Naruto: Tales of Ashihara
Prologue – Arc 1: The Soul Robber
.
Chapter 2: The village of Dragon Fire
.
The giant octopus monster that invaded a beach on the shore of the land of Fire has been defeated for now, thanks to the joint effort of the present Konoha-nins. On the beach, the people of the village came in a group to thank Sakura, Shikamaru, Hinata and Choji for their help. But unfortunately, the village's leader seems to be absent.
"Can we really stay here without the leader's permission?" asks Hinata to her colleagues.
"Don't worry, Hinata." answers Naruto. "From now on, we're here as tourists. I don't think we need anyone's approval to stay. I mean… We're still from this land, right? Even if we're ninjas."
Naruto grabs Hinata's hand and goes to join Shikamaru who went ahead in the village's hostel. The smart head of the group is currently booking their stay places.
"Excuse me?" asks Shikamaru to the hostel's receptionist. "Good morning. Are there any rooms left? We'd like to take 4 if possible."
"Yes, Good morning and Welcome!" answers the lady standing at the desk. "Of course there are. Do they have to be near each other?"
"Not necessarily."
"4 chambers? but we're 5." asks Hinata to Shikamaru, as she arrives and overhears the conversation.
"Yes but you and Naruto are a couple now." The Nara explains. "Isn't it okay for you to share the same room?"
"Oh? Well, I guess it is…"
"Here you go!" says the receptionist as she hands a set of keys to Shikamaru. "Your rooms are outside at the end of the courtyard, and the tags are on the keys. By the way, my name is Natsuri Yokawa. Come to me if you have any questions or if you need anything."
"Thank you, we'll remember this advice, miss Yokawa." answers Shikamaru as he takes the passes before going to join his friends.
"You're still as efficient as usual with all the discussion stuff, Shikamaru" says Naruto. "You'd really make a good advisor for the Hokage."
"What are you talking about?I just asked for rooms in an almost empty hotel because none of you was there already. It wasn't that much of a drag." answers the Nara while distributing the keys to everyone.
"Yeah, don't know… I just wanted to say that. I know it's simple but I'd probably have stuttered all over that task."
"I guess I'll end up as the seventh's advisor in a few years, will I?"
"Yeah, Who knows?" says Naruto, a bit embarrassed by Shikamaru's lack of second degree.
"I do."
"… Well, yes. Of course you…" answers Naruto after a brief silence, feeling even more awkward now.
Maybe Shikamaru is sick of him still bragging about becoming the Hokage when it just became obvious at this point. Or maybe he's just tired. He looks really tired. Now just standing there awkwardly, Naruto just waits for someone to change the subject and save him from this moment.
"So should we go to check our rooms now?" says Hinata to help Naruto out of his embarrassment.
"You should all stay and take a break. I'll go around the place to find information about the village and its leader." suggested Sakura.
"Great! In that case, I'll go inspect the hotel's restaurant, I'm already starving!" says Choji. "Shikamaru, you with me?"
"Sigh… I guess. You probably don't have any money and someone's gotta pay for whatever you're gonna buy."
"Naruto, …" says Hinata holding her boyfriend's hand, "… Come with me."
Naruto lets her drag him along with her toward their room. The group dispatches, and only Sakura stays there. Watching Hinata go with Naruto, she quietly wonders. Now that they're finally together, Hinata seems really different. It's as if all the shyness left her body the moment Naruto confessed to her.
It feels like she's finally freed of something that was keeping her down all these years. On the other hand, it's like Naruto took on her shyness. He really needs to learn about women and relationships, and Hinata's here for that. Still looking at them leaving for their room, Sakura smiles and thinks of how the path to this relationship made them both grow.
"Well, I have to learn more about this village now." she says to herself, focusing on her given task.
.
Ryuka no Sato, or the village of Dragon Fire, is mostly a touristic spot on the east border of the Land of Fire, located not far away from the frontier with the land of Hot Water. It is hidden between a large mountain, called Mount Sojo, and is boarded by a large beach. This beach going through the whole village is what made it famous as a tourist destination.
About its historical background, the mountain hiding the village used to be the Yamanaka clan's habitat during the warring states era, long before the creation of Konoha. Ryuka was founded shortly after the Yamanaka clan left Mount Sojo, nearly 300 years ago, by a descendant of the Yamanaka. The village's leadership was then passed down to his descendants: The Minamoto Clan.
