"Any change, even a change for the better, is always accompanied by drawbacks and discomforts."
-Arnold Bennett
The man's voice was tinged with the slightest hint of a whine, the pathetic sort of noise that a broken dog might utter at it's master's dinner table, head low and tail covering it's testicles. "Kyuubi-sama! Try some of my fruit!"
The Kyuubi looked over. The vendor was bald, middle-aged man whose wrinkled white workshirt was stained with large wet sweat stains. The Kyuubi imagined, more than actually heard, the wet flabby sound he made whenever he moved his arms.
The Jinchuuriki's voice was monotone. "I've met you before."
The man cringed and wrung his hands servilely. "Y-yes, Kyuubi-sama. I've had the pleasure of your patronage before."
"We don't serve people like you here, monster! Get the hell away from me before I call the Military Police!"
Something wet hit Naruto's face. It was a rotten fruit, scooped from a trashbin by some elderly spinster. The quiet jeers of the citizens shopping cut the young boy to his core, and he fought back the tears. He'd be Hokage someday, and Hokage didn't cry, Dammit!
Naruto was actually considering eating the spoiled food when a different, far more cultured voice came floating past his ears. "Give him what he wants."
Though he didn't cry then (A Hokage never cried!), it would be a lie to say that Naruto's eyes didn't become moist. "It's ok, Hinata-chan... I-"
"Shut up, Naruto." She commanded. The Hyuuga heiress firmly stepped up beside him, sending the Shopkeep her families' patented glare. "I am the heir to the Hyuuga clan, and I command that you give him the food that he requires."
The man was an idiot, however, and continued to sneer down at the young gennin, even as his former companions started to move away. "I don't care if you're the fuc-"
"Sir, if I had the utter misfortune to be you, I'd watch what you're about to say." Neji said from beside the man, his fingers resting on his kunai. "I would hate to hurt anyone that is assaulting my ward, physically or otherwise."
The man swallowed, loudly. He suddenly realized that he was alone, the crowd long since having dispersed. He bagged up the fruit Naruto had requested without a word, and waved the blond's money away with a motion of his hands and a wimpy "N-no charge."
When they had reached the relative privacy of a nearby alleyway, Naruto turned to his savior. "You didn't have to do that, Hinata-chan, but thanks." He wrapped his arms around her in a tight embrace. Hinata turned bright red.
Neji rolled his eyes at the display. "Careful, Uzumaki. I'm Hinata-sama's bodyguard today, and I'm the one who gets to define what is and isn't an "attack."" Nonetheless, he moved away and gave them some privacy.
Hinata was as red as a fire-wagon, but didn't move from his embrace. "I hate they way people treat you, Naruto-kun. It's not right."
Naruto just hugged her tighter. "As long as I have people like you and the old man, it's ok Hinata-chan."
She frowned, disagreeing but unwilling to start an argument over it. "Uh, Naruto, I was wondering..." She trailed off.
Naruto smirked. "I thought we cured you of shyness, Hinata! You were wondering...?"
She blushed. "Uh... I was wondering if, to celebrate our graduation, you wanted to go out to eat with me."
He grinned. "Of course! Where do you want to go? I mean, Neji doesn't like ramen or anything, so maybe the Bar-"
"Er- No, Naruto. I meant just the two of us."
The Jinchuuriki blushed. "Ah... You mean, like a date?"
Hinata nodded, suddenly finding the ally wall incredibly interesting.
Naruto laughed nervously. "Ah, Sure."
The change in Hinata's demeanor came faster than lightning. "G-Great!" She finally hugged him back, blushing furiously. She wriggled out of his arms and started... well it seemed like skipping (not that a Hyuuga would ever skip. No matter how much it might look like skipping, it wasn't. Stop asking questions!) towards Neji.
Naruto grinned, mimicking a cool looking man he'd seen running around the village with five boulders on his back.
"And, Naruto-kun?" Hinata said from the far end of the alley.
"Yes?" He said, fixing her with his new smile.
Hinata flashed a self-confident smirk back at him, causing his heart to beat furiously. "Do wash the fruit off your face, neh?" She ran after Neji, leaving Naruto rooted to the ground, face redder than a dying star.
