NARUTO
Nox Noctis Ingredior
Unexpected Occurrences
Early the next morning…
Naruto was briskly training in a clearing outside of the residential area, throwing various combinations of punches and kicks, and shifting through his taijutsu forms. He had used this field many times before, and would use them again if he had to, to continue to train and get stronger, but for now, he was just using this time to blow off a little steam. The young boy growled as he gave it is all, and put effort into making all his stances and attack correct.
"Thrust, knee, jab-punch! Hook, elbow, elbow, return! Low kick, spin, low kick! Upper kick! Don't lean in, you're off balance! Kick! Kick, downward elbow! Punch! Punch! Hook, uppercut, uppercut, jab!" Naruto thought vigorously, his breaths coming out in long, controlled breaths. He shifted through another style of taijutsu, his punches and kicks becoming more vigorous.
"Come on!" Naruto growled; sweat pouring from his face as he fought again the weights with enhanced gravity seals straining down on his body. It restricted him, made him work, and that's how he liked it! "I will… not… give up!" he shouted, punching vigorously, causing sweat to fly off of his arm. Wearing nothing but his pants and his head-band meant that people could literally see the sweat running down his body, as well as several recently healed, deep scars in his body, showing just how far the boy had gotten in fights and training… not to mention personal vendettas.
"Flip!" he shouted, kicking off the ground band back-flipping through the air, opening up and sending round-house and spin kicks in mid-air, creating loud whooshing sounds as his feet cut through the air. He landed solidly, continuing his combos as his fighting became more diverse and erratic.
He then leapt into the air once again, flipping several times while curled up into a ball, before opening up and coming down with a right, downward kick! "Uzumaki Spinning Axe Kick!" Naruto shouted, his heel connecting with the ground. Due to the extra chakra he had pumped into it, the kick had more of an effect than first thought. The moment his attack connected, the ground slit and began to crack, before caving in on itself and collapsing across the clearing for about fifteen meters in every direction. The dust rose and settled, leaving Naruto still standing in that position of execution and contact.
Panting from three hours of workout on just plain physical enduring taijutsu, the boy nodded his head and wiped his face off of sweat, before reassuming a proper standing position, and calling it quits. Knowing he had Academy to attend in an hour or so, Naruto walked over to the nearby tree he had deposited his clothes, and slipped them on. Leaving his black, fur collared jacket unzipped, exposing his chiseled stomach fresh from workout, and putting the large scroll he carried back around him; he then headed off on his merry way.
While Naruto was walking through the quiet streets of his neighborhood, he sudden sensed a familiar presence nearby, but continued walked. He knew this routine, and it was getting quite tiresome having to fight for his life at this point. Closing his eyes, he shook his head with a smile when he heard the familiar hissing sound approaching his sharpened ears.
As he continued walking on, his back was turned to the sight of five large snakes, all of them pythons, following him close behind, keeping to the shadows.
Naruto, sensing the presence close in on him, flicked the wrist on his right, his hidden blade emerging with a loud 'slice'.
Too late! The instant his assassin's blade appeared, the snakes shot at him, and in a blink of an eye, wrapped around him about a dozen times, before beginning to constrict the air out of him. The boy staggered, but could not move, his lungs emptying of all air as he felt the pressure of the snakes apply on him. Inch upon inch of thick, pure muscle squeezed down on him. His bones creaked, and his blood-stream clogged at the feeling of this incredible pressure. The boy glanced around, trying to find his opponent.
Picking up something out of the corner of his senses, the boy visibly grinned before suddenly vanishing in a puff of white smoke.
The woman that had attacked him gasped from her hiding place. "Rats! A Shadow Clone?"
She suddenly picked up the sound of shuriken and spun around, before quickly back-flipping out of the alleyway. Where she once stood, now four shuriken landed impaled in the soft soil. The woman growled as she back-flipped away, avoiding more and more shuriken falling from the sky and landing in places where she once stood, before stopping, dropped in a fighting stance and skidding to a halt from her built up momentum.
