Chapter One
Flashbacks and Furballs
Memories came back to him. A tell-tale sign that the clone was reporting in. He had given his clones instructions to create a clone before dispersing, that way, his search could continue without interruption.
Even in a dangerous situation, the clone knew to create a backup clone just in case, that way, if destroyed, ground would not be lost and he would not have to send another clone to traverse over the long distances.
So far, his clone had not come into a situation in which he did not have the chance to create a new one.
Time was running short.
This particular clone had made it a long way and was running low on chakra. Making new clones and running into countless troublesome situations would start to take a toll on even Naruto. Especially when it's just a clone with its total chakra capacity cut in two between him and the original.
Back in Konoha, the original Naruto knew that he would soon have to create a new clone and have it travel the long distance again to continue where the other clone left off.
Judging by the amount of chakra it has left, the clone would only be able to create one more clone and there would not even be enough chakra left to keep it under full henge this time.
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu." (Clone POV)
A rather pale looking Naruto appeared in a cloud of smoke next to the other Naruto, who in fact, did not look like Naruto at all. Actually, it was a rough looking man with short black hair, though still keeping the same spikey hairstyle. He bore a blank hitai-ate and the usual shinobi vest for a Jounin in hopes that anyone who spotted him would believe he is a certainly capable fighter and keep their distance.
He actually looked much like a thug with a five-o-clock shadow and a Gaara-like disposition.
Knowing its mental instructions, the pale clone set off running. Jumping through the trees would use too much chakra and he was running dangerously low as it is. He might be able to make it a few more miles before being forcibly dispersed.
Only about twenty minutes into his run, his sixth sense kicked him in the face as he suddenly sensed killing intent somewhere around him.
The original Naruto knew it would only be a matter of time before his last clone dispersed, so he decided to send a new one in advance to make up for lost ground. And since this new clone he was sending hadn't already traveled through three different countries, it was sure to stand up to most problems sent his way.
Unexpectedly, more memories clouded his mind... prematurely. A moment after deciphering the mental images, he was able to deduct one thing... He was attacked.
"Looking a bit sick, aren't you?" Came the condescending voice followed by a light chuckle. "Your village is sending out sick ninja now, are they?" He implied from his unknown position, noting the clone's headband.
The Naruto clone was thankful that he had at least kept the blank hitai-ate. He looked around, eyeing his surroundings. He was still in the Grass country but a quick look around told him he was nearing the Earth country as the trees and other foliage became fewer and fewer in number but were still plenty.
"I'm just passing through, leave me be," he requested in a slightly weak voice, trying to force as much bravado into his sentence as he could.
"Nah uh. You are in Kusa territory without permission. You could be a spy," he accused, once again noting his blank hitai-ate.
"I cannot let you live."
"Whatever happened to capturing your so-called 'spies'?" He called out sarcastically, ryring the trees around him.
"Spies don't get to live anyways... I will extract what you know beofore I kill you," replied the battle depraved grass ninja as if it were an everyday occurance.
Rustling in the leaves behind him was heard. With a kunai in hand and guard up, he quickly turned around to face the noise.
Peering through the openings in the branches of a tall oak tree, his trained eye could barely make out the grass symbol on what was most likely an ANBU mask.
For the moment, all he could do was prepare himself for whatever was to come.
"Konoha Danmaku no Jutsu!" (Leaf Barrage Technique)
As the name suggests, a barrage of leaves separated from the tree, leaving it bare, fully revealing the enemy pouring chakra into the tree through his right hand and possibly his feet as well.
"Leaves?" He thought, unimpressed.
As if reading his expression, "Don't underestimate me!"
With the use of a few quick handsigns, the once harmless leaves were given a metallic glint and were sent hurtling towards the blond clone in waves.
Naruto had just a second to examine the jutsu. The leaves no longer looked as they were when attached to the tree, limp and harmless... and leafy. Now they were stiff and hardened like a kunai, and certainly just as deadly.
Instinctively, he whiped out a second kunai and started batting away leaves as if they were kunai. The ANBU character let out a "Hmph" and performed a single handsign. With this, the leaves realease its metallic form and were, once again, harmless.
