After Naruto had slipped into a state of peaceful unconsciousness, a sight that he had not seen in several years greeted him. In front of him stood the same small ebony doorway that he had seen so many years before.
Looking above him, he was surprised to see that the same blue pipe was still present, only significantly larger than he seemed to remember it.
Reaching forward, he grabbed the small brass handle on the door, and pushed it open. Walking into the consuming darkness, he felt the door close behind him and disappear into oblivion.
There was a difference though from last time. Last time he remembered being faced with what he now believes to of been the seal that held the demon at bay. This time however, there was just profound darkness. Not even sound seemed to penetrate the enveloping vacuum of space.
Growing nervous, Naruto tried to yell, if only to hear his own voice, to reassure himself that something existed in this vast plane of nothingness. But the darkness smothered even his own voice.
For what seemed like hours he drifted through the nothingness. Hearing, seeing, tasting, feeling, nothing in this all-consuming space.
From the darkness came a spark of light that grew quickly, enveloping everything. Seeing the brightness rush towards him, Naruto panicked. However he was currently unable to do anything about it. He had no control over his own body.
After the rush of light, he could see swirling masses of colors, reds, oranges, blues, magenta, all radiating from a bright white epicenter.
And then it was gone. In a blink of an eye, he was standing back outside the ebony door, staring at the handle he had just opened earlier.
Confused, he tried to open the door again, only to find it jammed shut. The handle had turned hot to the touch, and then the door began to fade.
--
Waking up in a cold sweat, Naruto almost fell out of his tree when he heard a quiet voice next to him.
"It's scared of you, you know."
Jumping out of his hammock, Naruto landed on the ground, turning to face the voice that was addressing him. Expecting an attack or something of the like. He was surprised though to see an old monk; dress in traditional Taoist robes facing him. Looking up to the mans face he peered into his eyes. They were a heavily clouded gray. He was blind.
Suddenly the man began talking again,
"I'm sorry to have awoken you child, but I felt that you could possibly use some company on this night."
Naruto was a little confused,
"Why did you think I would need company?"
"Blind I may be, but there is a spark in you that has started a smoldering fire. And I believe tonight, you saw that fire ignite within you."
Naruto was now thoroughly confused; this man was talking as if he knew what Naruto had seen.
Hearing the old man moving Naruto looked at him again to see he had sat down upon a rather large rock on the ground. Signaling for Naruto to sit down as well, Naruto sat and rested up against the tree he had been sleeping in earlier.
"The world is watching you child, you may not see it, but I'm sure you feel it, the calm before the storm. He is awakening, and you will meet him soon, but it is not for me to reveal him to you."
Naruto began to understand that whoever this man was, he apparently knew what was going on.
"Who am I really? Why do I remember things that are not mine, there are things that I have done, without ever having learned them. I see things, as if I had been there, even though I have never seen them before."
Waiting to hear a response Naruto only heard the man say quietly,
"Only when one lets go of who he is, can he become who he might be"
And with that he was gone, as if he had never been there. If not for the small glint of metal sitting where the man had been sitting been just moments before, he would of written it off as a illusion of the night, or from a possible concussion from Kakashi kicking the shit out of him.
Walking over to the stone, he was surprised to see a pair of rings sitting there. Picking them up, he instantly recognized the rings as the pair he always kept locked in his old apartment. He had completely forgotten about them.
Staring at the cool blue metal, he felt that same sense of familiarity that he felt every time he used his scythe. Jumping back up into his tree, he stared at the stars until sleep claimed him again.
--
Waking up the next morning, he wasn't surprised to find all his wounds had already healed. He had always been quick to recover. Slowly getting back out of his hammock, he dropped to the ground and donned his black cloak.
Slowly stretching the stiffness of morning away, Naruto set to get some breakfast. He didn't have anytime the day before to collect any more food, the day before, he was too busy bleeding, so he was forced to have to into town.
Turning towards the path that leads into the Konoha commercial area, Naruto began the trek.
Passing through the town at such an early time was strange. For such a large town, there was almost no one out. Granted he knew it was early, but it wasn't that early. Walking past a few houses, Naruto looked through some of the windows and smiled.
Inside one was a young woman, holding a little girl who couldn't be more than three. The young lady gently stroked the child's strawberry red hair as she set the small child down to feed her breakfast. The smile on the child's face was beautiful.
'There are times I can understand why Oji-san loves this place so much' Finally reaching his destination, Naruto could see the small ramen shop just head.
Ducking under the curtains he saw an old man beginning the arduous task of making noodles, while his teenage daughter began bringing the different broths to a simmer.
Looking up from the noodles the old man put on a grin and welcomed him saying
"Welcome to Ichiraku Ramen, we'll be with you in just a minute if you want to take a seat at the bar."
Sitting down Naruto contentedly watched the Father daughter duo get the shop ready for the day.
Still smiling the old man walked forward,
"Now what can I get for you today?"
Naruto's smile threatened to split his face,
"I'll take five miso ramen followed by three pork, followed by two shrimp ramen."
The man's jaw threatened to drop,
"Oh, you want these to go then. You must be getting them for your entire team or something."
"Nope just for me" he replied with a stupid grin plastered to his face.
Naruto spent the next hour sharing pointless banter with the two as they continued making ramen. It was heart warming for Naruto; this was the first time he could remember someone actually welcoming him in the morning. He wondered if this was how the little girl that he had seen in the window felt every morning.
Leaving the ramen stand with a content look on his face, he headed back to his forest to start his morning training session. He had been training by himself for years so far and had turned some decent results, might as well continue.
--
Reaching the tree, Naruto wasted no time summoning several kage bunshins to spar with.
Summoning his scythe, he made a simple hand sign, while muttering the name of the technique
"Kirigakure no jutsu" A thick mist enveloped the forest he was fighting in. He had been working on this technique for quite some time now. After having heard from a wandering ninja how effectively some mist ninja were by utilizing this technique, he took it upon himself to learn it.
He had long ago realized that ninja inherently fell under three different categories; you had heavy assault ninjas, such as Kakashi, guardian ninjas, such as the Hokage, and finally assassins, such as the Aburame or Yamanaka.
While it made sense for a ninja to specialize in one of these three departments, the strongest ninja were able to hold their own in several aspects. For instance Kakashi has always been primarily a heavy assault ninja, working on the front lines of battles. However he is fully capable of assassinations, just his techniques may not be quite as subtle as those of the Yamanaka clan.
Naruto had long since accepted that his calling was also to the heavy assault genre. This led to his creation of his Futatsu Kenbue (Two Swords Dance), which could cut through multiple opponents with relative ease. His scythe was more than anything a fear factor. It has always been used in mythology as the symbol of the soul reaper. Which is what lead him to learning the hidden mist technique.
Lets face it, seeing a person walk out of the dense fog with a bloodied scythe hanging over his shoulder and ice cold blue eyes was something that could send a chill up the spine of almost any warrior.
