Disclaimer: No I do not own Naruto.
Wings of the White Angel
Chapter 23: Training
A cold wind blew through his body, and then Death found himself standing in the red light of his private quarters. ("That man was Naruto? How annoying…I had to let Kakashi live because of him.") His chakra flexed and the ice energy that held it in place shattered. ("That was such a waste of time then…I didn't even get the demon.")
The door to his room opened. "Kemukage-sama, why are you back so soon?"
"I encountered resistance worthy of some small notice." Turning, Death moved towards his doors. "What do Lust and Gluttony report?"
"They report that all methods of entry into Konoha still remain tightly guarded. Unless you would like to declare war on the entire nation, it is not an option to infiltrate through most conventional and even unconventional means." The messenger remained in the shadows right outside the door.
"Hmm…" Death rubbed at his chin. "Then let's see how Kakashi reacts to me playing 'fair'."
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The sound of running footsteps caught Naruto's attention. "Doctor! Doctor! Kin Watanabe is gone!"
"What?" The head doctor came running out of his office, just in time to hear Naruto burst out laughing. "Where did he go?"
"I don't know. I went into his room and the window was open!" The nurse began to panic, because she could only imagine what kinds of troubles would spring from this. Hokage-sama, still one of the hottest available men in Konoha, might just blame her for it!
Naruto stood up and grinned. "Don't worry, I know where he is and I'll bring him back." Then the replication dispelled itself right before their eyes.
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Naruto stood at the top of the hospital, where the hospital staff would hang up cloth to make it dry faster. He knew exactly where Kin would have gone. "Come on out, I know you're here."
"What do you want?" An angry voice growled out.
"I want to try and help you understand your problem." Taking on seriousness to his tone, Naruto continued to wander around amongst the maze of towels looking for the boy. "I know you're somewhere nearby, so why hide?"
"Because I'm a freak now…" Kin's voice was angry, very angry. And it reminded Naruto of someone…of Garaa.
("It reminds me of myself too. When I was a child I cursed the world, thinking I was completely wrong to even live.") Naruto sighed and walked towards the veils of sheets that cut the two of them off. "Listen, it can't be that bad." Reaching out, he moved the sheets aside and gasped at what he saw.
Kin was looking out over the edge of the roof, his eyes looking down at the ground below sadly. "Can't be that bad?" His canine features had become much more prominent, to the point of making him look completely feral even when he was calm. Not only that, but atop his head there were a pair of canine ears that were the same strange green the rest of his hair was. His hair cut off all view of where his regular ears should be, and Naruto knew better than to just flat out ask. "Death's touch did something to me…it did more than shattering the seal on the jewel, didn't it? Even the doctors don't understand what it means…"
Naruto closed his eyes and walked over slowly to sit next to Kin, dangling his legs over the side of the roof. For a few minutes neither of them said anything…
"I can't even see my mother anymore…" Kin clenched his fist tightly to the point of drawing blood. "She mustn't see me like this. It would break her heart to see her son as some kind of monster…"
"Yeah, she'd probably hate you and shun you, wouldn't she?" Naruto grinned, speaking words that didn't fit his happy facial expression. "Your life would end. Maybe you're just better off running away?"
"What?" Kin slowly turned to look at Kakashi's savior like he was insane. "How can you possibly smile at that…?"
Naruto stood up, getting right into Kin's face. "You're useless. What kind of son can't even uphold his mother's requests? She wanted you to be safe, right? And yet here you are, now a horrible ugly monster that no one can tolerate."
Kin's muscles tightened and he snarled from deep within his throat. "Shut up…"
"Maybe we should just lock you up and throw away the key, monstrosity…" Naruto started to laugh.
"Shut up!" Kin punched as fast as he could, but Naruto was already moving backwards. Following, the boy unleashed a flurry of attacks that would have killed anyone who had been in their way. "What do you know about it? Do you think I wanted this to happen? I hate it!" The last sentence was screamed as loudly as possible.
