VampBlood: Hello people, I'd like some ideas for some pairings now that you know who everyone is. I already have an idea for Subaru, but I'd appreciate some other ideas! I'd also like to point out that though Naruto does have a bloodline, he won't be using it in every fight in the whole story. I'd like to concentrate on how much he matures without his bloodline before adding it in. It may be powerful, but it's not all that important. R&R!!
"speaking"
"thinking"
"Kyuubi speaking"
"Jutsu Name"
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"Well I have two missions here, I'll let you pick. You can either escort a Tazuna-san to his hometown in Nami no Kuni or you can go to Kiba no Kuni and get rid of the bandits that have been raiding the towns there. Now I warn you…the second mission will involve killing. Genma, I'm not sure your students are ready." Genma stared at his students, his hazel gaze glancing over his group, his mind traveling back to all the training they had received, and replied, "No Hokage-sama. I am confident that my genin are ready for their first…kill. They have advanced far faster than the other genin teams and I have complete faith in them."
Sarutobi closed his eyes and sighed, his mind going back to the cheerful trouble-making blonde boy, the lazy mild-tempered boy, and the shy, quiet girl of the Academy. It had seemed so long ago. Opening his eyes, the hazy smoke from his pipe curling around his face, he saw three determined and ready shinobi and finally nodded his head, stating, "You are to leave tomorrow at 8 and are going to be gone for two weeks. Pack light and meet at the gate at 7:30 a.m. Dismissed." Team 11 bowed and walked out, leaving Sarutobi in his thoughts.
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-Near Kiba no Kuni-
It was near dark, the sun was nearly setting as the screams of many a shinobi were heard. Brutally slaughtered by means of teeth and claws, the shinobi of Kumo were merciless against those of Iwa, especially a certain blonde-haired jonin. The jonin couldn't have been much older than a genin, perhaps fifteen years old at the most, but her yellow-green eyes showed how much of a killer she was at such a young age. Her rage fueling her skill, she no longer fought with grace and elegance as usual and resorted to animalistic techniques, ripping throats and limbs of the enemy. Her teammates gave her nervous glances as the last shinobi of Iwa was slain, leaving behind a pissed off and bloodied kunoichi.
Turning around and seeing their pathetically scared faces, Nii Yugito snorted and walked towards the river, hoping to wash herself off. She heard her "boyfriend" Takeshi ask if she needed medical attention, but her mind brushed his voice off. She knew that no matter how caring Takeshi, Ginta, and Kumiko acted, none of them actually would miss her if she were to die. Fat chance that'd ever happen. Yugito rolled her eyes as she sank into the river, clothes and all, and tried to scrub the smell of blood from her clothes and her skin. The smell irritated her, as it excited Nibi more than ever, and made her cringe. It reminded her that no matter how good Nii Yugito got, she'd always be a human, a mortal.
"Yugito-chan…I don't think that you should live here anymore"
Rage suddenly consumed the blonde kunoichi as she smashed her fists into the ice-cold water, making droplets fly into the golden-red sky. After twelve years of love and care, her father and suddenly thrown her out of the house, not giving her any explanation. Cursing her father under her breath, Yugito clambered out of the river and shook her self as a cat would to dry, her eyes glowing in the near darkness. As she started for her teammates' camp, her father's words swirled around her, as if they were trying to squeeze the life out of her.
"I don't think you should come over anymore."
"I'm sorry, why are you here?"
"Please, leave me alone."
"I don't want you here anymore."
Of course, Yugito still saw her little half-brother, Kyoya, and her step-mother, Fuzuki, but her father would not let her into his presence. Even when he was acting the part of Raikage and giving her a simple mission, Yugito saw it. The fear, the anger, the sorrow, all directed at her by her own flesh and blood. He'd even renounced her from the family quietly and given her the surname Nii, a humiliating reminder of what was always going to be inside of her. He never shouted or attacked violently, but somehow, the emptiness of his space in her life hurt the blonde kunoichi all the more.
