Greetings everyone, and welcome to the new version of one of my earlier works. As you may have noticed I have changed the title much like one of my other stories. Once again I say welcome to the first chapter of: The Witch Doctor of Konohagakure.
For the most part things in the beginning are the same, just some polished work and a bit more detail in certain parts. Hope you enjoy and now…ON WITH THE CHAPTER!
Chapter One: Finding an Ancient Treasure
"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"
The shout echoed throughout the chasm and was accompanied a cloud of smoke erupting from under the outstretched hand of the boy who had given it voice. The massive cloud spread to fill the boy's vision, and from within he could see a shadow forming. A startled grunt was heard before four limbs, each as large and thick as the trunk of a tree and covered in a skin seen most commonly on that of amphibian animals, shot out from within the cloud to slam into the spiked walls of the gorge.
The orange-clad blond that had called the creature forth fell onto a cloth covered back and moved to see what it was. When the smoke cleared the monster in all its glory was exposed. The boy found himself sitting on the back of a massive toad with skin colored a rusted red with brighter red stripes. Running vertically down the left side of his face and over the bright yellow eye that sat there, was a deep scar. Clenched between its lips was a kiseru and he wore a blue happy coat. At his waist hung a tanto about fifty times the summoner's height in blade length alone.
For a moment all was still, only the sound of the giant toad's heavy breathing and falling rocks disturbed by its method of halting their downward momentum. "What the hell is this?" a deep rumbling voice blasted from the throat of the summoned beast. "Where am I?"
The boy, known by his village to be the ever-infamous Naruto Uzumaki, was frozen in shock. 'I...it worked,' he thought. 'I actually managed to summon one!'
Naruto was on the verge of dancing for joy, but the toad had other plans. The blonde was forced to grab onto the collar of the toad's blue coat when said amphibian threw back his head to glare at the top of the gorge they were stuck in. "JIRAIYA! WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU? WHAT IS THE MEENING OF SUMMONING ME HERE?"
XXX – With Jiraiya – XXX
"Crap," said pervert whispered, backing up from the edge. The veteran shinobi cautiously stepped back, allowing the foliage to envelope him and disappearing into the forest. "I never thought he'd summon him of all the toads. You really know how to cause trouble don't yah kid?"
XXX – Back at the Main Plot – XXX
When several moments passed and no answer was provided the toad threw his head and shoulders forward, forcing the blonde riding atop that area to be sent rolling violently and coming to a halt just barely on the tip of the beast's nose. Golden, angry eyes focused on the orange-clad genin. "Hey gaki," Naruto jerked to attention for a moment, startled that he was being called out. "Where's Jiraiya? Why has he summoned me?"
"Uh...who's Jiraiya?" This was apparently the wrong thing to say as it served to only agitate the amphibian further.
"Do not play dumb with me gaki! I'm not in a good mood and it's only going to get worse unless you tell me where I kind find that infernal brat that so stupidly refers to himself as the Toad Sage?"
Naruto scratched his head. "Well I don't know his name, but I think you're talking about the Pervy-sage."
The toad's eyes narrowed at the blonde's words. "Oh really? Well I have a few things to discuss with that pervert. He's got a lot of gall to summon me to such a place."
Naruto frowned. "Actually, I'm the one that summoned you," he said, cutting off the giant amphibian before he could go on a rant. The red-skinned beast stared at the orange-clad blond for several moments, then his eyes closed and he began to shake. Thinking something was wrong Naruto was about to speak, only for the toad to burst into roaring laughter.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! G-good one gaki! HAHAHAHA!" he said. "I haven't laughed that hard in years! There's no way a scrawny little runt like you could possibly summon the chief of the toads. Heck someone your size would probably die from chakra exhaustion just trying to summon one of our Toad Warriors."
Naruto scowled and was about to give a rather rude comment on his part, but a little voice in his head interrupted him. 'Say what you're thinking and I'll make your life hell.'
'Kyubi?' the blond asked.
If they were facing each other the boy would have sworn he'd see the fox give him a deadpan expression. 'No it's the other voice in your head, OF COURSE IT'S ME YOU MORON!'
'What do you want?'
