Chapter Sixteen
Heyo! Chapter sixteen is here and our story continues!
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto does. If I did, Naruto's hair when he got older would have for sure been like Minato's.
Ryuko was eating breakfast alone at her kitchen table. She was slightly zoned out, and still kind of asleep. She hadn't even changed out of her pajamas. She moved to take another bite, but was startled by a knock at her door. She got up, moving to the entryway and opening the door. She was greeted with a tall blond, with long bangs framing his face. The girl had always been captivated by the whisker marks that adorned his cheeks. "Oh heya Naruto." She said simply.
"Did I catch you at a bad time?" He said taking in her appearance.
She stared at him a moment, before she realized what he asked. "Oh! Um hehe sorry." She laughed. "Please come in if you'd like! I just need to go get dressed."
"Take your time Ryuko." He said following her in and sitting down at her table. She quickly moved off to her bedroom, and proceeded to get dressed. When she came back in, she smiled at her boyfriend.
"Did you eat anything yet?"
"Yeah I ate when I woke up, thank you though. Seems you slept in too huh?" He questioned. She sat down and began finishing her meal.
"Yeah really late." She said with a laugh. "You were probably up before even I was."
"Heh, it's possible. So did you have any plans today?"
"I have team training around four this afternoon, but otherwise no." She responded.
"Hmm that gives us three hours then, if you want to do something. Kakashi-sensei wanted me to come by and train with him at twelve."
"Yes, I'd love to spend some time together."
"Perfect, what do you want to do?" He asked.
"Maybe we could just take a walk through the village, and see what we come across?" She suggested.
"Sure."
With that the two made their way out of the house, and strolled through the village. As they walked they conversed about the war, and about the missions Ryuko's team had been taking. They continued through the village, finding random things to do, and stopping in different stores.
"Oh, how nice of you to come by, Naruto."
"Nice to see you, Kaka-Sensei." Naruto said with a wave and a smile. "So you wanna spar or what?" After Jiraiya had informed Kakashi of the threat of the Akatsuki, he had began to train himself to new levels, along with his team. The masked jounin knew he was strong, but he was also man enough to admit, that every member of the Akatsuki had had him outclassed at the time. But he had come a long way, and Kakashi was now worth every bit of the title of an S-rank nin.
He had trained himself hard alongside Naruto. He knew he couldn't afford to be sloppy or weak if the Akatsuki came knocking on Konohagakure's front door. He had decided he would be ready. He didn't want to have a repeat of the Itachi incident. He had increased his chakra reserves by quite a lot, and the man could now throw around all of those jutsu Obito's eye had helped him acquire. He had burned himself out some days even. He had worked hard, and in the end, it had indeed paid off.
"Well let's see how you do against me today, Naruto."
The two stood about fifty yards away from each other, staring the other down. Naruto threw a rock into the air, and both of their bodies tensed. The rock hit the ground and bounced, and before it could touch the ground again, Naruto had slammed into Kakashi. The masked jounin caught the handstand kick aimed at his face, throwing the boy away. Said blond regained his footing, and began weaving hand signs, "Water Style: Raging Waves!" He called, and a massive rush of water bulldozed it's way toward Kakashi.
"Earth Style: Earth Style Wall!" A wall of bricked earth rose from the ground, stopping Naruto's jutsu in its tracks. "Earth Style: Earthquake Slam!" He called out, and the ground ripped apart like a blender, moving towards the blond shinobi. Naruto flickered to life behind the jounin, he spun both legs around in a handstand, in an attempt catch him with two kicks to the abdomen. Both missed as Kakashi twisted himself around the blond, bringing a hard punch straight to the blonds back. Only to hit air.
He had flickered across the clearing and when Kakashi locked his eye on him, Naruto was already weaving hand signs. "Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!" He yelled, a massive torrent of wind ripping through the training ground, kicking up dust as it went.
