Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Balance ❯ The Arrival ( Chapter 2 )

The report had been sent to Lady Tsunade. Hopefully it had reached her; they would never know for sure. Being ninja they, after having reported the issue, were required to slip the topic out of their minds, never to giving the enemy too large a chance to steal the information. That is, unless they were given orders to get further involved (which they weren't).

 

Still, the heiress couldn't help but ponder on the events that occurred earlier in the day. She sat pensively on the windowsill in her bedroom, her fingers memorizing every indent and detail of the emblem. She flipped it over and stared at it, as if her gaze alone would make it tell its story. After a few moments, she gave up and placed the oval shaped emblem and its straps neatly on her lap, gazing out of her window.

 

The Hyuuga compound was not only known for housing one of the most prestigious clans of Konoha. It was also largely known for its gardens. These tremendous gardens held the rarest and most beautiful plants and flowers known to man. From vibrantly colored flowers a meter in diameter, to the greenest and shiniest vines you'd ever see; the gardens had them all. She looked out at the burst of color, and the little area of stone near a fountain where Neji-nii-san and her otou-san trained.

 

Among the plants were little figures kneeling at their roots and gently weeding away dandelions. The gardeners. They were responsible for the beauty and the majesty that was the Hyuuga garden. Oh how she wished she could be so useful; how she wished that she too could contribute to such beauty. If she as much as neared a plant, it would shrivel up and die. (That really does wonders for one's self esteem).

 

Her negative thoughts were halted in their tracks when she heard a knock on the door. It was gentle and swift. Had to be Neji-nii-san.

 

“Who is it?” she asked anyway.

 

“Neji.” Came the voice.

 

“C-Come in, Neji-nii-san…”

 

“I am just here with a message.” Neji replied, but opened the door anyway. “Your teammate, the mutt, is outside. He asked if you would like to go to eat something with him.”

 

“O-ok.” She said, ignoring the offensive name her friend was given. “I'll be right down. Arigatou, Neji-nii-san.” He grunted and closed the door behind him. Standing, she went over to her full body mirror, quickly fixed her hair, put on her sweater, and walked out. She took one last glance at the crest, then she stuffed it into her sweater pocket and jogged down the stairs to the large front doors.

 

Outside she saw the rough and raggedy look of her comrade and his over-grown canine. When he caught sight of her he smiled, making his triangular tattoos crinkle. She could've sworn she saw Akamaru smile too. Smiling sweetly in return, she walked swiftly over to Kiba and pet Akamaru's large head.

 

“So where to, Kiba-kun?”

 

“Bug boy's house.” He smirked. She giggled, and they went on their way.

 

 

“Ooooh… Oooh hoo-hoo!” a man reading last year's Make-out Paradise leaned into his book, his eyes bulging. The man next to him was snoring his way into a dream of being hokage. His chin was on the counter that the reader had set his feet on. Oh, the life of main-gate keepers.

 

“Man, oh man! Yeah! Work it!” Kotetsu said into the book. He wore an anxious grin that almost tore his bandaged face, and his eyes looked like they would pop out any minute.

 

That is, until they arrived.

 

Out of the corner of his fit-to-bust eyes, he saw three unfamiliar figures walking by. He could just feel the immense chakra they held.

“Oi, oi.” He awakened a snoozing Izumo, nodding at the three foreign people with a serious look.

 

“Errrrn.”' He groaned blinking into focus. “What do you- wait, who the heck are they?”

 

“I dunno.”

 

“Oi, oi, oi, where do you think you three are going?” the once asleep man asked suspiciously. You could no longer even tell he had just awoken when the three stepped toward the booth. “State your business.”

 

 

“Tsunade-sama!” Tsunade's brown haired assistant, Shizune, sped through the doors and stood anxiously before the Hokage.

 

Tsunade was sitting quietly, reading through the very report team 8 had sent of the incident earlier that day. Gently, she set down the paper and reached over to take a long sip of tea. Pulling it slowly from her lips, all she could hear was the loud breathing of her assistant. Hn hnnn, hn hnnn. She gripped the cup tightly in her hands, but managed to place it gently on the desk.

 

She isn't seriously waiting for me to tell to talk, is she?

 

“Tsunade-sama.” she called again after the silence. The Hokage's eyes shot up in a glare at her. Shizune sweat dropped but still didn't speak.

 

“What is it, Shizune?” she growled.

 

“S-sorry M'Lady, but three unidentified shinobi have entered the village, and they won't state their business unless to you,” she began. “We have ninja ready to send them away on your order; shall I tell them to proceed now?”

 

“Hmm…” Who do these people think they are, coming like that and demanding to see me. Might as well amuse them… I want to take a good look at these intruders. “Let them in.”