However, her self-angst didn't last as her well-honed senses perked at the sound of kunai whistling towards her head. Ducking quickly, the blonde kunoichi retaliated her own kunai, smirking as a small cry assured her that she hadn't missed her mark. However, her yellow-green eyes widened in horror as she saw who had attacked her, his deep gray eyes showed guilt and loathing at the same time. "Tak…" whispered Yugito, but was unable to finish as another three kunai dug deep into her back. Yugito screamed as she felt the kunai cave into her flesh, the green poison lacing the weapons mingling with her blood. As she fell towards the ground, she only heard Takeshi murmur, "I'm sorry Yugito, these are your father's orders."
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-Sengaku gang hideout, Kiba no Kuni-
It hadn't been as hard to track down the bandits as Shikamaru had expected, his chocolate brown eyes narrowing at the sights of the bandits feasting below the cliff. They had just raided a small village not far from here and had decided to celebrate with their stolen plunder. But what really made the pineapple-headed genin nearly retch were the man leering at the women near the side of the camp. No doubt, they'd be raped and sold into prostitution. They had nothing left; their husbands and families were dead and their homes destroyed.
Genma, noticing Shikamaru's tensed pose, laid a reassuring hand on the genin's shoulder, giving a small squeeze. This would be Shikamaru's first plan to kill. He would be scheming how to kill living breathing men with blood in their veins, no matter how big of scum they were. Surprisingly, it was Hinata who was the most calm, her pale eyes glinting in the moonlight. With a quick nod from Shikamaru, Hinata activated her renowned bloodline, the veins popping around her eyes rather intimidating along with the tense grimace on her normally sweet face. Naruto was rather stiff as well, his sharp indigo eyes gazing at the bandits and their festivities with a mild sense of contempt. His grasp on Chouseki tightened as he anticipated his first real kill.
Unlike what the other expected of him, Naruto was frankly terrified, though his stoic face didn't betray any of the emotions running through his frantic mind. He'd always held the villagers in anger and hatred, but had never though of killing them. Unlike what he acted now, Naruto didn't know everything. He had never experience a kill, never had human blood staining his hands as well as his blade. Naruto's musing was cut short, however, as his indigo eyes caught sight of a rather unusual group. For one thing, this group was considerably better fit and smaller, consisting of two males and a female.
They all sported on similar item in common, a silver hitaite showing the emblem of Kumogakure, the Village Hidden in the Clouds. They looked rather out of place with their grim attitude in contrast with the merriment happening around them. Behind them lay a bundle tied with ropes, but Naruto had a gut feeling that it wasn't just a bundle as he thought. "That's strange," murmured Hinata, her veins returning to their original state, "I may be mistaken, but there is a bound person behind the three shinobi from Kumo, perhaps a female from the looks of it." Now, you could say a lot of things about the Hyuga clan, but the one thing you could never say was that they were mistaken in matters of sight.
Shikamaru's brow furrowed as he glancing questioningly at their jonin sensei, all of them thinking of the same question. Why were Kumo shinobi in a bandit camp way out in Kiba no Kuni with what looked like bound up human captive behind them? This was rather unusual to be a small disturbance in the eyes of Team 11. Genma's eyebrows knit together as he held up his hand, giving the signal that they'd have to wait a bit longer than planned to attack, which was a rather pathetic relief for the genin as they heaved grateful sighs. No matter how competent these genin shinobi were, they were not all that eager to spill human blood with their own two hands. Making rather aggravated shushing noises; Hinata brought her finger to her lips as she activated her Byakugan again, her sharp ears listening on to the conversation between the bandit leader and the leader of the band of Kumo ninja.
"Let's get this straight, ninja shit," retorted the bandit leader as he glared though small sunken black eyes, "Why the hell should I buy anything you sell me?" The leader of the shinobi, a man who looked perhaps 17 or 18 with dark brown hair loosely tied back with a leather string, his black eyes sharp against his pale skin. "Let's get this straight," snarled the leader as he grabbed a fistful of the bandit leader's shirt, "Either you buy the woman and get her to a good place or a hunt you down and tear out your throat." "Calm down Takeshi, it won't do us any good if we kill the wretch," said the man next to him. He was a bit bulkier than Takeshi, his tanned skin nicely complementing his bright red hair and navy eyes. "We must follow the Raikage's orders and just make sure these pigs take Yu..her away," added the woman to his left, her black hair tied back to reveal sharp silver eyes.
