The courtship of Naruto Uzumaki
VIII. Naomi tours Konoha
Naruto thought he'd have trouble sleeping that night, but he was gone as soon as he head hit the pillow. He'd never slept so well, and he couldn't remember the last time he'd awoken with a grin on his face. Having a girlfriend was fantastic.
He stacked his hands behind his head, and lay back to enjoy the headiness of that circumstance when the other not so pleasant realities broke into his fanciful thoughts to hit him squarely in the solar plexus.
With a groan, he rolled over in bed to bury his head in his pillow, remembering the lunch he'd promised to have with Sakura, and the maybe cousin he had to keep an eye on, and the man he and Hinata had found in the woods in the park, and last but not least the war that could be in Konoha's future. All those nasty realities piled up high trying to blot out his happiness, but only momentarily succeeded. The reality that was Hinata—sunshine in any language—rose up to cast all those ugly thoughts into a small, dark corner of his mind to be dealt with when and if necessary.
Everything would work out, he thought reassuringly. He wouldn't let all that unpleasant stuff mess with his head now. All that was in the future, some closer than others, but so what?. Here and now he was just too happy to let any of that affect him. Hinata is my girlfriend. That was the only important thing in his life right now. He couldn't wait to see her later that day even if it was during work.
He jumped out of bed full of energy to start his day, and get him closer to his goal of seeing Hinata. He washed, dressed, and ate breakfast quickly before hitting the road.
He'd never been to the Fifth's house, but he knew in general where it was located. The Hokage's always lived in the same house while they were Hokage. It was in an older neighborhood similar to the Hyuga's where many of the wealthier inhabitants of Konoha lived. He looked at the large homes in their large yards with great interest. Someday he'd live in a place as big as one of these. Someday he'd be wealthy and respected. Someday he'd be Hokage. He just knew it.
As he walked down the street closing in on the Fifth's house, he heard someone calling his name. He turned around in surprise to see Konohamaru coming out of the house next door to the Fifth's.
"Hey, Naruto," he greeted. "Whatcha doin' around here?" He stuffed something in his mouth, the last of his breakfast probably. His headband trailed under his arm, and he hopped on one foot while still getting his sandal on the other. By the time he reached Naruto, he was shod, and tying his headband in back of his unruly head of brown hair.
Naruto turned his back to the Fifth's house to face his young friend. He looked the same as always—a little older, but still half kid. "You live here, Konohamaru?"
"Yeah." He waved to the house behind him. "This was Grandfather's house. He owned it before he became Hokage. It's mine now," he said matter-of-factly.
"Oh, right," Naruto said and his welcoming grin flattened into a somber line.
They looked towards the house, and gave the Third a silent memorial second before continuing their conversation in a lighter vein.
"So, Naruto, whatcha doin' around here? Are you going to the Fifth's house? She's probably already gone to work. She usually leaves early," he said knowledgably.
He threw a thoughtful glance over his shoulder to the Fifth's house. "She might not have come home at all last night," he murmured absently.
"Oh, yeah? Why not?"
Naruto put his hands in his pockets. "We found an injured man in the park last night. He might not have recovered enough to tell us what happened. She may still be trying to figure out what attacked him," Naruto answered grimly. He didn't think it would be a secret from Konohamaru. He was a ninja, too, and should be privy to the same information they all would have sometime today. He hoped it would be good news.
"What do you mean what attacked him?"
"Well, he had a weird bite on his neck—just two big puncture wounds—and he was missing a lot of blood. He was so pale he didn't look like he had any blood left, but he was still alive when we found him," he explained succinctly.
Konohamaru's eyes widened. "Wow! What do you suppose it was?"
"Don't know, but I don't want to think about what could have sucked out the guy's blood without leaving a single drop on the ground. We searched—the Fifth, too—and there was nothing on the ground or any sign of what had attacked him."
"No way! That's creepy."
"Tell me about it. I stayed with the guy while Hin—while the person I was with went to get help. It was pitch black in those woods. I couldn't see a thing, and it was way too quiet. I couldn't help imagining a really big fat snake or spider lurking in those woods nearby waiting to pounce on me next," he gave an exaggerated shudder as he dramatically told his story.
