Come Full Circle
by: knuckz
Summary: Ninjas use taijutsu to beat their opponents down, genjutsu to disillusion them, ninjutsu to destroy them or heal them, and weaponry for quick kills. Some specialize in specific areas, and exceed in that talent, while others keep a general base in all aspects. As such, there are general ninja's and nin-, tai-, and genjutsu masters respectively. This was before Uzumaki Naruto became a ninja. For the first time, there will be a fuuinjutsu specialist.
"blah" – talking
'blah' – thinking
This chapter is currently unbeta'd. This message will be removed once it has been.
Chapter 07 – Hidden Waterfall – Commencing
The leaves fluttered gently in the wind, the rays of the sun cascading through, highlighting the vacillating shadows. The chickadees were crooning songs to one another, dancing about amongst the foliage in games beyond human thought, watched over by their protective mother. Underneath the exultant activity sat a yellow-haired boy, trying to catch the vestiges of his misplaced sleep.
Naruto let out a jaw-cracking yawn.
It was quite early in the morning; earlier than he would have liked to be awake, but he knew better than to sleep in lest Aoi decide that he needed a... special wake up call.
He definitely did not want a repeat of that.
It had occurred a few weeks back; he had stayed up late working on a seal even though he had known that he had a mission really early the next morning. So when morning came, he had sleepily decided that his slumber was more important. It did not occur to his drowsy mind that his team might come calling, and they did.
Aoi had snuck into his apartment (Naruto did not know how she had done so), followed by Hikari and Akane (the latter carrying a camera). Then, without his knowing it, she crawled up next to him in bed. Naruto, sensing the heat, immediately clung to her in his sleep unknowing of what he was doing. Aoi's braids started caressing his cheek, allowing him a false sense of security which only made him curl into Aoi's warmth even more.
Then, grinning all the while, Aoi emitted lightning nature chakra.
Needless to say, it had been a very shocking awakening.
Naruto shuddered at the memory. Thankfully, he hadn't gotten the typical male morning reaction; else, Aoi might've had a field day. She already had photos of Naruto clinging to her in bed, courtesy of Akane.
'Thank Kami that didn't happen.' Naruto thought, relieved, 'I'm just glad Yuugao-neechan wasn't home at the time, or she might've shared a few of her stories.'
And as the topic of Yuugao came up, Naruto frowned. The purple-haired beauty had been acting extremely strange as of late, avoiding Naruto at every opportunity she could. In fact, if not for the breakfasts that she would leave for him in the morning, Naruto would not even know if she came home at night.
Certainly, as part of Konoha's ANBU, Yuugao would often stay busy with missions or patrols and the like, but Naruto somehow knew that there was more to it than just that. The blond had asked around to the few people that both he and Yuugao were familiar with, such as Hayate and Kakashi, but they hadn't seen much of her either. When asked, Ayame had vehemently refused to talk about Yuugao, leading Naruto to think that his oldest friend (and first honorary sister) probably knew what was up, and possibly had a disagreement with the woman.
In any case, Yuugao's behaviour was erratic and confusing, but there wasn't much Naruto could do if he couldn't even find her, so he'd just let things play out by themselves.
"Yo, Naruto!"
The whiskered blond turned to see none other than Uchiha Akane approaching him with a large grin on her face; such was the custom. Ever since Akane had discovered her 'epic powers of fiery awesomeness' as she called it, she had went about everything in the best of moods. Naruto could've sworn that she hadn't stopped smiling since then.
"Mornin'. Hikari-chan's not with you?" Naruto needlessly asked. Akane and Hikari typically came to their team meetings together, the two best friends meeting up beforehand since they lived closer to each other. Naruto, who lived on the other side of Konoha, would typically meet them at the designated spot. It was quite unusual to see one without the other.
"Heya! Nah, princess is probably making sure she's dressed up perfectly." Akane said, rolling her eyes, "Wants to look good for her birthday."
Naruto couldn't help but smile at that; it was indeed Hikari's birthday today, and had they not been given an important mission, the team would surely be celebrating. It was also the reason why Naruto was tired; he had been up late refining his gift for the Hyuuga girl.
Rather than buying Hikari a gift (since money was no object for the Hyuuga), Naruto had decided to put his fuuinjutsu skills to good use and make Hikari something that she wouldn't be able to just buy. What had resulted was one of the most elaborate and complicated seals that Naruto had ever created; the end result was rather remarkable.
Naruto satisfactorily patted his pocket, generating a light tinkling sound.
"So did you finish whatever it was that you were going to make?" Akane asked curiously, peering at Naruto's pocket after having heard the jingle. She sat down beside him on the grass, leaning against the tree just as he was. Naruto put his head against the trunk and looked up at the foliage, hints of sunlight peeking through.
"Yeah, just in time. I can't believe it took a whole month to design the seal, but it was worth it." Naruto told her, closing his eyes wearily. His head lolled onto Akane's shoulder, and she smiled.
"Tired, eh?" she said, reaching out and softly combing her fingers through his blond hair. Naruto didn't indulge her with a reply, but hummed comfortably at her gentle ministrations. The two sat against the tree for a few moments with Akane skilfully massaging Naruto's hair, gently evoking sleep to grab the lethargic blond in its restful embrace once again.
With a shift in weight, the dark-haired Uchiha girl slowly inclined her face toward the blonds', her lips lightly parting like that of a lover. Akane came closer and closer, intent on capturing Naruto's lips with her own...
"Stop it, Aoi-sensei." Naruto murmured sleepily, interrupting their looming lip-lock, "I'm way too tired."
Pouting indignantly, Akane nonetheless leaned back, and was engulfed in a poof of smoke to be replaced by a much larger woman. Hyuuga Aoi now sat with the blond, her hands still kneading through Naruto's locks, caught red-handed. Unprepared for the sudden shift in size, Naruto fell over into her lap. However, rather than shooting up embarrassingly, Naruto just adjusted so that their position could not be considered intimate in any way.
Having known the woman for close to three months now (on almost a daily basis), he had gotten used to her tricks and come-ons.
"No wisecracks." Naruto sleepily told the braided woman before dozing off. Aoi smirked at Naruto's insight but closed her mouth nonetheless, adhering to the boy's request for once. He did seem awfully tired, and he had been quite adamant about perfecting Hikari's gift to the best of his abilities.
"So how'd you know it was me?" Aoi asked, scratching the back of Naruto's head. The blond jinchuuriki practically purred at the action. But then she patted his head, telling Naruto that her impromptu head massage was over and that it was time to wake up. Naruto sighed, but obeyed his sensei lest she break out the lightning-nature chakra.
"You did everything right except for two things." Naruto replied, sitting up and rubbing his eyes, "The most obvious is that Akane-chan wouldn't have tried to kiss me; as soon as I felt your weight shift towards mine, I knew for sure that you were under a Henge. But that much was obvious."
Aoi rolled her eyes.
"Well duh! What's the real reason?" Aoi asked.
"Well, that's also kind of obvious, if you think about it. Akane-chan was even more excited about Hikari's birthday than Hikari-chan herself." Naruto informed her, "She probably woke up at the crack of dawn so she could be there when Hikari woke up."
Aoi snapped her fingers.
"Why didn't I think of that?" Aoi said, though it was all in jest, "And speak of the devil..."
Naruto looked up to see Hikari and Akane walking over towards him and Aoi. Stretching out like a cat, Naruto groggily rose to his feet to greet the birthday girl.
