Chapter 21: The Bikochu Beetle
There were still traces of residual paint on the monument the next morning.
Naruto couldn't stop snickering every time he looked at it; Hashirama's statue still looked like it was wearing light pink eyeshadow.
He walked towards the gate, twenty minutes early. Fortunately for him, Sasuke's diligence had worked out, because he didn't have to face Tsunade until he returned from his mission.
"Hey, Izumo. Hey, Kotetsu."
The two chuunin groaned, faces planted in their desk. They'd been running around in the fray with everyone else yesterday, and it was also the crack of dawn.
Naruto rolled his eyes at them and adjusted his collar to better cover his neck; it was chilly in the mornings as fall neared. He'd opted for a lightweight, breathable navy jacket with black fur lining the hood and sleeves and a thick belt around the waist to reduce bagginess; the Uzumaki spiral was emblazoned on both biceps.
A significant amount of Sasuke's budget that he didn't use for either food or bills went to gear. Team Seven had several sets for different weather conditions; they had desert clothing, gear for snowy mountains, outfits for strictly traveling through forest or swamps, rain gear, full armor, light armor, even clothing for hazardous materials. Along with plain black jounin pants, his current attire was made for going through woods that got cold at night and kept warm in the day.
He sat down on the two chuunin's desk, swinging his feet back and forth. As long as he didn't actually go to sleep the night before, he was quite the morning person. He'd taken a nap the previous evening and stayed up most of the night working on the Hiraishin, trying to work out some of the kinks that ensued when he used it long-distance.
The minutes ticked by. It felt more like an hour; even Izumo had started to snore. Naruto was adjusting his sandals when he heard Kiba yawning. Raising his eyes to the road, he saw Team Eight approaching with Shino in the lead.
Lazily, he raised one gloved hand above his head. "Yo!" he shouted.
Hinata smiled shyly. She glanced at the collar of his jacket before turning to the ground with a blush staining her cheeks, while Kiba let out a hoot and bounded forward. "Yo! Naruto, man! We haven't seen you in forever."
The Kyuubi popped into existence behind his back, jumping onto his shoulders and making Kiba pause. "I didn't know ya had an animal partner," he said as Akamaru emerged from his coat and yapped loudly.
"Yep." Both "animals" descended to the ground. Kurama let out a low growl, making Akamaru make a snorting sound, and Naruto raised an eyebrow at him. "What the hell? You speak pig and dog now?"
Kurama turned and smirked at him, letting out another growling noise. Naruto could always understand him, even if he wasn't using words. "Don't snark me, you little geek."
Akamaru yipped. Naruto tilted his head and squinted, vaguely making out the gist of what he'd said due to his experience with the Kyuubi, even if it was impossible for him to fully understand the dog. "Did he just call me funny-looking?"
Surprised, Kiba lifted Akamaru from the ground. "Wow, I didn't know you could understand him. Yeah, he said you looked weird."
"Can't so much understand him as he sounds similar to Kurama. Who calls me disparaging terms all the time." Naruto shot a glare at the fox, who just preened and turned up his nose at him.
"Th-that's a very useful skill to have, Naruto-kun," Hinata spoke up, a tiny smile tugging at her lips. "How long have you had, um, Kurama?"
She knelt down to stare at the fox, who just gave her a wary look and continued to ignore them all. "Uh…" Naruto was at a loss on how to answer, and it didn't go over Shino's head. "About, uh, since we were in the Academy? Ahaha…" He grinned and rubbed the back of his head.
"Eh? Are you guys leaving?" Izumo lifted his head from the desk, hiding a yawn.
"Team Eight reporting for a B-rank out of village," Shino said, making the chuunin jump, as his attention had been on Naruto and Kiba.
Izumo squinted at the scroll Shino held out. "Wouldn't Naruto be the captain here since he's highest rank?"
"Shino has the most expertise," Naruto said with a yawn as he folded his arms behind his head. "It's highly specialized."
"Eh, whatever. Have a good time."
"As good a time as any you can have in a bug habitat," Kotetsu muttered.
Kurama was giving Hinata a dull-eyed look as she stroked his head, ears flicked back. "Don't worry," Naruto said, leaning down to glare at him. "He does that to everyone. He's just pouty I woke him up early." He crossed his arms, radiating disapproval.
Kurama glared at him before growling under his breath and climbing him like a ladder to settle in his hood.
Hinata couldn't help but giggle, blush returning full force when he addressed her. "Time to move out," Shino said, starting forward at a leisurely pace.
"Here ya go, buddy." Kiba placed Akamaru on his shoulders like Kurama. The remaining three followed their leader down the path, leaving the village behind them.
Naruto stared at the roof of the tent, wide awake, as Kiba's soft snores filled the night air. Hinata's breathing was a steady rhythm on Kiba's other side, while Shino was dead silent at the end. Kurama was curled up against his side using his stomach as a pillow.
He had pretended to fall asleep until Hinata left the tent for some reason- he assumed it was private, otherwise she'd have done whatever she was doing during the day- and taken a quick twenty-minute nap while she was gone. He caught a few minutes while Kiba was tossing and turning and trying to fall asleep, as well as when Shino got up to relieve himself in the forest. Otherwise, he stayed wide awake when his teammates were asleep.
