Hey guys, Striker777 here with the next chapter of Naofumi of the Sharingan. Vote and comment and all that good stuff, but for now, onto the story.
———
Naofumi rode with Rifana on the back of a filolial as Raphtalia and Keel took another one. Their destination was Lute Village, where they would go to the mines and mine the precious metals guarded by the monsters of the first wave. Naofumi was in desperate need for money, and he needed a lot.
He left most of his items back at his inn room, trusting the keepers to keep it safe and discrete. He brought with him 20 kunai and 30 shuriken, and gave each of the girls 10 kunai and 20 shuriken. They had no idea how to use the equipment, but Naofumi told them to use the kunai as knives, and had planned on training them in the mines away from any prying eyes.
He would have two helping him with mineral collection at a time, whilst one would work on shurikenjutsu with a shadow clone that he would keep close by in case of emergency. There, he would train them on how to properly throw a shuriken or kunai, as well as bringing leafs in with him for their chakra control exercises. Raphtalia had the best chakra control out of all 3 of them, but Rifana and Keel were catching up, Keel luckily possessing enough chakra to actually perform such exercises and ninjutsu, unlike a 'youthful' ninja clad in green spandex he often saw around the village, usually doing laps on his hands instead of his feet.
Shaking those thoughts out of his head, Naofumi looked down at the two filolials giving them a lift, which he had summoned from the contract Fitoria gave him, the ally of a previous shield hero, another Uchiha Shield Hero. Apparently one with the Mangenkyou Sharingan, since she knew about it and it's drawbacks.
That drew Naofumi into deep thought. Would he eventually end up like the others, blind and weak? Possibly if he overused his Mangenkyou too many times, except if he...
No! Sasuke wasn't even that closely related to him. The Eternal Mangenkyou Sharingan only came from the transfer of eyes of close relatives, such as parents, siblings and sometimes cousins. Besides, he'd rather sacrifice both his eyes through the use of Izanagi rather than take the eyes of his precious younger cousin. Naofumi would never stoop so low, lest he become like that bastard Itachi, but Naofumi might be tempted to take Itachi's eyes if the possibility arose.
If only his actual cousin, Shisui was still around. Naofumi had lost him several nights prior to the Uchiha massacre to suicide, yet he always had his doubts about Itachi's involvement in his death and suicide, or murder. He believed that Itachi killed him to gain the power of the Mangenkyou Sharingan, much like how some Uchiha killed their friends and family to awaken their Mangenkyou. Unlike most who reviled in the power, Naofumi would return his eyes in a heartbeat if it meant the resurrection of his team. Shisui had promised Naofumi his Mangenkyou when they discovered the existence of the Eternal Mangenkyou Sharingan studying together in the library, acting like the elder cousin when they were the same age.
A village in the distance threw Naofumi out of his thoughts. Lute Village approached. The mines approached. Money, enough to remain in the inn, to gather weapons, equipment, and anything they needed. No matter what, Naofumi was going to survive in this world, and return to his own, with his 5 genin in tow, to become fully fledged ninja.
———
The mines were easy enough to find, with Naofumi deciding to head straight there as opposed to stopping in the village to gather information. By now, the word had probably already spread about his 'deeds' and he would be shunned by the village, much like how Naruto was. In the side of a mountain was a small hut that lead down to the mines, with a pile of pickaxes and some rope. Naofumi decided that he'd use one of the pickaxes as a material for his shield as well as some rope. Placing them into his shield, he was greeted by the expanding circle of shield he was amassing.
{Requirements Met - Pickaxe Shield}
{+6 Defense}
{Equip Ability - Mining I}
{Requirements Met - Rope Shield}
{+3 Defense}
{Equip Bonus Skill - Air Strike Shield}
{Special Effect - Rope}
He smiled at his new shields, pulling up the rope shield to test it out. On his wrist appeared a shield made of a loop of rope with a green gem in the middle of it. By calling out his power, "Air strike shield!", a solid shield was formed out of pure, green energy. Naofumi looked at the shield with awe. "This will be useful. Okay! Let's go mine some ore!"
"Yes, master." replied his genin.
"GOD DAMN IT! IT'S NAOFUMI-SENSEI!"
———
Naofumi led his genin down the mineshaft, each holding a pickaxe as he held a torch to light the way. His sharingan did not give him the ability to see in the dark, so he couldn't rely on that to guide him, much less his genin. The path seemed to stretch on forever, but Naofumi felt in his gut that they were nearing an exit from the shaft to the mine itself.
