Hey all! I finally return! And to make up for it, I give you this chapter, the longest I've ever written. In honor of me having worked on this story for a year and a half. Before I begin, I'm introducing Haku's future pairing. Awayuki Alana, created by Stylish-Angel, caught my eye and seems to match Haku very well. So you ShikaIno lovers can rest easy now, she'll end up with our favorite lazy genius after all.
PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEEEEASE read the review responses, I answer questions in them, so check there before you ask something in case I answer it.
"I'm booooooooooooored…" Naruto's plaintive whine shattered the peaceful quiet of the morning journey. Sasuke growled as Haku blushed at his superior's behavior.
Sakura hit him over the back of the head lightly. "Baka. I swear, you have the attention span of a two-year old."
Naruto glared at her. "SEVEN, dammit! … I just made fun of myself, didn't I?" he asked weakly as Sakura and Ino giggled hysterically. Hinata just patted his shoulder sympathetically.
Kurenai looked over at Kakashi, who was busy reading his book. "Your students seem to be very good friends with two of mine. Does it have anything to do with their births?" she asked quietly.
He merely giggled perversely before returning her glance. "Maybe. Who's to say that they're not just friends because they're all lonely children that no one else would play with?" His almost bitter question caught Kurenai and Tazuna off guard, making them wince. The jounins' eyes then snapped to a puddle on the ground as they approached it along the road.
Hinata looked at it as well. 'Odd… That doesn't feel right.'
Her demon was pleased. ("Very good, girl. It hasn't rained for several days, so why should there be a puddle?")
Hinata needed to warn the others, so she acted like she just noticed the 'puddle.' "We're having a really dry year, aren't we, Kakashi-sensei?" she asked casually. Sasuke's eyes immediately went to the puddle, and Naruto and Sakura caught on soon after.
Haku put his two cents in. "Yes, I haven't seen any mist in the mornings for quite a while now." Kakashi smiled under his masks. Yes, these children were very promising. He made himself not dodge the chain as the two Demon brothers leapt from the puddle. A fake shocked gasp escaped his lips before he followed his escape route, letting the brothers "kill" him.
Ino screamed, and backed away quickly, while Hinata slid to a stop between the ninjas and Tazuna, holding a kunai in each hand. Sakura snapped out a miniature fan from her pouch and prepared to swing it. As the ninjas charged him, Haku grabbed the bladed chain in his hands, grunting in pain as the blades dug into the sensitive flesh of his palms. Digging his heels into the ground, the boy gave a sharp yank on the chain as hard as he could.
It didn't have a chance. The chain was snapped out of the anchors on the opposing ninjas' wrists, pulling them off balance in the process. That small delay was all that was needed.
Sasuke took a deep breath and blew a wide blast of flame at Haku and the two ninjas. As Haku collapsed into water, Sakura swung her fan, producing a huge gale that sped up the fire and strengthened it right before it slammed into the unfortunate duo. As they put themselves out, Naruto made a single clone and ran up from behind Haku. He grabbed one Naruto in each bloody hand and flung them at the opposing ninjas.
Both Naruto's feet planted themselves firmly in the faces of the masked ninjas, knocking them both out and back into the waiting arms of Kakashi. "Excellent teamwork, you guys. Hinata, congratulations on knowing that you couldn't do much away from water and going to guard the client. Very good common sense, young lady." Hinata smiled shyly as she put her kunai away.
Sasuke raised an eyebrow as he looked at Haku's hands. "You gonna treat those or what, Haku." The boy looked at his palms and winced as the pain hit him. Hinata rushed over and whipped out her medical kit. Withdrawing a clean cloth, she wiped the blood off and wrapped his hands in fresh bandages. Kurenai wasn't sure what to think. She had thought that she would need to work on teamwork with her students, but two of them had demonstrated flawless cooperation with Kakashi's team. Ino and Shino, however, had apparently frozen when Kakashi had been attacked. That made her wonder just what Sasuke and Sakura had been doing with the other three when they had missed their missions…
Sakura turned and looked at the trembling Ino. "Are you okay, Ino?" When Ino didn't respond, she smiled evilly. "HEY SCAREDY-PIG!"
Ino snapped out of her trancelike behavior and snarled at Sakura. "You little…"
Sasuke moved in between them, stopping the brawl before it could happen. "That's enough, you two. We have more important things to worry about."
Kakashi shifted his gaze to their client. "Indeed, Sasuke. We were hired to protect you from bandits, Tazuna-san, not ninja. That moves the mission from a C-Rank to at least a B-Rank, possibly even A-Rank. Why did you lie when you were filling out your mission request?"
Tazuna looked up from the ground and sighed heavily. "The fee for a C-Rank almost put us under as it was. There's no way we could have afforded anything higher." Naruto and Sakura finished tying the ninja to a tree where they'd be picked up by ANBU and came over while Tazuna explained the situation in their country.
"Well…" the masked jounin said, "it would just be easiest to go back to Konoha. We didn't sign up for stuff like this, and Haku needs medical treatment." Tazuna looked ill, and something inside Naruto snapped.
"LIKE HELL WE'RE GOING BACK!" he roared at the top of his lungs. "I'M FINISHING THE MISSION I WAS ASSIGNED, KAKASHI-SENSEI!" Naruto pointed angrily at the jounin during his mini-rant.
Kakashi just sighed heavily. "Naruto… There will be plenty of missions later. If we run into a jounin later on, which is possible, genin like yourselves wouldn't-"
"Genin? Jounin?" Sasuke ground out. "What the hell does rank matter on a battlefield?" he growled as his fists clenched so tightly his knuckles turned white.
Ino nervously tried to put her opinion in. "Kakashi-sensei's right, Sasuke-kun, this is getting too dangerous-" Her statement ended in a wheezing breath as Sasuke's blood-red Sharingan speared her with the deadliest glare she'd ever seen. 'Sasuke-kun… Your eyes…'
"I. Don't. CARE, Yamanaka." He spat her surname like it left a bad taste in his mouth. "In a combat situation, the enemy won't care whether you're an elite jounin or bound to a wheelchair!" Kurenai tried to calm him down, only to have the glare turned on her.
Haku glanced at his bandaged hands, and proceeded to yank the bandages off. "I will be fine, Kakashi-sensei. Please, let us continue on our mission." His calm, even voice seemed to stir something within the other vessels, making them even more determined.
"Haku-san will be alright, his hands were only cut." Hinata said in her quiet way. "We owe it to those people to at least try and help, don't we?"
Sakura stepped forward to stand with the others. "We'll never get stronger if we're constantly sheltered, Kurenai-sensei. I know you're worried about us, and we appreciate that, but the only way we'll grow as ninja is to risk ourselves." Sasuke glanced at her, and visibly relaxed as she spoke. Shino said nothing, only moving to stand beside the other genin. Ino trudged over as well, determined to prove her worth to her Sasuke-kun.
