(yes, people, I am alive! and I'm sorry for the major weight on this story. to be updated I've had a major writer's block on all of my Naruto fanfics recently. due to the fact, that I kind of lost interest in them for a while. As you guys can tell I was into the whole Harry Potter fanfiction series. But after reading a few Naruto fanfics, I got myself back into the groove and I'll be updating my Naruto fanfics more often than normal.
disclaimer I don't own Naruto. they belong to their original owners. but this story idea is solely mine. Also, this chapter is based off the-jinchuuriki-alliance By DarkWolf991 and Until-it-Sleeps By Tranquilized-Night. also, criticize reviews are always welcome to help me improve this fanfic. Please note I will not hold the story hostage for those. also for who leave negative reviews to the story or just plain out heaters. If you don't like the story. Then don't fucking read it. no one wants to hear your negative comments. it just shows that you have little talent in writing or imagination or your just jealous of someone else's creativity. that is all I have to say. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter)
Naruko was deep in her thoughts as she clenched her fists. When she'd woken up to find herself in the past and she wasn't going to let what happened in the future come to pass. she could save all those lives and help her fellow jinchuurikis. shaking her head Naruko looked up at Vincent only to be in shocked her Emotions were affecting the puppet from his blank monotone stare into a deadly glare that would scare anyone if they see it. Naruko let out a breath and was trying to calm down when Sasuke's hand gently brushed her arm and she started slightly, before relaxing.
The Uchiha paused for a couple of moments, knowing for sure now that something was wrong- Naruko was not usually so jumpy-but not knowing what to do about it.
"Is there anything... Wrong?" He asked tentatively, navigating through uncharted territory. Sasuke hadn't felt the need to...worry...about someone like this in a very long time and it felt overwhelmingly odd to do so now. The Uchiha resisted the urge to squirm. Naruko almost stumbled when she heard Sasuke of all people try to comfort her. She turned to her friend, eyes wide. Then she smiled and punched the boy's shoulder lightly, both acknowledging and thanking the Uchiha with the simple gesture.
"Neh, it's nothing. It's just... That it's my first time to be out of Konoha."
Naruko took a deep breath, forcing her heart rate to calm down and focused on Sasuke's light footsteps, the soft brushing of the cloth of his shorts, and his hand running across tree bark at random intervals; they were walking on the edge of the trail, She realized.
"But what about the Academy exercises where we left the village to practice?" Sakura interrupted sharply. Naruko sighed, and Sasuke twitched slightly as well.
"Sakura, those need permission forms. I was never allowed to go on them, and even the small-scale ones that stayed inside the village were hard to get permission for." Naruko shifted agilely around a pothole that Sasuke indicated with a foot tap, focusing intently on her footsteps.
'Hell God knows that I want to crush her immediately, but I have to keep a decent act in front of others.' Smirking coldly Naruko thought.
"But why couldn't you just get your parents to sign them?" Sakura actually sounded.. Provocative. Ah, the joys of living a charmed life.
It was Sasuke who answered her. "Naruko doesn't have any parents, Sakura. They died a long time ago. She's an orphan like me."
"Oh…" Sakura seemed to have realized she'd hit on a sore spot, and for about ten minutes, the trio was able to walk in silence.
Soon Sakura's voice started up again.
"Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked,
"Yes Sakura?" Kakashi answered.
"Are their ninja in the Land Of Waves?" She questioned.
Kakashi shook his head, "No, they are mostly in the Mist, they are the same country but the Wave doesn't have ninja's."
Sakura nodded her head, motioning that she understood.
"Why doesn't the Mist help Wave now?" She asked. Naruko's attention snapped to her. "Because their country is at war at the moment, they are dealing with rebels who want to overpower the Mizukage, Yagura. The leader of the rebels is Mei Terumi. But I don't blame them, Yagura did some pretty horrifying things." Kakashi explained.
Naruko bit her lip from saying anything. "He is completely heartless, killing innocent people."
