Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach or Naruto. Do I really have to do this for every chapter? It gets rather tedious after a while.
Author's Notes: I'm finally bringing back this story. It feels kind of weird now after being away from the NarutoxBleach scene for so long. My reasons for taking down the first iteration was mainly due to the simple fact that the original story was just bad. It originally started as a joke rather than an actual story, and because of those roots that's what it became once I started delving more into the plot aspect of fanfiction. I just wasn't happy with it. Hopefully this time around will be more successful than the last.
P.S: This story will be very different from the original. The core concept will still be the same but don't except the same story with better grammar.
XxX
The world returned in a rainbow of color, confusing and disorientating. His mouth tasted stale. His body suffocating under his cloths' newfound weight. He sat up quickly, only to regret it moments later when a whole new level of sick made its way to his skull. His already swimming eyesight fluttered under flashes of black. A slightly tanned hand clutched on to his spiky blond locks in an attempt to choke down the nausea. It was unsuccessful. But on the bright side (literally) he could at least see with some clarity now, providing some depth to the greens and browns that encompassed his vision.
The boy rose up on shaky legs, his eyes still straining to build a better image for his brain to make sense out of. A quick shake of the head seemed to do the job, revealing the slightly warped patch of forest that he had taken up as his own personal training ground after joining the Ninja Academy. It was mostly just a bunch of trees decorated in makeshift target boards and punching bags but for some one without a clan or a ninja license it was good enough.
"I guess I over did it again," that would explain the soreness in his muscles. He could still feel the tingle in his red stained fist, bruised and broken like the surface of the tree before him. There were no cuts though. There never were… all of his scars tended to heal up in the course of a few hours. A gift that kept his body unblemished while at the same time also making it hard for anyone to take a single story of all the blood, sweat, and tears he tended to shed in his spare time seriously. He pushed the strain from his mind with a quick stretch. A little discomfort was nothing for a guy like him. He'd felt worse. And at least this time he could still walk. There was still light out too. Meaning it'd be easier for him to see the likeness of his archrival that he'd pinned to made beating up vegetation more enjoyable.
A strained scowl etched across his whiskered cheeks. "Stupid Sasuke…" Even when made of straw and duck feathers the sight of the bastard was still able to fester his blood to a boil. It was like those soulless black buttons that he'd used for eyes were mocking him, prodding him with the same blankness that the original sported. The prick would always stare down at him from atop that pedestal that the village had built for him, as if goading the blond into another attempt at knocking him down from his perch, fully aware that any angle taken would only lead to failure. Always more mysterious, always more handsome, always more skilled then he could ever hope to be on his best day. That was Uchiha Sasuke in a nutshell.
But while the duck headed prick does piss him off; he was able to find such a fate tolerable (at least for now). Let him have all the girls, let him have all the popularity. All that stuff is now; it won't matter when he's bossing him around from behind the desk with the entire ninja population at his beck and call.
For the young blond such a day couldn't come sooner. It was euphoric just thinking about it. Uzumaki Naruto: The Greatest Hokage, a ninja legend! With such an illustrious title to his name there would be no way for anyone to ignore his existence. Even people with sticks up their asses big enough to rival Sasuke's would come groveling back for forgiveness.
Yeah, it was a big dream sure, but no one went anywhere just reaching for what was around them. The journey to the top is long. A person can't just become the strongest ninja in the village over night. He would have to bleed a whole lot more before he'd even be able to even have the right to touch that chair. However, such a thing hardly mattered to him…because even if it takes him a dozen years or a hundred dozen years he is going to be Hokage.
That's a promise.
And with his will bursting with more heat than the very nation he wished to rule Naruto continued his training. His young body carrying on relentless, turning minutes into hours and hours into days before his body would finally collapse once more from sheer exhaustion. However, the lure of turning his delusions into something feasible was something too strong for his body to allow rest to last longer than an hour and he would rise to repeat the cycle again.
Grrruugggghhhh!
…Or that's what would've happened had a particular part of his anatomy decided to keep its presence unknown.
XxX
-Konohagakure: Market Districts-
Uzumaki Naruto bounded threw the throngs of people with a purpose. In times of crisis his gut could be quite a veracious beast, restless and wild, with enough sway over its domain that it held enough influence to strip its host of any logical thought at all.
Naruto glared down at his orange covered navel, " Shut up damn it! I already ended my training early! The least you could do is wait a couple minutes!" He bellowed out. His stomach gurgled out a rebellious response, causing Naruto to smack it with the hopes that physical violence would finally do the trick. Unfortunately for him such acts of lunacy often fail more times than succeed, leading him to fold over at the new addition to his already growing list of pain. His stomach bubbled once more as if mocking its host for his own stupidity. Before he could strike back at...well himself...something caught his eye that made all the annoyances of hunger melt off.
With her long pink hair and red oriental dress she stood out like a beacon to him amongst the hustle and bustle of the Konoha's market district. "She's so great..." Naruto sighed out with a dreamy look on his face. Her name is Haruno Sakura-the smartest person in his class and runner up for the spot of top kunoichi of the year; not to mention prettiest if anyone bothered to ask for his opinion.
The blond did a quick once over of himself, dusting off any dirt and making sure that there were no leftovers in his canines from his previous meal. After a few more moments of grunting in a shops window over his inability to improve his appearance Naruto finally had enough. "...It'll have to do." A sigh left him as he make his way toward his potential love interest. "She'll definitely say yes this time." His movements becoming more eager as the gap between them began to close. A smile split his cheeks as fantasies of all things romantic bounced in his head.
"Sakura-chan!" He called. But she did not turn around. The glee telegraphed in his movements faded slightly at the lack of response, a sinking feeling rising within his stomach. "...Maybe she didn't hear me." He thought out loud. "OI! Sakura-chan!" The whiskered boy reiterated with a little bit more oomph than last time. Still she did not turn around. Not one to take being ignored sitting down, Naruto inhaled deeply, cupping his hands around his mouth to release a cry of "SAKURA-CHAN!" loud enough to make his own eardrums ring at the volume. Any pain was well worth it, as the pinkette perked, finally heeding his calls.
Naruto's grin rejuvenated at the sight of his love turning to meet him, where she would no doubt rush into his arms through a field of tulips, proclaiming her true feelings for him with all her heart. They would go on dates for hours on end talking about how much better he is compared to Sasuke-teme. Then they'd get married and he'd be Hokage and use his awesome Hokage powers to create a never ending pool of ramen.
It was perfect.
...Except instead of turning one hundred and eighty degrees she instead only turned forty-five, just enough to make eye contact with the human representation of Naruto's punching bag strolling out of a store with a bag of groceries in hand. Sakura squealed at the top of her lungs, rushing over to the Uchiha's side and unknowing leaving the blond to sulk in his own proverbial rain cloud.
Naruto face scrunched in contempt as he spied the pinkette gushing over Konoha's very own "Last Uchiha". This wasn't his first time facing rejection by Sakura's hand and it probably wouldn't be the last. The task had actually become so routine over the years that going a day without being shut down simply felt wrong now. It was kind of sad really but he was used to rebounding off of disappointment. He kind of had to considering the way his life is.
