Naruto: Tales of a Mad Sage

<p>In a small village in the Land of the River, the residents of nearby villages, farms, and lands went to great lengths to avoid getting involved with the individuals from that peculiar place. Many feared ghosts and supernatural beings, but what the people of the River truly dreaded were those eccentric folks from that clan.

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<br/>We lived in a distant land, at the tip of the continent, where most of the territory was covered by dense forests or vast deserts. Information about our strange clan was not widely known in the ninja world, and the major villages didn't pay much attention to a clan on the brink of extinction in such an impoverished country.

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<br/>"Damn it," I muttered under my breath as I felt a sharp pain in my head.

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<br/>"Touji," a female voice made me turn to the right to identify who it was.

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<br/>"Mom, what are you doing here?" I asked the young woman with orange hair who didn't look like she was older than 25.

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<br/>"How many moons has it been since you last completed the Dekishi?" she inquired, concerned.

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<br/>I furrowed my brow, recalling that cursed ritual. For those who are lost, I'm Seimei Touji, reborn into a world that, in my past life, was merely a form of entertainment: the world of Naruto.

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<br/>As for what the 'Dekishi' was, it was a mutilation ritual where the individual deliberately circulated chakra to damage their own natural chakra networks, thereby losing the ability to use it.

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<br/>A brutal approach to secure a few days of rest before the natural energy, which seemed to both favor and harm us simultaneously, restored our chakra networks. For any other ninja, they would lose their careers immediately, as there was no known medical method to restore chakra networks that had been completely obliterated.

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<br/>"I won't do that anymore. I'm close to achieving what I need," I replied with a slight scowl.

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<br/>"Please. Just don't push yourself too hard, son," Ayame, my mother, said in her usual gentle voice.

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<br/>Regardless of her gentle tone, I chose not to look at her face. One might be deceived by her gentle nature and meet a tragic end. Truth be told, I still harbored a certain fear and resentment towards her when I remembered that fateful day.

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<br/>The day my own mother killed my father and tried to deprive me in the same way when I was just five years old.

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<br/>The mere memory of that monstrous face, with yellow eyes and sharp teeth that stared at me with a thirst for blood, still haunted me in recurring nightmares.

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<br/>"I'll turn around then," Ayame said, with a slightly dejected expression. It seemed like she was about to ask a question but chose to remain silent before leaving.

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<br/>I was in a serene location, near a waterfall, a clearing filled with trees, and indescribable natural beauty. One of the advantages of living here was the breathtaking scenery, a stark contrast to my previous world, where I only knew landscapes polluted by cities.

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<br/>This was my favorite place, my refuge when I wanted to escape from the clan and the shadow of my mother. I knew it was unfair to direct so many negative emotions towards her; after all, the circumstances were beyond her control. However, I couldn't help but feel these human emotions.

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<br/>But what I feared most wasn't her... it was myself.

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<br/>After all, like everyone in the Seimei Clan, the same clan as Juugo that was rarely mentioned in the anime, I also had periodic fits of anger, and if I wasn't careful, I could enter a frenzy state.

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<br/>For those who don't remember, the Seimei Clan developed the ability to unconsciously absorb natural energy through contamination by it. As a result, many clan members, regardless of age, maintained a youthful appearance, possessed physical bodies stronger than common ninjas, and chakra levels that rivaled the Uzumaki.

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<br/>While I pondered in thought about why my developing technique wasn't working, a sharp sound pierced the air. Instinctively, I raised my arms as a shield, and two kunai embedded themselves in my skin, leaving a bloodstain on the ground.

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<br/>The sound of a sudden leap made me raise my eyes toward the treetops. From there, one of the ninjas spoke:

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<br/>"Captain, it's just a child. What should we do with him?" One of the ninjas wearing a headband with the symbol of two rocks, representing Iwagakure, questioned.

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<br/>"Proceed with the plan," replied the burlier man to his three subordinates. "This is a strategic point. We'll use it to catch the Konoha shinobi off guard. Hibi."

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<br/>"Yes, Captain?" Hibi, the Iwagakure ninja, promptly responded.

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<br/>"Eliminate the boy. The rest of the squad should be exterminating the rest of his clan. We won't delay, in case they need our assistance."

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<br/>Hibi agreed with the order, but for a brief moment, a flicker of hesitation passed through his eyes.

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<br/>Hibi was a sensor from Iwagakure, and he didn't take pride in the task of eliminating a child and his entire clan. However, this wasn't the first time he had faced a morally questionable mission. Sometimes, in this cruel world, survival demanded cruelty, something that ninjas were all too familiar with.

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<br/>But something was different this time. A sinister foreboding gripped his heart, and his sensor senses didn't reassure him when he detected unusual chakra fluctuations and signatures coming from those people.

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<br/>Their chakra wasn't just vast but also chaotic, a sign that perhaps the circumstances weren't as straightforward.

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<br/>BOOMM.

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<br/>"Oh? They must have started the attack," the captain remarked with a slight smile, leaning one hand against the tree trunk as he looked in a specific direction. "What are you doing, Hibi? Finish this quickly. Stop being weak, or should I handle it personally?"

