Chapter 11

Brown Fox

For Power, For Kindness

Naruto liked being better then other people; in fact, he liked just being himself, since he was the best. The boy walked with a gait that could only be achieved by gaining power overnight. His walk didn't lie, he did get power overnight, Kyu-chan was nice enough to give it to him, she was really nice, and beautiful, and smart. She told him, that he deserved the power, he after all, single handedly contains all of the Kyuubi; other people couldn't even say they held half.

The boy gathered attention as he walked down the street, showing off his new three brand new tails, he made the change last night, Naruto needed to prepare for the Chunnin exams, and what better way then to gain the power of a demon?

Hinata's conquest of Naruto was a continuing triumph, every move she made, was a move made in the right direction. Everything from her botched attempt at pottery, to her sudden strength bursts-Naruto believed that his "Inspiration" made her stronger. Though did she care about him thinking so little of her, that she needed his presence in order to become better? No, that's a character flaw, everyone has them, and Naruto's was just his Hubris. If she would have to say what her flaw was, she would have to say that she was a pessimist. Hardly a day goes by that she did not once think about what could go wrong with her "Invasion of Naruto".

She could appear to strong, scare away the sensitive Naruto from his self-claimed title of the strongest Genin. The only reason he wasn't recognized for his skill was because of the Kyuubi. She looked at the happy, but slightly disturbed, townsfolk. She spat out the saliva that was gathering in her mouth, and with no small amount of acid in her voice, called them fools. She looked at her objective, expecting to see the usual boy, wearing the same green pants, with an orange thermal.

The clothes were the same, but the tails were new, instantly Hinata knew what this meant, the villagers would have to acknowledge his strength. He has the strength of a demon now, not even the Kages could stop him now. She ran out of the shadows, aiming to give the boy a hug, the villagers have been surrounded by power; they would either surrender, or face termination.

Naruto heard Hinata's heavy footsteps coming, even though he was facing the away from the girl, he knew it was Hinata by her shoes hitting the pavement, she ran with a lead foot, very uncharacteristic of the Hyuga but it made her different, just like him. Just like him, it made her an outcast, the odd Hyuga, and the Demon brat. He heard whispers, he didn't understand what they were saying, but he figured its something about his transformation.

Hinata and Naruto walked down the street, scowling at the confused townspeople. Though as the two friends walked down the street, a woman in hiding cursed her luck, the plan she crafted so many years ago had just been foiled, in the matter of a single moment. Did that kid really need to accept the Kyuubi's power, well, lucky for her, she planned for this happening. She pulled out a notebook, torn and worn from obvious overuse. She flipped through the book, in till she spotted the page she was looking for, in bold letters, the title read. 'How to deal with Kasshoku's half brother accepting the demon's power.' And in letters just as bold, it read 'just tell Kasshoku not to'.

In all of her planning, that is what she came up with; 'just tell him', well it made the most sense. Kasshoku, even though he did not even know her, would still trust her. Especially since he didn't know what she doing for him, and oh, she was doing a lot for him. Well, in doing things for him, she was really doing good for the forest.

The chunnin exams-if her plan was to succeeded- would be the catalyst for much bigger objectives, much bigger objectives. She thought of all the steps she had to take in secret, in order for Kasshoku to participate in the chunnin exams, sending bandits his way to desensitize him to the thought of violence. Spreading rumors of grandeur to traders, so that Kasshoku could get mission experience, leading game in the direction of his happenstance friends-so that he would end up in their vicinity. The whole 'Evil organization recruits Kasshoku for the Chunnin exam' was a pleasant surprise. Her plan was so entangled that even she didn't quite understand it.

What she did understand was her next step, the chunnin exams are just three days away, and if her guess was correct, Kasshoku and his partners would be walking right through the gates of Konoha.

