Naruto: Tales of Ashihara
Prologue – Arc 1: The Soul Robber
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Prologue: How it goes on
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"Perhaps... that's what it means to be a ninja".
These are the words that Sasuke Uchiha recalls in his mind as he is laying on a tree branch in the south of the land of Fire. These words are the last that came to his thoughts when he last saw Naruto Uzumaki, just before leaving the village, peacefully this time, to begin his new journey. His travels brought him back to his native land once again. And now, he wonders whether he should or not go visit his friends in Konoha.
He already passed by the village only two weeks ago when Naruto wasn't there to protect it from the moon's falling, but he only blitzed through really fast to blast a meteor and didn't come back later. He heard of Naruto's exploits on the moon, and wonders if asking about the threat he faced is a reasonable motive for coming back. Sure, there are other ways to get this information, but he's already busy with his space-time training and can't take the time to go elsewhere..
Does he even need a good reason to pass by? Konoha is his home after all. It is where he'll go once his quest for peace is over, and it is the place where his loved ones, actually just his best friend and his woman, are waiting for him. The real reason he feels like he needs a good reason to be allowed there is because of the rest of the villagers.
For them, he's still Sasuke Uchiha: the nukenin who wanted to destroy the village and who almost killed their hero. Maybe that's what his quest is all about, he thinks. What he seeks is the forgiveness of the people, but not only. He needs their trust if he wants to stand next to Naruto as a partner.
Laying there on a tree branch, looking at the cloudy sky, a sudden sensation forces him off his train of thoughts. He feels an immense and unknown chakra a few village distances away. Such powerful energy... Unbelievable! Even Hashirama Senju, the first Hokage renowned as the God of Shinobi, didn't have such power.
Sasuke decides to go check where this feeling comes from, calmly as no danger seems to be around. After leaping down the tree, as he gets closer, he realizes this chakra is way more like his than like Naruto's, and even reminds him of Kaguya's. Bothered by this unique sensation, his curiosity makes him accelerate. To make it worse, he hears the scream of a woman's voice coming from the same direction. Guessing that the source of this chakra is currently threatening somebody, Sasuke hurries to the place.
When he arrives there, he sees a young girl sitting in the dirt after falling on her butt. Probably the one he heard screaming. But she isn't the only person there. She's staring in front of her at a person in a brown hooded cape holding a tall black haired man by the hair. It looks like a fight is taking place, and judging from the confused and fearful expression on the tall man's face, the winner is already decided.
Does Sasuke need to get involved? Is there a life at stake? Definitely. The caped person, apparently a male, isn't only holding his opponent down. He is slowly tearing something out of his body. It is his soul that he grabbed with his hand and is tearing apart from his victim's physical form.
This jutsu, Sasuke recognizes it. He never saw anyone use it but he knows it is one of his left eye's abilities: Ningendo, the Human Path. How is this person capable of using it? Plus if he succeeds, it will inevitably result in the tall man's death. Sasuke has to interfere.
Ameno Tejikara
Using the unique ability of his Rinnegan to switch places with the tall man, the Uchiha tries to strike the mysterious caped figure with a Chidori, but sees his target leap away in time…
He's fast. He managed to dodge it even from this close. Still, his hood got torn apart by the lightning, which uncovered his head. They can now all see the man's very pale face and his gray hair, long on the left side but short on the right. Most importantly, Sasuke notices his pair of red Rinnegan, and his two long pointy hollow horns. They resemble those of Kaguya but are protruding from his forehead and have the same color as his skin.
One of his horns looks like it was cut off while the other one is in good Sasuke, there is no doubt about the guy's status. He looks way too much like any of the Juubi's hosts and heirs to not be an enemy. Yet the Uchiha doesn't sense such a great power coming from him. His chakra is enormous for sure, but not as much as Kaguya's.
Bothered by the long silence, the stranger, also intrigued by Sasuke, makes his comments first.
"A Rinnegan? You must be one of the old princess' heirs."
Sasuke, having seen enough to consider the danger this man represents, pulls out his sword from its scabbard and tries to attack once again, aiming directly for the enemy's neck. This time, a shadow stops his blade. Not a silhouette, but an actual shadow emerging from the ground. It must be a jutsu similar to The Nara clan's shadow control. Held back with no counter attack, Sasuke decides to ask his questions.
"Who are you? Where did you get these eyes? How do you know this jutsu?"
