Masked Koi: Chapter 17. "Fog"

Ino sent Naruto a confused glance. It didn't make sense. The sign said Room 301 but they were on the second floor but they were a lot of people so she couldn't possibly be wrong but something still made her uneasy. Naruto seemed to know a lot and was reliable. At least, that's what she thought. Naruto made no attempt to relieve Ino of her confusion. Haru stepped up to it.

"Ino, it's a genjutsu that's distorting the sign. Room 101 is the first floor and we're on the second, so this is Room 201. We have another floor to go up," Haru explained.

Ino sighed in relief. I'm not crazy… Then she looked at Haru. "Haru, you're a girl. Girls have long hair, you know. You shouldn't have cut it and changed your style of dressing. You look like a boy. I don't want to be the only girl on this team," Ino huffed.

Haru sighed. "Ino, are you stupid? I'm a guy. I always go to the men's bathroom at the Academy and at restaurants and at bathhouses; I go to the men's side. Even my voice doesn't sound girly. I can't believe you never noticed. At least Naruto noticed."

Naruto didn't show it, but this was new information to him. He cringed on the inside. Damn.

"Hey, undo the genjutsu. Move; I want to go to the third floor," Naruto commanded. The other people surrounding Room 201 muttered amongst themselves, wondering what the red-haired boy was going on about. The two blocking the door shifted a little, paying no attention to the two on the floor that were glaring at him after he'd punched both of them.

"As we'd expect of Hokage-sama's kid," the Chuunin said. "However…" The Chuunin aimed a kick for Naruto's face, and Naruto was going to match it with his own kick. He had a feeling that he'd break his nose and maybe make him break an arm after he landed on the ground with the momentum Naruto carried.

Only, it didn't turn out that way. In a hideously green leotard, another Genin caught both of their legs. Naruto was somewhat impressed, but that shifted to anger and suspicion within seconds. Naruto looked at him and narrowed his grey eyes. He was fast…

"Who're you?" Naruto demanded.

The green Genin ignored him and took a step towards Haru. The green Genin bowed deeply. "I am Rock Lee! Please go out with me! I'll protect you with my life!"

Haru inwardly sighed. This guy even… "Never."

The green Genin deflated considerably. "What?!"

Haru moved behind Naruto, who was still looking at him critically. Naruto's lips formed a thin line. Another taijutsu specialist? This is going to be, as Shikamaru would say, a drag. And, he's stupid so telling him off will be useless.

"Hey, Lee," Neji admonished. Then he saw Naruto and gave a halfway smile. He knew their friendship had dissolved almost entirely, but he wanted to think that he and Naruto were still on good terms. "Naruto, I didn't know you were in the Chuunin Exams."

"And?" Naruto slipped his hands into his pockets. "What of it?"

Neji felt a little hurt, but didn't show it. He was about to wish Naruto good luck, but he'd already turned and left with his team. Neji gestured for Tenten and Lee to follow, only to find that Lee was walking in the direction of Team Kakashi.

"What's he doing?" Neji asked.

"He said something about Naruto and taijutsu. You know, Naruto got Rookie of the Year and placed highest in taijutsu grades for the first time in sixteen years," Tenten said. Neji hummed at the notion. Nishiki-sensei must've really trained him well…

Naruto led the way with Haru and Ino following to submit their applications. With a quick glance at the clock, Naruto saw they had twenty-five minutes to submit their applications. It was plenty of time, he assured himself. Then he sensed another chakra signature coming towards them from behind. Maybe they'd have only twenty minutes if they were to stop and chat. Naruto didn't like people who stopped him and talked to him just because they were either the women who played with their hair and called him 'Naruto-sama' or because they were simply exhilarated to be in the presence of the Hokage's son. It was annoying.

"Naruto-kun, please wait!"

Naruto didn't want to turn around. Haru and Ino did, so he was forced to do the same. He glared up with an annoyed look at the green Genin whose name he didn't bother to remember. If the guy was on Neji's team, he could only be as annoying or more so. A chill went up Naruto's spine.

"What do you want?" Naruto sneered. Please just leave me alone…

"I want to fight you. I want to fight you because Neji-san says you were trained by Konoha's taijutsu master and because you are the Hokage's son," Lee said. "Will you fight me?"

