I do not own Naruto!
Enjoy!
"Naruto!" Satsuki whined as her best friend walked through the door with her father. "You took SO LONG to get here!" She crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes as she walked up to the blonde. "What did you do?"
"Hehehe," Naruto scratched the back of his head and smiled back at the girl in front of him. "Iruka-sensei just stopped me after class and was asking me questions."
"I hope it's not because you are in trouble again, Naruto-kun." Minoru stated flatly as he took off his shoes and entered the house.
"Hey!" He shouted pointing at his surrogate father's retreating form. "I have not gotten caught in ages! He just wanted to tell me that he was proud of my improvement!" He kicked off his shoes and entered the house running after the older gentleman. "He said that he couldn't believe how much better I've gotten!" a huge grin found its way across Naruto's face and he pointed his thumb towards himself. "I'll get the Hokage position in no-time at all!"
"Really?" an amused smile appeared on Minoru's face as he stopped preparing snacks for the two children in his house. "He actually said that?"
"Well," Naruto's grin deflated as he sat down at the kitchen bar next to Satsuki, "Most of it. All except the Hokage part at least." Naruto slammed the palms of his hands on the counter, and stood up on the side of his chair. "But it's true! Dattebayo! I WILL become Hokage before anyone knows it! Believe it!"
Minoru laughed at the young blonde's antics before placing a small snack in front of the two children.
"ANPAN!" Satsuki shouted eagerly picking up the sweet roll off her plate with both hands and taking a large bite. "MMMM!"
"Anpan?" Naruto gave a curious look to the roll sitting on his plate. "What's that?"
"It's good! Eat it!" Satsuki encouraged through her full mouth.
Naruto looked back to Minoru who was leaning back on a counter on the other side of the kitchen eating a roll himself.
"It's a sweet roll with red bean paste in it," Minoru supplied after swallowing a mouthful. "It's good, try it."
"I don't think I'll like it," Naruto poked the side of the roll with his finger before sticking his nose up in the air.
"Well, that's alright you don't have to like it." Minoru answered, putting his hands on his hips. "But if you don't eat it, then we don't train." A small smirk appeared on the older silver-haired man's face as a horrified look graced Naruto's features.
"YOU WOULDN'T DARE!"
"Ma, Naruto. Do you not know me at all?" Minoru walked up to the counter and put his hands down in front of Naruto. "I'm hurt, really. After all this time, you think I would back down on a promise?"
"Hehehe," Naruto nervously scratched at his cheek "No, but-"
"Eat. Like I said, you'll like it." Minoru pushed himself back from the counter and turned away from the two eating.
Naruto sat on the chair, his head leaning on one of his hands as he continued to poke at the golden-brown roll sitting on his plate.
After a few minutes of pushing the roll across the plate he pulled a small pinch of bread from the roll and brought it up to his eyes to inspect it. After it passed his visual inspection, he brought it to his nose taking a big whiff of the small piece of roll. The piece passing both of his tests, he stuck his tongue out and slowly brought the bread towards his mouth-
"Oomph!" A hand came out of nowhere and smacked itself against Naruto's stomach.
"HEY!" Naruto shouted, looking in the direction the hand came from looking straight at Satsuki. "WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!"
"Just eat it!" an exasperated tone worked its way into Satsuki's voice as she dramatically draped herself over the side of her chair. "I'm going to die before you eat it at this rate!"
"Hmph!" Naruto crossed his arms and looked moodily at the piece of bread in front of him.
"You've got thirty seconds before I force feed it to you."
Naruto turned to glare at Satsuki before speaking up again, "Ughhhhh, Minoru-san!"
"What can I say? She gets it from her mother." Minoru shrugged his shoulders as he laughed at the scene playing out in front of him. "I would eat it though."
"Fine." Naruto slouched down in his chair and picked the roll up and brought it to his mouth taking a large sniff of the bread before taking a small bite out of the pastry. He frowned as he rolled the piece around in his mouth taking in the whole taste of the sweet roll before swallowing the bite, the frown melting away in to a large grin. "Hey! This is really good!" he shouted before devouring the rest of the snack.
