Haunted Mansion, a naruto fanfic

Halloween Special

Exorcism of the Sand

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

"See?! I told you I could kick his ass!"

"No, dickless. You did a lousy job."

"You're just jealous because I got to beat the boss, while you were painting your silly pictures."

Kakashi sighed. "Now, now boys. We still have a long way back to Konoha, let's calm ourselves down, shall we?"

"Kakashi-sensei's right, you two. You've been fighting non-stop for the past two days. And frankly, I'm fed up."

Team Kakashi fell silent at the girl's words, walking through the barren fields. In the distance they could see the large gates to Suna towering over the land. Naruto turned to the rest of the group, a large grin on his face.

"Why don't we stop over in Suna?" he suggested. "It'll be nice to visit Gaara, it's been a while- and we can rest too!"

Sakura perked up at the idea. "Oh, a I'd kill for a comfy bed right now…"

Sai turned and faced the kunoichi with curiosity.

"Who are you going to kill?"

The three gave him strange looks.

"No, Sai, that was an expression. I won't really kill someone," Sakura explained wearily.

"If she could choose, it would probably be you," Naruto muttered under his breath.

Sai conveniently ignored this comment and smiled pleasantly at Sakura, who gave Naruto a warning look. Kakashi took out his Icha Icha Violence book in hopes of being distracted from the young members of his group.

Eventually they had arrived at Suna, walking through the busy evening streets, heading straight for the Kazekage tower. Upon arrival they were greeted warmly by a Suna shinobi who led them straight to the Kazekage himself. The door opened to Gaara and Temari sitting on opposite sides of his desk in a quiet discussion. The redhead looked up, green eyes piercing into bright blue ones.

"Hey, Gaara!" Naruto greeted enthusiastically. "We were wondering if we could spend the night in Suna to visit you?"

Gaara looked surprised, leaning back in his chair to observe his unexpected guests.

Temari turned around at the voice, gaping at the Team Kakashi. "What are you guys doing here?"

"We're sorry to intrude," Sakura started. "But we were just returning to Konoha from a mission and we passed by…"

"And decided to come see you guys! Ne, ne, Gaara, how're you doing?" the blond walked around the desk to stand by his friend, reading over his shoulder at the documents in front of Gaara. "Are you busy? Do you wanna go get ramen? I'm starved!"

Temari fumed slightly. "The Kazekage is currently discussing a very important issue- G-Gaara?" she faltered as her younger brother stood and started to walk out the room, Naruto cheering with joy as he trailed behind, his team following silently, Sakura giving Temari an apologetic smile. The blond woman sighed in annoyance, slumping back in her chair.

After eating ramen, which Kakashi voluntarily paid for, they arrived at Gaara's mansion. The five entered, Gaara in the lead, staring in awe at the size of Gaara's massive entrance hall. A familiar voice called out to the group and they turned to see a pineapple shaped ponytail come into view from one of the many rooms.

"Shikamaru!" Naruto exclaimed. "What are you doing in Suna?" a devious smirk graced his face. "Here to see your girlfriend?"

"Ch, troublesome," Shikamaru muttered. "She's not my girlfriend. The Hokage sent me here for a meeting, if you must know. I could ask you why you're here, seeing as last time I checked you were meant to be on a mission."

"What, can I not stop over to see my good friend?" Naruto huffed.

"What about the rest of your team? I'm sure you could visit the Kazekage on your own."

"Soft bed," Sakura stated.

"Peace and quiet," Kakashi replied, head buried in his book.

"I can't let dickless come out here on his own. He might get raped by Suna kunoichis."

A malicious aura emitted from Gaara. Before he had a chance to even comment Sakura had landed a blow to Sai's head, several veins popping on her forehead.

"Show some respect, Sai! We're in the presence of Kazekage-sama!" she turns to Gaara and bows in apology. "I'm very sorry for my team-mate's…crude implications."

Gaara glared, but calmed slightly, nodding. "It's fine."

Temari entered the hall at that point, standing behind Shikamaru. "Should we show the guests to the spare rooms, Gaara?"

