The condensed version is that Naruto learns a few Slayers verse spells and now everyone thinks he's a genius hiding as an idiot. Of course, you can imagine Sasuke's response to that. If you read S'tarkon's Legacy of the Resengan then this is just the opposite. Legacy had everyone thinking Naruto is an idiot while he's an genius. This has everything thinking he's a genius while he's actually an idiot.Unlike “Legacy”, there will actually be changes because of Naruto's action. You'll see deviation from canon early on, minor at first but they'll build up to a climax much differently than canon Naruto. (Legacy had major changes early on that resulted in minor deviations later in the story)Also, you wouldn't need to know anything about Slayers to enjoy this story. All the relevant background information will be revealed through dialogue. Standard disclaimer: I don’t own Naruto or Slayers. All characters are the property of the original author. All use of said character and similar situation falls under the fan fiction category and is unintended for profit.I’m looking for a beta for this story so if you’re interested, please drop me a line at [EMAIL PROTECTED] You can also make corrections to rougher versions which I will post at the Rokudaime forums http://z7.invisionfree.com/Rokudaime/ All chapters can be found at http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3746339/1/Hurricane_MagicEnjoy and please reviewNaruto Uzumaki saw the only man that noticed him bleed from an injury meant for someone else. ‘Why, Iruka-sensei, why did you save me?’ The hyperactive dropout saw the life wane from Iruka. The man gave Naruto a weak smile, with great effort he pushed himself to stand using the tree he leaned on as support.“Close your eyes, Naruto.” Iruka told him gently, a smile on Chunin’s face marred by pain.A moment later Iruka told Naruto he cold open his eyes. “Congratulation, Naruto. You passed…’- - - - - - - - - - -Hurricane MagicBy OberonPrologue- - - - - - - - - - -Naruto put another X on his busty bikini-clad centerfold calendar. Just two more weeks until October 15, just two more weeks until he official graduate into life as a ninja. The hyperactive blond couldn’t wait. Naruto instinctively reached for the Leaf headband on the dresser but stopped himself.“I’ll wait until it’s officially,” the hand that hovered over the Leaf headband traveled to the familiar set of green goggles.Naruto’s face turned into a foxy grin. Today he would pull one last prank, his greatest, one they would surely record into Leaf Village history. Technically, he wasn’t a ninja yet, so pranks were still ok, Naruto rationalized. “Bwuahahahaha, they’ll remember this one for sure.”First off, he’ll need to collect firewood from the forest. Why? It would be a distraction for the foxhunters when he set fires around village. That’ll keep his pursuers so distracted they wouldn’t know to look before Naruto had his face on the Hokage monument.Naruto locked his apartment behind him, just as a precaution. He didn’t own anything of value but it got bothersome to find the few he did own trashed and his apartment turned upside down. He caught the adults with dirty look in their eyes when they thought Naruto wasn’t looking. Sometimes they would even do it when Naruto looked right at them. He didn’t blame them; instead he tried to ignore the looks as best he could. It wasn’t fair and the thought of their hatred of him only stroked his desire to become Hokage.Naruto walked passed an old woman that reacted to him immediately. She acted like a nice old lady at first but her expression turned to hatred and her hands shivered, clasping the broom she held tightly before she raised it over her head. Naruto made a run outside the reach of her broom just in time to avoid the swipe and gave the hag his widest grin.The blond thought he got away but then came a splash to his face from a mother of two living in the house next to the old lady. He was drenched and the lady next door had shut the window and spared Naruto a glimpse before the blinds drew together from the inside.“Hey, watch it!” Naruto yelled to the lady just as a metal pot used his head for a landing site. “What the…” Naruto looked up just when a red-hot kettle came down from the second story window. Thankfully, Naruto got out of the way and only heard the kettle bounce off the curb. The explosion of boiling hot water missed him completely.Just when it looked safe for Naruto, a trap net sprang from nowhere and pinned the blond to the concrete. Several Leaf Village Chunins jumped Naruto from their hiding place.“Wha… what do you bastards want?” Naruto yelled at the Chunins, loudly and with a feral growl. He knew these bastards well. They spend a lot of quality time together every time Naruto pulls one of his masterpieces of art.The lead Chunin smirked as he stood over Naruto. “Well, you see brat, after hearing that you failed the exam yesterday we figured you’ll try to pull one of your pranks again. So instead of spending the whole day chasing you around the Leaf Village, we decided to strike first.” The Chunin only got happier when Naruto futilely wrestled with the net.Naruto can still use his arms. He hasn’t lost yet, not by a long shot. “Oh yeah!” The blond pre-Genin challenged the Chunins with a sudden flurry of motion and maneuvered his arms into position. “Kage Bushin no Jutsu!”