I don't own Naruto
Chapter 9
The next day both Naruto and Kurenai got up extremely early so that they could sneak back into the Sarutobi compound and take some photos of Asuma in his dress, and if he wasn't wearing his dress that they had gotten him, well then the pictures would be even more humiliating.
The apprentice and sensei duo were currently outside Asuma's house cloaking themselves with the Meisaigakure no Jutsu. They each had a camera in their hands and were eagerly waiting for Asuma to come out of his house.
"WHAT THE FUCK!" A yell could be heard from inside the house. It seems that Asuma had just woken up. There were some sounds of stuff getting knocked around and over, and possibly Asuma falling while searching desperately for his normal ninja clothes.
While that was going on, the girl that was sleeping with Asuma made her way out of the house grumbling about assholes with small dicks. That got a chuckle out of the 2 outside of his house.
After a few more minutes the front door creaked open and Asuma poked his head out to check if anyone was outside. Seeing that the coast was clear Asuma made his way out of his house with his usual clothes on.
"Well that won't do." Naruto mumbled before sending his chakra out to disrupt the henge that Asuma had placed over himself. There was a poof of smoke and when the smoke cleared anyone could see Asuma dressed in a bright red dress that reached to about mid thigh.
Kurenai and Naruto immediately started taking as many pictures as they could before Asuma could get back into his house and hide. Though he would have to come back out at some point, he had a team to teach.
Kurenai and Naruto continued to wait outside his house waiting for him to make his way back out. They knew he was still in there because they could still sense his chakra signature in there. They continued to wait until they saw a bird fly away from one of his windows. It seems that he was asking for help with his dilemma.
"Not today Asuma-teme." Kurenai whispered as she formed a hand seal and put the bird under a genjutsu that would gradually cause it to fall asleep and the message would not get delivered.
The duo continued to wait outside for when Asuma would have to come back out with his dress on.
They felt him start to make his way to the back of his house, no doubt trying to sneak out without anyone seeing him.
Kurenai and Naruto quickly made their way around the house and spotted Asuma climbing out of a window, this time without a henge. They both started snapping as many pictures as they could and Asuma was none the wiser since there was no flash nor did they make much noise.
Asuma carefully, and slowly, snuck around the compound staying in the shadows and eventually jumped over the wall protecting the compound into the small forested area adjacent to the compound.
The pranksters continued to silently follow Asuma while taking pictures. When they were done they would have well over 100 pictures that they could use to humiliate him with.
After they had followed Asuma for a few more minutes getting as much material as the needed, Kurenai and Naruto stopped stalking him and made their way to training ground 13.
-Training ground 13-
"HAHAHAHA" Kurenai couldn't contain her laughter anymore and when they landed in the clearing of their designated training ground broke into a fit of laughter. Naruto himself was snickering when he entered the field. "That was great Naruto. Thank you for doing that for me."
"It was no problem sensei. Asuma should have thought about his action before he hurt you." Naruto replied with a small smile on his face. It was going to be worth everything once he started publishing the photos in the newspaper and the whole village would see Asuma wearing a skimpy red dress. "I guess we should head out and get our missions for the day, then we can get going on our training."
"Yea, let's go." Kurenai agreed as they both started to walk towards the Hokage tower to get their missions for the day, and so Naruto could get his daily stipend for ending the Tora missions.
-Mission room-
Kurenai and Naruto walked into the room and saw Iruka sitting behind the table handing out missions.
Naruto walked up to the table and started to look through the available d-ranks. He noticed that both cleaning the Inuzuka kennels and walking their dogs was available and immediately took those two. He then saw that a certain citizen that lived in the red light district was looking for someone to do their grocery shopping, so he took that one as well.
After he had picked out his missions he turned around and left to go complete his missions. He would have his clones clean the kennels while he walked the dogs, then later he would go grocery shopping for Riri.
-Inuzuka compound-
When Naruto reached the gates to the Inuzuka compound he ran into a certain brown haired Inuzuka.
"Hello Hana, how are you today?" Naruto asked as he saw Hana leaving her house.
"Oh, hello there Naruto. I am doing good, was just going to work at the vets office. I take it you are the one that took the missions to clean the kennels and walk our pups?" Hana asked, though she already knew the answer. Why else would he be here? Her mom had also told her about how he seemed to get along with the pups extremely well.
"Yea, figured that since the dogs like me so much that I should save the other teams the hassle of having to do it." Naruto replied, making his way over to the kennels he saw all the dogs waiting patiently for him to let them out. "Well, aren't you guys well-behaved today."
Naruto opened the doors to the kennels and, when all the dogs had left and waited for Naruto to take them on their walk, made a small group of shadow clones to clean the kennels while he was walking the dogs.
Naruto turned to the dogs as his clones got to work cleaning the kennels. He motioned for them to follow him as he started to walk out of the compound. "Let's go guys, I bet you all are excited to stretch your legs."
