The Burning Leaves
Disclamer: I do not own Naruto or any material related to the story of Naruto. Masashi Kishimoto/SHUSISHA Inc., Takashi Yano, and Masatoshi Kusakabe along with probably a couple others own the rights and produced the official material. Be sure to support them for their excellent work!
Fanfic Created, Revised, and Edited by:
AJD
The following fanfiction was produced in 2009. It was a prediction of the future, but now that the series has ended, this story takes place in a very similar, yet alternate universe. Due to its nature, OCs will be used as a primary focus. However, all canon characters are matched with other canon characters and the majority of OCs are the products of those pairings. This is my first fan fic, so feel free to rip it apart!
*Important note: You'll often see the characters thoughts in this story. If you see italics like this, that indicates a character's thoughts, unless it's inside "Double quotations." In extremely rare cases, you may also see 'italics' to distinguish a different thought coming from the same character. Again, very rare.*
(Chapter 1-Discovered In the Leaves)
She resorted to sprinting now; with every step the tranquil spring day was pierced. Her heart raced as her eyes vigorously scanned for him. With every barrage of leaves that slapped her face, her mind tried harder to tune them out to maintain her stride. Tired, her legs begged for a moments rest. With a swift check to the rear, she had all but ensured her escape.
As her gaze drifted forward, a sharp poke greeted the center of her forehead. Seemingly rehearsed, the taller figure powerfully exclaimed, "Too slow, Yuuki!" This sent her down, overwhelmed by the scare of it all. She immediately threw on a frown as their eyes met, already rubbing the agitated area with her hand.
"No fair Takeshi, you cheated!" Yuuki made the claim out of pure habit.
His serious demeanor broke into laughter. "Is it even possible to cheat in a game of tag? Look, you've gotten much faster, but you can't just overcome my speed on a whim." He extended his hand to help her up. "Or would you rather I go easy on you because you're a girl and your father is-"
"Takeshi!" Cutting him off, her cheeks were now flushed in embarrassment. She made damn sure he was listening. "Would you rather I just give up because you're a 'so called' genius?" She took his hand now. "Every step forward you take, I'll be right behind you!"
He chuckled in amusement as he pulled her up. "Guess that explains why you lose every game of tag." She shot him an angry look. "Oh, don't give me that. You're supposed to stay one step ahead of your rival, remember?" Here it comes, the inevitable outburst of rage that always follows such simple taunts. Over time, Takeshi had developed a skill for tuning it out. It's not like he didn't ask for them: To be honest, he kind of enjoyed teasing her. As she unloaded on him harder than usual, Takeshi decided to turn his back to her.
A gentle breeze swept the trees into a subtle sway as the sun peaked through the leaves. It's such a perfect day. The wilderness seemed to dance to the soothing song of the birds. That leaves just one disturbance in the entire forest. The longer she vented, soon the entire forest stared at them, seemingly appalled by the scolding. He let out an elongated sigh. She's still going? Man, one minute she's exhausted, the next, it's like she's wired for the rest of the night. She's getting way too worked up over graduation. Takeshi held in a chuckle. That's just like her though. Despite her ignorant persona, she's got way more book smarts than me. Not to mention, we've been training for weeks now. I've never seen her so motivated before. She's made leaps and bounds already. Can't she just enjoy the setting?
He attempted to listen in on what she was saying."…And don't even get me started on how much of an arrogant ass you are sometimes..." not yet. He ran his hand through his short, black hair as he looked up. Actually, these weeks have been nice now that I think about it. The forest is always so calm. But…I have such a strange feeling today. Why does something feel wrong? Takeshi scanned around him sure something had been watching them. His quick assessment showed he was likely just paranoid. He took a minute to shake his thoughts off. I'm getting tired, that's all. There's no way I can keep going. But I can't show weakness, not after all that. "So keep laughing it up, you bastard!" …Her parents would kill her if they heard half of what comes out of that mouth. I hope she's worn herself out by now.
"Yuuki, we should call it a night. Your dad would be furious if he caught you out here again, suggesting he doesn't already know." He turned to her and gave a half-hearted smile.
