A/N: Hey, Rinne-Kami here giving you chapter 9 of A Complete Family, Incomplete. Definately one of my favourite chapters yet, everything just seemed to flow onto the computer, very fun to write, i hope it's fun to read. Well let's get to it then.
Don't own Naruto.
"Speak"
'Thought'
"Demon speak"
Flashback
Previously...
Minato watched his sensei walk into his office. He had never seen him look so depressed. "What's up sensei?"
Jiraiya looked at Minato sadly, with a quick deep breath he informed him of the terrible news.
"I-I have discovered who assassinated Yagura."
-Break-
Minato looked at his sensei in shock. "You have? Who did it?" Minato asked quickly.
"It was a member of an organisation called Akatsuki." Jiraiya responded.
"Akatsuki? Never heard of it." Minato looked at his sensei confused and anxious,
"They are a group of ten S-class missing-nin. One of their members is Itachi Uchiha." Jiraiya continued explaining. "I don't know hat their goal was for assassinating Yagura, but the fact they extracted the beast means that they wanted it alive. So that must mean that they must be planning to use the beasts in some way."
'So this was the group Itachi joined.' Minato thought sadly about the boy. 'I just hope he doesn't get caught.'
"And which member of this Akatsuki was it?" Minato asked trying to get as much information as possible. "If this one member could extract a beast from it's host then who know what the others could do."
Jiraiya put on a weak smile and scratched the back of his neck. "I...don't know which member it was. But I do know that Orochimaru was a member until recently."
"Was?" Minato caught that word more than the rest.
"It appears that he was either kicked out or voluntarily defected." Jiraiya spoke with a little interest in the matter. What could Orochimaru have done to get kicked out of a criminal organisation. This information of course shocked Minato, who wanted every bit of information on Orochimaru as possible. However Jiraiya stopped him before he could probe him for any more answers. "Orochimaru is the lesser threat compared to Akatsuki, we should focus on finding out information on them."
Minato frowned slightly before nodding. "You're right sensei. Did you learn anything from Kiri?"
"Couldn't get in." Jiraiya laughed it off. "They've heightened their security to the max. They don't want to give away any secrets on information yet. They're even on the brink of civil war again by being without a Kage for over two years."
Minato frowned again, this wasn't getting easier. "Keep trying to find out info sensei. This Akatsuki must be stopped, at all costs."
-Break-
"Hey forehead, where's Sasuke-kun?" Ino shouted loudly as she looked around for the Uchiha. The passing teams had arranged to gather so they could talk about their exams and teams. Along with Ino was already Choji and Shikamaru, who made up the passing team 10 and Kiba, Hinata and Shino, who made team 8.
"Sasuke-kun said he had something important to do." Sakura let out with a dreamy sigh. He expression quickly turned to one of annoyance. "Besides why would he want to hang out with you, Ino-pig!"
"What you say, billboard brow!"
"You heard me pig!"
Both girls got directly into each others face, growling, egging for the other to throw the first punch.
"Mito." Shino asked coolly, startling everyone with his voice. "How was your exam? Why do I ask? Because we are now comrades, even if we are on different teams."
"Uhh..." Mito responded, Shino had hardly ever spoke to her before, so he caught her off guard. "It was quite hard-"
Kiba immediately cut her off. "Ha! That just shows how weak your team is!" He laughed loudly. "Ours was a test to find Kurenai-sensei within a set time, which we did easily!"
"Shut up idiot!" Sakura punched Kiba hard on the head, crashing him into the floor, knocking him out. "Our team is the strongest. First we have me and my intelligence!" She puffed out her chest to get her point across. "Then we have the dreamboat super strong Sasuke-kun!" She squealed in delight at Sasuke's name. "Then we have Mito." She quickly said Mito's name and waved her hand up and down, as if indicating Mito was the weakest link. "And finally we have our secret weapon."
This got the other genin's attentions. "What secret weapon?" Choji asked between taking bites of his BBQ chips.
Sakura grinned evilly. "At the call of a summon, we have Mito's brother." Sakura watched as the other genin's eyes widened, and the once unconscious Kiba jumping up in shock.
"Mito's brother! You've met him!" Ino was once again directly in Sakura's face. "What was he like!"
"He was cool, but noway near as cool as Sasuke-kun." Sakura brushed off the question with a cocky smirk.
"Summon." Shikamaru asked curiously, the other Genin noted the interest in his voice, a very rare occurrence in the Nara. "Summoning is a difficult Jutsu built around manipulating time and space to teleport things to the user's exact location. How could he be at the call of a summon."
"Well because he and Mito have this contract between them that allows them to summon each other." Sakura spoke proudly as if it was her own work. Mito wanted to pummel her into the ground for spilling information so easily.
