Chapter 2: Does a Bear Sh*t in the Woods?
It's been about an hour since the incident, and the ninja gathered everyone around middle camp to take stock of injuries.
Mother—or Emi—as Michi recalled, has yet to wake. She was taken to a group of people gathered away from the camp residents. He could only assume these were the ones whose injuries were considered extensive.
In the time waiting, Michi had gone off for a bit to find a mirror to take in his new self. He was young, and if memory served, the boy was 5 years old. He had medium length, straight brown hair which curled slightly up at the ends, with brown eyes and fair skin.
Another strange note was this body seemed much more athletic than his own when he was the same age. Maybe he's just remembering wrong, but when he was a 5-year-old, he could hardly lift a gallon of milk. As this child, he had helped push a wagon which was damaged during the incident, and it actually gave way!
He had the boy's memories, so he knew that the original Michi had never done anything too physically extensive to build strength. His best guess was that this boy just straight up had better genes than he did, so his body performed at a higher level than his original one.
A voice cut his musings short, as one of the ninjas beckoned Michi, his father, and a few of the others toward the gathered injured off to the side.
This ninja wasn't the Takuma he had met earlier. Rather than the lithe and wiry-frame build which Takuma bolstered, this ninja was tall and bulging with muscles. 'An absolute unit,' he would say in his prior world.
"Listen up everyone!" The brutish ninja started, "We're to continue the caravan to our end destination, but those gathered here are too injured to continue, and we don't have a medic-nin with us here today," he barked over the crowd before introducing himself, "I'm Genin Kuma Mieta, of the Kuma clan! I'll be providing you all safe passage to the Hidden Leaf via one of my clan's summons!"
The Kuma clan was a lesser clan of the Hidden Leaf, whose entire claim to fame was their summoning contract. It was said that the founder of the clan had a great relationship with these animals, and with the formation of the Hidden Leaf in the forest, the clan officially organized under the name of Kuma and settled in the native land of their summons.
Sweat dripped Mietas face as he went through the seal sequence for summoning. He was the current heir to the Kuma clan and had been trained since a young boy to conjure and fight alongside their ally. However, this was his first time trying to bring forth a companion large enough to carry this many people.
Understanding this, he came up with a plan with his genin squad: they'd feed chakra into him while he performed the summoning and would hope it was enough to summon a larger ally.
He poured as much chakra into the jutsu as he could, and almost as quickly as it left him, he felt his teammates' chakra enter his system. The sensation was a little strange, as the foreign chakra didn't behave as smoothly as his own, but he was able to direct it to the jutsu anyways. Sweat poured off his ruffled brow, as he grunted with effort, and hoped the effort was enough.
From Michi's perspective, the large ninja slammed his hands on the ground, and shortly afterwards, there was a large plume of smoke which covered the travelling camp.
Enshrouded in said smoke was a huge shadow, easily 15 feet tall, which proceeded to shake its body, blowing away any remnants of smoke.
"Young Lord Mieta, I wasn't aware that you could summon me already. Your Father will be pleased to hear of this development." The deep, rumbling voice bellowed out, with a regal tone. It was at this point the figure of said beast had become clear enough to ascertain this was in fact a giant black bear.
Mieta huffed with a grin, "Heh, I wish I could say I did this on my own, but I had help from my friends. Besides, no offense Yugo, but this is still nothing compared to who my father can summon." He finished with a chuckle.
The now named Yugo nodded, and responded, "There's none taken, Young Master. I understand the difference between myself and Chief Hiro," he finished with an earth-shaking laugh.
Michi was beyond astonishment! He wasn't familiar with the world of Naruto, but was this just the beginning of it? Mieta had mentioned this was nothing compared to his father, implying he's just getting started, or maybe intermediary! This was crazy!
Mieta stood up after a moment of rest, "Alright. The families of those who are injured are going to help me get everyone safely fastened to Yugo's back. After that, you'll also be strapped in, and sent on your way to the Hidden Leaf!" He announced.
After all was said and done, Yugo was carrying about 10 people on his back, and didn't seem bothered in the slightest by the extra weight. Michi and his father had been strapped together closer to Yugo's shoulders, directly behind his head, while Emi was tied flat to the bears back, in a row with the other unconscious injured.
Turning his large fuzzy head back slightly, Yugo said "With the state the injured are in, I won't be able to move at full speed to the village. We'll be going at a moderate pace, which should get us there in about two hours. Please, hold tight."
