School was finally over with. As soon as it let out, the kids rushed back home, none more so excited than Craig himself. He was rushing to his house, mind flowing with thoughts on what to do at the creek; like usual.
"I'm home!" he let out, bolting up the stairs to get to his room. He tossed his backpack away and went to grab his Creek clothes. He double checked to make sure he had his map and any other supplies in the Purse of Holding before darting out of his room and back downstairs, heart beating to get to the creek ASAP. "Bye, Mom! I'll be right-"
"Craig! Hold it right there young man!"
He grabbed the knob, but stopped right away as his mom walked over. "What is it? I was just gonna go to the creek."
"I know, but right now I need you to meet some people. They just came over and it's only polite to say hello." she answered, turning to the living room with Craig following her gaze. There were two adults and one child there. A man with short blonde spiky hair with bangs growing down to frame his face wearing a long blue sleeved shirt with a red spiral on the right sleeve, a pair of black shorts and blue sandals. Beside him was a woman with long red hair that came down to her thighs, wearing a long sleeveless green blouse with what looked to be a white apron-like design on the front. The dress reached down past her knees while wearing similar colored sandals.
The child with them looked to be around Jessica's age. She had red hair like the woman that was styled into pigtails, wearing a yellow sundress and kicking her feet back and forth while sitting on the couch with a smile.
"Craig? These are the Uzumakis." his mother introduced with a smile, the family smiling at him while he internally sighed.
"Hi there, great to meet you, wish I could talk more but I gotta go, bye mom!" he let out in a fast tone before rushing out the door.
"Craig wait! The Uzumakis are a family of nin-" Nicole called out, but he was already gone with the door closing behind him. She let out a groan while Jessica, who had been sitting at the dinner table with some juice gave a smug smile.
"And he calls me immature." she let out before getting off the chair and walked over, giving a bow. "It's so nice to meet you all, I'm Jessica." she introduced before walking over to the girl with a smile. "Do you wanna play? I've got some crayons and paper so we can draw?"
"Oooh! Uh huh!" she let out with sparkles in her eye, jumping off the couch and following Jessica with Nicole looking at the parents.
"Play nice Ushio." her dad let out.
"Sorry about Craig, he tends to get a bit excited when he wants to go out and play with his friends."
"Oh don't be, it's all part of being a kid. Our own children were itching to get out of the car after such a long ride to get here." reassured the woman. "And Minato wasn't any better."
"Hey now, it's not my fault you made me drive the whole way Kushina." her husband defended with a smirk.
"I gotta say Kushina, I'm kinda jealous. Having four kids is tough enough, but you got a body a lot of moms would kill for." Nicole praised the woman who blushed a little.
"Well you can thank good genetics. It runs in my whole family so we're just really lucky."
Nicole took a seat, her expression turning to curiosity. "Speaking of which, is what you told me true? About the Uzumaki family being ninjas, or is that you trying to goof with me?"
Minato and Kushina turned to each other and shared a knowing look before Kushina let out a laugh.
"Well, you can ask your son Craig after he meets our other kids."
Nicole still looked confused, but joined her in laughing, figuring maybe the mom really was trying to play a joke on her.
"Hey hey, I hear laughing," Duane called out, walking into the room with a smile. "What are we laughing at?"
"Nothing, nothing, I'll tell you later." Nicole waved her hand, making her husband give a mock pout before perking up as he stood beside Nicole and looked at the Uzumakis.
"Well sorry to interrupt, but I gotta ask or else it'll drive me nuts. What plans do you have about that restaurant you're opening up?"
"Well it's going to be a family-owned one, that way we have a chance to sell a signature dish that's the best food of all; ramen." Kushina informed with a smile. "Made from the Uzumaki secret family recipe."
"Oooh, haven't tried ramen before. Any chance you could lend a fellow dad a sneak peek on what's inside it?" he asked Minato who chuckled and shook his head.
"Sorry, but it's not MY recipe. I married into the family, so it belongs to this spit fire right here." he hugged Kushina who giggled. "I learned that early on when I fell for her, it's part of how she swept me off my feet."
"Oh quiet you." she lightly shoved him, but didn't try to pull away. She pecked him on the cheek, making Nicole smile.
"You two really are a cute couple. Reminds me of when I got this fella to take out the trash or else I wouldn't make his favorite food."
"Hey! That wasn't fair and you know it. I told you I was gonna do it after we were done."
"You mean after you let it sit for a few days?"
"I…uh…was ... .held up." Duane tried to excuse himself, making Nicole give an expression that said she could see through him.
"Mmmhmm."
Bernard came walking out, carrying a tray with glasses of lemonade on them with his back straight and a professional expression on his face. "Please Mr and Mrs. Uzumaki, allow me to offer you some freshly squeezed glasses of lemonade, no pulp."
"Oh, why thank you." Minato gave a nod as he and Kushina accepted the glasses and took a quick sip. "Mm, that's good."
