Something lightish to kick me back into writing gear after a bad period. Cutsier than my current primary projects.
Adachi bit the inside of his cheek as he looked at the grinning face of the blond ninja that one of his two hired bodyguards held pinned but upright. He'd thought, or hoped at least, that he had left his pursuit far behind. He knew hunter-nins would be coming eventually, but this was no hunter nin, and to be followed so soon...
"So," the blond said happily. The bodyguard held a nasty looking serrated blade tightly enough against his throat that it drew blood, but the captive didn't seem overly concerned by it, "I've found you. I can't let you go even if you give me the scrolls now, but if you surrender then I wont have to kill your bodyguards. How does that sound?"
Adachi shook his head slightly, and on command the bodyguard drew his blade harshly sideways, slitting his captives throat.
Even then the blond seemed unconcerned. He kept smiling as his blood poured rapidly down his chest, kept smiling right up until he disappeared in a puff of smoke.
"Shit. A shadow clone," the other bodyguard muttered. "That means he's at least jounin level. His stealth is good too. I didn't even know he was there until he spoke up. This could be trickier than we thought."
The two of them were skilled ninja, and said to be quite good too, but even so Adachi could tell that they were starting to feel skittish. They knew he was a data specialist, and they knew that he was defecting to try and sell secrets, but none of them had expected this level of persuit, at least not so soon.
They were right about their persuers stealth skills; there were trees all around them, but even so he shouldn't have been able to get so close without at least one of them noticing.
"It's a more dangerous mission than you expected," Adachi allowed, "I'll tripple your pay, but only once we're out of here."
The bodyguards exchanged tense looks with each other before nodding in agreement.
"Fine," one of them agreed. Daichi the man had said his name was, but even now Adachi wasn't sure if it was real or fake, "We'll accept the mission upgrade, but we move fast now. By now we should be close to the edge of the forest. Once we're onto the plains he wont have anywhere to hide, and its only a short while to the river. Past that we're in tea country and he can't follow us.
"Concentrate on moving fast and following us, we'll take care of protecting you."
They kept to the forest floor as they ran, skimming over shin high grasses and low shrubbery with chakra assisted bounds. Taking to the trees would have let them move even faster but this way let the two guards flank him - Sango slightly ahead, and Daichi slightly behind - and cover him from attacks.
It turned out to be a wise precaution, because three times the guards had to catch with their weapons a volley of knives that Adachi would otherwise have been unable to avoid.
They were going to make it, he was gradually realised. He'd heard good things about his two bodyguards before he'd hired them, but they were even faster to react and more skilled than he had imagined. Their pursuer wasn't going to be able to break through them before they got to safety. Already Adachi could hear the sound of the running river, and they hadn't even left the confines of the forest.
The safety of tea country couldn't be far away at all.
There was a popping sound.
It wasn't a big bang like they describe in action novels; just a forceful but muffled pop. It was enough though, because the explosion happened directly beneath Sango's foot, and it was enough to turn it and the bottom of his calf into a brief rain of meat chunks and droplets of blood that left Adachi stumbling and wiping his eyes clear.
His trousers, he thought absently, would never be the same again. If he got that reward then he'd have to buy new ones.
"Fuck!" Adachi could hear Daichi saying, though it was distorted and distant. There were screams too, though quiet. "Use a tourniquet. I'll get him then I'll fix you up. Just use a damn tourniquet, and shut the fuck up so I can hear him."
Shocked. Shock. Yes. Probably he was suffering from shock, because everything was moving slowly, off kilter, colours were not quite right. Not just yet at least.
There was so much smoke, Adachi thought. Right where his foot had been. Just that tiny little sound, and now, great patches of red and all this wispy gray smoke that faded fast in the dappled sunlight.
And orange... Orange too.
He looked up from the patch of ground, and there again was their pursuer. Black blue and orange clothing that shouldn't have let him hide in even the darkest of rooms, topped with blond head of shaggy hair.
There was a jangling, clanging noise as Daichi stepped forwards, his chain weapon already in motion. It lashed out towards the blond's face, but never got there because giant invisible fingers grabbed the earth and stretched it upwards so that the chains clashed against it and stopped dead in mid air. Then the earth too explodes into clouds of smoke and disappeared like it had never been there.
