AN/ Well...what can I say? It's been a while, I guess is good. Hopefully not too many people abandoned this fic. I apologize with the huge delay for this chapter, but I hit a bit bump in the road after the last chapter, for both fics. I realized that making an AU story that is drastically different from the anime is harder than I originally thought.
But when all seemed lost, I started thinking about where I wanted to take the story, and that made me think, 'Damn, unless I hurry up with the chapters that lead up to these parts, I'm most likely gonna forget about 'em.' So I forced myself to sit down and continue, 'cause I wanna share my ideas with other people. I like 'em, so hopefully, when the time comes, you will too.
Also, I bet a few people were confused as to how Shadow disappeared, and why his excuse sounded too simple. Well, here's a short explanation. After shadow had proven to be faster than Naruto, there have been a few instances in which Shadow has accidentally gone too fast and practically teleported away to somewhere pretty far off from where he intended. In the past it happened more frequently than it does now, and had resulted in them being separated for a few days a few times.
On a side note, I'm gonna fast forward in the story a bit. I think that if I write about every single day that passes in the story, not only will it take forever, we will all get bored... So without further ado, let chapter... uh... six begin.
Disclaimer:... seriously, I'm not even gonna bother with this anymore. We all know the drill by now, don't we?
"Speech"
'Thought'
'Inner Sakura'
"(Unimportant)Demon Speech"
Naruto Wandering Demon
Chapter 6: Mission to Wave
The air was blowing softly as Naruto, Sakura and Shadow walked down a quickly disappearing dirt road. It had already been a few days since the night that Naruto had marked Sakura and the trio had run into Tsunade. Since then, they had been wandering around almost aimlessly, beside the fact that Sakura seemed intent on getting farther away from Konoha.
She knew her sensei had probably already reported to the Hokage about her abandoning the village for a Demon and knew that the council would not turn the other cheek to this. They would mark her as a rogue nin. This meant that the next time she saw her friends, if she ever did, they would most likely try to capture her, or worse, and that saddened her.
Although she did not regret leaving with Naruto, she did hate the fact that because Demons and Humans did not get along, she and Naruto could not go to Konoha and she could never introduce him to her friends and her parents and vise-versa. She also knew, however, that her parents would have never have approved of her relationship with the blond demon to her right, and that would be worse than not being able to see her friends and family.
The reason she did not regret choosing Naruto over Konoha was because as she had found out in the days that they had gotten to know each other better, he was every girl's dream. He was strong, good looking, and sympathetic. Sure, maybe he was lacking in the intellect category, but that was something that she could help him out with. After all, she was the brightest Kunoichi of her generation.
Naruto had also assured her that he was not gonna pressure her into things she felt she wasn't ready for. He felt he had already rushed her into being his mate, even though she told him she wanted him to mark her. So for the time being, until they knew everything about each other, they would stick to kissing. Which Sakura would readily admit she was grateful for. She was, after all, only fifteen and had never learned how to perform the jutsu Kunoichi used during missions in which they had to pose as whores at a brothel to prevent pregnancy.
Sakura silently cursed her mother for refusing to teach her that technique. It was a mother's duty in a ninja village to teach their daughters about those sorts of things.
As Sakura continued to mentally pile a list of what her mother had refused to teach her, she hadn't noticed that Naruto and Shadow had stopped until Shadow called out to her.
"Hey, Pinky, where are you going?" he asked, making her stop and turn around glaring.
"I told you to not call me that!" she rounded on him but Shadow seemed to ignore her, turning to look at Naruto.
"What do you think is going on over there?" he asked, ignoring his blond master's pink haired mate. The only indication said blond gave of hearing his question was a flick of one of his yellow fox ears.
"I dunno, sounds like a run-of-the-mill argument." he said, trying to tune out Sakura's whispered curses at Shadow and hear the dispute happening not too far into the forest along the path they were taking. "But—"
"—I smell a demon in that direction." Shadow stated, his ears tilting to the sides slightly. "And one of those voices sounds... off." Shadow commented. Naruto nodded his head, indicating that he had noticed the same thing.
"Go check it out, Shadow." Naruto ordered. At this point, Sakura had had enough of their whispering,
"Don't ignore me, you dirty fox!" she yelled, referring to Shadow's jet black fur, only to get madder when said jet black fox ran off into the forest.. "Shadow, where the hell are you going!?" she half-yelled, walking back to where Naruto was. Naruto's ears twitched again.
"Sakura-chan," he began, adding the -chan she had taught him about a few days back, "let's go. I think someone over there's about to get hurt, so I sent Shadow to check it out first." he finished, making Sakura stop in her tracks.
"Oh. Um, okay." she said, watching as Naruto broke into a grin.
"Race you there." He challenged, making Sakura smile. She couldn't help it, the way he could take a serious situation like this and make it seem like a game, was a skill she knew only he could pull off.
"You're on." she accepted, knowing full well that he wasn't gonna go as fast as he could but still her pride wouldn't allow her to back down from a challenge. Besides, now that she could sort of feel demon chakra, she wouln't have to stay behind Naruto until the last second.
Locating Shadow's chakra signature, she dashed off into the forest, leaving Naruto in the dust for a second before he noticed what she had done and ran after her. It didn't take long for him to catch up but it was already too late; she had already reached the spot where Shadow's chakra was.
Naruto arrived at the spot feigning a look of petulance, watching as Sakura stuck her hand out with her fingers in a 'V' for victory sign.
"You cheated." he said, to which she only stuck her tongue out at him. He almost felt like capturing her tongue with his mouth but settled for turning to watch the argument taking place in the clearing in front of them.
There were six people in the clearing; four of which appeared to be shinobi, if the Hitai-ate on their foreheads were any indication, while the other two were normal civilians. There was also a dog that was large enough to reach the waist of the ninja next to it. Besides the people standing in the clearing there were two others that were tied to a tree but they appeared to be dead, if the smell was any indication.
