A/N: Hi! My author's notes will be in italic, meaning that I'm inukagome15, not FantomoDrako. I'm wondering myself why I'm writing another story. But since this is a co-write, it'll be easier. Two heads are better than one, right? Or at least that's what I've heard... Anyway, this is my first Naruto fic as well so I just hope that everyone's IC.
FantomoDrako started this chapter out, I added some stuff, and she finished it. See if you can tell where we switched! Enjoy reading!
DISCLAIMER: I don't Danny Phantom or Naruto. Neither does FantomoDrako so just leave us alone. We share the plot, though; FantomoDrako came up with the idea.
Chapter One: Hark!
A low growl of annoyance shattered the otherwise relative silence of the small forest clearing. The log had barely a dent marring its surface and that small fact was increasing its opponent's frustration. He had worn away the skin on his knuckles, though not yet to the point of bleeding, from continuous impacts with the unyielding stump. Giving another growl for good measure, he summoned what strength he had left in his tired limbs and started another round.
After a couple of furious minutes, he called it quits. His knuckles had finally given in and small rivulets of blood flowed freely down his hands and fingers. "Damn it!" he cursed with a sigh. He wearily started trudging home, intent on washing his hands. The chance that they would become infected was very small, practically nonexistent, but he did not want to rely on the Nine-Tails anymore than he had to.
Turning his thoughts to happier prospects, Naruto smiled. He had woken up that morning and had just put one foot out his door when his eyes had caught sight of a box that was sitting in the hallway.
Flashback
Instantly curious, but wary of trickery, he checked to make sure no one was watching him. When he confirmed that he was alone, he cautiously touched the box, half-expecting an explosion or something along those lines. When nothing of the painful sort occurred, he picked the box up and examined it. He heard a sloshing sound almost instantly. Sniffing the package, he discerned the unmistakable scent of his favourite food: ramen.
Hearing a papery rustle, he directed his attention towards a note he had overlooked. Setting the box carefully back on the floor, he stared at the small envelope that bore his name in neat script. He flipped it over and opened it. He pulled out a short note and let the envelope drop. Scanning the writing, he recognised it as Teuchi and Ayame Ichiraku's. He read the note aloud in a whisper.
"Dear Naruto,
We hope you enjoy this special order of ramen, a gift from Lady Hokage to congratulate your efforts during your mission concerning Crescent Island.
Sincerely,
Teuchi and Ayame."
He smiled, a true smile, not one of his fox grins, and fought back some tears that threatened to spill. Whispering a 'thank you' to the air, he went inside with the box of ramen - the note tightly clutched in his fist.
End Flashback
Keeping that happy memory at the forefront of his mind, he entered his apartment and made his way over to the bathroom. Turning on the tap, he let it run for a few seconds before holding one of his hands under it. As the caked blood slowly washed off, he used his left hand to reach into a small cabinet above the sink. Fishing out a first-aid kit, he balanced it on one side of the sink. Satisfied that it wouldn't topple, he started scrubbing away the reddish-brown bits that the water didn't remove. He switched hands and repeated the process. Figuring his hands weren't going to get any cleaner; he turned off the tap and took the first-aid kit to his bedroom.
He gratefully sunk on to his mattress and sat Indian style, the kit in front of him. Flipping it open, he extracted two short segments of bandages. Working quickly, with an efficiency that denoted much practice, he covered his knuckles. 'Ha, not like I need bandages for them!' he thought with a wry grin. 'Still, it's better that I do it. They'll heal before I go out tomorrow this way, otherwise it'd take a couple more hours and someone might notice.' He gave a barely perceptible shiver as his mind supplied him with various memories of random villagers from years back.
Shrugging the images away, he placed the first-aid kit back in the bathroom cabinet and crawled into bed. Tomorrow morning he was going to greet Sakura at the Hokage Tower before he went up to see if there were any missions. Ever since she had started her medical training under Tsunade, Sakura had become very adept at spotting injuries. Even those that were hardly noticeable that you had to really look to find. If his knuckles were not fully healed by the time he saw her, she would notice right away and ask him all sorts of questions that he would rather avoid.
