How would it have been if Kin and Naruto had met under different circumstances, is it possible that they could have become friends? An enemy is an enemy some will say, but we all know that line doesn't matter to Mr Uzumaki! Original story by ProKidneyThief (Unfinished.)
How had it come to this, she was supposed to have been gathering food supplies for her and her team mates. They had to be at their best if they were going to take down the Uchiha and his team, but instead she found herself fighting for her life against… whatever it was she was fighting, a wild boar the size she would expect of a summons.
She rolled under the swipe and a tusk as thick as a tree limb passed over her perilously close to her body as she kicked off the ground gaining precious height. She allowed her momentum to twist her body in midair giving her a brief vantage point, it was all she needed. Within the same second a rain of senbon needles struck the animal, making it look more like a porcupine than a pig. She hushed a curse as the beast shook itself, freeing the needles she had thought pierced its body now revealing them to have gotten trapped in its thick dark fur.
"Just a big pig." She muttered to herself as she took a half second to regulate her breathing. The squeal of the hog caused her hand to shoot back into her weapons pouch, retrieving another hand full of senbon. Another dodge was needed as the beast hurtled towards her at speeds she would have expected from chūnin level ninjas. Even if its speed was impressive, it's manoeuvring was far from, all of its charges were linear, predictable. Another hail of senbon, this time aimed around the snout raised a horrific squeal from the monster, so she allowed herself a grin.
"Yeah, you fuck! Take that bitch!" She already knew it wasn't professional, but to hell with it, it was her first blood of the encounter. Her expression turned into one of worry though as the beast before her shifted its enormous head to study her. Within its beady eye she saw a rage spark that she could hardly comprehend, that no human could understand. So animalistic and rage driven that it froze her in place, it wasn't until the thundering of hooves registered in her mind that she dodged again, entirely on instinct.
"Fuck." She looked over her shoulder to see the hog already rearing on its hind legs, preparing for another charge. Another muttered curse and she was airborne, sticking to a tree before the enormous animal gored the earth where she lay a heartbeat before. It raised its head, drenched in steaming sweat and cast around, eyes darting, snorting deeply through its nostrils, suddenly it turned to her. It must've caught her scent, she thought before leaping off of her tree and higher into the canopy, surely safety lay higher up in the trees against this creature.
Just as she was about to land, a kunai knife thudded into the tree limb, a fizzing tag trailing behind it. Her eyes widened, she had perhaps three seconds before the tag detonated, she couldn't change her current course through the air. The squeal of the hog below her made her breath hitch, the shout of a human above her forcing her to re-evaluate… She would last longer against the animal than another team of gennin. Her sandaled feet landed heavily on the tree limb then, without the immediate use of chakra in her feet, she slipped and fell off of it almost as soon as she had landed. She crossed her arms in front of her and braced for the imminent explosion.
Shards of wood splintered from the tree as the explosion thoroughly destroyed the trunk, causing the entire top third of the tree to creak dangerously before it cracked under its own weight and fell like a missile into the forest below.
She planted a senbon into the branch she occupied and flicked the bell hanging from it issuing an unnoticeable chime before leaping to the forest floor, performing a parachute roll to continue her escape from the animal that was once again hot on her heels. A glance over her shoulder was all that was required to make sure that the team had fallen for her flimsy genjutsu, she nodded to herself as she saw one shadow fall from the canopy, two more suddenly appeared after it. The wet thud of a body against the floor was followed by a wail as the two teammates watched their friend become bug food. The genjutsu had only made their chakra control slip slightly, causing the first team member to slip from the canopy, to his apparent death. The other two were left to mourn as the Sound Genin fled into the brush, followed closely by the enormous hog.
She made another jump into the trees, now assuming that the canopy was safe, at least for the time being, she landed against a tree trunk and began to ascend higher and higher. Until her danger sense forced her to jump. She grimaced as three shurikan whirled passed her and thudded into the bark of the tree, she tried to ignore the four others that had imbedded themselves into her shoulder blade and upper arm. She turned to where the weapons had come from to see an enraged Ame Genin charging her. She leapt back to avoid close combat, which was far from her strongest area attempting to dodge the three kunai knives now in mid flight. She twisted in mid air causing two of the knives to miss and the other to cause a narrow cut along her calf, she bit back a cry as she landed heavily on that same leg and returned fire in the form of senbon needles from her left hand, her right dangling uselessly at her side.
