Naruto: The Weapon Master
Chapter 24: Hitting a Checkpoint
"What the heck do you think you're doing Idate?! Turn around and get back in the race!" Naruto yelled in anger.
The blond ninja and his team chased after their wayward escort who is currently running completely off the race track through the trees to who knows where.
"There's no way that I'm turning around so you can just forget about it!" Idate yelled back and picked up the pace with the others chasing after him.
"Why do you suppose he's taking through this path instead of the original?" asked Hinata.
"Maybe he has something planned, remember that aside from the basic rules that anything else goes so it could be that he thought to take another route," said Sakura thoughtfully.
"Even so, we need to keep him within our sights. I'm going on ahead to do just that," Naruto channeled chakra to his feet and boosted his speed to run after till he was right behind him. "If this is part of your plan then where is it that you're heading to?"
"It's none of your business where I'm going so just stay out of my way!" said Idate.
"How am I going to get it through into your noggin that it's my mission to escort as well as protect you?"
Suddenly Naruto noticed that something strange was going on…there was a certain tree which he had just that he was sure to have seen before in the past five minutes and apparently Idate had noticed as well.
"I know that I passed this place before, this must be some sort of Genjutsu. In that case," Idate did the ram hand sign and performed the release technique.
"Could you help me out here Ku-chan?" thought Naruto.
"Sure thing Naru-kun," Kurama pulsed her chakra through his body and his view changed to reveal that he was standing along the ledge of a cliff wall which was bordering the edge of the sea.
"Thanks Ku-chan," Naruto looked to see that Idate was running towards a bend and wasn't slowing down before turning "Could it be that…" his thoughts were confirmed when Idate ran right off the edge
"Dammit! Shadow Clone jutsu!" Naruto dashed forward and leapt of the edge right as his clones appeared and grabbed each other's legs before his to form a makeshift rope before he managed to grab Idate by the scruff of his shirt, then the clones proceeded to pull them back up to the cliff before disappearing in puffs of smoke.
Idate took long deep breaths before finally calming down as he spoke "What just happened? I know I performed the seal to dispel Genjutsu so why didn't it work?"
Then Sakura and Hinata who had her Byakugan active caught up to them "My Byakugan saw a secondary layer of chakra above the first so it must have been a double layered Genjutsu and that you only dispelled the first layer,"
"Then your chakra pulse must have dispelled them all together, thanks Ku-chan," thought Naruto with a smile.
"Anything for my Naru-kun," Kurama responded happily.
"Since you're going this way, then that must mean that you know a faster route," said Sakura.
Idate nodded to confirm her statement "That's right, at this time of the year there are strong seasonal winds blowing hard across the sea. Back at the starting line I noticed that through the clouds that the winds were blowing towards us and there is a port to the north where the current flows directly into Nagi Island,"
"Which also means that your opponent would be seriously hampered by the weather and that would you a good lead in the race,"
"However for us to have fallen into a Genjutsu must mean that the hired ninja must be on to us so it's best that you stay near us okay?" said Naruto.
"Hmph, do whatever you want," Idate snorted.
The group continued on their way with Idate leading them until they had arrived at the end of a shore where there's a much smaller port. Idate went to a nearby shack and knocked on the door which opened up to reveal an old man who seemed to recognize the boy as he smiled.
"Ah Idate, so you're here," said the old man.
"Yes, the weather was exactly like I predicted it so I'm hoping that you would loan me your boat," said Idate.
"Of course, I've prepped it up for you. Jirocho-san has done a lot for me over the years, so you just focus on winning the race and beat the Wagarashi clan,"
"Of course,"
Soon enough, the group had set sail for the island with Naruto and the girls making sure that the ropes among other things were secure for the boat to sail properly. Sakura and Hinata walked over to Naruto who was steering the rudder to keep the boat on course.
"Naruto-kun, don't you think that there's something strange about Idate? The kind of training he must have gone through to move at such speed reminds me of Lee-san when he took of his weights in his fight against Gaia-chan, it could be that he came from a hidden village," said Sakura.
"I also saw with my Byakugan that he has more chakra than anyone else in the Wasabi clan and the chakra coils are well developed," said Hinata.
"Not only that, he shares the same last name with Ibiki Morino," said Naruto.
"What did you just say?!" they all turned to Idate who looked at them with shock "What did you say the name was?!"
"We said the name is Ibiki Morino, do you know him?" asked Sakura.
