Gender Bender Naruto: The Series
By: KioKat
Summary: We all know Naruto, the #1 knucklehead, loudmouth ninja, right? Well, what if He had been a She? What if the whole Naruto world had been flipped around? The kunoichi now shinobi and vice versa? Join us on the adventure of a lifetime with Uzumaki Nariko, Konoha's #1, knuckleheaded Kunoichi!
xox
Chapter 13: Family
(Completed: 03-02-10)
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"Are you insane?" Seiichi exclaimed. His face seemed unable to choose between growing red with anger or paling from shock, so instead it settled on a ruddy shade of pink. "How could you not tell us something like that? We could have been killed!" He spared Sakaye a quick, fearful glance at that.
Despite his best attempts, the genjutsu from their bell test continued to play over and over again in his mind, regardless of how desperately he wished for it to stop. Just thinking about it made his stomach turn unpleasantly, and the pink tint to his face became lighter as the fury faded and nausea churned his insides.
Toshirou's eyes followed the pink-haired genin's line of sight and the dark-haired male flinched.
"I... know," the older man began, "but like I said–"
"Now, now, there's no need to explain a second time," Kairi sighed, standing before him. "We understand. Your father is a bridge builder, Gatou is after him, and thus, after you as a way to get to him."
Toshirou kept silent, mind struggling with his inner turmoil. This would have been so much easier if the team had been as he had pictured them or if they hadn't been attacked, but now... Now it had become a great deal more complicated.
"You lied to us," Kairi finally said after a few moments. "You told the Mission Council that this was a C-rank, but it has recently proven to, in fact, be at least a B-rank. If you are correct in telling us that Gatou is behind this, then the mission is likely to even increase to A-rank."
Seiichi and Nariko jolted, regarding their jounin sensei with shock. Sakaye's eyes widened with that same strange look from earlier, and her nostrils flared, the odd, fevered sort of anticipation bringing her to shift restlessly.
Kairi glanced sharply at the female Uchiha and observed her quietly, but after no more than a second, she returned to Toshirou.
"That being said," the jounin continued, "we should return to the village immediately. I understand you do not have the funds to pay for a B-rank, but you can't lie about the level of distress one will face on a mission. Not only is it dangerous, but my student is correct. Any one of them could have been killed as a result."
The older male's jaw clenched and his eyes turned down with shame. He knew that; he understood... But telling himself otherwise had lessened the guilt and he really did need to be escorted home. If not... his little Isano...
Decision made, Toshirou sighed. "I'm aware of that and I am sorry it's come to this, because really I..." He paused for a moment, hesitant to continue. "...hate to use such manipulative tactics as my father might if he were placed in this situation, guilting you in to continue with some sob story..." He shook his head in exasperation at the thought and frowned. "It goes against what I believe in to do so, but..." He clenched his fists and pursed his lips.
"...I have a daughter, like I mentioned before," he said, glancing at the three genin. "About 3 or 4 years younger than you. My wife is dead, and my father is getting on in his years." He turned his gaze downwards. "Don't get my wrong; I love my father, but I can't completely trust his abilities anymore or trust that he will stick around much longer, especially given the situation with Gatou. I can't guarantee that my father won't be killed or even that I'll survive the rest of the trip alone..." Toshirou swallowed and paused.
"...That said, I also can't guarantee my daughter's well-being if something were to happen to me." He clenched his jaw once more and shut his eyes. "We're the only family she has. She'll have nowhere to go..." Sliding his dark orbs open, he locked his gaze on the silver-haired jounin.
"I only ask that you escort me the rest of the way," he stated firmly. "If it's really necessary, we will find a way to pay you the extra funds. Just..." The man finally trailed off.
All that needed to be said had been said. It was simply up to the shinobi before him as to whether he would proceed alone or not.
Thus, he waited.
Silence reigned for a long, long moment as Kairi debated the matter in her mind. Thinking it over, she finally suppressed a sigh and opened her mouth to speak.
"Well, what are we waiting for then? Let's go!"
The other four whipped their heads toward the grinning blonde.
"Uh, Nariko... You do realize we could have been killed just now, don't you?" Seiichi questioned with a frown.
The whiskered girl shrugged. "So?"
Her male teammate gaped at her in shock. "So? Nariko, are you- We could have died!"
"We're ninja, aren't we?"
"Well, yeah, but–"
"Then, I don't see the problem," Nariko said with satisfaction.
Seiichi eyed her dubiously. "You know you can't be Hokage if you're dead, right?"
