Author Note
Hi there and welcome to another chapter of Nidaime no Sairin.
Quite sorry for the small delay in getting this chapter ready. Work has piled on a bit and I just couldn't focus on my stories at least until I finished the paperwork.
I have read all your reviews and I appreciate everyone - both good reviews, which is always nice to read and bad ones, which helps me improve. I even appreciate some that complain that this story is nothing but training and canon plot. Well, for those who had read my other stories, I don't particular enjoy using a technique that Naruto has never showed before, as if he had that all along. In the Narutoverse, training episodes were common. Also, there were some who complained about the lack of action in the last five chapters, so from here on out, there will be nothing but misisons and fighting sequences for a while. The missions are indeed canon, but they come with an obvious twist.
Instead of a useless Naruto using nothing but guts + clones + rasengan to wing it, in this story Naruto is skilled and more centered.
Now, on with the chapter.
Nidaime no Sairin
Chapter 23 – Raijin no Ken
Beta: Scheffinator
It didn't take long for Naruto's team to find Chief Wasabi Jirocho's mansion and receive all the instructions regarding their assignment.
Everything was going fine, until the runner they were supposed to protect named Idate appeared. Looks alone weren't what stood out. Average built, dark and long hair, a few years older than them, but what stood out the most was his attitude. Arrogant and self-centered…plus the second he sent a look at Tenten, he attempted to flirt with her. Though, it lasted only until the woman in question released a kunai and placed it inches away from Idate's throat for good measure.
That was enough for the weapons expert kunoichi to hate the person they were supposed to protect.
Aside from that, Idate's distaste for both Neji and Naruto was quite obvious. Well, nothing they could do about it. After Idate left, Jirocho had explained that the feud between the two families – the Wasabi and the Wagarashi – has been going on for a long so-called race, which happens every four years, serves to settle which family shall rule over their village. The last race was won by the rival family because they happened to hire shinobi in the past.
And Naruto came to know that the Wagarashi Clan had once more hired shinobi for this one, though Master Jirocho couldn't tell from which village.
So, after their client finished the meeting, the three roamed throughout the streets together with Idate. However, his company was short-lived as he grunted the entire time.
"I will take my leave now…you all better protect me in the race tomorrow or else Konoha will pay the price for this village's suffering for four more years." Those were Idate's last words, before he walked away, with his hands in his pockets.
"Man…he must have a grudge against shinobi or something…did you see the way he looked at us, Neji."
The Hyuuga quietly nodded at Tenten's remark and then turned to the team's leader who was busy observing Idate's back. He was about to comment further, when all three moved at the sight of a commotion that happened in one of the shops. Two low-level thugs, from the look of things, were holding a vendor while a third was yelling at the poor vendor, while threatening to deliver some punches for good measure.
When the punch initiated, the vendor closed his eyes and waited for the pain, but Naruto soon morphed in front of the punch and caught the bully's fist, before violently twisting the man's wrist. Before his goons could help him, Tenten and Neji approached from behind, forcing the three to scatter and leave the vendor alone, but not before mentioning the name of the Wagarashi Clan.
"I appreciate the help, mister."
Naruto got down to help the victim get up, just as the man's wife came to ask if he was okay.
Husband and wife turned to the Leaf shinobi and bowed in appreciation, before they walked back inside the tent.
"So, Chief Master Jirocho was telling the truth, then." Neji and Tenten turned to Naruto as he spoke. "Normally, these aggressors should be punished for what they did, but no one came to the villager's rescue." Tenten nodded as she looked around, observing the other vendors turning to their own businesses as if what transpired today was a common occurrence. There is no village police to chase the offenders…not even members from the Wasabi Clan to stop the Wagarashi Clan from doing whatever it is they wanted.
"A mere race to determine which family rules over this city…it shouldn't be this way. Idate needs to win this race, then, or else the villagers will keep on suffering."
Neji, for his part, was more focused on the mission ahead as he turned to Naruto.
"I have a feeling, though, that Idate-san won't comply much with us." The team leader nodded.
"Yeah, looks that way…Tenten's right. It's clear he has some grudge against shinobi of some kind. Perhaps, we could go back and ask Chief Jirocho to see if he can shed some light into this…we are already expecting to face shinobi in this assignment. Having to babysit the client in the midst of this is just not okay." Naruto said that all in pondering, but Tenten and Neji nodded in agreement. "Neji and Tenten, please find more about the race…its itinerary…all possible details for tomorrow. In the meantime, I shall follow Idate to see if I can find out more about him, before it starts." Neji and Tenten looked at each other, before nodding at the directive. "We shall meet again in two hours to discuss our plan going forward. Let's go!"
Tenten and Neji looked as Naruto vanished in a shunshin, before the two walked towards the town's main hall for information regarding the race.