The dogs all yipped in agreement as they raced after the blonde and started to rub against his legs, showing their affection towards the blonde.
"That kid is amazing. To be able to get all the pups to like him in less than a day is nothing short of amazing. Some of those pups don't even like me, and I have been with them since they were born." Hana sighed. She then turned to Kurenai and looked her in the eye. "Kurenai, are you alright? I heard about what happened between you and Asuma. I can go give him a thrashing if you want me to." Hana proposed flexing her hands at the mention of thrashing the piece of trash who dared hurt one of her pack.
"Oh it's fine Hana, Naruto came up with a way to pay him back, well, we already got him back, you'll see what I'm talking about in a few days. Maybe even tomorrow." Kurenai answered with a mischievous smirk on her face.
"Oh? You got Naruto to get him back for you? I think that's abusing your position as sensei Kurenai." Hana teased with a smirk on her face.
"He was the one who brought up the idea. He didn't like the thought of someone playing with my heart and brought it upon himself to get payback for me. He brought me along for the ride so that I could enjoy it as well." Kurenai stated looking at the retreating form of her student.
"Really? Wow, such a nice boy. When he gets older he is going to be quite the catch. Not only is he an overall nice guy, but he seems very loyal, and with proper exercise he will have a killer body." Hana fantasized with a glazed look.
"Stop drooling over my student Hana… Geez, sometimes I think you are driven by your instincts more than you let on." Kurenai sighed while pinching the bridge of your nose.
"Hey, I am just looking for a future mate. I haven't been able to find anyone that I feel is worthy to be my mate, but when I fought him, he was just so… Oh! It was so great. Not only is he strong, but he has those feral qualities about him, and he even kept himself from injuring the Haimaru triplets too bad. He could have easily caused grievous wounds to them, but only knocked them out of the fight. I have never met anyone who would actually care about someone elses feelings while in a fight with them, especially since I was very much trying to put him in the hospital." Hana stated, getting a bit sheepish at the end when she remembered her emotional rampage she went on to try and gut the blonde. "It also helps that he has more stamina than all the ninja in the village, just imagine what he could do with that."
Kurenai turned away from Hana with a small pink hue on her cheeks. "That's enough Hana! I'm going to go follow my student and make sure he doesn't get into any trouble." Kurenai started to walk off in the direction that Naruto left.
"Put in a good word for me! Unless you plan on taking him for yourself!" Hana called after her, laughing when she saw Kurenai falter in her stride and nearly fall on the ground.
Kurenai whipped around and glared at her friend, her face burning red from embarrassment or anger, it was hard to tell. "I am not pursuing a relationship with my student! He's too young for me!"
"Whatever you say. Age doesn't matter just as long as you love each other." Hana called over her shoulder as she started walking towards the vets office to get started on her day at work.
'Could I really be in a relationship with someone so much younger than me?' Kurenai thought as she followed her student to the park.
-Northwestern park-
Naruto decided that he would walk the Inuzuka's dogs to the northwestern park and let them have a bit of fun while they were there. So at the moment he was sitting on a bench while the pups ran around playing in the grass in the park.
He was having a good time relaxing until someone decided to antagonize him.
"Hey dobe! What are you doing? Can you not walk dogs properly?" Naruto heard someone yell from behind him. Naruto turned his head to look at the speaker and wasn't all that surprised to see Kiba sauntering his way over with his team behind him, though they looked like they didn't want to be here. "I knew that you were a horrible ninja, but to not be able to walk dogs properly is just sad."
"Kiba-kun, I d-d-don't think you should be so mean to N-n-naruto-kun." Hinata stuttered while Shino just stayed silent.
"Don't worry Hinata-chan, the dobe isn't going to do anything." Kiba replied cockily.
Naruto just turned his head away from Kiba and tried to get continue relaxing. If things got out of hand he knew that each teams respective sensei would jump out from wherever they were and break up any conflict.
"Don't turn away from me!" Kiba exclaimed as he grabbed Naruto by his shoulder and forced him to turn back to him.
The happy atmosphere around the park vanished when all the dogs ran over to Naruto and started growling at Kiba, warning him to back off.
"Hey guys, it's me. Kiba, I take care of you guys all the time. No need to be so hostile." Kiba said as he backed away from the pups with his hands in the air trying to placate the canines.
"It seems your dogs prefer me to you Kiba, and to answer your question. I don't need to walk these guys 'properly', as you put it. They are perfectly behaved on their own." Naruto replied as he pet one of the pups.
"Whatever… You're just a wannabe ninja orphan. Maybe they'll make a movie about you." Kiba said with a smug smirk on his face, but it fell when the temperature dropped drastically. He looked towards where it was emanating from and saw Naruto with his head down, his hood shadowing his face even more than it usually does. When Naruto looked up at Kiba he had to stifle a gasp as he was now looking into the red eyes of Naruto, and with the hood shadowing his head only allowing him to see the eyes that seemingly glowed, adding a lot more to the intimidation factor.