"Alright." he began, "You three know the plan, first lesson goes to Keel, then Rifana and finally, Raphtalia. You will be learning how to throw kunai and shuriken, which can take months to master, but the basics should be enough for a while. We have about 3 and a half weeks until the next wave, so we need to be prepared." he said, turning to his three genin, slightly shaken up by what he said.
"M-Master Naofumi... w-will we be ready in time?" asked Rifana.
"For the next wave?" asked Naofumi, to which the little weasel nodded, hoping for some warm words of encouragement.
"Hell no."
The three stopped in their tracks, looking up at their master in fear.
"Look, you can never be ready for anything, not completely. You can only be as ready as you can be." said Naofumi. "I'm not even ready to take on the second wave, and I'm level 45. You need to remember that you're all low level at the moment."
"Then... what use are we to you?" asked Raphtalia. "We're weak, l-like you said. So what use ar-"
Naofumi turned around to face the three. "Stop. It seems like it's time for the most important lesson of all."
"What lesson?" asked Raphtalia.
"The Will of Fire." said Naofumi, sitting down and inviting the girls to do the same. He closed his eyes, and as the three stared at him, he opened his eyes to reveal his sharingan, spinning rapidly as the three girls Ost their train of thought to the hypnotic swirling of the eyes.
"Genjutsu: Sharingan."
The world around them disappeared. In it's place, a classroom, where the three sat on the floor, accompanied by several other children. In front of them all was their master, who was leaning against the wall, looking at someone else. The three turned their attention to someone else. He was an old man with a wrinkled face and a wart on his nose. He was wearing these strange red and white robes, and on his head was a weird hat, white and red with a white cloth coming down the back and side and a strange symbol at the front of it.
"This is a genjutsu, and illusionary technique." said Naofumi. "This was about 15 years ago, during my time at the academy. And this, is the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi-sama. He's the leader of my home, and the one I answer to back home. Listen to everything he says."
"Now, children, your teacher has given me the chance to talk to you all about this wonderful village we call home, and the ideals it was founded on." said the old man, the Third Hokage. "The Will of Fire. It is what drives myself, your teachers, and you, to fight against all the odds for the sake of the village. It give's you the strength to push past those odds, by building willpower, and the strength of your character."
"Wow..." whispered a girl next to them, and they turned to see someone wearing a purple kimono over what looked like chainmail armour, with pale skin, long and dark black hair and red eyes. "And what is the Will of Fire, Lord Third?"
"Ah, a very good question." said the Third Hokage. "The Will of Fire is an ideology, that true peace can only be achieved through love. Every Leaf Village ninja who believes in the Will of Fire loves, believes, cherishes and fights to protect the village and their family, the citizens of the Leaf Village themselves, as many generations before them have done. The Will of Fire is what drives me, and every single one of you, to push past your limits and fight for a better tomorrow for the Leaf Village."
"Woah, that's so cool!" yelled another boy, with short brown hair and eyes that appeared to be blind, bandages covering his forehead and wearing a chainmail armour undershirt, over a black shirt and a beige coloured hooded jacket with black pants and blue ninja sandals. A lot of girls instantly went on about how cool the Will of Fire (or the boy) was.
"But Lord Third, what about Naofumi?" asked a boy in the back, with ginger hair, a bright red shirt and blue pants and sandals. "My dad says that the Uchiha don't follow the will of the village at all, and just do their own thing. He actually says they hate everything, so how can they follow the Will of Fir-"
"SHUT UP!" yelled a boy near them. The three looked at him and gasped slightly, looking at the black shirt and beige shorts, as well as the blue sandals, of a boy with messy black hair and green eyes. "I FOLLOW THE WILL OF FIRE! I WILL LAY DOWN MY LIFE IF IT SAVES A SINGLE VILLAGER! DON'T YOU DARE INSULT THE UCHIHA!"
"It's quite alright, Naofumi." said the Third Hokage. "Well, Ichigi, the Uchiha have believed in the Will of Fire since the founding of the village, but they used to oppose it. Now, we all live and work together under the same ideal and values for the village."
The three girls were staring at the younger Naofumi, absolutely brimming with rage, but the girl from before placed a hand upon his shoulder as he sat down, and he appeared calm down.
The classroom suddenly disappeared, and the three of them suddenly found themselves back in the mineshaft, looking over at their master for some explanation, but more questions were brought forth at the sight of tears streaming down his face.
"Master Naofumi!" they exclaimed.