===With Naruto===
Maintaining his distance, Naruto observed Idate as he went about his usual chores. He would stop at a small restaurant to drink some tea and throw his charm at other girls. After that, he had done some running exercises in preparation for tomorrow. Naruto had to give it to the guy, despite his pompous attitude. He was indeed quite fast, though it was clear that he was using chakra. Through a quick shunshin sequence, Naruto managed to follow Idate all the way towards Chief Jirocho's mansion.
Normally, spying on a client would be considered frowned upon, but Naruto needed answers, before going forward.
Lowering his chakra output to a bare minimum and casting a disorienting Genjutsu around him, Naruto got into position just outside the very hall he and his team were with Jirocho just moments before. It was already night outside, so the light was turned on inside. From his vantage point, he could see Chief Jirocho at the same position he was before, though his arms were crossed beneath his robe's sleeves and he was contemplating the view outside. If he knew that he was staring straight at Naruto, he was disguising it perfectly.
"Boss…of all people, did you have to ask the Leaf Shinobi?" Naruto frowned at the distaste in Idate's voice at the mention of the Leaf. Whatever grudge he had, had to do with Konoha, then.
"Mah…mah, don't sulk like that, Idate." Jirocho replied with an easy smile. That only served to irk Idate some as he squeezed both hands.
"I'm not sulking…it's just…" Naruto listened on in anticipation, but it looked like the teen in question was finding it hard to put his grudge into words.
"Idate…" Jirocho looked outside once more as he responded with a more teacher-like tone. "I believe in you more than anybody else…I believe you can win this race, though the rest shall depend on you. I asked for Konoha's help to protect you, but at the end of the day, it's you who needs to cross the finish line, not the Leaf." Idate kept on looking down at that, though. "You need to believe in yourself, sure, but you need to believe in others as well. This town needs us to win this race, or else the villagers won't know peace for another four years. So, please run for this town, Idate." Idate saw as Jirocho even bowed a little, afterward. The teen felt his resolve strengthen at that and bowed even more in respect. Chief Jirocho didn't need to ask this of him.
"Yes, Boss…" Jirocho smiled at that.
"Now, go rest for tomorrow." Idate got up and left the chambers, before Jirocho looked outside just as Naruto vanished with a shunshin. Chief Jirocho only smirked in interest, before he continued with his late night chores.
===Race start===
Before the sun rose the next day, the crowd was already lined up to witness the race that would shape the village's peace or lack of throughout the next four years.
The members from the Daimyo who were overseeing the race were already in the middle, with Idate and the runner from the Wagarashi Clan, who was busy stretching. The members of the two families were there as well, as they observed the runners prepare themselves. Naruto, Neji and Tenten noticed the love Idate received from his own family, or lack thereof. In fact, only Chief Jirocho actually had faith in him. Naruto reported his findings to Neji and Tenten and both were even more concerned, seeing as Idate's grudge was with the Leaf. Still, now was not the time for that, but rather for them to scout the shinobi opposition.
"Neji, can you see anyone in here with more than average chakra capacity?"
The veins around his eyes popped as the Byakugan user scouted the region. Soon, his eyes landed on the enemies.
"Yes, four shinobi, three with Chuunin level chakra and one Jonin…though I can't see the insignia." Naruto nodded and then turned to Tenten.
"So, what sort of race is this?" The weapon user opened the map and showed it to the two boys, indicating that the first part would be a boat race starting from Degarashi Port, heading towards the Modoroki Shrine which is the midway point. After arriving at the Shrine, the runner must take one of the jewels and run towards the Todoroki Great Shrine on Ouzu Island. "It's a two-way race, but we can face many problems along the way." Naruto sighed as he eyed Idate now stretching with a lost look on his eyes. That lost look only lasted a few seconds, before Idate turned on them.
"You guys can just relax and watch, I'll win this race without your help!" Naruto snorted at that.
"Sorry, but doing that would just be a waste of time. Plus, you can't expect to survive with enemy shinobi attacking you." Idate snarled at this and eyed Naruto with venom.
"I don't need the help of shinobi!" Neji and Tenten both frowned. Naruto, for his turn, wondered just how troublesome this mission has become.
Still, when the speakerphone announced Idate's full name, all three shinobi from the Leaf looked at each other in surprise, remembering Idate's last name to be the same as the Chuunin Exam proctor. Still, they didn't have time to ponder on the surprise as the gates in front of the runners opened up, revealing the two boats that each would use to cross the seas towards the Modoroki Shrine. The sun soon showed its first rays of its magnificent power on the horizon. And Idate in that moment realized something, before he smirked.
"Start!" As soon as the speaker started the race, both racers bolted towards their respective boats.
