Last time on: Greatness
… The python puppet he unsealed hissed dangerously. It was so wide that it scraped the sides of the neighbourhood houses, Naruto stood on its head with his hood up, looking down menacingly at the town.
"Come out!" he shouted.
It was silent for a few minutes until the streets started filling with people, normal people. It seemed that the stream of people was unending but it still ended with an old man hobbling from his hideout behind a dumpster. Naruto's eyebrows furrowed at that but nobody could see it because of the shadow his hood cast.
"Hero?" a voice squeaked. He looked down and saw a boy a few years older than himself pointing at him, "hero?" he said louder and the people began muttering among themselves. The child was now frantically pointing at him looking as if he had won a house of candy, "HERO!"
At this the crowd cheered uproariously, some even threw up their hats and hooted, chanting "hero! Hero!"
The blonde looked over his shoulders at Shin who shrugged.
"Hello!? Hero, we need your help. Please!" the same boy yelled up at him, still pointing at him. (Rude huh?)
Naruto sighed and pinched his nose, 'what have I gotten myself into.'
Now…
CHAPTER 6
Our blonde hero's shoulders slumped, 'why am I doing this again?' he asked himself as he stood in front of the now named rice towns abandoned train tunnel. It was a huge hole in the side of a mountain that reached past Konoha to Suna; its edges were decorated with solid sand stones that now cracked in places. It could fit two of his python puppets well enough because the tunnel was built to be able to accommodate 6 trains. The town had two more of these tunnels all of which were similar to each other. 'Oh yeah, our agreement.'
Flashback
"I'm sorry but I'm not a hero." Naruto said from on to of python and the noise quieted down quickly. "I'm afraid you've got the wrong person."
"What! No, you are a hero. You have your own monster!" a random person yelled.
Naruto clenched his fists as Shin tightened her already tight grip on him. He had python lower its head to bow on the ground and he stepped down and crossed his arms with python still swaying above him with its tongue licking the air. He took a deep breathe to keep himself from lashing out and asked "which monster?"
They all pointed at the swaying puppet, Naruto allowed himself a smile from behind his mask and scratched Shin behind the ear. He nodded and said "I'm not a hero, I help at a price. What do you need help for and I'll name my price."
The elderly man that stepped out from behind the dumpster moved forward and bowed to the blonde boy "oh great hero!" Naruto's eyebrow twitched, "we implore you to aid us in our time of need and slay the evil dragon in the Suna bound train tunnel and we would do anything you wish."
The others followed suit and bowed to the 8 year old. Naruto looked at Shin and raised an eyebrow, she shrugged again and nodded. He turned back to the now straight backed people "wait, dragon? I'm sure whatever is terrorizing you is similar to what a dragon looks like but is not. There are no such things as dragons."
"It is a dragon hero, I swear. I saw it with me own eyes" another fairly old man hobbled out from the crowd. He had a wooden leg right leg and crooked teeth, with a train conductors overall. "I was there when it killed our leader, Isami."
Naruto sighed "ok, say I believe you, what would you pay for me killing the 'dragon'?"
"Anything hero!" a feminine voice yelled from the back and the people nodded at that and looked at him expectantly.
"I want 10% of all profit this town which I would come by and collect once a month, I want a ninja school established in this place as soon as possible, don't worry I'll provide all the learning materials and I want this town to answer to only me" Naruto said and he looked at the first old man who nodded, "call me Kumo. Not the cloud but the spider"
"We agree to all your conditions, Kumo-sama" the old man bowed, "just please rid us of the dragon."
"I need it in writing and I want you," he pointed at the crippled conductor "to be the witness."
"Paper?!" the conductor yelled and a child ran forward with a notepad held above his head and a pencil in his mouth. The two elders converged with the crowd and began muttering amongst themselves. 5 minutes later the conductor hobbled to him and presented the paper which was now contained the exact detail of the agreement but with more than 10 witness signatures. "Here it is, Kumo-sama."
Naruto nodded and pocketed the agreement, "what can you tell me about this 'dragon'"
"It breathes fire! And-and it is super strong" the man answered as he waved his arms above his head.
"If you people are so afraid of that creature why haven't you re-located?"
"We are a proud people and our families have been here for generations, we can't just leave here!"
Flashback end
"I need you to stay here, Shin-chan." He said and looked at the girl that was still latched on his back, "you're strong but not yet strong enough to face the 'dragon'"
"…you'll come back right?" the cursed child asked quietly.
