Chapter eleven
Kara was looking at Sasuke's fight, rolling her eyes at the raven head's machismo.
The Uchiha showed up more than late (Kakashi's laziness apparently had rubbed on him) and the only thing he said was 'hn' followed by a smirk and eventually an insult to Naruto.
During the blond's fight with Neji, she stayed tense the whole time, her stare unwavering.
She almost cried when he won, an everlasting goofy smile on his face.
'I hope Neji learned his lesson.' She hoped silently "He's young, he still can change.'
Shikamaru's fight made her laugh, but eventually she had to recognise the boy's geniuses.
'Which is a bit weird.' She though 'He was always staying in the background. He looked eternally bored.'
She was surprised and frustrated when her opponent, Kankuro, gave up.
'Which is still very weird.' She though.
When he heard his fight was advanced (due to Sasuke's tardiness), he looked panicked before giving up.
And the sand ninjas were weird. Gaara did nothing but stare at her during all the fights until Sasuke arrived. The girl, Temari, looked nervous and a bit remorseful. As for Kankuro, he looked even more nervous and looked frequently at their sensei and Gaara, his hand gripping tightly his arms.
And just before Gaara went down, Kankuro tried to say something to him but was stopped by Temari who looked positively frightened.
Not to mention she heard some glimpse of conversation including a plan.
'Something about those three isn't right.' Worried the brown haired girl.
'Please Sasuke, be careful.' She worriedly though, watching Gaara encase himself in a ball of sand 'Even I can feel the killing intent coming from your opponent.'
She glanced at Temari and Kankuro. They looked so worried and frightened, that didn't settle her own fear at all.
She marvelled at Sasuke's mastery over the chidori in barely one month, though she became increasingly worried when she heard Gaara's scream and his teamates totally frightened faces.
Kara saw a…'hand' sprouting from the sand ball and was so focused on the match she barely noticed the white feathers floating around.
She began feeling light-headed, but reacted just in time to dispel the genjutsu.
She looked behind her but Shino had already disappeared.
'Well.' She optimised 'That's mean he evaded the genjutsu. That's good.'
She saw from the corner of her eyes Temari and Kankuro jump in the fighting ground, yelling for Gaara.
She leaned against the railing to look around. The spectators were all asleep, victim of the illusion technique. She saw ninjas fight and recognised Konoha nins as well as oto ones.
'The plan…" she suddenly thought 'Was that it? Oto is invading Konoha? Is Suna helping them?'
Seeing the look the proctor was throwing at a ninja's instructor, the answer would be yes.
'I need to find Naruto.' She thought, dashing to the stairs.
Looking at Sasuke, he had probably evaded the genjutsu, but she knew Naruto didn't have the level for that.
Following her brother like figure's chakra, she found him in the stands, unconscious with Shikamaru. She noted Kakashi and Guy along with other Konoha shinobis fighting oto nins, a strange masked ANBU doing nothing.
She froze when she saw their Hokage at the mercy of the Kazekage who seemed in fact to be Orochimaru and was almost stabbed by an Oto Nin's kunai.
She dodged just in time and saw the enemy nin getting thrown back by Kakashi.
"Go wake Naruto and Shikamaru." Her sensei ordered.
She nodded quickly before running to the two.
"Shikamaru!" she scolded when she noticed he wasn't under a genjutsu at all 'Stop being a lazy ass! Konoha is attacked; this isn't the moment to sleep dammit!"
While ranting she dispelled the genjutsu over Naruto and made sure he stayed down.
"Naruto-kun." She said urgently "Konoha is attacked by Oto and Suna shinobis!"
"Really!" exclaimed the blond, still trying to completely wake up.
Kara didn't have time to develop. Guy appeared, throwing an opponent who sneaked on them through the wall, followed by Kakashi.
"Naruto, Shikamaru." Their sensei said "Follow Sasuke, this is an A-ranked mission like in the wave. Don't follow him too far though. Kara, I know you have to go to the hospital, so go and be careful of the enemy."
"Roger." The brown haired girl said shortly, preparing to leave.
"Ano, Kara-chan?" asked Naruto, confused "Why can't you come with us?"
"As a chuunin ranked medic nin I have to report to the hospital to heal any shinobi that the jonin ranked one bring in." explained his sister like figure shortly "I have to go, good luck Naruto-kun, and make sure that you and Sasuke come back in one peace."
She didn't wait for a reply and jumped through the wall, to the hospital.
