Alright! I am back from vacation everybody! The Delaware shore was AWESOME! The house I stayed in was right next to the beach and 5 minutes from downtown. I loved it! But all things must come to an end, I guess. So I have returned with a new chapter of the Dark Path of Shinobi!
Azeroth44: So did you bring anything back from Delaware?
Kvsyaoran: As a matter of fact, I did! (Pulls out something from the Magical Bag of Spoils) TA-TA-TA-DA!
Azeroth44: You bought a freaking slingshot?
Kvsyaoran: Hell yeah, I did!
Azeroth44: What are we gonna do with it, dude?
Kvsyaoran: Lets launch stuff at oncoming traffic!
Naruto: HEY! Aren't you guys forgetting something?
Azeroth44: Oh yeah…
Kvsyaoran: The story. My bad. That must come first.
Naruto (But suddenly wearing ridiculously huge sunglasses): I'm usually not one to impose on an act of anti-establishment or vandalism, but we promised these loyal readers a story. Let's start the show AND THEN use that slingshot.
Kvsyaoran: Say Naruto, wear did you get those sunglasses?
Naruto: I-HAVE-NO IDEA!
Kvsyaoran: Okay then, let's get started Tom.
Azeroth44: My name's Azeroth44.
Kvsyaoran (Smiling): I DON'T CARE!
"Blah" : Talking
'Blah': Demon speaking/ Inner Sakura
'Blah' : Naruto's Thoughts
'Blah' or 'Blah' : Harry talking to Naruto/other people's thoughts
Remember: Reviews are welcome and wanted!
Disclaimer: Naruto is the property of Masashi Kishimoto,
Harry Potter is property of JK Rowling,
Two Weeks Later…
Things were finally starting to go his way. Naruto and his friends started to hang out more often. Spending whatever time they were not training or completing missions, simply hanging out in town.
Naruto had feared that he would receive a grand amount of unwanted attention from everyone in the village. He was only half-correct. The villagers started to treat Naruto as some kind of celebrity that was being relentlessly bothered. They tried to get his picture or autograph and annoy him any chance they saw him in public.
Naruto knew exactly what they were trying to do to him. Run him out of town in a positive way.
The villagers had really become more elaborate with their Anti-Naruto movements.
But thankfully, Naruto had his friends to defend him and hide him from view of the paparazzi. Naruto even remembered Kiba pulling out Nunchucks and yelling at the crowd of bothersome on lookers,
"BACK! STAY BACK, SAVAGES!"
Along with the other half of his theory of public opinion, Naruto soon discovered that almost the entire ninja population supported him and treated him as some kind of an honorable hero. Many random ninja Naruto didn't even know, usually gave him thumbs up, pats on the back, or other random gestures of approval.
All in all, the attention Naruto received from the village, in total, was almost perfectly balanced out.
He wasn't quite sure how to feel about this change of environment. He did feel pretty enlightened for he finally received a fraction of the praise and approval he desired for his entire life. But he never expected that this praise would come so early on in his life. He expected this sort of attention to come to him when he was much older. Not to mention that he wished he could earn this approval through hard work and earn it his own way. Not receive it through a court case where everyone would do the fighting for you. All in all, Naruto decided he should feel lucky that the absolute worst things did not happen. He would rather have what he did have, instead of being scorned and feared in the ways his nightmares played out all his life.
Either way, life was getting just a little bit sweeter for Naruto Uzumaki and his friends.
Tuesday, 8:30 am
Naruto got dressed into a pair of navy-blue cargo pants, a green t-shirt, and another shirt that was in plaid shades of gray and white. And quickly strapped on his gear and pocketed his wand. Naruto then Apparated to the large courtyard just outside of the Hokage Tower. The sensei's decided that it would be the meeting place for all of the teams for the time being.
Naruto was the first to arrive, followed by Team Guy, Sakura, and Team's 10 and 8. Kakashi was the last to arrive a full hour later. They all gathered around and awaited for the team's selections.
Guy stood up above all the other adults and pulled out his mysterious cardboard box of names.
"Here we go! YOSH!" Guy exclaimed.
He quickly pulled out one of the teachers names and had selected: "ASUMA!"
Guy whipped out three other random names and had picked: "CHOJI! INO! SHIKAMARU!"
Everyone looked a bit skeptical for a second. Amazed that Guy had chosen a team that had no alterations made to it.
"YOSH! What a pick!" yelled the crazy Taijutsu Master enthusiastically.
He then selected the next teacher, "KURENAI!"
And then picked out her three students for the day, "SHINO! HINATA! NARUTO!"
Naruto and Hinata looked ecstatic at the choice of the team. Both of them were very happy to be placed on the same team this time. Ever since Naruto gifted the lilies to Hinata, they have both been talking to each other gradually more often as the past two weeks flew by. Kakashi on the other hand, looked a bit sad, and hung his head down in disappointment. He didn't get Naruto for a single mission these past two weeks.
Guy continued and pulled out a new name out of the box, "MYSELF!"
He pulled out three names and said, "LEE! KIBA! SAKURA!"
Sakura moaned inconspicuously, not wishing to be placed on the same team with two world-class weirdo's. Kiba and Lee didn't exactly look happy to be put on a teen with the pink-haired banshee. But they were both happy that they might both be trained by Guy-sensei.
