Episode 3
Sora neck began to hurt as he continued to gaze around at the new sights and smells that surrounded him as they walked through the village. It was enormous, with buildings reaching high up and with trees and plants growing on many of the older homes. But one thing he did notice were the stares and narrowed eyes that burned into him as he walked behind Naruto.
"Hey…Naruto, why are people staring?"
He whispered through a cupped hand. Naruto slowed, turning to him,
"Oh…well, it might be partly because your walking with me…but then again, it might be because of your headband. That is a pretty weird village symbol, and I bet people are getting suspicious."
"Suspicious? Should I take it off?"
Naruto shook his head,
"No, don't take it off. Hmm…wait, come here Sora."
Sora blinked, stepping closer to Naruto. Naruto reached out, pulling some of Sora's bangs out from under the headband and letting them fall over it.
"There! Your crazy hair covers the symbol enough to not draw any attention."
Naruto explained. Sora looked up at the headband, and then gave Naruto a smile.
"Thanks."
He said. Naruto nodded,
"Yeah, now people will just stare at you 'cause your walking with me. Come on, I'll give you a tour of the village! Then we can stop at the ramen shop afterwards since Kakashi Sensei is out on a mission today."
He said, gesturing Sora to follow him with a wave of his hand. Sora looked at his headband one more time before following Naruto, wondering who Kakashi was.
One thing Sora learned as he walked with Naruto was that the blonde had endless energy, but was extremely friendly. Sora couldn't even think of anyone else that had accepted him as quickly as Naruto had.
"So, this is a village of ninja, and you're a genin. The next levels are chunin…and jounin, and this Hokage is your village leader?"
Sora asked, making sure he had everything memorized correctly. Naruto nodded as he swallowed his mouthful of ramen,
"Yep! The Hokage is the strongest ninja in the village! One day, I'm going to be Hokage!"
Sora smiled, taking a small bite of ramen. He actually liked the stuff, even though it had strange things floating in it. He swallowed,
"So, how do you become Hokage? How do you guys know who is the strongest, I mean do you fight each other with weapons and stuff?"
"We use jutsu to fight, but we use weapons too."
"Jutsu? Oh, you mean like that thing you did in the forest?"
Sora said, remembering how Sora had created clones of himself to fight the snake.
Naruto swallowed a rather large bite of ramen,
"Yeah, that's my Shadow Clone jutsu! It's my signature move next to my Rasengan."
He said proudly. Sora nodded, trying to understand this,
"So, are their different jutsu?"
"There are tons of jutsu! Well, I think there's three types- ninjutsu, genjutsu, and taijutsu. All of them are unique, and lots of ninja have different kinds of jutsu that they use. There's even special jutsu known as kekkegenkai. Only those in that clan or bloodline can use them, which makes them special."
Sora's head hurt slightly as he tried to remember all of these words.
"Alright, I think I'm getting it. How do you use jutsu?"
"With practice. It depends the ranking and level of the jutsu, 'cause some are crazy insane hard and you have to practice for years until you can master them. But it's all about chakra manipulation that really helps."
Another new word to Sora, and his curiosity pushed him to ask.
"Chakra?"
Naruto swallowed again, obviously putting to much ramen in his mouth as he almost choked. He took a breath, then nodded.
"Yep, chakra is the energy within us, everyone knows that. Wow, your village is really out there if you don't know this stuff."
Sora shrugged,
"Yeah, we just went over basics I guess. So, do you think you could teach me some jutsu?"
Naruto finished off his ramen, stunning Sora as he added the empty bowl to the pile of empty bowls that were beside him,
"Sure! But I have to check in with Sakura and Sasuke for a short mission. We have to do some river clean up again."
He hopped down from the stool, turning to Sora,
"Do you want to come and help? I don't know if you would get credit for it, but if you come you can meet my squad. Sakura is really pretty, but she's totally falling for me, and Sasuke is kind of quiet, but that's because he thinks he so cool."
Sora took another bite of his ramen before stepping beside Naruto.
"Sure, sounds good. I don't have anything else to do."
Naruto grinned, and Sora couldn't help but smile as well. Sure Naruto wasn't what he would call normal, but he was fun to be around. Even with the strange whisker like marks on his cheeks and his random conversations, he made Sora feel happy.
"Come on Sora, the river is outside of the village. Actually, I think I was supposed to be there already, but I'll explain what happened."
Naruto leapt up with a flash of speed, landing on a rooftop nearby. Sora's jaw dropped,
"Holy – how did you do that?!"
He
asked. Naruto blinked, turning and looking down.
"Oh, its easy.
I guess I'll have to teach you how to do it though…hmm. Just jump
and try to keep up; use your chakra to speed yourself up."
Sora gave a sigh, wondering what chakra felt like anyway. He ran up, jumping, but only making it half way up and almost smacking against the building. Naruto gave a faint laugh,
"Uh, this may take longer than I thought…"
He said, scratching the back of his head.
