Yay! I got ideas. From some of you mock glares at people with no ideas. Just kidding. . anyway, special thanks to the following people for their ideas
LoversPastforgotten, Harmony8390, Fic Slayr, Herald-Mage Brinna, Jess Anime, FiveQz, Daitai Otonashii Ookami, and fawn for their ideas.
Oh, and many people (The Dark Kitsune Lord and Midnight's Requiem) have pointed out to me that Shian is not actually Ino's fathers name, that his name is Inoichi. And, after writing this, I remembered that he was on a team with Shikamaru and Chouji's dads, which might not work in my plan, so Shian is now Ino's uncle. Sorry
Oh, and yes, I know that I don't spell deamon the American way that you're used to. This also applies to the words colour, vampyre, and others. Nor will I change my way of spelling to adapt to the language of a different country.
- - -Recap- - -
Um, the villagers plot to stop Naruto from getting to the fight/duel thing.
- - - End Recap - - -
- - - Start Fic - - -
It was a bright, sunny morning, and all was truly right with the world. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, the bastard were plotting, the flowers were- wait.
A group of men sat huddled in a dark alleyway that the beautiful atmosphere seemed unable to touch. They were planning, planning the downfall of a man that was givin no name, not from them at least. To them he was only a deamon, not any one worth receiving an actual name. Such things were to human and dare they say kind, to be applied to that monster.
One man in particular sat even more in the shadows than the others, his eyes hidden in darkness, the thought's whirling in his head. He would make that Kyuubi brat pay. The thing had killed his boss. He had been working as an undercover Sound nin for all of his life. It had been his only goal, to see Orochimaru assume his true place of ultimate power.
And that abomination, the one who the villagers, weak as they were, should have killed at birth, had destroyed his goal with one blow from a kunai. He ignored the fact that it had been a long and hard fought battle, won by cunning and speed more than brute strenghth. He would not let that fiend live. And the fights would be the perfect excuse. He would wait until the deamon was so weak after the many other battles he would face, that there would be no way he could lose.
He would pay
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"Come on Naru-chibi! Rise and shine!" Kyuubi yelled, running into said boys room to draw open the curtains and jump on the edge of the bed. His former container snorted and rolled over, as if to say 'Up? Never!'
Kyuubi grinned. A challenge! He grabbed the end of the blanket and tugged. Naruto looked at him blearily, and tugged it back. Kyuubi pouted. There was one thing that had always worked. . .
"Hey Naruto! Look! It's Sasuke!" He yelled. Naruto opened one eye and Kyuubi began a mental cheer, before
"Nice try. That one's getting old." before pulling the blanket completely over his head, leaving only a golden curl to escape, along with the curled fingers that were fastened to the top of the blanket, keeping it firmly in place. Kyuubi sighed.
"Alright, but hurry and get up, Itachi is making breakfast for us."
"He's what?" Naruto's voice rang out, slightly muffled by the blanket that had landed firmly on Kyuubi's head in the other's haste to stop the horror that was Itachi cooking.
Kyuubi pulled the blanket off, to see Naruto rummaging through his closet, searching for something not orange to wear for his fights.
"Kidding." Kyuubi grinned, holding up two fingers in a victory sign. "I win. Now hurry up, your lover boy awaits."
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"Stop right there, deamon." a voice growled out menacingly. Naruto tensed slightly but otherwise kept walking, flanked on the sides by Sasuke and Sakura, with Kyuubi and Itachi guarding the back. Sakura looked over at the man, surprised by the tone he addressed her former team-mate by. The others, all of whom had mastered their facial expressions at young ages, ignored the man.
He didn't like this.
"Look at me when I talk to you, deamon." he growled out. Naruto kept walking, hardly even blinking. "I said, look at me! Didn't anyone ever teach you to respect you're superiors." with those, what he thought, menacing words, he launched himself at the innocent blonde.
He stopped short, a kunai pressed to his throat, knowing that a further move would sever his neck. He saw the youngest Uchiha glaring up at him and he felt the sudden urge to run away. Far, far away.
"Touch him, and you'll answer to me." Sasuke growled out, his voice ten times more ominous than the mans had been. He pressed the kunai closer, until a hardly seen line of red began to appear. "Got it?"
Terrified, the man nodded, his eyes roving in terror. Suddenly, help came from an unexpected place. Naruto laid a passive hand on Sasuke's shoulder.
