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Chapter 2 - Welcome To The Land Of Fire
🕑 Added 2024-11-16 15:40:47 +0000 UTC[Going Ape In The Cycle]
Chapter 2 - Welcome To The Land Of Fire
Location - The Land Of Fire
Conveniently, the border wasn’t too far from where we were. I would have to thank the [System] for that—or whoever was in charge of it—when I see them. I was on my last legs by the time we got there—pun shamelessly intended—but I was able to find a cave we could stay in until I regained my [Chakra] just before sunset.
“Why do you have a tail?” Hinata asked from her spot in front of me, sitting on a sleeping bag. I wasn’t surprised by the question. I let her spend the entire night holding onto it to assuage the nightmare she was having that was stopping us both from getting a good night’s sleep. It hurt a little when she would squeeze, but I just treated it as training for future fights that would have my opponents using it to their advantage.
Looking up from the food I had taken out of the [Inventory], I was met with her curious white-lavender eyes, waiting for an answer. She was now wearing one of my spare black shinobi garbs, having changed out of her old clothes when we found the cave. The garb was made in my size, so it was a loose fit for her. But that only made it better because it hid the fact that she was a girl when the hood was up.
Turns out the reason she was hesitant to change out of her clothes when we were at the shore was due to having never actually clothed herself. Living like a princess all this time, she always had people to do it for her. Although she never actually said it herself, I would assume they were probably branch members. So, I had to teach the now confirmed 8-year-old how to remove her unnecessarily complicated heiress sleeping gown and change into the clothes I gave her.
“I was born with it,” I replied bluntly, going back to my food. Thank god for my father, aka System-created shinobi Batman. There were a plethora of things already in the [Inventory] courtesy of the man wanting to make sure I was prepared for any scenario. Food, water, clothes, camping gear, canoe, fishing rod…a stuffed rabbit’s foot, you name it, it was probably there. Some might call it paranoia or strategy, but I prefer to call it plain old good thinking.
With the compass in my inventory and the natural night vision Saiyans are born with I could have set off a few hours ago, but I wanted to go through the memories properly with the immersion fully toggled on. I needed all the willpower Damian had in order to stay sane during the full moon, and I needed all the strong emotions I could get my hands on for a transformation when I had the right amount of S-cells. The weird time dilation in the memories allowed me to get through them in a few hours rather than the years they actually occurred over.
So, with that in mind, I decided to go through the memories all in one night. Ripping the metaphorical bandaid off. And boy, was it a journey. When my mother realised I had more strength than normal kids, they decided to put [Fuin-Jutsu] on my body as a baby to put me on the same level as others my age. Then, they put me through Damian’s gruesome training. It was only today, when they needed me to be in peak condition to escape, that was when she undid the [Fuin-Jutsu] to allow me to move freely.
Unfortunately, I didn’t seem to have a Zenkai boost during that time either. The [Help] function in the [System] let me know that it was turned off because the body wasn’t me yet, so it didn’t have all the benefits I have now.
My [Chakra] levels were average though, only increasing today due to the increase in [Spiritual Energy] caused by the addition of my soul. Well, that was my running theory anyway. It went from above average for my age to what I would assume was Chunin-level. Even though that would only increase with time, training and Zenkai boosts, it's still pretty good as it is already.
After going through the memories, I found that my name, Ena, was a huge deal. It means ‘gift from God’, and was apparently given to me because of a prophecy. The [System] or Powers-That-Be may have said they wouldn't be giving any mission but it sounded a lot like a huge glaring mission staring me right in the face. I would have cried laughing if I found they were talking about Kaguya being the one to give me the ‘gift’, though.
The Hidden Cloud learning of my ability to transform into my great ape form, even though they took every precaution, pointed heavily at Black Zetsu. The Bushi Clan was too good at [Fuin-Jutsu] to let any information out regarding something like that, and they were already aware of White Zetsu—having killed a few themselves for study over the years.
If I didn’t know any better, I would say the system was trying to give me a tragic but badass backstory that would put me on the path of revenge. With Damian's analytical mind, I came to the conclusion that The-Powers-That-Be would have set it up in a way that ends with Black Zetsu being the real culprit to better tie my story together with Kaguya and/or the other Ōtsutsuki. I was going to go after them anyway, so it wasn’t like they gave me a mission I was unwilling to complete. But I guess the system wanted others to have an explanation.
