Normal
"Speech"
Thought
Kyuubi
Warnings: I do not own Naruto. Rated "M" for language right now, but there is a possibility of lemons later.
Chapter 3:Green Blurs and Black Feathers
Naruto darted into the dojo to find Lee doing his customary vertical push ups while waiting on Naruto. Lee was counting as usual. "4996, 4997, 4998, 4999, 5000!" Lee sprung from his hands and flipped to a standing position.
"Good morning Naruto-kun, and what a lovely Spring morning it is." Lee smiled cheerfully. Naruto looked egger for knowledge.
"Bushy Brow! What do you know about the exchange student?" The blonde was blunt as ever. Lee blinked at Naruto in silent confusion.
"I do not know of any exchange student Naruto-kun. Is there an exchange student?" Lee continued to stare in confusion. Naruto grabed Lee by the shoulders and shook him rather violently.
"You were saying something about an exchange student last week!" Naruto let go of the green clad boy. It took a moment for the stars to clear out of Lee's head.
"Oh, that exchange student. Well, I do not know much. I only know what Gai Sensei told me. The new student should have arrived last night. She did not arrive on time. They were planning some sort of search for this person. That is what Gai Sensei said this morning. According to Shizune, in anticipation of the student's arrival there were several of us put on the mission list as 'stand by' until the student was tested." Lee explained.
"Tested? How are they going to test her?" The blonde ninja contemplated aloud.
"Has the student been found?" Lee asked.
"I think I ran into her on my way here."
"A kunoichi from another country. What a fine way to test the skills of another country. Push our ninja skills to the best or our ability." A starry-eyed Lee started to ramble about youth again. Naruto rolled his eyes.
"Bush Brow! Snap out of it. We need to find out more about her. How can we test her abilities if we don't know what they are?" Naruto contemplated.
"Is it not the point of being a shinobi, to keep your jutsu secret until the very last moment. Knowing her abilities would not be a challenge to us, or her." Lee pointed out. Naruto nodded in hesitant agreement. There was a flap of wings outside the dojo, and both ninja noticed the presence at the same time. It wasn't a threatening presence, just unknown. Lee and Naruto dashed out the doors of the dojo. They managed to scare two very large black ravens back into the trees.
Naruto eyed the raves suspiciously. The two black birds had flown into some near by trees and disappeared into the foliage.
Edgar and Poe observed the two shinobi from the shadows of the trees, keeping out of sight of the two. Lee and Naruto moved around the clearing listening and watching for the birds. Neither kept the black ravens out of reach of their heightened senses. There is something oddly familiar about those birds, Naruto thought. He knew they were in the trees watching him and Lee, but he didn't know why. Naruto shot a look at Lee, the green clad ninja nodded in silent agreement. There was something fishy going on.
"Should we try and catch them?" Lee whispered to his friend. Naruto smirked deviously.
"You think your that fast?" A foxy grin crossed Naruto's face. Seconds after the notion was verbalized to 'catch' the birds, the smaller of the ravens moved from its position to another across the grove of trees. Naruto looked at Lee with mild annoyance. Even Lee was a little concerned with the move.
"Do you think they know what's going on?" Naruto asked Lee.
"A challenging idea indeed." Lee gave Naruto a toothy grin. Lee's face became serious and he flickered out of sight for a moment. The green clad shinobi reappeared centimeters in front of the larger raven. There was a moment where the raven and Lee stared at each other. The raven did not even blink. It pecked at Lee's forehead breaking Lee's concentration, causing him to crash to the forest floor. The raven flew off almost laughing in its call.
Naruto went after the smaller raven. The direct approach didn't work any better. The smaller raven evaded the blonde ninja easily, taking a bit of his blonde hair with it. Naruto and Lee met in the center of the grove. Both looking a little bit annoyed about being shown up by a pair of "FILTHY FEATHER BRAINED ANIMALS!" the blonde boy screamed.
Lee had a red spot in the center of his forehead and Naruto sported a small bald spot on the side of his head. Both of the boys were panting slightly.
