Time Apart Chapter 2
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Naruto woke up early in the morning. He didn't require as much sleep as most people did, because the demon chakra kept him energized. Part of the reason he had been such a ball of trouble in his youth was due to all the excess energy he had to burn off. During his training with the Kyuubi, he had gotten in the habit of only sleeping as much as his body needed, and he spent the rest of his time training. After warming up with several hundred push ups and sit ups, he took a quick shower and got dressed.
The clothes Gaara had sent for him weren't his usual style, but he wasn't going to complain. A pair of loose fitting brown pants were met at the waist by a short sleeve black shirt. He attached his protector to its rightful place on his head, and was about to leave when he remembered Kit. He walked over to the corner of the room where the tiny fox was still sleeping and gave him a nudge with his foot.
"Watch it!" Kit said, as he rose from his slumber. The ball of fur began to lazily stretch itself into alertness. "Is it time to go?"
Who knew a demon could be so cute? Naruto mused to himself. Aloud, he just said, "Yes." He considered teasing the fox about oversleeping for a moment, but decided it was better not to. He was going to need his help in the future, and it wasn't wise to push your resources away. "Let's go," Naruto said, stepping out the door with Kit at his heels.
The villagers in Konoha were not going to love the fact that he had a fox following him around. It was another not so subtle reminder that the demon who killed all their loved ones was sealed inside Naruto. Well, at least his spirit was in Naruto. If they figured out that the fox was where the demon's mind actually resided, then Kit would be in for an unpleasant reprisal for destroying the village. Halfway to the Kazekage's office, they ran into Shikamaru.
"Good morning," Shikamaru said. His eyes passed Naruto to the fox trotting behind him. "I didn't know you used pets."
"I didn't when I left," Naruto responded. "This one took a liking to me while I was away. He liked me so much he hasn't stopped following me around," Naruto finished with a wry grin. The fox growled in response.
"It doesn't sound like he likes you," Shikamaru responded. Pets were troublesome ninja tools. They required training, and they had minds of their own. Kunai were more reliable weapons. Naruto just shrugged in response, and smiled. "Where was he yesterday?" Shikamaru asked. He didn't like the idea of Naruto's pet roaming free over the village last night. They still weren't sure where he had been these last four years, or what his intentions were. Spying hadn't been ruled out yet.
"Roaming around the village I imagine. His name is Kit by the way," Naruto stated.
At least he was honest, was all Shikamaru could think. They had reached the Kazekage's office door. Three quick knocks and the door was opened, presumably by the sand that Gaara controlled. Shikamaru led Naruto in.
Gaara shuffled some papers on his desk before looking up. If there was one thing he couldn't stand it was paperwork, but that was something that a Kage had to get accustomed to. It wasn't always jumping around to save the village from one threat or another.
He was about to say something to Naruto when he noticed Kit growling at him. It's the Kyuubi! The demon within him shouted. Gaara clutched his head in agony. He was getting used to fighting these attacks off, but they still hurt. Every now and then Shukkaku would get excited about something and break through his defenses.
After the first fight Gaara had with Naruto, the demon had tried to convince him that all Naruto's strength had come from the Kyuubi, and that he needed to be destroyed. Gaara knew that it wasn't true. It took true spirit from within to be a demon vessel and turn out like Naruto had. Gaara was in a unique position to understand that. He pushed the crazy priest back down. I know Naruto has the Kyuubi. You don't have to tell me again. Shukkaku's mad ramblings were cut short by the force of Gaara's will.
"Are you ok?" Naruto asked, with a hint of concern in his voice. He knew what it felt like to have a demon in your head. Giving Kit a soft kick, he whispered, "Behave. You are drawing attention to yourself." Kit quieted down and leaped up to a nearby chair, obviously displeased. When Gaara didn't answer, Naruto asked again, "Is Shukkaku giving you trouble?"
Shikamaru looked confused. He knew about the demon inside Gaara from being around him so much. It wasn't a secret, but he couldn't figure out how Naruto knew. These two seemed to know a lot about each other. Shikamaru knew he was missing something.
"I have him under control," Gaara said. "Shikamaru, you can wait outside." The young ninja shrugged and excused himself. Whatever these two wanted to talk about was too troublesome for him to get involved in.
Once Shikamaru had left, Gaara inspected Kit more closely. He couldn't sense any of what he would associate with the demon chakra in the small animal, and so he came to the conclusion that it was still sealed in Naruto. Tsunade had given Gaara Naruto's file when he had requested it at the funeral. Having been beaten and, in a sense, reformed by the boy, Gaara wanted to know everything he could. A pet fox was a strange addition to Naruto's arsenal. The villagers that knew of Naruto's past would be extremely put off by it. "I know about your past," Gaara said aloud. The simple words conveyed a world of emotion for Naruto. Before him stood the one person who could ever truly know what he had gone through.