Naruko clenched her fists and her nails dug into her skin enough to draw blood. it wasn't Yagura's fault, to begin with, it was all Madara fucking Uchiha's fault if he hadn't cast that genjutsu on Yagura. none of this would have all happened
Sasuke eyed her warily, wondering what was going on. Kakashi continued not noticing Naruko's anger, "That's why they are called the Bloody Mist, Yagura has completely destroyed the country and-"
"Shut up."
Everything was silent. "Excuse me?" Kakashi asked. Naruko gave him a glare enough to kill, but it was Vincent who answered in a dangerous monotone."You don't know anything about Yagura, why are you judging people according to the things people say? He probably had a reason for his choices, there's plenty of cases that some kages are placed under genjutsu by someone stronger, to say the least Yagura is a jinchuuriki who is extremely vulnerable to genjutsu. you should know that Hatake.
There is a rumor saying that there's an unknown Uchiha who place a genjutsu on the man? turning Yagura into a tyrant who wants nothing more but to kill all Bloodline users. But that's just a rumor."
Kakashi fell silent, so did everyone, they couldn't think of anything to say, Naruko's anger and Vincent's answer caught them by surprise, defending someone that they had no idea about, Kakashi couldn't understand it.
Naruko suddenly paused when she passed a nondescript, medium-sized puddle of water. The puddle was radiating chakra.
Sasuke looked to Naruko and Vincent and raised an eyebrow. What the hell?
Naruko turned back, springing up.
When the razor-sharp claw attached to a chain slithered out of the water, Naruko was ready. She watched and made no move to aid as the claw cut up 'Kakashi' to pieces, waiting instead for the opportune moment.
A sharp scream from Sakura gave everyone a headache.
Both Demon Brothers appeared, racing towards Tazuna. Naruko glanced at the Uchiha and muttered. "Watch me, and learn."
"What?"
Naruko ducked under the first brother's swing and gave the man a swift, harsh uppercut to the chin. The shinobi grunted and flew back several meters, landing hard on the forest floor, unmoving.
Meizu watched his brother fly and snarled. He swung his claw up in a deadly arc, intending to cleave the Konoha-nin girl into two very bloody pieces. Naruko saw the claw, dodged it, as she used her chakra strings making Vincent move and catch the chain right under the appendage and slammed his gauntlet through the links and into the ground, pinning the weapon down and rendering it unusable.
Meizu tugged futilely at the claw for a second then dropped his armband and started the signs for a water cannonball.
Naruko intercepted him before he could finish it, went down onto her hands, and powered her right foot into Meizu's abdomen, knocking the air out of the man's lungs and slamming him into a tree. The demon slid down and did not move again.
The entire battle had taken less than three minutes.
The silence in the clearing was absolute until Kakashi stepped out of the foliage and back onto the main road. Sakura squealed.
"Sensei! You're okay?"
Kakashi looked at the attackers and recognized them, "These are the demon brothers, they are missing ninja from Village Hidden In The Mist, they didn't target Naruko or Vincent, so they weren't after them, Tazuna-san, please tell me, why are mid-chunin level ninja after you?"
Tazuna gulped, "Well, I have no other choice than to tell you..."
And so he started the story, about Gatou and how he was targeting Nami No Kuni. Giving an explanation of how he couldn't have afforded a B-Rank level mission. "Kakashi-sensei, I think we should go back to the village, we are way in over our heads here!" Sakura pleaded.
"NO!" Sasuke and Naruko yelled, Sakura flinched and nodded, tears in her eyes. 'what a cry baby.' Naruko thought. "But Naruko, we're not skilled enough!" Sakura moaned. "We can't do this, especially you!"
Naruko knew she hadn't meant it as a jab, but she took it as one anyway.
"What the hell do you know about me, fangirl?" Naruko demanded shocking everyone. She'd gone from tolerable to annoying so quickly.
Kakashi sighed, "Naruko and Sasuke want to proceed with the mission, I'm sorry Sakura."
She nodded in understanding but sadness.
Tazuna smiled, "Thank you!" Suddenly, a fox came running into the clearing they were in.
Naruko blinked and recognized it as one of her, "Daisuke?"
The fox yipped and jumped into Naruko arms and licked her's face.
