Well god damn, should have seen it coming but did not expect it this early. First flame. Tsk. A shame but yknow what, don't really care. If you go as far as to say 'this shit is horrible' without a reason or a purpose, I'll just assume you're a troll and move on. As for the lovely individual who reviewed on every chapter; let me just say that I understand your concerns. Political fodder villains are usually momentum killers. I know. I dropped my own fair share of stories for it.
Just I realized that this story does need some action and with the only 'antagonist' at this point being CARDIN… there's a difference between OP, and bullying. Plus, it would remove any character growth from Jaune who needs the moment solo to grow. So, Gotta move naruto elsewhere. And trust me… this is going to be far less political than you may think. A small side story. Hopefully the last.
Anyway. Onto the mystery!
[Post-Upload note: the fight scene in this chapter has been updated and rewritten to fit better. You will know where the rewrite starts by the -}
Read the disclaimer, will you kindly.
Vale was a fickle bitch… Her dark underbelly like the underside of a brick in the midst of the dirt where the spiders lie and the insects crawl; where the hunters lay till darkness rises to come out and play amongst the prey… the moonlight from shattered skies lay above In silver clear, raining down on golden streets filled with furious hearts full of endless fear… he here stood in the one warmth he could find amongst these streets in a world that he still did not know, calling it home while he did not understand anything outside its four walls… the blonde scoffed, what a filthy city… he could feel the hatred dripping off of every single heart here in these concrete streets-
"Order up! Oooone miso ramen, one side of extra pork and hold the Menma- hey. Dude. Cmon. No reading at the stand, your food will get cold". Naruto looked up from his Newly purchased book and smiled; letting his fingers slide over the paper as he placed it back into his pack with a chuckle. That was close; he nearly went into some kind of private detective mode then… Sitting in a little stand not far off from a nearby dust shop, named A simple wok, The blonde was taking a small break from his time at the office before his search tonight for the unknown he was supposed to be hunting down.
Grabbing the chopsticks to his left and snapping them apart; he noted how one person down the bench flinched at the sound. "Scaley cheeks, eyes looking around a lot… gecko? Iguana? Chamaleon?". He shrugged, taking his first bite of the heavenly noodles that had been bestowed upon him. Not AS good as Ichiraku, but the charm was there… The love poured into the food wasn't, this was obviously more about earning money than the craft but he could understand that.
Still, The broth worked to fight off the chill around him that night. His eyes flicked over the streets behind him, noting how everyone seemed afraid of something, but not anything in particular. He even had to lower his sage mode, else he find himself taken aback by the feeling of raw negativity in this city… no wonder Grimm were surrounding the forests if they had this feast right next door.
A little burst of his Sennin Mode and he almost felt like being sick right there at the table before he gathered a hold on it. The grip of FEAR was in every damn thing for miles at this point; some were hiding it well but sage above, where did it all come from… Well he knew where. White fang, Grimm; Threats outside and within the home. It would send anyone into a state of worry.
Tossing the money for his ramen, plus extra, onto the counter; the blonde stood up and stretched before beginning to walk away with a wave to the one who had made his meal for the night. 10pm. And oddly the city felt more alive than it had during the day; although in the same way that soil seems more alive when you disturb an ants hill…
First things first. Police station. Velvet had tried to report Cardin to the authorities and received threats of false charges; charges that would have gone through if not for her team leader threatening to tie up the station in lawsuits. "If there's a paper trail to follow, it'll be there. Cmon Shinobi Training, Don't fail me now". The blonde ducked into an alleyway; kicking up off a dumpster before running straight up a wall and over the corner; His Henge dropping in a cloud of smoke.
In the place of his normal battle uniform, He had on him a Classic Leaf Anbu set. Another 'borrow' from the Konoha museum of Heretics. Sitting on his face there lay to the side, a porcelain mask with his Sensei's old wolfish markings across it; his cloak hiding most of the classic issued armor.
But not a strange bulge in the cloak at his side; one he patted lightly before beginning to walk from rooftop to rooftop; bounding across edges as a shadow under moonlight. "oh yeah, totally keeping that. Shadow under moonlight. Take that Sasuke, You aren't the only one who can be all cool and mysterious".
From Rooftop to Rooftop he hopped; feet lighter than a feather thanks to the application of chakra underfoot. He raised an eyebrow as he noted some things below him; couples in alleyways thinking they were discrete in particular. "well, if there's one way to fight back the fear, it's that". He chuckled to himself as he cartwheeled over a partularly large gap, looking down to see a strange man with orange hair and… "Does that girl have pink and brown hair? Cool!".