Shikamaru seemed to muse over this information for a moment. "Mito, how exactly is that contract actually in existence?"
Mito sighed, thanks to Sakura and her big mouth she would have to explain all this to the other teams. "Naru-nii created the summoning scrolls to do it with."
Shikamaru's eyes widened at this, yet the other Genin couldn't comprehend what was so bad about it. "He created a summoning system, troublesome." He mumbled.
"What's so bad about that?" Ino asked her lazy team mate. He only sighed and turned to look out the window, Ino growled in anger at him, but turned to Sakura and Mito. "So what was your exam? Ours was to capture and subdue Asuma-sensei, it was difficult at first but our abilities really seemed to work in sync."
"Our test was about teamwork, we were supposed to retrieve bells that Kakashi-sensei had within a time limit, thanks to Naruto we were able to pass." Sakura spoke in return.
"Thanks to Naruto?" Kiba asked.
Sakura began retelling the entire days event, in full detail, from each member trying to take the bell, to the arrival of Naruto and his abilities to Mito giving the bells to Sakura and Sasuke.
"Naruto sounds so cool." Ino sighed in the same way Sakura did minutes ago. "Plus he's the son of the Yondaime Hokage, that practically makes him the prince of Konoha, then he is strong and fast and can take on a Jonin. AND he's only our age" Ino sighed dreamily again.
"Wait. He was able to take on your sensei, a Jonin, who also happens to be the student of the Yondaime Hokage, yet still manage to overcome him and fight him almost equally." Shikamaru mused again, not liking the picture being painted in his head.
"Y-Yeah, but obviously Sasuke-kun had worn him out before Naruto arrived, making it easier for Mito to retrieve the bells." Sakura tried to defend Sasuke against the increasing reputation of Naruto.
"It sounds to me like Sasuke did squat against Kakashi, and Naruto didn't need to summon Mito to get the bells, he was just playing by the rules, one of the team had to get the bells, he isn't a direct member. So troublesome." Shikamaru sighed again.
"What's so troublesome damn it!" Ino shouted at her team mate, completely enraged at his behaviour.
"That this Naruto doesn't sound like he's a Chunin, it sounds more like he is at a Jonin level." Shikamaru sighed for a final time. The other Genin were shocked and silenced by his assumption. The silence was broken by Ino sighing again.
"You don't know how lucky you and Sasuke-kun are Sakura, I wish we could meet him as well."
"But Hinata's met him as well." Mito pointed to Hinata, who jumped slightly, blushed madly and waved her hands in front of her, trying to silently beg Mito not to tell them. Unfortunately Mito did not get the message. "She's the heiress to the most powerful clan in Konoha, so she's practically like a princess as well, so there's been some meetings between my dad and her dad when me and Hinata had to go and Naruto has been forced to attend." Mito spoke as if it was nothing.
"Hinata you cheat!" Ino yelled accusingly. "Why didn't you tell us. I bet you were trying to keep him all for yourself weren't you. How did your first meet him then!" Ino barked the order at the blue-haired girl, who began fidgeting under the blonde girl's glare.
Hinata tried looking for a way to escape, seeing none, she bit the bullet and began weakly telling the story of how she first met Naruto. "Um. Um. W-W-Well I first met him when I was training on one of the private training grounds away from the villagers...
Flashback
Hinata was training furiously at the private training grounds, although no matter how much she tried, she never seemed to be making any progress. Neji was always getting further away from her and her sister was catching up. She was a disappointment to her family. She stopped training and stood stiff and still, tears began leaking for her Byakugan activated eyes.
Her eyes noticed someone approaching, someone with a powerful chakra, and lots of it. She readied herself for any impending danger, but she knew that she would probably not be able to fend off whoever it was.
The sound of footsteps come closer rung through her ears, followed by the rustling of some of the surrounding bushes, sweat began to drip from her forehead.
Out of the bushes appeared a boy around ten years old, the same age as her. Hinata thought that this boy looked a lot like the Yondaime Hokage, same spikey blonde hair, same bright blue eyes, yet this boy's eyes were deeper, as if they were trying to mask something. Hinata almost didn't realise that her guard was dropping as she looked into his eyes.
"I've never known anyone else using this training ground other than myself." The boy spoke first, softly. "I wonder, what are you doing out here?"
Hinata was a little startled by his voice. "I-I am training, as the heiress of the Hyuuga clan, I have to be strong." She tried to make her title sound threatening, so this boy would not try to mess with her.