The jounin glanced at one another and both sighed. "Well, since you're so determined, we have no choice but to continue." Kakashi said tiredly, making Tazuna leap for joy on the inside. The group continued down the road, unaware of the obstacles before them.
After a mostly silent boat ride (thanks to Naruto's ten-second attention span), the group were actually in the land of the waves. As they traveled down the road, Kyuubi screamed at Naruto in warning. ("KIT! GET DOWN NOW!") Naruto yanked Hinata and Haku down as Sasuke pulled the other girls down, while Kakashi and Kurenai covered Shino and Tazuna. Half a second later, a huge sword cut through the air where they had been standing and embedded itself in a tree. The owner landed on it, and looked down at the assembled leaf-nin.
"Momochi Zabuza…" Kurenai whispered, nervousness creeping into the edge of her voice. The missing-nin smirked beneath the bandages that hid his face like Kakashi's mask.
"Well well well… I never thought I would meet the infamous Hatake Kakashi… Copycat Ninja." His gravelly voice echoed about the clearing as Kakashi put a hand to his forehead protector stood between his charges and the bandaged freak.
Kurenai moved to stand beside him and looked back at the genin. "We'll take care of him, you kids guard Tazuna-san." The seven young ninjas surrounded Tazuna in a ring of protection as Kakashi flipped his forehead protector up to reveal his Sharingan eye.
"Normally, I wouldn't mind being this close with you." Kakashi muttered to a furious Kurenai as the two of them floated inside Zabuza's Suirou no Jutsu (Water Prison Skill). She elbowed him in the stomach as she looked over to the now extremely nervous genin on the shore. "Run!" Kakashi shouted as he saw a Mizu Bunshin advancing on them. "Run, and take Tazuna-san to safety! This was over the minute we were caught!"
Naruto just stepped forward. "There's no way I'm running from this no-eyebrow freak!" His proclamation made Zabuza's eye twitch repeatedly as he stared at the short ninja.
"You brat… you're not worthy to be called a shinobi. I wouldn't be surprised if that hitai-ate was fake." Naruto's fists started to shake as his jaw clenched in anger. How DARE he? He'd worked hard to get his headband, even in spite of all the teachers but Iruka-sensei hating him he'd still gotten it! And he said it wasn't real?
"I'LL SHOW YOU WHO'S THE FAKE! KAGE BUNSHIN NO JUTSU!" All the copies of Naruto screamed in rage as they charged and mobbed the water clone… only to be shredded by his sword and the real Naruto pinned under his foot.
"Heh…" Zabuza chuckled as he pressed down with his sole, making the boy grunt in pain. "Trying to be all tough, aren't we brat?" Hinata's face lost her fear as anger replaced it. His eyes narrowing to slits, Haku took a step towards the clone out of sheer fury. The four vessels glanced at one another, and after exchanging silent discussion, looked at Naruto. He met their eyes and nodded as best he could.
Hinata charged the clone in her family's taijutsu stance and struck it in the chest right before it smacked her with the sword and sent her flying into the lake with a loud splash. The jounin inside the bubble both started to panic when she didn't resurface after almost a minute. Naruto had taken advantage of the clone's distraction and slipped out from under his foot. "Well… One little baby gone…" Zabuza drawled from his position next to the barrier.
"You bastard!" Kurenai shouted futilely as a tear leaked out of her eye and into the water. The girl had just become a ninja, and now… She watched with a sense of hopelessness as Naruto handed Sasuke a fuuma shuriken. The black-haired boy unfolded it and held it at the ready. Four clones of Naruto leapt out of the bushes and charged Zabuza's clone again with the real Naruto. Within seconds, all five Narutos vanished in a puff of smoke. Sasuke gave a battle cry as he threw the shuriken with all his might at the real missing-nin. The Mizu Bunshin stepped in between to try and stop it, only to have Sakura's fist meet its face quite violently, making it disperse into water.
Zabuza calmly caught the shuriken and almost said something superior, before the second shuriken detached from the first and kept moving, forcing him to jump over it. "Not bad kid… but not good enough!" Sasuke just smirked as a soft explosion sounded behind Zabuza. The bandaged nin turned around… to see Naruto flying through the air where the shuriken had been, his hand reared back to fling the kunai held in it.
"CATCH, YA FREAK!" Naruto let the kunai fly straight at Zabuza's head, making him yank his arm out of the water prison and move away. Kakashi and Kurenai jumped away from the missing-nin, landing on the surface of the water a short distance away. The orange-clad genin hit the water with a splash and went under, resurfacing shortly. Zabuza whirled around and slung the huge star at the blonde in the water before Kakashi could stop him, making Naruto's eyes bug out of his head. Fortunately, Hinata chose that moment to surface, grab Naruto, and yank him under the water with her. Back on the shore, the two emerged from the ice mirror Haku had created as he pulled them through, soaking wet.
"C-C-COOOOLD!" Naruto's shout just made Sasuke let out a snort as he watched the sensei rip Zabuza apart.
Or at least they were before senbon flew in out of nowhere and embedded themselves into Zabuza's neck. Kakashi and Kurenai spun around and saw three figures standing in the trees as the missing-nin slumped to the ground, apparently dead. One figure was taller than Kakashi, and had flowing black hair. It was impossible to tell whether it was a male or female, since it was dressed in a black robe with a clay mask covering its face. The others were almost identical. The only way to distinguish them was the differing markings on their masks.
"Thank you very much for your assistance." The long-haired hunter-nin said in a silky voice. "We've been tracking him for a long time, but you've saved us the trouble of subduing him." By some unspoken command, the identical ninja jumped down and picked up the body, sharing the weight between them. Before anyone could say anything else, all three of them vanished into the mist with Zabuza's body.
Kakashi turned around and looked at the genin and their client. "Everyone in one piece?" the younger ninja nodded, different thoughts going through each of their heads.
'So that was a jounin… He was nowhere near Itachi's strength. I have to keep pushing myself so I can catch up. Unless I can beat someone like that, I don't stand a chance against Itachi.' His face turned into a frown as he mentally tore apart his team's performance, evaluating it and looking for the improvements that could be made.
Sakura glanced at Sasuke before looking at the shaken Ino. 'I think we did okay. Tazuna-san is fine, and nobody's seriously injured… And we kicked butt!" she mentally cheered, joined by a strident ("HELL YEAH!") from Hane. Naruto just grabbed Hinata and spun her around in his arms, loudly boasting about how awesome his girlfriend was and how much ass the both of them kicked. Said girl merely squeaked and turned a deep red as she happily went limp in his arms, a huge grin on her face.