"You can't just abandon us after bringing us this far!" yelled one of the civilians. He looked like he was in his late twenties. He wore a dark blue shirt with a pair of black pants, a fairly large and stuffed backpack on his back.
Naruto and Shadow noticed that the scent seemed to come from him and looked at each other, with Naruto signaling to be ready to interfere. It didn't seem that the shinobi had noticed yet. Naruto also noticed, while looking at Shadow, that Sakura had a shocked expression on her face.
"We wouldn't have to leave you if you hadn't lied on the mission application." said a feminine voice, bringing Naruto's attention back to the group in front of them. The voice belonged to an attractive woman with waist length wavy black hair and sienna brown eyes. She wore a red shirt with only a single sleeve on the right arm, somewhat loose wrapping hung over her shirt and continued to slightly above her knees. "You requested protection from bandits, robbers, and dangerous wildlife. You didn't mention that there were enemy shinobi after you." she stated, glaring at the men that put her student's lives in danger.
"Because we new if we did, you'd charge us more for the mission and we didn't have enough money for better protection." the other civilian, an old man—maybe in his mid forties—who reeked of sake, revealed. He wore a brown shirt with a white obi and a pair of tan pants, and also carried a backpack about the same size as his companions. He had a towel around his neck, and a bottle of sake in one hand. "Besides, they told us we'd get a team of Chūnin, not a bunch of snot nosed brats and a woman!" he yelled, pointing at them with his free hand.
"Hey!" yelled the boy next to the dog, glaring daggers at the old man. "You aren't making a good argument for why we shouldn't leave, you know!" he shouted, the dog next to him barking in agreement. "And we are Chūnin!" He wore a dark gray hooded jacket with a pair of black pants. His hair was brown, wild and untamed, and his eyes had a feral look to them. He also had two red fangs on his face, one on each cheek. He gave off such a strong scent of dog that Naruto felt like gagging.
"From what I saw in that fight I think it would be fine if just the creepy silent kid and your sensei stayed." said the old man, turning his head to the side, making the purple haired girl look down and dog boy narrow his eyes, looking like he was about to attack.
"Tazuna-san!" yelled the younger man next to him, although he slightly agreed. He then turned back to the ninja, when the old man didn't respond. "Please, don't listen to him. And, please, at least escort us to the ocean." he pleaded. The dog boy just crossed his arms across his chest and turned around.
"I don't see why we should." he said stubbornly, with the white dog also turning around and sitting down.
"Please, everyone back home is counting on us to finish that bridge. If we can finish it, Gato won't be able to control us anymore. We'll be able to set up trade with the mainland without using his ports." the man said, a begging look in his eyes, which went unnoticed by the teen with his back to him. The older man just looked down, a mix of emotions on his face.
"Even if you say that," the red eyed woman began, "the fact of the matter is that we aren't well equipped for this mission. We expected to only run into bandits, at worst. We didn't expect Ninja with poisoned weapons." she said, watching her lavender-haired student clutch the cut on her left shoulder, and the dog loving boy stare at his arms, which had holes along the length of the forearms (Thank god Shino had been carrying those antidotes). "And those were chuunin," she motioned over to the dead bodies, "They'll send Jōnin next time. And if they do, that'll make this mission a B-rank, meaning you'd need a team of Jōnin."
"But we already told you we can't afford a higher ranked mission—"
"Did you ever think of trying to set up a deal with the village, to see if you could pay off the mission in separate smaller payments!" the woman shouted. Her students looked at her, obviously surprised that she was yelling.
"Ano, Kurenai-sensei," the lavender haired girl began, her voice soft, fidgeting with her fingers, "w-why don't we just finish the mission?" she asked shyly, looking down at the end. She had lavender hair the reached to just past her shoulders, and a pair of gentle pale lavender eyes. She wore a hooded white and gray jacket, which looked a little too big for her, and loose purple pants. Even with the loose fitting clothing, her curves were still clearly visible.
"Hinata..." Kurenai trailed off. Even though she almost died because the clients hadn't informed them of the ninja after them, her student still wanted to finish the escort mission. She sighed, closing her eyes. "I don't think we could handle it if they sent Jōnin... at least, not after the injuries you and Kiba sustained." she said.
"But—" Hinata was interrupted by her last teammates stoic voice.
"Kurenai-sensei's right, Hinata." he said, putting a hand on said girl's uninjured shoulder. "I think it would be best if we returned," he turned towards the two clients, "and if you wish, you can try setting up a deal like Kurenai-sensei mentioned." he said, watching Hinata's face fall slightly.
"W-What do you think, Kiba-kun?" she asked, hearing the boy sigh.
"Honestly, I think we should return, too. I mean, as much as I hate to admit it, my arms are kinda useless right now, and that means I'd be almost as helpless as one of those two if we were attacked." he said, glaring at the men across from them. Hinata's face fell even more.
"Oh."
"It's decided, then." Kurenai said. "We're heading back; whether you two come with us is up to you." she said as she began to lead the team away.
"Wait, please, just take us to the ocean!" the young man yelled at the retreating ninja, who ignored his calls. He then felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Give it up, Takashi." said Tazuna. "Let's just go with them. Maybe we can set up a deal."
"No, Not after coming this far." Takashi snapped at him. "Come back here!" he yelled, before clutching at his stomach and falling to the ground.
"Takashi!" Yelled Tazuna, kneeling beside him. "Help, somethings wrong." he shouted, making the ninja stop and turn around. Tazuna thanked god they stopped but then raised an eyebrow when he noticed they were looking at him like as if he was a hideous creature. Turning back to Takashi, he saw the young man's spine rising out of his body, before a long slimy creature ripped out through the back, his companion's blood splattering everywhere.