Kasshoku was sweating profusely; he shifted his eyes nervously from tree line to tree line. Nee-san could come out at any minute- and in any minute he would have to explain to the gate guards what the strange bark covered girl was, and why was she attacking him with roots. The brown teen told his partners everything about himself; he found it to be the right thing to do, being that they told him everything about themselves. Including the truth about him being a Demon Container, just like he expected though, they really didn't care too much about it, as long as it was sealed in him, they didn't mind.

Speaking of the illustrious demon, the last two years had them partaking in many different conversations. Some angered, some pleasant, some witty, some bland, but all were unexpected. He assumed that she was constantly attempting to convince him to let her out. Even with that in mind, he always tried to make her stay in the seal as pleasant as possible, always trying to start off a conversation with a pleasant note, she never appreciated it though.

Being out of the eyesight of the trees, Kasshoku allowed himself to relax. Oddly enough, he relaxed, and nothing happened, this temporary reprieve was truly a gift from nature. He took the time of bliss to look around he couldn't help but smile; the towns people seemed so overwhelmingly pleasant. Children played, couples cuddled, shop owners scuffled, stray puppies were patted, the town displayed the very picture of peace.

The trio made their way over to the Hokage tower, a Konoha ninja sent them that way, and he also noted that they were not expecting chunnin exam participants for another two days. But he was sure the Hokage could make arrangements for them, so far Kasshoku really enjoyed this 'village' though he was rather confused about that part, it was clearly much larger then a village, it was more along the lines of a small city.

The trio finally made their way to the Hokage's door as they raised their hands in unison to hit the door of the office. A teen came running in, appearing to them only as a blur of orange and green, and oddly enough some tails. The color blur stopped in front of the baffled Kage. Who was not only surprised by the child's new-found speed. But his new found tails. The third Kage had seen felt many tremors during his life, but this was an earthquake among them, though he knew this wasn't the time to question the tails. The third Hokage needed an excuse, and he found one, three of them to be exact, all of them standing at his door.

"Naruto, it's rude to take someone's place in line, those three were waiting patiently for their turn to address me, go back outside and wait for a few minutes."

"Oji-san! They don't matter! Besides I have a big announcement"

Juro was rather taken aback by that dismissal, and like any man should, he voiced his concerns through being passive aggressive. "Oh, sorry, I forgot, I'm just a chump, don't mind me, I'll be crying in the corner."

"Naruto, please leave the room so these three can register for the Chunnin exams" after taking a second look at the trio, he figured there would be no other reason for them to be at his office.

Naruto changed his appearance to one trained to examine his opponent in an instant, he proceeded to size them up, and then size them down. "You three shouldn't bother-just from looking at you, I can tell you have no chance against anyone here in Konoha."

The three of them stared at the boy, who seemed to be confident in his words. They couldn't afford to make light of his words, and all three of them knew it at once. They would have to use every advantage they had, to take down the competition.

"Come on in you three, I'm assuming that you are here to register for the chunnin exams, am I correct?"

"Yes Hokage-sama, we also are in need of lodging, we were informed that it would be provided to us." Answered Hitomi, she always took the lead when talking to high ranking officials; she had the most experience with the upper class.

"It is, but you three seem to be too early, and without a Jonin instructor."

"Sorry Hokage-sama," Hitomi said this as she bowed in front of the Kage, "We are not from an official village, we are merely a skilled group of travelers, whom were sent here as representatives for a group of Ninja, whose name is Akatsuki, which we know nothing about"

"That doesn't seem too smart, representing something you know nothing about, but we'll set you up just the same, just go to the hotel down the street, this voucher will get you into the correct room." The Hokage was no fool, that wasn't any normal voucher; he was sending them to a surveillance hotel, though the children could possibly have nothing to do with the trio, he would take no chances.

The three of them arrived at the hotel they would be spending the next few months at, it was a plain room, nothing but a window and four beds placed throughout the room. Hitomi took the blankets of the extra bed, Juro the pillows, and Kasshoku the mattress. They then rearranged the room in their usual triangular fashion, similar to how they sat around the campfire.