The downside of said technique is that in the hot air that envelops most of fire country during the day makes the hidden mist technique completely useless, since the chakra necessary to keep the mist from evaporating would be ridiculous. Which is why he didn't use it the day before, which subsequently led to an incredible ass kicking.
The second skill he had been working on was something that he had found in a scroll that he found in the pack that Oji-san had given him. It was written by someone name Uchiha Itachi.
Who ever the person was though was a freakin genius. He had spent time identifying sixty-two separate minor movements that were known to cause fear or anxiety to anyone that saw them. By using certain stimuli consecutively he was able to magnify the technique, which would culminate in freezing the opponent in terror.
Combining the three things that Naruto had, his scythe, the thick mists, and fear stimuli, he had an incredible combination that could be used in either assassinations or in a combat situation.
He had attempted to use fear stimuli the other day upon Kakashi, but that had been a mistake. Kakashi was already angry at him, so by adding fear to that made him mildly more unstable, thus the complete and utter lack of control when he subsequently retaliated, that or Kakashi just really didn't like him.
Really though the only other thing he had learned throughout his journey was his Futatsu Kenbue (Two Swords Dance) which he had quite honestly made on accident after practicing chakra strings.
His Oji-san had given Naruto a large quantity of scrolls, but most of them were on chakra control and stratagem. Very few were on any techniques outside the realm of the ones taught at the academy.
All this led to the resultant that was visible as Naruto began to systematically destroy his own clones.
Like a demon of the shadows Naruto quickly took to the branches, opting to hide and cause confusion throughout the forest before he struck.
He may consider himself a heavy assault, but he was not normally one to run head on into battle. Normally he preferred to cause discord within the enemy first and then strike in their moment of weakness. It had always served him well when fighting bandits as a child. When he was small he was never able to use brute strength to overpower his opponents, which is what led to him playing the game of cat and mouse that he uses so effectively now.
Dropping down silently over the top of one clone, he swiftly cleaves him in half from left shoulder to his right hip. The other four spun on their heel, only to see Naruto slowly sinking into the earth near where one of the other clones had just been.
"Damn' thought Naruto, 'I've finally started getting the hang of this Doton: Dochuu Eigyo (Underground Fish Projection) that the old man gave me, but I still can't move around as quickly as I would like.
Popping out of the ground behind a second clone, he quickly took the clone's legs out from under him, finishing him with a swift chop to the neck. Taking to the trees a second time, he maneuvered behind the third clone.
Taking out a few throwing knives, he attempted to dispatch this one from a distance. Up until this point things had been going very well, except now the clone heard the knives coming and was able to replace himself with a log. Now the three remaining clones new exactly where he was.
Knowing his attempt at stealth had now failed Naruto quickly leapt into a nearby open field. Twirling around he hurled his scythe at an incredible velocity towards the first clone to appear. The scythe turned buzz saw just barely missed the clone by a few centimeters, but it stalled him long enough to prepare his next technique.
Ninpo: Futatsu Kenbue no jutsu (Two Swords Dance) cried the blonde as he faced off against his last three adversaries. The strings swept across the fields cleaving small bushed, grass, and one of the clones in half. To this day the power of this technique never ceased to amaze Naruto.
Now that his clones were all disposed of, Naruto had every intention of going back to his camp for lunch. However that is when the Anbu showed up again.
Turning around Naruto nodded in greeting,
"Bear-san, how can I help you today"
"Well, I saw the fight between you and Kakashi the other day, and I figured that you might like a few pointers, since it seems Kakashi won't be giving them out willingly."
Naruto smiled, despite knowing nothing about this man, Naruto liked him. The bear masked Anbu treated him like a normal genin, instead of a worthless demon.
"Hey, Bear-san, how come your nice to me. No one else ever is?"
The Bear masked Anbu turned around,
"Well, honestly I guess I see a bit of myself in you. We both have powers that don't really seem to belong to us, and both of us were ostracized for said power. The only major difference was that I had some one to help guide me, and I figured that maybe you would like the same."
Naruto smiled,
"Thank you, you have no idea how much that means to me."
Sitting down at the base of his tree they began to talk about Naruto's fight the prior day.
"So Naruto do you know why Kakashi beat you so easily?
Naruto lowered his head as if he were ashamed of the fight.
"Honestly I'm not sure what went wrong. I knew Kakashi was talented but I never expected him to be able to dodge around my Futatsu Kenbue as easily as he did. He made it look like child's play, moving as fast as I could I was barely able to get those bell."
Bear looked at him,
"It has nothing to do with talent Naruto, by all rights you are more talented than Kakashi is. You've managed to learn an incredible amount by yourself at a very young age without anyone to watch over you. Plus your first original jutsu kicks ass. No, he beat you because of experience. Experience will beat out talent at every turn. There was nothing in your arsenal that you could throw at Kakashi that he hadn't seen before. Even your Futatsu Kenbue is very reminiscent of watching a puppeteer work his art. By simply watching your hand movements he was able to predict almost every move you made, before you even made it."
Naruto hung his head,
"So after all that training I put myself through I still can't defend myself…"
At this the Anbu actually stood and slapped Naruto across the top of the head.
"Baka, no twelve year old ever would be able to hold his own against someone who is as talented and experienced as Kakashi. You could easily take on most chuunin in this village and win, but against someone like Kakashi, you've got a few years left."
Standing up, Bear looked at the young prodigy,
"Now that we're done with this, how about we work on your taijutsu some? It seems like you'd be much more deadly if you increase your speed."
As they began walking back towards the field Bear turned his head towards his head towards Naruto and asked,
"Hey Naruto, you ever heard of training weights?"
Naruto looked at him quizzically,
"Umm… No, why?"
With a small sinister chuckle he heard Bear reply,
"Oh, no reason, but I think I have a gift for you."
-- (3 hours later at the Mission Assignment Room)
Naruto began the long arduous task of dragging his now seventy-five pound heavier ass up the massive amount of stairs towards the mission room.
'Sadistic Bear-teme, just cause I heal quick doesn't mean you should be strapping extra weight to me every day…'
Grumbling to himself he made his way into the room to see the rest of his team waiting for him, well everyone except Kakashi anyways.
Sitting down on a bench near his team, he closed his eyes attempting to catch a quick nap before they had to start their mission. But alas it was not meant to be, for only moments after closing his eyes he heard Kakashi's voice saying,
"Well let's get this mission done with".
Groaning as he stood up, Naruto made his way over to the rest of his team.
"So what are we doing today Kakashi-sensei?" asked the pink haired girl.
Kakashi replied "Well today I actually took two missions for us, since I decided our team would work better in two man groups working together instead of a four man unit. Sasuke and I will be taking this mission, while you and Naruto take this one."
With that Kakashi and Sasuke turned around and left, leaving a confused pair of genin staring at the small scroll with a large red D printing onto it.
