Naruto Fan Fiction / Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Kurama in Narutoland ❯ Chapter Nine ( Chapter 9 )

Kurama in Narutoland

Chapter Nine:

"Neji-niisan, the leader of the main house wants you. Immediately," she said timidly, flinching as the cold look became icier.

Neji nodded his head, and looked to Kurama. Kurama smiled softly, and spoke too softly for Hinata to hear.

"Do you want me to come?"

"No. Don't come."

Kurama nodded his head, and walked towards the school with a small wave to both Neji and Hinata.

Neji strode past Hinata without sparing her a glance. What did the head of the main house want now? What had he done THIS time? His look became icier as he walked, ignoring Hinata, who followed him. He arrived at the clan estate within a half-an-hour or so, and entered the land. The Hyuuga family had a lot of land, being the most powerful clan left in the Leaf. The Uchiha land used to be just as powerful, but their numbers decreased to one during the Uchiha tradegy...

Neji stood before the main house, waiting for the head to show himself.

"Neji," the head began, staring down on Neji as he came through the genkan, "Where were you this morning?"

Was THIS what the head was so huffy over? Him leaving earlier than normal? So suspicious...

"I went to school early," Neji said, it being half-true.

"Why would you want to go to school early?" the head asked, eyes narrowed dangerously.

Neji glared at the head. "So now I am not allowed to go to school early?" he asked monotonously.

The head glared back, not impressed with Neji's back talk. "You will inform the family when you decdide to change your daily routine. Now get out of my sight."

Inside, Neji was fuming. How dare the head order him to do that?! It was HIS life! Damnit! Neji gave one last cold glare at the closed sliding doors, then left. Once he was off the land of the Hyuuga, he sprang into a run to get back to the school. He wanted to see Kurama alone before school began, and they would have to be less friendly. Neji couldn't let the academy students know that he had changed.

He found Kurama sitting up in a tree, left leg stretched out along the wide branch, the right pulled up for his right arm to rest across. It was a laid back position, and Kurama's eyes were closed calmly. He was the picture of serenity, and Neji found himself staring at the redhead as the wind blew his hair gently.

"Come on up," Kurama said, not opening his eyes.

Neji blinked, and then jumped up. He landed on the same branch as Kurama, and sat himself down cross-legged, facing Kurama. He took in a deep breath and let it out, relaxing his tense muscles. "Kurama," Neji said, to get the redhead's attention.

Kurama opened his green eyes, and stared at Neji. "Yes?" he asked softly.

Neji looked down at his folded hands. He didn't know how to begin. He sighed softly to himself, and said, "Complications within my family... prevent me from... doing many things." He swallowed nervously, and continued, "Because of these... I am unable to show in public that I have a `friend'. If I do, you will most likely be targeted by the head of the Hyuuga main household..." He stopped there, not really knowing what else to say.

And so, Kurama continued for him, "So you want us to keep this secret, and pretend to just be acquaintances in public. And because of this, you will act coldly towards me during class and such. Are you worried that I will no longer be your friend?" Kurama asked a calm and gentle smile on his face.

Neji looked up, his eyes wide, and expressing worry. "I have never had a true friend before, and I don't want you to be dragged into my families... `affairs'." He didn't say it bluntly, but he knew that the point was made.

Kurama smiled. So he WAS worried. "Don't worry, I will always be your friend. Just try to refrain from over doing it. Treat me as you treat everyone else. Don't worry about my feelings if you say something particularly nasty, I have had much experience with these things. As long as I know that that isn't how you truly feel when you act coldly towards me, then I will be fine. In private we can be friends, and in public we will be... How does rivals sound? That would work quite well..." Kurama smiled beautifully at Neji, to comfort the boy.

Neji smiled slightly, and it was the second smile Kurama had gotten out of him. Kurama just had a way of making him happy... The feeling was strange, and warm. He didn't really want to treat Kurama badly, yet he knew he would have to. "Rivals sounds good," he said with little expression.

Kurama nodded his head and said softly, "Then we cannot walk to school with eachother. Or we could stalk one another." Kurama chuckled slightly. "That would be interesting, and it would be very good practice for our stealth." Kurama looked thoughtful for a moment, then he grinned. "Actually, we will do that. You stalk me for a week, then I'll stalk you. The way we indicate to the other if we found them, will be a hand signal, or a motion..."

Neji smirked suddenly, "Why don't you tug on a bit of hair?"

Kurama blinked, and looked at Neji. "You know, that would work quite well... How about you? What could you do... how about you flex your hands? As if to crack your knuckles."

Neji tried it, and it worked pretty well. He grinned slightly, and said, "It will work. Who will begin this week? And at what time do we start?"

Kurama thought over it for a moment, then said, "You will start this week, since you were the one to spy on me this morning. And it doesn't matter what time, then we won't expect it."

Neji's face became expressionless again, and he said tonelessly, "Then let the games begin..." He jumped down from the tree, and went to class early.

