One night, in a dark and dense forest, lots and lots of trees covered the moonlight above the canopy. The only sounds that could be heard are either crickets or the wise, old owl.
WHOOSH!
Three gusts of wind flew by from trees to bushes, and so on, all of which making as little noises as possible.
At last, one man coated in all black peered from behind a tree, standing on a branch, another peered from behind a bush, and a third peered from behind a rock.
"Nobody in sight," whispered the one on the tree to the other two. "There's no doubt, the hidden leaf village of Konoha is not far away now!"
"What should we do?" asked the second.
"Do we keep charging?" asked the third.
"Not yet," said the leader. "We need to make absolutely sure that we're not compromised. Number 3, check!"
The third figure pulled out a shirrikan from his leg pouch and tossed it quickly forward and ahead, sticking to a tree with one of its sharp edges with a soft thud sound. They waited for a few seconds, close to a minute... nothing happened.
"I think we're clear," whispered the third. "Other shinobi would've reacted to that one if they were near."
"Then let's move!" said the leader quietly before starting to swiftly jump from his hiding place in the tree.
WHOOSH! SNAG! THUMP!
The next thing the leader knew, he felt his black top caught by something, sticking him to the tree bark behind him. It was a shirrikan!
"Move back! We've been found!" called out the leader.
Too late, a teen, male figure in yellow-blond, spiky hair, three whisker marks on each cheek, and blue eyes, wearing an orange and black jacket, orange pants, black sandals, a black headband with a leaf symbol engraved in the metal attached on it, jumped out from a tree branch in front of the other two. As he jumped, he made a hand gesture of a cross/ram.
"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"
In an instant, several more of the same figure appeared beside him before they together threw more shuriken at the two, who blocked using their kunai before pounding them down, only one managed to escape the barrage before he was met by another shinobi.
This one is a teen male with short, straight black hair, and dark eyes which contrast with his translucent-looking pale skin, wearing a short black-and-grey jacket with red straps, a tip-less tantō on his back, a high-collared midriff shirt, black pants, shinobi sandals and gloves. He appeared to be riding on a large black and white eagle painting before pulling out a scroll of blank paper, making a hand symbol of a half tiger, then pulling out a paint brush of ink.
"Ninja Art: Super Beast Scroll!"
The brush drew a tiger on the paper in a second before it came to life, jumped out of the paper in full life size, and attacked the second man.
The leader had just gotten himself free by pulling off the shirriken and began to go on the offence when suddenly, something appeared in front of him.
It was a teen kunoichi with fair skin, short pink hair, and green eyes, wearing a red top, black gloves, low-heel, knee-high boots, black shorts underneath a short pink apron skirt, pink elbow protectors, a pink headband with the leaf symbol engraved in the metal on it, and a medical pouch. The girl had her fist already reeled back before...
"CHA!"
Her right fist slammed right into the leader's face, sending him crashing into the ground.
The battle was over in seconds. And all the three men ended up tied together in rope with a knot so strong the three mysterious men in black couldn't undo it. The three ninjas looked at their work.
"Great work, everyone!" smiled the blonde ninja proudly. "We caught three spies and no one got-"
POW!
But his speech was inturrupted when a sudden punch from the pink-haired kunoichi socked him in the face, sending him crashing into a tree, disappearing in a cloud of smoke. When the smoke cleared, the blonde haired ninja appeared with a swollen cheek and a bloody nose, moaning in pain.
"Naruto, you idiot!" screamed the pink-haired kunoichi with rage. "You've gone and done it again!"
"Done what?" whined Naruto. "We beat them, didn't we, Sakura?"
"Yes, but just barely!" Sakura said severely. "The mission was to keep an watchful eye out for any intruders and not get caught! But then you just had to rush into battle like some kind of hero!"
"What are you taking about?" Naruto asked. "They were approaching the village. Weren't we supposed to stop them?"
"Yes, but swiftly," Sakura answered. "And, like always, you just jump out of your hiding spot and into the open! Seriously, did you learn absolutely NOTHING at the academy?! You could've gotten yourself hurt!"
"Glad to see you care about him so much, Sakura," smiled the pale ninja. "That is the beauty of teamwork."
