Hey guys. Striker777 here with the next chapter of Naofumi of the Sharingan. Be sure to vote and comment, yada yada yada, good stuff, let's go!
———
"Almost there Keel, you got this." said Raphtalia. Naofumi looked down at the two, seeing Keel trying her hardest to concentrate. She could manifest the physical aspect of charka without an problem, but she had trouble when it came to the spiritual part of it. Raphtalia had already drawn hers out, proven by the third bar under her name indicating her chakra level. Naofumi had told her to try using the substitution jutsu, and Raphtalia had gotten the basics down, and just needed to work on her execution.
Keel had a lot of trouble when it came to bringing out her chakra, but Naofumi helped her out and it looked like she was about to come out. She was concentrated so hard on getting her chakra out, since Naofumi made the promise to collect Rifana from Idol and make the family whole again. Naofumi was contempt on keeping that promise. So Keel worked extraordinarily hard to bring out her chakra.
Naofumi took her to a waterfall, letting the tranquility act as a conduit to help her. It appeared to be working as Keel's chakra was coming out in small amounts. Naofumi had a feeling that her chakra pathway system was being affected somehow, but it should be fine if she focuses hard enough.
Keel was focusing extraordinarily hard on her mission to unleash her chakra, and the place that Naofumi took them to was certainly helping her, but she was still having trouble pushing it out of herself. She focused hard, thinking of Naofumi's promise to save Rifana, and with determination in her eyes, she focused once more.
But in her mind, she found herself at a gate. It was a big gate, red, and preventing a gust of wind to go through. She felt a desire, a strong one, willing her to push the gate open. She placed a hand on the gate, pushing it open.
Naofumi watched in shock as Keel was enveloped in a sudden burst of chakra. He felt a similar presence before in the Leaf Village. 'No way!' he thought as he rushed over to Keel. 'Did she really just open one of the 8 gates?' Keel collapsed to the ground, exhausted.
"I... did it... master."
"No, you did something more. You opened one of the 8 gates."
"The 8... gates?"
"There are 8 gates in the body that restrict the flow of chakra and make it manageable for a person to use. I can open the first gate, but I never went further than that due to the intense strain it places on my body." said Naofumi. He reached down and grabbed her shoulders. "Listen to me Keel, this technique is a last resort, and it will leave you exhausted, which can be fatal in combat. You can only use this technique to protect someone. But it does mean you have been able to push your chakra out, just not in a conventional way."
"Does that mean..." asked Raphtalia, trailing off.
"Yep." said Naofumi. He turned to them both and smile.
"I'm going to save Rifana."
———
"Alright, be sure you behave, do everything that Edward says, and just be safe." said Naofumi. He had probably said something along those lines 13 times already.
"We'll be fine master."
"Have some faith in them kid, they'll be fine." said Edward. "I'll make sure they stay out of trouble."
"Alright, and if the bow or sword hero come looking for me, be sure to tell them I'll be back in 4 days."
"Yes master Naofumi." said Raphtalia.
"Alright, I'll be off then." said Naofumi. He took up his duffle bag full of supplies and strung it over his shoulder. "Take care." he said, as he walked out the door.
"Be sure to bring home Rifana master! We wanna eat Libby's cooking with her." yelled Keel. Naofumi replied with a thumbs up as he continued to walk away.
Naofumi's first shop to visit was Erhard's blacksmith shop. He opened the door to see Erhard with a crate. "Figured you'd be coming in today, so I have your order ready to go."
"Thanks, but I was wondering if I could borrow a weapon off you."
"Borrow?"
"Yeah, I need to borrow one of your weapons in order to stay incognito with an assignment I'm doing." explained Naofumi. "I can't use my shield for this one, so I need a main weapon that is ninja enough to be accepted by the shinobi shield but not enough for it to be drawn back to me."
"Maybe a sword then? I think I have one for you." said Erhard, going out the back, and then getting a sword.
The sword was about 85cm in all, with around 25 of those cm being used for the handle, leaving around 60 for the blade. It was a straight blade, with a one sided blade to cut with a blunt end to parry and block. "A ninjato. Perfect." said Naofumi, making a shadow clone to move his shinobi shield from his wrist to his back and picked up the ninjato.
{Equipped - Ninjato Blade}
{+200 attack}
{Equip Bonus - Bleeding}
"This is perfect. I might just buy it off you if I have the funds."