"To go with your beverages, allow me to list off the various items we have if you feel peckish. We have some fresh celery sticks and carrots if you're feeling up for something healthy, cheese doodles with napkins provided to avoid any messes, and some fresh sandwiches on white bread with the crests cut off with an assortment of sauces to go with them."
"Thank you Bernard, but we should be good right now." Kushina replied before Minato raised an eyebrow.
"You sure? I know how your appetite can get-" Minato was cut off and let out a groan, his wife's foot stepping on his own under the coffee table with her keeping up a smile.
"Yes dear? What was that?"
"Perfectly... under control and normal." he got out, trying to smile as she moved her foot off his.
"I thought that's what you'd say."
Cutting back to Craig, he was panting as he ran, but the joy of playing at the Creek kept him going. He ran down the street before spotting something. He came to a stop and looked across the street and spotted a kid in front of a street light. He looked about Craig's age with spiky black hair, wearing a white t-shirt with a green symbol on it that looked somewhat like a question mark, minus the dot at the bottom of it. With a pair of blue shorts and black sandals. The eye catching thing were marks on his cheeks that kinda made Craig think of whiskers.
There was a taped missing pet poster on the light post, with Craig rubbing his chin.
'Hmm, I've never seen him before. He must be new…' he thought, a thought bubble popping up of the adults he saw in his living room and snapped his fingers. 'That's it! Those must have been his parents! He kinda looks like his dad, except for the color; weird.'
The next thing he saw was the kid reaching out and tearing the poster off the street lamp and proceeded to crumple it into a paper ball with one hand, shocking Craig.
'Hey! What's his-' Craig was cut off as the kid turned his head and spotted him. He felt goosebumps run up his back. The kid was scowling at him, his eyes looking intense and made Craig feel like he was in some scary movie, and the kid was the monster in disguise waiting to lunge out and get him, He gulped and started shaking before holding up his hand. "HI!" he let out quickly before he took off running, sweat slipping down his face.
The kid watched him run off, his expression staying the same.
'Oh man! I don't know why he's glaring at me, but I'd like to know just why a kid would tear down a missing cat poster like it didn't matter!'
In no time, Craig made it back to the stump, and was finishing up informing Kelsey and JP about his run in with the scary kid before sitting down to catch his breath.
"And….that's when….I got here."
His friends looked curiously at the other, JP raising up a finger.
"Maybe he tore down the poster because he found the cat."
"No, it couldn't be that; I didn't see any cats near him."
Kelsey took on a heroic expression, a light shining down on her as all went dark before speaking internally. 'A mysterious figure that arrives without warning, showing no remorse or care for a simple flier to warn others of a lost and alone pet as though it matters little to him. Truly, a figure that holds no warmth in his black heart. It would seem a new villain has arisen to lay siege to the land.'
After her monologue, Kelsey spoke up. "What else can you tell us about this guy?"
"I….actually….don't know anything else," Craig admitted, looking away. "I didn't actually talk to him, and I was in a bit of a rush to come to the creek so I didn't really talk to his parents. All I did was give them a quick 'hi' and that's about it."
"What? Aw, Craig, that's just really rude." JP shook his head. "My sister always made it clear to me that's not how you say hi to new neighbors."
"Indeed, a sentence or two with a bow would have been more appropriate." nodded Kelsey.
"I know, it was rude," Craig admitted with a sigh, looking down in thought. "All I know is that he's the new kid of the family that came over to say hi, and my mom tried to say something when I left, but I don't know what that is. The only part I heard was she said they were n…n…noon? No, nun? No that's not it. Um…ugh! Nan? No!" he held his head before going wide eyed. "NIN! That's it! She said they were nin!"
"Nin?!" Kelsey gasped, her inner thoughts kicking back in. 'So the cover of the villain is revealed! The product of a family of ninjas! Sneaking through the shadows to strike when you least expect them! Truly, a more dangerous foe could not be imagined.' Her thoughts imagined the kid standing on a treetop with his arms crossed, glowing red eyes on a dark night with the full moon out, garbed in ninja attire with a long scarf blowing in the wind.
"Hmmm." JP tapped his chin, looking up in thought. "You think maybe they're actually ninjas? Or just really like reading manga like the Ninja Kids?"
As if hearing them, a sudden smoke bomb erupted near them, with the sound of rustling heard before Yustice herself suddenly appeared as the smoke faded, with a few leaves on her.
"My ninja senses have caught wind of what you just said. I must know more about this supposed family of ninjas that have arrived here." she spoke in her best serious tone.
And so Craig told her what he told Kelsey and JP, the leader of the Ninja kids listening closely with her arms crossed.
"It's as I feared; it sounds like an evil rival ninja clan has moved here with goals of taking over the Creek. No doubt they've sent their own child ahead to lay claim to the Waterfall to begin their evil plans. I must warn the others to be prepared for combat!" she turn and rushed off back through the bushes.
