Chapter 21: Winter Madness
Naruto went about the school as oddly that day no one came to meet him by the statue making feel somewhat dejected but reasoned that not every day his friends would be there as they also had some matters to take care of.
And as he walked around the halls of the school he came to understand why; for every student and faculty member were busy putting up winter themed decorations but unlike in the human world these were not related to Christmas or the commercial event it became over the years.
The decorations represented trees, animals, winter crops and long forgotten deities of this season. His mother once told him that in the ancient days before the rising of the great human religions, people celebrated in winter as all things came to rest before their renewal at the coming of spring.
When the great religions came sweeping the old beliefs, in order to make the transitions smoother, they replaced the ancient celebrations with their own as to avoid paganism from surviving in occult cults.
His mother told him as well that the winter celebrations were one of the few that joined monsters and humans together in the same spirit.
"I forgot we are so close to winter…Which means that soon we will all be sent back to home to spend some time with our families…Mom has a lot to answer for as for the jerk…"thought Naruto with a mixture of sadness, joy and anger.
"Good day Uzumaki, I hope you join the rest of the student body at preparing the winter celebrations" said a strong but stoic voice behind Naruto making him jump slightly over the surprise.
Neji stood there in his flawless uniform while Ten Ten followed him with a bunch of notebooks floating around her as apparently they were making roundsto check on the progress of the preparations.
"Hey there Neji, I kind of expected people around here celebrated the commercial event of Christmas with gifts and all" said Naruto.
"A common misconception from people who has spent too much time among humans and little with monsters; as a matter of fact we don't only celebrate the winter's coming but also join several festivities of the year's ending as to save time and expenses" clarified Neji to the confused Naruto.
Seeing that he didn't get it Ten Ten stepped up and said "Basically is something of a winter ball with winter themed costumes and the exchange of good wishes and farewells; if I were you, I would start to sort out who you will take to the party, and do be careful about mistletoes, desperate guys and girls take the tradition quite seriously"
"I see, a party with costumes and a dance…a dance?" said Naruto with the realization of what it would mean and as far as he could recollect, he wasn't capable of crossing his fingers and multiply!
"Pay up Neji! Told you he would make a face like that!" said the grinning Ten Ten as Neji handed her a $50 bill and went to place a chilling hand over Naruto's shoulder.
"I may not be very warm towards my cousin but I have always looked out for her, so it will be in your best interests to take her to the dance…" whispered Neji as he went about his official duties.
After this Ten Ten whispered to him "If you are willing I may have a solution for your troubles! Of course it's going to cost you so be certain!" and went after Neji.
Naruto stood there immobile as the weight of Neji's words sunk in him, but what really terrified him was what the girls would actually do to him should he choose wrong and in this case every choice was the wrong one.
Naruto gulped loudly and suddenly the idea of going to the classroom was very unappealing as he could already picture the three girls waiting for his invitation.
His first impulse was to invite Sakura since she was his first friend and for some reason he felt a strange bond with the pink haired vampire.
Nonetheless he had recently cemented his bonds with Ino and Hinata and he kind of felt awful about not being able to invite them to the dance. Of course he would go to dance with them but there was a certain stigma about who someone takes to the dance or so he learned in silly tv shows.
As Naruto pondered the whole scenario, he saw that every guy of his age watched him not with the now usual scorn and envy but with actual satisfaction and in some cases pity though this was the rarest.
"Hey Naruto! The man of the hour in person! Judging by your face, I say you realized how doomed you are! For the first time I don't feel the least envious of your privileged school life!" said the grinning Kiba as he crossed an arm over Naruto.
"And the best part is that I and the guys will be there to pick up the pieces and get some tail for a chance! At last the Gods listened to our prayers!" said the teary Kiba as the other guys also had small tears escaping their eyes.
Feeling slightly betrayed Naruto tried to defend himself "Isn't that a bit pathetic? I mean, you all standing there without actually trying to get a date in the traditional manner and just waiting until I am shredded and go out with some girl who doesn't even like you just out of scorn towards me?"
At this every guy within earshot just sighed with defeated smiles and Kiba said "Beggars can't be choosers Naruto; With you and the Vampire douche hogging every girl at the Host Club and basically raising the bar higher and higher we just gave up and now have all our hopes on pity as thankfully neither of you can multiply so once you guys make your choices the girls won't have any other choice but to pick from the bunch"
"To think I used to be like them…Kind of miss it right now" thought Naruto as he took off Kiba's arm from him and walked in the direction of his classroom.
