2 Stranger

Butsuma Uchiha casually walked out of the hallways of the [Shinobi Academy]. A lot of students were also either running or walking out of the Academy's Hallways.

It was this time of day that school ended.

A few of the Academy's teachers were waving goodbye to the student, wearing the Konoha flank jackets uniformly.

Butsuma was wearing a black sleeveless hoodie with blue linings, gray shorts, and blue sandals. Like the majority of the Uchiha, he has black hair and black eyes, thin but rosy lips, and a well-developing nose. In short, he's a handsome child his age, but one would never know how their features would develop as they grow up.

He is seven years old this year and was recently admitted to the Academy.

Normally, eight years of age was the standard to be able to enroll. However, Butsuma pestered his mother every single day to have him enrolled at his age, which his mother eventually gave up on saying 'no' and relented to his pestering.

Despite the fact that the academy wasn't worth all the expectations he have initially harbored for.

He was bored as hell in class, now that class has ended, he immediately headed towards the Uchiha Clan Compound.

….

"Mom, Adzuki! I'm home!"

The moment he voiced his arrival before Butsuma was able to completely remove his sandals, a half-meter or so creature pounced on him.

"Woah!" Butsuma exclaimed in surprise as he landed on his bum, but he did not push away the creature. Instead, he welcomed it with a hug, obviously knowing who it was.

Bark! Bark!

The creature barked; it was a quadrupedal canine pokemon. It has dark orange-red fur, while its mane and tail are light gray, and its muzzle is a light tan. The fur looked to be made from some type of ore. Its mane covers its eyes and extends below its head, ending with three curls. Its ears are round and square with light orange-red interiors. It has a small horn on its head and its tail is curly.

A cute, adorable puppy. Which began to relentlessly lick Butsuma's face the moment he arrived.

"Hehehe... stop it Adzuki!" Butsuma chuckled as he tried to evade the pokemon's tongue, while also defending himself with his arms.

[(1) Adzuki – Red Bean]

A woman came out of a corridor; Upon walking out, the first thing she saw was her son being showered with saliva by their Growlithe, she smiled when she saw this. She called out. "Butsuma, you should be hungry, I prepared food for you in the kitchen. You too, Adzuki."

"You've been waiting for Butsuma all day and you barely touched your food."

Butsuma looked at the canine and asked. "You've been waiting for me, bud?"

Bark!

Adzuki responded with a bark with its tongue out, drool dripping on the wooden floor.

Butsuma smiled. "Let's eat together. You shouldn't have waited if you were hungry you know."

The woman, Butsuma's mother smiled at the two. Her name is Yua Uchiha.

"Get up and eat, Butsuma."

"Yes, Mom!" With that Butsuma got up and literally ran towards the kitchen, feeling his stomach growl from hunger, with Adzuki in tow.

…

Almost twenty years ago, dimensional cracks appeared all over the shinobi world.

Creatures, which the folks in the world eventually came to call 'pokemon' came to existence.

In the early years of their appearance, the main power of the world – the [Hidden Villages], tried to comprehend what these creatures' intentions were and how they suddenly appeared.

Alas, despite all their efforts put into it, they were unable to figure out how and why they suddenly came to be through such a phenomenal way.

Never being able to figure that out, they tried to use force to subdue said creatures and experiment on them.

They mainly target the ones that bear the appearance to be of no threat to them. The [Hidden Villages] dispatched Jonin-Level shinobis to manage the operation, [The Village Hidden in the Leaves] included.

However, although they succeeded in the early procedure of the operation, all the [Hidden Villages] eventually came to realize their ignorance and began to regret it.

The [Village Hidden in the Leaves] was the first ones to start such an operation. Hashirama Senju was still the seated [Hokage] at that time, although he wasn't the one who supervised it but his brother Tobirama Senju, he still took part in it since such action was authorized by his approval as the leader of the village.