"Leave it Sasuke, he's not worth it." Sasuke's own eyes flickered over his shoulder to the blonde, than back to the man. He seemed to be weighing his options. Then he dropped the kunai.
"Ch. Some ninja, he's terrified. From just a kid a like me? What a loser." he pocketed the kunai and strode off, hands shoved in his pockets.
They arrived in perfect time, finding a stage like platform set up, with people milling about, waiting for the main event. Some people were even selling popcorn. Sakura felt her blood boil. This was Naruto! Naruto who was a living ball of sunshine and innocence, all these people just to see him fall, just for the entertainment. It was sick.
Then someone was calling that they were here, and she felt herself pulled from the blondes side as he himself was forced onstage. But was then that she noticed the long, so long, line of people, all waiting to fight Naruto. Inner Sakura broke lose.
Standing up on the nearest, most convent table, and on someone's food, but they shouldn't be eating anyway, so she didn't care, and started telling the villagers exactly what she thought of them, the kindest of which involved her telling them exactly where they could put their prejudices.
"This is Naruto! The worst he's ever done is write on a mountain. He beat Orochimaru only to defend this village, not for any other reason. You people make me sick, talking about what a deamon he is. If anyone's a deamon here, it's you! Naruto has been nothing but kind all of his life and you're still here trying to tear his dream down. " she continued in this manner for quite a while, no one bothering, or daring, to stop her. She concluded with a final message.
"Are you willing to sink so low as destroying life long dreams?"
"Yeah!" one of the villagers, not a shinobi, cried. "That kid's not so bad, he always stops to say help my wife with her garden."
"And he always come by for ramen."
"He's helped me with some stuff occasionally."
Finally, only about thirty people remained in line, the others either not willing to go to such an extreme, or finally seeing that Naruto could make a good Hokage.
When Tsunade figured that no one else would be leaving, she stepped on to the stage, a megaphone in her hand. When the people had calmed down enough for her to be heard, she started to explain the rules. No killing, stop when she said stop, no deliberate killing, and no hitting, ur, below the belt, as it were.
Naruto and the person standing across from him nodded. She called for the fight to begin and the man lunged at the child. Naruto dodged, barely. Sasuke wondered why wasn't he fighting like he could?
The man threw another punch, this one barely grazing the blonde. Who disappeared is a cloud of smoke. There was a murmur among the crowed.
"Wrong one." came a voice from the other edge of the stage. "I'm over here." The man whirled, when had that brat made a clone? No matter, if that was the best he could do, this fight was in the bag. The boy was leaning casually leaned against a wall, munching on a corndog. The man reached into a kunai pouch and threw one at the blonde, who flipped over it, throwing his corndog into the air, and ducking down to dodge the knife aimed for his head. He rushed toward the man, swerving to avoid another one. The third, his hand shot out to catch the kunai in midair.
Grinning, he ignored the mans shock and avoided he mans foot as it swung towards his nose, and pressing the knife to the mans throat.
"Win! Naruto!" Tsunade called. Naruto grinned, before flipping backwards and catching his corndog as it came back down. He held up a peace sign as he finished off the corndog. The man slouched off stage reluctantly, a young woman with an unflattering sneer marring her otherwise pretty features stepped up.
"Don't get cocky, deamon. He was weak. I won't make the same mistake. I'll beat you easy, child." she said. Naruto simply raised an eyebrow, and said
"Is that right?" before tossing the empty corndog stick behind his shoulder, where it landed in the trash. Tsunade called for the fight to begin and the woman waited, clearly waiting for Naruto to attack first. Naruto merely regarded her with a raised eyebrow, before sighing.
"Could we hurry it up a bit, I still have a bunch more people to go through."
"Hm, shame. I don't care."
"Ah well, I was hoping that you'd back up those though words of yours. Guess I was wrong." Naruto smirked. The girl glared.
"Oh, I can do more than talk, trust me."
"I dunno, all I see is your mouth moving."
"I'll show you, deamon brat!" she screamed. She moved her hand in a complicated jutsu. Immediately she burst into flames. Naruto blinked.
"Well, that's cool. Can I do that?" he inquired politely. The flame snorted.
"I doubt it. It's a family bloodline."
"Ah. Well, as they say, the only way to put out a fire." he moved his hands in a jutsu that Sasuke hadn't seen since Water country. "Is with water." A water dragon appeared, lunging toward the ball of fire. It doused her in icy water.