"Don't tell anyone." Naruto said softly. Gaara understood his desire for people not to know. Given the option, Gaara would have preferred that none of the villagers were allowed to speak of his affliction either.
"I haven't and I won't. I respect you greatly Naruto," Gaara said. "Your strength in dealing with our ... condition inspired me to become what I am today. I live to protect my village now." Naruto wasn't surprised when sand started to trickle out the gourd that was propped up nearby. He had a feeling he knew what was coming next. The sand wrapped itself around his wrists, binding them tightly to one another. Kit stood up in his chair alert now, but when Naruto shot him a warning glance, he sat back down.
"What is the meaning of this?" Naruto asked, but he already knew. They don't trust me still. Things must be really bad.
"Your Hokage requested this by way of a messenger bird. She wishes for you to be bound until she can question you on the events surrounding Sasuke's defection to Orochimaru and it's relation to your prolonged disappearance," Gaara said sadly. "If you attempt to perform any jutsu, the sand will react and crush the bones in your hands, rendering them useless."
Naruto frowned. What do I have to do to prove to these people I'm not a spy, he thought. "Fine," he said aloud. He nodded at Kit, who stood up and trotted to his side. "Let's get this over with then. I assume that I am going to be traveling under guard to Konoha?"
The doors opened once again and Shikamaru walked in with Temari. When they were near Naruto, Shikamaru said quietly into his ear, "I am really sorry about this. We have had our fill of betrayal, and we just want to make sure you are still on our side. Until we can determine that, I hope you will put up with us." Naruto nodded, then smiled.
"It's not that long of a journey!" he said, disarming the situation in typical, loud Naruto style. "Lets get going!" Turning around, with a nod of goodbye to Gaara, Naruto gleefully marched out of the building, with Kit close behind. Shaking off their surprise, Temari and Shikamaru ran to catch up.
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It wasn't long into the journey, when Naruto sensed a group of ninja's following them. It wasn't very likely this was going to be an easy trip anyway. The Sound had to have seen that two ninjas were traveling alone with an apparent captive. That was far too juicy of a target to pass up. It was several hours until Shikamaru and Temari spotted them.
"We are being followed," Shikamaru said quietly, jumping from tree to tree. He knew that the attack was probably going to happen soon. Naruto nodded, letting Shikamaru know that he was aware of the fact. "Since you can't really fight, stay between me and Temari, and we will protect you."
Naruto shook his head. "Temari is a long range fighter and you aren't exactly a taijutsu expert. That won't work and you both know it."
"We haven't got a choice. You can't use any seals!" Shikamaru said. Hokage must have not thought this one through. It didn't seem like her.
"I will be fine, I promise. These guys are probably mostly Chuunin anyway. I can take them, even without the use of my hands. Fight them how you need to, and don't worry about me." Naruto said. Shikamaru was about to protest again, when Temari interrupted him.
"Naruto is right. If he thinks he can handle it, let him. We need space to fight, and I don't babysit ninja's who can't take care of themselves." Temari gave one of her predatory smiles that showed her eagerness for the upcoming battle. She wanted revenge for her sensei.
She may be my girlfriend, but man she is scary sometimes, Shikamaru thought. Gathering his Chakra to prepare for the fight, he flashed her some of the hand signals that the two had worked out between them. This wouldn't have been the first time they fought together. Without a word, Temari swung around in mid jump, snatching the fan from her back."Cutting Wind Jutsu!" she said, aiming the powerful blast of wind, created by her fan, in the direction of the ninjas who were chasing them. The enemy ninjas were fast enough to dodge the blast themselves, but the trees in between them and Temari were cut to pieces. While the trunks were still in the air blocking the sun, Shikamaru put a kunai in his mouth and made some hand seals.
"Ninpou, Shadow Walking no Jutsu," he said sinking into the shadows and vanishing from sight. Naruto was impressed with the combo. The ambushers had been ambushed, but that didn't mean the battle was over. They were still outnumbered, and Temari leaped up into some nearby trees to dodge incoming shuriken, leaving Naruto alone with Kit to fend for himself.
