Ch8

This scroll thing must be super important. I jumped through the trees absent mindly, glancing around. That idiot can't have gone far. So it's only a matter of time before Iruka or the other ninja find him. I heard a voice. It was Naruto's. I slowed down significantly, almost to a stop. The trees thinned out slightly up ahead. I waited on a branch. I saw Naruto slumped on the ground, near a small wooden hut, he seemed all beaten up. I was about to jump down when I suddenly noticed Iruka appear.

"Found you." He grinned triumphantly. Naruto lifted his head, immediately he seemed full of energy,

"Ha! I found the nose bleeder!" He pointed at Iruka clearly making fun of an old joke or something along those lines. Whatever he was referencing to, I was probably asleep at the time.

"Baka I found you!" Iruka yelled sticking his face in Naruto's. I couldn't help but laugh. I jumped down from the tree, landing a few trees away from Naruto.

I missed part of their conversation but heard Iruka mention the scroll. Just then I noticed a gigantic scroll on Naruto's back. I felt kinda stupid for not noticing it before.

"Oh this?" Naruto asked pointing over his shoulder. "Mizuki-sensei told me about it-" Iruka's expression flickered. "-and he told me about this place too." I was slowly walking towards Naruto, listening to their conversation when something caught my eye. Kunai.

"Naruto! Watch out!" I yelled as I automatically turned intangible, ran towards Naruto and pushed him out the way.

"Emily!" Naruto gasped. I cried out in shock and pain as some of the kunai buried themselves into my flesh. Idiot. I thought as I hit the wooden wall of the hut. Of course I can't turn intangible; this stupid necklace won't let me.

"Emily! Are you ok?" Iruka sensei asked. I grunted as I pulled out a kunai from my shoulder then moved one that narrowly missed my ear and turned my head slightly to face him.

"Yeah. More shocked than anything else, I wasn't really expecting any of them to hit me." I told him. I grit my teeth as I pulled out one that was buried particularly deep into my side. Iruka looked vaguely unsure of how I could have not expected to get hit but seemed to come up with an explanation for it and nodded. We all turned to look in the direction the attack had come from to find Mizuki-sensei was crouched on a branch watching us.

"Nice job finding him." He told us. Why was Mizuki-sensei attacking Naruto? I thought as I pulled the last two kunai out, one was in my knee and the other in my thigh.

"I see... so that's what's going on." I heard Iruka mutter. What? What was going on?

"Hey! Hey! What's going on?" Naruto's confused voice asked. Iruka turned to Naruto and gave him a stern but worried look.

"Naruto, no matter what don't give the scroll to Mizuki! That scroll is full of dangerous forbidden jutsu!" Iruka almost yelled. Wait maybe Mizuki recognised Naruto for the idiot he is and tried to steal the scroll through him... or maybe Iruka wants the scroll... but Mizuki came and talked to Naruto earlier...

Mizuki chuckled. Naruto looked completely lost and panicked.

"There's no use in you having it." Mizuki addressed Naruto. "Let me tell you the truth." At this Iruka began to panic.

"Don't!" He exclaimed.

"You know twelve years ago the kyuubi was sealed away?" Mizuki ignored him and my curiosity was piqued. Iruka on the other hand got more distressed.

"Don't listen to him Naruto!" He whipped round to face Naruto who flinched. The blonde looked extremely uncomfortable and worried and I felt a need to go stand next to him. Unfortunately I took a step, winced in pain from the kunai stabs dotted around my body, and decided it was better to stay still. Mizuki was still talking.

"Well, twelve years ago they also made a rule do you know about this? You wouldn't because we weren't allowed to tell you."

"What? Tell me what?" Naruto sounded scared and it kind of hurt. It shouldn't hurt, he's my friend but, it shouldn't hurt. Mizuki laughed and I scowled, he was getting on my nerves.

"We weren't allowed to talk about the fact that you are the nine tailed fox. You are the Kyuubi."

Wait what!? Naruto is the Kyuubi, that demon fox thing I read about? I looked at Naruto in surprise.

"What do you mean?!" Naruto yelled. He was shaking.

"Stop it!" Iruka looked furious and worried, but Mizuki just laughed.

"That's right you are a monster and that's why everybody hates you. Iruka hates you because you are the monster that killed his parents. You are the monster that the fourth Hokage sealed. Did you not find it strange that everyone hated you? Well now you know why. I'm sure even your best friend hates you now." He said gesturing to me. "You're not even human." My eyes widened.

"THAT'S NOT TRUE!" I yelled in fear that Naruto would believe him. The idiot looked back at me, and his expression made it obvious that he doubted me. I sighed,

"If anything I'm kind of happy that you're not exactly human, it's cool." It means you're kinda like me. I decided not to say my last thought out loud. Mizuki gave me a look that was basically disgust and pulled one of the big shuriken off his back. I panicked as he launched it at Naruto who seemed too scared and shocked to move.

