ch.2

"[Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!]" Naruto shouted, summoning eight clones beside him simultaneously.

""Ora!! You're all dead meat now!!"" They all said voice coalescing with each other.

"Is that the technique you've been itching to show off lately? What a lame jutsu; it just made you more annoying." Sasuke remarked, mockingly.

"Shut up, I'll show you what I can do!" Naruto yelled visibly vexed by Sasuke's insult.

And so, like an idiot he was, he charged straight into the group of enemies with his clones. And honestly, he was quite strong for being able to handle those experienced kidnappers in a fight, but when those guys who could use chakra appeared, he easily got overwhelmed.

"Get out if you don't want to die!" Sasuke shouted as he jumped midair and performed multiple handsigns. He inhaled a large amount of air and placed his fingers near his mouth.

[Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu](Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu)

"Ah, shit!"

As Sasuke felt the accumulated chakra in his chest building up, he blew a stream of fire, which then erupted into a large sphere of flames that enveloped the group of enemies that Naruto had been fighting.

Naruto on the other hand just barely managed to avoid getting caught in the flames as he jumped out of the way at the moment the fire hit the enemy.

"Oi! Are you going to kill me!?"

Landing beside him, Sasuke just coldly replied.

"If you didn't move out of the way, yeah I will."

"What! You're going to kill me!? You do now that I'm the son of the Hokage. You know what will happen if you killed me?"

"Yes, and I don't care. If you died earlier because of that weak technique I cast, then you deserved it because you were weak. Remember this, Naruto, even if you're the son of the Lord of Fire in the world of ninjas, it doesn't matter. The strong live and the weak die; it's kill or be killed." Said Sasuke seriously, obviously already ticked off by Naruto's boasting about his father's pedigree.

This silence, Naruto didn't notice it himself, but every time he felt inferior, he couldn't help but boast about his father's status to at least raise his confidence, and keep his head straight without being bothered by the feelings of inferiority.

It was okay at first when they were still in the academy because he didn't feel that much inferior compared to his peers in his class. But ever since they graduated and he got assigned to team up with Sasuke, he noticed how mediocre he was compared to Sasuke.

Their skills are as far apart as heaven and earth; that's how talented Sasuke is in Naruto's eyes.

"Who is that guy?" Sasuke muttered, gaining the attention of Naruto.

Naruto raised his head and looked at Sasuke. He saw him looking somewhere with squinted eyebrows, which got him curious. He looked in the direction Sasuke was looking, and saw a guy, possibly around their age, fighting the samurais who had noticed them earlier.

The man in question has pale blue eyes, long black hair, and deep wrinkles around his eyes that gave him a perpetually exhausted appearance. He wore a skin-tight black turtleneck, a dark green camouflage jacket, and tactical pants with numerous pockets.

He holds a ninja sword in his right hand and fights the Samurai in a sword fight equally. His movements are like a wind; he always evades the slashes the Samurai throws at him, like a falling leaf, while still managing to throw slashes at the Samurai that the Samurai finds difficult to block or evade.

"Who the hell is this guy?" Naruto unconsciously blurted out. He couldn't help but be amazed by the sword techniques of the mysterious guy who was around their age yet fighting a man who seemed much more experienced than them.

Looking at Sasuke, he can't help but compare him to the unknown man, as they are both skilled far beyond what is considered normal.

On the other hand, Sasuke was also feeling the same, he couldn't help but compare himself to the mysterious guy.

'But he is only skilled in Kenjutsu; I bet it's different in Ninjutsu.' He thought, admitting the fact that in a straight up sword fight he will surely lose to the man.

But the next scene immediately answered his question, and it proved him wrong.

With his open left hand, the man performed multiple hand signs using only one hand. This shocked both Naruto and Sasuke, who were unfamiliar with such a technique, and immediately, Sasuke activated his Sharingan to learn it.

[Fūton: Daitoppa]

The man blew a strong gust of wind, sending the Samurai a few meters away from his original position. As if that wasn't enough, the mysterious man charged a significant amount of chakra into his sword and sliced it towards the Samurai's direction, releasing a quarter moon-like blue-light-green energy towards the enemy.

[Hiten fūjin ryū: Hi Fūken]

"What in the world is that!?" exclaimed Naruto, unfamiliar with Kenjutsu techniques that ninjas rarely use.

Feeling the need to feed this idiot some information, Sasuke explained. "It's Kenjutsu. Techniques that involve the use of swords. It's sometimes combined with Taijutsu, Ninjutsu, Genjutsu, or just raw chakra control. Maybe you don't know about it because Ninjas rarely master Kenjutsu, but in the Land of Iron, it's the Ninjutsu of the Samurai." Sasuke explained.

The Samurai tried to deflect the slash, and although it seemed like he was having a hard time veering it, he still managed to redirect it.

[Hiten fūjin ryū: Hi Fūken]

The mysterious man tried to shoot the same technique again at the Samurai, but it failed, and the Samurai managed to also deflect it.

"It seems like a weak technique to me," Naruto muttered, but Sasuke ignored his comment.

Seeing that his technique had failed, the man sped towards the Samurai, intent on finishing the fight in a sword battle. But as he drew closer, he formed a handsign.