Safely depositing himself behind a tree, Naruto analyzed the battle plan. Temari used her fan to cut up the trees. The attack was aimed in the direction of the enemy, but the intent was to create moving shadows out of the flying debris for Shikamaru to use. He used the Shadow Walking technique to quickly transport himself into the shadows, which are harder to predict than stationary ones. That makes it difficult for an enemy to escape. Naruto's thoughts were punctuated by the screams of the Sound ninjas as Shikamaru appeared behind one and lodged the kunai in his back. Before the others had time to react, he was gone again. There is only one weakness to this attack, Naruto decided. The enemy leader apparently had the same idea. Shouting out some orders, the group moved in, back to back. After a few aborted attempts Shikamaru appeared again in the shadow of a tree near Naruto.
"Damn!" he cursed, panting from using a large amount of Chakra. Temari was busy keeping the enemy distracted with bursts of cutting air from her fan. "They caught on quick, and now the shadows are gone," Shikamaru said. He crouched low to the ground and started thinking about the situation. Naruto had seen him do it once before at the Chuunin exam.
"Any ideas?" Temari shouted from a few trees away. She had grown quite respectful of Shikamaru's intellect over the years. When he didn't reply, Temari knew that it wasn't a good sign. He needed more time to think, and that's what he was going to get.
Naruto watched as she leaped up into the air. Spreading her fan out behind her back, she began to spin. "Violent Tornado Jutsu!" she shouted as her spinning increased. Around her, a pillar of wind formed, which deflected any attempts at thrown weapons. Leaping out of the back of the tornado, she returned to her perch in the tree where she began. Making hand seals, she said, "Control." Closing her eyes and holding the last seal she made, the tornado began to move toward the enemy.
Nice, Naruto thought. That will keep them busy for awhile. He glanced over at Kit who was nodding in approval.
"These humans have style, especially the female," Kit whispered. "I think they are going to need your help in a minute though."
"Why is that?" Naruto asked turning his head to follow Kit's gaze to the crouched figure of Shikamaru. The Sound ninja team leader was coming out of the tree that Shikamaru was sitting in front of, with his kunai at the ready. This is going to be tough with no hands, he thought to himself. Sending his chakra to his legs, he propelled himself forward at blurring speed. The Sound Jounin barely had time to look up, when Naruto's foot slammed into his face, sending him flying. Naruto thought that his enemy would stop when he hit the tree, but, apparently, Naruto had put a little to much force behind his kick. Breaking the tree in half the Sound leader finally hit the ground rolling. Shikamaru looked up in surprise.
"Thanks for the save," he said, dumbfounded at Naruto's powerful kick. He moved so fast, that he reminded me of Rock Lee, Shikamaru thought to himself.
"No problem. You might want to check on Temari. I don't hear her tornado anymore," Naruto responded, his gaze never leaving the Sound Ninja who was slowly getting up. He must have managed to stop the full force of the kick with some chakra. This guy is pretty good, he thought.
Shikamaru looked up to find Temari desperately fending off the attacks from the remaining three Sound ninjas. "Can you handle this guy?" Shikamaru asked Naruto.
Naruto gave an animalistic grin. "With pleasure." Hearing the confidence in his voice, Shikamaru ran to help Temari.
"You are good," the Sound ninja said, wiping a trail of blood off of the corner of his mouth. "You surprised me that time, but it won't happen again."
Naruto laughed aloud. In the background he could hear Shikamaru doing the Shadow Bind technique. With Temari's help, that meant that the other ninjas would be taken care of soon. He could take his time with this one. It had been a long time since he had done anything other than spar with Kyuubi.
The Sound ninja glared at Naruto's disregard for his threat. Here was a man whose hands were bound, who couldn't use any Jutsu, and who was laughing at a Jounin level Sound ninja. Deciding to shut him up with violence, the man threw a shuriken at Naruto. Adjusting his head to the side by a few centimeters, Naruto nearly stood still as the weapon whirred by his head.
"I'm going to take a bath while you kill this joker," Kit said nonchalantly as he walked over to a nearby tree. Licking his paws, he began to clean himself. Naruto chuckled.
Although the Sound ninja didn't hear what the fox said, he got the idea that the blond- haired boy didn't think he needed his pet to defeat him. Enraged, the man ran forward making hand seals furiously. "Earth Spike Jutsu" he shouted. The ground beneath Naruto shook for an instant before it came alive, sharpening into tall deadly spires. Leaping into a back flip, Naruto avoided the attack easily, only to find himself placed in the trajectory of several kunai. Twisting in the air, he snatched the handle of one with his mouth. Avoiding the other weapons, he landed neatly, in time to sidestep an incoming kick.