Team 8 all took all took a collective step back when everything went dark. It was like someone turned the clock forward until it was night and the only light was coming from a large red moon.
Kurenai, who was in a tree watching the small conflict, immediately thought that Naruto was using the legendary genjutsu Kokuangyo no Jutsu, but when she examined the jutsu more she could tell that the jutsu, though similar, was not the Kokuangyo no Jutsu.
"Careful what you say mutt, if you think you can walk all over me just because you are from a clan, and I am just a no name orphan then you've got another thing coming. You have been coddled by your family your entire life, shielded from the harsh truth of the world, while I have grown up in it, lived it, and have been shaped by it. You may think you are high and mighty just because you have a fancy name, but that won't get you anywhere in the real world, names mean nothing, only your skills." Naruto growled out. After Naruto had said his piece the area turned back to day and the chilling feeling receded and everything returned to how it was before the incident. "Let's go guys, you've had enough free time today."
Naruto then left with the Inuzuka canines following him towards the compound. Leaving the park silent for a few moments.
"YOU FUCKING STUPID ASS GAKI!" A yell was heard breaking the deafening silence that had covered the park since Naruto had left. Anko then appeared behind Kiba and chopped him in the back of the head resulting in him hitting the ground hard.
"What was that for sensei!" Kiba exclaimed while turning around, but froze when he saw the look in his sensei's eyes.
"You are so STUPID! You have the biggest mouth I have ever heard! You talk way too much and were bound to get yourself into trouble eventually, be glad that it was an ally that wasn't interested in ripping you limb from limb and not an enemy." Anko chastised. "And never, I repeat, NEVER bring up someone's past. That will get you killed faster than you can blink, especially that kid. He's had it 10 times worse than any of you could even imagine."
"What do you mean he has had it 10 times worse than we could imagine? He's an orphan, he probably just grew up in an orphanage or something, my mothers training is worse than that." Kiba shot back at his sensei.
"Shows how much you know your fellow students if you don't know what he has been forced to go through…" Anko sighed. "Just get on with the mission that we picked, and when you are finished we are going to have evasion training for the stunt you just pulled."
All of team 8 paled at the mention of evasion training, which usually involved Anko throwing any and all pointy things she could find at them without holding back, while simultaneously having to dodge snakes.
"GET A MOVE ON OR I WILL DOUBLE THE TIME FOR EVASION TRAINING!" Anko shouted.
Team 8 sprinted away to finish cleaning up the park dreading the thought of double time for evasion training.
"Nai-chan, I'm sorry if my gaki was harsh on your student. He's not very smart." Anko said, seemingly to no one before Kurenai landed next to her.
"It's fine, Naruto is a strong young man and has had to go through much worse, so this probably didn't bother him all that much, he'll get over it pretty soon. Though you should probably keep Kiba from taunting Naruto like that again, I am surprised Naruto didn't hurt Kiba, or put him in his genjutsu, to teach him a lesson. But I do know that if it happens again, Naruto will not hold back." Kurenai warned.
"I know, I was kind of hoping Naruto would have taught him a lesson there, it would get rid of his cocky attitude." Anko admitted. "How are you holding up though? I heard about what happened with Asuma. I can go introduce him to some of my new torture techniques if you want me to."
"I'm fine Anko… I just had this conversation with Hana. I exploded on Naruto during training and he was very understanding and helped me through it, then he decided to pay Asuma back for what he did. He's a great kid." Kurenai sighed.
"He's not a kid, hasn't been one for a long time. Kids don't survive on the streets for that long…" Anko stated then paused in a thinking pose. "You make him sound like the perfect man. Maybe I should use the good old Anko charm on him to make him mine." Anko added with a large grin.
"Not you too…" Kurenai face palmed.
"Not me too? Who else wants some of that blonde gaki?" Anko questioned.
"Hana was asking if I could put a good word in for her. He is so much younger than you guys, Hana less so than you, but seriously, how can you be interested in someone so much younger than you?" Kurenai asked exasperatedly.
"We're ninja Kurenai-chan. Age shouldn't mean a thing, we could die tomorrow, so go for whoever you want, which for me might be that blonde gaki." Anko stated. "Unless you already have your eyes on him."
"What! NO! He's just my student!" Kurenai exclaimed turning away from Anko.
"Whatever you say Nai-chan, but he seems like a great guy and if you are going to let him go then someone else will pick him up." Anko added sagely.
"I'm not interested in my student." Kurenai huffed while walking back to the Inuzuka compound to watch after her student.
-Red light district-
After Naruto dropped the Inuzuka's dogs off back at the compound and made sure that all the kennels were clean he made his way to his next mission. His little skirmish was Kiba didn't really bother him, though the orphan comment got to him a little, he always wondered who his parents were and why they were not with him. He had asked the Sandaime many times, but continued to get the same answer of "I don't know Naruto-kun, but I assure you they were great people." which was a load a bullshit. He could tell that he was lying to him. He thought about calling him out on it, but it probably wouldn't change anything.