Standing right outside of the classroom Naruto took air and steeled himself for the inevitable.
He opened the door and opened his eyes expecting to have very eager girls invading his personal space asking for a answer that wouldn't make him happy at all.
When nothing happened, Naruto braved to open an eye and saw that the classroom was as usual with small groups of students chatting while waiting for the class to begin.
On his little corner of heaven Naruto watched how Sakura, Ino and Hinata talked to one another in their usual flow; with Sakura boasting about something awesome she did, Ino making little of it and Hinata nodding and making short court questions and comments here and there.
"Not what I expected but very welcomed" thought Naruto as he walked warily to his seat expecting hell to break loose at any moment.
As he sat unnoticed by the girls Naruto flashed a victorious grin to the shocked Kiba who seemed disappointed over not seeing Naruto under a barrage of demands and threats.
Still Naruto knew that eventually the dance issue would come to the surface; so as a true man he turned around and decided to put his mind at ease sooner than later.
"Hi girls! Are you excited by the coming dance?" asked Naruto trying to sound as calmed as possible though he was making a poor effort.
Turning to the interruption the three girls greeted Naruto briefly completely ignoring the dance issue making Naruto extremely confused as he turned around to address the front of the classroom.
"What the hell? I mean, I am kind of glad that they are taking this rather maturely but to be honest I expected some sort of brutality given what they are…"though Naruto trying to make sense of what was happening.
As Naruto pondered on his thoughts Sasuke reached his seat and couldn't help but wonder about Naruto's thinking pose.
Indulging his own curiousness Sasuke sighed and asked "What's with you? You are not the deep thinking type…"
Naruto was surprised to be broken out of his reverie and just ignored the barb Sasuke intended as his own fears needed to be calmed.
"Oh, hi Sasuke didn't see you coming; say do you know about this entire dance thing? I am at a loss and to be honest I am not entirely sure of what I am supposed to do and the girls are behaving too normal for my taste and it's freaking me out" hurriedly said Naruto to a listening Sasuke.
Sasuke took a moment to observe Naruto's entourage and then addressed Naruto "Well the dance is to celebrate winter's coming and the old customs. Tradition indicates that males take females to the dance and there they perform the customary dances of the season before a great pyre burning with old leafs and a note with a personal issue you managed to leave behind this year"
Naruto made an awed expression at the additional information provided by Sasuke but still it didn't appeased his worst fear.
"Alright, it's good to know and all but why are the girls strangely calm about it? I mean shouldn't they be competing to get their desired date?" asked Naruto with a slight disappointed tone.
Finally getting to Naruto's displeasure Sasuke laughed lightly mocking Naruto's ignorance and said "The winter dance is a very symbolic thing as it gathers all monsters and twilight children into a single celebration thus it's like combining every single human holiday in one. Basically they are respecting the tradition in which they will wait dressed and ready for her desired one to come and get them to the dance; if the appointed hour comes and her desired one isn't there then they will attend the dance alone and pick one of the waiting males who didn't managed to find a date. It's not an inherently bad thing to go alone but it does make a difference"
As Naruto listened the meaning of Sasuke's words began to sink in making him go paler by the minute as he realized that the entire weight of the decision fell on his shoulders and the branching consequences were too horrible to even imagine. Now he understood why the male students regarded him with nasty grins and some with pity on their eyes.
"Whatever lucky star I had up there is probably being eclipsed right now! What am I going to do?" furiously thought Naruto as he dared to look back to the laughing girls behind him and for that moment each of them radiated a glow that made him feel like scum for he would have to pick one and one alone.
Burning a fuse Naruto slammed his head against his desk making Sasuke watch him with curiosity but when he saw the girls behind him he understood perfectly "A man should never reach too far for he might find his hand cut off by fate…" remembered Sasuke the humbling words of his mother.
"What am I going to do?" asked Naruto in a hollow voice that managed to scare Sasuke.
"Man up Naruto! You have faced many challenged since you came here and even managed to help a girl under my brother's coercion! You should be able to find a path!" said Sasuke blushing slightly over the encouraging words he just gave to Naruto.
Naruto seemed to recover slightly and managed even to smile as has so far managed to get through this challenging school.