"I told you so." Satsuki mumbled sticking her tongue out at Naruto as she jumped out of her seat. "Now come-on!" she shouted as she raced towards the door to put her shoes on.
"I'm coming!" Naruto said through his full mouth, he too jumping off the bar stool and running towards the sliding door that led outside as he finished his last bite of bread. "Minoru-san, come-on!" He shouted as he jammed his feet into his sandals. "How are we going to learn anything if you don't teach us?"
"I'm coming, don't worry," Minoru chuckled as he grabbed a large wooden box from the closet, and headed towards the door. "Come-on, Daisuke, this will be fun to watch today."
The Great Dane slowly stood up, stretching his long legs out as he followed the older silver haired man out the door, letting out a small snort. "It always is with your lessons."
Minoru ignored the comment, and slid the door open and stepped out into the large backyard noticing the two children were already staring at him with eager eyes for their lesson.
"What are you going to teach us today Minoru-san?" Naruto bounced up and down with excitement. "Are you going to teach us cool jutsu?" Naruto's grin got wider and wider as he imagined all the jutsus that he could be taught.
"Now, Naruto, you forget that I am but a simple civilian with a few extraordinary talents." Minoru set the box down in front of him as a sly grin slid across his face. "So, all the more I can help you with is-"
"Conditioning, yeah, I know," Naruto said as he rubbed the back of his head. "You never know."
Satsuki sent a weary glance at the wooden box that her father set down on the ground, before looking at Naruto.
"Dodging practice?" Satsuki raised an eyebrow as she turned to look back at her father, leaning backwards just in time to dodge two kunai knives.
"You got it!" Minoru's tone held an excitement to it that made the children worry. "And today, Daisuke is even going to help me out!"
Daisuke barked an almost evil looking grin gracing his features as he wacked a soccer ball with his tail, with enough force behind it causing the ball to fly through the air straight towards Naruto.
Dodging, Naruto and Satsuki groaned, remembering the last time they had dodging practice-they couldn't stand straight for a week they were so sore.
For the next hour Naruto and Satsuki dodged the knives and balls that would fly through the air at them with no distinguishable pattern and with no end in sight.
"Naruto!" Satsuki shouted, as she tried to suck in large quantities of air to fill her screaming lungs. "What did we do to deserve this?"
"No idea," Naruto puffed in response, his back right up against hers as they tried to come up with a plan as the projectiles had seemingly stopped for the moment.
Satsuki scoffed as she dropped down to the ground and picked up a kunai from the ground, an evil glint apparent in her eyes. "Let's make him participate too!" she said launching the knife back at her father.
"Maa, Satsuki, you need way better aim than that if you want to try to hit me!" Her father half scolded in response as the knife missed him.
"Satsuki-" Naruto hissed, "What are you doing, you could hurt him!"
"He never lets us do anything that he himself couldn't do." She picked up another knife and threw it with as much force as she could muster.
Naruto's eyes widen, as the glint of mischief appeared in his eyes as well, and he too picked up a knife and tossed it at their teacher.
Minoru laughed as the two kunais completely missed their mark, and the one-way volley turned into a full out exchange, the two younger shinobi-in-trainings against the civilian and his dog.
Naruto and Satsuki dodged, running back and forth across the field as they returned the knives back to Minoru with as much force as he was using to throw them in the first place. All parties involved threw their projectiles two at a time and the children darted across the field trying to pick up knives off the ground before they could get hit until the two best friends were down to two knives on their side, and there was a stockpile lying in the middle of the yard.
"Cover me!" Satsuki shouted as she pushed the two knives into Naruto's hands and ran out from their cover behind a large tree.
"Satsuki!" Naruto hissed sticking his head around the tree only to yank it back behind the cover as a knife whizzed by the spot his head had just previously been.