Naruto bristled with anger. Neji and Lee talk about Nishiki-sensei like they have any right to. I'm going to kill them! "Never. Get lost," Naruto turned and kept walking. Lee didn't like that answer. He raced towards the younger Genin and had a kick ready at his head. Naruto turned around with murder in his eyes and caught his leg and his hand too fast for his teammates to see. Lee gasped. Naruto slammed him against the ground as hard as he could and watched as Lee got up.

"I won't say it again. I'm not fighting you. I don't fight people who waste my time and get me pissed, so get lost before I really kill you," Naruto warned.

"You can't defeat me," Lee said, brushing off his clothes. "Because I have also been trained by Konoha's taijutsu master: Maito Gai."

"He is an ant," Naruto said venomously. "Leave." Naruto imperceptibly shifted himself to be in a fighting stance. Lee shook his head and started towards Naruto again, planning to use Primary Lotus on the boy. Naruto could tell after a bit of analysis; it's what Nori was about to kill him with. Inwardly, he thanked Nori for what little she'd taught him.

Lee tried to punch Naruto to get his attention to the punch and in the same motion tried to kick him up in the air. Naruto did a backflip to avoid his attacks and pumped a good portion of his chakra into his feet to blur his body and kick Lee into a pillar. The boy cracked it and slumped. He wasn't unconscious, but in a lot of pain. Naruto smirked at him and walked away with his team.

"I'm glad you all came. You may pass," Kakashi said. The remnants of a fight on Naruto's clothes didn't go unnoticed, but he supposed Gai wasn't joking when he said something about Lee going to challenge Naruto. Those two were thick but kept their word, even if they were going to jump to the moon and back.

The door closed behind the Genin. To Kakashi, it was like the slam of a prison cell. Worry for his Genin spread through his chest and he waited for a moment to listen to their conversations with their fellow Genin. Well, Ino and Haru's conversations. Naruto seemed miffed by something.

Within moments, the Exam began. Ibiki explained the rules and watched in glee as they squirmed under the pressure. His eye caught one Genin who looked more bored than the Nara next to him. His red hair and grey eyes and whisker marks were surprising. Ah, Hokage-sama's kid. Naruto kept twirling the pencil, as if waiting for something. Then, as if possessed, he began to write the answers. Then, it wore off and he went back to twirling the pencil in his hand. Ibiki chuckled lowly. The boy was just as interesting as Kakashi had said he'd be. Then again, maybe Anko would get the better end of the Exams. She was in charge of the real action part of the Exams.

In the end, there were more teams than Ibiki had expected. He looked at all those who had passed the tenth question and crossed his arms. Twenty teams passed, including all of the rookies. He wasn't sure if they were just stupid or if they were actually something. It irked him.

"Maybe you're getting rusty," Anko suggested after all the teams were gone. Ibiki sighed with a smirk on his face. Maybe she's right. Anko narrowed her brown eyes but continued helping him collect the papers. But this ox will never retire. He's too stubborn.

"Start!"

With that one word, all the gates opened and all the shinobi raced in. It was a bloodbath. Those unlucky enough to be on the receiving end of a kunai screamed, music to both Anko's and the ears of those holding the kunai.

Team 7 was no exception. In fact, they were one of the other villages' targets. Namikaze Naruto was a name that most shinobi in the world knew and his skills were something that had only been lost to Suna's single team, but that was to no fault of their own.

Of course, no one was expecting Naruto. They were expecting Naruto. They were expecting a spoiled brat, but a strong one. They didn't expect a cold murder in his eyes and the horrifying way that they smiled when his kunai sunk into the flesh of his enemies.

Haru and Ino both held kunai, ready to attack if the Kiri shinobi wasn't alone. But he was. Naruto had blood splattered on his face and his eyes were wide with horror. The blood was still warm, a thing much stronger than the body that lay before them. It was the red liquid of life; the anger of being killed and that look was still looking back at him.

Haru searched the Kiri shinobi. Naruto stood off to the side; his back turned away from his two teammates. He shook and Ino wasn't sure what to do for the boy she admired. Slowly, that admiration was slipping away to give way to simple acknowledgement. Yes, that's Naruto. Yes, he's my teammate. Yes, he's the Hokage's son. Yes, he's skilled.

Yes, he's scared.