But as soon as clouds seemed to part he said "By the way Sasuke, will you invite someone to the dance? I mean, if you get there alone you will expect many girls to fight over you when they see you standing by the other guys…"
This in turn made Sasuke realized the consequences of being his typical anti-social self. He imagined the girls unleashing a small hell with Itachi laughing by the sidelines; on the other side if he did invited someone to the dance, Itachi would be there ready with a camera to capture every detail of his Winter dance to later show it to his mother and though it wasn't inherently wrong it was tremendously embarrassing.
At this thought Sasuke complexion mimicked Naruto's.
As both teens seemed to be trapped in a black hole of despair Shizune entered the room once more being freaked out by his students.
Getting her bearings together, Shizune addressed the class "Before we begin homeroom I want to remind you all of getting the proper costumes for the winter dance; you all need to get dressed in accordance with your people's tradition but do try to keep it within the limits of decency"
At this Shizune couldn't help but remember that nasty incident about Anko wearing a bit too little some years ago.
"What?" said Naruto returning to normal in a heartbeat.
"Miss Yuhi will be available after classes to help you get the proper clothes in case you didn't packed some" said Shizune as if was the most normal thing in the world.
xoxoxoxo xoxoxoxo xoxoxoxo xoxoxoxo xoxoxoxo xoxoxoxo xoxoxoxo xoxoxoxo xoxoxoxo
"So Club activities were suspended to get everyone ready for the dance; Thanks for the added pressure!" thought the annoyed Naruto who was still upset about the blooming disaster in his life and just before the winter break.
Naruto paced with a dark heavy aura towards the classroom where Miss Yuhi was supposed to help students to get their costumes ready and in his case her assistance would be very welcomed as this was the first time he celebrated such a formal festivity.
The closest he got was the Christmas Insane Run with his mom when they went to the mall in the neighboring town and had a blast for a whole day without the jerk (Minato)
Naruto saw Kurenai's classroom and to his own embarrassment there were no other students immediately telling him that no one had problems with his costume for the dance.
Sighing in defeat Naruto went and said "Excuse me Miss Yuhi but Miss Nekotan said that you would be…"
Naruto's mouth kept moving as all air going through his throat was caught in shock over the impossibly absurd and cliché scene playing in front of him as both Anko and Kurenai stood there just covered by their very mature and sexy underwear while proving several cloths in front of a mirror.
The two teachers turned to see the increasingly red faced Naruto who just went into automatic and kept moving his mouth like in a badly translated Chinese martial arts movie.
As lone silent moment went by Kurenai yelped and covered herself with the cloth while Naruto turned around and began to scream "I am so sorry! I should have knocked first, I never imagined…"
"That you would get to see a piece of heaven?" sensually hissed Anko at Naruto's ear as she pushed her chest into his back making him begin to tremble and sweat bullets.
"Say Naruto, you knew we were here don't you? I bet you thought you would get lucky if you managed to step into the right moment…you naughty boy" added Anko blowing some air into his ear.
"Normally I would have already castrated you but since you are my boss's child I guess I can make an exemption, after all it's a well-known fact that you have a thing for student teacher perverted magazines…" said Anko enjoying the petrified state in which Naruto found himself.
"Anko! Stop teasing Naruto, this was obviously an accident! And get some clothes on, or you want Principal Senju to get your ass over harassment?" said Kurenai who used a spell to get her own dress back on.
"You are such a cock blocker Kurenai! Every student fantasizes about this at least once in their life, what's wrong in giving it for once?" complained Anko as she went behind a screen and started to get her clothes back on.
"Grow up already…Say Naruto are you alright?" said Kurenai going to the still petrified Naruto.
With a crimson face Naruto turned and said "Y-Y-Yes, but if you are busy I can always come back later or never if you p-p-prefer!" as he began to walk away.
"Oh don't be so ridiculous! A boy your age has probably seen tons of porn already and if gossip at the teachers' room is any hint, you get more action than most students or faculty have in their entire lives!" said Anko walking to him dressed in her gym class clothes.
"Including you?" said Kurenai chastising Anko over spilling the beans at the usual gossip of teachers about their students, though she did acknowledged that boys around Naruto's age had already seen more than they should.
"Calm down Naruto, nothing happened here and we won't tell if you don't" said Kurenai blinking to Naruto as to calm him.
