LC; Time to update again and I'm determinned to do it faster this time!
Naruto; Yeah, she's really excited to have finally caught up with all her work.
LC; Yep! No more near misses on dead lines! I'm free!
Sasuke; So long as she can keep up with 14 active stories at once.
LC;...There is that...But I'm coping!
Naruto; Don't depress her! She'll write angsty stuff about us!
Sasuke; Like I care dobe.
LC;...Actually I was planning the angst of this chap since the last one. Remember?
Sasuke; Oh yeah, your writing about the massacre now.
Naruto; Can't you skip that?
LC; No, it's an important milestone in Konoha's history!
Sasuke; Cause my clan was wronged. *Whimpers*
LC; Gah! A Kishimoto's Sasuke! Damnit! Man up!
Disclaimer; I do not own Naruto. Nope, not at all. Please forward all complaints on the sucky turn the series has taken to Kishimoto.
Chapter 4; Fight
It was rare that Hikari was able to come over to Nora's house and hang out. Tonight though Hikari had managed to wrangle permission from her parents and had showed up to play around and be the kid she was.
Sure, there was a pretty big gap in their ages, but they had enough similar interests to gangway that.
"Why do you have so many stuff animals?" Hikari asked, almost being smothered by the plushies of death.
"Every time Jiraiya-jiji goes on a mission he brings back one toy per village he visited. He's always doing weird stuff like that!" Nora giggled, hugging her foxie-chan close. It was nice to have a friend like Hikari.
At the Uchiha District.
Itachi looked over his handy work, including his younger brother passed out on the ground. He wiped away his tears and went through a mental check list of the ones he'd taken down. There was one missing.
"Hikari, where are you at this time of night?" Unfortunatly he couldn't search the village for her, he had to escape before any ANBU showed up.
Oh well, she hadn't graduated the academy yet and hadn't been in on the plans. He'd just ignore her, for now.
Next day, Hokage tower.
"Y-Your kidding." The young female Uchiha was stunned. Beside her stood her mute cousin, Sasuke. She'd just been informed that save them, all the Uchiha had been murdered.
By her other cousin, Itachi.
"But, that's impossible! Even Itachi couldn't take them all out without anyone noticing!" She shouted desperatly. This had to be a trick, a bad prank!
Sarutobi inwardly winced as he saw the suspicious and heart broken eyes of the two children. Sasuke looked surprised that he hadn't thought of something like that. His brother was strong, but not that strong.
Hikari went back to class and told her friend everything that had happened the next day. For the moment she was the acting clan head until Sasuke became of age.
It was a lot to take in for a eleven year old girl.
Nora listened quietly to her friend's explanation. Something about this bugged her and she had to find something to do about it.
At the moment, it was lunch time, and they were free to do as they liked until classes started up again.
"Hikari, what are you going to do about this?" She finally asked.
"I just don't know. I know I should try to get revenge for my clan but as it stands I'm nowhere near the strength level I need to be for that." Hikari said calmly. It was a cruel fact, but a fact nonetheless.
"Let's spar then." Nora suggested, jumping to her feet and getting into the Inner Ruin fighting style stance. Over the last year and a half Jiraiya-jiji had been helping her learn the moves from the scroll.
Well, moves was a bit of an overstatement.
The scroll was more or less telling someone that they had to first find out how the human body reacted to what it perceived as threats, and from there, using basic moves to disable and kill any oponents one faced.
This style was most affective when used in tantem of poisoned weapons and a good knowledge of the human body and it's weakpoints.
Basically it was a lot of studying for a taijutsu style.
"We have one year before we graduate, we have a lot of training to do to get where we need to be." Nora said seriously after their rather short battle. Freakish stamina she may have, but heavy punches Hikari threw.
From then on the two girls pushed eachother, sometimes training with Inomaru as well. The three learned eachother's moves inside and out, until they worked like a well oiled machine even when seperated by a sea of bodies, their classmates.
