Disclaimer: Naruto is not mine. If it was, (as we all wish it would be) I wouldn't be tortured into wondering what the hell is gonna happen next for a week. So there!
Warning:
Violence
Language
Sexual Content
Possible Spoilers
Yaoi
Key:
"talking"
thinking/talking to kyuubi
kyuubi talking in his mind
'writing'
Chapter 2 - "the Mission" - Start.
They had arrived fairly quickly and slowed to a stop outside of the Hokage tower. Sakura and Naruto walked to the two Shinobi(1) standing guard in front of the large doorway. The two ninjas had white, animal-designed masks covering their features-they were most certainly Anbu(2). They had the typical ninja outfit-the vest, pants and shirt, and undoubtedly many, many hidden pockets with deadly weapons.
Sakura nodded to the two and strode forward, ignoring the two nods she had received in return. Naruto slowly followed, a bit uneasy as to what the Hokage wanted. Sakura made her way down the nearly empty hallway and made her way to the stairs leading up to the Hokage's office. They walked in silence and halted upon a large, wooden door guarded by two more Anbu.
The Anbu had already noticed the two arriving ninja's presences and stepped aside without so much as a glance. Sakura turned the knob and stepped through, with Naruto close behind.
I was really nervous when I stepped through. I had an idea of what the mission was about, but I didn't really know the details. What really made me aggravated though, is when we stepped into the office, the lady Hokage was taking a nice little nap with her many sake bottles littering many areas of the room. Everywhere was cluttered-there was either a sake bottle or paperwork (which I assume was untouched) in nearly every free space that there could have been.
Why am I not surprised? She really needs to ease up on the sake-the council isn't exactly ecstatic with the idea of her being Hokage already... I snapped out of my thoughts when a large pink blur flew past my leg followed by the shout of "LADY HOKAGE!"
I turned to the loud voice and was met with Shizune-"lady Hokage's" personal assistant. Her short black hair had grown an inch or two longer in the past couple years and her black eyes had become a bit more dull. She smiled upon noticing us. "Sorry, I didn't think anyone would be here..."
"It's fine", I answered with a large grin. If Shizune is here, then... I turned my attention to the desk-the area that the pink blur had been heading towards. Sure enough, when I looked at the leg of the desk I saw Shizune's loyal ninja pig Ton-Ton in all his clothed glory. Or is it a she? I mean, it does have a pearl necklace around it's neck...
While I was trying to decide whether the pig was a male or female, the pig trotted to Shizune and allowed itself to be picked up and Sakura had evidently stepped forward and shaken the Hokage in an attempt to wake her. I looked up in time to see Sakura easily dodge what I assumed was a very powerful punch. Obviously a reward for the person waking her. I really wouldn't want to be the one to try and wake her up...I was again lost in my not-so-likeable thoughts and fantasies of being hurled through a wall due to awakening my drunken Hokage from her slumber.
"Eh? Naruto..? What are you doing here, you brat..?" she trailed off trying to regain her thoughts.
I sighed and responded, my desire to keep her from beating the shit out of me making me choose my wording carefully. Easy enough. "You sent Sakura to come and get me for a mission-stop getting drunk, you old hag!" My eyes widened when I had realized I said that aloud.
Fuck.
Tsunade was immediately up-and very pissed, might I add-and instantly pulling back an arm and sending it forward-with a chakra-filled burst.
Next thing I know, I'm seeing a feminine-but very, very, intimidating fist and... well, on my back, in the middle of rubble, groaning in pain. Courtesy of the chakra... I scowled.
"Sheesh, baa-chan! I didn't mean to-it was a habit!" After realizing I had said another no-no word, I immediately backed up, my eyes wide, and my arms in front of me to lessen the pain to come.
She twitched and started forward, making me close my eyes tightly. When the pain didn't come, I opened my eyes. I jumped back, startled that her angry face was a mere foot away from my own.
"Then, break it, gaki(3)," she said in a deadly tone, daring anybody to speak up against her. She stood up straight again and ran a hand through her hair, growling in frustration.
You see, after all these years, I have mostly grown out of my "prankster" lifestyle. Sure, every once in a while I would pull a prank of blowing up small statues and doing random graffiti on people's houses for old time's sake, but I just found it to be... annoying, I suppose you could say. I had to stop calling Tsunade "baa-chan", to avoid the large hospital bills that were being sent to my house. I was always in trouble back then, but I didn't do it because I found it fun. Truthfully, I was only like that to gain attention-and after he left, I had realized, no matter what I do, they won't recognize me for who I am. I will always be an outsider. Another person. Another thing.
A monster.
The Kyuubi.
Dont go all emo on me now, boy.
Kyuubi. What the hell do you want?
