Guardian Angel
"Speech"
'Thought'
"Summon/Bijuu/Inner Speech"
'Summon/Bijuu/inner thought'
A/N: Right then! Thanks for the reviews! Thought I feel I have to respond to some reviewers.
AHEM!
Dhh: Yes it may seem worn out the whole, make Team 7 a four man team thing because I've added an OC, but I have plans for Sakura. They aren't apparent now, but they will be soon enough! Besides, I may or may not drop her from the chuunin exams. As for letting Mizuki beat up Naruto and Kiki, that plays a crucial role in the unfolding drama! Oh well, can't please them all I suppose.
UNSpacy000: Oh trust me, Naruto will get quite the wake up call. Just trying my hand at the whole angst stuff ya know?
Tokero6294: Caps don't bug me, and not mentioning Sasuke was a goof on my part.
Inferno Pheonix: Relax, there's more happening than you think. I've got it handled, ok? Besides, Kakashi's saying is going to pry at him. Just relax and wait. The Kyuubi is not what she seems.
Hmm… Ok, let's start the story!
Oh and a cyber cookie for whoever can figure out what Kiki is! And another for those who guess Echo's origins correctly :3
"Naruto, talk, now," Echo demanded as he grabbed the boy by the collar and shushined them to the Boneyard. It was a bright morning, a few hours before Naruto had to meet with his team. As it were, the blonde was bewildered to find himself sprawled on the ground in front of his sensei when he had just finished exiting his apartment.
"Wha? What the heck Echo-sensei!" demanded the blonde.
"You've been acting strange for three years, ever since that incident with Mizuki, talk, something more happened that night that you're not telling me," he growled.
Naruto shrugged, "I'm fine sensei," he reassured. He was unprepared for the foot that found it's way into the side of his head.
"DO NOT BULLSHIT ME!" Echo barked, "If I have to beat you to get my answer I will, but your soul wavelength is out of whack," he stated as Naruto struggled back up from the surprise attack. "You're going to tell me,"
"Since when do you care?" Naruto shot back aggressively, "All you've ever done is train me, that's it! What god given right do you have to inquire about my life, huh?"
"I have it when you refuse to talk about it after three years," he replied simply, "Fredrick has asked, Sarutobi has asked, Kiki has asked, EVERYONE has asked, and now it's my turn," he looked Naruto straight in the eye, "Whats wrong?"
"Why do you all think something is wrong? My best friend was nearly murdered because of me, excuse me if that changes me!" Naruto snapped, now thoroughly annoyed. Another kick sent him rolling, "Why the hell do you keep hitting me?"
"I said if I had to beat it out of you I would," Echo stated, "However I already have a hunch on to why you're keeping us at arms length,"
Naruto looked away. Echo sighed at his stubborn attitude, "I don't know what she said," he began, "But treat her every word as you would treat her, with extreme caution and scrutiny,"
"It's for the best," Naruto mumbled. He was struck once more, this time by the shovel. The blonde grabbed the side of his face and pulled it away to show blood on his palm. Astonished he looked up into the glowering eyes of his sensei
"That's not the Uzumaki I know," hissed the man. "She is a fox, boy, a trickster by nature and what's more a very old demon,"
"And what does that have to do with it? She's locked inside of me, it's not like she can do anything!" Naruto spat. He got up and glared at his teacher, "So if it's okay with you, I'm going to my meeting,"
Echo merely narrowed his eyes at the boy, "Fine, but take it from me, isolation is hell, worse when you do nothing to change it, and thats when your inner demons start to take control," he began walking away, "Get to your meeting, but we're not done talking,"
Naruto just huffed, but he couldn't shake his sensei's words. 'What if he's right? This doesn't make sense, do i really want this?'
"Don't listen to him Naru-kun, you're doing the right thing," Kyuubi's voice interrupted with a sultry purr, "I'll always be here for you," Naurto's eyes unfocused a bit as he nodded.
In her seal the fox demon frowned 'You will not interfere a second time' she thought as she sensed Echo's soul slowly leave.
Team 7 meeting spot
"Yo!" Kakashi greeted as he appeared in a puff of smoke, two hours late once again.
"YOU"RE LATE!" Sakura yelled.
"Sorry, I had to help a priest exorcise some demons who had taken residence in my sock drawers," he replied.
"LIAR!" Sakura screamed.
Sasuke merely sighed 'And now the dobe and freak will try and kill him' he thought. True to word, Kiki and Naruto tried to decapitate him, but, like their last attempts for the last three months, it failed because Kakashi merely ducked.