Face to face with the mysterious man, he just throws at him every question that comes to his mind while his blade is still colliding with a shadow tentacle.
"That jutsu? I don't know it, nor am I the one using it." answers the intriguing being about the emerging shadow.
From this answer, Sasuke quickly deduces that the man isn't alone. But who is using this thing to protect him? As he analyzes his opponent's cover, he notices a black silhouette with 2 tails in the back jumping out of the man's shadow and attempting to strike him with large dark claws. Sasuke deflects the attack with his sword and leaps away. However, he feels himself being pulled back directly toward the mysterious man's held out hand.
Bansho Ten'in
The brown-caped man uses this jutsu to draw Sasuke closer to the two-tailed shadow so it can pierce through him with its claws. Even though his eyes have a different color, they seem to have the exact same abilities as Sasuke's.
"Let's surprise him with something his eyes can't do then." The Uchiha thinks. To block the claws, he summons the Susanoo's rib cage that closes itself around him. "Those claws are really tough." Sasuke thinks as he sees them slowly breaking through his armor.
To prevent it, a skeleton arm comes additionally to the rib cage and grabs the shadowy creature, only for it to vanish before he can tighten the Susanoo's hold around it and squash it down.
"What was that?" he asks the horned man, after leaping away.
"I only want the Minamoto's soul, Rinnegan owner." answers the man, ignoring Sasuke's question. "Don't interfere, or I'll have to take yours as well."
"Can't let you do that." answers the Uchiha who assumes that who is referred to as "the Minamoto" must be the man behind him. "Actually you're going down now." he adds before activating another power of his left eye.
Amaterasu
His Rinnegan starts to bleed as the horned man's coat catches fire, but the black flames are completely absorbed by his red Rinnegan. But the slight diversion it caused is enough to be taken advantage of. While his opponent is busy, Sasuke uses his left eye again, first to teleport behind the man, then to rip his soul out by mimicking the jutsu he saw him use earlier.
It's the first time he uses the ability of Ningendo. He knows that by doing so, he will access all of this guy's knowledge and memory and won't need him alive anymore. Since his target is unable to react, he successfully grabs his soul and starts tearing it apart from his body. However, to his surprise, even once confusion wears out, the pale horned being still lets go and leaves his soul to be ripped away. JUst before they separate, he whispers something:
Umashi Ashikabi Hikoji
Those are the words the man pronounces before his ripped out soul begins to move on its own and tries to grab Sasuke in return. It is now the Uchiha's soul that's being ripped out by a bodiless form. Sasuke, in an urge to save his life, pushes the opponent back with a small repulsion in his direction.
Shinra Tensei
The flying soul immediately regains its body that wakes up again as if nothing happened. A black space rift now appears behind him as he falls back.
"You're tough. I'll come back later. But I'll have to kill you." says the man before being swallowed by the dark spiral.
The portal closes and completely disappears with all that went through it. The enemy is gone. Sasuke stands still on the ground after witnessing this, and sighs. The space-time rift that this man just used to escape. He recognized it. It is the same as the type of portal he can barely open with his Rinnegan.
Since the fourth war, he's been thinking of ways to reach Kaguya's dimensions again in order to explore and understand them. By trying to establish a way back to these places, he discovered this ability of his Rinnegan but doesn't know how to properly control the destination of these portals for now. They also cost a lot of chakra, as he can't open more than three without wasting away almost all his chakra.
This man must be able to use this same jutsu thanks to his pair of Rinnegan, except he actually knows how to do it safely.
Who is this man? Why does he look so much like Kaguya? Since when is he around? What is that huge two-tailed beast that showed up to help him? And finally, Umashi Ashikabi Hikoji? Is that the name of the jutsu he used to survive the Ningendo's pull? So many questions pop in Sasuke's head as he realizes his journey just took a completely different turn.
Another question is however more important at the moment. What happened to the tall black haired man and the young girl who were being attacked before he arrived? Sasuke turns around and sees the man and the girl, both sitting on the ground and looking at him. Once she feels safe, the girl stands up first.
"Thank you!", she says. "You saved us!"
Sasuke turns his eyes to see the man who gladly doesn't seem to be injured.
"Are you his target? Are you who he called the Minamoto?" asks the Uchiha.
"Uh… That's just my last name." answers the man as he stands up. "I have no damn idea how this dude knows me or who he even was. He just came outta nowhere and said he wanted my powers and soul as a slave. T'was damn creepy!"
