Chapter 4
Disclaimer:I don't own Naruto.
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Naru sat quietly, munching lightly on a piece of juicy meat as she ate from the BBQ Restaurant in Konoha. She was quite surprised no one had yelled at her yet, though there were plenty of glares, but she figured that was due to Kurenai being there.
Her two teammates were also not ignoring the fact that their teammate was being glared at, and when one man muttered something, having not seen the fly floating around his head, he was soon vomiting rapidly into the trash can as he found a beetle in his food when he took a bite.
Naru, for her part, was baffled. She couldn't understand why Shino had stood up for her, as she figured it was his fault, and even Shikamaru seemed to be returning some of the glares. When she questioned it, however, neither answered as Kurenai took the stage for that one.
"Teammates and friends do these things together, Naru." She said softly, smiling at the girl and leaning over to wipe off a piece of juice on the blonde girl's cheek, causing said girl to get a small blush of embarrassment. "So don't worry and eat your food, okay?" Naru couldn't do anything but nod.
Naru felt she was being tricked some how. This restaurant had never given her service, even when she offered to pay double, and had promptly kicked her out. This time the man didn't even give her an eye, as if pretending she was not there.
She waited as she glanced towards the bill as they finished eating, and sure enough it was a normal price for one buffet. Following Kurenai as she went to pay for the food, Team 8 made their way out towards their first destination.
Kurenai stopped her team as they exited the restaurant however and looked up towards the sun, before giving a small nod. "Alright Team. We have enough time to visit your parents and get acquainted with how you live. Shikamaru will be first." She said with a grin, earning a "troublesome" from the Shadow-Nin.
As they walked, none of Team 8 noticed the dark look that crossed Naru's eyes, as she stood a good length behind them. She paused for a moment, wondering if she should just leave and also wondering why these few did not glare at her or leave her alone as if pretending she didn't exist like most kids did.
She was so engrossed with her thoughts she nearly jumped when Shino paused to look back at her, with a soft. "Coming Naru?"
She nodded. "Yes, Be right there Shino-San." Naru spoke with a smile.
Shino nodded and turned around, but he noticed the dark look that went across her face as soon as he stopped looking.
He would be sure to keep an eye on her.
0-0-0-0-0 The Nara Household. 0-0-0-0-0
The Nara house was rather large, stretching the Nara's piece of land to nearly a 1/80th of Konoha itself, but nearly 75% of this was land needed to herd the Deer and grow herbs. There was actually only one mansion-like building for the Nara to live in, with their members being at 10 Civilian Nara (Elders and people who were not cut out to be Ninja) and 15 Ninja Nara (Not counting Shika or his parents).
As soon as they got near the Nara Estate, they were quickly rushed inside by Shikamaru's Mother, who was also the Wife of the Clan Head. Her name was Yoshino Nara, as she explained to Kurenai who asked of her name, a retired Jounin-Rank Nin who now acted as a Civilian due to a wound on her back, which, ironically, was the wound that got her to meet Shikamaru's Father, Shikaku.
They were all currently in the Nara living room, which was a large room with four separate couches with a coffee table in the center. The walls were littered with small pelts and antlers, along with several vases and other pottery that had a deer imprinted on it.
One of the unique designs, and something Shikamaru broke out almost as soon as they entered the room, was a Nara-Designed Shogi board. It had prancing deer across the entire bottom with trees in the background and if you looked closely you could see another design inside the design itself, a shadowed deer prancing just behind the other deer with another tree-background behind it.
Shikamaru asked if Naru would like the play, while they awaited his parents to get into the room (As Yoshino was attempting to find Shikaku, due to him going to "nap" earlier) but she declined and he got into a match with Shino.
The four couches were also separate designed, one being brown color, which Naru was sitting on with Kurenai beside her, another being a wood-like color (even with little swirls you would find on trees), and the other two both being deer-design with a camouflage background that were opposite of each other, which Shino and Shikamaru were sitting on.
The Coffee table was a simple glass, with a small holder underneath it for the Nara-Style Shogi board, but it was quite large and a perfect square, fitting itself between the couches with enough room for feet, but not much else.
Kurenai, while keeping an eye on the Shogi board, also managed to scoot herself until she was against Naru, before smiling down at the girl as she looked up at her. "Are you alright Naru?" She asked, having saw a glimpse of the dark look across Naru's face a moment ago.
