©2007 Ekonika (S.N.R.)

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Any part of it. But, You don't care. Just so long as this is here, I'm good. Scroll on down and read some.

Chapter 12: Plans

Outside the Hokage's door, Yasu and Naruto sat, awaiting the conversation that was requested.

"What do you think Tsunade wants to talk with you about?" Naruto asked. Yasu fidgeted.

"I have some idea, but I wonder if it's good news or bad news… I think it's about Akira." Naruto scooched closer to Yasu on the bench.

"I'm sure it's fine. Don't worry, Yasu. Grandma Tsunade wouldn't do anything against Akira. I know it." The mood lightened a bit, from kids-awaiting-a-parent-teacher-conference tension to awaiting-the-next-mission tension.

"So, you've met Lady Tsunade?"

"Met her; I'm the one who brought her to the village. With Jiraiya, that is. She's kind, and really does care about the village and everyone in it. We're kind of friends, you could say. I'm sure she'll be kind to you."

"Yasu, Naruto, you're called for now." A girl leaned out the doorway and called us up.

"Alright, Shizune." Naruto said. Yasu walked past her, and two high-level ninja passed them in the doorway, nodding at them on the way out. Yasu didn't like the reserved looks they had.

The large, spacious room was bright and cheerful, with windows around two-thirds of it. Lady Tsunade sat at a desk in the center of those windows, and watched Yasu and Naruto come in.

"Oh, yes, Jiraiya told me the two of you were tied together. Well, let's begin, shall we?" Naruto and Yasu looked around at each other, and Naruto smiled reassuringly. Tsunade glanced at Shizune, and the two of them seemed to share a private joke.

"Lady Tsunade, Hokage, is this about Akira?"

"A little, yes, but mostly, it is about you. You are still an academy student ninja? I need you to keep training; you could be a very valuable ninja to our village, if your training with Jiraiya is working. Yes?"

"I… I don't mean to be rude, but I'm just here to train. I'll be leaving in a couple months." Tsunade raised an eyebrow and Naruto's face fell a bit as he looked at Yasu, disbelievingly.

""Well then, we need to get you to be a chunin, at least. And know that you are always welcome here, as a Hidden Leaf ninja. But first, I do need to discuss the matter of Akira with you. My top shenobi have looked up information on 'Kuroy Yoake' and the problem may be bigger than we both assumed. Kuroy Yoake, Black Dawn, is not a horse at all, but a dangerous rogue, top of the list sixteen years ago before they disappeared. Unfortunately, we have little information on them, here's what we have." Tsunade handed Yasu a book opened and creased to a page. Naruto leaned over her shoulder to read it.

Alias: Kuroy Yoake

Gender: Unknown

Class: Jonin, but is thought to have trained to equal an entire three-man Anbu Squad

Status: Rogue

Location: Unknown

Motive/Plot: Interested in Akira, a peculiar stallion, and the five- and six-tailed beasts.

"As you may be able to tell, this could bee a serious problem for the leaf village. However, there is no real proof he is after Akira, but…" Yasu looked up, alarmed.

"Akira… Well, Kuroy is after tailed beasts… could Akira be…?"

"You're sharp, Yasu. Exactly. We'll have to look over Akira and watch him carefully, and you will be responsible for reporting any sign that would suggest he's a tailed beast. Despite his chakra, we already know of that. You will report, right?"

"Absolutely, although I don't think Akira could be a tailed beast, I've had him since a little after he was born, and never seen anything unusual." Tsunade nodded.

"Now, to the matter of your training. Either way, Keeping Akira will be dangerous, so, I am going to bring you up through the ranks as quickly as possible. If you complete your training successfully with Naruto, I will promote you to Genin, and you will set out on a B-rank mission, without anyone to accompany you." Tsunade nodded towards Naruto. "That also means your stallion will have to stay here, and Naruto, you are trusted to look after him for the two weeks this mission should take."

"I'll assign you your mission later, but for now, all you need to know is a week after you get back, Chunin exams will begin, and you and Naruto will be entered together. Come back on Saturday, at… Shizune, what time did Yasu's client ask to meet her?" Yasu was stunned; someone requested her, specifically?