"Why... Is a fox licking your face?!" Sakura screamed.
Kakashi blinked, "Foxes... No... It couldn't be because of..." 'Of the Kyuubi.'
Sasuke just blinked and shrugged it off as one of the many mysteries of Naruko.
Tazuna facepalmed.
Naruko took the scroll from Daisuke's leg, unwrapped it and started reading it.
Naruko,
I have received your recent letter.
Honestly, I want to meet you, so I will find you somehow, I am supposing you are still in the Land Of Fire, but nearing the sea.
The war has been stalled a bit, we don't know what's going to happen, so we are on standby. This is one of the reasons I have the time to meet you.
Since you told me about you, I will describe myself, I have sandy colored hair, a cut under my eye sliding down with stitches, (you don't want to know how that happened) and light violet eyes. I wear green and black clothes and carry a tall staff.
I will see you soon.
Yagura.
Naruko smiled.
Kakashi, Sasuke, Sakura, and Tazuna blinked, they hadn't seen this type of smile before, this was from the heart, a caring smile, she cared about the contents of the letter, or the sender.
Time skip
It was when they were on the boat sailing across the thick white fog that Tazuna sadly explained everything. Naruko, having heard it before, tuned him out and instead thought about what she was going to do about Zabuza and Haku. Did the two really have to die? Gatou was a nasty man and he wondered if she could talk Haku into persuading Zabuza to turn on him before all hell broke loose. But should she allow them to get away after the first contact? It would be highly suspicious if she, as a twelve-year-old, pointed out all the things that their sensei should. Naruko hummed as the mist gathered around them, swallowing their vision. Sakura was shivering next to Sasuke who sat stiffly most likely wishing he had his Sharingan. When they reached the bridge they quietly clambered off.
Naruko knew that they were being watched and she wondered if it was Haku or Zabuza. Probably the former, the latter was like her old self, Naruko weighed the odds against them. Kakashi should fight him for a while and gain Sasuke and Sakura's respect, he thought. That's when
A white bunny rabbit ruffled the bushes sending everyone but Naruto on edge. 5… 4… 3…
"Phew, just a rabbit…" Sakura said holding her chest.
2... 1…
"I highly doubt that" Naruko muttered quietly from next to Tazuna who peered down at her curiously.
As soon as Kubikiribōchō whistled through the air, Naruko fell to the ground pulling her puppet with her at the exact same time that Kakashi demanded everyone get down. Kakashi grabbed Sakura and Sasuke met the ground with his two hands. 'Long time no see.' Naruko whispered to the ground as she peered up at the masked man that was suddenly standing on his blade. Such theatrics, Naruko thought as her eyes raced across the muscled man.
"Oh dear," Kakashi said rising up and staring aloofly at their attacker, "you must be Momochi Zabuza, the S-Class Nin is known as the Demon of the Mist," Kakashi stated, utterly serious for once, as he got up from his crouched position. Reaching up he took hold of and pushed his headband up, uncovering his left eye. Revealing a red iris and three tomoe's, the legendary dojutsu the Sharingan.
'How? How does he have the Sharingan?' Sasuke stared in shock.
"Sensei?" Sakura asked.
"Naruko, Vincent, Sasuke, Sakura, stay here and protect Tazuna. It's your mission now." Kakashi commanded tersely.
"Sensei!" Naruto called running up to him.
Kakashi turned his body a little in the blonde's direction to indicate that he was listening but kept his eyes on his opponent. "Yes, Naruko?"
"Don't worry about here." the blonde kunoichi said quietly. "And watch out for his water prisons."
Kakashi blinked and then nodded. "Thank you."
A fine mist started to blanket the clearing. Kakashi charged. "Which vital point shall I choose...?" Zabuza chuckled. The Genins and Tazuna felt a shock, they turned around and he was right there, grinning in their faces.
He pushed them back and they fell and grunted from the impact, Naruko cursed how could she forget what happened the last time.
"Zabuza Momochi. What a pleasure to see you again." A voice rang through the clearing.
Zabuza froze, "No..."
