Okay, my apologies about last chapter. I didn't mean for it to be so short. But, this chapter is going to be a lot longer, hopefully ^^ So, here we go!
'Thinking'
'Kyuubi talking'
"Talking"
/Naruto Talking to Kyuubi/
DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN Naruto nor any of its characters, just my own!
Chapter Three:
A man of twenty two jumped from one tree branch to another. He wore long orange pants with his same style black boots. He had on a black muscle shirt that couldn't be seen under his long sleeve, orange and black jacket. The man never changed his appearance from when he still lived in the Village Hidden in the Leaves, except for having no headband and wore a long orange overcoat that went past his knees. On the bottom of the over coat was red and black flames that had the effect that the flames were licking its way up, same on the sleeves that went a little past his elbows.
The man's hair had grown a bit so that it now hung in his eyes, but it was the same blond, spiked up hair, but now, it looked as if someone had dipped the ends in blood; all the tips were a royal color of red.
'So kit, what do you wanna do now?' A voice popped into his head.
/Well, since I've been gone for more than three months, I thought it might be nice to visit home./ Naruto thought back to Kyuubi. /I'm pretty sure Gaara wants to know that I'm still alive./
In his mind, he watched the giant fox stand up and stretched before sitting back down. She yawned before replying back, 'Not only that, but you want to show him your new justu?'
Naruto frowned and aloud, he responded back, "You know I can't do that. If I were to summon you Kyuubi, then Shukaku would try to loosen his imprisonment within Gaara. They two aren't as friendly as us."
Kyuubi sighed. 'Well, it was worth a try.'
He chuckled and pushed off of a tree branch, launching himself through the air. "Yeah, yeah. I've been training for those three months to summon you without any trouble and you want to be let out to cause trouble. What am I going to do with you?"
'Well, I wouldn't say 'cause trouble' Kit, more like have a snack or two.'
The blond frowned. "Uh . . . . I don't think so. I made great terms with the sand Shinobi and I don't really intend to break theat."
Kyuubi just sent a toothy grin to her host before letting out another yawn and lying her head down on her paws.
Naruto stopped and landed on a tree branch to catch his breath. He stood and examine his surrounding as his thoughts swarms his head.
A lot has happened since he was banished from his home. He lived with the sand siblings in the land of the san, but he was always traveling; he never stayed in one place for to long.
When the blond traveled, he always visited some of his old friends that he helped years ago on missions when he was still apart of squad seven. He would stay with them for a while before leaving to travel again. When he doesn't have anyone to visit, he usually went back to the Sand or went to a wide open plain where you couldn't find a town for at least a hundred miles radius, to train. Naruto usually just trained with another clone of his or, if he truly wanted to fight, summon Kyuubi in a smaller form.
To summon Kyuubi took a lot of chakra. There was many hand signs to remember and a chant that had to be said once. If he messed up anywhere when performing the hand signs, he got knocked out for a few days. Sometimes, it even lasted up to a week. It all just depended on which fox he was trying to summon. It took him over a year to perfection the summon and to keep it maintained. There are a lot of different summoning he could do; summon a average size fox, resembling the actual Nine-Tailed Fox who had powerful attacks, a different type of fox that was the size of a baby elephant or a small car that had the chakra look to it, (A/N when Naruto goes into the fourth tailed fox, he has that chakra look to him), and the last one, his and Kyuubi's most favorite, summoning the actual fox. True, Naruto still had the seal on his tummy, concealing the fox within him, but the blond haired genius found a way around it without breaking it. When he brings the fox out, whichever one it is, a part of it stays inside the teen, even if the fox looks complete. So, lets say he brought the entire fox out. You can see the fox looking real and everything, which she is, but a fraction of her is still in Naruto, if that makes sense.
Annnyways, as easy as summoning the fox out, it was ten times easier to send her right back into him. To beckon Kyuubi forth, took many hand signs, but to send her back, was as easy with only one hand sign. What I'm trying to say, it's very easy to put her back in jail if she was mis-behaving. ((Yeah, if that doesn't make sense, tell me!))
