Naruto and Kai sat inside a carriage moving through the land of iron. They had just passed through the border and were required to take a carriage to the main village, Harikori, which the teen didn't protest a bit.
"Hijiri, how long until I can learn the first form?" The Namikaze asked. Kai glanced at him and studied his breathing. "A couple of weeks, your breathing isn't fully subconscious yet. I'll listen to your breathing while you sleep tonight and confirm it."
The man said it like it wasn't creepy at all, but it was soon forgotten as they felt the carriage come to a stop. They heard a voice as the door opened. "My apologies, but you three have arrived while the Association Leader is in a meeting. We have been instructed to have you wait in his office." A man in some armor said. He was most likely a samurai guard.
The two understood that the man was the leader of all bounty hunters. It made sense for him to be busy. "That's fine. Please lead the way." Kai said, he looked the oldest so he was going to act like the leader during the mission.
They followed the samurai into a big building, it looked like the Hokage tower but it was more square-shaped and icicles were hanging everywhere. That's probably where the name of the city came from. "I expected more samurai," Naruto said, trying to spark a conversation with the guard.
"Most samurai live in the actual samurai capital. Most people here are bounty hunters like me. This armor is just for show, and I'm just a retired Hunter. Don't tell anyone though. " The guard stuck his finger to his lip, telling them to keep it secret before opening the door.
The two agreed to keep silent about it as they entered, and marveled at the beauty of the building's interior. Not only was it incredibly warm temperature-wise, but it was also all warm colors and just looked marvelous. Going up two sets of stairs, they got to a door.
"This is the Association Leader's office. Please try not to touch anything. He does have a pet bird in there, but she's very friendly so don't worry about her." The man opened the door and the two went in. It was a nice-looking office, even if it was plain.
Beside the door, there was a couch, probably for escaping the paperwork. The two walls to their sides had windows lining them with tables under said windows, each one had something different ranging from swords to liquor.
In front of them was a good-sized wooden desk and a chair sat behind it. On the desk was a bunch of papers, a glass cup, a water pitcher, and a computer. On the wall behind that was a bookshelf that took over the whole wall.
In front of the desk sat two leather chairs. "I wonder where that bird is," Kai said, he saw no type of cage or aviary anywhere. Naruto poked his shoulder and pointed up to the top corner on their left.
There was a small cage built into the wall, and inside sat a little bird. Naruto wasn't an expert, but it looked like a parakeet. The teen performed a bird whistle and the bird flew to his hand. "Aren't you a cute little thing?"
As the teen dotted over the bird, the adult chuckled and grinned. He'd forgotten that Naruto was still a teenager and was continuously reminded as they waited. The whole time was just Naruto playing with the bird. Soon enough, Kai joined him and the two dotted over the animal.
A few minutes passed and the door opened. The person that walked in wasn't the Association Leader. The person was a teenage girl, maybe 17, with long black hair with blonde highlights, and blue eyes. Her hair was in a high ponytail and one bang covered the left side of her face.
Her outfit was the armor of the samurai besides the helmet. "Yes?" Kai asked, he just guessed the girl was there to inform them the Association Leader was going to be a bit longer. Naruto, on the other hand, knew who the girl was.
"Deidara, what the hell are you doing here?" The girl smirked. "Nice to know you remember me," Naruto shook his head. "That's the least needed thing on an undercover mission. Answer the question."
The girl pulled a paper from her armor. "Read this and you'll find out. I gotta go now." She left right after throwing the paper to Naruto. "Who was that?" Kai questioned. The teen answered remotely as he read the paper.
"That was Deidara, S-rank missing-nin of Iwa. She's 17 and a former captain in the explosive corps. She stole kinjutsu from Iwa that formed two mouths on her palms, giving her the power of explosive clay.
She joined the Akatsuki a few years back." Kai held a confused look. "That doesn't tell me why you reacted the way you did." Naruto sighed and looked up from the paper.
"Her moniker is the mad bomber and she is very infamous. When she left Iwa, she blew up every armory within the village but to her credit, no civilians were hurt. I reacted the way I did because her bounty is one of the highest within the bounty book. It's on page 4 and they sent her to the bounty hunter capital of the world. Not only that, she has been on page 4 for three years already."
The bounty book was designed with the front pages having the highest bounties, anyone on pages lower than 5 were very highly desired bounties, often being in the millions.
"How do you know her? What's the Akatsuki?" Kai asked, earning a sigh from Naruto. He'd forgotten to tell the man that part. "The Akatsuki is an organization of rogue shinobi that are devoted to world peace. An organization that I joined years before I left Konoha. I know Deidara from a single delivery mission."
Kai gave a look that asked the teen to elaborate. "She delivered for me some supplies that I requested from the Akatsuki before I left Konoha. I was in dire need of a strong sword, and they decided it was a good idea to send her instead of just a package."
Kai shook his head. What was the point of sending Deidara? It made zero sense and it was an unneeded risk. "Well, what's the paper say?" He questioned, getting a finger in the air from Naruto who was still reading.
"It says that I should try to gain some connections within the Association." Just as he finished, the door opened once again and this time, a man walked in which made Naruto scramble to stow the scroll.
The bird on Naruto's shoulder flew to him and landed on him. The teen looked back and studied him. The man matched the description of the Association leader, a light stubble, black hair combed to the left, his left eye a fully black color, almost demonic, while his right was a normal eye with a charcoal pupil.
His face was oval-shaped and his build seemed muscular, almost bulky. "Good afternoon, I'm Hisato Daizu. You can call me Association Leader or sir." Hisato walked to his desk and sat down in his chair.
The man took a sip from his water before turning to Kai. "Hijiri, I believe it was. Please give me the current situation in Kiri." Kai fixed his posture and cleared his throat. "It's in a civil war between the Mizukage and the rebels. The Mizukage has been killing off any Kekkei Genkai user he could find and the rebels have been trying to stop him." The leader nodded along. "What of the water Daimyo? He never seemed to be the type to kill innocents." Kai pretended to be in thought.
"If my memory serves me right, he was killed shortly after the war began. I don't remember which side he picked but I know he was betrayed by one of his men." The leader dropped his head and seemed to speak a little prayer.
"Very well. I thank you for enlightening me. In return, I will enlighten you with the cleansing if you haven't already." The shaking of their heads gave him the signal to go ahead. "I'm sure you know the basic premise, the best hunter from each office form a group to cleanse the nations of their criminals.
What I need to enlighten you on is how it works within. In five days, you will be placed into groups associated with each country. Each group will have roughly 150 people within it and you will be assisted by the 100 legion members in each country.
You'll spend two weeks clearing out the country and return to your office whenever you're finished. Do you have any questions?"
Naruto nodded. "We are wanting to join the legion once we have 100 bounties. Can you tell us more about that?" The man pulled a piece of paper from his desk and sat it down. "Of course, but the concept is a little confusing."
He began to draw on the paper. "The legion keeps everyone in line and responds to any problems within the association. The legion contains 60 centuria with a centurion as the leader of each one. Above them are the right and left hands of the association leader who each have 30 centurions that report to them.
