Rain: Guess who's back! That's right. Me *smiles* Looks like the next chapter is upon us. Well, let's get started!
Mario: Here we go!
Legend of Dragoons: Dragoons of Konoha
Chapter Three
Naruto slipped his hands into his pockets as he walked through the silent streets of Konoha, his mind lingering on the story the Hokage had told him but no matter how many times he repeats it in his mind, Naruto just can't believe.
Not only did he find out that both his mother and father were among legends in his village, he found out that his parents as well as several others wielded the power that was able to go head to head with the Kyūbi of all things and that he was now carrying his father's stone.
Naruto tried to imagine it. Being in the same armor that his father was, fighting the Kyūbi with every ounce of his strength he had in his body but he couldn't.
His father was a powerful Hokage….One of the greats and his mother was an expert Fūinjutsu master and a legend in her own right.
For being the son of two great shinobi, he was didn't even graduate from the academy. The only reason he had become a shinobi was because of that pathetic Mizuki tricking him into getting the forbidden scroll.
But Naruto didn't take this negatively anymore. He knew that he wasn't ready to live up to his parent's names and instead of being depressed about it; he would use it as motivation to help him become stronger.
He would grow from out of their shadows and become a legend in his own right and make them proud of him.
"And I'm sure, you'll be helping me during this journey," Naruto said as he stared at the red stone in his hand, smiling gently at it but he suddenly stopped as he head a faint male voice say "Heh, Of course." But he figured that it was just the wind.
Once he got to his apartment, Naruto tossed his keys on his kitchen table and yawned loudly, stretching a bit before walking towards his bedroom while simultaneously unzipping his jacket and tossed it on the floor before bouncing on his bed and looking at the ceiling, once again replaying everything in his head but then it stopped when he thought about Hinata.
Should he tell Hinata about her mother's past love and her own step-brother…or Brother? At this point, Naruto wasn't exactly sure if she was Lee's full blooded sister or not but he could find that out later but should her tell her?
She was his best friend, next to Shikamaru of course and their parents were friends as well so should he tell her?
And what about the Dragoon stone he held? Should he tell them about it as well?
But then another thought entered his head that he had nearly forgotten due to all the other revelations of that night. Shikamaru and Hinata were there when Mizuki told them about the Kyūbi and he had to talk about it to them.
Did Shikamaru and Hinata think he was the Kyūbi? Do they hate him like everyone else in the village did?
Could he live with himself if they did?
So many thoughts were now running inside of Naruto's head about this that he nearly got dizzy so with a small nod, Naruto wrapped the covers around and fell asleep a few moments later, wondering what tomorrow was going to bring.
Naruto walked into his Academy classroom and saw Hinata and Shikamaru sitting next to each other at the bottom row, talking and laughing.
They were the only two here.
Naruto could easily guess why this was.
Yoshino, Shikamaru's mom, probably forced the lazy Nara up early this morning and made him come here and Hinata always came in this early because she didn't want to be around her father and her other family members and especially her cousin, Hyūga Neji.
Naruto tried to walk past them in an attempt to forgo the inevitable "We hate you Naruto" Speech he was prepared to get from the two of them but stopped as he heard a soft "N-Naruto-kun a-are you g-going to sit w-with us?"
Naruto turned around to see Hinata looking at him with her pearl like lavender eyes, silently urging him to sit by them.
With a sad sigh, Naruto nodded and sat between Shikamaru and Hinata, nervous since he hadn't spoken to them since the incident with Mizuki and couldn't bear to think what they would say about him now that they knew he held the Kyūbi.
"Well….how are we going to do this?" Naruto asked after ten minutes of complete and total silence, filled to the brim with awkward glances towards each other during the silence.
After taking a deep breath, Shikamaru leaned back on his chair and looked at the ceiling with his hands behind his head and replied "Well, I suppose we should recap the events of last night…"
"You stole the forbidden scroll for Mizuki. Hinata overheard this and told me and Iruka-sensei who was then ordered by the Hokage to find you and when we found you in the forest later that night, Mizuki spilled the beans on the secret between you and Kyūbi you managed to beat Mizuki after I left with some crazy red armor Hinata told me about and here we are…" Shikamaru finished with a bored sigh on his face as he stared at the blond shinobi.
"I'm not going to sugar coat things with you Naruto. When Mizuki told us that you were the reincarnation of the Kyūbi no Kitsune, me and Hinata were scared out of our minds. I mean, we never thought that you, the blond knucklehead known as Uzumaki Naruto was the reincarnation of the very thing that nearly wiped us all off the map," Shikamaru admitted.
