Chapter 4
"Be seein' ya now." Tazuna called, waving from the porch to the four ninjas as they rounded the corner on the lane that took them out of sight into the forest.
"Can't wait to get home." Naruto said from her position in the front of the pack, now back in her usual ensemble and the nameless child sitting on her shoulders.
"For what? To stuff your face with ramen?" Sasuke asked, from just behind and to the left of her, no longer bandaged up but still wore a sling for his right arm.
"I was looking forward to showing the old man what I've learned, but now that you mention it, I've been craving some for the past week." Naruto said, licking her lips in anticipation.
"Is that all you ever think about?" Sakura asked, from her position next to Sasuke, sounding somewhat disappointed in Naruto.
"Pretty much." Sasuke said, jokingly answering the question for Naruto.
"Hey! Not true." Naruto said with a growl. "I think about a few other things, thank you very much."
"All of you quiet for a moment." Kakashi said from the back of the group, book away and looking very much alert. "Up ahead."
Looking up ahead, Naruto could clearly make out two people sitting on the side of the path, one of them wearing civilian clothing with a bandana around their head, and the other in a pink floral patterned kimono. The first was leaning up against a giant sword that looked very familiar and they were both looking over a scroll that was spread out on the ground.
They slowed their approach and prepared themselves for a fight, but their was no chance of them escaping into the woods to avoid them, they had been loud enough that those two would have to be deaf to not hear them.
As they got closer, Naruto recognized the sword as belonging to Zabuza. Not to mention the person next to him looked awfully like the Haku person she had met in the woods and later on the bridge. Lowering the child to the ground and taking them by the hand, Naruto dropped back next to Kakashi and said, "I know one of them, I'm pretty sure they mean no harm."
"You still never know if you can trust someone who nearly killed you and your comrade." Kakashi replied, ordering the group to halt before stepping forward to confront the two. "Zabuza, state your purpose here."
"Why, waiting for you of course." The one in civilian clothing replied, standing and pulling his gigantic sword from the ground, resting it on his shoulder.
Kakashi was instantly ready for an attack, kunai suddenly in one hand and the other grasping his headband.
"Well isn't she cute." Haku said, standing up and moving over to see the child passing Kakashi with no concern about his actions.
"She's cute alright," Naruto said smiling at Haku's disregard for the kunai wielding Jounin crouched in a battle stance right beside them. "But be careful, she bites."
"Oh, that's alright." Haku replied, reaching out to pat the child's head, but drawing it back in surprise when the child shied away in fright, clinging onto Naruto's leg.
"Well are we just going to stand here or are we going to get going?" Zabuza asked, looking impatiently at Kakashi who was still crouched and ready to attack.
"Go where?" Kakashi asked cautiously; slowly straitening and lowering his arms, but keeping the kunai in hand.
"Konoha, where else?" Zabuza replied turning and slowly beginning down the path.
With that they resumed their journey, plus two members, and Naruto reclaimed her position at the front to the pack, joined in short order by Haku and shortly after, Sasuke.
Naruto, having already met Haku, took the liberty of introducing them to Sasuke. Sasuke greeted them with a nod and a slight smile, while Haku returned the greeting with a light blush and a slightly stammered hello. This made Naruto come to the conclusion that, despite their somewhat androgynous appearance, they were definitely female and Sakura wouldn't be too happy about that.
Zabuza walked a slight ways behind the group in front and off to the side of the trail, walking in complete silence, apparently in deep thought. Sakura walked slightly behind Zabuza and on the other side of the path, looking quite lonely and occasionally casting a fearful glance at Zabuza or an angry one up at Haku. Bring up the back of the pack was Kakashi, who looked as if he were reading his little orange book, but he really had his full attention on Zabuza, not trusting the other man for a moment.
Sakura moved up with the others in the front after a few short minutes, introducing herself to Haku and joining in on the discussion. She didn't seem too happy with all the attention she was getting from Sasuke, but she was friendly and seemed to get along with Haku.
When they neared Konoha, Kakashi told the group to stop and they moved off to the side of the path to discuss a few thing.
"I don't know what your trying to do but theirs no way you'll make it into Konoha alive." Kakashi said to Zabuza, his distrust evident in the phrase.
