Log in
Your Body Is A Template Chapter 1: A Vessel For Legends
The chirping of birds and the rustling of grass in the wind with the sound of waves hitting the shoreline could be heard across a wide coastline. The rhythm of the waves crashing against the rocks and sand with the smell of the ocean in the air added a nice feeling to the area.
Hands and arms were covered in sweat as a wooden training sword cut through the air deceptively fast. Up and down it went. Each strike sent small gusts of wind tussling the grass around him as he enjoyed the mist and spray from the ocean as it helped cool him off.
Huffing and puffing, he occasionally glanced at nothing but thin air above a rock sticking out of the ground by the trunk of the tree he was training under.
To anyone else, he was listening to nothing and acting like a lonely young man pretending to be a samurai in training with leaves sticking to different parts of his body. Some remained fixed while others fell off the more he exerted himself physically.
But to the young man, there was a man sitting upon the rock with lavender-colored hair kept in a ponytail that fell to his lower back and a light-lavender kimono. He watched the young man with darker lavender hair that was almost black adjust his stance and posture to the figures' advice.
“Be smooth and flow like water. The grace and elegance of the wind with the ferocity of fire and lightning. Yet as unyielding as the earth itself.” The man told him in a calm and serene voice.
“You know, Kojirou, it would help a lot more if you would be more specific than just telling me water is wet, so you must be wet since my life is on the line and technically yours is as well.” The young man snapped back as his light gray kimono was stained with sweat and dirt, as it would be surprising if it wasn’t while staying on the run.
The man simply smiled down at him like he was looking at an adorable child who just doesn’t understand how the world worked because of their innocence. “Andrew, you must calm yourself. My advice is sound, and you know what I am referring to since you are me.”
Seeing his calm demeanor and knowing he is the only one he can currently count on to keep himself alive, he heeded his advice, taking several deep breaths, calming himself, and helping get his breathing under control. Feeling the light touch of the burden and cause of his distress rubbing against his arm, he glanced down at a white ribbon flowing in the wind.
Idly spotting a red circle in the center of it with kanji written on either side of it. It represented a number that Andrew had come to dread the instant he had realized what it was.
That band is what had him so stressed for the past two weeks when he found himself in this foreign land that at one time was a manga and anime he had enjoyed in his middle school days. Now it’s a fight for survival as he hoped and prayed that he could stay ahead of those pursuing him for the prize that awaited them should they succeed in prying it from his dead body.
Finding motivation at the thought of him dying renewed his efforts, his form slowly straightened out as he was slowly getting closer and closer to what Kojirou was capable of yet still being so far away from it. Every step was a step forward after all, not feeling discouraged by how far he had to go.
“Apologies, Sensei, but every day I fear I will be found. If I am not ready, then I will die. I don’t want to die any more than I want to kill someone over this stupid thing.” He gestured to the band.
Kojirou simply nodded his head at him in an understanding gesture while looking as calm as the gentle breeze blowing past them. “Andrew, while your desire to not wish to kill another is an understandable and admirable wish, it will ultimately fall apart. When the time comes, you will have to make the choice. But the challenges that await you in the future, if you can overcome them, will aid you far more than the training you have done since you arrived. Training can only get you so far.”
Pausing mid-swing, he looked over at the man, one of the few companions he has had since his arrival here. Besides the occasional village, he would help out with random tasks, though they did earn him strange looks. It didn’t stop them from accepting his aid whether it was helping local farmers or dealing with other things for a meal or a place to sleep on the road. But Kojirou's words are true in that training can only help him get so far.
If he is ever going to get to Kojirou’s strength and beyond, then he must fight others. That is something that Andrew tried to not think about too much. Changing his thoughts to his isolation due to current circumstances, he thinks of the few people he knew beyond just their names. Which was no one…
With Kojirou's knowledge and understanding of Japanese, he could speak and understand their writing. But the problem that he had come to realize when he happened upon the first village was that in the end, he may not be able to trust them. He was drawn out of his thoughts by Kojirou speaking to him, rising from the rock he was sitting on.
