Vicious Calm
Chapter 1- Six Years with a Sadist Fox
8 reviews, 808 hits, 22 favourites and 52 alerts at last count. Overall I really pleased with the reaction to this fic.
Also a side note, I realised recently that I set the rating of this to M... it's supposed to be T. Gomen. At one point this fic will probably reach M (in my opinion M is reserved for fics with sex scenes and intricately described acts of the old ultra violence (damn you Clockwork Orange!)) and while there will be violence, fighting and Kyuyo's random acts of immolation in this fic (read action) I won't be describing the complexities of a charred corpse (for one that's a lot of work). If anyone's looking for lemons well... I'm thinking of giving it a shot just to see if I can write one but if I do it won't be until post-Shippunden (teen sex is no water off my back but twelves year old's getting it on isn't something I'll be writing anytime soon). Anyway when and if this story gets to that point I'll just change the rating and warn the readers beforehand. Until enjoy the story for what it is.
If though you are feeling a little sadistic I have written a side story for this based off Chief Warlock of the Brothers of Darkness, Lord of the Thirteen Hells, Master of the Bones, Emperor of the Black, Lord of the Undead and of course Lord of the Dance Richard, everybody's favourite violent and psychotic undead warlock from the webcomic Looking For Group. More specifically his song 'Slaughter your World'. The sane need not apply.
Well that's out of the way I should be getting on with the story.
Did you forget about us? You twit.
By the Gods of Chaos! What are following me?
We're your mind idiot.
Can't get rid of us. :3
Leave me alone. Last chapter of Evil Academy Junior Class that you two appeared got absolutely no reviews.
So what? You blame us? We weren't even relevant to the story. Most readers skip the author's note anyway. Cleary you're at fault.
I'll admit it wasn't the most exciting chapter but someone could have at least given a poor review. Makes me sure people actually give a damn however minor or vindictive.
Do you have anything better to do with your time rather than writing this crap?
No. Not particularly.
So what does it matter if people care or not.
Thanks for that. This has been really mood lifting. Let's just start the story. Childness disclaimer.
Cat-chan owns shit all. Yay for Cat-chan! :D
It had been a year since the young Nagi Uzumaki met her new friend. She had learnt a lot from him.
He had told her a lot of the world outside of Konoha having travelled the world far and wide. From the deserts of Suna to the beaches of Wave Country. The canals and lagoons of Kiri and even the best dango and sake shops of Tanzuka Town. Even as far as the steam and metal fabrications of the world outside the Elemental Countries (1).
Then he had told her how to talk to the Kami as well as the proper method of giving them offerings in exchange for using them as a formidable intelligence network as he did. The Kami or the Gods which dwell in all things (2), or as Nagi was want to call them at the time, the 'weird ghost things that played hide and seek in trees'. Truthfully it shocked even the Kyubi when she asked to join in the hide and seek game. Then again it wasn't nearly as shocking as the fact that a six year old girl was better at hide and seek than immortal spirits with no corporal body.
Suffice to the say the Kami of Konoha forests really like her. Unknown to the girl this resulted in a large increase in the number of Konoha's less reputable ninja's being spirited away (read led off a cliff).
Kyuyo had also told her about the Biju. Though it was less about the acts of destruction generally committed whilst under the influence of Uchiha control, while attempting to flee that Sleeping Pill no Jutsu the Senju use or simply during the act of attempting to seal the Hachibi when he had just woken up.
Rather Nagi was told about the dark secrets of the manifestations of destruction. Like how Hachikyo-chichi cried for two weeks after the now Yondaime Raikage cut off one of his horns, it would be several years until his current Jinchuriku told the ox/octopus/ushi-oni demon that he could just reconstruct the horn. At which point Hachikyo knocked the wannabe-rapper out of his own mindscape screaming 'IT WOULDN'T BE THE SAME!' and sulked in his cage for a month.
Or the time Kyuyo had tried to turn Ichishu-gaki's sand body to glass with powerful gout of his Invisible Flame. Unfortunately for the young fox Niba's nose smelled the build of Methanol gas and mauled him before he could expel the flame from his mouth. Which had the side effect of making the red head swallow the super heated fire and send it backwards into his lungs.
Thankfully the self proclaimed Meister of Flames was fire proof by nature but for the next few weeks the teen couldn't breathe without tasting something akin to the Naga Jolokia pepper. More commonly also known as the Ghost chilli. It would be an experience never matched until a fateful encounter with the Curry of Life shop in River Country. Since then the mighty Kyubi no Yoko avoids spicy food like they were the bringer of death.
Kyubi had taught his young blonde Jinchuriku a lot over the first year. In addition to the esoteric knowledge of the supernatural world Kyuyo had taught Nagi how to read and write, the skills of increasing her speed with Chakra and running up walls, to boost her muscle strength by flooding it with his own demonic Chakra, how to steal without leaving any evidence but of all the things one stood above all that was when Kyuyo told Nagi about her parents.
He didn't tell her at first of course. Kyuyo told himself he wanted to be sure but really it wasn't that difficult for him to trace back her genetic structure back to the source DNA in other words the girl's parents. In reality he wanted to make sure the girl would be able to handle the information. The Yondaime was really one of the few humans Kyuyo respected and he didn't want the man's only child to grow up hating the man.
But in the end Kyuyo reasoned that the lonely orphan girl, whose only friends was an old, constantly busy, Hokage, her personal nurse who she rarely saw outside of the hospital and a demonic chakra construct, deserved to known of her parents at the least.
So on her seventh birthday where Nagi had locked herself in her apartment eating a homemade cake which, though haphazardly decorated, proved rather well made considering the eggs where about a day off being vomit inducing. Kyuyo pulled Nagi into her mindscape and told her about her parents.
She cried for about an hour. Unlike what Kyuyo had expected they weren't tears of sadness, at least not all of them, but instead where the tears of happiness of a life-long orphan knowing of her parents. What had surprised the immortal demon the most though was when Nagi had found out that it was her own father who sealed Kyuyo in her. Rather she seemed determined to prove to the rest of the villagers that her father's faith was founded... that and the young girl refused to believe that her Kyuyo-kun was dangerous in any way, shape or form.