"I'm merely looking to strike a deal with your Hokage," Zabuza replied calmly, "And I was thinking that a simple disguise would suffice."
"The door guards are trained professionals, no chance a basic disguise would make it past them." Kakashi said with a hint of contempt.
"Well, you seem to know what you're talking about, do you know any jutsu that would fool them?" Zabuza asked the 'Know it All' teacher.
"Possibly an S rank disguise jutsu or genjutsu, but I don't know any that would be any use to you." Kakashi stated, now obviously trying to make Zabuza give up and leave.
"Umm, Zabuza-san, I think I know a jutsu you could use." Naruto said, pulling on Zabuza's sleeve.
"Really? Could I see it?" Zabuza asked, sounding surprised that the student knew a disguise jutsu that the teacher didn't.
"Alright, one moment." Naruto said with a smile. 'The cancellation form of this jutsu you made had better work.' She thought to the Kyuubi while going slowly through the hand signs in a sequence she performed almost every day, transforming herself into an exact copy of Sasuke with the exception of her hair. "It's a basic shape-shifting jutsu based off of the basic henge. All you've got to do is change the last hand sign by a little bit and then do the first one again. But because it's an actual physical shape-shift, it doesn't effect your hair."
"It's perfect." Zabuza said, giving the jutsu a quick look over before copying the hand signs and transforming into a middle aged man that Naruto couldn't identify but seemed eerily familiar "We had better get going, I have much to discuss with your Hokage."
The members of team seven exchanged confused glances while Haku and the now disguised Zabuza returned to the road.
"Hold on, what about your sword?" Naruto asked suddenly while at the same time performing the cancellation form of the shape-shifting jutsu, her appearance seeming to melt back to her natural form. "Normal people don't carry those things with them where ever they go."
"I never thought about that." Zabuza said, taking his sword off of his shoulder and planting it point first into the ground. "You wouldn't happen to have a jutsu for that as well would you?"
"Actually, I think I have a storage scroll here somewhere." Naruto said, pulling a few weapons and items out of the tattoo on her wrist before finding a scroll and tossing it to Zabuza.
"Damn kid, you've got a solution for everything." Zabuza said, storing his sword in the scroll.
Naruto smiled ecstatically at the compliment, running to catch up, while performing her shape-shifting jutsu on the run to return to her everyday appearance.
"Wait," Sakura asked suddenly, "How come Zabuza has to wear a disguise and Haku doesn't?"
"Because Zabuza is a registered threat in the bingo books throughout the elemental countries, while Haku hasn't done anything bad enough to draw attention to herself, so she isn't a known criminal." Kakashi answered in a monotone voice that seemed to cast the two in a bad light.
Sasuke humphed at Kakashi's negative opinion of the two and moved up to walk with Naruto, Sakura and Haku, starting up the discussion they had been having earlier.
"Look, there's Konoha!" Naruto exclaimed as they rounded a bend and entered a clearing that brought the gates into view. But for all her excitement, something seemed off about Naruto, the closer they got to Konoha, the quieter and more subdued she became, almost as she were afraid to be returning. By the time they arrived at the gates she was hardly contributing to the conversation, replying to question with the most basic answers and not really looking at any villagers, merely putting up a fake smile for them.
"I thought she loved this place, what's going on?" Haku whispered to Sasuke as the group stopped at the gates to confirm their return, looking at the villagers with disgust with the way they looked at Naruto.
"She does, she'll be back to normal in a day or two." Sasuke whispered back as they started up again into the town, "she was enjoying her week that she didn't need to hide."
"I hope so, I don't like her like this, it reminds me of…" she replied, trailing off at the end, gazing off into the distance.
"Sasuke, Sakura, Naruto… Haku, in here." Kakashi called from a short ways back, pointing to the building between them.
"A bar?" Zabuza asked once they were all in the building.
"Every Thursday at around this time the old man comes by here for a drink or two… or ten" Naruto explained, sounding more relaxed already.
"You see him?" Sasuke asked.
"Found him." Zabuza said, weaving quickly through the crowd to one of the tables in the back before waving the others over.
"Good afternoon Hiruzen." Zabuza said as the others sat down.
"Kakashi?" Sarutobi asked, not looking up from the scroll he had spread out on the table, "Your back."
