Kanimoto: JAPANESE IS SO DAMN CONFUSING!!!!! I'LL NEVER LEARN IT!!!!!! Oh wait. I will. I'm taking Japanese as my language for my first year of high school next year. *dances*
Kani (again): This chapter was seven pages long. And it sucks since I didn't know what else to write. Stupid writer's block. *sulks*
Naruto: Shut up, Kani-chan! *changes subject* And in this chapter, there's some yaoi (at LONG LAST).
Kani: Yeah, I decided to put some in before the yaoi chap that's going to be...aww...never mind.
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That night, Naruto couldn't sleep. He lay awake, staring up at the ceiling as he replayed the first round of the tournament over and over in his mind.
I got lucky this time, he thought as the next day drew near. Hopefully, my luck will hold just long enough to last the rest of this tournament.
If, that is, you live through it all.
"Huh?" Naruto sat upright. Oh...no. Not that fox again.
Oh, yes. There was a tense pause. Well? Have you decided to release me...or do I have to make you?
Shut the hell up! Naruto rubbed his forehead against an impending headache.
Only if you change your mind about letting me go.
"No...!" The blond haired boy threw himself facedown on his pillow, covering his ears. "Get out of my head!"
It was near dawn.
"Naruto?"
Naruto raised his head. He frowned. "What are you doing here, Kyote?"
The black haired teenager hopped into the boy's room from his perch on the windowsill. "I couldn't sleep," he said quietly. "And what about you? Sounds like you just had a nightmare."
And I did. I have a demon in me that wants OUT. Naruto bit his lip. "I was thinking about the tournament."
Kyote slowly walked over to his friend's bed. "And I was thinking about you."
The blond haired shinobi couldn't help but become irritated.
"Why do you insist on doing this to me?!" Naruto demanded. "I like you as a friend—not as a boyfriend—and I don't want to become gay!"
"Okay." Kyote held up his hands. "I'm sorry." He sighed half-angrily. "You won't even give me a chance?"
The blond haired boy crossed his arms and stared at the far wall. "Why should I give you a chance if no one ever gave one to me?"
"Because you do have a chance!" Kyote shot back. "You had a chance to prove yourself in front of Konohagakure, and now that we've won, you got an even bigger chance to do all that and more!"
Naruto opened and closed his mouth. He couldn't think of anything to say, so he said nothing.
"Please, Naruto," the teenager urged as he sat beside the boy. "Just for tonight...?"
Jeez... "Fine, then," Naruto muttered after a moment. "Just for tonight."
"Hm." Kyote leaned forward, capturing the younger one's lips in a soft kiss. Naruto was adamant for the first few seconds, but his mouth began to ignore his brain as he kissed back.
The sun broke over the crest of the hills as the two rolled onto the bed, their lips still locked as Kyote's hands reached into Naruto's shirt, searching the boy's chest. The teenager broke the kiss, and Naruto shivered as Kyote pulled his shirt over his head and let his fingers play over the boy's smooth skin.
After a moment, Kyote pulled back and threw off his own shirt. He straddled the younger shinobi and kissed him again. Naruto moaned into the other's mouth as hips rubbed together and he felt himself harden.
"Kyote..." he gasped, pulling back swiftly. The boy met the older shinobi's eyes and the teenager's lust was mirrored in his.
But before the Kyote could go any further, they were both stopped by a knock on the door. And a voice. "Are you awake, Naruto?"
"Dammit!" Kyote growled under his breath. He jumped off the bed, grabbed his shirt, and slipped into Naruto's closet.
Way to go, Master Iruka! And not a moment too soon!!
"I'm awake," the boy replied. "Iruka-sensei."
The black haired man entered the room. "You'd better get dressed. Lord Hokage wants us to meet him at his place in an hour."
"An hour?"
Iruka crossed his arms. "Yes, Naruto. An hour. Is there something wrong with that?"
"N-no." Naruto shook his head. "I just didn't realize that it was morning."
