AN: Let us start chapter three
By the way thanks for reviewing for everyone who did, I personally feel that it helps me become a better writer when I know people are reading and responding to my stories. So please review, rant or PM me.
In addition, sorry for such a late update, work and school just do not mix with writing.
Chapter 3:
What are we gonna do, Hinata!
Naru walked away from the Hokage's office in a daze.
She pretended that Hinata wasn't sending her worried glances, or those shinobi they passed weren't giving secret glances at them.
She just wanted to go back home and paint her room the burnt orange color Hinata had picked for her, eat some ramen and then go to bed. She was six years old, sue her if they wanted a grown up young women to parade for those secret glances. She was going home and snuggling in a fuzzy blanket for two weeks.
Naru knew she was being childish, but she just couldn't help it. Everything felt like it was moving too fast and her natural reaction was to bolt and hide and see if the problem went away.
But she knew she couldn't do that.
Both she and Hinata had promised the Hokage and if they wanted a peaceful coexistence with their shinobi careers and the man that made them possible, they had to follow through on their end.
Naru wanted too scream or cry, but instead she pulled her head up from wherever it had buried itself in the ass of despair and walked forward with slow and deliberate steps, nearly silent and purposeful. The beginnings of a crescent moon was forming over head in a burst of black, blue and silver fire.
Naru turned until she was facing her best friend, and smiled her best 'trust me, could something this adorable be a maniac in disguise' smile. And couldn't help but cause her ivory colored friend to become paste white.
"oi, Hinata we should go out for dinner tonight, what do you say. Maybe we could get ramen or sushi or ramen. Sounds good, no?"
She watched as Hinata thought the proposal over, and died a little in side when Hinata suggested they go out for some dango instead.
Naru grumbled about best friends who wanted her to die or starve. She smiled a fraction of an inch when she heard Hinata giggling beside her and considered it a win in her favor. In truth, Naru worried about Hinata. She didn't show any signs of being sad over being banished from her clan and the lack of that sadness was a due cause for concern on Naru's end.
They made some small talk as both she and Hinata walked the few blocks too the dango shop, and were content.
The shop in Naru's eyes was interesting. There were several tables in the middle of the room, some of them occupied by civilian and shinobi, and several booths lining the walls, again some occupied. The place had bare brown walls and some cracks lined them, proof that shinobi ate here.
The smells of the sticky dumplings filled the air, enticing both Naru and Hinata into the overly warm shop.
Looking around, Naru saw a empty table and fast walked towards it, but bumped into someone who placed their hand one the back of one chair just as she placed her hand on the table top. Looking up she immediately realized that she couldn't take this person on, but then again when had that stopped her.
"oi, old lady move away this is our table, I got here first." bringing herself up to her full height-only about five foot one, and glared in what she hoped would be a convincing manor. The 'old lady', did not think it was a smart move.
She glared right back and even snarled a little as she said, "stupid move brat, what do you mean ya got here first, I'm a konoichi under the rule of the Sandaime Hokage and deserve some respect, and by the way your glares suck, what are they teaching kids now days."
The lady had dark purple hair in a spiky pony-tail. Her leaf headband was tied off on her forehead and from the looks of it , it had seen battle.
She was wearing a tan, long trench coat over a mesh body suit that went down to her thighs and a dark orange mini skirt with blue belt attached. Her shinobi sandals had shin guards attached to them. Narrowed brown eyes glared at them, silently telling them to back the fuck up before someone got hurt.
Naru had a sinking suspicion that this lady was the one to crack the walls of the shop.
"Listen lady, me and my friend here are just coming in for some dango and as such I was the one to get to this table first. You don't like, leave because we ain't moving from here. Come on Hinata." looking around, Naru retrieved her slightly petrified friend and sat her down in one of the vacant chairs.
The lady hadn't moved and from the looks of it she wasn't going to. Naru felt slightly guilty about this, but hey she had some pride and backbone, and that meant no one walked over Uzumaki Naru and got away from it. She could only be lucky that it had only been a verbal conflict and hadn't escalated into a full out brawl.
