LC; Yo peoples of the planet!
Naruto; Yo, decided to get off your lazy butt?
LC; Nope! But I have decided to waste my weekend on the computer as always!
Sasuke; Aren't girls your age supposed to be going to parties and all that?
LC; Hey, I've been known to denounce expectations before!
Sasuke; Just do your little story already.
LC; Geez, PMS much?
Sasuke; What? *Uses famous Uchiha death glare*
LC; Ehehehe, I said, uh,...Oh Hell, we both know what I said!
Sasuke; CHIDORI!
LC; AAAAAAAHHH!
Disclaimer; If they were mine, Sasuke would not use his chidori on me when ever I made a joke about him.
Chapter 3; No news is good news, bad news a snooze, and good news makes the day worthwhile!
I ascended up and over the little window and watched as the crack beneathe me closed up like an old wound. Meanwhile, the old man was launching many, many pointy things at my exposed position.
Acting on instinct, I used a clone to throw myself out of the way while at the same time summoning yet more of them that I tossed at the Tsuchikage himself!
Once they were within range, I fluxated my chakra a little to activate the explosions. Ya gotta love exploding clones, they're so damned useful.
On my descent, I sent half a dozen of my own exploding tags to be sure he'd gotten the message. Imagine my surprise when the smoke cleared and instead of a shriveled old man I found a titan?
I'd heard of this jutsu that allowed him to temporarily grant himself more power. Guess he was finally getting serious then. Lucky for me that I'm not just a one trick pony.
"Rasenshuriken!" I threw the jutsu as hard as I could in his direction and watched, satisfied, when it caught his right arm. He would survive that one, but he'd be badly crippled and wouldn't survive the second blow.
That, or I could count on him dying of blood loss. Whichever came first.
"That was a clever move, but I'm going to finish this!" He growled. I would never tell my enemies this, but when he slit my throat, I used a special jutsu I can only use once a week.
Something only demons can do in order to escape death. An instantanious healing of all major wounds. A handy trick for someone to know, but damned if the time limit on it wasn't annoying as all get out.
So I basically had only my cunning between me and his kunai.
Good thing foxes are known for their cunning.
While I had been distracted with my inner monolouge, he had been flashing through the seals of another jutsu. I think it's time I added another element to this battle before I got burned.
I wiped some blood from a kunai wound on my arm and began flashing through the seals for a summoning.
"Alright big boy, see if you can handle this!" I stamped my hand on the ground and soon found myself riding the back of a very large three taled fox.
He had nothing on Kyubi, but he was the size of a large bear, so he would do quite well under the circumstances.
"I've heard about your fox summons." The titan stated. "It will be interesting to see just what they can do." I smiled innocently at him before dispelling the genjutsu surrounding me.
"You know you've been fighting a fox this whole time right?" I asked him coyly, wagging my tail in excitement. He froze when he saw the tail and ears but he quickly recovered.
"So Loki, you hungry?" I asked my summons.
"Sure." He answered. "After this fight, let's go out for some fish! I think this human might be a bit tough."
"Eh, I guess I could pull a few strings." I conceded. "There's supposed to be some river nearby anyway."
Well, mister Titan didn't agree with being treated like he wasn't there, so he made himself known to us. Since he obviously had no door bell, he figured a giant boulder would do just fine.
Needless to say, getting a giant rock to the face did not make my day.
"You know that was kinda rude." I told him, nursing the egg knot on my forehead. "That hurt ya know!" Stupid thing to say in a fight to the death with a kage, but I was just plain pissed and I have always secretly enjoyed seeing how angry I could make my enemies.
Annoyance is one handy gift to have, when used the right way.
Loki darted without warning and nearly suceded in pinning the elusive Tsuchikage. He was starting to look bad though. His arm had been bleeding a while now and I knew he questioned his chance of winning.
"Come on Loki, let's finish this." I roared. He barked in excitement and pounced again, this time sucessfully knocking him down and keeping him down.
