Chapitre Two: A Training
Uzumaki Naruto was known for sleeping late. He was also known for a lot of other things that didn't exactly help his reputation. For example, it is said among experienced shinobi that a little help at the right time was a lot better than a lot of help at the wrong time. As it were, Naruto tended to be that lot of help that came at exactly the worst possible moment. Not that it deterred him from his goal in the least. In fact, he nearly prided himself in the fact that he could get into and out of the worst situations imaginable with most, although rarely all, of his body intact.
Naruto's training schedule consisted of getting up whenever the alarm happened to ring (sometimes on a bad day he would throw it out the window for another five minutes of silence), eating breakfast, and an hour or so of hard exercise. Then he threw out the junk mail on the way to more training with his mentors and colleagues.
Another thing Naruto seemed to be good at was throwing out important papers with the day's junk mail, which was precisely what he had done the day before.
On this fine morning, Naruto was aroused by someone banging on his door. That someone being the garbage man, who had found something which he might want to look twice at.
"Do you freaking know what time it is?!" he shouted in the hapless man's face, also holding up the alarm clock, which dutifully informed him that it was 4 in the morning, as evidence to the crime of disturbing his sleep. Actually, the man wasn't the only one. Ever since he had come back to the village with Jiraiya the day before, he had been met with one shocking change after another, the least of which being everyone had become a Chuunin but him. When he climbed up on a flagpole to say "hello" to the village, a white bike thing flew past his face! The guy riding it didn't even apologize! And on the main streets, big machines were rolling around, doing all the things that carts and oxen and horses and humans had done when just two years ago. In the air, big bird-like things flew all over the place, spouting fire from their rears. But the worst part was that the quiet buzz-hum of the machines kept him awake all night. And there was that new club thing, that Twilight Brigade. Everyone was in it, even people like Sakura-chan. He couldn't get used to the feeling. In his time, none of this stuff existed. It was like… like a ninja from thousands of years ago going on a trip, only to come back in modern times and find things like television and the internet and indoor plumbing. Naruto felt like Rip van Winkle.
Rip van Winkle with no sleep.
Rip van Winkle going crazy.
He wondered if the Ero-Sannin felt the same way.
There was a full minute of silence before the man regained enough composure to speak.
"You threw this out." The man shoved a letter into Naruto's hands. It was covered with the slimy, foul-smelling nastiness of the other trash, but still in its envelope, and thus still legible.
"Junk mail. So what?" the Genin asked defensively, figuring he was about to be accused of not signing up for some credit card deal. The man silently jabbed the seal on the back, which happened to be the seal of the Fifth Hokage, Tsunade, then walked away. The seal should explain itself, and if it didn't, Uzumaki Naruto was denser than anyone gave him credit for… which was saying something.
Naruto shrugged and closed the door, then went to the table to read. It was covered in various objects that needed to be cleared out of the way, so he shoved them gracelessly to the side, then opened the disgusting letter. What he read made him freeze in mid-sentence. He read it again. And a third time. And more times after that, until after reading the message for the fiftieth time he finally worked up enough nerve to think.
Is this some kind of practical joke? I didn't know that Tsunade-obachan would bother going this far. But… my rank…? Ha! It must mean I'm even closer to being the next Hokage than I realized! Victory ringing through his head, he glanced at the date.
It was now four-thirty and Naruto had forced his way into the school after asking around for a person named "Aizawa Hikari". As it turned out, neither Hikari nor her two partners had returned home the day before, so he was going to have to search for them himself. Experience told him that when people went missing, they usually didn't turn up right away. Not if they were alive. Not if they were in one piece. Therefore, the fact that their corpses weren't dumped on his doorstep or something was actually very comforting. Two Shadow Clones were already wandering the village in different directions, doing some searching of their own. Naruto checked in on them every once and awhile, still getting the same depressing result: "Nothing found." "We got nada." The real ninja became more frustrated by the minute.
"Ugh… schools are really creepy at night…" he muttered, looking into yet another window. Empty. Empty. Empty. Freaking empty classrooms. Why am I even here?!