“What the…” The lead Chunin reflexively stepped back when Naruto exploded in ninja smoke.All Naruto needed was that ninja’s moment of hesitation. When the smoke cleared, three identical copies of Naruto held up the real hyperactive blond ninja over their cloned heads. Naruto’s captors looked around, confused by the multiple Narutos who had the real one, still warped in the net, hoisted over their heads and halfway down the street.“Get him!” The lead Chunin commanded.“Bwuahahahaahha!” The real Naruto laughed maniacally then formed the seal to summon more clones. Eight more clones of Naruto appeared in another puff of ninja smoke – two pairs of three, each trio holding a fourth trapped clone over their heads. The three groups of Naruto split up in different directions. One group went down an alleyway. The second group barreling down the main street while the real Naruto’s group cross the road almost trampling a pair of civilians in the middle.Wordlessly, the four Chunins that attacked Naruto split into three groups with one pair of Chunins after the clones down Main Street. The lead Chunin somehow trailed the real Naruto into the side roads.“I’m going to get you, BRAT!” The angry Chunin jumped with the force of Chakra enhanced strength pumped through his legs. The Chunin flipped in midair and landed on the rooftop in front of Naruto. He breathed heavily while his efforts barely winded Naruto in the chase. ‘Damn, the brat has stamina’ he muttered under his breath. ‘And he used a Jonin level jutsu so many times without tiring.’Naruto kept running only once again summoned his clones. “Kage Bushin no Jutsu!” The smoke cleared and now four more clones ran along the original.“Ah, man, not again.” The Chunin sighed when the two groups of Naruto once again took off in different directions. “That’s it, I give up.” The lead Chunin sighed once more, this time in defeat. “YOU BETTER NOT LET ME CATCH YOU PULLING ANOTHER PRANK!”His only reply was the maniac laughter of the 9tail-brat from several blocks away.- - - - - - - - - - -Slowly, the buildings thinned out as Naruto left civilization behind him. The forest tree provided a few patches of shades, protection from the morning sun.One arm perpendicular to the other, Naruto’s fingers formed a cross, the hand seal required for this jutsu. “Kage Bushin no Jutsu!”In a puff of white smoke, five exact replicas of Naruto appeared beside the real hyperactive trickster. Mere shadows of the original, created by Chakra but nonetheless able to interact physically with the environment. They disappear with the slightest trauma, only one hit, but they’re perfectly fine for what Naruto had in mind.“Alright, team Naruto! You know what you got to do. Commence operation: Ultimate Prank!”“Yeah!” All the clones shouted in unison. All the clones eagerly rushed into the forest with high spirits.Naruto could barely contain himself. The best part, he’ll do it right under the foxhunters’ noise. Consumed by the thrill of anticipation, the real Naruto failed to notice a pair of legs sticking out from the bushes.“Almost got enough,” the blond wiped the sweat from just below his goggles, smirking and imagining the look on all the villager’s faces as twigs and broken branches piling up in his arms. Then suddenly, in a most comedian manner, Naruto tripped on someone’s legs. The firewood he collected flew from his grasp and Naruto found himself spawned indignantly on the ground with his nose pressed into the dirt. “EEEKK…”The hyperactive blond shot up like a rocket, his blue eyes searched the forest for the offending object that tripped him. When the Naruto finally saw the person mostly hidden in the bushes, he automatically jumped to a conclusion.Overtime, Naruto had seen many drunks passed out in the middle of the street. They were a common sight in the part of town where he lived. Every so often, the blond couldn’t resist the opportunity to prank them, they were fair game after all and most of them deserved it. His victims had given Naruto the evil eye and when Naruto found them drunk, the unlucky victim usually woke up the next morning with their faces painted like a kabuki.“Well… maybe just one more…” Naruto couldn’t help himself. He thought the man was just another drunk that wandered into the forest before he fell over. Earlier, Naruto had promised himself this big prank was the last but just one more wouldn’t hurt.The blond in orange hastily parted the bushes and hoped it was Ichiro. That guy overcharged him for deodorant every time. Naruto’s hands suddenly froze; the man in the bushes was not Ichiro.“Hey, mister, are you ok?” The boy nudged the man gently only to find his own hands covered in blood. Naruto backed away, stumbled and fell on his ass. He trembled; the man had invoked the same feeling in the blond as last night when he thought Mizuki had killed Iruka-sensei. Shaking, the boy nearly turned around and ran in panic.“No, wait…” a weak voice stopped Naruto before he could run.