disclaimer: none of this is mine (again).
Semi-drabble fic, may be extended to several chapters, depending on what else might be added to this fic.
The crossover will be in a very limited capacity (limited only to Naruto learning from one of the Endless Frontier characters). Otherwise, this is a straight Narutoverse fic.
Oh yeah, just to keep things nice and balanced, Naruto won't learn Kage Bunshin.
So here's Chapter One.
Mugen no Naruto: EXCEED
Chapter One: Two Princesses
"For the last time, this is the same spot!"
"Come on, please! One more go around, we might be able to find it!"
Two young women were having a discussion-slash-argument in the forests near the Village Hidden in the Leaves - besides their voices, not much else was known about them because they had totally hidden their appearances under heavy, hooded cloaks, obscuring even their faces.
Their voices, however, were easy to make out: one woman's voice carried the overtones of your run-of-the-mill civilian girl - the other had a haughty presence to it.
They went for another walk through the forest trails - talking and arguing the whole way through - until night finally fell.
Still nothing.
"Once... more... we might... get... lucky..." the younger one said, panting in fatigue, exasperation and frustration. Several days of searching had gotten them nowhere.
And we don't need to know about that time where they turned this scythe-wielding madman into swiss cheese slices after they had had enough of his ranting about some Devil God or whatever.
"Oh, be quiet. If I knew that helping you out through this leg of your pilgrimage would be this tedious and annoying, I would have said no."
"Come on... please don't be like that. Besides, Dad said that he finished his pilgrimage at some sort of place called Kono-something-or-other... since we can't find it here, we'll probably have more luck looking for clues in town."
"It's Konohagakure," the other girl corrected, "and since we've combed the forests for several days now and nothing... let's go to town, you ditch your cloak, and then ask your questions."
"Sigh... I guess you're right. Of all the luck... maybe Cowboy-san's bad luck with the ladies is rubbing off on me..."
That's probably not the only thing he's rubbing off on you, the other girl thought. She even wore that damned dress for the trip here! Well, it does make a wonderful tool to get information from. "That's possible," the smaller of the two girls said.
"Look, let's go over to that town, ask for directions, and then we can finish your pilgrimage here," she added, pointing towards a light in the distance that indicated a fairly large village, town, or city. "Deal?"
"Okay... deal."
October 10.
Once again, like clockwork, the child was being pursued by the usual: drunken revelers made to perceive a distorted version of the truth, deciding to take justice into their own hands.
Unfortunately, today was not that day, as the boy they had deemed to be the demon taking human form had taken cover behind two cloaked strangers.
He saw the flash of blue eyes in the bigger figure, and was that recognition at his face he saw? He tried to escape the newest twist to this day's developments, but found that he was being held in place by a figure cloaked in shadow.
"This is supposed to be a festival," the smaller cloaked figure said. "Let me guess: it's your annual 'Beat-a-Child Festival'!"
"Shut up, lady! You don't know anything about that demon child!"
"Demon child, eh?" she replied. I guess we've found the reason for this long and annoying trip. Time to work out my frustrations. "If there's a demon here, then you're looking at one."
The smaller figure pulled down her hood, revealing the face of a decidedly strange woman: light cornflower-blue hair, yellow catlike eyes, pointy ears and a horn in the middle of her forehead.
"M-m-m-monster!" a man yelled at her appearance.
"The correct term is... 'oni'..." the girl replied, producing a fan. "And for getting it wrong, I think I shall make the whole lot of you... dance."
"Arrogant oni monster!" another yelled.
"Bad idea," the blue-eyed figure said. "Now you've made her mad."
The 'oni' snapped her fan open, and the figure in the shadows appeared, having given the child to the blue-eyed one.
"Now... dance for me."
There were flashes of light and explosions.
The ANBU known as "Dog" saw the commotion from the tops of the buildings, deciding to call for reinforcements and set up a trap just in case these strange people who decided to do ANBU's job for them had other things in mind.