Your instincts told you to look here first, said the annoying part of him that he didn't often listen to. Then, Naruto heard footsteps in the hall, which seemed to be moving very quickly, and whispers of what sounded like a quiet, heated debate. Naruto followed the voices.
"We're trapped, darnit! We can't get out!" a masculine voice grumbled, followed by a few loud stomps and a quiet shhh!
"Last I heard, that was the definition of the word 'trapped'," replied a soft female voice.
"Shut up, Nozomi-chan! I don't need you spouting Spock-isms this early in the morning! And I don't want to spend another hour in this creepy school!"
Creepy is right, Naruto thought, sidling along the wall to minimize his shadow and create less of a target. They sound too young to be kidnappers… but then again, you can never tell with ninja, right?
"Kujaku-kun, it was your idea to stay and wait in the first place, remember?"
"And we all fell asleep waiting," an energetic girl's voice added. "I'm hungry, too…"
"We're all hungry, Hikari-chan. That's why we're going to get out, okay?"
"Humph. Everything's different at night… almost like a ghost is going to appear…" That was Kujaku.
"Don't say that, Kujaku-kun!" Hikari shouted, her panicked shout ringing through the halls.
"What… ghost?" Kujaku laughed as Hikari whimpered. Nozomi scolded him for his behavior.
What kind of shinobi is scared of ghosts?! Naruto thought, moving closer. He peeked around the corner and stopped, instantly spotted. The others turned around to stare at him.
Kujaku was thin and wiry, with long hair, and wore dual blades, one at each hip, along with this black-red-chains get-up that even Naruto found a little odd. His eyes were a deep purple. Nozomi was slightly shorter, also with long hair. She wore various shades of purple on a costume that made Naruto instantly think of a magic-user from some sort of RPG. The third one, who could only be Hikari, stood behind Nozomi. She was the smallest of all, her costume purple and metal, and more ninja-looking than either of the others. She had short brown hair, blue eyes, and looked like she should have been in third grade. A prodigy?
"State your business, intruder!" Kujaku spat almost as soon as he saw the older Genin, his hands flying to his blades. Naruto responded in kind, his own hand going to the shuriken holster at his hip.
"Is that any way to speak to your new commanding officer?!" Naruto demanded with the same hostility.
"You mean you," Kujaku demanded, waving a vague hand at Naruto, "are our cell mentor?! Get real!"
"He's telling the truth, Kujaku-kun," Nozomi said, gently removing one of his hands from a sword hilt. Kujaku growled a bit more at her, getting more and more frustrated as Nozomi continued to use reason.
Naruto, meanwhile, was feeling very annoyed and ignored, and was about to order them to shut up when the argument of human hotheadedness against Vulcan logic was ended with two short flashes of light and laser-sounds. Hikari held her phaser-pistol in the air, cringing and looking away from where she had fired.
"It doesn't matter who he is. He's our mentor and if you want to argue with someone, I'd say you should take it up with Lady Hokage," Hikari said, shoving the phaser back in its holster. "Not that my opinion matters, of course…"
Kujaku and Nozomi silenced, and looked at one another. Kujaku shrugged and they put their fists together.
"Follow me." Naruto turned on his heels, dispelled his clones throughout the village, and realized suddenly that the younger ninja had followed him without complaint. I knew being the leader would be awesome!
"Tsunade-hime… I'm still not exactly sure I understand your reasoning concerning this cell's organization," Iruka said for at least the third time during the conversation with the Fifth Hokage, Lady Tsunade.
"Let's just call it an experiment," Tsunade replied, crossing her arms and looking out the window onto the village that she was charged to protect and govern. "As you know, due to recent events, the village doesn't have enough Jounin to lead all the cells. However, we need all the new shinobi we can get. This has put us in a strange situation, especially since the cell involved includes a known telepath and possibly the greatest scientific mind our country has ever been blessed with. There is a village in a small country that teaches its shinobi by allowing them to learn from all of their peers rather than just a single mentor. The entire village becomes their mentors after their graduation. I figured that the same could work here. Although Uzumaki-kun will be their mentor in name, I am hoping that their seniors will take on the opportunity to teach these three together. I do understand that there is still some enmity among some of the new Chuunin in this village, and perhaps this can serve as a double purpose of uniting our shinobi for a reason other than war. Rivalry is acceptable, but when it gets to the point of hatred, that is when we have a problem."