Suddenly it sprang towards the group of ninja. "You just couldn't make my job easy, could you!?" it yelled, heading towards Kurenai. Though, before it could get far, it was pinned to the ground by numerous kunai coming from the foliage to the right. Quickly, all the ninja were on guard, pulling out kunai of their own and falling into defensive stances.
"Who's there?" Kiba said, expecting the enemy Jonin Kurenai had said would come. He gripped his kunai as tight as he could with his injured arms as the bushes shook and a yellow haired boy walked out, hands in the air and a grin on his face.
"Uh, hey." said Naruto, laughing sheepishly. "Sorry if I scared you guys, I just thought I'd help." he said, scratching the back of his head, his fox ears concealed by a demonic genjutsu. He then heard the bushes rustle again and before he could turn around, he was face first on the ground, a bump on his head.
"Idiot, warn me next time before you do something like that." she yelled, angry that he had accidentally pushed her to the side, rather roughly, when he threw the kunai.
"S-Sakura-san?" Hinata's questioning voice came, making Sakura freeze. She had forgotten about the fact that she knew the ninja in front of her, and that they would wonder what she was doing so far away from the village, without her headband. With her heart racing in distress, she turned towards her former fellow ninja.
"O-Oh, hey, guys." she said, trying to keep calm. Maybe they didn't know about her leaving the village. After all, it took about three days to travel from Tanzaku to Konoha, and about two days from Tanzaku to where they were if they ran; which she and Naruto hadn't been doing, since they had been getting to know each other, and that would have been hard to do if the wind was whipping past their ears.
"Sakura, what are you doing here?" Kiba asked, Akamaru tilting it's head to the side as it stared at her.
Sakura groaned on the inside. Kiba was an annoying guy who used to try to hit on her, and several other girls before he started focusing his sights on Hinata. And even though it's been around a year since he stopped hitting on others, she still hadn't forgiven him for telling everyone that he'd made out with most of the girls he had hit on, her included. She had cornered him afterwards and made him admit the truth, and she hadn't been the only one to do so.
"Uh—"
"We were passing by when we heard some shouting." Naruto said, answering for Sakura as he figured she wasn't as good at coming up with excuses as he was. "And I, being the nosy person I am, dragged Sakura-chan over and made her eavesdrop with me." He was rubbing the back of his neck as he did this, laughing nervously.
"And who the hell are you?" Kiba barked, voicing the question on his teams mind. It was obvious they were suspicious of the unknown blond standing next to their pink haired comrade.
"I'm Naruto; Naruto Uzumaki." answered the blond. "And you guys are?" he asked back.
"They're from my village, Naruto." Sakura explained, making everyone turn back to her. "That Kiba, Akamaru, Hinata, Shino and their sensei, Kurenai." she said, pointing at everyone as she said their names. "Now that you found out what that yelling was, let's go, Naruto." Sakura ordered, pulling Naruto back into the forest.
"What village are you from, Naruto?" they suddenly heard Kurenai ask, as they were halfway out of the clearing. That made Sakura's eyes widen. She hadn't expected Kurenai to ask that, and she was hesitant on forming an answer for her boyfriend, as she liked to think of him.
Then she remembered that Naruto and Shadow said they've impersonated ninja before and done missions. Meaning they must have hitai-ate. "Naruto, show them your hitai-ate." she whispered, causing him to look at her.
"My what?" he asked, a confused expression on his face.
"Your headband, stupid." Sakura nearly shouted. She'd rather not have her friends try to capture her, especially since it seemed that they didn't know she was now technically a missing Nin.
"Oh. Alright." Naruto dug into his backpack and pulled out a headband, which Sakura recognized to be from Suna, which was thankfully on good terms with Konoha. "Here." he said, holding it out for the Konoha Nin to observe. It was indeed a Suna hitai-ate, complete with a standard pale blue cloth.
"Okay." Kurenai seemed to accept what she was seeing. "So what rank are you?" she asked, still wary of Naruto.
"He's a Jonin." Sakura, answered for him, figuring he didn't know about ranks. "And he's here because he was invited to meet my parents in Shigai." Sakura lied, answering the question she knew Kurenai would ask next. "They're thinking of arranging a marriage between our families, for us." Sakura blushed as she said this, though she failed to see the quick flash of melancholy that flashed in Naruto's eyes.
'You're pretty much already married to him, anyways.' Inner Sakura commented inside Sakura's head. 'And nice work on the Shigai part.' she added. It was a town they had passed not forty minutes ago, and her family was also known to go there. Her clan was in the upper middle class, almost borderline rich. Sakura was brought back to reality as Kurenai spoke again.
"Well, I guess I have no other questions." she said, closing her eyes. When she reopened them, she had a soft smile on her face. "I wish you two the best of luck, though." she said. "You look like a cute couple."
Sakura smiled and thanked the older woman. It was quiet as everyone seemed happy for them, until Naruto had to break the silence. "Is she going through that time of month, or something?" he asked, pointing at Kurenai. Instantly, he was bopped on top the head by Sakura. "What was that for, Sakura-chan?" he yelled, rubbing the lump on his head.
"Baka, what's wrong with you!?" she yelled, glaring at him for his rude remark. "You don't ask that sort of question! What happened to being polite to women!?" Naruto just looked down, mumbling something incoherent. "What was that?"
"I was just wondering why she was really mean one minute, and then she was being nice." he said, turning behind them. "Or did you forget she was gonna leave this old man unless he went back to pay for a higher ranked mission?" he asked, staring at the old man who still didn't seem to believe what had just happened to his companion. "I mean, if I have to choose between helping to a woman that can stick up for herself, or sticking up for an old man who can't, I'll have to side with the old man."
Sakura just stared at Naruto, as he walked over to Tazuna. "Naruto, what are you—" she was cut as Kurenai decided she wasn't going to get talked to like that by some young arrogant punk.