“You’re-you’re not dead…”“Water… I need water…” weakly, the man sat up revealing a bloody gash across his chest. Blood had soaked through most of his tunic and the cloak on his back while a hood hid his eyes and a high collar hid the bottom half of his face.Naruto shot up like a rocket. “You can count on me!” He proclaimed loudly then took off to the nearest stream. He turned around moments later. “Believe it!” He ran off, never realized the man groaned when he shouted his trademark catchphrase. Naruto also didn’t hear the man muttered something about “rather die if he spouted the hammer of justice.”Naruto returned with a canteen and found the man had dragged himself next to a tree, which kept himself upright. Naruto handed the stranger his canteen who gulped it down hurriedly only to choke and cough up most of the first sip. After several smaller sips, the man finally relaxed and breathed normally.“Thanks, kid.” The man’s voice was neutral as if he masked his emotions. He gave Naruto back his canteen then placed one hand over the wound on his chest.Naruto’s eyes bulged at the sight of the man’s hands. They were like rocks. To be more precise, the skin had rocks grew into patches but did not cover the dark blue surface of the skin completely.The stranger ignored Naruto and focused his attention on the wound. “Healing power, following white…” A globe of light formed in the stranger’s hand over the wound, mending and repairing the damage underneath.To Naruto’s astonishment, the man’s weird skin closed around the gapping chest wound in just a few seconds. “Wow, that’s so cool.” The blond exclaimed. Curious, he tried to poke the skin where the wound used to be but had his hand slapped away.“Do you mind?”“Hey, hey, how did you do that?” Naruto crouched and pointed to the man’s exposed stone skin under the rip in the tunic. “That’s one cool jutsu.”“Yeah, I suppose you can call it that.” He said casually while he still used the tree for support. He reached into his pocket and tossed several coins to Naruto. “If it’s too much trouble, please use this money to get me some food from town.”Naruto caught the coins in his hands clumsily. “Wow,” the coins were larger and heavier than the Yin, which minted its coins from copper or nickel. These were gold.“Is there a problem?” The man asked Naruto with a controlled expression after he saw that Naruto’s amazement.Naruto nodded vigorously. “It’s just that I don’t know anyone that would take these.”“What about your parents?”Naruto looked away. The boy’s eyes radiated shame or perhaps just loneness. “I don’t have any,” he finally said with a solemn face. Briefly, his mind wondered back to the many times the adults had ignored him and the envy he felt for the children at their side.Perhaps the man felt his loneness or saw it in Naruto’s eyes. “Stop that,” the man shouted harshly, almost angry with the boy. “Nothing is ever going to change if you just wallow in self-pity.”At the man’s harsh words, Naruto suddenly brightened into a wide smile. “One day… one day I’ll make them recognize me, for sure!”The stranger couldn’t help but let Naruto’s enthusiasm infect him. Beneath that mask of coolness and cloth, he cracked a smile, just a little one. “Listen, do you know any place in town that sells jewelry?”Naruto scratched his head. “Well, there is that place all the girls go and spend hours looking through the store window like they’re seeing Sasuke-bastard or something… but the owners don’t like me very much.”“Forget it…,” the man mumbled. “…Look, can you just get me some food?”“Well, if it’s just food you want, why didn’t you just say so? I’ll bring you so ramen.”“Ramen?”Naruto beamed and got all excited. “Yup, ramen, the best food in the world.”The stranger groaned. “Just don’t let Lina hear you say that.” He muttered under his mask.“Wha-what did you say?”“Nothing,” said quickly so Naruto missed the part where he insulted his favorite food. “Ramen is fine, please just hurry.”The blond suddenly shot up as if on crack. “By the way my name is Uzumaki Naruto, future Hokage of the Leaf Village!” His depression all but disappeared as he declared himself. “Believe it!”“My name is Zelgadis Greywords, pleased to meet you Naruto.”A bright smile found its way to Naruto’s face as he ran back into town.- - - - - - - - - - -The next day, Naruto returned to the spot in the forest where he first found the injured stranger. Zelgadis had liked the instant ramen Naruto brought him yesterday. The man gulped it down almost as fast Naruto on his most famished days. This morning, Naruto brought him more ramen, this time from Ichiroku’s with a coupon. The blond just hoped Zelgadis liked fried eggs. Of course, the soon-to-be ninja would gladly eat a second breakfast if Zelgadis didn’t want it.“Hey, Mr. Zelgadis,” the boy shouted so loudly the birds flew off from their perches. “What are you doing up there?” He found the man with the strange skin not far where they first met, sitting on a tree branch staring up at the sky with his face in deep contemplation. “I brought you ramen. Get it while it’s hot.”Zelgadis slapped his head as he suddenly felt a headache creep up on him.Naruto held up the wooden takeout box with Ichiroku’s mark. “I hope you like fried eggs.”For a while, Naruto watched silently as the man ate the ramen.