Chapter 36 - 36. Ninja Way Needs Update

"Just a few hours more till our destination. Then we will go on foot over the water. Our boat has a distinct style that can be easily traced." Shiroken estimated the time of their arrival.

It just took them one day to reach this place. Shisui had been silently practising to sense his surroundings. The training was coming along pretty well. He was trying to hear through vibrations around him, but it was getting hard as there were just too many. ​​

He had been trying to sense Shiroken though, and except for his physical existence, he could not sense anything related to Chakra in him.

~How will he fight the whole Kirigakure without Chakra?~ He wondered.

Shiroken was packing/sealing all the leftover dumplings across, to eat them later whenever required. He had nothing to do during this time, so he was trying to understand his powers and to what extent his control of Natural Energy went.

"Oh look, land. Let's walk there now. Actually, I have a better option. Get off the boat, Shisui." Shiroken decided and jumped off.

Shisui also followed the movement behind carefully.

*BOOM*

Shiroken slashed his hand towards the boat and a strong air current broke it in two. It soon sank into the sea.

Next, he went beside Shisui and caught his shirt from the neck.

"Ah... What ar..."

Before he could complete his words, he felt his feet touching nothing and just hanging in mid-air. He felt his body rising up and up, with every second.

Shiroken chuckled, "I forgot to tell you, I can fly. Very sage-like, isn't it?"

*YAWN*

Tenken, the snake in Shiro's sword woke up finally. "Oh, what did I miss? And you don't look like a sage, sages are supposed to have long white beards and bald heads, you are the opposite of them."

Shiroken shook his head in disappointment, "Decades have passed, we are back again and now we're going to Kirigakure to save Saiken."

"Really? I felt like I just closed my eyes." Tenken replied.

"Because you were used to sleeping in that box in the past. You are really useless. I don't even know why I keep you beside me anymore." Shiroken said in a condescending tone.

Tenken immediately woke up, "I was just joking. I am your humble servant, my lord. Don't throw me away."

"Where is this voice coming from?" Shisui finally asked as he came over the shock of flying, well, more like being carried around.

"It's my sword. A sage snake is stuck inside it." Shiroken revealed.

Shisui silently tried to sense the sword on Shiroken's back. He had no idea how a Sage Snake came to be stuck inside that thing.

Shiroken carried Shisui until they reached the land. It was a secluded part of the shoreline. The Shinobi were not always present everywhere. They just stay in their village. Daimyo didn't have enough people to guard the boundaries either, hence it was likely that nobody will know they were here.

"Where to now?" Shisui asked, secretly taking a sigh of relief, feeling the ground below himself.

Shiroken took out a map, "Hmm, my aim is not conquering Kirigakure, but to punish the Water Daimyo and bring the whole country under my influence. Let's go to the Daimyo castle first."

So Shiroken headed to the nearest road. But they made sure he was not so fast to leave Shisui behind which he could easily do. He would be as good as dead here if left like that.

"Can't believe this kid is blind. He's running like he's having a good time." Tenken muttered.

"I hope you will also carry me on your back like I'm carrying you right now when I get you out of this sword," Shiroken said.

"Hey, find a summoning beast if you want a ride. I am a proud Sage Snake." Tenken protested.

~Hmm, I wonder which animal I should make my summoning beast~ Shiroken started thinking.

*CLANK*

While he was busy thinking, out of nowhere a shuriken came and struck him. But it clanked on his skin as if it hit metal and fell down.

"What? Did someone attack me? I thought it was a mosquito." Shiroken looked around and immediately increased his range of Natural Vision.

"Ah, so I was indeed attacked. Who are these two?" He muttered to himself.

*WOOSH*

"What happened, who attacked us?" Shisui landed near him with his sword out.

"Calm down, boy. We will find them soon. Don't worry at all. Just follow me." Shiroken dashed in a direction.

*BAM*

Along the way, he saw a lot of traps, but even though they got activated they couldn't do any harm to him or slow him down. He kept on running in a direction while making a lot of foot noise for Shisui to easily follow him.

"AH! GOT YOU!" He yelled and jumped out of the treeline.

*TING*

Shiroken's sword clashed with the other man's sword. He was a tall and noticeably muscular man with light greyish skin, short spiky black hair, dark brown eyes, and small eyebrows. He was wearing bandages like a mask over the bottom half of his face. He wore his Kirigakure forehead protector sideways on his head. He was shirtless, with his chest only covered by a belt to which he attached his massive sword, wearing baggy pants with the striped pattern typical of Kirigakure and mimetic wrist-warmers extending up to his elbows, with matching leg-warmers.

