Chapter 19: Land of Whirlpools (5): Golden Dragon Scroll.
Disclaimer: I do NOT own Naruto. Naruto is the work of Masashi Kishimoto.
A kilometer away from Menma, standing atop a giant boulder were three figures. The trees around them shook like beggars on a winter night, and even the boulder they were standing on would tremble violently. The wind blew like a tyrant, forcing them to use chakra on their feet lest they be blown away. Their hair and clothes were already fluttering like a lone plant on a hurricane, trying but failing to tear away from their bodies.
"Damn, it was that strong?"
The figure at the center asked, her voice slightly quivering. She was Blood Rose, the leader of Thunder Roses bandit army. On her left was Phantom Senbon, the elusive old man who could disappear and reappear like a phantom, and on her right was White Bear Emperor.
She despised White Bear Emperor. Despite having such a grand title, he was actually the weakest of the three. The only reason he had such a title in the first place is that he had the biggest bandit army out of the three.
VRRRrrr…
When the ground stopped shaking, and the fireworks in the forest stopped exploding, the forest regained its calm. Literally. Not a single insect could be heard, let alone birds and other animals. More than half a kilometer away, a circle with a diameter of five hundred meters was scorched black, sparing none that was unfortunate enough to be within its range.
"I wanted to make sure."
Shirokuma shrugged, while Blood Rose's brow twitched. What did he want to make sure of? That the forest will have a giant hole in the middle of nowhere? A hundred of her wouldn't survive that explosion, let alone a little boy who was weaker than her.
"Phantom, can I stay at your place for a while?"
Shirokuma asked. His White Bear bandit army was thoroughly eradicated. He only had Takumashii and the White Bear Kings left, so he asked his old friend for assistance.
Between the three of them, the old ninja was no doubt the most benevolent and humble, Blood Rose was the most overbearing and hot-headed, and he was the most arrogant and conceited.
"Okay. You'll go to my mansion."
Phantom Senbon replied, already knowing Shirokuma's intention. Shirokuma's "for a while" meant for a few years, maybe decades. Hell, he may not even leave the mansion anymore!
"What the hell are you, a beggar?"
Blood Rose scoffed and slapped Shirokuma's back, knocking the air out of his lungs.
"Cough! You—cough! Fucking… sigh, whatever. I lost most of my money when we blew up that part of the forest. Thankfully, the slaves have already been transferred into your bases."
'Unfortunately… or fortunately, I burned all the Uzumaki beforehand.'
Shirokuma never told Blood Rose and Phantom Senbon about the Uzumaki slaves he caught. Instead, he burned them all before the other two could see or know about them. If he can't have it, then no one can.
About a hundred meters underground, covered in rocks and dirt, a boy was silently hiding in place. Because of the hard soil around him, he could barely breathe, but he didn't dare rise up to the surface.
The boy was Menma.
'Fox, can you sense them?'
'No. They left already.'
Hearing the fox, Menma breathed a sigh of relief and used whatever chakra he had left to dig himself out of the ground.
When he saw the bright blue sky, he was relieved, as if a nightmare had passed. However, his face turned complicated when he saw the status of the forest. A part of the forest, five hundred meters in diameter, was burnt black. The ground was so dark, he thought he was going to fall when he took a step forward.
In other words, he wouldn't have survived if he hadn't reacted fast enough.
'Thankfully, I was wearing the earth guardian.'
The earth guardian seal not only provided protection but also provided mobility. He can't move quickly aboveground, but he can quickly dive deep underground.
"I guess Ichiro was caught up in the explosion?"
Menma had no idea where Ichiro was, but since the entire White Bear bandit's base was blown up, he reasoned that all the Uzumaki, including Ichiro, had been blown up.
"What a shame…"
Menma shook his head before taking out a scroll from his waist.
It was the 13 Uzumaki that Ichiro dug out and "rescued".
'Naruto! Quick, hide!'
Hearing the fox's urgent voice, Menma didn't even flinch and directly dove back into the ground.