Breathing in and out Naruto did calmed down and said "Still I am very sorry, you see I came here because I needed some help with my costume. You see mom never told me about this…"
At his embarrassed face, Kurenai and Anko felt giddily as he looked somewhat cute and defenseless and for a small moment of weakness wanted to embrace him and soothe him.
"Y-Y-Yes of course! Selvain's aren't very common but I am certain I have a book around! By the way didn't your mother left a chapter in her grimoire about the dance's she attended? Said Kurenai, quickly dismissing the blush on her face.
"Her Grimoire?" said Naruto pulling the book from his backpack and proceeded to open it where it allowed him.
Thinking about the dance, the book's pages flew and stopped in the right page where words began to appear and a picture materialized showing a much younger Kushina dressed in a deep crimson dress which had fine looking fur parchments and seven tails trailing behind her.
Seeing that the picture didn't help him much Naruto gave it to the eager Anko who drooled over it, and went to read the small paragraph regarding his costume for the celebrations.
Selvains are creatures where two souls inhabit the same temple (read as body!) and thus as to celebrate this miracle one has to wear elements of the spirit's form, influence and aura. In my case the color red is the one that emanates whenever I kick ass! The spirit itself has the shape of a fox with seven tails and her (yes is a SHE!) influence is that of dominance (What else did you expected?)
Basically we Selvains must represent the spirit that protects us so have a look at your spirit and dress like it! XOXOXO
"Alright so all I have to know is how my spirit looks like and what his influence is…" said Naruto in a flat tone once more disappointed over his mother's lack of further explaining taking for granted that whoever read this would understand fully.
Turning to Kurenai, she just sighed and said "There is a way to figure that but it will require a small ritual; on the mean time do try to figure the color of your energy, it manifests every time you use it" and went to get the necessary items.
"Every time I use it?" wondered Naruto as he got to a chair and began to meditate on his previous actions regarding every time his energy came to the fore.
"Gold?" was the first thought that came to his head but grimaced about it as a yellow costume would probably make him look like Pikachu, like when he was five and his mom actually dressed him like Pikachu…
"Maybe white with gold linings?" thought Naruto, but that would make him look like some navy officer on parade.
"But the book did say about taking into account the color of the spirit's energy…" continued to think Naruto as his head began to hurt slightly over the annoyance of picking colors.
"Now we must get ready to take a look at your spirit" said Kurenai walking back holding several candles and papers with strange symbols on them.
"I have been wondering how it looks to be honest" said Naruto with a smile as he laid eyes on Kurenai and once more went crimson as she was dressed in some revealing robes (Nocturnal robes from Skyrim!)
Naruto turned away again and said "Miss Yuhi is wearing those robes really necessary?"
Kurenai sighed and thought "Sadly yes Naruto, Selvain's spirits need to be aroused from their inner slumber as to become visible…"
Smiling with a lie in her heart Kurenai replied "Why of course! These robes were woven by ancient priestesses to better interact with spirits and ward us from being affected by them…"
"Oh sorry, I kind of imagined you were becoming like Anko and just wanted me to get all bothered!" said Naruto with a kind smile while scratching the back of his head.
Kurenai almost tripped and just returned a nervous smile while saying "Don't be silly Naruto! I am nothing like Anko!"
Drawing an arcane circle on the ground and placing the candles at equidistant points and lighting them Kurenai asked Naruto to sit at the center of it and focus entirely on her while breathing slowly.
Kurenai proceeded to kneel in front of Naruto and began an incantation on a language Naruto failed to identify. As Kurenai continued with it the room seemed to go darker as if the only remaining light source were the candles in the circle.
The only thing left in Naruto's sight was the still incanting Kurenai whose body began to sweat and for some reason he began to feel more and more attracted to her.
Naruto tried his hardest to keep focused and keep his breathing slow, but as his desire grew so did his heartbeats and the blood running to a certain part of his body.
Naruto then caught the scent of Kurenai's body and that was the drop that made his desire overflow but the moment he was about to leap on top of her, Kurenai raised her hands before her and several runes appeared in front of Naruto effectively halting him with surprise.
Naruto stood immobile as the runes began to change and converge with one another forming a distinctively animal form.
The runes began to collide with one another and then the final shape was rendered for Naruto and Kurenai's view.
