Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. A guy called Kishimoto does. I don't own Bleach either Some lucky chap called Tite owns that.
The Eighth Swordsman
Chapter 5
"When is he gonna get here, I need Dango?" Anko whined as she, Kurenai, Mei and Yugao waited with the Sandaime for Zangetsu to arrive. They were all surprised that it didn't take too much persuasion from Mei to get the Hokage to agree with the others meeting. Hiruzen was inwardly laughing though. This day just got better and better.
"He should be along shortly Anko-chan, he should have just finished up some important business" the Sandaime answered. "And didn't you just come from the Dango shop?" he asked.
"What's your point?" she said leading to a mass sweat drop from everyone in the room.
"Never mind" he muttered.
A knock on the door was heard.
"Enter" Hiruzen said.
"Hokage-sama I brought the boy as you asked" and Anbu said as he walked in followed by a kid. He looked around fourteen and a bit on the short side with spiky blond hair, eyes that shone like sapphires, three faint whisker marks on each cheek.
"Thank you Tora, you may leave now" Hiruzen said dismissing the Anbu.
"So Hokage-jiji, what did you want? Yoruichi-chan and I were gonna head to Ichiraku's to celebrate" Naruto said, not really noticing the room's other occupants.
"I just wanted to congratulate you on graduating as Rookie of the Year Naruto-kun" Hiruzen said in an innocent tone betrayed by the mischievous glint in his eye.
"Oh, well thanks old man" he said, that familiar look in the old man's eyes slightly unnerved him. It looked far too much like the one that was often found in his own as he watched a prank unfold.
"Nice job gaki" Anko congratulated him.
"Thanks Miss" he said, looking at the room's other occupants, eyes widening slightly as they found Mei's own. "Fuck my life" he mentally groaned.
Mei was trying to remember where she knew this boy from, he looked very familiar yet she knew he never met him before this day. It was something about the way he held himself and his face with those little whisker marks that just screamed kawai.
Naruto meanwhile was cursing up a storm in his mind about the old man revealing him to Mei and even worse Kurenai and Yugao. He didn't mind Anko knowing, she probably couldn't give a shit either way. Now don't get me wrong he had nothing against any of them, in fact he had nothing but respect for Kurenai, he felt a sort of kinship with Anko, a fellow pariah and loved Yugao like a sister. She was his "Neko-neechan" as he had affectionately called her when he was younger. There were three main reasons why he didn't want to be revealed right now.
1: He didn't want certain people (Danzo, the civilian council) to know how strong he was. The hassle wasn't worth the looks on their faces… Ok it might be but still deception was a shinobi greatest asset. At least that's what he told himself when he was really bored and tempted to let the truth out to cause a ruckus.
2: He didn't want to deal with assholes (Sasuke) demanding training from him, his inventions, his jutsu arsenal and his Zangtetsu-chan. There was no way in hell anyone like that emo bitch would taint her with their hands as long as he had breath in his body. Zangestu couldn't help but get excited at that. She loved it when he was like that, so protective, so possessive.
3: And this group was the one in which Kurenai and Yugao belonged. The admirers. These were not fangirls mind you as they were perfectly capable of kicking your ass if you so much as thought that. The ladies in question were perfect examples of that fact. They did however look up to him, mainly due to the anti-rape seal and his skills with the blade. The sense of mystery he built around himself didn't hurt the attraction either.
And so he'd put a great deal of effort into ensuring that he was in fact a damn mystery so no one could find out it was actually him. Now all that effort was going to be a waste. He knew shouldn't have fucked with the old man's Icha Icha but it was too damn funny at the time. His expression was priceless.
"Naruto-kun please drop the henge now, we both know it's only a matter of time before everyone finds out" Hiruzen said he calmly, inwardly however, there was a chibi-Hiruzen doing a victory dance, happy in the knowledge that there was no way the brat could out maneuver him this time.
"Alright but have the Anbu leave the room. They can find out later" he said. Hiruzen nodded and dismissed the Anbu.
"Before I do this I just want you to know you're an ass for doing this to me" Naruto said.
"I know, but my precious must be avenged" Hiruzen said solemnly to which Naruto sweat dropped and mumbled about "pervy old men holding grudges when they shouldn't".
And so Naruto released the henge there a collective gasp from the ladies in the room.
"Ladies, may I introduce to you Naruto Uzumaki, or as you may know him, the ever infamous Zangetsu" Hiruzen said while chuckling at the looks on their faces with Naruto joining him. It may have been at his expense but it was still damn funny.
Yugao's jaw was on the floor joined by Kurenai's, Anko looked torn between calling bullshit and laughing at how well Naruto played the entire village, herself included.
