Sadly I do not own Naruto. Oh well… but I can still play around with the plot.
This is very much an AU story. If you don't like it, I really don't care. This came into being from a request from a friend, co-author, and now girlfriend; not to mention an AP English assignment.
With in this chapter there is a small song that Noriko sings, it was written by:
-PsychicLunar-
Hidden in Plain Sight, Act II: The Return of the Yellow Flash.
But before Noriko could answer, the door to the room that they were "sleeping" in opened, revealing a young man with the white eyes of the Hyuuga and long-ish black hair.
"Neji-kun…" squeaked Noriko.
Neji hid a small smile as he walked into the room; he had changed a lot since he had broken up with Tenten. It was soon after that torrid relationship that he cut his normally long hair to a point where he actually looked like a member of the male sex. Also, during the war with the Hidden Sound, the main family had been forced to remove his curse seal. So now instead of commonly being mistaken for an angsty kunoichi, he was widely recognized as a very sexy man, wanted by the women of the village almost as much as Sasuke was.
The other kunoichi in the room did their best to try and ignore the male that had just entered the room, the Hyuuga household was very different than other houses in the villages, they had no privacy at all, so it wasn't all that odd for a male to come walking into the room full of females at odd times.
Neji walked over to Hinata, got down on one knee and bowed. "Hinata-sama, I have been assigned to guard your room tonight, if there is anything that you need please inform me and I shall see to it."
Hinata sent him a small smile and replied, "Thank you Neji-nisan."
"It is always a pleasure." Replied the now standing young man. "By your leave…?"
Hinata waved her hand at him, a joking dismissal.
The next thing that Neji did would shake their very image of him as a coldhearted bastard that they had come to know over the years.
Neji had been on the way out when he stopped in front of Noriko and was looking down at her with a small smile on his face, she just grinned back up at him, her foxtail twitching slightly.
"You listen to your story?" he asked.
Noriko nodded vigorously her grin cracking her lips and showing off her elongated canines.
"Normally I would attempt to make you go to bed…" he trailed off, then smirked; looking around the room. "But seeing as you're now a kunoichi and not that brainless idiot that you pretended to be, I leave you to your own devices."
Noriko's smile had grown so large that her eyes were now squeezed shut.
"Just try to get some sleep, Tsunade-hime has informed me that you are to become a member of the Konoha Shinobi ranks and are going to be tested on your skills tomorrow." Neji knelt down so that he was face to face with Noriko, his eyes locked onto hers. "You show them how good you can be, okay?"
Noriko nodded again and launched herself at him, knocking him over in a huge bear hug.
The other kunoichi were staring at them their mouths hanging open, Neji had never let anyone hug him… ever.
Neji was just as surprised as the others were, there he was with a very nicely shaped female pressing herself to his front, on the floor, rubbing against him in some very interesting ways, in front of several other females; it was causing him some blood flow issues.
Awkwardly he hugged her back and after a few more moments Noriko removed herself from him, whispering a small. "Thank you Neji-kun…"
Neji smiled once more saying, "I told you you'd be first." Quickly kissed her forehead, and left even quicker than one would have thought possible.
The kunoichi in the room watched Neji leave with a sense of disbelief flooding their minds, who was that man and what had he done with Hyuuga Neji, the Ice King?
"What in the of the seven levels of HELL was that!?!" Ino all but shouted.
"That…" said Noriko a small smile still on her face, not to mention a huge blush. "That, dear ladies, was a very good secret keeper." She looked thoughtful for a moment, "That and sexiest man in all of Konoha."
Hinata could not hold back her blush, as she turned a shade of red that easily outclassed that red of Noriko's ears and tail.
Seconds passed…
Temari, Ino, and Sakura couldn't hold back any longer…
They burst out laughing, laughing harder than when they had found out that Sasuke's brother was as straight as a three-yen coin and was VERY interested in his brother. Louder than when they had heard the details of what Sasuke had done to Itachi for even thinking such things. Somehow Sasuke had reflected the advanced form of Itachi's Sharingan and in doing that convinced his brother that his partner was him (Sasuke) and was, in fact, very inviting…
No one had heard of either of them since.
It took them a few minutes to calm down but they did, finally.
"Now that that's over with…" said Ino with a odd gleam in her eyes. "Let's get this party started!"
The others cheered loudly and attacked the random amounts of food that the Hyuuga servants had set out for them. If anything these girls could eat.
And eat.
A-and eat.
And eat some more…
Finally they left the table, the food on top of it in ruins, Noriko had sat there and stared at them, dumbfounded. Her manners may not, nor have been the best, but when compared to these girls… she was at least civilized.
Temari rolled onto her back with a soft sigh.
"Man…" she sighed again, "That was good."
"Don't go to sleep now Tem-chan!" shouted Tenten
"There's way to much to do!" continued Ino, "I mean there's so much that we don't know about No-chan here!"
"Like, who else knows that you're really a girl, No-chan?" asked Sakura.
Noriko, put a finger on her chin, looking so cute while thinking that Hinata and Ino and to restrain Temari from glomping the girl. "Well… Kakashi-hentai knows, so does Shizune-nichan, and think Ero-sennin figured it out, but I'm sure no one else."
"oh…" was the slightly stunned reply.
"Not to mention that as the kunoichi of the village and around her age, we have a duty to try and set her up with the most eligible bachelor in… oh… wait…" Sakura trailed off mid rant.
"Nani?" asked Noriko, cocking her head to one side.
MOST of the kunoichi had the good graces to blush, all but Temari.
"Well… heh heh… You see…" Ino stuttered. "We… uh… kinda… welabeledyouthemosteligiblebachelorinallofKonoha." She said all of this very fast, and thus made it very hard for Noriko to understand.
"Oh…" the fox-girl said. "I was wondering why I had so many girls trying to get into my house."
Cue massive, group, sweat drop.
"And besides…" said Hinata effectively steering the conversation away from the uncomfortable topic of dating. "There's the chocolate to think of."
All of the kunoichi, minus Noriko, whipped their heads around so fast if one would've blinked, then one would've missed it.
"You… mean…?" Sakura managed out of her mouth that was currently full of drool.
"Yup…" said Hinata in a mysterious voice. "The Hyuuga Special Dark Chocolate."
The other's in the room, still minus Noriko sighed dreamily, or in Sakura's chase, drooled.
It is a little known fact to most of the inhabitants of Konoha that the oldest clans were stared out by people forming guilds that specialized in making or doing something unique. Look at Kiba's family, they are still doing it, they were, and are, dog breeders. In this case, the Hyuuga's were a world-renowned guild of the best chocolate makers ever to grace the planet, royalty from all of the old countries would send off for their chocolate.
While the others were lost in their dreams, Noriko just looked around the room with her head cocked to one side, completely confused.
"What's the matter No-Chan?" asked Temari. Of all of the kunoichi in the room, Temari had taken to "Naruto" much faster and much easier than the others had; even Sakura hadn't become friends with Naruto this fast. The Sand kunoichi had always thought of Naruto as her own, personal, non-psycho, little brother, and now with Noriko, the feeling was still the same, only now it was a little sister.
"Oh…" the fox-girl gasped. "It's nothing…" She looked down and began to fiddle with the fur of her foxtail. This action caught the attention of all of the other kunoichi in the room, effectively snapping them out of their daydreams.
When "Naruto" had been either a) nervous or b) lying to them, her would smile and scratch the back of his head, or after his transformation into a kitsune, play with the fur on his tail.
Now everyone's attention was focused in on Noriko.
"It's alright…" cooed Ino, sitting down close to Noriko and placing an arm around her shoulders.
"It's nothing really…" whispered Noriko, a lightly blush covering her whiskered cheeks. She looked up and with the comforting looks and small words from the others. "I was just wondering… what's chocolate?"
There was silence at the end of this question.
Complete and utter silence.
No one besides Noriko moved or breathed.
Hell, even the crickets stopped their chirping.
