Chapter4. The Forgotten Hero and Sasuke's Gone Insane
"-then he jumped in front of me and took the hit. Then he fell back dead in my arms."Naruto was telling Obito and the Nidaime what she had seen. Naruto had made a deal with the Shodaime. At least two of them would come if she called for help. If it was a real emergency then all of them would come.
"So you are saying Sasuke is going to die saving you?"The Nidaime's eyebrows rose. " I thought he hated you."
"I know." Obito suddenly exclaimed. Naruto and Nidaime turned to face him. " He is secretly madly in love with you but he hasn't had the courage to tell you . So when the needle is aiming for your heart-"Naruto's fist crashed into Obito's face and he went flying. The Nidaime just shook his head sadly. Naruto had been wanting to hit him since yesterday and he just had to go and piss her off again. Well at least Obito will phase through all the trees he was sent flying through.
"Uzumaki,what are you doing?"some asked entering the clearing. "Shouldn't you be getting wood for the fire?"
"Eh? Scarecrow?" Naruto said looking to where Kakashi leaned against the tree .
"What were you doing?"Kakashi repeated.
Naruto laughed nervously rubbing the back of her head. She sent a helpless glance towards the Nidaime.
He shrugged. "You were swatting a mosquito."he suggested weakly.
"Just getting rid of some pesky mosquitoes." Naruto answered her sensei.
"I see. Your swatting invisible mosquitoes when you should be getting firewood." Kakashi clearly wasn't buying it.
Naruto shrugged and went to pick up some wood for the stupid fire with Kakashi watching her.
"So you want to tell me, who taught you the kage bunshin no jutsu?" Kakashi asked after a few minutes of silence.
Naruto froze for a moment before resuming her task. She couldn't tell him ,hey I was trained by the King of Demons and the First and Second Hokage so what could you except.
"Well, you see one day as I was walking a black cat crossed my path. Being the young naïve child I was back then I continued on the same road." Naruto stood with her firewood and headed in the direction of the camp. " Then out of nowhere a vicious man eating clown attacked me. I thought I was a goner until these two nice old men came along with their loudmouth grandson." The Nidaime and Obito glared at her.
"I'm not old."Nidaime huffed indignantly, never mind that he was over a hundred years old.
"And I am not loudmouthed."Obito yelled at her.
"They saved me." Naruto went on ignoring the two pissed off ghosts behind her. " Of course, then they made me do all the house chores in return.It was horrible. You'd ya thought it was alive the way it moved. Anyway, as a parting gift they taught me the kage bunshin no jutsu.From that day forward I learned to never walk across a black cats path." Naruto glanced back at Kakashi to see his expression.
Naruto was surprised to see his face was sent in a grim line instead of the usually cheerful face he put on. Well , she was a bad liar anyway. She sighed softly. " Relax Kakashi. Konoha's resident demon has promised to be on her best behavior. I won't hurt anyone. I gave my word to the Sandaime."
That startled Kakashi. That she would refer to herself like that so simply and then assume that he had been asking because he deemed her a threat. When in reality he had only asked because he had wanted to know how advanced she really was. It seemed Naruto didn't trust him at all.
"Naruto,that wasn't-"he began but stopped since they had reached the camp
Naruto gave the firewood to Sakura and sat down.
Kakashi sighed. It looked like he would have to talk with his youngest student later.
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"Tazuna-san before the boat gets to shore there's something I need to ask you." Kakashi said, studying Tazuna with a critical eye. " The identity of the ones who are after you and why they are after you?"
"Or we can call this mission off when we get to shore, Tazuna-san."he added his tone polite but holding a hint of threat.
Naruto looked at the water's murky depths as Tazuna explained Waves crisis. It was the same thing Akio had told her.
"But I don't understand. He's a dangerous man that uses ninjas.Why did you hide that fact when you came to us?"Kakashi asked after everyone had grasped what the situation was.
"Scarecrow, honestly use your brain. Wave is a country that is being controlled by a money hungry tyrant. Do you think they are going to have the money to afford a B rank mission much less an A rank one?"Naruto said before Tazuna had a chance to reply.
"If you quit your mission, after I land I'll be killed for sure." Tazuna looked up from under his hat. " But theres no reason for you to blame yourselves. Only my cute eight year old grandson will cry and cry and cry some more. And my daughter will only hold a grudge against Konoha ninja and live a lonely life for ever."
" But it's not your fault." the old bridge builder added after a moment.
Naruto coughed into her hand smothering a laugh. This guy reminded her of her grandfather. They both knew how to milk it . By the looks of it Tazuna had hooked her team with that guilt speech of his.
"I guess it can't be helped. We'll continue escorting you." For a former Anbu, Kakashi was a real sucker.
"That's good to hear." The old man pretended to be relieved but Naruto saw him give himself a victory sign and laughed silently to herself. Yup, this guy was exactly like her grandfather.
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They had departed from the boat and were on their way to Tazuna's house. Naruto's nose prickled. She rubbed it in annoyance. She could already feel someone was here without here nose bothering her about it.
Her skin tingled giving her goosebumps. Her senses were all on high alert. Naruto didn't have to look up to know someone was here and he was watching them from the trees.
Naruto felt something slicing the air coming towards and them and took cover before Kakashi could say "Duck."
Sakura and Sasuke had only to swerve to the side to avoid the hit. It nearly hit Tazuna who managed to avoid it at the last second. The huge sword embedded itself into a tree.
A man with a hidden mist forehead protector appeared on the hilt of the sword.
"Oh, my ,my, you are Momochi Zabuza, the exiled ninja of the Hidden Mist." Kakashi remarked as casually as if he were talking about which volume of Icha Icha was coming out next.
"I'm guessing your Kakashi of the Sharingan eye."Zabuza commented as he gave Kakashi a look over."Sorry, I'll need you to hand over the old geezer."
Kakashi lifted his forehead protector from over his left eye revealing the fabled Sharingan. Sasuke glanced at Kakashi surprised , recognizing his clan's famous doujutsu.
"Everyone, form the swastika formation. Protect Tazuna-san."Kakashi ordered. "Don't join the battle. To not interfere with the battle is teamwork."
"I'm honored that I can see the Sharingan I've heard so much about." Mist started to seep in the clearing. Zabuza crouched down on his knees. "Enough chit chat. I have to kill that old geezer right away."