A twinge hit her conscience and Naru gritted her teeth before giving in.
When the waiter bent down to hear the order, Naru whispered what she wanted and gave him the required money.
Looking up she watched as the lady took in big whiffs of the sweet dumplings that passed by and cracked, "you can sit with us ya know. I ain't that sadistic to let someone starve because their to stubborn to know when to give up." she spoke in a nicer tone.
The lady looked hesitant, but a small encouraging nod from Hinata and the calm tone of herself seemed to end the matter and the lady sat down across the table until they were in a loose triangle formation.
A awkward staring match seemed to commence between the three of them. The food arriving seemed as though a small repent from earlier, because everyone's mood seemed lighter and they all actually had small pleasant talks, well Naru and the lady- now known to them as Anko, talked and Hinata just nodded or gave a few stuttered sentences here and there.
They got to know their guest well by the end of the night, all in all it went off without a hitch. Something everyone was grateful for.
0-0-0-0-0
Miterashi Anko was a tokubesu jonin of Konoha, and took immense pride in the fact that she was one of the elites.
Her job was quite simple, go to work with Ibiki and then maybe go on a few missions, then come home and go out for dango until the owners closed.
Well that was supposed to be how things went.
She had just finished a long A-rank mission and had to give her report to the Hokage, but he was in a meeting causing her to wait longer. To long in her opinion, but whatever. After giving her report, she had traveled by rooftop till she got to the dango shop and low and behold, one table was still empty. Rushing to get there she bumped into some people and noticed too late that someone else's hand was on the table top. She turned to look and there was a sight she didn't see everyday.
The Kyuubi brat and the abandoned Hyuuga girl. why are they here? I thought they would be laying low for a while.
Anko wasn't the nicest women by the trade, and she had a lot of questionable morals, but one thing she wasn't, was beater of children especially children who had been abandoned.
But that loud mouthed girl in orange was questioning that thin line of control. When it broke, Anko silently wished customers out of hitting range. Before it did though, that girl silently walked over too her friend and sat her down and both ordered some food.
Silently willing her stomach not to growl at the lack of decent food in her, Anko stared longingly out at all that wonderful dango and fought the urge to sigh.
She felt her muscles clench and unclench in their attempt at reminding her she needed to sit down soon, her body had been pushed hard as of late and needed proper nourishment and rest before went gallivanting off on another taxing mission.
Luck came in the form of orange and lavender girls. The offer to sit after she had been nearly told off confused but gladdened her. She had been in awkward places before but having a three way staring match between two six year old girls and herself was topping that list.
Several hours later, Anko was making her way home, full of laughter and dango. It was odd that one like herself who had more blood on their hands then in their body, had taken so well to academy students. Anko chuckled, she had been seriously impressed with Naru's ability to stand up for herself and her friend Hinata, who-thanks to her family- had been more than comatose until she was inclined into the conversation.
Smiling, Anko realized she wanted too see these girls become great, and she had the most perfect plan, now all she needed to do was talk to the Hokage about it.
0-0-0-0-0
Hinata walked alongside her friend and felt like she wanted to laugh if only it was worth the energy.
Naru's clothes were slightly off her body and her hair was slightly frizzy. Not that Hinata was judging because, she looked like that too.
A hour meal had taken four hours and they had stayed until closing time eating dango and talking with Anko. Black ringed eyes stared at the door to the academy. They had been going to the academy for five months now and it had been seeing Anko for random dinners now for three months. It would be nice if Naru and Anko would just eat and leave, not eat then eat some more and then talk and then eat again. Boy could those two pack it.
The Academy sensei's were not in the room and neither were the students, something that Hinata felt apprehensive about, and by the sly look that flashed through Naru's eyes, she concluded that something was wrong.
Turning to look at her friend, Naru beat her to the punch. "well, look here. I guess me and you must have been early today, nay Hinata-chan." her smile reached her eyes and the tone she used was of that of girl who found out that she was finally here early.
