The author says: Hello everyone, after a rather long silence from me, I present to you chapter 9!
Thank you to all the people who took the time to review!
This one is the longest so far, so it took a little longer than usual and besides, I had to work. Now please enjoy the next chapter!
I don't own Naruto!
'He had no idea'
Chapter 9
So I'll love whatever you become
And forget the reckless things we've done
I think our lives have just begun
I think our lives have just begun
Staying awake to chase a dream
Tasting the air you're breathing in
I hope I won't forget a thing
- 'Falling Away With You' by Muse
"Let's make camp for the night", Kakashi's deep voice sounded through the forest, breaking the silence between them. The quiet group stopped their tree-jumping and all gathered in the small clearing Kakashi pointed out to them.
It was the first day of the mission and just this morning Naruto, Sakura, Sai and their captain Kakashi had departed from Konoha. By now, darkness had fallen and everyone was tired from the day's journey. Naruto mumbled something under her breath about wanting to go on, but still she knew that the other's didn't have her incredible stamina and besides she was hungry.
Kakashi gave orders for Sai to hunt them some small animal for dinner, Naruto and one of her shadow clones looked for some wood to start a fire and Sakura was preparing their cooking utensils to be ready to make dinner as soon as Sai was back.
Naruto soon came back with enough firewood to last the night and Kakashi lit it with a well-aimed fire jutsu. Sai presented two big rabbits to Sakura, who immediately squeaked and ordered him to skin them. Naruto ignored the two and walked over to Kakashi, who was sitting under a tree, watching Sai and Sakura.
He looked up at her, as she came closer. "Naruto", he eye-smiled.
"Kakashi-sensei", the blonde said, sitting down next to him, "I was wondering if you allowed me to try putting a seal on the scroll."
Kakashi raised his one visible eyebrow at her in question. "The scroll we have to deliver to Gaara?"
"Yes, Tsunade-baachan said it was really important. So I thought of this new seal I worked on during my time with Jiraiya."
"What will the seal do?", Kakashi inquired a bit suspiciously, not knowing how far Naruto's training in Fuinjutsu went.
"Well", Naruto started to explain, "it will help keep the scroll safe in case an enemy lays his hand on it."
Naruto had not really explained how the seal worked, but Kakashi knew he could trust her and therefore took out the scroll from his front pocket of his jounin vest and handed it to Naruto.
The blonde took it without hesitation and immediately unrolled the paper, so that the front was facing the grass. Naruto stuck a hand into her back pouch, reaching for one of her own scrolls. With two fast hand signs, she unsealed a brush and a small inkwell, her sealing kit. Kakashi watched her intently as she drew an intricate seal on the back side of the scroll. He marvelled at her quick and precise movements. It was amazing how Naruto was able to draw seals this neat, but her handwriting was barely readable. He had been trained in Fuinjutsu as well, so he knew that Naruto seemed to be very talented with it. Following the brush with his dark eye, he tried to read the seal. The design was a complex one and he didn't recognize it.
It took the blonde some minutes to finish the seal, but eventually she bit her thumb, as if she was about to do the summoning technique. Instead, she smeared some of her blood over the seal. It vanished, seemingly soaking into the paper.
"Kakashi", Naruto said, startling the jounin from his intent observations, "I need your blood."
Kakashi blinked at her for a second. Assuming she wanted him to do the same, he bit his thumb and moved it over the seal. His blood vanished as well. Naruto nodded, satisfied.
"Kakashi-sensei, Naruto", Sakura called for them nervously. Dinner was ready.
The two got up and moved over to the fire, sitting down around it. Sakura handed the first bowl of what looked like a stew to Naruto. The blonde was surprised about it, but paid it no further mind. If Sakura wanted to regain her respect, she needed to do better than this. But maybe it was a start? Sighing, Naruto took the bowl from her, not looking at her hopeful but nervous face. Was the pinkette still afraid of her after what happened in Tsunade's office?
They ate in silence for some time, before Sai hesitantly cleared his throat. Naruto turned her head to look at the boy sitting next to her.
"Uzumaki-san", the dark-haired boy began respectfully and somewhat stiffly, "I noticed you drawing a seal earlier. I hope you don't mind me asking, but would you show it to me?" He finished with one of his fake smiles.
Naruto blinked at the older teen. Had he just addressed her as 'Uzumaki-san'? No one had ever called her that. And what was it about his strange smiles?
"Um", Naruto said, setting down her half-finished bowl. She grabbed the scroll from the earth next to her, where she had put it before dinner. Unrolling it, she showed the back to Sai. "I don't mind, Sai-san. See", she pointed out some of the ink lines on the scroll's back, "it's a personalized seal. It will react to everyone except for the four of us."
"That's why you used your and Kakashi-senpai's blood?", Sai inquired. Even though his voice betrayed none of his emotions, Naruto had the impression that he was curious about it. Why else would he ask, right?
"Yes", Naruto affirmed his observations, "and I still need your blood. And Sakura's too." Naruto didn't look at the girl, but saw her flinch from the corner of her eyes. Had the pinkette only just noticed that she no longer called her 'Sakura-chan'?
Naruto instructed Sai on where to put his blood and then waited for Sakura to do the same. The girl quickly bit her thumb and smeared a red streak over the seal. After all four of them had given their blood, the seal was now completely finished. Naruto added another small design to the seal and re-rolled the scroll. She handed it back to Kakashi, who stored it in his vest once more. "Finished."
"What exactly did you do, Naruto?", Kakashi wanted to know. The blonde still hadn't explained how the seal worked.
"If anyone other than us touches the scroll, it will multiply by several dozens, maybe hundreds", Naruto said, re-sealing her sealing kit and putting the storage scroll back in her back pouch.
"Maybe hundreds?", Kakashi prompted, blinking at her.
"Hehe", the girl chuckled nervously, rubbing her neck sheepishly, like she used to do all the time when she was younger. "You know, I only tested this seal once so far... and the last time it only doubled, which wasn't really that effective. So I made certain adjustments." Her blue eyes were looking everywhere but at her sensei. "So the amount of duplicate scrolls should increase considerably this time."
Naruto finished her explanation, hoping fiercely that none of them would ask her how it would be possible to distinguish between the original and the fake scrolls later. She hadn't worked that one out yet. It had been really easy, considering that last time, there had been only two scrolls. The fake scroll had been empty, whilst the original had contained the information. If the scroll did duplicate by several hundreds, they'd have to look into every single scroll, trying to find the original. Of course, the enemy would have to do the same, which was the whole purpose behind the technique.
Fortunately for the blonde, no one asked further questions on the seal and after some poor attempt at forced conversation from Sakura, they unpacked their bedrolls and Sai took the first watch of the night.
It was around noon of the next day and the border to Wind Country was close. The four were travelling in a loose formation. Naruto was in the front; with her extraordinary sense of smell and hearing, she'd be the first to detect another's presence. Second in line was Kakashi as the captain, behind him came Sakura as the medic and Sai made up the rear.
The lush forests of Fire Country were already getting thinner and would soon turn into desert. Kakashi was about to order a break for lunch, before they had to face the scalding sun, when Naruto suddenly stopped, raising a hand. It was the sign for them to stop as well and the other three landed on the branch beside her.
"Kakashi-sensei, six chakra signatures approaching from the East. Fast", Naruto reported. Suna was in the West of them.