Team seven quickly did as Kakashi had ordered them to do before. Zabuza pulled his sword out of the tree and jumped down on the water. He made a hand sign and seemed to be swallowed up by the mist.
"He disappeared." Sakura exclaimed. " Sensei, what is he?"
"Momochi Zabuza was in the Hidden Mist village's ANBU. He was known for his silent killing techniques."Kakashi stood in front of them figuring that Zabuza would want to eliminate him first.
"Silent?" Sakura repeated fearfully.
"Just as the name suggests, its a killing technique thats executed in a flash and without a sound.It's possible you'll be dead before you even realize it.And I cannot use my Sharingan to its fullest potential.So don't let your guard down."Kakashi explained.
Naruto narrowed her eyes at him in annoyance. There was a jounin out there that was about to use that technique on them and he's busy giving lectures.
"But if you fail, your only going to die." the copy nin added as an after thought.
"How can you say that so carefree!"Sakura shouted at him.
Naruto wished they would just shut up. She was trying to get a read on this guy with her chakra web. She had found him but he is moving to fast for her web to keep up. But Naruto could guess the way he would appear.
"The mist is getting thicker." Naruto whispered to herself. Her fighting instinct's were on the rise. Zabuza was coming. Naruto willed her body not to move. She was probably a match for Zabuza but she had been cautioned by the Shodaime and the Nidaime to keep her abilities secret. As irritating as it was , she couldn't allow herself to fight above a genin's level.
"Eight points." Zabuza's voice rang out through out the clearing not seeming to come from any direction. "The larynx,spine, lungs, liver, jugular vein, kidney, and heart. Now, which vital organ do you want to get struck at?"
Kakashi put his hands in a seal and chakra started pouring out of him moving the mist away from them.Naruto, could feel Sakura and Sasuke's emotion's easily. They were as expected terrified. This was their first encounter with an opponent with such bloodthirst.
Naruto wasn't phased at all by the killing intent radiating from the mist concealed ninja. She had felt worst. She was however at a disadvantage. She had fought demons, witches, wizards, vampires , werewolves and various other dangerous creatures. She had never really fought with a ninja before even though she was trained in genjutsu, taijustu and ninjustu. She wasn't accustomed to a ninja fighting style.
Naruto saw from the corner of her eye Sasuke's hand trembling with the kunai in hand. An avenger valued life above all so that he could complete his goal. Sasuke couldn't stand to feel the blood lust of two jounins. The feeling that your life is in someone else's hands.
"Sasuke.Don't worry. I'll protect you three with my life.I won't let anyone on my team die."He turned to smile at them.
'That isn't what you told Obito the day he died.'Naruto was surprised at her bitterness. It wasn't Kakashi's fault. Obito had made his own choice. It had been his life or Kakashi's. He had chosen Kakashi's. Then why did she feel such an unquelling anger at seeing the eye that was Obito's with Kakashi.
"I don't know about that." Zabuza said , reappearing in between them at a perfect position to chop off Tazuna's head. "It's the end."
Zabuza lifted his sword to strike . Kakashi sprang forward stabbing Zabuza in the stomach. Naruto knew that wasn't Zabuza because instead of blood coming forth water was coming from the wound. The Zabuza in front of Kakashi dissolved into water and the Zabuza that had appeared behind Kakashi cut him in half with his sword.
Kakashi also dissolved into water. The real Kakashi appeared behind Zabuza with a kunai to his neck.
"Don't move." Kakashi warned. "This is the end."
Zabuza laughed and Naruto could tell by his laugh that things were way from over. "Is this the end? You don't understand. You can't defeat me with just your indiscriminate imitations.I can assure you that."
Another Zabuza appeared behind Kakashi. The Zabuza that Kakashi had at kunai neck point burst into a puddle of water.
Zabuza swung his sword at Kakashi . Kakashi ducked, a mistake on his part. Zabuza swung his sword with such force that it cracked the solid ground and embedded itself in the ground. Zabuza twisted his hands on the sword and let go. Sending Kakashi flying into the water with a sidekick.
Zabuza pulled the sword out of the ground and ran toward Kakashi. Zabuza suddenly came to a stop. There were cal traps on the ground before him. Pretty useless, when Zabuza just jumped onto the water behind Kakashi.
Naruto saw it before Kakashi but it was too late to warn him. Zabuza had finished the seals and Kakashi was trapped in the missing nins Hydro prison technique.
Naruto was currently cursing Kakashi in every language she knew, which were quite a few . What idiot jumps into an enemies territory? 'Zabuza's a missing-nin from the Hidden Mist Village. Now let's guess what types of jutsu's they use there. Ding-Dong, Scarecrow you win the new water coffin. Especially designed to keep you locked in until your torn to pieces, right after Zabuza deals with us.'
"You three have forehead protectors as if your ninja." Zabuza's clone said not really caring that Naruto wasn't wearing a leaf forehead protector. "But ninjas refer to someone who has gone through numerous life and death situations.In other words, you can call yourselves ninja after you appear in my bingo book.You three aren't ninja."
Naruto felt his kick coming her way and instinctively caught his foot in her hand. Zabuza's eyes widened in surprise along with team seven and Tazuna.
Zabuza brought his sword crashing down. Naruto back flipped out of the way. There was a small crater where Naruto would've been if she hadn't moved.
"Well, now. It looks like we have ourselves some kind of prodigy."Naruto glared at him. She hated that word.
"Oh .no?" Zabuza asked catching Naruto's glare. " Maybe not a prodigy but your not like these other brats. I can see it in the way you reacted. It was instinctive. You weren't phased at all by the killing intent before either. Your a brat who has been in life or death situations. Quite often from what I see."
Naruto grimaced. Like she needed her secrets broadcasted to the entire team. It was bad enough Kakashi was suspicious but now he was probably even more suspicious along with her entire team.
"Everyone, take Tazuna and run. You can't win against him.He can't move as long as he has me trapped in this prison.He also won't be able to use his water clone once you get away from here."Kakashi yelled to them from his prison.
"Run? You've got be joking, Scarecrow. One minute you are talking about teamwork and the next you are telling us to abandon you. Sorry but I won't be called scum for something as stupid as this." Naruto yelled angrily to him.
A ray of shuriken suddenly came rushing toward Zabuza. Sasuke was heading toward Zabuza. He had realized what Naruto had realized. The only way to get out of this was to set Kakashi free.