"You stay out of this, Sai!" Sakura snapped.
"I don't think anything matters at this moment," said a well-known voice.
Out from the shadows stepped a man with spiky silver hair oriented to his left-side, wearing a dark mask over his mouth and nose, his leaf headband tied in a fashion that was covering over his left eye, revealing only his right, dark, grey eye, a flak jacket, dark blue pants, a long-sleeve shirt, and fingerless gloves with metal plates on the backhand. He looked relaxed and calm as he approached the group.
"Kakashi sensei!" said Naruto, Sakura, and Sai in unison.
"Seeing that the spies are captured, we can bring them back to the village for some questioning," said the man. "Maybe we might get some more answeres about the Akatsuki's wherabouts."
"You see, Sakura?" smiled Naruto as he stood back up. "Even Kakashi sensei knows we've won. So, let's not worry about some small mishap which still got us to victory in the-owowowow-OW!" he cried as Sakura forcefully pulled Naruto's arm over his head and behind.
"That is for giving us away!" Sakura grumbled as she let go before stepping hard on his foot. "And THAT'S... for everything else!" she finished angrily as Naruto grasped his foot in pain, leaving Sai and Kakashi watching the dramatic scene with sweat rolling down from their heads.
Elsewhere, in a faraway world filled with mages instead of ninjas, deep inside a dense and dark forest, there was a huge, stone building, completely twisted and completely unnatural. You would almost think it was some kind of dungeon or something. However, it wasn't. It was a secret, hidden hideout.
Inside, there were several teenaged figures looking through a doorway, all wearing a short sized black robe with a black bull's skull on it. This group consisted of four girls and five guys. Through the doorway, they were watching a young and short teenaged boy with messy grey hair, wearing the same robe as them and a headband with the same black bull logo on it. What concerned him was that he was sitting on the couch, looking up dazed at the ceiling above him like his mind was blank. They weren't sure, but he looked as if he was drooling too.
"Sheesh!" whispered the boy with a mohawk. "Asta's never been quite the same since that Royal Knights selections tournament."
"You mean how his brother, Yuno scored higher than he did, Magna?" agreed the blonde-haired boy, strangely still grinning. "He doesn't look much fun to spar with right now."
"Oh, honestly, Luck!" sighed Magna. "Even if you did challenge him, it wouldn't do anything."
"Is he even alive?" quivered the blue-haired girl, trying to cover her face with her hands. "He doesn't seem to be moving!"
"Well, it's no surprise that peasant would lose, Grey," huffed the silver pig-tailed girl. "But still, he shouldn't be taking it this hard."
"The shock of his defeat might get worse with each passing day, Noelle," said the tall and slender man with shaggy light brown hair, staring a picture of a little girl with short, blonde hair. "The same feeling could be said for me and my little sister, Marie." he added, getting a sudden nosebleed.
"Um... that's not the same thing," said Grey timidly.
Then the tall, goth man murmured something which was hard for the others to understand.
"Gordon, nobody knows a word you're saying," grunted Magna.
"Let me try to get him out of his phase."
Everyone turned to see a tall young woman with wavy mid-back length pink hair, purple eyes, full lips and a voluptuous body, wearing only her robe, and her red bra and underwear, holding a bottle of booze and a red cat perched on her shoulder. She already looked quite drunk enough as she stumbled over to Asta, sitting down next to him and putting an arm around his shoulder.
"Stop staring into space, Asta," said the woman weary, slightly shaking him with her arm around him. "Is it really because you weren't able to score higher than your rival? Come on, smile for me. Okay?" she laughed.
"Oh honestly, Vanessa!" groaned Noelle, facepalming and blushing with embarrassment while unable to watch the scene before her.
"How generous of her, trying to bring Asta back," said Grey with admiration while everyone looked at her with surprise. "Why don't we just follow her lead and be positive?
"You mean give him a confidence boost?" asked Noelle.
"Like attacking him?" asked Luck excitedly.
"No!" said Noelle and Magna in unison.
But it was too late, Luck's legs charged with electricity before jumping towards him and giving him a swift kick to the face, causing him to tumble over the couch and onto the floor.
"Come on, buddy," encouraged Luck. "Don't forget the Royal Knights selection poll results. They should be coming really soon."