"Well..." Iruka's voice trailed off and his eyes went to the closet. "I'll be outside, Naruto."
When the man had left, Naruto climbed out of bed. "You can come out, Kyote," he called softly.
The teenager opened the sliding door and stepped out. He had put his shirt back on, and was now fully dressed. Before he went to the window, Naruto stopped him with a hand. He had to admit one thing. "Kyote..."
"I know," Kyote said softly. "The moment's ruined. But I know you liked it." He smirked. "See you at Lord Hokage's, Naru-kun."
The blond haired boy watched the Ryuuchi ninja leaping away from rooftop to rooftop. Naruto grinned as he got dressed.
You're wrong, Kyo-chan. I didn't "like" it.
I loved it.
****
"Remember," Lord Hokage the Third told cell seven at the end of their meeting. "You three will be representing all of us here...Konoha Village...in your travels. I expect you to be on your best behavior."
The spiky blond haired boy winced. He had known that the last sentence was coming, and that it was reserved for him alone.
Especially since Lord Hokage was glaring at him when he said it.
****
"Walking," said Shinzuko, "is the worst form of transportation since flying."
Sakura raised her eyebrows. "Oh, yeah? How so? Flying seems cool."
The young jônin gripped the straps of his backpack. "It's only cool if you know how to do it."
Naruto snickered.
"We need a name," Sakura spoke up after a moment.
"We have names," Naruto shot back mischievously. "I'm Naruto. You're Saku-chan."
"Don't call me that!" The rose haired girl slapped him. "And you know what I mean! 'Cell seven' is...getting old."
Naruto thought for a moment. "How about the One-Dumb-Girl-And-Five-Guys-Who-Don't-Know-Where-The-Hell-They're-Going-And-Why Team?"
Kakashi listened to the young ninjas' arguing in amusement.
But observant as they were, none of them realized the impending danger they were in.
"You are an idiot, Naruto," Sakura muttered.
"Squad Seven?" the blond haired boy said next.
"Team Seven," Sasuke corrected. "Squad sounds like something from the hospital."
No one spoke for a moment. "Then Team Seven it is," Kakashi broke in.
"Very funny," muttered Sakura. She ran ahead to walk with Kyote, who was several yards ahead of the rest of the group.
Noticing this, Naruto groaned. "Sakura's after Kyote now."
Sasuke frowned. "Kyote isn't after Sakura, though."
"Bad news for Saku-chan," Naruto sang out. Sakura ignored him.
Shinzuko spoke up. "As far as I remember, Kyote's never liked any girl."
Naruto walked more slowly. Maybe, he thought. But has he ever liked any boy?
Duh. There's me.
Ever since the first round that cell seven had won, everyone had been in exceptionally good moods. Even Shinzuko didn't act as callous towards the others like he used to.
"It's because you and Sakura and Sasuke did better than he thought you would," Kyote had told Naruto earlier. "He expected you to wimp out. And it's because we're going to our homeland. That's where Round Two is going to be, and...we haven't...been home...in a while."
Naruto had been about to ask why, but something in Kyote's blue-gray eyes stopped him.
Something that could have been called dread.
Now, as he plodded along behind the others, Naruto contemplated asking Kyote why. But he didn't get a chance to decide.
Because a hail of shuriken rained down around the unsuspecting shinobi. "Get back!" Kakashi yelled. Shinzuko and Kyote managed to instinctively leap clear and vanish into their surroundings, but the three members of cell—I mean Team—Seven were hit and cried out, more from surprise than pain.
"...the hell...?" Sasuke muttered, ducking into the bushes to get the shuriken out and catch his breath. The others followed suit.
"Are you hurt?" the black haired boy asked of the other two once they were out of firing range.
"No...I'm okay," Naruto replied. "Shuriken in my arm...nothing serious."
"What's going on?" Sakura whispered.
