, and later we can listen to what you have to say over, wine and food," Arminus said holding out his hand. Dachi took and they shook.

"Alright, Caius, be polite and answer Mr. Dachi's questions," Arminus said before he waded back to his spot.

"Well, Nonus-san would you like to begin? Firstly, I want to know, do you guys have smoking hot women where you are from?" Dachi stared intently his pen in hand, his eyes completely serious. It was at this point I was able to determine Daichi was a definitely a little strange.

"Um, I guess so?" I responded.

"Is everyone where you from as lanky as you?" He asked

"I'm not lanky, I'm normal," I defended.

"Huh, really? What did they feed you back home?" He asked as he kept scribbling on his paper.

Three hours later and Dachi had finished asking all his questions. Mostly they were all about irrelevant things like diet, holidays, and women. The sun now hung above the horizon, and the rest of group had followed Daichi to a restaurant in town. We then occupied a large booth and began to discuss the events of the day.

"No Cato, I'm serious. I swear this girl was into me," Furianus claimed with boastfulness of a greek hero.

"If I had I coin for every time you said that, I would go buy you a prostitute. Then you wouldn't have to keep imagining things," Cato replied smugly.

"Shut up, you're just jealous of my appeal to all women," Furianus snapped back.

"Did you confuse all women with just your mother?" Cato retorted. The argument continued on from there with them trading insults. I was too exhausted from the questioning, and merely listened to the two bicker. They really went together like oil and water. I ate my meal in silence as I listened. The adults ate while conversing and joking, Musicus read a book, and Cato and Furianus continued their argument.

I quickly filled my stomach, and then laid back and closed my eyes. I felt my body begin to succumb to exhaustion, I smiled as the noises faded and sleep overtook me. But after what felt like 3 minutes I was snapped out of my slumber.

"Hey Caius wake up, Caius wake up, Caius, CAIUS!" Furianus was incessantly tapping me on the shoulder.

"What?" I muttered in irritation as I sat up. An unwanted second wind of energy filled me and I lost all desire for sleep.

"Let's go for a walk, the stupid adults are still drinking, and I'm bored," Furianus responded.

"Fine," I replied.

"We're going too, so you won't stab yourself from having to listen to him for too long" Cato added. Muscius nodded in agreement. We left the restaurant, and returned to the inn where we dropped off some of our stuff. I took my knapsack which had a metal canteen, a rain cloak, and the sealing scroll. A full moon hung over us, illuminating the night. We walked up the main road to a nice hill that overlooked the valley.

We followed the road at a leisurely pace. Cato always the perceptive one was the first one to probe me about my conversation with Daichi.

"That Dachi guy seems really weird, what kinda questions did he ask you" Cato asked.

Just stupid stuff about what we eat, women and all the famous stories," I replied.

"Sounds like Furianus, maybe you aren't just a freak of nature after all. Congratulations Furianus," Cato said with biting sarcasm.

"Oh yeah, guys I had a great idea for using the power. What if we can use it to throw fire" Furianus mused completely ignoring the insult that was directed at him.

"What do mean?" I asked.

"I mean when you set your hand on fire, what if we can do that without the cloak" Furianus added on.

"Well that's just a great idea besides the fact, that fire burns and burning your hand hurts." I sarcastically shot back.

"If we determine the exact properties of the power, then we could possibly coat our hand from being burned by the fire. Although we have not experimented with the power enough to determine if that is possible," Musicus interjected.

"Well, then we should do that. I want to be able throw fire," Furianus mumbled before he shifted gears, "Race you guys to top of the hill!" Furianus took off like a horse as he rushed up the road.

"I'll show you who's fastest" Cato yelled as he started running.

"Come on guys, be fair! " I yelled as I began to run. Muscius simply sighed and followed in concert.

"Oophm," Furianus grunted as he hit a tall man, and fell on his back.

"Watch where you run child, it might be into jaws of a snake. If you aren't careful," The tall man hissed out. The man was wearing all black and also had a wide brimmed hat that hid his face.

