Bridge Between Time : Photos Chapter 3: Ikigai Ninja, a naruto fanfic

Acknowledgements/Dedications:My best friends, voices10 and DayinTynSane for their all-around support and help with this entire series. If not for them, my fanfiction would have been doomed, without a doubt.

Chapter Two: Ikigai Ninja

Akamori sat cross-legged in a tree. She'd been there for about fifteen minutes, watching a boy with raven-black hair practice in silence. 'He's cool, and not bad looking,' she thought, setting the side of her chin in her half-clenched hand. 'But he's too brooding… And he's just too young…'

Akamori sighed, let down, as she began to twirl the key chain ring around her thumb. 'If only he were thirteen years older…'

Just then, a man with spiky silver hair, a hitai-ate of Konoha that covered his left eye, and a mask that covered half his face stepped on the scene. Akamori gasped as her eyes widened, and she stopped twirling the ring. 'By the looks of it he's twenty-five – no, twenty-six – and he's built very well. …Wow. What nice shoulders… He's laid-back and mysterious and obviously a good ninja. …He really does have nice shoulders, and his hair's ridiculously awesome! To top off his perfect age, personality, and build, he is downright hot. And he has got some really nice shoulders. He's perfect!'

Ecstatic, Akamori jumped down from the tree and landed lightly on her feet. "Hello," the man said after blinking once in surprise at her sudden appearance.

"Hello, Sir," she said with a broad smile. 'And he's got the most captivating voice!'

"You!" a boy with spiky blond hair cried as he pointed at her before she could say anything more. "You're back!"

For one split second, her eyes diverted to the boy with the loud mouth, and one word could cross her mind, 'Naruto-kun…' To cover up for her suspicious second, she cocked her head curiously. "Back? But, I've never seen any of you before…"

Naruto continued to point at her, his eyes flaring up angrily. He didn't believe her – or wouldn't believe her, for that matter – for a second. "Yeah right! You're the one who fought Sasuke and wouldn't fight me!"

"Fight? Sasuke? B-wait." After realizing the truth, she rolled her eyes and scoffed inwardly. 'So that's what she was doing.' "That'd be my obsessive sister – my twin, Kuroinsei-chan. I'm Akamori."

"Hm, who would have guessed," the man said thoughtfully in order to prevent Naruto from jumping onto the girl about lying and other such nonsense.

Sasuke looked at the girl with a furrowed brow. Suddenly, he asked, "How would you measure yourself?"

Akamori was shocked by the question, and she, too, furrowed her brow. "Pardon?"

"Compared to your sister, how would you measure yourself in battle?" he clarified.

"Oh. Compared to Kuroinsei-chan? I've never fought her personally before, but she's definitely stronger than I am," she answered with a small shrug. Sasuke gave a nod hardly visible to signify "oh".

"Just wondering: you and your twin both have hitai-ate of Konoha, but what are you doing in this forest?" Kakashi asked her curiously.

She rubbed the back of her head and grinned slightly. "Well, we are Leaf-nin, but we live outside of the village because our sensei isn't from Konoha. It's a tad difficult to explain. We're classified as Ikigai Ninja." Her grin grew a bit broader. "My twin and I train under our Jounin sister, Ichihashi." At the sound of the name, Kakashi felt an odd sensation of familiarity, but he brushed it off carelessly, knowing that happened whenever he heard pretty much any name. He was, after all, a well-known ninja who was approached quite often with new faces.

"If you don't mind my asking, who are you?"

"I'm Kakashi, and these are my students Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura," he introduced calmly, as though he had no problem with it at all. Akamori shot a second quick and surprised glance at Naruto upon his introduction only to have the chance to think to herself, 'So I was right', but then she quickly returned her attention to the Jounin.

"It's very nice to meet you. Well, I ought to get going before –"

"Before I find you?" an agitated, yet solemn, voice asked.

· · ·

'So… These are the ninja Sandaime-sama has sent to check up on me? … From the looks of it, they are quite promising… It has been so long since I have seen Naruto-kun… He's grown up worse than what I thought he would… I wonder why he sent a cell after me, though… It grows more and more intriguing…

'But it seems Akamori-chan finds them interesting… I have not seen her so happy in a long while… The spying figure suppressed a sigh. It is all my fault, I guess… I should have left them in the village… Taken what I should have and run… I never should have done what I did to them…

'But still…' The figure looked upon the silver-haired Jounin. 'Akamori-chan seems to be taking a fancy to him the most at the moment…and I know she recognizes Naruto-kun…

'Perhaps this can work out…' the figure suddenly thought, an inch of hope forming in their mind. 'The raven-haired boy is superior for ninja his age… He and Kuroinsei-chan are most definitely equals… And that girl with the broad forehead and pink hair, she has promise in wits… The way she is taking in the information that is being given… Naruto-kun will grow stronger in time, but I know he has determination… Even when he was so little, he was a stubborn little fool… And then there is that Jounin… His power is a mystery, but there is no doubt it is first-class.

'Perhaps…Perhaps this really can work out… Maybe I won't have to run anymore… Maybe they can help… Maybe, just maybe, I can return them to a normal life where there will be no more secrets…no more running… Perhaps… They are just what I need…'

· · ·

"Eep!" Akamori screeched and jumped up in the air much like a cricket. "Sensei!"

