Grace
Standard Disclaimer and Note still apply.
endolphins + Mrs. Nozomu Sohma – thanks for letting me know, I went back and changed the errors to what they were supposed to be. Hehe, I'd be up a creek without a paddle…
jennjennr – its not a bad thing to be channelling Jiraiya's spirit.. –snicker- also, I was trying so hard to refrain from having Kakashi tell a pirate joke… or to become a pirate. For becoming a pirate seems so like him…
Flaming Beauty – there shall be a second story in the same universe as Grace; however it'll be Naruto+Yondaime-centric and will happen shortly after Grace with snippets of Sakura and Sasuke discovering things... (And that story shall also remain pairing-less :p ) and I think the word your looking for is Yaoi, you were close though!
Thank you everyone for your reviews!
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Naruto couldn't sleep. In fact that was an understatement. 10 minutes ago he had closed the door and went back to bed, but so far hadn't been able to sleep. He bit his lip. Normally when Kyuubi felt threatened by something, his senses would pick up and become unusually sharp.
Right now they were going haywire. Something was wrong about what just happened, and Naruto felt that everyone was in danger. He bit his lip. What to do? What to do? Naruto closed his eyes and took several deep breaths, useing his senses to scan the area.
He could feel it, it was small, but it was Killer intent non-the-less. Naruto frowned. Now where was it coming from? He sniffed the air. Nothing was out of the ordinary, scent of crumbling wall, humans, dog, moldy carpets, muddy earth and blood… wait... muddy earth and blood?
Naruto's eyes snapped open and realization struck him. Hardly moving, he created a kage bunshin clone. The clone lay beside him and looked at him, asking what it was to do.
'Wake the others, get them to leave, no arguments.' Naruto mouthed as the original flipped over onto his stomach, and wiggled to the door. Before he opened it, he created the tiger seal with his hands and used his invisibility jutsu. From there, the door seemingly opened on its own and Naruto proceeded cautiously into the hallway and across it to the girl's door.
The Bunshin gently touched Kakashi's leg and Sasuke's at the same time on the beds and immediately they woke, wary and with knives in their hands. The bunshin was too far away for his lips to be read, so he whispered.
"Need to leave, now." He whispered harshly, Sasuke didn't spare a moment and started packing what had come out of their bags while Kakashi hesitated.
"Danger, don't ask." Kakashi's eye narrowed and he nodded, proceeding to use genjutsu to mask their movements. The Naruto clone led them to the hotel opening, where they hid in the bushes and waited for their female comrades.
The real Naruto gently scratched the bottom of the door. A second later, he heard the patter of pawed feet.
"Kuromaru, wake, leave, don't ask." He whispered very softly, the retreat of footsteps alerted Naruto to the fact that Kuromaru had done just that. The wolf familiar of the Inuzuka clan didn't obey orders unless it was from someone of their clan. The fact that Kuromaru listened to him must mean the wolf had sensed it too.
Naruto waited anxiously for them to come out after casting the masking genjutsu. It felt like an eternity before the door opened and a pissed off Tsume glared at him. Naruto ignored her; He merely nodded at Kuromaru and Sakura.
"Koi." This time the wolf-dog took the lead and led them outside while Naruto turned around and faced the darkened hallway. He took a deep breath. He could feel everyone's signatures safely outside. He mentally gave a message to his clone and he felt them moving away.
"Kage bunshin no jutsu." He muttered and created 5 more clones. Each clone muttered Henge and his comrades returned by his side. He pointed two fingers forward and they spread out. He was in mental contact with them should they run into anyone; he hoped his senses weren't being confused….
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"Che. Damnit! What the hell is going on?" Tsume was to say the least, quite angry.
"Quiet. Naruto knows what he's doing, he has better senses than any of us and no doubt he detected someone's killer intent. Even if it's unnoticeable by the most powerful shinobi, Naruto can detect it. Stop under-estimating him, Tsume-san, even if it's not directed at us, Naruto has to make sure." Sasuke snapped at her, earning a glare from the dark haired woman.
"Tsume, you were in Sasuke's group, right? So you didn't have Naruto as a teacher except for some random times, right? I've learned to greatly respect him and his skills." Great respect from Kakashi? Tsume calmed down slightly, but she was still ticked.
"I also sensed it." Kuromaru's deep voice muttered from his muzzle. "But it was too faint for me to-"
Just then, the hotel they were lodged at was surrounded in a faint blue shield. Seconds later an explosion woke the entire town, contained within the blue shield. They stared with wide eyes, horrified.
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This presence… I've felt it before. But where? Naruto walked slowly, silently and without noise down the hall. 2 bedrooms away from his and his comrades he paused. Who ever was in there was masking their killing intent very well, but the nearer he got, the better he could identify where it was coming from.
