Rants: I've over ranted myself the last time so I'm keeping this short. Belated Happy Halloween to you guys!
Heavy rains and howling winds pounded the village that night. Through the darkness, two silhouettes leapt from roof to roof in their advance. A sudden flash of lightning momentarily illuminated the area revealing the shadows to be mere leaf shinobis.
"Damn it! Why do I have to be put on patrol duty in this storm?" One of them complained aloud, her long hair flying wildly against the violent winds.
"Don't worry! Our shift's done in about fifteen minutes!" The other, a man wearing a yellow raincoat over his standard shinobi uniform, called out as a loud boom of thunder boomed overhead.
"Good! I can't stand this cold any longer!"
The two shinobis abruptly stopped on their tracks when they saw a large explosion suddenly ripped from the side of the nearby administration building. Nodding at each other, the two quickly darted towards the scene. On the way, they saw a shadowy figure moving away from the blast site which from their estimate was trying to make it outside the village.
"STOP!!" The konoichi shouted moving in to intercept the enemy with her partner trailing closely behind. The figure, whoever he was, seemed to have heard the warning and shifted its path directly towards their direction. 'This night won't be a bore after all.' A smile curled on the woman's lips in anticipation of a fight.
The unknown person threw out a number of kunais that the two shinobis dodged with relative ease. Increasing his speed, the shadowy silhouette dashed straight towards the female ninja.
"You won't escape!" The konoichi yelled pulling out a kunai and thrusting it forward. The enemy, however, dodged the attack while continuing on his advance and landed a sharp elbow behind the woman's neck knocking her out cold. Her body slid limply along the slippery rooftop before falling down the edge towards the street below.
Angered for the attack on his partner, the male shinobi produced a set of shurikens and threw it at the enemy causing him to jump backwards as the bladed stars embedded themselves over the roof tiles. Both stopped and stood their ground while eyeing the other. A sudden bright flash of lightning revealed the enemy's features to the leaf shinobi. Standard uniform, flak vest, longish gray hair, and a leaf hite-ate shamelessly tied like a bandana over his head.
"You've got a lot of nerve to pull out a stunt like that when you're already on the run." He pulled out a pair of bladed iron knuckles and lowered his body into a battle ready stance. "You're not going anywhere, Mizuki."
Mizuki didn't offer a reply and began to charge forward. The other one followed his example. Both shinobis met and began trading blows with one another. A few seconds of fighting the leaf shinobi lay unmoving on the cold tile roof, eyes wide open. The rain grew heavier by the minutes masking Mizuki both in sight and sound as he moved further away fading into the darkness.
The weather finally calmed the next morning. Now that the storm has passed, the village with its citizenry was bustling full of activities once again. The same could also be said at the administration building where a number of shinobis, mostly from the Police Force, have flocked its blown down side and surrounding areas to investigate last night's incident.
"Geez, this is quite a mess." Shisui muttered inspecting the sizeable hole as a result of yesterday's explosion.
"Shisui."
"Yo. Nice weather today, isn't it?" Shisui said in greeting at the three Police Force shinobis that landed neatly behind him, all of which are Uchihas. "By the way, how are those two chuunins doing?"
The man with short jet black hair at the center harrumphed lightheartedly. "Hey, don't you go acting all bossy on us just because you've got a higher rank. If you piss us off, we'll kick your ass."
"Hai. Hai. Sempai." Shisui answered flashing a childish wide grin. The older man merely flicked his head in response after which he crossed his arms and turned his back around, his pair of watchful eyes keeping track of the various activities running around the place.
"They won't die. There weren't any major injuries inflicted on them except for the high fever they got from sleeping outside under the storm. The doctors said that they'll probably wake up as soon as their fever subsides which according to their estimates could be around sometime today or maybe tomorrow. Either way, it won't be long before we get our answers," Reported the police shinobi whose long black hair reached pass the shoulder.
"That's good."
The other police operative, the spiky-haired Uchiha who dyed his hair blonde looked up to observe the extent of the damage from the blast. "Who would have thought that that traitor could actually escape from a high-security prison and even defeat two chuunins on the way? Heh, last time I saw him his face was in quite a mess after picking up a fight with that demon brat."
Shisui merely shrugged. "Just like what a friend of mine used to say – don't judge others by your preconceptions and their appearance."
"Yeah right." The blonde Uchiha snorted disbelievingly. "What kind of idiot would make so much of a ruckus and attract attention to himself right after breaking from jail?"
"Well, he did attract attention in the exact way that he planned." Shisui offered. "The explosion was made as a diversion to lure all the shinobis on patrol towards the Administration Building and they did exactly just that leaving most of the village unguarded for his escape. The chuunins were probably on their way here at the blast site when they intercepted Mizuki a few blocks away from the outer walls."