"Sigh, that woman is as impulsive as always."
Above ground, an old man wearing a grey robe walked leisurely on the burnt earth. Then, he knelt at the very center of the scorched area of the forest and quietly took out a corpse from his storage scroll.
The corpse had red hair.
"Young Uzumaki, it is a misfortune that you clashed with the bandit armies. As per the last wish of my old friend, I will bury you properly. That Shirokuma actually burnt the other Uzumaki into ashes, a shame I couldn't stop him in time."
The old man sighed as he buried Ichiro's body.
When Ichiro's body couldn't be seen anymore, the old man clapped his hand and walked away.
Menma waited for thirty minutes before resurfacing.
"What the hell was that?" Menma mumbled to himself before looking at Ichiro's grave with complex emotions.
"Well, thank you, old man, for delivering Ichiro's body to me."
Menma smirked and dug out Ichiro's body.
"Oh, would you look at that? He's dressed in red, silk clothing. His body is clean too, and the only wound I see is the slit on his throat."
Menma laughed.
Surprisingly, he gained another puppet, and it was in good condition. After all, the 13 Uzumaki puppets he has were all mangled and has massive wounds on their bodies. Even if he could activate them again, they would barely be of any use.
"All right, I'll pay enmity with enmity and amnesty with amnesty, but that's for a later date. For now, I need to leave this forest. Who knows when the bandits will reclaim this fertile land?"
The destroyed forest was perfect for constructing a giant base, bigger than the White Bear bandit army's previous base, all thanks to the relatively flat ground and the non-existent trees.
Menma had perished, blown into bits, and burnt into ashes. That was the official story.
Now, Naruto was using another disguise. His name is Yukito.
Yukito was wearing a pale, pastel orange jumpsuit and a white shirt underneath, dull, dark-grey pants, and a pair of white gloves. His eyes were round, and his pupils were bright golden amber. His skin was as clear as jade, and his hair was onyx-black. Like Menma and his original body, his hair was fluffy and spiky.
A bright, modest smile that brightened even the dimmest of rooms was always present on his face. It seems as if his li had been shaped that way, it didn't look forced in the slightest.
Currently, he was headed toward the land of fire's capital to buy some supplies.
He wanted to go to the land of whirlpools to properly explore it, but he was out of supplies. Aside from a hundred blank scrolls, a couple of brushes, and some bottles of ink, he had nothing on him. Even the clothes he was wearing right now were stolen from some poor, unfortunate soul.
When he arrived at the land of fire's capital, Yukito didn't delay further and wrote some high-quality storage scrolls, explosive tags, and chakra suppression tags. After he sold his work, Yukito swiftly amassed more than half a million Ryo.
He used it to buy scrolls, clothes, a few high-quality swords, a thousand kunai knives, high-quality wood for making puppets and a boat, some steel wires, a couple of masks, and some pastry to eat.
When he finished his shopping spree, all his Ryo had run out.
He didn't care about money. The world has a shortage of sealing experts, and he was now a level 3 sealing expert, earning money was as easy as breathing.
After spending more than a month, Yukito was ready to leave the land of fire. Before he departed, he went to a luxurious restaurant called "Shiny Golden Restaurant" and spent the remaining of his money. It was his first time eating at such a luxurious restaurant, and although he was hungrier when he left than when he entered, he was pleased with the experience.
Then, he left the land of fire's capital and headed toward the shore in the east. Two weeks later, he arrived at the shore and assembled a small boat using the wood he bought. When the boat was assembled, he drew a few sealing formulas on the boat to make it stronger and make it travel faster.
Although running across the ocean was faster than traveling by boat, Yukito had time to burn. The land of whirlpools won't run away, and the chakra beasts living inside the island wouldn't get bored while waiting for him, why should he rush?
It was a week later when Yukito reached the land of whirlpools. During that time, he realized an oversight he made.
He forgot to buy food.
So, he had to fish along the way, but the act of fishing was so fun that he didn't mind the chore. One time, he caught a massive tuna that was as big as him. He ate it all in one sitting, making him doubt if there was a black hole inside his stomach.