Their third year passed with little other excitement, but their skills grew every day. Hikari mastered two more C-ranked katon jutsu, and one B-ranked one.
Nora had also learned a C-ranked katon jutsu, the fireball technique. Other than that she had learned two C-ranked fuin jutsu. Inomaru had learned two of his clan's techniques, and though it went against tradition and had weaseled a suiton jutsu out of the library's confines.
At the beginning of their fourth year, Nora met the people who were Kiba's classmates.
Kiba had introduced her to them sometime during the summer, when they had all been at the park by some coincidence.
Sasuke she had already met through Hikari and she considered to be a psuedo-training partner for whenever Hikari was busy doing clan head duties. He had yet to unlock his sharingan though.
Sakura was a no name fangirl, who Nora considered idiotic and weak. Ino, although related to Inomaru, was nothing like him and was again, a fangirl.
Hinata Hyuga was quiet but Nora had managed to spar with her a couple times. The byakugan was rather interesting. Shikamaru and Choji were interesting and nice to hang out with when she had to relax.
Shino Aburame was quiet but he was nice enough if one got past his cold looking exterior.
All in all, most of them seemed like nice enough guys that she could see herself, in another lifetime, becoming close friends with.
But in this life, she had different priorities. Helping Hikari get her revenge and becoming hokage took precedence over things like that. She couldn't think about 'what ifs'.
"Nora, what do you think about the academy?" Inomaru asked one day, seemingly out of the blue.
"I honestly think it's too lax. Even for peacetime." She answered through a rice ball she had made that morning. Ugh, maybe there was a good reason rice balls were made with salt rather than sugar. One would think they'd taste sweeter with sugar!
"One day I think I want to be on the council, and be one of the people who decide what to teach her. With the things taught here, I hardly feel ready to take on bandits let alone other ninja." Inomaru confided.
"When I'm hokage I'll see about stepping up the program and we can plan new lessons together!" Nora said cheerfully. Beside them Hikari smiled and shook her head. Trust them to think that the academy was boring and too easy where most struggled to keep up.
"Nora, your a child prodigy, of course you think it's easy." She interjected.
"Other, normal people, tend to struggle with the curiculum as it is." So that conversation died and led to a companionable silence.
"Hey you guys, who's team do you think we'll all be on?" Nora asked. They worked well together, and were at the top three spots at the class, but that didn't mean they'd be on the same team. It actually meant they'd all be on different ones.
"Sadly, as a Yamanaka, I'll probably be on a team with Chona Akimichi and Shikato Nara. It's tradition." The last was spat out, like a bitter taste left behind by medicine.
"I'm at the top rank of the class, rookie of the year, that means I'll be paired up with Tomake Ishiju, the dead last, and Irona Morijana, the middle kunoichi." Hikari reasoned out.
"Damn, it's hard to tell who I'll be with." Nora muttered. She could be paired with a couple lower ranked students due to her grade and age. Question was, which lower ranked students?
"Well, we won't know for sure until after the graduation exam." Hikari assured her reasonably.
Inomaru walked home with only his shadow as company after school ended for the day. Ever since meeting Nora, he had tried to figure out why she was hated by so many.
It seemed almost impossible to hate her after meeting the young fire head for any length of time.
He'd overheard conversations, things about Nora being a monster and being 'controlled' by one of the sannin. He had met Jiraiya, and the day that man tried to control the loveable girl was the day the hokage mountains came to life and began to eat everyone.
Tonight he was planning something very risky, if he was caught. With his Mind Body Switch jutsu he could dwelve into the minds of any old drunk and find out what he wanted to know.
He'd clear the memories of his trip after he got what he wanted. And now it's time to set about his plans.
Inomaru slowed his walk when he saw a trio of drunks slowly making their way home. He watched them seperate and went after the one who took the left road, down an alley.
He watched the man squat down and empty his stomach as his hands crafted the needed signs.
