Two Days from Konoha
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Rays of sunshine were threatening to break night into day, and they still had not stopped.
They had continued their journey, feet aching and muscles tight from overuse.
Naruto had slept the whole way, sharp coughs breaking the silence every few minutes.
Suddenly Itachi felt one of his teammates drop back sharply, and he turned, finding Anko clinging to a branch.
He stopped, allowing Genma to jump over to her.
"Sorry." She growled in anger and embarrassment. "My foot missed." She shook of Genma's hand as he tried to pull her to her feet, her legs shaking.
A seasoned ANBU does not simply 'miss' in their step. Eyeing her from his position, Itachi noted her pale skin and face drenched in sweat. Her body swayed in the direction of the wind, as though too tired to properly brace herself against it.
Wordlessly, Itachi sunk down onto the branch, easing Naruto down so his head lay in his lap. He saw the other two join him, feet dangling over the branches as their bodies sagged.
He hadn't realized how much pain he was in until they had stopped moving. His feet felt as though they were standing, even as they dangled in air, so accustomed to jumping non-stop.
The young teenager stretched his arms out, wincing as they cracked, and allowed the breeze to cool his skin where he had been holding the feverish blonde for so long.
Even the rough tree trunk behind him felt comfortable and he sank back against it, muffling a groan as his muscles finally got the chance to relax.
… … … … … … …
He awoke with a start some time later, the sun well into its ascent. None of them had intended for this stop to be any more than a brief rest, but looking over at the other two he found them unconscious, leaning against each other to stay upright on the branch.
His body felt, if possible, even worse. Sleeping had stiffened his sore muscles, and as he wriggled on the branch to sit completely upright, he felt them begin to protest profusely.
The Uchiha growled slightly, realizing his whole team had been asleep, and left to the mercy of any nearby ninja or animals. Shameful, even in their current exhausted state. It burned him to think that they could have made it this be killed by some Genin missing nin.
Naruto's condition still seemed mercifully unchanged, and Itachi smoothed back blonde hair from his small face, preparing to pick him up once again.
The boy was slight, and his young body was surprisingly light despite his well-developed muscles, but it is the sin of all small children that they become heavier the longer you hold them. Itachi had been carrying Naruto almost nonstop for days now, and now that he was unconscious and dead weight it was only becoming harder.
However, he could easily cope because the boy knew it was their best chance to get there on time. Anko's free running style was all arms, and if she lost the use of them to carry the young child she would be significantly slowed. Genma was their protection, and despite Itachi's skill, the older man had years of experience on him. With Itachi's speed and the other two's fighting prowess, they could maintain a steady defensive position even at speed.
Besides, he was a ninja, not just an average young boy. Carrying Naruto was only a little worse than using heavy weights, and was nowhere near as gruelling as the workout that the spandex wearing Gai put himself through daily.
The Uchiha stretched his arms out once more before scooping Naruto up.
"Anko. Genma" He called out, voice croaky, as he stood with the boy in his arms.
Genma was the only one to react, eyes reluctantly sliding open. He took a few seconds to focus, before he suddenly shot upwards, recognizing exactly what the purple in the corner of his vision had been.
Unfortunately, this left Anko's body to teeter dangerously backwards, ready to slip completely off the branch. Fortunately, Genma still possessed enough strength and ninja reflexes to brace her back before she could fall, and anchor himself to the branch.
Now supporting a sleeping Anko, he was backed into a corner. His wide eyes locked with the Uchiha, pleading for some assistance.
Itachi summoned enough strength to twitch the corners of his mouth upwards, shrugging in his teammates' direction.
Genma deflated, and turned his terrified eyes back to his sleeping teammate.
"Ah, Anko-" He instantly cringed back
"I'm sure you weren't touching me while I was sleeping, were you Genma-kun." Said a dangerously sweet and very much awake voice.
"Ah… No?"
Thock. Smack.
And so the group continued, their muscles still aching in protest with each bound, but a little more rejuvenated from the brief rest.
… … … … … … … …
So far they had been mercifully unmolested in their travels, however now that was all about to change.
"Itachi…" Genma called casually, eyes fixed forwards.
"I see them." The Uchiha grunted back. He had already noticed the group begin to run parallel to them, slowly edging closer.
Clearly not native to Konoha, their stealth skills were poor. They rustled leaves and broke branches as they travelled along.
Silently activating his Sharingan, Itachi inspected the group as best he could at speed. Abysmal stealth, and since they had skirted close to them to obtain intel, it was very unlikely they were hunting them specifically. An assassin or bounty hunter would gather intel before the journey even began.
Most likely common missing nin thugs then. It was unusual to get a group this large though, usually it was a solo gig, perhaps two at most if they could tolerate each other. Larger groups usually ended up killing each other, or like the group they had been hunting, were at each other's throats so much that they would splinter apart.
Two of the three appeared to move stiffly, not suited to the agility required in tree travel. Their larger forms had Itachi leaning towards brawlers or perhaps melee weapon users. Either way definitely close combat tanks.
The final was more limber and far smaller than the other two. Itachi suspected that the slight stature and position at the head of the group was a 'brain and brute' combination. That would explain the larger than average group size. The brain was in charge, the thugs simply followed orders and as long as they got what they wanted they were happy.