The sound of chirping crickets kept it from being deathly silent, at least. Naruto had learned to fall asleep to the sound of the ghosts and foxes on the Uchiha property, so he had trouble resting when it was too quiet. He was accustomed to the occasional muttering passing by his window, or the sound of a fox digging a hole to sleep in, or a branch brushing against his window.
He was impressed by Shino's perceptiveness, as it was only the second night when the Aburame followed him out of the tent when he went to get some fresh air. He knew after a few seconds that he was being followed, so he stopped in a clearing near the tent and leaned his back against a tree until Shino jumped down in front of him.
"Somethin' wrong, captain?"
He had a feeling he was being evaluated. "It is unhealthy to go without sleep for long periods of time. A shinobi must be rested to complete his mission to the best of his ability."
Naruto grinned sheepishly. "Yeah, I know. Believe me, Iruka-sensei ground the shinobi rules into my head a long time ago. I'm just unable to sleep well outside my house. You don't have to worry; lots of orphans get it."
He hadn't meant anything by it; orphans often lived on the streets and learned to be light sleepers. Being dead to the world meant your food or belongings got stolen or you got snatched because you weren't listening and watching for danger.
Shino was silent for a moment. "I gather your orphanage was not a comforting environment?"
Sometimes Naruto's generation forgot he was, in fact, an orphan.
Naruto couldn't help it. He burst into laughter, quickly covering his mouth with his wrist so as not to wake anyone. "I- I'm sorry, Shino. Not trying to make you feel stupid or condescend anything. It's just…a little different than a clan heir can understand. It's a different world. The younger you are, the better you have it; kids usually get kicked out onto the street when they're old enough to fend for themselves. Orphanages have little funding and a lot of the matrons don't give two craps about the kids themselves. It's all politics now, and the kids don't get taken care of. The orphan population of Konoha is significantly smaller than other villages, so it doesn't get much attention. Added to that, we usually hang around the 'bad' parts of town, so the average citizen stays oblivious."
"…I see. How old were you when you were expelled?"
It felt vaguely odd to have someone take an interest in his childhood life; Naruto didn't know why Shino wanted to know, but didn't see any reason to lie. "Eh, I dunno. Four? Five? Somewhere around that."
"I didn't realize four was considered old enough to fend for yourself." Was that sarcasm? Naruto definitely detected sarcasm.
"Most kids got kicked to the curb when they were around nine or ten," Naruto shrugged. Shino frowned. "But I turned out fine. We all had a weird comradery. Even if we did compete over food and all that. Most of the older kids still picked on the younger ones, but we had an unspoken agreement to help each other avoid adults."
"You never tried to find assistance?" Naruto couldn't help but find Shino's ignorance endearing.
"Nah, man, no one really gave a crap. Hokage-jiji was too busy so I didn't ask him. He got me an apartment down the line, and that was all I really asked for. I knew he'd just have me go back to the orphanage, and we all preferred to stay where we were. See, this might be hard to understand," Naruto scratched the side of his head, trying to figure out how to explain his point, "but when it comes to people in need, most people just turn a blind eye. It's an inconvenience to see a dirty kid rooting through a dumpster because then you feel guilty. If every citizen in the village gave just one ryo, my orphanage would have had enough to renovate. But people don't give. They talk about giving and there are people who give, but in general, the ones who do don't get enough help from everybody else to make a difference. That's just how it is."
"That's quite a depressing outlook on life to hold."
"Might be. But it's what we grew up with, so we can't really change it. I hope it'll change someday, I'll try to change it, but realistically, well…" Naruto trailed off with a shrug. "But anyway, that's why I don't sleep outside Sasuke's house or my apartment, if I've put barrier seals up. The Uchiha District is one of the safest places in the village, so I'm really one of the lucky ones, getting to stay there. But a kid on the street, even with a place like Konoha, you don't fall asleep out in the open, you don't leave your belongings anywhere, you keep alert at all times. Otherwise…" Naruto paused, thinking of a little girl he'd made friends with when he was only five. She'd been a few years older than him, had long, pretty purple hair that he was always complimenting, and had a smile that could shine through the darkest rain cloud. He'd played with her every other day at the park and they'd scavenged food together.
She'd disappeared for a few days and come back with a dead look in her eye. Naruto had never seen her smile again.
Two weeks after she'd resurfaced, he'd found her face down in a ditch, and that pretty purple hair had been saturated with blood.
The worst thing was, he had never even known her name. The first time he'd met her, she'd told him he looked like a fox, and he had retaliated by calling her a goose. They'd referred to each other as Fox and Goose, constantly trying to guess the other's name. They'd agreed that the first one to correctly guess would have dibs on the pack of pocky they'd found- almost brand new.
He'd buried the pocky with her corpse. She'd had no funeral; just a few ANBU who came and buried her beside her parents.
He must have lost control over his expression for a few minutes, as Shino interrupted his memories in a quiet tone. "I understand. I will take turns standing watch with you."
Naruto shook himself, throwing on a wide grin that didn't quite reach his eyes. "Thanks. I'll take first one; I'm wide awake. You go ahead and sleep." He waved his hand in a dismissive gesture.
Shino stood there for a moment watching him. "Very well." He retreated back to their tent at a slow walk, nearly silent even with the leaves and branches underfoot.
Naruto stood there for a long while, staring up at the moon and reminiscing.
"Naruto."