Now summoning Kyuubi wasn't Naruto's only new jutsu, oh no, he had many others. Well, not that many, but some. Take his Rasengan for an example. Yes it was powerful, but under his own training methods, made it even stronger and powerful. There are many others, kind of, but they'll come up sooner or later.
Now, you're probably wondering what happened to Naruto's old village; Konoha. They're still there, still staying strong and missing a certain blond.
When Naruto left, everyone noticed immediately, I mean, who wouldn't? Someone as loud as him? They, meaning Naruto's friends, asked Tsunade about it, but she would never tell them the truth, all she would tell them was that Naruto Uzumaki left and wasn't coming back. Somehow, after several days of complaining, Sakura managed to pry some of the important details out of her sensi. Tsunade only told the pinkette the major things like the elders banished him and that he wasn't allowed to come back. She never did tell her apprentice that if the blond were to come back, he'd die, or the exact reason the elders banished him. But, most people guessed the reason why the elders banished him. Now, when Sakura heard the news, her heart broke like it did when Sasuke had left to go with Orochimaru. And when she told her only team mate left, Sasuke, boy, did hell almost break loose. He demanded the elders that Naruto was to come back, but they refused. The raven was so furious, that he gathered a group of his and Naruto's close friends to go search for him and bring him back, but both Kakashi and Jiraiya stopped them. There was nothing that could be done.
Flashback:
About a year back, before Naruto changed his appearance, he was at a little town in the land of Mist and Fog, having a drink when he ran into an old friend. Jiraiya.
They were both surprised, but happy. The two sat down and talked for a good three hours. They talked about Naruto's like; what was going on with him, talked about Jiraiya's book, and about Naruto's friends.
"They really miss you, you know." Jiraiya had said.
"I know . . . but there isn't much I or any of them could have done." The blond looked down at the clay cup of tea his hands were wrapped around.
Jiraiya snorted, causing the blond to look up. "Naruto, there was a lot you could have done, but you didn't. You could have shown those lazy elders that you belonged in the village. You could - -."
"I could have what?" Naruto yelled. "I could have done so much but none of it would have mattered, Jiraiya." His hands tightened around the cup until it broke, tea spilling everywhere. A light red chakra started to spew from the man, but Jiraiya and him ignored it. "No matter what I did, or would have done, the elders would still have banished me!"
The book writer crossed his arms against his chest. "No, they wouldn't have. The day of the meeting, what Kakashi had said, he meant it. We would have helped you find a way to overcome the elders. They didn't have a right to take you from your home."
"I did what was right." The blond looked away, glaring at some people who looked over to the two with curious expressions. Once seeing the glare and red chakra still radiating off of the boy, they quickly looked away.
"You may have done what you thought right, Naruto, but what about everyone else that cared about you?" Jiraiya's voice softened a bit. "You don't know what it's been like for them, especially for Sasuke and Sakura. Sakura just got her missing teammate back, just to lose another. Do you know what it's been like for them? How can a Anbu captain focus on his work and protecting his village when he's worried about his friend?"
Naruto let an angry sigh out. "It wasn't my choice to leave! I could have left the village quietly, or been forced out. No matter what, Pervy Sage, I had to leave. Why won't you understand that?" Said man looked like he was about to argue, but Naruto quickly continued. "What's been done has been done. It's time to not live in the past anymore. I didn't want to change how I was just to please a few people. The people there didn't feel safe with a 'demon child' living in the village." The red glow slowly started to dissolve away from him.
"Like I said before, Naruto, it doesn't matter what they think!"
The blond slammed his fists onto the table and stood up, the red glow quickly coming back. His face was a mixture of rage and sorrow. "You don't know what its like to grow up and always having people hate you. To have a whole village hate you! I was lucky to gain friends and fell like I finally belonged somewhere. But, even then, the villagers still hated me. I'm sick and tired of it!"
"So you're happy that you left." It wasn't a question but a statement.
Naruto closed his eyes. "Halfly. I wanted to leave to get away from them, but," he said, referring to the people of the village that hated him. "then I'd miss everyone. I miss my friends, my home . . ." He sighed. "But I can't go back."
Jiraiya just nodded. "It's your own option, squirt. Just . . . promise me one thing."
Naruto opened his eyes and raised an eyebrow. "What?"
