College? Wow, good luck dragon lady, 3nodding . Alas, I am only in high school, so if I'm stressing now I shudder to think of how it's like in college. sweatdrop .
Chuunin Exam Arc at last! This calls for a celebration! (Turns Kouseki into her human form and does a jig with her) As a present to both you and me, this chapter will have double the length! Or at least close to that…heh.
(grins) Hope you like it! This is where the AU starts to really show, other then the “Zabuza and Haku live” part in the Wave Arc. I actually have something planned for them in the future…
“Talking”
Thinking
(“Animals communicating with humans”/Telepathy with animals)
“Demonic Language”/Demon thinking/’Demon talking telepathically to their jinchuuriki’
O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O
::;Seeing the Truth;::
Chapter 9: The Mystery Named Akina
O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O
::;Seeing the Truth;::
Chapter 9: The Mystery Named Akina
O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O
“SASUKE-TEME! Hurry up in there!”
There was no answer to this holler and the sound of water running continued. Naruto gritted his teeth and pounded on the bathroom door again.
“OI!”
Akina quietly ate her cereal and ignored the yelling in the background. Kouseki glared at the boys.
(“Can’t you two stop arguing for more than five minutes?! Kami-sama…”)
There was only one bathroom in the house (Kouseki suspected that Kakashi meant for it to be like that), and fights over the bathroom, couch, kitchen; anything you can think of, they fought over it.
A blue toothbrush went flying over Akina’s head from the opened bathroom door and into her cereal bowl. Both boys gawked at the situation and quickly separated their tangled limbs, scrambling to get away from the quiet girl.
Akina picked up the toothbrush and smelled Sasuke’s scent coming from it, indicating that it was his. That meant that Naruto threw it.
Kouseki let out a bark like laugh and backed away to watch the scene unfold.
The sounds of doors opening and closing (along with the stomping of feet) were heard as Akina slowly walked upstairs towards their bedrooms.
She passed a slightly apprehensive Sasuke as he exited his dark blue colored bedroom and walked by her dark green room towards Naruto’s soft orange colored room. There was a lot of noise coming from her fox like teammate’s room as she stopped in front of it and listened.
“I’m going to the bridge…” muttered the Uchiha as he escaped the house. Kouseki grinned, tail wagging.
Akina grasped the doorknob, turning it slowly just to tease Naruto. The sounds from inside the room grew more frantic.
“Naruto…”
Naruto froze halfway through the window with his ninja pouch halfway on. His hands twitched a little.
“H-Hai…?”
In a heartbeat, Akina was right beside Naruto with her hand on his shoulder. He flinched and tried to smile (and failing miserably). The toothbrush was waved in front of his face.
“Don’t do it again.”
Then, she was gone like the wind, leaving Naruto shivering slightly from the anxiety.
That…was scary…
He managed to get over this and meet up with his teammates on the red bridge about ten minutes later.
Sasuke spared him a slightly interested glance seeing as Naruto didn’t arrive with Akina; one couldn’t help but suspect something happened to the ramen-loving ninja.
Akina and Kouseki were sitting next to each other on the shore, with Akina leaning against the bridge and the wolf lying next to her, napping.
The girl looked like she was meditating. Naruto just sighed before sitting down against the railings and catching up on lost sleep. Besides, Kakashi usually didn’t come for at least another two hours.
The wind started to circle around the kunoichi protectively as she calmed her mind. This interrupted Sasuke’s brooding. He cocked an eyebrow and eyed a rock sitting innocently by his foot. He shifted his position and kicked it at Akina, just to test something.
Right when the rock came within two feet of his teammate, it was shredded to dust by the wind. Naruto woke up coughing as the dust cloud roamed over towards him.
He rubbed it out of his eyes and glared at the first thing he saw. Sasuke.
“OI! What’d you do that for, teme?!”
The Uchiha glared back, but didn’t immediately deny the claim, since he kicked the rock at Akina. Naruto noticed and pointed triumphantly at him.
“HA! I knew it! It was your fault!”
“It’s not my fault that you were sitting there in the way, dobe.”
“What’d you call me?!”
“You heard me. DOBE.”
Naruto snarled and punched Sasuke. He shifted to the left and flipped the orange ninja over his shoulder.
When Naruto got up again, he saw Sasuke staring back at him with his Sharingan activated. He gritted his teeth at the hypnotic red eyes.
