Title: Kādo no Aijin

(The Card Mistress)

(カードの愛人)

Category: Naruto

Genre: Adventure, Romance

Rating: M

Characters: Naruko U. Anko M.

Summary: At a young age Naruko decides that learning the art of Fūinjutsu is a good idea when you're a Jinchūriki. She also gains an interest in card games, mixing them she creates the Card Style.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Masashi Kishimoto owns Naruto and all things related to it. This story is simply a product of envy and admiration towards those with the proper ownership to the series.

Chapter 1: The Card Style

A young child stood outside of a bar peering in. She had blond, spiky hair that was dirty from having lived outside for the last month or so. She wore a white t-shirt that was too big for her, and a pair of black cargo shorts, both of which were just as dirty as her hair, if not more.

The bar of her interest was a small establishment, having only four tables and counter with several stools next to it. The bartender behind the counter was a large and bulky dark skinned bald man with a brown goatee.

The building was fairly empty, the sun having just gone down and the regulars still not having arrived. "Well are you going to come in or stand out there all night?" The young child started at the dark voice of the owner and hesitated for a moment before cautiously walking into the bar.

Only one of the tables was occupied by a couple of people playing some card game, the child observed as she reached the counter and climbed up on a stool. The bartender smiled at her and placed a glass of juice in front of her. The child stared at it questioningly before looking up at the large man. "I don't have any money." She told him quietly.

The dark skinned man just smiled as he placed a bowl of ramen in front of her. "Don't worry about it, you look starving. Eat." He said. She hesitated before carefully picking up the chopsticks, grabbing some noodles and started eating. Her eyes lit up and seconds later the bowl was empty and she drained the glass of juice just as fast.

The bartender laughed. "I see I was right. You have quite the appetite there young lady." He commented, getting a blush of embarrassment from the small child. "I'm Agil, what's your name?" He asked her while he took her bowl and filled it up again.

"Naruko." The child said. Agil paused for a moment. "Clapper?" He questioned and placed the bowl in front of the girl, who took it slower this time.
Naruko shook her head. "No it's spelled 'roaring light'." She told Agil who nodded in understanding.
"That's a very nice name." He said. "So what is a young girl like you doing out at this hour? Shouldn't you be at home?" He asked as he inspected her more closely, noting how dirty she looked.

Naruko shook her head again. "I don't have a home. I lived in the orphanage, but I hated it there so I ran away."

Agil blinked at that piece of information. "So you…just live on the street now? For how long?" He asked her; sure he wasn't going to like the answer. Naruko gave a slight shrug.
"Not sure, I stopped counting after two weeks."

Agil frowned at the answer; as he thought he didn't like the answer. "And nobody has been looking for you?" He received another shrug from Naruko, who had by now finished her ramen.
"Sometimes I think someone is, but I don't want to go back so I hide."

Agil was thoroughly confused by the girl in front of him. How bad was she treated at the orphanage to think it was better to live in the streets like she was? And the fact that she could hide from those who were looking for her, who were most likely shinobi, was astounding.

By now more people had entered and he had to take his focus away from her to care for his costumers. When he looked over at where she'd been she was gone. Looking around his establishment he spotted her near the table where they were playing poker. He was surprised when he noticed how intensely she was observing the game.

Naruko was fascinated by the game she was watching, absorbing all the information she could from it. She couldn't quite understand how it was played, but she got the gist of it and she understood more with each move made.

The night continued on, Naruko staying by the poker table with Agil keeping an eye on her when he could.

"Yo Agil! Gimme my usual!" A loud and boisterous voice grabbed his attention. The owner of said voice was a fourteen year old girl with violet hair, brown eyes and a large grin on her face who was dressed quite provocatively with only a mesh body suit under a tan overcoat and an orange skirt.
Agil returned her grin. "Coming right up, Anko."

"So what's up? You're later than usual." He asked as he passed her drink to her. Anko sighed.
"Ugh, Hokage-sama is running everyone ragged looking for some brat." She complained.
Agil raised an eyebrow. "Oh? It doesn't happen to be…" He said but was cut off by a commotion.

The source of the commotion was a drunk civilian who had apparently spotted Naruko and gotten enraged. "Come here you fucking devil spawn!" He yelled and lunged at the girl who barely jumped out of the way.