"It's 100 silver." said Erhard.
"... any chance you'll let me borrow it for a week?"
"Sure, just be sure to bring it back in 1 piece." said Erhard. Naofumi bowed in appreciation. "Anyway, how do you plan on not being noticed, since everyone knows your face."
"That's easy." said Naofumi, before making the seals Dog → Boar → Ram and shouting, "Transform!" with a puff of smoke, Naofumi had disappeared, and in his place stood another man. He had brown hair that was tied back in a ponytail, and a mask in the shape of a cat making his presence unknown. He wore an overcoat, with his shield and ninjato still there.
"Damn, that's impressive." muttered Erhard. Naofumi nodded in thanks, grabbing his duffle bag again and making his way out the door.
'I made a promise and I plan on keeping it. That's my nindo, my ninja way.'
———
Naofumi already had the map committed to memory. He knew exactly where he was going, and he was fast getting there. It was an estimated week or two by carriage by following the roads, but Naofumi cut through the forests and was there in a day. He was exhausted, as was to be expected from crossing half a country in a day, but a shinobi had an amazing recovery time, so he decided to quickly play around with his stats.
{Naofumi Iwatani - The Shield Hero}
{Level 34}
{Health - 987/987}
{Mana - 432/432}
{Chakra - 809/809}
{Attack - 400 (+200 - Shinobi Shield) (+200 - Ninjato Blade)}
{Magic - 56}
{Defense - 183 (+25 - Shinobi Shield)}
{Magic Defense - 186 (+25 - Shinobi Shield}
{Chakra Defense - 268 (+25 - Shinobi Shield)}
{Movement - 110}
Naofumi sighed in contempt. He had an amazing attack stat due to his Shinobi Shield and Ninjato Blade, and everything but magic was above 100. Naofumi knew that the main heroes had a movement of around 20 at level 10, so he was already the equivalent of a level 55 at 34, and if this was a proportional thing, he would be at the equivalent of a level 121 at 75. Naofumi wanted to get this done quickly, but took his time in order to give him something to do, he decided to gather materials for his shield. Putting his hands together in the clone hand seal and 7 clones of Naofumi spawned. Naofumi felt his chakra slipping away from him, and looked to his chakra bar to see it down to 102 instead of 809, and his HP bar to 124. Not really caring, Naofumi sent out his clones whilst he took a break, getting some water and food into his system.
His clones were able to gather some wild berries and fruits, as well as some other plant leaves, as well as some other natural elements and an old pipe. The Naofumi clones placed them into their shields and unlocked several more. They nodded, and the original Naofumi dispersed them, and with his chakra and HP returned, he also got their shields, as their memories flooded back to him.
{Requirements Met - Bio Plant Shield}
{+5 Defense}
{Equip Bonus - Plant Modification}
{Requirements Met - Mush Shield}
{+3 Defense}
{Equip Bonus - Plant appraisal 1}
{Requirements Met - Small Medicine Shield}
{+4 Defense}
{Equip Bonus - Potion Upgrade}
{Requirements Met - Small Poison Shield}
{+6 Defense}
{Equip Bonus - Poison Resistance}
{Requirements Met - Mandoragora Shield}
{+5 Defense}
{Equip Bonus - Plant Analysis}
{Requirements Met - Egg Shield}
{+2 Defense}
{Equip Ability - Cooking 1}
{Requirements Met - Wood Shield}
{+6 Defense}
{Equip Bonus: Collection 1}
{Requirements Met - Pipe Shield}
{+9 Defense}
{Equip Skill- Shield Prison}
{Requirements Met - Butterfly Shield}
{+8 Defense}
{Equip Bonus - Paralysis Resistance (small)}
{Requirements Met - Leather Shield}
{+10 Defense}
{Equip Bonus - Agility 3}
{Requirements Met - Meat Shield}
{+7 Defense}
{Equip Bonus - Dissection 1}
It was a lot of shields to collect in an hour, but then again, the shadow clone jutsu was useful in that way, since the person keeps all the memories of the clones, and that must have meant that applied to the shields and experience points as well. Naofumi smiled at the notifications, nodding in satisfaction and feeling thoroughly refreshed. He took a look down at the town, seeing the fat lard walking down a set of stairs, obviously leading down to the torture chamber. Naofumi bit his lip, hard enough to draw blood, and went to follow the man, no, the pig in human form, down the stairs.
