Chapter 6.
Naruto stumbled out of the tent early the next morning.
Way too early. The sun was just beginning to rise.
He groaned and rubbed his eyes wearily to get the sleep out of them and he blinked.
Suddenly he fell backwards and hit the floor as two shurikan passed over his head. Well. He hadn't been expecting THAT for a wakeup call.
"Training will commence. You are the last to rise boy." Utakata said with a smile, two more shurikan in his hand.
There was a rustle of leaves and Yugito shot out of the bush and tackled Utakata and he scraped the shurikan along her stomach as they rolled.
She screeched with an animal fury and raked her nails across his cheek in retaliation. They disappeared from view as they rolled into the lake with a mighty 'splash'.
Naruto didn't have time to watch though, as Gaara hurled himself at Naruto and wrapped tendrils of sand around him. Naruto went crashing to the floor with a yell and did a quick hand seal.
Immediately Kage-Bunshin were on hand in their hundreds, and they were prising Gaara off of him, and drawing the sand away.
They attacked Gaara in their multiples, but Gaara saw straight though it, and several cleverly used sand swords cut them all cleanly into ribbons.
They glared at each other, but before they could strike a flash of silver interrupted them, and they were jumping back side by side as Killer Bee entered the arena, his katanas reflecting the sun's early rays of light.
Naruto looked to Gaara who nodded.
Killer Bee launched himself at them, his katanas one big blur as they spun and weaved around him, searching for a weakening as they dodged back and forth in front of him. Being just there…but just that little bit out of reach.
Naruto danced to the side as Gaara attacked with his sand from the front.
'One minute you're fighting against one another, the next you're working together. Such madness.' The Kyuubi tutted.
'…Shut up.' Both Gaara and Naruto shot back to the Nine-tails.
Shukaku just laughed again.
It was all he ever did really.
Gaara sent out a few probing tendrils of sand towards Bee from the front as Naruto slipped around the back and summoned three Kage-Bunshin.
Killer Bee swatted the sand away with the flats of his blurring blades and jumped backwards slightly.
Straight into Naruto's Rasengan.
He arched his back and roared in pain.
That was when they realised. There was a log in its place.
A log with a hole in the middle.
A hole which was occupied with Naruto's fist.
Which was stuck.
"Oh hell." Naruto muttered as he tried…and failed…to pull his hand out.
Gaara raised an eyebrow at him and Naruto sweat dropped as Gaara launched himself at Naruto.
Seeing no other choice, Naruto made a huge effort and spun round, and gaining momentum, he swung the log round and up and caught Gaara in the stomach with a sumo-yell.
Gaara, however, managed to flip in mid-air and skidded backwards along the floor as he landed, with one hand on the ground as the other massaged his stomach tenderly.
He growled slightly and straightened up, at the same time, Naruto freed his hand from the log, and Killer Bee launched himself at Gaara, and Gaara leapt at Naruto, and Naruto went after Killer Bee murderously.
They were all within inches of each other…
…But suddenly their progress was halted by a bubble exploding from the surface of the lake.
They stopped, frozen to the spot as they watched in astonishment as Yugito, her whole being completely soaked with water, slipped around inside the bubble, screeching as she fell over on the slippery surface of the bubble.
Naruto listened as the Kyuubi inside of him cackled hysterically.
Talk about 'rolling on the floor laughing my ass off'. The Fox was probably the only one in the shinobi world who knew what it felt like at that precise moment.
Utakata rose to the surface gracefully, removing his pipe from his mouth. Killer Bee grinned suddenly and turned, picking Naruto and Gaara up by the shoulders and throwing them bodily out to the lake.
Utakata stared in amazement as they came flying towards him and then grunted as the two boys hit him simultaneously, sending all three of them headfirst into the ice-cold lake.
Yugito Nii, was freed from the bubble…
From extremely high up in the air.
Her arms flailed uselessly as the forces of gravity pulled her back down to the earth.
With a grin, she twisted in mid air at the last second and hit the ground on all fours, making the ground shudder with the impact.