The blonde girl just gave a small nod, and Kurenai was about to question further, the Nara Head leader walked in.
The man was a splitting image of Shikamaru, only taller and slightly more tan. He also had a small beard and a scar across his right eye, however his expression was something that mirrored Shikamaru's normally (not at the moment due to Shikamaru thinking a strategy to beat Shino).
Shikaku was dressed in a simple Jounin Pants with his Jounin vest covering his dark green shirt. He wasn't wearing any sandals and he let out a soft 'troublesome' as he sat down beside Shikamaru, studying the Shogi game quietly.
Yoshino entered soon after, being an Auburn haired woman with bright brown eyes that lit up her face. She was dressed in a simple yellow shirt and a long green skirt that reached her knees. She was also shoeless. She plopped down onto the only empty couch, soon joined by Shikaku as she motioned him over.
Kurenai smiled at the woman, who smiled back. "Now what I wanted to do today was learn how each of my team lives so they may get better acquainted with each others lives. This would keep any infiltration into our group at a minimum along with giving, what I hope, better relations between the three." Yoshino nodded and grinned, a strange glint in her eye that made both Nara men flinch.
"Then perhaps they should all get an understanding of what the Nara do around here?" She laughed and stood up. "Even you would benefit from this, Kurenai. Come on Shika, you know what to do." She grinned, walking out with Shikaku in tow.
Kurenai and Shino gave Shikamaru a curious look, but he just shrugged and stood up. "Come on, I'll show you what she wants done and explain it on the way." He walked through the same door his mother went, yawning a bit on the way.
The two soon followed him, only for Kurenai to walk back and peak her head into the door to Naru. "Coming?"
"Oh! Yes, Sorry! I was..thinking." Naru said, quickly jumping to her feet and walking over towards Kurenai. She smiled up at the Red-Eyed woman, who just gave a small smile back as they followed Shikamaru.
Kurenai made a note to keep an eye on her.
0-0-0-0-0 Nara's Field 0-0-0-0-0
Shikamaru, and his father, both gave the group a bored look as they stood in front of a large shack in the Nara Fields. The fields were fast with a wide forest out-cropping for many deer they raised, but one could see the fence in the far back in case any deer got any wise-idea to go into Konoha's main town.
Shikamaru sighed, giving off a 'troublesome', as his father motioned for him to speak. "Alright, what we do today is try to get the Bucks into a group, so that we can cut their antlers off and use the material inside for medicine. My mother will go over that part later." He added as Kurenai was about to question the medicine creation. "How we usually do this is simple, with our Kage mane, but for civilian and non-Nara you'll have to use this rope." He gave his team a lasso, thick gold ropes that looked to be able to hold down an elephant, although probably not go around the entire thing.
Shikamaru sighed further as he stared at the three fiddle with their ropes. "Simply wrap it around their neck and lead them to where my father is, he can catch almost all of them with his Kage Mane easily." They nodded and proceeded to get to work.
In a small amount of time, Kurenai and Shino had managed to lead around five each to Shikaku. As his son said, he was easily able to hold them in place as two Civilian Nara cut the antlers off. Since Shikaku didn't have any antlers, he felt no pain from his link on the bucks.
Naru and Shikamaru had only gotten two each, but Naru seemed to pass by them with an odd look on her face and did not attempt to catch them most of the time.
One of the Civilian Nara let out a yelp, causing everyone to turn their heads towards him as a Buck ran from his direction. "I stepped on it on accident and it got startled!" He exclaimed as Shikamaru moved to catch it with his Kage mane as it passed him. Just as his shadow connected, the Buck rammed into him, breaking his concentration and sending him flying into Kurenai's arms. He groaned looking up, just as his eyes widened and he yelled out. "Naru! Watch out!"
Everyone watched in slow motion as the buck neared Naru, it's head down and it's sharp antlers ready to slam into her flesh. One nearby Nara moved to intercept, but everyone knew he would not make it in time.
Naru did not seem to notice the beast until it was right upon her, and everyone closed their eyes, waiting the slurch sound or a thump of a body...
...but it never came.
Instead, there was a loud pitiful cry from the buck as Naru gripped it's head tightly, her hand right between it's antlers with both antlers just right beside Naru's head.
