Chapter 33: Proper Representation
"You're going with Nomad to meet the other twelve. You're the representative for Konoha, so this is a mission," Tsunade said.
"What? I just got back!" Naruto said.
"He chose you, so you go. And if you misrepresent Konoha there…" Tsunade said threatening.
Naruto took a step back, "Ah! Yeah, I won't do anything to misrepresent Konoha," Naruto said quickly.
Tsunade nodded to him and Naruto left, Sakura right behind him. They walked back to Naruto's apartment, covering this distance for the third time in about an hour. When they got to his apartment however, they couldn't relax.
Rather, Naruto couldn't, he had to unpack his bag of what was dirty and such, and repack it with clean clothes and such. Sakura could've easily relaxed, but that would mean Naruto would be doing this alone, so she helped, even after he told her she didn't have to.
By the time they had finished Naruto was very pissed at Tsunade. Night had fallen and the only time he got to spend with Sakura on his day back was packing. He'd have to get to sleep soon to be rested up for leaving tomorrow. He was about to vent his anger but Sakura spoke first.
"It's kinda annoying that the only time we got together was packing your stuff for your mission," she said.
"Yeah, that's what I was thinking," Naruto said plopping himself into a chair.
Sakura sat down too, "you wanna get something to eat before you have to get to sleep?" she asked.
"Sure, where?" Naruto asked.
Sakura paused a moment, 'did he just give me the choice of where to go?' "um, I don't know, anywhere you wanna go?" she asked.
"As long as you're having what you want, I'll be good," Naruto said stretching.
"Okay, what's the deal?" Sakura asked standing up.
Naruto looked at her utterly confused, "Huh?"
"You're acting really weird. Giving me the choice of where to go, not saying you want ramen when I give you the choice! What are you up to?" Sakura asked.
"Every time we used to go out we'd argue over having ramen or not. And I'd usually win. I'm avoiding that," Naruto said.
"Oh," Sakura said sitting down, "thanks," she said meekly.
Naruto grinned, "you said you were sick of having ramen, so you pick something else," Naruto said.
"When did I say that?" Sakura asked.
"Day before the third test," Naruto said getting up and checking he packed everything he needed.
'How does he remember that? I don't even remember it, and I said it.' Sakura shook her head, and was grateful Naruto didn't notice, "Lest just go for a walk and see if we find a place," she said.
Naruto closed up his bag, "sure," he said with a smile.
x-X-x
The next morning at sunrise Naruto found himself at the gates of Konoha leaving again. Another mission of importance beyond his understanding, and another unknown period of time to be gone. Jiraiya had already told Naruto about the first shinobi, the Twelve Terrors so he knew of them. But new questions had appeared in his mind since the events yesterday.
"Hey, Nomad," Naruto said.
"What?" Nomad asked.
"Can I ask you a few questions?" Naruto asked.
"Ask as much as you want, it doesn't bind me to answer," Nomad said.
"Huh?" Naruto asked.
"I won't answer if I don't want to," Nomad said.
Naruto breathed out heavily, "Fine. But how did you get byakugan?" Naruto asked.
"I was first to have it. Each of us twelve have a bloodline limit. And each bloodline limit has it's origins in us," Nomad said.
"Who has the sharingan?" Naruto asked.
"None that was developed from the byakugan" Nomad said.
Naruto paused a moment, "how long were you all dead?" Naruto asked.
"Over a thousand years. Could even be two thousand. We were brought back by the same scroll as you," Nomad said.
"What? How did you know I died? How was it the same scroll?" Naruto asked.
"It was stolen from you Hokage. She has it back now, but the jutsu was copied down. And I was informed of your deeds while I visited the village. Your pink haired friend was abound with stories of your adventures," Nomad said.
Naruto laughed a bit, "Sakura," was all he said.
"Does she know of your feeling for her, and do you know of hers?" Nomad asked.
"Yeah, we know. But how do you?" Naruto asked.
"There are some things I don't need byakugan to see," Nomad said and there was silence between the two for a while.
"So where are we going?" Naruto asked.
"We have no home. We wanted to learn what came of our decadents so we separated and decided to meet again in one month. If any of us found a place where we could live easily we were to bring a representative for the others to meet. That's why you're here," Nomad said.
"Why did you choose to be called Nomad?" Naruto asked.
"I didn't. Its what they called me," Nomad said.
"Who, the other twelve?" Naruto asked.
"There's twelve total, eleven others. And no. we were named by the people of the village we trained in," Nomad said.
Naruto was silent for a moment, trying to remember all the others names. Some weren't positive. "About how long until we get there?" Naruto asked.
It's about a three day journey walking. We have to be there in about two. How fast can you move?" Nomad asked.
"How fast do you need?" Naruto asked with a grin.
Nomad returned it, "just keep up. I'm not gunna slow down for you," Nomad said.
"You won't have to," Naruto replied.
At that Nomad took to the trees at an accelerated rate. Naruto right behind him. Nomad sped up, and Naruto kept up. Nomad grinned, 'let's see if he can keep up with me at top speed,' Nomad thought as he went as fast as he could.
