Chapter 24: The First Dungeon Appears

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any other references in this fanfic.

Hey everyone! So I answered some questions through PM but I figured I'd answer them hear for everyone.

So first question was if there were ghost in other villages. Currently no, since the ghost appeared because of the qi that Kenji released when he became a cultivator. As more cultivators begin to emerge, so will the number of ghosts.

The Inuyasha swords will make an appearance later on since some of you have been requesting it for some time.

Cultivation could be treated as a bloodline limit since it makes descendants have an easier time cultivating.

Sorry to those that wanted Naruto to be a cultivator, but that's not going to happen. More on that later, but the simple reason is that the tailed beasts are already considered Nature chakra cause of the God Tree, meaning that when they cultivate it would just go directly to them rather than their hosts.

More questions will be at the bottom.

PS: I recommend listening to Chinese EDM music. YouTube has some good videos that show a bit of wuxia elements so I hope you give it a try if you ever feel bored.

Here's the new chapter.

Chapter 24

"Argg!" Kenji grunted in discomfort as he traveled along the sandy dunes. He was riding on top of Drago, his velociraptor, on an improvised saddle.

The beard he was wearing was starting to become itchy, but he ignored it the best he could.

Behind him was an escort of Leaf Shinobi, guarding his shadow clone disguised as his civilian persona while he took the role of Master Shu. Seeing as they couldn't use horses and wheels to cross the sandy desert, they were forced to carry the wooden carriage with only their hands and feet.

A few days ago, the Hokage had called him to his office, and told Kenji of the Wind Daimyo's request.

As anyone could imagine, Kenji was quick to decline. He was just barely holding it together from all the paper work he had to deal with in just the Land of Fire, and now they were expecting him to basically double it.

But apparently things weren't that simple, as the Wind Daimyo had already talked to the Fire Daimyo, and the two had fostered some sort of deal.

Kenji already figure what it could be, with the sudden announcements of Lady Shijimi's pregnancy and all of those restless nobles.

As a result Kenji, couldn't curse out the Hokage, since event the old man looked every bit reluctant to let him leave the village.

Still, this was an important mission and it had to be completed at all costs.

The small merchant boy was given a few days to prepare. The Third had also stated that he would go with him, as this wasn't just a simple matter but concerned the village as well.

"I hope the shop is doing okay?" Kenji thought out loud, remember who he had left in charge.

(Scene Change)

Lin-Lin puffed up her chest in pride as she looked at the customers in the shop, a golden key hanging from her collar.

Her eyes were sharp as they looked for any troublemakers, ready to teach them a lesson as the temporary boss of Moon Artifacts.

Yawn~

(Scene Change)

He had told the pesky Pekingese that she was allowed to eat anyone caught stealing or causing trouble. Not that it was necessary as he had left plenty of shadow clones and his ground had an automatic defense system that would punish all those breaking his rules. Those cards weren't just for show after all, they had some hidden add-ons too. People should really learn to read the fine-print.

Akame and Drago were the only chakra beasts that he had taken with him, since he needed the rest to guard his shop.

Drago was excited for the change of scenery, as well as the chance to test himself against other chakra beasts. Akame sat with his shadow clone as protection, since despite being reinforced, it was still weak.

Kenji held up a fist, and everyone stopped marching.

He took out his bow and readied three arrows.

100 feet in front of them, five shark fins emerged from the sand heading in their direction.

"Really, sand sharks? I'm really starting to hate the desert," he said with a scowl as he released the bow string.

His aim was impeccable even with their high speed. The power of the arrows made it look like he had thrown grenades rather than simple wooden sticks as the pesky beasts where blown high into the air and away from cover.

Kenji launched another arrow, only this one cackled with lightning chakra. It zig-zagged throw the air, hitting all of the air prone bodies at once.

They dropped like dead flies, a smoking hole through each of their heads.

The fat boy gave the signal and a ninja from the group left their position to collect the bodies.

This was non-other than Anko Mitarashi. She sealed the bodies with the use of a space ring and went back to her spot.