Naruto, Neji and Tenten followed suit, however as soon as they started running, they saw the one they were supposed to protect, making a left turn and running away.
"Is he running away?" Tenten yelled, behind Naruto and Neji. The others in the audience cursed the one they had chosen to win this, while Jirocho merely observed with a frown. Konoha's mission was Idate's protection, rather than making sure he won the race. However, none of the Konoha-nins were very thrilled to be chasing this guy if he bolted out of the race for some unknown reason. Their client was Master Chief Jirocho not Idate. Still, it didn't look like he was going to quit this race, but still the question remained.
"Idate, what is going on? Why are you changing directions?" Idate turned annoyed at Naruto's pondering.
"Shut up, damnit…this is a different path." The three shinobi looked at one another as they started running within the dense forest. Neji and Tenten turned to their leader for this mission.
"What do we do, then?" Jumping towards the trees to keep a better viewpoint, Naruto signaled for them to keep on following Idate and protect him from all threats.
"Neji, activate your Byakugan in short intervals to see if the shinobi are coming for Idate. I'll check up on him." Neji focused on the ram seal and instantly found three of the four shinobi that were back at the port. Naruto, for his part, kept on following up front and realized that something was off in their path onward. It didn't take five seconds for him to realize what was going on and the image of a displeased Kurenai popped up in his mind about still taking too long to realize the Genjutsu. Signaling for Neji and Tenten, Naruto uses shunshin and shows up in front of Idate.
"Move out of the way, idiot. I have a race to finish." Naruto snarled at the guy for still making their job hard.
"Since I'm guessing you had shinobi training, then I believe you're at least capable of knowing when you're caught in a Genjutsu." Idate at first looked scandalized, but then he realized that the blond idiot was right. "Now, how about you decide to trust us a little bit and let us do our mission of protecting you." The runner scowled, but acknowledged the request. Naruto looked around for a while, before quickly releasing the Genjutsu. Neji and Tenten landed next to them and Idate was about to run once more, before Naruto grabbed his clothes.
"What now!?" Naruto looked to Neji and the Byakugan user nodded, before using his Dojutsu and confirming Naruto's suspicion.
"Huh, a double-layered Genjutsu, interesting." Releasing the second layer, the forest path just opened up for them. Idate, then, decided he had waited long enough and kept on running once more. Naruto released a sigh. "Not that I was expecting a thank you, but…forget it, let's go." Neji and Tenten soon followed Naruto.
"It appears that he had planned ahead, after all. Still, we are still far away from the race's standard path." Idate turned to correct Neji, while running.
"Hah, that's why shinobi don't know anything…at this time of the year, a strong seasonal wind blows across the ocean. If I were to follow the standard path, we'd face strong winds against our path…plus at the port to the north, there is a strong current that leads straight towards our destined island." This time, Idate's grin was smug as he kept pointing at his brain, while running. Pretty soon, they saw water once more on the horizon, before Idate stopped running. At this point, they saw what appeared to be a lone house just a few distance away from the ocean. In no time, Idate had procured them with a boat and the team from Konoha had worked fast in getting the boat ready for their journey towards the first part of the race.
Neji was the one controlling the boat handle in the back, while Naruto and Tenten worked in strapping the main sail really tight for ultimate speed. Once that was done, Naruto and Tenten approached Neji at the back of the boat.
"So, what's the deal about this guy? He runs quite fast, knows about Genjutsu and uses chakra." Naruto and Neji nodded at Tenten's question mark. Naruto followed up, afterward.
"Plus, he is somehow related to Morino Ibiki, the Jonin from the Chuunin Exams." Neji was the one who surmised for the three.
"Was he a shinobi from the Leaf?" Then, all three looked at Idate's back, wondering about it. If Idate was really a shinobi from the Leaf, then he would be considered a deserter. However, based on the skills he displayed, Idate couldn't be further from a Genin level shinobi. The boat kept on sailing smoothly for a while, as the three kept on their assignment, handling the boat to the best of their knowledge. Like Idate predicted, they were making progress and should see the island of their first checkpoint quite soon. However, before they could find some relaxing time, soon a lot of arrows reached their position. All four of them, including Idate, stood within defensive positions as they saw another boat approaching. Neji activated his Byakugan and saw the opposition.
"Naruto, three shinobi from Amegakure, by their insignia." The arrows kept on coming, though, as the three grabbed kunai to block the arrows.
"Form a circle around Idate, they will soon board our boat." Neji, Naruto and Tenten formed a protective circle around. Soon, the enemies linked the boats through kunai strapped in ropes, making Idate's boat slow down, enough for the enemies to arrive inside the boat. However, they were surprised that the enemy Ame shinobi rose from inside the boat. They fought with kunai, but when either Naruto, Neji or Tenten managed to turn the fight and strike, all of them turned into water clones.
