Yo! Here's the third chapter. On an unrelated note for some reason i can't seem to view all the reviews i've got, it's only showing me the first 4 and i'm not quite sure why but thanks you anyway for the reviews!
After Naruto's encounter with the re-animating statue in Uzushiogakure, he had decided to stay the night and sleep under the stars of his ancestral home. The next day, wakened by the sunrise, Naruto set back off to meet back up with Taro and Tari. They hadn't been too hard to find as all Naruto needed to do was find the coast and then follow it till he came across them. Taro and Tari had noticed Naruto's new gear including the forehead protector now tied to his arm and the new sword but decided not to question him as whatever happened must have been personal.
Now, 1 week later, Naruto was sat legs crossed in the forests surrounding the small village that he'd met the two brothers, intent on training his kenjutsu. Having not so much as even glanced at the scrolls beforehand he had no idea what to expect. From what he could tell so far there were three different style, just like Tsunade baa-chan had said. Looking over the first style, he read the description aloud.
"Shinku no dansu (the crimson dance)" He read, "Used most typically by female Uzumaki members, this style takes advantage of the female body's natural flexibility and smaller frame to manoeuvre around the target, using mostly jabs and quick slashes utilising speed and skill over strength and power to slowly wear the victim down, before inflicting the fatal strike. As suggested by the name, the style involves the fluid and coherent combination of attacks mixed with complex footwork to get within the opponent's guard, thus placing great emphasis on body positioning and placement in battle over more sword based skills such as parrying. Since the style is movement based, it is more defence orientated as a lot of the style revolves around avoiding the target's strikes and waiting for the correct moment to attack. This style is also recommended for any assassination or stealth based kenjutsu users regardless of their sex." Naruto finished before looking off into the forestry adopting a thinking pose.
"While the style does sound cool," He thought out loud, "I don't think I have the skill or flexibility to pull it off… Ah well! What's next?" The young blond questioned to himself before continuing. "Alright, style two 'Shinku no ikari' (the crimson wrath)," He began, chuckling to himself "hehe cool name" He thought before continuing, "This second style revolves around the users strength and power, being the antithesis of 'Shinku no dansu'. The style involves the user blitzing opponents with series of sweeping slashes and lunges to overwhelm their target. The style is primarily offensive aiming to swarm the victim until a breach in their defence is found which they would then capitalise on. Since the style is heavily biased for offence, the user must leave their defence open but compensates for this due to their constant attacking. Each strike is packed with power and intent to kill, if the user enters the battle without the resolve to kill or do serious harm then the attacks will become affectless… wow." Naruto eyes scanned back over the words he had just read. While the style sounded cool and in many ways fitted his attributes, it didn't fit his mentality. While Naruto had in many ways hardened is resolve to kill, to go into every battle with the intent to end that person's life… That just wasn't him. It wasn't what he stood for or what he believed in.
Unfurling the scroll further, Naruto glanced at the last style, "Shinkoshoku no soyokaze… (The crimson breeze)" He breathed, before reading on, "This series of techniques combines attributes needed to utilise both 'shinku no dansu' and 'shinku no ikari', therefore making it the hardest of the three to learn. Furthermore the style is traditionally only used by the main line of Uzumakis hence learnt by all previous clan heads and heirs. The style primarily relies on drawing techniques of two variations: standard grip and reverse grip, and hence forth seeks to finish the battle in one move. However unlike 'shinku no ikari', the end result does not have to be fatal. If the initial move doesn't end the fight, users will utilise their speed in short bursts combined with controlled power strikes in and out of the opponents defence in order to breakdown the target, differentiating from its more violent variant style in that the attacks aren't continuous. The style also isn't ideal for attacking when hidden as requires ample room and a direct line in order to complete the drawing techniques." Naruto finished, his mind buzzing as he considered the written words. However all thoughts seemed to come to one conclusion. The style was awesome. While yes, seemingly hard to learn it had everything. Considering some of the negatives however he realized he would have to increase his speed dramatically as well as his control over his chakra and strength.
