"Talking"
'Thinking'
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
Chapter 16: A Game of Cat and Mouse
Captain Mouse was not having a good day. With the Chuunin Finals only a month away, he had to keep up with the higher influx of information that was coming from Konoha's spies planted in the various countries. The number of reports he had to fill out for Defense Captain Wolf was ridiculous.
So, as he sat in his office surrounded in mounds of reports, he never suspected that the day could get any worse.
"Mouse, where's Falcon-taichou?"
He looked up to see the glaring mask of a fox. This was not good. Mouse didn't want to deal with that man – boy – who was standing in front of him.
"Dead." Rumor had it that Kodanuki was on a long-term undercover mission to protect a noble of some sort.
"What, not him too." Another rumor said he was a workaholic and was forced into a vacation mission.
"He was on an S-class-" The final rumors were that he got an assignment because he was too emotional to lead a team correctly, which supposedly was only by seniority. Mouse wasn't sure which one he believed the most, but he knew that no matter what he thought, if he brought any harm to the one standing before him, he would bring down the wrath of Captain Wolf and his entire division.
Sighing to himself, the realization hit him: his day just got worse.
"I don't care how hard the mission was. Any of my comrades who turn up dead are idiots." The fox ANBU took a deep breath. "Anyways, that's not why I'm here. I need everything you have from the last month in Sand and Sound."
While Mouse resisted the urge to take off his mask to rub his temples, his hand pointed at a cabinet across the room, and Kodanuki dove towards it.
.
.
Papers were strewn everywhere; Captain Mouse groaned. The young ANBU had literally torn through the cabinet and flipped through every single report with the help of shadow clones.
Mouse watched as clones stuffed the reports back into the cabinet in a semi-organized fashion. He would have to go through and make sure everything was in order before Wolf sent someone to check on the reports he was supposed to write. Why was his life so difficult?
Kodanuki finished putting away the papers, even the ones Mouse was sure didn't belong in the drawer. There were still reports here and there that had made their way into apparently invisible corners. Slamming the file cabinet shut, two clones and the original held large stacks of paper as they prepared to leave the room.
"Thanks a bunch Mouse!"
Yuugao walked through the empty halls. Today was a normal day: most of the ANBU were on missions, so HQ was pretty quiet.
At least, that was what she thought until she heard all of the commotion.
The slam of a wooden drawer could be heard. "Thanks a bunch Mouse!"
Poking her head into the office of Mouse, she couldn't help but smirk at who was causing the ruckus. Three burgundy blurs shot past her and headed off in the direction of the bunkers.
She noticed Mouse sighing to himself as he headed over to a cabinet – probably the one her brother was just digging his hands through – and began to reorganize the papers. She cleared her throat to get his attention.
A head shot up and turned around so fast that he probably got whiplash. There was a moment where the mouse mask seemed to just glare at her. "Cat-san, what brings you here?"
"I wanted to collect any reports you have finished for Wolf-taichou. He said he was having you compile some information together."
Standing and walking back to his desk, Mouse grabbed some documents scattered. "Here's what's done so far. I'll have more as I get through the rest of those." He pointed at the stack of papers on his desk that seemed to want to topple over at any moment.
"Understood. I'll relay that message to Wolf-taichou as well." With a bow Yuugao, made her way out and delivered the reports to Wolf, who was not that stoked that he had more to read. Why couldn't they just do oral presentations instead?
After dropping the reports off to the defense division, her task was now complete, and Yuugao had a moment of rest. There were two things she really wanted to do right now. One was to go cuddle with her fiancé all night. However, he was busy with a recent assignment after they had found a spy in their ranks. He wouldn't be free for a while, but she sure hoped he would be. The second was what she decided to do right now.
Knocking on the door, she waited patiently until the "Come in!" was heard from the other side. The hinges creaked closed as she entered and puzzled over the strange scene she saw before her.
Documents were strewn about with no particular organization. On the bed sat two clones who were busy working on some sort of seal while another, who she assumed to be the original, was seated on the couch skimming through papers before tossing them on the floor.
"You know you could be a bit more organized? Mouse was upset that you went through his stuff without a care in the world."
A black and burgundy blur slammed into her torso and wrapped her into a tight hug. Even though she knew that he knew it was her – he wouldn't have let her come in otherwise – he still acted as if he was surprised.
"Cat-nee! I missed you!"
She returned the hug gently. "I missed you too Naruto-kun. How has your mission been lately?"
"I got fired!" he beamed. However, something almost like guilt flashed through his eyes.
She would have spit out if she had been drinking something. "W-what?! And you're not upset?"
"Nope! Well maybe a little but being fired means more time to chase the snake." He let her go and returned to sitting on the couch.
Yuugao knew that the day after that incident, Naruto promised Itachi that he would protect his brother. It was more like a promise to himself since Itachi wasn't actually around, but she knew he took it very seriously. For him to stop watching Itachi's younger brother directly meant that he found a larger threat to Itachi's brother than what was in front of the younger Uchiha. It seems that larger threat was a certain snake.
