Chapter 14: Only for foes
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Naruko or anything I write about that you can find in the Naruto manga. If it ain't there, I probably thought it up all by myself! (or read it somewhere else...)
Note: I'm releasing this as is for now, I'll touch it up a bit later after I run my final check and then up the semi-final version later. (final versions of chapters will be posted at an as of yet unknown date in the future)
Team Kakashi and Chiyo had been rushing to get to where the two Akatsuki had gone, only to find another in their way.
"Itachi!" Naruko growled. This guy seemed to trail misery in his wake.
"The Kin Slayer, Uchiha Itachi," Chiyo muttered.
"Kakashi-san, Naruko-kun, it has been too long since we last met," Itachi greeted.
Sakura was nervous, mainly because this was her first time facing down a sharingan. She had read numerous accounts from victims of genjutsu delivered by those eyes, none of them pretty. There was probably very little Sakura could do if anyone was caught in one, aside from use some of her chakra in an attempt to break them free of it.
Some chakra, almost like a watery flame, started coming from Naruko's wrists as her irides changed, a strange script-like ring circling her slit pupils like they were pseudo-sharingan. "First Sasuke, then me, what's next? Before you have a chance to destroy more lives, I'll make sure you rot in prison!" she shouted.
"Avoid eye contact! He's dangerous!" Kakashi commanded.
"H-How do we fight if we don't look at his face?" Sakura asked, finding it extremely difficult to keep her eyes down. She only just realized that she normally looked at her opponent's face during a fight.
"Figure out his movements from his feet and hands. The sharingan is capable of casting anyone who makes eye contact with them into a very potent genjutsu," Kakashi explained.
"Since we outnumber him, we should be able to defeat him if we can get someone behind him, or we could break each other out of genjutsu if we get caught," Chiyo said, "that's how I dealt with them in the past."
"No, that won't work at all because Itachi has achieved the mangekyō sharingan, which possesses a genjutsu that is so powerful that only an Uchiha with mangekyō sharingan or an extremely proficient medic can break you free," Kakashi said.
"Such a troublesome foe," Chiyo grumbled.
"Tsukuyomi... It's not something that is easy to forget, is it?" Itachi asked.
Kakashi smirked under his mask. "True, but seeing you falter after using that jutsu didn't escape my notice either," Kakashi said. Well, it was the last thing he saw before falling into a temporary coma. "Then again, it does affect more than your chakra levels. Tell me, Itachi, how hard is it to read?"
"...So even an implant can get them," Itachi mused.
"This time, I'm ready for you," Kakashi stated as he opened his sharingan, making sure to keep it trained on Itachi's sharingan.
"Last time we met, I couldn't do anything other than watch. This time, it will be different," Naruko warned as her chakra started spiking.
Sakura visibly paled as she felt Naruko's chakra rise and rise and rise. The girl clearly had more chakra than their sensei, but that was to be expected. Knowing and actually feeling it were two separate things, which was what Sakura learned at that moment. It almost felt like Sakura was staring down a tidal wave of chakra, one that could wipe out Konoha.
"Leave him to me Naruko," Kakashi said.
"I'm not hiding or running anymore! If he wants me, he'll have to break all my limbs before I go with him! And that includes my tail!" Naruko shouted.
Kakashi looked to the girl. "What I meant was you are my backup. Remember what Chiyo said? Two on one will make this so much easier. I'll need your help on this one."
"Naruko-kun, resisting and running will just add to the dead. Come with me and I can guarantee that these three will survive," Itachi said as he held his hand out for Naruko to take.
Kakashi flashed forward. "I'm your opponent!"
Itachi caught Kakashi's punch and his eyes widened as Naruko started walking towards him. "How?" he asked.
Naruko locked gazes with him, her eyes not clouded by the fear of meeting a sharingan. "Genjutsu is all about manipulating the victim's chakra, same with sharingan genjutsu. If I can't properly control this monstrous chakra, what makes you think you can?" To avoid genjutsu, Naruko literally learned to let her chakra go wild while releasing some of it. No mortal, human or demon, can control a hurricane.
"So avoiding his eyes doesn't work," Kakashi stated as he broke the lock with Itachi, falling back to where Naruko was.
'So she's synchronized with the Kyūbi enough that it will break her free of genjutsu when she gets caught. Or maybe it just makes it nigh impossible for her to get caught in the first place. Nobody has ever managed to tame the Kyūbi, so we don't know how to deal with its jinchūriki if they are fully empowered,' Itachi thought. "Then I guess I'll kill them and take you with me," Itachi said as he went through the seals. "Gōkakyū no jutsu!"
Everyone dodged the technique and settled in a scattered formation, making further use of the jutsu a waste of chakra.
"Kakashi-sensei! Think you can hold him for a while?" Naruko asked.
"Hmm, probably a minute or two, why?" Kakashi asked.
Naruko stood with her feet apart, right hand straight down while her left held the right's elbow. "I need a bit of time for this. I know Ero-sennin told me not to draw attention to myself, but it'd be better to cripple or kill him rather than lose Gaara! That and it will mean one less member of Akatsuki to deal with!"
Kakashi paled. 'Did she just say she was going to cripple or kill him? Either way, I don't want to be anywhere near Itachi when she attacks.' he thought, then sighed, "I'll do my best, just hurry it up." He got no response as the girl focused, her chakra twisting this way and that way, everyone present actually feeling the chakra's movements without trying to.
'This feeling... Is she also a jinchūriki?' Chiyo thought, recognizing the feeling from all the Shukaku jinchūriki that came before Gaara, as well as the young man himself. But this, this was much greater.
"Well, looks like I'll be your opponent for the time being," Kakashi said as he stared the Uchiha down.
Itachi remained silent for a moment, then nodded slightly. "Either way, this will help in the long run. I eliminate you here, it will be that much easier capturing Naruko-kun later."
Kakashi drew kunai and shuriken. He swept his left hand in an arc before himself, releasing the small throwing weapons at Itachi. The Uchiha jumped over them, only to find that Kakashi had thrown a second set from his right hand. "Trivial," Itachi muttered as he caught a kunai, then swung it down, deflecting the projectiles headed directly for him.
"Got you!" Kakashi shouted as he swung his leg down, having used the strategy Naruko used against Zabuza back in Wave to get behind Itachi. He scored a hit on the Uchiha, but Itachi had already put an arm in the way and suffered minimal damage from the blow. Kakashi landed a small distance from Itachi, putting himself between the man and the teens.
"This is a waste of time. Stand aside Kakashi, allow me to take her back with me. It will be easier in the long run. After all, Konoha doesn't even want her around," Itachi offered.
"You're not taking her anywhere, right, Naruko?" Kakashi asked.
Itachi started turning around as he heard the rushing footsteps, but it was too late to dodge.
Naruko drove the orb of chakra into Itachi's chest, pulsating and bursting as a twister of purple chakra roughly shoved Itachi backwards. The man flew back, slamming into a steep slope, passing through it and leaving a fissure as he kept going, his body acting like an improvised wedge as the twister-like chakra plume pushed him forward, tearing the rock wall apart in its wake. He finally settled after going through almost fifteen feet of earth and the chakra dissipated.
"Basutā Rasengan," Naruko stated.
'Th-that's why she refused to go full force against Kakashi-sensei. She'd have killed him if she did,' Sakura thought as she surveyed the damage the rasengan had caused. It was obvious that Naruko's power wasn't something she could use in a sparring match. Even though the power was so fearsome, Sakura found herself incredibly impressed by it too. Sakura, even with the style of taijutsu she used, couldn't cause this much damage with a single attack.
