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C.H.A.C.H.A.M.A.R.U. H.U.D: Naruto Edition! Loading...

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Weapon tech boot order Loading … Complete!

Meditech analysis running … Subject has entered a state of

unconsciousness due to loss of air.

Host mitigation completed. Primary A.I Counter-part alerted.

Alert!

Primary subject regaining functionality.

Resuming recording...

10:35...

His lungs burned in agony as he awoke, gasping for air. He had never been quite so happy to breathe in, nor had it ever felt so glorious. He felt lighter in moments, only it was once his senses started to catch up with him that he could understand why. He could hear the tell-tale sounds of someone trying desperately to control their sobs, and failing miserably, and as his eyes slowly drifted open, he could just make out the silhouette of a short haired girl beside him. He tried to figure out why she was crying, when everything that had occurred came back to him.

Oh, he knew he was in for it now. When Chachamaru found out about all this – He repressed a shudder as he envisioned all the punishments she would deal out. For now, the most important thing was handling the here and now, and while he was steadily getting his breath back, he knew Hinata would be worried about him. Slowly, he pushed himself to his hands and knees, and took stock of her sitting beside him, her hands fidgeting in what he could only assume was worry. He wondered idly about that for a moment, whether she would be like Chacha, lovingly checking him over for wounds, doing whatever she could to sooth him – but shoved the drifting line of thought aside as he focused. He glanced around him, noting the carcass to one side, the back side of it's head missing, and the ground beyond splattered in blood. He turned back to Hinata, and cautiously raised a hand to her cheek. She froze at the contact of his skin against hers, yet heedlessly he pressed on brushing away her tears with the pad of his thumb. He smiled as best as he could, before forcing his sore and bruised throat to open.

"Thanks... Hina." He managed to rasp out, meeting her eyes. "You did great."

"No... No I didn't." She said in an almost pleading tone, head down cast. "I couldn't move until he nearly killed you, Naruto. I nearly cost you your life because of my weakness!" Even as the words left her throat, she felt something that was slowly becoming familiar to her; slipping his hand from her cheek to behind her head, Naruto pulled her down to him, cradling her head against his chest.

"You were amazing, Hina-chan. And don't you ever doubt that, okay?" He said soothingly, resting his head against hers. She sniffled, yet nodded against his chest. He knew there had to be a torrent of emotions warring within her at this moment, and Naruto silently pledged to himself that he would do whatever he could for her. Squeezing her shoulders tight against him to let her know he was her for her, he absently surveyed how the other two fared at the moment. Iruka was on his feet with the help of Sakura, and he could tell that they were both careful not to touch Iruka's side. If he had to guess, Naruto would surmise that the older man likely had a broken rib or two – and while he knew from experience that it wasn't always life threatening, the pain was sometimes enough to make thinking or doing anything other than just lying there and existing not worth it. He winced sympathetically for his teacher and friend, but felt his admiration of the other man grow all the more so for pushing through the pain as he was.

And then the preverbal "other shoe" fell. The unmistakable sound of thrusters filled the clearing he was in, and Naruto looked up to see Chachamaru slowly descending on them. While she outwardly showed no distinctive change in demeanor, he could feel her apprehension and worry, and, when she locked eyes on him as she touched down, just a hint of disappointment.

"Naruto-kun, are you hurt?" She said as she made her way to him, oblivious to the obvious stares of everyone but Naruto himself.

He let out a slightly tired sigh, knowing he was in for a long lecture when he got home. "No ma'am." He shifted so that Hinata was a little less than an arms length from him – enough that he could still pull her back into his embrace if need be, yet far enough that Chachamaru could readily inspect him for herself. He idly felt her eyes traveling across him, searching out any outstanding wound or injury. Apparently finding him satisfactory, she nodded slightly and opened her mouth to address him when another voice broke the silence of the clearing.

"W-w-what the – You flew!" Sakura said accusingly, eyes wide and finger outstretched at Chachamaru. Naruto frowned slightly, but said nothing as she continued. "What are you? Who are you?" Then, upon noticing the Hitai-ate around Chachamaru's waist, whispered in what sounded suspiciously like awe, "You're a Konoha Shinobi..?"