Weighing up the pros and cons, Naruto concluded that the style was worth it and that despite the difficulty, he would learn it. Sighing the young Uzumaki fell back onto the ground with the kenjutsu scroll resting on his stomach. Looking up he realized how late it had gotten as the sky was already streaked with that warm orange glow of the sunset he loved so much. Closing his eyes, he smiled at thought of all the future training he was going to be doing and unconsciously reached out, grasping the katana that lay by his side and held it to his chest. Inhaling slowly then exhaling, he embraced the smells and sounds of the forest, letting the tranquil atmosphere overcome him, as he slipped into a peaceful slumber.
Naruto was slowly woken from his sleep by the morning sunrays that crept through the forest treeline, and fell on his resting face. Oh and that loud brash shouting didn't help either.
"For fucks sake kid wake up!" The voice continued, Naruto groaned in protest before groggily opening his eyes.
"Alright alright jeez i'm up!" The blond mumbled, looking up, he saw the blurred outline of a tall man with a great mane of white hair, "Huh ero-sannin? What are you doin' here?"
"Wha-What do you mean 'what am I doing here' you little punk!? I'm supposed to be training you!" The old sage retorted.
"Yeah supposed to be…" The blond muttered under his breath, not catching the fury build in his sensei's face.
"What's that supposed to mean?" He ground out.
"Isn't it obvious!?" He began, shouting now, "All that you've done since we've been on this trip is do your 'research' which is just an excuse for to be a perv, or whoring while I'm left to do pointless exercises! I could have learnt more than I have by now if I'd stayed in Konoha!" Now breathing heavily, Naruto stared defiantly into Jiraiya's eyes. The sage met Naruto's gaze however after a few moments gave up and sighed, lowering his head.
"Jeez kid, you're gonna be the death of me," He said before looking up back at Naruto, "So what do you want huh?" He asked.
"To be trained," Naruto started, but continued when he saw Jiraiya open his mouth, "On my own terms. I want to make a schedule so that over the three years I improve my fuinjutsu, kenjutsu, speed and chakra control mainly, while also working on my chakra chains, well if I actually have them that is… Oh yeah and increasing my jutsu range, all I know is kage bunshin which I taught myself, the summoning jutsu and the rasengan plus the academy jutsu! How the hell am I supposed to survive with just them! I'm a joke!"
"Alright I get it gaki, damn I need drink…" The toad sage huffed before eyeing Naruto's new sword suspiciously, "Oi kid, where'd you get that katana anyways? You didn't steal it did you?" He said, eyes narrowing.
"What? No? I found it, it's mine." Naruto said, clutching the sword to his chest defensively.
"You found it…" Jiraiya repeated, earning a nod from Naruto, "Where on earth did you find a sword like that?"
"Uzu." He answered simply causing the older man to stare back at the young blond dumbly.
"Uzu." The sage echoed.
"Yep"
"As in Uzushiogakure?"
"Hn"
…
"WHAT! YOU WENT TO UZU BY YOURSELF! A-A-AND FOUND THAT" the sage shouted in shock pointing accusingly sword.
"Yeah" Naruto replied casually, using his little finger to pick at his ear absentmindedly.
"How?" Jiyaiya asked after a pregnant pause.
"Ma it's a long story, I'll tell you after ramen!" He replied simply before strolling into the forest towards the village, leaving a dumbstruck sage in his wake.
"Damn Naruto, that's one hell of a story." Jiraiya said as Naruto finished telling his tale, before taking a slow sip of his sake, "I'm still surprised you found something there though, I went there a loooonnggg time ago and didn't find a single thing."
"Yeah" Naruto said, pausing from indulging in his ramen, "I'm just glad I found something to connect me with my clan" Sighing, he glanced down at his newly decorated arm, a small smile gracing his features.
Jiraiya watched on with a grin of his own, "Alright gaki, let's get this schedule drawn up aye?" he said, immediately drawing the young boy's attention, pulling out a blank scroll, a calligraphy brush and ink, "So, you wanted to work on kenjutsu, fuinjutsu, ninjutsu, control and possibly your chakra chains… Hmm well I think you're also gonna have to work a little on genjutsu, not so much the jutsu themselves but more how to detect and release them," Ignoring Naruto's sour face at the mention of his worst topic, the old sage continued, "I'm gonna have you work a little with the toads as well so you know which ones to summon in the right situations." Mumbling to himself, the old man then began scrawling on the scroll.