Kyuyo wasn't sure whether her views where the result of naivety or maturity beyond her years but it resulted in Kyuyo coming to one conclusion. If Nagi was going to be intent on proving herself to the village than he would make sure she had the life she deserved in the process.
For that though Kyuyo would have to get out of this damn seal.
This is how we got to point where Nagi was kneeling on the ground in Konoha's forest outskirts. Being watched by a few small Kami as she looked at the tattoo like burn adorning the place between her collarbones.
"Ready for this Kyuyo-kun?" Asked to the girl jailor to her unwilling prisoner.
"Fine Nagi-chan." Answered the red haired Biju. He was sitting on top of a small rock platform in the middle of his sodden prison, the result of Nagi's attempts to change the interior of her mindscape. It was a work in progress.
"Alright! Let's do this." Nagi slowed her breathing like Kyuyo had taught her. Closing her eyes she placed both hands over the mark that Kyuyo's chakra had burned into her skin. It had been a painful process but if this work she would take any pain.
Inside the girl's mindscape the red haired teen had assumed a similar meditative state of breathing. His legs were crossed in his usual western sitting position. Hands resting on his legs as if the demon was praying with his fingers interlocked. Like Nagi his eyes were closed, unlike Nagi it wasn't blackness which he saw but rather Nagi's field of vision (despite her own eyes being closed at the moment).
It had been three months since Nagi's birthday and since then Kyuyo had been studying the seal intently. It was lucky that he had good eyes because twelve feet was about as close as he could get before it started to feel like his individual cells were being stabbed with searing hot needles.
Even after a month of this Kyuyo had only come to the conclusion that Minato was better at this than he thought. How strange that it was his daughter who would eventually find the solution.
When you think about it the idea wasn't really all that surprising. As a descendent of the Uzumaki clan as well as the Yondaime Hokage sealing was in her blood. Even if she didn't understand it at the age of seven sealing made more sense to her than the Japanese language. It wasn't a bloodline so much as genetic memory that passed down the knowledge of sealing even if the clan structure dissolved as long as those with Uzumaki blood existed the talent and knowledge wouldn't die. It was due to this that she realised that a lot of seal, in her own words 'didn't connect'.
It took a while for Kyuyo to realise what that meant. When he did it was damn confusing. Basically the seal was superfluous. At least the majority of the seal was superfluous. Kyuyo may not have known why he was sealed but he knew it was done quickly. Mistakes were to be expected. In fact mistakes were what he was looking for. This wasn't a mistake though.
The seal worked damn near flawlessly. The seemingly pointless additions were not part of the seal at all rather they were only made to look like it was. When Kyuyo looked at the additions separately he realised it was actually instructions. Instructions for a Jutsu.
It took two months to properly decipher and learn the Jutsu. Once the seals were set the actual Jutsu process was rather easy but relying on two important factors. One the Jinchirku was performing the ceremony of their own free will, meaning they had to be in the right state of mind and thus physically and mentally in control of themself, and two was that the Biju was perfectly calm, no rage, no excitement, no emotion full stop.
Everything was set.
"Soul Summoning!" Nagi's voice rang out across the clearing as the burn tattoo glowed white over her tanned skin. Thick tendrils of crimson chakra flowed outwards from the seal on her navel. The chakra wrapped around her forming four crude tails behind her.
When it seemed like the chakra build up would be too much for the seven year old the chakra started to move away from her body as if it was alive. The further the chakra cloak moved away from the girl the more it started to look like the human form of a certain nine tailed demon fox.
Eventually all but a few tendrils of chakra connected the blonde girl and the mass of chakra human shaped for all but the four tails connected to the construct's back. Simultaneously the white glow of the seal stopped and the remaining streams of chakra snapped. After that happened the construct and the blonde girl, now longer having the chakra to hold them together, tumbled in opposite directions having succumb to the force of gravity.
As Nagi attempted picked herself up, no simple matter as the unfamiliar displacement of chakra made her quite woozy, she was met with a hand. Taking the hand she looked up into the face of Kyuyo.
"That went well. Eh?" Kyuyo said and the teen pulled the seven year old to her feet.
Jinchuriku and Biju shared eerily similar foxy grins before breaking out in laughter.
Soul Summoning is a technique originally designed to manifest the demons of one's mind and unleashes them upon a ninja's enemy. It is an ancient technique and due to the dangers present with summoning dangerous monsters from one's own mindscape few users survived to pass on the technique. It is said that the last remaining knowledge of the technique was lost with the destruction of the original birth place of the technique. Uzushiogakure.
Once though when knowledge of the technique was still in circulation a Jinchuriku used it summon his Biju. The Jinchuriku had discovering that even if the Biju is removed carefully the Jinchuriku will still die. It was actually due to a down side of the healing factor that the Jinchuriku's immune system became reliant on it. When the Biju is removed the immune system no longer able to handle itself without the Biju's demonic chakra and so the Jinchuriku will die soon after no matter the precautions taken. In using the Soul Summoning technique he could summon the Biju's consciousness while still leaving chakra in his body by regulating the amount of tails worth of chakra giving when the technique is first used. The weakness is that in this incomplete form the Biju are unable to replenish any chakra they use; either with Jutsus or the small but continuous drain that existing took, without returning to the seal and to the main reservoir of power that was left behind within it.
Though limited the technique gained the Jinchuriku some regard, sadly the Third Shinobi War was declared shortly after the two perfected the technique and the Jinchuriku fell in battle due to the betrayal of his comrades. The Biju survived but from now on Nanabi no Kabutomushi had little trust trust any human outside of her subsequent Jinchurike.
Kyuyo knew nothing of the background behind the technique. He simply knew of the lost Jutsu that allowed a Biju to take strolls outside of their prison as well as the limitations behind it. The point was the same regardless though Kyubi no Yoko could now walk the streets of Konoha.
The city would probably never know how it would turn out if these events never happened but now that they did the consequences would undoubtedly be disastrous.
"It's not fair." Neji Hyuga struck the training post with an open palm. "Fate isn't fair though is it?"
It had been a month since the now infamous Hyuga Kidnapping. It had also been three weeks since the less publicised sacrifice of Hiashi Hyuga's twin brother Hizashi. In those three weeks Hizashi's son Neji Hyuga had barely left his room.
