Disclaimer: Nope don't own Naruto, and I never will. I'm only saying this because I'm at gunpoint. I do own Naruto…I mean I don't!
Story: Fem!Naru Minato tells Kushina to flee to Suna, if something were to go wrong in Konoha after his death. Because of this, somehow Naruto is raised in the Sand.
Set as an AU.
Spoilers: …Probably?
Warnings: The usual stuff? I mean, most people who read my stuff are repeated readers, so they should know…otherwise…eh…
Pairings: Yondy!Kazekage/Fem!Naru
Suna no Hoshi
Chapter Thirteen: Too Close to the Edge
The revelation didn't sit well with Rasa. He tried to pretend that he hadn't come to that epiphany, nor show any outward change or reaction about it to Naruto. Even being here with her now, made him feel like he was dancing dangerously close to fiery flames.
After spending the night –alone –with Naruto in her apartment inappropriately, they were now entering Day 2 of their entrapment in the apartment together until the storm ended. He was quite sure that the storm would last until that night or tomorrow morning at the least, but hopefully not any longer than that. Especially considering where he was stuck at.
He was trapped with Naruto in her apartment, which was made worse now that he had finally acknowledged how he felt about her.
He hoped his village was weathering the sand storm, while he was weathering the storm in his head as much as he could.
"Kazekage-sama, can you set up the pot? I can make us something to eat. No ramen, I promise," she lightly teased.
He inwardly pouted. She was back to 'Kazekage-sama' and still not calling him Rasa, no matter how much he said it was alright. At this point, he might even start begging…
"Yeah, I got it," he told her, getting up from the kitchen table and puttering around her kitchen, searching for a pot before he filled it with water and set it on the stove, turning the stove on. "What are you making?"
"Soki soba," she told him after she slipped on a headband to keep her hair out of her way. "You like meat, right?" she suddenly looked unsure.
He nodded reassuringly. "That was true. I didn't lie about that. My favorite dish is anything with meat."
"Right, well, I was going to make that. I'll have to boil the pork spare ribs to get rid of the excess fat, and after that I'll have to stew that with awamori, soy sauce, and sugar –but that'll take three to four hours," she told him apologetically, outwardly about the long time and inwardly because she'd been so dubious about the information he'd given her about himself.
He gave her a small smile, which turned wry. "Okay, guess we're having it for lunch. I guess ramen for breakfast after all."
Naruto grinned at him, and he rolled his eyes back at her as he got another pot and poured water in that to boil.
"Konbu?" she offered as they waited.
He blinked before shrugging. "Hand the seaweed over…"
She handed the edible seaweed to him, and they ate silently together. When she leaned against him unconsciously as they sat together on the couch, he quietly swallowed uncomfortably and tried to keep his thoughts on track and not stray.
"I…I got something for you, from my trip to Konoha," he informed her, focusing instead on that. She perked up eagerly. "There was an Uzumaki Shrine I remembered your mother telling me about, that was near Konoha. I managed to find it and secure something to bring back to you."
"Really? You didn't have to do that! Thank you so much, Kazekage-sama!" she grinned widely at him, that he weakly echoed (at the reminder of that mask and of his new station and rank in her life as 'Kazekage-sama').
"I didn't remember to bring it with me when I was rushing over to here, and because I was expecting to bring you back with me to my home, but when once the sand storm is over, I can bring you over and show it to you then," he promised. "We can also transfer your belongings over –I believe Gaara had already arranged a room for you."
Though rather bemused at that, she nodded and agreed readily.
Luckily, time passed rather quickly and when Rasa hesitantly braved opening the door to peek out (ready to reclose it, with Naruto on standby next to him to reseal the place), they found that the sand storm was steadily dying down. They waited another hour or two in the apartment before checking back out, and seeing that everything was clear. Rasa immediately went to the warning tower and had them sound the bell to give the okay to the rest of the village, and then he was back with Naruto and helping her pack.
"We should make a few clones each, to help us get this done quickly," he decided after he saw all the boxes.
They made four clones each, and Rasa twitched as somehow each of their clones paired up immediately, though Naruto was oblivious to the matches. Their clones easily and quickly got things together and struck up easy and intimate conversations with their match, as they all set out in pairs. A Rasa clone and Naruto clone pair in each grouping somehow just instinctively matched up and so easily got along, and were way too close for Rasa's comfort. All the pairs went out with their assigned packages, and Rasa just barely kept himself from face palming. Naruto had still not noticed the matches.
