That Al fellow that reviewed, that makes it the second time someone noted the fluctuating power levels of the main protagonists. This obviously is an issue I'll have to address eventually. However, since my story is pretty set right now, any wins or loses can't be changed. Oh yes, about him despising Tetsuya?
I'm very happy about it. Truly.
A true character with a real personality can't please everyone. In fact, this is the reason why Sasuke, being hated as he is, only proves how well developed he is. Poorly created personalities aren't disliked; they're merely forgotten since they can't impact the reader. For someone to say that he hates Tetsuya's decisions only proves my work on him has paid off. About him selling Hinata? Well, whatever. Tetsuya never had any love lost between him and ninjas. Yet…
And Naruto is not B-Level. That was talking about Tetsuya.
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"Damnit, He was right here…" Sasuke growled out aloud.
Sakura momentarily flicked her green eyes off her unconscious teacher to her partner/loveinterest/crush/boyfriendinherimagination/etc. and shivered at the sight of his eyes.
Never before did she see such look of sheer hate. Sure Sasuke-kun was brooding, he could be mean tempered, he could be extremely introverted, but never give off such strong emotions before.
She had no idea what to say. 'I'm terribly sorry the brother who wiped out your clan just slipped out from under your nose! Don't worry, I'm sure he'll pop up again! I feel exactly the same way you do!'
Yeah, like that would work.
Sakura sighed despondently. In less than a month the entire world seemed to decide to throw everything at her, instead of deciding to space it out more evenly along her life. She goes through the Chuunin exams, which was hell-bent on baptizing her in blood and steel (It managed to get her hair), fails the preliminaries to the third portion, then Konoha gets sneak-attacked by both Sand and Sound ninja, laying a good deal of the city to waste.
And just when Sakura thought she and her team finally got through the worst, she suddenly gets a summon today, so that the two genin could be grimly told that 'Hatake Kakshi, your sensei, has engaged an enemy for the protection of Konoha, and has suffered injuries inhibiting his service.'
That pretty much meant that Kakashi was stuck in a coma, and they didn't even know how to wake him up or when he would wake up.
And to top it all of, Fate just decided the person to do their teacher in had to be the same person Sasuke-kun had devoted his entire life to hating and attempting to kill.
It was like the guy you really hated just walking up to you, kicking you in the ass with a cheerful "Yo", and walking off while you idiotically smile in another direction, until some other guy walking by mentions off-handedly 'Wasn't that guy the guy you…?'
Now the boy had turned into something entirely new, something even the pink-haired kunoichi wasn't sure how to relate to.
Goddamnit fate! What the hell is wrong with you? If I ever see you again I'm going to fucking-Sakura sighed louder, trying to move those uncontrollable internal thoughts to some other place for the moment. The noise seemed to irritate Sasuke, who gave her a black look strong enough to make her jump back a little.
"What!" He snarled.
"N-nothing! I was just thinking to myself! Sasuke-kun?"
"What…?" Sasuke-kun muttered.
"Maybe… maybe it would be better if we left for a while? You know… recollect ourselves… or something?"
"…Whatever." The Uchiha walked silently and tensely towards the door and left, making sure to slam it extra hard, making his abandoned teammate wince a little from the noise, before she chased after.
Shutting the door in a less extravagant manner, Sakura re-emerged back into the hallways of Konoha hospital. It already been a while since the Sand/Sound attack, so things had settled in the hospital, but it still was quite packed with casualties.
Twisting her head around a few times, she managed to catch Sasuke's disappearing and stalking form, obviously taking the route back to the front doors out. She shrugged slightly, but chased after him until they both were walking at an even pace.
As they rounded the stairwell onto the ground floor, they stopped at the sounds of shouting.
"Get the fuck off! Hey-hey! Get your goddamn hands off my weapons! Get off! Hey! You bastards! Get off Haku! OI! Get off my Sensei! God-Stop! Don't take them away! Fuckers! Get off me! HAKU! SENSEI!"
Sakura watched, unsure how to react to the sight of a familiar orange and blonde enemy wrestling in the grip of a ANBU, while stretching out his hand and grabbing at the air between him and two other ninja, who were dragging away the still forms of the girl and the older man who accompanied him.
"…Naruto…"
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Princess: Harsh Homecomings-
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If life was expecting Naruto to bawl at the shit thrown at him, they really needed a refresher course.