"Hey wait! I call dibs on fighting the new kid!" Kelsey let out while holding her sword out.
"Kelsey wait." Craig got in her way with his hands up.
"But why? She's gonna hog all the fun." pouted the knight.
"Because she doesn't know what he looks like." smiled Craig while raising his finger. "That means we've got a head start on finding him first, and I know just the spot he'll go to."
"Really? Where?" asked JP.
"Easy; the one spot no kid can't resist visiting, even ninjas: The Trading Tree."
"Perfect! Let's hurry up and slay the villain!" cheered Kelsey before the group of three rushed off. The group was completely unaware of the pair of eyes that watched them from a nearby tree branch.
"Hmmm."
Cutting away to the said trading post, Kit had her arms crossed with Jason trying her patience.
"It's a very reasonable trade! Knowing the proper knot-tying lesson for some bags of chips and soda pops is the deal of a lifetime." argued Jason with his hands on his hips.
"Uh yeah, no deal. I already know how to tie a knot, so this is a no go." refuted Kit while nodding to several nets holding her supply, perfectly in place without any coming undone.
"Oh come on! Look, you might think the knots will hold, but they're not up to par with the teachings that the Junior Forest Scouts can do, so-" he was cut off as a random kid came running into the center crying out in panic.
"Hey! Hey! Some kid started a campfire! It's gonna burn the whole place down!"
"What?! Not on our watch!" Jason spoke up. "Tony! Boris! Let's go! We can't let an unauthorized campfire go on!"
"Right away sir! We need to make sure they're doing it according to the Junior Forest Scouts rules." Tony let in as the three of them rushed off.
"Huh, that's weird; why would a kid go and start a campfire in the middle of the day?" Kit questioned under her breath.
"Probably wanted a weenie roast." came a boy's voice to her left.
Kit jumped and whirled around, seeing a boy around her age with spiky blonde hair standing there with a smile. He had on a black short sleeved shirt with a red question mark symbol on it, minus a dot, a pair of green goggles on his head with whisker-like marks on his cheeks, and blue sandals with a goofy smile on his face. "Oh! Hey there!" she smiled back. "I've never seen you around here, you must be a new kid."
'Huh, those marks are kinda cute.'
"That's right. My family just moved into town not even an hour ago. I decided to wander on my own and came across this place by accident. Didn't expect to see so many kids hanging around." he scratched his cheek, looking around. "What is this place?"
"Allow me to welcome you to The Creek, and this here is The Trading Post, the go-to place for any and all kinds of things to trade for here." Kit held a hand out to the area and smirked with her arms crossed. "So, how'd you figure out how to trick the scouts?"
"What? Who, me? I'd never start a fire in the forest, that'd be dangerous." he gave a mock huff with his arms crossed, but gave a small grin. "But it's not my fault if they're sticklers for the rules and they just HAPPEN to remind me of my old school teacher, Iruka-sensei."
Kit smiled, sensing this kid was a mischievous type. "Well the name's Kit, and to welcome you, here's a choco-roll, on the house." she slid the treat over to the blonde who happily took it.
"Heh, thanks! The name's Naruto, Naruto Uzumaki." he introduced himself with a thumb to his chest before perking up and giving a smirk. "Heh, Kit huh? That name's actually got a double meaning."
"Really? What's that?" she asked, right before letting out a startled yelp when a small red furred fox landed on her head, letting out a yip.
"It's also used to refer to baby foxes and some species of them," he revealed before pointing to the fox with its tails wagging. "Like my pet fox here. His name's Kurama."
Kit reached up and held the fox in her hands who stared at her before she gasped and let out a high squeal. "Eeeeeeh! You are SO cuuuute! Aw who's a cutie wootie? Is it you? Is it you?" she cooed, making the fox tilt its head. "You'd be the perfect mascot for my business! I-" she stopped when she heard a snicker.
Naruto tried to keep his grin from being obvious and failing.
Kit's face heated up before setting Kurama down on the counter who hopped to the ground and reached under the counter, sliding another choco roll to Naruto while looking away embarrassed. "H-Here, a keepsake in exchange for you NOT telling anyone what you just saw."
"Hey, never happened." he agreed, taking the treat. "In fact, I was never even here, Kit-chan."
"Huh?" Kit was confused and about to ask what the 'chan' part was about, but when she turned her head, Naruto and his pet were gone. She blinked in surprise and looked around, but seeing he was nowhere in sight, she shrugged and went back to her business.
Right on time, Craig, JP, and Kelsey showed up with Craig rushing over.
"Hey Craig, what can-"
"Kit! Quick question, have you seen anybody new come around here?" he asked, making her smile.
"Actually yeah, I just met Naruto before you guys showed up."
"Which way did the villain go?!" Kelsey interjected, feeling pumped up and eager for the battle of a lifetime.
"Sorry, no idea. He disappeared; no clue where he went." shrugged Kit.
Kelsey gasped. "A true ninja who can vanish like the wind, truly a formidable foe." she muttered to herself while making a fist.
