AURA
by Random Writer 46
---
Ah... I don't know what to say, but I guess the first thing is that I want to thank all you guys for reviewing so promptly. There's so many reviews that I don't think I'll be able to reply to them all, so I've decided just to talk about a few important issues here in the author's note. Please note that these aren't direct replies to the reviews, and that they are only public annoucements that some of the reviews have brought up.
First thing, the Ayanami Rei mention from Evangelion. I want to tell you guys that it was just a bit of improvising when my brain stopped thinking up Japanese sounding names for my characters, so I just randomly picked names that could fit. She won't be directly involved in the story, so I guess the best you could call her appearance is a cameo. You'll also notice the other two names are also from other games and anime, Heihachi being the asshole grandfather of Jin from Tekken.
Next, Naruto being an extra. This was basically just an excuse to put Naruto in the same team as Kiba, Hinata, and Shino. If you think about it, the amount of academy students that graduate the exam is usually pretty random, and there can't always be a multiple of three, so obviously four man teams are inevitable. As for the big deal about it, I guess that was just a product of what you might call a 'brain fart'.
Third, there will be no yaoi. Since I'm a straight guy, I can't really understand boy-boy. This doesn't mean that I'm anti-homosexual, in fact I support gay marriage since everybody deserves to be equal, regardless of their sexual orientation, it just means that I won't be putting any yaoi in here. Hetero pairings are a possibility, but I'm not that good at writing romance, so I guess it'll just depend on if a lot of people want it. After all, pairings are hard. Some may like NaruHina, and others might like NaruSaku, thus it might alienate some readers. I guess it'll all really depend, then...
Lastly, the good Mizuki. I don't know about you guys, but I've always felt a little bit bad when I found out Mizuki was a bad guy right in the first chapter. There was something really real about his facade to make Naruto steal the scroll that I've always found imagining Mizuki as a bad guy really hard. Every time I think back to it, the face I remember isn't the one that attacked Naruto and called him the demon fox, it's the face that talked to Naruto on the rooftop and told him that Iruka really did care for him. That's why I've decided to make him a good guy, oh, and expect a lot more bad guys turned good in this story! Hint, hint, wink, wink. Coughkabutocough
Thanks for the reviews people, and please keep sticking with me!
---
Chapter 3
---
Naruto stared at the kunai impaled in his chest, unbelieving.
Mizuki stared in open-mouthed shock, not making a sound.
It was a period of silence, as both parties absorbed the information within their minds.
And then came the chuckling.
Mizuki's head snapped towards the direction of the voice. The look of anger on his face was unnatural, Naruto dimly realized, it just didn't look right. Mizuki usually possessed a calm aura, and now, as his face contorted in rage, it just didn't seem right anymore. The shock still hadn't gone through yet. The kunai had pierced his chest, and then he remembered -- he remembered why he couldn't feel any pain.
"YOU BASTARD!" Mizuki screamed.
Naruto turned towards the imposter, who had shed his disguise.
He was wearing a blue vest over a black shirt, and baggy pants that went down all the way. He was wearing boots, which was strange for a ninja, and wore his headband on his upper left arm. Naruto's eyes were getting blurry now, and couldn't see the symbol. On both of his hands were fingerless gloves, just like a jounin's except without the metal band on the outside. He had tied a strip of cloth around his eyes, though Naruto doubted he was blind. White hair spilt past his neck, and stopped somewhere around the middle of his back. He was around the same age as Naruto, though maybe a little older.
Though he knew it didn't matter much, soon it would be finished.
The imposter-nin had been the one that had been chuckling, he realized.
"Kukuku... Good try, genin-kun." He had a smooth, silky drawl, and even without looking at his eyes, Naruto knew that he was laughing at him. He'd be in for a big surprise, though. "Though in the end, it wasn't good enough. I've already taken the Forbidden Scroll, and you're dying. I have to admit, I'm surprised that you're not dead yet, since I'm sure I went straight for the heart, but it doesn't matter. Even if I didn't hit a vital spot, the poison that my kunai's been coated with will fell you soon enough."