"No Hiruzen, it's Blue, but he's back too." Zabuza explained as Naruto made the association between Zabuza's disguise and Kakashi, cursing herself for not noticing earlier.
"Blue! What are you doing here?" Sarutobi asked, setting down his drink and looking up. "I told you to send word before your arrival if you ever decided to come. You are a very popular person if I remember correctly."
"I've decided to take that deal you proposed last time we talked." Zabuza said in a most serious tone, placing two unlabeled scrolls on the table. "Do you promise to keep up your end of the deal?"
"A deal is a deal, assuming this information is acceptable, you and your apprentice will be granted Konoha citizenship under surveillance, as will you." Sarutobi stated before turning his attention to team 7. "How went the mission?"
"We ran into them." Kakashi said flatly jerking a thumb in the direction of Zabuza before rolling three mission scrolls to Sarutobi. "There were some odd happenings, they along with Naruto's unbelievable advancements in the field of chakra control are explained in the third scroll."
"Unbelievable advancements?" Sarutobi asked, raising a gray eyebrow at Naruto.
"It's in the scroll, but at the moment we have more important things to discuss." Kakashi said before looking at the other members of his team. "Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, you are dismissed."
"Haku, you go with them too, you don't need to hear this conversation." Zabuza said sternly, motioning for her to go.
"Wait, what about her?" Naruto said, pointing to the little girl in her lap who was playing with something she had found on the table.
"Take her with you for now, we'll find a place for her later." Sarutobi replied, glancing at the child as he said it.
Naruto sighed a sad sigh, exited the bar and disappeared down the street before anyone could pursue, taking the child with her.
- - - - - - - -Line break- - - - - - - - -
"Where'd she go?" Haku asked Sasuke as they stepped out side and started walking.
"Home probably, she just needs some alone time." Sasuke said with a shrug before grabbing Haku by the wrist and turning down a street. "Let me show you around town…"
- - - - - - - -Line break- - - - - - - - -
Sakura growled at the sight of Sasuke and Haku walking side by side down the street and went her own way, wanting to drop her things off at her house and change into some fresh cloths.
She was greeted excitedly by her mother when she arrived home, forced to sit down and listen to her mothers adventures of the week. When asked how the mission went, she told her it was nothing exciting and they just helped someone build. It took a while to quell her mothers excitement and escape to her room, where she dropped her things and seated herself on her bed, watching the sun set over the city through her window and grumbled to herself about the new girl Haku and about what Naruto said at the end of their chat at Tazuna's house. As little as she liked to admit it, it was true she was falling behind on her skills, and if Naruto meant it, that was putting her farther away from being with Sasuke as much as from being a better ninja.
She stood up and went to the window , deciding that she was not going to get any sleep tonight. Sliding the window open, she hoisted herself out and jumping to the street a story below walking quickly down the street, intent on some good hard training.
- - - - - - - -Line break- - - - - - - - -
*Knock Knock*
Naruto groaned, sitting up in bed and rubbing her eyes and mentally cursing who ever was at her door. Glaring at the clock with bleary eyes, she read 6:00 and decided that she had slept long enough and the person at the door would be addressed.
Rolling out of bed and quietly walking to the door, she cleared her throat and in the best chakra enhanced voice she could muster that early in the morning asked, "Who is it?" before turning to her desk and searching for something appropriate to put on should they be someone she would let in.
Instead of an answer, the door quietly clicked open and Haku stepped inside, with a multitude of bags hanging from her wrist. Naruto squeaked in surprise and grabbed the first thing she could find to cover up her nakedness, which happened to be her oversized orange towel with a black smiley face on it. Haku giggled at Naruto's frantic actions before grabbing her by the wrist, dragging her over to the bathroom and shoving her into the shower, handing her an unlabeled bottle and saying, "Wash your hair with this."
Naruto just stood there dazed for a moment before following Haku's orders and starting the shower and washing her hair with the mystery solution. When she was finished in the shower, she dried off, looked in the mirror and was astonished to find the solution she washed her hair with had turned it brown. Stepping out of the bathroom, wrapped in her towel, she walked up to Haku and demanded, "What did you do to my hair?"
