Chapter 10:
Village left far behind and young girl out of sight, Naruto climbed onto Neji's back, trying to rest after his long afternoon of work. With no food in his stomach, he barely had the strength to walk. Neji was regretting doing an honest day's now that they had no food to show for it. Maybe they should have taken some food. The cooks placed large quantities of meat in front of him all day long and he ate none of it. Maybe he should have sneaked a bite or two. Neji shook the idea from his mind. It was the same as stealing and it wouldn't make the agitated villagers see them in a better light. It was just the hunger talking. They had done the right thing by leaving before anything else could happen.
"Maybe we'll see some deer again," Naruto said from the dragon's back. "I'd eat just about anything right now."
Neji was trying very hard not to think about his hunger. Hearing Naruto's words only made him feel hungrier.
The hills started to flatten out and trees started to appear. They were nearing a wooded area. Naruto pulled out the map again to make sure they were going the right way. According to the map, they were heading in the right direction. However, the next village was even further away. Unless they could find food on the road, they were going to go hungry for the next day or so.
"You couldn't warn me before you carried me off, could you?" Naruto growled to Neji. "I could have grabbed my wallet and maybe some supplies so we wouldn't be starving like this. It's all your fault."
Neji bucked, flinging Naruto off his back with a roar. Naruto bounced off the ground on his hip and landed in the grass on his shoulder. Neji started scrapping the ground with his claws, snarling at him angrily. How dare Naruto blame him for all this? If Naruto hadn't gone into that shrine and bumped into that orb, none of this would have happened. They wouldn't be here right now if it weren't for him. If anything this was all Naruto's fault.
"Well, sorry!" yelled the blond ninja, getting to his feet. "But if we were better prepared, we wouldn't need to be going around begging people for food! Instead, we're out here with no food, no water, no money and no supplies! If it weren't for Seji, we wouldn't even have this bag! So far, he's the only one who bothered to help us! We've been lucky so far. But you saw that village! It was full of jerks and idiots!"
Not every village would be friendly. Seji's village was possibly one in a million. They were lucky to come to that one first. This village they were just leaving would probably be like the others they would come across. Naruto had experienced this before while on missions. But this was different. On missions, he was better prepared and often didn't have to speak to the residents. He never had to beg for food before and never traveled without money or supplies. On missions, often people would give him food out of courtesy. Traveling as they were now was very new to them and scary.
Naruto's anger calmed realizing that he was blaming the wrong person. It was beyond their control. It was spoken out of anger brought on by their hunger. "It's not your fault…"
Neji stopped baring his teeth.
"You really had no choice. It wasn't your fault. They ran you out of the village. It wasn't like they would stop to let us gather up some things. Even I didn't think we would go traveling like this. Sorry I snapped at you. It's really no one's fault."
Neji would have insisted that it was all because of Naruto's ignorance, but he didn't want to waste energy trying to convey that to him and accepted that it was the fault of no one.
"Either way, we're going to starve if we don't find any…"
Neji's head jerked around, looking at a tree near the road. A squirrel was scurrying up the tree, slowly spiraling around the trunk. Neji lunged himself at the tree, his jaws clamping down on the tree trunk. He pulled away, a furry tail hanging between his teeth. He swallowed.
"Whoa…" Naruto had never seen Neji do that before. Desperation knows no laws, he supposed. Neji was hungry enough to eat a live squirrel, showing just now desperate he was to stop the pain in his stomach.
He licked his lips and turned back to Naruto. Seeing the shocked look on his face, Neji looked away in embarrassment.
"I hope it tasted good," Naruto said to him. He walked beside Neji, ushering him down the road. "Come on. It'll be dark soon."
The sun was starting to set as they walked through the woods. Sadly, the trees offered them no food. Nothing was edible. Not even the mushrooms growing around the tree roots. Naruto rode on Neji's back through the trees, looking into the branches, hoping to see something growing. As the sky grew darker, it became harder to see so he gave up. It appeared that they would be sleeping under the stars again tonight.
The trees ended and they broke into a clear area. Naruto squinted in the dark, seeing something. "Hey, what's that?"
Neji, who had a better time seeing in the dark, carried Naruto over to the area in question. There were trees sheltering something which looked suspiciously like a house. The land was flat, but there were dark bumps in shadow which got Naruto's attention right away. It was a fenced in area forming a perfect box around the bumpy shadows. As they got closer, it became clear what they were looking at.
