I DO NOT OWN NARUTO!
What? There aren't any tanks on this map.
I'm sure this can be explained with science.
BOOM!
This chapter is dedicated to a lovely lady up in the land of maple syrup. Yep. you know who you are.
Chapter XV: Sand into Glass
Hinata ran down the path to Suna, occasionally checking behind her to make sure that she wasn't being followed.
She wasn't.
After Naruto had told her the plan of what he was going to do, she had packed up her belongings, which Naruto had then sealed inside a scroll and handed to her. This had all been right after Tsunade's arrival, so she had to move fast.
In all respect, Hinata had a bit of a head start, as Naruto had to pick up some supplies. One did not go into battle with some of the most powerful and dangerous ninja in the world without being prepared. To do otherwise would be asking for an early death, something that most people aren't interested in.
Two hours after she had left the gates, her Byakugan saw a blur of green streaking toward her with another distinct chakra signature following not too far behind him. Strangely enough, it seemed to be keeping its distance, yet didn't have any trouble keeping up with the breakneck pace that the blonde was setting. Also, the blonde could probably sense a chakra signature that distinct, so it was nothing to worry about.
Before long, the blonde had caught up with her, and after judging that her speed was too slow, asked her to hop on his back so that they could make better speed and get to Suna faster.
Naturally, she turned red as a beet at this and lost attention on where she was going, slamming right into a tree trunk at top speed. As she fell backwards, Naruto kicked off the branch he had just gotten on, swerved, and caught Hinata in mid-fall to save her from losing the ability to walk.
After making sure there was no permanent damage, Naruto picked her up, bridal style, drained the chakra from the weights on his legs, and sped off in Suna's direction, Hinata's hair dancing in the fading sunlight.
By the time that dusk fell on them, they had already reached the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Wind. The desert stretched out as far as the eye could see against the border of the forest, the ever shifting sands against the cool shade of the trees.
Naruto would have gone on, quite possibly reaching Suna by the following morning, that is, if he was by himself. If he continued on, not only would he have to deal with a possibly irate and hungry Hinata if she woke up in the middle of the desert, but she would start getting windburn and losing hair at the rate he was going.
Placing her gently against a tree trunk, he rummaged around in his first-aid kit until he found a small bag of smelling salts. He pulled one out, snapped the package to get the scent flowing, and stuck it under Hinata's nose.
The effect was immediate. She perked up, eyes instantly alert for any sign of trouble. When all she saw was Naruto crouching in front of her, her faced turned red again.
"N-Naruto-kun…"
"Rise and shine, Sleeping Beauty! Well, it's the middle of the night now, but I think we should get an early start tomorrow. Now, there's a creek roughly fifty feet thataway," he said, jerking his thumb vaguely behind him, "I'll warm up dinner and set up the tents."
Before she could say anything, Naruto poofed out of existence, revealing the real Naruto, who was busy setting up a tent and cursing at the lack of a mallet. Even as she watched, Naruto extended one hand behind him, formed a misshaped Rasengan, and drove the spike half a foot into the ground, nearly pulling the rest of the tent with it.
Giggling quietly at his antics, Hinata got up and slowly walked over to the creek, feeling her muscles cramp after not using them for a whole day. She washed her hands and face in the creek, letting the cool water rinse over her skin. It was bliss. Somehow, Naruto always managed to find a supply of fresh water every time they set up camp.
She returned to where Naruto was attempting to set up the tent. So far, he was unsuccessful, though not for a lack of trying.
Bent tent pegs littered the area, along with several disgruntled clones. The real Naruto, in his haste, knocked over a log from the fire and it rolled onto one of the tents, setting it ablaze. The other tent had collapsed many times, judging from the number of clones lying around it, shaking their heads in disgust and muttering about how they should have brought Yamato with them.