Kakashi nodded his head to the ground and all four dropped down. There was a small river to their left and several boulders in their back. It wasn't the ideal place to fight – if it came to a fight – but it had to do. They spread out, backs to each other, each of them facing different directions.
Naruto crouched down, closing her eyes, listening. She heard them coming closer. But what was that? One of them stopped a safe distance away. "One of them stopped. About three miles away. The other five are still getting closer."
"Do not attack before I tell you to. It is possible that they are not enemies", the grey-haired captain said calmly.
Naruto opened her eyes again. Soundlessly, she unsheathed the katana from her back. Next to her she saw Sai taking out what looked like a customized scroll and a brush. She had no time to wonder about how he was going to use those utensils in a fight, because the whir of a metallic object flying through the air made her whirl around.
She turned just in time to see a miniature arrow hit Kakashi in the neck. The jounin touched the arrow with his hand, pulling it out, looking at it quizzically. Naruto followed his movements with her eyes, carefully listening for any other sounds of attack.
Sakura was late to turn around and the only thing she saw was her sensei keeling over, hitting the ground with a thud. "Kakashi-sensei!", the pinkette shrieked, about to run over to him.
"Sakura! Stop!" Naruto's hard voice made the girl stop dead in her tracks. "Don't move!"
"What? But Kakashi-sen –", the pink-haired girl began in her loud and shrill voice.
Naruto put a hand to her lips, indicating for the other girl to be quiet. She was listening and the annoying voice was not helping. Something had changed. "They stopped their advance."
Naruto's mind was racing. Whoever attacked them had incapacitated Kakashi with a single arrow. This meant that it was probably poisoned. But why did they stop? And why weren't they trying to incapacitate her and the others as well? Something felt strange about the situation. Listening carefully, Naruto deemed it safe to move. "Sakura, check on Kakashi."
The pinkette did as ordered and leaned over the man's body. Naruto felt her gathering chakra in her hands as she ran them over his head and torso, checking his vital signs. "He is unconscious, but breathing. The arrow was poisoned, I can feel it in his blood system", the medic nin informed.
Naruto nodded to herself; just as she had assumed. "Can you heal him?"
Sakura wrinkled her wide forehead, assessing the situation. "I'm already trying to get the poison out of his body, but it seems to evade my chakra. I need more time to remove it. But it doesn't seem to be very aggressive. If they had intended to kill him, he'd be dead already."
Naruto agreed with her. But why wouldn't they try to kill him? What were they after?
"Sai, help Sakura carry Kakashi over to these bushes and hide him", Naruto ordered, pointing to said bushes. Kakashi was currently unable to fight, so he had to get out of the way in case it came to a battle.
"Wait, I need to heal him!", Sakura objected, standing up and turning towards Naruto.
Naruto coolly regarded the girl. "Sakura, you said the poison is not fatal, so we need to get him to safety, so –"
"Hiding him in the underbrush is not 'safety', we need to get him to a hospital!" Sakura's voice was rising in volume and Naruto found it extremely hard to listen to her and the enemy; they were enemy now in her eyes, they had attacked first.
Naruto breathed in, trying to not shout at the girl. Right now it was really hard to remember why Naruto had tried to befriend her during academy time. Had the girl always been this bitchy?
"Sakura, the enemy is closing in, we –"
"You said they stopped", Sakura dared to interrupt again, "we can flee and –"
"JUST SHUT THE HELL UP, SAKURA!", Naruto yelled, exasperated.
She just couldn't take her whining any more. The girl honestly failed to see the seriousness of the situation. It should be easy to realize for her that fleeing was not an option, she was a chuunin after all. But Naruto also remembered how Sakura had always lacked actual combat skills. She was good with book knowledge, but when it came down to using it, she had never shown much skills.
The pink-haired girl was staring at Naruto with wide eyes. Had Naruto just yelled at her? And cursed? Naruto had never used such a tone with her before. How dare she!
"Who gave you the permission to take command anyway, Naruto?", Sakura screamed, putting her hands on her hips, trying her best to look intimidating.
Naruto ran a hand over her eyes. She so didn't need this right now. Her hand fell away and her ice-cold blue eyes focused on Sakura. "Sakura, you will listen very carefully now", Naruto whispered in a dangerously calm voice, "as long as Kakashi is unconscious, I will take over command and replace him as captain. We can't flee right now, Kakashi will slow us down and the enemy will catch up to us and I will most certainly not abandon him. Besides, I'm the highest ranking shinobi next to Kakashi, so command falls to me. Do you understand?"
Naruto was already a jounin? How had she managed that? There were just too many things that Sakura didn't know; and she didn't like it. The girl opened her mouth to object once more. "What makes you think I'll follow you just like that?"
Naruto couldn't help but admit that the girl was either very brave or very stupid in standing up to her. Right now, Naruto was angered and impatient to fight, so it was very stupid of Sakura to talk to her like that.
Drawing on the Kyuubi's chakra, Naruto felt her eyes bleed red, round pupils turning into slits. She knew she was leaking killing intent, but she didn't care. Should Sakura see what it gained her to object Naruto.
The girl froze under the power of the killing intent and the sight of Naruto's eyes. The look the blonde gave her was purely menacing. The angry pink blush that had been on Sakura's cheeks faded.
"You will listen to me, Sakura", Naruto almost growled. "Now, do we understand each other?"
Sakura paled, gulping, she obediently bobbed her head up and down in answer. She understood. How had she ever dared to talk back to this girl? Was this even Naruto? It definitely wasn't the Naruto Sakura thought she knew.
"Now move Kakashi", Naruto ordered more calmly, but with so much authority in her voice that no one questioned her. She watched them prop her sensei up against the tree. The blonde considered taking the scroll from him, but the enemy would probably expect it, so she left it in Kakashi's pocket. If an enemy laid hands on the scroll, there was still the seal hindering them from stealing it.
Naruto concentrated on the enemy again, feeling them getting closer once more. "They are coming", she informed her team mates, beckoning for them to get closer to her side. Sai stood on her left and Sakura on her right.
"I can hear them now", Sai whispered, unrolling a blank scroll and beginning to paint what looked like a beast. "But there are only four of them now."
"Yes." Naruto had heard it, too. One of them had stopped again. Four were still advancing.
The adrenaline sharpened Naruto's senses to a maximum. She heard Sakura swallow next to her, she smelled her fear and sensed her agitation. Sai was the exact opposite; he was calm and collected, the only indication of his emotions was his quickened heartbeat.
And Naruto, she was... excited. She was finally able to put her acquired skills to use. The hilt of the katana in her hands felt smooth and right. She hadn't been in a real fight for months and she was looking forward it. Kyuubi was eager, too, she felt him anticipating the coming fight. The demon's bloodlust was strong, but her own emotions were stronger. The thrill increased and she felt an eerie smile playing on her lips.
A swarm of senbon came suddenly flying from the tree line and all three of them jumped back, evading the sharp needles easily. From the corner of her eye, Naruto saw how Sai was attacked by a black-clad shinobi. The person was wearing a mask, which completely covered his head. She heard Sai call out his technique, "Ninpo: Choju Giga", (1) and a huge ink lion sprang alive from the scroll, launching itself at the attacking shinobi.
Naruto didn't have the time to further observe them, because another two black-clad figures were on her in the next second.
Naruto raised her katana, defending herself from a blade swung at her head. The swords clashed, clanging. The enemy stepped back, giving Naruto an opening. She attacked, aiming for the enemies neck. He turned away, evading her blade. The second figure jumped at her from behind. Naruto whirled around, catching the fist coming at her with her left hand, holding onto it tightly.