3 centuria are put in each country. The centuria of 100 is split into 25 squads of 4. The names of the squads come from the first letter of the country they're in and their squad number. For example, the fourth squad of Wind country would be Squad W4.
It's very confusing and I find that drawing it really helps. Is there anything else that you need to know?" Kai leaned forward and asked a question. "Is there anything you can tell us about the exam itself?" Hisato shook his head.
"Each year is different and it is created by the three centurions of each country. I couldn't tell you if I wanted to." They understood. "One more thing, what type of bird is that?" Naruto asked. The Association leader seemed very intrigued.
"Pearl here is a Monk Parakeet. Do you like birds?" Naruto smiled. "Yeah, I used to take care of the birds around my house when I was a kid. I had a few doves and pigeons that liked to hang around my apartment."
The two started to get into their talk about birds which prompted Kai to slide out of the room. With the two of them by themselves, Hisato got Pearl to land on his hand. "Wanna know something interesting about Pearl?"
Naruto gestured and nodded. "My left eye is connected to her vision. I see everything she does." The teenage Uzumaki immediately knew what that meant and reached for the sword at his waist.
He was stopped by the change of Hisato's right eye, the charcoal pupil turned blood red with three tomoe. The Sharingan, a doujutsu that Naruto knew very well. "I do not wish to harm you, Naruto. I just figured you would like to know that I am your ally. Well, more than your alley, more like a benefactor."
Naruto put it together. "You're the leader?" He questioned. Hisato shook his head from side to side. "Not exactly, I work with Nagato as a partner. You could think of me as a founding member. Also, did you really think someone like Deidara could make it into Harikori unharmed? She might be an intelligent girl but the eyes on the roads in this village catch everyone."
The teen did find it suspicious she was able to waltz in like that. "So you were just fucking around with the question about Kiri. Did you bring me here intentionally?" Hisato shook his head. "Yeah, I just used it as a way for you to have a friend on the way here. Traveling alone is lonely sometimes and no, actually, I didn't bring you here but you qualified."
Naruto groaned in an understanding manner before the man spoke again. "I hope you and your friend take advantage of being here and learn more about the Association and swords. All bounty hunters qualified for the cleansing are allowed to join the samurai with sword practice. Now, go along."
Naruto stood up and began to leave. "Don't tell your friend by the way. You're the third person to know who I am after all. I'd like to keep it that way." The teen stopped and nodded before leaving.
Once he was sure Naruto was gone, Hisato sighed. He still remembered the night of Naruto's birth. He was in Konoha trying to secure the help of the Hokage to form the Bounty Hunter Association and maybe catch up with his sensei but once he saw the roaring Kyuubi, his heart dropped and he knew it wasn't going to happen.
He'd broken into a dead run to the place he'd felt his sensei's chakra with his main goal to try and save them. Upon his arrival, they had already been pierced by the Kyuubi's nail and not even a minute later, the bijuu was sealed within Naruto.
It always stuck with him how despite how quickly life left their eyes, the smile on their faces never did. Minato had noticed the man was there and urged him close enough to tell him something. "Fugaku Uchiha."
Those were the last words Minato said before he joined his wife and it wasn't something he'd expected. Hisato had left before any shinobi got there and immediately went to the Uchiha compound.
The place was in shambles when he arrived and found someone he knew helping some people out of the rubble. It was Mikoto, the wife of Fugaku. He ran up to her and asked her where her husband was. Her response immediately made him suspicious. She had stuttered and took a minute to answer with her final answer being to help fight the Kyuubi.
He found Fugaku later that night, sitting in the forest trying to bandage a Rasengan wound on his stomach. At first, he wanted to just leave him in his dimension to starve but a much more sinister plan formed.
He had heard the news about the Uchiha becoming enemies of the village and instigating a few fights with the other clans so why not make that relationship worse? And that's what he did, he put whispers into the ears of the villagers and ultimately watched as Fugaku suffered psychologically.
It was never in his plan to massacre the clan, that was all something that just happened when Itachi came to him about it. To that day, it still pissed him off how they made a kid do such a thing to his family.
The brooding was cut short by the entry of Naruto. The teen pointed to the man's right eye and Hisato looked in his mirror to see his mangekyou had come out. "What is it?" he asked, reverting it to its charcoal color.
"Where do we stay?" Hisato sighed. "The building across the street. It doesn't have any markings because it's a private hotel. Just tell them you're here for the cleansing and they'll get you set up. I'll send someone to grab you in the morning for training with the samurai."
Naruto couldn't stop himself. "Who are you? Really?" The leader smiled a bittersweet smile. "I don't know if I should tell you just yet." The teen was getting tired of this learning name bullshit.
"How about you just tell me? It's not like it'll be some mighty revelation." The man had to agree, his former self wasn't that important of a person. "Fair enough, my name was Obito Uchiha. I was a part of team Minato and was the person that gave your sensei my Sharingan."
Naruto held a face of disgust. "Don't call that person my sensei. He didn't teach me anything." Obito smiled, he remembered hearing about that from Itachi. "Kakashi seemed to become uncaring when he lost Rin and me. It is sad, seeing all that potential go to waste."
The Uzumaki walked up and sat down in one of the chairs. "I wasn't able to ask Jiraiya or Kakashi about this so I'll ask you. Can you tell me some stories about my parents?" Obito smiled and gave a nod.
"Of course. I'll start with the first time I ever met Minato-sensei. I was running home after the academy and…."
*The following day*
Naruto and Kai strolled in the snow towards the Samurai training course. As they walked, Kai talked about the teen's breathing which he did study throughout the night, just as he said he would.
"As I said, your breathing isn't fully subconscious. It would go into a pattern randomly then just shallow out like it should when you sleep. For the next couple of nights, I'm going to put you through the training I was put through."
The teen gulped, he didn't like the sound of that and unfortunately, Kai refused to tell him for the remaining walk to the course.
Soon, the duo of Nami bounty hunters stood along the wall of the samurai armory. They were waiting in line with a bunch of other newbie samurai to get bokken. The bokken was their training sword and it was made of a special and expensive wood that conducted chakra.
It was ideal for a beginner because it was like a real sword but it didn't hold quite the risk. Naruto studied the line and found that everyone there was a young man or woman or older. That told him that Obito had made the samurai change to the age limit of 16 just like the Bounty Hunter Association.
Naruto soon found himself next in line and gave his name to get the bokken and Keikogi, which was their required outfit. Said Keikogi held a dark blue color over all of its parts. Once he got it, he was led into a locker room to get changed in.
The locker room was surprisingly quiet, he thought they'd all be excited. One guy beside him did start talking to him though. "I don't think I've ever seen you here before, where are you from?" Naruto placed his wakizashi into the locker and leaned back to see who he was speaking to.
"I'm from the Land of Grass, I'm here because of the cleansing. Figured it would be better to get some training in." The man's eyes grew interested. "So, you're a bounty hunter? What rank?" Naruto didn't feel like talking so he handed over his Bounty license.