"Hmph! Don't you think you're giving that traitor too much credit? Remember, he did get caught up with the patrols. I think if he didn't get lucky he would have ended right back in jail." The long haired police shinobi reminded him. He shook his head lightly, still unwilling to believe that Mizuki was able to pull such a feat.
"From the first look it would seem that his plan failed. However, the evidence from the scene suggests that the fight between them didn't last more than two minutes long so Mizuki probably didn't have any problems taking care of the two chuunins. After that, no additional encounters with him were reported. And to think that the walls were rigged with shinobi guards last night since storms are usually the best opportunity for enemy ninjas to sneak into the village due to poor visibility. With the guards' attention caught up, sneaking pass the walls should be a breeze especially for someone who knows the ins and outs of the village quite well." Shisui narrated explaining yesterday's scenario. He took a folder containing a record of all the gathered evidences and handed them over to the long haired Uchiha. "Anyway, he's probably running along the forest as we speak so I guess that's the end of the road for us." The young Uchiha continued with a shrug.
"What do you mean?"
"Simple. It means that unless those chuunins tell something interesting in their stories then I'm afraid this will be all there is to investigate. Every angle to the case has already been looked into and from what we can see this is just a simple breakout. There won't be anything we can do for the time being until Mizuki is capture and brought back to the village."
"Then dispatch several police squads and order them to search every nook and cranny of the forest for that traitor," suggested the blonde.
"No." Shisui answered firmly.
"Are you insane?! From what you said, that bastard will try to get out of the Fire Country. If he manages to cross the border then we won't be able to arrest him anymore. If we want to get him back we'll have to move now!" The blonde one said in protest.
"Actually our authority reaches only up to that wall." Shisui pointed towards the faraway outer walls of village. "The jurisdiction of the Konoha Police Force is strictly limited within the confines of the village. Outside that barrier we're completely powerless."
"So, you're saying that we there's nothing we can do about that traitor."
"Not exactly. A manhunt order was already been released to the Anbu early this morning and that's a totally different story from the Police Force. Just relax and let them do the dirty work for us. They'll get him back eventually. For now, you can focus on stalking Umino Iruka."
"And why should we do that?" The long haired Uchiha asked, his eyebrow raised.
"Because I said so." Shisui said in a derisive tone completely shoving his authority down the trio's throat. "I was planning on including Uzumaki Naruto on that surveillance but since he's constantly with Itachi then that'd just be a waste of time. Be sure to keep security on Iruka-san just in case something happens." A loud yawn later and he immediately turned heel and started to march away from the place.
"And where do you think you're going?" The tough looking one with the short hair asked with a frown, his arms crossed over his chest.
"I'm starving so I'll drop by the dango shop and then catch up on my reading." Shisui said pulling out a peach colored book with words Icha Icha Paradise written in bold letters over the cover and shamelessly flashing it at his men.
"You're slacking off again, you lazy bastard." The blonde said in disgust.
"Hey! Using this thing takes a lot of effort you know!" Shisui said pointing at the side of his head causing the three to scowl heavily at him. From the looks on their faces, it's clear that they wanted more than anything to give the brat an ass-whipping he'll never forget. "Besides, I'm sure to get a good tongue lashing from the captain later so I might as well enjoy my last moments to live." Shisui followed turning his back at the trio and proceeding to jump down the ledge before they could complain any further.
"Five laps around the village complete!" Naruto exclaimed triumphantly after reaching the training ground that afternoon. He quickly whipped around and run towards Itachi who was waiting by the log. "Itachi-sensei! I already finished the exercise! What's next on the training? I hope it's a cool jutsu! I can't wait!" He said excitedly.
"You're going to climb trees."
"What?! Another stupid exercise?!" Naruto said in disbelief.
Itachi raised his hand and poked the loud boy on the forehead first before anything else. "Naruto-kun, you have the largest chakra capacity compared to the other genins your age so you should be able to pull out the most number of jutsus, including the advance ones that drain up a huge amount of chakra which even most chuunins will have difficulty handling." He particularly remembered how Naruto gathered so much chakra in his last bid to take the bell back at the genin test that his entire body was glowing in a bright, bluish light also causing the wind to blow unnaturally around them. "This is your other good point."
"Haha! I knew it! I really am the most improve one in the village! I'm a real genius! Hahahaha!" Naruto interjected boastfully.
"On the other hand, your chakra control is far worst." Itachi continued making Naruto's expression fall. "When using a jutsu, I estimate that you use more than twice the needed amount. That wastes a lot of energy which is crucial in a life or death combat situation. Your chakra control is what we are going to polish next so that you'll learn to use that large chakra capacity of yours more effectively."
"But you promised me last time that you'll teach me a cool new move after I finish with the laps! Itachi-sensei, you liar!" Naruto protested.
'Brother, you liar!' Itachi perfectly recalled what his little brother used to say every time he breaks his promise to help Sasuke on his shuriken training or to teach him new moves. Memories such as this made a small smile appear on the jounin's lips which vanished just as quickly.