The redhead nodded and motioned for Naruto to follow him, leading him to a large room with a soft bed in the centre. The blond grinned happily and leaped onto the bed, chuckling to himself and dropping his bag on he floor.

"If there's anything you need, ask," Gaara stated simply before leaving, closing the door softly to allow the blond to settle down and sleep.

In the next room, Temari heard a shuffle.

Clutching her fan closer, the woman woke, suddenly alert of her surroundings.

There was a knock.

Pushing herself into a crouching position, Temari looked to her balcony, glaring through the thin sheet of curtaining.

She heard a voice.

She saw a hurried movement.

Readying her fan, she crept towards the curtain, heart pumping blood around her body, adrenalin running through her system.

Ring.

A bell.

She snapped the curtain open, ready to attack the unwanted visitor. Her eyes widened as she saw a green spirit flame, flickering its light against a mop of dark hair and a pale face. She felt the blood drain from her face and her mouth went dry.

It looked up.

Naruto was shocked awake as an ear splitting scream sounded from the room next to him. He jumped to his feat and froze at the next word he heard.

"Ghost!"

Laughing somewhat nervously, he forced himself to relax as hot blood was sent round his system. "Gh-ghost? Ha, ha, they don't exist! Temari must be having a nightmare," he said to himself.

Ring.

Turning a shaky head towards the balcony slowly, he is met with the sight of bright yellow eyes boring into his skull, bloody dripping from the bodiless head, the green spirit flame casting shadows on it's face.

"AHGH!" he bawled, scrambling to his feat and stumbling out the room as fast as he could.

He bumped into a slightly taller person as soon as he got outside of his door, looking up into petrified eyes of a sand kunoichi, blond hair framing the usually hot-headed Temari.

"D-did you see that?" Temari asked nervously.

"Did you hear that?!" Naruto answered. "That was not human!"

Temari paled. "Wh-what noise?"

"That scream!" Naruto exclaimed.

Flushing, Temari bonked her fellow shinobi on the head. "Idiot! That was me!"

Naruto gave her an incredulous look.

Clearing her throat, Temari glanced to their closed doors. "More im-importantly," she continued. "What are we going to do about that…that thing."

"I don't now, it's your house, your problem! I'm leaving in the morning!"

A look of horror passed the female's face. "You can't leave me here!"

"You have your brothers!"

"Do you really think they would believe what I say?! You're my only witness!"

"Do you think they'd believe what I say either?" Naruto countered.

Temari sighed, forcing herself to calm completely. "Whatever it is, we should make sure it's gone, and try to warn our friends that the Kazekage's house has an intruder."

Naruto was off down the hall like a bullet. "I'm going to find Sakura-chan! Sakura-chaaaan!"

Temari sucked in a large breath before steadily walking down the hall to Gaara's room, keeping her cool.

There was a thump.

"Gaara!" she screamed in horror, speeding towards his room.

The Kazekage looked up from his documents as he heard urgent knocking at his door. Standing slowly, he walked over to his door and opened it, only to have his sister in his face, grabbing his collar and shaking him vigorously.

"Temari," he growled. "Let me go."

Obeying his orders, the woman stormed past him into the room, pacing along the floor so quickly Gaara thought she might burn a hole in his floor.

"Explain."

She looked up with her wide, scared eyes. "Naruto, uh, found a gh-ghost in his room and asked me to, ah, alert you right away…"

The redhead stared blankly, unconvinced. "A ghost."

"Yes. A ghost."

He raised an eyebrow muscle. "Ghosts do not exist. Get back to your room and let Naruto handle his own problem."

Temari jumped on him again. "No! You don't understand! That thing was not human! It had blood dripping from its neck and there was a flame and-"

Gaara pushed the female off him, holding her shoulders. "Fine. I shall look."

Temari nodded, relief flooding through her face. "You go. I'll stay."

The redhead left the room silently and calmly. Temari looked around the suddenly empty room with a nervous smile, wringing her hands together.

Thud.

"Ah, maybe I should come with you!" she called, running after her brother. "Wait!"

Meanwhile Naruto barged into a pink haired girl's room, out of breath and dodging a set of shuriken as he entered, almost pinning him against the wall.

