A few warnings:
- Important to know, this may contain spoilers for people who are not up-to-date with the manga and anime. I don't know what is going to happen, this is just my take on it.
- English is not my first language. (first language is Dutch! whoot whoot!)
- Not a quick writer, I work fulltime at the moment and a new part time education that I do at home, so I have to focus on that first before I write. I mostly write on weekends and during breaks at work.
- I Don't own Naruto or One piece, they belong to Kishimoto and Oda. (if I did own them, Asuma, Jiraiya and Ace would still be alive, also Jimbei would already have joined, cause he is awesome!).
- I also do not own the cover image, but it looked so right for my story.
- The story is set two years after the war in Naruto and after defeating Kaidou in One Piece. Some characters may seem different, that's because I have trouble to really nail them down. That is also a reason why I did a time skip.
P.S. I want to thank RisingNight, my beta, for his editing.
Reading Guide
"Gaki" Biju talking
'Gaki' Biju thinking
"Hello" Person talking
'Hello' Person thinking
"Gaara stared up at the half full moon" Flashback
-Elemental Countries - Place
Chapter One
- Thousand Sunny -
"Yosha!" Luffy said as he walk out of the kitchen, "Thanks for breakfast Sanji. Hey Nami, where are we?"
"That would be nice to know, but I don't have a single point of reference in this fog," Nami said as she looked down at the eternal log pose to see if anything had changed. Noticing a change she started to get paler and paler by the second.
"Nami? Are you okay?" Usopp asked. "Oy, Chopper, can you take a look at Nami?"
"No problem!" the reindeer replied.
"No, I'm fine," Nami said. "However, we are not fine. According to the log pose there are dangerous islands in all three directions. But that can't be true, that could only happen if," Nami's voice started to waver, "if we were in the Area. There shouldn't be an island this big in the New World or Paradise for that matter," she continued.
"Robin!" Luffy yelled, "What's Nami talking about? She's pretty spooked."
"Well," Robin replied in her perpetually calm voice, "The only places where islands can be big enough to even be considered continents or a mainland are in the West, North, South or East Blue. Legend has it that Sea Kings used to move from the one Calm Belt to the other through the Grand Line and New World smashing up island as they went. However, this is questioned since a more logical explanation exists. The lack of large landmasses in the Grand Line is most likely due to the rough seas it's famous for. The sea would constantly be eroding any growing islands. On the other hand, this could also be caused by the magnetic fields the islands in the Grand Line possess." Almost the entire Strawhat crew nodded their heads in understanding. Luffy was nodding to, but he didn't get it nearly as well as he thought he did.
'The mystery sea makes the islands small,' he mused off in his own little world.
"You are as beautiful as you are smart, Robin-swaaan," Sanji sang.
Suddenly the Sunny shook throwing the entire crew onto the deck.
"What the hell was that?" Zoro grumbled as he rubbed the back of his head.
"Yeah, that sure wasn't SUPER! Ow!" Franky yelled, ending in one of his favorite poses.
"More importantly, why are we speeding up? I thought there wasn't wind here," Usopp asked.
"There was no wind," Brook agrees. "I haven't felt the wind on my skin for quite a time now. . . since I don't have any skin because I am a skeleton. Yohoho."
Nami looked down over the side of the ship, and then her eyes widening with realization.
"We're being guided by a current!" Nami announced. "Usopp, Zoro, Brook, Sanji hoist the sails. Franky, try to steer us out of this current! Luffy see if you can make out what's up ahead. Stretch or something!"
"Hai!" the entire crew responded as they rushed to complete their assigned tasks.
Franky tried to turn the wheel with all his might but it didn't even budge an inch. "I can't turn the wheel, this is SUPER bad!" Franky exclaimed.
Luffy spun his legs around the banister next to Nami. "Gomu Gomu no Telescope!"
Making a motion as if to headbutt the air he shot his head forward into the fog. After several hundred feet his head collided with a solid surface.
Nami facepalmed, 'Does he have to give every move a name?'
'Are those spikes?' he wondered as he looked around at the other parts of the wall. 'They are, aren't they?'
"Damn it!" he yelled as he felt his legs loosing their hold on the Sunny's banister.
"No, Luffy!" Nami said as she saw his legs were coming loose. "Chopper, grab Luffy's legs before it's too late. We won't be able to find him if he goes overboard in this thick fog."
"Luffy!" Chopper yelled as he rushed to grab Luffy's legs. With a mighty heave Chopper pulled on Luffy's legs bring his head flying back to the Sunny.