A boy who looked about Naruko's age with sandy hair kicked Zabuza's back and he groaned as he hit the ground hard.
Naruko and the boy's eyes met and an instant realization hit them.
Just before Yagura appeared
Naruko made a shadow clone that would talk to Haku. Looking up in the tree Naruko's clone walked over to stand by his side. "hello Haku-kun," the masked boy gasp and stare down at Naruko, "you and Zabuza don't have to do this." The teen was too shocked at Naruko's knowledge to take notice when the blond jumped up and gently pried the mask from his beautiful face. "You're nothing but slaves to Gatou for his money," she said in earnest. "Don't do this to you and Zabuza, you'll only end up dead and it will be Gatou's fault."
"How do you know my name?" Haku demanded as he stood. The two were the exact same height.
Naruko shrugged. "What does it matter? What matters is that I don't want to see you two die pointless deaths. I don't care if you're Missing Nins, I don't care how many people you guys have slaughtered. What I care about is you, Haku. Gatou will only dispose of you in the end, believe me, I've been on the receiving end of power-hungry bastards enough to know."
Haku's small shoulders sagged and he bowed his head dejectedly.
"You don't deserve to die because of him. Someone as great and infamous as Zabuza doesn't deserve to be buried because of Gatou."
"I don't know what to do," Haku said solemnly with his head bowed.
"Take Zabuza and go, but remember my words, Haku," Naruko said handing him the mask, "you will only be a victim of circumstance, both of you."
"Protect your most precious person, Haku," Naruko said while giving Haru a small kissed on his cheek before dispelling.
Back to the present
Kakashi looked at the mystery boy, "Who are you?" he asked, and looked at Tazuna who trembled, Kakashi looked at him, "Tazuna-san? What's wrong?"
Tazuna looked up, "Its the Mizukage." Kakashi's eyes widened and he stood in front of Yagura.
Yagura rolled his eyes and approached them. "Mizukage-sama, what are you doing helping Konoha ninja-like us?" Kakashi asked with respect but fear.
Yagura briefly looked at him, "I was meeting someone, Sharingan no Kakashi."
Kakashi tensed, "Who? If I may ask."Yagura felt footsteps approach him and he saw the blond of the group step towards him.
Sasuke and Sakura exchanged glances, fearful. While Naruko was staring at the Mizukage's eyes. Yagura was staring at Naruko's eyes. Naruko spoke first with a small smile, "I wonder how you got that cut under your cheek." Yagura chuckled, "I told you that you don't want to know."
Yagura raised a brow and Naruko smiled.
"Yagura." Naruko tapped her chin in fake wonder.
Yagura crossed his arms and smirked, " Namikaze Uzumaki Naruko."
Kakashi's eyes widened, what was going on?! Did the evil Mizukage and Naruko actually know each other?!
Kakashi stepped forward, "Naruko? What's going on?" Naruko looked away from Yagura, "The letter from my fox? Yeah, that was from Yagura."
Kakashi was in shock, no wonder she got all defensive about Yagura when they were talking about him earlier.
Naruko looked back at the smirking Mizukage, "So, what do you wanna do now?"
Yagura thought, "We should get the bridge builder to his house, but I would like to have a talk with Naruko here, will you allow her to come back to tomorrow. Yagura said while looking at Kakashi.
A few moments later
Well, Sakura was watching Naruko, unable to comprehend what she was seeing. The dobe, the dead -last of the class.
She quickly looked towards Sasuke. She was already aware that Sasuke had his mind on Naruko this whole this time, making a reaction at Naruko's every movement. He'd even scolded the dobe. Sakura bristled at the treatment, jealousy raising its ugly head. Sasuke and Naruko had hated each other since they'd both been six years old. Everyone had been ignoring Naru-baka, but now just because he is she, everyone changed, too.
The pink-haired kunoichi's green eyes flared maliciously. Tazuna's house was a nice sized cottage at the edge of the village. It wasn't much to look at really, but it had a certain homely aura to it that more than made up for it.
"Here is my home. Let me tell my daughter we are here." He said as they come to a home and knocked on the door. The door opened a crack and they heard a woman's voice gasp and she opened it and a blue-haired woman appeared and hugged him tears going down her face.