Doomed. That was all Rasa could describe himself as. Utterly and completely doomed.
He made it to his house, Naruto in tow, to find that it was already unsealed and his kids were already bickering, as per usual. He slammed the door open, twitching irritably.
"Can you three not bicker for once?!"
"Ohhh, Dad's back!" he heard Temari croon.
"Yatta! Hey, you got Naruto too, or what?" Kankuro asked rudely.
And all three of his kids skidded into the hallway where the entrance was, and where he and Naruto were (including pesky clones still chattering it up behind him).
"Well, finally," Kankuro was still rude. "Took you a long time, Dad."
"Tut, tut," Temari shook her head. "What lateness. So not like you, Dad."
"If you wanted some alone time with her, you should've just said so, Otou-san," Gaara spoke monotonously.
Rasa twitched even more.
"Each of you are grounded. Get out," he glared at them, flushing red (more so when he heard Naruto quietly snickering).
"Sorry about that," Rasa muttered to her, feeling rather embarrassed, though he was extremely grateful that Naruto hadn't cotton on to what Gaara had said. "I'll show you to your room and let's just get you settled in, okay?"
"It's alright, Kazekage-sama," she smiled in amusement at him. "I don't mind. And thank you, Kazekage-sama."
"Just call me Rasa," he said in exasperation.
"Nope, no can do," she chirped, and he flicked her forehead in retaliation.
He'll get her to that point sooner or later…
Once she'd settled in (he left her to do so he wouldn't be intruding), he returned to her and stood at the threshold of her doorway, lightly balancing the mask at the tips of his fingers as he quietly watched her smile as she carefully caressed the thin but soft sheets covering her new bed.
"I, uh, brought your gift," he interrupted whatever thoughts were going through her head.
She turned to face him in surprise, though she quickly looked down to see the delicate parcel he held. He tentatively took the cloth off of it and quickly held it out to her, trying to hold it as far away from himself as he could. She raised an eyebrow at him but took the mask, examining it closely.
"Looks cool. Some kind of ceremonial mask or something?"
He winced. "It's some kind of special Uzumaki mask. Your mother used to carry it around all the time. Thought you'd…like to have it as a memento of her."
"That's really lucky!" she beamed at him. "You went to go get me something from my mother's clan, and managed to find something of hers especially. Thank you so much!"
She threw her arms around him and hugged him, and he became stiff at not just the contact with her but of the mask as well (which she was still holding). When Naruto pulled back, further examination found her seeing the crude ofuda stuck all over it that she finally noticed.
"Are these…ofuda?" she asked incredulously.
Rasa cleared his throat in embarrassment, but explained why anyway. He told her about his superstitions and that he was not imagining the foul energy coming from it (and the bad memories), and while she giggled at him and his superstitions (and those awful memories), she showed him the correct way to produce an ofuda and that he'd have to say a long and precise prayer to do a proper exorcism on it.
He huffed and vaguely turned his nose up, not admitting to the pout he had on his face.
She thankfully hid it out of his view, though he could swear he could still feel the energy (dampened as it was from her proper ofuda and correct exorcism). He then told her it was time for dinner and led her to the kitchen area, where he sweatdropped at seeing his kids all scavenging around the kitchen for something to eat. It was rather embarrassing (and he really didn't want Naruto to be there and see this), especially with Temari practically halfway in the refrigerator and delving, Kankuro buried in one of the top shelves as he rummaged around, and Gaara dumping stuff onto the kitchen table and looking like he was thinking hard.
"I can cook us all something," Rasa announced cheerfully, trying not to be so embarrassed at the same time.
"NO!" all three of his kids said forcefully, looking terrified.
Naruto raised an eyebrow.
"Fine," Rasa grumbled. "We can have takeout."
Examining what was laid out, courtesy of Gaara, Naruto nodded to herself.
"No, it's alright. I can cook us something," Naruto interrupted.
Rasa inwardly sighed in relief, but his kids stared before all letting out loud cheers.
"We're saved!" Kankuro clasped his hands and looked upwards gratefully.
"We won't starve!" Temari grinned widely, giggling slightly as she peered at "The Desert Prince."
"Finally, someone who can cook in the house," Gaara's voice was still monotone, but a slight hint of relief could still be easily discerned.
"Naruto, you never told us you could cook! God, Dad. You're such a hogger," Kankuro first proclaimed to Naruto, before turning to his father in displeasure. "You probably knew she could cook all this time and enjoying her food selfishly! Hog! Hog, hog, hog!" he accused his dad.