Konohamaru completely missed Naruto's near slip of Hinata's name, and laughed at his spooky story and pseudo-shudder. However, before he could ask any more questions, they were interrupted by another voice calling Naruto's name. This time it was Naomi running out of the Fifth's house. He turned away from Konohamaru to greet her.
"Naruto! Were you coming to get me?" she asked coming to an abrupt halt in front of him. However, she wasn't looking at him, but at Konohamaru who was looking right back with as much interest. She wore the same oversized, sexless outfit she had on yesterday—down to the shaggy blonde ponytail on the back of her head. But she looked clean, neat and combed, a credit to the name Uzumaki—which was the important thing.
"Yeah, that's right, I was. I—" he began to explain, but wasn't allowed to finish.
"Hi, I'm Konohamaru," he said, brushing past Naruto. He held out his hand to her.
She shook it without hesitation. "Hi. Konohamaru. Like the village?"
"Yeah. My grandfather was the Third. He named me that. Don't ask me why. I never liked it." He shrugged.
"It's kinda cute." She gave him a sunny smile.
He smiled back. "Ya' think so? I bet yours is cuter. What's your name?"
"Naomi."
"That's definitely a cuter name. No kinda about it."
Naruto would have been nauseated by this exchange, if he hadn't been so surprised at Konohamaru's suavity. He hadn't been nearly as smooth as that at the same age. Come to think of it, he wasn't that smooth even now. Where did he pick up this stuff?
"Ah, Konohamaru—" he tried to interrupt, but no one was listening to him.
"Say, are you a relative of Naruto's?"
"Is it so obvious?" she asked coyly, and tossed her pony tail. She was thoroughly enjoying the attention of a cute boy about her own age obviously interested in her. There had been very few of those in her short life.
"Similar hair and eyes, but on you it looks good—really good."
She was giggling now. "That's very sweet of you to say. Naruto's my cousin. I'm an Uzumaki."
Now Naruto really did want to gag at his cousin's suddenly girlish behavior. Until about a minute ago he'd have thought most people would've confused her with a boy. Now there was no question what sex she was. He wondered how Konohamaru had figured it out so quickly. "Don't you have something to do, Konohamaru? We don't want to keep you," he interrupted in a louder voice this time. He wasn't about to foster this little flirtation. He suddenly felt protective of his new little cousin.
"Nope, nothing until later this afternoon," he said cheerfully, and stood there waiting, and watching Naomi.
"Don't you usually hang out with Moegi and Udon?"
He waved his hand. "Sure, but we've got no definite plans. Those are some team mates of mine," he airily explained to Naomi. "We've been assigned night guard duty with some of the jônin still here in the village. All the chûnin and genin have been assigned to help. I'm off until after lunch then I take duty at the main gate until the night guards turn up."
"So which group do you work with?"
"Neji Hyuga, Rock Lee and Tenten. Neji's really awesome. I wish I had a kekkei genkai. His is so cool."
"You think so? I like Lee better even without a kekkei genkai."
"Yeah, he's okay, too—especially since he got engaged to Sakura. Who'da thought that would happen? She's a total babe."
"I've met her. She's very pretty," Naomi agreed.
"Hey, didn't you used to like her, Naruto?"
He frowned. "Maybe when I was your age. Never mind that. We should be off," Naruto said hastily. He didn't want to talk about the past especially with Naomi standing there absorbing everything like a little sponge. There were some things she didn't need to know.
"Where are you going? Can I come to?" he asked eagerly giving Naomi a winning smile.
Naruto scratched the back of his head. Ordinarily, he sorta enjoyed Konohamaru's company, but if he continued to smarm his cousin or bring up embarrassing subjects, he didn't think he'd be able to tolerate the brat. "If you stop being annoying, you can come along until lunch. We've got an important lunch meeting. You can't come."
"Annoying? What do you mean?" he demanded indignantly. "Am I annoying you?" he asked Naomi.
She shook her head, but Naruto gave her no time to respond.
"No more flirting with my cousin, okay?"
He flushed. "I don't know what you're talking about. I was just being polite. You wouldn't want me to be rude, and ignore her—would you?"
"Polite? Is that what it's called? Well, knock it off. You're making my stomach turn with your slick politeness."