Naruto gulped at Shino's tone, sweat sliding down his face as he leaned back. The Aburame could be quite intimidating when he wanted. Even if most of his face was covered, it felt like he was glaring at him. Kiba watched them with a sweatdrop while Hinata rolled up the tent.
"You didn't wake me last night."
"I- uh, I forgot?" Naruto laughed weakly. He actually had forgotten- he'd ended up staring at the moon all night; it had slipped his mind that he was supposed to wake Shino to take a shift.
Still sweating bullets, he watched as Shino slowly pulled out the mission scroll. "I will take first shift tomorrow evening," he said. "And Kiba will take second. Hinata will take third, and you will take fourth. You will wake me for the fifth shift. If you don't, I'll dock your pay."
Naruto's jaw popped open. "I- you…Fine."
Apparently satisfied, Shino drew back and turned to help Hinata with the tent.
"I'd do what he says, man," Kiba whispered behind his hand, leaning over to his ear. Naruto twitched.
"This is what the Bikochu looks like. It will produce offspring directly after rain, and is only active during the day. Once the offspring hatches, it will locate the source of the very first scent it is exposed to, so time is of the essence."
"What or who are we tracking?" Naruto asked, examining the photograph Shino held out with raised eyebrows.
"Hokage-sama did not specify. She only gave me this." Shino produced a scrap of white cloth from one of his pockets. "We are to expose the hatchling to it and report back to her."
"A-okay, capitan," Naruto said, turning to saunter off the branch they all stood gathered on. "I'll take this direction!" he called out.
"I'll be over here!" Kiba called, leaping down to the forest floor and taking off through the brush.
"I-I suppose I'll search that way," Hinata mumbled. She started north, activating her Byakugan.
Shino sighed. "I didn't say to start yet," he muttered before sulking into the woods.
Naruto squinted at a beetle on a tree branch above him, frowning. "Nope," he murmured, dropping to another branch. His shadow clones were spread out around him, perusing the trees like the pages of a gripping novel.
Speaking of, he was itching to take out his book, as he hadn't read it in at least two days, but he repressed the urge. I wonder what sensei's doing, he thought. Probably peeking on a hot spring.
"Any luck?" he called down to Kurama. The fox had been grumpy when Naruto told him to help look ("I don't do missions for your stupid village, brat!"), but his mood had picked up when he realized how much small game there was in the forest for him to snack on. Naruto had already seen him rend two rabbits to pieces.
"No," Kurama called back. A note of sarcasm lay in his voice, even as he squinted at a leaf. "You realize how impossible this is, right?"
"Just keep looking."
"Is this one it?" A clone asked, leaning over to another and showing it the beetle in its hand.
"Nope," the second clone responded with a shake of its head.
The real Naruto dropped to the ground, dusting off his pants. He had calculated the rough circumference of the forest as they were climbing down into the canyon it sat in, separating it into sixteen sections like pieces of a pie. Even so, the sections themselves were infinite in how many insects they could have held; even with an even rougher estimate, he supposed there were no less than twenty thousand. It was, after all, an insect sanctuary. Even he couldn't make that many clones.
He could technically two thousand, but that would deplete his chakra to the point fighting off any enemy nin would be troublesome.
A blip of chakra on his senses interrupted his thoughts. Pausing, he made to examine a tree branch, but his attention was elsewhere- rather, on the three chakra signals he could feel stalking his team.
"Let's report back," he said casually to Kurama, who glanced up and nodded after seeing his expression. The fox leapt onto his shoulders, and he took off for Shino's position.
I can smell them, Kurama told him. Two males and one female.
Shino and Kiba were sitting on a log when he arrived. "Yo," he greeted lazily. With a wave, he sat on the log opposite, rolling his eyes towards the sky. "You realized already, right?"
Kiba nodded. "Me and Akamaru sniffed 'em out. I guess Kurama there found them?"
"That and I sensed them."
"A sensor nin. I was not aware you had good enough chakra control for that." Shino hadn't reacted or moved at all, staring straight ahead.
Naruto shrugged. "I practice a lot." "A lot" being he made five hundred clones every day when he wasn't on a mission to run up and down a river holding leaves all over their bodies. His control wasn't quite good enough to perform medical jutsu, but chakra sensing was a talent in their family, apparently; Karin was a sensor as well. There was also the fact he knew senjutsu- in his sennin state, his senses were heightened exponentially.
"Well hey, it's useful. I'm willing to bet they're waiting for us to find that Bikochu so they can steal it for themselves," Kiba scowled.
"If that is the case, we do not want to arouse suspicion. We should keep looking separately until we find it, then regroup and stay in groups of two," Shino said, just as Hinata came running up.
"Guys!" she panted, bending over with her hands on her knees. "Did you notice too?"
"Yeah. We're just going to play it cool until we find the Bikochu." Kiba ruffled Akamaru's ears.
"Act like nothing is wrong. There are two males, and one female; take a glance at your surroundings every few minutes to see if they've moved towards you. If you think they're moving in, set off a flare," Naruto instructed, taking several from one of his pouches and handing one to each genin. Glancing up at the sky, he eyed the setting sun. "It's nearing sundown."
"The Bikochu won't be active at night. We might as well set up camp," Shino said, standing. He turned to Naruto suddenly, light glinting off his sunglasses. "Do not forget my orders. I am the leader of this squad."