More of what he thought were still deadly leaves flew at him. He met one with his kunai, surprised as the leaf unexpectedly split in two by the sharp blade of his right handed weapon.
With what must have been another few quick handsigns by the enemy, the split leaf gave off another metallic shimmer just before slicing into Naruto's shoulder, just grazing him while the other half barely missed.
With merely a single cut into the clone, it was over... Or not?
The perplexed clone dodged the last of the leaves by jumping a few feet away behind a broken tree stump while the deadly metallic leaves followed his trail and thudded into and around the tree stump, he took this time to look at his shoulder wound expectantly. The cloth were torn through showing a small red cut underneath.
"How am I still here?" He thought incredulously, obviously knowing he should have dispersed.
It felt a bit strange as his remaining chakra seemed to forcefully gather around his cut shoulder. At that moment, a wild thought ran through his mind that let him hope that his wound would be healed as the chakra gathered around it. A moment later, his newfound hope slowly diminished along with his remaining chakra as it became evident it was actually leaking through the cut, as if temporarily keeping him from dispersing.
Smirking, he took a look at his right hand. The small blue band on his middle finger, as if tattooed there, was fading. Somehow, for some reason unkown to him, he knew as soon as it was gone, he'd be 'gone'. It wasn't as good as actually healing the wound, but it was better than nothing.
The enemy nin moved in for the finishing blow.
"Kontei Douran no Jutsu!" (Root Upheaval Technique)
Oddly, the few trees around him creaked and moaned. Without any further warning, thin and thick tree roots alike came spouting up from the ground on all sides, destroying the tree trunk shield he was hiding behind and entriely engulfing Naruto in a array of piercings and punctures. Without even the time to scream his pain, he poofed away.
"A clone?! But how? He took a hit!" The bewildered grass ANBU looked around expectantly.
Naruto snapped out of his daze as the memories sunk in. Baffled, he looked at his own hand as his clone had done. It still showed off the blue ring around his finger, though not actually a ring anymore. He remembered how he had gotten it only two weeks ago.
-Flashback-
Loud incoherent noises be be heard as well as stamping feet and finally a muffled, "Hey, you can't go in there!"
Regardless of the man's words, the door crashed open, doorknob slamming into the opposing wall leaving its impression; all to reveal a panting and seemingly angry Naruto.
Tsunade had been hunched over her desk sleeping peacefully on her rumpled paperwork with a (most likely empty) bottle of sake in hand. The moment the door slammed open, she woke with a start, inadvertently knocking over the bottle assumed to be empty, spilling its precious liquid over her already ruined paperwork.
At first more worried about her soggy papers, she had yet to realize what was going on. Looking up, she groggily stared at the two struggling ninja at her doorway, unaware of the ink that was now lettered onto her face from her paperwork.
Blinking the haze from her eyes, she deciphered who it was in her office and the grave realization gave her brain a jumpstart.
She observed the blond ninja with a, once crazy-shy, Hyuuga girl sort of in one hand and in the other...
Tsunade's eyes got slightly bigger for a brief moment and her dumbstruck expression turned into one of worry and anticipation.
Hinata was desperately trying to hold Naruto back. Their steamy encounter the night before must have sky-rocketed her confidence because she hadn't even given it any thought that she was holding Naruto's hand in public, even if it was to just hold him back.
Hinata's right hand was holding onto the door frame in an attempt to keep her ground while the wrist of the crazed Naruto was in the other. Though her arm sockets were clearly being strained, the once timid and supposedly 'weak' little girl was with-holding any signs of pain. She held on, closing her eyes tight with sheer concentration.
After a few more moments, Hinata knew she could not hold on any longer. So as not to be pulled along by him once more, she abruptly let him go.
Caught off-guard by the sudden lack of tension in her grip, Naruto practically threw himself forward, stumbling into the idle chairs in front of him and finally head first into something alot harder and definately much more sturdy.
With semi-low moans of pain, he rolled himself onto his back and propped himself up on one elbow while desperately trying to rub the pain out of his forehead where it made contact with the edge of Tsunade's desk.