Zabuza blocked Sasuke's shuriken with his sword. Sasuke leaped up and tried to get Zabuza from the air. Zabuza caught Sasuke by the neck and threw him back.
"Sasuke-kun!'Sakura cried worried.
Naruto was taking the time Sasuke had provided to come up with a plan. She needed to find a way to set Kakashi free using the kage bunshin jutsu and the academy jutsu's. 'Think, think. Zabuzas clone is irrelevant. We have to force the real Zabuza to release the hydro prison. But the only way he would do that is if he needed both of his hands...That's it!'
Naruto charged with at Zabuza. " Baka. Stop." Kakashi yelled.
"Naruto, what are you thinking?" Sakura pulled at her hair.
Naruto made a hand signal and there were twenty more Naruto's surrounding the Zabuza clone.Naruto's clone's got decimated easily until Naruto was sent flying back.
"What are you thinking, charging in like that on your own? Even Sasuke-kun is no match for him Genins like us, have no way of beating him no matter what we try!" Sakura yelled at her as Naruto stood up whipping the blood from her mouth with her sleeve.
"Shut it. Maybe you like to stand like a helpless little girl and wait to be rescued but I swore a long time ago to never stand by and do nothing even if it costs me my life. I've never gone back on my word and now is no exception." Naruto turned to Zabuza and grinned cheekily.
"Hey, you no-brow freak. Put this in your bingo book, I'm Uzumaki Naruto , the one who's about to teach you a lesson in seeing underneath the underneath. Be sure to take notes."
"Are you trying to get him to kill you?" Sakura hissed at her.
Zabuza started to laugh. The laugh sent chill's down everyones spines.Zabuza continued to laugh his shoulders shaking with mirth. "You sure don't learn, do you? You still haven't learned. Still ,pretending to be ninja. When I was your age, my hands were covered with blood."
Naruto could feel her teams fear returning tenfold.
"The demon Zabuza."Kakashi said
"Oh, you've heard of me."Zabuza said.
"Along time ago the Hidden Mist Village was known as the Bloody Mist Village.In that village there existed an obstacle to becoming a ninja."Kakashi informed them
"Oh so you also know about the final test?"Zabuza chuckled.
"What was this final test?" Sakura's raging curiosity won over gut wrenching fear.
"Students killing each other." Zabuza answered gleefully. "Friends who have eaten from the same pot are separated into two and forced to fight each other.Until one of them is killed. This is done with friends that have helped each other, shared their dreams and competed with each other."
"That's awful." Sakura whispered horrified, probably regretting ever asking the question.
"Ten years ago, the Hidden Mist village had to go through a reformation." Kakashi continued. "Because in the last year a monster appeared that finally decided it."
"A reformation? What did this monster do?" Sakura asked.
"A small boy who had not even gained the right to be a ninja, killed over 100 of the candidates without any hesitation."Kakashi finished.
"That was fun."Zabuza said with a twisted smile on his face.He charged forward and knocked Sasuke on his back. He kneed Sasuke in the gut. Blood burst from Sasuke's mouth. Zabuza planted his foot on Sasuke's stomach and his hand reached for his sword.
Naruto smirked and charged again with thirty clones behind her.They distracted Zabuza's attention so Naruto could get Sasuke out of there. She handed him to Sakura. One by one Naruto's clones were destroyed until she remained . She pulled her backpack off and pulled out a Fuuma Suriken.
Naruto jumped up in the air and hurled the shuriken toward the real Zabuza. Zabuza caught the shuriken with his other hand. Zabuza looked up in surprise as another shuriken came his way. Zabuza jumped over the shuriken this time.
Naruto smirked. He fell for it. The Shuriken unhenged to reveal the real Naruto. Naruto let loose a string of kunai aiming for Zabuza.He hurriedly pulled his hand out of the prison releasing Kakashi like Naruto had planned.The kunai's whizzed pass Zabuza but one kunai scratched Zabuza under the eye.
Zabuza twirled the shuriken in his hand ."You damn kid." Before he could send the shuriken toward Naruto, Kakashi stopped it with his hand.
Naruto breathed a sigh of relief until she fell into the water. Naruto growled, she was soaked to the bone. She was going to get Kakashi back for this.
"Naruto,your plan was impressive."Kakashi complimented. " You all have grown."
"Yeah, yeah. You can send me a thank you card and some chocolates after you whoop no eyebrows ass."Naruto replied, swimming to sure to avoid being a victim in the upcoming battle.
Zabuza and Kakashi both jumped a distance from each other. Zabuza started to form hand seals with Kakashi coping it perfectly.
"Suiton Suiryuudan no Jutsu." the two jounins yelled in unison. Two dragons made from water rose from the lake and clashed head on. Creating a tidal wave that soaked everyone on shore.
Naruto gritted her teeth. She was definitely going to get Kakashi for this later. She had just made it to shore only to be completely submerged in that wave and soaked by the water she had been trying to escape.
When the water cleared Naruto saw Kakashi holding against Zabuza's huge sword(An: what is it called?) with a kunai.They were at a stalemate, neither being able to push the other back.
Naruto felt the back of her neck prickle. She ignored the on going battle and focused on their surroundings. She used her chakra web to detect anyone in the area.
There was someone in the trees. They were keeping their chakra so low , you would think it's just a squirrel or some other animal. Naruto had felt it before when she was trying to find Zabuza before with her chakra webs but had dismissed it as an animal. 'Stupid. I've been playing with kids so much, I've been relaxing my guard. Damn, I'm losing my touch. There isn't anything I can do now. I'll just have to see what this guy is up to?'
Naruto looked up as Kakashi blasted Zabuza with a Suiton Daibakufu . Zabuza was blasted into a tree, immobilized by the water flooding all around him. At the same time Naruto felt the person who had been watching move toward them.
Kakashi appeared on the tree branch on the tree that Zabuza was resting on.
"How? Can you see the future?" Zabuza asked Kakashi.
"Yeah. You're going to die."Kakashi replied smoothly pulling at a kunai.
Naruto felt something slice the air. Two needles flew right into Zabuza killing him before Kakashi got the chance. Zabuza fell onto the wet muddy ground beneath the tree. Kakashi leaped down from the tree and crouched down next to Zabuza's body. He checked Zabuza's pulse confirming he was dead.
