Chapter 7: A Promising Start of Friendship for Rivals!

~Digimon/Ninja!~

A year later…

It had been a full year since Davis left his village for another. As he blossomed, his friends in Konoha withered. As he found friends who loved him and not afraid to express it, his old friends only realized his important part in their lives too late and suffered the regret.

Tsunade saw the pain the kids went through, even felt a little piece broken off her heart after missing the tyke. This had to be fixed. Then an idea lit up. Masao and Minato were best friends, despite the bad blood between their villages. Minato didn't saw Demiyah as a monster like their villages did. The friendship was strong. Still strong that Masao watched over Minato's son…

Tsunade stopped drinking her sake when she realized something.

The pair of men had planned to heal the rivalry. They wanted to bring their villages together, hoping to put in action when Minato was hokage but the nine-tailed demon attack happened…

Amber eyes narrowed. It had to work.

After a long 'discussion', the elders eventually gave permission, but only because of the jealousy when they heard of Davis quick procession to a talented ninja under Corazon's teachings and wanted him back as another thing to brag about, although it was their fault for ignoring him.

Tsuande assigned Kakashi, Might Guy, Chikara, and Iruka to watch the young ninjas of Konoha when they met their rivals.

About selecting a group of young ninjas to test healing, it didn't need a competition. The Konoha and DD tried to stay stoic when Tsunade told them they could see Davis, as rules stated ninjas cannot show no emotion. But inside, they were cheering and squealing with delight!

Naruto wasn't shy about his reaction.

"DAVIS, HERE WE COME!"

Pretty soon, the young ninjas arrived at ruins of an ancient temple in middle of the way to Corazon. There was something strange about the ruins that Kari couldn't explain as she and the group walked through whistling sand. She felt as if the wind was speaking in some way…

"CHIKARA!"

The kids jumped at the booming shout, one that rivalled Naruto or any adult. Chikara groaned, muttering "Here we go," as he approached the leaping father-in-law of the Shinkage waiting for them in the centre of the ruins. Daichi was accompanied by two others; Shi Man and Yun Himamori, leader of Team Yun and Annalise's aunt.

"Might guy!" Shi Man jumped forward, dramatically posing in a kung fu stance as he flew in mid-air.

"Shi Man!" Might Guy immediately spring forward, battle-crying as he soared.

The two men landed in front of each other, face straight up and in close, their eyes locked and filled with fire. The Konoha gang and DD were surprised. Shi Man was a Chinese-looking Might Guy!

"Hello, Iruka…" Yun purred, flirty lashes over her light-auburn eyes the same as her niece, and her pink-lipsticked lips puckered. Unlike her tomboyish niece, Yun was very fashionable and sophisticated. Her hair was similar to Mimi's but more urbane. It was peach-coloured, glossy and wavy, bouncing on her shoulders in a classy bob and decorated with a blooming white/purple lotus in her locks. Her outfit was elegant and sexy, with a long sleeveless violet coat over a steel-blue long-sleeved shirt that clung to her body tightly with a right-off-the-shoulders neckline, tucked neatly into a hip-hugging grey skirt that fell just above her knees. Underneath her skirt, she had mesh tights, along with silver heels and a violet belt with a matching purse on the left around her waist.

A red-faced Iruka was torn between blushing and staying professional, losing control of his cool. The kids also gazed perplexed at that. This rivalry was interesting…

"Where's the boy?" Chikara requested like he was asking for a tool.

"Boy?" Daichi stopped his jumping to frown at Chikara.

"The boy. The jinchūriki of the thirtheen-winged dragon demon."

In a second, the shinkage's father-in-law was straight in in his face.

"He has a name, Hida. Daisuke! Davis for short." Daichi quickly added Davis's well-known nickname. "He's an innocent human child containing a powerful demon inside of him." He pulled away from his rival and crossed his arms over his chest, grinning with pride. "He's following his wonderful aunt just fine."