Naruto's eyes narrowed as he noticed the slight mistake in the woman's sentence, as if she was about to say their captive's name. Why would they, or rather their Raikage, go to such far actions to make sure their captive was safe, even if she was a slave. They seemed to know her too well for this to be a regular slave trade. Genma noticed Naruto's calculating face and raised an eyebrow, his mind going along the blonde's thoughts. The question hung over the group like a blanket, why were the shinobi going to such lengths to make sure a captive, especially one they were selling, would be safe. A slight growl, like a cat's, jarred everyone out of their thoughts as the captive raised her head slowly, glaring at everyone with yellow feline eyes.
"The Raikage sent you to do this," spat the woman captive, her blonde hair flowing around her face, the firelight from the camps reflecting off her Kumo hitaite on her forehead. This unnerved Team 11 even further. Why would Kumo ninja sell one of their own, even if the Raikage had ordered so? Why wouldn't they just silence her and have her done with? Genma glanced at his team, his brown eyes pointing towards the camp. Silently, the genin agreed as they crept closer, readying themselves for the inevitable ambush. They'd have the Kumo nin to deal with, which would undoubtedly make things harder, but as it seemed they cared nothing for the bandits, Team 11 wouldn't have to deal with them for long.
"Goddamn you all," growled the captive, her lips pulled back to reveal sharp canines, "I should have known that you'd do this." Takeshi knelt down beside her and whispered something inaudible, but Shikamaru guessed it sounded like "I'm sorry," or "It's the Raikage's orders." In response, the woman spat at him, her spittle smearing his rather handsome face. The shinobi wiped it off his face, his face indifferent, but the captive's face grew a bit softer, as if begging him that this wasn't happening.
Shikamaru decided that this was the time to strike and nodded to his sensei, who then shuffled in his pocket, grasping the smoke bombs in the pouch around his waist. "There is no turning back from now on," murmured Genma as he drew them out, spitting his senbon needle onto the ground, about to get serious. "If there is no turning back, the only direction to go is forward," retorted Shikamaru, the brown eyes of the genius glinting with something unrecognizable for a Nara, excitement.
"To become full shinobi, we must prove to ourselves that we can do this," remarked Hinata, charging her chakra, her eyes open to reveal opalescent white surrounded by bulging veins. "To make our mark on history, we must do so by writing in the blood of our enemies," added Naruto, his grip tightening on Chouseki even more, his indigo eyes now a full blood red.
Genma was surprised however, to see tints of green in the ruby pools. The blonde gave a humorless laugh and muttered, "Besides, what else is a ninja good for, especially one like me?" Genma tensed and glanced at his two remaining genin, but found them ignoring the comment, perhaps saving it for later. Smirking slightly, Genma lighted his hand and though the bomb toward the camp.
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As the silence that enveloped the bandit camp grew uncomfortable, no one noticed the slight thud of bombs. Well, Takeshi did but by then it was too late. With a satisfying boom, thick grey smoke enveloped the site, obscuring any type of sight. Yugito gritted her teeth as her teammates went off to examine what was going on. Unfortunately, one of the bandit's had stayed behind, licking his lips as he draw toward her bound up body, perhaps not noticing the immediate danger he was in. Yugito tensed as he touched her chin with filthy, greased-stained hands.
However, he never got to make another movement again as he fell to the dusty ground, the whites of his eyes still posed in the disgusting leer. As her brow furrowed in confusion, she heard a clang as a kunai was dropped in front of her. Raising her feline eyes, she was greeted with the sight of a shinobi. With his blonde hair slightly rusty red, partially from blood and partially from his bloodline, Naruto's gaze held hers with a mixture of emerald green and crimson red. Half integrated with his bloodline, Naruto stared down at the kunoichi before him. He barely hung on to his bloody blade as the bandits around him were cut down before him with his silver chakra, writhing and wanting all the more blood.
