(Updated: 4/27/08 : Thanks to our awesome beta, Falconrok5)
Not dead yet. Though I swear I feel like it. Sorry about the wait, people. Notes at the bottom.
All rights to Kishimoto.
Rekindle: Home
Naruto stood panting in the center of the dojo built into the center of the Kaze Kage's tower. Keeping his hands up with trench knives at the ready, he waited for the next move, trying to anticipate where the next attack was going to come from before jumping in. Against an opponent like this, he couldn't afford to make even one mistake; otherwise he could end up losing the fight in an instant.
Not to mention he never was very humble in defeat.
Hearing the sound of movement from both sides, he decided to trust his instincts, and instead of going either forward or backward, he jumped straight up towards the ceiling, and grabbed on to it with chakra. He looked down just in time to see sand crash in from all sides where he had just been standing.
Smirking, Naruto watched that in the moment Gaara had been distracted by attacking, his clone had snuck up behind Gaara and placed a lightly glowing trench knife to the back of his neck, "Now you owe me a lunch at that ramen stall again, Gaara."
Gaara just raised an eyebrow, and sensing something behind him, the real Naruto turned just in time to see a sand clone form behind him with a short sword pointed down on him with all the authority of god. "I do believe they call this a tie, Uzumaki."
Naruto frowned, "You're no fun Gaara. You just don't want to have to pay for me again." Gaara just stared at him, "One does not spar with the intention to lose. And I promised to never pay for you again; it is a mistake I do not plan to repeat." Naruto pouted and jumped back down to the floor, turning to where Shikamaru and Hinata were watching. Turning away from Gaara slightly, he said in a stage whisper, "Can you believe him? He doesn't even want to pay for ramen for us anymore."
Shikamaru snorted, "His entire family fortune wouldn't be enough to pay for you when it comes to ramen." Naruto pouted, "You're supposed to be on my side, cloud boy!" Shikamaru just shrugged and walked off in the direction of the benches, probably in hope of lying down to relax. A slightly evil part of him was glad that before he even made it halfway to it, they could hear the footfalls of someone entering the training grounds closest to where he was heading, revealing Temari. She seemed to already know he was there because she had come out glowering, and though she usually was kind of grumpy, even Naruto knew not to get on her nerves when Shikamaru was around. He didn't know what Shikamaru had ever done to piss her off so much, but Naruto was sure glad he wasn't on the receiving end.
She stopped right in front of him, red faced and angry looking, whereas Shikamaru just looked bored. After yelling at him about something for a few seconds she began dragging him off to one of the other open aired arenas to spar. Shikamaru sent back a slightly pathetic look for help at him, but he grinned evilly and waved, enjoying the sight. Shikamaru glared at him just as they turned a corner and disappeared from sight.
"Temari really does want Shikamaru to do well." Naruto turned to give Hinata a look like she had grown a second head, "Really? I thought she wanted him dead, she's scary when it comes to him." Hinata just smiled at Naruto for a moment before turning and nodding towards Gaara. "Would you like to join us for lunch, Gaara?" The red haired boy just stayed silent for a moment and stared at them, finally nodding slightly. Hinata turned back to Naruto, "It is my treat today, then. But please, I do not have enough money for you to come home totally full, Naruto." Naruto scratched the back of his head and laughed at that, "Better some ramen than none. You're great Hinata."
The girl gave him a slightly shy smile and stared down for a moment, and Naruto was about to say more when Gaara came up behind him. "Are we leaving yet?" Naruto turned and grinned at him, "Sure. Just let me go grab a towel, unlike you, I have to move around in order avoid creating a stain on the floor." Sticking his tongue out at Gaara, he jogged to where he had left some of his things.
Using the towel to wipe off the sweat, he turned back to see Hinata explaining something to Gaara, who was nodding every now and then at her words. Naruto remembered how Gaara had appeared uncomfortable when he only wanted to be friendly. Over time he had become easier to interact with, though Gaara still had trouble communicating in anything but a stiff and formal way. Naruto had shrugged off his apologies for his behavior and instead just taken the boy on as a sparring partner and friend, bringing Gaara with him when they went out into the town to visit the other children.
