Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ A Tail of Two Bijus ❯ Birthdays & Breaking Seals ( Chapter 31 )

A/N: Yo! I met a kitten who had lost his mittens-

 

READERS: LIAR!!!!!

 

Meh. Anyways, I decided to take a week or so break from writing to recover and contemplate my future, so I went and read a few more new fics I hadn't read before and reread the manga and rewatched the anime. Some of the fics made Naruto way way way too powerful and he kept getting stronger. I read one that by the time he'd completed his C rank mission in the wave he could supposedly kill Itachi in one shot... I think you can guess my opinions on that. BTW, I am now officially on holidays for 2 weeks, meaning no University pressure. I'll try to make up for my lack of work, as now all I have is a really annoying cough. Guys, I have one final question. I love writing this story, don't get me wrong, but would you guys kill me if I took a break from it to start writing my Naruto x Female Kyubi story? If you guys really want, I'll try writing both at the same time, however, I war you that I may start favouring one or the other if I get a case of writer's block on one of them, and the quality of each could drop. Hell, I'll make this into a vote. First to 20 wins. Finish this story, or put this one on hold for a while and start the NaruxFemKyu story, or do both of them at the same time? Even if this story wins, when I finish it, I will not go straight onto the second part, I will start the other storyline. Trust me, as a writer, writing about the same thing every day for 4 weeks can get a little.... tedious. It's enjoyable, but I am kinda hating it at the same time. So, what'll it be?

 

Keep Writing Tail of Two Bijus: 0/20

 

Start Naruto x Female Kyubi Story: 0/20

 

Both: 0/20

Yukiko: RESULTS: Plasma Defensive Sleaves.

(D):

(I): Plasma Defense Sleeves: 5

(II): Genjutsu Eyepiece: 0

Comments/Reviews:

SotY: When I first read your review, I was literally like “wtf are you talking about?” and just before I typed up your name, the latest issue of Naruto manga finished Dling, I read it and got to the end and I was like “OOOOOOOOO That's what he meant!” Anywho, seems my story is ruined now, huh? 'Sobs'...

ShadowofaMagus: Thank ye. Oh, and after I read your review, I searched your profile and read your story. To tell you the truth, there is only one pairing that will ever get me to read stories under 100k words, which is Naruto x Female Kyubi. Those stories are so rare that there is only one that has reached the 100k mark, and the female Kyubi was one of the lesser females going for Naruto, who happened to be undead. It was interesting, but meh. Anyways Cut a long story short, I've read every single story on this site with 100k words plus that involved a non Yaoi pairing with Naruto and someone else as the main pairing. Anyways, as you can see, I left a review with some constructive criticism and comments. Catch you round!

White Alchemist Taya: Thanks. As for dragging the story out, There was a bunch of stuff I had to get out of the way at the beginning that if I left for later, it would screw with the whole story. I've pretty much covered 90 or so percent of the background, and I'll begin speeding this up once the last 10ish percent is done. Personally, I want to get this west trip over and done with and get to the defining point of the first story in the series. Some of you may have figured out what that 'defining point' is, and I know one person has for sure, but they've sworn an oath to secrecy. Once this story hits the 200k words mark, I'll have achieved my original objective and I'll wrap it up ASAP.

Shinku Naito: 'Bows'. TY.

MoOn-ShInE-LoRd: He he, he was always known as a prankster, so did you really expect any less? As for the part of Naruto not liking teaching, would that imply that you thought Naruto would never become a Jounin and take on a cell? I'd have thought that'd be his first major step towards being Hokage, training the Sannin's replacement's replacements, if that makes sense... Late reviews? I think there is a saying for this: Better late than never. As long as you still review occasionally, I'm content to know you're still a fan. Um, I think I'll have Naruto keep the facility intact for the time being... Thanks for the positive comments. As for the spelling mistakes, unless they're really obscure ones, the reason would be my computer. Yes, I'm blaming my computer. Why? Because I built it myself, and it was the first one I had ever built. Unfortunately, it has a nasty habit of going through three 'jarring' motions every 45 or so seconds. I found out I can find out when they hit by having music playing as it skips when the computer jars. Each jarr last less than 2 seconds, but if I don't have music on, I look back over my work and find that there's some very odd looking collection of letters in places where the jarring occurred. Say for example, I was typing 'happy smile' and the jarring started without me knowing. It could come out in many ways, but it would look something like this: hpsym. The effects are completely random, but that's generally what I get, something of that level of randomness. Otherwise, it's just a silly spelling error. Plasma Sleaves for Yukiko: +1.