Temari huffed while Gaara glared.
Rasa glowered back. "One week grounded will become a month."
Aghast, his kids turned their noses up and folded their arms across their chests as they looked away rebelliously.
"I'm surprised he didn't mention it, but maybe not really," Naruto said, oblivious to the family's antics as she gathered up the stuff she needed from the table. "I was making him some stuff to try, just some samples, back when I thought he was Tenoh."
His kids turned back to him and glared ferociously. He smirked defiantly.
"And it was delicious," he drew the word out. "Only time I could say I enjoyed being a guinea pig," he kept his taunting tone subtle.
All three of them bristled. Oh, it was on.
"Hey, now with you and Dad together, can we call you 'Kaa-ch –"
Rasa sped over to Kankuro in a panic, smacking his hand over Kankuro's mouth and holding it there, ignoring the muffled shouts as he looked over at Naruto in alarm. Seeing that she didn't seem to have heard Kankuro, he only minutely relaxed.
"Gaara, get rid of the rest of the stuff on the table," he voiced loudly. "Temari, set the table. Kankuro…clean up the rest of the kitchen." He moved away from his son and glared at them, making them start moving. He then went over to Naruto. "Is there anything you need me to do?"
"Ah, just set up a pot and pan," Naruto decided, after looking over her current work. "I'll finish prepping. I'll be making kushikatsu, if that's okay with everyone?"
"Much better than eating Dad's poison," Kankuro declared.
"Or starving," Temari followed up.
"…" Gaara didn't need to say anything to that.
Though Rasa grumbled to himself, he mentally agreed. "What they said," he muttered.
Soon enough, they were enjoying skewered and breaded meat and vegetables.
"Itadakimasu!" they all said before starting to eat eagerly.
"Sugoi! So good," Kankuro dreamily bit into his meat again.
"Aside from these idiotic males at the table, we haven't really met officially and face to face," Temari cut in, addressing Naruto with a silly grin. "Pleased to meet you finally, Ouji-sama."
Naruto shook Temari's outstretched hand, turning on her "Prince Mode" as she smiled softly and grasped the hand tenderly.
"It is my pleasure, Temari-hime."
Temari grew hearts in her eyes (likewise, a similar occurrence in Konoha was happening at the same time, between certain ramen chefs and the quick glimpse of one Hatake Kakashi's face). Nagi scoffed and smacked his hand against his forehead. Without looking, he managed to snag one of his daughter's ponytails and yanked roughly.
"You –stop being embarrassing. And eat your food!"
Temari pouted, but went back to eating. Rasa then turned to Naruto.
"Geez, you and your Prince thing."
Naruto huffed. "And you. Why are you always the only one never affected? It's so unfair!"
"I was once! But never again!" Rasa smugly smirked.
"You'll see! I'll catch you off guard again!"
"I wouldn't hold my breath!"
All three Sabaku siblings watched curiously, before huddling together and giggled rather eerily as they looked at the two bantering pair and continually whispered suspiciously with each other. Naruto was raising an eyebrow at them again, while Rasa went back to glowering at his kids.
"What are you three on about?" Naruto asked dryly.
"Nothing," all three sing-songed creepily.
"You guys are so cute~" Temari teased.
Naruto and Rasa both went bright red at the same time.
"Grounded! All three of you for a month!" Rasa wouldn't admit that his voice went high-pitched at the end. "Finish eating and then go to your rooms!"
He became even more worried when they weren't even unfazed and were giggling even more. This disturbed him, more so seeing his youngest son giggle (Gaara really should never do certain things…). Once they left, Rasa helped Naruto clean up. It was then that he stopped short and caught a glimpse of the necklace hanging around Naruto's neck, as she bent slightly and it slid from under her shirt and into view.
"Is that…"
Naruto blinked at him. "Hm?"
"Naruto, where did you get that necklace?"
She looked down and grasped the crystal necklace. "Ah, this? When I was younger, a blonde lady gave it to me, along with her life work and research, which was sealed into some leather bracelets. I found out it was the Slug Sannin Tsunade later on in the years. Pretty cool, huh?"
Rasa swallowed heavily. "C-cool…yeah."
Cool was an understatement. Worrying was also something about this new information.
"Expensive too," he added. "Could buy mountains with it, you know?"
And it was recognizable. People knew Tsunade's necklace. They would wonder why Naruto had it, who she was, try to take it from her for the riches, accuse her of things because she had it when it was supposed to be Tsunade's and with the older blonde, try to take her, and-and –AND THERE WAS JUST TOO MANY VARIABLES!
