Disclaimer: I own Nothing, except Uzumaki Lorei and the computer I'm using to write this.
Star:And technically you don't even own that, your parents do.
Nebula: (Twitches) Shut up! It was a birthday present so it's mine!
Skye: Whose paying the internet and electricity bills for it though?
Nebula: (Mumbles) Mom and dad...
Star: So there! (giggles)
Nebula: Oh Leave me alone!
Skye: Enjoy the story!
NARUTO
ANGELS WITHIN TEMPTATION
Saga 1: Embers of a Nation
Chapter 2 theme song "Broken" by Seether and Amy Lee
Chapter title:
What was Once Lost May Now Return
'I wanted you to know, I love the way you laugh, I want to hold you high and steal your pain away...'
Chapter 2
Lorei smiled at her son who had come home in a rush talking about how his team had gotten their first C ranked mission.
She was worried, but she didn't want to dampen his excitement.
She knew some of the supposedly C ranked missions Arashi took his genin team on sometimes ended up as much higher ranked missions but that was during the war, it probably wouldn't happen nowadays right?
"So the guy we're guarding looks like he's a drunken fool Okaa-san. I kinda understand the mission ranking system, but it doesn't mean the D-ranked missions weren't boring, so I'm really looking forward to it… Okaa-san you look worried, daijobu?" Naruto blinked looking at his mother
"Oh it's nothing baby, but be careful okay? I'm just a little worried because it's the first mission you'll be taking outside of Konoha. You'll be traveling to Wave Country correct?"
"Uh huh, but it's just a C-rank mission, the worst we'll probably get is bandits Okaa-san." Naruto looked confusedly at his mother
"As I said it's nothing. It's just the first time you'll be going away and I'll miss you!" Lorei smiled and gave her son a hug.
As her son packed his backpack to get ready for the mission she gazed around the small apartment.
It really was tiny, even compared to the shinobi quarters which everyone knew were cramped.
The apartment consisted of an open area with a small fridge, microwave, and kip oven\heater against one wall, two futons rolled up against another wall, a make shift table with two beat up chairs, a beat up looking metal cabinet with a padlock on it and a door leading to a small washroom.
The two of them didn't own much furniture, because they both tended to get over-charged by almost all of the shopkeepers and sometimes people broke in while they were out and messed up the place.
The metal cabinet held everything important that they didn't want wrecked so that no one but them could get it.
"It's almost 9:30 sweetie. You should get some rest for tomorrow; you have a big day ahead of you." Lorei smiled serenely at her son, ruffling his hair
"Daijobu, Okaa-san you're right, g'night." The blonde haired boy yawned as his mother got up to pull out the futons.
The next morning Lorei quietly followed her son, staying just out of his sight, so he wouldn't notice her.
After they got to the gate; Lorei still hanging back by quite a bit, both of them waited for Kakashi and Tazuna to show up.
The other two members of Team 7 were already there.
After awhile the other two showed up and left the village, Naruto at the last minute turning around to wave good-bye to his mother who gave a happy wave back, as the group disappeared from sight.
As Team 7 got around 2 hours away from the village, Sakura turned and looked at Naruto
"How did you know your okaa-san was back there? I didn't sense her or anything." The girl said with an interested tone in her voice
"First of all I knew Okaa-san would probably follow me a bit so she could say good-bye, but she didn't want to embarrass me or nothing. Second I'm pretty good at telling when people I know are around, always have been don't know why though." Naruto told a smooth lie at the end.
He knew now it was because the Kyuubi sealed inside of him that he could always automatically identify his precious people and his mother happened to take the top of the list because she was always there for him and she wasn't shinobi so he had to get strong so he could protect her and become Hokage so the village would acknowledge him and be nicer to his mother.
Kakashi-sensei was giving him an odd look
"Naruto, what's your okaa-san's name? I think I've met her before somewhere, but I can't remember where." The lazy jounin spoke.
"Uzumaki Lorei" The blond boy said quietly. Kakashi's visible eye widened
'Sensei knew her, that's where I've seen her before! She got along really well with Rin but she barely ever talked to me or Obito. She was found at the village gate and was deduced to be suffering from amnesia; she never got her memories back. Sensei was her friend; he sealed the Kyuubi in her child? The way the civilians and probably quite a few shinobi treat them, the poor woman… From how Naruto describes her, he obviously adores her, which I guess is quite reasonable considering she's probably the only adult that treats him decently. But the way she acted it's obvious he's her world… I remember sensei having to deliver the news of Obito's death to his family; I don't want to have to do that.'
Kakashi quickly settled back into his lazy stance, the shock quickly wearing off.
Tazuna the bridge-builder would make occasional attempts at conversation, but at the moment the shinobi were too caught up in their thoughts
(Or in Sakura's case fawning)
To speak to the man.
A little while later, Naruto blinked looking at an anomaly on the path
"Ehh, Kakashi-sensei? It hasn't rained around her in awhile right?" the blond asked
"Hai, not for a couple of weeks, why do you ask?" the jounin answered, his lazy stance making a subtle shift to a guarded pose.