Conceptor: The chapter was so good it was a god chapter? Sweet! Lol, j/king :P As for Students advancing on Yukiko, everyone's pretty much aware of the fact now that Naruto and Yukiko are pretty much inseparable.

Kyuubi-Sama: KK, +1 for Plasma Defensive Sleaves.

ki master: Hmm? When did I say anything about a poll for that? Sorry, but this choice I'm taking out of the readers hands. I have one and only one idea in mind that would work, and it involves one, two, or three people depending on how you look at it.

Dragon Noir: +1 for Sleaves. Want to know what they're like? Think of them as a very much extended version of the council of Konoha. Mostly scheming old geezers. Tempted to stay here and teach? Am I really the only person who understands how Naruto would think in pretty much any given situation? Sure, he's my main role model, but think about it. Everyone here accepted him respected him for who he was, and not what he was the second they met him, despite him telling them what he was. He didn't have to earn the respect the hard way, by showing everyone that he was a powerful, caring person and not some demon fox lord incarnate. I explained teaching a few comments above. Gaara teaching? Let's just say he'd best be prepared... LOL... I'm so evil...

ThouShaltKill: Um, read the rest of the story and find out :P

shadowvampire17: Another +1 to the sleaves... No votes for Genjutsu-y goodness?

Katana Haibane: Heh heh, I tried to base him off what I know of a friend's parents who are scientists, he's told me a lot about them, and so I based his pretty much off his dad. Anyways, I had to change the storyline of the second movie to suit my fic, meaning that most of the stuff on Gelel in my fic was pure speculative thought. In the movie, Gelel was thought of as the source of all life. A vein of mana in it's purest form. However, that would not suit my story, so I modified it so it would. Heh, the professor won't be able to keep himself restrained, however, I think he learnt from the first experience that regular chakra + Gelel = bad combo. As for spilling themselves, I guess it was just the pure shock that everyone heard this and actually respected them for it, unlike in the east where they would pretty much piss their pants and run away screaming. Another vote for Sleaves? KK.

White-ribbon: Well, you seemed to have misread what I said. 25 percent at the very least. Not 25 percent. I had to modify it as since there was only 3 members of team 7 in the official story, but since there was four in my fic, there was the possibility that one or more of the four would fail, hence the 25 percent minimum failure rate.

Neotonix: Yay! Another person who thinks my story should replace the fillers! You know, at the weirdest moments, I just stop what I'm typing and realise that I'm actually writing this story. It kinda feels like a dream. I always knew I had a talent for creative literature, my teachers always told me that, and my results in the state creative literature competitions only confirmed that. The lowest mark I ever got was a single credit, the highest I ever got was a single high distinction. The rest were distinctions. However, this coming from multiple fans just means so much more. Thank you. /bow. As for the reason the whole invasion was called off? I guess if the stadium hadn't been put under the genjutsu, people would have been running around like chickens with their heads cut off, making it hard for the ninjas to engage in combat. Also, the genjutsu was supposed to set of a chain of signals that would trigger the invasion. Since the first trigger never took place, the sand and sound could only think the plan had been abandoned.

Master of Anime: Well, I'm not sure whether to rate you as a flamer or someone who's blind. My spelling terrible? Did you stop for a second to think that my 'terrible' spelling might just be because I'm using Australian English instead of American? In Australia mom is spelt mum, color is spelt colour and there are a whole bunch of different things about the Australian version of English. Sure there were accidental typos in each chapter that can mostly be explained with the `jarr'ing thing above, but a lot of people have actually commented on how good my spelling and grammar actually are compared to others on this site. Sure, the spelling mistakes are present, but I don't put nearly as much effort into spell checking as I do into speed. Also as for the fact that the east have trains and cars, does the word 'canon' mean anything to you? As a 'master of anime', I'm pretty sure it would. The Naruto movies and fillers are not considered canon, meaning that unless the people who created Naruto implicitly state so, it never happened according to the official story line. Therefore, according to my fic, the Snow was a very different place to what the first movie made it out to be. Seriously, get that Byakugan checked, it's faulty. It's one thing to suggest checking my spelling, but to say it's terrible? That's an out and out flame. /Wave .kill .setlevel 1 .ban. People who have an extensive knowledge of World of Warcraft will understand this jargon, although it's pretty easy to get the drift of it.

