“So? How were you able to train up to this point, brat?” Pakura asked as she sat beside Daisuke, both of them currently on a boat that was directed towards the Land of Fire. “From what I’ve seen, you are at the level of any genin, a strong one at that.”

“My father left me a scroll.” Daisuke said to her. “It had some basic Chakra training exercises, as well as two basic techniques based on my affinities, some guides on exercises to improve my taijutsu, and how to train a basic taijutsu technique.”

“Mm? But didn’t your parents die when you were three?” Pakura tilted her head. “How could they- oh, right. I forgot.” She nodded.

“Yeah…” Daisuke smiled awkwardly. “They assumed that if I had Ice Release, then I would surely have Water and Wind chakra affinities.” Daisuke said, continuing his lie. Though it wasn’t that much of a lie, more like twisting the truth, after all, he did learn from a scroll.

“So you’ve learned jutsus of both natures?” She raised an eyebrow.

“Something like that, I only know one jutsu of Wind Release and a few D-Ranks of Water. Oh, I guess I know two of C-Rank.”

“Also left by your parents?” She tilted her head, but this time, Daisuke shook his head.

“I found them. As I grew up, I started fighting with some bandits. I did it to get some money at first, but then I managed to get commissions from some villagers that were being harassed by the bandits. In some of these raids, I was lucky, and managed to get a few scrolls for these techniques.”

“I guess I’m not that surprised; the war ended not too long ago, and a lot of ninjas from different villages deserted. Bandits started to rise around and between the five great nations” Pakura said with a sigh. “Even until now a lot of the missions that come to the village are related to bandit extermination.”

“Yeah… I didn’t expect to find so many shinobi among the bandits. At least all of them were really weak genins.” Daisuke shrugged.

“I guess, no one that has managed to reach chunin level would waste their time becoming simple bandits, they would at least try their hands at being mercenaries, or at least try to recruit more ninjas, not just regular bandits.” Said Pakura as she crossed her arms behind her back, causing her modest attributes to show. Something that didn’t escape Daisuke’s eyes.

{Damn! They’re huge!} He thought for a moment before looking at the sea. “I guess that’s true.”

“Mm…” Contrary to what he thought, he wasn’t precisely sneaky with his short glance. {He’s so obvious.} Thought Pakura with a grin, before strongly ruffling his hair.

“Oi! What’s that for!?” Daisuke asked with a frown.

“Nothing. Just punishing some cheeky brat.” She grinned. Daisuke only clicked his tongue as he looked away with a frown, which made Pakura laugh at him. “Anyways, brat, so you’ve pretty much learned everything by yourself, huh?”

“...Yeah.” After a little bit, he finally answered with a nod. “Thankfully, those from Kirigakure never found me, though, I start suspecting that maybe they just stopped looking for me.”

“That could be the case.” Pakura nodded, her face turning to a serious one. “Kirigakure has been in a really bad situation lately. I would be amazed if they could still send ninjas to look for some toddler that might as well be dead, either killed by bandits, or starved to death. If anything, you did well to survive.”

“...Thanks.” Daisuke said after a little bit, lowering his eyes. He knew that it was all thanks to the cheat given to him, but even then, for the first time in two lives, Fate seemed to smile at him. {If it was before… I would die before even waking up in this world…} He smiled awkwardly.

“Anyways. It seems that we’re close.” Pakura said as she looked to the front, where a port could be seen somewhat far. “Are you ready?” She asked him with a small smile.

“Yeah.” To which Daisuke nodded, giving a smile of his own back.

After getting down the boat to a small port village in the Land of Fire, both Pakura and Daisuke immediately started their way to Sunagakure. It was, by no means, a short trip, even if they ran all the way, they would at least need around five days, give or take. And that’s if considering Pakura’s running speed and not Daisuke. After moving all day, they reached a town halfway between Konoha and the port town.

Renting a room with two beds, both of them decided to take a rest to continue their travel the next morning.

“Are you sure?” Daisuke, who was already laying down on his bed, asked as he looked at the ceiling.

“About what?” Pakura asked back, her eyes already closed, seemingly resting from their journey.

“Of going back to Sunagakure.” He simply said.

“It’s my village, of course I would go back.” She said shortly.

“But-”

“I know. I’ll deal with it when the time comes.” Pakura interrupted him as she turned around, her back pointing at Daisuke. Taking the hint, he just closed his eyes.

***

Pakura and Daisuke have been moving for days now, until they finally managed to reach the Wind Country, with a long stretch of desert receiving them. After moving through the desert for a while, and seeing that it was already quite late, they decided to rest in a cave in one of the rocky areas of the desert.

After laying their equipment on one side of the walls, Pakura lit a fire in order to keep the cold air of the night away. Both of them sat at each side of the fire while eating some rations that Pakura had on herself.

Looking at her, Daisuke could tell that she wasn’t precisely alright, as much as she wanted to show up a strong facade, he was sure that the apparent betrayal hit her quite hard. After all, someone hailed as the Hero of Sunagakure surely had made a lot of contributions to her village.