Other memories had me scratching my head at the level of technology. It was just a little weird. They had TVs, Computers, DNA testing machines, cameras, airships and trains, but no cars and people were still using horse-drawn carriages. They even have guns, wireless radios and maybe even satellites. But you rarely, if ever, see shinobi shooting other shinobi, and they still choose to use message birds like hawks and pigeons.
I thought about asking Hinata about the weapons and such but considering her sheltered lifestyle, I highly doubted she would know anything, and I didn’t want it to seem like I was trying to attack Konoha when she was asked what we talked about on the way back to the Leaf.
I could understand not using guns because of how loud they would be in stealth operations—provided silencers were created too—and maybe even discarding them when facing faster opponents. But to not even hear of a single time guns were used in a wide-scale battle between shinobi to at least allow forces to conserve [Chakra] was a little odd to me. They could always shoot cannon balls with [Fuin-Jutsu] on or in them that would detonate at a certain distance or something, like the [Fuin-Jutsu] used on paper tags. But no, nothing like that.
“Why would your uncle become part of the branch family when he was your father’s twin?” I asked the girl while finishing up my food. “Does that mean only one person per generation is part of the branch family? If they die in battle, no one will know how to apply the [Caged Bird Seal] and it will cease to exist.”
That seemed to bring her spirits down. She would always slough a little when I brought up the seal the [Caged Bird Seal], sad that her cousin, Neji, was branded with it and they don’t talk and play as much anymore.
“I don’t really know much about how that politics stuff works yet,” She muttered, looking down at her food and playing with it like she did the other times I brought up the subject.
At first, I thought I was dealing with a Hinata that was similar to the anime. Timid, soft-spoken, and very shy. But as it turned out, once I started asking her questions about herself and the Leaf Village, she answered them just fine. She was jumping at any sound like it could be an attack, but she wasn’t a stuttering mess. She even relaxed a little and started asking questions of her own. Making it a game of question for question, answer for answer.
“Hmm,” I grunted and watched Hinata start rushing to finish her food. With a barely perceptible smirk, I placed my empty bowl in the [Inventory], replacing it with a large bowl of water to do a quick morning routine. I knew I didn’t really have time for it, but with waiting for her to finish her food and practising my [Ki Sence], I could multitask.
That was another thing I noticed. While we took a nap, I was constantly sensing animals like owls and other rodents which startled me awake from time to time. It was really irritating but also highly useful. I got the same feeling when I felt the wolf when escaping with Hinata the day before but I chalked it up to enhanced hearing and smell at the time. It turns out [Ki] also had a hand in that. I guess the whole ‘Saiyan have an affinity with Ki’ was an extra gift all on its own.
Now, I was working on increasing my range, which hadn’t increased much, if at all. I had gotten more accurate somehow, though. Now, I am able to better sense the animal types or sizes. I was hoping to be one of those Saiyans who had a knack for flight too, but only time would tell.
Taking a quick glance at my reflection in the water, I could see I looked just like a dishevelled version of Damian when he met Batman for the first time in the Son Of Batman animated movie, if only a little younger and minus the arrogance and self-entitlement. Well, that, and if the movie wasn’t animated. I had short black hair with vibrant green eyes and still wearing black shinobi garbs. It was a little disconcerting to look at myself now, knowing this would be my face for the rest of my new life.
“Alright, let's go,” I say, getting into position again for her to hop onto my back for another piggyback ride, having hidden away any evidence of us being here in the [Inventory]. Even though we were now in the Land of Fire, it would take more than a day or two to get to Konoha, even at my speed, without rest. We were off in Konoha’s direction as soon as she hoped on.
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Once I got to a main road, I stuck to it for hours until I got tired, taking a detour further into the forest to find a place to rest. We were trying to find any Konoha shinobi on the way, but we did find a small village or two. Preferring to remain hidden, I chose not to venture too far into those villages in case there were enemy shinobi there lying in wait. Only getting close enough to observe for Konoha headbands and heading back on the road soon after.
