Chapter 15: Camping Stories of Old!
By: DemonClowSorceress and Red
Disclaimer: We would love to own Naruto, but only Kishimoto has that right.
And be happy, faithful readers! Red is finally joining and posting her own works!
Red: Yare, yare. Yup! I am indeed but my laptop no likey the internet most of the time so .... yea. And idk what else to say so ... RAWR!
DemonClowSorceress: *sweatdrop* Anyway, she'll be around as RedJadeItachi. Now please enjoy this chapter!!
The next month, Iruka suddenly announced to the class that the cadets would have an impromptu exam in the form of a three-day camping trip. This was met with a chorus of groans from every child in the room.
Shippo, despite having lived in a hut made of sticks and brush for most of his life, cocked his head to the side and asked, "What's camping?"
"Living outdoors without toilet paper or nightlights, finding your own food that's not frozen, eat-in or take out, no indoor plumbing, and trying not to get killed and/or eaten by the creepy creatures that go bump in the night," said Hari in a deadpan voice, not opening her eyes or moving her head from its propped place on her fist. The snake girl hadn't completely lost her creepy factor, since she refused to go anywhere without at least one of her many crystal blades on her person. Today's weapon du jour was a pair of pale green hair sticks with spike-ball tops and needle-sharp ends.
"That's it? It sounds like fun!" Shippo exclaimed, clapping his hands happily.
Iruka took the opportunity to speak some more about the trip. "We'll be camping along the shoreline of Hiatsu Lake, where the river feeds into it. The ground can get soggy in the rainy season, so be sure to pack everything in plastic bags so nothing gets ruined."
"It sounds horrible," Hikari said with a slightly disgusted expression on her face. Hikaru shared her sentiment; the cat twins hated to get wet.
Kaname yawned so loudly his jaw cracked. "Why are we learning survival training? We've been doing it all our lives."
"And here we go," sighed Tsukasa, rolling his black eyes. "Kaname, most - kids - didn't have our upbringing. So this is more for them."
Thankfully the bell sounded, so class let out for the day. The Fur Fighters quickly grouped together and set out towards the Nara house. Several were looking forward to the camping trip, most notably Hiro, whose experiences outside of Konohagakure were limited to his adventures. He was particularly excited about proving to his Papa and Tou-chan how far he'd come in the almost-year since they'd found him.
Hiro suddenly thought about the past year and looked over himself. His body had grown again - he was just south of four feet by a few inches. His fur had shrank back again as well, leaving him with just his tail, his cowl, and a small band of fur around his wrists like sweatbands.
The rest of the Fur Fighters had undergone some drastic changes as well. Tomoya's fur had also mostly disappeared, just leaving shorts and a vest along with his tail and ears, as had Shippo's. Tsukasa's feathery cloak had shrunk; instead of the hem touching the ground, it fluttered at his knees. Hanika's puffy dress had shrank so much that Hinata had to locate a skirt that matched the fur's color. Only the Fur Fighters who hadn't possessed much of their animalistic sides in the beginning - Kaname, Daisuke, Hari, Mei, and the cat twins - showed little change.
"It's because we're with tall-humans, I guess," Tsukasa had theorized. "We're blending in better. We're losing what makes us fur-children."
I don't think I want to change anymore, Hiro thought, looking at the band of fur around his left wrist. He slid his finger under it and pulled up; the band lifted like a rubber band. I liked me as me.
The Fur Fighters found Kusaka and Valac, the only children in their merry band exempt from school, engaged in a game of Risk on the back porch. A neatly stacked pile of mahjong tiles, playing cards, jacks, and what looked like every children's board game in Konoha (including a freshly-battered Candyland set) showed what the two had been doing most of the day. Yoshi-mama* leaned against the doorframe, tee-heeing every few minutes.
Kusaka and Valac were also showing signs of change. The blue-haired girl was noticeably fitter, while Valac's spiky red hair was beginning to lengthen. Both had gained inches; Valac was the tallest Fur Fighter at four foot three, with Kusaka only a couple centimeters behind. Both sat cross-legged across from one another, arms folded over their chests with matching looks of concentration on the board. Valac's forces far surpassed Kusaka's; if the girl was lucky, she had an army of three hundred backed into the corner of the continent staring down the harsh reality that was Valac's ten thousand.
The redhead could barely contain his smile. "Your butt is mine, Saka. You can't make a move that can save you. Just accept it and forfiet."
Kusaka gave him a glance, looked back at the board, and placed a piece at the forefront of her army. "High Mage," she said, "powered by more than five other Mages." She touched seven like-colored pieces. "Combo spell. Damage - fifty thousand."