The whole world is smoke, Adachi realised, still not feeling quite right. The whole world is smoke because it is all just the opium dreams of the gods.
One of the blond's hands captured the chain before Daichi could withdraw it for another strike, and then soon after he was stepping up inside his enemy's reach.
Daichi should have retreated. Adachi wasn't much of a fighter and he wasn't sure he was thinking quite right, but even he knew that Daichi should have retreated. Daichi needed to step back and recover, only he couldn't, because for just a short moment the blades of grass around his legs had sprouted a pair of hands, and they were locked securely around his ankles.
The blond's other hand was filled with a whirling rushing ball of air, and it tore cleanly into the mans chest.
"That was messy," the blond complained, as the incomplete remains of Daichi crumpled to the ground, "You guys shouldn't have run for the border, then I could have taken my time and subdued you. Still, I did only need to use four of the clones this time. I think that might be a record."
Adachi had been standing right beside Daichi when the whirling ball of wind had burst out through his back, and now he couldn't stop looking at the mess it had made all over him.
A shirt too. Adachi would need a new shirt too.
"Sango... I think he might be dead," he tried to tell the other guard, but he didn't reply. Sango was still, the tourniquet incompletely fastened around his leg.
Oh god... He was going to die. Maybe not right now, but he couldn't escape alone. They were going to execute him.
He needed new underwear too.
--
For such an bloody scene, it was strange how innocuous it's beginnings were.
--
The Reach of Shadows
A Naruto fanfic
by yasuhei
--
If you had to pick someone to blame, then you would have to say it was Hinata's fault.
She didn't mean anything by it; all that she was doing was being a little more honest with the compliments she gave to her long standing crush, Uzumaki Naruto.
She wasn't completely to blame of course; If her father hadn't fallen quite seriously ill for a couple of months leaving her to take on more significant leadership duties within the clan then her confidence wouldn't have been bolstered enough by her successes to allow her to be more open with the blond, and if Kiba hadn't been currently crushing on the eldest of the Hyuuga heirs then those fateful comments might never have been made.
"Well, I think think it looks good on you, Naruto-kun."
Hinata's comments provoked Sakura into stating loudly and yet again that one day Naruto was going to have to finally grow up and buy something to wear that didn't have orange in it, but it wasn't her words that made the difference. It was what Hinata provoked from Kiba that really started the ball rolling.
"What's so good about Naruto anyway?"
He'd meant it to be an aside heard only by Shino, but he had underestimated his volume, and the other three people there turned to stare at him too.
"What do you mean 'what's so good about me'?" Naruto's tone told all that he thought the answer should be obvious to all, "I'm super cool and I've beaten more S-ranked enemies than anyone in our generation. I'm awesome," And then after a moment he added, "Besides, I'm going to be the Hokage."
"You want to know whats wrong with you," Sakura offered snappily, irritated by the delay this conversation was causing to the help that Naruto had promised her, "Your dress sense for starters."
It might have all ended there, with another harmless row between teammates, if Kiba hadn't spotted Hinata's disapproving frown from the corner of his eye and felt the sudden need to justify his original comments before her.
"Oh come on Naruto," he said loud enough to cut into the sibling-like quarrel between the blond boy and pink haired girl, "We all know you are strong, but you aren't exactly awesome. The rest of us here have learnt all sorts of new skills in the last couple of years. What jutsu do you have in your repertoire? Rasengan, kage-bunshin, rasengan, bigger rasengan, rasengan, rasengan and biggest rasengan. Oh, I nearly forgot; you can also turn into a girl."
Hinata didn't yet look like she was considering giving up her crush on Naruto, in fact she looked more like she was considering giving up talking with Kiba ever again. Kiba's temper wasn't yet satisfied though and regretting it even as he did it, he pushed onwards.
"Look, we all know you can kick arse sometimes, but when was the last time you did it without relying on the kage-bunshin. You have a couple of killer techniques, but one day you are going to meet someone who they don;t work on, and then what are you going to do? Probably complain that Kakashi or Sakura had to defeat them for you. In every singe one of your 'ultra-cool' battles that I've heard about you've completely relied on the kage-bunshin."
Naruto didn't take this bit of constructive criticism.