Despite repeated attempts by his younger cousin he hadn't talked with anyone it wasn't until that afternoon that Neji had his first show of real emotion. Sadly that emotion was smacking Hinata Hyuga across the face. In the back of his mind he knew there wasn't really any reason for it, Hinata had only been trying to help him open up. In the front of his mind he didn't care. The branch family suffers all the time why shouldn't the main family get hurt. Even the innocent ones.
Since then Neji avoided the entirety of the family, both main and branch, though for different reasons. The main family members were intent on activating the curse seal whenever they saw him. The branch family wanted to congratulate him on hitting the clan heir something which combined with Neji's back mind thoughts served to only make him sick.
As such the budding ninja had retreated to a secluded training section of the Hyuga clan compound and trained late into the night.
Currently the moon had settled itself into its highest point in the sky. Only auxiliary lamps remained lit in the compound meaning that the clan members had retired for the night and also that Neji had to train by the light of a singular candle.
The wooden training post he used was shattered and splintered. Splinters which seemed to have all gone into Neji's now raw and bloody hands. The recently orphaned boy barely noticed.
He was so involved in his training that he didn't even notice the patter of feet on roof tiles. He did notice when the individual slipped on the tiles, still slick from last night's rain, and fell behind Neji with a crunch.
In an act that was half way between honed reactions and the act of jumping after being scared by a sudden sound in a quite environment. The result wasn't really graceful by any means but it did get the job done, i.e. the two fingers of a juken strike hovering centimetres from the intruder's jugular vein.
Blue-grey eyes met sky blue for a few tense minutes. Neither daring to move even an inch. One was waiting for the slightest sign of a fight in the intruder. The other was thinking the boy's eyes looked weird.
Eventually the one with sky blue eyes spoke. "Why are your eyes like that?"
Negi blinked twice. "Like what?"
"You know all... white."
"..."
"..."
"I'm a Hyuga."
"Good for you, but that doesn't answer my question."
"... It means I posses the kekkai genkai the Byakugan."
"Cool. What does the Byakagin do?"
"Byakugan! The All Seeing White Eye."
"Well I get the white eye part, though they have a sort of blue-grey hint to them, but they can't see everything. You only have two." The matter of fact way that the blonde girl said it actually made Neji have to think for a few moments about his answer.
"The Byakugan posses a 360 degree range of vision. With it I can see in all directions at once." Neji replied with only a hint of smugness.
The small blonde intruder rose to hand to her chin in a thinking position, placing the black sports bad she was carrying on the ground. "Ah! But then you would just be seeing the inside of your head most of the time. Hmmm, that would be kind of cool." Replied the young girl.
Neji almost gaped. "I would not be seeing the inside of my head because the Byakugan can see through solid objects. Understand!"
"Oh..." Suddenly the girl, her hand still on her chin in the thinking position, suddenly turned a deep red. "Pervert!" The girl screamed and jumped backwards covering her chest with her hands.
Neji was in shock. Looking quickly back at the house to make sure the girl's scream hadn't awoken anyone. He had already hit one girl today being found with a young girl screaming 'pervert' late at night was not going to help.
"What the hell are you talking about you blonde midget." Having made certain that no lights had turned on suddenly the brown haired Hyuga levelled his glare with the girl. She glared right back.
"Your eyes. You're looking through my clothes right now aren't you?"
It was Neji's turn to turn crimson. A little known fact was that the naturally pale skin of Hyuga's meant that when they blushed. They blushed hard.
"I-I-I would never use the Byakugan like that. It's a proud ninja technique meant for looking at an opponent's chakra circulatory system. I would never use it for... for that." Neji ended his rant rather quietly. His face still flushed.
The blonde glared at the pupiless eyes of the blushing boy for a few moments before smiling a grin that, for some reason, only served to make the poor boy blush harder. "Okay I'll believe you but if I ever catch looking through a woman's clothes well..." The blonde's foxy grin turned darkly sadistic "... I'll just have to castrate you. M'kay."
"...kay."
"I'm Nagi Uzumaki by the way. Believe it!" Nagi said raising her hand for Neji to shake.
"... Neji Hyuga." Neji replied shaking the younger girl's hand.
Nagi drew her hand back with a smile but frowned when she realised the amount of blood that now covered her hand.
"Taking the training far aren't we." Nagi said looking at her hand. "So what happened?"
Neji's face assumed a hard scowl as he remembered the events that brought him here. Feeling the need to hit something Neji turned back to the training post.
Ignoring the blonde girl in the process.
"You know it's rude to ignore a question."
Neji continued to ignore the girl thinking she would leave. Strangely it had yet to cross his mind what a seven year old was doing running across the roofs of the Hyuga compound late at night in the first place or what she was doing with a clearly suspicious sports bag. Then again Nagi does have a disarming personality.
"I'm not going to leave unless you tell me what's going on."
Neji continued to ignore her. If he had known Nagi Uzumaki previously he might have realised the dangers of making the girl frustrated. Alas.
"Very well, you sir have forced my hand."
Behind him Neji heard the sound of her sports bag being unzipped but, in a move surprising no-one, he ignored it. Poor bastard.
Neji's aromatic faculties were assaulted by the stench of rotted fish and sour milk. Gagging and clutching his mouth and nose in desperate bid to block the noxious gas Neji retreated to the side wall of the training field.
"Good to see that I have your attention Neji-baka."
Neji looked over to the source of the blonde's voice wondering as to the reason her voice was so distorted. When he saw her he realised that the large black gas mask over her face was probably the cause of the distortion.
The black sports bag hung off one shoulder. Unzipped it revealed a collection of haphazardly constructed devices much like the one that now lay by the training post.
Stink bombs.
"Now are you going to talk?" Asked the gas-mask wearing stink bomber.
The Hyuga attempted to glare back at the small girl with the famous Deathgaze no Jutsu.
Nagi just cocked her head to the side.
Alas it appeared the famous Deathgaze no Jutsu didn't really have the same effect when the eyes of its target were covered by reflective glass.
Neji sighed and relented on the promise that the blonde remove her mask as it was honestly really creepy.