He was Uzumaki Naruto! He'd never wimp out and cry at anything, no matter what! Even if it was the sight of his mentor dying in his lap, or his best friend being dragged away from him, or his being trapped in enemy territory, weaponless, ready to mark the end of his life…
Naruto shivered at the effort the keep the wet eyes from overflowing, as he death glared the white washed locked door that kept him temporarily imprisoned in the empty hospital ward for the past few days.
A few deep breaths later, and he was reasonably calm enough to realize attacking the ANBU that emerged through the opened door was certain death.
"You are expected. So don't do anything stupid like trying to run away" A voice came from behind the expressionless mask.
"Yeah, yeah…" Naruto muttered darkly as he rose from the ground, brushing his behind, and trying to rid himself of rather poor memories of his last encounter with ANBU, back in the cart, in the dead of the night of the forest, so many years ago…
Naruto slammed the door, trying to get the loud noise to shake out the thoughts. Apparently he was being led to the Hokage tower that was near the hospital. He figured as much.
"He's still alive?" Something hissed behind the blonde. He glowered.
More voices started to gather around the boy's homecoming.
"What the hell is it doing back here?""Where did he get those clothes? Guy who gave it to him must have been pretty stupid-"
Naruto turned to the man, teeth bared, "You have a problem with somebody having more charity that you ever will?"
"Why you-"
The ANBU's hand returned to grab Naruto by the back of his orange haori before any more was said, "Stop standing around."
"H-HEY! Get your hands off me!"
Naruto was manhandled all the way to the red building, up the stairs, and shoved through the doors, where he stumbled and fell onto his face in some sort of lounge.
"Naruto!"
The boy in question immediately jerked his head up at the voice, "Haku! You're okay!"
The two rushed into each other's arms with a heart-felt hug.
"You're okay!" Naruto repeated. He noted the beginning of dark rings under the girl's eyes.
"Just a few paranoid nights", Haku gave a half-hearted smile, "You know how it is with ninjas. They're paid for murdering you in your sleep."
Naruto then noticed something black poking out of the front of her robes. "Haku… what's that?"
"Oh? This? Their way of security precautions for me." Haku answered, pulling back her robe slightly to reveal painted lines on her chest. "It's a seal to disrupt chakra flow. This way I can't form ice into dangerous shapes. I can't take this off by myself either."
"I see…"
"Um…" another voice cautiously tried to intervene before the scene got too touching to ruin.
Naruto indignantly pointed his finger at the two standing by the wall, "And what the hell are you two doing here?"
The blonde wasn't particularly good at remembering names of people you only met once, but he did his best. He remembered the man best as "Scar-Faced Guy Who Didn't Want to Fight Him When Naruto was Stealing the Forbidden Scroll", and he remembered the woman as "Nasty Genjutsu Lady Who Trained Hyuuga Hinata, Dog-Face, Flea-Infested Boy, and Made a Tree Fall On Sensei"
"For Identification" The woman sharply answered, quite devoid of reaction to the pointed finger.
Just then the door Naruto entered through opened once more with another ANBU and two more ninja. "Homura-sama, Koharu-sama. I have brought the final witnesses." The ninja spoke into the air, apparently addressing nobody.
Haku, Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke achieved eye-contact.
"AGH! YOU?" Naruto and Sakura shoved their fingers at each other and burned each other with their burning eyes.
"Hello." Haku politely greeted with a tilt of her head and a smile.
"Hn." Sasuke snorted and found the wall to the side more interesting to look at.
"Naruto, what are you doing here? You're an enemy!" Sakura accused.
"Yeah, I guess my being knocked unconscious and being locked in a hospital room for the past couple of days didn't clue me in enough, huh?"
"Wait… why the special treatment?"
Naruto turned away with a grim look, "None of your business."
Before Sakura could start the fight again, another door, beside the two elder ninja leaning against the wall opened up, revealing an aged couple, man and woman. The man was identified with his beard and glasses, and the woman by her tightly bunned hair and squinted eyes. The old man looked everyone in the room once over, before giving a customary cough for attention, "I've seen you've grown in your absence Uzumaki Naruto. Since you have never met us, I think we should introduce ourselves. I am Mitokado Homura. The woman beside me is Utatane Koharu. We are senior members of the village council in Konoha."
