Chapter 5: Guardian of the Amulet.
While most of the people in the village had gone home to shelter from the raging storm, Naruto and Bara had only the roof of trees to shield them. And that "roof" was definitely riddled with holes. This was proven as another fat drop landed smack on Naruto's nose. The water that splashed into his eyes momentarily blinded him and he nearly leaped straight into a tree as they moved swiftly through the forest. "Are you sure this is the safest way through the forest?" He asked Bara, literally having to yell over the sound of the rain. "Kind of. I've seen a map that shows the quickest way through here. If I remember correctly we should be able to see the "Gake no aki" mountain soon." "Wait! So the only thing that we have to know where we are going is your memory of a map?!" The boy almost panicked, the fact that they may be well lost by now wasn't very reassuring. For all he knew, they could be heading straight towards the ocean. His new friend, having grown tiered of yelling all the time, landed with a soft thump on one of the many branches. He did so two, coming to a stop on the same (unusually wide) branch.
"Don't worry. I have a good memory." Bara tried to calm him down. "And since we have stopped, we might as well take a break." She continued while sitting down on the wide branch, grateful for not having to yell as much any more and not minding that her grey-and-white pants and black overskirt was being smudged with a mud like dirt from the wooden seat. "While we are resting, there is something that I wanted to ask you." Naruto said as he leaned against the base of the tree. "What." The, now soaked with rainwater, girl asked as she quickly glanced up at him from where she was sitting, but then turned her attention back to a piece of tree bark she had started fiddling with. "I was just wondering where you learned to jump like that. The only people I know who can do that are all ninja like me." He explained. The girl still didn't look up from the "extremely interesting" piece of bark.
"My father taught me. He used to help teach young children self-defense. He always said that a girl needed to be able to protect herself" She explained, smiling to her self as she remembered the first time she managed to punch him, unfortunately he hadn't expected her to hit so hard and was left with a bruise on his arm for weeks. "What does he do now days?" Naruto asked after he shook some of the rainwater out of his spiky blond hair. Bara didn't answer for a while, still fiddling with the bark. "Nothing." She finally answered. "Why not?" Curiosity got the better of the young teen. Sure, it's fun to take a vacation once in a while, but to do nothing every day didn't sound fun at all. His fellow traveler broke the "extremely interesting" piece of bark in two. "He's not here anymore." She replied softly. There came a slightly shocked expression upon the boy's face as he realized what she meant. He felt sorry for bringing up the conversation. Bara, on the other hand, had sensed that the conversation was becoming to depressing. This caused some sort of chemical-like reaction in her brain that instantly lifted her mood. It was this strange reaction that enabled her to stay calm and easily handle emotional situations, it was also the reason why she was seen as "slightly weird" by some of the other villagers. This reaction also made her stay almost happy even if somebody was rude to her for no reason-what-so-ever.
She looked up at Naruto, smiling at him. "But enough about me. Why don't you tell me a bit more about yourself?" She asked. He smiled back at her, relieved that he didn't seem to hurt her feelings. "Like what?" He asked, scratching the back of his head. "Like… what do you do in your free time?" She asked curiously. She had never gone far from her village and was interested about what other villages do. She would have given anything to experience what it was like to live in another village. "On a day like this, I would go to my favorite ramen stall, Ramen Ichiraku. Then I would buy myself a nice, hot, steaming bowl of ramen, and when I've finished that bowl, I would buy another." He said, his mouth watering at the mere thought of ramen. "Oh. Does Sakura go with you?" Bara teased. "No." He answered simply. Secretly he wondered if he asked her, would she go with him? "And you, what do you do in your free time?" He asked, changing the topic. "Well, on most days like this I'm not allowed to leave the house, so I stay busy by writing poetry." She answered with a sigh as she thought of all the hours she had wasted indoors while she could have been outside, playing in the rain and throwing people with mud balls. "What's po-to-re?" Naruto asked in confusion. This got him a "you don't know?!" look from Bara. "Poetry is when someone uses words to describe a feeling, smell, sound or sight." She tried to explain. The boy frowned as he thought deeply about what she has just said. Then he shook his head. "I still don't get it." Bara sighed hopelessly. "Maybe you would understand better if I gave you an example." She said, digging through all the tiny files in her mind, searching for one of her more successful poems. She smiled as she remembered one of her earlier works, it even suited the situation they were in. "Okay, listen to this and then tell me what it makes you think about."
