Sorry I'm late for updating, well, anything. I meant to post this on Halloween, but my laptop fell, and damaged the hard drive. So, all my anime and movies, gone. But at least all my stories were saved. I wrote some of this before my laptop fell, and I wrote half of it using my Wii U and Google Docs. I know, surprised me too. But managed to finish this on my new laptop. Yay! Now, I need to focus on my NaNoWriMo story. Anyway, hope you guys enjoy my newest, crazy, crossover attempt.
Kotone
"Hurry!"
"It's not like it's going anywhere."
"H-how did you guys talk me into this?"
Three kids made their way through the forest outside of Konoha. At 12 years of age, one would imagine that they should be in school, but with a certain orange wearing ninja as a role model, well, that speaks for itself.
In the lead was Sakurako, self proclaimed massive Naruto fan. Not fangirl. Fan. Many girls in her class were fans of Sakura, Ino and Tenten, but not her. The boy next to her was, and it still surprises her, a fan of Hinata. That could be because his name was Kaede, which was normally used by girls, and the fact he had a feminine appearance. Yeah, she didn't know why he wasn't a fan of Ino. Perhaps he also had a crush on Naruto…
Moving on, the last member of the group was trailing behind. Out of breath. He nervously looked at the trees, which showed the first signs of Autumn. He jumped at each sound. That was Yuuta. He was a stout boy, but was scared of most things, especially if said thing had more than eight legs.
"Quit whining," Sakurako said. "We're not that far from the village."
Yuuta only moaned in response. "What if-" He gulped, and she could see the fright in his eyes. On second thought, that was always there, almost like a doujutsu.
"There are no bandits out here. This is still technically inside the village." Kaede answered for her.
Before Yuuta could protest, Sakurako's eyes lit up. It was almost sparkly. "There it is."
It was a fairly large mansion with a rusted old gate barring their path. The closer they got, the darker the sky became. In one of the window, a shadow moved. But it was quick, and vanished before the could get a good glimpse.
Sneak in, grab a souvenir, and return just in time to eat ramen. How hard could that be? Her answer came in the form of the wind, which picked up. It gave her goosebumps. Kaede went to open the gate, but the second he touched the cold metal, someone giggled.
"Sakurako?" Kaede asked, backing away.
"That... wasn't me." She replied, looking through the gate for any signs of a another person. "Besides, I don't giggle." Turning to Yuuta, her eyes grew big. A small spider seemed to be digging through his curly brown hair. He wasn't aware of it. She unconsciously ran a hand through her own short black hair. "Yuuta, you got, um, something-"
Crunch.
Their eyes snapped to the sea of trees that surrounded them. it almost seemed as if they were whispering to each other. Several pairs of yellow eyes blinked.
Genjutsu, maybe, she thought to herself. Another crunch. Then she saw it. A tree. It seemed to be pulling its own roots out of the ground. She hated to admit, but she didn't pay attention to the genjutsu lessons. But Kaede on the hand was doing a hand seal and whispering a word she couldn't hear. But he looked confused. And from the giggle, it didn't work.
Before she knew it, she had grabbed a kunai from her pouch, and threw it. But she didn't count on it returning. It impaled three inches from her feet. More trees seemed to be moving. Getting closer with each step. It was like that horror movie she watched a few days ago. A creature stalked a group of highly trained shinobi, picking them off one by one.
She heard screaming. She figured Yuuta finally found his voice. Then she realized it came from her own throat. She backed away. They didn't seem to have any faces. Dark holes, which were made from either rot or pests, acted as their face. The yellow eyes continue to watch from the shadows.
"Release!" Kaede yelled, almost in desperation.
"Such a cute face." A voice whispered in her ear. Sakurako nearly broke her own neck with the way she was moving her head. But she didn't see anyone. Another giggle. She unconsciously swiped at where the voice came from. "Feisty."
"Guys," she whispered, backing away until she bumped into a frozen Yuuta. "Last one to the gate, um-"
"Dies?" Kaede interrupted. They shared a look, then bolted. Only to notice they forgot something.