The shape was one of a large fox like creature with nine tails behind it, both Naruto and Kurenai marveled at the divine creature but after a few instants the golden noble looking creature began to morph into a creature of snarling fangs, crimson eyes, copper colored skin and wildly flailing nine tails behind it.
As confusion grew in them the fox turned to look at them and mimicking the form of a roar the runes broke and dispelled returning the room to its original lighting.
"W-W-What was that?" said a suddenly scared Naruto as he reached his hands to his abdomen.
Noticing the increasingly panicking Naruto, Kurenai was quick to stand by him and place her hands on his shoulders.
"Breathe Naruto, take it easy! That was just a picture gone awry, everything is fine! We are here, and we are safe" said Kurenai with a somewhat scared look on her face as she tried her best to calm Naruto.
"That's what's inside me? But you said that it was safe and it protected me! That thing looked like a demon!" nearly shouted Naruto quickly losing it.
Kurenai saw that Naruto was becoming overridden with fear and thus proceeded to slap him and hug him close to her.
"Calm down Naruto, everything is going to be alright. The picture went awry, you saw that the spirit was gold and noble looking at first that it shifted is all too normal; this spirit in particular is linked to you and so it shifts along with your moods and experiences so it's normal it sometimes resembles something scary and others something wonderful! The spirit is your guardian, how it resembles it's up to you Naruto and you are still but a boy becoming a man…" said Kurenai soothing the panicking Naruto.
Kurenai eased her hug on Naruto when he began to calm down but the moment he started to tremble she hugged him hard again muffling his words.
Naruto was now struggling to get away from her but avoiding to touch her altogether making Kurenai curious as to such behavior so letting him go slightly Naruto's head bobbled back with misty eyes, a drooling mouth, a creepy smile and a red color to his skin.
Kurenai realized that she had hugged Naruto while still dressed in such revealing robes and basically she had smothered him between her breasts with no fabric at all between them.
Realizing that she just did what Anko was an specialist at she just sighed and said "Well, he is a good boy after all, guess a little treat won't hurt him"
Naruto just said "There is something special about mature women…" and finally passed out.
xoxoxoxo xoxoxoxo xoxoxoxo xoxoxoxo xoxoxoxo xoxoxoxo xoxoxoxo xoxoxoxo xoxoxoxo
Having sorted his issues with his costume and the extra skin contact with Kurenai, Naruto paced around the day's end wondering about his first look to the spirit that dwelled within him and supposedly warded him of becoming possessed by evil spirits.
At first the spirit had a glorious form of white and gold, with a noble gentle rearing head and its nine tails moving in gentle coordinated sweeps, but it suddenly changed into a hellish vision of fury and ferocity that promised nothing but oblivion to whoever stood in its way.
Ever since he learned of his Selvain nature and the tampering his father attempted of his condition made him unique even among the already active Selvain in the world. He had a link with the spirit but until now he didn't understood fully which the possible consequences of it were.
Now that he glimpsed the spirit he had a better understanding of what was going on within him and the possibility of becoming something both humans and monsters alike loathed and feared in equal measure; a demon.
But as he realized this, Naruto's anger flared greatly because this situation was his father's fault who upon his hubris thought he could better the wisdom of ancient spirits and thus condemned him to become a dangerous subject.
On another note Naruto also wondered what had been his mother's role in all of this, wasn't she a Selvain as well? And thus she should have known the possible consequences of what had transpired.
"Why?" asked Naruto in a tone that almost sounded like a plea.
"Why what boy? And what's with that tone? This is a festive time and you should be bursting with youth, especially since you have so many options to pick from to go to the dance!" said the merry voice of an old man behind Naruto making the boy jump in surprise as he was certain that he had been walking around alone.
Observing Jiraiya, Naruto said "Oh, it's you…" and turned around to keep walking.
Jiraiya got slightly angry and immediately jumped in front of Naruto half screaming "Who the hell do you think you are brat? No one ignores the gallant Jiraiya, especially on the eve of such a great festivity! And here I was thinking of sharing my experience with you, ungrateful twerp!"
Getting angry as well Naruto retorted "Who are you calling a twerp? Pervy geezer!"
Grinning, Jiraiya laughed loudly and said "That's more like you kid, come on let's get something to drink, and don't worry it's not alcohol or anything!"
Sighing angrily Naruto did as he was told and went with Jiraiya to some nearby vending machines, where the old guy forced Naruto to pay for both drinks.