"What does Naruto look like? We need to find him asap." Craig told her.
"Well, he's got these whisker marks on his cheeks and he's got a little pet fox." she informed, resisting the urge to gush over the cute furry critter.
The group went wide-eyed with a thought bubble showing their minds picturing the boy in a forest before shapeshifting into a were-fox beast with sharp teeth and claws.
"Of course! It makes total sense for a fox to be a ninja; they're natural tricksters." Kelsey remarked with a hand to her chin. 'Note to myself, I must make sure my mind is sharp so as to not be fooled by any tricks!'
"Why are you guys so interested in the new kid anyway?"
"Oh well Craig ran into him after rudely not saying hi to the new family that moved in and were at his home." JP piped up.
"What? Craig, that's just wrong. My daddy would NOT tolerate being that rude." Kit shook her head, making Craig groan.
"I know, I know."
"Mmmm, I can't wait any longer! Let's find this fiend!" Kelsey let out before she took off running in a random direction.
"Kelsey, wait!" Craig and JP called out before they took off after her.
"We don't even know where to look!"
Cutting back over to the Williams house, Nicole was laughing and slapping her knee.
"Oh, that is just precious!"
"It's true, he had the cutest little cheeks. It made him look more girlish."
"Kushina." Minato groaned, facepalming and shaking his head. "I thought we weren't gonna bring that up?"
"You agreed on that, I never did." she stuck out her tongue which Nicole into another laughing fit.
Duane, seeing a fellow man suffering from embarrassment from his wife, did what he knew that had to be done; change the subject. "So, you two know where your restaurant is gonna be?"
Minato perked up, "Yeah actually, we just purchased a building that had recently closed down when we were looking around the area. It was some kind of pasta place that, from what we heard, didn't really get many customers, so when we saw the price we swooped in and knew it'd be the perfect spot to set up shop."
"You mean Pasta La Vista?" Nicole asked. "My son Bernard tried getting a job there, but right after he got his interview, it shut down. A shame too, they had some pasta that I personally think was worth it. Guess most people aren't pasta fans."
That's when their doorbell rang, making Bernard perk up.
"I'll get it!" he rushed over and opened the door with a smile at seeing Alexis. "Glad you could make it Alexis."
"I came over as soon as you told me about the family over the phone."
"Mr and Mrs Uzumaki? I'd like to introduce you to someone special." Bernard called out as he and Alexis walked into the room. "This here is my girlfriend Alexis. Alexis? This is Minato and Kushina Uzumaki, they just moved in."
"Pleased to meet you."
"It's a pleasure."
"Thank you," she smiled before noting Ushio and Jessica's drawing and couldn't help but bring her hands up to her cheeks. "Ooooh, is this your daughter? She's so precious~"
"I am!" Ushio let out with a giggle, with Jessica nodding along to show she agreed completely.
"Mr and Mrs Uzumaki? If you ever need a babysitter to watch after her, I'd be available to work part-time."
"Oh? Would you be able to handle our other children? They're older and triplets."
"Well if they're anything like little Ushio here? They must be precious little angels." smiled the older girl, making Minato snort and Kushina elbow him lightly.
"Sorry, but you know-"
"Yes, yes I do." she nodded before giving Alexis a smile. "We'll happily keep that in mind."
"Thank you so much, ma'am."
After a while, we cut back over to Craig, Kelsey, and JP; who had gone the past hour STILL searching for Naruto, and ending with no lead.
They had asked each and everyone of the kids, but not one of them had seen Naruto. They asked the Horse Girls, 10 Speeds, the Elders of the Creek, even asked the Tea Timers, but not a single one had any clues to offer. The only group they didn't go to yet were the Paintballers. They saved them for last to try and avoid getting in the middle of their personal war; except for Kelsey who was all for joining in without concern.
So they went to Rainbow Alley, with JP tapping his forehead as he looked up in thought.
"Hey guys? I've been thinking. What if this Naruto guy is actually a nice guy?"
"What sorta nice guy just tears down a poster for a lost cat? It just gotta make it all the more harder for others to help look for it." Craig refuted.
"And to do so is nothing short of heartless. The very idea of someone tearing down one for Mortimer here is heartbreaking," spoke Kelsey while lightly rubbing her pet's head who let out a tweet.
"I'm just saying, maybe there's more to him than what we think. Oh! I know! What if he didn't know what it meant? Like maybe he's some super secret reincarnation of an alien-human hybrid who wants to bring peace!" he let out with stars in his eyes. "And he just didn't know what the poster was for and thought it was litter?"
"If he really was a human hybrid, pretty sure he'd know what a poster for a lost animal was." Craig pointed out.
"Then again, being part alien would add to him being up to no good." Kelsey chimed in with her cents.
