Narutopolis

Chapter 01: Nightlights

Rating: T
Pairing: Inuzuka Kiba and Uzumaki Naruto
Notes: This one's fun to write. Chapter 2's almost finished. Expect jutsus weirder than sexy no jutsu and Kisame's attempt to mimic Dane Cook. I'm a very honest person.
Disclaimer: I'm on my way to perfecting this 'steal the Naruto' jutsu. Till then, Naruto isn't mine.

"Where's that tiresome boy?"

For she had the tiresome boy somehow out of her sight. The place was overcrowded and would only be more so soon; the Hokage finish the speech; the fireworks set off in about half an hour; and she had a fixed number of seats reserved for herself, her husband, and her children to dine at a certain restaurant afterwards. And then, spoke Hitomi Inuzuka to her husband, "Run and find him... but make sure to come back before the fireworks set off no matter what. We'll be waiting in this place."

Said tiresome boy was, in actuality, by no means a boy—and he disliked to be addressed as a boy—and he would never do so on fellow ninjas at his age; for, although he was still fifteen years old, as he had undergone many missions requiring maturity beyond his age and all the trainings required to fulfill them, he preferred to infer from that notion that he deserved to be called a man.

He was about to tell his family that he wanted to buy some snack when he realised that they no longer were to be found anywhere nearby. He stiffened at the thought of being lost, for he believed that only kids got lost. With the amount of people around, he knew that he could never possibly use his nose to trace his family by their scent—and too many kinds of scent had melded into what seemed like a pile of sinful filth which could cause sudden unconsciousness on himself at once should he activate his specialised nose.

It was not to hinder his whim to buy some snack, however, for, judging from his mother's tendency, he thought, once they realised that he was missing, she would send his father for him. Glancing about the crowd in search of his family again for the last time, albeit unavailingly, he stopped himself at a takoyaki stall, noticing the aroma that came floating in the air. Around the stall were people forming a circle while waiting for their orders; and seemingly to him as if they were cordoning off the place, he immediately had half a wit to give up the idea of buying, for he disliked to wait—in especial for something not of great significance.

Having lived as a ninja for—how many years now? over five, he felt even in the midst of a traffic, or a crowd, quite used to feel alone and be fairly aware of his surroundings to the point of instinctively examining them, he reasoned, as again he thought of how tranquil his feeling was to be in this hanabi festival. The small, vivid light sources through the whole place—the trees, the stalls, the poles, and the strings above were hung with nightlights; the colourful yukatas people around him were wearing; the stalls and the items or services in which they sold; the haphazard interactions; the tramp; the lively jingles; and whatever else perceptible, as a whole, was what he was enjoying and smiling about; the Hidden Leaf; this joyous moment of July; several hours towards his own birthday. He liked to be able to enjoy it!—ludicrous probably, he thought then, but he preferred to think that he was lucky to be able to, for he doubted that just any person had what it took to do so.

It was July the sixth. He would probably celebrate his birthday on the morrow if his relatives or friends remembered about it—he knew that his parents had been reluctant, albeit slightly, to abandon their business to attend this festival; and once said festival had finished, said business would again hold their attention so completely that he, sliding his hands into his trousers' pockets, lifting his face, vaguely gazing at the sky, and breathing out audibly, preferred to think in advance that it was very possible for them to forget it. His parents could be very attentive of their children at times; but work easily held them prisoners—typical workaholics, he thought.

Suddenly appearing in his eyes was a grinning blond—the notoriously loud and goofy Naruto. He could sense the smell of ramen lingering about him—the very smell which had become a sort of trademark for him, and it was strong enough to be smelt in the radius of three feet even amidst this crowd without the help of a specialised nose.

"Good evening to you, Kiba!" said Naruto, as excitedly as how he seemingly of necessity reacted to any other things.

"Howdo," Kiba replied, noticing that he then was to walk with Naruto.

"Where's your dog?" asked Naruto, glancing back and forth around Kiba to reassure himself that said dog was not with him—for no reason in particular.

"He's resting at home 'cause of the wounds that he got on our last mission," said Kiba, glancing at Naruto midway through. "You're here alone?"