Bags were under the flaming jade green eyes and hair was sticking up at odd ends. Sakura glared hard, raising a fist and grounding out: "You better have a good reason for this, Naruto. I have not slept on a decent bed for the past week."

"Th-there was a g-g-ghost!" he explained, pointing in the general direction of Temari's room. "And it was attacking Temari! It was evil, Sakura, evil, and the scream- oh, it wasn't human!"

The girl calmed down slightly, but still looked highly irritated. "Ghost's don't exist, Naruto. It's your imagination. Go back to bed."

And with that, she pulled her covers back over her head and curled into a ball. She frowned as she felt a weight on her bed next to her, peeking out of her warm shelter to see Naruto settling down next to her.

"What do you think you're doing?" she asked.

"C-can I stay here? I don't want to go back to see the ghost," he forced a grin. "I can protect you from it if it comes after you!"

She growled and sent her fist flying into his chin, effectively removing him from her bed before attempting to go back to sleep. "On the floor."

"But-"

"Then go back to your room."

The blond didn't reply.

"Sweet dreams," she sang pleasantly.

Silence fell in the air, allowing the girl to shut her eyes and begin her slumber. Her mind started to drift and she could hear Naruto's steady breathing, assuming that he had fallen asleep. Content, she herself let her dreams take over her woken state.

There was a violent shriek of horror, shaking the entire mansion awake.

Six sets of footsteps rushed straight to the source of the noise ready to counter an ambush. Upon arrival they saw Temari pressed against the wall, curled into a ball on the floor, Gaara standing stiffly against the door, his hand on the handle.

The last sand sibling arrived and looked at the several people around him, surprised at the number. "Eh? What are you guys doing here? I didn't know we had visitors…"

"We're resting from our mission," Kakashi explained briefly. "What was that unearthly scream?"

Naruto pointed at Temari. "You saw the ghost again?"

She nodded, hair covering her embarrassed face.

"Ghosts don't exist, banshee girl," Sai stated simply, the new nick name slipping off his tongue.

Kankuro sniggered. "Yeah, banshee, don't get your panties in a twist."

"Shut up, you two!" she yelled. "This is a serious problem! You saw it, didn't you?" she asked Gaara.

He cleared his throat. "As the Kazekage of Suna, I will issue a mission for Team Kakashi, as a form of payment for your stay."

Naruto paled. "Wh-what?"

"Get rid of it," Gaara replied with a glare. "Now."

They heard a yawn from Shikamaru, attracting the attention of the people in the room. "Didn't you mention that one mission you had with ghosts in our last shogi game, Kakashi?"

All eyes fell upon the oldest nin. "Ah, yes. I have expertise in the field of exorcism."

Temari jumped to her feat. "You can get rid of it?!"

"Yes."

"What are you waiting for?!" she demanded, pulling Gaara from the door and shoving Kakashi in the room. "Get started!"

Kakashi stumbled into the room and glanced at the shut door before turning to inspect the dark shadows of Temari's room. The balcony curtains were almost pulled off the railing. He saw the flaming green candle sat on the balcony wall. Walking over to examine the evidence. He saw a flicker of chakra. He gave a knowing look before returning to the door, exiting the room to see a group of half-expecting teens look up at him.

He paused dramatically. "There's nothing there."

"What?" Temari exclaimed. "There was a spirit flame!"

"Oh, that green candle? Yeah, it was sitting on the wall."

Temari paused, mouth agape and lost for words. "But…but…it was floating! In midair!" she countered. "And there was a head behind it- you saw it, right Naruto? Gaara?"

The two in question nodded.

Kakashi hummed to himself, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a book. "I will consult my bible."

Sai narrowed his eyes to read the writing on the cover of the book in the darkness.

Icha Icha Exorcism.

He cocked a brow, but didn't comment.

"Now," Kakashi said. "Let me see…ah, yes, here we are," he pulled out a scroll. "This should prevent the ghost from coming back."

Forming the necessary seals, a puff of smoke erupted and cleared to reveal strings of garlic necklaces.

"Here, take one pass it on," Kakashi said, handing them round.

Naruto and Temari snatched theirs and roughly pulled it over their heads.