I wasted no time in jumping down and slitting his throat and watching as the life faded from his eyes as he struggled for air.
The fight had been harder than the others thus far, but nothing like with Orochimaru. As much as I hate to admit it, the old bastard can put up one hell of a fight.
Much more so then any other guy I've ever battled against anyway. I sealed the late Tsuchikage's head in a scroll and headed back to the camp. Loki dispelled himself somewhere along the way, leaving me with my thoughts.
For two years after my banishment, I wanted nothing more than to go back 'home'. But somewhere in my third year alone, I just stopped wishing for it and moved on.
I grew to enjoy my missing nin life style. I fell in love and had a family. But now, here they were, practically begging me to come back. Did I want to anymore? Did I want to stay in the leaf village, and be a ninja there?
Could I go back to the life I once had, or was it too late?
I hung my head sadly as I came to a realization. I no longer felt loyalty to that village. I don't even know why I'm here. Is it to protect Somma and Sora? Or could I not resist the temptation to see them all, just one last time?
Because that realization, was I was never going to watch my baby grow up.
One of these days, I was going to die.
That's just the life of a shinobi.
Or in this case, kunoichi.
Back at the camp, I was surprised to find almost everyone was talking about some new order that had gone out a week ago. Apparently before he'd come out to fight me, he had given one last order.
It was a run on sight command for all for little ole me! Next to my picture were my stats, and underneath it were a few nicknames the iwa nins had come up for me.
Amongst them bein: Foxfire, Crimson Flash, Swirling Death, Witch of the Leaf, Fanged Bitch, and my personal favorite, Fiery Vixen.
They had gotten pretty creative with them to, nothing like Sharingan Kakashi, or Copy cat nin.
Now it's been three months, and the war is entering it's last days. The final battle has come, but that doesn't mean we're a shoo in to kick those bastards out of the land of fire.
No, quite the opposite. Seems that Orochimaru has upgraded ever single above chunin nin with his little hickey of death. The curse mark has made their numbers nearly unbeatable by conventional means, and I can't be everywhere at once.
Now, all of the forces we could spare have gathered for one last battle. It's been constant battles for me, one right after the other, and I'm tired.
I won't be able to use the hiraishin for this one.
But I don't care what happens, because my little boy is waiting for me.
And I'm coming home to him.
"When will they get here?" I asked the patrol unit who had just returned, the only one. They had gotten back with superficial injuries, but the two other patrol units never made it back.
"An hour, at least." He sighed, before heading to the infirmary. I had already told him he would not be participating in the upcoming battle unless things took a turn for the worst.
"The fourth great shinobi war is coming to an end." I decided.
We prepped for battle, everyone wishing for a miracle. Though, I have the suspicion that to them, a miracle included me and the hiraishin.
The reason I can not use that technique is because extened use is harmful to the body. When using the hiraishin, your basically going at the speed of light. And that is bad for the body because it has to change to light and back to matter in less than a second.
This process puts a lot of strain on the body. After my many fights, I had to take a week off to recover before I could fight again.
An hour later, our forces were in position to take down the enemy, and it was time for the commander to give a pep talk. Well, the commander is me, so damnit.
"Alright." I sighed, turning to face my squadron. "This is it. I'm not sugarcoating it for you, I'm giving it to you straight, because this is what you need to hear. We're about to fly straight into the face of Hell. Orochimaru gave his soilders the curse mark, empowering them. These marks have a fatal weakness though. They feed off chakra. We need to try and draw the fight out, pick off who we can." Now for the peppy part.
"Many of you were at that meeting called by Tsunade when I announced I was not rejoining the ranks." Several nods here. "I know some of you must have wondered why, well, I'll tell you. You see, for the first two years of my banishment, I wanted nothing more than to come back to the village. After being held by a couple criminal organizations though, I forgot what it was like for other people to depend on me."