"Because if it hasn't rained in a couple of weeks, why did we just pass a puddle?" As soon as Naruto finished the sentence two nuke-nin popped out.
The fight was relatively quick Kakashi getting the information out of the two that they had been sent to kill Tazuna.
This lead to the bridge builder explaining that he had lied about the mission rank because the country couldn't afford it because a corrupt rich man named Gatou was taking over the country and running the people into poverty.
If Tazuna built his bridge they would be able to raise enough money through the influx in the economy to get their country back from the cruel businessman.
Of course Gatou had sent assassins to stop this from happening, which is why Tazuna hired them.
The group after a small period of thinking decided to continue on with the mission.
The group moved on heading towards where they got on to the boat that took them to Wave country.
As the group got off the boat and began walking again the genins noticed movement in the bushes and after flicking a kunai at the bush discovered it to be a white rabbit.
A figure hiding in the shadows contemplated his targets
'The orange one is fussing over the rabbit even though he missed it. I thought only Haku did shit like that'
A few minutes later the figure swung a sword at the group, who ducked at the last minute.
The killing intent that radiated between the two jounins was intense.
The battle was an interesting one with Naruto proving he could use teamwork with Sasuke when he used the Fuuma Shuriken technique.
Before Kakashi was able to deliver the final blow a Hunter-nin used senbon to do so.
The Nin took the body away, after thanking the group for helping kill Zabuza.
Tazuna took the group back to his house to rest after Kakashi collapsed from chakra exhaustion.
Kakashi soon explained that the Hunter-nin merely put Zabuza in a death-like state and probably worked for the man.
It would take Zabuza at least a week to recoup from his injuries and during this time they would train.
"Tsunami, Inari these are the shinobi who protected me on the way here." Tazuna introduced the group to his daughter and grandson.
"Hi, I'm Uzumaki Naruto nice to meet-cha!"
Tsunami smiled at the group and Inari just gave a half-hearted 'hello'.
The other two members of Team 7 introduced themselves.
Tsunami made the group some food and Kakashi promised the group to train them in some chakra control exercises to help them get ready for the battle.
Kakashi then sent one of his nin-dogs back to Konoha to inform the Hokage about the mission rank update.
Meanwhile in Konoha word had just gotten back to Sarutobi about the mission status hike.
"Now who do I send to tell Lorei-san? I could get Iruka to do it except he's rather protective of Naruto, like an older brother so I'm sort of afraid of his reaction… I know I'll have Anko tell her, they are good friends from what I remember." The Sandaime smiled and had a summons sent out for the Special Jounin.
About fifteen minutes later Anko showed up, brushing dust off her trench coat and glaring at what appeared to be a very stubborn blood-stain on it.
"I have a D-rank mission for you, before you complain it's something I can't think of having anyone else do. A genin team's C-rank mission got upgraded to A-class. I need you to inform the mother of one of the genins of the situation. The other two are already taken care of. You're good friends with the mother, so you are the best candidate for the mission." Sarutobi calmly finished.
"You want me to tell Uzumaki Lorei, that her son's first mission outside the village just got upgraded to an A-class because of… A-CLASS MISSING-NIN!!? Are you trying to worry that woman to death? She's already fretting herself to pieces over Naruto-otouto, she'll forget to sleep and eat if she's told this!" Anko screeched at the Hokage.
"Maybe you should have someone you trust stay with her to make sure she remembers to eat and sleep?" answered the Hokage.
"Well she'll probably do better if she has someone to fuss over… and she seems fond of the elder Hyuuga girl… Plus Kurenai owes me a favor!" Anko smiled
"I'll do it Hokage-sama, Ja ne!" the sadistic Special Jounin practically skipped out the door.
Anko tapped Kurenai on the shoulder
"You owe me a favor!" she sang
"What is it Anko?"
"There is a genin team whose C-rank got booted up to A-class, I'm asking for Hyuuga-san to watch over one of the genin's mother to make sure she doesn't worry herself to death. I have the illustrious job of telling Rei-chan what happened though." Anko's face scrunched up at the thought
"Alright, Hinata can you come here please? There is a small D-ranked mission that I want you to take care of. It's a one person job though and I think you are best suited for it." Kurenai called over to the lavender eyed girl.
"Al..right Kurenai-sen…sei" Hinata stuttered walking over to the two of them.
"Well you know that genin team that went out on a C-ranked mission the other day? Well the mission got kicked-up to A-rank. After I inform Naruto's okaa-san of the situation I want you to watch over her and make sure she takes care of herself instead of worrying herself to death. She seemed fond of you and being able to fuss over someone should keep her mind occupied." Anko explained
"Of course I would help out Naruto-kun's okaa-san!" Hinata said rapidly not even thinking twice about her words.
"All right, meet up with me at Hokage Tower tomorrow at 9. I'll show you the way to the Uzumaki's apartment. Now I better be off to tell Lorei now, kami-sama let her take this well…" Anko muttered the last line as she walked away from the group
Lorei frowned as she stood up to answer the knock on her door
"Now who could that be? I don't really know anybody who would visit me right now…." She muttered, as her hand turned the doorknob opening it.