Naruto looked down at the table with a look of pure depression on his face.
Was this it?
Was this the last time he would able to call Hinata and Shikamaru his best friends?
"Shikamaru is right. O-Originally, we believed what Mizuki had said and we were quite afraid of you but…After our talk in the forest last night when you were going to kill him, I knew you weren't the demon every thinks you are," Hinata continued with a shameful tone.
"Hokage-sama told us that Mizuki is one of many people who don't know the truth…The Hokage made us realize that you were not the Kyūbi but simply his container. You two are separate beings which share the same body which neither of you want…." Shikamaru interrupted suddenly, swinging Naruto's attention to him but the genius wasn't done speaking yet.
"After we both spoke to the Hokage this morning, we both realized how troublesome we were being, despite Hinata's views being changed last night. Naruto, you're our best friend and we've known you our entire lives up until now and everything you do or say is completely different from what a demon would do. Demons don't laugh alongside you when we finish a prank. Demons don't try and sacrifice themselves when said prank gets everyone involved in trouble…." Shikamaru told him.
"Or," Hinata interrupted the Nara with warmth in her voice, once again bringing Naruto's attention to her. "Console a friend when something bad happens to them and then later cry because said friend is hurting so much…Or spare the life of the man who put you in this position in the first place, despite your wishes to wreak vengeance upon him."
"The point me and Hinata are trying to make is, you don't have to be afraid of us abandoning you Naruto because you aren't the demon everything thinks you are. You're Uzumaki Naruto, the blond knucklehead, our best friend and a human being and both of us are sorry for thinking otherwise, no matter how short the thought was…" Shikamaru said with a small, bored smile towards the now tearful blond.
"Y-You guys mean that?" Naruto asked, trying to hold back his tears while hoping this wasn't a cruel trick.
"Naruto-kun…Do you think we would've asked you to sit with us if we hated you?" Hinata asked softly, crimson staining her cheeks as she took his hands in her own.
"Face it Naruto, you're stuck with us for the long haul," Shikamaru said, redirecting his smirk to Naruto who immediately gave the two of them a smile before leaning over the small table and enveloping them both into a hug which they returned.
Soon, more students seemed to pour into the classroom with excitement at the fact that not only would today be the last day of coming to the boring shinobi academy, they were going to be full-fledged shinobi.
After class began, an academy teacher walked to the classroom to announce the team formations due to Iruka was still in the hospital which made the whole classroom sad.
Even though Iruka was harsh sometimes; he was always a nice to them. "Since Iruka isn't here, I will assign the teams," the teacher began.
After laughing at the horrified look of Sasuke for having to be teamed with Sakura and Kiba, Everyone turned back to look at the teacher who was getting ready to name the next team.
Naruto was glad that he wasn't paired up with Sasuke Uchiha. It wasn't that he hated the Uchiha, it was the fact Naruto had always been jealous of the Uchiha due to he got everything and yet he turned it away while Naruto always wanted the kind eyes the villagers gave Sasuke instead of the cold looks they give him.
"Alright Team Eight will be Uzumaki Naruto…." Naruto looked at the teacher, with excitement and anticipation. "Nara Shikamaru…" Naruto and Shikamaru looked at each other and smiled. They were on the same team but then they turned around to the teacher in hopes that the final member would be…..
"And Hyūga Hinata. Your team's sensei will be Yūhi Kurenai." Hinata smiled brightly at this and Shikamaru grinned but to their surprise, Naruto didn't scream out like they thought he did.
He only gave a small laugh and a gentle smile.
Naruto had a feeling that the Sandaime was going to pair him up with his friends and now that he was, he was going to give the Hokage the biggest hug ever when he saw him again.
"Now, Since Team nine is still in circulation, we will skip ahead to Team Ten, Team Ten will be…Aburame Shino, Yamanaka Ino and Akimichi Chōji, your sensei will be Sarutobi Asuma…Now onto the next team…"
Without warning, a woman with long black hair, a red and white dress, ruby red eyes, pale skin and red lipstick appeared in the room and said "Uzumaki Naruto, Hyūga Hinata and Nara Shikamaru, my name is Yūhi Kurenai and I'm your new sensei now come with me, we must report to the Hokage tower."
While Hinata and Shikamaru were showing looks of confusion at this, Naruto wasn't. Before he left the hospital last night, Sarutobi had told him that once his teammates were picked out, they were all supposed to meet with him for a top secret mission. Naruto knew what this mission was and only hoped it was easier than it sounded.
"You're dismissed!"
The sound five bowed at the booming voice of Orochimaru as he dismissed them out of his office after a mission debriefing and now that it was over, the only female member of the five quickly walked off with a deep scowl on her face, not wanting to deal with her "Friends" any longer.