"A true Hokage doesn't abandon someone who needs their help," the girl interjected, crossing her arms stubbornly.
The pinket stared at the blonde, seemingly uncertain how to respond to such a statement.
"Nariko..." Kairi spoke up, rubbing her temples. "It's not that simple. There's still the matter of payment–"
"Who cares if he doesn't have enough money?" the genin insisted. "He asked for our help and we agreed!"
"–and the rank of the mission."
Nariko grinned. "So it's a little tougher than we thought it was. Big deal! We can handle it!"
"You've only been doing D-rank for the past month," the jounin pointed out.
"Your point?"
Kairi began to speak again, but Nariko interrupted her.
"Hey, come on, we have to help him!" the orange-clad genin cried. "Think about what he said! What about his dad and his daughter? That Gatou guy's after them. Are we supposed to just stand by and let him get away with that just because Toshirou here's a little low on change?"
The blonde spread her feet, placing them firmly on the ground, as she curled her hands into fists and stared her team down. "He needs us. We ditch him and he can't pay, then we might as well be giving him the death sentence!" She waved one hand as if to gain their attention, though she already had it. "He dies, then his Dad goes, and that leaves his daughter all alone! Where's she supposed to go, huh? Some beat down orphanage where no one cares? On the street? Why would you condemn her to that?"
The girl's expression tightened and somehow Kairi thought, for a moment, that she wasn't quite talking about Toshirou's daughter, Isano.
However, the short genin shook her head hard before locking eyes again. "We're shinobi, Konoha shinobi! We help people when they ask for it. That's the point of the missions: to help people! That's what Konoha's about!" She jerked her head towards her silver-haired sensei. "You said so yourself that someone who abandons others is worse than trash, didn't you?"
The older kunoichi lifted a hand to correct her. "Actually, that's not exactly what I–"
"Right!" Nariko cried, ignoring her teacher as she placed her hands on her hips and scanned the four before her. "So, given all that, who would we be to abandon him?" She held her fists before her, grinning eagerly. "We're Konoha shinobi, so let's start acting like it!"
". . ."
Sakaye rolled her eyes, Seiichi scratched the back of his head awkwardly, and Toshirou simply stared.
'This girl...' Kairi thought resignedly. 'She really is something...' With a sigh, the jounin finally nodded and tilted her head. "Well, there's really no point in returning after we've already come this far..."
Toshirou jerked his head towards her in shock, but his eyes were guarded against hoping too early. "So... you're saying..."
The silver-haired jounin nodded once, and Nariko cheered as Sakaye smirked, the strange gleam to her eye returning, and Seiichi merely looked surprised before shrugging and grinning helplessly.
"...Thank you," Toshirou said gratefully.
The blonde, having finished her celebration, whirled around and giggled. "Hey, don't thank us yet! We have to get you home first!"
The dark-haired man smiled at that as they proceeded on their way. Glancing up, the smile grew.
'Hold on, Isano. Daddy hopes to be home soon...'
Unbeknownst to them all, a figure watched from the shadows. Having gathered what it came for, it slipped away as quickly and unnoticeably as it had arrived in the first place.
oxoxo
A woman, nearly 6 foot in height, lounged on a beaten couch as three men left the room, the door clicking shut behind them. A scowl hid beneath the bandages concealing her face like a mask as her cold, dark eyes narrowed after the shortest man, displeased by his dismissal of her. Strong shoulders lay bare for the world to see, her torso simply covered by another set of bandages that wrapped around her chest and most of her rib cage. Equally strong arms hid beneath a long pair of camo-type sweatbands that extended from the tops of her biceps to the knuckles of each hand.
Dark, spiky bangs jutted out from her head, as if demanding the world be aware of their presence. The right half unfortunately could not claim the same for a Mist headband, a slash cutting through the wriggly symbols, restrained the unruly locks on that side of her skull. The head protector turned strangely, resting across her temple instead of her forehead as it was designed to do, but it was done so perhaps to counteract the spiky ponytail bound above her left ear—the hair style strangely more suited for a young child or adolescent than a 26 year old criminal.
A lean, toned stomach revealed itself above a pair of dark pants that tucked themselves into her shin high boots. The black shoes showed off her toes as most shinobi footwear was known to do, but that went unnoticed when one observed the large, heavy blade carelessly wedged between her knees and just held off her form.