"Yes, Haruno-san, I am. Much like your Sensei, Iruka-san, I too am a Chuunin of Konoha." Chachamaru replied, gesturing to Iruka as if that was all the explanation that was needed – despite the dumbfounded stare he too was giving her. without letting that process, she turned to survey the battlefield, and froze as she saw the body. Naruto felt the worry radiating around Chachamaru practically double and knew things had just gotten even more complicated than they already were. She turned first to Naruto in question, then to Iruka when he asked the one question on everyone's mind.

"No offense here but... just what the hell is going on here? What was that?" he said, gesturing to the mutilated corpse of Mizuki. She seemed to hesitate at first, which Naruto knew to only be her processors searching her memory banks for a memory she didn't have- or so he thought.

"It's known as a soul thief." she said, shocking Naruto as she turned completely towards Iruka. "And they are a great danger. At first, they seem to give the wielder great power and strength. this is part of their own defense as, at that stage, they still do not have control over the host body. As they grow, they begin to remove all traces of the former existence until nothing is left of the being that once was."

As she spoke, Naruto turned eyes on what was left of Mizuki. The poor bastard had no idea what he had been getting himself into. Or did he? He seemed to know there was something of importance within the scroll- something he could use on the fly as a weapon. Curious, Naruto oushed himself to his feet made his way to the corpse. If Mizuki had been told there was something powerful within the scroll, then that would mean that the whole thing had been orchestrated by someone else, someone who was pulling the strings in the background. and while he doubted he'd find anything, there was the sliver of a chance that Mizuki might have something on him that would give them the lead they needed to discover what was really going on, if anything at all.

Chachamaru continued her explanation in the background as Naruto stooped down over the corpse and started his inspection. after a few moments he was certain that aside from a few weapon scrolls, and assorted equipment, Mizuki had nothing of interest on him. the scrolls quickly disappeared into one of Naruto's pouch to be examined later. while many might balk at the idea of stealing from the dead, he was both a ninja, and an outcast. weapons he didn't make or discover in the recesses of the lab were still hard to come by, or afford on his salary. Beyond that, Mizuki would have no use for the items anymore, and Naruto felt little remorse for the traitor, beyond the knowledge that he had been someone's patsy. Just as he'd tried to make Naruto into his. He let out a long suffering sigh as that thought crossed his mind, and turned to leave when something caught his eye. There seemed to be something gleaming under Mizuki's head. not uncommon considering the blood, but this had no trace of the crimson shine to it. shifting the man's head to one side, Naruto found himself face to face with a small, violet crystal, no larger than the pad of his palm to the tip of his index finger. Intrigued, Naruto slowly lifted the crystal from the ground, examining it for several seconds between his gloved fingers.

"Oi, Chacha-chan, whatcha make of this?" He called as he stood and turned to her, letting the crystal drop back into the palm of his hand. She turned, and let out what Naruto could only guess as a startled gasp fused within a yelp. Just as she seemed to start to dash towards him to knock the crystal flying, she paused, eyes wide as something dawned on her.

"You have control of yourself...? There is no attempt at takeover..? but how?" she muttered as she seemed to twitch in place as concern, confusion, and logic all warred for dominance within her.

"uh, Chacha-chan, what're you talking about..?" Naruto said as he moved closer to her, worry starting to seep into his voice as he eyed the crystal like a primed bomb.

At first, she gave no reply, lost as she was in her own processors. But finally, her contemplation ended as she met Naruto's eyes. "What you hold in your hand, is the shriveled husk of a Soul Thief. Normally, simply touching one allows the Thief instantaneous access to your mental faculties. You however, seem unaffected as you've yet to try and digest the crystal, nor seem to have your chakra overrun- anymore than it already does."

"It doesn't affect me..?" He said, the barest hint of wonder laced with fear in his voice as he eyed the crystal.

"Apparently not. An interesting development which we will have to look into, Naruto-kun."

He nodded, then looked back up at her, "I take it, I probably can't just smash it, huh?" At her mute nod, he continued, "Where do they come from? I mean, this is the first time your memory bank has spat out that tid-bit of information."