Deciding to stay outside with nature for a while longer, Kurama looked at the small flower he had been growing in his right palm. It was a small white flower that he had found dieing from being trampled. He'd nursed it back to health, and decided that he would replant the flower close to the base of the tree, away from children's feet.

Once he was done, he prepared to wipe off his hands on his uniform, then realized it wouldn't be such a good idea. After all, dirt on black silk did NOT work well. He sighed, and brushed his hands off on eachother, then walked to the school. He went to the bathroom, and washed his hands properly. Hearing the warning bell, he rushed to class, and was the last to arrive. He set foot in the room just as the second bell went. He blinked at the class, who was quite chaotic at the moment, mind. Mentally shrugging, he walked to his desk, and shot a glance at Neji, who was doing a good job of ignoring him. The plan was working perfectly so far, and Kurama looked to Iruka-sensei as the poor chuunin tried to catch the attention of the wild class. In the end, he ended up shouting. Again. Not that THAT was new, eh?

"Now, class, today we will be doing work with our scrolls. This will be a workday only, no action. Pull out your history scrolls on the Hidden Village of the Leaf, and look at section 5..."

Class continued on, Iruka explaining about the wars of the past, and trying to drive the point to the students that there would be a TEST at the end of the week. The students didn't care much, and only a select few ended up paying attention in the end.

Lunch came and went, and soon it was the end of the day. Kurama decided that then would be the best time to try to master his Water Whirlwind no Jutsu. After all, the scroll had been missing from the library for quite a time, and Kurama didn't want to be suspected.

He searched for a place to practice the jutsu, and figured there would be no good spot in the Village. Figures. He had to sneak past the guards on the village wall, slinking along with the practiced ease of a professional thief. He found a nice spot, beside a small stream, and sat down on the ground. Spreading out his senses even farther than he had when he walked, he detected all the energy signatures in the area. Aside from all the animals, there was only one very strong energy far away, probably an ANBU, protecting the border. Breathing in meditatively, he asked the surrounding foliage to alert him of anyone to wander within a kilometer radius of him.

Opening his eyes, he gathered up a small amount of chakra. He was planning on doing a smaller version of the jutsu first, then use more and more water and chakra to make it bigger and more powerful. He used the correct seal for the jutsu, and said softly, "Water Whirlwind no Jutsu."

Water of the creek vanished, to appear before him, moved by his chakra. It formed a small, foot thick tornado. The water spun wobbly, and soon it broke apart, vanishing from existence, his chakra gone with it.

Kurama blinked. This was going to be a lot harder than he had expected. What was the trick to it?

Kurama tried it again, this time using more chakra. More water appeared this time, and it spun longer, but soon collapsed and disappeared.

It seemed that the more chakra he used, the more water. It he used too little, then it wouldn't have enough foundation to support itself. If he too much... what would happen? He could either do it, and figure out what would happen, or try to deduce what would happen by watching how the chakra moved and reacted.

It would take less effort to just do it the easy way, but his chakra supply might deplete, if that was the case. If he did it the hard way, using his head, then he wouldn't waste chakra, and accidentally hurt himself. Not entirely sure if either was smart, he performed another one, the same size as before. He watched the way the chakra flowed, and found that there were two currents. The inside current and the outside current were both going in the same direction, and Kurama soon spotted that because of this, it was causing the whole structure to lose balance.

The water collapsed again, and this time Kurama performed the jutsu with the currents going in opposite directions. It was very hard to maintain, since they created friction against eachother. It was difficult to keep in one piece, and it slowly drained away chakra as you used it. Kurama thought quick, and tried to remember how to make the water cut... He had to use chakra to make the inner current form blades. It took a lot of chakra to form, but soon Kurama had managed to create a whirling cyclone of liquid blades. He collapsed the water, and the jutsu disappeared.

Kurama took deep breaths, having used a lot of chakra. It was exhausting, this jutsu. He would have to figure out a way to narrow down just how much chakra he needed, and get it spinning faster using the same amount... It would be tricky work, and a challenge. However, that was exactly what Kurama wanted, a challenge. He had been without one for too long, living in his own world.

He smiled softly to himself, satisfied that he had done enough for one day. He stood, and prepared to leave the area. That was when his plants alerted him to a strange presence in the area. It was not recognized by the foliage, which was unusual, considering the plants knew, some way or another, all the people in the area. This thing they sensed was an unwelcome human, who did not have good intentions. The plants could sense it.

Kurama closed his eyes and focused on the area surrounding him. He found the foreign human, and checked its aura. Evil practically flowed off this man in waves. Kurama's eyes shot open, but he kept a lock on the evil human. Suddenly, the human stopped moving... and then shot off in Kurama's direction!

Kurama's eyes widened at the speed of the one who came right at him, only a kilometer away. The human would be upon him in seconds with that speed! Kurama didn't really know what to do. This human seemed to be after him, for what reasons, Kurama had no idea. Should he run and inform the chuunin and jounin on the wall? Or should he dispose of the human himself?