The two were up till two in the morning as Neji discussing the events of the kidnapping, what happened to his father and what happened earlier. It would have taken less time but Nagi had an odd way of asking questions that drew his story off in tangents. What it even stranger was that it made him reveal information he had told to no one. Like his anxiety about the mother that he never really knew.
At the end he felt somewhat lighter at least until Nagi hit him in the face and he blacked out.
Neji groaned having woken up sometime later on something small and soft.
"That was for your cousin in case you didn't get it." Nagi said in a sing song voice.
"Yeah I figured." Neji replied in a strange voice as he rubbed his nose.
"She really didn't deserve what you did."
"... I know."
"Good, cause you need to work out what you're going to do from here."
"I'm sorry?"
"Are you going to wallow in despair or are you going to grow up to be a man your father would be proud off."
Neji didn't have an answer for that. Not that Nagi expected him to.
"I'm going to have to get going now so would you mind getting up."
Neji was about to ask him what she meant before he noticed where his head was actually resting. Her lap.
The boy shot up faster than a bullet. Not that he knew what a bullet was but the point was the same.
Nagi giggled and picked up bag. Neji hadn't seen her zip it up but she seemed to have packed away her gas-mask which was probably a good sign.
"I'll see you later." With that she was up the wall, across the roof and away from the Hyuga compound. From reasons he didn't understand Neji didn't like seeing her leave.
A week later a meeting between the Hyuga clan heads would be assaulted by a collection of highly potent stink bombs. After word of the event got out a small group of Branch members became witness to the highly disturbing sight of Neji Hyuga rolling on the ground in laughter.
That night Neji saw the blonde she-prankster again as she returned to the scene of the crime. Neji had the suspicion that she did so simply because she could.
That night they had another late night conversation though this time the topics were more mundane and didn't result in Neji getting hit at the end. He got a small hit about half way through, but not at the end.
The two would have three more of these late night conversations over the next month. At the end of this third conversation Neji had a strange thought.
'Nagi's rather cute when she's tired.'
It all went downhill from there.
"Are you sure this is going to work." Kyuyo said his hands were clasped together in a battle position.
"Don't worry about it" A nine year old Nagi said her eyes narrowed in concentration. Her arms were held out front in a battle position. "Now come on hit me with all you got. Unless you don't think you're man enough."
Mumbling quietly to himself that he wasn't really a man Kyuyo gathered oxygen in his mouth and sparked it. A huge tongue of sapphire blue fire spit out from Kyubi's mouth consuming his blonde friend.
Kyuyo covered his eyes with his hands not wanting to see what had happened. A few seconds later Kyuyo let out a deep sigh of relief as he heard the familiar laughter of a young girl.
Removing the hand from his eyes he saw the strange sight of a petite blonde girl laughing as she stood in the middle of a blue raging inferno without any negative effects on her health. The sapphire flames licked her flesh, hair and clothes and yet didn't leave as much as a singe on her.
Nagi smiled rather pleased with herself. "I told you this Aura thing would work." Looking down at her orange sundress she added. "Though it's good you know how to make clothing fire retardant."
If one looked closely at the young girl's skin they would notice an almost imperceptible layer of orangey red chakra. This was her Aura. Unlike a chakra cloak used by most Jinchuriki the Aura was a combination of Kyuyo's demonic chakra and Nagi's own resulting in what was approximately a tail worth of chakra completely under the girl's control. As opposed to having to borrow it from Kyuyo. Making it far more versatile due to the fact that the chakra was much easier to control. Replicating the fire-proofing Kyuyo was so proud of was only the first step.
"Nagi I assure you that I have utter faith in your abilities but did we really have to test a technique like this with a giant fireball. Couldn't we have done something that wouldn't have result in you being extra crispy if the technique failed?"
"You know what they say. Go hot or go home." Nagi said before grinning slyly. "Besides Kyuyo-kun I thought you liked torching people."
Kyuyo pouted in indignation. "I only like torching people I don't like and I don't not like you." Kyuyo placed his hand on his forehead. Doubles negatives always gave him a headache.
Nagi just laughed. "All right let's test out my next trick." Still standing unfazed in the blazing hot inferno Nagi raised her right arm. Half closing her eyes in concentration Nagi focused her Aura into one point on her forearm. Immediately her chakra spiked as the Aura started to bubble like boiling water narrowing her eyes further the charka began to bubble and snake upwards.
In a few seconds the chakra had formed into a large maple red coloured appendage. This technique was based off the red claws of chakra that Kyuyo was capable of forming (3). Though Nagi's Chakra Arms were a different shade of red and possessed only three fingers and a thumb. Giving them more of a cartoonish feel.
Smiling to herself Nagi stretched her arm out in the direction of a loose log resting at the side of the clearing. Following her mental instructions the arm reached out and gripped the log. The heat of the Aura, due to the inclusion of Kyuyo's Pyro natured chakra, sizzled the log a bit but other than that the wood was left relatively undamaged.
Increasing the flow of chakra into her Aura the arm puffed in size a bit and lifted the large log effortlessly.
Nagi looked like someone had just given her a bar of gold coated in sugar. "Hey. I did it. I did it. Are looking Kyuyo?"
Kyuyo smiled as the girl acted like the child she was. Not that he would say that out loud. The problem with teaching someone to boost their strength of demonic levels meant their punches tended to hurt demons. A lot.
The tender moment was short lived however as the log the arm suddenly combusted. In her excitement the girl forgot to properly regulate the balance of chakras in her Aura. Causing the levels of Pyro natured chakra to swell heating the Aura somewhere in the levels of Kyuyo's superheated blue fireballs.
In laymen's terms. Big wooden log go 'fwooosh'!
Kyuyo sighed and breathing in drawing the heat from the log fire, and the inferno Nagi was still comfortably standing in while he was at it, into his mouth to diffuse. As he was doing so he wondered briefly whether his self made artificial body could have a heart attack because if it could. Nagi would undoubtedly be the cause of it.
Once the fires were out Nagi scratched the back of her head in embarrassment. "Still a little work to do, huh."
"Yeah." Kyuyo replied and turned around. "Let's go to the park. You start Ninja Academy in a few weeks so you might as well enjoy your free time while you have it."
"Aww, but I want to train more. I bet I can get the log lifting right this time. You know without the combustion." Nagi pouted.
