Can Pokemon Into Naruto? 23 (Patreon)

Commissioned by Anthony Maxwell

Can Pokemon Into Naruto?

Chapter 23

-VB-

Jito Yanmanheda Haru did not like his lot in life. 

Stuck in a periphery province as one of many jitos overseeing villages and outposts, his lot in life was barely above the farmers who he watched over. It didn’t matter that his father came from the central province near the capital or that his family was rich.

He didn’t do well on his Fire Nation Civil Service Examination. Even though he’d studied so hard, he was only capable of taking care of a small network of connected farms and villages! Him, the man who raised successful businesses! Who cares if a peasant lost a finger or two?! He’d increased the tax revenue for the daimyo, made money for the investors, and made the lives of his customers just a bit easier. The bastards he hired were all low lives who were skulking in back alleys, thugging, raping, and thieving pieces of shits that deserved the death sentence. 

But noooo… “Fire Nation had to be better as the best of the Elemental Nation” bullshit meant that his actions prior to the civil service exam and his results during it meant that he was effectively exiled. 

And he’d done well. 

He quelled would-be rebellions. 

He made the farmers safer during his rule. 

All bandits and rebels were turned into slaves for the quarry. 

So he hated it when things went awry even when he did his best to keep those he ruled over safe. 

Fucking ninjas. 

Sitting across from a team of kid ninjas (but ninjas were ninjas and he needed to be polite!) and their ninja sensei, Jito Yanmanheda kept his eyes down low and not meet their gaze. Even if he was a jito, he was socially equal to military officers like the jounin ninja sitting in seiza across from him. 

“It’s been a while, Jounin Yuhi,” he spoke up. “I didn’t think that you would be back so soon.”

“Circumstances have led me here, again,” the beauty replied. 

No, no, no. He had to stop thinking about her like that. She was a person. She was a weapon, even her beauty. There was no such thing as objective beauty to shinobis and kunoichis. Everything was a weapon. If he misstepped here, then she might kill him and simply report that he had been plotting rebellion or something!

He had to keep his guard up! 

He was not talking to a noble or a commoner. He was talking to a walking, talking sword. 

Get too close, and he’ll get gutted like a pig for the feast!

“And for what reason might you be here this time…?” he asked cautiously. “If it is anything I could help with, then I’d like to offer you a helping hand.” But ninjas didn’t receive help from a lowly jito like him, and that was one of the very few perks he had. If he were back home near the capital, then he might be expected to offer anything from the assistance of his personal guards to even participating in bandit exterminations! Assuming his father didn’t offer him up…

“If you are offering…”

… Please, no.

“Tell me everything about the village with ghosts.”

He froze. Double fuck no. KUSOOOOO…!!!

But he didn’t have a choice! If he refused, then the paranoid ninjas in front of him might just decide that he was collaborating with the enemies of the Fire Daimyo and summarily execute him! 

But why that village? They were scary! They paid their taxes on time, so he didn’t bother them at all! He didn’t want to go near those giant bugs! They were scary! 

He gulped. 

“... Very well, ma’am. I shall endeavor to fill in any gaps of information.”

“Thank you for your cooperation, jito,” the jounin bowed deeply. “I must first ask about potential dangers that we will encounter.”

He felt like he sucked on a pickled plum.

Goddamnit.

“The first thing you must worry about … are the bugs.”

“Bugs?” the sunglasses wearing and a high collar jacketed ninja kid spoke up for the first time. 

“Yes,” Haru shuddered. “They are massive. The smallest among them is two-thirds the size of your average commoner. And they are not beasts.”

The ninjas exchanged looks among each other. 

“Please, explain further if you can.”

“First off, they are not like wasps or bees. They coordinate. They signal. And they use chakra techniques like ninjas like yourself.”

That got their attention, truly. 

“Curiously enough, they will not harm anyone who does not attack them or the village. However, if you walk in with the intent to harm, they somehow know and will attack you whenever they feel like your guards are down or when you get too close to the village.”

“And there are no ninjas?”

“Ninjas… no,” he shook his head. “And then there … there are the ghosts.”

“Yes, the reason why we were dispatched here,” the jounin hummed. 

“They look like plants.”

“... Plants.”

“Yes. They have wispy bodies and have a tiny tree stump for their heads. I highly advise you do not provoke the ghosts. A particularly… rude… merchant got cursed with unending burns that only grew worse as time went on, and it wasn’t until the village’s healer scolded the ghost that the burns came to an end.”

“The local healer… Do you speak of the tall man of that village?”

“Tall man…?” Haru frowned. “Yes, he is quite tall. He is the healer, and the master of the ghosts and the bugs and all sorts of other creatures.”

“I see,” the jounin hummed. “And there are no dangers?”

“... Please understand that I don’t say the next part to be rude.”

“If it is relevant to our mission, then it cannot be rude.”

“If you hurt the healer, then please be prepared to earn the ire of the entire province’s nobility.”

“...What?”

“The healer makes long lasting medicines. Sometimes, they are salves. Other times, they are drinks. Regardless of how he makes them, he does, and it has been a boon to the local nobility like myself and up to the highest residing courtier, a sho shi-i no ge, whose son is a bushi who was once the uhyo’e no kami.”

That made the jounin freeze. 

Good. She understood. 

Sho shi-i no ge, or a courtier of the fourth highest title in the entire Fire Nation, was a senior nobility. Senior Fourth Rank, Lower Grade, to be specific. That rank was high enough that interfering in such a prestigious individual was akin to interfering in the business of a ninja clan. Or a samurai clan. Or the imperial temples. 

They were simple … well, not untouchable, but highly recommended to not be bothered lest the offending party be killed on the spot. Considering that most samurai clan heads were of this rank and not all of the ninja clan heads were, this jounin would need the hokage to intervene on her behalf if she wanted to survive pissing off the noble currently staying in Haru’s jurisdiction.

And he hoped she didn’t because she might survive the fallout, but he wouldn’t. 

And as for the bushi, or the samurai. 

Uhyo’e no Kami, or in the common tongue, the Head of the Right Military Guards. This was a samurai who was once guarding the royal palace of the Fire Daimyo.

This was a samurai who can fuck up jounins like her without a problem.

So, yes. She could kill him. Ruin him. But she wasn’t the most dangerous person in his jurisdiction right now! 

Just the most immediate one. 

“I … see.I shall endeavor to not create a problem. However, if this healer is working with an enemy of the Fire Daimyo…”

“Then, of course, any action you carry out will be not only legal but a duty.”

She nodded. “Please, guide us to the village. It will be good for the villagers and their guards to see that we are not hostile.”

KUSO!