"This...isn't Itachi," Kakashi said after standing up, having finished checking the corpse.
Naruko ran over. "What? Did he kawarimi with someone else?"
Kakashi shook his head as the old woman and Sakura walked up to them to see the corpse. "There was no time for it. This is who we've been fighting this whole time. I knew something was off."
"A jutsu?" Sakura wondered aloud.
Chiyo looked at the man. "So this is where you've been..."
"Do you know this man?" Kakashi asked.
"This is Yūra, a Suna Jōnin," Chiyo supplied.
"He's from your village... Could he have been a spy?" Sakura asked.
Chiyo shook her head. "He's been a dedicated ninja for four years now. He vastly improved our defenses, trained students and I do believe I've heard of him being seen in the company of a civilian woman. No spy would go that deep." It was true. For a spy, less ties and less of a 'footprint' meant it was easier to slip away when you were done. To bog yourself down in such a way was stupid.
"Was it a henge?" Naruko asked.
"No, his chakra was just like Itachi's, as was his fighting style and his use of ninjutsu. The jutsu used is much more than a simple henge," Kakashi analyzed, then realized what had just happened, "we must move. This guy was obviously sent to slow us down so Akatsuki could finish doing something to Gaara."
Chiyo was in deep thought. "Could they be thinking of making a new, completely loyal Ichibi jinchūriki?"
"What's a jinchūriki?" Sakura asked, never having heard the word before.
Chiyo took a deep breath. "The bijū are nearly unstoppable monsters with chakra reserves that far exceed that of any human alive. Every country wanted them for military might, so they created the 'Jinchūriki,' a control unit for the bijū that the countries could use."
"But aren't they uncontrollable?" Sakura asked, remembering old stories of the Kyūbi. Well, Naruko was a different kind of uncontrollable...
Chiyo nodded. "The beast isn't able to be directly controlled, but the jinchūriki, the humans they were sealed into could be manipulated with ease. With the beast sealed into a human body, that unfathomable power could be harnessed. Gaara is one of them, one of the nine jinchūriki. The Ichibi has been sealed into three people so far, Gaara being the third."
"So they've fought in wars before?" Sakura asked.
"Of course. Military might, remember?" Chiyo answered with a question of her own.
Sakura thought of Naruko. She was a bijū, so what if Akatsuki found her and attempted to seal her into one of their pawns? Would that mean Naruko ceased to exist, or would she be forced to lend her strength to Akatsuki for whatever they wanted?
"Can a bijū be removed from a jinchūriki?" the pink haired medic asked, just so she'd be able to help her friend out if need be.
"Hmm, probably. If you were to apply fūinjutsu of equal or greater power to the original seal on the jinchūriki, it could force the beast free, but the cost is high," the woman said.
It hit Sakura like a ton of bricks. If Naruko were ever sealed, she'd have to...
"The jinchūriki would definitely die after the unsealing. It happened with the two before Gaara, so it's probably like that with them all," Chiyo finished.
Naruko had a decent idea of what was going through Sakura's head. "Sakura-chan, we'll get to Gaara before anything happens."
Sakura looked at the girl that she hoped she wouldn't have to kill to protect, not in the way Chiyo described. "Baka, that's-"
"Let's go," Naruko announced as she started to walk away, leaving Sakura to stare at her back and tear up, trying to imagine what was going through the kitsune's head.
[A day later]
Team Kakashi arrived, Naruko fuming with anger and her steadily roughening chakra. "A simple show of strength won't cause a five seal barrier to move, Guy," Kakashi said as the group came to a complete halt.
"Kakashi, you're unyouthfully late, but that's just another aspect of your infinite coolness," Guy said.
"Well, there was a small bit of trouble getting here," Kakashi confessed.
"Kakashi, am I that 'small bit of trouble?' I better not be," Chiyo warned.
"Naruko! Sakura-san!" Lee called out.
"Hey guys!" Naruko greeted.
"...Naruko..." Neji cautiously greeted. What was going on with her? It was sort of like when they fought during the chūnin exams, but far greater. He also recognized the anger in her eyes, it was the same anger he'd seen in Tenten's eyes when Guy and Lee tried to switch her spare clothes with one of their jumpsuits. She had nearly killed the two of them eight times that day.
"One step ahead of us, as usual," Sakura commented. Team Guy was one of the fastest teams in Konoha.
"Who is this old woman?" Tenten asked.
"Assistance from Suna," Kakashi quickly said.
"So... How do we deal with this barrier?" Guy asked.
Kakashi explained the barrier's functions and method of removal and Neji found the remaining tags. Guy suggested that his team go ahead due to their speed. When the signal came, Kakashi ripped the tag free and Sakura reduced the bolder into much smaller stones. Upon entering the cave, they found the two Akatsuki members and Gaara, who was far too still. There was also a large clay bird behind them, the same one that had been used to capture Gaara.
"Which one is the Kyūbi?" a blond asked. He was sitting on Gaara.
Naruko was fuming. "Get away from him..." she growled, her chakra spiking again.
"Her," a huge, but hunched man stated.
"Yeah, she's definitely Itachi's target. Uzumaki Naruko, the Kyūbi jinchūriki," the blond grunted.
'Kyūbi jinchūriki?,' Chiyo thought, looking at a girl who didn't act anything like a jinchūriki.
"Gaara, you can't sleep! Get on your feet, Kazekage!" Naruko snapped.
"Naruko, stop..." Kakashi said, "it's sad to admit-"
"Corpses don't wake up, idiot," the blond said.
Naruko's right wrist seemingly detonated, a chakra flame almost the size of her forearm blazing from her wrist. "I'll take him back after I kill you!" she roared, her eyes glowing with her rage. Sakura shivered, remembering when the girl lost it during the chūnin exams. She didn't know that it had been a temporary symptom of the curse seal, one that would never reappear. Naruko would get angry, but she'd never go psychotic and attack her friends again.
Kakashi got in the way, though he didn't really want to get between a pissed off Kyūbi and her prey. "Naruko, calm yourself. Even with your power, you'll need a plan or else they'll kill you."
"I'll handle this," the hunched man said, "the fox wants this one."
"Master Sasori, I know that you'll be angry with me for this, but I'm going to take care of her," the blond said.
The hunched man, Sasori, looked at the teen. "Deidara, don't push it too far. Our mission was this jinchūriki, not that one. Kisame and Itachi will handle her. We just need to escape with our lives intact."
"I need strong inspirations for my art, Master Sasori. You, as an artist, should understand me. Kyūbi, the strongest bijū and her host, should allow me to make a masterpiece!" the blond, Deidara exclaimed. It was quite obvious that Akatsuki had yet to learn of Tsurenai's death, or of Naruko being a bijū.
"Those blasts aren't art. Art is timeless, eternal," Sasori said.
Deidara looked offended. "Both of us put in the same effort, and I do admire you, but art is spontaneous, instant and lasts but a few moments!"
"Is this how Akatsuki is?" Sakura asked, seeing the two as bickering school kids rather than dangerous missing-nin. The image was spoiled by the fact that these two weren't completely ignoring a number of strong opponents, letting the young medic know that these two were not the type to underestimate foes in spite of their...eccentric behaviors. They were aware of their foes, but saw them to be as threatening as a ham sandwich.