“I think you have trained enough for now, Andrew. I think it's best to head back to the fishing village and rest for now. Maybe you could enjoy the company of that young woman who seems to enjoy talking with you so much.” He teased him with a knowing smile, like a father seeing his son stumble when just barely dipping his toes in the waters of romance.
Frowning at him, Andrew gave his response, “Several things. First of all, I am not a virgin and have done the hibidy dibidy. Secondly, that woman is pretty but by no means someone I intend to settle down with in life. And finally, I am a little too preoccupied with my situation to think about things like that.”
Walking past him with the few leaves left on him falling and drifting away with the wind as his sole companion's form disappeared, yet his voice could be heard within my mind all the same, “I never said you need to settle down with her. It’s alright if you need to fill those urges. Many samurai have had to do so, and there is no shame in that. You need to unwind and relax. Worrying about what is to come will do you no good. You need to be calm and collected when the time comes.”
Shaking his head, he grabbed the sheathed weapon that lay against the tree within arm's reach should the worst come to pass. The weapon was a gift along with Kojirou, who is a mere fragment of a much greater power that he is currently locked off from.
The weapon is to give him something to use when he is found, while the band is something to force him to grow without being allowed to hide away.
Not that it would stop Andrew from becoming strong enough through training that no one remained a threat, even if it was slower than putting his life on the line. Pulling the source of his misery off his arm, it blew along with the wind as the invisible hands gripped it, wishing to take it away. He obliged them before releasing his grip. It flew off in the breeze, carried away far into the distance.
A vain hope that this time was different filled him.
Walking along the path, the breeze blew over Andrew, who enjoyed the feeling of the wind and mist from the ocean across his body, cooling him down from yet another long day of training to prepare himself for what may come.
The smell of the ocean near him was oddly soothing, and he found himself enjoying the sight of it. Well, he can scratch that off of his bucket list at least since he had always wanted to see the ocean before he died.
Eventually finding and stepping onto a familiar dirt road just when the sensation of something being on his arm made itself known. Looking down, he could only shake his head as the cause of his distress had simply returned. Ignoring it, he walked along until coming across a small village.
The village he had currently been helping. Houses that had seen better days but were not as decrepit as some villages he had seen so far in his journey, with some villagers waving at him courteously.
Some of the homes had small plots of land to grow some herbs, and others just simply fished, if the smell coming from them was anything to go by. Fishing was the main source of income in this particular village, but the herbs bring in the occasional customer or an order being placed from the local areas in this nation.
A man in a simple brown shirt and shorts with sandals waved at him, and he politely waved back, being one of the few people who are on decent terms despite only passingly knowing each other.
Some of the people who glanced at him as he walked among the houses gave a respectful nod. Walking up to the small inn and stepping inside, the smell of food being prepared and cooked with a comfortable warmth permeating the air, he could at least enjoy this while he relaxed ever so slightly but never truly let the tension bleed out of him.
“Kojirou just in time! Here is your meal.” An older man with a beard peppered with white and gray said with a smile showing some missing teeth. His white apron over his tan shirt and brown shorts was covered in stains from cooking.
“Thank you, Kenzo.” Andrew said in response, taking his seat and bringing up the chopsticks to enjoy the bowl of noodles with bits of fish meat in it and numerous potatoes.
The meal would be bland compared to the meals from Earth, but for Andrew, it was a godsend. Not that it didn't lack taste per se, but it simply lacked the flavor that the food from modern-day Earth had. The only thing in it that had a rich taste was the potatoes. It's something this land is well known for besides its famous hot springs.
He had starved once before, struggling to find work after his father had passed away before he got here, so he was no stranger to hunger. But he wished anyone the best of luck when starving to death and complaining about something tasting bland when your alternative is to go without any food.