Finally, Asta spoke as he stood back up.
"Oh... I forgot," he sighed, still in his dazed state.
"He's right, kid," said Magna, encouragingly grabbing his shoulder. "Once you get selected, you'll catch up to him for sure."
"Will I though?" asked Asta. "I was eliminated in the tournament."
"Doesn't mean you won't get selected, honey," laughed Vanessa.
"She's right," agreed Noelle. "While I may have reached the finals and secured my chances of being selected, it's the results that count."
"That's because you and pretty boy were on the same team," remarked Magna.
"Well, that was better than you're magic anyway, which cost your own team the win!" Noelle shot back.
"You do realize I'm your superior!" hissed Magna.
"But I am royalty!" barked Noelle.
"No one cares!" Magma argued.
"Excuse me," spoke up Grey while hiding behind Gordon. "Would you two please stop fighting?"
So, they did. But both Noelle and Magna huffed and looked away from each other.
"You're quite terrified yourself, aren't you?" Lucked asked Magna.
"No way, I know I'll be selected, so I'm not worried," Magna boasted.
Gordon could only mutter his doubts. He could clearly notice Magna was worried. Everyone was already starting to think of ideas when they turned to see a small girl with black hair, sitting in a chair. She too looked kind of dazed herself as she was only taking nibbles at two pieces of bread instead of scarfing them down as usual.
"What's wrong with you, Charmy?" asked Vanessa while drinking her bottle.
"That Yuno was so cool in that fight, my chest is hurting so much I can't take one bite," sighed Charmy. "So far, I've only eaten one-fifth."
The group looked at the huge load of bread sitting on the table behind her. And hearing how much she was eating, they confirmed that Charmy was fine. They were starting to run out of ideas when...
"Hey, everyone!"
Hearing that gruff voice, everyone turned to the doorway and gasped in shock.
There, behind them was a tall man with a very muscular build, grey eyes, messy black hair, and a stubble mustache and beard, wearing only a loin cloth and holding a wooden bucket with on arm and a towel on the other.
"How about we all have a nice bath?" he asked lazily. "Hot, steaming water should bound to cheer anybody up."
"I'm not in the mood, Captain Yami" sighed Asta until he felt a huge hand crushing the top of his skull.
"That wasn't a suggestion!" snarled Yami. "It's an order from your captain."
Seeing they didn't have a choice, they all agreed. The boys took the men's side while the girls took the women's side. There were traps in the corridor between the two baths for a good reason. Nobody would even dare try to catch a peek of someone from the opposite sex.
Once they were washed up, they all sat down in the hot bath, where the steaming, hot water soothed their skin and their stress.
On the women's side, the girls felt relaxed, all except for Grey, who felt so shy to be bathing with other girls, she couldn't prevent herself from using her transformation magic and turning herself into an extremely large, heavy-set man with slicked-back black hair and darkness covering the front side, expelling smoke with each exhale. The other girls knew this wasn't Grey's normal form, so they didn't react to it. Though they wished she'd get over her shyness somehow.
On the men's side, while they were in bliss, Luck couldn't miss the chance to use his electricity magic to shock Magna, much to his annoyance. Though strangely, while Asta felt a slight bit better, he still down. Yami sighed.
"You know, this takes me back to the day when I first joined a Magic Knights squad," he said, thinking back.
And he told them about the time many years ago, when he was young and joined a squad called, the Grey Deers before the name was changed to the Aqua Deers later on, leaded by a man named Julius Novachrono. While fighting a bunch of bandits, he first met a man named Ace Vangeance and they became rivals ever since. But after Julius became the Wizard King, both Yami and Ace became vice captains. Though despite being rivals, there was one point where Ace saved Yami's life, though they were still rivals. And all that was before both Yami and Ace were promoted to squad captains, forming their own teams; Yami with the Black Bulls and Ace with the Golden Dawn.
Though Asta still didn't see the point, it still did give him spirit he needed to keep on fighting, which was enough for them.
At the Konaha bathhouse, Sakura was on the women's side, washing herself with a lot on her mind before rinsing herself. Next to her was a girl her age with brown hair in twin buns and brown eyes, who noticed Sakura's sad gaze to the mirror in front of her.