"Neji and Tenten are still without a teacher." Guy indicated towards the two lone Genin in the corner of the crowd, "The sensei's and I will determine which one of us will stay behind and train their assigned members along with these two."
Asuma asked, "How are we going to decide this?"
The teachers all gathered around themselves and Kakashi said casually, "I have an idea that is both fair and just…"
The other teachers looked at Kakashi with interest. While Guy looked at his eternal rival with fiery enthusiasm.
"What will it be, Kakashi?" Guy announced, "Will we all have a race around the village to determine the loser? Or will it be a test of strength? An eating contest? Or a weight lifting contest?"
Guy looked determined to create a contest out of the small reason he could imagine.
Kakashi held out a fist and said coolly, "Rock, Paper, Scissors."
"WHAAAAAA?" Guy slack-jawed predictably.
The other jounin nodded and all said, "M'kay."
Disappointed that there would be no epic contest amongst the fellow jounin, Guy joined Kakashi's small contest of Rock Paper Scissors. But he tried to make it as epic as he could by waving and swinging his arms as dramatically as possible.
In the end, Guy lost the contest and would be taking a team consisting of Kiba, Sakura, and Lee today. He would not be enjoying himself and giving some students a good old fashion style training day (AKA: Torture). But at least he would be with his pupil Lee.
He then stood up tall and swore that he would beat Kakashi ten-fold in RPS.
As the jounin and Genin departed with Guy and his students at a distance away, Asuma leaned towards Kakashi and asked, "Does he do this competition thing with you often?"
Kakashi gave him an ugly look and said, "You have no freaking idea."
Naruto laughed and Kakashi flicked him on top of his head.
Guy, Kakashi, Asuma, and Kurenai all left with their individual students and climbed up the stairs to the Sandaime Hokage's office.
Sarutobi appeared to be fiddling around with some strange and small silver instrument on his oak desk. He quickly replaced it with a paper weight and properly posed himself for his audience of loyal ninja.
"Good morning everyone." He greeted with a small smile, "Now lets get down to business. What is the game plan today?"
Asuma said, "Guy will be stepping out to train several of the Genin today. That leaves myself, Kurenai, and Kakashi to lead the handful of students here."
Sarutobi nodded in understanding and took a puff from his pipe, "Very well. Will you care to tell me which sensei has which students?" the old man asked.
Kakashi stood forward, "I'm leading these students here today to train." he indicated to Neji and Tenten.
Kurenai spoke up next, "I will taking Hinata, Shino, and Naruto on a mission today."
Asuma then said, "I got lucky this time. I got my old team this time."
Guy then spoke out a little softer this time, in respect for his boss, "And I have Sakura, Lee, and Kiba with me today."
Sarutobi looked over the several piles of paper the had been lined over his desk since this morning. All of the papers inquired missions ranging from A to D-Rank missions. He selected 4 C-Rank mission papers and read them out loud.
"Team Guy," the Hokage said, grasping their attention, "Your assignment is a C-Rank mission. Your job is to hunt down and destroy a large number of wild Boar-q-pine pigs in a small town 10 miles east of the village. The boar population has become too numerous and several boars have killed and injured several of it's citizens."
Sarutobi handed the paper to Guy and read over the details quickly.
Kiba looked very excited at the thought of hunting down wild pigs. Lee was not very happy at the idea of killing wild animals but understood that if they didn't destroy them, more innocent people could die. Sakura looked pretty determined at the mission. Seeing it as another opportunity to train herself before her parents training arrangement was determined.
Guy bowed to the Hokage and said, "Very well, Hokage-sama! Team! We are off!"
And he left the Hokage's office with his assigned students.
Sarutobi picked up another slip of paper with information on another C-Rank assignment. He read aloud to Asuma and his students, "Asuma, your mission will also be C-Rank. Your team's job is to escort and protect an elderly villager on his way to the North-Eastern province to visit family."
He handed over the mission form to his son and read over the details of their client. He was elderly and required the use of a horse-drawn cart to accomplish his travels. His team would have to tend to his horse if it grew tired and guard him around the clock. For their client feared for his life and was willing to pay for the protection.
Asuma sighed and puffed on his cigarette, "Understood, dad."
Sarutobi looked a little agitated, "That's Hokage-sama, to you." he scolded.
Asuma turned towards his team and said, "Let's head out!"
Once gone, Sarutobi opened a scroll, searching for a specific mission to assign. When he finally found one he was looking for, he said, "Kakashi, instead of simply training the two students you have today, I will instead assign you on a simple C-Rank as well."
Kakashi looked a little bit surprised, as did Neji and Tenten.
"You will be assigned on an investigation mission. A simple surveillance. Nothing too serious. All you and your team will need to do is investigate a possible rebellion rumored to be forming in a town just south of here… Ever since our little misunderstanding with Suna in the invasion several months ago, we don't want to overlook any small threat or any possible unwanted uprising."
Kakashi, Tenten, and Neji all turned a little bit serious if they weren't already.
"Just accomplish a simply investigation on the village. If there is any sign of a possibly hostile rebellion, then see to it that it is stopped."
Kakashi received the form and read it over several time to memorize it. After he was done he took the form and his team along with it.