"So… you're hoping to bring the village's shinobi together by having them work together to train this cell?" Iruka asked in disbelief.
"Like I said, it was an experiment. In turn, they will likely receive education from most of the jounin, as well. This cell, quite frankly, is the strangest grouping I've ever seen. I have no idea what their skill-set is and who would be best for them. They are all enigmas."
I just hope it works, especially for your sake, Naruto-kun, Iruka thought, turning his attention to the sunrise, visible through the office's wide window.
The cell sat in a quiet area semi-distant from the bustle of everyday life, colored pinkish by the dawn colors. It suddenly hit home that the roles were reversed now; Naruto was no longer in the role of pupil. He was the master, and sitting in front of him were his first students, bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, and looking at him expectantly. And they probably don't know I'm still a Genin myself! he thought.
"How about some introductions?" he said from his spot, perched on top of a crate. Hikari looked at him with childish curiosity mixed with innocence. Nozomi sat calmly with kindness and deep thought registering in her eyes. Kujaku sat tense, ready for anything, with a fire in his eyes like a predator eyeing a piece of meat. Naruto pointed to Hikari. She sprang up, immediately fell over with a crash, and stood up a little more slowly, her face burning with embarrassment.
"Hikari-chan does it again…" the Kujaku muttered.
"Thanks so much for caring, Kujaku-kun," she muttered under her breath. "My name's Aizawa Hikari, I am 12 years old…"
"No freaking way!" Naruto shouted suddenly, jumping up. "I thought you were nine for sure!"
"It's all true," Kujaku pointed out flatly, trying to keep a straight face. Hikari, however, looked as if someone had dropped a gigantic stone block reading "nine years old" on her head.
"Just keep going," Nozomi whispered to her. Hikari took a deep breath before continuing.
"Um… um… my favorite food is cookies. I work part-time at the Free Bird Café and I like to build things. My favorite color is blue, my favorite animal is a bird, and… hmm… someday, I want to see the world. And, um, as you know now, I'm… a bit of a klutz." She sat down, the invisible "nine years old" block still weighing heavily on her shoulders.
"Next."
" Terihaeru Nozomi, 12, as well. My favorite food is… um… well, I suppose it would be oden. I don't have a job, but I like to make costumes, especially for my friends. Around Halloween, people sometimes pay me for that, so I guess it really is a job, after all. I like… hmm… cats, a little, and purple. I just want to help my friends and my sister out and make my parents proud." Kujaku clapped Nozomi on the back as she sat down.
"And you?"
The third guy grinned. "Aku-chi Kujaku! 13! I like all kinds of pizza. I also like tigers, the color red, and training. I train all the time so I can win stuff! My goal is to win every challenge presented to me and demand a reward. And one day I'm going to show all the rewards I got to my… erm… Oh, wait, that's personal."
"Okaaay…" Just my luck to be thrown in with a treasure hog, he thought, continuing, "I'm Uzumaki Naruto…"
"No, way!" Kujaku almost jumped out of his skin.
"The Uzumaki Naruto?!"
"The guy who ran off with that old pervert Jiryia then came back after two years as if nothing had happened?!"
"… Aren't you supposed to be a genin?" This last comment came from Nozomi.
They know me?! Wait, they know me! I'm famous! Naruto thought. "You bet! I'm 14, I like ramen, and my full-time job as of now is training you three! As for animals, I like frogs, and my favorite color is orange. My goal is to become the next Hokage! And you three are going to help me out by becoming the best three ninja Kohonagakure has ever seen, got it? Right now I need to… um…" he scrambled to remember the instructions of the letter, "to give you a test. All Genin have to pass this test, or else they have to go back to the Academy. It ain't gonna be easy!"