“All good Kojirou. It’s the least I can do since you have helped quite a bit around the village by dealing with those bandits that had been terrorizing our village. And that’s to say nothing about the amount of work you managed to offload from the herbalists.” Kenzo said with awe and respect, lacing each word.
Their village, when I happened upon it trying to keep ahead of whoever would be hunting me down, was dealing with some bandits that had settled down near the village and were extorting them, if he could even call it that since they only took enough to survive.
To the village, what was a random ronin wandering the countryside on his lonesome that looked far too young and deep in the countryside may as well have been useless considering he had nothing to his name. But desperation tended to make people look for help from unlikely places.
“Though I will admit that we were rather surprised you let them live. Probably the first time we ever heard of a wandering ronin doing such a thing.” Kenzo continued scratching the back of his head as he looked at him.
Andrew simply ate his food with unbelievable levels of dexterity with the chopsticks. A level that he would never have been able to pull off before he got here.
The few times he tried to eat with chopsticks, he nearly took out his eye and impaled a poor woman's throat at another table.
“They were merely trying to survive. From what I had gathered from investigating, they were refugees who got their village destroyed on the border with the Land of Fire and were starving. I’m not killing someone who only took enough food to keep themselves from starving while leaving you enough to survive.” He calmly told him while eating his meal. Kenzo didn’t look too thrilled to hear that, but he hid it behind his smile as he remained silent before heading back into the kitchen.
The people in what he had come to learn was the Land of Hot Water didn’t care for others' reasoning when they felt they had been wronged. They are ultimately a peaceful people, but that doesn’t mean they can’t hold a grudge or want revenge.
Whether they are a shinobi, a samurai, or even a simple civilian, if they hold a grudge and are given an opportunity to get even, then it would be a safe bet knowing they would take it. People will be people in the end.
At least according to the rumor mongers, when he was spying on them to gather information in prior villages, they were a nation based around tourism.
From what little had been put together, the land is well known for its hot springs and touts itself as a peaceful nation using the income from tourists of all kinds to bring prosperity. Setting the bowl down, standing up from the table, and heading out of the building to go wash the day's grime away.
After a vigorously thorough cleaning, the time was spent looking through the few maps the village had of the world at large. With this being the first village having maps of any kind, it soon became a priority to figure out each country and the route that needed to be taken to avoid as much trouble as possible.
But the surprises just kept coming when learning that the countries that existed here were absolutely massive, even for smaller nations. Easily reaching several hundred thousand miles, and those are the smaller ones. If the maps and books that had been used to try and figure out if they were accurate showed nations like the Land of Fire being slightly bigger than the size of the United States.
A part of Andrew was wary, knowing just how much of a journey this was going to be, but it also meant that those who were hunting him had a lot of ground to cover. Plus, with access to what most people in this world used to become superhuman, he could move faster traversing the land if the old anime was anything to go by.
Noting that his current location was near the far eastern point of the Land of Hot Water. It doesn’t give much to go off of in regard to topography, but it’s better than nothing.
The current plan was to try and avoid as many fights as possible while making his way into the Land of Fire in an attempt to stick to the coast and make his way to the Land of Wind, sticking to the borders before heading further west.
Probably eventually stop in either the Land of Bears or Vegetables. Hide there for the length of time necessary and then move on from this horrible situation when the time runs out. Nodding to himself with the newfound plan before attempting to relax as the origin of his middle and last names' advice came to mind. But he didn’t have anything else to do since the inn didn’t have any reading material beyond some maps the locals had.
Stepping out of the inn, he saw a few of the young women who glanced at him before blushing and looking away. Well, if there was one thing that he could say was good that came out of this ordeal, it was being seen as good-looking by other people.
By no means were these women eleven out of ten or anything of that sort, but they were by no means bad-looking. Feeling it was time to move on as a mix between not having anything to do beyond sitting around and staying in one place for far too long. He had spent enough time here, but it was nice to rest somewhere even if it was still on the floor, at least there were blankets and a pillow, unlike simply wearing this kimono as his only shield against the wind at night, and the alternative to the pillow was a cold hard rock.