"Just saying, how can we say he's evil if we haven't even found him or even met him? He might really-"
"Ugh…"
The group stopped, having reached Rainbow Alley, and saw one of the paintballers looking injured and coated in so much paint you couldn't see his skin. He held his arm and was dragging one leg before
They were horrified before running over to help support him before he fell over, whose eyes were halfway closed.
"The horror….the horror….the horror…"
"Easy there soldier, you're safe now," spoke Craig in a solemn tone. "You're gonna be alright, Bruce."
"It's Butch actually." he corrected in a more clean tone before going back to groaning.
"Right, Butch. You'll be alright, Butch," Craig sheepishly corrected before going back to being serious. "Now, can you tell us what happened?" Craig asked as the boy nodded slowly.
"It was another day like all the others. Paint all over, men falling and never getting a chance to visit home. There was so much paint it was hard to tell who was who." he explained with a deep look in his eyes. "But then…then something changed. There was this big smoke bomb that went off and blinded us all."
"Smoke bomb?" Craig looked intrigued with Kelsey frowning.
"It must have been him."
"It happened so quickly, that nobody had a chance to react. We couldn't see, but it passed, and when it did? Our weapons were gone like they were never there. Before we knew it, we were getting bombarded with paint from every direction. The sky was raining pink, red, blue, and even green!" He let out in panic voice, closing his eyes to keep his thoughts together as JP patted his back. "We couldn't see where they were coming from, so Mike and Benny sounded a retreat for both sides. It was a foolish point because by then everyone had been covered in paint. I still remember the look on George's face when he got covered in blue. It stained his T-shirt purple! His parents are so gonna ground him!"
"Keep it together soldier." Kelsey urged him as he started to panic.
"I ran, I tried to run, but before I got away I heard them. Mike and Benny... they were under attack! I wanted to go back and help, but I was too scared. Whoever attacked us was ruthless and turned the tide against us so easily!" he let out before groaning and closing his eyes, falling back as he 'died'.
"Oh no!" JP let out with Kelsey clenching her fist and eyes.
"Darn it, you should have stayed with your comrades! Only a coward would run away even in a fight like this."
Craig's mind clicked as the smoke bomb was a weapon many ninjas used in movies he saw, truly confirming this was the same Naruto they had been searching for. He leaned over the boy and shook him. "Butch, Butch stay with us! I need you to tell us if you saw a fox."
"Ugh…yes…I thought I was seeing things, but I did see one. It looked calm, not scared."
"Hey JP, does this sound like the work of a 'good guy'?" Kelsey asked her friend with sarcasm, gesturing to Butch. "Attacking an entire army of 6th and 7th graders without provocation?"
"Well, maybe he had a good reason!" JP defended while waving his arms up.
The scene cut ahead to show the Stump Kids in the middle of Rainbow Alley, which looked like it went through 2 summers' worth of paintball fighting in just one afternoon. All around they saw other paintballers 'dead' and sprawled out around the ground. The 'dead' bodies looking like they were part of the ground due to the color patterns covering them. The paint was still fresh with how they were making footprints on the painted ground.
Kelsey looked at JP who crossed his arms.
"He probably had a VERY good reason."
"Or he wanted to establish his dominance and take out the ones he knew would give him the most trouble in his conquest!"
"Guys please! Stop fighting!" Craig tried to interject before they heard something.
"Oh dear."
Turning their heads, the Stump Trio spotted another kid coming into the area. She was around their age and stuck out as someone you'd expect from the Tea Timers. She had on a fancy-looking dress with the sleeves colored purple, and the middle portion going down colored yellow. She had on a pair of white gloves with brown shoes and black pants under the dress. She had short hair that framed her face, with it two colors; one part near her right side was red, and the other half was blonde. She had a red swirl hairpin that was holding back what looked like a cowlick, and holding a parasol in hand, also colored purple.
The real eye-catching part of her was how elegant she walked with her back straight and mindful as she walked not to splash and get paint on her clothes. Along with the fact she had two different eyes. Her right eye was blue, and her left was violet.
"Wait! Don't come here!" Craig called out in a panic.
"Get away! It's dangerous!" Kelsey tossed out while waving her arms in the air.
The girl didn't seem phased and kept walking over to them, a calm expression with her parasol held shielding her head from the sun. "Pardon me, but have you seen my brother? I've been trying to look for him, but haven't had any luck, although," she looked around them. "Judging by the damage done here, I'm guessing he was just here."
Kelsey and JP were surprised with JP speaking up.
"Wait, are you talking about that Naruto guy?"
"Indeed. My name is Mito Uzumaki, a pleasure." she gave a courtesy to the three.
Both JP and Kelsey turned to Craig.
"Craig! Why didn't you say Naruto had a sister?" Said a surprised JP.
"Yeah! That is crucial information!" Yelled Kelsey.
"I didn't know!"
"Well if you stuck around and weren't so rude and talked to them, you would have." JP brought up again with Kelsey nodding with her arms crossed.
Craig could only bring his hand and slam it into his face.
"Can we please move on from that? I already know it was rude."