Mizuki grit his teeth, and swung around, desperately trying to free himself. Naruto-kun wasn't dead yet, that was a good thing. If he managed to get out of his binds, take Naruto, and run, then he should be able to find help. But the chakra strings that he had been tied up in had been seemed to possess a degree of intelligence, and every time that he almost slipped out they bound around him tighter.
Naruto stared at the kunai in his chest for a moment, and grasped onto it.
Mizuki gasped, and the imposter-nin's body posture spoke of surprise.
"You think..." Naruto gasped. "...That this is end of me?"
"You can still talk?" The imposter said, with a little amazement contained within. However, there was no trace of nervousness or fear, and only simple-minded curiousity. "It seems your constitution is a little better than the average genin... But that won't save you."
Naruto chuckled, though it was obviously in pain.
"Hehe... I know it's the end of me, but, you think it's the end of Naruto?"
"Naruto-kun...what do you mean?" Mizuki asked, from his position on the ground. He had stopped struggling by now, as it seemed to be a futile effort.
Naruto looked towards the silver-haired ninja, and grinned.
"Don't worry, Mizuki-sensei! I'll get you out of there, I promise!"
And with that, he disappeared in an explosion of smoke.
---
The imposter-nin sprang straight up.
"Kage Bunshin..." He gasped.
"Not quite." A voice said from the side.
As the imposter turned around, a kunai flung past him, missing his face by the width of a hair. There, standing in front of him, was the genin brat himself. The orange-wearing ninja had an air of confidence, though he seemed a little shaken, as if he had experienced death itself first hand.
"Seirei Bunshin no Jutsu (Art of Spirit Split Body)... the jutsu that sends my consciousness into a bunshin while my real body is controlled by the sentience of a normal bunshin." Naruto explained, at the puzzled face on the other nin's face. "I know you figured it out already."
"You send your consciousness into another bunshin... Therefore increasing its damage capacity by just inhabiting it with your mind. That's why the bunshin didn't puff out of existence the moment that I hit it with a kunai." The imposter-nin deducted, and Naruto nodded. "You created an extra Kage Bunshin, and the real you hid while the bunshin took over your spot, therefore confusing me while I was in battle with your other three bunshin. In your hiding spot, you used that jutsu of your's to inhabit your bunshin's body, while you instructed the bunshin inhabiting your body to hide. Clever."
Naruto groaned, he had gotten down everything that he had done.
"But you've wasted your chance. I dodged the chakra-enhanced kunai that you threw, and now that I know your tricks, it's not going to work again on me. I underestimated you, genin-kun, and that could've been my downfall. It won't happen again."
Naruto grinned, he had gotten it all wrong.
"You think I threw that kunai intending to finish you?"
The imposter-nin looked confused.
"Let me give you a hint... Objects infused with chakra, and only be destroyed with chakra..." Naruto grinned, and whistled.
When the whistle had died down, Mizuki had gotten behind the imposter-nin, and was now holding a kunai to his neck while twisting his arm back.
"Checkmate."
---
"Thank you, Naruto-kun." Mizuki said, his breaths coming in fast. "If you hadn't arrived, I would've been killed for sure."
Naruto grinned.
"No problem, sensei. Let's take this guy back, and then we'll be able to prove your innocence!"
Mizuki returned the grin. "What an idea... I'll be sure to return the favour sometime."
Suddenly, the faker spoke up.
"Don't... think I'm done!"
With a roar, the imposter blew back both Mizuki and Naruto off the branch that they had been standing on. Mizuki righted himself halfway down, but Naruto hadn't been so lucky. He landed on his arm, and gave a sharp gasp of pain as he got up. Mizuki looked towards the yougner ninja worried. Just as he was about to ask the blonde foxboy if he had suffered any serious injuries, Naruto shook his head and gasped out...
"No time, Mizuki-sensei! Look at him!"
The silver-haired chuunin assistant turned his face towards the imposter-nin, and was shocked at what he saw. The white-haired spy was enveloped in a dark blue aura which gave off a demonic feel. It had been the force of the chakra that had blown them off, Mizuki realized. This was so much more than the utilization of killing intent... this was the expulsion of pure chakra that propelled them off!