The man made to attack her again but was stopped by Agil appearing towering over him with a large battle axe. "Get. Out." Agil glared at the man. The drunkard took a step back.
"B-But the…"

"Get out of my bar. I will tolerate absolutely NO fighting in my bar." Agil roared at the man and pointed his axe threateningly at the man who scrambled outside, deciding not to pick a fight with the giant man.

"Thank you." Naruko bowed in appreciation to Agil, who sighed and waved her off. "Don't worry about it. It was nothing, Naruko-chan." He said and led the girl to the counter. Of course he didn't know that nobody had ever defended her before, so to her it was a big deal.

Meanwhile Anko stared wide eyed at the girl. "You're the brat…" She said quietly, getting the attention of Agil and Naruko, the latter looking at her uncertainly.
"You're the brat that's been missing for a month!" Anko almost yelled before standing up and grabbing Naruko, who yelped in surprise. "You're coming with me right now to Hokage-sama."

"Anko, wait!" Agil said as he cut her off. Anko glared at him, paying no attention to Naruko who was squirming in her grasp. "What?!"

"I don't know what caused Naruko to run away but I know it wasn't good. Promise me she won't be sent back to the orphanage." Agil demanded.

His words caused Naruko to stop moving, staring at him in surprise. Anko too was surprised at his words. "I can't promise anything, it's up to Hokage-sama, but I'll try." She finally said after staring at him for a few moments.
Agil nodded reluctantly and let her pass.

"I found her, Hokage-sama." Anko exclaimed as she stormed into the Sandaime Hokage's office and put Naruko down. Hiruzen looked up from the paper he was reading and immediately got up from his desk and hugged Naruko, who stiffened, not used to having physical contact with someone that didn't hurt.

"Do you have any idea how much I've worried about you Naruko-chan?" He said once he pulled back. Naruko looked away ashamed.
"Sorry Jiji."

"Why did you run away like that?" The Sandaime asked her as they moved to the desk, where Naruko sat down in front of it while Hiruzen sat in his chair again. Anko decided to stay in the background.

Naruko shrugged. "I hated the orphanage, so I ran away." She said before muttering. "Stupid old ladies calling me a demon just because I have a giant fox in my stomach."

"What?!" Naruko flinched at the exclamation from the Hokage and realized he had heard her. "Who told you that?" He demanded of her. Naruko shrunk in her seat. "Nobody." She answered quietly.

"Naruko, this is very important. You need to tell me who said that to you." Hiruzen told her.

"Nobody told me." Naruko said louder and continued before she was interrupted again. "I can remember it." She explained, stopping the Sandaime in his tracks.

"You…you remember it?" He said shakily after a moment of silence. Naruko nodded.
"I can remember everything in my life like it just happened." She explained. "My first memory is lying next to my mom."

The Hokage leaned back, absorbing this new information. "So…so you know who your parents are?" He asked after a short silence.

"Uzumaki Kushina and Namikaze Minato." Naruko nodded. "And I know they gave their life to seal that huge fox inside me to save the village."

Hiruzen nodded and stared out at the Hokage monument for a while in silence before telling Naruko she had to keep who her parents were a secret, and advised her to do the same with her status as a Jinchūriki, which he explained was what she was and what that entailed.

"Now what to do about your housing problem. You clearly cannot go back to the orphanage; I'll be having a talk with them tomorrow." Hiruzen said as he thought to himself. He didn't know what to do with Naruko, tomorrow he could fix her a place to live, but what about until then? Maybe he could take her home with him.

"She can crash at my place." Anko spoke up. Hiruzen and Naruko looked back at her in surprise; they had completely forgotten she was there. "Are you sure, Anko-chan?" The Sandaime asked.

Anko nodded. "It's just to sleep right? Just make sure you get her a place tomorrow." She said and motioned for Naruko to come with her. Said girl looked at the Hokage, who nodded, so she jumped down from the chair and walked up to Anko.

"Oh and Anko…" Hiruzen called out before they left. "Yeah yeah I know, no talking about the kid's parents or fox." She waved him off before taking Naruko with her in a Shunshin.