"Neji, Byakugan!" Neji blocked one of the kunai and then did as instructed to see that some were actual shinobi, but most were clones.
"They are mixing themselves with the clones, so watch out." Naruto then grabbed his sword and used his agility to rid the boat of all clones, except one who escaped by jumping back to the water.
The two opposing shinobi who were still on the other boat went through hand seals just as the second got ready a fire arrow in his crossbow.
Suiton Kokuo no Jutsu (Water Release: Black Rain)
Tenten, Neji and Naruto looked at the enemy shinobi waiting for what was going to happen, when a small drop of black water reached Tenten's face. When all three looked up, the torrential black rain surged. It didn't take long for Tenten to realize that it was not rain, but oil, when the other shinobi released the fire laced arrow from his crossbow. The arrow soon reached Idate's boat and set it on fire. One look at the fire and Idate became immersed at the scene and lost in whatever trip down memory lane. Tenten and Neji looked around, wondering what to do, before Naruto went through hand seals.
Suiton Mizurappa (Water Release: Water Trumpet)
The enemy shinobi watched in triumph as Idate's boat caught up in flames, however when water beams emerged from the ocean to douse the flames, they were on edge.
Suiton Suishouha (Water Release: Water Shockwave)
When the water beams towards Idate's boat stopped and then a gigantic wave emerged towards the enemy's boat, all three of them tried scrambling towards safety. Naruto, Neji, Tenten and Idate all watched as the tidal wave engulfed the enemy ship. Neji's Byakugan was active the entire time and merely turned to Naruto with the confirmation that the shinobi had to flee the scene. The mission leader merely snorted at that.
"Well, a pity…now, it appears that this boat is useless. Any thoughts?" Naruto turned to his crew.
"We need to swim towards the island…" Tenten said, turning to Idate. "Are we close by, Idate?" The runner was still looking at Naruto in a newfound way after what he saw him doing, before turning to Tenten.
"Ah…yes, we are close, we can swim there."
===Nagi Island===
It didn't take long for the team to get outside the water and Idate to run again, towards the first destination. The Konoha team followed suit, while Naruto looked at Neji. The Hyuuga Genin surprisingly found himself following Naruto's directives throughout this mission without question, which was surprising to himself. When they started this mission, Neji had his doubts concerning following someone a year his junior, someone with much less experience than him. However, so far, Naruto has proven himself to be an adept leader.
Neji activated his Byakugan and found no trace of the shinobi who attacked them before.
"So far, they are not following us, though I can't see the fourth one, Naruto. Plus, there's a crowd at the first checkpoint." Naruto nodded and extended his senses to try and find the stronger one, but to no avail.
"Roger that, keep me posted if you do." Naruto then noticed that Idate was looking back at him, while running. "Is there something you want to talk about, Idate?" The former shinobi runner was contemplating something, but stopped.
"Forget it…let's get going, already."
As they ran, a heavy and pouring rain soon emerged, making Naruto smile at the feeling of his chakra resonating with the humidity in this island. At this point, his chakra sensory capacity increased and he could use water manipulation to feel for the opposition from quite a distance. Soon, they managed to reach the stairs that led to the first checkpoint. Wagarashi's runner was a few steps up ahead and Idate cursed the fact that those shinobi kept them occupied.
Still, this race was far from finished.
As the two runners reached the end of the stairway, both families were already there, waiting for them, both cheering for their respective runners. Jirocho was smiling at seeing Idate running with the team from Konoha behind, while ignoring the comments behind him of Wagarashi's runner reaching the first checkpoint first.
After each runner collected the precious stone and offered it to the temple, each went to their respective tent to get some rest.
Naruto saw Idate getting inside the tent to get some rest and then turned to Neji and Tenten.
"Get some rest, you two. I get the feeling that we shall face the four shinobi in this last part." The two members of team Gai nodded as Tenten ushered Neji inside Idate's tent to get some quick rest. Neji was about to follow, when he turned to Naruto. Before he could ask if Naruto would rest as well, he found the Chuunin looking towards a specific location, towards the larger trees to the right. Subtly using the Byakugan, Neji had found the fourth shinobi's presence, before he and Naruto crossed eyes with a subtle nod. Naruto's water attack may have stopped those three back there for a while, but this mission was far from over.
===Final Part===
After getting some rest and recuperation, both runners took on running once more.
The runner from Wagarashi, Fukusuke, was a few steps ahead as Idate was keeping a sedate pace, resting his legs to push it all near the finish line. After Fukusuke passed a specific line, the team from Konoha had to evade an unending barrage of projectiles. Evading the projectiles proved to be endless as Neji and Naruto got into defensive technique mode. Tenten, in the meantime, was already getting her scrolls ready for battle, while the boys took a step forward from their line of defense and executed their maneuvers.