Naruto sweatdropped.
Naruto had been keeping one metaphorical eye on their stalkers all day, making sure they didn't stray too near any of the others. Kurama had curled up on a tree to take a nap- "Useless baka-"- leaving him to search alone. Noon approached, leaving him to wonder if there was really any hope of finding one bug in the forest.
He dropped down beside Hinata. She jumped with a squeak, losing concentration and letting her Byakugan fade. "Any luck?" he asked, smiling as a desperate bead of sweat ran down his head.
"Not yet," she muttered, frowning at the ground.
"Something wrong?"
"H-huh? N-no, of course not!" She smiled nervously. Turning away towards the forest, she formed a hand seal to concentrate again, and he caught a brief glance of determination crossing her face. "Byakugan!"
Naruto hadn't been expecting much, his confidence in her visual skills aside; the forest was gigantic. He turned back in the direction he'd come from, jumping a mile when she yelled suddenly.
"Naruto-kun! There, there! It's right there!"
Excited, he whirled around, following her line of sight as she pointed. Far above them, he could see a tiny splotch of blue; squinting, he made the outline of the Bikochu as it rested on a tree above them.
"Holy crap, Hinata, that was amazing!" He quickly leapt onto a pentagram and bounced off it, forming a small bubble barrier around the insect. It tried to buzz away, but gently bounced off the barrier, hovering in the center as his hands came around it. "Wols." He let himself gently float back to ground, and the two stared at the beetle in amazement.
"Did you guys find it?" Kiba hollered from somewhere in the trees, having heard Hinata yelling.
"Yeah, Kiba! Over here!"
Kiba came bounding through the underbrush, grinning like a madman. "Woohoo! Finally! I was about ready to knock myself out from how many bugs I had to squint at!"
"Well done." Shino came after him at a much calmer pace, holding a small plastic cage. "Now we need only wait for morning."
"Yeah. I smell rain on the air." Naruto glanced up at the spotless sky. To the naked eye, it looked like a perfect sunny day.
Kiba's eyebrows shot up. "What, you enhance your sense of smell with chakra?"
"Uh." Naruto paused, smiling unconvincingly. "Yeah, that's it." Shino narrowed his eyes at him behind his sunglasses. "So, do we make camp or start for the village?"
Shino was silent for a moment. "We make camp," he decided. "It would be unwise to be caught out on the road when the Bikochu hatches. A multitude of things may go wrong; however, we are familiar with this terrain at this point, and can find a place to set up defenses."
Naruto nodded. "Find me a nook or cranny and I'll seal the hell out of it. Unless they have a fuinjutsu master with them that's on par with the Uzumaki, they won't be able to get in."
"Very well. Hinata, stay with Naruto. Kiba, you're with me. No one go off alone."
Naruto leaned down to fill his canteen with water, following the chakra signals as they moved closer. "Be ready," he whispered to Hinata. She was crouched beside him tense as a board, but nodded.
They dodged in different directions as a slew of senbon littered the ground where they were standing. Kurama flipped off his shoulders to land behind him, hackles rising. "Playtime's over, kids," a woman emerging from the brush called out. Two men flanked her, one with dark hair and the other blond.
"I presume you're after the Bikochu," Naruto said with a smile.
Suzumebachi smirked. "Not so dumb after all for a genin."
"Chuunin, actually. Which I'm assuming is what you all are, if a few genin can detect you so easily." Irritation fell upon their expressions.
"So, you knew we were here the whole time. That doesn't matter. We'll still be having that Bikochu beetle."
"Sorry." Naruto spread his hands with a smirk. "Don't have it on me."
"We figured the Aburame would have it. We only need you to come along quietly." She began to form a hand seal.
"S-Suzumebachi, wait!" the blond one grabbed her arm. He had been just as arrogant as his siblings, but he'd been staring at Naruto, realization slowly spreading across his face. "That one, he's in the Bingo Book!"
Naruto's eyebrows shot up. "Am I?"
Fumbling, the man yanked a small black book out of his arms and shoved it into the woman's hands. She frowned down at it before paling.
A pentagram appeared on the back before it flew out of her hands into Naruto's. The action only seemed to make them more nervous; he scanned the page with an amused expression.
Uzumaki Naruto: A-rank. Village of affiliation: Konohagakure. Rank: Chuunin/Clan Head. In block letters under his name read "explosions specialist", with an S directly beside it. "S-rank explosions specialist? I'm flattered." Further down the page, it noted that he was known to use up to A-rank ninjutsu, and had a summary of a variety of his skills- it listed him as low jounin on taijutsu and kenjutsu, high chuunin on genjutsu, and a simple "master" beside fuinjutsu. There was a mention of a "strange, ink-less fuinjutsu technique" he used as well. "Flee on sight, though? I don't think I quite deserve that…" Well, considering it listed what he'd done to Momoichi Zabuza, maybe the rank wasn't quite undeserved.
"Y-you have a flee on sight order?" Hinata squeaked.
All three Iwa nin were pale as paper. "I-it doesn't matter," Suzumebachi breathed out slowly. "We're getting that Bikochu, even if we have to go through an Uzumaki."
"Sure doesn't look like an Uzumaki," Kurobachi, the dark-haired one, muttered. Naruto's eyebrow set to twitching.