The girl stood, her once ruby hair now a dulled copper, dripping. She stared at the dragon, her mouth dropping in shock. Never in all her life had her bloodline been thwarted. The dragon suddenly exploded in a shower of drops. Naruto bursting through the veil of water, lading a kick square above her chest, after all, Naruto wasn't completely heartless. She flew backwards, landing outside the arena. Naruto grinned.
"Not bad, for a kid, right?" he laughed as Tsunade announced his victory. Naruto went through the next people easily, until one last man remained.
He stepped on stage, his face set confidently.
"All that fighting must have wearied you. Deamon." he spat at Naruto's feet. The boy gave him a look, starting at his feet, and working up.
The man wore a black pants, with a shirt of a colour so dark it looked black. He wore his jounin vest over his clothes, his headband tied securely on his bicep. His hair was dark and greasy, clinging to his ragged face as if it would fall away if it were ever brushed. Naruto searched his mind for the name that went along with this face. Uwakimono Kanchou.
There was something off about the man, something that didn't quite fit. . . He had seen this man before, except, the headband, there had been something different about the headband. He drew up the image in his mind, trying to find out what was nagging the back of his mind, the feeling that something was very wrong.
He stared into the mans face, which was twisted with such a hatred that it shook Naruto to the bone, even though he had been seeing things similar since he was ac child. It clicked. The headband, the sign hadn't been a leaf.
It was been a music note. A symbol of Sound. The man was a spy. He wanted revenge. But Naruto couldn't kill him, to do so would be as destructive as letting himself be killed. The man was a highly respected man in society and the village would not take his death well. The people who had just decided that he might be worthy would be lost. Along with his only chance of fulfilling the promise he had made to the third. He wouldn't let that happen. He would find another way.
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The deamon was watching him warily, almost differently than he had the others. Had he figured it out? But that was impossible, the boy was an idiot, and no one in village had ever suspected him. Well, no one alive now had. Well, even if the fool had guessed, he would be no match for him. He was Uwakimono Kanchou, member of the village hidden in the Sound and no piece of hell spawn could ever defeat him. The idiot must have waited a good deal of strenghth and chakra on the others. He would be easy prey, and his master would be avenged.
He moved his hands in the jutsu that he had been perfecting since he had first joined the village of sound. It was his bloodline, but it had not come naturally, in fact, it had taken him almost three times as long as his other family members. It may not have made that much of a difference, had he not been in the same year as that prodigy Uchiha. The comparison made his failures seem times worse. Humiliated, he had come to the newly formed village of sound, searching for the power that he would need to prove to all of them that he was worthy of their praise.
He had wanted to join the Sound immediately, but Orochimaru had insisted on his staying on as a spy. Over his protests, the man had asked him, wouldn't his revenge be much sweeter if he could see the looks on their faces as one they had trusted suddenly turned on them in battle. Agreeing, he had worked as a spy in Konoha for the past 20 years.
He would not let this be ruined by some deamon brat. With that thought, he disappeared. The Uwakimono family bloodline, to disappear completely, leaving no trace. It wasn't so difficult for most of his family, but for him, sometimes an arm, or leg would appear, sometimes he'd fade into focus, than back out again. But mostly there'd be a noticeable shimmer in the air where he was standing, like looking through a heat wave, which gave away his position. Not anymore.
Naruto grinned, finally, a challenge, of sorts. Not much of one, but better than the others. He could use that one jutsu, but that that'd be far to dull. Maybe if it got to challenging. But he had decided at the beginning to use hand-signs, so as not o freak people out, to much.
He felt a brush of air and dodged, feeling a solid rush by where his head had been, what felt like it would have been a painful blow. Fully aware of how stupid he must look, he dodged another blow, judging from the sound alone. He was glad now that Kyuubi, as his unofficial trainer, had insisted on sparring blindfolded. Apparently the fox wasn't as crazy as Naruto had thought when it had been suggested to him. Not that he wasn't still crazy.
Feeling a bit silly, he kicked out, hitting the invisible mass squarely in the chest. Naruto smirked as he sensed the man flying back words and landing with a well-heard crack on the hard wood. Clearly he had not been expecting a counter attack and had thus not been properly braced. Ah well, that was Kanchou's problem. It just made things easier. For him anyway.
He flipped into the crowd, which leaped out of his way. He grinned at a girl who had sipping a strawberry milkshake.
