Chapter Two

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, only the occasional OC that may / will appear

~ ҉ ~

5 years ago

Naruto stretched his tired limbs. Today, he and the rest of his team were going to be some training. He wasn't sure what exactly the training was, but he was still looking forward to train. For breakfast, he cooked himself a cup of ramen, and a glass of miso soup.

After this, he had a shower then pulled on his orange outfit, then pulling his Leaf Headband proudly over his brow. Naruto grinned to himself and ran out the door, towards the training field.

"You're late," Sasuke called as Naruto ran up to him and Sakura. Naruto blew out his cheeks, about to retort when their sensei poof-ed behind them. Before Kakashi could give them some lame excuse for being late, Sakura interrupted.

"Save that sorry excuse. We all know you didn't really do it." Sakura hissed, crossing her arms over her chest. Sasuke blew out an annoyed breath, and Naruto was just watching his sensei intently.

"Alrighty then. Today for training, I guess we can play a game." Kakashi said, his visible eye showing he was smiling. The mask covering his mouth gave no indication of his emotions. Naruto instantly perked up.

"A game? For real? Awesome!" Naruto fist pounded the air while Sasuke looked at his sensei, his face disbelieving.

"A game? A game? Shouldn't we being doing something serious?" He asked in his normal stoic voice.

Sakura watched their Sensei think for a moment, before Kakashi broke into a grin (although you still couldn't tell from his mouth, only through the eye that was visible).

"This is a serious game, you know. We're going to be playing cat and mouse. Now, Sasuke, I want you to be the cat. Sakura and Naruto, you two are the mice. Basically, you have to hide from Sasuke, until the time runs out. Which is, like 5 hours? Sasuke, you have to catch both of these two, and then bring them back to me. Jutsus, Shuriken, Genjustsu, Kunai etcetera… may be used." Kakashi waved his hand, emphasising the point. "This game is basically to test your hiding and finding skills...oh! And you gotta wear these!" Kakashi reached into a bag that was sitting at his feet, and pulled out 2 sets of mice ear headbands.

"What are those for?" Sakura asked, as Kakashi forced an ear clad headband onto Naruto's head. "Authenticity. Make it more realistic." Kakashi chuckled before putting a pair on Sakura's head, too. Then Kakashi reached into his bag again and pulled out a headband with black cat ears.

"Don't worry, there's a pair for you too!" Kakashi smirked and forced the ears onto Sasuke head, as much as the Uchiha struggled, the ears had still managed to be placed on his head. After this, Kakashi pulled his orange book from his pouch and gave his team a look that said 'go, I want to read…'

"Ok sensei, read your pervy book, and we can start." Naruto said before jumping away. Sakura giggled slightly, looking at Sasuke through the corner of her eye before also jumping away. Sasuke stood still before cracking his knuckles.

"Seriously? I have to wear cat ears? What the hell?" His voice was highly annoyed, and Kakashi simply waved his hand in dismissal. "Yeah, you do. I'll only tell you this though, those ears you're wearing? They have a special jutsu equipped in them to enhance your hearing. That's the reason." Kakashi said before relaxing on the ground reading his book. Sasuke took this as a sign to go away, so he jumped.

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Naruto hid in what he thought was a great hiding spot. He sat in the trunk of a tree that had been hollowed after the branches had been torn away. He didn't realize that this would automatically make a dead-end if Sasuke managed to find him. Naruto snickered and clapped his hands together, rubbing them. It was slightly chilly today.

'Brat, what are you doing?' Naruto heard Kyuubi ask, which was surprising since he wasn't much of a talker.

'Hiding.' Naruto thought back, forgetting to keep a lookout.

~ ҉ ~

Sakura was hiding in a high tree branch, silently giggling to herself. Sasuke looked so cute in the cat ears. And the fact that they looked real and were the colour of his hair didn't help either.

Sakura rested one hand on the side of the tree, the other on her lap. She had set up a couple of trip wires around, and a few hanging exploding tags around in the trees.

Feeling pretty secure, Sakura shut her eyes for a moment, imagining Sasuke with a tail too. Sakura giggled again, then re-opened her eyes to find herself face to (upside-down) face with Sasuke.

~ ҉ ~

Sasuke jumped from tree to tree, keeping his eyes and ears open in case he discovered the hiding place of the 'mice'. What Kakashi had said was true. The ears really did enhance his hearing. Even if they looked stupid.