She gave it a cold look, a frown on her face as she gripped the buck's head between her fingers, with her blonde locks cascading down her shoulders and back, covering her eye from anyone looking at her right side.
"Sit." She commanded, and the Buck instantly fell onto it's behind, it's eyes wide with fear as it stared at the blond in front of it. "Good boy" She said, her voice still in an icy tone as she released the buck's head. "Now come." It got up to it's feet quickly, lest it anger the blonde further, and followed her to the stunned Shikaku who nearly dropped his Kage mange on the still-antlered Bucks.
She just gave a 'hmph' sound and glared at them. "What? Something on my face?"
They just gave a shake of their head, before heading back to work.
Shikamaru however, gave the girl a long stare. No one had even dared grabbing and commanding a buck like that, especially when they were charging. And that cold look she gave him was practically oozing with killing intent, the likes of which he had never felt before.
Shikamaru would definitely keep an eye on her, if only to make sure she wasn't too troublesome.
0-0-0-0-0 The Work Room, two hours later 0-0-0-0-0
Yoshino smiled at the four, who were lined up at a long table near the front of the large wooden room. She, herself, was standing behind a large desk with several antlers and a few already-made ointments, along with several cutting tools and a mortar and pastel to grind up the material.
The room had three rows of long tables, but only Team 8 was currently in the room. They were quietly awaiting her instructions, while also examining the antlers and tools on their own desks. (except for Shika, since he knew what to do already.)
Yoshino's smile grew wider and she grabbed an antler. "Okay, the material to make our ointment is located inside the antler itself, near the bottom." She turned the antler over, so that the top area was facing her 'students'. "What you do here, is carefully carve out the inside of the antler until you reach a wall inside the antler itself, that will be the stopping point. Hollow out the area with your scalpel, or whatever you use, and then use the pliers to carefully pull the material out..If the pliers are too big, as some antlers are smaller than others, use the tweezers. When you have it, put the material into your mortar and use your pestle to grind it up a bit before adding your herb leaves into the mold as well."
Team 8 got to work after she was done, only having two 'problem' situations as Kurenai accidentally cut too far into the antler, causing the entire thing to split and the medicine material to fall into the floor, and another when Naru gripped the antler hard enough to snap it in half. Both hastily apologized and were much more careful in their future attempts.
Meanwhile, Shikamaru was pulling the material from his antlers with practiced ease, pulling much more of the material out than any of the others were before beginning to mix his into a paste, then adding his herbs he began to grind the objects up until they became crumbled.
Shino was cutting them out, but had asked two small ants to help him with the pulling. With their super strength and Shino's guidance, they were easily able to pull the piece free and place it into the mortar. They each got a piece of meat that Shino had saved from his dinner. (It was in a plastic bag!)
After they had all made a cream-like substance and Yoshino checked them all, she smiled and nodded at each one until she got to Naru's.
Yoshino's face held no expression as she stared at the paste inside, which was fine and creamy. Then she let out a sigh and patted Naru on the head. "I understand if you're unable to control your strength but.." She pulled the bowl up, revealing a clean hole in the center that paste was slowly leaking out of. "Try not to break the bowls, you didn't need to press too hard."
Naru just grinned, scratching behind her head. "Sorry, it wasn't grounding up so I figured if I added more pressure..and then it snapped.." She gave a small blush of embarrassment, leaving the rest of Team 8 to wonder if she was able to fake that as well.
Yoshino, however, laughed and ruffled up the girl's hair. "Yeah yeah, it's fine anyways. We've got plenty more." She smiled and put her hands on her hips before making a 'shoo' motion with her right hand. "Go on Kurenai-San, I'll take care of the rest, okay?" Kurenai nodded, standing up with the rest of her team.
"Thank you for your time." She said, bowing. Shino did the same, muttering a soft 'Thank you for the lessons'. Naru just bowed her head, already half way to the door while Shika just gave a lazy wave as he followed the blonde out.
As the other two followed, Yoshino picked up the bowl Naru had broke, only to recoil as a spark of red lightning coursed through the paste. Frowning, she carefully took a small bit onto her finger and placed it on a small cut on her left thumb, which she had accidentally done the other day during cooking, and was surprised as the ointment literally melted into her skin.
With a jolt of red lightning creasing across her flesh, the wound sealed itself back together..
Like it had never been there in the first place. And Yoshino's eyes widened at the possibilities of such a wonderful ointment, but she did not doubt it was the Kyuubi's doing.
