Disclaimer: I do not own anything Naruto or Zelda that is mentioned in this plotline. All I own are original characters, items/weapons/jutsu/ect.
Chapter Twenty Two
Naruto sighed. He had packed into his drawer the one hat he had which held the green plate that holds Konoha's symbol. Even if Kururi had sent a letter, Naruto was still punished, and was on three months probation for his little stunt, plus a fine of 3,000 ryo. The Council thought there was going to be war, and a few Naruto haters still existing wanted Naruto to be executed. However, the Raikage simply sent a letter three days ago that since Uzumaki Naruto had saved one of his own ninja from an unknown enemy, they were in his debt. Yugito was the one who delivered the letter, and had thanked Naruto for saving her, and setting her free from the cursed life she had lived through since birth. Naruto's ladies surely did not like the boy's brash heroic actions, and had given him a verbal bashing, but in the end, things had subsequently returned to normal. Temari still does not know of what had occurred. So, for the next three months, Naruto had nothing better to do. Tenten had a mission. Kin was on a mission with Team Seven and Hinata filled his spot. Temari was in Suna still. Midna was currently reading and he didn't wish to disturb her. That only left one thing for him... he got up, got packed as usual, and headed out the back door with the tackle box and fishing pole. He wasn't even supposed to leave the village, but right now, he wanted to get out of here. So, he snuck out of the village, and as quietly and quickly as possible, headed towards Hena's place, unaware that Neko had caught him leaving from her hidden spot.
=0=0=
"Naruto snuck out of thee village carrying a tackle box and a fishing pole, Lady Hokage," Neko reported to Tsunade.
"Oh great," she muttered, "can't Naruto understand he's grounded and can't leave the village?"
Half an hour of travel, and Naruto made it to Konoha Lake, crossing the bridge that spanned across the river. He then entered the shack, as the jingling bell alerted Hena from her reading. A smile beamed across her face.
"Naruto-kun!"
Hena ran from behind the counter and hugged the blonde. Naruto smiled back.
"Hello Hena-chan."
Hena had heard about it when she last visited the village about Naruto's almost suicidal stunt, but where many thought his actions were brash, she saw him as a true character of a hero. Though, she herself did wish Naruto would not do any dangerous stunts ever again.
"Can I buy some bait?"
"Of course, Naruto."
On a Sunday, things were a bit slow. But, Naruto was there, so Hena wouldn't feel too alone.
"Ya know what, why don't I join you too, hm?"
"The more the merrier," Naruto replied with a grin. She giggled.
"Great! Let me grab my things and we'll use the boat."
Twenty minutes later, the couple had their lines cast in the center of the lake, near a small rock island with a bonsai tree growing on this rock-like island. It was quiet. The nature was great, the sounds, the smell... they did talk somewhat, but for most of their time fishing, they had been quiet. They only caught some fish, but not many of them were actual keepers. Those too small were released back into the lake. The only fish worth keeping were three large carp, around 26 to 34 pounds.
"What time is it?" Naruto asked Hena.
"Close to six thirty," she replied.
Naruto cursed, which got her attention.
"I forgot that Sundays, the village closes their gates early."
"Oh... well, crash at my apartment tonight then," Hena tell the blonde.
Naruto turned his head around to look at her. "You sure? It does..."
"Sound weird that a girl like me is asking a guy to stay at her place? Trust me, it'll be fine, Naruto-kun."
Naruto then shrugged. "If you're okay by it... let's head back to shore and start gutting the fish. We can have some steamed fish and rice."
"That sounds nice," she said, and grabbed the oar. Naruto grabbed his, and with the poles place beside them, soon returned to the shore, where Naruto and she had brought their catch and items into the house, and the boat brought and locked into the shed.
Naruto followed the girl to where the fish are usually cut and filet and such as, before the waste is recycled for the birds to snack on. Now, inside the upstairs apartment, Naruto had measured the rice and put it in the rice cooker just as Hena headed up the stairs and shut the door behind her. She had just closed the shop.
"Did you put the rice in the cooker?"
"Yup, and I have the pans for the steam cooking too," Naruto said, having gotten two fry pans.
One was like any other pan, but the one that went on top of it had a mesh of holes in it, lid included. Naruto had filled the bottom pan with some water, laid the fish he had prepared with the spices (scales had been removed best as possible), before putting the lid on top. Now, all there was to do is wait for dinner. So, Naruto, having taken off his sword, shield, boots, and hat, sat down in the recliner, and laid back in it. Hena sat in the couch near his, the television set on and showing some sort of western anime program.
"So, you owe Kumogakure a debt of gratitude because you had bravely rescued one of their ninja, risking your life?"
"Yeah..."
"So, what did happen, really?"
"After getting back, I got probation because of my stunt... not really supposed to leave, but no one was home... so I came to visit you..."