Naruto made a retching sound and a pale yellow, brownish liquid made the grass smell sour and Ino had to look away. Haru lowered his eyes at the sight. He knew that if he approached Naruto now, the Naruto that was usually strong and stable and smirking but now was scared and shaking and screaming. He beat his fist on the ground once, a saline solution dripping down into the remnants of his breakfast.

Ino grabbed Haru's elbow. Haru didn't look at her; she'd have some face that would make him feel bad. Haru gritted his teeth as he remembered something, something that he hadn't been able to remember for seven years, since he wandered into Konoha. Since he was told by a man in a white coat and too easy smile that he had amnesia and that it was okay and his memories would come back soon. At that point, he hadn't known what 'severe' amnesia meant. He did now. And it hurt.

But not as much as what he remembered. It was fragmented, he could tell that much, but it hurt because the memory came with feeling, feeling he'd forgotten because he lived in his apartment alone except for that one strange week when Naruto insisted he sleep there and didn't respond to Haru's question of 'why? you have an entire house to call your own.' and forgotten because he had no one.

That's what he thought. But he had someone. Had. Haru had heard the stories a bit later than others, but knew what everyone else knew now: the brave Uchiha Itachi left Konoha with all the Uchiha except for two Jounin who stayed behind and that group of Uchiha never came back and they left so soon, so close in terms of time when Haru was integrated into the Konoha Academy and lived alone. Haru willed himself not to cry. The brave Uchiha Itachi. The one who smiled at him, the one who protected him, the one who bought him pocky, along with someone else his height and with his eyes that were scared of something that Itachi protected them from. Was there another sibling? There was, wasn't there? He could only remember all the blood that seeped out of the black-haired, black-eyed children around him and the pain of a cut on his leg and the crying woman with silver hair protecting him.

Then his memory went blank until he saw the あand ん on the gates of Konoha and started his whole life over and graduated and became a Genin and became a part of Team 7 and missions and then they're here, to become Chuunin. Haru opened his eyes and saw the world come into focus and chakra became something he could see and he chocked back a sob. Nii-san!

A chuckle echoed in the Forest of Death. It came from a head of red hair, from a boy who chuckled and stood up and looked at his team and sobered up. So this is what Nori was talking about with Kakashi on our mission. If this is what a Chuunin means, killing, I can only imagine how many they've killed. But now, I won't freeze when I get to wrap my hands around that man's throat and shove my chakra-encased kunai into his abdomen and see the fear and rip out his eyes.

Naruto looked at the body on the ground. He closed his eyes and put his hands together in a prayer. Thank you.

"N-Naruto," Haru said. "I need to tell you something."

Naruto looked at him. His grey-blue eyes widened in shock. "Haru, your eyes!"

"When I wandered into Konoha, I had no memory. They said I had severe amnesia. I just remembered a few things. I had an older brother and his name was Uchiha Itachi and I remember a woman that was the woman in the photo, which I saw at your house, protected me from ending up like all the bloody bodies of other children," Haru said.

Naruto's eyes simply stared at him. He's…that day…I don't…

"Naruto, what was her name? Tell me her name. Please," Haru pleaded. Naruto's mouth felt dry and his ears rung. Haru is…

"Get down!" Ino yelled. The two boys hit the ground and a dozen kunai flew over their heads. They stood up again and Team 7 armed themselves with kunai. Haru's eyes saw their enemies and he charged forward, everything hurting and anger bubbling up in him. He was alone!

The shocked Ame nin just barely dodged the fireballs that flew their way. Haru took out his wire and with the snap of his fingers, fire raced down it and set an Ame nin on fire. He screamed and screamed in pain and Haru was deaf to his cries.

Naruto ran towards another Ame nin and plunged a kunai into his stomach. This time, he didn't flinch when more blood splattered on his face. The Ame nin fell to the ground.

"Naruto!" Ino cried out. "Are you okay?"

Naruto wiped off the blood from his face and looked at Ino. The girl's blue eyes looked back at him, worried. Naruto and Haru looked around. There didn't seem to be any more enemies. The two exchanged a subtle nod.

Naruto disappeared and reappeared in front of Ino. With kunai in hand, he sunk the blade into the girl's stomach. "N-Naruto…what…"

"Let's team up," Neji said.

