Chapter 1: Banishment
Hey ya'll, Iskander Mandoraekon here, I am back with my promised rewrite of Lioness Rampant.
As you all know, this will be a fic where Naruto is a girl and is banished after the successful retrieval mission for one Sasuke Uchiha.
I have fixed several of the grammatical errors and changed some scenes, but it is mostly the same as the original first chapter.
Unlike most of my fictions this will not be a Sasuke bashing fic, I will also be lightening up on Sakura, though the council bashing will be as strong as ever. I hope you enjoy the story.
I do not own Naruto.
The retrieval team that was made up of Nara Shikamaru; a chunin, Hyuga Neji, Akimichi Choji, Uzumaki Naruko, Rock Lee and Inuzuka Kiba; all genin: had succeeded in retrieving the most recent traitor of the Hidden Leaf Village, one Uchiha Sasuke.
Sasuke as expected, was injured from the battle he had with his blonde teammate at the Valley of the End; but compared to those he inflicted on Naruko, who defeated the renegade Uchiha in his curse mark state by using a Kyuubi enhanced Rasengan that blew away his false wings, Sasuke's injuries were a light scrape from falling quickly and abruptly on pavement to a large, fresh scar.
Even as she carried him on her back as she made her way back to the village of their birth, Naruko had two huge slowly healing scars from the two Chidori strikes Sasuke had struck her with, several broken ribs and a few large cuts on her thighs, face and arms.
The whole team had been returned, either by medical ninja sent after them by the concerned Godaime, with the aide of the Sand Siblings that had decided to help as they came across the battling team or on their own, at various points of the mission with small or life threatening injuries from their respective fights with Otogakure's Sound Five.
Rock Lee had several cuts littering his body from his encounter with the bone wielding Kimimaro, his teammate Neji and fellow genin Choji were critically injured from their battles with the six armed Kidomaru and the energy sucking Jirobo; Neji possessing a large hole that had been violently torn through his shoulder from the spider ninja's arrows and several stab wounds in his back, and Choji was highly malnourished from eating his family's pills, as well as possessing several broken bones and bruised organs from his fight with Jirobo.
The team leader, Shikamaru managed to return with just a broken finger and light chakra exhaustion, his former adversary Temari helping him drag the enemy kunoichi Tayuya back to Konoha for questioning.
The only member of team eight to join the team, Kiba Inuzuka was suffering from a self-inflicted stab wound to his stomach that he used to purge the parasitic ninja siblings, Sakon and Ukon, from his body.
Lastly, Naruko, the teammate of the renegade Uchiha that they were all chasing after, was in the worst condition, but most of it wasn't visible and/or healed already thanks to the Bijuu, the Kyuubi, that was sealed inside her gut, working hard to keep her alive after her teammate's multiple attempts to murder her so that he could run to the traitor Orochimaru.
Their quarry, Sasuke, had had a half strength Rasengan rammed through his chest, a Kyuubi-fied Rasengan destroy the wings of his cursed state, and a couple of cuts and broken bones.
The blonde that carried him quite a few broken bones, two full powered Chidori from Sasuke rammed into her torso and several dozen cuts.
Naruko and Sasuke's sensei, Hatake Kakashi, found her in the middle of her struggle back to the village while carrying her deserter of a teammate and the white haired Jounin had carried her along with the traitor all the way back to Konoha on his back, while the medics carried the rest of the team. When they arrived at the Hokage tower, Shikamaru reported the mission as a success to Tsunade, the Godaime Hokage, and informed her of the member of the Oto Four that he and Temari had brought back, while Kakashi carried his two injured students to the treatment ward, handing Naruko off to Shizune at the entrance.
Sasuke, the village's precious Last Uchiha, was strapped to a bed immediately by concerned doctors and his wounds taken care of while he was still unconscious; while Naruko was forced to walk back home and treat herself when the medic Shizune left in charge refused the 'Demon' any treatment, though a nice young male medic did give her a first aid pouch and directions of what to do after sending an exasperated look to his superior.
On the way to her rundown apartment, she ran into her last teammate, Sakura Haruno, putting on her usual cheerful smile so Sakura could see that she had succeeded in retrieving their AWOL teammate.
"You did it Naruko! You got Sasuke-kun back!?" Sakura asked happily, her emerald eyes filling with glee as her kunoichi teammate nodded to the pink-haired genin.
"That's right Sakura-chan," Naruko said with a pained cough as she clutched her chest, where her injury from taking Sasuke's Chidori was still healing. "I always keep my promises, Dattebane! And I never go back on my word no matter what!"