Kakashi also flew through a set of seals, and called out. "Fire Style: Great Fireball jutsu!" A giant flame roared to life, and it overtook the wind, and used it as fuel. Kakashi's eye widened as a kunai burst through his fireball. After it got past the flames, but about ten feet from Kakashi, it burst in a puff of smoke to reveal a shadow clone. Said clone smirked, and then substituted with its original. When the real Naruto appeared, he had a huge grin on his face, and his hands were forming the last seal in a chain of hand signs. "Water Style: Raging Waves!"
If the masked jounin was honest, he was caught completely off guard. The move the blond had just executed had been completely unexpected. The wash of water grabbed the jounin and threw him to the ground harshly.
"Well Naruto, I truly am impressed. That was an impressive move. I honestly hadn't expected that. You truly have become a frightening shinobi." The legendary nin laughed aloud. "But it's time I end this." He said as he weaved hand seals, before he called out his jutsu. "Summoning: Earth Style: Tracking Fang Technique!"
The ninken tore through the ground below them, and they burst out beside Naruto, grabbing on before he could really understand what was happening. One of the biggest hounds almost bit straight through his metal arm protector, but not a single one of the dogs drew blood. But Naruto knew if he moved, they would.
The blond sighed loudly before laughing. The masked man flickered to life behind the boy, holding a kunai to his throat. The white haired man eye smiled, a memory popping into his head before he spoke. "You can't beat me. You lose, Naruto."
"Damn so close." The chunin said before he smiled at his Sensei. "That was a good match Kakashi-Sensei."
The ninken suddenly disappeared in a burst of smoke, and the two shinobi faced each other. "That it was, you did great Naruto. Kushina would be proud."
"Thank you Kaka-Sensei." The blond smiled at him, happy at the mention of his mother. "Don't worry Sensei, I'll beat you soon." Kakashi reached out and ruffled the boy's hair.
"I'm sure you will." He said with an eye smile.
Three and a half months later found Naruto and Ryuko on a very special date. The two had grown extremely close, and spent a lot of their off time together.
"Come on Ryuko, follow me it'll be fun!" He said running off with her hand in his.
"Okay, okay! I'm coming." She said laughing. "But where are we going?"
"You'll see, it's a surprise!" He laughed, before he spun around and put his hands over her eyes. "Now hold on tight, and don't peak."
"Fine. But I can keep my eyes closed myself thank you."
"Alright fair." He replied as she wrapped her arms around him and held on. He quickly flickered them both to the top of his unknown father's head. "Alright open your eyes." Naruto told the cute girl.
Ryuko's eyes peeled open, and what she saw stunned her. Before the two of them, sat a well prepared picnic. Exclusively done just for her, with everything she could possibly like to eat. Candles illuminated the space they occupied, and it was just after sunset. The lights of the village made it glow with an absolutely untouchable beauty.
The young woman was blow away by the extent the blond had gone to, just to prepare an amazing date for her. She turned to him quickly, and placed her head against his chest. "Thank you, Naruto. I can't believe you did all of this just for me."
"For you? Of course." He replied with a smile. His cheeks flushed and he was caught completely off guard when she pushed away the bangs from one side of his face, and kissed his cheek.
"Seriously Naru, thank you." If possible, the blond got even redder at the nickname.
"Of course, now let's eat?" He asked.
"Yes please!" She said happily in response. The two then sat, and began eating. They enjoyed their time together, and they joked and laughed for a large part of the night. Eventually they sat atop Minato's stone head, in complete silence, her head leaned against his shoulder. But with a almost sad sigh, Naruto broke the silence.
"Ryuko….there's something I've needed and wanted to tell you for a while. I thought maybe I could hide it, but that wouldn't be fair."
"Naruto, what are you talking about?" The girl asked, a concerned and questioning look on her face.
"You remember, learning about the Nine Tails attack thirteen years ago, right?" He questioned.
