Sorry about the delay on the chapter, but classes were murder... Well, without further ado, here's chapter 5!
The news of the midnight massacre spread through the village like wild fire. The chatter and gossip among the passing villager had always been some sort of nonsense or junk, but now, it was of fear… Fear that they or worst, somebody they cared for would be next. Fear had caused such an extensive psychological damage among the already paranoid village that they've begun setting up earlier curfew times for their young despite their whining and protest.
Naruto and Kenji found themselves having a stern talk with Ebisu… The trainer had a anxious and worried look in his face, and about him. Even the stress could be seen through his sun glasses.
"Alright, you know about the attacks, so now it'll be easier to explain things to you." Ebisu began "Because of that, the village has tripled it's patrol, even Chunin have started taking time to patrol things at night. And because of it, I have requested someone to teach you in my place. But don't worry, he'll be a really good teacher…"
Naruto's mouth fell in disbelief while Kenji could feel another headache coming.
"So for today, you have the day off, until he gets here." The elite Jonin trainer explained. "Well, that's all, until we meet again…"
With those parting words, the Jonin Trainer vanished in a puff of some, leaving no trace of him. The two trainees gave a long sigh of disappointment.
'I suppose it couldn't be helped.' Kenji thought while running through his thoughts carefully and trying to figure out what his next move should be.
"Naruto…" Kenji began, catching the attention of the blonde shinobi. "We can't just stand here… Especially what's going on."
"I agree!" Naruto said loudly as he suddenly got a burst of energy. "We've got to train!"
"Up for a sparring match?!" Kenji proposed as he drew his Key Blade in a flash of light and readied his stance.
"I thought you'd never ask…!" Naruto said gleefully as he crossed his index and middle fingers. "Let's go!"
As the two had their sparring match, Sasuke laid in the hospital bed. His room was that of any old hospital, its wals and ceilings were concrete white and the floor was tiled white as well. The hospital was said to be the safest place for healing, especially with several elite ANBU members standing guard the young Uchiha's door to guard against any intrusion. However, the ANBU members would soon find out that it's not the case as in a blink of an eye, kunai were hurled and plunged through their throats for a quick and painless death. As the elite shinobi fell, a mysterious figure with purple hair and round glasses appeared as a sort of silhouette, bearing a bad omen to those who even so much as glance.
Meanwhile, at the forest, both the blonde shinobi and the key blade master were drenched in sweat, Naruto held a pair of kunai knives in each hand as Kenji held his Key Blade across his body in a defensive stance. Both were breathing hard, and had their endurance taxed to the max. The trees were all damaged with either slash marks coming from the key blade, or shuriken and kunai knives plunged into them. They were both ready to go on, despite their exhausted states until their stomachs grumbled violently. Their stomachs were in such a loud riot, that it even surpassed the clashes of metal that were generated from the match.
"Oh man, I could sure use some ramen right about now…" Naruto mumbled as he felt his stomach revolting within him because of the lack of food.--
The Key Blade master then started to understand what the blonde was trying to say as it was already afternoon, the sun was already glaring at the top of their heads, frying their heads, and soaking their face with sweat that's disgustingly sticky. Kenji could feel his Key Blade slipping from his grasp, but not from exhaustion, but the sweat that was generated from his palms. Naruto couldn't grasp his kunai any longer, he could even barely lift his hand let alone form hand signs to perform any jutsu.
"Eh… I think we should take a break…" Kenji said finally as he withdrew his Key Blade in a flash of light.
"Listen, I'm going to grab something back at my place, so go on ahead to Ichiraku Ramen without me, okay?" the blonde explained as he shortly left in a rush.
Then, as Naruto dashed off, the Key Blade master decided to follow suit, he heard something from the bushes. Kenji then drew his Key Blade in a flash of light and took an offensive stance, anticipating perhaps one of this Orochimaru's flunkies to try to take him out, or another one of Veil's so called apprentices trying to do the same.
"Who's there?!" Kenji demanding the would be assailant show him or herself.
Then, a figure emerged from the bushes. Though it was indeed a person, it wasn't one that the Key Blade master anticipated at all… It was that blue haired girl with pale pupils back when the Heartless attacked. She still wore that thick looking gray sweater and those tightened navy blue pants.
"Wait, you're Hinata, aren't you?" the boy inquired.
"Y-yes…" she replied with a stuttering and low tone.
"What are you doing out here? Weren't you supposed to be back at the hospital?" Kenji questioned.
"Y-yes, but we were released early." She replied still with that peculiar tone.