"Besides, I know how to use my chakra effectively! Watch!" The foxy kid continued forming a set of hand seals for a demonstration. A large puff of smoke later and Naruto stood with four other clones beside him. "How's that, Itachi-sensei?"
Itachi sighed at his student's impatience. "Fine. Let's have a little game."
"What game?" All five Narutos asked at the same time.
"If you manage to hit me at least once, I will acknowledge that you have excellent chakra control and I'll teach you that advance jutsu I promised. You can use whatever jutsu you have. It won't make any difference." Itachi explained. He remained standing upright, not bothering to lower himself into a battle stance while the Naruto clones surround him.
"Ha! This won't last a minute! Get ready Itachi-sensei! Here I come!" The Narutos charged towards Itachi coming from all directions. Two shadow clones throw a punch from behind the jounin but before their fists could make contact, Itachi crouched down and knock the two with one powerful leg sweep. The clones immediately dispelled into small clouds of smoke after hitting the ground.
Itachi then somersaulted backwards evading the two Naruto clones that tried to kick him from either sides before landing perfectly on his feet. When he looked up he saw that the real Naruto was already within an arm's length from him.
"Take this!" Naruto yelled throwing a punch straight towards the young Uchiha's jaw. Itachi however shifted sideways and the punch passed his head harmlessly much to Naruto's dismay. Itachi grabbed the boy's outstretched arm and placed a powerful knee on his gut causing Naruto to fall down on his knees, hands clutching his pained abdomen while gasping out for lost breath.
The two remaining shadow clones had somewhat miraculously maintained form even when the real body was beaten and went to attack the black clad teen. Itachi remained on his spot and swatted the clones aside with swipes from both arms causing them to disperse into puffs of smoke. The Uchiha prodigy then glanced down at his blonde student. "I thought you were going to defeat me in less than a minute?" He said in a tone full of mockery.
Naruto tilted his head up meeting Itachi with a very determined stare. "I'm not done yet!" The boy quickly made a long backward jump landing several feet away. He invoked Kagebunshin once again and this time created about a hundred or so clones that covered most of the training grounds. "This time I'm serious! I'm going to make you teach me that advance jutsu right now!"
The color of the sky had completely turned from bright blue to red orange. On the ground lay a badly beaten Naruto. His entire body was covered with dirt and bruises. Panting heavily, Naruto mustered enough strength to look up to his sensei who just stopped right next to him. "I...I-m not done y...yet..." He muttered weakly.
"Kagebunshin disperses chakra equally but instead of only the needed amount, you channel about twice more chakra into each clone. Your continued use of the jutsu coupled with the number of clones you create with each use summed up to the huge total of chakra wasted. You only fared this far because you have a massive chakra capacity to begin with." Itachi explained. "If you only had better chakra control, this fight would have lasted well into the night and maybe by that time, you might have actually landed a punch."
Naruto nodded, finally understanding his sensei's point. He pulled himself up to a sitting position eyes still locked on the man towering before him. "What should I do then, Itachi-sensei?"
Itachi turned around and walked over to a nearby tree. Everything had been perfectly normal until Itachi began to walk up the tall tree vertically with only his two feet in contact with the wooden trunk. He continued to walk upside down into a large outlying branch.
"WOW! That's so cool!" Naruto exclaimed as he watched the amazing feat.
"This exercise will teach you how to control chakra effectively. The main purpose of this training is to teach you how to accumulate the right amount of chakra at the right place. This is quite difficult even for well-trained ninjas. Secondly, you will learn how to maintain chakra. In battle, ninjas usually gather chakra most of the time while being constantly on the move. These types of situations make it even more difficult to control chakra." Itachi explained.
Naruto nodded unattentively. 'Geez, Itachi-sensei is just like hokage-jiisan, always getting worked out on lectures.'
"Gather chakra at the bottom of your feet and make it stick on the tree trunk. The amount of chakra needed to climb the tree is small but it must be exact. It is said that the bottom of the feet is the hardest place to gather chakra so theoretically if you learn how to do this exercise then you can master any kind of justu."
"Really?! I can learn any jutsu if I can do that tree climbing thing?!" Naruto asked aloud, his voice ringing with enthusiasm.
"Yes." Itachi answered with a nod. He pulled out a kunai from the holster in his leg and tossed it before Naruto. "Use that kunai to mark how high you can make it up the tree then try to make a new mark above that mark. With your current abilities, you won't be able to climb by walking so get some momentum and run up the tree. Do you understand?"
"Hah this is easy!" Naruto bragged while picking up the kunai. "I'll climb that tree in a flash since I'm the most improved one in the village!"
Itachi glanced at the sky seeing the sun hide itself halfway down the horizon. "It's still around five in the afternoon so we still have about an hour of practice to go."
