Thanks to Lady Rini, Alternative Angel, i14, and ??? (prepare to die a slow and horrible death if you ever call me perrywinkle again! The co author wishes you luck in surviving…) Anyway, as a quick note, regarding certain events that have been happening in the Naruto manga, naturally this is an AU fan fiction so we can only say that Pein did not do the…damage… that he did in the manga. What do you want from us? We're only human…
The acadamy let out and the future genin of Konoha bolted out like there was no tomorrow. Everyone went their separate ways and Nara was no different. She was on two missions; one mission was to get her bag back from Tsunade; the other mission was to find Ichirakus Ramen stand.
She gave a quick good bye to Haruna and promised to see her tomorrow, and she set off in the general direction of the villages' center. Hopefully.
It was then she realized she was being followed. Years of running had given her an almost sixth sense to this sort of thing. Someone was tracking her. Her breathing quickened and images of Itachi and bounty hunters flashed through her head.
She took a deep breath. She had to calm down. This was Konoha. If someone was following her at such a close range without actually attacking her, or not being noticed by any of the shinobi in the village, they had to be Leaf shinobi.
Meaning Tsunade didn't trust her in the slightest. Gritting her teeth in annoyance, Nara made a beeline for her apartment that Tsunade had been kind enough to give her. Maybe the shinobi weren't really following her and she was just being paranoid.
Maybe they were Hyuugas or…
Oh who was she kidding? They were following her like a cat set on a mouse to make sure she wouldn't leave the village. She was going to murder Tsunade-baachan.
In her apartment, Nara was surprised to see her bag waiting for her. There was no note, and nothing had been removed, although they had all been undoubtedly checked and sanitized.
A couple of hand signs later, and Nara activated her Byakugan. The three shinobi trailing her were not too far away. Normally, one would have to be an idiot to stay that close to their target. Apparently, they thought that Nara was too stupid to realize that she was being followed.
What did they think she was? Some stupid genin?!?!...Oh…right…she WAS a genin. No, not even a genin. A lowly acadamy student. Perfect. Just perfect.
She needed to do something about this. Not complain, but make their life a living hell. She absolutely detested this. She hated being watched over like some sort of prisoner (which, ok she was, but that wasn't the point). They could have at least talked to her. At least that ANBU who might be Shino had the decency to make his presence known to her. Although…he was probably under estimating her as well…
The question was, how to get those three shinobi to reveal themselves? Even if she headed straight for their direction, she doubted they would give away their position too willingly. They were after all, shinobi of the hidden leaf.
Suddenly, the answer became clear. It was so simple really. How had she not thought of this before? Their mission was to keep her in the village. All she had to do was 'accidentally' wander out of the village. Perfect!
…But how would she do that? After all, Nara might not be able to find Ichirakus, but anyone could figure out where the outside of Konoha was. You just had to keep walking long enough. She needed a good excuse…
She deactivated her Byakugan, grabbed her bag, and hurried outside into the busy streets. If she could find someone from the acadamy, maybe she could fool them into leading her outside. The plan was just too vague. Even if she found someone, who was saying they would be willing to help the freaky new kid?
There was Haruna. But to be entirely honest, she had NO idea where Haruna lived. She supposed she could ask around…
Yeah, maybe she would do that. Ask around or something.
"STOP ICHIRAKUS! MURDERER OF HELPLESS BEINGS!"
Nara came to a dead halt. Ichirakus? Where? As important as it was to make a fool out of those idiot trackers, visiting the monumental landmark of Naruto Uzumaki came first.
"STOP THE MURDER!!! THOUSANDS OF BEINGS HAVE BEEN MURDERED SO YOU CAN STUFF YOUR FACES! STOP THE MURDER!!!"
Nara located the voice to some familiar red head that was extremely tall. He had a huge banner that had the word 'Ichirakus' in a crossed out circle. His right eye was missing as well which struck Nara as really odd. And on his left arm was a green tattoo that seemed to be almost pulsating.
He was in her class! That was it!
"He-ey Naro! Here to protest Ichirakus with me?" spoke the red head. He had an honest sort of smile, and seemed to be very convinced in whatever his cause was.
"Errr….who…who are you?" Nara asked sheepishly.
"Names Gyaro Mitsu! Of the Gyaro clan! Pleased to meet you!" He cried out cheerfully in a voice a bit louder then appropriate.