Channelling wind chakra through her katana, Naruto swung the sword at the enemy, intending to behead him. But he ducked low, throwing himself backwards and pulling his hand free of Naruto's grasp in the process. Naruto staggered for a second, losing her balance.
The first attacker managed to slice the skin on her bare midriff with his blade. Ignoring the sharp pain, Naruto threw her katana at the second enemy, who came running towards her. The wind chakra-infused katana cut through the air and before the other one knew what was happening, the sword buried in his left shoulder, too high to pierce the heart. Still, he staggered, falling to his knees with a cry of pain.
Naruto concentrated on the first attacker once more. He raised his katana over his head, bringing it down with force. The blonde jumped to the side, dodging the sharp blade. Using the other's momentum, she grabbed his arm, pulling him forwards. The man stumbled. Trying to regain his balance, he let go off his sword. Naruto was behind him in a heartbeat, her foot connecting with his back in a powerful kick. The enemy gasped, hitting the ground face first.
Naruto didn't wait for him to get up. She quickly looked around, trying to see how Sakura and Sai were doing.
Sakura was having difficulties with her opponent. The man was fast and seemingly more experienced than her. She grunted from a kick to her stomach, which send her flying through the air. She hit one of the large boulders, the impact forcing the air from her lungs.
Forming a rasengan in her right hand, Naruto was next to Sakura's opponent immediately. She thrust her arm forwards, punching the enemy in the chest with her attack.
A sudden 'poof' sounded and Naruto saw her hand impaling a log. Kawarimi no Jutsu (2), she thought while pulling her fist out of the splintered wood.
A surprised squeal made her head snap around to the bushes where Sai and Sakura had hidden Kakashi.
A very self-satisfied grin appeared on Naruto's lips as she saw what was happening. Somehow, the fifth enemy had found Kakashi and apparently searched him for the scroll. Now, uncountable numbers of scrolls were flying from the underbrush, multiplying and multiplying uncountable times. The enemy shinobi stumbled into sight. The black-clad figure was wearing the same outfit as the other's but thanks to the very feminine squeal earlier, Naruto was sure this one was a woman.
Fighting her way through the heap of scrolls that were still proliferating like crazy, she waved her arms at her comrades.
The shinobi fighting Sai saw her frantic waving and retreated quickly into the forest. Sakura's opponent was nowhere in sight after the Kawarimi.
Naruto's first attacker was getting up from the ground, seemingly recovered from the kick to his back. He halted for a moment, looking at his fallen comrade, the man with Naruto's katana through the shoulder. Sai suddenly appeared in front of the bleeding man and the other fled, following into the forest.
Naruto listened. The four retreating enemies were fleeing fast. Should they follow them? She decided against it. Kakashi was still out of action and Sakura didn't look too well either. However, her fingers formed a well-known cross and two Shadow Clones appeared. "Follow them", Naruto ordered her clones and turned away.
"Sai, go look after Sakura, please", Naruto said to the dark-haired teen, who was still failing to show any emotion.
Naruto walked over to the enemy on the ground. She crouched down next to him. Placing a hand over his carotid, she looked for a pulse and found one. With the help of her knees, Naruto turned the man over, so that he was lying on his side. Gripping the hilt of her katana, she pulled it out with a quick motion. The man fall on his back, breathing heavily. Naruto saw his chest move up and down and suddenly she realized that the person was actually a woman.
Naruto pulled the black mask over the woman's face. It revealed a face contorted in pain. From what Naruto saw, she believed the woman to be in her early twenties. Her eyes were shut fiercely, but opened to look up at Naruto. Brown eyes glared at her defiantly. Naruto took the mask off completely. Long and straight purple hair fell from it, gathering around the woman's head.
"Who are you and what do you want?", Naruto questioned, looking down with cold blue eyes at the bleeding woman.
Another glare was her answer.
Naruto sighed, pressing the mask against the woman's shoulder, intending to stop the bleeding from the stab wound. The woman hissed in pain, but didn't try to stop her.
Sai and Sakura walked over to Naruto and the woman, watching them. "What are we going to do with her, Uzumaki-taichou?", Sai asked in his emotionless voice, but easily adding the respectful -taichou to Naruto's name and hence accepting her as captain.
Naruto let go off the cloth on the wound and her hands formed signs with well-trained speed. Small, purple-glowing chakra flames appeared on each fingertip of Naruto's right hand.
"Gogyo Fuin", (3) the blonde said quietly and pressed her fingertips on the woman's stomach. The chakra flames were sucked into her body and the woman gasped, her eyes widening for a second before her body went limp.
"What did you do to her?", Sakura exclaimed, alarmed.
"She sealed away her chakra", Sai spoke up, his dark eyes on Naruto.
The blonde turned her head up to look at him, getting up from her crouching position. She was surprised that the other teen knew the jutsu. She arched an eyebrow at him in question. Sai obviously didn't get the gesture, so she had to ask him aloud.
"How come you know Fuinjutsu, Sai-san?"
Sakura gazed at her two team mates. She had absolutely no knowledge about sealing techniques, but that didn't mean she wouldn't listen now.
Sai gave Naruto one of his fake smiles and replied, "I'm a member of Root. My training also included Fuinjutsu, but I am not nearly as capable as you are, Uzumaki-taichou."
The only thing Naruto knew about Root was that it was a secret subdivision of the ANBU. She made a mental note to ask Sai about it later on.
"We are going to take her to Konoha", Naruto answered to Sai's earlier question. "Sakura, heal her shoulder and then tie her up."
Grabbing the katana from the ground, she put it back in the sheath on her back and walked over to the heap of scrolls. How was she going to find the original? There were hundreds of copies, sorting through them would take some time, but she wanted to leave as soon as possible. Kakashi was still unconscious and even though the poison hadn't killed him so far, there was no guarantee that it wouldn't do so in the near future.
Forming the cross seal once more, some hundred Shadow Clones appeared around her with collective 'poofs'. "Dig out Kakashi from under the scrolls", she ordered her doppelgangers, "and then open every scroll until you find the original."
The clones sweat-dropped. What kind of task was that? The original glared at the others and they all quickly took to opening scroll after scroll, digging out an unconscious Kakashi in the process.
Naruto went back to where Sai was tying the enemy up with what looked like snakes made of ink. The blonde had never heard about using ink techniques and made another mental note to ask Sai about it later.
Naruto stood in the middle of the small clearing, regarding her team mates and the group of clones sifting through the scrolls. They had two unconscious bodies to get to Konoha. Naruto had already decided that proceeding with their mission was out of the question. Kakashi needed medical attention and probably an antidote. Even though Sakura was a very capable medic, the girl could not do much without the right instruments and chemicals or whatever she needed to prepare an antidote. So they had to quit the mission and get back to Konoha. It had taken one and a half day to get to the border of Wind Country. If they hurried, they could be back in Konoha in half the time. She just hoped that Sai and Sakura were not too exhausted. She wasn't worrying too much about Sai, though; if the boy had received ANBU training, he should have the needed stamina to reach Konoha without a break. Sakura on the other hand seemed to be in a worse condition. Naruto thought it unlikely that the girl would make it without a break or two.
Feeling something hot running down her side, Naruto remembered that she had been injured. The enemy with the katana had sliced her skin. Looking down and touching her side, Naruto saw that the wound was almost completely healed already. She sent a mental 'thanks' to Kyuubi, who didn't deign to answer.
