Naruto: Tales of Ashihara

Naruto: Tales of Ashihara

Prologue – Arc 2: The Daitengu

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Chapter 14: The Celestial Light

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Sasuke brought all of his team to the land of Rivers, not far away from the border with the land of Wind. Land of Rivers is a country, not as big as one of the five great nations, that is located between the land of Fire and the land of Wind. They decided to camp in the forest for the night, only a kilometer away from the desert of the Wind.

As they're all sitting around a campfire and eating meat from wild goats that Sasuke and Daisuke hunted down before setting the camp, some questions about their next destination pop in Tsubai's mind.

"Sasuke?" he says. "We're going to Suna to look for a medic-nin, is that so?"

"I'll go alone in the morning, Y'all can even stay there sleeping while I'm gone." answers Sasuke. "I'll bring our new teammate and we'll head back to mount Sojo. And yes, she's a medic-nin."

"So we need a medic." notes Tsubai, preparing to ask what he feels is a stupid question. "Why aren't we just going to get your girlfriend?"

"You have a girlfriend?" asks Daisuke. "I wonder what she looks like?"

"We can't have Sakura involved, because it would mean informing the Hokage too." explains Sasuke.

"Sakura?" asks Minaa. "Sakura Haruno? Of course, why did I assume the girlfriend of the last Uchiha…" she corrects herself when she notices Kobo's unhappy reaction. "ONE of the last Uchiha's girlfriend would be a regular person and not a kunoichi as legendary as her boyfriend?"

Daisuke, who doesn't know much about the people from the shinobi world, is thinking about asking to know more about Sakura Haruno. But he just stays silent instead, and keeps staring like hypnotized at Minaa's body, with her skin shining in the fire's light. Z, who sees this, slides forward to ruin Daisuke's sight, and acts as if nothing happened.

"It's true that the student of the 5th Hokage would have been a premium quality medic-nin for the team." says the Kumo-nin. "Sad that we can't have her."

"Also, she's busy. You can't expect the most talented kunoichi in the world to just leave her village and go on a trip." says Sasuke to brag about Sakura's skills.

"Pffff… Why shouldn't Konoha get involved?" asks Tsubai. "And isn't anybody here already good enough with Medical Ninjutsu?"

Tsubai is sick of traveling after the charged up day he just had, and doesn't want to keep it on tomorrow. The problem is that he never left his village before not even a month ago. And he never left his country before Sasuke brought him to this other dimension and then to the archipelago of the land of Water. He is simply experiencing homesickness for the first time. He asked these two questions, like complaints, without really thinking about it.

After he asked those questions, Naomi stands up and, without saying anything, goes alone deeper in the forest. None of them cares about her move, as they don't know each other enough for this yet. Only Sasuke stares at her suspiciously, telling himself he'll have to check on her later. Since nobody is talking anymore, Z tries to answer one of Tsubai's last questions.

"Medical Ninjutsu isn't something easy. You have to learn to use it for as long as you're a ninja. It needs advanced chakra control and true knowledge to be efficient. I don't think anyone here can use it."

Daisuke turns to see Sasuke and looks at him, expecting him to deny this last remark. And the Uchiha doesn't disappoint. He stands up and, before preparing to go after Naomi, looks at Z.

"I have some basic Medical Ninjutsu, but it doesn't go further than just the healing palm." says the wanderer.

"Of course he does." comments Daisuke, sarcastically, getting the answer he expected.

"It frightens me a bit to realize that you actually weren't giving any effort when we first met, Sasuke." says Kobo, to which Sasuke doesn't answer.

"If you're done eating, turn off the fire and go to sleep." he says to everyone before vanishing.

In the forest, Naomi is standing on a branch and uses a small oil lamp to light up a little tool she holds. It looks like a calculator, but with far less buttons and some kind of antenna. She holds it up to the sky for a moment and focuses on the screen where she sees a surprising information. She's suddenly startled by Sasuke's voice.

"What is this thing?" he asks.

"It's just you…" she says, startled by this sudden apparition. "There's better ways to tell you're spying on someone."

"I asked you something." insists Sasuke.

"This little thing?" answers Naomi, shaking the tool in her hand. "It's based on what technology you stole from the organization in the land of Lightning. With this little apparatus, my boss sends me the new updates on the bingo books of all over the continent."

"So this is why you looked concerned when I talked about it." eludes Sasuke, recalling the moment when he explained his meeting with Z and Minaa to everyone.