What do I want? Hell, you know what I want. I want out of this damned cage to wreak havoc on the cursed village that had their leader imprison me. Not to mention, I'm stuck with you in the time being-stop being emo. It's annoying as hell-even more so than when you are hiding behind that delirious and utterly idiotic mask of yours.
I scowled. Shut the hell up. I don't give a damn what you do and don't want.
Oh yes, almighty container of mine, that is exactly why you asked me 'what the hell I want'.
My scowl deepened. Alright, fine. Just shut the hell up. I don't care anymore, happy?
Ecstatic.
I was so absorbed in my argument with the damned furball-Kyuubi growled at that-that I didn't notice until now that Tsunade was frowning with a mildly concerned look gracing her features.
"I'm fine baa--Tsunade-sama, just a bit tired. I'm... just zoning out a bit lately." I stretched and faked a yawn as if to prove my point. What a lovely excuse. I'm sure everybody in this room bought it. Kyuubi scoffed in my mind, irritating me further. I thought I told you to shut the hell up! And I've been acting for a pretty large amount of my life-I'm pretty sure I can pass off talking to my 'mind-roomie' as zoning out. I felt him smirk in my mind, willing myself to keep from scowling.
If Tsunade noticed I was talking to Kyuubi, then she must have just brushed it off. I watched her as she strode back to her desk. She still had her blonde hair-although it was slightly longer. Her honey-brown eyes were still fierce, ready and daring people to challenge her. She was currently wearing her usual attire-the greyish robes tied by a sash wrapping around her waist, the blue-black pants that ended a little further up from her ankles, the green over-jacket and black heels giving her a few inches to add to her height.
She walked around her desk, picked up the chair-that had most likely fallen over from her rush to pulverize me-and plopped down in it, earning an angry squeak from the squishy black chair. She rested her elbows on her desk and rested her chin on her entwined hands. She motioned for me to get up-out of the rubble, might I add- and to sit in the small couch a few feet in front of her desk.
When I was sure she was no longer hostile, I stood up, dusted myself off, and walked to the cluttered couch in front of me. There wasn't even enough room to sit. Figures.
I extended my arms and was about to push and paused. Turning my head in her direction, I raised an eyebrow, silently asking permission. She shrugged. Success! Grinning, I swiped my arm across the couch, sending all of the sake bottles, paperwork and other random things to the floor with a clatter.
I plopped myself down and turned eagerly to her. Sakura made her way toward me.
She smiled lightly at me. "Alright, first thing is first." She turned to Shizune, "Shizune"
Shizune looked slightly startled, but answered nonetheless. "Yes, lady Hokage?" She unconsciously clutched her beloved pig to her tighter when she probably figured what she was going to say.
"Get somebody to clean and repair that broken wall." She gestured to the wall that I had been embedded in a few minutes earlier. I shivered at the very recent memory and looked down at my arms-noticing a few cuts and bruises that I hadn't noticed when I got up. They were already beginning to close up and fade. Healing already, eh, Kyuubi?
Shut up. Having these minor scrapes will miraculously manage to hinder your already-pathetic attempt at being a ninja.
I didn't bother hiding my scowl that time, and turned to look at Sakura who had sat down next to me, sitting politely with her legs crossed and her hands in her lap. She smiled at me and turned to Tsunade who was currently smirking devilishly at a frowning Shizune. Shizune sighed and turned. "Bye Naruto-kun, bye Sakura!"
She headed out the door and shut it behind her. Tsunade then turned to us, her face serious and guilty.
"Well, Naruto. You probably know what this 'mission' is about, correct?"
"Yeah," I replied solemnly. "I'm pretty sure I know."
XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX
I was sitting alone in my small apartment, only able to see slight outlines of things due to the candle lit in the corner. My bed was uncomfortable-even when I was only sitting on the end of it. I was thinking hard. Really hard.
How annoying.
What's wrong, Kit? Depressed?
Shut up, Kyuubi. I don't want to talk to you right now.
You never want to talk to me. It's boring. I know you're thinking about him. You always are when you're this depressed.
Huh. The evil, ferocious, hated, almighty Kyuubi is able to sense when a 'pathetic human' is depressed. How odd.
Shut up, brat. I'm just pointing it out.
Kyuubi seemed to grumble... something about "obnoxious emo kids" or something of the sort.
Well, you know, you're probably going to get a mission pretty soon. You'll be able to find him and bring him back to this cruddy village. You should cheer up-you're reeaaaaaaallly annoying like this.
Kami(4)... is the legendary Kyuubi trying to comfort me?
Shut up. Like I said-you're annoying. Plus, this cage is aggravating-it isn't exactly helping that I'm in a tiny, cramped up place that is in yet another tiny cramped up place.