Naofumi went over his disguise one last time to make sure he got it right. ANBU coat, cat mask, Iruka styled hair. He should be fine. He made his way down to the city, passing by a large amount of people as he walked towards the stairs leading down to the torture rooms. As he grew closer to his goal, and was about to begin his descent, a pair of guards, probably knights of the city militia, stopped him in his tracks.
"Hey! You can't go down there, dumbass! That place is-" began the first of two, but he was stopped as he looked at the strange man through his eye hole, glancing at a red eye with a strange marking in it, swirling in a hypnotic pattern.
He was then in a burning house, watching as his family was engulfed in flames. He cried out for them, as he watched them burn into nothingness, before everything reset, and he watched it happen again, and again, and again. He watched it for 3 straight days.
"Hey, you alright man?" asked his buddy, shaking him. He simply dropped to the floor, his mind gone from his body as he tried to recover from the psychological torture. As his friend called out to him, no one noticed the masked stranger begin his descent down the stairs.
———
Naofumi made his way down the stairs, looking at the cobblestone walls that lead down into the dark abyss of the stairwell. It was dimly lit, giving it an eerie feeling of dread at what he will encounter down the stairs. His sharingan couldn't help him in the dark like the byakugan of the Hyuga clan, but with the light illuminating the end of the tunnel, he didn't need it at all. He walked down at a slower speed, as he heard the sounds of footsteps. Jumping up onto the roof, and infusing chakra into his hands and feet, he waited as the fat bastard and some of his knights made his way out of the chamber.
"Dammit, it seems like she lost all will to live after she lost her friends." said the fat asshole. "She lost all her entertainment value."
"What are you going to do, Lord Idol?" asked one of the guards.
"Why, leave her here to rot, of course! How satisfying it will be to see her skeleton rot and toil away with the rats." said the bastard, laughing.
Naofumi had enough.
He dropped down from the ceiling, driving his knee into the lord, knocking him out. The guards were alarmed and caught off guard, giving Naofumi a chance to grab his Ninjato Blade and performed a sweeping attack and slashed the guards across their stomachs, opening a few deep wounds. As the guards fell to the ground, Naofumi continued on his journey, going further into the dungeon.
The dungeon was dimly lit, with the sound of drips penetrating his ears at every step. He walked down, feeling the cold that reminded him slightly of the Land of Snow, and the Snow Village that one of his old Genin teammates originally came from. She was quite the fun person to be around, and extremely loyal to her village and the Leaf Village, promising Naofumi and their other teammate to always be there for them. However, she would die before she got the chance.
Naofumi shook his head. Now was not the time to be thinking about her or his other teammate. Now was the time for him to concentrate on the rescue of Rifana, and bringing her back home to Raphtalia and Keel.
He looked around in disgust. They were treated like animals, and most of the cages were empty, meaning the people like Raphtalia and Keel were still probably all over the world. Ignoring his anger, he continued his search, until it yielded results.
She was chained to the wall, obviously malnourished, sickly pale and covered in bruises. Naofumi glared at her, feeling nothing but pure rage, as much as he felt when he discovered what Itachi did to his family, or what those Iwa-nin did to his team. He looked down at the lock, deciding to take his anger out on it.
He unsheathed his new blade once more, rising it above his head and bringing it down onto the lock, shattering it, and unlocking the door. He opened the door and walked over to Rifana, who was shaking in fear. She turned her head, closing her eyes and getting ready to endure the pain.
Naofumi flicked his blade onto her chains, breaking them, and catching her as she fell off the wall.
"Rifana... Raphtalia and Keel are awaiting you in the capital. Let's go." said Naofumi, holstering her over his shoulder in a fireman carry.
"W-who are y-you?" she asked, her voice weak.
"I am Naofumi Uchiha, the Shield Hero, and Jonin from the Hidden Leaf Village." said Naofumi. "I'm also your new sensei."
Rifana looked surprise, or at least, she would have if she wasn't so tired.
"Don't close your eyes, you need to keep them open." said Naofumi. "You're on the brink of death and need a few days to heal, but here, this should help."
Naofumi handed her a green potion, used for healing, but she dropped it, making Naofumi catch it. He sighed, putting her down and helping her drink.