After a few moments of furious writing, Jiraiya stopped before looking over his work before nodding to himself appreciatively, "Okay so the first year, I reckon we'll start with the nitty gritty stuff. The first year we'll cover control and conditioning, that includes speed and strength, I'll also assign you some ninjutsu to learn throughout the year so you don't get too restless… now that I think about it I might add in some strategizing as well." He said, mumbling the last part while working over the scroll with his brush.
"Wait hold up ero-sannin! You mean that for the whole first year, presuming the three years start from now, I'm not going to learn anything Uzumaki related!?" Naruto protested angrily, "I said I wanted to learn train on my own terms, and I wanna learn the Uzumaki stuff first!" He demanded. Naruto's anger however was quickly turned to shock when Jiraiya's hand slammed upon the counter of the ramen stand shocking the owner also.
"Listen here you little punk, I may have agreed to train you in the areas you wanted but let's not forget who the sannin here is! What you may not have realized or what that scroll on kenjutsu didn't quite get through your thick skull is that you can't just learn techniques left and right!" The sage began before throwing his arms up in exasperation, "I mean shit, do you really think it's that easy? Take kenjutsu; Samurai and most nin have to go through vigorous conditioning of both body and mind, doing countless exercises to perfectly tune themselves to the way of the sword before they've even picked one up!" Upon seeing Naruto's face contort into one of protest he quickly continued, "What, do you think you'd just be able to do some speed and strength work while you train your katas? Without laying down the foundation attributes necessary to effectively train in the style? If you do that the configuration between your strength and speed and your sword play will be out of sync! You'd have to keep adapting one or the other, making needless work for yourself." He finished, panting slightly. Noticing the downcast expression on the young blond's face Jiraiya adopted a softer tone, "Listen gaki, I know you want to follow the footsteps of the Uzumaki and your dream of becoming Hokage, and that's great but these things take time you know, you have to work at it step by step. There's no shortcut to becoming Hokage after all, your words not mine." The sage said with a smile.
Naruto looked up at the old sage, unshed tears saddening his eyes and a small smile playing across his lips, "Thanks… ero-jiji" he chuckled softly, "I guess I was being a bit of a brat huh?"
"You can say that again," Jiraiya laughed, "Anyway let's find somewhere to stay the night, and tomorrow we'll start your training!" He announced before getting up off the stool he was perched upon and walking off. Naruto stood to follow before he was interrupted by a stern and angry looking ramen stand owner, holding out his hand expectantly making Naruto blink in confusion.
"Shit."
8 months later
"Oi ero-sensei! Can I get down yet?" A rather tired Naruto shouted in a strained voice, looking up briefly the man in question eyed the blond before returning to his notes.
"Nah you still got a bit to go" Naruto was currently hanging from a large tree branch using the tree climbing exercise to stick to the bark, he had his arms spread out and hanging off each by the forearm were boulders tied by rope. Jiraiya had picked the exercise up whilst observing a clan of samurai in the Land of Iron.
When Naruto had first began using it the boulders had been small and at first didn't seem to strain the blond however since it was an endurance exercise they still after a while took their toll on his body nonetheless. Currently the boulders being used were about the size of a cow, and the blond had been hanging for at least a couple of hours now. So far in his training however Naruto had made quite a bit of progress. His control over his chakra had increased dramatically however was still relatively low. His strength had also increased and his control over that was coming along nicely. Due to his body work he'd and his natural aging he'd managed to bulk up slightly and while remaining lean rather than bulky was no longer scrawny, another bonus to his conditioning was that he'd grown a bit taller and now stood at 5'1" as opposed to his 4'8" stature upon leaving the leaf.
"Gaki you can probably come down now" Jiraiya suddenly spoke, eliciting a sigh of relief from the Uzumaki before he hopped dropped the boulders cause a plume of dust to rise up and dropped down.
