Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Colorful Darkness ❯ Rough Introduction ( Chapter 3 )

Disclaimer: Well, everyone else writes them, so I guess I should as well. The only thing I own in the story is the Original character. Other than that I don't own a damn thing, let alone Naruto.

 

Authors note: I feel that I have to apologize to everyone. I have actually had this chapter, not including a few minor revisions, since before I deployed to Louisiana in September. I was planning on making it even longer, but I just couldn't get things to flow properly in order for the next part to mesh into this chapter. It just means that I'll have at least one more chapter than planned. Oh well, such is life.

 

Colorful Darkness

Fuuma

 

**blah**= Daisuke's inner voice

*^blah^*= Sakura's inner voice

*Blah*= Normal Thoughts of a person

#Blah#= Kyuubi speech

 

Chapter 3

A Rough Introduction

 

**I should kill him and paint the nearest wall red with his blood**

 

*^That idiot, why the hell couldn't he leave something so obvious alone?^*

 

Sakura couldn't believe it. She was literally in shock as she watched the color of Daisuke's eyes shift from their normal ice blue to a grey the color storm clouds. Since they were little, she knew that, no matter how empty the rest of his face was, when his eyes changed color from their normal shade of blue to grey, he was upset. It still kind of scared her, even when it wasn't directed at her. She knew Naruto had about as much tact as a rock to the forehead, but still, he could keep his mouth shut just once in his life.

 

Well, if he wasn't going to keep his mouth shut, she would do it for him. Inner Sakura simply rubbed her hands together, a grin of vindictive glee crossing her features.

 

Sakura whirled, in time to see Daisuke, bandana already back in place, standing behind Naruto. She was sure she wouldn't be fast enough to beat Daisuke to the punch, but she tried anyway. Even as she swung, her hand charged with chakra to release on impact, she watched as Daisuke's hand came up and smacked into the side of Naruto's head, hard enough to send him careening to side. Careening to the side, that is, if Sakura's hand didn't meet it on the way. Chakra was released at the moment of contact, and Naruto was sent flying into the nearest wall, causing bricks and old mortar to chip beneath the impact.

 

Naruto felt like his head was a pinball, or maybe a tennis ball, he couldn't decide. After the unexpected double assault, he really couldn't quite think clearly, his brain like a martini that had been shaken a little too much. As he pulled himself off the wall, shaking his head a few times, he was subjected to a random comment from his live in peanut gallery, otherwise known as the Kyuubi no Youko. #Kill him, Kill the one who struck you, brat# *Shut up,* he thought back absently. In the last couple of years, the Kyuubi had become increasingly vocal in its homicidal suggestions. It was a serious pain in the ass, having to share your head with a complete psychopath, he thought as he brushed bits of plaster and the wall off of himself. Finally satisfied, he looked up from his clothes to his teammate, cocking his head to the side as he watched her almost crush the mysterious jounin that she called brother in a hug, “Oi, Sakura-chan, I thought you were an only child? Who is this guy?”

 

At that moment, Sakura was too breathless with laughter to answer him, so Daisuke did it for her, even as he tossed her up into the air, like he had when they were younger and she weighed less. “I'm Haruno Daisuke, kid, and you're right, Sakura is an only child. I'm her cousin,” he set her down on the ground before he finished, “Her older, smarter, stronger, and faster cousin.”

 

“HEY,” came the expected shriek. Though the punch came at him a little faster than he expected, he still caught her wrist easily, having seen what could happen when she connected fully. He was still a little surprised when she refocused the chakra into her wrist and released it, forcing him to let go.

 

“Nice,” came the appreciative response to her counter. Daisuke flexed his fingers, tightening them into a fist until the tingling went away, “Who taught you that? I didn't think Kakashi knew any techniques like that, though Kami only knows what he picks up with that eye of his.”

 

Sakura grin cheekily, but it was Naruto who answered for her, “Sakura is Tsunade-Obaa-Chan's student.” This statement earned him a smack on the back of the head from Sakura.

