The Journey — (Naruto x Solo Leveling Fanfiction)

I don't own solo leveling or Naruto

"Uh geez, it's getting a little creepy down here," Jin woo fretted but kept his panic in check. That is until a piece of rock crumbled and slammed down to the floor with a loud thump. This made the E-ranker jump out of his skin.

"Oh, crap, please don't don't that again!" he grounded out, gritting his teeth to calm his racing nerves. It had been two hours, if his internal clock was working right, since he circled back from the middle path all the way to the left one that he took. He ended up not finding anything to clue him in on the whereabouts of the party back there and he was honestly figuring that he wouldn't find anything on this path either.

All he has found so far were stoned up hands protruding from the walls and floors of the tunnel, sometimes he'd pass by half a body sticking out the ground and he prayed each step he took that he didn't trigger them to start moving.

He rubbed his eyes thinking about how tired he was, but he knew taking a rest was a death sentence especially where was right now and the fact that he had absolutely no one to watch his back.

"Dammit, I should probably turn back. Nothing here to suggest that they went this way at all." he murmured to himself.

Before he turned to head back he spotted a shiny glint at the corner of his eye. He blinked a few times and rubbed his eyes to make sure his eyes weren't playing tricks on him. Lo and behold, they weren't. There was some kind of glistening object further ahead of him, one that he knew probably wasn't a good idea to chase after. But what choice did he have, it was probably some kind of crystal, or essence stone, or weapon he could sell to pay some of the bills.

He knew items from a D-rank dungeon didn't sell for much unless they were a special kind of rare or had unique property or were just absurdly powerful for no reason. He was already past the line of risk vs reward the moment he set foot alone so what was the problem with further risk.

He pressed on.

As he grew closer and closer and the glint grew brighter and brighter, the mix of hands and other limbs in the ground expanded into something of a graveyard, a very creepy graveyard. The singular source of light he combed towards wasn't enough to shake the increasing gloominess of the tunnel, but at least it kept his mind on the prize that he believed awaited him.

Sung Jin Woo came to a stop before a concrete body that leaned back as it was stabbed through the chest by a dagger, the dagger giving off the glint he chased to. His eyes gleamed with joy at the possibility of something going right today, eager to ignore the danger signs in his head telling him that it was a bad idea to pull this weapon from the stone.

For the longest time Sung Jin Woo being the weakest of all hunters has forced him to rely on his instincts and sharp wits to get him out of entanglements that his rather non-existent power couldn't. It was at that moment he swore to himself to never to abandon his instincts ever again because they are the difference between why he's alive today and able to make this stupid, dumb decision today.

Once he pulled the silver dagger from the chest of the stone statue, a concrete hand reached out and grasped Jin Woo by the neck. He saw the statue he thought to be a statue revive itself and chock the life out of him. He futility clawed and scratched away at the stoney hand trying to snap his neck like a twig.

"Ugh, err, crap…!" he strained out as life faded from his eyes. He kicked but only served to hasten his death as the grip grew tighter. He couldn't die, not here, not in this place, not right now. His sister, his mother, his family still needed him, they still needed Sung Jin Woo.

So, he glared right at the two beady red eyes of the stone statue and gripped his newly acquired dagger and stabbed the monster in the eye. For some reason it seemed to have pain receptors and released him from its grasp to grip the new hole in its head. Maybe they weren't statues like he thought they were.

Scrambling to his feet he didn't waste any time bolting straight out of there, leaving the no longer motionless graveyard behind. He duck and dived past every hand and protrusion from the walls and ground aiming to impede his escape. Losing his backpack on the way out was unfortunate but at least he was mostly in one piece.

"Oh, crap, crap, crap…" he repeated a string of other curses under his breath. Looking behind him it seems that he has left the spot of innumerable enemies in his dust although not cause for relief because they were still likely chasing after him, it gave him a second to catch a breather. One he desperately needed.

He gingerly rubbed his throat feeling all the bumps and bruises caused by that vice grip around his neck. He spit out some saliva to the ground and that was clearly a mistake because the wall next to him crumbled and out stepped another stone statue that wasted no time smacking to the opposite wall.

He moaned in pain as he slid flat on his ass with severe bruising on his chest, visible from the attack that tore his shirt apart, likely internal bleeding as well. His vision was blurry, ears ringing and head swaying side to side trying to get a sense of orientation. All the while the lumbering and looming steps of the statue inch ever closer to cut his unfulfilled life to a close.

'Oh man, what's happening? Am I dead? That attack came outta nowhere. Shit, it's hard to breathe!' His thoughts were frantic trying to piece together what was happening and how to get his bearings. He needed to move or he was going to die for sure.