"You mean to tell us…" said Hinata, a righteous anger burning in her heart. "That you've never had chocolate before?"
Seeing the looks and sensing the anger in their faces, Noriko ducked her head and nodded very slightly, afraid that they wouldn't want to be friends with her any more. Of all the things in the world, Noriko was afraid of losing her friends the most, because of her abusive childhood that there would always be the deep seeded fear that, one day, they would all denounce her and she would end up all alone again.
"But what about the chocolate bars that we would get at the end of the year from Iruk-senei?" asked Sakura, still in shock.
Noriko looked thoughtful for a moment.
"Oh those…" she said, and then ducked her head in shame, again. "I either had to sell them for money so I could get my weekly meal or some villager who said 'I wasn't good enough for such things' took them. It's really not that big 'a deal, I'm used to it."
They had caught the slip on Noriko's part about the "weekly meal," but let it slide… This time…
If anything the anger that had been burning in Hinata's chest had now spread to the others in the room and even to Neji, who was sitting outside the door, just in case something or someone entered the room that wasn't supposed to be there.
Sakura was the first one to regain her ability to speak after this shock. Her words, in regards to the villagers were strangely apt; they were base, extreme, and called into doubt the villagers' parentage, sexual preferences, personal appearance and hobbies, and implied certain predilections that are not normally mentioned in polite society, or within the hearing range of young children.
Throughout her rant the other kunoichi in the large room, minus Noriko, voiced their agreements and nodded.
Noriko, on the other hand, hadn't heard a word of the rant and she… well… she pulled her knees up to her chest and curled into a ball. She was so worried that they'd turn her out and refuse to be her friend.
"Maybe I should just leave…" Noriko whispered in a very pre-Naruto-enhanced-Hinata-like voice; Noriko had actually gotten up and made it half way to the door before she was actually tackled off of her feet by Hinata.
"Look Noriko-chan, I am only going to say this once. Whatever those bastards who call themselves villagers did to you WAS. NOT. YOUR. FAULT. Got it? Now, understand that there is nothing that could make us want to stop being your friend." Hinata would've continued, but the others had decided that it was their turn to voice their affirmations to Hinata's words.
"Yeah." Said Tenten with a fist in the air.
"You tell her sister." Said Ino, she wasn't doing anything, just sitting and watching the two of them.
"Right on." Said Sakura, who was trying to braid Temari's short blond hair.
"Listen to the girl, No-chan." Said Temari, careful not to move her head.
Noriko just stared at the blue-hair Hyuuga in wonder.
"Now where is that chocolate?" asked Hinata, taking charge of the situation in a very un-Hinata like way. But right as she finished her question, the door to the room opened and four chefs walked in, arms laden with trays. Three of the four carried various fruits, sweets, pretzels, cakes, and the like, plus other instruments to eat with. The fourth held what looked like a water fountain; only the water in this fountain was the rich dark brown chocolate. The liquid sweet flowed down three piers before pooling at the bottom. The smell alone would have made even the most hardened of Shinobi drool.
Noriko stared, this was becoming quite common, in wonder, and her mouth was hanging slightly open.
A mischievous glint came into Tenten's eyes as she picked up a long spoon. The kunoichi dipped it into the liquid heaven and placed it into Noriko's already open mouth.
The look on Noriko's face the instant her brain registered the taste could only be describe as rapturous, hell, she wouldn't eve let the spoon be removed from her mouth, no matter how hard Tenten tried to pull it out.
"You know… I think she likes it…" whispered Sakura to Tenten, with a slight giggle.
"I'll say…" replied the kunoichi biting into a plump strawberry, a bit of the juice dribbling down her chin. "She's still sucking on that spoon."
Indeed, Noriko was still sucking on that spoon, trying to ensure that there was no more of the chocolaty goodness on the silver spoon.
Ino got an evil glint in her eye, and she crept from her seat behind Noriko to right behind the fox-girl. "EARTH TO NORIKO-CHAN!!!" the blond girl bellowed.
Noriko was so startled and surprised that she jumped so high and fast that she literally jumped out of her pants and was now hanging from the ceiling rafters in just her shirt and her panties
"Don't do that!" the fox-girl shrieked down at them.
"High strung isn't she?" Tenten said to Hinata as the Heiress took a bite out of a marshmallow dripping with chocolate.
"You try switching sexes after spending sixteen or so years of people believing that you're a boy, then see how high strung YOU are." Grumbled Noriko as she shimmed down one of the support beams. "Gimmie my pants damnit."
Temari tossed the pants to the fox-girl commenting dryly "Now that's not proper language for a lady."
Noriko flew her the bird and plopped down next to the pretzels, which hadn't been touched, and began to combine the liquid goodness with the salty snack.
There was an awkward silence as the others watched her.
"No-chan…" said Sakura, breaking the silence hesitantly.
"Hmm…?" sighed Noriko, a pretzel stick hanging out of her mouth like a salty cigar.
"What's with you and Neji-san?"
Noriko paused, crunching the pretzel with her front teeth. No one said anything as the fox-girl consumed the salty treat; everyone was waiting for her answer.
Noriko pulled the last bit of the stick into her mouth and swallowed it. She opened her mouth to answer as the kunoichi in the room sat forward almost desperate to hear her answer.
As Noriko opened her mouth but the only thing that came out of her mouth was a groan of pain as she rolled over onto her side, holding her stomach.
The kunoichi's eyes flew wide open, recognizing the effects of poison was a requirement to become a Chuunin, which all of the kunoichi in the room were.
"No-chan!" shouted Sakura and Temari as the two of them rushed to the prone figure of their friend.
"Neji-niisan!" shouted Hinata in a commanding voice that she rarely, if ever, used.
The door to the room flew open and Neji's face appeared. The Shinobi took the scene in and was back out shouting orders before the door had even finished opening.
"You!" He shouted at a group of servants. "Find and bring the chefs! You! Get the medic! And you! Find… No Summon… damn… Get Hiashi-sama!"
Within moments the entire Hyuuga household was in chaos, and soon most of the village Jounin and ANBU had been alerted to an assignation attempt on the Hyuuga Heiress's life as well as several other kunoichi.
The small team of Hyuuga ninja that had been sent to retrieve the chefs encountered a gruesome sight. One of the Chefs had committed seppuku with a kitchen knife, one had vanished, and the other two had been bound, eyes put out and tongues cut out and pinned to the wall behind them.
It was a sad day for the Hyuuga household indeed. There had not been an assassination, either attempted or succeeded, in the complex in four generations; and even then the man who had been assassinated was a vile shrew who hated everything that moved unless it was himself.
But all was not lost.
Some of the household couldn't believe it, but there was the seal on Noriko's stomach.
Kyuubi no Kitsune was still inside of her.
The kunoichi and Shinobi couldn't believe what they saw in the final battle of the war was a GenJutsu. And even with this new knowledge they were still stunned to see Noriko get up from the poisoned cramp that she had been held in for the past few minutes. It had been a slow healing, or at least by Kyuubi's standards.
Though she seemed okay, the medic from the Hyuuga family insisted on forcing her to the infirmary for observation while the whole mess with the chefs could be settled out.
It was a few hours after the guards had found the… chefs' remains when Hyuuga Hiashi waltzed his way into the infirmary where all the kunoichi were taking various antidotes as a preventative measure and Noriko sitting with them, all of them surrounded by a mixture of medics, guards, and one very frazzled Neji.
The clan head coughed to gain their attention. The various guards and medics bowed deeply, the kunoichi bowed their heads a little and went back to their antidotes, and Noriko waved to him while smiling brightly.
"Well…" sighed the white-eyed man. "I'm afraid that the two blinded and muted chefs didn't survive the blood loss… and the escaped man is being followed by several hunter ninja."
There was no response from any of the room's occupants.
"There is still the small matter of whether you wish to remain here until Hokage-sama can finds you an apartment or if you wish to find other arrangements."
All eyes turned to Noriko.
If the power in the room had gone out, her blush would have still lighted up the room.