"Are you alright, Ino-san?" Haku politely asked the blonde girl as he bent down to meet her eyes.
Her pale blue orbs flashed violently as she glared up at him. "I'm FINE!" Despite her trembling that spoke otherwise, Haku backed off, not wanting to anger her further.
'I can't believe this…' Ino was furious. 'How did forehead-girl get so much better? She didn't even get scared when that freak listed all the ways he could kill us!' She slowly stood on her shaking feet and promised herself that she wouldn't be frozen like that again. There's no way that she'd let her rival keep getting farther ahead of her. Shino merely contemplated how efficiently the five children besides himself and Ino had worked together. Idly, he wondered what was so special about them, and then tried to calm his bugs once again. They'd been going crazy ever since the two teams had gotten together by the main gates before leaving Konoha. They kept warning him about demons around them, but he didn't see any demons.
Kurenai suddenly leaned heavily on a tree without warning, and Kakashi fell face-first to the ground. The genin and Tazuna ran over, Sakura and Hinata supporting Kurenai while Sasuke, Naruto, and Haku heaved the other jounin off of the ground, Sasuke and Naruto lifting his shoulders and Haku taking his legs. Tazuna just laughed merrily. "You guys did a super job of protecting me! You can all lick your wounds at my house!"
The group reached a modest house near the edge of the village and were greeted by Tsunami, Tazuna's daughter. Kakashi was dumped rather unceremoniously on a futon by the boys while Kurenai was gently lowered onto hers, and immediately laid back and fell asleep due to her lack of energy. Tsunami fussed over all of the kids, making them squirm uncomfortably until the bridge builder assured her that they were quite capable of tending to themselves. She fought him about it until she saw Hinata and Haku taking care of the few injuries the genin had sustained.
"Papa, we're running out of food again…" Tsunami said with a note of sadness in her voice. "I have to go to the market today."
Tazuna looked ill. "Tsunami-chan, can't it wait until tomorrow? After all, today…"
"Today what, Tazuna-san?" His onyx eyes looking into the older man's nervous ones, Sasuke merely raised an eyebrow and waited for an explanation.
The bridge builder sighed heavily and looked at the assembled young ninja. "Twice a week, Gatou sends bandits into town who collect 'taxes' from anyone they pass in the street. But those taxes are whatever the bandits feel like, money, food…" his voice trailing off, the genin filled in the unsavory blanks.
"So what? If she needs to go, we can protect her!" Naruto said in his usual belligerent manner.
"You'd do that?" she asked, not daring to hope so. At Naruto's rapid nodding, she squealed with happiness and ran off to grab a few things before they left. The genin huddled together to figure out who should go with her.
"I think Haku and Hinata-chan are the best choices." Sakura said after a moment's thought. "With all the water around and in the air, the two of them would be most able to protect her. Plus with Hinata-chan's Byakugan, she can keep a watchful eye all around them." Everyone made a noise of assent, so Haku and Hinata left with Tsunami after a while.
"So you kids are from Konoha? It must be nice there." Tsunami kindly asked as they walked down the road through the forest.
Haku nodded politely. "Yes ma'am, we are." Hinata smiled shyly at the woman as they continued down the road and made small talk all the way to the town. She gasped when she got a good look at the town, her pearly eyes tearing up. It was a wreck. Buildings were literally falling apart (Haku had to dodge a portion of siding as it nearly hit him over the head on its way down), and the few people that were outside were just standing in the streets with nothing to do. Their clothes were in tatters, and Haku belatedly realized that with their nice clothes and clean bodies, the kids stood out like sore thumbs.
"H-Horrible…" she quietly managed to get out.
"Now you see what Gatou is doing to this country." Tsunami said as they crossed the border into the town. "We used to be so successful, but then he came. And things have just gotten worse since then. Nobody can work, so nobody makes money. And he keeps raising the prices of necessities, like food and medicines, and the taxes just keep going up too."
Haku saw a small girl coughing violently as she was shielded by her mother from a pair of rough-looking men with swords. "But we already paid our taxes this month! And we can't afford Mei-chan's medication anyway!" She said with tears in her eyes.
"Tough, lady, because there ain't no record of you payin' Gatou. So how you gonna pay us now?" the taller man said threateningly as he placed a hand on the hilt of his sword.
Tsunami stepped forward without thinking. "Ran? What's going on?"
"Tsunami, no! Get away while you can!" the woman now identified as Ran shouted as the men turned and advanced on Tsunami.
Hinata's shoulders stiffened, meaning she'd flipped personalities. "Haku…" she ground out through gritted teeth. "Go help the girl. These bastards are mine." She ended her statement with a snarl at the men. Haku shook his head.
"Once the threat's removed. I'll guard Tsunami-san."
"Hey, these brats don't look familiar…" the other man said suspiciously.
Hinata growled. "Not that it matters, you won't be seeing much of me." She charged them as her bloodline activated itself. Her hands nailed both of the men painfully before they could even react. Haku quickly dashed over to the little girl and pulled a box out of the bag on his back as the thugs slumped unmoving to the ground.
"Excuse me." he hurriedly said as he slid past the mother and knelt by the girl. Feeling her body shaking in between coughs, and noting the amount of blood she was coughing up, the black-haired boy reached into his box and withdrew a treated cloth. He covered her mouth and nose, and held it there. "I need you to breathe as deeply as you can, okay? Can you do that honey?" Mei shakily nodded, and drew in a deep breath. Almost immediately, her tremors lessened and her cough subsided. "Good, good… Just keep doing that, okay? You're doing great."
Ran let a tear of joy slide down her cheek as she watched her daughter miraculously heal right before her eyes. "H… How…?"
Haku looked up at her as Mei relaxed even more, her quaking almost gone. "She had an intermediary stage of water sickness; moderate to severe muscle spasms, repeated coughing and irritation of the lung tissues. This makes the patient cough blood along with the white mucus you were seeing, resulting in a pink substance known as 'blood snow.' This cloth has been treated with a generic vaccine of the primary stage. It won't cure her, but it will lessen the symptoms so her life isn't in danger anymore."
"Haku is a medical genius, you know." Hinata said with an amount of boastful pride in her voice, proving that Inner Hinata was still in control. Her explanation seemed to knock the women out of their stupor from hearing Haku's almost expert diagnosis and made the boy blush slightly.
Mei's mother bowed so deeply her forehead touched the ground. "I can't thank you enough… Mei-chan is my whole world, and you saved her." Haku shifted uncomfortably under the praise, not used to it at all, turning an even deeper red.