Fortunately, that was not the case, for as soon as the sounds of firecrackers started filling the alley, the would-be assailants ran out, clutching the soles of their feet whenever they could.
"Fucking psycho!"
"What the hell was that thing?"
"Agh, I got hit in the foot!"
"That's what you get for being so fucking slow!"
"Dog" chuckled under his mask as he decided to make his grand entrance.
"Identify yourselves, please," the ANBU said as he appeared in a swirl of leaves before the child and the two figures - wait, weren't there three figures before?
"It looks like your little show got the cops here," the blue-eyed cloaked woman said. "We've found what we came for here anyway, right?"
"Right," the smaller woman said, with the source of those strange noises somehow disappearing. "Oh... uh... police? Shouldn't you be going after those people? I guess today really is the 'Beat-a-Child-Festival' here..."
"Today actually isn't Konoha's 'Beat-a-Child Festival', and my colleagues are apprehending those men as we speak... but my detail is primarily keeping the boy safe."
"Bodyguards, huh? Shouldn't you have one of yours in close?" the cloaked woman asked.
"Sadly, we can't spare that much, and one more thing: let the boy go."
"I took several weeks walking through God-forsaken forests helping little miss Bouncy here," the smaller woman said exasperatedly, pointing to her companion, "finish her pilgrimage, and run into all sorts of... annoyances... like bandits, bastards with black coats, scythe-wielding freaks, missing-nin, and chakra monsters on our merry little way. Now that we've found what we came here for, we're not just going to give up. You might as well have to arrest us."
"Arrest? What are you on?" the cloaked woman whispered to her companion.
"Didn't your father say he knew a 'Hokage' person?" the oni woman whispered back, making the eyes of her cloaked companion light up in recognition. "If we go with them, we'll get to see that friend of your father's."
The cloaked woman nodded before turning back to the dog-masked ANBU. "All right, but we want to meet with your Hokage."
The ANBU shrugged. "Very well, I'll have a team escort you."
"Not a problem," both women answered, likewise shrugging.
The boy who had clung onto the cloaked woman's leg had now fallen asleep and was now being carried.
Weird. Just weird, the ANBU thought, signaling to his team to back him up in escorting this motley crew to the Hokage Tower.
"What brings you here on this day, Inu?" Sarutobi Hiruzen - the Sandaime Hokage - asked as one of his ANBU had been given audience with the Hokage about another one of these annual incidents.
"Another attack, Hokage-sama," the ANBU answered.
"This totally wasn't what my predecessor had in mind," the Hokage grunted.
"My sensei would have reacted," the ANBU replied. "Anyway, two strangers saved the kid, we stepped in before anything else happened, and they asked for a meeting with you before handing Naruto over to me - kid's back in his apartment."
"Hmm," the Sandaime said, sparing a moment off paperwork for thought. "Send them in, if you please."
As soon as the two women went into the Hokage's office, the blue-eyed woman took down the hood, revealing long red-black hair framing a strikingly beautiful face.
"Good evening, Hokage-sama. My father Nanbu Sanuki sends his regards."
The Hokage did a picture-perfect double-take at this. "Sanuki Nanbu? But... the last time we met was when he went on his pilgrimage several decades ago..."
"Yes, and he told me all about meeting you, sir. I am his daughter Kaguya. And this is Suzuka-hime of the Shiki-Oni."
"Pleased to meet you, Hokage-sama," Suzuka-hime said.
"The honor is mine, I'm sure. And the air-conditioning seals were just discharged shortly before your arrival. It's going to get stifling here in a short while."
"Phew, thanks, Hokage-sama..." Kaguya said. "This cloak had been getting rather stuffy for some time now," she added, ditching the cloak and revealing her outfit: a white mini dress with black trim that was several sizes too tight and revealed way too much: white slide-on sleeves and white thigh-high stockings and boots rounded out her ensemble.
