Chapter 0-1: How it goes on

Naruto: Tales of Ashihara

Prologue – Arc 1: The Soul Robber

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Prologue: How it goes on

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"Perhaps... that's what it means to be a ninja".

These are the words that recall in Sasuke's mind as he's laying on a tree branch in the south of the land of fire. These words are the last that came to his mind, when he saw Naruto for the last time. His travels brought him back to his native land once again. And now, he wonders whether he should or not go once again visit his friends in Konoha.

Even though he was in the village only weeks ago when Naruto wasn't there to protect it, he only blitzed through really fast and didn't come back later. He heard of Naruto's exploits on the moon and wonders if asking about the threat he faced was a reasonable motive for coming back… Probably not, there's other ways to get these information and he's already busy with his space-time training.

But, does he really need a good reason? Konoha is his home after all. It is where he'll go to once his quest for peace is over, and it is the place where his loved ones, actually just his best friend and his woman, are waiting for him. The real reason he feels like he needs a really good reason to be allowed there is because of the rest of the villagers.

For them, he's still Sasuke Uchiha: the nukenin who wanted to destroy the village and who almost killed their hero, the world's savior. Maybe that's what his quest is all about, he thinks. He needs to get the people's trust if he wants to be able to stand next to Naruto as a partner.

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Laying there on a tree branch, looking at the sky, his thoughts are suddenly interrupted by an immense chakra he feels a few village distances away. Such powerful chakra... Incredible! Even Hashirama Senju, the first Hokage renowned as the God of Shinobi, didn't have such power.

Sasuke decides to go check where this feeling comes from, calmly as no danger seems to be around. But soon enough he realizes this chakra feels way more like his than like Naruto's, and even more like Kaguya's. As he thinks of the unique sensation he gets from this chakra, a woman's voice screaming interrupts his thoughts. Sasuke, understanding the source of this chakra is currently threatening somebody's life, hurries to the place.

When he arrives there, he sees a young girl who fell on her butt, sitting on the ground. probably the one he heard screaming. But she isn't the only person there. A man in a brown hooded cape is holding a really tall black haired man by the hair. It looks like a fight is taking place, and the winner is already decided.

Does Sasuke need to get involved? Is there life at sake? Definitely. The caped man isn't only holding his opponent down. He is slowly tearing something out of his body, as if he grabbed the black haired man's soul with his hand and is separating it from his physical form.

This jutsu, Sasuke recognizes it. He never saw anyone use it but he knows it is one of his left eye's abilities: Ningendo, the Human Path. How is this person capable of using it? Plus if he succeeds, it will inevitably result in the tall man's death. Sasuke has to interfere.

Ameno Tejikara

Sasuke uses this ability of his Rinnegan to switch places with the tall man and tries to strike the caped opponent with a Chidori…

He's fast. He managed to dodge it even from this close. But his hood got teared apart by the lightning, revealing his face. A very pale face with two red eyes, that are a pair of Rinnegan, gray hair long on the left side and short on the right, but most importantly, a pair of long pointy hollow horns. They resemble those of Kaguya, but going from his forehead and the same color as his skin.

One of his horns is broken, like it was cut in half, while the other one is in good condition. "That's it!" thinks Sasuke, this guy looks way too much like any of the Juubi related people. But he doesn't sense such a great power coming from this person. His chakra feels enormous for sure, but not as much as Kaguya's.

"A Rinnegan? You must be one of the old princess' heirs." says the mysterious man.

Sasuke, now fully aware of the danger this man represents, pulls out his sword from his scabbard and tries to attack once again, aiming directly for his enemy's neck. This time, a shadow stops his blade. Not a silhouette, but an actual shadow emerging from the ground. Must be a jutsu similar to The Nara clan's shadow control.

"Who are you? Where did you get these eyes? How do you know this jutsu?" Sasuke, face to face with the mysterious man, just throws at him every question that comes to his mind, while his blade is still colliding with a shadow tentacle.

"Me? I don't know that jutsu." answers the intriguing being, about the shadow jutsu.

At this answer, Sasuke quickly understands that the man isn't alone. But who is using this thing to protect him? As he looks around, he sees a black silhouette with 2 tails in the back jumping out of the man's shadow and attempting to strike him with large shadow claws. Sasuke deflects the attack with his sword and jumps away. But he feels himself being directly pulled back to the mysterious man's held out hand.

Bansho Ten'in

The brown-caped man uses this jutsu to bring Sasuke closer to the two-tailed shadow, so it can pierce through him with its claws. Even though his eyes have a different color, they seem to have the exact same abilities as Sasuke's.

