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Special thanks to Diya-chan for putting up with my bad grammar.
Chapter 10
Hero's Do Exist
"Koyuki huh, it's been a few years since I've heard that name", said Rin as she put down a strange key on a wooden desk below the ship.
Koyuki slept soundly on the bed next to her.
"For someone so young, to have such a cold heart", Rin eyed her with an emotionless gaze.
"What a pity", she finished and she began to walk out of the room.
"Wait!" Koyuki yelled.
"What?" asked Rin as she turned to meet the stoic face of Koyuki.
"W-Why…..
"Why what?" she raised an eyebrow.
"Why are you taking me to The Land of Snow, I can pay you double to take me back to The Land of Fire", she offered a small hint of hope in her voice.
"Well it seems like you aren't a complete lost cause", she chuckled and walked out.
Sandayu greeted her in the hallway.
"The ship pulled into dock a moment ago", he explained.
"Good", she briskly walked past him.
"Please don't be too harsh on Koyuki-sama, she's had a rough life", he insisted.
"Well….she has…..but that's not an excuse to shy away from what she's eventually going to face", she sighed.
"That's almost reminiscent of the definition of coward….wouldn't you agree….samurai?" she asked.
Sandayu's looked shocked.
"H-How…..did you…..
Rin had already walked away.
A small group sat in the ship's chart room.
Team 7, Sandayu and some of the production team sat in around a table.
"So the Princess doesn't want to go back home", stated Rin with a sigh.
"C'mon sensei you can stop calling her Princess, she's only an actress", said Yugao.
"Actually Yugao….she really is a Princess, Yukie Fujikaze is only an alias", she narrowed her eyes. "Her real name is Koyuki Kazahana, heir to The Land of Snow's throne", she crossed her arms.
"And the plot thickens", said Itachi with a small smile.
"This doesn't change a thing, we've come this far, we can complete the mission", said Naruto.
"Actually it does", she said. "At first this mission was a C-Rank mission, when low level ninja became involved it became a B-Rank, now that the Damiyo's daughter is involved, this mission has now become A-Rank", she chuckled.
"What are the odds huh?" she sighed with a smile. "Normally I'd call for back up, but by the time the arrive, the battle for The Land of Snow would be over, I guess we're it", she chirped the last bit.
"That's all we need, Team 7 the cream of the crop! Saves an entire country together!" yelled Yugao dramatically.
"Well…now we've got a movie!" exclaimed the director excitedly.
"You fools", came a voice from the door way.
"You can't defeat Doto, you're just kids and an old lady", Rin's eyebrow twitched.
"I'll have you know that I'm 20", she growled. "A lot younger than you", she mumbled the last part.
"Whatever, just give up, there's no room in this world for fools who believe in happy endings", she cocked her head.
"The strong survive and the weak suffer, that's the way the world works", she chuckled bitterly.
"You're pathetic", said Naruto.
"Excuse me", she narrowed her eyes at the young Genin.
"You're pathetic, you heard me, people like you are pathetic", he said simply.
"Pathetic! Why you little!" she briskly walked over to him and grabbed him by his white jacket.
"Now who's pathetic you little bastard", Naruto remained impassive.
"You can run, pretty well, can't you? Aren't you tired of running?" asked Naruto.
"You don't understand just how powerful he is! He…..he killed my father! My brother! He killed every ounce of happiness in my heart and yet I still can't cry!" she yelled, her hands started to shake.
Naruto grabbed her hands with his and moved them away. She didn't protest, looking down at the wooden floor.
"Please Princess", said Sandayu.
"You fooled these people into taking us back to that God forsaken place", she said bitterly.
"I'm finished", she said defeat as she slumped to the floor.
"Happy endings are real y'know", she gasped at his words. "But you have to be willing to fight for them", he got up and walked away.
A convoy of trucks prepped for snow travelled trekked on a frozen highway off a cliff face. Koyuki sat on her bed on her own private vehicle. She looked out to the frozen landscape, the cold dug up even colder memories from the past the ceased to go away.
The trucks halted in their positions as the crew and director stepped out of the trucks.