I was a little baffled at the lack of Konoha shinobi patrolling the land of fire, especially with this being the Hyuga incident. I assumed they were mostly near the borders, which I had already pasted, or closer to the village to prevent any more kidnappings or something. But not seeing a single Konoha-nin was starting to make me think Konaha might be less populated than the fourth shinobi war indicated.
Now that I thought about it, I was starting to wonder why Konoha was still called a village when it was supposedly so big. At some point I’m sure people had to refer to a place as a city, especially with the large population, large amount of buildings and technological advancements.
“Why not stay in Konoha?” Hinata asked beside me, barely above a whisper. Her knees were drawn up to her chest as she glanced over while shrugging the large blanket I handed her into a more comfortable position. “Do you have family somewhere else you’ll be going to?”
“No,” I replied bluntly with a shake of my head. “Most of my family was killed a few years ago. Though I do have relatives in Konoha I have yet to meet. I might just keep travelling, like I did with my mother and father. I’ll decide after I see what things are like in Konoha.”
Hinata’s gaze softened when I told her about the deaths, she seemed like she wanted to say something, but as soon as I said I had some relatives in Konoha, her eyes brightened back up a little. I was definitely noticing that the intense emotional bonding she had going for me after saving her was getting worse. She was still a child, so she could grow out of it. But the fact that she was a child kind of made the whole situation worse than it should be.
“They would take you in,” She exclaimed while still barely above a whisper. ”You could definitely stay with them. Konoha’s great, you’ll love it.”
“Hmm,” I grunted noncommittally. “Why exactly do you let your sister win in your sparing matches ageing?”
The benefit of the whole emotional bonding situation was that it made it easier to help her now rather than waiting for her to go through years of what she went through in the actual show and manga. I was basically trying to complete years of character development in the few days it would take to get to Konoha. I wouldn’t have enough time, but any help is better than no help at all.
Hinata looked down, her shoulder slumping as her fingers curled around the fabric of te blanket. A soft, sad sigh escaped her lips. “I already answered this question. It’s… it’s what big sisters are supposed to do,” She replied sadly. “I want Hanabi to feel strong. So… I let her win. It makes her happy and father doesn’t look sad at her. It’s what Mother would have wanted.”
“It's not,” I said without missing a beat. She looks at me with a little frown but says nothing to counter so I continue. “She would have wanted both of you to be happy. And she would have wanted your sister to be actually strong, not to feel like she’s strong. By letting her win, you’re not showing her ways to improve, which is actually making her weaker.”
We sat in silence for a while before I allowed her to hold my tail to sleep. If I could, I would have used this time to practise the [Wall Walking], but, much like the night before, I wasn’t going to risk getting caught by Sensor-nin. Just because Konoha-nin currently seems scarce, doesn’t mean other shinobi are.
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The sun was just beginning to rise when Hinata and I continued our journey toward the Leaf. I had only been running for a short while, thinking how quickly the whole limitless potential from [Blank] would affect me when I suddenly sensed something—someone moving toward us at speeds far faster than my own.
Quickly diverting off the main road and into the forest, I weaved between the trees to a more dense area with more cover as Hinata tightened her grip on my neck. I knew, with how fast the person was moving, I would need to limit his ability to fully utilise their speed to even stand a chance.
Finally, coming to a halt, I glanced around to ensure we had a good vantage point. Satisfied, I quickly set Hinata down. “Hide behind that tree,” I instructed, pointing to a tree off to the side. “When I tell you to, run. Head straight for Konoha and get help. Like I said this morning, remember?”
Hinata’s eyes widened, a protest already forming on her lips. “But, Ena—”
He didn’t let her finish. I didn’t have time for this shit. I thought wasting vital time in moments like this was a movie thing, but I was clearly wrong. Turning to face the direction of the approaching threat, I dropped into a combat stance. “Move, girl,” I ordered. “You’re in the way.”
Caught off guard either by my words or the fact we were about to be attached, Hinata hesitated for only a moment before she nodded and backed away, pressing herself against the tree I had indicated. Not a moment later, the figure arrived. Their speed seemed to increase even more, completely bypassing me and blitzing right for Hinata. I could barely even see them move, let alone attack or defend.
The next thing I knew, I was looking at our original pursuer taking down another in mid-air with a fiery blow to the abdomen, hitting them once more in the heart with a palm strike before letting them fall motionless to the ground. The only thing stopping me from attacking or running to Hinata was because I had seen our saviour's face.