"If I may… I would like to stay here… if you don't mind that is…"
Hiashi looked at her for a few moments, then sighed as he shook his head. "Neji… put her in bed… Then leave me alone in the quiet… I don't know how but I've got a hangover bigger than that Uchia brat's ego…"
Sakura fumed as the rest of the room winced.
Recovering from her cringe, Noriko cocked her head ton one side and said, however eloquently, "Huh?" She then Looked over at Hinata and asked the kunoichi, "What did he mean- EEP!"
She hadn't noticed as Neji came up behind her and squeaked when he lifted her up by her waist and cradled her against his chest, one arm behind her shoulders the other under her knees, and walked out of the room.
Noriko blushed so deeply that it seemed that there was not enough blood for the rest of her body to sustain life. "Y-you r-r-really d-don't have t-t-t-t-to do t-t-t-this N-N-Neji-san… I… I can w-w-walk." She said while unconsciously snuggling deeper into his chest a bit, causing her chest to rub against his.
It was lucky for Neji that Noriko's face was snuggled into his chest because at the brushing of Noriko's chest against his; his face turned such a vibrant red that outclassed the color of the darkest cheery.
"I know that Nor(Crack)ko-chan… but I want to." Neji said in a much higher voice than he probably intended.
Noriko didn't know what to say to that, no one, bar the five kunoichi that she had "met" that night, for the most part had ever wanted to do anything to or for her that did not involve causing her pain. She found herself reevaluating how she felt about Neji. Sure the Hyuuga was desirable, in fact she could feel the muscles in his chest and arms, could hear the kindness in his voice and feel the gentleness in his actions toward her.
In the years under her GenJutsu she had watched the men of the village. Though if she was completely honest with herself, after observing the Shinobi of the village she had opened herself to the idea of loving another woman, but she found that the kunoichi, though nice and certainly desirable, as all but worthless and weak; she could just not bring herself to attempt a relationship with one of the kunoichi. The men of the village were, either stuck-up, arrogant, stupid, angsty, emo, or any combination of the list. Even though there were some that were not any of these, these few men could not stand up to her fire, they would melt and evaporate and leave her alone again, and for that very reason she had resolved never to enter a relationship with any man. But now… Neji was breaking every single one of the shields that she had put up against these very feelings, it was even harder to keep the shields up after he had given her his father's wedding ring…
FLASHBACK
It was just before the Chuunin exam finals, and 'Naruto' was sitting under a blooming Sakura Tree. It was slightly late in the blooming season and the blossoms were floating down off of the tree in a sort of snow, the tree was huge and the branches of other Sakura trees reached over 'Naruto,' the result was large hills of the fallen blossoms that resembled a pink snow.
'He' was so absorbed in watching the blossoms fall 'he' didn't even notice that someone was watching him until…
"Noriko-san." Came the voice.
'Naruto' gave no impression that 'he' had heard the voice that could be seen, though if 'he' wasn't half covered in the fallen blossoms one would've seen 'his' hand move over to hover of the kunai pouch strapped to 'his' leg.
There was a deep sigh, then a thunk.
Then person had thrown a mask down in front of him. It was a falcon mask that closely resembled an ANBU mask, but clearly wasn't.
"Hello Neji-san…" said 'Naruto' relaxing a bit, after studying the mask, it had been a gift to Neji from the Sandaime for a job well done during a incident that had happened years before, but had never really become public knowledge.
"Come sit. Be at peace." Continued 'Naruto.'
"There is no peace, Noriko-san, we are at war; but thank you, I shall." Neji replied sitting down next to 'him.'
"You know that we are always at war, Neji-san." Replied 'Naruto,' moving slightly away from the young man as he sat on top of the blossoms.
"Yes." Was his cool reply.
"At war with another village, war with other people, war with ourselves."
"Yes."
"Only when we hold no malice in our hearts can there be true peace. Only when the people of the world can take life in every breath…"
"I know."
"Only-"
'Naruto' never got to finish this statement as 'he' was pushed over into a large pile of blossoms by the judicial arm of the young man that had taken a seat next to her.
This time, as opposed to other times when 'Naruto' got mad, Noriko came up, out of the blossoms, spluttering, her face flushed with anger, and in that anger, dropped her GenJutsu.
It was in the very moment that Noriko up out of the blossoms that everything changed.
Something had changed in that moment, Noriko could feel it; she would later find out from Lee, that this was the first time that Neji had truly seen her; or as Lee put it: "Neji won't stop going on about this girl he'd met, saying that he'd seen the most beautiful girl in the world."
It had been the first time that Neji had really seen Noriko as a female, a female, that was definitely not 'Naruto.'
Noriko could even hear the change in Neji's voice as he tried, in vain, to continue talking to her without seeming to be affected by his new view of Noriko. His voice cracked like a pre-teen's when he tried to continue.
"Nor(crack)ko-san… You're getting philosophical again."
Noriko cocked her head to one side and said, very eloquently, "Huh?"
Neji sighed, valiantly fighting his blush, to him, Noriko was so… words failed him. "When ever you get depressed you start think way to much."
"Oh…" was the airy reply.
"Besides… Hokage-sama sent me with something for you that he found in his desk."
Noriko's eyes lit up and the fox ears on the top of her head began to twitch, and if Neji could see it, so had her tail. Then, without warning, Noriko leapt at Neji and, after the flurry of blossoms in the air had settled, ended up with a mouthful of the fallen blossoms.
"Don't do that." Said Neji, who had somehow moved to the other side of her ans was looking down on her with a slight smirk on his face.
Noriko looked up at him, spitting the blossoms out of her mouth, and pouted.
It took all of Neji's profound will power not to get down on his knees and kiss her.
"One of these days, Neji-san, one of these days you're gonna get a hug, and I'll be damned if I don't give it to you." Noriko said, still pouting and crossed her arms over her chest.
Neji's smirk only grew.
Noriko humph-ed and sat back against the Sakura tree, her pout increasing.
"Undoubtedly it will be you who gives me this hug." Sighed Neji as he sat down next to Noriko, leaning back against the tree, his arms crossed behind his head. "You've been so determined to do this that you've even taken to following me when I'm off duty and then trying to ambush me."
Noriko couldn't help but laugh, in fact she laughed so hard that she had to lean against Neji to keep her balance. Little did she know that these very actions caused Neji's heart to leap in his chest and he could've sworn that Noriko's very sensitive ears could hear the increase in his heart rate, hell he thought that anyone standing within thirty feet of the two of them could hear his heart.
"Yeah…" wheezed Noriko, recovering from her laughter, but she didn't get up from Neji's shoulder. "That was pretty funny."
"Funny my ass." Barked out Neji, once again loosing his cool and his battle against his blush .
Flashback within a FLASHBACK
On that particular incident, Noriko had been tailing Neji as he went about the village, running errands for someone in the Hyuuga house, doing odd jobs about the village as freelanced D-ranked missions, as the Shinobi Handbook told him. As soon as it appeared that he was finished and was heading back to the compound, Noriko struck. She jumped out of the tree she had been hiding in, right at Neji.
And ended up with a mouthful of grass and dirt and a smirking Neji looking down at her.
It should be noted that his incident happened during the times that Noriko never took down her disguise, ever, only when she had been confronted by Neji and she had shown him her true form but even that was only for about five minutes.
Unfortunately for Neji, Hinata chose that moment to walk by the two of them, all she saw was a bruised and battered 'Naruto' and a smirking Neji standing over 'him,' and immediately assumed that Neji had beaten up her crush.
Hinata had never chewed anyone out before in her entire life, but boy… When she chewed out Neji, she made up for lost time.
End Flashback within a FLASHBACK
"The look on your face…" Laughed Noriko, leaning against him even harder than before.
"Shut up." Came the harsh reply.
