Disclaimer: I don't own the elements of the already existing fictions that I have used to create my own stories using them.
Chapter 9: Big News.
"Alright, now keep your arm up Naruto."
Nodding to Shiho's command, Naruto kept his hand up, his palm opened, facing towards her as she held a handheld weapon that she had gotten from the Kryptonian ship with her hands, her right hand holding the handle and the trigger while the left one only held the handle to stabilize her hold.
"Ready?" Naruto asked the girl.
"Yup... 3...2...1."
Pulling the trigger using her right index finger, sending out a blue-colored plasmic energy with a small booming sound towards Naruto, who had prepared for such outcome.
It hit him right on his outstretched arm, exploding on impact and would've burned down his clothes due to the heat of the explosion and its force would've flayed his skin... If not for the fact that he wore the suit that was as resistant to damage as he was.
It had been two weeks since the discovery of the alien ship. The cave had gone through some changes since then, got cleaned up and all, mostly with the help of all of the ones with 'superpowers' who helped whenever they can.
Hiruzen told them that he would risk a leak, but he didn't expet that Naruto and his friends work the stuff that Hiruzen would've given to the workers that he could have commissioned. Especially with Naruto, Satsuki and Sakura using their respective powers that acted as a more-than-acceptable substitute for a number of workforce.
Though he told them that he would risk a leak, Hiruzen should've expected that the ones whose existences he intend to keep a secret would not sit idly by when they're able to help.
Besides, this way, the risk of a leak was severely lessened, and Hiruzen knew that it wouldn't make any difference to disallow them from doing what they did.
Because they would do it nonetheless, regardless of his orders or not.
Shiho had been rather taken by the technologies that the ship had contained, including the one that she, Naruto, Ino and the others called as a 'gun'. An invention of the alien race that was designed for mid-to-far range combat, weapons that shot projectiles at terminal velocity that no kunai-throwing skills could mimic or compensate.
"That was good. This sidearm is really handy." Shiho said, using a term that only few knew. Thanks to the memory sharing that Ino had done to those who were in the know of the ship but did not experience what Naruto did with the robot, even Ino herself had to extract it from his memory.
"But why would your fabric be more durable than the others? I mean, sure, the other suits are durable as well, but I've tested firing this on some of them, and they tear and burned because of the energy, why not yours?" Shiho asked Naruto out of slight bewildered curiosity.
Naruto shrugged and said; "Perhaps my powers' influenced this suit in some way." he said, half-jesting half-serious.
Shiho mulled over what he said for a minute before tilting her head slightly and nodded, "...Maybe. I'll need to look into that."
The sudden interest that Shiho had taken in mastering the weapon was not without reason, as she herself acknowledged that besides her strange 'superpower', she had no offensive or defensive powers that she could use to defend herself.
A bit of compensation was in order, she had said to her fellow superhumans before, and they accepted the reason without too much of a hassle. In fact, they were somewhat amused by the way she explained it, which involved a lot of fast talks that almost failed her from getting her point across.
Another thing that they had quite taken with was the concept of the costume, which, as of this moment, was only worn by Naruto but had at least garnered the others' attention to the point of wanting one to be made for them.
Some even had personal preference that they wanted to integrate in their own costume, outside of Shikamaru and Naruto, they wanted to ditch the integrated coat and stick with the skinsuit only, preferring the lesser restrictions that could be done if the coat were ditched.
Packed with some knowledge about how to modify the clothes present on the ship which was thirty in total, Shiho volunteered herself to work on the costumes, considering that she was the one who suggested the project to the Hokage in the first place.
Using the tools available at her disposal within the ship, she had spent the whole two weeks creating on a costume for Satsuki, which she was now trying out inside the ship while Shiho, Naruto, Yuugao, Shikamaru, Sakura, Ino along with Tenten and Kiba were outside, doing their respective activities.
"You know, you'd think she'd be done by now." remarked Tenten as she looked at the ship that awed her into silent slack-jawed expression when she first laid her eyes upon it. Though the awe part was lessened a bit through daily exposition to it, it still didn't fail to catch her eye every time she came, "It's not as if you'd set up some embarrassing costume, right, Shiho?"
There was a reason why Shiho wanted Satsuki to be the second to wear the costume based from the Kryptonian skinsuit. Apparently, once it's worn, the skinsuit mimicked the user's body so that it would appear as a second skin, the remarkable technology behind it was that it would shrink or enlarge itself when it's touched, made possible by the tiny microbes planted within the suit that would scan the potential user and transform accordingly.
So essentially, the skinsuits were unisex in nature. The microbes could also change the color of the suits, except that unlike the size-alteration technology, the color-changing needed to be done manually, meaning, they had to touch the fabric, concentrate and then speak the Krypton language of 'red', 'purple' and so on. Since she wanted to experiment with the designs to fit the personalities and the demands of the individual on her teams, she decided to make Satsuki her... guinea pig.
Her reason to choose Satsuki was because she had given her a slightly altered skinsuit, one that she had personally modified.
Well, perhaps 'slightly' would be an understatement, considering that it was quite extensive. Not so much as to make it look different, but she certainly made it... distinctive.
Which was why she was a bit sheepish as she looked at Tenten. Though it was not the face of a person who had been caught red-handed, it was the face of someone who was a bit uncertain whether or not the thing that she did was wrong, something on the lines of; 'I don't know, can what I did be considered wrong for many people?' type of expression.
Noticing this, Kiba shook his head and said; "Did you do something that would embarrass her? You know that she hates you already, why do you always push her buttons?"
"Now that's not true, she doesn't hate me." Shiho said to Kiba, "I've been rather liberal in my teases, yes, but they're all within acceptable boundaries." she defended herself.
Ino shook her head and decided to give her piece to the conversation, "Well, she might not hate you, but she is more than a bit agitated with you. So if you did something that could embarrass again..." she trailed off, leaving out the potential threat for Shiho's imagination.
