Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Inuyasha (you'll see)
This is it! The last chapter! (Starts crying)
Domino Effect: At The Beginning
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Iruka starred mournfully at his now empty wallet. Ichiraku-oyaji, however, was chuckling maniacally as he counted out his profits. Iruka thanked the man for the meal and followed the hyper trio to the nearby park. When Sasame-san had asked him to baby-sit while he made his usual trip to Sunagakure Iruka had said that he would be glad to do it for free. He was infinitely glad now that Hokage-sama had insisted on making it a C-Rank mission.
It had been one month since Gaara had arrived in Konoha. When Iruka had first met him he had seemed like a quiet and withdrawn young boy. A month with Naruto, however, had already seen a rash of pranks played on half of the town. Among other pranks, the local ice cream parlor had found its' famous mint ice cream generously laced with wasabi, the ladies' bath had become infested with frogs, and every Hyuga had found a 'kick me' sign on their backs. That last prank had many ninja stumped. Not even the Hyuga elders had been able to figure out how the trio had pulled that off. The boys had eventually confessed to Iruka that Haku had used a morning fog to conceal the grains of sand that Gaara was sending up their backs to form the signs. Naruto had provided a visible distraction so that the Hyugas were more focused on the tree that Naruto was tee-peeing in their courtyard. Iruka was now thoroughly enjoying listening to various theories that other ninja came up with. No one had gained the courage to test those theories, as of yet, but Iruka guessed that it was only a matter of time.
A few days after that prank Naruto had spotted the Hyuga heiress stalking him and had insisted that she must be waiting for her revenge. From the look of adoration that she was giving him, Iruka sincerely doubted that but he let Naruto sweat. As the pranks went on the boys were caught less and less. While the villagers knew that it was the trio doing the pranks, they could not prove most of them and Sasame refused to punish the boys without proof while the Hokage just remarked on what a good ninja team they would make before moving to another topic. The villagers were reduced to grumbling and hoping that the boys would calm down.
"Fat chance," Iruka muttered as he watched them whispering quietly on the swings with suspicion. He tried to listen in on a few words and promptly decided that he didn't want to know what they were going to do to the Inuzukas that involved catnip and broken squeakers. Iruka looked to the setting sun and got ready to call the boys in for bed. Moments later he watched in horror as a giant fireball descended onto his charges. The flames dissipated to reveal a sphere of sand that was full of cracks. The shield fell to reveal the boys unharmed and Gaara sweating. "Are you alright?" cried Iruka as he ran to them. His eyes swept the park but he couldn't figure out where the hell that Katon jutsu had come from. The boys nodded nervously.
"Iruka-sensei," called Gaara, "the sand isn't strong enough! I don't think that I can do that again!"
"Thanks for the tip," came a voice from a nearby tree. Iruka turned to find Kenji-san running through the seals for another attack. He quickly threw a barrage of kunai and placed himself in front of the boys.
"Stop this Kenji. I don't want to have to hurt you." Kenji laughed.
"It's not over until those demons are dead!" he yelled. He jumped from the tree and ran at Iruka with seals ready. "Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!" Another fireball came racing at Iruka.
"Suiton: Suijinheki," countered Iruka. A wall of water formed and created a barrier, which stopped the fire in its tracks. "Where the hell are the ANBU?" muttered Iruka as he moved to intercept a barrage of shuriken. Two shuriken ended up buried in his arm but the rest were stopped safely. Iruka turned back to Kenji, who had a satisfied smirk on his face.
"Poor Iruka, those demons have bewitched you. Don't worry, though. I'll put you out of your misery." Iruka prepared himself only to realize that Kenji wasn't casting a shadow.
"Bunshin!" He turned to find Kenji right behind him. A moment later darkness was surrounding him and he slipped into unconsciousness. He never even felt himself fall.
Kenji removed his fist from Iruka's stomach and watched dispassionately as he fell to the ground. He turned to the kids with a grin. "It over now demons," he spat. He walked towards them with kunai raised. "I'm going to enjoy ever minute of this." Haku began crying and Gaara was trying desperately to raise his sand shield but the low quality sand could only protect him at best and only for a few moments. Naruto quickly placed himself in front of them and began molding chakra.
"Hey, you genin loser. Stay away from MY BROTHERS!" Naruto suddenly felt more powerful then he had ever felt and a fire seemed to burn within him. For just a moment he could swear he heard a voice whispering to him. Naruto took a deep breath and did as the voice said. Flinging out a hand he yelled at the top of his voice. "FOX FIRE!" A stream of blue flame shot out of his hand and raced at Kenji.
"That's impossible," screamed Kenji as he was hit. His body quickly went up and began burning until, seconds later, there was nothing left. Naruto began shaking and fell to his knees as he realized that he had just killed a man. A shadow loomed over him and he looked up to see Hokage-oyaji and a silver haired man with a facemask. He dove into Sarutobi's arms. Gaara and Haku, meanwhile, were clinging desperatley to the old man's legs
"Naruto, Haku, Gaara," he murmured. "I'm so sorry I was too late."
"I killed him," cried Naruto.
"Then you should be commended," said the man who had come with the Hokage. Naruto's head snapped up and he looked at the man in shock. "If you had not done this," explained the silver haired man patiently, "then he would have killed your brothers and you. You did what you had to do to keep your team safe, just as any ninja should. I have no doubt that you and your brothers will make a fine ninja team." Naruto blinked and nodded slowly.
"Who are you mister?" he questioned softly.