"I've never seen this fashion style before," Shiroken muttered with a smile.

Shiroken was pushing the man with very ease with just one hand, while the man was making rageful noises, trying to use all his force and yet failing to stop Shiroken.

"HAAA... who are you?" The man asked.

Shiroken stopped pushing him and caught the giant sword by its sharp blade. It was a large broadsword, as tall as a full-grown man, shaped like a butcher knife. The blade itself has two cutouts, a circle close to the top and a semi-circular one nearer to the handle, the former of which is aptly fitting the sword's purpose of decapitation.

"This is no place for a little child to roam around with such a deadly weapon. Tell me your name first." Shiroken demanded.

"DIEEEE!" The man suddenly jumped, leaving his sword and taking out a kunai from his pocket, directly jabbing it at Shiroken's neck.

Shiroken let him do it. The best way to defeat an overconfident person was to destroy their self-confidence.

*TING*

The kunai's tip broke down. The man felt danger and wanted to jump back. He had just taken a step back when Shiroken lifted his hand and grabbed his neck in midair.

"Enough games. Tell me your name and why you have a child with you. You don't look like his father to me." Shiroken asked him.

The man was gasping for air and he squirmed.

"I... I am Zabuza Momochi." The man finally answered.

Hearing the name Shiroken remembered food, "Mochi? Rice cake?"

"ZABUZA? Demon of the Hidden Mist?" Shisui exclaimed.

*WOOSH*

Out of nowhere, an ice spear appeared with great speed, aimed at Shisui.

"Watch out!" Shiroken shouted and also threw Tenken, matching the trajectory.

*BOOM*

The ice spear shattered and Tenken was plunged into the ground a distance away. "Aaa... My blade got dirty." That was what the Snake sage screamed.

Shisui was shocked. How could he not anticipate this? It was all on his mind.

"Be careful, Shisui. You almost just got killed by a 10-year-old. Hey little one, come here. See, I'm not hurting Zabuza anymore." Shiroken politely tried to talk to the boy hiding behind the trees.

"DON'T BE SCARED, HAKU! REMEMBER WHAT I TAUGHT YOU." Zabuza yelled at the little boy.

*SLAP*

Shiroken lightly backhandedly slapped Zabuza, "Don't be mean to him. He's so small. Come here, child. Look, I got lots of sweets."

Haku slowly came to him. He was scared of Shiroken and hid behind Zabuza.

"Here," Shiroken offered him some candies. But the boy didn't take them.

"Who are you?" Zabuza asked him calmly this time.

Shiroken kicked the ground with his right foot once and in an instant the trees moved close and changed shape to make a shelter, table and chairs for them.

"Come, sit. I am Shiroken Dama. I come from the Land of Tea, now called the Land of Dama. My clan is a pretty secretive one. And don't be disheartened that you couldn't beat me. Not many people in the world can make me sweat anyway.

"Ah, are you two hungry? Just wait here, I will get some dumplings. Hey! Help me here, Shisui."

Shisui bit his lips and walked to him, still thinking about the situation before. His blindness was causing too much problem when it came to sensing fast-moving objects, "You didn't have to save me. I told you before not to worry."

*PAT*

Shiroken ruffled his hair and scoffed, "I am not like you Shinobi, who don't see anything beyond their village as something worth saving or helping. To me, you, this little Haku boy, or even a stray animal are the same.

"Every living creature has a right to a peaceful life on this land. Didn't your Grandfather sacrifice himself to save his friends? I really wish a man like that was Hokage instead of the current one or that foolish Senju.

"Anyway, come and help me. And stop thinking negative all the time. Just think that you died once and now this is your second life. Do you want to waste this second chance thinking about the past or work hard to make a better future? Think wisely."

Shiroken left him standing at the edge of the wooden shed. Shisui was a bit shaken by those words. He wondered if he was even allowed to have a second life.

But one thing was true. That Shisui truly started to respect Shiroken. Shisui was very kind, lacked arrogance, and was a very down to earth individual. He was very open-minded and stated his opinion on any matter. But that never stopped him from listening to others and finding flaws in his own ideology. And with observation, he tried to remove his own flaws.

~Is my ninja way wrong?~ He wondered to himself.

[A/N: Haku is slightly younger in this timeline.]

[You can see Zabuza on my Discord - https://discord.gg/DgHkrAn OR see them on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/mister_immortal_novel]

STONE ME TO MARS!

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Special thanks to *Douglas Flower* *Umar Latif* *Julian Rocamora* *Darrien Steely* *Franklin Walley*

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