Leaning on the desk for support, Naruto slowly got to his feet, momentarily forgetting where he was or why he was there, probably because the possible concussion he was now suffering from.
After the room stopped spinning and the dizziness cleared from his head and the nauseousness finally died down, his eyes finally met the Hokage's. Suddenly, he remembered what he was doing.
Tsunade had forced herself to look serious but pounding laughter at Naruto's stupor was threatening to break through as always.
Naruto gave Tsunade's face a quick 'once-over'. Momentarily distracted, he found it funny that she sat there trying to look serious with ink all over her face.
"She had been sleeping," he thought amusedly.
To her surprise, Naruto chuckled at this revelation, and with a disturbing calmness, he gently placed the locket before her and said one word...
"Explain."
After a moment of unnerving silence, Naruto's rare calm mood dissapated quickly.
"What's the meaning of this, Baa-chan?!" He exploded.
"I don't know what you're talking about..." She answered, trying to sound innocent while giving him a shrug.
"Don't give me that! How come no one ever told me before?" He asked heatedly.
"Technically, you've yet to be litterally told about it," she replied matter-of-factly. "And therefore I can't get in trouble because technically, you found out yourself."
"Huh?"
Seeing his momentary stupid spell as a chance to change the subject, she continued, "Since you have that, I assume Hinata has given you her present then?" She asked, looking at his hands but quicky producing a somewhat angry frown on her face. She shot a glance at Hinata who insticntively flinched from her scowl.
"Present?" He replied distractedly, and switched his own gaze to Hinata.
Said girl was taken aback at the sudden attention she was getting at the doorway but upon hearing about 'her present' she started patting her pockets frantcally with a very worried expression on her face.
"I-I-I-I-" she sputtered, after not feeling it anywhere on her person, she thought about her jacket still somewhere in Naruto's apartment. They had left so quickly, she forgot all about it. She was suddenly embarrassed to be out in public in her tight fitting shirt and tight jeans and remembering the reason why she was still in her current attire. None-the-less, horror was still evident on her face as she turned her gaze back to Tsunade's expectant scowl.
"You dont have-" Tsunade's worried yet angered voice started out before being interrupted by the blond's.
"You mean this?" He asked dubiously as he pulled out a little black box with a crinkled red ribbon on it. "Hinata had it on her when she fainted yesterday so I put it in my pocket so she wouldn't lose it... I forgot all about it," he revealed innocently.
Tsunade tried to hide her relief as she sat back in her seat, attempting to relax.
Hinata on the other hand, was overcome with emotion as she embraced Naruto in a very grateful hug. Realizing what she had just done, she quickly released him and jumped back a few feet now blushing madly and pressing her index fingers together while her eyes became intent on getting acquainted with the floor.
Even Naruto was surprised by the by this relapse in her demeanor despite what had happened between them the night before but quickly deduced the reasoning behind it... their one person audience.
Tsunade, oblivious to the previous night's romantic events, merely shrugged it off as 'normal'.
"Are you going to open it?" Naruto heard for the second time that day, except this time it was coming from a slightly impatient Hokage.
Naruto's mind jumped at the idea as he removed the ribbon like he had done with the other, but this time he put it in his pocket. Now he slowly opened the small box, a big contrast to his newly excited state of mind.
Like Hinata had been before, Naruto was easily entranced by the ring. It had an onyx black marble ring band with a clear round stone on top.
He finally removed the ring from its container and in his entranced state, he slowly set the box on Tsunade's desk, not once removing his eyes from the thing that held his attention even more so than the locket had.
He now held the ring in two hands, between his thumbs and index fingers. Upon his touch, the once clear gemstone flared into a flaming blue.
"Put it on," Tsunade instructed, holding back her anxiousness.
Whether it was a suggestion or a demand, Naruto couldn't tell, but he could hear the anxiety in her voice, even though she had been trying to hide it. For some reason, he wanted nothing more than to put it on his finger like she said. Somehow, he managed to hold of his dire need to put the ring on to ask a question.
"What's it do?" He asked bluntly, still transfixed on the object.
