Aftermath (2)

"I hope I succeed on my eleventh try," Naruto muttered to himself as he walked towards the Ichiraku Ramen. He was thinking of borrowing money from Kakashi if ever he failed his attempt again in catching a wild pokemon. But it requires 500 Ryo just to buy one and his budget for his daily ramen was threatened if he had to buy another pokeball.

It took him just two minutes to arrive at his target destination and was about to enter the premise when Naruto saw two Pidgeys flying up the sky. When their gazes met, one of the two pokemon ignored him while the other one landed on the ground. The bird pokemon started pecking at the soil to pick up seeds.

Naruto remembered what he learned from the book that he received from Okami's package and tiptoed towards the shop to avoid disturbing the pokemon. But fate had other plans for him because Pidgey stopped what it was doing and hopped to his direction.

He was about to greet it when Konohamaru and his friends appeared right at the corner.

"Hah! I tell you that my rival always comes eating in Ichiraku Ramen," Konohamaru said as he avoided the post that was standing along the sidewalk.

"Is he really that strong?" Udon asked, his eyes were fixed on the road.

Moegi giggled. "He must be if he easily discovered your Cloak of Invisibility Technique."

"Right! I'm going to beg him to teach me other Harem Jutsu so I can easily defeat Ebisu-sensei and gramps. And it was just right when - "

Konohamaru stopped talking when he saw Naruto who was standing at the entrance of Ichiraku Ramen. He scampered along and shouted, "You've gotta teach me a new Jutsu!"

Everything happened so fast that Naruto was not able to warn the kids.

Pidgey was surprised by the sudden loud voice and flew up. Its eyes were fixated on Konohamaru and the kids.

Moegi and Udon became nervous because of Pidgey's actions. When they saw Pidgey's sharp talons, they were all the more scared.

Konohamaru frowned as he shielded his friends, his body facing the bird.

"Hey, Konohamaru! Don't do anything stupid!" Naruto bellowed. His loud voice attracted Pidgey's attention.

Pidgey chirped and its wings beat faster until a huge gust of wind emerged from its wings, which zoomed towards Naruto.

Naruto dodged to the right, barely avoiding the streams of winds. He picked up a stone and threw it against the bird to disturb its momentum.

The bird's eyesight was sharp that it was able to see Naruto's movement and flew towards the right. It then dived downward, its beak was ready to stab him.

The attack was so fast that the attack connected and Naruto felt the stinging sensation on his arms. His blood flowed out from the gash, which testified to the sharpness of Pidgey's beak.

"Shit!" Naruto summoned Vulpix and instructed his battle plan. Vulpix nodded and dashed towards the right.

Pidgey became all the more agitated when it saw Vulpix. This time, its attention was on the fox pokemon and dived again to hit him with Peck skill.

Naruto did a hand seal and said, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Ten copies of himself appeared before him and they altogether picked up stones and hurled it against the bird even though he knew his throwing skill was bad.

Even though Pidgey was fast, Vulpix was even faster and dodged towards the left, successfully evading the bird's attempt in hurting him.

Pidgey did not notice the stones and one of them was able to connect and hit its body. "Chirp!"

When Vulpix noticed that Pidgey was hurt, his eyes glowed and a peculiar ray appeared from his eyes. It was able to hit the target.

Pidgey started hitting its body with its wings. Annoyed, it dived again towards Vulpix but its direction was off. Its body directly crashed against the ground.

Vulpix ran towards Pidgey and used Quick Attack. His body went several times faster and was able to hit the bird's body, which was thrown off a meter away from its previous location. Pidgey wanted to stand up but its body was hurt badly. It looked weakly at the proud Vulpix, who was giving it a disdained look.

Naruto's copies disappeared altogether and checked his wounds but it was already healed. When he saw that Vulpix defeated Pidgey, he could not help but cheer loudly. "Great job, Kyuubi!"

Vulpix lifted his chin up so high like a young master in Chinese novels.

"Your Confuse Ray works wonders." Naruto chuckled and patted Vulpix's head. When he looked at the bird who was still struggling to stand up, he remembered Okami's reminders and took out his pokeball from his bag.

Naruto let his chakra fused onto the pokeball and went closer to the pokemon since he was not confident of his aim. When he was sure that he could hit the bird at this distance, he threw the pokeball towards Pidgey.

Luckily, the target was hit and a beam of light appeared from the pokeball as it opened up. Pidgey became one with the light and was absorbed back inside the Pokeball.

"Please overcome the third shake," Naruto pleaded as he saw the pokeball shook once, then twice. When it shook for the third time and went still, he jumped as he clenched his fists. "YES! Hah! I'm the best Pokemon trainer!"

Naruto picked up the pokeball and felt that it was warm to touch. He extended his hands with the pokeball and said, "Summon: Pidgey."

Pidgey appeared on the ground, still weak and hurt. It stared at Naruto and gave a slight chirp.