Kouseki opened a bored golden eye and stared at the tense stand off. The gaze went towards Akina, who was slowly drifting out of her deep meditation. Her hand twitched, signaling her readiness to interfere.
Three shuriken left Naruto’s hands and he dashed, zigzagging towards his rival. Sasuke narrowed his eyes at the images that he was seeing and stepped out of their trajectory.
A barrage of kicks and punches were thrown when Naruto reached Sasuke, and the Uchiha smirked a little at the new abilities that the Sharingan gave him.
All of the attacks were brushed off or dodged, making Naruto angry.
A punch that went too far gave Sasuke the chance to knock the other back to the other side of the bridge.
He was caught by Akina before he hit the ground and took any damage.
Adrenaline pumped through the Uchiha prodigy’s veins, urging him to keep on fighting and find out just how strong that “b***h” was.
The kunai thrown at Akina was caught by the handle and used to deflect the shuriken. Akina frowned at Sasuke’s behavior.
The two rushed at each other, one attempting to attack, and the other trying to disarm and restrain.
Akina ran at the same speed as Sasuke as to not rise any suspicion, thrusting her palm towards his chest. It was brushed aside and Akina was forced to bend backwards to dodge a punch.
She flipped backwards, kicking Sasuke into the air by his chin. Crouching, she jumped up towards the air-borne shinobi.
He tasted blood in his mouth where he bit his tongue when he got kicked. Narrowed eyes were sent towards Akina as she appeared right in front of him, sending chakra enforced punches to his pressure points.
Is this genjutsu? Ninjutsu?
Sasuke was too slow to block the hits and was sent hurtling towards the ground, only to be caught by Kakashi, who had arrived before the fight started (he chose to stay hidden and observe). Naruto and Kouseki were also at the sidelines.
“I think that’s enough…”
The boy panted as the adrenaline left him and he realized just what he was doing. He blinked before scowling at the interference. The world started to get fuzzy and dark as the pain began to overcome his senses.
Akina landed and walked towards the rest of their team. She stopped in front of Sasuke and Kakashi, crouching down in front of the avenger.
“The Sharingan eyes can see, but your body might not be able to react fast enough. Work hard to learn new techniques and grow and you shall be rewarded, Sasuke. We’re all here to help you, like teammates and friends are supposed to.”
He made no noise as he drifted into unconsciousness after pondering over her words.
Friends…?
Kakashi sighed as he laid his subordinate gently onto the ground. He nodded gratefully at Akina for trying to talk some sense into him. If it worked, even a little bit, she would be doing a favor to the entire village.
Naruto stared at Sasuke’s sleeping face.
The night before they went to the Hokage’s office, Naruto asked Akina about Sasuke. His “last words” still echoed through his mind.
“Stay alive…stay alive so that you can kill my brother in my place…”
In return for being told this memory, Akina revealed the story of Sasuke’s past, and why he acts the way he does. There had been a somber silence after this, with both kids reflecting on their own pasts.
Kouseki had commented about all the members of Team Seven losing their family at one point or another. The girl wisely didn’t relay this to Naruto, choosing to keep Kakashi’s past a secret until he was ready.
The silver haired ninja noticed the atmosphere and decided to change the subject. He sent a curious glance towards Akina.
“Akina-chan…were you the one who cut my ropes in the bell test?”
Naruto snapped out of his daze and blinked at her as well.
“Hai.”
Kouseki yawned, recalling the talk they had last night about her demonic powers.
FLASHBACK
Akina put the last of her clothes into the closet and sat down on the twin size bed. Kouseki scooted a little over to make room.
(“So…I guess you’ve noticed that your senses and connection to the elements have increased like hell, right?”)
She responded by gathering some wind around her, ruffling the wolf’s fur. The older demon nodded at this.
(“Demons are almost always more aware of their surroundings of humans, which is why you were able to get used to being blind when you were still a kid—er I mean, a few years ago.”) the wolf sweat dropped when she realized that Akina was still a kid. People tend to overlook that when you see how mature the girl acted.
Akina’s hand twitched when she heard Sasuke shove Naruto into a wall downstairs.
(“Tonight we’ll be training on controlling those senses after I explain what you can do now. Your demonic blood is just starting to awaken again, so this is only a taste of what is going to happen. Pretty soon you’ll be able to smell what a ningen on the other side of the village ate for lunch when he goes to the bathroom, hehehe…and your senses will only improve as you get stronger.”)