I grunted and layed back on the bed, positioning my arms behind my head to prop it up some. I turned and looked at my run down apartment, no kidding. I guess I get what you mean.
Yeah, yeah. Go take a shower. You're dirty. Hell-I'm starting to feel dirty.
I sat up and sighed in resignation. Yeah, yeah. Just shut up. I shivered when my feet touched the cold ground. Damned furball.
XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxX
Tsunade smiled sadly and leaned forward over her desk. "Yes, Naruto. You should know... that he killed Orochimaru." My eyes widened at that. "What?" I asked incredulously.
"Yes-Orochimaru's body was found with severe burns. It looks like he was killed by a chidori."
I leaned back and closed my eyes. He killed Orochimaru...? I sighed and opened my eyes, looking at her. She was obviously watching my movements closely to make sure I didn't react badly.
"Okay, continue. What else?" I asked.
She hesitated for a moment and continued. "He has gathered a small team to go after Itachi. He has 3 teammates. First..." she tossed a folder at me, forcing me to catch it if I didn't want it jabbing me in the eye. Frowning, I opened it up and picked up the top sheet, looking at the statistics and then the small picture in the corner of the page.
It was the picture of a strange boy. He had aqua-blue hair and teal eyes. What really caught the eye was his teeth. They were jagged. Shark-like.
Tsunade spoke up, "His name is Suigetsu. Probably around the age of 19. He is a missing nin from the Bloody mist,"-I looked up at that-"and he was a kohai(5) of the jounin Zabuza."
I frowned at the familiar name-memories randomly waltzing into my head. The bridge, Inari, Haku...
Someone coughed next to me, startling me out of my memories. I smiled sheepishly when I remembered that Sakura was there. I handed the top page that I had been looking at to her. I then pulled the second page close to my face, examining the statistics trailing down the page. I again, looked at the picture and was met with a relatively normal looking young man.
He had slightly long, messy brown hair, spiking out in all directions. He was a normal color-halfway between pale and tan-an appealing skin color. He looked sort of... zoned out. A look I easily recognize. The only thing strange was... he had a golden yellow bird perched on his finger.
Huh. Doesn't exactly seem like the friendly animal-liking type.
Tsunade spoke, "Juugo. In his lower 20's. We don't know his origins and... he is the source of the curse seal that Orochimaru used." My head snapped up quickly. "The origin..?" I questioned.
"Yes, there were a few of Orochimaru's research notes salvaged... most of his research was burned to the ground along with his hideout-" I raised a brow."and we found a little bit of information on him. He evidentally has some kind of... enzyme in his blood. We're still not sure about it..."she trailed off and turned back. "Anyways!"
I handed the sheet on Juugo to Sakura who began to examine it herself. I turned to the small stack of papers left in my lap and held up the first one. "Ka...rin.. Karin." I read and repeated myself-allowing myself to make sense of the name.
"Yes," Tsunade answered, "Karin. Around age 18, from the village of Sound. Orochimaru used her as a guinea pig in his experiments."
I ran my eyes over her statistics and then focused on her picture. She had redish purple long hair, spiking oddly. It first spiked downwards in front for bangs and then slightly to the side in the back. There were red-rimmed glasses perched on the bridge on her nose, her lips scrunched back in what looked to be a feral snarl.
I scrunched my nose at her picture. I could tell that I wouldn't like her. I handed the sheet to Sakura and watched for her reaction. She scowled at the picture like the girl in it had done her some horrible wrong. I mentally laughed and shrugged. Hell, she probably views the red-head as competetion... I frowned at that thought.
I turned my attention back to the folder in my lap. One more statistic sheet was left with random sheets behind it, describing the mission in detail. My frowned deepened when I saw the last sheet. Sakura was watching me as I mentally struggled to reign in the chaos that was erupting throughout my mind.
The last picture was of a boy ever so slightly older than me. He had blue-black hair, his bangs nearly shoulder length and naturally spiking outwards in the back. At least I think it's natural... He had endless black eyes and high cheek bones. An absolutely gorgeous man. I smiled sadly.
You're going to bring him back, Kit. You're going to stop this ridiculously annoying emo streak of yours and bring your friend back.
Yeah, Kyuubi. I'm going to bring him back. My best friend and rival...
Sasuke...
-Chapter End-
(1) "shinobi" - another word for ninja
(2) "Anbu" - elite ninja squad, the highest rank next to Hokage, usually used for protecting Hokage
(3) "gaki" - Japanese; "kid", slightly rude or arrogant
(4) "kami" - Japanese; "god"
(5) "kohai" - Japanese term; for "underclassman" or "in a lower class", something along those lines.
XxXxXxXxX
Read and Review, please!!