This family is living in a huge mansion in the middle of the village, called the Minamoto mansion. The seventh head of the village, Riku Minamoto, has been leading it for more than 30 years, since a very young age, because his father died when he was still a teenager.
Riku made the village go through a very ambitious reconstruction after the damages caused by the fourth war 2 years ago. He operated this rebuilding without asking the help of the Hokage, as he wants to maintain his family's path for the village, which is to stay away from war and hidden village's concerns.
"There's actually way more to the clan leaders' history." says Tsubai, who is telling this story to Sasuke as they are getting close to the village. "My old man Riku has been leading Ryuka since he's 14. His father died when his second child, my uncle, was born. I don't know where the damn hell he is now and I don't really care about it…"
"...Anyway, before my grandfather, all the clan's leaders died right at the time of their first child's birth, which somehow always were boys, don't ask me why. We see it as some kind of curse of unknown nature. Unknown to me at least… I mean the fact that the fathers die, not that the kids are boys."
"My grandfather escaped this curse and survived my old man's birth, but he still died when my uncle was born. Now my father survived my birth, AND my younger sister's. But who knows maybe he'd die if he ever has a third child. And then I'd become the leader and die when my fourth brat is born, which is pretty cool because I don't expect to have that many children. But I don't think my old man can still have a third child at this point…"
"You noticed that Sasuke isn't listening, did you?" says Himari, interrupting Tsubai's long and messy monologue.
"Huh? Seriously? Hey dumb ass, were you not paying attention, I was talking to you!"
Sasuke listened only to the beginning before getting lost in his thoughts, still worried about the horned man he encountered, but also about who he's gonna meet in Ryuka. Coming back to reality, he notices Tsubai's interesting stare and starts an unrelated conversation.
"So do you know what this Katashiki could have wanted from you?" he asks.
"You really weren't listening? …" says Tsubai, who sighs and moves on. "Oh, Whatever… No I don't know."
Sasuke doesn't even listen to this reply, already back to his wonders. The shadow creature that emerged to defend Katashiki had the same pair of red Rinnegan as him. But it clearly wasn't as conscious as a human being. It really behaved like an animal, or even a puppet. Was Katashiki controlling it the same way Nagato controlled his Pain bodies?
The moment he summoned this beast, he said something, Umashi something. Was that the name of the jutsu he uses to control this thing? This creature using the Rinnegan definitely means that it's related to an ability of his eye. Is this jutsu a unique power that Sasuke never heard of before? Could it be Katashiki's Rinnegan unique ability like Ameno Tejikara is Sasuke's eye prowess?
This would mean that every Rinnegan user has an ability apart from the Rikudo no Jutsu and the Gedo, that only the original wielder of the eye can use. It would make sense since Madara's Rinnegan also had a special power called Limbo. The Rikudo-Sennin certainly had something similar, like maybe the jutsu he used to create the Biju.
Katashiki also used a space-time jutsu to flee. The same jutsu that Sasuke recently discovered. He opened some circular black portal in space that obviously transported him to some other place or dimension. Why is his eye able to do that? Until now, Sasuke thought this was just an alternate use of his Ameno Tejikara, but it may be a common Rinnegan power. In that case, why weren't Madara or the Rikudo-Sennin able to use it? Maybe they simply lacked the knowledge…
A man with pale skin, horns, a Dojutsu, and space-time Ninjutsu… There are already too many similarities with Kaguya. Naruto also shares some common traits with her when it comes to the energy they emanate, but Katashiki's chakra really isn't like Juubi's or Kaguya's. It sure is huge, but it isn't Biju chakra. It felt more like natural energy…
Who is this guy? What kind of being can share so many similarities with Kaguya, yet not being the Juubi's jinchuriki? Since when is he around? Why does he only show up now? Sasuke is still asking himself the same unanswered questions that came to his mind when he first met this man.
As he thinks of it, he realizes he lacks just as much information about who Kaguya actually was. All he knows is that she ate the God tree's fruit and is the Rikudo-Sennin's mother. But where did she come from? How old was she before eating the fruit? How did she get her children? All these interrogations he had about Kaguya are the reason why he was trying to go back to her dimensions.