"Hey, listen you du..." slowly his words petered off, and his anger diminished, "Oh. Actually you are right," he didn't seem irritated or upset at all anymore, just lost in thought. His eyes stared off into the distance as he mulled the words over. "Yeah. You are right. Thanks Kiba, you stupid jerk."
Kiba had a few things to say about that as Naruto turned to wander back the way he came, but he didn't seem to be listening, or even aware that anything was being said. Even Sakura's words didn't seem to be heard as the blond boy made his way from the training field to do some more serious thinking on the matter.
"Oh poo. Well who am I supposed to jest my new Jutsu on now?" Sakura groused, as her eyes turned sharply towards Kiba.
The dog boy wondered if it was too late now. He was even too distracted to wonder if the end of the world would be soon upon them, because...
Uzumaki Naruto was alone and in deep thought.
--
"Excuse me," Kurenai said as she looked down in surprise at the young man at her front door, "Could you please repeat that?"
She had been surprised to find out that it was Uzumaki Naruto who had rung her doorbell, but the real shock was the little question that he had dropped on her completely without preamble.
"Uh yeah..." The blond looked quite uncomfortable as he hopped from one foot to the other, though Kurenai wasn't feeling overly sympathetic towards him right now, "I know you are busy because you have a kid and everything but uh... I thought maybe you could help me learn about genjutsu."
It wasn't that he was asking her that was irritating - the fact that someone thought highly enough of her to ask for advice was always flattering - it was his manner as he asked. He had no sense of how to ask for such a big favor at all. He had brought no visitors gift, hadn't bothered to even exchange pleasantries before spewing out his rudely phrased request.
Kurenai probably would have said something rude at this point, if not for the fact that Hinata was hovering somewhere behind her in the corridor, watching the exchange and probably hoping that she would invite her crush inside for tea. Kurenai had no real reason to help Naruto when he was asking so poorly, but there was also need to upset Hinata and she did still have a huge crush on the seventeen year old blond boy.
"What's the magic word?" she said, trying to show him she was none too impressed by his manners without running him off in shame.
His eyes went wide, and for a moment Kurenai wondered if she'd spoken too harshly.
"There's a magic word? I didn't know that, but I really suck at genjutsu."
The happy giggle from behind her stopped Kurenai from closing the door on him.
"Not for genjutsu. The magic word you use when you are asking someone to go out of their way to help you."
"There's a magic word for that? Does it make people..." Naruto stopped as his brain finally seemed to catch up with his vocal chords. "Oh. Yeah. Um, please could you help me Kurenai-sensei. I'll try not to get in the way or anything, and I can help you with... stuff?"
He didn't sound very certain of himself but he did seem quite sincere. Kurenai knew that he didn't mean badly. It wasn't exactly his fault that his manners were unpollished or that he had about as much subtlety as a brick.
"Very well. Why don't you come inside."
She supposed that it would at least make Hinata happy. She liked to see the younger woman smile, and after all the help she had given Kurenai helping to look after her young son Takeshi, inviting the loudmouth in was the least that she could do for her.
Hinata," she said, hoping the girl recognised the sacrifice to her sanity she was making, "Why don't you show Naruto through to the sitting room while I make us some tea."
"Hi Hinata," Kurenai heard from behind her as she stepped into the kitchen without waiting for a response.
"Ohayou Naruto. It's good to see you again so soon."
"Yeah. I guess that..."
The rest of their conversation was lost to Kurenai as she flicked the kettle on and the sound of its rumbling hiss filled the kitchen.
Not so long ago attempting even a simple greeting would have left Hinata a stuttering mess, and Kurenai would have worried about leaving her alone with her crush for even a few moments. Recently however Hinata had been slowly emerging from her shell of shyness, and now Kurenai was quite happy to give her some time alone with the blond.
She waited in the kitchen for the tea to steep rather than risking interrupting, stepped out into her lounge only once the drinks were completely done and there were no other excuses for delay.
The sight waiting for her in the next room was a positive one. They were sitting beside each other, not so close as to imply intimacy, but not so far as to show distance, and they were talking talking cordially if not excitedly.
"...sounds like really hard work though, if you've got missions, training and your family to deal with too, I mean."
Hinata's cheeks were flushed as was usual with the blond, but she didn't yet seem to have lost her ability to speak.