"What the - !" Valac gaped at her, then at the board. "Where the hell did you get eight Mages from? You've only got soldiers!"
"They're green, dumbass. Soldiers are red, Mages are green. The High Mage is purple."
"You know I'm colorblind!" he snapped.
Kusaka let a sarcastic smirk raise her lips and lifted one eyebrow. "Oh, really?"
"I hate you," Valac announced, crossing his arms like a child.
Kusaka smirked. "That's what you said when you walked into that pool of - "
"Hey, hey, HEY! That was a long time ago, you stupid ice dragon - !" Valac saw the Fur Fighters emerging from the doorway along with Yoshi-mama and hurriedly added, " - girl! Ice dragon-girl! Geez, Saka, you're so cold sometimes, it's like you're not even human."
Kusaka rolled her eyes and spared a few brain cells to think You stupid idiot before turning around. "Hey. What's got you all so happy?"
Hiro quickly told the two of the upcoming camping trip (since he didn't view it as an exam) and how he hoped his Papa and Tou-chan would be just as excited. Yoshi-mama chuckled. "I remember when Shikamaru had to go on that trip. Actually, everyone from the Konoha Twelve had a very interesting experience."
"Really?" Hiro asked, intrigued. His fathers never spoke of their pasts, and Hiro knew only what he could overhear after he went to bed. "What kind of s'perience, Yoshi-mama?"
And with the "oh goodie, I get to tell embarassing stories to the grandkids" look on her face, Yoshi-mama told the children the epic story of their nii-chans' and nee-chans' first camping trip at the tender age of six.......
~~~Flashback, 10 Years Ago~~~
"All right everyone, get into your groups now." Iruka-sensei directed the group of cadets towards the campground. "Pitch your tents and settle in. We'll start assignments in twenty."
Yoshino, as one of the chaperones, folded her arms and watched as the twenty-odd students scattered and began unpacking their tents and supplies. There were those three seven-year-olds who performed well in the exam last year, brought along as role models - Hyuuga Neji, who stuck to himself, was watching Tenten and Lee set up a tent quite easily. However, the rest of the class wasn't as practiced. Yoshino saw Shikamaru with Choji, staring up at the clouds while the other boys in their group struggled to put up their tent. Kiba and Akamaru were already racing into the woods despite their groupmates' shouts to come help. Shino's group wasn't making much headway either, since they were all kind of weirded out by the bug-boy. Hinata, Sakura and Ino weren't even bothering to pretend to help; the latter two's eyes were glued on Sasuke, while Hinata watched Naruto.
These two boys were in the same group, something both had accepted tamely (Remember, this is before all the trauma of the Uchiha massacre that turned Sasuke into an emo asshole). Sasuke was stringing wires for the tent to hang from while Naruto was employing his one talent - boiling water for instant ramen. They didn't speak to each other, but it wasn't a bad atmosphere - rather, there was just no reason for them to communicate.
Until one of the nastier boys walked up behind Naruto and kicked the little blond boy in the butt. There was a surprised shout from Hinata as Naruto tried not to fall face-first into the pot of boiling water, or worse, the open fire. He managed to twist his body to the side, landing on his shoulder and rolling away from the firepit and his attacker. Propping himself up on his elbows, Naruto glared at the boy defiantly without a hint of tears.
Yoshino was impressed despite herself. Kid's tough. Not many can handle that kind of trauma without crying. Even Shikamaru would've cried a little from a burn.
"Hey! My dad says you're a monster!" announced the tormentor, his hands on his hips as he smirked down on Naruto. "Monsters should burn in heck!" Then he turned and ran back to his group, who slapped his back and congratulated him as Naruto got to his feet.
Sasuke had come over as Naruto brushed off his knees. "You okay?" the little Uchiha asked.
"What do you care?" retorted Naruto, stalking off.
Yoshino's attention was diverted from the two boys by another individual coming up to her. He stood beside her and said, "Well that wasn't completely unexpected, huh Miss Yoshino?"
She sighed. Only eleven years old, Uchiha Itachi was on this training exercise for two reasons; one, his father couldn't attend as a chaperone and so he was the next choice, and two, this was a necessary requirement for him to advance into the ANBU corps. Yoshino didn't really care one way or another, because genius or not, this kid was her subordinate. So she ruffled his head with a grin. "Hey Itachi."
"Big Brother!" came Sasuke's voice, making both chunin look to where the little Uchiha was running towards his brother at full speed. As if his arm had a spring in it Itachi held up his hand and caught his little brother square in the forehead, stopping him cold in his tracks. Sasuke's little arms flailed in a futile attempt to hug his older brother from two feet away. "Play with me!"