"Clatter, splatter, Pitter-patter.
A bolt of light that brightens the night.
Now a sound that comes like a thousand drums that makes the air tremble with its might.
Into the ground the water now goes,
Tomorrow you'll see it as the green grass grows."
She looked curiously at her friend, wondering what he thought of her "masterpiece". Naruto thought for a while. The silence was suddenly interrupted by a loud roar echoing from the boy's stomach. He smiled sheepishly. "I'm sorry, but the only thing my tummy wants to think about is food." He said, scratching his head. (This is one of those moments where a big sweat drop appears next to the other person's head). "Never mind." She said, standing up and wiping some of the dirt clinging to her skirt off with her hand. "We better get going if we want to reach "Gake no aki" mountain before nightfall." As she stood ready to continue through the forest, she heard a strange sound above the noise of the storm. It almost sounded like something thin was being pulled through the air with great speed. Before she could fully identify the sound, a thin wire hit their legs and coiled itself around them. The wire pulled them down off the branch and straight into the muddy water below. Two things were certain:
They weren't alone.
Her favorite outfit would never be the same again.
Pushing themselves up out of the water, which came up to their knees, they could make out two figures standing in the shadows of the trees. "Well, well. Look who got caught in our little trap." Came a deep, rough voice from one of the figures. They stepped forward, allowing some of the light that managed to reach the forest floor to fall on their faces. Buredo and his trusted follower smiled cruelly at them. "If it isn't that pesky girl we have been having such a hard time tracking down." He smiled at Bara's wet figure. "And not only has the moth flown into the web, but is seems she has also brought her friend into the spider's lair." He said as he turned his gaze towards Naruto. The smirk disappeared from his face and was replaced by a stunned expression as he recognized the shock of blond hair and the orange jumpsuit as that of the kid who had pushed their comrade off the cliff days ago. How can it be, that this child survived while their friend was sent to the next life? "You! How are you still alive!?" He yelled at the boy. Naruto gave him a taunting smile. "You're going to have to do better than a cliff and a few minor cuts to get rid of me." Buredo glared at him. "Last time you were lucky. This time you won't live to see another day!" He yelled. He turned his head slightly towards Kenonai. "You take care of the girl." Then turning back to Naruto: "I'm gonna squeeze that neck of his in till the last ounce of strength is drained from his body…" He stepped towards the young teen, hatred in his icy-grey eyes.
"Yeah?! We'll see about that!" Naruto yelled as he put his hands together. "Shadow clone…" "OH NO YOU DON'T!" Buredo yelled as he put his arm forward. His hand looked as if it was grabbing something, like he was crushing something with his hand. There came a sudden, intense cold over Naruto's arms and hands. He watched in horror as the water that fell from the sky and landed on his arms froze in an instant, covering both his arms in a rock hard ice crystal. "We wouldn't want you to use those hands of yours for jutsu now would we?" The scar-faced man said as he stepped forward once more. Great! Naruto thought as he struggled with his hands. Not only has he stopped me from using my hands, but me feet are still rooted to the ground by that wire as well. He started building up chakra in his hands, feeling the ice start to melt as the power increased. An intense pain shot up his right arm again. It was worse than before, it burned like a fire. Not even the cold of the ice that had numbed his skin seemed to help.
Meanwhile Bara was stunned. She couldn't bring herself to move. This wasn't like the training she had done with her dad; this was a real life or death situation. She swallowed as a panicking feeling started to rise up within her. "What's the matter?" Kenonai asked as he stepped towards her. "The princess to scared to help her friend?" He grinned at her mockingly. She gasped in shock. "Princess? What does he mean 'princess'?" Naruto asked in sudden confusion, the ice still secretly melting over his hands. Both of the men stopped. Buredo gave a small laugh. "So, you never told him." He said, shaking his head as if disappointed. "Looks like you can't trust anybody these days." He said with an evil smile. "What is he talking about? Bara, what's going on?" Naruto was confused as ever. "Come on princess, tell your friend what's going on." He pushed her with his words. She couldn't speak, she couldn't do anything but listen. Kenonai sighed. "Well if you won't tell him, I will." He said turning to face Naruto. "Your so called friend here never really told you much about her past, has she?" He asked. Not waiting for an answer, he continued. "She wasn't just some ordinary girl in her village, she was raised by none other than the village chief. Cared for by him like she was his own." He continued with a smile. "While in reality she was nothing more than a street rat!" Tears started running down her cheeks, mixing with the rainwater that ran down her face. "Bara…" Naruto glanced at her in confusion and shock. A few more tears escaped her eyes as she remembered the events of the day she met her "father".
