Puppet of the leaf

Puppet of the leaf.

Chapter 2:

Naruto couldn't believe how different this village was when compared to his home, not only in looks, but the people were what struck him the most. There was none of the cold looks or the whispers when he came near. In fact, those who saw him arrive with the Hokage, who had put on his official robes as they approached the desert village, gave him looks he couldn't quite describe. When he asked about them, the old man looked at him sadly and told him that they were looks of respect, knowing full well that the boy had never received them before.

After they had arrived the Hokage had been escorted to see the new Kazekage, telling Naruto that he could look around, so long as he didn't get lost and that he was back at this building before dark, when they would go to their rooms, since his business would take, at least, a few days. So now, naturally, Naruto had absolutely no idea where he was.

After wandering around for a while, Naruto decided to ask for directions back to the Kage's office, or at least to the nearest Ramen stand, now that he paid attention though, he discovered that there were no people around. "Ohh Come On!" he yelled out to the world his frustration.

This particular area of the village seemed to be mostly warehouses and storage, and the boy couldn't tell one block from the other. Finally though, as he rounded a corner he spotted someone entering one of the buildings. He tried to call out to them but they were gone before he could get the words out.

Naruto rushed over to the door and stepped inside. The room wasn't much of anything, just some filing cabinets and shelving. There was a desk against one wall, and another door on the far side of the office, slightly ajar, with a dim flickering light coming from within. He peeked inside cautiously to see what appeared to me several human silhouettes outlined by a few candles over a smaller work bench.

None of the figures even stirred as he stepped into the room. Nervously Naruto cleared his throat to gain their attention. When no one turned, naruto approached but could still not make out anything of great detail.

"E…excuse me…" Naruto reached out a hand to tap on the persons arm almost half expecting the man to backhand him for being where he clearly wasn't supposed to be.

As Naruto's hand brushed the figure it suddenly collapsed to the floor in a great tumble of limp limbs, and clattering of noise. He let out a loud yelp as he jumped backward.

With the figure no longer blocking the light from the candles, its features were now fully revealed to him. What he had taken for a living, if immobile, person was actually a wooden replica of an adult human. The others around him were all similar to the one he had knocked down. In the light he could now see that they were actually suspended from a series of ropes.

Naruto was staring at them all, trying to figure out what they could be for, when he received his second life threatening shock of the day as a hand clamped down on his shoulder.

"What are you doing here, Boy?!" Naruto was forcibly turned around as the person he had followed into the building came into view. He was slightly confused to find that the person was actually a woman perhaps only slightly older than the Hokage.

"Well, answer me!"

"I…I'm…sorry…I was lost…and I saw you come in here…" the boy quickly recounted his story for the old lady, however she took his words in complete silence, giving him no indication of how much trouble he was in. Because of this Naruto dared to hope that she might actually help him find his way back.

After a few more minutes the woman took him roughly by the hand and began dragging him towards the door. "Come on." Her voice was tight and crisp, showing obvious annoyance at the boy's appearance.

With another look back at the wooden figures Naruto's curiosity was piqued. "H…Hey wait what are those things?"

The woman was momentarily thrown off by the question. She first looked at him then in the direction he indicated. "Those are battle puppets for the Puppet Corps."

Eyes wide with wonder Naruto continued to stare at them. "Battle puppets? What are they for?"

The woman was quickly realizing how dense and naïve the kid was. "Our ninja use them as tools to fight with. Those who specialize in this type of combat are call the Puppet Corps. This is one of the old workshops used by some of the members."

She could see more questions building up in his mind so she decided to give him a small demonstration of the technique to satisfy his curiosity and therefore get rid of him faster. Had she known this boy a little better, she would have realized that such an act would ultimately have the opposite result.

The boy sat on a stool as she connected blue glowing strings from he fingers onto the puppet he knocked over. With a twitch of her fingers the puppet leapt to its feet and began to walk in circles around the boy.

Naruto was entranced by the technique. He had always wanted to be a ninja and had been pestering Sarutobi to let him enter the Leaf's Ninja Academy. He suspected that the man would eventually give in, like he always did, however he would have to wait since the age limit at the academy was seven. He still had two more years to go, but that didn't mean that he couldn't get started early on his own.

"Hey, can I learn to do that?" The boy was on the edge of his seat. The puppet had stopped moving and the woman just stared at him. As if judging weather or not he could actually learn the Puppet techniques. Finally she shook her head.

"Sorry Boy, this is much too advanced for someone your age." The woman thought about that for a second. It wasn't as If she herself hadn't trained a child of about Narutos age. That boy had gone on to be one of the best in the field, until he vanished along with the secrets of various techniques that he had created.

Besides this boy was from a Village she wasn't particularly fond of. Why should she help one of their own become someone who might one day pose a threat to Suna?

"I'm not a kid…I can already call on my chakra…you just need to show me how to use to make the puppet move, I'll figure out the rest. PLEASE!!"

The old woman was suddenly struck with a memory long buried in her subconscious. Her eyes widened as the image of another boy overlapped that of the blond before her. This boy had red hair, and even as she registered who it was she could hear his voice in her mind, 'PLEASE, Ba-chan, Just give me a hint, and I'll figure the rest out on my own.'

As the image of her grandson faded from her view, she again focused on the blonde in front of her.

"What's your name Gaki?"

"Uzumaki Naruto, future Hokage of Konoha!"

As he said this he hopped off the stool and gave her a proud smile.

'What am I doing?'

"How long are you going to be in Suna?"

"At least a few days, while the Third is talking to the Kazekage."

The woman let out a long sigh. 'I know I'm going to regret this.'

"Ok here's the deal, I'll show you how to make the Chakra Strings, ONCE. Then you have until tomorrow at this time to show me you can make at least one string on your index finger. If you can't, deals off. Also you can't tell ANYONE about this. Got it?"

Naruto began to furiously nod his head, his smile getting even bigger.

"Ok, if you can get it down then I'll show you the basics, after that your on your own. First you need to channel chakra to the tip of the finger you want to create the string from…"

The woman explained how to create the chakra strings, as well as how they were supposed to be applied followed by another demonstration, this time on a Kuni. After watching him focus chakra to his finger once or twice she sent him on his way back to town, wondering if she'd ever see him again.

………………………………………………………………………………………

AN: As always please R&R. Chapter three up soon.