The owner of Ichirakus, a kind faced lady, seemed to be ready to walk out and beat poor Mitsu with a ladle.
Nara paused a moment to take in the scenery. Ichirakus ramen shop. It was small, but not cramped. Almost…quaint. The banners on the roof were still there, although the old man was not. Nara assumed that girl in charge must be Ayame. And the smell! The smell of ramen being made. It was exactly like her father had described. She almost wanted to cry of happiness to finally have found the place that Naruto Uzumaki had dined so many times in his youth.
The entire picturesque scene was ruined by Mitsu. With another loud shriek, Mitsu yelled the accusatory insults that he had said many times before.
"So…why exactly are you protesting Ichirakus?" Nara asked curiously, hoping there was a rational explanation to all of this.
"That…!" Mitsu hissed. "They…they just can't do this! It's not murder! Its genocide! GENOCIDE!!! And from our own farm as well…its obscene!"
"What is?" Nara asked, getting a bit annoyed by now.
Mitsu pointed to the sign that had been put next to the ramen stand.
NEW!
Try ICHIRAKUS new
VEGETARIAN
RAMEN
NO meat
NO preservatives or additives
ONLY the crispest and freshest of greenery, finest of this side of Konoha!
TRY NOW!
Nara frowned. "Wait…what?!?"
"Do you see? How dare the murder those innocent plants! It makes me want to puke just thinking about it! Being boiled and chopped up by such a cold blooded monster! HOW DO YOU SLEEP AT NIGHT YOU PLANT KILLER?!?"
The last part was directed at Ayame, who had finally stepped out of the stand with a ladle and something that looked like a brand…
"Listen Gyaro brat. If you say one more word, I am calling the Hokage and calling this harassment! You leave now!"
Mitsu was unperturbed. "I am PROTESTING! As a citizen of Konoha I have every right to protest the INJUSTICES that you have done to the second class species of this society! Its people like you that cause our world to be so close minded and harsh!"
Nara raised an eyebrow under her hood. A plan began to form in her head. She took Ayame to the side.
"Listen…uhh. Ma'am, if I get rid of him, will you give me a free bowl of ramen? Please?"
Ayame smiled "If you do that, I'll give you all the ramen you can eat for a month!"
Nara gaped at her. "For real?"
"Are you kidding, this jackass has been murdering my customers away like it was nothing. If you can keep him away, it's would be the least I could do. IF you can, that is."
Nara smiled wryly. "No. Problem." She stepped away from Ayame and walked up to Mitsu.
"Wow Mitsu, you really are right, what they are doing to those plants are absolutely horrible!"
Mitsu frowned, tilted his head to the side and raised an eyebrow. "Heh?"
"You said that those plants came from your farm right? Where is it?" Nara asked with a winning smile and a heap of innocence.
Mitsu still stared at her as if she had sprouted to heads. "Errr….just outside of Konoha…I could show you…if you want…"
Naras' grin grew wider and her teeth shone through. "Really? That's great! Can you show me right now? Please? I've never seen a first class plant farm before."
Mitsu gaped at her like a fish. "Sure man. Just…uhhh…one quick question."
Nara shrugged. "Sure, whatever, what is it?"
Mitsu looked from side to side. "…You're not gay are you?"
xXx
"This has to be the most boring jobs, out of all the boring jobs." Konohamaru whined. They had been tracking this loser in the orange outfit since her class had let out. He was a jounin for Kamis sake! A chuunin could have done this blindfolded!
Why did Tsunade-sama see it fit to put three perfectly capable Jounin in charge of this so called 'B ranked mission' THIS WAS NOT A MISSION!
"Oh relax Konohamaru-kun" Moegi chided gently. "Nothing can be more boring than paperwork. Don't complain."
"'Sides, remember what Naruto-sensei used to say?" Udon said in a voice that briefly made Konohamaru want to turn around and snap his neck.
"No mission is unimportant!"
"Udon. Shut the hell up! There is a killer in Konoha with a string of murders behind him and all you can think of is quoting boss?" Konohamaru hissed with a murderous intent.
"Just trying to lighten the mood." Udon said stiffly with a trademark sniffle.
"Well don't do it! I wanted that mission! It was my mission! MINE!" Konohamaru snapped back childishly.
Moegi sweat dropped, and sighed in aggravation. Konohamaru usually got along great with Udon, but a lack of exciting missions made Kono-kun restless. He had gotten his hopes up with the mission of the murders, but in the end it was handed over to the Hyuuga clan. The fact that this girl was of Hyuuga descent most likely only added salt to the wound.