Sasuke frowned at the shapes shifting in the trees. "I'd like to know that myself."
"Did you even realize that we're on the edge of a cliff?!" The rose haired girl began to panic. "I knew I shouldn't have come! I—"
"Sakura. Please," Naruto groaned.
Shinzuko appeared. "Are you all okay?" he asked huskily and with genuine concern. Kakashi was right behind him, but said nothing.
"Fine," replied Sasuke curtly. He repeated Sakura's question. "What's going on?"
The older jônin drew his sword. "I'd like to know that myself!"
A shadow dropped from the trees (Kani: Ooh, freaky. -_-). "There you are, Ryuu-chan," it taunted. The voice's owner was a tall teenager with the Ryuuchi's clan's headband in his brown hair. Shinzuko tensed; Naruto saw it.
"Taroshi, what are you doing here," the older twin growled. Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto watched them wordlessly. There was nothing for them to do.
"I'm here to exterminate the pests," Taroshi said, and behind him appeared two shinobi, both about his age and height. "And to pay you back for jumping me last week."
"You started the fire," Shinzuko muttered. "And you could have gotten us killed!"
"Uh-huh." Taroshi nodded listlessly. "And by the way, are you Kyote or Shinzuko?" He stepped forward and ran a finger over the teenager's jaw. Shinzuko slapped it away. Taroshi laughed as he stepped back. "Why you're Shinzu-chan, of course," he decided. "Only you would dare to fight me. And only you have a very—"
"Shut up!" Shinzuko actually screamed and the others flinched, sensing the tension between the two teenagers. He turned halfway to draw his sword, and Naruto saw that he was sweating hard. "Get ready," he whispered to the three genin.
Taroshi grinned. "Teaching half-pints now, eh?" he mocked. "Jeez, you've changed. Before you and your brother left home, you didn't care about a little—"
"Be quiet." Shinzuko's face contorted in anger. "And don't...tempt...me..."
"How about we fight instead?" Taroshi charged, swinging his sword down as he came. Shinzuko stepped to the side, and the blade whiffed through branches of an overhanging tree.
Sharp. Remembering how they had been taught, Sasuke stood beside Shinzuko (since Kyote was still missing) and Naruto and Sakura stood back-to-back. The three were ready to draw shuriken. Kakashi watched them, looking unconcerned.
Taroshi was slightly surprised, but hid it well. "Huh!" He glanced at Naruto. "Have I seen you before?"
The blond haired boy clenched his fists. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto."
"Then that means..." The brown haired teenager smirked. "Sheesh...I didn't know that the demon fox's host was an undersized dunce."
Dunce! Naruto held his fists so tightly he heard his knuckles crack. That's it!! He filled his hands with shuriken, throwing them as hard and fast as he could. Taroshi and the two shinobi dropped and rolled to their feet to avoid the knives. One of the other teenagers snickered.
"Not bad for a shrimp," he commented.
"Not bad, huh?" Naruto grinned slightly. "Then what do you think of this...?!" He brought four fingers together. "Art of the Doppelganger!"
A thousand doppelgangers, all perfectly like their conjurer, appeared all around them. Shinzuko gasped. Damn...
"That's it. That's it!" Taroshi gripped his sword in both hands and the two teenagers with him did the same. His smirk widened. "I'm going to kill you."
You're welcome to try.
"Stop it, Naruto!" Shinzuko shouted. "What are you, daft? Taroshi's one of the best sword wielders in the Ryuuchi clan!" Naruto disregarded what the older twin was saying.
"Ready?!"
Taroshi laughed. "Ready."
"Let's go!"
The thousand Naruto doppelgangers threw themselves on Taroshi, but he simply hurled his sword at the one he knew was Naruto.
"Naruto!" Kakashi suddenly shouted. He sped to the blond haired boy, but he was too far away to make it in time. No...
"Stop it!" A shadow suddenly imposed itself between Naruto and the sword, deftly blocking it with something he held.
