A/N: Hello again, I'm here with the next chapter of By my own hand. I'd first like to say thank you for all of the positive reviews and your support for my story. It really makes me want to keep writing and the more positive reviews I get, the faster it makes me want to push out chapters. Second, I'd like to know what you all think the character pairings should be. It's not totally set in stone yet, so I'd like to hear what the readers think. I don't have much else to say at the moment, so on with the show.
Naruto honestly didn't know how he kept getting himself into bad situations like this. He would guess that this all started when it was his and Moka's turn to guard the bridge builder and his workers as they tried to finish the bridge as fast as possible. Now both he and Moka were dangling over the side of the bridge, tied together by a thick cord. Their arms were tied around each other with Moka's budding breasts were pressed flush against Naruto's chest as the dhampir had to fight himself to not look down, though he really, really wanted to. Looking down meant he would have the chance to see straight into the girl's cleavage, but that would also invoke the wrath of his female companion and that was something he would not risk.
"You know, this wouldn't have happened if you didn't try to push me off the bridge." Naruto stated dryly as he felt the blood rushing to his head, looking down into the water. It would be very bad if the rope broke before someone could pull them up.
"I wouldn't have to push you off the bridge if you wouldn't try to fall asleep on the job." Moka growled through her teeth, her fangs bared; getting angry won't get them out of this situation.
"Point taken. Now, do you have an idea on how to get us out of this situation?" Naruto looked down slightly before averting his eyes up again, feeling some blood threaten to leak from his nose. He was a thirteen year old boy after all.
"Hey! What are you two doing down there?" Both of the Youkai blinked, looking to the bridge above them to see the red-haired girl that was their comrade. "Oh? Moka-chan, you dog, getting comfy with Naruto-san on the job, are you?" The girl grinned slyly, putting a hand over her mouth to hide it.
"I-It's not like that! Hurry and pull us up already before the rope breaks!" Moka shouted, cheeks flushing slightly, whether it was in embarrassment, anger, or just from blood rushing to her head was yet to be determined, as the rope above their feet began getting thinner, looking ready to snap under their combined weight.
"Alright, alright, I'm pulling." Natsuri mumbled as she grabbed the rope and began pulling, easily dragging them up with demonically enhanced strength.
After the two were pulled up and untangled, Moka whirled around and connected a heavy kick to her teammates chin, launching him over the bridge and into the water. "Know your place!" Patting herself off, she turned to her friend and put a hand on her hip, making Nazuri sweat-drop.
"What was that for?" The fox girl asked.
"He deserved it." Was the simple statement, as if no other explanation was needed.
"R-Right... Well, Sakura-san and I," Nazuri pointed over to the pinkette who was observing the builders work, "Came here to relieve you and Naruto-san of watch duty for the day. When we didn't see you, I had to search for your energies and found you dangling over the edge there. How did that happen, by the way?"
"Long story, I'll tell you later." The vampire yawned and stretched her arms, walking towards the back of the bridge to go back to Tazuna's house.
Nazuri shook her head and looked off to where her dhampir friend had landed in the water. "I hope Naruto-san will be okay." They'd known each other ever since she went with the previous Sandaime and the council elders to investigate the strange eruption of energy that came from her Tou-san's office. At first she thought it might be her Kaa-san throwing a tantrum, but it had felt different than that. She just sighed and turned back to do her job: make sure no one tries to stop the builders from their work.
Moka arrived at the house and opened the door, walking in to see the normal scene of her team and comrades lounging around the living room. She smirked as she saw an irate Naruto sitting in the corner, soaking wet with a large bruise on his chin.
"You didn't have to be so rough." The boy narrowed his eyes, his eyebrow twitching. "You're lucky I don't share the same weakness our kind usually has."
This of course, was the vampire's weakness to water. Contrary to popular belief, they could cross running water, but touching water that didn't have special treatment would severely weaken them. Naruto seemed to be part of the very small percentage of vampires and dhampirs that didn't have this.