"Not today, Sasuke," Itachi said gently, smiling a little. "Why don't you play with your friends?"
Sasuke looked over his shoulder, where all the other cadets were scurrying for their tents. "I don't have any friends," he said bluntly, shrugging one shoulder.
Yoshino watched Itachi's eyes rove around before landing on Naruto, who was by the lakeshore practicing a taijutsu move. But not any ordinary move - he was awkwardly but purposefully stepping through a complicated technique that Itachi had developed at the age of seven and nobody else had ever even attempted.
Except for Naruto, who had succeeded to using the move almost flawlessly.
Itachi quietly walked up behind the blond-haired child and said, "Hey, that's not b - " But he swallowed his words when Naruto whirled around, drawing a kunai from frickin' nowhere (actually, from his sleeve) and angling it right at Itachi's...............biological equipment. Hard blue eyes that had seen hell glared up at Itachi.
The eleven-year-old blinked, his hands up in surrender. "I'm unarmed, and I come in peace."
"Bullsh*t," spat the blond instantly.
Suspicious little brat, Yoshino thought, raising an eyebrow.
Itachi spoke again. "Hey, why don't you play with that kid over there?" he said, pointing to where Sasuke was throwing shuriken at a tree. "He could use the training."
"Nobody trains with Uchiha Sasuke," Naruto grumbled, pulling the kunai away from Itachi's man-business. "He's too good for everyone because he beats them." There was a little bitterness in his voice.
"But hey, if you train with him, you can get better," Itachi said wisely. "Maybe you could even beat him." The right thing to say, since Naruto's eyes began to glow with determination towards this new goal. "Well, go get him, Naruto."
The blond stalked over to Sasuke, who by now had used all his shuriken and was currenty trying to pull them out of the tree trunk with little success. "Hey! Uchiha Sasuke!" he yelled.
"WHAT?!" Sasuke yelled without turning around, still trying to yank his throwing stars from the tree. His yell jolted a couple people out of thier tents and put them under the impression that there was about to be a fight.
With the assurance of of an idiot way over his head, Naruto leveled a finger at the black-haired boy. "I challenge you!"
"To what?" Sasuke asked, not paying attention. He put his foot on the trunk and used the extra leverage to try and yank a stubborn shuriken from the tree.
"Shuriken throwing match!" Naruto announced, unaware that his loud shouting was drawing a crowd. "First to draw blood wins!"
Yoshino saw no hesitation as Sasuke pulled the last shuriken from the tree, faced Naruto with a grin that said Hurray! A challenge! and said, "You're on!"
"Bring it!" Naruto replied, getting his own weapons ready.
~~~Present Day~~~
"So, Ita-nii-chan set up Papa and Tou-chan?" Hiro asked, sitting up straighter.
Yoshi-mama looked around her captive audience with a raised eyebrow. "Not exactly, Hiro-chan. Remember, your fathers didn't understand their feelings towards each other until just before they adopted you. Back then, Itachi was just trying to sow friendship seeds for his little brother."
"Friendship comes from seeds?" Shippo asked, confused.
Everyone rolled their eyes as Yoshi-mama continued her story.....
~~~10 Years Ago~~~
Iruka read off a list of names, breaking the children into pairs for shuriken practice. "Shikamaru, Choji. Kiba, Shino. Sakura, Ino - no catfighting, and don't get any closer than five feet." The two girls huffed and glared each other down before squaring off.
Soon everyone was paired off and practicing their shuriken throwing. Everyone, that is, except for Naruto and Sasuke. They both sported injuries from their match the previous day - Naruto had a slice across his cheek and through the whisker-marks on his left cheek, while Sasuke had a cut on his right arm. But despite being in loads of trouble, neither looked particularly worried about Iruka's wrath.
"Well, yesterday was a wonderful display of the misuse of ninja weapons," Iruka said, gritting his teeth as he smiled through all the anger tics on his face. "It was brilliantly executed, incredibly stupid, highly dangerous, and above all, a stunt that could have severely injured your fellow cadets."
Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Well, they dodged," he said in a "duh" tone of voice.
"It's not like we're babies," Naruto said in the same tone. "We are responsible. Ish."
Iruka's grin looked like it was about to snap in half. "Well then, since the two of you are such responsible little tykes, you'll be in charge of supplying the class with dinner tonight." He jerked his head to Mizuki-sensei and Yoshino, then towards the path that led to the river. "We will go along to observe and supervise. Itachi, you will stay here and watch the rest of the camp.
A strangely demonic smile curved the young genius's lips. If Yoshino tilted her head a little, she could imagine a pair of devil wings and a tail pop into existance to complete the picture of evil. "If you trust me to, Iruka-sensei, then of course."