"Don't worry, it'll come out next time you wash it." was Haku's only response before handing her a gray sleeveless shirt and a black skirt. "Put these on."
Naruto took her time putting the clothes on, not liking the skirt having never worn one before. She skirt fit perfectly, ending just above the knees and loose enough for her to move around easily, but the shirt however did not. It was much too long, ending half way down the skirt, as well as being way too tight around the chest, not leaving much to the imagination, even with her chest wrapped.
"Come here, I want to hide those scars." Haku said after Naruto had finished getting dressed, pulling out a small makeup kit and opening it.
Naruto complied wordlessly, wanting to see where Haku was going with all of this. After Haku was done with her face, she was shown her reflection and staring back at her back at her was a completely different person.
"Alright lets go." Haku said, grabbing Naruto's wrist and pulling her towards the door.
"Go where?" Naruto asked, firmly attaching her feet to the floor with chakra to stop Haku.
"It's a secret." Haku said with a wink and Naruto sighed, letting Haku drag her along.
"Wait, what about her?" Naruto said, resisting once again, pointing to the child who was curled up in her only comfy chair, sound asleep.
"Sasuke said he'd drop by and look after her in a little while." Haku replied quickly, pulling harder. "Let's go already."
- - - - - - - -Line break- - - - - - - - -
"Come on Haku, I feel ridiculous. Where are we going?" Naruto complained, picking at her skirt while she walked.
"You can't honestly tell me you haven't gone out without your disguise up before." Haku said, glancing over at Naruto with surprise while they walked.
"Not in a few years and this outfit isn't helping any, people keep staring at me." Naruto replied, glaring at a guy staring at her from across the street.
"Oh, just ignore them, guys tend to do that when they see a pretty girl." Haku said offhandedly as she pulled Naruto into a shop.
Naruto was too stunned to reply, or even look up at the name of the shop she was yanked into but once she was in, all she could see were clothes stacked and hung everywhere. Before she could resist or try to escape, she was pulled over to a shelf and Haku started handing her various articles of clothing of all different types and sizes. After she had more than her own wardrobe stacked on her arms, she was led to the back of the store where they had a series of stalls. Haku turned to Naruto and took most of the cloths, leaving her with only a few handfuls of underwear.
"Start with those and come out to show me when you find a pair that fit." Haku said, pushing Naruto into one of the stalls.
Naruto stood there dumbfounded for a moment, staring at what she was supposed to try on before turning and asking, "What's wrong with what I have now?"
"Well for one thing they're Sasuke's old ones, they're made for a Boy, and they're falling apart, pretty soon you'll need new ones whether you like it or not. And plus, you don't have to try them all on", we just need to find your size. Haku explained, shaking her head in mock disappointment.
Naruto just grumbled and closed the door and began trying on all manner of embarrassing garments emerging periodically whenever she found some that fit, only to grumble in frustration if they were rejected. Eventually, Naruto had a few pares that fit and Haku had given her a multitude of different shirts to try on while she returned the stuff that didn't fit to the shelves. The trying on of the shirts went much the same way as the previous session and shortly after, trying on pants and skirts. It was all going more smoothly than Haku had expected until she decided to hand Naruto a pink dress to try on next time she emerged from the changing room. Naruto flatly refused to take it until Haku forced her to at weapon point, saying it would look cute on her. once Naruto got the dress on though, she refused to leave the changing room, even after Haku threatened to kill her with pointy tools of death if she didn't leave, saying that if she did leave she would kill herself with pointy tools of death.
Glancing quickly around to make sure nobody was watching, Haku jumped onto the space of wall above and behind Naruto's stall, using chakra to slowly slide down the wall and land next to Naruto. Unable to do much in the cramped space, Haku quickly reached past Naruto, undoing the latch and pushing both herself and Naruto out of the stall. Immediately after exiting, Haku pulled the door shut and sealed it shut with some ice in the hinges and latch.
Turning to Naruto, Haku tried to suppress a giggle, realizing that Naruto did look a little ridiculous in a pink dress, but had an idea. Pushing Naruto back unto the dressing room she said, "Take that one off, I saw one you might like."
