CHAPTER NINE: RISE OF THE VAMPIRE
Prince: I'm back baby! After a whole few months of working on new chapters for most of my stories and then one or two days of just lounging around to gather my thoughts, I'm feeling rejuvenated. Of course, I also missed registration for classes, but I'm just going to wait until early registration for next quarter. But, you guys are gonna flip over who comes to visit Naruto.
CHAPTER START
It had been nearly a week since Naruto's interaction with his students. Tomorrow would be the day class started back up and he sat at his makeshift desk, staring down at a blank sheet of paper before him. Naruto scratched the back of his head in thought, trying to think of a good thing to teach them tomorrow that would also help with the self-proclaimed Baka Rangers with their learning curve. The biggest challenge would be Asuna, which was kind of making his mind hurt.
'Ugh,' he thought. 'Why couldn't the girl be smart like Shikamaru? Instead she had to be the exact same clone as me, only if my Uzumaki blood was more dominant . . . And the fact that she seems to be bipolar. Wasn't there someone just like her?' She seemed to change moods as soon as her crush walked into her line of sight, had reddish hair, seemed to think highly of herself when there really wasn't anything to be proud of, and nearly snapped at everything that breathes, her crush excluded. "This is seriously familiar," he said, rubbing his chin. Who was he thinking of?
Meh. Whoever he was thinking of couldn't be really important.
"What did Iruka-sensei ever do before teaching a class?" he thought. Naruto tried remembering, but all that came up were combat practice. Naruto's problem probably was the fact that he never showed up for most of the classes, mostly due to his pranking tendencies. ". . . I really don't know how to be a teacher," he said as a bead of sweat rolled down the back of his head. "Meh. I guess I could wing it until I get the feel for it."
"Heh, that seems like it's your backup plan when not in action," Naruto heard Kurama's voice say. Naruto was about to say something back but stopped when he felt a flush of emotions. Whoever had this was feeling awfully down about themselves, like they nearly gave up on the world. "Meh," he said to himself. "It's probably no one."
In fact, it was someone. Someone Naruto knew for the past five, maybe six, years. The boy felt that the school was massive. "I can't believe Naruto-nii works somewhere like this," the boy said in awe. "It's . . . a lot better than where I was sent." The boy hated being where he was sent as people would pay him no mind. It was like he wasn't even there and when people decided to stop by his little makeshift tent, they left after getting his fortune.
Walking along the path towards the dorms, where that rather nice lady from the train station directed him to, the boy silently wished that the lights were on. A scream caught his ear, making him jump a bit before he silently crept up to where it originated. Once he got there, the boy saw a small figure huddled over one of a girl that looked to be barely in her teens.
"What are you doing?" he asked, getting the figure to look back before disappearing into the night. He ran over to the girl before checking her over and grimacing. She had been attacked but it looked like she would survive. All he had to do was hopefully be able to find a map of where he was and take her to the infirmary.
It was the next morning. Naruto woke up feeling rather on the edge. He could feel the Tailed Beasts were not only restless, but there had been an influx of negative emotions near the area. It was as if someone had been attacked last night and he was right near the site. He felt the fear wafting off the person getting attacked and the feeling of the attacker catching their prey.
Of course, he would have to put on a front in front of his students so that they wouldn't worry. Naruto stood in front of his class with a smile on his face. Although he felt a bit uneasy, the pride he felt towards the girls for passing the test overshot that uneasiness by a long shot. "I am proud of you girls," Naruto said as he overlooked the entire class. "It was thanks to each of you girls that we were able to top the school and now I watch over you girls as you graduate, it only makes me proud to be your teacher. And I just want to say . . ."
His speech was cut short by the door opening suddenly. "Naruto-sensei, today is the day for physical exams. Please have your students' measurements ready." Before she left, she also told Naruto one more thing. "There's also a couple of guests waiting for you in Headmaster-san's office. I'll send them on." Naruto was about to ask her if she could tell him who they were but she had already went down the hall.
And Naruto did not feel like yelling down the hall.