"If he can do everything my left eye can, let's surprise him with something ho doesn't know." he thinks. To block the claws, Sasuke summons the Susanoo's rib cage around him. "Those claws are real tough." thinks the Uchiha as he sees the claws slowly breaking through his armor.

A skeleton arm comes additionally to the rib cage to grab that shadowy thing, only for it to vanish before he can tighten the Susanoo's hand around it and squash it down.

"What was that?" he asks, after leaping away.

"I only want the Minamoto's soul to be mine, Rinnegan owner." answers the man, ignoring Sasuke's question. "Don't interfere, or I'll have to take yours too."

"Can't let you do that. Actually you're going down now." answers the Uchiha before activating another power of his left eye.

Amaterasu

His left eye starts to bleed as the man's coat catches fire, but the black flames are completely absorbed by the man's red Rinnegan. Anyway, it's just what he needed. Sasuke takes advantage of this small diversion and uses his left eye, first to teleport behind the man, and then to rip his soul out by mimicking the jutsu he saw him use earlier.

It's the first time he uses this ability. He knows that by doing so, he will access all of this guy's knowledge and memory and he won't need him alive anymore. Since his target is unable to react, he successfully grabs his soul and tears it apart from the body. But oddly, even once confusion wears out, the pale horned being still lets go and leaves his soul to be ripped away. Before if completely does, he whispers something:

Umashi Ashikabi Hikoji

Those are the words the man pronounces before his ripped out soul begins to move on its own and tries to grab Sasuke in return. It is now the Uchiha's soul that's being ripped out by a bodyless form. Sasuke, in urge to save his life, pushes the opponent back with a small repulsion in his direction.

Shinra Tensei

The flying soul immediately regains its body that wakes up again as if nothing happened, and a black rift appears behind him;

"You're tough. I'll come back later. But I'll have to kill you." says the man before falling through the rift.

The portal closes and completely disappears with all that went through it. He's gone. Sasuke stands still on the ground after witnessing this, and sighs. He however noticed something else strange. This space-time rift this man just used to escape. He recognized it. These are the same as the ones he can barely open with his Rinnegan.

Since the fourth war, he's been thinking of ways to reach Kaguya's dimensions again in order to explore them and understand them. By trying to establish a way back to them, he discovered this ability of his Rinnegan but doesn't know how to control the destination of this portals properly for now. They also cost a lot of chakra, as he can't open more than three without wasting away almost all his chakra.

This man must be able to use this same jutsu also thanks to his Rinnegan, except he actually knows how to do it safely.

Who is this man? Why does he look so much like Kaguya? Since when is he around? What is that huge two-tailed beast that tried to kill him? And finally, Umashi Ashikabi Hikoji? Is that the name of the jutsu he used to survive the Ningendo's pull? So many questions pop in Sasuke's head as he realizes his journey just took a complete different turn.

But more important at the moment, what happened to the tall black haired man and the young girl? Sasuke turns around and sees the man and the girl, both sitting on the ground and looking at him. Once she feels safe, the girl stands up first.

"Thank you!", she says. "You saved us!"

Sasuke turns his eyes to see the man who gladly doesn't seem to be injured.

"Are you his target? What is the Minamoto?"

"Uh… That's just my last name." answers the man as he stands up. "I have no damn idea how this dude knows it or who he even is. He just came outta nowhere and said he wanted my powers and soul as a slave. T'was damn creepy."

"Powers? What powers do you have that he could be after?"

"No damn idea. I'm not even a ninja, I just know a little Fire release and some of the basics because of my clan's teaching. But nothing more."

Sasuke takes a moment to think about the situation. The man he just fought. He has to find out who he really is and what he wants.

"… What are your names?" he asks to the two strangers. "I can't let you on the loose with such a threat after you."

"Me? I'm Tsubai. Tsubai Minamoto. And she's Himari Sakazawa, a friend of mine. We're just traveling around the country because staying in our home village is damn boring."

"And you?", asks Himari, "Judging by your skills and all you must be a ninja. Are you from Konoha?"

"My name… is Sasuke Uchiha. I'm just a wandering ninja traveling to find inner peace."

"Uchiha? You mean THE Uchiha?" asks the girl in a euphoric tone. "You're the man who helped Uzumaki Naruto to save the world, am I right? "

"Sigh… This idiot really became famous" thinks Sasuke. That's not a bad thing though. If he's known and trusted in other countries like he seems to be here, it probably helps to maintain peace across the world. If this can stop ninjas from going against each other again, then he better keep this reputation. Now that the five great nations are united, they should keep it this way.