“You know Naruto. You don’t have to keep bringing me ramen anymore. I’m strong enough to find my own food now.” Zelgadis sipped the last drops of soup from the large bow then placed it back into the takeout box. Instantly, he regretted his words as he felt the waves of depression radiate from the boy a few feet away.Naruto played with his fingers awkwardly, jabbing two index fingers together in nervous tension. “I like hanging around with you… you listen to me. No one else sees me for me.”“Don’t you have any friends Naruto?”Naruto looked off into the distance. “For the longest time I wondered why everyone hated me. Why they looked at me with such cold eyes. I was always alone. All those people, happy people with their mothers… fathers… friends…all around me, yet I was alone in a crowd.” Naruto couldn’t help it, tears rolled down his eyes as he talked. “Then, two days ago. I learned the truth.”Naruto wiped the snot from his noise and continued. “Thirteen years ago, our village was attack by a nine-tailed demon fox. Many shinobi died; mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, friends… in the end, the Fourth Hokage, the person I worshipped as a hero, defeated the demon fox. All my life we were told the Fourth killed the demon but my hero only managed to seal it… into me. When the villagers look at me, they don’t see Naruto Uzumaki, they see the monster that took away their precious person. Yet, it was my destiny to bear the burden of protecting them.” Naruto shivered as he talked, his arms wrapped around his shoulders. “I didn’t want this! I didn’t ask for this responsibility!”For a long moment, the two sat in silence then finally Zelgadis pulled his hood down, revealing his face at last. His face was just like other part of his body, a monstrosity of stone and sandpaper except for a pair of deeply thoughtful eyes.“This is the reason I couldn’t go into the village for help. When people see me, all they see is a monster. You see, the two of us are not that different.”“How-how, do you live with it? How can you stand being alone all the time?”Zelgadis remembered his precious friends and let their laughter prevail over the dark mood. “I was alone at first. Then I met my friends and suddenly the loneness just disappeared. Since then, we traveled the world together, fighting side by side.” ‘Lina, Gourry, and Amelia…’ Zelgadis regarded the young shinobi with one of his rare smiles. “You’ll find like-minded people too, someday. You don’t need the whole world to accept you, as long as there’s one person out there that understands you then you aren’t alone.”“Just one person…” Naruto repeated Zelgadis’ words. ‘Did Iruka count?’ He thought silently. Indeed, he never felt the sting of loneness when he talked to Iruka. ‘Is that enough? What about my dream?’Naruto grinned and gave Zelgadis the thumbs up. “I have Iruka-sensei and now I have you, Mr. Zelgadis. But I wouldn’t give up my dream. I will become Hokage someday and make everyone understand me. Believe it!”Zelgadis only shock his head in amazement. Naruto completely missed the point. The stone-skinned man felt another headache on its way.“Look Naruto, what do you have to do to become this Hokage of yours?” This Hokage business sounds like a job for suckers. If he can’t talk Naruto out of it, the least he can do is help the boy realize his dream.“The Hokage is the strongest man in the village and he protects everyone there,” Naruto stopped and looked confused. “Well, I don’t know how you become Hokage exactly… but I bet it involves me kicking Sasuke-bastard’s ass at some point.”‘I was right. This job really is for the birds.’ Zelgadis didn’t let Naruto know what he thought of his dream. “Well, Naruto, I don’t know if there is anything I can do for you but if you want to get stronger. That is something I can help you with.”The blond ninja beamed and grinned from ear to ear. “Really?” He asked excitedly unable to keep still and jumped straight from a crutch position.“You see that pile of twigs over there?” Zelgadis pointed to the pile Naruto had gathered yesterday but forgot about after the two met.“Yeah, yeah?” Naruto replied anxiously.“Source of all power, light which burns beyond crimson,” as Zelgadis began the chant, wisps of fire appeared and streaked toward the palm of the man’s hand. “Let thy power gather in my hand.” The wisps of ember formed into a ball no bigger than a chicken egg just above the surface of the palm.“Fireball" Zelgadis threw the ball at the twigs and watched it explode on impact. The wood caught on fire immediately but the initial force scattered some. They burned with brilliant amber, raining down during the afternoon sun.Naruto said nothing for a second. “Well, it’s neat and all… but it’s kinda lame don’t you think?”Zelgadis glared at the blond. “Well excuse me for not wanting to blow up a section of the forest and calling attention from everyone in the village.”“Oh you mean you can make it stronger?”“Idiot…” the stone man muttered. “You can take out an entire city block with that spell.”“Alright!” Naruto jumped again, higher than before. Clearly, he missed the part about this being a spell. “I’ll kick Sasuke’s ass for sure!”