It was a little piece of paper with his picture and information surrounded in leather kind of like a notebook. "What happened to your face?" The teen had a preset answer that he'd used for the people in Nami.
"Jaw exercises. That and I got hit in the face with a hammer, fucked up my bones a little bit." The other man winced. "Damn, you wanna be partners? I can help you with some stuff, I've been doing kendo since I was little."
The Uzumaki shook his head, training a child soldier was still the same even if you changed the name. At least the risk was lessened and they could easily get out if they wanted. "Yeah sure, what should I expect?"
The man scratched his head. "To be honest, my experience with kendo won't help much. This class is mostly learning to control the chakra blade and the proper form for it." Naruto was kind of disappointed.
He needed better form for his swordsmanship and he was kind of embarrassed about it. Kai refused to teach him the form because his form directly leads to the Moon Blade techniques. The teen would probably just ask Obito to help him with it when he had the chance.
A male instructor walked into the room. "Gentlemen, whenever you get done please come out and stand in a line along the wall. Today's training does not include partners and is simply basic training with dummies so don't worry about that."
Naruto finished tying his belt and walked out into the actual training room with his bokken in hand. The first person he saw made him sigh. The ravenette quickly rushed to him and started leaning on his shoulder. "Sasori-donno said that you're a genius, you wanna test that out?"
The teen looked at her and ignored her statement. "Wearing contacts and dying your hair really won't change the fact that you're Deidara, the mad bomber. At least change your hairstyle." The girl admitted he was right and handed him her bokken while she fixed it.
"Another question, what're you doing about your palms? Isn't it uncomfortable?" Deidara finished putting her hair into a bun without bangs. "That was two questions my little genius." Naruto glared at her.
"How are you supposed to be a genius yourself yet you act like that?" Deidara grew a grin and leaned to Naruto's ear. "Because it's a ploy to lower people's guard. Also, I can close those mouths, my little genius."
The girl leaned back and her carefree look was back on her face. Naruto was starting to like the girl, she reminded him of himself when he was younger, holding everything in with a stupid guise.
He wondered if he should try and do it again just for fun. Deidara seemed to know what he was thinking and shook her head. "Keep your current personality, you don't need to put up two different masks."
Naruto was slightly confused for a second then he realized that he'd been suppressing his true self unconsciously. To be honest, it was more like his old happy-go-lucky mask was mixing with his true self and he didn't know his true self anymore.
That was a thought for later as the two instructors got in front of them. "Today we will be learning the basics of the chakra blade and the correct form. Before we get into that, I would like to introduce myself and my colleague here.
I am Sotase Gasa and my colleague is Itsune Hozu. You may refer to us however you please. Sir and madam are our preferred ones. We will split into two groups for different training. Those with me will be learning how to conduct the chakra through the blade while those with Itsune will learn the stance. We will pick our groups."
From what Naruto could see, those with higher chakra pools were being picked by Sir Gasa while the lower ones were picked by Madam Hosu. Of course, he was put in the group with Sir Gasa. Even with his seals, his chakra was absurd.
When Naruto saw Deidara get chosen by Madam Hosu, he was a bit confused until he saw the wink that the girl gave him. It seemed she had a trick up her sleeve. "Alright, go with your group. My group will be staying here." Madam Hosu said, prompting Sir Gasa to lead his group into a separate room.
The room was filled with dummies on one side and on the other was just open space. "Those who know how to conduct chakra, raise your hands." The entire group had their hands up. "Good, now listen to me carefully before you do anything. Conducting chakra for the samurai's chakra blade is completely different from anything else.
Not only is it non-elemental, but its also flow is abnormal. It isn't straight or zigzag but a wave-type pattern. The blade forming can be thought of as a calm wave going up on shore while the blade attack is more like a crashing tsunami."
Someone raised their hands. "What about extending the blade?" Sir Gasa held up his bokken. "Very good question, extending the blade is much different from everything else. It isn't a wave pattern but more like rain being collected in a spout. By adding a bit of chakra drop by drop, it steadily grows longer."
As he said, the blue chakra on his bokken grew longer and longer until it was just before the first line of the group. "Does anyone think they understand? Raise your hands, please." Naruto raised his hand along with Kai. "Please step beside me and give it a try. This is a difficult concept and you will probably have to try this for a few days if not weeks so don't be disheartened."
Naruto and Kai got beside each other but Kai leaned toward him. "I wish it wasn't but this training directly correlates with the Moon Blade techniques. Unless you want to reveal it, stop your breathing pattern."
Naruto gave a subtle nod and the two continued. Naruto put both hands on his handle while Kai kept one. The two ignited into a bright blue blade with Naruto's blade wavering a bit. Sir Gasa walked beside Naruto and studied the blade.
"Calm your chakra and don't add any more. Keep the flow consistent." Naruto did so and the blade evened out. Not wanting to bring too much attention, he made it longer before making it suddenly retract.
"Very good, making your blade like he just did is a simple thing to do but keeping it steady is what makes it hard. You," He pointed at Kai. "have had prior training. You can drop it now. Where did you learn this?"
Kai turned to him. "My father was a retired Samurai that moved to my home country to escape the cold. He taught me in his spare time." Sir Gasa looked kind of mad. "Why did you come here? Are you here to drop their spirits?"
Kai shook his head. "No sir, I simply wish to improve upon my ability and this is the only class I was allowed to join. I tried to tell them that I already knew it but they put me here anyway. If you would like, I can help with the lesson."
Sir Gasa seemed pleased now. "I'm glad, you can take half and go over there to help them. There's 29 in this room including you so take 14, I'll take the other 14." Kai did so and his little group walked away.
"You will continue to practice this, do not try the slash attack. You will hurt someone if you do." Naruto moved away from the group and started gasping for air. "Doing this with your chakra levels being uneven isn't good," Kyuubi said in his mind.
'No shit, how do I fix it?' Silence followed his question until the spirit spoke up. "The quickest way is to lower your spiritual to even them out. The only problem is that you can only do this by using the wakizashi so I can absorb it."
Naruto cursed and walked up to Sir Gosu. "Excuse me, may I go use the restroom?" The man nodded and the teen headed out. Once in the locker room, he grabbed the sword and took it from the scabbard.
"The sword only takes your spiritual energy so just channel your chakra into it until I say stop." The spirit instructed. Naruto did so and within a few minutes, the spirit told him to stop. "They're good enough, go ahead."
The Uzumaki placed his sword back in the locker and headed back to class. Sir Gosu gave him a nod, for some reason but Naruto ignored it. The nod was supposed to tell him he covered for him by telling the others he had a problem with his Keikogi.
*A couple of hours later*
The training had finished a few minutes before and the males were in the showers. The teenage Uzumaki stood in the hot water content that there were blockers so the others couldn't see his curses. The guy that Naruto met earlier was in the shower beside him. "Does being a Bounty Hunter just make you a magnet for hot chicks?"