“What are you looking at me for, brat?” She said, turning to look at him.

“Mm… just wondering if you had any Wind jutsu that you could teach me.” Daisuke shrugged.

“Is that so?” She lifted an eyebrow, before looking back at the fire. “I guess I could teach you one.” She nodded before standing up. “Come on.”

Daisuke quickly stood up and followed her outside of the cave. The desert night was as cold as it could be, with the wind blowing over the dunes at quite the speed. {It does deserve its name as the Land of Winds…} Thought Daisuke for a moment as he stopped behind Pakura, who had already stopped and turned to him.

“Now, I’m going to show you a basic C-Rank Jutsu from the Wind Release, so pay attention to it.” She said, slowly forming the required hand seals, Tiger, Ox, Dog, Rabbit, and Snake. “Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!” She said, inhaling air before breathing out a strong wind from her mouth that easily blew away a lot of sand on its path, including rocks and stones.

{Great Breakthrough, huh, that’s quite the known technique. And damn… I could see myself being sent away with what she just did.} He thought with an awkward smile.

“Well?” Pakura turned once again towards him. “What do you think, brat? Are you able to do it?” She smirked.

“Give me an hour tops, and you’ll see if I’m able or not.” He said with a snort.

“Alright, alright. Just don’t be so hard on yourself if you can’t, brat.” Pakura chuckled, before going back into the cave. Daisuke looked at her back for a moment, before starting to train the hand seals.

{Thankfully, that stupid god left me instructions on how to make hand seals.} He thought with a sigh, as he repeatedly went through the necessary hand seals, which thankfully, weren’t that much. {I need to master this thing and reduce the number of hand seals for this jutsu, it took me a while with the Wild Water Wave, but it’s not impossible.}

He kept practicing the required hand seals for fifteen minutes before he decided to start practicing the jutsu. He wasn’t lying when he said that an hour would be enough to get some results, after all when it comes to Water and Wind Release, he had the support from his cheat.

“Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!” After breathing in a mouthful of air, Daisuke went through the hand seals at quite the speed, and then breathed out a strong gust of wind from his mouth that managed to push the sand in front of him, as well as some rocks and pebbles.

“Well, look at that…” Pakura, who was looking at him from inside the cave, muttered. “He does have great talent… What were those from Kirigakure thinking? Ha… I guess I can’t bitch about it, it technically saved my life and put the kid in front of me. If trained… He could be a great shinobi for the Hidden Sand… I just hope that the Kazekage won’t be stupid…” The expression on her face turned grim for a second before she shook her head and stood up.

{Well, that went well. Not at the level of Pakura’s jutsu, but it’s a quick start at least.} Daisuke thought with a grin as he looked at the front where it was still possible to see some traces of his jutsu.

“Well, brat, I admit it. You have a talent for it.” Pakura said with a grin as she stood behind him, looking at the place where he shot the jutsu. “Just an hour and you managed to get yourself a C-Rank jutsu.”

“It’s still not as strong as yours.” He shrugged.

“Tch.” She clicked her tongue before punching his head. “WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK I AM!?”

“Ouch! What was that for!?”

“I’m a jonin with years of experience! Do you think you would be able to get to my level after just an hour!?”

“But you don’t have to hit me for that!” He said with a glare.

“That’s to make sure your brain is working correctly!”

“More like you’re turning me into an idiot!”

“Like you weren’t one before.” She snorted, before turning back to the cave. “Anyways, let’s rest, tomorrow we reach Suna.”

“Freaking lunatic…” Daisuke said as he rubbed his head where she punched him. “I bet she’s still single.” He muttered, inwardly hoping that she couldn’t hear him.

“WHAT DID YOU SAY!?” But that was just his wishful thinking, as soon, an enraged Pakura came back.

“FUCK!” Not afraid of dying again, Daisuke prepared himself to fight the enraged woman until the very end.

“COME BACK HERE!” Or so he would tell anyone that asked later on, while in reality, he started running away from her. Sadly for him, she was a lot faster than him and had a lot of training in movement techniques. The rest of the night was hell for Daisuke.

{I miss the Land of Water…} He thought while unsuccessfully trying to evade Pakura’s hits.

***

“So this is Sunagakure…” Daisuke muttered as he looked at the big walls that were present in the middle of the desert, with only an entrance in view in the form of a really stretch passage.

“Incredible, right?” Pakura said with a grin. Both of them currently walking toward the entrance.

“Yes.” Daisuke nodded. Since coming here, this was maybe the first iconic place Naruto that he visited. They have, after all, taken a roundabout way to reach Sunagakure, and didn’t pass too close to Konoha. So while he still felt the similarities from the scenery he went through while traveling with Pakura, it wasn’t the same as looking at the tall walls of Sunagakure. {Maybe I should have asked her to go through Konoha…} Daisuke thought for a moment.