These investigations will have to be put on stand-by until he gets rid of Katashiki.. He doesn't know who he is or what links him to Kaguya Otsutsuki, but every person that presented this kind of traits like the horns, or who used a Rinnegan were all powerful enough to destroy the world, even effortlessly for some of them.
More importantly, they were all threats. He has to eliminate Katashiki as soon as possible, but at the same time, his existence and nature make him very curious. He wants to learn more about him. An access to his intel that could spare the need for a discussion would come in handy.
As Sasuke explored his options in his mind, the trio progressed through the forest. They now are able to see the village not far away.
"There we are!" says Himari. "That's the place, the village of Dragon Fire. The village led by Tsubai's family. Your friends must be here already. Including Naruto Uzumaki!"
Sasuke doesn't reply and keeps thinking. The Minamoto clan, Tsubai's family, may be aware of what could make Tsubai a target for someone like Katashiki. After he finds Naruto and Sakura, he should look for Tsubai's father to seek these answers.
They've been walking through the country for a whole day and night now. After going around Mount Sojo, they finally reached their destination. Just by getting close, and without even trying, Sasuke can already feel the obvious chakra of Naruto present in the village.
"That's one damn huge chakra we can feel there." says Tsubai with his usual tired voice. "It must be the noodle-guy. There's also some other ninjas in the place right now, but I don't recognize my father or any of the guys that were with him last time."
"Sasuke!" exclaims Himari. "Maybe your girlfriend is one of the ninjas that are here too!"
"I already know that she's there as well." calmly answers Sasuke. "The Hokage told me. If they're here just for vacation, we won't be bothering them."
Right before finally entering the village, Sasuke's attention is caught by an odd feeling. He stops and examines his surroundings.
"What's wrong?" asks Himari, confused.
"Something's here." says Tsubai, who gets the same feeling as the Uchiha. "It's getting closer… It's not alone… Here!"
On his left, he sees a 4-tailed beast, resembling a bear, jump toward them from out of a dense bunch of trees. Sasuke immediately leaps forward and pushes the thing back where it came from with a simple kick.
"Thanks!" says Himari. "T'was pretty quick. You didn't even need any super power like last time."
"It isn't over!" interrupts Tsubai, stepping in front of her. "There are more of them!"
As Sasuke gets out of the way, Tsubai lifts his hands up and makes a few hand seals: Monkey, Bird, Dog, Ram…
Katon – Kaen Senpu(Fire Style – Flame Whirlwind)
He throws a large fire spiral in the direction of the trees among which the bear-like creature fell. The trees in the way are burnt up in seconds by the flames, which leaves Sasuke quite impressed. He didn't expect Tsubai to be such a skilled Ninjutsu user after what he said to him when they met.
They can now see many beasts in the forest on the bear's side, including a giant fire bird who seems to have absorbed Tsubai's jutsu. This bird spreads his giant wings to lift his body in the air and reveals his real size, more than 10 meters in height. They can also see 9 long fire feathers in its back. Right where the beast was standing on the ground are all the other creatures, all above 5 meters tall. The 4-tailed bear, a 5-tailed giant rat, a 6-tailed giant blue fire fox and an enormous 7-tailed lion.
This monstrous show reminds Sasuke of the Biju. Did Katashiki actually create his own tailed beasts, like the Rikudo-Sennin did? This can't be possible. The chakra of these things isn't like the Biju.
"Are those the actual Biju?" asks Tsubai. "I thought they were bigger. And I thought your noodle-friend had the Nine-Tailed one sealed inside of him."
"And I thought the Nine-tails was a fox!" adds Himari, who feels like she needs to speak louder in presence of these giant figures.
"These aren't the real Biju." says Sasuke, who despite being unable to solve his own questions, can still answer theirs. "The Biju I know are taller and don't look like that."
"Bigger than that?" exclaims Himari. "These things are already scary enough! I really don't want to meet the ones you know then!"
"Wait?" says Tsubai. "These are 6 more Biju, different from those you know? I thought there were only 10 of these things, if we count the 10th bastard."
"Enough Questions!" shouts Sasuke before unleashing a large wave of black flames on the beast crowd. "Be gone already!"