Naruto narrowed her eyes at Zabuza's body. As far as she knew needles weren't really fatal and you would have to hit a vital organ directly if you wanted to cause any harm at all. But there were ways you could hit a person with a needle that would make it seem as if you were dead. She was sure , Zabuza wasn't dead. She could feel his life energy pulsing and if she listened carefully with her advanced hearing she could her Zabuza's faint but beating heart.
Naruto looked up at what she presumed was really Zabuza's comrade. She realized with a start that this was the guy in her vision. The one she had seen kill Sasuke. Now that she could a clear look at him, he couldn't be much older than her.
The man in the tree bowed. " Thank you very much. I was looking for a chance to kill Zabuza."
Kakashi looked at the boy's mask. " Your a hunter-nin from the Hidden Mist Village."
"If you'll excuse me."The hunter-nin jumped down and put Zabuza's arm around his shoulder. He formed a hand seal and a vortex of wind encircled them. When it cleared they were gone.
Kakashi replaced his hiatie over his left eye. Kakashi's right eye widened slowly and he slumped for ward. He didn't hit the ground though because Naruto caught him. She slung him over her shoulder while everyone raced up to them.
"Which way is your house?" Naruto asked Tazuna , as if she carried grown men on her shoulders everyday.
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"Your finally awake."Naruto closed the Book of Shadows she had been reading when she saw Kakashi open his eye.
"Sensei's awake."Sakura exclaimed walking through the door with Tazuna , his daughter and Sasuke trailing behind.
Sakura sat on Kakashi's left. " Sharingan is amazing but it puts a lot of strain on the body. I'm not sure if its good or bad."
"By the way sensei who was the boy with the mask?" Sakura asked.
"He had the mask of a special pursuing squad from the Mist village's ANBU.Their job is to erase any evidence that a ninja was alive. A ninjas body will give away the secrets of its village."Kakashi explained.Kakashi sat up, his face a picture of unease.
"Hunter-nin's are supposed to eliminate the body on the spot. That boy wasn't a real hunter-nin he was Zabuza's accomplice." All heads turned to Naruto's direction.
"That's ridiculous. He killed Zabuza." Sakura said incredulously.
"Did he really?" Sasuke wondered out loud. " The weapon he used was a long needle. Its not the most fatal weapon. Could he have..?" Sasuke trailed off.
"Its exactly as your thinking. Zabuza is alive."Kakashi said finishing Sasuke's trail of thought.
"But sensei you confirmed Zabuza's death." Sakura protested.
"I did but he was mostly likely put into a near death state."Kakashi sighed. "Zabuza is alive."
"WHAT?"the bridge builder and Sakura shouted in unison.
"Naruto, why didn't you say anything if you knew that guy was Zabuza's friend?" Sakura rounded on the blond who was sitting near the window staring out at the ocean.
"If I had said anything then you guys would've tried to stop him and he would've killed us. Scarecrow was already exhausted from his fight with Zabuza. If that guy did attack we would've been finished. That guy had been spying on us the entire fight probably assessing our abilities and especially analyzing Scarecrow's Sharingan. Now, Zabuza's knows how the Sharingan really functions. He won't fall for it again." Naruto said quietly, watching the ocean reflect the sun's light, giving its shimmery surface.
"It won't matter what you do, if you go against Gatou you'll die." said a little boy attracting Naruto's attention. Naruto recognized him instantly as the boy from her dream vision. The one who's father had been killed
"Inari, where were you?" Tazuna hold out his arms so Inari could come into them.
"Inari, say hello to them these are the ninja that escorted grandpa home."Tsunami scolded sternly.
"Mom, there all going to die. There no way anyone can win by going against Gatou."Inari said miserably. heading for the door.
"Inari, where are you going?"Tazuna asked.
"To watch the ocean ." Inari answered sullenly , leaving the room.
"Sensei, how are you going to prepare for this fight before its too late?You can't move for awhile."Sakura inquired after Inari had left.
Kakashi started laughing, never a good sign. " I'm going to make you all go through some training."
"Wait.Even if we train it won't help much. Since the enemy is someone, you Kakashi the Sharingan user, had a difficult time with." Even though she said it politely Naruto could see her shouting on the inside something like' Dammit. Are you try to kill us?'
"Sakura,who saved me when I had a difficult time?"Kakashi asked smiling. "You three are growing at an amazing rate.
"Hmph."Sasuke crossed his arms over his chest. "We didn't do anything. Naruto was the one who got you out of the water prison."
Everyone looked at Naruto who had reopened the gigantic book and appeared to be reading again.
"What are you reading?"Kakashi asked curiously trying to get a look.
Naruto closed her eyes and took a deep breath to keep from yelling at him for interrupting her reading. She had been reading on how to levitate. Something she wanted to desperately learn.
"Family secret stuff." Naruto answered Kakashi after she had mentally counted to ten.
"But you don't have any family."Sakura pointed out thoughtlessly.
Naruto's eyes hardened into steel. She closed her book and silently left the room before she could push Sakura out the window.
"Sakura, that was a cold thing to say."Kakashi admonished. "Especially after she saved all our lives back there."
"I'm sorry sensei, it just slipped."Sakura replied ashamed that she had done something that she had to be scolded for. Back in the academy none of the teachers had cared if you said anything bad about Naruto. In fact it was encouraged by the instructors.
"She doesn't have any family?"Tazuna asked in curious surprise.
"No. Naruto grew up without a mother or father."Kakashi replied after a moments contemplation on how to answer the question.
"Who were Naruto's parents, sensei?"Sasuke asked out of nowhere.
"Who were Naruto's parents? Well, I don't really know myself."Kakashi said sheepishly rubbing the back of his head.
"Were they ninja?"Sasuke prodded not believing his sensei.
"Why so curious about Naruto all of a sudden, Sasuke?"Kakashi asked curiously before he got a strange glint in his eye and a hand flew to his mouth. " Don't tell me that you have a crush on our little Naruto?"
"WHAT!? Thats stupid . Like I would ever go for that dobe anyway." Sasuke's face had changed to an embarrassed shade of red while Sakura supported a scandalized look.
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Naruto rolled her eyes skyward at her idiot sensei. He had an interesting way of changing the subject. ' Like I would ever go for an Uchiha. I hate the Uchiha's. Well, except Obito but he really doesn't count.'