Yoshino took a large bit of the paste into her hand, lifting her shirt up slowly as her hand traveled towards her back.
Demonic or not, the ointment was Hope, for Yoshino.
And that Hope, would be something she had worked on for years.. Now, it might be a reality.
She was not prepared for the nerve wrecking pain that coursed through her veins, along with the soft voice echoing in her mind..
"Kukuku.." The voice said, a dark but some what familiar echoing in Yoshino's head.
Then, all was black.
0-0-0-0-0 Aburame House 0-0-0-0-0
After leaving the Nara, unaware of the happenings back at the home they just left, Kurenai announced that Shino's family would be the next to visit.
The Aburame owned much less land than the Nara, but were far better housed. They had four shacks, a very large mansion (but a tad shorter than the Nara's) and they had part of their land being completely filled to nothing but plants, mainly special flowers that they usually sold to the Yamanaka and other types of vegetables and berries.
They entered the house quietly and quickly, but were almost immediately confronted by the head of the Aburame household.
Shibi Aburame, Shino's father, was a taller version of Shino with his hair spiked backwards. He had on Jounin pants and his coat was slightly darker. His sunglasses had an odd tassel hanging from the right side. On his back was the oddest thing, which was a large purple gourd with a cap screwed on tightly.
Shizumi Aburame, Shino's mother, was almost a polar opposite to the man. She was the same size as him, with her light gray hair hanging to her mid-back and her emerald green eyes staring at them with a smile on her lips. Her jacket was opened and the collar was not nearly as high as the male Aburame. She was wearing a loose black top under the coat and a pair of black shorts.
Shizumi welcomed them in with a hearty hello, while Shibi just gave a curt nod that Shino returned, and lead them to the Aburame living room which was much different than the Nara family's living room.
There was two armchairs beside each other, with a couch just opposite of them. There was no table between the furniture, and instead there was a large fire place to the wall between them and a large rug on the ground in front of the fire place.
The adult Aburame took their places on the arm chairs (with Shibi placing his gourd on the ground beside the armchair he sat at),which were both a black color, and Team 8 took a seat on the couch. The two simply stared at the team until Kurenai spoke up.
"I am sorry for disturbing you, Aburame-San, but I wish for all of my teammates to get a way to know how each other usually live. This would result in fewer infiltrations into our group in the future and also allow my students to get to know each other further." She explained once again, only receiving a curt nod from Shibi.
Shizumi, however, smiled and nodded. "Yes, that is a good idea Kurenai-San, and they are more then welcome into our house hold. Any friend of my Shino-Kun is a friend to the Aburame." Shino had a soft blush of embarrassment and was very thankful that his collar hid his cheeks. Shibi seemed to give a nod of understanding towards Shino's direction.
Kurenai smiled back at the woman. "I was wondering if there was anything my students could hope to learn about the life of an Aburame?" Shibi and Shizumi both got a thoughtful look on their face, although it was much harder to tell with Shibi but his eyebrow raised slightly,
After a bit, Shino was the one who spoke up. "I believe my teammates could see the Beetle hives, along with the rest of our collection if that is alright, mother and father." He said in a normal toned voice, earning a small surprised glance from his mother.
Shizumi nodded. "Yes, I believe that could be done. Who knows? They may even accept your teammates as friends as well." She stood up smiling still. "Come on then, they're not too far." The group got up and followed them, but were not followed by Shibi who pulled Shino to the side as he walked past.
He stared at his son for a moment before nodding, and getting a nod in return. Shibi let his son go and watched as Shino looked down towards his shoulder where a small red beetle laid.
It made soft noises in his ear before flying back towards Shibi.
Shino was only confused at why his father wanted to warn him so badly about the color red. He supposed he would see soon enough.
0-0-0-0-0 The Hives 0-0-0-0-0
Three minutes later, the group (minus Shibi) was standing in front of a large double-door shack in the back yard of the Aburame house. Shizumi smiled at them with her hands resting on the golden handles of the doors. "Now be very careful kids. They won't bother Shino but they might try to bite you and drain your chakra. They won't kill you though so you don't need to worry about that." With a nod from the group, she opened the door. What was inside, caused the non-Aburame to become wide eyed.