"Mind Body Switch Jutsu." He muttered quietly, casting his technique towards the stationary middle aged man.
Both bodies slumped to the ground and none were the wiser. Inwardly, Inomaru pushed aside memories until he found the info he was looking for.
He had basically just looked for anything involving Nora Uzumaki, and the results were surprising.
Memory Viewing no Jutsu!
Inomaru found himself in a transparent form staring up at the hokage tower, where he could see the Sandaime standing, holding a bundle.
"Konoha, it is my deep sadness to inform you that your Yondaime, Minato Namikaze, perished defeating the Kyubi no Kitsune this day." Disbelief and grief crept through the crowd, only silence when the aged kage lifted his hand.
"To defeat the demon he sealed it away, into one young enough to handle the chakra without dying. He seald it away, inside a newborn baby girl, Nora Uzumaki." Inomaru didn't see or hear anything else as his frozen disbelief and horror petrified him. He canceled the jutsu and returned to his body and began running.
Memory Viewing no jutsu! Kai!
He returned home, ran to his bedroom, and locked the door behind him.
"The Kyubi no Kitsune, is inside Nora?" He almost couldn't believe it. but he had seen the memories, and now it all made sense. Why she was an orphan, why she was hated, why she must have had to enroll early. They were probably planning on using her as a weapon. It also explained her healing abilities and large chakra reserve!
Inomaru sank to the ground, leaning against his door, and ran a hand through his hair. What should he do about this now that he knew? Tell Nora? Or did she already know? But, how could she? He hadn't known, and he was certain none of their classmates knew either!
"So does that mean, no one who doesn't remember that day knows?" He mumbled to himself, pushing his face into his hands and trying to calm the storm of his mind.
"Should I treat her like always?" He wondered. Act like he didn't know, had never found out. But, honestly what if he wasn't able to do it? Lots of his clansmen had died against that monster, and he had always thought of the Kyubi like some monster under the bed.
Could he really treat his friend the same after finding out she housed the thing that haunted his nightmares?
"I was what, three when the demon attacked? Is that day in my memories?" He asked himself. Steeling his courage, he delved into his own mind to find the answers.
Memory Viewing no jutsu!
The vision was slightly distorted, a three year old's mind wasn't as focused as an adult's. He could however see and hear everything he had to, so it didn't matter.
He went to the place where he had cut off last time. He wanted to find out how the villagers had reacted.
"Kill it!" He gasped in shock.
"Kill the demon!" "Finish what Yondaime-sama started!" "Slit it's throat!" Time after time, death threats were shouted to the aged kage and in that moment Sarutobi looked older than Inomaru had ever seen him.
"Silence!" And here he could feel an insane amount of bloodlust, and he knew this is what a shinobi was. This was KI, Killing Intent.
"This child is not the demon but it's jailor! I will not have any of you fighting to end this girl's life!" He yelled over the squaller, stunning many. They had forgotten what an angry kage looked like.
"From this day forth I am instating a new law. It is forbidden to speak of this day to any who do not already know. The punishment for breaking this law, is imidiate death." With that he turned his back on the crowd and carried the infant elsewhere.
Memory Viewing no Jutsu! Kai!
Inomaru had seen all he had to, and so he cancelled his jutsu and woke in his room. That night, he couldn't sleep. Everytime he closed his eyes, he would picture Nora turning into the demon she held.
He still didn't know how he was going to act tomorrow. Only that he wished he had never stuck his nose where it didn't belong.
Despite his nervousness, he at least managed to go about his days without suspicoun. It eventually got to the point that he could sometimes forget what he had learned. Then later, on those days, he would be lying in bed thinking about the fun he had only to recall that night he learned everything.
Nora and Hikari had noticed a change in their friend's demeanor. Suddenly Inomaru took every excuse to keep Hikari between him and Nora. Suddenly he no longer had time to train with them all the time, as before.