"If so you're going to need a new log." Kyuyo said pointed to the smouldering remains of the giant hunk of wood. "Now then. Park. Now!" Kyuyo added dangerously.
"What if I say no?" Nagi said with a grin, ever the little shit stirrer.
Kyuyo only responded with his own grin that showed off his sharp teeth.
Sakura Haruno wasn't having the best day. In fact her entire week was pretty bad.
It had all started with her best friend Ino Yamanaka. In fact she had discovered that most of the things she did started with Ino. That right there was the problem. She was becoming less of a person and more of a pink haired puppy that just followed Ino around. Thus she had decided to go out on her own. Become her own person. She would do that via competition with her best friend. Which is how the girl had come to be pursuing the cool and good looking Sasuke Uchiha.
That been last week and in all honesty she hadn't been doing so well. For one the pink haired girl underestimated the sheer amount of girl's that were trying to win over the Uchiha. Just attempting to get close to moon over the raven haired boy involved running a painful gauntlet of pre-teen fangirls. As far as fangirls went it was the pre-teen ones that always bit the hardest.
The girl was close to just giving up and apologising to her blonde friend after the first five days. Thankfully her mother had heard of her daughter's quest to win the Uchiha's heart and offered words of encouragement.
Admittedly the way her mother had afterwards had started cackling manically was a bit weird. Something about the finances of the Uchiha's. The young Haruno had yet to learn what the word 'finances' meant so she just ignored it.
Still she was starting to get depressed at her failures and had come to the park to sulk. It had been an interesting walk actually as various villagers had been talking about the blonde demon being carried away by a red haired man that must have been an undercover Anbu.
Sakura wasn't sure about any demons but she did see a small girl being carried in the arms, or more over the shoulder, of a red headed teen. The blonde girl seemed to be red faced and screaming at the teenager who only smiled calmly. The girl certainly didn't look like any demon. If anything the teen with his deep red eyes was probably him more the demon if anything. Still Konoha was a strange village at times. Better to just move past it.
Eventually she made it to Konoha's central park. Buying an ice cream from one of the park vendors the pink haired nine year old walked over to a shady spot on a bench beneath the trees.
It was a bit early in the year to watch the Cherry Blossom trees, an event that she always enjoyed, but Konoha Central Park was beautiful enough to be enjoyed at any point in the year. A fact which made many people come here when they needed time to think. Thus this part of the park, which had heavier tree coverage, had a very relaxed atmosphere and anyone who came here to play would be quickly chased off by those who had yet to fully unwind.
Though what Sakura didn't know is that typical social norms didn't apply to one hyperactive blonde girl.
"What cha' doing."
Sakura shrieked and very nearly dropped her ice cream. It was only due to a red coloured hand to steady the cone that the girl didn't drop her frozen treat.
Wait, red hand!
Sakura looked around quickly only to find no trace of any red appendages. Calming her clearly hysterical mind down Sakura looked over to where the voice had come from and was treated to the sight of a small blonde girl wearing an orange sundress and bearing three whisker marks on each of her cheeks. Weirder was that she was on her hands and knees at the other end of the seat staring at her like a dog. It would have been cuter if she didn't notice the blonde making eyes at her ice cream
There was something familiar about the girl but rather than dwelling on it Sakura pushed the thoughts to the back of her mind and gave the girl a polite smile. "Hello. Is there anything I can do for you?"
The girl cocked her head to the side like it was a weird question. Sakura twitched as she repressed the urge to grab the much smaller girl and scream 'KAWAII!'.
"I was just wondering what was up. You seemed depressed." The blonde girl eventually said. Sakura was actually surprised at the sincerity of her voice. It made her fumble at little.
"I... uh... I was just thinking about life you know."
"Oh and what happened in life to make you have to think about it?"
Sakura was getting a little annoyed with the third degree. "Don't you ever just think about life for the joy of it?"
Without skipping a beat the blonde girl flipping her legs around and plonked down in the normal sitting position before answering confidently. "Nope."
Sakura was about the say something before the blonde elaborated.
"I mean what's the point of mulling over things. Better to just do now and regret later. Right"
The blonde finished with a foxy smile which, once again, made Sakura twitch as she once again had to repress her KAWAII urge.
Still Sakura had to smile herself. "I can't really tell if those words are naive or wisdom beyond your six years."
The blonde blinked. "I'm nine."
Sakura was actually shocked at this. "Wow you're really short."
"I'm not short!" The blonde shouted and Sakura laughed. Little did the two know this would be the start of a debilitating and highly comical complex. On the level of another short blonde.
In another dimension an alchemist wearing a crimson clock and possessing only two actual limbs sneezed.
"Are you coming brother?" Asked a hulking suit of armour walking in front of the alchemist.
"Yeah yeah." The alchemist rubbed his nose and hurried along mumbling something about stupid authors and lame cut away jokes.
But that's that a story for another time.
"So what's your name?" Sakura asked the blonde who was mumbling about pink haired giants or some such nonsense.
When she was asked the question the blonde did a full one eighty personality change and went from mumbling veiled threats to smiling sweetly. "Nagi Uzumaki at your service." Adding a mock bow.
Sakura though realised why the girl looked familiar. Nagi Uzumaki was a girl that her mother constantly told her to stay away from. She said the girl was dangerous.
Though when Sakura looked at the blonde girl giving an exaggerated bow she couldn't help but think her mother was... well a bit full of shit. Besides if there was one thing the pinkette could use now it was a friend.
"Sakura Haruno." Sakura said placing her hand on the blonde's head. "Pleasure to meet you Nagi-chan."
"So is that him?" Nagi said from her place behind the bush.
"Yeah." Sakura replied dreamily. It had been approximately two weeks since the pinkette and the blonde had become friends. When Sakura's mother had found out she had become angry in a way that both confused, and frightened her a little, but a bit of well timed sniffling and teary eyes had calmed her mother down.
Since that time Sakura had become somewhat protective of Nagi for all her eccentricities and bouts of mental instability.
The two had been going to the same park where they had meet for ice cream when Nagi spotted a large crowd of pre-teen girls. Realising it was the fan girl mob Sakura grabbed Nagi's hand and ran behind a nearby bush. Though she wasn't really sure why.
