…Black Lightning? No, his logo’s too generic. Shazam? Nope, his is way more generic… Jin thinks as he looks through his sketchbook, searching for a good insignia. …What about Electro? Nah… while his logo is unique, I’m pretty sure most people wouldn’t recognize it…
While the team makes the arduous journey towards the Land of Ogres, the Onikage thinks of a good logo to use as the crest for the Hidden Storm Village, and that he might find inspiration from one of his drawings; he wants the insignia to represent storms, but he also wants it to have a secondary meaning.
…I want to use Superman’s S, but people would ask too many questions, and Cole MacGrath’s logo has nothing to do with storms… Jin racks his brain for an idea. “Rito? How iconic would you say the Flash’s logo is?”
The young genius strokes his chin. “Hmmm… I’m not sure… he had his own show and was a major character in Injustice and the Justice League show and movie. Why?”
“The fact that you, me, Ayanami, and Kazuya are here means that there must be other reincarnations out there. Using familiar words and symbols would be like a beacon or neon sign, saying they’re not alone, and that they can find us ‘here’.”
“That’s a good idea! What about…? Hey, wait…” Now puzzled; Rito trails off and thinks for a moment. “I’m not even sure if Storm, the X-Man, even has her own logo.”
“Yo! If you're planning on using logos, I recommend Static Shock.” An unfamiliar voice shouts.
Alerted, the group looks up to find what appears to be a mysterious youth standing on a tree branch above them; he looks down on them with a welcoming smile. The youth wears the Hidden Cloud's standard white, one-strap-over-one-shoulder flak jacket, and a blue long sleeve shirt underneath with dark baggy blue pants.
What the…? Who is this guy? Jin thinks to himself; his head tilts to one side and raises a brow.
The Cloud Ninja jumps off the branch, performing several flips on his way down; he gracefully lands before the confused group, still smiling.
“Name’s Buryu, Buryu Lee--no relation. It’s nice to meet you, fine folks!” The Cloud Shinobi jovially greets them; he dusts himself off before holding out his hand.
The Onikage cautiously reaches out and shakes his hand. “Hello, Buryu. Of what do we owe the pleasure of this… encounter?”
“You don’t have to talk like an anime character with me, man. I know you’re reincarnations like me.”
“Wait--you bloody know? You’re one too?!” Rito exclaims, entering the conversation.
“Yeah, for YEARS I thought I was alone,” The Cloud Ninja explains himself. “I wasn’t sure at first when I heard about what you did at the 5 Kage Summit, but seeing you in action during the Ten-Tails fight… That’s when I knew there were others out there.”
Uh, um… Wow, I did NOT think I’d be having this conversation again so soon… Jin thinks as he awkwardly asks, “Uh, Buryu… I-I… I don’t know how to naturally segway into this so I’m just gonna ask: h-how far were you into Naruto and Boruto? When I died, the latest chapter had Kawaki leaving the village to confront Code.”
“Bruh… that was literally YEARS ago. I was like 11 chapters into the time skip.” Buryu looks at them with an appalled expression.
“I’m sorry, did you say, ‘time skip’?” A perplexed Rito inquires.
The Cloud Ninja reaffirms, “Yeah, Boruto’s in his Shippuden phase… Boruto: Two Blue Vortex.”
“Interesting…” The Onikage begins stroking his chin; his curiosity has been piqued. “Tell me more…”
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“…and Kurama just revived inside of Himawari. Any questions?”
Sasuke’s in a tree and Naruto’s tapped in a timeless dimension… That’s even worse than their nerfs! Eyes bulging, Jin’s jaw drops.
“So, Himawari’s the Nine-Tails’ jinchuriki now?” Rito asks, raising his hand.
“Kinda,” The Cloud Ninja verifies, making a so-so gesture. “The fox said he’s never manifested in someone before. They’ve entered uncharted waters. It’s fire!”
For a little over three hours, the group silently and intently listened to Buryu while he gives them a lecture on Boruto, catching them up from the Code confrontation to chapter 11 of TBV; Mileena and Mecha-Naruto both have a calm, dispassionate air to them, but the same cannot be said for Jin and Rito; the young genius is gob smacked by the influx of new information while the Onikage is execrated by it.
“If you don’t mind, I have a few questions of my own.” The inquisitive Buryu asks, wanting to change the subject.
Shrugging, Jin replies, “Shoot.”
“Okay so this Hiruko-guy appeared in the sky, saying he was gonna start the 4th Great Ninja War, later during the War proper, there were these moving statues, mud-puppets, dragons, and shinobi from villages that I didn’t even know existed… I didn’t watch much of the filler, were those guys from some filler arc I missed?”
“Not quite,” The Onikage shakes his head, explaining the situation. “Those characters were all from either the movies, filler, or games with original stories. This is a timeline where pretty much everything is canon; think Xenoverse or Dragon Ball Heroes.”
