Chapter 4: Long Journey

Author's Note: ...Pending cause I don't have anything to tell you guys for now :)

Chapter 4

Pitter patter pitter patter. The sound of rain continued to fall as a small pot hovered over a fire that lit up a cave with three children huddled around it. They continued to eat out of wooden bowls with wooden spoons. These three were exactly Karasuma Izaya, Yuki Haku, and Kaguya Kimimaro.

Izaya sat down staring at the flames of the fire, going through the motions of dipping his spoon into the soup and bringing it to his mouth for a taste as he basked in the comfortable silence of the cave. The only sounds that could be heard was the constant falling of rain outside the cave, the occasional firewood breaking apart from the heat of the flame, and the sounds of slurping made from the three kids eating soup.

After months and months of weary traveling we had finally made it past the valley lands and into the land of fire country's territory. We had to take some detours and roundabout ways to avoid unnecessary attention and potentially life threatening situations. It'll probably take us another month before reaching Konohagakure. By the time we get there I reckon Naruto and Sasuke would have already enrolled into the academy. The hard part is that we'll definitely be detected by Konoha's barrier and be restrained.

In order to resolve things smoothly I need to convince the Third Hokage of letting us stay in Konoha. Thankfully his personality should be of a very understanding and amiable old grandpa, but there's no telling if they'd even let us speak face to face with lord third. I inwardly sighed and looked down at my bowl of soup and mused to myself at how we ended up getting it.

*Flashback to two days ago*

Kimimaro, Haku and I continued to travel through the Valley lands and headed towards the border near fire country when I sensed something amiss. Since I'm a sensory type ninja my senses were more keen than others. I slowed down my pace eventually stopping near a cliff of the valley. "What's wrong big brother?" Haku asked.

Kimimaro silently waited for me to answer. I turned to look at them and said, "I sensed something off. A mile from here there seems to be about a dozen people stopped in their tracks. It looks like two guys are at the forefront obstructing their way." It was then at that moment that an epiphany hit me. Surprisingly I recognized these two chakra signatures. They definitely belonged to the two bandits with that guy I killed named Kanwai. I believe their names were Jugo and Sen. I inwardly sneered.

"I think there are two bandits trying to rob a roaming merchant caravan."

Kimimaro narrowed his eyes and said, "Don't worry, I'll do everything I can to protect you both."

Haku then turned to him with a soft smile and said, "No, we will protect each other."

I nodded. "Let's first get a closer look. They're in the valley down below whilst we're up on higher ground so we have an advantage. We'll wait for an opportunity and track them down. When they let their guard down I'll cast a genjutsu on them. Kimimaro, you take them out with your taijutsu, Haku you provide support."

"Okay." Haku and Kimimaro assented.

We approached the scene of robbery in time to see the merchants give in to the bandits. They willfully gave away some of their food rations, equipment, and money before the two bandits left. I carefully tracked their movements through my sensory perception while we followed suit, being careful not to get too close so as not to expose our presence. After 15 minutes of playing follow the leader they finally stopped in a secluded area surrounded by rocks and tall cliffs.

"Hahaha did you see the looks on their faces." Cackled Jugo.

Sen grinned while holding a hefty bag of coins in his hands. "It's unfortunate that Kanwai can't enjoy our fortune with us. I swear I'll kill the bastard that robbed us and killed Kanwai." Sen remarked with a scowl.

"Hahah, I'll be the first to shred that bastards guts to ribbons." Jugo laughed. He continued to laugh and was about to unpack his haul when he noticed something off. A small and gentle breeze swept by kicking up the dust on the ground upwards before dissipating. He turned to talk to Sen and said, "Oi, Sen, does something seem-"

Just as he was about to finish his sentence he noticed Sen fall to the ground dead and a figure standing in front of the corpse. It was Kanwai. Jugo suddenly felt alarmed. "Wh-What? Kanwai? Impossible! Y-You're dead! You can't be here."

In a similar fashion Sen seemed to be seeing the same thing however in his mind it was Jugo who was killed by Kanwai.

Izaya turned to both Kimimaro and Haku. "Alright, genjutsu done. Let's take care of these guys."

"Wow big brother, your Demonic Illusion Hell Viewing Jutsu is really effective. They look like they've gone crazy." Haku remarked.

Kimimaro nodded and added, "That's not all, Izaya even made it so in their vision they see each other as the enemy. If they don't snap out of it they'll most likely end up drawing their weapon against each other."

Heh, I sneered. Those two bandits deserve it. They probably did even worse things than their dead comrade Kanwai. I made it so they think that the other person is Kanwai who killed the remaining member of their bandit team. We all came out of our hiding spots and just about to take action when the two bandits took out their kunai's and ran towards each other. Just before they were about to clash they stopped, snapping out of the genjutsu.

"Crap, they broke out of the genjutsu!" I exclaimed. Before we could retreat Sen and Jugo came to a realization that they'd been duped and noticed our presence.

"Fuck! It's just three kids. I'll fucking tear them to ribbons!" Jugo angrily shouted as he dashed over.