"I-I didn't want you to see me like this..." he said. "I-I thought I was ready to... I... I just..." he stammered.
"What is it, Master Naofumi?" asked Rifana innocently, which seemed to tick Naofumi off.
"NONE OF YOUR DA-" he began to shout, before collecting himself at the sight of the three of them in fear. "I-I'm sorry... I... it's not something I can just talk about... call it grief... for the two of them... H-Hiroshi and... I'm sorry... so, so sorry..."
The group stayed like that for a few moments, Naofumi bowing his head in shame and the three genin trying to make heads or tails of what just happened. Naofumi's eyes still spilt tears and his shoulders shook with pure despair... the lives of his teammates still as fresh in his mind as when he found their corpses.
Or the incident that took place directly after.
But a warm embrace brought him back to reality. His eyes went wide, and he looked up to see Raphtalia holding him in a tight hug, her shoulders shaking slightly. "M-Master... please d-don't cry. I-I don't like it w-when p-people I care ab-about cry..." she muttered, with shaky breath and quick gasps.
"Raphtalia... I'm so sorry, to all of you... I... I wasn't ready to see them again..." said Naofumi. "And it isn't a story for now... not for a long, long time. So, let's just get this ore and get out of here." he said, standing up.
"O-Okay..." muttered the three of them, standing up and continuing on their walk to the mining area.
'I can't be thinking about them right now... I need to figure out a way to get back home, and fast.'
———
A piece of metal struck a rock with a loud 'clang', before bouncing off and dropping to the floor.
"Not bad, but we need to really work on your power and a little bit on accuracy." said Naofumi, looking down at Rifana as she stared at the kunai she just threw. "Your technique is spot on, and you really improved a lot since your first throw, but all that accuracy doesn't mean anything if you can't throw it hard enough to do any damage."
"I-I'm sorry master." said Rifana, believing herself to be a failure.
"Hey, none of that." said the shadow clone of Naofumi, rubbing her head and causing her to blush. "You're doing great, a whole lot better than what I was expecting, but we should probably add a few pushups and a lot of practice into your training."
"Yes master." said Rifana, causing Naofumi to sigh at her continuous use of the word 'master', despite how he felt about it.
'Only one other person has called me master, and it certainly wasn't in this context... damn it you foreign, big tit-'
"Um... Master Naofumi?" asked Rifana, causing Naofumi to break out of his thought process with a giant blush on his face, recollecting quite a few nights before he came to this world.
"Y-yes Rifana? What is it?" asked the embarrassed Jonin.
"Why are you blushing?" asked Rifana.
"Um... just some embarrassing things I remembered about home." quickly responded the Jonin. "Anyway, you should probably get back to practice. For now, try to throw it as close to the mark of your last throw as possible, and try to stick it into the rock face."
"Alright master." said Rifana, returning to her throwing, as Naofumi tried to pry the thoughts of a certain foreign kunoichi.
Meanwhile, the actual Naofumi, oblivious to any of those thoughts, was mining with Raphtalia and Keel. They had already collected quite the pile, and were adding to it, Naofumi thinking about all the money he was going to make off of this. 'Weapons for everyone, and I might even be able to buy that Ninjato sword. Oh I'm so excited. Hayate is so gonna have to teach me how to use that thing properly though, but I do have some ideas on the basics.' he thought as he pulled out the sealing scroll he kept for their kunai and shuriken.
Since he was an Uchiha, one of the only remaining two, people were willing to sell him only the highest quality of stuff back in the village, especially storage scrolls. Whilst most ninja only afforded storage scrolls with multiple low level seals, he was able to pay for a storage scroll that could hold stacks of the same thing in one seal that was commissioned by Jiraiya of the Sannin, after he was offered a reasonable price, that was. Naofumi's scroll was by far, one of the best, if not the best storage scroll in the village, and he took it with him everywhere he went.
This came in exceptionally handy nowadays more than ever, since he was able to seal crates of food as well as the ore into one seal. The only downside was that it all came out together, so he did have two other lower level sealing scrolls for his weapons he wanted to call out one at a time, such as other kunai, his 3 fuma shuriken, a large bundle of ninja wire and explosive tags. He also knew that he would have to use those explosive tags about as excessively as his mangenkyou sharingan, since he couldn't recreate any and he only had a limited supply. Well, it had less of a chance of making him go blind, but the point stood.
"Okay, Keel, head off and switch with Rifana." said Naofumi. "Raphtalia will come and get you when your shurikenjutsu training is finished."