"So, as you have just now learned," Naruto started. "I'm just going to step out and let you girls handle your physicals. So . . . um . . ." He was really nervous about this. Naruto wasn't the one to give physicals, it was always Tsunade and Sakura. And they would do it sometimes on the guys. "I'll be standing outside if you girls need anything."
'I wonder who the guests Shizuna was talking about,' he thought to himself. 'It's probably Negi and Nekane. Or could it be someone from the Hidden Leaf? But how were they able to bypass the barrier surrounding the nations? You'd have to be on the level of Old Man Sage to be able to do that.' And there was only one person strong enough to be able. 'Could it be . . . Sasuke?'
Naruto slowly heard the sounds of footsteps coming towards him before they stopped, allowing him to make out a couple more feet, like there was another person behind him. What happened next was something of near massive proportions. Naruto didn't have time to react as a bandaged left fist impacted against his face.
"Okay! Who's the dead fuck who did that?" he growled. Naruto then took a good look at who it was.
Earlier That Morning
The girls couldn't take their eyes off the two boys next to them. One was a young man going on the age of seventeen or eighteen while the other was a boy about the age of ten. The boy had an air of innocence to him, like he was new to the world around him. The teen had a rather . . . stuffy air about him, like he was someone from a noble family. However, that also made him kind of unapproachable. He was cute with his uniquely styled black hair with a bang that covered his right eye. The young man was tall, standing a head or two above the tallest girl in the train. He wore mostly black, much like the blond with black streaks did a few months ago.
His companion was a little shorter than he was, standing approximately at his stomach. The boy had red hair that was pulled in a little ponytail. He wore a green suit with a white dress shirt and a red tie, making him look professional compared to his traveling partner.
What was kind of weird was the staff on the young man's back, much like the wooden sword tied to the young man's waist. But for some reason, no one would point out why the two were carrying what would seem like weapons. It's like, they caught themselves looking into the black-haired teen's eyes and the next thing they knew they weren't questioning why the two were carrying those objects.
"So, you've known Naruto-nii since you were little?" the boy started the conversation in a British accent. The young man grunted his reply without even turning his attention. "I'm sorry, is that a yes?" The young man nodded. "Is there anything you can tell me about Naruto-nii?"
"Naruto . . . was the class idiot," he responded. "He messed up on the field, he could never pass the tests that our teachers gave, and he would always lose in whatever matches we had. I was the class genius. Where Naruto failed, I succeeded." The boy then asked to tell him of the interactions the two had with one another. "We started off as rivals. Naruto nearly hated my guts and I hated his. We fought a lot, held a lot of competitions with one another, and really tried to best each other in every little thing we did. Eventually, I began to notice Naruto more and more until we became friends. But, I didn't want to realize that because at the time I thought friendship was nothing more than something weak-willed people say."
The boy tried to push more out of him, only to get more grunts out of him. It looked like he had grown tired of talking and just kept his mouth shut.
Back To the Present
"What the hell, Sasuke?" Naruto asked, using his bandaged right hand to rub the cheek that had been struck. "Idiot, you couldn't just stay home, could you?" the now-named Sasuke yelled, staring his rival in the eyes.
"I have all the time in the world to stay home! I just felt like exploring the world, just like you did!" The two glared each other in the eyes like they were about to fight. But then the mood settled before Naruto turned towards Negi. "'Sup, Negi?"
"Hello, Naruto-nii."
"How'd you two know where to find me? And how did you get past the barrier surrounding the nations?" Naruto asked. Sasuke scoffed before answering. "You make it sound like getting past the barrier was a huge amount of work." Naruto nearly got in his face but let it slide. "It seems like that last fight we had did nothing to curb that ego of yours." Sasuke's visible eye narrowed as he felt that he was being challenged. "If you want to go, Dobe, then I'm sure we can settle our differences somewhere on this land."
Before Naruto could finish, their attention was turned elsewhere. It seemed that Ako was running back to the classroom in a hurry. "Naruto-sensei, come quick!" she exclaimed, nearly out of breath. "It's Makie!" Naruto temporarily put off his little grudge with Sasuke before turning towards the girl. "Just tell me what's wrong." She was about to when the door to his classroom opened up and his students soon began to pile out. "Eh!" Sasuke and Negi blushed (the latter more prominent than the former) as each of them were still in their underwear.