She glared up, just in time to see the single figure of the boy flying down at her from above. He cranked back his right arm, his blade once again appearing with a loud slicing sound, to which she became alert too, and grinned. Throwing her left arm forward, she shouted…
"Ninja Art: Hidden Shadow Snake Hands!" She threw her left arm forward, and four snakes suddenly shot out of her arm, stretching to an amazing distance and striking Naruto at all four crucial points in his limbs, sending him flying and straight into the side of a nearby building, where he became pinned. Anko had managed to hit him just as he was two meters away from her…
…which was a really close call for the Snake Mistress!
At least this meant they could continue!
Anko grinned and, clenching her outstretched fist from its straightened fingers, the woman concentrated her chakra and yelled from where she crouched.
"Ninja Art: Shadow Python Restriction!"
Suddenly, a python shot out of the ground right next to where Naruto was pinned, and immediately began to coil around him, smashing in and out of the wall and wrapping the boy against it. The blonde growled in pain as he felt the snakes do their job of holding him down and glared at his grinning opponent, who licked her lips at the sight.
"My-my! I love it when my opponents play hard to get," she said in a rather suggestive voice.
Naruto gritted his teeth briefly for a moment, a trickle of blood escaping the corner of his mouth, before a grin spread across his lips. He vanished once again in a puff of smoke, causing Anko to blink in surprise.
"Hm…" she smirked, looking down at the ground where she suddenly saw it crack. She detached her snake extensions from her arm and with the same one, raised her fist upwards, and directed it down towards the earth. "Nice try, kid!"
Unexpectedly, the ground behind her exploded in a shower of earth, debris and dust, and another Naruto emerged. The woman looked behind her in shock at the grinning boy, and suddenly the ground in front of her exploded as a foot shot up at her. It collided with the block she raised, but it sent her upwards into the air at the power behind it. She was then kicked in the back by the Naruto behind her, causing her to fall forwards and get hit a second time by a Third Naruto that appeared in front of her, using the foot sticking out of the ground as extra leverage, and sent a knee up into her face, that sent her airborne.
"Uzumaki Rising Wind Technique!" Naruto shouted, a forth clone jumping out from behind the one behind the Naruto behind Anko, and pushing off of his counterpart's back, leapt high into the air above Anko. The woman saw through squinted eyes and a blurred vision from a bruise suffered from the knee, the clone spin through the air above her before coming down at her with a downward kick. "Uzumaki Spinning Axe Kick!"
Anko smirked. "Child's play…"
The blow connected with her forehead, and just as Anko's body began its dangerous descent, suddenly dematerialized to mud and clay, which Naruto found his leg now wrapped in. He growled in frustration as he and the mud hit the ground, the clones parting to make way for the supposed 'body' of the target to hit the ground.
"Darn it!" Naruto growled, trying to pull his leg free from the mud. The mud, then, in an unexpected twist, suddenly morphed into a nest of snakes. The mass of them then wrapped around Naruto's leg fully, and began to overtake the boy they caught from head to toe. Naruto growled as he tried to free himself, but found it impossible.
"Ninja Art: Hidden Snake Nest Imprisonment," Anko exclaimed from the rooftop above, as she watched her snakes began to overcome the four clones. She watched with a grin as the shouting and struggling clones fought against the hundreds of snakes, but to no avail. "Not bad brat, but I suggest more training with me to hone those sloppy skills they sabotaged for you at the Academy…"
"You can thank Mizuki for that," Naruto stated, sitting on the ledge of the roof right next to Anko as they watched the rather daunting show below. The clones fought off against the mass of snakes, one of them suddenly becoming overcame by snakebites, and soon dispersing from the amount of venom injected. The blonde smirked as he glanced at her. "But he's not going to be a problem anymore…"
"So I've heard," Anko said through a grin, rounding on the boy with pride shining in her eyes. "I'm proud of you, Gaki. You've finally taken matters into your own hands!"
"Haven't I always?" Naruto replied, looking out over the rooftops from their position on the building. The two of them relaxed back, putting their hands behind their heads and letting out sighs of content. "I need to train more to reach your level, Anko-sensei. I haven't yet reached your level of expertise…"
"Yet you were not only able to overcome a number of ROOTS best guards, but also kill Danzo in a head-to-head battle and a fully-fledged Chunin stronger than even Iruka…" Anko pointed out.
