Much awaited, I believe.

Posted: 04 - 13 - 2017

Chapter 9

"The woman said to the serpent,

"From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat;

but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die."

Genesis 3:3

"Hokage-sama, as we already discussed, the chakra tags and seals placed around the target's-

"Not a target," Tsunade cut the shinobi off and corrected him with a hint of guilt, "just the... supervisee".

"Correct," the head of the supervising squad continued, "according to what the chakra seals and tags placed all around the supervisee's apartment bulding and the reports collected from the shinobis on watch, me included, Namikaze-Uzumaki has not exited the place whatsoever since yesterday afternoon and is still there as of the moment."

Tsunade was sitting behind her desk with her delicate chin and nose resting on her entertwined fingers. With furrowed eyebrows and intense gaze aimed at the floor, she conveyed the look of someone baffled, someone utterly sure they are right, but nevertheless lacking the means to prove it.

"And there have been no detected changes in the chakra levels whatsoever?"

"Negative, Hokage-sama."We are still investigating who the attacker might be."

Tsunade locked eyes with the shinobi before her but decided to not correct him and dismissed him along with his assigned squad with a simple gesture of the hand. The Hokage spun around in her chair and stood up abruptly to look through the window with her hand behind her back. Her amber eyes were still troubled and thoughtful. Although she had walked in late on the scene last night at the festival, she was sure it had been Naruto. The Hokage had honestly not expected another outburst so soon, they were getting more and more frequent. She clicked her tongue and bit her thumbnail. She suddenly realized some chuunin-level chakra seals could not escape the notice of a seal master who could probably very easily manipulate and fool them, and a squad of supervising shinobi was just as inefficient when it came to such power.

At that moment, Tsunade recalled all the times the blonde girl had surprised her with her skills, mastering kage-level techniques like the Thunder God and resurrecting entire burried arts like high-level seal mastering, as well as developing it and coming up with new seals. She had even sealed back the leftovers of the Kazakage's bijuu single-handedly!

The Kazekage was another case. Taught into the art of sand mastering by a someone as powerful as a former Kage, Suna's leader was not any less impressive. And menacing, Tsunade realized. Given the events from the last few days, she doubted there was still no demon power left in him, although it should had cleared up already. It is common for kages to hold back and to not display their strongest techniques unless in times of genuine need. However, Tsunade had no idea what he might be hiding up his sleeve. What both of them could be hiding.

If they paired up, God knew what to expect.

Tsunade held her head up high and eyed the precious village before her, chasing the grim thoughts away. Naruto loved this village too much to let her bijuu take control over her, especially after she had mastered her demonic powers. It was highly unlikely for the composed Kazekage to lose control as well.

However, the most recent events pointed at just that, even partial memory loss in both of them and even the greatest medical ninja could not put a finger on what was going on, as their symptoms were unknown to any medical scroll the village owned and both their answers proved to be too vague to suggest a concrete diagnosis.

Tsunade squinted, heavy suspicion overcoming her.

What if they are just buying each other time?

Naruto had put on her ANBU uniform and was sitting on the edge of the bed tying up her ninja sandals and eating an apple. She stood up and, taking another bite of the juicy green apple in her left hand, she looked around the bedroom in attempt to spot her mask. She lifted and looked through some messy clothes and upon not finding it there, she took the clothes to the laundry basket in the bathroom. She faced the mirror and, holding what was left of the apple between her teeth, rinsed her hands, dried them and ran fingers through her long blonde hair, tilting her head back as she formed a ponytail and secured it up tightly. She took the last bite off of the apple and threw away the stub in the kitchen, then came back to the bathroom to brush her teeth.

She had more time left before the training but wanted to stop by Shikamaru's or maybe walk around first. It was a beautiful day. Last few days' events had put her off and stressed her out, not knowing what the hell was going on and what, when and where could happen.

She had a good status in the village right now. The thing she was most afraid of was people seeing her as a criminal again, an outlaw, a monster.

That wouldn't happen, she shook the grim thoughts away, people know what I've done for the village, both during the war and after. They woudn't forget.

As she was hunching down over the sink brushing her teeth, she looked up at herself in the mirror.

Or would they?

She had had a dreamless night and missed the festival since she was off duty and was not keen on shinobi of a lower rank than her fallowing her around as if she were a criminal.

