An unknown amount of time later, Zero opened his eyes on the streets of Ame, the heavy raindrops pulling him out of his stupor.
"Urgh..."
Standing up, Zero shook his head to get rid of the dizziness and looked around, only to find himself below the overlook where he was just sitting.
"...I fell. How did I survive that in this body while unconcious? This building the overlook is attached too has to be at least 200 meters..."
Checking his body for injuries, Zero was shocked to find out he was completely fine. In fact, he felt stronger than before and his burn scars were no more.
That was when he noticed that some new information had appeared in his mind.
'These are the instructions for a sword style called the Kusanagi Style...to be used with the aptly named Kusanagi sword...'
Looking around to find his blade, the thought of it caused it to appear sheathed within his grip in a flash, as if it was summoned.
'How interesting. Seems that Snow has somehow left me a few mystical gifts. My love...I thank you. I'll put these gifts to good use.'
Shirtless with just some burnt pants, torn shoes and a poncho a shinobi had gifted him with on their way back to the village, Zero decided it was time to find his home. The place that the original owner of the body used to live.
'If I remember right...it should be a few corners away.'
Walking around the village, Zero could see the occasional refugee outside smoking or just standing around with the light gone from their eyes.
Shinobi wandered around the village too, but they seemed to be on patrol if anything. The morale of the place was extremely low and the constant rain didn't help.
Several minutes later, Zero found his new "home".
It was a small bedroom sized apartment that only had a bed, bathroom and sink in it. Small cracks formed all over the wall, the metal pipes running along the ceiling were all corroded, and the sounds of creaking floors could be heard with every step Zero made.
"Sigh. At least I have a roof over my head."
Hanging his poncho up by the bathroom, Zero leaned over on the sink and looked at his face, curious to see what he looked like in this world.
He had short, spiked black hair, purple irises with snake-like slit pupils and a average looking facial structure. On his forehead was a strange, but small kanji for the word 'Orochi'.
It didn't seem to be written on by anyone, but rather engraved onto his forehead by another force.
All in all, his appearance wasn't anything too handsome, but it wasn't too ugly either.
'Not bad. Quite a bit worse than my last face though, heh.'
After taking a shower, Zero laid down on his bed and closed his eyes. Now, he had some time to think.
'For now, I'll just play it by ear. I'll fight in another war, earn my place in this village and fight until I figure out what my 'battle' is. Maybe...maybe I should...'
Zero fell asleep in no time, his body still tired from the sudden increased physical activity.
As he slept, Zero dreamt of a massive creature, the eight headed snake Yamatano-Orochi, destroying countries and even worlds. It's size alone could dwarf the entire village while it's speed and power were even more impressive.
Zero was sure that even at his best, he couldn't even keep up with the creature's shadow. It's abilities were all at an extreme level.
When the creature turned its gaze to him, he could feel it's will trying to erode his own, but Zero fought back. It seemed as if this creature would try to take over his body if he wasn't careful.
'I must conquer and control this power. My intuition tells me that this will be instrumental in the future.'
The next morning, Zero woke up to the sound of rain still pouring down outside of his window.
After stretching, Zero summoned Kusanagi and unsheathed the blade, immediately noticing that the inscription on it from before was gone.
Now it only said 'Kusanagi' in small Kanji under the hilt.
'Tch. Unfortunate. It would have been nice to read that message again. I suppose I should start focusing on mastering this Kusanagi Style. It's to allow me to control how much of the snakes power I use while releasing it with each slash. It even has swordless techniques. Hm. It's base techniques shouldn't take too long to master.'
WHOOSH!
A slight purple trail would follow every time Zero swung Kusanagi through the air. Zero could feel a strange energy in his body welling up everytime he moved, as if it wanted to burst out and destroy everything around him.
He was sure that this was the power of the snake combined with his own chakra, the power that fueled the shinobi of this world. Through the memories of the original owner of the body, he knew of the existence of chakra and an extremely rudimentary way of using it, but that was it.
SLASH! SLASH!