"Hey, Sakura-san, did you see any mission scroll with Sasuke and Kakashi-sensei when they left?"
Sakura thinking for a moment replied,
"No I didn't why?"
Naruto's face looked a little pissed,
"I think he's ditching us again so he can train more with Sasuke, I don't think there was a second mission."
Scoffing, Sakura turned to her sole remaining teammate and responded,
"Sasuke-kun would never do something like that, I'm sure they have something important that they are doing too. Now come on lets go outside and figure out what we have to do for this mission."
Following her outside, they stopped just outside the tower and began reading the mission scroll.
Mission Rank: DMed
Mission type: Escort
Mission Length: 3 Days
Specs: Himura pottery requested small escort team to escort a load of fine pottery to small town located 46 Km south of Konoha. Reports of small band of bandits has owner worried. Expecting no encounter with any missing-nin and only small quantities of bandits. Bandits not believed to belong to any larger group, small time thieves only. Customer will pay for overnight residence at local hotel for ninja.
Departure Time: 2pm
Assigned Team: Haruno Sakura, Uzumaki Naruto
Naruto turned and looked at Sakura,
"Well I gotta admit it's better than what I had been expecting, I honestly expected something along the lines of walking a dog or something."
Sakura however didn't look as pleased as Naruto
"Yea, but bandits on our first mission, we haven't had any training outside of the academy stuff since we graduated, this seems a bit much for us."
Naruto turned to her shocked,
"Wait you haven't done any training since graduation?" Seeing Sakura shake her head in the negative he responded, "When we get back you and me are going to start training together then. If we have to work as a two person team, we may as well be good at it right?"
Sakura nodded her head dumbly,
"Good, then I'll meet you at the gate in a half hour to meet our client"
And with that the blonde haired boy took off towards his tree to gather his belongings.
Sakura began walking towards her house thinking to herself,
"Why would he care about my training? Mom definitely said that he would probably try to kill me and my teammates the first chance he got. Maybe it's a trap or something."
--
Half an hour later Sakura was walking towards the gate, looking ahead she could just make out Naruto talking to a larger brown haired man.
"Hey Naruto" Greeted Sakura "Are you ready to go?"
Naruto turned "Yep, I was just talking to Himura-san here, he's our client."
The larger brown haired man turned to face Sakura. He was easily about six foot tall, with short cropped brown hair. He had a healthy tan and although large, he was not what one would call fat. He was just built like a brick wall.
Naruto began talking again,
"Himura's plan is to walk about half way to Fukuoka, finish getting there tomorrow morning, then we stay with him throughout the transactions and escort him to Tanzaku, which is a few kilometers to the east of Fukuoka where we'll spend the second night. Then the third day we'll be coming back ok?"
Sakura nodded her head.
"Sure, sounds like a plan to me"
The three began heading down the road. Sakura took a seat in the cart with the client, while Naruto walked alongside of them, keeping an eye open for anyone that may decide to try and jump them.
Himura, sitting next to Sakura decided to start some small talk to pass the time.
"So Naruto told me that you two just graduated less than a week ago?"
"Yea, we're actually part of a 4 man unit but we decided to split to get more accomplished"
The man looked at her slightly quizzically
"Doesn't that defeat the purpose of the 4 man unit if you split it up into partners?"
"Not really, it allows us to work as individual units during a fight if we need to."
Himura was still a little confuses but decided to change subject
"So what can you tell me about your partner, Naruto. I was talking to the guy earlier, but I didn't really learn anything about him."
"Hmm… In all honesty I can't say that I know all that much about Naruto either, he lived outside the village until just a few weeks ago so no one really knows all that much about him."
Pulling out a small black book with red binding Sakura began reading to pass the time.
Becoming bored the man decided to initiate some more conversation.
"What book is that?"
Sakura looked up from the book,
"It's a book about some old legends from the elemental nations. This one in particular is about 'The Reapers'."
"The Reapers? Sounds like a cheap horror flick or something. What is it about?"
Himura did not expect the kind of response he got from the girl. It would never be said that Sakura was necessarily the strongest kunoichi ever, but she was definitely one of the brainiest ever, and asking her about details of a book, meant you were going to be sitting there for quite a while why she explained it to you, whether you really wanted to know or not.
"Its not a horror book at all. The author of this book was studying old texts in Iwagakure and came upon a old scroll talking about a pair known as 'The Reapers" apparently the pair had been sent to earth by God to destroy the heathen gods that had begun to spring up around the nations. That's why they earned they're other nickname, 'The God Killers'. However it seems that something happened between the two because one of them suddenly disappeared from all knowledge. The only evidence that we have that there ever was two of them in the first place is that the first written text about them always talks in the plural form and at one time even mentioned that the two worked together seamlessly to bring down their adversaries."
Taking a breather, allowed Himura to get a word in edgewise,
"So do they know what happened to them then?"
"Well legend has it, that the first of the two became one of the fallen, which a name given to angels who fall to darkness, its believed that the other one eventually followed the first into darkness, but past that nothing is really known about them."
Himura asked, just to keep the conversation going,
"So do these two have names? Or are they lost to history as well?"
Sakura flipped to a page about half way through the book.
"Well the second one, that didn't disappear was apparently named Amaranth."
The man looked at her, quirking an eyebrow,
"Amaranth? What the hell kind of name is that, I've never heard that one before."
Sakura flipped through the pages looking for an explanation,
"Actually I'm not entirely sure where the name comes from. It may be from an ancient language or something."
Surprisingly it was Naruto, who spoke up from behind them,
"Amaranth is a poets word for the imaginary unfading flower"
Sakura turns to look at her companion,
"And how on earth would you know something like that?"
Naruto just responded, "Well I like flowers, and anyone who has traveled as much as I have is bound to of heard of the flower Amaranth."
Himura looked at her,
"Well what can you tell us about this Amaranth character?"
"Amaranth was said to have been a tall man who wore long black cloaks. He apparently used a weapon of some sort because all his victims were said to of been beheaded, but no one ever reportedly saw said weapon. Really there isn't much known about them, which is why this guy wrote the book."
Nodding his head, Himura went back to driving his cart in peace and quiet for a while. They still had a few more kilometers to travel before nightfall.
-- Back in Konoha
Sasuke was currently doing wind sprints across a field while Kakashi threw dull kunai at him from a distance. They had been training for the past few hours and Sasuke was beginning to get very tired.
Finally Kakashi yelled out.
"Ok Sasuke bring it in, we're done for the day"
Sasuke walked over to Kakashi,
"So where are Naruto and Sakura?"
Kakashi looked up from his smut book,
"I sent those two on a mission, they should be back in 3 days or so. It keeps them out of our hair for a while. Besides you don't really want to do those D rank missions anyways, they're boring as hell. So we'll train for a while till your ready to start on the C rank missions."
Sasuke nodded and set out on the next task set for him by Kakashi.