Not because he had anything to hide, it was more the fact that he simply did not want to reveal the reason he was pounding away at a sturdy log. He could lie, of course, but he hated lying no matter how big or small the lie was. He only lied about the Kyuubi because he was far too afraid of what consequences would follow should his friends find out.
They would either hate him or accept him for what he was. Drawing on past experiences, he wasn't too hopeful for the latter. There was no middle ground; and if there was, Naruto wasn't aware of it. No matter what, he didn't want to lose his friends. They were far too precious to him to risk that. He'd already been through that horrible loneliness before and didn't want to turn out like Gaara.
'Well, they won't find out,' Naruto assured himself. 'Unless someone tells them and that's against the law the Third Hokage made.' He was grateful for the law, even though it had left him to wonder for years as to why everyone hated him so. It was only thanks—or no thanks—to Mizuki that he even knew about it. Hate could have its advantages after all.
The next morning, Naruto ate his customary breakfast—ramen—and went for his morning run. He took a shower afterwards and chugged down a glass of milk—which was almost expired but thankfully didn't taste bad—before heading out to visit Sakura. He wasn't sure what she'd be in the middle of but wanted to check up on her.
'If she's in the middle of training this early in the morning I'd be surprised,' Naruto thought, whistling cheerfully as he walked through the waking village. 'But Granny Tsunade's such a nose-grinder that she probably is working.'
He was halfway to her house when he passed by Ichiraku Ramen. Remembering the box of ramen that they had given him yesterday morning, Naruto slipped under banners and grinned broadly.
"Good morning!"
"Naruto!" Teuchi beamed in return. "Okay, kid?"
"Yep!" Naruto shuffled around a bit, unsure of how to phrase his thanks.
"Uhh," he started. "I just…wanted to thank you guys."
"For what?" Teuchi asked.
"For that box of ramen you gave me yesterday," Naruto managed to say.
"Did you like it?" Ayame inquired.
"Yeah." Naruto smiled. "Just wanted to say thanks."
"It was from Lady Hokage," Teuchi said. "We just passed it on. Glad you enjoyed it."
"I did," Naruto said eagerly. "Thanks again. So, uhh…see ya!" And he left abruptly, unable to stop feeling embarrassed.
Five minutes later, he was standing before Sakura's door, debating on whether or not he should knock. On one hand, it had been a while since he'd seen her and on the other, he wasn't sure how Sakura would receive him. The last time was all too clearly burned into his mind. If he recalled it accurately enough without exaggerating, he had jumped in on her trying to revive a fish out of water that was clearly dead, causing her to badly mess up with her jutsu and give the fish an extra head. She'd given him a few nasty punches and kicked him out of her door to boot.
Shuddering delicately at the memory of a fish with two heads and four grey eyes that gave him the creeps, Naruto screwed up his courage and knocked delicately on the door. When no angry voice snapped at him from the inside, he tested the doorknob—which was unlocked—and peered in to see Sakura bent over at her desk.
"Umm, Sakura?" Naruto asked tentatively. "How you doing?"
"Naruto," Sakura said curtly, briefly giving him a wave without turning around. "What do you need?"
"Just wanted to check up on you," Naruto said nervously, stepping inside and closing the door behind him. "When was the last time you've eaten?" It was a valid question, as he had once stumbled in on Sakura in such a messy room that he was hard pressed to believe that it was her room. Weren't boys supposed to be the messy ones and girls the ones that obsessed over cleanliness?
"I just ate yesterday," she said, sounding rather disgruntled. His friend turned around fixing him in place with her pale green eyes. Her brow was furrowed, an automatic sign that she was cross.
"Are you doing anything important?" Naruto persisted, trying not to let his nervousness show. "'Cause, uh, I thought that we could ask for a mission. Like old times, you know…" He trailed off.
"I'm busy, Naruto," Sakura snapped, waving around a brush that was drenched in ink. "I have to file this essay on cell construction. Unless you know of a miraculously easy way to cure cell death in a heartbeat I'd suggest you leave."
'Kyuubi's chakra could but I don't quite know how that would work. And I don't think the guy would be willing to give up his secrets either.' Naruto searched his brains for an excuse to leave. If Sakura fouled this up because of him, he'd find out…in a painful way. "If you're busy—"
"I am," Sakura interrupted.
