Disclaimer: I own nothing and I'm too sleepily to figure out a fancy way of saying it.
NOTE OF THANKS: My beta, kawaiicrimsonkitsune, is wonderful and deserves much thanks. So if you are happy that I got this up on time-ish (for once) thank her by reading some of her stories!
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Akatsuki. The word is like a vile poison, but the loathing I feel for them is but a shadow of his. Even from here, three branches behind, I can feel the passion of his hate dripping from every inch of his being. The intensity makes me shiver; too think my blond angel could hate anything so entirely horrifies me.
Akatsuki. I despise them and I will never let them have my Naruto.
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The tree flashed by in a green blur and the four men tore through the trees.
"Slow down Naruto, the Akatsuki are just moving; they aren't attacking Konoha!" Kuro called out. Naruto sighed and slowed to run next to Kuro.
"Such youthfulness should not be restrained!" Gai called from the branch behind and Kuro growled.
"You're the one that decided to listen to them." Naruto muttered and Kuro glared at him.
"And ignoring them would have accomplished so much more." Their conversation was interrupted as they came to towering chain link fence.
"Lee and I are going to go train!" Gai informed them as they landed on the ground.
"Maybe we can train later Naruto; I have wanted a chance to see how much your skills have improved." Lee called as he and Gai turned and left in the other direction. Naruto waved and turned to find Kuro giving the departing ninja a befuddled look.
"They confuse me, why are they going to train at dusk?" Kuro asked.
"I don't know, life is a whole lot easier if you don't try to understand them." With that Naruto turned towards Konoha and Kuro fallowed after staring after Gai and Lee for a few more moments.
Neither Naruto nor Kuro noticed the two people hidden in the shadows of the trees.
"Now?" One of them asked anticipation lining his voice.
"You really are stupid. You want to attack him now with Konoha just a short run away and a ninja that can fight Kisame twice and live just shouting distance away? No thanks I kind of enjoy living." The other snapped.
"You're no fun." The first whined.
"Go ahead get yourself killed, I'll watch." The second snapped before fading back into the trees, the other glared at the target before following his companion.
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"You better not fail us Granny, it was your idea to call us out the forest!" Naruto snapped glaring at Tsunade who sat behind her desk glaring at the blond.
"Naruto, its general not good practice to anger people in power." Kuro said placing a restraining hand of Naruto's shoulder. Naruto scoffed but remained quite.
"As I was saying you two didn't complete the test, but the elders agree that it was too risky to leave you in the forest so you both passed. However…"
"I'm a chunnin!" Naruto cried pumping the air.
"Yes, now shut up! We have a problem of were Kuro is going live to deal with. There are no open apartments, so we need to find someone willing to share one with him." Naruto looked bored.
"Kyu can share an apartment with me." Tsunade and Shizune exchanged a look.
"That would be fine. Do have somewhere for him to sleep?" Tsunade asked giving Naruto a spectacle look. Naruto just smiled in response.
"I'm sure we can find a place."
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The night was dark, but the street was lit with the warm glow of shops and three girls sat looking bored. Finally a forth joined them and they started down the street.
"What took you so long TenTen?" Ino asked, obviously annoyed, but the girl ignored her question and turned to Sakura.
"Who is the guy that your team brought in?" She asked and Sakura looked shocked.
"He said his name was Kuro. Why?" Sakura hoped that she didn't sound as unnerved as she felt.
"You'll never believe what I heard!" TenTen said motioning for the others to move closer.
"Lee said that when he and Gai-sensei went to get them in the forest they were cuddling." She said in a conspiratorial whisper.
"Naruto cuddles?" Ino asked wrinkling her nose and Hinata looked very upset.
"Shizune said that Naruto called him 'Kyu' and that they are going to be sharing Naruto's apartment." Sakura mussed out loud, "But I'm sure that just because all there is no open apartments, besides I bet Lee's just lying to get TenTen's attention." She quickly added when she saw Hinata's face.
"I was pretty surprised; I always thought that Naruto had a thing for Sasuke." TenTen said before braking out in giggles. The others gave her a weird look and waited for her to catch her breath. "You guys should have seen Neji's face, it was priceless. Apparently he's a homophobic, he and Lee got into the big fight over it." She managed between giggles.
"Neji is a homophobic? I thought he was gay." Ino said.
"Don't tell him that." TenTen glanced over at Hinata who was being quieter then normal. She noticed how upset she was and exchanged a look with Sakura and understanding flashed across her face. "Hey Hinata I'm sure what Sakura said before is true. You know how Lee is, always exaggerating everything, they were probably just sitting near the each other." Hinata nodded, but still looked upset.
"Naruto isn't worth the trouble anyway," Ino said firmly, "Oh look lets eat there." The four of them walked towards the store Ino had pointed too. Naruto quickly fell from the conversation, but as she was going into the shop Hinata thought she saw Naruto walk past with a beautiful, male, companion.
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AN: yay it's on time-ish, like I said before this is thanks to my beta! This next chapter should be one time to as I have already started it! I hope you liked it!