'You're not even gonna asked how I pulled this off?' That sounded almost like…a pout?
Still wanting to play it cool Naruto shrugged. 'Nah figured you'd get all high and mighty and brag about it anyway.'
'…...'
'I was right wasn't I?'
'Shut up, and I used the pulse of my chakra to forge a connection between our minds. Now on to more important matters...do not insult this guy. Do you know who you're standing on right now?'
'No.'
'I figured. Listen, that is Gamabunta, chief of the Toad Tribe. He was capable of temporarily immobilizing me during my attack on your village. This is the most powerful of the toads you can summon and it'd be a good idea to be polite...keep in mind we're still hanging in a gorge a few hundred feet in the air with his help.'
'Good point.' Naruto sighed and turned his eyes back to the now identified Gamabunta, who was sending him a heated glare for ignoring him. "Look, I'm a special case. Trust me, I've got the chakra to summon you, my name's Naruto Uzumaki, and it's nice to meet you Toad Boss Gamabunta."
The golden, bar-pupilled eyes of the boss widened slightly. From the expression he'd seen a second ago he was expecting a rant or something…it was actually a nice surprise. "So Jiraiya told you about me," the toad mused, only for Naruto to shake his head.
"No, I heard from a different source," he answered, subconsciously rubbing the area where his seal was. Gamabunta's eyes narrowed at the motion.
"You said your name was Naruto Uzumaki?" When the boy nodded the toad hummed in thought. "Interesting, so I'm guessing that pervert had you sign our contract. Well, just because you summoned me doesn't mean you're clear to call us out whenever you want."
"What do you mean?" Naruto asked, sitting down on the toad's nose.
"I have to test whether or not you're worth our time. If we have a summoner who can't even fend for himself he could get my kin into some serious trouble and could even get them killed. If you don't pass then I'll take your name off the contract and that's the last you'll hear about it."
"What's the test?"
"You have to stay on top of my head until sunset. Now hold on, I'll take us up to the top so we can start."
Naruto nodded and jumped up to hold onto the collar of Gamabunta's jacket. The boss toad grunted as he bunched up the muscles in his powerful legs. It was then that Naruto looked down and something caught his eye. "Hey, boss."
"What is it?"
"There's something down there."
"Where?"
"At the bottom, look down you should be able to see something, it looks like some sort of building."
Listening to his summoner's request the giant amphibian looked down and saw something he could not, for the life of him, understand how it had gotten there. "Why on earth would a brig sloop be here of all places?" he muttered. A cloud of thick, tobacco heavy smoke, slipped out of the side of his mouth as he stared down at the subject of his newborn curiosity. 'This could be interesting,' he thought. "Gaki. Slight change of plans, we'll be postponing our test until later. We should check this out so hold on tight cuz we're going straight for the ground floor."
"What do yo-" Naruto started to ask but ended up screaming when Gamabunta let go of the walls and sent them crashing into the ground. "WHAT THE HELL CHIEF?"
"Calm down, don't get your underwear in a bind," he growled. "It might be interesting to see what's inside that thing. Listen gaki, I'm obviously too big to get in there so you have to hop down. I'll stay here but since it's better to have a bit of backup, so I want you to try to summon another of my kin."
Naruto furrowed his brown and sent a confused glance to the giant amphibian. "I thought you had to test me first."
"Well, you're being requested by the boss of the toads to do a job," Gamabunta replied. "So I guess we can overlook that for now. Still, it's good to see you at least you have some sense of honor for a bargain." The toad chuckled, he was starting to like this blond brat. "Think you got enough chakra left to summon another toad?"
'Kyubi?'
The demon sighed. 'I'll give you a little more,' he grumbled. 'Just be sure to give that stupid sage a kick to the nuts after we're done.'
Naruto just chuckled as he felt the demon's powerful chakra course through him once again. 'I was planning to do that anyway for trip down here.' Turning his attention back to the outside world he nodded. "I think I can pull off another one."
"Good, perform the jutsu, but when you call out its name, also call out the name Gama. He's a little larger than you and should be able to easily maneuver the ship with you."