"Alright! Our first day of training!" Kujaku jumped up and thrust a fist into the air. The empty crates beneath him wobbled violently.
"Kujaku-kun, please sit down or you'll fall," Nozomi replied calmly.
When they arrived at said training grounds, however, they found it was already occupied… by none other than cell nine. Or, at least, that was what Kakashi said. They were probably off hiding somewhere trying to think of a plan to get the two jingly bells from him. Naruto purposefully stomped his group over to the river to disturb his old master's concentration, part as a joke and part in pity for the cell under Kakashi's tutelage. When he finally stopped, Naruto pulled some beautiful gemstones from his pocket and tossed them in his hand.
"Those…!" Hikari yelled loudly. Naruto gave her a questioning look, and the girl paused… "Are really pretty," she finally said with a smile.
"Okay. You guys see what they're doing over in that field? We're doing the same thing… except we're going to use these shiny rocks I found. You people have to get these rocks from me, and whoever doesn't get one is going to be tied to a pole for the whole day without any food!"
"Oh my," Nozomi exclaimed softly, putting a hand to her cheek.
Kujkau gulped. He had incredibly low mileage. At the mention of not having food, he immediately started to feel hungry. Hikari's eyes were still glued to the shiny rocks. Easily distracted, much? Naruto thought, grinning and getting ready to deliver the bombshell…
"Oh, and if you get tied to that pole, you have to go back to school for a whole 'nother year! Attack as if you mean to kill, 'cause I'm not going to go easy on you."
"So one of us is going back to school?! That's not fair!" Kujaku fumed, crossing his arms. He and Hikari sat in the cover of a bush, trying to come up with a plan of action. Nozomi was up in a tree watching their mentor while the other two waited for a status report.
"What if two of us hold a stone together? Or all three of us hold both of them together?" Hikari asked for possibly the fifteenth time.
"Because that way we would only have half a stone each!" Kujaku snapped for about the fourteenth time. It had taken the first time for him to do the math, which was still incorrect.
"But what would be the point in having three cell members if one of them was going back to school? And how would other cells of three not have to go back even when passing the same test?"
Kujaku thought for a moment, then grinned.
"It's because they figured out the secret: there must be a third rock! And if they found it, that means we can, too!" Kujaku folded his arms and nodded decisively.
"Yeah, that's got to be right!" Hikari agreed. The idea of a hidden third rock made a lot of sense to her.
"Of course it's right. I'm the one who thought of it!"
"I think he's officially bored out of his mind," Nozomi announced in their mics, staring out at Naruto, who was lying on the grass and staring at the clouds.
"But one last thing before we do this… What was with that outburst? You know, when he pulled out the rocks?"
"Oh, I just thought they were pretty," Hikari bubbled cheerfully. "But you know… I swear I've seen something very similar before…"
"Guys, he's fallen asleep. If we want to get those stones, now's our chance," crackled the voice over then comm link.
"All right! Let's put our plan in action!" Kujaku grinned and made a fist.
Hikari started to protest that they didn't even have a plan, but Kujaku was already rushing out into the open. Just as he reached their "sleeping" mentor, the real (?) Naruto appeared behind him, lifted the boy up into the air, and hurled him away. The sleeping Naruto vanished in a puff of smoke, signaling it was a bunshin.
Kujaku executed a midair flip and managed to land on his feet ten meters away. This time, his twin swords were drawn as he charged Naruto again, with little to no actual plan other than "slice and dice". The older genin easily dodged each thrust with a sidestep, then brought the pommel of a kunai down on Kujaku's hand, hard. The boy yelped and dropped his sword, massaging the hand. Naruto was just about to strike when a bright blue bolt of energy leapt from Hikari's weapon and struck him, throwing him off his feet and into a clump of nearby bushes.
"Geez, Hikari-chan, what'd you have to go and do that for? I had everything under control!" Kujaku whined as the girl came out into the open.
"Of course you did, Kujaku-kun," Nozomi said soothingly in his mic. Needless to say, it didn't help his mood.
