Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto Dammit, get that through your thick skulls!
"Speaking"
"Radio"
'Thoughts'
Flashbacks/Dreams
"Bijuu/Summon Speaking"
'Bijuu/Summon Thinking'
"Bijuu link talking"
Chapter One: The Stranger
Naru Uzumaki sighed as she flopped face first onto her bed in her small one bedroom apartment, she was by all accounts beautiful with her mother's red hair that was short and spiky just like her father's, she had also inherited her father's cerulean blue eyes, but over the years of assimilating the Chakra of the Kyuubi no Kitsune that was sealed within her they were slowly becoming more violet. She had three whisker marks on each of her cheeks that gave her a slightly feral look, she was currently wearing the ANBU attire associated with the village elite of Konohagakure with some modifications, her chest armor and armguards were a dark almost rust red and instead of the usual ninjato she used a full length katana that she had inherited from her mother, the Akashio(1).
'Sometimes,' she thought to herself 'I hate this village.' She had just returned from a mission to retrieve the last 'loyal' Uchiha, although in reality he was far from loyal. The bastard nearly killed herself and her team when they had finally caught up to him and the fucktards on the civilian council had the gall to blame her for the injuries her teammates sustained. 'Why do I put up with this?' She asked herself bitterly even if she already knew the answer, her precious people, Iruka-sensei, she couldn't stop calling him that even if she did outrank him now, Kakashi-sensei, yes it was a rough start with him focusing only on Sasuke and not the entire team but in Naru's eyes he had redeemed himself, Sakura, one of her closest friends and her teammate, the rest of the 'Konoha Eleven' as they were called, Ayame and Teuchi Ichiraku at the ramen stand, Tsunade, the closest thing to family she had. But the problem was that while she cared about them and them her, there was no one for her to love. Sure she loved them in a sibling or parental manner, but not the person who would greet her when she came home with a smile and open arms and would listen to her problems and stand by her when she needed them the most.
It had been two years ago when she had turned Sixteen that she was finally promoted to Chunin, even though she had earned the respect and admiration of the shinobi, the villagers and civilian council still looked upon her in scorn for what she contained, a year after that she was promoted to Jonin and was offered a place in ANBU, a chance she jumped at with a vigor, she served under Yamato-taicho alongside Sai and a women named Yugao, the four had bonded quickly and where a destructive and feared squad on the battlefield earning recognition from the other nations. Naru had trained her ass off during her three year training trip with Jiraiya so that she wouldn't have to rely on the Kyuubi's chakra, even though the two had a grudging respect for each other and the Kyuubi would help here when it was needed she didn't want to rely on its chakra as it would hamper her personal growth in the long run. Today she was an accomplished Sealing expert, close to getting her mastery title, and a world renown ninjutsu expert having created several personal fuuton and suiton jutsus and manipulation training techniques.
She knew who her parents where, the whole village did in fact as Tsunade had announced it when she had reached jonin rank, that did little to alleviate the villagers hatred for her, in fact some hated her more claiming that she wasn't worthy of being Minato's daughter saying that she was the demon.
"I need a vacation." She muttered out loud into her pillow "I need to get away even just for a while."
"Then you'll probably like your next mission." A voice commented in amusement.
Jerking up Naru nearly threw her kunai out of reflex only to stop when she saw her sensei.
"Kakashi-sensei?" She asked in confusion "What mission?"
Kakashi shrugged "You'll have to ask Tsunade-sama that." He explained turning another page of his Icha Icha book.
Seeing the book brought a sharp pain to Naru's heart, the author was Jiraiya of the Sannin, Naru's godfather and the closest thing she had to a father "Alright, just give me a sec to get changed 'kay?" she said shooing him out of the room.
Hokage's office
Tsunade looked at the quartet of Shinobi that have assembled in her office, Naru, Kakashi, Sakura and Sai, "I'll be blunt with you," she admitted "I do not like doling out this mission but as you know our village is desperate for funds and this is a high paying mission from the Technology Countries(2) Osean Federation's Capital City of Jaine."
"Technology Countries?" Sakura asked in surprise "Where is that?"
"Beyond our borders across the sea," Kakashi explained his book missing "They are extremely advanced in technology integrating it into their weapons, transportations everything pretty much, however they do not know how to use chakra, there are some secluded and isolated groups that know how to use it but are rarely seen."
Tsunade nodded in agreement to his explanation "The mission comes from a gang boss," she continued dropping the bomb making all four shinobi stiffen "They want our help in capturing an individual that has been disrupting his drug running operations and has assassinated several high ranking cartel officers, including the clients son."