"Did you even hear a word I said?" He began nervously laughing, rubbing the back of his head. She lifted her hand to her face, tensing up before giving out a relaxed sigh. "If you think you're off the hook, you're wrong." She looked him over. His hands were now tucked into his loose fitting shorts. He wore the same old black, short-sleeved hoodie with subtle traces of red here and there. His black hair held the same subtle spike to it, but was barely two inches in bulk. What was odd was the lack of focus he showed. Was something bothering him? "What's the rush? We have a good 2 hours before the sun sets."
Takeshi unsheathed his hands and crossed his arms. "Come on, we have six days to work out the rest of our kinks. You're going to be worn out for the exam if you push yourself too hard."
She put her hands on her hips now. "Well, I guess I could use some food, but me? Wear down?" She let out a conceited laugh. "That's cleaver, Takeshi. What you meant to say is you can't keep up another round. You should know me better than that after all these years."
He broke eye contact a little and put on a tough guy face. "As if..." That was a sure fire way of confirming it.
He started walking; she fell in close behind him. The temperature was just right and their walk felt so leisurely. "So peaceful today." Takeshi gave a nod of agreement, seemingly dazed by its beauty. "Do think it'll always be so calm here?"
He returned his hands to his pockets, ducking a branch. "I sincerely hope so. Regardless, I want to make this setting last as long as possible. That's why we're training so hard, isn't it?" He truly wished it to be the perfect day, but in the last few minutes, something was getting under his skin. Why? Am I losing my cool? Is this hidden threat just my imagination at work?
Yuuki observed him, and then let out a sigh. "You're always so dutiful. It makes you too tense. We're not even genin yet, so try to live for the moment, alright?"
He looked back to her for a moment with a convincing smile. She had a unique choice in ninja attire, for lack of a better word. She donned a sleeveless kimono dress, the top showing a strong orange and black combo, the bottom continuing to a more vibrant orange. Very lively, but it's a little…noticeable. Besides, her hair was shoulder length and lavender in shade. Try not picking her out of a crowd! He gathered his thoughts back on track. No, she definitely would have said if she thought something was wrong by now. They continued their casual pace, but it wasn't long before Takeshi senses became irate. It was to the point where he could no longer ignore it. Takeshi stopped dead in his tracks. There! Something or someone is definitely here! He grabbed Yuuki's right arm and pulled out a kunai knife. "Don't stop, don't look back. Just run, Yuuki."
She was startled. "Hey, what's this all the sudden?" She noted the serious, rushed nature of his command as he frantically searched their surroundings. The wind came to an abrupt stop. A very eerie silence consumed them. There they froze; Only their pounding heartbeats remained. As his grip began to tighten on his kunai, a slight panic came over Yuuki. She now pushed his hand off and grabbed his left arm. "Hey, this isn't funny Takeshi. Let's just-!"
A concise thrust ended her words. She only saw the blur of a kunai knife zip through where her head would have just stood. Takeshi's eyes shot to the weapons origins, but before he could even think, he realized it. His heart sank in despair, hearing the hiss of an explosive tag. He yelled for Yuuki, but she was still overcome with shock. "Yuuki, run!"
As if by some twisted cue, the blast sent them both flying back. Takeshi managed to catch some ground after smashing into a couple branches. His blinded eyes still attempted to fixate on Yuuki, despite the heavy smoke and chunks of earth pummeling his body. Yuuki had violently slammed into the base of a thick tree. The impact she made demanded an expression of pure agony. Takeshi tried to get up, but he was in bad shape himself: His vision sluggishly returned to him as the pain forced an examination. His left arm was definitely dislocated, heavily burnt, and the rest of him had been torn by lacerations. The pain scalded his mind, but he pushed through and looked back to Yuuki.
A Figure already towered over her, blade unsheathed. The strong ringing in his ear began to fade away. Takeshi scrambled to a desperate run, but it was as if time had halted completely. The man finally spoke and the muffled words struck Takeshi's ears. "The precious leaves of Konoha shall burn! Hell's Phoenix has risen!"
Takeshi, numbed by fear, watched as the blade took a violent slash with no hesitation, cutting cleanly through Yuuki's throat. Blood showered the man as Takeshi's sanity shattered. Only one word erupted out of this broken boy. "Yuuki!"