Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Colors of Life and Death ❯ Father ( Chapter 31 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: Songbird21 
Anime/Manga: Naruto Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Suspense / Romance / Action | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 05.31.2015 | Updated On: 05.31.2015 | Pages: 9 | Words: 3.0K | Visits: 1.4K | Status: Completed
Anime/Manga: Naruto Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Suspense / Romance / Action | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 05.31.2015 | Updated On: 05.31.2015 | Pages: 9 | Words: 3.0K | Visits: 1.4K | Status: Completed
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Thanks!
Naruto's face was twisted in a frown of confusion. "Chakra
leaves a residue? Since when?"
Tsunade folded her arms. "Until now it was just a theory I'd
heard of. When I was living away from Konoha I became friends with
a chakra specialist. She believed that chakra leaves a sort of by
product, or residue, hanging in the air after it's used. She called
it Sugikon (A/N- Sugikon= After soul)." She paused. "It looks like
she was right."
Naruto deactivated his doujutsu. "So it's a bomb of chakra
residue?"
"Pretty much."
"Why didn't you tell me my family had a doujutsu?"
"Because they didn't."
"But...."
"It's most likely due to Kyuubi's chakra merging with yours.
Youma chakra is very different from that of humans and summons. You
might even develop other physical...changes," Tsunade said
carefully.
"I won't...turn into a youma...will I?" Naruto said with a
fearful expression.
Tsunade smiled. "No, your human chakra would keep that from
happening."
Naruto visibly relaxed. "What else will change?"
Tsunade grimaced slightly. "I don't really know. Hopefully,
anything else will manifest itself during training so we can know
what we're dealing with."
Naruto nodded. "So, are we starting with chakra molding
again?"
"Yup," Tsunade answered with a slightly amused smile.
He threw one kunai after another as he tried desperately to distract himself with target practice. The image of Naruto in his nightmare from the other day flashed though his head. (("Now...." he said, the smile transforming into a sick grin. "Hate me!" )) Sasuke shook the image away. It was bad enough when his nightmares consisted of Itachi slaughtering his family, but now the one doing those horrible things was Naruto. And again, it was Itachi's fault. He only had these nightmare because of Itachi's illusion. Suddenly, he could swear he saw his elder brother's face over the target on the tree. "I HATE YOU!" he yelled as he threw the kunai. It hit dead center. A leaf crunched behind him and Sasuke spun on his heal, ready to face his potential attacker. When he saw who it was, he sighed and lowered his weapon. TenTen grinned sheepishly. "Sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt." Sasuke shook his head and went back to throwing kunai. "It's fine." "Okay." TenTen sat on a nearby log. "I'll just wait till you're done." She took out a kunai and began twirling it on her finger. After a few throws Sasuke slowly lowered his arm. "Hey," he said quietly. TenTen looked up. "Hai?" "Do you...?" Sasuke tightened his grip on his weapon. TenTen cocked her head to one side in curiosity. "Could you show me how you did that throw the last time you were here?" Sasuke asked without looking back. "What throw?" "When you hit the target without seeing it." TenTen's eyebrows raised slightly. "Seriously?" She stood and walked around in front of Sasuke. "The 'great' Sasuke-kun is asking for help?" Sasuke gritted his teeth. "Forget it," he said angrily as he began to stalk away. TenTen grabbed his arm. "Wait wait wait. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have teased you. I'm honored that you want my help," she said with a reassuring smile. Sasuke gave her a suspicious look, then nodded. "Okay. Now, when you're looking at your target, you have to visualize a grid over the area," TenTen said as she gestured at the target. Sasuke frowned in thought. "Okay." "Make sure your 'grid' is slightly bigger than your target. That way, if you can't see the target, you can just count the number of grid squares from the outer edge to the middle." "You can actually do that?" Sasuke asked with disbelief. TenTen made a short laugh. "I've been perfecting it since I was five." Sasuke's eyes widened as the reality of what he'd just been told sunk in. "Then, that time...that means she did that on instinct!" "I'm sure you'll get it much faster with the Sharingan. Anyway, I just realized I'm hungry. I'll see ya later," TenTen said with a smile and a wave. "TenTen...." "Hai?" Sasuke paused for a moment before continuing. "Thanks," Sasuke answered, a slight smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. A wide grin broke over TenTen's face. "Anytime. Ja!" As Sasuke watched her leave the area he smiled to himself. "It's nice to know not every girl is part of my fanclub." With that thought, he went back to his training.