"Happy birthday, Hikari-chan." Naruto spoke indistinctly, lazily gathering the girl in a lackadaisical hug. However, his energy seemed to slip away and he almost collapsed on the smaller girl instead.
"Whoa, whoa!" Hikari laughed, straining to support Naruto's weight. It surprised the girl to see the usually energetic blond in such a languid state.
"Late night?" she asked, hugging the blond back after standing him straight.
"Yeah..."
Hikari held him at arm's length and put her hand to his forehead. Closing her eyes, she concentrated her chakra, calling forth her elemental chakra; a method she was still unused to. Using the Jyuuken, Hikari gently inserted the water-natured chakra into his head, both cooling and hydrating the blond. Naruto perked up immediately and Hikari released her hold on him.
"Thanks, I needed that." Naruto replied sincerely, looking much better than a moment ago. Akane, who had been silent up until that moment, finally spoke up.
"Alright, alright! Enough dilly dallying! Time for presents!" Akane said, "Me first! Check this out, Hikari-chan!"
Stepping away from the group, Akane flourished her hands. Small flames erupted from the tips of each finger, and Akane waved her hands around, drawing an intricate pattern of flame in the air, her hands dancing about, captivating.
Akane had been a below average shinobi with regular ninja skills, but every since her affinity with fire had been discovered she could have been considered a prodigy at controlling her elemental chakra. Fire seemed to love the girl, following her every movement and command; the previously uncontrollable flames had been tamed by the flamboyant Uchiha girl.
The will of fire had literally come alive in the form of Uchiha Akane.
Hikari watched the display with a smile and a small amount of awe; the patterns that Akane drew in the air were many times beyond what Hikari could accomplish with her skills in elemental chakra. Far from being jealous, Hikari was extremely happy for her best friend who seemed to have finally found her place as Hikari had always known she would.
Hikari watched as Akane finished her dance of flames, her movements belying her usual clumsiness. Clapping her hands together, Akane doused her flames, ending her dance of fire-light. Stepping up to Hikari, Akane grinned, slightly huffing from exertion.
"How'd you like it?" the Uchiha girl asked, "I call it 'Hikari no Mai'."
The birthday girl smiled.
"I loved it. Thank you." Hikari told her, "Now... where's my real present?"
Akane pouted.
"Aww, you're no fun!" she complained, before reaching into her kunai pouch and pulling out her present, "Here."
Hikari observed Akane's present, taking it from her; it was a sake cup. The cup was painted completely white, and carved around the edges were small, intricate patterns of light blue that Hikari could barely make out. In the centre of the bowl was the same light-blue pattern, only larger, and upon close observation, Hikari noted that it was a seal. She looked back at her best friend with a raised eyebrow. Akane only grinned at her.
"Charge some chakra into it."
Hikari did as told, and almost immediately the cup filled with water, which pooled from the seal at the bottom of the cup and from the seals around the inside edge, as if it were a miniature fountain. Hikari only gaped.
"Wha- what? How...?" was all Hikari could get out, causing Akane to laugh at her speechlessness.
"I got the idea after that one mission we got where we had to water that lady's garden. Remember, she didn't have a hose or any pails, so we had to go back and forth and bring the water in our hands." Akane explained, "Well, I decided that it might be easier on missions if we could carry water a bit easier, so I took a pottery class and eventually made this cup."
"So that's where you were disappearing off to." Hikari said, remembering all the times where Akane would disappear after a mission. Akane nodded before continuing her explanation.
"Yeah, well, I told Naruto my idea, and he told me it would be better if the cup could make the water by itself. He drew a seal and gave it to me, and told me to carve it anywhere inside the cup." Akane explained, "And I carved it into the bottom and around the edges. And that's all."
Hikari looked at the cup once more, inspecting it closely. The water rippled slightly as she inspected the seals again. She took a hesitant sip of the water, only to note that it tasted perfectly fine.
"But how does it create water?" she asked. This time, Naruto stepped forward to give his explanation.
"The seal I gave Akane-chan is a basic chakra conversion seal; in this case, it converts to water-nature chakra. Since your chakra is already aligned with water, as soon as you charge chakra into it, it'll convert your chakra to water, pooling it into the cup." he explained to the collective group, "If someone who doesn't have water nature chakra tries it, nothing would happen."
Aoi, who had been watching silently up until now, took the cup from Hikari's hand. She downed the cup of the water before charging her own chakra into it, but nothing happened.
"Huh. Well, I guess Hikari's the water girl on our team from now on." she said, giving Hikari back her cup. Naruto shook his head.
"Actually, I can do it as well."
Everybody looked at him with raised eyebrows. Naruto smiled, before snapping off a quick succession of hand-seals before touching the cup. Like before, water suddenly pooled into the cup. Everybody just gave him blank looks, at which Naruto shrugged.
"I just have to use more water-conversion seals before touching the cup." Naruto said, "I can do the same for any element, but wind is obviously the easiest for me to use."
Hikari stowed away the sake cup in a padded compartment in her kunai pouch before giving Akane a hug and a kiss on the cheek.
"Thank you, Akane. I love it." she said, stepping back. Akane grinned.
"No problem! Okay Naruto, your turn. Everybody wants to see what you've been up to." Akane said eagerly. Hikari looked at between Naruto, Akane, and Aoi, but Aoi answered her question before she even asked.
"He's been working on your present for a month, but he never told us what it was." she explained. Naruto smiled, before reaching into his pocket and pulling out a pair of... bells?
Aoi peered at them closely; they were similar in shape to the ones that Kakashi generally used to test new genin teams, except these were quite a bit larger and a golden colour. Naruto handed them to Hikari, the bells tinkling at the movement.
"You can wear them in your hair." the blond told the Hyuuga girl. Hikari looked at the bell while Akane just gaped at her only male teammate.
"Bells? All that time, and you were working on bells?" she said, a look of disbelief on her face. Naruto just shook his head.
"They're more than just bells, Akane. Hikari-chan, charge some chakra into one of them." Naruto said. Hikari did so, and something suddenly shot out of the bell, attracting everyone's attention. Hikari released her chakra in shock.
"What the...?"
When Naruto had heard of Hikari's coming birthday, this idea had popped into his head almost immediately. Hikari had started developing her skills around her chakra strings, but her strings extended too slow for actual combat; this was where the bells would come in handy.
Naruto reached down and grabbed something shiny hanging from the hole in the bell, barely visible. He held it up for all to see; it was an extremely thin silver thread.
"Basically, these bells can produce thread. Since you were always practicing with your chakra strings, I thought these would be useful." Naruto explained, "Chakra strings are hard to use in combat because they're meant for sticking to things, otherwise they dissolve. You can't really use them as whips, like you were trying to, Hikari-chan. These bells will solve that problem."
"So wait." Aoi interrupted, "You just put a storage seal into those bells, and spent an entire month just storing thread into them?"
"No way, give me more credit than that, sensei." Naruto replied indignantly, "It's another chakra conversion seal."
Aoi's eyes widened in shock, and she immediately stepped forward and put her hands on Naruto's shoulders, peering into his eyes with a serious expression on her face.
"Naruto, are you telling me that you actually created a seal that can convert chakra into thread? Into a solid mass?" Aoi asked seriously. The blond slightly frowned.
"Well, I guess you could say that, but the actual proc- mmph!"
Aoi slammed Naruto into a tight hug.
"Kyaah! Naruto, do you know what this means!" she shrieked, "That's the kind of seal only seal-masters can come up with!"
"Mmph!"
