It is again time to answer questions.
I get the general feeling some people don't understand how the Hunter-nin recognized Naruto. They didn't, it was a picture of Temari they had.
Shuriell
Que: do you actually write this fast or have you completed an amount of chapters and only post one a day? If so could you give me an estimate when you will take longer to post again?
Ans:I pretty much post chapters as I finish them, though I don't think of my writing as fast. I actually write slowly, I just have 4 hours a day to devote to it. That makes it hard to answer the second question, I'll try to update once every day or at least twice every three days, but it might slow down if I get a lot of homework or something.
PersonaJXTQue: i wonder if u realize the exchange rate between yen and dollars is like 1 to 10
Ans: the correct exchange rate is closer to 1 to 100, actually. So Temari got aprox. 150
Authors Notes: This is another one of those 'setting things up' chapters, so I apologize for the shortness.
This chapter contains the first (if brief) appearance of Kakashi, enjoy him while you can, as his role in the story will be small.
After answering Shuriell's question above, I looked at the date and realized that I've written 12 chapters (some 35000 words) in 13 days. I think that's pretty fast, but am generaly more concerned that I don't rush and put up a chapter I don't like. As I mentioned above, the actual speed of my writing is pretty slow. I get most of my ideas while listening to music, so sometimes I'll need to listen for 45 minutes to overcome a block.
On a similar note, the uncharacteristically serious chapter 11 is probably a direct result of my listening to 'Phantom of the Opera' to many times. This chapter is (I think) somewhat lighter, though get ready for more obscure analogies.
Temari sat up against a tree, her arms wrapped around her legs and her eyes staring off into space. Naruto was starting a fire to cook a dehydrated rice dish he had picked up.
Both were in an odd state. They had been running for 16 hours, and had been up for more than 24. Despite that; neither felt like sleeping.
After finally getting the fire started, Naruto walked over and sat against the tree next to Temari, he grabbed a stick of Pocky out of the package he kept in one of his shuriken holsters and started to slowly munch.
"Did you know," he asked the girl, "that I once ate fried rice made by the third Hokage?"
Temari was silent.
"I've since then discovered", he continued, "that much of a persons personality is defined by the food they eat. The third liked fried rice, which is basically made up of things that are healthy, but is fried in oil to make it just a little bit sinful."
Temari turned to look at him slightly as he went on.
"Iruka, who you don't know, always ate ramen with me at a stand. Ramen is cheap, warm and filling. Iruka was always like that, never wanting anything in return for the kindness he showed everyone."
Temari now had most of her attention focused on Naruto's words.
"Then," Naruto held up his snack, "we have Pocky, an inherent contradiction. A pretzel stick, covered in chocolate. These two sides make it almost impossible to define, it is neither good nor bad for you, neither sweet nor salty, it is ambiguous, it just is."
Naruto took another bite, "The first person I ate Pocky with was a psychopath who murdered his family. He was also the person who taught me the skills that saved both our lives. These two sides seem impossible to reconcile, until you stop thinking in terms of good and evil."
Naruto finished his stick and grabbed another, "Yesterday, I killed 5 people from my old village in less than 60 seconds, but I needed to do it for us to survive. I don't think of myself as good or evil. I, like Pocky, just continue to exist."
Naruto took his Pocky out of his holster and set it on the ground before standing up and going over to check on the fire. Temari slowly reached and took a stick out of the open pack. She set her head on her knees as she took a bite, smiling ever so slightly.
Tsunade was tense. The camp was being packed and the shinobi were getting ready to head back to Konoha, and this meant making arrangements for all the wounded, making sure they had a way to get home.
Shizune rushed up to her, "Hokage-sama, we have another problem with Yamanaka Ino."
Tsunade sighed, "What this time?"
"She was disturbing the other patients again."
"So? She does that constantly."
"She was explaining to another patient how horrible it was to try and find anything that looked fashionable in a wheelchair."
"And…"
"The patient she was explaining this to had his face horribly scarred and both his eyes burned out by a fire jutsu, he apparently had a small mental breakdown after listening to her for 20 minutes"
Tsunade swore, "have a chuunin watch her constantly, that girl has less tact than Jiraiya in a bath house"
Shizune rushed off just as another shinobi rushed up carrying a scroll, which Tsunade snatched and started to read. Her face went white as a sheet.
Gaara and Kankuro were just preparing to leave when a leaf chuunin ran up to them and whispered something in Gaara's ear.
"Our sister's been WHAT?" Gaara bellowed, causing every breathing being within 60 feet to freeze.
Gaara was really fighting the urge to squish someone right now. He stormed through the camp, his sand spinning around him, picking up random things and flinging them around. He looked rather like a sand tornado.
His storm was normally limited to picking up non-living things. Tents, chairs, packed boxes of this or that, but it also picked up the odd shinobi or small child, and most were rather displeased with being flung in random directions. He figured the Hokage would get complaints later, but really didn't care.