"Could I borrow this?" he winked at her. She nodded, blushing slightly, holding out her milkshake. "Thanks." he leaped back on stage and sipped on the straw. He felt the whoosh of air the indicated an on-coming punch. He raised his arm and caught the wrist and tugged the invisible force closer, upending the milkshake on where he figured the head would be.
There was now a floating head shaped, sputtering, strawberry coloured mass, which became a black, strawberry covered sputtering head. Naruto grinned. Pie. But he should end this quickly, those other fights had taken a toll on him, making him a bit more tired than he'd have thought.
Kanchou glared at him, thick pink drops slowly falling from his dark, now strawberry coloured hair. He wouldn't let some child, fool., deamon make a joke out of him. He lunged at the boy again, the strawberry milkshake splattering the floor as his hair whipped around him. His arms reached out, as if t catch the blonde by the throat and hold until the breath could no longer come and the life had left those obnoxious glowing, mocking blue eyes.
Another punch sent him sprawling, his jounin vest flying open. He regained his feet quickly, in time to block an oncoming punch, which had been aiming for his head. In doing so, he failed to see the foot aimed for his chest. He leaped back on instinct alone, so the kick only hit the inner side of his vest. His heart stopped as he felt the kick hit the hidden pocket he has sewn himself. As he felt his most hidden item fly out, landing with a clank on the wooden floor and skid to the edge of the raised platform.
He made a lunge for it, only to twist away from a head on collision with an orange-clad leg.
"Hm, whats this?" Naruto asked, unwrapping the black cloth from around the metal. A gasp sounded throughout the crowd as the layers revealed a black shape burned into the silver. A music note. Kanchou searched his mind for an excuse, although the fact that he had lunged for the object was probably enough evidence to the contrary of anything he might say. Lies, alibi's and possible expiations and phrases swam through his head, the first and foremost being
'Shit' but he didn't say that, that would be the worst and most condemning thing he could say. What was blurted from his mouth instead was "He planted it there!" he rose to his feet and pointed a furious, slightly shaking finger, at the blonde, who simply raised an eyebrow as he continued "That idiotic fool of a deamon framed me! He set it up, because I was about to beat him!"
"Really?" Naruto asked, a hidden smirk lurking at the edges of his mouth "So I went to the trouble to find a Sound nin, take his hiate, and somehow stash it in the inside of your jounin vest, in the last fifteen minutes, all without you noticing." there were a few titters among the crowd. Kanchou stared around, what could he say to that?
Tsunade walked onstage as the murmurs of the crowd got louder. She took the small object from her foster brother's hands, plucking a strand of hair from it and holding it up to the light. She examined it for a moment before once again turning back to the crowd that was waiting for her analysis.
"It's definitely his, and judging from the marks on this headband, and the obvious signs of wear, it's been his for a while. Seize him." she ordered coolly. Naruto grinned. There was still ink n her face, although now it was some other law, he could make out something about an A-rank mission and wondered if that was dangerous information to be wearing as a fashion device.
Uwakimono Kanchou was led off stage, his arms gripped by two Anbu. Tsunade declared him the winner. Naruto's friends cheered. Then, to the shock of many, so did the Itchiraku ramen guy. Who was joined by his daughter. Who was joined by her friends, one of whom was the girl who had provided Naruto with the milkshake. Slowly, the rest of the crown began to cheer, even including a few of the people that Naruto had beaten.
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"Yeah, yeah, shut up you two, you're making my head hurt." Naruto complained. "You've been celebrating for almost 5 hours."
"Why shouldn't we celebrate! Our little Naru-chan us going to be Hokage in just a week! Come on! Have another drink!"
"No thanks, Kyuu. How many drinks have you had anyway?"
"Not that many, um, 10? No, 12." Kyuubi said. Sasuke looked a bit scared at that and edged away a bit. Naruto laughed.
"Don't worry, he doesn't get drunk. I wish I could say the same about Kiba." They both looked over to said dog lover, who was having an animated conversation with a picture on Naruto's wall. About an hour later, the rest of the people had left, leaving only Naruto, Kyuubi, Sasuke and Itachi.
"Hey Itachi!" Kyuubi said, exclaiming the word like a child. "What were you and Sasuke like when you guys were little?" Naruto's head jerked up.
"Yeah! What were you guys like! Tell us!" He bounced to the foot of Itachi's chair, as if it were story time.
