Naruto and the Land of Sky
Author's Note: This author's note isn't really necessary to read, but it's sort of preparation for the story, so you know what to expect from it.
This story takes place before the Chuunin Exams but doesn't have an actual place on the Naruto timeline, so they, being the Genin, are all 13. And it's an Alternate Universe, so things that did happen later either won't happen or won't happen in the same way.
And okay, I've been wanting to do a Naruto one for a while, but I didn't know exactly how to do what I wanted and make it make sense. I also feared using an OC in it, but I decided to go through with this just to test it out. So, since this is my first fan fiction with an OC as a main character in it, please try and bear with me as I try to do better. If I actually get any readers, and you find you don't like the character, please let me know. And not only are there original characters of my own, but places, too. To refrain from messing up actual places with new characters, I had to make my own, so please bear with that, too, lol.
I'll probably be asking for opinions in how you would like things to happen because this story is to make you guys happy! So, yeah. And yes, in a broad way, this storyline is a bit cliché, as it's been done in other fan fictions. But it'll still be different than the others (I hope), at least I shall try.
Disclaimer: I own none of the canon Naruto characters, but I do own my OCs and the original land I made up and its people, etc.
Chapter 1: Surprise! From Kenkongakure Comes…
So, it started like any other day in Konoha: the shops were open, the streets were bustling with people, and the ninja were doing their jobs, particularly the Genin, who were all in their teams, doing various missions for the village. One shinobi in particular, however, was not enjoying the day's duties, having to pick more weeds out of gardens, deliver goods to stores, and not to mention many more "missions".
"Uuuuuugh, come on, Kakashi!" exclaimed an aggravated Naruto Uzumaki, who was tired of delivering packages.
"Hm? What's wrong, Naruto?" Kakashi Hatake asked him calmly.
"I'm sick of doing these stupid chores! I want to go on a real mission!" he complained for the hundredth time.
"A real mission?" As usual, Kakashi was acting clueless, or just really was. However, he seemed to be a little different today, perhaps more in thought than usual, but the others apparently hadn't taken notice.
"Naruto, will you just shut up just for once? You never stop talking!" yelled Sakura, irked by Naruto's constant complaining, looking over her box she was holding.
"Hn, loser," was all that came out of Sasuke, who was carrying a rather large box himself.
Naruto was on Team 7, Kakashi Hatake's team, and Naruto's teammates were Sakura Haruno, who Naruto had a crush on. With her chest-length, pink hair and sea foam green eyes, she stood about 4' 10" to Naruto's 4' 9" height, and she would relentlessly put down anything Naruto would do while lauding everything Sasuke did. Then there was Sasuke Uchiha, having jet black hair and black eyes, at about 4' 11", with whom Naruto had a very strong and bitter rivalry. Constantly would they compete in their activities, always trying to outdo the other. So, hardly ever did they get along, Naruto and Sasuke, or Naruto and Sakura, but Naruto always seemed to be the blame.
"What!? You guys want a real mission, too, don't you?" Naruto shouted at them, trying to defend himself as well as get Kakashi to understand.
"Well, I guess so…" Sakura admitted, looking off to the ground, while Sasuke also nodded slightly in agreement.
"See! I told you, Kakashi! We want something more!" Naruto pointed his finger accusingly at his sensei.
"Well, tomorrow, I will have a small surprise for you, actually," Kakashi stated simply.
"Uh, really?" Naruto's arm lowered gently. "A surprise? What is it!?" At first he was taken aback by the mention of a 'surprise', then it sunk in, and Naruto became anxious about it. "Come on, what's the surprise! Just tell us now! Come on, come on, come on!"
"Oh, well, no, I don't think so. You'll just have to wait." After that, Kakashi took out his Come, Come, Paradise book and started to read while holding it in one hand, and a box in the other.
"What!? Why not? Is it a present for us? For how much you like us?" A wide grin spread across Naruto's face, and small giggling escaped his mouth as he imagined just what the surprised would be. 'Oh, I hope it's a lifetime supply of ramen!' Naruto thought excitedly. "Oh, it's a mission, isn't it! Isn't it!? Kakashi, you're the best!"
"Naruto, calm down! Just wait; we'll find out tomorrow. Sheesh!" Sakura scowled at him. "Stop being so irritating!" 'I do wonder what kind of surprise it is, though. Well, whatever it is, I'm sure it won't be as good as Naruto thinks it is. Probably some dumb task, like doing his laundry. CHA! That would be just like Kakashi!'
As Sakura seemed to get angrier at the thought of Kakashi's surprise, and Naruto hyper and enthused, Sasuke remained his cool and quiet self. He just smiled to himself, most likely imagining the surprise himself.
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The sun set and rose like it always did, and rising along with it this time was Naruto. He got ready and ate his ramen for breakfast as he usually did, almost inhaling the noodles as he ate. "I gotta hurry! Kakashi said to be there at 7!" With one last slurp to his bowl, he grabbed his headband and bolted out the door.