"Well, I hope you like sleeping tight. It look's like we're stuck in one tent. Damn it, I shouldn't have knocked that log over. Ah well, you just rest. I've got the guard covered. Get something to eat though. The sand can be unforgiving to someone who's weak. Learned that the hard way… anyway, chow down and then catch some shut-eye. We leave at sunrise."
With that, he snatched up a ladle, scooped out two bowls of ramen, handed one to Hinata, drank his down in three gulps, and made several dozen more clones to fan out and keep guard while he snoozed. Before Hinata could even finish a third of her bowl, he had already washed and brushed up, and hopped into his sleeping bag, snoring as his head hit the ground.
Hinata smiled as the sleeping cap went up and down to the rhythm of Naruto's breathing, the fuzzball on the end nearly going into his mouth with every snore. Somehow, that image reminded her of a child sleeping peacefully, though after what she saw from following him around, he had never truly been a child, never had the chance to truly experience childhood.
"Hinata. Quit staring at the boss and eat faster."
The sound coming from one of the clones caused Naruto to wake up and hurl a shuriken in the general direction of the voice. The lack of sound that indicated the destruction of a clone meant that any Narutos in that general direction had managed to dodge the metal star. Hardly surprising, as the weapon had been thrown rather half-heartedly, to the point of wobbling slightly in flight.
He cursed the perverted clone and got up, reaching into his pouch for a solder pill. What he didn't realize until the contents took effect was that this was not a solder pill. It was, in fact, a highly condensed Caffeine pill, generally used by budding scholars in musty libraries.
However, even the most dragged-down, exhausted, and bored scholar couldn't handle this much caffeine. A quarter of the pill would be enough to kill most civilians, and half would knock out any ninja under jonin level. You couldn't buy this in Konoha. The stuff was addicting, and Naruto knew people who were hooked. He always kept a few on him, just in case he needed that extra edge in battle without resorting to his second tier. Or he could take one just to annoy the hell out of anyone in the general vicinity.
It was a great gag at the few parties that he had been to.
Anyway, by the time he realized that he had swallowed a Caffeine pill instead of a solder pill, it was too late. Kyuubi could absorb anything he ate, hence why he ate so much, but the damn fox wouldn't touch the stuff. It was hardly surprising.
Flashback
Alright, Kyuubi. Let's try this caffeine pill. I can't see why it was only sold to ninjas…
Just be careful. We don't know what it does.
Naruto had swallowed the pill and stood still while he waited for the effects to kick in.
Feel anything, Kyuubi?
The fox didn't respond.
Kyuubi. Earth to Kyuubi. Is anyone home?
Bounce.
Oh shit…
Kyuubi had the ability to absorb anything he ate, including alcohol. This obviously extended to caffeine as well. Now the ancient and powerful Kyuubi was bouncing around his cage like a five year old kid. When you barely fit inside the damn thing, there wasn't much room to move around. The fox had spent the next two days recovering from the injuries that had been inflicted when he bounced off the bars of his cage, which were meant to repel him.
From that day forward, Kyuubi never touched caffeine again.
End Flashback
Oh fuck. That was a caffeine pill, wasn't it?
Hey, kid.
Yeah, Kyuubi?
Try not to get a heart attack.
Well, fuck you too!
Naruto came out of his conversation with Kyuubi, refocusing his attention on the girl sitting across the fire from him. "Hinata. We've gotta move."
"W-what's wrong, Naruto-kun?"
He scratched the back of his head sheepishly, one finger already starting to twitch. "Eh, em… how do I put it… I swallowed the wrong pill by mistake. I took a caffeine pill, not a solder pill. And eh, well… it I don't get moving soon, it's not gonna be pretty."
She started to stand up, but before she did, fifty clones popped up out of nowhere, sealed the camp up, put the fire out, and handed the whole lot to Naruto inside the span of five seconds. The caffeine had obviously spread to them as well.
The original Naruto crouched down, while two clones picked Hinata up, carried her over, and tied her onto the blonde's back.
