Chapter 25
AN: Kishimoto owns all except my characters-Kiminari, and Kimiko, and later characters. Also I'm probably not going to follow any of the story line except a few small things. I may take the characters outside their natural personalities, but that's because it's my story, and it'll add to it. Another thing: since I'm not following the story line of the series- All main (good) characters will start out the same age as they should be, but even though the Akatsuki will be around, the war will not happen until later; if it does at all. Again this is because I'm making up my own story line; it gets kinda boring when nothing has changed and, you readers would be able to guess what was going to happen all the time. So, enjoy, and please comment, review, rate, whatever you wanna do. :D
P.S. I don't like to go into detail to tell you things most of you already know, and if you don't already know them, then it's best I don't tell you.
PPS In mine-since I'll do what I like- Tobi(Obito) and Madara are both in control of the Akatsuki-lead by the later of the two. Also, Madara has already found a way to keep young, but not like that creeper Orochimaru-No little kids or young adults involved. XP
PPPS In case anyone has been wondering, I try to base my own characters off people I already know, instead of myself-writing about myself; it's just kinda weird. Kimiko is based on my cousin-were close to the same age, and although we are very similar, she's way more active than me( I tried dance, and it was just too much work. XD). Kazuma will be based on a friend from school. Others will be mentioned later. :D
"I'll wake you up early. We'll get breakfast on the way; I don't want to waste any time." And with that he finally left me to myself.
We left around four thirty, as planned, and ran through the trees until about ten. By that time my stomach was growling really loud. I looked to my father, who had used genjutsu to change his appearances: light brown hair, tan skin, dull brown eyes; pretty average looking, and saw him smirking at me in an extremely annoying way. "What?" I asked.
"It seems like you're not used to going so long without a meal." He replied.
"No, but I'm fine." I said trying to maintain my dignity.
"Here." He said giving me a soldier pill. "I don't plan on carrying you if you crash, and I don't believe we'll stop." I looked at him questioningly. "I want to see how good your stamina is… And there are six ANBU nearby, if we happen to run across them, you'll be in trouble."
"What if I use a disguise genjutsu too?" I asked.
"That would definitely help, as well as masking your chakra. However, I don't think they'd let two unidentified ninja pass unquestioned."
I quickly used the genjutsu to change my appearances until they were similar to his- since our facial structure was similar we appeared to be an average father and daughter traveling together. Then I removed my head band and sealed it within a scroll, with some other smaller stuff, which I had in my backpack. He nodded a little, then said. "You're definitely used to making your way if someone doesn't give it to you, huh?"
"Yup!" I nodded grinning.
Since the soldier pill didn't hold me as long as it should have-I have a very high metabolism-, we stopped at a tea house around one o'clock. I ordered chicken with rice and dango for dessert, along with chilled green tea since it was quite hot. When I was done, I looked at my father's plate. Wow, he doesn't eat a lot. I thought. I raised an eyebrow, pointing at his food -the same as mine, except no dango. He nodded, getting the idea, and I pulled the remains of the food across the table to myself. Within a minute or two more, I'd devoured his as well.
He chuckled softly and said, "You eat like your mother; like it's your last meal."
I smiled back patting my belly. "And there's always room for more. However, I think we should get going." I pointed to a group of dangerous looking men in the corner. "They aren't ninja, so I felt their feelings with my chakra, and I'm pretty sure they think they can rob us." I whispered with a joking smirk which my father mirrored exactly.
He nodded and stood up stretching and putting on the 'middle aged and stiff, non-ninja' show. I stood and followed him out after paying. We walked through the town heading toward the exit, both of us feeling the presence of the four men following us. When we were about a mile out of town, they began to gain on us, and when we were about two miles out, we could hear them walking through the forest a few yard away, trying to be sneaky. I had still carried my tanto on my hip since people saw it as a simple weapon, easy to use, and though 'nearly useless when attacking', it served as good protection, especially for women, and wouldn't have been thought of. I was glad I had kept it, since it gave the impression that I needed it to protect myself.
We continued walking, pretending to be oblivious to them. Finally we heard them running through the brush ahead of us, hoping to ambush us. Sure enough, about another quarter of a mile up the road, they jumped out; two in front, and two behind us. My father glanced at me, and my lips lifted the slightest, trying to show him how humored I was by their attempts.
"Can I help you?" My father asked in a nervous tone. Boy he's good at tricking people. I stepped slightly behind him, trying to appear frightened; it worked.
"Yeah, you can gi'me all your money, so we don' have ta dig for it after we've killed ya." He said menacingly, all of his friends laughing.
"I'm sorry, but we don't have anymore, we used the last of it paying for dinner."
"Well, I don' really believe ya, but if that's tha case, you can give us tha pretty li'le thing hiddin' behind ya." He said even more menacingly.
I sensed the men behind us creep closer to us, so I put up the act more, making a scared face and pulling myself even closer to my father.