"They really did a number on you, huh? Raphtalia and Keel were in better shape, but still pretty bad. They're okay now though, so you don't have to worry." said Naofumi, finishing off the bottle. "The potion should be taking effect now, so rest up. You'll see Raphtalia and Keel again soon enough."
Rifana couldn't keep her eyes open anymore, and fell asleep as Naofumi picked her up once more, deciding to put her in a fireman carry once more. Naofumi smiled at her, at her smiling face as she slept, constantly muttering, "Raphtalia... Keel... So happy..." Naofumi found it adorable, and Uchiha did NOT find things adorable. He ascended once more up the stair, knowing that after this, it was a hop, jump and water walk away from reaching his comrades and reuniting them with their friend once more.
He walked up the stairs, ready to say goodbye to this Kami forsaken place, but noticed something.
'Where did that fat lard go?'
Naofumi had a bad feeling, so he picked up the pace and ran up the stairs, past the still unconscious knights.
'He's most likely gathering reinforcements, meaning a fight's about to break out. I already used the blade, so I should stick to that instead of shuriken and kunai, which would give the king more incentive to go after me. All that matters is that I get Rifana safely out of here, nothing else matters. I'll never go back on my word, not again.'
Naofumi made it to the top of the stairs to find the lard chanting at a monument. As soon as he reached the surface, the ground shook and a magic circle appeared.
'No way... fuinjutsu?! And on such a high level?!'
The ground split open as beams of light appeared out of the appearing cracks. The man turned to Naofumi and looked at him with a smug look of victory.
"Yes! It is free now! The monster the original heroes sealed away! He will destroy you!"
Out of the light appeared a monster, a dinosaur. Naofumi had heard from there from his time in the Land of Mist, and had known of this one. It was a tyrannosaurus rex. However, this one had an 'X' shaped piece of metal on it's head.
"SLAUGHTER HIM! KILL THE MAN THAT DARES T-"
The lard said no more as he was crushed under the monster's foot.
The people ran away, and guards began filling into the plaza.
'Shit. I need to get away from here. If only I could use my jutsu.' thought Naofumi. If he could use his jutsu, he would fire blast that monster into next week. However, he needed to keep his identity as a ninja a secret.
Then it hit him. If he could kill two birds with one stone, dealing with the monster and getting some of the country's attention off of him, he could just pull this off. He used his transformation jutsu to make Rifana appear to be a young human boy with dark black hair in a similar get up that he was in, with the added appearance of a Kirigakure hiate. After making sure the enemy saw the symbol, he went through a series of hand signs, Ox → Snake → Ram.
"Ninja Art: Hidden Mist Jutsu!"
A thick mist began to come around him, covering the land with it's presence. The guards were confused, and the monster became agitated. Naofumi then cleared his throat and pointed his sword at the monster.
"Come beast! Come face off against one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist!"
The monster followed the voice, making Naofumi begin his escape, rushing off as he carried Rifana over his shoulder. He jumped away and out of the town, leaving it's people to stare in awe at the mysterious man leading the monster away. He leapt out of the town, running forward until he reached a pond, and ran straight into the middle of it. He could tell that the water was deep, too deep for the monster to float.
'I hope to the Hokage that it can't swim.' thought Naofumi as he watched the monster approach. The thing stopped at the water, roaring at ninja, and sending a wave of fire his way. Naofumi immediately performed a series of hand signs, Tiger → Snake → Rat → Snake → Tiger.
"Water Style: Wall of Water!" Naofumi shouted as he spits a stream of water in front of him and it forms into a wall made of water, blocking the fire and evaporating it to steam. Naofumi watches as the beast roars again, stamping it's foot on the ground, causing a mass amount of waves and knocking Naofumi off balance. He jumped up and the monster let lose another stream of fire. Quickly going through the hand signs, Naofumi performed the substitution Jutsu with a nearby log. He looked back at the monster.
"Fine, you made me resort to this, so you cannot complain."
Naofumi activated his Magenkyou Sharingan, staring into the eyes of the monster, preparing to use his Susanoo and end the fight, when a voice called out.
"Do not use that ability."
"W-what the? Who the hell said that?!"
Out of the water, a giant bird appeared, with dazzling feathers as white as the snow itself, with streaks of light blue in there as well, and red pupils. Naofumi looked at the bird.
"Leave this fight to me. I will take care of him." said the bird.