"Boss!", her own happy voice called out to the blonde. Naruto looked at the waving clone. "I found the original!"
"Finally!", the others muttered in chorus, rolling their eyes.
Suddenly, all the fake scrolls dispersed with poofs similar to the sound of dispelling shadow clones. All hundrer clones plus the original and Sakura and Sai looked at the clone, who had been successful in locating the original scroll. So all the fake scrolls disperse when someone opens the original scroll, Naruto mused, glad to have gotten some insight into her own technique. It still needed further improvements, though. She couldn't use shadow clones to find the original object every time.
The clone tossed the scroll over to Naruto, who caught it and stored it in her back pouch. "You two", Nartuo said, pointing to two of her clones, "stay, the others, dispel."
The clones did as ordered and the two remaining ones strolled over to their boss. Sakura checked on Kakashi once more, but his condition had neither improved nor worsened. Naruto took it as a good sign for now. One of her clones lifted Kakashi on its back, carrying him piggy-back style. The other clone did the same to the unconscious enemy and the group of three Narutos, Sai and Sakura started their way back to Konoha. Neither Sakura nor Sai questioned Naruto's leadership and followed her into the woods.
In the early hours of the next morning, Naruto received the information of the two clones she had sent after the fleeing enemy shinobis. They had been 'killed' without finding out anything useful. But it seemed as though they were also travelling in the direction of Konoha. Naruto listened, but was unable to hear any movements in the near vicinity except for their own.
The blonde heard Sakura's strained breathing and turned to look at the girl. Her face was red and sweaty, her hair was messy and her mouth was open, taking in gulps for air. She looked pathetic. Naruto knew that Sakura wouldn't keep up much longer.
The new captain raised her hand and instantly the others halted in their tree-jumping behind her. Sakura bent over, placing her hands on he knees, panting. Sai offered her his water bottle and the pinkette greedily emptied it in one go.
"Sakura, please check on Kakashi once again", Naruto told the tired girl. If Kakashi's condition changed to critical, she'd have to think of something else. But Sakura reported that nothing had changed. Strange, Naruto thought. Why would an enemy just paralyse the team's captain and then attack the other members? Why hadn't they incapacitated all of them like that? They could've easily taken the scroll without a fight. Something still didn't feel right about the whole situation.
Sai watched the blonde captain as she formed a third shadow clone. She ordered her copy to carry Sakura.
"What?", the pink-haired kunoichi sputtered indignantly.
"You obviously can't run any more, Sakura. But we need to reach Konoha as quickly as possible. Kakashi's condition can worsen any minute. So just let my clone carry you", Naruto reasoned in a calm tone that came out rather forced.
"I will not let you carry me, baka!", Sakura yelled, "I can still run!" As if on cue, the girl swayed, almost falling off the branch. Naruto's clone grabbed her arm and supported her.
The clone rolled her eyes at the other girl and very impatiently glared at her. "Just get over your stupid pride! If you don't comply, I'll make Sai tie you up! Either way, I will carry you, so stop your bitching and move!"
Sakura stared up at the clone. With a weak attempt at a defiant glare, the pinkette climbed on the clone's back. The original Naruto hid her self-satisfied grin as she saw the girl's face lit up in the colour of her hair.
Naruto liked being captain more and more.
It was dark when the gates of Konoha finally came into view. Naruto let out a tired sigh. Even with her amazing stamina the run back to the village had taken its toll on her. Her chakra was divided into three clones and each was carrying another person. It was quite the performance to keep running for over one day like that without a break. Sai was panting next to her. His face was sweaty and his already extremely white skin looked even paler in the silver light of the moon.
The guard at the gates nodded to them in greeting and seeing the unconscious Kakashi, they waved them through.
Naruto led the way to the hospital. She wanted to get her sensei there first thing. Reporting to Tsunade had to come later. The jounin had not awoken and by now Naruto was rather worried about him, although she played it down as not to alarm Sai and Sakura.
Arriving at the hospital, Sakura jumped from the back of Naruto's clone, who was still carrying her, and took the lead. She knew the hospital better than Naruto. Several medics came running to them, wanting to help. Sakura gave orders and Naruto admitted to herself that the girl looked quite professional.
They were ushered into a hospital room and Naruto's clone put Kakashi down on the bed and dispersed. The one carrying their female captive put the purple-haired woman down on her own feet. The woman had regained consciousness soon after Naruto had sealed her chakra. Her body was still constrained by Sai's ink snakes and the defiant look on her face was also still in place. The clone grabbed her arm and held a kunai to her side, daring the woman to try to escape.
Suddenly, the door burst open and the blonde Hokage entered. "What's going on?", she bellowed, looking at the dishevelled team.
Before Sakura was able to say a word, Naruto spoke up. "Team Kakashi reports back from the mission to Suna, Hokage-sama. We were attacked and Kakashi has been unconscious since then." Naruto's voice was clear and strong and didn't betray her exhaustion.
"I see", Tsunade said and quickly walked over to the hospital bed. She bent over Kakashi and took out a small syringe from Kami-knew-where. She injected the colourless liquid in Kakashi's neck and told the others that the man was going to wake up in a few moments.
It's that easy? Naruto wondered. How did she know which antidote to apply? Tsunade hadn't even used any medical techniques on the jounin and even though Naruto's knowledge on medicine was rather non-existent, she was pretty sure that Tsunade should at least have checked his blood system or something; at least that was what Sakura had done.
She was interrupted in her silent musings, as Tsunade addressed her. "Who is the woman?", she asked, pointing at the purple-haired captive.
"She's one of the shinobi, who attacked us. I injured her and we took her captive, Hokage-sama", Naruto explained.
"What happened to her chakra? I feel a strange disturbance", the blonde Hokage wanted to know, eyeing the woman.
"I sealed it away", Naruto replied and Tsunade's head snapped around to look at her.
"Oh", she blinked, "I didn't know you can do that."
Naruto then gave a full report of what exactly happened; leaving out the part about Sakura objecting her leadership. Tsunade listened carefully, watching Naruto and the two chuunin closely. A smile played on her lips.
"So", the woman began, turning to Kakashi's bed, "what do you think, Kakashi? Did she pass or did she pass?"
The grey-haired jounin sat up in bed and gave his famous eye-smile. He looked way too healthy to have just regained consciousness and once more Naruto felt that something was not right at all. And what was Tsunade saying about 'passing'?
"Ne, Tsunade-sama", Kakashi chuckled, "she passes with flying colours."
Both turned to look at Naruto, who gave an unintelligent, "Huh?", staring back and forth between the two. "What's going on?"
"Before I tell you that, let's go to my office. This calls for sake!", the Hokage grinned, leading the way out of the hospital room.
Half an hour later, Naruto sat in front of Tsunade's desk, an empty cup of sake in her hand. Kakashi was lazily leaning against the windows; Jiraiya had joined as well and an ANBU in uniform was standing in a corner with the captive. Sakura and Sai had been dismissed to get some rest.
"So, gaki", Tsunade began, refilling their cups, "I can tell you're thoroughly confused right now, but let us enlighten you."
Naruto sipped the sake, welcoming the burning feeling running down her throat, warming her stomach. Tsunade was right, she was utterly confused.
"The whole mission was a test, Naruto. It was necessary to officially promote you to ANBU captain", Tsunade said, and added as an afterthought, "Congratulations by the way!" The blonde Hokage grinned at the newly-promoted captain sitting in front of her, raising her cup at the stunned girl.