Naruko growled as she rushed forward. "Don't look down on me!" she snapped, jabbing her hand forward as it was wrapped in chakra. A second, smaller clay bird suddenly appeared, taking Naruko's blow and holding her still.
"Master Sasori, you know I'm right about this. Art only lasts a moment!" the blond insisted.
"Ungrateful bastard. Art is eternal, a masterpiece that lasts throughout the ages, Your 'art' is just a flash in the pan, there and forgotten a moment later. It's nothing more than a lit fart!" Sasori shot back.
Deidara got off Gaara. "My art, real art, is explosions. No pun intended, but they are far flashier than that little puppet show you do. Years from now, people will speak of my attempt to bomb Suna while nobody will remember anything you and your oversized DOLLS did!"
Sasori decided words were useless and attempted to stab his partner with his tail, but he missed and Deidara took Gaara and his bird away.
"Not today, master!" Deidara called as he flew out of the cave.
Naruko roared as she tore her arm free of the clay construct, her anger rising as the original clay bird swallowed Gaara's body. She went after the thing, wanting to tear it and its rider to pieces.
"Naruko!" Kakashi called after the pursuing kitsune, then cursed her impatience. He told Sakura and Chiyo to hold the puppet master of Akatsuki in place until Team Guy could arrive. Of course, he learned that said team was pinned down by a trap that had been sprung after they released the seal on their ends.
'This just isn't my day,' the jōnin thought as he shifted his forehead protector aside, opening the sharingan that lay below it.
"Sharingan Kakashi! You gonna fight me, eh?" Deidara asked. "Well, ya lucked out because Master is stronger than me."
"Sensei, go back to the cave and assist Sakura-chan and the old lady," Naruko half ordered.
In spite of Naruko being the fourth last woman he'd ever want to piss off, Kakashi stayed.
Naruko launched herself at Deidara, clawing the small bird bombs apart as they came at her. He quickly shot away from her, but she sprung off a branch and slammed her chakra covered hand into the wall behind him as he shifted away. He quickly decided that had been a good thing, since she decimated quite a bit of the cliff face when some chakra pulsed into it. The quick bird bomb he made, which was the size of the one he was currently on, was destroyed early by Kakashi's shuriken. It had been a basic, contact bomb anyway.
"I'm taking Gaara back!" Naruko growled, the chakra starting to spread out on her arm. As it stood, everything beyond her right shoulder was wrapped in red chakra that ended in a large claw with wicked talons.
"Strange... All jinchūriki hate humans, but you don't. Of course, the Ichibi was odd too. Why is it that you two are different? Nah, I don't really care..." Deidara thought aloud, "the two beaten by the others were never supported by their allies. Now that I think about it, those villages probably would have gladly handed their jinchūriki over. Hmm, could it be that you two became 'friends' because you're both pitiful, abandoned monsters? But the Ichibi is ours now and his human shell is dead. Don't worry, you'll be the same soon enough."
Naruko's chakra formed a giant shuriken. "Dodge this!"
And dodge it Deidara did, then flew away on his bird. Naruko gave chase, her right arm's chakra tearing deep into the cliff as she ran on all fours.
"Naruko! Don't..." and Kakashi gave up, knowing that he was wasting his breath. He'd have to just do his best to stay as close to the girl as possible. They made it to an area filled with tree roots that connected the two cliffs together and they watched as Deidara remained out of range, moving around at random to avoid getting hit by her various chakra weapons.
Kakashi grabbed Naruko, avoiding areas that would result in slapping, as he moved them to a spot out of what Kakashi decided was a 'dead range,' the range where Deidara's clay bombs couldn't be avoided due to their speed. "I'm here now, so calm down and let's think of a way to kick his ass," Kakashi said. "Naruko, listen to me now. You're a melee type, and even though you can form chakra into weapons, you're not used to it and Deidara is a master of ranged combat. There are two ways to deal with a long range expert. The first is one you'd like."
"What's that?" Naruko asked.
"Drag him down and beat the life out of him. The other is to hit him with a long range attack that will put him down for good," Kakashi said.
"But I've been making the weapons on instinct. Now that I've cooled my head...I can't do it anymore," Naruko admitted. She had tried to make that spear she had used on Gaara before, but it evaded her. Even the shuriken and kunai she'd made before were lost to her. She'd have to talk with Tama and the others to learn how to do this.
"To cover that weakness, you need either a long range expert or someone with a powerful ranged technique on your team," Kakashi said.
Naruko frowned. "And you are which one?"
"Both," Kakashi said.
"Get to blasting him then!" Naruko shouted. Ah, why didn't she roar at this blond freak before, it would have really messed him up. Oh yeah, it would hit Gaara too.
"Naruko, while I do have a good ranged jutsu, I need a good opening to use it. I'll need you to create that opening while I prepare the jutsu. Now, here's what we'll do." Kakashi then explained his plan.
A couple minutes later, Deidara was feeling anxious. According to Kisame and Itachi, Naruko was like a wild animal and would keep yiping and scratching at him, but she'd been too quiet and had only attacked sparingly, and with real weapons too, not those chakra constructs she had been using. The weapons were still charged with the Kyūbi's chakra, so they were dangerous.
He could see that the two were down there, talking about something too. It looked like Sharingan Kakashi was trying to pull off some jutsu, but it seemed he was overestimating himself since nothing had happened in almost five minutes.
All of a sudden, a strong wave of chakra hit Deidara as the air seemed to distort. 'Wha- Katon? But there's no heat!' he thought. When it started to focus on his heart, he knew he had to move. He also saw a new pattern on Kakashi's eye. 'He's got a mangekyō too!?' Deidara started to painfully drag himself out of range, but found himself stuck, his arm caught in the twisting space. With a noise Deidara hoped to never hear again, and incredible pain, the jutsu was completed and his arm was severed through the bicep. To make matters worse, it started again! It was easier this time, seeing as how Kakashi was winded from the first shot. He realized that Naruko's calm assault had been a way of distracting him, but he didn't count on one thing.
"Rasengan!" Naruko roared from right next to the bird.
Deidara cut his loses to one arm and jumped off the bird as the ball of chakra tore through its body. With the bird rendered useless, a few clones were made to gently catch it. Deidara had forgotten that Naruko was unpredictable and used kage bunshin like she breathed.
"Sensei, you okay?" Naruko asked as she went to the panting man, her clones taking the bird apart to get at Gaara.
Deidara was suffering and nearly useless too. Kakashi and his sharingan were similar in nature to Itachi's, but that damn Kyūbi jinchūriki was a problem too. Why didn't Kisame and Itachi tell him about those chakra constructs, or her ability.
"I'm not done with you yet," Naruko warned.
"Some other time, perhaps," Deidara shot back.
"Same mistake I made," Kakashi muttered.
Deidara found himself on the end of Naruko's chakra coated fist, receiving bad burns to his cheek in the process. Without a moment's pause, Naruko created a clone for each of Deidara's limbs, the chakra cloak strengthened arms holding him in place as the real one came down, claw cocked back.
BAM!
Deidara registered pain and the splintered earth beneath his body, as well as Naruko's arm going back up.
CRUNCH!
Again.
CRACK!
Again.
SNAP!
This went on for a few moments, Kakashi realizing that Deidara may develop a fear of women after this, if he lived of course.
Naruko decided her fist had done enough and formed a rasengan, then drove it into the man's chest, or she thought it was the man. Deidara had, probably after getting punched the first time, substituted away and left a clay clone to take the beating for him.