Naruto struggled with getting the dress off and when she finally did, Haku appeared at the door, handing her a different dress while taking the pink one. To Naruto's delight, the new dress was black and orange, much easier to put on, and fit better. Quickly pulling the dress on, Naruto timidly stepped out of the stall and asked Haku, "How does it look?"
"Its perfect," Haku replied with a smile, "Now take it off, we've got to go pay for this stuff."
Naruto put the clothes she had worn here back on and they collected all of the things Naruto had tried on that fit and they took them to the counter. At the counter the clerk was quite cheerful, but Naruto couldn't help but be nervous because she had encountered this clerk at a different shop a few years ago. That encounter had gone badly, she had gone shopping for something to replace her old worn cloths, but when she went to pay, she was told she didn't deserve do have what she was trying to buy and was then kicked out of the shop.
To Naruto's relief and to a lesser degree her surprise, the clerk merely smiled and commented on having never seen Naruto around before while ringing up the purchases. After seeing the price of all the cloths, Naruto insisted that she pay for them but Haku waved her off saying it was her treat.
"We should be getting back to your place," Haku said with a sigh once they left the shop, "Sasuke said he wanted to speak with you."
Naruto just grunted in response, laden down with numerous bags of clothing, before starting off in the direction of her house.
- - - - - - - - -Line break- - - - - - - - -
It took quite a bit longer on the way back, laden down with bags, but when they rounded the corner that brought the apartment into view Naruto decided to have a little fun.
"I'll race you." Naruto said, racing ahead rather quickly and focusing chakra to her eyes so that she could see all directions and keep tabs on Haku.
Haku just smiled raced after Naruto, jumping onto the rooftops and sprinting towards the apartment.
Naruto saw Haku leap onto the rooftops and leapt onto the walkway in front of her apartment and stealthily landed in front of her door.
Just as she landed in front of the door, it swung open and a rather angry Sasuke stepped out and grabbed Naruto by the wrist, pulling her inside.
"What do you think you were doing?" Sasuke asked angrily, looking back and fourth between Naruto and Haku.
"Shopping…" Haku answered timidly, looking at the floor and fidgeting with her hands, obviously not prepared for the overprotective brother.
"And you let her go out like this?" Sasuke demanded Haku, motioning broadly in Naruto's direction with his arm.
"It's alright, nobody recognized her." Haku answered quickly, trying to calm Sasuke down a little.
Sasuke looked at her for a moment before shifting his gaze to Naruto, obviously thinking.
"Then did you at least get her some clothing that fits her better?" Sasuke asked, calming down a bit.
"I said we went shopping, didn't I?" Haku asked rhetorically with a grin, grabbing her bags off of the floor and tossing them to Naruto.
"Naruto, get changed, we have to go see the Hokage." Sasuke said, walking out of the apartment.
"Is he always like that?" Haku asked when he left.
"Oh don't mind him, he's just a little overprotective of me." Naruto said with a sigh, setting down her bags and looking for a place to put them.
"Alright, you should get changed." Haku said, grabbing one of the bags and pulling out an outfit for Naruto.
Naruto quickly changed, tossing her dirty clothing into a pile in the corner, which earned a frown from Haku.
"We should get going." Haku said, stepping to the door and motioning to Naruto.
"What about her?" Naruto said, walking over to her bed where the little girl slept. "We can't just leave her here."
"Well then take her with us." Haku replied, beginning to sound a little impatient.
Naruto reached out and gently touched the shoulder of the child, and the child stirred awake. The child looked up at Naruto for a moment before they recognized her and reached out for her. Naruto picked the child up and walked out of the apartment, setting off with Haku towards the Hokage tower.
- - - - - - - -Line break- - - - - - - - -
"What do you mean I'm not capable of taking care of a child?" Naruto demanded before the Hokage could explain.
"Listen, Naruto, the schedule of a professional ninja does not allow for the proper care of a child." The Hokage explained, massaging his forehead.
"He's got a point Naruto." Sasuke said, his arms folded across his chest and a stern look on his face.
"Well then what are we going to do?" Naruto demanded, "I'm not leaving her with people I don't know."
"Its fine, she can stay with my family at the Hokage estate, and you can take her on the days you have off." The Hokage said, getting up from the table. "Now I'll take her back to the estate, you have a mission today."
