Chapter 6,5
! IMPORTANT ! IMPORTANT !
This can hardly qualify as an actual chapter. I'm just releasing this because It's all I got. A lot of you have been asking if I'm canceling this story, the short answer is no. I'm just not sure where to take it anymore. There's a lot of stuff I'd probably do differently, so I've thought about rewriting it.
Potential changes after a rewrite:
New sword art. I thought about switching Water Breathing out with Fire Breathing.
The pairing would likely change from Yugao to Yugito, maybe not. Unsure at this point.
And, I'd likely skip over the Sand arc, or rewrite it completely.
AGAIN! This is not really an official chapter, it hasn't been edited, I just wanted to release something to show how lost I am with this work. Let me know what you guys think I should do, rewrite Heir to The Blade, or try and save this version.
The first chapters would likely be similar, but still different in the approach.
The rooftops of Sunagakure no Sato.
When night settled over Suna, the hounds hadn't returned yet. It had become quite frustrating, especially for Naruto who was now sitting on top of the building they had been assigned rooms in. Suna had offered them three rooms, one for Kakashi and Yamato, one for Yugao, and the last one for Naruto and Neji. The blond, however, didn't feel like resting. He was prepared to leave if Pakkun and the others were to arrive during the night. Not that he could sleep even if he tried.
He was way too worried about Gaara to even consider sleeping at this point in time. The Akatsuki had made their move, and everything was just sort of up in the air. No one knew what to do, all they could do was wait. Everyone knew that there was some more technical stuff to go through when extracting a Bijuu from its Jinchuuriki, but for all they knew, Gaara could already be dead.
Sure they have gotten some information, he and Jiraiya, but nothing specific about how the Akatsuki was planning to extract the beasts. Whether or not Gaara was alive, they didn't know. It made Naruto clench his fists at the thought of just chasing after a corpse. Because that might as well be what they were doing, who would know?
Sighing he released his fist and gazed up at the rooftops in the front of his view, the cool desert night air waving through his golden locks as he raised a brow at a crow staring at him from where a couple of buildings away. The sight of it seemed to calm him down slightly as if it was carrying some kind of message. Not that it was, it was simply just staring at him from afar before flapping its wings and taking off into the distance.
"Naruto-san?" A voice asked him from his left.
Turning his head to the side, Naruto raised a brow at the sudden appearance of the lone female member of their team. This was a surprise, he hadn't actually thought she'd come to talk to him after he probably left a bad taste in her mouth earlier. He was still unsure of why exactly she was… acting oddly.
"Yugao-san, this is a surprise. A pleasant one." He smiled lightly, moving to stand up from the ledge he was sitting on, but stopped in his tracks as the purple-haired beauty waved her hand dismissively while taking a seat down beside him with some respectful distance between them.
The woman gave a small smile with a nod of acknowledgment as she got comfortable, the small smile, however, turned into a light frown soon after as she softly spoke, "I wanted to apologize for lashing out at you earlier. It wasn't my intention, and I realize you were just trying to be polite."
"Let bygones be bygones, you're fine. Don't worry about it." Naruto mentioned with a raised brow. Everyone had their reasons for keeping personal issues a secret, even if it could be good to talk, there certainly wasn't any need to apologize for wanting some privacy regarding the matter.
Yugao shook her head and stared out over the sand village, "We are teammates now, we are supposed to trust in each other. I was just a bit overwhelmed earlier, that's all." She started with a small sigh before eventually gazing over at the blond boy out of the corner of her eyes. "You still want to know?"
The young sword user couldn't help but give a slight chuckle, "I would lie if I said no, but I'm comfortable waiting for you to be ready to talk if you'd rather want that. I'll respect that."
The woman couldn't quite help the smile on her face as she gazed at him amused, "You know, you are nothing like I expected you to be. I've heard tales about the infamous menace monument painter."
Naruto grimaced at that and scratched the back of his head, "Yeah, that certainly wasn't my glory days..."
Feeling more curious than ever, Yugao rested her chin in the palm of her hand, "I've been meaning to ask, but the timing never felt appropriate. Why did you decide to go paint the Hokage monument in broad daylight? You were bound to get caught. Hell, I was one of the joyful participants in chasing you once."