After calming the blonde, who was having some kind of nam flashback about the last time she had seen the ravenous fan girl mob. Sakura didn't know being trampled by three dozen pre teens felt like and that was something she was really glad for. Sakura took the opportunity to show off her crush to her new blonde friend.
"He could do with smiling more." Nagi wasn't very impressed. Sakura didn't really take well to her crush being insulted but she soon realised that it was probably better that Nagi didn't like Sasuke. She didn't want to lose another, ironically blonde, friend over her crush.
"Still he's cute isn't he?" Sakura said returning from her thoughts.
Nagi half shrugged. "To each their own I suppose. Kyuyo-kun's cuter if your ask me." Somewhere deep in Nagi's subconscious a red haired demon of unimaginable power blushed like a Hyuga.
"Kyuyo-kun? Who's that?" Sakura was actually genuinely curious she didn't even know Nagi was interested in boys. That Hinata Hyuga she had seen blushing and spying on Nagi raised some odd questions.
Never the less Nagi waved off the question. "I'll tell you later. So anyway are you going to talk to him?"
"Uh... well I don't know. You don't think he'd be annoyed would you?"
"Never known if you don't try." Nagi answered with a shrug and a smile.
"What about the mob?"
Nagi smile grew wider and eviller. "Leave them to me. It's payback time." With that the blonde slipped away leaving Sakura to wonder what was going to happen.
A few minutes later she found out.
"Hey Sasuke!" The fan girls, and to a lesser extent the last Uchiha, looked over to see Nagi Uzumaki waving from on top of the park's fountain. An innocent smile on her face. The fan girls narrowed their eyes at this blonde who was using a familiar tone with the Uchiha. "I heard a rumour that the reason you're so moody is because you brother buggered off before you could confess to him."
The entire park was silent. Then the fan girls rioted. Nagi laughed and ran away the fan girls trailing behind her.
In a few seconds Sasuke was left alone in the park his fan girls having left to give chase to the blonde his eyes ever so slightly wider than usual, which for those talented in deciphering Uchihaese translated to 'wtf'. Shaking his head he started walking to the library like he had intended.
Which is why when a blushing pink haired girl showed up, blocking his path, the Uchiha could barely repress a groan of annoyance.
"Uh... I was wondering if you'd like to go get an ice cream... um... S-sasuke-kun." Sakura said drawing upon all her inner reserves of confidence.
The Uchiha didn't even bother to repress his sigh this time. "Why don't you make yourself useful and chase after the blonde weirdo." Was all the Uchiha said as he walked past the shocked pinkette.
"...Sha-SHANNARO!"
"Hey Sakura-chan." Nagi waved to her pink haired friend not even panting after a two block sprint as she lead the ravenous fan girl mob right into a collection of paint bomb nests. Konoha's resident Jinchuriku mentally chuckled at the memory.
Her smiled faded though when she noticed the aura of anger swarmed around the young pinkette.
"S-sakura-chan."
Sakura snapped her head around at the sound of the voice, but smiled at the sight of the blonde. Though her eyes still held the dangerous intensity of rage and fire.
"Nagi-chan. Come on let's get ice cream." Grabbing the shocked blonde's hand, rather hard, Sakura walked towards to the nearest ice cream street vendor.
"Um, Sakura-chan what happened with Sasuke."
Sakura stopped mid stride and turned back to Nagi. Her face a terrifying sadist smile. "Don't worry about it. We don't ever have to talk about that piece of shit, duck butt haired teme again." Sakura turned back around and continued walking.
"... okay."
"Nagi-chan do you think we should ask about all the blood on her hands."
'I don't think that's a very good idea Kyuyo-kun.'
"...Yeah you're probably right."
"Daddy."
Aguno Haruno looked up from his news paper at his only daughter and smiled. While mentally giving a sigh of relief. "What is it honey?" He was actually very happy that his daughter was talking again. That had been the first thing his daughter had said in three days after coming home from hanging out with that Uzumaki girl. When his wife had seen Sakura when her eyes downcast and her fists bloody the first thing she had done was ask what had the Uzumaki girl had done to her.
Killing Intent, he believed that was what ninjas called it, was what Sakura had released. Though the flaming eyes of rage were probably enough to shock his wife into inaction. After checking that the blood on her hands was indeed someone else's he sent Sakura off to read a book and attempted to snap his wife back into reality.
A day later his wife while they were making dinner had asked Sakura how her crush on the Uchiha was going. How his nine year old daughter managed to crush the metal platter like it was cardboard he honestly didn't know. To be honest he was a little proud if utterly terrified.
Somehow the fact that she was talking again gave him hope that everything would go back to normal.
"Dad can I attend the Ninja academy."
So much for that theory.
"W-why would you want to attend the ninja academy? Don't you know how dangerous being a ninja can be?"
"Yes."
"Then why-"
"There's someone I want to protect. So I have to be strong."
Aguno was about to deny his daughter's request before he saw the determination in his daughters eyes.
"All right Sakura. I'll contact the academy tomorrow."
Sakura smiled and hugged her dad before running out of the room before he changed his mind.
Aguno sighed. "Damn I'm weak." Never the less you could see the hint of a smile on his lips before he obscured it with the paper.
"I still don't see why you like this guy so much." Kyuyo, in his Soul Summoned form, said to his blonde companion.
"Oji's an awesome ninja. 'Side's your just saying that because you and Ani always fight." Nagi answered. Held in her arms was a sealing scroll the size of Kyuyo's forearm.
"With good reason!" Kyuyo said pointing his finger dramatically. "Bandage mouth and frost boy are corrupting you."
"I thought you were corrupting me." Nagi said with slitted eyes.
"Exactly! They're taking over my job!" Kyuyo shouted before crossing his arms in a pout.
"Oh. Don't worry you'll always be my favourite fox." Nagi said patting his arm. If she could reach she probably would have scratched him behind his ears. "Now come on I don't want to miss Oji's training. You know how difficult it is from him and Ani to visit with their job as travelling mercenaries."
As Nagi ran forward to the hidden clearing near the edge of Konoha's forest where her Oji would be waiting Kyuyo briefly wondered if he should tell her just what kind of mercenaries the man who had practically adopted her when she was seven and the boy who considered her an adorable little sister.