(“As a beast, you are able to be more in tune with the elements around us. You seem to be more connected to wind and fire (which isn’t too shocking since you are a dragon), and water and lightning (these two elements come from your okami blood). Darkness, Light, and Void are the three base elements, and are the rarest. You’ll know if you are accepted by them if they let you control them.”)
(“You’ll have trouble finding out which one you are better at bending, but we’ll have some fun with that after you don’t smell every ningen that’s pissing when you walk through the village…”)
END FLASHBACK
“Neh, neh, Akina-chan! You were the one that helped me get out of that trap?”
She nodded and listened to Sasuke’s heart beat pick up a little. He was going to wake up soon. Kakashi seemed to notice this as well.
As if on cue, the boy woke up and attempted to move his body. His muscles screamed at him to stop, but he ignored the soreness and sat up, staring dully at the rest of Team Seven.
“Maa, maa, Sasuke. Akina was just about to tell us why she was able to control wind without chakra like in the genin test!”
“Bloodline limit. Connection with nature.”
All three blinked at her. Naruto scowled in confusion. “But I thought you couldn’t remember your past!”
Kakashi and Sasuke had been thinking along the same lines also, but didn’t bother asking about it since they knew that Naruto would blurt it out.
“They’re coming back, slowly…”
Naruto grinned happily and glomped her, immediately feeling her body tense at this new form of human contact. Akina awkwardly lifted her arms and wrapped them lightly around Naruto’s waist, holding them loosely.
Sasuke and Kakashi noticed her hesitance to the hug and were wondering if she really never hugged anyone in her life. Kouseki inwardly sighed at this, but expected it anyways. The girl had never been one to have physical contact with anyone, even when she was a child.
The boy let go first, sensing her discomfort. He scratched the back of his neck and laughed a little. “Gomen, Akina-chan…”
She just shook her head, indicating that he didn’t need to apologize for being happy for her.
The jounin took out a scroll (everyone noticed that it was a D ranked scroll) and skimmed through the contents. Naruto groaned at the thought of more meaningless tasks.
“Hmm, the first mission for today is…harvesting the corn at Takeshi-san’s ranch.”
The jinchuuriki grinned. “That’s easy!”
Kakashi just smiled at him. “All 5 acres…by 2 pm. It’s 10:30 right now.”
Kouseki and Sasuke’s eyes twitched at the thought of the very large area they had to cover in the hot noon sun.
“But let’s make it interesting…whoever finishes their share of the harvesting gets a jutsu scroll while the losers do the rest of the fields.”
The boys’ heads perked up at the word “jutsu”, instantly becoming more interested in the mission. Kakashi grinned from behind his mask.
“But…there are rules.”
Kouseki would have cocked an eyebrow if she had one in this form.
“Number one: Jutsu and weapons are allowed. Number two: You can’t interfere with anyone else’s work. Number three: You will only be officially finished when all the corn in your field is harvested and you make it back to Takeshi-san’s house and tell me you’re done.”
The walk to the ranch was filled with the normal banter between the two rivals, and, interestingly enough, a monkey that had decided to join in the noise while riding on Akina’s shoulder.
It screeched whenever the boys started yelling, causing them to quiet up fast, since it was hurting their ears (Akina inwardly thanked Kouseki for showing her how to tone down her hearing first, since the little saru was right next to her ear).
“Well, we’re here!”
He sounded far too cheerful for their liking, especially since he wasn’t going to be doing any work at all, as usual. A brown spiky haired man in a plain gray kimono greeted them at the gates to the field.
“Thanks for coming! My house is over there if you need me,” here he pointed up-road towards a farmhouse, “I have drinks whenever you’re thirsty, so all of you should feel free to rest up there anytime…”
The smile he had was directed at Sasuke and Kakashi. He turned around and walked back up towards his house, and just when he thought they were out of earshot, he mumbled ,"except for the demon and his b***h…"
Kakashi caught this, due to his jounin senses, and was severely disappointed at the behavior. He looked towards Akina (since he knew for sure she heard it also) and saw her completely ignoring the insult.
All three genin picked an acre of land and got into their ready positions. Kakashi and Kouseki sat on the porch of the house. The jounin charged some chakra into his finger and shot it into the sky.
Naruto immediately created a thousand kage bunshin and sent them all to do their work. Sasuke took out his weapons and started throwing them with expert precision. Akina simply walked through the fields, cutting the corn from their stalks with her wind manipulation.
She took it slow and went at the boys’ pace. When the corn was cut off she immediately sent them towards the large barrels located by the house, where all of the yellow vegetables were supposed to be put.