"The heiress of the Hyuuga clan, huh?" The boy smiled. "Then I am sorry for interrupting your training, Hyuuga princess, but if its the titles game you want to play, then as the son of the Yondaime Hokage, I ask you to accept my apology."
Hinata's eyes widened, this was the son of the Hokage, no wonder he looked just like him. This was Mito's brother, Naruto, the Chunin at age five, the reclusive one, the one that the villagers spoke highly of but also seemed fearful of him.
"N-Naruto-sama!" Hinata quickly bowed to him, slightly fearful, she had been rather rude to him, if he was going to punish her, she deserved it. Naruto walked forwards and Hinata clenched her eyes shut. Naruto stopped just in front of her. She waited for anything that was going to happen next.
"No one's ever bowed to me before."
Hinata's eyes opened and she darted upright, she caught the boy looking at her confused, generally freaked out at her reaction to his title.
"I-I'm sorry Naruto-sama I'll leave now." Hinata tried to leave quickly but Naruto grabbed onto her arm, stopping her in her tracks.
"You can stay, I was just coming here for some training, but the grounds it big enough to share." Naruto said as her let go of her arm and moved to the other end of the grounds and began his own training.
Hinata, not wanted to disobey him moved to the other side of the grounds, she began her work on the gentle fist technique. She practised for a while but still she was not making any progress with her technique, she did it the exact same way as her father and Neji, but she was just weaker than them, what's more was she was embarrassing herself and her clan in front of the Hokage's son with her weak form.
"Why do you use that style?" She heard Naruto say, it looked like he had been watching her for a while.
"T-The Gentle fist uses the Byakugan to target Chakra points in the body, effectively making blocking them from using chakra if the user pushes-"
"I know what the Gentle fist style is." Naruto spoke with a frown on his face, as if he had been insulted. "I meant why do you use it the way you do. You are trying to use force to power you're attacks in faster, why?"
"I-I-t is the same way that my father and Neji-nii-san use it, and they are both very strong." Hinata confessed. She saw Naruto look at her weirdly.
"You can't compare to them." Naruto spoke bluntly, Hinata's heart shattered, already she had proven that she was weak to the Yondaime Hokage's son. Tears began forming in her eyes as she dropped her head in shame.
"Not by using that form anyway." Hinata's head sprung back up, eyes widened. She looked at Naruto, who was looking at her in the eyes with seriousness.
"Men have naturally stronger muscles compared to females, your father and your brother(1) use that natural superiority to make they're attacks stronger and quicker, something that you can't compare to, but females have their own superiority over men; flexibility. Instead on focusing on making attacks more powerful, focus on outmanoeuvring your opponents with quick reflexes and strikes, then your true strength will shine." Naruto finished smiling at Hinata, who couldn't help but blush at his smile.
"I'll leave now. Think about what I said. I can tell that you will be very strong one day, confidence is the first step, do not be afraid to reach for the impossible goals." Naruto walked away after flashing one last smile. Hinata smiled weakly back, before turning to her training post.
"Focus on my natural superior flexibility." Hinata, with a new found determination began hitting the stump again, and it was all thanks to Naruto.
A blush appeared on her face when she thought of the blonde.
Flashback end
'So that's where she got the idea from.' Shino thought as he listened to Hinata tell her story.
Everyone looked at Hinata intently, the silence was once again broken by Ino's squeals of delight. "And he's caring and wise too!" She squealed out. "Sakura, you can have Sasuke, I think I just found a new man!" Ino spoke confidently, everyone around her sweat dropped. However no one noticed the small frown appear on Hinata's face.
Ino turned to Mito and cupped both her hands in her own. "Please Mito, you gotta introduce me to him, please!" She began begging.
Mito was completely freaked out, sure she had been friends with Ino, but not that good friends. However...it would be funny to see how Naru-nii reacts to a girl flirting with him. Girls in her class always asked her about her reclusive, strong and mysterious brother.
"Alright Ino." Mito smiled. "Let's go see if he's at home." She began walking towards her house, with Ino directly behind her.
-Break-
Mito groaned slightly, the others had decided to follow her as well, now she had seven people coming with her to find her brother at her house.
They arrived at Mito's house and Mito opened the door. Kushina came out wearing a cooking apron over her regular clothes. "Hey Mito, what's all this then?" Kushina smiled as she looked around at the kids. "Having some kind of party for passing?"
"Kind of." Mito lied, it seemed easier at the moment. "Have you seen Naru-nii, Mom?"
"Yes, he left to get some last minute training before his mission tomorrow, he won't be home till later." Kushina smiled at her daughter, the sound of Ino's sigh indicated that that wasn't the answer they wanted to hear.