Noriko just smirked, an evil glint coming into her eyes. Slowly and deliberately, she crawled over Neji on her hands and knees, straddling his legs, swaying her hips, looking ever the part of the seductress, until she was just inches away from his face. She paused, her eyes searching his face for some sort of rejection, and finding none that she could see, began to close the distance between their lips. And just before their lips touched a large group of young academy students came crashing through the clearing followed be an irate teacher that looked oddly like Iruka.
The instant that Neji registered the students, he leapt away from Noriko blindingly fast, he face was creating new shades of red. Noriko, on the other hand, sat back on her heels, looking completely unabashed and very disappointed The moment that Noriko had created was shot to hell.
"H-Here." Said Neji, trying desperately to regain control of the situation, handing her a small black box from the pouch at his hip.
Noriko took it from him and opened it.
She gasped, inside was a plain white gold ring, about a centimeter thick, there was not a mark that could be seen on the ring.
"Look on the inside…" whispered Neji.
Noriko took the ring in her hand and look on the inside, it was engraved with:
I will always love you my daughter.
-Namikaze Minato
Noriko was speechless; everything that she had ever received from anyone in the past had never been like this. If she got nothing that wasn't hateful glares or the odd rotting foodstuff thrown at her, it was never of the greatest quality, most of the time is was so cheep it could've been a toy.
"It's your father's wedding ring…" Said Neji, still whispering, quite confident that he had regained control. "Hokage-sama found it in his desk and assigned me to deliver it to you."
"Oji-san knows…?"
"Of course he knows, he knows just about everything that goes on in or around the village."
"Stupid crystal ball." Muttered Noriko darkly.
Neji, couldn't help but smile, Noriko could always make him smile, she was so… damn, words failed him again. With a gentle hand, he took the ring from Noriko's fingers and placed the box on her lap.
Taking her hand in his free hand, Neji gently place the ring on her right middle finger the way that a man might place a ring on his fiancé's finger.
The two of them sat there in silence, Neji holding her hand in his two larger ones.
"By the way Noriko-san…" said Neji, breaking the silence.
"Hmm?" sighed Noriko, a slight blush forming on her face.
"Don't call me Neji-san, it makes me feel old."
"Same for me then, Neji-SAN" replied Noriko, stressing the suffix teasingly.
"Deal Noriko-chan." Said Neji very quickly
Noriko gave him the biggest, most grateful smile that he had ever seen from anyone.
"Thank you Neji-kun."
END FLASHBACK
Noriko was brought out of her trip down memory lane by Neji gently setting down on a futon in the large room that the five of them had been staying in earlier.
"I'll be down the hall if you need anything, and there will be patrols down these halls and outside for the remaining time that you are here."
Whispered Neji, pulling the blanket up over her and tucking her in, with one hand he brushed a stray hair out of her face. Neji went out the door saying. "Goodnight Noriko-chan."
-Meanwhile-
"Hinata-sama, may I have a moment please?" asked the Hyuuga medic that had worked with Noriko during the crisis.
"Yes?" replied Hinata, stopping and signaling the other kunoichi to stop as well. "What can I do for you?"
"How long has Noriko-san been under that hidden-sex GenJutsu?"
"How would you know something like that?" asked a very startled Temari.
"I am a member of the Hyuuga-branch house with no seal, and as a medic I would be able to see the effects of Chakra on the body system." Replied the medic calmly, there was a certain warmth about this medic.
"Oh…" sighed the now deflating Temari.
"But what of it?" asked Sakura, thinking that there was something wrong with her "new" friend.
"The GenJutsu had stunted her hormonal development. There was evidence of her monthly menstrual cycle, and the obvious development her breasts. But when I take in to account the obvious residual Chakra all over the parts of her body that would normally have the most hormones, they are severely deprived of hormones. I find it astonishing that she has had any pubescent development at all. If she was to develop be herself without the GenJutsu, her breasts should've been at least 38C or 34D, at the most a 36D at the most, but not the mid-B that she is right now."
There was an awkward silence
"I think that I can give you the answer for that." Said Sakura, blushing from the frank description of the medic. "I know that from my apprenticeship with Tsunade-sensei, that there was a young-girl living with her for about six months, and now that I think about it, she did look a lot like Noriko. I would guess that it was during this time that the majority of… um… her… development took place."
"That would make sense Sakura-san." Said the Hyuuga Medic, crossing her arms and nodding.
"This is all nice and everything, but what would we do with this information?" asked the furiously blushing Tenten.
"Well…" said the medic, rubbing her hands together. "It would be good if we could restart the process, though it would be best if we could jump start the process and get it finished by morning."
"And how would we do that?" asked Ino.
"Hinata-sama can do it quite easily." Replied the medic.
"Really? How?" asked the surprised Hyuuga Heiress.
"It's actually quite simple, really." Said the medic going into what normal people would call a 'lecture mode.' "Just activate your Byakugan, look for the tenketsu right behind the pituitary gland, and then send a moderate jolt of chakra into the tenketsu, not enough to block it though. This should, how you say, 'jump start' the gland and give it more than enough Chakra to finish puberty by the end of the week, but I think with the Kyuubi no Kitsune within her, puberty will be finished by morning."
There was a silence in the infirmary.
Then Hinata spoke. "If this is true, then we will need to make adjustments to the clothing that we got her today."
"Yeah…" said Sakura, thinking back to the lingerie store that they'd been in earlier. "We'll have to get her new bras and make changes to the ninja outfit that we had made for her."
"That will be no problem, the Hyuuga clan can do the adjustments with a few looks after the jump start, and the bras can be bought before the stores close today, and if they are closed, then they will be open for the official messengers of the clan." Hinata said, looking at her hands in awe.
"Let's get this done. I want to see her after we get rid of this restriction on her hormones." Temari said, with an odd look on her face. "though if she gets anymore sexy, Neji'll have to beat the other boys off with a bat."
The other girls voiced their agreements and they all left the infirmary in a large group. As they approached the room they heard a small voice singing. The five of them got right up next to the door, and listened very closely.
"Hush little demon… don't you cry… No one cares how you feel inside… No one's gonna love you… no one's gonna hold you… no it won't be alright… Alone in the darkness… with no one there… and so what if it isn't fair? You're a little monster, an evil demon… and for that they'll never care."
It was so plainly Noriko. There was absolutely no mistaking that voice, a voice that held so much indescribable pain and loneliness.
Through the crack in the door the five of them watched Noriko rock herself to sleep, her knees and tail pulled up to her chest. Slowly the fox-girl rolled onto her side and with a few more soft whimpers she fell asleep.
The Kunoichi looked at each other, before Ino voiced what they were all thinking. "What in the hell was that?"
No one spoke for a few moments, then, "I don't know, Ino-chan." Said Temari. "But I'd be willing to do anything to make sure I never heard anything like that again."
"I'm with you Tem-chan…" whispered Tenten. "That broke my heart."
"Come on girls, let's get her fixed up and get to bed ourselves, there should never be a reason for her to sing like that again." Said Hinata.
There was a chorus of soft agreements as the five of them entered the room as softly as they could, and as a group gathered around the sleeping form of the fox-girl. Hinata sat back on her heels, right next to Noriko's head, and with a practiced hand, she rolled her head so that she could easily access the tenketsu on her neck.
"Ready?" Sakura whispered to Hinata.
"As I'll ever be." Was the even softer reply, the pale-eyed Heiress activated her Byakugan and placed two fingers on what the others assumed was the tenketsu and there was a small flash of blue Chakra.
Noriko's entire body jerked violently, but kept sleeping as though the five of them had not been messing with.
Hinata deactivated her eyes and sat back with the others and watched, in utter awe, as the changed actually started before their very eyes. Noriko's body began to change, her breasts began to fill out ever so slightly as they watched, as did her hips, though they couldn't tell if there was any change in height.
The five of them looked at each other once again, shrugged, and let in the head tailor of the Hyuuga clan. Who, upon entering took one look at Noriko with his Byakugan, nodded and left without saying a word.
"Do they ever talk?" asked Sakura, slightly disturbed out by the tailor.
