First chapter !
Warning : sasuxnaru but technically not yaoi
Naruto and the other characters don't belong to me
My Beta is Flawless_beauti from livejournal !
Long strands of golden hair fell in the river and quickly disappeared with the current.
"I'm sorry you have to cut your hair" A familiar voice whispered inside Narue's head.
"I know Kyuubi, I know" She ruffled her now short and spiky hair, it felt strange. "Do you think I look like a boy now ?"
She stood up and looked at her blurry reflection in the shimmering water. Yeah, she looked like a boy, even with her trademark grin.
"I guess for once you won't complain about your small boobs" the Fox giggled.
Narue snorted but he was right, she was lucky her chest looked flat in the bright orange suit she had bought just before leaving Suna even though Kyuubi had argued it was not a male colour. Tssk. Like he knew anything about human fashion.
Thinking of Suna saddened her. What had her mother said when she had realized she was gone ? When she had read her letter ? Biting her lower lip, Narue took her mother's necklace in her hand and stroke its blue crystal with her thumb, silently apologizing. What she was doing was very risky, as a Tanuki her duty was to protect Prince Gaara and if someone discovered she was missing, she could be kicked out of the army. Or worse. She didn't want to think about that too much, she only hoped her mother would protect her. The girl remained silent a few minutes, before raising her head and saying with determination :
"We don't have a lot of time, let's go dattebayo !"
The Fox sighed. They' be very lucky if it'd all end well.
Konoha's roofs were in sight before nightfall. They had travelled very quickly since they were mostly using Kyuubi's chakra. The fact that they were living in harmony had always frightened her mother a little.
"Time to slow down Naru-chan"
"Stop calling me like that" She whined.
Kyuubi stopped giving her chakra and she felt her claws and fangs disappear. Her eyes became blue again, just in time to pass the gate without being noticed. It's not like Konoha was overprotected, it was the biggest country with the biggest army and people felt a little bit overconfident in Narue's opinion.
Konoha was huge, at least twice bigger than Suna, colourful and animated. The palace, with its golden roofs decorated with red and white fans, was by far the highest building of the town. It was surrounded by gardens and walls from which the Anbu could see the enemy coming miles away. The Anbu were the royal family's army, like the Tanuki (but the Tanuki were obviously better).
"Does it remind you anything ?" Narue asked when she felt the demon moving.
"I've seen this fan before and I don't like it." He replied with a nervous voice. "But my memories are not back."
Narue felt a little bit disappointed. Of course she knew it'd take some time for the Fox to remember something, but still, she expected more.
Two months ago
Blood. Bodies. Blood and bodies everywhere. Screams, spinning red yes. Konoha.
"Narue !"
Narue woke up screaming in her mother's arms. It was only a nightmare, she realized, still shaking, but it looked so real. She shuddered, suddenly cold. Kyuubi was also disturbed, she could feel his chakra everywhere, trying uselessly to protect them.
"Mom, what's Konoha ?" Narue asked with a tiny voice once she had stop shaking.
She had never seen her mother so terrified.
Konoha, Kushina told her, was a town located in the Fire Country, which was the country Kyuubi and her father Minato came from. The Fox was, back then, a free fox-demon and Konoha's Guardian, and her father was a talented Anbu captain. One night, they both decided, for unknown reasons, to attack Konoha and slaughter the royal family.
Her mom had to stop her tale, she was crying.
After the slaughter, his father seemed to have shown remorse and sealed a maddened Kyuubi inside his one year old daughter before being captured by his second, Uchicha Madara. He was then trialled and sentenced to death, while Kushina and her baby were banned from the Fire Country.
Narue and the Fox (who seemed to have lost his memory when he was sealed) had been truly horrified to learn this. She had never known her father but she knew, deep inside, that Kyuubi could have never done such a terrible thing. As far as she could remember, he had always been nice and helpful even though he was really annoying when he complained about eating too much ramen. That thought plagued her. The Fox was innocent, she knew it. Someone must have made a mistake that night. Maybe her father was innocent too !
"Narue..." Kushina said with a defeated voice. " I really thought that too. People of Konoha thought that too, but he confessed."
"Then he was forced to !" the girl replied with a defiant look in her eyes. "Because he was innocent !"
Unfortunately, no one seemed to believe her, even her own mother. And the nightmares came nights after nights, until she decided, promised, to help Kyuubi recover his lost memories to find out the truth and in case the Namikaze were still unwelcome in the Fire Country, she had decided to disguise herself as a boy.