"Aahhhh it's never felt so good to be so light!" Naruto exclaimed happily before sitting himself down next to his sensei, "Ne ero-sensei, do you ever write anything other than smut?"
The old man grunted in response, "It's not smut you brat its graphic romance!"
"Yeah that's just a fancy way of saying smut," the blond retorted before eyeing the notes critically, "I don't get why your books are so loved anyways, they're not even that good." He commented offhandedly.
"Pfft, like you'd know anything kid this is fine literature!"
"Yeah yeah up there with Shakespeare…" Naruto responded sarcastically, "wait who is that?" He questioned internally before shrugging to himself, "At any rate, I'm gonna go wash up, I'll be back for dinner!" He said ignoring the old sage's mumbling, walking off to a nearby lake.
Currently, the duo were in the Land of Waterfalls, near the border of the Land of Earth. Since the country was full of lakes and rivers it was ideal for chakra control and conditioning exercises. They'd been camping in the same clearing for about 1 week now having travelled back though the Land of Fire from the Wave at a leisurely pace as Jiraiya had contacts from his spy network that needed attending to.
Approaching the lake Naruto took to the trees having regained some of his strength. A few minutes later he arrived at the clearing however stopped and paused on a branch, hidden slightly, at the sight of a person in the clearing. "Cute" was the one thought that ran through the young teen's mind as he drank in the girl's image, a slight red tinge glazing his cheeks. She had dark pink, pupil-less eyes and short jet black hair that shaped her face, wearing a red under amour which ended mid-thigh, with the right sleeve missing and the right loose. Over her right side she also had a sash of sorts or half dress 'thing' that was in a slightly darker shade of red that Naruto couldn't quite see the point of. Over the body suit she wore a brown flak jacket and mesh stockings adorned her legs. Looking on more analytically, Naruto noticed she was unmistakably a kunoichi, and could see a head band hidden behind her fringe however the village symbol was obscured.
After mentally disciplining himself for momentarily giving into the force of the perv, he realized the young kunoichi was breathing heavily and seemed to be physically strained. Slowly she sat down by the water's edge, wincing as she met the hard ground before clutching her leg in pain, as she did so Naruto spotted tares in her stockings and an angry bruised that seemed to be forming on her left thigh. Before he could even consider going down to help her out however, a swoosh of air drew his attention to the tree line at the opposite side of the clearing as multiple kunai flew towards the injured kunoichi. The girl managed to roll backwards out of the way into a crouch as the weapons implanted themselves into the ground where she was once sitting.
Shortly after one light and one dark coloured blur shot out of the treeline landing in the clearing. The taller of the two had a mop of spiked messy brown hair, dark coloured eyes and wore a yellow shirt with a blue tie under a white trench coat with high a high collar and had a nasty smirk on his face. The smaller of the two was… uninteresting to say the least. He was bald with nothing special about his facial features other than his scowl, he also wore a plain black suit with a white shirt and black tie. "Hmm where've I seen those two before…?" Naruto thought to himself, squinting his eyes at the pair.
"Now now kurotsuchi-chan, we can't have you running away now can we?" The taller of the two announced, "After all you were the one the attacked me and my friends in the first place." His face twisting into a predatory grin.
"Fuck you Gantetsu you pig!" The kunoichi now identified as Kurotsuchi shouted back venomously. Silently Naruto created a dozen kage bunshin and ordered them to surround the clearing from the treeline. One of the other traits he picked up in his short time so far was patience, he didn't always charge in head first now. Well not always anyway.
"Ara ara such a foul mouth for such a pretty little girl." Gantetsu smirked, seemingly amused earning a dark giggle from his plain partner.
"What should we do with her boss? She's obviously injured." He commented.
"Hmm, good question Choseki. What should we do with her?" Gantetsu questioned rhetorically, before running his eyes over her form, "Well I have few ideas in mind." Meanwhile, Kurotsuchi shakily made her way to her feet while glaring heatedly at the rouge pair.
"You fuckers ain't gonna do shit!" She shouted defiantly, however her physical state contradicted her words which wasn't missed by the on looking blond.