No, what bothered him was the fact that he hadn't been hit.
Now normally Naruto would be cheering on the inside over stepping away from Sakura with his consciousness still intact. But this time he just couldn't bring himself to celebrate. It was like she never even knew he there. Granted the pinkette never looked at him but it isn't like sight is the only way to identify a person. The cry of an Uzumaki is rather distinct one and if pushed can even reach levels powerful enough to bypass the seals that protected the Hokage from any noise related distractions. And if he could reach that it's almost certain that he could throw his voice across the street. It was more like she was refusing to acknowledge his presence. And that hurt, much more so than another bump on the head ever could.
"Ugh...all this thinking is starting to make my head hurt." What's going on? He never used to analyze things like he did just now. That was more of Sasuke's gig(and to lesser extent Shikamaru when necessary). "Oh God, I better not be turning into Sasuke." The sheer thought of it made his skin crawl. There's no way he'd be able to take himself sitting down if he started speaking in single syllables. Not only would he be a jackass but then he'd start brooding too, and nothing screamed douche more than the pose one makes while brooding.
Grrruugggghhhh! At that moment hunger finally had decided that it had had enough of the boy's pointless banter. Naruto's thoughtful complexion shifted to one more of vexation at the reminder. What was up with his stomach today? He had gone days without food before and even then it never whined this much. Grrruugggghhhh! The organ sounded as if taking offense to being reminded to the times when it had been forced to endure for its host. Those days before the Hokage found out he'd run away from the orphanage weren't pretty. Naruto's stomach ached once more. "Well maybe if you stopped being such a dick then maybe I'd stop thinking abou-oof!"
When indulging in one's insanity it is often best done while away from the public to curve away the creation of any potentially unsavory interaction. Unfortunately, one Uzumaki Naruto hadn't gotten that memo, causing him to lose sight of his surroundings.
"...Ow," Naruto muttered out he as stared back at the bright Fire Country sun. "What hit me?" Whoever he ran into must be one hell of brute to dent a skull as thick as his. And this was coming from the guy who'd head butted the Hokage Monument after one of his more...malicious...pranks.
The blond got back to his feet rather clumsily, his whiskered face taking a rather peeved expression. Once all the stars had cleared his vision he immediately shifted his contempt toward the shadow towering before him.
"Hey asshole, watch where you're going!" Naruto cried out heatedly, latching on to the figures shoulder (an act which actually forced him to stand on his toes) to get their attention. You can't say that you're properly chewing out a person unless you're peppering their face with the bodily fluids of your rage. Iruka-sensei could attest to that. Yet, just as he was about to lay into the person responsible for the injustice the breath that he'd been saving just up and disappeared, like a thief had stolen it in the night. If he were the investigator on that case the girl standing before him would definitely have to be called in for questioning.
Now "girl" was a rather inappropriate term to refer to the person that had knocked him off his feet. Referring to her as such would imply that parts of her form were still going through stages of development, like someone more along the lines of Sakura or Ino. She, on the other hand, was something completely different. Her body made any girl in the academy look like twigs in comparison, shaped in all the right ways to drive any self-respecting hot blooded male through the roof. He knew this due to the rather bold(and that's taking it lightly) way that she dressed, consisting of little more than a white, high collared half jacket and a matching dress that left nothing to the imagination. Chocolatey skin complemented her voluptuous form along with her spiky blonde hair that bares an elegance that his wild locks simply lack.
Naruto's body locked up under her presence, leaving him vulnerable to the analytical gaze of her deep, green eyes. His heart ran at a mile a minute, the butterflies in his stomach trampled by a herd of stampeding elephants. In all his life (and potentially even in his past life) he had never seen anyone so beautiful...and he just called her an asshole. "Way to leave an impression Uzumaki..."
"...I apologize," she said monotonously, cutting the air with an electricity that sent a chill down his spin. "I wasn't aware that my sight-seeing would impede others." Naruto swallowed as he brought his arm up to scratch his head, "It's okay...I was...uh...the one who was...uh...lost on the road of life." The whiskered boy laughed awkwardly. Man that sounded lame.
Unknown to the pair of blondes at Konoha's Memorial Stone a certain grey hair scarecrow was suddenly overcome by sadness completely unrelated to the mourning of his companions.
"..."
"Sooo you say that you're sightseeing?" Naruto offered, desperate continue the conversation. "Konoha doesn't get many tourist."
"I suppose it doesn't..." The buxom beauty shifted, revealing a purple and silver hilt jutting out of the container on her back he previously assumed was an oddly shaped backpack.
"Oh is that a sword!?" Naruto asked while hoping that this topic would live longer than the last. "Are you some type of ninja?"
The woman seemed overtaken by the sudden raise in her fellow blonde's excitement. "Yes it is...and if by ninja you mean warrior then also yes."
"Cooooool! Can you do awesome jutsu with it like shooting lightning or making stuff blow up with every hit!?" The Uzumaki pronounced excitedly with added explosion noises and visual ques. Any previous hesitation gone to the wind.
She hefted her blade's handle uncomfortably, "I'm not sure if it can do all that...but it can definitely do some amazing things that other swords can't."
"Really?! Can you show me?!"
"Too much collateral damage."
"Awww, come on."
"No."
"Pleeeaasse?"
"No."
"I'll be your best friend." He said with the same sparkling eyes that he'd seen girls use to get what they want.
"Friendship over something so meager is pointless." So basically no.
"Then can I hold it?"
"It is unwise for those untrained to handle blades." So basically no again.
"Can I at least touch it?"
"..." A sense of hope filled him as she actually seemed to be considering the proposition.
XxX
Sometime later Naruto found himself outside his favorite (and only) eating establishment, Ichiraku Ramen. "I can't believe I wasn't even allowed to touch it!" He bellowed out, hoping that the mysterious woman didn't end up leaving while he had his lunch so that he could go and pester her again. Maybe he could feint not knowing her name as an excuse to spend more time with her? Their conversation was enjoyable. Though he couldn't for the life of him understand why. Part of it definitely had to do with the fact that the swordswoman was a fox, plain and simple. Nonetheless he felt that that held little support behind the lion's share of his motivation. If he spent more time with her than he might just find out why he'd come to care so much and if not...well he'd get to hang out with a being that held a figure that put most kunoichi anywhere to shame. Win-win as they say.
With any luck he'd snag her before she left the Market District. Although there really was no need for a rush. Her foreign apparel would stick out like a sore thumb even on one of Konoha's busier days; where the crowd was so congested with activity that everything would bleed out into one big color.
How hard could it be to catch up to a woman with dark skin and bright blonde hair anyways?
With that doubt rationalized Naruto strutted into one of his favorite places in the world with a wide grin on his face. "Yo Ojisan three orders of miso and two orders of pork on the double!" He pronounced loudly, completely overshadowing the order of another customer who strolled in at about the same time.
"Coming right up." The middle aged ramen chief replied happily, seemingly taking no offense to the rude way that he had been called.