“Really?” The Cloud Ninja’s head tilts to one side.
“Yeah, really.”
“Hey, Jin and I plan on building our own ninja village.” Rito speaks up. “Why don’t you join us, we plan on finding and recruiting other reincarnations too.”
Head tilting from side to side; Buryu takes a moment and ponders over the question before answering. “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t tempted… BUUUUUUT, I’ll have to decline because I plan on becoming the Raikage someday. However, IF I come across any other reincarnations, I wouldn’t mind directing them to your village.”
“I’d love to chat longer, but we have to go. It was nice meeting you, Buryu.”
“Ditto and Jin…” The Cloud Ninja’s demeanor changes, becoming more serious. “Just a heads up; a number of shinobi from just about every village have either gone rogue or went into early retirement. And some of those ninjas have joined this new organization called the ‘Ryūha Armed Alliance’.”
The ‘Ryūha Armed Alliance…’ That group’s from the Kakashi Hiden: Lightning in the Icy Sky light novel; they’re a bunch of radicalized Madara sympathizers… Jin thinks to himself as he shakes the ninja’s hand once more. “I see… Thanks for the warning.”
“No problem. Anyway, be seein’ ya. Peace.” Buryu smirks.
After waving goodbye, the group watches as the Cloud Ninja eagerly weaves the Mirrored Ram hand sign; in a puff of smoke he vanishes, disappearing without a trace.
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
Huh, the last time I felt that kind of disadvantage was back when I met Ayanami… The Onikage stares into the distance, reminiscing. “So… how’s that car coming along?”
“Hm? Oh. The Ute itself is done,” Rito answers with a moderately proud tone. “But since we don’t have any petrol, I had to make a steam motor, a wobbler engine.”
“A steam engine? How about an upgrade?” The Onikage suggests as he reaches into his cloak, pulling out a gelel stone.
Surprised, the young genius raises a brow. “Isn’t that your last stone? But you said you were saving that for something.”
A nonchalant Jin shrugs, “Eh… I can always mine more later.”
(Author’s Note: Jin’s referring to the Mines of Gelel from chapters 7 & 8)
“If you’re sure…?” The genius shrugs.
Not needing any more convincing, Rito bites his thumb, drawing blood before swiftly weaving the Boar, Dog, Bird, Monkey, Ram hand signs. In a puff of smoke, the vehicle is unveiled, and Jin is unimpressed by its design; it looks just like one in Rito’s memories of Dr. Stone; a large, wooden tub with wheels made from woven bamboo, and the engine sits in the center of the tub while the steering wheel and gear shifts are in the center front.
Charging up chakra, the Onikage deadpans, “God, that’s ugly.”
“It’s a prototype; the aesthetics are irrelevant. It’ll look cool WHEN I make the real one.” Offended, Rito defends his work.
Using the Naraka Path, Jin summons the King of Hell; the wrathful deity grabs hold of the vehicle and pulls it into his mouth after the Onikage tosses his final gelel stone into his gaping maw. The king chews and chews for a good six minutes, what it spits out is no longer a tub with wheels, but a military jeep often seen in movies and games; it still has its off-road wheels.
“Woof… I-It’s been a while… since I last drove. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous.”
Before the anxious Jin can even take a step, Rito boldly steps in front of him, cutting him off.
“Oh, no, you don’t! I’M driving, I built it!” The genius adamantly argues.
Crossing his arms, Jin raises a brow. “How’re you gonna reach the pedals?”
A smug Rito gestures, “Mileena, if you could be so kind…?”
Suddenly, the symbiote excitedly leaps toward the boy, her inky biomass coating itself onto his entire body. For a moment he looked like a Kid-Venom, and then he started to grow in height and build; he was now slightly taller than Jin with a bulkier physique.
“Wow… Well, no wonder you and ‘Nami like bonding with Mileena,” Rito says, admiring how his body changed. “This feels GREAT!”
“Tell me about it.” The Onikage says while entering the vehicle’s passenger side.
Mecha-Naruto gets into the back just as Rito gets behind the wheel and activates the jeep; the gentle roar of the engine blankets the surrounding area, deafening the sound of the rustling leaves as well as the cool, Autumn breeze. All three put on their seatbelts, and the boy-genius shifts the gear into drive. The jeep proceeds to thunder down the road, leaving thin drifts of moving smoke behind; its off-road tires traverse the rocky terrain with no issue.
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“Mommy, Daddy… Help me…!” A little girl says, cowering against a tree; she trembles before her assailants.
She is frozen solid with immense dread; her breathing is heavy and rapid with sweat running down her face. The girl’s muscles have tensed up to the point where cannot respond to her thoughts; she wants to flee, but she can’t.
A man towers above her menacingly, brandishing a kunai. “Heh heh… I don’t think Mommy and Daddy are getting up any time soon.”
Several meters away, the girl can see her parents lying motionless on the ground; blood trickles from their wounds into a scarlet puddle beneath them; she sees her father’s glazed over eyes staring right back at her.