Sarutobi then smiled when he glanced at the familiar face of his adopted grandson smiling anxiously.
"Then that leaves Kurenai and her students." He pulled out the final form and said aloud, "Your team's assignment will be a packaged good delivery. Several highly valuable goods need to be delivered to the sea port just east of here. They are going to be shipped to the Land of Waves next week, but they need to be hand-delivered to the merchants who are in need of it before their departure date."
Kurenai read over their assignment form and memorized it.
"Reminder; the goods are said to be highly valuable and must not be tampered with. So there might be a possible threat of thieves who are more than willing to kill for something as valuable as your baggage is said to be. See to it that the valuables are unharmed." he informed strictly.
Kurenai and her students for the day all bowed in respect of their boss, while Naruto waved to him in a friendly way and said, "See you later, Grandpa!"
Sarutobi would have normally growled in anger for being reminded of his age, but instead he puffed some smoke from his pipe, smiled, and waved back to the boy he loved as a grandson.
"He's doing so much better these days." he chuckled to himself.
Naruto ran back home quickly to grab his backpack full of survival supplies and extra ninja gear he did not have strapped onto him already.
Naruto checked over all of his things and went through everything he had in his pack three times, in order to make sure he didn't forget anything.
'Relax, Naruto.' Harry said casually, 'It's not like your going on vacation. It's a mission that probably will take you until the end of the day…'
Naruto hunched his pack over his shoulders and thought, 'But Harry, Grandpa said that we're heading for the east coast of the country! That could take two whole days just to get there!'
Naruto opened the door to his apartment again and locked it once more with the Colloportus spell.
When Naruto arrived at the village gate, via Apparation, he saw that Shino and Hinata were talking while they waited for Naruto and Kurenai-sensei to arrive.
"Hey! Hinata!" Naruto waved over to his friend.
Hinata said something to Shino in a sort of hushing motion with her hands before she smiled at Naruto as kindly as she always has.
"H-hello, Naruto!" she greeted once again, "So are you excited about this mission or what?" she said with subtle enthusiasm. She tried to resisted squealing out in joy at the fact that Naruto was finally her partner on a mission.
"Oh yeah! But didn't Grandpa Hokage say that we had to deliver packages or something? If so where are the packages?" the blond asked.
Before Hinata could answer him, Kurenai-sensei had just arrived and answered for her, looking just as ready as her students were.
"The valuables were are delivering are in a depository in the next town just east of here. Which conveniently is set on our way to the coastal town." she informed, "We just have to stop at this town first, pick up the goods, and then be on our way." she smiled.
All of her students nodded in understand and they all sped out of the village at top speeds. Naruto occasionally looked back at the steadily shrinking village. Mentally noting that the last time he left his home like this, he was leaving to capture Sasuke.
Wayside by Yuki Kajiura
Team Kurenai leapt through the trees with the Genjutsu Mistress in the lead, while her three students followed in tow. They had been zooming through branches and trees for almost two hours, and it was only now did most of them begin to feel tired. They decided to stop and rest when the almost sped across a small river.
Everyone dropped their individual baggage and sat down to rest and drink some water. Naruto slumped onto the bass of a thick oak tree and drank a little bit of water from his canteen. Shino walked over to Kurenai sensei to ask where they were on the map.
Kurenai pulled out a pocket map she kept folded in her weapons pouch and tried to analyze where they were and how much further away was the town they had to stop.
Meanwhile, Hinata walked over to the river to refill her canteen. Naruto noticed this and decided to talk to his friend out of boredom.
"Say, Hinata?" he asked, grasping her attention.
She stood back up from the clear source of water and let him know he had her attention, "Yeah?"
"So what are you doing refilling your canteen?" he asked randomly.
She looked puzzled and then answered, "I forgot to fill it up when I stopped by my house earlier."
Naruto looked a bit puzzled as well, "How does it taste?" he asked.
Hinata shrugged and then took a small swig of the river water and soon spat it back out. Naruto's eyes turned too saucers at witnessing this as Hinata smacked her lips a little bit, taking in the after-taste of the river water. She then looked up in a way that made her look like she was thinking deeply and then shrugged, "It's not bad."
She took another swig from her canteen and then put it back into her pack.
Naruto raised one of his eyebrows and said honestly, "I didn't think you were someone who was willing to get dirty for survival."
Hinata looked at him strangely and asked, "Why? Because I'm a girl?"
Naruto then quickly corrected himself as a blush rose into his face in embarrassment, "Actually, in all my times I've spent with Haruno while on a mission. She would always be so prissy and clean about everything. It's just a bad association I have with the very few girls I've actually talked to. Sorry, I didn't mean to insult you or anything."
Hinata looked pleased and easily forgave him, "It's fine." she smiled, "But have you honestly not talked to that many girls before?"
Naruto looked at her and explained, "No. The only girls I ever talked to more than once a week were Sakura, Ayame Ichiraku, Moegi, but she's a little kid, that doesn't count exactly."
Hinata looked a little bit surprised, "T-that's not uncommon to not know that many girls with what little time we have to socialize. I didn't even talk to anyone other than my teammates and family after we graduated. I only had Shino-kun and Kiba-kun to talk to. Kurenai-sensei also talked to me often times. She's sort of like the big sister I always wanted to have growing up."