-Break-
Naruto sliced through the army of his clones, his sword technique improving with every clone cut down, which were also learning to block with their own cloned swords. Every cut, every parry, every blocked went back to the original Naruto's body gaining experience in the blink of an eye.
Naruto and his clones stoppered, with a nod they poofed out of existence. Naruto fell to the floor, the experience came with their fatigue as well. He panted hard, he had always had unnaturally high stamina, that was the Kyuubi.
The Kyuubi. Perhaps it was time. Time he spoke to it, he remembered Bee, Yagura and Han at the Chunin exams all those years ago. They were all much more adept at controlling their beasts than he was, he hadn't even spoke to it before.
'If I must live with it, I might as well use it.' Naruto closed his eyes, he began searching, searching for a way to contact the Kyuubi. He looked for the slightest opening into his subconscious.
-Break-
Naruto's eyes opened to see him in a sewer. It was not dirty, the water was clean, but he was obviously in a sewer. He stood up and looked around, the walls were covered in paintings. He walked along the sewer, looking at all the paintings, he recognised brief images, images of his mother kissing him goodnight, images of him and his sister playing, of him and Itachi sitting under the stars, of Gaara, of Bee, of everything. The paintings began overlapping each other messing up each individual painting, making it impossible to understand each painting's significance.
"Are these...my memories." Naruto touched the image of what appeared to be the most recent. A summon scroll in his hand, bursting from the ground. However Kakashi's face close up was in the background. As soon as he touched it the painting began moving, showing exactly what had transpired during Mito's test.
"I see, the clones memories are recorded as well, so it is like look at two different camera angles at the same time." Naruto heard a low growl, deepened by the echoes of the sewer, he walked in the direction of the growl, positive that it would lead him to his goal.
He entered a clearing above him was four sets of chains hanging from the wall. What were they signifying. However, this was the least attention grabbing item in the room. Across the room was a massive gate, held shut by what appeared to be a speck. Naruto approached the gate and learned that the speck was in fact a piece of paper, "SEAL" written clearly on it.
"So my jailer finally pays me a visit. How...uninteresting." A red eye shot open from behind the bars of the gate, a red eye that Naruto recognised all to well, it haunted his dreams. "I can only assume you're hear to attempt to take control of my powers." A deep laugh was present after the sentence.
"So you're the Kyuubi." Naruto looked at the monster's eye. "You are a pest. And you will give me your power." Naruto ordered.
Naruto words were responded to be a deep and hearty laugh. "Is that anyway to talk to the one who told you about your brother." The eye widened in glee. Hoping to provoke the boy.
"That was you?" Naruto looked at the Kyuubi's eye. It's iris the same colour as Teihaku's hair. "You were the one who created the dreams?" Naruto began wondering. Wondering if what the Kyuubi had shown him was real or not. No doubt there was someone called Teihaku, his parents confirmed that on the night he had the first dream, but did Teihaku look like what the Kyuubi had shown him, or was it just trying to toy with his mind.
"The very same. I felt it my duty to tell you about you're brother, seeing as no one else was going to do it, you are my host for the time being after all, also I was hoping you're rage would tap into my power."
"And how do you know Teihaku? If I myself have never met him in person." Naruto asked sceptically.
"Teihaku and myself happen to be old acquaintances. He even keeps in contact with me, he is up to big things you know." The Kyuubi spoke, grinning when the boy's eyes widened. "We tailed beasts all have our own unique traits. Ichibi can control sand, Sanbi can manipulate illusions in the deepest mists, Gobi can harness steam, I myself detect emotions of the most negative kind, even from within you I feel it, that euphoric fear everyone feels for me, the pleasurable hatred the Uchiha brat holds. However a few stand out more than the rest, one of them is Teihaku, even when he is miles away I still feel his rage, his fury...his emptiness. I once believed that it was your blood connection to him that was doing it, however an older connection has begun to resurface, a type of malice that even I myself loathe. Teihaku is close to this malice, and he will never escape it now." Kyuubi noticed that Naruto was hanging on his every word. The boy must obviously want to know as much as he can about Teihaku.
"Would you like to know more about you're brother Naruto?" Kyuubi asked. "Come and tear this seal off and I will tell you everything about Teihaku, even his current location."
Kyuubi looked in glee as after a few minutes of hesitation, Naruto began moving towards the gates. Every step the boy took, he was coming closer to his freedom.
Naruto took small steps towards the Kyuubi, he would find Teihaku, the Kyuubi knew where he was, with it's help he could finally find Teihaku.
Kyuubi's help.
The Kyuubi's help.
The Kyuubi was a creature of malice, something that served itself first, so why would it offer help, release the seal to get help. Kyuubi was manipulating him into releasing it, and it was succeeding.
