Chapter 2: Hostile Protectors

"HUH!"

Musket awoke in the middle of a clearing with the sun beating down on his face. He got up a little dazed before looking at his surroundings.

Looking around, he feels as if he's being watched but ignores it for the moment.

He checks for any sign of civilization, hoping to find a path or sign.

"Where the hell am I?" He thought to himself out loud as he began to walk into the forest.

Walking silently through the forest he senses that someone is watching him once more. This time however he can feel their ill intent as he unclips his holster to his pistol.

The feeling of ill intent seemed to be getting worse as Musket began to wonder if this was the knights doing.

Musket looked around as he saw a slight glint that looked like metal reflecting light from the sun before a kunai came right at his face. He shot through it, destroying it with his pistol.

He wasted no time as another kunai came flying towards him. Shooting at it he heard a twig snap from behind him as he shot at the leaves above. A pained scream sounded off as a man fell from the tree and clutched at the bullet wound in his shoulder. At that, more kunai came flying from all directions as Musket shot at a few before hearing the click of an empty chamber. Pressing the switch to unlatch the front of the firearm, Musket reloaded as time seemed to slow for himself. At speeds most wouldn't be accustomed to seeing he reloaded before firing at the remaining projectiles.

The other masked ninja that were hiding looked at the sight in aw as they all had trouble looking at the amazingly fast attack that destroyed their weapons. The leader of the group realized something strange about the sight. There was no sound from the weapon in his hand when the shots were fired even though he could see smoke coming out of the strange weapon. He wondered what sort of weapon this was, seeing how complex it was from the brief moment he glimpsed it open.

Musket without even taking a moment to breath shot to his right to then hear a scream as another masked ninja had fallen from the tree they were hiding in, holding their arm in pain. He then slammed his hand on the ground as a glyph suddenly appeared on the ground, before it then lit up as Musket started to fly into the air. He begins to fly towards one of the ninja before his left hand then becomes a shiny black before it fades and he punches the ninja in the stomach, landing on the ground as he holsters his gun.

Grabbing a cigarette out of his left pocket, Musket puts it in his mouth before lighting it with a lighter in his right hand, taking a drag of the cigarette. Taking it out of his mouth, Musket flicks it with his right hand to his right before a fireball explodes and another masked ninja screams as they fly backwards.

The leader of the ninja was watching his group falling to this unknown intruder, thinking to himself. 'Who is this man, not only is he not using any hand signs but he doesn't seem to be using any chakra at all and he is taking on an entire ANBU squad on his own.' The Anbu captain then began to pulse his chakra in a certain way to call on any Anbu in the area before noticing Musket disappear in an instant. 'What the hell!' The Anbu captain looked around to see where Musket had gone before he then felt a strike to the back of his head as all he could see was darkness, his now unconscious body falling to the ground.

Musket grabbed the Anbu as he slowly floated to the ground. Placing the man on the ground, he looked at him and the rest of the Anbu that he had healed after they fell so they wouldn't die of their injuries, doing the same to the captain.

"Well this is interesting, some ninja's." Musket was looking at the Anbu before he then felt another person coming towards him, just dodging out of the way of a three pronged kunai with weird looking writing on it as it dug into the ground a few feet behind him. Musket looked up to see a blonde ninja in a green vest and a blue body suit. He was interested in who this might be as he decided to try a little conversation with the man.

"Can I help you?" said Musket in a sarcastic way.

The newcomer laughed as he said in a surprised voice "Well I came to see what was going on cause I sensed a chakra signal that said someone was in trouble, and then I saw you."

"And then you throw a knife at me, kind of rude."

"Well that was to get your attention, and well, another reason."

Musket was confused when he said that as he didn't understand what this man could possibly mean by having another reason for throwing his kunai. Suddenly, the man disappeared as Musket heard a voice from behind him as he saw a kunai at his throat.

"So what are you doing so close to Konoha? Are you with Kumogakure, or maybe Iwagakure? Or are you with one of the smaller villages? Either way I'm not going to let you just walk into my home and hurt those I care fo…"

The man was surprised as Musket suddenly disappeared. Looking around, he notices a bright light as he looks down to see a glyph at his feet. An explosion goes off as Musket in a tree 20 feet away looks down at the scene that had just occurred. "So he can teleport, this will be harder than I thought." The man then appears behind Musket in a flash and slashes at his neck before the illusion disappears as the man looks at what had just happened in confusion.