"This is... AWESOME!"
"Mmph! Mmph!"
"And... I'll be known as the sensei of Konoha's newest seal master!" Aoi proclaimed, starry-eyed.
"Mmmmmmph!"
"Aoi," Hikari interrupted, "I think Naruto's having trouble breathing."
"Eh?" Aoi looked down, releasing the suffocating boy. Naruto immediately gasped, precious air filling his lungs again.
"Oh, yeah, sorry." Aoi apologised half-heartedly, "Ah, this is too awesome! Hyuuga Aoi: seal-master sensei..."
As Aoi continued to ramble on about her 'accomplishments', Hikari swept Naruto into another hug, giving him a quick peck on the cheek as well.
"This really is awesome Naruto." Hikari told him, releasing her hug, "It's just the thing I needed. I was running out of ideas on how to advance my technique."
"... best sensei award, I'd better win..."
"There's more to it; the thread is made of your chakra at the point of insertion into the bell, so you can use it in conjunction with our dual technique." Naruto said, "Not to mention that the threads are normally flammable, so with Akane-chan in the mix... well, you get the idea."
"So then, we can make a... 'Fire Whips of Flaming DOOM' technique!" Akane spoke up. She was playing with a small ball of fire, throwing it in the air and catching it, sometimes spinning it on her finger. The flame did not seem to be burning her hand, but that was because fire resistance was the first thing that Akane had been taught about her fire manipulation skills.
"... Sensei Extraordinaire! Ah man, this is..."
"So this seal took you a month to make?" Hikari said, playing around with the bells, whipping the thread about to get a feel for her newest weapon. Naruto watched her interweave the threads from both bells into a spiral, cutting out a pattern on the nearby tree.
"Making the seal wasn't so hard; designing it was the problem. It's pretty much the most advanced seal that I've ever made; even more so than the ones I use for Seal Princess. Converting chakra into other chakra isn't hard, but converting it into a solid mass, even a small one like a thread is insanely difficult, not to mention that it had to be a flammable metal, meaning it had to be a magnesium compound at the very least while still remaining malleable and strong." Naruto explained, watching the girl begin to carve 'Team Nine' into the tree. He had spent over three weeks experimenting with the threads, and within a few seconds, Hikari had already surpassed anything he could hope to do with them.
"And on top of that, there's the fact that it had to come out as a thread and nothing else. Thankfully, since your chakra is aligned to water, the thread came out malleable; otherwise you'd be wielding a really narrow sword. But I also added a rigidness symbol to the seal, so you can still make the thread straight if you wanted. But- wah!"
Naruto suddenly stumbled as he felt Akane clamber onto his back, piggybacking the blond. However, compared to Aoi who was a full grown woman and quite heavy to carry for the twelve-year-old boy, he didn't mind Akane's weight as much.
"Yeah, yeah, enough mumbo jumbo! Let's get our mission over with so we can celebrate!" she said, ruffling his hair, "Aoi, what's our mission?"
"... Best sensei EVER! Huh?" Aoi paused, looking at Akane, "Oh, that's right, we had a mission. Okay, umm... what was it again?"
At their annoyed faces, Aoi laughed nervously.
"Just joking, yeesh! Okay, Hikari, my gift to you is breakfast and our mission which is..." Aoi said, taking out a scroll from her pack, "B-Rank!"
"Whoa! Where'd you get the permission to take us on a B-Rank mission!" Akane asked, awed, "I though genin could only take D-ranks and C-ranks!"
Aoi waved her off.
"Girl, when you're a good shinobi like me, you get certain privileges." Aoi bragged, "Anyway, I'll explain the mission as we get breakfast. Where to?"
Naruto levelled a look at his sensei.
'No doubt, she got Kakashi to vouch for her.' he thought, though he didn't say anything.
Naruto opened his mouth to reply with the obvious answer: Ichiraku Ramen. But Akane slapped her hands over his mouth before he could do so.
"Oi, oi, its Hikari-chan's birthday. Let her decide." Akane said, before looking to her pale-eyed teammate, "What'll it be?"
Hikari couldn't help but feel slightly guilty, looking at Naruto's face, but they did just have ramen the day before.
"How about some yakiniku?" she suggested, giving Naruto an apologetic look. Naruto sighed sadly, but gave her a smile to let her know it was okay.
"Yosh! Yakiniku it is!" Akane shouted from her position on Naruto's back, pointing into the distance, "Let's go!"
"You're being really stupid!" Ayame spoke shrilly, ladling some ramen into an empty bowl, "Do you really think that Naruto will-"
"He has the right to his own legacy." Yuugao interrupted, "It doesn't matter that he won't care. Naruto doesn't need me to intrude on his birthright."
"Intrude! He'll probably be overjoyed! You know that he'll love you for it! You can't just go around-"
"Ayame," Yuugao interrupted again, "He's going to make a name for himself. If I... I can't take that away."
Ayame regarded her quietly, putting the steaming bowl of ramen in front of the violet-haired kunoichi.
"That won't matter to him either." Ayame replied, "Why don't you just talk to him?"
"No matter what I say, he'll feel obligated to offer me his-"
"I can't believe you!" Ayame interrupted, "It would bring the two of you even closer together! You're acting like he'd resent you for it!"
"It's the only thing he has left of his parents." Yuugao replied quietly. She broke apart her chopsticks, and, with a small prayer, began eating. Ayame fell silent at Yuugao's comment.
"He... he doesn't even know who they are." Ayame whispered. Yuugao looked up at her, surprised. Nobody really knew who Naruto's mother and father were; Yuugao had once heard whispers of a kunoichi by the name of Uzumaki, but she had never seen any such woman within the past decade.
"You know who they are." Yuugao said, narrowing her eyes. It wasn't a question. Ayame made no attempt to invalidate Yuugao's statement. She just closed her eyes and let out a deep sigh.
"My mom and dad were good friends with them." Ayame replied, opening her eyes to regard Yuugao with a sad look, "Both of them were killed when Naruto was still a baby. After his mother died, Naruto was left in our care but my mom passed away soon after. My dad couldn't take care of a baby and I was still too young, so we had to leave him at the orphanage."
"Why... why haven't you told him?" Yuugao asked. Ayame shook her head in the negative.
"We were forbidden."
"What? Why-" Yuugao started, but Ayame cut her off.
"His mother's name was Uzumaki Kushina; she was a foreign kunoichi from the former Whirlpool country, but she moved here and was employed by Konoha. Maybe you've seen her in the past but didn't know." Ayame whispered to maintain secrecy, "She was extremely pretty and usually loud and happy; a lot like Naruto in fact, and she had long red hair that reached down to her calves."
Yuugao's eyes widened; she remembered seeing such a kunoichi around Konoha a long while ago, often around the Hokage Tower when the Yondaime was in office.
"...and his father?" Yuugao asked in subdued tones. Ayame didn't say anything, but instead held up four fingers on her hand. It took a moment for her to process what Ayame was trying to tell her, but when she did, Yuugao suddenly gripped the counter in shock as vertigo attacked her, holding herself steady.
"I wasn't really allowed to tell you, but you deserve to know. But you must not tell anyone, even Naruto." Ayame told her, "If the knowledge got out..."
Yuugao nodded her head briskly, immediately understanding why such knowledge was forbidden. If word ever got out that the Fourth Hokage officially had a son, not to mention a demon container... she didn't want to think about it. And despite everything, Naruto was still a kid; if he let anything slip... there was probably good reason for him to not know.