A smile formed on the Uzumaki's lips as the smells of heaven wafted into his nostrils. "God I love this place." To other people Ichiraku's was just another insignificant brick in Konoha's foundation, one that served some damn good food but still, nonetheless, insignificant. A place that you'd pass by and even visit every now and then but wouldn't lose any sleep over if it stopped existing. For Naruto it was so much more than just a ramen stand. Here he could get away from all the emptiness within his heart. In this place...this heaven on earth...he could bury everything away under noodles and broth, and for once feel what it really means to be a human being.
Despite all this Naruto was finding it hard to get comfortable in his sanctuary today, shifting constantly in an unease that had nothing to do with his impatience for his next meal. It just felt different. For one the place was packed, with only one seat for him. This while normally a good thing; was odd for this time of day, where people would have usually vacated the area whenever he was to be expected. Not only that they hadn't left even as he proclaimed his order. It was also quiet, dangerously so to the point that the 'clink' of chopstick sounded like an orchestra.
Even Ayame, a person that could usually manage to brighten his day, felt drab in comparison. Refraining from the normal conversations of "how was your day" in exchange for wiping off what must of been the same space of counter for the hundredth time with a wet rag.
Something was definitely wrong.
"Order up!" Teuchi called, wringing Naruto about of his previous thoughts. Ayame took the bowl, walking over to him with an ethereal glow that could out shine an angel. Silent prayers were needed to thank the unidentified God who sent down ramen to be enjoyed by such unworthy mortals. "One miso ramen," she said with a therapeutic smile. Naruto broke his chopsticks eagerly. Crying out a swift "Itadakimasu" before digging in to the food of the Gods.
Instantaneously, the blond realized something was wrong with how light his chopsticks felt, not to mention the absence of sheer awesome attacking his tongue. Cerulean eye opened with a quizzical glint to find his utensils waving through the air instead of a bowl. A quick look to the right located Naruto's missing ramen being shoveled into the mouth of the man that entered the ramen stand at the same time he did.
It was only through sheer will power that the man escaped a fate worse than death. "Easy Naruto. They have more customers this time around. You can't expect them to pull favorites." With his blood lust subsiding Naruto found it much easier to endure the agonizing pain of waiting for his next meal.
Annnnd waiting...annnnd waiting...annnnd waiting...
XxX
Naruto felt like he was ready to burst. He had gone from building structures out of condiments to contemplating the meaning of life and still he had not been served. All the other occupants had had time to finish up their meals, leaving the stand bare.
"What the hell is taking so long Ojisan!? It's been hourssss!" In reality it had only been fifteen minute but that was besides the point. If another minute went by without his fix he might go insane!
His complaints apparently went on deaf ears as Teuchi continued to toil away behind the counter. Naruto turned to the younger of the two chiefs. "Ayame-neechan can you get me some ramen? Because apparently some-body is TOO OLD TO HEAR ME!" He enunciated, nearly at the edge of his seat as he glared holes into Teuchi's back.
Ayame rose up from cleaning the counter as if she were about to do just that. Any joy within him quickly died when after a couple moments of staring at the flaps Ayame returned to her work.
A broken expression formed on his face as his gaze shifted between the two chiefs. "...Please don't do this," the voice that came out was one uncharacteristic of the boisterous idiot that one saw at first glance, soft and almost pleading in the way that it spoke. Perhaps a glimpse of what underneath all the smiles.
When they didn't respond Naruto's expression morphed into a much more harsh. "Who the needs you anyways?" He growled out between a scowl as he got up to leave the stall. Before stepping back out into the street the blond hesitated, waiting on their reactions.
There wasn't one. Just like the villagers.
"Instant ramen is way better than what you can ever make anyways!" Those words were a lie. But Naruto couldn't hold them back before he rushed out into the crowd, trying with all his might to prevent the emotions bubbling to the surface.
Only when Naruto's footsteps couldn't be heard did Ayame look up from her cloth. She stared long and hard at the flaps to the stall expectantly. Her soft features draped in melancholy before she turned to her father. "...Naruto-kun didn't come today."
Teuchi grunted in agreement, "And here I was hoping that he'd try out this new flavor that I've been working on."
"Do you think he's okay?"
The older man waved off his daughter's concerns. "I bet he's fine. He probably just lost track of time and fell asleep in the forest again. "
Ayame allowed a giggle to escape her. "...Yeah, you're probably right. That boy just never knows when to give up."
XxX
"I feel like giving up." This wasn't the first time he had tossed around the idea. With no family and virtually no friends just the motivation to get up in the morning became more difficult with the passing days. What did he have to look forward to? Becoming Hokage? That dream was hollow without anyone to share his success with. Even then it's not like you can rule over a society that hates your guts.
They were hard questions. Haunting in their restless desire to follow him where ever he went. They had been quiet for a time, nothing more than a lingering sensation in the back of his mind. It was only when he was most vulnerable that they would resurface from their crypts to remind him of who he really was. The whispers had gotten particularly bad after the incident at the ramen stand. Their taunts were infuriatingly persuasive, chipping away at his rocky fortifications like a stone in a river. He had hoped that his usual prescription of pranks what have been enough to quell their voices.
Unfortunately, this simply wasn't the case.
He had done everything in his power to raze some hell. From stealing panties to booby trapping ANBU Headquarters all of it was met with an impassive eye, robbing the blond of his usual dose of numbing contemptuousness. As if his actions were so trivial that they weren't even worth acknowledging anymore. Such a loss was tragic. And with nothing left to distract him from reality Naruto allowed his hold to slip, giving the darkness free reign to gorge on his insecurities.
The soft pitter patter of footsteps shook the blond out of his reflection atop the (now fully decorated) Hokage Monument. Naruto was still in the middle of turning around when a crazy eyed Iruka appeared before him in a very ninja-esc fashion.
The Academy instructor heaved in huge gulps of air as perspiration flooded off of his scarred face like a waterfall. Brown eyes surveyed the surrounding tree line before coming to a hard stop in Naruto's direction, almost making him flinch at the intensity of it. The same thousand mile gaze that he gave to all the students who misbehaved in his class. In all his years Naruto would have never thought he would ever be relieved to see that face. And yet here he was, feeling as light as a feather in an Autumn breeze.
Was it weird for a child to get excited for a scolding? Maybe. But he was never a normal child to begin with so it wasn't like he knew the difference anyways.
Iruka rose to his full height with at least some control over the adrenaline in his blood. However, that momentary peace was cut short when a shuriken big enough to be used as wagon wheel sailed past, grazing the chunin's shoulder and just missing the top of Naruto's scalp by a couple centimeter. If the whiskered boy looked in the mirror and found out he was bald he wouldn't be surprised.
The Academy teacher spun on a dime to meet his attacker head on, heedless to the crimson steadily pouring from his shoulder. The assailant revealed itself to be a woman wearing a cream colored trench coat with purple hair cropped up in a flowering pony tail. From her position on a branch she spun another of the gigantic throwing weapons as easily as another would a rubber band on her finger. "Oh? Looks like I missed." A crazed look morphed on to her pretty face as she halted the spin of the shuriken. "...I'll make sure the next one doesn't." The weapon cut the air like a knife through butter, heading toward the pair with the intent to kill.
With the advantage of surprise now gone Iruka found dodging the second weapon much easier, allowing it to pass by him harmlessly. The orange boy followed his teacher's example; be it much more clumsily, making sure to make space far enough to be out of harm's way but still close enough to bear witness to the badass ninja fight that was no doubt about to occur.