"Of course I do. What of it?" Her face became even more concerned and confused.
"It was told to us, the the Fourth Hokage beat the beast, and ridded the village of it, but it was never told to us, just how he did that. We all just assumed, that he killed it, at the cost of his own life."
"Well yes….that's what happened?"
"And that is the truth, except it isn't. The Nine Tails is a Tailed Beast. And you cannot kill a Tailed Beast. They would only reform. So the Fourth saw one option. He sealed that bastard fox into a new born baby boy. That boy was the son of Uzumaki Kushina, and he still holds that bastard fox to this day. I am the son of Kushina, and I am the jinchuriki of the Nine Tailed Fox."
"Naruto…..you poor thing." She said, shocking him to his core as she wrapped her arms around him and held him tight. "So that's why people look at you so harshly. Why they say such terrible things about you. It must have been so difficult for you. I'm so sorry Naruto."
"Y-you don't hate me?" He asked barely able to contemplate that it didn't bother her in the least.
"Of course not!" She yelled, slapping him on the back of the head. "Do you really think I could care about you like this, and just throw that away because you have some monster sealed away inside you?!"
"Thank you...Ryuko."
"Shut up idiot." She commanded. She pushed a bang away from his face, and for the first time, she kissed him on the lips. His eyes went wide at the feeling, before he slowly melted into it. He wrapped his arms around her, and after they broke away, they sat together for another few hours.
Naruto awoke in his bed. At least he thought it was his bed, until he realized it wasn't his room. His eyes went wide, and he sucked in a breath as he realized the mop of black and red hair sleeping beside him was Ryuko. "Oh that's right I remember now." The boy thought.
The girl had fallen asleep with him atop the monument, and he had carried her home. When he had laid her in her bed, he had immediately moved to leave. As he did, she had grabbed his arm and asked him to stay with her. They had cuddled up and fallen asleep. They hadn't done anything but shared the bed and cuddled. He was extremely happy with this girl. She just made his life a lot better.
He had a mission with Kakashi-Sensei later that day, so being extra careful not to wake her, he left the bed and began to cook them breakfast. He made eggs with toast, and also had a shadow clone run to the nearby store and buy some bacon, quickly cooking that as well.
He walked quietly into her room and gently shook the girl's shoulder. "Ryuko...wake up. I made breakfast."
She stirred lightly. "You made...breakfast…? Thank you...Naruto." As the post sleep haze left her body, she began to take in the fact that Naruto had stayed with her that night, and smiled.
"Want me to carry you downstairs, Ryuko?"
She responded with a smile and extended her arms out to him. She quickly motioned for him to pick her up. Once he had her fully in her arms, she leaned up and quickly pecked him on the lips. "You're amazing Naru."
He smiled down at the girl in his arms as he carried her. "So are you, Ryu." The girl flushed red at the new nickname, but smiled widely. They then ate breakfast together, simply enjoying each other's company.
"So Naruto, what would you like for your birthday?"
"For my birthday?" He asked confused.
"Naruto, it's the first of October today, you've got nine days left until you're fifteen." She said laughing.
"Oh shit! It is. Wow I can't believe I just forgot, and I guess what I want for my birthday is to just spend more time with you."
"You're too cute Naru."
"I'm not cute. I'm a strong, badass, handsome ninja. Not cute." He replied with a pout.
Ryuko simply laughed in reply.
Naruto's birthday party was awesome. Held at Ryuko's house, everyone came. The remnants of Team Seven, all of Teams, Two, Eight, Ten, Twelve, and Team Guy attended. Minus the sensei. Although Kakashi did stop by, he'd gotten Naruto a new set of metal arm protectors, considering his original ones were quite worn.
Eventually most attendees had left, leaving Ryuko, the rest of her team, Rikka, Kiba, Shikamaru, and Naruto. The blond and Kiba had become fairly close friends, with Sasuke gone, Naruto had needed a new sparring partner, and as much as he liked Lee, the bowl cut boy was just too over the top to spar with everyday. Rikka and Naruto had become close friends as well, she spent a lot of time with him and Ryuko.