“Pakura-sama!” Shouted one of the guards at the entrance as they reached close to it. “Did you succeed in your mission?” He asked as he walked close to them. Admiration was clear in his eyes.

“Raigu.” Pakura nodded, before shaking her head. “The mission was compromised. It wasn’t possible to complete it.”

“...Compromised?” Raigu frowned. “What does-”

“Don’t worry. Everything is fine. I’ll need to speak to Lord Kazekage first.” Pakura waved her hand dismissively.

“Right…” Raigu nodded, before turning to look at the kid beside Pakura. “Mm? Who is this, Pakura-sama?”

“Oh, right. I almost forgot.” Pakura put her hand over Daisuke’s head. “This brat is Daisuke, I found him during my mission, or well, he found me. Daisuke, this is Raigu, a proud jonin of Suna.”

“Nice to meet you.” Daisuke lightly bowed.

“Ah, yeah… same here, kid.” Raigu nodded, surprised. After all, it wasn’t your every day that Pakura brought some stranger. “Um… Pakura-sama?” He turned to look at her with a questioning gaze.

“Relax. He’s clear, he actually saved my life during the mission.” Pakura grinned. “I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for this brat.”

Raigu’s eyes widened at this, before nodding, giving a renewed look at the kid. “He must be strong then if he was able to save you.”

“Strong?” Pakura snorted as she patted his head hard. “He just got at the correct moment, I did the rest of the work.”

“Oi.” Daisuke glared at her. “I saved your ass.”

“Right, right. My savior~” Pakura said in an exaggerated tone. “Anyways. I need to report to Lord Kazekage.”

“Right!” Raigu saluted, as both Pakura and Daisuke made their way through the entrance. Along the way, all the guards and ninjas close to the entrance saluted her. He could see lots of houses, all of them with a similar fashion or style, made from what seemed to be Stucco, an apt material to keep any heat out of the insides. Most of the buildings were either cylindrical or round in shape. It was as if there were no corners around, which Daisuke didn’t understand why, he wasn’t precisely an architect. 

The whole place was considerably bigger than he initially thought, and he would bet that Konoha would be similar. After all, it wasn’t exactly the same to look at it directly as through a screen or a manga page. Almost at the center of the village, Daisuke could see a weird building, that although it wasn’t the tallest of them all, did have a pretty unique rounded shape, that somehow reminded him of a dirt-brown space colony from some sci-fi movie. It even had some kind of ring surrounding it.

If there was something else that caught his attention was the clear admiration in the people’s eyes as they saluted and waved at Pakura. It was something really surprising, considering that her village was trying to get rid of her.

“You truly are the Hero of Sunagakure…” Daisuke muttered as he looked at the other ninjas.

“What? Didn’t believe me?” She raised her eyebrow.

“Not at all.” He shook his head. “Someone as annoying as you can’t be a Hero, after-”

“Who’s the annoying one, brat!?” Pakura interrupted him with a hit to the head.

“It’s you! You damn violent woman!” Shouted Daisuke back. Both of them started bickering, getting a few weird glances on their way.

“Pakura-sensei!” Just as they were reaching the Kazekage building, a shout got the attention of both Daisuke and Pakura.

“Oh, Maki!” With a smile, Pakura waved at the rushing kunoichi that was on their way to meet them. “How have you been?”

“Great, Pakura-sensei!” Maki answered, before turning to the kid beside Pakura. “Huh? Who is this?”

“He’s Daisuke.” Pakura said shortly, before tilting her head. “Actually, you’ve come at a great time, Maki.”

“Huh?” The girl tilted her head. She had bright green eyes and shoulder-length dark brown hair. But her most notable characteristic was the two red marks on her face that reminded Daisuke of the Inuzuka clan. “Why is that?”

“I need to speak to Lord Kazekage. But I need to do it alone. So, could you take care of the brat here?” Pakura said to her student. While Maki wasn’t that small already, it was true that she has always been close to Pakura, being one of the closest people to her inside Suna.

“Um, yes?” She nodded uncertainly as she looked at the kid that seemed to have around 7 or 8 years old. “Hello Daisuke, my name is Maki.” She smiled at him as she reached her hand, lowering herself a little bit so her face was closer to his height.

“Um. Nice to meet you.” Daisuke nodded as he smiled back, shaking her hand.

“Tch. Stupid brat, since when are you so courteous? First at the entrance, and now here? Stop faking it, not even you believe it.” Pakura said while shaking her head, which managed to make Daisuke’s eyebrow twitch.

“Haha…” Maki could only smile awkwardly. “Don’t worry Daisuke-kun. I’m sure Pakura is just messing with you.”

“Yes.” Daisuke nodded, but still gave a stinky eye to Pakura, who just snorted, with a smirk on her face.

“Anyways, just stay outside of the Kazekage building while I speak with Lord Kazekage. I’ll call you once I’m done, Daisuke.” Pakura said as they made their way towards the entrance of the most important building in the place.