Kouseki snickered from beside the reading Kakashi when she saw the ease that Akina was working with. With the boys busy doing their own thing, they wouldn’t be looking at her, so there was no worry.
The ninken summoner spared a look at the wolf. The only animals as smart as Kouseki were the Inuzuka’s dogs, the cats from one of Suna’s clans, and summoned animals. The wolf sensed his gaze and met it with her golden pools.
“Kouseki…I know that you aren’t a normal wolf…”
Her eyes filled with a quiet laughter and Kakashi instantly knew that he was right. He narrowed his eyes. He knew something was wrong when Pakkun looked like he recognized Kouseki when the little dog was summoned at the bridge.
“We’ll have to have a talk with Hokage-sama when we get back, Kouseki…it’s not good to hide something from your team.”
She nodded and went back to watching the kids break their backs harvesting. I’m sorry, Akina-chan, but orders are orders…and they have to know if we want to survive…
THREE HOURS LATER
“Sensei.”
Kakashi looked up from Icha Icha Paradise to see Akina, who didn’t look the least bit winded. He smiled, but was wondering why she bothered with winning their little bet. About five minutes later, both boys ran up, panting and covered in dirt, sweat, and various green things.
Akina had a condensed the water in the air to gather on her skin, simulating some sweat before they got to fully see her. She panted lightly just for show.
“Aww…! Akina-chan won!” Naruto whined about it for a few more seconds before walking back to the fields to finish the job up with Sasuke, not even bothering to take the offered lemonade from Takeshi.
The disguised demon, however, took the glass that was offered to Naruto with a nod of thanks. The man watched as she brought the glass up to her lips and drank the whole thing, earning a happy grin.
When he went back inside, Akina turned her head to the side and spit out a small puddle of white substance. She set the glass down and let out an almost inaudible sigh. Kakashi appeared to be ignoring this and reading his book, but she knew that he was paying attention.
She made a gesture with her hand. Poison, meant for Naruto.
He turned the page, making his fingers go into a certain position. I’ll put it in my report.
Akina nodded and caught a small scroll that was thrown at her. She opened it and immediately felt the ink markings that described Doton: Shinjuu Zanshu no jutsu (Earth Release: Inner Decapitation jutsu).
Closing it back up, she walked towards the area Sasuke and Naruto were harvesting in. Kakashi blinked.
“Akina? You won, you don’t need to work anymore.”
She stopped walking and didn’t bother turning back. “Someone who leaves their comrades behind is worse than trash, right sensei?”
Kakashi blinked before smiling a little proudly at her. “Right.”
Naruto looked up from the corn stalk to stare wide-eyed at Akina and the scroll in her hand.
“Akina-chan…!”
She put the scroll inside her ninja pouch and nodded at both of them. “I’ll help and we can all learn this jutsu tomorrow morning.”
Sasuke narrowed his eyes slightly. When he was working, he could keep his mind off of other things, but now with Akina working by his side, they came back with a vengeance.
Just how strong is she? What is she hiding? Why can’t I defeat her?
His anger showed in his aura and Akina turned to face the Uchiha. She tilted her head to the side as Naruto continued working, happily thinking of learning a “cool new jutsu”. She could already guess what he was angry about as he started glaring at Akina.
“I became strong with the help and support of my friends, and will continue to do so in order to protect what I hold close to my heart.”
The “And as a friend, I will help you, too” went unsaid as Akina used her wind manipulation and caught up to Naruto, leaving Sasuke to his thoughts and the small speech he got that morning. He inwardly scoffed.
Friends? I don’t need friends…
Though, something deep inside of him told him that he was lying to himself.
O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O
“Well, that’s it!”
“Arigatou!”
The team said their goodbyes to Takeshi and left the farm (Kakashi was actually following them to make sure that Akina would come with him to the Hokage).
They arrived at the genin’s house to find a large black panther sunbathing in front of the door. Akina and Kouseki bowed to the wild cat, confusing the ningen of the team.
(“Kurohyou-sama. What brings you here?”)
Akina motioned for the others to go on inside without her, which they reluctantly did, but not without blinking at the cat that was almost as tall as Kakashi when sitting down.
When Naruto went inside, he muttered something about “something in the water” and “super big animals”.
The door closed with a click and the council member gazed at the two with unblinking eyes.
(“We have heard news of your conversation with the silver one. I will accompany you to hear the conversation as well.”)
