Naruto Kumo Nin

Chapter 9

Who is Nailah?

Word Count: 5,251

He wasn't able to see with his eyes but that didn't mean that he couldn't feel the energy radiating from the fight. It was clear that the woman below him fighting was using the same bloodline as him, but why was she. Who was she and how did she get the bloodline. Naruto leaned against the railing that over looked the preliminary matches. He had been badly hurt in the couple fights that he had during parts of the test. Getting a hole through your chest and getting slammed into a tree hard, seemed to do that to a person. Hell he felt lucky to not be permanently blinded when the swords shattered in front of his eyes.

He wondered though what life would have been like if he wouldn't have been a Jinchuuriki. How would life have been if he didn't contain the Kyuubi? He wouldn't be chased by that one group that wanted people like him. He wouldn't be hated on or looked at as less than. No one would think of him as gutter trash. He wondered how it would have been if he had met Yugito at an early time, not to mention a happy time. Their first meeting had been less than pleasant. If he had been just an ordinary ninja his whole country wouldn't have been wiped out. His pseudo father would still be alive. Everyone around him would still be alive. His mother would also be alive, as well as his father who he knew very little about.

Dendou that was his father. He had been experimented on by Karm and whoever he worked for. He was given a bloodline with special properties, that didn't exist anywhere else. None of that would have happened if he was just a normal average ninja. He wouldn't be running and hiding from everybody if he was normal. He couldn't imagine what it would have been like to grow up with friends and a family that loved you. A group of people that loved you no matter what you did or how you looked. Oh how he so wished for that life. The Kyuubi was a blessing and a curse. It was going to be something that he struggled with for the rest of his life. However long that was going to be. Deep down he figured he probably wouldn't be around for very long. Somebody would eventually find him and kill him and that would be the end of it.

"Naruto" Yugito said quietly as she slowly rubbed Naruto's lower back. He seemed kind of deep in thought, but she needed to ask him an important question about what was going on. She tried to call his name again but his eyes were still stuck on the woman with Dendou's bloodline fighting on the ground floor. "Hey" she said even softer as she brought herself into his side. He seemed to automatically react to her and wrapped his arm around her waist, but didn't move his eyes. "Naruto" she tried one more time. This time she tried to make her voice sound a little more tantalizing as she brought her face to his ear.

Naruto's eyes softened for a moment as he turned his head toward a surprised Yugito. She was catching a glimpse of something unusual. She was watching a vulnerable Naruto. One who didn't even look like he was all there. As Yugito slowly brought her hand to his cheek Naruto closed his eyes and turned his head away from her view. Something was bothering him. Even with blind eyes the sadness was clear in them. She could instinctually pick up on something like that. He couldn't hide anything from her, even if he tried.

"What's wrong Naruto. You're broken eyes can't hide the sadness behind them." Yugito asked as she slowly ran her hand down his cheek. He kept his eyes closed but pulled her tight against his body. It was something that surprised her but something that she wanted. She wanted him to tell her what was wrong but at the moment she knew he wasn't going to break. She let herself just relax in the embrace of her boyfriend. She didn't really care that she was probably getting looks but they didn't matter. This was her moment, this was her time.

"I'm tired of running" Naruto said quietly as their body were still meshed together liked they were meant for each other. "I'm tired of being so different than everyone else. I am a danger to everyone I know and I hate feeling guilty about it. So many people have been hurt because of who I am. I even put you in danger. You Yugito the woman that I…I want to know what it's like to be just normal. I have caused you nothing but pain since we first met. I broke the trust between your grandfather and you. I should have never…I never…I."

He could feel his skin starting to get wet with her tears that were freely falling from her face. She wasn't crying out loud but internally. Why did everything have to be his fault? Why did he feel like he had to carry everyone's burden? Karm's destruction of Whirlpool was not his fault. His mother's death was not his fault. The only thing that was his fault was making her fall for him. That first kiss that they shared, that was his fault. Everyone else's pain was not his doing. He had to stop feeling so responsible for everyone. He only had to protect one person himself.

"Naruto Uzumaki you better listen closely to what I'm going to say" Yugito said her breath almost tickling his ear. "You are not responsible for the people that die. You are responsible for one person and one person only, you. You are only at fault for things that you have done. Me falling for you, you did that. Your mother's death was not in your control. Your mother gave her life for you because she so desperately loved you. Giving your life for someone else is self-sacrifice, it's something to honor and cherish, not look down upon. Your father was protecting his family, people that he loved and cared for.