A huge part of their manpower was dispatched to handle such a significant affair, of course, they only focused on capturing the creatures that were within the jurisdiction of the [Land of Fire].

They didn't go overboard like the rest of the hidden villages, ignoring the ones that were too young and intimidating, mainly targeting the ones that were quite wild and required to be subdued.

It didn't take long enough for tens of such creatures to be brought toward the village. They then began to experiment with various methods – they drugged them, drilled holes into different-looking pokemon's skulls, cooked them, dissected them, tested their immunity towards poison, etc...

That's when pokemon were introduced to the cruelty, wickedness, and unpleasantries of human nature, stemming from their inherent curiosity.

That's when hell got loose, and the shinobis then knew firsthand of the extreme wrath brought by pokemon...

The high-powered, dominant rulers of the pokemon stepped up when they came to know of what humans had done to their kind.

It was like Judgement Day. As if God was angered by their actions.

Tides, Tornadoes, Volcanoes, Earthquakes. All natural disasters, you name it, happened.

[The Village Hidden in Sand], which many thoughts of were adepts when there's sand was drowned in the hail of multiple large-scale sandstorms.

[The Village Hidden in Mist], welcomed waves upon waves of tsunami that almost drowned their entire village.

And so on.

The aftermath was tragic.

The formidable foundations of the [Hidden Villages] were so badly damaged that it would take over decades for them to recover, the most powerful of them all, the [Village Hidden in the Leaves] wasn't spared also, they equally had sustained damages.

Then, after the catastrophe ended, it was said that there was a voice that resounded all over the [Elemental Nation]. Warning them not to take the same actions toward their species.

There were multiple rumors going around about why they suddenly stopped as all humans thought that that would be the day, they would become extinct.

Rumors that were circulating around said that the [Kages] stopped the almighty pokemon all on their own, some were saying that the Shinobi God descended and helped them avoid the crisis...

Although most of them are speculations, majority of the folks still believed different parts of the rumors.

Then, the villages didn't dare lay their hands on the pokemon ever again, fearing they might once again experience that tragedy, and mostly focused on recovering their village's foundation lest another tragedy might welcome them in a different from, like an enemy attack or so.

Although it was unlikely since all the other [Hidden Village] were damaged, they didn't let down their guard and acted on the safer side of things.

Years passed as the [Hidden Villages] focused on their recovery, although they were warned by the powerful pokemon that day, the influential figures still did not give up on their pursuit to know what these creatures are.

Regardless of their curiosity though, they took heed of the warning that day and approach the pokemon not by force but with a calm and careful manner.

With that, some shinobis and common people began to share bonds with some pokemon, and then, they discovered a whole lot of unique things that overturn their entire view of the world.

One such vital thing was a term called - [Chakra Bond].

…

[Present]

Butsuma was gorging his food like a tornado, exhibiting no form of etiquette. And the Growlithe was also like him as he ate in a frenzy on the floor.

His mother was seated opposite him on the table, watching her son with funny looks on her face. Eventually, she shook her head and continued eating her food.

"Butsuma, have you decided on which pokemon you would pick for conducting a [Soul Bond]?" Suddenly, her mother Yua Uchiha asked Butsuma.

"Not yet." He replied. "It's not like I don't have any interest in It Mom. You know how I am on pokemon, I love them."

Yua nodded. Her son, for the most part, only showed interest in two things, becoming a shinobi and pokemon. Since the day he met one, and when he began to know how to walk, he typically spends time with Adzuki and the other pokemon in the compound to play with, than other children his age.

It was a bit weird watching her son playing 'shinobi' with other pokemon than the children in their clan.

She was puzzled though, if her son loved pokemon so much, then why didn't he form a [Chakra Bond] with one already?

From what she heard from her friends, their sons and daughters are frequently pestering them, asking for a specific pokemon they want to [Chakra Bond] with. She also had a few friends that already have their children form one with a pokemon, mostly belonging to a shinobi clan.