She quickly hoped from roof to roof, her movement swift and without sound.
Unfortunately for her, her way to the hospital was bordering on the part of the village that was attacked.
She avoided the kunais sent her way and stopped to see two Oto ninjas and the masked ANBU she saw earlier.
Said ANBU waved to the others who disappeared.
"Don't come any closer!" Kara yelled, menacing the man (or woman) with a kunai.
'That's sooo convincing.' Whispered sarcastically a little voice in her head 'He must be terrified'
"You know you're cute when you try to be brave." Said the masked man.
'This voice…' she thought "Kabuto-san?"
"Hai." He said simply, removing his mask.
For a moment Kara was tempted to lower her guard, he looked so harmless!
But there was something about his smile that made an alarm rang loudly in her head. Her instinct literally screamed danger!
He took a step toward her but she held her kunai menacingly, glaring at him.
He chuckled and took another step toward her, not taking her 'menacing' pose in account.
"You know, since I saw you, you fascinated me." He said with a smirk, taking another step forward "You're so caring and selfish. Strong yet fragile."
His smile grew slightly…demented she should say and he continued ranting:
"You're like a little flower in a field, unnoticed. People pass you by without looking at you. But unlike those fools I see your potential. You carry great powers yet to be develop. You have the capacity to transform from a little flower to a dragon, powerful and destructive."
At that moment he looked totally demented and Kara shivered, stepping back.
"I want to possess that power. You'll give it to me, willingly or not."
He took another step toward her but a thrown kunai stopped him in his track.
A black figure jumped between Kara and Kabuto, but the young girl had time to saw the Konoha head band and the ANBU mask.
"Are you okay princess?" asked the masked man, turning slightly to her, seemingly scanning her for injuries.
'Shisui?' though surprised Kara, knowing better than blurt his name as ANBU's identity were supposed to remain secret.
"I'm alright, thank you." She finally answered "Just freaked out."
"I must imagine." Mumbled the masked man before turning to Kabuto fully "Hey you! Who do you think you are, flirting with our girls!"
Kara sweatdropped a little, but got distracted when another man stood beside her.
She tensed a bit, but recognised the Konoha headband of the second ANBU.
"Don't you have somewhere to be?" he asked coldly.
'Itachi Uchiha.' Recognised Kara, albeit she didn't know how exactly.
"Right." She said, preparing to leave again.
"Hey wait." Interrupted Shisui, biting his thumb before doing a few hand signs.
A rather large crow appeared.
"This is Kage." Presented the masked man "He will help you arrive where you have to safely."
"So where to little one?" asked the crow, not losing time.
"To the hospital. Arigato ANBU-san." Replied shortly Kara before running behind the crow.
The bird flew ahead of her, informing her of battles going on and the enemies' movements so that she could evade them swiftly.
She landed in front of the hospital in no time.
"Arigato Kage-san." She said, bowing.
The crow nodded and poofed away, leaving her alone.
She focused and entered the hospital, immediately surrounding by tears and cries (mostly orders though).
"Sorry I'm a bit late!" she exclaimed to the nurse at the reception.
"No need for that." Said quickly the woman "You are waited in block 16. Hurry!"
She nodded before dashing to her locker to change.
::::
For one whole week the village cried the loss of their third Hokage. Kara, feeling Naruto's profound sadness, left him alone, only bothering him for meals.
After the funerals, he seemed to recover and began training quite intensively.
Kara had barely anytime for herself too. All day she was running left and right in the hospital, healing civilians and taking care of shinobis. Each evening, she would crash in her bed, completely out of chakra.
But there was a problem graver than chakra exhaustion in the evening. During the invasion, their building had literally exploded, and with it all their belongings.
They had rented a cheap hotel room they shared but the situation couldn't continue like that.
"What, you are going with that pervert!" exclaimed Kara, surprised.
"Hai." Replied happily Naruto, packing his clothes and all "And he said he would teach me a cool jutsu! Like that I'll become stronger, even stronger than Sasuke!"
Kara sighed at his immaturity and said:
"Well, it's not that I don't mind, but I have to ask you something first."
"Hm?" replied Naruto, stopping to look curiously at her "What is it Kara-chan?"
"Well." Began Kara, fidgeting a bit with her fingers "When you come back from your travel, would you like to…move in with me?"
"Eh, moving with you?" asked Naruto, not understanding.