"Hah. Cats land on their feet. Always." She said smugly, standing up and dusting herself off as Utakata, Gaara and Naruto stepped out from the lake, completely drenched.
And complaining.
"T-T-That was harsh Bee!" Utakata said, his teeth chattering slightly.
'Y-Y-You overgrown…jellyfish!' The Fox shivered, as Naruto's teeth were unable to move. He was slightly scared that it was going to fall off.
Which was ridiculous.
Gaara however.
Collapsed.
"…I don't think he likes cold water." Yugito said with a snort.
"Water's good for the soul, he's just another sand mole." Killer Bee rapped with a grin.
"Sand…Coff-" Gaara muttered weakly but promptly put his head on the shingle at the side of the lake.
Killer Bee rolled his eyes and picked the youngest Kazekage in history up and draped him by the early morning fire, which Naruto had just started up in a futile attempt to get warm and dry.
"All in all…I think that was a very successful training exercise." Utakata said with a slight smile.
'Can we eat now? I really want to eat. I feel hungry. Let's eat.' The nine-tails said suddenly in the middle of an awkward silence as they sat around the fire.
Naruto, Bee, Yugito and Utakata all rolled their eyes.
And then all of their stomachs gurgled and Gaara came to, blinking in the firelight.
"Ok…he has a point." Naruto muttered.
Yugito and Naruto were hunting. Naruto had his kunai out at first, but the fox irritably told him to put it away.
Naruto rolled his eyes but listened to Yugito as she told him how to focus.
"Just use your other senses. Cats and Foxes have that in common. This should come slightly naturally. Focus on the hunt. You're going to like this. Trust me." Yugito said shortly.
She wasn't one to waste words.
Naruto subconsciously felt himself going to all fours as the Kyuubi subtly took over for a few precious seconds and directed chakra to Naruto's eyes, ears, nose and mouth.
He could feel…well…everything.
It was all so clear.
And that was when he heard a rustling to his right. And he whipped his head to the right, his blonde hair flopping into his eyes slightly.
He tensed as he relied on his other senses to guide him.
He burst forward suddenly at the same time as Yugito did.
They hadn't seen each other, and they were going so fast that they barrelled headlong into each other. Yugito snarled and Naruto growled back.
They mirrored each other and raised a hand to swipe at the other, but as their hands connected, it was like they got an electric shock.
They couldn't pull their hands apart.
"What's…What's going on?"
'Shut up brat!'
Yugito suddenly heard something that she had never heard the cat do to someone, or something else ever before.
The two-tailed monster cat purred in satisfaction as the Nine-tails chakra mingled with its own.
'You stupid fuzz ball…You haven't changed.'
'Neither have you…you beautiful feline…'
"Oh my god." Yugito gasped in shock, forgetting about trying to pull away from Naruto.
"You guys…are…are…"
'Yeah well. Our relationship is our relationship. Whether we are basically a part of each other or not…Then again…if you two fall in love, I would have absolutely NO objection if you wanted to try and-' The Nine-tailed fox started to suggest.
"NO!" Yugito said hurriedly in anger.
"ABSOLUTELY NOT!" Naruto said simultaneously.
"HIM?" Yugito asked in disbelief.
"HER?" Naruto questioned in disgusted amazement.
'I think that's a no.' The monster cat sighed.
'Shame…' The demonic fox said, mirroring the sigh.
'I'm still here for you…' The two-tails purred.
'I haven't felt you like this for over a hundred years. It makes my fur stand on end.' The Kyuubi's voice rumbled with a similar, more fox like purr.
"Get a room!" Naruto said in panic as he suddenly felt the Kyuubi start to take over his body.
"No! No! I refuse to rape little boys!" Yugito yelled as the cat did the same.
"I'm not a little boy!" Naruto yelled back.
Suddenly Utakata arrived on the scene.
"Uhh…Everything ok?" He asked in confusion. Then he saw how they were positioned.
Naruto trapping Yugito beneath him.
"This so ISN'T what it looks like." Naruto explained in a panicked tone.