A young woman, about twenty-five years of age, stepped out into view – her posture, erect, military-like. She had long black hair with red growing out on top, but the entire layer was styled towards the front like bangs. A long scar also ran over her left eye, which was closed shut, and down the rest of her face and her throat, the beginning covered by her hitai-ate and the end covered by her slate gray tank-top shirt with a hood. She also sported a scar across each bicep. She had bandages wrapped around each forearm to her fingers, and her pants were dark blue with a brown shuriken holster propped up on her right thigh and matching sandaru. A slight ghostliness danced across her features, and her skin was a pale, midnight moon color, whereas the twins' skin tone was much peachier and livelier. "Akamori," she said with a snap. "What are you up to this time?"

"Nothing, Sensei," Akamori answered without turning to her sister-sensei's glaring, midnight-sky eye. "I apologize for interrupting with my presence," she told Kakashi and his students with a wily smirk at the ground as her gold and blue eyes lit up.

She rolled her eye at the girl, but her gaze softened up a little. "All right. Return to your sister," the Jounin told her younger sister.

Akamori walked past her sensei silently and vanished from sight. Kakashi stepped forward in front of Ichihashi as the small girl left from view. "You must be Ichihashi," he said casually. "I'm Kakashi."

She nodded impassively and replied, "I see…" For some reason, she couldn't find herself to like the man standing before her at all. In fact, she felt as though she despised him completely.

He placed his hand behind his head and his other out in front of him to shake hers. A small, nervous chuckle resonated in his throat. "I'd really like to get to know you…" he said, desperate to say something more to sound kind.

She glanced at his hand for a moment, and then looked him in the eye. "And, frankly, I would really like it if you would jump off a cliff," she replied bluntly. With that dark and couldn't-care-less remark, she turned around and disappeared into the forest.

· · ·

"Akamori, what on earth did you think you were doing?" Ichihashi asked sharply.

"But Kuroinsei-chan left last night and didn't come back until five hours later," the spiky, red-haired girl complained melodramatically.

"Kuroinsei," Ichihashi called. Immediately, the long-haired twin appeared beside her sister. "Is what your sister said, true?"

"Yes," Kuroinsei answered honestly.

"And why were you out so late?"

She said after a reluctant pause, "I was following a calling."

"And what calling was that?"

"To fight the best ninja in their group, which was the Uchiha boy, Sasuke-san."

Ichihashi stared her sister down, suppressing the shock she heard upon the clan name with skilled acting. Her decision was going to be well thought-out, making Kuroinsei have to bore into her midnight orb until it was made. "All right, but remember why you aren't to go wandering off…" she said slowly and carefully.

"Now, Akamori, what's your excuse?"

"I was following a calling, too," she answered calmly.

Ichihashi arched her eyebrow disbelievingly. "Oh?"

"Yes. A calling of friendship," she said happily.

Ichihashi sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose after rolling her eyes. "Akamori…"

Annoyed, she finally gave in, "I'll let the two of you off the hook this once just so we can begin training…"

"Yes Ichihashi-sensei," the twins said together like young soldiers.

· · ·

Kakashi finally managed to get away from his students after Ichihashi left. Sakura had continued to go on about how rude she'd been, but Kakashi had said nothing. He didn't know what he could say. It was, after all, the first time he had ever been told to jump off a cliff, especially by a woman upon their first meeting. He had every right to be shocked and just a little bit confused.

He shook his head once he realized how long he'd been thinking of her. He took out the paper he'd written notes on Kuroinsei and began to write on Akamori and Ichihashi.

Akamori

Age: 13

Genin

Gold eyes with blue pupils

Flaming red hair

He made a note that she was Kuroinsei's twin.

Ichihashi

Age: 20's

Jounin

Midnight blue eyes – Left eye closed shut by long scar

Black and red hair

He thought first of Akamori. She was the complete opposite of Kuroinsei. She didn't cause fear; in fact, she was pleasant to be around. Her voice was calm and fluent, active with a carefree happiness. It was a voice within the throat, if not slightly nasal, though it was nowhere near as deep as Kuroinsei's. Her eyes, also, were bright and lively. She was sweet, and he'd only met her for five minutes. Even Sasuke had relaxed some around her.

Then, there was Ichihashi. Her way of speaking was formal, intelligent, and mature. She was entirely militaristic, and she certainly was blunt. Kakashi couldn't pin her as rude, however, so he decided to leave it at protective.

He set his face in his hand as he thought. 'But was she being protective as a sister or as an enemy?' he wondered.

'No.'

He blinked. 'That was an abrupt thought.' But yet, he couldn't help but feel it was true. Something about her – perhaps the way she looked at Akamori – caused him to believe she was not the danger. But he couldn't just pin her as innocent right off the bat.

'No.'

Kakashi stared off in the distance, though he didn't focus on whatever it was. He didn't know what to think. Never before had he disagreed with himself so absentmindedly. He was instantly reminded of the photo he'd found a week prior.

The photo that was sitting on his lap at that very moment.

Kakashi stared in realizing he'd taken it out. Could this woman be related to the photo?

"Ichihashi," he muttered, his eyebrow furrowing curiously.

Ikigai Ninja: Ninja Outside of the Village

Bridge Between Time has a webpage!!! If you're interested in this series, you might want to check out the deviantArt account I have set out specifically for this entire four-part series. The account name on deviantArt is bridge-between-time. Simple enough. Please, please, take a look. It's not just writing there. I have drawn a good deal for it as well. However, there are a few spoilers, but it's not enough to give away my entire plot. So please check BBT's dA page!!!