"We heard." Chikara bluntly stated.

Shi Man broke the close contact to gaze at Lee, noticing the great similarities between student and teacher. He moved away towards Lee, getting a closer look.

"Guy, you old swagger!" He exclaimed. "You have a son to carry on your weak legacy!"

Lee blinked. "Huh?"

Might Guy jumped to Shi Man's side, glowering. "Lee is my youthful, amazingly dedicated protégé, not my child, you imbecile! I have a team who will carry on my GREAT legacy!"

"So you have no scion to carry you on!"

"My kids, related or not, are as close as family can be and all together as three, their combined strength and youthfulness is beyond limitation!"

"At least I have my own flesh and blood! I have a child whose single punch can send you to the tops of the mountain in the Earth Country!"

The young ninjas of Konoha watched the two flashy men yelled at each other, taken aback by the quick and hostile fighting between the groups.

"Is it always like this?" Tenten asked.

Kakashi sighed while read his Icha Icha Paradise. "Yep. But this is just a bit of the fight."

"A bit?"

"It gets worse, so don't push it."

"How can it get worse?" Shikamaru questioned. "All they do is argue."

At once, silence fell, heads of the older ninjas turned to the kids. Daichi, Yun and Shi Man were shocked. Chikara, Iruka and Might Guy were pale that their big secret got out.

"I told you not to push it." Kakashi said, keeping his cool and kept reading.

Daichi exploded on the spot. "YOU NEVER TOLD THEM ABOUT US!?"

Chikara groaned as he rubbed his sore temples, his head was throbbing.

"I'm insulted!" Shi Man wailed.

"Don't lose your cool over nothing, Man." Yun coolly said, smirking as she came towards Iruka. "It's typical Konoha behaviour. The kids could be fickle when it comes to admiration."

"Your point, Yun?" Iruka asked, trying to look uninterested.

"Take a wild guess, Umino…" She purred his surname in his ear so it sent humming in his mind, causing him to lose his stoic face to madly blushing and muttering in frustration.

"Are you suggesting…jealousy?" Chikara demanded.

Daichi jumped to the chance to answer. "Hell yes! You wanted your own jinchūriki after Demiyah made herself famous!" Naruto's big blue eyes went bigger when Daichi revealed important information that Chikara tried to keep quiet. "We tried to warn ya about the consequences but nooo, not surprisingly you ignored us and in the end, you have to go through the burning of your village and 12 years of beating up its host! You know nothing of true strength! Heck! You don't even know why you have a demon attack in the first place!"

"Grandpa!" A shout made Daichi stop his ranting. Jaws of every Konoha ninja dropped at the beautiful Kokoro coming towards them. She stood exactly in the middle of the two grandfathers. "Please, we are to make peace, not war." She turned to Chikara and bowed. "I'm sorry for my grandfather's outburst."

Chikara stayed stoic to the young girl, but underneath he was smiling at how polite and honourable she was.

Daichi grumbled under his breath. "Hida, meet my granddaughter, Kokoro Hamada."

All eyes of the Konoha popped out! Granddaughter!

"You should listen to your granddaughter. She takes after her mother, thanks goodness." Chikara told Daichi.

"She's wonderful, I know." Daichi growled at him. "Kokoro dear, where's Davis?"

Kokoro went silent and looked down. "I'll go find him."

All eyes watched her retreating back as she went off into the fallen temple.

Chikara broke his eyes first. "What's with him?"

The Corazon's ninjas suddenly went quiet. Shi Man and Yun darted their eyes to each other in uncertainty, earning curiosity from the Konoha gang.

Daichi stumbled with his words. "He's, uh…he's…in a sensitive spot."

"Does this have anything to with Ken Ichijouji?" Kakashi asked.

"Who's Ken Ichijouji?" Tai asked.

"Simply put, he's Sasuke Uchiha's cousin and he's following his footsteps." Yun causally confirmed, although she casted her long eyelashes down. Shi Man slumped his shoulders in response.