". . ." Naruto looked over the girl with Negi right beside him. "I . . . really can't see anything wrong with her," he spoke. "I really think it's just anemia. She'll be up and about tomorrow." 'I hope.' The girls left relieved, though Naruto told Asuna that he would arrive at home later. "There's just something I have to do," he smiled. The girl stared at him before shrugging. "Whatever."
"Naruto-nii, you don't think it's something like anemia, do you?" Negi asked. He was sitting down in one of the vacant chairs. Sasuke leaned on a wall, his eyes on his best friend. "No," Naruto confirmed. "Makie was attacked last night by an assailant. I felt the emotions of someone being attacked last night."
Naruto made a point to look the girl over fully, asking Negi to be his magic detector before the two eventually found two puncture wounds on the girl's neck. Kind of like two mosquito bites only . . . they weren't swelling from the saliva of a mosquito. Negi pointed out that there was some magic lingering around the wound and healed the girl using a basic spell.
"I'm thinking that it's the rumored vampire on the campus," Naruto said. "Some people had gotten attacked last month on a full moon so I'm sure this time won't be different."
"Since when did you start getting smarter, dobe?" Sasuke asked, making Naruto blush a bit before scratching the back of his head and laughing nervously. "It helps when you've stayed here for as long as I have," the jinchuriki answered.
"I doubt that much can change in six months."
"Six months? I've been gone from Konoha for more than six years! This guy was four when we met (and I helped his dad out that one time) and that was about five years ago!" Negi nodded in agreement. Sasuke took that with a grain of salt before turning his eye back on Naruto. "So . . . You're saying that you've been out of Konoha for about a few months but to you it's been a few years. Yet you haven't aged since the Otsutsuki clan invasion." It then dawned on Sasuke. 'It may be because we're on an extremely different time zone back nearing about fifty years.'
That explained why Sasuke saw laptops everywhere when he left the nations but they were just now being invented back home. "-suke! Sasuke!" He soon paid attention to his surroundings before realizing his cheeks stung. "You awake? You home? You up?" With each question Naruto back-handed and front-handed his friend before Sasuke grabbed his wrist. "The next time you slap me, I'll light you on fire in your sleep, you got that?" Sasuke growled.
"You guys meet me out by Sakura Lane later on tonight," Naruto said as they headed outside. "We have to pick up on who's attacking my precious students at dark." Sasuke grunted as he always did when he agreed with someone as Negi nodded.
Later that night, Naruto and Sasuke scoured the alleyway by tree, hoping to catch the vampire and make her stop attacking his student. "Do you see anything?" the former asked, getting a shake of the head from Sasuke. "Where's Negi?" Sasuke pointed upwards and Naruto followed his finger before seeing Negi flying on his staff.
Naruto could only hope no one saw him flying. "Naruto-nii, I see someone breaking off of a group," Negi whispered down as he looked past a couple of trees. "Split up," the jinchuriki ordered. Negi flew higher into the sky as Naruto and Sasuke moved.
Nodoka walked the street of Sakura Lane alone as it was the quickest way back to Library Island. She had forgotten something important. Her senses kept her on high alert just in case she was being stalked. For some reason, she felt as if she was being watched. "Seat number 27 Miyazaki Nodoka, sorry but I'll be taking your blood." The girl fainted as the figure got close. However, it was stopped as soon as a stream of light caused the vampire to move back.
Naruto grabbed Nodoka as soon as Negi shot off another arrow of light. The figure threw out a vial of some kind of potion. "Reflectio," the rather-feminine voice chanted. A barrier of ice appeared before her, blocking the attack. The shockwave was enough to blow off most of Nodoka's clothing. Naruto tried his best to keep his eyes from straying down her body to check her out. Out of the corner of his eye, he could swear Sasuke was doing the same exact thing.
Naruto had an idea of who the figure was. The voice kind of was a dead giveaway. "Evangeline A.K. McDowell."
"Eh?" Negi gasped. "The Dark Mage Evangeline?" Naruto turned his eyes towards the little boy, wordlessly questioning how he knew about the girl. "I was able to learn more about the magical world while I was training."
