** 暗雷団 (reading as あんらいだん, Anraidan) is composed by the words kurai, ‘dark/gloomy’, rai, ‘thunder’ and dan, ‘group/company’. At first I translated it with ‘Black Thunder Group’, but apparently everyone is calling it ‘Dark Thunder Group’ so I’ll go with the flow.

***水遁 · 雨あられ, ‘Water release: barrage of rain’. Water version of Gaara’s Suna Arare (Sand Hail).

****Fire release: Great Fireball Technique.

*****I’m not sure about the translation, but I think Chino is surprised because theoretically water release should outdo fire release.

(4-5)

Sasuke, who sensed the chakra thinly wrapped around the blade of the kunai, stepped on the bamboo leaves, kicked them, and avoided it jumping.

The kunai pierced the bamboo behind Sasuke, and the bamboo blew off with a loud plosive sound.

“…The ‘nature transformation’ of ‘wind’?”*

Since the kunai was clad with wind chakra, the air in the s.p.a.ce of the node of the bamboo had increased, and it had exploded.

“Oi, youngsters, what are you doing**? Will you quickly defeat that guy or not!”

“Eeh…? You didn’t listen when I said he’s strong to this extent!”

Chino received the words of the old man, and looked at Sasuke. Then she became aware of it with a ha.

“No way…! Look, Nowaki! Those eyes… it’s the Sharingan!” said Chino, pointing at Sasuke’s eyes. The big man called Nowaki made a surprised face saying “Is it the real one …?”.

“Eei, you gutless guys! If it’s so, I will do it! d.a.m.n Dark Thunder Group, they’re the enemies of my daughteeeeeer!”

The old man clutched the bamboo spear, and went charging again. There was no time to hear him talking to himself. So, it couldn’t be helped. Sasuke sighed with a ‘haa’, and took his sword in his hand.

“Dieeee!”

He pushed the bamboo spear forward. Sasuke very easily rounded that spear’s end with the sword. Without stopping, he soon turned the bamboo into fine round slices as far as the old man’s hands with a terrible speed, and thrust the point of his sword against the old man’s windpipe.

He applied the blade against the throat so that he could sense the cold touch of the sword.

“N-nooo…”

The bamboo, which Sasuke had cut just as long as about one tenth of its length, fell from his hands. Suddenly sweat rose on the dry skin of the old man and dripped down.

“Ah, ah, w-wait a second young man! Boss! Hunk! Handsome man! Please don’t kill this grandpa!”*** said a panicked Chino who came to try to calm Sasuke down. Without replying to that, Sasuke said to the old man: “It’s a misunderstanding.”

“Ye-yea—…”

“I don’t know the likes of this Dark Thunder Group.”

“No—, no—…”

Even if he was trembling in fear, it seemed that it didn’t enter in the old man’s ear, who was breathing heavily. It was pointless trying to discuss with him. Sasuke slightly separated the sword from the old man’s throat.

“I’m not the Dark Thunder Group.”

“Really…?”

“I hear that name for the first time.”

Sasuke lowered the sword. The old man went down on his knees**** collapsing on the spot. On the other side, Chino and Nowaki, who had heard Sasuke’s words, looked at each other’s faces.

“Grandpa Iou! He said it was a misunderstanding!”

NOTES:

*性質変化, Seis.h.i.+tsu Henka.

**He speaks in Iyo-ben. Which doesn’t concern you, since I don’t know how to render it. Usually in manga/anime the authors use a different dialect as opposed to Tokyo dialect in order to give a peculiar tone to a certain character (for instance, Masas.h.i.+-sensei uses the Yokahoma dialect for Kankurou). I think s.h.i.+n Towada used it with Iou to give him an old-fas.h.i.+oned talking style. Speaking of talking style, he refers to himself as was.h.i.+ (old-man version of watas.h.i.+), and he also uses the pluralising suffix domo when talking to Chino and Nowaki, which (according to jisho.org) implies that he is of a higher status than Chino and Nowaki. (Or at least he thinks so). Usually, in normal spoken j.a.panese you never use this kind of speech (j.a.panese etiquette dictates that the speaker is always on a ‘lower position’), but we are in an anime-like light novel, where all the rules bend at the writer’s will.