The mission she had just returned from had pissed her off to no end and those idiots only made things worse after teasing her about her role in that...that...horrid affair. She wanted to hurt them, she wanted to kill them...And she wanted to kill Orochimaru for sending her out on that mission but she knew that she couldn't.
Orochimaru would beat her into submission and then use her as one of his sick experiments.
True, she had become an experiment when she received the cursed seal but she would never become those sick things down in the chambers deep underground and during the tour he had taken all of the newly made sound five on down there, she was horrified at the sick things she saw him do to his other experiments, especially the failed ones.
She never wanted to become one of those.
As she walked out of the village and deep in the forest where she came across a small waterfall with tons of fish jumping from out of it.
Ever since she found this spot a year ago, it had become her secret place to unwind and practice playing her flute but when she got close enough, she noticed something was glowing between two rocks in the slow moving river.
Tilting her head in confusion, she walked towards the glowing object and once she got close enough, she saw that it was a dark blue stone.
"Huh, what the hell is this?" she wondered out loud before shrugging and reaching into the water and picking it up but the moment she did, the stone glowed a bright dark blue with a roar accompanying it, startling her greatly but she didn't drop it.
As soon as the roar and glowing started, it stopped until it was faintly glowing in her hand.
"Well, I don't know what the hell that was about but hell, it has more power in it than Orochi-Teme's hickey on my neck," She said with a small chuckle while tossing it up and down in her hand.
She didn't know what it was or how it had so much power in it but she did know one thing. She knew that she was never letting go of this stone.
"And I thought the secret surrounding the Kyūbi and Naruto was hard to take in," Shikamaru murmured to his two companions after the Sandaime finished his tale about the Legendary Dragoons and their role during the Kyūbi's unwelcomed visit.
The three, along with their new sensei, were waiting for the Sandaime to come back from the bathroom and during that time, the newly created Team Eight had begun to talk about what they had just overheard.
Naruto nodded in agreement at his friend's confusion, telling him that he was confused while he heard it too. Hinata on the other hand had stayed silent throughout the conversation.
She had found out so much about her mother during this that it shocked her to her core. She had a…Brother and from what she understood, he was on her cousin, Hyūga Neji's team.
Hinata didn't know what to think about all of this or what to do. Should she try and reach out to this Lee person right away or should she wait a little.
"I just don't know what to do about…My Nii-san," Hinata lamented with her head down, tears threatening to fall from her eyes but before any fell however she felt a hand on her shoulder.
Looking up in surprise, she stared up at her blond haired crush, who had a look of understanding on his face at her inner turmoil.
"Welcome Team Eight," The Sandaime said once the shinobi entered the room.
The four shinobi looked back at the smiling face of the Hokage and all but Naruto bowed in respect towards their elder leader.
"Now, Since me and Kurenai watched that heartwarming moment between the three of you early today, Kurenai has automatically passed you three, making you into a full-fledged team," The Hokage announced immediately with a proud smile.
At the three looks of confusion and elation, Kurenai explained to them the true genin exams and once she was done, Naruto wrapped his arms around his friends shoulders and let out a victorious "Hell yeah!" While the two friends in questions simply smiled at this.
They had already known they made the perfect choice in not abandoning Naruto but now they knew that definitely made the right choice instead of letting their earlier fears overcome them.
The Sandaime smiled and said"Now that this moment is over, I have a mission for the four of you." This drew their attention.
A mission already?
"From my sources, A Dragoon Stone was seen going towards the Rice country near the new village known as Otogakure no Sato. I have every reason to believe that this is the Dragoon Stone of Darkness. Your mission is to get that stone…Do you accept?" The Hokage asked.
"Well…" Naruto looked at his friends and sensei and with a nod from all three of them, Naruto smirked said "We accept." The red stone dangling down from the necklace on his neck was shining faintly as if it was agreeing with Naruto's deciding.
Naruto glanced at the stone with a curious frown when he heard that same faint male voice from yesterday whisper "Of course you'd accept it." But Naruto pushed it aside.
With his friends, his sensei and his dragoon stone by his side, he knew that this mission was going to be a success. "That Dragoon Stone is coming home with us!" Naruto exclaimed.
"The Sound Five are here Orochimaru-sama!" All of members of the Sound Five said with a bow towards their leader who smirked at his loyal soldiers.
"Good my pets. I have a new mission for you all. Thanks to an old war hawk and his little dolls, a team of Konoha Shinobi are heading into our country searching for a small dark blue stone that holds infinite amount of power…" Orochimaru hissed with a satisfied smirk.