"He lied to us. He withheld information that almost cost my students their lives. It was supposed to be a C-rank mission, which is why they gave it to my team; a team of chuunin." she paused, watching as Naruto tried to snap Tazuna out of his stupor. "But it turned out to be a B-rank mission; for a team of us Jonin, only." she said, referring to the fact that Sakura had said Naruto was a Jonin as well.
Naruto turned to face her as he pulled Tazuna up onto his feet. "I get what you're saying, now." he said. Kurenai was about to say she was glad he understood, when he added, "You're saying that when the going gets tough, you give up and go running home with your tails between your legs. You can't even take him to the end of this forest after his friend was brutally killed by a demon that was hiding inside him."
"Didn't you hear what that demon said? He obviously had a plan!" Kurenai shouted. "That could make this mission an A-rank. That means it's a mission to be handled by only Jonin, or maybe even a team of ANBU. Lying about a B-rank is one thing, but an A-ran—"
"Stop trying to use the ranks to hide the real reason!" Naruto cut her off, getting tired of hearing the same thing over and over again. "It seems to me you don't think your team is ready to handle these tougher missions." Naruto said, making said team look at their teacher.
"That true Kurenai-sensei?" Kiba asked. When he didn't receive a response, he clenched his fists tightly."So you do think we're weak..."
"I never said that!" Kurenai yelled, but it was Shino who spoke afterwards.
"But you think that." he said, making his teacher look down and his teammates look at him in surprise. Shino always agreed with Kurenai, whether it be on what missions they should except or how much training they needed. It was a shock that he was siding against her.
"It's just that..." she sighed, "after all these years, I think of you kids as family, and I want to keep you all out of harms way." She looked up when a soft hand grabbed her shoulder, and stared into the pale eyes of her only female student.
"We understand, Kurenai-sensei, but if you don't let us get stronger, we won't be able to take care of ourselves if your not on a mission with us." said Hinata, her voice reassuring. Kurenai sighed, seeing the confident faces of her students.
"You guys want to continue this mission, then?" They all nodded, but then she looked at Kiba and Hinata. "And what about your wounds?" she asked, only to be answered by Naruto.
"I have something that can take care of that." he said, fishing around his backpack for a few seconds before pulling out a small container. "Rub this on your wounds, it'll heal 'em almost instantly." he bragged, tossing it to Kiba, who caught it clumsily.
Sakura stared at the container wondering where she'd seen it before. Then she remembered. "Isn't that the ointment you used on me?" she asked Naruto, who only nodded as he stepped away from the old man when he had finally calmed down. She turned back to see Kiba and Hinata blushing as they rubbed the cream on their wounds, with Kiba facing away from Hinata. Hinata had to pull her jacket and shirt down her shoulder, almost exposing her breast.
'At least he was smart enough to look away.' Sakura thought before heading towards Naruto. "they're gonna be leaving soon," she said, trying to keep her gaze away from the open body to the left, and the kunai ridden demon slightly to the right of it, "What are we gonna do?" she asked. Naruto looked at her with a grin on his face, meaning he was gonna ask something she would not approve of.
"Um, I was thinking we could go with them." he said, and before she could respond, he grabbed her hands and spoke again. "Hear me out, first." when she didn't do anything but look at him expectantly, he continued. "It's an A-rank mission, and they're just chuunin." he said, making her raise an eyebrow.
"You know the different shinobi ranks?" she asked. Naruto just smiled.
"Sakura-chan, I'm a demon, who poses as a ninja every now and then. I had to learn about them so I knew which to pose as so people would hire me." he explained, voice low so the Konoha ninja wouldn't hear. "Plus, I've fought against some ninja, as both a demon and a ninja, I know the difference in their power levels. The higher the mission rank, the stronger the enemy." Sakura sweat dropped at his simple reasoning.
"Really? I never noticed." she said sarcastically. Naruto just pouted, feigning annoyance.
"Laugh all you want," he said, still pouting, "but I think that lady was right. There might also be demons, like that one who can hide inside people, and if they can't even notice Shadow who's sleeping in the bushes, they'll need help against those." he finished.
Sakura blinked when he mentioned Shadow. "You mean that's why he didn't come out? He fell asleep?" she asked, an unbelieving tone in her voice as she turned towards the bushes where Shadow was. "Don't tell me he fell asleep before the demon attacked." she said, hands on her hips. Then she felt a pair of arms wrap around her waist from behind and a head nuzzle into her neck.
"I don't think so, but even if he did, I don't blame him. It was boring waiting for it to come out." Naruto spoke against her skin, making Sakura relax and melt into his embrace. The couple was enjoying their time together when Kiba broke the silence.
"Hey, you two better not go all rabbit pair on us." he said, making Sakura glare at him for being an interfering idiot and Naruto smile. "Anyways, just wanted to say we're leaving, and thanks for the cream." he said, throwing the container back at Naruto.
"Wait up." Naruto said as he caught his mother's medicine. Kiba turned back towards them, a questioning look on his face. "We're coming with you guys." he said, making Kiba raise an eyebrow. "I think if I go, your sensei might be less worried. Having two Jonin is better than one, isn't it?" he asked. Kiba just smiled and nodded.
"I guess. I go tell the rest, then." he said, running off towards his team, who had walked farther down the clearing with Tazuna. Then he stopped and turned around, looking from side to side frantically. "Hey, where's Akamaru?" he asked aloud, making everyone scan the clearing.
"He was just here." Hinata said, motioning beside her. "Maybe he went to the bath—"
"What the—Get the fuck away from me, you mangy mutt!" Shadow's gruff voice came from in the forest, before he came running into the clearing, closely followed by Akamaru. Shadow growled at the white dog as he came to a stop. Akamaru growled back, not showing any sign of backing down.