That was just one of the many pesky creatures running around the Land of Wind.

Brown Sand Sharks, Red Dune Lizards, Wind Vultures, Sink Worm, Cactus Spines, were just a few of the chakra beasts that their group had encountered, and they were barely on their second day.

The only bright side was that Kenji had a high resistance to heat on account of his cultivation so the Sun didn't bother him as much.

(Time Skip)

"Damn! Damn! Damn!" Kenji cursed as their camp was being invaded by what could only be flying piranhas.

He slapped one that was going for his face.

"What the heck was the lookout even doing?!" he shouted, taking out a kunai and started to kill the pack of what had to be 500 fishes.

They nocked over the torch light, plunging their makeshift camp into darkness.

They couldn't use any large jutsu on account of how close they were to them, so they could only rely on their melee attacks.

The Third looked unimpressed as he took care of any that came close to him, at such outrages speeds that it looked like they were just dropping dead. He was guarding his clone, Akame the lazy ass was still fast asleep.

One of them managed to clip the side of his ear, causing a tick mark to appear on his temple.

"Everyone close your eyes!" he shouted taking out a flash tag.

The area was covered in a bright intense light, causing everyone to blink away the spots despite having their eyes shut tight.

Around them was the mob of piranhas splashing around on the sand, stunned from the sudden light.

"Good thinking Shu," one of the shinobi complimented him.

Kenji nodded as everyone began to finish off the flying pests before they could recover.

Now that they had some time to rest, Kenji collected one of the fishes to study as his clone did the same. They were perhaps 11 inches long, with rough reptilian skin, razor sharp fins, and needle like teeth. They had white pearly eyes making him think that they must have some sort of heat vision that allowed them to see prey.

"Let's call them Needles," his clone said as it began to draw the chakra beast into a journal.

"Ah, I found Akira," Anko announced as she brought the mangled form of the Sand Shinobi. He was covered in leach like worms that looked like little cacti.

Seeing as Master Shu, was the designated medic, it was his job to deal with all the injured.

He stomped his way to the shinobi's prone form and began to detach the Cactus Spines before they could suck out anymore water from the man. As he throw them behind him, Drago was quick to scoop them up and eat them, unbothered by their spiny bodies.

Taking out a canteen of water, he let the severely dehydrated man drink while he finished healing his wounds.

"T-thanks. Th-they just came out of nowhere."

Kenji didn't say anything, as he was beyond annoyed.

The only reason why he didn't sense them himself, was because Kaguya had called him to discuss an important matter, which he didn't even get to hear as he was woken up by the sound of yelling.

"I think it would be best for us to continue," the Third Hokage suggested, "If we leave now, then we should make it to the Sand Village by mid-morning."

"I agree," his clone stepped forward.

No one argued as they were all wanted to get out of the desert. They had been attacked almost every hour since they began their journey, and most of them were low on chakra as it is.

The tents and other equipment were quickly placed inside of a space ring.

"These are really useful," Anko said as she touched her newly purchased ring from the Third Floor in admiration, "Now I have plenty of dango for the trip."

(Scene change)

They made it to Suna just as the first rays of sunlight greeted the village. The only one that had any amount of rest was Kenji's clone and the Hokage, who were being carried.

Despite running for several days at jonin speed, Drago was still rearing to go, but that was to be expected of a Level 2 chakra beast.

As they entered the valley to get to the village, they could spot the sand shinobi stationed on watch.

They showed them their papers and they were quickly let in, or that might have been because Drago growled at them.

Almost immediately Kenji sensed the negative emotions coming from the village.

"This place really could use the help," Anko said out loud.

Kenji couldn't help but agree. Suna was completely isolated, with sand surrounding them for miles. Since they couldn't grow their own supply of food unlike Konoha, they relied heavily on import. However with the sudden appearance of chakra beasts, the roads leading to the village had become even more hazardous, which resulted in a lack of merchants and customers. Not only that, but the increase in danger had also caused an increase in prices.