"Wait, was that some kind of genjutsu?" the man thought as he teleports out of the way of a blob of acid.

Teleporting back to the kunai in the ground he looks for Musket before hearing a voice above him as he looks up.

"Well I'm impressed, I didn't think I'd have to deal with someone who could teleport."

"I was going to say the exact same thing, but I haven't seen you use any chakra since i got here. Since I can't feel any in you when you use your abilities and you haven't used any hand signs or even seem to have any life energy that I can sense at all, I'm guessing you're not normal, are you?" the man asked, a hint of confusion evident in his voice. Musket watches him intently as red pigment that was just below the man's eyes seem to disappear as they stare at one another.

'Chakra, what is that?' Musket thought before he began to speak. "What's your name?"

"Minato, and you?

"Musket."

Both men looked at each other for a moment. Quickly, Musket brings out a musket with a bayonet attached to it from thin air and Minato one of his kunai as they both begin there attacks.

Minato charges at Musket who had began to shoot at Minato. As Minato dodged the shots he noticed that despite the smoke coming out of the weapon there was no sound coming from it. Deciding to figure that out later, he threw his kunai at Musket who flew in the air as he reloaded before he then made another musket come out of thin air and began to shoot at Minato who dodged a shower of bullets. Musket let go of his muskets as they began to float in the air and kept firing at Minato who charged a ball of energy in his hands.

'This isn't good, I need to find a way to get to him' Minato thought before he gained an idea. Grabbing a few more of his kunai with his free hand, he threw them into the air as his leg was grazed by a bullet. 'That won't be good.'

Musket saw the kunai come towards him as he began to rise higher so as to not get hit by them. Minato wouldn't allow this man to get away as he teleported to one of them before then grabbing the others and throwing them again, randomly teleporting to one after the other as he used the kunai as a ladder to Musket, dodging his shots by teleporting to another kunai as he got closer, finally charging up the orange sphere of energy in his hand.

"Rasengan!" Minato yelled as he slammed the attack into Muskets stomach as he then felt a blast in his stomach as he fell to the ground

"Eldritch Blast!" Musket yelled, having blasted a beam of energy at Minato as he got too close, though he didn't have enough time to dodge the Rasengan as it collided into his stomach with a sickening crack. Musket flew high into the sky for a moment before beginning his descent to the ground.

Both men fell to the ground. They both thought only one thing before they blacked out 'That hurt."

Hours later

Both men began to stir as they both put a hand on their stomachs, getting up slowly.

"Man that sucked, I thought I was done there." Minato said in a bit of pain.

"Yeah, I'm surprised I'm even still alive." said Musket as he held his stomach.

"Same. I'm wondering why you didn't finish me with that last attack." Minato said, confused.

"Well I didn't want to just kill you. I mean you seemed to care about protecting that Konoha place and I didn't want to kill someone who was protecting their home."

Minato looked at Musket before they both began to laugh, both regretting it as they held their stomachs in pain.

Musket got to his feet as he healed his wounds before he went over to Minato, placing his hand on his shoulder. "Here let me help." A yellow aura enveloped Minato as his wounds began to heal themselves.

Minato looked at his body as his wounds healed and he felt his energy come back to him as he looked to Musket in astonishment. "How did you do that?"

Musket laughed as he waved his hand as little sparks appeared around it. "Magic."

Minato began to laugh as they both noticed a group surrounding them. Four had katana and kunai to Musket as he put his hands in the air as one of the Anbu talked in a stern voice. "You have trespassed on Fire Country Territory and have attacked five Anbu officers and a shinobi of the leaf. As a result you will be detained and taken to Konoha's Torture and Interigation Department!"

Musket, knowing that he was in no shape to try to stop from being detained and didn't want to provoke these ninja's any further, allowed them to take him as he was taken in a flash. Minato looked at what had happened before he then talked to the Anbu who was asking if he was alright.

End of Chapter