Hakkeshou Kaiten (Eight Trigrams Palm Rotation)
Fuuton Shippu Shouheki (Wind Release: Hurricane Barrier)
The three Amegakure shinobi stood in awe at the chakra spin and the hurricane blocking all their arsenal of projectiles. After the weapons fell on the floor, the three shinobi from Konoha stood against the three shinobi from Amegakure. Naruto snarled at them, knowing that Idate was running alone up front and the fourth shinobi could be attacking him right now. He was about to take quick care of these three, when Neji placed a hand on his shoulder. The Chuunin turned to the Byakugan user.
"Naruto, leave these three to us…you need to go on ahead and protect Idate." Naruto looked at both Neji and Tenten to find them nodding at him. Normally, leaving them behind wouldn't exactly be a good Chuunin decision.
"Okay, but remember…their main weapons are Genjutsu and water Ninjutsu." Naruto didn't waste much time and used his agility to run and shorten the distance to Idate.
Of course, he wasn't about to leave them alone and summoned a couple Kage Bunshin in reserve, just in case to come in and protect them, should the need arise.
===Neji and Tenten vs the Ame shinobi===
As soon as Naruto vanished from sight, Tenten released a couple of nunchakus from her infinite bag of weapons and got into position next to Neji.
The enemies appeared to be in their twenties, but they knew that only three of them were the real one.
"So, what is the plan here, Neji?" The Byakugan user was busy observing the foes with his Byakugan and could see, just like before, that the clones were mixed with the real ones. Remembering how Naruto dealt with them the first time, they would need to keep on the offensive the entire time, which meant that Neji would have to play both offensive and defend Tenten, should the need arise. Those senbon were indeed a pain to deal with, but his eyes more than made up for their shortage in numbers.
"Keep on attacking them, I'll cover you and use the Jyuuken in the meantime. We only need to find the three real enemies." Twirling her weapons, Tenten smirked and got into position once more.
"Okay, sounds simple enough. Let's go, then!" Both immediately vanished as Tenten worked furiously in slamming her weapons on the clones, hoping that she could hear the sound of bones breaking. The subtle noise of senbon and arrow flying reached her ears, as well as the almost soundless noise of Neji's perfect taijutsu style, either blocking the senbon or redirecting it, so as not to harm his teammate. At this point, Tenten worked her way around the clones, but they were all Genjutsu versions of the real ones, which were still in hiding. Neji observed that the clones were facing them in close taijutsu, while the real ones were throwing the projectiles from a distance. Still, he wasn't fast enough to pinpoint their actual location, because he was busy protecting Tenten, who was getting tired from dealing with the clones.
At some point, Tenten missed a step and lost her footing. She was falling and Neji could see the onslaught of senbon heading her way. Neji used chakra in his legs to shorten the distance and started using the Kaiten to deflect the projectiles.
Still, his eyes caught sight of different projectiles deflecting the enemies'. One or two, though, passed through and hit Tenten's leg. However, at this point, Neji had at least managed to pinpoint the real ones' location and fallen into position for his ultimate taijutsu technique.
The yin-yang symbol soon emerged as he got into his open stance, while the clones started amounting on him.
Hakke Rokujuuyonshou (Eight Trigrams: Sixty Four Palms)
Neji began his first sequence eliminating the first two clones…then four more who came afterward…sixteen…by the time he reached the thirty two clones mark, the real ones looked on in alarm to see Neji flying straight towards them with his fingers glowing. The three were caught dead on with the sixty four palms. All three of them fall on the ground as Neji had managed to seal off their entire chakra network. Looking at all three enemies on the ground, he grunted, before going back to the downed Tenten, who was already strapping her legs, after taking some medicine.
The Byakugan user looked around and saw Naruto's two clones release themselves.
Neji couldn't help but snort at that. In the end, Naruto did accept his request, but had a back-up in case it failed.
===Naruto vs Aoi===
Idate was running and observed as Fukusuke crossed a bridge. At some point, he had distanced himself from Naruto and his team, but he had confidence that they were close by somewhere. When Idate was inches away from stepping onto the bridge, Idate was surprised to receive a nasty burn and shocked his entire body and forced a painful scream from his lungs. Falling flat on his back, Idate was about to curse whoever attacked him, when his eyes widened to impossible proportions.
"You…!"
"Long time no see, Idate." His assailant had dark silver eyes and dark hair, wearing a white and blue jumpsuit with a strapped umbrella on his back. He was wearing the Amegakure Insignia and in his hand was a specific artifact, looking like a black sword handle, though instead of the blade, Idate could see a sparking yellow chakra emitted by the artifact. "Quite impressive that you managed to get this far...though I would have to give more credit to those Konoha shinobi instead of you, huh?" Idate snarled at the image of this person, showing up once more, ruining his life once more, just like he did three years ago.