"Otousan, I was so scared. I thought you were dead." She said as she hugged him and he stroked her hair.
"It's alright now Tsunami," He said as he comforted her.
"Come inside, you must be tired." She said and team7 entered the room.
Tazuna turned to Kakashi. "The two bedrooms on the east side over there," he said pointing, "are for you and your team. Feel free to make yourself at home."
Once inside, Naruko had to dodge verbal bullets from the pink hair banshee. Sakura's flurry of demanding questions left her mouth as soon as Yagura disappeared and Sasuke was observing her a lot more intently than he had ever done before.
Tazuna was gazing at Naruko with the same amazement that he had back at the twin assassins in the forest and Kakashi was too knocked out from his overuse of the Sharingan.
"What the hell does it matter how I knew?" Naruko finally had enough of Sakura's demanding shrieks. "All that matter is that I did the right thing!"
By the time Kakashi came back around, the dizzy sensation of having used too much of his Sharingan circled above his head. He could see multiple lights when there was only supposed to be one.
He could hear low arguing in the background. "How did you change so suddenly, Naruko?" Sakura demanded. "One day you're a freaky little boy idiot who doesn't know his left from his right and now here you are a completely different person as though that former Naruko never existed!"
"How the hell would you know who the real Naruko is?" Kakashi heard Naruko retort coldly. "You're nothing but strangers to me Sakura-san, so don't even attempt to demand things of me."
"Naru-"
"Naruko, have you always been like this?" Sasuke asked.
"Why should I tell you?" Naruko snapped.
"We're your teammates!" Sakura protested
"Oh, now I'm your teammate," Naruko sneered, "what bull shit. Yo! Kaka-sensei, 'bout time you came around to the land of the living." Her tone had completely changed and as he sat up, Naruko moved to sit next to him with crossed legs. "How're you feeling'?"
"Better," Kakashi said surveying Naruko appraisingly. "That was wonderful work, Naruko," he said sincerely. "I won't ask how you knew the Mizukage. The important thing is we need to remain on guard in case Gatou remains unscathed and comes after us." "But that would have to wait let eat". Naruko said with a smile the dinner was pleasant enough, for they were all hungry as wolves from the previous adventure.
Kakashi and Vincent were the only two who didn't touch their dinner. The copy-ninja probably didn't want to show his unmasked face.
While Vincent was just a puppet who looks more human than anything.
However, as Naruko had expected, Inari blew up at them for going up against Gato and trying to be heroes because of course they were all just going to die anyway so why bother. Naruko tried to calm the boy down but the kid wasn't having it. Soon later Naruko had to hold Sasuke as he manfully tried to throttle the kid and beat some sense into him.
Well. So after eating, team7 went back to the rooms. Kakashi, Sasuke, and Vincent occupied one room, and the other room was occupied by Naruko and Sakura. And Sakura took this chance to interrogate the blondie.
When they were left alone in the room, the pink-haired kunoichi slowly turned to face Naruko who'd just finished her shower.
"What's up?" Naruko asked casually as she noticed the other girl's full glare.
"..How does an idiot who'd been hated until now by the entire class suddenly befriends my Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked suddenly, her eyes flashing dangerously.
Naruko's cold blue eyes twitched. 'Oh yeah, I was expecting this kind of thing.' "You're nothing more than a dobe, an idiot, a dead last of a class." The pinkette was snarling. "And Sasuke-kun suddenly notices your existence because you're actually a girl?"
Naruko turned back.
Sakura paused for a moment to gauge the blonde's reaction. The girl's shoulders were trembling; probably trying to fight the urge to sob, or something.
Smirking the pinkette continued. "No matter what lies you told him, you're nothing more than a dobe and no one will ever truly like you.."
Suddenly Naruko whipped her head around. Sakura subconsciously took a small step back after seeing the vivid look on her face.
"Shut the fuck up, you flat-chested, low-classed bitch."
Sakura's jaw felt like it was touching the floor. Her body frozen in a place as she noticed a cruel and malicious gleaming in Naruko's blue orbs. The blonde's expression was calm and mocking itself.
