A strange new life
9.10

“What now?” Tenten asked while looking over the devastation.

I had seen this through my clone’s memories, but being here in the middle of things and with time to think was a different story.

The enemies we fought dissolved, armor included, into gooey puddles resembling liquefied cupcake dough. The comparison left me feeling revolted, but it was that or, well, better leave the alternative unsaid.

Still, it gave us clues.

They weren’t human, at least not the big, armored ones. Something akin to golems or homunculi. As for the woman, she could assume a beast shape transformation. A werebat? This felt like the wrong story. Like I’d stepped out of shinobi politics and into a fantasy quest. Medieval-like armor, partial transformation, golems. No more ninja adventure, but fantasy shenanigans? Surreal.

Four pairs of eyes bore into me, waiting for a decision. Even the ferret, still cradled in Karin’s arms, was staring.

I looked around the ruined town. We got no lead on Tsunade, no pet owner, and many unanswered questions. Trying to find out what was happening in the Land of Rivers wasn’t our goal for this mission, but learning about a possible new threat to Fire was a good reason to derail plans for a little while.

There was also a chance, low as it may be, that Tsunade was wherever the whole town had been taken to. The enemies we fought were nowhere strong enough to put a Legendary Sannin in danger, but I didn’t know about Tsunade’s state of mind.

I nodded, mostly to shut up the voice in my head asking if this was stupid. 

“We follow. Find what happened to the town’s inhabitants, gather any information we can, and report back at Konoha’s borders.”

Karin and Ino nodded. Started preparing. Surprisingly, Tenten gave me a small, barely there smile. Was this the start of a budding ninja friendship?

Anyway, it was decided. I spread my legs apart, one hand on my waist, the other pointing toward the direction the woman had fled. I struck the most dramatic pose I could muster, eyes on the horizon like I was in an end-credits scene. “Fuin☆Rangers, move out!”

I got rolled eyes from everyone, even the damn pet. The heck!

We couldn’t follow the flying woman, but we didn’t need to. Even baby ninjas could follow the trail those giants left. No need for ninken or fancy tracking jutsu.

The trail led deeper into the Land of Rivers. Footsteps, armored and normal, to what I was guessing were the missing townspeople. The procession of steps we were following ended up on another trail. This one was impossible to miss. It was like a horde of rampaging giant elephants on steroids that cleaved a path through everything: rocks, trees, and rivers.

At those new marks, the normal footsteps disappeared. Judging by the destruction, it was an overland transport, on ‘roids. Not something you usually saw in the Elemental Lands. An inkling of a memory stirred in my head, something regarding Naruto movies, but it soon fled me.

With a trail this easy to follow, we sped up, more concerned about what we might find than staying hidden.

Karin noticed our target way before it ever came into view. But soon after, we heard and felt it; the sound of grinding metal, the trembling earth. When I saw the thing, it became clear why it wasn’t trying to stay hidden.

It couldn’t.

What we were following was a towering, moving metal fortress. Tall as a skyscraper, with treadmills big enough to crush even the tallest tree in its path. At the top were metal spikes that reminded me of lightning rods. There was some sort of balcony near the top, but most of the structure was pure metal, with no windows.

“What is that?” Karin asked, eyes wide.

No one had an answer for her.

Ino looked at me, eyes intense. I could even read the question. Was this something I knew from my memories?

And now, finally seeing the thing, I did remember something. I wasn’t proud to admit that, for all my Naruto obsession, I had been a snobbish enjoyer. I skipped the fillers; those were trash. The TV show was a barely passable version when compared to the comics.

But there was this one movie that many people in the forums liked. The Gelel something or another. I hadn’t watched it, but I remember the splash art and the discussion the movie caused in the forums. It introduced and then ignored a whole new continent with advanced mechanical contraptions.

The fillers were canon here? Shit.

And try as I might, I couldn’t remember anything about this; only a vague feeling of flaming people in forums and stirring trouble for those who liked the Gelel arc. To me, movies were just high-budget fillers: loud, flashy, and irrelevant. Nothing that ever had any repercussion in the main story, and could be safely ignored.

New characters were introduced and thrown away. Two-bit villains that inevitably got killed in the end, leaving the status quo untouched.

Ino was still waiting for a response. I shook my head.

“What do we do?”

It was afternoon, a few hours away from evening. Would they keep travelling through the night?

“We follow at a distance. It might stop at night.”

That was what we did. From far enough away, we followed the mobile fortress through the rest of the afternoon until night fell. Given its direction, the path would take it toward Wind. At least, that was good news, for now.

It was already dark, and the team sat huddled together trying to decide on our strategy.

“We wait here, and I’ll send—” I started my usual clone-based recon plan, but Tenten cut me off.

“No.”

I blinked a few times, surprised. Ino and Karin were looking at Tenten, but they weren’t surprised. What was happening?

“What?” I asked when nothing else was said.

“Stop patronizing us.” Tenten’s voice didn’t sound angry, just serious. “You’re low on chakra and we’re ninja.”

I nodded. I don’t think I was holding them back by relying on clones at every opportunity; it was the bread and butter of shinobi strategies, but her opinion was fair.

“What do you suggest?”

“The enemy doesn’t seem familiar with shinobis,” Tenten started.

I had noticed that as well. The werebat woman didn’t seem to understand the concept of clones, a basic staple of ninja techniques.

“We divide in duos. Set a time limit, sneak in, and try to gather as much information as we can.”

I thought about arguing, but didn’t know why I was trying to do everything by myself. 

The other two nodded. Well, I guess I couldn’t blame them. I should stop hogging the fun ninja stuff all for myself and let them have their ninja fix too. Still, precautions were needed. I pointed at the wooden kunai they were still carrying.

“Keep that one on you at all times.”

The team nodded. I got up, posed. “Fuin☆Rangers, prepare for the mission!”

And was promptly ignored. Damn, so sad.