"Ahh, not too much Naruto-kun. I like it, and it's important too."
"I suppose," the blond agreed, "I guess if Jiraiya or granny had a kid I'd probably want to visit all the time too."
Hinata's soft smile said that she was enjoying the small talk, but Naruto's attention shifted to Kurenai as she set the drinks down upon the coffee table and settled herself into a seat opposite the couch the teens occupied.
"Well then," Kurenai prompted gently, her earlier irritation washed away by the signs of her student's happiness, "You were hoping to ask for my assistance Naruto?"
"Yeah. Um, thanks. Hinata and Kiba said you were real good at genjutsu, and I really need to learn more about that, so I thought maybe you could talk to me about it some."
It was always good to hear that her team had spoken well of her, but nonetheless Kurenai frowned faintly as she considered the matter. "Didn't Kakashi talk to you about it? Every Jounin teacher is supposed to run their team through the basics, and provide them with more detailed scrolls if they show aptitude."
"Oh, he did do that. He showed us the basics, but I really sucked at it. I couldn't do any of the simple genjutsu he showed us, and I'm not even that great at dispelling them."
"He did?" Kurenai asked, "Then I'm not entirely certain what to say to you. If you cant master even the simplest genjutsu then you probably need to work on your control. When you've improved that then you might have more success. There a number of exercises you could ask Kakashi about."
"Yeah, I've tried that. I've got too much chakra though. I just cant do genjutsu properly at all. I don't want you to help me learn how to do genjutsu, I just want to hear all about how it is you do them. You know, the more difficult stuff. Advanced things."
It seemed like such a ridiculous request that Kurenai was tempted to just tell him that she was too busy, but a glance at Hinata showed her that the boy wouldn't be the only one disappointed by that answer.
"Naruto is good at working out ways to use things he knows," Hinata said in support once she held her teacher's eyes. Her blush grew in intensity under the scrutiny, but instead of ducking away from it, she raised her chin higher.
Yes, the boy was good for her confidence. It was a shame, Kurenai reflected, that they were such a mismatched pair. If Hinata ever did capture him it would take some sort of miracle to keep the energetic blond sitting still long enough to hear anything Hinata had to say.
Still, he was a good influence on the younger woman, and for that reason Kurenai would entertain his flights of fancy.
"More advanced? Well then, I suppose that the one thing that best separates the amateurs out from the masters is in the controlling of your opponent's head-space. No matter how perfect the visuals, sounds and smells you might conjure up, an opponent will eventually realise that what they are experiencing is not real. To prevent this you need to trick not only their opponents senses, but also retard and interfere with their opponents ability to think their way out of the illusion. It is possible to instil in them a sense that things are right and as they should be, that they belong in this illusionary world or situation. It is difficult and a subtle art, but if you are well practiced enough then you can prevent your opponent from ever thinking to free himself."
As Kurenai spoke Naruto's face gradually scrunched up into something resembling a frown of his own. "Well, that's useful to know, I guess, if anyone does it to me. What about all the physical stuff though? How do you, you know, make up all the pictures in your head?"
Kurenai closed her eyes for a second and gently rubbed at her temples with slender fingers. If he was going to keep implying that her answers weren't useful then she wasn't sure how long she would be able to listen to the boy without starting to snap at him.
"Visualisation. Memorisation. It's not something that is easy to explain how to do. It's learning to change how you actually look at the world, and thats a tricky thing to share. I have some books on the subject. They are mostly intended for artists, musicians and academics, but they were very useful to me when I was starting. If you would like and if you promise to be very careful with them then I suppose I could lend them to you."
"Yeah thanks."
Naruto's eager expression urged Kurenai on. She couldn't imagine why someone unlikely to ever be able to perform her art would seem so excited by the prospect of learning more, but such a level of interest was always flattering.
"Other than that there is one important thing that new genjutsu users often forget. We have five senses. An illusion that only shows us pictures is an incomplete illusion. You cant just get the image perfect, you must remember that things make sounds too; remember how they feel to touch, what their texture is like; what they smell like; how they taste. If you neglect to include these things then you are creating weaknesses for your enemy to exploit and escape through."
By now Naruto was looking down towards his lap, scratching the side of his face with a single finger.
"Yeah," he said, "Yeah. I think I can probably do that."