The Land of Wind was mostly dessert, which meant a low population compared to other nations, but all of this just meant that chakra beast had grown more rampant.

If things continued, then it could lead to a collapse of Suna in a few years.

However, all of that could wait until they had a decent rest.

(Scene change)

It was Mid-day, when someone finally knocked on their hotel room to tell them that a meeting would be held the next day.

"I'm suddenly very glad I live in the Leaf," Kenji in his original form said as he stretched on his bed like a cat.

"I happy to hear that," the Third said from his spot in one of the rooms seats, smoking his pipe.

Kenji ran his fingers over his silver hair, still unable to turn it back to normal, and looked at the ceiling of his room, "You do have a plan for tomorrow right, Hokage-sama?"

"Of course, Kenji-kun."

"Let's hope everything goes smoothly," the small boy said as he used his stored qi to enter sage mode.

Immediately he could sense everyone in the village, including an angsty red-head playing around with two other- make that one other person.

Kenji would rather not interact with Gaara if he could help it, not because he was scared, but simply because he didn't want to deal with any unnecessary problems if he could help it.

His search proved useful as he noticed a rather large amount of chakra beasts hidden around the village.

Rubbing his temples, Kenji gave a long sigh, "This place is in serious need of an exterminator?"

"That many I take it?"

"I'm going to have to ask Anko to help me make a poison for them," the small boy said as he applied a Monkey Talisman, turning into Master Shu in the blink of an eye.

"Don't cause too much trouble," the Third said.

Kenji quickly left the room and located Anko, how looked like she was in the middle of some pill refining.

"You know, I don't appreciate my pill furnace being used to dango," he said in a deadpanned expression as he noticed the dango ingredients beside her.

"Ahh!" she let out a startled sound, causing her to lose concentration turning the dango ball inside to turn into a pill of ash.

"If I had known this was what you were going to use it for, I would have thought twice before selling it to you," Kenji said crossing his chubby hands.

Anko had the decency of looking embarrassed at being caught, "Hey there Boss."

Kenji shook his head before putting it out of his head, "Forget about it, we have work to do."

"What are we going to do?"

"There's a large colony of chakra beasts underneath the village, we're going to need to make a poison."

"Poisons huh? I good at those," the Snake Mistress said as she stood up, she wasn't wearing her usual jacket and only in her chainmail shirt.

"Not when it concerns chakra beasts," he told her, "Unfortunately it is a very rare case when a single poison works on more than one chakra beast. Therefore, each beast needs a poison specifically tailored to them. So, I'm going to be teaching you a little about potion making," Kenji told her as he took out two cauldrons from his space ring.

"Eh? Really, I thought potion making was supposed to be like super advanced?" the purple haired woman said tilting her head.

"It is, but I think you are advanced enough to at least try it."

"Awe, that's the cutest thing you've said to me," she said pulling him into a hug.

When she finally released him, she looked at his face that was the picture of impassive, "Eh? Not even a little red? Come on, give me something at least."

Kenji made an exaggerated gesture of rolling his eyes before turning to the door and walking.

"H-hey? Wait up!" she said as she got her coat and chased after him.

(Scene change)

"Right, so just crush the fire lily together with the glowing moss and add the mixture into the pot," Kenji instructed as Anko did as she was told.

Her cauldron gave off green sparks, before it turned into a bright metallic green.

"Looks good," Kenji said as he coated a senbon in the finished liquid and then reached for a sack that was moving around wildly.

He opened the top and reached inside, using qi to harden his skin as he took out a large red scorpion the size of his face. Its tail was swinging around wildly, trying to spray him with acid that was strong enough to melt flesh of the bone.

Kenji took the needle coated in poison and stabbed it into one of it's segmented joint making sure not to kill it.

However no sooner than he had put it in did it stop moving, showing the effectiveness of the poison.

"So, do I pass?"

"Yep, that's a pass," Kenji said sounding mildly impressed.

"Yes!" Anko cheered as she jumped up in joy, causing her breasts to do a little jiggle.