"Free yourself, you'll do no one any good bound up like an animal for slaughter," remarked Naruto in a husky voice. Yugito glared at him, but managed to grasp the kunai with her hands and saw at the roped. Turning, Naruto was granted only a slight glimpse of the Kumo shinobi leader, Takeshi was it, when he screamed, "Raiton: Thunder God's Wrath no Jutsu!" The heavens seemed to darken when the crackle of lightning surrounded them, drawing forth the unlimited power of lightning for the Kumo nin. With a flash, it struck his outstretched hand, nearly frying it in the process, but undoubtedly giving the Kumo nin the needed strength.
The smell of ozone filled the demon vessel's nose as he tilted his head in a curious fashion much associated with foxes, his emerald green eyes not once straying from lightning surrounding Takeshi's right arm. With a cry, he charged toward the Konoha ninja, hoping to take him down. He was disappointed as he passed Naruto, thinking that he had killed the genin. He was wrong as the vessel remained standing and excruciating pain enveloped the Kumo nin. Naruto remained emotionless as the effect of his Kekkei Genkai took place.
As Takeshi enjoyed the final moments of his life, Naruto said quietly, "When you passed me, my bloodline causes what you may call my chakra to react, as if it has a mind of its own. It slices though the place where your chakra and your own life force collide, causing your attack the back lash at you. This is the form known as Rift Collision or . I doubt that you will live for more than a minute."
Takeshi said nothing as he cradled his arm, the light draining from his eyes. "Protect her for me…Konoha ninja," he whispered as he fell to the ground. As Yugito ran over to him, finally free, Naruto stood there, his eyes closed and his form forever stained with the blood of this man. He was a shinobi now, and nothing would change this.
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Hinata's eyes narrowed as he continually exchanged blows with the bulky man from Kumo, whose name she'd found was Kenji. Kenji seemed to specialize in taijutsu and was possibly the worst person to go against Hinata, who was well armed with her regular Jyuken as well as her Byakugan. While Hinata had been mostly relaying on her family's traditional style, which she had not stopped training in despite what Tomoe had told her, Kenji must have decided that enough was enough as he suddenly make handsigns, muttering the words, "Raiton: Lightning Blades."
Hinata tensed, getting ready to finally use her Buraindo Hito no Emono in the heat of battle. Positioning her self in the stance needed, which was basically with one fist raised level with her eyes and the other clenched at her waist and her feet planted firmly on the ground. Closing her eyes, Hinata focused on her senses, which were even more heightened with her Raiton element added in. Kenji scowled as he saw the clam face of the Hyuga and drew forth more chakra than intended in his rage. With a yell, he swung his arm in the direction of the Hyuga, releasing a crackling blade or electric chakra. Hinata's eyebrows drew together as she sensed the energy from the blade educing into the ground, effectively telling her where to dodge.
As Kenji kept firing, Hinata kept dodging, never once opening her eyes. With a growl, the Kumo nin made handsigns and yelled his final attack, "Raiton: Lightning Storm no Jutsu. With a crack of thunder, Kenji was awarded lightning as he charged his entire body with the ionized lightning. Hinata's eyes snapped open to see the charged up Kenji racing toward her.
Instinctively, Hinata starting slashing around her using her Raiton chakra, the blue light making a dome around her. As she started going faster and faster, the dome solidified and as Kenji attacked the barrier and was thrown back, Hinata guessed that the barrier effectively stole chakra when it was touched, which was courtesy of her Raiton element, as well as protected her by tossing of the attacker with the high speed of her slashes.
Hinata smirked as she whispered the new name of her first created jutsu. " Defensive Two Trigram: Shield" as she walked away from the smoking corpse of her opponent.
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Shikamaru frowned as he found himself stuck with the girl of the team. A girl, a fucking girl, this was officially the worst day of his poor short life. While Genma, Naruto, and even Hinata were out there kicking but he had to be dodging kunai and suriken as the Kumo kunoichi kept at it. It wouldn't have been as bad if she'd had some variation with the said kunai and suriken instead of hurling on after another at his face, hoping to hit him with sheer dumb luck.