Drinking his juice Jiraiya exclaimed "That hits the spot! Thanks for the drink kid, I am kind of running low on money but once my next big work hits the shelves I'll drowning in money!"
"Right, like you are the kind of guy who spends well his money; he very likely uses it on strip clubs and date houses…" thought the grimacing Naruto.
"So at last the year comes to an end, the winter break comes right after the dance and then it's back to home! You must be pretty excited over your first dance, among the children of the night this is quite a big event, especially if it's your first time! I still remember my own and that was when I fell in love with my sweet muse!" said an inspired Jiraiya to a Naruto who didn't share his enthusiasm.
"What's with that face kid, aren't you excited? The first dance is quite an experience, well not like your first time but it should be around the top five, give or take!" said Jiraiya watching Naruto sigh as if having a lot on his shoulders.
Seeing the young Naruto, the experienced Jiraiya realized what was going on, at least partially, and said "So you have plenty of choices but you have to pick one, but no matter which one you pick there is no good ending huh?"
Turning in surprise Naruto said "How did you?"
"You are speaking to Jiraiya the gallant, and believe it or not I was quite the hot rod back in my days! Your situation repeated itself to me over and over, until well in my adult days! Come on kid, share with the old man your woes and maybe we shall find a way out for you my boy!" said the man with a contagious easy going attitude.
Blushing slightly Naruto began the tale of his peculiar relationship with the girls surrounding him and why picking one was very really dangerous choice to make, not to mention the long standing repercussions.
"If you were my son I would be brimming with pride Naruto! Your story is almost too much to bear and Gods know they would make a great romantic novel or some cheap mid-season anime! But nevertheless son, you do find yourself in a tight spot and each of the girls is a good choice by whatever standard you use, not to mention that they all have made good merits as to be deserving of your attention" said Jiraiya with an amused yet friendly smile.
"So who do you think I should go with?" asked Naruto.
"The one who would hurt you more, should you not pick her!" answered Jiraiya making Naruto face palm.
"That's not an answer pervy geezer!" replied the desperate Naruto.
"Alright, alright, calm down Naruto I was just kidding, though that advice would come in handy ahead on your years. Now, I say that you should make a decision and live with the consequences for you see, that's part of growing up" said Jiraiya to a crest fallen Naruto.
"Gods know that any man would like to pick everyone and laugh at the losers but the real world demands that you pick a road by sacrificing others. I know that your friends are expecting you to pick them up that night but it's not like you could suddenly clone yourself and bring everyone, and it's important for them to also learn how to deal with disappointment in a none murderous way" lectured Jiraiya.
"So there's no way out?" said a hopeless Jiraiya.
"You are giving up so easily? I thought higher of you! A real gallant man would then proceed to smooth the bitterness your decision will make. Let's say when they come to confront you then you quickly take her hand and promise to make it up to her in the most husky manly tone you can manage hinting to some very nice make up se…Just promise to make it up to them and you should be fine…" said Jiraiya a bit too excited.
"But who should I choose?" asked Naruto slightly relieved to have some sort of emergency plan, after all Hell doesn't have fury such as that of a scorned woman.
"I would pick the one who rocks your world!" plainly answered Jiraiya.
"That's not an answer…"said Naruto taking a sip of his juice.
xoxoxoxo xoxoxoxo xoxoxoxo xoxoxoxo xoxoxoxo xoxoxoxo xoxoxoxo xoxoxoxo xoxoxoxo
Days passed and at last the fated date had arrived for tonight at nine, Naruto would have to step in front of the girl he chose and ask her hand to accompany him to the dance where all the unlucky guys and girls would be waiting outside to have something of a "pity" partner for the dance and even if that didn't happened, well they still need to get in there since the dance is mandatory…School may be your golden years but they can suck as well.
"No matter how I think of it, I don't see a way in which I don't get crushed (literally) and emotionally over picking one. And that advice of Jiraiya…I really don't see myself doing something like that and getting more than I bargained for…" thought Naruto with the same scowl that had adorned his face throughout the week.
"The costume turned out very cool and finally those dancing lessons with my mom will pay off; but still, they will never forget (or forgive) who I bring to the dance even if I danced with them afterwards…"continued to think the conflicted Naruto.
