Disclaimer: I .. don't … own .. Naruto …
Test and achievement
In the morning, the first rays of light woke me up. Sensing my movement Akari also woke up. We looked at each other for a moment before she raised her head slightly to kiss me. We spent a few moments entangled until I remembered that I need to go. I prepared my clothes and also gave her some money to buy more clothes. One kimono was clearly not enough. It felt a little strange to be next to her and the atmosphere to be so different from yesterday. Yesterday I was always trying to find a flaw in her behavior but now I just accept her presence like she was next to me from the beginning of my life. Even though I know that her true origin is a demon fox, somehow I can't accept it when I look at her. An ominous feeling overwhelmed me each time I was in the presence of the demon fox. But now looking at her I just feel calm. I want to be careful next to her, but each time I try I become tired. It's like using energy for something that you know it's not useful. "Sigh .. Just what should I do?" Sensing that I was looking at her Akari turned around to look at me.
"Is there something wrong with me?"
"No …" I couldn't bring myself to tell her about my suspicions. Still .. now that I look better at her, she is at least twenty centimeters higher than me. If other people saw us on the street they may think she is my mother. At least it's good she won't age. Otherwise, it would become a real pain to have this kind of age difference between us. Transformation uses a lot of chakra to be able to keep it for longer periods of time and creates mental fatigue. I need to find a way to keep her next to me especially in missions. At least, for some time it won't be necessary. Until then, it may be better to simply adjust to this kind of lifestyle.
"Today I might come back late. If you want you can go around the town to sightsee after you do your shopping. I will not stop you, but the same rules as yesterday apply. Never speak to someone unless it's necessary. Never follow anyone, even if they say you have to, just tell me and I will call you to my side. And lastly, do not dare to betray me." For some reason the last phrase was colder than the rest. A part of me felt the need to be cautious with her.
"I will do so, if there is anything else, please tell me." Her attitude was humble and I could feel and little fear in her voice.
"Did I do something wrong last night?"
"No … it's just that I'm worried. If something happens to you then I will be alone. Little by little my knowledge becomes high enough to be able to interact with others without being afraid that they will discover my identity. Still, I can't bring myself to trust anyone else beside you. Instead .." When she said this she tried to avert her gaze.
"Say it."
"Instead I feel an intense bloodlust, I hate them for what they did to me and I also hate them for what they did to you. I am old, very old, but because I lived alone all this time, I only know how to survive. Now I just want to spend time with you and live forever in peace."
She is becoming human. But her feelings from before remain. Then it's simple.
"Are you planning on stopping me from continuing my mission?"
"No, I just want to stay by your side. I know that unless you do this you might lose yourself to hate. I know what you truly feel. You are like me, afraid to go on a rampage. The urge to take revenge now that you have the power is like a heavy burden, because of this you want to distract yourself."
That was … true. It seems she is able to discern my feelings.
"Then, like I promised to protect you, do you promise to protect me?"
"Yes, my master."
"Did I hear something wrong? Did I forget to clean my ears for a long time? No, that can't be right."
"What did you call me?"
"My master. Is there something wrong with me calling you like that?"
A part of me was jumping up and down with joy from hearing her say such a thing. But that is my childish part that is slowly disappearing. Thankfully, it didn't have that much control over me.
"There is no need to call me that. Or are you going to simply obey my will because of the situation you are in?" If her answer was yes then I had to change the way things were moving.
"At first yes, but now I feel that there is another reason for why you decided to keep me in a human form. It's true that I'm more useful to you now, but, that can't be the only reason. There is risk in keeping me next to you like this. And you know it. Then why?"
Her words were true .. I also feel that somehow my reason for accepting her so easily can't be only because I want to use her. Then truly, "why?".
"The answer is simple, now you can't ignore the empty feeling of knowing that you are alone. Before, you indulged yourself in doing pranks and having fun with anyone no matter if they truly enjoyed your presence or not. The feeling of being alone is harsh, I know this because my sanity was slowly lost because of the darkness that I had to live in. Now I have you. You are the only thing that made me recover something that I had long lost. I will obey you, not because I am forced, but because I accept you and also because I love you."
Her voice was serious yet gentle, calm yet filled with passion, mature yet with a childish longing. "Now I understand .. "
"I won't break the curse I placed upon you…"
"Yes. You can't trust me."
"It's not only that. I don't want to lose you. I want you to remain by my side. Forever."
I longed to own her so that she won't leave me no matter what. "I guess I am still a child." In a few steps Akari appeared in front of my eyes and hugged my body. Slowly I calmed down. The tempest of emotions that was in my heart for years finally calmed down. What humans couldn't do, a demon fox did it.
"Akari, thank you."
"Yes, my master."
"You can call me however you wish when we are alone, but when we will go outside you will have to call me Naruto. Is that alright?"
"Yes."
I put my right leg behind her legs and pushed slightly so she would lose her balance. Once she hit the floor she looked at me trying to find out what I was planning. I sealed her lips before she had the chance to ask and started to caress her breasts putting my right hand inside her kimono while my left hand was holding her body in place. Breaking off from my kiss for a second she seemed to want to ask me something so I let her speak freely.
"What about the mission?"
"I will be late for an hour or so."
"Are you sure?"
I felt a little bad because I didn't want to interrupt. I sighed a little and gave up.
"Yeah .. I will go .. I have to."
She laughed a little seeing how down I was feeling.
"I will not leave from the house and wait for you to come. Is that alright?"
