Chapter One: Fight or Flight


All was quiet in the forest, save of course the blur dashing through the trees. From branch to branch the blur leapt, covering as much land as possible with each jump. Finally, upon coming to a stream, the blur landed and took human form. Calmly, the blonde ninja took a drink, then stared at the reflection looking back at him. How did this happen? A week ago he became chunin. Then Sasuke had returned, with Orochimaru’s head, no less. And where was he now? Being chased through the woods, that’s where. “But hey, at least I’m not wearing bright orange anymore.” The shinobi snorted as he stood by the water, admiring his new outfit, a gift from Kakashi-sensei for passing the chunin exam.

White, custom-tailored pants, covered in various pockets. A stunning hi-collard black vest, similarly pocketed, with the kanji for fox sewn on the back in white thread. A snappy red sash around his waist, both ends stamped with the same kanji. Definitely the type of outfit for the next Hokage. A lecherous grin grew on the blond ninja’s face as he remembered the last place he had seen the red shirt that went with it. Or that is, the last general area he saw the shirt. He hadn’t really bothered to see where it landed . . .

A deep growl cut off his train off thought. Instinctively, the shinobi reached for his kunai, before he realized the growl came from his stomach. “Something tells me there’s not going to be a ramen stand around here.” With a sigh, the ninja put the kunai away and bulldozing his way through the woods, looking for something, anything, to eat. But what he found was not to his liking. As he parted the next bush, a familiar tension against his ankle caught his attention. “Trapwire. Damn.” Someone else was here, and had been here long enough to set traps. For a brief second, the ninja considered running, then tossed that idea away. He was tired of running, and besides, ANBU usually carried field rations at the least. “Well, here goes nothing . . . ” The ninja lifted his foot, pulling the wire . . . Two dozen kunai flew at him from various directions . . .

*******

Three ninja quickly appeared by the place the trap had been. Two leapt down to the ground, and studied the piece of wood which lay on the ground, covered in kunai. One, a kunoichi clad in a black silk kimono with red trim and obi, covered her mouth to hid her grin.

“What, Yuri?” Her partner, a male nin likewise in black, asked, his eyes half closed in anger.

“Oh nothing, Tatsuo, nothing at all.” Finally Yuri could hold it no longer. “It’s just, if you wanted to stab a log to death, you could have done it back at camp!”

“Don’t laugh too hard, baka.” The third ninja, another kunoichi, called from up in a tree. “He’s still here, somewhere.”

“You sure, Katsumi?” Tatsuo asked, already knowing the answer. He had learned that if the girl said someone was there, someone was there.

“And he’s good to.” The blind ninja added as she landed next to her teammates. “He’s hiding his chakra signature, well, trying to at least. This one will be fun.” The female slapped her hand on Tatsuo’s shoulder in a very boyish fashion, feeling his tight fishnet tanktop under her hand and trying not to blush as she did. ‘Its times like this I wish I could see.’

“So, is everyone ready?” The male nin asked, pulling his black fingerless gloves tight.

“That depends,” Katsumi grinned as she tightened the knot that held her headband over her eyes. “Do we have enough time for Yuri to go and change?”

“Well, I’m sorry if I prefer to dress like a woman.” Yuri shot back as she pulled two fans from her obi. “Unlike some people I know.”

“Please. Sometimes I wished my eyes worked so I could see how ridiculous you looked.”

“Hey, I’m not the one who tapes her breast down every morning. Her very large breast, I might add.”

Katsumi, being the tomboy she was, was tempted to cut Yuri’s tongue at the last remark. But something caught her attention. A smell; a sweet, familiar smell. Slowly the ninja turned her head to a nearby tree. “Yuri,” she whispered. “Our periods are at the same time right?” Her companion softly nodded. “Thought so.”

Katsumi’s right hand gripped the hilt of the sword strapped to her back, her left already preforming one-handed seals. “Tokkan Kiritateru!” The swordswoman clamped her left around the sword hilt and drew, slashing a straight vertical line in front of her. A bolt of electricity flew from the sword’s arc, smashing straight into the tree. As the tree crashed to the ground, six identical blond ninjas, all recovering from nosebleeds, landed, kunai drawn. “Look mommy, a ninja tree!” She cracked.