"Of course I'll come back. Here, I'll leave a clone to keep you company." He formed the hand seals and a quick burst of fire later a second Naruto stood next to the real one. He opened his arms and Shin dived into it. "Be right back."
He summoned Chou and jumped onto pythons head, he then had the snake slip into the tunnel with the rolling puppet behind it. The dark tunnel was quiet but Naruto stayed on high alert. He had to jump off pythons head when a blurry thing barrelled into its side and kept pounding its head into the puppet. Naruto sent his tank puppet rolling into the creature to distract it while he fixed his snake puppets caved in head.
With a flick of his index finger the pythons head snapped back into place and it hissed angrily at its attacker. The puppeteer sent the puppet head first into the attacker's side as it tried to catch the rolling puppet with its tail. The python caught it head on and pushed it further down the dark tunnel, lowering visibility to nil. He was fighting in the dark. He felt Chou being hit with the creature's strong tail and being sent in his direction he jumped out of the way but was still clipped in his shoulders while the fat puppet got indented into the wall. He grits his teeth in pain and frustration. He lit up pythons glowing green eyes so that he would have even the slightest idea on whom or what he was fighting.
Turns out it was a dragon. He did not even want to know how a dragon got here.
It had a long and slender body like a snake with tiny but deceptively strong arms and legs that carried his body with ease; it had equally tiny but deceptive wings. It had a rectangular head with a mouth filled with rows and rows of sharp teeth and eyes that glowed a bright yellow. If he was to guess the colour he would say it was gold and red scaled. (Think something like a traditional Chinese dragon, I think).
It head butted his puppet into the wall and kept pounding it there until Naruto released his connection so it would look limp and the glow in its eyes died, putting the tunnel back into total darkness. Naruto cursed himself for not having any source of light handy. He concentrated all 10 fingers to his tank puppet behind him; he made it spin wildly in the wall so that he could free itself. The dragon turned towards the sound and lumbered over to Naruto, its own yellow eyes telling Naruto that the creature had spotted him. He perspired a little on his forehead and put more chakra into releasing the puppet. 'Come on, come on', he chanted in his head as he backed away from the huge creature. The dragon stopped and opened his mouth, a swirl of fire charged up and it kept increasing in size, it shot the ball of fire at the puppeteer.
The fire ball could easily plough through his python puppet even if it made it on time to intercept and Naruto did not know any strong jutsu that could block it. He wanted to accept his fate but in a stroke of luck only an Uzumaki could have, his tank puppet spun out of the hole, rolled towards him, jumped up and opened up then swallowed the ball of fire. Chou's belly glowed a deep red and Naruto had to pump more of his chakra into the specialized fuinjutsu in the tanks stomach so that it wouldn't explode and, just like with the former Mizukage, he compressed the ball of fire to the size of a tennis ball and shot it back at the dragon. As this was happening, the creature watched in curious silence with its head cocked to the side. The ball of fire met its left eye and it roared in outrage, swinging his tail around wildly.
Naruto breathed a sigh of relief and connected some of his strings back to python and had it frill its scales making it look like samehada but more slender and drill-like. It spun towards the disorientated creature and slammed it into the wall repeatedly. He had Chou spin over to it and join in the pummelling with it spitting out the residue fire at the things trunk. He stopped them and reverted python back to its normal form but kept Chou in his spinning tank form in case what he had in mind did not work. He had his snake wrap itself around the creature and squeezed. The dragon roared in outrage and made to spit out another ball of fire but was distracted by the spinning ball bashing into the side of its head. It coughed out smoke and wheezed when the snake kept squeezing; making a last ditch effort by swinging about, trying to free itself but it was loosing oxygen fast. It gave a last booming roar before the light in the dragons glowing eyes dimmed.
Naruto's legs wobbled and he fell on his knees, his chakra strings still keeping his python puppet wrapped around the mythical creature. This fight was as intense as his fight with the Mizukage. He took several deep breaths and when he thought he had a strong grip on himself he summoned 6 fire clones and had them seal up the dead creature. 'You never know when you'll need the carcass of a mythical creature'. He sealed his puppets himself and walked out of the tunnel to the awaiting crowd.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
A month and a half later
In an unknown location in a dimly lit tower, a man wearing a mask with a single eyehole fumed.