Grabbing a few supplies from the villagers who owed him for helping them with stuff around the village, it was mostly preserved food with a few flasks of water and some money before leaving the village behind, and he began the long trek of sticking to the coastline, though it went by much faster with him calling upon his chakra to move at speeds that would put cars to shame.
Hours and hours went by with the rare stop to train as his skills slowly sharpened to try and match Kojirou’s. The memory of his moves and techniques was there, it's just simply not matching up with what he was currently capable of.
“It will take time for you to get there. For now, continue as you are.” Kojirou told him within the confines of his mind. He continued going through the various stances and swings while keeping up with the footwork.
Most of the journey was just running along the coast, hoping to avoid any enemies hunting him down and training in what spare time he had while occasionally resting with a walk in between runs, letting his chakra refill after having used too much of it in the beginning.
The journey was going smoother than expected until an unfortunate speed bump came along. As they say, the plan never survives first contact with the enemy.
Walking along a grassy clearing with trees on one side and the coast of the ocean that would lead to the Land of Waves on the other, he hummed Slow and Easy by Whitesnake to try and fill the emptiness of the boredom when a foreboding feeling took hold of him.
Casually looking around before spotting a figure running at a speed that, had it not been for my enhanced senses, would have been too fast to see what it was.
Glancing back while keeping one eye on the one in front of me as they come to a stop while still humming the song and seeing no one else. His gaze settled on the headband on the man’s bicep. The Hidden Mist.
The man looks average with low-cut brown hair and eyes, with a brown shirt and pants with mesh armor under his clothes with straps across his torso and several kunai knives on display.
I eventually catch sight of three teenagers hidden among the trees, with one of them giving the others away as his head peeks out at me before quickly hiding behind the tree once he realizes I am looking at him.
But what has my utmost attention is the prominent white band wrapped across his waist with the red circle in the center and the kanji for the number two on either side of it.
“Thought the rumors were a load of crap about these things,” He glanced at the band on him and then mine. “Until I and my team came across a man with one of them and took it from him.”
As he speaks, I feel something strange and foreign making me feel off. Having a good idea of what it is as I take a breath and circulate the meager chakra I can bring to bear, turning it into a raging river in my body, whatever was trying to cling to me couldn’t take root.
The team leader for this group doesn’t seem to notice as he draws a kunai out in one hand while still speaking. “Once I took it from him, I was shown what will happen if we get yours. So let’s end-”
Not giving him any chance, I immediately turn around and run away as he stands there completely stunned at me simply running away before he screams and yells at me.
“What the hell! You're a samurai or at least a ronin. Aren’t you guys about honor and all that stupid stuff!? So stand and fight me, you coward!” He yells behind me as he gives chase, not happy at me taking away his reward should he beat me. The rest of his team chase us but are falling behind rather quickly as we leave them in the dust.
“Your goading needs a lot of work, you loser!” I yell back at him, laughing as he shuts up and grits his teeth before bringing both hands up, tossing kunai and shuriken at me. Most miss me by wide margins, and the few that get close were simply evaded with ease. I just laugh at him with mirth in my tone as this guy is getting more and more riled up as he swiftly weaves through hand signs.
“Laugh now, you pussy!” Once finished, he points a finger at me as a drop of water shoots out of the tip, moving fast. But I’m faster, as I simply tilt my head as it zips by, impacting the ground further beyond, kicking up a small clump of grass and dirt, and digging a baseball-sized trench into the ground.
Not even missing a step while continuing to run, I simply turn my head and smile at him as his face turns into a grimace. He keeps trying to shoot me with that jutsu, but every time he misses, with me casually moving just enough to avoid it.
After several failed attempts, as he is huffing, he stops and raises both hands again, weaving through hand signs. Seeing my chance, I abruptly stop and lean down, one hand holding the sheathe and the other the handle of the simple sword. I narrow my eyes at the man who is now staring wide-eyed, and then he smiles, thinking this will be easy.