Sakura frowned. "Isn't this to prevent vam-"

"Now, now, Sakura. I know what I'm doing," Kakashi reassured, patting her head, his eyes smiling.

Giving him a suspicious look, Sakura reluctantly took her garlic necklace and put it round her head, flattening her bedhead hair.

"Here, Shikamaru!" Naruto said with excitement. "Put one on too!"

The Nara was about to protest when the blond shoved the necklace round his neck. He sighed. "Troublesome."

Sai smiled, putting the garlic around his neck and opened his notebook to jot some notes. Kankuro looked over the dark haired artists' shoulder and tried not to laugh.

Kakashi spoke again. "Now, to make sure that we exorcise the ghosts properly, we should split up and search for them."

Temari clutched onto Shikamaru's arm. "He's in my group."

Kakashi nodded. "Kankuro and Naruto can join you two on the bottom two floors of the mansion as group one. The rest of you will come with me and continue searching on this floor and the one above."

The teens nodded and group one progressed towards the first floor, leaving group two behind.

"Right, I need to get something from my room. You three start searching without me. I'll find you later," Kakashi said before leaving with his book in hand, studying it carefully.

Sakura turned to the two boys. "I guess we should start with the floor above."

Gaara nods and leads them towards the stairs.

Meanwhile group one crept closely together on the first floor, Shikamaru bringing up the lead. The four walked down the dark, silent hallways. Moonlight filtered into the long, tall hallways and expansive rooms, casting shadows against the walls and floors. The only sound they could hear was the careful patting of their footsteps against the marble floors, echoing in the large house.

Passing an open door, Shikamaru paused and glanced into the kitchen as something caught his eye, squinting at it in the bad lighting, he saw a red circled date standing out against the white paper. Sighing, the boy continued forth behind the rest of his group.

"Did you hear that?" Kankuro asked nervously as the group halted instantly, ears straining to hear any more noise. Shikamaru yawned.

Ring.

There was the sound of small particles swishing in a container, slowly coming like droplets of rain. The sound eventually stopped and Naruto clutched his garlic necklace closer to him, willing it to work. The three looked around, Kankuro turning to check nothing was following them with nervous steps.

Naruto caught a flash of white in the corner in his eyes and screamed:

"Ghost!"

Temari hung onto Shikamaru's arm as she shrieked in fear. The boy cringed, rubbing his ears in pain.

"Troublesome woman."

Temari conveniently ignored him.

On the upper floor of the building, three shinobis stopped and looked around as two feminine screams rang throughout the house.

"What was that?" Sakura asked. "It sounded like two girls…"

Sai nodded. "Maybe it was the other group."

"But who was the other girl?"

He smiled. "Dickless most probably."

Temari took off her garlic necklace, holding it tightly in her hands and shaking it viciously. "This thing isn't working!"

"Maybe Kakashi-sensei made a mistake," Naruto reasoned. "We should go find him to get something else."

The two sprinted up stairs, leaving Shikamaru and Kankuro on their own in the hall.

Silence.

"I know it's you."

Kankuro's grin fell and he turned to Shikamaru, who was giving him an annoyed look. "What-what are you talking about?"

"I know it's you pulling this trick."

Silence.

"What do you want?"

Shikamaru smirked. "Do you have a cig?"

Kakashi was in deep slumber when two blond headed shinobis rudely charged into his room, staring at the man in shock.

He opened one eye sleepily and looked at them. "How did you find me?"

"Sakura-chan told me you went back to your room to get something…why are you sleeping? This is a very serious mission!"

Kakashi paused, making a mental note of Sakura's betrayal. "If you must know, I was…communicating to the spirit world to ask for guidance."

Pause.

"So, what can I help you with?"

Temari shoved the garlic in the man's face. "This. Does. Not. Work!"

Kakashi observed the string of garlic and took out his 'reference book'. "Let me see here…ah, I'm sorry. It seems I'm mistaken."

The two blondes gave him irritated looks. "What?"

Taking out another scroll, Kakashi once again performed the hand seals and a familiar puff of smoke erupted, leaving in its wake silver bullets.