Yoshino, Mizuki, and Iruka led Naruto and Sasuke to the shore of Hiatsu Lake. It was a gorgeous spring day, and the thaws were melting the snow near the top of the mountains. The melted snow flowed into the river that fed into Hiatsu Lake, swelling the river to almost twice its size and depth. They stopped at the riverbank before anything happened.
Naruto raised an eyebrow. "It takes three chunin to watch two six-year-old cadets these days?" He slapped his knee and yelled, "MAN, standards have fallen!"
"Unbelieveable," Sasuke said with the tone of a parent with a child who can't grasp a concept, shaking his head sadly. "And Big Brother deals with you every day? No wonder he's considered a genius, next to you people - "
"ENOUGH!" Iruka snapped as Yoshino fought to keep her composure; rather than piss her off, she found the two boys' statements to be extremely entertaining. "All right, the two of you have to catch enough fish to feed your classmates, us, and Itachi. From this river. And it has to be done before sunset. But there are rules!" he added just as Sasuke began to gather chakra and Naruto pulled a kunai from his pouch. "One, no using chakra for any reason."
"What?" Sasuke cried as if Iruka had denied him brotherly love from Itachi.
"Two, no help from us. And three, no kunai or shuriken."
Naruto looked like he'd been denied ramen and faced a bowlful of spinich. "WHAT?!"
"You have to be able to survive with nothing but the stuff in your packs and without weapons." Iruka pointed to the river. "Get moving. You'll need about sixty pounds of fish to feed everybody."
Well, that stumped them, Yoshino thought, watching the two children. Bet they're gonna whine and pout and - up, no, no, what is this? she wondered as Sasuke pulled out a length of string from his pouch and gave an end to Naruto. The blond nodded and they started weaving a net from the black string. In half an hour they had a decent-sized net that was as long as the narrowest part of the river (around twenty feet) and about eight feet wide. Sasuke crossed the river via a few stones that jutted above the waterline, dragging the net behind him. Naruto stayed on the original shore, playing out the slack.
For a couple minutes, there was only the sound of the rushing water. Naruto kept his eyes trained upriver at the rapids, while Sasuke fiddled with something in his hand. Yoshino watched, expecting something incredible from two such interesting children.
She was not disappointed. Sasuke gave a cry and threw something upriver. There was a giant BAM! Fish jumped above the waterline and headed downstream to flee from the explosion. Right, as it so happened, for Naruto and Sasuke's net. Naruto kept up a steady mantra of "Wait for it.......Wait for it.......Waaaaaaiiit foooooor iiiiiiiiit......" until he looked up and asked, "Sasuke, should we pull now?"
"What, wha - " Sasuke, quickly put on the spot, saw the fishes entering their net. "Look, fish! Pull!"
Fwump!! Fish got caught in net, thrown up into the air.
Chik! Heads, neatly severed by black wire net, were cut off in midair.
Splat! The headless fish landed on the ground in neat rows.
Plop! The severed heads piled up at the edge of the river.
The two kids nodded, smirked and said, "Win," before exchanging high-fives.
Iruka and Mizuki's mouths were hanging loose like drip-dry laundry while Yoshino's sides were about to split from laughter.
~~~Present Day~~~
There was a sudden sigh. "How troublesome. Why are you telling them that story?" Hiro and Co. looked back to see Shika-nii-chan leaning in the doorway, arms crossed over his chest, giving his mother the trademark Shikamaru expression.
Yoshi-mama chuckled. "But it was such a nice adventure, Shikamaru. Especially when we came back to the camp and you were all crying like babies!"
Shika-nii-chan rolled his eyes. "And if you'd been six and in our position, you wouldn't have been scared witless." He snapped his fingers. "Oh wait, you're the Devil. So I guess it would've been just like home."
There was a large tic mark on Yoshi-mama's forehead that signified her anger. Through a clearly forced smile she ground out, "O~oh? Do explain, my son, why my description was so lacking in explaination."
"Troublesome," sighed Shika-nii-chan, "but since you asked....." He gestured that the Fur Fighters face him and told of the forty-five minute period between the senseis' departure and their return with dinner......
~~~10 Years Ago (Two Minutes After Yoshino and Co. Left)~~~
When the senseis left with Naruto and Sasuke, they left Itachi in charge. It took all of two minutes for Shikamaru and the other Konoha Twelve munchkins to realize that it wasn't a good idea.
First, the Uchiha prodigy leapt up into the giant tree and situated himself among the branches like a spoiled prince. Then, he summoned all the cadets out for an important announcement. By the time they realized what had happened, the sky had turned black, the sun was red, and demonic creatures were crawling from every crack and crevice around the campground.