"My name is Hatake Kakashi. I am a Special Jonin. I'm going to take Iruka to the hospital now so I'll see you later, okay?" Naruto nodded and Kakashi went over to pick up Iruka. Both disappeared in a swirl of leaves, leaving the boys alone with Sandaime. The Hokage put Naruto down and his brothers let go of the old man to embrace him.
"Naruto," he said gently, "can you tell me what that attack that you used was?" The voice began speaking again and Naruto repeated what it said carefully.
"It an attack called Fox Fire, a level one kitsune attack. It makes a fire that is hotter than any other fire, depending on your power, but it won't hurt those that I don't want it to hurt. The voice says that I can use it when I want and that if I get stronger then maybe it will let me learn more."
"The voice?" asked Sandaime. "Do you mean the Kyuubi's voice?" Naruto hesitated and then nodded.
"Kyuubi says: 'Don't worry, oyaji. It's impossible for me to break free so I might as well make sure that my container is the strongest that there is. Just let my kit train to destroy that snake-teme that summoned me to your village in the first place and we'll call it even." Sandaime frowned.
"Does he mean this guy Naruto?" Sarutobi quickly henged into Orochimaru and Naruto felt a sudden surge of rage from inside of him. He nodded.
"That's the guy." Sarutobi ended the henge and nodded.
"Alright, Kyuubi. You have yourself a deal but none of these boys will fight Orochimaru until I am satisfied with their abilities. Agreed?"
"He says agreed," confirmed Naruto.
"Very well, then. You boys will be staying at Hokage Tower tonight. The village is short on ANBU guards tonight so I'll feel better if you stay where I can watch you three until this mess is settled." The boys nodded and followed him to the tower as the sun finally finished setting. The only trace they left behind of the five-minute ordeal was a patch of scorched earth from where the fire had impacted.
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Sasame parked his truck at the base of Hokage Tower and ran up the stairs two at a time. He had made his trip to Sunagakure in good time and had been met at the main gate of Konoha by a chunin who informed him that his boys had been attacked and were currently with the Hokage. His heart had begun racing and he had nearly hit three people on his way to the tower but he could only concentrate on seeing his boys again. Reaching the Hokage's rooms, he flew past the secretary and rushed into the inner chamber.
"Sasame!" came three eager voices and he fell back as the three boys crashed into him. He looked them over as they chattered and finally calmed when he saw that they were unharmed. He looked over to the Hokage and silently demanded an explanation. The Hokage responded with a look that clearly said 'later'. Sasame nodded slowly and stood.
"Gaara, your siblings from the sand sent you some things." He led the boys and Hokage down to his truck and hopped into the back. Moments later he was crawling back down with a large gourd that was as tall as Gaara was. "Your sister snuck this gourd out of the village temple for you. It's made of, and holds, the strongest sand from Sunagakure. This way you can spend less time drawing sand from the earth and you'll be able to have more powerful attacks." He then pulled a book from his pocket. "Your brother snuck this out of your father's private study with his puppets. It details the steps that the council used to seal your demon into you. Maybe we can use this to complete the seal so that you can sleep." He handed the book to the Hokage.
"I'll call one of my students in on this," assured Sandaime. He's our best seal expert so I have no doubt that we'll succeed." Gaara looked up at the four foot gourd and frowned.
"It's too big for me to carry," he announced sadly. Sasame laughed.
"Don't worry," he said soothingly. "You'll grow into it." Gaara nodded and allowed Sasame to hoist it back into the truck for him. He resolved to start wearing weights so that he would be able to lift it sooner. Sasame was just getting ready to take the boys for dinner when a Peregrine/Lanner Falcon made its way to the Hokage.
"That's father's falcon," announced Gaara nervously. A nearby chunin guard quickly gloved his hand and allowed the raptor to perch on him while Sandaime took the message.
"It seems that the Kazekage has ruled that you are no longer welcome in Sunagakure, Sasame. No doubt he has learned about what his children did."
"No doubt," replied Sasame. "It doesn't really matter. I anticipated this and set up a deal to have my customers come to me. It helps that not many competitors are willing to make the long trip there and now I can make sure that I am here with the boys. I'll be by once I send the boys to school tomorrow Hokage-sama. Please excuse use." Sandaime nodded and returned to his tower while the boys climbed into the truck to head to dinner. Sasame started the engine and swore to himself that he would turn his boys into strong ninja so that they would be able to protect themselves. "So what do you guys want for dinner," he asked.
"Ramen!" they yelled in unison. Sasame sweat dropped and headed to Ichiraku's"
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That's all folks! I'll be posting a note here when the sequel comes up so look forward to it. The sequel will span wave arc and while I will have pairings I will not be making a very big deal on most of them. So far I've only planned on going into Haku's pairing with an OC. There will be one yaoi pairing, but not in the trio, and their Jonin sensei has already been decided. See if you can guess whom.
Gaara's father seems like the kind of guy who would use a Peregrine and Lanner hybrid. Not to mention that they're the most kick booty bird on the planet. Those who question Gaara's use of Konoha's sand: He is just six so I'm sticking with the theory that he only just learned how to control his sand and has yet to strengthen it. That and it was a good way to introduce Naruto's new ability and the sand gourd.
Sorry for being so late with this update but at least this chapter is way longer than usual, ne? Man, it's hard to find a job when you're determined not to get one that involves saying "Do you want fries with that?"
Thanks to all reviewers and thank you for reviewing now.
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