"Dog" was at his master's side immediately, handing him a red handkerchief. "Hokage-sama," he said, getting an appreciative nod in return as the old man tactfully put the red cloth to his nose. Seriously, those things were as large - no, scratch that - they were DEFINITELY larger than that of the famed Sannin's.
In between applying pressure to his nose, the Sandaime was grateful to the entire pantheon of gods that his other student Jiraiya was away on his usual cloak-and-dagger business - the Toad Sage would have died of blood loss via nasal hemorrhage in several seconds flat.
"Suzuka, better ditch your coat too, it's gonna turn into a furnace in here," Kaguya told her companion, stretching herself out and causing her already-strained outfit nearly cause a wardrobe malfunction, making the faces of the two men in the room redden a bit as they turned away from the sight.
"Fine," the oni replied as she had a mechanical construct raise the cloak off her.
Now it was the ANBU's turn to procure a red handkerchief of his own and stuff it through the mask, as the oni girl showed off her lithe physique in a blue dress that covered everything but the important details.
The bells attached to her twin-tail sideburns jingled and jangled every time she made a sudden movement - what was miles worse was that the cut of her dress accentuated her hips, which swayed this way and that as she tapped her feet in waiting.
Out of the corner of her eye, she could sense the ANBU's eyes moving in perfect synchronization to the swing of her hips, almost like a metronome.
"Keep it up if you're in the mood for some dancing," Suzuka-hime whispered, fan at the ready, causing the ANBU to shift his eyes towards the smaller woman's horn.
Meanwhile, Kaguya had finished telling her story, and the reason why she went all the way from her home to Konoha.
"So your father picked up a Hoshi no Tama from the Kyuubi no Kitsune, and that's one of your final tasks in this pilgrimage of yours?" the Hokage asked, his composure kept as he maintained his gaze at the bridge of this young woman's nose.
If his gaze strayed elsewhere, the Sandaime Hokage would have to be sent to the hospital for a blood transfusion - he was already beginning to feel light-headed just for letting his eyes catch a glimpse of the very well-shaped physique of Nanbu Sanuki's daughter; and her outfit that left little to the imagination worsened it.
"Yes, Hokage-sama. That boy..."
"You are correct."
"I will use the fuin developed by my family to receive the gift from the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox, Hokage-sama... but... uh... you don't look too well to oversee it. Maybe another day?"
"Yes... another day sounds good," the Hokage managed to say.
"Thank you, Hokage-sama."
"You're very welcome, Princess Kaguya."
"Now if you don't mind, Suzuka and I have some lodging for the night to find."
"Go right ahead, but I have to say that finding a place will be difficult because of today's festival. Also... do put your cloaks back on before leaving the Tower. I, uh..." the Hokage said, "it wouldn't do a Hokage's reputation any good if..."
Nanbu Kaguya gave him a tilted-head look in confusion until her companion jabbed her in the side with a wayward elbow. "Just do as the Hokage says," the oni girl said, her coat having been put back on by that weird construct that seemed to appear and disappear at the beck and call of her fans. Some sort of puppetry jutsu, perhaps? both Hokage and ANBU thought.
It need not be noted that it was a very good thing that both women had their cloaks on when they bowed to the Hokage before leaving.
Right after the two women left, the Hokage slumped over on his chair, the blood loss taking effect.
"Blood pills, Kakashi. Quickly. And get a team of ANBU to call Jiriaya back here, he'll need to oversee the Princess' end of the pilgrimage."
"Yes, Hokage-sama," "Dog" said, handing the Hokage two blood pills and taking two himself - those swaying hips were more formidable than an A-Rank genjutsu, Sharingan be damned.
"What do you think?" the Hokage asked after several minutes had passed and the blood pills took effect. "This will be interesting."
"Indeed, Hokage-sama... things will be very interesting." And we'll be seeing one or maybe two new characters in the sequel - if our author friend won't keel over upon seeing them.
Chapter One - END