"Powers? What powers do you have that he could be after?"
"No damn idea! I'm not even a ninja. I just know a little Katon and some of the basics because of my clan's teaching. That's all."
Sasuke takes a moment to think about the situation. There seems to be a load of mysteries to unveil about the victims as well, but the most intriguing and urgent thing to figure out now, for Sasuke, is who the man he fought really is and what he wants.
"… What are your names?" he asks the two strangers. "I can't let you on the loose with such a threat after you."
"Um… I'm Tsubai. Tsubai Minamoto." says the tall black haired man before introducing the young woman as well. "And she's Himari Sakazawa, a friend of mine. We're just traveling around the country because staying in our home village is damn boring."
"And you?" asks Himari. "Judging by your skills and all, you must be a ninja. Are you from Konoha?"
"My name… is Sasuke Uchiha. I'm just a wandering ninja on a quest to find inner peace."
"Uchiha? You mean THE Uchiha?" asks the girl in a euphoric tone. "You're the man who helped Uzumaki Naruto to save the world, am I right? "
"Sigh… This idiot really became famous" thinks Sasuke, embarrassed, though he doesn't consider it a bad thing. If Naruto is known and trusted in other villages or even countries, it probably helps to maintain peace across the world. If this can stop ninjas from going against each other again, then he better keep this reputation. Now that the five great nations are united, they should keep it this way.
As things like the moon falling apart and the mysterious Rinnegan wielder he just ran into probably are just two of many similar threats, the nations should do their best to stay as one. Facing this kind of enemies all together worked 2 years ago during the fourth great ninja war, and Naruto believes it will keep working. He better be right.
"Well, Thank you for saving me, mister shinobi." says Tsubai Minamoto, interrupting Sasuke's silent thoughts. "But if you're capable of saving the world from a damn giant demigod monster, how could you let this ugly dude escape?"
"How?... I don't know."
Sasuke doesn't find it relevant to give an honest reply. It could only make this guy lose the faith he may have in him.
"Hey, Tsubai!" exclaims Himari, in reaction to her friend's rude question. "Seriously, you saw it, didn't you? That other guy seemed really strong too. They were both so fast I couldn't understand anything that was happening, but it looked like a tough fight."
"Well no, I did not see that." answers Tsubai. "You know I kinda almost fucking died right there so I was more focused on my damn soul leaving my body than on these two onion-eyes guys wrestling."
"Stop kidding around for a moment. Are you good now?"
"Well I don't know if anything happened to my soul, but I feel like I didn't become a vegetable, so no problem!"
Himari looks at him with a serious and worried face. Seeing her like that, Tsubai becomes serious too and says: "Don't worry, I'm okay. My soul is still in one piece, and I'm alive."
Seeing this conversation, Sasuke thoughtfully stares at the young woman, Himari. She's good with observation. It seems like he won't need to keep anything secret with her around. He can be himself. He now sees her look at him, and listens.
"Could you please keep going on the road with us for a while?" HImari asks the Uchiha. "If this guy ever comes again, we won't be able to fight back or do anything."
"That's what I intended to do." answers Sasuke. "But I have places to go. So you'll have to follow me around if you want to stay safe."
"Really? That's great! Thank you a lot!" she exclaims, keeping it positive. "We weren't going anywhere anyway, so it's fine."
"Yeah… Just anywhere but home." says Tsubai.
Sasuke raises an eyebrow while looking at the MInamoto. This man is just expressing the opposite feeling of what he was telling himself 10 minutes ago. While he is looking for a reason to go home, this guy right here, Tsubai, is trying to avoid his hometown? Why?... He'll probably ask this question later.
"And where is your hometown? So I know where we shouldn't go."
"It's a small village on the east border of the country." Tsubai replies. "So just don't go around there… Anyway, Wherever you're headed gotta be safe, right? Where are you going?"
Sasuke stays quiet, as he isn't headed anywhere. But he knows where he could go and bring them. This horned man is just the reason he was looking for. Kakashi and Naruto have to be warned about this. He, Sakura and them are the only ones who saw Madara but also Kaguya and the Rikudo-Sennin in action. They were all Rinnegan users with horns. His former teammates are the only people who could understand what kind of threat this mysterious man represents. Having made his choice, Sasuke looks back at the 2 travelers and firmly says:
"To Konoha."
