Before I go any further, I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed the previous chapter. And thank you for encouraging reviews! They really keep me going. For those who criticized: thank you for leaving your opinion. It helps me improve what I can.
Now, to answer some major questions from reviews:
Are other, "Naruto" characters gonna appear: to answer shortly: yes. Some this chapter and pretty soon another one from the Leaf is gonna make an entry…. I'm not saying more, coz I hate to be the spoiler. I assure you that you'll find out what happened to all of them.
When will be more romance and what are the pairings: starting this chapter and few ahead there will be romance (it'll be mostly hints in this one) and secret revealing. The pairing… well, maybe I should keep it a secret (read this chapter and you'll probably figure out few).
Why does Naruto seem weak: well, I get that quite a bit, so I guess you all will be happy that starting this chapter the blonde loud mouth will keep getting stronger and stronger… how and why… read to find out.
What's with the Monodane bloodline: to keep this short I placed a special note at the end in which I tried to explained the whole thing behind Naraku's clan abilities… if something stays unclear to you, go ahead and ask and I'll try to explain it better.
Grammar still sucks: I know… I do write in Word but is doesn't seem to help me out much… well, in my defense I can only say that English is not my national language. I'm doing my best to fix most of the mistakes, but I could really use a beta reader, so anyone's who's interested, don't hesitate about telling me. For the time being I can only hope that my bad English isn't making this fic unable to understand and less enjoyable… but sorry in advance for all the future mistakes I'll most likely make.
I think that clears it all, so without further to do, here's the sixth chapter of "Shinobi Story"
P.S. Sorry for a bit late update... it'd appear on Saturday, but until now I couldn't even submit a document.
P.S.S. I'd also like to invite you all to read and review my other, "Naruto" fics. The climate is quite similar to this fic, so I'd say there's a high possibility you'll like them.
Chapter #6: Gates of Hidden Sand
Title Page: Naruto and Yari are standing back to back. Naruto is watching the sky and is eyeing his way, blushing slightly
It took them three days to walk through the desert… however Kasumi assured that it wouldn't be that long if Shikamaru wouldn't act like an ass and walked in turtle speed (A/N: she skipped the fact that both Naruto and Naraku were slowing them down a bit due to their injuries from the fight with Resshin)… after all Suna was supposed to be only one-day marsh. The lazy shinobi found an explanation that in the desert you must conserve your energy, which made the former Mist kunoichi even more mad.
But they manage to arrive at the gates of Suna before Kasumi decided to kill Shikamaru and everyone sighed in a relief noticing that. The moment they reached the gorge that lead to the Hidden Sand Village, Naraku gave them a signal to stop and a second later two Sand shinobies landed before them, ready to attack.
"Here's your chance, pinhead…" joked Hinako as she pushed Naruto forward.
"What is your business in…" began the sand-nin carrying a halberd, but then he noticed Yari and without saying anything more he jumped right at the girl with the blade of his weapon aimed at the kunoichi.
The former sand-nin acted instantly and picking out her own spear she blocked the attack. The guard was prepared to launch another attack, however Naraku grabbed him by his neck and attacking his legs with his own he made him fell to the ground: "Calm down… we didn't came here to bring trouble… we just want a place to stay for a while…"
"How can you even ask that!" yelled the guard that wasn't forced against the ground. "Don't you know what she has done?" with that he pointed at Yari. "She's forbidden to enter this village ever again! It's the previous Kazekage's order!"
"I demand to talk to the current Kazekage!" interrupted Naruto, drawing the guard's attention. "I couldn't care less about the previous Kazekages! I want to see the Godaime!"
"You have no right to demand that…" replied the guard held by Naraku.
"Oh, so you mean that you're not gonna inform your leader about a bunch of missing-nins that came to the gates of your village, traveling with a criminal from your own town?" asked Shikamaru with a tiny smirk, yet his eyes were closed, also as if he was asleep.
The guards clenched their teeth and soon after one of the guards that didn't came towards them ran into the village. Hinata looked worried as the guard disappeared and turned to her companion: "Yari-san, what did you do?"
The former Sand kunoichi just looked away and lowered her sight slightly. After a short wait the current Kazekage appeared before them, along with two other shinobies. The first one was a boy with purple tattoos on his face, wearing a little weird, black suit and was carrying five scrolls on his back.