Her thin, gray fingers tapped the hilt, bringing the sword in a sort of rocking motion that brought the sharp edge just a little too close to her chest and stomach. One false move, one tiny little slip of her knees or hand and she was bound to suffer something significantly worse than a paper cut.
Then again, there was a reason her name had been placed in the Bingo book.
"That's quite dangerous, you know."
The woman halted in the motions and slid her eyes towards the formerly-empty space before her where a lithe form now stood.
"What?" the tall female snorted. "You don't trust my abilities?" Even so, she righted herself and slid the blade into a safer position across her lap as she faced the figure before her.
"Well?" the Ex-Mist nin questioned. "What did you find out?"
"I did as you asked and observed them," the figure replied. "The Demon Brothers failed."
"Figures," the woman scoffed. "They never were that good for all their boasts. Gatou only picked them for their price, no doubt." She glanced at the teen before her. "Is that all?"
"No," responded the figure. "Leading the squad guarding the target is Hatake Kairi."
"...Really," the dark-haired kunoichi spoke with interest. "Hm..."
"What is the plan then, Master?" the figure inquired.
"Well..." said the woman, leaning back on the couch. "Gatou's definitely not going to be happy once he hears about this." A grin stretched across her features, only noticeable by the shift of her cheeks beneath the bandages and the slight change to her eyes. "It seems as if he's going to have to use us, after all." She stood and stretched, dragging the sword up with her.
"Serves the bastard right, though," the Mist nin growled, cracking her neck. "You never send a man to do a woman's job." Slipping an eye open, she glanced at her companion.
"Isn't that right... Haru?"
What little light that filtered in to the dark room gleamed over the figure's white mask, the red line that wormed across it becoming all the more prominent.
"Yes, Yuzuna-sama."
oxoxo
Shinobi were well known for their use of jutsu. Whether it be fire jutsu, water jutsu, earth jutsu, or even a Kekkei Genkai which combined two of the five elements; it was the use of these that characterized ninja and differentiated them from civilians. Yet, going along that line, there were still so many types of jutsu beyond just their elemental basis, some of which that weren't actually element-based in the first place.
Bunshin, Transformation, Replacement: that was simply naming the three techniques Academy students were required to know in order to graduate and become genin. Beyond even those essential three were several other basic jutsu that had also once been required of up and coming shinobi but that had been removed as the village had shifted into more peaceful times.
They were basic; just simple survival techniques, ones to be used were a ninja to, say, camp out for the night.
Thus came precisely what Nariko was pestering her jounin sensei about.
"Hey! Come on, Kairi-sensei, how did you do it? Tell me..."
The silver haired kunoichi fought back a groan. This was why she hadn't wanted to take on a genin squad, this was why she hadn't wanted this genin squad, and this was why she had forever sworn off children of her own.
'How can they not know these jutsu?' Kairi thought with disbelief, though the expression hid itself well beneath her mask. 'I'd expect Nariko not to know, of course, and I doubt Sakaye would focus on them too greatly given they're not particularly useful in a battle situation—same for Seiichi, come to think of it—but these techniques were required when I was a student.' She shook her head and finally moaned. 'Don't they teach these kids anything anymore?'
"Hey, are you even listening to me?" Nariko frowned, shaking the jounin's arm. "I'm talking to you! How'd you do it? How'd you dry our wood like that? They never taught us how to do that in the Academy. How does it work? Come on, tell me, tell me!"
The older female glanced at her student wearily. 'Maybe if I ignore her, she'll just... give up and go away.'
"Sen-sei..." the blonde whined.
Kairi suppressed a whimper.
The other two members of Squad 7 paid no mind to their leader and teammate. As Seiichi puzzled over the jutsu their teacher had used and Sakaye stared—seemingly lost in thought—at the flames, Toshirou settled himself on the opposite side of the fire, content to simply bask in the warmth.
Sighing softly, he crossed his arms, only faintly surprised to feel something crumple against his chest. Blinking once, he quickly slipped his hand into the collar of his shirt and removed a small photo from within. In all the commotion of earlier, he had forgotten he had placed it there for safe keeping.
He smiled as he glanced the image over, his eyes softening the longer he stared at it.
"What's that?"
The man jerked towards the blonde genin, who had gone from pestering her jounin sensei to peering over his shoulder, in shock. He stared at her for a long moment and she blinked.
"...Well?"
Toshirou jolted slightly, shaking his head to remove himself from whatever stupor he had been in, and glanced back at the picture before sliding his eyes to Nariko.
"...It's my family," he finally said, returning his gaze to the photo in his hand once more.