"I'll get this thing done before six! Here I go!" Naruto dashed towards the tree next to Itachi's and as soon as he got close, stuck his foot flat unto the wooden trunk. He only managed to climb two steps up before his foot slipped causing the boy to fall with his head hitting painfully against the ground in an earsplitting smack. "OUCH!!"
'You still have a long way to go.' Itachi commented mentally. A faint sound of rustling leaves made him dart his eyes quickly towards that direction catching a glimpse of a presence moving along the bushes.
Naruto run vertically up the tree but fell down right after with a loud thud. The blonde pulled himself up glancing up the tree while rubbing his sore crown. Itachi only meet him early that morning and left fifteen minutes later. This was one of the rare days where the young jounin would leave him to train on his own. Not that Naruto minds anyway. All that his sensei really does was sit quietly on that fallen log all day and watch him make a fool of himself. He may give a few hints from time to time but mostly he'd just make snide comments to mock his lack of progress.
'Only eight feet in three days...' The boy thought staring at the height he managed to mark. "Dammit!" He cursed in frustration. He formed a hand seal gathering the necessary chakra on his feet to try once more.
Little did he know, someone was waiting from within the woods watching him from afar. The thick cloud hanging on the sky finally moved with the wind allowing more light into the forest and revealing a girl half hidden behind the large trunk of a nearby tree. Feeling totally contented to remain at a distance, admiration etched over her face at a sight of the hyperactive blonde who was working hard on his training.
"What are you doing here?"
The girl yelped aloud in surprise. She felt nervousness quickly overwhelm her.
"Itachi-sensei, did you buy ramen?!" Naruto asked anxiously whilst turning around. He was quite surprised to see the blue haired girl standing next to the Uchiha prodigy. "Hinata? What are you doing here?"
"A...ano..." Hinata squeaked shyly at a loss of words. She lowered her head in an effort to hide her furiously blushing face and began fidgeting with her fingers.
'The heir to the Hyuuga clan.' Itachi noted mentally. Being an important member of one of Konoha's most prestigious clans, the girl was quite well-known within the village. Itachi studied her features for a while before turning his eyes back to his student. "Is she a friend of your?"
"Yes. We were classmates at the Academy." Naruto explained.
Hinata desperately wanted to run away from the place but that seemed to be impossible however as Itachi placed a hand over her shoulder and steered her into the clearing until she was standing right before Naruto. Standing in front of the boy made her feel totally uneasy.
Naruto stared at Hinata through squinted eyes and noticed her glance at him before looking away just as quickly. 'She's weird.'
"Here's lunch." Itachi said raising a plastic bag containing two large bento boxes.
"Ne, sensei, did you buy the ramen I asked you to?" The blonde asked taking the bag and quickly browsing through its contents.
"No."
"What?!" Naruto exclaimed in disbelief. He dug inside the bag and flashed a stick of sweet dumpling disapprovingly at Itachi. "How come you get to eat dango for dessert while I can't have ramen?! That's totally unfair!"
"I won't be having lunch here today. There are a few things that I need to finish so just share these between the two of you." Itachi said.
Hinata actually gasped in disbelief. Spending lunch with Naruto was something she never expected. She glance at the boy and saw him nod obediently at his sensei's instruction.
"I'll come back later this afternoon to check your progress." With that said, Itachi disappeared in a small puff of smoke.
Silence reigned throughout the clearing afterwards. Hinata was feeling all nervous knowing the fact that there she was all alone with the boy she admired standing right next to her. Seeing Naruto glance at her with a dumbfounded look made her want to just vanish into thin air. She was too focused on cursing herself for being too shy to say anything to him that it came as a huge surprise when Naruto extended a bento at her.
"Hey Hinata, will you join me for lunch? I can't eat all these stuff you know." Naruto said grinning toothily at the shy girl.
"A...arigatou, Naruto-kun." Hinata answered meekly reluctantly taking the bento box. The tint on her cheeks growing a deeper shade of red.
Naruto immediately sat on the ground and pried his lunch open. Clapping his hands together, he closed his eyes to say a short prayer before gazing back to the assortment of mouth-watering delicacies waiting for him to devour. After all, if he was to continue training he'd need all the food he could get. "Itadakemasu!"
Hinata couldn't help but smile inwardly at the light-hearted display. She too sat on the ground and began to eat her lunch slowly and in silence, a clear testament to her noble upbringing, and quite contrary to Naruto's loud manner of shoveling food into his mouth, something that other people might find disgusting.
As Mizuki wandered deeper into the forest the thick blanket of leaves overhead from the large trees growing closely together made the entire place look as dark as dusk. The leaf chuunin walked pass a giant tree and found a mist shinobi standing a few paces away from him. His arms crossed over his chest and from the looks of it, the man had been waiting for him for quite some time now.
"You were supposed to show up yesterday." The mist shinobi said. A device resembling that of a gas mask covering the lower part of his face kept his expression hidden though the tinge of irritation in his voice said it all.