The toad sage opened his eyes too. "If you ever have a problem, find me or Tsunade or me. I don't care what the others say, just come to us."
End of Flashback:
'Kit . . . hey kit!'
The sound of Kyuubi's growling broke Naruto out of his memory world. He blinked a few times to find himself still standing on a tree branch.
"What's wrong, Kyuubi?" Naruto asked aloud.
The fox had been pacing and growling in his mind. 'About time! Anyways, about a mile from here, there are a group of bandits. It seemed that they just slaughtered a village.'
The blond grimaced. Even though this was how Naruto earned money, helping villages kill bandits that rob them, he never liked it. Sure, helping the villages was nice, but, he hated it when the group of bad men slaughtered innocents just to get new stuff.
"All right, which direction?"
'Northwest, two point six miles from here.'
As soon as the fox gave the direction, Naruto vanished from the tree branch and ran as fast as he could towards the bandits.
As he was running, Kyuubi asked, 'Why must we do this? It's so annoying.'
The blond sighed before answering, "We do this because it's not fair for the villagers. And, I also do this for the good of the people. If the bandits are dead, the other villages will be safe."
The fox just rolled her eyes.
Within minutes, Naruto came to a stop behind a large, rounded tree. On the other side of the tree was a camp. Tents were up, but only a few of them were in use. A few horses were relaxing off to the side while someone was attending to them. On the other side of the clearing, were huge bags full of goodies, probably from the villages.
Now, in the middle of the camping grounds, was a group of people. Well, men to be exact seeing as there was no presence or sightings of a female anywhere. There must have been at least twenty guys, all lounging around a fire. They all had plates of food or a cup of what Naruto guessed as wine. Some of the men looked a bit buzzed.
One of the men, dressed in a filthy, what looked to be a white shirt, black pants, opened-toed sandals and a lot of jewelry; rings, necklaces, etc. , was lying back in a chair that looked of royalty, eating something. He looked up from his now empty plate and barked out, "Hey! Where's my next meal?"
A girl, no more than eleven years old, walked into view. She was wearing a filthy, torn dress that came way above her knees. From where Naruto stood, he could make out all of the scars, open, bleeding gashes, and bruises she received. Some of them looked old, perhaps a week or two old, while others looked fresh. The girl had long, brown hair that went to her waist. She was slender, maybe a little too slender, and pretty tall. But what made Naruto really notice her, was the chains around her wrists and neck. They were like hand cuffs, but with an added part. The cuff around her neck was connected to the chains around her wrists.
"She's - - she's their slave!" Naruto whispered in disbelief and disgust. It wasn't rare to see bandits take slaves, but that didn't mean Naruto still had to like it.
'What're you going to do?'Kyuubi asked. Naruto couldn't tell what her voice represented; anger? Surprised? Sick to the stomach?
The blond glared as he watched the girl deliver the plate to the man who yelled. The man greedily took the plate then shoved the girl out of the way. She didn't do anything, but stood a bit off to the side with her head bowed low so that she was looking down at the ground.
Naruto clenched his hands into fists. "I'm going to teach them a lesson." As soon as the words left his mouth, he disappeared in a gust of wind.
XxxxX
"Hey, get me some more beer!" The same man from before yelled. He scratched his budging tummy with one hand as he held his other out with a empty mug.
The girl came running over to take the mug but was stopped. Standing before her was a man she's never seen before. He has bright blond hair with the tips dyed blood red, an orange and black jumpsuit and a black overcoat that had red and black flames at the bottom.
"Hey, didn't you hear me?" The man yelled viciously. Being unaware that a newcomer had arrived, he shook his mug impatiently in the air.
"You know, it's rather rude to yell at a lady." Naruto said. He grabbed the mans wrist and twisted it hard, making him let the mug go.
Startled and in pain, the man turned around, finally aware of the newcomer. "Who the fuck are you?" He lashed out.
From his startled cry, the man's men all looked up from whatever they were doing. They all glared at the blond as they got to their feet and grabbing for their weapons that lay next to them.
"My name doesn't concern you," Naruto replied, his voice cold but rather calm. "but what does concern me is that you slaughtered a village and took one as your slave." He said, pointing to the frightened girl behind him.