But it was the single code word that both had devised late into the night-Naru never called Hinata any other name then her given one, and since no one ever wanted to know them, those who wanted to attack would find that they were not helpless.
Hinata knowing her cue, easily replied. "ye-a-ah, its-s nice to-o not ha-have to rush." she even gave a small shaky laugh to make it more authentic.
A floor board creaked, a breeze ruffled the clothes just a bit. Every single sense that the girls possessed was screaming at them to run. what the hell.
A sudden urge to move hit her hard and Hinata fell into a loose academy stance. She knew she had no chance in hell with beating up whatever was after them, but taking a leaf out of Naru's book, she couldn't care less.
A shuriken flew by her head, imbedding itself into the wall, and Hinata figured that Naru was fighting off someone else. She couldn't turn to look nor could she see if Naru was doing okay. This was a fight for life and both were together but so very hopelessly alone.
Justu flew like nobodies business, and both girls worked in tandem. Moves were thought up on the spot and plans were hatched in the midst of the carnage.
What had once started out as a fight for life in their class room, soon spread out into the hallways and then throughout the whole academy. Windows shattered and walls crumbled. The building itself felt like it was groaning under the force of which they all fought. Sweat fell into both girls' eyes and yet they battled on, so much so that Hinata felt like she was free-falling and the ground was only getting closer.
She had so far counted about six adversaries, all over chunin level and above. They weren't holding back, so by that logic they couldn't either.
Minutes passed and then hours, by the time when some of the fighting had lulled into surprise attacks, Hinata and Naru took stock of their bumps and bruises and gashes.
Naru had many large gashes that oozed blood all over her torso and back, evidence of her fighting many people at once. Her left pinky was bent at a inconvenient angle and Hinata didn't know whether it was broken or dislocated. She had a large-ish hole in her right leg on the upper thigh , dangerously close to the artery.
She herself hadn't escaped with out so much as a bump. She knew she had several cracked ribs and maybe a broken one. Her right eye felt swollen and there was a constant pounding above the heated flesh. She had a few gashes on her legs and hands.
She closed her one good eye, and prayed for medical attention. If it didn't come soon, Hinata knew both wouldn't make it to see the morning.
She watched as Naru took her watch, both stared out at the beautiful harvest moon, the color of orange clay. It gave off a sinister but at the same time comfortable feeling. Both didn't get much sleep, Hinata was almost a hundred percent sure that they had concussions.
The feeling that they were being watched never left. It had once started out as a horrible sensation but as time went on it had started to become almost welcome, like an old friend that never truly left, you just seemed to forget they were there.
Some ration bars were held in their bags, and although both girls were ravenous, they thought it best to conserve. The hard nut and fruit bars were as hard and appealing as cardboard, and the taste was worse. But it carried everything a shinobi would need to keep up strength and energy.
Dark black rings surrounded both Naru and Hinata's eyes, and they felt as if the had been dropped of the Hokage monument and rolled around in a barrel full of nails. Everything hurt, the pain was so intense and both Hinata and Naru felt like they were just waiting for insanity to strike, like a cobra in the undergrowth.
On unsteady feet, Naru held Hinata's hand as she led them down to the lower levels of the academy, something was drawing them and they were helpless to pull away.
Sunlight hit Hinata's sensitive eyes, and she resisted the urge to scream in pain, by the twisted look on her friends face, she knew Naru felt the same way.
They walked through the streets away from the academy, pain lancing up their bodies, Hinata added torn muscles to the ever growing list of injuries, they had not been expecting to be attacked and both Hinata and Naru had paid the price for it.
They walked along deserted alleyways, and abandoned back roads all the way to the hospital, through blurry vision clouding her one good eye, heavily swollen and as black as a thunder cloud. A odd smell wafted around them sweat soaked body and the smell of infected wound-mostly contributed to the still gaping hole in Naru's leg, though long having stopped bleeding was still open and tuning a dark purple color.
The walk had also opened up some wounds and blood rolled off them, the pain couldn't have become more unbearable, and yet Hinata felt they had achieved something when they walked away from their injuries.
