The Lost Guardians
by Ethan Darkcrow
Author's Note: Hello all you Naruto fans. I'm writing a fic about Naruto mainly because I'm hooked on the series and I've hit a small barrier with my other works. So...please bare with me if the dialouge is not perfect or some of the spellings aren't the same as the series. See ya!
The country of fire, one of the strongest and most powerful countries on the mainland.As a result of this power its hidden village mirrored its power and prestige. Konoha, the hidden village of leaves, is the country of fire's village that hosts it ninja forces. Unfortunately, because of this fact most of the other hidden villages feel that Konoha has be come too big for its own good. It was because of these feeling that a missing nin called Orochimaru could launch an attack that was meant to destroy Konoha. However, Konoha was more powerful than most were lead to think and the attack only crippled the village.
After the attempted destruction of the village by Orochimaru, which had all but failed, the people of Konoha united to rebuild the decimated village with vigor. Little did the villagers or the ninja organization know that a new evil was rising from the shadows, and it was poising itself to strikeout at all the hidden villages and their people.
Standing at the gates of Konaha was a strange man. He seemed to be watching the traffic pass in and out of the village while he wore a nostalgic look on his face. Seeming to be reliving a past memory, he stood still staring at the mountain in the distance while taking several deep sighs. Before the stranger knew it, a young man appeared out of no where wearing an outfit that was probably common for gate guards of the village. However, the strange man noticed that the guard also wore a forehead protector on his arm, which symbolized that he was also a ninja of Konoha.
"Good day," said the young man as he approached the stranger with a wary look in his eyes, "Do you have some business in our village? Have you come to request help?" As the young man asked these questions he looked the stranger over. The man wore a red tunic which was cinched off with two pouch belts, one over his left shoulder and the other at his waist. His black pants were secured at the ankles with bandages, as a ninja would do, but he wore no outward symbol of his alliance to a particular country. On top of that, the man had a brown cloak, which he used to cover himself when he noticed the young mans interrogation of his appearance, while the large wicker hat that he had on his head seemed to hide his face quite well.
"You could say that…" the stranger spoke in a gravely voice, "…I'm looking for an old acquaintance."
The young ninja didn't believe the man, but he wasn't about to deny him either, "If you're looking for someone then you should try going through the proper channels of communication, otherwise I can't let you in."
A small chuckle emanated from under the strangers hat as he said, "I guess it can't be helped." The stranger quickly reached into one of his pouches with such speed that the ninja felt slow as he opened his leg pouch and drew his kunai. However, as the young ninja brought up his weapon and faced the stranger his expression turned to confusion as the stranger held a piece of paper in his hand and presented it to him.
Striding forward slowly the ninja took the paper from the strangers hand and blinked in surprise when he opened the paper. There in front of the ninja was a hand written personal summons by none other than the deceased third Hokage. Choking, the guard started to stammer as he handed the piece of paper back to the man and quickly moved out of the man's way.
Smiling underneath his wicker hat the man nodded once and began to slowly enter the village while slipping the note, which quickly transformed back into a blank sheet of paper when he was out of the line of the ninjas sight, in one of his pockets. 'Honestly,' thought the stranger as he walked down the main road of Konoha, 'a Genin as a gate guard? Orochimaru's attack must have weakened this village even more than I predicted.'
Several minutes later…sliding past several nosy villagers who didn't even try to hide the fact that they were staring at him, the stranger tried to gain his bearings by looking at the mountain while sighing, as he quietly whispered to himself in anger, "Just how big did this dirt-ball village get?"
Waking up to the annoying buzz of the alarm clock from a near by night stand was definitely not the highlight of a certain blonde haired ninja's day. Slapping at the device and then hurling the offending device across the room into his laundry bin, the boy yawned loudly as he rubbed the back of his hand across his face and wipe some of the drool from his chin. Staring at the worn oak wooden floors of his humble room Uzumaki Naruto was contemplating whether he should go back to sleep or eat breakfast.
After several minutes of hanging between indecision Naruto stood up, yawned and pulled off his covers. After taking a quick shower and making himself a small cup of ramen and red bean broth, Naruto sat down and just began to eat his breakfast when several really hard knocks came from his door and a voice that he was very familiar with shouted, "Naruto! Wake up, damn it!"