"Well, what are you doing out here?" the boy continued to pry.
"W-well, I was just taking a walk, and I h-heard a some clashing sounds, so I d-decided to follow the sound, a-and I found you two s-sparing…" she explained.
"I see…" the boy said, though it seemed that he believed the navy blue haired girl, at the back of his mind, he seemed to have his doubts about it all.
"Hey Kenji!" it was none other than the blonde shinobi himself. As he approached the two, he seemed to have a worried look in his face.
Then, as the blonde shinobi came closer, Hinata's cheeks then suddenly had blood rushing through them. Her face then started turning redder and redder as he came closer and closer. She also started twitching all over and started looking at the forest floor, as if she was shy about something. Kenji raised an eye brow as he continued to observe her symptoms and then arrived at a conclusion…
'Is it just me, or does Hinata have a crush on Naruto…?' the Key Blade master thought as all of the symptoms that she displayed began to clear any fog of doubt he had in his mind about what he had thought about. Assumptions quickly turned into facts in the face of the evidence of the symptoms that the navy blue haired kunoichi displayed. 'Interesting…'
"Hey! Can you help me look for something?" the blonde requested desperately in a panic. "I lost my ticket for a free bowl of ramen!"
'Of course… Ramen is one of the only things that he'd go so far for…' the Key Blade master thought as he narrowed his eyes and sighing in disappointment of the blonde's predictability.
"I think I dropped it somewhere here when we were sparring!" Naruto said in a panic struck tone.
"I think I can help…" Hinata said as she then closed her eyes. She then started forming several hand signs to focus her chakra. "Byakkugan!"
Then, the instant she opened her eyes, the surrounding area had veins popping out of them and it was as if her pupils were popping out. She then started looking around, as if she was scanning the area. She then sighed with a small smile.
"W-why don't you check the back of your head band?" the blue-haired kunoichi suggested.
As soon as he untied his head band, small piece of paper drenched in sweat fell out of it. It had a small picture of a bowl of ramen and the words "Free" written all over it's surface.
"Oh yeah! I remember now! I hid it behind my head band so it wouldn't fall off!" the blonde said finally as he recalled the events when he took the precaution that led to this incident.
"Hey, how'd you know that it was behind his head band?" Kenji wondered with awe.
"It's a blood line trait that my entire family shares, it's called Byakkugan." She began. "It lets us have a near 360 degree view of our surrounding area as well as being able to see things that normal people can't, like the chakra points within a body."
"Chakra… What?" the Key Blade master wondered in confusion as he found himself lost and curious as to what this 'chakra point'.
"It's the points where chakra flows in the body… If it were sealed, then it would render the person almost unable to move and unable to use chakra." She further explained.
"Interesting…" Kenji said as he absorbed everything that she just said into his mind.
"Well, I need to go, I'm so hungry!" Naruto said as he left without saying anything else.
"W-wait…!" but before Hinata could say anything else, the blonde disappeared far from sight.
"You like him… Don't you…?" the Key Blade master began with a devilish grin. With those words, Hinata glanced at the Key Blade master as her cheeks then began blushing furiously, apparently he tripped on something, seems as if there was more to it than he thought. "Hah… So I was right…"
"P-please, don't tell him, I'd like to do that myself." She pleaded.
"Yeah, don't worry, I'll keep your secret…" Kenji said. "But you know, you're by far the only girl that I've seen that actually has a good eye for these things…"
"W-what do you mean…?" she asked, now curious to hear the Key Blade master's opinion.
"Well, all of the girls I've seen so far had been crazy about that Sasuke guy. It's always Sasuke this, Sasuke that…" the key blade master then started to make a rather poor imitation of a girl's tone while blinking a lot. "It's just irritating sometimes."
Then, a dog's bark could be heard from a distance, and then soon enough there came a small, white puppy running towards Hinata; he seemed rather pleased to see her. Then, another boy followed him; the boy had a gray, hooded fur coat and dark brown pants with a small pouch strapped on the right leg. He also had strange red stripe marks across each side of his face.
"Good job, Akamaru!" the boy said, giving the dog a pat on the head. "Hey Hinata, there you are! Just because we're not in the tournament anymore doesn't mean we should slack off! We're supposed to help train Shino!"
Then, the Key Blade master noticed something else… As soon as Naruto disappeared, her blushing stopped, and her stuttering was significantly reduced to a minimum. The disappearance of the earlier symptoms only served to reinforce his earlier discovery.
"Oh… Right…" the girl said. "Go on ahead, I'll catch up with you later, Kiba."