Amaterasu
To his great surprise, each of the beasts open both their eyes to reveal the exact same Rinnegan as Katashiki and all absorb the flames burning them. He understands that these monsters all can use their creator's Dojutsu, but aren't like The 6 bodies of Pain. Each of Pain's bodies could only use the Rinnegan path powers that Nagato passed to it. However, all these beasts used the same paths, Gakido, together. It would mean that each of them can also create black receivers and use the Tendo and Ningendo, as these are the only powers Sasuke is sure that Katashiki has.
"Shit! Look out!" screams Tsubai seeing all the beasts concentrate their chakra in front of them.
They all fire their chakra at the same time like ray beams in the direction of Sasuke, who manages to avoid any damage by summoning Susanoo to protect himself. The spectral armor endures their attack with not too much difficulty. Before any of the monsters has time to start another move, Sasuke points his Susanoo's bow toward the nine-tailed phoenix above them. Going by the Biju's logic, If it has the most tails, it must be the one who's powers equals the Kyubi's. It must be eliminated first then. Sasuke throws a burst of Susanoo arrows at the phoenix, unable to dodge.
Hurt, the giant bird falls to the ground and crashes on the other beasts, but also covers the Susanoo with one of its wings. Sasuke makes his armor grow bigger and puts on a second layer of protection to take Tsubai and Himari under its guard as well. The phoenix crushes the other 5 beasts but is unable to harm its targets. A sword appears in the Susanoo's free hand and cuts off the giant wing that covers it.
"Wow Thank you again!" says Himari. "How many powers do you have, seriously? You didn't use this one until now. They won't be able to break through that."
"Shit! Look out again behind you!" screams Tsubai as a new circular portal appears inside of the Susanoo, right behind Sasuke.
Long shadow claws come out of the portal and break through the spectral armor from inside. Whom the claws belong to steps out of the portal and stands still for a moment inside the damaged avatar. It is the shadow creature from last time. They can now clearly see the shadow's silhouette. It resembles a woman with long hair floating in the air in the form of 2 shadow tails. It has beast-like limbs with long blade-like claws as fingers and a monstrous mouth with sharp teeth. But the two most notable things about it are the pair of Rinnegan, that Sasuke already noticed last time, and the large horns on top of its skull.
The beast suddenly grows inside the Susanoo until reaching the same height as the phoenix, and completely shatters the armor from the inside. Sasuke tries to reach for his sword and Tsubai tries to join his hands to prepare a counterattack, but all their movements are abruptly interrupted. Same goes for Himari next to them, unable to run away. Paralyzed on the spot, Sasuke notices their shadows on the ground being held hostage by the beast.
Kage Shibari no Jutsu (Shadow Paralysis Jutsu)
This monster is using the Nara clan's Hijutsu but without the need of any hand seals. With all three unable to move, the shadow turns its fingers in their direction and quickly makes its claws grow longer to pierce and kill. It only aims for Sasuke and Himari, not Tsubai. Fortunately, this hit doesn't land on time as someone jumps in to Sasuke's rescue.
Okasho
The beast is suddenly thrown hundreds of meters away from the village by an abrupt and powerful punch in the face. Freed from his bind, The Uchiha looks up to see the person who just saved them.
"Sakura?" he says.
"Sasuke?" answers Sakura, who lands next to them. "It's been a long time!"
"Thank youuu Madam!" sings Himari while jumping to Sakura. "You saved our lives, we were all about to diiie!"
"Sasuke could have absorbed that." says Tsubai to calm Himari's enthusiasm.
"Could he? Is there something he can't do by himself."
"Apparently, he can't avoid getting into trouble." answers Sakura looking at Sasuke as if she was seeing him for the first time again.
"That's my bad. I'm the one who's in trouble." says Tsubai to Sakura. "Your boyfriend is just trying to help out a random stranger and his sidekick."
"Sidekick?", says Himari. "Did you call me your sidekick, Tsubai?"
"Boyfriend?" Sakura asks at the same time, blushing and looking at Sasuke. "Did you tell them that?"
"There's no time to chat now!" says Sasuke as the beasts are all coming back to their senses and standing up. "I'll explain what's going on later. For now, let's get rid of these things."
.