Daichi released a heavy sigh. "I'm afraid so. Ken had betrayed his village to go after his brother. Davis was the only one who didn't believe Ken would be like Sasuke."

"But it did happen."

"Thank you for pointing out the obvious, Hida!"

Chikara's sigh was more of a growl. This was gonna be a long day!

Kororo ran pass the torn down pillars and cracked walls in search of her crush, who was hurt after their teammate's betrayal. She never saw it coming ever since Davis came into their lives and inspired the idea of following your own destiny instead of someone else's to Ken. But just a few weeks ago, Ken started acting…strange. He was always shy but he was starting completely cold and stoic. Then one night, Davis followed him to outside the guarded village, where he planned to leave the village and kill his brother! Davis tried to talk him out of it, reminded him that he has friends and can make his own destiny. Ken retorted that he was making his own destiny, but Davis didn't like it. Eventually, a fight broke out. The next morning, Demiyah found her nephew lying unconscious on the dusty ground, hurt, bruised and left with a bad wound caused by a stab from a dagger.

He mentioned he now knew how Sakura felt when Sasuke left her unconscious on a bench, only worse.

Corazon was beyond FURIOUS. They had a perfect record. Masao only left for Konoha for a woman. Now they have a missing-nin! Some were even saying taking Davis in was a mistake if he was shaming Corazon like his father. His friends and family stood by him and defended him against these accusations. But he had been depressed since Ken betrayed him, leaving a scar behind. The guy who was his brother almost killed him for revenge.

Kokoro stopped her running and looked up as she found a body on a ledge, curled into a ball. She chakra-walked up the wall, sitting beside the ball figure, and very gently slipped her hands in under the arms wrapped around the knees, taking Davis's face and pulling his face to light.

She didn't like the hurt and depression in his expression. "Davis…It hurts when you lost someone you cared about. But you have a family. People who love you." Davis shifted his eyes to another direction, not believing her. From his experience in Konoha, no one showed any love. Jun was too busy taking care of the family when their father neglected them. His eyes turned back to Kokoro when she engulfed him in a warm, loving hug. "Please know I'll always be there for you."

Stunned at first, he softened and hugged her back, silently thanking her for her help.

Davis and Kokoro headed back to the others, Davis dragging Kokoro by the hand, the pair of them laughing all the way.

"Come on, Ko!" Davis was bursting with excitement on meeting his old friends again. He let go of her hand to open his arms when they arrived at the group. "Hey, guys!"

Naruto grinned and stepped forward to give him a hug, but Akamaru beat him to it, jumping onto Davis, pinning him down and licking his face like mad, making Davis laugh underneath him.

"It's good to see you again, boy!"

Kokoro giggled. "He missed you."

"DAVIS!"

In a flash, Naruto pulled Akamaru off and swept Davis up, and pulled into a bone-crushing hug! The Konoha gang and DD gathered around, wanting to see him up close but also trying to not lose control of their feelings.

"Look at you, kid!" Naruto praised.

Once Naruto placed Davis down, Tai's hands attacked the dragon boy's head, ruffling his hair.

Cody dared himself to touch Davis's bicep. "Have you been training?"

"Yes, see how Corazon takes care of their ninjas, ignoring their pride!" Daichi stated, smirking at his rival.

"Daichi…" Chikara growled.

Davis beamed at his friends surrounding him. "It great seeing you guys again!" He broke out of the circle and stood beside Kokoro, wrapping an arm around her. "This is my teammate and close friend, Kokoro Hamada."

"We already met." Tai smiled. He was glad Davis had friends in Corazon.

Hinata noticed that the blonde princess was blushing rosily with the closeness between her and Davis, and her oceanic eyes were looking at him too with a dreamy gaze. She recognized it as the way she looks at Naruto…

"C'mon!" Davis waved his arm. "You gotta meet the others!"

