WHEN CHI MEETS CHAKRA: A SPACE-TIME ADVENTURE

(Disclaimer: Avatar The Last Airbender belongs to Nickelodeon and Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. I only own my OC's)

(PLEASE READ: THIS IS NOT A SEQUEL TO "SHUJINKO: THE FOURTH MEMBER", BUT A DIFFERENT STORY WITH SHUJINKO AS THE MAIN CHARACTER. THIS STORY WILL NOT HAVE ANY EFFECT WHATSOEVER IN "SHUJINKO SHIPPUDEN". I REPEAT, THIS IS NOT A SEQUEL TO SHUJINKO'S ORIGINAL STORY)

Summary: One night, a stranger breaks into Shujinko's house and tries to steal one of the most mystical objects in the history of the Ozuma clan: The Eye of Kazemaru. When Shujinko tries to stop him, the two of them activate an ancient and forgotten power of the gem by accident, which sends them to another dimension where a certain bald-headed monk has to master the four elements in order to defeat the evil Fire Lord. What kind of impact will Shujinko's presence have in the Avatar universe? Who is this stranger and what does he want? Get ready for one wild space-time adventure.

CHAPTER 1: A STRANGER IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT

The confrontation between the Avatar and the Fire Lord had devastating consequences for the Wulong Forest. What was once green and full of life was now little more than a rocky landscape with hundreds of columns and pillars. The smell of ash and burnt soil was abundant, and the light of the sun still shone brightly despite being late in the afternoon.

At long last, after an intense battle, Aang unlocked the Avatar State and managed to defeat Ozai by taking away his bending, an ability given to him by a wise and ancient Turtle Lion. With this ability, Aang remained true to his beliefs and ended the conflict without having to take away anyone's life, for not even someone as evil as the Fire Lord deserved to be killed according to Aang's pacifist views. In the end, Ozai's lust for power and domination ultimately led him to his doom. The Hundred Year War was finally over…

… However, there was one battle that had yet to be fought.

Two figures were standing on a huge pillar, staring intensely at each other. One was a fourteen year old boy with brown hair and golden eyes. His clothes were off-putting and didn't seem to belong to any of the Four Nations. Then again, the boy did not belong to any of the Four Nations and neither did the cloaked man in front of him. The two of them were from another place, another world, and another dimension altogether.

"I knew I was going to find you here once Aang's fight with the Fire Lord came to an end," Shujinko said.

"A shinobi must wait for the correct moment to strike. We both know that, don't we?" the cloaked man replied. He was noticeably taller than Shujinko, and his voice had quite a bit of grit to it. He held a staff with three curved daggers attached to one end, which resembled the claws of a hawk's feet. "In any case, today is the day I will finally get rid of your pesky interference. I never imagined that, after all these years, a traitorous, ignorant boy would cause me so many problems. I won't allow you or your little friends to take away what is rightfully mine,"

Regardless of his blank face, Shujinko still felt a pinch of guilt and regret inside his stomach. Facing his past was not something he ever thought he would have to do, certainly not in this way. He felt pity for the man in front of him, but no amount of pity would change the fact that he had to do what he had to do. His resolve was unshakeable.

"It's not like I care an awful lot, but you should realize that you brought all of this on your own," the cloaked man spoke again. "It's your fault that we have to fight. I offered you a chance to join my side and stand alongside me. Do you remember that day? You could've avoided this, but you chose not to. You have no one to blame for this but yourself,"

"Even if I had wanted to join your side, you probably would've stabbed me in the back once you no longer had use of me. Besides…" Shujinko reached for his back pouch and took out his headband, which he then proceeded to adjust in his forehead. Once the headband's knot was tight enough, the golden-eyed boy brought his palms together and activated the Karura Tensei. "… I believe in what my sensei taught me. In the shinobi world, those who break the rules are scum, but those who abandon their comrades are worse than scum. Maybe I'm no longer in my world, but my comrades are still my comrades, and I would rather die than betray them,"

"Is that so? Well then, hopefully all of you can reunite in the Spirit World once I'm done. This is the Promised Land. I am merely fulfilling the prophecy that I chose for myself, the prophecy that needed to be fulfilled,"

|Hidden Leaf Village|

Eight months. Eight months have passed since Shujinko and his friends failed to return to the village with Sasuke, who left everything behind in his quest for power and vengeance. Orochimaru failed to acquire the Uchiha's body on time and was now grooming Sasuke to become his next vessel, teaching the young avenger as much as he could before he was forced to perform the Transference Ritual again. The Snake Sannin was anxiously counting the days, licking his lips at the thought of obtaining Sasuke's Sharingan, the power that would help him achieve his life-long ambition of learning every single jutsu ever developed by mankind.