Kiba scowled. "Hell no. You're the enemy!" He pointed an accusatory finger at the older Hyuuga. Hinata suppressed the urge to whack him upside the head. She might end up hurting Akamaru, and he didn't do anything.

"That's a bad idea. Why? You'll turn on us in the end," Shino said, pushing up his glasses. A few bugs appeared on his hands.

"No, it isn't. Not for now. Until we get to the tower, let's agree not to kill or try to take each other's scrolls. For now, okay?" Tenten crossed her arms. She looked at Neji. She wasn't completely sold on his plan. She knew he had another motive for teaming up with the rookie team, the team that were just babies.

"Kiba, Shino, let's team up with them. Neji-niisan has the byakugan like me, so we'll all benefit from having two byakugan. My range is shorter but more detailed and his ranger is wider but less detailed. We'll be able to detect enemies and with more people with different specialties we'll be stronger. Until we get to the tower. Then, our alliance will dissolve," Hinata urged her team. The two boys on her team looked at her with suspicion.

Kiba sighed. "Fine. Just make sure that green guy doesn't eat my food."

"My name is Rock Lee! I will not harm you or your food!" Lee bowed. Kiba waved him off.

"Hinata-sama, we should find a place to rest and food and water. There's a cave about half a mile east of here. I don't see a stream, so we'll have to hunt for our food. Let's go," Neji said and jumped into the trees with Team 8 following.

Later, they encountered a bear just as the sun was setting. Lee and Tenten brought it down and the six of them started a fire and prepared the bear for cooking. An hour later, they managed to cut enough meat off and cook it. They didn't have any herbs but Lee and Kiba did find some wild vegetables to go with it.

The smell wasn't necessarily delicious the way yakiniki-Q was, but it was good enough. After a long time, anyone who was hungry enough could find anything tasty and smelling good and sink their teeth into it. And the teens were very hungry. None of them said it, but they'd both encountered three or four teams, each stronger than the last. They were exhausted.

"I'll take first watch," Shino said. Everyone was too tired to protest.

"S-shino…"

Shino looked up to see a figure just barely standing making their way over to him. He jumped down to the ground and prepared his bugs. His eyes narrowed behind his glasses. "Who're you?"

The girl looked at him and was about to answer before she collapsed. Shino grabbed a match from his pocket and lit it to illuminate his immediate area and held it up to the girl. His eyes widened. It's Ino.

Naruto pressed his back against Haru's. They could barely see anything; night had truly fallen. Just being in the heavily forested area with wild animals bigger than what they're supposed to be and angry and frightened shinobi running about made night feel a lot grimmer. Naruto looked at the tree that was closest to him and saw a messy inscription, something that just barely passed as letters. It read: Koi is the greatest! Naruto sighed in the inside. It was her handwriting.

Another exploding kunai went off. Naruto and Haru ducked a little and their attention was brought back to the problem at hand.

"Give us Ino back!" Naruto yelled.

"Not until you give me your scroll," an echoing voice purred.

"Never," Naruto said. He looked at Haru out of the corner of his eye. "Hey, you can't use your eyes anymore?"

"No. If I did, I'd end up using chakra I don't have. I didn't think they'd take up so much. I have enough chakra to make a clone, but that's it. Don't you have anymore chakra?" Haru hissed.

"I do, but they might end up killing Ino. She just disappeared out of nowhere. You heard what Anko said: we have to have both scrolls and our teammates with us to get to the tower and pass," Naruto said. This is bad…

Naruto put away his kunai and clenched his fists. "You're not after Ino. What are you really after?"

"You!" the Ame nin yelled and jumped down to slice the unarmed boy. Naruto waited for the right moment, waited for the Ame nin's arrogance to get the best of him and strike. Naruto allowed fire to come from his fingertips and lit the Ame nin on fire.

The Ame nin was like a sun in the darkness. Naruto used the last of his chakra to create a rasengan and slammed it into the Ame nin's body. With the Ame nin incapacitated, Naruto grabbed the front of his shirt and slammed him against a tree.

"Where is Ino?!" Naruto demanded. "Tell me!"

The Ame nin laughed. "Dead, boy! Now you're going to join—"

Naruto slit his throat with a kunai and threw the bloody kunai away. He looked at Haru, who sent him a similar glance. Haru gritted his teeth. "She's probably hiding or unconscious. We'll find her."