"Yuuta!" Sakurako slid across the dirt, and quickly grabbed Yuuta's hand. "Snap out of it!" No use, the boy was frozen with fear. She ignored the looming trees, gathered up her strength and pulled her friend. The spider on his head held on for dear life.
Chapter 1: Home Sweet Home
"Oshiro?" Tsunade mumbled. Her blonde hair was frazzled, wrinkles were under her eyes, and a sigh escaped her every four minutes. This was her second day of working, nonstop, without sleep. Normally she was used to it, but that was with a couple of helpers; alcohol and gambling.
But she couldn't do that, she had real work to do. And the papers before her weren't of the mission variety. They were sale papers. People wanting to buy land. Renovate, destroy, rape the natural beauty. From buildings that were destroyed during the war, to abandoned houses that were either left behind or worse, the owner died and left no one to care for the house.
"Oshiro," she whispered again, starting to see double. She remembered the name. The Oshiro were a rich clan that lived near Iwa in a large castle. But left Iwa when Tobirama became the Hokage. But something happened over the years. It took a few minutes, but she dug through her sensei's old drawer. It still had his stuff in it, including a certain book. "Aha!" She spotted her prize. A deed. She quickly read through it, until she found what she was looking for. The person who owned it. She read it again, and again, in case the lack of sleep was playing mind games. "Minato?"
Minato. What does he have to do with that? She probably had more right than he, after all, she played at the mansion when she was a little girl, so long ago.
"The Oshiro's Iwa castle is in ruins now," Tsunade said, aloud. "Let's see, land developers want to buy the land, which include the surrounding woods, blah, blah, blah." She had the deed in one hand, the land grabbers request in the other. She placed both on the table and flipped around, until the bright light caused her to flinch."I would love to find that forbidden jutsu. The one that can shield an entire village from sunlight. Damn sun." Now, where was she? Ah, the mansion. It sat just outside the village, similar to farms.
The land developers, or land grabbers, were permitted to enter the village at will due to a contract that her sensei, the Sandaime signed. And from what was on that paper, they wanted to build either a restaurant, gambling den or a red light district where that mansion stood. She hated seeing a piece of history destroyed. But-
"Village could use a nice gambling place though," she flipped back around, and placed her head onto the desk. All she wanted to do was sleep, if only for an hour. Maybe she could talk Sakura into signing a few papers in her stead.
xxxx
"Come on, dog boy, bring it!"
"Better smelling like a wet dog, than a dirty fox! Wait, that came out wrong..."
High above the river, two long wooden poles jutted vertically. And balancing on each pole were Naruto Uzumaki and Kiba Inuzuka. They were both shirtless, and had wide smiles on their faces. On the grass near the river was a large white dog and a woman with purple hair, who, despite the massive blush adorning her face, had said face buried in a book.
"Hey, Hinata! How long?" Kiba yelled, glaring at Naruto. He and Naruto were obviously tired, easily recognizable from the held in yawns, the sweat and of course, their drooping eyes.
Hinata was startled by the sudden attention, and nearly dropped her book. She didn't glance at them. "Six minutes."
"That all? Felt longer," Naruto mumbled. The pole he was on creaked and leaned under his feet.
Sakura Haruno watched from a nearby tree, debating if she should even interrupt them. But... given how tired they appeared to be, surely a jolt would be fun. Maybe Naruto is rubbing off on me.
With a smirk, she vanished from the branch, and with a loud "Cha!" she appeared high in the air, then struck the ground. It was quiet at first, then a small shockwave shot from the crater. Hinata nearly lost her book again, while both boys struggled to stay balanced. The poles didn't really shake from the hit, but with shaky legs, both shinobi nearly found themselves face first in the river. Only their fast reflexes saved them. Barely.
"Not funny!" Naruto shouted.
"What was that for?" Kiba yelled.
Sakura pouted. She hoped one of them would fall. She needed a good laugh for a boring day. "Do I even want to know?" Tsunade told her to fetch her teammate, and she really didn't want to wait this whole, whatever it was, out.
Naruto and Kiba only smirked at her, then preceded to stick their tongues out at each other. Once again, Naruto nearly slipped. He extended his arms, and began to flap like a bird. She smiled at that. But unfortunately, he regained his balance. Even with chakra pumping into their feet, balancing on one foot was hard.