"Don't fuss about it too much. I had to lay low until everything cools off." Mizuki replied.
"Did you bring it?"
"Here." Mizuki removed the large scroll hanging behind his back. "But before I give it you, can you first tell your boys to come out of hiding. It's quite annoying you see."
The mist shinobi let out a derisive chuckle. "Fine. Show yourselves, everyone."
In a blink of an eye seven more shinobis appeared, three over the large branches of the surrounding trees and four on the ground next to the leader. Each one had a Kirigakure hite-ate tied across their foreheads and accompanying gas mask over their faces. Mizuki grinned at the sight. Keeping his part of the deal, he threw the large scroll into the air which landed straight into the mist shinobi's outstretched hand.
The man who appeared to be the leader of the group opened the scroll and read through its first contents. "Kagebunshin? I see..." He rolled the scroll close apparently satisfied. There was no need to read any further, at least for the moment. "This really is Konoha's Scroll of Forbidden Seals. I'm amazed at you."
Mizuki took an involuntary step back as the other shinobis began to inch forward. A fierce tension slowly filled the damp air around them. 'Something's wrong.' Mizuki thought as nervousness and unease slowly crept up his body. "What's the meaning of this?" He asked forcefully, gathering his resolve to shout at the man holding the scroll.
"Heh heh. You were a great spy for the Hidden Mist, Mizuki, however..." The mist shinobi looked up flashing a pair of frightful eyes at the unfortunate traitor. "...you have outlived your usefulness to us."
Mizuki was frozen dead on his feet when he felt a presence suddenly appear right behind him. Certainly, a ninth mist shinobi was hovering over his back with a kunai in hand.
Back at the training grounds, Naruto was attempting another shot at tree climbing while several paces away Hinata sat on the fallen log watching the boy train. There was an awkward silence that settled between them as Naruto was completely absorbed on his training while Hinata was being terribly shy to string a couple of words together around her crush.
She really wanted to leave since the time Itachi caught her watching Naruto from behind one of the large trees around but was too embarrassed to say anything. 'What should I do? Maybe I should go say my leave but Naruto-kun might take offense in it.' Hinata thought debating with herself. A loud thud echoed across the vicinity snapping the Hyuuga heir off her reverie. Naruto managed to fall off the tree with his head smacking painfully against the ground. She looked worriedly at him but her shyness got it the way preventing her from saying anything. 'A-at least I should say something to him...'
"Ouch..." Naruto moaned rubbing the top of his head. He looked up and a swell of pride burst from his face. The markings on the trunk had finally reached ten feet. The boy was clearly pleased with the fact that he had progressed by as much as two feet since lunch. 'Yosh! I'm finally getting the hang of this. A few more tries and I'll be able to reach the top.' He formed a hand seal, gathering chakra into his feet to try once more but stopped after he heard a voice resembling a squeak from behind.
"N...Naruto-kun..."
"Eh? What's wrong, Hinata?" Naruto asked turning around and walking towards the shy girl.
"I...I was j-just wandering i-if I can also do something like that..." Hinata asked looking down on the ground fidgeting her fingers. The sight of an approaching Naruto sent quivers in her chest together with a darkening blush over her cheeks.
"That?" Naruto asked looking back at the marked tree. It easily came to him that Hinata was referring to the tree climbing exercise. "Of course you can!" He exclaimed turning back to the shy girl.
Hinata looked up and quickly turned her gaze away when she met Naruto's blue eyes staring down at her. "B-but it looks difficult. I... I don't think I can..."
"Of course you can!" Naruto repeated impatiently. He reached down grabbing one of Hinata's arms much to the girl's surprise. Naruto then proceeded to pulling her up on her feet. "You just need to have confidence in yourself! I'm sure you can do it!" He continued encouraging her.
Hinata was surprised at the faith Naruto was putting in her. Never in her life had she met someone who believed in her as she was used to being looked down at home, especially by her father for her lack of ability. With doubt looming over, the white-eyed girl looked sadly down on the ground.
Naruto felt his irritation mount over the girl's lack of self-confidence. "Listen. Just gather chakra on your feet then run up the tree. It's actually not that hard once you start to get the hang of it." Naruto instructed.
Hinata nodded and reluctantly did what she was told to do. Joining her hands forming a hand seal to mold chakra unto her feet, she began to race across the ground and didn't take long before she reached the same tree Naruto was trying to climb. The first step came as a success with her foot sticking firmly against the wood. 'I can do this. Naruto-kun is watching me. I cannot fail.' Her thoughts screamed as she made it step by step up the tree. Suddenly her foot slipped causing her to lose balance and pummeled straight down.
She was anticipating a hard impact with the ground below but instead her back got to land on something quite soft. When she turned around she saw Naruto lying directly underneath her breaking her fall. Blood creeping up to her face, she quickly jumped off the boy. "G-gomenasai..." She muttered weakly. Right now, she didn't think she'd have any courage left to even at look him.