“Your-” As soon as the words leave his mouth, I don’t run across the gap so much as I seem to cease to exist where I once was and then appear behind him, drawing my blade and immediately sheathing it in one smooth motion as he stands frozen on the spot before falling to his knees. His cry of pain comes even later as the pain finally registers as he holds his hands up to his face, now missing his index and middle fingers on each hand as blood gushes out of them.
Seeming to remember I am behind him as he swiftly turns around with a kunai in one hand as he struggles to grip it properly. Scoffing to myself about worrying about someone hunting me, and instead, I get someone that I should have just knocked out to begin with, taking the sheathed sword and smacking the man on the side of his head, knocking him down as he drops the kunai. He remains conscious as he groans in pain, clutching at his head.
“I will be taking this. You should wrap those wounds. Don't want to bleed out now, do you?” I grab the number two band and hold it in the air before letting the wind take it away as it flies off.
“You bastard! What the hell kind of ronin does that?” He says, holding the side of his head, coating it in blood, not bothering to wrap his severed stumps that were once his fingers.
As cool as what I did was, I can’t lie and say I wasn’t worried for a moment about him finishing whatever jutsu he was going to use before I could close the distance. Risky, but it ended this fight before it could get worse for me. Not speaking another word to him before turning and quickly running further away from him as he doesn’t try to attack any further. Once far enough from him, I cut through the trees and foliage, moving further in, not seeing and sensing the others that were with the man.
Just the few animals that call this place their home who fall silent and run away from me. If they want to continue to chase me, they will have to get that headband back. Otherwise, they can’t unless they want the burden that comes with managing to kill me without holding the number two position.
Letting out a sigh, lifting a hand and seeing it slightly shaking. This is going to be a long journey, I think to myself, knowing that if I can make it through this, then the restrictions placed on me will be lifted. Steeling my resolve as I continue on my path.
…
Wanted to start off by saying here and now that this Naruto story is going to be an AU. It will be using all of what I can remember of Naruto Part I before Shippuden came along. So things like the Mangekyou Sharingan and Kaguya are not things that exist here.
If there are elements of Shippuden I like and think I can add into the story without destroying it, then they might get added, but as things stand, that is incredibly unlikely, such as Kaguya and the Otsutsuki, who are immediately nonexistent in this story.
I wanted to stick to what made the original series so unique in that characters had to use tactics instead of Shippuden just turning into DBZ by the end, where everyone had a bigger attack that could destroy planets or something similar. For starters, ninjas are sneaky rogues who could also act as DPS if they were trained towards that.
As for Andrew’s power, it is template stacking, where you take the skills, powers, and knowledge of characters and apply a template of it to yourself, but he is given a reduced version of it. For example, let's say he had Broly from DB Super as his template.
Broly would be a tier 10 at planet busting and expanding infinitely from that, but as Andrew’s template, it would be reduced to a tier four, which is just beyond peak human, like Charles Atlas levels of crazy with characters of that category being in Metal Gear.
As explained by Kojirou from Fate Stay Night (yes, that Kojirou, his current template that was chosen from a random wheel of different swordsmen I had selected), through conflict he will grow much faster, especially when his life is on the line.
Training can help, but the number one headband from Afro Samurai is here to ensure he doesn’t get that as a luxury since some stories would try to have the MC go off in the wild and just train until no one could match them. I don’t want that and came up with that as an idea after rewatching the old Afro Samurai movie and realized how effective that would be in keeping someone on the run and forcing them to get stronger.
This chapter served as my way of showing just how different this world is to the one Andrew and, by extension, you guys from watching the anime know. Supernatural elements exist here that aren’t just kaiju tailed beasts made from some ancient dimension hopping alien lady. There are horrors that exist here beyond things like that.
You also get a big hint that chakra isn’t the only thing that exists in this world that can allow people to be superhuman.