"You crazy bitch that could have killed someone!" Iruka rushed forward with a kunai in hand, making sure to close the distance before another shuriken could be readied. A 'clang' reverberated through the clearing as kunai met shuriken in close range combat. "That's the point!" The woman retorted as she fought against the academy teacher's guard, struggling to gain any footing before deciding to kick her adversary away.
"Come on, do we really have to fight right now?" The waste of breath did nothing for him as the woman pressed her advantage, leaving him with barely enough time to wince before being put on the defensive. "I promised to pay you back double what I owe." He ducked, barely avoiding the slash by a hair.
The reasoning behind his voice only seemed to offend the purple haired woman even more, causing her to up the aggression of her attack even further. "The only payment I accept for ruined dango is BLOOD!" A groan was her only response as Iruka continued to dance this deadly routine with his partner. Of course she would be the one to take such a thing so far.
Off in his space behind a tree Naruto gazed at the battle with a look of wonder on his face. Punches and kicks blurred together in a symphony of combat. The grind of metal against metal chirping as harmoniously and as naturally as the cries of the forest surrounding them. Every single move took effort for the blond to process, a testament to the gap of power between a green Academy student and a ninja worth his salt. He had never seen Iruka-sensei move so fast since...well ever. The woman he was fighting looked to be even better, brandishing the cumbersome throwing tool as easily as another would a knife. All of it was starting to make him feel harshly inadequate. These two weren't even the best in the village and yet they were already light years ahead of him in every way possible. The road to Hokage is going to be much longer than he thought.
"Now he's going to jump over her shuriken and use her arm as a base to kick her in the face." Naruto thought with an unusual sense of clarity. Much to his shock Iruka did just as he had predicted, capitalizing on his opponent's moment of unbalance to shift the flow of battle in his favor. Wait! How did he know that?! He could barely see what was going on! There was no way he should have been able to foresee such a specific action. It wasn't just a fluke either. Every single move, no matter how profound or underhanded, appeared to him moments before their execution.
"It's like I can see into the future." No. That wasn't right. It felt different than how he guessed being psychic felt like. It was more like a memory almost, as if he had seen the fight happen before. But that wasn't possible. Right?
As the blond pondered this sense of familiarity his gaze subconsciously began to drift to the purple haired woman in the trench coat. The way she wield that shuriken was just plain scary. The strikes were clean and rigid, meant to cut into whatever they wanted to and keep going. Blows that would kill on the spot if given the chance, making Iruka's dance with the devil all the more impressive. The style was somewhat masculine though and pretty average for someone as eye catching as her. She gave off the image of someone with a much more...eccentric...style. And snakes...if that makes sense.
The pair continued to trade blows, carrying their battle further into the forest and away from prying eyes, leaving the blond feeling as if he had never been involved in the situation to begin with.
"That was weird." Cool to watch but weird nonetheless. It came out of nowhere, instantly grabbing his attention while simultaneously stealing away any hopes of the scolding that he'd been yearning for. Today was just way too strange, raising too many questions that would no doubt go unanswered. Who was that woman? Why did the Ichiraku's ignore him? How come his pranks weren't being noticed? There were just so many things bugging him but one stood out amongst the rest. The sheer nonsense of it would surely drive him up the wall, for he knew for certain that no human or deity in all the Elemental Nations able to answer him...
"Who the hell fights over Dango?"
XxX
After several failed attempts at trying to keep up with the action had finally decided to turn his attention elsewhere. He had been treated poorly his whole life but never had it been so bad before. It felt like the entire world was against him and after thirteen years he still didn't know why. Not anymore. He was tired of being looked down on, tired of being cursed and most of all tired of being ignored. No amount of bribery or ninja mind tricks could steer away this man(cough) from his goal!
With his resolve brighter than ever Naruto marched into the Hokage Tower, eager to grill the 'God of Shinobi' for all he's worth.
This wasn't the first time he had done this. In the past he had asked the Hokage countless time before and every time he was shut down. A person can only do the same thing so many times expecting a different result before they just give up entirely. Every now and then he would break the monotony and come to the tower to try again, knowing that the response he'd get would do nothing more than feed the fires of his curiosity. 'Why does the village hate me?' 'Who are my parents?' 'Did they really love me?' The uncertainty burned so much, an eternal flame that would often scorch his flesh in the late hours of the night. He would rather have his stomach ripped apart then sown back together incorrectly before standing another day roasting. So even if it made no sense, even if was in fact insanity, he would come back to the Hokage Tower for answers. Because chasing after any hope at putting out the fire was better than living thinking that it could never be put out.
"Maybe this time will be different." At least now he had something else to talk about besides the same old same old. He'd heard from somewhere that predicting stuff with your eyes we signs of weird genetic powers. If he got that much then the denial of his family would be virtually impossible. The sheer thought of it made him giddy. Before he knew it his steady walk quickly evolved into a full blown sprint, his tiny legs rocketing him up the spiral steps and around various ANBU patrols that he knew by heart by now. "I could probably rob this place blind and no one would have a clue." The blond thought as the telltale double doors came into sight.
In his haste Naruto busted clean through the door, not bothering to ask the guard whether or not the Hokage was busy. Much to his misfortune his surrogate grand father did in fact seem to be just that. Discussing matters that he didn't understand yet with some of his shinobi. The matter of potentially ruining carefully guarded village secrets flew over the boy's head as he continued to persist in what was obvious meant to be a private occasion. He hadn't been kicked out yet so that was something.
After getting out a few awkward chuckles Naruto finally decided to voice his presence, "Jiji, I know you're in the middle of something but I need to talk to you." Sarutobi's response of a quick glance before turning back to his meeting left much to be desired. There was no warmth, no kindness; he was strictly business. "It's kinda important." The blond coughed into his palm loudly, with the hopes of defusing some of the seriousness in room. Unfortunately, his effort only appeared to be wasted energy. "What the hell? The Old Man has never just blown me over like that."
Was this stuff even that important? It sounds just like all the other stuff that he'd barged into before, there's no way the Old Man would place this boring crap over him. He was awesome! Yet here he was treating him the same way everyone else does. Yeah screw that. He'd had enough of that for one day.
"Look Old Man, we both know that I'm gonna be taking that seat any minute now." He boasted as he finally reached the desk, his hand outstretched toward the unique headwear that every Kage wore. "That weird. Usually he'd stop me by now." Memories of all his failed attempts with the hat plagued his mind in that second, leaving a bad taste in his mouth. "So you can keep being serious now. But unless you start planning your retirement soon you're gonna end up pretty bored with all that free tim-AH!" Naruto cried out as he lost his balance, falling over behind the desk. The Hokage and his charge continued to discuss matters as if he wasn't there.
"Ugh...what the hell?" He was standing up about to touch the super cool hat and next thing he knew he was finding out what carpet taste like. The room was completely flat too so that ruled out tripping. Naruto looked up to his senior with a look of confusion plastered on his face. The blond reached for the village leaders shoulder to hoist himself up only to be met with the feel of open air between his finger and almost serving himself another mouth full of carpet as a consequence. Naruto stared at the Sandaime quizzically. There was no way he misjudged that.