"Nah—I came with Iruka but he's near the stage over there 'cause he's gotta tune into Tsunade's speech and all; so, bored, I went to eat by myself," said Naruto. "He would probably be angry anyway had he known I was eating ramen again. What about you?"

"I, um, got separated from my family," Kiba said, rather regretfully. "And my father's probably looking for me now at my mum's order. Most married men are like that—ordered around by their wife."

"I can imagine you running errands for your wife in the future," said Naruto.

"If I ever, ever had a wife," said Kiba, sneering in the direction of Naruto.

"Instead of a dog as a spouse?" asked Naruto, snickering as he imagined the thought of Kiba running errands for a dog.

"You and your sick mind," snapped Kiba, his forefinger prodding Naruto in the head.

"Hey Kiba," said Naruto, his blond hair bouncing as he walked. "Have you eaten?"

"Dinner? No—my mum must've reserved some seats at some fancy restaurant for us to dine together later," said Kiba. "Probably a sushi restaurant again."

He then wondered if Naruto had just briefly puckered his brow and pouted upon hearing his answer. He glanced more at Naruto's face before saying, "But I'm rather hungry now. And it's my birthday tomorrow, so I'll let you have the privilege to entertain my stomach tonight."

"That's a complicated way to say that you want me to treat you to dinner," said Naruto, furrowing his brows. Looking Kiba perplexedly in the eyes, he said, "Wait here."

He swiftly walked towards a balloon-selling person a short way ahead; although due to the persons flocking the way, Kiba, standing still curiously, could not see what he was up to. In Naruto's eyes were balloons of different colours and shapes, including the pink heart, blue dolphin, white spiral, et cetera; and Naruto immediately thought that the first one was not appropriate, the second one would have been better given to Iruka, and the third one for himself. It was not before too long when he noticed a khaki dog-shaped balloon and immediately pointed at the object which he thought was perfect for the Inuzuka heir.

He walked back to the place at which he had left Kiba with his right hand carrying aforementioned balloon carefully probably so as to not have the string get caught by anything in the way. Seeing what Naruto was bringing and its shape, Kiba started chuckling.

"This is for you," said Naruto gleefully, handing the balloon. "Happy birthday in advance."

"Thank you kindly," said Kiba in-between his chuckles, grasping the string attached to the balloon.

"Hey—I think the fireworks are setting off any minute now—meaning your belly will have to wait," said Naruto, turning into the direction of the stage from which most of the fireworks would be set off.

Even from afar, Naruto could hear that Tsunade was no longer giving a speech. Aside from glancing at his own watch, he did nothing but stand still expectantly in the midst of a crowd which was then, having had seen Naruto's still figure, aware of the time, beginning to as well settle themselves and look in the direction of the stage.

Kiba, on the other hand, suddenly felt that something terrible was about to happen soon. He was sure that the Hokage, aware of what danger the Hidden Leaf was facing, had stationed many Anbu members in all strategic places to secure the area and to supervise the progress of the festival; but the feeling was really strong, and he had no choice but to have actions in advance.

"Naruto," spoke Kiba, grasping spoken boy's arm while hurriedly running—he was not sure where to run, but he hoped that being mobile would be safer.

"Wha—what's wrong?" said Naruto, increasing his pace to match Kiba's.

"Nothing. Let's try to not get caught by my father," said Kiba, giving Naruto a grin. "It's the hide-and-seek that you love so much. We're hiding."

"Why all of the sudden?" asked Naruto, unsure if Kiba was being honest. Seeing nothing wrong about it, however, he complied. "What about the fireworks?"

"Try to watch it while running," said Kiba, not giving much thought to it. "Your apartment's nearby, isn't it? Let's stop by it for a bit so I could put this balloon down—running at speed like this is bound to cause it to burst."

Soon enough they began setting off the fireworks. Fireworks of different exploding colours and shapes continuously sparked in the dark, cloudless, starry sky, effortlessly decorating it with what seemed like short-lived stars; followed by people shouting, "Tabaya!"