The Kyuubi opened his eyes, and the ageing shopkeep was holding out a bag of produce. A relieved smile plastered his face when the Jinchuuriki accepted it. "Y-Yes, Kyuubi-sama. We've met before. I even met your friend." He nodded towards the marble statue that the Kyuubi pointedly refused to look at. "Hyuuga Hi-"
"Say her name, and I'll jam all of your fruit down your throat." Kyuubi emotionlessly intoned. People like him, people who didn't have the courage to fight for their own protection but just joined in with the crowd, jeered with the mob, didn't deserve to say her name.
The man backed away squeaking. The Kyuubi walked off. He had an appointment at Danzo's compound to keep and he couldn't be wasting his time with fools.
"So, do you think we should head left or right?"
Yugito ignored him, simply marching to the right and away from her circumstantial comrade. Naruto rolled his eyes, but really didn't mind. The view from behind was as nice as the front. He chuckled. He knew that he should keep his mind on the situation, but he was in the hideout of the most powerful non-village ninja organization in the world, and the chance to escape was pitifully small. 'Might as well enjoy the sights before I get caught and die, neh?'
Even though his fellow Jinchuuriki had the social skills of an iceberg locked in full Arctic winter, she certainly also possessed the stunning, graceful beauty of one. He eyes, hair… her every movement spoke of an eternal grace, one that could never be learned no matter how much one tried… in her was born the ability to move through the world like some intangible whisp, simultaneously tangible and ephemeral… and
'And you ought to get a damn hold of yourself, idiot. Focus on escaping, not the hot piece of ass that gouged out your left eye the last time you crossed paths.' Naruto wanted to bang his head against the wall, but it looked rather wet and slimy, so he decided against it.
As if she could hear his thoughts, Yugito turned around and gave him a cold, penetrating stare before marching onwards.
'On second thought, screw it. A man-'
"-should enjoy himself before he dies!" Jiraiya roared, a beautiful, questionably-legal woman in each arm. "Come on, Naruto!"
Naruto rolled his eyes. "No thanks, you old pervert. I'd rather not spend my first leave getting drunk and ruining my reputation with you. The village already has the quota for "Super-perverts" filled."
His aged teacher laughed, slightly drunk. "It's fine, kid! It's just a way to blow off steam."
The smile Jiraiya sent him was so sober and full of pain that Naruto unconsciously took a few steps back. "Trust me on this one kid. I've lost friends too."
Then the toad-sage was gone, his voluptuous friends' giggling trailing in his wake. Naruto just sighed. He wasn't some perverted fool, chasing after skirts with reckless abandon! Doing things like that were supposed to be special! …Right?
Neji was off to see some brunette from the western front… how the hell they had managed to sync their leaves together, Naruto had no idea, but he suspected Hiashi's deft hand working in the shadows somewhere…
Hiashi. Bah. His name left a bad taste in the Uzumaki's mouth. 'Fucking Hiashi. Fucking Hyuuga.'
Except for Neji and …Hinata, of course.
Alone at the bar but surrounded by well-wishing people he had never heard of, Naruto's resolve started to weaken. 'A man should enjoy himself before he dies…'
Had Hinata enjoyed herself before she died? Had she been happy, at all? The fifteen year old wasn't sure. 'A man should enjoy himself before he dies…'
Some girls from across the bar were eyeing him lustfully. Ayame had too, that night before he left for the front, the very first time. All the way to the small storage room behind the shop, she'd been eyeing him…
'Do wash the fruit off your face, neh?' Hinata's voice said, in his head. She had said that too, when he and Ayame had stumbled into the storage room, breathe reeking of alcohol…
Would those girls breath reek too? Would the hesitation and regret enter their eyes when they woke up the next morning too?
"Naruto!" Ayame yelled, her voice resounding through his foggy mind. He took another drink. "Naruto! Naruto!"
Naruto got up and sauntered over to the girls. The nearest, and most bold-looking of them grinned at him in greeting. "Hello, Kyuubi-sama."
'A man should enjoy himself before he dies.'
He fired off some not-so witty remark that had all of them giggling like he was the funniest man in the world. Drinks were poured, caresses shared, looks exchanged.
