Naruto frowned and Yana sensed his displeasure. "What's the matter?" she whispers. Naruto breifly turns his gaze to her then answers, "We've got unwanted company."
Yana frowns and her ear twiches to the sound of Sasuke's gait and the fangirl's fawning. They walk up and Sasuke looks at the two like they were the trash on the bottom of his shoe. "Figures the blind girl would be friends with the demon brat." he says, getting snickers from the girls behind him.
Yana turns toward his voice and places her hand on the hilt of her katana. "Insult Naruto again and you'll find your head separated from your body."
Sasuke smirked. "Yeah right. You can't even see me let alone hit me." he replied. An instant later, there was a sound of clashing metal. The tip of Yana's katana was less than an inch from Sasuke's throat, being held back by Hawk's katana. Without missing a beat, Yana ducked under Hawk and rammed her elbow into the Uchiha's gut.
This time Hawk put his katana at her throat. Yana sighs, seeing she couldn't properly kick Sasuke's ass while she had supervision, and sheaths her blade. Hawk pushed her away from the other kids, calling over his shoulder, "You may come Uzumaki-san." Naruto jumps up and follows as the Anbu leads Yana away.
If any of the three noticed the person that had been sitting on a roof across the street, they never did tell.
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A few days later, Naruto was running. A mob of people were after him. This time though, they had permission. The damned counsil had gotten wind of the attack on Sasuke, and had told the villagers Naruto had brainwashed Yana.
Said girl dropped down from a roof and ran with him. "What's all this?" she asks. Naruto looks back over his shoulder and says, "Well, if they catch me, it's my death entourage. The counsil thinks I brainwashed you into attacking their precious last Uchiha."
Yana frowns and asks, "Why would they think you brainwashed me? It's not your fault he's sealed inside you." Naruto looks at her incredulously but doesn't press the matter, prefering to save his life rather than wonder how she knew about Kyuubi.
"Hey, Naruto. Why don't you travel around with me? You could meet people that aren't jerks and you might actually have more friends than just me if you did. And we might meet up with my brother. If that happens, you can learn sword techniques."
Naruto mulled over this for a minute. A rock whizzed by his head and he said, "Alright. Let's do this." Yana nods and they head for the nearest gate, never even pausing as the gate guards called out to them.
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Two Weeks Later
Naruto walked with Yana down a worn deer trail. She had led him through the endless sea of forest surrounding Konoha, and told him that she and her brother shared a hut a few miles past the borders. Her feet never made a sound as she wound her way down the path, while Naruto sounded like a bear walking around.
"Hey, you think you can teach me stealth techniques?" he asks as a twig snaps under his sandal, though Yana had stepped on the very same twig without any trouble.
She laughs and replies, "Well, my brother taught me. I won't be as great a sensei as him, but I'll see what I can do." Naruto grins and she continues, "First, you've got to make stealth second nature to you. Walk on the balls of your feet and step lightly. Once we get you some decent sandals you'll be even better. Unless you want to go barefoot."
Naruto looks down at Yana's tiny feet and sees she never fully sets her heels down, instead walking on her toes like cats. Naruto copies her movement and steps lighter. It was an improvement, but not by much.
"I think I'll go barefoot. Maybe it's the ninja sandals. I used to go barefoot all the time, until I joined the Academy and I had to wear shoes." he says, slowing his pace slightly to make a little less noise. Yana slows her step to match his and grins at him.
"Yeah, from what I can gather from my brother, I have never worn shoes in my life. Even when I could see."
Naruto laughs then he spots something strange. There was a distortion in the trees. He held his arm out and stopped Yana. Sniffing the air, he whispers to her, "Shh. I smell someone near us. I can't really make out what their scent is because it's hidden within smoke."
This time Yana laughs. "Chill Naruto. The smoke is coming from our hut and the person you smell is probably my brother. I didn't know he'd be here this early in the year. He usually only gets back when the leaves start changing."
Naruto paused a beat then said, "Oh."
"It's alright. Now then, it's time for you to meet the rest of the family. C'mon." she says before grabbing his hand and running towards the hut.
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Six Months Later
Naruto stood on top of a small pond panting. Yana grins at him, her breathing only slightly irregular. Naruto charged his sparring partner again, slicing out with his wooden katana. He silently cursed as the bells tied in his hair jingled.