Out of all of them, Hinata had the most luck with helping Gaara get along with others better, both growing more confident with time. He wasn't sure what had happened to cause her to change, but he enjoyed complimenting her to see if he could get a reaction out of her anymore. Sometimes he still got to see her blush, and though sometimes the few friends he had in Suna teased him about it, it was nice feeling.
Lately things had become slightly odd between him and Hinata, and when he had asked Shikamaru about it, the boy had just given him one of those looks that told him he was an idiot and hadn't even bothered to reply. He sometimes got nervous when she would watch him spar one of the adults, and, god forbid, when they sparred each other. She had only gotten stronger and now that he was always so confused around her he found it hard to fight her seriously… which was always a bad idea if he wanted to not get hurt. Instead he did what he did best, and played ignorant of it all.
Shrugging and fixing a grin to his face, he started to head back to the other two just in time to interrupt something, causing Hinata to turn away, and, almost as if she knew what he had been thinking, gave a deep crimson blush that he could just see past her bangs. Looking at Gaara with a confused look, the other boy just raised an eyebrow back at him, "I believe we should head out if we want to get food before we grow much older."
Naruto shook his head, "We still have to teach you how to not speak like you have a stick up your ass all the time. Now we just need to let the adults know and we can get going." They left for the more public part of the tower, and standing in the middle of a bunch of the Suna women, were Jiraiya and Kakashi, both entertaining them with various stories. Turning to look at Hinata, he just rolled his eyes before getting an idea.
Making a shadow clone, he sent it discreetly around to the other side of the room, and waited for when the two were just about to make their moves on their respective girls when the clone performed a henge and struck.
The only thing that crossed over the faces of Kakashi and Jiraiya was horror as they heard the banshee- like shriek from what they thought was Kushina, now yelling at them for their behavior. They backed up into a nearby wall, and tried to put as much distance between them, the women they had been talking to, and the enraged Kushina, as they could. The whole thing would have been perfect if the real Naruto hadn't been laughing so hard, causing them to turn around and notice them standing there. Understanding crossed their faces at the same time as they both smacked the clone, causing it to disappear.
Jiraiya glared at him when he saw how the women had scattered at the shouts. "What was that for, you little brat?!" Naruto glared back, "You were being a pervert and deserved it! Besides, how else were we supposed to get your attention when you go all creepy like that?"
Jiraiya waggled his eyebrows a bit, "I can think of a few ways." Naruto shuddered and didn't even have it in him to reply to that. Shaking the scary thoughts out of his head, he just ignored it. "We're going to go out and have ramen, so we'll be back later." Now Jiraiya frowned, "You shouldn't go alone. Go with Kakashi, he can stand watch over you three." Naruto frowned, "We're ninja now. We shouldn't have to be baby sat all the time you know."
Jiraiya just leveled a look at him that made him feel rather stupid, "And you are no ordinary ninja either. You have one of the most dangerous men in the world after you and everyone around your father, so you'll have to put up with it."
A slight tap on his shoulder made him look behind him to see Kakashi tapping his shoulder with the spine of a book. Though it was unmarked, he didn't doubt it was a copy of one of Jiraiya's novels. "You make me sad Naruto. I thought I was like an older brother, and now you don't want to be seen with me? It's truly enough to make me cry." He rolled his eyes at the display, "You know what I mean Kakashi. Besides," leaning over to whisper to the man as he leaned down, "Jiraiya is just trying to get rid of you so he can have all the fun."
Naruto saw Kakashi smile through his mask, "I know" he whispered back. "But he is right. Just entertain him long enough and soon you'll be all alone on your mission. So, you three just go ahead and play and I'll follow from a distance."