"A little water isn't going to kill you." Moka sat down on her knees in front of the small table in the middle of the room, pouring herself some of the tea that Tsunami had set out earlier.
A grumble came from Naruto as he turned away from her, moving his wet hair out of his eyes.
Anko raised an eyebrow at their exchange, having been curious when Naruto had come back soaking wet, glaring at the floor, and grumbling to himself; it obviously had something to do with his teammate. "Hey, you two shouldn't be getting into lovers' quarrels on the job; we're still not entirely sure when the enemy might show themselves."
"We're not lovers!" Came the shout from both her students, cheeks flushing brightly. Anko chuckled and shook her head, going back to the book she was reading before.
The day before, after both teams had finished eating, Kakashi had fully filled Team 11 in on what had happened, and his assumption that the enemy, Momochi Zabuza, was still alive. They figured it would be at least a week from Team 7 and Tazuna's arrival before Zabuza would be fully functioning again. That was four days ago.
Nazuri and Sakura had gotten back with Tazuna after the workers had finished for the day. Soon after, Tsunami had set out dinner so the teams would be well fed and full of energy for training. It was Team 11 on one side with Team 7 on the other, Tazuna at one end and Tsunami and her son, Inari, at the other.
The meal was ate in relative silence with a few bouts of idle chatter here and there before the silence was broken by Inari. "Why. Why are you doing this? You don't stand a chance against Gato, so why?" The kid had a pitifully dark look on his face. "He's just going to kill you like he did everyone else that stood up to him."
Nazuri grinned, "This guy must be pretty strong, but we're ninja of Konoha, we don't give up and we don't lose."
There was a simultaneous nod from every ninja at the table. Kakashi had a smile under his face mask, proud of his sensei's daughter.
"You ninja don't know suffering, you don't know anything! You don't know what it's like to have a precious person taken from you! You don't know what it's like to watch someone you love get executed!" Inari had stood up and slammed his hands onto the table, tears and snot streaming down his face as he cried.
"Inari! That's enough!" Tsunami scolded her son. "I'm sorry, Gato took someone from us; he was like a father to Inari, and he's been devastated ever since."
The ninja all looked to the kid with sympathy in their eyes, except for two of them. Hitsu, simply because she didn't have a head, but still emanated a feeling of sympathy for the kid, and Naruto, because his face was still directed towards the table.
The dhampir's eyes were shadowed by his hair and his fists were clenched tightly in a ball in front of his face. His teeth were bared, clenched tightly with his fangs extended over his bottom lip. Moka, who was sitting next to the silver-haired boy, put a hand on his shaking shoulder and leaned in to look at his face, her eyes widening as his own had changed from their beautiful sapphire color to a fiery red filled with rage. His eyes were narrowed and the already slit pupils had become even thinner. "Naruto?"
"You think we don't know suffering?" The shinobi growled out, completely ignoring Moka and aiming his gaze at the sobbing boy. "At least you still have your mother and grandfather. I have nothing. I know exactly what it's like to see the person you love the most executed! I was forced to watch my mother burn alive!" Naruto had stood, his hands balled so tightly that his nails were cutting into the flesh of his hands, making blood stream and drip down his knuckles. "Don't talk like you know anything..." That part of his speech was deathly quiet, but everyone still heard it. Naruto's youkai energy had begun to surge but for the most part was kept under control. Anko and Kakashi were both prepared to subdue the dhampir if he were to try anything. The silver-haired boy turned towards the exit and left the residence, cloak fluttering as he slammed the door behind him.
Inari looked like he was about to piss himself before he turned and ran up to his room. Tsunami looked worried and Tazuna had a grim look on his face. The rest were silent. Anko sighed and scratched at the back of her head, "Sorry about that, we've all had bad experiences, and Naruto's had some of the worst."