Present
Narue's stomach was screaming for food, she had eaten her last supplies this morning after cutting her hair, and a full stomach would certainly help her decide what to do next. The Fox sighed, it meant ramen again.
Thirty minutes later she was eating her third bowl of ramen at Ichiraku's. It was by far the best ramen she had ever eaten even though Kyuubi said it all tasted the same.
"Looks like you're hungry" A man said with an amused tone.
"I am, sir !" Narue answered once her mouth was empty and order another bowl.
"Don't call me sir, call me Iruka." He smiled. "What's your name my boy ?"
"Naru...to. It's Naruto !"
"Are you from Konoha ? I've never seen you before."
"I'm not from Konoha." Narue decided not to lie but remained vague. Iruka didn't look very satisfied with her answer so she added with a determined voice "I came here because I want to be an Anbu, dattebayo !"
"What ?" The man looked really surprised.
"What ?! Did you lose your mind Naru-chan ? I told you I don't like the fans, I don't want to get near that palace !"
"Yes and I will become an Anbu wether you like it or not !" She added loudly with a stubborn tone to both Iruka and the Fox. If the fans were familiar to Kyuubi, maybe he would remember more, and the only way to get closer to the royal family was to become an Anbu.
"Sounds like you're serious !" A happy voice behind them said.
Narue turned around to face a tall, silver-haired Anbu with a mask covering his mouth and nose and holding a suspicious-looking orange book.
"I am, sir !"
"Unfortunately"
The Anbu looked very serious all of sudden. He stared at Narue for long time in silence and the girl stared back, pouting slightly. She was really determined to discover the truth. Those mocking spinning red eyes had plagued her dreams for far too long, and she knew they had something to do with what happened. They couldn't belong to her father, according to her mother, his were blue. They didn't belong to Kyuubi either, so who could it be ?
"Follow me, then" He simply replied, bringing the girl's attention back to him.
Narue paid her ramen and followed him, waving goodbye to Iruka, a huge grin on her face. She knew it was a good idea.
"Like when you shaved Gaara's eyebrows in his sleep?" The Fox snorted.
Narue snorted too. It was supposed to be a joke, besides, it ended well.
The stranger led her to an isolated training gym. She was very lucky, he told her, that their beloved King had ordered his son to recruit three Anbu for his personal use. A lot of ninjas were interested though, she would have to succeed the tests and be the best.
"I will, dattebayo !"
The Anbu looked very amused.
"What's your name by the way ?" Narue suddenly asked. " Mine is Naruto. Uzumaki Naruto !"
Uzumaki was Kushina's last name before she married Namikaze Minato. Even though he had betrayed Konoha and destroyed everything they had built together, her mother was still wearing his name. She must have loved him so much.
"Hatake Kakashi." the Anbu answered absent-mindedly.
He turned another page of his book, giggling slightly. He was carefully hiding the cover but Narue had seen it before since its author, a white-haired pervert, had given her a free copy she had never bothered to read, to Kyuubi's greatest disappointment.
"You don't know what you're missing" the Fox commented on a reproachful tone.
The girl ignored him. She was used to his inappropriate thoughts, but was the man really reading that book ? Curiosity won.
"Are your reading a porn novel Kakashi ? It looks like Icha Icha Paradise !"
"Aren't you a bit young to read that ? " He raised his only visible eyebrow.
"Wha ?! Hey I don't read that crap okay ! I was only asking, dattebayo !" She felt outraged.
"Crap ? That's healthy reading !" Kakashi replied with a hurt voice.
Narue rolled her eyes.
Standing in a line with other young ninjas (Kakashi was right, they were a lot), Narue was waiting for instructions. The first test had been a physical one. She had been the best, like Gaara often said it, she was a stamina freak. The second test had been more troublesome. (Strategical one). For once she was pretty satisfied with her performance, she had not been the best but she had done a decent result. The third one had been an ability test with Anbu's common weapons, kunais and shurikens. Her result was good too. What would the next one be about ? The other ninjas looked anxious as well, this Prince seemed to be very popular if a little less than hundred people wanted so much to protect him.
An Anbu with a heavily scarred face suddenly cleared his throat and spoke :
"Those we find worthy of becoming our beloved Prince's personal guards will be called. The others can go back home. "
Chewing her lips nervously, Narue waited for her name to be called. She almost forget it was supposed to be Naruto and the man had to call her twice before she reacted. Once the unlucky candidates had left, the scarred man cleared his throat again.
"You will now be paired by two and will fight against each other. The Prince will watch closely each fight and choose who will have the honour to protect him"