"Did he drop any rocks?" Hikari asked, looking around. She spotted a glint near the bushes that Naruto had just crashed through, right beneath a big tree. "Oh, there's one. I'll go get it!"
"No, Hikari!"
"It might be a…"
"AIEEE!"
"Trap…" Kujaku and Nozomi sighed together as Hikari was suddenly scooped up by a net.
"I suppose we'll have to get her out now…"
Hikari looked down at the ground beneath her. What she had thought was a gemstone was, in fact, a mirror, which reflected the light and the green of the tree above her. She saw herself, the net, and the sky, reflected on its surface. And also the grinning face of Naruto. She looked up. Their genin-sensei waved cheekily, stuck out his tongue, then vanished into the foliage. Hikari tugged on the ropes and the net came loose, depositing her in a graceless heap. The others caught up to her and helped her to her feet, with much scolding.
"Well. On to Plan B?" Kujaku asked hopefully, looking around.
"We didn't even have a Plan A, remember?" Hikari replied, trying to come up with an idea or two. "Hey, Nozomi-chan. You hear thoughts as voices, right?" Hikari asked.
"Yes, that's right," Nozomi answered.
"And they get quieter from farther away?"
"Mmhmm," the miko replied, suddenly realizing where Hikari was going with this. "You want me to track him by following his thoughts?"
"Yeah! That way we can catch up to him!" Hikari said, glad her friend had gotten her idea so quickly. Kujaku crossed his arms and pouted.
"I thought I was supposed to be the leader here!"
"But we never decided on a leader," Hikari replied, confused.
"A leader should be strong and intelligent," Nozomi reminded him.
"Well, I'm strong and intelligent! And I'm really smart!" Kujaku paused as the others gave him funny looks. "W-wait, that came out wrong!"
"And technically, Hikari outranks us in the Brigade, so she should be leader," Nozomi pointed out, emphasizing her line of reasoning with her index finger in the air.
"Well, I say I'm the leader, and as such, I order Nozomi-chan to track Uzumaki-sensei by his thoughts," Kujaku announced, trying to salvage some of the dignity scrapped by his previous statement. Nozomi picked up the trail and they started off, trying hard not to dissolve into giggles as Kujaku tried his best to look leaderly.
Naruto found it incredibly easy to fool the new genin, especially that little girl. Hard to believe she's twelve. I thought for sure she was in third grade or so, he thought, swinging easily into the uppermost branches of a large tree, where he could just wait until time was up. They would probably pass right underneath him, looking everywhere but above their heads. You'd be surprised how many people forget to look up. Chuckling, he pulled an insulated container of ramen out and began to eat it. Before he could get that first delicious, salty bite into his mouth, however, someone tapped him on the shoulder. Naruto jumped a mile and nearly dropped his chopsticks. Some of the broth splashed on the front of his favorite jacket.
"S-Sakura-chan!" he squeaked, trying not to blow his cover, "What're you doing here?!"
"I could ask you the same thing," Sakura replied. Slung over her arm was a basket filled with leaves and mosses. "I'm collecting medicinal herbs for Tsunade-hime."
"Shhh! Not so loud!" Naruto hissed, making frantic "shush" motions. "I'm testing my new squad. You know, like the test we took just yesterday, except with these." He briefly pulled out the two gemstones, then returned them to his pocket. Sakura's eyes flashed with recognition, but she decided not to say anything. "Anyway, if you want to watch a good show, just stick around," the ninja concluded, leaning against the trunk of the tree again to enjoy his ramen.
"Up," Nozomi said, hearing each thought as clear as speech. "He's in the trees. There's someone else with him." She slung her wooden staff over her back and started to climb, as easily as Naruto had. After her, Kujaku started up the tree, leaving Hikari staring doubtfully at the trunk. She couldn't climb to save her life.
"You coming, Hikari-chan?" Kujaku asked, looking back at her. Hikari nodded fiercely, then gulped. She put her hands on the tree and started scrambling up behind them, slipping down one step for every two she took.
