Mwahahahaha! You're all going to try and kill me after this, but I don't care! Here's the next chapter, The Finding of Pride! Hehehe…
Disclaimer: Naruto would never be mine. If it was, everyone would hate me for what I did to Naruto.
Summary:
Uzumaki Naruto. Known for his smiles and carefree attitude. But on Uchiha Itachi sees past his mask and makes an offer. What will become of Naruto? Major OoCness
'No! This can't be happening to me!' Zurui screamed in his mind.
'You know what you have to do, kit,' Kana replied.
'I do. But first Hyuuga Neji shall find out Uzumaki Naruto's secret.'
'Sounds like a plan,' Kana replied.
Zurui looked up at the sky. He was in his original form. Unknown to him, Hyuuga Neji was watching him, trying to figure out his secret.
"What are you doing, Neji-kun?" Tenten asked from behind him.
"How did you do that?" Neji questioned. She was able to sneak up on him while he had his Byakugan active.
"A trick that Zurui-kun showed me!" Tenten said, smiling.
"Zurui?" Neji questioned, although he was certain that he had heard that name before.
"Hai! He's my best friend!"
"I thought Naruto was your best friend."
"He is! Both him and Zurui are the same person!" Tenten replied, not realizing what she was saying.
Neji inwardly gasped. "Who is Zurui?"
"His name is Kazama Zurui. He's the son of the Yondaime Hokage and his grandmother is the Godaime. He is also the Jinchuuriki of Kyuubi no Kitsune." At this point, Tenten gasped. She had just revealed Zurui's secret! He was going to kill her. No, he was going to torture her, then kill her. Or maybe…
"May I ask what you're doing, Tenten?" Tenten's head swung around and she found herself face to face with Kazama Zurui.
"Ano, you see, I kind of…"
"…told Neji my secret, right?" Zurui finished for her.
"So, you're both the same person? And you happen to have a demon sealed in you, right?" Neji said, cutting into their conversation.
"Yes. Is there a problem?"
"I wish to know why and how you possessed Tenten," Neji replied.
"You possessed me!" Tenten yelled.
"Yes. And be quiet. You're going to attract unwanted attention."
"Gomen," Tenten replied, blushing.
"It's fine." Zurui turned to Neji. "Why don't you come with us? You'll find out everything that you need want to know from Haruka-baba and Kengeki-ji."
"Who?"
"His grandmother and Kengeki-sama, my master," Tenten replied. Seeing Zurui walk away, both Neji and Tenten followed him.
"Master?"
"I'm his apprentice."
"Relation to Nar-Zurui?"
"He was in the same genin team as his father."
"Oh."
"Will you two stop whispering like a couple and catch up?" Zurui yelled from about ten meters away. Both Neji and Tenten blushed at the comment and ran to catch up with him.
'What am I going to do?' Itachi asked himself for the hundredth time that day. He had just found out that he was to capture Uzumaki Naruto. His partner, Hoshigaki Kisame, a nukenin from Kirigakure, was ecstatic. He was given the chance to capture the strongest of the bijuu and was partnered with the esteemed Uchiha Itachi.
"Itachi, when we meet this Jinchuuriki, can I chop off one of his limbs?"
"We're not going to be capturing him until after the Chuunin Exams that will be taking place in Konoha next year," Itachi replied in a monotone voice.
"Aren't you excited? Or are you just void of emotion?"
Itachi didn't bother answering and just left Kisame with an emotionless mask.
"You really have no emotions, do you?" Kisame questioned once more.
"That is partially true," Itachi replied in his monotone voice. "I care for my apprentice and those that he entrusts his secrets to. As for anyone else, I have no feelings for them. I was the perfect weapon for Konoha before I met my apprentice."
"And your apprentice is?"
"That is none of your concern." With that, Itachi walked away, pondering on what he had to do next.
He left a smiling Kisame behind. "I actually got him to speak about something that had nothing to do with the mission!"
"Zurui-kun," Haruka said. "What a pleasant surprise! And what perfect timing! It seems as if your shirt is dirty. But don't worry! I was just creating a new outfit for you!"
"My shirt is dirty?" Zurui questioned. "Where?"