"Kazekage-sama? Are you okay? You look worried and upset," Naruto asked anxiously.
He gave her a weak smile, taking her necklace and slipping it back under her shirt.
"I'm okay. Just…keep that hidden, alright? Wouldn't want someone to steal it or assume things…"
"Okay…"
Rasa inwardly fretted the rest of the time he helped clean. It did explain how she learned the medical jutsu she'd become so proficient at, and he should've figured Tsunade had to have some hand in it. But the necklace (and he couldn't believe the other woman had given it to Naruto –not just because of the consequences of such an action, but also because it was hard to believe the woman would part with it in the first place). And he was worried about others finding out about it, someone recognizing it and maybe even Naruto, and how he could deal with the situation and set up precautions and preventions. It was dangerous to be in the possession of such a priceless artifact.
He went to sleep very troubled.
This was nice. In fact, this felt very nice.
Whoever he was kissing was really soft and smelled really good.
Opening his eyes, Rasa first felt uncomfortable and horrified to find he'd been kissing Naruto, only for her to smile cheekily and to yank his head back down and push her mouth against his again. The tip of her tongue slid enticingly against his slightly parted lips, and he couldn't help his moan as he wrapped his arms around her lower back. He moved up, gently lowering her onto the ground as he hovered above her, though he didn't stop kissing her.
He moved his lips away, smirking at her pout, before sliding his lips across her jaw and then planting hot and heavy open-mouthed kisses against her neck. At one such kiss on her collar bone, he stayed there and suckled a bit, before being unceremoniously yanked away.
To his horror, he found himself staring into the furious eyes of one pissed off Namikaze Minato.
"D-Dad!" he heard Naruto squeak, out of his view.
"You! How dare you kiss Naruto's precious lips!" his fellow Yondaime screamed at him.
"To be fair, I wasn't currently kissing her lips. I was kissing her –" he started dazedly, before barely escaping from the fist that had been aimed at his head.
Also, what the hell was he thinking?! What kind of fucked up word vomit was that? Was he trying to get himself killed?
"Er, well, I was on your side," he heard another familiar voice, and he looked to the side to see Karura grinning apologetically and waving a RasaxNaruto flag, a huge heart emblazoned at the end.
He stared blankly at her.
"Um, Rasa, you should dodge that," she pointed his way, and he again barely avoided the swipe of an unfortunately very familiar sharp edge of a Hiraishin kunai. "Go RasaxNaruto! Banzai!" she whispered enthusiastically, smiling as she waved her flag wildly. "Dodge, dodge!"
Rasa was running around like a headless chicken, running from Minato and barely avoided getting cut into ribbons. From the corner of his eyes, he saw Naruto watching him in stunned horror.
"RasaxNaruto!"
"Karura, stop being weird," Rasa cried out, still running in a panic. This was so typically her. Of course, she would be all fangirl-ish and supportive and just plain weird…
"Aw, Rasa, don't be like that! I'm just trying to be supportive! Don't ruin all my fun!"
"Karura!"
"Go, go, Rasa!" she cheered louder, waving her flag higher. "Go for it and get the girl! I'm rooting for you!"
Rasa threw her a peeved look as he began to search his person for any Hiraishin tag, because Minato was starting to teleport to every place he ran to when he got to a few paces away from his last destination.
He was then blindsided by a vicious kick from the side.
Dazed and out of it, he lay on the floor in confusion, before he focused enough to look up to see Kushina standing above him with a sickly sweet smile on her face, eyes closed so he couldn't fully discern her expression. From somewhere off to the side, he heard Karura 'eep!'
"Ra~sa –I asked you to take care of Naruto. I think you and I have a very different definition of 'taking care of.'"
Her eyes opened to reveal a menacing look that he gulped at. And then Minato appeared beside her, also grinning sadistically.
His eyes widened exponentially.
He rolled away and shot to his feet, running like hellhounds was nipping at his feet.
"I'M SORRY! IT JUST HAPPENED LIKE THIS!"
Rasa screamed in terror, jolting up in his bed as he sweated profusely.
It wasn't his fault things ended up like this!
Outside, his kids got out of their rooms and gathered in the middle of the hallway together, staring at his door dumbfounded.
"What's going on?" Kankuro blinked.
"I think…Dad's having a nightmare?" Temari looked uncertain.
"I didn't think he had nightmares!" Kankuro gaped.
"Naruto is coming," Gaara informed them.