"Maybe catching them isn't such a good idea after all Naruto-kun." Lee looked at his blue eyed friend. Naruto glared back at him.
The two large ravens fluttered from the trees and landed at the boy's feet. Edgar and Poe were clearly mocking them, and they were enjoying every minute of it. Edgar, the larger of the ravens, walked slowly toward Lee. Poe, the smaller of the two, kept her distance. She tilted her head from side to side getting a better look at Naruto. She was observing him and his movements.
Lee looked at Naruto clearly confused by the birds behavior. Lee had taken his eyes off of the large raven. Edgar pecked at Lee's exposed toes. The green clad taijutsu master winced at the pain in his toe. Edgar fluttered away. This time Naruto heard true laughter coming from the bird. Poe continued to tilt her head back and forth looking over the blonde ninja. Naruto started back at her. Maybe I can stare it into submission?
"I doubt that" The Fox yawned in the back of Naruto's mind. "Are you done playing with the vermin?"
"I don't need your advice." Naruto continued to stare at the raven.
"And miss an opportunity to watch you be humiliated by my kin? I think I will stick around just to watch you fail." Naruto took notice of the Fox's words.
"Kin? What do you mean by kin?" Naruto kept up the stare with the raven. Lee continued to chase Edgar around the grove to no avail. The Fox Chuckled.
"You are hard headed sometimes Brat. I think I WILL stay out of this and be entertained by your misfortune." The Fox laughed and the echo of his voice vanished. Naruto changed his tactics and reached for the raven slowly. Poe didn't move. She merely straightened her head to look directly at him. The blonde reached into his back pocket and pulled out a package of crackers and unwrapped them. He slowly moved closer to the raven and held out his hands with the crushed crackers in his outstretched had.
Poe beamed at the blonde boy and hopped onto his hands.
"These are not as good as the ones my master has, but they will do." The strange voice inside Naruto's mind startled him. He jumped. In a flutter of wings and wind; the crackers spilt to the ground. Naruto was about 4 meters away from Poe who had landed near the crumbs and was pecking furiously.
The commotion between Lee and Edgar stopped as the crackers hit the ground and Edgar joined his mate pecking on the ground. The two birds squawked at each other as they pecked at the ground.
Naruto looked a bit confused and poked at the back of his mind where the Fox had retreated.
"Ok you damn Fox, explain what you meant by Kin." He spat at the Kyuubi.
"Must you ruin my nap? I was getting in a bit of entertainment before I dozed back to sleep." The Fox yawned uncaringly.
"Explain." Naruto added more force into his thoughts.
"Why is it Brat, when you want something from me I am supposed to give all that I have? I am expected to pay rent for my imprisonment in this Hell. I can't call it Hell… I would be able to get out of Hell." The Fox chortled.
"Is there a part of EXPLAIN you didn't understand." Naruto asked again.
"You are a persistent Brat. They are spirit guides and familiars. Rather old ones at that. Only one clan I knew had ravens as pets. But that was long ago before I was imprisoned. I haven't seen anyone from that clan in a while."The Fox yawned again and the voice was gone with a note of finality. Naruto sighed. That was all he was going to get from the Fox, so he didn't press further.
Naruto looked over at Lee who was trying to sneak up on the birds again. The blonde boy put his hand on Lee's shoulder to stop him.
"I don't think we have to try and catch them any more. I think they belong to the girl." Said Naruto.
Edgar had finished his last bit of cracker squawked something at Poe. The large bird spread his wings and fluffed out a bit, then took flight towards the village again. Poe hopped up to Naruto's shoulder this time and her soft voice came to him.
"Thank you for the fun and the crackers." She deposited a small red stone into his hand and flew off. Naruto stared at Lee still a bit confused by the whole morning of events. Lee was also a bit confused by the whole thing. Naruto shrugged and turned to his friend.
"I think I am going to go back to my house and start my day over. Then maybe it will make sense."
"Naruto-kun, I think that is the best idea you've had all morning. I too will go back to the beginning and try to make sense of this morning." Lee chuckled and walked back into the dojo. Naruto shook his head. It had been a weird day. And it wasn't even the afternoon yet.