"Cousin Naruto! That's mean," Naomi protested. "Isn't he your friend? He was just being nice. I hope all your friends are this nice."
"They better not be," he said under his breath. More loudly he said, "Yeah, well, just tone it down, okay? Treat her just like you would me."
"Whatever you say, oh mighty Naruto" Konohamaru gave him an exaggerated bow then sprang up with a grin for Naomi. "So where are we going?"
"Actually, nowhere in particular. I'm just showing her around the village," he confessed.
"I could do that then you could go do whatever you need to do," Konohamaru volunteered eagerly. "Haven't you just gotten back from a mission?"
Naruto gave the idea a moment's thought, but the Fifth had told him to keep an eye on Naomi. He didn't think she'd approve of him passing the job off to someone else—especially someone so obviously ill-suited for the job. Konohamaru had about the same skills at sneaky that he did. Besides, he wanted to get to know her himself. She could very well be his cousin. He shook his head. "I just met Naomi yesterday, Konohamaru. She's the only family I have. I'd like to get to know her better—if that's alright with you?"
"Yeah, sure. I didn't know. So what'll we show her first?"
Naruto put his hands on his hips, and stared off into the distance. "I don't know. What about the ninja school? Will anyone be there with all the jônin gone? I wish Iruka sensei were here. You should meet him, Naomi. He's a great teacher. He's my favorite teacher."
"Hey, that's a great idea. There might be some kids there training or studying. I don't think anyone's officially been assigned to teach in Iruka and the other teachers absence. They're on a mini-vacation until one of them return."
"I'd like to see the ninja school," Naomi agreed excitedly. "I'd like to be a ninja."
They turned, and started off towards the direction of the school. Naruto found himself alone in the lead with Konohamaru and Naomi lagging behind. It reminded him too much of himself and Hinata on their last mission with Shikamaru and Choji. He made sure to keep close enough to hear what they were saying. He wasn't about to encourage this puppy romance especially since he wasn't yet sure that Naomi was his cousin. Besides, he thought Konohamaru was already smitten with his team mate Moegi. If they ran into her things could get ugly. Just what he needed—to be caught in another romantic contretemps. Sakura and Lee were bad enough to deal with. He wasn't about to add another quarreling couple to his already full schedule.
Konohamaru knew a lot more people than Naruto did. Almost everyone they passed greeted him while just half as many greeted Naruto. He only paused to introduce Naomi to a select few on the way. Naruto was able to meet a few new people himself before they reached the school.
"Wow! A real school!" Naomi exclaimed as they entered the building.
"Didn't you go to school?"
She shook her head. "Our village was too small for a school. My aunt taught me my lessons."
They walked through the building with Naomi exclaiming over every classroom. Unfortunately, the place was deserted so they couldn't introduce her to any teachers or students. They finally lured her outside after Naruto promised faithfully to bring her back once Iruka had returned.
"So, Naomi where did you live before you came here?" Konohamaru asked as they came out into the school yard.
"Kuzu, a little village in the North of the Fire Country. You've probably never heard of it."
"I can't say I have. Geography was never my best subject. What about you, Naruto?"
"I'm with you Konohamaru. I can follow a map—that's all I need to know."
"But you're ninja! That can't be true! Surely, you need to know your geography? I know where every major city, town and village, except the hidden ones, in the main countries of Fire, Water, Rice and Earth. I know where the countries of Grass, Lightning, Rain, Wave, Water, Waterfall, and Wind are located plus the names of their hidden villages," she bragged.
"Wow! How can anyone so cute know so much?" Konohamaru said admiringly.
Naruto held his tongue, and allowed Konohamaru to do the questioning. It came more naturally from him. Naruto would feel too much the spy Tsunade had designated him. He wanted Naomi to really be his cousin, and to find out about her in the course of their acquaintance not because it was his duty. This assignment really sucked!
"I had no choice. My aunt was very strict. I had to study all the time."
"If you know so much, and you really want to be a ninja, you'll probably be able to test out of all the school stuff. How much ninja stuff have you learned?"
"My aunt taught me quite a bit, but she said I had to be accepted as a genin before I could learn jutsus."
"Was your aunt a kunoichi?"
"She told me she had been in her youth."
"From what village?"
"This one. She was born and raised in Konoha."