"Ko-chan, what are you doing here? Don't you have work?" Lorei asked confusedly
"Well ano… A genin team's C-rank mission got kicked up to A-rank…. Don't worry they are okay as of the report we just got sent back!" Anko quickly reassured her friend as she watched Lorei pale.
"Naruto…" she whimpered, her knees going weak.
Anko caught her before the women collapsed
"Great, I broke her. Please don't tell she's been having those nightmares again, because if she is I am the worst person in the verse'." Anko muttered helping her friend over to one of the chairs in the apartment.
A couple of blankets were half-folded on the floor next to a hamper of clean laundry indicating Lorei had been putting it away when Anko came in.
"They're fine, Rei-chan. Kakashi collapsed from chakra exhaustion, but they are fine. I bet Naruto-otouto will come back at the end of everything with an amazing story about the mission and I can give him a quick wap upside the head for worrying you like this" Anko smiled wanly at her friend whose pupils had contracted as her mind went over every possibility of her baby being hurt.
"Oh kami-sama I can't lose him too. Not my baby!" Lorei whimpered her knees curling up to her chest.
"He's fine Rei-chan, barely even a scratch on him!" Anko reassured her friend who was hovering on the edge of a panic attack.
Lorei blinked "He's… all right?" her voiced wavered.
Anko nodded "Hokage-sama thought I should be the one to inform you of it considering most people wouldn't have reassured you."
"Arigatou Ko-chan." Lorei smiled sweetly the color in her face gradually coming back.
"Okay today I'm going to train you three in chakra control. We are going to climb trees. With out using our hands."
"How are we going to do that Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked
"What's chakra Sensei?" Naruto asked
"Baka didn't you ever pay attention in class!" Sakura whacked Naruto upside the head.
"Chakra is a combination of spiritual and physical energy used to power jutsus. This exercise has you channeling chakra in an even distribution along your feet to allow you to stick to a surface and walk up a tree, wall, or even on the ceiling."
"Sugoi Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto grinned happily quickly turning to the tree and attempting to focus the chakra to his feet and began trying to run up the tree.
After he made it up a couple of feet he lost traction his chakra overcompensated and blew him off the tree.
"You used too much chakra dobe." Sasuke grunted while giving himself a running start for his try at the exercise.
After getting a few feet above where Naruto got to he lost his grip and fell as well.
"Too little Sasuke-kun, the trick is not using too much and getting blown off or too little and slipping off. Sakura-san you try now." Sakura took her start and made it up about a 1\4 ways up the tree before stopping
"Hey this is easy! Why am I able to do it so quickly Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked as she walked down the tree
"You have much less chakra than Sasuke or Naruto; therefore it's easier to control. This is the main reason Naruto has so much trouble with his jutsus. He has so much chakra and almost no control. Sasuke while having better control has more chakra than you do making it harder." Kakashi explained.
The group continued training until Sakura collapsed against a tree, exhausted. She looked at the other two who were still going.
Sasuke's progress was becoming obvious, while Naruto was having a lot of trouble.
"Ano… Sakura-chan, you're really good at this so could you give me some advice? But please don't tell Sasuke!" Naruto whispered to the pink-haired girl.
'Naruto may be doing the worst of them at the moment but once he gets this down he will be the best due to his insane amount of chakra. He has more than Sasuke, in fact his current amount of chakra... It's more than my own'
Kakashi thought observing the group.
A little while later at the bridge, Sakura had been assigned to guard Tazuna at the bridge while Naruto and Sasuke trained.
While she stayed there another one of the builders quit in fear of his life against Gatou's men.
On the way back home at the end of the day the two of them went through town to get some supplies, Sakura feeling sympathy for the people of the land's state swears she will do her best to help them. Later at supper she notices a family photo with a large part of it ripped out.
As she asks Tazuna about it he replies
"Kaiza, he was once known as a hero in this land."
Inari quickly ran out of the room, his mother following him after yelling at Tazuna
"You know not to talk about him like that around Inari!"
Tazuna explains the story of Kaiza and how he was a hero to the village.
"He always said you should protect that which is precious to you with your own two arms. When Gatou came, to destroy the threat Kaiza represented he had his thugs destroy his arms and then publicly executed in front of everyone. Inari suffered the most and this land lost the word 'courage'. This is why I have to finish that bridge. To bring hope back to everyone." Tazuna finished
"I'll do it, I will prove to Inari that there are real heroes out there."
'You've gone away... I can't feel you, anymore...'
Nebula: So what do you think of the second chapter of AWT?
Star: We apologize for the battle scenes so far being so limited.
Skye: We are trying our best but we aren't that good at battle scenes yet
Nebula: So our first big battle scene will be the Battle on the bridge.
Star: We do warn you ahead of time that the result of this battle and many other thing's past point maybe a bit different than the original series.
Nebula: This is an AU story, Lorei's prescence while at times may not seem like much...
Skye: In reality will change a lot of things
Nebula: Please read, review, and wait for the next chapter of Angels Within Temptation!
Star&Skye: See You Next Time!
