A Senju Tale: Change of Fate - 35 A Cute New Friend

(Again, sorry for the delay. Having some chronic health issues, depression exists, and also just went through a breakup so life is not fun. Gonna try to get back to rapid firing these fuckers. Enjoy!)

It had been a few hours since Nawaki had disappeared. There was a large search party sweeping through the forest trying to find him. Despite their efforts, all of the trackers were losing his trail at the location where he disappeared. The only thing that they know is that there was another scent at the scene.

A Hyuga was monitoring the area with his byakugan and suddenly there was a cloud of smoke. Out of the smoke, a young man was revealed. He turned to Koryu and said, “Taichou, I can see him. He is right where he disappeared!”

Koryu didn’t hesitate and took off towards the location. As he arrived, he noticed that Minato and his son Fugaku were already there since Minato had sensed Nawaki’s reappearance. He sighed as he saw that Nawaki was unharmed but then raised his brow as what he was holding.

He then asked, “Nawaki, where the hell did you go? We had half the camp looking for you!” Nawaki laughed and scratched the back of his head as he said, “I was more or less kidnapped by tigers.”

The three of them looked at him and said in that signature anime style, “NANI?!?!?!?!?” Koryu then said, “Explain… Now.”

Nawaki sighed and said, “So, back at the ambush, this tiger named Zora was apparently watching me fight. I sensed him and confronted him but he just disappeared. This time he showed up and used some kind of space time jutsu to bring me to this place called Mount Yudaina. It is the home of the Tiger Sage clan who are descendants of the two tails. I met this weird tiger geezer that talked very oddly and they gave me this summoning contract that has only ever been signed by the Sage of Six Paths and now me. That about sums it up!”

All three of them were speechless. They were so confused but amazed at the same time. As they were doing this, Nawaki pulled a length of rope from his inventory. He ran it through loops in his flak jacket to create a holster for the summoning scroll. He then secured the scroll in the holster.

Koryu then said, “Wow. I honestly don’t know what to do here. We were all panicking that something had happened to you and I was just fearing your mother’s and sister’s wrath. They can be very scary women. On the other hand, you kinda didn’t have any control over what happened so it’d be wrong to punish you in any way. I guess all we can do is go back to camp.”

Nawaki nodded and said, “Yes please, Koryu san. I’m quite hungry!” The four of them laughed and headed back to camp. Koryu called off the search party as Nawaki had been located.

As the three teammates walked through the camp, Minato turned to Nawaki and said, “Soooo, you gonna show us your new summons?” Nawaki grinned. He hadn’t even gotten to try it yet so he was excited.

Nawaki then said, “Hell yeah I’ll show you my new summons. If I’m not mistaken, the amount of chakra I channel into the jutsu will determine which one I summon right?” Minato nodded and said, “Yup. That is how it works essentially.”

Nawaki then weaved some hand signs, bit his thumb, smeared blood across his palm, and slammed it into the ground saying, “Kuchiyose no Jutsu” (Summoning). A large cloud of smoke appeared from the ground.

As the smoke cleared, a huge tiger was revealed. It was Zora. He blinked for a moment trying to figure out where he was and then said, “Ahhh. Nawaki dono. What can I do for you my friend?”

Nawaki laughed and said, “No no. Sorry for bothering you Zora. You see, I’ve never used the summoning jutsu before so I wanted to see how it works. You can go now if you’d like.”

Zora nodded and disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Then, an idea popped into Nawaki’s head. He completed the jutsu again but only put a small amount of chakra into it. A small cloud of smoke came out of the ground.

As the smoke cleared, the most adorable little tiger cub was revealed. It was asleep. As it appeared, it yawned and stretched while opening its eyes. The cub was red with white stripes. It had an adorable face and was the size of a house cat.

It scrunched its face as it looked around. Then it asked, “Where am I?” Upon hearing its adorable voice, the three of them melted. It was just so cute. Nawaki then knelt down and said, “Hey there little fellow. I summoned you. My name is Nawaki. What is your name?”

The cub sat down and said, “Ah hiya. My name is Zuko. What can I do for you Nawaki?” Nawaki smiled and said, “Nothing in particular. Wanna just hang around?”

Zuko tilted his head to the side in curiosity. He then said, “Sounds like fun. You got anything to eat?” The three teammates laughed and Nawaki said, “Yeah buddy. I was about to cook some dinner. Come join us.” He reached out and picked up Zuko and had him hang out on top of his head. It was down right adorable.

Kensho appeared and looked irritated. Nawaki smirked and thought, ‘Hey buddy. Are you jealous that you’ve got some competition?’ Kensho scoffed and said, “Oh shut up. I’m an angel. I would never stoop so low as to be jealous.” Nawaki laughed inwardly at Kensho’s antics.

Nawaki, Minato, and Fugaku cooked up a feast. Several other ninja joined them for a night of eating and drinking. Of course, Zuko ate too and he got plenty of attention from the Konoha ninjas. He was just so adorable. Zuko was just happy with all of the back scratches he was getting.