He had been training like a dog ever since he joined Yana and her brother Shi and had advanced from not making any sound at all while moving to training with bells. Yana had already trained with bells so she was now trying to be silent while moving on water, a slightly difficult task for her as when she moved the water did too.
His chakra control had also improved greatly, seeing as he now had teachers that actually taught him something. Naruto flowed through the moves with his fake blade with his eyes closed, getting lost in memories.
Flashback
Naruto practiced his stealth with Yana. The idea was to sneak up on her, though with her hightened senses that was close to impossible. Shi walks out and said, "Hey, Yana. We're out of dye. Think you can bring in some more berries?"
Yana nods and runs off, her feet finding the familiar path effortlessly. After a few minutes, Shi calls out, "Naruto come here. There's something you must know." Curious, Naruto followed the orange haired and eyed boy into their makeshift hut.
"Naruto, I can tell by how you don't fully trust people that you've had a bad experience, one where you've almost died. Am I right?" Shi asks. Naruto drops his gaze to the floor, that being as good as a yes.
"Well, I'm going to tell you that Yana is the same." Naruto looks up and Shi continues, "When Yana was just a few years old, our family had started to be killed off because our kekkei genkai was feared through many lands. This particular kekkei genkai let us sift through a person's mind, almost like a Yamanaka, but our's let us read the thoughts of that person, whether they were thinking it at the moment, or at a certain point in their life.
When Yana was six, our parents and our aunt and uncle were killed, leaving just me Yana, and our cousin Shirou. We were the last of our clan, and we never let one another out of our sight. But a year after, Yana was captured by enemy ninja. They demanded from her what she didn't have.
They wanted her to use her kekkei genkai on some prisoners they had, but she hadn't activated it yet. Shirou and I managed to find their camp and save her life, but we didn't save her in time. When we got there, she was bleeding and crying from a kunai slash right across her eyes. We knew she'd never see again, or take what was rightfully hers."
Naruto let this all sink in. Yana had her kekkei genkai, her birthright, stolen from her before she even had it. He thinks back to the night Goat had almost killed him; Shi was right in the way they were the same by not trusting people, but Yana had lost so much more than he had.
"What of Shirou?" he asks, wondering why their cousin hadn't been around. Shi sighs. "He was injured saving Yana. He fell behind and we haven't seen him since. We still have that hope that he's alive out there somewhere, as we didn't see him die, but with the way things were we can't be for sure."
Naruto nods sadly. He opens the door of the hut and saw Yana there. She had heard Shi tell him about the attack. Silently, she reaches up and pulls her sash down, revealing a long scar over closed eyes. But it was when she opened them that Naruto's heart truly broke.
The bright orange her eyes would've been had not anything happened, had bled out. Now, there was nothing but white, with a light grey pupil and outer edge of the iris. Shi nods and leaves, and Yana whispers, "Now you know why we took to each other so quickly. We're the same."
Slowly, Naruto reached up and ran his fingers over the long, thin scar. Yana sighs, and the two stay like that for a few minutes before returning to their training.
End Flashback
Now, as their training progressed, Naruto watched the snow white eyes that showed more emotion than any seeing eyes could. She left her sash down now, only putting it up when she left the area. Naruto saw her enjoying their spar and smiled at her enthusiasm.
Shi watched from the edge of the pond and said, "You're both getting better. I only heard your bells twice this time Naruto. And Yana, I only heard the water move twice also. Just keep at it like you are and you'll be advancing even faster."
Yana and Naruto nod and stop attacking each other, walking around on the surface of the water like there was nothing wrong with a pair of barefoot samurai doing ninja techniques. Shi was also teaching them Taijutsu, Ninjutsu, and Genjutsu (which Naruto sucked at and sent Yana to the ground in fits of laughter when he tried not to).
"Enough swordplay for today. Get on to your ninjutsu. Here's a new scroll, you know the drill. I've got to head to the river for some fish, stay out of trouble." Shi said, tossing a scroll to Naruto before walking away. The 'drill' was Naruto read it aloud then help Yana make the signs and practice after that.
"Silent Killing Technique. Used by highly trained assassins along with a jutsu that hides the user from enemys. An example would be using Hidden Mist Jutsu then applying the Silent Killing Technique." Naruto recited, giving a brief description of the style. Yana nods and stands up, Naruto doing the same.
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That one was extremly long. You had all better love me. Well, I'll have the next chapter up when I can. Bye!