Maiden- Thank you for the wonderful reviews! Thank you so much! Two things were brought to my attention, though. First, I will be keeping Naruto's powers as cannon as possible. Meaning I'm not gonna throw in some random BS power we know he's not capable of. Secondly, I had a concern about my OC Luna. I understand the concern about her being 'too powerful' by wielding both dojutsus. But trust me, she's not overly powerful. A force to be reckoned with, yes, but not ridiculously so. She has her weaknesses just like all the other characters. I've already hinted at a few.
On another note, yes Kakashi is gonna actually teach! But in a passive way. However, I'm still gonna retain his usual 'I-really-don't-give-a-fuck' attitude.
Those Who Endure
Chapter 4- Bonding
Naruto wore a slight scowl as he walked back to his apartment. He'd spent the better part of the day cleaning up the mess he'd made of the Hokage Monument. For the life of him, he couldn't understand why Luna had gotten so mad. It was just a small prank, and nobody had gotten hurt. The seven year old sighed and continued his walk. All he wanted to do was take a long bath and wait for Luna. He inwardly hoped he could talk her into making ramen again.
"What a freak!" came a voice. At first, Naruto thought the insult was directed towards him, but when he turned towards the noise, he saw a group of four young boys surrounding a small girl. She looked to be much younger than the boys hovering over her.
"Look at those eyes!" One boy scoffed. "Can you even see out those weird things!?"
"The Hyuga eyes are so freaky looking!"
"I bet she's a demon!"
Naruto could feel his rage building as they kept slinging insults toward the now sobbing girl. She made no move to fight back, only curling into a tight ball.
"Hey!" Naruto screamed. "Leave her alone, datebayo!"
"And why should we?" asked the 'leader' of the group.
"If you don't then I'll have to teach you a lesson." Naruto smirked, making a hand sign. The four boys' eyes went wide as a puff of smoke enveloped the blonde. From the smoke came two very pitiful looking clones. They were very pale and sick looking. The four bullies stared at the sight for all of ten seconds before falling over themselves laughing. Naruto's clones dispelled, leaving him defenseless against the onslaught of fists and kicks. A few minutes later, he was left a broken and bloody mess on the ground. His clothes were ripped and stained with his blood. Just before he lost consciousness, Naruto caught sight of a blur of lavender.
He came to a while later, laying in a hospital bed. Naruto tried to sit up, but was stopped by a small hand.
"Y-you n-need to s-stay s-still for a w-while."
Naruto turned his head to see the girl he had tried to protect earlier. Now that he got a good look at her, he deduced that she was about his age. Her dark indigo hair was cut short into a pixie style and pale lavender eyes looked at the blonde in worry.
"What happened?" he asked, his voice raspy from taking a punch to the throat.
"Y-you s-saved me f-from those bullies." the girl spoke softly. "I b-brought y-you to the h-hospital because I w-was afraid y-you w-were h-hurt."
"I'm okay." Naruto assured her. "I heal pretty fast."
The small girl smiled while a light blush dusted her pale cheeks.
"I'm Naruto Uzumaki. Who are you?"
"H-Hinata."
"Thanks for looking after me, Hinata." Naruto's bright smile made her blush deepen.
"T-the n-nurse said if y-you feel o-okay y-you can g-go home. I-I f-fixed y-your clothes w-while you w-were s-sleeping. T-those boys r-ruined t-them." Hinata handed him his Avalon outfit. It was still dirty and stained, but all the rips and tears were mended.
"You didn't have to do that." Naruto looked up in shock. Besides Luna, no one had shown him this much kindness.
"Well we couldn't let you go home wearing a hospital gown." came a new voice. Both kids turned to see a young man standing in the doorway. Naruto noticed this new guy and Luna shared some of the same physical traits. Same facial structure, ivory skin, and onyx hair. "Good to see you're okay, Naruto-san. I am Torasu Avalon; Luna's cousin and personal bodyguard. The hospital called me to take you home since Luna-sama is away with her new team. And don't worry about those brats that attacked you two, I handed them over to Lord Third for punishment."
"Since when does Luna-chan need a bodyguard? She's scary strong!"