“Well, I suppose we should start with some theories first.”- - - - - - - - - - -Later“…There are three parts to every spell. The Chaos words, the incantation and the name of the spell. You don’t need all three once you have mastered a particular spell but it will always be more powerful if you used all three.” Zelgadis lectured on while Naruto nodded after every sentence. “You understand, Naruto?”“Eh…” Naruto’s expression turned from understanding to clueless, like a flip of a switch. “No. Not really.”Zelgadis racked his brain for any other way to explain this. He clearly remembered how easily it he learned it the first time so many years ago. Maybe his explanation was bad. “Ok, I’ll explain it this way. Every word that you know has a meaning behind it. The incantations are no different. To cast a spell, you need to know the meaning behind the words. We call that meaning, Chaos words. The last step is to call out the name of the spell. Do you get it now?”“Nope, can’t say that I do.” Naruto still looked confused, enlisting another groan from Zelgadis.“What did I get myself into…”- - - - - - - - - - -Much later, like 3 days laterNaruto focused all his attention on the words and the meaning behind them. He scowled as beads of sweat rolled down his bangs. The words finally came to him, not clear, muddled but he knew them. Something was different this time. The blond knew this was it.“Light of life, brighter than flame, Let thy power gather in my hand.” This was going to work.“Lighting!”A pale blue light appeared in his hand, a perfect globe that mirrored the color of the sky. In the morning October sun though, the sphere barely caught Zelgadis’ eye.“Look, Zelgadis-sensei, I did it!” The globe flickered, gone in an instant as Naruto’s excitement accidentally stopped the flow of magic. “Well, I had it.”Zelgadis, who kept an eye on his progress from his place high on the treetop, only muttered one word. “Finally”“Alright Naruto, now that you can do the Lighting spell, we can start working on the real thing.” Clearly, Zelgadis didn’t look forward to this part.But Naruto was all excitement. The blond held up his fist to the sky. “Bring it! I learned Lighting in three days. I’ll get this next part down in no time.”The stone man bopped the blond on his blond head with a solid fist. “You idiot!” He shouted over the blond’s head. “Most beginning sorcerers can do that spell by the end of their first day.”- - - - - - - - - - -Another three days laterBit more than a week until Naruto official became a Genin and the Leaf Village was in the most peaceful state it had been for the last four years. Everyday, the blond hyperactive ninja headed into the forest early in the morning and reappear late at night. The morning of October11th was no different."Source of all power, light which burns beyond crimson, let thy power gather in my hand. FIREBALL!" Nothing, but Naruto at least remembered all the words this time.“Try again,” Zelgadis slashed his sword across the sky. A second later, the single log he tossed up came down as four separate pieces of lumber cut along the length of the log. The stone man sheathed his sword before he lost to temptation. It would be so easy to ram his sword into the blond’s stomach. Now he knew how Lina must have felt around Gourry.Naruto started the chant at Zelgadis’ request. “Source of all power, light which burns beyond crimson,” This time a thin trail of ember sparks spiraled into existence. “…Let thy power gather in my hand.” The embers coalesced into a ball and Naruto soured with excitement. ‘Yes! I’m doing it!’“FIREBALL!” The spell whiffed and burnout just as Naruto pulled back his arm to throw the ball.Naruto tore at his blond spikes in frustration. “ARRG, I’m never going to get this.” He jumped up and down, stomped his feet and got ready for another try even though ferocious anger clouded his mind. “How about some tips, Zelgadis-sensei?”“You already know everything you need to cast this spell but here’s a tip. USE YOUR HEAD, MORON.”- - - - - - - - - - -Yet two more days gone by“FIREBALL!” Finally, Naruto’s efforts paid off as a speck of ember burned across the path from Naruto’s outstretched hand only to whiff out before contact with the target: a sun-baked rock in the middle of the forest.Behind the blond, Zelgadis clapped his hand. “Well, that was lame.” The same words Naruto used to describe the first time Zelgadis showed this spell.It took Naruto a second to register what he had done. “Hey, I did it. I did it!” He shouted the second time rather loudly.Already the end of their ninth day together and the night grew dark and cold while the animals went out to roam.“Good job, Naruto. I think that’s enough for today.”The blond gave his sensei the thumbs up and a wide smile. “I’m not tired. I can still practice a little longer.”“Good for you but you’re scaring away my dinner.”Naruto sniffed around and indeed the forest creatures were nowhere near. “Hey, Zelgadis-sensei, why don’t you come into town with me? You can buy me ramen.” He grinned at the man with the hope of a free meal.Zelgadis went to check on one of the traps he set nearby not knowing Naruto had already sniffed the area around them and found nothing. “I’m sorry Naruto. Have you forgotten what I look like? I can’t go into the village with my face. They’ll chase me out with pitchforks.” That wasn’t an exaggeration, it had actually happened to Zelgadis in the past.