With that a new routine was set, every bit of free time Naruto had was spent either training with Haku and Sasuke or at the Hokage estate, spending time with the little girl, later named Yuki by team seven.
- - - - - - - -Line break- - - - - - - - -
"So what were Zabuza and old man Hokage going on about that day in the bar when we brought you two here?" Naruto asked Haku as they picked up a fallen support beam from the abandoned building they were demolishing.
"What do you mean?" Haku asked, as they tossed the beam into a stack they had of several others.
"The Hokage mentioned some deal he had with Zabuza." Naruto explained as they returned to the building for another load.
"Oh yes, that..." Haku replied, remembering what Naruto was asking about, "Well, it happened when I was still a little kid, and I had been with Zabuza for about a year. I was learning a lot from him, but I couldn't take care of myself yet so Zabuza was keeping us fed by doing jobs at the local task centers they have in little towns. They are a lot like the ninja jobs your teams get each day, but for regular people that need some extra cash and can work for it.
"He would take me on his jobs and I would help out as much as I could without drawing attention to my training, and we would stay at each town for a week or so doing jobs before moving to a new town. But one town we went to just inside the fire country, they wouldn't let Zabuza take me with him to his job, offering to look after me for the day along with the other kids and that I would be safe with them. Zabuza was reluctant, but he let them take care of me for the time he was on jobs that week and I played with the other kids or practiced what he had been teaching me when I thought nobody was around.
"I wasn't as stealthy as I thought I was though, because on the fourth day, their was an old man with the job givers, apparently there on business. Zabuza warned me to be careful around him, and I was, but when I was practicing with making ice mirrors off by myself, he found me. He didn't make anything big of it, and I though he didn't notice anything, but when Zabuza got back he was confronted by the old man in person and they went into a private room for a discussion.
"The discussion took a while and after they let Zabuza out, he was payed more than double what his job that day was supposed to pay. He didn't tell me who that was or what they wanted at the time, but we packed up and left that night, skipping the next few towns. After we settled back into our regular pattern, he told me that it was the Hokage himself, and he had proposed a deal that would mean a better way of life with less running and no hiding.
"As soon as I was able to handle myself in combat, we set out on a different path, tracking down a few different things; a group that made a grab for power in a few different of the elemental countries, even taking down the Mizukage and taking his position, a group that was collecting the Tailed Demons one by one, and what remained of the swordsmen of the mist.
"We still had to take jobs to make money for living, but they weren't our main focus anymore, though we had pretty much exhausted any and all leads we had by the time we took the job that ran us into you, so after some thinking, Zabuza decided to see if the Hokage would make good on his deal after all this time."
"So what is Zabuza going to do here?" Naruto asked, wiping her brow and looking at the piles of debris that remained where the building had been that morning.
"He agreed to be a teacher of various different sword fighting styles as part of the deal he made with the Hokage, and once people got over their fear of him, hes class has become quite popular due to the lack of competition in the city." Haku said with a smile.
"And what about you, how did you fit into the deal?" Naruto asked, thinking of the talents she had seen Haku display.
"I have a bloodline that lets me manipulate water and ice at will, and to a greater degree than molding elemental chakra allows." She replied, summoning a small ball of water out of the air and levitating it between her hands. "So the plan is to introduce a new bloodline into Konoha, to increase the diversity and strength of the clans."
"Come on you two, lets go turn in for the day." Sasuke hollered at Naruto and Haku, the rest of the team starting on their way down the street back to turn in that days mission.
- - - - - - - -Line break- - - - - - - - -
It had been a month now since the mission in wave and Naruto was getting irritated with all the D ranked missions and was looking for some action. Though, unfortunately, this time it seemed to be looking for her too.
"Hey Konohamaru," Naruto said, walking up to him and his friends when she spied them on her walk home. "How's Yuki been doing?"
"Shhhhhh…" Konohamaru shushed Naruto, looking around. "She's looking for us."
Naruto just looked around, noticing Yuki stealthily approaching the group from around the corner and stepped back as to not interfere.
Yuki quietly ran around the corner, smiling at Naruto as she passed and stopped behind just behind Konohamaru without anyone in the group noticing. She poked him on the arm and quickly stepped to the other side of him before he had time to turn around.