The large, pristine building was eerily silent and the peace seemed fabricated. But that wasn't what stopped both girls in their tracks.
The Hokage, in all his robbed glory stood in front of both girls and loose ring of masked and cloaked men and women surrounded them. Two people stepped forward and picked up the girls, noticing the grimaces of pain and haze that rolled around them.
Hinata felt herself being picked up, and the pain nearly caused her to pass out, but she prevailed. A masked man looked down at her, his bear mask showed a snarling façade, blue geometric designs covered the sides.
He had dark eyes and a black cloth on his head, probably to hide the color of his hair.
Another man was holding Naru, his tiger mask was a flash of reds and black. His hair was a black color and you could just barely see an outline of pale green eyes staring at her friend.
The Hokage paused and turned to face the crowd of anbu and their two small charges. " we have seen two small leaves off the big tree of Konoha, grow outward and have been tested in the way that all anbu hopefuls are, Crane, what is you verdict?" a tall, slender man stepped forward, his mask was covered in designs and the beak of his animal protruded out, an air of superiority flowed out of him, he was the leader of anbu, the commander and chief.
He had watched those two young girls and smiled just barely under his mask, they had been put through hell and it showed, but they had fought bravely and earned the whole respect of the entire anbu corps. They had fought the girls testing them and making sure they would be ready for what was to come.
He sighed and stood at a lazy attention. " they have passed all of my expectations and would be welcome additions to our family, Hokage-sama."
The Hokage nodded, he would let them train with anbu until it was time for the genin exam, were they would take it and pass. Then they would become anbu members fully. The test wasn't for people who wanted to become a anbu member, it was for people who were graduating into their place in the anbu ranks for good.
He looked at the two unconscious girls and smiled, they looked absolutely like they had been dragged through hell and back several times. He remembered when he had gone through that same test and knew that the girls needed sleep and a full five meals.
Setting them into the hospital beds, he quietly waited for the girls to wake up. Their guards leaned against the wall and everyone became silent and waited.
0-0-0-0-0
Naru had never been in so much pain before, the light was boring into her skull and her right leg felt like it was on absolute fire. I hope the other guy is worse off. feeling the need to snort but realizing it would just make her feel worse, Naru settled for listening.
Voices flittered in and out of her conscious and those she did catch seemed out of tune with the balance of the world. Everything hurt. It was like someone had beat the flying shit out of her, then threw her down a couple hundred flight of stairs, then proceeded to laugh at her broken form.
She felt herself being picked up and cradled into someone's chest, if she had been more conscious, Naru would have already kneed the person where the sun don't shine and then flipped them the bird as she hobbled away. She didn't consider herself lucky that they survived, in fact she was conflicted and a little dubious about that whole fight. All she and Hinata had done was fight with standard academy taijutsu and planning. The not too metaphorical 'what the fuck' seemed well deserved at the moment.
She settled more into the warm chest and felt all things slip away from her as blissful knockout blackness slowly enveloped her. She'd find out what the hell was going on tomorrow.
0-0-0-0-0
Nar…en…Hinat…be…awake…oon…
Naru gritted her teeth as those damned voice fragments hit her ears. She could only make out a few words and the rest was a garbled mess of nouns and crap. Granted she did feel better and less like she was a reanimated corpse, but that still didn't account for the throbbing in her leg.
It was like it had its own beat to it.
Concentrating hard, Naru realized that the voices were speaking to her now. She also realized that she had been staring at those who were talking and only now just realized it.
"huh, hi." Naru rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment. Several pairs of eyes seemed to zoom in on her and she felt claustrophobic.
"Naru…how do you feel. You've been out for several days, we all were staring to get worried." a beautiful purple haired women in very revealing clothes walked closer until she was directly next to the bed Naru occupied. Her comfortable scent of dango and metal polish, eased her mind and allowed Naru to crack a small grin in return.
The women grinned back in complement, before her face turned hard and serious. " four days, both you and Hinata have been through some surgery and unfortunately the odds weren't really in your guys' favor. The doctors were all assholes in my opinion, they didn't want to waste time operating on both of you girls, so the Hokage roughed them up verbally."