"Yes." Torasu laughed. "I know very well that she can handle herself. However, clan customs state that every heir has to be looked after constantly. Just as Hinata-sama has Ko."
"You're an heiress too!?" Naruto asked in shock. Hinata nodded, not understanding his confusion.
"Yes, she's heiress to the Hyuga clan."
"Oh, so you must have the Byakugan!" Naruto stated. "Is that why those kids were picking on you?"
Hinata nodded, keeping her eyes downcast.
"That's stupid! You should be proud to have such an awesome jutsu!"
Naruto's outburst took both Hinata and Torasu by surprise.
"You could've totally kicked their asses! Besides, I think your eyes are pretty! Kinda like pearls."
Hinata blushed heavily and smiled sheepishly at the blonde boy. His goofy grin and big blue eyes were beginning to grow on her.
*
Team 7 stood in a mixture of confusion and shock. Staring back at them were a pack of seven dogs all of different breeds and sizes, wearing Konoha headbands as collars. The most prominent was a small pug that sat on top of a bull dog's head. His expression could only be described as a 'poker face'.
"Cutie!" Angel squealed, pulling the pug into her arms. She nuzzled his cheek and kissed his nose.
"Please tell me you're not demoting us to pets, Kakashi." the pug asked, shocking the three genin.
"You can speak!?" the three screamed.
"Guys, these are my nin kin." Kakashi smirked behind his mask. "And the runt here is Pakun."
"I'm not a runt." the pug growled, trying his best to get out of Angel's death grip.
"So our first training session is pet sitting?" Meru asked, his voice low and quiet. Luna eyed him suspiciously, still trying to figure him out.
"Of course not." Kakashi replied, pulling his orange book out of his pocket. "These guys are gonna help you with your tracking abilities. They're each gonna hide around this forest and you three will have one hour to find and trap all of them. If just one nin kin isn't caught, then all three of you will be sent back to the academy."
"You can't be serious!" Angel shrieked, dropping Pakun on his face accidentally. "How can three of us catch seven ninja dogs in an hour!?"
"Figure it out." Kakashi chuckled before disappearing into a whirlwind. The seven dogs promptly followed.
"I guess we should start." Luna sighed, walking towards the forest. "We'll split up to increase our chances of success. Meet back here in half an hour with whoever you catch."
"Shouldn't we stay together?" Angel asked, watching Luna and Meru walk off in different directions. "Working as a team might be in our best interest."
"We'll try that if we don't have any success on our own." Luna replied, nonchalantly.
Angel huffed and took off on her own using her peacock chakra wings. Searching from the air would give her an advantage.
Luna's expression was one of pure disgust. Her dojutsu was at it's limit and she still couldn't make out any trace of Kakashi's dogs. No paw prints, no foliage disturbance, no nothing! It was if those dogs just vanished without a trace! The Avalon heiress was beginning to think this was Kakashi's idea of a prank. Sending his new genin on a wild goose chase is something Luna knew was perfectly believable of the elder ninja.
She deactivated her dojutsu and leaned against a tree to rest her eyes. The only idea that came to her was to coax them out with food. Of course it was a far fetched idea. These weren't ordinary dogs, but specially trained ninja dogs. Surely they'd be smart enough to see through an obvious trap. But right now, this was Luna's only idea. She quickly set up a simple net trap and covered it with leaves. After making sure it was undetectable, Luna set out to find bait. A river ran through the middle of the forest. She caught three fish and placed them in the middle of her trap. After concealing herself within a tree top, she waited to see if her idea would work. Ten minutes went by and not even a squirrel passed by. Just as she was about to give up, Luna heard a rustling from beneath her. Out of a bush came a majestic black panther. It's front left leg had been severely injured. Luna could see the blood pouring from the wounds. The panther noticed the fish and went in for a closer look. Just before it could step on the netting, Luna threw a kunai to divert the panther's attention.
"If you take another step, you'll get caught in my trap." she called, showing herself to the giant cat. The panther growled menacingly, narrowing it's brilliant sapphire eyes.
"Easy." Luna coaxed. "I don't want to hurt you. I can help you."
The panther made no move to back down. If anything, the panther looked like it was about to strike.