With whatever strength he had remaining he rolled away from the overhead strike, delaying inevitable death from but a few precious moments, he found that every tiny movement he made caused immense pain that reverberated throughout every fibre of his being. He couldn't even scream as that would cause pain so was relegated to short, haughty pants trying to pull himself away.

The stone statue came lumbering again and this time had more margin for error because Jin Woo was virtually left unable to use his limbs. His life flashed before his eyes as tears left his eyes thinking about how he let his sister, mother and dead father down by dying so pathetically, not even being able to fight back. A fitting end for the weakest of all he thought to himself.

He thought the sound of multiple chirping birds signalled his ascension to heaven or hell or where the hell people went when they died, but dismissed that when still felt the mind numbing agony his body was going through. That shouldn't be the case if he was dead, right? The dead don't feel anything, right? That could only mean he wasn't dead!

He opened his eyes and saw the back of a stranger in a brown blazer and grey school trousers with black sneakers on. The stranger had hair that defied gravity, sticking up at the back of his head like that and he had this cold and dark aura to him with the streaks of lightning racing all around him.

He saw the stranger glance back with his penetrating ruby red gaze but not at him, rather at something or someone beyond him. He saw his lips move but not a single word reached or registered to his ears. All he felt was a soothing warm, ethereal glow overcome his body and alleviate whatever pain he was feeling instantly. He closed his for just a moment wondering if this was too good an end for a weakling like himself, maybe dying wasn't so bad.

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Sasuke Uchiha went to swoop up the elusive Sung Jin Woo over his shoulders and carry him over his shoulder after Joo-hee finished healing him. But the young man with more boyish features then himself snapped his eyes open and shot himself to an upright position.

They accidentally ended up head butting each other and both reeled back from the sudden and painful collision.

"Argh… what the hell?" Sasuke complained, grabbing a hold of his throbbing forehead.

"Ouch!" Jin woo groaned, starting to see stars. He quickly recovered and to his left spotted one of the most beautiful women he'd ever laid eyes on. She had bright orange ponytail hair and twinkling blue eyes with the fairest smoothest skin. She wore a long brown fur coat with a white turtleneck underneath. He suddenly found it hard to breathe when he realised how close she was to him, damn near kissing his face not that he would mind. Jin woo shook such thoughts from his head and quickly scrambled to his feet to greet the pretty woman.

"Uh, hello. Did you…did you save me?" he asked her directly, hoping that would keep the blood from rising to his head significantly. She nodded her head and then pointed at the irritated teenager behind him.

"But you should really be thanking Sasuke, if he wasn't here then I'm afraid I wouldn't have been able to heal you up."

"Oh?" he was speechless, not knowing what to say to that.

"Hn. No big deal, don't mention it," Sasuke cut in before he could express his sincerest gratitude.

"I don't know what to say… Thank you, Sasuke," he said anyway and Sasuke just nodded his head firmly acknowledging his gratitude.

He felt foreign hands run over his skin and immediately flinched away from the contact. He flushed embarrassed when he realised how he reacted not expecting the woman, one as pretty as her, to touch him.

"I'm sorry," she apologised immediately. "I just wanted to run a diagnostic spell to make sure everything is alright," she explained.

"Oh, uh, I feel fine. No need to waste your energy on that!" he assured her, but she shook her head claiming it was no trouble at all.

"I just want to make sure that you're alright. So can I?" she asked to touch him this time and he relented.

Goosebumps ran across his skin as her soft and smooth touch, for a hunter, made contact with his skin. This time there was no warmth or glow or anything of the sort. Just a flash of light and she was done.

"Everything looks to be fine. You're just dehydrated and fatigued as far as I can tell. Nothing, a little rest can't fix up!" she clapped her hands excitedly.

"Hey, uh, I didn't get your name," he grounded out, struggling to force the words from his throat. He refused looking her in the eyes for time being, finding more interest to a spot on the wall next to him.

"Oh, it's Lee Joo-hee. Nice to meet you, Sung Jin Woo!" she introduced herself enthusiastically, holding out her hand for him to shake to which he did despite his hesitance.

"Likewise," he smiled, locking eyes with her and they seemed to lock eyes for far longer than necessary because Sasuke cleared his throat breaking up their shared trance.

"Let's get the old man and move out. It's safe to assume those numbskulls killed the boss already so the gate should be collapsing soon." he said

It was not a moment after he said this that a horde of stone statues lumbered their way around the curve towards the group. Sasuke eyed them with disinterest and motioned with him to get the other two moving.