"I see…" She turned her head to scan the rest of the room, and that was when she saw the stranger. She somewhat shakily pointed at the man sitting on a bean bag in the corner of the room. "Who…?"
Naruto brightened up again. "Oh! That's Kurama! Kurama, say hello to Cat-nee."
The red-haired man with crimson slit eyes looked up from the book he was reading. Perhaps he would have looked more intimidating if he didn't have a bright yellow highlighter between his teeth. Grunting, he glanced down at the tome in his hands before reaching for the highlighter and marking something on the page.
Sweat-dropping, Naruto apologized for his behavior. "Kurama isn't too fond of people."
"I see…" Yuugao wasn't dumb. She knew that the Kyuubi's name was Kurama thanks to Naruto talking about him all the time. However, comparing the giant beast she saw when she was ten to the man decked out in red sprawled atop a bean bag was difficult to say the least. Now that she was over the strangeness of the situation, she couldn't help but think, 'Where did the bean bag even come from?'
"So yeah." Naruto returned to his report reading. "Feel free to sit anywhere you'd like."
The purple-haired woman opted to remain standing. "And what is Kurama doing here?"
"Oh, he was being all grumpy about me having to read reports. I asked him to help but he said – and I quote – 'I'd rather read human history than your boring intelligence reports.' So here we are! I found a book on kitsune mythology, and he's been working on pointing out every false statement. Somehow he finds it amusing to-" He put the next statement in air quotes. "'-Discover new aspects of human stupidity.'"
"Uh-huh." The cat ANBU slowly nodded her head. "But what I meant was how is he here?"
Frowning, Naruto took a moment to understand her question. "Oh, you mean how is he outside?" She nodded. "Simple! I nullified the key so that we could finally get rid of that pesky gate. Now he can materialize without needing to possess one of my clones. Isn't that great?"
"Uh-huh," Yuugao parroted and nodded her head. "And what trouble did you have to go through to get to the key?"
At this question, Naruto shied away with that guilty look on his face. Scratching the side of his head, he reluctantly answered the question. "I may or may not have tricked my godfather into summoning the toad that held the key."
It started as a choke and escalated to a chortle. Soon Yuugao was laughing and clenching her stomach. She couldn't believe that the brunet had tricked the Jiraiya into revealing something important like a jinchuuriki seal's key. Wiping away a few tears, she looked up at the boy who looked a bit bewildered. Instead of scolding him, she walked up to him and removed her mask for a moment to give him a quick kiss on the forehead. "Good job Naruto-kun. I'm glad you've succeeded in another one of your goals."
His smile lit up the entire room as he hugged her tightly once again. Yuugao had never seen him so happy. She knew that he had been wanting to free Kurama from his painful prison for a while, and the fact that he finally was able to free the fox made her so glad for him… and Kurama too.
"Well Naruto-kun, are you up for a little fun?" Violet eyes met her own as he tilted his head in a childish way. A grin slid easily on his face.
"What do you have in mind?"
Yuugao returned a grin of her own, although it wasn't visible from behind her mask. Without saying a word, she led Naruto into one of the many sparring rooms. She turned around to face him. The fox mask that had been put on after they left Naruto's room stared back.
Slowly, she pulled out a small slip of paper from her pocket and held it up for him to see. Even though she couldn't see beyond his mask, his sudden body language told her that he was brimming with excitement.
"Is that? No, it couldn't be…" Naruto whispered to himself, not even trying to mask delight in his voice.
"All-you-can-eat ramen coupon from Ichiraku's? It sure is."
"You're the best Cat-nee!" Naruto practically had stars in his eyes as he eyed the coupon in Yuugao's hand. She could tell that just the thought was making his mouth water.
Yuugao smirked behind the mask. "The only way you're going to get it though is by getting through me." Drawing her katana, she faced the young ANBU.
A frown was probably marring his face. "If that's what it takes for unlimited miso ramen," he mumbled. Naruto drew the chokuto she had given him and prepared himself.
Yuugao remembered the day she had given him that sword. She had it specially forged for his eighth birthday, the day he received the sword with maturity yet elation. Thinking back to those days, she knew she missed the old Naruto, the one from before the incident. It was obvious that he was stressing himself out trying to act so mature for his age.
Taking a step forward, silence drew out between them before brunet darted forward. Parrying his first move, the kunoichi sidestepped his second move and shot forward. Her sword clashed with his as they went back and forth.
Watching his quick and fluid motions, Yuugao couldn't help but be proud. Hayate and her had really raised a proficient swordsman. Although Naruto refused to use Dance of the Crescent Moon because he wanted a style to call his own, she could see that the hours of effort he put in to learn kenjutsu had paid off. Of course, she thought this every time she saw his swordsmanship, but she couldn't help but be a proud sister and trainer. In only a few short moments, she was sure that he would win his ticket to unlimited ramen for a meal. He had long since surpassed her in the art of the sword.
Elsewhere, a man in red snorted once again. Squeaking could be heard as a yellow highlighter passed across another phrase of a page.
Humans thought the strangest things.
Updated: 6/4/20