"Just trust me!" She hollered back as she closed in on the stockpile at the middle of their battle.
Satsuki worked as quick as she could, filling her arms with the metal tools dodging as her father continued to toss the knives at her. As quickly as she had gotten there, she was off running back towards the tree that was offering her friend cover.
Her right ear twitched as she dodged to the left, a knife narrowly missing her ear.
"Satsuki, duck!"
She heard the command given by Naruto and complied and this time felt the air around her shift as a ball went soaring over her head.
'Almost back to the tree!' Satsuki internally sighed in relief with the knowledge that she was almost safe.
Satsuki looked up from her running for a moment, and glanced back at her father and Daisuke to see two kunai knives and two soccer balls headed straight towards her flying in such a way that it gave her no way to dodge with out getting hit by at least one projectile. She looked back to Naruto and saw the determination gleaming in his eyes as he recognized the same thing as her. She took another step forward her foot catching on the root of the large tree that could have offered her protection from the oncoming volley
Time seemed to slow down as the instant decrease in speed from being caught by the tree root caused her to fly head over foot straight towards the two kunai knives that Naruto had thrown to stop the two incoming knives from her father.
'Well, this is going to hurt' Satsuki thought her resolve as she closed her eyes tightly waiting for the impact from the un-dodge-able knives and the impending crash with the ground the was somewhere below her.
The three boys watched in horror as the girl tumbled through the air with no way of being spared from the knives when suddenly, she erupted into thousands of silver and red flowers. Leaving no trace of the silver haired child anywhere.
"What the-" Minoru mumbled the panic well hidden in his voice.
The three stood up from their spots and walked over to were the flowers were slowly falling to the ground.
"Minoru-san, what was that?" Naruto asked, the worry evident in his voice. "Where did she go?"
Minoru crouched down in front of the pile of flowers and picked up one of the red tipped silver petals. He twisted it around in his fingers as if hoping it would give him any clues to answer Naruto's question. He slowly brought the petal up to his face but stopped, his hand going limp and falling back to his side.
"Daske," Minoru's voice came out slurred and Naruto looked at him panic spreading across his eyes as his father figure fell down on to his knees. "Fi er. Ow."
Naruto looked on in worry as Minoru fell face first on the ground, and the large Great Dane took off running to find the missing child, leaving Naruto in the field by himself with an unconscious Minoru.
"Heh, guess she was too scared and left the ring. Guess that means I win!" Kiba laughed haughtily as he started towards the edge of the circle, only to be blocked by Iruka.
"What. Were. You. Thinking." Iruka spoke in a ton of voice few had heard before, one that caused the whispers to cease amongst the students, and every eye focused on the scene going on in front of them.
Kiba looked up at his teacher with defiance in his eyes. "I was thinking that I wanted to win. And I did! She left the ring."
"Let's see what your mother thinks about that when she comes to pick you up today." Iruka's tone was cold, almost deadly, reminding all the students that while he was their teacher, he was also a shinobi.
"I'm sure she's fine." Kiba scoffed turning around and walking away from the upset teacher. "Kumo. You can come out now. Tell everyone that you're fine." Kiba said in a non-caring manner as he reached the center of the ring.
"Kiba, this is serious!" Iruka said storming up to the feral looking boy.
"It looked like a shunshin. A pretty stupid, flashy one at that." The Inuzuka crouched down next to a small pile of the flowers that were accumulating and reached to pick one up.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you."
Kiba stopped and looked up in the direction of the voice.
"Yeah, well, it's a good thing that I'm not you, Naruto." Kiba snarked turning his attention back to the petals on the ground.
"Fine, don't listen to my advice." Naruto stood up and crossed his arms as he walked closer to the dog boy and his teacher. "I hope you enjoy the hospital."
"What did you just say, whiskers?" Kiba snarled at Naruto, his interest in the flower dropped.
"Those petals are poisonous." Naruto ignored the sharp intake of breath and the scurrying noise as the students tried to get away from the flowers on the ground.