He led his old friends to a different side of the ruins, still having Kokoro under his arm. The both of them smile brightly during the short walk. Kari watched them laugh over private things. She also noticed that Kokoro was very beautiful, with golden curls shining like real gold and a sweet smile. Her clothes made her look stunning! And she was the daughter of the leader of her village! She was perfect! After realizing that, Kari creased her face into a scowl.

"HIYA!"

Suddenly, Marcus was thrown to a wall just as they showed up, surprising the Konoha gang and DD, but not Davis and Kokoro.

"Hi Davis...hello Princess…." Marcus groaned as he slid down the wall, leaving a hole behind.

Davis grinned down at him. "Fighting Anna again?"

"Uh huh…"

"Davis, you do know we don't know who you befriended in Corazon." Matt reminded.

"Like, who's Anna?" Tai asked. He followed to where Davis pointed and his jaw immediately dropped the second he saw a girl whose beauty took his breath away! Her hair caught his attention first, waist-length black hair in a sleek ponytail with a light short fringe with two long hair-pieces down her fair face, and framed her light-auburn eyes that burned with energy. Her clothes were relaxed and sporty with a hint of feminine touch, and really brought out her athletic slenderness.

She was hopping, bursting with victorious energy. Her fair face broke into a big smile. "Hey Davis! Are those're your friends from Konoha?"

Izzy's eyes popped out once he noticed another girl coming towards them, coming beside the athletic babe. Her eyes were the most striking, intelligent dark-green, sharp with long lashes behind glasses, studying him and his friends carefully.

"Yep." Davis grinned. He turned to the Konoha gang and DD. "Guys, meet Annalise Himura and Anya Suzuki."

"Hi!" Annalise leapt at Tai, shaking his hand. "Tai! Davis told me so much about you."

Tai nervously grinned. "Really?"

Anya took Izzy hand. "Koushiro Izumi, pleasure to meet you personally. I hope you are truly as intelligent as Davis said."

Izzy gave an unintelligent "Uh…" in response.

"It's like they never saw a girl before." Mimi hissed to Sora, who nodded in agreement.

"Not a pretty one." Shikamaru whispered to the boys (the older boys minus Tai and Izzy). The boys snickered, agreeing with him.

Unfortunately the girls of Konoha heard him. The girls glowered and beat the poor lives out of the boys.

"Hi guys." Jun appeared in between Annalise and Anya, wrapping an arm around each.

Sakura and Ino stopped their punching and stared in utter shock at their former friend. The boys dropped their jaws at what they saw.

"JUN?!"

Jun's appearance had changed over a year! Her magenta hair was straight with a thick texture, spikey layers framing her light-skinned face and falling down to between her chin and neck. She had her Corazon headband on her head as a hairband, replacing her Konoha one which she wore around her waist as a belt. She wore funky, colourful clothes that suited her spunky personality and showed her hidden curvy body. She was wearing a red/yellow-striped shirt with long loose sleeves with yellow cuffs, a yellow leather vest cropped and tightly snugged on her chest, green cargo-pants cuffed above her ankles, red flats with straps crisscrossing up her legs and over her pants, a sparkly orange tiger-lily-like hairpin with purple gems, and white oval-hoop earrings.

"Jun…" Matt approached her. His icy eyes expressed disbelief. "Wow…"

Jun cocked an eyebrow at him, suspicious. He never flirted with her until now. He never even paid any attention to her. Besides, she only had a crush on him in hopes of becoming a fangirl can help her reunite with her old friends.

"Yeah, Matt?" She asked, keeping her cool while he was acting shy and nervous.

"Jun, you're…" Matt couldn't keep his cool act together. She was gorgeous! A year ago, she was a fangirl he wanted nothing to do with. Or was it that his father told him to ignore the Motomiyas? "You're a real looker."

Jun widened her eyes, surprised by the confession. However, Sora was looking hurt.