The horned man with red Rinnegan, and Tsubai Minamoto. Sasuke Uchiha's encounter with these two people is, for him and for all of the ninja world, the beginning of a new era. In this new world, Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha and every other shinobi of this age and the coming generations will have to resist and fight through events and encounters with forces that greatly surpass everything that they thought they knew until now.
This story is about how a world trying to prosper in peace will enter a new age of conflict, and discover its real place in the larger scheme of all creation.
What about me, the teller of this tale? What is my place in this world? I, myself, do not know that. But whether you know or will know my nature does not matter. For now, I am just the one who will narrate the ongoing adventures of Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha to you.
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End of Prologue
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Chapter 1: Home
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"It's been a damn while already! Are we still far from your village, Sasuke?" says Tsubai as it's almost been an entire day since they got on the way to Konoha.
"No, we're getting close." answers Sasuke.
"How fast could you have been there if it wasn't for us, mister Sasuke?" Himari asks.
"Mister? Why are you calling him mister?" Tsubai comments before Sasuke can reply. "I'm sure this guy is younger than me. He looks like he's not even 20."
"Oh you think? To me, he really looks like an adult. And anyway, I'm still younger than him."
Listening to them, Sasuke thinks of asking about their age, but doesn't really dare to do so. His untold question is answered anyway.
"I'm 17 and Tsubai is 20." Himari says, feeling like Sasuke would like to know. "We met when I was around 10 so we've been friends for quite a time already. And no we aren't a couple. We're just friends. Just saying, 'cause you were probably gonna ask at some point."
"Can she read minds or something?" the Uchiha thinks to himself. Or is she just very social? She just answered every question that came to his mind without him even saying a word,… except for one, that he asks by himself.
"And why did you leave your home village? What's so unpleasant there?"
"Oh no big deal." the young woman explains. "Tsubai is just on bad terms with his daddy and wants to get away from him for a moment. I'm following him, because I know he easily feels lonely... And also I don't have anyone else other than him since the war."
"The war?…"
"Sheesh... You really confide too much, Himari." says Tsubai, in an embarrassed tone. "He didn't even ask anything. And I'm not just on bad terms with my old man, it's much more complicated than that. I'm not just a kid in his damn teenage phase running away from home."
"What happened during the war?" asks Sasuke, growing curious about that part.
Both of them pause for a moment after hearing this question. Noticing this, Sasuke wonders if he was right to ask.
"You don't have to answer, it doesn't really matter…"
"No, it's fine." Tsubai says. "A lot of things happened during that damn war, don't you think? We all lost something that night. "
"We're not ninjas." says Himari with a saddened voice. "We weren't supposed to play any role in this, yet it still struck us… It was a day like any other until something like a giant bomb dropped really close to our village."
"One of Juubi's directed orbs?" Sasuke guesses, but keeps to himself. "They really were unlucky then."
"The explosion reached the village and many perished." Himari goes on. "My parents were home, at the closest to the blast location. And Tsubai and his mom too. That night, I really thought he had died too. It was unreal. How could this happen so fast, so unexpectedly, and change so many things?"
Sasuke doesn't know what to say. He wonders if he could have stopped the beast from doing this. But that night, he arrived on the battlefield really late, at the point where the Juubi was already about to evolve into his 3rd form. These explosions happened when he was still in Konoha with Orochimaru.
If he had made up his mind sooner, if he had accepted Naruto earlier, could he have saved all the people who died that day?...No! There's no time for regrets, everything has already happened and it can't be changed. Thinking about different paths won't change anything.
"And you?" Himari asks him, getting him off his train of thought. "Not to be annoying but what did the war take from you? You were out there fighting like all the others to save the world, weren't you?"
What he lost in the war? That's a good question. This war killed a lot of people, even unconcerned people like this girl's family, but for Sasuke, the only thing that came out of this war is a blessing. A redemption. It's kind of like he already lost everything before the war. With nothing left to lose, he could only come out as a winner. The only thing left to take was his life.
"An arm at least?" comments Tsubai, bending his 2 meters tall body over to see the missing limb under Sasuke's cape.
"Yeah…" the Uchiha answers even though, to him, this lost limb is more like the symbol of what his past mistakes took from him. This arm is only the price he had to pay to be able to go home again in the future.
"You don't talk much. Don't you have any family?" Himari asks who's trying to break Sasuke's silence.