"Hinata..." Naruto muttered while pulling himself up to a sitting position.
'He's probably thinking what a failure I am.' Hinata thought sadly lowering her head in shame. 'I shouldn't have tried climbing up that tree. I just made myself look stupid in front of him.' She suddenly felt a pair of hands grasp her shoulders and when she looked up she saw Naruto staring at her, his face beaming with admiration.
"You're so cool, Hinata! You made up to at least fourteen feet on your first try!"
Surprised, Hinata glanced up the tree. All that she could see were the marks Naruto had scratched off from the bark. There was absolutely no way for her to confirm if the achievement the boy was giving her credit for was true or not. For all she knew, she may not have even reached halfway through the marks.
"Ne, Hinata. Can you give me some tips?"
When she turned her head down once more, the same look didn't seem to leave Naruto's face. It was something Hinata sees as truly genuine, her eyes can tell that much. "S-sure..." She said nodding meekly, a light shade of pink staining her cheeks. Naruto believed in her from deep within his heart so she thought that the least she could do to repay his kindness was for her to believe in herself. 'Arigatou Naruto-kun. From now on, I'll try harder.'
The mist shinobi was only a few inches short from planting the sharp steel inside Mizuki's head when suddenly his body was forcefully propelled to the left all the way until a loud crash with a large tree trunk stopped his flight completely. The man's comrades watched in shock at the sight of the poor shinobi whose skull was cracked open by the kunai embedded on the side of his head.
"Heh, you should have known better to examine the goods thoroughly first before leaving the merchant." Mizuki sneered. The fear stricken expression on his face was immediately replaced by that of a haughty self-confident grin. He quickly formed a hand seal triggering the Scroll of Forbidden Seals to explode right before the unfortunate shinobi holding it.
"Damn it! You tricked us!" The remaining mist shinobis took out a kunai a piece and threw them straight at Mizuki. Before the knives could hit their mark however a set of shurikens rained down from above hitting the kunais which in turn caused them to land harmlessly on the ground.
A blur then fell from the canopies landing perfectly in front of Mizuki. The mist shinobis' eyes widened after they've recognized the pair of blood red eyes that decorated the teen's handsome face. "Y-you... you're an Uchiha!" One of the shinobis standing on the forest floor said aloud.
Itachi nodded lightly. Suited up with his Anbu gear, the young jounin rushed forward and buried a kunai right into a mist shinobi's throat before he or any of his teammates could react. A twist and a sudden pull later and the head snapped free from the rest of the man's body, falling on the ground and rolling to a stop so that its face was turned towards the remaining shinobis. The final feelings of fear still etched across it. A stream of blood gushed from the severed neck staining Itachi's face.
"I-is he... a demon..." One of them mumbled. A mixture of hatred and fear swept across the remaining foreigners but in the end the desire to avenge their comrades overwhelmed. Three mist shinobis charged towards Itachi, armed with weapons at hand and the burning desire to rip the kid to pieces.
Up on the branches the three other Mist shinobis were about to jump into the fray below when sounds of shurikens striking the wood a few inches from their feet caught their collective attention. Looking towards the direction from which the weapons came, the three saw another leaf shinobi with the same red eyes and black hair as the one below.
"Won't you guys play with me instead? I'll give you a really good service." Shisui said cockily while keeping his arms crossed.
"Who do you take us for, you bastard!" The mist shinobis were about to launch themselves at the man but found their bodies unable to move as soon as they saw Shisui narrowed his sharingan eyes at them.
"What's going on?" One of them asked in confusion when they saw parts of the branch they were standing on grow at an astonishing rate. The wooden appendages worked its way around their bodies securing them in place.
"There's no need to ask a pointless question like that." Shisui offered. He suddenly disappeared from his perch and reappeared beside one of the mist shinobis. He continued on going to the second and then the third covering all three of them in a short span of a second. "You're going to die anyway." He whispered softly on the third shinobi's ear.
Long slits appeared over their necks draining life quickly out of their systems. With their visions blurring at the approaching death, they found themselves to be free from any constrains compelling them to make a last second realization before their bodies gave way for the force of gravity to take over. "...g-genjutsu..."
Back on the ground, Itachi loosened his fist dropping the blood stained kunai and reached for the katana hanging behind his back. Waiting patiently until the mist shinobis got close enough, Itachi pulled the sword off and in one swift swing his blade sliced through their bodies with brutal elegance. Blood rained down smearing the whole area with red tint as a pungent smell began to fill the air.
Shisui jumped down and went to examine the leader of this small group. Though his face, arms, and body were severely burned, he was still breathing which served the Police Force jounin perfectly. "Damn. You better be worth all the trouble I did making that fake scroll not to mention the Administration Building's repair cost." Shisui said hoisting the injured captive over his shoulder.