"All I remember, is a great deal of death and destruction surrounding them. And that they are a part of a larger whole." She replied, and Naruto nodded with a downhearted sigh.

"So there's more of them out there, eh? Guess we'll have to track them down at some point, before too much havoc is wrecked." Chachamaru nodded at his assessment, and he continued on. "Well for now, let's take it to Ojii-chan. I'm sure he can come up with something to do with it, some way to seal it away again, or something."

Pocketing the Crystal, Naruto turned to meet the stares of everyone else in the field. Something told him he was in for a long night of explanations.

...

Device shut down logged at 10:57pm.

Reinitialized at 07:25am.

Naruto let out a long yawn as he sat down at the breakfast table and affixed his glasses upon his face. Even after years of doing it, 7:30 in the morning was still an ungodly hour. He glared offhandedly at the clock on the wall until Chachamaru set breakfast before him. halfway through his personal mug of coffee, Chachamaru spoke up. "Are you sure you're okay with your team assignment..?"

He finished the last of the golden nectar in his mug before answering, giving himself time to think over his answer. "Yeah. Yeah I am." He said, thinking over the conversation he'd had with the Hokage the night before. After presenting the Hokage with both the scroll and crystal, he spent the next hour debriefing with the man concerning his own account of the events of that night, along with everything Chachamaru and he knew about the Soul Thieves, which wasn't much. From there, the old man had decided to bring up the choice of teammate's Chachamaru, as his Sensei, had chosen for him. It almost felt like the old man was gauging him on how he'd react to having a dual girl team up, but in all honesty, Naruto wasn't thinking about that in the least. To him, he saw a chance to work with one of his newest friends, which he felt was one of the best opportunities he'd get to have that friendship grow. And while it was true that Sakura annoyed him a good bit, he also knew that she'd stood by his side the night before. True, she'd frozen when Mizuki had gone nuts, but then what person in their right mind wouldn't have? He was honestly willing to give her the benefit of the doubt. perhaps in time, they could even learn to work together. He didn't really know or trust anyone else any more than them anyway, so it wasn't like he was chomping at the bit to team up with someone else. All together, he could honestly say that he was pleased with the team selection, and he'd said as much to the Hokage.

He knew Chachamaru was still somewhat unsure of herself, as she occasionally doubted her ability to aptly teach him what he needed to know, but to him, she was one of the best teachers he would ever have. He trusted her without a shadow of a doubt, and nothing could change that. She just needed encouragement every now and then. Reaching out, he clasped her hand in his, and gave a light squeeze. "This team is gonna be amazing Chacha-chan. just you wait and see."

She squeezed his hand gently in reply, a small smile on her face. "As you say: I'll do everything I can to make you as strong as possible." Noting the time, she released his hand and stood, grabbing his lunch from the fridge. "You need to get going. I'll see you for lunch, okay?" He nodded as he stood and took the offered food, then threw on his black coat over his current orange shirt and jeans. Checking his equipment as he walked to the door, he made sure he had everything in it's proper place. As of today, he was to never leave the house without a full set of equipment. "See you Chacha!" He called as he raced out the door, and down crowded streets towards the academy.

Halfway to the academy, he paused long enough to zip up his coat against the cool morning air. It was pretty obvious that spring had come to the Land of Fire, even if the overall temperature never dropped below 'sweater-weather'. Still, it gave his coat a valid reason for being there, other than the fact that he hated going anywhere without it on. He hated when people saw his arms. Quickly changing from that train of thought as he sped his pace to a light jog, he considered his approaching situation once again. Up until the previous night, he'd played the fool in front of his classmates. He'd hidden his abilities, his advancements, his knowledge. But now, he knew if he wanted any chance of having a successful team he'd need to let them in.

Granted, there was always the semi-notion that he could just leave.

He'd talked about it before with Chachamaru. Aside from the Hokage, he had very little real reason to stay in Konoha aside from it being his home. He knew that his 'shinobi' status was interim at best, as he was first and foremost a MagiTech, working his way to one day becoming a Magister Magi. Science and magic were his two great loves, whether it was spending a day tinkering with his latest design or buried under mounds of notes and alchemical algorithm - discovery and the unknown were his home. He was a warrior by necessity and choice, knowing how harsh the world outside the walls could be. He knew that if he wanted any chance to make a difference in the world, that he'd need every scrap of strength and power he could get his grubby hands on. And to that end, he knew that the training offered by Konoha was an excellent start.