Naofumi looked at it, or her if the voice was anything to go off. But then he looked down at himself, realising that it was his problem, so he had to fix it.
"No." said Naofumi.
"What?" asked the bird.
"I said no. This is my fight, and I need to get stronger to beat the waves of catastrophe and go home. I want to go back to Ichiraku Ramen with Naruto, read Icha Icha with Kakashi again, train with Sasuke again and serve my Hokage again. I'LL DO ANYTHING TO GET THOSE BACK!" screamed Naofumi, slamming his hands together in a chakra clap, channeling his chakra into his body, generating a bright green aura. The Susanoo was an amazing ability, and Naofumi concentrated, gathering enough chakra to create a figure of a ribcage, two hands and a head, which roared out at the monster. Naofumi slammed the two hands into the dragon, pushing it back as he loaded more chakra into the Susanoo's hands, making a blade of Chakra appear and finish the monster off with a decapitation. Naofumi sighed at the defeat of the monster, but felt a sharp pain in his whole body as he deactivated the Susanoo. He looked to his chakra meter to see that it was only at a tenth of the total, but then rose a bit. Naofumi questioned it before looking at his stats as an announcement was made.
{You have killed - Rex-Dragon Rabier}
{You have gained 150000EXP}
{You have levelled up X6 - Level cap reached}
{Naofumi Iwatani - The Shield Hero}
{Level 40}
{Health - 1102/1102}
{Mana - 471/471}
{Chakra - 92/900}
{Attack - 400 (+200 - Shinobi Shield) (+200 - Ninjato Blade)}
{Magic - 65}
{Defense - 200 (+25 - Shinobi Shield)}
{Magic Defense - 212 (+25 - Shinobi Shield}
{Chakra Defense - 318 (+25 - Shinobi Shield)}
{Movement - 129}
That was a lot for one monster, but Naofumi noticed that he had reached the level cap. Was this the extent of his raw power?
No way.
Naofumi knew he was destined for more than this. He would return to the Leaf with his head held high and his allies by his side. He would be able to do all those things again and offer his friends a better life as shinobi. He could lead a squad, go out on missions, and lead his friends to a good and prosperous life.
"You used that power." said the giant bird.
"It is mine to use as I see fit." responded Naofumi.
"I suppose, but you do know of the risks, correct?" asked the bird.
"I do, but now I have to ask how you know of them." replied Naofumi with a dangerous glare.
"It was the same as one of the previous shield heroes. He was my master, but he eventually went blind from overusing that power and died on the battlefield." replied the bird.
"Another Uchiha was summoned here? Wha-UGH!" cried Naofumi, dropping to the floor and clutching his head. "AH!"
"Calm yourself, it is an effect of gaining too much experience at such a low level. Give it time to subside and you will be better." soothed the bird. Naofumi nodded and rested for a moment, feeling the pain slowly go away until he could stand with a slight headache. He moved over to the dragon, taking out a piece of it, and going to add it to his shield.
"I advise against that." said the bird. "That is a cursed power, much like your eyes."
"I need all the power I can get if I wish to return home. I'm sorry, but I need this power." said Naofumi, placing the meat in his shield.
{Requirements Met - Tyrant Dragon Rex Shield}
{Locked}
"The shield is locked anyway, so I can't use it." said Naofumi. He looked to the sky as it started at the rising moon, and the yell of what he assumed was the village militia. "We may want to leave. This place is gonna get real loud real soon."
"I will assist you." said the bird, shrinking down into a girl and looking at the Uchiha. "I am Fitoria, the Filolial Queen."
"Naofumi Uchiha, Jonin of the Hidden Leaf and the Shield Hero." said Naofumi. Fitoria nodded, and turned Naofumi's attention to a carriage with some different birds around it. "I've seen those birds around the capital." said Naofumi.
"Yes, they are mainly used to carry the produce of people. The filolial is a carriage puller used by the people all over the world."
Naofumi nodded, stepping into the carriage with Rifana over his back. Fitoria followed
"Thank you." said Naofumi.
"You may rest at our sanctuary for the night, and I will take you close to the capital tomorrow." said Fitoria. "Rest now, you must be tired."
Naofumi nodded, embracing the warm feeling of sleep.
———
Hey guys, hope you're enjoying the story. That's all I really wanted to say, so for now, Striker777, over and out.