"I-It was nothing, Ran-san." He gently let go of Mei and she ran over to her mother, still holding the cloth to her face, but her eyes sparkled and belied her smile. Haku took out a pouch of herbs and handed it to Ran. "Here, this is more of the herbs that I treated the cloth with. If you give her a couple of leaves ground into a cup of water each day, she should be kept to a very light case with no lasting damage until you can get to a real doctor." At the girls' stunned expressions, he smiled nervously. "I read up on common sicknesses of the country before we came here, and I thought I should prepare some medicine, just in case one of us got sick…"
Hinata blinked, before laughing. "Damn Haku, you're good!" She immediately turned bright red and shrunk in on herself slightly. Ran thanked him even more profusely before walking off with Mei in her arms, the small girl waving cheerfully at him.
"Arigato, onii-chan!" came her muffled goodbye as her mother carried her off, her eyes shining with happiness.
Tsunami looked down at the boy who was calmly packing his things up with a gentle smile on his face. "Haku-kun… That was very sweet of you." Haku blushed again.
"O-Oh, it was nothing… I'm just glad I could help." Hinata smiled and gave Haku a hand up from the ground.
The three of them continued to the market, unaware of the pair of obsidian eyes that followed them closely. 'Finally… I found you… Haku-chan…'
Haku leaned against the wall outside of the grocer's while Tsunami and Hinata browsed over the very limited selection inside. He stared up at the clouds heavy with precipitation, dark grey and foreboding. They seemed to add to the hopeless mood in the surrounding environment making it even more depressing. He snapped to attention when he heard Tsume growl loudly from inside his mind before he gasped loudly. 'Tsume? Is something wrong?'
("No, cub… on the contrary, it seems that we're about to get reacquainted with some long lost friends...") Haku started to ask what he meant before a hauntingly familiar voice cut through his thoughts.
"Haku-chan…? Is that really you…?" He spun around and his jaw promptly hit the floor. Standing hesitantly before him was…
"A-Alana-chan?" Awayuki Alana. Her long brown hair was done up in a high ponytail that went all the way down to the small of her back. The sides of her bangs were the same length, but traveled down her front over her shoulders. Her short fringe of the bangs in the middle filled the gap between the long tresses, framing her face perfectly. Her black eyes were a stark contrast to her creamy alabaster skin. She wore a dark purple sleeveless dress that hugged her body ending in the middle of her shins, with a slit up to her hip revealing a pair of black shorts underneath. A black belt adorned her waist, various pouches hanging off of it, while black ninja sandals covered her feet and fingerless gloves of the same shade were protecting her twitching hands and wrists.
She briefly glanced away before meeting his eyes again, small tears pooling in the corners of her eyes. "Haku-chan… it is you!" she cried before she ran forward and embraced her friend, Haku unhesitatingly circling his arms around her and clutching her to his body. His own tears slid down his cheeks as he remembered their last meeting, and subsequent parting.
FLASHBACK
Four-year-old Haku ran down the streets of Kirigakure, blissfully unaware of what was about to happen. He'd been caught in a closet again… But he'd gotten out faster this time! Only one day instead of three! His happy smile faded from his face as he saw smoke billowing from the direction of Alana-chan's house. Speeding up, he reached it as fast as his small legs could go. What he saw when he got there, however, shocked him to the core. Sharp ice spires jutted out of the ground at every angle, some with corpses horribly skewered in a macabre monument to the winter. The very ground itself was covered in snow and ice several inches thick, parts of it colored crimson. He doubled his speed and hurried for the sobbing figure of his best friend huddled in the middle of the frozen wasteland.
"ALANA-CHAN!" he cried as he slid to a stop beside her. She uncurled herself partly and looked up at him through watery eyes.
"H-Haku-chan!" she sobbed as she threw her arms around his neck and cried onto his shoulder. "I was s-so scared! A big monster came and killed everyone but me an' then this weird guy came and did something to make the monster go away but then I hurt really really bad and he just fell over and he isn't moving and…" her voice broke into sobbing, preventing any further intelligible speech.
Figures approached them over the hill, and one pointed at the children. "Look! She's still alive!" Haku looked up at them as they came to stand over the trembling girl and him.
"Please sir, you have to help her, she's-"
He was silenced when he was struck across the face and sent flying away from his friend. He rolled to a stop and shakily stood up again. "KEEP AWAY FROM HER, MONSTER!" The man's tirade was cut off as another ninja rolled over the motionless body on the ground.
"Kami-sama… IT KILLED MIZUKAGE-SAMA TOO!" Haku backed up, terrified as the ninja surrounded him.
"We've let it live for too long!" one ninja cried, raising a katana above his head.
Haku's eyes widened in horror as the katana descended, seemingly in slow motion. 'No…' It came lower…
'No.' Lower…
'NO.' Lower…
'NO!' Lower…
"NOOO!" at his shout, an ice mirror appeared under him, and he sank into its depths. Frigid cold bit at his skin, making him scream in pain, until he landed on a street and warmth surrounded him. Looking up, he saw the sun shining down through the branches of a tree before the darkness claimed him and he succumbed to its call.
END FLASHBACK
"Oh my god, I've missed you so much! Where have you been? Why didn't you come back!" she asked as she tightened her grip around his neck, making him gag and turn an interesting shade of purple.
Once she noticed and released him, she looked into his eyes as he saddened. "How could I come back? They thought I killed all those people." Alana flinched and drew away from him.
"H-Haku, it wasn't you… It was Hakuma."
"Hakuma?" She stepped away from him and pulled her dress up to expose the seal standing out on her stomach, just over her navel. It looked similar to Haku's, but it had five points instead of eight.
"Hakuma, she's an ice dragoness… She killed my clan except for me. Mizukage-sama came and sealed her into me, but that killed him."
Haku's eyes widened again as she pulled her dress back down. "You're a vessel too?"
"Too?" she echoed curiously. Haku pulled the bottom of his shirt up and showed her his own seal.
"I have a bijuu in me…" He suddenly laughed at her confused face. "You thought I'd chase you off, didn't you?"
She blushed slightly and put an arm around herself. "Well… Yeah, I did. But I guess we both have our burdens, huh?" Alana gave a quiet giggle, which soon turned into happy laughter as the two friends embraced again.
"Haku? Do you know her?" Both of them jumped at Hinata's voice. The Hyuuga heiress calmly looked at both of them as Tsunami stood behind her.
Haku smiled abashedly. "Ah, Hinata, this is my best friend that I had to leave behind in Kiri, Awayuki Alana." Hinata gasped slightly.
"Awayuki? The legendary clan from Kirigakure?"
"I'm the only one left, all the others were killed by…" she looked over at Haku, unsure of how much she could safely reveal. Haku leaned over and whispered something in the other girl's ear, and she smiled brightly.
"Ah, you have something inside you as well? Oh, where are my manners, I'm Hyuuga Hinata, a pleasure to meet you." Hinata bowed slightly, Alana mirroring her. "Do you have a village, Alana-san? I don't see a hitai-ate on you."