Tomoyo had just cracked an egg into the pan on the stove in front of her when she heard a knock on her front door. She opened it to see Naruto standing there. "Naruto-chan!" she said with a smile. Naruto stared at her for a moment. "Chan?" he said with an incredulous expression. "Oh! Sorry. It's just that I used to call Arashi 'chan' because he was short too and...." Tomoyo trailed off at Naruto's expression going from incredulous to downright insulted. She cleared her throat. "Um..anyway. Would... you like to come in?" Naruto nodded and walked inside. "Go ahead and sit on the couch. I just started cooking breakfast." Naruto sat down. "You like ramen right? Oh wait, that was a stupid question. You're Arashi's son; of course you like ramen. Be back in a jiff!" Naruto blinked rapidly as he watched Tomoyo practically skip into the kitchen nook. "That was...weird." Tomoyo came back into the main room with two bowls of breakfast styled ramen and handed one to her cousin. "I hope you don't mind, I like fried egg chunks in it." Naruto's eyebrows went up for a moment as he accepted the bowl. He took a bite and smiled. "This is good." "I'm glad you like it!" Tomoyo said with a smile. After a moment her face became serious and she put her bowl down on the coffee table in front of them. "I'm really glad you're here," she said in a voice that made Naruto look at her curiously. "I was starting to think you didn't want to see me. I...I wouldn't blame you. ....Especially after what Minako-chan did...." she finished quietly as a tear slid down her face. Naruto put his bowl down. "I don't hate you...if that's what you were thinking. It's just that...I don't understand some things." Tomoyo sniffed and wiped some of her tears away. "Like what?" "Like Baa-chan...." "Baa-chan?" "Sorry, it's something I call Kaa-san." "Tsunade puts up with someone calling her granny?-!" "Anyway. She told me you're a good person. I don't understand how you could do what you did if you were." Tomoyo sighed heavily. "It was...to make sure M...Minako-chan," more tears made their way down her face, "wasn't alone..." she said as she rested her forehead on her close-fisted palm . "Oh...." Silence. "I'm sorry she...died," Naruto offered, feeling highly inadequate. "I'll move on." Tomoyo said softly. "I did when Arashi-kun died." Tomoyo looked at Naruto. "You look just like he did at your age." "Kaa-san said the same thing." Silence. "What was my dad like?" Naruto asked suddenly. Tomoyo's mouth curled into a small smile. "He was a royal pain in the ass," she said with a laugh. "Huh?" "Before he met Natsuki, Arashi spent most of his time training, pulling pranks, picking on me for being tall, and acting like he was God's gift to women," she said with an eyeroll. "He was also loud," she added as an afterthought. Naruto just stared at Tomoyo. "Of course a lot of his attitude towards women was because of Jiraiya." Naruto let out a small snort of a laugh. Tomoyo's smile became warm. "But Arashi-kun was also warm and caring. He had the strangest power to make people trust him and to change their hearts." A happy tear rolled down her cheek. "I've never known someone so brave. He never gave up. Even when it looked like there was no possible way he could win, he found a way...I'll always miss him." Naruto's cheeks were moist with tears. "I wish I could've known him." "So do I...He would've been a great father," Tomoyo replied. She suddenly wrapped up Naruto in a warm hug. "I'm so glad you're alive. It's like a part of him is too," she cried. Naruto was surprised she had hugged him, but he didn't pull away. "Thanks...that means a lot to me." Tomoyo sat up and wiped her eyes. "Would you mind...if I stayed in Konoha?" Naruto grinned. "Are you kidding? I'll kick your ass if you don't stay." Tomoyo laughed. "Thanks." She took a deep breath. "Well, we should eat this ramen before it gets cold, neh?" "Hai!" Naruto replied before grabbing his bowl and shoveling in ramen. Tomoyo smiled warmly. "Yup...just like Arashi."