FanXforever: Thanks! I've actually considered becoming a professional author some time. Hope you keep reading!

Zarron: Good to hear. As for the animal transformations, no, they weren't taken from bloody roar. The officers of the second Naruto movie actually did transform into half beasts. However, not all of them changed into half beasts when they transformed. One of them changed into this beefed up Frankenstein like thing. Now for your other questions: Ingan: Hmmm, perhaps I didn't word it well enough. Like the fourth level Sharingan, it still takes a lot of chakra just to activate, and I was using the chakra recovery factor on the basis that the user was training the majority of the time. The Ingan will still drain chakra at a rate faster than Naruto's chakra regen rate if he did nothing, but if he did decide to do nothing, he'd be able to stay in there for almost a month, assuming he started at full chakra. Demon Absorption: Technically yes, however, as explained when Naruto first tried to bring out Kyubi's chakra since the seals broke, the transfer method before the seals broke was a pretty crude method, meaning 50 percent of the chakra that was transferred was lost before Naruto even got to use it. Now, he gets 100 percent of it, meaning he's not used to the sheer amount of power and hatred that comes with it. It'll correct itself with training. As for the bios on the officers? Um... They have like 3 of what would be considered techniques by the east plus their transformation. To tell you the truth, I don't know enough about their background to do a bio. I don't know their age, bloodtype, birthday, etc, so sorry, no can do.

Ani-Blast: Yup! I guess you could consider the Militia the Christian version of real world Muslim terrorist groups. To tell you the truth, I don't give a damn if the real world Pope or any Christians for that matter call this fic a spawn of Satan or whatever. If they do, it just shows they're so narrow minded that they've gone back to the dark ages. Hell, if the Pope speaks out about my fic, it's even better! I'll literally become world famous! They called Harry Potter heresy, who knows why, and look where it got that series, so it wouldn't be surprising if they called mine heresy.

Redswirl: KK, will do.

Because I can: Thanks for the comments. The Plasma Defensive Sleaves have already been chosen. I hope to catch you round.

Redswirl: So I'm not the only one who thinks that? Score!

Asavako: Thank you, you too.

God in a box: Yo! I may as well answer all of your reviews in one. Firstly, I am not exactly sure what this Susano-wo thing is. Could you possibly explain it to me? As for me watching Bleach, unfortunately, I don't have the time to. I barely get to watch Naruto, let alone anything else. ROFL! “wow yukiko-chan, look at all the pretty hills and flowers and …” /gaara battle “… craters and stuff” Ha! That's classic. I can imagine it in my mind now... All the citizens running for their lives while all the fan girls are screaming “OMG! HE'S SO STRONG!!!! I LOVE HIM SOOOO MUCH!” Along with other less... Tactful remarks. Animania? I'll be there as everyone's favortite weasel. (You know who I'm talking about, right?). I'm starting to wonder if everyone will find out who I am and I'll get a fan club of girls like Gaara has... 'shudders'. Oh god. Anyways, See you and anyone else who comes there!

Yasei Kitsune: I'm not lying.... Lol, catch you round.

FINAL NOTE: Thank you to everyone wishing me to get better, it's really nice to know that a few people care. Unlike some others who actually laughed at me for taking 5 days off University, despite the fact that I could barely get out of bed. (This includes my family and most of the other people I know.) Also, you may notice my writing style's changed a bit. Sorry if this displeases you, but it's because of certain things going on in my life.

As always, I hope my creativity gives you some semblance of pleasure to read.

 

Oh and just so people don't get any funny ideas, I don't own Naruto, however, people make it clear that I should. The only things I own are Yukiko, Hotaru, Sora and my story line, as well as the other things I made up. Don't like that? Tough cheddar! :P

 

Legend:

 

'...Thoughts...'

 

“...Japanese...”

 

“...English...”

 

“...TWO PEOPLE CASTING THE SAME JUTSU...”

 

'...Biju Thoughts...'

 

“...Biju Talking...”

 

&&&&&&&&&...Scene Change...&&&&&&&&&&

 

A Tail of Two Bijus:

 

Chapter 24:

 

Birthdays & Breaking Seals:

 

&&&&&&&&&&&&&a mp;&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&a mp;

 

Four Months Later:

 

Everyone had settled down into their routines of teaching and studying Western culture and history in their spare time. Early one morning as the sun was threatening to spill over the horizon, four months after they had started teaching, they were startled out of their sleep by a huge surge of demonic chakra. This woke everyone up as they hurriedly threw on some gowns and ran to Hotaru's room. She was sitting up with a look of confusion in her eyes. Over the last four months, Gaara had started developing feelings for Hotaru, although he didn't really know it yet. He ran to her side and put a hand on her shoulder.