Naruto looked in his direction with a questioning face. The other males within the showers seemed to agree. "How did you get a hottie like Ahma to talk to you like that? You're not even from around here."
The teen guessed that was Deidara and took this chance to learn more without revealing much. "Is she the main interest here?" The guy beside him answered. "Yeah, along with her older brother." This made Naruto curious.
"What does her brother look like?" The next sentence immediately gave away who it was. "He's a little short guy with red hair and black eyes. He and Ahma hit the genetic jackpot." The teen had to hold in his laugh, that wasn't luck but Sasori was literally sculpted to perfection.
Ignoring the other guys, Naruto quickly washed the soap from his hair and went to the locker room. Getting dressed took no time at all, and he was out the front door quickly. However, Sir Gasa stood in front of them.
"Ah, excuse me, sir." Naruto tried to walk by only to be blocked. "Why did you fake failure earlier? Your blade flow was perfectly fine and its retraction was controlled." The teen decided to put a plan he had set a while ago into action.
"People tend to suck up to those better than them at things and I don't want that." Sir Gasa nodded in an understanding way and moved to the side. "I understand that but it harms your potential. Just keep that in mind."
Naruto nodded and made his way through the snow-covered streets. He took to the rooftops on his way to the building Obito resided in. Eventually, he got there and jumped on the roof. Naruto saw a little swirl in the air in front of him and Obito appeared putting on a jacket.
"What do you want? It's cold today." Naruto rolled his eyes. "How do you have Sasori and Deidara here with such little protection? Sasori changed nothing with his appearance and Deidara just changed her eye and hair color."
Obito gave him a look. "I thought you were smart enough to know about hiding in plain sight. No one is going to be looking for missing-nin within the Bounty Hunter capital. Plus, Sasori's bingo book entry has a picture of Hiruko, not his real body."
Naruto felt stupid about that one. "Well, why are they even here?" The man shrugged. "They were tired of traveling, and just wanted to rest for a while." Naruto sighed.
"I need your help with my swordsmanship then." Obito's face went blank. "I don't use a sword, never learned." The Uzumaki almost shouted in frustration. How do you become the leader of a group within the land of samurai and not learn swordsmanship?
"Whatever." The boy jumped from the roof and walked back to the hotel that he was staying at. When he got in the room, he grabbed his wakizashi to place on his bedside table. Apparently, it had other plans as he was yanked into the pocket dimension.
The teen's vision adjusted to him standing in the yard beside the house with the wakizashi in his hand. "I'll be helping you with your swordsmanship." The spirit said, floating off the ground in front of him with another version of the sword in his hand.
He floated down just enough to have his feet on the ground. The spirit moved into a stance that Naruto had never seen before. The body was angled with the feet being shoulder-width apart and the right in the front.
The right arm had a little bend in it as it was placed just over the chest. In his hand was the sword at an angle with the tip to the upper left. His left hand was in an open position beside his head, almost preparing to perform a palm punch.
"Follow me." Naruto moved his body to copy the spirits and watched as the man moved. HIs left leg kicked forward to shin level and shifted his body weight to swirl the blade down and back up for an upper slash.
His left hand was behind his body and he put his fingers together in a cupping motion while stabbing forward and up. "This is the swordsmanship that - and I have been making up for the past couple of weeks.
It mixes my swordsmanship with his claw technique. What do you think would've happened if I performed that move on somebody." Naruto shrugged. "Depends on their skill level." The spirit mocked Naruto before speaking.
"Let's just say an intermediate swordsman with a katana. He would've backed up from the kick and blocked the upward slash with both hands on the handle leaving his left rib cage open. My hand would've easily pierced through it with the curse strength. Now, imagine if you used your cursed strength and the cursed nails.
They would go through like butter. Making it even better, add in the divergent fist and it will be a horrible match for anyone. We will practice this for the next few hours. Get in position." Naruto blinked.
"Divergent fist? What's that?" Off to the side, Kyuubi laughed before the spirit explained. "Divergent fist is where you release a shockwave of energy after a hit, which is supposed to be cursed energy but could be either of the other two."
Naruto nodded and slid into position. "How are you moving your legs?" He asked just as the spirit kicked him in the leg. "In this dimension, - and I have full control over almost everything in this dimension. I'm using the wind to move my legs."
The teen blocked another kick and grimaced. "That wind is strong." The spirit confirmed it and they continued to practice. A little while later, Kyuubi added some input. "Naruto, you stole the Hyuuga style, right? The one for tenketsu?"
Naruto gave a nod while parrying a sword slash. "Add that in with the nail strikes, if you aim for tenketsu then you're certain to fuck something up." The teen sighed at the Kyuubi's suggestion. "Adding the gentle fist would require me to coat my hand in chakra then also pulse that chakra into the skin for that divergent fist thing…Actually, that's a good idea."
Kyuubi gave an arrogant smirk. "Another thing, use the rest of your body. You don't have to worry about injuries with your hard-ass skin." Flipping the Kyuubi off, Naruto jumped back from a slash.
"No more distractions. -, shut up for a while." The spirit commanded, only to be mocked by the fox. "Mock me again and I won't create those rabbits for you." Kyuubi sneered at the threat but it proved effective as he shut up.
*That night*
Kai stood over a sleeping Naruto with a very satisfied grin on his face and a mallet at the ready. Once he heard Naruto's breathing change from the pattern to normal breathing, the mallet was down into the teen's stomach.
The wailing and cursing were music to the man's ears. "What the fuck, man?! I'm trying to sleep?!" Naruto shouted, only to get shushed by Kai. "We have neighbors so keep it down. The training I spoke of earlier is this. Anytime you break the pattern while sleeping, I wake you up."
Naruto didn't like the joy in his tone. "Fucking weird-ass training." The teen rolled back over to sleep but Kai wouldn't let him sleep long.
*The next day*
Naruto waited for Sir Gasa inside the training room. The man had asked Naruto to stay so he could practice without worrying about the others seeing. The teen rubbed on his stomach, he'd been bruised by Kai's training technique that previous night and morning.
The bruises were healed thanks to Kyuubi's chakra and his healing factor, but it still felt phantom pain. Sitting down, roughly 30 minutes passed until Sir Gasa walked in. Behind him were Deidara and Madam Hosu. "Masao, these two will be sharing the training room with us. Apparently, Ahma has been doing the same as you, holding back to seem normal." The teen tried not to laugh.
Of course, she was holding back, the girl was an S-rank shinobi for the gods' sake. It did make Naruto curious about how much she was going to show through. "You two will be sparring first." Madam Hosu said, pointing to a circle on the mat.
It was supposed to keep people from backing away from their opponent but it was more of a trap for the weaker person. "Do you mind if I use my style?" Naruto asked. The two instructors had a silent conversation before answering.
"As long as you use what we've taught." Sir Gasa said. The Uzumaki immediately started thinking of ways to use it to his advantage. Deidara gave him a look and a whisper. "Limit it to high chunin." Naruto nodded and released one of his seals.