Curious, the blonde dropped her cerulean blue orbs to the image as well.
First and foremost in the picture was an elderly man. She could tell as such because of the graying state to his spiky head and the receding hair line she recognized on the Hokage. A small pair of glasses sat on the bridge of his nose over a squinty pair of eyes, shut because of the broad, happy grin on his face. The man obviously did heavy work of some sort on a regular basis, for he had a pair of strong, sturdy arms and looked to be in fairly good shape for his age. His skin was a darker shade than Toshirou, and honestly, had Nariko not known this was Toshirou's father, she would have never guessed they were related.
The blush to the man's cheeks and the bottle he clutched in one hand indicated that perhaps a celebration of some sort was taking place in the tiny little home Nariko could see him situated in through the picture; and the small white bundle in his other arm indicated that perhaps she was correct, for from the folds of the blanket poked a tiny dark head, a mess of hair already adorning it and its face revealing that the infant was asleep. Of course, how the baby managed amongst the fuss—the elder man seemed the boisterous type—would remain a mystery.
The blonde blinked once. "This is... your family?"
Toshirou nodded. "Mm-hm. The older man is my father, Tazuna, who I've told you about..." His grin softened. "And that is my little girl, Isano. This was taken about a week after she was born: New Year's."
"Do you mind?" Kairi questioned, holding out a hand.
"Oh, not at all," Toshirou smiled, giving the picture to her.
"So, where's her mom?" Nariko asked, regarding their client curiously.
The dark-haired man went silent. After a moment, he sighed softly. "That was also about a week after she died."
Nariko jolted and jerked her head towards the man in shock. Her eyes darted to the photo, now held in the hands of her male teammate, who sat opposite the flames from her.
She knew he had mentioned the death, but... That early?
Her blue orbs saddened and her face fell.
The pinket glanced up at the older man, face sympathetic, as he handed the image to his dark-haired teammate. "I'm... sorry."
The female Uchiha flicked her gaze down to the picture, but her eyes flashed strangely, and she quickly returned it to Toshirou, who gratefully took it.
He nodded once in thanks before slipping the photo back into his collar. "Don't be. It was a long time ago..." He patted the cloth where the picture resided and then dropped his hand, satisfied that it would remain where it was.
"Why such an old photo instead of a more recent one?" Kairi questioned, eying him carefully. "You said your daughter's about seven, eight now?"
"Eight," Toshirou confirmed, smiling wanly, "but that's easy to answer." He braced his elbows on his knees, fingers clasping together.
"As I've already told you, the Land of Waves isn't a very prosperous country, especially so since Gatou arrived," he explained, "so we don't really get to enjoy the luxury of photographs all that often. We have recent photos back in my house in Wave, but they stay at home." His gaze shifted downward and he smiled wryly. "This is, almost literally, the only one I can afford to carry with me." Then, his eyes flitted up once more and his grin became lighter in tone. "But I don't mind. It's still my daughter and the memories linked to that photo aren't entirely bad..."
His expression softened as his gaze drifted to the fire and stayed there.
Kairi hid a smile beneath her mask as she slipped open her novel so that she might finally discover the result of the characters' tangled love lives. "That's as good a reason as any, I suppose..."
Sakaye became deaf to whatever talk continued thereafter. Her eyes instead remained firmly locked on Toshirou, taking in his black eyes, the soft smile, his masculine jaw, that dark hair that spiked slightly in the back...
Dark hair, messy spikes jutting from behind, slid through her fingers. The soft black locks tickled her palms as tiny hands clutched tight.
A bemused smile and faint wince responded to the touch as larger hands, the skin only slightly darker than her own, grasped at the tiny digits, removing them gently.
"Sakaye-chan, please. That hurts, Daddy..."
She flicked her gaze away, eyes shutting.
That smile, that smile. He smiled, but it was so sad. So, so very sad. Large hand ruffled her hair, mussing the dark strands, though she couldn't find the will to complain. Those eyes, those eyes...
Her own clenched tighter.
"Good girl..."
And still, the memory remained.
oxoxo
But for the flicker of a few candles and the faint light from a window in the back, the room was dark and dimly lit. Below the window sat a large desk and it was upon this that a set of stubby fingers tapped impatiently.
The short man they belonged to scowled and his eyes narrowed behind his dark sunglasses, a strange article to wear considering the lack of light within the room and lack of sun, but wore them he did and no one could tell him to do otherwise.