"Yeah of course! Ask the damn last survivor of his whole clan's massacre if he has family!" Tsubai exclaims, startled by his friend's question.
"Oh, I'm really sorry! I didn't want to be mean or something!" Himari innocently adds.
Sasuke doesn't mind it. It only leaves him wondering. Family? Are these the people who wait for you at home? Are these the people you can call home? Are these the people linked to you by more than only friendship? In this case, Sasuke thinks it appropriate to call Naruto his brother. He's definitely more than a friend.
But Naruto isn't the only person Sasuke wants to call family. There is another person in Konoha who's been waiting for his return. Someone who's always cared for him. He also thought of her a lot during his travels, more than about anyone else. When he really had no one, after his clan's loss, she was the first person to help him back up.
Always being on his side must have gotten her a lot of hate from the other villagers. She must have suffered a lot from his actions. Sasuke now feels he will never be sorry enough for what she had to go through because of him. Lost in his thoughts again, which Tsubai and Himari noticed, he is brought back to reality by an oddly familiar voice.
"Welcome back, Sasuke." they hear someone say. the Uchiha wanderer recognizes but doesn't identify this voice. It definitely isn't someone he used to know, but surely someone who knows him.
"A shinobi? We must be close to your village." says Tsubai who already found the person standing on a tree branch a few meters away.
Sasuke follows Tsubai's gaze and sees a pale man with black hair and eyes, and light clothing. Where did he see him before? It's one of Naruto's teammates, probably the one who replaced him in Team 7, but Sasuke doesn't remember his name.
Coming down on the ground to face the group of travelers, the shinobi says:
"You don't have to recognize me. After all, we only met a few times and I don't think I ever made a good impression. I'm Sai. Nice to meet you again!... Are they your friends?"
"Sai. That's his name." thinks Sasuke. He doesn't really look like the person he remembers. He somehow seems more human, more honest, than when they met at Orochimaru's hideout 4 years ago.
"Hello, my name is Himari!" the young woman barges into the discussion. "The tall guy is Tsubai and the caped one is Sasuke! We're just travelers looking for a safe place!"
Sasuke takes the lead from there on.
"I met these two only a few hours ago. They are being chased by a mysterious and dangerous enemy. I'm here to see Naruto. He needs to know about this man. The village should be aware as well. It seems really serious."
"Sorry,..." answers Saï, "... but Naruto is currently on vacation. He left only 2 days ago, to go to another village with his girlfriend and a group of other friends."
"His girlfriend?" Sasuke wonders aloud. "Naruto has a girlfriend? And where's Sakura?"
"She's with him. She's part of the friends, she's not the girlfriend, don't worry!" Sai replies.
"And they left you behind?" asks Himari to Sai, trying to get into the conversation.
"Ahah, no it's not like that! They wanted me to join actually but I chose to stay here. I just didn't feel like going on vacation." the ninja reassures her before looking at Sasuke. "And I'm not the only one who stayed. Shikamaru and Choji left, but not Ino. I wouldn't have left the 3rd and last member of the Ino-Shika-Cho trio alone."
"... Ok... We'll be leaving then." says Sasuke, already leaving as he knows he won't find those he wants to meet here.
"Hey wait!" Sai holds him back. "Didn't you say there's something important we should know about? The Hokage is still here, you can still talk to him about it."
"... I guess…" Sasuke goes forward to follow Sai in the direction of the village.
"Looks good. Actually it's the first time I ever go into a hidden village. They usually don't let anyone in." says Tsubai with the same empty expression he seems to always keep. "It's also the first time I see one of those, since they aren't called hidden for nothing… Anyway, not to be indiscreet, Sasuke, but is this Sakura your girlfriend?"
"... Maybe." answers the wanderer, wondering how people like Tsubai know about Naruto and him but not about Sakura who fought for even longer than him in this war. It was actually to see her that he wanted to come back to the village. But since she's not there, it feels more like an obligation to have to report to Kakashi.
"I see." says Himari, wanting to get into the conversation again. "So you have a girlfriend, mister Sasuke. How is she? Do you have kids? No, that's a stupid question. Of course not, you're still young. Are we going to join her on vacation?… And Naruto, and his girlfriend, and others? Would be so cool! I'd love to meet all these people! Don't you, Tsubai?"
"... So we're going to see the Hokage?" asks the Minamoto, completely ignoring Himari's questions.