But could he just open up to those he was meant to work with for the rest of his teen-aged years after trusting no one but himself and Chachamaru for so long?

While he had little doubt that he could trust Hinata, he wondered if the same could be said of his other soon-to-be-compatriot. Benefit of the doubt or not, Sakura had rubbed him the wrong way for quite some time now, and it wasn't something he could just set aside. Years of bitter rejection tended to loop in the back of his mind when he saw her, but he was working to curb that. Even so, she was ever the devout Sasuke-fanboy, and Naruto worried of showing his true potential in front of her. Was she truly worth the risk? Only time would tell.

He let his worries slide to the back of his mind to be worked on later as he stepped into the classroom, and surveyed those already assembled. He could see Ino farther down the rows of desks, blathering away at Sakura who seemed to be paying an absent sort of attention. Kiba, Shikamaru, and Choji all seemed to be gathered together as usual, and Sasuke was in his usual seat near the window several rows down. Deciding he didn't want to tempt fate by putting himself anywhere near the dark haired boy, he instead eyed his newest friend and the empty seat beside her. Grinning to himself, he made his way down the seats and absently asked, "This seat taken?" Even as he plopped himself down next to Hinata. She let out a startled yelp, wide white eyes turning on him in shock.

"G-good morning, Naruto-kun!" She squeaked out, and he let out an exasperated sigh as he shook his head then glared at her. She visibly shrunk under his gaze and he cleared his throat with a growled, "Hmmm?"

"E-e-er, N-Naruto..?" He crossed his arms and nodded approvingly as she let out a sigh of relief. Finally, he let the smile slide back into place on his face and leaned back in his seat.

"So, how was your evening Hina-chan?" She glanced away at his word, and when she finally felt the need to reply, her eyes were downcast.

"Father was... Displeased." The words were quiet, and Naruto was sure he wouldn't have heard them if not for the hard edge he felt as much as heard in her voice. There was pain there, deep and soul-consuming, and somehow, Naruto could feel it resonating within himself. A wicked thought of experimenting on a certain hyuuga elder strayed through his mind briefly, but Naruto brushed it aside as he laid a hand on the dark haired girls shoulder.

"I'm here, if you need me, Hinata." He said as resolutely as he could, and she nodded quickly, brushing away at tears Naruto pretended he didn't see. When she felt she had composed herself enough, Hinata turned the question back on him, and he made a spectacle of heaving out his sigh and planting his head against the table, recounting all the horrors and tortures Chachamaru had put him through, much to Hinata's amusement. "And then, just when I was sure I'd die from it all, I managed to break the clasp and free myself from that horrific mountainous dungeon! Oh, but mistress Chacha was on my heels all the way back to Konoha, whipping at my feet, "Too slow! Too Slow! She'd shout and I'd just run faster!"

She let out a small giggle, and and he crossed his arms in feigned hurt, "You think I'm joking! It was horrible, so horrible!"

"No, I'm just having a hard time picturing Chachamaru-san dressed like that and attacking you so, much less a mountain with dragons and skeletons and all other manner of creatures in it."

He left out a low huff of annoyance, and muttered how she'd never seen Chacha-chan when she was pissed then, but finally resigned to telling her that for the most part his night had been rather boring. "Lot of talkin' and explainin' and mostly getting no where. But, that's what adults do, yeah?"

She gave him a curious look at that, and he waved it off, knowing that his statement was likely too far over her head. Truth was, even he knew that a lot of what happened in 'their' world was a lot of talking and double crossing. Everyone had a knife to the others back, talking politely to each others face. But, such was the world of man. We're all liars. It's just a matter of who's the better one, in the end.

