Sorry for the long wait for me to update, between school and getting my Halloween costume ready, October is a harsh month. Plus I feel sick...no not H1N1, I just ate all my Halloween candy last night, the entire damn garbage bag, so good...this was a pretty exciting chapter for me to write, a turning point for Naruto you could say. I have figured out how the plot goes and will end, so it'll be smooth writing from now on, I might write a sequel to it if I get enough REVIEWS, *wink wink nudge nudge* but that depends, so enjoy the story!
Several months after Naruto's first mission as Kitsune and a good dozen dangerous and daring missions later, Kitsune was a legend on the streets. His name whispered on many shinobi, men, women, and children alike. Some in fear, some in awe at one with such power, and some in hatred. Rumour had it that he had partnered up with the infamous Laughing Dragon, who was no laughing joke, (pardon the pun) oh how they were so right. The Elemental Nations haven't seen anything yet from them.
Currently, both of them were in the capital of Tea Country on a high paying mission. A wealthy and old client of Laughing's wanted a certain secret blueprint from the Damiyo of the Tea country who kept it in a heavily guarded safe, along with several other extremely valuble items. The problem was, the Damiyo had hired many shinobi, not to guard the safe oddly, but to guard his daughter, who had the very special key to the safe around her neck. So in a way, he was guarding the safe as well as his daughter, who was getting married in a couple of months to a rich merchant's son, many were jealous so there were many saboteurs.
While the both of them liked being daredevils and stealing it in broad daylight, this mission was too risky. Their intel had only given rough numbers on how many shinobi had been hired and had narrowed it down to about three different villages from which these ninja came from. Damned intel, now they had to go and scout for intel themselves. Now a good half a dozen carefully henged clones made their way through the capital city, watching for any foreign ninja or people with high chakra signatures that could potentially become threats, the originals sat in one of the best hot springs in the city, in the mixed bath, relaxing and chatting away in a carefully constructed code.
"What's the forecast for tomorrow Honda-san?" (Any news from your clones Naruto?) a disguised Laughing leaned against the heated rocks that surrounded the hot springs.
"I think it's partly cloudly with some sunshine Yoshi-san," (Not much, all reports from the clones have been pretty good.) Naruto replied, basking in the heat from the water.
"Really gentlemen? I heard it was going to be downcast with slight chance of showers," a feminine voice said from behind them. The sound of feet slapping against wet tile was heard as many people got into the mixed hot spring.
"Ahh...the water here is much hotter than in Konoha..." Naruto allowed his expression to fall to a slightly intimidated and surprised face as ninja appeared all around him. Even more surprising was that Naruto reconized these people. Everything seemed so distant, his past life, everyone in it. They had all changed, but Naruto still reconized every single one of them. Neji, Tenten, Lee, Shikamaru, Ino, Chouji, Kiba, Shino, Hinata, Sakura and of course the bastard himself, Sasuke.
As much as Naruto wanted to leave the hot springs that very instant, he knew tha Laughing would want to stay and see if they could gather more information on the Konoha nin, although Naruto could easily report many things on his fellow comrades. Laughing chatted amiably with the few around him, easily slipping into the act of some gentlemen on a vacation. Naruto sighed, he wished he could be so open like Laughing again, but after leaving Konoha, keeping everything to himself was much less painful.
After a good ten minutes or so of chatting with the Konoha nin, Laughing excused himself and Naruto from the hot spring, and headed out to the showers where both of them could get out of there. As they left, Sasuke narrowed his eyes at them, "Something's fishy about those two..."
"Now we know who we're up against, I say we go in tonight, kidnap the damiyo's daughter and use her as a distraction with some clones. Then we go in while they're off trying to rescue her and get out quickly," Laughing informed him once they were in the safety of their room, which was sound proofed.
There was a pause as Naruto didn't reply, drifiting off in his own thoughts. Rolling his eyes, Laughing shook Naruto vigorously, effectively snapping him out of his momentary lapse. "Huh? What?"
"Are you worried about hurting them? Since you spent many years with them?" Laughing asked just out of the blue.
