Re: Akimichi

-Temujin POV-

"Temu..."

Huh?

"Temujin..."

What?

This place... looks familiar.

I saw my little self amidst the burning buildings, hiding behind a half-collapsed wall while crouched and trembling in fear. On another side of the building, I saw there were several peoples wearing dark-colored cloaks that covered almost the whole of their bodies.

The cloaked peoples were wrecking things left and right, their eyes darted as if they were looking for something. Their smile looked wicked in my eyes, carrying a malevolent intent.

It's that dream again...

Though I knew that this was just a dream, I cannot help but threw my questions to the cloaked figures.

Why?

Why were you destroying my home?

Why were you killing my family and my friends?

Why were you have to be so cruel?

My old grievance resurfaced once more, I knew that this was a dream -a nightmare- yet it was so vivid in my mind. It happened so long in the past, yet the hoarse screams of those who were slaughtered still clear in my ears, screaming for help, and begging for mercy.

I want my revenge!

I want those who did this to suffer!

The scenes passed and became a bit blurry, my little self was standing on a cliff overlooking the burnt town in the distance. My hands clenched hard, and my teeth gritted in a grievance. Then after, a figure approached me, my little self.

With a gracious smile plastered on his face, that figure stretched his hand and offered me another purpose besides taking revenge, it's to make a Utopia, a world without war and suffering.

"Haido-sama..."

"Come with me, child. Let's make the Utopia together..."

---

-Third POV-

Inside a medium-sized tent, two figures could be seen laid down barec.h.e.s.ted. One of them was a tall young man with white skin, neck-length blonde hair, green eyes, and on the left side of his c.h.e.s.t was a kind of symbol. While the other one was a blonde-haired young man with whiskers on his cheeks.

They were Temujin and Naruto.

After times passed, Naruto's eyes fluttered before he slowly opened his eyelids revealing his clear blue eyes to the world.

"Ugh, what happened..."

As Naruto recollected himself, his gaze swept to the side and saw Temujin laid beside him. Immediately, he willed himself to jump away and took a battle stance. Unfortunately for Naruto, his body did not react to his will and instead Naruto felt an excruciating amount of pain assaulting him.

"It hurts! It hurts! IT HURTS!!!"

Naruto gritted his teeth to hold the pain, 'My body is a mess!'.

"Ohoho, it seems that you're already waking up. You sure are healing fast, young man." An elderly man with a bulbous red nose came into the tent and grinned while talking to Naruto. He wore a brown tunic with a black under-shirt and red sleeves, and a blue fez-hat with a pink feather sticking out of it.

"My name is Kahiko, you can call me grandpa Kahiko." Kahiko has neck-length white hair, a short mustache on both sides of his face, and a long beard of the same color. Overall, coupled with his bulbous red nose, he gave people an impression of a drunkard old man. "That aside, let me check your condition."

"Ugh..."

Hearing a groan beside them, both Naruto and Kahiko turned their attention to another figure laid beside them. On the side, Temujin's eyes trembled before he woke up silently and eyed his surrounding. Temujin noted the presence of other peoples inside the tent and the whereabouts of his armor and weapon.

"Hohoho, it seems that the two of you have an incredible healing factor. Your previous wound should be healed no less than a week normally, yet only two days have been passed since I took you here." Kahiko said while playing with his long beard.

Meanwhile, Naruto was pissed when he saw Temujin was also treated by Kahiko. This was the man that attack him before! His eyes were narrowed and he shouted,

"WHY ARE YOU TREATING THIS B*STARD, KAHIKO-SAN?!"

---

Meanwhile, it's been two days since Ino was looking for Naruto. She knew the path that Naruto supposed to fell into. But, to reach a deep ravine required not a small amount of effort and coupled with the occasional avian chakra beasts that attacked her, it forced her to take a roundabout way to reach the bottom of the ravine.

"So, this is the place where Naruto supposed to fell into. Where's that idiot?"

Ino was ticked, this mission was supposed to be finished already. And yet, that idiot Naruto has to fell from a cliff with the required ferret to finish the mission, just great!

With little choice in her hand, Ino hides before she took another bird and controlled it to scout the surrounding for the umpteenth time these two days. This time, she controlled a dove to scout.

"Oh, there's a settlement!"

Ino controlled the dove to fly above the settlement, She watched the view of the said settlement through the dove's eyes. 'A nomad tribe, made of a few dozens of peoples, possibly a traveling merchant, with only a handful of ordinary fighters among them.'

"Okay, it's safe..."

Ino disconnected her control from the dove and her consciousness returned to her own body, she immediately ran to the direction of the settlement. 'I swear I'm gonna give Naruto a nice kick on his balls later...' Ino thought while she clicked her tongue.

When she reached the area near the settlement, Ino hides as she sneaked around to find more information about the settlement and possibly find Naruto in the settlement. She knocked one of the lone people from the settlement before she checked the man's memory using her clan technique and found that Naruto was indeed inside the settlement and they were treating him.

Ino heaved a sigh of relief, she healed the knocked man's light injury that she inflicted before and the man's backache as an apology then laid him on a bush before she left him. 'So they're healing him, that idiot was lucky that it was not a slave trader that took him in.'

Ino then approached the settlement and asked one of the people there about Naruto, she was then escorted into the village head's tent where Naruto resided.

"WHY ARE YOU TREATING THIS B*STARD, KAHIKO-SAN?!"