“Uncle Hizashi!” Hinata exclaimed with a gasp. Her eyes widened in recognition as the new figure straightened to his full height. Abandoning her cover, she ran toward the man, almost tripping on the way.
Meanwhile, I realised I couldn’t sense the enemy ninja because they were hiding their presence, and Hizashi let his be sensed from so far away as a deterrent to get them to back off. The only reason I’m still alive is must be because he saw I was helping Hinata from where he was with his [Byakugan].
Hizashi quickly raised a hand to halt Hinata. “There’s no time for that now,” He spoke quickly as his gaze shifted to me. “You—Take her, keep following the route you were on just now. You will meet more of my comrades on the way here. I’ll hold them off.”
The man was dressed in the traditional dark attire of a Chuunin/Jonin, flack jacket and kunai holster included. Pupiless eyes with veins on the side indicating the obvious activation of his Kekkei Genkai, while his hair was tied in a low ponytail, much like his son’s would be in a few years.
Not being one to look a gift horse in the mouth, I gave the man a sharp nod. But before he could turn, I finally sensed them—several more presences in the trees, my new bloodline’s night vision allowing me to clearly see their Kumo headband even as they tried to stick to the shadows of the trees. Without another word, I mentally cursed as I crouched down, signalling Hinata to climb onto my back again. She hesitated, glancing at her uncle one last time, but Hizashi’s [8 Trigrams] stance seemed to push her forward.
Once she quickly clambered onto my back, gripping my shoulders tightly, I was off again. This time much faster, now that I knew I wouldn’t need to conserve energy, I needed all the speed I could get. I knew Hizashi died in the original, so there was every chance he could die here too, as a way to keep things ‘canon’, so I would need to make however much time he can give me count.
I barely made it a few steps, pushing myself to my limit, when I heard the distinct sounds of deflected kunai and throwing stars, with the battle erupting in full force behind us. A few seconds of running later, I felt a presence heading straight for us from a different direction to which Hizashi was fighting, most likely from a larger perimeter. Once they were close enough, I was forced to drop Hinata while turning to fight.
“Run, Hinata! Get to the ones your Uncle said and point them in this direction!” I ordered loudly, partially to ensure I got through any shock but also as a possible deterrent to my opponent, not that it worked in the end. As I materialised a kunai in each hand from the [Inventory], my opponent landed a few metres from me, throwing a kunai of his own at Hinata’s retreating form.
Throwing one of mine to deflect it, I darted forward. The teenager in front of me reacted instantly, blocking my initial strike with another kunai, metal clanging against metal as our blades met. Sparks flew, momentarily illuminating our faces. But I could already see the cold determination in the kid's eyes before his feet even touched the ground.
It was sad that I would have to fight him for A’s dumbassery, but his lack of physically overpowering strength, even though he was significantly bigger, was only good for me. Dropping low, I went to sweep his leg to knock him off-balance, but he jumped, twisting mid-air and countering with a quick slash that I narrowly dodged. As he threw some throwing stars right after, I rolled to the side, taking cover behind a tree.
Using my now improved hearing, I moved out of cover just as he was about to pop around the other side of the tree just as he rounded to attack. Having sensed what I assumed were his reinforcements heading in this direction just like he did, I blitzed forward with my kunai aimed at his neck. As he dodged without missing a beat, I switched the kunai with my sword pointing right at the exposed neck, penetrating from one side to the other.
“Ugh-Archg-Erghc!”
I didn’t have time to care for the boy now choking to death on his own blood with a new opponent coming out of the trees, heading straight for me. Rolling off to the side, I ignored the kunai and ninja stars stuck to the floor where I stood moments before, tightening my grip on my sword.
Drawing a sword of his own, the Cloud ninja’s lips curved, probably emboldened by my young age or the reinforcements that would soon be joining him here. Without warning, the Cloud ninja lunged forward with a vicious downward slice of his sword. Sidestepping the attack, I deflected the blow with a quick flick of my blade, feeling the clash of steel reverberate through my arm.