Naruto walked into a store that looked like it was on it's last legs. When he got inside he made his way towards the counter and immediate spotted a beautiful blonde behind the counter. Her hair was straight and reached to about mid back. She had deep green eyes and wore a green ribbon to keep her hair out of her face. Her outfit consisted of a white crop top covering her c-cup breasts and tight blue jeans that showed off her amazing, for a civilian, figure.
"Hello Riri." Naruto called when he made it to the counter.
Riri looked behind her, having been working on something, and spotted Naruto and immediately leapt over the counter and strangled the blonde in a death hug.
"Naruto-kun! I haven't seen you in so long! How have you been?" Riri exclaimed as she pushed Naruto's face further into her bosom.
"I've been fine Riri. How about you." Naruto managed to get out before he was squashed further into Riri's bust.
"Oh I have been great. Business has been the usual perverts and such, but why are you here? Finally decided to buy something?" Riri teased while releasing her death hold on the blonde.
"Not yet Riri. I don't think I am ready for the… merchandise… that your store sells." Naruto answered.
"Oh Naruto-kun, you are a ninja now, which means you are an adult so you can buy all this stuff legally. Though I would have sold it to you earlier if you wanted it then." Riri winked at the blonde causing a light pink hue to manifest on the blondes cheeks. "But seriously, why are you here?"
"You put in a mission request and I decided to take it. So what do you need me to go shopping for?" Naruto asked as he pulled out a pen and paper.
"Oh you took the mission? Well, to be honest that's not what the mission is about, I just couldn't afford anything better. There has been some people that have been harassing me lately and recently have threatened me. They are going to be coming back tonight and I needed someone to protect me." Riri admitted, looking away from the blonde.
"So some assholes are threatening you and you need a bodyguard? Why didn't you just let me know, I would have taken care of your problem for free." Naruto questioned.
"I would have, but I didn't want you to get caught up in this mess. You always do so much for us in the red light district that I felt that you shouldn't have to shoulder anything else. I also don't know where you live anymore. I have gone to your apartment a few times and you are never there. Just graffiti about you from those who hate you." Riri explained solemnly.
"Oh right, I forgot to tell you guys I moved… Well not moved, but don't sleep at my apartment anymore. I prefer sleeping under the night sky in nature… I'll figure out a way for you guys to contact me soon, but for now what's with the guys that are threatening you?" Naruto asked.
"Well there are 3 men who want me to perform… sexual favours for them. I have turned them down at every turn. At first they offered me a good time, then they offered me money, and now they said that if I don't comply with their wishes they will force themselves on me. When they told me that I wasn't afraid at that moment since I always have a knife on me, but since they are going to be coming back tonight they are probably going to be armed themselves and I didn't want to risk anything trying to do it by myself." Riri explained her voice almost incoherent at the end.
"Hey Riri cheer up. You don't have to worry about those guys, I'll take care of them when they come, but they have to make the first move so that I can say I was protecting a citizen. But I promise you that nothing bad will happen to you and do I ever break my promises?" Naruto soothed the older woman.
"You never break your promises. Even if it means fighting through heaven and hell to make sure you keep your promises, you would do that in a heartbeat." Riri replied, a small smile tugging on her lips. "Thank you Naruto-kun."
"Anytime Riri, now when do these guys usually show up?" Naruto asked.
"They usually arrive between 6 and 7 at night. One is a redhead, fat, and has a neckbeard. Another is balding, skinnier than you used to be, and has a scar on his arm that looks like claw marks. And the last guy has brown hair and a goatee, he also always has a deck of cards with him." Riri detailed.
"Okay, I am going to leave a clone here to make sure that they don't decide to come sooner. I am going to go train with my sensei right now and we will be back in about 4 hours… so around 5:30. And if they do come early I am only a minute away, so my clone will hold them off for as long as it can, though it should be able to end the conflict immediately, but if someone gets a lucky shot off on the clone I will be here inside of a minute, so don't worry I won't let anything happen to you." Naruto stressed her safety. Making it clear that, as long as he was around, she would be safe.
"Thank you Naruto-kun, maybe after this I can take you and your sensei out for ramen as a thank you present." Riri offered.
"That's not necessary Riri, I would do anything for a friend." Naruto declined.
"But I insist Naruto-kun, you aren't going to make me feel bad by declining my offer are you." Riri pouted giving Naruto the puppy dog eyes.
"Fine Riri… You can treat us to ramen." Naruto caved.
"Yay! Be back soon Naruto-kun." Riri exclaimed as she got back behind the counter and continued her work.
Naruto made a clone to keep Riri safe and then took his leave and started to walk towards training ground 13.
"So how do you know Riri?" Kurenai asked as she dropped down next to her student.