Naruto slowly descended the stairs with her book under harm. Her advanced hearing was picking up the sound of crying. She landed on the bottom of the first flight of stairs to enter a hallway. She walked in the direction of the sobbing.
There before her eyes was the man from her vision . Only difference was he was dead. He looked pretty much the way he had in her vision except he had both arms intact. That was the thing about ghosts. When they died they took the form of when they had felt youngest. If a limb had been severed while they were alive it would still be attached when they became ghosts.
He was standing before a slightly jarred door. It was the room Naruto had heard the sobbing coming from. It was Inari crying for his father. Naruto looked at the ghost before her. He didn't even glance her way probably because he was so accustomed to everyone just passing through him.He was staring at his son something flickering in his eyes.
It took Naruto a moment to identify it as pain. The pain a parent felt when their child was in pain. Naruto had never been good with parental relationships. Mostly because she hated her parents and thought they were the scum of the earth for abandoning her without a second thought. Right, now though Naruto could understand what they meant when people said there is nothing like a parent child bond.
Naruto took a deep breath.' Might as well get introductions over with.' Naruto grabbed the fisherman's arm.The man turned to look at her as if she were the Shinagami himself her to take him. No matter how many times Naruto saw that look it never got old. She loved that look.
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"So you can see ghosts?"Kaiza asked one more time to be sure he heard right.
Naruto nodded. " That's right."
"And you want me to tell what Gatou's been doing the past year after my death?" Naruto nodded patiently again. Ghosts were pretty slow but who could blame them. You really didn't use your brain much when you were dead.
"You are a very strange boy." the fisherman commented absently.
Naruto glared at him, her eye twitching. She had a bad habit of twitching her eyes when she was highly annoyed.
"She's a girl."The fisherman turned to study the newcomer. Obito hadn't listen to only-come-when you-are-needed- speech of the Shodaime.
"What are you doing here?"Naruto asked her friend.
Obito shrugged. " There wasn't anything to do back in Konoha, so I thought I would visit you.What'cha been up to?"
"Nothing much. Saved my entire team from an A-ranked Hidden Mist nuke-nin but thats all thats been happening."
"I missed that! Why didn't you call us?"
"Because I didn't need you."
"That's mean thing to say. Your horrible."
"Cry me a river."
"You didn't chop off the nume-nin's head in front of the genin did you?"
"No. He got away."
"He got AWAY. Man, you are getting old."
"Who you calling old, crybaby?"
"Who you calling a crybaby, baba?"
"The goggle wearing midget in front of me."
"How are you calling me a midget, when I am taller than you?"
"I still haven't gone through my growth spurt. I'll outgrow you soon enough."
"Keep telling yourself that."
"Whatever."
The two squabbling teenagers turned their backs to each other with an amused Kaiza watching.
"Naruto, weren't you investigating this Gatou person?" Naruto turned her head into the direction of the Nidaime who had apparently been watching without revealing his presence.
"I know, I know. Kaiza-san could you please tell me what Gatou has been up to for the past year?"Naruto asked politely while Obito gaped open mouthed at her.
"Damn, she has manners. How come I never heard about this?"Obito asked the Nidaime in shock.
Naruto sent Obito a glare of venom which he avoided by hiding behind the Nidaime.
"It would be better if I just showed you." Kaiza replied floating towards the village.
Naruto followed him on the rooftops using a concealment jutsu to keep herself from being seen from any the villagers.
There were homeless people of all ages littering the streets. Beggars trying to get food from people who barely had any themselves. The grocery stores looked completely empty except for maybe a few half rotten vegetables. What disturbed Naruto the most though was the hopeless looks all of the villagers supported. If she were to describe them she'd say they were like zombies searching for their graves but never able to find it.
"This is awful."Obito whispered horrified at the state of the village.
"No matter which time period you live in there are always tyrants like Gatou everywhere."Nidaime said quietly.
"Gatou's a despicable man who's stealing the resources of this country. He has crushed everyones hopes of ever seeing the other side of that bridge When I died I wanted to give courage to the people of this village but my death had the opposite effect. The people lost all hope and became cowards."Kaiza said his hands clenching into fists.
"Don't worry about a thing Kaiza-san."Obito thumped his chest with his fist. "We are going to take care of everything."
"We? Whats this we you're talking about?"Naruto asked him raising an eyebrow that went unnoticed.
"You, me and Ni-onii-chan."Obito answered happily.
Naruto's hands shot out and pulled both his cheeks in opposite directions. " Don't volunteer me for something I haven't even agreed to."
"ITAI. Ni-onii-chan, help!"Obito cried flailing his arms helplessly.
"Come on Naruto, let the poor kid go."Nidaime extracted Obito from Naruto's clutches.
Naruto turned to Kaiza who was gazing at them with a curious look on his face. "Like Obito said we'll take care of it."
"How exactly are you guys going to to take care of it? Your just a little girl and you two are dead."Kaiza asked incredulously.
Naruto shot him a grin choosing to ignore the little girl comment. "In cases like this you shouldn't aim for the arms or the legs . You have to aim for the head."Naruto winked at him. "Don't worry . I'll take care of this."Naruto leapt off of the rooftop and headed to what looked like Gatou's base.
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"Alright now, It's time for training." Kakashi announced happily leaning on his crutches for support.
"What kind of training, sensei?"Sakura asked.
Kakashi proceeded to show them all the tree climbing exercise. Naruto yawned in boredom, sittin at a base of a tree.
'What are you doing?'
'This is boring I already know this exercise.'
' You have to keep up pretences. So then in that case...'the fox trailed off and Naruto felt dread seize her limbs. When it came to training the fox could go a little overboard.
Naruto relaxed after a few moments . She was probably just being paranoid. Naruto's hand flew to clutch her stomach a few more minutes later . It felt like someone was trying to glue to the earth. Her limbs felt heavy and her organs felt like they were going to leap out of her body.
'THE HELL DID YOU DO ,KITSUNE NO BAKA!'
'Nothing much. Just tripled that gravity seal on you. Now that tree climbing exercise won't be so easy and you can improve on your chakra control and your physical strength and stamina.' He really was too happy for this just to be some simple training exercise.
'Tripled? Are you crazy? You brought me up from 50 times gravity to a 150!'
'You've been slacking off in your training. As I recall you could do 500 times this gravity and still move faster than the average shinobi.'
'In my real body sure. But guess what? I'm not in my real body.'
