an; for some reason this one almost wrote itself. in the next chapter, we be facing the powers of the biju and the weaknesses of them being out of their hosts.
one more thing, no more 'as fast as life allows', just give me a 'more please' that is all i need.
going to need a challenge the 'boys' to face; any ideas?
Bloodline
chapter 09
isdh
She was hiding.
She was hunting.
She was good, almost as good as her prey.
Over the last six years, she had improved her skills.
First there was basic skill; her shaded, yet worn clothing allowed her to blend in to the shadows. Her practiced movement allowed her avoid catching the eye of all but the most focused of watchers.
Second there was Chakra Control; she was so locked down, a newborn was brighter then she was to the Family DÅjutsu. It was one of the reasons the Elders thought she was weak.
Third, there were the extras; scent, an old undershirt of her prey to confuse yet his nose if she was ever caught upwind of him. And so on.
Lose, once black, pants hung from her hips, the stolen tee (swiped from his hamper, replaced each week with the shirt she stole the week before) a tight weave fishnet top over the top of the tee. Her sandles, and hitai were the only thing that she did not change when she dressed to go hunting. Aiguchi blades were strapped to the inside of her forearms. Her hair was pulled back into a tight bandana, and a pair of dark shades covered her eyes.
This day found her crouching behind a tree that the kunoichi from Suna was waving her hand fans at. As the winds picked up, She was thankful for the shades, as the wind blew her scent away.
Her prey was on a rock in the middle of the field. The trio from Suna were about, seeing to things that concerned their personal jutsu. She could not get closer, but did not need to get closer. He seemed to be praying...
'Prey, praying' she grinned at little joke. Both her prey and the Redhead were silent, not moving. They had been like this for just short of a hour when Naruto clapped his hands. The sharp retort drew the attention of everybody about him.
The sand Storm around the Redhead was sucked into the gauntlets on his wrists, as the Vortex crashed.
The kunoichi landed lightly on her feet, but her hair was a mess. The hand fans snapped shut and vanished up her high rolled sleeves. Hinata nodded, in silent praise of the skill of hiding things in sleeves that 'short'.
But the top...
...the top darted across the field, and bit deeply into the stone under her prey, causing it to explode. She caught her breath, fearing for his safety, then for the possibility that she was found out.
The young blond tumbled through the air to land in lump at the Suna kunoichi's feet.
"agh!" Naruto grunted before kipping to his feet. "Okay, Who is up for Lunch!" he stopped and frowned before working through the hand signs for his new clone.
As the smoke cleared, a redhead of his size and basic build was at his side. Her hair was long, down to Obi, her kimono was sky blue with blood orange trim. A white Obi encircled her waist. "Baka!" she punched him in the head. "Tell me when you are going to summon me!" She smoothed her kimono down, and adjusted her obi. "Now you said something about lunch?"
Rubbing his head, Naruto just grinned and led the way back into town.
He had not taken two steps when the Suna redhead flipped through a few hand signs, and slammed his palms into the ground. As she had not learned to lip read yet, and the wind damage to her ears had not recovered yet, she missed the name of the jutsu. But she saw the sand in the pit rise up and form its self into a copy of the red head. The two eye-ringed genin hurried after Naruto, while not moving faster then a simple walk.
The last two exchanged looks, and followed. But where the first four relaxed and eager to go, these two were worried...
'Did Naruto-kun say Lunch?'
[an: Aiguchi; knife/knives are small, with no guard. Used by geisha and assassins when they need a quick blade, concealed.]
Choji and Shikamaru were enjoying a quick lunch(quick by Akimichi standards) in an outdoor BBQ place that Choji's father owned a controlling interest in.
It also happened to be two doors down and across the street from one special ramen stand. Choji was on his third order of meat when Naruto lead a party of six into the Ramen stand. Shikamaru was leaning back in his chair when he spotted the happy-go-lucky beast. To see him so chummy with the Suna team, triggered an alarm in his head. He had a thing for mysteries. First there was the two blonds, now there were two redheads, the puppet boy, and a young monk?
Something was up. The blond baka was almost as fun as watching clouds.
Shikamaru signaled for another plate of meat, it looked it was going to be a longer meal then he first thought.
Inoichi sat in the newer, larger dining area. The Nichiren Ramen hut now could sit eight eight people with ease. Shortly before noon, he arrived and ordered a pork and veggie deluxe. As he sat nibbling his noddles, Naruto showed up leading a small pack of genin. Where he was expecting maybe 4 genin, 6 showed up. Where he was expecting two blonds, a redhead, and the baggy dressed 'doll-master' , he got to an additional redhead and a monk. The two older Suna genin were talking/whispering about how different their brother was acting, and how did they want to 'play this one out'. The redhead jinchuuriki was the quietest of them all, seeming focused on something else completely. The two unknown were talking like old friends or lovers that had not seen each other for years, years that were greater then they showed.
As the six climbed onto the stools, Naruto sitting beside Inoichi, then the redhead female, the monk, the redhead Gaara, the blond kunoichi, and the 'Puppeteer'. Inoichi frowned and looked about. 'Ah there she is. Had to really look for her this time.'
"So, Naruto. You leave the Hospital with one friend, and show up here with five. I am going to need details."
"Hey 'Uncle' Give me six Pork miso, and we will go from there!" Naruto called out to Teuchi, before turning to Inoichi. "I left with Gaara, this morning. We then collected his siblings and stopped here for a morning 'pick me up'. Then we did a little shopping, and practiced our Jutsu. This lady is the one you wanted to talk to this morning." He waved at the redhead female beside him. "A twisted kage-Bushin. The Monk is Gaara's...companion." He looked up at the tall blond. "If you want to 'walk' me still, I can dispel the kage-Bushin and allow you to inspect the mind scape. Then I need to find someone 'She' called 'the old peeper' and said something about a Toad contract."