Naruto only blinked, swallowing her sake. "So what exactly was the test?"
"Oh, you see, there were several parts to this test. The first", Tsunade held up her index finger, "part of the test was to see, if you'd agree to go on this mission, even though you had other plans. Three years ago you'd have thrown a tantrum, if things weren't going your way", Naruto blushed a little at that; it was true, "but you agreed and hence put the need of our village above your own, even if it was a seemingly unimportant mission."
Naruto nodded and Tsunade continued. "You passed the second part of the test when you met your team mates. Of course I knew about the situation between you and Sakura. By agreeing to work with her, even though there are personal differences, you passed the next part. A shinobi must work with anyone, regardless of personal preferences."
Naruto nodded again, remembering how she had not wanted to work with Sakura in the beginning.
"The third part was accepting the Konoha forehead protector from Kakashi. We all noticed you not wearing it, but as a shinobi of this village, you need to wear it and identify yourself with Konoha."
Naruto remembered how Kakashi had offered the headband to her without a word. She also remembered the moment of hesitation, but she had taken it – and was still wearing it around her head. So far she didn't regret the decision.
"After Team Kakashi left the village, Kakashi was the one who took over testing you. It was all planned of course, but as I wasn't present, it fell to Kakashi's assessment." Naruto shot a look at her sensei, who eye-smiled at her and drank sake through the cloth of his mask. Used to the sight, Naruto didn't waste another thought on the strange behaviour.
"I sent a team of six shinobi after you. They remained hidden, until you reached the border to Wind Country", Tsunade looked expectantly at Kakashi, prompting him to go on.
The grey-haired man sighed lazily, but began giving the report in his deep voice. "You detected the approaching enemies easily, Naruto, and warned us of them in time to get into a defensive position. Then the team incapacitated me with some kind of sedation, that left me seemingly unconscious. I was still able to hear and mostly see everything, though."
Naruto listened, going over each of the mentioned situations in her head.
"After I was out of action, it was up to the three of you to decide on a new captain and on a plan. So the hidden team waited until one of you took over command. We expected you to take over and you did. You demonstrated that you're able to keep your cool even in a hectic and new situation."
Kakashi paused, sipping on his sake. "I have to admit I'm disappointed in Sakura's behaviour, but you made her follow you nonetheless and handled her well. 'A shinobi must never question their leading ninja'", he said, quoting one of the shinobi rules of Konohagakure.
"The orders you gave were well thought-out and you even cared enough about your poor old sensei to get me out of the way." Naruto saw Kakashi grinning at her through his mask.
"You handled your two opponents better than we assumed. However, in case anyone was injured, Shizune-san stayed behind to heal them up; hers was the sixth presence you felt", Kakashi explained. "We didn't plan on you injuring Yugao like that, though." He waved a hand over at the 'captive', smirking.
"I'll never live that down, will I?", the purple-haired woman sighed, shaking her head.
She introduced herself to Naruto as Uzuki Yugao, a twenty-two-year-old ANBU member. The ANBU in uniform and mask behind her stepped forward. His current code name was Yamato. Naruto noticed his creepy eyes and quickly turned back to face the Hokage, but Yamato walked over to stand beside her.
Tsunade prompted for Yamato to speak up, so he did. Apparently, his wood clone – Naruto wondered about that, wood clone? Where had she heard of a wood user before? – had followed them for some time; due to its wooden nature, Naruto and the others had not been able to detect his presence.
"At first, I thought it was reckless of you to leave the scroll with Kakashi. After all, your mission was to deliver the very important scroll safely to Suna", Yamato said, "But we didn't know about the seal you put on it. So we were all quite surprised when the scroll began multiplying like that, when Tenten touched it."
The girl touching the scroll was Tenten?, Naruto thought silently, wondering who else of the 'enemy' team had been someone she knew.
Yamato regarded Naruto with a look of appraisal on his face. "'A shinobi must prepare before it's too late'", he quoted another shinobi rule. "You exceeded our expectations by putting that seal on the scroll and showed a lot of foresight; as did sending two of your shadow clones after or retreat. Very well done, Naruto-san", he finished, inclining his head at her.
Naruto felt a blush creep on her cheeks, she really wasn't used to so much praise. After all, she had just acted; it had all felt so natural to her. But that was probably why she had passed their test, she realized and suddenly something akin to pride filled her. Was she proud of herself? Maybe. She couldn't say for sure, because she had never felt like this before.
Naruto was shaken from her thoughts, when Kakashi mentioned her name again. "I am very proud of you, Naru. You also proved that you never forgot the most important rule of a shinobi."
Naruto's blush increased under Kakashi's intense one-eyes gaze. And had he just called her 'Naru'? Still, she finished for him. "Those who break the rules are trash, but those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash." A genuine smile tugged at her lips. "I had a really good sensei, you know?", she grinned at Kakashi, who smiled at her fondly in return.
"Abandoning the mission, though, was the right choice in that moment, Naruto", Tsunade said and gave her another fond smile.
Two days later and a lot of well-deserved sleep on Kakashi's couch later, Naruto and Kakashi were having dinner together in the grey-haired jounin's small kitchen. Naruto was still living with him, but it would change soon, because tomorrow she was finally going to meet her new team mates.
"So what do you think?", Naruto asked between bites, looking over the table at her sensei.
Kakashi had stopped eating, his chopsticks halfway to his mouth. Naruto looked at his strange expression. He wasn't wearing his mask, which made it a great deal easier for Naruto to read the man.
"What?", she asked, sounding rather defensively, "I thought it was a nice plan."
Kakashi blinked and set down his bowl of rice. "It is a good plan, Naruto. I'm just a little surprised, to be honest", he answered.
Naruto shrugged. She had decided on it, so she'd go through with it. Besides, it was necessary. Depending on the reaction she received from her new team mates tomorrow, all her future plans could be upset. She just hoped she had made the right choices.
Twenty minutes later, Naruto jumped into Tsunade's office, entering through the window, which earned her an empty sake bottle flying at her head. She sidestepped it without effort and stood in front of the Hokage's desk.
"You wanted to see me, baa-chan?"
"Yes, brat, come here", the blonde beckoned her closer to the desk. "As you are now officially an ANBU captain, you also gained the right to wear an animal mask. Together with Jiraiya, Kakashi and Anko, we decided on which mask fits you the best."
She reached under her desk, opening a drawer and presented the porcelain mask to the blonde girl.
Naruto accepted it from her. The white mask had red and black markings and very small ears, but Naruto was unable to tell what animal it was supposed to be. She ran a hand over the smooth porcelain and found several old scratches. This mask was obviously not a new one. Who did you belong to before?, Naruto mused silently, tracing a black line with her fingertip.
"You have no idea what animal it is, gaki, admit it!", Tsunade smirked, watching the look on Naruto's face.
The blonde looked up, blinking. "It doesn't matter, I already like it", she said, but Tsunade explained it nonetheless. The girl listened, as the older blonde told her what animal it was supposed to be and why they had chosen it for her.
Tsunade finished and saw the grin on Naruto's face. "I see you still like it."
Naruto nodded and was about to put the mask on, when she noticed two letters scratched into the back side of the mask, just above the openings for her eyes. U.I. It said, wondering what it could possibly stand for, Naruto made a mental note to think about it later. She had a favour to ask of the Hokage. She needed to see a file on a massacre and a certain clan and find out whether her new informant was telling the truth.