The entire place was a large black void with many bugs sliding across make-shift mounds and black hives. It seemed to be very organized with several types of bugs crawling quickly across the ground and hives. There were possibly every insect you could expect in Konoha. Ants, beetles, cockroaches, flies, mosquito, and Kurenai even spotted a few wasps flying around.
The main one that stood out was a large red beetle, perched atop the largest hive in the shack. The group hesitantly made their way forward, careful not to step on any bugs as they stood in front of the shack, but not stepping onto a hive lest they break it.
Shizumi smiled at the bugs, waving towards the red one with her left hand as she stood behind the group. "This is what Aburame is all about, harmony among the insects. We do things for them, and they help us fight, some even help our elders in the gardens."
Shino turned his head towards his mother, letting a black beetle fly out and land on her shoulder. Shizumi listened as it asked about the Red beetle, despite that it probably knew the answer already, and she whispered back towards it, but the words were not lost to Kurenai, although she did not notice what Shizumi was talking to.
"That's Kazami-Dono, leader of the bugs and head chief of many of their workings. He keeps things in order when there isn't an Aburame around." She said softly, as the bug flew back towards Shino.
"Kazami-Dono? Does that mean something?" Kurenai asked, not seeing the small look of surprise Shizumi gave her before letting out a soft laugh.
"Not really, no. Dono means boss, and he demanded he be boss. He really got things together but he has bit of a temper sometimes." The Female Aburame head explained, staring towards the red bug as it moved towards them on it's large wings. "Oh look, here he comes."
It stopped in front of the group, looking back and forth before it's eyes sat on Naru. Naru stared back at it, an odd expression on her face. Kazami let out a soft chirp sound, still staring towards the girl. Kurenai and Shikamaru gave a curious look towards Shino, who looked back and coughed once, a soft blush on his face. Shizumi also seemed rather appalled by something. "What did he say?" Shikamaru asked, his eyebrow raised.
Shizumi scratched the back of her head, letting out a nervous laugh. "He just asked the 'Blonde haired chick with awesome tasty chakra' to be his bride." Shikamaru and Kurenai gave a wide eye look, which quickly shifted to Naru as she lowered herself to her knees to stare at the bug.
Naru placed her finger tip on the bug's head, just between it's eyes. "Not in this life time, Kazami-San, but if I get reborn a bug then I'll be sure to seek you out, ne?" She said kindly, her eyes covered by her hair, blocking the small amused expression from everyone but the bug in question.
Kazami rubbed it's head against her finger, chirping something again before flying back towards the largest hive. Shikamaru gave Naru an odd look as she got to her feet, turning around and heading back towards the Aburame's front gates.
"What did he say that time?" Kurenai asked as they followed the girl, looking straight towards Shino.
Shino coughed once, pausing for a good half a minute before responding.
"He said. "Sure thing, vixen."
0-0-0-0-0 The Gate of Bug 0-0-0-0-0
At the Aburame gates, which was designed by the bars having nearly every species of bug printed somewhere on them, Kurenai grabbed Naru by the shoulder and smiled at her. "I know you don't have parent's Naru..and I am sorry for making you go through such a thing but.." She blinked as her hand was lightly pushed off by Naru's own.
Naru looked up at her Sensei before looking at the two boys with a small glance. "I did not feel anything. I don't require such trivial feelings such as envy or jealous for something I do not have. I have never had anything but my own two hands, Kurenai-Sensei. To wish for something else is a privilege, and I don't have that right. So it is alright Kurenai-Sensei." She said quietly, her face lit up in her fake smile.
The rest of the Team gave her a surprised look, but it was Kurenai who recovered the fastest. "I do not believe you Naru. You have that privilege, after all.." She smiled as she looked up, the boys following suit and a bit more of surprise showed on their face. "You do have a grandfather, ne?"
Naru's eyes widened as she turned around, her breath seeming to get caught in her throat as she stared towards the Hokage. He was dressed in casual clothing, a loose gray shirt that matched his hair and a pair of long pants, which were a light blue color and matched the sandals he wore on his feet.
He let out a soft chuckle before pulling her right hand up and holding it gently. "Good evening, Naru. I hope you don't mind but I got you a gift, an early birthday present." With that, he took out a small piece of rolled up paper and handed it to her.
She unrolled it quickly, her eyes scanning down the page with her two teammates reading it quietly behind her, their eyes widening with every sentence read.