Naruto sipped some water from her hand, swirled it in her mouth and spat it out in the sink along with the toothpaste. She sipped some more water and pushed back to look at herself in the mirror. She needed to find her mask. As she spat out the water again, something caught her eye. She pulled down the collar of her shirt and looked at the red spot on the conjuction of her neck and shoulder. Naruto could have sworn she saw black characters on it just a moment ago!

She touched the spot and felt nothing. Deciding there was nothing that could be done about it right then, she pulled back her collar and went back into the bedroom to fasten her pouches and get her weapons ready. The mask was nowhere to be found and as Naruto went to the kitchen for- huh, she did not know why exactly, but she suddenly felt dizzy and held onto the counter for balance, bumping over her fruit basket.

A red apple rolled all the way from the kitchen to under the bed and as Naruto felt better as suddenly as the dizziness had hit her, she squat down to collect the fruit from under her bed. There, next to the apple, was an orange half mask she had never seen in her life.

She grabbed the apple along with the mask and when she pulled them out, she gasped in surprise as it was her own whole ANBU mask she was holding - that of a fox. The girl turned the mask around to examine it, but even the scratches were the same. The mask shone in her left hand and she looked from the mask to the apple in her right hand, back to the mask of a fox, then back to the apple, and suddenly thought about the forbidden fruit.

Naruto stood up, attached the mask to her pouch belt, and as she was going out of the apartment, she threw the red apple in the trash can with unexplainable anger._

"...and this is where our top shinobi train," Tsunade was leading the Suna visiters through a glazed hallway, the sounds of weapons being thrown around and techniques shouted out and performed came in through the glass wall from the training ground under them. Tsunade had taken on the role of showing the Suna visitors around, determined to take no more chances and to closely observe the Kazekage, while acting normally around him and not mentioning last night's events, "all ANBU and S-class ninja, that is. They are devided into squads with an assigned leader to each one, who might change, of course, and all squats are under one leader."

"One leader?" Gaara let out in controled surprise, stopping to look at the training shinobi from his high stance. Undoubtably these were the best of the best, he could tell only by their posture and the graciousness they performed their techniques with, sparring with each other. "A role too crucial and impossible to be given to a single person. In Suna we have a dozen major squad leaders who are responsible for the top-class ninja training. I watch over them very often myself. Is the leader you?"

Tsunade and the others had stopped as well and gone to the railing to look at the undergoing sparring. The Hokage had noticed how Gaara never looked at her, even though the question was clearly aimed at her.

With hands on her waist and staring at him intently she answered firmly, "No," as if waiting for his reaction which never came. She breathed in and told herself to not overdo it. "Maybe that would appear to be the reason why Suna is looking to hire shinobi from Konoha," she smirked.

Gaara looked at her with the corner of his eye and stated emotionlessly, "Still only a proposal. From your side."

Tsunade clicked her tongue again.

"They are about to start a simulation training right outside in the woods," Tsunade spun around on her heels and encouraged the rest to follow her with a graceful hand gesture.

As she started walking and the rest followed her, she looked back at the Kazekage with the corner of her eye.

He stepped forward, held onto the railing, and breathed in deeply.

Then he let go and followed the others with a blank face.

Tsunade looked ahead and furrowed her eyebrows together as they stepped through the tunnel leading them to the training area of the woods.

Naruto was walking down the streets of Konoha. The sun felt warm on her face and it was a beautiful day indeed, just as it looked from outside the window. Torn parts of last night's festival's decoration and confetti were still covering the streets and Naruto recalled how she used to be able to attend all the festivals as a civilian and have fun. This had been the second annual festival since the war had ended and Naruto was supposed to attend both as an ANBU guard.

As she was walking down the street, she overheard a group of Academy students,

"Did you see what happened to the Kazekage last night, Moemi-chan?!"

Naruto stopped in her tracks and traced the squeaky voice to a group of Academy students on her left.

"I was so worried about him! The way those shinobi attacked him was so heartless I WAS SO WORRIED ABOUT HIM!"

A third girl participated, "Did you find out why they attacked him?!"

"I was in the back, but a minute before that people in front of me were commenting on him dancing with some wom-"

"I BET IT WAS NAGIRI-CHAN, SHE IS SO SNEAKY!"