"Naruto-" Iruka tried to question but was cut off.
"Those petals knocked her father unconscious for three hours just by touching the stem of it. I wonder what would happen if you touched the full petal?" Naruto looked pointedly at Kiba as if daring him to touch the flower.
"Naruto, if you've seen this before, where is she?" The question was direct, not giving him an option of answer or not.
"No idea," Naruto shrugged his shoulder walking away, making sure to step around the few petals still on the ground. "Last time she used it, Daisuke, their dog tracked her down and brought her back home. She could be anywhere."
Iruka let out an annoyed sigh and dragged his hand across his face. He knew that today wasn't going to end well.
"Class is over for the day. Everyone can go home." Ecstatic cheers erupted through the classroom as everyone scrambled to leave as quick as they could. "Except you, Kiba." Iruka reached out and caught Kiba by the collar of his jacket before he had a chance to leave. "You are going to wait till your mother can come pick you up and you are going to explain this whole mess to her."
"This is so stupid," Kiba huffed out and crossed his arms his shoulders slouching in defeat.
"Mizuki, can you please go alert the Hokage as to what happened, and see if he has the ability to assist in locating Kumo-chan?"
"You got it, Iruka," Mizuki nodded and disappeared in a small swirl of leaves. Leaving Iruka alone with Naruto and Kiba.
"Naruto," Iruka sighed, "Get out of here. You know her better than anyone. See if you can find her."
Naruto nodded and gave Iruka a mock salute before running from the field to go look for his friend.
"Kiba, you're going to be the death of me."
Kumo slowly walked back into town following the green jump-suited shinobi, and listening to his stories of the times he served during the Third Great Shinobi World War. He talked often of the great skills of youth and how the will of fire burned bright then and will forever.
She could almost see the similarities between him and Chikaramochi-san from her book. They both shared the same sense of humour, were quirky beyond belief, and it seemed that the two of them were stronger than any normal human should be, ninja skills or not.
The two of them had just reached the edge of the clearing that separated the training ground that Gai's team had been using and the town when Kumo felt the faintest presence brush up against the edge of her senses causing her to come to a sudden stop.
"Kumo-chan, is there a reason that you have stopped?" The older ninja's voice boomed echoing across the open area.
Kumo looked to her left and to her right trying to pinpoint the presence. It was spread thin. The chakra was barely there. Almost as if they were suppressing their chakra. Almost as if they weren't supposed to be found.
"There's someone watching us," she whispered as she focused back on the presence. She took a deep breath calming her senses, her ears finally twitching as she picked up the sound of a leaf rustling in the distance. "There." She pointed slightly behind her and to the right, towards the trunk of a tree that they had passed only moments earlier.
"You don't say," Suspicion creeped itself in to Gai's voice as he reached a hand into one of his pouches.
Quicker than she could blink a kunai appeared racing through the air towards the spot that she had pointed out, imbedding itself deep inside the tree. Just underneath the knife, an outline appeared revealing someone in a long black cloak and a white mask.
Kumo blinked as the man disappeared as quickly as he appeared, leaving no trace that someone was there to begin with.
"Was that-?"
"Yes. The ANBU Black Ops." Gai responded as he continued down the path in to town. "You have some talent as a tracker ninja if you are able to pinpoint their location."
Kumo pulled her mask up further across her face, and tugged the hood a little further down in response to Gai.
"You must have an amazing teacher! Is that what the academy is focusing on now?" Gai continued his questioning.
"No, sir." Kumo said slowly, trying to decide how best to choose her answer. "My father taught me."
"Oh?" The intrigue was clearly heard in Gai's voice though he did not turn towards her, Kumo could even envision an eyebrow being raised. "And who is your father?"
"A good man, sir." Kumo answered kicking a small rock out of her way.
"Is that so, hmm?" As Kumo listened she could hear the different tones that her father had taught her as a child. Tones that were meant to use to encourage one to keep talking about things that they shouldn't.