Kouseki nodded and led the clan head to the backyard’s training yard (which was actually connected to the forest, meaning it was huge) to wait until they were all ready to go.
“Today was a mission day…” was all Akina said before going inside the house. The beasts knew what this meant. Today she had to go to the Training Center.
She found Kakashi lounging on the sofa, reading his little book. Upstairs Sasuke and Naruto were arguing over who would take a shower first. Akina walked up and stood in front of the arguing rivals.
A small pulse of chakra interrupted them mid-yell. “Jan-Ken-Po.”
With that, she went into her room. Downstairs, Kakashi was chuckling under his breath as the two grudgingly played rock-paper-scissors.
Naruto won.
O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O
“Kakashi, what is it you wanted to talk to me about?”
The jounin, Anbu trainee, wolf, and black panther sat in front of the smoking Hokage, who was eying them all with interest.
Kakashi looked at Kouseki, who grinned at them all. Akina was paying attention, having overheard the conversation when she was using her wind manipulation. She might not have much control over it yet, but it was enough to carry her senpai’s voice to her.
The wolf then looked at Sarutobi. “And what does Kouseki have to do with this?”
If possible, the grin grew wider. “Because I’m not a normal wolf.”
Kakashi, Kurohyou, and Sarutobi’s eyes widened as she spoke in the human tongue. The Hokage was the first to recover, however, and he was now smiling.
“I was wondering when you would reveal yourself, Kouseki-chan.”
“So, you’re from Makai?” murmured Kakashi as he stared at the wolf. By Makai he meant “a summon”. Kouseki noticed and decided to go with it. They weren’t supposed to know the entire truth, anyways, and he just gave her a good story.
She nodded her furry head. “That’s right, scarecrow. I was summoned here by the pup’s only family to protect her until they were able to.”
It was the bare truth, and she didn’t exactly care how they interpreted that statement.
Both shinobi went quiet and thought about this new problem. Summons in this world are not able to sustain themselves, and needed their summoner to give them a constant supply of chakra. The summon could stay as long as they have chakra, and the distance between the two didn’t matter as long as that link was still there.
Kouseki wasn’t summoned here. She crossed the Gate alive, meaning that she can restore her own chakra stores (which was a lot, being a six-tailed bijuu). All the evidence of her being a summon was there, so they wouldn’t suspect.
The Panther Clan Head stayed quiet and silently observed the conversation.
“Anyways,” Kouseki waved the awkward subject away with a massive paw, “I revealed myself to give you a message, Hokage-sama.”
He nodded, adopting the Hokage attitude.
“My brothers and sisters say that the Hebi clan is getting restless.”
The Sandaime frowned at what this implied.
By brothers and sisters, she meant the family she had in Makai. That meant that the snakes they were talking about were the snakes under Manda’s command. And the only one that can summon Manda and his children were Anko (who usually only used her snakes for Sen'eijashu) and…
Orochimaru.
“Go on.”
Kouseki nodded after allowing time for the Professor to think.
“They speak of new blood to be tasted in Ningenkai and talk frequently about their master’s dream.”
Orochimaru was going to strike soon to get one step closer to attain his dream to learn and master all of the world’s jutsu.
The wolf demon saw the gears turning in the old shinobi’s head and nodded in satisfaction. She looked at Kakashi, who was also thinking deeply about a certain student of his.
“Oi, scarecrow!”
His eye twitched at the name (he was rewarded with another toothy grin).
“What?”
“Ooh…I detect some annoyance. I need you to summon your fastest ninken to deliver a message to my uncle.”
He looked at his superior, who nodded at the unasked question. He made a few hand seals, bit his thumb, and pressed it to the floor, calling out the words “Kuchiyose no jutsu (Summoning jutsu)!”
A medium sized dog with a brown coat and sunglasses appeared from the cloud of smoke, greeting Kakashi with a bark and a salute. The inu turned around and saw someone he was told that he was going to meet.
The canines nodded at each other.
“Tell Okami-sama that the message has been delivered.”
(“Yeah, yeah. I am to tell you that I’ll be the messenger between Makai and Ningenkai for us. Tell Kakashi-kun, will ya?”)
“He’s the messenger between the two worlds. Summon him daily in private with me present so that I can hear his report.”
The Hokage butted in at that point.
“Kakashi, summon him in my office so that I can hear the message right away.”
The jounin nodded in acceptance and the inu poofed to Makai to pass on the message.