Hinata blushed a little bit at the realization that she was letting Naruto read her like a book.
Naruto looked at Hinata enthusiastically and said, "No way! That's the same thing I have with Iruka-sensei!"
"Really?" Hinata asked.
Naruto smiled widely, "Yeah! Iruka-sensei has always been nice to me, and pointed me down the right path for a long time. We actually hung out for so long, he may as well have adopted me. I'm practically like his roommate or something like that."
Hinata smiled as well, "Kurenai sensei is pretty much the same in that sense. Minus the whole adoption or roommate scenario."
Naruto looked down at his feet and kick the ground a little bit and Hinata asked, "So what about your team. How did your relationship with them go? You know, b-before all the chaos set in."
Naruto hesitated for a little while before he spoke, "Well-"
"Let's go guys! We've rested enough! We have to get those goods!" Kurenai called over to the two oblivious genin.
Both Naruto and Hinata jumped and blushed when they realized that their two other team members had been waiting for them to wake up.
They both quickly grabbed all of their things and hunched their pack over their shoulders and ran over to Kurenai and Shino.
"While you two were in dreamland, I was trying to tell you guys that we have only one more mile to go, and the town is there. Hinata, I will need you to use your Byakugan soon so we will know when we're approaching the town." Kurenai told them.
Naruto rose his hand instinctively and asked, "What's the name of this town again? I didn't catch the name."
Kurenai answered, "The town's name is called Izumi. That's where we will find our deliver goods."
Both Naruto and Hinata nodded in understanding.
"Right. Ready? Let's get moving!" she announced.
About forty-five minutes later, Team Kurenai finally arrived in the small colonial establishment of Izumi. The town wasn't really that big or extraordinary. Naruto was expecting something much more grand of scale. Like the Crater City he and Jiraiya went to begin his Rasengan training. This town looked more like a mini-version of Konoha, only with no mountains to be seen anywhere and a far less impressive protective wall. The only noticeable feature of the entire town was the large tower in the direct center of the tiny city. Which was where Kurenai was leading her students towards.
Kurenai pointed towards the large building and said, "That's where our goods are being stored. We'll just be in and out before anyone can notice us." she advised her students.
Shino looked at Kurenai in questioning, "Why would we not want to be seen, sensei?"
"Because Shino, Hokage-sama advised me to do so, in order to decrease the chance of any thieves possible spotting us with the goods. We don't want to have any trouble on this mission." she informed sternly.
The three genin all looked at each other, hoping that this mission might not take a more nasty turn than they anticipated.
Kurenai soon found the correct storage locker in the depository building where their good were located. When she opened it, she was a little surprised at the size of the cardboard packages they had to carry.
They were all quite small, small enough to fit in their backpacks easily. Kurenai had all of her students hand over their bags so she could properly put several of the packages into each of the packs. Once all of their backpacks were full, they still had four more small boxes left. So they each would have to carry one of the remain packages by hand.
They soon quickly departed from the depository building once they checked out with their packages. Shino noticed one or two people give their small group a strange look or two as they began to depart.
"Let's hurry up." he told his two teammates.
Team Kurenai soon began to speed through the trees once more, heading east towards the Great Ocean.
They each carried one package securely in their arms as they soured through the trees to reach the east before sunset. But time was not very friendly with them today. The sun was already hot on their backs as the powerful rays of orange solar energy radiated so powerfully on the western horizon.
The team stopped tree hopping to avoid the burning sunlight and retreat into the cooling shadows of the trees below them as they ran to their destination.
Within no time at all, Kurenai and her students had to stop moving for the day once twilight hit. They decided to camp out in this small meadow of soft grass surrounded by trees.
Kurenai carefully tossed his pack and package down on the ground and said in an authoritive voice, "Alright, Hinata and I will start by setting up camp and our fire pit. You boys will go and grab us some firewood. Understood?"
Everybody nodded and quickly got to work.
Naruto and Shino started collecting small, broken branches and then went on to find larger, more thick and sturdy logs to keep their campfire burning through the night.
Shino glanced upward and noticed the tree branches up above them were blood red in color. They were both just below a very rare variety of trees called Fire-Bark trees. These trees were known to be extremely flammable and very dangerous to camp under. The Fire-Bark tree naturally produced gases that is stored up into the base of the tree like how a pine tree produces sap. Only instead of sap, Fire-Bark trees produced natural gasoline.
"Naruto!" Shino called over to his comrade who had just decided to whip out his wand.
"What is it, Shino?" he asked as he carefully to aim at one of the Fire-Bark tree branches.
"These are Fire-Trees! The tiniest spark can light up the whole forest. Be careful with what magic you use if any of it can cause fire!"
Naruto looked over to him and said, "I know. I'm gonna chop some up for the campfire to get it started. Watch out!" he warned as he took aim once more.
"Diffindo!" he cried out.
Shino saw a sharp wisp of white light erupt out of the tip of Naruto's wand as it raced upward and through the branches of the red-colored trees. The bug-user was surprised to see the branches suddenly fall to the earth and Naruto picked them all up, filling his arms with highly flammable wood.
Naruto walked up to him and said, "It's a Severing charm. Very useful for when you need cut things up!"
Shino looked at him with unseen interest and begun asking, "What other basic spells do you know? The most simple ones, I mean."