Naruto, who had promised to bring Sasuke back by any means, officially became Jiraiya's student and left the village for a three year-long training period. He was determined to grow stronger so that he could eventually bring Sasuke back to Konoha and become Hokage one day, and he knew that the best way to achieve both goals was to learn everything he could from Pervy Sage, who continued to investigate the Akatsuki while writing what was destined to be his greatest master piece so far: Make-Out Tactics.

Not wanting to be left behind, Sakura humbly requested Tsunade to teach her. The busty Hokage was impressed by Sakura's drive as well as her natural talent for chakra control and agreed to instruct the pink-haired girl in the ways of Medical Ninjutsu. Every day was a new challenge for Sakura, who was constantly being pushed to her physical and mental limits by both Tsunade and Shizune, but the satisfaction that came with improving made everything worth it.

As for Shujinko, he became Kakashi's sole pupil as well as a Chunin once the wounds he sustained from Sasuke's retrieval mission were fully healed. However, while he was given the rank of Chunin, Tsunade made it perfectly clear that part of the reason why she promoted him was due to the considerable losses that the village suffered at the hands of Orochimaru, who orchestrated an invasion with the Sound and Sand Villages that resulted in heavy casualties. The Hidden Leaf needed to increase its number of Chunins and Jounins that could take part in dangerous missions for the sake of the village's restoration, and Shujinko successfully went through all three stages of the Chunin Exam (albeit unconventionally given the interruption caused by Orochimaru's invasion during the third stage).

Since Kakashi vouched for his student, Tsunade decided to "invest" on Shujinko and promoted him to Chunin while also placing him under Kakashi's tutelage for the next three years. Given how the rest of his teammates were already learning from someone else, it was only fair and logical that Shujinko received the same treatment, and what better teacher for him than Kakashi, the Copy Cat Ninja.

Kakashi's training regimen was as efficient as it was brutal. The silver-haired Jounin began to teach his student each and every aspect that composed a shinobi fight, and Shujinko soon found out Kakashi was an actual slave driver in disguise. Since Shujinko was a Ninjutsu specialist with an affinity towards medium to close range combat, Kakashi trained him to become a lethal weapon in that regard, taking advantage of his student's prowess in Wind Style Ninjutsu and his Kekkei Genkai, the Karura Tensei.

Shujinko's physical appearance went through a rather noticeable transformation. With fourteen years of age, the brown-haired boy was already showing signs of growing up strong and healthy. His body was leaner than before, taller even. Kakashi made it very clear to him that being in top shape was fundamental for a good performance, especially since Shujinko preferred to engage his enemies in hand-to-hand combat before making use of Ninjutsu. Being constantly challenged by Rock Lee also helped him build speed and resilience towards physical attacks, even if the spandex-wearing Genin could be a tad bit obnoxious about their 'youthful rivalry' when he proposed things like a 500 push-ups competition.

However, for every lesson that Shujinko's body received, his mind received two. Kakashi taught Shujinko that being shrewd and perceptive was just as important as being a good fighter, if not more. Being able to notice hidden details and discern information according to what he knew and what he theorized about was by far one of the most important skills a ninja could have. This kind of mental training was as exhaustive as any other. While fairly smart within his own right, Shujinko didn't possess the intellectual aptitudes that other individuals such as Kakashi and Itachi were born with, and since you couldn't teach someone how to be a genius, the Ozuma was forced to broaden the scope of his cognitive faculties and work out predictions according to what his brain picked up before and during the heat of a battle.

Gaining experience was also part of his training. Shujinko may have become a fully-fledged Chunin with all of the rights and duties that came with the rank, but the truths of the matter was that he still needed more experience before he could participate in dangerous missions on his own or lead a squad of subordinates who depended on him. After all, the training grounds and battlefields were two different things. That was why Tsunade thought it was a good idea to have Shujinko join his sensei in some of the tasks that were assigned to Kakashi unless the Hokage deemed a certain mission to be far too dangerous for the up and coming Chunin. Her decision allowed Shujinko to put Kakashi's lessons into practice while at the same time learning from the battle-hardened Jounin just by looking at him and listening to what he had to say.