"Awesome!" Naruto jumped off Neji's back and hopped the fence into the garden. "Finally! Food!" Naruto bent down around the large melons and pumpkins, smelling them. He punched a hole in the first watermelon he got his hands on and started slurping up the sweet watery insides. He dug in with his hand, pulling out handfuls of melon and seeds. "This is sooo good!"
Neji stepped up to the fence, hanging his head over the railing and sniffed the melons. Naruto broke it in half and tossed it to him. Neji ate it, rind and all. He sniffed around and started to rip melons out of the ground, eating them whole. These were the sweetest melons he had ever eaten.
Naruto was already on his fourth, tossing the stripped rinds aside and diving into the new ones with his face, slurping and chomping noisily. "Maybe we should take two or three of these on the road with us…"
After eating through half the patch, Neji stopped and sniffed the air. He smelled smoke and there were thick puffs escaping from the roof of the house behind the garden. They weren't alone. Someone was here and something told Neji that they wouldn't take kindly to a couple of strangers eating through their fields. Neji pulled back and snorted to Naruto.
"What?"
Someone was home. They would be caught if they stayed here. They had to leave quickly. He started snorting and growling at Naruto, trying to get him to leave with him. He wasn't budging. Neji tugged on his jacket, pointing to the house with his nose, trying to make him understand.
"What are you saying?"
Neji didn't want to alert the people in the house so he kept his growls low and quiet. He kept pulling Naruto toward the fence, trying to get him to come, but he wouldn't leave the patch.
"What's the matter with you? What's wrong?"
"Who's out there?" came a loud voice from the house.
Naruto dropped the half eaten melon and jumped up. "Why didn't you say so?!"
"Who's there?! Show yourself!"
Naruto started to make his way through the patch when a light shined in their direction. "Get down!" Naruto flattened himself to the dirt, hiding from the light. Neji did the same, using the fence for cover. The light traveled in a straight line, going over the patch carefully and then swung back. They couldn't leave without being spotted. Another light joined the first coming from another direction. Naruto kept low to the ground, holding his breath.
"Is someone out there?"
"Did you find them?"
"No. You?"
"I don't see anybody. Are you sure there's someone there?"
"Positive. I heard them. There's at least two of them. I heard a voice."
"I heard that, too."
"What if they ran off?"
"Not that fast."
There were at least three of them. Naruto heard three distinct voices.
The light flashed overhead and Naruto's chin dug into the earth. The flashlight stopped by the fence. "I think I saw something," said one voice. "Something shiny."
Neji! Naruto peered near the fence. They must have caught a glimpse of that jewel on his forehead. He couldn't let them hurt Neji. He had to explain. As the men moved closer, Naruto sat up. "Uh, excuse me!" A flashlight shined in his face. He shielded his eyes with his sticky hand. "Uh, yeah, hi! Sorry about all this. Just grabbing a quick snack."
"I found him, Shi!" called a voice. Naruto watched the man's silhouette moved closer and then stop. "It's just a kid!"
Another man came over, shining his own light in Naruto's face. "He's wearing a headband. I think he's a ninja. Are you, kid?"
"I am. And my name's Naruto."
The second man lowered his flashlight and pulled Naruto to his feet but his sleeve. "What are you doing here? You lost or something?"
"Uh, no. I was just… We were really hungry and we saw this garden so we just…"
"We, huh? So you're not alone?"
"No."
The man flashed his light on the road. "So where's your friend at?"
"Uh…" Naruto glanced at the fence. "Before I tell you… Don't freak out, ok? He's not exactly… human."
"Oh?" He shined the light back in his face. "Then what is he? Your pet dog or something?"
"Close." Naruto looked back towards the fence.
The man followed his gaze, narrowing his eyes. "Kyo, shine your light over there. Kid's pet is over there."
The first man, now identified as Kyo moved his flashlight over to the fence and found the dragon crouched behind the wood. "Holy crap!" He jumped backwards, nearly dropping the flashlight. "Touzoku, you'd better get over here! Like, now!"
The man standing with Naruto shined his light on Neji's scaly face. "Whoa!"
"I said not to freak out!" Naruto cried. "Doesn't anybody listen to me?"
"Shi! Shi, look over here! The kid's got a dragon with him!"
"A what?!" A third man came running down the dirt path and stood by Kyo with the flashlight shining on Neji's face. "My God, would you look at that… A real live dragon."
Neji lifted his head slowly while keeping very quiet. Shi moved closer to the fence and reached out with his hand to touch Neji's snout. Neji recoiled, not wanting the man to touch him. Even at the sight of this, Shi was smiling as if he had struck gold.