"Now then, how about we get some training done ne?" he asked happily. The students groaned. Three months in and all they had learned was team exercided and tree climbing. Actually they had fine tuned their tree walking, they'd learned about using their chakra to stick to things during the year dedicated to learning about chakra and jutsu. As such they'd spent a lot of their time doing team exercises and spars, either against each other or their sensei. That and D ranks, and Kakashi's 'special' missions, which were more along the lines of simulations.
"Ma, ma, I'm sure you guys will love this special training," Kakashi assured.
"You mean like the time you kidnapped Sakura, and we had to find and rescue her before she ran out of oxygen?" Kiki asked with a small frown. Sakura shuddered at that. Sensei had locked her in a crateon top of the hokage tower, she'd been tied and bound for an hour before she broke free, when trying to break out of the box however, that proved impossible thanks to some fancy seal work by Kakashi.
In the end they found her thanks to her constant chakra spikes. Kakashi said it was in case they ever found themselves searching for an ally who was captured while doubling as what to do when captured.
They were pretty sure he was making them all suffer for the death of his Icha Icha.
"Just follow me and you'll see," Kakashi eye smiled. Sighing the group followed their sensei. As they walked, Kakashi took the time to evaluate his students.
'Let's see. What do my cute little genin need to learn to improve?''he thought. Glancing behind him, he noticed Kiki seemed to be fussing over Naruto about his rather battered appearance, apparently Naruto and his former teacher, Echo, had gotten into a bit of a fight. Naruto kept assuring her he was fine, but the red head fussed still until the blonde finally laughed and slung an arm around her shoulders, saying she worried too much. The girl blushed slightly but laughed along with him, playfully swatting him and telling him it was her job. Kakashi smiled, those two were the best of friends and trusted each other completely. It showed in their teamwork exercises.
He frowned though when he saw Sakura and Sasuke. She was having a one sided conversation with him, but Sasuke didn't show he cared in any way. Sakura was better than when they first met but she needed some serious physical work and something to break her fan girlish tendencies. She had broken a couple habits like attacking Naruto and fighting with Kiki, but that was because Kiki nearly gutted her when she had had enough of Sakura abusing her friend. It was a little tense between them, but Kakashi held onto hope that she'd come around and they'd at least develop a cordial relation ship. It was more hope then e had for Sasuke though.
The boy was a glacier. He worked with his team, but he did not trust them and was quick to point out their flaws before his own. Humble was something Sasuke was not. He immediately took role as 'leader' in every one of Kakashi's mission simulations and while he was good at, he didn't treat his teammates with any form of respect and thus caused Kiki and Naruto to resent him, thus hesitant to receiving orders. Sakura followed despite everything, but she had started showing some resentment to his treatment. Sasuke needed to learn trust and humility.
Kakashi sighed at that. 'A humble Uchiha? Dear lord this is going to be next to impossible'
Finally arriving Kakashi turned with a happy face to look at his confused students.
"Where are we?" Sasuke demanded/
"Yeah this ain't the usual training ground!" Naruto exclaimed. It was true, the place they were at was nothing like their training field. Their usual training ground was in training ground seven, this place was nothing like it.
While there were trees, there weren't many. Instead there were man bamboo stalks. There was a small clear ring in the center and to the north was a small mountain, more like a rocky cliff. East and west of the ring was bamboo and to the south, was forest with a small trail leading to it.
"Correct, this place is Trainig ground 17, also known as The Harmonious Field," Kakashi stated, "This place is where one comes to train both the body, and the mind as,"
"So why are we here?" asked Sakura.
"For your personal training!" he exclaimed happily. The genins' faces lit up at this prospect.
"You mean you're actually going to teach us something?" Naruto asked excitedly. He was lightly smacked by two hands for the remark, one from Kiki, and the other from Sakura.
"Baka! Kakashi sensei is offering something, be polite," Sakura scolded lightly. He pouted childishly for a moment before his eyes lit up in excitement. "So what are you gonna teach us?" asked the jinchuuriki excitedly.
Kakashi eye smiled. "Well you all have a weakness that needs to be taken into account of and from here until I say so, we will be training those weaknesses," he said lazily. The group was confused but nodded anyway, Sasuke more hesitantly than the others.
"Right then, first lets start with Sakura," Kakashi began, making the girl squirm a bit, "You're a very intelligent young lady Sakura-chan, and you're control is excellent," she smiled a bit at the praise, "But," she stopped smiling, "you're physical strength and battle reflexes are shoddy," he stated. She deflated at that. "You're endurance is below average as is your taijutsu. Your reflexes and flexibility are about the same as a trained civilian, i.e. an academy student," she got a depressed aura around her at that, "However," she looked up bleakly, "Your physical strength is quite astonishing. It has the potential to match that of Tsunade's, but not without the proper training," she looked awed by the description before a determined look over came her face.