"Yes master! I'm on the way!" yelled Keel with a salute before she rushed off in the direction of her childhood friend and the shadow clone of her master. Naofumi sighed at the continued use of the word. He was their sensei, not their master. He was a comrade, a squad leader and a sensei. He was not someone's master.
Well... except 'her'.
He was 'her' master.
Naofumi shook those thoughts back with a blush and continued to mine more ore. He'd have enough to buy a whole house at this rate. Which was good, since due to all the food and accomodations, he was down to his last 2 silver, which would be used to leave the village via toll. But in that storage scroll was at least 3 gold worth of ore.
And by god he was going for 10 by the end of the day.
It was more profitable for him due to several reasons, such as the Lord of the land not being able to charge him tax on the ore, and how the product was so rare at the moment due to the monsters in the mine that the price for them had shot up tremendously. The only problem left was how to sell it, because no one wanted to buy off the shield hero. However, he already had a solution for that, from his friend the blacksmith. He would sell it to the blacksmith at the market rate, and he would charge whatever price he wanted when someone eventually came into the store. It was a win-win situation for the both of them.
Not only that, but Naofumi would eventually be able to buy more slaves for the purpose of letting them live better lives when he eventually figured out how to do that. Another thing to add to the list, growing with a large amount of problems.
1. He had to make contact with the Queen of Melromarc, to sort out the corruption of the church and her king as well as that one woman.
2. He also had to make contact with the other countries leaders, and figure out a way for all the heroes to assist in the waves.
3. He had to find a way back home before he was labeled a rogue ninja.
4. He had to defeat and put an end to the waves of calamity.
5. He had to leave behind as good a life as he could manage for the demi-humans in Melromarc.
It was a very long list of things he needed to do, and by no means were any of them easy. Luckily, the Queen was currently with the other leaders trying to stop war breaking out. So if he could only figure out where she currently was, he could do both one and two in the same instant and hopefully help prevent a war.
War was hell.
He lived through one as a small child, when he was six. He had seen the battlefield and wanted no part in it. That's why he didn't graduate early with the others who wanted to go to war, him and only a few others. He was called a coward.
He was smart.
Of the 30 students of his original class, and the 24 of them who went on to become ninja, only one of them was left.
Him.
He and his team survived the war by taking no part in it, but they would eventually die anyway.
Fat lot of good avoiding a war did them.
He once again shook the thoughts out of his head and continued to mine the ore.
———
Someone screamed.
Raphtalia screamed.
Naofumi turned in the direction of the yell of terror, and was already moving towards it before he realised what he was doing. As he ran in the direction, he felt his clone dispel, giving him the memories of the two headed dog monster that appeared out of nowhere and were after them. The clone told Raphtalia to return to the original before dispelling, but he saw Raphtalia running away before it went up in a poof of smoke.
Naofumi ran into Raphtalia and scooped her up into a hug, before rising back to the others. He caught glimpse at the monster, and decided to slow it down. Taking a page out of Kakashi's book (not the porn he always reads), he formed the hand signs necessary for the jutsu, Tiger → Hare → Boar → Dog.
"Earth Style: Mud Wall!" he yelled at the top of his lungs, before slamming his hands into the ground. The monster roared in anger as a wall made of earth was formed between the two parties. The monster tried to bash his way through, but before he could so much as leave a dent, his prey was long gone, having run back to the rest of their group.
The monster decided to cut them off.
Naofumi arrived at the area they had been mining with a shaky Raphtalia in his arms. They gathered their equipment as quickly as possible and rushed out to the mineshaft.
The monster got there first, blocking off their one exit.
Naofumi grunted, placing Raphtalia into the hands of Rifana and Keel. "You three stay back. I'll take care of this." said Naofumi, looking at the monster. Two heads, dog-like in appearance, tall and obviously deadly. It was level 15, so 14 levels higher than the three behind him.
'IDIOT!' he went off at himself. 'What made you think it was a good idea to come here?! They weren't ready! No, it doesn't matter now. I need to save them. Not to mention, the materials I can get off this thing would be amazing. So I can't use ninjutsu to destroy it or I risk losing the materials. Taijutsu it is then.'
Naofumi steadied himself as he heard the three behind him whimper in fear. "D-d-d-dog m-m-monster... attacked the village... killed everyone..." he heard Raphtalia mutter in absolute terror.
"This is the monster that attacked your village?" asked Naofumi. Rifana and Keel nodded as they continued to stare at the monster. "Then when you see an opening, bombard it with kunai and shuriken."
"I-I can't! I'm scared!" yelled Rifana.