Kasshoku asked the question on everyone's mind, "What is our plan?"

"Well, the doctor lady said 'Win' so we should start from their." Stated Juro, he enjoyed the planning sessions, it was one of the few times they got serious.

"Shouldn't we train?" suggested Hitomi, training was one thing the trio never did; they were always too busy with odd-jobs and hunting for food.

"By doing what, we don't have a teacher, nor do we have any basis to learn anything."

"Well, we can train our basic skills, Kasshoku's archery, endurance with your Genjutsu, and my strength."

"But how?"

"Well, my strength is obvious, lift heavy things, and Kasshoku can just shoot small targets day in and day out, though I am not quite sure about your Genjutsu."

Juro thought for a few seconds, he wasn't quite sure about how to strengthen himself, but he knew how to understand an opponent's weakness. "You know what we should do? We should talk with the other Genin, in a submissive way, see if we can bait out any of their strengths, if they are all as free speaking as that one Naruto kid, shouldn't be too hard."

Kasshoku realized it right then, Naruto, Uzumaki Naruto, the friend he spent time with in his earlier years. The kid who held the other half of the Kyuubi, so he accepted the power of the fox, Kasshoku saddened at the thought, he had little knowledge of what the demonic power would do to a normal human,. He had even less knowledge of how much you could trust a demon. His relationship with the demon inside of his stomach was varied; the two of them changed from witty friends to vile enemies in the flip of a switch. Maybe Naruto's half of the charge was more trustworthy? He had no way to tell, he could only hope he had made the wise decision.

Hitomi, noticing Kasshoku drifting off into thought, quickly brought the teen back to focus. "Kasshoku, you ready to go out? We gotta go make some ego-filled friends"

"Yea, were should we head first?"

"I think we should hit the local beef restaurant, meat is an essential part in muscle growth, and most Ninjas require a certain degree of buffness." If Hitomi knew one thing, it was how the body developed muscle.

"Nice use of colloquial language (1) Hitomi, but that sounds like a good start to our little excursion into this Ninja village"

Juro, Kasshoku, and Hitomi walked into the restaurant side by side, each teen looking in his or her own direction, each scouting out a group of people who appeared to be Genin. Hitomi saw three girls, each bearing scratch less forehead protectors, she left her compatriots to talk with them, Juro found three boys, each bearing the same perfect headbands. Kasshoku found Naruto, sitting with a boy who appeared to be one of his teammate, it appeared that their was no conversation between the two, but a intense staring match instead.

Hitomi reached her target first, she imagined herself walking up to the group, giving a pleasant greeting, and then have a pleasant discussion were they casually discuss their strengths.

What she got was much less pleasant, and slightly scarring, a blonde girl, with a set of blue eyes, used those cold eyes to see the thing she could say to damage her self-esteem the most. "What do you need Cyclops Girl? Did you lose your eye somewhere?" A girl with pink hair laughed without guilt, while another, with lavender eyes, had some shame and hid her smile.

Hitomi was humiliated, only the four of them could hear the comment in the loud room, but to her, the whole room was laughing, poking fun at her sad past. Honestly, if it was anyone else, she would just shake it off, but something about this girl just threw her off, was it the people laughing, or is it that she felt threatened?

"Why are you still standing there? Take your freaky self somewhere else; you're making me lose my appetite."

Juro stopped mid-stride, he heard what the girl said, and what he heard was not pleasant. But he already knew what to do, he had to stick up for his friend, he was fairly certain he had no choice about the matter. He quickly made his way over to the booth the girls were sitting at, and remembering the last comment, had every line planned out. "You should be thanking her then, you got a serious pair of love-handles there sister, you could do with less food."

The laughter ceased at the booth, the blonde's expression switched from a carefree 'Top of the World' look, to one of shock. "Who are you, this Cyclopes other eye? You two do make quite a pair" she was happy with her pun; she was convinced that her words drove the final spear into the eyes of these Cyclopes.