Naruko's rage grew, her hair and tail starting to brighten till they looked like flames. Kakashi was shocked to see chakra flaring from her other wrist. Within a few moments, Naruko was wrapped in a solid, fox shaped shroud, shredding up the clay clone as two chakra tails joined her single proper tail.
Naruko's clone, the one near Kakashi, started to waver. The chakra Naruko was releasing had paralyzed her own clones, or at least the chakra they were constructed from.
As much as Kakashi wanted to cancel this power of Naruko's, he couldn't. There was no way to disrupt it and, according to Jiraiya, she needed these moments. Naruko possessed the power of her grandfather and mother, the power of demonic beast and humanoid demon respectively, they needed to find a form unique to Naruko, a stability that would serve them both. These times of power, of almost wild anger for her foes, were the times when the powers searched the hardest to find peace and form.
Naruko growled and slammed her tails down, breaking the ground and sending a few small fragments into the air. She dug her nails into the ground, chakra digging a shallow trench. With her temporary appetite for destruction sated, the cloak started to fade until it was just covering her right arm again. Her hair and tail returned to normal coloring again as well.
Sakura showed up with a very worn out looking Chiyo. "We're here, what can we do to help?" she asked. They had completely missed Naruko's little moment.
"You found us?" Kakashi asked.
"Following a trail of destruction is easy," Sakura said.
"Having trouble? A medic and an old woman finished quicker than you did, what does that say?" Chiyo asked.
"Sakura-chan, is that guy dead?" Naruko asked while looking a little tired.
The two nodded. "What of Gaara?" Chiyo asked, then followed Naruko's gaze to a tree branch with four clones and the remains of a clay bird, which they threw away to reveal Gaara, "that is good, you got him back."
"And who do we have here?"
Kakashi and Naruko quickly followed the voice, finding Team Guy facing down a wounded Deidara. Tenten tried to skewer him, but the man's expertise in long range combat was greater than hers, and that was in spite of him missing an arm.
Seeing as how his options were limited, Deidara ran over to his torn clay bird and swallowed a large chunk of it as Team Guy and Naruko showed up.
"Now, I'M the masterpiece!" Deidara shouted as his body started to expand.
"Run! He's going to detonate his entire body!" Neji warned, making all of the assembled ninja jump away, though Naruko stopped near her team, wanting to help them get going as well. Kakashi was dragging his feet, and at a time like this no less!
FWOOOM!
Surprisingly, only a weak shock wave hit everyone, a wave of smoke being the only thing that swept by them. They all watched as some of the smoke was swallowed up into a small point.
Guy smiled at his eternal rival. 'Leaving it to the last moment, just how cool and hip do you have to be?'
"Wh-what just happened?" Sakura asked, shocked that she wasn't dead and scattered all over the forest.
Kakashi fell back, worn out because of his mangekyō sharingan as well as multiple uses of his jutsu. "I sent him and that blast into another dimension with my new jutsu," Kakashi said, "is everyone okay?"
"Everyone but Gaara," Naruko said as her clones brought the Kazekage down to ground level.
A few minutes later, outside of the forest, Gaara was lain down while Sakura lay her hands on him.
"Sakura-chan?" Naruko asked, hoping those bastards had been lying.
Sakura shook her head, not detecting any life signs at all. They had saved a corpse.
"He didn't deserve this..." Naruko growled.
"Calm yourself, Uzumaki Naruko," Chiyo said.
"Shut up! Do you know what it's like to be labeled a monster, to be hated by everyone around you? Everything that has happened to Gaara is your generation's fault! It is your fault he was hated, feared and killed! You treat jinchūriki as tools, but they have feelings, which you completely ignored! The real monsters are people like you, the ones who make jinchūriki!" Naruko shouted, then broke down, "what have I been doing for three years? I thought I grew stronger, but it still means nothing at all if I can't save anyone!" She hit the ground, her somewhat wild chakra making a very small crater on impact.
Chiyo stepped up to the youth that she had forced a monster into before his birth and placed her hands onto his chest, then focused her chakra as she started to give her life to bring him back.
"Chi... Chiyo-sama! Is that?" Sakura asked. She remembered the chakra sensation from before.
The woman nodded as she kept it up.
"What's going on?" Naruko asked.
"She's bringing Gaara back to life," Sakura said.
Naruko was shocked. "She can do that?"
"Only she can, nobody else," Sakura quietly muttered.
Chiyo felt her chakra start to fail, along with the jutsu. She needed more-
"Chakra! Do you need more chakra? Can mine be used?" Naruko asked.
"Place your hands over mine," Chiyo instructed. She felt the heated chakra flow into Gaara, surprise appearing on her face. "Naruko, I'm glad to have met you. My life is full of mistakes, the world us older generation created is a mess that we forced onto you younger ones. But the future is looking bright because of people like you and Gaara. Kakashi said you had power, and I now see it for myself. No Hokage, past or future, will reshape the world as much as you will."
"Sakura! Don't go saving old hags in the future, protect what is most important to you next time. Throwing it away for someone like me is a waste of that spirit that can match any man's. You may not be a sannin, but your master's ability will pale compared to your own in the future," Chiyo said as she looked back at the young woman.
With that said, and the jutsu nearly complete, she looked back to Naruko. "Naruko, you understand the pain of being different, of being scorned. I ask you to look over Gaara, as his friend, as the future Hokage, and...as someone who also knows the same loneliness," she requested, whispering something at the end that Naruko couldn't pick up.
Naruko noticed the sleepless sand ninja was starting to wake up, so she propped him up and waited for his eyes to open. "Gaara, good morning. How was the nap?"
"Naruko? What?" he asked as he looked around, seeing many sand shinobi about, many hiding their tear streaked faces.
"They all came here for you, though they're all too late to do anything useful," she said, saying the last part a little hard to sting all the late comers. "You had all of us worrying way too much, you troublesome Kazekage." On the inside, she shrieked. 'Did I just quote Shikamaru? It's a disease!'
"You can say that again. I know big brother's are supposed to worry, but I felt like I was going to go bald," Kankurō said.
"Gaara is still the Kazekage and we are still in the Land of Wind, so I'd be careful or else he could punish you, slave 1 and 2," Temari said, pointing to Kankurō and then Naruko as she labeled them her slaves.
"No wonder Shikamaru has no interest in her," Naruko mumbled.
"What was that, Slave 2?" Temari growled, reaching for her fan.
"N-Nothing!" Naruko chirped.
'She's even whipped her fellow woman. Nee-chan is scaaaary!' Kankurō thought.
Temari shoved Naruko aside a bit so she had a clearer view of her brother. "How do you feel, Gaara?"
Gaara tried to get up, but it felt like he'd been still for years. Was this how it was to sleep? Maybe he hadn't missed out on too much...
"No you don't! As your big sister, I'm locking you up behind the desk for the next little while!" Temari commanded.
"Kazekage-sama... I thought we really lost him!" a man sniffled as he wiped his snot dripping nose on his sleeve.
"Don't be such an idiot! Gaara-ku- Gaara-sama is an awesome ninja. He's a good looking, quiet and kind man who would never be taken down in such a pathetic way," a brown haired girl, Matsuri praised. 'I almost called him Gaara-kun!' she thought with a mental squeal and a real blush.
"And his shy and blushing face, while rare, is so cute~" another girl, Sari cooed.
"Gaara-sama!" the two shouted as every male in the way, and Naruko, were shoved aside or trampled to get to the Kazekage. They started promising that they would save him next time.