 

“Are you alright, Hotaru?”

 

Hotaru tried to speak, but only fractions of words came out. Eventually she managed to say something.

 

“I... Heard... A cracking... Noise...”

 

Naruto pretty much knew what was happening, but he activated his Ingan to make sure. Sure enough, a tiny part of Hotaru's seal was glowing. Naruto deactivated his Doujutsu and smiled.

 

“Congratulations. You're seal's breaking.”

 

They stared at him, trying to understand how that could possibly be good, before they remembered what had happened almost a year ago. Sora lunged at Hotaru and hugged her. Yukiko giggled at the antics of Sora, while everyone else just smiled. Hotaru managed to free herself from the giggling Sora and looked at Naruto. Naruto by now knew Hotaru well enough to know what she wanted, and once again, activated his Ingan. He needed to know one thing before he gave an estimate, although he was sure what the answer was already.

 

“Hotaru. You're birthday's in early September isn't it?”

 

Hotaru nodded.

 

“The 3rd.”

 

It fit with what Naruto was seeing. Disengaging the Ingan he smiled at her.

 

“The 3rd is when it'll break. We'll have to arrange somewhere for your seal to break...”

 

They thought over it before Naruto remembered.

 

“A blast chamber would be perfect.”

 

They nodded in agreement, before they heard shouts and quick foot steps coming down the hallway. The door to Hotaru's room burst open and Renke, Temujin and about 5 other lesser officers barged in with their weapons drawn. When they saw that the group was in no imminent danger, they relaxed and Temujin gave a dismissive wave, signalling the guards to wait outside. Renke looked at them with nothing but concern on her face.

 

“What was that... Evil I just felt? I wouldn't be surprised if half the city felt it.”

 

Naruto's group stared at them in shock. Naruto stammered out his question.

 

“You... You felt it?”

 

Temujin nodded.

 

“It was extremely hard NOT to. What happened?”

 

Hotaru smiled indicating she was fine and spoke up.

 

“Apparently, my seal will break on my birthday this year.”

 

Temujin and Renke nodded slowly, before they realised what was going to happen on Hotaru's birthday.

 

“So a much more powerful aura will be released when it breaks?”

 

Yukiko nodded before looking at them seriously.

 

“We will need to use one of the blast chambers when it happens. The chakra surge you felt just then will be dwarfed by the one released when the seal breaks. Also, at least I will need to be present to stop the merging before her body is destroyed by the influx of demonic chakra.”

 

Temujin nodded and smiled before he waved a goodbye.

 

“I will go and talk to Supreme Commander Haido. I'm sure he will agree immediately. Also, please don't tell others about the seal breaking, as I fear some people may become fearful of it. If they inquire, just tell them you channelled your chakra. I'll see you guys later.”

 

He stepped outside, having a quick conversation with the guards, who fell behind him in formation. Once they left Renke turned to go, before she remembered something. She turned back around and smiled sadly at them.

 

“I forgot to mention. Supreme Commander Haido had decided to deploy me to an outlying state due to a large increase in Militia attacks there. I have been asked to leave in exactly two weeks, so I'll be pretty much unavailable during that time, because I have to get my branch ready to move. I'll still visit you when I can.”

 

They all looked at their feet, trying desperately to think of something to say to lighten the mood. Eventually Naruto looked up and smiled the smile that his friends knew meant 'oh well, can't be helped' and scratched the back of his forehead.

 

“Well, I hope you get back soon!”

 

Renke sighed and shook her head, meaning it wasn't going to be the shortest stay on record. Naruto felt bad and mumbled an apology, which Renke waved off and shook her head, sending her blonde hair flying with each shake. Renke smiled at them.

 

“I may or may not be able to visit you before I leave, however, I promise you I will visit you at least a few hours before I leave.”

 

They nodded and waved as Renke left the room, who smiled and did a very Sasuke like wave before she left the room and closed the door. They could hear her quiet footsteps retreating down the hallway. Naruto looked at his watch. It read 6 am, causing him to sigh.

 

“No point going back to sleep. I have to teach the class in several hours, and then it's straight on to the research institute for another session.”