Shrugging it off and turning to the others, he started talk about their training as they began to walk out of the room, and just about to walk out when they heard a loud sneeze come from the Toad Sannin, followed by three more in quick succession. Naruto grinned, that would explain the smell of sneezing powder he picked up on Kakashi. At least the hermit wouldn't be able to get into any trouble now.
X X X
Shikamaru hated girls. Well, he didn't hate Hinata; she was pretty quiet for a girl, and well mannered, with a good mind besides. What he hated was a bossy girl, and even worse, a smart bossy girl, the exact kind who could usually pick up on what he was doing and yell at him for it.
He sighed as he dodged a blast of wind that had been aimed to hit him dead in the chest, and sighed again as he put his hands in his pockets. She knew the way he fought and had chosen the one training ground that offered no shade, and gave her the complete advantage. She said it was good training in case he was ever in a similar situation, but he didn't doubt she just enjoyed entertaining the thought of winning.
"Troublesome woman." She glared at him, "Stop whining. At least I won't kill you at the end of a fight, a far sight better than most other ninja you might face." Shikamaru just stared at her for a moment, then grunted. "So you say." Temari shot him her worst glare yet and he gulped a bit, expecting an attack, but was surprised when it didn't come. "Temari?"
She huffed, "You're just as bad as Kankuro. Someday you're going to find a ninja stronger than you and that will be the end of that." She seemed annoyed, and if he guessed the tone of her voice right, a bit scared. Shikamaru sighed yet again, he swore, if he ever understood Temari half as well as he did most things, he would die of shock.
"I'm out here, aren't I? I don't fancy the thought of dying, either." He gave her a long look before softening a bit and giving her a small smile, "I'll come back to Suna and everyone here, don't worry." Temari looked startled before hiding her face from his view, and all he heard was a muffled acceptance. Another moment passed in an awkward silence before she looked up with her cocky grin back on her face, "Though we will have to make sure of it. After all, you can't seem to dodge a tiny little breeze, let alone a REAL attack."
Shikamaru sighed. And people honestly wondered why he found girls so troublesome, he had somehow become close friends with a complete mad woman, he knew it. But for some reason, he just didn't use that intelligence of his to run away like he did from other girls. When it came to Temari he just kept coming back for more punishment, yet he couldn't guess why for the life of him.
Shikamaru was broken out of his thoughts when he saw her lift up her new large battle fan and he frowned, this was not the place to be devoting precious brain power to figuring it out. At least not if he wanted to avoid bodily injury. Pulling a kunai out, he prepared himself for a very troublesome sparring session.
X X X
Naruto slurped up some ramen as he pointed his chopsticks at Gaara and Kazuo, another boy from the village he sometimes sparred with and met up with when he was in the village. "And then I had to find someway to figure out the landing, and that part is HARD!" He was about to go into more detail about his training when he heard someone stop directly behind them in the ramen stand.
The three of them turned around, and were faced with a Chuunin glaring down at Gaara. "You're in my spot monster. I swear, I don't know why they let trash like you in." He placed a hand on Gaara to pull him off the chair when Naruto's hand clamped down on his wrist. "Get your hand off of Gaara!"
The ninja glared down at him, "You're as bad as him, hanging out with demon scum. Your father must be ashamed to have such a disgrace of a child." The ninja turned to ignore him and Naruto whipped him back around, intent on telling him just what he thought. Instead of just turning, he saw the ninja ball his fist in order to punch him, and Naruto raised a forearm up to guard the blow, his eyes practically glowing with rage at him.
Naruto was tired of this. It wasn't the first time they had been minding their own business when someone came to harass Gaara. Though many more people cared for him now that Shukaku was properly sealed, there were always idiots ready to pick a fight because they saw him as a monster. Gaara would just put up with the abuse with his normal indifference, but a few times, Naruto saw how much it hurt him to still be considered a monster, even after trying to make up for his past actions. It killed Naruto to see a friend have to suffer like that, and it made his rage grow to see one of those people here right now.