Kiba, on the other hand, wasn't so lucky. His pole began to bend, small at first, then splinters flew in the air. Sakura shielded her face as he made a small splash. She briefly wondered where Shino was, then she realized that he didn't want to get wet. Hinata? Well, she probably just wanted to see Naruto half naked.
"Rematch!" Kiba yelled, surfacing from the river, finger pointed at the smirking blond. The movement caused a droplet of water to hit Sakura.
"Male bonding?" Sakura asked, stepping on a small acorn. Her eyes lit up. "Or did the love you two have for each other reach a new level?"
Kiba turned green. "You sound like Hana." He shivered as he made his way out of the river.
Naruto nearly lost his balance when she said that. Obviously, he still remembered their academy days. "Very funny." Sakura rolled the acorn around with her feet.
"We were, uh, training? Yeah! Training!" Kiba lied. "Right, boy?" Akamaru didn't acknowledge his existence. "Hinata?" Said girl looked up, only to blush.
"No mission. Bored. Hot. No girlfriends, either. I completely understand." Sakura said, nodding.
"Uh, don't have to rub that in." Naruto said.
"You still sound just like Hana." Kiba groaned.
"She has been teaching me how to care for animals, just in case." Sakura replied. In reality, it was in case she needed to put Naruto on a leash and collar. "Naruto. Heads up!" A light blue glow surrounded her feet.
"Wha-?"
Before he could react, Sakura kicked. The acorn struck the pole with the force of one of her punches. Splinters shot from the wooden pole as the acorn made a small crater. Naruto smiled when nothing happened. But the deed was done. Naruto's leg finally gave out and he fell with a large splash. The tidal wave reached the onlookers, soaking Akamaru and Kiba from head to toe. But she was mildly surprised that the wave completely missed Hinata. The ground around her was wet, but not the circle she sat in. Did Hyuuga's have some sort of barrier that surrounded them?
Naruto quickly stood atop the water, his feet still shaky, and his finger pointed at the culprit. "Hey! You trying to hurt me!"
Sakura shrugged. Hinata blushed. Kiba continued to shake himself dry.
"I am a medic. You would've been just fine." Sakura replied. "Now come on, I don't want to keep Tsunade waiting."
Naruto took their leave. Kiba and Akamaru weren't paying attention, as they were busy shaking themselves dry, sending water droplets everywhere. Hinata did give a shy wave. Her blushing face was still buried in the book. She knew that book. It was a new romance novel, which involved a human falling in love with a female ghost.
She was starting to wonder if it was a shirtless Naruto that made her blush or both. She placed a bet on whether or not she and Naruto would get together, but that looked like a sucker bet. Perhaps something happened, or Naruto was too oblivious to realize that Hinata had already confessed.
She was so into her thoughts, she nearly collided with a very pissed Anko Mitarashi, who created a dust trail with her running. Anko yelled about a pervert peeking at the Hot Springs. And when Anko mention that she was gonna castrate and spit roast the pervert, Naruto turned pale, with a twitchy left eye. Sakura promptly jotted Anko's words onto the notepad in her mind, for later use. For now-
She eyed Naruto, suspiciously. Her look screamed, 'You responsible?'
He flinched at her look. "I was with KIba the whole time! Haven't peeked in a week! I think Ino was in there…" Naruto said, then realized what he said. "Wait, no- I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Sure. Says the guy that can create an army of clones, just for peeking." She sighed. "I should yell for Anko. I'm curious about what she means by spit roasting."
Naruto gulped.
She smiled when he decided to keep his distance from her until they arrived at the Hokage's Office. But instead of Tsunade behind the desk, it was Shizune. Sakura kinda felt bad for the woman. Tsunade asked her to run the place while she took a nap, but fortunately Shizune happened to walk in at that momen. Or maybe it was unfortunately. So, Sakura was assigned to track down Naruto, only she wasted forty minutes until she finally found him.
I really need a leash and a tag for him, she thought to herself, mentally cracking her knuckles.
Shizune didn't notice the two new arrivals, her focus was on the task at hand. One hand at a piece of paper, while her other had a stamp. She read the paper, while stamped one that she finished, and she repeated the process.