Naruto stood at the corner edge of the rooftop now. "You can't protect your mother, or any of them from Death. If he wants them to die, then all you can do is join them. You know that, don't you?"
Kin's eyes now reflected a feral anger at the man in front of him. "NO! I will protect them from him…I will not let the Seven Sins have their way with Konoha!"
"And just what can you do, scared little puppy?" Naruto still smiled, despite the venom in his words.
"I will get stronger! I will not let them defeat me simply because of some lousy demon in my body!" Kin's chakra flared to life around him. "I will protect them all!" He glared at Naruto, tears forming in his eyes. "Now…" His words cut off in his throat as suddenly the situation changed. His rage seemed to dissolve in the wind, replaced by a sadness that left him crying.
Naruto hugged Kin gently, letting the boy sob into his shoulder. ("He's only twelve…but he already understands what I knew at that age…") Tears were in his eyes too. "I'm so sorry Kin…please forgive me…"
Deep within his heart, Kin knew it had been a test of will. Naruto had wanted to make sure that his resolve was still in place. "I won't give up on my dream…I will master the Radiant Paradise and stop Death from destroying Konoha…"
Naruto smiled slyly. "But how can you do that at your current level of strength?"
"I can't." Kin cracked his knuckles, his plight about his new form forgotten. "I'll simply get stronger. That's what you would do, isn't it Naruto-san?"
"How can you get stronger? By training your muscles more?" Naruto chuckled. "It won't be enough." He stood up and extended a hand. "Let me help you…let me help you achieve your goal. In one month the Chuunin Exam will begin. By then you'll be ready, I swear it."
"You…you want me to train under you?" Kin's hands started to tremble. He'd never thought to go to someone else for training. And the more he thought about it, the better it sounded. "What about Kai and Yurei, I can't just leave them in the dust…"
Naruto grinned slyly once more. "I've got plans for those two. Kai reminds me a lot of a certain someone that I think he would like to meet…"
Kin grabbed Naruto's hand and squeezed roughly. "I accept! Thank you so much, Naruto-sama!"
Blushing, Naruto rubbed the back of his head with his free hand. "There's no need for that sama stuff. Just call me Naruto."
Nodding, Kin turned to look out over Konoha. "In one month…I'll protect you all from the Seven Sins!" He yelled this at the top of his lungs. "I'll achieve my goals…I'll reach a new level of strength to do it!"
Naruto patted his new student on the shoulder. "Yeah, you will. But first…what's your name? I never really caught it…"
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A loud yell of surprise, followed by a half-naked Kakashi running out of his room, was happening at this moment in time. "Ayumi! Stop it!"
"But Kakashi-sama, someone has to wash your back while you are in bed!" Said girl came charging out after her beloved moments later. "Kakashi-sama!" The whole building shook for a moment, bringing her pause. ("Was that an earthquake?")
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Naruto looked down over the edge of the roof at the crater that Kin had created when he had face-fallen right off the ledge. "I bet that hurt."
A muffled noise came from the crater, indicating agreement. Apparently it did hurt, a lot.
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A few minutes later, Kin and Naruto entered the hospital once more. Upstairs they could both hear some kind of commotion, and from the sounds of it Ayumi was involved.
Kin rolled his eyes, none the worse for his fall, other than a little dusty. "What a strange girl…how can she obsess after someone like Hokage-sama?" He froze as the whole hospital went silent….
"Because Kakashi-sama is perfect!" Ayumi yelled right into one of his canine ears. Kin was floored by the volume, while Naruto face-fell because apparently Ayumi was better than she let on when it came to ninja skills. There was no other explanation for suddenly going from being upstairs to downstairs so quickly. "His greatness of form and strength make him the perfect man to idolize. And his mysterious demeanor is so appealing because he's just like the mysterious hero of every great action romance story ever told since the beginning of time!"
Kin decided that to prevent further face-falling, he'd just stay on the ground. Naruto decided on the same.
Ayumi huffed at both of them and then when they blinked again she was gone.
"Is…is she always like that?" Naruto slowly stood up.