With a disappointed sigh, she obliged to his question... In a blatantly bored tone of voice, she was already done explaining its properties only a few minutes later. Everything she had told Hinata, he now knew... minus the part about his possible death, however improbable it was; but seeing how it wasn't going to come to that, he need not know anyways.
After hearing her words, his resolve to put on the ring only strengthened. He slowly moved the ring to meet the tip of his right middle finger. His mind raced with all the possibilities the ring could bring him before finally taking one last breath and sliding it over his knuckle. It was alittle loose at first, but amazingly, or magically, it shrunk perfectly to fit his finger snugly.
A moment later, the now blue gemstone shone brightly and the onyx ring band crumbled to the floor. The blue gemstone literally melted around his finger and instantly dried there before its glow finally faded. It still had an odd shine to it.
"Well that was cool... But I don't feel any different-"
The two girls in the room let out a relieved yet disappointed sigh but immediately shot back to full attention as Naruto was cut of in his sentence.
"Wha-?" He tried to say with some difficulty. He put one hand to his stomache and then suddenly became very weak in the knees. He immediately began sweating and panting. It felt as if he had just been training his Wind Manipulation again. All his chakra seemed to be... shrinking. His vision suddenly went blurry and his legs finally gave out.
With a thud to the floor, Naruto lost consciousness. He could barely hear the muffled yells in his ear coming from the two females.
"Naruto!"
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(Other POV, still part of flashback)
"What is it?" Asked a familiar harsh toned voice.
"Hiashi-sama. I am sorry to disturb you. Tsunade-sama has requested me to inform you that your daughter, Hyuuga Hinata, is currently at the Hokage tower helping her with an important matter. She also regrets to inform you that you were not notified sooner," the masked man revealed.
"So be it..." Was his monotonous reply. Walking back inside, he could be heard saying something to the point of "Some daughter she turned out to be..."
The ANBU character then disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
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"...ruto... Naruto... Naru- Look, he's waking up!" A yet undetermined voice said to someone else.
His blurry vision showed that of dark and blonde long haired women peering over him.
"Huh? Wha... happened?" He said at last, slightly disoriented.
"You fainted..." Said a blunt familair voice. "It was rather unmanly, too..." She added sarcastically before the exhausted Naruto weakly tried to swat her away, knowing it had to be the old bat.
"Naruto...?" Came another, more sweeter voice before he fell back into darkness.
A few hours later and he found himself waking up yet again. Wide eyed and worried, he looked around panicked for some reason. He was still in the Hokage's office. After his quick look-around, he notice Hinata sitting up groggily from her sitting position on the floor while sleeping over Naruto's legs. With another look around, he could see Tsunade snoring away at her desk with a surprise to him, no sake in her drunken hand.
"If you keep that up, you're gonna have even more writing on you face," he called out in Tsunade's direction.
At the sound of his voice, she shot up and looked around dumbly.
"Naruto!" Came the other familiar voice once again. He looked to see a now fully awake Hinata staring him down with an estatic look on her face. "I was worried! Are you feeling alright? You're not-"
"Whoa whoa, calm down Hina-chan..."
"Hina...chan?" She repeated in her mind. She blushed at her new nickname.
"I'm fine," he answered both their worried faces. Tsunade was now getting up from her chair as it skooted back noisily and was now walking over to him. He inadvertantly looked out the window behind her and noticed it was dusk.
"How come I'm not in the hospital?" He asked, noting the time of day and how long he was out.
"Pssh, as if you need to be in the hospital when I'm around... besides, there's nothing physically wrong with you," she answered confidently.
"Mmm..." Came his doubtful reply.
Seeing this, Tsunade answered his unsaid question. "It was just your body adapting to the ring... How do you feel, by the way?"
Naruto swung his feet off the sofa and stood up with overused strength. "Whoa... I feel... lighter?"
"Hmmm... interesting." She simply replied.
-Really long flashback over-
So far nothing he learned from his clones were of any help, other than the attack style of his most recent encounter. Unfortunately, it didn't help him on his personal mission.
"Naruto-kun... Naruto-kun," the voice was sounding more and more impatient, "NARUTO!"
"Huh?" He'd been spacing out again. He usually did that whenever his clone's memories came back to him.