While Tayuya didn't show anything on the outside, on the inside, she was panicking in the worse way.
How did these people know about this stone she had in her sash and did they know she had it on her?
Her answer was quickly answered when Orochimaru said "While we don't know where this stone is, it is of huge importance to find this stone and….eliminate those that seek its untold powers. So in a nutshell, find the stone and take care of our future guests before they get to our village, Understood?"
With a loud shout, all five of them yelled "Yes Orochimaru-sama!" and quickly dispersed.
A few seconds passed before Orochimaru turned his head to Kabuto, who was hiding in the shadows and said "There is a traitor among the five. Take care of her before the mission is complete."
"Yes…Orochimaru-sama…" Kabuto said with a bow.
"Hey Tayuya, come on, we've rested long enough."
Tayuya cracked open one of her eyes and stared at Kidōmaru who was standing above her, all three of his arms crossed in annoyance.
It had been a few days since the Sound Four had left the village and Tayuya was annoyed, paranoid and tired.
Why was Tayuya annoyed?
Their Leader, Kaguya Kimimaro was originally supposed to lead them on this mission but his illness had begun to act up so he was left behind.
Unfortunately for Tayuya, this left Sakon and Ukon were in charge and that really pissed her off.
While she could tolerate Jirōbō and she was friends with Kidōmaru, she couldn't stand the bobble head duo and they couldn't stand her.
But that wasn't the only thing that made her annoyed.
She didn't know why but she felt like things were going to go wrong but why?
"I wasn't sleeping dumbass," Tayuya muttered as Kidōmaru helped her on her feet with a small grin on his face.
"Well excuse me ya brat, you looked so peaceful with that scowl on your face, I figured you were sleeping," Kidōmaru joked as he lifted her up off the ground where she stumbled slighty.
"Jeez, you're a lot clumsier today," Kidōmaru remarked with a small grin only to grunt in pain when Tayuya's fist collided with his stomach, sending Kidōmaru stumbling back.
"Only because you pulled too hard you moron!" Tayuya shouted but with a smirk on her face, telling him she was kidding.
Just then, Jirōbō walked past them with a bag of chips, munching on them while saying "Will you guys stop flirting and get a move on? Those Konoha trash will be crossing our border soon."
Jirōbō then grinned at the two of them and laughed in amusement, making both of them scowl in unison.
"Remember, we can always hide the body," Tayuya said with a wicked grin, causing Kidōmaru to laugh, making her laugh as well but after a few moments, Kidōmaru calmed down and stared at the red-haired girl.
"Whatever's been bothering you, You know you can come to me if something's wrong," Kidōmaru told her.
Tayuya immediately sobered up when Kidōmaru said this, wiping her grin off of her face and replied "What makes you think something is wrong you dumbass?"
"Tayuya, every since we left Oto, you've been distant. Sure, that's normal for Jirōbō, Sakon and Ukon but you've been distant with me. What's going on?" Kidōmaru asked.
Tayuya walked away from her teammate, her eyes shifting from side to side, saying "I wish I could but I-"
"Hey Hinata, You've been pretty quiet over there. Are you alright?"
Tayuya and Kidōmaru's eyes widened in surprise when they heard a voice that didn't belong to either of them and quickly scattered, into the trees where Jirōbō and the Siamese twins were already hiding.
Sakon gave the two a scathing look, showing his displeasure at nearly having their cover blown by the Konoha Shinobi while Jirōbō could only shake his head in amusement, only for Tayuya to mouth some very unkind words to him, making the teen gasp in shock, his face crimson with anger but before anything could be said, Sakon ordered them to shut up and watch the Konoha Shinobi.
At the sound of her name, Hinata's eyes snapped towards Naruto's direction and looked down at the ground with a small blush, poking her index fingers together, she replied "I-I'm ok Naruto-kun…"
Naruto and Shikamaru looked at each other with disbelieving looks on their faces. Hinata only did this when she was concerned or really scared about something and it was a no-brainer to know what she was concerned about.
Naruto slid next to the deep thought form of Hinata and walked by her side while making a funny face at her and it took a moment but Hinata's eyes moved to the side to get a clear look at him and giggled uncontrollably when she saw the face.
Now that she had relaxed some, Naruto told her "Hinata-chan, I know your concerned about your brother but relax ok, you have the entire mission to think over everything and then when we get back, we can look for him, ok?"
Hinata looked at the blond shinobi and nodded, a small smile gracing her face, making Naruto smile as well.