"...You..." The imposter rasped, his voice changed. "...I've come too far to be caught now... Don't think I'm done! When I'm through... I will have the Forbidden Scroll, and both of you will be six-feet deep, buried beneath the earth... Your bodies will be desecrated by the worms, and I'll be free to live like a god!"
"Careful, sensei!" Naruto called towards the silver-haired chuunin. "He has a pact with a demon! This is a Youki Aura!"
Mizuki's eyes widened in surprise, and he nodded to the blonde-haired genin. "What... what should we do? A genin and a chuunin can't take on a demon!"
Naruto looked worried.
"I don't think he's gonna give us much of a choise, Mizuki-sensei..."
"SHI---NE! (DIEEEEE!)" The imposter-nin screamed, and rebounded off the branch he was standing on towards the teacher-student pair on the ground. Mizuki predicted the charge a moment before Naruto, and managed to grab the orange-clad ninja's collar and jump off the ground not a moment too soon. The ground literally exploded, blown apart by the force of the youki.
"Shit, he's fast!" Naruto swore, and Mizuki let go of him. They could see the dust cloud below them vanish slowly, and the visible aura of dark-blue youki underneath. Naruto began to flash through a series of seals, preparing himself for a jutsu.
"HAGANE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU! (Art of Steel Split Body)"
A few Narutos popped into existence, and Mizuki noticed that they all had a metal sheen to them. They had the colours of the original Naruto sure, but it was like their skin was made of steel, and their clothing made of iron. Just with that observation, he could already tell what they were meant to do. Naruto dropped his stance, and jumped back just as the imposter-nin bounded off the ground and towards them again.
CLANG--
The Hagane Bunshins had done their job. Between the five of them, they had caught the imposter-nin, and with a command from Naruto, threw him towards the teacher-genin duo. Naruto nodded to Mizuki, and fell into a fighting stance. The silver-haired chuunin had caught the genin's cue, and had also dropped into a fighting stance, withdrawing his fuuma shuriken from his back.
"MOURETSU KOURO! (Rage Run)"
Naruto charged forwards, chakra trails burning behind him as he charged forwards like a mad beast out of hell. Mizuki reared his arm back, and prepared to throw the massive windmill blade. With one hand, he flipped through a series of seals while the other one gathered power. The fuuma shuriken righted itself as all four blades sprang to their proper positions.
"KATON: SHURIKEN TATSUMAKI BAKUDAN! (Fire Style: Shuriken Tornado Explosion)"
And Mizuki launched the fuuma shuriken, now a ticking time-bomb. Naruto ducked his head as the projectile flew past him, and Mizuki prepared another set of seals, this time intending on using most of his chakra. Now was when the imposter was most vulnerable, now was their chance to win.
"SHURIKEN KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU! (Art of Shuriken Shadow Split Body)"
At least twenty fuuma shuriken popped out of nowhere, heading straight towards the imposter. The demon-possessed nin seemed to recoil in surprise, and Naruto grinned. The shuriken made contact, and each one of them lit up like a dynamite. With a horrible, inhuman scream, the multitudes of fuuma shuriken blew up. Those that hadn't reached their target yet reacted to the first explosion like a chain reaction, and soon the entire space surrounding the imposter was filled with light, heat, and sound.
Naruto charged into the midst of the explosions, retaining his cool. He had been prepared for this, and was using his chakra to cool himself down. Swinging his fist back, he delivered a punch like a bullet, hitting the imposter shinobi into the earth, breaking a few branches on the way. Mizuki landed next to him, and gave a him a grin as the silver-haired chuunin pat the blonde genin on the back.
"Good job, Naruto-kun!" Mizuki laughed. "We did it!"
"Yeah! Mizuki-sensei!"
Suddenly, a burst of demonic energy stopped their cheering. The imposter had risen again.
"It'S... NoT OVeR Ye... YEt...!"
"What kind of monster is he?" Mizuki gasped.
Naruto watched in fear as the imposter began charging up demonic energy again. He had no more chakra left, and it looked like Mizuki was in the same condition. There was only one thing left to do if the faker charged again... He pulled out a kunai from his weapons pouch, and watched Mizuki flick another fuuma shuriken into its proper shape.