Three hours later, Naruto was lying on Kakashi's couch, but sleep wouldn't come. Her mind was racing. Itachi had not lied to her, when he had said that everything wasn't as it seemed. He had been ordered to kill his entire clan by the Elders of Konoha.
Different emotions were churning inside of the blonde. First there was the inability to understand how anyone could kill his whole family. Naruto had never had a family and thus the pure thought of killing her precious people was revolting to her. How could Itachi go through with it? Because his clansmen were traitors? Naruto was trying very hard to imagine whether she could have put the welfare of the whole village over her own family. She doubted it, but in the end, she couldn't say. After all, she never had a family, so she wouldn't know how it must feel. At least that was what Sasuke had accused her of, of not understanding his pain, because she never knew the love of a family. What would have happened if Itachi had not killed his clan? Would the Uchiha have taken over Konoha? But what were their plans? And would Sasuke still be in Konoha? Naruto had no answers. Realizing that thinking about it was futile, she closed her eyes and forced herself to sleep.
Shikamaru, Neji and Kiba were tree-jumping through the forests surrounding Konoha. They were supposed to meet their mysterious new captain today. Said captain had given orders for them to meet him – or her – in a clearing, quite a few miles a way from the village itself. So far, the boys didn't know why.
It was early morning and the air was still a little cold from the night. Shikamaru's feet hit a branch, he pushed himself off, flying towards the next branch.
After four weeks of constant training with Neji and Kiba during the mornings and ANBU training with Kakashi during the afternoons, the young Nara was feeling better than ever. Even though the training had been as troublesome as he had predicted, the young Nara also had to admit that he had definitely liked it. By now, he was openly curious about the new captain and whatever mission it was they were sent on.
Flexing his knees, he landed on another branch for a mere second, before jumping on again. It was funny how he felt so much more alive after the intense training. He felt more energetic and it happened less frequently that he wished he was cloud-watching instead of training. His new ANBU uniform felt good on him, although the tanto strapped to his hip was still an unfamiliar weight. Also he still winced whenever he felt chakra running through the ANBU tattoo on his left upper arm, indicating that the Hokage wanted to see him. The mask on his face was new as well. It would take some time getting used to wearing it all the time, but it was less troublesome than he had thought at first.
Neji stopped before him, dropping down to the ground. They had arrived in the clearing. The three young men walked into the open field, the grass under their feet was still wet with dew.
There was no sign of their new captain.
"Where is the guy?", Kiba mouthed, what all three were thinking.
"He is not here yet, Kiba, be patient", Neji reasoned in his calm voice.
"Thank you, Mr. Obvious", Kiba glared at the slightly taller teen, but the effect was lost thanks to the Bear mask on his face.
"Calm down, Kiba", Shikamaru tried to silence the impulsive Inuzuka.
Kiba muttered something under his breath, but otherwise kept quiet.
The three were watching the surrounding tree lines, searching for any sign of their captain.
Very slowly, fog started rising from the ground. They didn't seem to notice it at first, but eventually the tree lines vanished from sight, swallowed by the dense, white fog.
"Guys, what's going on?", Kiba whispered.
Shikamaru looked around. This fog didn't seem natural to him. "Neji, what do you see?"
Neji immediately activated his Byakugan, which he was about to do anyway. The veins around his pale, pupil-less eyes protruded prominently. With the x-ray vision of 360 degrees, he scanned their surroundings. "There's chakra in the fog, I can hardly see through it", the Hyuuga announced, staring on ahead into the fog.
Shikamaru took in the information. So he had been right, this fog was not a natural occurrence. "Kiba, do you smell anything?"
The Inuzuka was already sniffing next to him. "No, it's like the fog swallows all scents. It makes hearing more difficult, too."
Shikamaru was about to ask another question – when it hit them.
A killing intent of the likes they had never felt before.
All of them gasped at the oppressive feeling. It was so powerful, breathing became harder. Akamaru whined pitifully, flattening himself to the ground, crawling closer to Kiba.
"W-What...?", Kiba whispered, going down on one knee due to the sheer power directed at them.
Shikamaru gulped. He shut his eyes fiercely, trying to shake off the feeling of death. The killing intent was so thick in the air, it felt like it was crawling over his skin, groping for him.
His eyes shot open at the sound of both Kiba and Neji sucking in a sharp breath. He looked up and suddenly wished he had not opened them again.
There, looming over them, stood a giant fox with red-orange fur and dangerous, blood-red eyes. Its nine tails were massive, cutting through the fog.
The three ANBU stared up at the massive monster. There was no doubt about what they were facing. Everyone in Konoha learned about the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox, the Kyuubi no Yoko, who had attacked the village almost seventeen years ago.
"Neji", Shikamaru whispered through gritted teeth, his voice hoarse from fear, "is it an illusion?"
Neji had not deactivated his Byakugan, so he was staring at the beast – and he saw its chakra pathways. This was no illusion. "No", Neji forced out, destroying Shikamaru's hope.
The fox took a step closer, the earth shaking under his feet. The sudden movement shook the three somewhat out of their fear-induced stupor and they jumped backwards, getting farther away from the monster.
Shikamaru was working furiously on coming up with a plan. He was the team's strategist after all, but for once, his mind seemed to be utterly empty. He knew he couldn't use his shadow-based techniques on the fox. The demon would probably laugh at the pitiful display and shake off the controlling shadows with ease. No, he would only waste chakra, if he tried attacking like that.
"Kiba", the Nara whispered to his team mate, "attack him with your Gatsuga!" (4)
Kiba glanced at the whining Akamaru. "Come on, man", he said, trying to coax the large dog into attacking. But it was no use, the dog was too afraid of the demon, his tail tucked in between his legs. "Coward", Kiba barked, but his voice was so small and shaky, it betrayed his own terror.
Neji stepped forward, falling into his Juuken stance. "I'll try to hit it with my Hakke Kusho", (5) the brunette said, jumping towards the fox.
With his hand bent at the wrist, Neji pushed his arm forward with a high-speed palm thrust, releasing a vacuum-bullet at the monster, attacking it from a relatively safe distance.
Shikamaru watched, holding his breath, as the attack hit the fox straight in the face. The beast roared, throwing his head back as if in pain, but then – it vanished into thin air, 'poofing' out of existence.
Surprised silence spread over the clearing. Simultaneously, the three boys released the breath each of them had been holding. Kiba and Shikamaru shared a confused glance behind Neji's back. What happened?
Before any of them could speak, a figure appeared in the last wafts of mist, walking towards them. Red chakra billowed around the person, manifesting like a cloak, surrounding the whole body.
The figure came closer and Shikamaru and Kiba quickly stood beside Neji.
Shikamaru saw long, blonde hair moving around the figure's head. Three dark whisker-marks were standing out against the tanned skin, visible even against the chakra's red haze. Shikamaru looked up into the person's eyes, expecting to meet ocean blue orbs, but instead, they were slitted and blood-red.
Neji stared at the approaching person. Something about the malevolent chakra felt familiar. He was sure he had felt the evil energy before. He had fought this person before.
Kiba sniffed. He knew that person's smell. The fog was no longer hindering his senses and even through the dense cloak of evil chakra, he smelled a familiar scent.
"Naruto?", three male voices asked, astonished.
All of a sudden, the oppressive killing intent died and breathing became easier again. The red chakra around the person dissolved slowly, revealing a young woman with sunny blonde hair and ocean blue eyes. The boys took off their ANBU masks to get a better look on her.