"I should be used to this by now, but I'm not all that popular, am I?" Naruko grumbled, rubbing the fingers Sari had just ground under her heel. Even if she could heal quickly, it didn't mean she felt no pain!
"Don't worry about it. One day in the future, they'll wonder where all the good guys, and girls, are. Us hard working grunts are where the action is and they won't know it until it's too late," Kankurō said, hoping he'd be married when that happened. There could be no worse irony than being there, single, when the girls came looking for the good lovers. It'd be downright pathetic.
"Must be true, since Shikamaru said it too, though he used the word 'troublesome' a lot," Naruko grumbled. Would Sakura be like that too?
"Thanks for being there for my little brother," Kankurō said.
"Thank that old lady and her medical ninjutsu," Naruko said as she looked to the old woman. She went to say something, but her clashing chakra briefly quieted and she could feel all the chakra around her clearly, but none came from Chiyo. "I-Is she..."
Sakura nodded, knowing what Naruko was asking. "To bring Gaara back to life, she had to give hers up."
Kankurō explained the original reason the jutsu was created, as well as why it was sealed away.
"I expect that stupid laugh of hers to hit my ears, but that's all over now. I only wish I had been there to say goodbye," Ebizō said as he looked at his sister's face, "she looks like she's sleeping." Sakura nodded in agreement.
"I knew you could change people, but you even got Chiyo-obaa-sama to change," Temari said while looking at the redheaded idiot ninja. She quietly muttered, "maybe she can help me get Shikamaru's interest..."
"What was that about Shikamaru?" Naruko asked, having barely heard it.
Temari blushed and shoved the kitsune away. "F-Forget that you heard that!"
Naruko scratched at her head. 'Chiyo was like the Sandaime. Now I think I know what those two felt.' She sat with her legs and arms crossed, trying to think of a way to tackle her other problem: her lack of popularity. Unknown to her, thinking deeply made her tail swish from side to side, solving her problem a bit.
'I-I want to touch it!' Temari, Sari, Matsuri and Sakura thought, the first three forgetting about the Kazekage while the last was just fixated on the swaying red tail that looked soft and fluffy in spite of its scruffiness. It was like moths to the flame, no pun intended.
Gaara stood, ignoring the other people's concern. "Let us all pray for Chiyo...obaa-sama."
[A few days later]
Naruko looked down at the grave that had been made for Chiyo and concentrated a bit, chakra flickering from her wrist and into a steady flame. She focused again and it slid down her fingers, forming a small claw that was more like a glove. Naruko laid her hand on the top of the stone, leaving a slight burn mark in the shape of her hand. It was her permanent thanks, since Naruko was now able to call upon this concentrated chakra thanks to Chiyo. Ever since she felt that life restoring jutsu pass through her hands, she knew how to use this power.
'Loss tempers strength,' Naruko thought as she closed her hand into a fist, spreading the cloak over her entire arm, letting it reach its normal size. She hoped to learn in a better way in the future, or else she'd lose everything and everyone.
"Sakura-san, Naruko. Its time to go," Lee called.
Sakura let her hand ghost over the grave, her hand running over the warm hand print her teammate left behind. She thanked Chiyo and walked away from the grave.
"See ya later," Kankurō said.
Temari smiled. "Good luck."
"Uh, yeah..." Naruko mumbled, then noticed Gaara was silent. She reached out with her right hand, then noticed the chakra still coated it. "Uh, I- um... I-I'm no good at this. I should at least stop th-"
Gaara reached out to her, his sand pulling her chakra coated hand to his. Their hands met, one with chakra wrapped around it and the other with sand lazily swirling about it. Naruko felt how Gaara wanted to be for his people, kind and soft, even his sand felt that way as it whirled around her wrist. Gaara felt the heat and power of Naruko's chakra, but it was like that of a parent or a strong, caring guardian.
[An hour later]
"This might go faster if we got the old men some canes or walkers!" Tenten shouted. While she was normally polite, the heat and the few injuries she still had were making her cranky. Memo to self: get lighter clothes for Suna. Better yet, get clothes for all possible seasons and weather types. Use a few storage scrolls for clothes rather than a few dozen kunai...
Kakashi went to apologize for his weakness, but Guy turned around and put Kakashi into a piggyback so disturbing that Tenten and Naruko wondered if they'd need therapy to recover from the sight.
"Hahahaha! Catch up to us now!" Guy shouted as he blasted his way to Konoha. Kakashi's face screamed, 'kill me now!'
'Too much male bonding for me,' Sakura thought.
"Neji!" Lee called out, prepared to do the same with his rival.
"No! Never! Stay away from me!" the normally calm Neji shouted as he backed up, then ran away to get home as quickly as possible.
Lee pursued his rival, still in the piggyback ready position, leaving all the women behind.
'I definitely need therapy now,' Naruko and Tenten thought.
Sakura decided that she would never understand male bonding, not that she wanted to anymore. Too disturbing...
[Back at Konoha, a few days later]
Naruko listened to the whole conversation between Tsunade and her two apprentices. Shizune's lack of faith hurt, but she could see where the woman was coming from. Didn't mean the empress had to like it. Sakura not defending her hurt even more, but what could she say at this point? She was outclassed by both women in every way imaginable, aside from how long she knew Naruko.
"What do you have to say Naruko?" Tsunade asked.
"I'll find someone," Naruko said, not surprised that she had been found out. She jumped away, on the hunt for someone she knew.
She was going to go look for Guy's team when someone called out to her.
"Uzumaki Naruko, good to see you again," a hooded guy said.
Naruko sniffed the air, since there wasn't enough face to even attempt to guess his identity, but she didn't recognize the confusing smell coming from the almost completely covered youth. "Uh, who're you?"
"It's me," the guy said.
"Who..." Naruko muttered back but stopped. This was going nowhere fast.
"You are going to hurt my feelings, Naruko. Just because we haven't seen each other in almost three years doesn't mean you can forget my face," the guy said.
Naruko was going to ask what he meant, but then she heard a buzzing and saw a bug land on his hand, then crawl up his sleeve. "You- You're Shino?"
"Finally recognized me?" he asked, confirming the girl's beliefs on his identity.
"How can anyone recognize you when you're all covered up?!" Naruko shouted back.
"Shino! Way too early!"
A gigantic dog and a wild teen landed nearby. Naruko instantly recognized him and the smell of the animal. "Kiba! Akamaru!"
The moment Kiba saw her, he blushed hard. "Na-Naruko?!" he squeaked as his heart battered away at his ribs. 'She's way hotter than when she left. Need to ask Ami to snap some new pics of Naruko.' Sometimes, it was nice knowing a ninja photographer.
"Please tell me that you used a jutsu to make appear Akamaru bigger..." Naruko deadpanned.
Kiba broke out of his little daydream and looked at his partner. "H-Huh? Oh, you think Akamaru is big? Hmm, I don't see it..."
"He used to ride on your head and now two people can ride on his back!" Naruko shouted, giving Kiba a good fantasy, "you thinks so too, right Shino?"
Shino was silent, sad because a friend of his hadn't recognized his face.
"What did you do to him?" Kiba asked, then blushed when he noticed that he was almost touching Naruko.
The kitsune's ear twitched a slight bit as she caught a very discreet noise. She turned and figured she had a good idea of where the noise came from, so she made her way to it as quietly as she could.