 

“Don't call her that, Naruto-Baka. Show some respect.” she snarled at him as he grinned sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.

 

“Obaa-chan is Obaa-chan. She was before she became Hokage, so why should I call her anything else?”

 

Rubbing a spot between his eyes, the sure sign of an oncoming headache, Daisuke listened to them banter for a few minutes, every couple sentences from Naruto being punctuated by a slap from Sakura. He swore, this was like a brother and sister relationship, with Sakura taking the role of older sister every time she corrected him. It was actually kind of cute, watching these two interact. At any given time, one of them would take a role like that of an older sibling, Naruto protective, Sakura corrective.

 

Finally, he cleared his throat, getting there attention, “As entertaining as this scintillating conversation is,” he winced as Sakura slapped Naruto again when he tried to interrupt. What was that, eight times in less than five minutes? He continued, “I said I was buying lunch, so let's go. I'm guessing from your conversation earlier that you were planning on going to Ichiraku. You can fill me in on some of the details of the last four years while we eat, especially about your team, missions, and teachers.” He turned and started moving down the street, motioning them to follow.

 

He remembered something then, and pulled the two full bottles of water from his cargo pocket, tossing them back over his shoulder to them, “I expect them to be gone by the time we get to Ichiraku.”

 

“What is this? Water?” this came from Naruto, as he gazed skeptically at the bottle in his hand.

 

“Exactly. You two are slightly dehydrated, the result of an extremely high activity level over a long period of time. Neither of you are in danger, but a shinobi doesn't operate at peak efficiency if they don't take care of themselves.”

 

“How do you know that?” now this question came from Sakura, even as she took her first drink.

 

He looked back over his shoulder, giving her a lazy look that said, “Why did you ask me that question? You've known me for how long?” His only spoken reply was, “Sakura, if Tsunade trained you, then you're a medic nin, correct? You tell me how I can tell.”

 

Sakura's brow furrowed as she pulled the information from her memory, like she would for a written test, “Change in skin tone, change in eye focus, slight discoloration around the eyes, a lack of sweat despite the heat….” Her voice trailed off when she finally realized just how stupid that question was when put to an experience shinobi, especially coming from a medic nin.

 

He nodded, smiling, the picture of a proud older brother, “Exactly. You always did learn well. Now drink. I'm not buying anything until those bottles are gone.”

 

As they walked, Sakura quickly moved up to walk beside him, “Umm, Daisuke-nii-san?”

 

He looked at her, curious as to what had her concerned, “What's up?”

 

“Naruto really likes Ramen. It's almost an obsession with him. You do have a lot of money with you, right?”

 

He laughed softly, “Sakura, I've been gone four years, and I haven't spent any of the money that has been piling up in my bank account.”

 

She smiled in relief, “Thank goodness. Naruto tends to go a little overboard when it comes to ramen.”

 

“I think I can handle it.”

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

“Sweet kami, remind me not to buy him ramen very often. If I did this on a regular basis, I'd go broke real quick.”

 

Sakura giggled, then laughed outright as Naruto finished his tenth bowl of ramen in less than an hour, finally pushing the bowl away without calling out for another, “I did warn you Nii-san. Iruka-sensei regularly blows whole paychecks on ramen with Naruto.”

 

“No Shit.”

 

They had spent the last hour talking while they ate. Well, Sakura telling Daisuke about Team 7 and everything else that had happened in the last few years, from their graduation from the academy to the present. He could see how it hurt her to talk about Sasuke, and how Naruto would grow unusually quiet during those times. There was a lot of pain in that subject, but in Sakura's voice he could also sense just the slightest hint of something else.

 

They each sat there nursing their thoughts, and their respective drinks. Even Naruto was quiet as they each dwelt on the past, until Sakura suddenly perked up, spotting someone behind Daisuke, who had his back to the main counter. Old man Ichiraku had added a few tables in the intervening years as his business expanded to allow people to sit and relax while they ate. Sakura suddenly started to wave spastically, gesturing wildly for someone to come join them.

 

Naruto looked up as Daisuke leaned back in his seat, turning to looked boredly over his shoulder.