"Yeah, I know you love pokemon, much more than others in fact. Then why aren't you looking for a pokemon to form a [Chakra Bond] with yet? What about Adzuki? Do you not want to form a [Chakra Bond] with her?"

It took a moment for Butsuma to respond. "Because I feel like if I were to form a [Soul Bond] with a pokemon that I do like the species of, it would seem too forced."

"What?" That reply took Yua aback, she couldn't fully comprehend it as it confused her. "What do you mean, dear?"

"I meant that, if I were to have a [Chakra Bond] with a pokemon, I want to..." Butsuma paused as he furrowed his brows, looking quite adorable from Yua's perspective, she held back her chuckle as she waited for her son to reply.

He continued. "...Like have the 'that's the one I want to be with' or 'that is the one I want to be together, that would accompany me as a shinobi and train to become strong with' kind of feeling."

As he chewed on his food like a squirrel, he said. "Of course, I also don't want to force the pokemon if they don't want to be with me. After all, their opinions mattered too."

"As for Adzuki..." He glanced down at Adzuki who was preoccupied with eating his food. He smiled as he shifted his gaze to a room, with adore. "I'll leave her for my younger sister."

"Oh?" Yua smiled. Not at all surprised, she knew her son doted on his younger sibling to the extremities of extreme. So, she wasn't that surprised, and at the fact that Butsuma was being such a mature child.

Nevertheless, she couldn't help but tease her son. "You're showing so much love to your two-year-old sister, I wonder if it's consanguinamory you are expressing or not, if it is, as a mother, my oh my what should I do?"

"Consanguinamory? What the he- what's that?" Butsuma got a slight headache at the long word, and here he thought he was smart. He hadn't heard of that word being used and hadn't learned what it meant. He even almost spouts out profanity, luckily he reacted in time.

"You know. Like the story I mentioned to you before, the birds and the bees~ Do you have such intention towards your sister?"

When he heard of that, Butsuma got so sick that he was about to vomit all of the food he ate. Ignoring his mother, he dashed out of the door and exited their home, godspeed.

"Too much?"

…

[Chakra Bond] a term that was publicized pretty quickly.

Humans had managed to find out through numerous 'non-harmful' experiments that they were able to connect with pokemons.

In way more depth than a relationship.

Hashirama Senju was the one who publicized this information throughout the entire [Elemental Nation], as he was the one who was first able to link a [Chakra Bond] with a pokemon.

Hashirama Senju said that when the two species: Human and pokemon came to a 'special' understanding – which was either through mutual circumstances or from the friendship between one of each species, etc. The chakra within their bodies would naturally flow in between either physical or spiritual contact.

Once both species' chakra became united, they would be able to gain knowledge about each other and the growth spurt in the aspects of power would be heightened.

Of course, different results would come out from different individuals. Not all beings are the same after all, even if they are of the same species.

After that information leaked, the unification between species came about. Where shinobis would perform [Chakra Bond] to have a strong companion they could rely on in battle. In addition, having a pokemon would also potentially help them discover new things in their training.

At the same time, pokemons also benefited from this nurturing, which allowed them to gain the strength and capabilities required to achieve their ability to evolve with the help of the human's capable minds for training.

Just like that, humans and pokemons became partners not long after their appearance.

…

Butsuma had his hands rested on his hoodie's pockets as he casually strolled on the Uchiha Clan Compound.

He was embarrassed when he heard her mother's words. However, he was already slightly used to it as he had been teased multiple times about different things by her.

He was passing by a torii, when he noticed a lake,

'I didn't know our clan had a lake.' Butsuma silently thought to himself as he looked around the vicinity and noticed a boy's crouching figure behind some bushes.

His eyebrows rose slowly in curiosity when he noticed the hair color of the kid.

'Why's a stranger here?' He deduced he wasn't a person from their clan because of that.

Because of his curiosity, he silently approached the kid from behind.