"Bastard…that's the Raijin no Ken…what are you doing here, huh Aoi?" The man in question smirked and pointed the aforementioned Raijin no Ken towards Idate's chest.
"I have to say...you're quite unlucky Idate…well, no…lack of luck has nothing to do with it, isn't it Idate?" Idate snarled at Aoi once more, wondering about that as his hand reached for the pocket knife that chief Jirocho gave him three years ago.
The memories of what happened, three years ago, came soaring together upon seeing Aoi's smirk directed at him. How he was cheated into stealing the Nidaime's sword for him, then how he had decided to flee together with Aoi towards Amegakure and then his big brother Ibiki showing up to stop them, only to be captured and tortured for information…all because of him and his never ending list of failures in his life. No matter how much he tried, he would always be viewed as a failure in the end.
"Well, any last words…Idate? I have a mission to fulfill after all."
Idate cursed the man he once called his sensei and closed his eyes, waiting the killing strike, before he opened his eyes to see Naruto parrying the Nidaime's sword with his own chakra infused ninjato.
"Naruto...! How glad I am to see you…what took you so long, damn it!?" Naruto snorted at the complaint, wondering when and if Idate would ever say thanks for saving his life. Though Naruto realized that keeping up with this strange sword was ill advised, he evaded the enemy's strike and jumped in front of Idate to protect him.
"Idate, run along and finish this race. I shall deal with him." Aoi just smirked in condescension as he eyed the Konoha opposition. When he saw that Idate was just eyeing them, Naruto snarled. "Did I stutter…get going, already!"
"….I got it, already…I'm going!" Idate soon charged towards the bridge and Aoi moved to intercept, only to stop once Naruto attacked him.
The former Konoha Jonin saw Idate crossing the bridge and snarled at his mission going sideways. He then looked at Naruto and sized him up.
"So, this is the best Konoha's new generation has to offer, huh…not impressed." Naruto narrowed his eyes on this person, while studying his chakra and his movements. Holding his ninjato up close, Naruto wondered what was up with that strange sword this guy was using. That energy emitted by the dark handle was of lightning nature, but he could only feel water chakra from this foe. Naruto, however, frowned at remembering that prior to him arriving, this man and Idate appeared to know each other. And Idate was a former Genin from Konoha…before Naruto could ponder on this precise information, Aoi took the advantage of Naruto's supposed lack of attention and attacked with the strange yellow energy sword once more, only this time Naruto evaded instead of blocking it.
"Just what kind of weapon is that?" Aoi smirked as he answered by attacking Naruto once more, who had to keep on the defensive in the meantime.
Despite the danger posed by the weapon, this foe's sword movements just weren't close to threatening. Though, seeing that this sword emitted lightning chakra, Naruto guessed that it must be weak against fuuton ninjutsu. So, after gaining some distance, Naruto went through a sequence of hand seals, before joining his hands.
Fuuton Kaze no Yaiba (Wind Release: Blade of Wind)
Aoi looked surprised and placed the Raijin no Ken in front of Naruto's wind sword strike and had to pump up more chakra to keep up with Naruto's technique.
Eventually, he was able to parry it, but he had shown serious effort to do so. Still, Naruto merely eyed the sword still active but with a clear crack mark on it. Aoi, though, kept on smirking in disdain and arrogantly considered himself superior, because he had managed to stop the attack. Jumping up in the air, Aoi had released his umbrella and made it spin fast, sending lots and lots of senbon towards Naruto. Going through hand seals once more for a fuuton technique, Naruto finished the sequence in time as the air current danced around him, before it improved to become a fierce protective hurricane around him.
Aoi looked on and cursed this Chuunin, as he landed back on the ground and charged with the Raijin no Ken.
"You may have some moves, kid…but against this sword…you can't hope to defeat me. This is the Raijin no Ken, the sword used by the Nidaime Hokage!"
The surprise was evident on Naruto's face as he moved in too slowly to evade one strike that grazed his shoulder, that much was his surprise at what this jerk had said. Never in all his training days with Tobirama-sensei, the man had mentioned having a sword, much less this one.
"The Nidaime…what are you talking about?" Aoi, though, smirked as he eyed the sword.
"I guess you're still too green to know about it…yeah, I tricked Idate into stealing this beauty for me…it's said that the Nidaime Hokage used it during the Second Shinobi War." At this point, Aoi had seen Naruto's hair shadow over his forehead and eyes, understanding that this kid was overwhelmed by what he had revealed.
However, Naruto was feeling quite differently right now.