'How did we lose the 3 tailed? Zetsu says that some kid killed him and won the war for Kiri, this only delays my plans but it most definitely does not halt it. When I find you, Kumo, you would wish you were never born.' The mysterious man sneered to himself. He wore a black cloak with cloud designs on it.
"Are you alright, Madara Uchiha?" another man said from behind the first. This one sat on a sort of throne with numerous pipes sticking out from his back and shoulders. He was shirtless with deep red hair and purple rippled eyes. The Rinnegan.
"I'm just thinking about the loss of the 3 tailed, Pein" the man called Madara Uchiha answered "we would have to wait 3 years before we may proceed to gathering the jinchuriki and extracting their bijou."
"A sad loss but nothing we can not adapt to" the now named Pein said, he turned to his right and looked at the woman standing by his side "a sad loss isn't it, Konan"
The woman had indigo coloured hair with a blue origami rose on her right temple. She also wore a black cloak with red clouds on it that reached past her mouth but if not for that one would be able to see her frown, "I still think this is a bad idea, Nagato." She answered monotonously, "how would collecting the bijou complete our goals." She looked at the masked man and glared lightly, "this collecting of the jinchuriki has nothing to do with our goals at all."
"If your friend keeps mouthing off, Pein, she may get in trouble." Madara mused loudly and turned around. "I have matters to attend to, tell the other members of Akatsuki that we would keep taking missions and collecting money." And with that he disappeared in a swirling vortex.
Pein, still looking at Konan, spoke "if you are not for our cause then leave, you may come back when you realize that this is the only way."
She looked back at him with here stoic face still in place and said, "Why can't you see that that man is using you."
"He can not use a god, Konan" he snapped, loosing his cool "we have spoken about this before so do not force my hand to do something I will not regret. Now, go and attend to your duties to Ameagakure."
She nodded and made to go out but stopped at the door and looked back at Pein, "Yahiko did not want us to attain world peace like this, Nagato."
The temperature in the room dropped and Konan could see fire in the mans eyes from across the room, "this is exactly what he would want. Leave!"
She stood firmly at the entrance of the room, "he would be greatly disappointed in what you are doing. Please see that that man is using you." Konan said coolly.
With those words, Pein snapped.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
It took less time than he anticipated restarting the now newly named Trains town. They had to fix all the houses and the trains, and then begin rebuilding those that collapsed when the dragon attacked them a month ago.
When those people put their minds on something they put 100% into it.
As the ninja academy was being built, Naruto had his fire clones teach those who were willing the more militaristic aspect of being a ninja. He did not want more spies and informants, he wanted a personal army. They were strangely motivated by the fact that it was their 'hero' that was teaching them (they still hadn't stopped calling him that). The army he was training would not take missions but to train, defend their town and would answer to only him. He was now sure that he would not have to leave Konoha unauthorised for a very long time. When he was about to leave he left another highly powered fire clone to continue the training regiment and copies of all the books he had on his person, they would have to buy books from other places if they would wish to learn jutsu.
Finally, with Shin yu on his back and all his puppets safely sealed he waved to the now vibrant town and walked towards Ameagakure no Sato.
It was miles before he would reach the quiet village's border but then he heard a loud boom and did whatever any other 8 year old would do when he perceives a challenge. He ran towards the sound, but remembered that Shin was sleeping peacefully on his back so he made a clone and had it find an empty cave for them to camp and form a clone when he found one to tell him where it was.
He turned in the direction of the sound and was awed that he could still feel the tremors.
'What was that?!' he thought as he rushed to the scene, forgetting that he left his mask for the cursed child to hold onto when they left the town.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Konan has never felt so much pain.
Pein had all his paths beat her into submission before she was Shinra Tenshi'd into the ground a few miles outside of Ame.
"when you see that our way is the only way for peace to be attained then you are welcome to come back, Konan" Pein's human path said from the edge of the newly formed crater to the downed woman in its centre, "if not don't bother coming back." With those parting words, the animal path summoned a large bird and used it to fly all the paths back to Ame.
The woman tried to move but was stabbed with pain in her arms and left leg. Tears welled up in her eyes but she refused to let them flow, 'what happened to you, Nagato.' She kept up her efforts but unconsciousness began clouding her mind, numbing her senses but before it took her away completely she saw a sight that would imprint itself in her memory until the day she dies.