While her target was in mid air it was hard for him to dodge and so he simply brought his arms into a cross guard to block his vital organs, he hissed as the senbon sunk into his arm causing them to fall limply to his sides. The girl saw as he opened his mouth to speak, but was silenced when a tusk was forced through his chest essentially pinning him to the tree. She watched in horror as the hog she thought she had escaped manoeuvred itself to stand on the thick tree limbs, it's eyes locked her in place with a fierce killing intent. She was exhausted, her chakra was all but gone, all the genjutsu, chakra enhanced running, jumping, and climbing had run her dry. Even repelling KI was a task, she closed her eyes for a second, taking a deep breath. If she was going to die it would be on her feet, anything less would be an insult to herself. A squeal shook the forest.
She snapped open her eyes in shock as she recognised it as the Hogs, she was utterly confused to find a large number of orange shinobi climbing all over the tree, covering it from base to canopy as far as she could see, all jumping onto the Hog in turn. Biting into its flesh with their kunai knives, she fell backwards onto her hind and let loose a shaky laugh as the beast reared a few times shaking it's enormous gut in order to knock the shinobi free. For every one that fell though another was more than ready to leap in and take its place, eventually the Hog fell to one side squashing a large number of clones in the process. It wheezed for a few seconds in apparent agony before a kunai was rammed into its eye socket killing the beast instantly, when the movement stopped the clones began to disappear one by one. The one that had stabbed the creature's eye wiped the blood onto his jumpsuit and began to walk toward her, still holding the blade.
She staggered to her feet once again and armed herself with senbon, sure this guy had just saved her life but it wasn't like he could be trusted, surely the only reason he'd have left her alive was so that he could enjoy killing her himself. She'd seen how brutally efficient his clones had been, each was going for vital areas, cutting tendons, carving arteries and veins open, splintering the bones in limbs. If she could convince him that she was enough of a threat, then maybe he'd decide he would find easier targets elsewhere.
She took a sloppy stance and tried to focus her waning attention onto the now stationary Genin in front of her, he moved his hands toward her and showed her his palms in the universal language for 'Im not here to hurt you'. He gestured to the downed beast behind him before speaking.
"It's dead, you know." She tried to focus her attention onto his face but the bright orange of the jumpsuit kept grabbing her attention. She shook her head violently and squeezed her eyes in an attempt to stay lucid. "Are you okay? You look pretty sick." He was waving a hand in front of her eyes, trying to get her attention. She flinched backwards and once again fell onto her ass.
"H-Hai…" She winced at the sound of her own voice, broken, weak, and strained from her near chakra exhausted body. She felt a tear roll down her cheeks as she considered her situation, thoroughly convinced she was going to die. Quietly she chastised herself for showing such shameful weakness, to cry in front of an enemy, she deserved to die. More tears flowed after that thought.
"You should probably find your team mates, I'd help if I could but.. Well, ya' know." She sensed a smile trailing on his voice, not the sadistic or fake smiles she was used to, but a genuine, happy smile. The hand once again entered her line of sight, making her jump.
"Need a hand getting up?" She stared hard at the hand while she checked herself, she didn't trust this guy. He might have killed the Boar but that didn't mean he wasn't going to stab her in the back, just out of his line of sight she brought her hands together and began to gather the last of her chakra. All she needed was enough for a single jutsu, after that she would need to rest. A second later a log thudded onto the bark of the tree where she had sat before, she looked down onto the scene from the tree limb she now sat on, high in the canopy. He didn't look concerned or worried about her disappearance, as he made no attempt to go after her. She squinted as she looked down on him, trying to figure what it was that he'd just picked up. Suddenly her eyes shot open in recognition and her hand shot into her weapons pouch, searching frantically, she must've dropped the Heaven Scroll at some point. She sighed in exhaustion and let herself collapse onto the branch, staring down onto the orange shinobi. He seemed to sense her stare and looked around, she perked her head in confusion, for the first time she got a good look at his forehead protector.
"Huh, leaf-nin." And with that thought, she slipped into blissful unconscious.
-TSHL-
"Naruto!" A scream pierced the forest causing birds to scatter from their perches in the canopy as two ninja staggered through the chest high bushes far below. "Where could he be, it's been over half a day." The pink haired kunoichi cast her eyes around as her cries echoed through the trees, with an echo like that it'd be harder for her teammate to pin them down, but at least he'd know they were in the area. As she brought her hands to her mouth to call again the other ninja present cast a sour glance over his shoulder which stopped her dead.