Everyone
around them started to back off as Gaara' and Naruto's chakra spiked
in response to their anger. Yet the scariest thing to most of them
was how they weren't sure who was producing more of it, the boy with
a demon sealed inside of him, or the boy who was supposedly human
through and through. The ninja gulped, realizing just the amount of
trouble he had gotten himself into when his eyes rolled up into the
back of his head and he collapsed to the floor in a dead
faint.
Standing behind him was Hinata, a glowing finger extended
to where she had poked the man in order to render him unconscious.
Kneeling down, the blue color gave over to a pale green as she
examined him and made sure she hadn't left permanent injury. Seeing
she hadn't, she stood up and looked at the boys, "Did it happen
again?" She whispered it to try and keep their privacy, but
given the small space and the focus on them, the entire restaurant
heard it and winced, and as if realizing they were eavesdropping,
suddenly started making loud conversation as they went back to their
food.
Gaara stood up, "I believe I should be returning to the
tower." Turning to leave, Naruto grabbed on to his wrist. "Sit
down Gaara." Gaara glared at him, "Let go of me, Uzumaki."
Instead of letting him go, he glared right back. "I said sit down, god damn it!" Raising his voice so everyone could hear, "You did nothing wrong. It's blind idiots like that who should be kicked out of the places YOU visit. And I'll personally kick the ass of anyone who dares treat you as anything less than human." Lowering his voice, he continued, "You're my friend Gaara. I will always help my friends. So just sit down and enjoy yourself."
Gaara stared at him before sitting back down silently and turning back to his noodles. After an awkward silence, Gaara turned and gave him a small smile that caused Naruto to nearly fall out of his chair in surprise at seeing. "You are a very odd individual Uzumaki." Gaara turned back to his food, the smile still slightly on his face and not looking for all the world as if nothing had just happened. Kazuo laughed at that, "Odd doesn't begin to describe that boy there. He's off his rocker." Naruto growled at him, but Hinata interrupted and decided to change the subject, "How is Minami doing, Kazuo?" At this, the boy turned dark red and turned back to his food; whatever taunts had been in his head forgotten.
Naruto couldn't stay mad while watching that and started laughing at the boy, "You should see yourself!" Kazuo glared at him, "Yeah, well I know who likes you too, you idiot, want me to let the world know?" It took a moment for the words to sink into his head and he just stared at Kazuo, and pointed a finger at his own chest, "Me?"
Kazuo smirked, "Yeah. Though if you're so interested, maybe I won't tell you after all." Naruto shot to his feet, "Hey! You can't just do that!" Kazuo's smirk grew downright evil and Naruto had to fight down the urge to smack it off his face. "Come on, who is it?!"
He was about to go as far as to challenge the boy to a spar to find out when he felt Hinata's hand on his arm. Turning to look at her, she shook her head. "Naruto. Think of the girl in question, she must have a reason for not saying it, and it wouldn't be fair to her to have someone else tell you before she does." She gave him a weak smile and turned to Kazuo, "Right?" The two stared at each other for a moment, and then Kazuo hung his head a bit in apology. "Yeah, you're right. It's not my place to get involved."
Naruto looked between the two confused, and finally looked at Gaara, who gave him a slight shrug before going back to his ramen. He turned back to Hinata who this time gave him a bigger smile that actually reached her eyes, and he sighed, accepting whatever just happened. "I still wanna know." He whined.
Kazuo grinned at him, "Don't worry, I bet she'll tell you soon enough. And when she does, you're dooooomed." He stuck his tongue out at Naruto and he shook his fist back at him. He flinged a noodle at the boy, who glared back at him before breaking out in laughter.
Naruto loved being in Suna.
X X X
Naruto tried to resist fidgeting as the adults inspected their gear, making sure they were ready to head out. Naruto had to resist the urge to tell the adults to stop babying them and treat them like adults. He had learned long ago it was best just to put up with it so it would end sooner. Eventually Kushina finished inspecting their packs, "2 extra holsters of weapons, Naruto? You're not hoping to get into a fight, are you?"