Hinata was the source of the noise and she was trying to calm herself down. She had thought that she got over her embarrassment a few months ago, but she wasn't prepared for Naruko's new beauty.
Naruko's face swung down before the blushing heiress, her hair hanging down like a red curtain as she locked eyes with Hinata. "Hi!" she brightly greeted from two inches away.
Hinata went down faster than a person hit in the neck with an elephant tranquilizing senbon, becoming a heap of blushing flesh.
"...Why'd Hinata pass out?" Kiba wondered aloud when he got there. She always seemed to faint around Naruko for some reason.
Naruko was still on the wall, crouching down like a dog. "I know, right? She's always-"
Thud.
Kiba was down as well, blood streaming from his nose for the view his new crush had accidentally given him. He'd seen them a bit, through the leg of her shorts.
"What's wrong with these two?" Naruko shouted.
"You recognized Hinata right away as well..." Shino grumbled.
'The whole team is weird...' Naruko thought as she walked away along the top of the wall.
A few minutes later, while on the hunt for Shikamaru, Naruko cursed her luck. Team Guy had gone out on a mission and Team Kurenai was on their way out to one. That left Team 10, er, Asuma.
She hoped Ino wasn't crazy this time... That prank was still bugging Naruko. 'Why'd she have to k-k-kiss me, and in front of Sakura-chan too?' Naruko thought as a light blush crossed her cheeks. Jiraiya and Hiruzen relentlessly teased her and, somehow, Ero-sennin managed to record the whole thing with a video camera!
"...I know you're stupid, but I thought that at least your memory was good..." Shikamaru grumbled after Naruko plead her case.
"They're still going on?!" Naruko wailed. They only lasted a little over a month last time, with most of it being a break too! Couldn't they spare the slacker for a week or so? Not like the amount of work getting done would change much, unless Shikamaru wasn't a slacker when it came to paperwork.
"Why did you have to bring back a woman to be Hokage? Now I get nagged at home, nagged at work and then nagged on the field," Shikamaru complained.
"I can help you."
The two turned to see Choji walking up, a bag of chips in one hand and a lunch box in the other. "Shikamaru, your mom told me to give you this," he said as he held up the lunch box.
"You're a life saver!" Naruko cheered. If he hadn't come by, she'd have to go look for (gulp) Ino.
"Choji, your mission with Ino and Asuma-sensei..." Shikamaru said.
"I'm sure I can get him to understand," Choji tried.
"Then you'll meet the Hokage and the whip will crack," Shikamaru finished.
"Alright, I guess I'll find someone else, though I don't know who," Naruko muttered, then saw Choji was doing his usual, "still eating?"
"You're one to talk, slurping almost two gallons of ramen on your first day back. Where did you put it all?" Choji shot back.
The happy moment was gone as Naruko's eyes became slitted, that strange ring of script-like, hardened red appearing on her purple irides again. She growled as she shoved the two away, chakra forming on her now lengthened tail to make a blade. She spun, slashing with her now bladed tail, destroying a lion made of ink. "O ha," she growled as the lion fell apart, her tail ready to strike again.
Naruko started to ask who would attack her and her friends, but noticed a second one coming at her, leaving her with no time to bring her tail around to destroy it.
Choji reached out and crushed the lion's neck.
"There he is," Shikamaru stated as he gestured towards a youth a good distance away on a roof.
"He's wearing our forehead protector, but that doesn't mean too much," Naruko growled, memories of Kabuto and Itachi in her head.
"He needs to answer for attacking us," Shikamaru said, "Naruko, you have a great balance of speed and power, so you go get him while I cover you."
Naruko nodded and rushed forward, summoning a ninjatō she had been given soon after leaving the village three years ago. She had been taught how to use it a bit, though she preferred her fists. Her tail blade broke apart as the tail itself returned to its regular length. No need for killing, this jerk was needed for questioning.
A bunch of those lions leapt off the scroll before the youth, coming down on Naruko with fangs and claws.
"Down!" Shikamaru ordered. "Kage Nui no Jutsu," the shadow user stated as he 'killed' the lions, giving Naruko a clear path.
Naruko jumped up and swung her blade down, not too surprised when it was stopped by a tantō.
"Who are you?" Naruko demanded.
The youth smiled. "Here I thought you were just a milk tank kunoichi, but I guess you got some skill."
"N-Name!" Naruko shouted as she tried to force her weapon forward. What were 'milk tanks' anyway? Jiraiya seemed to love them, always saying how they were the pinnacle of womanhood, in his pervy eyes at least, but he never explained anything about them.
The youth saw Shikamaru's sneak attack and left before he could get caught. "See you soon, Naruko-san..." And he vanished in a swirl of ink.
Naruko growled, then jumped down from the roof. Her anger had been harder to control lately. Kami, she hoped her own true powers would emerge soon or she'd explode! She sent her blade back since she didn't need it anymore.
Naruko almost made it to Team Asuma.
"Narukoi!" Ino cried out as she tackled Naruko with a tight hug around the neck, one that pushed her chest into Naruko's, "I heard you were back. I wanted to welcome you back before I left on my mission."
"I-I-I-I-INO!?" Naruko stuttered. She was still keeping the prank going?
Ino put a finger to Naruko's lips as her face lay a few inches from the kitsune's. "No Narukoi, it's 'Ino-chan' now!" the blonde ordered.
"Oh, 'Ino-chan?' Isn't 'Ino-pig' better?" Sakura growled as she glared at the blonde. 'Why am I getting so pissed off? It's just Naruko...'
Ino shot a glare back at her former rival in both ninjutsu and love, now just ninjutsu. "What's the matter, Forehead, feeling jealous?"
"Why would I feel jealous?" Sakura asked.
Ino grinned in a way that would make the devil crap himself in fear. "I don't know, maybe because I can do this with MY soon-to-be girlfriend?" Ino wondered aloud, then kissed Naruko again, putting all her feelings and passion for her partner into it. It was the hot type of kiss that would have men cheering the girls on. She got a bit too heated, making beginner mistakes in her kiss, but she just felt so damn right with the redhead! Jiraiya's 'gold mine' detector blew to pieces and he was miles away!
Choji and Sakura blushed hard, though Choji turned away as his nose started to bleed. Shikamaru silently cheered Ino on, hoping to get rid of a nagging woman that was on his back all the time. If this worked, he'd just need to find a way to silence his mother and Temari. Stopping the Hokage's nagging was a fantasy that would never happen, maybe his mother's silence was a fantasy as well, but at least he could get rid of Temari and Ino's attempts to lord over him.
Ino broke the kiss, smiling and blushing as she rested her forehead against Naruko's, panting a bit from how heated she got during the kiss. "What's the matter... Forehead... wish the kitsune got your tongue too?" Ino asked, glancing at the pink haired, red faced girl from the corner of her eye.
"G-G-G-G-Girls shouldn't be doing that with each other!" Sakura shouted as she remained as red as physically possible without exploding.
Ino leaned her head into the hollow of Naruko's neck, gently resting her chin on the kitsune's chest, making a number of nearby guys wish they were Naruko, even if meant being female. "Love doesn't see gender, it just sees what it wants. I love her, I want her, I will make her mine and I'll be hers too," Ino purred as her hand trailed down to Naruko's side, going to her hip. She even lay a light kiss on the side of Naruko's neck.
'Damn you, Uzumaki Naruko! I want that action too!' a number of men thought as tears of blood ran down their cheeks from their eyes... and from their noses too.