***Chino addresses to Sasuke with increasing degrees of flattery. She starts with お兄さん oniisan (it also mean big brother, but it’s commonly used towards young men), then 大將 taishou (boss/leader), イケメン ikemen (good-looking/cool/hunky guy), 男前 otokomae (handsome man). (‘Without replying to that’, pff Sasuke, you like to be called handsome don’t you? heheheee) Also, she calls Iou じーちゃん jiichan, which literally means ‘Grandpa’, but it’s also a familiar way to call an old person. I need to clarify this because it took me ages to figure out that he is not actually her grandfather.

****This verb is usually used for the j.a.panese kneeling apologise, hence Chino’s reaction.

(6-7)

Chino shouted, but the old man called Iou shouted “Shut up!”.

“Now that’s not it—! My heart—, my heart is painfuuul—!”*

It seemed that when he was released from the fear of death, the pulsation of his chest had become erratic. Iou grasped his chest, breathing in for his life.

“Sorry… for these awful thing for this misunderstanding.”

Unlike Iou, Nowaki excused himself apologetically.

“If we fight as it we are now I feel like we would be the ones who would be killed, but sorry.”

Also Chino apologised joining her hands together with a pan.

“Wait a second Grandpa Iou! You should apologise properly too!”

Iou, who had sit down, turned his face away with a fun and cursed “In a time like this that guy that walks around the Bamboo Village** is at fault!”.

“Whaa—, you’re an old fart, ain’tcha?”

“What did you sayyy!”

Iou, losing his cool at Chino’s words, tried to stand up, but he fell sitting hard on the spot right away. It seemed that his hips had given way.

“d.a.m.n! And I thought that today I would settle the dispute with the Dark Thunder Group for good…!”

Iou hit the ground frustrated.

“…Who on earth those that you call Dark Thunder Group?”

Iou said that they were his daughter’s enemies. It was certain that some problem had occurred.

“Well, it’s a long story… Grandpa, let’s go back home for the time being. You have to explain properly to this mister*** too.”

Iou abruptly turned his face away with a huff just like a not accommodating child. After Chino grumbled “Mo—”, shocked, she exchanged looks with Nowaki.

“Iou-san, we’re going back…”

Nowaki somehow carried Iou on his back by force****.

“d.a.m.n!”

Nowaki started walking towards the bamboo, and Chino followed him crossing her arms behind her head. Looking at their backs, and Chino turned her head and “Fast—” urged.

“…It looks like I’m getting into a troublesome matter” grumbled Sasuke, and tried to follow the three people.

“…!?”

However, he looked back sensing a gaze as if he was shoot.

“…”

He waited and watched but only bamboo thicket spread out before his eyes. It was quiet and there was no sign of wild animals.

“Mister—*****, what are you doing?”

At Chino’s voice who was worried about that, Sasuke followed the girl after taking an extensive view of the bamboo thicket once again.

NOTES:

*Sweating, chest pain and shortness of breath are indeed signs of an heart attack but eh…

**竹ノ村, Take no Mura. Unlike the other s.h.i.+n.o.bi villages like Konoha that are referred to with the word sato (裡), here the author uses the word mura, I guess he wants to mean a smaller, countryside-ish village as opposed to the bigger s.h.i.+n.o.bi villages.

***She calls him oniichan this time (more familiar/childish than oniisan).

****Ok, this bit was quite a pain. According to jisho.org, 背負う (seou) means both ‘to be burdened with; to take responsibility for; to carry on back or shoulder’ and ‘to have (something) in the background; to be in front (of something)’. So I had to make a choice: Nowaki is either standing in front of Iou by force (ie like he’s forcing Iou to face him) or taking him on his shoulders to carry him home. I went with the latter because it made me laugh. Oh by the way, Nowaki uses the polite form of speech.

*****It’s niichan this time (drops o that adds respect).

(8-9)

Going along he reached Iou’s house. It looked like he was the village headman* of this Bamboo Village, his house was noticeably big, too. Inside the room various bamboo works were left around, from daily things to children toys.

“The Bamboo Village is called like this because they make a living selling bamboo craftsmans.h.i.+p.”

Chino showed Sasuke a basket of twisted bamboo and bamboo skewers that were near them, a bamboo fis.h.i.+ng rod etcetera.

“Don’t touch as you please!”

Iou s.n.a.t.c.hed them away ill-humoured, but Chino, not being discouraged by that, this time picked up a bamboo-copter**, and made it fly inside the room. Unluckily it almost fell on Sasuke’s head, but he caught it just in time, and observed it.