They both took a moment to study the group of six that stood up at the counter. Naruto quickly recognized them, since he had spent some time fighting along side of both Gai and Kurenai's teams. He raised his hand to wave them over as well, grinning at the surprised looks that came onto faces that he hadn't seen in over two years.

 

Daisuke could feel people moving up behind him, so, without looking, he hooked one long leg out, dragging the nearest table closer. “You can handle your own seating arrangement,” he said, settling back into his seat and leaning back into his chair. He watched through his peripheral vision as the six figures dragged up chairs and took seats. *One Jounin, five Chuunin. Two Hyuuga, an Inuzuka with a big fricking dog, and an Aburame.* He though, immediately assessing the situation, identifying them by their clothing and telling features, *I don't recognize the other two, though the girl looks kind of familiar, and the guy looks like a carbon copy of Gai, eyebrows and all.*

 

“Hey, can you guess who this is,” Sakura said in greeting, punching Naruto in the arm to show which person she was talking about. It took each person a moment, but when they all realized who it was, the reactions were all positive, but a little mixed.

 

“Welcome back, Naruto. We will have to spar soon, and show the power of our youth,” Lee said, drowning out everyone else as he jumped to his feet, striking his good guy pose, arm extended, thumb up. Incidently, his rapid movement sent his chair flying backwards as the back of his legs struck it, and he spent the next minute retrieving it and trying to get the now twisted legs to stand straight as everyone else looked on in amusement.

 

The amusement generated into pleasant conversation, with each person sharing what they had done since the last time they all met. Daisuke paid no attention to the conversation, his head back as he looked up into the sky, remaining silent. He did watch each person out of the corner of his eye, judging and measuring, trying to feel out how the group dynamic applied here.

 

Naruto was as animated as even, hands waving as he illustrated a point. In contrast, the purple haired Hyuuga girl across from him, Hinata, as the others addressed her, or Hinata-sama, as the one called Neji addressed her, was unusually quiet. What he did notice, and it almost had him grinning like the Mad Hatter, was that Hinata only rarely took her eyes off Naruto, and Naruto's eyes seemed to be constantly drawn in her direction, though the occasional puzzled look on his face showed he didn't have half a clue why he kept looking at her. Neither of them were obvious about it, but it was there to see for anyone paying attention. Hinata seemed aware of that fact, and she blushed beet red when she caught the amused gaze of this stranger sitting at the table with them. At least one other person at that table noticed it too; if the slightly concerned look that crossed the features of Hyuuga Neji's normally empty expression said anything.

 

No one mentioned Daisuke, though it was obvious by the sideways glances he was receiving that all were curious. Even Akamaru gave him a glance, actually, a sniff, before laying back down at Kiba's feet. He was content to let them stay curious, and so made no action or gesture to draw any real attention to himself. No action, that is, until an annoying buzzing sound made him look up.

 

A fly. A simple housefly. Ugly, black, and irritating as it buzzed around their heads. It didn't take long for the rest of the tables occupants to finally take notice of the nuisance. One of the curses of being a shinobi was the resulting heightening of senses that constant exposure to danger brought. To them, the buzzing of a fly, at a time and place like this, was like nails on a chalkboard. Each one at the table shifted slightly, almost unnoticeably.

 

In the same instant, seven arms exploded into motion. Seven arms whipped out, from one angle or another, launching a weapon at the fly. The only ones who threw nothing were Lee, because he didn't really use weapons, and Shino, because he wouldn't kill a bug. Four kunai and two shurikens met and connected with each other, repelling each back to it's owner.

 

“So who got it?” came the predictable question, voiced by old man Ichiraku as he brought everyone their orders. Everyone looked at Tenten, the weapons master, and the one they all expected to get the target, but when she came up empty they each checked the points of their weapons. When each came up clean, they checked the table for pieces of the insect that had to have been caught. They found none.

 

After letting them puzzle it out for a moment, Daisuke, who had relaxed back into his chair again raised his hand, then raised one finger. After holding it up to get everyone's attention, he bent his hand at the wrist and pointed to the wall behind Sakura. There was the fly, or what was left of it, pinned to the wall by a blue steel senbon.