"Ready yourselves!" Suzumebachi barked. All three of them went tense, getting ready to form hand seals.
"Hinata, you better get back," Naruto ordered. "Set off that flare!"
"R-right!" She jumped a distance back and rooted through her backpack for the flare he'd given her.
"Oh no you don't!" The woman set off a jutsu that had hundreds of bees flying at him. Naruto threw up a barrier over him and Hinata as chains burst from his back, skewering the ground behind him.
"What the he-" Jibachi was interrupted by a chain flying up from the ground and clocking him in the chin. He stumbled back and fell to the ground, making a squeak-like sound when the chain arced in midair and made to skewer him.
Two more chains went for the other two, making them scramble aside. "N-Naruto-kun, the flare!" Hinata yelled.
"Right!" Naruto concentrated, making a small hole in the top of the barrier. Hinata released the flare upwards, making bright rivulets of bright orange paint the sky.
Several bees darted in before he completely sealed the barrier again. Naruto slashed the ones that came for him with a kunai, but was partially immobilized by his chain placement; a small pinprick of pain on his neck alerted him to the fact he'd missed one.
His vision began to go blurry. "Kit, poison!" Kurama yelled, leaping onto his shoulder while Hinata gaped at him.
"You can talk?!"
"He's been poisoned!" Kurama barked at her. Naruto swayed lightly on his feet, reaching up to hold his forehead with one hand.
Shino and Kiba burst through the trees, coming to a skidding stop. "What the hell?" Kiba squawked.
Kurobachi whirled and stepped in between the river's shore and the two genin, reversing his bees' path to block them. "Jibachi, help Kurobachi! I'll deal with the Uzumaki," Suzumebachi ordered, gaining confidence when she saw Naruto faltering.
Raindrops splattered on their heads. Naruto shook himself, reinforcing his barrier when he saw it flickering. "You're outnumbered," he called out.
"And you're poisoned," Suzumebachi shot back.
"Eh?! Naruto, you okay over there?" Kiba yelled.
"I'm fine," Naruto replied. Suzumebachi grew nervous again when he failed to pass out after the two minute mark, stomach churning.
I have no choice, then, she thought, rapidly flying through hand seals. "Earth Tunnel!" she cried out, slamming her palm into the ground.
Naruto got a bad feeling when the ground rumbled beneath his feet. "Ah, crap," he said warily, "earth shinobi."
The ground crumbled, leaving nothing for his chains to find purchase on. Hinata shrieked, and the only thing Naruto thought as they tumbled down, down, and down into darkness was the Iwa nin had to have been desperate to use a move that took her with them.
Naruto crashed into another boulder, wincing. Rocks were tumbling all around him, but he couldn't see a thing; thus his difficulty in avoiding them. Irritated, he summoned several pentagrams in the air around him, shining light into the-
Cave?
"She had to have set this up beforehand," Naruto muttered, brushing himself off as he stood. He was still woozy, but he was resilient to poison. "Or found it." He paused and listened to the rushing sound to his left. It must have been a cavern connected to the river.
"Hinata?" he yelled. "Hinata!"
"Don't move," Suzumebachi ordered from behind him. Naruto froze, craning his head around to look over his shoulder. The Iwa kunoichi stood with her kunai against Hinata's neck, while the girl herself looked more guilty than scared.
"I-I'm sorry, Naruto-kun," she whispered.
Naruto took a slow time turning around and raised his hands into the air. "Take it easy. The bug's not worth more to me than her," he said carefully.
Two shapes appeared in the darkness behind her. "Closed up the hole up top," Kurobachi reported. "Although that Inuzuka brat was trying to barrel through last I saw."
"Down here, you can't use any of those pesky bombs of yours," Jibachi said with a sly smirk. "And with her, that takes away half the reason you've got an A-rank. Pssh. Hardly deserved it."
Naruto refrained from pointing out he would have simply blown them to bits if there hadn't been other Konoha shinobi around. However, it seemed he would have to simply roll with the situation again, even if the Konoha genin were proving to be a slight hindrance once more. If not for Hinata, he would have blown the cavern up, himself being there aside.
"Now then. Restrain him," Suzumebachi ordered, expression hardening.
"Right, s-" Jibachi began, startled when Kurama leapt onto Suzumebachi's shoulder from out of nowhere. With a snarl that sounded more demonic than his appearance warranted, he latched onto the woman's forearm, making her shriek.
Hinata elbowed her in the gut, leaping forward to escape her grasp. She stumbled on the rocky terrain, and Naruto quickly caught her before she fell, moving back to gain distance and remaining oblivious to the blush that bloomed on her cheeks.
With a cry of pain, Suzumebachi wrenched Kurama off of her and tossed him aside. He landed on all fours with a smirk, licking the blood from his lips and teeth. "You disgusting dog!"
"Hey, he's a fox," Naruto joked.
All three of them scowled. "Now you're the ones outnumbered," Jibachi said. "Surrender now and maybe we won't kill you."
"Awful long way to go for an insect. Do you realize you're attacking a clan head? This could start a war between our villages."
It seemed that hadn't occurred to them. The brothers went rigid, shooting their sister a questioning glance as her expression darkened.
"Well then," she whispered. "It seems you'll have to disappear."