"I know almost all the people that live in the red light district. I've lived here most of my life and they are much more accepting of people than the general populace of Konoha." Naruto replied as he continued to walk.
"You know that this is classified as a C-rank mission now? You don't need to do it. We can get someone more qualified for the mission."
"I wouldn't care if it was an S-rank. If someone messes with those who have been good to me I will make sure to put a stop to it." Naruto replied with conviction.
"That's very honorable of you Naruto." Kurenai praised.
"Maybe, I just see it as doing the right thing." Naruto replied.
The duo made it to the training ground and immediately got working on their water affinity exercises. Naruto had made more progress than Kurenai since he could make more clones and thus was able to learn more about the exercise. Though Kurenai wasn't slacking at all herself, she was giving it her all and was determined to get the first step of her affinity down by the end of the week.
-4 hours later-
"Okay sensei, it's about time for us to got back and protect Riri." Naruto called out to his sensei. They had gotten a lot done today, Naruto had finished the first step and was now working on drawing out the water faster. At the moment he could suck the leaf dry in about 30 seconds. He was trying to get it down to 5 seconds before he moved onto step 2.
Kurenai looked up at her student and then the sun and saw that about 4 hours had passed since they started their exercises. Kurenai had almost completely siphoned the water from the leaf by now. There were still some areas that still carried water, but she made a lot of progress today.
"I guess it is." Kurenai agreed getting up from her position on the ground and brushing the dirt off of her before she followed her student to Riri's store.
-Riri's store-
Naruto walked into the the store and saw Riri behind the counter reading a magazine. It seemed that business was slow today, which wasn't unreasonable seeing as it was a Wednesday and people don't usually go to adult stores during the week.
"Oh! Naruto-kun, you're back!" Riri exclaimed immediately putting down her magazine leaping over the counter to smother the blonde in a death hug. "I'm so happy you're back, how was your training?"
"It was fine Riri, and I have only been gone for a few hours there's no reason to be so excited." Naruto mumbled out from his position between Riri's breasts.
"I know that, but I always like seeing my favorite whiskered blonde and can't help but be excited." Riri answered cheerfully while letting Naruto out of the death hug.
"Well, I'm going to go into the back, when the assholes show up you will need to let them make the first move, once they have done that run into the back room. They will chase you and after that no matter what I do I am protected by the law." Naruto said as he started to walk towards the back. "Not that that helps much…" Naruto mumbled.
"What about your sensei?" Riri asked curiously. Weren't sensei's supposed to help their students in missions?
"She let's me handle missions by myself. If she thinks things are too much for me she will step in." Naruto answered as he disappeared behind the curtain leading to the back room.
-1 hour later-
"OH RIRI-CHAN! Have you reconsidered our offer?" A fat redheaded man asked as he entered the shop carrying a large knife.
"Yes Riri-chan. It would be nice of you to accept our kind offer, it would turn out much better for you." A skinny guy said as he entered after the redhead with a bat in his hands.
"If you don't accept our offer, well then I hope you are feeling lucky." A brown haired man said as he entered the building whilst shuffling a deck of cards.
"I told you guys before that I will not have sex with you and I am standing by what I said." Riri retorted. Her hand moving to grab the knife hidden behind the counter.
"Oh, well that's just too bad." The redhead said as he walked up to the counter and making sure Riri saw the knife in his hand. "I guess we'll just have to do this the hard way eh boys?"
The other two men in the room laughed as they closed in on Riri. The skinny man went to swing at Riri's head aiming for a quick knockout, but Riri ducked the blow and pulled her knife out of the sheath and swung it at the man before she turned around and ran into the back room.
The men quickly leapt over the counter and followed her into the back and stopped after they entered the room.
The room was completely dark with only the light shining in from a window illuminating the room. Riri was at the other side of the room, shaking a little from her close encounter. As the men were surveying the room to make sure that Riri didn't have any traps set before they chased after her their eyes met 2 red ones.
"So, you are the scum that have been threatening Riri?" The wielder of the eyes asked, though it was more of a statement.
"Don't get in our way or we'll just beat you to get to her. Unless you want to join in on the fun." The redhead said with a lecherous grin.
"I'm going to have to pass on that." The man said as he stepping into the light, not really changing anything since the hood on his cloak kept his face hidden in the shadows, but the clothes he wore was a dead giveaway to who he was.
"The demon!" The skinny one yelled.
"Looks like it's my lucky day." The brown haired man said as he took out a knife from behind his back.
"Don't kid yourselves." Naruto responded back in a monotone. "Your time has come to an end." Just as Naruto finished his sentence the light filtering in through the window turned blood red and the already dark room seemed to get even darker.
Outside Kurenai's eyes widened. 'This again.' She thought recognizing the same traits that were present when he confronted Kiba.
"W-w-what is t-this?" The redheaded man said as he started back away in fear. When he was about to turn around and sprint out of the room his head fell from his shoulders.
"There is no escape for you, so don't fight it and just accept it." Naruto said from his position behind the men after he decapitated the redhead.