The other shinobi was a girl with long, blonde hair, clipped in four ponytails. Her eyes were blue and she was wearing a blue and purple dress with metal protector on her arms and chest. Naraku also noticed a large fan attached to her back. She had her hitae-ate around her neck.
The Kazekage himself was a boy their age with short, spiky, red hair and green eyes. He was wearing a jet black robe and a large gourd on his back. Naraku easily spotted a kanji symbol for 'love' on the left side of his forehead and bags under his eyes. "So this is the famous Sabaku no Gaara, thought to be the strongest among all the Kazekage so far?"
"Uzumaki Naruto…" began the red-head. "Good to see you again, my friend…" but then his eyes went over to Yari and after a short, staring contest, he finally spoken as the kunoichi turn her face away: "Yari… it's been a while…"
"Oi, Gaara, we need a place to stay for a while…" Naruto cut in and stood between the Godaime and the former sand-nin. "I recommended Suna… you're gonna let all of us in, right? I hate to be the only one responsible for adding days to out trip…"
Gaara just looked at him for a moment and then stood back, making the motion with his hand that invited them to enter. Meanwhile the boy with scrolls on his back walked over to the Godaime and whispered into his ear: "Gaara, are you sure? You may have forgiven her, however the village will definitely not feel the same…"
"Kankuro, you should understand…" replied the Kazekage simply as he exchanged glares with Yari as she passed him, however the kunoichi once more turn away.
Shikamaru, who was walked at the end of the group got grabbed by the collar and sticking out his tongue in gasp for air he turned around to look at the Sand kunoichi with a fan who smiled widely and gave him a smack on the head: "Took you long enough to drop by, you lazy ass."
"And just why would I want to visit such a troublesome woman like you?" joked the leaf-nin, smirking slightly under his nose, even though that comment earned him another smack on the head.
Tamao looked with amazement in her eyes at the streets of the Hidden Sand as it was her first time visiting the Suna: the buildings, even though they made impression of being primitive, were decorated in many ways. All were built from white brick and took many shapes: from simple squares, through pyramids and ending on palace-like mansions, which roofs were made into a circle with a spike on top and painted with golden pain (A/N: not too good at describing that… think Arabic cities and you should know). She didn't notice any glass in the windows, however there were rolls of material above every one of them… her guess was that it was a protection from sand getting into the house during sandstorms.
With every step they raised a little dust as the streets were covered with sand. On every side of the street stood wagons and stalls that were selling practically everything: food, clothes, even sabers. Due to the high temperature the only plants that she spotted here and there were palms. She even notice a high fountain in the center of the village with the statues of Suna heroes around it. Every statue had a short description of who it represented and what he or she had done for the village.
Tamao drifted back to the time she spend in her hometown which was located between two, huge rocks. Those rocks covered most of the sky, so even during the day the sunlight was weak in the village.
When they reached the Kazekage Tower, Tamao noticed that the whole thing was made into three circles: the widest at the bottom and the smallest on top. On the middle circle there was a symbol of 'wind', large enough to be spotted from all around the tower. With a second look she also spotted golden stripes here and there, decorating the white walls of the building along with few, black, decorative writings around the windows… as she read one of them, she realized that it was an incantation to scare away demons.
"Please follow me to the office where we can calmly talk about the conditions you'll have to make to stay…" and with that Gaara led them inside the tower with Temari and Kankuro following them. When they finally reached their destination, the puppeteer made sure no-one was on the hallway and closed the door. "So, what exactly do you expect from me?"
"Kazekage-sama…" bowed Naraku, before continuing: "We wish to ask you for a shelter until Naruto and I will recover from our injuries and we all be well-rested… once that will be achieved, we'll buy supplies for the trip to come and trouble you no further…"
"Shelter, you say?" repeated the Godaime. "Then you came to the wrong village, I'm afraid… you are all welcome to stay, however I cannot ensure Yari's safety as long as she's here…" and with that he turned to the kunoichi. "I did terrible things to this place as well… guess that allowed me to forgive you, however other people of this village are a different story… even if I were to announce you're my guest, I don't suppose it'll stop them…"
"Gaara-kun, I…" began the former sand-nin. "I really didn't mean to… back then… it… it seemed like the best thing to do…"
"Then you should have completed it…" replied the Kazekage. "You might lose your path if you look back… lets not talk about it for now... you'll be guests in our house until you decide to leave… Kankuro, please, show them the way… I'll join you when my work will be complete…"
The puppeteer nodded and with a hand gesture showed them to follow him. Shikamaru was stopped by Temari however: "You're going with me, lazy ass!" and without waiting for his answer, she grabbed him by the hand and drag behind her.