Naruto nodded and bit his thumb. He waited a moment for the blood to well up on the tip of the appendage before beginning the short chain of handsigns and slamming his palm onto the top of Gamabunta's head. "Kuchiyose no Jutsu: Gama!"
A familiar burst of smoke later and Naruto found himself sitting on top of the very first toad he had ever seen the Pervy-sage summon when he knocked out that closest pervert Kakashi had asked to train him.
"Greetings Naruto-san," the toad said cheerfully once the cloud was gone. "How can I help you?"
"Spare the small talk for later Gama," the chief toad grumbled. "Go with the gaki and keep an eye on him while he's taking a look at this little boat."
Gama nodded and turned to the human that had summoned him. "Naruto-san, climb onto my back. I can jump to the deck of the ship quite easily from here."
Naruto smiled but shook his head. "Sorry Gama, but I'm not an official toad summoner yet. The chief got curious about this before he could test me so we haven't gotten that far. I think before I can ride on top of any toad, I should pass the test first."
The two amphibians were stunned at the blonde's words. To take the difficult route simply over a formality like the test is something they hadn't seen in a long time. 'This kid gets more interesting the longer you're around him,' Gamabunta thought to himself. "Alright gaki, since you're so bent on sticking to the guidelines I'll make you a road to the ship."
The giant toad opened his mouth and out shot a long pink tongue that stretched all the way to from his mouth to the deck of the ship. "Thanks Chief Toad," the blond said, jumping on top of the pink muscle and running down it as fast as he could, Gama right beside him. They reached the deck in seconds and Gamabunta withdrew his tongue.
"You two be careful, I'll wait out here until you come back out. Be quick about it."
The two nodded before walking to the door leading to the lower decks. Naruto placed a hand on Gama's shoulder to stop him. "Wait a sec, for all we know this thing could be booby-trapped."
"You're right Naruto-san," Gama replied, stepping away from the slab of wood. "You may be young but you show considerable wisdom in such situations."
Naruto smiled sheepishly. "Actually, the thing is I've been pranking the people in my village for years so I kind of got paranoid about traps. With everything I pulled back then it's probably expected."
Gama shrugged, experience is one of the best teachers as the saying goes, but he put it out of his mind and turned his thoughts to more relevant matters. "Then how do you propose we go about with our investigation?"
Naruto grinned and made the sign of his personal (and almost his only) technique. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Five poofs of smoke later and there stood six orange-clad blonds in place of the original one. One stepped back and addressed his creations. "Alright guys, you know what to do."
The clones nodded and stepped up to the door while the original and Gama stepped back. One clone grabbed the handle and pulled, only for the entire door to come off its hinges and almost crush it. The other clones acted fast to save it from an early demise, rushing forward to grab a side before it could crush their brother. The thick slab of wood was tossed aside and the clones filed in one at a time, leaving Naruto and Gama at the doorway.
"Naruto-san, might I ask what your plan is?"
"I made the clones with the idea that each one will pick a deck and explore, if there aren't five decks then they'd just help on another one. Then they can come back and tell us what they found."
Both Gama and the chief toad, who had been listening in, couldn't help but notice the wording of his statement. 'Tell us? Does he not know about the advantage of the Kage Bunshin?'
"Well, we better relax while we can," Naruto said, sitting down on the deck of the ship and leaning against the wall. With a satisfied sigh he turned his gaze to upward to stare at the sky, so far above them now. The sun was shining down into the gorge, but they were so far down that all they saw was a dim glow, making it look like early morning.
It was quiet in the gorge, only the sound of Gamabunta's heavy breathing broke the silence that had begun to lull our blond hero into a state of content. Soon his eyes grew w heavy and he begun to slump over...only to snap awake and jump to his feet when an image of a large log slamming into his chest appeared in his mind. Had he been aware at the time he would have heard the loud thud echoing from within the hull at the same time. 'What was that?' he asked, directing the question to his tenant.
'That, my young idiot of a host, was the memories of your bunshin coming back to you after dispelling.'
'Wait what?'
The Kyubi heaved a heavy sigh at his host's stupidity. 'The memories of a Kage Bunshin return to their creator when they dispel. The reason you've failed to notice this little bit of information is because you use them in battle to become a one-man army so you integrate only little pieces of knowledge before they're dispelled and you're constantly having to change your position anyway so it's pointless to use like that.'