Mizuki, for his part, also collapsed to the ground as soon as Shisui stared directly at his eyes. After cancellation, the sharingan genjutsu finally took its tool over the body rendering its victim unconscious from both physical and mental fatigue.
"This scheme of yours, I have already paid you back my debts." Itachi said putting his katana back into the sheath on his back. He took out a piece of white handkerchief and wiped his face clean.
"Yeah. But for a favor..." Shisui pointed a free hand at the fallen Mizuki. "Could you help me bring that bastard back to the village? You see, my hands are quite full right now."
Itachi merely glanced down at the unconscious chuunin and without a word, disappeared plainly out of sight. Light rustling of leaves sounded in his wake.
"Hmph. What a friend." Shisui muttered wearing a scowl.
Naruto and Hinata were walking along the dirt track leading out of the woods that afternoon. Thought exhausted, the boy was in a fairly good mood because of the huge progress he made in today's training thanks to Hinata's tips which came as a big help for him. Hinata was also feeling better. Training with her Naruto-kun even for just a short time showed her that she can accomplish a lot of things if she just had faith in her abilities.
It didn't take long before Naruto spotted three people emerging from another part of the forest and among them was someone familiar. "Hey! Geji-Mayu!" Naruto shouted aloud waving at the direction of the group. The others seemed to have noticed as they stopped walking and turned their way. Naruto rushed towards the group while Hinata continued walking in a slow pace following the blonde.
"It's been a long time, Naruto-kun." Lee greeted happily. The boy had longish, slightly curled hair, round-eyes, and trademark thick eyebrows. He was flanked on both sides by his teammates Hyuuga Neji and Tenten. Naruto narrowed his eyes slightly at the sight of the white-eyed boy. Apparently, he still had a few grudge at the Hyuuga prodigy for the little incident back during the explanatory meetings at the Academy. Neji, on the other hand, nodded lightly and gave an indifferent look at him.
"What are you kids doing, wasting the spring time of your lives?"
A tall jounin suddenly appeared in a puff of smoke shocking the wits out of Naruto. "G-geji-Mayu... W-who the hell is that...?" Naruto asked pointing at the man standing behind the three kids. "Super bobbed hair... super thick eyebrows... This is the first time I've seen such a thing..." Naruto continued, his voice trembling. Simply put, the guy was just too weird for him to handle on any day.
"Hey you! Don't make fun of Gai-sensei!" Lee shouted angrily. Large knots of nerves throbbing over his forehead.
"Like the hell I won't! I don't exactly know how to react to that weird guy!" Naruto yelled back.
"What did you say...?!" Lee said, raising his fist threateningly.
'He is the vessel for the kyuubi...' Gai thought to himself while examining the blonde kid. "Lee, is he a friend of yours?" He asked cutting the bickering between the two youths.
"Hai." Lee nodded and proceeded to introduce the boy. "Gai-sensei, this is Naruto-kun. He aspires to become hokage some day."
"I see..."
"A-ano... Naruto-kun..."
Gai stopped momentarily when he saw a cute blue haired girl approach closer and positioned herself next Naruto. "OHHH!!! What is this passionate thing?! Certainly, romance is the best moment you youthful kids could have during the spring time of your life!" He exclaimed causing every pair of eyes to lock into Naruto and Hinata. The milky color of Hinata's face suddenly turned bright red. She took a step back hiding herself behind Naruto trying to make herself as small as possible while placing her finger over her mouth ease the embarrassment. Unfortunately for her, her actions only made Gai's tears flow out in joy. "Yes... This is youth..."
"SHUT UP you weird super thick eyebrows idiot!!! We're nothing like that! Hinata's just helping me with my training!" Naruto bellowed angrily at the man.
"Don't call Gai-sensei names!" Lee snapped.
Hinata glanced away, something that she always do whenever she's nervous, and unintentionally her eyes fell on Neji. He was staring intently at her with hard cold eyes. Hinata tensed up from his presence making her turn the opposite way.
"Hinata-sama..." Neji muttered catching everyone's attention. "This is why you're a failure. You waste your time hanging around riffraff like that thinking that he can help you can change yourself." Neji cast an eye at Naruto for a moment before turning them back at Hinata. "You are indeed a spoiled kid."
"What did you say, you bastard?" Naruto said through gritted teeth.
"Anyway, that's perfectly natural." Neji continued with a shrug. "Birds of the same feather tend to flock together in order to gain comfort from one another. The same goes for humans. People usually prefer the company of others whom they think are like them, crying over each others' shoulders to drive away their miseries."
"Neji, stop it," called Gai. His words however fell on deaf ears.
"You two are definitely alike. A reject and a dead last."
"Why you little piece of shit!" Naruto charged forward throwing his fist towards the stuck-up brat. Neji simply sidestepped the attack and landed a flurry of punches on Naruto's face, chest and midsection before finishing the combo with a palm strike throwing the blonde several paces back into the ground.