The man looked from the blond to the girl then back to him. He sneered then said, "I didn't take her, moron; she is my daughter."
The hand around the man's wrist, tightened and a dark red glow started to illuminate off the blond. Some of the men backed away but not very far. The man in front of Naruto, had fear flash through his eyes but it quickly passed, taking its place was a cold glare.
"What the, let me go!" The man yelled trying to pull away. But Naruto continued to glare at him and hold his wrist tightly. The red chakra started to come out in waves now. The man took one last look at the blond before looking back at his men, yelling, "Well, what are you waiting for, an invite? Attack him already!"
The men immediately let out a battle cry and ran at Naruto, raising their weapons.
Being use to battles, Naruto let the man go and spun around, taking the girl into his arms. The girl didn't move or say anything as Naruto pushed off the ground and high into the trees above them. He landed on a branch and gently set the girl on her feet.
"Stay here." He whispered. The little girl nodded. She clutched her hands against her chest as if in a worried way, ((Which he was)) and took a step back.
Naruto nodded before jumping off the branch and landing exactly where he had been seconds ago.
The attackers were in a circle waiting for the blond to come down. And right when he did, they all, at the same time, launched their attacks.
Swords and axes were swung at the blond as he dodge them and brought a kunai knife out.
The men around him started laughing. "A tiny knife? What's that going to do, make a tiny cut?"
The blond smirked at the man's stupidity and brought out another kunai from his pouch on his left hip. But this one was different; it had a tag connected to its end. He jumped high into the air and threw the exploding tag down at the men, The tag exploded, killing a few stunned men while injuring many. Some were lucky, and smart enough, to jump out of the way.
"Jack ass! You're going to die!" One of the men yelled, causing Naruto to roll his eyes as he landed softly on the ground.
Once getting back up, the men ran at the blond, ignoring their wounds. They raised the swords and axes and other weapons up. But, knowing better, Naruto crossed his two hands forming a cross and yelled, "Shadow Clone Justu!"
Many of the same man started to form all around the clearing. All of the clones smirked at the confused men before the clones started to attack, each one first, pulling a kunai out of their pouches.
"The hell is this?" One man yelled before getting slaughtered.
Blood started to stain the perfectly green grass as the clones and men fought. When one clone was defeated by an enemy, another one took its place, followed up by another so that it was one on two.
Within minutes, more than half the men laid dead while the other half was badly wounded but still standing.
"Hey brat, don't forget about me!" The man from before, most likely the leader of the bandits, yelled. He raised his sword into the air and slashed at one of the Naruto's, hoping it would be the real one. But it wasn't; it was a clone. The clone popped away. "Damn it! Which one is the real one?" He started to slash at the other clones he came in contact with, but they too, ended up being clones.
"Why, keep doing that, and eventually you'll know where the real me is." A voice said from above.
The man looked up just in time to be punched in the jaw. He stumbled backwards as another fist made contact with his stomach then his other side of the jaw. As he stumbled, Naruto grabbed the some kunai from his pouch and threw it at the man.
The knives thrown at the man embedded themselves into his arms, legs and his throat, pinning him to the tree that was behind him. The sword dropped from his grasp and fell to the forest floor with a 'clang'. Blood started to seep from his wounds, especially the wound in his neck. He tried to move, but was getting weak from the amount of blood he was losing.
"Why?" He garbled in a low voice. Blood started to spew from his mouth in a long river like manner. It flowed down his chin and dripped off, landing on the grass.
Naruto walked up to the dying man and squatted down in front of him. "Because, you bag of shit. You slaughtered a whole village, probably countless numbers of them, took their belongings and, you abused your own daughter. That's not how a father should act."
"What I do to my own daughter, is of none of your concern." He tried to lash out but came out more of a moan.
The blond smirked, and the red chakra that continued to come off of him started to vanish. "Well, it is now." He stood back up and looked down at the helpless, dying man on the ground.
"You are a bastard. I hope you rot in hell!"
"You and many others."
Naruto left the man to die as he pushed off the ground with his legs.
'Hm . . . that was so boring.' Kyuubi yawned. In the background, the clones that were left poofed out of existence. 'There was hardly any action.'