"Another demon?" Tazuna asked, making the Konoha shinobi raise their weapons.
"Shadow? What're you doin'?" Naruto asked, making the group look at him, confused. Shadow didn't even take his eyes off the white dog in front of him to answer Naruto.
"This fucking dog almost pissed on me!" he yelled, getting angrier when Naruto started laughing. It didn't help that even Sakura was snickering, obviously amused that the demon who claimed to be stronger than Naruto was almost bested by a common dog.
"Well, if you're mad now, this will get you even madder." Naruto said, gaining Shadow's curiosity. "We're going with these guys, meaning you have to hang out with Akamaru for a while." Naruto grinned while Shadow thought about how he might have repaid Naruto enough for saving his life all those years ago.
"I hate you, you know that?" Shadow said, only getting a chuckle from the blond 'Jonin.' turning back to Akamaru, he muttered a quick, "You saved yourself this time," before turning away and walking towards Naruto, not noticing the questioning looks the Konoha shinobi were sending them.
However, Naruto did. "Don't worry, Shadow's a good demon. I found him when he was a little kit, and he's been following me ever since." he reassured them jokingly, making them relax slightly. There have been demons captured and trained to fight against other demons. When they put away their weapons, Naruto moved towards them. "Well, we should get going, shouldn't we?" he asked, rhetorically, with everyone nodding and turning to leave, until Kurenai stops.
"Sakura, I don't think you should come with us." she said, making said girl stop, alongside Naruto. "If Naruto wants to come, he can, seeing as he's a Jonin from an ally village who is offering his assistance. But you're a chuunin, and this is a possible A-rank mission. We are only continuing what was supposed to be a C-rank mission, but you aren't part of our squad." she explained, making Sakura frown.
"But I think I should keep an eye on my fiancé." Sakura said, hoping it would be a good enough reason. "Besides, Kakashi-sensei said that 'those who abandon the rules are trash, but those who abandon their friends are worse than trash.' I would feel horrible if any of you get hurt, knowing I could have helped if I had have gone." she reasoned, sounding more convincing than her first excuse. When Kurenai sighed, Sakura smiled.
"Fine. We might need some extra help, if there are demons and enemy ninja waiting for us." she admitted. "Is that okay with you, Mr. Tazuna?" Kurenai asked the client, who only nodded.
"As long as they're going to protect me, I have no objections." he said, tugging on the straps of his backpack. With that, the group began to walk away, leaving the two corpses behind.
After a while of walking, with Naruto arguing with Shadow and the rest of the group laughing at the fox's ability to make snappy comebacks in a split second, Kiba decided to ask a question he had been wondering about.
"Hey, Shadow," when the fox turned towards him, he continued, "you're a fox demon, right?" he asked.
"No, I'm a fish demon." Shadow responded sarcastically, making Kiba's face redden slightly in embarrassment of his question. "Why? Shadow question after the teen returned to his normal color.
"I was just wondering... are you related to the demon that attacked our village sixteen years ago? The Kyūbi?" none of the humans noticed that Naruto's chakra flared dangerously high at the mention of the name, as they weren't trained to feel a demon's chakra, though they did feel the hair on the back of their necks rise.
Shadow, however, did and stiffen for a second at the raw amount, before answering the question. "I don't know, but I'd appreciate it if you didn't mention the name of that disgrace." he said, making the group, including Sakura, look at him. "Just because I fight against my kind, doesn't mean I don't have pride in my race. And that idiot brought shame on fox demons by starting a fight and losing." Shadow explained, with Naruto mentally agreeing, though with a few other thoughts.
The rest of the trip went on similar to how it started until they reached the shore, and purchased a larger bought than they had originally thought they'd need, which Naruto paid for entirely. As they sailed over the water, Naruto thought he heard a disruption in the water. Moving to the edge of the wooden boat, he waited until whatever it was passes under and reached out to grab it, only to get a mild shock, surprising everyone.
"Damn!" he yelled, letting go of whatever it was that he grabbed. "I don't know what it is, but there's something under us." he said, making everyone go on alert.
"Hinata." Kurenai signaled for the girl to use her Kekkei Genkai. The girl merely nodded before closing her eyes and focusing her chakra to her eyes.
"Byakugan!" she said when she opened her eyes, which were now surrounded by veins that were sticking out from her face. "It's a pair of demons, like the one from the forest." she said.
"So that's why it wanted to get you guys to the ocean, it was an eel demon and knew it would be stronger near water. And it must have had it's friends waiting to ambush you." Naruto guessed, his eyebrows furrowing when he heard a high pitched laughter.
"So, you humans aren't as stupid as you look." said one of the demons, though it never came out of the water.
"No matter, as long as they're on water, they won't be able to beat us, even if they figured out our plan." said another, lower pitched voice. "But where's that idiot that was supposed to bring you here?"
"I killed him." Naruto said, trying to rile the demons up in an attempt to make them show themselves. "And If you guys are as weak as him, this battle won't take long." he smirked when he heard Hinata gasp.
"Something big is coming up. I think there was a larger demon lower in the sea." she muttered, making her teammates tense further. They knew that as long as they were on water, the eel demon were right about being at an advantage.
"Calm down and just hold onto the boat." Naruto said. Although he hadn't expected this, his plan would still work.
Quickly, a head as large as a boulder came out, revealing a gray demon with spikes on the bottom of it's chin, and the sides of it's jaw. It also had a pretty intimidating set of teeth sticking out from the bottom of it's mouth, and two big yellow eyes.
"Bingo." Naruto whispered before jumping up into the air, towards it. ' A kaze Onijutsu should to the trick.' he thought, forming hand signs, making sure to not let the Konoha shinobi notice he used hand signs different from the ones they used.