As things like the moon falling apart and the guy with rinnegan he just ran into probably are just one of many similar threats, the nations should do their best to stay as one. Facing this kind of enemies all together worked 2 years ago during the fourth great ninja war, and Naruto believes it will keep working. He better be right.

"Well, Thank you for saving me, mister shinobi." says Tsubai Minamoto. "But if you're capable of saving the world from a damn giant demigod monster, how could you let this ugly dude escape?"

"How?... I don't know."

Sasuke doesn't find it relevant to tell the truth. It could only make this guy lose the faith he may have in him.

"Hey, Tsubai!" exclaims Himari, in reaction to Tsubai's rude question. "Seriously, you saw it, didn't you? He really tried to get him. It's just that the other guy seemed really strong too. They just were both so fast I couldn't understand anything that was happening."

"Well no, I did not see that. You know I kinda almost fucking died right there so I was more focused on my damn soul leaving my body than on these two onion-eyes guys fighting."

"Stop kidding around for a moment. Are you good now?"

"He maybe killed half of my soul just now, but the other half is still fine, so no problem!"

Himari looks at him with a serious and worried face. Seeing her like that, Tsubai becomes serious too and says: "Don't worry, I'm okay. My soul is still in one piece."

"This girl…" thinks Sasuke. She's good with observation. It seems like he won't need to keep anything secret with her around. He can be himself.

"Could you please keep going on the road with us for a while?" Himari asks to Sasuke. "If this guy ever comes back, we won't be able to fight back or do anything."

"That's what I intended to do." answers the Uchiha. "ut the other way around. You'll have to follow me around."

"Really? That's great! Thank you a lot!" she exclaims. "We weren't going anywhere anyway, so it's fine."

"Yeah, we're just going anywhere but home." says Tsubai.

Sasuke raises an eyebrow, while looking at Tsubai. This man is just expressing the opposite feeling of what he was telling himself 10 minutes ago. While he is looking of a reason to go home, this guy right here, Tsubai, is trying to avoid his hometown? Why?... He'll probably ask this question later.

"And where is your hometown? So I know where we shouldn't go."

"It's a small village on the east border of the country. So just don't go around there… Don't you have a plan of where we could go?"

Where they could go? Of course he knows. This horned man is just the reason he was looking for. Kakashi and Naruto have to be warned about this. Them, Sakura and him are the only one who saw Madara but also Kaguya and the Rikudo-Sennin in action. They're all other Rinnegan users with horns. His former teammates are the only people who could understand what kind of threat this mysterious man represents. Sasuke looks back at the 2 travelers waiting for his answer and firmly says.

"Yes. To Konoha, it is."

The horned man with red Rinnegan, and Tsubai Minamoto. Sasuke Uchiha's encounter with this two people is, for him and for all of the ninja world, the beginning of a new era. In this new world, Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha and every other shinobi for the next generations will have to resist and fight through events and encounters with forces that greatly surpass everything that they thought they knew until now.

This story is about how a world trying to prosper in peace, will enter a new age of conflict and discover their real place in the whole that is the creation.

Me? For now, I am just the one who'll narrate this story to you. What is my place in this world? I don't even know myself, for now.

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End of Chapter 0 – Next Chapter: Home

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Naruto: Tales of Ashihara

Prologue – Arc 1: The Soul Robber

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Chapter 1: Home

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"It's been a damn while already, are we still far from your village Sasuke?", says Tsubai as it's almost been a day they're on the road.

"No, we're getting close.", answered Sasuke.

"How fast could you have been there if it wasn't for us, mister Sasuke?" asked Himari.

"Mister? Why are you calling him mister? I'm sure this guy is younger than me, he looks like he's not even 20."

"Oh you think? To me, he really looks like an adult. And anyway I'm still younger than him."

Listening to them Sasuke thinks of asking…

"I'm 17 and Tsubai is 20. We met when I was around around 10 so we've been friends for some years already. And no we aren't a couple, we're just friends. Just saying, 'cause you were probably gonna ask at some point."

"Can she read minds or something?" thinks Sasuke. She just answered every question that came to his mind,… except for one, that he asks for himself.

"And why is it you left your home village? What's so unpleasant there?"

"Oh no big deal. Tsubai is just in bad terms with his daddy and wants to get away from him for a moment. I'm going with him, because I know he easily feels lonely... And also I don't have anyone else than him since the war."