"That is the name of my big brother but I thought that he was dead,"
"Well he isn't, we met him as he was the proctor of the first stage of the Chuunin exam," said Naruto.
"This certainly proves that he originated from the Hidden Leaf but the question is why is he here?" said Kurama.
Before Naruto could reply to her, an arrow struck the floorboard of the boat. This put everyone on alert as Naruto drew out Mumei no Tamanoo, Sakura took out a kunai and Hinata activated her Byakugan. Suddenly a volley of arrows rained down from the sky towards them but Naruto was ready for them as he sheathed Mumei no Tamanoo before leaping into the air and took a midair Iai stance.
"Secret Arts: Quick Draw!"
Then he quickly drew it out to unleash several high-speed slashes around him which cut down all of the arrows before landing back on the ship.
"Naruto-kun, there's a boat following us!" said Hinata.
Naruto turned saw that it was indeed a boat which chasing them, onboard it are a trio of ninja who wear similar white jumpsuits and respirators, the headbands that wear signifies that they hailed from the rain village, he noticed that one of them looked awfully familiar.
"I recognize one of them back in the second stage of the Chuunin exam, he tried to attack me in order to get the scroll but it didn't end well for him and Tora had found a training dummy in him," said Naruto.
Then the rain ninjas fired a couple of arrows with long ropes attached to them which embedded themselves into the side and mast, slowing down their ship and drawing closer to them.
"Sakura-chan, I need you to stay behind and protect Idate while Hina-chan and I deal with these bozos,"
"Okay Naruto-kun," Sakura stood near Idate ready to defend against any sort of attacks.
Naruto dashed to the side of the ship and slashed the ropes with the Muramasa blade then turned around to throw a handful of shuriken at the ropes on the mast to cut them as well.
"Naruto-sama don't your guard down, it seems like they've boarded the ship," said Chinami.
Sure enough several clones of the rain ninjas appeared on the ship by phasing through the floorboards and mast like ghosts.
"Naruto-kun, these clones are different from the clones that you use and some of them aren't clones at all!" said Hinata with her Byakugan active.
"Okay then let's take them down in order to flush out the real ones," said Naruto then he rushed towards one of the clones and slashed for them to disappear before moving on to the next one.
Hinata was using the Jyuuken to strike the faux chakra points of the attacking clones and disrupting them with her chakra enough to make them disappear in puffs of smoke. A rain ninja approached from behind with the intent to stab her back, she swiveled around and parried the kunai with a bent elbow then straightened it to strike at the head before performing a double fist to take it down. Hinata stepped back to take a stance which is the Jyuuken but the Praying Mantis style.
During training, Naruto decided to teach it to her seeing that it could utilize the same mechanics of the Jyuuken and sure enough it proved itself to be just as effective but only Hiashi, Hanabi and Neji knew about it as the elders of the main Hyuuga family would raise a fuss about tradition.
"Secret Arts: Hell Spinner!" Naruto proceeded to spin around like a top as he moved around slashing the clones to bits.
"That sword brat is really getting on my nerves, Kagari I need you to switch to plan B," said the leading Rain ninja.
"You got it," the second Rain ninja performed a series of handsigns and his body emitted a dark aura "Water Style: Black Rain jutsu!"
Suddenly black droplets of water proceeded to fall on the ship much to the others' confusion, Naruto slashed away a clone before looking at the droplets on his hand which he raised to his face and sniffed at it.
"This smells like oil…could they be trying to…!"
Naruto heard a twang and looked up to see an arrow with a flaming tip heading straight towards them. Before he could intercept it, the arrow had already struck the boat, setting it ablaze.
"Naruto-kun, can't you use your water jutsus to put out the fire?!" shouted Sakura.
"It's already too late for that, the sail has been completely burnt. We need to abandon the ship so get Idate out of here!" Naruto responded while kicking a Rain clone away from him.
"Why should I trust you ninjas? For all I know you could be using me as a decoy in your attempt to escape!" said Idate with a look of fear.
"We wouldn't do that Idate-san! Our mission is to protect you, so you must escape while we draw their attention!" said Sakura but the boy didn't look too convinced.
"Dammit man! Just get out of here or you're gonna get yourself killed!" Naruto yelled out in anger.
Those words definitely got through to Idate who nodded hesitantly before diving into the sea swam towards the port at Nagi Island. Back on the now sinking boat, Naruto and girls had finally cleared out the attacking clones.