Surprisingly, Kankuro was also fighting the urge to squish someone. He almost started setting off poison bombs the moment Gaara had told him. Though not as impressive as his younger brother, Kankuro was pissed as hell, and was following in Gaara's wake.
Tsunade suddenly found herself exposed as a walking sandstorm disintegrated her tent.
"Can I help you?" The Hokage asked politely.
Instead of squishing her, he settled for his most menacing glare. "Why has my sister been registered as a missing-nin?"
Tsunade was getting nervous, "She was reported to have killed one of the hunter-nin sent to find Naruto…the whole squad less one was wiped out."
Gaara continued to glare, "And therefore, the last member must be the one who told you these lies about Temari."
Tsunade was starting to squirm, "Until I learn otherwise…I have to assume he's telling the truth."
The sand started to swirl more violently and Kankuro stepped forward to back his little brother up if he needed it.
Kakashi calmly walked between the Hokage and the demon boy, reading his porn book and laughing to himself, completely immune to the tension.
The eyes of over 60 onlookers watched the copy ninja as he wandered off again, completely ignorant.
Gaara growled, Kakashi had killed the mood. He spun on his heels, calling over his shoulder, "No sand hunters will pursue her, I will see to that. If you want to throw away the lives of your shinobi," Gaara grinned, "feel free."
The sand user stomped away, wishing he was half as confident as he sounded. Temari didn't even have her fan, which meant she'd be mostly useless in any difficult fight. He was hoping his confidence might have thrown the Hokage off for a little while, but knew that even if his ploy worked, it wouldn't for long. Soon she would deploy the Hunter-nin again.
Gaara had limited power, but he could stop the sand hunters and he could, and would, make the Hokage's life as difficult as possible. He needed to talk to Baki.
The Hokage had sent the hunters report to Iruka before she sent the messenger to Gaara and now strode purposefully into his tent to see what he thought. She then strode purposefully back out, blushing slightly, as she had walked in on him changing.
A minute later, Iruka blushingly invited her in, but things soon turned serious.
"Hokage-sama," the chuunin began, " before anything else, you must first promise that you will not send any other hunter squads to be slaughtered without consulting me."
Tsunade raised an eyebrow at his presumptuousness, but nodded.
"We have unfortunately," Iruka continued, "put Naruto in his most dangerous state. In taking the sand girl, he took responsibility for her, and now that she's been declared a missing-nin, Naruto will blame himself for that to. That unfortunately means that Naruto will do anything to keep her alive. He isn't desperate, but he is ruthless, and no ordinary squad can fight him with any decent hope of victory."
Tsunade let the chuunin continue as he shifted gears.
"The first thing we have to do is clear up some misconceptions, Naruto is incredibly clever, and we can't underestimate him. From the report I read, he killed the hunter-nin primarily with Taijutsu, and very quickly, so we have no idea what types of ninjutsu he's picked up in his time away. Another point is Naruto's sword, where did he get it? What does it do? The report talked about the sword splitting into many and acting independently, as if they were controlled. That has to be looked into"
Tsunade just stood there as Iruka continued to talk.
"Next, the idea that Kyuubi is breaking the seal is absurd, if the demon is manifesting, it's to help Naruto fight, but we need to confirm that to, it sounds unlikely. As for the boy's changed appearance," Iruka glanced at the report again, "I'll explain that later. Right now, I need you to gather these people, this is the team I'll need."
Tsunade ran her eyes down the list and looked slightly shocked.
"But…..this is……"
Iruka nodded, "When we go after Naruto, we need those people, otherwise, its useless. He dispatched 5 chuunin with only Taijutsu. That skill, combined with the mist Jutsu he used in the attack on the north gate, would allow him to fight even a jounin squad, but I can counter it if you give me the right team."
Tsunade turned to leave, but Iruka had one more thing to say, "Oh, and Hokage-sama, I'll need the shinobi ID photos for Gaara and Sasuke copied onto clear plastic. Call me when everything is ready."
Tsunade glared slightly, "you better have one hell of a presentation for us, Iruka."
He looked at the ground sadly, "Oh, I will. Be sure of that."
Naruto and Temari sat around their fire eating breakfast. Thankfully, both had been able to sleep the night before and were now not quite so tired. Naruto was currently trying to convince Temari that her life wasn't over, and unfortunately for her village loyalty, he was winning the argument.
"I mean really," the fox boy was saying, "how many people in your old village were even decent to you? From what I hear, your life has been training and taking crap from the villagers."
Temari didn't say anything since the only comeback she had come up with was that she kind of liked training.
"I realize that you miss your family," he continued, "but I really can't see either of your brothers condemning you for this, and who cares what the rest of the village thinks."
Temari was being swayed by his argument, but suddenly glared.
"There is," she said, "the minor issue of spending your life being hunted."
Naruto shrugged, "Gaara scares the hidden sand way too much for them to hunt you, and as for hidden leaf, they'll give up sooner or later."
Sensing she was bending, Naruto went on. "Can you even remember the last time you did something fun? And I mean fun in a 'not killing people' kind of way. I understand that you didn't ask for this, but there are many worse fates."