"Sunrise, Ma'am."

"Right, so be here thirty minutes beforehand for your briefing. Dismissed."

It was a little after two pm, and Naruto and Yasu were free for the rest of the day. They wandered the village for a while, then Yasu spotted a bright poster, advertising a fair in the next town. Naruto read it quickly, and brightened.

"Shall we?" He laughed and held his arm out, and Yasu looped hers through it gladly, grinning.

"Absolutely-"

"Where do you think you two are going?" Jiraiya appeared on top of a great toad in front of the two. He looked down upon them for a moment, acting disappointed, then broke into a smile. "Make sure you take some money with you!" He tossed a frog-wallet to Naruto and a small green bag to Yasu. "And here's a picnic dinner, the food's expensive." He held it over his student's heads, and pulled it back when they reached for it.

"One condition, my pupils. I'm coming with you!"

An argument and a few miles later, Jiraiya tagged along happily behind the less-than-thrilled twosome.

"I want to watch you two! Going through the trials of young love for the first time! The thrill of the first kiss, the sensation of-"

"Shaddup!" Naruto shouted, as he and Yasu were blushing up a storm.

"Alright, alright, I was going to say 'holding hands through the crowded streets'. Now is that too bad?" Naruto and Yasu glanced at each other quickly, then took off running, embarrassed to an astonishing point. Jiraiya laughed to himself as his students tore down the path, almost a half-mile away in just a minute. They need the exercise, but you know, they wouldn't be so embarrassed if it hadn't been running through their minds already.

Naruto and Yasu forgot their teacher when they arrived at the fair and saw the mass of people and games laid out before them.

"C'mon!" Naruto dragged Yasu forward to the games, but they passed over them all and eventually came to a giant Ferris wheel.

"Oooh." They chorused before sprinting up to the giant wheel. Jiraiya came jogging up and spotted the two of them climbing into a basket. When Jiraiya arrived at the Ferris wheel, Naruto and Yasu were a couple baskets ahead already, and looking at the aerial view of the fair in awe. Suddenly, Naruto grinned at Yasu.

"Let's rock the basket!" It was now stopped at the top as some people got off and others climbed in, taking a while. Yasu hesitated, but Naruto cautiously swung it a couple times, and Yasu joined in. Jiraiya sat in his basket below, looking up at the twosome's, and getting suspicious.

"What are you two doing!?!?" He shouted, alarmed and with a little disbelief. Naruto and Yasu giggled until they realized what it might have looked like to pervy-sage's mind. The basket stopped and from then on they just enjoyed the view.

"Are you serious about leaving the village, Yasu?" Naruto asked when the wheel stopped again: this time Jiraiya's basket was up top.

"Yeah, I am just here for training. My goal is to be the most powerful ninja in the village I am from." Yasu's face fell, as if remembering something painful, and Naruto recognized it.

"Were you lonely? Back in your village, I mean." Yasu said nothing, but looked at Naruto curiously, shaking away the sadness in her mind. "I know what loneliness is like, I grew up without parents." Naruto looked down, and Yasu watched him, feeling stunned. "No one in this village cared about me, until Master Iruka. He kept me from hating and distrusting everyone, and this village has become precious to me." He grinned at Yasu, who was staring at him, still stunned. Her nurturing feminine nature kicked in, and she reached out to put her hand on Naruto's shoulder across the basket.

Just then, the wheel started turning with a jerk, and she was tossed a bit. Instead of placing her hand on his shoulder, she'd reached out to steady herself and was now hugging him. They sat there, stunned for a moment, until Naruto suddenly wrapped his arms around her and pressed his cheek to hers. To Yasu, he seemed tense, as if the last time he had tried hugging someone like this he'd been punched. (Way to go Sakura… how could you punch our knucklehead ninja? I bear no grudge to Sakura)

A sketching noise was heard and Naruto glanced up over Yasu's shoulder; Jiraiya had a clear view into the basket and was glancing from Naruto and Yasu to a notepad. Yasu sensed it, and they both immediately jumped apart, wobbling the basket, and Naruto caught Yasu so she could sit back down. The wheel stopped for Naruto and Yasu this time, and they jumped out and waited, irritated, for their sensei.