"Please, let me help you." Luna keeled down so she was eye level with the beast. She held both her hands out to the panther, to show she was no threat. Slowly, the panther laid down, giving Luna a good view of it's wounds. Luna softly put her chakra glowing hand over the panther's leg, and slowly, the wounds healed. She could see in the panther's eyes that the pain was subsiding. When a new layer of skin grew over the open wound, Luna retracted her hand to let the panther see.
"Thank you." it spoke in a velvety feminine voice.
"You can speak?" Luna asked in surprise.
"Yes, very well in fact." the panther replied. "I don't usually come across humans who don't wish to hunt my kind."
"I'm not a poacher. I'm a kunoichi from Konoha. My name is Luna Avalon."
"I could tell your origin by your headband." the panther motioned to the gleaming leaf symbol hanging from Luna's waist. "You possess great strength, child. Unlike anything I've seen in centuries."
"Centuries? Just what are you!?"
"Relax, dearie." the panther chuckled softly. "I'm a nin-neko. A ninja cat."
"But that doesn't explain how you've been alive for centuries."
"Ah but it does. Are you familiar with the expression 'cats have nine lives'?" Luna nodded. "Well, that is mostly true. All cats have a very strong longevity."
"I see. Can you tell me how you'd gotten hurt?"
"Some damn nin-kin attacked me." the cat growled. "Come to think of it, they wore the same headband as you. They wouldn't happen to be yours, would they?"
"No, they're not. Actually, they belong to my sensei and I'm supposed to catch them."
"How about I help you, in return for healing my leg?"
"Are you sure?" the panther nodded.
"I think your trap will work good enough. Just leave it to me to drive them in this direction."
Before Luna could object, the panther quickly ran in the direction she'd come. Luna jumped back up into the tree and waited. Within minutes she heard barking and heavy foot falls. Activating her dojutsu, she could see the panther being chased by four of Kakashi's dogs. Just as the panther came within range, she jumped over the trap and waited. The second the dog's paws touched the trap, the net sprung and hoisted them up into the air.
"I can't believe that worked." Luna stared wide eyed in awe.
"If dogs have one weakness, it's cats, my dear." the panther laughed.
"Thank you." Luna jumped down to pat the cat's head, who purred in return.
"No thanks is necessary. I owed you for helping me."
"Now that we're even, where are you going to go? You could be hunted again."
"Relax child. I wouldn't have gotten this old if I didn't know how to protect myself. However, I just had an idea. It's been a while since I've met anyone as kind as you. How about you sign a contract with the panthers?"
"Pardon?"
"You've heard of summoning jutsu, correct?" Luna nodded. "When you sign a contract with a species of animal, you are entrusted with their most valuable possession. Their loyalty. If you sign the contract, you will be able to summon a member of my clan at will. They will trust and obey you without question. Of course that doesn't mean you won't have responsibilities yourself. As summoner of Panthers, you will be responsible for our well being."
"Sounds like a fair trade." Luna smiled. The panther nodded and summoned a giant blue scroll. She unraveled it before Luna, showing a summoning symbol.
"You will need to sign your name within the symbol using your blood. Then, press your fingerprints into the contract underneath."
Luna bit her thumb and used the blood to sign her name. Once her fingerprints were embedded onto the paper, the scroll glowed bright blue and vanished.
"Since we're bonded now, how about you tell me your name?" Luna asked.
"Sarabi."
"Such a regal name for such an elegant cat." Luna scratched Sarabi's ear.
"You flatter me, child." Sarabi purred.
"Now that I've got these four..." Luna looked up at the still struggling dogs. "I can return to my sensei. Hopefully, my teammates will have caught the other five."
Maiden- Just as I promised, Naruto and Luna will NOT be romantically involved. Since I've introduced Hinata, you'll see the couple's relationship progress. I took the scene where Naruto met Hinata from "Naruto: The Last" where young Hinata is being bullied by several older boys.
I thought Luna's summon should be a panther. An animal that is regal, majestic, and rare; yet deadly. Just like Luna :)
The name Sarabi is Swahili for 'Mirage'.
Meru and Angel will gain summons too! But you'll have to wait until next chapter to see what they are. Let me know what you think by leaving me a nice little review. And I'm open to suggestions, just in case there is something you want to see out of this fic.
Until next time
Smooches!