She paused. Turning to Jibachi, she whispered in his ear; he turned and headed for the back of the cave, burrowing upwards into the earth. "Now it's two against two," Naruto taunted. "Think you can beat me?"
Inwardly, he began planning escape routes. This deep underground, and with Hinata no less, half his jutsu arsenal was out; not to mention every bomb he had. For a moment he considered forming a barrier around him and Hinata and drowning them in the burning ash Madara had taught him, but he thought that might be a tad violent for Hinata. It would also fill their air supply with burning ash.
In lieu of answering, the two simply performed the same jutsu. "Hachimitsu no Jutsu!"
Naruto tensed as hundreds of bees appeared from the shadows behind them and swarmed them. He and Hinata both began slashing them apart, startled when they burst into honey and fell onto their bodies as hard wax. "The hell?" Naruto asked, dodging a few that tried to sting him as he tried to pry it off his arm.
"N-Naruto-kun!" Naruto cursed when he saw Hinata rapidly becoming covered with the stuff. He almost told her to stop killing them, but the alternative was being stung to death.
"Hachi Senbon no Jutsu!" Suzumebachi cried. Naruto leapt into the air to dodge, but several stingers still lodged themselves in his leg. Cursing, he ducked into a roll when Kurobachi dashed across the cave and struck out with a kunai.
Damn, I'm literally backed into a corner, he thought, dodging Kurobachi's swing. He easily evaded the man when it came to taijutsu, but the added addition of several hundred miniscule opponents was making it more difficult than it should have been. He'd already had to shed his jacket to get out of a grab.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Hinata drop to the ground, covered in wax, with Suzumebachi walking towards her.
"Okay, that's it," Naruto said with a twitch.
He slipped the Raijin no Ken out of his holster, charged his tantō full of lightning, and began slashing.
At, well, everything.
He channeled chakra to his limbs, becoming nothing but a blur. Bees fell to the ground, splashing wax all over the floor as he whirled through like the blades on a helicopter; he noted slashing through Kurobachi's arm and Suzumebachi's torso, but there was no blood.
Only wax.
"Are you freaking kidding me?"
The clones melted to the floor. Naruto paused, blades illuminating the cave, before shaking his head and freeing Hinata with a quick slash of the thunder blade.
"T-thank you, Naruto-kun," she muttered, glancing around. "Were they clones the whole time?"
"They probably switched out when we were dodging the bees. You didn't get stung, did you?" Naruto's vision was blurry, but he made sure not to give away how dizzy everything was. Hinata worrying wouldn't help anything.
"No, I'm fine."
"Good. We should find a way…" Naruto trailed off, letting himself lean against the wall. "Way out."
"Naruto-kun? Are you okay?" Concerned, Hinata peered closer at him before activating her Byakugan. "Your chakra is slow and sluggish!"
"A few stingers got me," Naruto said with a wince, picking one out of his arm.
"Naruto-kun! Why didn't you say something!" she cried, before seeming to remember herself and flushing bright red.
"Maybe we'll just sit here for a minute," Naruto said, sliding to the ground with a flinch. "How long till this wears off, Kurama?"
The fox had burrowed into a hole when the frenzy started, but popped his head up when Naruto addressed him. "You got hit with around seven, so I'd say an hour minimum."
"Dangit."
"Yeah. And you might-" Naruto squinted as the world spun. "-be feeling some of its effects, but it can't kill you."
"Will he be all right?" Hinata asked worriedly, watching Naruto zone out.
"Eh, he'll be fine. It's those teammates of yours you should be worried about," Kurama said, leaping onto a rock and curling his tail around himself. "Without Naruto, they'll probably-" He paused suddenly, ears flicking rapidly. "Daughter of the Hyuuga," he said, eyes narrowing, "you'll want to grab Naruto."
"Huh? W-why?"
She froze when a faint rushing sound reached her ears. "This cavern," Kurama said carefully, eyes flicking up to the ceiling. "It's near the river, correct?"
"Y-yes…"
"Well then…" Water started to trickle from a hole in the wall near the ground, about the size of a dog, formed by the boulders that made up the wall itself. "I'm guessing it floods."
The sky was dark as rain splattered on the ground, leaving Kiba's nose useless and his disposition cranky. "Dammit!" he cried, ramming his fist into a tree. "Me n' Akamaru can't find them anywhere!"
"Calm down," Shino told him, gazing out across the forest. "The message they sent told us they would perform the trade on the hill south of here. They'll be there in one hour."
"That's right." Eyes narrowing into a glare, Kiba yanked his hood up. "I'm gonna rip those bastards' guts out if they're hurt."
"What confuses me is how they were able to take Naruto down. He may be only a chuunin, but his skills far surpass theirs. My guess is they possibly used Hinata as a hostage to restrain him."
Kiba glanced up at the full moon with a frown tugging at his lips. "Let's head to that hill. I can't stand just sitting here."
In unison, the two turned and leapt into the trees.
The water was up to their waists. The ceiling was only a few feet overhead, and there was no ledge to get on; Hinata waded in the water with both arms under Naruto's to keep him afloat, with Kurama perching on her shoulder practically hissing at the thought of getting wet.
The boy had passed out after twenty minutes, making Hinata even more frantic even if Kurama said he'd be fine. "I can't find a way out!" Hinata yelled, panting as she treaded for two people.