"Right! Let's get out of here!"

Sung Jin Woo pumped up and ready to go ran along with Joo-hee and Sasuke before his legs failed him and caused him to collapse.

"Jin Woo!" he heard her cry.

"Dang, it seems my legs are more fatigued than we thought, huh?" he chuckled and Joo-hee pouted furiously.

"Not a time to be making such jokes, Jin Woo!" she scolded.

"Yeah, yeah." Sasuke interjected, easily bringing the skinny, little boyish hunter over his shoulder. This caused Jin Woo to yelp in surprise and blush in embarrassment at being lifted up so easily by a teenager.

"Let's go!" Sasuke ordered Joo-hee who nodded firmly as they rushed off towards the path camber, leaving the slow stone monster in their dust.

They quickly arrived at the path camber and fortunately found Kim Sang Shik exiting the middle tunnel. His eyes immediately lit up as relief washed through his face.

"Hunter Sung! Is that you?" he asked.

"Yep, Mr. Kim Sang Shik!"

"Are you alright?" Noting that Sasuke had him slung over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

"Uh, yep! As good as I can be right now!"

Kim Sang Shik sighed, "Thanks for finding him, brat!" he said, addressing the young Uchiha.

"Whatever, old man."

"I ain't even that old!"

"Are you kidding? You're practically a grandpa."

"Gah! Shut up you stupid brat!"

"Whatever," Sasuke rolled his eyes. Jin woo was laughing quietly on his shoulder and he questioned the E-rank on what was so funny.

"Oh, uh it's just I've never seen someone tease Mr. Kim like that before. It's kinda funny."

"Hn."

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The group of three exited the dungeon with no more troubles after that. Sasuke noticed it was nearing evening now meaning that they had spent an additional 3 hours there searching for Sung Jin Woo. The E-ranker asked to be sat down for a moment so he could rest for a bit. He saw him graciously accept the free bottle of water the food merchant offered him, he was offered the same thing but declined.

"Ay! Not bad, kid! Looks like you didn't come back with a corpse meanwhile we came back with the goods!" Daehyun shouted obnoxiously, sitting over at Kim Sang Shik's van with a bag of whatever resources they managed to find in there. Not that it mattered much to him, he was already in a position to make more money than these jerks so this was an interesting experience to say the least.

"Glad you guys made it back on time!" Kimura said, rushing over to them. "Stalling those bastards was a challenge but I got it done."

"Yeah, I'm glad you did, big guy," Kim gave Kimura a pat on his shoulder as praise.

"Well, I guess that just leaves the case of how we split the earnings, ay, old man? We got about 5 mil, I think," Daehyun approached with a laid back, non-changlant gait.

"Yeah, let's just say we split it up evenly between all of us?" Kim said.

"500 000 thousand each and for all the heavy lifting we did to get the 5 million. I don't think that's fair, when we bust our asses mining while you three ran along chasing after a lost cause like Sung. I just don't think that's fair, do you think so, captain?" Daehyun expressed his position very forcefully.

"I don't care what you do with my cut. As long as you make sure you give it to Sung for the mess you put him through, alright?" Sasuke interjected coldly and was very cutthroat in his demand.

Jin woo looked ready to protest Sasuke's decision but decided against it and instead accepted his charity. Kim considered Sasuke's words carefully and asked Daehyun if they could discuss in private the terms of payment for the party's services.

"You know, you should probably head to the hospital right now, Jin woo," Joo-hee said, crouching down to Sung's level. Jin woo froze up monetarily at her close proximity but forced himself to relax.

"Uh, no need to trouble them with someone like me. I'm fine!" he assured her.

"It's literally their job to make sure you're alright, Jin woo." she deadpanned, but he still wasn't willing to make any leeway on the subject and Joo-hee could tell. So, she cupped his hand into the palms of her hands and gave him a sweet smile.

"Please go to the hospital, Jin woo, or else…"

Jin woo gulped at the threat of likely bodily harm and accepted her terms readily to which she gave him a short ruffle of his messy black hair.

"Take care now will you! Jin Woo, Sasuke, and Mr. Kim!" She bid them a warm farewell and walked away.

Watching her leave suddenly made Sung Jin Woo remember something very important. Where was his dagger? He frantically searched his pockets and person and would've checked inside his skin if he did but couldn't find it anywhere. He raised his head in his head, ready to scream out to the world how unfair it was for drawing him such a short straw. That dagger was supposed to be his lucky break for the week, but now it was gone.

"What's with all the doom and gloom?" he heard Sasuke questioning him.

"I lost my dagger."