However, once the shock wore off, Yuugao thought that the idea was actually quite plausible; she was amazed that she hadn't considered it earlier. Naruto looked very similar to the Yondaime Hokage, and the Fourth was not the type of person to seal a demon into just any kid.
"So do you understand? He doesn't know his legacy. He's never even asked about where he came from; it wouldn't matter to him." Ayame said, watching Yuugao finish the last of her ramen, "At least think about it. You can't just go around as 'Yuugao'."
Yuugao nodded. Reaching into her pocket, Yuugao extracted some money and paid Ayame for the meal, rising from the stool to leave.
"Thanks, Ayame." Yuugao said, leaving the stand. Ayame watched her leave silently, deep in thought.
"No problem." she finally said, though there was no one present, "You idiot woman."
Ayame smiled, before going back to work.
"Takigakure?" Naruto asked. Hikari answered his question.
"It's a minor Hidden Village, one of the closest to Konoha. Waterfall also has a history of pretending to practice drills in order to cover their attempts to invade Konoha, though that was a long time ago. It's also said that they are impenetrable; they've never been successfully invaded." she explained before turning to Aoi, "What exactly is our mission, sensei?"
"Scrll dlvry." Aoi attempted to answer with her mouth stuffed full, chewing furiously. Beside her, Akane wolfed down her own food, while Naruto and Hikari ate at a more sedate pace. Aoi swallowed before speaking again.
"Taki requested information from a few of the Hidden Villages, including Suna and Iwa." she told them, "So we'll likely be meeting people from other villages as well."
"Must be some important information," Naruto stated, "especially if it rates a B-rank mission."
"Yeah." Hikari murmured softly. She pushed her empty plate away, and began playing with the bells attached to her hair, them tinkling from the movement.
"Naruto, are there limitations to how much thread I can produce?" Hikari asked curiously. To his credit, Naruto swallowed before answering.
"Well, the length of the thread is proportionate to how much chakra you pump into the seal. The higher the amount of chakra, the longer the thread, obviously." Naruto explained, reaching for some water.
"And what if I just want to make the thread... stop?" Hikari asked, "To keep it at a definite length?"
"Well, then you'd just have to keep a consistent rate of chakra pouring into the seal; unfortunately, if you cut your chakra off, the thread will break off. I couldn't get around that problem. Also, I can't give you an exact chakra-to-thread conversion rate, because, well, I didn't really have any way to measure chakra. One unit for me is different from one unit for you, since it's proportionate to our chakra reserves." Naruto said, washing down the food with some water, "Hooh! That was good!"
"Urk! I think I ate too much." Akane said, finally finishing her food. She held her hands over her stomach, grimacing. Beside her, Aoi was in a similar state.
"But it was worth it..." Aoi said, before raising a finger`, "Oi! Bill!"
As a waiter approached their table with the bill, Aoi gestured to her team.
"Make your way to the main gate. I'll pay and meet up with you there." she told them. Naruto and Hikari rose from their booth, but Akane remained seated.
"Narutoooo... I can't get up." Akane groaned, pleading with her eyes. Naruto just sighed, and leant down in front of her, presenting his back.
"Ahh, you're the best." Akane said, once more clambering onto his back, piggybacking the blond, "Have I told you how much I love you?"
"Many times." Naruto replied dryly, "Just don't throw up."
Akane just laid her head onto his shoulder, closing her eyes contentedly.
Naruto, Hikari, and Akane stood at the main gate, patiently waiting for their sensei. Akane had all but dozed off on Naruto's back, while Hikari was practicing with her bells, working on recreating her techniques.
"Alright guys." Aoi said, suddenly appearing before the three genin, "Let's get going."
Naruto shook Akane off of his back, uncaringly letting her land on her backside. She jerked in surprise, hitting the ground with a thud.
"Oi, what was that for!" Akane complained, rubbing her behind. Naruto just rolled his eyes, but Hikari interceded before things could escalate between her two teammates as they usually did.
"Okay, let's do inventory." the pale-eyed girl spoke up, "I already have my new bells and sake cup. Naruto, do you have the scroll?"
Naruto nodded, pulling a scroll out of his kunai pouch. Rather than carrying enormous packs of clothes and other necessities, Naruto just had them sealed into scrolls for each person, and then those scrolls into a single scroll that he kept with him to save space.
"All packed and ready to go." he replied, twirling it before putting it back where it was.
"Okay, so that's inventory done." Hikari said, "Guess we're ready to go."
"Hey, what about me?" Akane spoke up, "I just realized; you guys got all these cool weapons and gadgets and stuff! How come I don't have that kind of stuff?"
Naruto and Hikari shared a brief look that went unnoticed by their oblivious Uchiha teammate. It was pretty simple; Akane was their best friend, but she couldn't be trusted with anything flammable. Though she did have amazing control over her fire techniques, there were still incidents, such as one regarding accidental flames and the burning of clothes.
"At least you still have your clothes?" Naruto suggested.
"Shut it!" Akane immediately fired back, reddening at the memory. But then, two of Aoi's braids suddenly lashed out and violently smashed Naruto's and Akane's heads together. Hikari couldn't help but wince at the loud cracking noise emitted at the sound of the collision of their skulls.
"Seriously, you two. Shut up and let's go. Hokage-sama let me take you three on this mission trusting that we'd do it right. Let's not mess it up." Aoi told them, unusually stern. But rather than seeing a pair of apologetic genin, Aoi saw Naruto and Akane on the ground clutching their heads in pain.
Aoi looked at them curiously.
"What's wrong?"
"Waterfall? Why the fuck we gotta go to Waterfall for?"
Waterfall wasn't even a major Hidden village. They had never produced a single shinobi of worth and had been very easily tamed by the much larger and better Konoha. In fact, they likely wouldn't even currently exist had the First Hokage not given them the seven-tailed Horned Beetle as firepower.
"Language. And to answer your question, we have to deliver a scroll with information that they have requested. And it's not just us; there will be several other countries represented there as well."
"I don't see the point. Why give them the information?"
"To ensure diplomatic relations between our two villages. You know this."
"I still don't see the point. We're way fucking better than those losers!"
"Hah! I can agree with that."
"You said it, bro!"
"Don't be idiots. They may not have ninja that stand out, but they're still strong ninja. Don't underestimate them."
"Tch... fuck that shit. And fuck you too."
"Mind your language."
"..."
"I'm going back to sleep."
"Though... you have to wonder... what did they do with that seven-tailed beast?"
To Naruto's great disappointment, the trip to Waterfall had been devoid of any skirmishes. He had wanted to see Hikari's new weapons in action and had been hoping to try out some of their joint techniques as well, but there seemed to be a lack of enemies. Of course, the lack of enemies was supposed to be expected because they were still in Fire Country, but Naruto knew better than to expect everyone in the country to be loyal to the country.
He had had a rather jaded childhood, though it admittedly got much better after Yuugao had assumed such a huge role in his life. But his original experiences of the world were unpleasant ones, and he still suffered from a little bit of that unpleasantness even now. And though he didn't like to think about his time under Mitarashi Anko's care, he did learn a lot from her.
One of the many things she taught him was to distrust everyone, even his friends and even his loved ones. That way, as long he held that little inkling of distrust, he would be prepared for any backstabbing that might occur.
In a way, it was like a self-fulfilling prophecy; because Anko had gone on to attack him and shattered the trust that he had placed in her as his pseudo mother-figure. But it was after the incident that Naruto, ironically, took her words to heart. Anko had tried to reconcile with him, but Naruto, who had his trust utterly and irrevocably shattered, just couldn't bring himself to trust her again.
