Naruto: Dual Worlds – Chapter 1 – Prologue
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I don’t own anything or anybody from Naruto. I would love to though, so in case you want to sell me the rights for a few dollars, I’m all for it.
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The road to Konoha was disturbingly busy during the mid-afternoon of summer. A blazing sun looked down mercilessly at everyone below it’s raging heat, causing almost everyone to break out in fits of smelly sweat. Several dozen merchants pushed their wares in large horse drawn wagons from Konoha to the capital of the Land of Fire, where the feudal lord dwelled, and to other, though still large, cities. People had a peculiar obsession with wares that related to ninja, and they fetched an ever-increasing price from the markets.
There was also dozens of travelers that preferred the dusty but busy road to the forests in fear of the dangerous thieves, animals, and worse of all, renegade ninja. Migrant workers that moved from city to city with permits, lone strangers, and some occasional ninja littered the path. And of all those people, there was an especially loud and noticeably blond one that was arguing with the white-haired adult next to him.
Uzumaki Naruto, now fourteen years old, was finally returning to Konoha.
“Oooh! Were almost there, old man!” Naruto said excitedly. It had been a year since he had left, and many things about him had changed. He was taller by almost a foot, and he wore a more matured and serious look than he had. His lean body had filled out in the places of a teenager, giving him a more adult image. However, his hair was still obnoxiously yellow and he was hyperactive as ever. Besides him was his sensei, Jiraiya. Also known as one of the legendary Sannin of Konoha, he wore an odd outfit that made him stand out in the road. An uncommonly large scroll hung down his back, but anyone with a concerting eye knew that the scrolled weighed dozens of pounds, and that the old man was more than he seemed.
“Calm down, Naruto. You’re scaring everyone else.” Jiraiya said, as he attempted to hush his younger student.
“But it’s been so long since I’ve been back! What if no one recognizes me?” Naruto bounced up and down and back up excitedly at the prospect of seeing old friends. Ever since Sasuke had defected to Orochimaru, he had left with Jiraiya, partially because he knew he represented some hazard to his village, partially to become stronger, and partially to forget the pain of his memories in knowing that Sasuke had managed to leave because of his weakness.
Jiraiya laughed. “Believe me Naruto. It would take anyone much longer than a year to forget the likes of you. Especially you.”
Naruto’s face soured. “You trying to say something old man?”
Jiraiya held his hands up, palms flat in mock peace. “No. Just saying you’re a special kid. Learn to take a joke once in a while.”
Naruto smiled as if had won a battle, flipping his thumb up and across his nose. “That’s right. I am special.”
It had been a bit over a year since he had left Konoha to train with Jiraiya. They had traveled to several different countries so that Naruto could meet with several friends of Jiraiya that were skilled with various techniques. Naruto soured at the memories. They had mainly used him as a punching mat for techniques, under the guise of teaching. But he had grown, he admitted to himself after looking past all the embarrassing losses to shinobi much greater than him. He had grown much in power, skill, and speed, and he was eager to show it off to everyone.
Jiraiya had originally not planned on coming back for another two years. While they were staying at Kumogakure, the hidden Cloud village in the Land of Lightning, Jiraiya had received an urgent message from Tsunade via a special technique Naruto had never known before. The next day, Jiraiya had ordered him to pack up, explaining to him that there was important business back in Konoha. Of course, Jiraiya still hadn’t explained in detail what was happening, but Naruto didn’t mind. He missed his old friends Lee, Shikamaru, Neji, Chouji, Ino, Kiba, Hinata, Shino, Tenten, and even that little brat Konohamaru and his little pack of miscreants. He missed his academy teacher Iruka-sensei, and his team-leader Kakashi-sensei. He missed old lady Tsunade and her assistant Shizune. Most of all, Naruto thought happily, he missed his child-hood and still ongoing crush Sakura.
He grinned blithely at imaginary thoughts of how Sakura would see him and fall instantly in love.
When he had learned Jiraiya kept in contact with Tsunade, he had asked him about Sakura, before anyone else.
“It’s not important for you to know how the big-forehead girl is doing right now. Concentrate on your training. That’s what matters at the moment.” Jiraiya had originally told him, ignoring Naruto’s incensed response when Jiraiya insulted the size of his first crush’s forehead.
But Naruto hadn’t relented, and eventually the perverted old man had given up to his patented sexy-no-jutsu. He found out that Sakura was training under Tsunade as a medical-nin. Good for her, he had thought, that she was learning something new and becoming stronger. He did however hope that Sakura developed neither old lady Tsunade’s terrifying strength or sarcastic personality.
