Disclaimer: Anyone stupid enough to claim Naruto as their own other than the actual author needs to be shot. I am not Kishimoto,
therefore-blah, blah, blah.
Sakura Haruno felt very strange about the looks she was getting from Naruto. They had only just left the village. Did he think the same rules of etiquette did not apply once the walls were no longer around them? If he did, he had another thing or two coming. She looked in his eyes, expecting to find lust or adoration. She was a little frightened when neither were present.
Naruto, who never worried, was afraid of something. That much she learned before he looked away, ashamed of himself. "Naruto?" she asked immediately thereafter, hoping for some sort of explanation for his behavior.
"Yeah, Sakura-chan?" he asked, his voice tired. The sun bounced off his tousled hair that looked ragged with tossing and turning. It almost reminded her of a dead bush in contrast to the vibrant countryside.
Why the hell did he ask for a more difficult mission in his state? He looks like he didn't sleep at all! The inner Sakura ranted, but the outer mask smiled sweetly. "Are you feeling okay?"
The addressed ninja blinked wearily, then nodded slowly. Sasuke made a sound of disbelief from the other side of him, but the orange-clad Uzumaki promptly ignored it.
"Then don't stare!" Sakura scolded, landing a blow on the sensitive spot of her teammate's head.
Naruto's eyes briefly flashed with resentment, but he refrained from looking at her for the next eight miles or so. In fact, he seemed absorbed with the dirt ahead of him. On a day as nice as the one that graced them, the girl couldn't help but feel that was a waste.
Naruto, meanwhile, was very busy thinking of a way not to die in the next the next ten minutes. Somehow, he had to find a way to prepare himself for any variation of attack that could possibly happen. The chuunin were very likely to target Sakura again, but some evil part of the blonde boy's brain hoped they'd choose Sasuke this time around. Guilt followed that wish, though, so Naruto made short work of it.
The infamous puddle showed up far too soon for the Uzumaki's liking. Truth be told, it marred an otherwise perfect landscape, and could be resented for that alone.
At that exact moment, an idea struck the boy like a ton of bricks. "I need a WALKING stick!" Naruto announced, gesturing wildly at the forest.
Kakashi did a double-take at the sudden outburst while Sakura flinched. "Excuse me?" he asked, eyebrows furrowed.
"The hell, Dobe?" Sasuke wanted to know what exactly had just happened in his rival's head. His shout was too random to even be typical of Naruto's personality.
Naruto didn't reply. He just dashed off the path and grabbed a long stick. He returned instantaneously and waved it in front of Sasuke like a dog treat. The Uchiha then whipped a hand out in an attempt to break it and missed, which caused Naruto to goad him even more. After about three tries, Sasuke gave up and pretended he didn't care.
The teacher groaned at this typical and troublesome behavior. It wasn't worth the energy those two wasted.
The quintet walked past the seemingly innocent puddle of death yet again, and once more Sakura screamed while the jonin faked his death in a convincing and gory fashion. Even Naruto found it disturbing as to how well Kakashi executed the illusion. From the blood, guts, and all the way to the internal organs, everything was very impressive. Naruto never wanted to see it again, let alone learn how to pull it off.
The chained claw chose Sakura as its victim yet again. Naruto grimaced and hoped he'd get the timing right when he thrust the stick through a chain link and pulled the weapon backward. Unfortunately for him, the stick wasn't heavy enough to reel the heavy claw back entirely. The piece of timber snapped before he could gain complete control of the weapon, leaving him vulnerable to other attacks from the enemy.
Having a toxin-coated kunai thrust into the side of your neck was not one of the most pleasant experiences on earth, Naruto quickly learned. Especially, he amended, when it was followed by another. The fact that he had saved Sakura's life was the about the only thing that kept him from weeping bitterly inside at his new defeat. That, and he learned an important lesson about gravity and momentum. They caused things to break when one object was heavier than the other. Next time, he would get a metal staff before leaving Konoha.
If there IS a next time, he corrected himself bitterly from his new cradled position in Sakura's arms. More than a little guilt consumed him when he felt her sobs. He knew from the sounds around her that the Chuunins were once again getting their hearts ripped out by an enraged Kakashi, and that Sasuke might have been helping, but all the same…
"Naruto, I can't-…sob-Don't go! I'm so sorry! Y-you still have to be Hokage, remember?!" she struggled to speak through her tears. She was once again rubbing her hands in soothing circles on his skin, but he could feel her fingers were slick with his own red blood.
It sucked that she wouldn't remember what he did for her if his hunch was correct. He was probably going to wake up in his own bed again.
"Sa…ku…ra…d-" he began to say (his intent being to say 'don't worry, it'll be okay'), but found his heart stopped inconveniently at that exact moment. It would figure that being stabbed twice in the jugular artery killed a twelve-year-old body faster than a claw wound to the back. Then
again, it would also figure that once you were killed you would stay dead. Logic was such a fickle mistress as of late.
For what now seemed the umpteenth time, Naruto's world of perception went black, and was soon replaced by the sensation of falling.
Naruto woke up screaming in his bed, but didn't panic like he had in the past. The sensation of dying was unpleasant, to be sure, but it always ended quickly thus far. He had again ended up in his room, tired and disoriented.
Everything was as he remembered it to be. Even the magazines he had been looking at several days ago were open to the page he had been skimming. Reassured by familiarity, the shinobi's bare feet touched down on the wooden floorboards.
After getting dressed, Naruto's brain immediately went to work on the plan for the day.
I need a metal pole of some sort… Where can I get that? His brain went as far as Asking Iruka for one and stopped. Why would Iruka have a pole? Granted, he had a lot of other useful items, but a freaking metal beam?