By order of the Hokage, Sarutobi Karuma, Naru Uzumaki is to be given a plot of land directly beside the Sarutobi estate.
Along with this, full rites as a Sarutobi and the Granddaughter of Sarutobi Karuma.
All guardian rights are hereby claimed by Sarutobi Asuma (There was a small signature beside this where Asuma agreed)
Lastly, Naru is given the rite to all of the land of Naruto (Maelstrom), which was formally owned by the fourth Hokage, Arashi Naruto, and his wife, Kushina Uzumaki.
Naru stared at the note before looking up, a confused look on her face. "Why would I be given such rites, Jiji..? I have done nothing to deserve it." She attempted to hand the paper back to Karuma, who just chuckled and shook his head.
"You have been given these rites because you are my granddaughter, blood or not, and you have done far more for this village with every day you live Naru. You are a proud Konoha Nin now, and I am sure you will continue to serve your village just as long as the Will of Fire lives on within you." Naru nodded slightly before asking another question.
"But why the Fourth Hokage's estate..?"
Karuma stroked his beard before letting out a laugh again. "I expected this, and I promise I will answer your question in three months time. I need to get an old friend of mine to come by to help explain it, if that is alright Naru?" Naru nodded quickly and Karuma looked up towards Kurenai. "Now then, why don't we all go enjoy a nice relaxing dinner at my place? Asuma and Konohamaru are going to get tired of waiting for us."
Kurenai smiled and nodded, leading her group to follow the Hokage. Her smile grew even wider as she noticed the soft smile on Naru's lips, as she held the hand of her grandfather.
Karuma let out a laugh and said jokingly, "Wait till you meet Enma, Naru!"
0-0-0-0-0 Naru's Room 0-0-0-0-0
Naru smiled to herself quietly in her new room, which was complete with bright orange wall paper (Her favorite color) and a large blue sheet bed with the Uzumaki spiral on the large fluffy blanket. The pillow had the leaf symbol on it and Naru was currently burying her face into the pillow, trying to hide her excited body from jumping to the roof.
It had been a wonderful time at dinner. There had been jokes, even some by Shino and Shikamaru!, and she had managed to finally prank her Jiji with Konohamaru's help by tricking the old man into opening a glass of sake, which promptly exploded into a large orange paint.
Everyone broke into laughter, even Shino had spared a couple chuckles, at the orange Hokage who just grinned and used his expert chakra skills to fling the paint at Naru and Konohamaru, who quickly ducked..
...Causing the glob to hit Kurenai in the chest.
Asuma laughed even louder at the blushing Kurenai, who promptly grabbed the paint into an orb like the Hokage did and threw it right onto Asuma's face, causing it to get stuck in his beard.
This lead to an all out war of the paint glob until everyone was coated, except Shino somehow, with a bit of pain somewhere on their body. After that, the group left with Naru instantly heading towards her new house, just beside the Sarutobi house.
There was even a hallway connected to the Sarutobi house, in case there was an emergency, from Naru's training room on the upstairs.
The house was two stories, just like the Sarutobi house, with a living room, bathroom, and kitchen on the bottom floor, with the stairs being in the living room and headed up towards Naru's training room. On the top floor was Naru's bed room on the left side, with a training room right beside that on the right side, which was beside the Sarutobi house.
The training room had several dummies and weapon racks, though there was a lack of weapons on the racks except for her Nodachi, and the walls seemed to be made of a pitch black alloy. She had yet to question why, but figured she could do so tomorrow.
She was so into her thoughts of her new place, that she nearly jumped when the door to her room opened. She looked over slowly, but sat up as she saw her Jiji smiling at her from the door way.
"Hi Jiji, what's up?" She asked casually, laying on her back as the old man approached her and smiled down at her.
"Just wanted to see if you were comfortable, Naru." He said quietly, hands behind his back.
She smiled and nodded, her eyes lit up in childish glee. "Yes! It's wonderful Jiji!"
He nodded smiling still, before suddenly frowning and lashing out with a hand.. which held a bright red knife, slick with Naru's blood as he plunged it into her stomach. "A perfect place for you to rest then, Demon, and with this dagger.. You cannot use your powers."
Naru's eyes widened, staring up towards the old man's face, which was twisted in un-characteristic anger. She could only whimper pitifully as he twisted the knife inside of her, and her voice was barely a whisper as she spoke out.. "Why..?"