But then a boy from Corazon cut between Jun and Matt, green eyes blazing with jealous fires, glaring at Matt which scared him.

"Do not call her a LOOKER!" He growled. Another boy was a little taller and looked just like him grabbed his collar and dragged him away.

Jun rolled her eyes. "Matt, meet Senri Suto and his older brother, Shuu."

Matt nervously smiled, though grimaced as Senri was running on the spot in Shuu's grasp, trying to get at him.

"You changed a lot since you left." Joe commented, fixing his glasses.

"Yeah!" Annalise came beside Jun and playfully elbowed her. "Jun's learning under my mom as a medical-nin and she's a great ninja at the same time."

Jun blushed and giggled. "Stop it, Anna!"

"It's true." Anya said. "You're almost at the same as Anika and the fifth Hokage."

Sakura was surprised by that yet she sort of believed it.

"Look who's talking!" Jun protested teasingly. "You're a computer genius and Annalise is an mega-athlete!"

Sakura and Ino growled, burning up in a fire of jealousy. Jun was happy in Team Yun and so close with her teammates!

"Come on, I wanna you to meet the others!" Davis ran, his friends from both sides following him deeper into the ruins. Finally they met the rest of the Corazon group.

Relena was there with Kristy and Keenan as their third teammate, perfectly healthy and standing on her two legs like a normal person. She was as pretty and delicate as a porcelain doll. She had light-blonde hair in voluminous waves with a fuchsia hairband, amethyst eyes with thick black lashes, pale skin and dressed in a white pinafore over a light-blue short Kimono, along with white wraps around her legs as a fashion choice, blue ninja sandals and a white necklace with a small red pendant.

There was also someone else Konoha knew…

"Fish thief!" Lee yelled, pointing at Sanura and Mana.

Akamaru leapt forward, growling threatening at the catty duo. The cat hissed back.

"Easy boy!" Davis hugged the huge dog. Akamaru rumbled in his arms. The dog calmed down and Davis looked up at his old friends. "She only stole fish because she and her cat was homeless and had to survive!"

Naruto blinked. "Really?"

"Yeah!"

The girls of Corazon smiled adoringly at Davis. The kids of Konoha raised their brows at the affectionate sight.

Ino took a closer look at the opposite side and got a shock. There a young girl who looked almost exactly like her! The Ino lookalike saw her and gasped, also shocked. A big smile grew on the young girl's face.

"Hi, cuz!" Miyuki jumped and landed in front of Ino, bursting with excitement. "I'm Miyuki of the Takamatsu clan!"

After a second, Ino fondly smiled, finding Miyuki so adorable. "I'm Ino of the Yamanaka clan. Nice to meet you."

The blonde cousins took hands, smiling gleefully.

"Two Inos. How troublesome." Shikamaru sighed.

"Two Miyukis are just as worse." Kamenosuke moaned. The male cousins stared at the other as the blondes screamed at them.

"WHAT WAS THAT?!"

Kamenosuke was unfazed. "This is a waste of time."

"No kidding." Shikamaru agreed.

Davis stepped forward. "Guys, we're all here to be friends. Can we do that?"

The two sides agreed to his pleading. Konoha and Corazon begun to mingle, starting with Davis leading Cody over to Lori.

"Last time I heard, Cody, you were doing archery. Lori is a master in archery and can give you some pointers, won't ya Lor?" He flashed a grin at Lori and she nodded.

Once he saw Lori, Cody suddenly expanded his eyes' size and froze. Lori was curious on his behaviour.

"I guess Lori is more serious and kinda oblivious to romance than Cody." Davis mused, watching the scene. He scanned around him, watching his friends from his past interacting with his friends of his new life. "I hope everyone will get along…"

"They will." Kokoro assured, looping her arms around one of his'. "And finally our villages can live together in peace." She squeezed his arm. "You're their bond."

Davis turned and smiled warmly, making her smile back. Kari groaned, beyond jealous. TK cringed at how mad Kari was getting.