"So... That was all true?" The pinkette surprisingly asked. She could feel the amount of power being released from her silver-haired comrade and it scared her. What's worse is that she could feel that wasn't even close to the maximum he could put out. Hitsu and Sasuke had been quiet through the whole ordeal.
"I don't believe that is any of your business." Moka answered, her tone conveying exactly what she meant: pry any deeper and you'll get hurt.
"Aren't you going to go after him?" Sakura inquired, not wanting someone that dangerous to be out there alone.
"Nah, it's best to let him blow off steam. He'll feel much better tomorrow." Anko replied, yawning. "Ne, Kaka-hentai, have you taught your brats tree-walking yet?"
The one-eyed scarecrow blinked and looked up from his book. "No, I don't believe I have."
Anko grinned, making the students of Team 7 shiver at the look. "Good, then we have something to work on since my brats already know it."
The vampire girl was suddenly hit by a delicious scent that overpowered that of the food in front of them, making her look over to where Naruto had been sitting and see the drops of blood that had leaked from his palms, her hand reaching out to scoop some onto her fingers, unnoticed by the others bar the Jounin in the room
'Zabuza-sama is recovering more quickly than I expected, but it would go much faster if he'd stop moving around so much.' A raven-haired individual dressed in a pink and white flowered kimono was walking through the forest, a basket tucked under their arm as they searched for certain flowers and herbs to put in said basket. The person hesitated as they entered a small clearing that had a body in the middle of it. The clearing was also a mess, as many trees around it had deep slashes in their trunks with a few even toppled over. Upon closer inspection, the person noticed the body was male and was indeed breathing; it seemed he was just sleeping. Getting a closer look, the individual saw the Konoha hitai-ate tied around the forehead of the sleeping boy, hidden slightly by the boy's silver hair.
'Hm, he's a ninja of Konoha, but he isn't part of the group that Zabuza faced. Maybe they called for back-up?' The individual asked himself before kneeling next to the sleeping boy. 'I should just take care of him now so he doesn't become a problem later, but...' They had begun reaching for the boy's neck, but ended up shaking his shoulder at the last second. The individual was shocked as they had found the tip of a blade suddenly poised at their neck.
"Sorry, that was sort of reflexive." The silver-haired boy shook his head and lowered his blade as he sat up. It was much later than when he came out here.
"You shouldn't sleep out here, you'll catch a cold." Came the individual's smooth voice, standing up to continue collecting herbs.
"My name is Naruto, what's yours?" The dhampir asked, stretching and standing up. Whoever she was, she was almost as pretty as his Moka. Blinking, Naruto shook that thought from his head. 'Where did that come from?'
"I'm Haku. I'm currently collecting herbs for a sick relative of mine, could you help me?" Haku asked, smiling politely.
"Sure, but I should be getting back soon, my team is probably worried about me." Naruto smiled and the two spent the next hour looking for herbs and talking, finally stopping when Haku's basket was full.
"Thank you, Naruto-kun. You made collecting the herbs so much faster. I'm glad we had this time to talk, but I need to get going. I'll see you again sometime." Haku bowed and gave him a kind smile.
Naruto blushed and scratched his cheek, smiling as he returned the bow. "I enjoyed your company too and I hope your relative gets better soon. Good bye Haku-chan."
"And Naruto-kun? I'm a boy." Haku smirked and walked away, leaving a shell-shocked dhampir behind him. He wasn't lying. Naruto could smell the slightly masculine scent under a hint of perfume.
Sighing, Naruto turned toward the direction of Tazuna's house and started walking. This place was weird and he just couldn't wait to go home. He had a feeling that things would get really interesting, really soon.
And that was that. Honestly, I'm not too proud of that chapter, but oh well. Next chapter will most likely conclude Nami no kuni and will probably be my longest chapter yet. Also, I'm thinking on a second story in my spare-spare time, when I'm not working on this or doing other things. I think it will most likely be something to do with Bloodborne or RWBY. Now for your hint: The game the character is from uses a 'judgement ring.'