"The war?…"

"Sheesh... You really confide yourself too much Himari." says Tsubai. "He didn't even ask for anything. And I'm not just in bad terms with my old man, it's much more complicated. I'm not a kid in his damn teenage phase running away from home."

"What happened during the war?" asks Sasuke.

Both of them paused for a moment after hearing this question. Sasuke thought he maybe shouldn't have asked that.

"You don't have to answer, it doesn't really matter…"

"No it's good" says Tsubai. "A lot of things happened during that damn war don't you think? We all lost something that night. "

"We're not ninjas" says Himari with a saddened voice. "We weren't supposed to play any role. It was a day like any other, until something like a giant bomb dropped really close to the village."

"One of Juubi's directed orbs?" thought Sasuke. "They really were unlucky then."

"The explosion stroke the village and many perished. My parents were home, right next to the blast location. And Tsubai and his mom too. This night I really thought he died too. It was unreal. How could this happen so fast and change so many things?"

Sasuke didn't know what to say. He wondered if he could have stopped the beast from doing this. He arrived on the battlefield really late, at the point where the Juubi was already about to evolve into his 3rd form. These explosion happened when he was in Konoha. If he had made up his mind earlier, If he accepted Naruto earlier, could he have saved all the people who died this day?... No! There's no time for regrets, everything has already happened and it can't be changed. Thinking about different paths won't change anything.

"And you? Not to be annoying but what did the war take from you" asked Himari. "You were out there fighting like all the others to save the world weren't you?"

What he lost? That's a good question. This war killed a lot of people, even unconcerned people like their family, but for Sasuke, the only thing he can remember is having been offered to come back on the right path. It's kind of like he already lost everything before the war. There was nothing left, he could only come out as a winner. The only thing left to take was his life.

"An arm at least?" says Tsubai bending his 2 meters tall body over to see under Sasuke's cape.

"Yeah…" he answers.

Even though to him, this lost limb is more the symbol of what his past's mistake took from him. This arm is only the price he had to pay to be able to go home again in the future.

"You don't talk much. Don't you have any family?" Himari asks who's trying to break Sasuke's silence.

"Yeah of course! Ask the damn last survivor of his whole clan's massacre if he has family." answers Tsubai.

"Oh, I'm really sorry I didn't want to be mean or something."

Family? Are these the people who wait for you at home? Are these the people you can call home? Are these the people linked to you by more than only friendship? In this case, Sasuke thought appropriate to call Naruto his brother. It's way more than just a friend. But Naruto isn't the only person Sasuke wants to call family. There is another person in Konoha who's been waiting for him. Someone who's always cared for him. He also thought of her a lot during his travel, more than about any one else. When he really had no one, after his clan's loss, she was the first person to help him back up. Always being on his side must have got her a lot of hate from other people. She must have really suffered a lot of his actions. Sasuke now feels he will never be sorry enough for what she had to go through because of him.

"Welcome back Sasuke" they hear someone say. Sasuke couldn't recognize this voice, it definitely isn't someone he used to know, but this person surely knows him.

"A shinobi? We must be close to your village." says Tsubai who already found the person standing on a branch a few meters away.

This guy? Where did Sasuke see him already? It's one of Naruto's teammates, probably the one who replaced him in Team 7, but Sasuke doesn't remember his name.

Coming down on the ground to face the group of travelers, the shinobi says:

"You don't have to recognize me. After all, we only met a few times and I never told you my name. I'm Sai. Nice to meet you again!... Are they your friends?"

Sai. That's it. That was the name. He doesn't really look like the same person anymore. He somehow seems more human than when they met at Orochimaru's hideout.

"Hello, my name is Himari. The tall guy is called Tsubai and the caped one is Sasuke. We're just travelers looking for a safe place!"

Sasuke takes the lead from there on.

"I met these two only a few hours ago. They are being chased by a mysterious man. I'm here to see Naruto. He needs to know about this man. The village should be aware of him, it seems really serious."

"Sorry, answered Saï, but Naruto is on vacation currently. He left only 2 days ago, to go in another village with his girlfriend and a group of other friends."

"His girlfriend? Naruto has a girlfriend? And where's Sakura?"

"She's with him. She's part of the friends, not the girlfriend don't worry!"

"And they left you behind?" asks Himari trying to get into the conversation.

"Ahah, no it's not that. They wanted me to come actually but I chose to stay here. I just didn't feel like going on vacation. And I wouldn't have left the last third member of the Ino-Shika-Cho trio alone."