"Well." Itachi began "There was this one time. When Sasuke wanted me to train with him-"
"Stop!" Sasuke yelled "Not that story again!" There was a small blush hinting at his cheeks. Naruto and Kyuubi broke into identical mischievous and pounced on Itachi, demanding to be told until he gave in, although Naruto got the impression that it had more to do with Kyuubi's puppy eyes than anything he himself had done. Sasuke settled next to Naruto, looking grumpy that his wishes on the subject had been ignored.
- - -Flashback - - -
"Niisan, Niisan, will you play with me?" A five year old Sasuke implored his older brother. Itachi smiled and ruffled Sasuke's hair.
"Not right now." he said. Sasuke pouted.
"Why?"
"I have to go to work." he said calm as ever. Sasuke tilted his head in innocent confusion.
"Huh? What do you do at work, Niisan? Can I come?" he begged, latching on to his brothers leg. Itachi smiled down on him.
"I go to work and do dangerous thing for the Hokage."
"The men on the mountain?"
"Yeah, Sasuke, the man on the mountain."
"Oh." Sasuke seemed pacified by this, before pouting again and saying. "But niisan, why do you go to do stuff with them and not with me?"
"Because, when I go to work, and I do it right, they pay me for it."
"Oh." dawning comprehension lit the small boys face and he released his brothers leg and pulled back. "Niisan, wait here, okay?" he pleaded. Itachi smiled.
"Alright, but hurry." but Sasuke was already running up the stairs. In a few minutes he rushed back down, something clutched in his small fist
"Niisan?" he asked cutely.
"Yeah?"
"Is this enough? Is this what the mountain faces pay you?" he asked, opening his fist to reveal two quarters and a dime. Itachi stared at it, startled. "Is it enough, niisan? I have more, I've been saving. Is this enough for you to spend some time with me?" he pleaded. Slowly, Itachi grinned.
"Yeah, Sasuke, it's enough." he ruffled Sasuke's hair.
- - - End Flashback- - -
"Awww!" Naruto squealed "That's so cute!" he promptly glomped Sasuke, who seemed to be trying to mentally denying that he had ever done any such thing. Then an idea hit him.
"Oh yeah! Well what about that time that-" he began. Itachi paled.
"You wouldn't dare." he said. Sasuke smirked.
"Tell us!" Naruto cried. Sasuke turned to Itachi.
"Sorry Niisan," the sarcasm was evident "they forced it out of me. So what happened is. . ."
- - -Flashback- - -
"Come on Itachi-kun! It'll be fun!" squealed the green-haired Hikaru, now at age 14.
"No."
"But! All gay guys do it! I swear!"
"I'm bi."
". . .oh. All bi guys do it! I swear."
"There is no way in hell I'm going to put that shiny pink stuff on my nails."
"Oh, right. Well, actually, I'm going to put it on your nails, and I'm going to use this lovely purple colour."
"Oh, well that makes all the difference."
"Really?"
"No. What on earth possessed me to tell you of all people about my newly discovered sexuality."
"One, because I'm so yaoi obsessed. Two, because I'm just so damn cute."
"Che, cute, yeah right."
"Itachi, if you don't get over here and let me put this on you, so help me, I'll tell all the other yaoi fangirls about you!" She warned. Itachi looked terrified at the very thought and sat down quickly, offering her his hand reluctantly. She smirked at him and began to apply the shiny purple gloss to his nails.
- - - End Flashback- - -
Kyuubi and his former host were rolling on the ground with laughter, as Itachi looked as though he would very much like to hide his head in his, painted, hands and hide, which Kyuubi found adorable, although he didn't say this. When he had calmed down, he shot Itachi a questioning look 'Hikaru?" he mouthed, before jerking his head toward the other two boys, asking if Sasuke had been referring to the same Hikaru who ran the yaoi shop. After Itachi had nodded, he began.
"Oh yeah, well how about that time. . ."
The battle of flashbacks had begun.
- - - To Be Continued- - -
Oh, and this is important to, yes I know this chapter took longer than usual, so will the ones in the future. I do have a reason. Earlier this year I was sick with a sleeping virus. They never figured out what it was, but I slept about 18 hours or more a day for almost a month, then 12 hours a day for two weeks, than a bit less every day. I was out of school for almost two months, until it went away by itself.
The problem is, I'm starting to get more and more tired, just like last time, no matter ho much I sleep. I've just be to tired to write, and I hope you'll forgive me. yawn I going to bed. I slept for 4 hours than woke up, then went back to bed for ten, and I'm still tired. yawn night.