Rain: Hello all, I am back with a brand new chapter for Forged in Hellfire: Lost Soul Reborn and I'm so sorry it took so long. I honestly do not like this chapter at all but after all the hell I've been through with it from re-writes to other issues, I figured that I can put out this filler chapter then get into the meat of things next chapter.
Mario: Here we go!
Forged in Hellfire: Lost Soul Reborn
Chapter Ten: The Uzumaki Hunting Squad! Journey to Hisako
"Kakashi-Sensei, I do not like this at all," Sakura whispered angrily as she sat in-between Kakashi and Sasuke on a wooden bench near the gate of the village, both of which were looking as angry as she felt.
None of the three members of Team 7 wanted to be here or do this mission at all but while two of them shared the same reason, Sasuke had his own reasons.
Flashback
Wave Village
Uchiha Sasuke
Sasuke quickly found out that mocking Naruto was a mistake when Naruto's irises faded away, leaving his eyes completely white before fire ignited within and around his eyes, the skin around his eyes started to glow orange-red and crack.
"CONTINUE TO MOCK ME AND I WILL BLACKEN YOUR BONES!" Naruto roared out in his face, causing Sasuke to freeze up in terror he hadn't felt since…that time.
He could hear the raw rage and power echoing through Naruto's now deepened voice and of course, having the blond with literal fire in his eyes and his skin looking as if it would explode in flames told Sasuke that Naruto meant every word that he said.
"I AM THE REASON YOU ARE STILL BREATHING AND NOT AMONG THE DEAD AT THIS VERY MOMENT. I COULD HAVE LET YOU AND SAKURA AND EVERYONE PERISH AT THE HANDS OF THAT SHINOBI AND GATO BUT I, IN MY WEAKENED STATE CAME BACK WHEN I HAD NO REASON TO RETURN TO SUCH A WRETCHED, ARROGANT LOT LIKE YOURSELF. AND INSTEAD OF GETTING A TINY BIT OF THANKS, YOU DARE BELITTLE ME AND THEN ATTACK ME WHEN MY BACK IS TURNED?! HOW DARE YOU?!"
Sasuke could feel the heat around him increase before he noticed out of the corner of his eye that a bunch of grass suddenly exploded in a burst of fire appear a few inches away from his left arm.
What had he done?
Sasuke then felt Naruto's grip on his neck tighten which caused him to wheeze out a breath but Naruto continued on. "IF YOU EVER, IN YOUR PATHETIC LIFE, EVER CROSS ME THE WAY YOU HAVE TODAY, I WILL RECTIFY SAVING YOUR LIFE HERE AND FORCEFULLY REMOVE YOUR HEAD FROM YOUR SHOULDERS AND BATHE YOU IN HELLFIRE OF THE NETHERREALM, AM I UNDERSTOOD?!"
"I UNDERSTAND!" Sasuke wheezed out in horror as more fire came exploding into life around them but as soon as he said these words, he found himself staring into the crystal blue eyes of Naruto instead of the inferno that were there moments before.
"Good…Now be gone…"
End Flashback
Konohagakure no Sato – Present Time
Team 7
Since that time, Sasuke had been having severe nightmares.
Nightmares of eyes filled with hellfire along with the eyes of his brother's. Both of them staring down at him with malice and hate. Sasuke did not want to have the owner of the first set of eyes back in this village due to this pathetic fear.
And yet for some reason, the Hokage wanted him back…Why did he want this…this monster back in their village…Don't they know how dangerous he was to them?
"None of us like this Haruno but we'll just have to deal with this," Sasuke stated with an aggravated tone in his voice, which made Sakura look at him with a quirk of her brow before she shook her head.
Ever since the mission in Wave along with her dream of Naruto, Sakura felt her crush on the Uchiha heir dwindling day by day and she didn't understand how that could be possible at first but as she took a long hard think on it, she realized that despite him being really cool, he wasn't receptive of her or anyone else in that matter.
He kept everyone at a distance and when anyone got too close, he would demean them until they went away.
Sakura also theorized that perhaps spending time with the warm, sunny shinobi known as Uzumaki Naruto made her realize that the brooding bad boy thing wasn't all that it was cracked up to be.
"We shouldn't have to drag him back. He was going to come back on his own," Sakura murmured to Kakashi softly. "If we try to force him to come back to where he doesn't want to be, he may never come back."
"I know," Kakashi replied softly. "But the Hokage has us by the proverbial balls. Either way, I'll be losing Naruto as my student. The best thing we can do is just find him and explain the situation."
Sakura nodded and said "I hope he understands…"
Kakashi looked down at Sakura and narrowed his eye in thought. 'Ever since the mission, her attitude on Naruto has literally taken a 180 degree change…' Kakashi then smiled and thought 'Good…I'm glad…That's another person he will need on his side.'
Kakashi's brief good mood quickly died when he saw the other teams assigned and said to Sakura and Sasuke "Well…let's get to it then."
With a nod from his two students, the three of them stood up from the bench and stretched their limbs just as the large team of Shinobi stopped in front of them. "Well, The Uzumaki Hunting Squad has arrived," Kiba said with an excited grin on his face, with an added woof from the excited Akamaru.
"Can that not become a thing please?" Sakura asked with a noticeable frown on her face, clearly not pleased by
"He's been calling it that since we joined up with them," Shikamaru muttered with sigh as he rubbed the bridge of his nose as he mumbled "How troublesome…"
"I agree. To have to drag him back here…Must be dreadful," Shino responded, having been told of what Naruto went through by Hinata, who was strangely quiet but she had an air of determination around her that was felt by everyone around her.