 

Naruto didn't really mind. After the first time he revisited and the professor had told him about all sorts of tests he was going to perform, Naruto had stopped him with a raised hand, telling him if he even tried something like that, he'd stop coming, which shut the professor up immediately. The most invasive test Naruto had agreed to was a blood sample. He was broken out of his little trip down memory lane when he was vaguely aware of a subtle change in the light his eyes were receiving with regular intervals in between. He snapped back to the present and saw Sora waving her hand in front of Naruto's face.

 

“Earth to Naruto, are you there?”

 

Naruto started before he smiled at Sora, rubbing the back of his head.

 

“Ah, sorry, just taking a trip down memory lane...”

 

Gaara looked at Naruto and cracked a half smile.

 

“It wouldn't happen to involve a certain mad scientist, would it?”

 

Everyone in the room stopped and stared at Gaara in pure and utter disbelief. Had he just cracked... A joke? Sure, it wasn't a good one, but... It was still a joke... Right? They pinched themselves to make sure this wasn't a dream. Gaara frowned.

 

“Was it not funny?”

 

Naruto couldn't take it anymore. The absurdity of the situation was just too much for him to handle. He fell on the floor rolling around in laughter. The others soon joined in, although to a much lesser extent than Naruto. Gaara smiled, knowing that he'd finally made his friends laugh.

 

“So it was a good joke?”

 

Naruto managed to get back up and speak a sentence during the fits of laughter.

 

“Not bad for a first attempt. It's just we've never heard you make a joke, so it was more funny than it would be otherwise. Gaara, if you hang around my little group for a while, you'll see some real jokes.”

 

Naruto had a wicked glint in his eyes, which everyone but Gaara didn't like one bit. Gaara on the other hand had no idea what was going on, but he decided he might as well hang out with Naruto during his free time.

 

“I might even be able to escape the fan girls...”

 

Although it was a lesser joke, it was still another one. Naruto raised an eyebrow at Gaara questioningly, which cause Gaara to tilt his head to the side in a questioning manner.

 

“Is something wrong?”

 

Naruto smiled.

 

“You just made another joke.”

 

Gaara raised both eyebrows.

 

“I... Did?”

 

Naruto nodded and smiled. Then he got a very, very evil glint in his eye. Even Gaara noticed this.

 

“Naruto?”

 

Naruto snickered.

 

“You remind me exactly of myself when I first decided to start trying to joke and play pranks to get people's attention. Gaara... I think you might be a natural born prankster...”

 

Gaara nodded. Everyone else, however, really disliked the idea of Gaara becoming a prankster on par with Naruto. One prank master was more than enough for them, how would they handle two? However, Naruto decided to leave the room, giving everyone a last wave. They slowly left the room to go and attend to their own business. Yukiko was last to leave the room, making sure that Hotaru was fine. Naruto decided to try and get to the university early, so he had a shower, dressed in his black pants and muscle shirt, throwing his kitsune coat over his shoulders and went down to the mess hall. Once he arrived, he greeted the officers who waved at him, making him wave right back. He walked up to the glass display to see what was on offer. Being Monday, it was bacon and eggs or cereal and fruit. He decided to go with the classic western breakfast: bacon, eggs and hash browns with a glass of milk. He'd found out that he really, really liked hash browns, almost as much as ramen. Once, he'd even asked how to make them, which surprised the chef. However, the chef had smiled and told him that all a hash brown consisted of was mashed potato that had been deep fried. When Naruto inquired what deep frying meant, the chef had taken Naruto into the kitchen and showed him a deep fryer. Naruto looked at it in wonder as the chef explained that it was essentially a basin that was full of some sort of liquid which a large chunk of pure fat was put into every morning and heated to very high temperatures. Naruto watched as the chef had put a roughly rectangular shaped box which looked like a strainer into the deep fryer. In the metal strainer was a bunch of roughly hash brown shaped bits of mash potato. Once the potato touched the oily mixture, it hissed and bubbled, letting off a wonderful aroma. After several minutes, the chef pulled the strainer out to reveal a bunch of hash browns. Naruto asked if there was any other way to make hash browns other than a deep fryer. The chef had wondered for a moment before replying that it was technically possible to fill a frying pan or saucepan with oil and cook it in it, but it was very messy and tasted no where near as good as when it was cooked in a deep fryer. Naruto made a mental note to get the blueprints of a deep fryer to take back with him. He would not be able to live without hash browns for long. He stopped himself and realised he was as addicted to hash browns as he was to ramen before he met Yukiko. Shaking his head to clear his thoughts he returned to the present. He'd gotten four pieces of bacon, two eggs and 5 hash browns on his tray before making his way to a familiar group of officers who he'd grown pretty close to. When they saw Naruto approach, they moved up and gave him a spot, which Naruto gladly took. One of the officers smirked when he saw Naruto's plate. Naruto turned to look at the man when he spoke up, and could see that the officer's red eyes held a great deal of warmth.