"Who ya calling child!" Furianus yelled as he jumped up and got up in the face of the tall man.

"Furianus, shut up! Sorry sir for my friend who is very inconsiderate," Cato attempted to stick his hand over Furianus mouth and diffuse the situation, but it was already hopeless. Furianus was always a hot head.

"Apologize for calling me a child! I'm a full blown soldier, you're just a farmer!" Furianus yelled shaking off Catos hands.

"Ku Ku Ku, boy, you throw your weight around like it means something, but oh you're just a fish out of water who believes he can breath," he taunted.

"Shut up!" Furianus screamed. His fist smashed into the tall man's pasty white face, but

it was unmoved, and now he could see the deranged smile plastered across his face. That was the moment that I knew we had screwed the pooch.

"And now he learns he is due for the skewer!" The man yelled. I saw a glint near the man's hand.

'It's a knife! He'll kill Furianus' A voice shouted in my head. My mind jumped into high gear as I reacted instantly. I grabbed Furianus with my left hand and yanked him down. He fell backwards almost simultaneously as the pasty man struck the spot, with a knife, where Furianus's neck had been just a quarter of a second earlier. I then saw Cato reaching out and attempting to grab the knife wielded by the pasty ma, while Muscius brought a left hook into the man's face.

"TOO SLOW!" The pasty man twisted his head and body left, during both attacks from the Scipione brothers. He then brought his into a spin kick that caught both Cato and Muscius in the head and sent them both flying twenty feet sideways before they fell back to the ground and rolled to a stop. The man then brought his hand sideways and stabbed downward into Furianus's vulnerable abdomen. I responded by increasing grip and rotating my foot to gain the power to hurl him towards Cato and Muscius.

This rescue gave the man the opportunity to cut my thigh with the blade.

I yelled in pain, but I kept my focus and jumped over to where my friends stood. I landed on my feet and scooted behind them.

"Buy me some time!" I yelled as I unraveled the scroll that held our weapons. I was able to quickly unseal 4 shields and 4 swords. We all equipped ourselves with our arms and protection. Unnervingly, the man just watched us as we armed ourselves, licking the blood of his knife.

"Hehehehe, well I think it is right that you all know who is about to end your pitiful lives, I am Orochimaru, one of the Sannin. All you need to know is that I will end your lives, right here and now in this clearing. All that you will be able to change is how much pain, I will exert upon you, until I grant you the release of death. Your choice, my prey" He said with a sickening smile. That smile scared me, it took away my breath and made my legs wobbly. I wanted to run. I needed to get away from that man

"Get in formation," Cato muttered. It snapped me out of my terror and refocused my mind. We all formed a 4 sided box. Each one of us faced a different direction, this formation would keep us safe.

"So I guess you will take the unpleasant way" Orochimaru sneered.

'Pain is only weakness leaving the body' A voice in my mind said to me.

"Pain is only weakness leaving the body" I parroted.

"Well, we'll just see about that soon" Orochimaru sneered as he suddenly disappeared in blur of movement. My eyes immediately went to a swivel as I scanned the area around for sign of our assailant. I saw a rustling bush, and began to focus on it.

'Ignore that, it is a diversion!' A new voice in my head yelled out.

Complying with the advice, I turned my eyes to scan again. This time I saw a strange shadow upon a tree, although it was like any other strange shadow in a forest under a full moon, my instincts screamed this was the danger.

"Move to the left 5 paces! Rotate around me!" I yelled, the 3 man shield wall complied. As soon as we had finished moving, 3 objects smashed into Furianus's shield. Orochimaru dashed from his shadow, a knife in hand. He moved at an ungodly speed, and quickly was within striking distance of the shieldwall. He lashed out with his knife at Furianus's head, but a perfectly timed and coordinated stab attempt from both Cato and Musicus, forced him to back off his strike. Several more stabbing attempts made by Orochimaru, all were forced backwards by the convergence and coordination of the 4 swords of the us. Muscius even managed to make a small cut on the face of Orochimaru. This however, didn't seem to bother him. He simply smiled at the group, with a malice filled smile.