Alana rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment. "Well… no, I'm a missing-nin from Kirigakure. They keep hunting me." Tsunami clucked her tongue.
"Well dear, you're coming with us. You're filthy, and you look like you haven't had a decent meal in weeks." She blushed under the older woman's scrutiny, and Haku gently led her along back out of the town.
"So, Haku-chan, did you two come here on your own?"
"No, we're here on a mission with another genin team. Speaking of them, there are three other vessels along with us." He grinned at her dumbfounded expression.
"Th-Three? But… wow. So who are they?"
Haku smiled. "Well, there's Haruno Sakura, she has an eagle demoness inside her. She's the one with the pink hair, you won't be able to miss her. Then Uchiha Sasuke is-"
"Uchiha? But I heard they were wiped out!"
"Sasuke is the same as you, Alana-chan, the last of his clan… Except for one other, the one who killed all the others, but that's Sasuke's choice if he wants to tell you or not. He acts cold, but once you get to know him he's quiet, but friendly. He has a dragon demon in him. Then, there's Uzumaki Naruto-san." The tone of devotion in his voice made Alana look up at him to see his happy smile.
"Naruto, huh?"
"Yes, Naruto-san is very special. He found me and befriended me, took me in when none of the adults would. My greatest desire is to make sure that he's happy, and that his dreams come true." Haku spoke with such conviction and unmoving loyalty that all the girls were taken aback. Alana didn't know what to think. Haku spoke of him like he was a deity, someone to be revered, as if people were unworthy to look at him. Hinata just blushed, used to the way her friend talked about him, while Tsunami thought it was adorable that Haku was so loyal. When she said as much, he turned bright red and made the girls laugh.
"Tadaima!" Tsunami cheerfully called as she led the three children into the house. Tazuna was immediately beside her, fretting over her until she calmed him down. She took her father by the arm and dragged him into the kitchen to help her put the food away.
Haku took Alana's hand, making the nervous girl smile at him gratefully. She'd never had much luck with people. They either worshipped her as the last of her clan or despised her for what she held within her.
Unfortunately, she didn't have much time to prepare herself.
"HINA-CHAAAAAN!" an orange blur shouted as it tackled the dark-haired girl to the ground. Alana just blinked as the blur revealed itself to be a blond with bright blue eyes and whisker marks on his face. "I'm glad you're back!" he said as he pecked her on the cheek, making Hinata's brain functions shut down again. She just laid there with a happy smile on her face as the blond bounded over to Haku. "Hey, Haku! How'd the guarding mission go, huh?" As he came to a rest in front of him, she noticed that the boy was shorter than anyone else in the room.
Haku just smiled broadly, seemingly unaffected by the short boy's behavior. "We didn't have any real problems, and I treated a sick little girl." Thrusting an arm into the air, the loud blonde shouted happily.
"YOSH! That's the way to be a good guy, Haku! I knew you and Hina-chan could do it!" He blinked and stared up at Alana, as if he was just noticing her. "Hey, who's she?"
"Oh, I'm sorry. This is Awayuki Alana, she's an old friend of mine."
The vocal boy stuck his hand forward proudly and pumped her hand enthusiastically. "The name's Uzumaki Naruto, number one kickass ninja of Konohagakure, and next in line to be Hokage!" She finally found her voice.
"Haku-chan, this is Naruto?"
Haku's grin widened even more. "Not what you were expecting, huh?"
"Don't feel bad." a new voice from the doorway to the rest of the house chided her. "Nobody knows what to expect from dobe."
Naruto spun around and pointed an accusatory finger at the black-haired boy leaning on the doorframe. "BASTARD!" Alana turned and got a good look at Uchiha Sasuke.
"… A chicken?" she said, unintentionally voicing the first thing that came to mind. She immediately started apologizing, but Sasuke's eyes were staring at her in disbelief as Naruto roared with his laughter. Knocking Naruto over the head, the taller boy stood in front of her, coolly regarding her.
"So who're you?"
"A-Awayuki Alana. And you?" Smirking a bit at the uncertain tone in her voice, he composedly returned her gaze.
"Uchiha Sasuke. I thought your clan was gone."
"Same to you, Sasuke." His smirk widened even more.
"Touché. So you're a vessel?" She nodded, and Sasuke offered his hand. "Glad to have another ally."
Before she could take his hand, another blonde-haired blur glomped onto the dark-haired Uchiha, knocking him onto the floor. "Back off, girl, he's my man!" she snarled.
"INO-PIG! GET OFF OF HIM!" a girl with bubblegum pink hair and bright green eyes yelled as she advanced on the small group. Ino just stuck her tongue out at her rival and turned to look down at him… and saw a pillow in her arms. She dropped the pillow and ran off in search of her self-proclaimed love. "She's gone, Sasuke-kun."
At her words, the pillow exploded into smoke, revealing a very hassled Sasuke. "God, that's the second time today! And it's not even dinnertime yet!" Alana suddenly felt very sorry for the harassed boy.
"Um, just so you know, Sasuke, I'm not going to be a fangirl and drool all over you." she said as she helped him up from the ground. A relieved grin split his face as Sakura walked over. "Well it's nice to meet all of you…"
One long explanation later (due to the fact that Kurenai and Kakashi had finally woken up and come in halfway through the conversation with Shino and a pissed Ino), the jounin had agreed to let Alana stay with them for now. Naruto and the other vessels were all huddled together apart from the others after dinner, conversing about Alana's situation.
"I'm sure dad would let her come to Konoha!"
"Dobe. It won't be that easy. She has a bounty from another country on her head."
"BASTARD!" One second later, Naruto was kissing the floor with a smoking knot on his head, courtesy of his pink-haired friend.
"Naruto does have a point, Sasuke-kun." Sakura gently reprimanded the boy as Alana stared at the prone Naruto in shock. "I'm sure Yume-san can work something out with Hokage-sama." Sasuke grunted, but bit his thumb and smeared blood across his palm.
He slammed his hands on the ground after three hand seals, and muttered "Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" (Summoning Skill). All occupants of the room stared as a small raven appeared from the cloud of smoke. Sasuke allowed a satisfied smirk to appear on his face as the bird looked up at him and watched him scrawl a message on a piece of paper he had procured.
"Message? Yes? Caw!" The raven's halting speech was punctuated by his beak clacking noisily after each word.
Sasuke handed him the note after folding it and placing it inside an envelope. "Take this to Yume-san. You know who he is, right?" he quietly asked.
"Yume! Me know. Me take. Be there in one moon. Caw!" The black bird deftly snagged the paper in his beak and hopped over to the window before jumping out and flapping off.
"Sasuke? How do you know how to summon?" Kurenai asked cautiously. He merely smirked at her.
"Why?"