Naruto was left behind, but only momentarily. He soon caught up to Nomad, and kept inline beside him. Nomad was able to conceal his exterior surprise, but he couldn't help but grin.
x-X-x
A day and a half later Nomad stopped and Naruto soon did the same. They jumped to the ground and Nomad started walking away. Naruto quickly by his side.
"Are we close?" Naruto asked.
"Yes. And stay quiet, we've met the Alliance in this area," Nomad said.
"The Alliance!" Naruto yelled.
Nomad spun around and slapped his hand over Naruto's mouth, "yes, so shut up and we might manage to get out of here without a confrontation," Nomad said.
"But you're so powerful, all those stories, you could probably kill all of 'em on your own," Naruto said grinning.
"All those stories are comparing us to people who couldn't use chakra. In reality we're only at about Kage level," Nomad said.
Naruto raised an eyebrow, "You know a lot of things from now that weren't around back then," he said.
"I've been in Konoha for a month, the Hokage has been very helpful filling me in on what I've missed," Nomad said stopping.
They had entered a small clearing and were not the only ones there. Sitting around the edge of the clearing and in some of the trees were eight other people. Naruto looked at all of them, mesmerized by their appearance, while they looked at him confusingly.
"You four a village Nomad?" one asked.
"Yeah, did any of you?" Nomad asked.
All eight shook their heads. One jumped to his feet and walked over to Naruto, "Hi, I'm Edge, what's you're name?"
"Um, Naruto," Naruto said taking a step back.
"Yes, this is Edge, that's Dragoon, Sage, Strag, Stone, Dea, Lax, and Sin," Nomad said pointing to each in turn. "Any word about Grim, Frost or Wiseman?"
"No, and I'm not surprised about Grim or Frost, but Wiseman is usually early," Dea said.
"Yeah, I wonder…" Nomad said looking around then sitting down.
"This is so weird, three years ago I've never even heard of you, now I've met almost all of you," Naruto said.
"That's very complementing," a voice said as two beings walked into the clearing.
"Ah, Naruto that's Frost and Grim," Nomad said pointing to the two newcomers in turn.
"Naruto is it? I'm guessing you found a village Nomad," Frost said sitting down.
"No, Naruto's just a stranger he found on the way here," Grim said hopping into a tree.
"Wiseman's last," Edge said looking around.
"Yeah, I wonder…" Nomad said again as his eyes turned white.
"You know Nomad, you don't have to conceal your eyes anymore, people are used to seeing the byakugan," Naruto said.
"Yeah, but it keeps my ability hidden, plus this ain't byakugan," Nomad said.
"Then what is it?" Naruto asked.
"Byakugan has nearly 360 degrees, I have a full 360 degrees," Nomad said.
"Heh, same here, the trait now is weaker and more limited than what I can do," Dragoon said.
"I'm willing to bet it's like that everywhere," a man said as he appeared in the center of the clearing, "and sorry I'm late but I had a little run in with our awakener."
"Naruto's that's Wiseman, and which awakener, I don't see anyone," Nomad said.
"The only one we know, and I wouldn't be surprised if he's headed this way. I tried to throw him off, but after the month I had, I can't fight him back," Wiseman said.
"What happened?" Edge asked.
"I'll explain after we handle this. Strag, any ideas on how to pull this off?" Wiseman asked.
"Kill or get away?" Strag asked.
"Kill, we used the free pass, and we're gunna need to kill them eventually," Wiseman said.
Strag nodded and began thinking. Naruto, however, was slightly confused, "Who's your awakener?" Naruto asked.
"From the Alliance, guy named Roken," Nomad said.
"Roken!" Naruto said clenching and unclenching his fists.
"Yeah, the Alliance brought us back, he's the only one we got to see the face of, and he's here now. I think we're still to close to their base," Nomad said.
"I'm not here," Naruto said.
"What?" Nomad asked.
"Don't do anything till Roken gets here, and act like I'm not here," Naruto said.
Nomad was about to ask what Naruto was talking about when he vanished in a cloud of smoke. "Hey, whatever you're planning, Naruto already started his own. He said not to do anything and just act like he never came," Nomad said.
"How trustworthy are his plans?" Sin asked.
"Never heard one before. But I would say to give him the chance, Strag, if you want to have a plan, get a backup," Nomad said.
"This is insane, he's just a kid," Dragoon said.
"Reports are he killed Kyuubi," Nomad said.
"No way in hell," Lax said.
"Hey, later. Roken's almost in earshot," Stone said.
Silence fell upon the twelve as they waited for Roken to arrive, waited for Naruto to use his plan. Soon they heard what Stone did earlier, the sound of someone approaching through the trees. The sound ended with the arrival of a man all too familiar to the twelve before him, and the one who vanished.
"Hey, since you used that pass, does that mean I can kill you now?" Roken asked.
"Oh, when'd you find your backbone?" Dragoon asked.
"Yeah, a month ago you were wetting your pants at the sight of us, now you think you can kill us?" Grim asked.
"I've admitted my failure, I've admitted that I was wrong. I've also learned you're nothing special, just another bunch of ninjas at a high level. You're not gods, and you're gunna meet them," Roken said pulling out his katana.
"We already died, death threats don't scare us," Stone said.
"That's right, you're already dead, we already got twelve dead here," Roken said.
"What'dya say we go for fourteen?" a voice asked behind Roken.