He then stared down at his hand before reaching it out at the Hokage, his expression becoming more and more mortified as his hand slipped through the old man as if he were a ghost.
Wait, if the Hokage were a ghost then he'd shouldn't be able to talk to the living. It was one of those unspoken laws: spirits and the living could never interact with one another through direct means. He's having a debriefing right now. There's no way the Old Man died when he wasn't looking.
The sound of teeth grating against steel blared into the blonde's ear like a siren. A cannibalistic chain gnawing at itself.
And just like that, it hit him. Sakura not hearing his voice, Ayame and Teuchi ignoring him, Iruka and the crazy lady fighting when a civilian is nearby; none of those should have happened. Which was true to an extent. To everyone else none of those things happened, because people can't sense ghosts.
Naruto suddenly felt unbearably queasy. Such a revelation would have been a lot to take in for a battle hardened Jonin, let alone an Academy student barely pushing their teens. His hand shot to his mouth to prevent any of his stomach's contents from slipping out. Much like in the past the Hokage Tower had proven to only add to his list of questions. He just wasn't expecting today's conundrum to be as morbid as this. Is there even a method for someone to come to terms with their own mortality...or better yet lack of it?
The place where the chain connected to his body ached. He hadn't even achieved his first milestone. There were still so many things to do, so many place to see. And he would never experience any of that. It hurt. The fact that he couldn't recall how or when this all happened was just salt on the wound. Almost as if his chest were about to burst. None of it made any sense.
"What the fuck is going on!" The small release of despair didn't feel as fulfilling as it should have. The knowledge that no one would be able to answer back under toned the action with a hollow sense of desperation.
A flash of yellow and white bled into his peripherals, reminding him of a moment in time where I felt like something more than a shadow. A moment that occurred today.
Cerulean eyes darted toward the source to indentify a lady in white peering into the office from her perch on one of the surrounding building. Which in itself wasn't particularly odd in a place where so many have the ability to use the roof tops to get around. Her gaze lingered on him for a moment before she took off on her merry way. For just a minute Naruto forgot about his recent, tragic demises in exchange for spying at the woman leaping into the distance, her strides so precise and controlled that her blonde locks barely fluttered in the raging winds that followed those moving at high speeds.
"Wait! Blonde hair!?" The Leaf village didn't have any blondes disclosing the Yanamaka Clan and himself. None of which wore anything that white.
Naruto launched his body through the open window, using the limited knowledge that stuck with him from the Academy to speed toward his target; be it with a great deal of effort. "She's so fast." Now he wasn't the fastest person in the world but he knew damn well that out maneuvering ninjas didn't come without learning about a thing or two about speed. What good all that was when your opponent is leagues ahead of you? She was making all of his training look like a joke. Every step he took might as well have been three steps for her with the way she moved. If he blinked and her beautiful behind was missing he would find it very hard to be surprised.
"Hey, wait up!" From the way she hung in the air longer than necessary to the way she over emphasized on her turns it was clear that she didn't have to be there. By now his stamina was being pushed to the limits trying to overcompensate for the gap between them, his tanned skin and sun-kissed hair already drenched in sweat. She, on the other hand, didn't even seem to be out of breath. At the pace they were going at she could have continued for the entire day and it wouldn't have made a difference. This kind of thing was too easy for someone of her caliber.
As his lungs began to ache the whiskered boy had to wonder what the mysterious swordswoman's motivation was. She could have lost him any time she wanted to, so why didn't she? "Slow down would you!" There didn't seem to be a point in leading around a teenage boy around the entire village unless she found some sort of sick joy in watching him squirm. Sadly he couldn't dwell on the topic for too long as the blur of white he was chasing after disappeared from under his nose. The orange boy came to a harsh stop, nearly flying off the edge of a building. He frantically looked for his target, just barely catching a flicker of movement where the alley of his building forked into another.
A quick breather and the chase was already on again.
From then on Naruto never saw the woman again, spending what felt like hours grasping at bread crumbs through the parts of the village that few ever got the chance to see. Before he knew it the sky had turned orange and his chain had lost a link.
The second half of this goose chase had lead him to a dead-end and a single man hole with its cover removed. Naruto peered down into the blackness before checking his surroundings one more time for any signs of alternate routes that his fellow blonde might have taken. After finding none he surveyed the entrance one more time to note that there wasn't a ladder. Given the fact that couldn't see the bottom it was no doubt a very, very long way down.
"Well, better now than ever." The Uzumaki finally voice to shake off a little bit of his hesitation. There was nothing to be afraid of. "It's not like I can die twice." He decided before throwing caution to the wind and diving into the unknown.
XxX
The sewer system of Konohagakure are places that very few would enter without apprehension. The series of passageways went on for miles and were notoriously easy to get lost in. This layered over the labyrinth's history with a certain snake had turned the depths into a ninja's equivalent of an urban legend, unknown and dangerous. A normal person would have a hard time stepping foot into the darkness without a reliable way to find their way back. That being said, Naruto wasn't one to follow such superstitions and had gone out of his way to make sense out of the labyrinth, often spending weekends mapping Konoha's crypts with nothing more than a piece of paper and a crayon. He had to admit that the idea was just plain stupid at first but when he recalled all the times they'd saved his ass during his pranks he could safely say the hundreds of hours spent not know which way is up was well worth it.
Needless to say even with all this knowledge the sewer were still something of a mystery to the blond. New areas and passageways were discovered all the time, some being trickier to get to than others. These places, while new, were not particularly interesting. One could only be surprised so many times before the novelty of every spooky corridor began to blend together. He knew what to expect. Which made the shock of feeling the familiar sting of light all the more surprising after falling what felt like an eternity through the darkness. He hadn't been prepared to find such bright light so deep underground.
He also hadn't been prepared to find himself hanging in the air over a hundred feet over an ocean.
"...Well shit." Was all that he could manage to get out before the terror of being so high up decided to drop kick all forms of sense out of him.
XxX
"Oh god my head..." he hissed in pain, apparently that was still a thing even in death. Naruto shook himself to regain his bearings, glaring spitefully at the tiny black dot in the white ceiling that he had come from.
"What is this place?" Water that stretched as far as the eye could see in all directions complemented the unrealistically high ceiling. It was placid and somehow left his body completely dry. Even more strange was that despite it obviously being a liquid it felt like a solid, allowing him to walk on it as effectively as land. A quality that he was thankful considering how ominously deep it looked.
"...Somewhere very familiar to you." Naruto spun around to find the woman he'd been perusing all this time staring back at him amongst a collection of furniture that he was pretty sure wasn't there moments ago. A rather anti-climactic way to end the epic chase he had to go on to find her. He walked forward into what could only be described as the living room minus the walls, its organization baring a shocking resemblance to his apartment. Not knowing what else to do the boy sat down on the couch adjacent from the table she was propped against, still unsure of the motives of a woman who could talk to ghost. Was ghost even the right word?
He considered the edgeless expanse with a scratch of his head and a frown. "Are you sure? I think I would remember an underground ocean that you can walk on." Then again he couldn't even remember how he died.
