53 Clones? Hashirama? And Madness....

*grrrrrr* *grrrrrrrrr*

'Well… seems like I'm still in the fire foxes territory….'

*squeak**squeak*

Megumi watched from the forest floor while standing on top of a branch by his side, Kaguya squeaked at the pack of fire foxes that stood all around on the branches and surrounded them both in the center.

'Small but Nine foxes… this is going to be a little tough.'

'Did they stop appearing earlier on because they went around to gather more off themselves to hunt me down? Hmm…..'

"You furry little critters think you're hot shots just because you're on fire?"

*grrrrr**growllll*

"Well what're you waiting for!?"

*scrap*

With the sound of something hard scrapping against the tree bark, the largest of the small fire foxes shot at Megumi after jumping off of the branch in was standing on with its hind legs to push it forward while using its fore legs to angle itself right at his head.

Knowing well, the fire fox was going to be heavy, Megumi side stepped its trajectory of the first fox as he ducked at the same time to avoid another fire fox that had jumped at his head to swipe at it from behind, soundlessly, under the cover of the first one.

Extending his hidden blade and palming it, Megumi stabbed the skulls of the two foxes in sequence as they passed by, leaving them to fall limply to the ground and roll a few feet, very dead.

An expression of disappointment and sadness reflected in Megumi's eyes but he quickly focused on the other foxes that had started to howl at him.

A chill passed through Megumi's spine when he heard the remaining foxes howl.

'Why do I suddenly feel like I am being targeted by someone I can't beat.'

In a sudden flurry five orange blurs shot off in Megumi's direction which he barely avoided by overloading the gap between his feet and the forest floor with chakra and gliding on the cushion it provided like ice an ice skater would on ice. With Kaguya hopping around on her side to keep up with Megumi who was speeding through.

*BOOM**BOOM**BOOM**BOOM**BOOM*

A flurry of stones and debris shot out everywhere causing Megumi to shield the back of his neck using his hand and duck to protect himself from anything sharp that might stab him.

Slowly turning and looking back at the spot where he was previously standing at, through the settling dust, he found it scorched and turned black.

Taking the opportunity to move under the cover of dust, Megumi sild towards where he had last seen Kaguya from the corner of his eye and grabbed her.

*squeak**squeak*

"I know girl! I know! I'll make sure to pick you up gentler the next time!"

*SWOOSH* *SWOOSH* *SWOOSH*

Through the dust three more fast moving fireballs shot at Megumi's voice as he ducked and weaved through the fire balls while surfing on the tree branches like Tarzan.

'Since when the hell did animals learn to cast fire balls? Am I in an another world? Is this magic?'

Taking cover behind a rather thick tree Megumi waited for the sounds of the fire foxes moving around to die down and then peeked from behind his cover to mark all his targets.

'Hmm…. I can only find six, did the seventh one go to call for backup?'

'Well I guess I should end this quickly and then leave in a different direction than north…..I don't want to find out how much more stronger the better fire foxes are.'

Making an optimal route of entry and attack that would let him move unseen and unheard, Megumi began to run by cushioning his footsteps with chakra to eliminate any noise, something he had copied from observing how the fire foxes were able to move soundlessly in spite of being much more heavier than him.

But his technique was more advanced and allowed him to glide by adjusting the amount of chakra he used on the different parts of his foot to raise his center of mass just out of balance so that he could glide on the surface he was standing on without any effort. It took a lot of patience and control but with nothing else that needed doing, Megumi had mastered it in such a short period of time, the fact that stepping on the branches by using his full weight like a ninja would in a forest would alert his enemies to his exact position also contributed in forcing him to learn this new method of travel on what was essentially chakra skates.

*sccceeehheecchh*

With a single silent stab to its forehead after Meguim landed from on top of it, the first firefox fell limp, which still attracted the attention of the other fire foxes, but Megumi quickly glided off from their sight as he slide onto the side of the tree trunk that wasn't visible to the other fire foxes, now skating horizontally.

'It is terrible to be you little fox, but you shouldn't have come after me...'

*sccceeehheecchh*

Another fire fox fell limp whose body Megumi used by kicking it at a third fiery fox since it was too close and had the chance of retaliating.

'SSSSS! The things are hot even after shielding my legs with chakra! Let's not do that again!'

*sccceeehheecchh*

With another stab to the third foxes forehead when Megumi caught it by surprise after wrapping around the branch he was standing on the third fox was no longer.