The next day would mark the start of preparations for the first real battle of this front. Aside from the ambush and some small skirmishes, not much has happened. Now that A and B were joining the Kumo forces, the fighting was really about to get started.

That morning, the camp was very busy. Everyone was put to work. Some people were training, some were sorting through supplies, everyone had a role to play. Nawaki was going over some tactics with the field medics. They would be very important in the lengthy battle that was to come.

According to the intelligence briefing, the Kumo reinforcements would arrive in another 2 days and they would make their move soon after that. The Konoha ninjas needed to be ready by then.

Two days creeped by very slowly. No one was looking forward to the battles. What’s even worse was that it had rained heavily the entirety of the two days.

From the intelligence, the Kumo troops would be setting up their defensive line in front of Kawagoe. That is the Land of Lightning’s closest city to the border. Thus, Koryu decided that they would draw in the Kumo forces and set the battlefield near the border of the Land of Bears and the Land of Lightning.

It was time to head out. Nawaki packed all of his things into his inventory and only kept what he needed on his person. Him and Minato would scout ahead of the group and Nawaki would use his wood release to create a stronghold near the border.

As the attack force prepared to head out, Minato and Nawaki set off to the border. The two remained silent for most of the trip. They were nervous in anticipation of this battle.

They traveled at a fast pace so they made it to the border in a few hours. Once the two arrived, they began scouting out the area.

Before proceeding, Minato took cover and Nawaki fell into a meditative state. They both stretched out their senses to scan their surroundings. As they expected, there were some Kumo scouts there as well. It seems that both sides made a similar decision on where to have the battle.

Nawaki and Minato found a small clearing in the forest. It was about the size of half an American football field. In the clearing, Nawaki used his wood release to construct some buildings.

Within a few hours, the remainder of the Konoha force arrived at the base. Nawaki and Minato reported to Koryu and filled him in on their findings. Based on their findings, the battle would start sometime in the next two days. Kumo’s forces were setting up their defensive line just a few miles away from the border. It appeared that the majority of their numbers had arrived.

Following the briefing, Nawaki decided that he would find a spot to meditate. He wanted to clear his head in preparation for the battle. He made his way through the base. As he was approaching the edge of the camp, he heard a crash followed by a familiar voice.

The voice yelled, “THROUGH THE POWER OF YOUTH, I WILL CORRECT THIS MISTAKE! AS MY SELF RULE, I WILL RUN 500 LAPS AROUND THE VILLAGE WHEN I RETURN! SUMIMASEN! (sorry/excuse me)”

Nawaki widened his eyes and Kensho let a burst of laughter escape from his mouth. Nawaki turned and before his eyes was something he did not expect to see. Before him was a burly man. He had thick black hair that parted in the middle. On his face, he had extremely bushy brows, a thick moustache and a goatee. He wore a green jumpsuit and a yellow scarf. On his lower legs, he wore orange leg warmers.

He was none other than… Might Duy. Nawaki thought to himself, ‘Holy fuck that is Guy’s dad. The unknown legend that will take out 4 of the 7 ninja swordsmen of the mist in a 1 on 7 battle. I HAVE to meet this guy.’

Nawaki walked over to the mess that Duy made. He was carrying a large stack of boxes and dropped them all after tripping over a rock. The scene was quite comical and was quite typical of Duy.

Nawaki knelt down and helped Duy clean up the mess. Duy noticed this and said, “AHHHH, YOUR YOUTH IS MAGNIFICENT. What is your name, boy?” Nawaki smiled and said, “I am Nawaki. If I am not mistaken, you are Might Duy, yeah?”

Duy was surprised. He didn’t think that anyone would actually know who he is. Much less this young kid. Duy then said, “How old are you my friend? And why is someone as young as yourself on the battlefield?”

Nawaki smirked and said, “I’m 13 and am here because of my rank of jonin.” Duy’s eyes opened wide as he heard this. He was a fully grown adult and even had a son. Despite this, he is still a genin while this kid is a jonin. Duy figured that he must be special.

Duy shook himself out of his daze and said, “Your youth is quite impressive. I hope my son will grow up to be as strong as you.” Nawaki chuckled and said, “I have a feeling that he will be quite the spectacular shinobi some day.”

Nawaki felt good about this interaction. As far as he knows, he just met the only ninja in existence that can open all 8 inner gates. If anything goes wrong, he feels that Duy would be one of the most reliable people in the attack force.

That night was very quiet. The rain had stopped and the sky cleared up nicely. Darkness hung over the forest as countless stars sparkled in the sky. The night passed very slowly. Nawaki remained awake that night and just meditated on top of the command center.

After what felt like an eternity, the sun began to rise. As the sky lit up, a team of scouts came running back into the camp. Shortly thereafter, all of the jonin were summoned to the command center.

Koryu stood before his men and said, “We have just received word that Kumo’s forces are advancing. We will depart in 30 minutes. Once we get there, we will deploy based on their strength. You are dismissed.”