Suddenly, the imposter seemed to stop, and his body started convulsing in obviously unpleasant ways.
"NO... WhA'ts GoING oN...!" His body gave another spasm, and then he seemed to realize what was going on. "NO! NO! I'm SoRry! PllEaSSE GIIVEE MEE AnnOOTheeR CHannce! NO N!ON# O!N#$ !ON# N! NN NNON$ ON !NTN !N$NT! $TN! YU# U$ GHDF GEF #$ !#Y !$ !#$ !#$ EGRE... NOOOOOOOO!"
The spasm went on and on, and seemed to get stronger and stronger. His veins pulsed against his white skin, which was getting paler and paler by the second. Here and there blood veins burst, and black liquid dripped down his body. Suddenly, a bulge appeared against his blindfold, and got bigger and bigger before it burst, spraying eye bits everywhere. His scream went on for a long, long time.
"Oh my god..." Mizuki said, shuddering. He had never seen anybody die like that before.
Mizuki shuddered, and Naruto gazed at it, horrified. It was like a car accident... No matter how much you tried, you just couldn't look away.
After what seemed like an eternity, he finally keeled over where he stood and hit the floor, immobile. He wouldn't ever get up again of his own volition. Black blood pooled around his body, and his corpse seemed shrunken, as if all the water in his body had been drained. His hair fell out, bit by bit, and Mizuki turned Naruto's eyes away.
Pretty soon, they heard footsteps in the forest. The cavalry had arrived.
---
"Yaiba-san!"
Akira looked around, already used to his fake name. Iruka, one of the teachers at the academy, had been the one to call him, and when he stopped the chuunin ran up to his side. It was the day after the Forbidden Scroll incident, and the rest of the night had passed without incidence. Iruka seemed hurried, and there were bags under his eyes as though he hadn't slept very well.
"Umino-san, how are you?"
"Ah, Yaiba-san, thanks for stopping for me." Iruka said. "I just wanted to thank you for saving Mizuki."
"Hmm? Wasn't me. Was Naruto, my son. You know him?" Akira said.
Iruka looked stunned.
"Really?"
"Yeah. He got there when the imposter was about to kill Mizuki. Rescued the guy by faking his own death. I have to say he's pretty good at doing that." Akira laughed. He remembered a pretty bad instance when he had thought he had accidently killed his adoptive son in a training session. He had freaked out and when Naruto had reappeared he had actually fainted. Wasn't like a shinobi to do something like that, but he didn't really care. It was proof that he really cared about Naruto, and that was enough for him. "After that they started duking it out with the guy, and right when they ran out of chakra the guy died. Some kind of time limit jutsu, the medic-nins said."
"I... I knew that he was above average genin level, but I never thought..."
"I know. Pretty surprising, eh?" Akira grinned. "I'd say he's around lower chuunin level, the last time I checked, which is around, oh, half a year ago."
Iruka gaped.
"Yeah, that's what all the clients did when they saw his skills." Akira said. He honestly enjoyed bragging about his son's skills. After all, wasn't every parent supposed to be proud of their offspring?
"A-Ah... Thank you for your time then, Todoh-san." Iruka said. "I'd have to find Naruto then, and repay him."
"Hmm? Why do you want to repay him?" Akira asked.
"Because he saved Mizuki's life!"
"Oh. In that case, forget about it. He won't accept."
Iruka gaped at him.
"What? Why not?"
Akira grinned.
"Well, Naruto doesn't like recieving rewards for doing what he feels to be the right thing, and saving a fellow shinobi's life might rank pretty high up there in the category, eh." Akira explained. "He's a very conscientious kid... Didn't make a lot of friends in his life. He's lonely. He told me about Mizuki last night... said he was really nice. Anybody he categorizes as 'really nice' is automatically a friend."
"Amazing... you don't find many shinobi nowadays with a conscience..."
"Isn't it though? He's very altruistic."
"But... I'll feel horrible if I don't repay him somehow..."
Akira thought about it for a second.
"Well, there is something that he really likes, and he'd probably accept it too."
He got Iruka's attention.
"What? What is it?"