"Do we really have to do this Ba-chan?" Naru asked sadly.
Tsunade nodded grimly "Unfortunately yes," she said "Konoha needs the funds to rebuild, and you're the only people I would trust with this job."
The four nodded grimly "Understood Hokage-sama." Kakashi replied for all four as they saluted "Alright team meet me at the main gates in an hour, prepare for a long term S-ranked mission."
The three nodded and vanished in a swirl of leaves.
Tech Countries Outskirts of Osean Federations Capital City, Jaine
A limo rolled up to an apparently abandoned warehouse deep in a forest and a pair of guards rushed to the passenger door and opened it to allow a slightly stocky black haired beady eyed man wearing a black business suit to step out, he looked around nervously "We weren't followed?" he asked.
"No sir, you were the only one to come up the road." The guard answered quickly moving aside "The packages are stored this way."
The business-like man nodded and moved to follow only for the side of his head to explode in a gory mess surprising the two guards before they quickly fell as well.
500 yards away sitting in a tree a man dressed in black combat gear with black face paint with eyes that were completely black lowered his SEAL Recon Rifle slightly and grinned revealing a black mouth guard before he slipped down from the tree and disappeared into the darkness.
Outskirts of Jaine, One week Later
Naru groaned as she stepped off of the plane that their client had sent to pick them up, she was now wearing her regular jonin outfit which consisted of a skin tight black t-shirt covered by a regular jonins vest and a pair of loose shinobi pants and black sandals "God that was boring." She muttered as she stepped down from the plane and surveyed the area, they had set down in a privately owned airbase set in the middle of a forest near Jaine.
Kakashi chuckled as he stepped out behind her followed by Sakura and Sai "It's been awhile since I was here," he mused looking around "Certainly was faster than going by boat."
Naru snorted as she eyed a black limo that was rolling up to meet them, Kakashi had made them all study the technology of this country on their way here so that they wouldn't be surprised, Naru was slightly impressed with the technology and how they overcome not having any chakra, Kakashi had also informed them of this countries equivalent of ANBU, the SEALs(Navy, Sea And Land), they were highly trained soldiers that were trained in all aspects of combat and assassination, he had worked with a group once during one of the countries many Secret Wars and could honestly say he was impressed by their skill.
When the Limo reached even with them one of the passengers in the front stepped out and opened the rear door to allow a trio to step out, the first was a female standing a Naru's 5'9" and had a dancers build and grace with red hair and black highlights that was tied up into a bun with only a single bane going down the right side of her face who cradled a rifle, a Dragunov SVD if Naru remembered correctly, in her hands and had a pistol on her right hip with a wakazashi on her lower back tied there with a black cord, she was wearing a skintight black tank top under a black tactical vest, black skintight pants with combat boots and black fingerless gloves finishing off her look, her grey eyes flitted about looking for any threats, the next was a male that was slightly taller than Naru, coming up to Kakashi's 6'1" with a slightly muscular tone and carried a rifle, a British FN FAL Naru believed, along with two pistols his hips along with a combat knife on his left shoulder, he wore Cameo Pants with a short sleeve shirt without its buttons done up with a brown long sleeved shirt underneath, overtop he had a Combat Vest with pouches that most likely held his ammunition, tan army boots and finally a cap over his black neck length hair, his green eyes glinted as he looked the shinobi and nodded to the last passenger. The final passenger looked to be in his late 30's with Coal black hair and sharp blue eyes, he was about 5'7" with tanned skin and a trim build, he was currently wearing a Dark Blue business suit with a white undershirt without a tie, Naru instantly did not like this man, especially the way that he was eyeing herself and Sakura, like they were slabs of meat being auctioned off.
"Ah you must be the shinobi from Konoha," he said his voice sending the chills down Naru's spine "I am your client Reno Markel, sorry to have you sent all the way out here but with this supposed 'Ghost' on the loose I can never be too careful." He smiled in a disarming way that made Naru want to throw up "These are my personal guards Peter Petrenko and his partner Victoria Teiwaz, they will be working with you to aid in the capture of Ghost, they have encountered him numerous times and luckily have survived."
Peter snorted "I personally want to shake that man's hand when we do catch him," He remarked "Damn bastard's more elusive than a fatty at a joggers convention."
Victoria rolled her eyes "I personally want to kick his nuts in." She muttered making the males in the area flinch.
"That's a step up from ripping them off then force feeding them down his throat choking him." Peter replied looking at the women speculatively "What changed your mind?"
