Naka za Kitsune

Chapter 4:

Attitudes and Poison

By – Clubs

He ran quickly through the woods, following his father and not daring to speak a word until his father gave him the signal. Oh, how he hated the signal. He ran through the trees while trying to concentrate his chakra to his feet so he could run on the trees. To be exact, the tree branches. Ah, the signal was going to come soon. His father had raised his right hand and soon he would—ah, there it was.

The signal. His father pointed to the right, so he went to the left in a flash, while his father stayed straight. He was glad that he was running on the trees instead of the ground where there were roots sticking up and other potential items that could trip you. Only five Nin were left, now, out of the near fifty. The Hunter Nin were splitting up—three for his father and two for him. Great, he sighed as he activated his newly-developed Sharingan, this won't turn out very good. For me.

But, suddenly, there were more. And they were . . . killing the other two? Wait . . . these were ANBU and they weren't from Kumogakure . . . no, these were from . . . Suna? No, he knew that symbol. He had seen his father draw it a lot of times in the dirt when he was supposed to be asleep . . . wait, it was—

Tsunade was mad. No, she had passed mad a long while back. Now, she was pissed. How long had she been gone? Naruto had three kids now? And one of them—the oldest—wasn't even Hinata's! No—Sen, was it?—Sen was Sakura's. And the other two—Leiko and Kaitou—they were Hinata's, right? So it seemed. So she hoped.

Anyway, both of them looked like Hinata and Naruto—Leiko with her extremely long brown hair, normal clan eyes, and usual Hyuuga attire (she almost looked like Hanabi); and Kaito or Kaitou with her shockingly blue (like Naruto's) clan eyes, short strawberry blond (possibly a mix between blond and a black-brown?) hair, and bright pink, orange, and black clothing—and they both acted like their parents (Leiko was like a mix between Hinata and Hanabi while Kaitou was like Naruto and Hinata). And Sen? Sen just acted like, well, Sakura. Polite, and, while she tried to hide it, outgoing with a hint of leadership. Just like Sakura; not afraid to punch some random passerby, though absolutely cowering in combat, but not when someone she loved or cared for deeply was involved. Sen even had Sakura's eyes, nose, mouth, hair—it didn't seem she inherited any gene from Naruto's side, for all she could see. Maybe she even had an inner Sen? Yes, Tsunade knew about that after Sakura was her pupil.

Yes, things had changed. But, they would change more soon. Tsunade was getting pretty high up there in age and a new Hokage was in line: Naruto. Yes, he had sure grown up a lot in those years. Had even stepped in when she was . . . gone for some years. She wasn't gone that long, though. Not long enough for someone to have two more kids. She knew about Sen vaguely, but Kaitou and Leiko? Nothing. Naruto, Hinata, and the rest of the clan must have had a lot of work to do to keep something this big (well, two kids were big, weren't they?) from her for this long, ne?

There was a knock from outside, a grumble, a bang, and then another knock, but this time it was at her door. Tsunade looked up expectantly. "You may enter," she said lazily, knowing very well that it was her ANBU. Obviously they had picked up one or two of the trespassers. She thought again and decided that there was only one with them and that not all the ANBU she had dispatched. In came Neji, Iruka, Naruto, Hanabi, and Anko. There were three missing and Naruto looked completely pissed off. In-between them was someone who looked shockingly similar to that Uchiha Obito guy. No, almost exactly like him . . . there was no doubting who this was . . . this was that Uchiha they had heard about. The rumor. It was true. There was no denying it now that he was here, in her very presence . . . she chose his fate, and yet here he was, glaring away like he'd be let loose out of fear or something.

He let a slight growl out and activated his Sharingan for a split second before he yelled out in agony and fell to the floor on his knees, managing to hold himself up with his left hand and right elbow. He coughed up blood.

Tsunade cringed for a second before looking at her ANBU . . . or actually, glaring at them. "You hurt this little kid?"

Neji stepped forward. Tsunade nodded and he spoke. "He was with a certain," he glanced at Naruto for a second, "Uchiha Sasuke. You told us to intervene and take them hostage." The boy gasped and looked/glared up at Tsunade. "We only did what you told us to do, Tsunade-sama."

"But why is he hurt then?" she demanded icily, looking from Neji to Naruto to Hanabi to Iruka to Anko and back again. Only Neji and Hanabi flinched. She continued, "When I tell my ANBU to do something, I want it done. You know I want it to be less violent. I hate blood, and you all know that. Where are the others?"

This time Hanabi stepped foreword. Tsunade nodded again. "Hokage-sama, we were separated from Tenten, Kiba, and Lee because of the Uchiha."

"Sasuke," someone growled. It turned out to be Naruto—in half Kyuubi state. Hanabi stepped back. "I was in charge of this mission," Naruto started, calming down more as he spoke, "but some people," glare shot out towards Hanabi and Neji, "didn't follow orders. I said no blood, and they didn't listen. I said no poison, and they didn't listen. Funny how people change when they're not in charge." He kept glaring their way.

"Are they alive?" Tsunade asked, starting to get worried.

