Chapter 12:
"N-nani?" Naruto stammered, eyes wide and slack-jawed.
"Sorry, but a job is a job; as long as he's paying me."
He stared into his dispassionate eyes for a few seconds in silent desperation before letting out a cry and lunging forwards, trying to barrel him over in hopes of entering.
Digging his feet into the ground, Aiyoru caught the blond teen – halting his movements immediately. "You weren't the only one training. Although your sempai put you through a lot more than I did for myself, I was still stronger to start."
Naruto gritted his teeth and tried to push at least another step forward. As he did so, Aiyoru whispered two words into his ear before landing a knee to his stomach.
The impact drove the wind from Naruto's lungs and he dropped to the ground.
"I'm permitted to use as much force as necessary. If I have to kill you, I will. Hiashi told me any 'politics' can be handled by him."
Having regained his breath, Naruto got back to his feet and glared.
"Let me loose kid, I'll do to him what I did to that imposter." Kyuubi growled.
"No chance, I can't let you loose inside the town, and I don't want to kill him. I'll disable him in five minutes on my own; just a clever kage bunshin and henge combo… maybe a body swap and I'll be inside with Hinata-chan"
As if he could read the thoughts, Aiyoru began several familiar hand seals and created several bunshin.
Growling, Naruto began his own jutsu before being interrupted by a loud shout.
Looking up, he spotted Kiba and Akamaru's trademark attack; whirling at top speed.
The first of the clones took the attack head on, raising a stone barrier and blocking the attack enough to stop Akamaru's spin. Immediately afterwards, Kiba's attack broke through the damaged wall and he destroyed the first bunshin, along with the three behind it.
Ending his attack, Kiba noticed that there wasn't another opponent around.
"Huh… did the little bastard run off?" He spat, sniffing the air and looking around.
"Kiba?" Naruto asked.
"Eh? Naruto? Man you've grown. You've got something against Asagin too?"
"Yeah, he was trying to keep me from Hinata-chan!"
"Huh? So you mean… as long as he's around, Hinata-chan will be available?"
"Uh… well I wouldn't want to say it like that but-"
"Alright! Get out of that tree you long-haired freak! You just earned my forgiveness!"
Dropping to the ground from a nearby cherry tree, Aiyoru cracked his knuckles and neck as he let out a sigh. "Now it's two against one. You'd better just take my advice. Leave."
Nodding, Naruto turned away. Throwing one last longing look at the Hyuuga residence, he took off running.
"I'll take your advice, Aiyoru-sempai. Just you wait."
'Find allies'.
Finally back in Konoha, Sasuke only managed to go two blocks before being barreled over by an over-energetic shinobi.
"Hey, watch where you… Sasuke?" the blond genin asked, slowly becoming excited. "Yatta! I'm glad I ran into you, I need your help."
"You know I'd help you with anything, Naruto-kun." Sasuke said, placing a hand on his thigh.
"Really? 'Cause I… are you wearing a skirt?"
He nodded, much to Naruto's discomfort.
"I need to defeat… please tell me that's a senbon down there…"
"Senbon!" Sasuke snapped. "I'll have you know… no, never mind, just finish talking."
"Well, do you remember Aiyoru? Well, I need you to help me beat him, and Kiba, in a fight. As long as he's around, I can't see Hinata-chan."
Sasuke starred at him for a few moments. "So you mean… as long as he's around, Naruto-kun will be available?" He yelled excitedly.
It was Naruto's turn to stare before he slowly removed Sasuke's hand, got to his feet, and took off as fast as his legs could carry him.After a few minutes of running down random streets, he stopped to collect his thoughts.
"Naruto-nii-chan!" a squeaky voice greeted from the doorway of a nearby house.
Looking up, he saw his old friend Konohamaru waving.
"Hey, what are you doing here?" Naruto asked, jogging over.
"Some other guys and I were brought here by Kankuro."
Letting out a sound of confusion, Naruto looked around the inside of the house and found Gaara, Kankuro, Shino, Udon, several random villagers, and a rather displeased Neji.
"What's going on here?"
Neji looked up. "Practically a kidnapping; apparently the line 'I already have a girlfriend' doesn't apply to these when you're talking about Tenten." Receiving a prolonged blank look from Naruto, he decided to explain. "Temari has been disturbing her brothers because she's been renting lewd Aiyoru bunshin. To get rid of this habit, they've abducted all the single guys in hopes of snapping her out of it."
"Everyone is complaining about having to be Temari's boyfriend?"
"Just me. Everyone else is getting rejected. Is there something you're here for?"
"Yeah, I'm trying to find people to help me get rid of Aiyoru. Could-"
"Gomen. He did me a pretty big favor, so I'm not willing to fight him. I'll still see if I can help in other ways, though."
"I may be of some assistance." Shino said from behind.
"Heh? Really! Sugoi! Now it's a fair… you can beat Kiba, right?"
He nodded.
"Sugoi! Though I should find someone else to help me deal with Aiyoru, this is a good start. Oh! I know, hey Gaara! Would you mind-"
"If I get involved, this down will be turned into a desert. I could offer you Kankuro, however."
Naruto thought about it for a minute. "Well…"
"Oh, screw you, like you're so much better than me!" He screamed because of the hesitation.
"Ah, fine; if you want to help that much."
Konohamaru walked over and grinned as he pointed at himself.
"No." The three replied.
"Aw? Fine, can I at least suggest someone?"
"You're not talking about him, are you?" Neji asked, suddenly concerned. "That's dangerous… someone who can take that much damage and still be alive can't be human… and that he's a shinobi master only makes things worse…"
With such a description, Naruto couldn't help but ask: "Who?"
Who indeed. A mysterious and fearful shinobi master appears. Great revelation, or disappointing let donw? Find outnext time in: "Shinobi for hire". Out of curiosity, can anyone guess who it is they're talking about? Just so you know, yes it is someone who's existed before this point of the story (OC or otherwise).
I must say right now, it would appear that the end is nearing for this story. At it's current rate, it will probably be over somewhere betweenchapter 20 and 25. Don't hold me to this though.
Now for reviews:
thief-uchia: broken? Oh well. Here's the next chapter.
TimeShifter: actually, all he had said was that if they were to have their one day, he could guarantee that they'd be apart for the 30 months, meaning Aiyoru wanted them to have one day together before he was forced to play his new roll. As he is still on Hiashi's payroll, he still has to keep them appart. As for your statement about being Yondaime's son: yeah, I too think he is. But who's to say Yondaime was rich? Look at Tsunade, she's technically in debt from all those years of gambling. Sure he may have been pretty well off, but that money could all be gone during the time Naruto was growing up. As for your hatred for the KibaHina pairing, how do you feel about the KibaKumi pairing (KibaOC)? OCs have been introduced for a reaon, even if it's not obvious (maybe writing too much).
DemonCloudStrife: woot!A new reader! Glad to find out that you're enjoying it.
KunochiDreamer: once again, I'm glad you seem to be enjoying it.