Yugao couldn't believe that the boy she used to protect in her early days in Anbu was Zangetsu, the fearsome swordsman who came out of nowhere about a year ago. Her little brother owed her a kenjutsu spar one of these days. She was also delighted that she now has someone to spar with besides Hayate-kun. She could ask Konoha's only other kenjutsu master but she wasn't that comfortable asking to spar with people she didn't know.
Kurenai was also stunned that Naruto, the Prankster King, the dobe of the academy, was Zangetsu, the man who had made the seal that made him a hero in her eyes. She sure as hell hadn't seen that coming.
As for Anko, she was happy to know who Zangetsu actually was and impressed that her fellow pariah was so skilled at his age.
Mei, on the other hand was just happy to see her savior again and have the chance to thank him for his help.
"Thank you so much for saving me Naruto-kun" Mei said hugging him, unconsciously adding the suffix.
"Mei-chan, as I'm sure Hiruzen told you this morning, all the thanks I needed was to be able spend time in the company of an angel such as yourself although I wish we could have met under more pleasant circumstances" Naruto said kindly as he hugged her back, trying to ignore how good she smelled, the incredibly soft mounds pressed against his chest and the way her hair tickled the bottom of his chin. "Good god this woman is incredible" he thought to himself. Mei was in a similar situation, loving the feeling of his muscled arms around her and basking in the sense of warmth and safety she felt while in them. "I could stay in his arms forever" she thought to herself. Unfortunately for the both of them, all good things must come to an end and this end came in the form of an amused old man.
"Enjoying yourselves?" Hiruzen asked with a smirk. Naruto and Mei jumped away from each other as if shocked, blushing heavily as they did so and missing the feeling of being in each other's arms. Kyuubi and Zangetsu weren't exactly helping matters either, both singing "Naruto and Mei sitting in a tree". Honestly, both of them were centuries old and yet he had to be the mature one most of the time. Where's the logic in that?
"I'm sure I can trust all of you won't reveal Naruto-kun's secret" Hiruzen said seriously.
"Of course, Hokage-sama" they all answered.
"Good" He said happily.
"If I may, I have a question for Naruto Hokage-sama" Kurenai asked nervously.
"Of course Kurenai-chan what do you want to ask?" Hiruzen asked her.
"I'm right here you know" Naruto said, slightly annoyed.
"Oh right, sorry about that" Kurenai said, embarrassed.
"It's alright but what did want to ask me?" Naruto said.
"Why did you pretend to be a blond idiot when you were actually Zangetsu?" she asked.
"Kurenai, you do know about my tenant don't you?" Naruto asked. Seeing her nod he continued. "And what do you think our beloved council would have done if they found out I was this strong". Kurenai's eyes widened. The Shinobi Council wouldn't really care but the Elders and Civilian's would have an absolute fit and rally for his death if they realised the "demon" was growing stronger.
"I understand" she said quietly.
"What do you mean by tenant?" Mei asked, confused and everyone else cursed in their heads.
"Fuck my life hard" Naruto mentally groaned again. Seeing the old man about to divert her attention he decided to just tell her now and damn the consequences.
"It's alright old man I'll tell her" Naruto told him, stopping him mid-sentence and earning shocked looks the rooms other occupants and a confused one from Mei.
"Are you sure about this Naruto-kun" Hiruzen asked, worried. Despite his skill his surrogate grandson could still be a bit reckless at times.
"Yeah, better she find out about this now than hear a corrupted version from the civilians later" he answered firmly with Hiruzen nodding, seeing his point.
"I'm still here you know" Mei said, annoyed.
"Ah sorry about that" Naruto said sheepishly while rubbing the back of his head.
"So, what did you mean by tenant" she asked again.
"What I mean is that I'm the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi No Kitsune" Naruto said, bracing himself for the worst.
"That explains the eyes and whiskers then" Mei said to herself, prompting a mass face-fault and garnering odd looks form everyone in the room.
"What, did you expect me to yell demon or something?" Mei asked incredulously. Her answer came in the form of a nod from everyone in the room, Naruto included, causing her to sweatdrop.
"Is my reaction really that weird to you? He saved me from missing nin last night. My Kage's a Jinchuuriki as well. Plus I'm not an irrational idiot" Mei said. For some strange reason many people of Konoha sneezed as one, freaking all of them out to an extreme degree.
"Why can't we have more people like her in the village?" Hiruzen asked sadly with Naruto, Yugao, Anko and Kurenai nodding in agreement, making Mei's sweatdrop even larger.
"Is that all old man?" Naruto asked.
"Yeah Naruto-kun that's all" Hiruzen answered.
"Oh and because you made me reveal myself before I planned to I'm not gonna tell you how to defeat your paperwork" Naruto said with a wicked smirk on his face as he turned to leave, a smirk that made Mei, Kyuubi and Zangetsu feel weak in the knees and hot under the collar.