"I should thank you, sensei, Negi-san . . . and associate." Sasuke grunted, his hand on the hilt of his chokuto. "I was thinking about drinking Naruto-sensei's blood. I mean, it's not a direct link with that man," she spat out the words, "but now I have a direct link in you, Negi Springfield." She then began to take off.
"There's Naruto-kun and his friends now!" Konoka said as she ran towards the three. "Eh! They're all vampires?!"
". . . Like sensei like students," Sasuke muttered under his breath. Naruto glared at his best friend before motioning Negi to follow behind Evangeline. "I'll stay behind and check Nodoka over," Asuna suggested. "You go too. I don't think the kid's going to be able to beat her all on his own."
"I know. But first . . ." Naruto turned towards Konoka. "Hey, Sasuke said that he doesn't really feel good. His eyes were hurting, do you think that you could help him?" Konoka nearly jumped at the thought of someone new getting sick. She got in Sasuke's face to see what was wrong, causing the boy to lean back out. The girl was kind of in his personal space.
That was when he felt a slap on the back of his neck. His left eye soon turned black-on-red design consisting of red elliptical shapes on black sclera. And in the center was a three-point star around his pupil. Konoka gazed into the eye and felt faint much like Nodoka did before. Before her head even hit the ground, Naruto caught her. "Asuna, I'm leaving a clone with you while Sasuke and I deal with Evangeline."
"Eh? What did you make him do to Konoka?!" Asuna asked.
"He just made her go to sleep," Naruto explained. "I could ask him to knock you out but we kind of need you to watch over them. Or call Takahata to take them back to their rooms." Sasuke had gone on without him, though Naruto could tell that he was going to get an earful when he caught up. Before Asuna could lay into him also, he left to help both Negi and Sasuke with Evangeline.
"Yeah, I know I took a big risk activating your Sharingan on reflex," Naruto said to the glare his best friend gave him. Sasuke let it slide, though he would get Naruto back some time later when he was sure they were going to spar. "We're probably going to need some firepower to." How he wished he had thought to stop by the other eight Tailed Beasts before heading off on his little journey.
"Naruto, I have some questions to ask you after this is over," Sasuke said, not taking his eyes off the path. Naruto wordlessly agreed to answer them.
Negi had gotten caught by Evangeline and her partner, Chachamaru Karakuri. He could only watch in horror as the girl closed in with her fangs bared. As she nearly got close to his throat, he could only close his eyes and wait. He couldn't chant any spells to protect him as Chachamaru had foiled all attempts at an attack.
"Amaterasu!" A wall of black flames cut off her path. "Master." Chachamaru called out stoically. It really was hard to tell if she was either worried about her or if she was just calling out for her. She then had to move and let go of Negi or be dismantled by a blue ball made of pure energy. "Rasengan!" Naruto yelled, landing on the spot where Chachamaru once was and nearly destroying it.
Negi was shaken up by the fact that his blood was almost drained. He could only stare at the backs of both Naruto and Sasuke, who kind of looked like heroes in front of him. Sasuke was covered in a purple energy that seemed to grow a purple ribcage around his body. "Pulling off Susanoo (Translation: He with the Ability to Help By All Means)? Geez, we're not going to kill them."
"Obviously you've forgotten what Kakashi-sensei said whenever you fight someone willing to kill you," Sasuke said, his eyes trained on Naruto. Evangeline and Chachamaru took a good look at the young man. 'It seems that he and Naruto-sensei are evenly matched in power,' the former thought. 'It's going to be a tough battle.' Maybe if the seal wasn't in place, she could fight but for now . . .
"Sorry, sensei, maybe another time." The vampire jumped off the roof and flew through the night, Chachamaru following behind. Sasuke was about to go after her, but Naruto held him back. "We'll meet again," he told his friend. "She still needs to get Negi." Sasuke's Susanoo dissipated and he slipped the Rinnegan back underneath his bang. "Whatever."