He'd been using mid-chunin chakra for a while and it felt nice to open up a little. It seemed the two instructors felt the change in his chakra levels as they began to stare at him. He ignored them and got into the circle with a relaxed stance until Deidara joined.
Once she got into her stance, his changed to the Piercing Divide stance, which he had just learned the name of. 'Kind of a fitting name I guess,' The teen closed his thoughts just in time to block a downward strike from Deidara.
"Pay attention, or you'll get hurt my little genius." Naruto didn't know what it was, but that sentence made him want to beat the girl's pride into the ground. Without noticing, his mouth curved into a devious smile and his right leg kicked out to where Deidara's shin would've been if she didn't dodge.
The girl saw Naruto's pupils turn bright yellow just as he disappeared. Whenever he appeared, his left hand was in a shark fin shape heading towards her right rib cage. She tried to knock it down with her sword only for Naruto to use the momentum of the hit to bring the bokken in his right hand down onto her left shoulder.
The crack of the wood was loud but the boom of the cursed chakra wave hitting Deidara's collar bone was much louder. The two instructors watched the bokken break in two along with the collar bone of the girl.
Deidara's facial expression changed as she turned to the instructors. The only word that left her mouth before the next hit was "Stay" in a very commanding tone. Sir Gasa and Madam Hozu could only watch as Deidara proceeded to get knocked into the wall across the room.
Luckily, the wall was cushioned or it would've broken just like her ribs. The Ravenette slammed her palm into the ground after a few hand seals. A few electric bolts flew out of the ground in a protective pattern, with a few lurching towards Naruto wherever he went.
However, none of them managed to hit him because of his speed and reflexes. Deidara merely watched in amazement and felt like she was looking at the Yellow Flash. The stories she was told as a kid all included what was happening right in front of her.
Every attack was missing as afterimages covered the ground in front of her. Suddenly, Naruto just stopped in place and he all of a sudden had his wakizashi in his right hand. He held it horizontal with the blade peeking over his left side before slashing forward.
It looked like the standard slash attack they had been taught but the chakra turned pure white halfway to her. It cut through her lightning barrier like butter but it was slow enough that she could jump to dodge.
When she was still mid-air, Naruto appeared in front of her with his left hand forming one-handed seals. Lucky for her, she knew those seals and was able to shunshin away before the cloud of poison got into her lungs.
What she wasn't lucky enough to get away from was the kick heading towards her head as Naruto appeared above her. The girl braced for impact but the only thing she felt was a bunch of air hitting the side of her face. Opening her eyes, she found the Association leader holding onto Naruto's foot with no difficulty.
Within seconds, the boy's stance was dismantled and he was on his ass. "I see your rage is still as uncontrollable as ever." With his foot on the teen's stomach, Obito poked a pressure point on Naruto's chest.
It seemed to bring the teen back as his eyes returned to green. Whenever he found himself on the ground and Obito stepping on him, he kind of figured out what happened and his only reaction was a sigh.
"Can you handle that?" The Uzumaki asked while turning to the two instructors. Obito nodded and his Sharingan flared to life. The two adults were suddenly stiff before falling to the ground. Naruto dusted himself off and looked at the two conscious people. Deidara looked to be freaking out and confused while Obito was kind of… happy?
"What're you so happy about?" Obito shook his hands in front of him. "I may have used your chakra surge to leave a meeting early." When the man said that, Naruto realized that all but one of his seals were gone.
That meant that his chakra output was kage. He quickly fixed it and motioned from Obito to Deidara. "Unless you want to do that genjutsu again we might as well tell her." The man looked at Deidara's condition. "After she gets medical attention. I would take her but I have to take care of the mess you made. You're just like your mother, leaving it to me to clean."
The man vanished in a swirl just as Naruto was going to say something. "You Uchiha are all the same." He whispered under his breath. Deidara held onto her ribs and winced with every step. "Stay right there. Do not move. Your ribs are most likely broken."
Naruto had an idea. He could mend the bones back together with the body transformation technique so maybe he could heal her. "Do you have anything underneath your top?" She nodded. "A sports bra." Naruto moved towards her and motioned to the belt.
Deidara used her right arm to point to the limp left one. The Uzumaki sighed and undid the belt. He slid off the top, and had to ignore all impure thoughts as he put his palm over her right rib cage, which was already purple and yellow.
The ravenette expected Naruto's hand to be cold, but it was surprisingly warm. It was so warm that it was almost comfortable. "There's gonna be some pain in 3, 2." Naruto went ahead and mended the bones back on the two count.
Bones, plural, because three of them were broken. He pulled his hand away and picked up Deidara's top to put over her shoulders. The girl was going to ask why Naruto didn't just heal her collar bone and arm while he was at it until she saw his hands shaking terribly.
"Let's get you to the hospital," Naruto said, trying to put Deidara's top on fully. It was snowing after all. Once the top was on, the girl was on his back and the shunshin was abused to get to the medical facility. On the way, Deidara had quite a few questions.
"What the hell was that? Since when were your eyes yellow during the Kyuubi's rage?" Naruto shook his head. "I don't know either. I was in the same daze as usual, and I can't exactly see that stuff."
Their questions were answered by the spirit. "That was the result of your emotions raging while having curses on your body. It wasn't Kyuubi's rage but your's alone." Naruto was a bit annoyed. 'You could have told me.' The response of the spirit was overlapped by a question from Deidara.
"Also, do you mind telling me how you know the Association Leader?" The teen Uzumaki sighed, he might as well do it then. "He's a family friend of sorts." The girl just groaned a bit, mostly from the pain of moving.
"Was he an old student of your father's?" Naruto nodded and unintentionally thought back to whenever the girl first found that out.
*Two years before, Naruto's apartment*
The blonde boy had just opened his door to the mad bomber in a delivery outfit. "Here's your package." The girl handed over a long box, obviously holding a sword. "Very undercover," Naruto mentioned, already knowing who the girl was.
"Same could be said for you." She grinned, pointing to the Fourth Hokage's face on the mountain and then him. "Touche. Go before you're spotted, a recently defected S-rank shinobi is fairly noticeable."
Deidara clicked her tongue. "I stole that sword from the Iwa armory for you. At least, you could properly thank me." The Uzumaki rolled his eyes. "Thank you for stealing this and delivering it." The blonde teen nodded.
"You're welcome. I gave you a little gift in there too." Whenever the girl walked off, Naruto closed the door and opened the package on his bed. Sliding out the sword, he found nothing else in the box.
Shaking it a bit, a piece of paper floated out. Catching it, he saw it was a letter but the ink was blurred. Reading the thing was nigh impossible so the boy walked outside to see if Deidara was still close.
When he didn't see her, he headed back inside and placed the letter in his drawer. If he'd looked a little harder then he'd have seen a blushing Deidara under the stairs.
*Flashback end*
"What are you blanking out for? I'm the injured one." Deidara said, getting a roll of Naruto's eyes. "I was thinking about the first time we met. Your comment about my dad reminded me of it." A blush flared from the girl's cheeks as she spoke. "Yeah?"