"You still thinking about him?" she asked pitifully.
"Of course not, Tenten," Sakura huffed.
"Well, your eyes still say so," Tenten replied. "Just face it, Sakura. Sasuke is not coming back! He's our enemy now."
"I know that," Sakura sighed.
Poor Sakura could remember long ago when she was still in the ninja academy where she attended with Naruto, Tenten, and others. There was one boy there who she developed a huge crush on, Sasuke Uchiha. Though she always set her eyes on him, along with all of the other girls that gazed at him like candy, Sasuke never seemed interested or seemed to notice, always keeping a grim look on his face. She knew why though; she had heard from others a rumor about his whole Uchiha clan being slaughtered and that Sasuke was the only survivor left. It never occurred to her that he knew the identity of who it was until sometime after they graduated. Though, she was pleased that he was placed on the same team as her and Naruto, Team 7, believing that it would make her closer to him. That was all why she even became a ninja at all.
But boy was she wrong!
The entire time, at the academy, even on their team, he just wanted to use them to get stronger so that he could get his revenge on the attacker, Itachi Uchiha, a member of the Akatsuki and his older brother. This took a bad turn after Itachi visited the village for a brief period of time. Afterward, the inevitable happened! Sasuke deserted the village and joined up with the most notorious villains, Kabuto Yakushi and, the worst of them all, Orochimaru. Though Orochimaru had planned to train Sasuke so he could secretly take over his body once he was stronger than him. But Sasuke was somehow already aware of that and killed Orochimaru before fighting Itachi with his newly found strength and power and won. Even so, Sasuke still hasn't changed his ways. From what she heard from him; he now had a new goal... to destroy the Hidden Leaf village!
Nowadays, ever since he deserted the village for Orochimaru, none of Sasuke's fangirls from the academy would even dare go near him, especially after hearing how he tried to kill her on the bridge that climatic day. What a waste of a man with such potential for greatness only to become the village's greatest threat, a rogue ninja wanted alive or dead. Nothing but a shell without a soul, at least that's what everyone keeps telling her.
Despite what everyone said, Sakura's heart was telling her otherwise, that maybe there was still a piece of the old Sasuke they originally knew back from the old days, when he was not only their comrade, but also their friend. Of course, she wasn't the only one to know that, as Naruto knows this too after knowing him for so long, he already felt like a brother to him. He promised Sakura that he was going to bring Sasuke back no matter what, and he still tends to keep to that promise today. But that wasn't going to be easy, both Sakura and Naruto knew this.
After rinsing herself, Sakura rose up from the stool and stepped into the bath, sitting in the hot water. There, she was met with a slender girl of fair-complexion at her age with long, dark blue hair tied in a ponytail and whitish lavender eyes, wearing a shy expression on her face.
"So...," said the girl timidly, "...I heard your mission went well?"
"Yes," Sakura answered.
"So, then Naruto is okay?" she asked hopefully.
"Of course, Hinata," Sakura sighed, as if she needed to say it again. "I mean, Naruto's always fine. But that doesn't mean you could keep hiding your feelings of him forever."
"Eh?!" Hinata gasped. "I... I-uhh..."
"Come on, Hinata, it shows all over your face," Sakura went on. "Not to mention you always pass out everytime he's come within centimeters to your face."
Poor Hinata began to blush fully crimson red, embarrassed and flustered.
"I... I-I have no idea what you're talking about!" Hinata spoke quickly as she quickly climbed out of the tub and grabbed her towel before rushing into the locker room.
As Hinata got out, Sakura had a good view of her chest. Glancing down at her own, she sulked... again! But that was the least of her worries as she started thinking about Sasuke again. Of course, she wasn't the only one thinking about him.
On the men's side, Naruto relaxed in the tub by himself while other guys were washing themselves. Of course, he already washed himself before getting in, that was the rule. In the meantime, Naruto thought about Sasuke. At first, he had originally heard people talking praises about Sasuke at the academy, which always made him jealous since Naruto wanted the top spot, though he never succeeds. Now, after Sasuke became a rogue ninja, Naruto hears them all wanting him dead. Naruto knew why, but he knew better.