"Don't look now, Naruto-kun, but your students are smarter than you thought," Sakura pointed out. She hadn't wanted to stay, but her finely honed "medic senses" were telling her that her skills might be necessary very soon.
Naruto looked down in mid-bite. The kuonichi was right. He noticed the little girl, What was her name… Hitori? Hikari? struggling up the tree, miles behind the other two. Finally, her chakra seemed to become un-sticky and she slid down the trunk, her hands scraping for a hold. Her teammates shouted at her and tried to climb down. Naruto watched tensely, ramen all but forgotten. Although he had first thought she was using her chakra to climb, like the other two, he now noticed that there was no tell-tale shimmer around her hands and feet; no chakra usage at all. If she didn't catch herself within three more seconds, he would have to grab her. The little girl stopped with a jolt, leaving a bloody trail where her cut fingers had tried to hold on. Naruto smiled with relief. Until he saw more blood pouring to the faraway ground.
I knew this was a really bad idea…
Hikari forced herself to stay alert, despite the pain. At least she was alive. However, the jagged branch that now pierced through her leg pretty much shot her chances of passing the test. And even without that, the teachers probably wouldn't let her do any more climbing, at least until she re-grew a few fingernails. Nozomi and Kujaku came down beside her and helped her hack through the branch with kunai. Kujaku's sharp swords would have been quicker, but swords were ill-suited for that sort of thing because they were large and unwieldy, not meant for precise cutting jobs, especially when hanging on to a tree trunk for dear life.
Hikari forced a smile. "I'm fine, guys. Really. Just go on. I'll catch up." She topped it off with what she hoped was a convincing laugh. Her cellmates gave her scrutinizing looks.
"If there's one thing I've learned being in the Twilight Brigade with you," Kujaku announced, hoisting her onto his back, under protest, "It's that there's nothing more meaningless than one of Hikari-chan's 'I'm fine's. Man, it's a good thing you're so light. This is nothing compared to the things that my sensei made me carry."
"Kujaku-kun, talking at her won't make it any better. The sooner we finish this test, the sooner we can get Hikari-chan looked at," Nozomi reminded him from higher up.
Naruto tried to jump from his branch toward his charges, but Sakura's enormous strength yanked him back.
"Sakura-chan, I've gotta help her!"
"Help her? She might be under your command, but at the moment, she's your enemy. 'Attack as if you mean to kill,' remember? This is supposed to be a realistic exercise. The enemy does not run in to help you if you injure yourself. You wouldn't be doing them any favors by babying them."
Naruto could 't remember any time that he had ever wanted to hit his longtime crush, but right now, he wanted to slug her in the face. How could she just sit there and spout things like "realistic exercise" and "you're not doing them any favors", as if all that mattered were rules?!
Sakura saw she wasn't getting through to him. "Naruto-kun… just imagine, right now, that it was us three down there; you, me, and…" She bit off the last part; it was too painful. At the same moment, Naruto averted his eyes. A shared pain, like death, only worse. "You were the one who was hurt, and Kakashi-sensei stopped the whole thing just for you. The disappointment, the guilt… that would be more painful than any injury, wouldn't it?"
Naruto looked down in silence. After about a minute, he looked up again. "Did you spend the last two years training as a medic or as a psychologist?" he asked wryly. "Fine. But you're staying here with me, and you're going to take a look at that injury as soon as this is over."
"Of course. These herbs don't have to be back immediately; I have some time to kill."
"Good news. The new person is Sakura-sempai, so she probably won't be fighting," Nozomi announced. Finally, they reached a branch at about the same level that she registered Naruto to be moving. Hikari winced as Kujaku set her down.
"I'm sorry…"
"You know what?!" Kujaku finally snapped, "I'm tired of you just sitting there and… and apologizing, as if it was your fault! You're not allowed to say 'sorry' anymore, got it?!"
"Kujaku-kun…" Nozomi warned. Hikari looked down with an apologetic smile.