When he landed, he turned on his foot and was surprised to see the same girl
Right
In
Front
Of
Him
She looked at him with a slow blink, her eye colors changing with the act. "Um… Hello?". No! stupid Naruto! Ninjas do not 'hello' to strangers with teleporting powers! He was thankfully happy to see that the girl just smiled at him, her parasol at her side as he walked around her slowly, like circling an angry dog.
He smiled and turned to walk away when he got to the other side; only to yelp- fucking yelp when she appeared in front of him AGAIN. He turned to look behind him, spotting only shattered glass in the wind.
"….what the fuck". He turned to look at her again, blinking as he noticed she was gone. Then he felt something from his pocket get lifted off of him- turning to look at the same girl sitting on a nearby chimney with… was that his scroll? she was typing on it; the notes page clearly open as she smiled and turned it towards him.
Your mask looks weird :p
He spluttered in shock, feeling his ear tips get red under the hood of his cloak as he walked right up to her and went to grab the scroll from her hands, only for her body to shatter the moment he made contact with it. He could have sworn he felt her amusement, turning to see her on the rooftop's edge with his scroll again in hand.
I want one. Where do I get one? :)
…. Was that it? She wanted an anbu mask? He slowly reached behind him to where he kept the seal on his tailbone that held the scroll with all his most precious items in. "you want a mask… alright… why don't you just take one of mine and I'll-". Did the night just get colder. He blinked, reaching up to grab his face and paled slightly as he felt the cold wind on it. The shattering of more glass drew his attention as he looked to see the pink haired she devil had disappeared, now two rooftops over with HIS mask on her face. She held up the scroll… on it a picture of a cat. And a mouse.
His eyes narrowed, and despite himself he couldn't help but frown at the girl. Cat and mouse eh? Fine. He'd just have to go easy on her… no reason to ruin a young girl's fun, or her health, after all. But he WOULD be getting Kakashi's mask back… he just had to make sure not to break it in the act. A tingling in the back of his head let him know something was wrong, But the Onslaught of negative emotions and Unfamiliarity with life forces in this world made it hard to not get dizzy with the expanded senses of his sage chakra within the city.
"Guess it's the old fashioned way then". Without hesitation, He kicked off the rooftop and shot across the gap, reaching out and closing his fingers down around the mask, eyes narrowed at the girl as he noticed the smirk on her lips as he ripped it from her face… Again, shattered glass under his grip, that tingling getting a bit stronger this time before it faded "Sage dammit, what the hell! it's like fighting Haku all over again!". This time his eyebrow twitched as he turned to the next rooftop where he heard a parasol tapping against concrete, her masked face tilted to the side. "…No, there has to be something else going on. I can't get a lock on her position… it's like she's everywhere".
He had to curse himself for never once practicing his genjutsu, noting how the glass was fading away. "NEO! WHERE THE FUCK DID YOU GO!?". Neo was her name? by the way she froze to the spot; he assumed so. Still, this was an opening and damned be he if he didn't take it; a flicker taking his place as he went and grabbed the mask from her fa- another shatter. "FUCKING ILLUSIONS!". This time the parasol tapped his shoulder and he was not going to go easy on her.
He reached out to grab the item and was glad to feel his hand actually make contact as he pulled her in to grab at his mask; only for her to slide between his open legs and flash his scroll with a smile.
Getting faster whiskers :3
Oh she was getting to him, she was smart and fast and she was getting to him. his hand snapped out to try and grasp the mask again; only to change directions and snatch the parasol instead as he instead pushed instead of pulled to knock the girl off balance. It worked, for about 2 seconds before she pulled on the lace umbrella and flipped over him; causing him to be pulled with it and end up flat on his ass. He grumbled something about pink haired girls always having it out for him, and went to look at her before he noticed she wasn't there. Any Anger he felt at her quickly faded, As what was simple annoyance at a stupid kid playing a prank quickly became far more real… far more panicked.
His scroll. his mask. And her. Were gone. "…..no way I just got mugged". He scrambled to his feet, looking around in all directions for any sign of pink, white, that umbrella; anything. Screw the scroll, he had just lost Kakashi's god damn mask. The panic of losing one of the few things that connected him to someone he cared about was beginning to set in; The blonde starting to pace as he tried to think, to collect himself. But it wasn't working.
