A Kitsune Riding on My Shoulder
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto and I'm not likely to gain ownership of it at any point while writing this story. Or ever for that matter.
Music I'm listening to: Defying Gravity from the Wicked Soundtrack
So I know that Kakashi became a chuunin when he was like, six but for the sake of my story he will be a twelve-year-old genin. Just a heads up.
"Talking"
"Kyuubi"
'Thoughts'
(Break)
"YUMMY!" Ichiro winced at the volume that the Kid seemed to find necessary when proclaiming exactly how much he loved this strange, new food. Katsu, who was descending from the rooftops next door stopped running in favor of clamping his hands over his ears. Who needed to teach the Kid to protect himself? One scream like that and the enemy would be down for the count. Shaking off the after-effects of the painful blow to his ears Katsu joined his teammates at the Ichiraku ramen shop.
"I'm glad you like it, Kid." Katsu commented as he slid into the seat on the other side of his charge. Trying not to laugh at the painful look on Ichiro's face (after all, he had been right next to the Kid) Katsu motioned over the old man so that he could order.
"It's yummy…" Naruto trailed off looking at his stuffed animal "but Neko-chan says that if I eat too much I'll get sick. It that true?" Startled, Katsu glanced at the stuffed animal that the Kid had carefully placed on the table next to him. No, it couldn't be, after all it was perfectly normal for a child his age to talk to his toys. Especially when they were never around people their age.
"Hey Kid," Katsu said distractedly as he got an idea. Naruto looked up at him, noodles hanging from his mouth as he slurped it up at record breaking speeds. "Do you want to go to the park today before we head back?" he asked, now determined to give the Kid anything he could in order to make up for the things he had done.
'What's a park?' Naruto wondered, hurriedly slurping the noodles that were hanging from is mouth. Before he could form the question though, there was an answer.
"A park is where young kit's go to play." Kyuubi responded to Naruto's unvoiced query. "And if you do go to the park then you better not leave me there or lose me." There would have been an unspoken 'or else' at the end if it weren't for the fact that he was talking to a three-year old human child. As it was Naruto simply smiled and jumped into Katsu's unsuspecting arms.
"Yes!" he squealed as he latched his arms around Katsu's neck. Then he leaped from his chair and grabbed one of Katsu's hands to lead him away. He was bouncing as he dragged the older man away to the park.
Behind them the ramen shop owner poked poor Ichiro with one of the many chopsticks that were lying around. "Eh, aren't you gonna go with your friends?" The owner asked as he continued to prod the ANBU. Ichiro looked up at the man who was poking him uncomprehendingly. "Well, you're just gonna sit here? Too lazy to join them I bet. Oh, and the bill came up to… Hey are you even listening to me?" The ramen owner was getting angry by the end.
Ichiro looked at the man in front of him and spoke clearly and, well, loudly "CAN. YOU. HEAR. ME?" The ramen owner just gave Ichiro a funny look before leaving the bill on the counter in front of him and walking away. Were all ANBU freaks?
Ichiro looked at the man's back as he sat there miserably. He didn't know it was that loud of a yell. What was he going to do now that he couldn't hear?
(Break)
Naruto looked around at the park. It was so wonderful and there were so many people his age running around and playing with each other. There were small boxes with sand inside and the children were making things with the sand. There were children sliding down strange things that he had never seen before and some were even sitting on a seat at the end of two long ropes and swinging back and forth.
"We'll.." Katsu glanced around and realized that at some point they had lost Ichiro "Well; anyway, I'll be right here so why don't you go make some new friends?" He suggested as he gave the Kid a slight push toward the strange box. Then he walked over to a tree that had a view of the entire park and jumped on to the branches to settle in for a long time.
Naruto stumbled into the large box and sat down next to a small girl with pink hair. She looked up when he sat down and he noticed that her eyes were forest green. He smiled shyly at her as she looked at him "I'm Naruto, will you be my friend?" The small girl looked at him for a second before smiling back at him.
"I'm Sakura, now let's play together." Naruto smiled at his first new friend and moved Neko-chan out of the way so that he could play with her.
"What'cha doin'?" he asked as he looked at the project the small girl was working on with wonder.
"I'm looking for buried treasure." She told him proudly, motioning toward the shallow hole she had been digging. "You look over there and I'll look here, kay?" Naruto nodded and hurriedly started digging a hole, flinging the sand behind him energetically.
"What are you trying to do, bury me alive?" Naruto looked up slightly when he heard someone grumble. Looking around and not seeing anyone, he shrugged and kept digging his hole. As he was digging he felt something under his fingers that was definitely not sand.
"Sakura!" he called happily as he tried to dig up the treasure that was just under his fingers.
"Sakura-chan." She said without turning to look at what he .
"What?" he asked confused with what she was trying to say. She turned to look at him as seriously as she could.
"If we're going to be friends then you should call me Sakura-chan, Naruto-chan." She educated the oblivious young boy. Naruto looked at her for a second before nodding furiously.
"Sakura-chan!" He tried again, "I found some treasure!" he said proudly as he finally pulled out the object that was buried under the sand. Sakura shuffled over so that she could look at his new prize. Naruto gave it a funny look as he tried to figure out what it was. "… a book?" What a strange treasure.
"Oh Naruto-chan I can read some let me try to figure out what it says. It could be a treasure map… er treasure book." Sakura suggested as she pulled the book out of Naruto's disbelieving hands. She furrowed her brow in thought as she tried to decipher the book in her hands.
"I..Ic.. no,no Icha" She nibbled at her thumbnail as she tried to figure out what it said. "Icha, Icha Pa…Parad… Paradise!" She turned to Naruto and held the book over her head triumphantly. "I know what it says Naruto-chan! It says Icha Icha Paradise!"