*SWOOOSSSSHHH*

Without turning to look at what ever was making the large sound and had increased the heat in the area by a million degrees, Megumi pushed himself off of the tree by over pumping chakra into the gap between his legs and the tree, breaking a chunk of the tree as he shot away from it.

*BBBBBBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMM*

*RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGG*

Trying to bear with the ringing sound, Megumi shielded himself behind the thickest tree in his range as he felt a wave of heat pass over him and his surroundings.

Before Megumi could even begging to comprehend what was happening he found himself surrounded by two three meter tall fire foxes in front of him that appeared to be looking right at him.

Turning his brain's ability to process up to eleven he surfed the closest branch to him which he followed until he reached right on top of and behind one of the foxes necks.

Before the fox could react Megumi stretched out his palmed knife and shot himself from the branch to use his own body as a spear to impale the fire fox with the knife as his spear head.

*swoosh*

'...Huh?'

As turned back to look at the position he had passed through he found himself look at a distorted image of what was the fox's face, which now looked like it was grinning.

'It was a clone!'

Feeling the environment getting heated to a million degrees once again Megumi realized he was floating in the air, directly in the path of a fireball shot by the original fire fox who was probably somewhere close by and without any means to escape.

Frantically scanning the surroundings in search for a viable plan of escape, Megumi pulled out a large reed he had stored in a storage seal on his wrist that was weighted with stones at the end which he wanted to use to tie more supplies around himself for easier access in case of an emergency when he didn't have any chakra to use the storage seals.

Swinging and throwing the rope with force towards an upper branch of a tall tree, Megumi held the rope like it was his life as it unfolded in his palm, with him pulling it as he moved through the air on one end and it wrapping around the branch he had thrown it at on the other.

Watching as the fireball came closer and closer to his face, Megumi suddenly felt a jerk from his hand as his whole body was pulled in an arc along the pathways of the rope as it had come taught.

After a few seconds of circular flight, Megumi let go of the rope at the peak of his trajectory which pushed him to shot off into the sky away from the fireball that had decimated the tree he was in front off sending wooden debris everywhere.

*BBBBBBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMM*

Flying through the air while crashing into leaves and branches, Megumi shielded himself and Kaguya by tucking in his chin and covering his eyes, as he was pushed through by a huge heat wave on his back.

Being flung out of the trees and into open space, Megumi opened his eyes along with Kaguya who both got a beautiful view of the entire forest around them, since this was the higher the had ever been.

A large mountain with it's top smoking present on their north, a large and wide long winded river flowing towards the west along with what looked like a bountiful lake towards the east filled by a tributary of the river and a humongous organic castle towards the south east right by the lake.

What surprised Megumi the most was not the organic castle itself, but that it was not manned by any humans, but by animals. The most visible of which were the fire foxes on in its turrets because of their brightly burning fire. There were several others but they weren't very visible because of their colour and distance. Plenty of animals were visible in the open areas of the castle, scuttling around doing their busy works for the day.

Tearing his eyes away from the castle, Megumi spotted or rather recognized the Huge Hundred Hands Buddha statue covered in vines and with trees growing from it at seemingly random points in a separate part of the forest close to the south that the animals all looked like they avoided, since Megumi didn't spot a single fire fox in the area, at least through the gaps in the trees. It was fully in the South, opposite to the volcano.

*SQUEEEEAAAAKKKK*

*bite*

With a loud shout from Kaguya and a bite from her on his fingers, Megumi broke away from his thoughts and snapped back to the reality where he was now falling back down towards the ground and fast.

Summoning a short reed in his hand Megumi bit onto it and wrapped some of it into his hands as he carefully held the reed in a manner that would allow him to hook it onto something while he fell to slow himself down.

"HOLD ON! KAGUYA!!!" Megumi shouted over the sound of fast blowing winds which left barely anything audible.

*PLUCK*

*PLUCK*

*SNAP*

*SNAP*

*SNAP*

*SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH*

Falling through into the canopy of the tops of the tallest trees present inside the forest he hooked the reed in his hands into a branch that had an exposed end, turning his free descent into a ziplining descent, still fast but much more manageable as his descent was constantly being slowed down by the thin branches that protruded out of the main branch and were colliding with his reed rope.

Unluckily with a sudden jerk to his hands, the reed in his hands slipped as they got caught on a rather thick branch that refused to break under the force which sent him hurtling face first into the length of vines that hung down from the topmost branches.