"... Ok... We'll be leaving then." says Sasuke already leaving.

"Hey wait! Didn't you say there's something important we should know about? The Hokage is still here, you can still talk to him about it."

"Yeah…"

Sasuke goes forward to follow Sai in direction of the village.

"Looks good. Actually it's the first time I ever go into a hidden village. They usually don't let anyone in." said Tsubai with the same empty expression he seems to always keep. "It's also the first time I see one of those, since they aren't called hidden for nothing… Not to be indiscreet, but is this Sakura your girlfriend?"

"... Maybe." answered Sasuke wondering how people like Tsubai know about Naruto and him but not about Sakura who fought for even longer than him in this war.

It was actually to see her that he wanted to come back to the village, but since she's not there, it feels more like a pain in his ass to have to report to Kakashi.

"I see." says Himari wanting to get into the conversation again. "So you have a girlfriend mister Sasuke. How is she? Do you have kids? No, that's a stupid question. Of course no, you're still young. Are we going to join her on vacation?… and Naruto, and his girlfriend, and others? Would be cool, I'd love to meet all these people! Don't you Tsubai?"

"... So we're going to see the Hokage?" asked Tsubai, completely ignoring Himari's questions.

"Hey I asked you something. Don't ghost me like that. We're just face to face."

"Ah, sorry it's just there was so many questions I didn't know which I was supposed to answer to so I elected to ignore them all. Could you start over more slowly?"

"Yes I'm going to make a report about the man who assaulted you. He's really weird and suspicious. I have to tell Kakashi about it." said Sasuke to interrupt their discussion.

"Really? It's THAT serious? I mean Hokage level serious?" asks Himari.

"Everything that's slightly important needs to make its way to the Hokage's office." explains Sai. "Even if it's not that serious, it happened around his village, to one of his ninjas."

"No… It really is serious. Their pursuer may have something to do with the Juubi or the Rikudo-Sennin." corrects Sasuke.

"That damn Katashiki! what the fuck does he want from me?" says Tsubai spontaneously.

"What did you just say?" suddenly asks Sasuke.

"What?"

"His name? What is it?"

"Oh? Katashiki?"

"Yes? How do you know it all of a sudden?"

"Ah it's right how do I? I don't know, as if it just popped in my head. I don't remember him saying it, do you, Himari?"

"No, I didn't hear him say it."

Katashiki? So that's this mysterious man's name. Sasuke now knows his name, some of his weapons and what seems to be his goal. He can at least inform Kakashi of these things first.

Now standing a few meters away from Konoha's gates, Sasuke freezes on place. He just looks at the door and starts thinking about what awaits him inside of the village. Neither Sakura or Naruto are there, so he has no one to see except he Hokage. And for the rest of the villagers, he is still the missing-nin who joined the despicable snake Sannin's side and later Akatsuki, and who plotted to annihilate the village and the ninja world. They surely don't want him around anymore, just like they didn't want him to be released from jail after the war. The reason he left the village after being freed is because he wanted to earn back his place in Konoha, and he didn't consider even a single second that he was done with this. He doesn't deserve to walk in the streets of this village like nothing ever happened yet.

"Is something wrong?" asks Himari who noticed Sasuke standing still, now behind them.

Sasuke doesn't say anything and just looks forward to see the gate and the main street in front of him.

"If you're really uncomfortable with the villagers seeing you, you can put your hood on and play it quiet until we reach the Hokage's mansion" suggests Sai who understands very well what is stopping Sasuke from moving forward. "We'll try to avoid the big streets and places and make it quick".

"… Sounds good… Okay" answers Sasuke, still irresolute. He puts his hood on just like Sai suggested and slowly goes to follow him inside.

Later, in the Hokage's office, Sasuke explains everything he knows to Kakashi. The Hokage simply answers:

"I see. That is quite mysterious? You should keep looking after this man. Minamoto Tsubai. But his name, Minamoto, I already heard it, somewhere. Where was it?"

"Kakashi, where's Naruto? I need to tell him about that too. And quick."

"Keep calm. He's in another village on vacation. Well he was sent there on a mission, but since he asked and after what he did 2 weeks ago, I couldn't refuse to give him some time for himself. And in case you're wondering, Sakura went with him. His mission is simply to hunt a sea monster that's getting closer to a village. He went with Shikamaru, and Sakura, Hinata, and Choji went only for the break."

"Hinata? Hyuga Hinata? I see, where's this village?"