"Not really…" said Hinata. "No."
Ino yawned. "Bed… now… so tired…"
The others crawled onto their various futons and within moments were asleep.
THE NEXT MORNING
The evil rays of the morning sun broke through the large window in the room and, of course, hit Noriko right in the face. With a great effort, she tried, in vain, to stay asleep, but, alas, it was all for naught. With a great sigh, she sat upright on her futon and stretched. She was not aware that the other kunoichi had been up for an hour trying to get her clothing ready for her new body shape, and boy had she changed. For one, her breasts were larger, about a 34D(1) and thus accentuating her new body; which had become an amazing supple hourglass-like shape, and her hair… Her hair was now just a bit longer, reaching to her shoulders and still as unruly as ever, it still stuck out at odd places, though it was still silky smooth and as blindingly golden blonde as before.
Her fellow kunoichi couldn't help but gawk. She had changed so much!
Temari was right, Neji would have to keep the other men off of her with a bat and his genius with the Jyuken Fighting Style.
The supple curve of her breasts and hips all curved together in a magnificent symphony of feminine beauty. She looked so soft and perfectly cuddle-able; the kind of girl that every man wants to hold in his arms after a long hard day at work. Her shirt, once stopping a few inches above the bottom of her pants was now revealing several glorious inches of her midriff, all of it a perfect golden tan; was now stretched quite tight across her chest.
Also it seemed as if her tail was sleeker though still as fluffy as it ever was; her fox ears where just a hint longer; and when she turned around to face them the distinctive whisker marks on her cheeks, though darker were thinner and daintier.
"Good Morning!" she greeted the kunoichi as she realized that they were awake. She stood up, ready to bounce over to the five of them to give Hinata a hug and to glomp Temari, but while standing she over balanced and ended up with a face full of the tatami mat.
The five kunoichi burst out laughing.
Noriko sat up on her knees and looked down at herself. Everyone stopped moving at stared at her, wondering what her reaction was going to be.
Noriko took one of her hands and cupped one of her breasts, and giggled, saying "Okay… those are mine…" Then the fox-girl proceeded to pat down the rest of her body, checking everything that had seemed to have changed. Upon finishing, Noriko looked up at them, "Okay… what did that medic do to me? Wait… No… what did she ask you to do, Hinata-chan?"
The five of them stared at her; if they had been in her situation they would've had more loud/violent reactions.
"Y-You're n-n-n-not m-m-mad?" asked the paled eyed heiress.
"That was one impressive stutter, but no."
"But why?" asked Sakura, wondering what was going on in the girls mind.
"Kyuubi-nichan told me what you did and what she did in return. All six of your actions where for my benefit… so why the hell should I be mad at you?"
"You haven't really changed have you?" asked Ino, throwing a cushion at the fox girl.
"If you mean my personality, then hell no. But if you mean my appearance, then you would know that better than I would, now wouldn't you, Ino-chan?" Replied Noriko dodging the thrown cushion with ease; and sat down in between Hinata and Temari.
The five of them sat in a silence that seemed to go on for forever, until…
A low rumble shook the room, knocking the six of them off of their seats.
Noriko, put a hand behind her head, and, with a grin, "Sorry 'bout that…"
"No-chan…" said Tenten, "Was that your STOMACH!?!"
"Heh, heh, heh." Was the chuckling reply.
"You're not all that hungry are you Noriko, usually you would've knocked something over." Said Sakura, grinning at the fox-girl, who at the time; was helping Temari back to her knees.
"It's got to be something about being a Jinchuriki, right?" asked Temari, shaking her head. "Gaara's always hungry."
Noriko just smirked and absent mindedly pulled down her shirt a bit. "That has something to do with it, but most of the time, we just like to eat more than other people; it's fun."
The others in the room sweat dropped.
"What?" asked Noriko, looking around at their disbelieving faces. "I like to eat, is that a problem?"
"N-no…" said Hinata, her mind was a complete blank slate.
"Damn…" muttered Ino, the health nut who was always worrying about her figure. "That's just so damn unfair."
There was a sudden knock at the door, causing everyone to jump.
"Hinata-sama." Came the cool voice of Neji.
"Yes, Neji-nisan?" replied Hinata.
"Please wake Noriko-s-"
He was cut off by Noriko loudly clearing her throat.
"Noriko-chan? Good. You're awake." He was still standing out in the hall. "You need to get ready; Tsunade-sama will be awaiting you in an hour. Your clothing is in the hall." And with that, they heard his retreating footsteps.
"Clothes?" asked Noriko, cocking her head "I thought that all of my clothes were in here…"
"No-chan take a look at yourself in the mirror over there." Said Temari, pulling Noriko to her feet with her back to Temari's front and walked the girl to the mirror, then gestured at her body. "You've CHANGED! You've grown several sizes here." Temari placed her hands under the fox-girls breasts, though not toughing them. "Here." This time her hands went to the girl's hips. "And her-"
"I get it!"
shrieked Noriko, jumping away from the sand kunoichi, blushing
furiously. "Just let me eat something, and then you can have your
way with me."
"Yay!" shouted Ino, clapping her hands.
'Damn… what have I gotten myself into Ni-chan?" Noriko thought to herself.
'I don't know kit, but you have to admit, it's funny as hell.' Replied Kyuubi with a soft chuckle.
'Who asked you anyways, furball?'
'You did.'
'Shut up.'
"She's slipped off into dream land again, hasn't she?" asked Ino at they five of them watched the fox-girl stare off into space.
"Give her a minute…" whispered Tenten. "I'd suspect that she talking to Kyuubi-san."
"If she's not done by the time the food gets here, the smell of the food prepared by father's cooks will bring her out of her conversation." Said Hinata, sitting back on to her rear and relaxed.
It was only a few minutes later when Neji and the guards under his command brought the food; six trays, each with a bowl of rice, white miso soup, pickled vegetables, and tea.
Hinata was very right, the smell of the food was amazing, and the instant a tray was in front of her she snapped out of her conversation with Kyuubi and dug into the food in front of her. And again they saw that Noriko was still the same "boy" that they had all come to know and love, she ate like a woman who had been starved for weeks.
Finishing the rice with a large swallow, she sat back with a sigh. "Damn that was some good stuff."
The other kunoichi stared at her in shock, this was becoming quite common for these people, did they not remember Naruto at all?
Hinata quickly finished her food as did Temari and Sakura, and as one the three of them stood and pounced on Noriko.
"It's time…" said Hinata in a dark voice.
"Wha…?" gasped Noriko as the three kunoichi approached her and watched in horror as they dragged her off to another room…
A HALF-HOUR LATER
The three kunoichi emerged from the room; there had been a struggle and quite a few squeaks of terror; not to mention enough girlish giggles to make the room sound like an all girls-school dorm after hours.
And then Noriko emerged, cursing.
The others stared in sock at her; the outfit that they had gotten for her was the absolute best thing that they could've gotten for her.
It was a very short kimono that barely reached a quarter of the way down her long magnificently tanned thigh; it was dyed to a point that it was so dark; it might as well have been black. The sleeves of this 'kimono' were cut unevenly as though to make them look like the petals of the sakura tree's blossoms. The front of the kimono was open enough that one might've been able to see the curve of her cleavage if it were not for the fresh white wrappings that hid them from view. In addition to the kimono there was a black obi with gold accents that held the robe tight across her frame, accenting her already supple curves. Her obi had gold chords coming off it that hung about half a meter to the ground. With the wrappings binding her breasts there were also wrappings around her forearms and on her calves. Though right now she was barefoot, in addition there was a pair of black sandals that went with the kimono. Her hair was left down, with a small length of ribbon inside the folds of the robe in case it was ever in need of being tied back.
"Holy…" gasped Ino
"Hot damn girls!" Shouted Tenten, "We chose good; didn't we?"