Their voices were suddenly muffled and the orange half mask flashed before Naruto's eyes again. She rubbed her forehead and started walking down her way agai-

"Mom, LOOK! IT'S THAT PRETTY LADY FROM LAST NIGHT, SHE HAS THE SAME PONYTAIL!", a little boy hanging on his mother's arm shouted happily, pointing a finger right at the Naruto. The group of Academy students Naruto had just eavesdropped on stopped talking and looked at her as well, along with everyone close enough to hear.

The mother grabbed the her son's arm and put it down, "Stop it, Rai-chan, it's rude to point at people and shout on the street!" She yanked her son to go. However, she still turned around and looked at Naruto.

Naruto just stood there and had no idea what was going on. It took her a few seconds to come back to her senses and chase all the flashes of masks and crowds and music she was getting, turn around and continue walking down the street in a fastened step as the group behind her started whispering.

She did not know what they were talking about, but reached up to her ponytail, grabbed it and rolled it up into a bun.

For what it was worth, she decided to skip the walking around and home visitng and head directly to the training grounds.

Before she knew it, she was running.

The space they went out in was what a typical invillage wood looks like - medium tall trees with wide trunks and a meadow not so far from where the exit was. A lot of trainings were conducted in the area as the grass was noticeably stamped down and multiple targets hung from the trees. The shinobi from the training ground came out shortly and spread around, some casually chatting or ordering their weapons, clearly having a short break between trainings.

Gaara split from the group and looked around. Everyone was wearing their ANBU outfit and had the accompanying tattoo on their shoulder. Most of them had taken their masks off and Gaara quickly examined their faces. He was standing among Konoha's finest assassins, Konoha's finest murderers. And yet, he could not seem to be able to point out their leader. Who was he? Where was he?

Gaara walked to a young man sitting alone on a trunk of a tree eating a sandwich.

"Is this your first day?", Gaara asked casually but emotionlessly and sat down on the neighboring trunk.

The shinobi looked at him and chuckled, "Second, first time for this particular training," he answered willingly, taking a huge sloppy bite from his sandwich and munching loudly. There was something rusty and coarse about him that did not exactly suit a shinobi, but that's how Gaara knew he would talk. "Some other shinobi and I got sent on a training from Iwagakure, I talked to people sent from other villages as well. Looks like Konoha and Suna are the leading villages in strenght and we have to learn from them. "Who knew," he snickered, "with a still teenaged Kazekage, probably too busy with fighting off puberty, am I right?!Wonder who came up with this fake data!"

"Suna has always aimed at being on friendly terms with Iwagakure and will always do so," Gaara answered calmly, reaching to the ground to scoup a handful of sand most likely spilled from a training bag and looking at the way the sunrays coming from in between the tree branches shone on the grains of sand.

The shinobi gave him an odd look but brushed it off and took a huge bite out of a freshly unpacked sandwich. " 're you new s'well?"

Gaara could swear he saw a few crumbs being spat out of his full mouth.

"You could say so," the Kazekage eyed the man, "I hear there is one leader for all top-class shinobi. Who is he?"

The shinobi shook his head and swallowed noisely, "Not a he. It's a chick. And a damn hot one. Great ass, but always wears that mask and the uniform itself is covering some fun parts," he smirked and bumped Gaara with his elbow, immediately feeling awkward and out of place as Gaara showed no reaction. He cleared his throat and continued in a more courteous manner, "The Golden Fox, that's how I heard the others calling her. Have seen her twice."

The Golden Fox. Gaara knew that name, but had never met he shinobi in person.

Or had he?

Gaara swallowed heavily and could no longer ignore the way his nostrils flared.

Naruto walked into the empty training facility and headed straight to the second-in-command.

"Hawk," she addressed the Higga, "is everyone ready for the simulated training?"

"Positive, Fox. Everyone is out in the training fields awaiting instructions." Reluctantly, he added, "The Hokage and Kazekage have also decided to visit today."

Naruto raised and eyebrow, "Is that so..."

Hawk was eyeing her much too intensely an Naruto looked at him, "What?"

"Nothing, just... Are you sure you're okay?"