"Now there's that smile I've missed," Naruto said with a laugh before catching up to Kurenai to talk to her about the mission, leaving a blushing Hinata in his wake but she wasn't alone for long because a grinning Shikamaru was by her side in an instant.
"You should tell him," Shikamaru told her.
Hinata turned her head in alarm at Shikamaru's casual reference to her crush on her best friend and replied with a hint of annoyance "Shikamaru-kun, please refrain from speaking so freely about my crush on Naruto-kun. I don't want him to know just yet."
Shikamaru shrugged off her slight annoyance at him and slipped his hands into his pockets, stating "Alright but there is a chance he could find someone else you know?"
"I know!" She exclaimed loudly but then lowered her voice to a saddened tone and added "I know…It's just…I don't think he'd want to be with me…Not when he could have someone a-as pretty as Sakura-san and I-Ino-san."
Hinata looked at Naruto talking animatedly with their sensei, who had a smile on her face, nodding in agreement at whatever Naruto was saying then looked away with a frown.
Before Shikamaru could respond to her statement, Hinata rushed forward to talk to Naruto and her sensei, leaving him resigned to follow her to keep together but as he joined up with them, a huge gust of wind sent all of them flying back while but Kurenai stood her ground.
"Well, Well, Well, a pair of flies have entered the spider's deadly web, ready to be devoured by the mighty spider," A male voice said, echoing around the four man team.
"and if that-"
"-Spider is crushed, we'll-"
"-Defeat them with out combined-"
"-Efforts" Two male voices rang out, each echoing like the first one did. Naruto, Hinata and Shikamaru quickly got to their feet and pulled out their kunai as another male's voice said
"And if the twins fall, the earth shall swallow them whole," all four members of team eight formed a tight circle.
"And if the fat ass crumbles at their might, the sound of my music shall end the melodies of their souls," Suddenly, the intruders appeared before the four Konoha shinobi hidden in the shadows.
Jirōbō was the first to step out of the shadows, pounding his right fist in his left hand, saying "I'm Jirōbō of the South, the strongest member of the Sound four so prepare to get crushed by my awesome power!"
Tayuya rolled her eyes as she walked out from the shadows and smacked the Jirōbō upside his head, saying "No you're not ya dumbass so stop acting tough." She then turned to the Konoha Shinobi and said "I'm Tayuya of the North, You Dickless assholes better prepare for the worse beating of your measly, pathetic little lives!"
Stretching all of his arms in different directions, Kidōmaru walked out from the shadows with a look of boredom on his face, saying "I'm Kidōmaru of the East, My skills are unmatched so expect to get a game over!"
Sakon was the last member to step out of the shadows, his brother Ukon staring at the group, clearly exhausted for some reason. "And I'm Sakon of the West and this is Ukon of the West. We are the leaders of the Sound four and your early demise"
"Hey! You guys are in our way! Let us go and we promise not to beat you too badly!" Naruto boasted, pointing at Sakon who simply laughed at the blond boy's bravado.
"We'd rather kill you instead of letting you pass," Sakon boasted then crossed his arms and let out a dark laugh with Ukon accompanying him in his laughter, making Naruto scowl.
"How troublesome, these guys look tough, but the big one looks both tough and dumb," Shikamaru said with a cross of his arms and a yawn.
Jirōbō scowled and shouted out "You take that back!"
Seeing an obvious comeback, Shikamaru replied "Ok I'll take it back. You're not tough."
"Thank you. Maybe I'll let you live a little while longer." Jirōbō replied with a smug smirk on his face.
Tayuya and Kidōmaru looked at Jirōbō with looks of astonishment on their faces while Ukon let out a withering sigh.
Jirōbō quickly realized his blunder, he let out a loud roar and charged at Shikamaru who looked at Kurenai and said "I'll take this one," before dashing backwards away from his team with Jirōbō following him.
"Well, since Shikamaru decided to start this one off, Hinata, you take care of the Kidōmaru boy and Naruto, you take on the red haired girl, I'll take on the leaders," Kurenai ordered.
Her two students nodded and stepped into their respective stances as their opponents did the same, their eyes locking onto their opponents, waiting for one of them to make a move.
Little did Naruto and Tayuya know, their dragoon stones were glowing faintly through their clothing and little did everyone know, Kabuto was kneeling in a tree above all of them, his eyes locked on Tayuya's focused form, ready to strike her down without remorse or dignity.
She would die on this day, Kabuto swore on his hiate-ite on that.
Rain: That takes care of this chapter. The next chapter should conclude the battles between Konoha and Oto and at the end, someone will transform into a dragoon. Who? You'll have to find out next time on Legend of Dragoons: Dragoons of Konoha!
Mario: See you next time.