The young, short boy was fiercely punching a log. Again. And again. And again. His face was set in a determinate expression, but one could see an appalling desperation deep inside his beautiful, blue eyes. He had spiky blond hair and was wearing a very bright orange suit. «Two-hundred.» the boy murmured, landing another blow. «Two-hundred and one.»
He was profusely sweating. Weariness was slowly overwhelming him, but... “I’m not going to give up... never...” He though. «Two-hundred and two.» he pants. «Two-hundred and three.»
He was training in the immediate outskirt of the village. The high walls that surrounded and protected Konoha could be seen far away. «Two-hundred and...» the boy stops, hearing a high pitching scream. A scared scream. And a scream of pain.
«What the hell...?» he asked. Then, without even realising it, his instincts kicked in. Evidently the lessons at the academy had had more impact on him than his senseis believed.
The boy ran in the direction of the scream, suddenly feeling invigorated. Few moments later, he reached a clearing, distant only a dozen of meters from his training post. There, he saw a small girl, probably of his age. She was standing in a defensive position, a kunai in hand, panting. She was covered in dirt and blood. He observed her with unusual attention, seeing everything as if it were in slow motion.
The girl was small but leaned, with long and floating black hair. She was wearing tight black pants, with a kunai/shuriken holster on her right leg. Two red lines ran in the middle of her pants. She had a short coat, that arrived to her bottom, also black with golden flames embroidery over it. She was carrying a huge scroll on her shoulders. At her feet a small feline was hissing at the half dozen men that surround her. The animal looked like a miniature tiger, but silver in colour. The stance of the animal, though, was unstable as if it were hurt. The men were obviously bandit. They didn’t look like shinobi, thank the kami. They were well armed though. They were at best some rogue samurais.
«It’s over, girlie.» chuckles what seemed to be the leader of the gang.
The girl took a deep breath. «A dog who barks, is a dog that doesn’t bite.» she said with a firm, but tired, tone. «He who hesitates in the battlefield, is a fool.» She moved with astonishing speed, her free hand going to her weapon holster. She threw several shuriken towards her enemies, managing to hit one of the thugs in the legs and effectively immobi-lising him. A successive projectile centred the man in the chest. One down. Five to go.
The leader growled and attacked as well. The small tiger leaped immediately, biting and scratching the nearest bandit. The man roared in pain and kicked the annoying animal away. Both the girl and animal winced at this, but the girl managed to parry the leader’s katana, contemporary ducking an arrow coming her way. The four remaining bandits close in towards the girl.
By then, the momentary stupor of the boy disappeared – and he decided to intervene. He threw several shuriken as well, aiming at the farthest thug from the girl, the archer. (He didn’t want to miss and hit her instead). He hit him in the legs and his right arm. Success.
The other three bandits seemed to freeze in confusion. «What the fuck?» screamed the wounded one. «How did she manage to do that?»
The girl and the leader didn’t lose focus, though. As the man tried to overpower her with his greater strength, she used her speed and her small height at her advantage. She manages to impale her kunai in his tight, making him scream in pain. Then the girl jumped back and took a deep breath in, before going through some handseals. She held the Tiger sign and released the air from her lungs.
«Katon: Faia Kouen Kasui no Jutsu!*» she firmly stated.
The man’s eyes widened, as a small wave of fire blazed from the girl’s mouth and goes towards him. He screamed in pain as the flames engulfed him and the girl used the distraction to hurl another kunai at him. The weapon’s aim was true and it impaled in her enemy’s chest.
Of the three remaining thugs, only two could effectively move. They roared in anger at the fall of their leader and ran towards the girl. She calmly faced them, tossing another dozen shuriken at them. Unfortunately they seemed to dodge most of them. Their charge was slowed down though. She crossed her fingers in the tiger seal again. «Bunshin no Jutsu.*»
Four copies of her appeared from nothingness, with the obvious purpose of disorientating her adversaries. In fact, they stop in their track. The boy used the moment to attack again. This effectively caused further confusion in the two approaching bandits. The girl didn’t wait for the opening to pass. Her hands quickly formed seals again, finishing with Tiger. «Katon: Kouen Kasui no Jutsu!*»
The frozen bandits were abruptly surrounded by another wave of fire, that burned them. The girl leaped forward, a kunai in hand, and finished the two bandits off. Only then she realised the last standing thug has moved towards her, despite his wounds. He was pointing a bow at her. «You bitch! You will pay for the deaths of my comrades!»