"Can I go see Sasuke-kun yet?" Sakura asked giddily, her eyes already assuming their usual far off glazed look of her imagining the Uchiha of their team finally accepting her requests for a date, followed shortly after by the image of her pregnant with his child, while wearing a ring with the Uchiha fan emblazoned on it around her finger.
"Yeah, but I think that he's asleep right now, Kakashi-sensei said something about sealing the remainder of the curse mark on his neck," Naruko said as she continued down the road towards her small apartment to patch up her wounds, while Sakura didn't give any notice of the blood on her blonde teammate or Naruko's limp a single thought and bolted down the road towards the hospital at speeds not seen before from the pinkette.
Training Ground Seven; Two days later
Naruko was smiling to herself as she watched the birds flying around in the trees while she waited for the arrival of her silver haired cyclopean sensei and only conscious teammate at the bridge of the training grounds that was the usual meeting place for team seven, her smile grew when she heard the sound of running feet and looked down to see Sakura running towards the bridge.
Just as the pinkette arrived, Naruko began to give a cheerful wave until she saw the dark snarl on her teammate's face.
"You fucking bitch!" Sakura screeched as she slugged the blonde upon reaching her whiskered teammate, knocking the startled kunoichi to the ground, not noticing her teammate coughing up blood as her injuries were aggravated. "I thought you were his friend! How could you hurt him so horribly!? It's a miracle all his limbs are intact!"
"B-but, Sakura-chan," Naruko coughed as she held her barely healed ribs, wincing at the feeling of blood staining her beloved jumpsuit. "He hurt me in the fight too…"
"Don't call me that!" Sakura snarled as she kicked the girl in the side, making the girl's attempt to smile turn to a grimace of pain, releasing a grunt of pain as the pinkette's leg came into contact with her side again and again. "Sasuke-kun is still unconscious! And you dare complain that your injuries are in compare to his!? DON'T EVER COME NEAR ME AGAIN!"
Tears sprung from the blonde's eyes as she barely managed to dodge a powerful kick aimed for her chest from the girl she had hoped to become friends with since their time in the academy. Shakily standing to her feet, Naruko quickly moved away from the bridge and ran away from her pink-haired attacker.
She didn't care about missing the team meeting as tears fell from her face while she ran towards her apartment. Never noticing her cyclopean sensei appearing on the bridge as she turned the corner, the veteran Jounin angrily demanding a reason for Sakura's attack on her teammate.
Hokage's Office; Fifteen hours later, same day
Tsunade sighed as she rubbed her temple to try and stave away the migraine she could feel coming, before the fifty+ woman took another swig of her newest sake bottle as she signed yet another document from the seemingly growing piles of paperwork that had been residing on her desk since the day before yesterday.
The last member of the dying Senju clan and current Hokage had been having a hectic day with the three Elders and the council of civilians yelling at her about how she should punish Naruko for the 'grievous injuries' inflicted upon their precious Uchiha.
Even though Sasuke only had minor wounds compared to the young Uzumaki that Tsunade liked to see as her younger sister that reminded her so much of her long dead friend Kushina.
The busty blonde moaned slightly as she picked up another piece of paper and stared at it through her drunken, glazed over stupor; she sighed with a hiccup as she signed the paper and placed the Hokage's seal on the paper, before the intoxicated Kage hiccupped again, tossing the paper onto one of the many stacks, not bothering to read it all the way to the end.
If she had she would have noticed the lines of, 'Indefinite Banishment of genin Uzumaki Naruko, for the assault and attempt of murder upon fellow Leaf Shinobi' written in bold in the middle of the request.
Morning of the next day
Tears were streaming down her whiskered cheeks as Naruko stared at the woman she had seen as a mother figure since she and Jiraiya had brought her back to the village to be the Godaime, and the three Elders that stood around the stone-faced woman that was trying to stare at anything but her.
Her dream to become the Hokage had just been smashed and torn to pieces by the contents of the document that the stoic Elder, Homura Mitokado, read to her; she was being forced to leave the village, her home, and would never be Hokage.
To finally be respected like she had long dreamed.
Like what Sarutobi-Jiji had promised her.
In addition to having to leave behind the place that had been her home since her birth and being forced to abandon her dream, she could no longer be a ninja because of the new seal a very sympathetic and angry Neko-masked Anbu with long purple hair was drawing on her naked back.
A seal that would make sure that she would never be able to use any ninjutsu or genjutsu again either.