"Trust me, you'll thank me later. No human can hold on when I'm on a caffeine high. Damn it, I knew I should have separated the two into separate pouches."
With that, he tapped the weights back on in his lower legs, bent forward slightly, and shot off into the desert, screaming and whooping for joy. Waves and curtains of sand flew in both directions, completely burying an unfortunate caravan that had set up camp for the night far too close to the path of destruction that Naruto had created.
Hinata wasn't faring much better. At first, when Naruto had begun his initial acceleration to burn off the caffeine high, she had blacked out from the force of his movements. She reawaked two minutes later to find that the forests were no longer in sight, but a full moon had risen, bathing the sands in white light.
It would have been utterly romantic, if it wasn't for the fact that she was still hanging on for dear life, traveling at speeds that humans were never meant to go.
"WOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOO! MAN! THIS IS THE LIFE! I MISS RUNNING AROUND LIKE THIS!"
Hinata was slightly scared. Naruto-kun runs around like this all the time? I wonder… from that point on, she blanked out her mind as to not think of anything naughty. Inner Hinata cheered her outer self on.
"HANG ON! I'M KICKING IT UP ONE MORE NOTCH!"
Naruto tapped the weights on his body, draining them of chakra. With the loss of several thousand pounds of weight, he lost all restriction.
They shot forward like a bullet out of a gun, reaching speeds that would make Shunshin seem like a slow jog.
Needless to say, at that speed, it didn't take them very long to reach Suna's east gate.
Well, the word 'Reach' is a bit of an understatement. More like drilled a hole through the stone barriers and ripped a hole through the net meant to catch speeding objects after Deidara had paid a visit five years ago.
After explaining himself to a terrified special jonin who was in charge of security, Naruto had his shadow clones untie Hinata from his back and they found a hotel in which they could spend the night. Even without a demon inside him, Gaara was the Kazekage, and one did not go barging in on a Kage in the middle of the night unless they had a really good reason.
The nearest hotel to the Kazekage's office threatened to burn a hole in Naruto's wallet, so they spread further out, finally finding a mid-range place that was still within easy access of the office and that did not eat up what little money Naruto had with him.
They checked in, and Hinata immediately went to her bed and passed out. Naruto, however, still had to get rid of the caffeine in his system, so decided to go out for a light jog with his weights off, since if he left them on, there wouldn't be much left of the sand village come daybreak.
Six hours later, when the sun finally did rise, the villagers of the sand village awakened to find that the surrounding area had been completely turned into glass, no doubt from some blonde overdoing it a bit with his Katon Jutsus. Nobody really complained, since they could now sell scrap glass to the other villages as well. Camels were great novelty items, but they just didn't bring in the money that the village needed.
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The Kazekage stared out over the once brown desert. It had once been a way to soothe his shot nerves after a long day of stamping paperwork and filling out forms.
No longer.
Uzumaki… you had better have a good reason for doing this… the once insomniac redhead growled. Now, instead of desert sands stretching on for miles, a broken line of glass punctured the horizon, the biggest eyesore for miles around. Well, except for maybe when Kankuro got drunk and decided to have a striptease on top of the Kazekage's tower.
Temari's fan to the crotch had gotten the point across.
Gaara sighed, turning away from the sight of some villagers going out for an early bounty. He would deal with the glass later. For now, he had a blonde to talk to. The same blonde that had caused this mess.
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Naruto groaned as he staggered back into the hotel room, his clothes ripped and burned from the previous night's exertions. Now he remembered why those pills were reserved for combat only and even then in the most desperate of situations. He was lucky that he wasn't in Konoha, or the village might have had to change its name.
The blonde grumbled and winced as the sound of water flowing came from nearby. Some idiot just had to be taking a shower during his headache.
He grabbed a set of fresh (relatively) clothes, held them up to make sure they weren't bloodstained or covered in mud, and trekked into the bathroom. The only problem was, the doorknob was jammed.