"I'll show you we—" It was cut off as Naruto rammed his fist on top of it's skull. Normally this would be nothing, but Naruto's fist was covered in a swirling funnel of air, making it drill through the demon's skin, and break past it's skull until it reached it's brain, which was then put through a blender effect by the swirling wind. There wasn't even enough time for it to scream before it was dead.
Pulling his arm out of the sinking demon's head, Naruto grimaced at the blood on it. He jumped back to the boat, making it rock a bit when he landed before he dunked his arm into the water, trying to get the blood off him. He was oblivious to the stares everyone was giving him because of his sheer brutality. Even Sakura, who knew he had a technique like that, was looking at him.
'He said it was a nasty jutsu, but I didn't expect it to be that brutal.' she thought, watching the water turn red and chunks of what she assumed were the demon's brain float on the surface. 'Plus he used it without hesitation, and with so much ease. That had to be a B-class demon... what class is Naruto?' Sakura was brought out of her thoughts when Kiba spoke up.
"That was awesome!" he yelled, a knew respect for the young blond 'Jonin.' "Naruto, you have to teach me that technique." he said, looking at Naruto with admiring eyes.
Naruto smiled, still stying to remove the pieces of brain from his arm (he hated using that jutsu because of the mess it made but it was his best way of dealing with large demons.). "Sorry, village secret." he repeated what the perverted toad hermit had told him when he had asked him to teach him to summon frogs. When he figured he had cleaned his arm enough, he was going to bring it out until he felt something pass under his arm.
It wasn't as large as the first demon he grabbed, so he guessed it was the other demon. Bracing himself, he grabbed it and yanked it out of the water. It gave a small shock but froze when it saw his face. He smirked when it did, deciding he wanted answers.
"Alright, you slimy little living battery, I want answers." when it didn't try to get away, he asked his first question. "Why are you after this old man?"
"A human sent us, said he'd spare our lives if we managed to kill the old man for him. Said he didn't trust his own men to be able to finish the job." it said, obviously cooperating out of fear of Naruto.
"Who sent you?" Kurenai asked, beating Naruto, who pouting, whispering, 'I was gonna ask that...'
"I don't know who he was. He attacked our pack while we were hunting and killed every member except us four." it explained, obviously mad at the fact it's pack was killed by one human.
"What did he look like?" Shino asked, before Naruto could, making him pout again and mutter, 'I was gonna ask that too...' The only sympathy he got was from Sakura however, and it was mixed with amusement.
"He had a giant sword, and his face was covered by bandages. He had eyes that made leader's look like a human baby, and he was really tall." it answered, voice becoming strained due to being out of the water and Naruto's grip on it's neck.
Naruto, when no one else asked a question, was about to ask his when he was beat to it by none other than Shadow. "Anything else?" he asked, hearing Naruto mumble a sting a curses.
"There was a demon with him, who could make ice and manipulate it." it's voice was getting quite raspy by that point. And Naruto's grip had become tighter each time someone 'took' his question.
"What did that demon look like?" Kiba asked, pushing Naruto over the edge since he was about to ask that same question. A semi-loud snap was head, and the demon's eyes became dull and lifeless.
"Naruto!" Sakura yelled, when she noticed what he had done. Naruto blinked before letting go of the now lifeless demon.
"Ah, shit, that was an accident!" he yelled, waving his hands in front of his face as the whole group shot him a glare. "Anyways," he began when they, mainly Sakura, didn't do anything, "at least we know that there's a big guy with a sword and an ice demon after us. I mean, how much more do we need to know?" he asked laughing sheepishly hoping they agreed.
He was answered when a hand grabbed his fox ear through the henge—although to the Konha nin it looked like she just had a fist full of spiky yellow hair. "And what if the demon comes after us next? How will we know if we don't know what it looks like!" Sakura said, beginning in a low voice only to end up yelling.
"Ah, Come on Sakura-chan, how hard will it be to tell apart a demon from an animal or a person?" Naruto asked, obviously forgetting he himself looked remarkably like a human for a demon. His comment had it's desired effect, however, when his mate left go of his now throbbing ear. "Let's get going now." he said when his ear stopped hurting so much.
"We can't." responded Tazuna. "Those demon fried the engine." he said, trying to turn on the small engine in the back of the boat.
"You mean we're stuck here!?" Naruto shouted, getting a smack from Sakura for screaming in her ear.
"Don't worry," Tazuna began, reaching under the middle seats, "We'll just use these." he finished, holding up a long box to the shinobi.
"You gotta be kidding me." Naruto said, suddenly wishing he didn't have opposable thumbs like Shadow. Said demon fox was smiling at the turn of events.
- Somewhere in the Land of Waves-
A figure sat hunched over in a stone chair, it's fingers tapping on the hilt in it's hand. It didn't seem too happy with the news it was hearing from the head protruding from the small circular pool of water in the middle of the room.
"So," it's voice was low and gruff, slightly muffled by the bandages covering it's mouth, "You mean a B-class demon and two C-class demons were defeated by one kid?" the head nodded it's head shakily, obviously wishing it had stayed back where it's comrades had been killed. Maybe he would have been killed painlessly by the human.
"I see..." it's hand hand tightened around the hilt of the sword and it was about to swing it across and decapitate the figure in the water but was stopped by a soft hand grabbing hold of it's wrist. Looking up, it stared at a feminine looking human, whose face was really close to it's own, with long black hair and a gentle smile on her face.
"Don't. It's not even worth your energy, Zabuza-sama." she said, her voice soothing and gentle. Zabuza sighed, knowing what it meant, before shaking his wrist free.
"Alright, back up Haku. You need to learn to respect personal space, boy." he said, making the now revealed to be boy back away slightly. The demon in the pool voiced it's gratitude before leaving through the exit under the pool, which lead to the ocean.