Naru coughed and then winced, and dearly wished for some water. Something to soothe her damaged throat.
As if someone read her thoughts, a glass of water appeared. Naru gave a small smile in gratitude at the anbu member who had fetched it for her. He whore a tiger mask and even though she couldn't see his face, she had the striking notion that he was smiling back.
"thanks tiger-san." Naru drank down the kami gifted water and surveyed the faces of those who were present. The Hokage, Anko, two anbu: one had a bear mask and the other a crane mask, and tiger-san. There were no doctors and for that Naru was grateful, doctors had never liked her and to actually get one to heal her was harder than pulling teeth from a chicken.
Looking over at the bed next to hers, Naru identified the short haircut of her best friend Hinata, and winced in sympathy.
Hinata had long scratches on her face, and several bandages on her forehead. Her right eye was heavy and a dark greenish-brown color, indicating that she had a very black eye that was healing up. A swath of white bandages covered her torso up to her neck.
Naru smiled as she saw Hinata, glad that the had both made it out of that hell hole, and were both alive to tell the tale.
The hokage stepped forward and gently told everyone to leave. He smiled as he walked away, gently ordering her to get some more rest. Something she did with out hesitation, smiling in her sleep.
0-0-0-0-0
Gentle talking is what awoke Hinata from her coma like sleep. Though nowhere near as bad as before, she still felt the after affects of having a really bad concussion. Not wanting to open her eyes but knowing she had to, Hinata forced herself to sit up and open her eyes.
She saw the Hokage talking with Naru, Anko eating some dango, which currently reminded her of her rumbling stomach, and several anbu leaning against the wall and observing.
Naru was the first to see her up and boy did she get a welcome. "oi, Hinata good morning-well evening. How do you feel are you okay, do you still hurt, want some dinner. Look Anko brought us some dango as a get well present-hey stop eating it you brought it for us…" Hinata smiled as Naru got in a mock fight over the get well dango.
The Hokage, chuckling, stepped forward and motioned for silence. He had an aura that said he needed everyone's complete attention.
"I am glad to see both you and Naru are okay. You have been asleep now for six days and Naru for four and a half. Several corrective surgeries and both of you are here and well." he paused before he continued, "now would be the time for questions, if anyone has any?"
Naru stared up at the Hokage and stated her question, "Hokage-sama, why were me and Hinata attacked."
Hinata nodded that this was something that she too was wondering, why were we attacked, and why was the battle staged at the academy.
The old Hokage sighed, but he couldn't help but feel that both of these girls would truly change the world. He knew he was seeing part of that change and dearly wished he would live to see the final product. Ah but the fates were never kind, especially to those who lived a warriors life.
Before he go to speak however, Crane came up to him and waited. At his commanding nod, Carne began to speak. "Naru and Hinata, a pleasure to meet our youngest initiates in the anbu family." seeing their confused glances, he continued. "that attack was for a very defined purpose you see, we at anbu usually take those who have become chunin and were quite disgruntled when the Hokage suggested that you become one of us. Well I was concerned and decided to stage a test for the both of you, a sort of battle royal. You both have taken on some of my best anbu operatives, a worthy endeavor. That test is usually only given to those who have been training with anbu for a while."
Both Hinata and Naru were stunned, instead of a random attack, they had been tested and just informed that they passed.
The Hokage cleared his throat and said, " now girls, this does not mean you are exempt from the genin exam, in fact you still have a few months before you both are going to truly join anbu and start taking missions with them. Granted, I have arranged for the both of you to start training at anbu headquarters as soon as you are both fit for duty."
Hinata felt glad that she had passed, and while Naru was hugging the Hokage in a death grip, she wondered as to what her family would think of her passing the anbu exam before the genin one.
She shook her head and forced herself to think of something different and smiled to Naru who had finished crushing the old Hokage.
Things were really starting to look up for both girls and in a few days they would start training in the anbu regime.