He signaled to his clones to create a shield. He couldn't identify the aura yet, but he knew it, and thus… knowing it couldn't be good. Once he received confirmation that the shield had been resurrected, he entered the room.
Naruto the only thing he saw was a bloody body on the ground vertical from where he stood, with an exploding note on it. It wasn't the note or the body that frightened Naruto, it was the clay head attacked to the body. The only word that went through his head was
shit
And then everything went Boom.
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The shield contained most of the explosion, but only seconds after the clones that created it vanished and the power sustaining the shield went dead.
"N-naruto?" Sakura was clutching her hands to the middle of her chest and she fell to the ground. Sasuke was doubled over trying not to cry. Kakashi was stunned and Tsume… well she was currently trying to be awoken by Kuromaru. They sat in silence for a few minutes.
"We... should go. We have a mission to complete…"
"What about Naruto-kun? If he's gone then…"
"Our younger selves won't return and we'll be stuck here." Sakura whispered. Tsume, now awakened, stared at them sorrowfully.
"Gomen nasai…"
"Shut up!" Sasuke snarled and he stood properly, starting to walk away into the forest. he was followed shortly by Sakura.
"Let's go, the sooner we're done the sooner we can return and explain the situation as it stands." Sasuke told them, the guilty adults followed. Kakashi and Tsume didn't see the smirk on Sasuke's face or the small smile on Sakura's.
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"Special combo #4, yeah. Got him good, yeah." The stone shinobi giggled on the other side of the town. Her companions sighed.
"What about those that got away."
"We'll deal with them later; find out what they want first."
"Then we'll kill them, yeah."
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They walked until it was noon, stopping only for a few moments to eat their lunch before moving on. They were in Iwa by nightfall. They stayed in a hotel again, only this time they kept watches, and slept in the same room. After the first incident at the trading town in river country, they didn't want to lose another member.
"Tomorrow, Sasuke-san, Sakura-san, I want you to act like a boyfriend and girlfriend and go scouting. Kakashi and I will be elsewhere. Meet back here at 5."
They nodded. Tsume and Kuromaru set up watch while the others slept on the beds or on the floor. Sakura slept next to Sasuke purely from habit and comfort. She started to sign to him.
-He'll come.-
-I know. That's not what I'm worried about. It was that explosion.-
-Me too; It wasn't ordinary, it felt like one of hers- Sasuke nodded at Sakura's suspicions.
-yes, Deidara.-
Morning came without incident for the team. Sakura and Sasuke went around town, buying souvenirs and keeping an eye out for anything. They played their roles absolutely flawlessly; having to have done it before, except it was Sasuke acting like Naruto's boyfriend, and that was some months back before they came to the past.
Sakura had made sure to mock him for several weeks, and even now was grinning evilly at him in reminder. He shuddered, that experience he never wanted to repeat.
Half past 2 they disappeared from the streets and used Naruto's invisibility jutsu to maneuver to where they had heard the Tsuchikage was located. They went unnoticed; Sasuke used Sharingan to understand the lip movements, while Sakura kept watch. Their chakra control wasn't as perfect as Naruto's, hence they had to be careful.
After an hour they retreated and went to the bath houses. They had learned nothing useful, but had managed to remain undetected, a good sign if they had to repeat the action. But something was bothering Sasuke.
He sat in the bath privately and meditated. Although he understood every word that had been said, and having it be confirmed as mere trivial matters that every Kage has to deal with, something about the way they said it… it sounded like a code. Not wanting to be overly suspicious, Sasuke left it. He would talk with Kakashi and Tsume later with it.
Out of their day, they got 2 'engagement' rings, and too many suspicions. Even though they knew how things would play out, they didn't know the finer details. Sasuke sighed and pulled at his hair. Sakura eyed him and sighed.
"Spill it, Baka." She demanded. Sasuke looked over at her; they had long since exited the baths and were waiting for Tsume and Kakashi to arrive from wherever they had gone too.
"You know, conducting business at night is dangerous, because the night hides someone more. So sometimes if someone is smart enough, they'll conduct dangerous business during the day. However, I think they were using a code of some sort."
"What did you overhear?" They turned to see Kakashi walking in the door reading his icha icha paradise book, and a fuming red faced Tsume following him. Did something perverted happen?
"Overhear? Not a sound. I copied their lip movements and understood from there. It's not their tone of voice I'm revering too, but the pauses in between certain words." Sasuke blinked in a confused way.
"Pauses?"
"Yeah… it was… like..."
"Morse code?" Tsume piped in, seating herself on the edge of the bed with Kuromaru at her feet. Sasuke blinked, and then nodded.
"Yes, exactly." His eyes widened. "Paper. Pen. Now." Not sparing for other words. Sakura rolled her eyes and supplied him with his needs. After several minutes, Sasuke had a piece of paper half full with lines and dots. Sasuke began to read it.