"Oh relax, this is not something that would embarrass her." she said to Ino, "...maybe." she added to herself, hoping that she's right.
The sound of the door leading to the cargo bay door being opened diverted the attention of others, knowing that there was only one person on that ship, which was Satsuki.
As the figure came out, the faces that looked at Satsuki wearing the altered skinsuit were varying degrees of surprise, shock, awe, and nigh-unreadable in the case of one Nara Shikamaru.
Ino whistled and remarked with an approving lop-sided smirk when she saw Satsuki, "You look good."
Satsuki rubbed her left arm in slight embarrassment in being seen with the alien-tailored suit and said; "You really think so?"
What she was wearing was a red-colored skinsuit with the symbol of the House of To colored in white embedded on the center of her breasts, in the same location where the symbol was in Naruto's suit. The pattern of the seams however, were different, where as Naruto's followed the anatomy of human muscles in a stylish way, hers was more organized, giving off the feeling that it was armored, with the shapes of curved triangles angled down.
The distinctive thing about the suit was the fact that on the part where her shoulders were connected to the arm and where her hips were connected to her legs, there were no sleeves, as it was replaced with mesh fabric that somewhat showed her skin, and then it was followed with a pair of thigh-high boots and a pair of sleeve-gloves that extended past her elbows and covered almost every part of her hands except her fingers.
Satsuki took a look at Naruto, who seemed to evaluate her new look before he crossed his arms and smiled as he said; "...You look gorgeous."
The blush that came to her cheeks could easily match the crimson-colored suit that she was wearing, "T-thanks. Y-you look good too, you know. With the costume, I mean." she said rather lamely.
Naruto chuckled and said; "Thanks. Though you said that quite a lot of times already." he remarked back as he was rather amused by hers.
At this, Satsuki realized that she just said something unnecessary and not to mention, embarrassing, and so she decided to nod and turn to Shiho to change the topic of conversation, "S-still, I... I'm not sure if I'm comfortable with the idea of this being my uniform."
"Aw, why not?" asked the bespectacled blonde girl.
"For one, I'm still an eight year old." Satsuki said the obvious.
Shiho merely scoffed as she waved her hand in a dismissive manner, "Oh please, determining our physical and mental age based on our date of birth doesn't really work well with us." she said, "I mean look at Naruto and you for example, can a stranger look at you and how you act and think that you're eight year olds?"
The girl brought a fair point to her argument. Physically speaking, every single one of them looked at least two years older if not more than an eight year old.
Shiho, while the shortest among them with her height of 4.10 feet, was considered as above average for her peers at the academy, whose average was 4.7 feet. Naruto, the tallest of all of them was 5.10 feet tall, with Shikamaru at second with 5.9 feet tall and Satsuki as the third tallest among them and the tallest of the girls at 5.85 feet tall. Kiba was the fourth due to mere 0.05 inches of height separation from Satsuki, Tenten was 5.7 feet tall and Sakura and Ino were 5.6 and 5.58 feet tall respectively.
None of them could be considered as an eight year old. At worst, they could be seen as a twelve year old, especially Shiho, considering she's the shortest, but for Naruto, Shikamaru and Satsuki, they could be considered as fifteen year olds by total strangers.
"Okay, you may have a point there." Satsuki acquiesced, "But-"
"Besides that, I've seen some kunoichi who wear clothes that are more revealing than this." interrupted Shiho, "Like the lady with the obsession over dangos that you've pissed off, remember that Kiba?"
Kiba shuddered at remembering the scary snake-controlling woman with the unbuttoned brown trenchcoat and the mesh shirt that barely covered her torso whom he had learned to never again earn her anger unless he's feeling suicidal, "Ugh... don't remind me please."
"The reason for her choice of clothing is to distract the enemy." Yuugao added her piece into the conversation, "However, I must say that I fail to see the reason to wear them in an environment without hostiles."
"Maybe it's to 'distract' the attention of men." Sakura remarked.
"Or a coping mechanism." said Shikamaru, prompting some curious and weird looks from everyone who heard it, "A product of an event in her past that had an everlasting negative effect on her psyche. Which brought about the choice of clothing."
After a moment of silence, Naruto said; "That actually makes sense."
"Except there's nothing to prove it as of yet." Shikamaru added.
"True. However, considering what we've seen of her behavior, it might also be a defense mechanism, brought about by the aforementioned event and the reaction that those in the know made around her."
"Hm, it certainly fits the category." Shikamaru conceded.
"Okay, enough discussion about the nearly-nude snake lady please, Shiho just used her as an example to defend her choice in adding some mesh fabric to Satsuki's suit, nothing more." Tenten said before the two of them could delve deeper into this discussion.
Shikamaru nodded almost instantly and said; "Fair enough."
"Moving on from that topic..." Shiho said before she continued to speak, "The point is that because of our condition, we can be considered as teenagers, so it wouldn't be too gross or weird to see you wearing that as much as it would be seeing that kind of dress worn by an average eight year-old."
"...Point." Satsuki conceded, "Still, why would you 'modify' it this way? It can't be just because of the availability of the material, can it?" she rhetorically asked as she shot her with an incredulous look.
At this, Shiho once again had the decency to look sheepish. She ruffled her hair as she answered, "I was... inspired by the crazy dango lady."
Hearing this, almost everyone in the vicinity looked at her with varying degrees of incredulity written all over their faces. "What? Her clothes just stuck in my head, I can't let it go, so I decided to do the next best thing!"
"To channel it into an available outlet to make it go away." Naruto assumed.
"Yes, exactly!" said Shiho with gusto before she backtracked and said; "Well no,... but, uh... No yeah, you're right." she conceded.
Satsuki sighed exasperatedly as she shook her head, "I can't believe that I actually believed you when you said you didn't change it too much."
