Kye kye- Those who have read my past works are probably wondering why and how I am updating so fast. Well, the answer is simple. I have been laid off from my job due to this fucking quarantine. So other than taking care of my baby and my husband, I have nothing else to do with my life, so here I am, a fucking housewife ugh.
Enough of my rants, here is the next chapter, and please enjoy it.
Naruto left her house that morning with a stretch. The boys had left that night going back to Dadan's hut. They made sure to eat every ounce of the food she had stolen from Garp first, though. So now she had to go hunting with nothing but her claws and wood release to help her. Stupid Garp taking her weapons.
The forest was quite peaceful this early in the morning. The birds are singing. The sky was blue; the giant bear was coming to kill her. Wait! What? Naruto looks up, and sure enough, the Giant bear that she saw on the way up with Garp was staring down at her—licking its chops waiting to eat her.
Usually, this bear wouldn't be a problem for her if she had her kunai, but she does not. She is also low on chakra doing that house took it out of her. Stupid nine-year-old reserves. Looking at this bear, though, his hide might be to thick for a kunai any way, and Naruto is no good with a sword. So taking a page from a manga, she read once upon a time Naruto creates a whip.
Now this isn't an ordinary whip no instinct cause her to make the wood in
this whip to harder than steel with spikes that were sharp enough to cut through diamonds. The bear attacked first his claws, digging into her shoulder. Naruto growled, not noticing the three boys who have run into the clearing. Naruto's eyes turn red, and she flicks her wrist, sending the whip around the bear's neck. The bear claws at the strap and Naruto smirks before giving a harsh tug. The thorns sliced through the bear's neck like hot butter, and the bear's head fell to the ground.
With the threat gone, Naruto's eyes return to blue, and she collapses to the ground, blood still pouring from her wound. "Naruto!" Luffy yells, running to her as fast as his little legs could carry him. "Are you okay, okay?!"
"Of course, she's not okay, you idiot!" Ace yells, bopping Luffy on the head "She just got clawed by the stupid bear."
Naruto giggles, "I'll be fine, Ace ."
Sabo presses his hand against the wound, gaining a hiss and a growl from Naruto "I have to agree with Ace Naruto. That wound is pretty nasty; it might even leave a scar."
Naruto's eyes start shinning, "A scar? Do you think it will? I all ways heal so quickly I never get scars dattebayo!"
Sabo starts wrapping Naruto's wound with a shake of his head. expertly ignoring his yelling brothers in the background. "you are the weirdest girl I have ever met"
Naruto smirks, "been around a lot of girls have we?" at Sabo's blush she laughs, "Oh you lady killer you."
Sabo's entire face turns red "I...its not like that !"
Luffy turns, "Neh Ace Sabo's face is red like yours when Makino comes to visit!"
Ace blushes and Hits Luffy on the head again. "Shut up, you rubber brained moron!"
Luffy laughs and runs away as Naruto wraps her arms around Ace's shoulders. "Oh, and who's Makino? Is she your girlfriend, Ace?"
Ace's face burns as if it was on fire, and he grabs Naruto by the shoulders to shake her only for him to pause at the look of pain on her face. Looking at his hands, he sees them covered in her blood. "Oh shit! I Didn't mean..."
Naruto shakes her head "it's okay, Ace. It is my fault for teasing you, and you forgot no real harm done" she moves her shoulder a bit with a wince. "Um, can you help me bring this bear back to my house? I would do it myself self, but my shoulder will make it difficult."
Ace nods and Luffy bounces up to Naruto, "you need some meat. Meat can fix you right up!"
Naruto ruffles Luffy's hair, "Will it now?" Luffy Nods quickly, "well, I promise to eat as much as I can, but you can't eat all of my meat from me, or I won't get any better."
"But, I want meat too." Luffy whines
Sabo and Ace Lift the bear, and the group of children heads back to Naruto's house. "How about this? You three will go out and hunt some more meat, and I'll cook it up for you, and if you do a good job, I'll show you my favorite Ninja technique."
Luffy's eyes widen, and he starts running into the forest before anyone could stop him. Sabo quickly pushes his half of the bear onto Ace, who grunts at the added weight and chases after the energetic seven-year-old.