“Zelgadis-sensei, you never told me how you got to look like that.” Naruto sat down next to the man, the roaring fire of their campsite reflected off his hair combined with his whisker marks, the effects made him truly appeared as a demon fox.Zelgadis glared at the boy but his eyes softened.“When I was younger, a boy about your age, even then we were very much alike. Like you, I wanted to get stronger to prove myself.” Zelgadis still remember the boy in the woods, swinging his sword. “Power, that was all I wanted and one day the greatest sage of our time walked into my life. He was Rezzo, the Red Priest, my grandfather and a man known for performing great miracles of healing. I asked him to give me power, to make me strong…”“And, and?” Naruto asked anxiously.“Oh, he gave me power alright. And this accursed form; part human, part golem and part demon,” with one rap of Rezzo’s staff, Zelgadis’ life changed forever. “…A chimera… but that was not all. He made me serve him and his reckless plan which almost destroyed the world.”“Destroy the world?” The thought scared the teen even though he couldn’t wrap his mind around the concept of ‘the world’. To Naruto, the Leaf Village was everything. There were other lands and other counties but they always seemed so far away.“Don’t worry about it. Rezzo’s dead now.”It took Naruto a moment to digest what Zelgadis had said. “So, you have a demon in you too. Just like me.” Silently, his hands went to his belly where the seal of the Fourth jailed the 9tailed demon fox.“You see, Naruto. No matter how dumb you think you are, you can never be as stupid as I was back then. I asked for this and regretted it ever since.”- - - - - - - - - - -The next morning, Naruto arrived at Zelgadis’ camp as usual.“Zel-” the blond called his sensei but suddenly a shadow from the bushes placed a hand on his mouth and pulled him in. Naruto panicked and bit down on the hand that grabbed him only to regret it instantly. It was like biting on rocks. ‘Rocks? Zelgadis-sensei?’“Quiet, Naruto.” Zelgadis’ familiar voice whispered into Naruto’s ear. “Someone is out there.”Naruto also opened his mouth to tell the chimera it was the villagers when several Ninjas appeared from the shadows.“Sir, we couldn’t find him,” said one of the ninja.“He must be nearby,” the head ninja pointed to their campsite. “The tinder is still warm.”“What do we do once we find him?” A third ninja, a kunoichi with dark hair matted down and her bangs trapped by her headband, asked the second ninja. “The guy took down three of our best squads in a matter of minutes plus he has our forbidden technique.”The first ninja just smirked. “Now, now, there’s no need to keep up that charade since we’re so far from the Hidden Cloud Village. We know our village has no such forbidden technique as the one he used.”The lead ninja glared at the speaker. “Quiet, Pensuke. If the Raikage decided that jutsu belongs to us then it is not our place to question his judgment.”Naruto couldn’t keep quiet anymore and popped out from behind their hiding place. “You guys are just a bunch of thieves!” He shouted at the top of his lungs while his finger pointed at them accusingly.Meanwhile, Zelgadis rolled his eyes.The lead kumonin found a goggle on Naruto’s head instead of a headband. “It’s just a brat. Get rid of him. We can’t let the Leaf know we’re so deep in their territory.”The kunoichi just placed a hand on their leader’s shoulder. “Roketto, I’ll handle this.” She gave Naruto a smile, a seductive smile with all her charm as a trained kunoichi. “Hey kid, we’re not going to hurt you. We just want to know if you have seen any strange person nearby.”“Even if I know something, I’m not going to tell you.” Naruto bravely declared. His emotions boiling over the surface as he remembered the many times the villagers accused him of thievery. No way would he let Zelgadis-sensei’s name dirtied by these guys.“Take him,” Roketto commanded. “He knows something.”Naruto growled at them defiantly. “Take this! Kage Bushin no Jutsu!” The blond created an army of clones around them, on the ground and on the trees. He surrounded the kumonin with an army of orange clad hyperactive ninja.“Defensive positions,” the lead kumonin ordered just as the Naruto army came at them. The three kumonins stood back to back, their faces toward the incoming orange storm.The clones on the ground went for a straight charge at the enemy shinobi just as the ones of treetops dove headfirst with their fists raised. Their collective battle cry rang loud enough the villagers in the Leaf Village heard them. The group from above reached their targets first while the group on the ground still had 4-7 seconds to get within melee range.The kumonin responded as one, their blocks and counterattacks decimated the first wave of aerial attackers in less than 4 seconds. One of the last clones in the air caught the kunoichi off balance but she twisted around for an overextended kick to the