"What about your friends?"
"Busy... and the girls, they somewhat stopped talking to me because they were still mad I did something that was foolish."
Hena nodded softly. However, Hena never thought that she would get frequent visits from Naruto in the following months. You see, while forgiven, he was still on the edged side with the girls... the one proof was when he had found out the rooms in his apartment had been cleared out. It was just him living all alone, just like during his Kyuubi-induced early childhood, other than Midna who remained with him through thick and thin. They had been ignoring him somewhat whenever he would ask any of his girls why they had left his apartment and it stung. One night, there was a storm that came through the area, and Naruto had woken up from a bad dream, scaring Midna as well from his sudden cry. Naruto got up and ran through the house checking on the girls, when he remembered they had moved out and returned back to their own homes. Naruto felt lonely. If it wasn't for Midna... the chibified princess remained next to him, as Naruto had cried himself to sleep. He missed the girls. One day, on the third day of the final month of Naruto's probation, Temari returned to the village hoping to see Naruto again.
Only to find that the door was locked, and there was a note tacked to the door with a kunai.
Until further notice, I have moved in with Hena.
Naruto
=0=0=
Naruto placed his glass into the sink after he had downed the glass of milk he poured for himself. The time was an hour past noon, and Naruto returned downstairs. Today was particularly busy, and Naruto had helped Hena around the shop. She felt grateful for his help, especially since Naruto asked if he could stay at her place for awhile due to certain things not going well back at his village. She allowed him to stay for as long as he wished.
"Hold on, ma'am," Hena called out to a customer who required her attention. Too many people wanting to swim at the lake due to today's hot temperature. And Naruto, she spied, returning to the register to ring up the purchases of various people.
Glad I taught him how to work the register, she thought with relief, as she helped a woman find the right size of top for her assets.
After the traffic rush, things were quiet in the shop once again, and Naruto was exhausted.
"I'm taking my break," Naruto told Hena.
"Sure Naruto-kun," she replied. She was going to take her own break as well, as she flipped the sign from OPEN to CLOSED, and then placed the time card to say "whenever I'm not lazy, we'll open."
She then followed Naruto up the stairs, a wicked smile on the fishing girl's face.
=0=0=
Hinata, Tenten, Kin, and Temari followed after Kakashi and Kurenai, the two Jounin on this trip to the lake. Ever since Temari discovered this letter, she had freaked out, and shown it first to Tsunade, before Temari was told of what had happened while she was back in Suna. The girls felt guilty that they didn't tell Naruto their reasoning for moving back to their original homes, but now they felt that they may have hurt Naruto's feelings, which was why he was out of the village, living with someone else.
Oh Naruto-kun, please forgive me, Hinata thought.
Please forgive me, Naruto-kun, Tenten and Kin thought.
Then, they heard faint sounds in the distance as they reached the clearing that showed the lake. Was that... music? It was... there was some sort of party going on here today. That was a lot of people they see crowding the beaches of the lake.
"Let's go," Kakashi spoke up, taking his eyes eventually (punched in the head by Kurenai) off the women wearing such stylish (and by stylish I mean sexy) bikinis.
They followed the perverted Jounin, as they reach the shack, only to see the sign: CLOSED.
Upstairs, Hena's wicked idea involved cornering Naruto, and then asking for a neck massage. However, in the five minutes of the massage, Hena tilted her head back enough to kiss the blonde. From there, it descended into a make out session between the two, some clothes ruffled. Hena's shirt had become unbuttoned, while the top and undershirt of Naruto's outfit ended up on the floor. Naruto moved away from her lips, only to kiss a small spot on her neck, and leave his mark on her. She moaned softly when he did. Then, there was the faint sound of someone knocking on the door. The two looked at one another from the couch, her on top of him, before they got up. Heading downstairs, Hena buttoning her shirt back up, they saw people at the door. She went towards the door while Naruto sat back down on his stool behind the register. She flipped the sign and unlocked the door again.
"Hello? How may I help you?" she asks, swinging the wood frame door open, before unlocking the screen door to allow entry.
A few other children pushed and shoved behind the Konoha ninja, all chanting for ice cream. Naruto banged his head on the counter, and groaned.
"Heh, sorry about that," she apologized, before recognizing the silver scarecrow-like hair, "wait, I remember you!"
Kakashi eye-smiled. "That's wonderful, may we come in?"
"Sure, but be careful..."
They did listen; children on a sugar high are dangerous after all.
"Hena-chan, a little help here!" Naruto shouted. Hena giggled nervously, and ran to help him with the purchases these kids were making.
And there they stood in the background, as children as young as six to ten helped themselves to ice cream of all kinds, and leaving once they had bought their purchases. So, round up to roughly fifteen minutes later the storm had passed, but the shop made some more money in the end on this busy day.
"So, how much did we rack up?"