At the same time on the beach inside the village, people run away from the water as it is being sucked down by some kind of giant typhoon underwater. Shikamaru and Choji arrive on the scene right in time to see the giant Octopus they defeated this morning emerge from the water again.
"It's back!" exclaims Choji. "So Naruto was right, It wasn't over."
"Damn! What a drag!" says Shikamaru. "Is it me or it got way bigger than this morning?"
"No, you're right! Come on, let's deal with it!" Choji exclaims.
Cho Baika no Jutsu (Super Expansion Jutsu)
To match the monster's new height, Choji makes himself 30 meters tall and tries to push the Octopus back in the water. The monster reacts quickly by surrounding Choji's body with its tentacles, restraining his movements, and trying to choke him.
Kagemane no Jutsu (Shadow Manipulation Jutsu)
Shikamaru connects his shadow to the giant beast's and keeps it from closing its hold any tighter, which allows Choji to break free. But before he can do anything more, The octopus absorbs the shadows restraining it from the ground, and reveals its eyes to his opponents.
"What?" thinks Shikamaru, seeing the red glowing Dojutsu of the sea monster. "Rinnegan? How can this be?"
The octopus, now free to move again, grasps Choji's hand before he lands a surprise punch. By using its tentacles, it lifts the Akimichi up in the air and throws him away in the ocean with ease. Turning back to the beach, it starts to crawl out of the water to reach the village.
"Shikamaru!" says Naruto, arriving at the place. "Is everybody safe and off the beach?"
"Naruto?" answers Shikamaru, in a hurry. "Yes, The field's empty. Be careful. That thing has the Rinnegan."
"Yeah I saw that. My turn now."
Naruto enters his Kurama Chakra Mode and jumps to face the monster himself. Seeing this yellow shining thing head toward it, the octopus throws its tentacles on the beach to crush everything in range, only for its limbs to be stopped by the tails of Kurama's avatar form. Standing in front of the monster, Kurama grabs the beast's tentacles and bites off one of them before pushing the creature away from the beach. Inside of the spectral fox's head, Naruto crosses his fingers.
Kage Bunshin no Jutsu (Shadow Clone Jutsu)
He makes two clones and sends them ahead. One of them jumps behind the octopus and gets Choji, who's been thrown away, back to his original size. The other stays in front of the octopus. The Kurama avatar hits the giant beast with a powerful tail slap.
"I'm not letting you flee this time!" shouts Kurama at the octopus that's falling back in the sea.
Kurama grabs the monster's giant head to keep it in place while the other clone, still in front of it, is falling down on it. In addition to the Kurama Chakra Mode, the clone activates its Sennin Mode and gets ready to strike.
Senpo – Jiton – Rasengan (Sage art - Magnet Style – Rasengan)
The clone hits the octopus with his sealing Rasengan, knocking it out while keeping it from teleporting away. Using his sage mode's sensory abilities, he traces the monster's chakra to find its origin.
"Tsk, This fox bastard!" says the one manipulating the beast from afar, hidden far away from this land. "He's forcing me to give up on this Tsukumogami."
"Too late! Found you already!" says Naruto's clone smiling as he feels the mysterious source's chakra fade away in the beast."
The giant octopus' body quickly glows up and gets overloaded with chakra before suddenly exploding and disintegrating completely. Fortunately again, Naruto is able to contain the blast with the nine tails of his Biju Mode. Even though his clone got blown up in the explosion, all the information he gathered went to the original Naruto's memory. He now knows the location of the octopus' summoner.
.
"So fast, and efficient, as usual." says Shikamaru to Naruto and his clone as they land back on the beach. The remaining clone lays Choji, passed out, onto the beach.
"Take care of Choji." says the clone before disappearing.
"There's no time to lose, I'm going to join Sakura and Sasuke now." adds the original.
"What, Sasuke?" asks Shikamaru, unaware of what is happening further away. "What are you talking about?"
"He's there, I've been feeling him getting closer for a while. Look!"
Naruto points in a direction with his finger. Shikamaru turns around and sees many other monsters like the octopus in the distance. Naruto, still in Kurama Chakra Mode, runs to join them.
"Sasuke is there, huh?" thinks Shikamaru. "Then this situation must be more serious than we think. And Team 7 is being reunited once again."
.
End of Chapter 2 – Next Chapter: Team 7 reunites