Much to the displeasure of the youngest son Williams, several of the 'dead' paintballers gave their two cents.
"Now that's just wrong."
"I always introduce myself to new people."
"It's just bad manners."
"Not cool, dude."
Craig groaned and was ready to deal with more complaining, only for the tied up and painted 'corpses' of Paintballer Mike and Benny to fall out of the nearby trees. This made the kids around all look at them with fear and horror, except for Mito herself. Both of them were bouncing up and down from the branches from their underwear, experiencing painful wedges causing them to cry out from the pain.
"AHHHHHHHHHHH!"
"Owowowowowow!"
"Help! Get us down!"
"HA!" Came a voice from the tree, making the kids look up and saw Naruto standing on the branch with his arms crossed, a wide grin on his face. "Now you'll know next time not to mess with the Uzumaki clan!"
"There the fiend is!" Kelsey drew her sword and was about to make a declaration of battle, right before another smoke bomb was made nearby as the Ninja Kids appeared from the cloud with bush leaves sticking to them.
"Behold, foul ninja rival! For we will be your opponents! You will not take over the Creek and spread your wickedness!" Declared Yustice while Mito shook her head with a sigh.
"All of this over a little paint." She said, gaining the Creek kids' attention. Mito turned around, showing a tiny speck of blue paint staining the back of her dress.
"Wait, that's what this was about?" asked Craig with befuddlement.
"Indeed. My dear brother and I were strolling around the creek when we walked into this area by mistake. We arrived when the groups were in the middle of their war and tried to escape, but a single splash of paint got on my clothes, which honestly didn't bother me so much since I have others just like it. But my brother is hot-headed and demanded they apologize to me. When they didn't and went back to their battle, I could tell it riled Naruto up. I tried to get him to let it go and NOT get revenge on my behalf, but he wouldn't accept it and…well…you can see for yourself."
"Ow! We're sorry!" Mike cried out while close to tears.
"We'll make up for it! Ow! Just let us down!" Benny chimed in.
Naruto smirked wider and pulled out a wooden shuriken and tossed it, watching it spin and come back before cutting their underwear and letting them fall down to the ground with grunts.
JP crossed his arms with a smirk at Craig and Kelsey. "See? I told you so. He DID have a good reason for doing this; he was just being a good big brother."
"Your actions speak more than you simply looking out for your sister! Only an evil ninja would go to these lengths to cement their power over others! You will not be allowed to run wild with your evil!" Yustice declared while striking a pose. "The Ninja Kids shall stop you!"
"Not so fast!" Kelsey stepped forward and raised her sword out at Naruto. "I, Kelsey! Challenge you for your dark deed of removing a missing pet poster and leaving others in the dark about finding an innocent creature!"
Naruto chuckled before jumping off the tree and crossing his arms. "I've been expecting you. You wanna battle me? Alright, but I should let you all know one little thing. What I did to these guys? It was all just a warm-up."
That made their eyes widen, taking note of how many Paintballers were there and the damage; backing up the mental image of him being a menace not to be taken lightly.
"For such a strong foe, we may not have the strength on our own, but together…" Yustice looked at Kelsey who was surprised but hardened herself and nodded, taking a stance as they looked back at Naruto. "We will stop your evil goal!"
"Alright, I'll take you all on!" Naruto declared before he took off running at them, JP and Craig running off to the side as the Ninja Kids and Kelsey saw him kick up a huge dust behind him, bracing themselves as he reached Kelsey first who raised her sword up and took a swing with a battle cry.
Naruto sidestepped the swing and dove to the side when Yustice threw several wood shurikens before he pulled out a wooden kunai and blocked Kelsey's strike while Mito flattened out a picnic blanket over the painted ground before taking a seat on it, Craig and JP looking surprised.
"Would you two like a seat? It's better than sitting on the wet paint and making a mess."
"Woah, where did you put that?" asked Craig.
"You just like, pulled it out of thin air, like a magician." JP tossed in.
"I'm from a family of ninjas; it's part of the art," she replied with a smile. The two boys looked at each other and shrugged before taking a seat on the picnic blanket.
Back to the fight, Naruto backflipped and threw several shurikens, which Kelsey managed to knock aside and strike a heroic pose.
"Surrender evil ninja! For you are no match for the five of us!"
"Oh I agree, which is why I happen to have a little something to take care of your little bird." he held his hands near his front before he started to make numerous random symbols with his fingers, stunning the kids at how fast he went and with the various shapes.
"The hand signs he's making are truly authentic." Yustice let out, her friends nodding with Kelsey thinking the same before shaking their heads. "No! We cannot be distracted! We must stop him before he finishes his-"
"Summoning jutsu!" he declared before slamming his hand down on the paint-covered ground, causing a huge splash before Kurama came jumping out of it and ran at Kelsey, jumping up and trying to paw at Mortimor who quickly flew off her head and started getting chased by the mammal.
"Mortimor!" Kelsey cried out in worry.
