This is a collaborative fan fiction written by wallpaperotaku and lunesoldier20. It focuses on an alternate reality in which pirates and ninjas fight for supremacy. In the midst of the upcoming chunin exams, an ancient treasure has been discovered in Kanoha that will change the rules of the test. With title and wealth on the line, what will happen when the chunin exam is sabotaged by an unknown ninja/pirate team?
Kanoha was a humble place that, like the other surrounding villages, welcomed both ninjas and pirates into its community. While some students would decide to which faction they belonged when they became teenagers, many were given the subtitle of "pirate" or "ninja" at birth by their proud clans. And, for the most part, the ninjas and pirates within the village limited their quarrels to maintain their good standing in society. The fourth Hokage, Albus Dumbledore, believed that Kanoha had indeed entered an unparalleled era of relative peace.
But that was before the dark discovery that would fall like the apple of discord into the midst of ninjas and pirates across the globe. The earth-shaking discovery of a map that would lead investigators to find the most sought after treasure of the ancient world at the pit of the Kanoha coral reef. Pirates called it the "Overlord's Ransom", and to ninjas it was known as the "Blood Bounty". By what ever name, this treasure was one that had been feuded over for centuries by pirates and ninjas alike, who both claimed their right to it.
It had begun as the treasury of the self proclaimed dictator, Ryouichi, whose rule came during the early renaissance. His territory stretched unfathomably across continents, and at one time, it seemed his control knew no bounds. Ryouichi ruled without mercy by enslaving those he could, killing anyone who seemed to defy him, and gathering tribute from the wealthy who valued their lives. When his life was plagued by and unknown illness, however, the people began to plan, plotting out their own ideals of what direction the kingdom should advance.
Naturally, the people were starving and angry. Those who hungered for freedom secretly built large ships to sail to friendlier lands. But they were only met by the other limbs of their own bleak world, the territories that Ryouichi had already managed to conquer. In desperation, these people fled to live in the peace of the ocean, but their own greed for a world they once knew drove them to ravage other ships and exult in the spoils of their attacks. Ryouichi remained calm in his sickness, and sent his strong navy to round up the water dwellers who had turned to violence to survive. Those who fell to his force were hung in the ports and beheaded in the streets as a tactical warning to the already terrified masses.
But not all of the pirates, as they were beginning to call themselves, backed down. The threat to their existence gave way to a greater number of rebels joining their cause. Pirates began a secret alliance within their ranks. If one pirate ship was deemed doomed, it would be their chunin trial, to defeat the enemies boarding their vessel. The more important members of the crew would abandon ship and swim till they found another. Then arrangements would be made to build another ship. If the younger pirates were successful in fighting off the intruders of their ship, then they would return as chunins, with as much treasure left over as they could swim to shore with.
The growing power of the pirates worried both Ryouichi and the people of his empire. Though Ryouichi was profiting from the treasure his army acquired from the fallen pirates, they were becoming less of a nuisance and more of a threat. His people feared that in his madness Ryouichi would turn on the innocents and begin killing indiscriminately to prove his power was uncontested. The pirates had already become their own people at this point, however, and everyone doubted they would come to their defense in the case of a massacre.
Thus, the people began to conspire once more, thinking of ways to protect
themselves and the freedom of their descendents. Rather than raising a direct army, many began to devote their time to learning the power of secrets, night, and martial arts. These mysterious groups hid by day and performed skillful assassinations that could not be tracked back to them. The ninjas made many of the people uneasy though, and after the assassination of the general taxes skyrocketed. The next day, a bounty was set up for the capture of the offending party. Every ninja was worth more than the average person made in a month, and a great hunt began among the peasants to find the heroes who had disrupted Ryouichi's rule. The ninja's, aghast at the betrayal, sunk deeper into hiding and vanished completely from the public eye. The citizens' efforts slowly began to take the form of a witch hunt, and people pointed fingers at each other, swearing the other was a shinobi. For a time, money was handed out to the people who won the debates and turned in the likely "ninjas." But after a month of ninja executions, the assassination’s persisted, and Ryouichi tired of the endless game.
Bedridden by his degenerative illness, Ryouichi was an easy target. He was awoken one night by a series of coughs, only to find a figure in black coming through his open window. Ryouichi quickly sounded the alarm, and the young ninja was cornered by a dozen guardsmen in seconds. This was the first time that Ryouichi was sure he had captured a true ninja, and in a fury he ordered the loss of reward money to be compensated by each of the ninja's family members. In exchange, the young ninja would be tortured, returned to his family, and his clan would be banished forever.
Shangjun, the identity of Ryouichi's assailant, was strong through the interrogation, and revealed no information about the other ninjas' whereabouts. Ryouichi was angered to hear this news, but realized that Shangjun was most likely being truthful and did not know anything further for his own protection.
Shangjun's family was eager to have him back, and had not been aware of his secret life. After all, Shangjun's father's family had ties to the pirate faction, not to the shinobi. Shangjun's uncle organized an attack on a royal vessel of the distant kingdom of Great Britain, and returned with riches to spare, satisfying the dictator's ultimatum. When Shangjun was led to his family by Ryouichi soldiers, his mother and father embraced him tightly and together, they fled the country.
Great Britain tracked the robbery back to Ryouichi's empire, and demanded that the treasure be returned. It was a threat of war, but the selfish, suffering, Ryouichi ignored the demands. "Great Britain?" He asked his messenger hoarsely. "Never heard of it. Send them away; they are only one measly fleet."
But with the permission of the King of England, reinforcements arrived, and upon seeing his army fall to the greater might of this foreign power, Ryouichi gathered what gold he could and fled the castle. His body was found in the forest, where he had died of a failing heart.
The people cheered at their dictator's fall, and gladly returned Great Britain's treasure to them. The foreign army saw no interest in the small village they left behind, and overlooked the secret corridor within the castle, that was overflowing with Ryouichi's wealth. When the treasure was found, the factions of ninjas and pirates fought over it, seeing it as the reward for their years of strife. The Blood Bounty was stolen by the shinobi who raided the castle. Then it fell into the influence of the pirates and was celebrated as the Overlords Ransom. The treasure traded hands again and again in a fight for absolute greatness, until the treasure was lost to time. What was once a historical truth became a rumored mystery. And what was once the seaside home of Ryouichi, was now Konoha village.