"What do I do sensei?" she asked seriously, a fire burning in her emerald eyes.
Kakashi smirked, "We'll start with your endurance and reflexes," Kakashi stated. "You will run around this clearing for thirty minutes while I throw these at you," Kakashi said as he withdrew a small rubber ball from his vest pocket. "I won't lie Sakura, these things hurt when they hit," he warned.
The pink haired girl looked a little scared but nodded her head. 'I'll do it, that way I'll get stronger and Sasuke-kun will notice me!' she thought, "Cha! This'll be easy! Bring it on Scarecrow!" raged her inner.
Kakashi smiled then turned his focus to Naruto, "Naruto, you're physical skill is very good and your taijutsu and weapon skills are exceptional," Naruto smirked at that. He knew he was awesome, "But," he blinked, "Your patience and chakra control is lacking. Many times you become too impatient or irritated and act irrationally because of it. You also have the worst control out of the team,"
"It's not my fault!" Naruto protested, "Jiijii says I have more chakra then most chuunin do and that its way more powerful!"
Kakashi sighed, "I know that, but that doesn't mean you can't control it," Kakashi stated, "You have intelligence Naruto, so you're more than capable of doing this, question is, will you?" challenged the silver haired man. Naruto immediately scowled, "Bring it!" he barked. Kakashi made a mental victory sign, "Right then Naruto, you are to stand upon a point on the mountain using your chakra to stick to the side. Once there, I want you to sit there and meditate for as long as possible, got it?"
"YOSH!" Naruto exclaimed before rushing off to do his task. The boy ran up the rocky surface and stopped halfway to the top. Sitting in the lotus position, a look of utter concentration made it's way onto his face.
And not even a second later, the boy came tumbling down to crash headfirst into the unforgiving ground.
"Remember to channel chakra to the other parts of your body so you stay stuck Naruto! And you might want to try a little closer to the ground," Kakashi instructed. Naruto gave him a shaky thumb up before trying once more, this time only a few feet from the ground.
And once again he fell. The team sighed and just tuned out their teammate's curses.
"Right then, Kiki your training is going to be very much different from Sakura's or Naruto's training," Kakashi stated, "You are excellent with knives, both in throwing them and in close combat. You are the most flexible of this entire team and have near perfect reflexes, but," she waited, head tilted to the side, "you have little to no taijutsu skills, all your fighting seems to require a knife in hand,"
"Well yeah, I've never been caught without one and Tou-san said my family never really fought without some kind of weapon, actually he said they didn't really let their opponents get anywhere close to them," she replied.
Kakashi shrugged, "Nonetheless Kiki-chan, It will be better if you learn some hand to hand combat," he stated. Kiki sighed but nodded anyway. Smirking neath his mask, Kakashi tossed the girl a scroll. "That's a fighting style from a long time ago, it was originally developed by acrobats," Kakashi explained as Kiki opened the scroll. "It's not used much anymore and focuses on flexibility and quick, decisive strikes," Kiki looked up at him, "You're a flexible person Kiki, agile and fast, and I feel this style will be perfect for you,"
Kiki smiled and looked at the title of the style. "Dansufaita(Dancing Fighter)" she said aloud. She then read the instructions for conditioning and snapped her head to stare at Kakashi with disbelief. "I have to WHAT?" she exclaimed, causing Naruto to once again fall from his perch.
"You have to swing, jump and spin through all these bamboo stalks. Sort of like free running I suppose," he stated, "Spend about ten, maybe fifteen minutes doing this and then try the first few katas," he ordered. Kiki groaned slightly but bounded into the bamboo.
Kakashi nodded at that before turning back to his final student, "Sasuke…" he paused causing the last Uchiha to cock a brow at him. "You are pretty well rounded; your taijutsu is good, as is your weapon skills, physical physique, patience and even your chakra skill is up to standards," Sasuke smirked at this, "And because of that I have nothing to teach you,"
"WHAT!" Sasuke shouted in anger causing Naruto to lose his focus once more and crash into the ground. At the same time Kiki stopped, swinging through the bamboo, now clutching onto one of the long shoots in panic.
"Ma, ma, that doesn't mean I won't teach you anything," Kakashi stated inwardly laughing at his student's expression, "Now Sasuke, I know you're good at hand to hand, but since half of them already are adept at fighting with a weapon, I intend to have you and Sakura learn to use weapons as well,"
Sakura looked confused at that, "If that's true then how come I'm not being taught to use a weapon," Sakura asked.
"Because I want you to have some physical conditioning before I give you your weapon Sakura, so start running," he declared. She sighed but went off anyways.
"So where's this weapon you're giving me?" Sasuke asked.