"But on those occasions, I not only carefully analyzed my situation and point of attack, but also calculated the best possible means of execution," Naruto continued, watching as the clouds overhead drifted by, the fight several stories below now over. "Danzo was easy, because not only did I know how to fight a Sharingan, as well as him having his whole right side of his body damaged, I also got a little lucky. I had the opportunity to use my kunai gauntlet, which he had never faced before," the boy stated, holding up his left arm and rattling it. "Mizuki was easy though… a Chunin who puts to much focus into his point of attack and distracted by his opponent, is more than likely to fall for deception… like you said…"
"What? I never said that," Anko looked at the boy. "I said hard work and hard work can make you into a man! You must have picked that up from Jiraiya…"
Naruto chuckled. "Yeah, I guess Ero-Sennin did mention something like that when he was teaching me about Genjutsu…"
"And yet, once again, you weren't listening to him…"
"Partially. He really knows how to drawl on. I like it quick and simple, much like Iruka-sensei!"
"And what about me, Gaki?" Anko asked, causing Naruto to look at her. She made a cute pout and batted her eyelashes at him. "What about your o' so lovable Anko-chan: the shine of all of your sexual fantasies and adventures?"
Naruto blinked at her, taken aback with a rather horrified expression on his face. "Please… don't ever do that again?"
"What? This?" Anko asked, once again performing a cute pout…
"YES! THAT!"
"Alright, alright," Anko exclaimed, looking back towards the sky. "Don't get those white boxers with the orange and pink foxes on them into a knot…yeesh…"
Naruto blushed at the reference towards his undergarments and cleared his throat, staring back up at the sky with sweat drops falling from his forehead. "Sometimes I worry abut how much you're spying on me…"
"Can you blame me? It's the way I work! I was waiting for the perfect time to strike…stalking my prey, watching its every move from the shadows, and waiting for its attention to slip-up! That's my style!" Anko exclaimed, pinching him in the arm.
"OW!"
The two of them spent the next half-an-hour and more talking, sharing a packet of dango Anko had gotten earlier onwards, and telling each other stories. They acted as though they were the best of friends, which they were, and Naruto, out of the majority of his dark and depressing life, found that he was enjoying himself. Anko too, who felt she could share anything with the young, newly appointed Genin of Konohagakure. Speaking their mind, sharing each other's experiences, as well as being one with the same personality strands, meant that they could have fun together.
Soon enough, they both had to go their separate ways, and while Naruto departed over his usual route across the rooftops, Anko slipped into the shadows and vanished in a puff of smoke, heading towards the Hokage's tower.
Naruto arrived at the academy not too long afterwards, stopping by the Nagasaki's Dumpling Bar to pick up a box of dango and pork buns to eat while walking. He pocketed the rest of it in its container as he entered the classroom, where he was met with the sight of the usual early-birds, including one Shikamaru Nara, who only got up this early so he could get to school and sleep in class and not worry about anything else. Naruto shook his head and took his seat, letting his face fall slightly as he rested in his usual place.
"Sigh… another day, another day alone at the academy… nothing else needs to be said," he thought.
Feeling picky, he decided to pull out the packet of dango again and, letting it simmer on the desk in front of him, began gorging on the sweet delights one ball and bun at a time, savoring the tastes so to pass the time. He got so indulged in his breakfast that he failed to notice Choji sneak by, and grab one of the buns on his way, to which Naruto glared up at him for. But the way the blonde's cheeks were puffed up for already having food in his mouth made it difficult to take him seriously.
"Choji… please and thank you?"
"Oh! Sorry Naruto!" Choji exclaimed, putting it back and looking back at him. "Naruto, may I please have one of your delicious pork buns?" Naruto smiled and nodded.
"Sure thing Choji…" he exclaimed, watching Choji pick up the bun and walk off, giving Naruto the thumbs-up.
"Delicious," the Akimichi mumbled through a full mouth. Naruto returned the thumbs up, and went back to his meal.
Naruto quietly continued his meal, as one after another, students filed into the classroom. It was while he was busy saucing up one of the last of his dango sticks, did he sense a surprising presence sit down beside him. He looked to his right, and sitting beside him was none other than the famed Sasuke Uchiha. The raven haired boy took a seat without any hesitation next to the blonde, and then sat quietly staring ahead of him with his fingers laced together.