"Y-y-you demon!" The balding man yelled as he attempted to hit Naruto this his bat.
Naruto just ducked the blow and slashed the mans arm with his saber claws. The now disembodied arm fell to the ground in a bloody heap.
"AAAAH-ack!" The man screamed before he was cut off by his throat being slit.
"Your turn," Naruto said as he turned to the last man who was just standing there with his deck of cards in hand.
"We'll see." The man said as he drew a card from his deck. "Hmm. It truly is my lucky day." The man threw the card at Naruto. As it approached Naruto it started to glow red, obviously not a normal card. When the card reached Naruto it exploded violently, throwing debris everywhere.
"Lady luck is smiling down on me." The man smirked as he turned to Riri, "and now for my prize."
The man took a step towards Riri before he felt two hands land on his shoulders.
"You know the human body is mostly made up of water. Let's see what happens when it is forcefully removed from the body." He heard a voice behind him say before he felt an immense amount of pain shooting through his body, originating from his shoulders. It felt like he was being forcefully pulled inside out.
Naruto continued to attempt to pull the water out of the mans body. After a good 30 seconds he finally felt something wet come in contact with his hands, continuing with this first step of the water manipulation exercise he pulled more and more liquid out of his victim. The man held up for a few minutes before he went limp and fell over.
Riri turned the lights on after she was sure that all the men were down for the count and looked over at Naruto. What she saw was a little disturbing, but she had seen worse. Naruto was looking at a ball of blood that was floating just above the palm of his hand.
"Well, this is interesting." Naruto mumbled as he inspected the ball of blood floating in his hand. When he was extracting the liquid from the man he expected some blood to come out, but what he was doing now was surprising.
'Well would you look at that, that's a very interesting technique you just created.' Naruto heard Kurama say from inside of his mind.
'What do you mean? I just used the first step of the water affinity exercise on him.' Naruto thought back, not really seeing what was so great about killing someone like that.
'Not that. I'm talking about what you are doing right now. When you were performing the technique on the man you channeled your chakra into his blood. Now that blood acts similar to how your chakra would outside of your body, but it won't dissipate.' Kurama explained.
'So what you are saying is that if I were to mold pure chakra outside of my body it would end up like this?' Naruto asked.
'No, you would need to mold it that way. Right now you are subconsciously molding it into a sphere above your palm by channeling your chakra that is inside the blood into a sphere.' Kurama clarified, though he saw a big resemblance between this blood ball and his own bijuudama.
'If my chakra is in there then why isn't it dissipating? I know I am not feeding more chakra into the blood.' Naruto asked getting more confused about how he was doing what he was doing as he continued to learn what he was doing.
'The only idea I can come up with is the blood is acting like a barrier between your chakra and nature. It continues to hold that chakra in it and it won't leave the blood unless something breaks the barrier between the two.' Kurama hypothesized.
'I guess that makes sense… Since my chakra is in there could I shape it into anything I want?' Naruto asked.
'Probably, give it a try.' Kurama encouraged.
Naruto attempted to flatten the sphere of blood in his hand, the second it move it splattered to the ground losing all the chakra within it.
'Well kit, you broke the barrier when you tried shaping it.' Kurama stated blandly.
Naruto's eyebrow twitched. 'No shit… That's going to take a while before I learn how to properly use that.'
While Naruto was having his inner discussion, Kurenai came into the room and looked over the dead bodies. She was slightly repulsed by the state of the room and was slightly worried that her student may have a hard time taking the fact that he killed all these men.
When she looked over towards her student however, she found him fascinated with the sphere of blood floating above the palm of his hand. It seemed he didn't really care that he had just killed these three men, one in a very gruesome fashion.
She came out of her reverie when the blood in the blonde's hands splashed on ground.
"Whatever, I'll learn how to control it later." Kurenai heard Naruto mumble.
Naruto turned to Riri and looked at her, then at the mess that he made. "Eh, sorry about the mess Riri. I'll get it cleaned up as soon as possible."
"And after we get this cleaned up I'll take you out for ramen." Riri stated as she went to the closet and pulled out a mop.
"And then you can take us out for ramen…" Naruto sighed not really wanting Riri to take him out for ramen. He didn't feel like she needed to thank him all that much, what he was doing was a friendly service, but if she really wanted to take him and his sensei out for ramen then who was he to complain?
-30 minutes later-
It took about 20 minutes to clean up all the blood and dispose of the bodies. Now Kurenai, Naruto, and Riri were heading towards Ichiraku Ramen upon Riri's insistence. They got to the ramen stand and entered through the flap and each of them took a seat at the bar, the girls on each side of Naruto.
"Hello, how may- Naruto-kun! You're back? And you brought Riri and Kurenai! It's so good to see you guys." Ayame said as she came over to take their orders.
"It's good to see you too Ayame-chan" Naruto smiled slightly, missing the pout that Riri gave when he addressed Ayame.