His superior expression soon dissolved into one of extreme annoyance as Ino latched onto him again. "You're so talented, Sasuke-kuuuun!" she purred as she tried to nuzzle her face into his chest. It took all of Haku's strength (and some of Naruto's) to prevent Sakura from turning the other girl into a smear on the ground.
"Ino…" Sasuke said, looking deeply into her eyes.
"Y-Yes, Sasuke-kun?" Ino said breathlessly, her face steadily getting redder.
"Let go. You're annoying me." Ino's dreamlike state vanished with the sound of a record breaking, and she let go of him, confused as to why he kept pushing her away. She loved him, so didn't he love her? She decided he must just be bashful with the others around and vowed to catch him by himself. Sasuke quickly moved away from the blond girl and sat between Sakura and Naruto, the other girl sitting as close to him as she could be without actually touching him.
At least, she was until Sasuke closed the distance by putting an arm around her and pulling her to him, producing a gasp from her as she flushed slightly. The vessels continued to talk apart from the other kids, getting to know Alana better. Somehow during the course of the evening, Haku and Alana's hands found each other and clasped together firmly, both of them reveling in being together again.
Meanwhile, back in Konoha, Tsunade glared at the perpetually smiling blonde opposite her. "I'm all in." she boldly declared as she pushed the rest of her chips forward. Jiraiya merely raised an eyebrow, remaining silent as the dealer. 'There's no way I can lose this time.' Yume's eyes sparkled as he immediately called her. She triumphantly laid her hand down, revealing the 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 of hearts. "Straight flush! Beat that, brat!" Jiraiya's jaw dropped at her almost impossible hand. Yume just chuckled.
"Nice try, kaa-chan." he chided her as he laid his hand down, showing the 10, Jack, Queen, King, and Ace… all of spades. "Royal flush. I win again." Tsunade cursed loudly as she banged her head on the table repeatedly.
"DAMMIT! How the hell do you have that kind of luck?" He just laughed joyously as he collected her chips and dumped them in the bag they kept the poker things in. She looked up as she rubbed her forehead, still cursing his good fortune under her breath. "Okay Yume… Enough games. Let's take a look at you." Yume made a face.
"Nya! Gotta catch me firs- OWOWOWOWOOWWWW!" he complained as Tsunade literally dragged him by the ear to the infirmary of the huge Kazara complex and tossed him on the table. "Dammit kaa-chan, did you have to do that!"
Tsunade gazed evenly at him as she opened the cabinet. "Yes, because you always try to escape." He quailed under her stare and obediently pulled his shirt off so she could look him over. She walked closer and as he lay back on the table, her eyes glowed a soft green as she started a diagnostic. "Yume… What the hell did you do to yourself?" she whispered in horrid fascination.
"Shiki Fuujin… But the death god took the demon's soul instead of mine, although the demon closed all of my tenketsu in retribution." Tsunade just stared at the mess his inner coils system had become. Both youki and chakra chaotically battled one another inside his body, each warring for supremacy. If his system wasn't sealed off, his body would be vaporized almost instantly…
Then her eyes were drawn to the seal on his stomach. 'Maybe… That should work.' She deactivated her diagnostic jutsu and stepped back. "I may have a solution, but it'll put you out of commission for at least a month."
"What is it?" He looked at her as he sat up.
Tsunade shifted uncomfortably. "It's possible to speed up the job of your seal, and make it convert all the youki in your system to your own chakra. Your tenketsu should open on their own, then, if it works. If it doesn't… You'll never be a ninja again." Yume just laughed bitterly, looking at her with sad eyes.
"It's not like I have anything to lose, kaa-chan. Besides… I trust you with my life, so I'm not that worried about it." He nonchalantly waved his hand as he redressed himself. "If it's a medical jutsu and it's possible, you can do it no problem." She blushed slightly and felt a swelling of pride at her adopted son's words. "Now let's get out of here, I hate this room!" He looked up at the sky as they walked outside in time to see the descending form of a raven. Holding an arm up, the bird landed on it and dropped the envelope into his hand.
"Message. Dragon boy. Question. Caw!" Yume snatched a glob of raw meat out of a pouch around his waist and held it out to the raven who greedily gobbled it up before vanishing in a plume of smoke. He tore the envelope open and flipped out a letter.
Flash-sensei,
Everyone's fine, although we've had some difficulty. We encountered the Mist Demon Brothers right outside of Konoha (although they've surely been picked up by the time this reaches you), and also Momochi Zabuza once we got to Wave Country. He was killed, but something didn't feel right about his death, so I'm not sure.
We ran into an old friend of Icy's from Mist Country. Her name's Kiyuwaa Nalaa, and she's got an ice dragoness in her called Makuha. Dobe's convinced you can let her come home, but I thought it best to ask you first. Please let us know either way.
Firebug
P.S.: Hime keeps telling me how important Nalaa's clan is. Don't really care.
P.P.S.: I'M NOT A DOBE! – Flash Jr.
The second post-script was hastily scrawled on in Naruto's chicken-scratch handwriting that closely resembled Yume's own. 'Good, so Sasuke already has a concept of code. I'm 'Flash-sensei', and I'll have to either smack him or compliment him for his choice of a nickname, 'Icy' must be Haku, 'Dobe' and 'Flash Jr.' are Naruto, 'Firebug' must be Sasuke and 'Hime' is probably Hinata. As for the friend… Awayuki Alana, huh? And Hakuma…' (1) He walked to his study and quickly wrote a reply before withdrawing a tiny scroll from his breast pocket and opening it. One poof of smoke later, Kin stood before him on the desk.
"Hihi Yume-sama!" he squeaked cheerfully. "Something you needwant?"
Yume rolled up the piece of paper so it was small before handing it to the diminutive bird. "Can you take this to Sasuke? He's in Wave Country. You know where that is, right?"
"Yepyep!" Kin boasted as he saluted with one wing. "It wayacross big bluewet thing! Me carrytake to dragonboy or goodfriend as fastfast as I can quickfly!" He hopped on top of the message and secured it in his talons before shooting out the window like the hyper blur he was.
"… That bird is the only thing that's more hyper than my son." the previous Hokage mused as he ambled down to the den to entertain another of Tsunade's attempts to beat him at some kind of gambling game. He'd humor her. His mother was scary when she lost, but even scarier when she was ignored. He'd convince Sarutobi to let the girl safely come to Konoha. After all, she was an orphan too, and he'd always had a soft spot for other kids without parents.
Sakura sat down at the table the next morning, being the first to rise. She was usually a morning person, except for a few days when she felt lazy and slept in. She greeted Tsunami cheerfully and saw that Ino, Shino and Alana were already awake and sitting at the table. "Good morning, Alana, Shino… Ino." Sakura politely said, not wanting to start the day off on a sour note.