“Kage Bunshin . . . ” Tatsuo let out a low whistle. “You were right, he is good.” Skillfully, he flicked his wrist, and the shimmer of sunlight on ninja-wire filled the space between the ninja and his opponents. All six jumped in different directions, but two were too slow and were caught in the web. Jerking his hands back, Tatsuo grabbed the wires in his teeth and pulled up, turning his body into a pulley. The two clones were cut to pieces by the wires, before dissipating into smoke. “Well, that’s two . . . ”

“I’ve got the rest.” Yuri grinned as she slammed one of her closed fans into the ground, putting the second one away, “Doton, Doryuu Taiga!” A rushing river of mud slammed the next two backwards, both having landed next to each other. But by then the Earth-nin was already halfway through her second set of hand seals. “Kami, I love stupid clones. Doton, Doryuudan!” A great dragon arose from the mud and spat mudballs at the two remaining, who had wisely taken to the trees. One was hit and dissipated.

“Mikazuki no mai!” Two Katsumi’s rushed the remaining ninja, swords drawn . . .

“Hold it!”

Everyone looked at the newcomer who spoke. Clad in a long black robe decorated in a flame motif, the man held about him an air of quiet confidence and respect. “You three do know that last one’s a clone to, right?”

“If that’s true, sensei, then why did you stop us?” Yuri asked, confused.

“Well, I figure if I can get him to drop it on his own, then that would mean we could talk things out without killing each other.” Calmly, the man leaned his back against a tree and stared up into it. “So will you?” The final clone disappeared, just as the true ninja leapt down from the tree. The man only shook his head. “Konoha. I should have guessed. So, what’s your name, kid?”

“Uzumaki Naruto.”





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Ok, sorry about the large amount of Japanese, but the jutsus sound much cooler in their native tongue. For credit’s sake, I “borrowed” them from www.naruto-kun.com, except for Katsumi’s Tokkan Kiritateru (Lightning Slash), which I made up and translated into Japanese here: http://www.freedict.com/onldict/jap.html

So enjoy and please review!

Chapter 2-Once round the Bonfire


“Sensei, I have some . . . concerns about our guest.” The young ninja mused over folded hands as he sat watching the blond.

“How’s that, Tatsuo?” Fujimura Kogia asked his pupil, not moving from his comfortable position against a tree, straw hat over his eyes.

“Well, for starters, someone who can eat that much of Yuri’s cooking can’t possibly be human.” Tatsuo’s comment was quickly followed by a bowl of hot soup being poured over his head, being placed there by the afore mentioned kunoichi. “A true ninja dose not open his mouth when doing so would cause him pain.” Their sensei added cooly as he took the second bowl from Yuri’s hands.

“Hope you like your dinner, Tatsuo-teme.” The Earth-nin shot in a singsong voice as she walked off.

“How can something that hot be that evil?”

Kogia could only shake his head at his poor student’s predicament as he walked over to Naruto, who was inhaling his dinner by the bowl. “So, how is everything Naruto-san?”

“Great, Kogia-sempai.” The blonde ninja replied as he set his bowl down next to the fire. “It’s just, some things have been bothering me. Like, you said you were from Konoha. But why don’t you wear a headband?”

Calmly the ninja held up his hand to silence the chunin. “Alright, then. I’ll answer your questions, and you’ll answer mine. Yuri, Katsumi, Tatsuo, gather round. It’s Storytime.” The three students all sat down; Tatsuo still picking meat out of his hair, Katsumi sitting more like a man than any man there and closer to Tatsuo then he thought comfortable, Yuri batting her eyelashes at Naruto flirtatiously. After they were settled, Kogia stood and raised his cup.

“My name is Fujimura Kogia, formerly of Konoha. I graduated from the Academy second in my class, and became skilled at blending taijutsu and ninjutsu attacks. When it came time for the Chunin Exam, I got the amazingly intelligent idea to give my team an ‘advantage’ by stealing a copy of both the Earth and Heaven scrolls, as well as several others. Needless to say, I was found out. My team was disqualified, and I promptly left. Honestly, I thought it was a great plan, and that they all overreacted.” And with that, the ninja sat. Tatsuo stood next.