Gaara only smirked under his nose at the sight and looked out the window before returning to his desk: "Why have you ever decided to return… Yari-chan?"
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Naraku stood on top of the Kazekage's mansion and stared at the starry, night sky. He drifted away to the memories of the old times when Tamao walked onto the roof as well and stopped few meters behind him: "Naraku-kun… the Kazekage will soon return and the meal is being prepared… will you come?"
Without even turning around, the former leaf-nin replied: "It's pretty ironic, don't you think? Because of that promise I cannot move on and yet the same promise seems like the only thing that keeps me with being myself… there are times when I think that this single promise and the will to fulfill it are the only things that are left of the old me…" he paused for a moment before continuing: "Have I ever told you why I even made that promise, Tamao-chan?"
"N… no…" replied the former stone-nin, shaking her head slightly.
"At that time it was really the only thing I could have done…" answered Naraku. "After all that training, I have never thought I could be so helpless… there are times when I wonder: if I didn't gave her my word back then… would things go differently? Due to the word I gave her, almost everything was taken away from me… I guess I proved that I really could sacrifice anything for her… but I don't think I could do something like that again…"
"Naraku-kun…" began Tamao as she walked closer to him and placed her hand on his shoulder: "I… I know you wouldn't be able to do that again, because… because now you have more then one important person on your list… and I'm sure that… that for them… for us… you'd be able to even sacrifice your own life… you… you may not know it yourself, but… but I'm sure you would…"
"No…" replied the former leaf-nin. "I don't think I could until I fulfill that promise… and recent events shown that I'm far from achieving that…" and with that he held out his hands, which started shaking. "All those years… I thought I could match him by now… and yet the gap is still that great… and there's always the second part of her wish…"
"Someday you will fulfill it and live on…" assured the former stone-nin. "I know you will, because…" with that she lowered her head, blushing slightly and then continued: "Because you're the only one I know who can do it… between you and your brother… there's one, big difference, Naraku-kun… and that difference makes you stronger then him… and soon you will fulfill that promise…"
Naraku turn around to face his companion and smiled warmly to her. After a short silence he asked: "Tamao-chan, please tell Kazekage-sama that I'm sorry… I… I think I'll go and train a little…" and with that he was gone.
The kunoichi just smiled slightly and slowly walked back inside the mansion.
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Naruto was walking through the hall towards the dinning room to meet everyone. On the way he saw Hinata leaving her room. The white-eyed girl smiled to him and stood in place until he reached her: "How are you feeling, Naruto-kun?"
"Way better now, thanks to your treatment…" he replied. "Well, my left shoulder still hurts a bit and I feel my ribs got broken, but in a day or two I should fully recover. Thanks a bunch, Hinata!"
"It… it's nothing… Naruto-kun…" responded the girl, turning away so that he couldn't see her blushing. "If I… if I sacrificed more of my time for training with Sakura I could've done better… it's really… nothing…"
"Yeah right, you're the only medic on the team…" announced the blonde as he wrapped his hand around her, making her red as a tomato. "If it wasn't for you, both me and Naraku would have to be dragged here and I'm positive Shikamaru would never agree for that…" with that he laughed and left go of her, yet her blush still didn't faded away. "To show you how much I appreciate your help, I can even give you a bowl of my ramen… just one though, lets not over do it…" he joked again, making the girl giggle at the line.
Soon after they entered the dinning room and noticed Kasumi already sitting there. She gave them a quick glare and then got back to polishing her katana. "You can tell that anywhere she goes, she's the life of a party…" thought Naruto sweat dropping and a second later he heard Hinako's voice:
"Come on, only one bite…" and a moment later she appeared in the hallway, reaching out for the big plate that Kankuro was carrying above his head out of the former cloud-nin's reach. "Don't be so mean!"
"No!" the puppeteer yelled back. "Gaara would kill me if he were to find out!"
"You're no fun…" replied Hinako and then, with a devilish smile she started softly tickling the sand-nin's chin: "Come on, I won't tell anyone… and did I already told you that with that make-up on your face you look really manly?"