The group was now perched around the center of the room, where Naruto and Shikamaru sat on the floor, playing an intense game of shogi with the new set the Nara boy had gotten Naruto.
"Your move Shikamaru." Naruto said smugly. The room sat in silence, as the second chunin sat and thought of a strategy.
"Here." He said finally moving a piece on the board.
"So I heard that Iwa has been poking around the edge of Grass country, it's really starting to rile up the Kusa nin." Kiba piped in.
"Really? That can't be good." Naruto said before moving his own piece. "Try to get past this." He said idly.
"Yeah mom said it could get serious. But I hear Lord Jiraiya might have some dirt on Iwa that we can use to keep them in their hole for a while."
"Leave it to Jiraiya-Sensei to have dirt on entire countries." Naruto laughed.
"Your turn, Naruto." The Nara said, finally moving his piece.
"It still makes me mad that you and Sakura get to train under Sannin. That's just not fair!" The feral boy complained.
"Kiba I don't know why you think you can't get just as strong if you work hard enough."
"I know that but still! It's not fair you just randomly get a Sannin to teach you."
"Your move Shika." Naruto said, after studying the board a moment and moving a piece. "Listen I don't know why Jiraiya-Sensei picked me, but he did and I'm not going to complain y'know."
"Ugh whatever." Kiba said before laughing. "You down for a spar tomorrow?"
"Of course I am." The jinchuriki replied.
"Are you stupid?" Rikka asked suddenly.
"Eh!?" Naruto replied, caught off guard by her sudden question.
"I said, are you stupid? You have a mission with my team tomorrow. With our Sensei out you were assigned to lead us on another delivery mission to Suna."
"Oh." He replied chuckling. "I guess I sort of forgot."
"How can you just forget important missions Naruto. You're supposed to be a chunin after all." Shikamaru cut in. "Your move, Uzumaki."
"Hey man I've been running so many missions lately I can hardly keep track of where one ends, and the next begins." He countered, before making his counter move on the board as well. "Five." He then said suddenly.
Everyone in the room stared at him blankly. The waited for him to continue, but his mouth remained shut. They all stared for another minute. Before Kiba finally broke the silence. "Five what?"
"I'll have you beat in five moves Shika. And there's nothing you can do about it either."
Kiba immediately spoke up. "What? There's no way, what the hel-." He was cut off when Shikamaru finally spoke up.
"Ah damn. It's seems you win." He then sighed loudly. "I just can never read your moves."
"What!?" Came Kiba's voice. "You beat Shikamaru that quickly!?"
"He tends to win every other game, Kiba." The Nara boy said.
"Shikamaru….there's one problem with your strategic ability. You always assume there's a plan or strategy to someone's moves. But once in a while, you come across people like me. Sure I can pull crazy strategies and battle plans out of my skull, but sometimes I really just go with the flow. Sometimes I fight purely on action, and reaction. Nothing else. Unpredictability is your weakest point. So you need to expect the unexpected, and look underneath the underneath." Naruto said to the Nara. He smiled lightly remembering when Kakashi had first told him that phrase.
At this point Kiba's brain had fried, he really hadn't ever been exposed to how intelligent Naruto really could be. That said, it threw the Inuzuka off quite a bit. Shikamaru on the other hand, sat and thought about Naruto's words. Meanwhile the two girls and Naruto began setting up a card game at the kitchen table. After Shika and Kiba came back from their heads, they joined the others.
After a few card games, the others took off, leaving only the birthday boy and the homeowner alone. For his last present, Ryuko gave him a lengthy make out session, and Naruto happily accepted. Before they went to sleep Ryuko said one last thing to Naruto. "Happy fifteenth birthday Naru."