'Quit complaining and get to it.'
Grumbling Naruto picked up a kunai and began climbing the tree in front of her like Sakura and Sasuke were doing.A few feet up the tree , she felt the tree bark dent a little and back flipped onto the ground to avoid falling.
"This is really easy."Everyone looked up at Sakura who had climbed up all the way to the first branch of the tree. She was sitting on the branch dangling her feet, grinning.
"Well, well. It looks like the one best at controlling her chakra is the girl, Sakura. It looks like the Uchiha clan isn't so great." Kakashi taunted, trying to get Sasuke riled up.
Normally, Naruto wouldn't have said anything. She could care less how much Kakashi praised someone like Sakura. It was just the way Kakashi had put an emphasis on the girl part that riled Naruto up and also how he had disregarded Naruto even being here.
"Well, of course she would be the best at controlling her chakra. She has so little of it I'd be surprised if she couldn't control it."Naruto declared coolly.
"Don't try to make yourself look better by making me look weaker than you." Sakura screeched at Naruto angrily. "Besides if you had even come to the academy you would know that girls are naturally born with less chakra than boys. Its a proven fact."
Naruto's jaw clenched so hard , Kakashi was sure that she broke some teeth. " Is that what you blame your weakness on? You can't match up with any of the guys so you automatically assume it's because you were just born like that and you are just going to leave it. Let me inform you of something. Whatever they said in the academy was shit. Thats not how chakra is at all. I'll explain it slowly so that small brains of yours can comprehend. "
"Chakra, like you have downloaded in that useless book smart brain of yours ,is like you said composed of physical energy and spiritual energy. It is true that guys are born physically stronger than girls but girls are born with a higher spiritual energy than boys. The only reason guys appear to have more chakra than girls is because they achieve more spirit energy when they go through battles. While normal kunoichi's like , you Sakura, who don't take the job seriously don't even bother pursuing taijutsu training to improve their physical energy. And that is why most girls appear to have less chakra than guys when it is really because they care too much about looks, boys and other stupid things that probably won't save your life in battle."
"Don't act like a know-it-all." Sakura sneered at her. "You were the dead last in the academy so how would you know anything . You probably made all that up."
Naruto raised her right hand which was clenched into a fist and slammed it into the tree beside her. Nothing happened for a minute but then the tree lurched backward and slammed backward into another tree knocking it over which continued until five huge trees had been knocked over.
"That's what happens when you actually take your training seriously." Naruto said to her team ,who were staring at her in shock.
Naruto stuffed her hands in her coat pockets and walked off.
Kakashi rubbed his head wearily.Things were getting troublesome.
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Naruto walked off in a blind fury. She had wanted to bash that bitches head into the ground. Naruto had never liked Sakura but with that little speech of hers , it went from don't like to extremely hate. That girl had no pride as a woman whatsoever.
Naruto had grown up surrounded by female warriors not mention her entire clan had been made of female warriors. Strong, smart and kind. Traits that a female warrior should be remembered for but instead the first thing that came to mind when thinking of a female warrior was, was she beautiful?
In her mother's lands, it wasn't an issue . Women were revered and treated as equal as the men.That wasn't the case in Shinobi lands. Compared to the number of kunoichi there were and how many of them actually became great, it was a deep blow to Naruto's pride.Not to mention most kunoichi chose to go into genjutsu or medical fields. In all her days Naruto had never heard of a kunoichi that specialized in taijutsu. It was especially irritating when there were girls like Sakura and Ino who were prime examples to why females were though of as weak.
She guessed it was because she was getting a bit home sick. She missed her friends, her people, her brothers, her grandparents, not having to hide anything, being treated with respect. All the things she had never had in Konoha and probably would never have.
"Naruto, shouldn't you be training with your team?"Naruto heard the Nidaime asked.
Naruto looked around and realized that she was where she had left her ghostly comrades after she had finished laying out Gatou's base. "I'm done training with them."
Nidaime frowned but decided not to ask, which Naruto was grateful for. "If you have finished training with them then why don't you train your magic. It would be a shame to let the knowledge in that book go to waste after everything you went through to get it."
Naruto held out her hand and whispered a few words in a different language under breath. The Uzumaki Book of Shadows appeared in her hand. Naruto cracked the book open and returned to the page on levitation.
"Magic? "Kaiza asked confused looking at the Nidaime and Obito for conformation.
Obito and the Nidaime both nodded. "Then Naruto-kun is a magician?"
"Not exactly. She's actually a witch." Nidaime answered.
"A witch?" Kaiza stared at Naruto in amazement. " But I though witches had long hooked noses and rode on broomsticks and stuff?"
"If you take a closer look at Naruto's nose, it is really long, see?"Obito grabbed Naruto's nose to show Kaiza.
"ITAI!"Obito screamed clutching his nose which Naruto had just broken.
"You deserved that. I told you to never make fun of my nose again didn't I?" Naruto stood up and stretched. "Okay. I just read up on levitation . I am going to try to do it but I a may lose concentration and fall . So be sure to catch me, alright?"
"Don't worry. When have we ever let anything happened bad to you?"Nidaime patted Naruto's hat.
Naruto gave him an incredulous look. When the Shodaime wasn't around to instill some discipline, Obito and the Nidaime were usually the cause of most of Naruto's bruise.
"The demon goo incident doesn't count. It was Obito's fault." Nidaime protested instantly after seeing the look thrown at him.
"My fault! You were suppose to watch it. Not let it transform and eat half of the village."Obito countered.
Naruto shook her head and tuned out their argument. She took a deep breath and reached inside to her core she called on the power there sending her to all parts of her body, forgetting that this exercise would be a hundred times more harder to accomplish since her body was experiencing 150x normal gravity.
Slowly Naruto began to rise in the air. Naruto closed her eyes into stressed concentration. This practice required a lot of magic which was why much witches and wizards preferred teleportation.
Naruto was now high in the air as she opened her eyes. She saw Obito and Nidaime still fighting down there and Kaiza looking up at her in amazement.She could see the village from up here. Everything looked really small from up here. The winds caressed her , carrying the salty smell of the ocean with it.Naruto inhaled the air loving the salty fresh smell.
'Hey,brat!'
'What do you want, onii-chan?'
'First, never call me that again. Two I need to ask you something of the utmost importance.'
'What?'
'You must promise to tell the truth. The whole truth and nothing but the truth.'