"Hey, that's not a lot of changes, just a different fabric in certain sections and different color." Shiho said, defending her modification to Satsuki's personal costume, "It's essentially the same suit, except without the coat. Compared to what Shikamaru wants, this is nothing."
"Yeah you did go a bit far in requesting those additions, Shikamaru." Kiba remarked.
"Are you suggesting that you do not want to modify it on my behalf, Shiho?" Shikamaru asked the blonde girl, "If so, then I will retract my request."
"No no! That's not what I'm saying at all!" Shiho said as she repeatedly waved her hands, "I will gladly do it for you. For all of you. I'm just using your requested skinsuit as an example of how simplistic Satsuki's suit modifications actually is."
"I see." Shikamaru said with a nod of his head.
"Right. Well..." Shiho said as she looked at her peers, "Well, the suit that would be finished next would be Tenten's, considering that, like Satsuki, she didn't request any extensive modification besides removing the coat. Except that I didn't actually listen to her, but don't worry, I'll follow your word and not modify it too much."
"Yes!" Tenten squeed as she pumped her fist, showing her enthusiasm on being the next in line.
"In the mean time, Satsuki, if you want to test your suit, you can spar with Naruto." Shiho said as she motioned her hand towards Naruto.
Satsuki nodded after taking a deep breath. The suit certainly felt comfortable. It looked very restrictive on the outside, but it was a deceptive illusion as the suit had a technology that mimicked the wearer's movement, and therefore, acting more as a second skin than clothes.
"Sure. Would you mind... Naruto?" she asked her oldest friend.
With an expectant smile, Naruto nodded, "I certainly wouldn't mind."
"Okay then, let's move to a bigger space shall we?" Yuugao said, acting as the referee for the upcoming spar, motioning her hand to the two so that the three of them moved towards the empty space beside the ship.
The two of them walked over to the empty area that would serve as the makeshift arena for their spar. The young man clad in blue and the young woman clad in red walking together side by side with their back straightened and slightly balled fists created some image that was burned within the brain of their friends who walked behind them.
"...Wow." Sakura muttered out in awe. The suit did more than just giving them the image of a cohesive team, it exemplified their remarkable body figure and boosted their charismatic appearance in a way that made them seem more godly than they actually are.
However, considering their powers, the word 'godly' would fit them, if not today, then one day in the future, as Satsuki had been making great progress in improving her usage of her power.
Both of them moved towards their respective position, facing each other while separated by an empty space that ranged to ten to fifteen feet apart. Standing in the middle between the two of them was Yuugao.
"No excessive use of your powers, picture the arena's limits so you two don't get carried away and destroy this cave by moving around too much, and mind your surroundings." Yuugao stated the rules, "Are you ready to begin?"
Naruto nodded and answered with; "Ready."
Satsuki reciprocated the gesture and answered; "Ready."
Yuugao lifted her hand up, "Ready..." and then she swung it back down, "Begin!"
Satsuki and Naruto immediately charged towards each other, her forearm met his and created a small reverberation that was made due to his hardened skin and her energy field contacting with each other, two forces that cancel each other out when they clashed with one another.
It turned out that she was able to make her own brand of enhanced durability thanks to the energy field that she enveloped around her body, and thus, she could hold her ground against Sakura and Naruto.
Naruto stepped backwards as Satsuki unleashed a barrage of punches that she designed to explode her energy field outward to mimic the effect of his enhanced strength, aiming at the general area of the organs that would hurt if it were concussed.
Her strikes were accurate and direct, but even with her fastest speed, she barely could land a hit on any of the targets that she had designated.
Using his forearms, Naruto blocked every single one of her punches, creating numerous quakes that reverberated through the cave, not enough to physically destroy it, but enough to slightly rattle the small objects within it.
It was clear that Satsuki was the more proactive on in this spar and that Naruto was on the defensive. Though Satsuki was rather annoyed at that, she supposed that there was no helping it, considering that his grasp on his power was such that he could not actually let loose.
But that wouldn't stop her from trying to get him to attack her.
She began with a knee attack directed at his right abdomen, moments after it was blocked, Satsuki grabbed his right forearm that blocked her knee kick, jumped upwards, and use her hand as a fulcrum to deliver a kick directed at his head, which was swiftly blocked by his left forearm.
It was not even a second later that she focused almost all of her energy field to her left hand that was grabbing his right forearm and created an explosion that gave out enough force to push her away from Naruto.
Landing on her two legs and balanced by one of her hands, she looked at Naruto... and saw that his forearm was smoking and burnt due to the heat of the explosion that affected him in some way.
Both of them were smiling, Satsuki for landing a successful attack against him, and Naruto because of the same reason that made him rather proud of her. After all, hurting him, no matter how slightly, was a remarkable feat.
Without further ado, Satsuki charged once again, and Naruto accepted it with an expectant grin that mirrored her own.
On the sidelines, Sakura couldn't help but chuckle, "Wow... She managed to hurt him. Then that makes two of us capable of doing that." she then amplified her voice by using her hands as a makeshift bullhorn, "Way to go Satsuki!"
She began with a jab, directed at his abdomen, following his blocking, she performed a cross, directed at his head, finding that he blocked it as well, she performed a knee strike, and so the rhythmic dance between the two battlers continued, rotating and revolving not unlike two people dancing in sync, understanding each other's movements to the point where most can see that their eyes were focused only on the other's.
Though Naruto was holding back, he found that Satsuki's attacks were ferocious and true. Though there were more misses than successful hits, he acknowledged that she was growing more powerful at a rather fast rate, faster than the others even, but compared to Sakura, she was still a bit inferior.
Her smile never left her face, he noticed. And so was his, as both of them found an enjoyment in having the 'dance', as it were. She gave him a kick, he responded with a dodge, she struck with her fists, he responded with his forearms. The maneuvers that they performed were not that hard to follow by those who were watching them, but they were impressive nonetheless.