"Yessir. The best." Kumo said nothing further as she felt the same presence from earlier, the Black Ops agent, appear again just inside her sensory range. She glared back in its direction briefly before focusing back on the path in front of her, noticing that they had almost arrived back to the academy
The two walked in a some-what comfortable silence the rest of the way up to the academy.
"Thank you for escorting me back to the academy Gai-san, I can walk the rest of the way from here."
"Nonsense!" Gai loudly laughed pushing open the large wooden doors to the academy and motioning her to follow him. "My self-imposed mission was to take you back to the academy and your teacher so they know that your flames of youth still burn brightly!"
"But I-"
"KUMO-CHAN!" Kumo stopped mid-sentence and turned around coming face to face with yellow ball of worry. "WHERE DID YOU GO?! WE WERE SO WORRIED!" Naruto inhaled a large gulp of air before continuing again, "ARE YOU OKAY?! ARE YOU HURT?! I THOUGHT IRUKA WAS GOING TO FLIP A GASKET!" He paused again and narrowed his eyes as he finally saw Gai-sensei standing to her left, he put his hand up to hide his mouth and whispered "Who's this?"
Kumo laughed at her friend's antics and ran through the list of questions he had asked. "I'm fine. I'll explain it all later. What are you doing out of class?"
"Iruka-sensei cut class short because of what had happened, he was really worried about you." Naruto laughed nervously, scratching the back of his head, a small blush appearing across his face.
"Then we should make sure he knows that you are safe, Kumo-chan. Naruto-kun, you may join as well!" The green man led the way through the academy some-how knowing which classroom was theirs.
After a few minutes of being led through the hallways they came to a stop in front of their classroom. Gai gave a curt knock on the door, and waited for the rather hurried reply of 'Come-in' before opening the door.
Kumo stayed behind the green giant as he walked in to the classroom.
"I'm sorry, but I'm busy at the moment can you-Might Gai!" Kumo heard the surprised voice of Iruka from the other side of Gai. "I'm in the middle of a parent meeting, is there something I can help you with?"
"I just wanted to deliver a pupil of yours. Appeared in a rather large explosion in the middle of a training spar between my students!" A hand came out of nowhere and clamped itself onto Kumo's shoulder, dragging her into the classroom. "She did extremely well for a student that has yet to graduate! Her flames of youth are definitely burning bright, you should be extremely proud of her!"
A slight blush crossed Iruka's face as he registered Gai's compliment. "I didn't do much, it was all her," He said absentmindedly, scratching the back of his head. "Kumo-" he was instantly back on track and looked straight down at her. "Are you okay?"
"Ye-" Kumo was cut off before she could finish her response.
"I smell blood, are you hurt?"
Kumo looked around Iruka and saw a feral looking woman walking towards her. It took her a few seconds before remembering the woman from her first day at the academy: Inuzuka-sama.
"I asked you a question, pup." The woman stated, reaching out and grabbing Kumo's hands that were covered in now dried blood.
At hearing the woman call her 'pup' Kumo instantly snatched her hands back and narrowed her eyes. "I'm fine, ma'am." She answered curtly rubbing her hands against the soft fabric of her trench coat, the blood flaking of in small flecks.
Iruka had disappeared at some point during the exchange with the Inuzuka woman, and had reappeared back in front of Kumo with a wet washcloth. Grabbing ahold of her hands he gently washed the rest of the blood off, trying to get a look at her injured hand.
"See?" she held her hands out for everyone in the room to look at. "I'm not injured." The palms of her hands were free of injuries, the skin flawless and smooth.
"Then who's blood was it, pup?"
"Don't call me pup." Was Kumo's only response as she crossed her arms in front of her.
"It was hers." Naruto spoke up from behind her, ignoring the sharp glare that he received from Kumo. "What? It's true!" He hissed "She ripped her hands open when sparring with Kiba."
A suspicious look crossed Iruka's face before he asked a further question. "Is that true?