"Dagger? You mean this one?" Sasuke asked, flicking the blade from his hip and twirling it with practised ease. Jin woo peaked from his fingers and his eyes sparkled with hope and joy at the sight.

"Yes! Exactly that dagger, thanks a lot Sasuke!" he said happily.

He finally started to gain feeling in his legs and tried to stand up but ultimately failed, this led Sasuke who was watching him to tell him to take it easy.

"Sorry, I just wanna be back before dinner. I promised my little sister I would," he explained sheepishly.

"Nothing to be sorry about," he assured him, "Where do you live? I can take you there," he offered, as if it was no big deal.

"Don't bother yourself. I'll manage, Sasuke, thank you." he waved away his helpfulness.

"Whatever you say," Sasuke replied, throwing the eldest Sung over his shoulders once again

"Hey, what're you-"

"Old man, you have his contact details so make sure you don't screw him over," Sasuke said referring to the complaining Sung over his shoulder. He then leaped into the air at subsonic speeds to a rooftop.

"Hey! I'm older than you, show some respect!"

"Oh, really? I almost couldn't tell," he mocked, making a jab at his obscenely boyish features.

"Put me down, Sasuke!"

"You should consider your words more carefully." he commented as they vaulted from one rooftop to the next. Sung Jin Woo gulped at the height, he could easily die if he fell from this height.

"I can jump around all day."

"Fine, I'll tell you!" Jin woo relented and told him the location of his apartment.

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Jin woo struggled to get the keys from his pocket, using Sasuke as support as he tried to fish for them because his legs still refused to cooperate with him.

"Ah ha! Alright!" He celebrated getting the keys and then opened the door.

"Jin-ah! I'm home and I've brought a guest!" Jin woo announced to the sole presence inside the Sung household.

"Wait? Guest?" Sasuke asked, confused.

Jin woo looked at him like he was an idiot because there was no way he wasn't going to let Sasuke leave without him repaying a little bit of goodwill from his side.

He sat down on the step leading to the main house, taking off his shoes and leaving them neatly stashed along the wall. Sasuke did the same, reluctantly, and guided Jin woo into the living room where he sat him down on the couch.

"Jin-ah! I'm home!"

A pretty brown haired girl wearing a bright pink shirt with plain grey joggers. She had an annoyed look on her face, likely upset at her brother for waking her up judging from the sleep in her eyes.

"Yeah, yeah I heard you the first time geez– Oh, uh, hello visitor," she greeted Sasuke awkwardly when she noticed his presence.

Sasuke just hummed and gave her a nod, equally as awkward. Jin-ah continued to stare at Sasuke until he cleared his throat.

"You're Sung Jin-ah, correct?"

"So, my brother talks about me?" She teased her brother slyly, trying to get a rise out of him.

"Not really. He just told me your name and that's about it." he replied, causing Jin woo to poke back by sticking his tongue out immaturely.

"Anyway your brother was injured during a raid and needs to rest a couple of days. Take care," Sasuke said.

"Wait! Jin-ah stop him, please. I can't let him go just yet!" Jin woo tried pulling Sasuke back by grabbing onto his blazer.

"That sounded way too weird, big brother, you know that?" She retorted with a laugh.

"Whatever." her brother rolled his eyes.

Sasuke pressed on back to the entrance, putting on his shoes. He felt his sister standing behind him but making no move to stop him from leaving like her brother intended for her to do.

"Hey, I didn't get your name by the way. I think it's only fair since you have mine," She said, folding her arms together.

Sasuke sighed, "It's Sasuke."

"Just Sasuke?"

"Uchiha Sasuke. Happy?" he bit back.

"It's all sunshines and rainbows over here." she responded sarcastically. "Come on, you should stay a little longer, you came all this way to drop off my big brother, at least let me pay back your time somehow." she explained.

Sasuke stopped tying his shoes and glanced over his and then looked back at his shoes.

"I have a feeling you won't take no for an answer." Sasuke deadpanned.

"How do you know me so well?" she replied, sweetly and Sasuke just grunted making his way back to the living room.

"Uh, wait, you haven't made dinner?" Jin woo questioned.

"Nah, too lazy, but I ordered some fried chicken. I hope you don't mind, Sasuke." She flashed him a silly smile.

"I'll manage."

Jin woo leaned back onto the couch and started to watch some TV and Sasuke sat on the floor next to him. Jin-ah decided to bring her books to the living room so that she could read them.

"So, I noticed your uniform. You're a student from my sister school?" she asked him.

"I suppose."