"Mi-Mission! Both our teams have missions!" Sakura shouted, grabbed Naruko's arm and dragged her away from Ino.
Ino giggled. She kicked herself a bit, since her father trying to convince her that her feelings for Naruko were just a passing phase that she'd grow out of, but seeing the girl again, feeling her heart speed up, the swarm of butterflies in her stomach and the feeling that she wanted to be with the kitsune (in a way that would make this fic R-rated) made Ino decide that, before the year was up, Naruko would be her lover. The blonde knew that she'd probably have to use a bit of the knowledge she'd heard about a year ago, something concerning kitsune.
Next time Ino saw Naruko, she'd pet that cute red tail and become the kitsune's mate, lover and wife!
Naruko remained red and silent, her mind overloaded by the kiss.
A/N~
Finally finished this chapter! (fanfare) Alright, I can now focus on this fic because I've completed all I can with KTD for now, so I can see how everything plays out and plan where KTD's new mini-arcs will be. (or at least plan where to put the events that take place before Pain's attack) While on that subject, the Basutā Rasengan was originally created for KTD, though it is used differently in this fic.
Hope you liked the NarukoXIno moment, Kiba pulling a Hinata and Sakura showing off her tsun-tsun side. Those were fun!
And sorry for the long wait, but the manga was going in a pathetic direction for a while (written 'Naruto,' but read as 'Sasuke') but now it seems to be headed in a decent direction again. Just seeing Sasuke 180 and Sakura return to super fan girl mode pissed me off and made me not want to write because Kishimoto was favoring Sasuke again. (seriously, Sasuke has far more luck than Naruto from what I've read, getting saved from death twice against Killer B, suddenly having enough chakra to do numerous chakra intensive things when he had no chakra left, surviving against all the kage, etc.) But now it seems that Sasuke is still an evil little shit and Sakura might be planning on killing him to prevent his plan to take the ninja world apart, which seems to be why Orochimaru is so interested in seeing what Sasuke does on his own, has made the manga interesting again. Now if only it would tilt towards a NaruSaku end...
Jutsu Index-
Basutā Rasengan [Buster Rasengan] – Naruko overcharges the rasengan to the point where it is nearly unstable, and weakens a spot at the 'front.' She does this at the moment of impact, causing the thin forward shell to rupture and smash pure spiraling chakra into the opponent, which violently pushes them backwards with enough force to put them through a couple walls, or a decent amount of rock. Derived from how she first saw the rasengan, and an accident.
O ha [Tail Blade] – By applying shape transformation to chakra expelled from her tail, Naruko can form a scimitar-like blade on the her tail to give her another weapon in battle. The only drawback is the short reach, which is only a foot beyond the tip of her tail at best.
Tail Extension: Naruko's tail length is variable. Her normal tail length, which is how it is most of the time, is a 'compacted' form of the tail. Her real tail length is long enough that she could gently curl her tail over head, keeping it a distance from her body, and point the tip of the tail towards her mouth so she can form a tailed beast ball or to use it as a weapon with some reach. (see how Kurama fires tailed beast balls) Her tail can also be used as a shield, though it'd be more effective with multiple tails.
Omake~
Drunkeness
"And here we are, at Konoha's first ever 'Konoha Sake Drink-off,' an event I decided to throw to see how people in Naruto act when toasted," I, Excele Kurokami announce as I perform a sweeping motion with my hand, light dancing off the silver claws (my dream weaver spindles) that I wear on my hands. "Now, a few people had to be forcibly removed because their drunken personalities were-"
"Let me go! Naruko! I've got a room for you! You can have a real home and a real family!" Tsunade shouts as she tries to break past various OCs I've created, such as Kazeneko Yue from KTD and her mirror version, Ashmedai Yue from NC, an as of yet unposted fic. They manage to shove her out the door and seal off her chakra with some chains I made for them.
"As one can see, Tsunade would have automatically taken Naruko away, thus ruining part of the presentation. Also, don't mind the red blouse or the boots, we managed to remove Sakura before her clothes were completely removed, though she did demand we send Naruko and Ino over as soon as we could manage," I state.
"Narukoi~" Ino purrs as she kisses Naruko's neck, making sure the girl feels every curve of her body, every pulse of heat, as she sat in the kitsune's lap, "let's go and p-l-a-y~"
I sigh. "As you can see, Ino gets flirty when her blood alcohol level is high. Luckily enough, she seems to direct it at her girlfriend. As for Naruko..."
The girl was completely toasted, leaving her as a slightly wobbly, blushing mess. "Everything's very... warm!" she exclaimed, "Ino-chan... You're so beautiful." She leans in and kisses Ino, then her hand goes up the mind walker's hip, under her skirt, to cup Ino's ass to pull her into a deeper kiss as the blonde shifts positions so she straddles her girlfriend. Naruko's other hand finds its way under Ino's shirt.
"Shit! OCs!" I command as a few more appear and escort them over to the soundproofed bedroom, where Sakura, free of her clothes, drags the two girls in and their fun commences. Ino's skirt still lies outside the door.
"Hmm, seems Naruko is similar to both her girlfriends when drunk. She gets randy and puts the moves on them. I wonder if she's as focused as them, or does she go wild?" I wonder.
"More! More!" Anko cheers as she sloshes her drink around.
"Anko is a happy drunk. Who could have seen that one coming?" I ask the crowd.
Crash!
"And she seems to have left through a window to find a bar... Wait, this one is open and free, so why is so leaving?" I ask.
Ibiki pokes my shoulder, his fiftieth mug in his hand. "She's gone off to get her lock picking set."
"Why would she get that? And why aren't you drunk after all that alcohol?" I ask the torture master, though I could easily break him by forcing him to read all of the Twilight series and force him to watch the movies as well.
"Well, I don't get drunk off this weak crap. Anko wants a piece of Naruko, so she's going to need to unlatch the window to join in," he said, then went back to his seat to drink more.
I stare at the man as he guzzles two more mugs, looking like he wasn't going to slow down at all for a while. I motion over a server. "Switch his drinks to that strong rum, see if that doesn't affect him."
"Yes sir." The server then makes his way to the table to get the really strong stuff.
I smirk at my own evil. "Now, onto-"
"Shut up, you iziot..."
I turn to my verbal attacker, shocked to find Hyūga Hinata giving me a death glare through her heavy blush. "Hinata-san, what's wrong?" I ask, stunned into politeness.
She grabs a full bottle and tilts it so it is straight up, all the sake draining into her throat. She puts it down and returns to glaring at me. "Becuz of you, that slut Sakura and bitch Ino are touching my girl... And now Anko is too!"
"Um, I think I need to-" I start.
"I want to kiss, hug, fondle and lick her too!" Hinata screams as she throws the bottle at me, though I briefly faze out of existence before it hits me, "becuz of all you 'NaruSaku,' 'NaruIno' and 'NawuInoSaku' bastards, I never get my Naruto-kun or Nawuko-chawn!"
I throw the door open, letting everyone hear Ino crying out in bliss. "You can join them too!" I shout, trying to save my own ass.
An OC grabs the drunken Hyūga and tosses her in. "I'm not paid enough for this..."
"Naruko-chan! I love you!" Hinata shouts as everyone hears clothing tear.
I slam the door shut. "Hinata is a mean spirited drunk..."
"Open that door again!" Tenten shouts, "they sounded happy~"
I stare at the blushing girl, wondering what the hell is happening there. "Um, draw your own conclusions on her if you will, but I think Tenten is a bit of a..." checks the internet real quick, "a voyeur when drunk. And I'm not opening the door again."