"Hmph. You're even weaker that Lee." Neji mocked. Next to him, Lee said nothing and merely lowered his head. He couldn't say anything back after losing so badly from when he last challenged Neji a few days back.
"Naruto-kun!" Hinata exclaimed worriedly. She quickly got herself next to Naruto's side.
"Damn you..." Naruto cursed wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth with his sleeve.
"Get up."
Naruto looked up surprised to see Itachi towering over him. He didn't know how his sensei managed to sneak up behind him and Hinata but he simply cast the thought aside and obedient did what he was ordered to. "What are you doing here, Itachi-sensei?" Naruto asked pulling himself out of Hinata's support.
"So this is your jounin-sensei." Neji said turning his eyes at Itachi. "I've heard so much about you, Uchiha Itachi. For a true genius such as yourself, why do you even bother wasting your time over someone like him?"
Itachi chose not to answer and simply kept his silence. Next to him, Naruto was seething and clenching his fist tight as his temper grew beyond melting point.
"Naruto, you are one lucky fellow. You get to have the number one jounin of Konoha to train you." Neji continued shifting his gaze back at Naruto. "However, that changes nothing. No matter how hard you try or whoever looks after you, a loser will always be a loser. That is the fate you carry and there's nothing you can do to change it."
"Shut up! Labeling people like that and saying that they can't change, I'll kick your ass!" Naruto screamed charging towards Neji the second time around.
"Hmph. You sure are stubborn." Neji closed his eyes and shook his head lightly, apparently amused at the blonde's attitude. "It's useless. You won't even lay a finger on me." He said sounding very confident of himself. However, when he opened his eyes to watch the fast approaching Naruto, a sudden feeling of dread and helplessness rushed over his entire being. In his mind, Neji saw horrific scenes of himself being beaten, wounded, and slaughtered, his blood spewing all over the place. 'What's going on? What is this strong killing intent?' He thought panicking with fear, cold sweat slowly coming out from his skin.
"Take this you bastard!" Naruto exclaimed extending his fist against Neji's face.
With the image of death imprinted over his mind, Neji found his body completely frozen thus leaving himself wide open to receive the blow. Neji toppled on the ground after which he raised his head up and eyed Naruto reproachfully. The pain from that punch seemed to have snapped his senses back on track. The fear vanished as if it never came in the first place.
Gai shifted his sight over to Itachi who was standing directly behind Naruto and noticed his eyes changing color from deep red to black. 'Kanashibari no Jutsu... I see...' He thought, his lips curling up to form a light smile and resolved to keep the realization to himself. "Stop it everyone. It's time to go home."
Lee nodded. "See you around, Naruto-kun. You too, Hinata-san." The boy called out waving at the two before allowing himself to be dragged along by his sensei. Neji got up with a little help from Tenten. He glared at Naruto but chose to keep his quiet and went after the rest of his team.
"That also goes for you two." Itachi followed causing both Naruto and Hinata to stare at him. The jounin then shifted his attention towards his student. "Training will resume early tomorrow morning. Go have some rest." Itachi practically disappeared from sight leaving Naruto and Hinata alone.
"A-ano... Naruto-kun... umm... thank you very much...for standing up for me..." Hinata was looking at the ground again, her face having that eternal blush and was playing with her fingers yet again.
"Heh. It's nothing." Naruto said scratching the back of his head and grinning widely. He wasn't used to people thanking him that it's giving him a hard time handling. "Listen Hinata, if that guy ever badmouths you again just call me okay. I'll give him the ass beating he deserves."
"But..."
"Don't worry about it already. If you call I'll surely come right away because..." Naruto said flashing a toothy grin and a thumbs up. "I don't go back on my word, that is my nindo."
Hinata was left rooted on her place, completely stunned and utterly speechless. A light breeze picked up swaying her hair while she stared, mesmerized, at the boy she admired.
"See later, Hinata!" He said before turning around and running towards the village's commercial center. A few bowls of ramen at Ichiraku was always a good way to cap off a long, eventful day.
Light from the bright full moon hanging outside flooded the detention cell through the small grilled window. Mizuki was lying on his bed when the creaks from the thick metal doors slowly sliding open caught his attention. Standing outside the entrance was a lone Anbu, fully geared up with his armor plates, katana hanging behind the back and mask to hide the face. "What do you want?" The chuunin asked pulling himself up as the Anbu made his way inside the room.
The Anbu pulled off his mask revealing ash colored hair and a young man's face though it was quite hard to make out his eyes due to his round spectacles reflecting the moonlight. However, that didn't prove to be a problem as Mizuki recognized him just the same. Fear immediately gripped his body. "You... W-what are you doing here?" He asked, his voice shaking.
"The message has been delivered. He is quite pleased with your performance. However..." The young man put his mask back in place and placed a hand over the hilt of his sword. "...you have outlived your usefulness to us." A split second later, pained screams filled the hallow walls of the prison which echoed out through the window and into the vast cloudless sky of the night.