Six years later Naruko was at Agil's bar once again. For the last six years she had been coming there regularly, becoming good friends with Agil, Anko, and the guys who were always playing card games. Naruko's original fascination for card games had quickly turned into a love for it, and soon she had joined them in playing. Now she rarely played however as nobody wanted to play against her because of her unnatural luck, something they said she had after the fifth time in a row she had won in five different games.

Currently she was sitting at the bar counter celebrating passing the Genin exams with Agil. In the six years that had passed she had grown to quite a beauty. Her hair had grown out, now done up in a short, thick twin tails with bangs that covered most of the left side of her face. Her clothes now consisted of a skin-tight mesh shirt, under which she had nothing but bandages around her chest. As well as a pair of tight-fitting dark blue shorts that was held up by a double belt, a pair of black gloves, and black knee-high boots with orange highlights. A black-clothed hitai-ate was wrapped around her neck and she had also bandaged both her thighs and strapped two pair of holsters for her specially made throwing cards on each thigh.

The reason for her quite revealing clothes was Anko. Over the years she had drawn out Naruko from her shy and cautious self and turned her into someone who was very similar to herself.

Speaking of Anko, that very same person decided to join Naruko and Agil in their celebration. "Yo Naruko! Finally a Genin, huh?!" She asked loudly as she slung herself over Naruko's shoulders.

Naruko grinned and touched her hitai-ate. "Yup! It was a piece of cake!" She boasted. Anko snorted.
"With that memory of yours I'd hope so. Not to mention the training I helped you with! Oh, that reminds me!" She exclaimed and pulled a bundle out from her coat.

"This is for passing." She said and gave it to Naruko who eagerly un-wrapped it, revealing a dark blue, almost black jacket that almost reached her ankles. The jacket had an orange stripe running along the length of each of the sleeves as well as the Uzumaki spiral both on the front left side and on the back. Each sleeve also had shoulder pockets that could fit her cards.

Naruko gasped in delight and put it on. "Thanks Anko-nee its perfect!" She exclaimed and tackled Anko in a hug.
Anko grinned before exclaiming with a laugh. "You're welcome. Now let's celebrate! Agil give us your best liquor, on me!"

Agil who had been busy with his other costumers blinked and looked over at them. "Anko I can't give Naruko alcohol, she's a minor!" He said. In return Anko just pointed at Naruko's hitai-ate.
"Not anymore! By the laws of the village she's an adult now, so let's get drinking!" Agil sighed and nodded, bringing some of his best sake to them before looking at Naruko.
"Are you sure about this?" Naruko nodded at the question. She had spent six years watching other people get drunk, it was time for her to finally try it out. Agil sighed again. "Very well, but Anko you have responsibility over this." He warned her before pouring them each a cup.

Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on how you look at it, Naruko's wish of trying out being drunk was unfulfilled. After sharing several bottles with Anko, who was severely smashed by then, and not feeling any different from when she started, Naruko realized she couldn't get drunk and cursed her high metabolism. Agil just laughed at her.

At the end of the night it ended up being Naruko who escorted Anko home, luckily they lived in the same apartment complex.

Dumping Anko onto her bed she sighed and turned to leave so she didn't notice Anko reaching out to her until she was on the bed next to her being held tightly. "Stay." Anko muttered into her hair.
"O-Okay…" Naruko said with a blush, feeling the older girl's impressive assets press into her back. She had never been held like this before and she didn't really know how to react so she stayed still while trying to relax. Something that was hard to do when she kept being reminded of the fact that she was in bed with Anko, someone she had a secret crush on. But eventually she managed to fall asleep, feeling secure in the embrace.

Naruko groaned sleepily as she hugged her pillow closer to her. Her soft, warm, breathing pillow. Wait…breathing? Naruko frowned, her brain working slowly. Then the events of the previous night came flooding back and she remembered she was lying in bed with Anko. And from the feel of it, she was probably lying on Anko's chest. Her eyes snapped open and she scrambled back, falling off the bed in her haste.

"Wuzzah?" Anko mumbled sleepily as she shot up and looking around unseeingly before falling back on the bed, already asleep again. Naruko sat on the floor, her pulse racing for a reason she didn't understand. She took a few moments to calm down and get rid of the blush on her cheeks. Then she stood up and brushed herself off while looking at the sleeping Anko who was strewn out haphazardly across the bed.