"Well, you boys are tougher prey than I thought, but not tough enough!" He began to weave his hands in strange signs.

"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!" A massive burst of air smashed into our formation and sent us flying at insane speeds, the we all crashed into the treeline with sickening thuds. I hit the back of tree hard. My vision blurred and my head drifted around, my eyes loose in their sockets unable to focus and grasp anything that was around me. I could hear the laugh of Orochimaru, getting closer and closer. My heart began to beat uncontrollably. I was going to die. My eyes began to refocus and I could see that my friends were all unconscious or useless. The laughing was getting closer and closer, I needed help.

'Wish granted my friend' The voice of Cincinnatus echoed in my head.

I heard a small pop in the back of my neck, and then my mind exploded into chaos. A cacophony of thousands of voices filled my head. At first they were in complete chaos, but they quickly synchronised and all said one thing.

'Fight!' My body felt refreshed. My strength returned to me tenfold. Spurred on by the voices, my eyes focused on the limbering figure of Orochimaru. I exploded forward with a fire in my heart.

I closed the distance between us in milliseconds. Orochimaru easily dodged my first sword strike upwards, but he did so by jumping up into the air. Because he was in the air, he wouldn't be able to maneuver for a small time. I launched myself into the air at him. With skill I didn't even know I had I first smashed Orochimaru with my shield boss, then rammed my sword into his gut. He screeched in pain as we both fell back to earth. I had done it! I had won!

We both hit the ground with a thud. I jumped to my feet quickly expecting to see the prone position of my defeated foe. Instead, he was also on his feet. This time I saw something different in his eyes, hatred. What I had seen before had been nothing compared to what I saw now and I got a sinking feeling that I had gotten myself into something that was way above my level.

"YOU INSOLENT WHELP, I'LL DESTROY YOU! HIDDEN SHADOW SNAKE HANDS," He yelled as snakes exploded out of his sleeves. I tried to dodge, but this attack was much faster. The snacks picked me up and drove me into a tree with crushing force. I gapsed in pain as the wind was knocked out of me. My strength was gone again, and I found myself teetering on the edge of unconsciousness. Now I was going to die.

It was then I heard another person enter the clearing. The voice was very familiar for me.

"Orochimaru! You snake! I hope you're ready to meet the shinigami, because I'll be giving you a one way ticket!" I definitely heard the voice of Dachi or I was hallucinating before my imminent death.

"Ahh, Jiraiya. I never would have guessed you have taken new apprentices seeing how your last ones worked out," He paused to laugh a bit before starting again " Oh well I would like to stay and chat, but I have to be going now. You should make sure to cleanse the poison from their systems my friend," Orochimaru remarked with his cool voice before, he left with a great whirl.

It was at this point I finally blacked out.

I awoke to find myself in my mind area. Cincinnatus was tossing rocks into a small puddle that stood out in the otherwise utterly white mind area.

"Congratulations kid, you unlocked one of the inherent gifts of an Anchor Point. Also you didn't die." He said as a glass of wine appeared in his hand and he took a sip from it.

"Gifts?" I asked, confusion evident in my voice.

"You didn't' notice? Geeze you're more pigheaded than I thought, or amnesiatic from that blow. Thinking back on it you guys did get destroyed by that Orochimaru fellow. Maybe you received some brain damage, what's 3 multiplied by 7, the square root of 9 and your name?" CIncinnatus asked in his sarcastic voice.

"What's multiplied and square root and my name is Caius Nonus. Also what's this gift thing" I replied with a puzzled look.

"Well to start off you don't of the concept of multiplication and square roots, but that doesn't matter anyway. Okay, so what I mean by a gift is that do you remember getting that burst of strength?"

"Yes I do remember that, so what of it?" This was really starting to confuse me.

"Well, that one of aspect of your gift manifesting itself"

"Okay that makes sense, so explain how that links to everything else."