"What was with the notes?" Yasu confronted Jiraiya as he stepped off the ride. Naruto, arms folded by Yasu's side, nodded.

"Nothing, nothing!" Jiraiya smirked and walked around the twosome. Naruto and Yasu tackled him as one, determined for an answer. Yasu felt an odd sensation… as if she and Naruto had decided on talking him together… but they couldn't have, not without talking.

Jiraiya sat up, shaking his head. The rope that tied Yasu and Naruto together was wound about his arms and tied them to his body. Yasu and Naruto stood triumphantly on either side of him, keeping the ropes taught. The sage sighed.

"Alright, alright… truth be told, I'm writing the sequel to my latest novel. You two are inspiration for the main characters!" Yasu and Naruto faltered, and flushes started forming on their cheeks. "It's a love story, about a young couple, discovering the trials and games of love!" Jiraiya continued, happily explaining the whole story to the two now-disturbed and irritated teens. He grinned at them, and something in the grin made them tighten the rope. Jiraiya disappeared in a poof and reappeared behind Naruto and a clone behind Yasu.

"What do you think of my story?"

"If you could break free the whole time, why bother explaining it to us?!" Naruto shouted and spun on Jiraiya behind him, trying to get a punch in somewhere, but Jiraiya held him at bay, mostly. Yasu felt uncomfortable, and wanted to go find another game or ride or something.

"Come on, Naruto. Let's go see what's in the round tent we saw from the Ferris wheel." He immediately paused, mid punch, and Jiraiya tossed him off easily. They all walked over to the said tent and walked inside. Immediately, a voice called to them.

"Yasu! Naruto! Come, come! I can't wait for this, come, come, come!" A homely elderly woman called to the two, and they grudgingly obeyed. There were three cushions sat out already, and a fire going in the center. The woman threw a few more sticks onto the fire and sat down on the far side. They all sat with a sweeping gesture from the lady.

"Uhm… I don't mean to be rude, but, who are you? What do you want with me, and Naruto! How do you know us?"

"Weren't you drawn here?" The woman asked, as if it were the most natural thing to come here. Yasu looked down, slightly embarrassed.

"The roof was colorful, is all…" The woman shook her head, for some reason making Yasu and Naruto feel ashamed.

"Jiraiya! Long time no see!" The woman addressed him for the first time. He jumped, then squinted at her.

"Kiri? Is this where you've gone? Working at a fair! Haha, good for you!" He grinned at Kiri, and they rejoiced for a short while, leaving Naruto and Yasu baffled.

"Well, time to get to it! Naruto, Yasu, hand me… your hands!" Kiri reached through the flames and pulled their hands into the fire. They flinched, but the flames weren't burning them at all for some reason.

"Pardon me, but I still don't now what you do, or who you are." Kiri, however, seemed to be in a trance, staring at their hands. Jiraiya answered for her.

"Yasu, this is Kiri. She was my friend when I was growing up in the Hidden Leaf village, and an outcast for her abilities in fortune telling! I can see she's honed her abilities, now. She was shy, and quiet; her family was mostly the same. They were all odd, to the villagers anyway, and disappeared, the whole lot of 'em, which was only five or six people, really. There fortune telling abilities are part of a Kekkei Genkai. Her predictions were pretty accurate, and so she didn't like me very much." He laughed, and the twosome rolled their eyes.

"My my… such intertwined destinies… and such power to shape them… I've hardly seen such powerful wills before… You two shall definitely become strong, and you shall have need to. A far greater power is at work in your lives, and you will have to grow immensely, to far greater power than you currently have, which is already much. It is very cloudy, because you have such power of change. A great threat looms, and victory will be sweet, but difficult; I say this first because there is a great chance for failure.

"Yasu, you shall have a powerful rival, with potential to become an ally. Naruto, your dream will take you far… very far, yes… but I cannot tell if it will be completed. You shall both help out what is precious to you, and therefore become exalted with what it is. Much travel is quite likely, but it will be fruitless; remember this before taking any long journeys. Also… life will become overly complex for the two of you… remember, if there are conflicts in the future, be straight with each other, and it shall be resolved. That is all I am able to say for sure."