"A man-" Naruto lifted the newest bottle to his lips. "-should enjoy himself-" The harsh liquid poured down his throat, making his eyes water and his insides sting.
"-before he dies." Jiraiya finished, that damn painfully knowing look on his face.
Later, on his way home with his own buxom companion in tow (the boldest one), he took the long way.
It was easier to avoid the marketplace that way.
Yugito was glaring at him. He mentally rolled his eyes. How was he supposed to know that his wind jutsu would do that to the goddamn wall? She should be glaring at the enemy for their damn shoddy construction, not him!
One of the pierced Akatsuki-nins with the orange hair and weird eyes had suddenly rounded a corner ahead of them, and had immediately started forming handseals.
Yugito had moved to attack it, but Naruto threw a hand in front of her and started casting his own jutsu. The Akatsuki nin summoned a large reptile thing that had rushed down the hallway towards them.
Ah, sometimes it was truly a blessing to have Wind-based chakra. The invisible blades sliced through the thing, which had no space to dodge. Naruto managed to grab one quick glance at the enemy ninja, taking note of the long pony-tail and slightly-perplexed face, before the blades continued down their set path. The man was shredded to bits.
Naruto winced out of habit. Yugito remained impassive. His hand twitched, as it always did, towards his right thigh pocket.
Naruto forcibly stilled his limbs and turned towards his cold ally. "They must know where we are, vaguely. Think the shared eyes means anything?" As he spoke, he stepped forward, onto the area cut apart by his justu.
Yugito frowned slightly (for some reason, it didn't mar her looks at all.) "It might. From what we've seen, they act with an inordinate amount of unity."
It was the first time she had spoken to him since their shaky greeting. Naruto grinned. "Well, one down, neh? Let's get going." He placed a hand on the cracked and pitted wall.
There was an ominous rumble. Both Jinchuuriki paled.
When the first stone flakes started peeling off the wall and impacting the floor, they both turned tails (two and nine respectively) and fled. The hallway crumbled behind them, following them until they reached the last intersection they had passed.
And thus, Yugito was glaring at him. His hand started making it's usually twitchy fidget towards his right thigh pocket, but he forced it still again. "You're reminding me of my field commander, Fugaku." He laughed darkly. "He glares just as much as you do. But he usually swears too, so I guess you're not that bad."
She looked confused. "Your commanding officer treats you poorly? Have you tried writing a report on it?"
Now he was the confused one. "Report? No… Why would I? He's my commander." 'And Itachi-sensei's father…'
Yugito gave him a slightly pitying look. "Any Kumo commander treating a ninja, especially a Jinchuuriki, but even a nin of lower rank without respect is summerarily reprimanded by the Raikage. It keeps everything professional and organized."
In truth, Naruto was slightly shocked. It had never occurred to him to judge his superiors' actions or orders… They were superiors for a reason, weren't they? (And where did a Jinchuuriki fit in?) …It was all too tangled… The dead child from Taikumo flashed before his eyes.
"Uzumaki-san? We better get going." Yugito's smooth voice intruded on his thoughts.
"Uh, Yeah." He muttered back at her. The moment her back was turned, his hand flew into his pocket, and drew out his flask. The alcohol burned his throat.
Nagato was raging.
Animal Realm was destroyed. God Realm still busy with sealing the Yonbi. The other realms were altering their search to look in where Nagato thought the Jinchuuriki would go, but it wasn't a sure thing.
"Dammit!" Nagato yelled, pounding a sickly fist against his chair. "I have to end this! I have to stop this war! I'll bring peace! It is the will of God!"
The world was in chaos! Just like in his childhood, innocents were suffering because of the hatred of a few powerful factions.
"But, silly little Nagato, it seems that even God can overextend himself."
Nagato's head shot up. Standing in the center of his tower abode was the one man he feared (No! A God would never fear!) more than any other.
"I need your help…"Tobi". The Nibi and the Kyuubi have fled their cells and are proving rather difficult to track. With the other members wrapped up in the sealing process, I need you to track them down."
The man gave a slow, self-satisfied laugh. "No, boy, I really don't think I will. There is a price for hubris, after all."
"What!?"
"Both of them will keep, for now. Their beasts won't let them spoil." The man started moving back into the shadow.