When they finally reached the massive gates that protected the south entrance to the city, Naruto and Jiraiya were surprised at the changes that had been done. Large iron gates hung ominously around the entrance, with barbed wire peppered liberally everywhere. Extra guard patrols gazed down upon them from high stands upon the wall with hard, discerning eyes. There were even more guards at the ground floor, checking and marking special passes that were given out to merchants and travelers to identify them. Several merchants had been escorted into a small, and newly constructed building to be further screened for a potential threat. Then one of the guards saw Naruto and Jiraiya approach, and left his patrol group to meet the two.
“Welcome back Jiraiya-sama.” The guard bowered in deference, then crossed his arms again when addressing Naruto. “And Naruto. I’m glad to see that you made it on time.” The guard said.
“N-Neji?!” Naruto exclaimed loudly, surprised that one of the men he considered his rival and friends was at the south gate. He began laughing loudly, slapping his palms against his pants. “You got promoted to guard-duty!” He stopped laughing when neither Neji nor Jiraiya gave a hint of a smile that they appreciated the joke.
“These eyes of mine have proven to be of much use to Konoha. In times like these, anything is useful.” Neji gave Naruto a slow once-over, and Naruto shivered deep in his bones. It seemed as if Neji not only looked at him, but through him. He remembered such a stare so many years ago, in the chuunin examination, and didn’t like being on the other end.
“You’ve changed Naruto, you’ve become stronger.” Neji observed. He could see the improved chakra flow. It was larger, but also more concentrated. Naruto must have learned to also contain his enormous chakra potential also. Neji didn’t say it, but he was impressed. The more chakra one had, the harder it was to control, like a river. And where some people had a stream or a canal, Naruto’s chakra was a raging white rapid. It said a great deal of his training that he had managed to reel something like that in.
Naruto grinned until his smile went from one edge of his mouth to the other. “Nice to see you’re the same old sour-face you used to be, Neji.”
Jiraiya interrupted the two with a cough, and Neji turned much more respectful eyes to his superior. “So the rumors are true, are they? I didn’t expect Tsunade to issue such drastic orders already. But it’s like her, taking such precautions.” Jiraiya began softly. He had seen the extra security and realized what it meant. No wonder Tsunade had called him back.
“Yes. There has been much movement from the other side lately. We’ve even confiscated a few spies. They’re being interrogated as we speak.” Neji replied.
“Wha-? Who are you talking about?” Naruto interjected. “Interrogation? Spy? What’s going on? Old man…Neji?” He asked.
Jiraiya ignored him. “You. Your name. Neji, was it?”
Neji nodded. “Yes, Jiraiya-sama.”
“I’m going to have a little chit-chat with Tsunade-hime. Fill in Naruto for me, would you?” Jiraiya said.
“It would be my - ” Neji gave a little cough. He didn’t want to, but he couldn’t say no to a Sannin out of respect. “ – my pleasure.” Was it just him, or was there an extremely heavy dose of sarcasm, Naruto wondered.
“You don’t have to if you don’t want to.” Naruto grumbled.
“Alright Naruto, I’ll see you later. Say hi to everyone for me.” Jiraiya said with a good-bye wave. The other guards parted before him, apparently informed of his Sannin status. Neji bowed one final time. Naruto sighed and waved back. The old man had a penchant for wondering away without telling Naruto what was happening.
“So Neji…” Naruto began, turning to the Hyuuga. “Why the extra security here? Don’t tell me.” Naruto closed his eyes in mock concentration. “Lee drank too much sake again?”
Neji rolled his eyes. Naruto was the same as ever. He would give the explanation to Naruto straight, and maybe he would understand it. “We are at war right now. All available ninja and forces have been called back to prepare for any assasult on the village.”
Naruto looked shock, and his eyebrows seemed to stretch off his face. “You’re joking right?” He said at last.
“No.” Neji shook his head in a ‘this is serious’ gesture.
“Wow…” Naruto breathed out, his mouth a ‘o’. “It’s not Sunagakure, is it?” Naruto said, referring to the Sand village. That village had been part of the last alliance set up by Orochimaru that attacked them.
“No, it’s even worse. It’s the Rock village.” Neji stated.
“Rock village huh? Hmm…” Naruto didn’t remember visiting any place with that name.
“From the Land of Earth.”
“Ahhh!” Naruto remembered. Iruka-sensei had drilled him in on the geography of the world, but it had slowly leaked out in the years. “Why would they attack us?”