"Catch Tora," she mumbled. "Team 7."
I hope that is two different things, Sakura thought, sweat dropping. Both were surprised at how fast Shizune read and stamped, read and stamped-
She had to cough several times just to get the woman's attention. It seemed like the paper kept respawning in the bin. The thought of a seal built into the desk, which produces the papers, briefly crossed her mind. But no one could be that cruel. Sakura was in that position several times, and she knew how it felt. Getting papers mixed up, approved the wrong things, it was hectic. She didn't want people to know that it was actually her that accidently approved of the Pirate Division of the Konoha force. Not really pirates, but the flag did have a skull on it.
"Sakura. Naruto." Shizune greeted. Her hand unconsciously stamped a piece of paper, moved it to a pile then grabbed a new document.
She was about to ask where Tsunade was, but a snore from the nearby couch explained everything. She was wondering when her sensei would crash. She did look like a zombie after all.
Shizune looked confused as to why they were there, then her eyes lit up. "Oh! The old Oshiro mansion." She finally put the papers down, and seemed to relax. "What do you know about it? I just know of the stories people tell."
Despite Shizune looking at Naruto, Sakura said, "That creepy place? Gives me chills."
"The old place outside the village?" Naruto asked. When he received a nod, he continued. "I don't know too much about it, but me and the guys dared each other to go near it-"
Sakura snapped her finger with an 'Aha!'.
"I remember that!" Sakura interrupted, startling Naruto. She did remember it clearly. How could she forget? The face on Naruto and Kiba were priceless. She couldn't hold down the giggle. "You, Kiba, Shika and Chouji. Four went in, two came back." Sakura wiped the tears from her eyes. "You two were white as a ghost. Did you two seriously leave Shikamaru and Chouji behind?"
"We were nine. It was every man for himself." Naruto coughed. "They knew the risks! The sounds, the creaking... the giggling…"
Tsunade sat up from her sofa, with a yawn and a stretch.
"Giggling?" Sakura asked.
"I know what I heard. Chouji got stuck in a large spider web, so I took off." He shivered. "Shikamaru tried to help him, only to end up stuck too."
Creak.
Then a hand landed on his shoulder. Like something out of a cartoon, his hair stood on end, he turned pale, and promptly hid behind Sakura. Said girl only shook her head. A normal shinobi would attack after being spooked. He could handle an army, no problem, but when it comes to ghosts and horror stories, not so much.
"Tsunade! You should be sleeping!" Shizune chastised, about to get up from her desk, only for Tsunade to wave her hand.
"A few minutes, an hour, I'll be fine." She said, yawning. She looked at Naruto. "This is about your father."
"Dad? What about him?" Naruto said, peeking out from behind Sakura.
Sakura was curious too. From what she understood, their was no will. No house. Their wasn't anything left to Naruto. Most got destroyed in the battle with Kyuubi. The seal that contained the creature was, essentially, the only thing that was passed down from his family. Well, minus the orange jumpsuit that is.
"For some reason, Minato's name is written on the deed." Tsunade explained. "Well, the copy of it at least. The real deed is probably somewhere in the house."
"Land developers are trying to get the land." Shizune continued for her sensei. "But that land, in all rights, belong to you."
"The creepy old house… is mine?" Naruto said. Sakura gave him a sympathetic pat on the back.
"Sorry," she said.
"The Oshiro clan were old fashioned. They prefer keys to seals, Samurai to Shinobi, stuff like that." Tsunade said. "I don't know why the place is in his name. But regardless, you now own a mansion. Congratulations."
You could've put more joy in that statement. Sakura thought.
"Sell it, live in it, convert it to a gambling den, all up to you." Tsunade said, finally managing to smile at him. Although, that could've been because of that last statement.
Shizune placed a very old looking key onto the desk. It had a kanji on it. "This is the gate key. We still don't know if Minato made any-"
"Modifications." Tsunade interrupted. "With Jiraiya teaching him, he could've added seals all over that place."
Sakura noticed that look that Naruto sported. He had the same look when Kakashi told a few ghost stories while out on a few missions.