“They sell all these things in the village of Yugakure. That’s because there are many tourists there. However, the say that the unit price is cheap and yields no profit at all but…”

“Shut up!” Iou shouted with an angry voice.

The village of Yugakure, despite having been s.h.i.+n.o.bi village, it was an unusual village that had turned into a sightseeing area.

Guessing from the amount of the basket that were piled up, and bamboo skewers that were left around in large quant.i.ty with craftsmans.h.i.+p, there was demand, but it seemed that the livelihood was difficult.

“To be honest, the fact is that I, and Nowaki too, a little while ago were in the show business in the village of Yugakure.”

“Show business?”

“We were former-s.h.i.+n.o.bi itinerant entertainers. The reason is that in Yugakure’s hotspring town we made money. Because amus.e.m.e.nt becomes money there.”

Chino took breath with a fu—, and soap bubbles came out of her mouth one after the other. On the point of view of a s.h.i.+n.o.bi it was not a great deal of a jutsu, but on the other hand it might be well received by an ordinary person.

“So. We tried to go in a different land and we happened to pa.s.s by the Bamboo Village by chance. When we stopped by for food supplies, we were caught by this gandpa that begged us in tears saying to help his revenge.”

Finally, the main issue. To take over Chino’s words, Iou shouted “It’s entirely the Dark Thunder Group’s fault!”.

“The Dark Thunder Group is a heartless villain organization! They rob aiming at small villages, they kill people to enjoy themselves! Several months ago they attacked the village in which my daughter had married… everybody was killed!”

So he said they were the enemy? As he recalled his daughter, tears rose in the corner of Iou’s eyes.

“I was not blessed with children, after I aged finally my beloved daughter came…! Last year’s spring she married, very soon she planned to have children and…!”

Without being able to go on, Iou chewed his back teeth to endure the tears.

“My daughter was killed, even my wife died lying down in shock.”

Tragedy gave birth to tragedy, and Iou was left alone. And the circ.u.mstance of being driven by revenge might be inevitable. Even Nowaki, who was listening silently, looked at Iou looking pitiful.

“…We’re afraid of this Dark Thunder Group, all these people live holding their breath. The windows too, look out.”

Blackout curtains were put in so that the light didn’t filter through the windows. The other houses were all in this way, too.

NOTES:

*村長, sonchou.

**竹とんぼ, taketonbo. A bamboo-copter or bamboo-dragonfly (tonbo in fact means ‘dragonfly’) is this thing, whose existence I ignored before translating this excerpt. That’s why I love translating/reading these novels, so many interesting trivia about j.a.panese culture~~~

(10-11)

“Hey, you! You look strong, right! I beg you, lend me your power!”

Iou rubbed his eyes with the back of the hand with a sudden motion, and begun begging Sasuke, trying to lean forward.

“Ee—, isn’t that a little too much to ask?”

“Shut up!” he cried in a thunderous voice to Chino’s astonished look and repeating quickly “I apologise for the thing of before!” Iou bowed his head. Moreover he didn’t try to raise his head. Was he intended to keep it bowed until Sasuke said yes?

Nowaki, unable to remain indifferent, lowering his voice said:

“It doesn’t mean to follow Iou-san, but as a matter of fact it seems that the head of this Dark Thunder Group looks up to ‘Uchiha Sasuke’ as a mentor. Moreover, they profess it.”

“…What did you say?”

Suddenly his own name had come up. Sasuke raised his eyebrows instinctively.

“…that’s you, right? Uchiha Sasuke. It seems like that he admires you.”

Unlike Iou, Chino and Nowaki had the information of s.h.i.+n.o.bi. Moreover they were itinerant entertainers. They had travelled around the world and were more discerning on the news. For this such reason when they looked at Sasuke’s Sharingan, they immediately guessed who he was.

Sasuke didn’t have the memory of having heard himself the name of the Dark Thunder Group. Naturally he had the unpleasant feeling coming from the fact that other people were using his own name at their own will, but the fact that he was respected by people who committed crimes cast a gloomy shadow on Sasuke’s heart. The shadow was of a heavy dark colour.

“…It can’t be helped.” Sasuke muttered with a listless expression. Seeing that his own name had popped up, he couldn’t say he was unrelated.