Naruto smirked and stopped in his tracks. Kyuubi's eye widened. "I will find Teihaku by myself, you Kyuubi will remain in here, locked away from the world." Naruto turned around and began to leave.
A loud ferocious roar boomed through the sewers. "DO NOT DARE TURN YOUR BACK ON ME!" Kyuubi roared in rage. "I AM EVERYTHING YOU NEED! A LIFE OF GOOD WILL ONLY GET YOU SIX FEET UNDER, DARKNESS IS THE ONE TRUE LIGHT! YOU WILL ACCEPT MY POWER!"
"I WILL NOT ACCEPT YOUR POWER!" Naruto roared in return. "YOU WILL OFFER THAT POWER, YOUR LIFE IS CONNECTED TO MINE YES, THEN I WILL PUT MYSELF IN TO CERTAIN DEATH SITUATIONS, UNTIL YOU BEG ME TO ALLOW YOU TO GIVE ME YOUR POWER TO SAVE YOURSELF. YOU HAVE NO AUTHORITY OVER ME! IF DARKNESS IS THE ONLY LIGHT, THEN I SHALL CLOSE MY EYES TO THE LIGHT!"
Both looked at each other dead in the eyes, each unwavering. The Kyuubi began to chuckle. "Such charisma, I haven't seen so much since the Shodaime Hokage, you have proven yourself interesting. For that I will give you the smallest taste of the power you could possess."
Red chakra began to leak through the sewers gates following Naruto out of the sewers. As soon as Naruto passed the the opening into the opening, the chains began to moving by themselves. Kyuubi watched the chains wrap around the limbs of an individual. The figure was weak and breathing heavily, the sound of sobbing resounded.
"Why?" The figure spoke between sobs. "Why don't they appreciate me?... Why do they hate me? Why do they blame me for something that wasn't my fault?... It wasn't my fault?... It wasn't my fault? It wasn't my fault? IT WAS HIS FAULT! BECAUSE OF HIM I AM ALONE, I AM HATED. IT'S ALL BECAUSE OF HIM! BECAUSE OF MY FATHER!"
Kyuubi looked at the screaming figure, the sly grin foxes became famous for appear on it's face.
"So the manifestation of the other one begins..."
-Break-
Naruto's eyes shot open back in the training ground, however they were not his eyes, the pupil slitted, the iris blood red. His canines began to elongate, his nails sharpened to claws. The whiskers adorned on his face darkened and thickened. His eyes darted to his shoulder, red chakra bubbles out of his skin, covering his entire body. With one load roar, the air was filled with malicious intent, one that hasn't been felt for twelve years.
-Break-
"T-That chakra." A veteran shinobi spoke weakly, he had been out shopping for groceries with his wife and daughter, this was a chakra that couldn't be forgotten. He looked around other older shinobi recognised it as well, the younger paralysed with fear.
As soon as the chakra was there it had vanished. The shinobi's guards were still up, but the panic had begun to subside. The question on everyone's mind was: What could possibly be going on?
-Break-
Minato stared out of his office window, searching for the location of the chakra's exact point.
"Minato!" Hiruzen voice appeared behind him, Minato saw the the aged Hokage was ready for battle. "I assume you felt it too? The Kyuubi's chakra."
"Yes, I did." Minato looked out the window again. 'What could you possibly be doing, Naruto?'
-Break-
The chakra poured back into his body, forming a cloak of chakra, a tail sprouting from behind, long ears on the head. Naruto flexed his hand and smiled. He could feel an increase in power in an instant, the Kyuubi was dark and ruthless and sickening, but Naruto couldn't deny, it was strong. Bee and Yagura had managed to control their Jinchuuriki, perhaps he could learn as well.
He punched the air, the chakra on his arm extended for, smashing through several trees and a boulder, before returning to Naruto. The chakra faded back into Naruto's body. The red eyes returning to brilliant blue.
'The power is too destructive. I'm not ready yet. The Kyuubi will have too much control over me.' Naruto flexed his hand again. Naruto's eyes darted to the right. "Come out!"
-Break-
Sasuke watched everything that transpired intently, that chakra wasn't normal, it wasn't even human, it was something much worse. How did he manage to summon that power, could Mito use it as well?
"Come out!" Sasuke heard Naruto shout, Naruto was also looking in his direction. Sasuke stepped out into the clearing slowly.
"Sasuke Uchiha, why are you here?" Naruto asked, clearly annoyed at being interrupted.
"I'm here because you are strong, stronger than any of the excuses of passing genin. To achieve my goals I must be strong, strong than you, you will be the biggest stepping stone towards my own brother." Sasuke spoked with a glare.