But despite the fact that he could no longer trust her, her lessons about the world were a harsh truth.
He had grown up according to Anko's teachings until Yuugao had taken those beliefs and turned them around. From Yuugao, Naruto had learned that living life every day was a risk; if he couldn't trust in someone to watch his back, was it really a life worth living? There were some things that were worth the risk. He had since learned to place his trust in his fellow human beings, and he hadn't been disappointed where it really mattered.
But Anko's lessons had made their mark.
While Naruto did trust in his teammates and his loved ones, there always remained the slightest inkling of distrust in his heart. Even after months and months of getting to know them, after spending blood, sweat, and tears with them, and after laughing and smiling with them, he still held the tiniest morsel of doubt deep within him.
But Naruto had learned to overcome that hint of cynicism within him in order to work together with his teammates; it was necessary as a shinobi to overcome his fears, and his teammates really did earn his trust, not to mention that they trusted him as well.
No matter how jaded a childhood Naruto had had with Anko, he was a different person now, and he could trust others, no matter what Anko had said.
Akane suddenly reached out and cuffed the blond in the back of the head.
"Hey hey, stop spacing out." she told him as he looked at her in surprise, "I've been trying to get your attention for some time now. We're at Waterfall."
Akane, on the other hand, despite her neglected childhood, still had the ability to trust in her fellow man and woman with complete sincerity. Naruto didn't know how she could trust a complete stranger, and it was one of the qualities of Akane that he really valued.
"Hey, seriously! Stop doing that!"
Naruto smiled slightly.
The Uchiha girl also had a pretty rough childhood. Though the three teammates hadn't exclusively went over their whole life stories with each other, Akane was the easiest to read of the three genin because she was so open about everything.
"Oi, come on Naruto!"
From what Naruto had gleamed, Akane was considered to be a failure in the Uchiha clan because she had very poor ninja skills, and showed no signs of activating their legendary doujutsu, the Sharingan. In the Academy, she initially had no friends, though that later changed when she befriended Hikari. But making friends with the Hyuuga girl only further estranged her from her clan; in fact, the only people in her clan that actually liked her were her brother, Uchiha Shinji, and her Aunt, Uchiha Mikoto.
"You're doing this on purpose, aren't you!"
Contrarily to Akane, Hikari was very hard to read. She appeared to be a gentle, kind girl at first glance, but Naruto knew better now that he knew her so well. He had seen her angry many times, and had been on the receiving end of that anger on plenty of occasions.
"Come on, Naruto! Stop that!"
But that was the extent to which Hikari showed what she was like. Naruto knew that Hikari absolutely adored Akane (non-romantically), and also knew that before the two girls became best friends, Hikari used to be somewhat of a bully to the Uchiha girl. It was something Hikari seemed to regret to this day, and Naruto often thought that it was rather unhealthy of the girl to hold on to such regrets from so long ago, but it was between the two of them so he didn't interfere.
"Please! Please, Naruto-kun!" Akane began pleading, pulling out the affectionate terms. Naruto had to hide his smirk.
"Huh? Did you say something, Akane?" he said, adapting one of Kakashi's favourite lines. Akane glowered at the blond while Hikari shook her head in amusement.
"You fall for it every time, Akane." the pale-eyed girl said, "You're so gullible."
"Shut up, Hikari! It's not like you haven't fallen for his trickery! Remember the movie?" Akane retorted angrily. Hikari flushed as Naruto grinned like a loon. Akane suddenly grinned again, before hugging herself and making kissing noises.
"Oh Naruto-kun! Hold me!"
"Sh- shut up!" Hikari retorted quickly, embarrassed at the memory, "It was a cruel prank!"
The prank in question had been performed by Naruto. The team had gone to the cinema one night to watch the latest horror flick, and Naruto had placed a trigger-activated genjutsu on Hikari's food without her realizing. So during a particularly horrifying scene, Naruto's genjutsu jumped out of her food at her. Hikari, who normally went out of her way to be the most composed person on the team (in public at least), shrieked loudly at the abrupt surprise and grabbed the nearest person she could think of, which happened to be Naruto. This, of course, grabbed the attention of the rest of the audience, and much to Hikari's embarrassment, also resulted in various cat-calls and 'hubba-hubba's'.
"It was so cute!" Aoi kicked in, grinning, "My two genin, falling in love!"
However, before they could further tease the already-embarrassed Hyuuga girl, a distraction presented itself in the form of a Waterfall shinobi. A Waterfall kunoichi to be exact.
The kunoichi in question had fairly dark skin, a rarity in Konoha, and oddly enough, long, pale-green hair. She seemed about the same age and height as the three Konoha genin, and she wore clothes matching her hair. The girl was dressed quite modestly, wearing a full sleeve shirt and pants that had been tied tightly around her ankles. Tied around her head was her Takigakure hitai-ate.
And she was making a beeline towards Naruto.
"Is it you?" she said to the blond, skidding to a stop in front of him and narrowing her eyes. Naruto noticed that her eyes looked almost orange, and they seemed to shine with a certain childish quality, though the girl looked quite serious at the moment.
Out of the corner of his eye, Naruto noticed that Aoi had slightly relaxed; she had been ready to intervene had the girl attacked any of them.
"Is what me?" Naruto replied slowly. The girl sneered at him.
"Don't try to lie to me, see? I can see a lie a mile away, see?" the Waterfall kunoichi replied, speaking in a strange voice, "You look nervous, bub. Did you do it? You did it, didn't you?"
All three Konoha genin gazed at the strange girl with bewildered looks on their faces. Aoi stroked her chin, looking at the girl interestedly. When Naruto exchanged glances with an equally perplexed Hikari, the green-haired girl suddenly reached out and pointed straight at Naruto.
"You are it! You've been caught, criminal!" she exclaimed, much to Naruto's shock. But before Naruto could be arrested for a crime he didn't even know existed, another Waterfall shinobi, this time a male adult appeared before them.
"Damn it Fuu! What did I tell you about doing this!" he said, grabbing the girl, Fuu, by her ear.
"Ow! Ow, ow, sensei! I caught the Pi-" Fuu tried to complain, as the man started dragging the girl away. The man was apparently her sensei, so Naruto thought that it was safe to assume that he was a jounin. Unlike Fuu's strange appearance, the jounin was dressed in standard jounin-wear, much like Kakashi, though his face was quite visible. The man had ordinary brown hair and a scar trailing straight down his face over his nose, and he was taller than even Aoi.
"How many times do I have to tell you, stop harassing foreign nin!" the man replied, pushing the girl back, "Now go back to the village!"
"But sensei, he-"
"No 'but sensei'! Don't you 'but sensei' me! I've had enough 'but sensei's' out of you!" the girl's sensei cut her off.
"Tch, you never let me have any fun." Fuu replied dejectedly, kicking a small stone on the ground. She stuffed her hands into her pants pockets and dolefully walked away, presumably back to the Hidden Waterfall Village.
After the girl was out of sight, the jounin-sensei turned back to the waiting Team Nine.
"Sorry about that." he said, "She's a little enthusiastic; she keeps taking on ridiculous 'mysteries' that she feels need to be solved."
Aoi waved him off.
"Maa, don't worry. My genin are the same way." Aoi replied, "She would've fit well on my team had she been a Konoha nin."
"So, you must be the Konoha team sent with the scroll, correct?" the man asked them.