"And never will be." Yugito muttered.
Utakata bent double in hysterical laughter.
"BEE! THE FOX AND CAT ARE AT IT AGAIN! HAHAHAHA!" He laughed hysterically, clutching a tree for support.
The Kyuubi and Monster Cat were so surprised at his arrival that it gave both Yugito and Naruto precious seconds to re-gain control of their bodies once more and jump away from each other.
Yugito glared at Utakata from where she was now perched in a tree.
"If you don't shut up you slimy git, I will make sure that there is a new kind of slug sushi on the menu." She growled.
Naruto ignored all of it and completely ignored the Kyuubi as he stalked off to go and catch their breakfast to the sounds of Killer Bee's and Utakata's laughter.
Breakfast wasn't a huge event.
As Gaara refused to talk to Killer Bee, and Killer Bee just smirked at the childish game.
"So. What's our plan of action?" Utakata asked as Yugito fumed silently, ripping into her rabbit with trails of red pouring down her teeth and chin.
Naruto gulped at the sight and avoided her gaze.
"Uhh…I don't really know. We could…Uhh…" Naruto stammered. He hadn't really thought that far ahead.
"How about luring them out?" Gaara spoke up quickly.
"Huh? I just don't understand, this guy from the sand. " Killer Bee rapped out, his sunglasses reflecting their small campfire.
"They wanted Hidan and Kakuzu to get the two-tails first right? They still won't know where she went. If we were to get them out here after her…somehow remove their rings from them to avoid communication, and destroy them…technically we'll have two Akatsuki members down." Gaara explained patiently, his red hair falling in his eyes as he watched the flames dancing and crackling.
"Ok…But we'd have to surround them…And I don't see how that's going to work if we can't communicate telepathically from long distances…" Utakata said slowly.
"That's easily solved. We use these." Yugito said quickly, reaching into her backpack and getting out small earpieces and handing them out to them all.
"Oh cool! Headsets! I remember these from my early days missions…" Naruto said fondly as he took one which was gingerly offered to him.
He made sure not to make any physical contact with Yugito…just in case.
"Well that's that sorted I suppose…" Utakata said as he fixed his on and tested it.
"Ok. Here's how we go about it. We'll start at noon, when the sun is highest…" Gaara said, leaning forward slightly as he outlined his plan.
At five minutes to noon a couple of hours later, they all settled into their hiding places and waited. The perfect images of stealth.
"Bubbles, come in Bubbles." Naruto said into his headset, adjusting his hidden microphone so that it was comfortable.
"Shut up. Don't call me Bubbles…Whiskers." Came Utakata's sigh from the other end.
"Whiskers to Horny, you hearing me?" Naruto said, immediately grinning at his code name.
"Yo boy, we be hearin', so let's bust this clearing'!" Killer Bee rapped down the microphone.
"Whiskers to Mascara, are you-""Naruto. If you DARE call me Mascara one more time, I will hand you back to the leaf village so that your Sensei can kick your ass. Sandstorm will do just fine." Gaara snapped.
Naruto gulped, which did not go unnoticed by Gaara on the other end of the line, who smirked.
"Duly noted Sandstorm." Naruto said warily.
"Nine-lives is also checking in. Has reached the clearing and is all set to go." Yugito's voice cut in playfully.
"Great! Are we ready?" Naruto asked them, flexing his neck and shoulders in anticipation.
"Mess wit the best, n' they die like the rest! Yo!" Killer Bee rapped enthusiastically.
"…"
"…"
"…"
"…I can roll with that." Naruto nodded slightly.
"Word, Thanks Naruto, yo." Killer Bee grimaced.
"Well, never thought I'd say this…But let's bust this joint!" Yugito said with a malicious smile from the middle of the clearing, flexing her rapidly growing…claws.
Ok, please review. I know it was a bit shorter than the others, but I'mma starting to get going here.
Please review!
Otherwise you will be forced to watch tailed porno's. xD
Will update soon! Promise! =D
Kaitaru, over and out. ;)
XxxXxxX