"Now I envy Sasuke, when I told him about the need of getting a date he then told me that he would invite the mermaid of the other day. But if I happened to invite Tayuya as a neutral third party, then my ass would be under six feet of earth before I get to blink" finished thinking Naruto as he leaned on a wall by the faculty building.
"Live with the consequences…Living is what I am worried about!" said Naruto aloud.
"Looks like our favorite bachelor is in trouble! Who would have ever said that such a harem scenario could suddenly become so dangerous!" said a playful voice making Naruto almost jump out of his skin.
Out of thin air appeared Ten Ten while having a good laugh at Naruto's expense.
"Oh it's you…" said a suddenly bored and annoyed Naruto making Ten Ten scowl at Naruto's rude ways.
"That's no way of greeting your savior mister!" said Ten Ten.
"Oh you mean about that solution you offered at the beginning of the week? Thanks but I am not interested, nothing good comes from you…" said Naruto flatly.
Ten Ten face palmed and stood facing Naruto "How dare you dismiss me like that! I may not be a very good person but I am freakily good witch!"
"So you don't hide the freak you are, that speaks of some maturity…" thought the surprised Naruto.
"But she is always going around with her spells active maybe I should listen to what she has to offer; at worst I'll kill a few minutes of the day" thought Naruto while sighing.
"Alright, let's see how you propose to help me?" said Naruto inviting Ten Ten to seat by a bench.
"Excellent you won't regret it! See your problem is that you need at several places at the same time since you don't want to assign places to your little sweethearts, right?" said Ten Ten as Naruto nodded in approval.
"Then all you need is the shadow clone potion!" said Ten Ten pulling out a vial with a strange black liquid.
"The what?" asked Naruto looking at the swirling harmless looking black liquid.
"The Shadow Clone potion will allow you to split yourself into multiple copies by using your spiritual energy, that way you'll be able to take each of your friends to the dance at the same time!" said an excited Ten Ten.
"What's the catch?" asked Naruto while looking Ten Ten straight in the eye.
"No catch! This is a potion inspired by the ancient Shinobi techniques which are lost to us nowadays. Your clones know everything you do, and they behave like you! And once dispelled all their memories and experiences return to you! The only setback is that they are constantly burning spiritual energy but in your case it shouldn't be a problem to keep them up and running for about four or five hours!" said Ten Ten with the most honest smile she could produce.
Returning his attention to the bottle he considered that this was too good to be true and he had this gut feeling that he was hovering over a huge fountain of trouble. But not having a better option at hand he was willing to risk about anything right now and so went to grab the bottle only to have it taken away by a grinning Ten Ten.
"Not so fast my eager girl hoarder! You do remember that I wanted something in exchange, right?" said a smiling Ten Ten.
Almost faltering at that Naruto carefully asked "What do you want? And it better not be something weird like forcing me to sign a contract to give you a baby sometime in the future!"
"Darn it! Alright plan B!" thought Ten Ten laughing falsely.
"What I want is your word that when I ask you, you will be compliant with whatever I ask you to help me! And don't worry, it won't involve you giving any genetic material, in time you will buckle to the temptation of a threesome! So what do you say?" asked Ten Ten.
"That's so Godfather you know? But alright just as long as this doesn't go wrong and whatever you ask isn't perverted or strange, I have enough of that as it is" declared Naruto grabbing the bottle.
"Excellent! Now you have to drink the potion once you put on your costume. You also have to think in the number of clones you want to make and with whom do you want to send them! Have fun stud!" said Ten Ten as she disappeared from Naruto's sight.
"I wonder if this isn't considered cheating?" asked Naruto to the wind as he went back to the dorms.
That Night before the dance…
"Not bad!" thought Naruto as he admired himself in the mirror already dressed in his costume which was of regal appearance (Take it the typical Disney prince which looks like some sort of regal military uniform of the royalty) with the particular distinction of having three fine fur tails on each shoulder and three longer ones hanging from behind the jacket.
And to complete his costume a mandatory fox look alike mask of white and gold as the rest of his costume.
Putting the mask he noticed that he looked quite dashing not to mention that the mask added a mischievous touch to the whole set up.
Turning to look at the vial with the magic poison, er potion, Naruto gulped and hesitated about the whole plan.
"Would it be a good idea? I mean, won't they get pissed off at me for cheating them like this? But if I pick someone up then two of them will be really mad or sad…" thought Naruto as he kept his eyes glued to the potion.