Kenji smiled as well as he took out a completely white silk robe from his ring.

Alchemist Robe +10

Quality: Low-Human

Defense: 240

+ 700

10+: Pill refining and alchemy potions are 10% more likely to succeed.

Chakra Points Needed to Upgrade: 340

The kunoichi caught it when it was thrown at her and she looked down at the small boy in question.

"That robe is proof that you have become a full-fledged alchemist," Kenji elaborated before handing her a golden pin of a mortar and pestle.

She looked stunned, "That's it? That was all I needed to do?"

"Of course, the perquisite for being an alchemist is learning 100 pill formulas, knowing 1,000 ingredients, and making 1 potion, all of which you accomplished."

"So, am I a master now?" the purple haired woman said as she took off her trench coat and replaced it with the silk robe, "Ohhh? It's so soft. It's like being caressed by clouds. Master Anko huh?"

"Master? What are you talking about?" Kenji asked, "All this means is that you aren't a trainee anymore. You have a long way to go before you can call yourself an Alchemy Master."

She gave a defeated air, "Ah, I should have known."

Kenji shook his head, "Of course it wasn't going to be that easy. You can call me Grand Master from now on. You can also go around tell others that you are my student if you want."

He took out a stack of books that must have weight at least 50 pounds and handed them to the Snake Mistress, "Here are some more books for you to study. They have more detailed information as well as more advanced pill formulas."

"Oh boy," she replied in a joyless voice.

(Conference Room)

"So, we are all in accord," a councilman said as he received various nods around the room.

The only how didn't nod was Rasa, the Fourth Kazekage, who had his arms crossed with a scowl on his face.

"Kazekage-sama? Is there something you disagree with?" the councilman asked.

Kenji and the Third gave each other a looks, that showed just how much they were enjoying the show.

"Nothing. If that is all, I will be leaving now," the man said as he stood up and left without another word.

The council murmured to themselves.

"I apologize Hokage-sama, Yamamoto-sama. The Fourth has not being feeling well lately."

"No need, I can understand that this must be difficult for everyone," Hiruzen said with a smile.

Now that all the documents had been signed, everyone was breathing a little easier.

"Then, I suppose we should take care of the nest of red acid scorpions as starters," Kenji said adjusting the bandages around his eyes. He was using a Monkey Talisman to appear as his normal brown-haired form.

"It would be for the best. How many shinobi do you think you will need?" The councilor asked.

"About three dozen should be fine."

"That many!? I didn't think things would be so bad."

"Their threat level isn't that big, the problem is that they built a catacomb of tunnels underneath the village. It would be nice to have any sensors if possible."

"I'll get right on that."

"Okay, I'll send over all the information we have collected on the chakra beast over later."

After a few more pleasantries Kenji and the Hokage finally left the conference room.

"You handled yourself rather well," The Third said glancing to Kenji.

The small boy shrugged his shoulders, "It's all thanks to Madam Shijimi and her lessons."

"Oh yes, did you hear that she is expecting?"

He nodded as they turned a corner, "Yes, I received a letter last week. I've already started making my gift for the them. You?"

"No, I'll have to start looking as soon as we get back. My, how time goes by," Hiruzen said in a happy tone.

"Well that's life for you."

(Kazekage Tower)

Crash!

Rasa slammed his hands on his desk, causing indentations to appear on the wood.

He was angry at the council sure, but he was more angry at himself for letting things get this bad.

He had sacrificed everything for the village, but it never seemed to be enough.

"This is all because of those blasted beasts," the man said running a hand over his hair.

It hurt his pride more than anything else to go begging to the Leaf for help, but the decision was out of his hands.

With a defeated air around him he started to pick up the papers that had been scattered.

"What's this? I don't recall seeing this before," Rasa said as he picked up what looked like a rubix's cube made out of wood, with different symbols on the side.

He didn't notice the white rabbit outside his window that disappeared in shower of lights.

(Scene change)

"That's right make sure to get every single one of them," Kenji advised as he oversaw the destruction of the scorpion nest, "we don't want them escaping to the surface."