Not that he disrespected kunoichi, after all he had Hinata on his team as well as several kunoichi for his mentors, but he found this one dull and rather…boring. After several minutes of dodging sharp pointy metal projectiles, Shikamaru's ears twitched slightly at the sound of handsigns. His eyes narrowed, he could see the kunoichi making handsigns, even in the dense smoke of the bomb.
His eyes closed, Shikamaru also started to make the handsigns of the new jutsu he'd been taught by Subaru and Genma, thinking back to he time he'd started straying from his families regular techniques.
-Flashback-
Shikamaru had his eyes open and alert, watching closely at his opponent from the shadows of the willow tree in the Uzumaki courtyard as he prepared the signs for his signature technique. "Kagemane no Jutsu," whispered the pineapple-haired Nara as he released his shadow in a long straight line and it connected with the shadow of his sensei. "Kagemane success," whispered Shikamaru in a smug voice as he prepared for the next phase of his attack. Unfortunately, this never came to occur as he was suddenly kicked in the back by Subaru, who in tern made the shadow-user lose concentration and release Genma from his jutsu.
As Shikamaru lay on the ground groaning, Genma laughed and remarked, "See Shikamaru, you can't always depend on just your family techniques to get you through your missions. Kagemane no Jutsu is an excellent technique for one on one battles, but if your outnumbered, you'll be over powered for sure with the use of that one technique, even if Naruto and Hinata are there to help you." Shikamaru glared at Subaru, who raised an eyebrow and helped the brown-haired Nara up. As he rubbed the soreness of his back, the scarred kunoichi handed him what looked like an ordinary piece of paper.
Shikamaru lifted an eyebrow in mock amazement, to which Subaru scowled and pinched him, and took the piece of paper. "Now, charge your chakra into the paper," instructed the senbon-chewing genin as he watched the Nara and Subaru glare and each other. Grumbling about troublesome women, Shikamaru did so and everyone was surprised to see the paper get soggy with water, drooping in the shadow-user's fingers.
"Well, this is unexpected," muttered Genma staring at the wet piece of paper, "Nara have always had earth or wind chakra, I've never seen one use water chakra before." "Well there's a first for everything," retorted Subaru, turning back to the indifferent genin, "Listen, you will now be meeting me by the stream everyday at 7:00, got that?"
Shikamaru groaned, but inwardly was quite interested in his abilities. This was surely going to drive his mother insane. And he rather liked that.
-End Flashback-
"Dear Kami, I hope this works," though Shikamaru as he finally finished the handsigns just as the Kumo kunoichi did and muttered, "Suiton: Teppodama no Jutsu!" Opening his mouth, Shikamaru mentally thanked Subaru for training his gag reflex as he spat out a gunshot of water at the kunoichi. Fortunately, she'd just finished the jutsu and the water on her electro-charged body wasn't exactly the best thing for her.
"Raiton: Rairyu Endan no Jutsu!" she yelled, spitting out a shot of lightning as she got shocked in the process, throwing off her aim. Shikamaru dodged the sloppy attack easily and watched as the smoking corpse of the once fairly attractive kunoichi fell to the ground.
"Well, that went well," murmured Shikamaru as he toed the dead body gently. Pity, she'd been a decent fighter too.
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-After the battle, in a village several miles away-
Though they hadn't much to give, the villagers, or at least what was left of them, were grateful and gave them food and shelter as they went off to repair their damaged village. Even if it was a simple dish, Naruto felt it was the best he'd ever tasted. This was a gift of appreciation, someone saying that they weren't resenting him for living.
It was quite a different feeling for the blonde Jinchuuriki. Genma munched on the rice, sparing occasional glances at their blonde captive. Naruto had insisted they bring the blonde girl who'd been captured by her Kumo teammates. So far, she'd been quiet, not resisting, but Genma could see the conflicting emotions in the kunoichi's eyes. Something had happened and Genma was determined to find out what. Thoughtfully, Genma studied the girl.