The blonde Genin just stared at the boy from where he sat; dango stick in hand and dripping with delectable sauce. Neither of them moved or engaged one another in conversation, and Sasuke just sat there. Naruto scrunched his face up in confusion, before looking back at his food and taking a bite from his dango, chomping the dumpling and swallowing it, before glancing at the Uchiha.
It was then, Sasuke glanced over at the blonde, and nodded to him. "Hey…"
"Hey," Naruto said, completely weirded out at this point. He edged away a bit. "Uhh… what's the deal?"
"What?"
"Why are you sitting here?" Naruto asked, looking around at all the other empty seats. "There are plenty of other spare seats available? Why sit here?"
Sasuke shrugged. "Does it matter?"
Naruto frowned. "Guess not," and returned to his dango and buns. Sasuke caught whiff of the sauces and the steam, and took a longer glance at the breakfast Naruto was having. After a few minutes of watching Naruto finish his dango, the Uchiha leaned over a bit and pointed out the last dango stick.
"Uhh… could I try that?"
Naruto nearly fell off of his seat when he heard this and looked at the boy. "Eh? What was that?"
"Could I try that last dango, please?" Sasuke asked more politely.
Okay, now either Naruto was tripping, or he could swear Sasuke was asking him for something. Neither of them had ever spoken before, and he knew the Uchiha to be highly arrogant, as well as being a high, mighty emo-loner. But to have the famed Sasuke Uchiha of Iruka-sensei's class actually associating with him in this way, as well as sitting next to him, was a huge step that Naruto wasn't at all prepared for. Shocked, the blonde grabbed the last stick and handed it to him, to which Sasuke sniffed it, before taking a bite out of one of the dumplings. Naruto watched through shock and awe as Sasuke swallowed, and smiled an actual, genuine smile.
"Hmm… that's good," he exclaimed quietly, before continuing to eat.
"Okay, I am totally freaking out right now," Naruto said, backing away in his seat a little.
"Why?" Sasuke asked, while chewing on the dango dumpling.
"Sasuke… is something wrong with you?" Naruto asked, raising an eyebrow. "After five years of being in the same class together and we've never spoken, and all of a sudden you've managed to hold a few brief words with me for the last five minutes!"
"So…?"
"So? SO! You're starting to scare me!" Naruto replied. "Are you coming onto me?"
Sasuke choked on his dango, coughing and slamming his fist into his chest when a piece of dango clogged his breathing canal. He managed to dislodge it, and looked at Naruto with wide eyes.
"What?"
"Because I'll know if you are!"
The Uchiha gritted his teeth and turned back to his dango, completing shrugging the statement off after the initial shock. "Dobe!"
"Heh… that's better," Naruto replied, moving on to finish the last bun. "I still think you're gay though…"
"And I still think you're an idiot…"
The two of them turned to each other and smirked, but then turned back to finish their food.
It wasn't too long though till the pair of them was joined by a couple more faces. Just as Naruto was getting used to the quietness of his surroundings, he suddenly spotted a pink-haired girl and a blonde-haired girl standing right beside him, and looked up. He had to restrain himself from blushing when he saw one Sakura Haruno glaring down at him, and her friend Ino Yamanaka accompanying her.
Sakura Haruno, the complete adoration and love of his life. She was simply a vision of beauty, baring a smile beyond compare and eyes that shone like emeralds. The girl was a magnificent specimen, any man would say that, and he adored and prolonged the very sight o her for as long as possible. However, thanks to his past memories of pain, suffering, insecurity and rejection, he always hid his blushes and emotions of any indication of affection towards her, under a second mask. He could not bear the thought of being rejected by her… again…
Then there was her friend Ino. She was just as much of a flower as Sakura was, and like Shikamaru and Choji, he had known the pair for a long time, ever since he met them when he was younger. But some strange twist in time broke them a part, and Naruto rarely spoke to them again. He just continued to admire them from the shadows, hidden and safe, and where he felt the most serenity in the world. But whenever they brought the light over to him, he felt different.