Kakashi merely took a scroll from another one of his pockets, unfurled it and made a single handsign, "Kai!" he barked. In a poof of smoke, a standard katana appeared in Kakashi's hand. It had a black hilt and a simple steel blade with a square guard.
"Here ya go Sasuke, you'll have to freestyle with it until I can find a proper style for you," Kakashi stated.
Sasuke looked at the blade and frowned slightly, "Is there anything special about this blade?" he asked.
"Nope," replied a smiling Kakashi, "Just a regular sword," at the disapproving glare from his student he held up his hands defensively, "You can't expect to get a powerful weapon right off the bat Sasuke, I'm sure Naruto had to work quite hard for his scythe, RIGHT NARUTO?" he shouted, once again the blonde slammed into the earth.
"ITAI! What the hell was that for? I nearly had it, dattebayo!" shouted the blonde.
"I was just telling Sasuke you had to work hard for your scythe," Kakashi stated, "I mean, Huxley didn't give you that blade right off the bat, now did he?"
Naruto snorted, "Well duh, I had to spend six months using a crappy wooden thing, then I spent maybe a year using the real thing, nearly decapitated myself several times with it! Even then it wasn't my scythe, ya know what I mean?"
"What do you mean, not yours?" Sasuke demanded.
Naruto rolled his eyes, "I mean, I still wasn't even adequate with it! Fredrick-jiijii says I could consider myself intermediate when I could cut him and then he'd give me 'my' scythe, wasn't easy either, dattebayo,"
"'Your' scythe?" Sasuke asked in disbelief.
"Yeah, had to save up a fortune and customize it before I got this thing, and jiijii only let me have it after I cut him so, I worked hard for this thing, put my money, blood, sweat and hell, even my tears to get this! Now you done interrogating me so I can go back to my training?" Naruto asked. Kakashi waved him off and the blonde jumped back to work.
"Now Sasuke, how about you try and get a feel for that sword, ne? Head into the bamboo and cut some of it down, but don't hurt Kiki, got it?" Sasuke grunted and stalked off into the bamboo.
Kakashi eye smiled, "Now then, what else did I have to do?" he wondered. Snapping his fingers he exclaimed, "Oh yeah!" grabbing the small rubber ball from earlier, the jounin threw it at the running form of Sakura.
And nailed her right in the forehead. "ITAI!"
"You have to learn to dodge or block Sakura-chan!" Kakashi called as he threw another.
"ITAI! My back!"
"or you can just let them hit you! Reflexes or pain tolerance… your choice!"
Two hours later
Hiruzen sighed as he sorted through another mission pile. "Kami why does there have to be paperwork everywhere?" he mumbled.
"Oh come now, the work isn't so bad and it beats being stabbed at don't it?" asked a pale man. Hiruzen glanced at his friend and sighed.
"I'd rather be facing down an enemy I could actually kill Fredrick-kun," sighed the old man.
Fredrick chuckled before shuffling his own pile of mission scrolls. Today the old reaper had decided to help out in the mission room. The old being could be found anywhere in the tower, dealing with documents, archives, wherever he could lend a bony hand. "Either way, I hope Naruto and his team show up soon, Goza has a special mission especially for them," he stated happily.
As if on cue the door opened and in stumbled Team 7, looking quite haggard except for the happily smiling jounin. "Konichiwa! Team 7 reporting for duty!" Kakashi greeted.
The two old men sweatdropped at the sight in front of them, "Kakashi… what did you do to your team?" asked Sarutobi.
"Training," Kakashi replied
"It… wasn't so bad…." Sakura started. She was covered in bruises and looked ready to fall over any minute.
"Yeah, not so bad at all," Kiki stated, smiling nervously. She looked ragged and dirty with pieces of bamboo stuck in her hair. She had an arm in a sling at the moment and she was currently supporting a swirly-eyed Naruto whose head was covered in bumps.
"But I don't want to go to the kabuki theater Mr. Ramen, I want to go to the moon and fight the one eyed monster!" Naruto mumbled.
"Hn," Sasuke grunted. He was cut up and had various bandages covering his body, and his clothes had slashes all over them. 'Swordsmanship is harder than it looks' thought the Uchiha.
Fredrick raised a brow then shook his head. "I'll ask when Naruto is capable of coherent thought, but for now, I have a mission for you guys from Goza," with that, the skeleton man handed Kakashi a small beige scroll, "Said no one else would do for the job," Fredrick explained.
"Wait is this another D-rank?" Naruto demandd, "I already work at Pointy Ears' shop every day! There's no way I'm taking this as a mission!" Naruto exclaimed, his arms crossed in an X in front of him.
"Good to see your healing is still as quick as ever Naruto my boy," Fredrick commented, "But you'll be happy to know this is no D-rank, it's a C-rank," Fredrick informed.