"Hey, I asked you something!" the young girl exclaims, blaming her friend. "Don't ghost me like that! We're just face to face!"
"Ah, sorry it's just there were so many questions I didn't know which one I was supposed to answer so I elected to ignore them all. Could you start over more slowly?" Tsubai answers to play it down, but Sasuke interrupts their chat to answer the Minamoto's previous question.
"Yes, I'm going to make a report about the man who assaulted you. He's really suspicious, and I have to tell Kakashi about it."
"Really? It's THAT serious? I mean 'Hokage level' serious?" asks Himari, surprised.
"Everything that's slightly important needs to make its way to the Hokage's office." explains Sai. "Even if it's not that serious, it happened around his village and involved one of his ninjas."
"No… It really is serious." Sasuke insists. "Their pursuer may have something to do with the Juubi or the Rikudo-Sennin."
"That damn Katashiki! What the hell does he even want from me?" says Tsubai spontaneously.
"What did you just say?" suddenly asks Sasuke.
"What?"
"You just said a name? What is it?"
"Oh? Katashiki?"
"Yes? How do you know it all of a sudden?"
"Ah it's right how do I? I don't know. It's like it just popped in my head. I don't remember him saying it, do you, Himari?"
"No, I didn't hear him say it." Himari answers, confused.
So this mysterious invader is called Katashiki… Sasuke now knows his name, some of his weapons and what seems to be his goal. He can at least inform Kakashi of these few details first.
Now standing a few meters away from Konoha's gates, Sasuke freezes in place. He just looks at the door and starts thinking about what awaits him inside of the village. Neither Sakura or Naruto are there, so he has no one to see except the Hokage. And for the rest of the villagers, he is still the missing-nin who joined the despicable snake Sannin's side and later Akatsuki, and who plotted to annihilate the village and the ninja world.
They surely don't want him around anymore, just like they didn't want him to be released from jail after the war. The reason he left the village after being freed is because he wanted to earn back his place in Konoha, and he didn't consider even a single second that he was done with this. He doesn't deserve to walk in the streets of this village like nothing ever happened yet.
"Is something wrong?" asks Himari, who noticed Sasuke standing still, now behind them.
The Uchiha doesn't say a word and just looks forward, to see the gate and the main street in front of him.
"If you're really uncomfortable with the villagers seeing you, you can put your hood on and play it quiet until we reach the Hokage's mansion." suggests Sai who understands very well what is stopping Sasuke from moving forward. "We'll go by the roofs to avoid the big streets and places".
"… Sounds good… Okay" answers Sasuke, still irresolute. He puts his hood on just like Sai suggested and slowly goes to follow him inside.
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Later, in the Hokage's office, Sasuke explains everything he knows to Kakashi. After a quite short statement, the Hokage simply answers:
"I see. That is still a quite blurry story. You should keep looking after this man. Minamoto Tsubai… His name, Minamoto, I heard it somewhere before by the way. Where was it?"
"Kakashi, where's Naruto?" Sasuke interrupts the Hokage. "I need to tell him about that too. And quick!"
"Keep calm. He's in another village on vacation…" Kakashi answers, not minding Sasuke's lack of formalism. "Well, he was sent there on a mission but since he asked, I also gave him some time for himself. After what he did 2 weeks ago, I couldn't refuse this to him. And in case you're wondering, Sakura went with him. His mission is simply to hunt a sea monster that's getting closer to a village. He went with Shikamaru, and Sakura, Hinata, and Choji went only for the break."
"Hinata? Hyuga Hinata?" Sasuke quietly says, guessing this must be Naruto's girlfriend. "I see, where's this village?"
"It's a small touristically attractive spot on the east border of the country…" The Hokage starts to explain before suddenly figuring out what he was thinking earlier. "And THAT's where I already heard this name. This village's leader is called Minamoto Riku. Is he somehow related to the guy you know?"
"The village's leader?…" Sasuke wonders. "It could be."
"Okay, whatever! You can join Naruto there, but don't forget. He's on vacation. He honestly deserves a break after what happened on the moon."
"On the moon? I'll ask him about this as well. I'll be going now."
"Wait... Thank you, for the village… I saw you take down that meteor. Sir Hiashi is doing well now and the village wasn't destroyed, thanks to you." Kakashi says, referring to what happened with Toneri Otsutsuki.
"That was just natural." Sasuke blankly answers. "I told you that when Naruto isn't there to protect the village, I will be."