He said nothing, but there was a sickening sluurch sound as he pulled his knife free of her blood-stained shirt, before stabbing it into her heart..
...Everything slowly faded to black as Naru's eyes glazed over..and she drew her last shaky breath.
And then she was up, gasping for breath with cold sweat running down her entire body. She felt her stomach, indicating it was okay with the lack of pain and blood in that area, before reaching up towards her chest, feeling around her breast to study if there was a wound or not, which there was not.
She slowly took deep breaths, calming herself slowly. She was just about calm when a soft voice laughed in the back of her mind.
"Ahaha..Drenched in your own sweat like a helpless child." The voice said, a teasing tone in it's voice.
Naru's eyes closed as she spoke back to the voice, growling a bit. "Hush up Kyuu! It was just a bad dream!"
Naru found herself staring into the large slitted eyes of her demon, and felt the normal icky feeling of the dark water against her feet. "Foolish fool" The Kyuubi said loudly, causing Naru to cover her ears with her hands, then it blinked it's large eyes twice before speaking again. "Forgive me for that, I must speak louder to speak to you without you being here and so..Well, you get the gist of it. Now then"
There was a brief pause as the large demon raised itself to it's forepaws, motioning with one claw for Naru to come closer. She did, sitting in front of the large gates cross legged as the Kyuubi changed into her human form.
Naru felt herself blush despite herself, as she stared at the 6'1 woman in front of her. Kyuubi stared at her with her red slitted eyes glinted in amusement, her large breasts which were curved by her red kimono that went down to her knees and it had blue flames with yellow-inner flames near the bottom hem. She had white wrappings that could be seen on her cleavage, to hold her breasts to herself. Her hair was blonde like Naru's, but was in two small pig-tails on her head with most of the hair still falling neatly onto her backside. She let out a soft laugh and sat down in front of the girl, before speaking clearly and normally, but with a hint of something that could usually only be heard in a scolding mother.
"Now you listen here, Kit." The great Nine-Tails started out. "That was not a dream, it was a promise!"Naru shook her head, her eyes clenching tightly.
"No! I won't believe that..Jiji wouldn't hurt me." She suddenly found herself with her back against the bars, with Kyuubi's hands resting on her shoulders and the busty-blonde's lips beside Naru's ear.
"I do not think he would either, but the rest of the village would. That dagger exists, Naru! I fought it when I came to this village eons ago" She said softly, lightly massaging the girl's shoulders while secretly pumping her chakra through her finger tips to increase the amount inside Naru's body. "Someone could get it, and kill you, Naru. I don't want that, even more then I want to die myself" She said gently, her voice becoming more coaxing with each word.
Naru struggled slightly, but found herself beginning to relax under the Kyuubi's soft gentle hands, despite the sharp finger nails which seem to only dig into certain places of her skin, causing her no pain but plenty of pleasure as it hit her stressful areas. "Nghh.." She groaned slightly, leaning back against the bars fully now. "Why do you care..?"
Kyuubi grinned and softly whispered into the girl's ear. "I have asked you it before, my dear, and I will do so again if only to answer your question. Be mine, Naru! Be my daughter, my flesh, my blood. Become part of the Demon Race!" Kyuubi exclaimed, getting louder after her first sentence.
Naru paused, before pulling away from the woman and shaking her head. "No! I'm not a demon, Kyuu! And you're not my mother!" Kyuubi just gave a soft sigh as Naru glared at her, before looking up with a sad pitiful look in her eyes that made Naru flinch.
"Have I not been good to you, Naru? I held you when you cried, I taught you when you needed help, I healed your bruises and sang bedtime songs into your mind when you were small, until you were grown up enough to not need them anymore."Naru flinched with each word said, before shaking her head quickly.
"The answer is no, Kyuu! And don't talk to me for awhile.. I need to focus on my missions." Kyuubi glared slightly as Naru began to fade away from her mind-scape, but she hastily roared out as she reverted to her fox-form.
"Do not forget who has harmed you, Kit! The village deserves to burn! Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust, we burn them until they begin to rust!"
Naru paid no mind to the raging Kyuubi, blocking that part of her mind with a sheer force of will as she turned on her side and attempted to go to sleep.
But what if Kyuubi was right, and someone truly did get that dagger with the intent to kill her?