He thought again while brushing his teeth. Maybe he could break a table for a leg of some sort? But that wouldn't be strong enough, idiot! These are heavy chains we're dealing with. Maybe you should just try a different plan altogether…His face scrunched up with displeasure at his own logic. Bah! Who am I kidding?! I want to use a polearm!
After some deliberation, the Uzumaki youth decided to use what remained of his monthly stipend to buy an actual Bo staff at the weapon shop. The owner was a little reluctant to let the hyperactive blonde have it(for obvious reasons; most involving the boy's own safety), but gave in after about ten minutes of begging.
Grinning victoriously after walking off with his prize, Naruto studied the weapon he'd obtained. It had been a cheaper model, but it seemed sturdy enough. It was made of some sort of iron encased over the wood of a spindle tree. There were several simple designs carved in the bronze-toned metal, but nothing especially eye-catching.
He tried whacking it against a boulder with all his might, but it didn't so much as scratch. It took some amount of self-restraint not to kiss his new staff for being so incredibly useful.
When he met up with his team, none of them seemed too entirely surprised to see him playing with a gilded stick. It did cross their minds to wonder where and when he got it, though. Sakura had actually thought to ask, and was mildly amused by Naruto's simplistic reply:
"Oh, yeah! I bought it this morning at the weapon shop because it sounded like fun, dattebaiyo!"
Pleading for the C-ranked mission didn't take as much time as it had on the last few occasions, and the next thing Naruto knew, he was on the hazardous path again. To amuse himself, he had taken to throwing his staff and catching it, despite Kakashi's subtle warnings that he would miss sooner or later. To be honest, he ended up 'missing' several times just so it would prompt Saske to be bumped with the airborne object.
The third time he tossed the stick and let it fly, the sensei caught it and bashed him on the head.
"Cut it out." Kakashi ordered, unshaken but still unmistakably annoyed. Naruto hung his head submissively and grabbed his toy yet again. This time he kept it to himself(mostly).
When the accursed puddle made its debut, Naruto was feeling pretty high on himself. The new staff was reassuring in his hands while the group walked past the unexplained spot of water.
The next thirty seconds went by as planned. Kakashi faked his death in order to shake off the enemy, Sasuke ran to defend the builder, and Sakura screamed a lot.
When the claw went for the pink-haired girl yet again, Naruto was ready. With a burst of speed, he thrust his staff against the extending chain, pushing it off-course. While that was happening, he made sure to move his neck out of the path of two deadly knives. They landed in a tree's trunk with a 'thunk'.
The smaller demon brother charged the twelve-year-old boy, the chain that connected the two straining. The enemy was quick, but somehow Sakura found the time to scream before Naruto jumped over his attacker.
In a quick and calculated movement, the blonde threw himself onto the chain between the two chuunin. While he was still a child, the velocity of his movement added to his impacting weight. With the chain jerked downwards, the two mist shinobi were in trouble. Their mobility was halted, and the shorter of the two Mist ninja felt an impact on the back of his skull that forced him to black out.
Naruto knew he had left his back vulnerable. In fact, he had done it on purpose when he struck the short assailant in the back of his noggin with his new toy. Why? Well, he had a perfectly capable team, didn't he?
Surely enough, Kakashi's hand closed around the taller Demon brother before he could fling any sort of attack at the jonin's student. With a loud snap, the gray-haired man broke his enemy's wrist and pinned him against a tree. "Any particular reason you thought the disguise of a puddle in a dry month was a good idea?" he asked with a hint of amusement.
"That was stupid of me, I'll admit." the older demon brother spat, a venomous glare betraying his mental instability to the world. With that, he bit down on his lips under the scrutinizing gaze belonging to one of Konoha's finest.
"So, care to tell us what you're after, Demon Brothers?" Kakashi asked absently, proving that he knew his adversary well.
"You're Hatake Kakashi, aren't you? The 'Man of a Thousand Jutsu"!" the self-proclaimed demon shrieked at him. "How were we supposed to know that the old man would have YOU protecting him?!"
The conversation/interrogation continued, but Naruto found himself staring at his unconscious victim instead of listening. At one point, he had started to stir, and Naruto was forced to hit him again.
"Stay down, you Puddle-Bastard." he growled, then looked up to see Kakashi reprimanding Tazuna for lying.
"Had we known we were going to be attacked by enemy ninja, we would have staffed differently. As of now, we are beyond the scope of this mission. We are no longer bound by contact or honor." he informed Tazuna calmly with Sakura nodding next to him.
"We could have gotten killed back there. We should go back to the village." Sakura reasoned, wringing her hands together nervously. Sasuke looked like he had half a mind to agree with her, too.
"Hmmm… Going back to the village sounds like a good idea. You genin aren't ready for this, obviously." the jonin agreed, stroking his chin. Tazuna looked at the ground, unable to argue and ashamed.
Naruto Uzumaki gawked. He didn't know quite what he should say. He couldn't make the vow he made last time, that was for sure, so… what could he do?
"Naruto?" Kakashi asked, impartially waiting for the final team member's reply.
"No way!" the dead-last shouted, deciding to act on impulse. "A real ninja would never go back on a promise, and we promised to deliver this builder to his country unharmed!"
Sakura scowled at this. "What are you saying, you idiot? You almost got KILLED back there!"
For no apparent reason, the Uzumaki child burst into laughter at this.
"She has a point, dobe." Sasuke commented, eyeing the two with disinterest.
"Oh, trust me. I know." came the blonde's breathless(and somewhat mirthful) reply, leaving the Uchiha speechless.
"Well, that settles it," Kakashi announced, putting a finger to his head. "We aren't turning back yet, but if things get too tough, we're leaving."
Good enough for me. Naruto smirked, watching Tazuna's eyebrows furrow. The old man didn't know whether to be grateful or worried.
