Hello! I didn't introduce myself in the previous chapter, because I didn't realize there wasn't an author notes section as I'm used to with other sites. So, hi, hello, my name is Shannondorf, and this is the first Naruto fanfiction I've written (: Now, it's actually completed, and I am reposting it here just to get it out there, and hopefully inspire me to continue working on the sequel seeing as if I'm having writers block now. I know I haven't updated in forever (because I get lazy) but it really shouldn't take me long to get the entire story up here as is. I hope you enjoy reading it!
'This chakra...'
"Lord Raikage, why don't you two ever go outside anymore?"
The voice of the Jounnin was enough to snap the Raikage out of his thoughts. He slightly turned his head to the right as his eyes locked with the man who spoke. Moments after the Raikage had knocked Rayne out of the side of the tower, a group of medical nin and Jounnin were sent in. Their objective?; Fix the wall he had broken…for the third time that month.
It had seemed that the Raikage and Rayne got a little…over excited when they sparred. On record they had demolished seventy six desks, thirteen book cases, broken through the floor thirty two times, broken through twenty one walls, and smashed two hundred and six windows. And all this destruction was just inside of the Raikage's office. Around the village they had brought down trees, broke through water towers, torn down electric wires, broke through a dam…to all other villagers they were insane, but the two of them found it as perfectly normal shinobi training techniques.
The Raikage's eyebrows twitched. "We'd take the chance of harming the villagers if we were to move outside."
"OH, BUT YOU'RE PERFECTLY FIND TAKING THE LIBERTY TO PUT US IN DANGER?!" Cue anime fall.
A's head drooped as he sighed. Suddenly the door opened. Although the other ninja in the room expected it to be another Jounnin group with more plaster and lath, the Raikage knew better. He immediately launched himself onto his duct taped desk whilst the Jounnin watched in horror.
"Are you INSANE?! WE JUST FIXED THAT!"
Obviously, the Raikage didn't hear them.
"Rayne! Back for more are you?! Haha! When will you ever-"
To his utter surprise, Rayne stood there unaffected by his mockery. The others, however, weren't so quiet.
"HOLY SHIT! DUDE! This guy is INSANE!" Naruto yelled as he pointed in awe of the huge man on the desk. The Raikage wasn't exactly a man of small build.
Sakura quickly came up behind Naruto and punched him in the back of the head. "Would you shut up ya idiot?! That's the Raikage you're talking about!" She began to bow just as rapidly as Rayne had previously. "I'm so sorry Lord Raikage! Please forgive him! He's a simple minded dimwhit~"
Naruto's eyes bugged out of his head. "Hey! I'm not a dimwhit! (points to Sasuke) HE's a dimwhit!"
Sasuke's brow twitched. "What'd you call me, loser?"
"I'm not the loser, YOU'RE the loser, Sasuke!"
"You take that back right now, Naruto!" Sakura squealed.
By this time the Raikage had removed himself from his desk and sat back down in his seat, watching the Leaf nin before him with a grin on his face.
'These guys are like a comedy act! Ho ho, Rayne should fit right in!'
"A, don't get yourself so excited. Cool your jets."
They all turned to face Rayne as soon as the dreary comment had been said.
"Calling the Raikage by his first name, that's a bit disrespectful, don't ya think?" Kakashi implied.
"I'm pretty sure being sent through a cement wall, only to plummet down to the earth, hundreds of feet below is even more disrespectful," Rayne retorted in a grumble as she glared at the Raikage, who only laughed.
"Hah! It's all just in spirit. Did you really expect me to go easy on you when it was our last time sparring?"
Naruto mouth dropped to the floor. "Y-you spar with the Raikage?"
Rayne turned her head and raised an eyebrow, "Yeah, and?"
He sat down on the ground and crossed his arms, "The Hokage never spars with me!"
"That's because you aren't worth sparring with, idiot. You'd just be a waste of the Hokage's time."
"Sasuke's right, Naruto. The Hokage does have more important things to do, rather than deal with you."
The Raikage watched the other two chastise their teammate with a frown. Throwing insults at your ally wasn't a smart decision. Yelling and chastising wouldn't solve a thing. He cleared his throat.
"Now now, let us settle down. Since we skipped a formal introduction, my name is A, and I am the Raikage of the Hidden Cloud Village here within the Land of Lightning. Being that you have Leaf headbands, I can deduce that you are the team that has been sent by the Hokage to retrieve Rayne?"
Kakashi nodded. "Yes, and I am Kakashi Hatake, Jounnin leader of Squad-"
"I'm Naruto Uzumaki! I'm really excited to have Rayne be a part of my team! I mean, she's really nice and really pretty! We get a long already! I promise that I won't let anything happen to her! I'm going to be Hokage someday, believe it!"
Sakura and Kakashi sighed, hanging their heads. 'Hyperactive as usual…'
The Raikage started laughing. "Hokage, eh? Kid, you have a long way to go! If you're serious about it though, I have no doubts that someday I'll be seeing you at an assembly of the Kage! Now you, sweetie, what's your name?"
Sakura blushed. "You really are too kind sir…my name is Sakura Haruno."
He smiled. "Very nice to make your acquaintance young lady…and you my boy?"
Sasuke barely glanced over at him. "Sasuke Uchiha."