"Okay once we're done shooting here we'll move onto our hideout where-
"Mr Makino!" yelled the frantic assistant.
"What is it boy?" he asked annoyed.
"It's Yukie, she's up and disappeared again! Like she's totally vanished sir!" he exclaimed.
"Wha!" he yelled over him.
"Fan out and look for her", order Rin as her Genin jumped over the trucks and into the wilderness. "Radio in if you find her", she ordered.
"Right!" they all exclaimed.
Naruto jumped off the cliff, his cloak wisping up in the wind behind him.
"For a civilian she got pretty far", said Naruto. "She runs like a civilian though", he jumped between a few rocks and then over the frozen trees onto the snow.
"What a sight you are", Koyuki ran for her life.
Naruto walked after her.
She struggled as she clumsily ran through the snow.
"I won't go back to The Land of Snow!" she yelled.
Naruto disappeared in a Shunshin and appeared in front of her. She fell backward and glared up at him.
"H-How would you know anything, you're just a naïve child, you know nothing of the real world!" she yelled in a fit of fury.
"Tch, quit whining would you, you're embarrassing yourself", she smirked.
"W-What?" she asked in shock.
"C'mon, everyone is waiting", she said.
She sighed in frustration.
Naruto carried Koyuki on his back with a satisfied smile on his face. He walked through the tunnel that they had recently passed through on the icy road. Koyuki had a scowl adjourning her face, unhappy at her current state. Being carried by an eight year old through a dark tunnel didn't exactly make for a dignified position. All she wanted to do was run, run away from The Land of Snow, run away from her title and run away from destiny. But this brat wouldn't let her.
"You're really annoying you know that kid?" she asked.
"Well in this case that would be rhetorical, because you obvious find me annoying", he said with a sigh.
"Well it would be if you found yourself annoying that is", she countered.
"Yes….but only to you", he said with a smile.
"I suggest you put me down", she said dangerously.
"Or what…what exactly are you going to do, where are you going to go?" he asked.
"Well…I…..
"You can run but I'll catch you, you can hide and I'll find you", he chuckled at her when she pouted.
"Come on Koyuki cheer up, you don't have to worry", chirped Naruto.
"You're just a kid, you can't promise me anything", she said bitterly. "You think you can come in to this country and save it like some hero, hero's don't exist brat, hate to be the one to break the news to you", she scowled.
"Your wrong", she said simply.
"What was that?" she asked.
"I said you're wrong, there are heroes in this world, I'll prove it to you. I may be a kid, but I pick things up quicker than most. I haven't even seen much of this world, but even I can see that heroes exist", he chuckled happily.
"Where did you get that line out of, your bookshelf full on fairy tales", she mocked. Her tone was laced with sarcasm and bitterness.
"Actually my grandfather taught me that!" he chuckled.
"You're grandfather?" she asked.
"Yeah, his name is Jiraya Namikaze, he's a hero from The Second Great Ninja War. He fought in all kinds of battles and he's taught a lot of things about being a ninja", she cracked a small smile. A real smile, not the fake ones that she used regularly for the camera.
"What are you reading squirt?" asked Jiraya.
A startled Naruto jumped up from his spot on the grassy field. He had been reading a very familiar book for the entire morning, a book close to his father's heart. He had snuck away from the academy so he could read all day. He had papers with seals all around him, all different designs and each of them at different levels.
"N-Nothing! I was just-I…you see Oji-san I-
"You skipped school huh? Oh just what would your mother think", he chuckled evilly.
"N-No please don't tell Kaa-chan, it took me forever to convince Itachi to copy my mother's handwriting so I could do this", he said frantically.
"That's actually quite clever Naruto. So you've come out here to train I presume that you also came out to work on your seals", he picked up a piece of paper with a seal on it.
"What are these…storage seals….what good will those do you?" he asked.
"W-Well I was thinking that um….well it's hard if you run out of kunai and shuriken in battle. So if I kept some storage seals on my wrists then I'd be able to store more", she explained with a bashful expression.
"Oh I see so you modified the speed in which the seal activates by storing a small amount of chakra in them! Kid that's genius!" he patted him on the back.