--
Naruto, Sakura and Himura were making their way towards the area they planned to stop for the night. Sakura had pointed out on the map that it looked like a good spot because it has high ground and the bandits have not been sighted around that area.
Reaching the apex of the hill Naruto called for the group to stop.
"Himura-san, Sakura believes that this spot will be the safest for us to stay tonight and I agree with her. We should be just a few miles outside of the bandits territory, so it should be safe here tonight, but regardless Sakura and I will take turns keeping watch through the night."
Himura nodded and replied,
"That's fine, I'm getting tired anyways and I know my oxen would appreciate a rest and some food." Stepping down from his seat on the cart the man turned to Naruto. "Naruto would you help me unhitch the oxen so I can set them out to pasture for the night?"
As Naruto went to help Himura, Sakura picked up the packs and said,
"Well if the two of you are going to go do that, then I'll go set up the tents and get dinner started. I think I'll make camp under that cedar tree over there."
Himura called over to the girl,
"Don't worry about setting a tent for me, I'll just be sleeping in my wagon"
Setting off to the different tasks at hand, the group parted ways for a short time. As Naruto began to help Himura unhitch the team, Himura began another conversation with the teen.
"So Naruto, that girl Sakura over there, are you two a couple or something?"
Naruto sputtered,
"What the hell would give you that idea?"
"I don't know, just seems kind of odd to me that two young teenage ninja would be working together like you two do if you weren't dating or something."
Naruto just shook his head,
"No, Sakura and I are just teammates, and in all honesty it seems as if she actually doesn't like me at all."
"Oh, why would that be, did you do something to her. Because you know they say hell hath no wrath like a woman's scorn."
"No, I didn't do anything to her. It just so happens that through a series of unfortunate events, that something close to me brought her family a lot of sorrow. In fact it's the reason that most of the city seems to dislike me."
Himura looked over to where Naruto was fighting with a rather suborn buckle on the ox's harness.
"So if you don't mind me asking what exactly happened that caused so many people to dislike you?"
Naruto's eyes seemed to cloud over just a little bit,
"Actually Himura-san that is something that I would prefer to not talk about."
Himura just nodded,
"Fair enough, every man has his skeletons"
--
Sakura was under the large cedar tree, she had set up the small tent for herself to use. Looking into Naruto's bag she was surprised to not see a normal tent, but some sort of small hammock. Not knowing how to set something like that up she just left it for the blonde and began making a simple dehydrated soup for them to eat.
Staring past the flames at the distant tree line of a forest, she watched the sun as it just began to dip into the western edge of the world. She began to think about where her life was beginning to take her.
'A couple of weeks ago I never would of imagined myself sitting by a fire as a real ninja making food for Naruto of all people. My entire life Mom has been blaming him for everything that happened to us, but in all honesty, the more I get to know him the less that I hate him.'
Stirring the slowly rehydrating beef in the pot, her stomach turned a little bit.
"God, I know these dehydrated meals have gotten better, but they still look bad when you're making them"
She was surprised to hear Naruto behind her.
"Yea I know what you mean, next time I'll try to get some small game or something as we go so we don't have to eat this stuff again."
She turned to look at the blonde behind her and then back at the field where she was sure she could see Naruto helping Himura bring the oxen out to the eat and sleep for the night.
"Umm, Naruto how are you talking to me, when I'm fairly sure that I can see you down there?"
Naruto turned to look at her,
"Oh that, I'm not actually Naruto, I'm one of his shadow clones. He had me and a couple other clones check the area around us and see if we could find any signs of the bandits. It seems to be all clear. I just figured I'd give you a heads up before I tell the boss."
Sakura just looked at the now identified clone'
"So your not real?"
"Well I'm not the original if that's what you're asking, but otherwise for all intents and purposes I'm the real thing."
Sakura just nodded her head slowly,
"Ok then, well tell Naruto and Himura-san that dinner should be done in a little bit, but Naruto is going to have to set up his own tent cause I didn't know how to set up a tent like his"
The clone just nodded its head and replied,
"Ok consider it done" and disappeared in a poof of smoke.
--(With Naruto and Himura)
Naruto looked up and said,
"Sakura should be done with dinner in a few minutes. I'm sorry to say that it's not necessarily the best food out there, but as far as trail food goes its not half bad."
Himura just nodded his head,
"Ok sounds fine, but I'm going to need your help getting the cart up to the campsite."
--
Sakura just about wet herself laughing. She watched as Naruto dutifully pulled the cart up the steep hill while Himura rode in his seat. As Naruto got closer she called out to him.
"Hey Naruto wouldn't it of been a lot easier for you to unhitch the cart up here and bring the oxen down there instead of the other way around."
Slightly irritated by being used as a beast of burden Naruto just yelled back,
"Yea but apparently Himura-san thought otherwise"
Sakura just called back,
"Well at least now we know if being a ninja doesn't work out for you, you can always be a pack mule."
Scowling, Naruto just sat down next to the small fire and began stretching his back out. Himura began setting up a small tarp over his wares and his sleeping area on his cart. Sakura walked over to where Naruto was sitting.
"Hey Naruto, sorry but I wasn't able to get your tent set up, I've never really set up a hammock or anything and there aren't any small trees around to tie it up between."
Naruto just stared at the fire and responded,
"Don't worry about it, I'll set it up in the boughs of the cedar later after dinner."
With that Sakura just went back to preparing dinner.
Soon enough Himura made his way over to the fire with three small bowls and a couple sets of eating utensils.
"Figured that since you two did most of the work today the least that I could do was get the bowls and stuff out and since I conveniently sell them for a living I had a couple with me."
Sakura just smiled at the man and thanked him for helping. Himura looked around and asked.
"Hey where's Naruto?"
Sakura looked up and was surprised to see that Naruto was no longer sitting behind her. Looking around she spotted him high up in the cedar tree looking out at the horizon.
'I didn't even hear him get up while I was cooking, let alone climb all the way up a tree."
"Hey Naruto come on down, dinner is just about ready"
Jumping down from his spot in the tree, Naruto landed just a few feet away from the two sitting by the fire. Himura looked to him.
"Naruto, what were you doing way up the tree?"
"I was just looking around seeing if I could spot any other fires, because that would tell me if anyone else is nearby. I didn't see anyone else so as far as I can tell there is nobody else anywhere to close by."
Sakura was a little amazed by this because she had never even thought to look around like that.
"Naruto, where did you learn to do look for groups like that? It wasn't taught at the academy."
Naruto just scratched his head sheepishly,
"It's something I picked up while living out by myself for so long. It doesn't really help to find any ninja or someone try to be sneaky, but otherwise almost every other group that you come across will build a fire at night to cook dinner, so if you look for a fire or smoke you can tell where someone else may be located."
Sakura just replied, "Makes sense I suppose, I'll have to remember to check for that from now on."