Sen was about to say something when Haku quickly threw two senbon needles at him. He quickly wielded the kunai in his hand to deflect one while dodging to the left to avoid being hit by the other. Sen was inwardly alarmed. He was the more level headed out of the two and he immediately noticed that if the genjutsu casted on them were done by these three brats, then they couldn't be underestimated no matter how young they looked. The two needles thrown at him were done with pinpoint accuracy and were aimed at vital spots that could have caused him serious damage had he not reacted in time. Before he could warn Jugo of the situation they were in Haku charged forth with more needles in hand expertly throwing and keeping him on the defensive.

Kimimaro charged forward to meet Jugo head on in a frontal confrontation of taijutsu. As Kimimaro charged forward a large bone protruded out of his left shoulder which he pulled out with his right hand and molded it into a sword. "Dance of Camelia" he said.

Jugo finally had a look of alarm as he clashed against Kimimaro. "What the hell kind of jutsu is that? He pulled a bone out of his body and used it as a weapon?!"

Jugo pulled out a second kunai and slashed towards Kimimaro's forehead who expertly blocked it with his bone sword. He then counterattacked by stabbing towards Jugo's chest. Jugo jumped back and sidestepped, with a reverse grip on his kunai he spun and aimed once more at Kimimaro's head.

Before the kunai could connect Izaya threw two shuriken at him and activated the Shadow Shuriken Jutsu. Jugo quickly stopped his attack midway and used his kunai to block the incoming shuriken. Kimimaro took this opportunity to stab at Jugo's chest. He quickly used his second Kunai to parry Kimimaro's attack but what he failed to notice was the second shuriken hiding beneath the first one's shadow. This all happened in a flash and before he realized it he was pierced in the chest by a shuriken. This caused him to panic slightly which lowered his awareness of the battle.

Using this opportunity Izaya activated the Earth Style Headhunter Jutsu and pulled Jugo's entire body into the ground leaving only his head exposed. Kimimaro didn't waste a second of this chance and stabbed the bone sword into Jugo's head effectively killing him.

Sen was greatly alarmed. This all happened so fast that he never had a chance to rush in to help. He knew he had to escape or he'd lose his life here and now to three kids. He quickly parried 3 more needles and threw down a smoke bomb before utilizing the Body Flicker Jutsu to escape in the distance. Izaya quickly sensed the direction he disappeared in and also activated the Body Flicker Jutsu to follow.

Just as Sen thought he was safe he felt a dangerous sensation behind him causing him to react involuntarily and roll to the side forcing him to stop running. Just as he did so a kunai stuck to the ground where it would have been him. He looked up to see a kid with snow white hair and a black blindfold on in front of him. Shit he inwardly cursed. The hell is with these kids. They some sort of monsters or what. Without saying much else he quickly weaved the hand signs for the Water Style Gunshot Jutsu. He took a deep breath and built up chakra in his mouth before releasing it as a powerful waterball with a strong force behind it.

At the same time Izaya quickly jumped back and with incredible speed he formed the hand seals of snake, ram, monkey, boar, horse, and tiger. "Fire Style Flame Bullet Jutsu!" A powerful gush of fire spewed outwards from Izaya's lips as the hot fiery flames and the cool watery blast came into contact. A huge white cloud of steam filled the area with a hiss sound as both techniques cancelled each other out.

Sen panicked. "What the hell! This kid is a freak! He has enough chakra to use a C-rank Fire Style Jutsu?!"

Before he could collect his thoughts further Haku and Kimimaro caught up. Two senbon needles flew straight at him which he parried one but failed to dodge the other as it stabbed into a ligament in his leg causing him to stumble and fall. Just as he pulled out the needle and got back up Kimimaro activated his Jutsu, "Dance of the Honey Locust Spear." A large, thin, sharp, and narrow bone protruded from under his right arm and flew out at an incredible speed that pierced Sen's chest which then pinned him to the ground. Blood spurted out from his mouth and oozed from his chest as he lay there in disbelief.

The steam from earlier finally dissipated revealing three kids that stood before Sen's dying form. Sen struggled to keep his eyes open and looked up at his killers. For the first time since their encounter he finally had a good chance to look at them. He mentally took note of them. Fuck...They really are just three kids. One of 'em looks as pretty as a girl. Another a freak with bones sticking out his body. And one kid that's even blind?!

Izaya walked forward a bit before saying, "Any last words?"

Sen just looked on coldly before laughing. "Heh-H-Hahaha! Hahahaha!" He died laughing because he couldn't understand how these three weird looking kids were the ones he ended up losing his life to.

*End of Flashback*

Well, we ended up killing those two bandits and raided their temporary hideout in the valley and ended up getting a pretty decent haul, so we secretly returned the stolen goods they robbed from the merchant caravan. Izaya put his bowl to his lips and emptied the last bits of soup into his stomach before standing up and walking towards the cave entrance. He washed his bowl with the help of rainwater and packed it away before sitting back down by the warm fire.

At this point Kimimaro and Haku had finished as well. "Now that we're in fire country do you know how long until we reach Konoha?" Haku inquired.