"So let me guess. The usual for you two…" Ayame trailed off as both Riri and Naruto nodded. "So Kurenai-san, what would you like tonight?"
"I think I will go with the shrimp ramen tonight." Kurenai said as she put down the menu that she was browsing through.
"Coming right up!" Ayame chirped as she twirled around and handed her dad the order before turning back to the only customers in the stand. "So what brings you here tonight Riri?"
"Oh, Naruto-kun just helped me with something at the shop, so I decided to repay him by treating him and his sensei to ramen." Riri replied
"Oh? And what did you help her with Naruto-kun?" Ayame asked giving all her attention to Naruto while Riri glared at her.
Naruto looked up at Ayame, then turned to Riri asking a silent question of whether she wanted Ayame to know what happened or to keep it silent.
"Oh, he just helped me clean up a few things around the shop, nothing important." Riri lied giving Ayame a sweet smile knowing full well that Ayame didn't believe her.
Ayame's eyebrow twitched as she put on a smile and gave the trio their meals. "Well that sounds like you are using poor Naruto-kun, having him do such trivial things."
"Oh he insisted on doing this." Riri countered with a smirk. "Even said that I didn't have to pay him back. I had to force him to let me take him out for ramen."
"That sounds like Naruto-kun" Ayame laughed with a small smile on her face.
"Well, I'm done girls. I'll see you tomorrow Kurenai-sensei." Naruto said as he left the ramen stand leaving a tower of bowls where he once sat.
"No hard feeling Riri?" Ayame asked after Naruto had left.
"None Ayame, you know that." Riri replied with a smile. "Though I wish Naruto-kun would add 'chan' to my name…" Riri pouted.
"He'll add it to your name eventually… I've known him for much longer so it makes sense that he warmed up to me before you." Ayame reasoned.
"I know… But still, I was there to comfort him during that event… I thought he might have trusted me faster than he usually does with other people."
"Excuse me, but are you two bipolar? Earlier you were doing almost anything to subtly annoy the other and now it's like you are best friends." Kurenai interjected.
"Oh, whenever Naruto-kun is involved we try and outdo each other to try and gain his attention." Riri supplied simply as if it was common knowledge.
"And you would do that why?" Kurenai asked confused by their behavior towards each other just to gain Naruto's attention.
"Because one of us is going to catch his eye eventually, and then we will become a couple, then we get married and have a family. It'll be perfect." Ayame stated, sighing dreamily at the end.
"So we have a bet that whoever gets Naruto first pays for the others first date with him." Riri further explained.
"So this is all for a bet?" Kurenai asked feeling disgusted by their actions towards her pupil.
"NO!" Both Ayame and Riri exclaimed in unison.
"Our feeling for him are genuine, it's just that when we learned the we both had feeling for him we decided to make a bet to try and keep our friendship intact. I know it doesn't make much sense, but it works for us." Ayame explained.
"Why would you be interested in him though? He is so much younger than both of you."
"Ayame is only 3 years older than him, and age really doesn't matter anyway. We both have feeling for him and Kami knows that he deserves all the love that he can get." Riri stated. "Of course, if you want in on this bet also we can always add you." Riri suggested with a smirk.
Kurenai failed to restrain herself from facepalming after hearing Riri insinuate that she was interested in her student. "Why does everyone think that I am interested in Naruto? I am his teacher. There to guide him as a shinobi, though he is already pretty good for a green genin."
"Oh but of course Kurenai-san, we know that you aren't interested in him, we were just teasing." Ayame placated. "Though if you change your mind just let us know."
Kurenai's eyebrow twitched before she turned around and left the ramen stand.
"She'll be back." Riri smirked.
-Forest of Death-
Naruto returned to his clearing in the Forest of Death and immediately got started on his was his usual schedule after training and missions during the day. He would come back to the clearing in front of the tree that he slept under and would work on perfecting one of his skills. Recently he has been working on perfecting his seal tagging. He has been making remarkable progress with the time it takes to tap it onto an object, but it still wasn't fast enough nor could he write many characters with it.
'Kit, I love your enthusiasm for training, but the amount of training you are doing is close to an addiction. You need to calm down and just relax sometime.' Kurama stated from the seal.
'You haven't gone over my memories yet have you?' Naruto thought back rhetorically.
'Not yet, I'm too lazy to do that right now. I'll do it when I get around to it.' Kurama replied lazily.
'If you saw some of those memories you would understand why I have to get as strong as I can as fast as I can. Some of the people that hate me are very powerful ninja, and if they decide that they are done having fun playing with me and decide to kill me I need to be able to fight back.' Naruto elaborated on his situation.
'Hell of a village you got here kit… Everyone hates you, and yet you still became a ninja for this place.' Kurama pointed out.