"Yeah, we did, but that leave us with only ten minutes to get ready." Shot Hinata,
"Who needs more than ten minutes?" asked Temari, pulling a scroll out of her hip bag that was lying on the floor next to her. With a practiced ease she whirled the scroll about in and in seconds a light had obscured her from view and when it died, there was Temari, sitting in all her kunoichi glory, even her huge battle fan was with her.
"You know…" said Ino. "I'd forgotten that we can do that…"
Then without warning, Noriko jumped on Temari, shouting. "Show me!"
The other four kunoichi left the room as Temari showed Noriko how to do the "get dressed" scroll jutsu.
It was minutes before Noriko had to be in front of the "Forest of Death" for her test when the six of them set off, running as fast as they could; hearing the wolf whistles and cat calls as Noriko shot past the men of the village.
They arrived right on time.
There was a set of bleachers with a few people already in them, including Iruka, Hizashi, Kurenai, Anako, and several other Jounin, Chuunin, and Genin. Tsunade was standing in front of the bleachers, backed by a group of nine or ten ANBU, with a very annoyed Kakashi and Sasuke with them, snow still coating their clothes. Sasuke's eyes widened as he saw Noriko, he had seen her somewhere before, but where…?
"There you are." Said Tsunade smiled. "We've been waiting."
"Neji-kun said be here at ten," said Noriko. "It's-" but was cut off as the clock tower began to chime ten.
"He told you ten? I told him nine-thirty!" shouted Tsunade, sending a glare into the group of ANBU.
"Don't blame him…" said Noriko, scratching the back of her head. "You heard about the disturbance at the compound."
"I wouldn't call it a disturbance…" muttered Tsunade darkly.
"Hush you." Snickered Noriko, her smile sent the hearts of several of the ANBU, who as Tsunade knew were all men, fluttering.
Tsunade couldn't help but smile, the girl was so damn cute. "How 'bout we get going with this test, I'll bet these people have something better to do than to sit here watching us gosip."
"I'll bet they'd rather just sit and stare at us, judging from the blank stares that we're getting. It's like they've never seen a woman before."
'More like they haven't seen such a good looking one before, No-chan…' thought Tsunade. Then the Hokage turned to all of the people there, and announced. "Welcome one and all to a special placement test for one Uzumaki Noriko. The test will take place in three parts, all of which will take over the place of four hours total.
"The first part will have Noriko hide in the forest and the group of ANBU plus Kakashi and Sasuke searching for her, if she lasts for over 30 minutes she passes, and if she can last longer the better grade she'll get, lasting for the entire hour… well… that says something about our ANBU squad doesn't it?"
There was a round of generous chuckling as the ANBU shuffled their feet nervously, unbeknownst to anyone else; they had been warned to be ready for anything.
Tsunade turned to the fox-girl with a stern expression, got out a large hourglass, turned it over, and, with a grin, said, "Go."
Noriko was gone the instant Tsunade was finished speaking.
The reader should note that the large group of people was about 50 meters from the edge of the Forest of Death. Noriko had crossed that distance in the time that it took the observers and the ANBU to realize that she was gone.
There was a round of softer cursing from the ANBU as they took off after the kunoichi-to-be, and split off into their separate cells, with Sasuke and Kakashi by themselves.
Little did they realize that of all the places in the world, Noriko felt most at home in the forest, they were fighting a battle that was impossible for anyone to win. Noriko could watch the ANBU without them even sensing her, she could all but jump on them without any of them noticing, so naturally she used this to her advantage, playing all sorts of tricks on them. A simple GenJutsu on one to make him look like her, a few hot pink paint bombs, and several shadow clones all over the place, setting up traps and small explosives for the ANBU to trip. Some of the clones were carving special seals into the trees of the forest, something special.
30 minutes came and went without a real sighting of Noriko, just as Tsunade had bet the members of the high council. Only time would tell how much she had actually won from those over-bearing-fuss-pots.
The alarm marking the half-hour mark went off, sending the ANBU in a frenzy, and in their hurry, they started making mistakes; allowing for Noriko to tag them with Chakra markings for pranks that would happen later when she was out and about in the village.
The minutes ticked by and soon there was only five minutes until the end of part one…
Four…
Three…
Two…
One…
A Huge bell went off over the forest, sending birds flying from their trees and small animals running for their holes. Then Tsunade came over a loudspeaker sending the message to halt the search and then for Noriko to return to the clearing.
"The first part of the exam is now over." The Hokage called. "All ANBU return to base, do not engage target. I repeat DO NOT ENGAGE TARGET! Noriko come to the clearing, code: green!"
Noriko, smiled, that was a code between the ANBU and her that there was no danger of being attacked, but just be ready for an accidental confrontation or an ambush.
She was about 30 yards from the edge of the forest, she felt someone land behind her, and then there was and arm about her waist and two hands groping her breasts.
"How 'bout some love…?" growled a deep voice in her ear.
In the clearing the returning ANBU.
Most of the ANBU were gathered in the clearing, waiting for the stragglers to come in, Sasuke and Kakashi were off to the side, talking quietly, trying to solve the mystery that was this girl that they were testing and why in the seven layers of hell had they been forced to return from their journey to the Ice Country with "up-most haste."
Tsunade was standing off to another side with one ANBU standing next to her, she was tapping her foot impatiently with her arms crossed over her chest.
Then… A high pitched scream cut through the air, "YOU PERVERT!!!"
The sounds of slaps, punches, breaking trees, breaking bones, snapping ligaments, and screams of pain floated through the air, the ANBU and others in the clearing sweat dropped.
"Who isn't here?" asked Tsunade.
"That would be… damn…" muttered the ANBU in the tiger mask next to her. "It's master sergeant Lion."
"And he is…?" asked Tsunade
"Imagine Jiraiya-sama, then make him about 18 years old, and now give him absolutely no morals what so ever; and you have master sergeant Lion."
"He's going to die isn't he?" asked Tsunade, shaking her head in a mixture of disgust and shame in her own ANBU.
"He won't be seeing active action for the longest time."
"… If he survives, it really depends on how much Noriko hurt him."
An even louder crack split the air, and an uncomfortable silence hung in the air as Noriko came stomping into the clearing, fuming and snarling, Kyuubi's Chakra flowing in waves off of her.
"He's dead isn't he…?" Tsunade asked another ANBU, this one wearing a sparrow mask.
"I would think so…" the man replied, a little worry in his voice.
"Damn pervert…" muttered the kunoichi, cracking her knuckles and scowling at the other ANBU standing next to and around the Hokage. "Don't even try to touch me... Like that…"
The ANBU cowered under her glare.
Tsunade walk up to her and pulled her into a hug. "Welcome to the world of beautiful kunoichi No-chan." She whispered.
Noriko let loose a string of curses that would've burnt the bark off a tree.
Tsunade winced.
Finally Noriko wound herself down, and melted in her embrace.
"You going be okay to continue the exam?" asked Tsunade, holding Noriko gently in her arms, much like a mother would hold her distraught daughter.
Noriko nodded before pushing herself away from the Hokage and straightening her kimono. "I'm gonna kill those son-of-a-bitches, they're all gonna die."
Tsuande sighed deeply, but said, "Fine… Just don't kill too may of them… I still need some people to spar with… you know, just to keep my girlish figure."
Noriko bit her lip, trying to keep herself from laughing.
"What's that supposed to mean!?!" the Hokage shouted at the girl in front of her, shaking her fist in her face.
"Nothin'…" sighed Noriko, avoiding Tsunade's eyes.
"It better be nothing…" Muttered Tsunade, pulling Noriko back toward the clearing, all the while sending subtle hand signals to the ANBU to stay at least 3 meters away from the girl. She then turned and addressed the crowd, which had grown larger as the word had spread through the village about the special exam.
"This next part of the exam will involve all of the remaining ANBU going into the forest while Noriko in after them, she had one hour to find, subdue, and capture all of them and to take their masks. The capture of four ANBU masks will result in a mere pass, the more captured will result in a higher score. GO!"