A deep intake of Sage chakra helped steady him, his panic overriding the dislike of the negative emotions in the air at this point in time; even as they flooded his system and turned the ever-growing sense of panic in his heart… into something different. Anger. Anger in the way one would be angry over someone defacing a grave. He felt his hands clenching down to the nail as he exhaled and let the Sage take over…
THERE.
~{ANS}~
Little did he know of his observer. Neo; having been standing right on the edge of the rooftop behind a chimney. She was about to go join roman with her spoils; before the sound of panicked breaths began to grow… she looked back, raising a delicate eyebrow at how the blonde began to panic with the loss of his mask, her eyes going to the item she wanted as a souvinere as one of her and dumb dumb's outings.
Why was he panicking? It was just a trinket wasn't it? She heard him mutter something under his breath, what on earth was a kashi? But the more he began to panic, the more she began to stare… a morbid curiosity taking place before she sat down on the edge and began to observe him. Those rumpled up eyebrows, the screwed shut eyes, the way his armor stretched and rose with every deep breath he took… those shaking fists.
Kinda cute... The panic in his eyes, the worry in his stride, it was what Neo lived for in the end. The feeling of power she had over someone else meant little when she could exercise her want to cause some form of emotion in others. Affectionate pride in her Dumb Dumb; Anger and annoyance in Silver and the lesser illusionist.
But this. Hm… She wasn't too sure she liked panic on Whiskers. It didn't suit him. the frown suited him, the anger~ suited him she decided. she hummed and took the mask off of her face before sliding it along the ground towards the boy, letting it out of her illusion. And when he went to pick it up- there. The anger. The blazing heat of the sun in his eyes. That was the emotion that she felt fit him best. But just as she went to stand and leave; she felt something strong close down around her wrist and hold her to the spot.
It was him. his eyes now green; such a strange green- his eyes changed like hers? They looked so deep, so hard into her own and she couldn't help but smile. "Got you, little mouse…". She went to engage her semblance; slipping out of his grasp while leaving a copy in her place- did his eyes just follow her? She blinked; then dashed in the opposite direction, running across the rooftop to the next with a dainty leap.
Only to blink as another him followed her. She looked back… two hers. Two hims. A step to the side, a plummet down to a lower rooftop and now there were three hims. Three hers. Her eyes widened slowly… and then a grin broke out across her face. Her sisters and her lifted up their 'scrolls', even as the blonde fixed his mask to his scowling face; all three of them. The words clear in the blue light.
This just got fun ;3
Of course Naruto could feel that the woman's intentions had changed rather quickly; a playful sadism in her heart, now full blown malicious intent mixed with playfulness, hammered against his senses through the act of his sage mode… And he was not having it. Playtime, was over. 3 became six. Six became twelve. Only one was real and he knew which one; same as his own clones… A pick pocket and a prankster able to make fake versions of herself or her surroundings; it was like facing some weird mix of himself and Itachi and that alone made him weary.
When the 'shlink' of a dagger's point came out of the umbrella, Weary turned to caution, and caution turned to cold, unrivaled numbness. He felt himself reaching for a kunai pouch he no longer carried, old instinct pulling him along in the presence of a sharpened blade meant for only one thing… to kill.
Another clack of nailed fingers against the screen caught his attention; a thirteenth Neo with the scroll now. His eyes narrowed behind their porcelain mask when she showed the screen to him.
How about a new game? I call this one… Last, Man, Standing ;)
Some deeper part of Naruto Sneered at the girl from behind his mask. She had played him with illusions because his sage mode was weakned; She had stolen from him because he wanted to be nice and entertain her request for a mask; She had the audacity to stand there with that smirk of someone who enjoyed pain, with Sadism dripping off of her like water off a freshly splashed cliff.
If he had anything to say about it, There would only be one man standing. And one as a crumpled heap on the ground; his head repeating the same mantra. "She's just a kid, don't kill. She's just a kid, Don't kill. She-". His eyes widened as she opened up the images on his scroll and scrolled through them, coming to one of kakashi's portrait with his mask on before smiling.. she pointed at the mask.
Then dragged a finger across her own neck… and laughed.
The Cat glowered at the mouse as his claws finally came out
With a silent battle cry, his Clones rushed against her copies as the two ringleaders stood with rooftops apart, their miniature war taking place across each house and shop between them. Neo was quick to notice how her own copies were not just outpowered, but outclassed; secretly glad that despite the chaos being caused, around her; both He and her had thankfully seen the wisdom in not using any loud firearms or otherwise, in case they drew attention, one from the public and the other from her Dumb Dumb who she knew would never let her live down taking on a fucking huntsman for jokes.