Satsuki, on her part, acknowledged that if this were a real battle, and Naruto were to get serious and go on the offensive, she would lose big time. However, she and him knew that because it was not, he would not go on the offensive, so she was essentially allowed to do whatever she can to hurt him.
The energy field that she designed to explode on contact managed to hurt him to a degree, but even that was not enough to actually push him to the brink of attacking her directly.
When she found her fist being blocked by his palm, she ceased her attacks and look straight into his eyes. Black met blue as both of them made eye contact, and then she said; "It's really comfortable you know."
"...The suit you mean?" Naruto asked her about her statement.
"...Yes, that's what I mean." Satsuki answered rather bashfully, as she was suddenly reminded about the reason why she had this spar in the first place, "It's... really snug, but not restrictive at all. Doesn't really prevent me from performing excessive movements too."
Naruto then released his hold over her hand and stepped back, "So I guess that concludes our spar, yeah?"
Though Satsuki was rather disappointed at the quick conclusion, she supposed that now the original purpose for her spar had been achieved, there was no reason to continue. She took a step back and nodded, "I agree."
Yuugao nodded and stated; "Very well. I conclude that the fight ends... with a draw." after a moment, she added, "Due to both parties forfeiting."
All of them chuckled a bit at her remark, after it died down, Shiho was the first to speak; "So, who here wants to see a little something that I like to call 'Project Gear-Up'?" she asked rather giddily, hoping that at least one of them would agree.
Sometime later...
"I'm back mom!" Naruto announced his return at late afternoon after the daily meeting between his friends among his superhuman circle, losing the outfit that he was using, and wearing a set of casual clothing consisting of a dark blue shirt, a black cargo pants and a pair of black shoes.
"Welcome back!" Taji responded from the living room, "I bought some dango, would you like some?"
Though the sweet dumpling was a catalyst that would easily remind him of one of the most... unique person that he ever had the luxury of meeting in a wrong circumstance, he still liked it somewhatand so he answered her question positively, "Sure mom!" he answered as he walked towards the living room.
There, he found her sitting in the couch wearing a simple blue sun-dress over a long-sleeved green t-shirt, rather relaxed, and eating a skewered sweet dumpling that was dango while she was reading a small novel. She looked at Naruto, and smiled as she said; "Welcome home Naruto. How was your day?"
Naruto took the liberty to take one of the dangos placed on the coffee table on the front of the couch before he answered her question, "It was good. Satsuki's costume was up for testing today and Shiho did a pretty good job."
Taji knew of the 'costume' that the Shiho girl had been working on. She had also seen the one that her son had taken a liking to, the one that he had designated as his trademark outfit for his own personal use.
She had been somewhat concerned over the idea of a team-specific suit, as it would mean that they were being treated as a special force team similar to ANBU, but when she discovered that it was not the order of the Hokage but the idea of one Shiho Shimamori, her concern was considerably lessened.
"I see." she said as she sipped her green tea, "Besides that, is there anything else of notice that happened?"
"Nothing else, besides Shiho having another project." he said as he took a bite of the dango, "But I've heard about the representatives of Kumogakure coming to Konoha to offer a peace offering to the Hyuuga clan."
That was a piece of news that caught the interest and the suspicion of many people in the village. Several years ago, the relationship between Konoha and Kumo became even more sour than before when the Shinobi who was there to sign a peace treaty between the two villages attempted a kidnapping of Hiashi Hyuuga's daughter in an attempt to steal the information of their special eyes, the Byakugan.
Although it was foiled in the end, Kumogakure denied the accusations and demanded a compensation for their Shinobi's death, and the matter was solved in a low note that left the two villages in a state of fragile peace.
Now, it seemed that an inevitable re-enactment was on the horizon. Hopefully it was not a verbatim re-enactment, but most of the citizens of Konoha were on edge thanks to this planned meeting.
"Yes, it's quite the topic to be talked about these days..." said Taji, whose face was one of concern at facing the uncertainty, "Hasn't the Hokage told you about any of this?" she queried.
"No, and I figured that the old man doesn't want to share." Naruto stated with an even voice, "I understand that, I mean, he has bigger problem than telling the meeting that he would no doubt have to moderate to a guy like me." he said with a shrug.
"Hm." Taji murmured, "Still... this is big. I'm even more surprised with how the Hyuuga agreed to this, with their member kidnapping Hiashi's daughter and demanding his brother's life. I'm thinking that the Hokage had quite a say in the decision."
"Hm, maybe." Naruto conceded to the notion, "I understand the villagers concern though... The last time they're here, they manipulated the peace treaty they had signed moments before they tried to kidnap the Hyuuga leader's daughter so that they could get a compensation if their agent failed. This will be a tense affair once again, and everyone's hoping that it would end in a good note."
"We can only hope." Taji remarked, knowing how important this was to the village as a whole, not just for the Hyuuga only. "Still, the Raikage is quite humble to try and reconcile with us after what happened." she added.
"But he's not coming though, right?" Naruto asked.
"Well no." Taji answered, "Just his representatives, but they represent him, so if I were the elders of the Hyuuga, I would try to at least acknowledge his goodwill and imply my trust to them. But I will also prepare for a fallout or a breach of trust."
Naruto smiled and shook his head at the ANBU side of his mother coming out from her. He had to admit that despite being relocated to a hospital to act as the head nurse for several years, Taji was still considered as more-than-capable to perform field work if need be, but she never once considered going back to the field due to being committed to her son and her current work.
"Anyway..." Taji began, reciprocating her son's smile with her own, "Let's hope that this will not be like the affair from years past."
"I'll drink to that." Naruto said before he hastily added, "Figuratively of course."
She chuckled and said; "Of course. Now, could you please do your mother a favor, Naruto?" she asked of him.
"Sure. What is it?"
Taji motioned the empty spot on the couch right beside her, "Sit with your mother for a bit and talk. We rarely have opportunities to just talk, and I have to say that I miss it."