Konohamaru turned to see who had poked him, looking around he didn't see anyone so turned the other side and jumped back when he saw Yuki.
"You're it…" Yuki whispered timidly with her eyes cast downward, before rushing to the next corner with both of Konohamaru's friends.
Less than a second after they rounded the corner Naruto heard one of them scream rather loud.
The instant Naruto heard the scream she rushed forward at top speed, disappearing from sight and reappearing at the end to the next street, catching the attention of everyone down the street she was on street. What she found here she didn't like, one of Konohamaru's friends was on the ground and one of two foreign looking ninjas had Yuki by the collar. Naruto immediately noticed that neither of the ninja's were from Konoha, but that didn't change the fact that they had Yuki captive.
"Let her go." Naruto demanded, stepping forward and sliding a hand up her sleeve for a weapon.
"I'm just teaching this runt a little manners." The boy in the black cloak said with an evil grin.
"Uhhhh Kankuro…" the girl behind 'Kankuro' said nervously, glancing at Naruto's angry face and battle ready stance.
"Quiet Temari, I can…" Kankuro began before being interrupted by a third person whom Naruto was unfamiliar with.
"Kankuro… put them down…" the voice interrupted, bland but threatening, drawing all eyes to the origin of the voice, a nearby tree. In the tree was a boy around the age of his two comrades, hanging upside down from a branch with a large gourd strapped to his back.
Naruto immediately noticed something off about the boy and activated her doujutsu to its second level to get a better look at the boy. He glowed a bright gold color over his entire body, showing no traces of the natural blue chakra save for at his core where it was produced and quickly consumed.
'Kyuubi?' Naruto silently asked the beast sealed in her stomach, unsure of what she was seeing.
'I would know that chakra anywhere, it's the Ichibi and he's very poorly sealed.' The Kyuubi answered in an amused voice.
'Oh, great…' Naruto thought back to the Kyuubi, watching as the container of the Ichibi disappeared from sight and reappeared next to the Kankuro character.
"I said, put them down." The Ichibi container said, this time sounding more serious than before.
Naruto saw sweat bead on Kankuro's forehead and fear come to his eyes as his fingers slowly began to uncurl. Seeing that he was planning to drop Yuki, Naruto launched herself forward as fast as she could, catching her as soon as she started to fall. She stopped directly in front of the Ichibi container, allowing a little of the Kyuubi's chakra to leak out and looking up to glare at him with red eyes with slit pupils
The boy stared back with surprise evident in his eyes, but he quickly blanked his expression then turned around and walked away.
Once the group of unfriendly ninjas rounded a corner, Naruto relaxed and set Yuki down and went over to check on Konohamaru's friends.
"Having fun disturbing Konoha's guests?" Sasuke called from the rooftop opposite the tree the third ninja had appeared in.
"They started it." Naruto declared before turning to Konohamaru telling him and his friends to take Yuki and return to the Hokage manor.
"Come on, Kakashi-sensei wants to see us." Sasuke said, turning and walking out of sight.
Naruto just sighed and jumped up to the top, landing next Sasuke. "Did he say why he wanted to see us?"
"No, but he said not to be late." Sasuke said, picking up the pace, now jumping from building top to building top.
"And what about those ninjas, they weren't from around here…" Naruto asked, staying in stride with Sasuke.
"Dunno," Sasuke replied before quickly rebounding off of a wall towards a small back ally.
Naruto quickly follow him, launching herself into the ally and sliding down the wall, landing her right next to the rest of team 7 who were accompanied by Zabuza and Haku.
"Now that you're all here," Kakashi started, pulling some papers from his kunai pouch and handing them to the four younger ninjas. "These are application forms for the Chunin exams, if you wish to participate you have to fill them out and take them to the place indicated on the form."
"And this is for you," Kakashi said, turning to Zabuza and handing him a different paper. "It's from the Hokage."
"What about missions for the day?" Naruto asked, putting the paper away.
"You have the day off, to decide whether you want to participate or not." Kakashi said, pulling out his little orange book. "You are all dismissed for the day."
AN - - - - - - - - - - AN
Major Update, chapter 3 and 4 have new sections added onto them, so you can take a look if you are returning, and chapter 5 will be up hopefully within the next month.