And with that, his large, powerful legs lurched forward at something akin to a trot or jog. It was fairly comfortable atop the fluffy giant; better than the horses he tried riding in his previous life.
"Uhh, Mr. Yugo?" Michi asked from just behind the bear's ears, "How do I get a big bear friend like you?
Yugo almost faltered in his steps at the abrupt question, before letting out a hearty laugh, "Ah, that'd be nigh impossible, cub. For you to become one of our summoners, you'd have to sign our contract, and unfortunately for you, that contract is only available to Kuma clan members." He said resolutely, in his rich baritone voice, before adding, "And of course, even if you did procure our contract, it'd take years of hard work to be able to actually summon kin of my stature!" The great bear finished, with pride flowing freely through his voice.
"Uh-huh, thanks…" Michi nodded slowly, before turning his attention back to his new parents in front of him. His father was hunched worriedly over his mother, whispering something about getting her better soon.
Michi looked away before he could get swept up in that situation. While, yes, he held a modicum of concern for his mother, it was more out of general decency rather than familial worry. Michi's thoughts then wandered to his actual family.
Did he die? Was this some alternate reality he was living now, and his original body continued? Did this kid he was currently inhabiting end up in his body like a swap? He didn't know. He just hoped to get this sorted out soon.
He focused on his last memories of his previous life: he was a 20-year-old college student in his junior year, pursuing a degree in mechanical engineering because of his love of tinkering and robotics.
He had been working on a bot to enter the Robogames Combat Robotics division. In fact, he was just attempting to attach something comparable to a rail gun to his robot's arm, which could launch tungsten bullets at high velocity, when his fingers… slipped…? And that's the last he could remember.
Michi's eyes, which initially filled with panic, calmed to something between concern and amusement, with a low chuckle he thought to himself, 'You idiot. You actually went and shot your eye out. Just like everyone said you would!' He thought with another, heartier laugh at the irony.
His father looked up at him with concern for a moment, but he cleared his throat and looked away.
'I can't believe it…' Michi thought, somberly. 'So, this is my afterlife or something?'
He was an only child in his previous life, so his parents were determined to see him succeed with their full support. "So much for that…" he muttered under his breath, to not call attention.
The initial humor and contempt of the situation bled away, leaving only mortification and remorse. Stinging tears occupied the edges of his eyes as he plunged his face into the comforting fur of the bear, hoping it'd muffle his sobs.
"Stupid, stupid, stupid!" He choked a cry into the bear, how could he do something like that! It was such a dumb mistake! What kind of idiot sat in front of what equated to a loaded gun-barrel? Oh god, how is his family taking this?
The thought of them crying over his grave threw him into even more grief.
His sobs weren't as stealthy as he hoped; a large portion of the conscious members of the caravan noticed his muffled wails. Most had assumed his tears to be over his mother.
In a way, they were correct.
XXXXX
It was still dark in the early morning when the Hidden Leaf Chunin on gate duty noticed a large figure in the dark. Even though most Chunin had been sent on combat missions to garner more funds for the village, they still couldn't have only Genin guarding the gate at night when attacks were the most likely to happen.
Luckily, this particular Chunin was more than happy to participate in a little gate-watching. His black hair was pulled back, giving a clear view to his equally onyx eyes, which had bags under them indicative of someone who had been sleeping too little, or maybe too much?
In this moment, though, his eyes sharpened, and he did his utmost to identify the target in the distance, pulling a set of binoculars. He heaved a sigh of relief as he called out, "It's just a Kuma summon. C'mon, let's go check it out." All prior attentiveness was gone as he practically dragged himself out of his chair. He motioned his head forward to his genin counterparts, who had also tensed up when they saw the vague shadow in the distance.
Marching out at a sedate pace, the group met the bear about 300 feet from the gate entrance.
As the bear bore closer, though, the Chunin's eyes went sharp once more. He turned to one of the genin and pointed a finger, "You! Head to the hospital and ask for medical transport from the front gate! If they give you any grief say it's under the orders of Chunin Nara Shigeaki." Before facing the bear once more.
"Hello, Nara cub. I see you've already ascertained the people I'm carrying need medical assistance. Your observational skills bring merit to your family name." Yugo nodded down to Shigeaki, who returned a small smirk, before going serious again.
"My thanks, Kuma. Let's leave the chit-chat for later, though. Please fill me in on the situation while we head to the hospital.