Neji blinked as he watched this display. "Does this happen often?"
Tenten nodded. "Everyday. On the bright side, he never runs out of clothes! But now Haruka-sama is using me as a model…"
"Is that good or bad?"
"Bad. When it comes to clothes, Haruka-sama is obsessed! She loves it as much as she loves Zurui!"
It was at that moment that Haruka noticed Tenten and Neji. "Tenten? Hyuuga Neji? Why are you here? Is something going on between the Main House and the Branch House?" Zurui took that chance to sneak away and slipped into meditation.
"Nothing is wrong. I just found out some of Naruto's secrets," Neji replied.
"His real name is Kazama Zurui and he'll prefer if you call him that while speaking around him," Tenten said.
"Oh…"
"Well, you found out he's really my grandson," Haruka said, nodding her head. "What else?"
"That he has the Kyuubi sealed into him."
"Anything else?"
"Iie."
"Well, his final secret is that he's Uchiha Itachi's apprentice. Of course, that leads off into various other secrets, which Tenten and Zurui will inform you of."
"Uchiha Itachi's apprentice? I never expected that."
"Do you hate him for that? It was Zurui that encouraged the massacre," Haruka said.
"I can't hate him. I remember seeing Uzumaki Naruto in the streets when I was younger. He was always punished for things that others had done. They still do that today. He had his reasons. I may not agree with them, but I respect him for the pain he went through."
"Well said. Zurui did you hear that?"
"Of course, baa-san. I might be meditating, but I can still hear you people. So, can I tell you my plan?"
"Plan?" Neji stated. He looked at Tenten.
"I have no idea."
"What are you planning, Zurui?" Haruka asked.
"I'm planning on swallowing my pride and…"
"I really don't like dango," Zurui said. He was in his original form.
"Then why eat it?" Neji asked.
"Anko-sensei forced me to," Zurui replied, shuddering at the memory.
"You still haven't introduced me to Anko-sama!" Tenten yelled.
"She hasn't been around."
"Oh."
"Neji, why was my baa-san asking you about a Main House and a Branch House?"
Neji looked away. "The Hyuuga Clan…Remember when I said that I disliked the Main House of the Clan when we had to introduce ourselves for Gai-sensei?"
"Yeah," Zurui replied.
"Well, when I was four, my otou-san was killed in place of the head of the Hyuuga Clan. They were twins so nobody could tell the difference," Neji replied.
"He sacrificed himself and you were hated…" Zurui muttered.
"Something like that," Neji said, nodding, before realizing that Zurui had fainted. He looked at Tenten.
"He's in a trance. We have to get him to Haruka-sama!"
"Let's go then!" Neji said.
The two were about to leave when Gai walked in.
"My youthful students, the Godaime have given us a C-ranked mission!"
"Now is not the time, sensei! Naruto-kun is in a trance! We have to get him to Haruka-sama!" Tenten yelled, throwing one of her katanas at him. She then nodded at Neji and they left with Zurui, Neji muttering about wasting weapons.
"Look what you did! Your body is in a trance!" Kana yelled.
"I didn't know that would happen!" Zurui said in defense.
"Just wake up! You have a plan to put into effect!"
"I know. I just hope it works."
"If it doesn't, then your death is certain. If it does, your death is a fifty percent chance."
"That's made me feel so much better," Zurui replied sarcastically. "I'm going to die. Do you do this often?"
"It's not that I want you to die!"
"You keep telling yourself that, Kana. Well, I guess I should wake up before baa-san decides to call Itachi to help."
"But how will she contact him?"
"She's crazy! She's insane! She wants to contact a nukenin! Put those together and Itachi will be there in five minutes."
"You really are mental…"
"Kana…"
"Yes?"
"Shut up.""Haruka-sama! What are we going to do?" Tenten said, crying. "What if he never comes out of his trance and dies?! What if he does, but it's too late and he dies!? What if I never get to meet Kana!?"
"Kana?" Neji questioned.
"Kyuubi's name," Zurui answered. "Why am I on the floor?"
"Tenten didn't want you to go to the hospital and Haruka-sama was thinking about calling Itachi and making him wake you."