They both turned towards the boy in shock. "Hey, you okay kiddo?" Naruto asked. Negi just stared at the two as his eyes began to water before he ran to Naruto. He grabbed him in a hug and began to cry into his clothes. They both turned towards one another and made a silent agreement. One was going to train him to be quick on his feet and a hard hitter. Naruto would've been a better choice, but he had to do his job as a teacher. So, it was up to Sasuke to train the boy.
THE NEXT DAY
Negi was a bit scared of the attack so Naruto invited him to stay with the three of them tonight. He would've invited Sasuke, but in all honesty, it'd probably start rumors about two older boys staying with the Headmaster's granddaughter.
Negi was now looking up at the two older males. During the fight yesterday they looked kind of like those heroes from those Saturday morning shows he used to watch back before he joined the magic academy, and sometimes even then. Maybe there was some way he could . . .
"Hey, Negi, want to train to be as good in battle as Sasuke and me?" Naruto asked. That was exactly what the kid wanted. ". . . You do know you're going to have to get out of that bed for the training to happen." Negi had buried himself under mounds of blankets, hoping that he could hide from the girl forever. Sighing, Naruto flipped the boy over before wrapping him up in the sheets, blankets, and comforters and tying it around his neck. He picked up the bundle and carried it to the school, all of the girls wondering what exactly was Naruto doing with the little boy on his back.
"Hello, Evangeline," Naruto smiled as they walked up to the girl. "How are you this morning?"
"So you're going to act like last night didn't happen, sensei?" Naruto's smile grew wider. "Well, to tell you the truth, Sasuke and I have faced even more dangerous foes than a little girl with a thirst for blood." He was pretty much fearless, except for maybe paranormal things. But he was getting over that. Just . . . not now.
"Well, you can tell the brat that he doesn't have to worry," she sighed. "During the day I become just a little girl." She didn't like the smile that began to grow on her bastard teacher's face. "Is that so?" he asked, a grin evident on his face. "I guess we'll resume this once I feel Negi is able enough," he said, carrying the shivering bundle with him. "See ya later, Eva-tan!"
The girl stopped, a scowl written all over her face at what Naruto called her. "That man is testing my nerves," she growled as Naruto walked out of sight. "He is almost as infuriating as that brat's father." If he wasn't more. How dare he add affection to her name!
Naruto walked through the threshold to class, holding the bundle on his back before setting it on the floor. "I apologize for being a bit late, class. It seems I was stuck babysitting last night." One of his students raised their hand. Naruto looked down at a roster. "Yes . . . Student #7 Kakizaki Misa?"
"Sensei . . . Did you kidnap a child?"
"No. He just spent the night with us. This little boy is a friend of mine, along with that other guy you saw with me yesterday." The girls couldn't place their mind on the other boy until the door opened up. "Dobe, do you have Negi?" Speak of the devil and he shall appear. Naruto picked up the little bundle and threw it to Sasuke.
"There you go. All wrapped up. I think the kid's got to go if he hasn't already went." The look of displeasure on Sasuke's face was pretty satisfactory to Naruto.
"What was that for, sensei?" the class rep said as soon as Sasuke left. "Oh, Negi wants to be stronger so that he doesn't have to depend on us after that vampire attack last night," Naruto blurted. "So, it was either one of us since we were able to hold it off. I'm sure Sasuke can train him up since I'm doing my work to help you girls." Naruto's smile was a bit uneasy. 'I'm sure Sasuke knows how to train someone without me getting in the way.'
"Just so long as he doesn't end up emo like his pseudo-trainer," Naruto muttered under his breath. He was hoping no one heard that but he might as well have been wearing a microphone with how loud his thoughts were. "I may have made some huge horrible mistake . . . BUT . . . Like everything else, I guess I'll just have to deal with it when it gets too troublesome."
He then noticed that Evangeline was missing his class. Naruto grimaced inwardly and just marked her absent. Everyone else was here though, so Naruto began.
After class, Naruto noticed that the girls had a rather disturbing look upon their face, as if they were planning something. If anything, he had a feeling that they were still going on about how he was a prince. If he had to guess now they thought that Sasuke was the prince of a neighboring country while Negi was the younger sibling of either one of them.
Naruto felt something a disturbance somewhere in the seal. It was kind of small, like maybe a small animal or something. In all reality, it was nothing to fret over. There were little to no negative emotions emanating from it so he could treat it as such.