"Yup." Aoi said, picking out a scroll from her pack and handing it to the man. He took one look at the title on the cover before giving it back to the braided woman.
"Thank you. My name is Koiga, and I'll be escorting you throughout the village. I presume you'll be staying here until the scroll needs to be returned?" Koiga asked her. Aoi nodded in confirmation.
"It should take at least two weeks to decode the information." Aoi replied, "So we'll be here until it's done."
Naruto, Akane, and Hikari looked at her in surprise. She hadn't mentioned that the mission would take so long.
"Alright, well, follow me and I'll guide you to our village leader." the ninja said, turning around and walking towards the village. Team Nine trailed after him.
"The entrance to Takigakure is a sort of open secret," Koiga told them, "so naturally, practically everybody knows where it is. Our village is hidden behind a waterfall to protect us from our enemies."
Koiga led the group to the waterfall that they had seen in the distance. To the amazement of the three genin, Koiga stepped onto the water and kept strolling along as if he were walking on the ground.
"How... how is he doing that?" Akane asked, amazed by the feat. Koiga looked back at them a bit confused when they didn't follow.
"Do your genin not know how to walk on water?" Koiga asked, confused. Aoi rubbed the back of her sheepishly.
"I'll get around to teaching it to them when they're ready. These two still have trouble with tree-climbing!" she replied, putting her hands on Naruto and Akane's heads, much to their disgruntlement.
"I... see." Koiga spoke hesitantly, "I don't wish to sound rude, but isn't a bit late for them to not have mastered water-walking at this point?"
"Oh, no! They've only just been genin for a little over three months now." Aoi explained. Koiga had thought that Naruto, Akane, and Hikari had been genin for at least over a year because of the level of the mission.
"Ah, I understand. My apologies." Koiga apologized, "The Hokage must really think highly of your team to give you a B-rank mission."
The three genin couldn't help but blush slightly at the praise.
"Well, I guess we'll have to take the long way to Taki." Koiga said, walking to the shore. The genin watched him all the way.
Naruto had never seen anyone walk on water before; not even Kakashi or Yuugao, and neither had anyone brought it up.
'It has to be a step up from tree-climbing.' Naruto thought, thinking about the conversation that Aoi had with the Waterfall jounin, 'The concept must be similar. By sending chakra to your feet, you stay afloat, but it can't be the same. You can't stick to water like you can stick to a tree.'
Naruto barely paid attention as he walked with his team to Taki. It was another important lesson that he had learned from Anko; one that he had no intention of changing: question everything.
He didn't just like to know facts. As a seal-specialist, Naruto thrived on knowing how and why things worked the way they did; he wouldn't be satisfied with anything less. Having been taught to think like this at an early age, the adage had stuck with him.
'We'd have to accommodate for the shifting of the water, meaning that maintaining just a single layer of chakra below the soles of our feet wouldn't be enough.' Naruto thought, 'It's all a matter of using chakra in a way to maintain balance.'
While Naruto pondered the secret behind water-walking, and everybody else on Team Nine knew that it wouldn't be long before he figured it out, Hikari and Akane took in their surroundings. They had already passed the waterfall hiding the entrance to the village, and were currently walking through a damp cave that presumably led to the village itself.
"Aoi, how come we're going to stay in Taki for so long?" Hikari suddenly spoke up, remembering the earlier conversation with the Waterfall jounin.
"Well, the information in the scroll needs to be decoded, and once Taki has that information, we need to take the scroll back. It's standard procedure for information request between villages." Aoi explained. Akane frowned at her explanation.
"But why don't you just tell them the information?" she asked. Beside her, Naruto stroked his chin deep in thought.
"That's because I don't know the information myself." Aoi said, surprising the genin.
"What! Why not!" Akane explained. It was Hikari that answered.
"Because... spoken information can be overheard." Hikari said, "But I want to know why you can't help them decode the information. It would go by much faster, wouldn't it?"
Aoi nodded.
"It would, but I don't know how to decode it." she replied, "There's a lot of different types of codes for different types of information, and each requires a different decoding method. The only people that can really decode almost all types of coded info are specialists."
"There're specialists?"
"Yeah. The thing about decoding specialists is that if you choose to become one, then it's all you're allowed to do with your ninja career. They're closely guarded in all ninja villages because if they get kidnapped or betray the village, then it'll be a lot of trouble for the hidden village, especially if scrolls get stolen. That's why decoding specialists are usually forbidden to leave the village on missions." Aoi explained.
"But not all scrolls are written in code." Naruto said, finally speaking up. He had obviously figured out enough about the workings behind water-walking if he chose to join in the conversation.
'The scroll that Gensei stole wasn't in code at all.' he thought to himself, thinking back.
"Those are mostly jutsu scrolls." Aoi replied, as if reading his mind, "Most jutsu are commonplace these days, and it takes a lot of effort to code a scroll. Of course, jutsu scrolls are still pretty heavily guarded; it takes a hell of a ninja to be able to waltz into a village and just steal one."
"So what are we going to do for two weeks?" Hikari asked, looking annoyed, "You could have at least told us beforehand so that we could've told our families."
"That would've ruined the surprise." Aoi told her, laughing sheepishly, "Konoha and Taki are close allies, not to mention that Taki is the closest ninja village to Konoha, and vice versa. We'll be training with some Taki teams to promote close relations; the Hokage set it up with Taki's village leader."
"You keep saying the village leader. Isn't there an equivalent to a Kage in Taki?" Hikari asked. This time, it was Koiga that answered.
"Taki is a pretty small ninja village when compared to the major five. We don't officially have any Kage; just a village leader to help protect the village when it's threatened." he told the genin, "Anyway, we're here."
The group stepped out of the cave into the light, and immediately, their breaths caught in their throats at the sight.
Takigakure was situated in a valley, built around a gigantic tree and a lake. The tree itself was easily the biggest tree that they had seen; it was probably taller than even the Hokage Monument, and it was quite thick as well. The lake sparkled in the sunlight, creating a breathtaking scene to behold.
"That sure is a big tree." Akane remarked.
"The waterfall and cliffs circling it block it from view because the tree is in a valley." Naruto explained, "That way, if someone were to invade, they'd eventually have to go into the valley, and Taki ninja have the higher ground if they were to attack from the tree."
'And there are probably underground roots under the tree, so that civilians might escape and the Taki nin can circle round and attack from behind as well.' Naruto didn't say. It might make the Taki jounin a bit suspicious that a genin knew information like that, though it was just common sense to the blond.
"Your student is insightful." Koiga commented, looking slightly impressed with the young genin, "He's smarter than my genin at any rate."
"He can pick up things even faster than some jounin." Aoi bragged.
Koiga led the Konoha nin into the valley; there was a winding road that led to the housing area, cutting through the lush greenery around them. Once they reached the edge of the actual village, Koiga stopped.
"Your genin can feel free to roam around the town." Koiga said to Aoi, "Just take note that there are several Taki nin keeping watch because there are several teams from different hidden villages present. You should probably come with me, Aoi-san, to meet with the village leader."
Aoi nodded.
"Alright team! Feel free to wander around!" Aoi told her genin, "Akane; don't burn anything. Hikari, you keep an eye on her."
Akane frowned at being singled out, but Hikari nodded in assent.
"And you!" Aoi said suddenly, pointing at Naruto, "No sleeping with any women until I've had my turn!"
Naruto rubbed his temple in annoyance, noticing the look at Koiga's face at Aoi's proclamation. No doubt, Koiga didn't know about Aoi's... unique sense of humour.