"Well, essential you can tap into the entirety of human experience. Basically, you are able to know the memories of every person that has ever lived. Now this contains two facets, the first one is basically being able to call up any person ever to either talk to them or relive their experiences, much like how you summoned Socrates. The second facet is that you are also able to merge yourself simultaneously with other. That's what happened during the fight with Orochimaru, I basically merged you with 1000 of people best fit to give you advice with. Does this make sense?" Cincinnatus had essentially monologue, but now all the pieces were starting to fall into place.

"I think so. So essentially that mind merging thing was what allowed me to fight orochimaru, since it increased my skill in fighting while also giving me the power of those 1000 people?" I slowly said as my mind began to work though the implications of this new development.

"Yes! Exactly that!" Cincinnatus said in elation. Suddenly, I felt a great breeze blowing around me.

"It seems like you're going to be waking up again. I will see you next time you fall asleep. Now good luck." Cincinnatus said before he kicked me in my stomach. I fell back and hit my head on the imaginary floor.

My eyes shot open as I drew in breath. I was in an unfamiliar room. I started to sit up before hands pushed me back down to the bed.

"Woah! Calm down there kid," Jiraiya said as he opened a container and poured some liquid from it into a cup.

"Where are my friends? What happened to Orochimaru?" I asked in rapid succession as my heartbeat rapidly in my chest.

"Your friends are unhurt besides some scrapes and bruises, mostly thanks to how you stood up to Orochimaru. He is a very dangerous man." Jiraiya said as he handed me the cup of liquid.

I took a sip from the cup. It was a strong tasting drink. "Did you watch us fight him?" I asked.

"I only arrived after Orochimaru had used that wind technique. Before I could act you attacked first, you did quite the number on him which is why he backed off in the first place. I picked you and your friends up and carried you back to the inn, then I flushed the poison from your body. Your friends were not shy in describing the events so I know everything." He talked as I drank.

"Wait, I was poisoned? When?" I asked confusion evident in voice.

"When he used those snakes to bash you against the tree, they bit into your skin, you didn't notice?" He asked.

"Not really, no" This fact was a little unnerving since I honestly couldn't remember feeling any biting.

"Listen, Caius from what I heard and saw you and your friends all have real talent and could become excellent shinobi. My real name is Jiraiya, and I am the spymaster of Konoha, The Village Hidden in the Leaf. I would like to train you and your friends to become shinobi. They all agreed, and same with your guardian. You don't need to make a decision tonight, just think about it. Now go to sleep. Goodnight kid," Jiraiya said as he left the room, and extinguished the lantern.

I sighed and closed my eyes and was coaxed to sleep by the silence. I woke back up in my mindspace. I saw Cincinnatus sitting in a chair next to a table with an extra chair. A cup of juice and a plate of bread rolls sat on the table.

"Oh your back, join me Caius for we have much to discuss. I hear that Jiraiya man is looking to make you a shinobi, do you think you will accept his proposition?" Cincinnatus said as I walked over.

"I guess. I mean I don't really care what I do, but this shinobi thing seems interesting. Plus, with people like that Orochimaru man around, I think the best way to be safe is to be strong," I said as I sat down, and ate a roll of the plate.

"In that case, I will not only have to prepare you in ways of knowledge, but also in the ways of war. In that case let's get started now, go stand on that step," Cincinnatus pointed to a cylinder that had risen out of the ground to ankle level.

"Alright, what exactly is this going to do?" I asked as I stood up and walked over and stood on the platform. This all seemed a bit to hurried, but I had such a weird day that I hadn't questioned it.

"You can access all the experiences of humanity, so you're going to be thrust into a battle and going to experience the event and learn by doing. Hopefully, this will make you a better fighter, because right now your skills are extremely lacking," Cincinnatus said, as he sat in his chair.

"So I relive a battle and fight in it? Which one?" I asked.

"Cannae! Have fun!" Cincinnatus said with a disturbing grin.