Kankuro blushed deeply and after a moment of hesitation he loudly swallowed his saliva he replied: "No! Get away from me, you evil woman! Even Temari isn't as bad as you!" and with that they both entered the room, passing Naruto laughing loudly and Hinata holding herself from laughter.
"I really hate when you're using your charms to get what you want from men…" announced Kasumi as her friend sat next to her. "It's not even shinobi-like…"
"Or are you mad because your charms are useless…" teased Hinako making the former mist-nin holding back her to cut the ring user's throat. A second later the green-haired girl burst out laughing and patting the weapon mistress on the back, she apologized.
"Where are Shikamaru and Temari-san?" asked Hinata quietly as she sat at the table next to Naruto, who located himself right to Hinako.
"I don't think they'll be coming tonight…" replied Kankuro as he sat in front of the white-eyed girl. "Since Temari took him away… she'll probably bash him for not letting her know he's still alive after your village…" but then he interrupted, realizing what he was saying. "Sorry, I didn't mean to…"
"It's okay…" assured Naruto as Tamao entered the room as well: "So, is Naraku coming?"
The former stone-nin only shook her head in disagreement and when the blonde asked why, she replied quietly: "He decided to train…"
"Train?" whisker-marks eyebrow went up. "He's still injured and even above that, what's the use? He's the strongest around here anyway… maybe except Gaara and me…" and with that he smiled widely.
"You're a dope…" announced Kasumi. "No matter how strong you are, if you won't train, your skills will decrease… take you for example: you can use the chakra of a demon that was sealed inside you during the fight, but that didn't bring you any good, coz you only used a small among of it… yes, I can tell, coz I know a Jinchuuriki myself and I can tell you that the power you released during your fight with Resshin was nowhere near hers…"
"You wanna know why I haven't used more?" Naruto kept himself from yelling. "Coz if I were to do that, you all would end up dead! I cannot control Kyuubi's power over the among I used!"
"And you think that's any excuse?" replied the former mist-nin calmly. "Throughout the history there were human sacrificed that could use demon powers to the maximum… Jinchuuriki were created as weapons, so it was essential to allow them to leap into the demon's chakra without losing control… if they were to lose control, the purpose of their existence would be lost…" Naruto calmed down at hearing her words. "Since you weren't possessed, but the Kyuubi was sealed in you, it is possible for you to release it's full power without losing control… all you need to do is learn how to overcome the demon when you increase the among of its power you release…"
The blonde lowered his head. Hinata seeing his depression, placed her hand on his shoulder, however the loud mouth just stood up and said to Kankuro: "Excuse me, I think I'll skip this meal… tell Gaara we'll talk tomorrow…" and with that he left the room.
"Well, what do you know…" Kasumi only smiled slightly under her nose as she stopped polishing her katana. "They really are very much alike… sorry Naruto, but I guess you had to hear what I said for you to understand…"
Hinako looked at the white-eyed girl who lowered her head as well and stopped drinking for a moment: "Boy, what a pinhead…" and with that thought she took the place next to Hinata that Naruto just freed: "Why don't you just tell him?"
The young Hyuuga looked at the green-haired girl and after returning to stare at the floor, she replied: "It… it's okay…"
The former cloud-nin keep looking at the leaf-nin and finally, returning to her drink, she announced: "I see what's the problem. Tomorrow I'm taking you out to the city… we'll work on that shyness of yours… and I won't take 'no' for an answer…"
Hinata's eyes widen as she gave the green-haired girl a stare and smiled weakly while turning her head away from her companion.
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"You're a weird girl…" announced Shikamaru as him and Temari were laying on one of the roof tops, observing the stars. "When you took me away, I was positive you're gonna make me take a walk or something…"
"It'd just end up with you saying 'how troublesome'…" replied the Sand kunoichi. "You're a lazy ass, so this is the only thing I knew you won't mind doing and so that we could talk…"
"And what is it that you wish to talk to me about?" Shikamaru got interested (A/N: at least as much as he can be).
"When I heard Konoha was destroyed, for some reason I got worried that I'll never see you again…" announced the fan user. "And that scared me… I guess that… well… that you become important to me, even though you're an ass…" and with that she turned to look at the lazy shinobi just to see that he was sleeping.