Naruto pressed her lips together and snapped at him, "Yes, why wouldn't I be?" She rubbed her forhead and furrowed her eyebrows, "I'm sorry Nao-san. Things are just... weird."

The Higga nodded and went for the exit to join the others quietly.

Naruto sighed heavily. She reached to her back pocket and took out her headband and tied it around her arm. It was red - different from the one everyone else owned, and put her mask on.

"Taka-san, we are about to start the training," a shinobi who Gaara guessed was the squad leader approached them with three other shinobi standing behind him adjusting their weapons and putting their masks on. "You are falling behind, Taka-san. Moreover, the Hokage has paid us an unexpected visit."

Taka got up and dusted his pants, "Chillax, Nao-san, I was just sitting talking to my friend here. He's new and needed some advice," he smirked and laughed.

Gaara stood up and approched them. The squad leader looked at him, then back at Taka and hissed out angrily, "Taka, you moron!"

"Kazekage-sama!" the squad leader bowed respectfully and the shinobi behind him followed, as well as anyone close enough to hear. Gaara stood before the man and dismissed the formality with a simpe hand gesture.

"What th-" Taka looked at the squad leader, then at Gaara, then back at the leader and upon realizing what was going on, reddened profusely and could not even manage a simple bow.

The squad leader strenghtened his back and spoke in a respectful but concerned voice, "Kazekage-sama, I beg your excuse for anything our comrade might have said to you and hope that our two villages are still strong and steady allies."

"All is good, Nao-san. Is this your squad?"

"Yes, it is, Kazekage-sama. I could not help but notice that the Hokage has joined you as well. Should we be alert?"

"A good shinobi is always alert, Nao-san. Now, is your leader going to be present at the training today?"

"Positive, Kazekage-sama. We cannot start before the isolation seals have been activated. They isolate the training area, thus no one from the outside can see us and no jutsu can possibly harm a civilian or a bulding."

"Hmm. How did you obtain such seals?"

"The leader. The Golden Fox is a seal master."

The answer confirmed Gaara's suspicions, but what left him choking on his breath was the sweet flaring scent that burned its way down his tightening throat and left him dizzy.

Gaara tightened his fists in attempts to keep control. He eyed the exit and knew before everyone else who was about to walk out through it any second now. The Golden Fox was undoubtably Naruto - how could this sweet torturing scent ever lie - absolutely gorgeous with her back straight, head held up high, two thick heavy twin braids starting from the top of her head and ending on her abdomen, and a mask of a fox. Gaara wondered if choosing a fox had anything to do with her bijuu or that was the easiest way other shinobi had come to know her.

Sensing the presence of their leader, the squads formed and lined up. Naruto walked in front of all squads, then turned around to face them with arms behind her back.

She looked around,

"I see some newcomers today. Welcome to those of you who are supposed to be here, and, Hokage-sama and Kazekage-sama, I suppose you will be leaving soon since the training is about to start?"

"I would like to participate in the training," Gaara let out in a deep and steady voice and eyed the Hokage as if asking for permission. Naruto cocked her head to look at the Hokage as well as if telling her that under no circumstances could he saty. Tsunade looked from one to the other, pressed her lips together, and confirmed her approval with a hand gesture.

Naruto clicked her tongue.

"Today, you are going to face your worst enemy," she spoke in a loud and clear voice and stopped to look around observing everyone's face, "Yourself." She stepped forward, reached to her pouch, drew out a sealing tag and after throwing it up in the air, a scroll fell down and she grabbed it. Naruto threw it on the grass and let it unfold. "I would like to ask everyone to create a solid clone - the type that can actually take damage. Good. Clones, step forward." As the clones did so, Naruto started performing a long row of hand signs, activating the seal.

"Seal!" she bit her thumb and upon smearing blood on the paper, the lines of characters from the seal came to life and crawled from the paper to the grass and up on every clone. The clones turned around to face their owners and as they did so, their eyes turned black.

She reached for another tag, unsealed it and drew out a shiny golden ball from it.