Akina took this chance to get up and salute to Sarutobi, since it was probably the end of their meeting. He nodded in response.
She crossed her index fingers and middle fingers. “Kage bunshin.” Another Akina and black cat appeared beside Kouseki. She put a hand on the real panther’s shoulder and made another seal. “Shunshin no jutsu.”
In a swirl of wind, they were gone, off to the forest behind the Hokage Mountain nearby.
O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O
For the next few weeks, talk of the new bridge in Nami had spread throughout the Elemental Countries, and how a rogue Anbu with a dragon mask had helped save the poor country by killing Gatou the crime lord.
They called that Anbu the Shishou no Ryuuki, the Master of Dragon Spirits.
Even Naruto had heard the rumors (which Akina suspected had started with Zabuza and Haku), and had also complained about “stealing our fame.”
Meanwhile, the jounin and Anbu in Konoha were on high alert now that the Chuunin Exams were about to start, and that it would be the perfect time for Orochimaru to strike.
A new village had entered, the Hidden Sound. Immediately after the messenger from Oto left the office, Kouseki came in and snarled.
“I smell snake.”
O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O
Kakashi dismissed his team early when he saw a brown hawk circling overhead. So it’s that time already, eh…?
The other rookie team senseis had similar thoughts and gave their teams the day off.
Sasuke immediately announced that he was heading home and walked away, leaving Akina, Naruto, and Kouseki behind.
The boy shrugged and started walking towards the village to get some ramen. The girls followed without a word, having nothing else to do.
After a few minutes, all three of them sensed someone followed them. Naruto glanced over his shoulder and twitched slightly when he saw a cardboard box with holes following them. Akina kept on walking, but Kouseki took the time to laugh in her mind at the predicament.
Naruto started to get annoyed after a few more alleys. He swiftly turned around and pointed accusingly at the box.
“That has got to be the most idiotic disguise ever!”
Snickers erupted from inside the box, and it burst into bursts of tri-colored smoke. Three kids waved the smoke away and coughed as it entered their lungs.
“T-Too much gunpowder…”
With a start they realized that they had been revealed and quickly took their poses.
A sickly looking student introduced himself first. “The smartest at math, Udon!”
A red-head went next. “The sexiest kunoichi in the Academy, Moegi!”
A familiar looking kid took the pose in the middle. “And I’m Konohamaru, the strongest ninja in the village!”
They all truck a pose in unison. “AND WE ARE THE KONOHAMARU CORPS!”
Their green goggles shined in the sunlight, and Naruto stared blankly at them all, like he did through out their whole “introduction”.
“Are those…goggles?”
Konohamaru nodded happily. “Yeah! We’re wearing what you used to wear, boss!”
In all honesty, Kouseki thought that the little kiddies were cute enough to eat (and she didn’t mean eat as in chomping into their arms, though they did look plump…).
The Hokage’s grandson then noticed Akina standing there, calmly staying out of the whole, as Shikamaru would say, “troublesome situation.” He smirked coyly at Naruto.
“Hey nii-san, is she your…” here he wiggled his pinky finger suggestively. Naruto shook his head and laughed.
“Nah! She’s my team mate!”
He waved for her to come over. “Akina-chan. Meet Konohamaru, my successor and Prince of Pranks!”
Akina nodded at Konohamaru, who looked puzzled at the girl’s behavior. Kouseki trotted up and barked in his face as a hello. He jumped a little before staring awed at the large wolf.
“Whoa…”
The other children joined in and all of them started petting Kouseki, who grumbled slightly but otherwise didn’t refuse the attention. Naruto grinned at Kouseki’s grumpy yet happy expression.
She barked again as an idea came to her. Akina translated.
“She says she’s it.”
The children all smiled and split up in different directions, running like their lives depended on it. The wolf looked like a good runner.
Konohamaru giggled and looked over his shoulder to see if Kouseki was going to catch him. With a grunt and a thud, he bumped into a Suna-nin wearing a black jumpsuit wearing a bandaged package on his back.
He snarled and picked up Konohamaru by his ridiculously long scarf and held the trembling boy in front of his face.
“Watch it, you brat!”
Kouseki arrived with the rest of the group to see Konohamaru at the mercy of the foreigner. Naruto stepped forward and pointed angrily at the face-painted ninja.
“OI! Let Konohamaru go!”
A blond girl behind him looked bored as she lightly scolded him. “Stop it Kankurou, we don’t want to cause trouble…”
The one named Kankurou ignored the warning and glared at Naruto.