Sasuke immediately stopped jumping, as he saw something dangling from a tree branch. Sasuke walked up to it to find an exploding tag. Hn. He cut the wire it was hanging on, and it dropped to the forest floor, with a very loud BANG sound. He heard a gasp about 200 metres away (thanks to the stupid cat ears), and he silently made his way over.

He saw a pink head from between the branches, and realized she had her eyes closed. He smirked. Sasuke concentrated his Chakra into his feet, and standing on the branch above Sakura, fell so he was upside down with his feet planted firmly on the underside of the branch. After a second, Sakura smiled and opened her eyes.

She screamed. Sasuke quickly put a hand over her mouth, and held her head against his palm. "Caught you." He announced, before he knocked her out.

~ ҉ ~

Naruto let out a sigh. It had been almost half an hour of sitting here. Sure the forest was big and he should have expected a long wait. He half wished he had brought along some take out ramen, but then decided against it. Nah, Sasuke would probably smell it.

Naruto started to hum to himself, softly in his head. 'What are you humming?' Kyuubi asked. The tune was somehow familiar. 'I dunno. Just humming.' Naruto replied, looking above him. The sky was still a bring blue, and the sun had moved further across the sky. It had been about an hour already. He sighed, and rested more comfortably inside the log.

The thing that made him get up though, was a piercing scream that was cut-off, about half a kilometre away. He knew it was Sakura, and possibly Sasuke has caught her. Better safe than sorry, Naruto jumped out of the log and jumped through the trees, away from the direction of the scream.

~ ҉ ~

Kakashi was quite surprised when Sasuke turned up, lugging an unconscious Sakura over his shoulder.

"You know, you didn't have to knock her out…" Kakashi shook his head, partially amused.

"Whatever. I still have to find Naruto, although I can guess it's some idiotic hiding place…" Sasuke mumbled, pushing his hands into his pockets and turning on his heel. As Sasuke walked off, Kakashi re-arranged the unconscious pink haired girl so she was resting against the nearby log. Kakashi stared in amazement.

The fact that he had caught up with Sakura was good enough, but that he hadn't found Naruto first? Kakashi snorted, amused before turning back to his book.

~ ҉ ~

Naruto let out a sigh. The sun was warm, he felt over heated in his stupid jumper, and Sasuke had still not managed to find him. He was standing on a high tree branch, about half a kilometre from where they started. He was determined not to get caught, but he could be seen at first.

"Dammit!" Naruto grumbled, crossing his arms and leaning his weight on his right foot. If that damned Uchiha did find him soon, he'd probably die of boredom.

After a few more minutes, Naruto shifted his weight. Again. Maybe the tenth time already. Not that he was counting. Naruto used one hand to rub the back of his head, and he looked around. There was no sight of the raven haired boy, so Naruto was tempted to just jump out the tree and scream. He took one step, and was all together pushed from the tree, fell face first into the dirt ground, with something heavy on his back.

~ ҉ ~

Sasuke watched, amused. The blond had no idea that Sasuke was right above him. Had of the blond been searching for chakra signatures, he would have noticed the Uchiha above him.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow as Naruto grumbled, crossing his arms. This was interesting. Sasuke watched the blonde's annoyance for a few extra minutes, before deciding 'well, it's now or never'. As Naruto took a step, Sasuke 'pounced'. Yes, another cat irony he immediately hated. Sasuke landed on the blonde's back, pushing them both over the edge of the tree.

Naruto let out a strangled scream as he landed face first into the hard ground. Sasuke pulled a kunai out of his pouch and pressed in into the blonde's neck.

"Well now, I finally caught the last damn rodent." Sasuke grumbled, standing up but holding the kunai in place. Naruto grumbled something into the dirt and Sasuke smirked.

"I can't hear you." Sasuke said in his trademark stoic voice.

Narutos hand flew out, knocking one of Sasuke's off the ground, causing him to fall slightly. In this miniscule time, Naruto managed to knock the kunai away, pull out one of his own and hold it towards Sasuke. Sasuke smirked, then somehow managed to get behind Naruto, twist the blonde's arm behind his back, with the kunai planted firmly against his neck.

"Now, Mousey, come with me." Sasuke pushed Naruto forward, but a puff of smoke startled both of them.

A member of ANBU was standing before them, clad in the usual ANBU outfit, with a finely designed dog mask. The ANBU member held out a sheet of paper.