"Wha?!" The platform dropped and I did with it. It descended through a pitch-black shaft. It's descent was speeding up and soon the light from the top was impossible to see. Eventually, the platform began to slow its descent. I stood in complete darkness and silence as the platform eventually stopped.

*Click!

Light blinded me and I rose my hands to cover my face as my eyes adjusted to the light. My nose picked up smells that I remembered quite well, death. My ears were full of the noise of battle. Blinking the world came into view, I found myself surrounded by men armed to the teeth, and they were all yelling, some in terror and others in anger. The area around me was cramped and it was near impossible to move.

"Publius!" A hand grabbed him on the neck and swung him towards him. It was an officer, whose name he didn't know. I must have been a guy called Publius.

"What!" I yelled back.

"The damn Carthaginians have fully encircled the army. Morale has collapsed and many simply are resigned to death, I want you to reorganize those that are willing to keep fighting into better order so we can kill more of those Carthaginians" The officer's face was full of anger, and grim resolve. Holy shit, I really was reliving the battle of Cannae, the greatest tragedy in all of Roman history and now I had to survive.

"Let's break out!" I yelled back.I had learned of how a few soldiers had survived by breaking out of the encirclement, maybe now I could repeat their feat of history.

"The gods have abandoned us to our fate there is no point, we can only kill more of those damn Carthaginians," the officer yelled back. This bastard was going to get us all killed.

"They are coming prepare yourself for death!" Another officer yelled before the sounds of battle closed in. I heard pained yells as the Carthaginians slowly cut through the massive group of troops. For now all I could do was stand and wait as the Carthaginians killed their way towards me. I could see the enemy cutting through the defenseless Romans. Layer after Layer of Romans were killed, much like how an onion was peeled. All I could was watch as the Carthaginian mass closed in on us. Eventually they killed their way right up to us. As the last man in front of me died I came face to face with Carthaginian horsemen.

His eyes were brown, and his brow furled in frustration as if he was dealing with a rowdy farm animal. The horseman brought his sabre down on me for the kill, it was too crowded around me for me to be able to raise my sword or shield, I would have to use something else to block this sword. I sighed inwardly. I raised my left forearm to block the sabre, it cut deep into the skin, but stopped at the bone. It was the most painful thing I had ever experienced, but I ignored it. Screaming I grabbed the back of the sabres blade and pulled with all my might.

The horseman wasn't tied down to his horse and he had held onto his sword instead of letting go. He pulled off of his horse and fell right into us, easy prey. The sabre fell away from the cut and I drew my sword as I advanced into the pocket I had created by killing that horseman. This gave the guy behind me the breathing room he needed to start defending himself.

"Follow me!" I yelled in between gritting my teeth in pain. A libyan came at me from the right, slashing at my head. I bent my head backwards to dodge then stabbed into the libyans chest. He collapsed onto the ground. This opened up more space for me to advance into giving even more breathing room to the Romans behind me who used the space to reform into a cohesive line, they were then able to start fending off the attacks of the Carthaginians and fight back.

I fought off attacks left and right and killed those around me with frightening ease. The tired out troops of Hannibal were no match for my fresh vigor and desperation. It was at this point I gave a cheer to the Romans behind me, but then an arrow hit me in the neck. It hurt even worse that the other cut, and I slumped to the ground clutching my throat as everything went black. I had died.

*Click

I found myself back where I had just killed the horseman, I was very much alive. I guess I would die and relive this experience until I won. I repeated what I had done before, but I made sure to keep my shield in between me and the archers at all time.

*CLANG

My shield has just blocked the arrow that had killed me before. I had just avoided my first death. Unfortunately in my satisfaction, I had ignored a libyan who then stabbed me in the gut. I died again.

Sigh, this was going to take a while wasn't it? I thought to myself as I threw myself into the battle once again. I died many times over the course of this learning experience, but every time I died I lasted a little longer and used a little better technique. It was on the 70th death that I really turned things around. My comrades had organised themselves very quickly and I had been much more effective than any other time.