His eyes widened and he looked rather sick.
"Saskue-kun?" Sakura asked. Sasuke shook his head and handed the paper to the former ANBU member. Kakashi took it and read it. His visible eye widened.
"Jesus."
"Oh for Christ sakes, tell us already!…. Che.. men." Kuromaru rolled his eyes at Tsume's frustration.
"Agreed, Send full force, Attack next full moon, Kill intruders." Kakashi told them. Sakura paled. Tsume frowned.
"We need to leave." They nodded and packed their things. Their mission ended here, no point in attacking the Tsuchikage if they've been targeted already. The left the hotel and ran for it the moment they passed through the gates. Kakashi and Tsume and Kuromaru had long since forgotten about Naruto and the explosion.
"Leaving so soon? I'm afraid we cannot allow that." Came a wiry thing figure from the trees. Followed by a voluptuous blond molding clay with her hands and a second more bulky man and their fourth member looking like he was half rock and half human.
"Doton, Doryou Dango!"
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Kyuubi may be nice to Naruto now, but he wasn't a god, and he was still a bastard. Naruto winced, pealing the burnt skin off and bandaging it so it could heal better. Kyuubi prevented him from scaring, but the charcoal skin had to come off according to him.
Kyuubi had reacted faster than he had, managing to prevent the blast from killing him at that close of range, however he sustained heavy injuries regardless. The first thing he did was find shelter. He couldn't move, but he could survive a long time without water so he had stayed put in an outcropping of some rocks in the forest, almost enough for it to be a cave. He sighed.
"This will hurt." There came a rumbling voice at the back of his head. Naruto merely grunted. Kyuubi used his chakra to cleanse the wounds, and he was right. It did hurt. A lot. Naruto hissed and tried to prevent himself from biting down on his lip, no need to add to his list of injuries.
"ahhhhhhhhrrrgg!" he writhed, and eventually the pain became a slow throb and Naruto lay panting on the icy floor of his hideout. He couldn't move, courtesy of Kyuubi's ever so gentle treatment.
Night started to turn into day and Naruto felt his eyelids falling. He cursed. Now wasn't the time to sleep…
When he awoke, it was about midday. He yawned and stretched, finding that he could in fact move. His wounds were gone, but his clothing was, as a side effect of the blast, were barely holding together. He sighed.
"Damint, I liked this outfit too.." he stood and gathered his bearings. After awhile, he determined that left was the way his comrades went from his position. Hungry, slightly tired and his limbs numb from the cold, Naruto hoped he would make it back in time for dinner.
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"Sakura fubuki no jutsu!" Sakura's explosives against Deidara's, so far neither had won. Sasuke was facing off against the man nearly made of stone, while Tsume was facing the wiry thin male and Kakashi against the slightly bulkier male.
Their fighting had landed them with their backs each other, surrounded. They knew this wasn't a good position the moment someone called out a jutsu.
"Doton Kekai! Dorou Doumu!" and they were engulfed on a domicile of mud and earth. Sasuke tried to push a Raikiri through it, but the wall healed itself.
"Matte, Sasuke!" Kakashi told him when Sasuke was about to try something else. After a few tense moments, Kakashi cursed.
"Our chakra is being drained into the walls." Everyone frowned. There was nothing they could do as they couldn't find a way out of it without the walls repairing themselves. They tried to hit the weakest part of the walls, but found none as it seemed their opponents were lending their chakra too keep the walls chakra supply even.
They were screwed.
"At least it's warm…" Sakura mentioned lightly, they sighed.
"Ninpou: Rairyuu no Tatsumaki!" there yelled a familiar voice that even the four could hear inside their prison. Sakura grinned and Sasuke smirked. Kakashi and Tsume's eyes widened and Kuromaru… wait... Kuromaru? Speaking of the wolf… Tsume looked around. Realizing her wolf wasn't caught in the jutsu she smirked herself.
They couldn't see it, but a dragon made purely from lightning had attacked the foursome of enemy ninja whose hands were otherwise occupied. Naruto was panting. It took him the better part of 5 seconds to make his hands work; he was frozen to the bone. Moving was difficult for him. His burns may have been gone, but now there was a good chance he would get frost bite.
Having dispelled the earth jutsu, his job was done, and he collapsed onto fur as Kuromaru caught him on his back and watched warily as the stunned and shocked earth ninjas were disposed off or retreated. He was aware of his pink haired sister coming to heal him, and making him feel warm again with her healing jutsus, but he could care less.
"We need to leave." Naruto couldn't argue with that.
"Yeah, I figured as much." He joked
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I'm thinking since it is spring break and I want to get on with the next story of this series, that I'm going to do a chapter every day… or update two chapters every two days or something like that. Just to get everything done for this before my inspiration and keyboard die before I'm done ;;