By now she had their full, undevided attention. "You all know I have a near two year old son?" They nodded in answer. "When my old sensei, Kakashi, came and asked me to return, I was just relearning what that felt like. To have someone who depended on you for the simplest things. When this war is over, the first thing I'm doing is running to give my baby boy a hug and kiss." Now for the big surprise. "Now, you all know about my husband, Sora?" Nods, yep they knew him. "Well, Sora is not Somma's father." I caught one or two unmuffled gasps of surprise in the crowd. "Nope, you see, when Orochimaru had me as his prisoner, he decided to create a legacy. Somma is the result."
"Now I want you all to think back to about ten years ago." She prompted them. "Back when everyone was fixated on the idea that I was the Kyubi no Kitsune." I saw several guilty faces in the lot, they knew who they were. "Some call me the demon of the Leaf, and in truth, that's partly correct. You see, I've made a deal with a devil."
They watched as I dispelled the genjutsu, revealing my foxy nature. "Some of you may have known, some of you may not have, but I once gave up a lot to protect that village. I'm a half demon, and my son, is a half demon. Any kids I have next will be half demons. Now, I got a question for you all."
"In all the time I've led you, have I acted like a demon?"
They didn't have time to ponder my words because the enemy had arrived by now and were getting antsy, wondering where we were probably.
With my ears and tail out, I now had a slight advantage over my opponents. For one, the tail is like a second arm, meaning i can kill if it has a kunai. Secondly, my ears, eyes, and every thing else were greatly enhanced, meaning I got a senses boost.
The fact I also get fangs and claws happen to be a nice perk.
I took down a few when I could, but mostly I kept my men from getting killed themselves. I couldn't save them all, but I could give them borrowed time at least.
A few more seconds. A few more heart beats. A few more breaths. A few more scratches. A few more lung fulls of blood stinking air.
That was all I could give them right now. Borrowed time.
As the fight progressed, our enemies began to tire, but so did we. We'd lost a few men, but they had lost more. A downside to feeling invulnerable, is that you protect yourself against fatal blows a lot less, making it easier to get in your guard and take you down.
We may not have had that problem, but we still fell about as often as the other guys. Eventually it got to the point where I would need to do something if we were to win this never ending battle.
I managed to give myself a few seconds reprieve and began to catch my breath while making hand signs. This was a mass affect jutsu and part of a signal that I had arranged with the soilders before hand.
The signal itself was really my KI, which I would let loose before performing the actual jutsu. I released it now and watched as my men began to retreat, leaving behind very confused Iwa and Sound shinobi.
No sooner had the last man made it to the tree lines then I let loose my jutsu with an almighty roar.
"Demonic Style; Combustion no Jutsu!"
The entire clearing, and everything in it, vanished. All that was left was a giant crater about the size of a small village.
I looked over the damage and found one or two enemy shinobi who had escaped the blast because they were out of range.
By now my comrades had come out of hiding and were chopping down the few remaining.
I leaned against a tree, my tail swishing gently behind me in time to an unheard song. My eyes were closed but my ears were swiveling from place to place, locking in on one sound before moving to the next.
I caught several people discussing my behavior and comparing it to demons. Though most of their 'demons' were people who enjoyed killing, ei. Orochimaru for one.
Have to admit, they've come a long way from presecuting a little girl.
That night when we were sitting around the camp fire eating, they all proposed a toast to me. "To Naru, our commander who has led us to victory! To the Fiery Vixen!"
Their cheers had my ears ringing for a few minutes afterward but I barely noticed. I was a little ocupied with the warm, fuzzy feeling that had grown in my chest. I knew that feeling, the feeling of being wanted, appreciated even.
I do so love that feeling.
We made our way back to the village and were greeted by the entire population. Somehow, I just knew that showing up with my ears and tail showing would be a bad idea, so I had them hid.
Although, that didn't stop my little boy running through the crowd to get to me while everyone watched. To most it would seem he only recognized his mommy. I knew however, that he had recognized my scent, rather then my form.
When he reached me, I bent down and threw him up in the air. When he came down I kissed his forehead and almost broke his spine giving him the first hug in four months.