"That is why yes. Now I have a question. Do you know for Tsubai?" dramatically says Naomi.

"I do…" answers Sasuke, embarrassed that one of them found out about the bounty.

"And did you think it was a good idea to have me working WITH a man that I'll probably kill for the money right after the mission?"

"Two things: First, you wouldn't beat him." starts Sasuke.

"It's nothing about beating him. I don't need to pick a fight to kill someone. I could even kill you in your sleep."

"You're right, but still, if you do, I wouldn't let you live much longer afterwards."

"Why not? Isn't our goal to kill all the Tengu wielders? He is one of them, so we should kill him too, especially if it also brings us this much money. Who would even give that much for this guy's death? It's like 10 times more than a usual S-rank job."

"The Daimyo of Fire himself would pay. But I can't let Tsubai die. I'm sure this bounty's motivation is biased and wrong."

"You don't think a mercenary would feel any bad for killing an innocent, do you?"

"He's my friend. The one who kills him, I'll kill him."

"… I understand… Well, you better find me some great prize for compensation, or find a way to get Tsubai rid of this bounty."

She turns away and goes further in the forest, to find a place to spend the night alone, apart from the rest of the band.

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Tomorrow early in the morning, In Konoha, Naruto has been called to the Hokage's office. He goes there as soon as he can, for he knows what the 6th will be talking about. He quickly knocks at the door and gets in. As soon as he's in, he inhales and prepares to invade the room's sound space, but stops when he sees Shizune, beckoning him to stay quiet as the Hokage is sleeping on his desk with his hat over his face.

"sorry, is it about tsubai?" whispers Naruto.

"yes. the raikage informed us that sasuke was in his land yesterday evening. he allegedly described his current mission to a kunoichi from kumo and apparently, tsubai must be with him. we'd like to find him before the daimyo's men. so lord sixth decided to send you after him."

"Drop the 'Lord', please." says Kakashi, who wasn't actually sleeping anymore, but listening.

"Oh, Kakashi-sensei, you're awake?" says Naruto.

"I am… And you heard Shizune. I want you to go after Sasuke and find Tsubai first. I sent a message to Sasuke, but didn't get an answer. So it's either something happened to him, which is very unlikely, or he is ignoring me. He probably has a good reason not to answer, but I can't just accept it. So you'll have to find him and figure out a way to exonerate Tsubai Minamoto."

"Do I go alone?"

"Rather yes. You have to be faster than the other people who are after him."

"Sasuke was in the land of Lightning, so going from there, you should be able to track his chakra." says Shizune.

"Thanks. I'm going right now." says Naruto before jumping through the office's window.

He sets foot on a nearby roof and crosses his fingers.

Kage Bunshin no Jutsu

Two dozens of clones appear and they head to different locations. Most of them go to the training ground to keep up his training, and the few others go to see people in the village and inform them of his departure. The real him heads to the village's gate and hurries in direction of the land of Lightning.

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On the mountain of Sojo, in the ruins of the Yamanaka village, Shibata wakes up alone in the morning. After doing some stretches, he stands up and goes to the balcony to check on the other yamabushi, but oddly doesn't see anyone. Worried by this discovery, he runs through the village to see where they all went, but doesn't find anyone in the houses or in the underground, not even Sojobo. He heads back to his house to check one last thing. There, he finally finds someone. Kokoro is still lying in her bed, sleeping in the room next to his in the same house. They are the only two who are still there. What happened to the others? What does this mean? His thoughts are suddenly invaded by a stranger's voice.

"I really wish I could talk to you sooner." it says.

Shibata looks around him to find the person who just spoke, before realizing he won't find it this way. By thinking at the meaning of what he just heard, he understands that his interlocutor is in his mind. In there, he finally sees his tengu, alive and well. A very tall humanoid creature, that looks over 2,1 meters tall. It has a complete white body covered in shining scales. He has large pointy fingers on both his hands and feet, yellow snake eyes with two black lines that look like tear strands going down from his eyes to his neck, and two large, straight, thick horns pointing to behind him on the top of his head. His face is just his yellow eyes, no nose, no mouth. Tentoki, the Celestial light, is his name.

"You made a mistake, but you couldn't know." it says.

"What mistake?" asks Shibata.

"Sojobo, the curse of time, he can see and hear everything that any other yamabushi sees and hears."