 

“You never get tired of those hash browns, do you Naruto?”

 

Naruto laughed before biting off a piece of the first one and chewing it.

 

“Nope. I've decided that I'm going to find a place that makes deep fryers and get the blueprints for one so I can have hash browns back home.”

 

They all laughed at this before shaking their heads in amusement. A brown haired red eyed colonel had a question for Naruto.

 

“Did you like anything as much as hash browns before you came here, Naruto?”

 

Naruto nodded his head as he went for one of his pieces of bacon. Once he'd eaten it, he looked at the man and smiled.

 

“Yup. I loved ramen.”

 

The colonel raised an eyebrow.

 

“Ramen?”

 

Naruto sighed but brightened up at the thought that he could introduce more people to the wonder that was ramen.

 

“Yeah! Ramen is this really great stuff! It's kind of like a mix between spaghetti without the sauce and soup, with some other things thrown in.”

 

They nodded, showing they understood the general idea he was trying to get across to them. They chatted and laughed at each other's jokes and antics before Naruto checked his watch. He decided he should get going. Picking up his now empty plate, he waved goodbye to his friends.

 

“I have about an hour and a half to get to the university to teach my class. I'll catch you guys around, ok?”

 

They all nodded and waved as Naruto left them to finish off their breakfast. Naruto put his plate on the dirty plate stack and his knife and fork next to it in the trays for used knives and forks. Naruto went back to the bathroom assigned to his group and brushed his teeth. Once he had done that, he checked himself in the mirror noticing his features before a certain annoying voice in the back of his head spoke up.

 

'Admiring yourself are we? Not falling in love with yourself?'

 

Naruto had learnt a rather effective method for shutting his former tenant up. He had learnt a moderately complex medical technique from Yukiko which focused chakra into a part of the brain and applied a barrier between synapses in the area you focus your chakra to, normally used to prevent electrical surges from disrupting your brain or other harmful transmissions between cells. However, Yukiko had also found that it was surprisingly good for shutting up annoying voices of demons that are stuck in your head. Naruto focused the chakra to his brain his demon was located in. The Kyubi felt this and sighed. The chakra hit him and blocked the synapses, thereby preventing Kyubi from talking to the kid until Naruto decided to let him talk again. Considering how much stamina the kid had, it could be up to half a week, but it also depending on his mood. If he was in a good mood, he'd let it down early, however, if he was angry, he'd keep it up as long as possible. Naruto walked out and saw Yukiko coming out of their room. Yukiko also saw Naruto and turned her head to the side smiling.

 

'I'll never get tired of that smile...'

 

Naruto took in his girlfriend's features. She'd changed a lot since their journey started. Her turquoise hair had grown, coming down to her waist. Yukiko at one point had suggested cutting it, but Naruto had claimed he like it long, which changed Yukiko's mind immediately. Her violet eyes no longer held that fake warmth that she used to hide her pain. It was now replaced with a genuine happiness that could almost be felt radiating off her. Her cheeks had lost the small amount of baby fat that she had almost three years ago, giving her a very elegant look. Her body, according to Naruto, was befitting of a goddess. Her chest was perfectly proportioned to her body, and her waist was not too thin so as to look unhealthy, but not too wide either. Her legs, although hidden by a traditional upper class white western robe, were perfectly sculpted, but also showed tone. Yukiko saw Naruto staring at her and raised an eyebrow.

 

“Something wrong, Naruto-Kun?”

 

Naruto was snapped out of his admiring and shook his head.

 

“No, nothing's wrong. Quite the opposite in fact...”

 

Yukiko raised a turquoise eyebrow in curiosity.

 

“Oh? And what would that stare be for? You didn't happen to be admiring me, did you?”

 

Yukiko by now knew practically every way to get a reaction out of her boyfriend, and this was one of the best ones. Naruto began blushing furiously before stuttering his relpy.