Love is the strongest emotion out there. It is an emotion that can't be destroyed or taken away. We may do some questionable things in our life Naruto but we are fighting for something greater than what people think. You show people that even someone who has a hard time controlling themselves can find happiness.

Please don't forget who you are, or what led you to where you are now. Your parents loved you, so did Seiji and his wife. You are Naruto Uzumaki the container of the Kyuubi, the nailed tailed fox. Sometimes we all feel lonely its human nature. You are Naruto Uzumaki a ninja of Kumo, a born legend. A fighter in every sense of the word. You are what everyone one of us should aspire to. You are a hero Naruto and it's time that you rise up and show it."

He wanted to say something back to her but he couldn't make his voice work. Instead he pulled back enough that he could get a good look at her face. With his face inches from hers they lightly brushed lips. She knew what he was trying to do, she could just feel it. She wasn't going to pressure the kiss right now. Right now he was fragile. This was a glimpse at the true Naruto, the same Naruto that had been tortured and tormented all his life. This was her Naruto and who he really was. This was the Naruto that was behind the tough exterior shell, this was the one that she wanted to know.

The fragile Naruto was the result of being chased and losing everyone you cared about. At some point you had to feel like it had been all your fault if bad things kept happening to good people. When Naruto pulled back a little more Yugito could see the seriousness had come back into his eyes. What she just saw had been only a glimpse. It was something that he didn't want anyone to see, something that he viewed as a weakness.

"So how does Dendou's bloodline have so many techniques? I have seen you use more than one. I have also seen Nailah use things that I have never seen you use" Yugito asked when Naruto shifted his weight back toward the railing and the fight.

"Dendou's bloodline is not techniques; Dendou's bloodline is the control of the ooze that is in your body. I can manipulate the ooze into many techniques as you have seen. The body armor, the burst that goes outward, things like that. I don't understand how she can do what she can do though. I don't think it's possible for people who were experimented on to have the same bloodlines. When Karm was explaining it, it was like the experimentation reacted to your body giving you something that only you could have" he said.

"Are you saying that the woman down there with black hair and icy cold blue eyes is somehow related to Dendou?"

"That would seem like the logical explanation to what is happening." Slowly Naruto leaned his body farther over the rail so he could feel the fight, punch for punch.

Kiba looked around him after he drove his fist through Nailah. The ooze had obviously been a clone, but it had been no normal clone. He had a little bit better senses than the usual person but it was like she had just completely disappeared. Kiba and Akamaru were going to be a good match against her. He knew that he and Akamaru had some tricks that she didn't know about. Just because she had some weird bloodline and could make a goo clone didn't mean he couldn't win the match.

Kiba turned around to see where exactly Nailah had disappeared to. He managed to see her for half an instance before she vanished again. He was going to try to react to her disappearing again but he felt something. He felt her fist charged with the same goo that she had used before. This goo whatever it was; was making his whole body numb. Just what was her secret, how was she able to do what she did. Akamaru took his chance against Nailah but she was already ready for him.

"Hedoro Mabushii Heki" she whispered before a large burst of blue ooze expanded from her body blowing Kiba and Akamaru away. When Kiba and Akamaru skidded to a stop Kiba quickly rolled backwards where he stayed in a kneeling position. Before Nailah had a chance to react Kiba went through a few seals. Akamaru seeing the seals and landed on Kiba's back before he had a chance to finish them.

"Jujin Bunshin" Kiba said before he and Akamaru were both covered in smoke. Nailah took a step back at the unexpected move. When the smoke around the two started to clear Nailah could see two Kiba's standing there. "What's a matter don't know who is who anymore" Kiba smirked charging toward Nailah. Nailah let a low sigh escape before she focused on the incoming attack from Kiba. Which Kiba was which wasn't easy to tell but they were both her enemy. In the long run in didn't really matter which one she took out. The second Kiba was also a special kind of a clone, a clone that wouldn't just vanish after one attack.

As Nailah went through a few seals to do her next technique she noticed that one of the Kiba had already snuck behind her to attack from the rear. (No pun intended) Kiba thrust his arm with the kunai safely in hand toward a waiting Nailah. When she went through her last seal she felt Kiba's hands grip her arms tightly and pull them behind her. With the frontal Kiba still charging Nailah quickly kicked the Kiba holding hers knee and pushed backwards sending both of them to the ground. When the kunai Kiba got closer Nailah swiftly stuck her legs out, catching Kiba in the stomach, she threw him over her head where he landed with a loud thud. A Kiba was still pinned to her as Nailah rolled backwards breaking the hold that he had on her. With a quick kick she brought her foot across Kiba's chest throwing him.