He looked at his mother with a slight suspicion in his eyes, along with a bit of confusion mixed within, "...Mom, you do know that I can identify someone's emotion based on their tone of voice right? And your current one is... apprehension." he said, his dango forgotten for the moment, "Is there something you want to tell me?"
She procured a rather sad smile before sighing, "As a matter of fact, yes. This is something that's been a long time coming... One day you would learn this anyway, but I want you to know it from me and not from somebody else. Come on Naruto... sit with me for a second."
It was very late at night when one could see a young woman walking in a deserted main walkway in Konoha that would lead to the Uchiha District, the largely depopulated area in the village, thanks to the action of her wayward brother, Itachi Uchiha.
One Satsuki Uchiha was wearing a black long-sleeved t-shirt, dark blue trousers and a pair of black shoes, products of none other than Shiho, who mimicked the foot part of the skinsuit that was their costumes and created some 'prototypes' out of different materials that was of this earth for some of them to use.
She tucked her hands into the pocket of her jeans due to the slight coldness of the cool air of the night, but she was somewhat used to the night's cold embrace for she had been doing the nightly escapades for roughly a month or so.
The air at night was soothing, and so every time she found herself having bouts of insomnia, she would always be drawn to the night life of Konoha, which was not that much, but at the very least there was a sense of serenity brought by the quietness of the village during the time of the night.
Her mother knew this of course, as it seemed nothing could escape her notice, 'That's a retired Kunoichi for you, not one to let go of all the trainings, even when she's no longer active.' she thought.
She knew that her mother was considered one of the best of her clan, the best who's allied with Konoha now, considering that the clan was all but a few people, and so she wasn't truly surprised or shocked when her mother suddenly confronted her during a rather uneventful breakfast.
Mikoto allowed it, but only because she was more than capable of fending off unwanted subjects. If not for that, then she might've been prohibited.
Strength was everything, it seemed. While no one had tried to woo her during these nightly escapades of hers, if there were any hopeful men who were too pushy for their own good, then she would no doubt unleash her power upon them. Not to kill them, just give them some 'incentive' to never try things like that again.
Tonight, she opted to take a walk to the area near the house of the one person that she was... interested in. Though she did not go directly to his house, she decided to stroll around the surrounding area.
Her feet brought her to a park near Naruto's house, the area was surrounded by trees and was also rather separated from the civilized part of the city. However, the lighting were more than adequate.
Whatever it was that she had expected when her mind ordered her feet to bring her here, it was certainly not to see Naruto sitting on a bench lighted by the street lamp adjacent to the bench, crossing his arms with unfocused eyes and an expression that would befit someone who was deep in their thoughts.
Hesitance overcame her almost instantly. What troubled him so? Should she approach him? Was it the best option? At that moment, she was at a loss as to what she should do.
'Something must've happened.' she thought as she had rarely seen Naruto looked so troubled.
It took her a second to take a deep breath and finally decide to do the right thing. She approached him, acted natural, and when she was close enough, she greeted him with a simple... "Hey Naruto."
The blonde looked towards her, their eyes met, and Satsuki found that the blue lights of his eyes that always shined bright had been somewhat dimmed. 'It must've been something terrible.' she assumed.
"Hey, Satsuki." Naruto replied with a voice that only contained a slight vigor to it, "What brings you here at this hour?" he asked.
"I could ask you the same thing." Satsuki replied back with a smile, "What are you doing here looking all contemplative? Did something happen?" she asked, her concern increased as Naruto sighed and ruffled his hair.
"...Can't sleep." he began, "Too much..." he used his right hand to gesture to his head, "...thoughts sticking in my head because of what my mother told me this afternoon."
"What did she tell you?" she asked as she took a seat beside him, which he welcomed.
Naruto took a deep breath before he said, "I'm adopted."
"...Oh." was what Satsuki could only say. Satsuki could feel the atmosphere becoming awkward thanks to this revelation. A part of her was surprised, shocked even, as she had been under the impression that Naruto's father was either dead or left his mother and that he inherited his physical traits solely from his father's side, but him being adopted had never passed her mind before.
Still, a part of her was worried over his reason being all mopey. Could it be that he's angry at his mother or something? "Wow, that... must've been quite a shock, huh?" she asked.
"It was." Naruto said with a nod of his head, "Sure, I might have... toyed with the idea simply because I've never seen my father, but to know that it's actually true was... shocking to say the least." he looked at Satsuki and said; "Still, even though we're not blood-related... I still think that as far as mothers go, I can't ask for a better one than her."
Satsuki smiled at that sincere pronouncement, 'So it was not anger', she thought with relief, "So what's bothering you, Naruto?" she asked of him, rather curious.
Naruto sighed once more before he said, "Well, with this knowledge, I've been thinking about... things in my memories. More particularly, the earliest memory that I have."
Satsuki raised her eyebrows, "What do you mean?"
"My earliest memory, the oldest memory that I can recall... was the first thing that I saw on the very day, the very minute I was born." Naruto answered, prompting Satsuki's eyes to go wide, "I remember looking at the face of a woman. She has crimson hair, dark purple eyes... Beautiful, if my memory is accurate to the real thing. She was tired, sweating, panting, as if she had been doing something that taxed her body, but... she also looked radiant, happy, and very much filled with joy when she laid her eyes on me."
He then looked at Satsuki with tearful eyes and said; "With what mom told me, I'm beginning to think this woman in my memory is... or was... my birth mother."
Satsuki had shaken off her surprise at knowing his capability to remember that far back and realized the implication of what he was saying. With all his powers, Satsuki had learned to not be too surprised if he exhibited or told her about new ones in addition to the ones that he already had, and so she believed him, but was a little bit surprised.
The unsaid part of what he just said was that despite knowing what his birth mother looked like, he didn't know who she was. Trying to confirm this, she said; "Do you know who she is?"