Naruto went on to talk to Shino about the basic First-Year and Second-Year level spells he learned. Along with the many useful charms he used during one of his average days on the job.
When they returned to the campsite to find that Kurenai-sensei and Hinata had already dug up the fire pit, placed the rocks to surround the fire, and even took the liberty of unrolling their sleeping bags for them when the would arrive.
Hinata was the first to see them back and said, "Great to see you guys got the firewood."
Naruto beamed, "You bet we got a huge load! Shino and I found some Fire-Bark Tree wood we can use for the fire tonight!"
Kurenai looked concerned and turned to Shino, "How much did you boys see out there?"
"They were scattered all over the place. I can't entirely certain, but it could surround a good deal of the forests around here, for all we know."
Kurenai thought to herself for a moment before she said, "In any case, we should be careful with any fire we create for tonight. Nothing more than our campfire. Understood, everyone?"
All of the Genin nodded in understanding just as the sun's final rays disappeared into the western horizon.
Over an hour later, after everybody had a share of food rations for dinner, Kurenai and Shino had fallen asleep. Hinata and Naruto were still up while the campfire still burned strong. The two genin both laid back in their sleeping bags, staring up at the stars. They both took the time to realize that you couldn't see the stars as bright and beautifully in Konoha as much as you do in the middle of nowhere. The lights of the powerful city contained and limited the stars. It's only when you are free and far away from society can you really see the beauty of the world we all live on.
Sure it was a pretty deep thought, but they both subconsciously knew it was the truth.
While Hinata gazed up at the wondrous starry skies, she softly spoke to Naruto, "You never really got to tell me about your relationship with your teammates went. Before everything went out of control."
Naruto continued to stare up at the stars, "…It…was good at one point… But it's only now do I realize how fake it was… One of the only times I ever felt attached to my teammates was when we went on this one mission… It was a C-Rank mission turned A-Rank. We traveled to the Land of Waves to escort and protect this bridge-builder. While we stayed at his house, Kakashi-sensei taught us more advanced chakra control exercises… That was probably the only time I ever truly got along with my teammates and had fun…"
Hinata listened intently to her friend as he spoke more of his past.
"Uchiha and I actually had this on-going race to see which of us would run up to the top of a tree first… In the end, it was a tie… Heh! I actually got along with that jerk-off and practically considered him my brother when his life was in danger…" he smiled at himself for being so naïve, "…I even remember Haruno being nice to me once or twice that entire mission… Kakashi-sensei was insensitive and slightly detached, but he was nice and more than willing to talk to you… He's much better now, these days…"
He glanced away from the stars and looked over to Hinata respectfully, "…It was only whenever our lives were in danger did we ever set aside our differences and learn to get along… I guess everything started to become more obscure and unclear right after our Chunin Exams…"
Hinata began to feel even more sorry for Naruto as he said, "…Sasuke quickly grew more selfish and Sakura just sort of disappeared… Next thing I knew, Sasuke attacks me, thinking I have information about his brother Itachi. As Sakura comes crying to me for help about it…"
Naruto looked back up at the stars and said, "For months, Kakashi-sensei barely even spoke to me, because he was so busy training Sasuke… It wasn't until over two weeks ago did sensei apologize and take full responsibility for everything that happened… At least he had the decency to say he was sorry and try to make amends for everything that happened… I didn't receive such loyal sympathy from my teammates…"
Hinata soon softly spoke after a moments hesitation, "You must have been really lonely to not have anyone to really connect to…"
Naruto nodded, "Yeah… But, it was that mission in Wave that made me realize that they were important to me… It took one mission for me to realize that…"
Hinata simply smiled at her friend in admiration for his perseverance to stay with his teammates. It was good to know that Naruto still found his teammates as important people.
He may not have considered them as precious friends anymore, but they were still his comrades in the same village. Whether he liked it or not, they were still people he would have to protect if he still desired to become Hokage.
Naruto rolled to his side and dug deep into his backpack. He felt the familiar broken shard he was looking for and carefully pulled it out without cutting anything.
Hinata saw her friend now fiddling around with what looked like a pure cerulean-blue crystal shard. She rolled over to face Naruto as he looked up at the crystal in his hand and back at the stars.
"What's that thing, Naruto-kun?" she asked curiously.
Naruto looked at Hinata for a short second before she showed her the crystal he held in his hand.
"This is a memento to my first C-Rank mission. You know, the one I just told you about. While we were there, I met this boy a little older than either of us. His name was Haku. Unfortunately, he was our enemy on the mission along with his guardian Zabuza Momochi. The were both hired to get rid of the bridge-builder and destroy us as well. At one point, I met Haku alone in the clearing where I was training. There he told me the important life-lesson that inspired me and continues to drive me to stay with my teammates to this very day."
Hinata looked at Naruto as he held the crystal in his hand tightly, "When people are protecting someone truly precious to them, only then can they truly can become as strong as they must…"
Naruto closed his eyes in sadness as he rubbed the shard in his hands softly, "…I will never forget what I learned from Haku and Zabuza for as long as I live…"
Hinata looked towards the ground as Naruto soon said softly, "While Haku and I fought, I remember the amazing water and ice techniques he used against me and Sasuke… He had a kekkei genkai that enabled him to manipulate water and turn it into ice at his own free will. He hardly even used handsigns in order to perform the jutsu's he used…"
Hinata looked very intrigued by the information about this mystery ninja.