Grabbing as many vines as he could in a wide hug he performed with his single hand, Megumi managed to transfer his momentum into enough vines, to slow him down just enough so that he didn't end up splattered on to the thick trunk of the tree head first with his skull bursting open like a watermelon.

*Thump*

Having been spun around due to the vines entangling among themselves Megumi chose to land on the tree trunk using his back to absorb the majority of the force while tucking his head into the vines to keep it safe from hitting the trunk and giving him a concussion.

*THUMP**thump**thump*

"Uufff! Wasn't that exciting little girl!?"

*SQUEAK* *SQUEAK* *SQUEAK*

"Haha! I know! I know! The best part was the dive back! I loved it quite a lot as well!"

*SQUEAK* *SQUEAK* *BITE* *BITE* *BITE*

"AHH!!! Damn you Kaguya! I was joking! Fine! Fine! I won't do such a thing again! Save yourself the energy to chew on food later!"

Megumi let Kaguya move around on her own and find herself a place among Megumi's hair as he let himself down by sliding down the trunk using the vines as a support and guide until he reached a branch that wasn't too high nor too low and was thick enough to use as a temporary shelter.

'I guess I shouldn't move around in case there are any more of those larger foxes moving around.'

*sigh*

'How tiring it is to randomly be teleported around the world… though, I wouldn't mind being able to do the teleportation myself.'

'...especially since there wasn't a sea anywhere near when I was looking around up at the top.'

'I wonder how Rura's doing…. Perhaps the volcano that I spotted nearby might have Ekoji Sorui for me to harvest for my communication seal?'

'Though…. I shouldn't just give up on drawing the seal and controlling it using my tenketsu alone just yet, it is going to be harder and a lot more complicated, but…. With the amount of dangers lurking around I suspect it would be faster to just do that than reach the volcano.'

"Hmm...this world is a lot more mysterious than I had initially anticipated. Would've probably been better though if I had Rura here as well…. Kinda boring without having someone to accompany you but I guess what I have now is an adventure in its own right, it is my journey all the way back to the right hemisphere and continent after all!"

*Squeak**Squeak**Squeak*

"Hmm..? Haha! True I still got you here with me."

'I wonder what the wooden hundred arms buddha statue was doing here in the forest though….could it be that Hashirama was here? And the castle that the animals live in, what's up with that? Where exactly is this place and why aren't there any other humans here? Or even historical records and documents about this continent in the library in Konoha? How do these animals know how to do the clone jutsu? Do they know other jutsus like the fire clone jutsu as well? If they do then that'd be a huge problem.'

Megumi looked at the mid-day blue skies for a while and then moved on to carving out more small cards from the inner bark of trees that he had collected to use for making more seals that he would need.

...…

**Third Person POV**

"Hmm….?"

"How did Megumi make this work? How does this work…. Argh! It's all so confusing! As if I'm back to learning medical ninjutsu when I had just started."

"I see… so if I pour in chakra here it works?"

Sakura watched as the paper mechanism in front of her began to move and started to print on the paper that had been placed inside of it.

"Oh! It does work!"

"What works?"

"Ah! Tsunade-sensei! Don't you know its rude to enter a girl's room without knocking!"

"You're no girl, you're my disciple! I shall do as I see fit. So…? What is it that you're drawing using the machine that Megumi made?"

"Ah!.... Nothing! Just testing to see if I could get the manga book painted."

"Ho…. then why is the Manga looking more and more like-"

"SSSHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"

"HAHA! Don't worry you're mum and dad aren't home, they went out to relax after I forcefully sent them away after buying them tickets for a fair nearby."

"....Oh. But still! It isn't what you think like it is!"

"Yeah, yeah-"

"No! You don't get it!"

"I get it perfectly fine my dear disciple! After you finish whatever you were doing, come down, we'll spar in the backyard. I'm feeling a little frustrated today… I wonder what's taking him so long to contact us."

"I'm sure he's just a little busy or probably just got caught up in experimenting with other things."

"Probably…"

Both Tsunade and Sakura had a frown on their faces but they held themselves back from discussing further, even though they both knew that something was definitely wrong, it never ended well when they argued on this topic and both of them knew they had no power to be able to do anything to fix or help Megumi in this situation even if he was still alive.

The best they could do was not let anything break them away even if something had been robbed from the both of them, the best they could do was trust that the other was doing the best they could do to help.

They both looked at the book that held Megumi's communication seal placed on the table connected with the other seals that Tsunade had made and then looked away from it since the seals Tsunade placed around it showed that it wasn't active.

-------------------------

Thank you for reading!

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