Two days later found Naruto and Team Twelve at the Hokage tower. "Jounin Kanagaki. You and your team, accompanied by chunin Uzumaki will be going on a patrol in Grass country. We've strengthened our ties with Kusagakure quite a bit since the chunin exam incident. They have been contributing in the hunt for Orochimaru, but they currently have a man power shortage. You will run a patrol route along the border of Grass and Earth. Understood?"
"Yes Ma'am!" Came the chorus from the nin.
"Good then move out." The Hokage said, turning back to her paperwork.
A days travel landed the group in Grass country, where they had stayed in a hotel in Kusagakure, as their patrol was scheduled for the next day. They had woken early, and quickly made their way to the border of the Land of Earth.
About four hours into their patrol they stopped to rest. Aiko was looking intently at a map, before his face scrunched up in worry. "Sensei, I think we may have crossed into Earth country by accident."
"What?" Asked the tall female sensei of Team Twelve. She had mid length aquamarine hair, and wore the standard Konoha jounin outfit.
"Yeah look here Sensei, about six miles back, we would have definitely crossed into Earth country, we should have taken this route instead." He said pointing to a line on the map.
"Harumi-Sensei, isn't it bad for us to be in Earth country unannounced?" Asked Roku, who was now slightly worried. Iwagakure was not and allied village, and they very much did not like Konoha nin in any way.
"Kanagaki, they right we really shouldn't be here then." Naruto said to the jounin. Earth country was the last place Konohagakure nin should be.
"Yeah, you definitely shouldn't be here." A voice echoed out. "You're trespassing in Earth country, and as an Iwa nin, I have a responsibility to stop any trespassers. But you guys are Konohagakure nin, and this is taken as an act of aggression. You are all sentenced to death." The large man now before them said. He was huge, just massively tall, and he was heavily armored. He wore the Iwagakure steam armour, with a furnace attached to the back. Aside from his red armour, he also wore a red kasa, that was made from the same material as his armour.
"Oh shit." Naruto said. "That's Han, The jinchuriki of the Five Tails. Also known as the Jinchuriki of the Steam Release." He had recognized the shinobi from the bingo book. "Fuck. We are so fucked."
"No matter. You kids go I'll deal with him while you run."
"No, Kanagaki he'll bulldoze you before you have a chance. This guy fought through two wars. He's extremely strong."
"Naruto take them and go!" Ordered the jounin, as she drew her sword. She leapt towards the man, only for her eyes to widen in shock at his speed. The massive steaming jinchuriki tore through the jounin, and left nothing but red paste behind.
"Sensei!" Yelled the twins, who in anger began to charge the brute man.
"No! Don't you'll die!" Yelled Naruto. He knew he need to gather the team and get them out of there as quickly as possible. "Come back! That's an order!"
He watched in horror as the massive jinchuriki bulldozed the twins, killing one instantly, and when the other tried to crawl away, he stomped on the boy's neck. Han's crushing waves of killing intent washed over Naruto. He made Zabuza look like a genin. His killing intent was almost as great as the tailed beast he held. And here it was all focused on the blond chunin.
Ryuko stared in shock. "Roku! Aiko!" She screamed.
"Come on Ryuko we have to go! Right now! Ryuko!" She began to run toward the dead twins, she had to try to save them. "Ryuko! Please! Come on!"
She had to try, they couldn't be dead. Her medical ninjutsu could save them, she knew it could. She didn't even register her boyfriend's desperate plea.
"Ryuko!"
Our boy is in some trouble now! Talk about a cliffhanger! Any of you wondering why Kanagaki jumped in like that, it was because she didn't have any actual knowledge about Han. Let's just say she wasn't the best of jounin. Btw, a very awesome artist on deviantart did a render of Ryuko, and it's awesome! It's up on my Twitter DarlingintheFo1. Please at least go check out the photo! Anyway, see ya next time! Darling in the Fox out!
/DarlingintheFo1