"This crystal was the only remaining piece I found on the bridge where we fought…"
Naruto showed her the gleaming crystal in his hand, "This shard is made out of ice that will never melt. Here, check it out…"
He handed the piece of ice to Hinata. And to her surprise, it was freezing cold to her skin and she almost dropped it in reflex.
"…I kept that with me on every mission I've had outside of the village… I kept it to remind me of Haku and Zabuza and the lessons they taught my about the shinobi world… and the lessons about true strength and loyalty…" he said with a sense of adoration.
Hinata handed the blue ice shard back to Naruto and asked, "…What ever happened to them?"
Naruto sighed as he looked at the ice once more and fiddled around with it, "They were both killed… They died side-by-side on that bridge… I watched it all happen with my team by my side… At that moment, I couldn't help but wonder… If I would end up dying like that one day… Dying by my teammates in the end… No love or friendship worth dying for…"
Naruto remained quiet for a while. He waited and then Hinata finally spoke quietly, "You won't have to worry about dying like that, Naruto-kun…" She withdrew her hand from her sleeping bag and reached out to hold onto Naruto's free hand. His face flushed ever so slightly at the unexpected contact. He saw Hinata smile lightly as she softly spoke, "Uchiha and Haruno are not your only teammates anymore… Now you have me, Shino-kun, Kiba-kun, and every single one of our friends to die with on the battlefield… that way you won't ever die in vein to people you have no connection with…"
Naruto hesitated for a moment and then said after he smiled, "It's feels a little good knowing that, Hinata-chan."
Naruto held onto her hand and squeezed it gently, "Beside's, I won't have to worry about dying on a battlefield. Because I swore I wouldn't die until I become Hokage…"
Hinata nodded and blushed, only just realizing that Naruto was holding onto her hand.
Suddenly, an owl hooted out somewhere in the Fire-Bark trees. Naruto check his wristwatch to see what time it was and made the two Genin realize just how late it was now. They quickly let go of one another's hand and Naruto said while he shifted in his sleeping bag, "Well it is getting late. We should go to sleep. We n-need to be well-rested for tomorrow. G'night."
Hinata nodded while she turned over in her sleeping bag to try and get comfortable, "Y-yeah! Good night, Naruto-kun."
As the fire continued to blaze and give off a soothing heat, the two remaining Genin soon fell asleep, with Naruto holding onto his ice crystal and Hinata fell into dreams about a certain blonde boy.
Precisely Nine Hours Later…
Naruto and the rest of his squad woke up the following morning to the sun's powerfully bright solar rays. Kurenai was up, first and brightest. She quickly kicked the dirt they dug up to make the fire last night. Shino wrapped up his sleeping bag as did Hinata and Naruto with their own.
Everyone soon checked their bags to check for the packaged valuables they were delivering were still there. And once they checked everything, everyone picked up their own separate package and stood up, completely ready to continue their mission.
On the way, Naruto shared some of his food rations with the other members of his squad. Kurenai in particular looked at Naruto with a sense of pride. She really wondered why anyone from their village would ever look at this kid with any kind contempt.
As soon as the group was finished eating their small breakfast, they found the energy to pick up their pace and soon sped through the brown and red trees of the forest.
Then out of nowhere, a sharp kunai pierced out of the trees and flew past Kurenai's team. They scattered and each of them landed in separate corners of a small forest clearing.
Kurenai courageously called out into the wild, "Show yourselves, cowards!"
About five, fully grown ninja came out of the trees and made themselves visible to the Konoha ninja. They had no headbands on any of them. They must be missing-nin, ninja without a village.
All of the men appeared to be at the peak of their physical heath. All of them were fairly muscular and very menacing in appearance. They all had various lengths of hair which they all did not have the decency to take proper care of. One thing the thieves had in common was the complete lack of dental care. Each of their yellow and grime covered teeth appeared to have a set mind of it's own. It was very revolting to look at any them directly.
The tallest man of the group, supposedly the leader, spoke out above all the rest of the band of thieves, Hand over the goods, ma'am. And there won't be any trouble."
"Unless we want it. Heheheh!" one of the shorter, greasy and fat bandits said with a dumb laugh.
Kurenai smiled in a very seductive way, "I'm sorry, boys. But I'm afraid we won't be able to do that…" she said in a voice to match her sexually appealing smile.
One of the bandits chuckled to themselves at how sexy Kurenai looked, "Why the hell not hot-stuff?"
Kurenai laughed a little in a smirk, "Because I will have to kill you. Like this."
Suddenly the laughing bandit heard Kurenai's voice come from right behind him. Before he could possibly react, his throat was slit by the seductive jounin.
The other bandits soon realized that the team they had cornered had slipped them into a powerful genjutsu by Kurenai. The illusion allowed them to escape and slip past the bandits without notice as Kurenai made a move to make the first kill.
One of the other remain bandits was adept in Genjutsu enough to reverse it and begin to throw themselves in battle and get those packages.
All of the members of Team Kurenai were thrown into battle, every member of the team taking on a bandit separately.