"C-C-rank?" Sakura exclaimed, "Are we even ready, I mean, we just finished team exercises and-," she was cut off when a comforting hand found it's way onto her shoulder. Turning she saw that it was Naruto with his foxy smile flashed at her.
"Relax Sakura-chan," Naruto assured, "I'm sure Pointy Ears wouldn't send us on a dangerous mission,"
Sakura stared at him then hesitantly nodded. Naruto clapped her shoulder one more time before turning to Kakashi. "So whats the mission?" he asked, determination in his eyes.
At Konoha's north gate
"Your job is to protect me and my troupe!" Goza told them happily. Behind him was a caravan and several carriages, all holding stuff or people.
"Troupe?" Sakura, Sasuke and Naruto asked while Kiki squealed in excitement. "Eh? Why are you so happy Kiki-chan?" Naruto asked.
"Naruto you know how Tou-san and most everyone else always left the village for a couple days in the summer?" Kiki asked in excitement.
Naruto thought for a moment, "Well yeah," he started slowly before frowning, "Echo sensei and Jack always watched the shop while you stayed with me and Huxley," he stated. He scowled though, "But you'd never tell me where he goes, or why he was gone!"
Kiki nodded, "That's because I was always too depressed to tell you," she stated, "I was bummed that I couldn't go because of the academy," she explained. "Every year since Tou-san found me, I've gone with them, but since I started the academy at eight, I haven't been able to," she smiled brightly, "But now I can go again! And you're coming with me!" she exclaimed happily.
"But what is it!" Sakura asked.
"The One Stop Annual Carnival of Oddities!" Goza declared from the driver seat of his caravan. "Every year we go to one location and put on a carnival for three days! For those three days we have tons of stuff! Competitions, shops, games, rides, and everyday we put on a circus show!" Goza exclaimed, "Then we finish up with a spectacular fireworks show!"
"It's so amazing!" Kiki exclaimed.
"And the money we rake in!" Goza drooled, his eyes replaced with dollar signs. "Well! Times a wastin so get on board and lets go! HYAH!" Goza exclaimed, cracking the reins. Immediately the caravan set out. The ninja followed them through the trees and, once there, Kakashi decided to give the orders.
"Ok, this is a fairly big group so I need you guys on full alert," Kakashi stated, "This is a C-rank so there's a low chance of encountering any enemy ninja, but don't rule out the possibility," he warned. The others nodded in understanding, "At the least, we'll encounter bandits, but don't underestimate them," Kakashi stated sternly. Another nod. "Right, soon, we'll be out of the forests, when we are, I want at least two of you near the back while one holds the front with Goza. The sides and center will be taken by me and whoever is left,"
"Kiki-chan and I will guard the rear!" Naruto declared with the red head nodding in agreement.
"I'll take forward," Sasuke said firmly.
"Then that leaves me with you sensei," Sakura said in a slightly depressed tone. So much for guarding the back with Sasuke.
Kakashi nodded and soon the teams were in their locations. All that was left to do now was keep a look out, and stay alert. Yet, one has to wonder what conversations and occurrences will happen along this trip. A good place to start may be between Naruto and Kiki.
Naruto and Kiki
The duo landed on the back carriage which was a trailer. Stretching lightly, the blonde sat in the lotus position, "So… What's in this trailer?" Naruto asked. Kiki looked thoughtful for a moment.
"I think it's the fireworks trailer," she replied happily.
"Really?" Naruto asked in excitement, "You have an entire trailer dedicated to fireworks!"
Kiki nodded, "Hai, the fireworks are the best! Hito makes the ones in here special," Kiki explained happily.
"Hito?" Naruto asked. He frowned, "You mean the red skinned guy with the crazy eyes who smokes that really weird stuff?"
Kiki nodded, "Yeah, his kind are experts on all things that go boom!" she said, "I think they're called 'Bakuma' or something like that,"
"Wow…" Naruto murmured. They fell into a companionable silence and as they went, Naruto decided to see if he could spot anything.
Breathing deeply, the blonde cleared his mind and tried to do as Echo told him.
"A reaper is something that takes souls, Naruto, but it cant do that if it can't find one" the loner's voice echoed in his mind, "You must allow yourself to resonate with the world around you, feel for your soul then feel for those around you, do not think, just feel" releasing a sigh Naruto smiled as instead of the dark of his closed eyes, blips and dots appeared in his vision from a birds eye view.
It was strange, being able to see his soul and Kiki's at the same time, as well as the various wildlife and that of the troupe, yet thrilling and fascinating just as well.
As he sat there, the teenager could feel the emotions and intentions of the other souls around him, at least to an extent. In a way, it was like mind reading to an extent.
For a while the two stayed in that comfortable silence.