Several adults who were watching there kids glanced over when they heard the young girls yell. Some of the men's eyes widened in recognition when they saw the book, but most remained oblivious. Before she could have time to fully relish her victory it was snatched out of her hands…. Literally.
Standing above her was a boy that looked to be around twelve. He had silver hair and black eyes and a mask covering the lower part of his face. On his forehead was a metal plate with a strange leaf engraved onto it. He was smiling eerily as he clutched the book to his chest. "Thank you so much!" he cried as he drooled a little.
He was broken out of his daydream by a voice behind him. "Oh, it is my eternal rival!" Said figure was just now walking into the park leading a small boy around Naruto's age over to where they were. "Why are you in the park, Kakashi?" The new ninja let go of the small boy's hand and motioned him to go play in the sand-box with the other children.
"Another boring D-rank mission." Kakashi complained as he subtly hid the book in one of his many pockets. With his other hand he motioned at a small girl that had been hiding behind him and gave her a small push into the sandbox. He resisted the urge to sigh when he saw how his 'ultimate rival's' eyes lit up when he heard why he was there.
"Then I will show that I am the better ninja by being the best baby-sitter ever!" The ninja in green spandex (shudder) clenched his fist in front of him as his eyes lit up with flames. "If my kid cries even once then I will run around Konoha five times…. Backwards!" He proclaimed to everyone who was listening, who was no one.
Meanwhile in the sandbox all of the children were getting acquainted. "I'm Naruto and this is Sakura-chan. Do you want to be friends?" Naruto asked trying the same tactic as before, after all it had worked.
"I'm Rock Lee!" said the boy with long hair pulled into a ponytail and suspiciously round eyes.
"Umm… I'm… Hyuuga Hinata." The small girl said shyly as she tried to hide her face from the rest of them.
"We're looking for buried treasure, wanna help?" Naruto offered as he motioned at the small holes that they had managed to dig so far.
"I'll help you look for treasure!" Lee shouted as he held his hand in front of himself like he had seen the ninja watching him do. Twitching his eyes slightly he tried to catch them on fire like he had seen the older boy. After a few seconds of struggling he managed to work up a small spark but it wasn't nearly as powerful as the ninjas.
Looking over his charge Gai couldn't help the smile that spread across his face. "You can do it Lee!" He encouraged as he watched the small boy's weak attempts. "With the power of youth you can do anything!" Lee tried for a couple more seconds before giving up. A flood of tears rushed down his face.
"I'm not strong enough!" Lee wailed as he thought about his pathetic attempts. Meanwhile, Gai was looking at the tears that were rushing down his young charge's face.
"I have failed!" Gai wailed crying a flood of tears much like Lee's "Don't worry Lee! I will go run around Konoha five times backwards to make it up to you!" He yelled dramatically as he did the 'good guy' pose. Then he ran out of the park to begin his self-inflected punishment.
"Wait for me!" Lee cried as he ran after his new hero.
Naruto watched as the two figures disappeared out of sight. "They were really weird." He stated turning back to the two girl's in the sandbox with him. The Kakashi person had disappeared and he was left with just them. Sakura was shuddering to herself when he looked back at her. "What's wrong Sakura-chan?" Naruto cried as he hurried to her side.
"The eyebrow….so big…. Like caterpillars…." The pink haired girl trailed off shuddering and hugging herself to ward off the weirdness that she had just witnessed. Naruto backed away slightly and decided to play with his other new friend for now.
"Hinata-chan, wanna look for treasure with me?" he offered to the small girl. She nodded slightly to show that she was willing and Naruto looked around the small sandbox for prime spots to dig. "Okay you dig there and I'll dig over here." He suggested areas that were far away from Sakura-chan, she was scaring him.
Everything was quiet as the children continued their search for treasures. Hinata's hand brushed something after not too long and she dug it out of the sand. "N..naruto-..kun." she said shyly as she held up her prize. "I..found… so..something." Naruto turned to look at what she had found. Recognition flashed in his eyes.
"Neko-chan? How did you get down there?" Naruto asked as he held his hands out for the small toy in her hands.
"HOW? You buried me! You're just lucky she found me before you left!" Neko-chan sounded really angry. Why would Neko-chan be angry at him? Naruto shrugged it off and turned back to his new friend.
"Thanks for finding Neko-chan." He smiled a little at her "But I still don't know how she got down there." Hinata blushed and even brighter red when he thanked her and started stammering again but was interrupted.
A figure in a black cloak that was wearing a mask jumped out of a tree and landed right next to Naruto. Hinata stifled a scream when she saw the terrifying figure in front of her. Naruto followed her terrified gaze to see his guardian standing next to the strange box. "Katsu!" The small blonde boy cried as he jumped into the man's arms.
"Say good-bye to your new friends, Kid." Katsu said as he put Naruto back onto his feet. "It's time for us to head back." Naruto pouted for a second before turning back to his new friends.
"Bye Hinata-chan, Sakura-chan!" he chirped, trying to ignore Sakura's frightened eyes as she continued to shudder painfully.
Then dragging Neko-chan behind him Naruto followed Katsu out of the park. He was wrong about the outside world. It was even better than he could hope to imagine. As he walked out of the park he got the feeling that he was starting a new stage of his life. And he was right.
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Polls
Okay, LbcLostKid mentioned to me that I should pair Naruto up later in this fic so I'm putting the poll up now. Suggest almost anyone. Then vote for one that you like and I'll narrow them down later on.
Pairings so far
Naruto/Kin- 2 votes