clone’s midsection. However, Naruto unbalanced her and blinded her with the puff of smoke so close to her face. The last clone flew through the smoke his fist just inches from a massive hit to the Kunochi when, out of nowhere, Pensuke grabbed the clone’s hand just before the hit connected.Pensuke redirected the clone’s flight path with a grunt and tossed the clone to the nearest ground target. Both clones fell back and disappeared in a ninja smoke. By this time, the kunoichi had recovered just as several clones tried to pile dive Pensuke’s back after he threw the last clone. The kunoichi chopped the neck of a clone as it went by then quickly redirected her next blow to the head of the next clone headed straight at her.Meanwhile, Roketto had several clones gang up on him at once. The first clone went for a straight jump kick to his head but the leader blocked with a forearm only to move quickly and avoid the next clone that attacked his midsection with a shoulder tackle. “You’re dead brat!” He yelled just as he dispatched the entire group that had attacked him from various direction with a whirlwind of slashes and hacks.All the clones had their asses kicked in less than thirty seconds while the real Naruto took a solid hit to the jaw. The punch had enough force to send the blond to the other side of the area.The kunoichi took a step toward Naruto with her kunai raised but the leaders stopped her. “No, he’s mine” he told her.Zelgadis saw everything but he couldn’t interfere until now. Naruto got in the way.“You’ll have to deal with me now,” the chimera said softly as he unsheathed his sword. Before the kumonins could turn around and face him, Zelgadis called out his first spell.“Bogardic Elm!” With that, the ground beneath the kumonins softened into a semi-liquid that sunk the three ninjas into the ground-turned-swamp.The three reacted quickly and jumped away before the ground swallowed them. But Zelgadis had anticipated their action and leaped at the kunoichi just as her feet left the ground. The chimera brought his sword for a slash that left the kunoichi with just enough time to pull a kunai from her holster. The kunoichi managed to block Zelgadis’ powerful slash with her kunai but the force of the impact send her tumbling out of control and into the trees. She hit the tree still twisting from the force of the blow. With a loud crack, she came to a sudden stop.“One down,” Zelgadis counted just as the other two ninja finished their hand seals.Pensuke flashed through the hand seals just as Zelgadis landed from his attack on the kunoichi. In his hand was three shuriken charged with lightning chakra. The kumonin threw all three shuriken at once then immediately repositioned himself so he wouldn’t be a target of a counterattack.Calling on the power of wind, Zelgadis used the Wind Brid to scatter the incoming shuriken. The waves of compressed air knocked the three throwing stars from midair into random directions but one got really near its owner.Pensuke evaded his own electric shuriken just as his cell leader jumped their target with the full body shock armor active. This technique could stun anyone that touched the leader’s body.Zelgadis ducked under the first punch from the leader with a narrow margin. Already he had a spell ready to knock the ninja back. The chimera saw the second attack coming from the ninja’s legs, coming in for a sweep or knee to the kidney.“Air Valm!” Zelgadis released his spell in time with the leader’s move. The sudden wall of high-pressurized air that appeared between them had enough force to knock Roketto back just as his electrified knee came within inches of connecting.Pensuke attacked again, this time from Zelgadis’ right. The ninja charged up two hands full of Shuriken. “Got you,” before Pensuke could throw them, Zelgadis swung his sword at him even though there were several feet of distance between them.As he swung his sword, the chimera knew he had to disrupt the ninja’s aim. He was too close and Zelgadis knew he couldn’t avoid the shuriken and dodge the other ninja’s physical attacks.“Blade Haut!” Zelgadis swing so fast the ground literally shock beneath his blade as it came down. The sudden earthquake messed up Pensuke’s aim just as the shurikens left his hand. They missed Zelgadis but one found the path to the ninja leader who took a step back to avoid the throwing star.Zelgadis took the opportunity and leaped back, putting some distance between him and the leader.Before he got his feet on the ground, the leader had a kunai out in mid-flight toward Zelgadis’ position. This was just a normal kunai, used as a tactic that would have forced the chimera into a defensive stance rather actually hurt him. The chimera smirk and let the kunai hit him square on the chest. The throwing weapon bounced off his skin with a clank, doing no damage to the part golem chimera with skin as hard as diamond.The leader had already charged Zelgadis with a chakra-enhanced sprint before he even saw the kunai hit, he had expected Zelgadis to block it but then his momentum made sudden stops impossible. He saw Zelgadis swung his sword across the ground, confused because he knew Zelgadis wouldn’t dare hit his electric armor body. The sword dug a deep trench, kicking dirt and gravel into the leader’s eyes. Blinding him for the second, it took Zelgadis that long to ready another spell but the leader had instinctively dove aside to avoid what he thought was a point-blank attack.The kumonin leader had accidentally jumped toward Pensuke. Zelgadis grinned wickedly when he saw the mistake. He had enough of this and now they clustered themselves, he’ll finish both off with one spell. The chimera’s eyes locked on the patch of forest soil beneath the two kumonins.