"...No." Naruto answered with a slight shame apparent in his tone, "I want to ask my mother about her, but... I can't." he then took a deep breath before continuing, "On one hand, I want to know this woman, who gave birth to me and her husband, my birth father. Mom said they were special, two powerful ninjas in their own right, I'm, naturally, curious."
"On the other hand?" Satsuki asked.
"...I feel that I've no need to ask further." Naruto answered, "Whatever their reason was to leave me in my mom's care, I'm just glad that they chose the right person. That, and... I'm hesitant because I consider Taji-okaasan as the only mother that I will ever have. I don't... need to know my birth mother. Taji-okaasan is the only parent that has been accompanying me these years and nothing's going to change that."
Seeing Naruto so adamant made her wonder if it were a cover or a genuine sentiment, "Naruto... are you sure you don't want to know this woman who gave birth to you?" she asked.
"...I'm not sure, Satsuki." Naruto admitted, "I mean come on, I have Taji-okaasan, why would I want to know this red-headed woman or her husband? I have her and that's enough."
"But you're curious aren't you?" Satsuki asked, "Don't you want to know what they're like? Why they are not here now?"
Naruto sighed before he admitted in a whisper, "Maybe." he said before he shrugged, "But... maybe I'll ask her at a later time... I'm content in just knowing that I'm adopted, for now at least. I'm still trying to accept it."
Satsuki nodded as she patted his back to console him, "How is she? Taji-san I mean."
"Sleeping peacefully now." Naruto answered, "She was slightly worried over what my reaction would be after she told me, but I told her repeatedly that she had nothing to worry about. She's my mother, nothing can change that, not even this."
Both of them smiled as a moment of comfortable silence fell on them. The moment met its end when Naruto turned to her and ask; "So what are you doing here at this time of night?"
"Can't sleep either." Satsuki answered as she slowly made her way closer to him, "Don't worry, mom knows and she allows me to do it. And if there's any 'hopeful suitors' that forcefully woo me, I can handle myself well."
"Why can't you sleep?"
"...It's one of those nights." Satsuki answered, "There are times when I just can't close my eyes and drift away. Even before what Itachi did, this happened to me sometimes. This past month, it keeps... increasing. It affected me I guess, more so than I thought." she admitted.
Noticing how she no longer used the affective suffix that she had been using to call her brother as before the massacre, Naruto then offered his help, "Is there anything that could help you to sleep whenever this happens?" Naruto asked.
Satsuki was silent for more than a minute, her face progressively become more red as seconds passed away, with her mind coming up with a method that had worked before to make her insomnia go away, but from a very long time ago.
Naruto smiled teasingly when he noticed the reaction, "Is it something embarrassing?"
"No, it's just... something that I haven't used for a long time." Satsuki answered. "It's when I was little three to four years ago... whenever I got up in the middle of the night and I can't sleep I would go over to my mother and ask her if I could sleep with her. She always agreed and I would always be fast asleep in seconds in her embrace."
Naruto immediately understood why she was embarrassed, "And you can't exactly do that again now that you're that age. Physically and mentally speaking I mean."
Satsuki sighed and nodded, "Yeah, 'cause that would be... embarrassing."
"Hm..." then, Naruto got an idea, he smiled brightly as he turned to Satsuki and suggested something that she could do without any bad undertone in what he asked; "Why don't you try it out with me?"
She was surprised by his suggestion, shocked even, flabbergasted, to the point where her face was completely reddened as she said; "W-w-what?"
Without any change in his tone of voice, he repeated the question; "Why don't you try it with me? It's not too much of a suggestion is it?"
"Well, it's... not... appropriate." she tried to explain, "I mean..."
"Why won't it be appropriate? Sure, we're of opposite sexes, but it's not like we're doing anything wrong, right?" Naruto argued before he said, "I'm just saying that if you don't feel comfortable asking your mother, you could try it with me. I wouldn't mind."
Sometimes, Naruto could be rather dense, this Satsuki knew. Or, from another perspective, he simply did not have the mind of a man who would find a man and woman sharing a bed but not having sexual intercourse as scandalous and his suggestion could be said as what a friend would say to try and help them.
To those who did not know him that well, they might take offense to what he said if they heard it. Satsuki, who knew him quite well, did not.
"...Well... try here? Right now?" she asked.
"Sure." Naruto stated, "Lean your head on my shoulder, see if it works."
Satsuki nodded and did what he said. She trusted him more than enough to not do inappropriate things to her while she's asleep, that is, if she could sleep in his embrace.
She closed her eyes and sighed blissfully, knowing that it would take five minutes or so before the effects would work its magic and drift her away.
She lost the battle with the remarkably fast-working drowsiness that came over her in the span of thirty seconds after she placed her head on his shoulder.
Hearing her breathing getting calmer and more subdued, Naruto knew that she had fallen asleep. He was surprised at himself, more particularly, at how fast and effective his presence was that she was able to sleep after just a short time.
'She just need someone she trusts enough I guess.' Naruto thought before he sighed, 'Well, you got yourself into this Naruto... Either you sleep here with her or remain awake the whole night to guard over her...'
He found that he did not mind the two options available at his disposal during the current circumstance as he turned his gaze upwards and let the girl sleep on his shoulder.
...
It was the light of the morning sun that set the stage of the arrival of Kumogakure's representatives in Konohagakure. They arrived in group of eight, with the physically biggest, dark-skinned one with the scar over his right eye and white hair styled into a mohawk ponytail as the leader in front of them as they march towards the gate of Konoha with their respective attires that signified them as Jounins of Kumogakure.
Arriving at the big red gate, the group was welcomed by the Hokage along with a set of Jounins and Chuunins that flanked him. The old monkey's face was unreadable as he looked at the leader of the Kumogakure's group with a level, neutral gaze.
The man dipped his head as he said to Hiruzen; "Greetings, Hokage of Konoha. My name is Mori, the Raikage sent me here to give our peace offering and discuss the new peace treaty that concerns the settlement of affair with the Hyuuga few years ago." he introduced himself.