"Relax. There aren't any ghosts." Sakura comforted. "It's impossible. You fought Orochimaru, Gaara, what do you have to be afraid of?
Naruto gulped. "Ghosts."
"Don't worry. Look at the bright side! No more cramped apartment, stopped up water-" Sakura paused, then shrugged. "-crappy instant ramen. A new start! Um, it does have running water and electricity, right?"
Tsunade eyed a document. Sakura guessed it was information on the house. "... um, sure." She winked.
She saw Naruto's eyes flash. Probably remembering the spooky house from his childhood. "I have been wanting, um, a new place." Then he whispered, "... so far from Ichiraku's though…"
"Come on, I'll help you pack." Sakura merely shook her head as she pushed Naruto towards the door.
After that, she did indeed help him pack, while he kept mumbling about ghosts, zombies and zombie ghosts. He didn't own much, just a couple of clothing, some manga and a box full of instant ramen.
xxxx
Naruto stepped out his apartment, feeling much better. He really did want a new place. He adjusted the backpack straps. It wasn't very heavy. Mainly consisted of several containers of instant ramen, a care package from Hinata and some clothing. Okay, it may be a tad heavy, and bulging, and his manga collection may have been pushing the poor backpacks limits. Luckily Sakura said she will take the remainder of his stuff to his new residence tomorrow.
He received waves and good luck wishes as he reached the gate. It didn't take long for people to hear he was moving, to a place that was supposedly haunted. To make matters worse, he bumped into one of his fans the moment he headed out of the village.
"You mustn't!" Sakurako yelled, grabbing onto his leg. "It's too soon!" But he continued to walk, dragging her with him. "It's evil, I tell you! Menacing! Perilous! Devious! Kaede, what's another word?"
"Egregious?"
"That's a word?" Sakurako asked with a raised brow.
Naruto sighed. "It's not evil. Just… scary beyond all sense of the word." Sure, that's what actually came out, but in his mind: No ghost! No ghost! No ghost!
Naruto stopped, and looked at the three kids. Sakurako, Yuuta and Kaede. He did a double take at the spider nesting in Yuuta's hair. But that boy was weird, it was probably normal. The three seemed genuinely shaken and spooked. He smirked. It was just like him, Kiba, Shika and Chouji. But unlike him, at least the three kids looked out for each other.
"We've seen things," Sakurako hissed, eyes darting back and forth. Her nails dug into his leg, and he sworn her tongue was like a snake.
"I'll be just fine. You guys are free to visit me-" They were close to the woods when the wind picked up. Sakurako was quick to let go. "-any time." He gulped. He shook his head and steeled his resolve. "Don't worry, guys. I survived the Forest of Death. This would be a piece of cake. A cakewalk."
"Yeah, a Devil's Food Cake." Sakurako whispered. Yuuta's stomach growled. "Not helping, Yuuta."
He waved at the kids as he disappeared into the thicket. And indeed it was a cakewalk. Nothing attacked or jumped at him. It was strangely quiet, unlike the Forest of Death. He was actually prepared in case Kiba, or Shika, wanted revenge and were stalking him. But he reached the steel gate with no problem.
The sun had started to go down, and darkness begun to sweep the area. He stared at the mansion. Maybe he was wrong. Looks can be deceiving, and this could be a good thing for him. He hoped Ichiraku would be willing to deliver, or move a little closer.
His stomach growled.
It was now or never. He lived in his old apartment for most of his life. For all he know, he was born there. He inserted the key into the keyhole. The click of the tumbler turning was the only sound around. But as soon as the gate creaked open, several blue lines of light flashed on the ground.
He put the key into his pocket.
"Yeah, old fashioned," he mumbled. He took a step over the border, where the gate once blocked, and felt cold air strike him. A giggle echoed from the forest, but he passed it off as one of the girls from the village laughing at his expense. He followed the small dirt trail that lead straight to the entrance. The statue to his left was a man in a fighting stance, sword poised to strike.
A loud bang nearly sent him straight out the gate. But looking up, he saw an open window. "I have a bad feeling about this."
A crow squawked from somewhere above.