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<br/>Hibi remained motionless, but not for the reasons the squad captain imagined.

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<br/>Before everyone's eyes, the kunai from my arm fell to the ground on their own. Blood still dripped, but in an unusual manner, my teeth widened into a smile that didn't match the reaction of a cornered victim.

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<br/>"Amusing. Very amusing," I murmured while chuckling softly, and my wounds began to close and heal at a surprising speed, shocking the four ninjas.

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<br/>BOOM. BOOM.

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<br/>Other explosions echoed, nearly knocking down the ninjas in the tree branches. My smile widened as I looked in the specific direction and uttered, "It seems like the clan folks are having fun too."

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<br/>Mysterious marks with intricate patterns began spreading across my arms and neck. Meanwhile, Hibi, who was at a considerable distance, began to notice the disappearance of his comrades' chakra signatures. He dared to alert:

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<br/>"Captain. Something is clearly amiss."

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<br/>The burly ninja, despite his grim expression, decided to act. With hand signs performed at high speed, he invoked his jutsu: "Doton: Castle's Fall."

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<br/>With a touch on the tree trunk, the ground around the roots fractured into several deep cracks of varying meters. Taken by surprise by the impact, I almost lost my balance and ended up involuntarily getting one of my feet stuck in one of these cracks.

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<br/>The squad leader wasted no time and, shouting "Doton: Earth Split," he clapped his hands, causing the crevice trapping my leg to close. The sound of crushing echoed, and the other ninjas, with sadistic smiles, praised, "You did it, captain."

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<br/>"Idiots. I'm not a Jonin in name only," he grumbled with narrowed eyes. Then, he aimed at me, trapped by my right leg, and by punching the tree trunk, made the structure already weakened by the first jutsu begin to topple in my direction.

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<br/>He leaped from the tree before it completed its fall and landed gracefully on the nearby ground. Dust rose with the impact of the falling tree, causing everyone to cough, even those who were in the tree branches.

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<br/>When the dust finally settled, the squad leader turned his eyes to the fallen trunk for a few seconds, making sure his strategy had worked. A satisfied smile appeared on his face.

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<br/>"Target successfully eliminated," he thought.

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<br/>"What are you all waiting for? Let's go~" He turned towards his other three subordinates, but his words were abruptly interrupted by the resounding and deafening sound of wood breaking.

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<br/>"HAHAHHAAHAAHA. THAT HURT LIKE HELL," my right arm, now gigantic, ruthlessly crushed one of the subordinates against the branch trunk at the top of the trees.

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<br/>Hibi and the captain's eyes widened, filled with astonishment, as they saw me holding their lifeless comrade.

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<br/>With gritted teeth and a dark look, the squad leader took a few seconds to think and, with a tense voice, asked, "How are the others, Hibi?"

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<br/>"Not good, sir," he replied, sweat streaming down his face, as he realized that the chakra signatures of the other nineteen members of his squad seemed to be disappearing every second, likely victims of a similar fate.

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<br/>"What are your orders?"

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<br/>"We're going to regroup with the survivors and retreat," he answered, keeping a cautious eye on my direction. Seeing my fractured and bleeding leg, he concluded that I wouldn't be able to reach them and shouted:

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<br/>"Let's rendezvous with the others and retreat. Abort the mission."

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<br/>"Understood, captain," they responded, secretly relieved. They jumped in the designated direction, and a sharp sound of wind echoed as I leaped and grabbed one of them mid-air by the leg.

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<br/>"Hibi!" his comrade cried out upon seeing me firmly holding Hibi's leg.

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<br/>"HEY. HEY. Now that we've started having fun, we can't just say goodbye, can we? HIHHAHAHA."

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<br/>The captain looked back, astonished at my ability to reach them even while injured. The truth was that my gigantic right arm aided me in propulsion, and I extended it to capture him.

<br/>Would it be prudent to let them go? Considering my injuries, it would be.

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<br/>However, what mattered most was that I was having fun with those ninjas, and I already considered them my new friends. Unfortunately, they didn't seem to share the same feeling for some reason.

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<br/>"Let's all be friends, shall we?" I opened a smile full of rows of sharp teeth, trying to appear friendly to my new comrades. I remembered from my past life the importance of being smiley and pleasant to make a good impression. But contrary to what I expected, they seemed frightened by my manners.

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<br/>"Monster," Hibi uttered, seeing my monstrous smile up close and feeling his leg being crushed by my grip.

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<br/>"Captain, help me!" Hibi cried out in desperation as he lay on the ground, his right leg trapped in my grotesque hand. To his dismay, the burly ninja remained silent, as if ignoring his subordinate's anguished plea.

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<br/>"Retreat," the captain decided, turning to initiate his escape, surprising everyone. But before he could take any steps...

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<br/>Around them, other figures similar to me appeared. Some had only black markings with mysterious patterns all over their bodies, while others displayed partial transformations, like mine, in various shades of colors.

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<br/>What the hell were those people? Demons? These were the last coherent thoughts that passed through the minds of the Iwagakure ninjas as they bitterly regretted entering the cursed territory of the Seimei clan.

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<br/>Poor souls.

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