"Did you miss mama?" I asked him.
Now it's been a week since our victorious return and the war's end. I was sitting in the rocking chair in the living room thinking what to do next.
"So, Naru?" Sora started, blushing like on our first date. "What do you want to do next?"
I leaned my head back against the head rest and thought about it for a while. I didn't hate the village. And if I left I would be a missing nin again, meaning no retiring.
But staying here, I would have to face so many more troubles. Somma's parentage, my heritage, my new looks, and all that other good stuff.
"Sora, do you like it here?" I finally asked. I was too confused to make a decent decision so I decided to refer to my cool headed husband for his opinion.
"Well, I like that I can get supplies in short manner." He said, thinking of the markets practically out his door. "But I miss my herb garden and I want a place where Somma can play, like we had back at our cottage."
Naru hmmed in response, thinking about how she'd like Somma to go to the academy.
"I'd like to stay." I suddenly stated. "But I would like to actually own my own house, with a yard and place for a garden. I want a safe place for Somma to grow up in, with friends nearby."
It seemed the obvious decision, now I thought of it.
Before long, I was holding Somma's hand as we casually made our way to the hokage tower. My decision was made and personally I thought it was a nice compromise.
I would stay here, even wear a leaf headband if they insisted, and would even send Somma to the academy when he got older, but in return they would let me leave when I wished, no questions asked, without declaring me a missing nin.
If I wanted to retire later, no prob. I would still be called on in times of need of course, and would do some missions every now and again to pay for bills and things, but over all, I could lead a very relaxing life.
"Mama, are we going to see Tsunade=baachan?" He'd learned a lot of new words while I'd been gone. It made me feel bad knowing I'd been gone for so long.
"Yeah." I answered. "Somma, do you like it here in the Leaf?" He tilted his head and his brow scrunched up rather cutely like he was doing some heavy thinking. Or maybe he needed to use the bathroom, sometimes it's hard to tell.
"I like it here!" He finally decided. "But I miss pwaying outside and the pwetty gaden daddy had."
"I miss it to baby." I assured him. "If my idea works, we can get you a nice place to play and a place for daddy to grow his plants all day if he wants to."
I saw several little kids wave at Somma on our walk and I gave a small smile to them all in turn. It was nice to know my son had friends now.
We made it to Tsunade-baachan's office but I hesitated outside the door. I felt like I was going back on my word and I didn't like that.
However, when one looked at it...it wasn't really breaking my word, was it? After all, I technically wouldn't be an active ninja of the village.
"Gaki are you gonna stand out there all day?" I jumped when I heard her yelling at me from the other side. Mentally I pouted because she knew I was there.
I walked inside cautiously. It wouldn't be the first time she had thrown furniture at me after all, and I wanted this day to end on a good note.
She was standing with one foot on her desk about to throw her chair when she saw Somma. "Aw damn it." She cursed, putting the seat back down. "Your lucky you brought the kid with you."
I sighed in relief and thanked my forethought for bringing Somma. "Tsunade can you please not curse in front of my son?" I asked her, raising a single brow.
After telling her and Shizune my idea, they practically begged me to take my dad's old compound. Of course, I made it clear that I was leaving for a week or so to get things from my old house first.
I carried a now sleeping Somma back to the apartment and told Sora of the decision to move to my father's land.
"Well then, what are we still doing here?" He asked me, starting to pack up a few essentials.
We had everything moved before long and I began making plans to leave in the morning. I was allowed to, but someone had to accompany me.
I wasn't sure who, but I just hoped it wasn't that Sai guy. He irked me for some reason.
~~~LINE~~~
LC; Woo! Another chappie completo!
Naruto; You should be doing homework ya know.
LC; But this is more fun! Besides, I got...until tommorrow?
Sasuke; You procrastinated for a week.
LC;...SHIT! I'm dead!
Naruto; Not yet your not, just get off and do some real work.
LC;...But it's so boring!