Naruto frowned on the outside the fox sounded serious and a bit drunk. 'O-kay. I promise.'
'You pinky swear promise?'
'YES! I freackin promised already so what the hell did you need to ask me?'
'Alright. I need you to tell me...which of my tails is the fluffiest?'
'NANI! What kind of question is-' Naruto distracted by her conversation with the forgot to keep spilling out her magic and began plummeting to the ground.She tried to concentrate her magic again but it was useless . She was falling too fast.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! I"LL GET YOU , YOU STUPID FOX. OBITO, NI-SENSEI, HELP." Unfortunately for Naruto , Obito and the Nidaime were still arguing and Kaiza probably didn't even now he could catch her.
Naruto had a very intimate reunion with mother earth. An earth bed was even prepared for her which she was lying in at the moment with dirt shoved in her face and every limb of hers felt like it had been smashed by a hammer.
'You see, whelp. Thats what happens when you lose concentration so easily. Not to mention you forgot that you are experiencing 150x normal gravity so naturally you wouldn't have been able to regain control after that.'Kyuubi was lecturing.' Getting off the ground doesn't seem to be your problem, it's the landing you need to work on.'
Naruto proceeded to tell the fox exactly where he could stick those fluffy tails. That was the first flying lesson Naruto had and after she got up off the ground she pummeled her two inattentive comrades and called in the Shodaime to help since he wouldn't be so careless as to let her fall to her death like his brother and subordinate.
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Naruto returned to the clearing where her team had been practicing their chakra control. She was surprised to see Sasuke there since the sun had gone down and they had been practicing since midday. She wasn't surprised though to see Sakura was no where in sight. She had probably already gotten to the top and then claimed she was tired and had gone home.
Sasuke was looking at her strangely though and she wondered why, until she remembered how she must look after all that levitation training. Her clothes were covered in dirt, she looked disheveled and she was limping painfully.
"Where were you?"Naruto raised an eyebrow at the out of character behavior. Since when did the Great Uchiha survivor care where she was?
"You left Sakura in an annoying mood."Ah,so that's why. Naruto almost grimaced in sympathy. At the same time she felt ashamed that she shared the same gender with that girl. She had seen girls with crushes before but they were never like this. It must be something about Konoha that made the women there slightly insane.
Naruto turned her head in the direction of the tree Sasuke had been climbing. He had gotten only half way up the tree. Not surprising since he had a lot more chakra in his reserves than Sakura.
"You only got halfway up the tree after all this time?" Naruto teased gently hoping to have some fun with him.
"Shut up. Its not like you did any better."Sasuke bristled in annoyance.
"Hmm."Naruto crossed her arms across her chest. " I did way better than you considering I made it all the way to the top."
"Liar." Sasuke called disbelievingly.
Naruto shook her head. "You don't have to believe me if you don't want. I'm surprised though."
"Surprised by what?"the Uchiha asked in way that said hurry up and say what you want to say so you can get out of my way.
"You had Sakura her that entire time. She maybe annoying but she is supposed to be really good at this . Why didn't you just ask her for some tips?"Naruto inwardly smirked , she knew he was way to arrogant to ask for anyone's help. He excepts to be better than anyone at the drop of the hat, just because he was born an Uchiha.
"I don't need any help."the opal eyed shinobi answered arrogantly, as Naruto expected.
"Sasuke, wasn't one of your goals to rebuild your clan?"Naruto asked slowly in a manner that someone would use to tell a three year old to stop eating paste.
"Yeah."
"You do know where babies come from?"
"Of course I know, you dobe."
"Good. I was a bit worried there. For a minute I thought I was going to have to give you the talk about the birds and the bees."
"Do you have a point?"Sasuke's voice was strained and his cheeks had turned a bit pink. He was embarrassed by this to Naruto's amusement.
"Yeah, I actually do have a point. See, Sasuke if you want to resurrect your clan your going to need a wife-"
"Don't tell me your offering?"
"EEW. FUCK NO. Uchiha babies. Ugh." Naruto shivered at the thought of more Sasuke little parapeted freaks running around.
"Like I was saying, your going to need a wife. It's not going to be a good idea if you alienate the whole female population of Konoha, so you should treat Sakura a little better. Who knows one thing might lead to another and you could be having Uchiha babies in a few years. Just picture it. Your eyes , Sakura's hair. Your duck ass shaped head-AHHHH" Naruto broke off with a yelp as Sasuke charged at her.
Naruto seeing no where to escape climbed the tree to escape the armed Uchiha.Maybe she had gone a little too far with the teasing.
POP. Oh god, no. Naruto's body was too tired from her all day flying lessons to generate enough chakra to climb with this level of gravity being forced on her. She fell backwards and on top of Sasuke who had been hot on her heels. Her weight was too much for him and his concentration also broke. He twisted them in midair so Naruto was on the bottom and would be the one to receive the impact.
Naruto slammed against mother earth for the umpteenth time today. She was really beginning to hate gravity and mother earth.The wind was knocked out of Naruto a moment later when Sasuke landed right on her. His head buried in her chest.
When Naruto regained the ability to breathe once more, she realized the position they were in. Sasuke hefted his head slowly only to be meet with a hard hand whipping him across the face and a yell.
"SASUKE, YOU PERVERT."
"It was your fault you clumsy idiot." he yelled back , not removing himself from on top of her..
"My fault? You were the one chasing me."Naruto retorted hotly.
"You said you made it all the way to the top but you didn't even make it half way before you fell off."
"There was a crazed parakeet headed lunatic chasing me and I lost concentration."
"A real ninja wouldn't lose concentration no matter the circumstance, dobe."
"Thats all fine and dandy, teme. Now , would you mind getting off of me?"
Sasuke was about to get off of her when an idea popped in his head. It was childish and a waste of time but it would be payback for putting him in this position. His hand stretched up to touch the rim of her hat before Naruto jerked her head forward.
"Oi, duck butt. You can call me dobe or whatever but do not, I repeat do not touch my hat."
That only enticed his curiosity even more. He brought up his knees and pressed them onto Naruto's arms. He reached for Naruto's hat again. Just a little more and he would find out what was underneath that stupid thing.
"Ano, what are you two doing?"Sasuke's head whipped around instantly in the direction of his sensei who was staring at their position wide-eyed, thinking god knows what.