“That’s the problem - we have no idea. There is no purpose for them to. All reports say their village is doing great, but for some reason, they have moved their forces to the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Grass. The Land of grass is helpless to do anything, and the only available ally that will even give the illusion of helping us is the Sunagakure, but they are weakened to, as we are.” Neji said all this with an air of sadness.
“What about the other villages? Don’t we have alliances and treaties and stuff like that?” Naruto asked. He remembered the day when the representatives from other villages had come to theirs to celebrate the end of the Village Wars. Surely they were obligated to do something?
“No. Those treaties are for non-agression pacts. They won’t help the Iwagakure, but they won’t help us either. Sunagakure might help us because they had attacked us in the past, but they are worried that they might be ambushed if they send too many forces here. And we don’t even know if Orochimaru might use his village also.”
Naruto’s eyes narrowed at the mention of the last Sannin besides old lady Tsunade and that old-pervert Jiraiya. Orochimaru was a powerful missing-nin who had created his own village. Had manipulated Sunagakure into attacking them. Naruto’s hands balled into fists. And had taken Sasuke.
“Anyhow, it’s good that you are back. Guard positions are empty, and an extra pair of hands would be useful. You don’t plan on leaving and deserting the village in it’s time of need, do you Naruto?” Neji said, the corner of his lip curled deviously.
The little bastard… Naruto thought. Of course I wouldn’t…would I? “Don’t worry.” He pointed his thumb to his chest. “I’m probably good enough for the front lines. Not guard duty.” He tried to place as much pity as he could on the last sentence.
“A pity.” The jab seemed to go straight over Neji’s head. Or else he had purposefully ignored it. “Naruto, you should go say hi to everyone. I’m sure they are wondering how you are, especially Hinata-sama.”
“Hinata? Why would she be especially worried?” Asked Naruto curiously.
Neji groaned. Even he could tell that Hinata-sama, the heir of the main branch family, was what girls referred to as ‘crushing’ on Naruto. Was the idiot really that blind to other people’s emotions?
“Nevermind Naruto. I think there are some things you would never understand.”Neji shook his head as he spoke.
“Wh-what?” Naruto was taken aback at he wouldn’t understand anything. “Just tell me why. Tell me why why why why why!” He demanded, stomping his feet. Nope, he hadn’t changed in some ways at all.
Suddenly, Neji stopped Naruto mid-speech, lifting his palm up in a ‘stop’ gesture. Naruto, knowing what Neji’s palm could do, blanched instantly and quieted.
Neji’s eyes narrowed and then widened. Veins popped up around his temple and his eyes took on a even whiter hue, if it was possible. Naruto swallowed, and wondered what was happening. This was Neji’s kekkei genkai, a blood-limit. It was of Konoha’s noble family, the Hyuuga, and allowed the user to see in a 360 degrees circle around them and to even see the chakra flow within people. In someone especially talented, like Neji, he could even see the tenketsu; the chakra points of the body, which regulated the flow of chakra in ones own system. Naruto remembered how Neji had used this ability against him in one of the most painful and tiring fights of his life.
“What is it?” Naruto asked quietly.
Neji was silent for a moment, and even looked puzzled for a brief second. “There’s someone there. A strange chakra, but strong. Very strong. I haven’t seen such a peculiar chakra before. No…there are two people. Fighting?”
“Where?” Naruto looked around as if he could spot where the person was.
Neji concentrated some more, and his face crunched up. In the vision of his Byakugan, the world was a shadow of white and black and shades of gray. There was the ever present common blue chakra flow, and in some cases, such as Naruto, specks of red lines. There were two people. The first person’s chakra flow was a deep purple, almost like a ripe plum. That was the strong one, Neji noted. The other was a much weaker shade of purple. The weaker one threw purple tinged weapons that were somehow deflected. The stronger one waved…her?… hand and made a chopping gesture. The ground where she aimed trembled for a brief second - before exploding in a shower of dirt. There were several fading people on the ground, their chakra a fading blue. They were dying.
“Down the road! People are dying!” Neji began racing down the path. “Naruto, follow me!” Neji ordered.
He didn’t need to. Naruto was already right behind him.
“Alright!”
They approached the area, several people went screaming past them for the safety of the village. When they reached the area, what they saw shocked them both into stunned silence. The ground was littered with corpses of merchants and lone stragglers alike. Their eyes were gazed over as a fish’s when it dies, and a awkward parody of a scream twisted their faces.