She could only wait and see.
0-0-0-0-0 Uchiha estate 0-0-0-0-0
Sasuke punched a training dummy, smirking to himself. He had passed his test, just as he expected, but he had not expected to get so much help from the Kunochi, Mia Amore.
They had both attacked Kakashi in single Taijutsu, eventually wearing the man down enough to use a substitution to switch himself with a log. They both attempted to look for him, eventually finding him standing beside Sakura who had her head buried neck-deep into the ground. They dug her out quickly, although Sasuke wanted to just leave her there after mentioning how useless she was for falling for such a thing, but a gentle (Or not so gentle) kick in the groin from Mia got him to help dig her out.
This time they had come up with a plan, with Sasuke attacking Kakashi with his Ninjutsu, while Mia assaulted him with Shuriken and Kunai from afar, while also warning Sasuke if Kakashi attempted anything funny. While this was happening, Sakura had sneaked up behind the man using a basic Academy Genjutsu to hide her presence, and snagged the bells straight from their Sensei as he attempted to block a kick from Sasuke.
He smiled wide as he told them they passed, and proceeded to let them eat their boxed lunch.
Sasuke punched the dummy again, a frown on his face now. If they were able to beat a Jounin as a team, then possibly..
Could Itachi be defeated by a team? He would have to give that some thought.
0-0-0-0 Forest of Death Outline 0-0-0-0
Anko laughed as she dodged another blow from Hinata. "Come on! You'll have to do better than that Hinata-Chaaaaan" She said teasingly, drawing out the 'chan' as Hinata attempted another Jyuuken blow towards Anko's right arm.
Anko thought over the test she had given the Hyuuga, and how the Hyuuga had surprised her despite her past meekness.
She had designed a simple test, since there was only one member and Hinata had been said to not be very strong, but that did not mean it was easy. The test was simple, but difficult. Hinata was to not move her feet at all, but dodge every Kunai, Shuriken, and senbon that Anko sent her way.
At first, it had been awful with Hinata barely dodging one or two. After a few tries, Hinata had managed to dodge more, but was still a sizable pin-cushion from the senbon, and with that her coat was ruined. She discarded it and after fifteen more tries, had managed to dodge them all perfectly without moving her feet.
Anko laughed during that time, explaining what the exercise was about. "To fight, you dont fight stiffly with unncessary movements. You fight like you're water. Relaxed, calm, poised, but ready to strike at any time. That is how a Ninja fights, Hinata. Remember that...Now then. Let's try that again and then we'll get to some light sparring!"
Anko grinned as she dodged another blow, responding with a blow of her own towards Hinata's head. Hinata flinched for a moment before shifting her head, but not her body, at the last moment and delivering a blow towards Anko's side.
The Snake Mistress dodged, bending her entire body backwards before slamming her foot into the surprised Hyuuga's stomach. She laughed and helped Hinata up to her feet, patting her back. "You did good Kiddo, almost got me there!" She grinned and ruffled her hair. "But that's all for today, your father will be worried sick if I let you stay out here all night." She grinned further and flicked Hinata on the head, sticking her tongue out. "Don't want to make daddy dearest mad, ne?"
Hinata blushed slightly before nodding and giving a polite bow, twisting her head slightly to dodge a kick from Anko. "Yes, Thank you Anko-Sensei. I'll see you tomorrow." Anko grinned, pulling her foot back and waving her hand in goodbye as Hinata ran off towards her home.
Things were looking up.
0-0-0-0 Nara Estate 0-0-0-0
Shikamaru sighed as he made his way to his house, walking inside only to be confronted by his Father's worried face. He paused, he had never seen his father look like that before. "What's up dad?"
Shikaku looked up before sighing heavily and grasping his son's shoulder. "It's your mother.."
"What about her..?"
Shikaku sighed and stared into Shikamaru's eyes, his grip tightening. "She went into a coma, Shikamaru. The doctor said she may never wake up."
Shikamaru's eyes widened..and he felt warm tears fall down his cheeks, for the first time in nine years.
Shikaku embraced his son, for possibly the same amount of time since the last time Shikamaru cried, and held him close.
He looked up towards the pale moon, shining in the window and felt his own tears flow down his cheeks.
'Wake up soon, My love, Yoshino..'
0-0-0-0 Chapter end 0-0-0-0
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