Sure, he and Sasuke may be rivals, but he never imagined it would excelate to this extend. Sure, Naruto had been an outcast during his whole childhood all because of that Nine-Tailed Fox attacking the village all those years ago, so he had no one, not even his parents because they died after his birth, trying to protect the village. Sasuke? He lost his whole clan, he had no one either. In a way, it was like they were brothers. For a brief moment, he imagined Sasuke sitting right beside him.
"I will get him back, Sakura," Naruto thought. "I promised!"
That night, in a remote forest area, outside the Leaf village, one man in a red-hooded cloak, only showing his scaley face with grey hair and yellow snake-like eyes, as if you were staring into the face of evil. He just walked aimlessly through the area beside a tall cliff, feeling his growing power and strength as he went.
"Yes!" he thought to himself in a sinister way. "I can feel my new powers growing deeply inside of me. After absorbing Orochimaru's body, I will use his power to destroy the Hidden Leaf! Then I can conquor everything else after. I will be a being who rises above all, and no one will even dare cross me!"
But then, his senses spiked! Someone was here! But it didn't worry him, he could kill him easily. Whoever it was, it was following him! Hiding in the bushes and trees probably.
"There's no use hiding!" he said calmly. "Unless you want to die, I ask that you to come out!"
He waited for a minute, then he heard a rustling in one of the trees. He dodged an incoming kunai, which hit the wall. Afterward, a big snake's head drew out of one of his sleeves and it extended towards the tree where his intruder was. The imapct destroyed the tree, but the figure jumped out at the last second, landing safely on the ground with his feet.
It was Kakashi!
"Ah, Kakashi Hatake, Jonin of the Hidden Leaf!" smirked the snake man. "What a surprise. I didn't expect to see you here of all places."
"Kabuto Yakushi!" snarled Kakashi. "I had a hunch that someone else would be here, that's why I stayed behind to check things out while my squad headed back. I'm sensing you were the one who sent those spies to the village. Just what are you planning to gain?"
"Haven't you figured it out yet?" he asked. "My goal is to archive ultimate power, to become the perfect being. That way, I will destroy all that get in my way. I could destroy the entire world if I wanted to!"
"Is someone telling you to do this?" asked Kakashi angrilly. "I seem to recall that you worked for Orochimaru. But now that he's gone, I assume you must be working for someone else."
"Don't be stupid," snorted Kabuto. "This is my own free will. With Orochimaru gone, I can do whatever I please. Like I said, I am the perfect being!"
"I wouldn't say having scaley skin makes you all perfect," Kakashi said.
Kakashi immediately made hand signs.
Ox → Rabbit → Monkey → Dragon → Rat → Bird → Ox → Snake → Dog → Tiger → Monkey
Electricity started charging into his hand, sparkling wildly.
"Seeing how you're not all perfect right now, I'd say you're still vulnerable!" Kakashi finished.
"Is that a fact? Let's find out!" challenged Kabuto before launching another snake at him, only for Kakashi to dodge and use his other hand to throw a few kunai with paper bombs tied to them. Kabuto saw them coming and smirked evilly.
"Earth Style: Terra Shield!" Kabuto called and in an instant, a wall of earth covered him while the sharp ends of the kunai dug into the wall.
Kabuto took pride in that before he felt the earth shake under him. Then, in an instant, Kakashi bust through the ground right under him, readying his attack.
"Chidori!" Kakashi shouted, throwing his attack forward.
Without a second thought, Kabuto recklessly did an attack of his own, hoping to counter.
Tiger → Ox → Monkey → Rabbit → Ram → Boar → Ox → Horse → Monkey → Tiger → Dog → Tiger → Snake → Tiger → Ox → Monkey → Rabbit → Bird
"Water Style: Giant Vortex Jutsu!"
A large tornado of water shot towards Kakashi from Kabuto. But Kabuto clearly forgot how strong electricity is to water. The electricity touched with Kakashi's chidori, electricuting the tornado. But before it could electicute any further, their attack expanded and made contact with the kunai with the paper bombs on the earth wall beside them on the other side and...
KABOOM!
A titanic explosion erupted from the site and a mushroom cloud emerged from the canopy.