Naruto doesn't say anything as he landed on the same tree branch he was on only minutes ago. Curled into a tight ball and leaning against the tree trunk was the girl. She watched him with round, green eyes that were filled with fear.
The blond walked over to her in a calm manner and squatted down next to her. In a gently voice that you'd be shocked to hear, because he just finished killing people and to be able to get it to that gently, he said, "I highly doubt you want to go down there; it's not a pretty sight." The girl's eyes peered down over the side of the branch but when Naruto cleared his throat, she immediately flickered her eyes back to him. "If you want, I can take you to a different village. There's one a few miles from here, one were your . . . father didn't attack."
The girl shook her head. With a bony finger, she pointed it at Naruto.
The blond furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. In his head, he asked the fox, 'What does she mean?'
The fox, who's been paying attention, also furrowed her eye brows. 'I don't know, but I think she might want to stay with you.'
Naruto nodded before saying, "I'm assuming you want to stay with me?" The girl nodded her head before taking her finger back. "Why?"
After a moment of silence, the girl spoke, though her voice was dry and cracked like she hadn't drunk water in a day or two, "You killed my master. Now you're my new master."
Both Kyuubi and Naruto both stared at her in surprised. Boy were they not expecting that.
"M-master?" Naruto stuttered. "No, I-no, I'm not going to be anyone's master!"
The girls eyes doubled in size as she quickly looked away. "I-I didn't mean to make you mad . . . p-please, don't punish me, master!"
Her voice was full of fear and sorrow. Naruto couldn't help but feel sorry for her. She's most likely been having a horrible life; life as a slave and having to live with a abusive father. He reached out to take her hand when she flinched away. The blond sighed before gently talking a hold of hers, this time succeeding.
"C'mon, let's get out of here first before we talk."
The girl looked up at him and didn't say anything.
Naruto stood up and helped the girl to her feet. Unsure what else to do, he scooped her up into his arms, bridal style, and pushed off hard against the tree, quickly disappearing from sight.
The girl squeezed her eyes shut as she buried her head in Naruto's chest. He looked down at her and his heart broke more.
'She's scared,' Kyuubi observed.
'I would be to if my life was like that . . . but, how could someone treat a little girl like this?' Naruto thought as he landed on a tree and pushed off of it.
'I don't know, Kit, but what are you going to do with her?'
The blond thought for a moment, thinking back, 'I'll drop her off at a village, but with a good family to take care of her. I can't take her with me, it's much too dangerous.'
The fox nodded her gigantic head.
"So," Naruto said aloud. "My name's Naruto, Naruto Uzumaki. What's yours?"
The little girl opened one eye opened and looked at him. "Sana." Her voice lost some of its dryness and the cracking, and in its place was a soft voice.
Naruto smiled. "Well, nice to meet you, Sana. And if you don't mind me asking, how old are you?"
Sana paused before saying, "E-eleven."
'Exactly what I told you, Kit.'Kyuubi purred, happy that she thought the age right.
'Yeah, yeah,' He thought before asking aloud, "I don't mean to bring this up, but, did you like your father?" Sana, as he expected, winced and buried her head against his chest again.
"I-I hated him," She whispered so softly, that if he didn't have Kyuubi's hearing, he would have missed it.
He nodded. "Well . . . so you didn't mind me killing him?" She shook her head,
After that, Naruto remained silent as he left Sana to her own thoughts. He continued to jump from tree to tree, trying to be gently with each landing.
'She fell asleep.'Kyuubi stated after half an hour.
Naruto blinked and looked down to indeed, find the girl asleep. 'Huh, you're right. But, we're almost to the town; should I wake her?'
'Nah, it'll be easier to rid of her when she's asleep.'
The blond nodded before angling his body for a landing. His feet touched the ground right outside of the town's entrance. Having the sleeping girl in his arms, he walked casually into the village as if it was his own.
XxxxxX
So, I am so sorry that it's been ages since I've last updated. I just been so busy with my other three stories, I haven't given much time to this one. But, I hope for that to change! I just wanted to say thank you so much for reading my story! I had a lot of readers! Y'all made me very happy, that I want to keep writing!
And, last thing, I suck at fighting scenes, if you haven't already noticed. I'll try to get better at it!
R&R
-Kairi