Akira fished around in his pocket for something, and took out a photograph. He passed it to Iruka, and the chuunin looked closely at it.
"Is that..."
"Yeah, ramen." Akira grinned. "Stupid kid loves that stuff. Invite him somewhere for a bowl of that, and I guarantee he won't decline."
"But, it's just ramen... It's so cheap."
"Well, I've tried to introduce him to shark-fine soup. He said it made his stomach feel funny though, so I don't think he liked it very much."
Iruka looked at the photograph, and passed it to Akira.
"No, you keep it." Akira said. "I've got five copies of that thing, and I don't really want it cloggin up my pockets, so keep it."
"Oh, well, if you're sure." Iruka said, and pocketed the photo. "Thanks for your time, Todoh-san."
Then Iruka ran off, intent on finding the blonde foxboy. Akira smiled at his retreating figure, and looked upwards at the sky.
Looks like you've found a new friend... Naruto...
---
"You."
Naruto turned around. The get togethers with the rest of his genin team had been canceled for today with the Forbidden Scroll incident and everything. Mizuki was staying in the hospital, due to a few bad scratches that he had recieved from the fight with the imposter-nin. In the end they hadn't even managed to find out his name, just enough information about him from his dead body to declare that it wasn't Mizuki after all that stole the Forbidden Scroll.
At the moment Naruto had been sitting down on top of a log in the training grounds to read a scroll on strategy that he had picked up from the library. It was a nice day, and soon he'd be able to see Mizuki at the hospital. It was 9 AM in the morning, and visiting hours hadn't opened up yet. After yesterday's battle the two shinobi felt a friendship develop between the two, Mizuki due to Naruto's selfless battle to rescue him, and Naruto due to Mizuki's nice and understanding nature.
"Hmm?" Naruto looked up.
Uchiha Sasuke walked up to him, and stopped. They were now only around five feet apart from each other. Naruto was sitting on the log, and Sasuke was standing in front of him.
"I've heard about the Forbidden Scroll incident."
"Oh." Naruto said, wondering where this was going.
Sasuke talked on.
"You're strong, aren't you."
"Not as strong as I would like to be, but maybe higher genin level." Naruto said, looking through the scroll.
There was a period of silence after that, with Naruto studying the various positions and techniques that would give him an advantage in battle, and Sasuke trying to think up the words to convey what he wanted to say.
"Fight me." There, that was it. Short and simple.
"No." And there was the reply. Also short and simple.
Sasuke nodded. He wondered why the blonde foxboy didn't want to fight him.
"Are you afraid of me?"
"Maybe a little bit." Naruto said calmly, trying to grasp the idea of the buttonhook maneuver. "But that's not the reason I don't want to fight you."
"Then why?"
Another period of silence.
"Why don't you want to fight me?"
"What would it do? Would it help with your suffering?" Naruto asked.
Sasuke looked stunned.
"What... How much do you know!"
Naruto calmly closed his eyes.
"I know a bit, but not enough. Let me get back to my question... Would fighting me help with your suffering?"
Sasuke calmed down, and thought about it.
"...Yes. If I fight you, I can become stronger." Sasuke said. He didn't why he was being so honest. "If I fight you, I can become stronger... Than him. Defeating him... will end my suffering."
"Will it really?" Naruto asked. "Would revenge help you?"
Sasuke felt anger bubbling up within him.
"Of course it will! He killed my family! He betrayed me! He is the cause of all my suffering, and all my pain! If I kill him, I can be free!" Then he immediately restrained himself. "Why do you want to know! What does it matter to you!"
Naruto folded up the scroll that was sitting in his lap.
"I want to know... Because I want to help you, Sasuke-kun." Naruto said, smiling. "Anger is natural. Betrayal is the worst kind of pain to bear. You can get angry all you want... I don't know much about the suffering you went through, and I don't know much about the kind of pain you suffered... but don't let revenge dominate your life, because in the end... the only one that wins is your enemy. Just a little food for thought. Ja ne."
And with that, Naruto walked off, leaving Sasuke with a lot more to think about.
---
Sorry if the chapter's a little bit short people, but Christmas break is coming up soon. So once that happens expect some more updates to come from me!