"But they're here! Not in their villages! Here!" Nagato was yelling again.
The man's posture stiffened. "Don't take that tone with me, fool. I'm not the one who overextended himself capturing Jinchuuriki! I won't clean up your messes like some paternal saint!"
He smirked (not that Nagato could see it) at the red-haired leader of Akatsuki. "I thought that was your job after all, God."
Then he melted into the nothingness from whence he came. He could wait. He had waited. A year, two, ten! …It didn't matter. He always got what he wanted, in the end.
Nagato, whose plans weren't as fluid, was left fuming.
"Shh!" Yugito whispered furiously.
Her traveling companion immediately seized up and looked around, as if expecting an attack.
"Do you hear that?" She asked.
The Kyuubi paused for a long moment. "Running water."
Yugito nodded. "It sounds like it's running back towards that crushed hallway. It might be our way out of here."
The Konoha-nin looked dubious. "It might be a way to drown."
Yugito frowned at him. She wasn't really used to her suggestion being dismissed out of hand. It was slightly refreshing, even if it was irritating. "Let's go back, and you can drill down with that spinning orb. If it's a good way to escape, you can blast the hole closed again after we go through."
He just sighed and agreed. For some reason, he looked like he lacked the will to fight. She shrugged. If he got himself killed, she wouldn't particularly care, unless he hampered her own escape.
…But he had saved her life… Yugito wasn't without honor, but his actions confused her. She certainly wouldn't have risked an enemy Jinchuuriki like that. If anything, she'd kill them while they were helpless. There were fewer problems for her village that way.
She resolved to help him, unless it went directly against her safety or the villages…
…but his very existence was a direct threat to her village. It was all so confusing.
He was drilling now, his muscular torso straining was with the effort (She pretended not to notice that part). Seeing the …"Rasengan" made her stomach clench. She still had the scars from the time it had been wielded on her.
The Kyuubi turned towards her. "Looks like you were right. We're right at the edge of a natural cave system… Want to risk it?"
If anything, it was better than staying put in Akatsuki's base. "Yes."
"Alright, then." He said.
Together, they descended into darkness.
AN: Well then. It is Five in the morning. I promised myself I would edit this, but I can't muster the energy to do more than a quick run through.
Which basically means Spell-check. Uggh. Sorry for any errors.
Welp, the family that didn't leave me back when I posted the last chapter has left now. (Albeit temporarily.) I'm home alone for four days. I'm also
a bit of a chicken when it comes to the dark, so hence the staying up all night and sleeping in the daytime.
I hope I don't go driving tomorrow. That would suck. (Driving rocks. Driving when tired: not so much.)
Working on a Oneshot I've had running through my head for a few weeks. It's proving a might difficult, but I had my friend Soulcry promise to edit
it for me, so it should be good when I finally post. Unless my plot sucks (which it might.)
Speaking of Soul! I've been working with some colleagues to form a Conjunct story group (CGNA). So far, we've been working on one story
(Weavings) and we've all submitted one chapter. We leave the individual touches of each author in their chapter (like my long, rambling AN!)
Anyways, please check it out. A link is in my profile. Thanks!
Special thanks to:
Sangkun for telling me not to be sad, but glad. Made me smile. (I've been strapped for smiles recently, so it was really appreciated.)
Thousand Tailed Holy FlashFang for telling me to continue… Or else! I read it at like One in the morning, when I was home alone, so it kinda creeped me out, heh.
joseph33759 for his rather blunt review trying to cheer me up. I appreciate it, guys.
InARealPickle for answering my questions.
And!
He who Rules with an Iron Hoof for starting a discussion on Fanon Vs. Canon. I didn't contribute, unfortunately was short on time, but it really
opened my eyes to some things I had believed that were just wrong!
Ok, well this AN has gone on for long enough. I'll catch you all next time, looking forward to the newest batch of reviews. Thanks everyone!
-T.J. Wilcox
(In the newest chapter (SPOILER!) I loved how everyone jumped the Raikage when he smashed the table. Made me chuckle. And Gaara rocks. And
Kankuro has a puppet that I think looks like Sasori. And Sakura is too dumb to live… Poor Hinata. That is all.)