She looked perhaps 15 or 16, about a year or two older than his genin. She was pretty, but wasn't exactly a beauty with long blonde hair and feline slitted eyes. Finishing his meal, Genma pointed his chopsticks to the blonde kunoichi, who hadn't touched her own food, and asked, "Miss, we might not get food for a long time, you'd better eat while you still can." When the girl didn't answer, Genma than retorted with, "Well, if you won't eat, at least tell us your situation. For all we know, you could be a nuke-nin and we would be forced to kill you."
The blonde then glared bloody murder at the fair-haired jonin and replied in a low husky voice, "My name is Nii Yugito, I am a chunnin of Kumo, or at least I was. My father is Minamoto Enishi, the current Raikage. I was sent with my teammates to exterminate some Iwa ninja that were spying on us. When the job was done, I was suddenly attacked and captured by my said teammates on orders of my father."
Shikamaru and Hinata looked shocked, as did Genma. The Yondaime Raikage was a rather peaceful, good-natured man, a vast contrast to his predecessor. It was rather hard to believe that he'd order his own daughter to be sold to traders. Naruto however was glaring at Yugito with narrowed eyes, having a silent mental conversation with his father.
"Otou-san, this girl, she has the stench of cat, it stings my nose." "Well, neko never did get along with us kitsune. Though from what she's told us, I think it's safe to say she's a Jinchuuriki, most likely Nekotama no Nibi." "So, like me?" "Yeah, except I'm pretty sure she's not related to her container like I am to you.""Well, we are pretty special that way" "Just go back to your team, gaki. They're starting to look at you weird." "Whatever."
"Um Naruto, why are you glaring at Yugito-san as if you can burst her into flames," questioned Hinata innocently as the entire team 11 as well as the female Kumo kunoichi stared at the still glaring blonde. Breaking out of his little mind talk, Naruto ignored Hinata's sarcastic, or at least in his mind, statement and asked Yugito immediately, "Yugito-san, if it's not too troublesome to ask, when were you born?" Team 11 looked at each other in confusion. Sure Naruto wasn't the brightest bulb in the socket, the Academy had shown that, but this was still a pretty odd question to ask. Yugito, however, got the message immediately and stiffened, but answered, "I was born on December 7th, 15 years ago."
"The day Nekotama no Nibi attacked Kumogakure and was sealed away by the Sandaime Raikage, Myojin Kenji," finished Naruto, his eyes still glaring into hers. Genma's eyes widened as the pieces fit together in his mind while Shikamaru and Hinata still looked confused. Granted, if Shikamaru had known the existence of Jinchuuriki, he'd have figured this out by now, as probably Hinata would have. Sadly, they hadn't met a known Jinchuuriki yet. coughGaaracough.
"Wait, but what does the attack of the Nekotama have to do with Yugito-san?" asked Hinata hesitantly, back to playing with her two fingers. Whapping away the offending fingers, Naruto sighed and replied, "Tell me you two, what do you know of Jinchuuriki." Hinata raised an eyebrow while Shikamaru replied, "It translates to human sacrifice." "Correct," said Genma, taking over, "A Jinchuuriki is a human who has something sealed inside them when they are born with special seals. In this case, we talk of the Tailed beasts." "So," finished Shikamaru, "You're saying that Yugito-san is a Jinchuuriki and the Nekotama is sealed within her."
Hinata stifled a small squeak while Yugito looked guilty. "Yes Shikamaru, most of the times Jinchuuriki have youkai sealed inside them to either make them into some kind of ultimate weapon or to get rid of the danger that these youkai possess to humans."
"So both Naruto and Yugito-san were used to protect the village the tailed beasts attack and what you're wondering is why Yugito's father would sell her away when she was such a valuable asset to Kumogakure," said Shikamaru, his low voice now again gaining its lazy tone.
When Team 11 as well as Yugito stared at the Nara in disbelief, he stared back and replied, "What?"
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VampBlood: I'm done! I had major writer's block, but I did it! I'm so happy I could cry! It may be a little sucky for my tastes, but it's done!! Yugito does actually become a pairing for someone in Konoha so I need some people to give me ideas for who. She's only a year older than rookie nine, so she could be with them as well! Ja ne! R&R!