With speed that would have put his successor to shame Hiruzen vanished from his seat and reappeared before Naruto on his knees and clutching his trousers. He may have looked undignified but he couldn't give a shit. He'd willing dive in to the darkest pits of hell or even worse watch Guy and Lee's "Sunset of Youth" genjutsu to know how to defeat paperwork.
It was the bane of all Kages, a demon more fearsome than the Juubi with tenacity comparable to a Hydra. For every stack you signed two more were in its place, mocking you. It was an eternal, unyielding, unending beast that had plagued humanity since time in memorial. It was his greatest foe, his arch nemesis, an enemy so terrifying it made Madara Uchiha, the God-damned boogey man of the shinobi world piss himself.
"Please Naruto-kun, I'll give you anything you want, anything, if you tell me how to vanquish man's greatest foe" Hiruzen begged, earning sweatdrops from everyone in the room, Naruto included. The portraits of the previous Hokages however, nodded in approval. They truly knew like no other how tenacious the beast could be and if the child was the one who could help them slay it then he was undoubtedly "the Chosen One".
"Fine but I five demands that must be met" Naruto said, relenting.
"Of course, whatever you want" Hiruzen said frantically, a pen and paper appearing in his hand out of nowhere.
"1: I want twelve jutsu from the Hokage Library" he said.
"Ok" Hiruzne said, taking it down.
"2: I want Sannin travel rights that will extend from me to any companion's I may have with me" he said, getting a nod from Hiruzen.
"3: I get to pick my genin team and make alterations to others. You choose the sensei though, you'd know which ones would be better than me." Naruto said getting another nod.
"4: You can't tell your anyone else the secret. Only I a can" He said."And I'll tell you what the last one is when I think of it" he said happily getting a sweatdrop from the girls in the process and odd looks.
"What, it never hurts to have someone owe you a favour" he said with a shrug.
"Ok here is the pre-made list for the teams" Hiruzen said handing him the list and a pen. Naruto thanked and made his corrections before handing it back to him.
"So, how do I kill the beast?" Hiruzen asked, salivating at the thought.
"Two words. Kage bushin" he said. Hiruzen eyes widened and he froze, before walking over to the wall and smashing his head against it repeatedly.
"Stupid, STUPID, STUPID! How the hell didn't I think of that? I'm the Professor for fuck sake!" he yelled angrily as he vented. The Hokages in the portraits were having a similar reaction and were scaring the shit out of Naruto who seemed to be the only to notice, though the Yondaime looked oddly proud at the same time, probably because it was his son who defeated the evil of paperwork. The others were still staring at the Sandaime, transfixed.
"He's gonna be like that for a while. You should probably just leave" Naruto said as he walked past them and out the door, reapplying his henge as he did so and snapping them out of their reverie.
They nodded and shunshined away except for Mei who seemed to be debating with herself about something before she ran after Naruo.
"Wait" she called out to him.
"Do you need something Mei-chan" he asked and turned around, smiling warmly as he did so. Mei blushed at his smile before asking him the question.
"I w-was wondering if you'd like…" Mei's question was interrupted by the sound of her stomach rumbling. Mei face reddened again as she cursed herself for not getting something small with Kurenai and Anko while Naruto just smiled at her, making her blush even more.
"I was heading to get a bite to eat, care to join me?" he asked with a slight smirk and got quick nod in response. Mei meanwhile was delighted he asked her, instead of her asking him as she was about to.
"Let's go then" he said with a smile as he held out his arm to her. She took his arm and pressed it arm against her ample bosom as they headed to their destination, Ichiraku Ramen.
Ichiraku Ramen
Naruto and Mei had just entered Ichiraku Ramen when Naruto saw a familiar face just leaving.
"Hey Yoruichi-chan" Naruto said as he waved at her.
"Hey Naruto-kun who's your friend?" Yoruichi asked upon seeing the buxom redhead on his arm.
"Oh yeah," Naruto said, disentangling himself from Mei much to her displeasure. "Yoruichi-chan this is Mei Terumi, a new friend of mine. Mei-chan this is Yoruichi Shihoin, my best friend from the academy".
"So Mei-san, how do you know Naruto-kun here?" Yourichi asked her.
"Eh…" Mei said, unsure if she could tell her the story because she didn't know if Yoruichi knew about him being Zangetsu.
"It's cool Mei-chan, Yoruichi-chan knows the whole story about me, my tenant and my blade" Naruto informed her upon seeing her hesitate. Mei nodded then told Yoruichi her tale including the meeting.
"So, that's why you had to meet with the Hokage" Yoruichi said after hearing the story.
"Yep" Naruto nodded.
"And you forgot to tell me that story when I asked if anything interesting happened last night?" she asked incredulously.