Victoria shrugged "He's a freaking damn good sniper," she admitted casually "Never even saw him in the last one."
"How about we take you to where you will be staying?" Reno suggested "You can discuss more on the way."
The shinobi nodded and followed their employer and his bodyguards into the limo and began discussing the hits.
Jaine
A man sighed as he stretched beside his street bike, the man looked to be about twenty with short dirty blond hair and Heterochromatic eyes with the right being light blue and the left being a dark brown, he stood about 5'9" with a lean frame and defined muscles showing under his loose black T-shirt, he was also wearing a pair of loose faded blue jeans and a pair of white and black runners. The man rolled his neck as he look out over the lake that ran through the center of the town "Suppose I should get going." The man muttered before placing his back pack securely on his back and swung his legs over the side of the bike and slipped on a pair of reflective sunglasses before starting his bike up and roared away weaving through the busy traffic with ease as he burned through the familiar streets without passing a glance at the cars he was passing.
Slowing the man pulled up to a secured gate and waited for a uniformed soldier to come out before handing him his identification and removing his shades so the officer could see his eyes "Ah Lieutenant Ranger-" the officer began to salute only for the man to hold up his hand.
"I'm retired remember?" Mike Ranger reminded with a small smirk as he accepted his ID back and rolled through the now open gate and parked his bike in an available spot.
"Ah Mike!" a voice called out catching his attention, turning he saw a uniformed captain with brown hair and green eyes striding towards him "Poker night with the boys already?"
"Yessir Captain Renault." Mike responded saluting out of reflex.
Renault chuckled and waved his salute off "So how are things going as a civvie?" He asked as the pair walked to the officers mess.
Mike sighed deeply "One year and I'm still not used to it sir." He admitted "I just can't get used to it, my teens years were spent fighting for my country, half of those ops are top secret eyes only, it's hard to just leave it."
The captain chuckled good naturedly "Understandable," he remarked "but that is why you do what you do."
Mike smirked at the captain "Are you accusing me of something captain?" he asked teasingly.
"Not unless you have something you want to admit." Renault retorted as he separated from Mike heading to the administration building "Hope you don't send the men home to broke Mike."
Mike chuckled and entered the mess flashing is ID to the door guard "Hey Hurly! A cold one please!" he called out to the barkeeper as he made his way to the poker table.
Hurly waved and tossed Mike a beer that he easily caught "So the legendary Dagger-One decides to finally grace us with his presence," One of the poker plays joked as Mike took a seat and cracked open his beer, Mickey Howard was a 6'9" giant of a man with the muscles to match his frame with dusty brown hair and mirthful blue eyes "Come to rob us of our money again?"
One of the other players snorted, Kyle Flynn and Light blonde haired brown eyed 5'8" man with a scrawny frame that belied his strength "Yeah like we need him to do that Jean here is doing fine all on her own."
Jean was a red head with green eyes and stood at 5'5" and had one solid build "Damn straight," she agreed sticking her tongue out at Kyle "But I need to win my money back from Mike here."
Mike chuckled as he was dealt his cards "Texas Hold'em?" he asked confirming the game and received an affirmative nod "So what's been happening on base?"
Mickey smirked "Seems like 'Ghost' struck again last night," he said as he threw in a dollar for the opening bid "Nailed some slave runner right before the cops showed up to bust the joint."
Mike raised an eyebrow "Really?" he asked as he raised by 50 cents "Is the military intervening?"
"Not yet," Jean answered throwing her cards in folding "But they may soon, this vigilante is really fucking with the system, you'd like him Mike."
Mike snorted as Kyle matched the bet "Well from what I hear from some of my seedier friends," The trio of soldiers snorted at that "Is that the guy manages it at range, 250 yards minimum, only goes in below that when he's hitting underground or something."
"Casings on the scene would match that theory," Kyle remarked as he flipped three of the cards on the table revealing the Queen of Spades, nine of clubs and two of hearts "range he uses the new SEAL Recon Rifle, none are missing from any of the armories, and close up he uses a G36C and a pistol, pretty good with a blade by the looks of it two, uses a combat knife and a short sword according to the wounds."
Mike hummed as he checked his cards and threw another dollar "Infiltration Specialist," he surmised as Mickey and Kyle matched it and Kyle flipped the next card, ace of spades "Specialized in both long and close ranged fighting, maybe SEAL trained."
"That could explain it," Jean mused as Mickey raised five dollars making Kyle fold and Mike match "Those gangbangers are certainly doing their best to catch the bastard, I hear that the Cougar and the Black Widow are in town."