She was surprised hearing Naruto suddenly shouted as she came into the tent. Her gaze lingered and fell onto Temujin's figure, and her eyes narrowed. She remembered that this man was the one who fought Naruto and made the mission duration became longer than necessary.

"What are you doing here, idiot?" Ino knew that Naruto was injured from the way he was wrapped with bandages like a mummy. But she asked regardless.

"E-eh? Ino-san..."

"Don't 'eh' me you fool, and what is he doing here?" Ino eyed Naruto as she pointed Temujin with her thumb.

*screech* *screech*

Ino's attention was pulled by the familiar sound she heard, her eyes glanced on the carpet laid near the edge of the tent, a familiar ferret showed its head and looked around curiously.

"Nerugui-chan! Come, come here~" The expression of the old man was bubbly, he was happy seeing the ferret and motioned for the ferret to come to him. Alas, that ferret -Nerugui- did not approach him, instead, it came to Temujin and stroke his c.h.e.s.t with its head.

"Nerugui-chan..." The old man Kahiko looked devastated, he released a long exhale of air before he was back to his sense.

Ino pieced one and one together and came into a conclusion, "Kahiko-san... is it? You are the one who requested a search for this ferret, aren't you?"

Kahiko straightened his clothes, he took a comb out of nowhere and combed his hair backward. His eyes narrowed as he puffed his c.h.e.s.t and flexed his non-existent muscle.

"Where is my manner, welcome to my humble abode, pretty lady. My name is Kahiko, the leader of this settlement, which also called the rose gentleman in the past. You may know or may not know some of my Merrit in the past, regardless, it's an honor for me to host you here." Kahiko ended his speech with a bow of his body in a gentleman's way.

"...Okay, so are you the one who requested a search for this ferret?" Ino asked once more with a deadpanned expression.

"Ah, yes. I'm the one who requested your village to search this majestic ferret of mine. Why? Are you interested in this ferret too?" Kahiko tried to took Nerugui to his embrace in a graceful manner only to fail miserably as Nerugui struggled from Kahiko's embrace and went back to Temujin's l.a.p.

"In a sense, Naruto already brought that ferret back to you. So, our mission could be considered as complete, no?" Ino said in a professional manner, if she had glasses on, then it would be more perfect.

In response, Kahiko smiled in a refined manner. "Of course, of course. But, can you stay here for a while? A chat maybe? Besides, look at your injured friend, he has to recuperate for a while before he would be able to move as freely as before."

Ino glanced at Naruto, which he flinched in return, and contemplated in silence. Although she would be able to hasten Naruto's recovery to a certain extent, it's true that Naruto still has to rest for a while to ensure his full recovery.

Another point was...

Ino took note of Temujin's past behavior, he suddenly cropped up and attack Naruto out of nowhere. He's a potential danger, so Ino knew that she has to find out Temujin's true motive. From there, she will decide which path she should take according to the situation.

She'll stay, but not on this old man's invitation, she'll handle everything in secret later. She let out a sigh of annoyance to this old man's troublesome behavior. 'Maybe I was influenced by Chouji and Shikamaru more than I know...'

The ambition, pride, and confidence of Chouji; The meticulous, skeptical, and ruthlessness of Shikamaru. More or less, she was affected and influenced by those traits.

"No, thank you for your offer, Kahiko-san. I'll be heading out to do another task, though I'll be back later to take this man with me." Ino pointed at Naruto as she talked, not long after, she went out of the tent and flickered to a distance to watch the situation. She waited for the curtain of the night to fall before took an action herself.

---

Meanwhile, at another location.

Chouji was attacked, he was surrounded by several peoples and was caught on fire. Around him, there were burnt marks, cracked rock, slashed mark, and many others trace of attacks.

"My my~ Nothing personal, kid. If you want to blame someone, then blame the one who posted your bounty in the Bingo Book."

One of the men that surrounding Chouji said, on his hand was a Bingo book with one of the pages marked. On that marked page, Chouji's profile could be seen written coupled with the image of his figure pictured with the flaming sky of Konoha during the end of the Chunin exam as the background, the flame could be seen pictured on his fist as he took his battle stance.

---

[Akimichi Chouji]

[Wanted, Dead, or Alive. 2.800.000 Ryos.]

[The heir of Akimichi clan, proficient in close combat and fire nature transformation. Current appraisal:

Taijutsu B

Ninjutsu A

Genjutsu D

Warning: It's suspected that he learn the forbidden Eight Gate technique.]

---

"Now, to collect the bounty. Can't let that money waiting, Right?" The bounty hunters laughed at that remark, they were joyful that they finally would be able to enjoy more women and alcohol after they collect the bounty.

"Hehe..."

Their cheers stopped when they heard chuckles from the burning person, as professional bounty hunters, they were aware that the person they targeted has to be strong with that much bounty on his head.

"You ruined my mood, those who attack should be prepared to be attacked. Those who want to kill should be ready to be killed. But, Rejoice! For you have gained the right to brag in the afterlife as the first person to witness the improvement of my technique. So... Goodbye!"

The fire on the surrounding surged and converged with Chouji as the center, the surrounding light as the temperature continued to rise. The ground trembled as a huge figure rise from the earth and molded into a colossal sized figure, on a single glance, the figure looked humanoid with an armor-like structure on its body coupled with a huge sword it held on its hand. This was the improvement of the first technique Chouji created, the Rock Titan.

Slowly, Chouji raised his hand and opened his palm as the flame condensed into the earth figure, setting it ablaze.

"[Katon: Surtr]"