"He's magnificent." He turned to Naruto. "Tell me, boy, wherever did you come across this creature?"
"Uh…" Naruto looked at Neji who glared at him, his way of telling Naruto to keep quiet. "He's with me. We're traveling."
Shi smiled at him. "Then the two of you must be pretty tired from your journey. Come. You must rest here for a while. We were just about to sit down to dinner."
"Then we came at a good time!" Naruto grinned back.
Touzoku and Kyo opened the gate to the fence. Kyo had to jiggle the latch to get it to open. Once it swung open, Neji stepped inside. Shi led Naruto toward the building covered by overgrown trees which turned out to be a tool shed. "You can clean up around the side there. We have a hose by the shed. Just by the pumpkins over there."
"Thanks." Naruto went by the large pumpkins and looked around but there was no hose to be found. "Uh, where exactly..?"
"Ah, I'm sorry. It's around this side," Shi chuckled. "It's been a long day."
"No problem." Naruto went around the other side and washed off his hands using the short hose. Their luck we beginning to change again. These people seemed nice. They were nice enough to invite them to dinner.
Kyo and Touzoku stood on either side of Neji, looking him up and down. He didn't like their stares. It made him feel very uncomfortable. Naruto returned from behind the shed and went up to Shi, thanking him for his kindness.
"It's not a problem," he told Naruto.
The blond teenager looked over the garden as Shi lit their way with the flashlight in his hand. "So all this is yours?" he asked looking over the plump melons.
"Yup. I planted all the melons you see before you. I'm feeling pretty good about those cantaloupe you see there." Shi gestured to the light yellowish green melons on the ground.
Neji narrowed his eyes at Shi.
"Cool." Naruto was completely oblivious as always.
Shi took them to the house just a short distance away from the garden, completely aglow. In the light, Naruto and Neji could see these men clearly. They were wearing clean clothes and sandals. All three of them had dark hair. Kyo wore his the longest of the three, his ponytail reaching midway down his back. Touzoku had a light scar running down his left ear to his jawbone. Shi's outfit seemed to be made of silk, his shirt bound to his waist by a woven rope and knotted at his navel. Shi invited them in and Naruto started up the steps.
Neji reached out and pulled on Naruto's jacket.
"What's the matter?"
Neji tugged, a low growl rumbling in his throat.
Naruto pulled his shirt free. "What's wrong? They just invited us in for dinner. Are you finding fault with that?" Neji acted the same way when they were in Seji's village, not trusting anyone's kindness. "It's fine. These guys aren't jerks like at that other place."
Neji growled, trying to get Naruto away from the building.
"What is it? I don't get you. You don't like it when people are being selfish jerks and you don't like it when people are being kind. What's up with you?"
Neji growled again, backing away from the house. He prayed that Naruto would understand his body language and come with him.
Shi stepped behind Naruto, putting his hands on Naruto's shoulders. "What's the matter? Is your dragon upset because he can't fit into our house?"
"Yeah, that must be it…" Naruto thought aloud.
"Don't worry. We'll bring him some food to eat. We'll treat him right." Shi reached out to pet Neji's snout. Neji saw the man's supple palm come at his face and pulled away with a loud growl. Shi shrugged and led Naruto inside with the two men holding the door open for them. "I guess your dragon doesn't like me. Oh, well. I tried to be nice."
Neji watched Naruto go inside and stood by the door, growling and snorting. Something wasn't right about this place. Neji peered inside the window and saw the men sit Naruto down at a wooden table and take a pot off the fire. He walked around the house and peered inside another window. This was a bedroom. There was a large bed in the middle of the floor with different colored blankets laying across it. There was a sunhat hanging on the hook by the closed door. It had a red ribbon on it. It was a woman's sunhat. Why on earth would three single men own a woman's sunhat? Neji walked around the building, snooping around behind the house.
Too many things didn't add up. That man named Shi claimed to be the owner of this land. He even said that he planted the 'cantaloupe' in the garden himself. That yellow-green melon he called 'cantaloupe' was actually a honeydew. Surely a farmer would know that. It was so basic, even Neji who never owned a garden in his life knew that. Shi didn't even know where the hose was on the tool shed, pointing Naruto in the wrong direction. Even those two men Kyo and Touzoku had trouble opening the gate to the garden. It could have been a stubborn gate, but that was an easy latch to open had they looked. It was as if it were their first time opening that gate. That wasn't all. Their clothes bothered him. After seeing that farmer in the last village they passed through, Neji knew that a man doing any kind of work in the field had tattered clothes. Not these men. Their clothes were clean. It was possible that they had cleaned up before meeting Naruto and Neji, but even their sandals weren't muddy. Not even worn in. There was something that they couldn't fake and that was their hands. Neji saw that farmer's hands when Naruto begged him for food. In addition to being boney, they were also scared and blistered. Gardeners working in the fields had rough hands. But not these three.