He felt happier…
He smiled up at the pair, trying to suppress the blush of admiration.
"Hey there, Sakura-chan! Ino-chan! What's up?" he asked. Ino, gathering up common courtesy and not wanting to make a scene smiled and waved at the young male.
"Hey there, Naruto!" she replied. "Not much…"
Sakura smiled at Naruto too and waved. "Everything's great too… it's just…"
"Oh, right," the boy said, looking back down at his empty food carton and sighed. "Sasuke…" he stood up and smiled towards the two girls again. "You can have this seat; I'll take my food somewhere else…"
"Uhh… okay," Sakura replied, blinking.
"Shove over, forehead! He was offering it to me!" Ino stated, doing a complete 180 in her attitude and pushed Sakura aside. However, the pink haired kunoichi wasn't going to give up without a fight, and shoved back, both of them blocking Naruto's only way of exit, and leaving him to watch the fight unfold in front of him.
"No! I'm sitting here, Ino-pig! Naruto was offering it to me!"
"Well! I'm not going to let you steal Sasuke-kun away from me! Move!"
"No! You get lost! I'm going to sit next to Sasuke-kun!"
"Like hell you are!"
"Take a hike, pig! You could use the exercise!"
"Forehead!"
"Pig!"
"Billboard Brow!"
"Swine!"
"Uhh…" Naruto looked back down at Sasuke to see his reaction. The Uchiha just shrugged at him and went on to staring ahead of him. The blonde sighed and placed his empty, sauce-filled dumpling container back onto his desk and looked back at the girls, holding up both of his hands and grinned sheepishly at the two fighting girls, who were now wrestling each other for the seat. "Umm, Sakura-chan! Ino-chan! Do you mind if I could move while you two decide who gets to sit here?"
"No! I'm sitting there!"
"Shove off!"
"Why don't you!"
"No! You!"
"Just disappear already!"
"Oh for heaven's sake," Naruto mumbled, shaking his head and slapping his forehead protector. "This is just like Anko and her mood-swings, Ero-Sennin with his pervert antics, and Baa-chan with her drunkenness…"
At this point, the whole class was now watching the cat-fight open up before them, here the two girls were now pulling on each other's hair, and grappling through tooth and nail. At this point, they've have resulted to overpowering the other with all of their strength.
And seriously, it was with all their strength!
"Get a life, forehead!"
"Go find another guy! Sasuke-kun is mine!"
"Well I don't see your name on him!"
"Get lost!"
"Make me!"
It was then, Ino suddenly pushed Sakura forward, causing her to trip and to fall awkwardly on top of Naruto, both of them letting out yells of shock as they fell on top of Sasuke, who was conveniently leaning forward in his usual way, causing him to yell out in shock when he was suddenly pushed forward thanks to an extra weight on his back. The whole class, especially Ino, gasped at the sight they saw.
Whether it was good or bad depends on the deliverer and the receiver. Of course, it was rather a peculiar situation. Sakura had conveniently been pushed on top of Naruto, causing both of their lips to collide in a rather weight distributed kiss. At the same time, Naruto had fallen on top of Sasuke, and in his haste had pushed the container of dango sauce onto Sasuke's part of the desk, so when the Uchiha was forced down by the extra weight, his face went splat into the sauce. Now the Uchiha was struggling for air, but couldn't remove his face since Naruto and Sakura were on top of him, kissing in their awkward position.
Ino giggled slightly at the looks of shock on Naruto and Sakura's faces, and how a deep blush seemed to grow on Sakura's cheeks. In the background, the students of the class were slack-jawed, at the same time a certain purple haired Hyuuga was fuming.
"S-She kissed my Naruto-kun!" In spite of her usual shyness, insecurity and lack of confidence, Hinata's personality was suddenly pushed aside by an inner persona she never knew she had, and her face was scrunched up with a look of outrage and jealousy no one had ever seen before. Shino, whom she was sitting next too, eased away with w die eyes as he watched the steam rising from the Hyuuga's head. "That BITCH!"
Meanwhile, Sasuke was still face down in the sauce, and was only able to edge his nostrils up a bit to get some much needed oxygen. "Pwease…gwet…ouf… of…me…" Sasuke mumbled. "What in Gods name are they doing? Making out?"