Itachi hefted the boy in his arms further up to dangle limply over his wrist, freeing up one of his hands.
Three. Two tank. One brain. Small first. Itachi signed to the other two. A simple strategy, but hopefully it would be all they needed to get the upper hand and move past this obstacle as quickly as they could.
He sensed rather than saw the hostile group peel off and take to the ground, likely more suited to that terrain. His eyes narrowed as they gained ground, no doubt intending to set up an ambush point further ahead. Their speed was a surprise, or perhaps the long days of travel had begun to wear the ANBU down more than they realized.
"Go around?" Asked Genma uncertainly. They didn't have time for a fight.
"Nope!" Growled Anko with a leer. "They'll just have to get out of our way."
They weren't sure whether the sun glinted more off her bared teeth or sharpened kunai.
The Uchiha clutched the boy in his arms tighter, preparing for an encounter. He deliberately slowed his speed, allowing the other two to take up offensive positions, leaving him and Naruto defended.
… … … … … …
They didn't have to wait long. Only a minute later, Itachi signalled that he had spotted the group up ahead, standing confidently facing the oncoming party.
The smaller man was flanked by the two brutes. Although Itachi could not see features at this distance, he was sure their body posture would be all crossed arms and smirks.
It was quite stupid, really. Despite the even numbers, these missing nin should know that challenging and unknown party could be disastrous.
Perhaps, due to their proximity to Konoha, as well as the low average age of the group, they had assumed they had happened upon a Genin or Chuunin team. A fair assumption to have made, but one wholly incorrect.
The group did not decrease their speed as they gained on the stationary party.
Bursting through the trees, Itachi just managed to glimpse a smirking mouth as it opened to deliver some witty opening line before it disappeared under a river of red.
"Nope!" Anko growled her momentum carrying her well behind the group even after she had taken apart the smaller leader.
She was wielding a set of Kunai between her fingers, a makeshift knuckle-duster combination that had raked through the mans' flesh like claws.
The brutes didn't fare much better, one gutted cleanly by Genma before he had even had a chance to process the purple blur taking apart his meal ticket.
The last remaining hulk turned to watch his partners' guts spill to the forest floor, and as a result completely missed his own death by way of a throat slash.
Before the last thugs' corpse had even hit the ground, the group were on their way. Nobody cared to obtain proof of kill in case they were wanted or had a bounty on their heads.
There simply wasn't time.
They sped off, Anko flicking her dripping Kunai off before stowing them away in her bloodied pouch.
Itachi glanced down and realized that Naruto's blue eyes were open, bright and alert yet slightly clouded. The whites of his left were tinged a horrible green.
Noticing his attention, the blonde flicked his eyes up to meet Itachi's red ones, Sharingan still activated from the pathetic 'fight.'
"Good job." the boy murmured, eyes sliding shut again.
The Uchiha sped up, clutching him tighter.
… … … … … …
-AN-
I don't actually have any friends who enjoy watching Naruto, so I want to discuss a few things with you guys, hopefully correctly assuming you are all fans of the show:
What did you guys think of the ending? Enough information for you guys? I'm still burning to know more about the offspring/future careers of the cast. Is Hinata a housewife now? Is Himawari a ninja in training too? She totally should be with that Byakugan. If anyone knows of a site that goes a little more into depth please let me know I have yet to find anything better than Narutopedia.
How'd you like the final pairings? I know a lot of people were anti-NaruHina. Also damn… Anko an Sai's kid is pretty terrifying. The blonde hair and pale skin/eyes?!
What about those kids' names am I right?! Also what happens if one of the InoShikaCho children die? They literally have no fallback. With such a dangerous career field, you think clans and especially clan heads would be at least a handful of children. Why did only Sasuke/Itachi and Bolt/Himawari end up the only kids in the whole village with siblings? They didn't even need to necessarily include them in the main story; Shikamaru could have just turned up with a little mini Shika dangling off his arm every hundred episodes and let it gurgle a bit, etc.
Anyone got any more information on Orochimaru's kid? Or are they deliberately keeping specifics out of the story. I mean how did he end up in Konoha? (Also, when his parentage was first brought up, I totally called it. Orochimaru came specifically to mind but I immediately thought 'nah couldn't happen)
CAN I JUST SAY that I totally think Orochimaru's kid is a genetic experiment. I mean that's implied just because of who his parent is, but look: Hair white like Jiriya, eyes gold like Tsunade, skin pale like Orochimaru. I reckon he's a genetic combination of all three, in Orochi's attempt to create the ultimate Sannin child! Let me know if you agree or have seen this theory elsewhere, I haven't poked too much into it.
And finally, what do you think about Bolt? To be honest I liked him more when he was being a broody mini-Sasuke. Now he's just a Naruto clone. Nice kid, but I would have preferred he be more distinct from his fathers' personality. And he wasn't as powerful as I would have thought he would be. I hoped he would be an example of what Naruto could have been had his parents not died, but according to Bolts' life all that would have changed was a bit more whine to him.
Sorry for the long spiel. I've had to try and make do with googling answers but I figured asking some fans of the show would offer a lot more insight.
Anyway please review!