"You should be more worried for yourself," Naruto called out while putting his hands on his hips. "I've got more ninjutsu than you can handle."
"We can handle any ninjutsu you throw at us." Zatch let out, making Naruto smirk wider and cross his fingers in front of his face.
"Then try this on for size: Shadow Clone Jutsu!" he elt out before moving his leg slightly as a smoke screen came up and spread across the area, blinding everyone.
"No trick will get the best of me!" declared Kelsey, looking around her, at the ready with her sword held out.
The smoke began to clear away thanks to a strong breeze, and what they saw shocked and horrified them. Surrounding them were countless Narutos!
"Oh my gosh!" Craig let out with JP gasping.
"That's amazing!"
Kelsey felt a bit of sweat on her brow, gulping and trying to keep steady before Yustice spoke up firmly with a fist raised up.
"Calm yourselves, comrades! The Clone Jutsu is merely an illusion, the other Narutos are merely fake, probably made out of twigs and leaves."
Hearing the reassurance got them to feel a bit more calm headed, only to suddenly hear a chuckle from the left. Turning they saw smirking clones, but couldn't see which one was chuckling.
"Is that really what you think? Then you haven't seen what a real ninja can do."
"Ha!" Yustice threw out a shuriken which made one of the clones fall over, but the chuckle came again, this time behind them.
"Oops, you missed."
"Go ahead and try again, you'll only hit your target about…never!"
"We need to find the real one." Kelsey insisted.
"The four of us will thin his numbers and make him reveal himself!" Yustice yelled.
The four kids spread out and began to take down each clone they could reach, the voice coming no matter which direction they tried to narrow it down at.
"Ooh! You almost had me there!"
"No no, you're getting colder!"
"Ha! Missed me again!"
Each time a clone taken down, the voice drove them more and more uneasy and annoyed.
"Got you now!" Zatch let out, running at a clone, and jumped up, going for a flying drop kick. Sadly though, as soon as he kicked the clone, a powder came out that made him cough and wave it away. He felt a tingling sensation and started scratching his hand before his arm, then began feeling itchy around his body and jumped up and down. "I-Itchy, itchy! Itchy!"
"There you are!" Prynda ran at one with some wooden kunai and swung her arms, only to hit the clone and hit a hidden package before getting covered in purple paint, making her cry out and fall back, letting out a groan.
Yustice and Kelsey stood back to back, realizing it was just the two of them now.
"I have an idea," Kelsey spoke up while Yustice held her remaining shurikens in hand.
"What is it?"
"We need to stop attacking; we need to react to any movement from him instead. Otherwise, we'll get tired and that's when he'll strike." Kelsey deduced." The real one will move and the clones will stay still."
"Good eye."
Both of them kept their eyes peeled for anything, trying to keep their hearts steady and minds focused. They narrowed their eyes when each of them picked up movement at the exact same time in their respective eyesight.
"I found him!" Kelsey and Yustice let out before they ran off where they saw the movement. They ran past the numerous clones and made sure to focus on the movement alone. Kelsey jumped through a bush and caught sight of the back of Naruto, while Yustice dove over a tree branch where she saw the boy on top of a tree, whose hair was black without the ninja girl noticing.
"Not bad, you might just be a real ninja after all." he remarked before she let out a battle cry and threw her shuriken at him, which he countered with several kunai to knock them away before jumping down. "But you gotta do more than that."
"I am far from beaten!" she ran at him, arms at her side as she rushed him as fast as she could put into her legs. "My Ninja sprint is nothing to underestimate!"
"Yeah, except when it's too fast." he remarked, stepping to the side, revealing another clone was right behind him, making Yustice's eyes widen as she went too fast and sped past him, crashing into the clone before a cloud of itching powder exploded.
She coughed and fell to the ground, yelping and itching at her body while rolling around as Naruto smirked.
Back with Kelsey, she swung and met with his kunai, both trying to win in the duel of blades.
"I'm impressed with your way of the blade." Kelsey let out, keeping her heroic tone even and strong.
"Gotta say, you're pretty good yourself. Not many folks could stay this determined and would probably have run off. Guess that means I should stop holding back."
Kelsey's eyes widened at those words before Naruto exerted more strength and pushed up, knocking her sword out of her hands. Kelsey could watch as her sword spun into the air as she went wide-eyed, reaching up to the air, before dramatically falling to her knees as her arms dropped to her sides. "I…have lost."
"Yup," smirked Naruto, twirling his kunai before Kelsey looked up at him fiercely.
"I may have lost the battle, but you will still face justice for tearing down an innocent lost cat poster!"
Naruto stared at her before he started to snicker, which turned into outright laughing, throwing his head back and holding his stomach. "Hahahahahaha!"
"Hey! That's not funny!" JP let out with Craig taking a step forward.
"Yeah! What makes you think it's some sort of joke?!"
"Hahahaha, n-no no, it's not that," he wiped a tear away and shook his head. "It's not that, I was just laughing 'cause that wasn't me; it was my brother."