Yasu and Naruto sat still, trying to take in the information. Naruto yawned.

"I've never really put much faith into the psychic stuff." Yasu nodded. Kiri let go of their hands, and the fire immediately grew hot, and they pulled their hands out of the flames, cooling them down.

"Alright, ignore it if you wish, but just ask Jiraiya, it comes true. By the way, yours was so broad, it would probably come true for just about anyone." Naruto and Yasu resisted saying that only proved their point. "You're dismissed, I have some catching up to do." She might as well have never seen Yasu and Naruto before in her life when they interrupted her conversation with Jiraiya to get the picnic dinner he carried.

"I'm glad to be out of there…" Naruto laid out on his back on a grassy hillside as Yasu unpacked the food, cheerfully taking out two lunchboxes and chopsticks. Naruto turned his head sideways and his stomach growled as Yasu opened a box and the onigiri and ramen scent drifted to him. There were dry noodles with flavoring, as well as a pear and two onigiri per lunchbox, and three canned fruit juices. Yasu rolled one over to Naruto and ate her pear happily as she heated some water with her chakra and poured it into the dry noodles' section.

"Food!" Naruto rolled to his side, but didn't get up, feeling to content where he was. The sky was turning red and Yasu glanced over at Naruto. He was watching her and smiled when she looked at him. She stopped in mid-chew of her pear, and started blushing. Naruto sat up and took his own pear, and they ate silently, waiting for the ramen. When it was done, Naruto tossed his pear, half eaten, aside. Yasu glanced at him, disappointed.

"You never throw away good food." She said, and handed him the pear. He looked at it, then at Yasu.

"Alright, but you go ahead and eat some, I want to finish my ramen first." Yasu looked at the fruit, stunned. Eat off someone else's food? Well… ok, if it was a friend. She ate half of what was left, feeling weird but oddly cheerful as she ate right over where Naruto had bitten. She set it down in his lunchbox and started on her ramen as Naruto finished his.

A few minutes later, Naruto and Yasu had finished their pears and ramen, and were ready for 'dessert', onigiri. Yasu laid down next to Naruto on the hillside and they watched the sky change color, unable to see the sun because it was on the other side of the hill, but the clouds in front of them were turning magnificent golds, purples and pinks.

"Could you hand me my rice?" Naruto asked, and Yasu dropped an onigiri in his head. She laughed as he sat up, then stopped as he grinned at her and shielded her onigiri as she was tackled. Naruto's momentum took them down the hill, which was fine, for a while; it was grassy and soft, but it was a giant riverbank. Yasu pulled out a kunai, though, and dug it into the ground. They came to a stop, and she took Naruto's arm and, using chakra in her arm, threw him back up the riverbank. When he landed, Yasu stood above him already, eating her onigiri and grinning.

"Here." She handed him her other onigiri, and he gratefully took it. They ate in silence, and as the sky got darker, it got colder. Yasu curled up next to Naruto, feeling content, and she took a sip of her juice. Naruto grinned at her, and she smiled back, then they both looked away, disappointed. When it was dark and some crickets were chirping, the remains of the dinner were piled by the bag they came in, and Yasu was asleep with her head on Naruto's chest. He had one arm around her, and the other behind his head, and watched the stars for a bit before drifting off.

Jiraiya walked up to them and sat down, briefly taking out his notepad and writing softly in it. He then lifted both genin and placed them on a blanket, never moving them from their position. Kiri came after him shortly, and the two carried Naruto and Yasu to a hotel where they were to spend the night. Kiri departed and Jiraiya disposed of the dinner leftovers, then fell asleep grinning at the couple who slept soundly on the floor mat next to him.

Won't they have a surprise tomorrow morning… if they don't roll over, that is.

Sorry, my writing SUC#ed for that last part… well, I had a muse for most of this chapter, but it's gone like a freight train, gone like Yesterday, gone like a soldier in the Civil war, bang bang… yeah… crude, but it popped into my head. Also: Naruto and Yasu have earned the title the 'twosome'. I couldn't be any more proud. They might earn some more titles soon… Heheheh…. Ooh, suspense!!!