The teenage male nodded. "You know that sword broke like two months after that." Deidara exhaled through her nose. "Iwa may be the most mineral-rich, but their forges are a bit shitty. It shattered, didn't it?"
A slight nod from the Uzumaki confirmed it. "Yeah, happened a lot in ANBU. Say, what did you think about that letter?" Naruto jumped to another building before responding. "Well, it was smudged when I tried to read it so I never could. Why, what did it say?"
The girl shook her head, trying to dismantle her bright red blush. "Don't worry about it, I'll tell you later. You sure got connections everywhere, huh? First, you being friends with the Third Hokage and now you're friends with the Associaton Leader." Deidara laughed, wincing a bit.
"Indeed, although sometimes I wish I was just a normal person that didn't have them. Also, no laughing. I may have mended your ribs but they're still bruised."
The girl gave him a thumbs up with her only operating arm, almost falling in the process. Naruto locked his hands under the girl's legs and slid her back up. "If you need to then wrap your arm around my neck." He advised, once again not noticing the blush on her face.
The rest of their trip to the hospital was quick and silent. Upon entering, Naruto let the girl down and when the nurse at the front desk saw their outfits and the limp left arm, Deidara was quickly brought back.
While going back, the nurse questioned Naruto. "What happened?" The Uzumaki was always great with lies so one was concocted quickly. "We were training with some old bokken, and hers snapped when I went for a downward strike. Her collar bone is broken, and I think she broke her arm when she fell."
The nurse just nodded along. "Where on her collar bone?" Naruto wasn't able to answer that question. "It was in the middle, I think it snapped in two," Deidara said. The nurse put her in a room and looked at Naruto.
"Sorry, but are you her relative?" Naruto shook his head. "Then please leave the room, I'm going to have to take her top off." Naruto nodded and looked at Deidara. "Where's your brother?" The girl glanced up from the nurse who was feeling her arm.
"The blacksmith by the main entrance. Just ask for Kiyoko." Naruto closed the door and left to find said blacksmith store. It took him roughly 20 minutes of looking before he folded and asked someone.
The person pointed across the street to a brick building with a single-window. A building that Naruto had walked past multiple times. Thanks were given before the teen ran in. The inside was plain, two tables sat on the sides with swords on them, and one table sat just in front of a door to the back.
The Uzumaki ignored the swords on the tables and walked to the back table. He hit the bell on it and a little girl came to the front. "If you're here to pick up an order, check the tables for your name. If you're here to place an order, then write it on that document along with your information."
Naruto shook his head. "I'm here for Kiyoko, his sister got in an accident and is at the hospital right now." The girl walked into the back and came back shortly after with a short red-haired male.
Sasori nodded at Naruto and threw on a coat. "Just clock me out for the day," Sasori said, leaving with Naruto. Once they were on the street, Sasori or Kiyoko, spoke. "So how did you manage to hurt that girl? She's tougher than half the shinobi of Suna."
Naruto tried his best not to laugh a little. "My strength got a little out of control and I slammed my bokken on to her shoulder." Sasori looked over. "Collar bone fracture then?" Naruto nodded, and Sasori nodded back.
"You'll be surprised how common that is with sword training. Anyways, let's get to the hospital. I don't like keeping people waiting." Soon, they were at the hospital and Sasori was told by the nurse where Deidara was.
"Is he with you?" The nurse asked, pointing to Naruto. The redheaded man nodded and they were led back. They soon found themselves in the little room with the mad bomber sitting on the bed in a sling and a t-shirt that the hospital provided her.
The nurse told them the doctor would be in shortly and left them to their business. "Pay up," Sasori said, motioning his hand in a come here fashion to the girl. "My wallet is in my locker, you can get it whenever I get my stuff." She responded.
Sasori noticed the slightly confused Naruto and decided to elaborate. "We made a bet that she would get hurt if she fought you." The long-haired Uzumaki nodded. "So, do I have to pay the bill?"
Deidara shook her head. "Nah, any injuries that happen in the training center are free. As long as they're under supervision like ours." An understanding grunt came from the teen as a doctor walked in.
"Evening, guys. I'm Doctor Ikae. You're her brother, I assume?" He asked Sasori, offering his hand. The redhead shook his hand and nodded. Dr. Ikae turned to Naruto and held out his hand. "You are?"
The teen shook his hand and rubbed his head sheepishly. "The cause of her injuries, Masao." Dr. Ikae shook his head. "Don't worry about it too much. Bokken break and accidents happen." Turning to the patient, he gave her a handshake as well.
"Well, Ms. Harumyo, your collar bone is broken along with your arm. It must've been quite a nasty fall too, considering how shattered your arm is. I'm gonna set them all back in place and mend them a bit for today. I'll send you some pain medication as well."
The girl shook her head. "No pain meds, I can't take them." The doctor looked confused. "Are you allergic to one of the ingredients? I can find a different one." Sasori decided to step in. "Her…Our mother had an addiction to pain medication and she refuses to take them."
The man nodded. "I understand, I'm sorry if I brought up any bad memories." Deidara shook her head. "You didn't know so don't worry about it." The doctor gave her a small smile and slid on some gloves before walking over.
"These will be a bit cold." He warned as his hands were lightly placed on her forearm. The green chakra emanated and after a few seconds, he moved it to her left collar bone. A few seconds there and he was done.
"Alright, that's all there is. It should be 5 weeks in total to heal. In a week, you'll come back for a cast and keep it on for four. Jade will give you a paper for the dos and don'ts at the front desk when you sign out. It was nice to meet you all."
The three walked out with Deidara trying her hardest to take off the stupid plastic ID band. "Let me." Naruto reached over and pinched the thing between two fingers, channeling a bit of Kyuubi chakra.
It was soon corroded and fell off. "Such a waste of my chakra," Kyuubi mentioned, only to get ignored. "You know that glove is fucked now, right?" Naruto looked at the glove and sure enough, the fox was right.
'Fuck, I just got these.' Ignoring the bijuu's laugh, he watched Sasori sign Deidara out. "Alright, I guess I'm gonna head out then." He said, only for his sleeve to be grabbed by Deidara's right hand.
"Nope, you aren't just leaving like that. You demobilized me so you get to suffer as well." Naruto fully expected the girl to break his arm then and there but was surprised when she didn't. "You get to spend all of your free time for the next couple of days with me."
Naruto sighed, it was probably going to be hell. In Deidara's mind, she was hyping herself up to tell the teenage male of her letter's contents once the time was right. "Come on you hooligans," Sasori said, leading them out of the hospital.
As they walked, Naruto decided to spark up a conversation. "Harumyo is an interesting fake name to pick considering its complete gibberish." The girl turned to him. "That's my real last name though. It was my mother's maiden name and it was never recorded so I use it."
The teen male facepalmed. "Does that mean the pain pill thing was true as well?" The girl looked down, sadly. "Yeah…" Now feeling like an asshole, Naruto moved closer to her and threw his arm around her neck.