"I suppose that that wasn't the correct way to put it. Since very few have the opportunity to access this place so directly." She said while gesturing over to the TV across from him.
The machine came to life with a haze, its screen depicting an exasperated Iruka struggle to maintain his ground against an invisible opponent. The teachers perked up just in time to dodge a massive shuriken in a strikingly similar fashion to what he'd seen not earlier in the day. A crazy eyed Mizuki suddenly burst through the canopy to swipe at a staggered Iruka with a giant shuriken in hand.
"W-What the hell is this?" It was like a director taking a movie then swapping out the characters and switched up the dialog. "It looks just like the fight I saw earlier."
"That's because it is the fight you saw earlier...or rather a form of it." Naruto turned to the unnamed woman with a quizzical look that begged for explanation. She look up a thinking pose before referring back to the television. "What you are looking at is a memory. What you saw earlier was simply a warped version of it."
The opposing blond seemed to be having a very hard time grasping it all, "That doesn't make sense! I've never heard of a machine that can play back memories. Even if one did exist then why would it show Iruka-sensei and Mizuki-sensei fighting like that!?"
"Anything is possible if someone is able to imagine it."
"What does imagination have anything to do with this?" The whiskered boy clutched at his skull in frustration. After all that's happened today ambiguity was just another slap to the face. "Ugh why does it have to always be the pretty ones that are the most confusing?" A tint of pink crept past the woman's high collar. Let it be known that bluntness could be a good thing at times. "You don't remember?" Naruto's annoyance shined at her question, "If you're talking about how I died...then no."
"Died?"
"Yeah as in kicked the bucket, biting the dust, kaput. Dead!" He offered harshly while yanking at his chain. It was still hard coming to terms with the fact that he would never be able to achieve his dream. He wanted to deny it, wanted to so badly...but there was little he could do to refute what happened in the Hokage's office. Anyone who's alive can't possibly faze through people(that he knew of).
Looking at her to regard her impassive gaze as a questioning one. "What you didn't know that you were talking to a dead person?" Her half shielded expression morphed into one of amusement.
"You really don't remember," she said with a hint of mirth in her voice.
"Are you making fun of me? It's not my fault that I died!" He didn't know that of course but he wasn't going to let her have that. A soft chuckle escaped her causing Naruto's whiskered cheeks to burn up. The young Uzumaki rose up in protest. "Hey I don't care if you're girl if you keep making fun of me I'll kick your-" Before he could even blink she had traveled across the room and into his personal space.
"I guess it can't be helped..." With that speed she could have killed him...or whatever the spiritual equivalent to death was before he could react. He hadn't expected her to flick him in the forehead.
But it wasn't just a normal flick. A normal flick didn't send a boy clean off his feet. And from the way his brain was crying it had to be the strongest god damned flick he would ever experience in his life(epic foreshadowing)...or was it afterlife.
Naruto rebounded back from the blow quickly. "What the hell was that for!?"
"You remember now, don't you?"
"Eh?" The blond scrunched his mug into his classic fox-like thinking pose, trying to recall the events that happened before waking up under a tree. His face began to quickly shift into an array of emotion, transitioning from one to another seemingly without pause. Then the whiskered boy's face shift to anger before morphing into the level of pissed worthy of destroying worlds. His body shook before exploding over to the TV to glare at Mizuki's image. "That fucking traitorous bastard!" Naruto shot back to the swordswoman, "How do I get out of here?" A righteous fury burning into his eyes.
"So you remember now?" She answered dully, impervious to the clear signs of his rage. Naruto's lips formed into a scowl. "RAW there's no time for that! I need to get out of here so that I can kick Mizuki-teme's ass!"
"All you have to do his focus on waking up." She said as she crossed her arms under her ample bosom. "Uh o-okay thanks...I guess." He said obviously expecting more resistance from the older blonde. "...No problem but before you go you do remember , correct?" Naruto nodded apprehensively, not sure where she was going with this. "Then you should remember how badly you were outclassed."
Naruto suddenly went from trying to meditate his way out to figuratively setting the other person in the "room" on fire with his glare. "Hey that's not fair! The other two caught me off guard. If they'd faced me head on like real ninja then I would have been able to flatten them with my new jutsu in no time flat!" He fought back adamantly, unaware of how contradictory his last statement sounded.
"No, you would have lost. Even if you had managed to incapacitate the other two your former sensei would have defeated you with the power he's hiding." Her bluntness may have been harsh but it was nothing compared to what he would have gone through if he rushed out against opponents that he stood no chance of defeating in a straight fight.
"...Well what do you expect me to do?" Naruto replied solemnly with shadowed eyes. "It's not like I can just sit here while Iruka-sensei is still out there..." The scarred Academy instructor was like a brother to him. Just imagining what those three might have done to him while he sat in here playing ghost boy made him sick.
"Oh but that's exactly what you are going to do." After seeing the boy's look of confusion she decided to elaborate. "If you give me control I can handle them for you."
"Your strong enough to face three of Konoha's ninja on your own?" She was fast and from the painful way that she'd jogged his memories strong as well. Weather she was strong enough to take on battle hardened cold blooded killers was something that still had yet to be seen.
"At full power I would challenge this "Hokage" that you hold in such high regards without hesitation." She stated confidently, causing a sense of awe to fill the Uzumaki. The Old Man was ancient but even someone as dense him could see that the village leader was a force to be reckoned with. To say she could go one on one with the strongest ninja in the Land of Fire so easily had to mean something. "With your body I will no doubt be only a fraction of that but even so it should be more than enough to take out the trash."
The blonde's posture shifted uncomfortably. He hated relying on other but the truth of the matter was that if he tried going up against three chunin level ninja, hell one chunin level ninja, he'd be destroyed. There were no ifs ands or buts. "Alright, I'll do it. I'll give you control." He couldn't really trust her but without her help Iruka stood as much of chance out there as he did gaining the love of the Kyuubi. "But if you do something funny I'll make sure you regret it. I don't care how much stronger than me you are." She didn't look in the least bit threatened by that statement.
"Same process as before, just imagine giving me control." As the woman's body began to fade Naruto just recalled something. "W-wait, you never told me your name." He said with a slightly flushed expression.
"It's Tia. Tia Harribel."
"Uzumaki Naruto, future Hokage at your service!" Was the last thing he said to her before her body disappeared completely.
XxX
Mizuki couldn't stop from grinning. Everything was going according to plan. The Kyuubi-brat had failed just like he'd hoped, making the little retard desperate enough to follow anything he said as long as he included the word "pass" in it. Sure there were some touch and go moments; he almost shit himself after hearing that the blond had been found out. Luckily the brat was so good at running away or else he might have not been able to be there to crush the little monster's world in front of one of the few people that he considers important. The face he made after he'd told that he was the Nine-Tailed Fox screamed horror and realization with just enough self-loathing to make it absolutely priceless. If he had his camera on him he wouldn't have hesitated to document that look for future enjoyment.
Iruka's appearance was a bit of a rough patch in his grand scheme. If he hadn't thought of recruiting Misumi and Yoroi beforehand the Academy teacher may have actually proven to be a challenge. At that thought Mizuki ducked another of his fellow chunin's blows, using the chunin's out stretched fist as a prime opportunity to deliver a kick to his foe's navel. The chakra in the attack sent Iruka sailing back with a disgruntled look on his face. Before the scarred chunin could resettle his footing a glowing hand lashed out from the canopy. It missed but ultimately served its purpose by putting him on the defense once more.