"Hey, Naruto," Kiki spoke up hesitantly. She was faced away from the blonde sitting on the edge of the trailer, her legs dangling over the side.
"What?"
"Do you…" she paused, "Do you ever think about the future?" she asked. 'Baka! What kind of stupid question is that' berated the girl in her mind.
Naruto broke from his soul sensing, startled by the question. 'The future? '"What do you mean? I already said that I'd become hokage!" he laughed.
"I know, but," she shifted slightly, "But, Do you ever think about something besides hokage?" she could feel his stare burrowing into her at that, "I mean, don't you ever think about your future home?" she inquired, "Like, will it be big? Small? One bedroom or two? A single bed or a queen sized?"
"Eh? Why would I want a queen-sized bed? Seems like a lot of unnecessary space, ttebayo," Naruto stated, "And I live alone except for Huxley-jiijii and he doesn't really sleep,"
Kiki sighed, "Weelll what about when you get a girlfriend?" she asked, "You'd need a bigger bed then, wouldn't you?" If the blonde could see her face, he'd have seen her face the color of a ripe tomato.
"Eh? What does a girlfriend have to do with a bigger bed?" Naruto demanded confusedly. Kiki's face couldn't get any redder and she was shaking slightly.
"W-Well to, ah, that is, I-I mean…" she stuttered, "Uh, i- I mean, DON'T YOU REMEMBER WHAT WE LEARNED IN THE ACADEMY?" she finally shouted, turning to face the confused blonde, her face nearly on fire from embarrassment.
Naruto stared at her stupidly then asked, "What the hell does the academy have to do with this?" Naruto frowned.
"Ah…" she froze not really sure how to word it," Well… that talk… when we were learning about the body… and you know, when a man is attracted to a woman they…" at his stupid look she sighed and said two words, "Icha Icha,"
Silence, then…
"EH? WHY WOULD I TELL YOU ABOUT THAT!"
"I'M JUST TRYING TO MAKE CONVERSATION!"
"AND YOU ASK ME ABOUT THAT? ERO-KIIKI-CHAN!"
"I AM NOT!"
Sakura and Kakashi
Sakura sighed as she heard the shouting of her teammates. "Sheesh, sometimes I think those two are married," Sakura said aloud.
"Ma, they've been friends for quite some time Sakura-chan, it's not that surprising," Kakashi replied from atop a hay bale, lazily turning a page. Apparently the center area contained the animals food, but there didn't seem to be any animals besides the horses and oxen pulling the caravans. Either way, Sakura was walking beside the hay cart while Kakashi was lazily sitting amongst the hay. The two walked a bit longer, listening to the shouting match between Naruto and Kiki then Sakura decided to ask a question that had been bugging her.
"Hey sensei, what do you know about Naruto an Kiki?" she asked.
The lazy man glanced away from his book and raised a brow at the pink haired girl. "I know a fair amount… Why?"
She shrugged, "Well… I don't really know a lot about either of them, just Sasuke-kun,"
"And what do you know about Sasuke?" asked the jounin.
She perked up at this, "Sasuke-kun is the rookie of the year, the best in our class! He is the only surviving Uchiha besides that of his brother who is now a missing ninja. His goals in life are to restore his clan and avenge their deaths!"
Kakashi nodded, "What about his likes?"
Sakura smiled, "He says he doesn't like a lot of things but I know he likes strong people, getting stronger, tomatoes and it's rumored he likes girls with long hair!" Sakura stated confidently as she flipped her waist length hair behind her back.
"What about his dislikes," Kakashi asked. Sakura furrowed her brow then smiled, "he detests annoying and loud people like Naruto and Kikioko, and fan girls!" she said brightly.
"Weren't you a fan girl?" Kakashi pointed out. 'Still are' he chuckled when he saw her devastated look.
She shook her head, "Any way! Can you tell me anything about Naruto and Kikioko?" she demanded arms crossed and looking away from her silently laughing sensei.
"Well," began the silver haired man, "From what I know, both of them are orphans," he said, much to Sakura's shock.
"O-Orphans? B-But Kiki said her father is Goza-san!" Sakura proclaimed.
"Yet Kiki looks nothing like Goza,"
"They're both expert knife throwers though! And they have the same taste in odd things!" she protested.
Kakashi shrugged, "Kiki-chan is an odd girl her self, and you can become a knife throwing expert too if you practice as often as Kiki-chan or Goza-san, and Goza's a peddler, someone who sells all sorts of things, and he's quite greedy and quite the salesman, so of course he finds everything and anything he can that he think will sell for even one yen," Kakashi stated. "Kiki-chan just likes the stuff, probably because she's never been told it's scary or strange,"
Sakura frowned at that. To her, it was startling news to know that Kiki was once an orphan. "So where's she and Goza from?" she asked.