"Nah. It'll be funnier to watch when it all blows up in their faces." He said out loud before teleporting to the clearing in a swirl of yellow fire.
"Tenten-san you have not told us why it is important to go to the Ninja Academy." Rock Lee asked his teammate the weapon's mistress.
"Because Lee. Someone's trying to usurp my position. I can't let that happen." Tenten growled back her fists clenched in anger.
Maito Gai mentally sighed. His female student had been like this for three days now and no one knew why. Everything he or Lee asked, Neji as usual was caught up in his own little world, one day he would make for a truly hip rival for now it was just a pain to teach, they were simply given some incomprehensible answer usually involving some variation of the words 'blonde', 'midget', 'whisker faced' and whatever number of profanities she felt like at the time. Maito had a bad feeling of what was going to happen today.
"Could you at least tell us what position is being usurped?" Neji asked getting a little impatient with this entire exercise. Though inwardly he was very grateful for something else than a pointless D-Rank mission or Gai-sensei's insane idea of training. The training was so harsh that Neji didn't even have time to stal- er... discreetly follow from a respectful distance his small blonde.
"What position! My position as the Number One Troublesome Kunoichi of course!"
The three Shinobis of Team Gai blinked. Well the two green covered Shinobis blinked. The Hyuga of Team Gai paled, though with that complexion you wouldn't notice it, as he suddenly had a very good idea of where this was going.
Tenten just ignored them and kept walking to the Ninja Academy.
It wasn't until they got to the Academy gates that Tenten was finally convinced to elaborate. In other words when she finally got tired of being pestered by Gai and his little green clone.
Tenten gritted her teeth and sighed in exasperation. "Fine! Just shut up. As you may have gotten the impression I'm not the traditional idea of a Kunoichi."
'Nooooo.' The three Shinobi thought in unison.
"Anyway while I was still in the Ninja Academy I got stuck in those useless Kunoichi classes. I mean what is the use of learning flower arranging and I swear to Izanami Gai-sensei if you give me that piece of shit textbook answer I'm going to use you as target practice!"
Wisely Gai closed his mouth mid lecture.
"So naturally I got a little bored in these classes and wanted out. But our Kunoichi sensei said every Kunoichi needed to know this so I had to resort to extreme measures. That is how I became the the Number One Troublesome Kunoichi of all time. But now! Now some blonde midget girl not only takes over my position she actually gets transferred to the Shinobi classes. It's an outrage!" Tenten screamed before stomping off to the grounds where the Academy Students would probably be having lunch.
Maito Gai scratched his head. "Who could actually cause so much trouble they'd get kicked out of Kunoichi classes."
"Would it require Youthful or Unyouthful spirit Gai-sensei!"
"I'm not sure. This bears further investigation come my youthful student!"
"Yes Gai-sensei!"
As Green Beast and Green Beast in training ran off after his female teammate Neji removed a picture from a hidden pocket in his beige jacket. The picture in question was a small photo of him and a certain petite blonde. Originally the picture was one third larger but Neji had cut out the portion of the photo which contained the blonde's pink haired friend who looked like she was working out the optimal place in his spine to stick those poisoned senbon of hers. He was about to walk away from the inevitable mess that this would cause. When a familiar voice echoed over the Ninja Academy.
"Do you see what happens when you mess with the next Hokage!"
Tenten was looking around the back of the Ninja Academy when the declaration of Hokagedom was shouted from the rooftop of the ninja academy.
Looking up she saw the walls of the Ninja Academy covered in graffiti of various colours, shapes and a multitude of spirals. On top of the roof was her three day old Arch-nemesis, Nagi Uzumaki.
She was just as short as the Weapon Mistress had heard, barely reaching five foot. Her skin was tanned with the distinctive whisker marks on her cheeks. Her hair was a bright sun kissed blonde that spiked up before falling down under its own weight causing it to flow down to her neck where a pair of goggles was worn. Bangs were held out of sky blue eyes with a pair of red hairclips.
A set of dark navy jeans was worn under an orange sundress which hung down to just above her knees. Only the collarless black flak jacket over her chest gave an indication to her ninja goals though the style was different from the usual chunin jackets. If the descriptions Tenten had heard were to be believed on the back of her flak jacket would be a red spiral, like those worn on the shoulder of chunin and jonin uniforms, for reasons not everyone seemed to remember anymore, and a scroll strapped to her lower back.
Truly the girl was the very vision of a diabolical usurper mastermind.
Tenten was in a strange state of mind.
"Hey! Nagi Uzumaki!" Tenten shouted causing Nagi, and the several chunin teachers attempted to extract her from the roof, to raise their heads and look in her direction. Smirking as she had caught her prey she removed a kunai. Don't ask where some things are better left unknown.
At least that's what she thought. In fact only the chunin teachers were looking at her. Nagi was looking somewhere else.
"Nagi Uzumaki I challenge y-"
"Neji!" Nagi said as she jumped off the other side of the roof.
Tenten blinked as her enemy ran in completely the opposite direction. Shaking her head she ran over to the front of the Academy where Nagi had gone. Gai and Lee following her.
Most of the academy students did the intelligent thing and returned to their lunch. Only a pink haired girl and a dark blue haired girl slipped out to the academy's front inconspicuously.
Tenten reached the front of the Academy in a few second and returned to the battle position she was in previously.
"Nagi Uzumaki I challenge y-"
"So how's life be treating you Neji-baka."
"No-no problems. My sensei's being weird as usual. Such is fate."
"Neji. Don't you remember what I said?"
Neji gulped. "Every time I say fate you hit me with your sword."
"Yep. Now stay still." Nagi grinned darkly as she pulled the scroll on her back from his straps.
"STOP IGNORING ME DAMNIT!"
Nagi stopped removing her scroll and looked at the new comer. "Who the hell are you?"
"I'm-"
"This is my teammate Tenten Nagi-chan." Neji answered for Tenten.
Attempting to gain control of the conversation Tenten patted her chest. "That's right I'm Team Gai's wea-"
"Oh are you the weapon mistress."
"I said stop interrupting me! Wait, how did you know that?"