Flashback begins:
The wind was blowing cold that winter. A lonely four-year-old girl was sitting in an alleyway, watching as some people passed the faintly glowing streetlight. Most of them were returning home after a day of work or a trip to the store. One passer-by stumbled over a lose paving stone and dropped a piece of bread. Not noticing what had happened, the man continued on his way home. The girl watched as he slowly walked away. She ran clumsily towards the sidewalk, picking up the bread in her filthy little hands. She hadn't eaten in days and this might just be her last chance to ever find food again. She looked at the piece of bread in wonder; she had never seen such a big piece in her life, not to mention held it in her hands. She didn't even realize it was only half a loaf. Her stomach rumbled fiercely. Looking in the direction the man who dropped it was walking she figured he hadn't seen her. The man kept walking forward, beep into the though that the sidewalks needed repairing when he felt a small tug at his shirt. He stopped and turned around slowly, wondering what it could be. In front of him stood the little girl, her arms stretched out above her head, witch was facing down, holding out the small piece of bread. She didn't want to look up at the man, she felt too ashamed about making the bread dirty with her little hands. She felt the bread being lifted out of her hands, but the sound of the man's footsteps as he walked away didn't follow. Feeling curious about why the man wasn't leaving, she slowly looked up. She found herself looking up at none other than the chief of their village. It was only good manners for her to look down again, but she couldn't bring herself to. Not only was she looking the chief in the face, but he was smiling at her. "Thank you." He said in a calm voice. "And what is your name." She hesitated. "Can you speak?" The man asked after a while of silence. She nodded. "Well…" He urged her on. "Bara." She finally answered, her voice soft as a whisper. "Well then Bara, where do you live?" The girl pointed towards the alley she had been sitting in earlier. "Do your parents live there?" She shook her head. "Where are they?" She lifted her shoulders up to her ears and let them drop again. The man nodded in understanding. "Well then, I think you should come with me. There are some people that I'm sure would like to meet you." He turned around and started walking away. She stood there for a moment, and then she ran forward clumsily and started following him.
Flashback ends:
It's been such a long time since that day, it's a wonder she could still remember it. "Maybe it would be a good thing if we kill her, then she could be with that idiot 'father' of hers!" Kenonai went on. "Shut-up." Bara said under her breath. "What was that?" He asked mockingly. "I said, Shut-up!" She looked him in the eyes, her fern-green eyes ablaze with anger. Remember how I told you there was some sort of chemical reaction in her brain that kept her from getting sad or angry? Well, like with almost everything else, there is a downside. And unfortunately for Kenonai, the downside is not in his favor. Every once in a while, if she had been under a lot of pressure or had experienced a sudden shock, Bara would snap. The result is usually that she becomes uncontrollably angry. Wind started spinning around them as she started building up chakra, one of the tricks her dad tough her. Kenonai and Buredo stepped back in shock. Naruto broke the ice crystal, glad to be able to move his fingers again, though he had no idea of what was going on.
Bara lifted her hand towards her mouth and bit a hole in her thumb. Grinning confidently at the two men she smeared the blood in a line down her left arm. "Kaze. No. Toboe." She chanted, placing her arm on the water. A sparkling blue light streamed out of the mark on her neck. The light was almost as blue as Naruto's eyes. It surrounded them, forcing anyone and everyone to close their eyes. Then it disappeared just as quickly as it came. Now, in front of Naruto and Bara, stood 7-foot-high, two headed, black-and-white wolf. "Why have I been summoned here? Are you in trouble, young Bara?" The beast asked in a low yet gentle voice. "I have summoned you, Arashi no kokoro, to help us protect the amulet of Kaisetsu. I have summoned you because you are the true guardian of the amulet."
My longest chapter yet (and personally my favorite). And in-case you ask: Yes Bara does have a photographic memory, she also has a slightly messed up personality that sometimes changes for no reason. Yes, there will be fighting in the next chapter. Naruto is still the main character (though this chapter revolved around Bara). And yes, the mark on her neck is in the shape of the wolf's head. Thanks for reading and feel free to review (I can only improve that which I know needs improving so please let me know:)