"Ma enough talk. Choseki," He began, his face becoming stern, a feral glint remaining in his eyes, before turning to his accomplice, "Deal with her." Upon hearing the command, the bald man jumped into action approaching the pink-eyed kunoichi at speed. Bringing his arm back he began the fight by throwing a straight punch which kurotsuchi dodged with relative ease however her pain was evident on her face.
The bald nin followed with a series of kicks and punches which were avoided however with each successive attack, the girl's evasive movements become more and more sluggish. It was clear that she was the better ninja, maybe even than both of them however her injuries were impairing her tremendously.
Choseki suddenly hopped back and ran through some hand seals, "Doton: Doryūsō (Earth release: earth flow spears)!" He shouted before a single spear made of mud and pieces of rock shot out of the ground aiming at Kurotsuchi's head. Thinking quickly, the teen bent back at the waist demonstrating her flexibility, however her leg gave way and she collapsed back before rolling backwards finding her feet. Taking advantage of her opponents sudden weakness, Choseki rushed forwards and aimed a straight kick to the girl's injured leg connecting painfully. With a contained scream of pain, Kurotsuchi stumbled back hold her leg, putting most her weight onto her healthy one.
Grinning at his success, the bald nin brandished a kunai before moving in to finish the job, the young kunoichi looked up only to snap her eyes shut at the sight of the kunai coming down upon her as she waited for her impending death. A few moments passed and no pain came. Slowly, she opened her eyes only to come see the pain riddled face of Choseki, kunai in hand ready to strike, before a gurgling sound emanated from his throat as he choked out blood which dribbled down his chin. The nin then fell to his knees and subsequently collapsed face first onto the turf. It was then that Kurotsuchi noticed the kunai embedded into the man's back, surrounded by a large red patch.
"W-what!? Who's there you bastard!?" A suddenly agitated Gantetsu shouted out into the surrounding treeline as he palmed a kunai and held it in front of him defensively. No response was heard and soft breeze whistled through the clearing, rustling the grass, "You don't scare me you bastard! I'm the Densetsu no Annin (legendary dark shinobi)!"
Meanwhile, Kurotsuchi sighed in relief and tried to stand up straighter before a wave of pain ignited her left side, causing her to stumble forward. Before she fell completely however a pair of strong arms caught her, causing the pink-eyed teen's eyes to widen comically.
"You shouldn't move too much, that leg looks quite bad." A throaty voice said softly.
Looking up, the first thing she noticed were two bright cerulean eyes which seemed to shine with good will. Momentarily lost, she examined the rest of the figure's face to noticing two sets of three whiskers on each cheek resting upon tanned skin, she then noticed the unruly blond locks which seemed to spike each and every way. Unable to help herself, a soft blush graced her face as he stared at the face of her saviour, "Hellooo, you okay?" Naruto waved his hand in front of her face jokingly.
"Huh? Oh yeah, it's just my leg's pretty messed up." Kurotsuchi managed, shaking herself out of her daze. Behind the two however, Gantetsu decided to take advantage of their 'moment' and lunged at the unassuming blond with deadly intent. As the blade came down, it was suddenly blocked by the kunai of two separate figures. Gantetsu's face twisted into one of shock as he gazed at the two identical forms that blocked his attack, before noticing they were also identical to the blond currently coddling his prey. Growling the man jumped back still holding the kunai in front of himself.
Naruto, the real Naruto, on the other hand simply sighed, "If you'll excuse me, I've got some trash to take care of." He said politely, gently placing the stunned kunoichi on the ground before slowly turning to face the snarling Gantetsu, and walking in between his two clones a stern expression on his face, "I'll give you one chance," He began, noticing the man's confused expression he continued, "I'll give you one chance to run, take it and you'll be spared. Otherwise… you won't be so lucky."
A pause followed as another breeze rustled through the clearing. Slowly however, the sound of soft chuckling began break the silence, which then turned into full blown laughter.