Kin nodded weakly and stood up as well. "Yeah…whenever Hokage-sama is involved."
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"You can't hope to match me, you know that, right?" Yurei said calmly, Shadow Goddess slung over one shoulder. "I've got your number."
"So you say." Kai pushed his sunglasses a little farther up on his nose. "I, on the other hand, know the truth. You can't fight your way past my skills, no matter how sharp your sword is."
"You know how to talk big, but can you back it up?" Yurei calmly grasped Shadow Goddess' hilt with both hands. "Well?"
Kai smiled slightly and felt all of his muscles bunching up as he got ready to make his move. "Of course…ready?" Then he disappeared.
Yurei twisted on one foot, and turned about one hundred degrees to his right. Sure enough, Kai was right there in a mid-attack position. "You can't expect to beat me with such slow…" Slashing through the replacement log that he knew was already there, he used the force of the horizontal swing to spin and face Kai, who had appeared directly behind him. "…reflexes, can you Kai?"
"Who said I'm slow?" Kai snickered as Shadow Goddess met resistance in mid-swing. "I can see through it all, you know that." His kunai, enhanced by his chakra, easily held the blade at bay. "Sharpen that resolve, or else you can't hit me."
"I'll sharpen it more than enough for you!" Yurei knocked the weapon away and leapt, the blade glowing white. "Kage Mangetsu!" Then the world turned to white fire for Kai.
Seconds later, Yurei was hurtling through the air. ("That didn't connect…he's too quick for it to connect without using a different method to disable him!") Right as he landed, he felt the sudden tingle of gathering chakra. ("Crap…")
"Katon; Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" Kai exhaled his fireball quickly, knowing that he was attacking a shadow replication before the attack had even been launched. ("He can't actually expect me to fall for such an amateur trick…")
Yurei leapt out of the fire, sword glowing bright white. "You're over-thinking the situation! Kage Mangetsu!" Then the blade fell.
Kai threw himself away, though the burst of energy blew him into a tree roughly. ("He's right, the escaping form I saw was a shadow replication. I thought too much into his counter technique…") Then he was moving, using the superhuman speed he had gained through Kin's training techniques to find some kind of opening in the nearly impossible defensive network Yurei had. ("The Shadow Genius can sense any attack coming from any direction…there's no way I can possibly hope to catch up to…") He blinked as Yurei disappeared in a burst of white smoke. ("Another replication?") Stopping and spinning around, he gasped at the falling white blade that was mere inches from him.
"Kage Mangetsu!" And then it was over.
Kai pulled himself free from the crater his body had created. "You're good…"
Yurei stood up and took a deep breath. "You're very good yourself, considering I nearly burned myself out trying to catch you with my attack." They both had, in the short time since Pride, learned to appreciate each other's abilities just a little more.
A quiet clapping caught both of their attentions. "Not bad at all…not bad at all. Maybe Naruto was right about your abilities…"
Both boys went silent, as they realized that neither of them had sensed anyone nearby until the man had already made himself known. "Who are you?"
The man was a tall, well-built gentleman in his late twenties. He had long black hair that was tied in a pony-tail, and his eyes had the knowing glow of experience to them. "My name?" Something about the look that crossed his face reminded Yurei far too much of Kai. "Uchiha Sasuke…."
"Uc…hi…ha?" Kai froze…
"You mean…" Yurei couldn't believe it. Uchiha Sasuke was considered a legend, because he was the last recorded member of the legendary Uchiha clan.
"That's right." Sasuke never grew tired of the mix of respect and fear his name drew from anyone who knew of his clan's history. ("They're right to fear me…") He didn't understand why Naruto had mentioned this Akurei boy's house in the first place. ("Was I supposed to be impressed by the fight those two had? It was…")
"You possess Sharingan?" Kai stepped a little closer. "Correct?"
Though caught off guard by the question, Sasuke nodded.
"Then you will train me." Kai's tone offered no other option.
Yurei just stared between the two, while a cold breeze blew through his backyard.
To be continued…