Tilting his head lightly to the side, Naruto looked her over for a brief moment. Perhaps the best way to establish some friendship here to let her know he was actually invested in learning about her as well, was to reveal some of that stuff. "Well, I wanted attention. I had a dream of becoming the Hokage so that people would notice and acknowledge my existence. I just, later on, found out that I had a childish view of the world."
"Childish how?"
Gathering some sand in the palm of his hand, he slowly let it slip between his fingers. Seriously, that stuff was everywhere, even on the rooftops. "Only those already acknowledged can become Hokage. I just realized that it was never the actual position I wanted and that it would be meaningless for me to take the seat. In the end, what the village thought didn't really matter anymore either. Even if I'd rather have them welcome me home as a friend instead of a foe of the past, I won't change for them, I have other goals that don't involve them now."
Yugao looked on with a new look in her eyes. And the blond was failing to decrypt it, "You're right. Only those already acknowledged by the village have a chance at becoming Hokage. The Hokage is a person who stands up for the rest of the village, and the one they seek to protect and guide the future of their home. It makes me curious, what's your new goal then?"
"Cutting straight to the point?" Naruto asked amused but just chuckled at the sight of her cheeks getting slightly pink at being caught.
Shaking his head, he decided to answer her question anyway. It wasn't like it was a big secret, not that he had a desire to scream it from rooftops like his younger, foolish, and ignorant self would have done those years ago. "I want to stand up to the worst of the bad people. On my travels with Jiraiya-sensei, I finally learned that the world wasn't black or white."
Caught a bit off guard by the so straight-up answer, Yugao took a second to stare at him before gazing out into the night sky again, "It sounds dangerous. There are some really crazy people out there in the world."
"And that's exactly the reason why I want to make a difference. It feels to me that there is too much 'evil' out there, and no one is really standing up to fight it. It's also one of the reasons I wasn't completely again joining this team. We are a group of people meant to deal with situations caused by those people. Seems like the perfect place for me to be now that I think about it."
Not having expected her apology to turn into a full-blown conversation, Yugao sat and watched a bit uneasy as silence started to loom over them. His goal was admirable even if more than a bit dangerous. What made her confused and curious at the same time was just that he had easily shared it with someone he had just met recently. If she had to guess, this was him extending his hand out and offering friendship.
Sighing slightly, she debated whether or not to repay his open mind. He had, after all, just shared a lot of more personal stuff with her. Should she do the same? Was she ready for that? She wasn't quite sure yet. In the end, she gathered some courage and stared into her lap as she felt her heart clench with a mix of anguish and anger. "Do you still want to know about… that?"
Naruto sat there staring with a calm expression for a while, "If you're going tell me about what's bothering you, I'd rather you told me because you wanted to do so, instead of just doing it because I wanted to hear it. If you really do want to talk about it, I'm all ears, but I can still wait." He replied with a shrug of his shoulders, a slight upward tilt of his lips making her feels a bit more ease at mind.
"I'm not sure if I want to talk about it yet, I do, however, want to make it clear that it's nothing personal against the village itself or the Kazekage. I understand their situation, there is just a person here that I do not share good history with. It won't complicate our mission, I promise that." She nodded, her behavior starting to return to a more formal and professional one as she stood up from the ledge.
'So much for progress.' He chuckled to himself with a sweatdrop. Former ANBU operatives did seem to have that air around them. Kakashi had been like that in the beginning too, mostly meaning business even if he was lazy and unreliable at times. He wasn't quite sure about this Tenzo yet, it seemed like there were more to him than what met the eye.
Giving a light groan, he stood up from the ledge too and adjusted his sword at his hip again, and gave a bow of his head, "It was nice talking to you, just a quick reminder, I'm here to talk if you need it. Whether or not it's personal, or if it's about… well, maybe swords." He smirked a bit and tapped his nail against the scabbard of his blade.
Yugao watched on curiously as he proposed that, a slight smirk crawling onto her features as she nodded her head. She did indeed love kenjutsu very much and found it hard to find other people to practice it with. Maybe she had been incredibly lucky to be put on the same team as a fellow practicer of the art.
"Goodnight Naruto-san, I'd suggest getting some rest in." Yugao finally spoke and turned around to leave, making the blond watch her retreating form as he crossed his arms over his chest.
Well, maybe it was best to hit the hay. He'd just be useless if he was worn out in the morning. While the conversation had mostly been one-sided in regards to information, he still felt like there had been some progress made. If they wanted to work together effectively as a team, they'd have to start trusting each other a bit more than this.