"Sorry." He caught a slight grin on the girl and she lifted her head to show a full grin. "Nah, I'm just fucking with you. She died of infection." The Uzumaki shook his head. "You had me worried that I'm an asshole for a second."
Deidara's face turned into a deadpan. "You are though," Naruto sighed and looked away from the ravenette. The rest of their trip was Deidara trying to get him to turn his head back. Somewhere along the way, Sasori had dropped behind them and started watching.
'Smooth move there, Deidara.' He said to himself, noticing that she had managed to get the Uzumaki to pretty much hold her the entire walk. Little did he know, Deidara did not intend for it to happen, and was very much freaking out inside.
*Three days later*
Naruto sat in his hotel room with Obito across from him on the other bed. "So, you wanted to talk about something? Deidara, perhaps?" The Uchiha questioned with a few eyebrow raises. He was doing that because Naruto had spent a lot of time with the girl the past couple of days.
They'd done all sorts of things from going out to eat, which was always on Naruto, to just watching TV at her house. Obito just looked at the teen with disappointment. 'There's no way he's that dense. She spends every second with him.'
The next statement that came out of Naruto's mouth almost made the Uchiha want to slap him. "Deidara? We're just friends." Obito calmed his anger and annoyance with a sigh. "So what did you want to talk about?"
It wasn't like it mattered, considering what he'd just heard, the teen was as dense as a brick wall. "I wanted to talk more about my parents." The Uchiha shrugged. "Alright, I'll tell you the story of how your mom's cooking made us fail a mission." The man adjusted his posture for more comfort.
"So we were about to go on a mission, to protect some noble I think it was. Kushina, like she always did, packed us some food. She made us some onigiri for the road, and those things were so good that we were all fighting over the last one, Minato-sensei included.
I don't know what she did to those things, but they were addicting. Anyways, we ended up getting to the mission location all bruised up from the fighting, and we got turned down by the noble.
When we got home, we were scolded by Lord Third, and he ordered that Kushina could no longer give us food for the road." The man leaned in. "Don't tell anyone, but she never stopped after that."
Obito cracked up a bit and Naruto just smiled. "I can't imagine Kakashi fighting over onigiri. Porn, maybe, but not onigiri." He said, getting a shake of Obito's head. "Usually but those things were damn addictive. I wish I got the recipe from her."
The Uchiha was salivating a bit, and wiped it away with his shirt. "That brings another story to mind, how I managed to become her favorite student. You wanna hear it?" Naruto gave a nod and the man began.
"It was the first day as Team 7 under Minato-sensei, and we were all trying to steal the bells from him. I was hiding in the bushes, waiting for an opening when Kushina suddenly appeared behind me, asking if I was hungry.
At first, I thought she was a genjutsu so I flared my chakra, bad idea since your dad was a sensor. So he immediately knew where I was, and I had to get out of there quick. But before I left, I took a bun that she had offered me and ran off with it in my mouth.
At the end of the day, we managed to pass because Kakashi distracted Minato-sensei while Rin grabbed the bells. To this day I still think he let her grab them because we used teamwork, but back to the story.
After we passed, Kushina gave us the buns she had made that morning and introduced herself. Apparently, when I took the bun and left, I reminded her of a brother she had before Uzushio was destroyed, so I became her favorite.
For the rest of the time that I was in Konoha, I would spend my time helping her cook and learning some interesting stuff. Like that she had retired at 20 after eight years of being a shinobi, because she liked cooking more, and how she had a brother that was born when she was 6.
How this brother was separated from her when Uzushio fell, and her parents died at 8. She came to Konoha and never saw this brother again. You wanna guess who the brother is?"
Naruto didn't have to guess, he knew. "Nagato." The Uchiha nodded. "Yep, Nagato is your uncle, and the whole reason I even helped to form the Akatsuki. You see, Kushina was like a mother to me because I grew up with just my grandma, may she rest in peace, and an older woman like that is too frail to do things normal moms and sons did.
That's where Kushina stepped in, and helped me learn some things that my grandma was unable to teach. When my grandma died, Kushina helped me through it." Obito took a deep breath and rubbed his eyes.
"Look at me getting all emotional." He laughed. Naruto just held a sad smile as he stared at the floor. Why couldn't he have felt any of that? Obito's hand was placed on the teen's shoulder. "I ain't going to lie to you, you missed out with having no one to raise you. In the end, there's nothing you can do about it, except make sure your children don't experience the same."
Obito patted the Uzumaki's back a bit and stood. "Now, you have a lunch date with Deidara, don't you?" Naruto brought his head up and nodded with his eyes bloodshot. Obito wiped them with his sleeves and yanked the teen up.
"It's noon so you better go." A sense of urgency entered the teen and he went running out the door. 'Thanks, Obito." He said going through it. The Uchiha smiled at the teen that just left. He was so sad, but the mere mention of Deidara made him cheer up.
Exiting the room, the Association Leader made sure the door was locked before watching Naruto run outside from the balcony. "I hope that girl has enough patience for that blockhead." Taking a glance at his watch, his eyes widened.
He was late for a date too.
*With Naruto*
The Namikaze ran down the road with the spirit's voice in his head. "How much longer do you plan to act so dense?" The spirit asked for the fourth time. 'As I've said, I'm not burdening someone with such emotions until my goals are completed,.and the risks on my life are lesser.'
Kyuubi decided to chip in. "I can understand you being so oriented on your goals, but it's reducing the fun you can have in life. In addition, just tell the girl that instead of leading her on." Naruto nodded.
'I shall, right before I leave.'
*With Deidara*
The girl sat at a two-person table, staring intensely at the condensation drip from her drink. Her concentration wasn't on the droplet but on her thoughts. 'Come on, it's been three days. This is your last chance, girl. C'mon now.'
As she hyped herself up, Naruto rushed into the restaurant. He soon caught view of her and moved to the table. Once he sat down, the girl's head turned to him and she gulped. 'Maybe after we eat.'
So, the two ordered and chatted while they ate. "Ken will obviously get a power-up eventually. He's the MC so he needs it." Naruto said, getting a nod from the girl. "True but you know how the writer is, he likes to slowly give power." The two were chatting about an anime they had spent most of their time watching the past couple of days.
It was about a kid that was a vampire but got sealed away, then the seal broke and he entered the world of vampires. It was called Bloody Heart. "I just hope that he ends up killing Rei," Deidara said, blowing onto her straw.
Rei was the ex-girlfriend of Ken, who cheated on him with his best friend. "And how do you suppose he does that? He's still on the Vampire Island, and he hasn't even gotten a good rank yet." Naruto questioned.
The ravenette saw a chance to bring up the topic of relationships. "Ah whatever, I just hope he ends up with Kumiko." The Uzumaki deadpanned. "It's obvious unless the writer adds another girl to the story for…" Naruto shook his hands in the air. "Conflict."
Deidara nodded. "Now, that we're on the subject of relationships, I got something to say about it. Do you remember that letter? Well, inside it said…" The Harumyo girl hesitated and it would bite her in the ass as someone walked up.