"How'd you end up running into my big brother? I imagine he's not waiting around high schools to pick up minors these days." She interrogated further, her tease at her big brother caused him to cringe wondering why she was on attack mode like this.

"I am literally watching TV." Jin woo commented with a deadpan, wondering why she was teasing him so much while interrogating their guest.

"Relax, you! I'm only playing!" she said laughing at his expense. "So, you didn't answer my question."

"I met your brother almost dying to a stone statue monster. I got there right just in time and then he was healed up by another party member. Now I'm here." Sasuke summarised in short order.

However, he noticed the teasing glint in Jin-ah's eyes suddenly vanished as the tension between the two siblings became noticeably thick.

"You almost died, again?" she bowed her head covering up the emotions stirring up on her face.

"Jin-ah…" Jin woo grimaced slightly knowing what was coming but she cut him off.

"No! How many times, big brother? How many times until you stop risking your life like this? Why don't you get a real job and stop making me worry if you're coming back home or not! Are you just trying to die? Leave me alone like father? Like mother?"

"Jin-ah… What are you saying? I would never leave alone! Don't say such things," Jin woo admonished his sister's emotional rant.

"Then why? Why do you go out every second day just to almost die! Is it some kind of thrill for you, huh?" she shouted back with tears beginning to form in her eyes.

Jin woo knew that his little sister had these feelings in the back of her mind every time he'd come back home bloodied and bruised, he did his best to avoid letting her see in such a state but it couldn't be avoided sometimes. But what she said right then had really made him mad, he sacrificed too much to be getting this from his own sister.

"You think I do this for fun? I do this for you and for our mother! I may not be a good hunter, but I get way more money in this business than I would being a civilian! I dropped out of school for you, this is my only option. Don't you get that?"

Sasuke noticed remorse appear on Jin-ah's face at her brother's words, but she quickly covered it up under a veil of impudence and stormed off to her room, slamming the door. Jin woo just released a breath under his lips and fell back down on the couch in defeat, not realising his legs started responding again.

"I'm sorry you had to hear all that. It's been really hard these past two years," he apologised to his guest Sasuke.

"No worries." Sasuke reassured him easily enough.

Jin woo chuckled, "She'll get over it. Hey, if you don't mind me asking. Why did you help me out so much?" he asked, pointing out something that has been bothering him the entire time he has interacted with the teenager.

Sasuke paused for a moment to think, searching for all the possible reasons as to why he helped Sung out so much today. Sasuke was the type to, even remotely, to involve himself with incompetent people these days, at least he tried his damndest. However, when he thought about it hard enough he knew the actual reason.

"I did something similar to you not too long ago and someone died because of it. I was being selfish, so I didn't want you to make the same mistake I did if I could help it," He explained, thinking back on why Kil Nari died back then. She was just doing her job and became a victim of his own selfish goals. Maybe that's the reason why he told Sakura not to follow him back then, he knew that she would end up dying because of him.

"Are you saying I was being selfish?"

"I thought so at first, but now I know that's not the case. You may be completely incompetent as a hunter, but Jin-ah drew the best straw to have someone like you as an older brother."

Although Jin woo was slightly hurt about Sasuke's assessments of his capabilities, he was greatly touched by his words. As long as Jin-ah was safe and thriving it didn't really matter to him what others thought, he'd continue to fight no matter what.

"Thank you," Jin woo said.

"For what?"

"For reminding me why I fight."

Sasuke blinked, being reminded of a familiar blonde idiot once he witnessed the firm determination and resolve in Jin woo's gaze. He shook his head from those thoughts and made his way to the entrance of the house to get his shoes then leave. Jin woo didn't stop him this time. When his fingers curled around the doorknob to open it, he heard the sound of the doorbell ringing.

"Oh sweet, that must be the chicken!" Jin woo exclaimed happily.

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That's it! I feel like I have to explain myself with Jin-ah and Jin woo because I feel like I'll get the most comments about that. First of all the canon implies that Jin-ah wasn't happy about Jin woo being a hunter for obvious reasons, so I imagine they've had some fights about this over the years before canon.

Jin woo I feel at this time, although less extreme further into SL, doesn't really share his thoughts and feelings much to his sister to most likely guard from the harsh truths of their situation, not that she needs it, the girl is very sharp. Jin woo doesn't like help from others or relying on others, but since he is so weak, his hand is forced when encountering Sasuke, who is so much stronger at this time that he can't deny him or his help.

I hope I depicted an actual argument that the two siblings would have between each other, I love those two and I wouldn't do anything to mess up the bond they have with each other, I just think this chapter was a very likely scenario to have occurred with or without Sasuke there.

Thank you and reviews pls!