There wasn't much that could piss him off, nowadays. A lot of the things that happened to him were pretty much water under the bridge. However, to see this imbecile…this no good shinobi using one of his sensei's creations…truly made his blood boil. To see this foe swing that sword with little to no skill at all, made Naruto wish that the Nidaime himself appeared to teach this guy a lesson.
"I don't know who you are and I really don't care!" Aoi was still sneering, but stopped once he felt the immense and dark aura surrounding this kid. "But I can't just see scum like you flinging that sword like an amateur! Senju Tobirama is a legendary shinobi and I shall not let you tarnish his legend!"
"Big words…how about backing it up!"
Aoi was surprised when a voice whispered from his back.
"Gladly!"
That was all Aoi heard, before he felt Naruto's ninjato pierce his back, in a fatal wound to the chest. The last sight that Aoi had was of the Naruto in front of him shimmering and vanishing from view. Neji and a battered Tenten soon came into view next to Naruto as the Chuunin eyed the killed Jonin. He, then, grabbed the Raijin no Ken and pictured his old sensei using it back in the day.
"How was it on your end?" Neji looked at Tenten.
"We dealt with the three, they are unconscious. Tenten, though, received a few senbons." Naruto nodded, receiving the memory from his clones.
"You already know what happened, didn't you?" The Chuunin saw Neji smiling at him and feigned ignorance, seeing Tenten's accusatory glance.
"Don't know what you're talking about. Are you okay, Tenten?"
"I'm fine, I guess…these darts were poisoned, but luckily enough, I still had some medicine that Gai-sensei gave us in our last mission." Naruto breathed a little easier at that as he grabbed an empty scroll and collected the Jonin's body. His clones had worked diligently from a distance to use shuriken to take care of the senbon that Neji couldn't block, but it was indeed too many to secure at once. Leaving them on their own was a tough call, but Neji had asked for trust when he suggested it. And if Naruto had opted to remain behind, then he would have to explain to Chief Jirocho and the Hokage that he ended up failing the mission, letting Idate get killed.
"Let's go and see the finish line. Idate must be finished by now." Neji and Tenten nodded as all three vanished towards the final destination.
===End of the Race===
Idate and Fukusuke were neck to neck down the finish line, though Idate was giving it his all, focusing as much chakra on his legs as he could to finish the race. His surrogate family cheered for him, just like the crowd, who were hoping for the Wasabi clan to win and thus end the Wagarashi Clan's tyranny in the area. Idate was looking towards the finish line and his eyes landed on Chief Jirocho. The man to whom Idate owed his life to…the man who gave him a purpose…the man who believed in him when no one else would.
He owed it to Chief Jirocho to win this race.
Pumping even more energy into his legs, Idate was already feeling the heavy strain he was putting on his knees, but he had all the time in the world to rest after this race was finished.
A small part of his mind got worried about Aoi, but he needed to believe that Naruto would hold him off at least long enough for him to cross the finish line.
Chief Jirocho and the rest of the Wasabi Clan all watched as Idate passed Fukusuke, until he was at least one entire body in front. Fukusuke even tried to give in one last effort, but Idate just wasn't having it. Idate's body soon relaxed upon feeling his chest touching the finishing line ribbon, while Naruto and his team appeared atop the red gates, merely observing Idate crossing the finishing line first and the entire crowd cheering, before the Tea Country's Daimyo gave the win to the Wasabi Family.
After the race event was finalized, Naruto and his team talked with Chief Jirocho and Idate.
Seeing as Tenten was somewhat injured, Jirocho offered his best medical staff to take care of her, before they could return back to Konoha.
===In Konoha===
It took a total of three days for Tenten to get treated before they returned to the village.
Once they arrived at the Hokage's Office with the mission report already written, Naruto dismissed Neji and Tenten as he had some important business to discuss with the Hokage. Upon arrival at the office, Naruto was not surprised to see Morino Ibiki there with the Hokage. During the time of Tenten's treatment, master Jirocho had gladly offered accommodations for the team, so Naruto took the time to communicate what happened in the mission to the Hokage. It came as much of a shock for Naruto to hear that the man he killed was one of Konoha's B-ranked missing-nin Rokusho Aoi, the man who stole the Nidaime's Raijin no Ken.
The Chuunin had handed the scroll containing Aoi's remains to Ibiki and the man bowed to the Hokage, before leaving the office.
However, before leaving, Ibiki stopped by the door as Naruto called up to him.
"Ah Ibiki-san, in our mission, we happened to meet your br…" Ibiki stopped Naruto before he could finish his sentence, though.
"I believe you're mistaken, Naruto-san, my brother passed away three years ago."
Naruto merely lifted his eyebrow at the heavily scarred man, as they crossed eyes for a while, before Ibiki left the office.