He rolled his eyes, "No Mom. Just trying to be extra cautious, and besides, you know we can kick ass even if we do get attacked, so can we go? We were supposed to meet Gaara and the others at the gate to say good-bye ten minutes ago."
She glared down at him, though not too harshly, and finally breathed a deep sigh. "What did I do to get stuck with a child that was just as stubborn as I was at that age?" Naruto grinned up at her cheekily, "All the right things evidently." Nodding to his Dad and the others, he ran off before she could react, and grabbed onto the wrists of Hinata and Shikamaru, and headed for the gates. He took a moment to look back over his shoulder to see everyone still standing there, and had to fight down the sudden pit forming in his stomach. The adults were putting a lot on the line staying in Suna while waiting for their return, so it was up to them to do their best and make them proud. Turning back around, he took a deep breath and kept walking.
Making it to the gate, they saw Gaara and his siblings waiting with an old man. He was probably in his mid-fifties, but appeared in reasonable health for a man his age. Judging by the muscles, he wasn't unaccustomed to hard work for a civilian either. He also appeared nervous. He had been open with Suna about possible danger, but hadn't specified the full extent of it, possibly relying on the fact Suna was in a lean period and charging less for harder missions than other countries would.
Naruto's squad came up to them and Naruto grinned. "Sorry about the wait. Mom wouldn't just let well enough alone and made us late." Gaara didn't reply but Temari and Kankuro sneered jokingly, "Awww, was she making sure her baby was okay for his first big mission?"
The bridge builder jumped at that, and turned on them, cheeks flared with anger, "Wait a moment. They sent me a snot nosed brat who hasn't been on a mission before when it's that dangerous out there? Don't fool around with me, I want my money back!" He crossed his arms and glared at Gaara, who seemed to be recognized as the figure of authority, receiving a certain amount of respect for his father being the former Kazekage.
Gaara just stared up at him, causing the old bridge builder to fidget before long. At length, Gaara found what he wanted to say. "Suna highly recommends him, though he may not be formally trained." The old man shut his mouth and scratched his head, laughing nervously, "Is that so? Well then, I should apologize. I'm Tazuna, the greatest bridge builder alive, and you're here to help me finish a bridge back in wave country. So we better get moving, yeah?"
Naruto bounced on the balls of his feet, nodding at the statement and forgetting all about his annoyance for being underestimated. He was nervous, but ready to take on whatever came up. He had just taken a step forward when he felt a hand on his shoulder, and turned to see Gaara standing there, looking uncomfortable with Kankuro standing beside him. He looked between them, confused and waiting for Gaara to say something. Behind them, he saw Temari talking quietly with Shikamaru, who was nodding, before she gave him a brief hug and ran back into the city. He didn't have time to be in shock though as Gaara finally spoke up, "Stay safe, Naruto."
Naruto blinked a few times at hearing his name come from Gaara's mouth before nodding. They held gazes for a moment longer, and then Naruto turned around with the others and jogged to catch up with Tazuna, heading for the shortest route to Wave country.
X X X
Sorry about the wait. Had exams the past two weeks, and homework, and papers due. As well as my job. Basically my free time has had the living snot beaten out of it. This chapter wasn't originally planned either, so I had to sit down and think it up first. So I didn't get to it until just recently. I am trying to change my writing style a wee bit to be a bit better transitioned in small events. Such as how people interact, and the way I structure the short scenes in a chapter. If you see anything odd, please let me know.
I hopefully will have the next chapter out sooner, but I still have a lot of work to finish. Only bonus is I know what is going to happen (with one possibly significant exception) in the next few chapters. So it should get out sooner. Expect updates to pick up for the next few chapters, but slow down again as finals approach. I won't stop writing, but school comes first so give it time.
Again, all comments and criticisms, constructive of course, are welcome. I am doing this to improve my writing ability, so I appreciate the help.