"This is your target. You have three hours to find it, " the girl stepped forward, kneeled down and let the ball fall and sink into the seal, making the target disappear somewhere into the forest, "The training will take place in the woods area all the way from the North gate to the East gate, this is the area the isolation seals will be protecting. Your clones may attack you at any timе, anywhere on a random basis, they have not been programmed. You can either go looking for them or let them find you, you can stay in your team, form a new one or go on your own. You can go after your clone and try to eliminate them before going after the target, or try your luck and try to find the target before the clone finds you. The clones will not kill you. However, I am sure you do not want to hurt badly, which they can do. Good luck. The training starts now," she announced and the clones disappered.

It might have sounded like a lot of work, but these were Konoha's top assassins and even though the given time amounted to three hours, a little over an hour Naruto sensed that most of the clones were already disqualified and people were close to the target, so she headed that way. They had all chosen to either form teams or stay in their own teams, which was a good sign, but Naruto wondered if they would keep up the teamwork if it were a real situation and at stake was more than a shiny ball.

She had disappeared right after announcing the task as she did not want any conversation with any of the Kages whatsoever. The burning scent was following her everywhere, so she had taken the time into finding the deepest part of the wood to be alone.

Surely, there were rumours going on. She was sure the shinobi that have witnessed last days'outburts have ratted out, despite their pledge of convidenciality, and the leader of the supervising squads has never really liked her anyway.

Naruto reached for the sealing tag and as she did so, it turned black and puffed away into thin air. The target had been discovered and she was almost there. She was just about to use the Thunder God technique and was so engulfed into her thoughts and worries, that she did not sense the shinobi landing on the neighboring branch.

"Naruto," Gaara called her and she almost slipped in surprise, however quickly composing herself and looking straight ahead, "We need to talk."

"I've nothing to say to you," she quickened the pace.

"You know that's not true."

"Leave me al-

"LOOK OUT!" Being so distracted and trying to run away from him, Naruto barely registered what happened before Gaara jumped from his branch, grabbed her and pushed her off of her brach which was the last one before a big meadow. They spiraled down and Gaara summoned his sand but still took a part of the blow, landing on his side and back from the tall tree with Naruto landing on top of him. A cloud of precisely aimed sharp kunai sank into the bark of the tree exactly where Naruto had been and some fell on the meadow. A clone emerged from the woods but since that was the meeting spot and most of the shinobi were there, someone quickly took care of him before he could even land on the ground.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING" Naruto shouted and snatched out of Gaara's hold and stood up. He stood up with a slight wince too,

"Did you not see the kunai?!"

She spun on her heels and started walking away, "I did not need your help! DAMN IT, Gaara!"

Naruto was suffocating with anger and stopped dead in her tracks, then grabbed her mask, undid the ribbon and threw it on the ground, then turned around and stormed towards Gaara,

"Fight me!"

He seemed taken aback, "No."

"Fight me, Gaara! Fight me! FIGHT ME!"

"NO!"

She almost reached him and started forming hand signs. Gaara grabbed her arms, held them tight to her body and hissed through gritted teeth, "I am not going to fight someone who has saved my life. And I am not going to fight you, Naruto!"

Naruto wanted to struggle and to oppose him, wanted to provoke him, but instead she found herself absolutely and utterly defenceless. Being so close to him made her body shake and melt at the same time, the strong but gentle grip on her arms made her heart thump and her breath to hitch with consuming desire. Looking up into his firm teal eyes and noticing the same inner storm going on inside them made her want to surrender herself to him.

His lips parted to let out the heavy breath stuck in his throat and his chest heaved up and down with impossible breaths.

The stinging feeling coming from her neck was ignored and as the grip on her arms grew more gentle, all she could see was his puffy lower lip and how beautiful it was.

"I would never fight you," he let out in a more gentle and warm voice, then swallowed loudly. As he looked into her cloudy eyes and his arm traveled up to her shoulder and then neck, he blinked and all that was left in his arms was a shine of a yellow flash.

Suddenly, he was able to breathe again. He looked around, taking in all the stares and darting a look at the Hokage leaning on the trunk of a close by tree with crossed arms and puzzled and thoughtful expression.

She turned around and walked away, and so did Gaara.

When Naruto came back to her apartment that same evening, she did her quick routine in the bathroom, undid the pouches and the uniform and threw herself in bed.

She did not even bother turning the lights on.

If she had, maybe she would have noticed the shiny red apple which was back in the fruit basket.

Would love to hear your thoughts and suggestions.

Best,

pampoo