"On the other hand…they could always look at it as a sweet effort from my part! They can't get mad at me and the worst I would get would be a scolding and God knows I had my share number of those in my life!" thought Naruto with a grin that made him look even more mischievous with the mask.
"Well, what's life without excitement?" said Naruto aloud as he grabbed the potion and remove the cork.
Smelling it Naruto gulped down one last time and said "Here goes nothing!" and quickly drank the vial until it was empty.
Putting the vial back on his nightstand Naruto returned to the mirror and did as Ten Ten instructed and thought of making two clones of him.
At first nothing happened but in an instant two smoke clouds exploded before him and from them stepped two clones of him although they were slightly different as they wore his costume in blue and silver and the other in black and dark gold.
"Hey! So you guys know why I made you right?" said the real Naruto to the two clones standing in front of him who were wearing their own masks.
"Y-Y-Yes, s-s-so we deal with the two you don't chose…" shyly said the one wearing blue and silver.
"Yeah so, who gets who? I mean, I'll give a night to remember whoever I get, but I would like some heads up!" confidently said the one in black and gold with a grin that reminded Naruto of Jiraiya.
Thinking their behavior somewhat strange Naruto dismissed it and said "Alright, so I'll get Sakura and, mmm, Blue gets Hinata and Black gets Ino"
Blue got nervous and stuttered an "A-A-Alright…"
Black instead passed his hand through his hair and said "So I get the blonde bombshell huh? Fine by me!"
Laughing nervously Naruto said "Good! So I leave first and the other two leave ten minutes after the other; have fun and try to keep the girls apart from one another, also try to leave them at their dorm before two in the morning, I don't want you guys disappearing in front of them!"
With this Naruto left his room leaving the two clones behind waiting for their turn to leave. As they waited they felt a bit uncomfortable with one another as they seemed to be very different from one another.
"Hey, don't you think the boss messed up the potion thing? I mean, look at us, we are him but at the same time we aren't! Not that I complain, I go better with black!" said Black Naruto (Like the multicolored Links from Zelda)
"I-I-I wonder too about that…Oh God and if Hinata doesn't like me? Maybe I shouldn't go…" said Blue Naruto.
"You are kidding me? She wants to have kids with us, huh, the boss? It's confusing you know?" replied Black.
"Y-Y-You think they will notice? They aren't stupid or anything, won't they get mad with us, I mean the boss?" asked Blue as he retreated to a corner of the room.
"You are right; they might notice…I know all we need to do is to keep them focused on us and preferably on opposite ends of the dance! Be their whole night! And maybe if we play our cards right, they might reward us you know? God knows what I want to do with Ino!" said the perversely grinning Naruto as the clock alarm indicated the ten minutes span they had agreed before.
"Well, I am off to pick Ino! Have fun and do please try to get smothered by Hinata, it would make a nice farewell memory!" said Black as he fixed his mask and left the room swiftly.
Black got out before Blue could say something else, and all he could do was to seat by the clock waiting for the clock to mark his time of departure.
"I am so nervous…" sighed Blue as he removed his mask and turned it to see the fine designs Kurenai had helped him put on it.
As he waited the room was engulfed by smoke coming from a sudden explosion. Blue coughed and quickly got back on his feet while covering his nose and mouth.
The smoke quickly cleared and standing in the middle of it was another Naruto clone but unlike the other two, this was dressed in a copper like costume with bright blue linings. The other peculiarity of this clone was that his costume was unbuttoned and he was wearing it like some kind of delinquent.
"W-W-Who are you?" fearfully asked Blue.
"Huh? Did you said something worm?" asked Copper in a very intimidating tone making Blue hide behind a pillow.
Ignoring the cowering Blue, Copper said "So tonight's there is a dance huh? Guess I'll need a date…"
With a fanged grin Copper opened the window and jumped outside and disappeared in a flash of crimson.
Lowering the pillow Blue saw the empty room and the clock signaling his turn to leave.
"Hope the boss won't get mad…" said Blue as he left the room.
AN: Done!
I wanted to make a single chapter but also needed to update so here is the first part of this special year's ending event.
As always, ideas, criticism and suggestions are welcomed.
The dance and the farewells will be on the next chapter and then on to the winter break family encounters.
On a personal note, I can't wait for Mass Effect 3!
Read, Enjoy and Review!