Soon, the sound of rushing water broke through the chorus of birds. Sora still was having a difficult time keeping up with Naruto, but he was doing quite abit better. Naruto stopped, glancing back at Sora as he leapt from branch to branch.
"Good! Your getting better spikes! Come on, relax abit! Its just like running on the ground, except higher up!"
Naruto said before turning and continuing on ahead. Sora shook his head slightly,
"Heh, except higher up…a lot higher up…"
He said as he sped up abit.
Naruto jumped down, landing beside the river and looking around. There was a shout as Sora fell, managing to land on his feet beside Naruto. Naruto turned to him,
"See, its not to hard. You have a knack for it, all you need is a little more practice and you'll be able to keep up with me."
Sora smiled, trying to hide how hard he was breathing. He wasn't out of shape, he just wasn't able to keep up with Naruto's boundless energy. Naruto started looking around again, his eyes squinted.
"Hey! Sakura, Sasuke!"
He called out. There was no reply, and Naruto crossed his arms,
"Hmm…weird. Maybe we're early."
He then shrugged,
"Oh well, we'll just wait then. I can teach you some jutsu that will help you control your chakra if ya want."
Sasuke shook his head as he walked out through the trees, hands in his pockets. Sakura followed close,
"That's weird, I wonder where Naruto went…I hope hes not-"
Sasuke stopped, and Sakura quickly halted as well.
"Sasuke, whats wrong?"
She asked. Sasuke narrowed his eyes slightly, looking ahead. Sakura followed his gaze and blinked.
"Naruto?! Are you kidding me?! You mean hes been here the whole-"
"Whos
that with Naruto?"
Sasuke asked, cutting her off. Sakura
suddenly noticed the spiky haired boy with Naruto, wincing slightly
as he fell from the tree and onto the ground. Naruto laughed, helping
him to his feet.
"I don't know…I've never seen him before."
Sakura said, tilting her head slightly. Sasuke stood still, then walked towards Naruto and the stranger.
Naruto held his hand out to Sora, who took hold of it gratefully. Naruto helped Sora to his feet, laughing a little.
"Wow, you got pretty far up the trunk that time. You just need to remember to land on your feet and not your head spikes."
Sora brushed some leaves off of himself,
"Yeah, I did get a little higher. I think I'm getting the hang of this chakra thing."
Naruto nodded, then his attention averted and he smiled.
"Hey, Sasuke, Sakura! About time you got here!"
He greeted. Sora turned to see a black haired boy, his black eyes narrowed as he walked towards them. Sora could tell that this was Sasuke from what Naruto had said. The girl had bright pink hair and green eyes, and Sora smiled a little at her. But he was surprised as she glared at Naruto,
"You idiot! Sasuke and I were looking for you Naruto!"
She snapped. Naruto smiled faintly,
"You two were looking for me? I thought you two had forgotten about to mission!"
"Its not our mission anymore Naruto. We were trying to find you and tell you, but you were all over the village today."
Sasuke said in monotone. Sakura nodded, then glanced at Sora.
"So, whos this?"
She asked. Naruto stepped back beside Sora, putting his arm around him.
"This here is Sora, but I call him spikes because of his weird hair. I met him dismorning when I was checking out the forest! He was almost snake chow, but I helped him out and gave him a tour of the village and stuff! Hes pretty cool, but he comes from a really small village and doesn't know to much."
"Small village? And what village would that be?"
Sasuke asked, looking over Sora as he eyes rested on his headband.
"Destiny village or somethin' like that."
Naruto said. Sasuke kept his eyes narrowed, his expression emotionless as he started at Sora.
"Destiny village? Strange, I've never heard of it."
Sakura said as she mentally went through the names of all the villages. A sudden rumble of thunder brought their attention to the darkening sky above, and Sakura shivered as a cold breeze came through.
"Yeah, the mission was cancelled, so lets head home before it starts pouring."
She
said. Sasuke gave Sora was last look over before he turned and
started towards the village. Sakura blinked, looking back.
"Hey,
Sasuke! Wait up!"
She called, running after him. Naruto sighed,
"Man, Sakura always has to run after him…"
He muttered. Sora turned,
"Huh? What'd you say?"
He asked. Naruto looked up,
"Oh, nothing. Hey, Sakuras right. Lets head back to the village."
He
took a couple steps, then looked at him.
"Wait, do you have a
place to stay Sora?"
He asked. Sora was about to say yes when he remembered how he had gotten here. He didn't have the Gummi Ship to go back to, and he felt a pang of sadness as he was reminded of why he was here to begin with.
Naruto saw the sad glimmer that came into Sora's eyes and grew concerned,
"Its ok Sora, you can stay at my place."
He said. Sora looked up,
"Wha? Really?"
Naruto nodded, giving Sora a warm smile,
"Yeah, of course! My place isn't to far from here either, so lets go."
He said. Sora smiled, once again feeling happy to have met Naruto. The two turned and walked back towards the village as rain slowly began to fall.