'…...Oh.'
'Just shut up, your clone found something and then died because it wasn't paying attention. I know what route it was so get your butt moving and I'll guide you down there ok?'
Naruto just nodded before turning to the toad at his side. "One of my clones found something interesting, I think we should take a look."
"Do you know the way?" Gama asked.
Naruto smirked and poked his temple with his left hand. "Got the route right here."
'No thanks to any effort on your half by the way.'
'Shut up.'
'Make me.'
Naruto just sighed and stepped through the doorway into the hull of the ship. At the bottom of the steps he turned left then down another flight of steps. This happened twice more before the fox told him to take a right and then left again. When he turned the final corner, he found himself staring into a dark room. Cracks in the wall allowed a minimal light to pass through, revealing the outlines of nine tables inside.
Naruto moved to step inside, but stopped when Gama held an arm out in front of him, baring passage through the doorway. "Wait, Naruto-san. It's too dark." The toad turned around and picked up a large piece of wood and a piece of torn fabric, most likely a piece of sail canvas. He wrapped the canvas around one end of the block and stuck it in his mouth. When he drew it back out the canvas was dripping with a black liquid. "By any chance, do you have something to make a fire?" he asked his companion, who simply nodded and pulled out a small sealing scroll, from which he took some flint and steel. "Good, light this please."
In moments, Gama was holding a flaming torch that cast a harsh orange light and illuminated the room. Now able to see clearly, the duo stepped forward. They discovered the nine tables they had seen earlier were set like a clock face around a long, flat-topped chest bound by a heavy iron lock and reinforced with bands of iron wrapped around its wooden sides. Resting atop the lid of this chest was a large tome bound in rich, dark leather and marked with the symbol of a cheerfully grinning skull wearing a straw hat with a pair of bones making an "X" just beneath the chin.
Naruto glanced at his companion and pointed at the book. The amphibian nodded and they both cautiously stepped closer. The blonde's fingertips brushed against the worn leather of the cover, he could practically feel the care of the person who had owned it, even after so long and under a thick coating of dust the boy could tell the binding was in good condition. Well-oiled and flexible.
Finished admiring he opened the book to find a mostly blank page, save for some writing in the very middle.
'Property of Nami, Cat Burglar, and Navigator of the Straw Hat Pirates'
The blonde-haired genin gasped. Pirates, so far inland and he had found a ship that belonged to pirates...how cool was that? He excitedly turned the next page and began to read, aloud of course for the benefit of Gama.
'If you are reading this then it means somebody finally found our last treasure. Well, congrats whoever you are because you now own everything here. There is a document in the book, sign it and everything should legally belong to you, now I already wrote my name on the first page but I'm Nami, the greatest cat burglar in all of the Grand Line and wife to the Pirate King, Straw-hat Luffy.
Inside this room you should find nine tables, eight of these hold the most treasured possessions of our crew, you can use them or give them away, whatever you wish. However, the ninth table holds one of our greatest treasures. Each member of our crew has a story and how we remember our journeys, the books you can find on that table contain those stories for you to read and enjoy.
Finally I need to tell you about the chest sitting here in the middle where you found this book of mine. This chest holds a treasure that can be extremely dangerous or helpful to you. I'm not sure if you've heard of them or not but in our time there existed a fruit known as the Akuma no Mi. These fruits were said to have been blessed or cursed with the power of the sea devil himself and any who ate them were granted incredible powers, but they came at a price.
Over the course of our journey together to achieve our dreams we encountered, battled and even befriended many who had eaten such fruits including Luffy's own brothers who managed to use the same fruit at different times but that's a story Luffy needs to tell so it's in his book if you wanna find out more.
So anyway, over time mortality caught up to us and we wanted to make sure the fruits of people we knew and those of our crew that ate them did not fall into the wrong hands. We took steps to make sure we got the new fruits when the eaters passed on and those fruits are what you will find stored here. Not all of them though…that would have taken a completely new vault, but we still managed to get some good ones. Well they're all yours now so be sure to use them wisely…also if you eat one don't eat another or you'll die in a very painful way.