"The ship is completely totaled, we need to get off now! But first…" Naruto dashed to the bow of the boat and launched himself into the air, a red rune with siddha characters surrounded him and flames appeared on his hands "Here's payback for torching our ride! Ninpo: Art of the Inferno!" then he put them together and thrust forwards as he shot a giant fireball towards the Rain ninjas' boat resulting in an explosion with it being completely destroyed.
Naruto landed on top of the water and turned around to see Sakura and Hinata standing a short distance before running over to them.
"Let's hurry over to Idate quickly before anything else happens," said Naruto, the girls nodded in affirmation then he bit his thumb hard enough to draw blood before performing some handsigns and slamming his right palm on the water's surface, there was a puff of smoke before it faded to a creature in its place.
It is a large blue marine lizard with long pectoral fins and smaller pelvic fins. Its first dorsal fin resembles the tip of a blade and the second smaller dorsal fin matches the color of its body, it also wears a long deep blue sleek helmet.
"Hello Naruto-san, it's nice to see you again," said the sea creature.
"You too Tylomon," Naruto replied with a smile.
"Naruto-kun, who is this?" asked Hinata.
"I would like to introduce you to Tylomon who is also known to his fellow Digimon as the 'Jet Plane of the Deep Seas',"
"It's a pleasure to meet you all," said Tylomon, with the girls bowing in response "How may I help you Naruto-san?"
"We could use a ride to Nagi Island, we need to reunite with our client whom we're assigned to protect,"
"Very well, climb on and I'll take you there," said Tylomon.
The trio were about to do so when they heard a splash and turned to see that the Rain ninjas had returned much to their annoyance.
"Nobody is going anywhere! You Konoha brats are going to pay for what you did to us back at the Chuunin exams!" yelled one of the Rain ninjas in anger before performing a series of handsigns to summon a large group of water clones behind them.
"We don't have time for this, we're in a hurry. Tylomon, could you help us out?" asked Naruto.
"Of course Naruto-san, Terror Plankton!" Tylomon opened her mouth and fired a powerful stream of water which slammed into the Rain ninjas to send them flying and even disperse their water clones as well. They attempted to get up but immediately doubled over in pain "It's useless to resist, my attack contains poisonous plankton which is quite lethal to those unfortunate to be the target. Now to put you out of your misery," then Tylomon swam forwards at high-speed "Tilt Anchor!" she lashed with her tail to send them flying back "And to end it, Torpedo Attack!" she opened her mouth again to fire three metallic underwater projectiles which rushed towards their targets and exploded within proximity with nary a trace of the Rain ninjas.
"Strong as always, Tylomon," said Naruto.
"Thank you Naruto-san, but let us make haste and get you to the island," Tylomon turned and made for Nagi Island while swimming a great speed much to the surprise of the girls.
Meanwhile Idate had made it over to the shores of Nagi Island, however he ran into someone whom he was all too familiar with and not the happy kind.
"I never thought that I would ever see you again…Aoi Rokusho!" said Idate.
The green haired man was wearing a gray sleeveless jumpsuit with a navy blue line in the middle, he also carries an umbrella and wears the Hidden Rain forehead protector. He smirked as he looked at the boy making weak attempts to get back to his feet.
"I was kind of expecting you to run away…this wouldn't be the first time," said Aoi.
"Shut up! All of it happened because of you!"
"Don't bother trying to justify yourself, after all you abandoned your village and betrayed your brother, it was all because of you and people like that don't deserve to live,"
Aoi threw his umbrella into the air and drew out a handful of senbon needles which he then threw at Idate, hitting different parts of his body making him cry out in pain. The weather changed as it began to rain on the island, Idate tried to get up but for some reason his body was feeling numb.
"What's happening to my body?" said Idate.
"If you wish to know before you die, my senbon is coated with paralyzing poison that would shut down parts of your nervous system. As of now, your running days are over and the only finishing which you would be crossing is death," Aoi proceeded to kick a helpless Idate on the ground without remorse "Trying to show the world that you're a man of integrity? Please the only thing you're good at is running away, stick with that!"
"Boss…I'm so sorry, I gave you my word that you could rely on me…and now…I've failed you," Idate's vision was slowly getting darker and he could see Aoi smirking evilly at him. But before he completely lost consciousness…
"Sunlight Heat Wave!"
He saw a wave of yellow energy which forced Aoi to leap backwards and someone stood close to him, what he could see was a familiar blond hair.