"Itachi. There is no way you could ever hope to defeat him. Give up on that dream Sasuke, you are weak." Naruto spoke bluntly and harshly, but why? Did the Kyuubi still have a bit of control over him, or was Naruto speaking from the heart.
Sasuke growled with rage before charging forwards towards the blonde. He swung at the blonde, who easily dodged. Sasuke felt his arm being grabbed, followed by a knee in the stomach before being thrown across the clearing, his back crashing into a boulder.
Sasuke opened his eyes in pain and saw Naruto standing tall above him, the sun being blocked behind his body.
"Calm down and think." Naruto spoke, he himself was calm. " I knew Itachi, he was never the type to attack mindlessly. As his brother you should of realised that as well, try to learn why Itachi did what he did. But to understand you must first forgive."
Sasuke growled in anger. "What could you possibly understand! You, the son of the Hokage, everything is showered onto you! You have no idea of pain and loneliness! I know why Itachi did it, to test his own capabilities! I understand him, I understand his motives and I understand you! You're all talk!"
Naruto's eyes flashed red. Killing intent rolled off his body and onto Sasuke. Sasuke felt like his throat was closing, that his brain was trying to destroy itself. This killing intent was worse than Itachi's on that night.
The killing intent was so bad that it activate the Uchiha defence mechanism in Sasuke, his eyes changed to a blood red, two black tomoe appeared in his right eye and one tomoe appeared in his left. Sasuke's Sharingan awakened, and now he could see what Naruto was.
His chakra was demonic, it was malicious, as if it had a life of it's own. The chakra began fading and a regular blue chakra appeared in Naruto's body.
Naruto looked Sasuke dead in the eye, calm but serious.
"Do not attempt to understand me or my pain."
Naruto vanished with a gust of wind, leaving Sasuke alone in the clearing.
-Break-
Naruto appeared right in front of house house compound's front door. As he walked through the door, he couldn't help feel like something was off. He entered the house and went straight through to the kitchen, where he found Mito, her pink haired teammate and six other kids sitting around, they were all looking at him in wonder, he recognised one of them, Hinata, the timid girl he had met when he was forced to go to those meetings, but the rest were new faces. The face that scared him the most was the platinum haired girl, her starry-eyed stare was creeping him out.
"Hi Naru-nii, we are having a little graduation party. You're welcome to join us." Mito smiled at her brother.
"But I didn't graduate. I have no reason to be at this party ." Naruto calmly stated, just then he felt extra weight on his arm, the blonde girl from moments ago had latched onto his arm. 'How did she move that fast!' Naruto stared at where she was sat and where she was now.
"Nonsense!" She spoke loudly in his ear. "As Mito's brother, your more than welcome to join us!" The girl dragged him towards the group and sat down next to him. "I'm Ino, by the way!"
"A pleasure. I'm Naruto." Naruto replied, he tried fidgeting his arm loose of the girl's grip.
Ino looked at the blonde boy, impressed. He was everything she imagined him to be, she could feel through his long sleeved shirt the muscles on his arm, his face a spitting image of the Hokage's. Even the whisker marks on his face, they made him look tribal, rebellious. "Introduce yourselves!" She shouted at the rest of the group.
"Shikamaru Nara" A black haired boy sighed, his hair tied back into a spiky ponytail. His facial expression was lazy, lazier than Kakashi's.
"Choji Akimichi. Hi." A large boy said between eating snacks. His face was round with a red swirl of each cheek. Brown hair was held up by his headband.
"Shino Aburame." A boy with a high collar covering the lower of his face spoke. Black sunglasses blocked his eyes from view. His dark brown hair standing up spiked.
"Yo. Kiba Inuzuka!" A boy with red markings on his cheeks grinned. His hood covered his hair from view, his facial features were angry, yet happy at the same time. With him was a little white dog resting on his head.
"H-Hello, N-Naruto-kun." Hinata spoke timidly, the other looked at her weirdly. 'kun?'
"Hello Hinata." Naruto sighed a bored sigh. He really didn't want to be here, he had to prepare for his mission tomorrow. But this Ino wouldn't drop her vice grip on his arm, he was beginning to contemplate cutting it off with his sword, blood circulation had already stopped a few minutes ago.
"We've met but not properly, I'm Sakura Haruno." Mito's pink haired teammate spoke with a smile.
"And I'm Mito Namikaze." Mito introduced herself as well, just in case. Ino could be really scary when she was angry.
"And I'm Ino Yamanaka!" Ino reminded him.
"Uh. Hello." Naruto waved to them with his free hand. "Could you let go of me now."
"So tell us about yourself Naruto, you're hobbies, you're dislikes, what you look for in a girl." Ino began bombarding him with questions at an alarming rate.