Glancing backwards, Naruto gave what he saw a grin. It was not often that he had the chance to free himself from any aggravation—from having to worry what Orochimaru might do to Sasuke, from having to be continuously in life-and-death circumstances—for having to be alert of Akatsuki, for working on missions assigned, for being a ninja. Times like that often reminded him of himself when he was a boy, enviously watching other kids cling to their parents and happily share whatever it had been that parents and kids could share—it was times like that which made it seem really clear for Naruto that he had missed what many other kids had had—having parents. He no longer was sad about it, however. Iruka had always been acting as his parent since he had known; and he was grateful to him for it. He always watched the fireworks together with Iruka in the previous years, but this time he had somehow managed to be able to enjoy it with someone else—and he somewhat hoped that his companion was enjoying it as much as he was.

Having run swiftly through places down the building roofs, they settled themselves in front of Naruto's apartment room. Naruto unlocked the door effortlessly with his eyes still fixed at the fireworks in the sky behind. He opened it and let Kiba in.

"Sorry for the trouble," said Kiba briefly, stepping inside the room whose light Naruto had forgotten to turn off before going to the festival. He ignored the mess and proceeded to tie his balloon's string to the back support of a dining chair. "Let's get outta here now."

"Why? Isn't this the best hiding place? Your parents wouldn't possibly think of checking this place."

"I thought you wanted to treat me to dinner?" asked Kiba, glad that he could quickly found that excuse—quick enough to not give Naruto any moment to notice Kiba's uncertainty.

"Oh, right," said Naruto. "So where do you wanna eat?"

"On second thought," spoke Kiba upon realising that they were being watched by some Anbu members—meaning the Hokage had stationed several Anbu members to specifically watch over Naruto and his apartment. "Let's just stay here. You have something edible in your fridge, right?"

"It's not like you to be indecisive," said Naruto. "Which one is it now?"

"Belt up. I'm more considerate when it comes to what I want to do on my birthday—and I can, can't I?" said Kiba, proceeding himself towards the kitchen which was directly adjacent to the living room and the dining room with only half walls to partition each.

"H-hey!" called Naruto, closing the door. "You can't just barge in and pillage my fridge like that."

"Why not?" asked Kiba.

"Yes—why not?" a third voice came, sending a chill down both Naruto and Kiba's spine.

Kiba turned around; his eyes focused at the two guys in cloaks with swirling cloud patterns that were lounging in the sofa. They were Itachi Uchiha and Kisame Hoshigaki. Noticing the dangerous presence of two Akatsuki members in front of him, Kiba ran in the direction of Naruto in an attempt to escape together.

In a glance, however, Kisame was already in front of them, blocking the only politically-correct way to get out the house, flaunting his humongous sword—the Samehada. "Running away will cause thousands of people die at once."

"What do you mean?" snapped Naruto.

"We've sneaked many of our subordinates in disguise as Anbu members to prepare the summoning of gigantic monsters which will come forth in the festival area on a mere hand signal of mine, or of Itachi," said Kisame, grinning.

Kiba immediately realised that it was no longer an option to run away—that they were stuck. Having a stance, Kiba spoke in a collected manner, "How are to be sure that you're not gonna do anything to them if we surrender?"

"You can't be. But Akatsuki never lies," said Kisame. "You wouldn't imagine Itachi to be the type to lie, would you?"

"Maybe not, but you," said Kiba.

"Enough talking, Kisame," said Itachi, leaving the sofa. "We have no business with the Inuzuka heir. Take Naruto and leave."

Kisame swiftly seized Naruto by the collar and pulled him quite easily, despite the struggle he was giving, ignoring the presence of Kiba.

"Wait!" called Kiba upon seeing the retreating figure of the Akatsuki members.

"What is it?" asked Itachi, turning back at Kiba.

"Don't tell me that you're gonna try to stop us here," said Kisame. "Unless you have a thousand-year-old jutsu powerful enough to shut all of our power down in an instant, just forget it."

"No—I... I want to work for Akatsuki," said Kiba, his eyes focused at Itachi's.

"Kiba!" yelled Naruto. "What the—"

"For what reason?" asked Itachi.

"If I stay in this place, I'll never be as strong as you," said Kiba, attempting to pull all his confidence off.

"What makes you think you will become stronger with us?" asked Itachi. "We treat our subordinates the exact same way we treat ants."