"I don't think you'll be wanting to try that." My father said dead serious now; it was hard to tell if he was just saying it, or if he was really being protective.
As he finished, the leader of the group, laughed and waved at his friends to attack us. I stood were I was, while my father attacked the one coming from the front, pretending like I hadn't noticed the ones behind us. When they were an arms-length from me, I ducked and slipped backwards between them. They stumbled trying to regain their balance and turn around. When they did, I smirked at them with my hands on my hips.
"Don' mess with us girl." One said. "All ya got's that pretty knife o' yours, an' it ain' gonna do ya much good."
I laughed. "Then I guess I'll use your own against you." I said.
They laughed and came at me again, as they did, I grabbed the one on my right's right arm -with his sword in it- and twisted it until he released his grip on the weapon. Once he had, I pulled him in so his face met my knee as it lifted. Once he was out, I picked up his sword and faced the other one.
"So, how do you want to go down?" I asked smiling.
He growled and came towards me as fast as he could. I let him swing his sword at my head, before parrying. He tried again at my stomach, then lunged at me. As he did so, I made a quarter of a turn to the left, so that the sword went right past my stomach, and as he continued past me, I brought the butt of the sword I was holding down on his back just below the neck, knocking him out cold. I turned to look at my father, who, along with the ring leader, had been watching me.
"He chicken out?" I asked smiling and pointing at the guy.
"No, not exactly." My father replied. "This is Kakuzu. He's a member of the Akatsuki." As he said this, the man lowered his genjutsu long enough for me to see the half masked bounty hunter I had seen on a lot of wanted posters. I nodded, then walked over to my father as they started to leave.
"I'll go to the bounty office, and have someone meet you to pick them up." He said in a deep voice, losing the act altogether.
My father nodded and, after Kakuzu had gone, walked over to sit on a nearby branch that had fallen. "He had a few guys he wanted a bounty on who were in the area, so he sent a mental message through Pein, asking me if I wanted him to meet up with us. So, I asked him to let us take care of them."
"You wanted to see what I could do, and flaunt it to him at the same time, didn't you?" I said accusingly.
"Why not, you have very nice fighting skills, and they're not all taught; you inherited many of them from me." I smiled a little shyly.
A few minutes later, he spoke again. "You should know, Kakuzu doesn't know who I really am, only a few of the members do. Right now he thinks I'm a subordinate named Hayato, who's bringing someone important to Pein, or Leader-sama."
I raised an eyebrow. "Pein is controlled by Nagato and Nagato works under myself and Obito, or Tobi." He pulled out a small booklet from a pouch on his hips and began showing me pictures of each member via wanted ads. I quickly learned who was who and how I should address them. He also explained that no one was to know who I really was unless he said I could tell them. When he was done, he turned to some other pages near the back book with pictures of younger looking men pasted onto them.
"These are all men I have preapproved, should you choose not to marry Kazuma." He said, scratching the back of his head awkwardly.
"Hm. Sounds like you've really put some thought into this." I said jokingly.
"I just don't want you to end up with someone who will ruin the blood line, but at the same time, I want you to be happy; your mother would have wanted you to be happy."
I was a little touched, but a little embarrassed; I mean, how many girls these days already have their prospective suitors decided by their father when they were still fifteen? "Which one's Kazuma?" I asked looking at the boys -all around my age, and all quite attractive.
"This one." He said pointing to a very handsome boy with black hair and charcoal eyes. This boy seemed to be a bit less serious than some of the others, and seemed to have quite a bit of overconfidence in himself- probably over his ninja skills.
"Hm. Well, he doesn't seem too bad. What's he like?"
"You'll have to see when you meet him."
Jerk. Why won't he just tell me something? "Who's that?" I asked pointing to another young man with black hair-although it didn't seem as black as Kazuma's.
"Oh, that's Haru, the adopted brother of Deidara." I briefly remembered Deidara's wanted picture- long blond hair and blue eyes, still quite young.
I laughed. "Funny name for a guy; especially one with black hair*." He nodded in agreement. "What's he like?"
"Polite enough, quiet, but very intelligent. He doesn't possess a kekei genkei, but he has an immense chakra stamina and is exceptional in all areas of jutsu, although he is a bit on the shallow end of pain tolerance."
"Hm."
"I wouldn't waste your time with him though." He added.
"Why not?"
"His brother, Deidara, has a very strong hatred for anyone with the name Uchiha, and you couldn't keep your name from him forever. Itachi made a bet with Deidara when recruiting him and Deidara lost to the sharingan; he's hated itachi since."
"Oh, well that's too bad. He looks like a pretty nice guy."
My father chuckled. "You can try whatever you want if you decide you don't like Kazuma; however, don't expect Haru to work out." I giggled. At least I could do whatever I wanted.
Haru means sunshine. It is a boy name too. :D