"Really? She couldn't have been an Uzumaki. I don't think there are any in the village except for Naruto. Who was she?"
This time Naruto interrupted. He wasn't sure the Fifth wanted this information broadcast especially to Konohamaru. How would he react to the news that his grandmother had been alive up until a few weeks ago, and had never contacted him? Not after the Third had been killed or even Asuma. That would be difficult to hear since he was all alone now.
"Let's take Naomi up top of the Hokage Rock before we leave the school area," he said hastily. "The view of the village is terrific up there."
"Yeah. That's a good idea. We can point out a lot more stuff up from up there," Konohamaru readily agreed.
"We can go on top?" Naomi asked wide-eyed.
"Sure. I used to do it all the time."
"I heard you used to practice a little graffiti up there," Konohamaru suggested with a sly grin.
Naruto frowned at him. "Malicious rumors. Hey, Konohamaru, I bet I can beat you to the stairs."
"Oh yeah, old man. I'd like to see that." He waved his arm, and took off at a run.
Naruto breathed a sigh of relief when Konohamaru seemed to have forgotten his question. He held Naomi's arm to keep her at a job by his side instead of running full out after Konohamaru. Impatiently, she tried to shake him off, but his hand tightened on her arm.
"Don't tell Konohamaru about your aunt," he said softly.
She looked at him in surprise. "Why not?"
"Yukari Sarutobi was his grandmother. She left Konoha before he was born. I don't want him upset to find out she'd been alive all these years."
Her eyes widened, and she looked ahead solemnly at Konohamaru. He hadn't missed them yet. "I didn't realize. I won't breathe a word about it—but what if he should ask me again?"
"You can tell him her first name. If he assumes she was named Uzumaki, too, so much the better. He doesn't know the details of our family."
She nodded her head. "You can count on me, Cousin Naruto."
"Good."
"Hey, Naruto, if you weren't serious about racing why'd you even suggest it?" Konohamaru had stopped to yell back at them. He stood impatiently with his hands on his hips.
They ran forward to catch up to him. "Sorry. I got distracted. Naomi was asking me why you weren't as good-looking as your grandfather. She was really impressed with his carving in the Hokage Rock." That was the best he could come up with to disguise his quiet talk with Naomi.
"I did not!" Naomi protested indignantly.
"Very funny, Naruto. The old man was a great Hokage, but I inherited the looks in the family," he bragged as he jabbed his thumb into his chest.
"Yeah? When was the last time you looked in a mirror?" he retorted.
"Just this morning. Unlike you, mine doesn't break whenever I look into it."
"Be careful, pretty boy, when you insult me you insult every Uzumaki in the world."
"I don't think so. It occurs to me that the Uzumaki family are like the opposite of bird species. The males are the plain ones, and the females the beauties."
"That was smart, Konohamaru. If I disagree with you I'd be insulting my own cousin. I guess you win this round, brat."
"I am smart," he responded smugly. "Should we argue about that next?"
"Not with Naomi here to show us up. Instead, maybe we should test her skills on all that geography knowledge she bragged to us about. Maybe she was exaggerating."
"I was not! Ask me anything you want, but how will you know if I'm right?"
"What do you mean?"
"If neither of you know any geography, I could make up anything—and you wouldn't know the difference," she pointed out confidently.
"Oh, I think Konohamaru and I can come up with some questions we know the answers to. What do you say, Konohamaru?"
He forgot all about impressing a lady as his eyes lit up with battle fever. He was only 14 after all, and still half kid. "You're on. What will the prize be?"
"The winner has to bow to the loser, and claim him or her Master of World Geography."
"That's not much of a forfeit," Konohamaru said in disappointment.
Naruto wagged a finger at him. "I know what you're thinking, and you can forget about it. Remember this is my cousin, and I've outlawed flirtation. Got it?"
"Yeah, yeah, okay. Whatever you say. Why don't you ask the first question?"
They spent about fifteen minutes playing this game. Neither Naruto nor Konohamaru could think of enough questions they knew the answers to for longer play. Needless to say, Naomi was named Queen of World Geography.
Naruto couldn't help a growing suspicion in her extensive knowledge about the layout of so many countries. If she wasn't his cousin—could she be a spy for the new Country of Stone?