It was clear to Neji that this was not their land, as they claimed. Looking at the garden, it looked very well kept. The real owners couldn't have been away for very long. Neji had several theories. He narrowed it down to two possibilities. Either these men drove off the real farmers or they were murdered. Neji's heightened sense of smell wasn't picking up any blood or rotting flesh. Either these men buried them deep under ground or the owners were simply driven off their land. That's what Neji managed to deduce from the information he had to go on. Either way it wasn't good for the two of them. He and Naruto may have been in grave danger. Too bad Naruto was oblivious to the likely threat.
Sitting down to a big bowl of potato soup, Naruto learned that these three men were brothers from the Seiha clan. According to them, their clan had dwindled down to only a few. Many of them possessed no potential to become real ninjas so many of them became 'acting ninja', which meant that they went around acting like ninja while having no jutsu capabilities. As a result, many of them died, challenging real ninja to battle or failing to complete dangerous tasks. Naruto was the first one they had seen in their garden.
With great effort, Naruto stopped eating to answer their questions. They wanted to know why he and a dragon were traveling so far. They wanted to know where they were heading and why. They were very interested in the dragon following him around.
"Well, his name's Neji, for starters."
"I hear that ninja can summon animals to aid them in battle," said Kyo. "Is that true?"
"Yeah, but he's not a summoned animal. He hasn't been a dragon for very long."
"Oh?" Touzoku said. "What's that mean?"
"I mean he used to be human." Naruto shoveled more soup into his mouth before continuing. "He got cursed."
"Cursed, you say? Interesting. How exactly did that happen?" asked Shi.
Naruto asked for seconds on the soup. Shi turned to fetch it for him. While he did, Naruto started to unzip his jacket. The heat from the fireplace was heating the whole room, making him sweat. The hot soup also warmed him from the inside out. Handed the bowl, Naruto dove in again, slopping some of it on his jacket so he decided to take it off, tossing it by the wall where the bag containing his wool blanket lay. Kyo kindly picked it up and offered to hang it up for him. Naruto watched him hang his jacket up on a hook by the door.
"So tell us how your friend got cursed," prompted Shi. "I've never seen such a thing before."
"Well, he…" Naruto thought about Neji's warnings before coming into the building. Could he have been warning him about just this? Did he not want Naruto telling them about him? "He just got the curse from somewhere. You know how it is."
"Where? Where did he get it?" asked Touzoku forcefully. "What power could change him so?"
"Uh…" Now he was getting a bad feeling about this man. He was too forceful to just be curious. Naruto thought about that village where the Dragon's Pearl resided. A neighboring village had started stealing from them as a prank. Someone had tried to steal the Dragon's Pearl before but it was returned. What if these men decided to go there to get the orb for themselves in order to test its power? The village had no way to defend itself. Naruto was careful not to tell them about the village. Or about Seji's village for that matter. "Uh… well, I'm not exactly sure how Neji got the curse. I wasn't there at the time. And he can't talk so…"
"Was it at a village? What village was it?"
"I don't think he got it from any village," Naruto said quickly. "I mean, if he did, then wouldn't there be tons of dragons running around?"
Touzoku sat down with an angry sigh. "That's a valid point."
"Calm down, Touzoku. We could always ask the dragon ourselves," said Kyo.
"Uh, actually, he can't talk. Ever since he changed, he hasn't been able to speak."
"Oh. Oh, well." Kyo poked at his soup with his spoon. "Bummer."
Naruto looked at the three brothers. "So why are you so interested in him anyway? What's the big deal?"
Shi answered with a grin. "It has to deal with a story our grandfather spoke of. About one of our ancestors."
Naruto was interested in this. "What's the story about?"
"It dates back many, many years ago," Shi told him. "It was about an ancestor who came across this woman called the Dragon Priestess."
Naruto's heart thumped against his ribcage. "I've heard about her."