Naruto frowned and thought about what was said. He had so much more bad memories than good memories, and many of the memories he had considered to be good was simply him being naive and not accepting the truth, feeding himself lies and creating a fantasy world he was happy in. But that was the old Naruto, here, the new Naruto had real friends at the temple, and of course Laughing and Kitsune. Kitsune was now a part of him, he no longer heard Kyuubi in his mind anymore, but Kitsune. It was like Kitsune had silenced Kyuubi like he had silenced so many others...permanently.
Making up his mind, Naruto replied in a grim voice, "Don't worry, I won't hurt them, Kitsune will..."
That night, Kitsune and Laughing stood at ready on a nearby rooftop, all their things packed up, ready to go once they had their objective. Laughing summoned half a dozen clones with a wave his hand. They headed out, prepared to take the damiyo's daughter and create the distraction that would let Laughing and Kitsune slip in and out unnoticed.
At this time of day, the damiyo's daughter sat in the water garden with only a few guards, the hired shinobi out on patrols at this point. It was simple for Kitsune and Laughing to knock out the guards and kidnap her before she could call for help. Once tied and gagged and the key removed, she was turned over to the clones who deftly ran into the middle of the courtyard with her, yelling and shouting, immeadietly attracting everyone's attention.
"Now's our chance," Laughing whispered as they sped through the grassy courtyard, sticking close to the tree line to remain hidden. They leapt onto the tiled roof silently and into the mansion itself.
Sasuke had this odd feeling that something was going to happen tonight and when the others rushed off to check on the commotion in the courtyard outside, he remained behind, patrolling the hallways inside, comlink switched on in case should anything happen.
It was getting to be boring at this point, maybe he should have gone with the others and gotten some action at least on this mission, he told himself, but no, you just had to stay cause of this queasy feeling. So when two masked individules came in through an open window, he was more than estactic. But still just in case, he radioed in with the others.
"Sasuke here, I have two unknown hostiles in the north end of the building, strength unknown, but looks like at least Jounin strength, requesting back up," he could say no more, as the two in the masks spotted him and walked in his direction.
"You want me to take him Kitsune?" Laughing asked, hand on his katana.
"No, I'll deal with him Laughing, this will be a sweet victory," Kitsune grinned devillishly under his mask, waving his partner on. Laughing nodded and took off down the hall, vaulting over the two blades that had appeared, one from Sasuke and one from his partner, blocking the attack.
Footsteps like a stampede were heard as the others arrived, having to defeat the clones outside. Lee leapt forward to pursue Laughing but found his path blocked as Kitsune merely caught him around the waist and threw him back easily.
"You'll have to go through me to get to my partner," Kitsune told them idly, planting his katana in the wooden floor they stood on.
"You've got guts to try to defeat all of us," Kiba told him, a rather large Akamaru barked in agreement with his master.
"I'm not going to try to defeat you all, but I will defeat you all," Kitsune corrected him, pulling his katana out of the floor and holding it in a relaxed stance, feet shoulder width apart and both hands hung loosely down at his sides.
As if there was some unknown signal, the two sides charged at each other. Naruto ducked under a Katon jutsu and jumped over a Gatsuuga, only to find himself the target of a chakra induced bone shattering punch, seeing no choice, he lifted his katana and attempted to block it, running chakra through his blade as well. The force of the two attacks collided, creating a backlash force which blew them both apart, slamming both sides into the walls.
When the dust cleared, Kitsune remained standing, only his mask had been blown away from the force. Leaving an unsmiling, cold Naruto standing there. Realizing his mask had fallen off, he retrieved it, and slid it back on, on the back of his head as Laughing sometimes did. He couldn't hide behind Kitsune forever, this was one mountain he had to get over.
"Naru-" Sasuke's words were cut off as a katana came whistling through the air, aimed to kill.
"Why Naruto? Why? When did you change into...Kitsune?" Sakura cried out as she punched the blade away from them. She didn't want to accept this as the truth, it was a genjutsu, but they all knew he failed miserably at genjutsu.
"When I realized that reality was harsh, when the little world of lies I had built collapsed around me, when I met Laughing and he beat it into me, that the world won't change for me, I have to change for the world."
That's the end of the chapter, tune in next time to see how Naruto turns out and some action from the Akatsuki :D Remember to review. the least you can do is to cheer up a sick author...Later, ~AnimeClouds~