"I wonder what the surprise is," he said to himself as he tied his headband around his forehead. As he arrived at the location at which he was told to be, he found Sasuke and Sakura, but as usual, Kakashi was late. Naruto slowed down to a walk, rubbed the back of his head with his hand, and chuckled, "Oh, that's right. I should have remembered that he wouldn't be on time."
"Yeah, he's already 15 minutes late. Speaking of which, where were you, Naruto?" inquired Sakura.
"Sorry, slept in, heh, heh," answered Naruto with his only excuse.
"Humph, as usual, you're so annoying, Naruto."
"What a loser," finally entered in Sasuke into the conversation.
"Grrr, Sasuke, you think you're so –" Naruto started, but before he could finish, as if on cue, Kakashi came walking up.
"Hey, guys, sorry I'm late, but I actually have a good excuse this time," he said and smiled at them as he gestured beside him. Along with him was a girl almost their age, about a year younger, who had a small smile on her face and waved a little to the three Genin. "Well, this Yoshi Kozu. Yoshi, this is Naruto Uzumaki, Sakura Haruno, and Sasuke Uchiha." Each nodded to her as their name was declared. "And Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke, this is Yoshi, your new teammate. Now that we have the introductions done, let's –"
"Wait! What!? Hold on a sec! New teammate? I'm confused! What's going on, Kakashi!?" This had not been what Naruto was expecting at all: some girl, Yoshi, that he had never seen before in his life as a new teammate. He just stared at her with a dumbfounded look on his face, as did Sasuke and Sakura.
She was pretty with violet eyes, and was rather short, standing at only about 4' 5" with the others between 4' 9" and 4' 11", and had incredibly long purple hair, reaching past her knees, with bangs that almost touched the top of her eyes. Her outfit consisted somewhat unnaturally of the normal wear of clothing. She had a lavender, v-necked tee-shirt that barely reached over the chest area, which was overtop another, much longer, white tee-shirt that reached just before her midriff. Yoshi also had white unattached sleeves, or arm warmers, somewhat like Sasuke's, only tighter on the arms, with a large, lavender stripe on either end of the sleeves. She had a short, lavender school girl-like mini-skirt, and a large white belt around it with a silver oval clip attached to the belt. She also had pant legs similar to the sleeves, unattached to each other, only reaching up to mid-thigh, flaring out at the end, and had the same stripes at either end on the top on bottom. Her shoes were Converse, unsurprisingly purple with white. She wore her headband, whose symbol was a simple circle with a dot in the middle, on her head like Sakura, and a heart-shaped necklace embedded with diamonds. To top it all off, she had a tie hanging especially loosely around her neck, which was horizontally striped the colors of the rainbow.
"Well, yes, you see, she and her brother have come from Kenkongakure, the Cosmos Village, from the Land of Sky; they'll be staying here for a while until a conflict back in the Land is settled.
"Oh, okay; well, hi, Yoshi!" Naruto's reaction quickly changed from utter shock to enthusiasm as he shook Yoshi's hand rather aggressively.
Laughing a bit, Yoshi replied, "Hi, Naruto!"
Sasuke nodded once again at her and quietly said without much interest if any, "Hello."
"Hey," escaping from Naruto's grasp as she answered Sasuke.
"Hi, Yoshi, it's nice to meet you!" Sakura greeted her.
"Hi, same here, Sakura," Yoshi said, her smile widening.
"So, Kakashi, does that mean we get a free day or something? You know, because we have a new member?" Naruto asked hopefully.
"Nice try, Naruto, but no, you've got to deliver more packages today and find Lady Akiko's missing cat."
"A missing cat? What kind of mission is that!? More baby stuff! We had to do that before for some old lady's only friend!" Naruto complained.
"Naruto! Don't say that! That's so rude!" Sakura growled as she hit him on the head. "Yoshi, I hope you ignore this idiot here; he's almost always this ignorant and impolite."
"Hey! That's not true! And who are you calling rude, anyways," he said aside.
Turning around with one eye twitching slightly, Sakura responded through gritted teeth, "What did you say?"
"Uh, nothing…" He looked down to the ground quietly.
Yoshi, being new to all of this and finding it amusing, just gave a slight giggle, while Sasuke rolled his eyes, having lived through this everyday found it only annoying.
After delivering the goods from one store to another, Naruto carrying one load too many and dropping them all over the street, all of them having to pick them up, they were out around the village looking everywhere for the missing cat.
Earlier on before they had set out, Kakashi had told them, "Alright, it's a short-haired orange cat with white paws and a white-tipped tail."
"Right, orange cat, white paws," Naruto repeated to himself as he turned the town upside down, also checking unnecessary areas such as girls' locker rooms, which in turn gave him a few bumps and bruises. "Alright, not in there…" he said as he rubbed his cheek as he exited.