However, before it reached the bottom it was frozen in the pool, the ice stopping at the bottom. The demon was now frozen in the ice but still very much alive. Unable to move even it's eyelids, it was forced to wait for death to come and take it away.
Up in the room, Zabuza looked at Haku, who had his hand on the surface of the ice. "The way you kill is amusing but you have to stop taking my kills." Zabuza commented, making Haku smile gently again.
"I'm sorry, you can have the next one." he said, his voice still soft but with a hint of malicious kindness in it. Hearing footsteps to their left, both turning to see their client walk into the room.
"Well," said a small man with curly light brown hair, "first your subordinates didn't manage to finish him off and now your stinking demons fail too. You're making me reconsider how much I'm gonna pay you." he said, a smile tugging on the sides of his mouth. He didn't even see Zabuza move until the giant sword was in front of his face, the tip mere inches away from digging into his forehead.
"Shut up, Gato. I'm going this time. You better not pay me even a single Ryō less than what you're supposed to." he said, standing up and tilting his neck to the side, cracking it. He then brought his sword up and propped it against his shoulder. "Let's go, Haku." he ordered, walking out through the other hallway in the room, followed by the feminine looking boy.
"Who do you think it was that killed those demon?" Haku asked, walking behind Zabuza. Zabuza kept walking until they reached the outside, a misty forest, before answering.
"I don't know but whoever he is, he's a dead man."
-Another part of the Land of Waves-
Ōjō was currently glaring at Ryuk, who had just finished eating the boar Ōjō had just killed. How it was possible to eat an entire boar in the two minutes it took him to get a few branches to start a fire, he didn't know but Ōjō wanted revenge.
"Hey!" he yelled. The emaciated demon turned a single eye his direction, the other still gazing at the blood dripping from the bones of the mostly eaten animal. "That better be a different boar from the one I killed." he said, only to receive a smirk from the silver haired fox demon.
"Did you kill this?" he asked, knowing the answer. "I thought it just decided to commit suicide and slit it's own throat." he joked. Ōjō was not amused. It a flash, Oujou was reaching for the sword on his back but before he could fully bring it out Ryuk's hand had already extended outwards and came down on his head, making the boy sink into the ground like a nail hit by a hammer.
He struggled briefly before realizing it was futile. "Get me the fuck out of here!" he yelled, only to be ignored. "Don't ignore me, you fucking—uh—whatever you are!" still no response. "Don't you know who I am? I'm—"
"The second prince of the Demon Realm, Ōjō no Kitsune, younger brother of the new Kyūbi no Yōko, otherwise known as the first prince of the Demon Realm." Ryuk finished for him. "I was your father's biggest rival, you think I don't know who you are? Especially with how much you take after him compared to your brother."
Ōjō was at a loss for words. This skinny old demon was his dad's biggest rival? He couldn't—wouldn't believe it. His father was powerful beyond compare, which attributed to the reason why he wasn't all that worried that His brother was searching for ways of making himself strong enough to kill him—Though he did make a deal with his brother to allow him to kill his mother without interference in exchange for not revealing his plans. For some reason, Kyuubi hated their father but was fond of their mother, while it was the exact opposite with Ōjō.
"I don't believe you." Ōjō said, making Ryuk smirk.
"Believe it, kid. Why do you think your brother busted me out of that prison? He wants to know where my swords are. With just our knowledge and strength, me and your dad were matched but when it came to weapons, my swords would give me a victory against him and his elemental swords every once in a while." Ryuk glanced at the sword Ōjō was gripping tighter. "I see he has begun sharing them with his kids, eh? Does that mean he's getting old and too rusty to use them all anymore—"
"Shut up! My father could kill you and any other demon stupid enough to think they could take him on with his hands behind his back and his eyes closed!" Ōjō yelled, glaring at Ryuk as tears of anger were threatening to fall down his face.
Yellow eyes stared back at the boy buried neck deep in front of him. "You... You idolize your dad, don't you?" he asked, wonder about how the conversation he had had with the Kyūbi in the cave would end up affecting this young kitsune.
-Flashback -
Ryuk stared at the man in front of him. It had been a while, but he could still see the red head's mother whenever he looked at those detached eyes. 'How that dummy ever fell for her, I'll never know' he thought to himself.
"Well, since you are Ryuk, you must know why I am here, don't you?" The Kyūbi asked, studying the demon. It was in its fox form, it's yellow eyes were slightly hazy, an obvious indication of how long it had been in the dark. It was also skinny, but not to the point where it looked like it was starving. And it's silver fur was dirty, almost making it look like he was a black haired fox with sliver spots here and there.
Ryuk sighed. "Someone tell you it was me that dropped you on your head when you were little?" he guessed, making the red haired demon blink in surprise.
"What?"
"What?"
Kyuubi stared coldly at the silver haired fox, not in the mood for games. "Shiro Kinsei and Kuro Kinsei; were are they?" He demanded, making Ryuk raise an eyebrow. "And show me your true face, I hate talking to demons in their second form, makes my neck hurt." he said, referring to the fact that he had to look down.
Ryuk rolled his eyes before being covered in a soft glow as he stood on his hind legs and his body began to change form, making him look almost human. 'Such is the curse for being SS-class.' he thought, looking at his humanoid hands. Looking back at the young fox demon, he was surprised to see he had to look down. "Whoa, I though you were taller..." when the Kyūbi didn't react he sighed and brought a hand to his chin. "Let's see, the Kinsei blades...
"Last I remember, they were in the middle of Wave country..." he thought out loud.
"It's now the Land of Waves. It seems they lost a war and lost land on the mainland, only keeping the islands." The Kyūbi informes him, making Ryuk's eyebrow rise in surprise.