"Thanks Chopper," he said when his head snapped back to where it would be on a normal human. 'Now then, what did I need to warn them about? Think. . . harder. . . Got it!'
"Nami, there are spikes dead ahead, not even six-hundred feet away." Next to them Robin starting using one of her hana hana no mi techniques.
"Mille Fleurs, Giganto Mano!"
A giant hand sprouted from the starboard hull and immediately dived underwater to try and turn the ship right. "It's not working, the ship won't budge," Robin said.
"What do we do? What can we do? This is the end!" Chopper and Usopp screamed as they ran around crying anime tears.
"We can't turn the ship or stop it," Nami surmised. "Luffy, just how high were those peaks?"
Ussop froze mid-run. "Nami," he asked, voice trembling, "What are you planning?"
"We might be able to Coup de Burst," she replied.
"What if there's land on the other side of the spikes?" Sanji asked.
"It's our only hope!"
"Yosha!" Luffy interjected. "Coup de Burst it is!"
"Hai captain, but I need some time to prepare the ship," Franky replied.
"Okay, Usopp, Chopper, Sanji and Brook! Go help Franky! Robin, Nami and Zoro try anything to slow the ship. I'll check how much closer the spikes have gotten. Lets go!" Luffy commanded.
"Hai!" they all shout in what sounded like a single voice. "Mille fleurs, Giganto Mano!" "Milky road, Wall!" "Santoryu, Great Dragon Twister!"
A giant pair of arms formed on both sides of the ship and then began try to swim against the current, slowing the ship's movement. A giant tornado in front of the ship helped to cause resistance, slowing the ship even further. The wall of clouds made by Nami's Milky Road, when combined with the other two techniques, was enough to stop the ship entirely.
"Gomu gomu no Telescope!" Luffy's head disappeared through the cloud wall. After about a hundred feet Luffy saw the spikes and snapped his head back to the ship.
"Franky, we've go about a hundred feet to go till we hit the spikes!"
"Super! We should make that easy. We're SUPER ready now! Coup de BURST!" And with that they went flying through the air.
- Konoha -
"Ohayo, Tsunade-baa-chan!"
"Naruto," Tsunade said with an annoyed look on her face, "It's about time you learned to address me properly. Even as a 2nd generation legendary Sannin you still have to honor rank. I've told you that a million times."
"Gomen," Naruto said while putting his hands behind his neck, "but old habits die hard." Naruto looked around the room and saw other ninja getting ready for a mission. Shikamaru, Sakura, Sasuke and Kiba and Lee were all there. Naruto gave them all a nod in greeting and received several back.
"Anyways. . ." Tsunade continued. "I've summoned all of you here because we've received a request from the Raikage to help with the security of their Chuunin Exams. They are a bit shorthanded on high level shinobi at the moment and they've requested that we help them. I've selected you."
"Shorthanded? " Shikamaru asked. "The Hidden Cloud should have more than enough shinobi for the Chuunin Exams. I helped them organize the security. What's changed?"
"They've been having some problems recently with pirates disturbing the peace and harassing civilians near the coast of the Lightning Country. Even the Hidden Mist has trouble along their coasts. Because of this the Cloud can't spare any of their shinobi. A Hidden Cloud ninja will be arriving here to escort you to their village. The ambassador of the Hidden Sand will also be joining you because she's headed to the Cloud for the Chuunin Exams anyway."
"And I have to be there for Chuunin as well?" Shikamaru asked lazily. After a moment his eyes widened as Tsunade's words had a chance to sink in. "Wait! The Hidden Sand Ambassador? Damn it!"
At that very moment there were several light knocks of the door of the Hokage's office.
"Come in!" Tsunade called. The door opened to reveal Bee and none other than the Ambasador of the Sand herself, Temari.
"Of course, it just had to be that troublesome woman," Shikamaru muttered under his breath, but not quite quiet enough.
"Please! As if I look forward to working with the laziest shinobi in the Elemental Nations!" Temari snapped.
"At least you acknowledge me as a shinobi, I only said woman," Shikamaru shot back.
"Why YOU!" Temari grabbed her fan and sprang towards Shikamaru spiking her killing intent. The only thing that stopped her was Killer Bee who grabbed her with one of his tails.
With a booming voice Tsunade intervened before the situation could get any worse. "NARA Shikamaru, I don't know why she called you a ninja, you are most certainty not acting like one. To insult an ambassador of a village is not an honorable or ninja-like thing to do. SARUBAKU Temari, to let someone provoke you that easily is also not a quality becoming of a ninja. I want you both to apologize to each other and to the rest of the group here for making them feel uncomfortable."