This time there was no pause in the announcement for the ANBU to run into the forest, but it was only instants later that they were running into the forest at their top speeds; Noriko strangely stood still watching them run.
And everyone in turn held his or her breath as the watched Noriko.
And they waited.
And waited…
And waited…
Then the fox-girl began to move.
She bit her thumb and her hands began to move faster than any eye could see, Kekkai Genkai, or not.
There was a huge inrush of Chakra as she bellowed, "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!!!"
The entire clearing filled with smoke billowing up from the ground where Noriko had slammed her palm into the ground.
The smoke cloud filled the entire clearing and filtered into the forest itself, creating about a foot of fog floating at the feet of the hiding ANBU. Through the cloud, the members of the ever growing audience could hear a mixture of thuds, thumps, yelps, and twangs.
This could of smoke hung in the air, resisting dissipation.
"Oh for the love of…" muttered Temari as she whipped out her fan, from no where, and with one mighty blast, blew the cloud of smoke far, far away with one great wave of the huge battle fan.
What was under the cloud shocked them all.
In front of them was a large mass of foxes, gathered in a semi-circle facing the forest. These foxes ranged in all colors and had any number of tails; ranging from one up to four. All of them, minus one, were holding or in front of an instrument of some kind.
Then the shadow fell across the crowd, and, as one, they all looked up at the source of the shadow.
I was a fox.
I giant, crimson fox, who's head, was well over the tops of the trees in the Forest of Death. This fox possessed nine crimson tails, all of which were swaying in the wind behind it. This fox was most definitely a vixen, the shape of its torso, although still very fox-like, had the curves, suppleness, and hourglass-shape of a human female.
"Kyaa!" shrieked Noriko from atop the great fox's head. "You came, Ni-chan!"
Something clicked in their minds; this was THE great Kyuubi, the nearly-all-powerful nine-tailed fox demon that had nearly leveled Konoha nearly 18 years previous.
The huge vixen closed her glorious green eyes in a very foxy smile, and let loose what seemed to be a mixture of a growl and a purr as Noriko hugged her head.
The two of them stayed like that for a few moments, there seemed to be a silent form of communication going between the two of them.
Then Noriko jumped down from the Kyuubi's head and said to the mass of foxes, all of whom were watching her with all of their attention. She waved and smiled brightly at them causing some of the white foxes to turn a light shade of pink…
"Ready?" asked Noriko, rubbing her hands together deviously causing shivers to run up the spectators' spines
The great vixen nodded her great head.
"Then lets do this." Shot Noriko walking over to stand between the mass of foxes and the forest, her hands once again flying through seals.
The audience had a bad feeling about what was bout to happen, after all, the Hokage had never put restrictions on what the Shinobi/Kunoichi could and could not do, that apparently included the use of lethal force.
Then suddenly Noriko's hands stopped moving and there was a huge inrush of Chakra as what ever remnants of the smoke from the earlier jutsu was blasted away.
An odd reddish glow flickered to life around Noriko's body, forming phantasmal flames that licked the air around her lazily.
It was at this moment that the audience noticed that the group of foxes had begun to play; this was literally the best background music for the scene.
The music was alternating between low and higher pitched voices, both playing a similar rhythm and was rising to a massive crescendo, and upon reaching its peak dropped back down to very soft. It was like nature itself was helping this orchestra, just as the foxes dropped their volume level down low, thunder crashed over the forest as clouds began to spin around the center of the forest in an almost hurricane-like pattern.
WITH THE ANBU
Kakashi and Sasuke were confident that they had found the perfect hiding spot, huddled in the hollow of one of the biggest trees in the whole forest with one or two of the other ANBU.
"She'll never find us here." Muttered an ANBU wearing a dog mask, his twin, sitting next to him, grunted in agreement.
"I don't know…" whispered another ANBU, this one wearing a hawk mask. "From what Squad Leader Flaming Youth said, we were not to underestimate her."
Little did they know that the seals that Noriko had carved while she was the hunted had begun to glow a pale blue.
WITH NORIKO AND THE FOX ORCHESTRA
The orchestra was beginning to slow its tempo as it got louder and louder and the low voices became more and more powerful in several magnificent blasts. Then the entirety of the instruments came in a huge and magnificent fanfare with bells ringing in the background.
The end was in sight, the audience could feel it, the tension was building as the light of the sun was darkened and night seemed to fall.
"Look!" shouted Iruka, pointing at the forest. "The forest."
And indeed there was something odd about the forest.
Along the horizon there was a blue glow beginning to form, lighting the sky just a little bit.
ANBU
"Damn…" said Kakashi, he had begun to feel the building Chakra from the seals all over the forest.
"Wha-" said the ANBU in the dog mask.
"Run!" Sasuke screamed at the three of them, his Sharingan activated as he tried to leap out of the hollow.
But it was far too late.
NORIKO
The music had reached its final crescendo, all of the voices in unison, they played several very fast and short notes followed by a cannon blast from somewhere in the percussion. And, in that cannon blast, the seals activated in a brilliant wave of bright blue Chakra and every single one of the traps the Noriko had set up went off in series, and through the repeated notes and cannon blasts of the orchestra the audience could hear the screams of the ANBU and the small explosions, twangs, or snaps of the traps going off.
And in the final moments of the music, the louder instruments played a similar fanfare as before followed by a short pause of complete silence as one of the ANBU came flying from over the forest to land in a heap, a new one in every pause. They landed side-by-side, all of them looking worse for wear, some of them where even covered in paint or something that made them a different color, until all of them were in a line, tied up and completely unable to stop Noriko from taking their masks.
"Ah so that's Lee-kun…" muttered the Kunoichi as she pulled a flaming tiger mask off one ANBU, and down the line there was Gai-sensei, Shikimaru, Kiba, Akamaru (disguised as Kiba's twin), Choji, Neji-kun, Ebisu-hentai, a few others that she didn't know and of course, Kakashi and Sasuke. When the last two would wake they would find themselves in the worst condition of all of them. The seal had bleached Sasuke's hair to platinum blonde, and Kakashi's normally silver was a rainbow of every color in the visible spectrum not to mention that his skin had been dyed a bright purple, just for kicks.
After collecting the masks Noriko jumped back up onto the giant fox and hugged it with all her might. "Thanks ni-chan!" she shouted. "That was the best."
The great vixen let loose another on of its great purr/growls and it, along with the other foxes vanished in another cloud of smoke.
This time the smoke was quick to clear, leaving Noriko, sitting on the ground, rubbing her butt with what looked like a small white ball of fluff on her shoulder.
"Damn… that hurt…" muttered the fox-girl pulling herself to her feet, brushing the dirt off of her kimono.
"You're okay, right ni-chan?" said the ball of fluff on her shoulder in a high pitched voice, revealing itself to be a very small white fox with only one tail, and brilliant purple eyes.
"I'm fine, but what are you still doing here?" Noriko asked as she surveyed the bound ANBU, now beginning to revive and discover their predicament. "Won't your mother be worried?"
"Nah…" the chibi-kistune replied, licking Noriko's whisker-marked cheek. "Oka-san said that if I was with you it was fine."
Noriko scratched the fox's head a smiled a bit as she continued to watch the ANBU regain consciousness and writhe in their binds.
She didn't notice Sasuke watching her, his Sharingan activated to his fullest extent, his mind slowly putting together the pieces of the mystery that clouded his mind. Or that Kakashi was watching her as well, pride shining in his one visible eye.
"Well I'm in the middle of a test…" Noriko said absent mindedly as the small kitsune nuzzled her cheek. "Could you go and sit with one of my friends until I'm done?"
"Carry me." Was the only reply as the fox wrapped it's tail around her neck.
"…Lazy kitsune." Muttered Noriko as she walked over to the stands where the five kunoichi were awaiting her presence, all of them wearing broad smiles.
Temari tackled Noriko, the small fox jumping from her shoulder into Hinata's lap, all of them were laughing harder than they had since "Naruto" had put dye in Kiba's shampoo and turn both him and Akamaru a brilliant pink that refused to wash out for three weeks and Tsunade-hime had been forced to put Team 8 on domestic duty until the dye washed out.