In a way . . . it was kind of familiar. Like someone he had a few run-ins with while he was watching over Negi for Nagi.
Unfortunately, Naruto was so preoccupied with trying to familiarize himself with the presence that he paid little to no attention to his surroundings. A bag was dropped over his head, cutting off his line of sight as the culprits carried his body for what he could feel over their shoulders.
They soon dropped him into the water after changing him to a pair of swimming trunks (for much of his embarrassment). The bag was taken off his head. Naruto looked over to see that both Sasuke and Negi were there with him, the former not really showing any emotion on his face (though Naruto could tell that he was a bit peeved) and the latter feeling a little uncomfortable. "Welcome to Negi-kun and Sasuke-kun's Welcoming/Get Well Negi-kun Party!" the girls greeted. They were dressed in random bathing suits, some wearing two-piece bikinis and some wearing one-pieces that showed off a lot more than Naruto felt comfortable with.
"Um . . . Thank you girls," Naruto said with a strained smile. He didn't know how to deal with this situation. Out of the corner of his eyes, he could tell that Sasuke was trying his best to keep from electrocuting everyone in the pool.
Sakurako jumped, feeling something hit up against her butt. "Oh, Naruto-sensei," the girl cooed with her cheeks in hand. "Sensei so ecchi!" Naruto said nothing, trying his best to show that he hadn't touched her by raising his hands. "Wasn't me," he defended. "I would never touch my students like that. I'm pretty sure Sasuke would." His friend turned a glare onto Naruto, who could feel the heated stare from his best friend but wouldn't make eye contact.
The girls screamed as soon as the culprit showed itself due to Makie thinking Negi was touching her. She had grabbed at the boy playfully before noticing the mouse-like creature. As the girls tried to scramble, the creature moved quickly, untying every top as soon as it came in contact with them. Naruto had to look away from the sea of flesh and noticed that Sasuke had used the commotion to use Shunshin and out of sight. He had taken Negi with him as well, leaving Naruto there by himself to silently curse his friend on his own.
Out of the corner of his eye Naruto could see Asuna walking in before the streak of fur leapt at her. She swatted it out of the air, but not before it took out a good little group of her buttons. Unfortunately, that was the straw that broke the camel's back.
"Hey, why is the water red?"
Everybody turned towards their teacher only to see him face down in the water, blood quickly turning the water red. When Naruto came to, he found himself back in his room. Both Sasuke and Negi had shown up and got a glare for their troubles. While the former just shrugged it off, the latter was trying his best to get on his older-brother figure's good side.
Naruto sighed and laughed it off anyway, assuring the boy that he was no longer mad at him. "I told you the idiot wouldn't hold a grudge," Sasuke confirmed. Naruto glared at his best friend. "If I'm such an idiot, then how did I win against you in our little fight then, huh?" Sasuke glared at his friend.
"Eh? You two have fought before?" Asuna asked, looking between the two.
"Yeah, like three or four times, not including those in the Academy," Naruto explained. "It was the last fight between us that cost me my right arm and him his left." Asuna stared at Naruto's bandaged hand. She never really knew the story behind that hand but thought it was mostly because he liked to accessorize poorly. "Wait, if you lost that hand, how are you able to use it like you are right now?" she asked.
"It's a prosthetic hand created from the cells of the Shodaime Hokage," he told her. "It acts like a real hand and I can still weave hand seals but it was nothing like my original hand." Sasuke had received one too.
"Hey! Whisker-nii-san! Aniki!" Both Naruto and Negi recognized that voice, not to mention the person who used it. While Negi turned around to stare for it, Naruto just looked down before seeing the little mouse thing that stripped most of his students. ". . . Hey, Sasuke, can you burn something for me?" he asked. "So that I can forgive you?"
"Not that I need your forgiveness, but what do you need to burn?" Naruto pointed at the little animal. ". . . Why?"
"Because if it is who I think it is, they really need to burn." Sasuke just looked at Naruto like he was crazy. Asuna just stared back and forth between the four. From Naruto to Sasuke to Negi and then the small animal in front of her. "That . . . That thing talked!" she exclaimed.