Council members! And we were escorted here by ANBU! All this just because of Naruto…? Sakura in the background, did little to hide the surprised look on her face at this turn of events. Her teammate, inwardly attentive to all things, noted this to himself as well.
Haku spoke up just then, "I'm not exactly stupid, but I'm curious. Most likely the reason you're here is because of Naruto's… condition. However, due to the severity of the situation, why is the Kage of your village not present?"
The temperature and volume of the room fell a couple thousand times just about then, as every ninja aside the Council members, and possibly Sasuke, gave a pained look."
Koharu answered crisply. "Sandaime, Sarutobi has been killed in the recent attack on our village. I assume you have seen the damages on the homes in the area."
"I see…"
Naruto snorted. "So the old man finally kicked it? Pathetic."
"Don't say that about Sandaime-sama! He was a great man!" Scar-faced ninja countered vehemently.
"Yeah? Great? I suppose greatness is measured by sending his little flunkies to kill me in an accident when I was a kid." Naruto frowned.
Before another clash occurred, by scar-face continuing to defend the dead man's image, Homura suddenly interjected. "The matter of that point of the past is not the concern. We have called all of you here for a reason."
"And what's that?" The blonde samurai sneered. Haku remained quiet.
Koharu turned her closed eyes to the scar-face first. "Umino Iruka. Your report claims that you engaged in direct combat with the assailants on the night of the attempted theft of the Forbidden Scroll, am I correct?"
Scar-face Iruka scratched the back of his head sheepishly, "Well, yes, before Mizuki revealed himself."
Koharu nodded her head at the two fugitive-samurai, "Are these two, along with another detainee, Inukage Tetsuya, the ones who committed the crime?"
"Well, I don't know this Tetsuya, but I recognize these two as the one."
"I see." The old woman turned to the Genjutsu using woman next, "Yuuhi Kurenai, your report about that escort mission with the businessman Hanzo, also spoke of being attacked by skilled warriors who used swords. Are these the ones?"
"Without a doubt." Kurenai easily replied, betraying no expression."
Koharu turned to the two Genin of Team 7 finally, "Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke. In normal circumstances, we would have called upon your teacher, but given the situation, you must remember that whatever transpires in this room must be kept confidential. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Koharu-sama." Sakura automatically anwered.
"And you, Sasuke?"
"…Aa…"
"If that is the case, in your escort mission with the bridge-builder, Tazuna, your report mentions that you were caught in a feud between a group of Yojimbo and their employers that resulted in their simultaneous destruction. Did that really happen?"
"W-what?" Sakura blinked.
"There has been a matter of conflicting reports-"
"So what! We're just here to talk about a problem in paperwork!" Naruto interrupted with a huff of his voice. He was quickly silenced by the female council member's scalding look alone.
"You will speak when addressed too, child." Turning back to Sakura, she continued, "Your teacher's report mentions the feud between samurai, but samurai of similar description attack Kurenai's team not long after. Speak quickly, child, this is important."
"Well… I… ah…" Sakura tried to begin, but the scalding look proved not only to silence but to also reveal.
"It didn't exactly happen that way…"
"Oh? Elaborate."
"We were attacked once before arriving at a country by a missing-nin named Zabuza, and again later at the bridge itself by Zabuza again and a samurai who called himself Tetsuya. We fought before that Tetsuya was stopped by these two," Sakura motioned to the two samurai "Who told him they were being betrayed by their employers. Not soon after, the four of them fought against their contractors, who did plan on betraying them, and they killed most of their attackers. They all escaped after that, from what I remember…" Sakura finished somewhat mumbling.
"Is this true Sasuke?" Koharu turned to the silent boy.
"…All I remember is being nearly killed by that Tetsuya my teammate mentions." Sasuke muttered. Naruto turned his livid nature fully on the boy just then.
"How dare you! Fucker! Don't you dare try to paint Sensei as some sort of criminal!"
"That's all your sensei is worth in this world… criminal… or wandering bum."
"You little…"
"SILENCE!" Homura again stopped the conflict. "Naruto, you and your associate party have committed several crimes against the people of Konoha in your lifetime. Leaving our village, coming under the tutelage of a known felon, attempted theft of high-level documents, purposely interfering with Konoha's missions, assaulting and attempted murder on our people… Given the severity of the crimes, we could very well put you to death."