"Rough estimate of one hundred some ryo."
She smiled brightly.
Kakashi cleared his throat and both teens looked up. Naruto's face turned into a bit of a dark look, and Hena blinked twice.
"Naruto-kun..."
Hena then looked at Naruto, who slightly turned away. She then realized who these girls were.
"Naruto-kun?"
"Hena... I don't know why they're here... except possibly believing they're here to take me back to the village since I moved here two months ago."
"Naruto... you were on probation, and that made you a temporary civilian. In fact, you're not supposed to be armed with your sword and shield."
"Well he has to be, he's the next Hero of Time," Midna said, popping up, and freaking out Hena.
"Hena-chan, sweetie, listen, she's not dangerous, okay, let me explain."
=0=0=
"I see..."
A full discussion and Hena now understood truly. She hugged him.
"Why such kind souls like yours go through so much pain?"
"Have no clue," he replied softly.
"I guess that would explain our ancestors having met in the past... we're destined to meet."
Naruto merely nodded.
"Naruto, we didn't think you'd be so hurt. I mean, we were going to talk to you again, but..."
"Seemed like a pretty harsh punishment to me then," Naruto spat out angrily, "ignoring me when I needed to speak to you. All I had left was Midna, and now Hena."
"You technically brought this upon yourself, Naruto," Kakashi told the blonde.
"What would you have done then? If you found out Lansing had a potential threat and morphed it into his own weapon? You'd just kill her and move on? Hm? At least when I fought Yugito, I saved her life and freed her from the life of a Jinchuuriki, even if it did leave the bijuu in his hands at the end. I bet you would have just shoved your lightning bolt of a hand right through her heart, like you did to Haku!"
Kakashi flinched.
"You'd have just killed Yugito all because she was from a different village... because she was once a Jinchuuriki... right now, I wouldn't be surprised if you had once tried to kill me when I was very little."
He untangled himself from Hena's arms and walked up the stairs, pissed off. Midna followed him, squeezing past the door as the Konoha ninja heard the door slam shut loudly. Kakashi closed his eyes. The sad, horrible truth was... Naruto was right. He had tried to kill the "demon boy" when Naruto was just three years old, using a Chidori to end the boy's life. But then after he did, he had felt immensely guilty, and alcohol was part of the blame because he drank himself to a stupor when memories of his sensei, Obito, and Rin came to mind.
"I would appreciate it if you kindly leave my store," Hena tells the ninja calmly. Too calm by the sound of her voice. She was trying hard not to leap over and hit the guy with silver hair with her stool right now.
Kakashi let out a depressed sigh and Shunshin away. Kurenai turned to the girls. "Let's return back to Konoha."
Hinata, Kin, and Tenten felt guilty, but they followed after Kurenai-sensei, and Temari followed behind the kunoichi.
=0=0=
Eight o'clock later that evening, and the door opened. Naruto's girls had moved back in the house. However, Naruto had water, sewage, and electricity turned off at the residence. So basically, a guilt-ridden Hinata, Kin, and Tenten walked into a cold house with nothing in the house working, followed by Temari. For that night, they had all slept in Naruto's room, in his bed that easily fit the four ladies. With Naruto, once again he fell asleep in the recliner of Hena's apartment, while the girl herself wished Naruto would for one night sleep in her bed with her. Of course, she did go to sleep eventually. And for Midna, the chibified princess wished that she would stay with Naruto forever...
Lucky for you folks, that I have posted another chapter. Of course, this had been done long before the Nibi mini-saga. A little short, but oh well... I got something else planned, and it involves Orochimaru's experiments.
-- Naruto's Status --
Collection: [Men's Wallet - 13,567 Total Ryo] [Midna's Headgear] [Naruto's Ninpod] [Tsunade's Necklace] [Horse Call] [Letters - 02]
Sword: [Kubikiri Hocho] [Master Sword]
Shield: [Konoha Shield]
Costume: [Hero's Clothes]
Ninja Inventory: [Ninja Pack - Kunai x40] [Ninja Pack - Senbon x60] [Ninja Pack - Nin-ombs x25] [Ninja Pack - Explosive Tags x15] [Toad Summon Contract]
Inventory Pack: [Relic Spinner] [Kagura] [Kaitouken] [Chakra Grapple] [Double Clawshots] [Mole Gauntlets] [Lantern] [Fishing Rod + Box]
Hidden Skills Learned: [Gokumonken] [Mikazuki no Mai] [Morigari no Kanketsusen] [Kaze Kiwa]
Jutsu Skills Learned: Kage Bunshin, Sennen Goroshi, Kawarimi, Oroke, Harem, Shougekiha, Uzumaki Naruto Rendan, Fuuton: Rasengufuu, Ichi Ni Ko Rendan, Rasengan, Kenjutsu: Hasakikinan