"Oh, you've heard of talking animals before, Asuna," Naruto pointed out. "The tailed beasts talked. So, you shouldn't really be surprised that Chamo talks."
"But their mouths didn't move, so I thought that just because I was in contact with you I could hear their voices." Now that she thought about it, Matatabi sounded a lot like Kaede Nagase. Naruto shook his head before jutting his thumb Sasuke's way. "If that was the case, then Sasuke wouldn't be able to hear them. Nor would the rest of the Nations." Naruto wasn't surprised that Chamo could talk the first time he had met him because he had talked with animals before. Of course, they were summoning familiars (not to mention the bijuu), but he could talk with them.
"No, what I wanted you to burn him for was because of that time he tricked me into going peeping with him and I got punished for it." Naruto loved a good peeping, but not when someone snaps a twig and leaves you to deal with the women while they run off. If Sasuke didn't set him on flames with Amaterasu, he was going to find some way to emulate it.
"Um . . . Aniki," Chamo called out, trying to change the subject, "I think I found your partner." Opening up Naruto's roster, he pointed out Nodoka. Looking at Naruto as if to ask why he had written "Kind of Cute" on her picture, the boy looked away awkwardly. "What? I like people like that," he defended.
Sasuke just turned to look at his best friend before sighing. The girl was kind of similar to Hinata, so he could see why Naruto was attached to her. Even if the jinchuriki himself couldn't see the similarity.
The door to the bathroom opened up displaying a towel-clad Konoka. Naruto and Sasuke averted their eyes, remembering the whole fiasco with Chamo. "I thought I heard other voices in here," she said. "Oh, is this your pet, Negi-kun?" She bent down to scoop the ermine up. Naruto looked back temporarily and wished that he could look at the girl without being labelled a pervert. He soon caught Asuna's glance and an apologetic expression crept its way onto his face.
Konoka brought Chamo outside to show to the other girls. "Look everyone! It's Negi-kun's pet!" That seemed to get everyone's attention and made them crowd around the girl. "Wow, a ferret?" one of the girls asked. "How cute."
"So, what do you think about the girl?" Chamo asked, making Negi embarrassed to say what he thought and run off. Asuna turned her attention towards a letter that she found. "Ah, it's from that girl in Wales," she pointed out.
"D-Don't worry about the letter," the ermine stuttered. This of course made Naruto and Sasuke feel that he was hiding something. "I'll tell him about it!" He ran off after grabbing it. As soon as he left, Naruto stated that he was hiding something. Sasuke agreed and turned to his best friend. "Can you make a clone to go track him?" he asked.
"Sure." In a plume of smoke, the clone was created. While inside that smoke, it transformed into a ladybug that soon followed behind Chamo. It watched Chamo ball up the letter and throw it away before dispelling, sending the memory back to Naruto. "There's something Chamo's not telling us."
The next day, Nodoka could be seen walking through the hallways carrying a stack of books. Once she came to her locker, a letter fell out that she began to read. "A love letter . . . from Negi-san?" She screamed, unsure what to do. It was obvious Naruto-sensei didn't return her affections, but she still held onto the dream that he did. However, she felt an obligation to give Negi her feelings on the matter. "As the older woman . . . I must . . . tell him I'm in love with someone else."
Naruto sneezed while writing the lesson plans for tomorrow on the board. "Ugh," he said. "Why'd they have to use old fashion chalkboards? They couldn't have bought marker boards?" It was a bitch to clean the chalk erasers afterwards. But he was sure someone was talking about him.
Negi sighed as he walked around the school fountain. Sasuke watched him move back and forth, as if he was wondering where to go from now. "If you don't sit down you're going to wear your shoes," he warned.
"Sasuke-nii, you don't think if I had stayed with Naruto-nii that Evangeline would've attacked me, right?"
"No, Negi. If she did, Naruto and I would've stopped her." In all honesty, fighting Evangeline for Naruto and Sasuke would be like hunting a snake to a pair of hawks. The hawks knew that the snake could kill them, but in the same vein it knew they could kill it as well. Well, more like a fox and a hawk to be more specific.