Naruto swore and raised one finger to where the bolt should have been and slipped a brief pulse of wind chakra into the crack, forcing the door open.
Alas, lady luck had decided not to work her magic on our hero today, neither did his brain grant him any insight into the world, or his memories for that matter.
He had completely forgotten about Hinata.
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The said girl was relaxing in the shower at the time, hot water soothing her aching skin after that fiasco the previous night. Despite the fact that ninjas were accustomed to traveling at high speeds, they were still human.
Traveling at those speeds was inhumane.
Despite all the traveling and training she had done throughout her life, Hinata winced as she felt the windburns all over her body. The only parts that didn't hurt were the small patches of skin that had been completely blocked by Naruto, which amounted to about six square inches. Total. Pathetic, yes, but it was less pain to deal with.
The Ex-Hyuga heiress sighed as she rubbed her forehead, where Naruto had removed the cursed seal some time ago. Even now, the pain of application and removal still remained, though it was slowly fading with time. She would never forget waking up for the first time without it.
But, she thought as she winced again, Naruto-kun's always been nice to me… what have I ever done for him?
Hinata was still deep in thought when the door slammed open as an irate Naruto stomped in. She blushed to match the rest of her body as he glanced over at her, grunted, washed his face from the faucet, and then did a double take, glancing back over his shoulder before collapsing with a nosebleed.
She nearly fainted as well, but managed to stay semi-conscious. Hinata turned off the flow of water and quickly stepped around Naruto with a towel wrapped around her.
After quickly changing, she went back into the steamy bathroom and knelt down beside the comatose blonde, trying to wake him up.
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Damn it. Why the hell do I keep on ending back up here?
Because kid, you have the luck of the devil, and I'm the closest thing to that in your realm of existence.
Oh, ha ha. Very funny.
I would think so.
Sarcasm, Baka-Kitsune. Sarcasm. Try learning it. It might prove useful one day.
Why you little…
Oh, and I've been itching to ask you a question. Care to answer.
Fire away.
Why haven't I been torn apart by fangirls yet? I mean, the thing Orochimaru-teme injected me with should have kicked in already.
Simple human. While you were busy burning off my chakra, I possessed one of your clones and drugged the entire village water supply. The brothels will have empty pockets for the next three months.
But, eh… we can't do that here. Any suggestions?
You know me. Anything that gets in my way gets destroyed. But since you can't do that… care to do a demonic purge?
Oh, hell no! That hurts like shit! Last time we tried that…
Yes… an incurable poison, even to my chakra. But still, it would purify your blood of that ridiculous substance.
And render me unable to move for a week. Besides Gaara, the reason I came here was so that Kisame and I would be on a leveler playing field. It's a lot harder to generate a lake in the middle of a desert.
Whatever, kid. It's your family jewels that are on the chopping block, not mine.
Naruto winced at the image. You just had to use that, didn't you?
Did it get my point across?
No.
Then I didn't do enough. Ok, how about this. That blue-haired girl biting your jewels off. Do you get my point?
Kyuubi… I'm warning you… don't make me use that on you…
The giant demon fox shuddered at the blonde's threat. He knew exactly what the kid meant, and it wasn't pleasant.
Alright, keep a lid on it. I'll stop. Just use that scent neutralizer that your friend gave you. Don't eat it though. I ain't absorbing that.
I don't have any left, remember? SOMEONE thought it was a good idea to dump all the gifts that we got.
That junk would have just weighed you down.
You made me drop Long-range Night Vision gear, a set of NewDawn Mark II armor, my old sword, anti-grav pods, and twenty pounds of Senzu Beans! The armor, maybe, but those Senzu beans would have proven useful!
More useful then my chakra?
I'm not gonna answer that question. Though it's kinda nice that Senzu Beans don't talk when you use them.
Ungrateful brat…
Overgrown plushy…
TAKE THAT BACK!
Make me.