His hand froze an inch from the wooden door. It was like a barrier preventing him from opening it. But he opened it anyway. Like the gate, the door swung open with a creak, a loud one. It echoed around the dark room. Said room was fairly large, with a large chandelier in the middle, along with a staircase that seemed to travel in an arc.
He stayed there a good minute, basking in the spooky beauty of his new house. Then he heard it. Music. Coming from upstairs. It was a harp, along with singing. He took a step forward, but when the floorboard creaked, the music stopped.
He gulped.
Must have something to do with that blue light, he thought. He saw a switch on the wall. But when he flipped it, he didn't expect the lights to come on, but they did. Once again, the blue light appeared in his thoughts. But he wouldn't put it past his father to design a simple seal in the gate, that can supply a huge place with a power. Or perhaps the seal in the gate was just part of a bigger seal.
He felt a headache coming on. He didn't understand a single thing about seals.
He shook off that thought. "Better find a room." The steps creaked with each step. It was almost musical. The place was even bigger than it seemed. Maybe Ichiraku could move in and be his personal cook, or Ayame, either would be fine. "A dream come true."
He passed by a library, and what appeared to be a training ground. One room was even pink. The room across from that was a nice one. It was fairly clean. A few webs here and there, a single bed, and an open window facing the gate.
He closed the window, then plopped onto the bed, causing dust particles to float around the room. He coughed. Maybe he should create some clones and send them on maid duty. Not a bad idea. But his stomach chose that moment to roar. He briefly heard movement in the corner of the room, as if something was spooked. But the house was old, and creaked the more the wind blew.
Why does the wind keep blowing? He thought to himself. It was a nice day, albeit boring, and the wind didn't start billowing until he decided to enter the mansion. He toyed with the thought that his father created a seal that caused the wind to blow.
The light in the room flickered.
He made a mental checklist: Check the light bulbs. Inspect the water. Eat ramen. Read some doujin. Make sure the basement didn't have zombies. Yeah, a completely normal list.
Cold air hit him the face, causing him to shoot up from the bed with chills. The window was closed. He waved his hands around the room to feel where the wind was coming from, only to hit something. Cold. Chilly. Felt like a cloud. He poked it with a finger, only to incite a different reaction. It giggled, which was different than what he heard outside.
Then it spoke.
"Hi!"
He fell backwards, tripping over the bed. He peeked from the other side of the bed, and got a better look at the thing. It was transparent, but he knew it was there.
"Show yourself!" He demanded, trying to seem threatening. Then he realized he left his pouch on the dresser across the room. The transparent blob moved, and his eyes followed it as it got closer to him.
"Promise you won't freak out?" The voice was female, that much he knew. Maybe it was one of the girls playing tricks on him. He knew Sakura had been wanting to prank him for years now.
"I dealt with genjutsu before," he replied. He sucked at anything relating to genjutsu. But he can't tell her that, unless she's Sakura.
"Don't know what that is, but okay." Naruto was confused. But then he saw the transparent blob move again. A few feet from him. It became more visible. White. Like a cloud. But unlike a cloud, it had big green eyes, a blush on its cheeks, and long black hair. And instead of legs, it had a tail. "Hi! I'm Kotone!"
"G-ghost?" Naruto mumbled. Was it rational for a shinobi to fear ghosts? As Sakura always said, 'Hell no!'. But he wasn't rational. He always went with his gut. Perhaps it was a trait passed down from his parents, or maybe Kurama, the demon in said gut, was the one that was afraid. He had phasmophobia, that's what Shizune called it, for as long as he remembered. Maybe it was the old man, who kept yelling 'Boo' when he was little.
He learned to rely on that. When he's truly afraid, it's the real deal. Maybe it really was Kurama's doing. For a reason he can't explain, he could tell the difference between an actual ghost or an illusion.
He heard the ghost yell, "H-Hey!" before his vision faded to black.
AN: Hope you guys liked the first chapter. I need to write something to jump start my creativity. I wasn't gonna reveal Kotone until chapter 2, but decided to do it. Mainly to explain my title, the concept and because I didn't know where to end it. As you probably guessed, I planned the story before Halloween, and was inspired by Casper and Addams Family. Now, I must try to update Tigress, Mystery Inc and Apples and Cinnamon.