"Mmmm...as long as nothing surprising happens we should get there within a month." I replied.

Kimimaro silently cleaned up the pot before taking out a scroll to study. "What's that?" Haku asked as he looked over curiously.

"It's a scroll containing some taijutsu movements. I want to make sure I learn as much as I can so I can get stronger. That way I can protect you both without any worries."

Haku's facial expression softened. "Don't worry brother Maro, I will get a lot stronger too so you and big brother don't have to work as hard."

"Hahaha!" I laughed bemused and walked over to Kimimaro's side. I'm glad Haku is able to be so amiable around us. He's even taken up giving Kimimaro a nickname like Maro while he still calls me big brother. After looking through the taijutsu scroll the three of us sat in a meditative state internally practicing and simulating techniques and abilities in our minds. In a way it was a form of cultivation to better understand how to use and control chakra.

We continued this for a few hours taking turns on nightwatch duty. For the next month this was what our life consisted of. Eating, travelling, training, sleeping. We continued to hone our skills and develop our areas of expertise. For Haku it was developing his Ice Style Kekkei Genkai and getting a better control of his chakra output when using water jutsu.

For Kimimaro it was developing his taijutsu skills and getting a better control over his own Dead Bone Pulse Kekkei Genkai.

As for me, I sifted through the memories of my past life and used my knowledge of the Naruto world to pick a jutsu that I personally wanted to train in and develop. I instantly decided on the Flying Thunder God Jutsu. Not only would this jutsu be extremely deadly if used correctly, but it would also serve as the most powerful life saving measure in a life-threatening situation. Other than practicing the seals for the Flying Thunder God technique I worked on training my sharingan and mangekyou sharingan abilities. After probing and testing out my mangekyou sharingan a few times I discerned what abilities I had awakened.

In my right eye I had awakened the Amaterasu ability and in my left eye I had awakened an ability called Kuninotokotachi. With Amaterasu I could summon forth blazing black flames that burn until my target is destroyed, and with Kuninotokotachi I could distort the shape and size of any object within my field of vision including ninjutsu. I was surprised that I awakened an ability that wasn't mentioned in my memories of the Naruto world I had in my previous life, so it seems I'll just have to test out it's full capabilities through trial and error.

Through training I discovered that in my current body, two shots of small scale Amaterasu was enough to drain my chakra to near zero whereas utilizing Kuninotokotachi drains my chakra at various degrees depending on how distorted I want to change something. If I wanted to distort an object to become much larger or much smaller than it already is then it drains a lot more chakra, and obviously the less changes I make the less chakra it drains. I also discovered that changing the size doesn't reduce the potency of the object. For instance, I tried reducing Haku's Water Style Gunshot Jutsu by 75% it's size, but the power behind the attack was just as strong, only it was more concentrated, in fact I dare say making it smaller caused it to become even more deadly and gave it incredible penetrative power that it didn't have before.

I should probably refrain from using the powers of my mangekyou sharingan in front of people until I become strong enough to fend for myself. It also takes too much chakra to use these techniques for the time being. If two shots of small scale Amaterasu are my limit then that equates to about 4-5 shots of C-rank ninjutsu. For my current age and body I'd say that's pretty good considering genin aren't supposed to have enough chakra even for the C-rank Fireball Jutsu. For now I'll work on developing my Flying Thunder God Jutsu. Even though it's a S-Rank Jutsu the drain on my chakra isn't much due to it being proportional to the size of the object being teleported.

What makes it S-rank is the potential lethality of the technique and the complicated knowledge one has to have of the sealing technique, as well as creating the formation of a space-time network that connects to the sealing formula. Then one has to be able to execute the technique by connecting the object through either their seal or chakra to the space-time network that allows for instant teleportation. I like the design of the 4th Hokage's Flying Thunder God kunai. If we get accepted into the leaf village I'll see if there's a way to manufacture my own. For now I'll stick to inscribing my Flying Thunder God seal onto these blank paper tags that I have and attach them to regular kunai.

Day, night, day, night, weeks continued to pass by until finally. "Hah…" I let out a large breath. Kimimaro and Haku also let out a breath of relief as they stood beside me.

"Finally, we made it. It took about 41 days. A bit longer than expected but we're finally here." I let out.

Haku nodded. "Since we're here, if we go any closer we'll be detected by Konoha's barrier."

Kimimaro assented. "Right. How should we approach?"

"Well...I think honesty is going to be the best option for us. First off, we're just three kids about age 7. Secondly, we haven't done anything to incite Konoha's ire. Thirdly, if we attempt to do anything suspicious like sneaking around and get caught, it'd end up causing more confusion and chaos. Since we want to join of our own free will anyways and haven't done anything against Konoha we should politely turn ourselves in and just explain the situation to them. I heard the Third Hokage is very amiable and understanding. He may be suspicious at first but I reckon he won't just leave three kids alone with nowhere to go, especially if they come knocking on his front door step asking for help and shelter. You both can leave the talking to me."

Kimimaro and Haku nodded. I gave them both a look of assurance.

"Then let's go."