Hinata dodged every single one of her bandits swings of a bloody and rusty katana. She continuously dodged and evaded every uncoordinated swing of the man's blade. Until she finally saw a chance and ducked down and thrusted a powerful Juuken strike to the man's chest. The bandit doubled over and clenched his hands to his chest in unbelievable pain. Hinata then delivered a low kick to his legs, causing him to fall over to his side.
Shino dodged and blocked every swipe of his bandit's swinging arms. The bandit he was fighting didn't use any weapons at all, so he must be a taijutsu specialist. Shino soon summoned his kikaichu beetles and had them launched directly into his bandits chest and face. The bandit was completely caught by surprise and soon started screaming as soon as he realized that he was covered with insects and where at present, feeding on his chakra.
Meanwhile, Kurenai and Naruto were both having a little bit more difficulty than their other two comrades. Naruto was facing a very quick paced ninjutsu expert. He continuously ran through many handsigns and started creating small pillars of earth that sent Naruto off his feet constantly, he could barely keep enough footing to enable himself to so much as hit the guy. Naruto soon created several Shadow clones to try and confuse his enemy with large numbers. But the bandit improvised as he sent pillars of earth to attack all of the Narutos that continued to multiply. Thankfully, none of the shadow clones were destroyed as they were only launched to land back on their feet gracefully.
Kurenai was facing the head of the bandits. He was the one who apparently reversed the genjutsu. Kurenai wasn't as professionally practiced in ninjutsu as much as she was in genjutsu. She knew enough taijutsu to hold her own in battle against this guy at least. Kurenai was more practiced in silently killing, not jump right in and fight until you drop. Thankfully for her, this man wasn't as strong as his fellow men were, even if he appeared to be built for a fair amount of taijutsu fighting. Kurenai struck first by swinging her kunai in a graceful, full-body spin. She failed to slice her opponent as she wished, as he tried to dive forward to stab her. Kurenai reacted quickly and dug her knife in his side, but it did not go in deep enough to end him quickly.
Soon Naruto grew aggravated that he and his Shadow clones were being thrown around like rag dolls. He soon got an idea and let himself get thrusted upward by one of the rising rock pillars. He soon jumped upward with the force of the rock pillar to use as his momentum. Naruto grasped one of the thick tree branches and swung his body to firmly plant his feet to the top of the branch. Naruto swiftly dug into his jacket and threw a large barrage of kunai and shruriken. The Earth-using ninjutsu specialist had the experienced reflexes to evade most of Naruto's projectiles. Only two of them got lodged into his right leg. He yelled out in pain and tried to pull out the weapons. When he finally withdrew them from his leg, He was surprised when Naruto launched himself toward the guy and kicked him square in the face. Causing him to be thrown back and lodged into a Fire-Bark tree at the opposite end and severely splintered him.
Kurenai had a little bit of trouble trying to continue her gradual winning dance of death with her opponent. Swiping at each other, but neither one of their knives met the other's skin. Eventually, the leader bandit gave up and tried to throw himself at Kurenai and finally kill her for the package she had strapped to her back. Kurenai thought very quickly and tossed the man over her, using his own built up momentum to throw him head-first into a tree. Killing him instantly.
Naruto looked around the earth-torn forest clearing and examined his fellow teammates success. He admired at the friends accomplishments as each one of them decimated their separate enemies. But then he heard a battle cry erupt out of the mouth of his previous bandit having just emerged out of the tree. Naruto turned around swiftly as he saw the ninjutsu bandit sprint towards him, completely bloodied up and saw several hundred wood chips lodged into his back and arms. Naruto suddenly got a clever idea and whipped out his wand and carefully aimed at his revived opponents back and cried, "Lacarnum Inflamarae!"
A small short burst of bright-orange light launched out of the tip of Naruto's wand and set the wood lodged in his back and arms on fire. The bandit started screaming in pain as he ran into the line of trees, although in a completely uncoordinated fashion. He soon dropped to the ground, dead as a doornail. His corpse now cremating itself.
The group soon re-gathered and checked one another over.
The Hall of Prophecies by Nicholas Hooper (Starting 2:30)
"Is everybody okay?" Kurenai asked her students as they approached each other.
"I'm fine." Hinata looked as if she were still ready for more action.
Shino simply nodded. Looking as if he hadn't even fought.
Naruto said, "I'm okay!"
Just then, the corpse of Naruto's burning enemy suddenly exploded from the flaming shards of wood lodged into it. Causing more shards of fire to spray over the other trees within a ten-foot radius. Unfortunately, all of Team Kurenai forgot that they were in an area completely covered with Fire-Bark trees. The fire's of the tiny explosion quickly caused one of the other trees nearby to become engulfed in flames and begin to swell and soon exploded with a great and powerful boom. This was now causing an enormous domino-effect to commence as more and more highly flammable trees to cause a series of explosions and an intense firestorm.
"Oh, you have got to be kidding me." Naruto moaned.
'RUN!' Harry yelled from within Naruto's mind.
"EVERYBODY RUN! HEAD FOR THE EAST!" Kurenai ordered her students to flee away from the tremendous danger the was rapidly growing around them.