"You can do this! I know you can, and deep down you know you can too!" yelled Naofumi, as the beast charged him, forcing him to switch to the Shinobi Shield and draw a pair of kunai, holding them in a reverse grip as the beast charged. As the left head barged at him, Naofumi used his shield to block it, turning his back to the enemy. The right head then lunged at the exposed human, only for Naofumi to slice at the head with his left hand, kunai still in the reverse grip. The right head dodged the slash, but Naofumi kept going, and when the monster figured out his true target, it was already too late.
Naofumi drove the kunai into the eye of the left head, watching as blood poured out of it and onto the surrounding area as the beast howled in pain. Naofumi was forced to let go of his kunai, so he jumped back and threw his remaining kunai at the beast, but it dodged it with it's wild thrashing. Naofumi drew out of his pouches a trio of shuriken in each hand, and threw them at the beast as well, which had 4 of them successfully hit the target in the side, causing it pain, and it's HP bar was down to a half.
That's when things got hectic.
The beast charged Naofumi again, who in turn drew another pair of kunai and rushed the beast as well. Naofumi used a head going for him as leverage and swung over the beast, landing behind it and driving his kunai into the back ankles of the beast, which screeched in pain once more, before it kicked Naofumi in the chest, and sent him into the hard rock wall of the mine, winded. Naofumi's health had taken no serious damage, but it hurt like hell. The beast began slowly making his way over to the down Naofumi to finish him off.
It was impaled by a bunch of kunai.
Naofumi and the beast turned to see the three young demi-humans throwing their kunai at the beast. "GET AWAY FROM HIM!" yelled Keel, throwing another kunai at the beast's body, stabbing into it and causing it's health bar to go down. The three continued to do so, and the beast targeted them instead of Naofumi.
That was it's biggest, and final mistake.
Naofumi rose up, with a kunai in his hands, and slid under the beast before driving the weapon into the beast's chest, as far as it would go, stabbing into the heart of the beast. Naofumi dropped the beast onto the floor as he looked over to his genin, terrified and in tears. He rushed over and wrapped them all in a warm hug, all silently agreeing to ignore the blood on Naofumi, and now on all of them. Naofumi watched their levels rise by 3 each, where he only had a small fraction of his EXP bar fill up. It didn't matter to him, and he was glad they were alright. The three of them hugged and wailed into Naofumi's shoulders and chest, and he sat there patiently, watching them all cry.
———
Naofumi thanked the Filolials once more before dispelling them discretely behind Erhard's shop. He and his party made their way into the shop and were greeted by the old man warmly.
"You're back. Glad you're okay." he said to the four of them.
"Okay may be overselling it." said Naofumi. "We had a nasty run in with a two headed dog monster in the mine, but we were able to take care of it, and my new shields rock."
"I'm glad to hear it. But how did the mining go?" he asked.
"Well..." said Naofumi in a smug tone, before pulling out his storage scroll and dropping a pile of ore onto the counter. "It's about 8 gold's worth of ore."
"8 GOLD?! THAT'S CRAZY!" said the old man. "I only have 5 on me at the moment though..."
"That's fine. We can trade for something else." said Naofumi, eying some of the merchandise.
"Well kid, what can I get you?"
2 hours later, the group exited the store with 4 and a half gold, 2 gold worth of ore, and new equipment. Naofumi looked the same except his flak jacket, which had been taken in to be modified for his custom armour, and now had a green cloak over his body. He also had the ninjato that Erhard had leant him in his scroll, now in his backpack until the armour was finished.
Raphtalia was now dressed with a bronze chest plate that wouldn't hinder her movements and shoulder guards, a sword strapped around her waist and her ninja tools just at her thigh. She also had some leather shin protectors to keep her legs safe. She decided to keep her original clothes too.
Keel was wearing brand new gauntlets, where her fingers reached over the main piece of metal over the back of her hand and continued up to just under the elbow. She also had boots that were plated with metal in order to give her kicks some extra... kick. Keel was also given a chainmail shirt in order to give her some extra protection over her regular outfit.
Rifana walked out with an outfit that strongly resembled her one from home, but she also had a leather breastplate, as well as leather arm guards and shin guards, with a bow over her back and a quiver of arrows around her waist, and a dagger at her side.
The three of them were ready to head out and leave up.
———
Hey guys, I hope you enjoyed. Be sure to vote and comment on how you feel or want to see happen, maybe some theories that I may or may not confirm/deny. But for now, this is Stirker777, over and out.