Sighing, he decided it best to simply kick back and relax while they waited on Iruka to make his way to the classroom. He'd been discharged from the medical ward this morning, so Naruto had no doubt he'd be the one to hand out their team assignments. Nodding to himself, Naruto set about clearing his mind and running through the spells he had prepared as he waited, using the task to distract himself from the chatter of the girls fighting over who'd be next to Sasuke. Some twenty minutes later, the door finally slid open to the all-too-familiar call of Iruka, "Alright, Alright, Everyone settle down!"

The man moved to stand in front of the desk at the head of the classroom and let his eyes sweep over those assembled with a serious expression. "First off, let me congratulate each and every one of you for making it this far. But your days of learning are far from over." He paused to let that sink in, then continued, "As of today, each of you will be assigned to a team, consisting of three genin and a Jonin. This Jonin will be your sensei as you continue down the road to becoming true ninjas! Always remember, you are not alone. Your team is there for you, as you are meant to be for them. This is my last lesson to each of you. Support one another, through it all." Once satisfied that the message seemed delivered, Iruka lifted a clipboard off the table as he said, "I will now begin calling out teams. After which, each team will remain here until their given Jonin arrives to pick them up for additional instruction and information. Now then, Team One: Mita, Ikki!..." He continued on in that drone that Naruto paid little attention to, until finally Iruka called, "Team Seven: Uchiha, Sasuke! Inuzuka, Kiba! Abarame, Shino!" Naruto winced at that. He felt for Kiba, the wild and brash guy was annoying in a way, yet still a very good person. He didn't deserve to be on the emo-bastard's team. Then again, no one deserved that punishment. "Team Eight!" Iruka continued, oblivious to Naruto's musings, "Uzukami, Naruto! Haruno, Sakura! Hyuu-" It was in mid speech that the door slammed open, jarring everyone from the near-peaceful state of listening to Iruka.

A man covered from head to toe in black garb stepped into the room at that point, quickly making his way to Iruka's side. Iruka leaned over to the man with a confused and seemingly slightly frustrated look on his face. That passed into a near impassive and tight mask as the man whispered into Iruka's ear and handed him a slip of paper. Standing straight, Iruka gave the man a stiff nod and waited for him to depart, before biting out, "Hyuuga, Hinata. Team Seven. Abarame, Shino: Team Eight."

There was a brief pause as everyone's head snapped around to look at the two in question before Naruto's impulsive nature got the better of him. "What the hell, Iruka-sensei?! She was supp-"

"Not right now!" Iruka snapped back, and his eyes pierced Naruto with that cold anger. Something had happened, and Iruka was anything but happy. Growling out a sigh, Naruto dropped back into his seat and furiously thought over everything he knew, as Iruka did his best to continue on as if nothing had happened.

The guy looked like he might have been ANBU although the lack of a mask made Naruto think that he was more likely a Jonin, perhaps Special-Jonin status given the black garb he had been dressed in. There was few if any people who could order them around and that he had been sent on a Courier mission of all things narrowed the list of senders down to two groups: the Civilian Council, and Ojii-san. Most didn't attribute much power to the Civilian Council, but then most didn't know that it was lead around by it's nose hairs by Danzo. Danzo was a very powerful man, and one that was shrouded in mystery. All Naruto knew about him was that he'd had a direct role to play in several actions against himself and Chachamaru. He could never prove it and they'd never caught any of the assailants, but that didn't change the way the man had thought or acted around Naruto. If he had to call it anything it was as if he could smell the blood on the older man, and could feel the old codgers eye on his back. Yet, what did Danzo stand to gain by having Hinata removed from his team?

Naruto glanced at the girl in question, her eyes downcast in shame he surmised. 'I brought shame to myself and my family by my actions...' the words came floating unbidden through Naruto's mind, yet it was that thought that tipped the scale. Hinata's father was an elder of Konoha, and leader of one of the great clans.