Naruto turned her tear rimmed eyes to Kakashi. "Sensei, he was trying to molest me while no one was looking."
Sasuke quickly climbed off of her, spluttering indignantly. Naruto after being released ran behind Kakashi.
Kakashi patted the girls hat awkwardly as she clung to him. "There, there, Naruto. Why don't you go back to the house while I have a talk with Mr.Molester over here?"
Naruto nodded making a show of wiping her eyes. While Kakashi's back was turned Naruto shot Sasuke a smirk. The look he returned probably would have sent her to the River Styx by now.
"Sasuke, Sasuke , Sasuke."Kakashi shook his head sadly once Naruto was gone.. " If you are going to get a girlfriend you need to be gentler. Here."Kakashi pulled out his famous Icha Icha Paradise to the bug eyed crimson faced Rookie of the year.. "This should give you some tips on how to go about getting you a koibito."
That's how Kakashi lost a few hair strands and Sasuke came to hate Naruto even more than his entire fan club.
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Unknown to Naruto , Obito had been watching her and Sasuke. He was struck with a sudden dislike of his cousin. He had never liked him before but now he really didn't like him.
Obito watched Kakashi go back to the house and Sasukehit Obito like an exploding tag in the face.
A grin spread across his face. Sure, Naruto would probably be mad at him but this was too fun to resist.
He floated down beside Sasuke and ...
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"I'm back."Everyone paused at eating. Was that Sasuke's voice they heard and was that voice cheerful?
Sasuke burst through the door with a grin on his face. Not a smirk, a grin. Hallelujah, it's the apocalypse.
"Sasuke-kun, sit down and eat. You must be really hungry after all the training you did."Sakura greeted sweetly.
"Thanks, Sakura-chan." Naruto nearly spit out her rice at hearing that but she definitely spit her rice out and on to Kakashi's masked face who was too shocked by what had occurred next to even berate Naruto.
Sasuke had bent down and kissed Sakura. Not on the lips but it had been close enough that she fainted.
Sasuke regarded her strangely unconscious on the floor but then shrugged and started to eat the meal that had been served too him. A second later anime tears were rolling down his face.
"I haven't had a meal this good in years."he cried out . Naruto sent a concerned or rather freaked out look to Kakashi who had unveiled his Sharingan to stare at Sasuke. Tazuna and Tsunami who haven't known Sasuke very long weren't that disturbed.
"Uh, Sasuke, did you hit your head while you were tree climbing?"Naruto asked after Kakashi had shook his head at her not detecting any jutsu placed on Sasuke.
Sasuke looked up from his meal and shook his head at Naruto. "Nope, Naru-chan."
Naruto's eyebrow's twitched. "If you want to possess the ability to have to have children you will never call me that again."
"Then what about goldilocks?"he asked smartly with a grin.
Naruto glared at him. "No , you can't-" She cut herself off mid sentence. There was oly one person who would ever dare call her that.
Naruto stood up and grabbed the back of Sasuke's shirt. " Me and pretty boy here are going to get some extra training done." she informed the three pair of curious eyes that were watching them.
"But what about my food?"Sasuke whined.
"Eat later." Naruto growled pulling him out the door and bringing him to the middle of the forest. After Naruto made sure Kakashi hadn't followed she whirled around to glare at Sasuke.
"Uh-oh. I know that look. Your mad at me."Sasuke said cheekily.
"Obito, just what the hell did you do?"Naruto asked glaring at the possessed Sasuke.
"Nothing."
"This sure as hell don't look like nothing to me."
"Alright, I may have borrowed his body for a little bit."Obito confessed uncomfortably shifting from one foot to the other.
Naruto sighed. "What for?"
"Look, don't be mad at me. It's just that I wanted to feel alive again." Obito drew closer to her. "I wanted to feel warmth again."
Naruto's anger was washed away after that. She could understand his desire completely. The one thing the early departed wanted was to walk among the living once gain.
"Don't get used to this though. Your probably putting a lot of strain on Sasuke's body."Naruto told him.
Obito shrugged sitting down at the base of the tree. "He'll live and I won't be doing this every time I feel like it. I just wanted to see if ghosts could really possess people like in the movies in stuff."
Naruto sat beside him chuckling slightly. "So what is exactly is it like being dead?"
"Everything feels the same." Obito answered. He elaborated at Naruto's puzzled expression. " It's like when I touch you it's no different than picking up a card. Everything feels the same to me. Nothing feels warm or cold. It's like its there. That's the best I can explain it."
"Then does being in an alive body feel weird now?"
"It is, actually. Hearing a heartbeat, the breathing. The wind in my hair, its different." Naruto suddenly found a cool hand resting on her cheek and she was staring into obsidian eyes.
"You feel different too."Obito whispered, his warm breath caressed Naruto's cheek. Something electrifying traveled down her spine and suddenly her stomach was in knots. Her heart was hammering against her ribcage.
"How so?"She was very proud to say that she said these two words without sounding like she was hyperventilating.
Obito's head came to rest on Naruto's chest parallel to her beating heart which was currently beating like a drum. "You feel warm. I can touch you like this without worrying about whether I'll phase through you or not."
"Oh."Words had pretty much dried up in her throat.
"You smell nice."Naruto's cheeks were the color of Sakura's dress after hearing that. She had no idea what was wrong with her. This was Obito. The kid that she known since she was seven. The guy who had always given her stupid excuses to being late. The guy who helped her plan stupid pranks. Then why did she feel like this. It wasn't unpleasant but this was a foreign feeling.
Naruto was drawn into Obito's embrace unceremoniously while she tried to stop her racing heart. Her head was tucked under his chin with his arms wrapped around her. Even though he was in Sasuke's body she didn't see him as Sasuke at all.
"Naruto."his voice had deepened with some unknown quality and his face was coming closer to hers. She was in a daze. Her heart was doing the electric slide and her stomach was in knots. She still didn't have her question answered though. What the hell was going on?
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AN: Thank you to all my reviewers. To answer a review about the vision Naruto had sleeping, that will be explained next chapter. I have been receiving some questions on pairings. Well, I've said that I will be having a poll for that . Sasuke will not be included because there are way too many Sasu/Naru. It goes as follows.
Itachi: 4
Gaara: 3
Haku: 2
Kakashi: 1
Neji: 3
Shikamaru: 2
Kiba: 1
Sorry this chapter took so long. Please don't forget to vote and review.