Tenten shrugs and walks over to the door, leaning against it while trying to listen. "I can't hear anything..."
I create a tablet and hand it over to her. "Take this to a different room and push this button. You'll be able to watch them."
Tenten gives me a quick hug and runs off for some alone time with a bottle of sake and her window to the sealed room.
"I'm making lots of people happy today, aren't I?" I ask nobody in particular.
"UWAAAAAAAH!"
The camera pans over to Ibiki. On his fourth drink of strong rum, the man broke down and started bawling. He spends a good five minutes going on about how hard it is being a torture expert, then falls to the floor while hugging a bottle of rum and quietly passes out.
"Did not see that one coming..." I mutter.
"Will you marry me?" Kiba asks a painting of a landscape.
"Kiba-san...that's an inanimate object," I say.
"Shut up! You'll never stop my love for this beautiful woman!" Kiba cries out as he hugs a lamp, completely ignoring the painting.
"I'm not sure what he is, other than drunk off his ass," I state.
Shino remained completely silent, sitting there like a statue.
"Shino-san... Um, are you okay?" I ask. When I get no response, I tap his shoulder, which makes him tilt over and fall down to the ground, passed out. "What happened?"
A server taps my shoulder. "He asked for a cup of sake and then just sat there. I think he passed out from the scent."
"Surprisingly weak to alcohol, isn't he?" I wonder aloud, then look to the remaining people who aren't completely plastered.
Shizune is arguing with an empty sake bottle, calling it useless because there was nothing in it. She even threatened to tell Tsunade about it not doing its job so it would get fired. After it refused to refill itself, she went and got another bottle for herself, praising it because it was doing its job and giving her sake.
Jiraiya is nowhere to be seen, though I did hear his perverted giggle a little while ago, and the hot springs aren't too far from here. Hmm, now that I look around, I think Neji disappeared around the same time... Curious...
Trust me, you don't want to know what Sai is doing right now. Let's just say that it involves the following: paint, a brush, bare skin. 'Nuff said.
Shikamaru and Choji are imitating their fathers. Well, Shikamaru is the quiet one who listens to Choji tell tales of their missions.
Kurama and Kakashi are reading Icha Icha Paradise and talking about the plot and characters. Wait... he's really reading it! The strongest bijū in the world, aside from the Jūbi, is reading smut while downing alcohol and comparing notes with a confirmed pervert! I am NEVER giving him alcohol again, or letting Kakashi give him a book to read.
Yūgao is...singing? Yeah, she got her hands on a karaoke machine and is singing...
"Alright, things are getting too weird here, even for me. I'm just going to end it here for now. I might pop in again later to do something like this again. Until later!" I shout.
"I've got a harem too!" Kiba barks, holding various inanimate objects.
"Riiiiight..." I mutter, then turn off the camera.
Responses-
To those who are not mentioned: Sorry for the long wait, and I haven't abandoned this fic. I thank you for your support and I hope you enjoy my writing.
Sky Zephyrus: Stop thinking I'm dead. I decided to not show her skill increase because I was serious in KTD, and I wanted to answer Jiraiya's wish to spread that justu around more, so I went with perverted and goofy. You have to admit that tsundere-esque Sakura is great. Ino is the one who shows progress with Naruko.
(Gives a perverted nosebleed covered thumbs up and a nice face) I enjoyed that picture! I've decided that outfit is Naruko's new sleepwear! (Ino approves!)
one shot no hesitations: Wha... Lay off...lady? Um, I'm male... Maybe you should hesitate a bit, just so you can make sense...
Yuri-Hime-chan: No insanity (other than thinking he's all powerful, like in canon), no genderbending (good idea for an Omake) As for why she doesn't have a new tail, the curse seal is gone, so the experience compiling trick is gone with it. She is now gaining power at the same rate as a normal Kyūbi, but we don't know how fast or slow that is. And she can't gain tons of power if she doesn't know how to use it, right?
Gaara king of sand: Like I said in KTD, I'm feeling lonely now that all my favorite authors have abandoned , taking their awesome fics with them. The omake was a peace offering, a way of saying 'sorry for being away for so long.'
Nethis: Badass Naruko has been delivered. I wonder why nobody else was happy with a goofy Naruko?
Bretmccully: Naruko and Ino's reunion... hehehe. Naruko isn't going to like me much with what I've got planned, or maybe she will. As for what Sai calls Naruko, you'll have to wait and see.
And... what the hell? You want three girls, one who destroyed part of a store, one who razed a park and one who we don't yet know, nor do we want to know, how moody she gets during that time of the month, to sync up while Jiraiya and Orochimaru are around, letting the snake take the brunt of their anger.
Bro, you mad? That's Jūbi level overkill! That image would be enough for Jiraiya to swear off women and become a monk in Kuni no Otoko! (Land of Men)
Analyn Rockwand: Which omake? I prefer the Temari one, mainly because she is NOT older sister material. (in fact, she reminds me of my own sister, just that Temari's hot and my sister isn't. And Temari is overall better)
Muchu: Punishment? It will happen, just wait for those idiots of the council to show up.
DarkLordK: Which omake? They're all funny! (or at least I think so)
Harlequin320: Glad you liked the omakes, and I've updated.
Thedarkpokemaster: I figure that making Kakashi innocent in a way was good. And making Sakura learn Oiroke was a nice bonus~ And that omake was an alternate world scenario, like a different fanfic writer who couldn't stand NaruSaku had taken over my fic and made it stupid with SasuSaku. As you can see, I made it right and broke microSasuke in the process.
AsterBlake333: Keep that trap card face down, here's the new chapter. Glad you liked the omake.
Karibanu: You and others will be glad to know that I'm keeping the super yuri harem for a different Kyūbi(?) Naruko fic I came up with soon after posting this chapter. It involves a smart and timid Naruko with all basic nature transformations, Sakura with never before seen ice ninjutsu, Uchiha Sasuke as Uchiha Assuke (aka himself) and a number of girls (and women) wanting some Uzumaki in their lives.
Wolfone10: No, they aren't shot to hell. Do remember that the three tails was running rampant without a Jinchūriki and they had no trouble with it. Add to it the Demonic Statue, AKA the Jūbi's body, means that it is easier since they won't have to bother with the normal jutsu and just have the statue swallow her whole.
Do remember that Minato, a HUMAN, was pounding on Kurama when he was at full power, meaning both halves of his chakra were present. And Naruto, when at his one tailed state, was even with Sasuke's curse seal state, so there is another example of a human matching a Jinchūriki empowered by their beast. AND Naruto himself, without the power of Kurama, fought off the nine-tails in a struggle for dominance while he resealed it. Naruko's power is seriously limited when compared to Kurama's full strength, and even a civilian can kill a powerful ninja if s/he gets lucky. I decided that humans could kill Naruko with luck. Making her unstoppable most of the time would destroy the story.
This is called BALANCING.
WolfDragonGod: Updated.
Guest: Don't worry, my Hinata follows canon Hinata, not uber Hinata that most fanfic writers make. I do make characters OOC sometimes, but to do that to Hinata would be breaking everything I like about the ultra shy, fainting Hyūga princess. (though she's been a bit too bold of late...)
And no need to worry, I've abandoned that idea, though adding Anko would have been so HAWT!
Darkkiller9: I've actually done research on the subject numerous times, and I don't drink. And here's some more.