"It's a small touristic village's on the east border of the country… And THAT's where I already heard this name." exclaims Kakashi. "This village's leader is called Minamoto Riku. Is he somehow related to the guy you know?"

"The village's leader?… It could be."

"Okay whatever! You can join Naruto there, but don't forget. He's on vacation. He honestly deserves a break after what happened on the moon."

"On the moon? I'll ask him about it. I'll be going now."

"Wait... Thank you, for the village. You were there when it happened. Sir Hiashi is doing well now, thanks to you and the village wasn't destroyed, crushed under a giant meteor."

"That was just natural. I told you when he isn't there to protect the village, I would be."

"And you didn't disappoint. Now I'm sure of it. We were right to listen to Naruto back then, and let you go."

Sasuke just stands there, thinking of what happened 2 years ago once again. Then, he turns around and leaves without saying anything more. Tsubai and Himari were standing, waiting for him at the entrance, as Sai already left earlier. Seeing him back, Tsubai says:

"So? We staying here? What did the Hokage say?"

"Nooo!! I want to meet them, to join them on vacation, Uzumaki Naruto and Sasuke's girlfriend." says Himari.

"That's where we're going,…" says Sasuke, "… to your home village."

"What? Damn! How? Seriously, couldn't this noodle-guy find a better place for vacation? This damn village isn't even an interesting place. Well yes it is, but that's a really bad choice there."

"Can we really not go there?"

"Uh... I guess it'll be okay if someone like you is with me. Plus this Naruto guy is already on the spot."

What Tsubai just said made Sasuke wonder what kind of trouble he could have with his father? How could his presence or Naruto's interfere with their family problems? He prefers not to ask for now.

"Woohoo! We're gonna meet the world's savior!" yelled Himari as they left the village.

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Meanwhile in the said village, surrounded with only forest and sea, on the large beach that goes through the whole village, people are running away. Screaming in terror as a giant Octopus that's about 30 meters large is crawling out of water and quickly taking its ground on the beach.

Looking at those mere creatures fleeing in fear, the monster lifted a tentacle up in the air to strike down on them. But at his surprise, one girl wasn't moving just standing right in front of him. This provocation got him, so he tried to hit her and only her, only for his tentacle to be thrown back in the air by a strong push of air. Hitting the tentacle with a palm, she avoided any damage on the beach. Without being given anytime to recover from that hit, the beast feels something grabbing its tentacles from behind.

It was now being thrown away from the beach on a column of rocks on the side. And as soon as it touched the ground, it became unable to move as if something was containing her. In fact, it's its shadow that was being paralyzed. Totally still, the giant octopus looked around to see the shinobis who just did this. Then, one more shinobi, arrived jumping right to its face.

"SHANARO!!" shouted the girl as she threw an enormous blow right to the beast's face, pushing it far back in the sea.

"Well that's done!" she says.

"Hey Hinata! Guys!" shouted another man. "Seriously you stole my job here. I'm the one who took the mission."

"Don't complain, Naruto,…" says Shikamaru, "… we just saved you the dirty work, that's all. We take the mission and you can keep the vacation."

"Yeah!" shouts Sakura. "Alone you would have ended it in a second anyway. Here, we were way more creative than you would have been."

"Yeah, right, You guys nailed it, can't deny!" says Naruto as he jumps to the sea to find the beast. "Uh? It disappeared? Guys, the big squid vanished. It's gone."

"Huh? That's really a drag" answers Shikamaru.

"I don't sense it anywhere near us now." says Naruto setting foot back on the beach.

"Hey. It was an octopus, not a squid, Naruto." says Sakura, "Do you seriously still can't make the difference? I thought you were friend with an Octopus."

"Octopops is actually an Ushioni, not a simple octopus." he answers. "Octopuses don't look like bulls I think."

Choji joining everyone back on the beach chooses to ask the real matters.

"Is anyone hurt?"

"No, we did it fast enough." answers Hinata. "The mission is done already. We should still check on the village's inhabitants."

"They seem okay…" says Shikamaru as he sees the crowd all applauding them for what they've just done. "Guess we're done with the job already."

"I don't feel like it's done." answers Naruto with a concerned look on his face.

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At the same time, somewhere in a dark cave, deep enough for light to not reach this far, the horned being, Katashiki reflects on what he just witnessed.

"Those damn ninjas,… Because of them, I won't know if any Yamabushi still is in this village. I'll may have to send more Tsukumogami than there are ninjas on the place. I should probably create some more of them…"

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End of Chapter 1 - Next Chapter: The Village of Ryuka