"Heh… sorry…"
Kujaku shook his head as he and Nozomi walked a little ways out on the branch. He crossed his arms and glowered across to where Naruto was still holding a conversation with Sakura. "Now what?! We'll never all pass the test at this rate. Everyone's gotta have a rock, but Hikari-chan's in no shape to be…"
"Shh! Don't talk so loudly!" Nozomi warned, with a glance toward Hikari.
"It's all right, I know what you're talking about," Hikari said, forcing herself to stand, leaning against the tree trunk and supporting herself with her good leg. "You're right. I can't pass this way. Let's face it, I can't walk or monkey-jump or climb right now, and I've got no chance of claiming one of those rocks for myself. But I can still help you guys get yours." Kujaku and Nozomi glanced at each other.
"Hikari-chan, what are you thinking…?"
Naruto gritted his teeth. It had been awhile since all three of the genin had vanished from sight. He figured they were up to something, but even with his advanced training, he couldn't locate them. He had given them until the sky was dark to complete the test, much longer than Kakashi had offered, and now the forest was bathed in twilight. The sound of a sci-fi movie ray gun echoed through the forest, startling birds into flight, leaving a smoking crater at Naruto's feet. More blue bolts rained around him whenever he tried to move out of the general area. Crap, not good! He dispatched a few shadow clones to search for the sniper.
Nozomi took advantage of Hikari's sharp-shooting and jumped out at Naruto in a flash of gaudy purple, slapping a paper tag to his body. "Moon!" Naruto struggled, but couldn't move. He felt the spell break just as some shuriken sped out of the darkness.
"Double Demon Fang!" Naruto sidestepped the two shockwaves, then ducked as Kujaku launched his follow-up, jumping high in the air and bringing his swords down before him in a controlled fall: "Rising Falcon!" Instead of plunging his blades into Naruto's chest, Kujaku landed face-first on the grass and skidded for several feet.
"Epic fail!" Naruto announced, just before booting him in the rear, adding insult to injury.
Nozomi appeared behind him, swinging at his legs with her staff. Naruto jumped over it, then vanished in a puff of smoke. Nozomi's second strike slammed into a very battle-scarred log. She barely had time to register her "mistake" when Naruto wrenched back both of her arms. A clone charged forward, slamming a fist to her stomach. It pulled back for another, but before it could strike, it found itself staring in shock at ten thin lances protruding from its stomach. Two of the lances grazed his face, adding two more bloody whiskers.
"Don't touch Nozomi-chan." As the smoke from the defeated shadow clone vanished, Naruto caught a glimpse of glowing purple eyes with slitted pupils. What had at first looked like lances were actually Kujaku's fingernails, now two feet long and razor sharp.
Lying prone along the tree branch, Hikari watched the fight through the scope of her rifle, trying to stay conscious, firing bolts of phased chakra to keep Naruto from getting too far away. Now, the blood loss was catching up, and the light plastic and semimetal blaster rifle felt as heavy as solid gold. With all that blood smeared on the branch and dripping to the forest floor, I'm surprised no wild animals have shown up to eat me, she thought in a state of semi-delirium.
"Found you!"
Hikari rolled over as fast as she could, dropping the rifle and flinging shuriken towards the Naruto clone. It vanished in a puff of smoke, but was replaced by another, and another. Hikari backed up on the branch, drawing one of the four pistols she wore at her hip and firing. Two more kage bunshin vanished. The stick in Hikari's leg snagged on the branch, causing her to scream and drop the pistol, too.
The Naruto clones moved closer, drawing kunai. A small, metal sphere rolled at the clone leader's feet.
"Huh?"
The bomb exploded, destroying the rest of the clones, leaving a big hole in the tree trunk and branch, and hurling Hikari into open space. Wind whistled past her ears. Falling… I'm falling! But instead of tree branches and leaves, all she could see was blue sky and the retreating edge of a cliff, where stood a young man holding a bow, but she couldn't see his face. After that, she saw nothing at all.
Naruto couldn't stop staring at Kujaku's transformation. Suddenly, the sharp canines he had noticed earlier made perfect sense.
Vampire! A real vampire!
Nozomi took advantage of Naruto's distraction and wrenched herself free, drawing another tag. She slapped it to his forehead, making a hand sign.