Inwardly Naruto began panicking, he was hoping for someone to get him away from them all.
Someone must of heard him because at that moment, his father walked into the kitchen.
"Y-Yondaime-sama!" Ino blushed slightly. Her grip on Naruto's arm loosened, enabling him to slip his arm out of her death lock.
"Hi dad!" Mito smiled widely at her father, he was never home at this time of the day.
Minato flashed a quick smile to her before turning to Naruto. "Naruto, I need to talk to you. It's important." Minato walked back out of the room, Naruto quickly followed him out, flexing his arm, trying to get the blood back.
-Break-
Naruto followed his father to his study, shutting the door behind him, Naruto sighed in relief. "Thanks for getting me out of there dad." Naruto looked up and saw his father looking down at him sternly, a face he never showed before.
"Naruto. The Kyuubi's chakra flared in the village a couple of hours ago, sending everyone into panic. What were you doing?" Minato asked, his voice as stern as his face.
Naruto didn't want to lie about what happened, what could be wrong about learning to control the Kyuubi, it would be better than having no control at all. "I spoke to the Kyuubi for the first time today."
Minato's face didn't falter. "And what did it say?"
Naruto was about to make up a story to cover what really happened. But he found that it might be more interesting to find out how far his parents were willing to go to cover the life of Teihaku. "It started talking about some guy...a guy with spiky red hair. It was saying that he had a special connection to me."
"What guy?" Minato's stern voice repeated.
"A person named Te-. Uh...Ti-. Teihaku. But I never heard the name before, so it startled me. Then the Kyuubi in my surprise tried to take over me, but I managed to suppress it. Whose Teihaku?" Naruto lied.
"I don't know." Minato once stern voice was gone, replaced with a croaky, quiet voice. As if he was struggling to get those words out.
Naruto smiled, this was a low. To deny Teihaku's existence to his face. "Then the Kyuubi was just making him up to get me confused I guess." Naruto shrugged.
Minato nodded slowly, he seemed to accept it. "So what happens now?" Minato asked him. "I mean, with the Kyuubi's chakra."
"I'm gonna try to learn to control it. So I can be a good Jinchuuriki. Just like Bee." Naruto smiled
Minato smiled in return and ruffled Naruto's hair. "Think I'll stay up here. That Ino girl's scaring me." Naruto looked at the door. Minato laughed at his son. It was his first time dealing with a girl who liked him, that was obvious, but it wouldn't be his last.
-Break-
"Be safe Naruto." Kushina hugged her son, he was leaving for his mission, Minato, herself and Mito coming to see him off at the gates of the village. Kushina jumped slightly when she felt his arms wrap around her, something her had not done in a long time, but they had never done anything together as a family for a long time. She let go of her son a smiled, Naruto smiled back slightly.
"Good luck Naru-nii." Mito quickly hugged her brother than let him go. Moving on before he had a chance to react, he was always to cool to accept hugs from his sister.
Minato came next and stood with his arms crossed. "Are you sure you don't want any back up for this mission?" Minato looked down at his son.
Naruto nodded. "Any back up you send wouldn't be able to understand what me and the escort talk about." Naruto looked at his dad, who understood what he was talking about.
"I should be back in a week." Naruto spoke again.
Minato nodded. "Hurry back."
At that moment Naruto hugged Minato, an incredibly awkward situation for the both of them. Naruto did it because he just felt that it was the right thing to do. Naruto quickly let go "See ya." With that he ran out of the village, towards his mission objective.
-Break-
Mito watched the cat being choked by the Daimyo's wife, she didn't feel the slightest bit of sympathy for it. It deserved it, making them chase around after it all day.
"Dad, can we please have a better mission." Mito pleaded.
"Sorry, Mito, standard protocol, new Genin teams can only take D-rank missions until their sensei deems them ready for harder missions." Minato apologised to his daughter.
"I think they're ready sensei." Kakashi spoke bored, he was quite happy doing D-rank missions, but if he said they weren't he'd get an earful from all three of them.
"Really." Minato's eyebrow rose. "Well, there's a C-Rank escort mission here, but I doubt you'd want that-"
"We'll take it!" Mito shouted answering for her team.
Minato smiled. "Very well, send in the client." He asked a Konoha shinobi, who left. A few minutes later, an aged man entered the room, he appeared drunk, evident by the Sake bottle in his hand. "These are the people who are escorting me, they're just a bunch of kids!" The man hiccuped. "Hey. This blonde one looks a lot like you." The man looked at Mito, then to Minato.
"Tazuna-san this is team 7, Kakashi Hatake, Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno and Mito Namikaze. They will be more than enough for this mission." Minato smiled.