"Naruto?"
It was indeed Naruto who now stands before Idate and was currently holding a lance of a draconic design. Hinata had alerted them of what she saw with her Byakugan, which made Naruto call on the Sunlight Heart to help him get ahead of the others.
"That's far enough bub," said Naruto pointing the lance at his new opponent.
"It seems like my minions weren't quite up to the job of serving as distractions against you Leaf ninjas," said Aoi.
"It goes to show how one just can't get good help these days,"
"Well they're Genin so it's pretty much obvious, and Genin like you can't possibly defeat me,"
"Then let me give you an update!"
Naruto charged at Aoi with the lance and launched a rapid fire of thrusts, the Rain ninja closed his umbrella and was using it to deflect the incoming attacks. Naruto performed a one handed slash which was avoided but he kept up the pressure with a jumping roundhouse kick making a successful hit on Aoi's chest much to his annoyance.
"Sunlight Slasher!" Naruto swung the lance while dashing forwards, but Aoi had seen it coming and dashed backwards with the lance being several meters apart.
"Your lance lacks reach unlike the others, did you really choose it just for its looks?" Aoi taunted.
Naruto simply smirked "There's more to something than your first glance umbrella man, for example…Extend Sunlight Heart!" the lance immediately opened up while emitting yellow energy with the tip jabbing into Aoi's chest hard enough to draw blood.
"You little…Ninja Art: Senbon Shower!" Aoi tossed his umbrella into the air which then started to spin rapidly and needles shot out of it towards Naruto and Idate.
"I don't think so! Wind Style: Typhoon Dance!" Naruto tossed Sunlight Heart into the air and sped through a series of handsigns before spinning like a top as the wind swirled around him, deflecting the needles to the ground before stopping to raise a hand towards the sky and caught the descending lance "It's my turn now, Sunlight Heat Wave: Full Blast!" the lance opened once more with the yellow energy surging before rearing back and swinging forwards to unleash a large wave of energy.
Aoi scrambled out of the way to avoid the attack and watched in disbelief as the wave of energy kept going and leaving behind a long trench behind in its wake.
"What the hell are you brat?! No mere Genin should have that level of power!" Aoi demanded.
"That's thing, I'm not a Genin but a Chuunin. Well it's your fault for underestimating me," Naruto spoke smugly.
"Damn you, no matter with Idate poisoned there's no need for me to be here, but next time things will be different," Aoi threw a smoke pellet to the ground and made his escape, Naruto wanted to pursue the Rain ninja but he heard someone call his name.
"Naruto-kun!"
He turned and saw Hinata and Sakura who are riding on Tylomon towards him.
"Hinata-chan, Sakura-chan, I need your help with Idate. He was attacked by another Rain ninja and got hit by senbon possibly coated with poison.
"Okay, but we need to get to get him out of the rain and to someplace warm before we can tend to his wounds and purge him of the poison," said Sakura.
After Tylomon returned to her realm, Naruto and a shadow clone carried Idate to a small cave that they managed to locate and the girls proceeded to apply first aid to the wounds. Turns out that Tsunade had given them a bottle of antidote which cures a variety of poison which they gave to Idate to swallow.
Hinata was currently examining Idate with her Byakugan before deactivating her kekkei genkai "The poison has been removed but his legs are seriously injured, it would even hurt to walk yet alone run,"
"And Lady Tsunade hasn't yet taught us on how to perform any medical ninjutsu," said Sakura worriedly.
Naruto was deep in thought before snapping his fingers upon coming up with an idea "Hang on, I know someone who can heal just as effectively as Granny Tsunade," he bit his thumb once more and performed a set of handsigns before slamming his palm on the ground "Summoning Jutsu!"
There was a puff of smoke before fading to reveal a small pink bipedal rabbit, His fur is completely pink, and he wears a pair of headphones, a pink scarf, and a pair of red boots. The small rabbit looked around confusedly but when he saw Naruto, he tackled the blond to the ground while smiling happily.
"Naruto! I missed you-kyu!" said the rabbit.
"Na-Naruto? w-who is this little cutie?" asked Sakura who was visibly shaking as she fought the urge to squeal loudly and snatch the pink rabbit off Naruto's arms and cuddle it, she wasn't the only one with Hinata focusing solely on it as she has a thing for rabbits.
"This is Cutemon, he is one of the first group of Digimon to meet me when I first signed their summoning scroll,"
"It's nice to meet you-kyu!" said Cutemon with a wave.