"Guess it is just me and you, Ace. Are you okay with that?"
Ace turns away from her with a blush. "let's just get to your house already." Why did her eyes have to be so blue? Sure Sabo's eyes were blue, but Sabo's were lighter than Naruto's. Her eyes reminded him of the ocean, or of some kind of rare gem. They were so pretty, and that's a word Ace never thought he would use.
But since Naruto was a girl, it was okay to use that word to describe parts of her. Wasn't it? It was so weird having a girl around. Ace had never been around any girls other than Dadan. If you want to call her a girl, and Makino. Garp had told him that girls are delicate creatures, and they were meant to be protected. He had said they cry easily and are very weak.
Garp said a lot of things that Naruto just wasn't. Naruto was strong, brave, sturdy. She acted nothing like how Ace expected her to act. If it wasn't painfully obvious that Naruto was a girl, given how pretty she was, Ace was sure he would have thought she was a boy.
As they reached Naruto's home, Ace froze did he seriously think that Naruto was pretty? Ace glanced at Naruto out of the corner of his eye. Yes, she is pretty no denying that. Her dual-colored hair was brushing her shoulders and the adorable whisker marks on her cheeks. Yes, she is pretty, and Ace just knew she would only get more so as she got older.
Ace shook his head; there must be something wrong with him; he has never warmed up to anyone this fast before. It took Sabo months and Luffy weeks to get on his right side. So why with her did it only take a couple of days? Is he going soft? Is it because he thinks she's pretty? Does he have a...Crush? NOPE! Not possible, he just thought Naruto was Pretty is all.
(AN the denial is strong in this one.)
Naruto, unaware of the battle in Ace's head, starts a fire and begins to skin the bear. This she had a lot of practice doing when the stores of your village refuse to sell you food, you learn how to hunt and skin your prey. The skin of the bear can also be sold for a high price if she negotiates. Unfortunately, she had to do all of this using her claws, and the only way to cook the meat was over the fire because she had no pots or pans, not even a knife. You can't make those things out of wood, you know, well you can, but it would just burn up.
Luffy and Sabo returned with a couple of crocodiles on their shoulders. Naruto made quick work of that skinning and cut, I mean clawing the meat to large chunks and placing them over the fire.
Luffy looks at Naruto with shining eyes as soon as the meat is on fire. Naruto giggles. "OkayOkay, Luffy, you win. My favorite technique is the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" with a puff of smoke, three more Naruto's stood in the clearing.
The boy's eyes widen as all four Naruto's crossed their arms with a smirk. "SO, who is the real Naruto?" they ask in unison.
Luffy Bounces in place, "THAT IS SO COOOL !"
The Narutos laugh. one leans on Ace another on Sabo, One tends to the meat, and the final one pinches Luffy's face. "They are all real!" Sabo exclaims
The Naruto on Sabo nods her head "Of course we are real, but this is as many as I can make at the moment. I'm not at full strength at the moment."
Sabo nods with a glance at Naruto's shoulder "How many are you able to make when you are at full power?"
All of the Naruto's tilt there head to the side cutely. "I'm not sure." This time the Naruto that was hanging off of a blushing Ace answered, "I've honestly never tried to figure out how many I could do. " The three Naruto's dissapear in another puff of smoke leaving the one tending to the fire.
Luffy wines at the loss of his playmate "Can you do it again?!"
Naruto shakes her head a bead of sweat dripping down her face and pain covering her features. "Sorry, Luffy. I'm not feeling too well at the moment."
Sabo and Ace exchange glances, and Sabo moves towards Naruto and places a hand on her forehead. "You are running a fever!"
Ace unwraps her bandage and sees the wounds from the bear starting to fester. "I don't know for sure, but it looks infected. Dadan cant handle something like this."
Luffy, in a rare showing of seriousness, "Let us go back to Fusha Makino can help."
Naruto shakes her head as the boys seem to agree with one another. "Guys, really, that's not necessary. I just need some rest." Shaking her head was a bad idea. Now a wave of nausea overtook her. The last thing Naruto saw was Ace's silver eyes before her world went black.
And that folks is how Naruto meets Makino.