Chamo ran up to the two before telling Negi that Nodoka was being extorted and that Naruto was trapped in a meeting and couldn't help. Sasuke tried to feel out for Naruto only to find that it was true as there seemed to be multiple signatures where he was. "Why do you know something like that?" Negi asked.
"Um . . . Uh . . . It's my power. An ermine's special power."
Sasuke truly didn't believe that. "Anyway, let's go!" Negi on impulse used his staff like a witch's broomstick. 'I thought the main part about being a mage was keeping yourself out of the media,' he thought. Though he quickly followed behind them using the rooftops as his choice of travel. He soon appeared overlooking the conversation between Negi and Nodoka. "So, what was the meeting about?" he asked suddenly.
"Just that there was going to be a blackout sometime this month," Naruto explained as he appeared right next to him. "It's just for a routine maintenance. The only thing that we really need to worry about is that the seal keeping Evangeline here will falter but only for a brief moment." Sasuke stared at him as if to ask what then. "You know, between you and Gaara, I don't know who has the scariest empty stare. But . . . if I had to guess, I'd have to say that we have to be careful when that blackout does occur. I want to find you and Negi an apartment somewhere outside campus before something terrible happens."
"Hn. Always overthinking things, aren't you dobe?" Naruto glared at his best friend with a raised fist as if he was going to strike him before thinking the better of it.
"So . . . Should we stop this before it becomes too much of a problem?"
". . ."
"I'll take your silence as a yes."
Below, Nodoka had been talking (somewhat) with the youth accompanying her. She had learned so much about her teacher by looking at who looked up to him like a brother. The girl learned that Naruto loved ramen and hated raw vegetables, that he had some really childish traits like a fear of the paranormal, and that he loved messing around with Negi.
"Naruto-nii also said that when I got older, he'd help me look for a partner," Negi told her. Nodoka smiled as she listened some more about how awesome Naruto was. Oddly enough, the person in question was feeling rather good. The ground began to light up, causing the girl to defend her sight before she felt an attraction to the boy before her. "Negi-san, if you can't find a partner, I'll be your partner," she said, her eyes glazed over.
"Eh?" Negi didn't know what was happening. The girl was closing in and for some reason he was feeling a little lightheaded as well. He could feel himself slipping into unconsciousness, though he would see what his body was doing. That was when Naruto and Sasuke acted, jumping down in between the two. Sasuke's Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan was activated, staring the girl in the eye. She soon fell unconscious before he turned the eye on Negi.
Naruto caught Nodoka before she fell as Sasuke did the same to Negi. Chamo was nowhere to be found, running as soon as he sensed Naruto and Sasuke near. Unfortunately he didn't get far as Asuna stepped on his tail. "So . . . You weren't sent here to help Negi," she said with a sinister sweet grin. "You were just trying to get away from being arrested, am I right?"
"Uh oh," Chamo said before Asuna cracked her fist. What that girl did to him now would not compare to the hurt that Naruto and Sasuke put on him later. Who knew that Sasuke could get so inventive with that black flame of his?
CHAPTER END
Prince: And that's the new chapter of Mahora no Kitsune-Sensei. Man, it's been a while since I wrote anything that was posted up on this site. Well, that was worth reading. No one seemed to read my Holiday Special for the KoP, though. It was pretty funny and based off the styling of Warp Zones very own Very Warped Holidays. Also, about Sasuke and Negi coming in, don't worry. They are already paired up with someone, so it's mostly just Naruto and Kotaro (when the dog boy actually shows up).
Kiactu: Sasuke and Negi's pairings are –
Sasuke/Sakura
Negi/Anya/?
Prince: I haven't exactly read the entire series, so Negi's pairing is still up in the air. I may have to redo more of my stories as I'm trying to make it so that Naruto is up-to-date. I really hate how people are just making up scenes about Naruto like they knew how it was going to end. This Naruto is the one just after the Fourth Shinobi World War, after he has his prosthetic arm created from Hashirama's cells. This means I have to go through each chapter of EACH story (revolving around Naruto, of course) and rewrite every one. God damn. Well, I'll talk to you all later. Ja ne, kono yaro baka yaro!