"What was that all about?" Hiruzen merely observed it with a smile as Naruto questioned out loud.
"Don't worry about that, Naruto-kun…now I understand you want to resume the conversation we had prior to you leaving." Naruto nodded, remembering the memory of the clone he left to communicate to the Hokage about the fox.
"Yes…when Aoi showed me the Nidaime's sword, I got angry…" Hiruzen hummed, urging him to continue. "Angry that this man was tarnishing sensei's memory by the way he was swinging that sword. Seriously, Yuugao-sensei would be ashamed to see such displays of swordsmanship…and I just couldn't let it go. I'm not saying that the fox completely overruled my thinking, but…" The Hokage nodded, knowing what Naruto was talking about. It was something he was dreading, because this just couldn't happen while on a mission.
"You felt its chakra running through your veins, I take it." Naruto nodded solemnly.
"Tobirama-Sensei would be quite mad at me if he saw it…displaying emotions like that in the midst of a mission."
Hiruzen snorted, getting up from his chair, as he approached the Chuunin.
"Naruto-kun, while indeed we must control our emotions in the middle of a mission, we are still human at the end of the day." Right now, Hiruzen was in front of the solemn Naruto as he placed a comforting hand on Naruto's shoulder. "Contrary to what you may believe, Tobirama-sensei never advocated against a shinobi having emotions." It was something that unfortunately Danzo never learned. "What is important is that we do not let emotions dictate our decision, while on a mission. Keeping a level head is always important."
Naruto's look, though, stayed pensive at the Hokage's words, mixed with Tobirama's teachings.
"Of course, this is easier said than done, but Tobirama-sensei taught you well enough, Naruto-kun…rely on your skills and on your teammates and you'll be fine."
Naruto, this time, looked more alive as he bowed to the Hokage.
"Thank you…jiji. Well, one more thing, though…about the Raijin no Ken." Hiruzen saw Naruto's hands going for a seal on his wrist, before the aforementioned weapon was revealed in all its glory. "Here it is." Hiruzen looked at the weapon in Naruto's hands in great nostalgia as he remembered seeing the Nidaime using it like an extension to his body, just like everything that man did.
"When it was stolen, it was safely stored in one of the rooms in this very building. However, that was due to the village not having a member of the Senju…well, that's not the case anymore. Could you do me a favor, Naruto-kun and take the sword to Tsunade for me?" Naruto nodded as Hiruzen finished. "As the last member of the Senju Clan, she should be the one to hold sensei's weapon."
===With Tsunade===
When the sun set for the day, Naruto was inside the Senju Clan house, more precisely, in the living room next to Shizune as Tsunade was busy looking at the Raijin no Ken resting in her hands.
Normally, he would be anxious regarding Tsunade's decision about the sword, but Naruto was feeling the ancient chakra in this place. Senju Hashirama's nature chakra resonated in him long after he had perished. The dense nature outside the house felt similar to the cave where he first met with Tobirama-sensei. He wanted to ask Tsunade about having some meditation sessions in this place, especially as he realized that even the fox felt more at ease in this place, strange as that may sound.
"So, sensei wished me to guard this here, huh?" Tsunade was busy inspecting the black handle of the Raijin no Ken, though Naruto wondered about the lack of interest, considering it. "Heh, fine…whatever. Shizune, can you please place it inside the library and activate the blood seals?" The brunette medic-nin accepted and grabbed the sword, taking it away to the clan's library. Naruto was about to leave the Senju Clan compound towards some nice rest and recuperation, when the female Sannin called up to him. "So, brat, any reason why you didn't request the Nidaime's sword for yourself? I thought you wanted to follow in his footsteps." Naruto nodded, smiling. Indeed, that thought passed through his mind. How amazing it would be to incorporate this weapon to his skills.
However, that felt both right and wrong at the same time.
"Would you say yes if I asked?" Naruto asked with a smile, hearing a snort from Tsunade. "No, many of my skills are derived from Tobirama-sensei, true, but not all of it. I'm training in kenjutsu under Yuugao-sensei. It's her and the late Gekkou Hayate's style of swordplay I'm training in nowadays. It would be disrespectful to Yuugao-sensei and she has been helping me a lot with my training. '' Tsunade smiled as she poured some sake, while taking it easy in her personal chair. "Now, I guess some quick dinner is on the way and rest for tomorrow. Take care." Tsunade nodded and saw Naruto leave just as Shizune returned from the clan's library.
Author Note
Ok, that's it for now.
I really thought about giving the Raijin no Ken to Naruto, but thought against it, in the end. It was a choice, actually.
To tell the truth, I don't enjoy seeing a Jedi sword in the Naruto universe. Hell, seeing the episode once more, the noise was the same.
Please tell me what you think.
Next update: Avalon Bond