As a result, Shujinko was now steadily becoming one of the most promising prospects of his generation. He was stronger than before, faster than before, smarter than before, and an all-around better shinobi than before. Things were looking bright for him.

If only he knew how crazy his life was about to get.

|Hokage's Office|

"… And that's about what happened, Lady Tsunade," Kakashi said as he informed the leader of the village about his latest mission with Shujinko. Sensei and student were sent to the Kisaragi Village to investigate a series of kidnappings that had been going on for weeks. Turns out there was a gang of criminals abducting women and children demanding huge sums of money for their return, and since the Kisaragi Village was a pacifistic community with no military power or even a proper security system, they asked the Hidden Leaf Village to send a couple of their ninjas over to help them deal with the kidnappings.

In this mission, Kakashi tried to intervene only when it was necessary, allowing Shujinko to think on his own and come up with his own conclusions and decisions for the sake of his growth as a shinobi. While the Hatake obviously deduced pretty much everything way faster and accurate than Shujinko did, the golden-eyed boy did an overall good job tracking the abductors down and rescuing the people who had been taken away. It wasn't about teaching a lesson to some low-life criminals, but rather about how he dealt with the situation itself.

"So the kidnapped people returned to their homes safe and sound. That's exactly what I wanted to hear," Tsunade replied, her hands clenched together. As always, her desk had several stacks of papers on top, mostly reports of other missions and what not. "What about Shujinko? How did he perform?"

"Shujinko did well. He's getting the hang of coming up with long-term strategies on his own and didn't ask for my input. He should be able to handle missions like these without my assistance sooner rather than later. We didn't have to face any enemy shinobi, so in this case, I have nothing to comment regarding his fighting skills. I told him I would be the one to deliver the report to you. The boy deserves the weekend off after all the work he's done,"

Tsunade nodded. "I agree with you, Kakashi. These past two weeks have been hectic for everyone. Missions request have been popping up like crazy, and we've had to accept every single one of them. Hopefully, we can all breathe easier now that we don't have our hands full with requests from other villages. Now, unless there's nothing else to discuss, you may take your leave and rest for a while,"

"Actually, there's one last thing I would like to know," the Hatake said as his only visible eye narrowed slightly. "While we were away, Pakkun gave me a message from the Leaf containing information about the delicate status of the Sensing Barrier and the team responsible for its maintenance. I can understand the vagueness of the message due to what would've happened had it fell on the wrong hands, but now that I'm here, I wouldn't mind hearing a more detailed explanation if it's not too much to ask,"

The busty Hokage let out a tired sigh. The Sensing Barrier was a barrier invisible to the naked eye that surrounded all of the Hidden Leaf Village. Its purpose was to alert all security breaches that came from the exterior by recognizing foreign chakra signatures that did not belong to any Leaf shinobi. The Sensing Barrier team consisted mostly of members of the Yamanaka clan, as well as a few other ninjas with knowledge in the chakra sensory department.

However, during the last few days, there had been several reports of food poisoning that were affecting civilians and ninjas alike, and some of the affected happened to be most of the members of the Sensing Barrier team. The Yamanaka clan issued a statement in which they indicated how many of their members were currently ill most likely because of the food poisoning crisis. No one was going to die nor would the illness last for long, but while the members of the Yamanaka clan were out of commission, the Sensing Barrier team would have to work with replacements that were nowhere near as efficient as the standard team, which meant that the Hidden Leaf Village was considerably more exposed to outer attacks and invasions.

After hearing what the Hokage had to say, Kakashi placed his fingers on his chin. "I assume this is the main reason why you wanted us to finish our assignment and return to the village as soon as possible. You want us to stay here for the time being in case of an unexpected attack,"

"That's correct. I doubt very strongly that our enemies have acquired this information, so the probabilities of being forced to fend off against other villages are less than low, but I won't take any risks when it comes to the safety of our home. I have several food inspectors looking into this, and the owners of the markets are being questioned right now as we speak. Nothing too serious, just basic information gathering. I won't bother to call Ibiki unless the situation asks for a tougher hand,"

…

|Ozuma residence, 20:00 P.M.|

"I'm home," Shujinko called out as he entered his house and took off his boots, leaving them near the door. He was pretty worn out after his mission. Even if the biggest threat he faced in the Kisaragi Village was a bunch of armed thugs and ruffians who stood no chance against him and Kakashi, the collective amount of tasks he had to deal with during the month had left his body sore and his mind almost exhausted.