Shinzuko glared at the person he saw. "Hikaru!"
Hikaru? Naruto—and his doppelgangers—looked up. "Who are you?"
The newcomer didn't reply, just started fighting with the two shinobi who were standing behind Taroshi.
The two shinobi with Taroshi were taken by surprise as a boy half their size slammed them to the ground. But using a double-teaming technique they knew, the two soon had Hikaru in a death grip.
"That," muttered Shinzuko as the boy's face came into view, "is my brother Hikaru."
"What's he doing here?" Naruto questioned. "I thought you said it would take two days to get to the Land of the Dragons."
Before Shinzuko could answer, another person dropped from the trees. This time it was Kyote.
"What's going on?" he demanded; a question that the others had asked more than once. "What's this all about?"
"I'll give it to you straight," Taroshi said shortly. "Shinzuko jumped these guys and me last week. Just for starting a damn fire."
"You could have killed us!" Shinzuko yelled. "Why the hell did you do that, anyway?"
Taroshi's dark eyes narrowed. "Do you really want to know? Let's just say it has something to do with our little dispute four years ago."
"I know." The older twin was whispering now. "Just because...of Father."
Father? Naruto glanced up. He remembered when Iruka had told him...
Because of the demon fox, Shinzuko lost out on a lot.
...so he figured that this "dispute" had something to do with that.
Not that he knew what it was.
"Enough with the talk," Taroshi hissed. "I'm here to settle this once and for all. To be frank, I'm here to kill you."
"All of us?" demanded Sakura.
"All of you," the teenager replied. "Or would you rather join me in the torture chamber my father owns?"
Much to everyone's relief, Sakura shut her mouth.
"You're not gonna kill me. Not while I can still...move!" A second hail of shuriken caused everyone to throw themselves back, almost rolling off the cliff. That was from Hikaru.
"What the hell's Hikaru doing here?" Shinzuko hissed to his twin after they made sure that the others weren't about to fall off the cliff.
Kyote shrugged. "Beats me. Maybe he heard we were coming."
Naruto was still using bunshin no jutsu, and his doppelgangers were still everywhere. He's too vulnerable at this point, Kakashi told himself. There are too many doppelgangers for him to defend. "Naruto!" he yelled suddenly. "Drop the technique!"
"What?"
Taroshi saw the opening. "Yes!" He threw his sword again. Can't get away this time!
But this time, Sasuke shoved Naruto aside, even though the blond haired shinobi was cut by the blade. Sasuke threw himself to the ground also, but the sword caught him in the arm. Howling in pain, the doppelgangers vanished, leaving only the two boys, who were both on their knees and clutching their bleeding arms.
"Don't move," Kakashi warned when he reached them.
"Don't worry," Sasuke muttered, glancing at the cut he had received. It was deep and pouring blood. "I won't."
Naruto's cut was rather shallow, but he remembered the time he had gotten scratched by a poisoned blade. The sword was probably poisoned, too. Take no chances. He stayed still.
And watched the battle.
Short as he was, Hikaru was able to match every blow the two shinobi threw at him. Kyote and Sakura were helping him, while Kakashi and Shinzuko took on Taroshi.
Naruto's gaze fell on Sasuke beside him. The black haired boy reddened and looked away. Naruto frowned. What's he looking at me for?
A random thought crossed his mind. Well, he did save your life. Maybe he likes you.
Shut up. Just because Kyote likes you doesn't mean that Sasuke does. He saved my life before, so what makes this any different?
For one thing, he didn't call you a big chicken...
Naruto groaned. Don't start.
"Hikaru, jump!" Kyote ordered unexpectedly. Hikaru hesitated to look up, and when he did, a spiked chain whistled through the air, wrapping him in its painful coils.
"Damn it!" Kyote spun out of reach of another chain. The Dragon family and their chains...