Mizuki's sneer stretched a little further at the sight of a person he had once considered his equal retreating with his tail between his legs, where he would no doubt try to come at them again from a different angle only to start the cycle again. He was really glad he snagged the pair of spies. Having more people on one's side sometimes was just so deliciously unfair at times.
"Oi Mizuki! How much longer are we going to screw around with this guy? If we don't wrap this up soon the ANBU will be right on top of us!" Misumi shouted from his position wrapped around an unconscious Uzumaki like a human rope.
The white haired traitor clicked his cheek. He really didn't like cutting his fun short just when it was getting good. Nonetheless the piece of cannon fodder had a point. It was actually fairly surprising that no one had stumbled upon them sooner, and he didn't really feel like counting his lucky stars.
"Fine," he grumbled out before letting loose a hand full of shuriken into a random tree. Iruka's form immediately came bursting out of the foliage to escape the deadly projectiles. Regret struck him just as quickly when a pair of glowing limbs slipped under his arms, effectively locking up his movement with a full-nelson.
Upon further inspection it was clear that the scarred chunin had seen better days. A layer of dirt and grime coated his tan face. Cuts layered all over his body with various degrees of intensity; one particularly troublesome one flowed freely over his brow, blinding his left eye in red. As if the disadvantage of being outnumbered wasn't bad enough?
Mizuki's grin revitalized, "You gave us quite a run." The traitor had to give it to his former college. The trek from the Academy to here would have been murderous enough. Being thrown into a fight right after, with someone who could drain chakra nonetheless was just plain overkill. For all intents and purposes Iruka should have died from chakra exhaustion a long time ago. "I bet you must really feel like shit right now?" He said while raise his fellow chunin's face to see the look of fear in foe's eyes. He was reward with a mix of blood and saliva on his face for his efforts.
Mizuki's cocky sneer was whipped away along with the spit on his face. How dare this worm do such a thing to someone so clearly superior? The traitor grabbed Iruka's head, harshly turning it into the direction of the blond in Misumi's grasp. "I hope you enjoyed your time with the demon. Because his stupid face is going to be the last thing you're ever going to see." The kunai the white haired man's off hand made its way to Iruka's neck, ready to end the instructor's life. The tan skinned man's eyes suddenly shot wide open. An action that Mizuki regarded as his prey coming to terms with his mortality.
He was wrong.
A brief fluttering sound reverberated amongst the ninja. There was no splatter of blood. No gurgle of warmth leaving a corpse. The essence of power in the traitor's hands suddenly felt empty.
He noticed his fellow spy staring at a spot in the distance with a look of shock on his masked face. Mizuki followed his college's gaze to lay his eyes on a splotch of blue and orange amongst the green, hovering over the wounded body that would have been remains he been a second later. Iruka raised up as if he were about to suggest something along the lines of 'run' or 'get help' but only managed a choking gasp before succumbing to his wounds and losing consciousness.
As the blonde rose up from his fallen comrade a sense of foreboding welled within the white haired traitor. "What the hell is this?" He thought while unconsciously taking a step back. The gravity in the clearing felt like it had grown exponentially from their opponents sheer presence, suffocating the band of undercover shinobi with every breath they took. This definitely wasn't the same boy that they had subdued so easily before.
"W-what's going...on? Is the seal breaking?" A panicked Yoroi suggested. Had the Kyuubi really broken free? The memories of that fateful night flashed into his mind like some sort of reoccurring nightmare, a photograph that refused to burn. One couldn't simply forget the pressure that foul chakra exuded, blanketing the village like an unstoppable storm. This feeling, while just as encompassing, lacked the pure, unrefined malice that the demon exhaled on to the world. It was different, more of an unsettling calm than anything else. Hopefully different meant less powerful as well.
Just as the blonde was about to consider his two opponents Misumi suddenly appeared at his side to latch on to the boy's arm, using his bloodline ability to wrap his appendage around the blonde's forearm. An action that had worked to disable the jinchuuriki earlier. "I don't know how you were able to escape without me noticing but getting out doesn't really help when you fall for the same trick twice." Naruto gave the masked teen a half attentive glance, allowing the longer arm to slink all the way up to his shoulder.
"...Interesting." Was all the whiskered boy said before flinging off the arm and its owner at their allies with the same ease that another would an insect. Mizuki's eyes widened at the sight of the flying Sound Ninja. Yoroi moved to intercept his partners. His larger body buckling under the stress of having to stop someone moving so fast.
Any past conceptions of the blonde were instantly thrown out of the window along with Misumi. For a less than five foot tall boy to fling a one hundred twenty plus pound man so fast was a feat bordering on the ridiculous. With strength like that underestimating him right now would only prove to be painful later on. After all that Naruto still seemed oblivious to the intensity of the situation at hand, looking rather bored with his arms crossed over his chest.
Moments like these require patience. The first move is often very weighty in ninja battles and, if executed correctly, could decide the entire fight. None of the three nuke-nin wanted to be there for longer than they had to, however if they were too hasty they could end up failing the mission entirely. And no one wanted to return to the Snake Sannin empty handed.
"Three against one...I suppose I should take this seriously." The blonde's voice was soft spoken for once but to the clearing's other occupants it might as well have been louder than how he spoke normally(which was pretty freaking loud). The entire clearing held its breath as Naruto hooked his index finger on the air above his shoulder. A white light bright enough to blind the eyes illuminated the forest, the sound of grinding metal ringing out as Naruto's finger made a pulling motion through the air. Light began to fade into a blade that hadn't been there before.
Judging from the shape of it the weapon is clearly a sword. What type of sword was hard to say. Its appearance was more along the lines of a conglomeration of different features. At first glance the blade seemed like nothing more than a typical butterfly sword, however to a more experienced eye the discrepancies were quite obvious. The length of the blade itself is much longer, reaching roughly four feet from the tip to the guard. In exchange for the standard looping ring was a guard that bore a greater resemblance to a long-sword's. The handle is purple and stylized like a samurai sword. And perhaps the strangest feature was the hollowed out interior of the blade.
An truly odd weapon indeed.
Some that Mizuki saw fit to burst into laughter at, "What the type of weird ass sword is that? I was just about to take the demon boy seriously than he pulls out some unwieldy piece of shit!" Naruto flipped the sword into his hand. If the comment bothered him he didn't show it. The insanity of the white haired chunin helped to lighten the mood of the other two, following their leader's example, be it with less gusto.
The cackling of the trio came to a halt when the sound of a beating fan crackled through the air and their opponent fazed out of sight. "He's still around here. He wouldn't retreat without his precious sensei." Yoroi stated while gesturing over to the downed Iruka still in the same position he had been left in. The other two nodded wordlessly before shifting into a triangle formation, eyes looking outward to scan the leaves for any signs of orange while covering their allies blind spots.
Unfortunately, they hadn't covered all their blind spots.