"You, you think you can beat me kid?" Gantetsu managed through his fits of laughter, "Ah that's the best thing I've heard in a while…" He said as his laughter died down as his face turned serious before twisting into a manic grin, "Do you even know who I am!? I'm the mighty Densetsu no Annin! A little brat like you doesn't even stand a chance!" More crazed laughter ensued as the man palmed another kunai.
"Enough talk," Naruto interjected coolly, "You've had your chance" He then clicked his fingers with one hand. Gantetsu opened his mouth to make a smart comment however was interrupted as a barrage of kunai flew towards him from all angles. Cursing under his breath he jumped backwards deflecting what kunai he could from the front however was unable to prevent a few from grazing his legs and arms. He then turned to look back at the blond only to find him standing with his hands held out by his side with the palms facing upwards and the two clones surrounding him constructing some form of glowing orbs? His attention was suddenly drawn from the teen as a dozen clones or so jumped out of the treeline surrounding the clearing and engaged him.
Momentarily overwhelmed by the sudden mass of clones, Gantetsu took numerous slashes and cuts to his arms and torso as he tried frantically to defend himself. One by one, he managed to dispel the clones until there were only three left. Eyeing the clones cautiously, he took a few tentative steps backwards already planning his escape. The three clones then rushed forwards towards him, criss-crossing their paths in order to confuse the rouge nin. Suddenly the three duplicates, threw their kunai at Gantetsu before jumping off to the side, his attention focused on deflecting the Kunai, he didn't notice the original blond sprinting towards him, a blue spiralling ball in each hand. When he did notice however, it was too late. The first sphere of chakra crashed into his stomach, grinding into his skin, before the second slammed into his chest sending the missing nin flying backwards into the path of a large tree which cracked under the impact.
Turning around, Naruto dispelled his remaining clones before walking slowly back to the prone kunoichi, who stared on wide-eyed. "What a destructive jutsu… he took that guy out without even breaking a sweat!" She thought to herself. As the blond approached her Kurotsuchi couldn't help but notice how the blond's eyes weren't that vibrant blue she'd seen earlier but a dull blue, void of life.
"Oi are you okay?" She called out hesitantly, causing Naruto to meet her gaze. Realizing he'd let his façade slip and lost his composure he silently cursed before sighing and scratching his head embarrassed.
"Yeah I guess. I'm just not sure I've got my head around this killing thing yet. It's not… nice." He said lamely, looking at the ground ashamed.
"Well of course it isn't nice we're ninja. Life's not always full of happy endings you know?" She commented sarcastically. Noticing the forlorn look on her saviour's face however she adopted a softer tone, "But, if it's any consolation… you did you know save my life n' stuff." She struggled with the words as if not used to giving praise; Naruto accepted it all the same, giving her a small grin.
"I suppose I did." Kurotsuchi, now looking at the blond's full appearance noticed he was roughly the same height as her although looked a year or so younger. He wore a plain black shirt which had three-quarter length sleeves showing off the long-sleeved mesh under underneath it and plain black trousers. A necklace hung loosely around his neck showing off an expensive looking stone which she had never seen anything like before. All in all she thought the blond standing before her was quite the looker, in his own slightly weird, exotically roguish way.
"Who are you anyways?" She asked after a moment of eyeing up the blond.
"Naruto. Uzumaki Naruto. And you?" He replied with a bright smile, his eyes relighting with that shine she had seen earlier.
"Huh? Oh um Kurotsuchi,"
"You sure?" Naruto joked, eyebrow quirked.
"Yeah I'm sure you punk kid." She quipped in mock anger.
"Kid! You're barely older than me!"
"Yeah well you're still a kid"
"A kid who just saved your ass"
"Pfft, if I wasn't injured could've dealt with those guys no problem."
"Yeah sure that's what they all say."
"Oh? You go around spying on people's own affairs often then?" Instead of replying Naruto simply huffed and sat himself on the ground opposite the girl before looking over her leg.
"So what did those guys what with you anyways?" He asked after a moment, noticing Kurotsuchi flinch slightly.