"What's the matter with you lately?" The voice showed a hint of concern, but mostly irritation.
"If you keep spacing out like that, you're going to put yourself and others in danger," she lectured.
"But-" He started to counter.
"No 'buts' about it! What if I had been an enemy? You'd be dead already," she said sternly.
He still didn't see what could be so dangerous. It was only Ichiraku's ramen stand. Unless Teuchi-san was going to strangle him with a wet noodle, he really had nothing to worry about. But ignoring Sakura could lead to a potentially lethal situation as well. One thing was for sure, she had definately started reverting back to her old self again.
"What was with that clone you just sent out anyways?" She asked, sounding curious.
"Oh that..." He had sent out that clone completely absent-mindedly. At that moment, he forgot he was having lunch with Sakura. She said something like, she "owed" it to him or something. It was still a bit awkward on his side though. He still felt bad about what happened.
"Someone as stupid as you can't hide this forever," the harsh voice sounded inside his head. Supposedly, the ring helped to hold back it'schakra, but it sure didn't hold back it's nagging voice.
"Shut up!" He commanded inwardly.
"Moron," it returned in a dull manner.
"Whatever happened to that long silence that was going so peacefully before?" He asked the fuzz ball, aggitated.
"I was bored," it replied simply, too stuck up to admit it was mostly because of Sasuke.
Naruto was making wierd faces. He had informed Sakura of the 'conversations' he'd have with the tenant living inside him. She figured this was one of those times. She cleared her throat in an attempt to regain his attention and his gaze actually fell back upon her at last. That rarely worked... if ever!
"Well? You obviously have something on your mind and if it has you too distracted to listen to me, then it must be serious," she said, sounding even more stuck up than the Kyuubi and alot like Ino at the same time.
"Get over yourself, girl," it spoke again. With great concentration, Naruto ignored it this time. He let out a sigh.
"I suppose you deserve to know, being my teammate and all..."
Not expecting this sort of statement from her now close friend, Sakura's curiosity peaked at this point. She tried to keep the majority of her attention on her ramen rather than Naruto even though she was almost dying to stare him down with unbending curiosity.
"Well, um... I learned who my parents were-"
"Really?!" She choked on her noodles. "Who are they?"
"Were," he corrected.
"Oh," she frowned.
"My mother's name is Kushina Uzumaki-"
"Is?" She questioned, noticing he used 'is' instead of 'was'.
"Well yeah. Her body was never found so she could still be alive... or at least I hope so... Anyways, that's what that clone was for. I'm sending them out hoping to dig up some clues." He then scarfed down a few more mouthfulls of his pork ramen before continuing.
"She gave me my parents' locket... in that box.," he revealed. Sakura nodded in understanding.
"My father's name was Minato-"
"Minato!? As in the-"
"Yup, the Fourth Hokage," he finished for her. She sat there stunned. She could now see the resemblance. The noodles she had in her chopsticks slipped out and landed in her lap, breaking her out of her trance.
Teuchi yelped as he burnt himself on the stove. Obviously he was taken by surprise by what he learned from listening in.
"But you can't breath a word about it to anyone! Got it?"
Sakura nodded.
"You got that, old man?" He spoke to Teuchi.
"Yeah, yeah," he replied as he put his burnt hand under a cold tap.
A/N: What did you think? I think I like how it turned out but I'm not too fond of giving Tsunade all those alcholic tendacies so I'm going to work on lessing that. I"ve have already started doing so if you haven't noticed... her bottle wasn't completely empty. Anyways...
I have decided to include an explanation of the jutsus I create in my stories, just not until they are executed in the story itself. Here they are...
Konoha Danmaku no Jutsu (Leaf Barrage Technique) - Removes the leaves from any plant and hurtles their hardened, metalic form at the opponent. With the use of a single handseal, the user can manipulate the leaves to become hard or soft at will. (Can be used with pine trees as well to replicate the senbon effect.)
Kontei Douran no Jutsu (Root Upheaval Technique) - Opens up the ground to let loose any and all roots to attack the user. The power of the jutsu depends on how much foliage is around as well as how much chakra is put into its performance.
Until Next Time...