"Ah… Right…" the dog user said as Akamaru then hopped on inside his seemingly protective fur coat. "You'd better be quick or else Kurenai-sensei is gonna give us an earful."
Then, with that, the fur-coated dog user leaped back to the trees, hoping to his supposed rendezvous spot.
"Please, keep it a secret, okay?" Hinata asked still with worry in her tone.
"You don't have to get so paranoid, I won't say anything." Kenji replied, trying to put as much reassurance in his tone as possible. "Now go, I don't think your sensei would be too happy if you're late."
"Right." then, with that, she left the same way the dog user did, up to the trees, and without a trace.
Kenji's stomach grumbled as he walked through the streets of the Hidden Leaf. His stomach is demanding that it was fed some of those addictive bowls of ramen that he's grown so fond of. As his mind drifted off in la-la land where the food was abundant, he bumped into the pink-haired Kunoichi, Sakura. She along with Kenji fell on the ground along with the flowers that seemed to have been only recently picked out. The pink-haired kunoichi wore the same thing that she wore the last time Kenji saw her: a red overall shirt with what seemed like a black overall underneath.
"Whoa… Sorry about that." Sakura said dusting herself off. "Hey, you're Kenji, right?"
"Yeah." The Key Blade master said as not only does his stomach sting with hunger, but his rear now sore after the unpleasant fall. He then noticed the flowers that she carried and was carefully dusting off. "Hey, whose are those for?"
"It's for Sasuke, he was injured in the 2nd exam, and I want to give these to him." Sakura explained. "Where are you going?"
'Wow… Again with that Sasuke guy… Geez, these girls really need to have a wake up call…' the boy thought as this only confirmed on how right he was.
"I'm going to Ichiraku Ramen for lunch." The Key Blade master said as his growling stomach demanded that he did.
"Well, it's along the way to the hospital, so I guess I'll tag along." The pink-haired Kunoichi decided.
The two were then walking through the streets. It seemed as usual, packed. In every stand, there were people buying or bartering for the things that they needed.
"You're staying with Naruto, right?" Sakura asked suddenly.
"Yeah, why?" Kenji replied as he began wondering why she even asked.
"Well, he's just so annoying…" Sakura began. "And he doesn't even clean his apartment!"
"Well, he's not that annoying." Kenji countered.
"You must have a lot of guts if you're still sane." Sakura said complementing the Key Blade master.
"Well, why do you think he's annoying?" Kenji piped up.
It was those words that caused her to stop suddenly… It wasn't out of annoyance that she stopped or disbelief, it was that she had no answer for that.
'… What's the matter with me?! I'm the brains of Team 7, why can't I answer this?!' Sakura thought furiously as she tried searching his mind but it was useless, there was nothing…
"I don't know…" Sakura had a hard time saying this… And it wasn't out of pride that she couldn't say, but disbelief.
Sakura was the most intelligent among her team 7, and yet she couldn't answer a simple question like that. Truth be told, besides realizing that everyone else doesn't like him, she had no solid reason as to why she found the blonde annoying in the first place. It was as Kenji thought, it was probably the horrors that their parents had to face in the past, paranoia, and quite a bit of misunderstanding is what's causing so much grief for Naruto.
"I wonder… Could it be because everyone else for some reason thinks so?" Kenji wondered.
Those words seared into her mind like an imprinting fire. It stung for the pink-haired kunoichi because she had no reason to even think let alone state that he was annoying.
"Well, here's Ichiraku Ramen, I guess I'll see you later." Kenji said cheerfully as he knew at last, his stomach would be satisfied with all the addictive ramen that he can handle.
With that, Kenji went to Ichiraku Ramen and took a seat. It seemed that Teuchi, the Chef of the Ramen bar anticipated Kenji's order and already handed it to the smiling Key Blade master as he and Naruto gobbled down their hot noodles. Sakura looked at the two eating happily as they continued to chatter for no reason. They had gotten along rather well it seems, and now, Sakura wonders why on earth did she think Naruto was so annoying in the first place? She then stared at the set of flowers that she was going to give to Sasuke at the hospital and remembered what she was supposed to do…
'One hand I could go on ahead to visit Sasuke, and on the other…' the young Kunoichi then felt her stomach growling and demanding some kind of food be put in. 'I could go on and eat with Naruto…'
Next few minutes later, Sakura found herself gobbling up ramen that Teuchi served her. Naruto was actually surprised to see this, never in his wildest imagination could he have ever thought or even humored it that she chose to be sitting next to him eating ramen over going over to the hospital to visit Sasuke. Things had gotten interesting indeed.