Kakashi smiled. "This should do the job. If you see a ghost, just throw this bullet at it and it should burn him," he shooed the two out his room. "Now, let me get back to my meditating. I wasn't finished talking with the spirit…king."

When heading back down to where they'd left the males, they bumped into group two.

"We couldn't find any ghosts on the upper floor," Sakura said. "Maybe they've gone."

"Great, then you can come with us," Temari said quickly. "The more the faster we'll find the ghosts."

Gaara gave his sister a look. She smiled innocently.

Naruto handed over some silver bullets to Sakura. "Here, Sakura-chan! Apparently the garlic didn't work, so we have to attack them with these silver bullets."

Sakura stared down at the bullets. "But these are for werewo-"

Kakashi suddenly appeared in a puff of smoke. "Okay, I'm finished communicating with the spirit king!"

Sakura gave her teacher a suspicious look.

"Let's go find Shikamaru and Kankuro, shall we?" he asked Temari and Naruto. The two agreed without hesitation while Sakura and Gaara exchanged unconvinced looks.

Sai smiled. "What are we waiting for?"

The now reunited group of eight were together in the kitchen, silver bullets in the hands. Temari, Kankuro, Sakura, Sai and Naruto were bunched together on the kitchen table, formulating a plan.

Kakashi was reading his book.

Gaara listened to the group quietly.

Shikamaru yawned.

Kankuro tapped his fingers on the table impatiently as Sakura spoke. "We need to lure the ghosts out into the open so we can attack."

Naruto frowned. "But Sakura-chan, I thought you didn't believe in ghosts?"

She smiled warmly. "I just want to make sure we can all go to bed in peace, Naruto. I wouldn't want anyone else to be disturbed from their beauty sleep when they haven't slept on a decent bed for the past week."

"You're so considerate, Sakura-chan!"

She rolled her eyes. "Sure."

"So, how will we lure them out into the open?" Temari asked.

Ring.

The group fell still and silent as they slowly turned towards the window, Naruto and Temari shaking with fear.

Piercing yellow eyes stared into the window.

Wailing with fear, Temari and Naruto frantically gathered all the bullets and started throwing them at the head, shattering the window in the process.

"Kakashi-sensei, it's not working!" Naruto exclaimed as Temari finished the last of the bullets, some bouncing off the head and some impaling it.

Gaara glared ferociously at the head and muttered to himself: "Sand coffin."

The head was trapped in a wave of sand that shot up from the floor below, destroying it beyond repair. The group turned to the Kazekage curiously, shocked by this act.

He didn't respond.

Kakashi flicked through his book, trying to find a new solution. "It seems that I have made a mistake."

"Again," Temari noted.

"Ah, this should be a much more effective," he pulled out a scroll and once again performed hand seals, an eruption of smoke clearing to reveal eight bags with 'SALT' written in bold across them.

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow. "We're in a kitchen, was that really necessary?"

Kakashi gave Shikamaru a hard look, and then grinned. "Yes," he pointed to the bags. "This is special salt."

The Nara lit a cigarette, taking a deep, long drag.

Sakura stared at Kakashi. "But Kakashi-sensei-"

"Come on, Sakura. I'm your sensei, can't you have a little faith in me?"

The girl sighed and took her share of the salt.

The group moved from the kitchen to the main hall, the marble hall ways causing the rooms to be cold. The slow pitter-patter of rain drops falling on the windows and ground outside could be heard, building up to a heavy storm. The group stood in the centre of the room looking around for a sign of the attackers.

Ring.

Temari clutched the bag of salt closer to her chest, swallowing the lump in her throat.

Thud.

Naruto snapped his head in the direction of the noise, sheen of sweat lining his face.

Suddenly a violent outbreak of limbs and bodies dressed in dark cloaks started to fall from seemingly no where, catching the group by surprise. As one person screamed, more people of the group followed and the fight started, throwing salt at the mysterious figures that swung past them, smoke from Shikamaru's cigarette dancing in the air. As the figures moved faster and faster, it was harder and harder to keep up with the movement.

Eventually Naruto began to panic as his fingernails scraped at the bottom of the bag for the remaining grains of salt.

"Kakashi-sensei! I've run out of salt!"