He was definitely stronger than the one I had just killed, obviously focused on swordsmanship, but his lack of speed compared to Hizashi was enough to give me some respite. Our swords met again, sparks flying as I countered and deflected, keeping myself just out of reach while I analysed his moves. The next time he swung, I sidestepped and slashed horizontally, forcing him to parry and throwing him slightly off balance. Seizing the moment, I ducked low, sweeping his leg to destabilise his footing.
The shinobi stumbled, barely managing to recover, but I was already moving. I closed the distance with a [Chakra Enhanced] step just as the first of his reinforcements leapt from the trees. My ears caught an unmistakable high-pitched sound of electricity. As I brought my blade down in a sharp arc against my current opponent, who raised his sword to block, my peripheral vision caught a flash of lightning heading straight for the new group of Cloud ninjas.
Not having the luxury of ogling at what I assumed was probably one of my favourite characters in the verse, I ignored the new variables and twisted my wrist to angle my sword, slipping past the slightly unbalanced guard of my opponent and slicing along his shoulder.
“Argnh!” A cry of pain escaped the man’s lips as blood stained his sleeve. In the same heartbeat, a few more ninja wearing masks joined their fellow lightning-wielding Konoha-nin in taking down the Cloud reinforcements.
A quick glance at his reinforcements facing unfavourable odds had my opponent enraged as he tried to counter the sword thrusting I attempted when he looked away. But I deflected it with a well-timed parry, then spun, bringing my sword around in a sweeping slash that forced him back.
One by one, I could feel and hear the deaths happening around us as we fought but I never took my eyes off him. His breath was ragged, his confidence faltering as the injury started to get to him with each second. Pressing my advantage, I delivered a series of rapid, precise strikes that left the man on the defensive, barely able to keep up.
Finally, I saw an opening. With a feint to the left, I drew the shinobi’s sword away just enough to expose his side. He was forced to block my follow-up attack, but I decided to take a page out of the Star Wars verse. As soon as my blade was about to meet his, I placed mine in the [Inventory], allowing me to bypass his guard. Then I brought it back out again, driving it right through the man’s throat and following through by slicing his neck open, ending the fight.
“Ugh-Arch-Ghc!” Much like the one before him, he was choking on his own blood, completely caught off guard by my [Inventory]. The shinobi staggered, grasping at his neck as he struggled to breath, his sword slipping from his grip as he collapsed to the ground.
I was sure to go for the neck because I wasn’t sure if their armour would be able to stop my blade, especially with how they were most likely designed to stop [Jutsu] and [Chakra Enhanced] attacks.
In the span of the few seconds my fight took, the Cloud reinforcements were all but eliminated, their bodies collapsing to the ground as the ANBU finished them off with extra lethal strikes. With the final Kumo shinobi down, the [Lightning Blade] wielding ANBU straightened, the lightning in his hand fading as he turned, meeting my gaze from behind their mask.
“The pale-eyed man, Hizashi, I believe, instructed us to retreat this way,” I said as I was catching my breath, looking the silver-haired [Sharingan] wielder dead in the eyes with no fear. I could feel Hizashi heading this way, so he could always corroborate my words if need be. “Said we would see his comrades. The girl had to run ahead while I held them off. I take it you found her, if you are taking the time to waste here.”
We stared at each other for a long moment, and neither made a move, while the other ANBU just went about searching the bodies or more Cloud ninja as we stood there. Then, when I sensed Hizazshi finally got to our location, the world started to go black after I felt a pain in the back of my neck and realised rather quickly….
The supposed-to-be dead motherfucker had knocked me out.
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“Brother… I wanted just once to disobey the Hyūga destiny. I wanted to choose my own destiny, that's all.”
—Hizashi Hyuga
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Author Notes
My heart wanted me to write a lot of Jutsu being thrown around, but my mind was constantly telling me that in an enclosed area there would be less Jutsu and more hand-to-hand and weapon fights, so that’s what I stuck with.
We’ll be in Konoha next.
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Disclaimer: I own nothing except my OC and original ideas. All credit goes to their respective owners.
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Thank you for reading.
As always, stay awesome.
Until next time, Light's out.
Comments
Sad Rain
Interesting story so far. I would like to read more. But I don't want slow updates for Harry Potter so I'm happy with whatever
Lightest_Reader
The HP fic is my main fic for now, but I'll try.
Ricardo Torres II
Hope you update this more
Ricardo Torres II
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