"She was called that because of the dragons who followed her everywhere she went. Our clan believes that she's a ninja and those are her summoned creatures." Shi filled Naruto's bowl again, telling him the tale. "Our ancestor saw this woman and her dragons one day passing through a village. He was traveling, same as her. He saw the dragons and was awed by them. Not just by their beauty, but by the jewel embedded on their foreheads."
"A jewel?" Naruto thought about the round jewel on Neji's forehead, thinking it may be the very same.
"That jewel is known as the Dragon's Pearl. Because dragon's are so rare and powerful, and that jewel is so large, naturally it's worth a lot. It's said that a Dragon's Pearl is worth an emperor's entire fortune. Whoever possesses one will gain instant wealth and power. Our ancestor saw the pearl on the dragon's forehead and knew he had to have it. But there's only one way to get the pearl from the dragon's head."
"How?"
Shi drew a line across his throat with his finger. "It's the same as getting ivory from an elephant."
"Which is what he tried to do." Kyo took over the story next. "He tried to kill the dragon but the priestess caught him and gave her dragon permission to attack."
Shi took over from there. "She then asked him why he would do such a thing. He told her the reason. She grew angry at him. 'Is that all their worth is to you?' she asked him. 'Money is not the only thing of value in this world. You'll do right to remember that.' Before she could leave, he demanded that he have the pearl so that he would be taken seriously. They argued."
Touzoku then took over the story. "She said to him that he needed to try seeing it from a dragon's point of view. He wanted to kill them for their pearl to gain wealth and power. She told him that he was too greedy and that the only way he would gain any sort of humility was if he experienced life through a dragon's eyes. The story goes that when she was gone, she placed a powerful curse on her dragons' pearls so that no one would be able to get them. But no one knows how she cursed them. There are different theories and tales, but judging from her words to him, our clan believes that anyone who finds a Dragon Pearl will never be able to use its wealth and become a dragon as punishment."
"Judging from your friend, it seems to be true," said Shi. "So your friend's found a Dragon's Pearl, eh? We'd like to know where he found it."
"I told you I don't know. I wasn't there when he changed." Naruto saw that he was right not to tell them about the village.
"Then tell us where you're going," demanded Kyo. "You're traveling somewhere. Where is it? What's the village called? What's the name? Why are you going there?"
Touzoku pounded the table with his fist. "Don't ask so much at once! Let the boy answer!"
"I want to know where he found that Dragon's Pearl! If we get our hands on it, we could become dragons, too! Imagine it! Dragons are the most powerful creatures ever! No one would stand a chance against us! The power we'd possess, not to mention the wealth."
"We're going to try to lift Neji's curse!" Naruto shouted before he could stop himself.
All three brothers turned to look at him in surprise. "Why on earth would you want to do that?"
"He doesn't want to be a dragon! He was run out of his village because of it. There are a lot of problems with-"
"So what?!" shouted Kyo. "He's got the power. He can just go back to that village and enter it by force!"
"But it's our village and our friend who-"
"If they try to stop him, kill them!"
"No! They're our friends, we could never-"
"Screw that! Who needs friends when you have that kind of power? Think about it! No one will stand in your way again!"
"Besides, why would you want to change him back?" asked Touzoku loudly. "With him by your side, think of the fame you'd have. The owner of a real dragon! You'd be the most powerful ninja ever! You'll have money and power and everything you could ever want!"
"I'd have fame when I become Hokage, too! Besides, I made a promise to Neji that I'd get him back to normal. I can't go back on my word."
"Listen, kid. You don't realize what you have here," Touzoku told him. "You have a dragon at your disposal. Money and power and fame… all of it! And once people see what you have, they'll make you Hokage on the spot. And if they don't, sic the dragon on them until they do."
"When I become Hokage, I'll do it on my own terms and my own way with my own power!" Naruto shouted. "I made a promise to him!"
"Forget the stupid promise! Keep him as he is! He's worth more now then he'd ever be human! He's of better use to you as he is now. You can use his power and if he doesn't like it, you can always sell him for money. He'd be worth a lot. A ton more than he would be as a mere human. See what I'm saying, kid?"