The others had just as bad luck as Naruto, or almost, by the time they had regrouped. They decided to check near the edge of the village and into the woods near the neighborhood of the Lord and Lady's mansion. It seemed like forever they were in the woods until they finally came across a fuzzy creature up on a branch of a tree. Although it was somewhat difficult to see, the meowing gave it away.
"Great, it had to be on one of the highest branches of the trees," moaned Naruto. "But I'll get it!" And up the tree he went. He had apparently gotten the cat, but it didn't seem to want to be caught. More meowing and hissing was heard, then came Naruto falling out of the tree and into the ground. "Got it…" he called from within the hole he made from landing. The cat jumped out of the hole hissing and Yoshi caught it before it could escape.
"Wow, Naruto, what did you do to it?" Yoshi laughed.
"Me? Nothing! That cat is just evil!" He jumped up and stood pointing angrily at the orange cat purring in her arms.
"Oh, Naruto, you're just pathetic," retorted Sakura, petting the cat, also.
Sasuke just wanted to return it to get it all over with and go home, so he stood there apathetically.
"Well, let's head back now, before Lady Akiko gets any more upset," suggested Kakashi. Once they returned the cat, it was nearly 4 in the afternoon, and their missions were complete. "Well, why don't I take you all out to eat?"
"What, really?" Naruto's eyes widened.
"Yes, you all deserved it, and let's just say it's to welcome Yoshi to the team."
"Awesome! Let's get some ramen!" And Naruto led the way.
"Ugh, why always ramen? Do you never eat anything else?" Sakura started bickering with him.
After ordering and getting their meals, they started eating, and Sakura, sitting beside Yoshi, decided to strike up a conversation. "So, why did you come to Konoha?"
"Well, back home, it wasn't very safe anymore… This group formed a while ago and started trouble. Now an entire rebellion has erupted from it, so my parents sent my brother, Kyou, and me to stay here for a while."
"Yes, although Kenkon is a more recluse village, along with the Land of Sky itself, the Leaf Village is allies with them," cut in Kakashi.
"Oh, that's too bad, I'm sorry," Sakura said sympathetically.
"Thanks, but it's alright," Yoshi replied simply.
"So, which side are you on? The rebellion's or the leader's?" asked Naruto while spitting out noodles, his mouth full of ramen.
"The Sorakage's, of course!" defended Yoshi loyally.
"Sora…kage?" questioned an oblivious Naruto.
Kakashi answered knowledgably, "Sorakage, the leader of Kenkongakure. Although the Sorakage isn't recognized as one of the five Kage, he is still said to be just as strong. It's only the village stays more to itself and its land, as I had said earlier. They respect other villages; just choose not to intrude upon them. They're a good village, and if ever they needed help with the rebellion, I'm sure the Hokage would be more than happy to help." Kakashi smiled at Yoshi comfortingly. Naruto and Sakura were listening intently, while Yoshi just continued to eat, and Sasuke didn't seem to care in the least, whether he was listening or not.
As they were finishing their meals, and boy that looked around 17 walked up. "Yoshi?" he asked from behind them.
Yoshi turned around and exclaimed, "Kyou!" Then she jumped off her seat and went to him. "What are you doing here?"
"I was getting some groceries, and I thought I had spotted you." Yes, indeed he was at the market, for he had several brown bags.
"Oh, yeah, well, anyways, Kyou, this is my team now, Sakura, Naruto, Sasuke, and Kakashi Sensei. And guys, this is my big brother, Kyou Kozu." They all greeted each other, and Kyou asked if Yoshi was ready to go home. "Yeah, I'm ready. Well, I'll see you guys later, then! Thank you for the meal, Kakashi Sensei!" With a smile and a wave goodbye, Yoshi and her brother were headed home.
Author's Note: Well, that introduction/first chapter was long and drawn out. Sorry about that, but explaining everything first off always takes me a while, lol.
And sure, the name of the new village is sort of out there, I know, but since I came up with the Land of Sky, I wanted something 'sky-like' or 'spacey' so it would relate, and I liked the word 'kenkon'. But really, it took a lot of time to make the decisions on the names, lol.
Wow, so, that description of Yoshi, sorry it was so wordy, but I wanted to give a clear description of what she looked like. However, I think since I was longwinded about it, it got a little confusing. If so, I apologize, and if you care at all for a better description, you can just ask me. I know, it's lazy not to clear it up in the story, but there isn't really a way without taking more time to do so, and I thought what I had was too much as it were, lol. It was also probably wrong to insert a name-brand shoe there, but I didn't know if there was a general name for those types of shoes, and I wanted to use them. But I think they could have something like them in their world if they also have other modern day articles like trucks and microwaves…so, yeah.
Well, sorry if the story's crappy, but if anyone reads it and has any opinions, feel free to review or whatever! Thanks!