Shaking her head she moved to the kitchen and rummaged through the cupboards in search of the ingredients needed for her special hangover cure.

An hour or two later Anko finally got up and stumbled groaning into the kitchen, where Naruko was eating some pancakes she had just made. As Anko sat down and put her head in her hands Naruko got up and took a glass filled with a thick green liquid from the fridge, grabbed a plate and put a few pancakes on it, and placed it all in front of Anko. "Swallow, don't taste." Naruko reminded her about the drink.

Anko grunted and quickly downed the concoction. "God you're a life saver Naruko." She groaned. Despite the horrible taste of the drink, it worked extremely well, she could already feel it working.

A few hours later Naruko was at a training field, about to test out a seal she had finally finished. When Naruko was younger she had decided to learn as much about sealing as she could, since she had a giant fox demon sealed inside her. So for years she had studied the art, learning as much as she could. Now she wouldn't be bragging by saying the only one in Konoha better at seals than her was Jiraiya of the Sannin.

The seal, or rather seals, she had created were currently all engraved on her throwing cards. There were three seals, the first one forming the kanji for chakra in the middle of the card. The function of it was that it would store a small amount of the user's chakra within it, and connect the object it was on to the user. This allowed the user to send more chakra to it and draw chakra from it. If it was a small object, like Naruko's throwing cards, it could even be used to move the object remotely.

The second seal was actually five seals in one appearing as five kanji, one for every basic chakra nature. This seal was much more complicated than the first. The function of it was to take available chakra and convert it into the nature the user wanted depending on which part of the seal was activated, allowing them to use every elemental chakra nature.

The final seal was actually twelve seals in total, one for each hand seal. This was the most complicated seal, as it would allow her to manipulate the chakra in the card to form techniques. Simply by performing a hand seal it would activate the corresponding seal on the card.

Well that was the theory, now Naruko had to try if they actually worked as they were supposed to. So drawing one of her cards she channeled some chakra into it, feeling the first seal absorb it, and then she threw it into the air and reached out with her chakra. She felt the chakra in the card resonate and as the card came down she willed it to slow down, trying to make it stop in front of her. She succeeded, for a few seconds, and then the card fell to the ground. Naruko sighed; this wasn't going to be easy. Luckily she had a few days.

For the rest of the day she practiced trying to make the card stop in the air for as long as she could until she almost collapsed at the end of the day.

The next day she kept practicing and after several hours, she deemed herself ready for the next step after holding several cards in the air for twenty minutes straight.

"Okay, let's see how this goes." Naruko muttered to herself as she faced a training post with a card hovering in front of her. Then she pushed out with her chakra, willing the card to fly forward at the wooden post. With a loud thumb the card crashed into the wood, burying almost half the card inside it. Okay so shooting it forward wasn't a problem. But now came the real challenge, moving the card in the air fluently. So for the rest of the day and the day after she practiced, stopping only to sleep, eat and take care of her needs, until at the end of the second day.

Naruko watched with glee as cards flew around her in a flurry before she directed them into a barrier formation and then shot them at a tree. "Yes I did it!" She laughed and reached out with her chakra again, calling the cards to her and calling it quits for the day. She had mastered the first part, and discovered she had a limited range her chakra could reach, but luckily it wasn't crippling.

'Last day before the squad placement…' Naruko thought to herself the next day as she stood in front of a lake. Pulling a card out and having it hover in front of her she got to working on the next part, nature transformation. Now to manipulate the card, she would focus her chakra in the middle of the card, where the kanji for chakra was. This time however she also focused it on the top of the card, where the kanji for fire was.

The next instant the card ignited in a blaze of fire. Naruko grinned before she started going through hand seals. She had memorized a jutsu from every element in preparation of this. As she moved through the hand seals she could feel the chakra in the card respond, meaning it was working. Holding the final seal, Naruko exclaimed.
"Katon: Endan!"

A large flame bullet flew from the card in front of her, going far out above the lake before dispersing. Naruko was quiet; she almost couldn't believe she had done it. "Yes, it worked! I've done it! I've created the Card Style!" She started cheering, jumping around the field in jubelation.

AN: For Agil's appearance, he's from Sword Art Online. For Naruko's appearance check my profile.

Till next time, Cuius of Caelum