"Really?" Mike questioned in surprise as the last card was flipped, Ace of Clubs.
"Hah, trip Ace." Mickey boasted and reached for the pot only to stop when Mike revealed his hand, Two of Clubs and the Ace of Diamonds.
"Full House," he countered with a smirk taking the pot while Mickey sobbed dramatically "I guess they really fear this 'Ghost' dude, y'know they tried to hire me?"
"Really?" Kyle asked looking at the former SEAL operative "Must be getting desperate than."
Mike snorted "Damn straight," he agreed "When they tried to force the issue I showed them just what I learned in the SEALs, sometimes I'm glad I'm an orphan and my only friends are military officers."
The soldiers chuckled as they got a new round of beers and dealt out the cards.
Jaine, Evening
Naru sighed contently as she walked casually through the busy streets of the Tech Counties capital, she was now wearing a light orange tank top and a pair of light blue shorts while she was touring the city on their own. The shinobi, after some deliberation, decided to wait and observe Ghosts pattern of attack before pulling a plan together to capture him, so for the evening they were free and Naru decided to do some exploring/window shopping. For her stuff like this was nice to do outside of Konoha as people didn't glare at her or refuse her service because of her status as a Jinchuriki.
Her musings however as she noticed a trio of males following her discretely, looking back by one of the windows she noticed their lust filled looks and inwardly scowled, she couldn't do anything to draw much suspicion to herself as the general populous didn't know about the Shinobi or the Elemental Nations. She turned a corner sharply hoping to lose them only for her eyes to widen at the sight of a dead end "Well well what do we have here boys?" a voice asked mockingly, turning she saw the three men from earlier blocking the exit "Looks like a lost little lamb."
The three men chuckled as they closed the distance on Naru, narrowing her eyes she slid into a taijutsu stance and prepared to attack when another voice broke through "You know, she could easily kick your collective asses." A voice warned, squinting past the three men she saw another male getting off of a motorbike and take off his sunglasses revealing blue and brown mismatched eyes "But even if you somehow managed to overpower her you would have to get past me."
"Hey boss, should we take this guy out?" one of the thugs asked looking to the man in the center.
"Of course you nimrod," the leader exclaimed "You two deal with mister hero over there I'll warm our new plaything up."
Naru growled ferally at the man as he approached her and immediately struck out slamming the heel of her hand against his gut causing him to double over in pain before delivering an axe kick to the back of his head sending the would be rapist to la-la land, looking to the entrance she saw the two other thugs were out of the count already as the man looked at her speculatively "Guess you didn't need my help after all," he mused "Ah well I guess my friends are right when they said I have a hero's complex."
Naru smiled slightly at the comment "Thanks all the same for the hand," she thanked holding out her hand, something told her that this was a guy to be trusted "The name's Naru Uzumaki, and well I'm kinda here on vacation."
"Ahh," the stranger replied shaking her hand with a firm grip "I'm Mike Ranger, local do gooder," he joked smiling at her "So you're new in town huh? Have you eaten yet?"
A gurgle from her stomach answered her question making her blush and shake her head "No I was just heading back to the hotel for a bite to eat." She murmured in embarrassment.
"How about I take you out for dinner," Mike offered "I know a place not too far from here that's pretty good."
Naru bit her lip for a second before nodding and followed him to his bike 'Why am I doing this?' she asked herself sliding behind him and wrapping her arms around his midsection blushing as she felt his well defined abs 'I normally don't trust strangers this much.'
"Because your attracted to him," Kyuubi answered in her mind "And I have to say he does seem trust worthy."
Naru sighed but didn't reply to the Kitsune as the Bike leapt forward making Naru yelp and cling tighter to Mikes waist with a blush as he chuckled, the wind whipped through Naru's hair and she found that once she got used to it it was a pretty neat way of travelling watching as they blurred past cars as Mike maneuvered through the city streets with ease. All to soon they stopped in front of a small privately owned restaurant named 'Roadside Grillhouse'.
"C'mon, they serve some pretty good food here." Mike said as they got off the bike and entered the restaurant.
"Mike is that you?" asked a motherly looking figure standing behind the counter "It's so good to see you again, and I see you've brought a lady friend with you."
Naru blushed lightly as Mike chuckled and waved the Matron off as he led her to a table near the window and pulled out a chair for her "Thank you." She mumbled with a blush decorating her cheeks. Mike took a seat as the matron passed them the menus and smiled at Naru with a wink looking through the menu she had to admit for a small restaurant they certainly did have a good selection "Umm, I'll have the Roast Chicken with a side of rice please and a glass of water will be fine for a drink"
The Matron bowed "I'll have a medium rare steak with a baked potato side and water as well," Mike ordered with smiled to the Matron before turning back to Naru "So you're here on vacation?"