From what the Elder had told her, the seal would send great pain throughout her body if she attempted to use ninjutsu signs, crippling her until she stopped her attempts.
A thorough precaution that was apparently put into the banishment order by the one-eyed bandaged Elder standing just inside the shadows.
Tsunade was standing behind her desk, staring at the girl that she had considered a younger sister or daughter, her face being capable of resembling a statue as her two advisors, Homura and Koharu, informed the younger blonde and her sensei, who had joined them in the room after learning from his rival that she was being escorted by Anbu to the Hokage Office, of the punishment for her 'crimes', the anger the cyclopean was feeling expressed in his coiled muscles and clenched fists, clearly barely stopping himself from using his infamous Chidori on the three old has-beens standing before him.
"Genin Uzumaki Naruko, Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi no Kitsune, you are to be banished from the great village of Konohagakure no Sato and the Land of Fire immediately by decree of the Daimyo of the Land of Fire, Yoshiyuki Kaneko-Sama, and by the degree of the Godaime Hokage, Tsunade Senju-Sama," Homura declared as he read out the banishment order. "She is to be stripped of her ability to use ninjutsu of any kind, as well as being stripped of her contract with the Toads as given to her by the Sannin, Jiraiya. She is to leave the village by tomorrow morning at the first signs of the rising sun, where the honorable council will announce her banishment to the rest of this village. If Genin Uzumaki refuses to leave, all shinobi of the village are permitted to kill her on sight."
The old man mentally sighed as he stared down at the crying Jinchuuriki as the Anbu finished the seal she had been given by Danzo. While he personally had nothing against the young girl, having been the sensei of her crimson haired mother during the end of the second and beginning of the third wars, he was forced to see the dangers she presented to the village via the Bijuu hunting organization, Akatsuki, and how the rest of the village would react against her once they found out about the injuries she inflicted upon the last Uchiha when she returned him to the village from his attempt to join Orochimaru.
"Naruko-" Kakashi said as he choked up, his lone eye beginning to tear up. "I'm so sorry…"
He never got to finish his sentence as the blonde turned away from them and ran from the office, tears streaming through the air behind her.
Tsunade excused the elders and Kakashi from her office, the imenint death promised in her glare when Danzo and Koharu sought to begin a meeting with the woman, being enough to silence anyone, before they vacated her office, and the woman sat behind her desk as she stared at the four pictures on the wall hollowly, taking a sip of her sake. She looked down at the village as she felt like the pictures of the previous Kages were glaring at her in disappointment, especially pictures of her beloved grandfather and the Yondaime.
Naruko's apartment; an hour later
Naruko had just finished packing what few belongings she owned and needed for her journey in her small, rundown apartment and decided to begin heading for the gates of the village, not wanting to waste any more time in a village that clearly didn't want her.
However, before she could make a quick get-away, her self-proclaimed students and followers, Konohamaru and his small gang, consisting of Moegi and Udon, knocked excitedly on her ex-apartment's door, prompting the young depressed girl to open the dent riddled door and feel a slight irony that while their grandparents apparently hated her, the grandchildren of the Elders that had just banished her idolized her.
"Heya Nee-san!" Konohamaru exclaimed happily, the young Academy student more than happy to copy the exuberant personality of the girl that saved him from the worthless teachings of Ebisu and was the first person to see him as Konohamaru rather than the honorable grandson of the Sandaime; the boy and his cohorts having finally escaped Iruka's boring lectures about some reforms done by the councils during the short period of peace between the third and second wars, for the day with Moegi and Udon. "Wanna come play ninja with us?"
"Sorry Ko-chan," Naruko replied as she wiped away a tear from her eye, glad to see that even in a village that apparently hated her, there were some that happily accepted her. "But I have to tell you something important."
The sad tone of her voice immediately that caught the attention of her three little cohorts in the crime known as pranks, their small faces becoming serious, having never seen their self-proclaimed older sister like this before.
"What is it, Boss?" Udon asked in slight concern as he ignored the constant running nose by concentrating on his older sister figure, finally noticing the sadness etched into her usually joy filled face.
"I-I've been banished from the village for the injuries Sasuke was brought back in, I won't be allowed in the Land of Fire anymore after tomorrow morning," Naruto stuttered as she tried to keep her tears from falling anew.
"WHAT!?" The trio of Academy students exclaimed, their eyes bugging out of their skulls as anger formed on their faces.