Nailah happy that she had been able to break his hold went through a few seals before putting them in the familiar final seal. "Hedoro Bunshin" she said quickly making two copies of herself. "You really thought that you had what it takes to take on me Kiba." She let the devilish grin show on her face before the two clones and her stood in a circle near the two downed Kiba's. "Hey dog lover this is really going to hurt." As she went through a few seals, the Kiba closest to her pulled a small smoke bomb out of his pouch before he tossed it Nailah's direction. She let a low laugh out before she let the blue ooze explode from every cell in her body. "Hedoro Mabushii Heki" she laughed. The two clones quickly followed her move.

As the two waves of ooze started to form they connected with the original wave. The waves slowly began to interlock before the ooze started to darken and struck both Kiba's with three times the forces of a usual wall of ooze. Both Kiba's bodies were blown a good 10 or 12 feet away before Nailah's wall of ooze disappeared. Nailah slowly let her eyes drift from Kiba to Kiba before she noticed one of them start to change. She could see the white small dog lying there not moving. It did sadden her to hurt a dog a little but Kiba had brought him into the fight, he had to know they were going to get hurt.

"No Akamaru" Kiba whispered when he was about to move. Kiba tried to push himself up but Nailah was already there behind him gripping his arms and neck. "Nailah you're insane." She only laughed before she tightened her grip putting a little more pressure on his neck.

"Just end this Kiba nobody needs to get hurt anymore. You fought well but you were never meant to win against me, not with my bloodline."

"Yeah your weird blue goo definitely has me at a disadvantage. I can tell just by how you used it that you trained it a lot. I'd be interested to know how you got that bloodline. I'd even stop calling you a goo freak." Now he'd done it. She growled quickly before tightening her grip even more.

"Oh you're only being nice because you know you've already lost, and no I'm not taking you on your offer" she yelled as she kneed him in the kidney which dropped him flat to the ground. She brought her foot around again and axe kicked him square in the gut. When he stopped rolling she knew he wasn't going to get back up, the fight was over. Hayate started to walk toward Nailah but she just walked but up to the balcony, when she heard that the match was over. She got to the top of the steps before she saw the red headed boy that she needed to talk to. She noticed him start to walk her direction and she stopped a few feet in front of him. "I bet you have some questions Naruto Uzumaki."

The red headed Jinchuuriki wanted to be surprised but he guessed that she knew a lot more than she was telling. "Yeah I do and you better not hold out on me" he growled. Nailah quickly stuck her hands out which got his attention.

"I won't Naruto don't worry. We need to go somewhere to talk though there is a lot of information to tell you, and you'll have questions no doubt." Naruto nodded and Yugito and he followed Nailah to a back room that wasn't in use. It was away from everyone else and they needed to talk. "Everyone else will wonder where we are so we need to talk fast."

"Then I suggest you spit it out and tell me how you have Dendou's bloodline. I only have it because I'm his son." Nailah nodded her head. Her cold icy blue eyes looked from Yugito then to Naruto.

"I don't really know where to start, there is so much to tell you. I guess first off would be my mother knew Dendou. She was a Konoha ninja and Dendou was a Kumo ninja. My mother was undercover as a maid for an assassination. Dendou had been sent for the same target. Neither of them knew the other was there until they bumped into each other. Something about my mother must have caught Dendou by surprise. Maybe he'd seen her before or it was like a deja vu I don't really know.

Dendou pulled my mother to the side and asked her who she was and what she was doing here. Maybe he figured she was more than a maid who knows. When they started to talk they realized they were after the same target."

"The villages must have known they'd run into each other" Naruto quickly questioned. Yugito quickly slapped him in the shoulder before she gave him a glare.

"Shush she's telling a story." Naruto rolled his eyes but Nailah continued anyway.

"No it's ok. The job was deep undercover I don't think they even knew. My mother told me she had been after the target for a week and then Dendou came into play. Having a new player all the sudden show up made it difficult so they agreed that Dendou would play the pretend boyfriend. (AN: Haha stop me if you've heard this one before) Somewhere down the line the feelings must have changed. They played a pretend relationship for a week, so something was bound to happen.