Why you little... At this, Kyuubi dove at the laughing blonde, only to crash into the bars and get thrown back to the far side of his cage. When I get my paws on you…
But you won't. In any case, I've got a little bit of that stuff stashed away somewhere. Won't last more then three months though. How long does the pheromone last?
The fox sniffed. Days, weeks, months, years, decades, centuries, millennia, eternity, I can't tell. It's just gonna be a while.
Are you ever gonna give me some good news?
Orange you glad I didn't say Banana?
What?
Never mind. Just a joke I heard somewhere.
Kyuubi… we need to talk later. About you and your sense of humor.
Hmm… bring a couple of joke books. I think it's time you got back to the outside, though. That girl might try something, and I don't really like the idea of a Hyuga bent over a fallen person. They do strange things sometimes, to try to wake you back up. Those pokes of theirs are really nasty.
You've never been on the receiving end of one.
The fox chuckled, despite what had happened earlier.
Kid… trust me. I've been Jyukened more times then I care to count. When I still had my body, it was unbelievable how many Hyuga tried to stop my flow of chakra… idiots, the whole lot of them.
Whatever. I'm outta here. Keep yourself entertained.
Kyuubi grunted and reached back into the cage for a massive copy of Icha Icha. Oh, I'll keep myself entertained. Don't worry about that.
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Naruto groaned as he shifted around on the tiled floor of the bathroom. The conversation with Kyuubi had left him somewhat irritable. But then again, Kyuubi was a Kitsune. Those creatures were not known for their directness. Still, would it hurt that bad just to give a straight yes or no every once in a while? Apparently, the fox thought so.
He opened his eyes to find a pair of white ones staring right back at him, a curtain of blue hair falling to either side. If the blonde could think straight at the moment, it looked as if Hinata was almost…
"Eeep!" the poor girl screeched as she backed off. Well, maybe not backed off. More like jumped back as if branded with a hot iron.
Naruto groaned again, rubbing the back of his head. "Man that hurt. What happened? All I remember is walking into the bathroom… Hey, what's with all the blood?"
His eyes narrowed. "Did someone attack you, Hinata?"
The blue-haired Kunoichi rapidly shook her head, indicating that she was unharmed.
"Then… did someone attack me? Did you attack me, Hinata?"
The mere thought of the girl attacking her crush made her angry. "No, Naruto-kun. I did not attack you. Nor did you attack me. We're both fine. You just… saw something that overwhelmed you. That's all."
Naruto blinked. This was Hinata? This wasn't the shy little girl or the unconfident teenager that he knew. Something had changed. "Eh, Hinata, are you… um… feeling alright?"
Hinata blinked. What on earth had made her say that?
Little did she know, her inner self had fought past its usual barriers and imposed a small portion of it's personality onto the outer persona. A very rare occurrence which almost always yielded very interesting results, depending on the person in question and the personality of their inner persona.
In this case, Inner Hinata had lost her temper and forced out a lot of her anger, only to be caught by the usual barriers. However, the sheer amount of it ripped a small and very temporary hole in the protective netting and forced its will out, resulting in the personality switch.
Naruto, having decided that he would figure this out later, stood back up. "Eh, Hinata. Not to be rude or anything, but could you leave for a sec? I need to take a shower."
Not wanting to be rude, the blue-haired girl backed out of the room as Naruto stood up, and while still rubbing the back of his head, quickly took a shower and got dressed to head out to meet Gaara, the Kazekage for the first time in 3 years. Things were about to heat up, what with the rapid approach of Akatsuki.
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The receptionist wasn't too pleased to see two unannounced and foreign shinobi trying to gain access to the Kazekage's office.
"Sir, I must insist that you have an appointment!"
Naruto's patience was wearing thin at the high-pitched woman trying to bodily block him from entering the office. "Look, lady. I've got an official document from the Kazekage himself. Now, will you let me go? It's kinda urgent if he actually requested me to come all the way here."