"—I'll leave," Naruto finished hurriedly, opening the door behind him and slipping out in a flash.
Once outside and free from Sakura's wrath, Naruto heaved a huge sigh of relief. That had been too close. Imagine the consequences if Sakura had been in the middle of another experiment. That would have been decidedly…uncomfortable. On the plus side, she hadn't noticed anything off about his hands, which either meant that they'd healed properly or she was too distracted to look.
His visit to Sakura taken care of, Naruto set a brisk pace to see Tsunade next. He was eager for some action and didn't want a mission that involved uprooting weeds.
He didn't go to her office, instead heading to the room where missions were handed out to the various shinobi. If she was doing her job correctly, she'd be in there and not in her office. Of course, most days she wasn't in there and was found napping in her chair before Shizune caught her and told her off. Still, because today was a workday, Tsunade should be in there.
Naruto was delighted to see that his hunch had been correct as he looked in and saw Tsunade yawning, bored, as she fanned herself with a file. There were no shinobis there as of yet and only Shizune along with that strange pig were present.
"Granny Tsunade!" Naruto bounded into the room, screeching to a halt before the table. "How you doing?"
Not looking startled at all, Tsunade's only reaction was a raised eyebrow; she set the file in her hand down and cupped her chin in her hand, still looking utterly bored. "Look what the cat dragged in," she remarked.
Naruto scowled, bristling at the insult. The whiskers on his cheeks were prominent enough without him being teased about cats. But he held his tongue, reminding himself that Tsunade was the one who had given him the ramen. Slowly counting to ten, he took a deep breath and released it slowly. "Do you have a mission?" he finally said.
Now Tsunade looked startled. 'No reaction?' she wondered. The blonde-haired robust woman straightened up slightly. "Mission?"
"Yeah. You know, something that shinobis are supposed to do?" Naruto reminded her. "It's why there are shinobis?"
"I could give you one…" Tsunade left the silence to drag out after that, causing Naruto's impatience to spike.
"And?" he prompted, unable to help himself.
"But you probably wouldn't like it." She smirked, enjoying the sight of the flustered blond before her.
"What is it?" Naruto demanded.
"Weeding," Tsunade said simply. She then waited for the explosion to follow.
It did happen. Just not externally. 'WEEDING?!' Naruto repressed a growl. 'Again?! Is that everything that these people can come up with? OK, calm down, Naruto, calm down…' He took a deep breath, turning slightly red, and let it out, slowly returning to his normal colour. "Is that everything?" he managed to say cordially. "Just weeding?"
'Well, well.' Tsunade smiled a small smile, which escaped Naruto's notice. 'Looks like he's growing up. A week ago and he'd have exploded in my face.'
"Well?" Naruto pushed impatiently, resenting Tsunade's stubborn silence.
"Hmm…" Tsunade tapped her chin thoughtfully, flicking through the pages on the desk but not letting her glance waver from the genin before her.
Naruto fidgeted, desperately hoping that there was something worth doing on that list.
"Oh, sorry." Tsunade closed the file. "The only thing that's available is menial labours. Up for it?"
"No C missions?" Naruto asked, keeping a tight rein on his temper.
"All our higher chunins and jonins have gotten those," Tsunade said, hiding a smug grin. She really enjoyed poking fun at Naruto.
'Either there really is nothing or she's just putting me on,' Naruto thought. 'In any case, I'm not getting anything here. Should I thank her for giving me that ramen?' He debated the matter, puzzling both Tsunade and Shizune to no ends.
'Naruto is acting…more mature,' Shizune observed. 'When did he grow up so fast?'
"Umm…I just wanted to…" Naruto scratched his hair nervously, trying to phrase it properly. "I just wanted to thank you." There, he had said it.
"Thank me? For what?" Tsunade raised an eyebrow. This was new. She wasn't aware of having done anything that merited her being thanked by Naruto of all people.
"For…ah…you know." Naruto actually blushed. 'Just come out and say it already!'
"Oh, you mean that?" Tsunade thought she knew what he was getting at. "No problem, kiddo. Just take good care of it."
Naruto blinked, sure that she hadn't gotten it correctly. How could he take good care of a bowl of ramen? "Uh, what?"