Huffing his displeasure at being bothered as he was about to eat his breakfast he shouted back, "Leave me alone! I'm eating! Go ahead without me!"
"Idiot! Don't make me come in there!" yelled out the voice that Naruto knew was attached to the name and face of Haruna Sakura; Naruto's companion, boyhood crush, and friend.
Sighing deeply and staring at his ramen Naruto went to the front door and opened it only to reveal a teenaged pink haired ninja girl shaking her fists at the door while looking as if she was about to kick it in. "Sakura-chan, what are you doing here?" asked Naruto with a quizzical look on his face.
"I'm here," said Sakura with a smile and a glint in her eyes, "to make sure that you make it to the meeting place on time."
"But Kakashi-sensei is just going to be late as usual," said Naruto as he threw open his door and walked back into his room grumbling in discontent.
Sakura was shocked at Naruto's frankness and his silent invite to his room. Seeing that she had only been in his room once or twice she had never been long enough to really "see" the place that Naruto called home. Walking in, she remembered the humble surroundings and the furnishings that Naruto had. A small bed stood in the corner of the room by the window while a simple table, that looked as if it had been fished out of a garbage dumpster was sitting in the middle of the room with a white table cloth. The sink was filled with plates and empty ramen cups. Turning her head to scan the room she saw something that surprised her. Sitting on a well made shelve was all of Naruto's ninja equipment. The equipment was well maintained and polished as was his clothing which hung in his closet. Something else caught Sakura's attention as well, on one of the shelves next to Sasuke's forehead protector was a piece of a mask and a needle that she remembered from the battle with Zabuza and Haku. Next to those items were a blank chunin exam sheet and a small clear bottle of sand. Sakura shivered uncontrollably as she began to remember the battle that she wasn't present at because she was knocked out and slowly being crushed by sands that were controlled by…
"Gaara," Sakura said softly, which wasn't loud enough to alert Naruto. Not understanding why he would keep these mementos, she turned her gaze on three round balls sitting on his shelves. Test each one she found out that they were a water balloon, normal balloon, and a rubber ball. 'What's he doing with those?' she pondered, as Naruto finished his ramen and stated to get ready.
What she had seen was bothering Sakura as the two walked out of Naruto's apartment. She had never known Naruto to keep trophies, but it wasn't just the trophies that she was thinking about. She had never said anything to Naruto, mainly because she had never really been "inside" his room, but she had noticed that out of all the apartments his looked the most in disrepair. Now that she had a good look, she noticed that the door to his apartment squeaked, his windows were cracked and moldy, the floor was old and looked as if it was in need of a quick replacement, and she didn't even want to talk about the kitchen.
Yet, as the two walked down the dirt towards their meeting place with Kakashi-sensei, Sakura couldn't help but notice that Naruto seemed to be oblivious to it all while keeping a positive attitude and happy smile.
"Hey, Sakura-chan? Do you think that Kakashi-sensei has a good mission for us," asked Naruto with his hands folded behind his head. Looking up at the sky Naruto spoke softly as if thinking deeply about something and said, "Maybe it'll have something to do with Orochimaru or Sasuke."
Hearing those names always made Sakura shiver slightly, as emotions and memories ran through her. "Who knows," said Sakura with as much of a level voice as she could muster without seeming on the verge of tears.
He might not be the brightest ninja, but Naruto wasn't completely dense. His ears had caught the slight inflection in Sakura's voice, which told him to back away from the subject and pursue another line of thinking. "Um…Sakura?"
"Yes," answered Sakura while rubbing her eyes free of the wetness she found there.
"What kind of training have you and Tsunade-sama been doing?" he asked uncertainly, not sure if Sakura wanted to talk about it.
"That? Well, that's a secret Naruto. And I'm not telling," Sakura laughed as Naruto's mouth hung open before he went on ranting loudly that "holding information from your teammate is not in the best interest of teamwork", to which she answered him by sticking out her tongue and running towards the meeting place while laughing.
Slowly, a smile spread over Naruto's face as he took off after Sakura all the while yelling something along the lines of "no fair". Deep down, Naruto was happy that he could make Sakura smile even if it is only for a short while.