Kenji had substantially slowed down his consumption of Ramen, as Naruto began to feel slightly uneasy with this sudden development. Teuchi was also interested on how this would all play out.
"This ramen is good…" Sakura said with a mild surprise in her tone. She put down an empty bowl of Ramen, feeling more content than she has had in weeks.
'C'mon Naruto, she's here, now's your chance.' Kenji thought in anticipating the blonde to do something… Anything to impress the pink-haired kunoichi.
'Why's Sakura here? Is this another Genjutsu?' Naruto ran so many possibilities, from likely to un-likely through his mind, hoping that one of them may be the reason why the she's here in the first place. He then noticed a bouquet of flowers.
"Hey, are you visiting Sasuke?" the blonde said finally breaking the silence.
"Yeah." She replied. She then found herself in a difficult position, she knew what she wanted to say, but yet she doesn't have the strength to say it. It took awhile for her to gather the courage she needed. "Hey, do you want to go visit Sasuke with me?"
'You're kidding… Right?! Visiting Sasuke? Is that the best she could think of?!' Kenji thought as he couldn't even begin to comprehend the idiocy that accompanied the kunoichi. 'Oh well, at least this is something… Wonder if Naruto will realize…?'
"Uh say Kenji, wanna tag along?" the following words simply dropped the key blade master's faith in the blonde's ability to read girls, and while the kunoichi started to get a headache due to the idiocy of her team mate.
'Naruto you idiot! That was supposed to be a date! Nobody else is supposed to go besides you and her!' the key blade master thought furiously as he banged his head against the counter of the ramen bar. 'Naruto you dumb ass! You just blew it!'
Sakura was at least able to read why Kenji was doing what he was doing. She gave a long sigh… Loud thuds could be heard across the counter top as Kenji still couldn't believe any of this. It already obvious, and yet he couldn't catch on, she was practically welcoming him with open arms and yet he was too blind to see it, let alone catch the opportunity.
'Naruto will always be Naruto…' Sakura thought.
'I think this is why she finds him annoying…' Kenji concluded.
"Alright… Fine…" the Key Blade master said giving a long sigh of disappointment.
'Geez, what's up with him? I was only asking whether or not he wanted to come, and besides, he isn't doing anything anyway.' Naruto thought as despite how deep in thought he was, he still couldn't comprehend what had just transpired or what he'd just missed.
It was only a matter of time until they finished up the rest of their lunch and started making their way to the hospital. As the afternoon heat started to kick in, the sun's rays began to bombard everybody mercilessly with their UV rays. Kids in particular started playing their games indoors, and away from the sun. However, despite the overwhelming heat, the three managed to arrive at the hospital amidst the sweltering heat. When they made it inside the building, they felt a rush through the air conditioning. It felt great, especially after being outside in the heat.
Sakura wasted no time and went past the desk nurse and seemed to make her way to Sasuke. Apparently, she's been here quite a few times. Seemingly enough to know her way to his room.
"Man, this hospital is big…" the blonde complained. "Are we there yet?"
"Almost there…" Sakura replied.
Then, as they made a turn around the corner of the hall, they spotted two ANBU special ops lying on the ground, and the door opened. They didn't seem to breathing, which Sakura concluded that they were dead… And they seemed to have been stationed in front of Sasuke's room. Panic and worry then suddenly began to overtake Sakura's consciousness, fearing the worst for Sasuke. Her fears were worsened when she spotted a shadow coming out from the room.
"Sakura, get help… Kenji and I will take them…" Naruto whispered quietly as Kenji drew his Key Blade in a flash of light.
Sakura then went of quietly, hoping to get somebody to help them. Then, the two slowly approached the door way, the silhouette slowly faded back into the room. Then, after a count of three, the two rushed into the room, only to find more bodies of fallen ANBU.
"Strange… I could've sworn that someone was here…" Kenji said under his breath.
And someone was indeed in the room, one of the bodies of the fallen ANBU slowly rose from it dormant state, and slammed his foot into the Key Blade master's spinal cord. Not only did it hurt, but it sent him flying right out of the window.
"Kenji!" Naruto screamed as he watched one of his commrades literally falling through the window.
"I'd worry about yourself right now…" the ANBU said with a deathly lethal tone.
Wow, that update took much longer than I anticipated... It's not out of being lazy or anything (Well, mostly), but in either case, since I'm in college, I don't have much time to update. So expect it to take at most a month to update or so.