"I already said it's no problem," Tsunade insisted, getting irritated. "Now just go before I really get pissed."
"Yipe!" Naruto jerked, sensing the threat in the Hokage's voice, and ran out. He still hadn't rectified the mistake but if he did say "Thanks for the ramen", Tsunade would probably blush and say nothing. They'd both be extremely embarrassed. In fact, it was probably for the better.
Without a mission to do, Naruto found himself aimlessly wandering around. He sighed, wondering if he should try to find someone to hang out with, but he figured that they'd be busy training or something. He moodily kicked a pebble a few feet away where it landed to the side of his meandering path. Deciding that doing some more training was better than nothing, he headed to his secluded spot in a forest clearing.
When he got there, however, he didn't feel like training. Huffing in irritation, he slumped to the ground with his back against a tree. Taking in the comfortable atmosphere, he raised his knuckles to eye level to examine them.
They had healed completely, so it was no wonder Sakura didn't notice. He gave a rueful smile and let his head fall back to rest against the tree, eyes closed. He had the whole day ahead of him and no idea how to fill it in. 'Ha, it almost makes me want to prank someone…but I pretty much gave up pranking when I graduated from the Academy. I wonder how Iruka-sensei's doing without me around to cause trouble. Though, knowing Konohamaru, he's not making it easy for Iruka-sensei either!'
He let loose a chuckle at the thought of his old academy teacher running himself ragged after Naruto's self-proclaimed 'eternal rival'. 'I bet the little brat couldn't paint the Hokage Mountain!' he thought to himself, with no small amount of pride. He laughed again at the fact that, to this day, no one knew how the whiskered boy had pulled off such a feat.
He was pulled from his recollections as his ears picked up the soft pad of something moving through the forest loam. Reluctantly opening his eyes, he scanned the immediate vicinity but saw nothing. None of the bushes were moving either, which made Naruto wonder if he had been hearing things. Until he heard it again, that is. Trying to make as little noise as possible while standing up, he did a wider sweep of the area.
Still spotting nothing, he switched his focus from his eyes to his ears and strained them for any sound. The results he got from this action were immediate and unexpected.
He could clearly hear every thump of his heart and every breath he inhaled and exhaled as it passed through his lungs. Closing his eyes for fewer distractions to his senses, he stood there and simply listened. Aside from himself, he could make out a slight whistling noise that he realised was the faint breeze blowing through the leaves and the chirping of various birds. He could even hear the tiny rustles and squeaks made by the various critters that scurried about in the loam.
Puzzled, Naruto opened his eyes and frowned. As soon as his vision came back, his hearing decreased a bit until he couldn't hear the critters or the slight breeze anymore. This only confused him more. 'What the…? What's going on? I know a ninja has heightened senses compared to a civilian…especially the Inuzuka's with their sense of smell, but…'
Finding no answers, Naruto toyed with the thought that he was dreaming or going crazy. He sincerely hoped he wasn't losing it. 'Okay…if this isn't a genjutsu or a hallucination… What if something's wrong with me? Should I go see someone, like Granny Tsunade?' Growing more anxious by the minute, he decided not to. 'I mean, it's probably just my imagination acting up because I'm so bored!' he thought with a relieved grin that didn't quite reach his eyes.
Mostly satisfied with this conclusion, he forced the incident out of his mind. Walking over to the log he had been battering away at last night, he got into a basic taijutsu stance. Not wishing to scrape his knuckles bare again so soon, he opted to lash out with his sandalled foot.
Picking up some speed, he suddenly switched legs. Continuing in this vein for at least an hour, he only stopped to take a breather.
Because of his large amount of stamina, and the fact that he hadn't been using chakra, he was barely sweating. He flopped back against the same tree he had been leaning on earlier. The monotony of repetitive motion had finally gotten to him.
The calmness of his surroundings and the warm sunlight eventually worked their magic. Without even realising it, Naruto's eyes closed and he dozed off.
A/N: If you want to know how much of the next chapter is written, head to my profile. I have a section where I post the current progress of all my fics. Chapters will increase in length once we delve deeper into the story.
So what'd you guys think? Good? Bad? Did you catch the difference? If you didn't, don't be surprised. It's subtle. Review please! If you flame, we'll use it to light the fires of our muses.