 

“S-So? Is it a crime to admire my girlfriend?”

 

Yukiko giggled and glomped him, causing Naruto to instinctively wrap his hands around her waist. Yukiko nuzzled her head against the crook of his neck whispering just loud enough for him to hear.

 

“No. I like it when you do.”

 

This was the answer Naruto had wanted to hear, so he hugged her tighter. Naruto brought his head back and gazed into her eyes. Yukiko smiled at him as they brought their heads in for a kiss...

 

Only to be interrupted by Jiraiya, who at that point came out of his room and seeing them about to lean in for the kill so to speak, gave Naruto a knowing look and a thumbs up, which Naruto saw. He growled, causing Yukiko to look up at him before turning around to see a very scared looking Jiraiya scampering down the hall. Yukiko sighed, the moment was shattered and she disentangled herself from his arms, much to the displeasure of Naruto. Naruto groaned and looked at his watch, seeing he still had 45 minutes to get to the university. He gave her a quick peck on the cheek and walked through the halls before ending up outside. He leisurely walked through the bustling city streets, waving at people as he went. Eventually he got to the university and stopped to admire it for a moment. It was a rather tall building that seemed to be made almost entirely out of glass. On top of the university, Naruto could just see the tip of a large piece of inert Gelel, which had been moulded into a giant roughly triangular shaped object that was the university's symbol. He smiled and stepped inside, waving to the receptionist before taking the lift to the third floor and walked into the familiar room of 321. As he opened the door, the room instantly quietened down. Naruto walked into the middle of the room and smiled at his students, raising a hand.

 

“Morning, everyone.”

 

“Good morning, Naruto-Sensei.”

 

For the next two hours, Naruto went through his prepared lesson on eastern foods and eating habits. About half way through the lesson, he noticed that one of the students had apparently dropped off to sleep, while listening to music. Naruto stopped his lesson and stared at the student before he walked up and shook him on the shoulder.

 

“Hey, is my class really that boring?”

 

The boy looked up and smiled bleary eyed at his teacher.

 

“No, Naruto-Sensei. I just haven't slept for the last 3 days because of my studies.”

 

Naruto noticed the odd sounds coming out of the headphones and decided to inquire about it.

 

“So, what're you listening to?”

 

The boy and the rest of the class looked at Naruto in shock. He wasn't going to chew him out for slacking off? The boy stammered his answer.

 

“Um... A mixture of ska, techno, heavy metal and heavy rock.”

 

Naruto raised an eyebrow at this. Most of them he'd heard of, but not ska.

 

“Ska? Can I have a listen?”

 

The boy nodded dumbly and changed the music player to a ska song and handed the head phones to Naruto. He waited for the song to start, before a very strange collection of instruments blared out of the head phones temporarily deafening him. Naruto ripped the headphones out of his ears and winced before he turned to the boy.

 

“How can you listen to the music that loud? You'll go deaf before you're 30, I swear...”

 

The boy lowered the volume a bit before Naruto went back to listening. After about 30 seconds he decided that ska was an interesting change from eastern music, which he found very boring. He nodded and handed the earphones back to the boy.

 

“Not bad. Anyway, if you can't stay awake, then get the notes off one of your friends after class, but you should really get some rest. Also, can you see me after class? I want to find out so more about some of the music you're listening to.”

 

the boy nodded and tried his hardest to stay awake for the rest of the lesson. Once the lesson and question session finished, everyone filed out the door, while the boy who had been listening to the music approached him. Naruto smiled at the boy.

 

“I think I can get into ska, and possibly some of the other types you were listening to. Could you recommended me some good bands of each type?”

 

They discussed bands and western music in general for the next 15 minutes before the boy excused himself, claiming his next class was in a few minutes. Naruto waved the boy off. Smiling, Naruto left the building and headed for the palace.

 

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7 pm That Night, at the Officer's Mess Hall:

 

Naruto had just got back from his trip to the research institute, smiling as he came back, which was unusual. When Naruto sat down with his tray of pizza, salad and a glass of orange juice, everyone noticed Naruto's strange behaviour. Yukiko raised an eyebrow.

 

“Something wrong, Naruto-Kun?”

 

Naruto shook his head before smiling at her.

 

“No. The professor made a discovery saying he thinks he knows how to reverse engineer the armour for chakra instead of Gelel.”

 

They smiled widely at this as they begun eating. When they were almost finished, they saw Temujin walking up to their table with a tray of food.