"Don't worry, Pidgey. I'll heal you at the Pokemon Center," Naruto said as he touched the bird's body. "Hmm, I think I should call you Naru."

Naruto returned Naru back inside the pokeball and hid it inside his bag. He unsummoned Vulpix and was about to enter the shop when he remembered that he was not alone. Turning around, he waved at the kids and grinned. "Don't worry everyone. You are safe now, thanks to the future Hokage."

Moegi was still hiding at the back of Konohamaru. "Is it really over?"

Udon removed the snot formed on his nose. "I guess so."

"Of course! See how strong my rival is! I was right!" Konohamaru proudly declared as he stood straight.

Naruto gave Konohamaru a thumbs-up. "Very good, Konohamaru. Protecting a friend must be a quality of a great ninja. Never backing off even in the midst of danger, that's worth celebrating. Let's eat Ramen."

"Yay!" Everyone cheered as they followed Naruto inside the shop.

=========================================

Baki read the report which Tomiro gave him a while ago. "All of our pokeball are sold already?"

Tomiro nodded. "A ninja from the Pokemon Intelligence Division arrived at the shop at the time when you left the place for lunch. He was looking for you but I've told him that you're not here. But he could not wait because he still had other things to do so he just bought all the pokeball before leaving."

"Did he leave any note?"

Tomiro shook his head. "Anyway, I need to restock the pokeball to sell this afternoon. Someone might visit the shop to buy them."

"Nope. Let's stick to our rules. Remember what Okami said. No one can force you while you are working inside the shop," Baki explained with confidence in his voice. He wrote something on a piece of paper and post it on the board. "How's your training with Kangaskhan?"

Tomiro's face became animated when he heard Baki's question. "Great! Now I clearly understand what her powers are and the way to use them effectively. I'm still getting the hang of it but I'm getting there."

"Good. So how does it feel the first time you controlled your chakra inside your body?"

Tomiro scratched his head. "I'm not yet good at it. But I'm very glad that I can use the basic Henge no Jutsu."

Baki grinned. "Then why not try copying me?"

"I'll do my best." Tomiro left the counter and followed Baki who was headed to the center area.

"This better be good." Baki stood still and his hands akimbo.

Tomiro studied Baki's face and did a hand seal the way he executed the Jutsu when he was practicing yesterday. As soon as he felt the familiar sensation, he shouted, "Henge no Jutsu!"

Tomiro felt that his body transformed and he was all the more excited when he noticed that his height changed like that of Baki's. He was about to cheer for joy when he saw the old man's weird expression.

Baki guffawed as he held his belly. "Hah! I can't breathe! That was too funny! My old body can't take this."

Tomiro scratched his head. "What's wrong?"

Baki pointed behind him as he tried talking. "Hah! Why...don't you look at the mirror? Heh!"

Tomiro went to the infirmary beds and stared at his reflection. He could not help but shriek like a horror queen when he saw the horrifying image. "GOOD HEAVENS!"

The complexion was still pale but the eyes did not balance. The left side is twice as big as the right eye. Even its colors were not copied. Instead of black, they were yellow in color and looked like two big dots. The most hilarious part was that the lower lip was thicker than the upper lip by several centimeters.

Tomiro undid the Henge and blushed as he faced Baki. "Looks like I failed."

"Practice makes perfect. Just keep on doing it and you'll get there, eventually," Baki advised him. "Anyway, I can already perform a Henge and can do Pokemon Jutsu very well. Since Happiny evolved into Chansey, I've learned new skills as well. I never knew that I can get strong by becoming a Pokemon Trainer."

"I never knew that you have the necessary talent to become a good Pokemon Trainer, old Baki," Tomiro said with a hint of envy on his voice and went back to the PokeMart section.

Baki could still not move on from what he saw earlier and kept on snickering from time to time. Even when he returned to the healing station, he could not keep a straight face. He was about to do some tinkering with the panel when he heard several cracking sounds.

Tomiro noticed this as well and stared at the statues who were about to crumble as the cracks became larger and larger. He ran with an excited look on his face and stood before the nearest one - Charmander's statue.

Baki went beside Tomiro. "Okami's returning?!"

"I don't know. But I remember the very words that Okami told us. He said that if these statues cracked, then it means his return is imminent."

"Hah! Fortunately, it is still lunch time and we are still closed. I hope he returns today."

All at once, the statues crumbled down and became swirling masses of lights. After a few seconds, they then turned into the Pokemon Okami owned before he left Konoha.

Butterfree, Beedrill, Pidgeotto, and Zubat flew around as they squealed. Vulpix, Eevee, and Rattata became animated and started running in circles. Kadabra stood still as he extended his hands towards the center area. Paras, Venonat and Geodude looked around as if searching for something. Even Chansey and Jigglypuff did not play and waited in anticipation. Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle grouped together and stared at the center area as well. Machop and Kangaskhan stood beside Kadabra. Two of the lights went outside and transformed into Diglett and Tentacool.