“Or what? This brat bumped into me and he’s gonna pay for it, Temari. And I bet this stupid leaf-nin is too weak to stop me.”
Temari rolled her eyes. “Whatever. This has nothing to do with me.”
Akina felt Sasuke arrive in a nearby tree, along with three other people. They smelled like snake. Apparently Kouseki noticed to, because her hackles raised slightly. Oto-nin.
She calmed her down by putting a hand on her back.
Naruto growled and charged at the Suna-nin. He smirked and tried to move his fingers to trip Naruto with chakra strings, but found that he couldn’t move his fingers, or his hand, at all.
A smaller hand was keeping them from moving, and he looked up to see the blind-folded girl that was 12 feet away just a second ago.
While he was distracted, Naruto had rescued Konohamaru from Kankurou’s clutches. Akina didn’t let go until she was sure they were at a safe enough distance.
The Kazekage’s eldest son scowled and reached for the bandaged thing on his back. His sister gasped.
“You’re not going to use Crow…?”
Akina sensed another presence appear behind Sasuke, and inwardly frowned. She could smell the tanuki sealed inside of him. He was a jinchuuriki, just like Naruto.
Just as Kankurou was about to pull “Crow” off of his back, a rock smacked into his hand, discouraging the action.
Everyone looked up to see Sasuke juggling a few rocks in his hand. The Uchiha glared at the Sand ninja.
“You, what are you doing here? Foreign ninja shouldn’t cause a disturbance…”
Kankurou smirked viciously. “So? What are you going to do about it?”
Sasuke caught the rocks and crushed them in his hand with the help of chakra. His glare hardened.
“Get lost.”
Moegi and Temari blushed at his attitude. Naruto rolled his eyes and scowled, muttering about “stealing the spotlight.”
“Kankurou…” came a soft and deadly voice.
Sasuke tensed and looked at the branch behind him to see a third Suna-nin, wearing a gourd on his back, standing upside down and staring at his brother with cold emerald eyes.
Who is he? He managed to sneak up on me! He has stealth equal to Kakashi’s…
“Stop this nonsense. You’re an embarrassment to our village.”
Kankurou started sweating (Kouseki would swear later that he smelled like he was going to piss in his pants) and Temari shivered a little.
“T-This isn’t what it l-looks like! These guys started it!”
The red-head glared. “Shut up. Or I’ll kill you myself.”
Kankurou gulped nervously. “R-Right…”
Gaara disappeared in a swirl of sand and reappeared in between his older siblings. He got up and stared at Team Seven.
“Sorry to you.” It didn’t sound like he meant it. He looked at the other two. “Let’s go…”
“Wait!”
They all stopped and looked back to see that Sasuke had spoken up and was pointing at the Gaara.
“What’s your name?”
“Sabaku no Gaara,” he looked at them all, “I am interested in your names as well.”
Naruto grinned at the chance to show off but quickly crushed the feeling a little when he remembered what Akina said about it. That it would eventually get him killed someday if he did it too much, and besides, he wanted to look cool in front of the strangers.
“Uzumaki Naruto of Konoha.” The grin stayed on his face, and Gaara thought he saw something familiar in his eyes, but he shook it off.
Sasuke jumped down next to his teammates. “Uchiha Sasuke.”
The tanuki’s jinchuuriki looked at Akina, wanting to hear her name as well.
“Takamaru Akina…” her voice was so quiet that the Suna-nin had to strain their ears to hear it. Naruto and Sasuke were used to her quiet voice, and as a result had better hearing.
Gaara nodded and walked away again. The voice in his head started screaming again, causing him to stop momentarily and clutch his head in pain.
‘I SMELL A DEMON WOLF AND THAT STUPID FOX! KILL THEM! KILL THEM ALL AND BRING ME THAT RYU’S HEAD! I WANT TO TASTE HER BLOOD! AHAHAHA!’
Demon wolf? Demon fox? Ryu?
He shook the voice and these confusing thoughts out of his mind. His siblings glanced worriedly at their younger brother before following him to their hotel.
When they turned the corner, Naruto turned to look at his teammates and the frightened children. “Neh…why were they here?”
“Chuunin Exam,” answered the girl. The Oto-nin hiding in the tree left, satisfied with their job with spying on Sasuke and his team.
Naruto furrowed his brows in thought. “Isn’t the Chuunin Exams where we get a chance to get ranked up to chuunin…?”