Slightly ahead of them, a young girl fought for her life. She was dressed in a uniform that was once pristine, but now covered in sweat, dirt, and blood. Desperate, she threw daggers at her opponent with unerring accuracy at the other. The few were deflected against an invisible shield, dropping useless into the ground. The last held in mid-air for a second – before turning, and launching backwards at its original owner. The girl’s eyes widened and she dodged by flinging herself to the side – but the dagger was guided by an unseen force, and it rammed into her chest with a vicious anger. She fell to the ground, clutching at the dagger in pain.
Her enemy was a tall, regal woman. A finely detailed mask decorated with various gems and shells covered the top half her face. The bottom half was of a young woman, with clear, pale skin and the cruelest smile Neji or Naruto had ever seen. She wore an imposing ruby-red gown that clung like drops of water to her body. She held up one hand, palm spread, and red sparks began to gather at the tips of finger. Fire ignited in a fiery blossom, coming to life. One second later, and it shot out like a cannon. It would hit the woman, and she and everything near her would explode in a blazing inferno.
It would have struck the woman, but it didn’t – Neji had moved in front of her as a shield. With a swipe of his hand, now limned in blue chakra, the ball of fire was smashed aside like a baseball, where it exploded to his right with a deafening boom and sent scorched earth showering in the air.
Naruto kneeled down besides the woman. He examined her energy her injury and knew that it was most likely fatal. Even he didn’t need to be a medical-nin to know that the dagger and pierced her heart.
“She okay, Naruto?” Neji asked. He didn’t take his eyes off the other woman, who had seemed annoyed that the two ninja saved the other. An ugly sneer reached across her face and she lifted her other hand. This time, blue light began to play around hands. Neji grit his teeth. This chakra was too foreign. It was like chakra, but at the same time, not chakra. Would he be able to withstand this one?
“No. She needs help bad, Neji. As in now, or she won’t make it. I’m going to bring her to old lady Tsunade.” Naruto said in fast-paced tones. He tried to staunch the blood but couldn’t – there was too much. Blood gushed up like lava from a volcano with every breath she took. If only old lady Tsunade were here, he wished to himself, she could have done something. He wouldn’t let someone die before him. Clutching her shoulder, he readied to sling her across his shoulder – but the girl grabbed his arm. Her eyes were wide and terrified as she attempted to plead something to him. To make him understand something important.
“No…too late…magic gone…” The girl rasped. Blood began to leak from the sides of her mouth. Her voice was quickly fading, it was an empty wind over an ocean. She weakly reached up around her neck and fumbled with a string strung to her neck.
“What is it?” Naruto asked softly. He wanted to cry for this woman, but he couldn’t and knew that she would die here, in his arms. “What do you want?”
With the last of her strength, the woman snapped the string off. On it’s end was a round, flat rock. She pressed it against Naruto’s hand as if it were her last sacred treasure. Perhaps it was.
“You’re not going to die here.” Naruto promised, but he knew it was an empty one. She had but a few seconds to live. “I – just – don’t worry.”
“Keystone…take…SeeD…Balamb…please.” She placed her hand in Naruto’s. Her eyelids snapped shut but her eyes danced wildly underneath. She was doing something, Naruto realized.
Neji had underestimated the other woman. He saw through his Byakugan that the energy that was gathering in her hands was greater than anything he had seen before. It was of such intensity that it blinded him, casting everything in his vision pure white with a sharp contrast of black lines. Great enough, he realized, to blast him, any defense that he could put up, and Naruto away along with a mile tract of land and then some.
“Who are you? Why did you do this?” He asked, a strange desperation in his voice. No. That was the wrong question. His face scrunched up “…What are you?”
The woman gave a deep, rich laugh that sent all sorts of warning signs going off in Neji. “I’m a being greater than anything you’ve ever seen, human.” She said, her mouth twisting with derision. “And I don’t explain to maggots like you. Now die.”
“Naruto, run!” Neji yelled. “She’s going to take us all out!”
Naruto turned up from the dying girl in his arms. “I can’t! She’s not dead yet!”
The idiot! Neji thought. He turned around and grabbed Naruto by the collar, forcibly hauling him up. He would make him run whether he liked it or not! “If we stay we’re both dead!”
Too late – the other woman had finished her spell. A single word rolled off her blood red lips, and the energy she had gathered released itself in utter and total mindless destruction.
“Ultima.”
A roaring white lance of merciless power obliterated everything in a twenty-food radius. It shot out and swallowed up bodies and dirt and metal indiscriminately. The stream of energy continued unabated for several thousand feet before dying down, then completely sizzling away.
By the time the ultima spell had taken its course, everything in front of the woman had been vaporized.
She grinned.