Before they could even react blows were rained upon them from the center of their formation. The initial attack sent Yoroi and Misumi flying away by kicks that they never got the chance to see, leaving Mizuki alone to face the orange terror.
Using instincts that only came from experience the white haired chunin ducked, barely avoiding a horizontal sweeping kick that would have taken his head. Realizing that a kick that wide would take a second to retract Mizuki pressed his advantage, which apparently wasn't a very big one. It was like he was swiping at shadows with how swiftly the blonde was able to blur away from his attacks. Every kick, every punch, every slash were dealt with before he could even finish them. And whenever he thought he saw an opportunity to turn the tide he would be countered by what looked like an invisible force. If there was a ninja with a doujutsu that had better clairvoyance than the Sharingan then he would imagine this is what fighting that ninja would be like.
From the foliage just outside the light of the moon Yoroi and Misumi emerged, bruised and battered from ricocheting across the forest. Mizuki have a subtle nod to his allies, trying his hardest not to smirk for fear of giving them away. Mizuki broke off his futile assault, hoping that the momentary pause in combat would give the others enough time to spring their trap.
The masked duo smirked under their veils as they let the handfuls of kunai they'd been preparing sail toward their target. This "new" blonde that they've been fighting may have been faster than the old one but he clearly wasn't any smarter as the throwing knives peppered his form before detonating in a cloud of fire.
"Ha! That was way too easy." For all the show boating that the orange eyesore had done it was pretty tragic that he fell for such an obvious trap. He had to thank the deity who made the Kyuubi-brat dumber than a sack of rocks or else the sly runt may have remembered that he still had two other opponents. All he had to do now was find the scroll and off that scrub Iruka before the ANBU had a chance to catch up. Easy as pie.
Just then the "click-clack" of footsteps on wood smacked the traitor in the face with a much needed dose of humility. An orange form emerged from the dust cloud without a single scratch and Mizuki quickly recalled something that his now late sensei had told him during his days as a genin, "It's never easy."
"...Fuck." Was all he could manage out before a thin, diagonal line of red that started gushing blood the moment he realized it was there formed on his chest. Mizuki had no time to gasp in pain before a plethora of surgical strikes descended upon him like a storm. He dodged and blocked what he could but there was only so much his middling skills could do to stop the methodical way his adversary cut into flesh.
It was sad considering he could actually see the odd blade as it hacked away at his body, an action that was no doubt a taunt in itself. The little shit was holding back and he knew it. All those attacks that the blonde had dodged were just to humor him, as if saying that if the nuke-nin did manage to land a hit that it might have done something. And yet here he was picking away his defense like there was nothing there AFTER taking a salvo of explosive charges head on. "I don't know what the demon did but whatever it was there's no way I can beat him with this level of power." It was sickening to think that a midget barely pushing puberty held the traitor's life in the palm his hand.
Just when he thought the was no hope a silver lining appeared out of the blackness in the form of Yoroi and Misumi rejoining the fray. The one with darker shades lead the two man charge with his signature blue hand. The tinted eyed man latched on to the orange terror's forearm, his other hand shooting toward the whiskered boy's neck for added coverage. "That wasn't so hard. Not so tough now that your chakra reserves are being drained." His expression reeking of smugness as he turned his energy sucking abilities to full blast.
"Energy draining...that's what your ability is..." Naruto commented in an impassive tone, not bothering to struggle against the enemy ninja's grasp. In fact he seemed more interested in Misumi who had frozen his advance all together, confident that his partner had the situation covered.
"That's right. With my bloodline I'm able to suck out my opponent's chakra and use it to refill my own." A dark chuckle left him has he tightened his grip on the boy dangling from his grasp. "Although it's not like that info will be of much use to a dead man." All he needed was a few good seconds and the brat would be reeling from chakra exhaustion. "It's a good thing I took care of that sword hand first or else I might have had some issues."
Now what the veiled man had forgotten in his haste to deal with the highest priority threat was that the Naruto had more than just a sword to deal damage. The blonde's idle hand was suddenly caving into the older man's face, cracking the sunglasses that allowed him to stand out from his partner. Using the momentum from his punch Naruto spun out of the ninja's weakened grasp, following up his previous blow with a diagonal strike leading from shoulder to hip at the apex of his spin. The wound didn't even have a chance to bleed before a straight kick folded the undercover shinobi's body in half, sending him once again careening into the wilderness.
The chakra sucker's body flew through the air so fast that his partner barely had time to get out of the way. Misumi's instincts screamed in that instant, causing him to raise his kunai into the air before he could even understand why. Luckily for him he had listened to his body otherwise he would have been split in two before he even heard that tell tale sound vibrations in the air. The teen's two handed block held firm against blonde's downward strike, although he knew that he wouldn't be able to last much longer against his shorter foe's superior strength.
In an act of desperation Misumi began extending one of his arms up Naruto's appendage. Unknowns to him the whiskered boy had been counting on that. With one arm preoccupied his adversary's guard would be weakened. It was all a simple matter of adding more pressure that resulted in Naruto slashing through the throwing knife, his hollow blade cleaving a path down the abdomen that was unperturbed by the masked teen's unique limbs.
Misumi stared at the stub that used to be his arm with a look of horror before passing out in shock.
The sound of clapping echoed, followed by Mizuki ghosting out from behind a tree into the ambient light of the forest clearing, his form covered by a new set of gnarled black markings. "Mighty fine job runt. I guess the villagers were right in calling you a demon."
The white haired traitor's grin flipped into an expression that promised pain. "Now I'll give you three seconds to clear out of here with that stupid sensei of yours before I decide to get serious." The black lines cover his form began to overlap together, Orochimaru's gift working in overdrive heal all the cuts littering his body. "...Three." The black lines traced his body until his body until no normal skin was left. His body began to bulge as muscles doubled up on themselves to the point that it looked like they were trying to escape out of his skin. "...Two." From the blackness orange fur burst forth. Nails gave way to claws the size of kunai. And as the accents of his transformation came in Mizuki began to look more like breast than man. The tiger-man's body curled up like a spring, ready to burst forward to tear that insufferable brat to shreds. Of course he wasn't actually going to let them get away. There could be no witnesses. "...One!" Oh he's going to enjoy this...
"Cero." Mizuki's bestial eyes shot open wide at the cold green orbs pierced his soul, their owner pointing their blade at his feline snarl. A red sphere of energy no bigger than baseball glowed ominously at the blade's tip before releasing all of its pent up energy into the nuke-nin's skull. A column of twisted red and black burst forth across a navy blue sky, any obstacles in its path were disintegrated on contact, its light so terribly magnificent that it could be seen from miles around.
Naruto ran a hand through his blonde locks with a heavy sigh. His apathetic green eye faded into their normal, lively cerulean before his body doubled over next to Mizuki's headless corpse.
This was the scene that Konoha's ANBU came to.
Author's Notes: Dear god this took way longer than it should have. If I wrote with as much drive in the past...um year that I did in the last couple of weeks I would probably be reaching the 15-20 chapter mark at least. Oh well can't hate the past. And in the end I'm kind of thankful I held off for so long. Because of all that down time I was able to improve the plot light years beyond what it was before.
Anyways yeah review for I have low self-esteem and need the admiration strangers.