"Do what?" Kurenai wondered aloud.
But the blond seemed too lost in thought to respond.
--
"Look!"
It was the second time inside of a week that Kurenai had answered her front door to find Naruto on the other side. This time he was brandishing a stick
"I suppose you had better come inside," she reluctantly allowed, before leading him further inside the house.
"Hey Hinata, Shikamaru," Naruto greeted the other two young adults who already occupied her living room, "Hey look what I've got."
Hinata looked obviously perplexed. Shikamaru on the other hand didn't even look up from where he was trying to cajole Kurenai's irritable two year old into actually eating some of his lunch. "It's far too troublesome. Go tell someone else."
Despite his general attitude, the shadow user would one day make an excellent father. She really doubted though that he'd appreciate it if she shared that opinion with any other women. He was eighteen now, and still acted like he was allergic to making any sort of spoken commitment.
"What about you then Hinata?"
Hinata looked like she was worried about the prospect of saying what was on her mind, so Kurenai decided to say it for her. "It's a stick Naruto. What is there to get so excited about?"
"Just look," Naruto insisted, now turning back to Kurenai, and the older woman decided it was just easier to capitulate.
Even as she began to reach her hand out she felt it. "There's something wrong with it?" she said in surprise.
Holding it felt normal. The bark flaked off when she ran her thumb over its surface. It felt normal, smelt normal and woody. "I can't tell what is wrong with it... but there's definately something off. It looks normal, and feels it too though."
"Oh." Naruto visibly deflated and dropped himself onto one of the couches. "It's not a stick, it's a Kage bunshin. I thought I'd got it perfect and that no one would be able to tell."
A Kage Bunshin? This stick? Kurenai knew that the cloning technique provided you with shadow versions of your own weapons, and had even heard of shadow clones transforming themselves into weapons to be hurled at the opponent, but a stick?
Carefully she snapped it in half, and a fraction of a second later the two pieces disappeared in a puff of smoke that dissipated rapidly. Kurenai blinked in surprise.
"It was quite good. I'm surprised that it really was a kage bunshin."
"Not good enough though. You could still tell it wasn't real."
She considered telling him that wasn't correct - she had been able to tell that it wasn't right, she hadn't been even close to being able to tell it wasn't real- however, Hinata spoke up first.
"Ahh... doesn't kage bunshin use a lot of chakra?"
"Yeah," Naruto agreed looking oer at the Hyuuga woman, "My chakra is split up between the copies and myself, so I guess it had half my chakra. Why?"
Hinata instantly coloured as Naruto's gaze turned upon her, but from the deep breath she took and tghe way she set her shoulders squarely Kurenai could tell she was steeling herself against it. Good for her. It was about time that the girl learnt to deal maturely with this crush of hers.
"Well if it has that much chakra, and if its designed to have the same chakra system as you do, then of course it feels wrong." Seeing that the blond was blinking at her, looking confused, Hinata pushed onwards. "Everything has at least some energy in it Naruto. We don't normally notice it unless there's very much of it, but even untrained people are at least partially aware of it. Even civilian often know when theres a person in the same room as them, and that's because energy moves differently inside people than it does inside objects or plants."
"Really?" Naruto said looking intrigued now rather than offended, "Well what If me and my clones all suppress our chakra, like you do when you're hiding?"
Hinata didn't look particularly happy to be breaking the news to him, but she shook her head sadly anyway. That won't work either. Then it won't be giving off any energy and it will still feel wrong. Most people wont be able to tell why because they cant see it, but they'll know something is wrong."
"Oh," Naruto said.
For a couple of minutes he was quiet and somewhat withdrawn. Hinata handed around snacks, and he accepted them readily enough, ate slowly until suddenly his eyes lit up and his entire body seemed re-energised.
"Hey, Hinata? Would you mind doing me a really big favor?"
"Okay," she agreed almost before Naruto had stopped talking.
"No," he said, sounding firm in his conviction, "You can't agree just like that before you know what it is! Hinata you are always a really nice girl, being really kind and helping out people whenever they need it."
Perhaps a great deal kinder to some than others, Kurenai thought wryly to herself as Naruto continues talking, but then Naruto wasn't the sort of guy likely to notice when a girls attention lay on him.