Kakashi sighed, he knew she wasn't going to leave him alone for quite a bit, not until he answered her questions, "Well, Goza-san says he can't really claim anywhere as home, says he's always been traveling," he replied, "Though he did say he came from a pretty hot place, says it's hot as hell," he shrugged, "As for Kiki-chan, she's from Mizu no Kuni, near Kiri to be exact,"
"Kiri? But that place is so unknown, they're small, but vicious and they hate foreigners!" Sakura stated.
"They also had quite a war, Goza said he was there to collect the items from a clan house, apparently Kiki was there,"
"What was he doing at a clan house?" Sakura wondered, then her eyes widened, "Was he stealing from that house!" she exclaimed.
"No, Goza-san told me he was very close to the people who owned the place. Either Kiki was left behind, or she found the place and took refuge in it," Kakashi explained, "In any event, Goza took her in and she's been with him since she was four,"
Sakura slowly absorbed that information. 'That's scary, to be alone when you were so young, in a place torn by war and as scary as Kiri…' she shuddered. "Well what about Naruto? I mean at first he was nothing, but a loud mouthed idiot, but now… he's changed so much!" Sakura said in exasperation.
Kakashi sighed, "Sakura, Naruto has lived a very lonely life until he was eight. That was when Kiki-chan and the others showed up, Echo showing up a little later" he flipped another page in his book, "If you really want to know about them, ask them, their life stories are theirs to tell, not mine," with that, he buried his nose in his book and ignored the pink haired teen.
Sakura sighed when she figured Kakashi wouldn't answer her anymore. 'He has a point though' she mused before resuming her trek.
With Sasuke
Sasuke was silent as he trekked alongside the lead carriage. He had no interest in the argument of Kiki and Naruto, despite the fact he could hear it from the front. If they wanted to bicker and argue, let them, they were only useful as measurements for his strength.
"Oi! Sasuke boya, come up here and keep a fella company eh?" Goza shouted, a big grin directed at the young brooder. The Uchiha grunted, but complied nonetheless. He was the client, the one who was going to pay them for their services, no point in making him angry. Besides he could just ignore the old demon if he had to.
Jumping up, the young man sat nest to Goza, his eyes forward, and katana ready. He was alert and ready. Goza glanced and laughed at his companion's body, "Hehehe, no need to be so tense, boya!" Goza declared, "Sit and relax for a bit, we're still in friendly territory if my memory serves correct,"
Sasuke glanced out the corner of his eyes at the demon before focusing them forward again. "You've been down this road?" Sasuke questioned. It'd be good to know what to expect.
"Yeah, but we're not going to the same place," Goza stated. At Sasuke's questioning glance he chuckled, "My festival is held in a different place every year! Never go to the same place twice in a row, that's my rule,"
"So where are we going this year?" Sasuke inquired.
Goza laughed, "Not to far, not to far, we're not even going to leave Fire Country," he assured.
"That doesn't answer my question," Sasuke grunted.
"It wasn't supposed to!" laughed Goza, "There's no point in telling you now is there? That ruins the fun of the journey, what point is traveling if all you're worried about is the destination?" asked the green skinned merchant.
"People generally like to know where they are going, they like to know their destination,"
"That so? I will agree that a goal or destination is nice but the journey there is half the experience," Goza stated one finger in the air as if giving a lecture, "It'd true for both traveling and life,"he grinned as he glanced at Sasuke out of the corner of his yellow eyes, "For example, what about your goal in life? He asked.
Sasuke grunted, "To revive and avenge my clan," Sasuke responded coolly.
Goza chuckled, "And all your focusing on is the goal, you won't get anywhere. Eyes on the prize eh? But, I wonder," mused the demon, "Which goal are you focused on? The avenging or the reviving? If it's reviving then you're going about it all the wrong way, you can't make a family with such a cold personality, but if you're trying to kill your brother, you might as well kill your self while you're at it," Goza smirked at the look of shock that crossed the stoic boy's face and nearly busted out laughing at his look of anger.
"And what do you mean by that?" growled the Uchiha.
"In the quest to kill the dragon, tread carefully, lest ye become the dragon yourself," Goza replied before shrugging, "Or something along those lines," he muttered.
Sasuke just scowled at him. 'What the hell does that mean?' he wondered. He didn't bother asking, and they spent the rest of the trip in silence.
Well, mostly silence. NAruto and Kiki had somehow gotten into an argument about something. Goza wasn't sure, but he thought it had something to do with a king sized bed.
He also could have sworn he heard perverse giggling. Shaking his head amusedly, the goblin snapped the reins. This promised to be an interesting festival!