After the initial scurry for cover, Shikamaru found himself in a tent with the group of children who would soon be known as the Konoha Twelve. He glanced around the interior and saw Ino, Hinata, and Sakura crying in the corner. Choji sidled up beside Shikamaru and muttered, "Hey, you think there's any food in here?"
"How troublesome, being chased into a tent," the lazy Nara genius said. "At least those pesky demons aren't coming in here."
Those words made everyone stop and look over to him. The Hyuuga boy - Neji - raised an eyebrow. "Hey, you're right. None of them are coming in here."
Kiba sniffed at the edge of the tent flap curiously. "It smells like sulfer and brimstone outside. But not in here."
"My kikaichu are tingling," said the mysterious Shino, making everybody stare at him like he spoke English. Seeing their looks he explained calmly, "My bugs. There's a lot of chakra out there."
Shikamaru nodded. "Aburame, right? Then you'd be Inuzuka, you with the red fang marks," he said, pointing to Kiba next. Along with two Hyuuga, and I think the blonde girl's a Yamanaka, Choji as an Akimichi, and me as a Nara..........the hell's with this random genetic jackpot? Not to mention Haruno Sakura, the smartest kunoichi in our year, and those other teammates of the Hyuuga guy. How unbelievably troublesome.
"Does anyone else think this is a little weird?" asked Sakura, brushing her bangs nervously. "I mean, those demons don't seem to want to come in here."
Neji glanced around with his Byakugan. "There doesn't seem to be many enemies. But not all the cadets appeared to have run as quickly as you all did." Of course, the way he said that made certain children curious. Namely Kiba, Choji, and Ino, who proceeded to creep to the tent flap and peep out.
Ino gave a little scream. "They're eating their brains!"
"No, stupid blonde," Choji snapped. "They're just nomming their skulls. They're demons, not zombies."
Kiba's sharp nose then smelled something else. "That guy in the tree is the boss devil," he announced, pointing up to where the King (who was Itachi concealed by his genjutsu of win) was sitting and watching the carnage smugly from his perch.
Despite already calling the whole situation troublesome, Shikamaru's genius brain had already churned out a good plan of attack. Once he explained it to them, the rest of the kiddie Konoha cadets readied themselves for the upcoming attack. At a signal from Neji, they all burst out of the tent and raced towards the tree.
When Iruka-sensei, Mizuki-sensei, and Yoshino returned with Naruto and Sasuke carrying dinner, this is what they saw - the majority of the cadets on the ground crying or unconscious, while the Konoha Twelve were attacking Itachi's perch, the Uchiha genius easily deflecting all their attacks. Yoshino was about to crack up laughing when Sasuke saw his brother in the tree and yelled, "Big Brother!"
"He's your big brother?!" yelled Naruto, sounding surprised. This was the yell that made everything stop on a dime. As one the entire group turned to see the blond fox boy leveling a finger at what they thought was the King of Hell. "Itachi?!"
Sasuke rounded on Naruto. "DUH! Who else did you think?! He's Uchiha Itachi!" he said proudly.
But rather than be impressed, Naruto flipped off Itachi as the genjutsu wore off and yelled, "Y-You - damn.....sneaky! - weasel - bastard! You set me up!"
~~~Present Day~~~
Shikamaru sighed, ingorant of how his mother was fuming from his hijacking of the storyline. "In the end, it was truly a troublesome experience."
Then he was decked from behind by something orange. "Shikamaru! What stupid laziness are you telling my children?" Naruto snapped, stepping onto the porch.
Hiro immediately ran into his Papa's embrace. "Don't be mad, Papa! Yoshi-mama and Shika-nii-chan were telling us how Ita-ni-chan set you and Tou-chan up during your camping exam!"
Naruto blinked once, then again. "I don't think that was his intention, Hiro-chan. Actually, I know that wasn't......wait." He shot both Naras an electric blue glare. "What exactly did you tell them?"
Yoshi-mama smirked. "We stopped right before karaoke - "
"Papa did karaoke?" Hiro squealed, bouncing up and down. "What song? What song?"
"OH-KAY! Home we go!" Naruto said, starting to blush as he herded the Fur Fighters out of the house. "Time to go now! Big day coming up! Gotta get ready!"
I'm sorry it's taken so long to post, but we had severe writer's block and Red had to gripe at her laptop for having no internet. Oh, and for those who like Criminal Minds, check out my new oneshot, Standard-Issue BAU Guardian Angel. Guarantee you'll like it!
A.N.
* - Shika's mom.