"Big brother, you're home!" Nanami shouted as she tackled her sibling. Shujinko affectionately ruffled Nanami's hair with a tired smile, returning the embrace with his free arm. "How was your mission? It took you ages to come back!"

"Nothing out of the ordinary, just a short trip to the Kisaragi Village. And don't be so exaggerated, I only left for a couple of days,"

Nanami pouted as she ended the hug. "Well, it felt like ages to me. You're so lucky, big brother. I can't wait to become a Genin go outside the village. All Iruka-sensei allows us to do is explore the forest nearby, and there's nothing fun to do there, just trees and bushes everywhere,"

"By the way, where are Mom and Dad?" Shujinko asked, dropping his backpack on the floor. "They're usually here for dinner at this time of the day. Did they go out or something?"

The younger Ozuma tilted her head to the side, giving Shujinko a curious look. "Don't you remember? They said they were going to leave the village for the weekend. They're celebrating their wedding anniversary together, but I don't know what an anniversary is and I forgot to ask them. What's an anniversary, big brother?"

"Oh, that's right. They did mention something about their anniversary last time I was here," Shujinko said to himself.

His parents Daichi and Masumi had reached fifteen years of marriage together and, instead of staying home and cook delicious dinner for the family like they always did, this time they decided to step things up a notch and go on a short but romantic holiday just the two of them. The golden-eyed boy was pretty sure this was his mother's idea, as Daichi was usually a serious and stern man who, despite loving his family dearly, wasn't used to openly display shows of affection, at least not in the way most fathers and husbands did.

"Well then, I suppose it's going to be just the two of us this weekend, huh Nanami?"

"Nope nope," Nanami answered, to which Shujinko raised an eyebrow. "Moegi invited me over to her house this morning. We're going to have a sleepover for the entire weekend! How cool is that?"

"Really? And both Mom and Dad gave you permission before they left?" Shujinko asked, receiving a nod from Nanami. "Huh, then I suppose it's alright. A sleepover does seem like fun," While Shujinko was simply too old and busy for sleepovers, he remembered he used to enjoy going to them when he was a kid. He especially enjoyed going to Choji's house since not only was Shikamaru also invited most of the time, but also the food they served there was just out of this world. "Anyways, since it's almost time for dinner, I'm guessing Moegi will be here to pick you up anytime now. Do you have your bag ready?"

…

"Huuuuuh… Maybe?"

Shujinko sighed. "Of course you don't. Come on, hurry up before Moegi gets here. I'll give you a hand,"

|Somewhere far, far away from the shinobi world|

"Boy am I glad that we found Appa. We're finally out of that stinking swamp," Sokka said as he and his sister made themselves comfortable on Appa's saddle while Aang sat on top of the Flying Bison's head. "Can you imagine spending the rest of our lives in that place, talking to magical trees and hunting Frog Squirrels for dinner?"

"Never mind the Frog Squirrels for dinner. I was afraid we were going to be stuck with those crazy visions all the time. They were so real and vivid, it was as if they were alive," Katara replied, remembering how her mother Kya appeared in front of her against all logic and common sense. It wasn't until both Sokka and Aang admitted to seeing similar visions that they realized something was extremely off. Huu, a waterbender from the tribe, explained to them that those who entered the swamp often saw visions of the past, especially loved ones that they had lost at some point in their lives.

Aang's case was the opposite. He didn't saw someone from his past since he couldn't recognize the giggling girl or her Flying Boar pet, so the only explanation left was that Aang was going to meet her one day, meaning that it was a vision from the future. However, since this was a vision from the future, Aang couldn't tell for sure what was that girl's role in his life, both as a human and as the Avatar.

"I don't know what to make of my vision," Aang said. "The weirdest thing of all wasn't the girl or the Flying Boar, it was…"

"What was it, Aang?" Katara asked.