"Hey guys", Naruto greeted, waving a hand at them, as if nothing had happened.
"What the hell, Naruto?", Kiba yelled, angrily throwing himself at the long-lost girl. She ducked, which sent him flying over her head. He landed on all fours, but before Kiba attacked again, Akamaru gave a warning yelp.
Kiba looked at his dog, who was watching him with the pitiful expression still in his eyes.
"Maybe you should listen to your dog, Kiba, and not attack people who are stronger than you", Naruto said, smirking at the Inuzuka.
"You", Kiba growled, but stood up. Pointing at Naruto, he yelled, "What makes you think you can talk to me like that?"
Shikamaru sweat-dropped. Had the boy not just witnessed the same as him and Neji? And he had thought that the ANBU training had actually helped in reducing his impulsiveness.
The blonde coolly smirked at her old class mate. "I", she started, "am your new captain. Show some respect, dog-breath."
This made Kiba shut up. He blinked at the smaller girl in front of him. She was their mysterious new captain, who had requested them?
Neji stepped closer to Naruto, giving a small bow. "Uzumaki Naruto, it is an honour to work with you", the Hyuuga said in his deep voice, startling the blonde. She blinked, not knowing how to react. She had not expected this from Neji. The last time she had faced him, it was during the fight of the chuunin exams and she had beaten his ass and thoroughly insulted his lifestyle and his belief in fate while doing so.
"Um", she mumbled unintelligently, looking away from Neji's pale-eyed gaze.
Shikamaru watched the girl. He had spent a lot of time thinking about her during her absence and now she was finally back. He had many questions for her, but those had to wait.
He strolled closer and stopped in front of her. She was so small, easily a head shorter than him and the other two. Freeing a hand from his pocket, he placed it on the younger teen's shoulder. "Naruto", he said, no trace of his usual lazy drawl in his voice. The blonde stared back up at him with her ocean blue eyes.
Naruto saw the waiting questions in Shikamaru's gaze. She had not forgotten that the Nara had rescued her from the beating over three years ago. Maybe she was still owing him an answer.
"It's good to see you back", Shikamaru smiled, letting his hand fall off her shoulder.
"Ne, guys", Kiba spoke up once more, "am I the only one wondering what the hell just happened?" He stared back and forth between them.
Naruto sighed. She needed to explain herself; and so she did. She had planned the first meeting with her team mates like this, because she needed to see how they were going to react to the demon. So she had created a shadow clone, which had henged into the Kyuubi. The resulting monster was not nearly as massive as the original one in Naruto's mindscape, but she didn't want the whole of Konoha to see the fox clone and alarm everyone. That was also why she had chosen a meeting point so far away from the village.
"I needed to see, if you can handle a killing intent so powerful or if you'd cower away, unable to think from fear", Naruto explained, "because it is highly unlikely that you will ever encounter someone with killing intent more potent than mine."
The boys looked at her and once again it was Kiba, who asked the obvious question. "Why would your killing intent be stronger than anyone else's? I mean, it was super damn strong, I was sure I was going to die", the wild-looking boy admitted without shame, "But why? And why did you use the freaking Kyuubi?"
Shikamaru regarded his new captain expectantly. Why had she used the Kyuubi? Only as a means to create immense fear? He remembered how the people in the village hated Naruto and how they called her a demon; how he had found her getting beaten and the man telling her to die. He noticed the pained look in Naruto's eyes and suddenly all the pieces fit together.
Naruto braced herself. She could feel Shikamaru's intelligent eyes on her. He had figured it out. But to her surprise, he didn't say anything, but kept staring at her, waiting for her to tell them her secret. She respected him for it, so she took in a deep breath and for the first time in her life, she willingly revealed her secret.
"The Kyuubi is sealed within me since the day I was born."
A stunned silence followed her words. Naruto's voice had been cold and emotionless as she had said it, but inside, she was more than nervous. How would they react? Would they hate her just like the villagers? She was angry at herself for her insecurity, but if those three wouldn't want to team up with her, she'd probably have to pursue her plans alone.
Yet again, Kiba was the first to talk. "So you mean the demon wasn't killed by the Yondaime?"
"No", Naruto shook her head, still not looking at any of the boys. "He wasn't able to kill it, so instead he sealed it in a newborn baby, turning me into a Jinchuuriki."
Neji intently watched his new captain. He couldn't begin to imagine how hard Naruto's life must have been so far. He knew how it was to live with a seal, being looked down upon. But his burden of the caged bird seal suddenly looked like joke in front of what Naruto must've lived through. And coming out like this was indeed a wonder.
Since none of the boys said anything, Naruto nervously looked up. Seeing their thoughtful expressions, she steeled herself and asked her last question.
"So, knowing that I'm the Kyuubi, are you still willing to accept me as your captain?", again her voice didn't betray her emotions. She now stared at the boys, inwardly dreading their answer.
Shikamaru sighed lazily. "I can tell already, it's going to be very troublesome, but why not."
Naruto turned her head to look at him. His words may not have sounded very enthusiastic, but his eyes told her that she could count on him. Being an ANBU seemed to have changed the lazy heir.
"I say it again, Naruto-san, it's an honour to work with you", Neji said, giving her a gentle and reassuring smile.
"Ne", Kiba huffed, shrugging and rolling his eyes, "I said I won't ever lose to you again, Naruto, so I won't chicken out now, you hear me?"
Neji chuckled at his team mate and spoke quietly. "Kiba, you do realize that you kind of already lost to her, right? She's our new captain."
Kiba huffed, seeing the logic, and shook his fist at Neji.
Naruto suddenly felt like a huge weight was lifted off of her. She had her team. The three had accepted her, even though they knew about her tenant. It was not the whole village acknowledging her yet, but it was a very good start.
Feeling more light-hearted than in a long time, she thanked the guys with a foxy grin.
"Naruto", Shikamaru spoke up, not able to wait with his questions, "why did you specifically request us?"
Naruto smiled an empty smile and started to explain. "I need a multifunctional team; one that is not only specialized on tracking for example. So I chose each of you, because of your abilities."
She turned to Kiba. "I chose you, Kiba, for your abilities in tracking. We will have to do quite a lot of that in the future, I'm afraid. Even though my sense of smell and hearing is excellent as well, Akamaru will be a great help. Besides, your clan techniques are mainly offensive and mid- to long-range techniques. We will need that, too."
Kiba looked very pleased with himself after Naruto finished and winked at Akamaru.
Naruto turned to Neji. "Neji, your Byakugan will also help in tracking, especially if we need to observe closed buildings for example. Your Gentle Fist Taijutsu is mainly close-ranged and very powerful. Everyone knows that you're an excellent shinobi, but I also chose you because of your knowledge about the human body and the chakra system. I suppose learning medical jutsus from Tsunade-baachan was easy for you, right?"
Neji nodded, it had indeed been not as difficult as he had first assumed. His perfect chakra control and the Byakugan had helped him a lot. Of course, he was not nearly on the level of Sakura, who had been the Hokage's apprentice for almost three years, but he would be able to heal most of the wounds.
Shikamaru watched as Naruto turned to him. He was quite curious to hear what the girl was going to say about him. "You probably think that the most important reason why I chose you, is your intelligence and your incredible strategical skills", Naruto began, looking up at him. "Well, it is one of the reasons."
Shikamaru sweat-dropped. "But", Naruto went on, "I also need you because of your shadow-based techniques. We need someone, who is able to restrain an opponent. I had first thought of someone who knows genjutsu, but there was no one available, so we will have to do with your shadow binding techniques."