"I don't want you to say yes to me just because you are being nice, okay Hinata? This is really big and difficult, so I want you to think hard about it first because I only want you doing it if you think its going to be okay."
Hinata nodded helpfully, and Naruto continued.
"Do you think you could practice genjutsu so that you can show me what you see, you know, with your Byakugan? All the different energy in stuff, so I can try copy what they look like inside too?"
Kurenai caught her breath. All this time Hinata had avoided turning her studies from her family art towards genjutsu for fear of how her father would react. It was going to break the girl's heart to have to turn her crush down now, when he had finally come to her alone for help.
"Ahh... that is a big favor," Hinata said, looking down at her hands which were awkwardly fidgeting with each other, "I don't think I could do that for a friend, um... but... maybe for my boyfriend..."
Kurenai nearly choked on her drink, and it was so quiet in the room that you could have heard a pin drop.
"Hinata," Naruto said slowly, "You've got a boyfriend? How come you didn't tell me?"
Shikamaru's snort was easily audible from the corner of the room where he had been trying to keep his nose out of the goings on. "You are such a moron sometimes Naruto."
"Such a moron! Such a moron!" Takeshi repeated from beside Shikamaru, and then definitively, "Troublesome!"
"Of course I don't have a boyfriend!" Hinata snapped out at the blond, shocking Kurenai, and probably herself too. She sounded not only irritated, but also offended.
"You don't? Then what did you mean with..." Naruto didn't seem to know what he meant to say, and ended by flapping his hand in some indeterminate gesture, "Uh, you know?"
Horror was gradually seeming to leak onto Hinata's face as she realised what she was saying, but apparently her irritation hadn't yet run its course, because she kept on going, "Can't you even tell when someone's asking you out?"
"Not really," Naruto confessed, "I've never been really good at telling when people mean stuff... like... Oh." His eyes widened in realisation. "Oh! Hinata-chan are you asking me out?"
She nodded hesitantly and bit on her lower lip, all signs of her earlier irritation disappearing in an instant.
"Really?" He seemed shocked at the very idea. "But why me?"
There was a loud, irritated snort from Shikamaru that made Kurenai smile.
"Come on Takeshi," the shadow user tried with little success, "Why don't we get out of here before this gets even worse."
"No! No! Want Hinata cookie!"
Naruto himself seemed completely oblivious to the byplay, still too shocked to react, staring at Hinata as she found words.
"Ahh... Because I like you Naruto."
"You can't," he denied, "You're way too hot to like me! Uh... I didn't mean that. I meant cute. And pretty."
"Oh," Hinata said. Herr blush was as bright as it had ever been, and the way she swayed in her seat made Kurenai worry for her a little, but she smiled too; brightly if shyly. "I... um... Thank you. Okay. Well..."
She got quickly and slightly unsteadily to her feet, "Anyway, I'm a little tired now. I think I might go have my afternoon nap."
From the way she weaved backwards and forwards on the way to the door you would never have guessed that she was a talented, jounin-level ninja.
"Is she going to be okay?" Naruto asked. He looked both concerned and somewhat confused. "She looked sorta surprised or something."
Surprised at herself, Kurenai would wager, certainly the girl had surprised her. She wouldn't have guessed that Hinata was yet ready to be so bold with her long standing crush.
"I wouldn't worry about her at all. She spent a lot of this morning helping me by looking after Takeshi. It wouldn't be surprising if she was very tired."
Hearing his name, Takeshi added his own two cents to the conversation, "Cookie! Cookie! Want cookie."
Naruto seem to be completely reassured. "Are you sure? Maybe I should go and check up on her?"
Kurenai couldn't help but smile at Naruto. He was quite oblivious sometimes, and he never seemed to know what he should say, but perhaps that didn't mean that he never said the right thing. Perhaps sometimes his brand of naive honesty was exactly what was needed.
"I wouldn't. She might really need that sleep. Talk to her tomorrow."
"Okay... If you think so," he said before the events of recent minutes seemed to catch up with him.
A half devoured snack slipped from his slack fingers, and he donned an expression that was at least as shocked as anything Hinata had evidenced today. "Wait... Does... does that mean we're dating?"
Only one person in the room had an answer for that.
"Such a moron! Such a moron!"
--
end of chapter one.