One night before the mission was over they gave into their emotions and it happened. Later the mission was finished and they had to go their separate ways. My mother had to go back to Konoha and Dendou Kumo. My mother kept in contact with him for some time but I don't know something happened. Dendou tells my mother that's he's leaving for another mission and he'll be gone a while. After that it's a long time before he writes and there had been a lot of changes.

He tells my mother that he lives in Whirlpool now after he had been chased on his way to his mission. He must have wanted to keep my mother out of trouble but I guess I'll never know. When my mother asked who had attacked him he told her people that he only remembered in flashes. He told her Karm and another man. One with pale white skin, and these black marks below the eyes. His eyes were snake like but they had a raptor like gaze. It gave me nightmares for a while just thinking about those eyes looking at me. Dendou told my mother that he'd fallen in love while in Whirlpool. He said he hadn't planned on staying long but when it came time to leave he couldn't.

Dendou told my mother that although they couldn't be together it didn't mean he didn't want to talk to her anymore. He still wanted to write back and forth. She later agreed but she kept one tiny detail from him…"

"Your birth" Yugito all the sudden blurted out. Yugito noticed Naruto look at her then back at Nailah.

"My sister" Naruto said in disbelief. It had been more to himself that actually out loud.

"Half-sister actually. Same father but didn't mother. My mother told me a lot of the history of Whirlpool, some you might not even know. Dad talked about a war that had been brewing for some time but was suddenly worse when Karm started to make people choose sides. The battles were brutal and it was all about survival. He told my mother that the war had lasted maybe six or seven months and by that time everyone was about dead."

"Yugito when you looked through the Kyuubi's memories how far pregnant would you say my mother was" Naruto asked stopping Nailah in her thoughts.

She shrugged her shoulders. "I guess she probably looked six or seven months pregnant." She stood there for a moment listening to her own answer. "Wait a second are you telling me that I saw the end of the war. That your father was going to die soon."

"My mother was also going to follow soon yes. The war must have been quicker than we imagined. With so many people dying daily, it's a wonder they even survived for so long" Naruto said.

"Dad died and the letters to my mother stopped coming. My mother looked for any trace of the bloodline besides mine but found none, until a few years later. She had heard that you were traveling with a young man spreading good deeds, and from there she kept her eyes on you. You were Dendou's son, and she promised herself to look after you" Nailah said.

"So dad really had no idea about you. Your mother never told him after he announced that he lived in Whirlpool." Nailah took in a deep breath and leaned against the farthest wall, where she crossed her legs. She looked down at the ground trying to collect her thoughts before she looked back up to Naruto's direction.

"I am older than you because I was born first, let me just say that for starters. When dad didn't write, my mom was worried that maybe he'd lost interest, and he had in a sense but it wasn't that simple. When dad told my mom about your mom she then decided to keep me a secret. She must not have wanted to ruin dad's happiness with your mother. I have to respect my mother for being able to just forgive dad so easily. They even seemed to be good friends after that. Dad told my mother that he was getting married and that he was very excited about being a father. He had no idea that he already was one.

I don't hate dad by any means, he never knew about me, and he never met you. I don't know how he died since the letters stopped but I figured it probably wasn't pretty since he was a fighter. He was an honorable man so he must have gone down protecting his family or something."

"Just like Kiyoshi's mothers journal" Yugito questioned again butting into the conversation. Nailah looked from Yugito to Naruto before she even decided to ask the question that was rolling around in her mind.

"Who is Kiyoshi" she questioned with her arms still folded across her chest.

"Kiyoshi's mother is a survivor of the war that dad was talking about. She left a journal next to me after my mother died giving the Kyuubi to me. Because my mother had gone Kyuubi during the war it messed me up so I could only live with the Kyuubi's help. Anyway Kiyoshi found us while we were in the forest. It seems that Kiyoshi's mother was killed by Karm who was after me and him. Kiyoshi is only seven years old but he is a feisty little ball of fire, kind of like I used to be when I was younger.

Kiyoshi gave me another journal one that his mother had written while she was in Konoha."

"It sounds to me like everyone was trying to escape the war then. You've been on the run from that one group from being a Jinchuuriki." When Naruto gave her a confused look she decided that she needed to clarify the situation. "I already knew about you being a Jinchuuriki. You would be surprised about how many rumors were spreading about you and Seiji."

"Do you know how Seiji died then? Did you hear that rumor?" Naruto said his voice getting a tad bit darker.