With the conversation done the sat down on the ground and began eating the soup that Sakura had cooked. True, it wasn't great soup, but at least it was warm and filling. After they finished dinner, Himura stood up and excused himself saying that he was going to go clean up some and then head to bed, leaving just the two young teens around the fire.
Naruto was again looking at the sun as it was just disappearing over the western horizon. He turned to Sakura.
"I can take first watch tonight, I'll wake you up sometime around two or so to take over."
Sakura readily agreed and made her way over to her tent.
Naruto just walked back up the tree to begin tying up his hammock
--
Sakura was frustrated. She had fallen asleep just two hours before without any problems, but know she was wide-awake and couldn't fall back asleep. She didn't want to admit it to anyone, but she was a little scared. Deciding to go outside and get something to drink she unzipped her tent and put her sandals back on.
Stepping outside the tent, she looked around for Naruto. Her water bottle was empty since she used it to make dinner so she was hoping to get some from him instead of having to walk to the bottom of the hill to refill hers at the small stream.
She finally spotted Naruto at the high in the tree again. It looked like he was deep in thought staring at the skies. Jumping up into the branches, she walked out towards him.
"What are you doing up Sakura, you still have a couple hours before your watch" asked Naruto without looking away from the sky
Startled Sakura just replied, "How did you know it was me?"
"Well I heard the zipped on your tent a little bit ago, but besides that, you smell distinctly like a blooming cherry tree, I've never met anyone else that smells like that so it narrows it down pretty quickly."
Blushing lightly from Naruto commenting on her smell, even if it wasn't in a condescending way. "Anyways I couldn't sleep and I was wondering if you had any water left that I could have"
Naruto tossed her his water skin and she took a seat on the branch a few feet away.
After a few minutes Naruto just sighed, "Are you going to tell me what you're so worried about or do I just have to sit here in this awkward silence forever?"
Sakura just turned towards him. "What makes you think I'm worried about something?"
Naruto just shrugged, "I've spent the better part of my life having to observe everyone before I approached them so that I could tell if they were scared, mad or sad so that I could have an idea at whether they would chase me away or not. Guess after a while I got good enough at it to do it without meaning to, so anyways what's eating you?"
Sakura looked away from him,
"I've never actually been away from home before, and I figured that my first trip outside the village would be with a jounin-sensei, not the boy who ruined my families life."
"Fair enough I suppose, but just so you know Sakura, even though you may not like me, you are my teammate and I will do my best to protect you and our client if something happens. So whether you like me or not, can you at least trust me?"
Sakura didn't reply right away. Hesitantly she said,
"I know I shouldn't but I'll try to"
Naruto just smiled and went back to looking at the sky. After a few more minutes of silence Sakura began talking again.
"What are you staring at exactly? There's barely any moon out tonight at all so you can't really see much can you?"
Naruto just turned to her.
"When I was growing up in the area around fire country I met up with a wandering Taoist monk for a while, he was always telling me how humans could relate to things in the wild. I guess I just picked up the habit."
Confused by his response, Sakura asked him what he was talking about.
"Well tonight for instance I came up with this one about heroes. The sun is like the great figurehead during a peaceful time. There is no darkness underneath the sun, it warms everyone and keeps us all in the light. But eventually darkness will come. Then we have the moon; it shines like beacon when the sun goes out. It may not keep us warm, but it does light the world until the sun returns. In that way it's a lot like our Hokages who brought us through the great wars."
Sakura was mildly impressed by the depth of what the young blonde was talking about.
"But Naruto, once a month the moon fades from the sky, so then what happens"
Naruto looked at her,
"Then all you have are the stars. Nor the brightest of the celestial beings, but it lights the world, when all other lights go out. In that way the star is greater than the sun or the moon."
Sakura just looked up at the stars twinkling in the night sky.
"Hey Naruto, where did you learn that clone thing that I was talking to earlier?"
"Those? They're called Kage Bunshins for all intents and purposes they're the same as me. They can use chakra and physically hit someone because they are solid, but it only takes one good hit to dispel them. I use them quite a bit for scouting, ambushing and sparring"
"Why would you spar with clones? That can't be the best way to fight?"
"Probably not, but since no one would train me or spar with me it didn't leave me with much of a choice. So over the years I've learned to just do almost everything myself. Its just easier for everyone that way."
Sakura turned to the enigmatic boy besides her,
"Just what did you do that made everyone hate you then?"
Naruto's eyes suddenly looked a little deadened,
"I think you should try to get a little more sleep yet tonight Sakura, why don't you head to bed, I'll wake you in a few hours to take watch."
Sakura nodded he head and began making her way down the tree.
As she lay in her tent on the verge of falling asleep she thought to herself,
'For being a demon brat like mom says, he's really not all that bad sometimes, but there is definitely something he's hiding.' And with that thought she drifted off into a peaceful sleep.
--
As Naruto continued to watch the stars he suddenly heard another being land on the branch near him. Turning to look he saw a large black raven staring at the sky.
"Guess you're here to keep me company tonight. Well its fine by me, I don't really like being alone all that much anyway."
And with that he and the raven spent the next few hours in silence until he had to wake up Sakura.
--
Morning came all to quickly for the young blonde, keeping watch was a necessity, but the downside is that it limited how much sleep a small group was able to get. Looking over the edge of his hammock he saw Sakura tent moving around a bit, so he figured that she was already awake and getting ready to go.
Sliding out of his hammock, Naruto quickly untied it and stuffed it back into his pack. Once he was done packing most of his gear he set to making the breakfast that they had planned.
Pulling the bag marked breakfast out of the gear bag Naruto was a little happy to see that it read 'Oatmeal'. Oatmeal may not seem like the best breakfast ever, but it was far superior to the horror that is powdered eggs. Grabbing the pot he realized that since Sakura drank a good portion of his water the previous night, he didn't have enough to make the oatmeal, so he made his way down the hill to collect some water at the base of the hill.
Meanwhile Sakura left her tent just in time to see Naruto making his way down the hill. Noticing the pot in his hand she assumed that he must have been going to get more water.
'Well if he's getting the water for breakfast I guess I can get the fire started'
Pulling out the small book of matches that she keeps in her pack she went to collect some tinder and kindling to light a small cooking fire. As she began collecting limbs she tripped and dropped her book of matches into a small puddle of mud. Swearing to herself she said
"Dang it! Those were the only matches that I had. I guess I'll have to see if Naruto has any matches."
Making her way back to the campsite she deposited the firewood and walked over to Naruto's pack. Opening the small pouch on the side she quickly found a small metal box that looked like a box of matches.
Opening it she was immediately a little bit surprised by the contents. Inside were two small metal rings, one metallic blue and the other icy silver. Picking them up she instantly dropped them to the ground.
'Damn, that silver one is colder than ice.'