A boy, far younger than herself hovered above her with a concerned frown and deep green eyes that looked down into her own, the last light of the day shone from behind him making him glow with ethereal beauty. She was in awe. The 'angel' of Ameagakure was in awe at the boy. There was no way a being could be so clean and innocent, she must surely be dying and her guardian angel was here to take her away.
"An angel…" she muttered before her grip on consciousness left her.
Hearing this from a woman he knew nothing of, Naruto quirked an eyebrow "what?"
He shook his head and examined her injuries. 'Broken left middle and pinkie fingers, dislocated arms, most likely fractured left leg and maybe a mild concussion. Oh and some cuts and bruises, not too major but they cannot be ignored either. Whoever did this to her must really hate her huh? If I take her back to the cave and tend to her injuries it would set me back on my trip to Ame' he looked down at the woman and noticed tears making tracks down her face, her eye shadow smudged and her face getting paler and paler. He sighed quietly 'curse my soft heart.'
He summoned 5 clones and had them gather wood for a splint and quick stretcher. He gently straightened her arms, snapping them back into the sockets quickly and placed them in the splints. He straightened her legs and snapped that back into position and put that too in a splint. The clones the carefully hoisted her onto the makeshift stretcher and trudged out of the crater slowly with Naruto keeping her head steady. (I don't know if what I wrote on how to handle that sort of situation was correct but I hope you know what he was trying to do.) He couldn't use medical jutsu because of his chakra but he could mix herbs and broths that would help her recover relatively faster than normal. After they reached the cave and placed her down, he summoned wraps and spun the bandages around here injured limbs and her fingers and lay her down on the spare blankets his clone had been piling up. He sent 4 of them out to collect the needed herbs and roots and the other 2 to find food, preferably meat.
He set up a camp fire near her but not close enough to be uncomfortable and found Shin yu still hugging the clone he made before back tightly. He dispelled the clone and caught her as she fell and placed her near the fire gently and cover her with a blanket, she opened her eyes tiredly and smiled at him, he smiled back at her "go back to sleep." He whispered and she nodded before snuggling into the blanket. He looked back at his guest and sighed before he smiled slightly "you're going to be as good as new very soon." he walked up to the stranger and touched her forehead "fever" he mused loudly. Then clones he sent out for the herbs and roots came back with the ingredients and he set them to work boiling the water, putting the herbs in the water and after a few minutes he had them straining it into a wooden cup. He ground the roots and mixed it into the herb solution. He looked up to the entrance and saw his clones drag in a wild boar, "start cooking it" and with a 'Hai boss' they set to work. The blonde looked back at the injured stranger with his clones hovering over his shoulders, "hold her head up for me." When a clone did so, he brought the cup to her slightly parted pale red lips and tipped it in, she coughed weakly but he massaged her neck and tipped the cup again. She gulped it down and began mumbling incoherently, "place a damp rag on here forehead." After doing so, he took the strained herb leaves and placed them on the cuts and bruises, she winced every few times. He looked over his shoulder and nodded to the clone cooking the meat, he looked back at the woman and felt her forehead, "still feverish huh?" he motioned for more of the liquid herbs and had her drink it again.
He stood up and looked outside the cave; it was about midnight since the crescent moon was in the middle of the sky. 'Let's see how long you would heal.'
She woke up after 16 days of being given the herbs and roots solution and meat broth. Her eyes snapped open and she groaned inaudibly, she looked around the strangely cosy stone walled place she was in and looked at the silhouette of a person sitting in front of a fire stirring a pot of what she could only assume was spicy meat, she made to stand up-
"I wouldn't if I were you." The person said, he sounded very young, "your leg isn't ready to take your weight yet." he froze and quickly added "not that your fat." He spooned some of the food into a wooden bowl and walked towards her and sat down near her head. He smiled at her and blew the bowl so it would cool down, "now, say ah…" she did not.
"Who are you and where am I?" she asked in her monotone voice, her eyes betraying her as she looked frantically about the place she was in.
He sighed and dropped the bowl, he looked outside and said, "I am someone who can't pass a person in need of aid without doing something about it and you are in a cave I found near Ame. And before you ask, yes I bathed you and yes I also dressed you." Not even the slightest bit embarrassed.
She stayed silent and looked at the person that spoke and gasped, 'the angel…' the camp fire shone from behind him in such a way it looked as ethereal as the first time she saw it, it looked like a halo shone about him and she felt strangely rejuvenated by his prescience.