The man, Tazuna looked at the group. "Very well then. I'd like to leave right away, get ready!" He slammed the door shut.
Everyone looked at Mito, she shrugged her shoulders "Better than weeding a garden." She left through the door going to prepare for the mission.
-Break-
Naruto looked at Takigakure, he was impressed, the village hid in the undercut of the massive water, safe in a small cave leading into a wide opening, flora bloomed everywhere in a set of different colours. He looked at the massive tree in the background, all in all Taki appeared to be a nice place to leave visually. But he continued on with his mission.
"Excuse me." Naruto attracted the attention of a passing Taki shinobi. "I'm here on behalf of Konoha as an escort for one, Fū, do you know where they are?"
The shinobi looked at Naruto like he had been insult. "Why would I care where she is." The shinobi promptly walked away.
Naruto's eyebrow rose. What was that about, was she another like Gaara, scorned from her village. For the next few hours Naruto walked around Taki. Asking for Fū's whereabouts, people either ignored the question or told him not to associate with the girl, and it was beginning to annoy him, it would be easier just looking around instead of asking for help. He scanned high and low for Fū, it wasn't easy seeing as he didn't know what she looked like.
He came to overgrown reeds near the bed of the water, they must have been 4 metres tall. He pushed through them with effort, the reed's weight suddenly stopping fighting against him and he fell forwards, he landed in a small clearing, and he wasn't alone.
A girl with dark skin sat across the clearing. She appeared to be around his age. Bright, spiky mint green hair framed her face down to shoulder level, the hair adorned with an orange hair clip that matched the colour of her pupilless eyes. Her outfit consisted of a short sleeveless white midriff shirt with fishnet armour underneath, long white armlets, and fishnet shorts with a short white apron skirt over it. Her forehead protector was worn on her arm. On her back was a red cylindrical object that Naruto couldn't comprehend it's usage.
She was muttering to herself in a whisper. So quietly that Naruto couldn't understand what she was saying.
"Are you Fū?" Naruto asked her, the girl looked up angrily.
"Whose asking?" She replied harshly.
"I am Naruto Namikaze, I am here to escort you to Konoha for the Hokage to check and update your seal." He replied, the girl's eyes hardened drastically.
"Good one. This is just another attempt from my village to get rid of me, they all hate me. And it's not even my fault." She looked back to the ground, sadly. "Go away, Naruto Namikaze, no one else talks to me, why should you be any different."
Naruto sighed and moved towards her. "I should probably explain the reason why I was chosen for this mission." He stretched his back and looked up. "I am the only one from my village who could understand you. Because I am a Jinchuuriki as well."
Fū's head sprung up. "Y-You are a Jinchuuriki too." She stared at her kindred spirit. "Do they hate you too?"
"What?"
"Your village, do they hate you too?" She repeated her question.
Naruto sighed and sat down next to her. His face was contemplative "Good question. I'm not sure, I think they do, I can feel their hate sometimes, but because of who I am, I feel like they have to like me, less they invoke my father's wrath."
"And who is your father, God?" Fū replied snidely.
"Close, he apparently can't do no wrong. He's the Yondaime Hokage. I feel like because of him they do their best to like me, but they can never shift the hatred from their mind. They feel like I will never be able to control the beast inside" Naruto spoke.
Fū returned to looking at the ground. "The same for me, the villagers despise me, I have no important family members, they have no need to like or appreciate me, so they don't. I-I hate them because I can't prove them wrong. That I can control the beast inside."
Naruto looked at her softly, sympathy for the girl flew through his body. "My father is a master at seals, he'll improve the seal to make it easier to control, then you can prove to your village your right to exist, that you are a hero to them." He stood up and smiled. His hand extending in front of her.
Fū looked at him in those deep blue eyes. 'He called me a hero.' Fū thought, she had never been given a compliment of any kind. A faint blush appeared on her face as she smiled slightly and grabbed his hand. Her hoisted her to her feet. She nodded at the blonde.
"Let's go."
A/N: Well chapter 9 done and dusted. As I said before, one of my favourite chapters. Although there is one thing I should explain. Naruto's personality with Sasuke isn't really him, The Kyuubi's chakra is mixed into it's will. So when Naruto used it it had some control and it's will apeared as well, Naruto hasn't learned to separate them yet. Naruto also seems to be having mixed personalities but that is because he has been so reclusive that he doesn't know how to interact with others.
(1) Hinata called him Neji-nii-san so Naruto thought he was her brother.
Gonna update To Become A Master soon, although I have lost the will to write it, I am hoping the next chapter will reignite my passion for writing it...