"Samurai have transient lives. People like us will never be afraid of death-threats." Naruto growled.
"I see. We are however, prepared to wipe the slate clean."
Sounds of shock, but none attempted to argue the choices of the two old council members.
"There is however, one condition to be met by you if wish for you and your friends to not appear on the Bingo Books any longer."
"And what's that." Naruto snorted.
"You are to remove from your mind, any further notions of training under samurai tutelage. You are not to associate with your comrades any further. You are to remain inside Konoha's walls again, reinstated as a citizen of this village.
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"I've… never seen anything like this before." Gai muttered in surprise.
"I'd suppose." Jiraiya muttered.
Gai, as being officially one of the few people in the history of the world to actually surprise and actually achieve contact with the Great Jiraiya, he was now temporarily privy into the artist's investigations, ever since his assistance in carrying back the three unconscious samurai back to Konoha.
The two were seated around a hospital bed, which held the dormant Tetsuya, dressed in a hospital gown and devoid of his regular clothes.
Including his eye patch.
Gai looked on in marveled shock and the intricate seal lines that were carved into the lids of the sleeping samurai's right eye. Jiraiya was more analytical, with a hand rubbing his chin.
"An Elephant Seal on each lid, concentric circling seals instead of a pupil and iris on the eyeball itself… a unique design… though the theory seems similar to what Stone's sealing specialists would use…"
"Jiraiya-sama… this man is as you say, obviously acting as a container for something but what…"
"Most likely… Gai, assure me that everything stays in this room, but are you familiar with the Inukage Family?"
"I will keep the confidence, but I am unfamiliar with this… Inukage… clan? Ninjas?"
Jiraiya harrumphed "Pah! Far from it! The story goes, that before us ninjas appeared on the scene war was mostly carried out through samurai."
"Yes?"
"The Inukage were a particularly renowned family, but overtime, as ninja became more useful, the samurai way of life began to decay. The Inukage themselves were for the most part reverted into a well off family with some honorary titles. The Inukages' renown weren't for their fighting skills though, more for the legend that followed the family."
"And what was that legend?"
"Apparently they were, before time, appointed guardians of an ancient tree on their ancestral properties. Mostly just keeping the tree clean and all that. However, in recent history…"
"Yes?"
"The last surviving Inukage family has been completely wiped out."
"What! How?"
"They were all murdered, the story goes. Apparently, ninjas of some sort. They were after something. But the local stories by the people say when they arrived, they only found bloody corpses and a single crying child."
Gai nodded, "I see… and am I to assume that this man here, who quietly regains his youthful energy, was that same boy? That does not explain the eye, though."
"Hold on, one more legend from me. Now, you know of the Biju? The Great Tailed-Demons that roam this land?"
"Yes, I am."
"Well let me tell you of a particular one I think would be interesting. Gobi, the Five Tails, known as Houkou. A terrible demon in the shape of a dog, whose tails carried the five elements of the world: fire, water, lighting, earth, and wind. The mutt apparently spent most of his life residing in a great ancient tree."
"Ancient tree? You don't mean…"
"Inu. Kage. Dog. Shadow. 'Those who live in the shadow of the dog'. The Inukage were the guardians of the very same tree that housed Houkou. The pieces fall together very nicely, don't they, Gai? This man's heritage and the seal on his eye, the fact that ninjas attacked his home for no reason, why he lives a life of wandering from what I hear… why he picked up ostracized children like Naruto and that girl."
"This man… carries Houkou in him?"
Jiraiya hummed in acknowledgement. "This man is exactly the same as Naruto. Well, perhaps he doesn't have as great a potential as that brat, but you understand. Houkou was also known as the "God of Illusions". If Itachi's technique really relies on Genjutsu, that would explain why this Tetsuya fellow survived."
Two Jinchuriki traveling together? This man is going to find himself in the middle of a storm very soon… Jiraiya mused. Gai had been thinking aloud at this point, as well."His condition is remarkably similar to my greatest of great rivals, Hatake Kakashi. But what are we to do now? We don't have any medical resources to treat these people, and our forces are too thin to try and find anyone with that skill."
Jiraiya gave a smirk as he adjusted his horned head plate, "I wouldn't worry about that."