"Good morning yourself, forehead-girl." Well, screw that idea.
"Pig!" she hissed, trying to keep her voice down for the sake of her sleeping teammates.
Alana felt a sweatdrop move down the back of her head at the other girls' antics. "Good morning, Sakura, did you sleep well?"
"Yes, I did, actually." Any further conversation was cut off by a high-pitched squeal.
"AAAAIIIIIIEEEEEEEEE!"
SPLAT.
And when everyone's brains had sufficiently caught up to speed, Kin was shaking Sakura's breakfast off of himself as he stood up to his tiny full height on her plate. "Ickyuck! Brightwhite stuff on featherwings means no quickfly!"
"… Kin?" the pink-haired girl asked as she picked the small bird out of her bowl. He looked up and his eyes sparkled.
"Bigwings!" he squeaked as he hopped up onto her shoulder and nuzzled his head against her neck. "I searchfound you!"
Sakura just giggled as his feathers tickled her. "K-Kin, do you have a message?" He stood up straight and held out a folded-up piece of paper with one foot while he clutched her shirt with the other.
"Yepyep! I quickflew as fastfast as I could! I didn't sureknow which groundnest you were in so I just kept keeptrying until my featherwings got soggywet and I crashsplatted into the ickyucky brightwhite stuff!" He looked over her shoulder and made a tiny gasp. "Bigwings' bigwings are allgone! This badsad! Now bigwings can't highfly anymore!" he ended his statement with a tiny wail.
She shushed him as quickly as she could, pinching his beak shut. She did NOT need him blabbing her secret out all over the place, especially out of Konoha. "Ssshhh! Kin, don't wake the others!" He merely sniffled and looked at her pitifully. "Hey Kin, I bet if you go back you can have some food back home, huh?" Sakura mentally crossed her fingers as she took the message from his talon.
"YAY! Natsumi-goodcook's food is yumtasty! Byelater bigwings!" And with that, the day was temporarily saved thanks to the bird's five-second attention span. Kin shook out his wings, sending oatmeal everywhere, until they were reasonably dry and he shot out the window in search of food.
Ino wiped a glob of oatmeal from her forehead as Kurenai stared at the window the hyperactive bird had exited from. "Sakura… What was that?" the jounin asked.
"Erm… A messenger bird? From home." she nervously answered. Her green eyes refused to meet anyone else's, constantly shifting around the room. "He belongs to… a good friend of mine! Yeah, he was just worried about me and sent the bird to, um, check on me." Kurenai nodded slightly, and let the issue drop for now. She'd get the truth from Sandaime-sama once they were back in the village.
Unfortunately for Sakura, Ino was far more inquisitive. "Why'd it call you 'bigwings?'" the long-haired blonde asked. Fortunately, Alana came to her defense.
"Let it drop, Yamanaka-san. If it was important, I'm sure Sakura-san would tell you." Sakura let out a sigh of relief as Ino humphed and looked back down at her food. Unfolding the note, Sakura read the contents.
Bubblegum
I'll stick with the code Firebug used in his last letter. I'm addressing it to you, because odds are he won't be awake yet when this reaches you kids.
First of all, based on what Firebug told me of your encounter with Momochi, I agree with him. Something's definitely fishy about it. I wouldn't be surprised if he was only put in a deathlike state by those three hunter-nins, who are probably his accomplices. Keep a sharp eye out, and never let your guard down.
Second, I'm happy to let you know that Nalaa is more than welcome here. I'll sort somethin' out with the old man and she'll be ready to go as one of ours in no time. And please let her know that her 'friend' Makuha doesn't bother me in the least.
I guess that's about it. Tell Firebug congratulations on his summon, it made it here fine. And PLEASE tell Junior to behave, and I give you permission to make sure that he does. Give Hime, Icy, and Nalaa my regards.
Prankfully yours,
Flash
P.S. Kin landed in your food, didn't he? And you should be expecting the boys to join you soon. Mwehehehehehehe… (A cutely drawn chibi version of Yume's face with horns is inserted here, demonic grin included.)
P.P.S.: Bubblegum dear, make sure you and the other children eat enough! And don't stay up too late, it's bad for you! – Housewife.
She blinked at the first postscript until Naruto suddenly started screaming bloody murder and ran past the doorway of the dining room, en route to the bathroom. It took a moment to register that his mouth had something red inside and steam was coming from his ears. Sasuke and Haku stumbled in soon after that, awakened by their teammate's screeching. "The hell happened to dobe…?" Sasuke muttered. Sakura calmly handed him the letter, and once he read the postscript he banged his head on the table once. Ino gasped at his behavior, and Sasuke raised an eyebrow at her. "What, Ino?"
"Yah don'th have yah cold bathtard mathk on, bathtard." Naruto lisped as he came into the room nursing his tongue. At their stares, he grinned sheepishly. "Thumone poured loth ah currah powdah in mah mouth."
'Oh.' was the simultaneous thought of all the occupants of the room. Hinata rushed over from behind him and placed her hands on his cheeks timidly, healing energy flowing from her hands to his abused tongue. Soon it was back to normal, and Naruto loudly praised her and hugged her, causing yet another mental shutdown on the part of the poor girl.
("… Girl… we've got to work on that…") Same muttered as she sighed heavily. She couldn't have her vessel faint every time he hugged her, for Kami's sake. How would they have fun if she blacked out when she was touched by him?
The next week seemed to drag on for the vessels. Kurenai had brought them into the woods to teach them how to climb trees using chakra. She'd been shocked to discover that five of the eight kids already knew it. However, she resigned herself to the fact that she couldn't really teach them, and instead taught Ino, Shino and Alana, who had to relearn it. It turned out that she wasn't used to doing it on deciduous trees, much less thawed ones instead of the frozen ones she was used to from her native village. Haku stayed behind and helped her, while the other vessels took turns with guard duty. Two of them would stay at the house and guard Tsunami, Inari, and the recovering Kakashi, while the other two would accompany Tazuna to the bridge and help with construction while they protected him. On the last day, Kurenai, Ino, Shino, Alana, and Haku returned to the house before dinner, the three who were learning to climb exhausted. Ino was scowling, Shino looked ruffled, but Alana had a tired smile on her face.
"I made it to the top!" she excitedly said as she sat down beside Sakura, Haku seating himself on her opposite side.
Sakura smiled and hugged her new friend happily. "Oh that's awesome! I knew you could do it!" Ino scowled and looked away angrily. Shino had only gotten three-fourths of the way up his tree, and she'd managed almost to the top. She was still mad, though, for two reasons. One, this new girl, which she didn't trust yet, had progressed faster than her, and secondly, she had befriended Sakura. Part of her still wanted to be the pink-haired girl's friend, but that part was always silenced by her knowledge that they were doomed to be rivals until Sasuke chose her and left Sakura in the cold. After all, they were obviously meant for one another.