The team did as they were told and ran as fast as they could away from the roaring flames and the brutal explosions that just increased in force every fast step they took to escape. Naruto looked behind them and could have sworn he saw a stampede of various wild beasts in the form of flames chase after them with the greatest speed. Hinata could feel the intense heat of the firestorm on the back of her neck as she ran as fast as her legs could go along with her teammates and teacher. Shino quickly ordered his beetles to retreat deeper into his body in order to protect his internal insect colony. Fire was one the only elements he could never endure whether he was on a mission or not. He would never endanger his insects with such a force of destruction. Kurenai was more concerned with the safety of her students more than anything else. She was terrified to think of what could happen to her students. They were her top priority. She could not concern her own safety or the safety of the mission if her students were in such a moment of peril. She continuously urged them to push themselves forward and away from the waves of fire behind them.
Out of nowhere, more flames of abnormal size began to form and explode more trees in front of them. Team Kurenai was forced to split up into two groups. Kurenai grabbed Shino and pulled him along to the right open passage, while Naruto grabbed Hinata and dragged her along with him to the left open passage.
Kurenai gasped, "Naruto! Hinata! Make it to the east!"
She was referring them to head east for that was where the closest edge of the forest of scattered Fire-Bark trees was. She prayed to kami that her students would get out unharmed.
Naruto grabbed Hinata and urged her to follow him, "C'MON! This way!"
Naruto and Hinata saw, as they ran at top speeds, how the flames were licking up and across the sides of the cleared passage of burning forest the two Genin plowed through to get to safety. Naruto and Hinata we overcome with the many explosions that followed behind them. Causing them to feel the sensation of being thrown forward by the force of the massive firepower releasing so furiously.
As the pair continued to run, the thick smoke from the flames began to settle in and obscure their breathing and caused them to start coughing and gasping for fresh air. It was almost as if the firestorm were alive and intent upon killing them both. The smoke and heat was becoming so overwhelming.
Hinata activated her Byakugan and try to see through the massive cloud of smoke that was beginning to obscure both of their vision. Hinata saw just up ahead that the forest had finally began to end. They were almost free of this living nightmare!
"Naruto-kun! The exit is right there! One hundred meters away!" she shouted to her teammate.
"KEEP GOING!" he shouted back.
Hinata looked ahead even further and to her relief, she saw Kurenai and Shino already escaped and laying on the ground, coughing out the smoke that no doubted filled their lungs.
"Kurenai-sensei and Shino! They're alright!" she cried to Naruto.
Naruto smiled between coughs. Relived and happy that the others got out of the fire. But soon went back into full panic-mode when he saw through the smoke that more flames were licking towards their only exit. The flames were about entrap them both.
"HINATA-CHAN! RUN! KEEP RUNNING!" he roared like a lion.
Naruto then saw that they both might not be able to get through the shrinking ring of fire, slowing becoming another wall of fiery death.
He suddenly whipped out his wand as he still sprint next to Hinata and pointed directly at the ring of fire and roared out, "Partus Tempos!"
Unfortunately, Naruto was not very adept in this spell yet. He only managed to create enough space for only one of them to escape. He quickly pulled behind Hinata and hockey-pushed Hinata through the open gateway, freeing her of the deathly flames. Leaving himself to burn in the terrible storm of fire.
Hinata gasped when she realized what Naruto did and cried out for him in a horrified voice,
"NARUTO-KUN!"
To Be Continued…
MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Evil cliff-hanger! What a rush!
Azeroth44: Oh, settle down, you silly bitch!
Naruto: WHAT? Did I make it? Do I make it? WHAT HAPPENS?
Kvsyaoran: You're gonna have to find out later, burn victim-boy! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Naruto (Gets up from his seat and starts shaking Kvsyaoran back and forth): I-HAVE-TO-KNOW-WHAT-HAPPENS!
Kvsyaoran: Okay! Okay! I'll post it next week! I'll post it next week!
King-of-Wings-360: Look! I poke outta my head!
(Naruto stops shaking Kvsyaoran)
Everybody: KING!
Kvsyaoran: Ladies and gentlemen! Fanboys and fangirls! May I introduce you to King-of-Wings-360! He will be making several cameo appearances throughout the commentary.
(Applause)
Kvsyaoran: King of Wings here is a newcomer author such as myself. He's a pretty damn good and talented author. Seriously guys, check this dude's stories. He is currently writing a story about the anime Bokurano. It's a pretty interesting mecha anime in which these kids in a slightly futuristic Tokyo have to save the world from destructive enemy robots by piloting a giant robot that sort of looks like a combination of Coop's giant robot car from MEGAS XLR and Shingi's Eva from Neon Genesis Evangelion. Check out this anime if you have not seen it yet or heard about it, because it is awesome! But if you have seen it, check out King of Wings 360 account and it will be right there. He's seriously an amazing author, so check this guy out.
Naruto: You done?
KoW360: Yeah, I think he's done.
Azeroth44: Yep! He is!
Kvsyaoran: Can I speak for myself here?
Everybody: No.
Kvsyaoran: Well, anyway. That's all I have for today, everybody! Tune in next time to see if Naruto will survive. And what the hell is Danzo up to? Might he be planning to do something EVIL?
KoW360: Oh my god! He stole your flamethrower!
Kvsyaoran: THAT BASTARD! AZEROTH! Fetch me my magical slingshot!
Review please!