Besides, it was shown that the Dark Thunder Group acted violently doing many damages, and making this village live in fear was an evil deed too. The affair of the disappearance of a large quant.i.ty of s.h.i.+n.o.bi was a concern, too, but it was also impossible to leave this village.

Among the reasons of Sasuke’s travelling, the atonement towards the world was included.

“Eeh, you’ll cooperate?”

It seemed that Chino didn’t think that Sasuke would cooperate. She looked Sasuke staring in wonder.

“I thought you’d say ‘It has nothing to do with me, solve it by yourselves’, and leave tableflipping things with a kick*.”

He seldom sent tables flying with a kick, but as for the previous words, his former self might have said them. In the first place, his former self maybe would have gone towards the Land of Lighting pa.s.sing quickly through this village too.

“He comes along! You’re just the kind of person I expected!”

Iou raised his head, smiling with the whole face. What a sudden of change.

Looking Iou like that reminded him of a certain person. That is, the carpenter of the Land of Waves, Tazuna**.

Tazuna, who made a strenuous effort to build a bridge in that country despite meeting various hindrances, had such strength of audacity and speed of change. Was it maybe a thing characteristic of this age?

NOTES:

*I took some creativity licence here, since 機蹴っ飛ばす kinda doesn’t exist. It’s made up with the kanji for ‘desk/table’ and ‘kicking hard’.

**Do you remember? The worst possible client. This guy.

(12-13)

However, Tazuna had fight risking his life for the future of the country even if very important person for him was killed, and the road in which he went ahead was the exact opposite of Iou, who was driven by hatred and demanded the power for revenge.

“For the time being, today is enough. The Dark Thunder Group showed no sign of coming, take a rest.”

Chino displayed a big yawn.

“That’s right. I can give you a room. You feel free to use it. …if those guys come, I rely on you.” Iou said emphasising that. It surely looked like he was confident that the village would be attacked. Then, inside that look, there was the despair that wished for the punishment of the Dark Thunder Group that had killed his daughter.

Even if Sasuke would help to solve the problem, he had no intention of lending a hand for the revenge. No matter if he said that, he didn’t agree with Iou.

Without replying to Iou’s words, Sasuke entered in the room he was allotted to.

“…Eh? Say it again.”

The little village was in the valley of a mountain. However, in that place there weren’t villagers. Every house was destroyed, people had been killed with cruelty. The only living beings were the beasts that were sniffing the scent of blood.

Inside a destroyed house, the person that was throwing a ball-sphere* against a wall while sitting on the table raised the corners of his mouth at the subordinate’s words.

Bluish purple hair that had grown loosely, anaemic-looking lips. Only his eyes were sparkling in a glare.

“Yes! As soon as the sun had set, in the Bamboo Village, the place we had just scouted out, there was the man that holds the ‘Sharingan’! Karyuu-sama, perhaps, he’s Uchiha Sasuke…!”

The ball-sphere that came in contact with the wall near the corpses that were lying around jumped the pool of blood on the floor, and returned back in the man’s, Karyuu, hand.

“Uchiha Sasuke… the only survivor of the proud Uchiha clan… that guy is in the Bamboo Village?…”

The man called Karyuu jumped off from the table laughing with small kuku, and threw again the ball-sphere against the wall.

“…!”

Doon, it made a big plosive sound, and the subordinate instinctively clamped his ears and shut his eyes. When he opened his eyelids a big hole had opened in the wall, and Karyuu had went outside from that hole.

Karyuu, looking up at the moon that peeked from behind the rift between the clouds, extended his hands.

“Master of my heart, the man that make known in the world the wonder of the kekkei genkai, Uchiha Sasuke… what a chance for me be able to kill him had returned!”

Karyuu made a delighted expression, and shouted at his subordinates that were waiting for orders.

“You, at work! That said Bamboo Village is just right… all together, crush it!”

NOTES:

*鞠玉, maridama. I had some trouble translating it, because 鞠 means ‘ball’ and 玉 means, well, ‘ball’. So it’s a ball-ball. I did a bit of research, and though in Naruto’s world there are both damas (for examples the Tailed Beast Ball, Bijuu-dama) and maris (the Menacing Ball, Imari), the terms are never used together. Must be some new attack belonging to this guy only *shrugs*

~End of the second extract~

x.x.xx.x.xx.x.xx.x.x

Here we are. As you might notice by reading KatsanG.o.d’s translation, there is still one section before the end of chapter 1. I’ll probably translate it as well for completeness reasons, but if you want to read it now, here’s the link again (X).