“My name is Tatsuo the Spider. My family was once a prestigious clan in the Grass nation, until they were driven out. As a child, I spent most of my time traveling. We wandered from town to town, nation to nation. One day I got sick of it and left. I dropped the family name, because I knew it would only bring trouble, even more so then the crest.” Tatsuo tapped the tattoo on his biceps of two dragons eating each others tail. “Then I meet up with Kogia-sensei and Yuri. They helped improve the limited ninja training my family had given. I may not be able to use a lot of big, flashy jutsus, but that won’t stop me from fighting.” Katsumi was next.

“I’m Kyohaku Katsumi, formerly of the Snow nation. And yes, I know, this is not the symbol for the Snow nation.” She added, pointing to the forehead protector covering her eyes, bearing the symbol of a closed eye. “When I was in the Academy, we went on a field trip. I got separated from the group and attacked by a wolf. I killed the damn thing, but it cut me up pretty badly and I passed out in a cave. I woke up a couple of days later and wandered through the woods. Unfortunately, it was a very bright day and I quickly went snowblind.”

“Bright sunlight reflected off of snow can cause blindness.” Kogia answered before the confused Naruto could ask.

“Thank you.” The kunoichi continued with her story. “I wandered until I, quite literally, ran into these three idiots. With Kogia-sensei’s help, I discovered a way of ninja that was lost long ago, the way of the Sightless Order, a group of blind shinobi. That is the crest I wear.”

“Long-winded as always.” Yuri muttered under her breath, drawing a sneer from her sharp-eared comrade and a laugh from the others. “Ok, my turn. My name is Myzuki Yuri. I graduated top of my class, I’m from the Earth nation, and when I feel you need to know more I’ll tell you.”

“Yuri, I’ve known you longer than anyone here, and that’s about as much as I know about you.” Kogia said, drawing another round of laughter. Turning his attention to Naruto, he raised his cup. “Your turn kid.”

Naruto stood up and cleared his throat. “My name is Uzumaki Naruto of Konoha. I graduated last in my class, and as for how I got here . . . ”



*Konoha, Two Days Earlier. *

“Three cheers for Chunin Naruto!” An excited Kiba

“Three cheers for the return of Sasuke!” A half-inebriated Ino cried.

“Three cheers for a tournament that didn’t end in a war.” A somber, but not quiet sober, Neji suggested, killing the mood. Everyone drank to that.

“So Naruto, what’s your first plan under the chunin pay scale? Buy your own ramen stand?” Choji asked with a grin and an enthusiastic smack on the back, just as the shinobi took a drink. After a small coughing fit, Naruto wiped his mouth and looked around at the party’s guest. Everyone was here. Well, almost everyone . . .

“Hey, Neji. Where’s Hinata?”

“Recovering.” Was the only response. Which made sense, considering the brutal fight she had been in during the finals against Sakura. Both were tough girls, and neither kunoichi had held back, the fight ending in a draw by double knockout. And even though Sakura was here, she wasn’t one-hundred percent.

The rest of the night was uneventful, as uneventful as a group of drunken teenagers could be anyway. Though they were underage, shinobi law said they were adults at sixteen or chunin, and as such allowed to drink, as much as the other restaurant patrons, and the ANBU platoon who were sent to watch over Sasuke, wished otherwise. Over the course of the night, Ino professed her love for Sasuke, Shikamaru, Neji, Sakura and Tenten; all of whom ignored her drunken rantings, except for Sasuke, who thought she was serious and decided at that moment to come out of the closet. After the shock of that announcement wore off, Neji proposed to Tenten, and Lee and Sakura finally let known the fact that they were officially going steady, which was really only news to Sasuke. During the entire night, however, Naruto was distant, aloof. Not even Sasuke’s proclamation seemed to faze him.

Finally things came to an end. As the ninja all went on their separate ways, Neji noticed that Naruto was still out of it. Taking the ninja by the arm, the taijutsu master pulled him aside and whispered into his ear; “The guard at Hyuga Manor changes in fifteen minutes.”