"Grr. Fine! Try and get him awake! The only option at this point is to blow a hole in the wall!" Kurama yelled. The water had started rushing in, making it hard to hear each other over it.
"Naruto-kun!" Hinata shook the boy as the water rose up to her shoulders, wetting Kurama's paws and making his hair stand on end. "Naruto-kun, you have to wake up!"
Naruto groaned and remained unresponsive.
The water was at her chin now. "Naruto! Naruto! Naruto!"
To Naruto, the sound was nothing more than a distant ring; it became clearer and clearer as Kurama pawed at his mind, trying to rouse him. Hurry up, you baka! You'll drown!
His eyes slid open only to greet water.
He held his breath on instinct, recognizing the feeling of water in his nose. Reorienting himself, he looked around and shook himself from his daze, eyes going wide.
He fumbled in his explosives pouches for several blue orbs, dropping them on the spot and grabbing Hinata. He swam to the other side of the cave, able to easily hold his breath for several minutes. Hinata, however, was having more trouble, both hands over her mouth as she visibly struggled not to breathe in.
The orbs began to glow, reaching several shades as they counted down from five. Naruto quickly moved her hands away, pushing forward and pulling her jaw down to press their lips together and breathe air into her mouth. Her eyes went as round as barbecue platters, heart pounding in her chest like a racehorse as time seemed to slow down.
The bombs exploded, washing them away in a downward deluge.
Naruto coughed up water. Dizzily, he opened his eyes, staring at the ceiling above, before sitting up and shaking the water from his hair.
"Hinata?"
"Naruto-kun?" She looked as dizzy as he felt; she was clinging to the rock ledge beside him, one foot dangling over the edge.
Kurama shook the water from his coat, lips curled in a snarl. He loathed being soaked like this- he swam voluntarily occasionally, but those excursions were always short.
Naruto glanced over the aforementioned edge, laughing nervously when he saw the drop down to the bottom full of spikes. "Well," he said, "that was lucky."
She smiled shyly. "You saved us. T-thank you." She dipped her head.
"Hey, you're the one who kept me from drowning and woke me up. I was pretty gone there. Anyway…I feel Shino and Kiba up top. We should head up."
She nodded in agreement. "But…how are we going to get there?"
They glanced up at the opening in the sky. The ledge was set in the waterfall, so there was no going up on foot. "Like this," Naruto said with a grin, holding out his hand.
A tad hesitant, she took his hand, blushing bright red, and Kurama slunk onto his shoulder like a sullen cat. "Evativel," Naruto said. Almost instantly, they lifted off their feet, flying up towards the opening as Hinata gasped.
She watched, bug-eyed, as he dropped down to the shore and gently set them on their feet. "Isn't that cool?" he asked with a bright grin. Mutely, she nodded, and he turned in the direction of Kiba and Shino. "Onwards, then!"
"This sucks," Kiba muttered into the ground.
First, the so-called "trade off" had gone spectacularly wrong. Kurobachi had instantly recognized the false Bikochu Shino had brought, and then the unconscious "Naruto" and "Hinata" had turned out to be wax clones anyway. They'd been led into a trap in the woman's Rock Hive, duped by Naruto and Hinata's jackets covering Jibachi and Suzumebachi, before the woman had summoned her damned Giant Bee. It wasn't as impressive as Gamabunta or the snake summons that had attacked the village during the chuunin exams, but it was still pretty damn intimidating.
Kiba supposed Shino must have had a plan when he threw a kunai at its forehead and enraged it, but he couldn't guess what that plan was, as they were currently trapped in wax cocoons and laid out on the shore as the three Iwa nin gloated.
"Now then. Tell us where the Bikochu is, and we'll release you," Suzumebachi ordered, glaring down at Shino.
"Not until you show us Naruto and Hinata!" Kiba barked.
"I told you." Irritation made her expression twist. "They're safe. You'll get them back when we have the insect. Now give it to me, or we'll slit your dog friend's throat."
"I think not, dastardly fiend!" A voice said from above. Smoke exploded in front of the downed genin, making the Iwa nin cough and jump back.
The smoke died down, revealing Naruto and Hinata side by side in similar stances. Naruto had practice mimicking the Hyuuga techniques from sparring with Neji, and went with a Gentle Fist style just to have that Team Rocket aesthetic. Kurama was crouched in front of their feet with his ears pinned back, looking as if he wished he were anywhere but there.
"Not only did you try and drown us," Naruto said, pointing a finger at them. "But then you tried to weasel out of the fact you thought we were dead and get the Bikochu anyway. Probably would've killed Shino, too, since you're from the Kamizuru."
He spoke up before a shocked Suzumebachi could. "It was kind of obvious. But anyway. We're going to stop you. Isn't that right, Hinata?"
"R-right!" she exclaimed, steeling her expression into a determined one.
"That's it! Take them out!" Suzumebachi yelled. "Hachimitsu no jutsu!"
Her brothers mimicked her, summoning hundreds of bees. Naruto did a cartwheel backwards and let Hinata take the lead as she entered her Gentle Fist stance, waving her arms in every conceivable direction as she funneled her chakra into thin beams. Her arms began moving faster and faster until they were but a blur, slicing through every bee and not allowing any of the wax to fall into her circle.
Shino's wax cocoon broke apart at the same time Kiba's did. "What?!" The Inuzuka rolled to his feet, freaking out. "What the heck?"