"Alright, dismissed. I'll meet you guys near the lake in..." Aoi looked back at Koiga.
"Two hours." Koiga supplied.
"Two hours!" Aoi exclaimed unhappily, "Aw man! Then let's hurry and get it over with!"
Naruto, Hikari, and Akane blinked as both Aoi and Koiga suddenly disappeared from their views. Then they looked at each other, still silent. Only one thought permeated through their heads.
'What do we do now?'
Naruto had gone his separate way from Hikari and Akane. He had elected to get some ramen while Akane and Hikari chose to walk around the town to get feel for it. He had given Hikari the scroll with all of their necessities after removing his own personal scrolls from within it. He had walked around aimlessly at first, looking through all the shops, hoping to find the nearest ramen shop, but eventually caved in and asked the nearest Taki resident for the best place for ramen.
He had been directed to this particular shop, and he now stood in front of it, memorizing his surroundings. There wasn't much of a rush as there usually was at Ichiraku, but Konoha was much more populous than Taki, so it was to be expected.
Naruto stepped inside the stand and took the nearest available stool, sliding in beside another customer that was bent over their own food.
"Welcome! What can I get you?"
"Beef ramen, please." Naruto replied, momentarily glancing at the green-haired girl beside him. Then he froze.
Slowly, Naruto turned his head towards the Taki genin beside him, nervously noticing that she was now staring at him with narrow eyes.
"Uhh... hey there..." Naruto said, hesitantly. The girl's eyes widened.
"You! I know you!" she exclaimed, "You're that guy that got me in trouble with Koiga-sensei!"
'Is she stupid or something?' Naruto thought, looking at her weirdly, 'She got herself in trouble.'
"Here you are." the ramen chef interrupted, handing both Naruto and Fuu a bowl of ramen each. Naruto noticed that Fuu's ramen was topped with an excessive amount of fishcake.
Fuu turned away from him, lifelessly picking at some fishcake. Naruto took the opportunity to attack his own ramen. It was quickly becoming dark out, and he trusted Hikari had booked at least one room at an inn by now; he'd have to meet his team out by the lake pretty soon.
"Sorry for calling you a criminal." Fuu said unexpectedly, not even looking at the blond. Naruto looked at her in surprise. It seemed that it took a lot of effort on her part to apologize. He quickly gulped down the ramen in his mouth before replying.
"Oh, no problem." Naruto replied, and a silence settled upon the two of them again. The girl looked a little down, so Naruto decided that he should at least try to cheer her up; she had apologized after all.
"So, why were you looking for a criminal? Do you fight crime?" Naruto asked her, hoping to spark some cheerfulness out of her. The girl actually looked at him this time, but she didn't respond as he hoped she would.
'Huh. She's not as enthusiastic as I thought.' he thought, frowning slightly.
"Yeah..." Fuu replied, still sounding dejected, "I guess you could say that."
"So... how's your latest case? Not going well?" Naruto asked; it was pretty obvious that the girl didn't have much luck with whatever mystery she was trying to solve. Fuu looked at him suspiciously.
"Why do you care?" she asked him, frowning at his curiosity.
"Oh! Because..." Naruto raced to think of an answer, "... you look like you could... use some help?"
The girl brightened somewhat.
"You're offering to help me?" she asked the blond, taken aback. Naruto inwardly cringed; that wasn't what he was trying to say at all. But he couldn't take back his answer now, lest he extinguish the hope he had created in the girl.
"Uhh, yeah, sure. If you want help, I mean. But you're probably a top level investigator, so you probably don't need my help, I mean-" Naruto babbled, but the green-haired girl cut him off.
"Of course you can help me! Nobody ever wants to help me!" she replied excitedly, "Alright!"
'Ah crap.' Naruto cursed inwardly. That wasn't what he intended at all.
"The name's Fuu!" she introduced herself cheerfully, holding her hand out for him to shake. Naruto looked at her proffered hand distrustfully.
'I can't just trust her like this.' he thought, but a certain memory of Yuugao came to mind.
"If someone offers you a hand in friendship, you should take it." Yuugao said, leaning back against the dinner table. Naruto frowned slightly.
"But what if he's trying to trick me?" Naruto said, "People haven't really been friendly to me in the past; why should I trust this Naoto guy to be different?"
Yuugao propped her elbows on the table before replying.
"It may be safer to distrust this person, but do you want to live in that world? Or do you want to take that risk, in case that possible friendship might be worth it? The choice is yours, Naruto."
'The choice is mine.'
He didn't need to live like Anko did.
Naruto reached out and firmly grasped Fuu's waiting hand.
Much to Naruto's surprise, Fuu's ramen wasn't just covered with fishcakes; there wasn't even any ramen in the bowl. He watched with awe as the girl mowed down an entire bowl of fishcake all by herself. Apparently, she loved the stuff.
According to the chef, she ate more fishcake than she did ramen.
Fuu noticed his baffled gaze.
"Oh yeah, I never got your name." she said, looking at him expectantly.
"Oh, it's... umm..." Naruto spoke hesitantly, "Uzumaki."
Fuu kept staring at him, still waiting for him to finish.
"Well? There's more right? Uzumaki seems like a last name." she said, wolfing down some fishcake.
"Umm, yeah. Uzumaki..." Naruto said in trepidation, "Naruto."
Fuu paused mid-bite, gaping at the whiskered blond.
"Your name's Naruto?" she said as if not believing her ears. Naruto let out a relieved sigh.
'At least she didn't react like Aoi did when she first saw me.' Naruto thought, relaxing.
"Yep."
Fuu kept staring at him, her mouth wide open much to Naruto's amusement. After a moment or two, Fuu ate the waiting naruto in her hand, chewing furiously.
"You are a blessed one!" Fuu said reverently, "You..."
The girl seemed to be at a loss for words. Judging by the look on the chef's face, this was probably a first. Naruto decided to put some words into her mouth.
"So, how about this case?" Naruto asked. He'd help her solve her mystery quickly, and return to his team as soon as possible.
"Oh, yeah!" Fuu said, breaking out of her awe, "Alright, I'll fill you in on the details."
"Okay, the suspect is known only as... 'The Pickler'!" Fuu proclaimed.
"Suspect? You already have a suspect?" Naruto interjected. Fuu gave him a confused look.
"Huh?"
"Never mind. Continue." Naruto said, concluding that she must have meant 'culprit' instead. Fuu gave him an odd look, but continued nonetheless.
"Okay. The Pickler is a criminal that's been going around sneaking into people's homes and taking their cucumbers, pickling them unawares! When the victims came back home, they stumbled upon the horrifying scene only to find a card left for them." Fuu told him, pulling a card out of her pocket. On it was a crudely drawn pickle along with the label, 'Pickles to You!' written on it.
'Oh, you've got to be kidding me.' Naruto thought, fighting the feeling to laugh at the absurdity of it all.
"She must be caught!" Fuu exclaimed passionately.
"So it's a she?" Naruto asked, smiling slightly.
"Huh? Oh, I dunno. I think it's a she; most men don't know how to pickle vegetables." she said, apparently not remembering that she had accused him of being the 'Pickler' earlier, "But that doesn't matter! We have to solve this mystery, Naruto!"
"Sure thing, boss." Naruto said, saluting the girl. Fuu smiled brightly at him. Naruto absentmindedly noticed that she had a nice smile.