The woman only shook her head. "Sir, you have to have an appointment. I don't care if Kami herself wants to see him, she would need an appointment. Now, I insist that you leave before I call security."
The blonde snorted. "Security? Don't make me laugh. They couldn't secure an apple in an orchard. And even if they could, I doubt they could stop me."
"I wouldn't get so confident. They're all elite ANBU, dedicated to protecting the Kazekage with their lives."
"Oh, wow. Elite ANBU. I'm shaking in my boots. And I suppose the couple hundred of Jonin in Konoha who are still scraping paint off their shoes are shaking would also agree with you. I'm going in to see the Kazekage, ANBU or not. Now, are you going to step aside, or am I going to have to make you?"
The receptionist shook her head and the young jonin sighed, raising one hand to make a loosely packed Rasengan. The blue light and the sudden chakra spike were all that were needed to alert the guards to attack, and attack they did. However, they all made the near-fatal mistake of underestimating him.
Half a second and a shout of "Rasengan!" later, all the ANBU were sent flying, slightly dazed by the ball of spinning chakra. The receptionist looked like she was ready to die guarding the door, when it simply opened.
"Uzumaki. Good to see you. We have much to talk about. Come on inside. Kyoko, please do not stop these two. I requested them to come here from Konoha."
Kyoko still looked flustered, as one would be if a single man had subdued a Kage's personal guard with barely a blink. "But sir, you have other appointments later today…"
"Kyoko-san. If we don't complete this meeting, there may not be a village when 'later today' comes. This is of vital importance."
Before she could respond, both Naruto and Hinata had stepped into the room and locked the door behind them.
"Really…" Kyoko said, muttering about how the Kazekage was already behind on his paperwork.
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The redhead Kage motioned for both Naruto and Hinata to sit down in front of his desk, which was stacked high with paperwork, rivaling Tsunade's in quantity. He sat down with a sigh, looking out the window for a few seconds before turning to his guests.
"I apologize for Kyoko-san. She has been known to be a bit… strict and… overprotective."
Naruto snorted again, slapping some sand out of his hair. "Crazy lady… why did you hire her in the first place?"
"I did not, I assure you. My predecessor hired her and she works efficiently most of the time, so I see no reason to let her go. Now, the main reason that I called you here today was because of something that you told me years ago."
The blonde grunted and leaned back on two legs. "I've told you many things, Gaara. Which one are you talking about?"
The Kazekage cleared his throat. "The thing that you left instructions for me three years ago."
"What?" Naruto exclaimed as he tumbled over backwards off his chair. "You're telling me that you've mastered the Protoguardian Arts within half a decade? That's impossible!"
"I assure you, Uzumaki, it is quite possible. As proof, let me show you that I have mastered them."
Without further ado, Gaara grasped his right wrist with his left hand, the grasped right hand hardening into a claw. The redhead's brow furrowed, and he began to sweat, although the room wasn't warm.
Several minutes passed in his fashion, with Hinata looking confused and Naruto staring at the hand that the Kazekage was focusing on so hard. The blue-headed girl was just about to break the silence when a light blue chakra began to flow over his palm like water, remaining on the floor for only a few seconds before dissipating.
"There. You see?"
The blonde looked up from the spot where the chakra had hit the floor. "What I saw was a person trying to draw a power that would never be useful in a regular battle. Gaara, in order to say that you've master the Protoguardian Arts; you have to be able to draw on the power within twenty seconds. Though, I have to admit, you've come further then most people would in three years. But don't feel too bad if you never get any faster. Most of us never get beyond that stage. You do know how to use that power in battle, right?"
"I do. However, is there any more that you can teach me?"
Naruto bit his lip, thinking. "If you still had Shukaku, I could teach you, but…"
"Akatsuki has it now. Besides, I like to sleep at night. So, I will not pursue this ability any further unless I can draw it more quickly. But is there any faster way to do it?"