"My bugs were eating away at them from the inside. I knew we wouldn't survive the rock hive, so I intentionally angered the bee queen to give us the wax as protection," Shino explained.
Kiba sweatdropped. "Could've warned a guy, man…"
"Woo! Go Hinata!" Naruto yelled, hands cupped around his mouth, before he turned to Kiba with a wide grin. His canines had elongated, his whiskers had gone thicker, and his pupils were nothing but slits set on a red backdrop. "Payback time, eh?"
"Yeah, you be- ehhh?" Kiba sweatdropped for the second time, staring at his claws in confusion. "Are you part Inuzuka or something?"
"Nope. I'll explain later." "Later", of course, meant he would dodge their questions and end up not actually explaining ever.
Akamaru whined. He had twisted one of his legs, holding it so it dangled over the ground. "Ah, crap." Kiba suddenly glanced at Naruto, eyebrows raising. "Come on!"
He grabbed Naruto by the shirt, dragging him closer. "Eh?"
"Mimic my movements exactly!"
"Um, okay?!"
"Gatsūga!" Naruto followed Kiba's movements and mimicked them as best he could, leaping into the air and twisting in a hard arc until they had entered a spiral. They barreled into Jibachi and Kurobachi as they were attempting to flee, knocking them into the ground so hard they made small craters.
Naruto fell out of the spin and stumbled over his own feet. Kiba snagged the back of his shirt with a grin and kept him upright, patting him on the back. "You're a natural at that."
"Uh, thanks?"
"-Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"
A giant plume of smoke exploded over the river. Hinata briefly paused before the determined glare reappeared, and she began moving her arms faster and faster until Naruto could barely see them at all. Frankly, he was impressed with her speed- he didn't think even Neji could pull this off.
"Go!" Suzumebachi had leapt onto the queen bee's head, pointing at Hinata with an enraged expression. The bee reared back and shrieked before charging, heading straight for the glowing blue dome surrounding the Hyuuga.
The bee lost.
"Are you kidding?" Kiba shrieked, staring at the beetle in the cage Shino held in one hand with dismay. "It's too late?!"
"Too late," Shino confirmed. "We arrived after it had hatched."
"Come on, come on, just try, please?!" Kiba comically tried to get the new Bikochu to smell the white garment, with no luck.
With a sheepish grin, Naruto rubbed the back of his head and turned to face Shino. "Sorry about that. The mission probably would have succeeded if I hadn't let those guys take us underground."
"It was unavoidable. Failure aside, we did keep the Bikochu out of the enemy's hands."
"Ow!" The Bikochu smacked Kiba in the face as it flew away, making Hinata giggle.
"And hey, Hinata, that technique you used was incredible. I think it's on par with Neji's rotation," Naruto said with a beam.
"Th-thank you, Naruto-kun…" Hinata trailed off as something occurred to her. In the heat of the moment, she hadn't had time to dwell on it, but as they walked down the road leading away from the bug sanctuary, Naruto's method of making sure she didn't drown roared to life in her memory. Face going beet red, she tipped backwards in a faint, making Kiba and Naruto yell in surprise.
"Eh?! Hinata?! What's wrong? Hinata! Hinata!"
Shino just shook his head, wondering how someone as intelligent as Naruto could be so oblivious.
Naruto yawned as he walked down the street, arms folded behind his head. Shino had gone to deliver the mission report, while Hinata had gone home and Kiba had made him promise to come over for dinner sometime and meet his family's dogs before taking off to who knows where. He was going to avoid Tsunade as long as he could...hopefully, her unyielding fury might cool off.
...Nah, he was totally dead when she found him.
A giggle caught his attention. Pausing, he eyed the hot springs across the street, rolling his eyes when he saw a familiar red haori. Jiraiya was perched on the roof, watching through a hole in the wall through a telescope. "Neh, ero-sennin, don't you think you should-"
…oh, god, he'd lost his jacket.
He'd lost his jacket.
Jiraiya's head snapped around, and for a moment they just stared at each other, while Naruto's expression transformed into one of dismay.
Jiraiya blinked. "Are you-"
Naruto turned on his heel and burst into a sprint. "You saw nothing!" he shrieked.
Jiraiya stared in shock before a watery expression appeared on his face, eyes going round and wet- alligator tears. In comical terror, Naruto fled over the rooftops, even as Jiraiya loped after him with exaggerated tears leaking out of his eyes.
"You do love me!"
"Leave me alone!"
"My precious student wants to dress like me!"
"Buzz off, you perverted lecher!"
"COME BAAACK-"
"GO AWAY."
"…is that normal?" TenTen asked from the ground, watching them while she shaded her eyes with one hand.
Sakura rolled her eyes. At least she hadn't had to force Naruto to show Jiraiya…he'd walked off that cliff himself. "Unfortunately."
"Wow. And I thought I was the only one with a crazy student teammate and sensei."
Sasuke emerged from Asakura's shop, toting a bow and a quiver full of arrows. "Ready to start practice?" TenTen asked, shooting him a smile.
Sasuke nodded. To anyone else, he looked composed and emotionless, but Sakura could tell he was excited. TenTen motioned for him to follow her and strolled away, while Sasuke shot Sakura a glance over his shoulder, a small smile tugging at his lips.
She grinned. "You're welcome," she mouthed.