“Arigato.” And with a grin, the blonde was gone.

*******

Hinata sat alone in her room, reading a scroll by candlelight. Everyone was at Naruto’s party, but her damn overprotective father refused to let her go, saying she was still too wounded. Well, at least he wasn’t thinking of her to be a failure anymore . . .

A squirrel running through her opened window cut off her train of thought. The squirrel ran across the floor and stopped in front of the kunoichi, standing itself up on its hind legs, looking at her. “Well, hello little one.” Hinata said, setting down the scroll. She had never seen a squirrel with blue eyes before. “You shouldn’t be in here.”

In a puff of smoke, the rodent was replaced by a grinning blonde ninja, squatting so he was eye level with Hinata. “Oh, why is that, Hinata-chan?”

“Naruto-kun?!”

“You didn’t miss much.” Naruto said as he sat down cross legged. “Neji proposed, so expect Tenten to be all giggly tomorrow. Oh and Sasuke’s gay.”
“Oh really, how did that come up?”

“Ino’s Drunken no Jutsu.”

“Figures. How did Sakura take the news?”

“She’s all Lee’s now.”

“Oh poor Naruto-kun.” Hinata grinned, gently stroking his cheek. “Losing your girlfriend to someone in green spandex.”

Naruto took her hand and kissed it, pulling her close. “Since when do I have two girlfriends?” He asked, giving her ear a nibble. The two of them had grown up a lot since the last chunin exam, Naruto becoming more serious and Hinata more confident. As the blonde kissed his way down Hinata’s neck, the kunoichi slid her hands up under his shirt. In response, Naruto slipped off his vest and pulled off the shirt, tossing it across the room. “Better?”

“Much.” Dragging her fingertips across his sculpted abs, Hinata finally reached his sweet spot, the faint markings of the seal on his stomach. Kyuubi had been working overtime these past couple of days, repairing the damage Naruto took in the finals, so the seal was slightly more visible than usual, to Hinata’s delight. She had found about the sensitivity of the markings three months earlier, while giving Naruto head, and exploited it any chance she got.

“Naughty Hinata . . . ” Naruto moaned before mounting his counterattack, sliding his hand into her robe. “Not wearing any underwear, I see.” The chunin took her left breast in his hand and began to knead it softly, his callused palm brushing against her nipple. A sharp gasp escaped Hinata’s throat. “Father..”

“You are a kinky girl, aren’t you?” Naruto whispered in her ear. It was then that he realized she was no longer stroking his stomach. “Something wrong, Hinata-chan?” Naruto followed her frightened gaze to over his shoulder to the form of a very angry Lord Hiashi. “Hiashi-dono, what a surprise.” Naruto stammered, his hand still on Hinata’s petite boob. “Th..this isn’t what it looks like... ”

Hiashi balled up his fist, the veins marking the activation of the Byakugan already popping out of his temples. “Get your hands off of my daughter!!” With blinding speed, the head of the Hyuga clan brought a chakra-laden fist right down on Naruto . . . And ended up causing a chair to explode into toothpicks. Vest in hand, Naruto crouched in the window. “Sayonara, Hinata-chan.” He called as he lept out to the courtyard. Storming to the window, Hiashi watched as his prey fled. “Your dead Uzumaki!” He shouted as the blonde ninja ran from roof to roof, past the village gates and into the woods.

*******

“....And then, after two days of running, I ended up here.”

“Yeah! Go Naruto!” Katsumi cried out, pumping her fist into the air. Yuri just rolled her eyes, and Tatsuo was to busy watching Kogia, who was rolling on the ground laughing. “Care to let us in on the joke, Sensei?”

Regaining his composure, the older shinobi sat up and wiped the tears from his eyes. “The Hyuga clan is the most prestigious in Konoha. And this idiot got caught feeling up Lord Hyuga’s daughter. So now, by shear virtue of knowing him, we are all screwed, and not in the good way.” And with that, Kogia took off his hat and dropped it on the fire, kicking sand onto the flames. “All right grubworms, its time for bed. Tatsuo you have first watch.”