"-llo, -ello, hello!" the boy said as he waved his hands in front of her face. She blinked twice and faintly blushed but kept quiet with her face straight; fearing that if she spoke she would say something very stupid, he hummed and checked her forehead temperature, "your fever has gone down" and then he held her arms up and moved them slowly, she felt goose bumps cover her arms at his touch, "do you feel any pain?" she shook her head silently and watched as he went to the other arm and asked again, she shook her head again. He went back to the broth and asked "you need to eat something, do you want me to feed you or you can do it yourself." She shrugged and took the bowl slowly and felt her stomach flutter when he grazed her fingers with his own, she then bowed her head in thanks and ate the food. It was delicious and it took everything she had in her body not to just throw the whole plate into her mouth. But she still shovelled it in faster.
He looked at her with a raised eyebrow in amusement "was it good?" she flushed and nodded, "can I know why you were half way to death in a crater?"
She cleared her throat "yes but only if you tell me the reason you were there in the first place." He shrugged and nodded "and your name" he hesitated for a minute before he nodded again. She motioned for him to sit near her and she began her story. From when she became an orphan during the third great Shinobi war, to when Hanzo the salamander killed a childhood friend of hers, to when her other childhood friend, Nagato, formed an organization of S-class nuke-nin on the order of a mysterious masked man who calls himself Madara Uchiha and finally ended by telling him what the organization planned to do with the bijou. She said all of this in a dull monotone, but Naruto stayed awake through it all because he was polite like that, "the masked man has blinded Nagato to Yahiko's true goal and is controlling him, I try to tell him but he does not want to listen to me." Here her voice filled with and emotion that could only be described as fiery "I am sure that masked man has other objectives that he does not want to tell us, I'm sure of it!" she looked back at Naruto and had to keep the awed tears in her eyes from falling when she again saw the ethereal glow around him, "wh-whats your story?" she felt that she at least owed him the truth and hoped he reciprocated.
The blonde puppeteer cracked his neck and looked at the sleeping child near the fire before he turned back to the woman named Konan. He also told her the truth. How his parents ignored him for his sister, how he taught himself all that he knew, how he planned and semi-succeeded in forming a spy network and how he now had a personal army in the making, "I was just on my way into Ame to find out why there was no current information about it."
"If you went there you wouldn't come out alive."
He was taken back by this, "how come, I could just sneak in?"
"The rain that falls around the village is laced with chakra, by the time it touches you, you would be surrounded and killed. There is no way to bypass it unless you are a member of the village."
"Why are you telling me this, I would have thought that you would at least cover up the fact that there is such an organisation. If their members found out that you told me you would be killed." He pointed out to the woman, "lucky for you, I'm good at keeping secrets."
"Don't worry about me dying, Naruto-san, because I will still go back there and try to convince Nagato that the path he is going down is not wise." She said firmly and looked at the roof expressionlessly.
"If you don't like what he is doing, why go back, why not give this information to a stronger village so that they can do something about this."
"I-I-I don't know," Konan mumbled as she fiddled with the blankets wrapped around her, "maybe I just needed someone to talk to."
Naruto smirked slightly and nodded, and then he stood up and spooned more broth into her bowl, came back and handed it to her. He sat back down and watched her drink it with a dazed look in her eyes before he said "I'm no medic nin but you may need a month before you can walk with that leg."
"Thank you Naruto-san" he just waved it away and she went back to eating, then she gasped and looked at Naruto sharply. He raised an eyebrow at her in question. "if-if Nagato would not see that Madara is using him for his goals, then I can try to foil their plans and show him that that masked man can not be trusted. I-I can be your spy in the Akatsuki!"
Naruto wanted to explode with joy inside but on the outside he kept his face perfectly neutral, "you don't have to do that. If they catch on to what you're doing they will kill you."
"I-I know, but it's a sacrifice worth taking if it would help Nagato see the person he is taking orders from. If I die, then I die" she replied with fire in her eyes, "at least-at least you will be able to protect your sister if someone is sent to kidnap her."
He sighed tiredly and slumped his shoulders before he took a deep breathe and nodded, "but if you see any signs that they are catching onto what you are doing, run." He said as he grasped her hands, "I can not have your death on my conscience."
She gave him a small smile and patted his hand, "I made the decision, Naruto-kun. If I die knowing that I prevented something that could spark more death, then I would die with a smile on my face." 'And with you in my mind, Naruto-kun.'
He nodded solemnly and made to stand up but Konan's hand stopped him, "I need to get some sleep."