"You think so?" Naruto blushed and rubbed the back of his head.
"Hohohoho so you were also reading my book, 'Tales of a Gutsy Ninja', it's not that great. I'd show you some of my other work but you're a bit to young", he chuckled. "The wording is a bit childish and the characters aren't that developed well but-
"No way! It's the best thing I've ever read!" he yelled with a smile.
"Really? Well kid thank you, not many people actually liked it", he laughed a little embarrassed at the notion.
"Oh come on the main character's name is Naruto and he has the coolest sayings and has the coolest Jutsu!" he chuckled. "How he never gives up and always keeps going, that's my nindo to y'know", said Naruto with passion.
Jiraya laughed.
"It is isn't it", he put his hands on his chin.
"Well Naruto, I'll let you on a little secret, your father named you after the character in that book", said Jiraya.
"He did?" asked Naruto.
"Yup and the book is autobiographical, all those things really happened", he laughed with a thumbs up.
"Wow really?" wondered Naruto. "So you're so sort of a hero?" asked Naruto with stars in his eyes.
"Yeah, they all happened….well I'm not really a hero, I've just been a lot of places", he chuckled.
"Oh", Naruto then suddenly smiled. "I still think you're a hero, even if Kaa-chan still says that you're just an old perv", said Naruto with a beaming smile.
"W-Well thanks kid, listen, how about we go for some ramen?" he offered.
"Awesome, let's go", said Naruto as he began to seal the papers back into the storage seals on the ground.
"He sounds like a riot", said Koyuki.
"Y'know your sarcasm is getting a little dull", he said with a frown.
"The fact that you're lecturing me at your age is dull!" she shouted.
"I guess that would be annoying", he chuckled.
Koyuki sighed.
A loud whistle ran through the cavern, it reached Naruto's and Koyuki's ears and startled the pair of them.
"What was that?" asked Naruto.
"A train?" asked Koyuki.
"A train, I thought that Sandayu said that there was no train anymore", said Naruto as the lights of the train suddenly appeared. Shortly after the train roared around the corner aggressively.
"Oh crap!" exclaimed Naruto as he shot off in the other direction toward the tunnel exit.
With the train hot on his heels Naruto sprinted away from the train. Koyuki's hair whipped up behind them.
"We're done for!" she shouted.
"No we aren't!" yelled back Naruto.
"Are you insane! You can't do this, this is impossible, you're just a kid!" she yelled.
"This isn't over", said Naruto.
"Huh?" she asked.
"M-Me and Kari-chan made you this", Kari watched her older brother hold out the card at Naruto's face full stretched. Kari gripped her eldest brother's pants.
"You both made this for me?" he asked with a smile.
Kari nodded and Ren blushed. The colour of his face rivalled his hair.
Naruto gently took the blue piece of cardboard out of Ren's hand.
The front of the card had 'Nii-san' written on it with gold glitter. Naruto smiled as he opened the card and read out loud the writing on the first page. It was written in glitter pen as well.
"Dear Nii-san, you're awesome and do your best, love Ren and Kari", Naruto chuckled.
On the other side of the card was a drawing in glitter pen. 3 figures each a different colour stood hand in hand. The tallest one written in orange glitter pen held his stick hands out with three fingers to the two smaller figures either side. On the right was a figure in red and on the left a smaller figure in purple.
"Do you like it?" asked Ren. "I-I can do another one if you don't, I-
Naruto pulled in Ren for a hug. His other one wrapped around his younger sister.
"I am going to do my best, thank you both so much", Naruto kissed Kari's head as Ren sat down.
OST Strong and Strike
"I have people who believe in me, I won't let them down! I won't give up EVER!" exclaimed Naruto.
He began pulling away from the train as his legs began to move at a faster rate. Koyuki was shocked at the sudden burst of speed, the train behind them was probably bordering on full speed and this eight year old boy with his body in its current state was outrunning this mechanical beast.
The rocks around Naruto's feet would fly away as he stepped his feet. As a strange aura began to surround him.