Stay tuned in— I mean, keep scrolling for the Italian version.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

ERRATA CORRIGE: Scusate, sono completamente idiota. Fin’ora ho sempre tradotto ‘Anraidan’ con ‘Gruppo del Fulmine Nero’, mentre in realtà è il ‘Gruppo del Tuono Nero’ (tuono oscuro più precisamente). Ho cambiato la traduzione, dal momento che diventerà importante più avanti.

III

(2-3)

Senza fermarsi a riposare proseguì silenziosamente fino al tramonto. Sasuke stava correndo in mezzo ad una foresta di bamboo.

Dal momento che il bamboo era molto elastico, era difficile proseguire saltando di ramo in ramo come in un bosco. Mentre calpestava il terreno coperto dalle foglie di bamboo, Sasuke pensava ad uscire velocemente da quella foresta di bamboo.

Il luogo in cui si trovava era ancora nel Paese dell’Acqua Calda. Voleva entrare nel Paese del Ghiaccio, il paese confinante, prima che cambia.s.se il giorno, ed entrare nel Paese del Fulmine, in cui si trovava il Villaggio di k.u.mogakure, il giorno seguente.*

“…?”

Mentre pensava queste cose, un piccolo villaggio apparve nel suo campo visivo. Probabilmente c’erano villaggi di campagna dappertutto, ma Sasuke si fermò istintivamente. In quel villaggio non c’era nemmeno una luce accesa.

Anche se il sole era appena tramontato, tutti gli abitanti del villaggio erano andati a letto presto. E lui aveva appena sent.i.to la notizia della scomparsa di una grande quant.i.tà di s.h.i.+n.o.bi.

“…”

Sasuke chiuse gli occhi per un momento, e concentrò con decisione le sue forze sul suo occhio destro. Quando aprì le palpebre la sua pupilla si era colorata di rosso, e tre tomoe erano appa.r.s.e in superficie. Lo Sharingan.

Sasuke guardò il villaggio con quest’occhio.

Dentro le case che facevano largo uso del bamboo circostante, sembrava che ci fossero delle figure umane. Tuttavia, stavano tutti stesi a terra trattenendo il respiro. Come se fossero spaventate da qualcosa.

Messo a disagio da ciò, Sasuke fece un solo pa.s.so dentro al villaggio.

“Sei venuti fuori, maledetto Gruppo del Tuono Nero, va’ in rovinaaaaa!!”

In quel momento, un uomo saltò con forza da sotto le foglie di bamboo. Di vista era un vecchio che aveva perso peso e stava diventando calvo, ma stava andando alla carica verso di lui con una lancia di bamboo in mano. Non c’erano né agilità né forza nei suoi movimenti. Sembrava solo una persona ordinaria senza ninjutsu***.

Sasuke saltò all’indietro e lo evitò facilmente.

“…!”

Tuttavia, quando atterrò sentì la presenza di chakra dietro di lui.

“Arte dell’Acqua: Grandine di Pioggia****!” risuonò una voce acuta come quella di una bambina, e innumerevoli piccole gocce d’acqua come una grandine di caramelle iniziarono a volare mirando a Sasuke. Sasuke fece un sigillo e inalò, poi portò le dita alla bocca.

——Arte del fuoco, tecnica della palla di fuoco suprema!*****

Le tecniche dell’arte del fuoco erano una specialità degli Uchiha. Le fiamme emesse da Sasuke avvolsero le gocce d’acqua dell’avversario, facendole evaporare all’istante.

“Eeeh? Ma l’arte dell’acqua vince contro l’arte del fuoco!?”****** gridò l’avversario, vedendo la sua tecnica scomparire senza entrare in contatto con Sasuke.

Dietro di lui c’era una ragazza ba.s.sa con il viso da bambina.

“Chino, indietro!”

Un uomo gigantesco dal corpo muscoloso apparve per spingere da parte la ragazza chiamata Chino. Scagliò contro Sasuke un kunai preparato in precedenza. La sua punta mirò al cuore di Sasuke.

NOTE:

*Dal momento che ho dovuto ripa.s.sare la geografia del mondo ninja ho pensato che vi facesse piacere una mappa:

image

“Voi, al lavoro! Quel suddetto Villaggio del Bamboo va proprio al caso nostro… tutti insieme, distruggetelo!