"So this... This is the real you, you hypocrite!" Sakura screamed, putting a scowl on her own.
A smirk rose upon Naruko's face. It was cold and dark, cruel and sadistic. "Listen, bitch. I don't care about how you think of me, because to me you're nothing more than a pathetic slut, groveling like a whore to get a glance from the boy whom you know you'll never have!" Then she let out a scornful chuckle. "And you know that Sasuke cares for me when he does not care for a low-class whore like you!"
The pink-haired kunoichi fought back furious tears. "Sa.. Sasuke-kun will never truly like you!"
"Tst. Pathetic." Chuckling Naruko made a foxy smirk. "He's already wrapped in my fingers, And it is I who doesn't really care about how he feels."
Sakura narrowed her eyes dangerously, only to cause further amusement to the golden-haired kunoichi.
"I'll... I'll tell everyone about your true personality!"
Naruko smirked and leaned toward the pinkette with a condescending air about her. Fuck, she was loving this. "Oh yeah?" She whispered to the shaking pinkette. "But do you think they'll believe you over me, you wide-foreheaded ugly whore?"
"You... You're a monster!" Tears began to be streamed down from the green orbs.
"Yeah, go on, cry. But would you please face the wall when you cry? It's very disgusting to see your ugly face getting even more grotesque with those tears." Snarling the blonde smirked, Throwing her long, silky golden hair over her shoulder.
Suppressing a sob and trembling with rage, Sakura slowly lifted her head until she was staring the blonde square in the face. Her eyes were filled with murderous intent as she sprung up on her feet to attack.
"I'll kill you, you demon!" Shrieking Sakura grabbed the golden-haired kunoichi's throat and strangled her viciously.
Too bad that she didn't get suspicious about why Naruko wasn't blowing her off to the opposite wall when she was capable enough.
All of a sudden the door of the room slammed opened and Sasuke appeared, hearing their commotion.
And upon seeing the scene, he froze for a moment before rushing toward the girls. "Sakura, what the hell are you doing?-!" He yelled furiously.
Nearly jumping up and letting go of Naruko Sakura fell onto her knees, not quite knowing what to do.
"Naruko!" Sasuke quickly held Naruko who was coughing helplessly, beads of tears falling from her beautiful, shaking blue eyes. Sakura flinched when Sasuke turns to glare at her fiercely. The Uchiha's onyx eyes were blazing.
"She... Started it!" Was all Sakura could say.
Just then Kakashi and Vincent made their way inside the room. "What the hell is going on here?" His tone became low.
"How dare you attack her?" Sasuke growled at Sakura. "What wrong has she done to you?"
"What do you mean?" Kakashi raised an eyebrow, his voice unusually serious.
"She'd started it!" Sakura yelled pathetically, pointing at Naruko. "She'd called me a bitch first!"
The Uchiha's eyes were becoming more and more icier. "Stop it, Sakura. I heard you calling Naruko a monster and a demon." while this was happening Naruko used her invisible chakra strings to make Vincent walk closer to her while pulling something out of his pouch as he pointed towards the purple bruise around Naruko's neck. this caused both Kakashi and Sasuke to glare at Sakura even more than before. Only to stop when they heard.
"No, don't." Still coughing and sobbing Naruko grabbed Sasuke's arms. "I started it."
Biting his lips Sasuke nervously patted on the blonde's quaking shoulder.
Sakura looked up to glare at the blonde. The blonde silently smugged at her behind Sasuke's shoulder. The pinkette began to shake with rage.
"Sakura. Stay here." Kakashi spoke up, his voice stern and also cold.
Tears began to spring free from their confines as Sakura watched Kakashi pick up and carried Naruko out of the room, with Sasuke and Vincent following them behind. How could Sasuke glare at her so coldly, just for the dobe? How could she lose the trust of both her Sasuke-kun and her sensei, just because of the dobe's filthy trick? How could Sasuke say how dare she attacks the dobe?
Sobbing openly now, she got to her feet and slammed the door of the room. She had a lot to think about.