"Hey lighten up this is your sister" Yugito said glaring at him again when she noticed his mood has suddenly changed. "Nailah Seiji was killed by Karm."

"Maybe things are finally started to connect together. Karm seems to have a reputation all over. Plenty of people know what he has done" Nailah said as she pushed herself a ways from the wall. She started to walk away from Naruto and Yugito but stopped when she saw a young boy who she knew definitely was not a gennin start to walk into the room.

"There you are Yugito I was looking all over for you" Kiyoshi said running toward Yugito. She bent down to one knee when he walked over toward her but slowly started to turn him toward Nailah.

"Kiyoshi this right there" Yugito said pointing. "That is Naruto's half-sister." Kiyoshi watched Nailah's icy cold blue eyes as he started to step closer to her. He stopped a foot in front of her. Nailah slowly followed Yugito's example and got down to one knee and Kiyoshi seem to relax a little more.

"Your aura is a clean aura unlike Hu's who has a now corrupted feeling to him" Kiyoshi said unknowingly.

"Hu" Nailah asked looking to either one of the two Jinchuuriki for the answer to the question. Why were there, so many people that she didn't know about. How much had her mother really found then if Naruto seemed to know a lot more than she did? Their visit hadn't meant to be a real catch up visit anyway. She had only meant to give him some information about why she had been able to do what she had done in the last match. Besides how easy is it to swallow that fact that you have a new sister, one you had no idea about? Of course Nailah knew the whole time but that was different than just finding out right now.

She had always wondered how their meeting would go and it was never like that. She would never think that he would be hostile towards her maybe that was because he wanted answers so bad. When a lot of your history is incomplete you kind of crave for those answers that will make your history complete.

She slowly turned away when neither of the two of the Jinchuuriki would answer. He must have been somebody that they were protecting for whatever reason. It made her start to wonder though, what exactly had happened in the forest. She got the feeling that there was a lot that he knew but probably wasn't saying for whatever reason he was. She didn't figure she could get real close to him quickly anyway. How did hi I'm your long last family sound just to blurt out.

"Naruto" Yugito finally asked in the silence. He turned toward her but didn't say anything. She recognized that look; he was trapped in his own thoughts. "Do you think the man with the snake like eyes knew that the bloodlines could be passed down from person to person? That might have been his plan from the very start." Naruto opened his mouth to say something but couldn't find the right words, so instead motioned for the three of them to follow him back to the railing.

He could feel the fighting below him and the battle felt like it was at his end. The sound of racing heartbeats and the definite scent of chakra through the air. Of course that might have been just the past couple matches that have taken place in the arena. Naruto slowly turned his head to Yugito to see if she could feel what he was picking up, but she seemed to not pick it up. It might have to do with he knew how to recognize chakra since he had been on his own. He had to survive when he was by himself somehow right.

When Naruto felt the match start to die down he heard Hayate declare a winner, whoever Shino was. It didn't really matter, the chuunin exams were starting to become more than just becoming a chuunin, and it was about the race for the truth. When Naruto turned away he heard the sound of the name board starting to shuffle. It was when he heard Hayate's voice that he felt his body tense. Kankuro verse Yugito Nii. This was going to be ugly.

So I wrote out how I wanted to the preliminary match ups to be and realized I had too many people. I had one extra person and that made the matches uneven. When I looked on a Naruto website to see how the show and anime matched it up I decided I never really have liked Kin and got rid of her so I could even the matches out again. Most of the matches will be the same but as you can see so far there are some changes.

Round 1: Sasuke Uchiha verse Naruto Uzumaki

Round 2: Nailah verse Kiba Inuzuka

Round 3: Shino Aburame verse Zanku (This match just happened while they were talking because I wasn't sure how to really write either one of those people)

Round 4: Kankuro verse Yugito Nii

Round 5: Sakura Haruno verse Ino Yamanaka (This is another fight that I'm not sure how to do, so I might do some Naruto flashbacks from when he was younger during this fight, we'll see)

Round 6: Tenten verse Temari

Round 7: Shikamaru Naru verse Hu (See the difference)

Round 8: Hinata Hyuuga verse Neji Hyuuga

Round 9: Gaara verse Rock Lee

Round 10: Dosu verse Chouji

These matches change up how the finals are too, so we'll see. Please R & R.

Translations:

Hedoro Mabushii Heki – Chemical Ooze Radiant Burst

Jujin Bunshin – Beast Human Clone

Hedoro Bunshin – Chemical Ooze Clone

Edited 10/17/13