Naru nodded in confirmation "Yeah I came here with some friends of mine," she explained "We came here to see the sights and just take a break really."
Mike smiled in understanding and nodded "I understand," he said "Life in the same city or town day after day can get a bit stressful."
"Especially when you're not liked." Naru whispered dejectedly and blushed when she realized when she said it out loud.
Mike smiled reassuringly and patted her hand "It's alright," he said "If you want to talk about it than I'm all ears beautiful and if you don't than consider it forgotten."
"Ah, but I don't want to spoil your evening with a sob story." She protested making Mike chuckle.
"Bah," he waved it off "I don't mind, besides we all need someone to talk to, even if it's a complete stranger you just met."
Naru giggled feeling slightly more relaxed "Well you see I'm from a small village inland," she started "And well my dad died when a natural disaster struck the village the day I was born, the labor was hard on my mom and she died from blood loss due to the fact our hospital was under stocked because of the disaster, many blamed me for the disaster, saying I was the cause of it even though I was just a child," she wiped a tear that was welling up in her eye as Mike squeezed her hand reassuringly "I grew up and orphan and with nearly the entire village hating me it grew hard I was forced to grow up fast, and I never experienced the things a lot people take for granted."
Naru had a downcast look as the food was brought and they started eating "I know how you feel," Mike admitted making Naru look up "I was born in a small town myself and unlike yours my dad died when he tried to mug the wrong person who killed him, and my mom died because of a drug addiction after I was born, I didn't really get a good education because the people believed that I would turn out to be just like my parents, didn't help much that I often got into fights, when I was sixteen a Recruitment Officer came to my school and I saw that as an opportunity for my escape, a fresh start where no one knew me or my parents, living as an orphan gave me an advantage the others didn't," he mused looking out the widow before meeting Naru's eyes "I was more determined to make something of myself then they were, they had a future outside of the military, I didn't, soon my determination paid off and I graduated from the military academy with full honors and two years later I was selected to become a SEAL, unfortunately I had to resign a year afterwards due to an op that had gone bad, I honestly believe that I'm living on borrowed time," he stated "I was shot in the heart yet I still live, for some reason even though I was fully willing the god of death wouldn't accept me."
Naru smiled softly as their eyes met again, this time there was a look of mutual understanding between them as they continued their meal in comfortable silence. After they had finished Mike paid for the meal and had offered Naru a lift back to the hotel which she gladly accepted telling him the name of the hotel. Stopping in front of the hotel he walked her to the front door and passed her a slip of paper "Here's my number if you want to get together again to even just talk," he said as she accepted the page with a slight blush "I enjoyed out evening together Naru, I hope we get another chance sometime."
Naru nodded in agreement and watched him turn to go "Wait," she called out making him pause and turn to look back, blushing furiously she grabbed his shoulders and pulled him in and kissed him straight on the lips surprising him for a second before he started returning the kiss breaking away Naru blushed even heavier "Thank you for the wonderful dinner and listening to me, I really enjoyed out time together." She quickly turned and enter the hotel leaving a slightly stunned Mike behind who shook his head lightly and chucked.
"What a girl." He said to no one in particular and got on his bike and roared off.
Naru and Sakura's room
When Naru entered the room she was sharing she was still in a bit of a daze from her kiss with Mike and slowly sat on her bed still processing the event "Naru?" Sakura called getting Naru's attention "Are you alright? You seem a bit dazed."
"Huh?" Naru replied dumbly before snapping out of her daze "Oh yeah I'm fine just had a very nice encounter."
Sakura grinned at her friend "Alright give me details." She demanded with a smirk that Naru was only too happy to comply with.
Mike's home
Mike sighed happily as he entered his home and threw his keys onto the counter as he flicked on the lights "That was a nicer evening then I expected," he mused "I certainly enjoyed the ending."
Chuckling to himself he made his way through his house preparing for bed settling his eyes on a picture of five people with himself in the center "Hn," he grunted grinned fondly at the picture "You'd guys certainly would get a kick out of me being like this," he remarked speaking to the picture "I hope things turn out well though, who knows, maybe she'll call me again."
END CHAPTER
OoOoOoO
1- Akashio- Red Tide
2- Completely made up, think of North and South America and you have the basic shape of the continent.