Naruto : A Second Chance

While doing a few events that happened on his journey through the Land of Frost, He made good progress in the way to Land of Lightning. However, Fate has a twisted sense of humour as his objective came to him unexpectedly. He was apprehended by a group of elite Kumo shinobi inside the borders of the Land of Lightning. And the leader of the group was someone Naruto considered a teacher and a friend in his past life.

"So hand over that loot to me, you ought to call me Killer B"

Now, Naruto wasn't sure what he expected when he was halfway through the Land of Lightning.

"Keep it bright, man! See the light, man! Or else you are going to have a fight, man!"

So Naruto forgot how cool Killer B could be! He didn't expect to meet him right outside of the village with his team, pointing at him, declaring him to be a Jinchuriki and then rapping. He also didn't expect him to ask… he did ask, right? For some 'loot'.

"What are you, some highwayman!?" Naruto shouted, pointing back with a scowl. "I'm here to warn the Raikage!"

"Not like we can believe your word, blondie." The big c.h.e.s.ted blonde girl called Samui said.

"Look who's talking…" Naruto grumbled, cursing her for her dumb choice of words, pulling out a ladle and throwing it to B, who caught it easily.

"I like him, he's got style, and he shared some loot with me and mine" Killer B rapped. If you could call it that.

"He gave you a ladle!" The dark-skinned boy Omoi called out, his fingers gripping deeply into his face. "What if it is some kind of distraction for a seal that can absorb Chakra so fast to become an explos¬--?"

The ladle was taken by the redhead of the group, Karui, who hit Omoi midspeech, sending him flying. "Huh, that this is actually useful."

"Of course it is, I got it from a smith that couldn't give me any nice weapons…"

The Land of Frost was rather barren and not that great of a place to stay. He had one event where he helped some blacksmith transport a few crates, and he

got a ladle. A ladle with the strength of a mace.

"Look," Naruto sighed, "my name is Uzumaki Naruto, as your sensei there said, I'm the Jinchuriki of the Kyuubi."

"An enemy Jinchuriki has appear¬" Omoi meets ladle, again.

"Look!" Naruto pulled out his papers. "Allowed by the Hokage, I don't want to be a ninja for Konoha, they don't like me!"

"So… you want to join our village?" Karui asked, looking him up and down. "You don't really look like a ninja, more like a samurai really."

"This armor? I got it from some wannabe swordsman who challenged me. He was good, but not that good." Naruto boasted. Of course, 'I got it from some wannabe swordsman' sounded more like he took it from his dead cold hands…

"Ah, Killer B, what do you know of Akatsuki?"

"Red clouds on black cloaks, I haven't heard much~" He couldn't stop. At least the gifted ladle made him happy, kind of.

"They hunt Jinchuriki." That made the team turn serious, "what they want, I can't say, but they are gathering all nine."

He couldn't say it because he didn't actually know. What he knows is the warning of the Hokage.

"Their ranks consist of S ¬Rank criminals, either out of skill or crime." Naruto continued, his hands going to his doc.u.ments again and turning them around.

"The Sandaime Hokage gave me a warning when he allowed me to leave, I think it's to keep me moving and safe from them. I wanted to warn the others."

Naruto wasn't a deceitful person. He lied a few times to get out of some situations, but he wouldn't betray anyone's trust. Especially not his comrades. Not that they knew. They forgot about him like Konoha. But it seems his Charisma check worked, and all of them nodded.

"We will believe you if you follow us and hand over your katana." Samui declared, stepping forward. He nodded and gave it to her, before grabbing his kunai

pouch. "No need, I don't know how skilled you are with the sword, but you won't be able to hurt the Raikage when you need to grab a kunai from the pouch."

"Ah, right, that guy was fast!" Naruto said, remembering his short fight with the Yondaime Raikage. B's team looked at him as if he was some idiot for not

knowing that.

"Let's go!" Karui shouted, grabbing Omoi who was unconscious from the repeated hits. The team moved towards Kumogakure again, this time with Naruto.

"Are you actually any good with this thing?" Samui

"Oh no…" Naruto paled. "How could you say that!? You are going to summon them!"

"Summon who?" Samui

"Events! Like…" A loud explosion was heard and directly in front of them appeared… Maron? "What are you doing here?"

Maron looked differently. His sword was shinier, his armor replaced by a jade green outfit. Furthermore, he didn't look as bored as he did before.

"Uzumaki Naruto!" Maron

"Did I ever tell you my name!?" Naruto

"I have come to fight you my rival!" Maron declared loudly.

"I JUST MET YOU TWO DAYS AGO!" Naruto shouted back at him. "Hey, gimme my sword!"

Naruto didn't wait for her to do it, he just took it and strapped it to his side again. He had learned that mentioning things in passing could lead to events

rather easily. Things like 'Are you strong?' or 'I wonder if there are any bandits…'

[A challenger has appeared. Accept the duel?

Yes or No.]

"I will fight you, but leave me alone after this!" Naruto

"I expected nothing else from my rival," Maron smiled broadly.

'He didn't even listen to the last part,' Naruto sighed.

[Maron, a samurai

2000 HP

500C]

"You got stronger, eh?" Naruto grinned despite himself. If he appeared more often, he could train his Kenjutsu on him. But he realized, he needs to train his

Water Release more, if he couldn't do that he would fail against enemies that knew how to handle a swordsman. Dodging a blow from the left, Naruto tried to stab Maron's arm.

"Hey, where did you get your finger fixed?" Naruto

"Don't make me laugh, any swordsman that knows how to cut off a finger knows how to fix them up again!" Maron

"Not like that'll help if I take your arm!" Naruto said, stepping forward slightly and blocking Maron's sword by the hilt with his left arm. Quickly replacing the

sword in his scabbard he jumped back again and gripped the hilt.

"Iaido!" But this time, Maron copied him, and he realized. Maron's Iaido was as fast and strong as his, he had trained these last two days, and if anyone

knows how fast dedicated training can bring you forward, it's Naruto.

"Oi, you copy¬cat!" Despite his words, Naruto sounded more amused than anything. He wondered if he could have had that with Sasuke years ago. "USE

YOUR OWN TECHNIQUES!"

Naruto jumped backwards to prepare another strike and Maron stood, his legs spread and the sword pointed at him. Maron's hilt was held right beside his head while the sword pointed forward… 'I can't go forward, he will cut me up…' Naruto realized. Right now, he could try Iaido through Maron's defense, but his enemy was prepared for that. 'The moment I hurt him, I would lose an arm, or worse.' Seeing that Naruto twisted and sheathing his sword, he released a jutsu in the same move.

'Earth Release: Earth Dragon' Naruto

Huge dragon formed around him from rocks and soil and burst out towards Maron, who defended with his sword and was pushed back tens of meters.

"Sorry for that, needed some breathing room. Now let's have some competition. No more Ninjutsu from me, just you, me, and our swords!" Naruto

And so Naruto smiled. This was fun!