"And you didn't disappoint. Now I'm sure of it. We were right to listen to Naruto back then and let you go."
Sasuke just stands there, thinking of what happened 2 years ago once again. Then, he turns around and leaves without saying anything more, leaving the Hokage to his work. Tsubai and Himari were standing outside, waiting for him at the entrance of the mansion, as Sai had already left earlier. Seeing Sasuke come back, Tsubai says:
"So? Are we staying here? What did the Hokage say?"
"Nooo! I want to meet them! I wanna join them on vacation! Uzumaki Naruto and Sasuke's girlfriend!" brags Himari.
"That's where we're going,…" says Sasuke, "… They're in your home village."
"What? Damn! How?" The Minamoto voices his disappointment. "Seriously, couldn't this noodle-guy find a better place for vacation? This damn village isn't even an interesting place! Well yes it is, but that's a really bad choice there."
"Can we really not go there?" Sasuke asks, to be sure.
"Uh... I guess it'll be okay if someone like you is with me." Tsubai admits. "Plus this Naruto guy is already on the spot."
What Tsubai just said made Sasuke wonder what kind of trouble he could have with his father? How could his presence or Naruto's interfere with their family problems? He prefers not to ask for now and focus on his mission.
"Woohoo! We're gonna meet the world's savior!" yells Himari as they leave Konoha.
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Meanwhile in the said village, on the large beach that goes through the whole city, people are running away from the shore. They're screaming in terror as a giant Octopus that's about 30 meters large is crawling out of the sea and quickly taking its ground on the beach.
Looking at those mere creatures fleeing in fear, the monster lifts a tentacle up in the air to strike down on them. But to its surprise, it notices one girl standing still, fearless, right in front of it. This provocation hits its nerves, so it tries to hit her and only her, only for its tentacle to be thrown back in the air by a strong push. Hitting the tentacle with a palm, the woman avoided any damage on the beach. Without being given anytime to recover from that hit, the beast feels the hands of a giant grabbing its tentacles from behind.
It is now being thrown away from the beach to a column of rocks on the side. And as soon as it touches the ground, it becomes unable to move as if something is containing its movements. In fact, it's its shadow that is being paralyzed. Totally still, the giant octopus looks around to see the shinobis who just did this. Then, one more kunoichi arrives jumping right to its face.
"SHANARO!" shouts the girl as she throws an enormous blow right to the beast's face, pushing it far back into the sea.
"Well that's done!" she says.
"Hey Hinata! Guys!" yells another man. "Seriously! You stole my job here. I'm the one who took the mission."
"Don't complain, Naruto,…" says Shikamaru, the one who paralyzed the monster, "… we just saved you the dirty work, that's all. We take the mission and you can keep the vacation."
"Yeah!" shouts Sakura, who finished the monster with a punch. "Alone you would have ended it in a second anyway. Here, we were way more creative than you would have been alone."
"Yeah, right, You guys nailed it, can't deny it!" says Naruto, the one who arrived too late, as he jumps to the sea to find the beast where it should have dropped. "Uh? It disappeared? Guys, the big squid vanished. It's gone."
"Huh? That's really a drag" answers Shikamaru.
"I don't sense it anywhere near us now." says Naruto, setting foot back on the beach.
"Hey! It was an octopus, not a squid, Naruto." says Sakura, "Do you seriously still can't make the difference? I thought you were friends with an Octopus."
"Octopops is actually an Ushioni, not a simple octopus." the jinchuriki answers, about Killer Bee. "Octopuses don't look like bulls I think."
Choji, the one who pulled the octopus away from the beach, joins everyone back on the beach and asks the real matters.
"Is anyone hurt?"
"No, we did it fast enough." answers Hinata, the woman who stood still on the beach and deflected a tentacle. "The mission is done already. We should still check on the village's inhabitants."
"They seem okay…" says Shikamaru as he sees the crowd applauding them for what they've just done. "Guess we're done with the job already."
"I don't feel like it's done." answers Naruto with a concerned look on his face.
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At the same time, somewhere in a dark cave, deep enough for light to not reach this far, the horned being, Katashiki, witnessed this scene from afar, and reflects on it.
"Those damn ninjas,… Because of them, I won't know if there are any other yamabushi still in this village… I may have to send more Tsukumogami than there are ninjas. I should probably create more of them…"
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End of Chapter 1 – Next Chapter: The Village of Ryuka