"Well." Explained Kara "My parents left me their house when they died. I couldn't take it until I was ninja but now, I can and since we have no apartments anymore, I though you might want to settle in my house with me."
There was a silence before Naruto asked, uncertain:
"Are you sure it's okay?"
"Of course." Exclaimed Kara immediately before blushing slightly "You're like a brother to me and I don't want you to live in the street. So you're welcomed to live with me."
"That is of course." She added with mischief "Until you find a wife."
She almost giggled at his flustered face but the boy sobered before smiling wildly at her.
He got up to hug her before whispering to her:
"Arigato Kara-chan."
The girl, moved, hugged him briefly before stepping away, a bit embarrassed.
"Go." She simply said "I won't have you be late. And I expect you to come back to me in one piece."
"Don't worry Kara-chan!" exclaimed her blond haired friend.
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The house was a gift of Kara's father to her mother.
While her father had been a shinobi, her mother had been a civilian, a hime even.
When she fled with her husband, even if she never regretted her decision, she still felt a bit homesick in a shinobi town. She had always been evolving within her father's and lord's castle after all.
This is why Kara's father had built this traditional Japanese home just for her happiness.
The house by itself wasn't that big, just a genkan, a large but comfortable ima, a veranda in front of the back garden and two little wings. One held the kitchen and the oshiire, and the other the bedrooms, bathrooms and a covered hot spring at the end.
The house was surrounded by a little traditional Japanese garden in the front, and a larger garden at the back where western and Japanese styles mixed up.
The whole thing was protected by high walls covered by bushes where her father personally put high ranked protection seals (this was probably why the house wasn't destroyed during the invasion).
'Okay, let's do it!' exclaimed internally Kara.
She stepped forward and opened the little gates. The seal on it glowed for some seconds before settling, recognising her as the rightful owner of this place.
She walked down the path to the house and stopped in front of a statue representing a dragon, its head turned toward the sky.
Usually it was a fountain, but it had been long since the head spitted any water.
She climbed in and examined carefully the statue, remembering her father's instructions.
She finally found it, a tiny but important seal at the base of the dragon's neck.
She bit her thumb and spread her blood on the seal, adding a bit of her chakra.
Immediately she felt the connection between her and this place, thank to the seal.
'First phase, done.' She said methodically.
She returned to the gates where two statues of dragon were guarding the entrance, one at each end.
With her new connection to the place she made a seal appear on the wall and reopened her thumbs to spread once again her blood on it.
The two statues were surrounded by smoke, revealing when it disappeared two living, breathing dragons.
One of them a pitch black scales covering his body, a dark red mane sprouting out of his neck and deep purple eyes while the other had pure white scales, a pastel blue mane and light pink eyes.
"So you are the daughter of Daichi-sama." Inquired the white scaled dragon with a light feminine voice 'It's a pleasure to meet you."
"Likewise Seisui-san." Smiled the girl, bowing slightly.
"The last time we saw you you were barely a toddler." Joked lightly the black scaled one with a grave male voice "You grew a lot, and I see you opened the water seal already. Impressive when I think you had to do it without guidance."
"Arigato Hikage-san." Replied Kara "I just wanted to notify you that I will live here from now on with Naruto Uzumaki."
"Naruto Uzumaki…" though out loud Hikage "We heard some rumours on him, but if you think he can be trusted, I'll trust your judgement."
"We are looking forward seeing him." Smiled pleasantly Seisui.
"You can go back now." Ended Kara "It was just to inform you and I don't want to bother you any longer."
The two nodded before being surrounded by smoke. When it cleared, there were two statues again.
Satisfied, Kara made her way to the house.
She entered the house, coughing slightly with the amount of dust the movement of door raised.
She paced up and down the house, memories rushing forward.
The house was a mix of western and traditional style.
The floors were covered by tatamis except for the kitchen, the bathrooms and the veranda, which floors were made respectively of tiles and thick planks of dark wood. There were windows but you could still slide some shoji screens to reveal the garden or pass from one room to another.
In the ima, though there was a traditional low table, there were also more modernized things such as couch and sofa.
She entered her parents' bedroom and felt the walls, searching with her memories.
She finally heard a hollow sound when she knocked and bit her thumb again to spread her blood on the piece of wall.
Her blood disappeared, sucked in the wall before it opened, revealing a flight of stairs.
She climbed them down, two glowing orbs materializing out of nothing to guide her in the darkness.
She entered a large room and one of the orbs few up two light several candelabras, revealing a large library.