"Yeah, thank you for understanding." With a final kiss I left the house heading to the place that jounin Kakashi told us to meet him.
"It's quite hard to hide anything from her, she already saw through my fear that everything I obtained today would disappear once I leave." Because of this she promised to not leave. I need to calm down so things won't move in the wrong direction because of my insecurity. "Wait.. Didn't I say that I wouldn't fall in love with her? … I failed already?" I gave up on thinking about it. It's better to concentrate on what will come from now on.
I reached the place where Kakashi told the members of team seven to gather in five minutes. A place that seemed to be used for training a few hundred meters away from Konoha. The others were already waiting. Both of them had tired faces. I saluted them and sat on the earth waiting for Kakashi to show up.
After half an hour passed I felt that he planned something. When he arrived he told us a black cat crossed his path … in other words he doesn't care what we think. Then he stated we had to steal one bell from him or we won't be able to eat. Strangely, only two bells could be stolen so only two people could eat. "This guy is trying to make us fight against each other? … No, he is trying to see if we would ally even if there are demerits." I couldn't help myself from smiling.
"Then, get ready, start!"
With this the test started. Before I was able to say anything the others already left. "They don't seem too fixated on the idea of working together."Kakashi looked around to search for the location of Sasuke and Sakura before finally seeing that I didn't move.
"Aren't you a little weird?"
"Why?"
"It's basic for a ninja to hide and wait for the right moment to act."
"It's not like you aren't able to find us even if we hide. In the end you are only interest in the way we act. Isn't that right?"
"Ooh, when I read your files you didn't seem the type that thinks before acting."
"Yeah, normally. But today because you told us to meet so early I had to postpone something important. So I am a little angry."
"If you say so." Is this the Naruto everyone spoke of? Even though he said he is angry not only he is not showing any impatience, he is even calmly observing me.. just what is happening?
I started walking slowly towards him. From how things were looking I could start displaying a little of my power. The problem was that displaying too much would attract attention the wrong way. When I was about ten meters away he put his hand inside the bag for weapons. I didn't expect him to be so serious so I took a step back. What he pulled from inside was a book and from the look of it, it was an erotic one.
"This guy is still trying to make me act like a fool."
Before losing the scroll I remember learning one jutsu, the shadow clone so it's not going to be hard to explain from where I know it. The normal clones don't have mass so they use only a little chakra. Still, they are not useful when fighting against experienced ninja. This one seems to have many uses. I created ten clones and I ordered them to encircle Kakashi.
Shadow clones?! This kid .. what is he planning?
Seeing that I was planning something Kakashi put his book back in the bag. I ordered five of the clones to move in a straight line while another three had to move around Kakashi when they were closer than five meters. The first five attacked in different pattern to close any path of escaping for Kakashi unless he directly attacks a clone. The other three that were still moving around him suddenly jumped while the remaining two who were waiting started running with their body close to the ground. Kakashi who was fending off the first five clones noticed this and decided to start attacking. He destroyed three of my clones before the other five arrived at him making him to move exactly on the path where the three clones were destroyed. After escaping from the encirclement, the three that jumped now joined the remaining two on the pursuit of Kakashi who now had to escape from the other two that were coming exactly in his path of running. During the time he was distracted I created another clone that now was behind the five from the back. I went underground moving towards his location while he destroyed the two clones that were coming in front of him. In the meantime six clones were surrounding him. The first five attacked in the same pattern as before while the sixth one who he believed to be the real Naruto went after a bell when his guard was down. Right when the fingers were touching the bells Kakashi used his elbow to strike down the clone before attacking the rest. In the end he destroyed all the six clones before understanding that something was wrong.
Wait, where is the real Naruto?
By the moment Kakashi noticed me I was already holding one of the two bento boxes, preparing to eat.
"What are you doing? I already told you that only if you steal a bell you can eat."
"Then try to see how many you have."
"What do you mean?" When he looked at the place his bells were it was already too late. His guard was now down for real and a clone of mine attacked his back appearing from the ground. Turning around to attack it, the real me also exited from the ground taking one of the bells. The clone that was holding the bento box put it back and disappeared.
I had already created another two clones after entering the ground. Both of them were waiting for my permission to get out. I told the first one to get out after Kakashi destroys the clones and head exactly to where the food was placed. When Kakashi would look at the bells the clone informed me and I told the other clone to move and attack Kakashi. Kakashi thinking that I finally decided to steal the bells reacted too fast to think about other possibilities. Because of this once the real me appeared Kakashi was unable to move to protect the bells. A simple plan, but an useful one.
In the meantime Kakashi was looking at me holding one of the bells in my right hand not believing his eyes.
Just how could he plan something like this?
"Now, can I eat?"
"Y-yes... I mean no, wait for the other two then you will be able to eat."
I nodded at him and sat on the ground playing with the bell. It was a sunny day. It felt great to earn free food while doing a little work out. I yawned a little and closed my eyes.
….
Chapter end, new format added. Bold + Italics means the thoughts of a person different from Naruto and Akari. I won't use it often but if there is a need I will add in () the person talking. In this chapter it was clear that the person was Kakashi.
Leaver a review, if you like or hate the story, I don't care so please, don't leave your comment. I am not interested. I write because I like writing, I don't care if you enjoy the story. If I drop it no one can stop me, and if I continue no one should influence me. Because of this only leave a review if you want to give me an advice about huge mistakes in writing the story or in the logic that I follow.
Thanks for reading! "Bow"