He was withdrawn, and nervous all the time. He didn't like being alone with Nora. It was driving the two girls crazy trying to figure out what was wrong.
"Do you think I did something to make him angry?" Nora asked over their lunch. Inomaru had stayed inside, claiming he didn't feel up to eating outside in the cold. Winters were never cold in the land of fire.
"I don't know. I can't remember you doing anything offensive." Hikari replied. It really was a mystery. If they didn't find the answer soon they would just have to confront him about it.
Nora hoped she hadn't somehow lost one of her only friends.
Jiraiya noticed a change in the normally bubbly red head and grew worried. She went about her training half heartedly, as though her mind was somewhere else.
"Hey Nora-chan, what's wrong?" He asked her after training that day. They were drinking some hot cocoa, since the wind and the rain had chilled their bones during training.
"Inomaru is acting really strange and avoiding me. I don't know why." She told her grandfather figure.
"Hmm, have you tried asking him?" Jiraiya for once never considered the thought of the boy thinking about his Nora-chan that way. In his mind Nora was too young to attract any boys yet. He'd start worrying after Nora grew boobs.
"No, me and Hikari were trying to think if I did anything that made him mad first." She admitted. She decided to talk to him tomorrow. She missed her friend.
The next morning she put her hair up in a bun and put on her bandana, ready to ask her friend what she did wrong and possibly beg forgiveness.
What if she had accidently insulted his clan without realizing it? Or what if he was angry because she beat him in a spar? Or was it because they wouldn't be on the same team?
"Inomaru, are you angry at me?" She asked him as soon as they had a minute alone. Nora had decided to come inside during lunch to talk to him.
"Uh, of course not." The boy protested. He had tried acting normal, but obviously it wasn't working.
"I'm not mad at you." He answered, not looking her directly in the eye.
"Please, just tell me what I did wrong and I'll apologize! I miss my friend!" Nora pleaded, not reassured by his body language.
"I'm not angry, so just drop it!" The older boy snapped, pushing the younger whisker cheeked girl back. Nora stumbled and fell on her rear as a result of the push.
Inomaru winced as he saw Nora try to hide tears and desperatly tried to think of something. He was just, too afraid to be around her anymore. He needed to be left alone. Even though it hurt, he couldn't be around that monster!
"I'm not angry, I just don't want to hang out with you anymore." He muttered, loud enough for her to hear, quiet enough so he could deny them to himself later.
Nora lost control and let the tears fall before running outside the room. She ran past the surprised Iruka-sensei and Mizuki-sensei, through a crowd of children, all the way to the tree where Hikari was waiting.
Hikari herself was stunned when Nora threw herself into the Uchiha's arms, sobbing about how Inomaru didn't want to be her friend anymore.
That day, Inomaru moved ahead of Itachi on the 'People I must kill' list in Hikari's mind.
Nora then threw herself into her training again, eager to get stronger as always. Today had showed her how easy it was for a friend to decide they didn't like you anymore. She didn't want to lose Hikari too!
She had to make sure that she was the best at what Hikari needed her to be! A sparring partner.
Jiraiya saw the newest change in the whiskered girls demeanor and made a mental note to 'talk' with that Inomaru boy. No stupid boy hurt his Nora-chan and got away with it, damnit!
Fuming with his plans to destroy what made that little boy a little boy, he didn't notice when Nora finished her training regimen and then kept going. Like a freight train that had broken brakes. It had forgotten how to stop.
END OF THE CHAPTER SO NOW YOU REVIEW AND THEN LEAVE THESE HALLOWED HALLS!
LC; Well that was a fun chapter to write!
Naruto; Fun?
Sasuke; You said it would be angsty and boy were you right.
LC; Yeah, I surprised myself a li-!...Did you just call me a boy?
Sasuke; Why?
LC; *Digs out rusty spoon*
Sasuke; Um, *Gulp*
LC; Come to the hallway with me for a minute Sasuke. I'll have you singing castrato in no time.