Kara however didn't stop (she'd have plenty of time to inspect those scrolls and books later) and continued her walk to the other end of the gigantic room.
There she opened a door and an orb flew up again to light up torches.
The light revealed a large circular room carved in stone with eleven alcoves, each housing a dragon's statue with a symbol carved on its chest.
At the centre was a little altar. Kara neared it before kneeling in front of it. She took an incense stick she bought and lighted it before putting it in the flat bowl reserved for it.
She clapped her hand together, praying for her ancestors and parents' peace in the after world before getting up, leaving the place.
She got back in the house and closed the passageway before putting her mind on cleaning everything (which was promising to be a tiring and long task).
::::
Kara was relaxing a bit in her hotel room from the tiring cleaning she did all the morning when she heard someone knock frantically at the door.
She answered to find a panicked Sasuke, which made her immediately worry (if Sasuke Uchiha was panicked enough to show it externally, it had to be grave).
"What is it Sasuke?" she asked worriedly.
"Where is Naruto?" the boy asked urgently, startling Kara, used by now to his forever unemotional state.
"Well." She answered a bit shakily, surprised by the boy's violence "He went with Jiraya-san. I think I heard him said something about Shukuba."
She barely had time to finish before Sasuke dashed off.
Extremely worried now, Kara quickly packed her thing, excused herself to the inn's keeper and sent a mental message at Seisui and Hikage to signal her departure.
She ran full speed to Shukuba town, her creative mind showing her possible scenarios, most of them showing bloodied and battered Sasuke and Naruto.
She was frantically searching when she heard an explosion and hurried to it.
She barely saw two black burs pass her and entered the half destroyed inn.
There she gasped when she found a battered Sasuke, a bruised Naruto and a contemplative Jiraya.
She didn't waste time, her hands glowing green and she ran to them, kneeling near Sasuke.
::::
Sasuke's injuries where quite serious. Several broken ribs, a badly broken wrist and he was suffering from a genjutsu post trauma.
Fortunately Guy had appeared (and attacked Jiraya, thinking it was an enemy, Kara was still laughing remembering the incident), with Kakashi close in tow and they were going to get Sasuke back to Konoha.
"I'm going with you!" exclaimed Kara, looking stubbornly at Jiraya.
"I told you already." Answered the sannin "You can't."
"I will not let Naruto go with you alone." Bit back the brown haired girl "He might get weird habits from you, and you deserted him at the single glimpse of a beautiful girl!"
"Why you little…" fumed the man "And perhaps you are more appropriate to protect him hn?"
"At least I will not be at home worrying sick over him." Replied Kara, more seriously this time.
Jiraya saw the stubborn determination in her eyes and gave up.
"Alright do what you want." He grunted "But don't go whining after me if you regret after."
Kara replied nothing, just smiled happily, immediately hugged by Naruto.
"Yeah Kara-chan's going with us!" yelled the happy boy, making Jiraya sigh.
::::
Kara stopped in front of a little waterfall and dropped her bag on the floor.
She scanned carefully her surrounding before getting out of her bag a blank scroll.
She also took out a brush and some ink before drawing a seal.
This one was a new seal she learned recently, it would spread on an area of five metres and warn her if somebody stepped in, chakra hidden or not.
'Time for training.' She though, beginning a series of katas.
She had followed all morning Naruto from food stand to food stand, feeling like she did when Naruto would accompany her at any festival back in Konoha when they were younger.
After that they had found Jiraya in a brothel, which had lead to a beating for Jiraya as the man used all Naruto's economies.
Even though the man was a total moron (a bit like Naruto, the fact worried her a lot), she was impressed when he gave a demonstration of the technique he wanted to teach Naruto.
It was literally a spinning ball of chakra, Kara at still a vivid image of the green wisps of chakra forming a ball in Jiraya's hand.
She finished her katas, refocusing on the presents before disrobing and stepping into the pond formed by the waterfall.
She breathed in and out deeply, focusing and feeling the rush of power.
She moved her hips in an arc, the water following almost immediately her movement. She moved her arms above her head, fingers spread like a ballerina, and another stream of water rose from the pound.
She fell into a trance, becoming water herself. She felt it enveloping her body, brushing her skin like a lover's caress, in cool refreshening touches.
She was broke out of her trance however when her seal alerted her of Naruto and Jiraya's coming.
She hastily let the water drop back in the pound, rushing to get dressed.
Kara: I hope you liked it !
Tenten: Until next week!