Looking at her hand she could see a small circle that appeared to be frostbitten. Looking again at the rings she was enthralled by them. They seemed very simple. A band of treated metal with a flat surface at the top with what appeared to be a small-engraved infinity symbol in them. Picking up the one that didn't freeze her she examined the symbol a little closer,
'It looks like a infinity symbol, but one of the middle lines doesn't connect, making it incomplete.' (A/N if your wondering what the symbol I'm talking about looks like you can find a picture of it here naturesintention.ca/ESW/Images/infinitysymbol.jpg)
"Those are my rings Sakura," said Naruto coldly
Startled, Sakura jumped and dropped the ring back to the ground.
"I'm sorry, I was looking for matches and I thought that the box that the rings were in was a match box so I opened it, but when the rings dropped into my hand the smaller one froze my hand, it was so cold."
"Those rings are the only clue that I have about where I came from Sakura, please don't dig through my stuff without asking me ever again. I lost them once and I don't want to lose those rings a second time."
Bending down Naruto picked up the silvery ring that was lying in the dirt. Standing back up he held out his hand expectantly. Sakura realizing what he wanted quickly handed back the other ring. Naruto then picked up the small box and deposited the rings inside and placed them into a pocket in his cloak.
"Hey Naruto, what was that symbol on the rings? Do you know what it means?"
Naruto just sighed,
"I have no idea what that symbol means. I've never found it in any sort of reference book or anything so I don't know."
Turning around Naruto pulled a small book of matches out of his pack and tossed them to the pink haired girl.
"Here you can keep them, I normally use a small Katon jutsu that the old man taught me to light fires anyways."
--
The rest of the morning passed without anything of real significance happening. After hitching up the team of oxen the merchant and the two genins were back on their way towards Fukuoka. Sakura had retaken the spot in the cart with Himura while Naruto wandered along beside the cart keeping an eye out for the bandits.
"Sakura" said Naruto quietly "Remember what I said last night about trusting me?"
"Yea, why?" replied Sakura.
"Up ahead I can make out what appears to be about ten men barricading the road. I think they're the bandits. I'll take care of them, but I need you to stay with Himura-san. Just stay near him and stay calm and you'll be fine ok?"
Now feeling slightly nervous Sakura asked him, "But what will you do?"
"I'm going to try to take them out before they realize what's going on. I'm going to be using some intimidation tactics on them and I need you to help keep Himura-san calm and safe."
Nodding her head once towards Naruto, she turned her head back towards the road. Their conversation had been so quiet that Himura hadn't even heard the two talking.
"Himura-san, Naruto has spotted some of the bandits ahead of us, he went ahead to take care of them."
Himura turned and looked beside the cart to see Naruto still walking there.
"What are you talking about Naruto is right next to us?"
"No" said the pink haired girl "That's one of Naruto's clones that he uses to confuse people. The real Naruto is already almost at the targets."
As she finished her sentence a thick fog began rolling into the small forested road that they were traveling on. The fog continued until it got so thick that she couldn't see things that were more than ten feet in front of her cart.
Then all hell broke loose. Ahead of her she was able to make out shouts of alarm followed by men screaming and the sound of people fleeing. Turning to look at the man riding beside her she looked at their client.
Himura looked like he was scared out of his mind. And in all honesty Sakura was too, she just didn't show it as much as Himura did.
Suddenly from a tree branch above them dropped a man carrying a large barbed club. He looked absolutely terrified and Sakura realized that this man was acting completely on self-preservation. He didn't care at all about what was in the cart, he just wanted to get out of whatever hell Naruto had created.
The man raised his club as to strike Sakura, but she froze in fear of the large man. Himura just jumped from the cart leaving the girl to her own devices. Lost in her own fear Sakura just screamed. Then suddenly from the mist she heard.
"Sakura!"
followed by a hum of a large object being thrown. Through the dense fog came a large silver bladed scythe that stabbed the large bandit in the chest and pinned him to a tree, where he slowly bled to death. As soon as the man had died the scythe poofed away leaving the man to drop to the ground in a heap. Terrified Sakura turned to see a image that shocked her to her very core.
Out of mists in front of her walked a small man wearing a pitch-black cloak with silver clasps on the front. Over his shoulder was a large black handled scythe with a slivery blade gleaming with fresh blood. The man's eyes were such an ice cold blue that they almost looked silver.
Seeing the look on his teammates face Naruto realized that he hadn't stopped using the fear stimuli that he had used against the bandits. Dropping them he quickly saw Sakura relax, but her face was still very ashen. Naruto then spotted their client lying unconscious on the ground besides the cart. It appeared that as he leaped out he had knocked himself unconscious. Looking back to his teammate he was surprised to see her still looking very afraid of him.
Reaching out to her he called "Sakura, are you ok?"
Sakura looked up at Naruto with fear evident in her eyes.
"What was that? Are you really a demon?"
Naruto looked down to the ground,
"I honestly didn't mean for you to see that Sakura, but he was injured and I left him for dead, I didn't expect him to be able to get to you two."
Sakura just shook her head.
"Not that, I saw you walk out of the mist with a bloody scythe over your shoulder and every part of me told me runaway. I was so scared, I thought you were going to kill me too."
Naruto lifted up the poor girls chin to look at her straight in the eyes.
"Sakura, I will never purposely hurt you. You're my teammate and I will try to protect you. What you felt was me using an accumulation of fear stimuli that cause irrational fear in my enemies. I didn't mean to use them on you guys."
Sakura just hugged him tightly and started sobbing into his chest. Naruto was taken aback at first; it wasn't the reaction that he had been expecting. Hate, fear, or just outright shock he had expected, he had seen those in people before, but this was something that was completely new to him.
That's when he finally realized what the problem was.
"Sakura, this is the first time you've seen someone get killed isn't it?"
Sakura just continued sobbing but she distinctly nodded her head.
Naruto was attempting to make the girl feel better, but he was failing miserably at it. The only thing that Naruto could think of to do was rub her back slowly as she continued to cry.
"Its ok Sakura, they all ran away now, but we have to get moving before they come back ok? I need your help getting Himura-san back into the cart so we can get to the town. Can you help me with that?"
Naruto figured that maybe giving the scared girl a task would take her mind off of what happened.
Sakura slowly let go and made her way over to where Himura was laying; with Naruto helping they lifted him into a two man cradle carry and brought him over to the cart. Laying him down where he slept the previous night, Naruto looked over at Sakura.
"Sakura, I can drive the cart, but can you stay in back with Himura-san and take care of him, it's possible that he may have a concussion and your probably better with first aid than I am."
Sakura just nodded her head dumbly and went about getting their client into a better resting position. Naruto sat down in the drivers seat and got the cart started down the long trail towards Fukuoka.
--
Several hours later they arrived in the town. Himura had woken up about an hour before but Sakura insisted that he stay resting in case he had any injury that she had missed. As they entered the town, Naruto directed the cart towards the hotel that they were supposed to be staying in. Stepping off the cart he turned around and helped their client off the cart, while Sakura just gracefully jumped off the side.