"What can I say" Naruto said with a shrug. "I was kind of reliving kicking Mizuki-teme"s ass when you asked me".
"I asked just after the spar" she said with a sweatdrop.
"So?" he asked simply, prompting a face-fault from both Yoruichi and Mei.
"Whatever" Yoruichi said shaking her head. "Look I'll see you next week at team placements ok?" she said..
"See ya" Yoruichi said with a wave as she left the stand.
"See ya" Naruto said as he waved back to her.
"So, she's a friend of yours" Mei asked, as they sat down on some stools at the ramen stand.
"Yep, me and Yoruichi-chan have been friends since we were kids when the old man brought us both to the park and introduced us. She's my best and oldest friend" Naruto said with a nostalgic smile on his face.
"She sees him as more than a friend" Mei thought to herself. She saw the loving look in Yoruichi's eye when she saw him. It was the same look Mei had in her own when looked at laid her eyes on him. Looks like she might have some competition. Or a harem sister, Mei always was a little bi.
"Hey Teuchi, your favoutite customer is here" Naruto yelled and a middle-aged man wearing an apron came out from the kitchen.
"Hey Naruto, what do you and your girlfriend want" Teuchi said with a grin, that only grew wider upon seeing the young couple blush.
Deciding not to give a response to that comment Naruto gave his order with Mei pitching in with her own.
"So Mei-chan, tell me about yourself" Naruto said as Teuchi left to prepare their order.
"What do you mean?" she asked him curiously.
"I mean, name likes, dislike, hobbies and dreams for the future. I'll go first as an example. My name is Naruto Uzumaki. My likes are Yourichi-chan, you, a certain vixen and my blade, ramen, foxes, cats, the moon, pranking people, kenjutsu, my precious people and training. My dislikes are the Uchiha Clan bar two of them, the Haruno Clan, fan girls, arrogant pricks, gravity, rapists, the Elders and Civilian Council, waiting and anyone who tries to mess with my precious people. My hobbies are making new seals and jutsu, staring at the moon at night, hanging out with my precious people, training and generally making shit go boom. And as for my dreams, well, I'll figure it out when I get there" Naruto said, not noticing the blush blooming on Mei's face when she was mentioned as one of his likes.
"Ok, I get it. My name is Mei Terumi. My likes are you, Kiri, Ninjustsu, dango, my precious people, swimming and training. My dislikes are rapists, arrogant pricks, fan girls, sunlight in the morning and judgmental assholes. My hobbies are training, swimming and hanging out with my precious people. And as for my dream, I hope to become a great kunoichi on par with Tsunade herself, marry a nice man and have a family" Mei said, smiling at him.
"Here's your ramen" Teuch said and put it before them.
"Cheers old man" Naruto thanked Teuchi before he walked off to serve his other customers.
"He'll be a lucky man" Naruto told her.
"Who" Mei asked, confused.
"The lucky bastard who manages to win the heart of an angel such as yourself" he elaborated.
"T-thanks, Naruto-kun" she said, her face turning crimson once again.
"No need to thank me when I'm telling the truth Mei-chan" Naruto told her, causing her face to redden even more.
After that they fell into a companionable silence as they ate their ramen, simply enjoying the other's presence. Once they were finished, Naruto paid for their meals.
"So, where are you staying?" Naruto asked her once they were outside the stand.
"The Gilded Leaf" Mei answered him.
"Nice place, I'll walk you to it" Naruto told her.
"You don't have to" Mei said to him, not wanting to be bother.
"Nonsense, it's my duty as gentleman to escort a lady home after a meal. And even if it wasn't I'd do it anyway because I want to" Naruto told her.
"Thanks" she said and took his arm once more as they walked towards the hotel.
"Well, here we are" Naruto said as they stood before the hotel.
"Thanks for the food Naruto-kun" Mei said to him gratefully.
"No problem" he told her happily and turned to leave only to feel something warm, soft and wet pressed against his cheek.
It was Mei's lips.
"Goodnight Naruto-kun" she said walked into the hotel, leaving him unable too see her face glowing crimson.
"Goodnight Mei-chan" he said quietly as he touched the spot on his cheek where she kissed him, a faint blush present on his cheeks before he walked into the night towards his home, a small smile lighting up his face.
AN: Sorry for the delay guys and there's going be a similar one before the next chapter. Anyway I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, especially the reveal of Naruto being Zangetsu. Also about the semi-date between Naruto and Mei, I never intended that when I started writing this chapter. It just kinda happened and I felt it was a way nice end to the chapter. Also, I've been meaning to say this in the last two chapters but I would like to thank everyone for the adding to the story to their favourites and reviews. And as a last note the Naruo's bloodline has finally been guessed. See ya.
Edited: 14 June 2013