Naruto and Yumi, Princess of Ice,
Naruto charged onto the field where his fellow Konoha ninja were, he looked around in awe as they were all frozen in thick layers of Ice, but their heads were left unfrozen, leaving their teeth chattering,
As Naruto inspected one of the ninja he realised they weren't actually frozen, it was more like they were held in place by ice,
"Are you another Ninja sent by Konoha?" A calm yet elegant voice asked,
Naruto turned and saw a young medium dark gray haired lady wearing a grey blazer and a white skirt, held gently between her fingers was a white fan, she had pale skin and extremely delicate features,
"A Yuka-onna?" Naruto asked causing her to smile gently,
"I hear that a lot," she stated, then she pointed at him with her fan, "As I told them I cannot allow you to pass, you must wait before progressing,"
"Why?" he asked,
"I cannot tell you, simply know that you may take them and retreat, but trying to advance will cause you to become frozen like them," she warned,
Naruto shook his head, "Sorry lady," he said tossing off his iron ball off his shoulder, "but... I'm a soldier, fighting is all I know," he said sincerely,
She nodded and frowned, "I see," she opened her fan, "Well I apologise in advance for the cold you'll soon feel,"
Naruto nodded at her, "Honestly I'd rather your ice trapped me forever then for me to harm you with my weapon,"
"A battle between two unwilling combatants?" she asked, "How... tragic" she stated,
"You think so?" he asked, "I think it's rather common," he said raising a fist,
Naruto punched himself in the head and when he lowered his hand gone was his hesitant expression and instead he looked at her with determined eyes, then he started spinning his ball, and dashed forward,
First he tried a gut punch which the lady easily deflected with her fan, she gave him a straight kick to his chin, but he powered through the attack and swung his ball at her,
The lady dodged backwards gracefully with an aerial spin, but Naruto stomped forward and spun his ball around in front of him as he advanced,
The snow woman threw twin ice spike at him as he tried advancing, the first of which was sucked into his Iron Vortex,
The second hit him in his ribs, stabbing him,
The lady gasped as Naruto's eyes went wide,
"Are you-," The grey haired lady froze as her opponent's expression turned guilty,
"Cheating..." he mumbled as he brought his ball down,
"...I'm sorry?"
Naruto shook his head, "That's cheating," he said as he ripped the ice shard out of his side and dropped to a knee before he tossed it away, he fixed a pained stare towards her, "giving me those sad eyes while we're enemies," he stated, "Gotta be cheating,"
The elegant lady shut her eyes and took a breath, "Why?" she asked, "Why do we have to fight?" she asked the wounded man, "When will come this fabled peace time we supposedly live in?" she demanded, "If I must fight then I shall, but why must we keep fighting?"
Naruto chucked, "Beats the hell outta me," he said as he stood up, "it never seems to end, but that's cause there's always gonna be power mad assholes like Danzo, A, and Onoki, gotta pound 'em flat fore we can rest,"
"Why do we?" she asked him, "how many soldiers have to die before this problem gets solved?"
"...You know that answer," Naruto stated hopelessly,
His tone made her freeze again, she watched as the joy and hesitation drained from his body, leaving nothing but dissatisfaction, "If ever soldier of every village died right now, there still wouldn't be peace, if all the civilian's grew sick and we knew it was cause of war there'd be no peace declared, we'd just be ordered to fight harder and hopefully we'd win, if our leaders were force to meet eye to eye they'd talk like equals, they'd respect each other, but there'd be no mention of the lives lost unless it was an excuse as to why we'd still be at war," Naruto Uzumaki shook his head, "It's endless," he spat,
He looked up at her and said, "Seems like if there were just two people left alive on this planet there'd still be war,"
Then a smile broke his grim expression, "Not that that's what this is about though,"
The Yuka onna's expression grew sad, "The Yoma is already being dealt with, why must soldiers come and try to fight it regardless?"
"We're just soldiers ma'am, dogs o' war is all," Naruto pointed at her, "Master says bite, so we ain't gotta choice, it's what we're trained for,"
The lady lowered her fan, "I'm tired of fighting,"
"As am I," Naruto stated, "But as a jinjuriki-,"
Her expression went from sad, to shock, to horrified, and then returned to sorrow, "They really put people through that?"
And then horror returned to her expression as the soldiers behind the blonde man shouted in protest,
As they poured on comments about how the man before her was no ''person'' but a demon in human skin, it struck the woman to her core,
More so the expression he wore through all the comments,
He fixed her with a sad smile, one that felt as though it melted her heart,
Suddenly the lady felt an arm around her neck, "Sup dudes?" Shiki asked as she smiled at the mostly frozen soldiers, "Yoma's gone, you can all go home now,"
Grunt's and annoyance came from the held soldiers, but the one not frozen seemed more cheerful, "Good," he said to himself as his stance relaxed,
The lady raised her fan and a wispy blizzard seemed to roll in and vanish,
And with it the two Kunoichi vanished, Naruto rubbed his head, "And to think, I never got her name," he chuckled before he started setting the held soldiers free,
OCTOPUS-Later-OCTOPUS
As Naruto finally got home after all the running and lectures he faced from every which way, for ''botching the mission'' letting an enemy kunoichi ''sweet talk him'' into not fighting, even the soldiers he'd carried all the way back wouldn't shut up about it, worse of all he'd lost his ninja id and his keys,
As he got to his door he sighed, "Guess I gotta break it open," he frowned, but he decided to check that he'd actually locked the door before he destroyed anything, doors were expensive after all, and his pay was already docked,
It was stupid, he was in the habit of making absolutely certain his door was 100% locked before he left,
Sometimes he even ran back up all the stairs just to check,
But as his hand touched the handle his eyes widened as the door opened,
Suspiciously Naruto crept inside, slowly closing the door and entering the apartment,
At his table was a familiar Elegant looking grey haired lady, politely enjoying a cup of what he assumed to be tea, "You were kept for a while Naruto-kun," she stated,
"I..." Naruto rubbed his eyes, was he dreaming? but upon reopening them the elegant lady was still sat at his table, "Are you... really here?" he asked, "Hold on, Naruto-kun? how do you know my... oh,"
The lady took his keys and id out of her breast pocket, laying them on the table, "I borrowed them after I made that icy mist, I... needed to see you again," she explained,
"Y-...you did?"
The lady nodded, "I... have never met a person who seems... so... alone," she stated, "Or one that warmed my heart,"
"I what?"
A smile graced the lady's calm face, and her cheeks dyed red, "When you smiled, both sadly and in relief my heart... it felt warm," she stated, she looked around the room, "Even being here I feel. . . so very warm," she said, "and you see I never truly feel so warm," her eyes closed as she spoke, "I wonder if it has anything to do with the legend of the Yukka onna,"
She turned to him with a lovely gaze, "I do hate to trouble you good sir, but it seems I am without home here, would you mind if I stayed here for a while?"
"I don't even know your name, and you want to-,"
She gave him an enchanting smile as she looked at him, "It's Yumi, and I promise... that you'll never escape me, my love."