"Huh?"
"The way things have fallen… I might have found myself with a most interesting opportunity to get two birds with one stone…"
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"What! Fucking no way! Why the hell would I ever go back to a place that wants me dead!" Naruto snarled.
"'Why' is not our concern. 'Will' is the matter of hand."
"And I certainly fucking will not! What the hell is wrong with you! One year you want me dead, the next you want me cooped up because I'm so precious to you! The wilds were safer than you guys ever will be! I'm out of here!"
Naruto stormed through the doors, unstopped by the ANBU that were concealed, due to Koharu's subtle hand motion to desist. Haku quickly turned back to the two council members.
"He has one day to clear his head and decide. Girl, I assume you care enough to warn him of that?" Homura said.
Haku was already gone before council members called for their dismissal.
Sakura sighed, "Well I guess that's it for today, huh, Sasuke-kun? Sasuke-kun?"
She turned her head.
Sasuke-kun had already disappeared.
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Another day about to set. The sight of the red clouds did little to cheer Naruto's conscience. Predictably, his feet had taken him back to the illustrious Naruto Swing one more time, where he sat once more, letting the rhythmic motions quiet his mind a little.
"Hey, you." Sasuke's voice suddenly interrupted, eliciting a dark look from Naruto on his swing.
"Don't 'hey you' me, you bastard." Naruto muttered as he watched the Uchiha march up the streets to the Naruto Swing. In a moment, the boy was already grabbing Naruto by the shirt and pulling him face to face.
"Why are you getting this special treatment?"
Naruto sneered, "What, jealous?"
"Tell me!"
"I don't have time for this shit! I don't know if sensei's dead, and I've been locked up in a room, and all because of your brother-" Naruto accidentally let slip the last part while in the rant, angering Sasuke that much more
"What! You know Itachi?"
"He fucking ruined my life! Now he's out to try and get me!"
"Bullshit! Why would he care about you?" Sasuke was shouting.
Why was Sasuke's entire universe giving a golden crown to this… this… brat that popped out of nowhere
"And why would you care about the affections of the guy who murdered your entire family?"
"You wouldn't understand why he kept me alive… you're too stupid."
"I wouldn't want to understand people like you anyway." Naruto said as he frowned. "I bet you want to kill him don't you. Fuck, I bet he just kept you alive to be his little living trophy of what he did that night. So everyday you go on hating him, and everybody who sees you hating just go 'hey that's the kid Itachi felt like keeping alive'. Stop caring for a guy who probably doesn't even remember you-"
"SHUT UP! WHY WOULD HE KEEP ME ALIVE? WHY DOES HE CARE MORE ABOUT YOU?" Sasuke screamed, fist back and suddenly forward into Naruto's face, knocking him backwards over the swing.
"Fuck! Stop pissing about how that bastard wants to ruin MY LIFE!" Naruto leapt back at Sasuke, forcing the two on the ground, fists flying, snarls insults, blood, bruises.
Somewhere along the way, a foot got caught in the aged ropes of the Naruto swing, ripping the ancient ride to the ground.
"Naruto! Sasuke-kun! Stop it!" Slender arms inexplicably pulled the two apart. Sakura had the most confused look. "What happened!"
"Why would you care?" Naruto snorted once more. Sakura was silent at that.
"Well, whatever. I was in a bad mood and I told genius here the truth. If you people here can't even handle that… whatever. This place sucks." Naruto stood and brushed off what he could. He gave a quick look to the ruined swing for a moment before leaping up onto a roof and disappearing out of sight.
"Sasuke-kun, what happened?"
The Uchiha just sat, one revelation sitting in his mind.
What has happened… have I gotten so weak that He's… forgotten me…?…what must I do to get stronger…?
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"Do I know you?" The old cook of Ichiraku looked at the orange-clad boy with a bruised face and a bad mood so dark you could have literally seen the storm cloud sitting above his head.
"No… Pork Ramen, please…"
"Okay…" The Cook decided he knew when people wanted to be alone and went off the complete the order, though he had a feeling it would be left untouched.
A larger figure just then pulled away the flaps in front of his face and smirked when he saw Naruto.
"I had a feeling you'd be here." Jiraiya smugly noted.
"Do you want a medal?"
"No need to be impudent with me, chick!"