Inoichi almost fell from his Stool. "What do you know of this 'old peeper'?"
Naruto shrugged, "Nothing personally. I am told he taught my father, and should be very interested in teaching me. While no one has named my parents, both...Companions talked about my mother and father. I was told my father was seen as a god among mortals and feared only my mother. That my father was the one to design the seal that holds my Companion. That my Father's Master should be the one to inspect the seal, so as to allow me and my Companion to work on our new jutsu and stuff."
Inoichi frowned, "Do you know who your parents are?"
"No." Naruto hung his head, then perked up as the first of his bowls of Ramen slid to a perfect stop in front of him. "I want to know. I am dieing to ask 'Jiji-sama' when I see him." he snagged a pair of chopsticks, snapping them in twain, "Itadakimasu!" slurped up a big bite of noodles. After swallowing, his voice held a heavy tone. "I also understand that if my parents were so Great, that there are those who would seek to harm them by targeting me. If it is known who they are/were and my link to them, I could be looking at some strong ninja seeking to kill or hurt me." He looked Inoichi in the eye, his own burning with a flame of passion. 'The Will of Fire'. "I need to be stronger, not just to protect myself and those who are dear to me, but to uphold their names, and Our Family Honor, Our Clan's Reputation!" he all but hissed. "Jiji-Sama..." his voice lost all of his extra emotion, as he smiled his 'big cheeky smile', that of the 'Village Baka'. "Hokage-Jiji will tell me when it is time. He has tried to help and protect me, but there is little he can do directly. But we are ninja! Only I attack head on!" Naruto boasted with his grin and puffed out chest.
Inoichi chuckled. "Okay, I guess that you are stable. I will need to talk to your...what did you call her?"
"Companion." Naruto slurped down the last of the bowl of ramen, before setting it aside and grabbing the next.
"Companion, I am going to need to talk to her. I would like to talk to Gaara and his companion also." Inoichi leaned back, his eyes flickering over the assorted genin around him. "I heard a rumor that the great Toad Sage, one Jiraiya, will be at the Hot Springs. You are looking for an older man with long white hair in a red vest-coat. Odds are he is peeping on the women in the hot spring bathes. Why not take the Suna genin, the Companions, and the Kunoichi hiding behind that tree," Inoichi pointed right at Hinata, "And go to the Hot springs. After getting your Seal checked, practice water walking. You and Gaara would benefit greatly from this skill. The girls will enjoy the water, the guys will enjoy the challenge of who is the better water walker."
"Okay." Naruto reached for the wad of ryu in his pocket to pay for the meal, having finished all six bowls of ramen.
"I will cover lunch for all of us. Collect the kunoichi, and go. Invite Choji and Shikamaru with you, they have been watching us very closely." Inoichi pointed down the street in the other direction.
The Biju in their 'clone' bodies were chatting away as they sipped sake and ramen, having given the daughter of the stands owner a 'hairy eyeball' when they were questioned as to why they wanted sake with their lunch. Kyubi-chan kept an ear pointed at her host as he chatted with the 'Mind-walker' as Shukaku kept an eye on his host.
When the Hot springs were mentioned, both Biju perked up. Though for different reasons.
As they thanked their hosts, the group collected them selves, only to notice Naruto was missing. Sniffing the air, both Biju, as one turned to look at a tree about half block away. There was Naruto sneaking up on a shadowed female, hiding in the shade of the tree.
Then a new smell carried on the wind reached the noise of the Kitsune. She grinned. With a twitch of her head, she lead the group to the tree.
Hinata hit a bakery on her way to the tree where she could hide and watch Naruto. As she nibbled her Dango and cinnamon buns, she watched the body language of her prey shift from his normal wild child, to a controlled defiance, to sadness, and back. This was one of the reasons she loved him, or at least thought she did.
For some reason she blinked as the group were getting to their feet and saying their good byes to
Yamanaka. She missed Naruto-kun stepping away from the group in general. She panicked. 'Where did he go?' her bakugan activated almost on its own. As she scanned up and down the street for any sign of her prey, she felt a presence behind her. With most of her attention focused on finding her prey, she scanned the figure approaching from her rear...
She froze.
Her prey had gotten the drop on her. "So, I am told you have been stalking me." his voice was calm.
'He has yet to recognize me. If I play this right, I can get away!'
But now her attention was on her six, not on the pack of genin that were approaching from the Ramen hut. "Ah, Kit. I see you have found her. I picked up her scent at the training grounds." the Red headed female stepped up close, and sniffed. "She even smells like you." her eyes narrowed. "I see, she is wearing your shirt to cover her scent. I see why Yamanaka-sama wanted us to take this one with us. I will be talking to this one." a hand was laid on the Hyuuga's arm.
"I see trouble coming of this" the Monk chuckled. "But not for me or mine. This promises to be entertaining."
Hinata swallowed. As she prepared to body swop out, Naruto-kun grabbed her shoulder.
"I think you are coming with us. Three of us have your scent, so we can track you, if you run. But if you come quietly, I do think we can have a good time." His voice was as gentle yet firm as an old stone bench.
Hinata epped and fainted.
Seeing the group with Naruto finish up with their lunch, Shikamaru pulled a wad of bills from his pocket and counted out his share of the bill and good tip. Choji did the same. As the group approached the hiding Hinata, Shikamaru frowned. He needed Naruto to not notice the Hyuuga heir crushing on him for another three days or he would lose out on a massive pot.
When the poor girl feinted, Naruto swung her up bridal style and then lead the group towards him and his massive girthed friend.
"Hey Shikamaru, Choji. I have been advised to invite you to join us for some training at the hot springs wile the girls get some soaking in." Naruto called out.