"I will train under you and perform field missions," said Kiba, well aware that his answer was funny. He also knew that the reason why Itachi had not asked his loyalty was because he had the power to eliminate him the exact same way he did on ants, thereby deeming him insignificant.

"Very well—come along," said Itachi, turning round.

"Wait—Itachi!" spoke Kisame, looking at his fellow Akatsuki member. "Are you sure he's not just trying to save Naruto? He won't be able to do it, for certain, but—"

"But what?" asked Itachi. "He will act as a diversion for us to escape the expert eyes of Anbu members if needed."

"Well—okay. He looks fairly bright, I guess," said Kisame, eyeing Kiba, snickering. "I might actually train you if you could prove yourself useful. For now, let's get outta here."

"What are you doing!" Naruto yelled at Kiba. "If you're trying to save me—"

"I'm not trying to save you," said Kiba, walking alongside Kisame and Itachi, turning off the room's lamp. "Life's boring without any challenge—that's all."

Giving a hand signal, Itachi began to swiftly run alongside Kisame who was carrying Naruto, followed by Kiba, effortlessly jumping from one roof to another in the direction of the village's border. Seeing the hand signal, Kiba tensed slightly, wondering if the monsters would come forth soon.

"It's a signal for them to retreat," said Itachi. "It'll take approximately two days to reach the base. We will stop by the fire forest in an hour; until then, you're free to return to your residence to retrieve your dog. Go in this direction to the Fire forest—we'll notice you."

"Thanks." Kiba was fast to trust Itachi. He stopped midway and changed his course to the direction of his family's residence.

"You seem to trust the brat," said Kisame.

"I think he's not lying," said Itachi. "Besides, it will not hurt to have an apprentice."

"Yeah, right," said Kisame who was then laughing. He began to think that the idea of having an apprentice was not too bad. A person to master both his and Itachi's jutsus would be upbeat, he thought.

Kiba himself was confused at himself. He knew that when he offered the idea of becoming Itachi's apprentice he was quite serious, in spite of the fact that he had not meant to be one at first—he merely wanted to try to stay at Naruto's side in order that he could save him whenever possible. He did not know yet how, but as long as there was a chance, he would try his best. Anyone would be happy to train under Itachi after all, he thought, even if it meant that he was about to lose his humanity and freedom, for he might end up having to murder the innocents in the way—he might even end up having to fight against his village for all he knew, although he would refuse to do so.

After ten minutes of constant running, he arrived in front of his residence. It was a spacious place with two separate buildings—the left-hand side one for the Inuzuka clan's members while the right-hand side one to shelter the dogs. Aware that his family was still not yet at home—and he was glad for it, he was about to go to the right one when he sensed the smell of his teammate approaching—Hyuuga Hinata.

"Hinata?" spoke Kiba, turning in the direction of Hinata who was then standing near the stone fence of his home.

"Ki-Kiba-kun, a-are you an Akatsuki spy?" asked Hinata, quite straightforwardly.

"Wha—how did you—no," said Kiba. "I'm not a spy. Aha—so you used your Byakugan on us, eh?"

"Y-yes," said Hinata. "Na-Naruto is with them?"

"Quite right," answered Kiba, rather worried about his current situation—what with being caught by Hinata. He stepped forward to face Hinata and said, "Sorry, Hinata—I couldn't save him 'cause they threatened us that they would kill everyone in the festival—well, it's not like I could stand a chance against two Akatsuki members. You should just inform Hokage about this."

"Wh-what about you?" asked Hinata.

"I'll go with them. I'll think of a way to save Naruto from the within," answered Kiba. "Don't worry."

To Kiba's surprise, Hinata was not surprised. It was as if her Byakugan could detect the movement of his lips when he was talking to Itachi about it, he suspected. She hesitated for a moment before asking, "Can I come with you?"

"What?" Kiba asked in disbelief. "I-I don't know."

"We-we will have m-more chance of surviving, I-I think," stuttered Hinata. "I-I learnt some medical jutsu f-from Tsunade-sama a-and—"

"Seems like you're already certain about it," said Kiba, grinning. "Well—I don't know if they'll let me bring you along; but we'll give it a try. Now, if you'll excuse me; I'm gonna get my Akamaru. Also, see if there's anyone coming."