"When this mission is over, I'll make Naruto summon this cute bunny so that I can cuddle it," the girls thought simultaneously sending a shiver up Naruto's and Cutemon's spine.
"Anyway Cutemon, I need your help to heal the injuries on this guy," Naruto pointed to Idate laying on the ground.
"Okay Naruto, just leave it to me-kyu," Cutemon went over to Idate and held his hands over the wounds "Healing Glow," a green aura emitted from his hands and the girls watched in fascination as the wounds were quickly healing. After a while, Idate's body looked as if he was never hurt in the first place "I'm all done-kyu,"
"Thanks for the help Cutemon, I'll see you later and say hi to Dorulumon for me okay?" said Naruto with a smile.
"Okay Naruto, bye-bye kyu!" Cutemon waved before disappearing in a puff of smoke much to Hinata's and Sakura's disappointment. Moments later, Idate began to stir before fully awakening as he looked around in confusion.
"I can see that you're finally awake, how are you feeling?" asked Naruto.
"Where is he? What happened to Aoi, and why doesn't my body hurt? I remember being injured and poisoned," said Idate.
"Naruto-kun arrived in time to drive away that Rain ninja, then we gave an antidote and Naruto had one of his summons heal your injuries," said Hinata.
"May I ask who this Aoi person is? It seems like you knew him before," said Sakura.
Idate looked hesitant but decided to speak up "He…used to be my sensei back when I was still in Konoha,"
"That confirms our theory that he was ninja from Konoha since he knows so much about the village," said Kurama.
"But after he betrayed the village, he became a Jounin of the Hidden Rain village," Idate gritted his teeth in frustration.
"How did it happen? I get the feeling that his betrayal played a part to why you left the village," said Naruto.
"Yeah you're right about that. It all began when I failed the first stage of the Chuunin exam and it really bummed me out, that was when Aoi showed up and told me that there was another way to become a Chuunin,"
Naruto paled upon hearing that as it sounded all too similar to when he failed the graduation exam for the third time and was tricked by Mizuki to steal the Forbidden Scroll.
"Later that night, I arrived with the required items which was the Raijin once wielded by the Nidaime and the scroll, it was there that Aoi revealed that it was a lie and since I stole the sacred treasures of the Hidden Leaf, I had no other choice but to exile myself in fear of being arrested. It was later then that I met Boss Jirocho and he took me in, treated me like someone he could depend on and now I've let him down! Nothing seems to go right when I try to do something for someone!"
"This is not the time to depreciate yourself! You still have a chance to prove yourself!" shouted Naruto.
"But how?! With Aoi out there, how am I supposed to win when he could appear to kill me?"
"That's why we're here to protect you while you run the race, we'll make sure that no harm ever comes to you again! Just like Jirocho-san is counting on you, you can count on us to have your back. You've got only one shot at this, don't throw in the towel just yet!" Naruto declared with the girls nodding in agreement.
Idate reminisced back to when he first met Jirocho and then the old man who was willing to lend him the boat because they had placed a lot of faith in him, he looked up to see Naruto standing before him with a hand held out.
"You're right, I've got only one opportunity and there's no way I'm going to waste it!" He grabbed Naruto's hand and was pulled up to stand.
"That's right, like my crazy sensei says 'It's not over until the fat opera lady sings!'" said Naruto much to the confusion of the others.
"Okay, let's go!" Idate ran out of the cave with Naruto and the girls close behind "Don't worry boss, I'll prove to you that your faith in me has not been misplaced,"
Meanwhile at the Modoroki shrine, Jirocho stood at the entrance of the temple watching the path to catch a glimpse of Idate to appear.
"Boss, I just got word that Idate is heading this way along with the Leaf ninjas that you hired," said one of the men.
"He didn't run away from the start of the race, you were right," said the other.
"Of course I was, I knew he had it in him all the time and the Leaf ninjas are there to support him," said Jirocho "Atta boy Idate, keep coming. You're almost there!"
Weapons/Gears
Sunlight Heart Plus = Busou Renkin
This is Hussbek online with the latest chapter, looks like Naruto and the group had a sea warfare along the way but managed to wash away the obstructions. Despite the large gap in the race and a potentially dangerous race, the group still remains determined to stay on the race. They're about to hit the checkpoint of the race, stay tuned for the next chapter to see if they will be able to pull out a win.
This is Hussbek from Ghana.
Signing out.
