Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto and TRC. They belong to Masashi Kishimoto and CLAMP respectively. I own only the story.
Summary: Remember the time when Itachi was still alive and we haven't learn that he was the good guy? Remember the time when Fye just received his vampire power? My story revolves around that time. I wrote this story way back in 2008 in my mother language, Vietnamese. But only now I can muster the courage and inspiration to translate it to English for you to read. Enjoy...
- Ugh! It's… so… hot… I'm being burnt alive. Sakura-chan, do you have any water left? – Naruto tried his best to drag himself with his feet, sweat pouring out from all over his body.
- Stop whining! We're nearly home! One more complaining and I'll send you flying to the hospital! – A fist was raised, and he shut his mouth immediately. The owner of the fist also had steam escaping from her head.
Naruto, Sakura, Kiba and Hinata were on their way home after a delivery mission (the type that bored the blond ninja to death). The sun above seemed to enjoy burning everything below in the blazing summer. That really didn't help their states at all. They were all exhausted after a really long travel. Akamaru and Kiba didn't even bother to look where they were going, but they're still smart enough not to provoke the already-on-fire Sakura, also drenched in sweat. Hinata, well, she was busying tightening her grip around the water bottle in her hands, her face as red as a tomato. Under the inferno heat, she looked just like a volcano about to erupt.
- Uhm… Naruto-kun! I… I still have some… w-water. If… y-you like… - she mumbled to her feet, hands shaking.
- Wow! Thanks a bunch Hinata, I'll help myself then! You're really a life saver! – Naruto was more than happy to receive the bottle and gulping it all down, completely had no idea about two set of eyes looking at him with obvious envy: Kiba and Akamaru.
It's always like that. He thought. First Naruto, second also Naruto. I'm always the last of her attention list when he's around…
But Sakura voice cut off his line of thought.
- Guys, look at that! – She pointed to the sky, drawing the rest of their attention.
In the middle of thin air, a space just got swollen and slowly descending, as if air itself was made of liquid. Upon touching the ground, the bundle of air broke out like a water balloon, revealed four people inside, all covered in blood.
- Who are you? – The tallest man in black armor suddenly pointed his bloody sword at them, growling.
- Kuro-rin, now is not the time! Sakura-chan passed out, and Fye lost a lot of blood – A tiny, squeaky voice coming from somewhere in the only girl of the group.
The contorted face of Naruto disappeared, shuriken and kunai readied in his hands. Kiba and Akamaru also switched to defense mode, but Sakura had stopped them all. She raised her hands, slowly approaching the strangers:
- Relax! We're not bad people! What happened?
- Kurogane-san, please! We have to stop Fye-san's bleeding – The boy, covered in red fluid held on to the black man's arm – They can catch up to us any moment!
- What about them? Don't tell me you're gonna trust them!
- Hey! We're trying to help… - Naruto begun, but got cut off by Hinata holding his sleeve. Sakura bent down on her knees:
- Please trust us! We mean you no harm. We just want to help! Are you being chased?
The answer for her question arrived almost instantly.
From all around them, air was being sliced open, revealing a dark red blurry scene from the other side. Soldier with black armor poured out from those slices, carrying all sort of weapon from swords to claws. Nearly a hundred of them surrounded two teams.
- What the hell…? – Kiba could only say that much, since they already lunged at them.
The heating, quiet road exploded into a battlefield. Naruto clones barricaded most of the soldiers, while Kiba and Akamaru just simply plowed through them with Gatsuuga, leaving giant marks on either the soil or the enemies. In the mean time, Hinata and Sakura helped straighten up the injured, despise the protest of the black man. Sakura shout out:
- Naruto! We need a path out of here!
Her scream got drowned in the middle of all the clashing of metal, the howl and the sound of bodies being ripped apart. No matter how much she called out, Naruto couldn't hear a thing. Fortunately, Kiba's supersensitive ear got it just in time, and Gatsuuga drilled a big hole through the soldiers, leading straight to Konoha. Akamaru got loaded up with four people from the girls, quite a pack, but he just ran his best to the village, followed up by his master and friends, still fighting to rid themselves off the soldiers.
- What the hell are they? No matter how we cut them, they just keep coming. – Naruto set up a group of clones to block the pursuit enemies.
- They're robot, machines, not human! You have to cut their heads to kill them! – The black man tried to raise his voice, still held on to his blond companion.
- There's too many of them! We have to retreat! Where are we? – The boy asked.
- We're almost at the gate of our village Konoha, we're gonna make it! – Hinata blew a group of soldiers away with her Juuken.
- Who are you? Why do they chase you? – Kiba jumped ahead questioning them.
- They chased after something belongs to us, something we're also looking for – The boy answered – We came from another dimension!