Hiruzen nodded once and said; "We have been expecting you. The Hyuuga representatives has allowed you to enter the village, but not to their estates. You must understand that after Kumo's last visit they are not willing to risk such incident to happen again."
Mori wanted to say that what the idiotic shinobigashira did to the head clan's daughter was not sanctioned by the Raikage but by some of the members of the councils which he also worked with because of the promise of a promotion. He wanted to say that the councilmen who ordered the shinobi to kidnap the little Hyuuga girl had paid for their crime, but he knew that this was not the place to speak of such things. After all, they did demand the clan head's corpse simply because they did not want to admit they made a mistake.
In fact, if he were lucky enough, this meeting would go on smoothly and he would be able to settle a more peaceful relationship between the two village. So he instead said; "Very well. Where shall we have this meeting then?"
"In the Flaming Leaf. It is a hotel, one that has a conference room that is appropriate for the meeting to take place in, in place of the Hyuuga estate and the Council Room, since they are not appropriate to be used for different reasons." answered the Hokage, "We shall take you there. Follow us please."
Mori nodded and wordlessly ordered his subordinates to follow.
From the far back, there was one Kumogakure Jounin that wore a set of clothing that showed no skin whatsoever, including a rather extensive headwear that consisted of a mask and bandages that covered almost every part of his face except for his eyes.
From what could be ascertained about his features from the window of the headwear that showed his eyes and some part of his skin, one could see that his eyes were dark grey and his skin was slightly pale.
If one were to glance at him for a second, they would find him rather strange before moving on to whatever they were doing, but if they were to spend at least a minute or two... They would find nearly-transparent veins beneath his skin that seemed to glow under certain angles.
They did not notice how his mouth smiled rather wickedly as he followed Mori and the others into Konoha and to the unaware little villagers, Shinobi or not, that inhabited it.
Opening her eyes at the light that hit her eyes, Satsuki woke up in a slow manner, her consciousness took a while to recharge before she could be fully aware of the circumstances of her surroundings.
She felt rather refreshed for some reason, despite the fact that the pillow that she had placed her head to sleep with was not that soft, in fact, it was rather hard against her head, but somehow, she felt fine with it.
However, when she realized that she was not in her bedroom, or in a bedroom to be exact, she was confused as to where she was and what it was that she had been leaning on to.
Moving her head to face the object that she had been sleeping with, she found the face of one Kanzaki Naruto, with eyes opened and a smile filled with mirth, his blue eyes contacted her black ones and Satsuki found herself blushing.
"Morning." he said, and with a slight shriek she pushed herself off of him and fell into the ground as she slid off the bench that they had been using. Naruto chuckled as he stood and extend his hand towards the girl, "In case you didn't notice, you fell asleep on my shoulder last night."
"D-did I?" she asked as she took his hand to stand up, "Wow, did you have any sleep last night as well?"
"Uh, no." Naruto answered with a shake of his head, "I didn't feel drowsy enough I suppose. But, hey, it's not as if I really need it, right?"
After that rhetorical question, Naruto then said to her, "Hey, next time you have a difficulty sleeping, don't hesitate to ask me for help, okay?"
Seeing him simply walking away after what they just did, Satsuki, out of impulse, and perhaps due to her current state of awareness brought by the admittedly good night's rest, decided to take a metaphorical leap as she then said; "Wait. Naruto, wait a second." he then turned to her, and she continued, "Do you want to go out sometime?"
The question came like a lightning strike on a clear, cloudless day. On the back of her head, Satsuki wondered where did that question come from as it seemed to come out of the blue. However, seeing that it's already out there, she decided to ride with the waves, so to speak.
"Go out? Just the two of us?" Naruto asked, seeking a confirmation, as he was as confused as she was.
"Y-yeah, just the two of us." Satsuki confirmed before she added, "M-more than just two friends hanging out, it's... a..."
"...Like a date?" Naruto asked again.
"...Yeah." she confirmed with a slightly lower voice.
He huffed, somewhat caught off-guard by this after what they did together, "What brought this on?" he asked.
"I don't know..." she answered with complete honesty, as she was carried on by the sudden impulse that seemed to come out of nowhere, "It's just came to my mind so... Uhm, what do you say?"
Naruto ruffled his hair, somewhat confused by the sudden request. But then he thought that there was no harm in accepting and so he said; "Sure, why not?" he rhetorically asked, "How about tomorrow, after afternoon training, we go out to have an early dinner or something and then go wherever?"
She was beaming, her lips were open wide and she said rather breathlessly; "S-sure, that'll be... that'll be great." said Satsuki, emphasizing on the word great.
"It's settled then." Naruto said, his mind was already making plans. He was fond of Satsuki, and considering that she was brave enough to be the one to ask, she should be given the proper treatment, "Afternoon training would be over by five, right? So after that, we'll have our date."
Satsuki then pointed her finger towards him and said; "I'll hold on to that." she then nodded and walked away, "See you around Naruto!" she waved at him as she ran away towards the direction of her home.
Naruto sighed with a smile on his face as he ruffled his hair again, "A date huh...? Maybe I should ask mom for advice... I never had one before..." muttered Naruto.
However, before he could do that, he needed to visit someone. Someone nearby. Someone standing behind a tree located at two o'clock from his position.
He called out to this person by turning to the aforementioned tree and yelled; "Ino! Come and show yourself, I know you've been hiding behind that tree!"
The pale-blonde haired girl came out after a second of contemplation, thinking that she might be able to get away, but after she's reminded of the fact that his senses was beyond compare, she relented.
She chuckled sheepishly and said; "Hey Naruto... Uh, what a coincidence." she said, her rather disappointing attempt at lying.
He turned and walked over to her before saying; "You've improved your stealth skill, but I felt a pull on the back of my head and I knew that it was you. Were you in Satsuki's head too? Influencing her?" he asked rather sternly.