 

They each looked at the fly, then looked at him, then looked back at the fly. Finally, it was Tenten who raised her voice first, a hint of irritated curiosity coloring her tone, “Who the hell are you?”

 

“Yes, who are you?” this was voiced calmly by Neji, his blank white eyes betraying nothing, “The only ones I know who are more accurate than Tenten are all jounin.”

 

“Hey, he wasn't more accurate than me,” Tenten snapped, before sullenly grumbling, “He was just a little quicker. I would have got it.”

 

Daisuke sat up, turning his head slightly to work a crick out of his neck. When Sakura opened her mouth to say something, he shook his head slightly and smiled, conveying the message, `you aren't responsible for me, I'll handle this in my own way.' He was trying to figure out how to phrase it best so that he wouldn't be interrupted when he felt a sudden shift in the air and turned to look back over his shoulder. He wasn't the only one to notice the shift either, as all head turned in the same direction, even Naruto. Less than a heartbeat later there was a puff of smoke, which cleared to reveal the Jounin-sensei for each of the teams represented here, as well as the Godaime and the Frog Hermit.

 

“Yo,” came the typically understated greeting, voiced by both Jiraiya and Kakashi at the same time. They looked at each other, but before anything could be said they were interrupted by the sudden but predictable outburst from Gai's favorite pupil.

 

“GAI-SENSEI,”

 

“LEE,”

 

“GAI-SENSEI,”

 

“Would you two shut up?” this came from Tsunade, who was rubbing one temple, “We're here for a reason. I still have a lot of paperwork to do tonight.”

 

“Meaning she still has a lot of sake left in the bottle on her desk, and Shizune still has a lot of paperwork to do,” this was said in a stage whisper by Naruto, who gave his best foxy grin in answer to Tsunade's deathglare.

 

Daisuke slid to his feet, snagging a bottle of water, “Well, I'll take my leave. If you have business, it's with them. I'm on leave.”

 

He was about to walk away when the air around him seemed to shift and shimmer before hardening into a wall. Or so it seemed. “If you wanted my attention that bad, all you had to do was ask,” he said as he dispelled the genjutsu with a burst of chakra, then turned around, facing the group again, “Good to know you still got it, Kurenai-sempai.”

 

The beautiful dark haired woman standing beside Tsunade smiled warmly, letting her hands drop from the sign she had formed, “I didn't expect such a smooth counter to my genjutsu. You have improved a lot since the Jounin exam, Daisuke-kun.”

 

He shrugged, but before he could say anything, the sound of someone loudly clearing their throat drew everyone's attention to the Godaime. Seeing that she now had everyone's eyes and ears, she spoke, “I'm sorry to interrupt your meals, but I believed you would want to be informed in time to prepare, instead of at the last second like some would have.” She glanced sideways at Jiraiya and Kakashi, neither of whom had the decency to even flinch.

 

“It has been brought to my attention, by each of your Jounin-sensei, and it is something I have noticed in the training of my student,” she glanced at Sakura, “that, since the initial chuunin exam you took part in and the time period directly after, none of you have operated with anyone other than your own teams, with the notable exception of Shino, who has been on several missions with other members of his family.”

 

“As a result, it has been decided that you will all be participating in a joint exercise tomorrow. Because of the potential risk involved, this exercise has been given a class B mission ranking, and you will be paid accordingly. As such, it will be expected that you hold nothing back. The only thing I would like to see is good teamwork, and no fatalities.”

 

Everyone took a minute to absorb the information, before one of them finally spoke up. Not surprisingly, it was Daisuke, who still hadn't been informed as to how he fit in with this whole thing. He wasn't part of the rookie teams, “Alright, so why am I still here?”

 

Tsunade looked at him, “Shino is going on another mission with his father, and we need another person to even the two teams out. We also need another Jounin to off set the rank difference in the two teams. Needless to say, you will actually be fighting each other. Setting the teams up against two teams of ANBU was considered, but we believed this to be a better way of judging everyone's abilities.”