"Brother?!" The Stump Kids let out together before the same boy Craig saw walked over with his hands in his pockets, shocking them as he stood next to Naruto. In their eyes, they looked like mirror copies of each other!
"Hey." Menma greeted coolly with a brief nod.
"You…You're brothers?" Craig got out, blown away more than ever. He smacked his cheeks before pointing at him. "Hold on! That still doesn't change the fact that what you did was uncalled for!"
"Taking the poster down? I had a good reason." Menma refuted with his head leaning back at an angle. "Our family lost a pet in the pest and it made our little sister Ushio sad. It was right in front of our new house so I figured she'd get upset if she saw it, so I just removed it. No sense letting her get sad when we JUST moved here."
Hearing the reason actually made total sense to them, moving their hearts with Craig lowering his finger and feeling a bit guilty before shaking his head.
"Wait, but then why did you attack us? You could have just told us from the start."
"I thought it'd be funnier and wanted to leave a lasting impression." Naruto chimed in with a snicker. "Menma found out you were looking for him, so we planned this whole thing out."
"My apologies for my brothers," Mito spoke up. "It was cruel of them to trick you, but once my brothers set their minds into something, there's no stopping them. I hope all of you weren't too overwhelmed."
With the reveal out, and the whole thing now explained, Craig and his friends, along with the Ninja Kids who had walked over all lookubg guilty with Craig rubbing the back of his head.
"Well…I guess we owe you an apology. We jumped ahead and accused you of something you weren't. Sorry."
"Eh, don't worry about it." Naruto shrugged with Yustice stepping forward, looking a bit shy.
"Ahem. With the misunderstanding taken care of, I have a request to make, if it's…not too much to ask."
"Shoot." Menma remarked casually.
"Well…do you think you could….teach us some of your ninja techniques?" she asked with her friends nodding, looking hopeful. "As fans of the ninja way, it would be an honor to learn from expert ninjas such as yourselves."
"What? Like senseis?" asked Naruto, giving his brother a smirk. "Heh, imagine you as a teacher?"
"Like you'd do any better."
"Hey! I'd be an awesome teacher!"
"Suuure you would."
"Well, since everyone knows there WAS a good reason," JP gave another smug look at his friends he spread out his arms. "Welcome to the Creek! My name's JP, and you already fought with Kelsey."
"Greetings." The girl gave a salute.
"And this here is-"
"I'm guessing Craig Williams?" Menma interjected, surprising said boy.
"Wait, how…do you know my name?" he questioned, feeling a creepy sensation that he usually got from the Witches of the Creek since he never said his name.
Menma reached into his pocket, pulling out his phone with a text on it along with some selfies of Craig's mom with Kushina. "Our mom texted us to let us know your family invited us over for dinner, plus she asked if we met up."
"Ah! You get to have dinner with ninjas? Lucky." Kelsey pouted with her arms crossed.
"Might wanna be careful Craig; ninjas are REAL good at assassins and using poison on people. Trust me, I learned it from some movies." JP whispered to his pal.
Craig felt his fear grow while Kelsey patted him on the back with a solemn look.
"We wish you the best of luck Craig, and we will always be thinking about you."
"That's not helping," he whispered to her with frustration.
"They know we can hear them, right?" Menma asked his brother lowly, with Naruto trying to keep from snickering.
"Probably not."
Mito could only shake her head with a tiny smile in amusement.
That's when they heard a loud tuba sound, making all of the paintballers get up from being 'dead' and rush off. The sight confused Naruto, Menma, and Mito as they also hear someone yell out.
"DINNER!"
"Where is everyone going?" Mito asked.
"Oh! That was the dinner tuba, it let's every creek kid know when it's time to head home for dinner." Craig explained. "Beth the Timekeeper is in charge of keeping track of time so nobody gets home late."
"Except that one time." JP tossed in.
"Yeah….but we got it fixed up." Craig added.
"Tell me everything that happens at dinner with the Uzumaki's Craig!" Kelsey called out as she and JP took off running.
"Sure thing!" He waved her off before Naruto stood beside him.
"Race ya back home!" Naruto said quickly before running off.
Craig grinned. "Oh, you are so on!"
Both of them took off running, Menma casually following after with his hands in his hips and Mito following.
The camera panned away from them and over to the overpass; the Green Poncho was sitting on a branch, fulfilling his duty to keep an eye on things at the border of the overpass like usual. He heard the dinner tuba. He stood up and stretched out his limbs, standing up as his stomach growled.
"Hope mom's got something good going on, I'm starved," he muttered. He jumped down, right before hearing something in the nearby bushes. He quickly notched an arrow and turned to the bush, at the ready. "Who's there?! I know you're hiding, so come out or I'll hit you with the worst stink bomb ever!"
The rustling grew harder, making him pull the string back more before he saw something slowly come out, making his eyes widen.
"What the…"