Sakura, of course, was in a well deep of shock, and her mind was trying to process what had just happened. The first thing she knew, she was falling, and the next thing she knew, she found herself with her lips pressed up against Naruto's who had an equally wide-eyed look staring back at her. But as the seconds ticked by, and she tried to move, she eventually found herself to be enjoying this, and her eyes became half-lidded and a blush streaked across her lips.
"Hey… this isn't half-bad…" she thought, moaning a little and closing her eyes. "Naruto… his lips… they are… so warm…"
Naruto was also having a thousand and one thoughts flooding through his mind. The girl who had for all these years saw him as an annoyance, and whom he had a crush on but just didn't admit it, was kissing him! This was a completely new experience for him, and he had no idea what to think.
"Sakura-chan… is kissing me!" Naruto thought loudly. "I… I don't believe this! Wow…"
After a minute or so, with Ino getting as little worried at the lack of oxygen the three of them were getting, Sakura parted and looked down at Naruto with a flushed face, who returned it with his usual wide-eyed expression. The pink haired girl licked her lips and smiled down at him.
"Mmm…pork…"
"Uhh… what?" Naruto asked, still a little dazed.
"Your lips taste like pork!"
"Really?" Ino asked, smirking cockily at the supposed embarrassment she had caused her friend. "So it wasn't that good?"
"No it was…" Sakura's look hazed a bit and she smiled. "Amazing…"
"Sa-kura…-chan," Naruto slowly said, his mind beginning to reregister again.
"Really?" Ino asked looking over. "Here, let me taste!" she exclaimed, pulling Sakura off of the boy hastily and without hesitation, kissing the boy.
Naruto nearly fainted from this second kiss by the other girl, his expression becoming dazed in an anime way, his eyes becoming wide, white and empty. Ino melted into the kiss immediately, further shocking a already speechless class, nearly knocking Hinata out at the sight and bewildering a dazed Sakura, who looked outraged at the interruption.
"INO-PIG!"
"Mmm…" Ino moaned as she deepened the kiss, trying to put her tongue into the fray.
Meanwhile, looking in on the scene from outside the building, holding a set of binoculars and eating a dango stick was none other than the purple-haired Jonin that had done nothing but encouraged the boy all his life. Anko was now sitting and watching with a huge grin on her face as the boy slowly became a man.
"Way to go, Gaki!"
"Yeah… go brat," another voice joined her, and she glanced to her left to see a white haired Sannin joining her on the rooftop, looking through a telescope and at the same time, jotting down in his note-book what he called 'research'.
The old man giggled perversely and enhanced the view on his telescope. "Oh this is gold! Just the kind of material I need for my next book! And here I just came to see what team Naruto was going to be on!"
"Let me guess…" Anko began with a smirk. "Is this the famed 'Ero-Sennin' and 'Pervy Sage' I have been hearing so much about?"
"What!" Jiraiya exclaimed, glaring at the woman. "I am not a pervert!"
Anko sniggered. "Well, if the boot fits…"
"I am not a pervert…I am…" he continued, a creepy expression falling upon the old-man's face, and at the same time, he held his hands up and wiggled his fingers in the most insanely spine-tingling way possible. "A SUPER PERVERT!"
The purple haired Jonin rolled her eyes and went back to watching the make-out session occurring between her little Naruto and the blonde known as Ino. "Anyway… when's the new book coming out?"
"Oh, which one? Icha Icha Sauna or Icha Icha Hot Springs… I forget…" Jiraiya replied, putting his eye back to his telescope.
"Uhh… the second one…"
"Ah!" Jiraiya began. "That comes out in a month…"
"Sweet…" Anko grinned.
Anyway… back at the school…
Ino had managed to insert her tongue into the make-out session, much to Naruto's continually growing shock. But before she could take it any further, she was denied anymore mouth access when she was thrown off of Naruto by Sakura, who forced her against the side of the desk right next to Shikamaru, shaking it violently. The Nara looked up slightly in surprise, checking to see what was going on, but then shrugged and went back to sleeping when he found out it was nothing.
"Too troublesome…
TO BE CONTINUED…