"I'LL FRIGGIN' KILL WHOEVER DID THIS!" Konohamaru roared with absolute anger on his face, reminding the former genin of the Sandaime whenever he defended her from shopkeepers that tried to cheat her out of the supplies she needed; the seven year old's rage scaring several civilians that were walking along the road, his friends Moegi and Udon both wore similar expressions of inconceivable rage at the news they had just been told by the girl they looked up to and idolized, especially upon finding out that it had been their respective grandparent to issue the banishment.
"Calm down Ko-chan," Naruko said softly as she placed her hand on her surrogate little brother's shoulder, a tired smile on her face at the sight of his anger for her behalf.
"CALM DOWN!?" Konohamaru exclaimed as he looked set upon murdering every civilian on the council and the Elders for banishing one of the only family members he had left besides his uncle Asuma and the man's girlfriend Kurenai Yuhi. "HOW CAN YOU EXPECT ME TO BE ANYWHERE NEAR CALM!? YOU JUST GOT BANISHED FROM THE VILLAGE BY THOSE RETARDS ON THE COUNCIL AND THAT OLD BITCH OF A HAG, NEE-SAN!"
"It's because there is nothing I can do about any of it Ko-chan. Besides, I guess I already saw this coming," Naruko said, bowing her head. "The councils have always hated me, so I guess that whether or not I was able to bring Sasuke-teme back, they would have probably still banished me either way."
Naruko then pulled her leaf headband that she had received from Iruka from her forehead and placed it on Konohamaru's smaller head as he stared up at her with startled surprise that she would give him her prized headband, tying it into place in his messy hair before leaning back to take in the image of her adopted little brother wearing her headband.
"I am no longer a kunoichi of the Hidden Leaf; tell that to anyone who actually cared enough," Naruko said as she closed the door to her apartment for the last time and rubbed the three heads of the Konohamaru corps members, before she turned and walked towards the Northern Gate of the village. "Goodbye, Ko-cha, Mo-chan, U-chan. Stay safe."
Once she reached the gate that her team had gone through for their mission to Wave, she received a pair of salutes from the two eternal gate chunin, Izumo and Kotetsu, both of whom always enjoyed her pranks, as they lit up their days; as she started walking out the large entrance only to be stopped by several of her old classmates and their sensei.
The only ones she did not see being her former teammate Sakura and the kunoichi member of team ten, Ino, who were visiting Sasuke at the hospital; and the remainder of team eight, who were out on a mission.
All of the gathered genin, chunin and Jounin were more or less angry with the Elders; each of them giving the exiled blonde a gift to send her off.
Kakashi, the only member of her own squad to show up, was first; he gave her the Hiraishin kunai that his own sensei, the Yondaime Hokage, had given him when he had become a Jounin at the age of eleven, along with a few Kenjutsu scrolls that he received from the Neko Anbu that had drawn the seal on her back so that she could learn to defend herself without the use of ninjutsu.
Then it was team ten's turn; Asuma, the only surviving son of the Sandaime and newly made head of the Sarutobi clan, gave her a slip of paper, telling her that it was something he had received from his friend Chiriku, that it would help her join any shinobi temple she came across if she wished to become one of the many Shinobi Monks.
Shikamaru gave her the customary gist of how he was going to carve the troublesome members of the civilian and elder councils a new one, and Choji gave her several bags of his favorite Akimichi specially made potato chips along with several scrolls full of soda from his parent's restaurant in a storage scroll.
Team Nine was the last of the group to see her off and the three of them noticed the obvious absence of Sakura and Ino, both only caring about their Uchiha crush. Sakura and Ino were both in a pissed off fit about Sasuke's 'injuries' and Sasuke was still unconscious from their fight at the valley.
"This farce by the councils is a most unyouthful thing, their Flames of Youth have been severely dampened, so we shall now train four times harder than before so that our own Flames of Youth shall become a blazing volcano in your honor young Uzumaki," Gai declared as he took his nice guy stance, light glistening from his pure white teeth.
"Oh Gai-sensei!" Lee exclaimed loudly fire blazing in his eyes that made everyone back away as they tried to hide from what they knew was coming, with other shinobi in the vicinity running in the opposite direction when they discovered the source of the sudden disturbance.
"Lee!"
"Gai-sensei!"
"Lee!"
"Gai-sensei!"
"Lee!"
"Gai-sensei!"
"AVERT YOUR EYES!" Neji screamed in absolute terror as he hid himself behind the tree next to the signing office, his bun-haired weapon-using teammate quick to follow him.
Everyone else covered their eyes in a panic as the two spandex wearers came together in a manly hug that caused the indestructible Beach genjutsu spring up behind them to blind all viewers in the way of the Youth. Naruko heard a thud and everyone turned to look at Kakashi, who was entering what appeared to be a seizure on the ground from being too late to turn away, foam somehow appearing over his mouth through the mask.