He was left without a choice, however, when a shadow shot out of the bushes in front of him. Kurama's eyes widened, before they instantly narrowed. His old personality took control as he was faced with this danger, and he easily dodged out of the way of the initial katana strike.

The striker paused from surprise, and looked around for his prey.

While the attacker searched for Kurama, who was hidden in the foliage, Kurama got a good look at him. He was dressed completely in black, and had no head protector on. An enigma.

Kurama pulled four shuriken from his pouch, and threw them at the black man with deadly precision and incredible speed. The man managed to dodge two, but the other two hit. Hard. One nailed him in the right shoulder and the other in the left kneecap. He was disabled slightly, being unable to move his left leg without causing further damage.

Kurama stayed hidden within the foliage, changing his position constantly. He used a small amount of chakra to make the bush five meters away from him jiggle. The man moved instantly, throwing a kunai at the spot where the bush moved. The black man's eyes narrowed, and then he threw another in the opposite direction. This caused Kurama to smirk, for the action was rather predictable.

Using incredible stealth and speed, Kurama slipped behind the black man, and transformed a blade of grass he had plucked from the ground earlier into a powerful sword, using his youki. Youki would be less detectable than chakra, because it was not used in this world. Anyone who found the residue on the blade of grass would not know what to make of it, and would dismiss it as unimportant. He stabbed forward with the blade, aiming for the heart. It sliced through easily, and blood gushed out from the black man's mouth. He fell forward, and landed on the ground with a soft thump. Kurama cleaned off the grass blade on the cloak of the man and changed it back into a harmless blade of grass. He walked a few feet away, and put the blade back where he took it from, healing where he had broken it.

With all the evidence of a weapon completely gone, besides the slight smell of blood on Kurama, he left the clearing. He figured that an ANBU or a land patrol chuunin or jounin would find it eventually.

Once he got back to the great wall that separated the Hidden Leaf from the rest of Konoha, he easily slipped inside, undetected. He was very adept at hiding his youki, and so hiding chakra wasn't that different.

He arrived at home not much later, and found the house to be empty. He blinked when no sign of Kakashi was visible. Where had he gone? Was he called out for a mission? Kurama had no idea, and so he slipped out of his sandals, and prepared to have a shower, to wash away the slight scent of blood. No normal human would be able to smell it on him, but Kurama didn't like the smell.

Stripping off his cloths in the bathroom, he hopped into the shower and turned on the water. The cool droplets beat down on him, calming his adrenaline rush. He slowly slipped out of his `killer mode' as he relaxed. Sufficiently cooled, Kurama turned up the heat, and sighed at the warm water. It was lovely after that workout with the Water Whirlwind no Jutsu. The fight with that black man had taken less energy than the jutsu, and Kurama frowned to himself. He needed to practice that jutsu until he used as little chakra possible as effective as he could. Precision was what he needed while working with chakra, and was something he had long since perfected with his youki.

Once he had washed his hair, and washed the scent of blood from his tanned skin, Kurama got out of the shower. He rubbed his hair dry, and then wrapped the towel around his lower half. He picked his dirty black clothes up off the ground, and scowled at the smell of blood. He put them on the floor of his room, planning on washing them. Grabbing a midnight blue Chinese outfit with a white shirt and pants, he pulled them on and picked up the silk outfit on the floor.

Kurama walked down the hall and back into the bathroom. He turned on the cold water in the sink, and placed the silk `cover' in it. He took a seed from his hair, and grew it on his palm. He dunked it in the water, and it released a light blue liquid that smelt like soap. Placing the makai plant on the side of the sink for later use, Kurama began to gently wash out the scent of blood and the grime of the day. Once he finished, he repeated the process with the shirt and pants.

Soon his uniform was cleaned, and Kurama hung it up to dry on the bar that the shower curtain hung from. He walked from the bathroom, and went to the kitchen to get something to eat. Digging through the fridge, he discovered that half the food was out of date. Again. Rolling his eyes, Kurama wondered if Kakashi ever ate anything besides ramen and cereal. Knowing Kakashi, probably not.

Kurama dumped the bread and yogurt into the garbage, and closed the fridge. He wouldn't trust anything in there to be edible. Ever. And so, he decided that it was time to take over shopping for Kakashi. He hadn't been entirely eager to, at first, with both the idea of cooking and the idea of shopping, but now he was warming up to the idea slightly. After all, he wanted a real meal for once, and he wouldn't DARE trust Kakashi to make a real meal. Of course, no accident would ever happen involving Kakashi's cooking, because the jounin was too LAZY to cook ANYWAY.

A sigh escaped Kurama's lips, and he, too tired to go shopping at the moment, grabbed an energy bar from the cupboard and went back to his room. He flopped bonelessly down onto his futon, completely exhausted, physically and chakra wise.

Kurama fell asleep quickly, entering the world of dreams as he closed his heavenly emerald eyes.

This chapter deserves a review! It was too damn long to get nuthin!

Ack! (falls over with swirly eyes) Oro. -