The moment Sasuke stated his name the carefree air of the room was shrouded in tension. The Raikage glanced over at Rayne who stood there silently, bangs covering her eyes, no emotion whatsoever. Naruto noted this tension and became flustered.
"Alright, what's going on? Sasuke mentions his name and suddenly the whole world stops spinning?! When he introduced himself to Rayne earlier, she had the same reaction; silence!"
"Don't go messing around in affairs you wouldn't be able to begin to understand, kid." The Raikage snapped at him with a cold demeanor. Just as quickly as Rayne had switched her bright personality off, the Raikage did the same. They were all taken aback, except Rayne, of course, and Naruto shut his mouth.
"I regret to inform you…that Rayne will not be able to go along with you back to the Hidden Leaf Village."
This time Rayne's head shot up, along with the others.
"And why is that, Lord Raikage?" Kakashi innocently questioned.
"Because…I don't see your team as fitting for Rayne as I was lead to believe," he answered simply.
Naruto growled, "What makes you think you can decide things for her, huh old man?"
With a flick of the Raikage's wrist, Naruto was sent backward through the door and pinned to the wall in the hallway with four bolts of lightning; one in each shoulder and wrist.
"Naruto!" Sakura yelped.
The sudden action had stirred Rayne and brought her back to reality. She turned and ran out into the hall to tend to Naruto who was screaming his head off.
"Oh my God! He impaled my shoulders and wrists! Now I'm not going to be able to use my hands! I'm going to be a useless shinobi! My dreams! My goals! My futu-"
Rayne's palm covered Naruto's mouth as she sighed with a grumble. "Oh would you shut up? These bolts only paralyze the opponent's body; they won't cause any significant damage."
A look of relief came over Naruto as he finally let his body relax. Rayne smirked and turned back around to face the others that were still in the room. Honestly she wasn't surprised by what the Raikage had said. He knew how she felt about the prestigious Uchiha clan, and out of all shinobi in the Land of Fire to be on a team with, it had to be an Uchiha.
'Okay now, calm down. Sasuke Uchiha. He's an Uchiha. Just because he's one of them, it doesn't mean he'd be as much of a bastard as Itachi is. Cruel, loathing, full of hatred and disgust for all others around him, acting all high and mighty as if he were the best…okay, I can see some similarities between the two, but Itachi left the village, so there's no way Sasuke could have an affiliation with him, eh?'
She raised her head to stare at the back of Sasuke's. Concentrating on the knot of his headband she watched his hair being carried in the air when a sudden gust came in from the hole in the wall.
'But…when I look into his face…I see Itachi. He's an asshole, but I do have to admit that Itachi is attractive, and so is Sasuke. But, if you ask me, I'd say Sasuke took on the more attractive genes. His face outshines Itachi's.'
Rayne blushed at her inner conflict and held her hands to her cheeks; she felt hot.
'Enough of that! …anyway, there's no reason I should affiliate Sasuke with Itachi! Itachi is gone, he doesn't reside in Konoha anymore…hm, maybe I can ask Sasuke why he left in the first place. All I have to do is concentrate and remind myself that he isn't Itachi.'
As she talked more with herself she could hear the mumbling of the other voice: the Raikage's and Kakashi's. The Raikage was voicing his opinion on the matter, telling Kakashi that he saw the team as unfit and uncooperative, therefore being unable to protect Rayne when needed. Kakashi retorted when he explained their mission to the Land of Waves and how they had come together as a team to defeat their enemy.
Rayne shut her eyes. 'Sasuke isn't Itachi. You'll bear no ill will toward him. Sasuke isn't Itachi. Sasuke isn't Itachi. SASUKE ISN'T ITACHI!'
"HE ISN'T HIM!"
Her sudden outburst had interrupted the argument between the Raikage and Kakashi. They turned to look at her in surprise. Obviously Rayne didn't know she had screamed what she thought were her inner thoughts out loud, for when she opened her eyes, she questioned why they were peering at her.
"Who's not who?" Naruto asked with his eyes narrowed and a bored expression on his face.
"Hm?" Rayne turned her face to his and blinked. "O-oh…did I say that outloud?" Cue sweat drop.
"Yes," they all replied in union.
She shook her head. "Oh, well, Lord Raikage, I find that it would be in my best interest to go with them!"
He was surprised by her sudden comeback. She had fought her inner conflict concerning Itachi and had won. He looked at her with concern nonetheless.
"Are you sure, Rayne? I am quite aware of your emotions you know. You cannot fool me."
"I'm not attempting to fool you ya old geezer! I'm simply stating my desire. I. Want. To. Go. With. Them. To. Ko. No. Ha."
He wilted like a flower, "I'm not a four year old, Rayne. You don't have to break your words up to speak with me."
"Well it sure seemed that way…"
They stood there growling with each other for a few seconds before the Raikage surrendered. "Fine."
This caused Rayne and Naruto to develop the same goofy grin on their faces.
'Just what we need, Naruto in female form,' Sasuke complained to himself
"Are you all packed, Rayne?"
Rayne's eyes sparkled as she scurried over to Kakashi and bowed before him. She then raised her head. "Oh YES Sensei! I have all of my belongings packed into my bag, but I have to tell you, I have one more mission that I must complete before I leave this village!"
"Oh?" this struck Kakashi's interest, "And what mission might that be?"
"A mission where I'm going to need Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke's help!" she whispered.
He chuckled, "Alright, Rayne. Tell me allllll about it."