"Shut up… who are you anyways…?"
"Me?" Jiraiya mock-asked, as his hands found themselves flapping the sides of his vest arrogantly before seating himself. "Why, Gallant Jiraiya of course, Novelist… and Sannin."
"Sannin?" Naruto glared at him out of the corner of his eye.
"One of the three great ninjas trained by the Third Hokage, Sandaime."
"So you always were a Konoha ninja?"
"Naw… I retired. But I keep in touch once in a while."
"Great. And did they tell you to spy on me as well?"
"Who needs to spy on you? Everytime you shout 'Uzumaki', you'll get heads turning in every direction."
"…Why did you bring me back here?"
"Safer here, of course."
"If you ask me, it's safer out there."
"Ha, safer in the same wilds that brought your master to his knees?"
Naruto didn't answer to that. Jiraiya sighed.
"If you're worried about Tetsuya, he's still alive."
Naruto turned in shock, "He is?"
"He's stuck in a coma, though…"
"Fuck… and I'm trapped here, while your damn elders want me to stay."
"You know Naruto… there might be a solution to this problem…"
"Hm?"
"You know, Konoha's without a Hokage, and they even went so far as to suggest me take the position!" Jiraiya harrumphed.
"What, don't want to be known one of the most powerful people in the country?"
"Hokage, me! I'm too free spirited for that, but they don't have any other choice… unless…"
"What's this got to do with me?"
"Hush, I'm getting to the point. There's another Sannin like me, who would be much more suited to the task of Hokage. Tsunade."
"So why don't they go and find her?"
"She's also left Konoha for years. Who knows where she could be? No manpower currently."
"I'm almost moved to tears." Naruto sarcastically muttered.
"However, if someone volunteered, say, a wanted felon… perhaps the councilors are willing to look kindly upon said felon?"
"Tch, I'm not convinced. Why should I go do errands for a ninja village?"
"Who knows?" Jiraiya shrugged, "Though I know for one, that Tsunade always unprecedented healing powers, even to bring people out from comas…"
"…Fuck…"
"Choice is up to you. If you come, I can delay the decision making process for your permanent residence long enough for you to find Tsunade. But I'm leaving tomorrow to find her. Think about it, and go eat that ramen before it gets colder than it already is."
Jiraiya left. Not soon after Haku burst into the stall, and spotted a silent Naruto.
"Naruto! They councilors, they're only giving you a day-"
"Haku."
That stopped her.
"Don't worry about it…" a familiar never-say-die grin began to form, "Someone told me a way out of this problem."
And with that, Naruto dove into his cooling dinner.
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"I see you came." The elderly author smirked as he stood by the large gates in the morning light. Approaching Jiraiya was Naruto again; beside him was Haku as well.
"Remember. I'm not doing this to get a Hokage, I'm here to get a cure." Naruto bluntly answered. Jiraiya shrugged.
"Same person, same problem. Let's go. I managed to convince them to give you your sword, so here."
Passing the sword, Naruto easily retied the weapon comfortingly onto his back once more. Turning to his sister-in-arms, he gave a mock pout.
"You really want to stay, Haku?"
"I have to. I have to make sure Tetsuya-sensei is fine while your gone."
"Don't worry. I'll be back, and we'll get out of here. We always do!"
"Yeah. Good luck Naruto."
So a Hermit and a Samurai left Konoha, in search of a maiden who would solve all their problems…
"So beady chick, LET'S GO!"
"…Don't make such a stupid pose…"
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Next Chapter: Jiraiya investigates, Naruto trains. Yet another long drawn out boring sequence dedicated to… training foxes…
A/N: Another not so hot chapter. This arc is going to be a little troublesome, since the plot's not so well formed in my head. I'll figure something out.
Don't you find it odd? Everytime there's a story with a Jinchuriki OC, it always has to be a girl holding the Nibi Nekomata. I see too much Nekomata, I breath in too much Nekomata. TOO MUCH NIBI! NIBIBNBINBINBINBINBIBNBARGGH!
Even Kishimoto has introduced the Nibi Jinchuriki! AGH! It only makes me more scared that of the day he'll introduce a Gobi jinchuriki and completely negate Tetsuya's exsistence! BWAH!
This chapter is stupid. Shorter by comparison, and not even funny. Thank god this is out of the way.