Shibata just makes a shocked face. He feels extremely stupid for not understanding this. This is obviously how Sojobo knew about Tsubai's location. This means he already knows about Shibata's intentions.

"Where are all the others?" he asks first.

"They're gone after the last Minamoto heir. Sojobo took them all with him, except for you and Kokoro who wouldn't have helped anyway, since you aren't willing to."

"Crap! What about Tokiwa?"

"Amabie's yamabushi? Maybe Sojobo still considers her on his side. And he would be right to see her this way. Honestly, I don't think you convinced her at all."

Shibata sits down next to Kokoro who's still sleeping and thinks. Sojobo is aware of his plans, all of them, and he is still, right now, seeing and hearing him. How can he possibly do anything to stop him?

"With me reborn, there's only Ryutoki and Kawahime left." says Tentoki.

"What should we do?" asks Shibata.

"Shibata, You didn't know that the tengus mature more slowly if they are separated from their creator, right?" reveals the bright tengu.

"What? Really? I didn't know!"

"When Sojobo said he still has 2 weeks before his reincarnation, he probably meant at most. For us to really have 2 weeks left, we should take Kawahime's yamabushi as far from here as possible. The longer she stays close to him, the shorter the gap before Kawahime's revival gets."

"So we should run away. But he can hear us now, so he already knows this."

"So what? He's busy right now. He won't come back to stop us. We just have to run away from the mountain. Sojobo won't have the will to leave this place anyway. It is too risky for him."

"… So that's what we'll do. Make sure we have much time. But what will we do with it?"

"2 weeks is enough to kill Ryutoki, and enough for Sasuke Uchiha to get rid of Sojobo himself."

Shibata looks at the creature in his inner world and can't stop himself from smiling. He didn't expect his tengu to be so positive, smart and cooperative.

"Also, you probably know all this, but I didn't introduce myself yet." says the tengu. "My name is Tentoki, the celestial light. I'm the first tengu born from Sojobo's curse on the Minamoto clan. I was created inside of Inosawa Yamanaka's grandson and have lived my first life by his sides. Now within you, I grant you the ability to use Koton, my kekkei genkai that allows you to use Light and more. I'm not that strong, but I'm really wise. I know some medical ninjutsu and am very sensitive. It looks like my first point made you lose all hope, but don't be that desperate. I can ensure you that my coming will make a great difference."

"… I already like you a lot, Tentoki." he says, still smiling. "So we run away with Kokoro now, huh? About that, where are all the others?"

"I think it's as Sojobo said yesterday. They went to kill the Uchiha's team and retrieve Tsubai. Judging by his words, I guess the Uchiha gave him an opportunity to fight them without having to fight him. What happens there isn't our problem. Sojobo won't let any one that he values die, so Tokiwa will survive, don't worry. And Sasuke Uchiha won't die either. So we can just focus on ourselves for now."

Shibata shakes Kokoro's shoulder to wake her up.

"I guess you know what you're doing. You also have an attack plan, do you?" he asks to his tengu again.

"I do. But since Sojobo can hear me, I'll keep it for me and just give you instructions."

"I understand."

Shibata looks at the young girl who opens her eyes and sees him with a determined face sitting next to her. She sits on the bed next to him and waits to know what is happening.

"Hurry up. We're going." Shibata says.

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In the land of Rivers, Minaa Nii is the last to wake up from Sasuke's group. She looks around and sees Z first, who's putting their camping equipment together and turns to her. When he sees her awake, he just smiles and nods, as to say good morning. Tsubai looks around to check if everyone is here and awake. While looking around, he sees Minaa at the exact moment where she gets out of under her camping blanket and show her body, still in underwear. Tsubai turns his head, frustrated that the world didn't completely change in his sleep.

"Girl, Do you realize that the next place where we're going is the top of a giant mountain, in the cold winter?" he asks rhetorically. "Will you still wear this at this point?"

"Who are you talking to?" asks Minaa, who just woke up and is confused.

"Good question. Who's the almost naked person I could be talking about? I really wonder who it is." he answers with an angry voice.

Tsubai almost didn't sleep at all this night. He just spent the whole time trying and thinking about what they're currently doing. Being the hunter this time should rejoice him, but he fails to find a reason to hunt. He doesn't understand why the tengu have to be taken down. He feels like Sasuke just brought him down a path he didn't want to take. All these thoughts, he should tell them to Sasuke, but he doesn't. Maybe he just doesn't have the will to oppose him. These thoughts, doubts and regrets… They jut piss him off. Feeling unable to be angry at Sasuke, he just goes angry at everything else instead.