 

“Also, as I was reviewing your file, I found something interesting. After that unfortunate incident, you didn't join another team. You had already reached chuunin, and took solo missions for the prerequisite year, then made jounin. Even with the team you were assigned to when you were part of ANBU, you worked with them in various forms of support situations. After that, the Third gave you a long term solo assignment due to what he phrased as `an unwillingness………”

 

“Enough, I get your point,” he snarled softly, his voice almost animal in its roughness. He hadn't been giving off any kind of feeling before Tsunade had spoken her last sentence, but he was now radiating killing intent. The force of his emotions was so strong that even the jounins looked at him warily. All of the younger generation shuddered, images of death floating through their thoughts. His ice blue eyes had shifted to the color of gas flame, “If I remember that section of my file correctly, it said, `Shows an unwillingness to allow anyone close when assigned to a team, the possible result of the events stated in appendix III.' Is that about it?”

 

Tsunade tried to appear unfazed, but she had never felt such a strong reaction to something like this in anyone, not survivors of the worst battles of the last Great Secret War, not even survivors of the Kyuubi attack 15 years prior. Feeling such a powerful sense of the willingness and eagerness to kill coming off of one so young was astonishing to say the least, though she had felt similar displays before, just not from anyone she would normally consider an ally. “Yes, that is exactly what it said. Needless to say, I would like to see you develop that area of your expertise. You are probably one of the best solo operating shinobi in all of konoha, but for all intents and purposes, your advanced teamwork experience is non existent. True, in the jounin exam, you show the ability, but you have never truly used it.”

 

“Why now? I'm supposed to be on leave, you even said so yourself this morning. Damnit, I've been gone for three years. The longer the assignment, the longer the leave period, and 24 hours sure as FUCK doesn't qualify as enough time.”

 

“I'm sorry, but with Konoha still so far under strength, I have to at least know what the capabilities of all of my shinobi are, even if you aren't currently active. You will go back on leave status as soon as the exercise is over, unless you choose otherwise. But I need to know, and I need another team leader tomorrow. This isn't a request, Haruno, this is an order.”

 

Daisuke sighed, straightening. He had calmed considerably as they talked, and though he didn't like it, he realized that what she said made sense, “The proper allocation of available resources. Alright, fine. Where and when?”

 

“Tomorrow morning at 0900, the Forest of Death,” Tsunade responded, secretly relieved that she no longer had to argue with him. Dealing with Naruto was going to be difficult enough when she started assigning missions again. Arguing made her tired, made her want to hit things. She could feel that itching in her knuckles, the urge to feel something crumble to dust beneath her hand. It was actually a good feeling, it reminder her of her own abilities at times when she felt old.

 

He nodded, his eyes shifting to her right hand, the fingers of which had been flexing unconsciously for the last minute, “I'll be there. Now, if there isn't anything else, I am going to drown the memory of you ruining my day. I'll be there, bright and early and stone cold sober, but if anyone interrupts me while I'm doing what I am doing tonight, I am not responsible for my actions.”

 

He was walking away, and everything seemed fine, until a certain overly moral someone had to open their mouth. “One of such youth and strength should not overindulge in alcohol,” proclaimed Gai loudly, “it will dampen the flames of your youth.”

 

Everyone held their breath for a moment as Daisuke stopped and looked back over his shoulder, “Gai, you haven't changed even slightly in four years have you? Just shut the fuck up. When I want your opinion on my habits, I'll either ask or beat it out of you. I know for a fact that you used to do the same thing. In fact, I had to help Asuma break you and Kakashi apart after you both had too much and got into some argument the night before I left. Something about the power of youth and your supposedly eternal rivalry” He turned and continued to walk away, though he was heard to mutter, “Besides, I only drink when I've killed too many people in too short a time. I just don't want to remember those eyes.” He disappeared in a flash, his body seeming to melt into thin air, leaving no trace but a swirl of dust pulled up into the vacuum left by his passing.

 

TBC

 

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