[Kage Bunshin no Jutsu]

Two clones of himself appeared beside him. Naruto was shocked to see this very familiar jutsu.

"Wait, that's my technique! How can he use it?" He asked in shock. Sasuke on the other hand just snickered.

"That means you're weak compared to him, if he knows one of your strongest techniques and still uses a variety of techniques." Sasuke mocked.

The fight continues as the mysterious man single-handedly beats the Samurai; 3v1, the Samurai cannot hit the man, but the man always hits the Samurai.

From an outsider's perspective, it appears that the mysterious man simply overwhelms the samurai with numbers, which is why is he winning. However, those with Sharingan can see clearly how the mysterious man's muscles relax as soon as the samurai's attack nears, and how his body automatically evades the attack, like a piece of paper floating in the wind.

"What technique was that?" thought Sasuke, now fully curious about the identity of the man.

...

Kaito POV

As I side-kick the Samurai, I know it's already over.

He is exhausted and beaten; it's no joke that he manages to deflect the [Hi Fūken] twice without his sword breaking.

He surely used all of his mental strength to thicken the chakra coating on his sword so that it wouldn't break, since even though it was still imperfect, [Hi Fūken] could be classified as a Rank-B Ninjutsu that couldn't be blocked by swords or any other weapon without proper chakra coating.

This suggests that this man is not just an ordinary Samurai renegade; he is too skilled to be just a normal rōnin turned kidnapper, I'm sure there's something more to this.

"Well, this is a village problem anyway, not mine." I muttered as I looked around for any other enemies. But they've already been beaten by Obito, and Kakashi, and those who were left standing are already being taken care of by my teammates.

Looks like it's already over.

I sheathed my sword and placed it on my back. I walked towards the Samurai who was lying on the ground, bleeding and unconscious, and grabbed his katana and its sheath at his waist. It's mine now; although the sword I have is still good, it doesn't fit into my fighting style, so I'm taking his.

Looking at the katana, I saw how clean it was and how well it had been taken care of; thankfully, it didn't show any signs of damage from my techniques.

I proceeded to sheathe the katana and hang it on my back, next to my other sword.

"Kaito, what're you doing?" A girl with blonde hair tied in a loose ponytail, with some strands sticking out, and wears an swirl-tinted glasses approach me.

It's Shiho one of my team members.

"Just taking hold off his weapons. It's not like he will need it in prison." I answered looking at her.

"By the way, go fetch the victims with Hanabi. I think we'll be leaving any minute now." I said to her, as I patted her shoulder and walked past her before walking towards Obito.

Then, halting near Obito, I reported everything that I thought about these kidnappers; their skill, their cunning in disguising themselves as merchants, and my belief that they're not just some normal kidnappers that we usually fight.

I don't want to be bothered once we get back to the village, so I'm already telling Obito what I know.

"So you think there's something more behind this?" Kakashi asked, butting in, and I nodded at him, agreeing with him.

"You think it's the Land of Iron?" Kakashi whispered to Obito. Obito just stared at Kakashi contemplating what he said to him.

"Let's just ask sensei later," Obito replied to Kakashi after thinking, and then he turned his head towards me.

Thanks for the information. By the way, this is Kakashi." Kakashi waved his hand at me. "He is my friend, and my former teammate under the guidance of the Hokage with Rin." I lightly bowed at Kakashi.

I introduced myself as Sasaki Kaito. Nice to meet you! I greeted him.

"Nice to meet you too!" Kakashi also greeted me back. "Now, let me introduce you to my team." Calling the Team 7, Kakashi introduced the unaltered members of the original team 7 from the Naruto series, which are Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura.

I introduced myself, and at that exact moment, my teammates who had gone to fetch the victims we had rescued earlier came back and also introduced themselves.

Shiho from a civilian family, who I think showed a few times in the series and also once shipped with Shikamaru.

And Hyuga Hanabi, the supposedly younger sister of Hinata in the original series, but somehow, she becomes the firstborn instead of Hinata in this Alternate Reality of Naruto.

"Oi! Kaito!" As we make our way to the carriages to help the victims ride it so they can go back to their homes, Sasuke called me.

We turned our heads at him. He is looking at me with serious eyes.

"Why?" I asked, my eyes narrowing.

"Where did you learn those techniques?"

"What techniques?" Hearing this he snorted and turn his head to his side then looked at me again, but seeing my serious questioning gaze at him his face turned confuse.

"Those sword techniques... and that technique you used to predict the movements of the Samurai; you're not an Uchiha, you don't have sharingan, so how did you manage to do it?"

Oh, I see what you mean.

With everyone's attention on me, I explained to him. "Those sword techniques, no one taught me; I learned them all myself, with no teacher to guide me." Shock was visible on the faces of both Sasuke, and Naruto who were listening beside me.

"And that predicting technique. Well, I'm just using my instincts." And after saying this, even Kakashi is visibly shocked that he turned his head to look at Obito asking if it's true, but the latter just shrugged at him.

"But, that's impossible," Sasuke muttered to himself, wondering if it was really possible.

Seeing that he was no longer going to asks, and that I'm also feeling going home now, I walk to the carriage and help those victims so I can go home early.

Three days of mission without going home, made me feel a bit homesick.