"Well, back in Iwa they are, or were missing nin you see and I might've pestered my jiji for a solo mission involving their capture…" She admitted before sighing, "What I didn't expect was for them to have a whole group of bandits following them. By the time I'd fought off all them I'd already used a lot of chakra and then this happened," She gestured to her injured leg, "and so I decided to flee and well here I am."
"Who's your jiji?" Naruto questioned curiously.
"The Tsuchikage."
"What!?" Kurotuschi immediately regretted telling the blond. They all acted the same after they found out. Boot licking bastards, "My baa-chan would never give me a mission as cool as that!"
"Huh?" Kurotsuchi managed, stupefied by Naruto's response.
"Yeah she would always go on about how I'm 'not ready' or just call me a brat or something." He grumbled childishly.
"Who's your baa-chan?" Kurotsuchi asked tentatively however something told her she already knew the answer.
"The Hokage."
"WHAT" that wasn't the answer she was expecting, she was thinking more along the lines of a stuck up noble or an overly protective grandmother. Not only that the kid was related to a Kage! The Hokage no less!
Kurotsuchi was immediately on the defensive as she stared at the blond with fierce eyes and tensed her muscles.
"What? What's the mean glare for" He asked innocently.
"You're from Konoha."
"Yeah…"
"And I'm from Iwa"
"Okay…"
...
...
...
"No response? Really?"
"I don't understand? Was I supposed to say something?" Naruto scratched his head, confusion evident on his face.
"You're form Konoha and I'm from Iwa! You should hate me, and I you!" Naruto tilted his head to the side.
"I don't hate you Kurotsuchi-chan, I don't even know you." He replied simply earning a growl from the pink eyed kunoichi "Yet you're adding '-chan' to my name" She thought in frustration. Glaring into his innocent, puppy-dog face, Kurotsuchi sighed as she decided it wasn't worth getting agitated over. Leaning back onto her hands she gazed up into the sky before closing her eyes and enjoying the silence. Until she felt a pair of calloused hands touch her thigh that is. Opening one eye she stared down at the blond who seemed to be trying to apply a bandage to her leg.
"What do you think you're doing?" She asked with a certain edge to her voice.
"Errr first aid?" Naruto replied innocently, "I'm not too good with medic stuff but I know the basics. If you don't want me to then I won't but that wound's pretty bad." With the concern evident in his tone. Unable to help a subtle blush adorn her cheeks, Kurotsuchi huffed and looked off to the side.
"Fine, just get on with it."
"Hai!" Naruto then enthusiastically began bandaging the wound on the teen's thigh, Kurotsuchi took this opportunity to study his face and watched in awe at the concentration the boy was exhibiting, "There! All done!" He exclaimed exuberantly.
Kurotsuchi looked over his work with an analytical eye, "Hmm not bad," She admitted, before lowering her head, her face scrunching up as if struggling with her thoughts, before mumbling something incoherent.
"What? I didn't catch that?" Naruto asked.
"I said 'thanks'" She said a little louder, "For everything. Not everyone would have done what you did, especially not most Konoha nin." Naruto smiled at her honesty before shrugging.
"Well I guess I'm not like most people then." Kurotsuchi laughed softly.
"I guess you're not…" She said before looking up at the sky and realizing it was getting dark, "Anyways I should be going now. I'm supposed to be meeting up with backup soon." Carefully, and under the watchful eye of Naruto, she rose from her sitting position and tested out her injured leg. Deeming it okay to walk on she stood straight, with most the pressure on her right leg.
"You sure you're okay getting back?" Naruto asked concerned.
"Yeah I'll be fine," She said, turning and hobbling towards the forest-line before stopping and facing the young blond, "Thanks again Naruto, I mean it" She then continued towards the forest.
"Ne, Kurotsuchi-chan!" Naruto called after her as she reached the treeline causing her to turn slightly, "You think… You think we could meet again sometime? Like tomorrow maybe? Same place?" He asked hesitantly, causing the girl to pause and look at him. After a few moments, she smirked slightly before nodding her head in the briefest of fashion and walking into the forestry. Naruto grinned in response. He'd made a new friend. Lying on his back he closed his eyes and thought of all the times that lay ahead, smiling at the thought.
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