As a veins started popping on her forehead, she grabbed her fan and creating a blow that wiped the leaf-nin from the roof, she yelled: "Asshole!" yet couldn't help but smile at Shikamaru's behavior.
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Naraku stood in the middle of a training ground, breathing heavily. As he raised his head he ordered himself: "Again!" and instantly began performing a long set of hand seals: "Mizu Kuiki: Koori Hane Mitsukai no Jutsu!"
A second later a small circle of water started to form around his feet. Few water drops flew into the air, however a moment later the circle got dispelled and water dropped back to the ground.
Naraku hit the ground with his fist and cursed in his mind: "Dammit! Why can't I master it? The last jutsu of the water domain! If I only could master it I'd gain access to the third… what am I doing wrong? Why… why can't I catch up to him?"
"Naraku…" he heard a voice and as he turned around, he noticed Naruto coming towards him. "Am I… interrupting something?"
The former leaf-nin stood up straight and looked at the blonde: "No, I just… well, never mind. But why are you here? Is there something you want from me?"
"Actually, yes…" nodded the loud mouth. "Is it possible… I mean… please help me with my training!" at hearing that Naraku's eyes widen, yet after a moment he smiled under his nose at the change in the blonde.
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Yari sat at the edge of a roof, looking at the village at night when Hinata came to her and sat beside the former sand-nin. She gave the spear user a glare and then asked quietly: "You didn't came to eat, so I decided to look for you… is everything alright, Yari-san?"
"To be honest, nothing is…" replied the blue-haired girl. "Even thought Gaara said that… I still don't think I should be returning to this place… or to his life…"
"What… do you mean?" asked the white-eyed girl without confidence.
"I failed everyone's trust…" responded Yari after a moment of hesitation. "The trust of every, single person in this village… and I betrayed both my country and a friend…"
Hinata's eyes widen at hearing that, yet she didn't say anything. After a longer silence, the spear user decided to tell the leaf-nin her story.
And this is it for this chapter! Hope you enjoyed it and that you'll leave a review once you're done. Coming up is Yari's story and the secret behind her and Gaara!
Well, no jutsus really were used in this one, so I'll just give you the basic info about the technique Naraku tried to perform:
Mizu Kuiki: Koori Hane Mitsukai no Jutsu (Water Domain: Ice Wing Angel Skill) – thought to be the most powerful jutsu in the water domain… but I'll be keeping it a secret for the time being… geh, ain't I a stinker?
ABOUT MONODANE BLOODLINE LIMIT: Well, in stead of character profile this time, I'll try to explain the Monodane bloodline limit a little (since many of the reviewers had questions about it)… it's easy in my national language, but English is a little different story, so feel free to ask any question if you don't understand something:
To start off, I'll clear something: it's NOT impossible to learn ALL types of ninjutsu if you're not a Monodane, it's just that for Monodane it's a little easier. And there's always the fact that Monodane have access to techniques known ONLY to them from every domain. That's the main reason why their bloodline limit is so desired by others.
Each Monodane is assigned to a certain element at birth (it's in their genes, that's why it's a bloodline limit) and because of that he or she cannot learn techniques from another domain until he master the domain he was assigned at birth. Why? Coz the elements mix with each (like water turns down fire, earth absorbs water, earth conducts electricity and so on) so because of those genes (some say it's a defect of their bloodline) the person cannot enter another domain before mastering the previous. The reason for it is because if he or she cannot fully control the element (master the domain) the element will collide with the domain he or she tried to enter (to make it a bit more clearer: if a person were to do that, if he wanted to perform a jutsu from the earth domain, a technique from the water one could be released, because in Monodane technique's case total control of the element is required to not screw up… the domains that got mastered stay under complete control and does not influence other domains in any way). To master a domain one must learn all the techniques in it and be able to perform them at any time. After that is done, the Monodane is given a scroll with techniques from the domain he or she wish to enter next (any of the remaining can be chosen, only at birth the member of the clan has no choice).
Now that I read what I wrote above, I guess it's still not completely clear… well, bottom line is that it's all in the genes (like all bloodlines)… but as I wrote, ask me about anything and I'll try to give you a clear answer… the knowledge about Monodane's bloodline limit is not needed to enjoy the story really, however I figure it's good to know.
That's it for this time. Hope you enjoyed it and that you'll bless me with a review once you're done.
Best wishes and until next time.