Juro saw this victory face, and smiled, after this she wouldn't mess with Hitomi, or Himself, or even Kasshoku. He began this ego-shattering sentence with a compliment, "I wish, I mean look at her, she's beautiful, smart, strong, and more importantly, the complete opposite of you." The one eyed boy was happy that Kasshoku was on the other side of the room, the dialogue he was exchanging was ripped right out of a teen flick. Fearing Kasshoku's mighty war cry of "No Clichés" Juro spun around and a surprised Hitomi soon followed suit.

Ino was not done with that jackass, oh she wasn't even close, he seemed like a Genin, and appeared to be the same age as her, she would get him back, with the rage of a woman scorned.

Kasshoku was blissfully unaware of the played out scene taking place behind him, after all, he had to get re-acquainted with a childhood friend. Kasshoku stepped up right next to the booth, took a deep breath, and began his re-introduction. "Hey Naruto" there was no response from him; he just kept staring at the teen sitting across from him, who was returning the favor by staring him down as well. "Naruto" still no response, Kasshoku was about to walk away, when Naruto's supposed teammate stopped him.

"Uchiha Sauske" said the dark haired boy with a heft of indifference, the boy appeared to have gone through quite a lot, and looked like he was still going through something.

"Kasshoku no Kitsune, mind if I sit here?" Kasshoku was hoping the simple request would catch a positive response.

The Uchiha was a bit surprised he was fairly certain the table he was sitting at was radiating Killing Intent, but maybe the kid was just oblivious. The teen nodded with indifference, Kasshoku sat on Naruto's side of the bench, to avoid any awkward space issues with the one who talks. "So, I just arrived here for the Chunnin Exams, and I have no idea about my way around here, I was wondering if there are any training areas that are open for the chunnin participants?"

Sauske thought about this teen's possible ulterior motive, he sized him up with all of his acquired skill; his conclusion was that the boy was more a harm to hygiene freaks then anyone else. "Not this early, but after the first two test you should be able to acquire access"

"Thanks- so anyway, are you going to participate in the exams?"

Naruto immediately joined the conversation, with little warning or tact. "We are going to the chunnin exams; you will fail by the first exam."

Kasshoku was surprised, he was looking right into his face-and he still didn't know who he was, so apparently those five years didn't mean much. "Okay, so I will take that as a yes, so you guys eat here often?"

Sauske was amused at Kasshoku's attempt at small talk; he clearly wasn't a trained ninja, probably just sent by a village for numbers, not skill. "No, we usually go to Naruto's favorite Ramen stand, but today he finally let us go to this beef restaurant."

"Still a great place, it has a nice friendly atmosphere about it, lots of laughter and love"

'Definitely not a trained Ninja' after coming to the realization Sauske broke his façade of indifference and smiled, he would have to get the village name of where this kid was from he would skate by knowing the weakest village. "Yea, it's great, what village are you from."

"My team isn't from a village-we were a group of travelers who were recruited to fight for a certain organization-so if it seems like we don't know much about the ninja lifestyle, it's because we don't." Said Kasshoku with a smile through his mask, if the cliché is true, then he would hope that it really would hurt him.

His team came over for him, having failed their duties for information collecting. "Kasshoku lets head back to the hotel." Hitomi was more then ready to head home, she was still a bit humiliated by the insults barrage she received.

"Well, nice meeting you Sauske, see you later Naruto" with that the trio left.

But with them leaving, Sauske's a question he didn't much care for, the three of them were sponsored, so his initial instincts were off, no company would gather some weak chumps off the streets. They had to be good, it only made sense.

Sauske shook the thought off, it was a question for the day of the exam, right now, he had to stare down his rival, for he couldn't lose to him for anything.

The trio immediately went to sleep as they reached their room, for in three days, their whole lives would change.

Colloquial language- using a Noun or an Adjective, and changing it into a verb, like "Naruto just got chopsticked"

The Old Yankee