"Gomenasai," they both said reluctantly.
"Okay, moving on," Tsunade continued. "You will not be needed there only for security, you will also be there for another purpose. The Gennin who make it to the finals will have about a month's time to train for the finals, just as you did. You will be there for the ones who make it through to that training period and they you'll be the ones to train them for the final round of the Chunnin Exams. Any questions?"
"How many teams from the Leaf are going to try for Chuunin this year?" Sasuke asked.
"It's not certain, but we estimate about five teams. You are to leave tomorrow morning and you'll receive more information when you arrive, but maybe Shikamaru and Temari can fill you in on some of the details on your way there. Good luck and dismissed."
The assembled ninja walked out of the room. As soon as they were out of the office Naruto headed over to Bee.
"Yo Killer Bee! You're our guide to Lightning Country? Could the Raikage really spare you?" asked Naruto.
"Yes! When I heard about a mission guiding Naruto. I just had to go, YO!" Killer Bee rapped.
Naruto smiled and saw Hinata looking a little uncomfortable, then he remembered why. "Sorry, I want you to officially meet Hinata, my girlfriend. She's mine till the very end! Ya know!" Naruto rapped.
Hinat didn't know wheter to feel happy or embarrassed. Everyone else apart from Killer Bee and Naruto had no such conflicts and sweatdropped, until they realized they had to travel with these 'rappers.' At that point they all shuddered involuntarily.
"Nice to meet you officially, I've heard a lot about you, Bee-san," Hinata said deciding to ignore Naruto's less than stellar rapping for the moment.
"So nice, good manners and beautiful too! How come Naruto has a girl like you?!" Bee rapped back putting Naruto's pitiful rhymes to shame, thought the better rapping did little to comfort the other ninja.
"This is going to be really troublesome. . ." Shikamaru said. The rest of the group simply nodded in agreement.
They then split up, Naruto to go to Ichiraku's with Hinata and the rest to pack or train if they happened to wear a green jumpsuit.
"Ohayo Teuchi!" Naruto called as he neared Ichiraku's.
"Ohayo Naruto-kun!" Teuchi turned and saw Hinata with Naruto. "You brought Hinata!"
"Ohayo Teuchi-san, how are you? " Hinata asked.
"Things around here are good, we've been seeing plenty of customers lately. Speaking of customers, two miso ramen coming right up," Teuchi said happily.
After they were done eating they promised to come back tomorrow before they leave. It was the last time Naruto would be able to eat there for some time and he didn't intend to waste chance. After saying goodbye the two headed off together.
Naruto looked back at the restaurant and looked forward again with a saddened expression on his face. "I'll miss the ramen," he said. Hinata took a sideway glance at her boyfriend and smiled. She knew that Teuchi and Ayame would probably miss him two, as their best customer they knew him quite well.
"I have to go home and start packing," Hinata said. She gave Naruto a kiss and tried to turn away but was stopped by Naruto who grabbed her arm.
"Wait. . . Hinata-chan." Hinata saw Naruto blushing slightly. "Have you thought about my offer?"
Hinata became flustered when she realized what he meant. Living together. Waking up every day next to Naruto and starting everyday with that smile of his. That is what she wanted, she just didn't want to talk to her dad about finding a place with Naruto and the conversations it would start. On the other hand. . . the last thing she'd see every night would be Naruto and he'd also be the first thing she'd see in the morning. 'One awkward conversation is probably worth it,' she thought to herself, smiling.
"I have and after we come back from this mission we can find a place for us to live. Your kitchen is too small for my taste," she said smiling. "Maybe we can share a room in the Hidden Cloud? I love you and I want to be with you as much as possible."
She cupped Naruto's face in her hands. "I love you with all of my heart, I always have and I always will." Hinata felt Naruto's arm surround her and pulling her close. Their foreheads touched and their mouths came so close that she felt his breath on her lips. Naruto looked into her eyes, "Not as much as I love you," he responded in a whisper. Their lips touched, Naruto wanting more as he always did when they kissed. He pulled her tighter against himself, his hands going through her hair. People who saw them kiss whispered and smirked or just made rude comments about getting a room. This had happened before and it would probably happen again. Although she heard everything the people said, Hinata had trouble stopping him, wanting more herself.
She eventually broke loose, "Naruto, wait! We're outside and I have to go anyway. I'll see you tonight." She turned around quickly and walked away, until, unable to help herself, she turned back and smiled at him. That would keep him happy until they arrived in the Cloud. She also thought that it might come in handy if she brought some stuff with her for the mission. She couldn't wait!