Udon snickered. "Looks like Mitsu hasn't quite caught on that this Nara girl is not a guy."
Moegi frowned, "Watcha mean Udon-kun?"
"See, everyone thinks that Nara is 'Naro' cause of that weird hood she wears." Udon said watching the occurrence as if it was some insanely entertaining soap opera.
Konohamaru nodded in agreement. They only knew she was a girl because Tsunade had been so kind to inform them of this. If Konohamaru hadn't known any better, he would have said that this Hyuuga brat was a boy.
"Well, 'Naro' just said some girly things in a mildly flirtatious matter." Udon said, cackling madly. "It looked like he was hitting on him or something!"
Moegi rolled her eyes. "This girl is smart, I don't think she would purposely flirt with anyone."
Udon cackled some more. "See, that's where you are wrong Moegi-chan. Guys have this whole 'no emotional' thing. That means that if you so much as hug another guy, you are automatically thought of as 'not manly'. Since Nara, Naro is not used to such a rigid society like this, she, he merely went into a friendly mode that would be normally accepted from a girl. But not a guy."
That was Udon for you. Always good for a definition or a translation. If only he could get rid of that eternally reoccurring runny nose and he might actually be a much more respected shinobi.
Konohamaru narrowed his eyes. "Wait…" He said slowly. "Where are they going?"
"The Gyaro compound why?" Udon said in a creepy tone. He tended to enjoy these missions for some insane reason. The other week he had actually congratulated a man for finally getting the guts to propose to his girlfriend of three years. The huge problem had been that Udon had been assigned to keep an eye on him since he was suspected to be a Sound spy. He had turned out clean, but he had never found out about the surveillance on him. So when a freak with coke bottle glasses and a runny nose congratulated him out of nowhere, he got a bit scared.
"Isn't the Gyaro compound…outside of Konoha?"
"Yeah, why-…oh. Oh shit. This is bad." Udon said, suddenly alarmed.
Moegi folded her arms. "Well, we just keep an extra close eye on her, it will be no problem."
Konohamaru jumped up frantically. "Don't you get it? She is using Mitsu to escape from Konoha! We have to stop her the minute she reaches the gates!"
He was met by blank faces.
"Look, even if she landed on a catapault and was sent flying across the border by accident, it is still our duty to stop her at all costs no matter what the situation." Konohamaru said in a strained voice. "We HAVE to stop her. The minute she crosses the border we intercept her."
Udon rolled his eyes. "Your just using this as an excuse to get some action."
Moegi nodded in agreement. "You really are."
Konohamaru turned a bright red and started foaming at the mouth. "I am SERIOUS! This is what the mission was about! This is our cause in life! We need to go! NOW!" And with that, he disappeared in a flash, undoubtedly getting a head start to the Gyaro compound.
Moegi looked at Udon, and Udon returned the gaze. "So…." Udon began. "What do we do now?"
Moegi groaned. "We might as well get ourselves embarrassed along with him, seeing as how he is our team mate."
And they too, disappeared in a flash.
xXx
As they reached the border, Mitsu kept talking on and on about plants. Evidently, the Gyaro clan was a plant based clan. Many of their jutsus revolved around plants. Which explained why Mitsu had been so aggravated by the situation in Ichirakus. He had grown up living side by side with plants. Almost Inuzuka style…only instead of dogs, celery.
Although, Nara resolved to never forgive Mitsu for attacking Ichirakus. That place was one of the centers of her childhood memories. He couldn't just deface it like that…
But, even if the shinobi tracking her left her alone, she did learn one big thing from this. She needed to watch her mouth. If she wanted to keep up this façade of being a guy, she had to make sure she didn't do anything feminine. She had already given Mitsu a scare, and she couldn't do that again. Especially not in front of Reniko.
That meant it was best to take a couple leafs out of her fathers' book, and act more like him. Maybe do a couple of pranks. Maybe come up with a catch phrase or something. Her father always did have a knack with saying 'Dattebayo' all the time. Although…she would have to come up with a new catch phrase. Dattebayo was too memorable. Maybe she could also speak in a gruffer tone or something. Although, everyone had already heard her speak, and there was no point in fooling Haruna, Reniko and Koru…
She would just have to make sure she didn't do anything that could be taken the wrong way. Especially in front of Mitsu.