"c-cant you stay with me a little longer, we can just…talk," her voice quivered, she still wanted to listen his voice and look at his face for as long as possible. "That is if you want."
Obviously Naruto was oblivious to her thoughts or that her stoic face was reddening by the second, "ok, but are you catching a fever or something" he felt her forehead and she sighed wistfully.
"I'm-I'm fine Naruto-kun." She blubbered quickly and grabbed the hand on her forehead before she could faint. "Can-can you tell me a little about yourself."
That was how the night went. They discussed until the sunrise, they told each other their most intimate secrets (not the fact that she fancies him, of course) and their plans for the future. To her it felt oddly satisfying to confide in someone, Naruto knew this feeling because he had Shin yu with him longer than Konan had him.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
"Thank you for coming, Naruto," Minato said from his desk in his study with Kushina standing beside his chair. He motioned for the boy to sit down in the seat in front of him "please sit." The boy did so wordlessly. "How have you been, we haven't seen each other in a while."
"I am fine, Tou-sama." He answered curtly with his clenched hands on his laps. "Why have I been called?"
It was Kushina that answered, "we are just concerned about you, you-you haven't been sleeping at home anymore."
"I am fine, kaa-sama; I have been sleeping in a friend's house."
"Why? You still have your room in this house. Is this about my announcement on Mito's birthday" Minato asked, completely forgetting that it was also his birthday that day.
'Naruto' clenched his teeth a little and his eyes hardened at the fact that they still did not know it was his birthday as well. He answered "no."
"Then why isolate yourself from us, Naruto. We can try to make amends, in fact when is your birthday?" the Hokage asked.
The blonde boys clone scowled lightly "there is no need to make any kind of amends, Tou-sama, I. Am. Fine."
"We-we can train you" Kushina hurriedly blurted, "You have unlocked your chakra, right?"
If 'Naruto' was to grit his teeth anymore it would shatter, the temperature in the room dropped and the boys clones hair shadowed his eyes from sight. He answered with his voice perfectly neutral "there is no need to do that, kaa-sama, thank you for offering."
"Why are you being so stubborn? Cant you see that we are trying to bring our son back home!" the current Namikaze clan head shouted as he stood up abruptly. 'Naruto' did not even flinch, but kept his eyes hidden under his head, "and look at me when I speak to you, child!"
The boys clone slowly stood up and looked at his father who stepped back in shock at the amount of hate he saw. The pressure on him increased and his legs wobbled from underneath him but he stood strong, his mother was not so lucky; she fell on her knees gasping for air. Naruto took out his black sun glasses from his pocket and wore them, the pressure instantly disappeared and his parents breathed a sigh of relief.
'Naruto' kept his face stony and spoke, "I am not being stubborn Tou-sama, I do not need your training kaa-sama" the clone spat, "I am the best in the history of the academy, if you wish to find out how good I am go and ask the people who know me well enough if." With that the doppelganger bowed and left the room. His parents watched him go and could not bring themselves to stop him.
He closed the door and walked towards the exit before he stopped and used his chakra strings to grab his sister who was hiding above him. He smirked at her pout and ruffled her hair "next time try not to gasp too much." He dropped her onto the ground gently and made to move out but stopped when his sister grasped his hand softly.
"Nii-san, are you ok" she asked timidly scuffing her feet nervously from under his gaze.
"I am just a bit angry Mito-chan, nothing to be worried about." He replied as he ruffled her hair again, her cheeks reddening. He laughed when she tried to kick his shin but he lifted it out of the way just in time making her over swing and fall down.
"Naruto-nii-san that's not fair," she mumbled from the ground as she crossed her arms, pouting up at him. Then her face changed to that of glee "ne nii-san, I and the girls are planning to go shopping soon, d-do you want to come?"
He scratched his chin and asked "by any chance did you promise them that I would be there?" at her flush he continued "I thought so."
"Oh come on! It would be fun!" she yelled outraged and stood up, grabbing his hand and running outside. "Ino would be there and Hinata and Hanabi and Sakura and…" she kept prattling on names he half knew in class.
"Ok, ok just slow down!" he chuckled. "I'll go, but watch what you promise next time, Mito-chan."
"Thanks nii-san, you're the best" she squealed and dragged him towards the awaiting crowd of girls "oh and your paying!"
"Wonderful" he muttered sourly.
Authors note
Aaaaaand done!
B.j.