The blonde shook his head, sending more sand flying. "No. I have a… darker side that would just love to get that sort of power. It's been sealed away, for now. I don't think I'll have to use it against Kisame or Itachi… I hope."
"That brings us to the second order of business. Uzumaki, you still have your bijuu, correct?"
Naruto snorted. "If I didn't, I wouldn't be talking to you right now. Nobody within a thousand miles knows that jutsu, and even if they did, nobody cares about me enough to use it."
Next to him, Hinata twitched and poked her fingers together, which Naruto missed, but the Kazekage did not.
"I highly doubt that. In any case, what are your plans?"
The blonde leaned back in his chair again. "Simple. I've got Bushy-Brow and Bushier Brow Sensei inbound from Konoha as soon as they scrape the paint off."
"Bushy… Brow? Paint?"
"You've met him. Other people call him Konoha's Green Beast, or Rock Lee. As for the paint, the Hokage put my house under siege, and I hosed down all the Jonin and Chunin with paint and water. Kakashi-Sensei used a Raikari and gave Bushier Brow Sensei hair like his. With their 'Flames of Youth', they should be here in less then two days."
"A question if you will, Uzumaki. How did you get here so fast?"
Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Well," he began, "I was kinda too tired to eat and decided to go for a solder pill. I, eh, kinda ate a caffeine pill instead. I think we buried two caravans on our way here. Anyway-"
Before he could continue, the annoying receptionist, Kyoko, poked her head into the room. "Pardon me, Kazekage-Sama. You may want to look out the window."
Gaara obliged, poking his head out the window. At once, the sound of women screaming filled the room, making the glass rattle in its frame.
Obviously, Naruto was not alone in having a Fangirl Corps.
The Kazekage sighed and walked over to a closet, opening the door and pulling out a cage that contained a single raccoon, which was nervously nibbling on a piece of apple.
With a nod and a sigh of weary resignation, Gaara opened the slot on the side of the cage and the furry animal clambered down the side of the office, the squeals of the girls rapidly fading away as they chased the unfortunate animal instead of the redhead.
The said redhead sighed and sat back down, dusted off his robes and looked up to see Naruto staring at him with his mouth open. "What?" he asked.
"What the hell was that?"
Gaara sighed again. "That was my pet raccoon. I feed him, he protects me. All he wants is fresh fruit."
"Now if only I could do that with Kyuubi…" Naruto muttered under his breath.
Inside the seal, Kyuubi stuck his tongue out at him, rather like a child would.
Anyway, we shall discuss this further when the time comes. Akatsuki will be here within a week. In the meantime, you are welcome to seek lodging at my family's home. Kankuro has moved out into an apartment of his own to have fun with his harems or whatnot. Temari is awaiting you there. You can stay there as long as you please."
Naruto nodded but paled almost instantly. "Wait, she isn't cooking again, is she?"
"She is indeed. Do you have some objection to that?"
"Gaara. Last time we Jinchuriki met, your sister cooked for us. Do you remember what happened?"
"No. Please enlighten me."
"It wiped out eight of Nibi's nine lives!"
"Akatsuki took Nibi."
"Hachibi couldn't graze for a month."
"It didn't kill him."
"It gave Kyuubi indigestion!"
"I'm sure he gets that all the time."
"It bit ME!"
"You probably deserved it."
"That… that's not the point! What I'm saying here is, her cooking is unfit for human consumption!"
"Excuse me?" this was a new voice, one directly behind him.
Before Naruto could do anything, a gigantic battle fan came down and conked him square on the head, making him keel over facedown into a blushing Hinata's lap. Temari sighed and slotted the fan back into the sling she kept it on her back with.
"Well, as much as I hate hitting other blondes, this was necessary. Come on, Hinata, was it? Let's get you and Romeo here back home. We've got a love suite set up for you two."
Hinata spluttered, a trait that she had picked up and blushed as well.