'I don't hold a love for this village. I became a ninja because the Sandaime pushed for me to become one saying stuff like 'You'll be the best ninja the world has ever seen!' and 'You'll be able to protect the village after my time comes.' Though when I learned that when I became a ninja and moved up the ranks I would gain access to new jutsu I reasoned that if I become a ninja I will be able to learn how to defend myself.' Naruto explained.
'You're a smart kit.'
'I have to be or I would have died a long time ago.' Naruto replied sullenly.
'Oi, don't stop your training on my account. You are getting much better at your tagging speed. Now you need to focus more on the amount of characters you can write.' Kurama pushed Naruto back into training mode.
'Right' Naruto thought back before going back to the task at hand. He had a hundred clones just sitting in front of a tree constantly tagging the tree with seals over and over trying to speed up the time it took to tag as many characters as possible.
As Naruto was getting ready to slap another seal onto the tree in front of him he felt something brush up against his side.
He looked to his right and saw one of the tigers from his first night sitting next to him.
"Hey big guy, how are you?" Naruto asked.
The tiger just let out a low growl, though Naruto didn't know what that meant, but at least he knew that he acknowledged whatever he said.
"Uh, that's good… I think?" Naruto questioned.
The tiger, seemingly knowing that Naruto was confused tilted his head to the side.
When Naruto looked to where the tiger was tilting his head he saw the family of foxes that he had rescued earlier.
"Oh the foxes. Yea, I told them they could stay here since Konoha doesn't take kindly to them and they would die if they weren't in here." Naruto said, thinking that the tiger was asking him about the new inhabitants.
The tiger just growled again signifying that Naruto had no idea what the tiger was trying to tell him.
Just then the foxes walked up to Naruto and starting yipping.
"Great… I don't understand any of you…" Naruto sweat dropped.
'I do. They are asking you why you smell similar to them.' Kurama decided to help Naruto out.
'That would be because of you right?' Naruto questioned.
'Yes.'
"Oh, well I smell similar to you guys because I have the Kyuubi sealed in me." Naruto said though he didn't know if they understood him.
'They understand you. Animals are smarter than humans and can understand many different dialects.' Kurama supplied.
'Great… Does that mean you understood what the tiger was saying?' Naruto asked.
'Yea, he was telling you that the foxes had arrived and that they were looking for you.' Kurama replied in an all too innocent voice.
'You like messing with me don't you?' Naruto deadpanned.
'It's all I can do, except hunt rabbits and other animals in your mindscape. Thanks again for changing it.' Kurama thanked.
Naruto returned to the real world when the foxes started yipping again before bowing down to him.
'This is because of you also isn't it?' Naruto deadpanned.
'Yea, I guess I am like a god to foxes, second to Inari, and they acknowledge you as my holder so in a way you are just as revered by the foxes as I am.' Kurama explained.
"Yea, that's cool and all but I really do not like people bowing to me. I would never bow to anyone so I don't think anyone should ever bow to me." Naruto stated
The foxes all sat up straight and looked at Naruto and started yipping again while the tiger just growled.
Naruto just sweat dropped. 'Can you teach me how to understand their language?'
'Yea… It'll take a while, but I can get it done… And you will be able to understand most of the other animals since all their languages are related. We'll do it while you are sleeping so we have more time.'
'How will we have more time… I sleep for like 6 hours… I don't think that is enough to learn a couple new languages.' Naruto asked.
'Have you ever noticed how time seems to travel much faster when you are sleeping?' Kurama asked as if he was talking to a child.
At Naruto's nod he continued. 'Well it works the other way too. Time can seem to last for days when it has only been hours in your mind if you wish it to… I mean you were able to create an entirely new mindscape for me that should show you the power of the mind.' Kurama explained. 'Plus you use more of your brain when you are asleep.'
'So we will start tonight?' Naruto asked with a hint of enthusiasm, learning new things always seemed to make him eager.
'Yea. I got nothing better to do...' Kurama replied before he cut the mental link and went off to hunt some more rabbits.
"Okay guys, I'm going to start taking lessons so that I can understand what you all are saying, because right now I have no clue what you guys are saying…" Naruto smiled at the group of animals in front of him, which grew with the addition of a couple more tigers.
Naruto then received the memories of one of the clones that was working and learned that he could now tag something in half a second with 2 kanji's. Not exactly what he was looking for, but he was getting there. Now that he had the timing down he just needed to work on adding more kanji's.
"Okay guys! Dispel in groups of 10. We need our rest and I have a feeling that tomorrow is going to be a big day." The real Naruto called out to all his clones.
It took a few minutes before all the clones had dispelled and Naruto settled down in his sleeping bag underneath the roots of a large tree. He had a feeling he would need all his energy for tomorrow.
Before you guys kill me for bashing Kiba I just want you to know that everything will be resolved at a later time. As always let me know your ideas of what you want in the story. I already have a general idea of what I want, but if I see a good idea that I can fit in I'll try fitting it in somewhere.
Have a good Saint Patty's Day and don't drink and drive.
~Dyna