"Stop calling for him Sakura, you'll bring every single enemy down on us if you don't shut it." he leaned heavily against a tree and brought his right hand up to clutch at his neck, two days earlier an insane Grass Genin had beaten each of his team to within an inch of their lives, then left only after biting into his neck leaving a marking of some kind. It burned, and throbbed, and he could feel it tugging mercilessly at his chakra. He knew he was burning a fever and was a lot paler than usual, he had begun to suspect that the mark was actually a seal and it was trying to activate using his own chakra, needless to say he was pouring all effort into stopping that from happening. But it turns out that even the Uchiha have their limits, and he was morbidly aware that he was reaching his. He tried to shake the pain from his head and complete a sentence, "We only have 24 hours left, we need to avoid being detected and work on getting the other Scroll."
A near silent call echoed through the trees as he finished talking, "Sak-ra … Sas-ke" It was quiet, but unmistakable. The pair snapped their necks in the direction it seemed to come from,
"NARUT-" A hand slipped over Sakura's mouth as she screamed, which cut her cry short, the grip Sasuke held on her was uncomfortably tight.
"I said, STOP calling him! He'll find us now, so shut up!" His voice was extremely harsh as it was growled into her ear through gritted teeth. She squirmed under his hand for a second before he released her, as he did she turned around and back pedalled away from him keeping herself facing him. He hung his head in apparent shame for his reaction, but didn't apologise. She shook her head in fear and confusion,
"Sasuke … What's wrong with you," she didn't make it a question as she searched the floor with her eyes, not being able to meet his. He only sniffed in response and turned away from her but as he did Sakura caught a glimpse of the skin of his neck, she froze. The skin was an angry red, clearly very painful.
"It's that bite, isn't it? It's acting up again." Sasuke tugged on his shirt collar in response, covering the mark again, Sakura carried on. "Maybe we should just open the scrolls, they must know when we open it, maybe it releases a signal flair or something!" She faked enthusiasm, hoping that he would catch onto it and decide it was a good idea, he didn't.
In a heartbeat Sakura found herself hauled off of the ground by the neck of her dress, painfully chokingly high, staring into the spinning blood red of the Sharingan. She felt tears brimming at the corners of her eyes, he spoke with a terrifyingly calm voice.
"Listen to me Sakura. Do. Not. Open. That. Scroll." She managed an imperceptible nod and the raven haired boy lowered her to the ground. Just as he released her, their blonde haired teammate skidded into the clearing he crouched as if to take off into the canopy again, before catching a glimpse of Sakura's pink hair he turned his head slightly then began a slow jog toward them and raised a hand in greeting.
"Finally found you! I tell you, it's a mess out there, shinobi, traps, puppets, even the wildlife is out to get us. Jeez, I think I get why they call it the forest of death." He slowed to a walk as he got closer and knitted his hands behind his neck in signature pose, then noticed the dampness on Sakura's cheeks. "Hey, what's wrong Sakura?" The girl simply waved the question off.
"Where have you been Naruto? We were starting to get worried you know," the blonde couldn't help the curl of his lip and began to rummage through his weapons pouch searching near the bottom.
"Oh, that. Yeah I'm sorry I was busy collecting our scroll!" he pulled his hand out of his pouch in triumph, to show the small Heaven scroll that sat neatly in his palm, the other two did a double take.
"Where did you manage to find a scroll?" The question was growled out by the Uchiha not too far away, Naruto grinned and returned his hands to knit behind his neck. He had been hoping that his raven haired team mate would be the one to ask.
"Aw, no biggie. I just handled a wild hog the size of a freaking bungalow to save this girl. She dropped it at some point and took off without picking it up." Sasuke gave almost no response to Naruto's story but the slight twitch of an eyebrow told the blonde that his story had had the desired effect.
'Just how strong is Naruto getting? He defeated the Ice user, turned Zabuza, then went toe to toe against that crazy Grass genin … now he's taking on giant animals too?' After a few seconds of silent thought the Uchiha merely held his hand out for the scroll, which Naruto readily passed over then stalked off into the forest towards the Tower. Naruto and Sakura only shared a look before trailing after him, the former with a slightly smug expression covering his face.