"Come on now, do you guys honestly expect me to believe Naruto did all of that?" Kiba asked with a laugh. "The Dead-Last of us? Defeating someone that defeated the Copy-Nin, Zabuza and his girlfriend…Also, him getting a girlfriend? Fighting some powerful shinobi and winning? Laughable."
Neji chuckled and said "As much as it pains me to say this, I agree with this low level genin. There is no feasible way that your Dead-Last could ever match, nor defeat, anyone that can defeat Zabuza and Kakashi."
Sakura hissed at their words but she then only smirked. "Fine, don't believe me. You'll see when we get there."
Sasuke merely scoffed and crossed his arms.
Kakashi looked at all the entire group and said "Let's go guys. We're burning daylight." The group nodded and quickly dashed out of the village gates and into the wild.
Asuma chuckled suddenly as the large group dashed through tree to tree and said "It's not a bad name," a lit cigarette dangling from his lips.
Kakashi, who was next to him, looked at him curiously before he realized what Asuma was talking about and merely scowled but before he could say anything, another voice came in from between the two.
"Easy for you to say, Asuma," Anko responded with a scowl on her face, having been told by Kakashi about what went down between him and Naruto that caused all of this. "We're basically dragging back someone who was going to come back…Doesn't that seem wrong?"
Asuma shrugged and tapped the dust from his cigarette before placing it back into his mouth and taking another drag as he replied "Not really. He's a genin in a shinobi world. He has no say in leaving his team for another village, shinobi village or not."
Kurenai, who was running beside Kakashi, shook her head at this and replied "At the same time Asuma, Anko and I did this at his age as well with no issues. I do agree that this feels wrong but we have our orders."
Anko nodded with a sullen look and looked towards Kakashi as if to say "I tried" before she scoffed and said "Let's just hurry up and find the Gaki. Where would he be, Kakashi?"
"Simple…He's in Wave…" Kakashi stated before he said "Double time! I may not want to do this but let's try to make this as quick and painless as possible!"
The Shinobi Lands
Uzumaki Naruto and Momochi Haku
It had been three hours since Naruto and Haku had left Wave and so far, things were looking bright. The sky was crystal blue with some beautiful white clouds floating within the sky.
There were no threats, no terror, just the two of them walking down the dirt road as a cool, gentle breeze caused their clothes to flow with it.
The sun reflected off of Naruto's Wave made Hiate-Ite which read "The Champion of Wave" in Kanji, which caused him to close his left eyes in a wince. "Are you ok, Naruto-kun?" Haku asked him gently as Naruto rubbed his left eye with a smile on his face.
"I'm doing alright Haku-chan," Naruto responded gently and that was the truth. For all of his existence, he had never seen a sky so clear before without the smell of burning corpses and gunfire in the air.
He could hear the birds chirping in the trees and could see the many animals scurrying here and there. Along with the sounds and the sky above, Naruto felt at peace.
Something that he had never been in his previous life…
Naruto shut his eyes and let a soft laugh leave his lips before he said "I'm doing better than alright," Naruto admitted with a larger smile on his face. "It feels so strange to be this happy…" Naruto told Haku gently as he looked to her.
"To smell the nice crisp air around us. To look at the sky and see nothing but blue, and the occasional white. To not have to fear that some force beyond your abilities will come and take your soul…It feels…Nice," Naruto summarized before he let out another genuine laugh.
Haku stared at Naruto and felt a warm feeling in her chest as he laughed. She had heard him and saw him with his guard down many times but seeing him like this, it made her heart fill with love for him.
Without warning, Haku leaned close and placed a rather gentle kiss on a still laughing Naruto's lips, which caused him to stop laughing before he returned her kiss gladly before the two pulled away and rested their forehead against the other's.
"What was that for?" Naruto whispered softly, slightly dazed from the sudden kiss.
Haku merely smiled at this before she murmured "Seeing you this happy…You look truly at peace…I guess I couldn't help it…"
Naruto laughed and said "Well then why stop?"
Haku giggled softly and moved away from him and responded "Because we need to get to the next village." Haku pulled out a map that the kind citizens of Wave had given her and said "Which is…Hisako."
Haku then tilted her head and said "Just Hisako…That is strange…A lot of the villages in our world have some grand name but this is just…Hisako. Just strange to me."
Naruto quirked a brow at this and gave a small shrug before he asked "How far is it from our currently location?"
Haku rolled up the map and placed it back into her bag as she said "It's only a few miles ahead."
Naruto smiled and said "Then what are we waiting for? Let's get there pronto!" Haku nodded and together, the two dashed forward to make their way to this village.
After thirty minutes of intense running, the two quickly found themselves approaching the village but as they neared closer, Naruto could hear something.
It was very faint but Naruto could make out dozens of voices sing in unison "Kie nai Hisako, honoo no haka (Indelible Hisako, tomb of flame)," which caused Naruto to skid to a stop immediately, which caused Haku to stop as well.
"Naruto-Kun…What is wrong?" Haku asked but Naruto held up his hand to stop her. The faint singing began to fade away but Naruto looked troubled.
What in the world was that?
"I don't know…" Naruto responded as he narrowed his eyes. "It must be nothing. Let's head to the village as quickly as possible. Something isn't sitting right with me and I'd like to get there before sundown…"
Haku looked at him in concern before she nodded and just as quickly as they stopped, the two started to trek to the village of Hisako but if they had stayed just a little bit longer, they would have noticed a small green orb floating in where they stood.
"Spectre…" a female disembodied voice whispered gently as the green orb flew after the two shinobi.
Rain: As I said, I do not like this chapter at all and after many rewrites along with my computer eating my last 7,000 word chapter, I figured this would suffice. Ugh. The next chapter will be a lot longer and will reveal Naruto and Haku's enemies from outside and within this village. So until then…
Mario: See you next time!