"Get off me you big lug." Muttered Noriko from underneath Temari, coughing up dirt.
"I am not big." Temari scowled darkly as she stood up and pulled Noriko to her feet.
"Take a good look Tem-chan" said Ino, walking over to Noriko. "No-chan's smaller than all of us, 'cept Hinata-chan 'cause she's always been small."
"oh…"
Noriko just laughed, then started to look around her, looking for something.
"You okay ni-chan?" Shouted the little fox from Hinata's lap.
"There you are." Sighed Noriko, looking slightly relieved. "If I'd lost you, your mother would've had my skin for her doormat."
"No she wouldn't!" the little fox shouted back. "And you know that! Oka-san loves 'ou, and she'd love a little time alone…"
"…You gonna be okay with Hinata-chan?"
The fox leapt up onto the purple-eyed heiress's shoulder and nuzzled said heiress's cheek all the while purring.
"I'll take that as a yes. You going to be okay watching the little trouble-maker while I kick these guys' butts Hinata-chan?"
Hinata scratched the fox's head and nodded slightly with a wry smile.
"You think that they need help untying themselves?" asked Sakura with a little worry in her eyes.
"They shouldn't… they are ANBU that got caught in a very simple to see prank seal." Said Tenten, looking at her boyfriend, Choji with slight disgust in her eyes. "By the way, I love what you did with Sasuke-baka's hair, No-chan."
"Thanks."
"I might just make him leave it like that, just to remember how easily he was humiliated." Said Sakura, trying, in vain, to hold in her laughter.
Again, little did they know that Sasuke was still watching them, the Sharingan user taking mental notes on how easily the girl had integrated into the Kunoichi's lives. The little pieces that he was collecting were falling into a giant puzzle, and some things were staring to clear up from his past years in the ranks of the Konoha Shinobi.
It took them a few more minutes of waiting the ANBU had freed themselves and were now looking very ashamed of how easily Noriko had captured them. Not to mention that according to Konoha tradition, once an ANBU loses his or her mask to another ninja, they do not get another, nor the opportunities earn another.
"Are you ready to continue Noriko-san?" asked one of the ANBU that Noriko didn't recognize.
Noriko turned to face the man, an evil smile gracing her beautiful face.
"Hold up." Said Tsunade, holding up her hand to stall the ANBU. "There's something that I need to give Noriko-chan before we continue."
The ANBU looked a little disconcerted, but nodded and stepped back.
"No-chan, c'mere" beckoned Tsunade, now holding a short wrapped package that had appeared from no where. This package was thin and about one-and-a-half shaku long, wrapped in black silk, decorated with gold and crimson embroidery.
"This…" said Tsunade softly, handing the package to Noriko. "Was your father's, he left it to be given to you on this occasion… There's another part to it, but I'll give that to you after we're done here."
Noriko held the bundle reverently, as though not to break it.
"Go on… Open it" urged the impatient Hokage.
With trembling fingers, Noriko pulled the black silk off, revealing a beautiful wakizashi (short sword), the scabbard was a swirl of gold and jet; the tsuba (hand guard) depicted the image of a black night with three stars cut through the metal, and the actual hilt of the sword was wrapped in a black chord, with the traditional gold ornaments wrapped next to the body of the hilt.
Tsunade, could see the Noriko was shocked, to say the least; and backed away slowly. No one knew what the sword of the Yondaime could do, no one alive had ever seen it in action, they'd all been cut down by the blade.
The Hokage signaled the ANBU, and said, loud enough for everyone to hear. "Begin part three!"
The ANBU rushed toward her, confidant that they would win with ease, after all it was one kunoichi against the eleven of them; the most elite of the Shinobi that Konoha had to offer.
But still Noriko stood there, holding the sword out in front of her. Then, ever so slowly, as the ANBU rushed toward her, kunai and other weapons drawn, she gripped the hilt and turned the blade out toward the incoming ANBU, her eyes blazing with golden fire, blasting out a massive wave of Chakra.
And in a flash of gold, Noriko was gone.
The only thing that had been left was an odd three pronged kunai.
But that was the least of the ANBU's worries, these oddly shaped kunai were flying from every direction, but none of them could see where they were coming from. Kakashi's eyes bulged in their sockets; he knew these kunai all too well…
There was an odd three-toned whistling coming from all around them, Tenten, who was sitting in the stadium seating, immediately stood up, recognizing the sound as only a weapon master could. It was the harmonious whistle of a perfect tachikaze (blood groove of a Japanese sword).
Kakashi tried to warn the others, but it was too late, the gold flash was upon them.
With amazing speed and accuracy, Noriko cut down several ANBU with three strokes, leaving only Kakashi, Sasuke, Neji, Lee, and Gai. She looked at them, not even breathing hard, her eyes still ablaze with the same golden fire, the entirety of her eye was gold, no iris, no pupil, nothing but the gold light.
Sasuke had activated his Sharingan, trying to copy what the girl was doing, but as Kakashi knew, and had found before with his teacher, was failing just as miserably as he had. Now his star… former star pupil was doing, Naru- Noriko was, and should've always been his star pupil. Now the former sensei was getting schooled in his own game, by his student, the irony was delicious.
Neji knew that he was going to loose, Noriko was out of his league, though he knew that if he wanted to keep his place on the ANBU squad he would have to try his best not to get himself killed. He activated his Byakugan and settled into his Jyuken stance.
Gai and Lee, being the slightly brainless idiots that they are, rushed headlong into the waiting Noriko, and were struck down with no apparent movement, they just hit the ground on either side of the girl and neither of them moved.
The audience couldn't believe what they were seeing, this girl had almost single handedly taken out the most elite ANBU squad in all of Konoha.
It was Sasuke's turn to be an idiot, and he rushed the kunoichi.
Noriko vanished in a flash of gold as Sasuke reached her, and in another flash of gold, was behind him, this time bringing the sword down upon his back with an almighty slash that knocked him out cold.
Neji's eyes widened, he saw the secret of the kunai, there was as Chakra trail that Noriko could somehow follow. He followed several trails, noting where they were, and unfortunately, five of these trails led to him and seven to Kakashi; nt even counting the other strands that webbed throughout the rest of the clearing, they were trapped.
There wasn't even time for Kakashi to move as the golden flash was upon him, and he went down without even knowing it himself.
It was now that Noriko stopped, the sword, in its scabbard, in her left hand, her right hand hovering over the hilt, ready to attack before Neji would even get past the first movements of his attack. Her tail and ears were buffeted by some phantasmal wind that blew through the clearing, only touching Noriko.
Suddenly, Noriko smirked, and once again, vanished in a golden flash.
Neji sank into a defensive stance that should've provided him with absolute defense, but it was for naught.
Noriko appeared right in front of him, her entire body pressed tightly against his, and…
She kissed him.
End Chapter 2
(1): Noriko here! I'll bet many of you are wondering if my little Aengus is a pervert or something, no he's not. I put in all the bra sizes, and since the character "Noriko" is supposed to me modeled after me (or so Aengus tells me), she has my name after all, I figured that she should, literally, be me, or at least mostly. I don't have blonde hair, though I am quite short and am blessed (or cursed) with a larger chest than most people. So if you want to flame someone, flame me.
Author Notes:
Well… another chapter come and gone, and now we're tired. Once this chapter is posted, we'll begin working on BETAing Anerwyn's Uzumaki Mikomi, which is another FemNaruto story that is definitely worth a read, so please go out and read it. On another note, Noriko and I had to scrap what we thought we were going to do with New Beginnings and had to start anew, so that's what's taking so long, though a new chapter should be out by the end of October. Don't expect regular updates on anything because of the demands of being a Senior and being in marching band. Also don't expect any other chapters to be this long… ever again, we just couldn't find an ending.
Cheers
Aengus and Kitsune no Noriko