The airbender looked over his shoulder, still holding Appa's reins. "I didn't mention this before because I wasn't so sure myself what it was, but looking back at what happened, I think I know now. When the girl and her pet disappeared out of sight, loads and loads of leaves began to fall from the sky. I've never seen anything like it before, and I have no idea what it means,"

Sokka clicked his tongue. "Leaves? Come on, Aang. We were in a swamp. You know, surrounded by thousands of trees, each of them with leaves, leaves and more leaves. What makes you say that leaves falling from the sky were also part of your vision? Last time I checked, leaves in a forest are as common as water in a lake and rocks in a mountain,"

"But these weren't ordinary leaves, Sokka. These were made out of metal,"

"Made out of metal, you say?" Sokka repeated, sharing an incredulous look with his sister.

They knew the swamp was a spiritual place where they saw visions of their past, or in Aang's case, the future. Therefore, the possibility of Aang seeing a vision of metallic leaves falling from the sky wasn't preposterous all things considered. However, it did go against the consistency of the visions themselves. Katara saw her mother Kya, Sokka saw Princess Yue, and Aang saw a young girl wearing a fine dress who giggled all of the time. In all three instances, they experienced visions of people, not inorganic objects.

"I know it sounds crazy, but I think those leaves meant something," Aang said, a concerned look adorning his face. As the Avatar, Aang had already accepted the fact that weird stuff was going to happen to him, for better or worse. His vision in the swamp was another thing to add to the list of supernatural occurrences that he had experienced so far. If that strange girl was supposed to be part of his future, then it stood to reason that the metallic leaves were also involved in his future, one way or another. "What do you guys think?"

"Under normal circumstances, I'd say you've gone bananas, Aang," the oldest of the group said as he began to sharpen his boomerang with a whetstone. "However, considering what happened to us in that swamp, I'm not so sure what to think. Maybe those leaves have a spiritual meaning or some mumbo jumbo like that. That's usually the case, right?"

"Even if that happens to be the case, there's not a whole lot we can do about it as of now. We can only wait and see whether if what you saw in the swamp had any meaning or not," Katara concluded.

Aang took a deep breath and tried to relax. Katara's words made him remember what the monks used to say: Sometimes, the only way to understand the future was to experience the present. The meaning of things often revealed themselves to someone if that someone was willing to wait, and patience was a virtue that belonged to monks, after all. "You're right, Katara. We should focus on finding an Earthbending teacher for now. Speaking of which, what place should we go first?"

Sokka left his boomerang aside and took the map out of his backpack, rubbing his chin as he inspected the last place they had visited before getting lost in the swamp and tracing an invisible line with his finger until coming to a conclusion. "Gaoling seems like our best bet. It's a fairly big city, which means its population has to be proportional to its size. There has to be at least one Earthbending teacher there. However, it's not going to be a short trip. I'd say about two weeks and a half if we start today. If we want to go to Gaoling, we're gonna have to make some stops along the way,"

The waterbender of the group opened a bag and dropped its content, only to find little more than crumbs. "We barely have any food left, so we might as well visit a few villages and stock up on supplies before we reach Gaoling,"

Upon hearing the word 'food', Aang's stomach growled, and the poor monk placed a hand on his empty belly. He hadn't gotten a bite for many hours now. There had been practically nothing in the swamp for him to eat, whether because of the dietary restrictions that came with being a monk or because of the simple fact that the things that he could eat, like the vegetable soup that the Foggy Swamp Tribe cooked for them, tasted disgusting.

"That sounds like a great idea. Sokka, what's the closest town we can visit?"

"Gi Yuin Village. It's a small place, but I'm sure we can find a market somewhere. Do you think they serve crab puffs over there? I've been dying to try some. They sound so meaty and puffy,"

"Only one way to find out. Gi Yuin Village, here we come!"

|Hidden Leaf Village, middle of the night|

Shujinko woke up from his slumber, eyes widened in surprise. Someone was inside his house.

His training under Kakashi had taught him how to detect enemies nearby, a necessary skill to survive in stealth missions and avoid surprise attacks. After all, part of a ninja's essence was to act silently and from the shadows, using the darkness as an ally. However, the situation was so unexpected that he had trouble figuring out what was happening. The possibility of a regular burglar trying to get his hands on things of value was pretty much nonexistent because even the most dimwitted of criminals wouldn't dare try to steal something from a shinobi village. It was the equivalent of a lamb entering a cave filled with wolves.