"Hanged Man!"
Once again, Naruto couldn't move. Kujaku ducked beneath an outstretched arm and ripped open Naruto's pocket with his lance-fingernails, snatching up the stones. The spell broke again, but it was too late. Kujaku made a show of handing one of the stones to Nozomi, his nails shrinking to normal and his eyes flickering back to storm grey.
"So, do we pass or what?" the vampire demanded, grinning widely and displaying his fangs.
"I think you lost something, Naruto-kun." Sakura stepped out of the shadows of the forest, holding something in one arm and absently twiddling a blood-drenched stick in her free hand.
"Hikari-chan!"
"I fixed the wound and cleaned up any infections, and I gave her a few plasma pills, but it's only a field treatment. Let's get her to the hospital, okay?"
"Thank you very much, Sakura-san," Nozomi said, bowing low.
"It's no trouble at all, Nozomi-san." They started back to the village, monkey-jumping through the trees. The older two had to slow down so that the three younger genin could keep up, but they were still making good time. During the journey, something kept bothering Naruto. Finally, he spoke up.
"Sakura-chan, since when have you been on first name basis with that kid?" Naruto asked, dumbfounded.
"Since I joined the Twilight Brigade and got put in Harvest Light a year ago," Sakura replied, as if it was obvious.
"That Twilight Brigade again! What's so interesting that you had to join?"
"The Epitaph of Twilight," Sakura replied, fingering a bandage over her right hand.
"The what?" Naruto asked. He looked to the other two genin, whom he knew were Twilight Brigade members. They just shrugged.
"Everyone's got their own reasons for joining. Most of them are supernatural in nature," Nozomi replied. "Kujaku-kun is a vampire. I'm a telepath. Hikari-chan senses ghosts and spirits. Apparently, Kohonomaru saw a white ghost around the time you left. That's when the name was changed from 'Kohonomaru Ninja Corps' to 'Twilight Brigade'."
"No, that's not what happened at all," Kujaku interjected, "The name got changed because Jinx told him that 'Kohonomaru Corps' sounded pig-headed and selfish and he should change the name so people would join, right?"
"Remember, Kujaku-kun, it's futile to argue with a telepath," Nozomi replied, moving ahead to talk with Sakura.
"So that means I'm right! …Right?" Kujaku made a confused face. "Right…?!" Nobody answered him.
Good evening, everybody! This is Kendansa again! I know this chapter wasn't as good as the last one, but for a long time I've been stuck with a severe writers' block! Hopefully, things will go smoother from now on! Next chapter will feature Dherris-Kharlan and everyone's alternate selves! I won't tell you the character equivalents; you'll have to figure that out for yourself! However, please continue to cheer everyone on!
Best wishes, from Kendansa!
Omake Time!
Meet the Twilight Brigade!
The Twilight Brigade is an organization of "paranormal investigators", all ninja or ninja-in-training, who, among many other duties completely unrelated to anything remotely paranormal, investigate sightings of ghosts, spirits, demons, grudges, etc. In other words, they just run around and mess up people's yards, which make them disliked among much of the general public. They have two branches: the Kohona branch and the Suna branch. Divisions are the basis of the Twilight Brigade's ranking system. There are twelve total, seven of which are based in Kohona, and five of which are in Suna. Each Division leader is chosen by the Division One leader, and chooses their own Second in command. Twilight Brigade members are very well connected, so if you want to get a message to someone in Suna, all you need to do is tell a Twilight Brigade member and it should reach the other village within four days.
Each division has its own nickname. These were earned or chosen by the leaders during its formation. Some have specific meanings; for example, Flamberge mainly fights with fire-type jutsu or weaponry, and Auto-Mail is comprised mostly of techies, mecha otaku, and grease monkeys. Others were simply chosen at formation, like Womp Rats or Harvest Light. Yet more are awarded for outstanding service, such as the Descendants of Fianna, who all add Azure to their names as a title (ex. Balmung of the Azure Sky) to show they are true Descendants.