"Oh…" Zurui said before remembering something. "Didn't Gai-sensei say we had a C-rank mission?"
"You do." Haruka handed him a file and spoke once more. "It's the one you requested for your plan. If you die, don't blame me."
"Why would I do that?" Zurui smirked and disappeared.
"Where did he go?" Neji asked. (A.N. Neji really loves asking questions in this chapter, doesn't he?)
"He was trying a new skill he found from his Kagegan," Tenten said.
"Kagegan?"
"He left me to explain everything, didn't he?" Tenten asked the wind. "Let's go. If you can beat my weapons I'll tell you."
"A spar? How fitting."
"My youthful team let us go find those unyouthful bandits and help the very youthful farmers who hired us!" Gai said.
Neji and Tenten both had the same thoughts. 'Think of my happy place. My happy place. Yes, my happy place.'
Kana and Zurui were both very close to killing Gai. 'Is it possible for me to accidentally release you from the seal?'
'I'm looking into it,' Kana responded, while turning into his human form and looking through his library.
'This is why I didn't want him for my sensei!'
'Do you want to place him in a genjutsu that will make him walk into trees every five minutes?'
'I can't do any genjutsu!'
'Use my Kagegan!' And that started the argument that would preoccupy most of their time.
Unfortunately for Tenten and Neji, they still had to listen to Gai speak of youthfulness and his youthful student Rock Lee.
"Wasn't Lee the guy that Zurui switched with?" Neji whispered to Tenten. She nodded.
After walking for about an hour, the team was attacked. Neji quickly stopped most of the bandits with his Jyuuken. Tenten took care of the rest with her weapons. Gai watched approvingly until he noticed that Naruto wasn't doing anything. He was in another trance.
A masked shinobi appeared in front of Zurui and before Tenten, Neji, and Gai could do anything, he was dead.
Uzumaki Naruto was now officially dead.
Twenty miles away, in Konoha, the real Kazama Zurui fell into a coma.
In an unknown location, Uchiha Itachi fell unconscious.
In Hokage Tower, Haruka had sent ANBU squads to track down Tsunade and bring her to Konoha.
And in Kazama Zurui's mind, Kana watched the boy he had grown to love as his own child fight death and accept the truth to the Kagegan.
This chapter is shorter than my usual! It's not even 2,000 words! But now Zurui is dying! Should I kill him? And because I love you all, I shall give you an omake!
"Full house!" Tenten said, laying down her cards. Zurui, Tenten, and Neji were all playing poker. "Beat that!"
"I will," Neji said and showed his cards. "Four of a kind. Four kings and a queen. Which means Zurui won't be getting a royal flush this turn. And Itachi loses his bet."
"Actually, I bet that Zurui would get a straight flush this turn," Itachi replied.
"He did," Anko said.
"And if Zurui does have a straight flush, Itachi wins and Zurui wins," Kengeki muttered. "And we're all going to become poor."
"How did you people convince me to let Zurui gamble?" Haruka said from the corner of the room.
"I asked you to," Zurui said. "And you can't say no to me." He then turned to his teammates. "Itachi wins his bet." He laid down his cards. "Straight flush. From four of clubs to eight of clubs. I win again."
"We're all going to die poor!" Kengeki sobbed.
"No. You and Anko are going to die poor, Kengeki-sama. Neji and I are just playing for fun."
"I would just love to play against Itachi-senpai, though," Zurui said.
"Senpai? I thought I was your sensei?"
"Not anymore. And a game?"
"Sorry. I have to get back to Akatsuki. Maybe tomorrow?"
"Sure."
Haruka watched the two speak as the other four conversed.
"We should place them up against Tsunade and bet that they would win!" Kengeki said.
"Tsunade-sama? Why?" Tenten asked.
That brought the four into a conversation about the Sannin. Haruka sighed and said goodbye to Itachi.
"What should we do to them?" Haruka asked Zurui.
"Introduce them to torture tactics that would scare even Ibiki?" Zurui suggested.
"Works for me," Haruka said.
'And me as well.'
And so the Hokage and Jinchuuriki did their work.
I don't know anything about poker, but hey! I was bored…
Read and review!