It couldn't be either of his parents. Daichi and Masumi not only were enjoying their anniversary away from the village, but Shujinko would've heard and recognized their loud footsteps. They were civilians, not ninjas trained in the art of stealth. Could it be Nanami? It made more sense, but it was still unlikely. She was supposed to be in Moegi's house, and even if she had come back for whatever reason, Nanami couldn't have opened the door, as she didn't have her own set of keys. Besides, knowing his sister, she would've let her presence be known first, either by throwing pebbles at his window or knocking on the door.

Very slowly, he brought his palms together and activated the Karura Tensei, his Kekkei Genkai which allowed him to enter Hawk Sage Mode instantly. This way, he was able to detect chakra signatures within a limited radius. The sensory abilities of a Sage were proportional to the Sage's own chakra reserves, and since Shujinko didn't possess enormous amounts of chakra, he couldn't sense chakra signatures from too far away. It didn't matter in this case because he was focusing on the area inside his small house.

Shujinko nearly flinched when he sensed an unknown chakra signature inside his home. It undoubtedly belonged to a shinobi.

His first thought was that the village was under attack by a group of ninjas from another village. He stared at the window to see if he could spot conflict outside, but nothing seemed to be out of place. There were no signs of conflict as far as he could tell. Was he the only one who was aware of what was going on? 'This is bad. I have to warn the rest of the village, but not before I confront whoever is in my house. Otherwise, I won't know what we're going up against,'

With his heart beating twice as fast as normal, Shujinko grabbed his equipment and went to see who was downstairs.

Inside of Daichi's office, an individual was standing there, wearing a black cloak as dark as the night itself. His hood covered his head while a black bandana covered the lower half of his face, leaving only his shining eyes exposed. His appearance made him look more like a living shadow rather than a human being. The only thing that made his presence stand out amongst so much darkness, apart from his eyes, was the huge jewel strapped to his belt.

'After so many years, I've finally found it. My search is now complete,' the intruder thought, gazing intensely at the other jewel that was inside the room. It was the Eye of Kazemaru, the gem he had been looking for, his life-long ambition.

He walked over to the chest said gem was embedded into and abruptly extracted it with his bare hands, making a cracking noise that resonated inside the room. As he stared at the golden jewel, he couldn't help but chuckle, his lips trembling with mirth. Years of patience and planning had finally bore fruit. 'Now that I have this, I'm finally ready to conquer the Promised Land and fulfill the prophecy my forefathers were too afraid to chase after,'

THUCK

A kunai thrown from behind got stuck into the wall the thief was facing. Almost unfazed by this, the cloaked man turned around to see a young man glaring at him, with yellow pigmentation around his eyes and two linear marks that went from the bridge of his nose to just below his ears. He wore grey pants, a black shirt beneath a green flak jacket, two black arm braces and a headband with the symbol of the village carved into it. The trespasser's eyebrows rose slightly.

"Stop right there. If you make one move, I won't hesitate to kill you," Shujinko threatened him. "Who are you and what are you doing here?"

…

"… Remarkable… Truly remarkable… To think that the blood of the Ozuma clan flows through your veins. I thought they had all been wiped out from the face of the earth. I wasn't expecting this at all,"

Shujinko's eyes widened like dinner plates. The man's words sent a chill down his spine and nearly made him lose his composure. How the hell did he know about the Ozuma clan? How could he recognize him?

"Tell me something, child. Who are your parents? Where do they hail from?"

"I'm the one asking the questions around here," Shujinko replied, trying his best to hide his astonishment by putting up a strong front. "Who are you? What do you want to do with that?" he asked as he pointed a finger at the Eye of Kazemaru, which was still being held by the stranger. The Chunin's eyes landed on the jewel that was strapped to his belt, and he found them to be quite similar, almost identical.

"There's no need for you to know my name. We were never supposed to meet each other. As for this…" he greedily stared at the Eye of Kazemaru in his hand. "This is the amulet that will allow me to achieve my destiny, the missing piece of my puzzle. You don't know the power behind these gems or their true purpose. You're just a child who carries the name and the burden of a clan who lost its way. I daresay your very own existence is a mistake that should be erased, but since I no longer hold any interest in this world, I won't bother to kill you. This world will take care of that without the need for my intervention,"

'What is this guy talking about? The Eye of Kazemaru acts as a padlock that protects the archives of the Ozuma clan that my father managed to save. Other than that, it doesn't have any special powers. But that's beside the point. How does he even know about its existence in the first place?' Shujinko thought before slightly shaking his head. This guy was a threat and he knew too much about the Ozuma clan. Shujinko had to restrain him and alarm the guards before they could interrogate him. He pulled out a kunai and adopted a fighting stance, much to the intruder's amusement.