"Naruto! Look out!" I almost screamed at him. There was a sickening thud as the shuriken made contact with flesh and blood spread everywhere. My eyes widened,

"Iruka-sensei." I breathed. Iruka had blocked the shuriken and protected him.

"Sensei... why?" Naruto asked quietly. I suddenly felt a rush of fury. Naruto's voice was so week and he looked terrified, the complete opposite of his usual self, and it was Mizuki's fault. I heard Iruka telling Naruto about his past but I wasn't interested. I saw an image of Naruto's idiotic but smiling face and that was it. Mizuki would pay.

I launched myself up at Mizuki, completely forgetting my pain. He obviously hadn't been expecting me to move and noticed my attack slightly too late. My fist slammed into his jaw and he fell off the tree. I winced as the kunai stabs flared up in pain again but I ignored it. Mizuki flipped over and landed cleanly then glared at me,

"Brat." He scowled. "You'll pay for that." I glared back at him. He could say whatever he wanted so long as he left Naruto alone. I was surprised by how satisfied I felt with just one punch, but even so I wanted make sure he would never hurt Naruto again. I sighed, this was the kind of thinking I had before the incident with Sam and Tucker and it was going to ruin me. Obviously I'm not stubborn as I thought I was, if I can't stick with my own decision to not care for anyone.

I jumped out of the tree throwing some kunai before me then aiming a kick at Mizuki's head. He deflected the kunai and blocked my leg easily, but then I had expected that, after all he at least a Chunnin and I had only been training for a week. I heard Iruka yell at me to stop and run away and I glared at him as I flipped away from Mizuki. I felt a slight sense of satisfaction as I landed safely, I hadn't managed that before, but I ignored it and attacked Mizuki again, though not before sending Naruto a look that told him to run.

Mizuki simply sidestepped my attack and brought his hand down on the back of my neck. But I had predicted that the moment he stepped to the side. I dropped into a crouch and kicked at his legs.

"Tch." I heard Mizuki getting more irritated as his easily skipped over my leg and kicked me. I grunted as his leg slammed against my side and threw me a couple of paces away. I should be the one getting upset here. I winced against the pain he had inflicted. I looked towards Iruka-sensei and saw that Naruto was gone. Good. I just need to keep Mizuki's attention with me for a little while.

I stood up straight and smirked at him, acting as if his attacks had not affected me.

"I was expecting you to be stronger than this, are you sure you can master the techniques on the scroll?" I taunted. If looks could kill I'd probably be dead from the glare Mizuki sent me.

"You-" I didn't hear what he said next because he suddenly appeared in front of me and punctuated the word with a heavy kick to the side of my head. The next thing I registered was my back slamming into a tree. Everything was spinning and there was a loud ringing in my ears. I stood up but I couldn't stay balanced. I vaguely heard Mizuki laugh as I stumbled and fell forwards.

"Sorry seems I got a bit too serious. You are just a kid after all." He sneered at me. It hurt to breath. There was pain throbbing all over my body. Does this count as situation where I can take off my necklace? Well too bad, it does now. I moved my arm towards to pull it off but Mizuki noticed and smashed his foot onto my hand.

"I wouldn't move if I were you, brat. Just give up and go to sleep, before I accidentally kill you." Pain flared up in my ribs as he drove his foot into it and turned me onto my side. He grinned as he pulled his leg back then kicked it into my stomach. I coughed up blood and he kicked me again. I closed my eyes as if it would shut out the pain. He was talking as he kept kicking me but I couldn't hear a word of it.

It hurt.

If Danny were here we would have beaten Mizuki in seconds. Admittedly not as ninjas but... I felt a few tears rolling off my face. I suddenly felt very weak and alone. I hadn't actually cried since I lost Danny, I had been so busy studying I didn't have to think about it, but obviously it had just bottled up instead. Suddenly I heard a loud thud of flesh on flesh that didn't include me. The kicking stopped.

"Lucky kid." I vaguely heard Mizuki say. Cracking my eyes open to catch a glimpse of what was happening, I saw Mizuki heading off in the direction Naruto and Iruka-sensei had gone and...Kakashi? He was next to me in an instant.

"What happened here?" Yeah... that's Kakashi. I opened my mouth to reply but ended up coughing again. The tears wouldn't stop and just kept flowing faster.

"S-sorry." Ugh It's so hard to talk. Why does Kakashi have to be here now? He always turns up at my weakest moments. I curled into a ball and covered my face in my hands. As if my hands could be a wall between us that firmly stated I wasn't venerable.

It hurt to move but I didn't want Kakashi to see my face.

Silence grew between us, the only sound being the sobs that were getting louder and louder. It got too uncomfortable. So I voiced my thoughts.

"I want my brother."