 

“Evening, everyone. How was your day?”

 

They all gave their 'good evening's and recounted their day to Temujin. Temujin smiled, glad that they had all had a good day. He managed to finish his food just after everyone finished theirs, and they noticed that Temujin had managed to keep them doing most of the talking, which allowed him to almost catch up to them. Once he had finished, he decided to break the news to them.

 

“As much as it pains me to say this, Supreme Commander Hadio had decided to deploy myself, along with the western branch to the port where you arrived at, citing that there had been a disturbing increase in Militia assaults recently in the area. I don't have much of a choice, unfortunately. I have been asked to deploy in two weeks.”

 

They nodded. They'd become very attached to Temujin and Renke since they'd arrived here, and now not one, but both of them were leaving for the front. They really didn't like this, however, they had no say in the matter, so they just accepted it. Temujin smiled at them.

 

“I'm sure Renke said she'd be very busy for the next two weeks, but she'd come and see you at least just before she left right?”

 

They nodded which caused Temujin to straighten up and head for the door, looking over his shoulder.

 

“I will be very busy too, but like Renke, I'll come and visit you at least just before I'm deployed.”

 

They brightened visibly as Temujin put his tray and utensils in their respective receptacles and walked out of the mess hall. Naruto and his group decided to also deposit their trays and utensils before they walked out of the mess hall to do a bit of study in the palace's personal library before retiring to bed. After several hours of book reading, they went to their own separate room and got ready for bed.

 

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4 Months Later:

 

It had been 4 months since Hotaru's seal had started breaking, and today was her birthday September 3rd. After conferring with her tenant, the Shichibi grumbled that he didn't care when it happened and he just wanted to get it over with, so they had decided that after a small celebration with friends to do it at midday. The party had been a relatively quiet affair, with the palace chefs making a special birthday breakfast and cake, which they enjoyed immensely. At eleven am, they made their way to the research institute and down to the 3rd last level, where the professor was waiting for them. The professor had begged them to be present, and even guaranteed to watch from afar without conducting experiments, which they had eventually agreed to. Once they had entered the blast chamber they settled down to wait for the seal to break. Yukiko had prepared the kanji design on the floor surrounding Hotaru and stood over her, ready to begin the technique at any moment. Gaara was more worried than most about Hotaru. Everyone pretty much had a vague suspicion that Gaara had feelings for Hotaru that went deeper than friendship, but they kept quiet about it. As Naruto's watch beeped to indicate it had just turned midday, Hotaru gasped and her seal began flashing a brilliant blinding white, causing her to shudder in agony. Unconsciously, she grabbed out for the nearest thing, which happened to be Gaara's hand. Gaara was initially surprised at this, but he did not pull his hand away. It was then that the rush of Shichibi's chakra filled the chamber. Even the professor who couldn't sense chakra could feel the weight of the air around him become unnaturally heavy. After a while, the chakra died down and Yukiko began a long series of hand seals to activate the jutsu.

 

“Healing Type: Grand Healing Technique!”

 

The professor watched in amazement as the strange symbols around Hotaru flashed green and began working their way onto her stomach before making a spiral and disappearing into her naval. The demonic chakra surge quickly died down and Hotaru entered a peaceful sleep. After Yukiko had made sure that Hotaru was fine, she went to lift her and take her back to the palace, but Gaara beat her too it, making everyone raise an eyebrow or two. Gaara turned to Yukiko.

 

“You've done enough for her now. I'll carry her.”

 

Yukiko nodded and stepped back, letting Gaara gather her up in his arms and begun walking towards the professor who was madly scribbling notes on a clipboard. Gaara walked up to him and waited for the professor to notice him. When he didn't, Gaara coughed, hoping to get attention. When the professor ignored him, Gaara shot the sand out and grabbed his pen arm just tight enough to stop him writing, which was when the professor finally noticed Gaara with Hotaru in his arms. He put the pen back in his coat pocket and punched in the code to open the door, which slowly swung open. Once it had opened far enough, they filed out and headed for the lift, vaguly noticing the professor scurrying around, frantically talking with the other scientists, although they didn't really care. Once they had taken the lift to the top level, they walked along the dark corridor, feet clanking along the metal floor. They reached the door and it opened for them. Naruto had found out that the door sensed movement from a certain distance away, and that's what triggered the door to open. They stepped out into the blinding sunlight and walked through the midday heat to the palace.

 

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