Kumo lifted an eyebrow in an annoyed fashion and huffed. "So, what if it is? The fact of the matter is that I'm alive. Can I go now?" What started out as a very annoyed almost hostile tone, ended in a low whine, as Kumo slumped her shoulders and dramatically hung her head towards the ground.
Iruka looked at Kumo, hiding a chuckle at the odd angles the girl had hung her body at to prove her point of wanting to leave.
"Get out of here." Iruka sighed turning away from Kumo, "You included, Naruto. I'll see you both in class first thing tomorrow morning. Gai-san, can you please stay behind for a few minutes?"
Kumo and Naruto took off running towards the exit, the only exchange between the two was the red head looking over her shoulder at her friend and saying "Boy, do I have stuff to tell you!"
"Hiruzen, this is unacceptable!" The Hokage looked up from his paperwork as the door to his office seemingly burst open by itself, allowing entrance to his two old teammates and current advisors: Mitokado, Homura and Utatane, Koharu.
"And to what do I owe such a pleasant visit?" Hiruzen Sarutobi sighed as the two advisors marched their way right up to his desk.
"Who is this Hayashi, Sakumo?" Koharu spoke up, a permanent unapproving frown adorning her face.
"And why is today the first that we are hearing of her?" Homura supplied, finishing the rest of his former teammate's question.
The Hokage sighed thinking back on the events that happened at the Academy that he witnessed through his crystal ball. He had truly hoped that they wouldn't hear of her until after her graduation next week.
"Hayashi, Kumo is a student that joined the academy late after undergoing private studies, and she is doing an excellent job in her shinobi preparations."
"That is not what we're talking about, Hiruzen." Homura spoke up again, pushing his glasses closer to his eyes. "She is merely a child. Only eight years old, yet she is in with the graduating class."
"The graduation age was pushed back for a reason. She should be in a class with others her own age." Koharu added as she and Homura sat down in the chairs positioned in front of the Hokage's desk.
"Kumo is an exception to the rules. She had already mastered most of what we taught in the earlier classes. If I had let her in a class of her own age group, she would have grown bored, and potentially lost interest. Which would cause us to lose a valuable asset to our village." Hiruzen answered as he went back to filling out his paperwork.
"Who trained her? The clans here in Konoha would never have pushed their children so much, not after the Uchiha incident." The disdain in Koharu's voice was apparent.
"It was her father."
"Yes, but who is her father. We all know there is only one person to have ever stepped in this village with hair the same colour as hers, but she left this world long before the child's birth." Koharu pshed further looking for the answers to the questions she knew both her and Homura.
"The identity of her father is an S-class secret." Sarutobi's answer was short, not giving room for questioning, or at least, he believed it as such.
"You can not do such a thing Sarutobi. For the good of the village, you must tell us of her parentage." Homura calmly stated as he pursed his lips together into a tight line.
"For the safety of her, her father, AND the village, his identity will remain a secret until I so decide to reveal it." Hiruzen looked up from his paperwork, his voice even with an edge of steel to it. "That is all there is to it."
"For now, Hiruzen," The two advisors looked at each other, and then back at the Hokage. "We will find the answers we want. But for now, the decision is final. The girl will not graduate next week. She will stay until she is of graduation age."
"You can not do that," The Hokage ground out, his hand curling up into a fist.
"Oh, but we can," Koharu laid a manila folder on the top of the desk. "The Daimyo was eager to sign a form denying early graduation when we found that you were trying to have an eight-year-old graduate from the academy this year."
"This is a poor decision that you have both made," he glared at the two smugly smiling advisors. "This will stunt her growth as a shinobi, and we will lose a valuable asset."
"Or, you can entrust her to me," Sarutobi looked away from the two grinning advisors to the new arrival.
"Danzo," annoyance oozed from the Hokage's voice as he spoke "And why have you decided to grace us with your presence today?"
"The girl can not graduate for another three years," Something sparkled in Danzo's eyes that the Hokage couldn't quite place. "If there is nothing more from the Academy that she can learn, place her in my care. I will turn her in to the asset that Konoha truly needs."