Well, that's all for this note, the rest of this book is my log of the adventures our crew went on together so be sure to read that, especially if you need a good laugh cuz we went absolutely nuts a few times.
Take care and use our legacy well,
Nami.'
Naruto paused at the sound of sniffling behind him. He turned to find Gama wiping a tear from his eye. "Forgive me Naruto-san," the toad said. "I was just moved by the woman's written words. To hold so much trust in the future to leave such treasures behind, it is truly inspirational."
'Oh Kami give me a break,' Naruto heard the Kyubi say inside his mind. 'This frog is actually crying like he just watched a soap opera!'
'He's a toad you dumb fox…and what the heck is a soap opera?'
'Never mind kit. Trust me, you don't want to know.' The fox let felt an involuntary shiver go down his spine at the memory of how sickeningly emotional those programs could be. It made him want to vomit.
Naruto just assured his companion it was okay to find such words moving and then turned the page to find the will this person Nami had mentioned.
Whosoever finds this...the ship and all our stuff are yours so sign on the line at the bottom and it's done.
A large drop of sweat appeared on the side of the blonde's head at the blunt wording of the letter. "Well, it's something," he stated before pulling out one of the few sealing scrolls he kept on his person. He set the book down and unrolled the scroll until he found the section he was looking for and with a quick burst of chakra he was holding a brush and inkpot. A slight dip in the fresh ink and he was signing his name on the line marked for the benefactor.
"Congratulations on obtaining your new property Naruto-san," Gama said. "Might I suggest your first matter of business be to decide what to do with those fruits the lady mentioned in the note?"
Naruto nodded, handing the book to his amphibious comrade and knelt down to get a look at the lock. 'Hmm…it looks pretty basic,' he mused. 'No rust so it probably won't break that easily but I may not have to do that at all.' Moving once more to the scroll he returned the brush and pot to their rightful place before moving a little further and unsealed his next set of tools. When the brief cloud of smoke dissipated there was a wide strip of leather rolled up and secured with a thing leather string resting in his palm. Setting the parcel on the deck he untied the string and unrolled it to reveal various tools all designed for the art of picking locks.
'Never thought you'd have that kind of hobby,' the Kyubi commented as Naruto chose his picks and set about his chosen task.
'Didn't you watch my childhood at all?'
'I spent most of our time together asleep. What with being ripped in half and all before I was sealed into you. Even I need a little time to recover after that.'
Naruto paused, his brow furrowed at that little tidbit of information. 'Ripped in half?'
'It's not important right now, just focus on picking that lock and finding out what the heck they have stored here. I wanna see these so called Akuma no Mi. Sounds to me like a whole bunch of hype.'
Naruto was about to utter his own reply to his cynical tenant but the soft click of the lock coming undone pulled his attention back to the matter at hand. Seeing the lock hanging freely he carefully returned his tools to their pouch and sealed that away before opening the chest to peer inside.
What he found was the oddest sight he had ever come across. The bottom and inner sides of the chest had been lined with a thick layer of soft crimson velvet. Into this lining someone had carefully sewn cushions to form separate sections within each of which rested the most peculiar fruits both the boy and his toad companion had ever seen.
The first one held the shape of a round ball that was slightly bigger than Naruto's fist. Its dark purple skin was littered with flowing swirls looking similar to multiple interlocking S's and from one end sprouted a green stem that spiraled in a fancy style. Embroidered into the velvet above it were the words: Gomu Gomu no Mi in fancy golden script.
The next fruit was labeled as the Suna Suna no Mi and it bore a similarity to the fruit Naruto recognized as a mango only it was colored a tan brown like the very material it was named after. It too also had a swirling design that Naruto was quick to realize was a trait shared by all the fruits stored in the chest. He could also see that it was resting atop a small spiral notebook, something he checked under the first fruit to find another that was a good deal thicker than the sand one. 'Maybe it tells what each fruit can do?'
Shaking the urge to read one of them off until later, he moved on to the next fruit. This one was…well the only way Naruto could describe the thing was that it was a freaking heart. The same size and color as a normal peach this one was, if the label was anything to go by, the Ope Ope no Mi. Once again he found another notebook not quite as thick as the first one yet thicker than the second.