Naruto was pleased to see that Sakura had gotten a hold on her emotions for the meantime. He figured that they would come to a head later when their client wasn't around, but at least for the moment they had a sense of normalcy.
Walking into the small inn, Naruto walked up to the hostess behind the counter and picked up the rooms that Himura had reserved for their trip. As it turned out Himura had requested a single room for himself and an economy two-bed room for the two ninjas. The only small up to their economy room is that it had access to a small onsen that was shared with the room adjacent to their own, so they may have to share it with someone else, but at least they had a place to relax for a while.
Sakura and Naruto escorted their client to one of his partner's shops so that he could exchange some wares before heading out to Tanzaku the following day to sell them. Leaving their client to their own devices they began walking in the general direction of their inn.
"Hey Sakura, how about we go back to the room and clean up then go get some dinner. I don't know about you but I could use a bath and a good meal."
Sakura just smiled and agreed quickly.
After getting back to their room, Sakura quickly grabbed a large white towel that was hanging on the rack and went to the changing room loudly proclaiming
"I get first bath Naruto"
Seeing as Sakura had ran right into the onsen, Naruto just sighed and took his cloak off and began washing the blood off of it. Hearing a slamming door he turned his head to see a darkly blushing Sakura standing there in nothing but a towel.
Covering his eyes to maintain her sense of modesty he asked,
"Umm… Sakura what are you doing"
She stuttered a response
"T..tthere are o..other people in the bath"
Naruto just laughed,
"Of course there are, were in an economy room, you didn't think that we'd have a private bath did you?"
Sakura lowered her head and mumbled
"I knew that, but I didn't expect the onsen to be co-ed…"
Naruto just asked,
"Well in that case I'll grab my swim suit and we can head down to the onsen together."
Sakura just blushed even more deeply, if that was even possible,
"That's the problem, I don't have a swim suit…"
Now Naruto blushed just as deeply as Sakura as he realized Sakura's predicament.
"Well, I'll tell you what. I'll go and talk to the hostess and see if I can get something for you to wear. In the meantime why don't you get dressed?"
Quickly leaving the room, Naruto made his way down the corridor towards where the hostess's desk was located. Seeing the young woman leaning on the counter half asleep absentmindedly flipping through a magazine he asked her,
"Excuse me, do you have swim suits that my roommate could use? She doesn't have one here and it's a public coed bath."
Without looking up the hostess just responded,
"We don't have suits that she can borrow but we do have some that are available for purchase."
"Umm yea that will work can I just buy one here then."
The woman turned around towards a rack of plain off white two-piece swim suites behind her.
"What size is she?"
Naruto thought for a second,
"Well she stands about 5 feet 3 inches"
The woman just sighed,
"I mean her waist and chest sizes"
Naruto blushed deeply,
"Umm how about I just give you the money for a suit and she comes down to buy one?"
The woman just nodded and said,
"The suits are 10,000 yen"
Naruto just gaped, knowing full well that the suits weren't actually worth that much and that they were just being charged so much because they jacked the prices up.
Grumbling Naruto grudgingly handed over the money and made his way back down to his room.
Inside he found Sakura sitting there in her usual apparel staring intently at the window.
"They have a suit for you at the counter but I wasn't sure what size you needed so your going to have to pick it up yourself. I'm going to get changed and head down to the onsen, you can just meet me there after you get changed ok?"
Sakura just nodded and headed towards the door, but stopped before she reached it.
"Actually Naruto, can you wait here? There's something I wanted to talk about before we go anywhere."
Naruto agreed to wait, having already figured what it was that she wanted to talk about. She had seen him coldly kill a man right in front of her. Then he accidentally used his fear stimuli on her.
Lying down prostrate on his bed, Naruto wasn't sure how he should handle this situation. In his entire life he had never had to look out for anyone beside himself before, and suddenly he had a teammate that he needed to protect too.
Sakura quickly returned with her swimsuit. Sitting down on her bed she quietly asked him,
"What did you do earlier? You suddenly disappeared and the next thing that I knew there was this thick fog and screaming. Then a guy tries to jump us, and he looked crazed with fear. Just as he's about to hit me, you k..killed him. And when I saw you walk out of the fog I thought for sure you were going to kill me too. Himura-san got so scared that he tried to run away."
Naruto just sighed,
"Well to know exactly what happened you need to know a little more about my past. First off you know I grew up outside the village, but what you don't know is that I spent most of my childhood wandering around Hi no Kuni by myself. When I was young I had a few run ins with bandits who I was not strong enough to defend myself from. So as I grew, instead of relying on brute strength I started learning how to use surprise to my advantage. So I learned a few techniques that allow me to get behind them without being seen or heard. Then I learned how to create that thick fog so I could hide my movements. Finally I learned different ways to strike fear into people. That's what you saw me doing when I walked towards you, I had forgotten to drop the different techniques. I honestly never meant to actually kill any of those men because that wasn't our job, but when one of them was about to attack you I didn't have a choice. I assume that was the first time that you ever saw someone die right?"
Sakura just nodded her head,
"I'm sorry that you had to see that. I grew up having to kill to feed or defend myself, but you never had to. I know you may not believe me, but I do not enjoy killing people."
Surprisingly Sakura looked up,
"I knew that, when I looked in your eyes after the fight I could tell you were sad."
Naruto just nodded his head.
"Now how about we go down to that bath, because I don't know about you, but I know that I stink"
Sakura laughed a little and went into the bathroom to change before they made their way to the onsen.
The rest of the night had gone relatively well. They onsen was relaxing and since Naruto wasn't acting perverted Sakura had a good time too. In fact she was a little impressed with Naruto, because he stood up to a bigger man who had been eyeing her. She smiled as she lay down on the soft bed. She may not want to admit it, but in the past couple of days she had unwillingly turned Naruto from an enemy into a teammate. She didn't necessarily always like him, but he was dependable and honest, and as far as teammates go she was glad to have him. Now if only he wasn't scary as shit when he was fighting.
'Only two more days and I can finally go back to Konoha and Sasuke-kun…' Thought Sakura as she drifted off to sleep
--
The next morning she was surprised to find that Naruto had already gotten dressed and left the room. Quickly dressing she made her way down to where breakfast as served and found Naruto talking to Himura.
Looking up Naruto greeted his teammate,
"Morning Sakura, Himura –san here has decided that he isn't going to be going to Tanzaku. His friend is ill so he decided to stay here for a while and help out. That means that we'll be heading back to Konoha this morning so we can get there by nightfall."
Sakura was surprised by the turn of events, but not by any means mad. After all this meant that she got to return to Sasuke-kun a day earlier than previously expected.
Quickly bidding their client goodbye they began heading back up the road they traveled. Once they had cleared the outskirts of the village they immediately leapt into the canopy of the forest and began the long run back home.