"You're an idiot."
"SHUT UP! IT'S NOT MY FAULT THE CEMENT WAS WET!"
"And that made you fall off of the bridge… how?"
"WHO ASKED YOU YOU BASTARD!" The boys' argument was audible even through the door as they approached the house. Tazuna slid the door open with a grin on his face as Sasuke and a damp Naruto entered after him. Well, one thing was for sure. Life certainly was more eventful with the blonde and his friends around.
"Shiro…" Zabuza's gravelly voice rang out from the safe room. The feminine ninja from earlier instantly appeared by his side.
"What is it, Zabuza-sama?"
The ex-mist jounin snorted. "I'm almost back to full health… We should be able to attack tomorrow. Are you going to be able to follow through…?"
"Do not worry, Zabuza-sama." Hana Shiro cut him off as he removed his mask, revealing an older version of Haku's. "Any feelings about my dear little cousin will not interfere with carrying out your will. I am anxious, however, to see how far his skills have progressed with no tutelage."
Zabuza smirked from under his bandages. "And what about you two…" he said as he turned to face the pair standing on his other side. "Kuro, Kage?" The two ninja bowed as one.
"We will never-"
"Fail Zabuza-sama. We-"
"Will fight to the death-"
"For his ideals." The Koori twins spoke in their odd, halting way, going back and forth between the two of them.
Zabuza's eye gleamed. "You're all worthy tools. Tomorrow, we will strike at the bridge and eliminate Tazuna-san and any of his foolish little bodyguards that are there. Be ready old man… ready to see death!"
(1) I spelled her name backwards, the way it would be if it was written in japanese. A-wa-yu-ki A-la-na becomes Ki-yu-wa-a Na-la-a, see?
Okay people! Review response time!
Dragon Man 180 – Heheh. Glad you liked the fight. I'm not sure about Naruto's tails, I'll have to decide later. And don't worry, the vessels take off their bracelets in the next chapter.
Gelionlegends – Not the sound-nin Kin. I keep talking about Yume's hummingbird messenger, whom I decided to name Kin as well because it sounded right.
naruhina1 – Thank you. Naruto won't get to nine tails as far as I know, his human body limits the number of tails he can have to one.
Damon Rhodes – Thanks buddy. Glad to have another college person who understands the torture.
Scorpio V1.2 – Thanks for your suggestion. I'm working on the emotion thing, I was just a little rushed to get the chapter out. Plus, Hanabi's a little kid, their emotions are all over the place anyway.
Coco Cow – I'm glad you like him. His way of speaking is SO hard to write though.
RLnaruhina – "Bride"…? Argh… Thanks for pointing it out. And the Kin I keep referring to is the hummingbird, not the female ninja, so it is a he.
kawaiineziumi – Does this answer your question about Zabuza?
Dagorwen of Beleriand – See chapter 13, towards the end. I gave her the Falcon contract as well.
GreatMarta – Hehehe, I'm glad you approve. And yes, Ino IS going to be driven insane. And I don't care if you use my names, they're not all that original. I'll never abandon this story until I finish it, so don't you worry.
ThE pIe MaN – A fiery Rasengan, eh? I'll think about it, he still needs to learn how to do the attack normally first.
Facading – I'm glad you guys like the Japanese names, I put some effort into getting a close translation for them.
neodanmatter – They just severely underestimated the genin.
ShinjucAt – Naruto just has a contract with foxes because he and his father are the only people to have ever gotten one (this will be explained later). Sakura's wings are large compared to her, so they're designed for power and stamina, but she can get a huge burst of speed by diving from a height.
Infinite Freedom - … That was the most random review I've ever gotten.
Anime Insaniac – Actually, Haku's going to be paired up with Alana. So there will be some minor ShikaIno.
mechman123 – I'm glad you like the story now, your first review had me worried.
Sakura-Girl 2005 – I'm glad you gave me a chance. The village will find out about him after the chuunin exams.
Dragon Noir – Yes, don't you worry, both councils will get theirs by the end of the story. Naruto's a little more buffed up now, yes, but just think about this: take Naruto's stamina and multiply it by at least four. And Yume helped all the kids who got fangs learn to get used to them. I'm glad you liked the fights. Sakura will fix the fangirl problem soon, so just wait for it. As for your suggestions, I'll definitely look at them again.
hells-fox, supercrazyinsanemonkeyman (MAN your username is long!), Lady-Frisselle, GirlWaterShaman, zornoid13, warprince2000, Mrs.Uchiha, Kirin Kage the Shadow Girl, SoulShine, anti-thule, drunkdragon, Stylish-Angel, DeathAngel-Lavenda, fluffypup, Sir Graq, Kitsune of Life and Death, and anyone else I forgot – THANK YOU SOOO MUCH FOR YOUR SUPPORT!
PREVIEW OF NEXT TIME!
"MOVE, SASUKE!" Sasuke was brutally shoved out of the way, and looked up in time to see Naruto's body slump to the ground, not moving once it was down. The icicle coming out of his chest, right where his heart was, made it clear what had just happened.
Sasuke crawled over with a horrible feeling in his stomach. "Naruto…? C'mon, Naruto, that wasn't funny! Wake up!" He shook the boy, and he limply flopped. "Naruto…? Please…" his voice broke as the blonde didn't respond.
"An honorable-"
"Death. Was this-"
"The first friend-"
"You have seen die?" His opponents mocked him as the raven haired boy trembled.
"No… I…" Sasuke fought the memories back as his Sharingan stared down at his friend's body. "He… He was… my best friend… and I…" If he'd have just listened to Naruto and moved. He'd taken a hit meant for him. His own ignorance had killed his best friend… his brother. "It's all my fault…" he whispered. His eyes exploded into agony as blood leaked from the corners of his eyes. The twin ninja stepped back in shock as the crimson drops ran down the boy's cheeks.
"What is-"
"Happening to him?" Sasuke's body shuddered as his optic nerves disconnected and rewired themselves, his vision blurring before sharpening to a detail he'd never seen before. He glared up at the ninjas in front of him. His three comma-marks in his Sharingan quickly spun together before fusing into one large ring in the middle of his eye with three prongs coming off of it.
Mangekyou Sharingan. Combined with the blood streamed down his cheeks, Sasuke looked like an avatar of death. Green chakra wound its way around his body as both the demon's and the boy's thought patterns were identical for the first time. KILL. Spikes jutted a good six inches from the plates on Sasuke's back, sticking through his shirt as his canine teeth elongated into fangs. His nails turned into claws as the demonic energy flooded his system completely, changing his red Mangekyou to green. Only one thought went through both of the twins' minds as the crazed boy charged them at speed unheard of for a genin.
'Oh shit…'