"I already said that I won't bother to kill you, but if you attack me, I can't make any promises," he warned.

"I'm going to teach you not to break into other people's houses, you bastard!" Shujinko threw himself at him with the intention to kill the intruder. Someone who was capable of sneaking past the guards and entering the village without anyone noticing had to be skilled, so underestimating him would be a huge mistake.

When Shujinko had gotten close enough, the masked man took a small step back and grabbed the Chunin by the throat, stopping his attack before it could reach him. Shujinko let out a yelp as his neck started to get squeezed, dropping his kunai.

"Attacking your enemy head-on. You're certainly one bold shinobi for your age, so much that it makes me wonder how have you survived in this cursed world of ours for so long. Oh well, it hardly matters now, doesn't it? It's only natural that those who seek an early grave find it sooner rather than later,"

"… You think so?" Shujinko whispered in a raspy tone of voice as the stranger held him tightly. "… I wouldn't be… so sure… about that… Idiot…"

While still getting choked, the Chunin grabbed his enemy's wrist and forearm with both hands and placed his feet on his shoulder to restrain his movements.

POOF

The kunai Shujinko had dropped transformed into Shujinko, who came directly at the cloaked man while his doppelganger grappled him. 'It can't be! This boy was a shadow clone from the beginning!' he raged inside his mind. Since he was using his left hand to grab the Eye of Kazemaru, he made a split-second decision and attempted to punch the real Shujinko, using the heavy jewel as a blunt weapon.

Much to his surprise, the Ozuma evaded the strike by ducking down and imitated his shadow clone, using both his hands to grab the Eye of Kazemaru with all of his strength. "You're not going anywhere!"

"Unhand me, you insolent brat! You cannot stop me from fulfilling my destiny!"

POOF

The intruder managed to look over his shoulder. The other kunai, the one that was stuck to the wall, had also transformed into Shujinko, and that was when he understood everything. The two boys that were holding him were shadow clones while the original had been waiting for them to grab him before he could attack. With both his arms restrained, he was unable to weave hand signs or escape. 'I underestimated him. This was a trap from the very start! I have no choice but to…'

"Kazekiri!" Shujinko shouted, performing his trademark jutsu and running straight towards him, his Kekkei Genkai activated. The sound of air getting constantly slashed by invisible swords filled the place. After many months of training, Shujinko had finally managed to learn how to perform the Kazekiri without inflicting wounds on his own forearm thanks to Kakashi's training, although he still needed to activate the Karura Tensei in order to boost his wind chakra to the level that the technique required.

…

But then, something happened. Just when Shujinko's technique was about to reach the cloaked man, the two jewels began to glow, releasing a blinding light that vanished all the darkness in the room. Time began to slow down until it became frozen. At first, Shujinko feared he had fallen victim of a Genjutsu, but it didn't quite felt like it. Besides, his enemy couldn't weave any hand signs. How was this possible? The Ozuma further extended his arm, but his body was no longer responding.

Before Shujinko could open his mouth, his body began to feel lighter and lighter, to the point where he became as heavy as a feather. It all happened in a matter of seconds. The blinding flash of light faded away as fast as it came… and Shujinko faded away with it.

Aaaaaaand that was chapter 1. Hope you all liked it.

Welcome to this new story I've been working on. After finally writing "Shujinko: The Fourth Member", I can now move on to this project. Be warned, I WILL write this story assuming that you, the reader, have already read my previously mentioned story. You don't have to read it if you're not interested, but don't be surprised if you don't fully understand what's going on in "When Chi Meets Chakra: A Space-Time Adventure". Unless I absolutely have to, I won't bother myself explaining every single thing about Shujinko when he already has a story.

So yeah, what are your first thoughts about this? I will make the following chapters longer as I like my chapters to be around 8000 – 9000 words long. This is little more than an introduction. The next chapter will be about Shujinko arriving to the Avatar world, so make sure to stay tuned. Hopefully, this gave you a taste of my writing style.

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Peace!