"Naruko-san," Neji said as the genjutsu ended and the wary Hyuga came out from behind the tree, his bandaged hand coming to rest on the orange wearing kunoichi's shoulder, before he pulled her into a hug that surprised the others. "I was able to defy the path that Fate set for me thanks to the fight I had with you in the Exams and you are a great person that does not deserve any of the crap the councils are making you put up with, I will miss you my friend."
"I may not have known you for long, but I just want you to know that I will miss you along with everyone else," Tenten said with a smirk as she took Neji's place, hugging the Jinchuuriki. "Also don't worry about those fangirl bitches; I have a good punishment for people who abandon their comrades." The bun haired girl whispered into Naruko's ear, sending shivers of fear up her spine as Tenten pulled back to reveal her face covered halfway in shadow and her eyes glowing a demonic red that she had only seen on Kyuubi.
"Thank you all," Naruko said as she wiped away a stray tear, she looked towards Kakashi, who was being helped to his feet by his rival, his seizure having ended while Tenten and Neji said their farewells. "Kakashi-san, could you please tell Ayame-neechan and Iruka-sensei that I said goodbye, I know Iruka-sensei is in class and Ayame-neechan is busy with Teuchi-Jiji's shop."
The silver haired man nodded as he hugged the young blonde before she turned and walked out the gate of Konoha to start her new life, not looking back at the place that had once been her home.
The Hospital; the next morning
Sakura sighed dreamily as she watched the unconscious figure of her crush lay on his hospital bed. Ino had left the night before due to having to get up early for something that her sensei called hard training when he came to the hospital the night before, disappointment on his face when he looked at his kunoichi student.
Sakura smirked at the memory of Ino's disappointment as she went to get some water, 'That just leaves Sasuke-kun all to me when he wakes up!'
The hormonal pinkette's thoughts of seducing the Uchiha while they were alone were interrupted as she heard a low moan coming from the bed behind her. She quickly turned to see Sasuke slowly sitting up to look around the white hospital room in confusion, his bandaged right hand coming up to massage his aching head before his onyx colored eyes fell upon the scratched headband sitting on his bedside table, his body freezing at the sight of it. "What the Hell happened?"
Sakura was at her crush's side in an instant, the cup she was using falling to the ground in her haste.
"That stupid Naruko-baka attacked you, Sasuke-kun!" Sakura exclaimed, unknowingly making Sasuke wince from her loud voice. "And the baka was banished yesterday because she hurt you so badly. But don't you worry, Sasuke-kun! I'm here to help you now that the baka isn't here!"
'What the… Naruko… was banished?' Sasuke thought, his onyx eyes widening in surprise as he sat straight up in his bed, his headache ignored for the news he had just received about his other teammate. 'What the hell is going on!? I need to find Kakashi-sensei! He might know what is going on.'
"So, um, maybe we can go out together on a date, Sasuke-kun, I've been reading up and preparing to help you heal from your traumatic experience?" Sakura asked as she saw him moving to get up, his legs swinging over the bedside, mistaking his panicked expression for happiness. 'CHAA YES! Now that Naruko's not disrupting my plans with her ugly figure and posturing, Sasuke will finally be mine!'
"Shut the fuck up Haruno," Sasuke snarled at the girl, making her back up in fright at the anger on his face as he climbed out the window to begin his search for his currently missing sensei to find out what was going on. "I need to find Kakashi-sensei! I need to fix this!"
Sakura was left sitting in her chair at the edge of his empty bed, hurt and confused at his very clear rejection.
Here you go guys and girls, this is the first of the rewrite of your beloved Lioness. I'll be trying to work on the second chapter of my new Fate/Apocrypha-Harry Potter crossover that you guys had such a good reaction to, but I can't promise anything.
As you can see, I changed the location of the seal that was placed on Naruko's hands the first time around. This time it is located in the middle of her shoulder blades over her spine, where it is difficult for her to reach, let alone alter when she learns more about Fuinjutsu and her heritage.
Just a bit of warning, instead of the original six years that pass in the original fanfiction, over nine years will pass, meaning that all the Konoha Rookies and Naruko will be twenty-two to twenty-three rather than the original nineteen.
Have fun and remember to post a review of what you guys think. Please no flamers, if you have a problem with the story, don't make the review derogatory or overly rude, I'll just delete the posted review if you do.
Iskander Mandoraekon signing out, Ja Ne.