"Hai," said a voice, barely a whisper, from the floor. It was the little Uchiha and he was sitting Indian-style on the floor, holding his stomach. It was apparent to Tsunade that the—poison was working. Her eyes, which had been hard to her ANBU, finally softened. She stepped up close to his and patted his head.

"How do you know that, douji?" she asked, pulling his chin up a bit. He frowned.

"Do you think my father would like to harm Konoha?" he asked her. This time she frowned.

"Tell me how you know that, warugaki," she said sternly. He flinched and looked down, forcing her hand down also.

"My dad said that if I ever saw someone from Konoha, I shouldn't attack them. I should just run," he said. "When I asked why, he said 'because I would not fight them, either'." He used air quotes to make it apparent that he was saying this from memory. "He wouldn't go back on his word."

"Like you know that so firmly," Naruto grumbled as he crossed his arms and stalked out of the room.

The boy looked forlorn as he tried his Sharingan one last time, but failed miserably. "Go," she said quietly to the rest of the ANBU.

"But, Hokage-sama, the boy . . ." Anko started, but was quickly hushed by Tsunade's hand. The remaining ANBU left. Shizune quickly came in and helped Tsunade, who was trying to carry the now passed out Uchiha boy towards her new couch. Looks like I'm sleeping here tonight, she thought, laughing inwardly.

The boy was set up quickly and comfortably and Tsunade sat on her big chair. Oh, well. I did say to Shizune earlier that I could fall asleep on this chair, didn't I? I guess that I will speak from experience next time . . . And so she slept. The young Uchiha boy, who had 'passed out' quickly got up without a sound and quickly went out the widow. Left on the couch, next to the blanket and pillow, was a small container—the antidote to the poison given to him earlier by Hanabi and Neji. He smiled as he ran quickly along the houses, Sharingan now activated. He only sensed one chakra signature, but he made sure he was a healthy distance away from it before he dared come even a bit out of the shadows.

Why can't I sleep? I'm so tired, yet I'm so . . . hyper . . . strange combination, ne?

Very strange indeed, came the unexpected reply.

I sat up in bed and stared at the kitsune. What do you want, kitsune?

Simple. You're wanted elsewhere.

Huh? Nani? What's happening?

Part of your future. The kitsune said as he left out the window. Or, at least I think it's a 'he'. How rude . . . he (or she) didn't even tell me his (or her) name! Uurgh!

I followed the kitsune out of the window and onto the roof. So, we're roof-jumping, ne? This is fun . . .

At the moment. His answer scared me, but hell if I'd let him (or her) know that! By the way, clueless one, I'm a 'him.' I blushed. Whoops. Almost called him a girl for good. Creepy. Suddenly, I felt another chakra signature from someone close . . . Just for security reasons, I masked my chakra. The other did the same. So, this was a game of 'hide and seek', ne? There was no reply. I stopped short to look around and I couldn't see a thing. Well, I could see the basic outline of things, but that was all. No kitsune in sight. He bailed. On me.

Great.

The hell? Uchiha thought as he ran from rooftop to rooftop, trying to get away from this person, whoever he was. All he knew was that he needed to split—and fast. This guy was good.

But before he could even finish his thought, he was punched in the side by not a guy, like he had originally thought, but a girl.

"The hell?" he was completely stunned. She straightened and her hair flowed in the breeze. Wasn't this the part where he was supposed to surrender and stuff? Ah, no.

He jumped up in a flash, did a flip (not even bothering to mask his chakra anymore), and pulled out a kunai. He threw it at the girl and she caught it with apparent ease. This bugged him. Then, surprisingly, one second after it was caught, it was hurled at him from behind. She was behind him. My mistake, he thought angrily, I blinked.

"Yee-ah!" she screamed, throwing the kunai at the boy's face. He flipped out of the way. This continued on for a while until each was completely exhausted by the strange workout.

"Hahaha," the girl cackled. They were both sprawled out on the grass, where they had ended up, face-up. He looked at her like she was crazy. Lazily, she got up in a relaxed Indian-style, holding out her hand. "Good fight. I needed that. Heh, what's your name?"

He looked at her for what seemed forever and her hand slightly lowered. "Isn't it common courtesy to give your name before you ask for mine?" he asked, folding his arms and glaring, something he was really good at by now (he had watched his father do it again and again to their 'betters'—or the people who had hired them for grudge work so he could stay in the Suna Academy and become a genin).

"Gomen," she said, coloring slightly, "I'm Hyuuga Kaito . . . or," she screwed up her face in a funny position, "Uzumaki Kaitou. Whichever is fine, just don't call me slow-one or anything like that!"

So, she was insinuating that he would stay after this? He smiled anyways. "I'm Uchiha Tobi."

Sooo, was my first time good? I wanna know! I wanna know! Heh, I hope Tobi stays, don't you? Yes, I'm an Obito-is-really-Tobi fan and pretty durnn proud of it! Oh, and I realized that there's no disclaimer yet, so why not start now, eh? Lol . . .

DISCLAIMER: Yeah. We don't own Naruto. Or our socks.

-Ace of Clubs-

PS - PLEASEPLEASEPLEASEPLEASEPLEASEPLEASE REPLY!!!!! WE'VE WORKED REALLY HARD ON THIS!!!!!