Curious he was just about to examine the next in line only for a shout that shook the entire ship and he was sure the area outside was suffering the same fate given its volume. "GAKI! What's taking so long?" Naruto jumped at the chief's sudden vocalization of irritation and pulled out two empty sealing scrolls. Without a moment's thought he spawned four clones and gave them said scrolls. As they set about sealing the contents of the room into the scrolls, each table going into a different spot in order to keep it organized, he reclosed the trunk and sealed the entire thing into its own scroll followed quickly by Nami's book and the signed document stating he was now the sole owner of the entire ship and contents therein. Once the room was empty, shinobi and summon returned to the deck to find Gamabunta glaring at them. "It's about time. We've got around three hours until the sun goes down gaki, if you want to do our test today then we best get up to the top."
Naruto nodded and jumped up to the top of the chief's head, Gama waved to the genin, bowed to his chief and returned to the home of the toads. Gamabunta crouched down, preparing to jump up. "So, what'd you find?"
"I'll tell you when we're done."
The toad chuckled. "Well then, we'd best get started!" With a tremendous burst of strength, the chief sent them both hurtling to the top of the gorge, easily clearing the top and crushing quite a few trees in the process of landing. "Remember gaki, you gotta stay on top of my head till the sun goes down or you won't accept you as our summoner or my henchman!"
Naruto laughed as he secured the scrolls carrying his new personal belongings and flexed his hands in preparation for this new endeavor. "I got it, now BRING IT!"
"AS YOU WISH!"
XXXXXXXXXX
Some hours later, Jiraiya sat perched atop a cliff sipping from a saucer of sake as he watched the last few rays of the sun setting the sky ablaze. He glanced to his side to see Naruto sleeping peacefully next to him, the Toad Summoning Contract under his head like a makeshift pillow. "So what do you think chief?" he asked, turning to face Gamabunta. "Does he pass?"
The chief of the toad clan sipped from his own saucer which happened to be about the size and depth of a small pond, grinning as he stared at the unconscious blonde. "He is a worthy summoner, just like his father was. Now what about what Gama said about that ship?"
Jiraiya had summoned Gama only a few minutes before to hear about what had happened inside the ship at the bottom of the gorge. It was safe to say that the man was intrigued.
"Well, I'll have to take a look at this stuff, I'll take care of that when the kid wakes up. We'll talk about that fruit he found too. The first month is almost over so the boy has thirty days left before the exams."
The boss toad hummed in thought as he poured a refill into his saucer from a massive bottle. "A sixty day period? That's odd."
"Yeah, apparently the fighters are from all over so it's taking a little longer than usual for the guests of honor to arrive. A notice was sent out about a week ago saying the waiting time had been doubled."
"Just means you got more time to get some training done," Gamabunta said, taking another sip from his cup. "Well, I had best return, have the boy summon my two sons sometime. They could do well with a little time in the human world."
"I will, see you soon old friend."
"Be well Jiraiya, and drop by the mountain some time. Ma and Pa would love to have you over for dinner again."
The chief toad disappeared in an explosion of smoke, leaving only his footprints and the destroyed landscape as the only evidence he was ever there. Jiraiya finished his saucer of sake and picked up his new apprentice. "I guess I better set up a tent," he mumbled. "Sleep well Naruto, because as soon as you're awake tomorrow we start the serious training."
And Cut!
Alright, so I hope you all enjoyed it and look forward to Chapter 2 coming soon to an electronic device hopefully near you.
Special thanks to Kamen Rider Arashi for his help, truly I would be even worse at this than I am already if not for him helping me demolish the confines of writer's block.
Also, a special shout out to fellow writer MistaSilentKiller. He provided the idea for the mystery fruit which I am keeping in reserve until later when it can play a more significant role. When it does show up, I bet nobody will bet what it is exactly and will be hit right out of left field just like I was.
There is more than one fruit left in that chest by the way…bet ya nobody's gonna guess what it is though! If you do I might tell you but then again maybe not. After all, where would the fun be if I didn't keep a few things in the dark?
That's all I got boys and girls, ladies and gents, until next time: Yurei King signing out!