Nagi smiled now standing close enough to gaze intently into Tenten's eyes. Not even Gai and Lee, who were watching from the sidelines sharing a bucket of pop corn between them, noticed when the blonde had moved.
"Neji-baka told me a lot about his team. Most of it was complaining but he did say you could hit the centre of a target from half a K away." Nagi's eyes sparkled with admiration. Tenten scratched her head in embarrassment having already forgotten would she was supposed to be doing here.
"Well I don't like to brag." Her three male teammates snorted at this. "But yeah, in fact I can even hit a moving target."
"Can you show me?" Nagi asked hopefully.
"Uh... I suppose I could but... do you have a target."
Nagi grinned like the fox she had befriended. "Neji still needs to get his fated punishment."
In that second Tenten saw a lot of herself in the young blonde. Which is probably why she said this. "Can you call me nee-san?"
"Sure." Nagi said smiling.
That was the story of how Konoha's Jinchuriku and Konoha's Weapon's Mistress met. As well as the cause of a recurring nightmare for Neji Hyuga.
"So, you excited!" Sakura asked her blonde friend as they walked to the academy side by side. She was dressed in her normal red and white dress with biker shorts underneath. Her hair cut short because it was quote 'easier to manage'. Though the fact she had cut her, previously, long hair short after the rumour that Sasuke liked long hair started circulating showed that her animosity towards the Uchiha hadn't diminished. Hanging from her shoulder was the large grey satchel she always carried with her since her decision to follow the path of a poison expert.
Unsurprisingly the satchel was filled with toxins and poisons, everything from fatal to merely vomit inducing, her chemistry equipment as well as several antidotes and bandages in case anyone she didn't want to, got poisoned. That rarely happened though.
Having also found talent in medical jutsu she had designated herself the team healer for when she and Nagi got on a team. Or at the very least having to heal whoever it was that didn't put them on a team after her poisons had run their course.
"Naturally you better pass after I skipped all those past exams so we could graduate together." Nagi answered with a smirk. Already dreaming of that wicked looking black machete her Oji had promised her when she graduated. Not to mention all the ramen she would eat courtesy of Iruka-sensei's wallet.
Sakura scoffed. "Me. You better hope they let you past with those weird Aura Clones of yours." The cherry blossom head pointed out. Nagi just smiled cockily.
"When they see the superiority of my Aura Clones they'll probably promote me to chunin right there."
"Are these the same clones that make it feel like I'm punching jelly whenever I hit them?"
Nagi pouted. "Where's Hinata-chan anyway."
Sakura thought about the recent and shy addition to their group. Though honestly she hadn't been so much added as she had been dragged out from behind the tree when Nagi had finally spotted her after Izanagi knows how many years. Judging from the way the Hyuga blushed like a cherry she probably would have been able to die happy.
Sakura really had to ask the shy girl about her sexuality one of these days and why she had decided on a girl who wouldn't even notice if a mob of guys showed up on her doorstep brandishing chocolates and roses.
She actually had a bet going with Hinata's little sister, Hanabi, about when this would happen and how Nagi would respond.
Sakura also had a bet going with the waitress at Nagi's favourite ramen shop about when Hanabi would start trying to jump Nagi. Seriously the blonde was like Hyuga catnip.
"Let's see if I know Hinata she's probably...Ah. Over there." Sakura said pointed behind the tree they were walked past. "Why do you still hide behind trees anyway?"
Hinata shrugged. "I find it calming."
Sakura shook her head about the fact that she could never get normal friends. Nagi just laughed.
"Let's just get going before we're late for graduation exams. They're not going to let us run late when we actually become ninja."
Somewhere a certain cyclopean shinobi sneezed.
What do think?
Now you're asking for our opinion. What happened to Mr. Leave-me-alone.
Don't misunderstand I still want you gone. I just thought you could be useful before you leave.
...
Lol. Pwned. _
Indeed. Well anyway that was a very long chapter and I am incredibly glad it's done.
Yeah what was with the length? What was it 9000 words. Last chapter was 5000 including the rambling you call Author's Notes.
I aim for word lengths but I tend to write in scenes. This chapter was pretty much just humour and setting the scene and canon changes. Next chapter will start right where this left off.
And to mess with Neji? )
And to mess with Neji.
Just get to some action next chapter. Readers want to see blood.
Really I got the impression most were Romance and Humour fans. For one that is what this fic is listed under.
All right fine. I want to see some blood! Keeps this drivel interesting.
If you guys aren't going to leave could you at least get someone helpful?
Aren't I helpful? ?
No! No!
Wah! :( [Childness Runs off crying]
I almost feel bad.
I don't.
I figured. Well then read and review. Jamata!
(1)- I have been reading way too many Steampunk novels. Hmmm. I wonder when my copy of Monster Blood Tatoo Book 3 is supposed to show up.
(2)- Kami is the Japanese word for spirits, natural forces or essence in the Shinto faith. Literally it can translate as God or Deity but many scholars argue that this causes misunderstanding as people may believe it refers to a single God. In some cases these Kamis are personified as Izanagi-no-Mikoto and Izanami-no-Mikoto (the father and mother of the Japanese pantheon of deities). The Kami's in this sense refer to the more common cases concerning the phenomenon of natural emanation, the spirits dwelling in trees, or forces of nature. In a way they like nature spirits or even simply an aspect of spirituality as there portrayed in this. For the purposes of this fic the Kami appear similar to the Gods in Princess Mononoke
I have a serious pet peeve over what Naruto FanFiction has done to the Japanese Mythology. Particularly those that refer to Yami as a dark god of sorts. Let's get this straight Yami is the underworld and is ruled over by Izanami-no-Mikoto the Japanese goddesses of death. The only time Yami is referred to as a god, or really goddesses, is in Hindu beliefs or in Tibetan beliefs where she is the goddess of the underworld (Naraka) and the consort of Lord of the Underworld Yama.
Sorry about that but I went to an odd catholic high school. Less focus on praying. More focus on writing ten page reports on a bible passage... or the history of the Torah... or the popular on the purpose of charity as compared to a survey. I'm really glad High Schools over with.
(3)- If you want to know what I'm talking about look up Chakra arms in Narutopedia. Or just go here- .com/wiki/Chakra_Arms