He was helping out in his own way by healing those that had gotten injured by the acid. His clone disguised as Master Shu was cutting them apart effortlessly with his umbrella sword.

The sand shinobi were giving their all to reclaim their village once more.

The special poison that Kenji had made proved invaluable as the scorpions not only had a resistance to heat but also most normal poisons.

Ice Senbon +12

Quality: Low-human

Attack: 235

+360

10+: 25% chance of causing ice damage

12+: Can be controlled remotely from a distance.

Chakra Points Needed to Upgrade: 80

Kenji took out a glass senbon needle from his sleeve, its surface giving off an icy aura.

He flicked it towards a group of scorpions trying to escape into a side tunnel.

The upgraded weapon pierced their hardened exoskeleton with easy. The needles special ability would turn some into ice statues as soon as it exited their bodies.

After it was finished killing the last one it returned to Kenji's outstretched hand.

After an hour of fighting, they had managed to clear the northern catacombs. They collected the corpses of the beasts and burned the nests into ashes.

The rest would have to wait until Kenji could make more of his poison.

Just as some where getting ready to celebrate their recent victory, a familiar voice spoke in Kenji's mind.

'The first key has been opened.'

Kenji didn't question it as he stood up from his seat and called out to everyone in a panic, "Everyone get out of here now!"

No sooner than he said that did the tunnels around them start to shake uncontrollably.

They didn't need any further reason as they all made a break for the exit as fast as their feet could take them.

When they reached the surface, they saw that the entire village was being affected by the powerful earthquake. In the short time that they were inside the sky had turned dark and with thunder booming.

"D-do you think the scorpions collapsed the tunnels underneath the village," one of shinobi asked in worry.

"Some how I doubt that," a colleague said as they pointed at the massive pillar of light off in the distance.

Everyone was stunned as a white blinding tower of energy connected the sky and earth.

Kenji looked at it with a conflicted expression, "I'm really starting to hate the desert."

(Five minutes prior)

With a final twist, Rasa solved the wooden puzzle.

Normally he was never one to care about something so trivial, but the puzzle box had been calling out to him since he had first seen it, almost like a voice in the back of his head was telling him that it needed to be solved.

He placed the wooden cube on his desk and stared at it in thought.

Click.

The box gave an ominous sound as the runes on its side began to glow white with power.

He heard a thunderous boom in the far of distance and when he turned to look outside, he saw a pillar of light shoot up into the sky.

"…"

(Scene change)

Gaara looked at the light with mild interest.

Shukaku had grown straggly silent which made the red head wonder if it knew what this was.

(Scene change)

Dozens of miles away from the village, the ground shook as an Egyptian styled city rose out of the ground like some unseen beast.

Pillars, houses, temples and plants began to grow rapidly.

The most eye-catching building however was the gigantic pyramid that towered over everything. It had numerous runes that each glowed with power.

At the very top of this structure was a crystal that shown with limitless power, as it sent a beacon of light into the sky above it, getting the attention of everyone for miles away, both human and beasts.

A/N: Thanks for reading. Now to continue where I left off.

Kenji isn't opposed to helping Suna as long as it benefits him. Again he isn't a stereotypical protagonist that will help everyone and their grandmother out of the goodness of his heart. He understands that he can't help everyone no matter how hard he tries.

To those wondering about rabbit themed items, all I can say is 'Beware the Rabbit Sect!'

*Random rabbit pops out wielding carrot nunchucks before disappearing a puff of smoke

Another thing to note is that of course other people are experimenting with alchemy. Currently there are thousands of people inspired from Kenji's novels and the strange new plants that keep popping out. It was kind of Kenji's intention for people to start experimenting by themselves. He purposely opened Pandora's box after all.

I like that a lot of you are really thinking outside of the box with your suggestions. The ectoplasm extraction machine caused me to chuckle.

So this was a short chapter to act as a prelude to the next arc that will deal with Kenji leading a group to investigate the first ever dungeon.

Not much to explain so until next time.