"Let's go!" A man behind him yelled and an area that had only held 25 men who had reformed soon swelled to hundreds. I found myself in front of the column as I cut through enemy after enemy as I lead the group in a breakout. As more men expanded into the free space our effective fighting power increased as they reformed cohesive units. Our unit soon had enough weight behind it that it began to dissolve the thin Carthaginian line. Eventually our numbers were so great that the Carthaginian line completely dissolved and we were free.

Soon almost 10,000 men had reformed unharassed by the Carthaginians and a brave centurion wheeled around and organized the men and led another attack on the slowly dissolving encirclement held by the Carthaginians. The now reformed legions armed with a unquenched fury for blood now sliced through the Carthaginians liked a knife through butter. Unable to disengage from the trapped Romans they had just before trapped, they were now unable to escape from the vengeance and fury of the Romans. Once the battle was effectively over I sat down on the wide-open field and was overtaken by exhaustion. I took a deep breath and exhaled, my eyes were then flooded with light.

I blinked, I was back in my mindspace and Cincinnatus sat at the table reading a book.

"You turned the battle of Cannae around, Congratulations," He said in an unenthused tone as he read a book.

"Is… Is that what my power lets me do?" I asked as the truth weight of my abilities had fallen on me.

"It's not only that, but it lets you pull on the experiences of others. What you will now see is the other major part," A man appeared and a blackboard shimmered into existence right in front of table.

"Ah Jim you're here," Cincinnatus said, putting down his book.

"Yes, what do you need of me?" The man replied.

"Can you teach young Caius the fundamentals of math, like 3rd grade level stuff," Cincinnatus said picking up his book.

"Fundamentals of math?" I asked.

"Yeah, what you learned is completely deficient compared to what you're going to be taught, now shut up and listen," Cincinnatus said as he flipped a page in his book.

The man called Jim cleared his mouth.

"Shall we get started, first we have to go over the 10 basic numbers of math zero, one, two and ect," Jim started by writing on the blackboard.

"Excuse me?" I said as my hand shot up, Jim turned and looked at me.

"What's zero?" I asked.

I was not the best at math, although Jim did explain it well, it was just hard to wrap my mind around the concepts I had been taught. Eventually, I had learned what I needed and Jim had disappeared.

"So did you learn stuff?" Cincinnatus disinterestedly asked as he read.

"Yeah, so that's an example of what I did when I summoned Socrates?" I asked for confirmation.

"Yep. Now you have to wake up" He replied, he stood up from his table and walked towards me.

"Wait don't kick me yet!" I yelled. I still had something to ask. I fidgeted with my hands a bit before I continued, "What does death feel like? I mean like is what I felt when I was killed or was it worse?"

"Don't worry about it, you have a day ahead of you" Cincinnatus replied a little more empathy leaking into his voice than normal.

"But I want t-" I tired to probe more, but Cincinnatus kicked me the stomach. I fell back.

I woke up in my room. My leg ached, but it was nothing unmanageable.

"Hello?" My voice croaked out, my throat parched. I stood up on wobbly feet and opened my canteen in my bag and drank greedily. My thirst quenched I stood up and walked out to find the rest of the group eating breakfast in a dining hall

.

"Caius your awake, how do you feel?" Arminus asked concern present in his voice.

"I'm fine, my leg is a little sore, but I'm fine," I said as I helped myself to some bread.

"We can rest another day if you're hurt, and-" Arminus began to offer, but was cut off by my hand. I just wanted to get going and go somewhere else.

"It's fine, I just will need to carry less and I should be healed up by tomorrow," I said in between bites of his food.

"Well, in that case since you all know the truth about me, how about I take you guys to my hidden village and you can have a tour and meet the Hokage." Jiraiya said.

"I want to go" Furianus immediately said.

"Count me along with him" Cato added.

"I agree" Musicus mumbled. I just nodded along.

Arminus sighed. "Alright, we'll go with Jiraiya's plan"

"We leave in 30 minutes, get everything you need done, then we are heading out," Jiraiya said.

This is a rewrite of chapter 3