Standing outside Kiba's residence, Hinata used her Byakugan to see through the buildings in the direction of the festival area, noticing Iruka, Kurenai, Kakashi, Jiraiya, Tsunade, and other elite ninjas; thinking just how amusing things had turned out to be; just how much danger she was about to face from then on; and just what actions the Hyuuga clan would take once they had found out about it. She was quite certain with her decision, however, and she was not about to back down anytime soon. Naruto, she thought, would probably be very surprised to see her sneak out the village with Kiba, about to join Akatsuki and have the label of missing nins. For once she was also relieved that she did not have the sealing mark on her forehead, for, if she did, the Hyuuga clan would definitely use it to eliminate her.

She would miss the village, nonetheless, especially after having seen such terrific fireworks setting off, seeing—and probably also being part of—the whole festival.

"Ready?" spoke Kiba, having his dog sleep beneath his black leather coat. He had cast a jutsu to shrink the size of his dog so that he could smuggle it out the village easily.

"Y-yes."

They headed towards the fire forest with Kiba to lead the direction. Hinata's constant use of Byakugan, although tiring, was able to let the both of them choose the safest route to evade the eyes of patrolling ninjas and go past the village's gate. Once they were outside the border of the village of Hidden Leaf and in the Fire forest, two figures approached them swiftly.

"Bringing your girlfriend?" asked Kisame.

"Hi-Hinata!" yelled Naruto. "What are you doing here!"

"Na-Naruto-kun," spoke Hinata.

"No," answered Kiba. "She's not my girlfriend."

"I-I also w-want to join Akatsuki," stuttered Hinata, fairly relieved that she was able to voice that.

Although she tried her best to avoid to look either Kisame or Itachi in the eyes, the both of them could still see the lack of colour in her eyes—that she was from the prestigious clan of Hyuuga.

"Ooh—the Hyuuga princess, isn't it?" said Kisame, observing the eyes of Hinata. "Our leader will be thrilled to see you."

At that, Hinata tensed, for she knew that there was a great deal amount of people that wanted to do something to the precious blood of Hyuuga. She was beginning to think that it was not a really great idea.

"That's unnecessary, Kisame," said Itachi, breaking Hinata's train of thought. "The less people the better."

"But look at her," said Kisame. "She looks like she's about to faint from too much gravity, and yet she has the guts to say that she wants to join Akatsuki."

"Don't underestimate her," spoke Kiba, rather quietly. "She's an accomplished medic-nin who trained under our Hokage and a Hyuuga close-combat specialist."

"Interesting. A Hyuuga who's also specialised in medical jutsu—how deadly can that just be!" said Kisame. "Itachi, I say, we bring her along."

"Very well," said Itachi without even a slight glint of emotion. "But you will put a horizontal line mark on your headband. You will be wearing an Akatsuki uniform. Furthermore, stay away from other Akatsuki members unless you have my or Kisame's consent."

"Y-yes," answered Hinata, untying the headband that she had been wearing around her neck.

Kiba followed suit, revealing the skin on his forehead and the slight hair strands that had been trapped beneath the headband. And then he used his hand to clear his forehead from the strands, motioning his hair backwards.

"Put it down" said Itachi. Upon seeing the headbands being put on the ground, he did some hand seals that called forth fire in the shape of a line across the headband's plates horizontally.

"That's enough ceremony for now—we'll get you the uniform later," said Kisame, grinning. "The both of you are now officially missing-nins, low-rank members of Akatsuki."

To think that Kiba and Hinata would ever think of giving up their headbands to be burnt so—they regretted that they had given them up, for they were the closest to a materialisation for the both of them that symbolised their loyalty to the Hidden Leaf, and how much they loved it. Naruto himself was deep in a brown study, rather gloomy, unable to utter a word. It was quite obvious to him that the both of them were there trying to save him—or at least waiting for a chance to save him; for Hinata would not go so far as to risk her advanced blood limit being exploited by the enemy—Hinata would not have the courage to betray the village if it were not for him, he thought; and Kiba was supposed to celebrate his birthday—was supposed to have fun instead of delving into this ordeal. What about the balloon?--he wondered.

TO BE CONTINUED