Just minutes prior she and her family were surrounded by a roving band of rogue ninja; they flipped their family wagon onto its side and cut down her mother. The girl's father tried to buy her as much time to escape as he possibly could but was slaughtered in quick succession; she ended up tripping on a boulder and crashed into the tree.
With tears rolling down the girl’s face, she pleads, “Please… no…!”
“No witnesses,” The leader commands. “We don’t want any anbu on our trail.”
As the shinobi stands over her, prepared to run her through with his weapon, everyone hears something.
*Brrrrum* *Brrrrrrrum*
The girl as well as the rogue ninjas turn to see what appears to be a metal wagon coming down the dirt road, leaving a veil of dust and smoke in its wake; it comes to a halt before the group, emitting an idle roar. Nothing to see, but four beams stabbing the far shoulder, piercing through the dust cloud. The air was full of the smell of burned rubber, hot brakes, and a foul order no one could describe.
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“Well, what do we have here?” Jin says as he stands up, sticking his head out from behind the windshield. “Bandits attacking innocent passersby? How cliché.”
From their vantage point, the Onikage and his group can see two bodies bleeding out on the ground, and a girl that appears to be eight years old with blood trickling from her forehead; she cowers as one of the rogue shinobi holds a kunai to her throat.
“You have two options: I end your puny, little lives here and now… OR you get on your hands and knees and beg… And I MIGHT let you keep your legs.” Jin growls, feeling his blood boil.
Their leader clenches his fists and snarls, “You little punk…! Just who are YOU to–!”
The rogue ninjas’ leader is cut off as his head suddenly explodes with his body falling to the ground; an ominous black orb hovers where his head used to be before returning to the Onikage.
“AIIIEEEEE!!” One of the ninjas, a kunoichi, screams. “I know this man! This is Jin Uzumaki of the Rinnegan, he was a key player in the war!”
Huh, my reputation has started preceding me and I got a new title… NICE! Jin thinks as he maintains a poker face; he is proud of himself.
Now trembling, one of the shinobi drops to his knees and grovels. “Ji--LORD Jin, please have mercy! I-I’ll… I’ll do ANYTHING! I’ll serve you loyally! I BEG YOU PLEASE–!!!”
“I think you’re confused,” Mileena speaks up, baring her fangs; her mouth salivates. “Father has no need for sniveling lower life forms. Worms like you should bow their heads and give thanks to him for ending their miserable lives.”
The remaining bandits all tremble in pure terror as crystals form in the air surrounding them; one tries to run but is quickly imploded by a crystalline stalagmite which erupts from the ground; his blood runs down the crystal and into the soil.
Jin gives a menacing grin. “There’s no point in begging since I’m just gonna kill you anyway. YOU GUYS were going to murder a little girl in cold blood, why shouldn’t we do the same to you?”
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“…50… 60… 70… 80… 80,000 Ryō.” Jin sifts through the bills, counting the money. That equates to… JP¥800,000 or about $5K…
In the aftermath of the massacre, Jin and Mecha-Naruto sort out the rogue ninjas’ belongings; the Onikage is not delighted by their spoils of war, finding it lacking. The enemy bodies have lined up with Mileena devouring their heads; she happily licks her face clean of the blood.
“Okay, so pulled together, these idiots had enough to buy a used car… Mecha, did they have anything worth selling?” Jin asks as he pockets the money.
“ALL THEIR WEAPONS ARE STANDARD ISSUE. NOTHING REALLY STANDS OUT.” The robot replies, scanning their weapons and equipment.
Rito grabs everyone’s attention by saying, “If you’re done money-grubbing, we have more important matters to deal with.”
The young genius gestures to the dejected, little girl who stares at parents’ bodies with empty eyes; she is on her knees with tears streaming down her face; the longer Jin looks at her, the more his heart sinks.
“We can’t just leave her here.” Rito says in a concerned manner.
“Ooh, can we keep her! PLEASE!” Mileena pleads with eyes wide and sparkling; the symbiote is on her knees, begging. “You plan on making your own ninja village anyway. You NEED at least one disciple to start the process.”
Jin takes a deep breath and walks over to the silent and teary-eyed girl; he sits down right beside her.
“Uh… H-Hi, my name’s Jin Uzumaki. What’s yours?”
“Itsu.” The girl responds quietly, still looking at her parents’ bodies.
“Do you have any other family my friends and I can take you to?” Jin asks.
“No,” Itsu says meekly. “Mommy and Daddy were all I had…”
“Would you like to come with us?” The Onikage queries, holding out his hand.
The girl turns and looks up at him and asks, “If I do, can I be strong like you?”
Jin is taken aback when he makes eye contact with Itsu; he can see the pain and anger, but strangely also hate and patience, patience that a child couldn’t possibly have; her unnerving stare could make even the bravest of honey badgers die of fright.