How had she managed to praise the other two like that, but Shikamaru only got this? Seeing how his face fell, Naruto quickly went on. "Don't get me wrong, Shika, it's not like you're second choice. Actually, you will play one of the most important parts."
Shikamaru listened, dreading to find out what his task was going to be. It was probably going to be troublesome anyway, so he stopped hoping.
"Without your strategies, this whole endeavour won't work." Shikamaru sweat-dropped once again, so it was back to him being used for his intelligence. Well, he could live with that. It wasn't that troublesome after all.
Apparently finished with her explanation, Shikamaru marvelled at how Naruto had thought about each of them. He saw why she had Neji learn medical jutsu and Kiba's new sensory type jutsu would come in handy as well. Whatever Naruto had in mind, it seemed to be rather extensive.
"So, Naruto", Kiba chimed in, "since when are you back?"
Naruto thought about it. "Well, I returned for the first time six weeks ago, but left the next day again. Then I came back after four weeks, in which I trained with Anko-sensei. Well, and then I had to leave again on a mission – which was actually a test – a week ago and now I finally returned completely."
Kiba blinked, not completely following Naruto's explanation, but he caught the word 'test' and asked the girl about it.
"It was a test disguised as a mission. I had to pass it, so Tsunade-baachan could promote me to ANBU captain", the girl answered.
"Wait, you've been captain for only a week?", Kiba sputtered.
"Well, technically, it has been only two days so far", she said, rubbing her head sheepishly.
"Tche, not fair! Why didn't they make me captain?", Kiba wondered aloud, but at the deadpan expressions on the others' faces, he started to pout.
"I've also just recently joined ANBU, Kiba, so stop sulking", Shikamaru drawled lazily, rolling his eyes at his old friend.
"By the way, Shikamaru", Naruto addressed him. "What animal did you get?", she wanted to know, referring to the Nara's ANBU mask.
At that Kiba started laughing, pointing at the Nara. Shikamaru only sighed, taking his mask off his belt and put it on.
"It's an owl!", Kiba laughed, apparently highly amused about it.
Naruto looked at the mask. It had a beak and black lines around the eyes, which looked like feathery eyebrows. But she saw it.
"Huh, and I thought they'd give you a sloth mask", Naruto said matter-of-factly, which made Kiba laugh even harder and Neji smirk.
Shikamaru took off the mask again, attaching it to his belt. "I don't see what's so funny about it, Kiba", the Nara said, sounding a little offended and irritated.
Kiba, getting his breathing under control, looked at his friend. "Man, we're ANBU, we're supposed to be dangerous. Look at me and Neji! He got a Tiger mask and I got a Bear mask. Hello? We are dangerous and strong." Naruto's eyes widened at Kiba's reasoning and Shikamaru huffed. "An owl is just not dangerous, man", Kiba finished and barked another laugh.
"The Owl mask represents my intelligence. Owls have always been a symbol of wisdom", he defended himself.
"Yes, like I said, really dangerous", Kiba laughed at his explanation.
The Nara ignored the foolish Inuzuka and looked expectantly at Naruto. "What animal did you get?", he asked her.
Liking her own mask, Naruto freed it from her belt and put it on. A moment of contemplating silence followed.
Then Kiba burst out laughing again.
"What the hell, Kiba?", Naruto yelled, surprised at the reaction. Well, she hadn't recognized the animal her mask was representing at first glance either, but now, knowing it, it was easy to see.
"It's a skunk!", Kiba roared, pointing at Naruto's face.
"WHAT?", Naruto screamed at him, some of her old temper showing through, "It's not a skunk!"
Looking for help at the other two boys, she saw Shikamaru smirk. Forgotten was his supposedly not 'dangerous enough' animal. "Well, Naruto", the Nara began, "it has small ears... and those whisker-like markings around on the cheeks... It could be a skunk, you know."
Naruto glared at him. Traitor, she mouthed at the pineapple-haired boy, who suddenly wished he had not said anything.
"It's a weasel, idiots!", Naruto declared, huffing and crossing her arms over her chest defensively.
Kiba was still laughing. "And how is a weasel supposed to be better than a skunk?"
"A weasel is an agile and swift animal", Neji came to Naruto's help, "it is flexible and a very skilful hunter."
"See, dog-breath", Naruto said, sounding pleased.
"Hum", Shikamaru mused, "but why didn't you get a fox mask, Naruto?"
Kiba shot an incredulous look at the other brunette. "Tche, Shika, wouldn't that have been super obvious, considering that she's the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki?"
Shikamaru saw the logic and just shrugged.
"And I thought I'm supposed to be the idiot here", Kiba mumbled, shaking his head.
Neji watched his new team. These were the people with whom he was going to spend most of his future time. Even though Naruto seemed to be quite energetic, there was a feeling hanging over her, that he couldn't exactly pinpoint. She was joking with Kiba, teasing Shikamaru and giving her foxy grin, but something had changed. Whilst he didn't know the girl as well as Shikamaru and Kiba did, Neji saw the sadness behind her smiles and the slight frown on her brow. Like all Hyuuga, Neji was extremely good in reading people and interpreting their body language; so he easily recognized the changes. The hyperactive, carefree blonde, that had defeated him during the chuunin exams, had grown up. Behind the playful banter with the Inuzuka, he saw a more serious, more mature version of Naruto. But why had she lost her smile? Was it thanks to Sasuke's defection? Neji saw a headache coming on and to say it in the Nara's words, Neji assumed whatever they were going to do, was probably going to be troublesome. Which reminded him...
"Naruto-san", the composed Hyuuga started, "this all sounds very interesting, but what exactly are we going to do?"
At that, all eyes turned on Naruto. The girl blinked at them and suddenly her face lit up.
"We, gentlemen", she said and flashed them a very feral grin that sent shivers down their necks, "go Akatsuki hunting."
(1) Ninpo: Choju Giga: Ninja Art: Super Beast Imitation Picture.
(2) Kawarimi no Jutsu: Body Replacement Technique.
(3) Gogyo Fuin: Five Elements Seal; is used to block or disturb the flow of chakra in the target's body. (Orochimaru used it on Naruto in the Forest of Death to lock away the Kyuubi's chakra)
(4) Gatsuga: Man-Beast Taijutsu: Fang over Fang: Kiba and Akamaru spin very speedily; the force of the attack is strong enough to drill through stone; mid to long-range jutsu.
(5) Hakke Kusho: Eight Trigrams Air Palm: the user precisely pinpoints the enemy's vital points with the Byakugan and releases a high-speed palm thrust; a "vacuum shell" compressed using the Gentle Fist is formed to attack the opponent's vitals from a distance, blowing them off their feet with tremendous force before they even notice they were hit.
The author says:
Pheeew, long read... so now you're either bored or hopefully happy about the fact that I finally revealed who is in Naruto's team... (Although it was quite obvious, wasn't it?)
Next chapter: Naruto is going to meet her old class mates. How will they react to her and what will Konoha say? What about Sasuke, how is he faring? And what is Itachi doing in Naruto's apartment? Questions upon questions ;)
So, did you like it? And Naruto's further plan? Tell me what you think and feel free to criticize me!
Over and out,
xXHaneliXx
PS: In case any of you are looking for a really nice modern AU SasuFemNaru story with some Drama and an interesting plot, check out the story 'Lean on me' by Aquilon!