-TSHL-
Two Sound genin sat in the high canopy at the edge of a clearing, one sat with his legs crossed beneath him, his hands together in a sign to gather his chakra, and his eyes closed in calm concentration. The other sat with one leg dangling carelessly off of the edge of the branch and the other stretched before him in relaxation, he sighed to himself after a lengthy silence and turned his head to look at his companion.
"Oi, Dosu." Zaku waited for his partner to open his one visible eye before continuing, "Should Kin be taking this long?" The mummified genin looked down from Zaku and onto the wood of the branch before replying.
"She'll take as long as she takes, Zaku. Don't get frustrated, it's a waste of energy." The boy once again closed his eyes and reformed his chakra, the second he did a grin formed on his lips though it wasn't seen by the other. "Speak of the devil, she'll be here any second." With that said both Zaku and Dosu hoisted themselves to their feet and awaited Kin's arrival.
"About fucking time too." Dosu narrowed his eyes at Zaku's anger.
"What did I just say? Save it, idiot. We'll need to be on top form to defeat the Uchiha and his team." Before the taller boy could begin a retort Kin landed on the branch and nodded at each of her teammates in turn, they nodded back as Zaku took a step toward the girl, she took an unconscious step back which wasn't missed by Dosu.
"About time you got back Kin, I'm starving man! Where's the food?" Her expression faltered for a second before she spoke.
"No time for that, I've had a bit of an accident." The other two glanced at each other before Dosu spoke,
"What kind of accident, Kin?" She ducked her head and seemed to shrink into herself at Dosu's tone. He was usually the calmer of her two team mates but if he got angry, she would rather deal with Zaku every time.
"It was an accident, Dosu … A wild boar attacked me, then there was a genin team at the same time. I got over whelmed and lost focus, I-"
"Get to the point Kin, what happened?" Zaku spoke up, casting a wary eye toward his slowly angering teammate, the girl took a deep breath and then spoke very slowly and quietly. Zaku thought for a second that if they weren't Sound genin they probably wouldn't have heard her, unluckily they had.
"You What!?" Dosu stood at his full height for the first time since they had entered the forest and towered over Kin who now shook like a leaf, staring up into the single visible eye of the now much taller boy. She unconsciously looked to Zaku for help who crossed his arms and looked away in response allowing Dosu to do as he wanted, though admittedly with an expression torn between fear and guilt. She Dared not look back into Dosu's eye and instead cast her gaze to the ground in front of her feet as she spoke.
"I, I lost the Heaven Scro-"
"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" He raised his fist as if he meant to strike Kin which sent her to her knees, clutching her head in fear and allowing a sob of terror to cry out. Nothing followed and Kin allowed herself to look up again, she saw Dosu's sleeve pooling around his shoulder allowing the device around his wrist and palm to be visible in the sunlight. Without a heartbeat's notice he slammed the weapon into the branch directly between the two and sent sound waves into the branch, making the wood explode out of bottom of the branch. The noise was deafening, but the seconds of silence that followed were far worse, she stared up into Dosu's eye as he allowed her fear to envelope around him. Then he spoke again, his voice back to its eerie calm.
"Unless you want that to be your ribcage," He paused for a second, allowing the image to manifest in Kin's mind. "You'll find another Heaven scroll before dawn … Or the head of the Uchiha." The girl nodded her head vigorously, not trusting herself to speak without it betraying how truly terrified she was of her teammate. Almost as an afterthought, Dosu smirked and added, "If you fail, I'm sure Orochimaru-sama would find no other use of you than an experiment."
She paled.
-TSHL-
Some of you will already know this story as it was first written by a good friend of mine, ProKidneyThief. He started a rewrite a LONG time ago but lost a lot of his momentum and stopped, I decided to take over in his stead and decided to write my own version of his story: The Sound Hidden in the Leaves. He said a lot of people liked his "Last chapter sumups" so I'll be getting him to write those for me, as well as letting him letting him Beta, so on and so forth. (Team effort guys.) I'll get him to update his version now so that all the old viewers can find it nice and easy.
He has a plan for the story to take and I like it! That doesn't mean we won't take suggestions into consideration, just that we have a set plan that we want to take. We'll probably go on arcs and stuff so please, please make sure to contribute! Like I said: team effort, guys.