"Well, We're almost at the compound. We just need to cross the gate and take a five minute walk or so. Then I'll show you our gardens and stuff. It's pretty epic." Mitsu said, cutting through Naras monologue like a clean knife.
He stepped past the gate and kept walking. It was Naras turn. Here went nothing…
One foot in front of the other an-
A shinobi appeared in front of her. He had an extremely long scarf for no logical reason. That almost seemed familiar.
"Nara! You have crossed the border! As due to Hokage-samas rules, you are under arrest!"
Mitsu raised an eyebrow. "Nara? What's that? Your club name or something?"
Two more shinobi appeared, although they seemed less professional then the scarf shinobi, and more annoyed and embarrassed. One wore glasses, the other was a kunoichi.
"Just…move along Mitsu." Glasses said in a thick voice. "There are way too many things to explain."
The Kunoichi tilted her head. "Long story short, Nar…o Naro, is not allowed outside the village borders."
Mitsu shrugged. "Oh. Ok then. See ya at school tomorrow then. Bye Naro!" He said, and with a carefree smile he headed in the direction of home.
"So." Nara said with her arms behind her head in an almost reclined position. "Nice to finally meet my stalkers. Since you obviously know my name, can I ask what your names are?"
The three shinobi looked at her in silence for a moment, but finally, the Kunoichi spoke up.
"I'm Moegi, and this is Udon-kun and Konohamaru-kun." She said in a sweet voice that was reserved for children under the age of eight.
…
…
Konohamaru. THE Konohamaru. The cute little midget that used to follow Dad around when he was still just a genin? No wonder he looked familiar! She had a picture of him in his diary when he had just passed the chuunin exams with Naruto. It had been one of the things that her father had brought with him when he had left, and he had given it to Nara as a gift.
This was amazing! No. Calm down. Calm down. Do. Not. Fangirl. Must. Not. Fangirl. She would just lose any dignity that she might have acquired throughout the day.
"Well, if you must know, next time you decide to stalk me, tell me first. Kay? I have the byakugan. NO ONE can track me like that. Not even jounins. I escaped a huge bunch of s ranked bounty hunters back in the stone country. And let Tsunade-baachan know that she needs to stop picking people because of her cruel sense of humor." Nara said in one fluid statement.
Konohamaru gaped at her for a moment. Baachan…that brought back memories. He and Naruto used to call Tsunade that all the time. He had stopped once he made a jounin, but Naruto kept at it. That is…until he disappeared without a trace.
"Cruel sense of humor?" Moegi said curiously. "What do you mean?"
Nara smiled widely. "She'll understand, and if you promise to tell me next time you stalk me, I might even tell you how I know about the time you used your double sexy jutsu to give Sakura a nose bleed."
It had always been one of Naras favorite story. Especially since mom would always get embarrassed after wards and not say a single thing for the rest of the night. She really did miss them…
The trio of jounin gawked at her, as the spawn of Naruto Uzumaki headed back to Ichirakus to claim her just reward.
"Hey, Kono-kun, what happened to arresting her huh?" Udon asked teasingly.
Konohamaru said nothing and stared in astonishment at the figure of Nara walking away.
"She…she…who…how…" He sputtered incoherently.
Moegi sighed. "C'mon Konohamaru-kun, let's go back and report to Tsunade."
xXx
It was early morning and Sarunte set off for school just as normal. He had overslept by accident and now was gonna be late. This was horrible. His parents would be furious. 'How will you ever match up to Daisuke now?' They would ask and shake their heads in embarrassment. Lousy Daisuke. What was so special about that loser cousin of his anyway?
Sarunte took a shortcut through an alley way behind the Korean BBQ shop. It would be quicker this way and the heavenly smell of fried pork would keep him motivated.
All of a sudden he felt an incredible sharp pain in his back. He collapsed, and saw to his surprise he was bleeding. A slight gust of wind and Sarunte found himself being sent flying and hit the hard wall of the alleyway.
More blood, errrgggghhhhh….. what was going on here?!?! All of a sudden, another light gust of wind hit him and he fell to the ground and began to cough up blood.
He couldn't even see what was happening. It was just wind gusts. He could barely get his hands together to form a jutsu. If he could see his opponent he could-
The wind nipped at his legs and multiple large gashes opened up. If he knew what he was facing, he could at least dodge…
If only he could see his enemy. Why couldn't he see? Oh for the love of god, why couldn't he see?
To Be Continued…