"Claws of the Tiger Technique!" Shinzuko abruptly declared. His hands were suddenly the last thing that Taroshi and his two friends wanted to be near. Shouting madly, the teenager was upon them, scratching, cutting, and slashing wildly.
"Stop...it!" Taroshi pleaded above his enemies' yells. "Stop it!! I'll leave you alone if you do!"
Sasuke smirked. Not laughing now, eh?
But Shinzuko wasn't laughing either.
"You're going to pay, Ryuuchi Taroshi!" he shouted before plunging the claws into the teenager's neck.
Sakura gasped. Naruto and Sasuke stared in disgust. How could he? Taroshi choked, spewing dark blood from his mouth, nose, and throat. Shinzuko withdrew the claws, emotionlessly watching him die.
"Sh...in...zu...ko..." Taroshi gasped. He tried to say more, but the words stock in his throat. He twitched once, coughing for breath. His body went limp.
He's dead.
The other two shinobi stared at Taroshi's body in horror. Then, slowly, they raised their eyes to Shinzuko. A vicious grin crossed the elder twin's face.
"You look a little lost," he hissed. "Want to join your leader...in hell?"
Even though he was still on the ground wrapped in the spiked chain, Hikaru raised his voice.
"No, Shinzuko!" he cried. "Don't do it!"
All too soon, it was over. Three blood-soaked bodies lay still on the grass. Shinzuko stood over them, breathing heavily. The claws over his hands disappeared; the technique had been dropped.
"We won't be going anywhere tonight," Kyote whispered.
It was getting late.
****
Because of the shock everyone was in, Kakashi decided that they would make camp there in the forest. After they buried the three ninja that Shinzuko had killed, that is.
"This is dumb," Naruto grumbled. "We were supposed to be halfway there by now...!"
"Don't complain," the white haired jônin admonished. Naruto grimaced.
Sasuke pressed his fingers against the bandage that held the deep arm gash closed. He winced at the stinging. "Is this still poisoned?" the black haired boy asked.
"No," Kakashi replied. "I got most of it out; the rest isn't enough to be harmful."
Kyote and Hikaru were sitting by the small fire, the younger twin helping his brother bandage his cuts. Sakura sat near them with her knees drawn up to her chest and her arms around them, watching Kyote's every move.
Shinzuko sat at the edge of the cliff, away from the others, throwing rocks into the forest below.
"Shinzuko."
The teenager didn't turn, but Kakashi knew he was listening.
"We were attacked by ninja from your clan, joined by Hikaru—whom you say is your brother—and some of us got hurt. Besides that, you killed the three who were from your own clan!" Kakashi scowled. "I'd advise you to explain everything, so we won't get caught off-guard again like that!"
Shinzuko sighed and got to his feet, walking towards the others.
"Those ninja were from the Dragon family, which is the strongest in our clan," he explained. "For about six years, there has been a feud between the Dragon and Wolf families...about some damn things. Like the debts we owe them." He looked up at the others, each of whom was listening. " And since the Dragon family is stronger, we can't do that much about it."
"What started all this?" Sakura asked tentatively.
The black haired teenager gave a start. "My father's death," he mumbled. Sakura flinched. Continuing with his explanation, Shinzuko said, "I killed them...because they've been after Kyote and me for a long time, and because I...used to be an assassin." He glanced at the boy beside Kyote.
"Hikaru was adopted six years ago from the Dolphin family. My father wanted him since he's a prodigy." Shinzuko glared at Kakashi. "Satisfied?"
"No." The jônin crossed his arms. "Why didn't you or Kyote tell us all this before?"
The teenager didn't reply, just went back to his place at the cliff's edge. No one spoke for some time. They all knew that they had a lot of traveling to do tomorrow.
The full moon was rising.
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Kani: Whaddya think? Here are some questions that'll make you (think, that is):
How did Hikaru know where Team Seven was? Who is he, anyway? What happened to his parents? Are they going to make it to the Land of the Dragons?!!?!?!?!?!?
All that and more coming up in chapter six.