Gaara sighed and watched the hordes of fangirls chase his pet raccoon around Suna. This was gonna be a long day.
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Author's Note:
He's hot! Popping the lid in thirty.
All vital systems are in the green. Five seconds.
I LIVE! WAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Anyway, it's glad to be back in the land of the living. I've already died 3 times, so i guess this one makes 4.
On a different note, and a very sorry one, it is two months to the hour since i last published a chapter, and i honestly apologize (or however the hell you spell it) about the delay.
This was going to come out on the six month anneversary (or however the hell you spell it), which meant that it would have been pushed back another twenty-five days. However, i think that two months are a long enough time to wait for a fanfiction chapter.
On yet a different note, i plan to diversify from Naruto in terms of Fanfiction. However, i will never have more then three active projects at any given time. Timeless and her yet unnamed sequels have the top share in my time when it comes to fanficion. However, i will soon be launching a second, and possibly a third fanfiction, all to concur simultanesouly (or however the hell you spell it) with this one. As for the fanon that it will come from, well, one is gonna be Fire Emblem, I'm wavering between FE7 and FE8. If you dont know what those are, look them on the Fire Emblem Wiki. The adress is www (dot) fireemblem (dot) wikia (dot) com. Just type in FE7 and FE8 in the search box, and they'll show you what they are. if you havent played them, by god, find someone who has the games (or use a emulator, which i do, since i cant find my actual copy of the game anymore, though i cant legally recommend it. The damn GBA cards are just so damn small!)
Anyway, beyond that, the third fanon, fourth overall if you count my complete fail of an attempt at Halo, will be of my current #1 obession (or however the hell you spell it). That's right. I'm gonna one-up the Ace Combat fanon archives.
I have yet another commitment that i have to make.
From this point on, all of my stories that i write, barring my early death, will be over 100K words. Timeless has already breached this barrier with this chapter. Not bad, if i do say so myself.
I have even more news. The Timeless Series is now the Timeless Trilogy. Of course, each of the other two pieces will be seperate and have different titles. However, by the time i finish this Trilogy, it will contain more then one million words.
Yes, you heard me. ONE MILLION WORDS!
That's alot more then Nine Thousand.
Anyway, yeah, i hope you enjoy this chapter. To the announcer part!
"What is this mysterious "Protoguardian Art"? What is the power that Naruto keeps supressed? Why is Kyuubi needed? Where is Itachi and Kisame? Find out next time, on Timeless, a Naruto Fanon!"
Ehem. Anyway, now that that's finished, let me get on with some more news.
All of you who have not voted in my poll yet, please do. It will determine one pairing and will have major consequences on what happens later on in the series. The poll can be found of my writer's page. It is at the very top. This is not the last chapter in which you can vote, but that window is closing rapidly, now that i can write faster with school out. I will announce when the poll closes in one of my author's notes, so keep reading these, no matter how boring they may seem.
But, on a brighter note, as announced above, Timeless, and yes, I, have joined the Mile-High Club!
Oh, wait. Wrong script, damn it.
Let's try that again.
But, on a brighter note, as announced above, Timeless, and yes, I, have joined the 100k club!
On a dimmer note, i do not expect Timeless to reach it's full maturity of 300K+ words until some time early next decade. The entire trilogy might not be complete until around 2015. But on that same note, you have a great fanon to read for that long! (Yeah, right. I know i suck.)
Well, i think ive finally run out of stuff to spheal (or however the hell you spell it) about.
Until next time, please, Please, Please, Please Please, PLEASE, review Review Review, Review, Review, REVIEW!
Signing off:
Xingster
P.S. Please use the forums and the poll... i set them up for a reason, you know...
P.P.S. So much for the promise made last chapter. This has been the longest lag in updates. If you want me to go faster, please dont flame me. I can take critism of my writing, but not to the extent of going after me. i just get pissed, and when i get pissed at something, i tend to ignore it.
P.P.P.S. Now it's really over.