Suddenly, it all made sense. Hinata's public declaration to Naruto had likely gotten back to her father who, like most of Konoha, likely hated him. It wouldn't do to have his daughter and possible heir to the family name becoming any more enthralled with the village Pariah, and being on the same team with him would put them in just such a situation. Yet Naruto knew the old man Hokage wasn't the type to simply bow to someone's request like that. For the Hyuuga elder to have pulled this off, he would have had to threaten something awfully big. Like, 'withdrawing the Hyuuga from Konoha' big. It hadn't been done in quite some time, but it wasn't unheard of, and a clan the size and strength of the Hyuuga was no laughing matter. To lose both the Uchiha and Hyuuga families in a little under a ten year span would be a crippling blow to Konoha, and send a message to every other village out there that they were weak, and the village was ripe for the taking. While Naruto didn't how how many enemies Konoha had, a village as large as theirs likely had a lot. He clenched his fists at that, knowing that all of this was because of him.

All because of some slight that he didn't even know or remember doing in his twelve years on this spinning globe. True, up until meeting Chachamaru he'd been something of a prankster, but he also knew his limits. He would never directly prank an elder or pull a prank that harmed a person. Humiliate and degrade sure, but never actually hurt anyone.

Sighing as he finally pulled himself from his thoughts, he knew dwelling on it any more would do no good. Iruka had finished calling out the names of the teams, and already several had departed in the time he'd been contemplating all the ramifications, and he could practically see Hinata berating herself for things she didn't understand. He'd been so wrapped up in himself, that he'd completely missed her plight. Well, it was time to do something about that. Reaching out, he clasped her hand to get her attention, and once she turned those big lavender eyes on him, he smiled brightly at her. "Hey, it's okay. So we're on different teams. Doesn't change anything. We're still friends, yeah?"

"B-but my dad-"

"Doesn't know what he's messing with." He smiled, tilting his head to one side as he moved his hand from hers to the top of her head and mussed her hair with a small chuckle. "You think distance is really gonna kill this friendship? Nah, my bonds aren't so weak that a little strain like being on different teams will break them."

She hesitated for a few seconds before nodding meekly, and Naruto gave her a bright smile and squeezed her hand gently for putting her faith in him. He turned his focus back to the front door then, quietly running his thumb over her knuckles to keep her calm and focused on the here and now while they waited. It wasn't a long wait as no more then twenty minutes later, the door slid open to reveal the most beautiful woman Naruto had seen in his ten years on this spinning globe. Midnight black hair curled lazily down around a feminine face and smoky crimson eyes. She wore a series of what looked like bandages to the naked eye crisscrossing over her body down to mid-thigh. This though brought Naruto back to reality; He focused on her garb through his glasses and found exactly what he was looking for.

Along each scroll of fabric was seemingly benign black line with small divot every few inches. To the naked eye, it seemed like a way to draw attention to the persons body, to draw the eyes where the wearer wanted them to go. But Naruto was finding a faint magical essence being emitted from the garb the woman wore. If he had to guess, He'd surmise to was one large scrollwork, concealed in the form of a dress for easy access. While he couldn't tell what it was, he knew enough to know this jonin was seemingly well prepared for anything. A smirk crossed his lips, and he shook his head.

Good pick, Chacha-chan. He mentally congratulated her, even as the woman called out, "Team eight, your with me." with that, she turned on her heel and walked out the door, leaving the genin to gather their things and say their goodbyes. Naruto already had all his equipment on him, so he simply extricated his hand from Hinata's, ruffled her hair as he stood, and noted absently her blush as he bid her take care.

Following after the older woman, he noted idly the presence of his two compatriots a few feet behind him. This in turn brought back his questions from earlier, to which he could find no suitable answer as they walked. He would just have to go with his gut on this one, and pray he was right.

Recording system idle...

A/N: I know, I know, this one seems really short but I felt that it's been SO RIDICULOUSLY LONG SINCE I POSTED ANYTHING AND IMSOSORRYPLZFORGIVEME. But no, in all seriousness, I do apologize for the long wait. I've been going through a lot these last few months, and the inspiration just...died. But I haven't given up on this story. Even as you read this, chapter 5 is in the works. I'm 1.5k in, and steadily making progress. HOPEFULLY, it won't be more than a few weeks before I post the next one, and I'll try to update my profile with progress reports as I go. Maybe that'll help keep me motivated? We'll see. Anyway, if you're still following this, thank you for coming back, thank you for all the support, and DON'T WORRY. THERE'S MORE INSANITY TO COME.