"Well... yes." Ino said before she raised her hands, "But! I was just giving her an impulse, you know, one that would push her to ask you out, I didn't try to control her mind or something." she then smiled and said rather giddily, "And she did! It was so adorable!"
"And were you trying to influence me to say yes?" he asked.
"Well... I tried at least." answered Ino, confirming the fact that she had tried, but failed to influence his mind for some reason, "But I'm glad that you agreed. And, if you want any advice, just ask."
Naruto sighed, "Well, I could use some. It's my first date after all, what do you think I should do?"
The blonde girl merely chuckled as she said; "I'd love to give you advice, but I'm supposed to be home ten minutes ago." she then picked up the grocery bags that she had placed on where she showed up, "Still, I'll help you out Naruto, we don't have any scheduled training now, don't we? With the Kumogakure dignitaries coming and all, so how about I meet you in your house? Or, if you're not comfortable, come to mine?
"Sure. Come to my house, just... don't get anybody else to come, okay?"
"No promise on that." Ino said with a rather mischievous smile, she then patted his shoulder before going her separate way, "I'll see you later then, okay Naruto?"
"Yeah! Just don't get anybody else!" he yelled to her.
"No promises!" Ino said back as she quickened her pace.
Naruto shook his head, somewhat wondering what he had gotten herself into, a date with his best friend, seeking an advice from one of her best friends. All of this seemed much harder to face than when he first discovered his powers and tried to make sense of it all on his own, and it ended quite badly before he sought his mother for help and assurance.
'Well, if I could get past that, I'm sure I can get past this.' Naruto thought before he walked towards his house, his home.
Mikoto found something that made her so happy when Satsuki burst into the house after spending a night out.
She was smiling, but more than just her expression, her body language practically broadcasted her elation over something that must've happened that made her this way.
However, being her mother, she had to know where she had gone, so she cleared her throat to earn her attention, "Where have you been, Satsuki?" she asked.
She at least had the decency to look sheepish, "I... spent the night out mom. Sorry." she said, genuinely apologizing for what she did.
Mikoto shook her head at her daughter's behavior, and then she continued; "What did you do for a whole night? I hope you didn't do anything unsavory." she said with a stern tone.
"Oh no, of course not mom, come on!" Satsuki vehemently denied, "I was... with Naruto."
Seeing her mother raising her eyebrows with a look that clearly said; 'And you expect me to believe you didn't do anything unsavory with him?', Satsuki then shook her head, "Not in that way mom. I was strolling at night near Naruto's house, I saw him on a bench, spent some time with him, then I fell asleep. Nothing like what you're assuming happened, honest."
There was a moment of silence that seemed quite tense, then, it was broken when Mikoto said; "How did you fell asleep?"
"...I was... leaning on his shoulder." Satsuki answered, feeling a blush creeping on her cheeks, "I got so comfortable and I just... drifted."
Though Mikoto had known that there was an attraction, she did not know that her daughter hold some kind of connection with Naruto, to the point of being able to calm her down during her nightly stroll where she's struck by bouts of insomnia by just being there.
It was more than a simple crush, this she realized now. It was said that their staggering physical growth allowed the accelerated growth of their hormones as well and as such, her daughter developed a rather deep crush for Naruto, instead of a simple, precocious crush like she had thought before, one that would go away in time.
Though Naruto was a good child, a kind young man, and an exceptionally exemplary man in his own right, Mikoto was slightly worried. After all, chronologically speaking, they're still eight years old, despite the physical appearance that would be a good argument for her claim that they were still a child in terms of counting their age from their date of birth to the present moment.
But then again... their physical growth and their powers also nullified some ground rules that one should enforce on a regular eight-year old, as evidenced by how Mikoto allowed her daughter to go out at night despite the potential danger simply because she's more than capable of fending off anyone who'd try to do something bad to her.
So she sighed and shook her head and said; "Well... next time you want to do this, inform me first, okay?"
She realized that she might have to treat her like a teenaged daughter despite her chronological age. Though her mental growth grow in accordance to her physical one, Mikoto was more than simply concerned of her, especially since, in her mind, she was still her eight year-old daughter who had lost her father, her brother and her whole extended family for that matter, all in one night.
"Yes mom." Satsuki said with a nod, "Again, I'm really sorry." she apologized once more.
"It's alright." said Mikoto, "Besides, I believe in you and him. Enough to trust you two to not do something like... having sexual intercourse or something of the sort."
"M-mom, what the hell?!" Satsuki screamed out with a blush, rather scandalized by what her mother just said.
"Look, I've accepted the fact that both of you had been growing so fast that now you can be said as a teenager, alright? It's just that you need to know that despite your physical maturity, there are some boundaries that you must not cross as of yet."
"...I see where this is going, and I think we should postpone this for an indefinite amount of time, okay mom?" Satsuki asked awkwardly before she tried to escape to her room.
Mikoto grabbing her collar from its back prevented Satsuki from escaping, "Oh no young lady, I think we should 'Talk', as in right now."
"Mom, come on! I only just woke up, can't you give me a break?" she asked, trying to break free of her mother's firm grasp on her shirt, "Besides, it's not like I'm clueless, I know what we're going to 'Talk' about anyway."
"Really? And how did you know the topic of this 'Talk'?"
"..."
She sighed after a moment which her daughter was silent, refusing to say a single word, and then Mikoto said; "Please don't tell me that it was from a smutty novel written for men."
"I-It's not!" Satsuki vehemently denied, though her stutter might indicate that she was lying, it was the opposite from that.
"Then is it a smutty novel written for women?" Mikoto shot back.
"..."
"We. Are going. To have. A 'Talk'. Right. Now."
"...okay." Satsuki responded meekly as she's dragged by her mother to the living room for hours of awkward 'Talk'.
To be continued...
So with a rather low-note ending, this chapter is now over. However, in the next chapter, things will escalate for certain, after all, it is titled... Loss and Vengeance.