"All residents and ninja of Konoha must attend an important notice in front of the Hokage's building. No excuse for being late." Then the mysterious Ninja upped and disappeared.

Sasuke let go of Naruto, pulled of the stupid cat ears and looked at the blond.

"Any ideas about what this oh-so-important notice is all about?" Sasuke asked, as they both headed towards town.

"No idea, but I have a really bad feeling." Naruto replied, and sure enough, even the Kyuubi shifted uncomfortably.

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"Attention all of Konoha!" the whole village was surrounding the entrance to the Hokage's building. Team 7 managed to get near enough to the front, and they had spotted Shikamaru, Chouji and Ino nearby.

"This important notice will be announced by Senior Council member Waru." The Anbu who had given Sasuke and Naruto the message announced, before stepping aside to reveal an old, frail looking man. He had 2 spikes of grey hair behind his ears, the tips dripping to touch his shoulders, and a large grey beard that nearly touched the ground.

"My dear village," Waru called, his voice highly irritating to Naruto. It was kind of scratchy, and it half sounded like the was short of breath. "It is now, we must reveal to you, what we have hidden for the past 16 years! All our older villagers would know that 16 years ago, the demon fox Kyuubi almost destroyed our home!" There were a few murmurs of agreement amongst the villagers, and the other 16 year olds let out collective gasps.

"Is this true?" Ino called out, her voice laced in horror. Waru shook his head sadly.

"Yes, I'm afraid it is true!" Waru gestured strangely, his long sleeves flapping about, oddly reminding Naruto of wings. He saw Sasuke and Sakura stiffen, and he suddenly felt sick. "Naruto…" Kakashi murmured, putting his hand on Naruto's shoulder.

Tears burned in the blonds eyes, but he refused to let any of them fall. Sakura had managed to fist her hand into Naruto's sleeve.

"Konoha! I am profoundly ashamed to tell you… that a Jinchuuriki of the 9 Tailed Demon Fox, is resting inside the village!" Waru announced. Gasps resonated throughout the circle of villagers, some crying and shouting out.

Naruto clutched his stomach as he Felt Kyuubi move restlessly. Sasuke raised an eyebrow at Naruto, asking the silent question, 'are you okay?' Naruto didn't respond, simply staring ahead.

"Children of Konoha, for the past 16 years, for your safety, we have not revealed any of this information, although your parents have known. I must inform you, of who this Jinchuuriki is!" Waru cried, before his eyes went searching through the crowd. Kakashi's hand tightened on Naruto's shoulder, and it was beginning to ache.

"This person… this demon child… this spawn of evil…" Waru went on and on, making Naruto feel even sicker. Kyuubi was snarling, and Naruto's head was killing him. Sakura was openly crying, her head pushed into Naruto's arm, sobbing and hiccupping, she was terrified. A person with the demon, the very demon that almost destroyed their village, had been hidden away inside of a kid, someone they had grown up with?

Nearby, a new genin scrunched up his fists and screamed, "Who the hell is this jinchuuriki? I'll kill that bastard!" A few others called out in agreement, and Sakura only cried harder. Sasuke stood stoned faced, calculating the information.

Naruto gently shrugged Sakura off his shoulder, face wiped off all emotion. Sasuke raised an eyebrow, and Kakashi's eye was saddened.

"Naruto… I am terribly sorry…" Kakashi whispered, and Sasuke had only just managed to catch what he had said. The Uchiha took a hesitant step back. Naruto? No, it couldn't be Naruto…

"My villagers. My deepest regrets. But we will lie to you no longer. The Council of Konoha are here to tell you, that the Jinchuuriki… is Uzumaki Naruto!" As soon as Waru had announced this, Sakura screamed and stumbled backwards, away from Naruto. Anyone else in a 10 metre radius stepped back, crying and screaming.

"Demon… you are hereby kicked out of Konoha! Get out!" Waru gestured towards Naruto, and a kunai flew out of his hand, and Naruto jumped out of the way, eyes glaring up towards Waru.

People began to shout indecencies towards Naruto, and then began to throw things at him. Whatever they could get their hands on. Tears fell down Naruto's face, and he sprinted away. He was vaguely aware of Sasuke calling out his name, as he flew out the gates of Konoha.

~ ҉ ~

Written by Urufu-Chan

(Ochibi and Urufu)