"Come on!" he yelled as he quickened his pace. The exit became visible as he rounded the last corner.
He roared as he stepped into the light and jumped out of the way of the train.
End Theme
Naruto chuckled as he lay in the snow; it turned into full blown laughter.
"You little fool", she growled.
The train stopped in front of them.
"Naruto!" exclaimed Itachi.
"He found her", said Yugao.
A loud squeak echoed through the area, indicating that a microphone was being turned on.
"It's been a long time, Princess Koyuki", boomed the voice over the mic.
"It's him", she growled as she stood up, followed by Naruto.
"It's been what…10 years, my you've grown into a beautiful young woman, your beauty is certainly reminiscent of your late mother. Too bad you're not as smart as your father, after all you haven't surrendered to me yet", he finished.
"Doto", she said shocked.
Naruto stepped in front of her with a blank look on his face.
Suddenly myriad large tree trunks rocketed down the hill toward the armoured vehicle. They crashed into the train at high speeds. Samurai all lined up around the edges of the cliff with looks of steel adjourning their cold faces.
"There you have it men!" Sandayu stepped forward with his sword drawn. "Our beloved Princess Koyuki has returned!" he shouted.
The Samurai of The Land of Snow shouted approval for their once missing Princess.
"Charge!" he yelled and the Samurai followed him down the cliff.
"Sir I'll-
Started Nadare but Doto put his hand up silencing him.
"There's only one thing that worms like these understand", he smirked. "Complete and total utter annihilation!" he dropped his hand and the outer shell of the train receded revealing large Gatling guns with Snow Ninja atop each of them.
"W-What is he?" asked Itachi.
He got his answer as the Snow Ninja began cranking the handles a barrage of sharpened kunai was flung out of each of the large weapons. The stream of kunai impaled the Samurai as they all ran to their deaths.
Team 7's eyes widened as they witnessed the mass slaughter.
This was what ninja were capable of when push comes to shove.
"Y-You pig!" yelled Yugao.
"How awful, all those people", Itachi clenched his jaw as he watched the Samurai rush forward only to be mowed down.
"T-This is….horrible", Naruto's fist clenched as he watched the smirk on Doto's face appear.
"You…..you…..
Doto began to laugh.
"You….
Doto's laugh became boisterous as Sandayu fell to the ground.
"YOU ANIMAL!" he exclaimed in rage.
Doto stopped laughing and turned to the source of the noise.
Naruto glared at him.
Doto's eyes reflected Naruto's anger form.
'That boy', he thought.
"We're done here, let's go", Doto disappeared back into the train.
The train roared to life and sped off along the tracks.
"Itachi, where is Rin-sensei?" asked Yugao.
"She's….I don't know", said Itachi. His voiced was laced with anger as he surveyed the carnage in front of him.
'Is this…what being a ninja means?' he asked himself.
"Sensei!" shouted Yugao as she watched her teacher gently placed Sandayu on a wooden board.
"Is there anything you can do for him?" asked the director as Yugao stopped behind them.
"No, any medic interference now would only prolong their suffering", she said solemnly.
"He was a noble man, he held firm to his ideals even though he knew that he had no chance. But I think that all of them must have known that", she surveyed the rest of the Samurai.
All of them bloodied broken and dead.
Rin turned around to see her students; all of them had blank looks on their faces.
"They shouldn't be exposed to this so young", she said aloud.
"Are you finished running yet?" asked Naruto as he came up behind Koyuki.
"I….don't know", she fell to her knees. "Just go away!" she yelled.
"Just go away! Leave, this doesn't concern you, I don't care about The Land of Snow! I don't care about my family all I care about is living!" she yelled as tears flowed freely from her face.
Naruto walked up behind her.
"Just go away!" she threw snow at him.
"Just leave go away, I don't want you here! Can't you understand!" she kept throwing snow at him until Naruto put his hand on her head.
"Don't you worry, I understand completely", he said with a small chuckle.
She sobbed as the sun began to pierce through the clouds.
"N-Naruto….p-please help me?" she asked through sobs.
"Of course I'll help you!" he yelled proudly.
Chapter End
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