The Hokage stayed silent for a moment as he glanced over the new arrival in the room. He was heavily bandaged, and leaned on his cane, giving off the appearance of an elderly and weak old man, something that Hiruzen knew for a fact that Danzo was not.
"Over my dead body, Danzo."
"Still something that I could make happen, I suppose," Danzo chuckled and turned back towards the door as he made his motion to leave. "Just an option is all, no need to be so opposed to it, I really could make her great."
Homura and Koharu took this as their turn to leave as well, and stood up from their chairs.
"You really should have told us of the girl ahead of time. Especially after all the trouble she caused at the Academy today." Koharu turned away from her teammate and headed towards the door.
"Maybe you should take Danzo up on his offer, and let him train the girl. What harm could it do?" Homura too turned and walked towards the door. "She does have three years till she can graduate after all."
Hiruzen Sarutobi clenched both of his hands into tight fists and brought them down heavily on the desk in front of him, causing a crack to worm its way down the center.
"Hokage-sama."
"What." Sarutobi looked up his voice dripping with frustration as he looked up from his desk and saw an ANBU Black Ops member kneeling in front of him.
"The girl was located. She was being escorted back in to town by Might Gai before she located my position. She seemed to be unharmed." The Bear masked operative responded in a monotone voice, his head turned towards the floor.
"Thank you Bear. That is all."
The Hokage sighed as Bear disappeared leaving him alone in his office. That was the fourth time that she had located an ANBU member, and that was just that he was aware of. That alone would have given Danzo enough reason to take interest in the girl.
"I promise you, Minoru. That man, will not get his hands on your daughter."
"You're joking!" Naruto exclaimed, almost dropping the pan he was holding on the floor. "You went up against a Hyuuga and lived?!"
"Yeah! Though, I don't want to repeat that experience anytime soon." Kumo said as she hung upside down off the couch. "My arm still smarts from the whole experience."
"Well that's what you get for shocking your arm in to working. Didn't your dad say-"
"Yeah, emergencies only." Kumo glared at the backside of her friend as he finished cooking their dinner: Miso soup and eggplant. "But I thought I was going to be killed by enemies, not leaf ninjas."
Kumo flipped herself off of the couch and walked over to the small kitchen table in Naruto's dinning room and started clearing the many sheets of paper off the top.
"But that's who the guy was who escorted me back to the academy: Might Gai, the Hyuuga's sensei. He kept saying something about the 'will of fire' and the 'power of youth' or some mumbo jumbo like that." Kumo sat down on a wobbly chair with a loud huff and propped her chin up on her hand. "And then his weird little doppelganger declared that I would be his rival once I graduated. He was so weird!" Kumo shuddered trying to erase the image of the two ninjas wearing jumpsuits from her mind.
"Good thing we only have a week left till that happens!" Naruto laughed in response as he dished up their dinner into bowls, "Either way, you should have seen Iruka-sensei's face when he was yelling at Kiba. Everyone thought he was going to explode!"
Kumo groaned dramatically as she picked up her set of chopsticks. "Yeah, just a week." She mumbled not being able to shake the feeling that something bad was going to happen. There was a small pause as she digested the rest of the information that Naruto had provided. "Wait, just Kiba? Not Shikamaru as well?"
"Shikamaru? That slacker?" Naruto's face scrunched up as if he had smelled bad fish. "What does he have to do with what happened?"
Kumo was silent and didn't answer his question. Iruka hadn't caught Shikamaru. And Naruto was right, he was a slacker at the best of times, so what had prompted him to paralyze her during the fight. What did he have to gain from it? The whole situation was giving her a funny feeling, and she didn't like it. She was going to get to the bottom of this.
The duo silently broke apart their chopsticks, said a small 'Itadakimasu' and started to dig in to their meals.
There we are, the longest chapter to date. I hope y'all enjoyed it.
What do we think will happen next?
Ja ne! :D