Sasuke rolled his eyes slightly. “It’s called ‘Chuunin Exams’ for a reason, dobe.”
Konohamaru intervened before the argument got too loud. “That’s right, nii-san!”
The orange ninja grinned in delight. “Perfect.”
O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O
“I’m nominating you all to take the upcoming Chuunin Exams!” came the cheerful announcement.
Naruto jumped up and thrust his fist into the air. “YOSH! THANKS KAKASHI-SENSEI!”
He snatched the offered application and grinned foxily at it.
“The Chuunin Exams start at 4 pm at the Academy tomorrow, so if you want to come, don’t be late!”
He disappeared before he could be verbally berated by Naruto for being a hypocrite and telling them about the Exams so late.
O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O
Naruto growled as an Ame-nin held a kunai to Moegi’s neck.
“Let her go!”
The enemy ninja smirked. “You Leaf-nin are so weak. You might as well not apply for the Chuunin Exams.”
With that, he took off into the forest, with Naruto close on his heels, to the disguised sensei’s surprise.
How did he get so fast that quickly?
“Kage bunshin no jutsu!”
Iruka grinned at the jutsu and sneered at the ramen-lover. “That pathetic jutsu won’t work on me…”
“Are you sure about that?” came a voice right next to his ear.
He whipped his head around and saw Naruto grinning at him, with another Naruto carrying a knocked out Moegi in his arms.
The Moegi in the ‘Ame’-nin’s grasp was surrounded by a cloud of smoke, revealing a Naruto Kage bunshin.
All the Narutos in the clearing disappeared except for the one holding the former hostage.
“Nice try…Iruka-sensei.”
The other ninja blinked before transforming back into Iruka, who was laughing. “How did you know, Naruto?”
The younger shinobi grinned wider. “Akina taught me how to sense illusions! It took too damn long…but I’m happy to know it now!”
His former sensei wanted to remind himself to thank the quiet girl later.
O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O
“Are you going?”
Akina and Sasuke looked up from their food to look at Naruto. Of course, Akina did it just to tell him that she was paying attention, since she couldn’t see at all (and she still her hitai-ate blind-folding her).
“Of course I am, baka. I need to get stronger, and the Chuunin Exam has people that I can use as a measuring stick to see how strong I am…”
Naruto blinked at how open Sasuke had just been to them, and decided to ignore the ‘baka’ comment…for now.
Sasuke was surprised at himself, too. He hated to admit it but…he felt comfortable around these two. Of course, he would never tell Naruto that…and Akina probably knew it already, with the way she knows everything…it was a little creepy, to tell the truth.
One of her favorite phrases came into his strangely peaceful mind (at least for now).
'The blind can see more than you think.'
His thinking was interrupted by Naruto’s loud voice. “Neh! Neh! Akina-chan! Are you going to enter, too?”
She nodded before continuing with her dinner.
To become a full Anbu (and get out of that hell-hole they called a Training Center, in Kouseki’s opinion), she had to become a chuunin. She might as well make the man that treated her like a granddaughter happy by passing. He seemed much more trouble and old now that the threat of Orochimaru was here.
O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O
On the other side of the village, two ninja were meeting on the rooftops. Both were Leaf-nin, though one was disguised as an Ame-nin.
He transformed back into Umino Iruka and looked up a little at a higher roof to see Kakashi leaning against a wall, reading by the moonlight.
“How did they do?”
Iruka bowed his head in apology. “They all passed…though the way Naruto had improved has amazed me…did Akina really help him that much in genjutsu? He used to do very badly in that area...”
Kakashi nodded, recalling how the girl would remind the fox boy of things from time to time, and give advice to her teammates.
“Yes. She seems to enjoy helping those precious to her…though, it doesn’t show much, with how much she talks and shows emotions…”
The Academy sensei nodded at this description. It fit her, and she had always been like that, since she entered the Academy. It was strange though, how she was able to help so much, being a middle-ranked student.
“Who is she…?” he murmured to himself. Kakashi heard anyways and nodded at the question. He seemed to be asking himself that question often these days.
Who was Takamaru Akina?
O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O
End Chapter
O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O
End Chapter
O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O
YOSH! I’m done with this ultra long chapter! I hope you all like it (and sorry about half of it not being about the Chuunin Exams at all, but it was necessary to the plot, as you can see…).
And now the really good stuff is coming! (grins)
Please R&R and tell me what you think so far!