She narrowed her eyes; as each Copy of her and she herself dissolved into naught but glass on the wind. Each of his clones stopped in place, their fists or legs outstretched in attacks that seemed not to impact anything… Seconds passed; she watched them share looks in attempts to try and discern where she had gone as each of her copies got prepared with their Parasols. As she went to strike the original; she saw it..
A flash of green from under the mask before she felt her copies getting slaughtered. Each of him moved individually, Causing her to wince on the feeling of each one being destroyed as he batted her distracted strike away with his hand and gripped her collar. "It took a while, but I found out which one was you, Neo. And now; You're gonna find out why no one steals from me". The strike of a heavy blow to the stomach caused the girl's eyes to widen as she bent over the first in her gut; thankfully shattering as one of her copies took the full force of the blow from her.
Between them; Clone smashed clone, Copy Popped Copy; but Neo felt it. She had held the advantage in the beginning, a simple snatch job turned Very bad, as this man's head followed her over every layered illusion, picked her out of any crowd she formed with those damned copies of his. Each time she jumped to another rooftop, there he was with his fist inches from her face. Each time she swapped with a copy for her health, She heard each of his clones turn to him. Much like the mouse… She began to notice how much of a hunter this cat was.
The girl flooded her semblance for all she had; copies rushing at the man as she turned and ran with the full speed her semblance, her aura, would allow her. But then… she heard the crashing. She heard the shattering. Barely 3 rooftops away; she turned and looked…. She wathced until smoke and glass had cleared from the area she left him at; in his hand a Jet black staff with a purple glow and… a ball of blue light in the other hand.
"No need to hold back if they're just copies", she heard him say; almost as if to himself rather than her. He had her. He had her and he knew it; casually hopping from rooftop to rooftop until he came to land on her ground; his head tilting to avoid a stab from her parasol that now shone red with something that felt too much like sage chakra, Dust… so she was getting serious, was she? The mineral seemed to be sprinkled across the blade; an easy solve as he took her by the collar and SMASHED his knee against her stomach.
If she was not mute, she was sure that She would have screamed from the pain. A rib, or two, broken as her aura flickered under the blow. He reached down to pluck his scroll from the ground, narrowing his eyes at its feeling… pink shards fell as he crushed it in his grasp; the girl in front of him doing the same before a panting Neo with her hand on her side came out from beside the chimney at the end of the roof. He heard muttering below the roof… someone had noticed them.
The hardened, scared but hardened look on the girl's face told him that she had noticed the same. But in that moment; her eyes blinking slowly… lilac eyes stared back at him. perhaps it was luck, trick of the light… it was just what she needed. In his haze; Naruto saw not a girl on the rooftops of veil but another illusionist he hated so much… then, he saw her. Hina. The love that never was. Anger left his system in moments as he stared at her; even reaching out, pain overriding sense-
The pain of being stabbed however, did not. With sage mode dropped; he looked down to see the blade of the parasol wedged into his armor; thankful that the blade had only slightly penetrated the Kevlar that the ANBU wore. But that was it. She had used Hinata's face. She had stolen Kakashi's mask, and mocked his death.
He had had enough of her.
In hindsight, the sage should have wondered just what was driving him to such anger over information the girl would not have known. For Neo; she had to watch as the earthy green behind those eye slits became lighter… sicklier. Like poison in an infected wound. Then, she screamed a silent scream as the boy grabbed his staff and let his anger loose against her. He grabbed her wrist to prevent her from pulling her blade out and then brought it down against her arm, the crack of her wrist bringing her pain to newer heights.
She attempted to return fire with her other hand; pulling an emergency knife from her thigh to try and stab into the blonde only for his bare fucking hand to shatter its steel body with one strike. She watched, stuck in slow motion as those green eyes rose to look at her own; and felt fear in her heart as those fragments floated in the air around his hand. It was like She had found her perfect counter..
Clones to face against her Copies, Fake weapons formed from some kind of semblance to handle her sneaky nature of ambush; skin that blades could not pierce or slash when he was prepared and that damned sense! was this Karma for leaving roman to deal with little red on his own or something!?
Finally pulling her weapon free; She struck with panicked swiftness, stabbing forward only for him to knock her weapon aside with a backhanded swipe; knocking her riposte aside too with the other side of his staff. A pre-cracked and panicked copy of hers formed from behind him, snapping his attention to it as he lunged out and grabbed it by the throat only to slam it into the ground and shatter it in the act.