The girl panted from exhaustion. «I did not asked you to hunt me.» she replied, even as her head bowed down in shame.
«Shut up, you fucking whore!» the arm of the bandit tensed back, ready to release an arrow... but the man suddenly makes his weapon fall, his hands going to his chest and clutching it. A kunai was impaled in his heart. The girl sighed in relief, before turning toward the boy. He is surprised because it was as if she knew he was there. The girl bowed her head. «Arigato.» she smiled, sadly. «They would have killed me if not for you help.» The boy was frozen. His hands were shaking. The girl had a very pretty face, with full lips, elegant cheeks and two starting black eyes. He wanted to answer, but was overwhelmed by emotions, he...
«It was your first kill.» the girl stated, slowly moving toward him. «I’m sorry I forced you to do that, shinobi-san.»
The boy took a deep breath. «I’m... I’m not a shinobi.»
She tilted her head. «But you want to be one. You have training. You have killed. At least, you are a shinobi at heart... even if in the darkest aspect of the job.»
The boy slowly nodded. His nose is filled with the stench of blood and death – even though it was clearly too soon for the bodies to have rotten yet. In his ears there was still the screams of death and pain of the bandits. Was is all worth it? “Is this really what I wanted? If I had graduated, this moment would have come nevertheless... I...”
The girl suddenly bended down and he noticed the small tiger (at least, he thought it was a tiger) limping towards them. Its paw was severely hurt. The girl gently and carefully picked her up. The animal started to purr. «Ah, Kaera, you should have stayed out of the fight, you know it.» The purrs become stronger. The girl smiles sweetly at Kaera, then turned to the boy again. Her smile didn’t falter, quite the contrary, it got wider and brighter.
The boy felt a sudden warmth engulf him, cancelling his doubts. “It was worth it.” He could count on one hand the number of person who wasn’t indifferent or downright cruel to him. And none had ever smiled at him that way. With utter, complete gratitude. «My name is Akimi.» she said, her voice as warm as her smile. She put her right hand forwards. «Katora Akimi. And I am in your debt.»
«Naruto.» the boy replied, taking the hand and gently squeezing it. «Uzumaki Naruto. And it was... was not really a problem, dattebayo.» He ruffled his hair as if embarrassed.
There was a small flash of interest in the girl’s eyes. Then it was gone. «It doesn’t change a thing. I owe you. So, how can I repay you?»
«Can you teach me that jutsu? They were cool, dattebayo!» he immediately screamed, excitedly.
Akimi was pleased that he had forgotten – at least for the moment – the shock of his first kill, but she was a little puzzled at his sudden mood change. She didn’t answer immediately. «I can try, certainly.» “He is so brisk and energetic. I don’t know... he doesn’t really strike me as a fire type.” «But it will depend mostly by your affinity. If you have one. It is a D-rank technique, though, so you could probably master it And you have quite the amount of chakra, so...»
«Whoa.» he laughs. «You are even worse than Iruka-sensei...»
Akimi tilted her head, raising an eyebrow.
Naruto seemed to panic and he put his hands forwards, in defence, moving them frantically. «It was not an insult, dattebayo. You are not offended, right?»
She smiled. «Is this Iruka-sensei an idiot?»
«No, no.» Naruto quickly said. «He is the best teacher at the academy, dattebayo!»
«Good to know.» Akimi smiled again. «So, Uzumaki-san, do you think you can point me to the village’s gates?»
«Sure thing, Amiki-chan, I can accompany you.»
Akimi nodded. «Good.»
«You look tired, Akimi-chan.» Naruto said, getting closer to her. «I’ll help you.»
«It is very kind of you, Uzumaki-san.»