"You had your turn. Now it's mine!" Naruto growled, with the Kunai clenched in his teeth. He went into a series of kicks, pushing the enemy back. Drawing on more and more of the powerful Kyuubi chakra, his body began to change. To Naruto, the battle seemed to slow down. It was always like this when he was channeling this much raw power. His body took on a faint red glow as the chakra wrapped itself around him, adding more and more strength and speed behind each kick. Naruto saw his opening. Dropping to a low crouch he tripped the Sound Jounin, with blinding agility. As the man was falling to the ground, Naruto flipped into the air. Using his chakra, Naruto spit the kunai out of his mouth with frightening velocity. The man was dead by the time he landed. Satisfied with his work, Naruto released the Kyuubi chakra and returned to normal. He turned around to see Shikamaru and Temari looking on with shock.
"We came to help, but then decided you had it under control," Shikamaru said. How much has he grown in power since he was gone. That was incredible. Even with Gaara's binding, he probably could have killed us both any time he wanted. Shikamaru decided then that Naruto was to be trusted. He turned to Temari. "Release him," he said.
She wasted no time. Walking over to Naruto she made some hand seals and bit her thumb. "Release!" The sand melted away, leaving him free to move his hands around.
"WHAT?" he shouted. "You could have released me before that mess and you didn't?"
"We needed to make sure. Besides, we didn't have time then." Shikamaru answered. "Don't cry about it now, you didn't even need your hands." Kit was making the noises that passed for laughter.
Naruto whirled around to see Kit rubbing against Temari's legs with a contented smile. "What are you laughing at!" Temari gave him a pat on the head.
"Cute fox," she said, then turning around, she continued walking towards Konoha.
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Kabuto watched with interest as Naruto finished off the Sound Jounin. Ninjas like that one were expendable, but good for figuring out the strength of an enemy. As the blond- haired boy dealt the death blow, Kabuto pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose.
So he is back, Kabuto thought. My spies in Sand were correct. I probably shouldn't have been so hard on them. After Sasuke told us what went on at the Valley of the End, we were sure he was dead. He turned around to head back to the village of Sound. Not that it matters anymore. It's not like we could punish him for lying. Orochimaru will want to know what's going on.
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It was late at night when Naruto and the others reached the gates of Konoha. The Anbu guards at the gate nodded when they saw Shikamaru and Temari. They had already been briefed on what to expect. When they saw that Naruto was not bound, as they had been told, one of them got angry.
"Why hasn't the prisoner been bound as requested?" the Anbu asked. By the sound of his voice, he was an older man. He probably remembered the Kyuubi attack and knew about Naruto.
"Because he isn't a prisoner," Shikamaru said testily. "He is a returning Konoha ninja, and, judging from what I have seen, he may be your boss soon."
"We will see about that," the Anbu said. "No way that demon is going to be in our ranks!" he said, more violently than he probably meant to. That was when he noticed the fox at Naruto's feet. It growled at him menacingly.
Even though he was a full grown man, and a high ranking Anbu, the fox seemed to frighten him. He took a step back and made some gestures to ward off evil spirits. Naruto laughed. "Let me tell you this," Naruto said. "When I left here, I was a kid. Now I am a man. Try any of your crap and you may regret it. Do me a favor and spread the word." Scaring half the village wasn't the first thing Naruto wanted to do when he got back to town, but sometimes you didn't have a choice. He wanted to let this guy know where he stood about his treatment now.
Shikamaru was a little confused. He had heard people call Naruto a demon before, but he always thought it had something to do with all the pranks he pulled as a kid. This Anbu's reaction to Kit was strange. Shikamaru filed this knowledge away for further investigation.
Before the situation could escalate, the other Anbu removed his mask, revealing none other than Hyuuga Neiji. "Welcome back Naruto," he said. The Hyuuga seemed to think for a moment before going into a slight bow. Everyone present was shocked, including Naruto. For the Hyuuga prodigy to show such respect was unheard of. After a moment, Naruto returned the gesture.
"It is good to be back," he said.
"It's good to see you as well Shikamaru. How long have you been away now?" Neiji asked.
"Two years. I've been in touch with the Hokage," Shikamaru answered.
"No you haven't. I will take you to the Hokage now," Neiji said. He activated his Byakugan facing away from his Anbu partner. Naruto raised his eyebrows.
"Those aren't our orders. We report to the council now!" the other Anbu protested. Turning around quickly, Neiji dropped the man in a few precisely placed blows. Shikamaru, Temari, and Naruto all assumed fighting stances immediately.
"No, it's ok!" Neiji said. "Let me explain. Things in Konoha aren't what they seem..."
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Thats it for chapter two, once again please review. I have a live journal now so if you want to drop by I can respond to you better there. User name is SesameFiction.