"Masao, how you doing, man?" Said someone asked, dapping the Uzumaki up. "I'm alright, you?" The boy that had walked up didn't notice the glare of Deidara as he started a conversation with Naruto.
By the time they finished, Deidara had gotten fed up. Naruto bid goodbye to the boy and turned to Deidara, who looked pissed. "Sorry about that. If I don't talk to him now, then he'll annoy me all throughout the entirety of our class today."
The girl sighed, she'd done that exact thing plenty of times so she couldn't exactly blame him. "If you're done eating then, I'd like to head home. The cold is irritating my wounds." Naruto quickly got the check and they were on their way.
"I wanted to talk to you about something." The Namikaze said as they walked through the snow. Deidara looked at him and waited for him to start talking. "I'm thinking about moving from Nami to up here. There's not anyone in Nami that I would call a friend quite like you or Obito."
The girl sighed. There was that word again, 'friend'. She knew Naruto was dense but damn, they'd been on 5 dates in the past three days, she couldn't make it much more obvious. "I wouldn't mind having you live up here. Would your friend come too? Didn't you say he had a girlfriend in Nami?"
Naruto shook his head. "He doesn't have a girlfriend in Nami, I just teased him about it. He just has a really weird obsession with the bowling alley down there." Deidara blinked a few times. "Alrighty then. That's the last thing I expected to hear."
They walked a little more and she turned to him. "Are you sure it was bowling and not like some hot worker there?" The Uzumaki nodded. "I may have followed him once and the entire time he was just focused on bowling. He's damn good too. I think he bowled like four 290s on that day."
The girl didn't know much about bowling, besides the highest score was 300, and getting that close four times was damned impressive. "There's a bowling alley in the northern part of town, so do tell him about that."
Naruto nodded. "Will do. Now, what core do you think Ken will have?" The girl grinned and they started their guesses about the anime.
*The following day*
Kai stood across from Naruto in their hotel room. "Looking sharp." The man complimented. "Likewise," Naruto said, even though they were wearing the same thing. They had a gray version of a Keikogi with uniform wakizashi in the belt. Their faces were covered with red oni masks with black teeth and two uniform horns.
Finally, a dark blue coat sat over it all. "This is kind of weird-looking, ain't it?" Naruto asked, getting a nod. "Yeah, they're weird as hell. So, what was that thing you wanted to talk with me about?"
As they made their way out of the room and to the desk to check out, Naruto explained his plan to move from Nami to there. "I don't have a problem with it. I can't lie, Nami is a bit muggy for me."
The teen just stared. Kai was from Suna, the hottest place on the planet, so how was Nami too muggy for him? "I think you're just weird, man. I'll meet you there." Naruto waved, leaving Kai to check out of the hotel.
*About half an hour later*
All of the bounty hunters present for the cleansing stood in formation in front of a stage. Each of them had the same outfit. Obito made his way onto the stage and projected his voice over the group of roughly 4500 bounty hunters. "Good morning, you guys have a long way to go, so I'll get right into it. 150 of you shall be deployed to each country. If you look inside your jacket on the right side, there is a label with your country assignment on it.
You will gather with your group at the borders in the direction of said country. For example, those deployed to the land of rice will go to our eastern border. There will be an area set up for you at the border to group up.
Five hours from now, you will depart for your country. I wish you all good luck." Obito stepped off the stage and the hunters began to leave. While leaving, Naruto regrouped with Kai, who he hadn't really interacted with in the past couple of days in favor of Deidara. "I got the land of stone, you two?" Naruto asked.
"I have the land of lightning," Kai responded. "Well, you have fun. I'm sure you'll miss my company." Naruto joked before turning to walk away. "Haven't seen much of you recently anyways. You and your girlfriend have been hanging out a lot." The old man shot back.
Naruto responded with a grin. "Like the girlfriend that you have in Nami that you spent all your time with before we left?" The lack of response told him he'd won and he walked outside the building.
Sighing, he realized just how much he was going to miss Kai for the next couple of weeks, Obito was right when he said traveling without a friend was lonely. On the way out of the village, Naruto was stopped by a familiar ravenette who tracked him down. She leaned against a wall with her arm in a sling. The teen was a little confused at her presence. "I didn't know you were a sensor, Deidara."
The girl shook her head. "Jinchuuriki have a certain smell to them." Naruto was disgusted but curious. "Really?" The girl laughed a little. "No, I just got Sasori to tell me where you were going. He is a sensor."
Naruto shrugged. "Well, what did you stop me for?" The girl narrowed her eyes at him. "You broke three of my ribs, my collar bone, and my arm. I think you need to pay me back, grab me something on your trip."
The teen held confusion on his face. "Well? What do you like?" A grin grew on her face. "Other than explosives." The grin vanished. "You pick. We have similar tastes after all. We did pretty much like the same type of food and shows." Deidara gave a wave with her good hand and used the shunshin to escape.
Naruto just grinned. He would return with the most absurd gift possible and there was nothing to stop him. The girl watched from a nearby roof as Naruto vanished and sighed in disappointment.
She wasn't able to tell him the contents of the letter for the third day in a row. Staring into the snowy sky, a resolve was formed within her. She'd tell him when he came back,or at least that's what her plan was, if Naruto didn't appear next to her on the roof.
"Hey." The girl jumped and almost slammed her broken arm into the boy. "By the gods, what the hell?" Naruto laughed a bit but shook it away in favor of a straight face. "Listen, I'm not as dense as you think I am. I know about your advances and even what that letter said but I haven't acted on them for a reason.
My goal is something that will constantly put me at risk and I don't want to die, leaving you alone." Deidara stared at him and took a deep breath, placing on a serious face as well. "I understand, but you do know that I am a part of the same organization and our goals are the same, right? I'll be by your side whether you like it or not."
The Uzumaki sighed and grew a grin. "I know but I don't want you to… " The Uzumaki sighed once more. "I don't quite know how to word it, but I've seen how happy you've been, and I don't want to be the reason that it vanishes."
The female gave a sad smile and leaned her head onto him. "I was that happy because of you." Tears came to the Uzumaki's eyes, although very small. "I don't want you to be one of those women crushed by a former relationship so much that they can't move on."
Deidara saw an opportunity and took it. "Alright, how about I make a promise to you? If, if you die then I shall move on, but just know that I don't plan on you dying anytime soon." She added on a small, "I don't think anyone could anyways." under her breath.
Naruto nodded and turned his head to the girl. Placing a small kiss on her forehead, he whispered his goodbye. "Your letter was quite flattering by the way." Once again, the teen vanished leaving a blushing Deidara in his wake.
Outside of the walls, Naruto appeared and started his run. "You folded," Kyuubi said, a hinge of amusement in his voice. 'I couldn't turn her down okay. Unlike you, I have some emotions.' The spirit sensed an argument and quickly calmed the situation.
"Now boys, we still have a long way to go, and you two arguing isn't gonna be fun." Kyuubi had a quick comeback. "But it'll help pass the time faster."