Gatou took orders from no one, after all. Why would he need to when he owned one of the most influential companies in the five great nations?
A smirk tugged at his lips at the thought, but on glancing at the door, his scowl returned. He shifted in his seat, though the extravagant plush to the chair indicated that it was indeed quite comfortable, even if it dwarfed its occupant's small stature.
Gatou gritted his teeth, and a vein at his temple bulged as the seconds passed by. Damn that Mist nin. Where was she? He had called her almost ten minutes ago! How dare she and that lackey of hers keep him waiting like some common–
Yuzuna appeared before him, halting his train of thought on its tracks, with her companion not far from her side.
"It's about time," the businessman growled.
He narrowed his eyes at the smugness that flashed in her own dark eyes and exuded silently from her form, but did nothing. He knew of her reputation; it was why he had hired her, after all. While he was terribly arrogant, he was not an idiot, and a coward such as he knew better than to risk his own life in such a manner, body guards or not.
He briefly glanced at the samurai on either side of him before then shooting the teen by Yuzuna a nasty sneer since he couldn't do so to the woman herself. He only became annoyed with the lack of reaction behind the blank, faceless mask the smaller shinobi wore. Unsatisfied, he returned his gaze to Yuzuna and forced a smirk on to his features, attempting to regain control over the situation.
"I called you here–"
"–because the Demon Brothers failed," the masked kunoichi interrupted.
The male clenched his jaw and glared at her.
"...Yes," he replied, clasping his hands together on the desk before him. "And so, because of that–"
"–you're sending us out to do what they couldn't."
Gatou paused, fingers tightening around each other so that his knuckles turned white, his nostrils flaring as he glared at the woman once more.
"...Yes," he forced out between gritted teeth. "Now..." He trailed a moment, as if to see if she would cut him off once more. When she didn't, he continued. "I want you to–"
"–kill the nuisance and his guards–"
"Oh, just get out and go!" Gatou roared, temper flaring. "And don't come back until–!"
He froze at the touch of her blade against his throat. His men jumped into action, hands set to remove their own swords, at least three seconds too late.
His gaze flicked up to her suddenly cold and unforgiving dark orbs, the air to the room growing icier with each second.
"Don't you dare talk to me like that," Yuzuna threatened in a murderous tone. "I could kill you at any moment and neither you nor your little lapdogs over there could do a thing about it." The blade tapped him on the chin, bouncing his head lightly. "Got it?"
Gatou swallowed hard as sweat poured from his brow, and he nodded quickly.
The masked kunoichi removed her blade and placed it on her shoulder.
"...You're dismissed," the short man said once he had finally regained his voice.
Barely before he had finished his sentence, the two were gone, already leaping through the trees.
Yuzuna landed upon a branch, immediately pushing off again, her guillotine blade bound to her back once more. She flew by Haru and glanced at the teen. "You know what to do?"
"Yes," the ninja answered instantly.
Yuzuna smirked and her eyes darkened dangerously.
"Excellent."
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Fun Facts:
– Title for the chapter refers, first off, to Toshirou's own family, but also references Sakaye's own, one member of whom we have seen. The other two will also be referenced in this arc because, as I stated in an earlier Fun Facts, this arc will delve more in to Sakaye, seeing as we really haven't seen all that much of her yet. I have purposely avoided going in to her thoughts and have used little of her Point-of-View. In that way, she has been just as unreadable to us as she is to her own team. That changes in this arc. Well, to a certain extent, at least.
– Toshirou is meant to resemble Sakaye's father.
– The hair style of Sakaye's father, in the back, is very similar to Sasuke's. I've always thought that Itachi and Sasuke derived most of their looks from their mother, Mikoto, especially Sasuke, and so it just made sense to me for Masahiro, Sakaye's father, to have a hair style similar to Sasuke's.
– Nariko's speech came out so cheesy to me. It kind of makes me feel embarrassed for her, which is what led me to have the others react to it as they did.
– In contrast to my attempts to make Toshirou's voice less formal, Yuzuna's has been coming out more informal than I intend. Zabuza's way of speaking holds about the same formality as Kakashi's, which is a fairly proper way of speaking, so the same should apply to Yuzuna. Thankfully, the Yuzuna issue is more easily remedied than the Toshirou one, which I find to be rather exasperating. Sigh.
– For some reason, it is strangely refreshing to write Yuzuna and Haru as opposed to Team 7. I guess I'm glad to be able to write some new characters. I just feel like their parts are more... original somehow. You'll see more how I mean in future chapters.