“This is it! Mega Brand!” The earth beneath the ninja exploded upwards. The power of earth suddenly turned against the two ninja, sending them into the sky with a torrent of jagged piercing rocks and crushing stones.“Team Roketto blasting off again…” their screams disappeared into the distance.- - - - - - - - - - - -The first thing Naruto heard when he woke up with the maniac laughter of the Kunochi that smacked him around. His jaw still hurt for god’s sake. Naruto thought that girl must be as strong as Sakura when she thought the blond acted out.“Fu Fu Fu Fu, I have you trapped in my electric spider web jutsu, Mr. Rockman.” Indeed, the kunoichi surrounded the chimera in an intricate web of chakra strings anchored to the forest floor by a number of kunai while she held the other end. She chuckled and let her long legs dangled from the tree branch that she sat on comfortably while the boys got their asses kicked.“We’ll see about that,” Zelgadis tried to cut the strings with his sword but immediately a jolt of electricity shocked his system. He almost dropped his sword from the pain.“Don’t move a muscle, else I’ll electrocute you before you can blink.” The kunoichi was deadly serious and just to prove it she gave Zelgadis a mild shock from one of the wires.Zelgadis glared at the kunoichi venomously but all the while, his calm mind worked over how to escape the trap. Zelgadis knew he couldn’t aim any spells properly trapped like this. ‘I’ll just have to use a spell big enough to get her from here.’Naruto stood up while he let loose a deep animalistic growl. “Get away from him.”The kunoichi’s attention turned to Naruto. “Oh, it’s the munchkin again. Go away. This is between us grown-ups.”‘That’s it, while she’s distracted.’ Zelgadis prepared the spell just as Naruto charged the kunoichi. “No, don’t get in the way!”Naruto ran straight for the tree the kunoichi sat on. “Get away from him. NOW!” He yelled as he jumped to meet the kunoichi on the branch. The blond raised his fist, pulled back and put everything he had into one swing aimed for the kunoichi’s face.While the kumokunoichi held the chakra strings on one hand, her other hand was free to smack Naruto across the jaw. She smiled with satisfaction as the blond once again skit across the ground.The pre-Genin pulled himself up with all his willpower. He bled from one corner of his mouth, covered in dirt and many cuts on his face while blood mingled with gravel. ‘I can’t get to her and I’m out of Chakra. That just leaves that one other jutsu to try.’ The boy closed his eyes, cleared his thoughts and allowed the anger to leave him. “Source of all power,” the chant began slowly at first, quietly mumbled by the blond. “…Light which burns beyond crimson,” Naruto’s eyes snapped open, locking unblinkingly with the kunoichi’s eyes. ‘Focus, Naruto. Focus. You can do this.’ He told himself all the while envisioning the chaos words, which actually came to him clearly for once. The air around his hand burst into streaks of amber flame. “...Let thy power gather in my hand.” During the incantation, Naruto’s voice grew louder and stronger to reflect his confidence. The fire spiraled into his palm, forming a ball of maelstrom. The boy reeled back the hand with the fireball as sweat rolled off him from the intense heat and his own effort took a toll on him.“FIREBALL!"The kumokunoichi watched helpless as what seemed like a powerful fire-jutsu. She was powerless to stop the jutsu for she had used all her throwing weapons to pin Zelgadis. The speed of the jutsu was incredible. "So fast..."When the smoke cleared, only rubble remained around the site of the explosion. Naruto stood alone, his head held high in triumph. Only to have his high spirit crushed a moment later when Zelgadis bopped him on the head with a vicious punch.“Idiot, what part of ‘Don’t get in the way’ did you not understand?” The chimera glared at the boy. He had holes on his cloak thanks to that.The blond only grinned like a fool. “Look, Zelgadis-sensei, I did it.”To be continued...Please remember to review.
_________________________________________________________________ Messenger Café — open for fun 24/7. Hot games, cool activities served daily. Visit now. http://cafemessenger.com?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_AugWLtagline -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.chez-vrolet.net/pipermail/ffml/attachments/20070826/4b378d30/attachment.htm --- .-------Anime/Manga Fanfiction Mailing List--------. | Administrators - [EMAIL PROTECTED] | | Unsubscribing - [EMAIL PROTECTED] | | Put 'unsubscribe' in the subject | `------------ FAQ URL coming soon.... -------------'