The older ninja held out his unopened bag, intently reading his book. "Quick, take it. I'm concentrating."

Without questioning him, Naruto took the bag and continued to attack.

All the while Sakura was holding her bag tightly against her chest, staring at the chaos around her with wide green eyes. None of this made any sense to her. Why were they using such trivial techniques to get rid of the…things?! Surely there was a more logical explanation to the entire situation!

Her attention was stolen by the front door opening, a white figure stepping into the room, long dark hair falling over their shoulders and pools of water forming on the floor with the figure's every movement, white dead-like eyes staring up and locking with hers.

Out of instinct, the usually calm medical nin screeched and launched her bag of salt at the mysterious figure.

"Turn on the lights!" someone shouted.

Just as the hall was flooded with bright white lights, the bag hit the unknown figure in the face, exploding and casting salt all over the body.

Silence fell like a tonne of bricks on the group as the bag fell to the floor. Arms crossed, the 'mysterious' figure looked on, unimpressed, searching for the offender who threw the bag. He was caked in salt, as the dampness of his clothing from the storm had cause the grains to stick to his hair, skin and clothing.

"With all due respect; this better be some sort of weird training exercise you're conducting, Kazekage-sama."

The redhead stared on at the angry Hyuuga, dropping his bag as if it burned.

"N-Neji?!" Naruto exclaimed. "Wh-what are you doing here?!"

Shikamaru spoke first, smiling sheepishly. "About that mission…" he started as he shifted uncomfortably.

Neji gave the boy a hard glare. "I don't want to hear your explanation. The Godaime Hokage has given the mission away to Team Aburame."

The group in the centre watched as the white eyes observed the room, byakugan still active. "Why are you playing with puppets? Has your mental age finally failed you?"

The group looked up at the familiar puppets and around at the mess they had created, before something slowly clicked in their heads.

Puppets.

"Kankuro…" Temari hissed dangerously. The group turned to the puppet master, Shikamaru taking a step back from the scene. "What the fuck do you think you're doing?"

Kankuro looked around for an escape. "Ha, ha, well, I didn't realise we had guests and…" he laughed nervously. "Happy Halloween?"

Kivea: Hello my read readers who will review when they finish :P this is my first Naruto Halloween Special for you all ~ written with my good friend Angela, who you can find at deviantart as pearlspride. We hope you enjoyed it 3

Here are the hints we had as to who it was controlling the ghosts:

1! The flicker of chakra – this was the remains of string Kankuro uses to control his puppets. Kakashi could detect it easily with the sharingan.

2! The calendar – it's Halloween. No more needed.

3! The lack of 'ghosts' on the upper floors – the only times that the ghosts were there was when Kankuro was there.

4! Kankuro mentioned the sound – the psychology that one will notice something if someone else does. He drew attention to the sound before it happened.

5! Kankuro turns around and makes a lot of movement before the ghosts come – to control the puppets, no duh.

Those were the five hints to look out for.

Thank you for reading, and happy Halloween 3

R+R

Ja ne ~

Kivea

Konoha.

"How many times do I have to tell you, that you do not just go on a vacation or take a day off without my permission?! Do you not understand how important that mission was? The Daimyo was waiting for you to go and help the tacticians formulate a plan! And put that damn cigarette away!"

Shikamaru pocketed the unlit cigarette with a mutter of 'troublesome'.

Tsunade fumed. "And you left poor Neji without a team to go on the mission with! He had to go all the way to Suna to collect you, because you wouldn't read any of the notes that I originally gave you when you went to Suna on a diplomatic trip that was meant to last five days, not a week and a half! I hope you've apologised profusely for your laziness and complete lack of respect!"

Shikamaru gave her a blank stare. Next to him was Naruto, half asleep and the rest of his team seemingly uninterested.

Tsunade slumped back in her seat and sighed, rubbing her temples. "I need a holiday."

"You should go to Suna," Shikamaru suggested. "Good sake. Brilliant gambling facilities. I'm sure the Kazekage would be thrilled to have more guests from Konoha."

Tsunade gave the boy a confused look before realisation dawned on her face.

"Get out of my office! The lot of you!"