Naruto slammed his hands down on the table, jumping up. "Neji's not some thing to be sold or traded or used! Ever since I became a ninja, I was told how we're supposed to operate. That we're only tools to be used in battle and nothing more than that. We're dispensable. We're supposed to be trained to not see each other as people but as tools. Maybe it's to hide the pain when someone dies, I don't know… But I told my sensei that I would change all that! When I'm Hokage, I'll show everyone that we're more than just tools! We're told to abandon our friends if it helps us complete our mission… that it's ok…"
That was how Sai was taught in Onbu. That was how so many people were taught. But as Kakashi told him…
"Those who abandon their friends are worse than scum!" Naruto shouted from the bottom of his heart with everything he believed in. "I am not about to abandon Neji when I made a promise to him! Especially if I do it to gain wealth and power. I made a promise to him and I never ever break my promises! What kind of Hokage would I be if I told everyone to never abandon their friends but I ended up doing it to get where I was? I'm going to be someone they can look up to. I'm going to show them that you can complete a mission without abandoning your comrades! It is possible! I'm not a sellout. I won't give up! I'll never abandon him when he needs me! I'm not about to break a promise now! I will change him back! I'm not giving up!"
He would never be able to look himself in the mirror again if he sold his friend for money or used him for power. It was the same as abandoning him as far as Naruto was concerned. He would be going back on his word. Neji had worth that couldn't be measured in terms of money. He wasn't just some object or a tool. He was a friend. A valued friend. He was wroth fighting for. If Naruto was going to become Hokage one day, he would do it honestly. No tricks, no cheating and no lies. If he was going to show people that they didn't have to abandon their friends, he would never do it himself. If he wanted people to never go back on a promise, he'd better not start now. Lead through example. He would become Hokage his way and that was that.
Touzoku chuckled. "That's too bad…"
"So let me get this straight," said Kyo. "You won't tell us where the Dragon's Pearl is and you won't do the smart thing with your dragon buddy… Is that right?"
Naruto nodded up and down. "That's right. I'm not a sellout. And I'm not going to help you guys either."
"That's too bad." Shi stood up from the table, grabbing a knife from beside the pot. "Then we'll do the next best thing if we can't become dragons ourselves and we can't have your dragon for own gain."
Naruto gulped, seeing the knife. He only had a few kunai on him and it was three against one. He could always use some shadow clones, but he no idea what these people were capable of. And Neji was still waiting outside for him. "Well, what do you mean, exactly?"
Shi smiled as his brothers mirrored his hungry gaze. "There's always the Dragon Pearl embedded in your friend's forehead. It may not turn us into dragons… but it'll fetch a nice price."
They meant to kill Neji and remove the pearl from his forehead! They advanced and Naruto reacted quickly. They had to get away. Far away from here and far away from these men. Naruto grabbed the table and flipped it over and ran for the door, screaming Neji's name as he grabbed his jacket.
"Neji! Neji, come on! We've got to go!"
With a roar, Neji met Naruto at the bottom of the steps, turning his body sideways. Naruto jumped from the door, clearing the steps and landing on Neji's back. Immediately he started running. Neji's long body did a full turn and galloped toward the trees. The door behind them flung open with a crash and the men started to chase after them, cursing and yelling.
"Go, Neji! Go!" Naruto clung to Neji's mane as he ran, tearing branches from the trees as he ran in full gallop. He never looked back, running as fast as he could. Naruto looked back, seeing the light from the house get further and further away. He had never felt Neji moved this fast before. The constant undulating and unsteady bumping made him feel like he was about to be thrown off. Just as he was wishing for a saddle, he looked behind again and called to Neji. "Stop, stop! Neji, stop! They're not following us anymore."
Neji slowed to a stop and looked behind, panting heavily. It appeared that they had given up. Either that or Neji was too fast for them and were left far behind.
Naruto patted Neji's neck, feeling the need to apologize. "Sorry, Neji. I know what you mean about not taking everything at face value. Just because they seem nice doesn't mean that they are. I nearly got us both killed."
Neji snorted, pleased to hear that Naruto was finally beginning to understand.
"But just because they're nice doesn't mean that they've got to be up to something either. So how about this? I'll try not to blindly believe that nice people are definitely good and you'll try to believe in people's best from time to time. Deal?"
Far enough. Neji nodded his head in agreement. He would try to be more trusting and Naruto would be more skeptical.
"Whew! Good!" Naruto chuckled. "Now let's try to get some more distance between us and them. Let's see which way to go from… here..?" Naruto patted his chest, feeling his black T-shirt instead of his jacket. He couldn't hear the crinkling sound or the folded paper. He felt around in his jacket, searching all the pockets. He felt every pocket, finding nothing. "We've got to go back!"
Neji's head turned in surprise. "Rur?"
"The bag is still back there… and the map! I left them back at the house! The map's back there! We don't have it, they do!"
Neji's roar echoed through the woods, shaking leaves free from the branches as if screaming 'you idiot!'
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