Zero's skill with a sword, even when not using laijutsu, was incredible. Understanding the essence of the Kusanagi Style wasn't hard at all.
In fact, within a few hours, he had mastered the Style. Now all he needed to do was integrate it well with his laijutsu.
*knock* *knock*
"Zero. It's me, Captain Jito."
Sheathing his blade before walking up to the door, Zero opened a slight crack, verified it was indeed Captain Jito, then opened the door completely.
"Captain. What can I do for you?"
Jito squinted his eyes as he looked at Zero. Something was different. He couldn't put his finger on it but there was something...different about Zero today.
For now though, he just put that thought to the back of his mind. He had more important things to discuss.
Reaching in his back pocket, Jito pulled out a headband and said, "Good news, kid. I've managed to convince Lord Hanzo to give you the rank of Genin. While I believe your strength is higher than that due to you killing multiple Chunin in the last battle, the higher ranks mean more than just strength. You'll need more leadership experience to rank up. Understand?"
Reaching out to grab the headband, Zero looked at it before tying it around his forehead, adjusting it a few times to find a perfect fit.
Seeing Zero with the headband on caused Jito to chuckle as he tapped the metal plate on it.
"Looking good, kid. Now, grab your stuff and come with me. We have a mission today."
Zero quickly went inside, put on a fresh outfit and walked out the door, following Jito down the steps.
"Keep up, kid. We need to leave soon."
Jito moved in a flash as he smoothly jumped along the walls of nearby buildings. Zero, of course, had no issue keeping up with this level of speed.
'Heh. This kid is not even half my age and he can keep up with me as if it's nothing. The new generation shows a lot of promise.'
In no time, the two got to a large building heavily guarded by several Shinobi.
Walking inside, the two of them went through various hallways before arriving at a certain room.
Pushing open the door, Jito walked inside and greeted the five Shinobi waiting there, motioning to Zero to find a seat as he walked to the front.
"Men, this is Zero, a new addition to our squad. He didn't go through the academy to become a genin like the rest of us...but I assure you, his skills are up to par. He has proven himself already."
Zero nodded at the Shinobi, but he only received a few looks of acknowledgement back. It seemed as if they would need to be convinced by something more than words.
Jito smiled as he saw this. This was well within expectations.
"Alright, time for mission brief. Listen up. Several Konoha platoons have been spotted along the border. It is likely that some of them were responsible for the disaster that happened yesterday. Today, we'll start repaying that debt. Estimated mission length is about a month long, so we'll give you some time to speak to your families before we leave. One last thing. Lord Hanzo himself will be participating in this mission. So no rebreathers. Only respirators."
The Shinobi started talking amongst themselves as Jito approached Zero and said, "Follow me, kid. It's time to get you some gear."
Zero followed Jito down the hallway and the man opened a door, revealing a room with multiple weapons, scrolls, and clothing of all sizes.
"You are a Ame shinobi now. When you leave this room, make sure you look like one."
As Zero entered the room, Jito closed the door behind him and left, seemingly heading off to make sure everything goes well with the mission.
"Hm. Let's see here..."
A while later, Zero opened the door, revealing his new gear as he walked back to the mission brief room.
Zero wore a black tight-fitting long sleeve shirt covered by an open flak-jacket, standard black shinobi pants, standard shinobi boots, with gray bandages around his wrists and ankles.
He no longer wore a headband. Now, to signify his allegiance to Ame, Zero donned an altered Kasa hat that would serve as a better cover against the rain.
On his face he wore a black respirator that spanned the entirety of the lower portion of it, muffling his breathing and distorting his voice greatly.
Of course, he had shuriken and kunai pouches latched onto his waist and thighs. He even made sure to get paper bombs due to their destructive power in the last battle.
All of this was covered by a large black poncho that completed the outfit.
Last, but not least, Kusanagi was strapped to his waist, the sheathe of the weapon now wrapped by white bandages so he could get a better grip on it.
The moment Jito laid eyes on Zero as he approached, he chuckled.
"Heh, you look ready for war, kid. Good. Let's go. The squad is waiting for us."