Temari snorted, "like what?"
Naruto smiled, "Having a demon inside you."
Temari stopped and looked at him for a moment, "I really can't argue with that, can I?"
His smile became a grin, "No"
She sighed, "But even if I went along with being a missing-nin, I'd need a new fan. Battle fans are only made in hidden sand, and even then, not many are manufactured."
This, Naruto realized, would be a problem. But he had ways of dealing with problems.
"Wait a sec," he said, "I need to consult with someone."
Naruto let himself drop into a meditative state and soon found himself in the passages of his mind, the chibi fox already waiting for him. The fox looked absolutely ecstatic, and Naruto wasn't sure if this was good or bad.
Kyuubi got straight to the point, "I have a sand battle fan, a very nice one too…"
"But, of course," Naruto said, "you want something in exchange. What?"
"Naturally," the demon said, "I want a greater chakra allowance. Tripled."
Naruto looked at the demon carefully. Tripling his allowance would give the demon access to a quarter of his chakra.
"Deal", the boy said, "how do we get this fan of yours?"
"We need to summon a gate to my 'storage area', it's a relatively simple jutsu, it just requires a lot of chakra…. and there's one other problem."
"That being…"
"I need to be the one to do the jutsu," Kyuubi said.
Naruto looked at the demon suspiciously, "why?"
"The jutsu cuts through space, and the user has to know the correct seals, the 'address', so to speak, of wherever they're going. I'm not giving you a free pass to raid my ancient collection of treasures whenever you want. If you want the fan, I do the jutsu. Just stick the sword in any vertical surface, walk through the gate, grab the fan, walk out."
"Fine," Naruto agreed, "but if I get the slightest feeling of being tricked…"
Naruto let the threat hang in the air and let himself come back out to the real world, where Temari was looking at him oddly.
"I was talking with my sword, he has a way to get a fan for you." Naruto said as an explanation.
He walked through the forest, looking for a suitable surface while Temari asked a question.
"So who is it in that sword, anyway? Some shinobi that was caught on the wrong of a sealing jutsu or something?"
Naruto shook his head, still looking for a vertical surface, "Nah, greater demon, more specifically, the nine-tails demon fox."
Temari had stopped moving about 3 seconds before.
"The Kyuubi no Kitsune is in your SWORD."
Naruto looked at her oddly, "yeah…it used to be in my stomach, but a forbidden jutsu used in the forging of my sword changed that. Why?"
Actually, Temari really couldn't think of a reason why. It just seemed like having a greater demon in your sword was something to make a big deal about.
"So let me get this straight, the demon fox has a fan I can use?"
Naruto shook his head, "You can have it, I'm giving him more chakra in exchange."
"And where exactly is this fan?" Temari asked skeptically.
Naruto held out a hand to silence her as he found what he needed, a large rock had broken in half, leaving a flat surface. He slammed Seirei Kirite into the rock and watched as it started to glow, then the sword sank into the rock as a black doorway appeared.
Temari's jaw hung slack as Naruto calmly walked in. He found himself in what appeared to be nothing more than a large room with white walls. It was filled with, well, everything. Stuff was everywhere, but Naruto figured a huge fan couldn't be hard to find, and he was proven right a short time later as he hauled it out from under a pile of scrolls and what looked like a gold statue of an unnamed shinobi.
Temari continued to stand frozen as Naruto emerged from the door a few minutes later, carrying a large fan. He turned as the door closed behind him and Seirei Kirite appeared to grow out of the blackness until the door was gone and the sword was exactly where Naruto had slammed it.
He pulled his blade from the rock, replacing it on his back and handed the fan to Temari.
"It's amazing," he said, "how useful a demon can be sometimes."
Temari wasn't listening.
She was in awe of what he had just handed to her.
Temari had always used a basic battle fan, she had been using it for years, but had never been given a new one and had never complained. What she held now was a master's fan.
The frame was dark metal, and the fan was a good foot longer than her old one. Nothing appeared much different on the outside, but Temari knew, when she opened it…
With a subtle motion, the fan snapped open, and even Naruto took a momentary break from his babbling to admire it.
The fan was painted to look like a sunset, and no inch of it was left uncolored. It was filled with reds and purples and pinks that made it look like the real thing. Temari hadn't known what the pattern painted on would be, but all master fans were pained to look like they lit the air itself on fire when swung.
It was the most amazing thing she had ever seen.
After his moment of admiration, Naruto went back to his ponderings about the many uses of having a demon. It was for that reason that, moments later, his brain shut down.
His eyes told him Temari wasn't where she had been standing a moment ago. His ears only heard breathing. His nose smelled soap. His sense of taste wasn't receiving anything, but that was more than made up for by touch. Naruto wasn't someone experienced with full body contact, and never with a girl. But that was most definitely what was happening now. He unconsciously noted that in addition to all the previously mentioned things, he couldn't move.
In other words, Temari was giving him a hug.