"Wow, then I guess they're in whatever country it is now, unless someone moved them. In that case, I don't know where they are." Ryuk replied. "Well, thanks for freeing me, I'm off—"
"Don't play dumb with me, I know you infused some of your Chakra into them, in case a situation such as this one should occur. I know you can track them down." Ryuk flinched, hoping he could just leave and get something to eat before going to have some fun with human women. He always liked them better than those stuck up bitches that were the female Fox Demons. Fucking them was like fucking a rock. He would know, there was nothing else to screw in that cave.
"So—what?—you gonna use me to find them?" he joked, only to laugh nervously at the younger Demon's smirk. "Ah, fuck." he sighed, looking down. Looking back up, he decided to voice an important question. "Why do you want them, anyways?"
Kyūbi stared him in the eyes, red looking at yellow, before looking away. "I want to take my father's throne, but I don't just want to win the contest for it. I want him to suffer." the Kyūbi answered, his tone of voice deathly serious.
"Why? What did he ever do for you to hate him?" Ryuk asked, wondering if the red head was like this because of the drop. 'It wasn't even that high, though.'
"Let's just say he betrayed my Mother." As he answered, the younger Fox Demon couldn't help but remember the yellow haired mini version of his father he had disposed of years ago, along with the red head that had birthed the abomination. "And my mother suffered because of it."
"... So he cheated on her?" Ryuk questioned, no ableist to see what was so bad about that. As an Alpha, he was allowed to have as many mates as he wanted, unless he allowed a someone to mark him. "What's so bad about that?"
"It was with a human." The answer made Ryuk smile widely on the inside.
'Alright, buddy! You finally came over to the fun side!' he thought, celebrating and planning on giving his old friend a big congratulations. Though getting back to the matter at hand, he guessed he could help the demon who was given the title of new Kyūbi since birth. He doubted the swords would even let him use them, anyways.
"Alright, but you should know that they won't guarantee a victory. I only had a forty percent chance of winning each time." he said, admitting the little known fact. "But still it's better than anyone else ever had."
"That's more than enough." the Kyūbi said, making Ryuk wonder how strong the new Kyūbi was. Sure, in his current state he was weaker, but he wondered if the red head was stronger than he was at his prime. "Now, let's go. I have something I need to get from the Land of Waves, as well." he said walking out of the cave, Ryuk following lazily.
"Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Just let me get some water, my throat's killing me." he said, rubbing said body part. "So," Ryuk trailed of, "you're not mad, then?"
"About what?"
"Nothing. About nothing." Ryuk answered, knowing full well that he was going to have fun messing around with the young fox demon.
- End Flashback -
Ryuk sighed as he watched the small demon in front of him continue to struggle in an attempt to free himself. "I always wondered what the repercussions of dropping the kit on his head would be." Ryuk thought, making Ōjō pause.
"Dropping who?" he asked, wondering if he was talking about him.
"You think your brother would be different if I hadn't dropped him?" Ryuk thought out loud, making Ōjō burst out laughing.
"You did what?" he breathed out after a while. "Man, I wish I could've seen that! The great 'Kyūbi-sama' dropped on the floor, crying!" he said, trying to calm himself down.
"I wish I could've, too. I ran away so fast afterwards, I didn't even notice when I got here in the Human Realm." Ryuk said, making Oujou laugh even harder.
"Stop ma-making me laugh. I-I can't bre-eathe." he pleaded. Ryuk only smiled, glad to see that at least one of his friend's kits was normal.
- Back with Naruto and the gang -
Naruto was hating the fact he hand thumbs. And the fact that there were only six paddles, meaning Tazuna spared himself from paddle work. Currently, Naruto, Kiba and Shino were rowing the boat from the left side, and Sakura, Hinata and Kurenai were rowing on the right side. Shadow, Akamaru and Tazuna were on the back part, sitting and enjoying their relaxation time.
When Shadow noticed that Naruto was slowing down, he jumped up onto the motor of the boat and smacked his tail, quite loudly, against the engine. "Hey, quit slaking off!" He shouted, another smack following his command. "Come on!
"Stroke!
"Stroke!
"Stroke!
"Stroke!" he chanted, each word followed by a smack against the engine.
"Shadow, shut—the hell up—before I—throw you off—the boat." Naruto threatened between strokes, turning to glare at the black fox perched on the engine. Said fox only begun to shout faster and louder, with harder smacks against the engine.
"Stroke!
"Stroke!
"Stroke!
"Stro—"
He was interrupted when after a particularly hard smack the engine sputtered, propelling the boat forward a few feet before stopping.
Tazuna inspected the engine once again before frowning when he found it didn't work again. Then he looked around the boat before noticing that Shadow was missing.
"Hey, Naruto, your little friend fell off." he said, making Naruto look down in fear, about to reach into his pants to check for himself when Sakura smacked him upside the head.
"Not that one, you idiot!" she shouted, blushing slightly at his stupidity. "He means Shadow." Naruto blinked before looking around and noting that the fox was indeed gone. Looking behind the boat, he saw him paddling behind them.
"Wait up, you guys!" he yelled. A mischievous smirk spread over Naruto's face.
"Quick, everyone, paddle faster! Maybe we can get away!" he shouted jokingly but was surprised when the boat actually did start to move faster. Laughing when Shadow starting shouting curses at them, he thought, 'Well, at least we're almost at the shore, anyways.' And it was true, it would only be a few minutes, at the most, before they reached shore.
As he laughed, he was unaware of the pair of cruel eyes looking at him from a pair of binoculars.
To Be Continued...
AN/ Well, there we go! Naruto Wandering demon chapter 6(?) is done! Now, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, it took me a while to make it, I know, but hopefully this makes you all forgive me for the long wait... Um... I don't think I have anything I need to clarify, but if any of you have a question, just ask and I will do my best to answer... though it might be kinda hard if you leave an anonymous review, seeing as I have no way of contacting you... Um... well I guess that's it... Oh, last thing before I go. Please review.