A light Clinking caught his attention, the footsteps of a hurt foe running away from him being the only warning as he looked down at the quickly intensifying glow of a yellow crystal… Lightning shot out from the rooftop; Neo barely making it to the next as her clothes ended up singed by the bright flash. That was it. Her cover was blown to smithereens; she had to run, to go before the police got her-
Thud
….she slowly turned. And her eyes widened in horror. He was still here. The crystal should have at least paralyzed him with its shocking property, and she could see burns on him that were healing much faster than they should have. His cloak was ribbons and charred edges but he himself was… she saw him remove the scuffed mask; his eyes as sickly green as they were moments ago before he placed the mask into his bag.
"you just damaged something Very Precious to me, Neo… Now tell me… Where does someone get an uncut, Raw dust crystal that large when we're In the middle of a dust shortage?". Of course she had been that reckless. She thought he would die or at least be knocked unconscious long enough for her to get away! But as the strength in her body left her, and he approached from the edge of the rooftop; she noticed her options dwindling fast…
As for Naruto… Something felt Wrong. This wasn't right, This wasn't OK. Why was he trying so hard to hurt someone that mere minutes ago, he thought was simply playing a prank on him. it didn't make sense-
"Wretched thieves, they should all just die already"
"Did you hear about those fiends? Another dust robbery, Bah, hang em up already"
"…Fucking humans… We'd be better off if they were all DEAD!".
He stopped in his tracks, looking at the shaking, scared, bruised and… bleeding foe he had just been fighting. He noticed she calmed down as he did, not knowing his sickly green eyes had shifted back to their comforting and earthy green… that was when Neo noticed it. It wasn't smoke rising from Naruto's form… It was Grimm-Wisp. (Sue me, had to name it something).
What… Was… He…
She no longer felt safe. She no longer felt ok. She looked behind her and gulped, one plan… and it was a risky one. As he came close, she waited; when his hand came out she flinched… and when he offered it to her. She smirked. He let out a cry of pain as his dropped sage mode let in the bladed tip of her parasol; blood dripping down a point in his shoulder before he wrenched the weapon aside and, with that same angered sickly green rush of Negative emotions, landed a heavy fist to the jaw of the multicoloured girl… only to widen his eyes as he felt the crunch of bone and the loss of aura from the girl.
Pink eyes turned hazy as consciousness left their owner, the girl flopping lifelessly over the ledge of the rooftop. IDIOT! These people weren't like his own, they didn't have chakra to reinforce their bodies like his did! Not thinking twice, he leapt over the edge with a kick to its lip and shot down after the girl, catching her with a tight grip and holding her close as his back impacted the trash in the alleyway below. While reinforced by sage mode; the fall still hurt and when his skull rammed into hard concrete; all he could do was groan… before slowly sitting up; looking at the girl in his lap.
His hand went to the girl's neck and while racing, he was glad to find a pulse there… he hadn't meant to kill the poor girl, only prove that she was messing with the wrong person. But something; something in him just Kept pushing him forward…. had old instincts had kicked in and…? He sighed. He could still hear her friend calling for her, now frantically as sirens came around the corners of both roads leading to their position. Two clones with the henge Jutsu served as cover; two large garbage cans now acting as his cover.
Any further thoughts he could think of were halted by the sound of shattering. He looked down to see…. Nothing. Nothing but his lap. He could now hear the voice of the orange haired man shouting about how she got so hurt and to stop ignoring him; and in that moment, naruto made a decision… eyes locked on the police cruisers just a few streets down from the alley he found himself in.
He no longer liked ice cream. And if lady luck in his world was generous…
Then this world's one was a stingy bitch.
~{ANS}~
Alright. Woo. First time re-writing a chapter to try and fix mistakes, and it seems it might have paid off somewhat, nearly 2000 extra words, a better insight into just what Naruto is capable of against modern day huntsmen/equals, and a little hint at the struggle that he will be facing in this world. I truly hope this makes up for the god awful excuse for a fight scene I made in the old chapter; seeing as my worry of playing certain plot hooks seemed to have been for nothing and actually held the chapter back some. Anyway… As always, Please Review fairly. Make sure to drink pleny of water, and be warned; another chapter might not come out for a few days if I don't find the time. Still. Again. I really hope this did what the old chapter seven should have done.