Indeed, Naruto dropped down near them, orange pajamas and all, and holding a kunai and a panicked expression on her face.
"Hold on, Kazekage-sama! I'm coming! I won't let you get hurt! I'll protect you!" and she proceeded to rush towards Rasa's room urgently.
The three stared again.
"Should someone inform her that Father is just having a nightmare?" Gaara asked.
"Nah," Kankuro shrugged. "She'll find out and handle it."
"And Dad can handle her," Temari said suggestively, smirking.
They all snickered and smirked at each other, before dispersing and heading back to their rooms.
Started 9/15/13 – Completed 9/16/13
A/n: So I've got a lot of things planned before we get to the Chuunin Exams, though I know you all are looking forward to them. But I promise these chapters have lots of entertaining stuff planned! Again, if you visit my Suna no Hoshi page on my website, there's a link to the playlist, so you can listen to the music I used to write the chapters. If you read one of my other fem!Naruto fics, Jigoku Shoujo: Eikyuu no Sonzai, it's finally finished and the last chapter as well as the first chapter of the sequel will be posted tomorrow. Also, I find it kind of funny that this got the usual amount of reviews Naruko Gaiden has, when usually it has more (and this time Naruko Gaiden had a lot more in comparison –weeeiiird). Anyway, if you like the chapter, please review and tell me your thoughts!
(Also how do you like the change to the summary?)
Omake! (The Trouble With Clones aka The Mass Seduction Spree Part I)
Baki gaped. There was a Rasa there…and a Rasa there…and a Rasa there…
And there were an equal amount of Naruto's to match.
And they were all finding victims with the populace of Suna, who were giggling and blushing as each Rasa and Naruto (together at that) flirted with each other and then with said victim, causing hearts to appear in people's eyes, loud squeals to erupt (especially from fangirls), and all sorts of lecherous or inappropriate (and silly) reactions to occur.
Oh Kami, it was the return of the old Rasa the Heartthrob (from back in the days), combined with Naruto's insanely irresistible "Princely Aura."
Suna was doomed.
Started 9/16/13 – Completed 9/16/13
Omake! (Where Suna Evolves Because Of…)
Rasa blinked. There was a huge paycheck on his desk. Seriously.
Since when did Suna get such a huge payday like this?!
Gaping at it, he took it and put it away in a safe place until he could cash it into the Suna Reserves. When he traveled outside, he was once again gaping. What happened to his village?!
There were tourists, groups of people planting trees and plants everywhere, a huge area sectioned off nearby and a sign proclaiming it was going to become Suna's new public "water park," gardens suddenly popping up everywhere, and more merchants from seemingly all over the country suddenly occupying his bazaar.
"Hey, exciting, ain't it?" Naruto suddenly popped up beside him.
"What's…going on?" he asked weakly.
Naruto grinned. "I sold my necklace. You know, the one Tsunade gave me? You said it's priceless! So I decided to sell it and get money to fix up Suna, pay off its debts, and up the economy. Awesome, huh?"
Rasa fainted.
Started 9/16/13 – Completed 9/16/13
Omake! (The Genjutsu Tales: Part VII)
Onoki was ready. He was going to grab Han and bring him back to Iwa. Who knows whatever happened to Roshi (he heard something about bananas and whatnot), but he would at least convinced Han to come back. He was tired of his blasted old friends being hermits.
He knew jinchuuriki's weakness. Genjutsu.
He cast one quickly and had his Anbu at the ready behind him. It did not end as he expected or wanted.
"Choo-choo! Chugga chugga, choo-choo!"
Onoki face palmed. This was so embarrassing. How can he face Han, and tell him that the man started acting like a choo-choo train, complete with the furnace on his back letting out smoke?
"We're…we're leaving," Onoki deadpanned.
"Sir?"
"Can you imagine what would happen if this ever got out?" Onoki demanded. "We'd become the laughingstock of the ninja world! No, no. We're going to pretend this never happened. Cancel the genjutsu and then get the hell out of here. This never happened."
He couldn't imagine the backlash. He would never live it down.
Really –if people had found out (especially that old goat Hiruzen) that one of his jinchuuriki was easily defeated by a genjutsu and started to pretend he was a freakin' choo-choo train, Iwa would never be taken seriously again!
He felt utter disaster fill him.
Started 9/16/13 – Completed 9/16/13
A/n: I also just realized this is the last of the Genjutsu Tales (maybe I'll start one with the old jinchuuriki).
To Guest: The Chuunin Exam will be here, I promise! Just be patient for it :D