Unknown to them all, trouble was up ahead.
The next day
"WE'RE HERE!" Goza declared loudly. It was early in the morning, just an hour shy of sunrise. "Oi! Wake up you lazy bastards! What Am I paying you for?" shouted the greed green skinned goblin. Seeing no one moving, Goza developed a tic mark on his head.
"WAKE UP OR I'LL SKIN YOU ALIVE!" roared the demon, his poisonous youki flaring dangerously.
"Would you shut up? I was having a wonderful dream about exploding kittens!" came a ragged voice.
"Shut up and get out here Hito! I need you to provide us some light!" Goza demanded
"Why don't ya get the ninja-gakis to do it, eh? Besides, I don't provide light, I make things go boom!" replied the voice now emerging from the dark. Goza could easily see him thanks to his eyes which were producing their own light, like lamps in the dark. Because of this he could easily see the gangly and red creature in front of him.
It was hunched over with large hands and feet, yellow claws tipping his toes and fingers. In his mouth was a cigarette but instead of the regular tobacco, this smelled of charcoal and emitted a black smoke in a large column. He wore no shirt, showing off a scorched and scarred body. He was wearing brown overalls, the straps hanging free while a simple roped belt held it up. On his head was a green painted iron soldier helmet.
Finishing his look was a frown showing off his sharp teeth and a pair of discolored eyes. Both eyes had no pupils or irises to speak of, but the left was red while the right was yellow.
"They'll work," Goza assured with an placating wave, "Now, wake them up," Goza commanded darkly.
Hito sighed, "Bossy little gremlin aren't you?" he grumbled. The demon clapped his hands together and inhaled. His eyes glowed for a moment then soon his entire body started glowing.
"Hakka! Reberu 1! (Ignite! Level 1!)" screamed the demon as he exploded in a clap of thunder and a flash of light. Immediately, the ninja were there, all in various stages of dress.
"What the hell was that! Dattebayo!" Nruto shouted, shirtless and in boxers along with his nightcap. In his hand was his scythe.
Sasuke was alert, kunai in hands and in a sleeping shirt and shorts. "Goza-san, hat was that?" Sakura asked her voice worried. She was dressed in sweat pants and tank top. Kakashi was behind her, in his usual uniform.
"Tou-san! It's too early!" complained the voice of Kiki as she stumbled out from behind one of the carriages. "And Hito, you seriously need to tone it down," she whined.
Goza rolled his eyes, "If you had noticed, people are already getting to work," the goblin pointed out, pointing to a clearing where construction could be seen taking place. "They know what the bang means," he explained. "Anyway, I want you guys to go help out, keep an eye out, ya? Make sure no ones slacking or fighting and all that," Goza stated.
"But we can't even see," Sakura protested,
"And we don't even know where everything goes," Naruto pointed out. Goza just sighed.
"Hito, please make some light and if you guys need help just ask any of the workers or supervisors," he explained as Hito offered light via his glowing palm. The genin nodded and set off. Actually Kakashi, Sasuke and Sakura went off, Kiki and Naruto just grumbled and looked towards each other pitifully. Until Naruto noticed what Kiki was wearing, or, lack there of so to say.
"BAH! KIKI-CHAN! WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR CLOTHES?" Naruto screamed.
She blinked, then looked down. She stared at herself for a few seconds then, looked back to see Naruto with his hands over his eyes and turned around. That's when it clicked.
'Naruto…' she thought slowly, 'Justa saw me… Naked?'
"AHHH!" she screamed, her entire face bright red as she desperately tried to cover her self. "Naruto, don't look!" she ordered.
"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK I'M DOING?" Naruto shouted, not turning in her direction or removing his hands from his eyes.
"What? My daughter's body disgusts you that much Naruto?" Goza asked mischievously. And once again another argument ensued between the hotheaded teenagers.
"EH? NARUTO YOU JERK! I HAVE A GREAT BODY!"
"NANI? How am I the jerk? Just put some clothes on!"
"So it's true then!"
"NO! I MEAN, ARRGGHH! JUST PUT SOME CLOTHES ON!"
"NOT UNTIL YOU LOOK AT ME AND ADMIT I'M SEXY!"
Goza was rolling on the floor with laughter. This promised to be a fun festival.
Unbeknownst to our busy friends, there was a shadow lurking in the trees. "So the festival is here this year eh? You're not getting away from us this time," stated a voice as a wicked smile spread across their face.
A/N: Done! Decided to take a different approach for their first C-rank. They'll still go to wave, but later! And don't worry, this won't be 'March of the OCs' because too many hurts the head ya know? But you'll meet a lot of people from Goza's shop, they'll make bit appearences here and there but nothing significant, ya know? Anyway, please review!