"Hey, big guy!" says Daisuke, to draw Tsubai's attention. "Would you please let the lady alone?"

"And you, could you stop speaking and thinking with whatever is in your pants?" angrily, and promptly, answers Tsubai.

"In my pants? All the words I say come straight from my heart. I'm not an animal." answers the samurai while pounding his chest with one hand. "Also where is the beautiful blonde woman that was with us yesterday?"

"You see that? You immediately ask about the other girl you forgot the name of before even noticing that Sasuke and the Uchiha kid also are gone. What's that if not a speaking dick?"

Kobo, who was the first to stand up this morning among those who are still here, jumps down a tree and lands next to the group.

"Are all adults always this annoying?" he asks, after overhearing the argument.

"Ah, don't bring yourself in too, the orphan." says Tsubai, unconsciously, without really thinking.

When he hears this last comment, Kobo can't contain his anger. This word reminds him of his mother and of her death. This brings his mind back to his years of inhuman training. He takes Tsubai's words as an insult to her. Not thinking of anything but his rage, Kobo gets lost in his feelings and reacts as he would have reacted a year ago, before joining Kiri. He grabs his two swords in his back and activates his sharingans. He takes a step toward Tsubai, who's face expression changes when he realizes that he just messed up.

But before Kobo hurts anyone, he sees weird irregularities in the ground under Tsubai's feet. It's as if it was jiggling like water. Now he sees two hands emerge from it. Before he can do anything about them, they grab the Minamoto's feet and pull him down in the ground. Everyone stands up in surprise. Kobo looks at the soil waves moving away. Minaa, Daisuke and Z find the waves on the ground too, judging by where Kobo's eyes are aiming at. The four of them get ready to run after Tsubai but are stopped by a wall of stone that appears between them and the deeper forest. Seeing this wall growing excessively, they all stop in front of it, except Daisuke who quickly draws his sword.

Yawarakai – Issen

The stone wall before him is widely sliced open, allowing him to pass through and run to follow Tsubai. Unfortunately, Kobo and the two kumo-nins don't make it through the hole too and are stopped by two men landing between the wall and them. Chuji and Ritoru. No one among each side knew any of his opponent, but they all very quickly understand that they're facing enemies and prepare themselves.

"One of them passed through." says Ritoru.

"Don't give a shit." answers Chuji. "They're enough behind to take care of him. Meanwhile, we'll get rid of these clowns."

Daisuke who's running after the waves notices that they are way faster than him and that he won't keep up for long. Lucky for him, a freezing wave goes through the ground, faster than Tsubai's abductor, and turns all the dirt and rock it goes through to ice. As she sees the ice wave coming close, Tokiwa jumps out of the ground with Tsubai. It was for her the only way to avoid being stuck in the frozen ground. She drops Tsubai by her sides and turns to face Naomi who comes from a tree and lands in front of her.

"LOOK OUT!" screams Daisuke who leaps up and blocks feather blades with his sword.

Moritaka, with his wings deployed in the sky, looks down at Daisuke who stopped his attack aimed at Naomi. The samurai now stands by the mercenary's side. They both look at their enemies, at Tsubai and then at each other.

"I'll take the flying one." says Daisuke who bounces straight up.

Naomi sees Tokiwa in front of her who turns around to reach for Tsubai. The mercenary joins her hand and performs a quick series of hand signs.

Hyoton – Hyogan Domu

A large dome of ice appears and closes around them, trapping Tsubai and Tokiwa inside with Naomi. Daisuke, outside of the dome lands on top of it and points his sword to Moritaka who flies down and closer to the ground. In the dome, Tokiwa looks around her and finds no possible way to escape. She touches the ground and notices that it's already ice cold. She won't be able to swim through it. She stands up and faces Naomi Yuki.

Tsubai, who was just confused by the sudden action, comes back to his senses and looks before him. He sees her, the tall, long black haired woman he saw at the mountain's underground. Like hypnotized for a few seconds, he notices Naomi and the dome they're in when she speaks.

"You've got nowhere to go, now." says the icy hunter in a challenging voice. "It's just you against me, and only one of us will leave this dome alive. Judging by your worried face, I think the outcome won't be much of a surprise."

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End of Chapter 14 – Next Chapter: Against the Yamabushi