After several hours of non-stop running Sakura called up to Naruto,
"Naruto, I need a break, my legs are killing me."
Naruto leapt down from a tree and settled along side a small stream that was running through the forest. Sitting down on a log near the stream he reached into his pocket and withdrew a small box of pocky, offering one to Sakura as she sat down.
Taking the small stick from Naruto she began nibbling on it as she rested her sore legs.
Looking up at the sun Naruto came to a realization,
"At the rate we're going we're not going to make it back tonight, unless we go till after dark, but if your tired now I don't think that's an option."
Sakura looked up at the sun and was dismayed to see that the blonde was right.
"Yea, but we don't have food for a second night on the road, we were only supposed to be outside over one night"
Naruto just stood up and started walking towards a small densely wooded area,
"No worries, I'll get us some food while you rest, we'll travel for another hour or two before we stop for the night."
Shortly later Naruto returned with a small bag hanging off of his pack that Sakura assumed must have been whatever it was he caught. Looking over to her blonde teammate she said,
"Well if your ready I suppose we should get going, with any luck we can make it back to the campsite we stayed in two nights ago, then it should only be a couple of hours of running tomorrow to get back."
Jumping high into the foliage they made there way the last few kilometers towards their campsite. Since they had taken to the trees instead of the road they were able to easily bypass the area where any of the bandits were supposed to still be located. Noticing this Sakura looked towards Naruto.
"Hey Naruto, why did we go around the bandits territory? They shouldn't be anything to worry about should they?"
Naruto looked over at her,
"Why would you say that? If anything they'd be more dangerous now cause they're probably scared of me."
"Wait, why would the be scared of you? Didn't you kill all of them?"
Naruto looked at her incredulously,
"You seriously thought I killed all those bandits? The only one I killed was the one attacking you. The rest of them I just scared away."
Sakura looked oddly relieved, but Naruto just frowned at her reaction,
"You believe too much of what other people tell you Sakura. Contrary to what the vast majority of Konoha believes, I only kill when I have to, and I consider protecting a friend one of those occasions."
Sakura's eyes widened suddenly,
"I'm sorry Naruto, I didn't mean anything like that…"
Naruto just sighed,
"I know what your Mother thinks of me, and I know that you still believe a lot of what she says, even if you won't admit it to me."
Sakura just looked down towards the forest floor. She didn't know how she could respond to that.
The last few kilometers to the campsite were spent in an awkward silence. Once they reached the tree the immediately began setting up their individual sleeping arrangements, Naruto's up in the same large cedar tree, and Sakura's just below.
Naruto, after finishing his set up, began lighting a fire and cooking what turned out to be several small rabbits on spit over the fire. After they began cooking he walked down to the bottom of the hill to refill the water skins for him and Sakura. Coming back he found Sakura sitting at the campfire watching the rabbits cook intently. Without saying a word he walked up beside her and offered her a water skin.
Sakura gladly accepted,
'Naruto has got to be the strangest person I have ever met. By all rights he should be mad at me. And by what everyone else says he should be a crazed psychopath.'
Feeling a nudge on her side she noticed Naruto was handing her a stick with the rabbit on it.
"I know it's not much, but it should tide us over till tomorrow when we get home"
He said with a smile.
Accepting the small meal she let a small smile grace her face. Looking to the west she could see the sun begin to fade, ushering in the night. Above her she could see a just a sliver of an orange moon appearing.
Sighing contentedly she stood up.
"I'm going to head to bed Naruto, I don't think we need to keep watch tonight. I don't see any smoke or fires around here so it looks like the bandits are long gone."
Naruto smiled at her,
"At least you learned something new" Looking up into the tree branches he then added, "I think I'm going to stay up a bit longer. Music doesn't keep you awake does it"
Sakura quirked an eyebrow at his comment.
"Your not going to start singing, are you?"
Naruto laughed,
"No, God knows I can't sing"
Sakura just chuckled a little,
"So then what do you do?"
Naruto just smirked a little mischievously,
"Guess you'll have to just listen and find out"
Then he leapt into the tree onto a large sturdy branch. Sakura just turned around and began crawling into her sleeping bag, when she heard the most beautifully sad song that she had ever heard begin echoing from outside her tent. It was a simple song being played on what she believed to be a violin. Crawling back outside her tent she saw the blonde high up on a branch, resting against the trunk. He had removed the heavy cloak that she had become accustomed to seeing him wear. Instead he wore just a skintight black shirt with a pair of midnight black pants. Tucked under his chin was an old, but well cared for violin, with an ebony bow. Moving the bow smoothly along the strings Naruto continued to play the hauntingly beautiful song. Feeling something wet on her face, Sakura was surprised to find that she was actually crying.
Slowly climbing up into the tree with her teammate, she took a spot on a branch not far from him as he continued to play. The song seemed to fit the moment so well that it was eerie. As the song began to fade, Sakura was brought back to her senses.
"Naruto, that song was beautiful. Where did you learn to play like that?"
Naruto responded without looking at her.
"I don't know"
"How do you know remember learning to play the violin?" asked Sakura incredulously.
Naruto just shrugged his shoulders. "An old man offered me this violin as payment for helping him clear his fields years ago. The day I picked up the violin I was able to play it"
"So where did you learn that song?"
"I didn't. I wrote it myself."
"You wrote that yourself? But its such a sad song, it actually made me cry"
Naruto turned to look at her, and for the first time she could see a little slip in his mask. His face still looked like normal, but his eyes, his eyes had lost that glow they normally had. They looked dull, almost hollow.
"I spent my entire childhood being either beaten or alone Sakura, it wasn't exactly very happy to begin with"
Her eyes widened,
"Naruto… I'm sorry" before she could continue though Naruto cut her off.
"Don't be Sakura. You gave me a chance, that's more than what most are willing to do. Now why don't you head to bed? I'm going to play just a little longer."
As Sakura made her way back to her tent, she heard the soft melodic tones of Naruto's violin begin again.
Sliding back into her sleeping bag, she fell asleep with a soft smile on her lips, and a tear in her eye. And for once, since the bandits attacked, she actually felt at ease. Falling into a peaceful slumber, she didn't hear the music stop, but it continued on in her dreams, keeping her safe until the grace of the dawn broke through the night.
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All right I know I said that I planned on starting the bridge arc in this chapter, but I hit over 12000 words and decided to cut it there. It will most likely be a little while before I'm able to write any decent amount. School is so busy right now that it's not even remotely funny. This new section of calculus is kicking my ass. I'll update whenever I get the chance too. If your wondering the song that Naruto plays on his violin is actually simply called Sad Violin. You can find it on youtube, its from FFX. And before anyone asks, no this is not a Naruto/Sakura pairing. The only thing happening between them is some simple friendship.
Please read and review. If you don't review I have no idea what you think of the story. That and lets face it, every author likes to see that someone liked his writing enough to actually leave a review for it.