"Alright! First things first, I have to teach you how to be an investigator." Fuu told him. Naruto nodded, also grabbing his ramen once again.
"Well, the first thing is, see, you halfta talk like this, see?" Fuu lectured him, adopting the strange accent that she had used when he had met her earlier.
"You gotta end your sentences with the word 'see', see? That way, everything you say is a question, see?" Fuu continued, "Got it, bub?"
"Where... did you learn all of this?" Naruto asked her, perplexed.
"Books. And movies too." Fuu answered promptly, shrugging.
"So not as an investigator?" Naruto retorted, amused.
"That too." Fuu immediately corrected, "It was fifty-fifty."
'Okay.' Naruto thought, greatly entertained, 'Fifty percent books, fifty percent movies, and fifty percent as an investigator. Yup.'
"Okay, please continue." Naruto said, inclining his head.
"The second thing is that you have to use aggressive words to describe people, see? Words like 'bub', or 'punk', see?"
"Sure thing, bub." Naruto answered, grinning at her. Fuu looked at him, excited.
"Hey! You're learning!" Fuu said, looking at him delightedly.
"I'm a fast learner, see?" Naruto cheekily replied. Fuu erupted in laughter, and Naruto couldn't help but join in. Her laughter was infectious.
"Hehehe, you're good!" Fuu said, still chuckling, "Alright, bub, let's ditch this dirt-house, and sniff out some clues, see?"
The chef of the ramen stand gave Fuu a sour look at her 'special' name for his stand.
"Tch, see if I ever give you any fishcake again." the chef grumbled, "Ungrateful brat."
Fuu's eyes widened.
"No! I didn't mean it!"
Naruto followed Fuu around, since she looked like she knew where she was going. He noticed that people on the streets were quick to avoid the green-haired girl, much like it used to be for him back in Konoha. Fuu either didn't notice it as she gabbed away with the blond, or she chose to ignore it.
'Odd.' Naruto thought, 'She must've noticed it.'
It was already dark out now, and Naruto would soon have to meet up with his team, though he had been so engrossed in conversation with the cheerful Taki kunoichi that he had forgotten to bring up the fact.
"Alright, Naruto; it's actually kind of late to look for clues." Fuu said, gesturing at the starry sky, "I should be getting home soon."
"Yeah, I should probably meet up with my teamma-" Naruto started, but Fuu suddenly cut him off.
"Oh, I have an idea! Where are you staying! You can stay at my place!" Fuu proclaimed. Naruto immediately felt a bit uncomfortable, but Fuu didn't seem observant enough to notice it. He barely knew the girl, and though she was probably as friendly as she seemed, he definitely didn't trust her enough to sleep in the same vicinity as her without his teammates there.
Yuugao told him to trust people, but he was sure this wasn't what she had in mind.
"Oh, I have-" he tried to tell Fuu, but she interrupted him again.
"I live alone, so it'll just be the two of us! We can stay up and discuss investigation plans! And I have some sleeping bags at home as well, so we can camp out on my living room floor! It'll be awesome!" Fuu exclaimed, looking at him pleadingly, "It'll be the first time someone's stayed over at my place! Come on, Naruto! Please!"
Naruto could see the hope in Fuu's eyes and didn't see how he could refuse without crushing it. As isolated as Naruto was in Konoha, both Akane and Hikari had stayed over at his place with him and Yuugao on several occasions; he couldn't help but feel a little sorry for the girl. So he swallowed his distrust, and nodded.
"Al- alright." Naruto replied, despite the major misgivings he felt.
"ALRIGHT!" Fuu shouted, happily.
'Damn it! Why do these things always happen to me?' Naruto thought furiously.
"I have to tell my team." Naruto said, but Fuu shook her head.
"There's no time, Naruto; it's too late! Just tell 'em tomorrow morning! Come on, let's go!" Fuu exclaimed, rushing off towards her home, causing the whiskered boy to curse at the girl's carelessness.
Naruto was a bit wary of creating a Kage Bunshin in the middle of the village to go inform his teammates; he was sure that he was currently being watched by Taki nin, and using a jutsu, especially a high level one like Kage Bunshin, might be a cause for concern for them. And to a lesser extent, Naruto was a bit wary of revealing his skills so openly.
'Hopefully, they'll understand.' Naruto thought. Aoi wasn't very strict, and his team knew that he could take care of himself. Not to mention that it would be a terrible diplomatic situation between Konoha and Taki if something were to happen to Naruto in Taki. Aoi would understand that he was safe.
'Well,' Naruto thought, 'at least Yuugao-neechan can no longer say that I have trust issues.'
"Oi, Naruto! You're going to be left behind!" Fuu called. Naruto snapped out of his thoughts.
"Co- coming!"
"Which villages sent scrolls?" the man asked. He and his companion stood in abject darkness, not a soul around them. Most civilians in Waterfall had likely gone to sleep at this time, and there weren't many shinobi around.
"Leaf, Lightning, Rock, Sand, as well as the Hidden Sound." his companion replied. The man shifted towards him, his body language showing slight surprise.
"Oto? Are you sure?" he asked.
"Yes."
"Interesting. I didn't think that Orochimaru cared enough to promote diplomatic relations between Taki and his farce of a Hidden Village." the man commented, "Of course, he probably has ulterior motives."
"It is likely that the information he sent is directly opposite to what the other villages have provided." his companion replied.
"Probably. Nobody knows that Orochimaru is spearheading Otogakure. Still, his information might be more damaging to our cause if it were decoded. Are all the representatives still here?" the man asked.
"Yes."
"Hmm... I hope they won't cause us trouble." the man commented.
"Orochimaru's subjects might be cause for concern, but Konoha, Kumo, Iwa and Suna all sent genin teams; other than the jounin accompanying them, they won't be much trouble. The Konoha team is only a few months old; those genin are no cause for concern." the companion replied, "Suna might present some trouble however; they sent the children of the Kazekage. Each genin on that team is skilled, and the redhead is especially dangerous."
"I know of the redhead. Sabaku no Gaara's unstable psyche is a focal point for the plan. What about Iwa and Kumo?"
"Both are likely better than the Konoha team, but still little cause for concern." the informant continued.
"Then, we can soon set the plan in motion." the first man said. He looked over the Hidden Waterfall Village.
The lake glittered under the moonlight, and the tree stood as gigantic as ever. Meanwhile, the village slept, unaware of the impending disaster that was to come.
Chapter 07 – Hidden Waterfall – Terminating
Author's Notes:
Here are some notes from before the revision:
"There's been a three month gap between this chapter and the previous chapter. Naruto has spent practically every single day for three months with his team (with the occasional off-day). I'm not sure if that was the same in canon Naruto, or if they only met up a couple of times per week, but that's what it was in here. Three months is a long time to get to know somebody, especially if you spend every day with them, actively doing things such as missions or training etc... It seemed really plausible to me that they would be really close; which really goes to show how dysfunctional Team 7 was in canon."
Anyway, practically nothing was changed. It was a combination of both my being lazy and my not finding much that needed changing.
Also, in this chapter, I explained a little bit of Naruto and Anko's time together. She taught him a lot of weird stuff for someone to teach a young child. She did love him, but she was not fit to take care of a child. Some of her (bad) teachings are scattered around in the story, kind of like puzzle pieces. You can see them in flashbacks and in Naruto's thoughts and reactions. Things as small as words or sentences. I really go out of my way to do small things like that, but I don't think anyone has really noticed.
Anyway, the latest chapter is next. Read on! And don't forget to review!
knuckz