"Ah~ It feels good to be back. It feels like I'm on a vacation."
Yukito sighed and took out the two-foot-long scroll. He officially named this scroll the "Scroll of the Golden Dragon" or simply "Golden Dragon Scroll".
In the future, he plans to merge the two sealing formulas on this scroll and make them stronger until the whole scroll is filled with sealing formulas.
By that time, maybe he will be unbeatable in the ninja world but for right now, let alone filling the entire scroll or merging the two seal formulas together, he can't even improve the current seal formula!
His only hope is to quickly reach the next level of fuuinjutsu and become a level 4 seal expert. To achieve that feat, he must be able to draw sealing formulas without the need for ink. In other words, he needs to draw seals purely out of chakra.
"What a distant dream…"
It wasn't that Yukito hadn't tried the technique, but each time that he does, the sealing formula would fly away like dust after he cuts off his chakra supply. He already had impeccable chakra control and he would make for a great medic ninja, but he simply doesn't know the technique behind drawing seals with chakra.
Yukito was about to mount the Golden Dragon scroll on his back when he heard movement behind him.
"Grrr…"
Turning back, Yukito saw a wolf twice as tall as him, and the wolf had two heads.
"Ah, we meet again, Twin Wolf."
Because Yukito hadn't found any information regarding these chakra beasts, he took it upon himself to name these chakra beasts. "Twin Wolf" is the name he came up with for these 10 feet tall two-headed wolves.
Twin wolves have an excellent defense, but Yukito realized that they are weak to chakra-based attacks, hence, he opened the Golden Dragon scroll and channeled chakra into the first seal formula.
ROAAAAAR!
"AWOOO!"
A golden dragon emerged from the scroll and roared, spewing out hot, golden flames that tried to climb to the heavens. Seeing this, the wolf howled and took a step back, but it came too close to Yukito, allowing Yukito to attack it in an instant with the golden dragon.
"AWOOO!"
Seeing the golden dragon attack him, the twin wolf howled in anger, glaring at the golden flame dragon charging toward it.
When the dragon was about to bite him, the wolf dodged at the last minute and bit back at the dragon.
"Yiiip—!"
When the wolf's teeth touched the golden dragon's body, its teeth passed through its body and its face started to darken, letting out smoke and a foul stench. The wolf let out a shrill whimper and quickly backed off, looking at the gold dragon with renewed fear.
"Grrr…"
The wolf growled, arching its back to appear taller while eyeing the gold dragon that was constantly circling around it.
"ROAAAARRR!"
The gold dragon roared with glee, charging toward the wolf like a train without a loco pilot.
"AWOOO!"
The wolf howled, but this time, it didn't fight back and only kept dodging. It tried to flee, but the golden dragon would cut off its retreat and force it back into the clearing.
"Damn, I'm running out of chakra…"
Yukito mumbled and gasped for air. To keep the gold dragon active, he has constantly to channel chakra into the seal. However, the further the golden dragon is from the sealing formula, the more chakra is required to keep it active.
It wasn't that Yukito hadn't thought of following the golden dragon and the twin wolf as they fought, but he couldn't move while the sealing formula was active. Because if he moves the golden dragon scroll, the sealing technique will be disrupted and the golden dragon will fade.
"Thankfully, the battle is about to end."
As the master of the golden dragon, Yukito can see through the golden dragon's eyes. Currently, the twin wolf was bleeding and had many bite wounds and burned flesh on its body. One of its legs was broken, snapped in half with the bone sticking out.
"AWOOOO!"
"ROAAAARRR!"
The wolf howled, and the dragon roared in response. The dragon's body flew high in the air and dived toward the wolf like a thick, golden beam shooting toward the twin wolf who had seen better days.
"Awooo…"
The wolf let out one last howl of resistance before closing its eyes, never to awaken again. It didn't receive any fatal blows, but the deep bite wounds the golden dragon inflicted were more than enough for it to bleed to death.
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