Sakura walked into the kitchen where her mother was snacking on some odango. "Kaa-san?" "Yeah?" I need to talk to you...about Naruto," Sakura said carefully. Mrs Haruno put down her odango. "Okay. What about him?" Sakura was relieved that her mother didn't seem upset about the topic and sat down in one of the chairs surrounding the table. "When I was nine and you told me he couldn't come to my birthday party. Was it...because he had Kyuubi sealed inside him?" Mrs Haruno sighed and hung her head a bit. "Yes." "But he wasn't the Kyuubi!" Sakura replied, her disapproval obvious. "I know that, Honey. But what you have to understand is that very few people knew exactly how the seal worked. I honestly thought he was a ticking time bomb. That the Kyuubi could've taken him over. I was afraid of him hurting you, no matter how nice he was." "That's really awful, Kaa-san," Sakura said with a glare. "I know. In fact the day you told me he was on your team, I was terrified. I even went to Sandaime-sama to ask him to put you on a different team. It took a long talk with him for me to understand that I had nothing to be afraid of." "He waited....." Sakura said angrily. "Nani?" "He waited that whole day for me...outside...in the rain." Mrs Haruno gasped as her hand flew to her mouth. "I...I never knew. Sakura-chan, I'm so sorry." "I'm not the one you need to apologize to," Sakura replied, most of her anger replaced with simple sincerity. "You're right." Silence. "I have an idea. Why don't you invite him to dinner tomorrow?" Mrs. Haruno said with a smile. Sakura smiled widely. "I'm sure he'll like that."
"How did you get back to Konoha so quick?" Tomoyo gave Naruto an odd look. "What do you mean?" "I mean, you shouldn't have been able to get back to Orochimaru's place so fast. It's almost a day's walk to the Sound." "Have you heard of Hiraishin no jutsu?" "That's the jutsu Chichiuei used to teleport, right?" "Hai. That's why they called him 'The Yellow Flash'." Tomoyo smiled. "When I heard of my Uncle's plan to have your mother killed I told Arashi-kun. As a 'thank you', he taught me Hiraishin no jutsu. I'm not nearly as good at it as he was. It requires the use of an 'anchor' seal at the place you want to teleport to. Arashi-kun could've teleported all the way to Konoha in one shot. I had to use the extra anchor points Arashi hid throughout the Fire Country. The main one is under the family crest on the gates of the Uzumaki complex." "The Uzumaki complex? I didn't even know we had one!" Tomoyo chuckled. "It's not even worth mentioning anymore. It's totally run down." Her laughing stopped when she noticed a sudden look of determination in Naruto's eyes. "I'm gonna rebuild it," he said, his fist clenched in front of his face. "What?-! Naruto-kun, you're crazy. That place is condemned, not to mention huge." "I can do it. As soon as I make jounin, I'll do it," Naruto answered with an ambitious grin. "Why when you make jounin?" "I can't afford it on a genin's salary," Naruto replied with a pout. Tomoyo laughed. "Well then I'm sure you'll rebuild it soon. With the skills Kakashi-kun told me you have, you must be chuunin already." Naruto twitched and looked down. "No...I'm not." Tomoyo bit her lip. "Oh...sorry." "It's okay." His eyes regained their light after a moment. "Hey, can you teach me Hiraishin?" "Sure, but after you finish your chakra control training with Tsunade-san. I don't want you blowing yourself up." Tomoyo replied. She laughed at Naruto's dejected expression. Tomoyo stood and walked over to a very fat backpack in the back of the room. After rummaging around in it for a moment she pulled out a very ornate looking kunai and sat back down next to Naruto. "This was Arashi-kun's. Kakashi-kun asked me to give it to you," she said as she held it out to him. Naruto took the kunai. It had prongs on the bottom of it like a sai and the handle had a white wrap on it imprinted with some kanji. "This is how he used the Hiraishin in battle. Once he marked his enemies with this kunai, they were dead," Tomoyo said with pride. Naruto smiled and put the kunai in his hip pouch. "Thanks." "Okay, my turn to ask a question." Tomoyo stared at her cousin for a moment. "Why on earth do you wear that blindingly bright outfit?" Naruto blinked a few times before answering. "Cause I like it?" "Naruto-kun. Wearing that outfit is like jumping up and down, waving your arms and shouting 'I'M OVER HERE!' to the enemy." Naruto pursed his lips in annoyance and folded his arms. "Hey, would you allow me to treat you to some new clothes?" Tomoyo asked. Naruto looked down at his current attire. "I dunno." "Pleeeeeease? If you don't like what I buy for you then you don't have to wear it, but I just wanna give it a try." After a moment Naruto relented. "Okay...but it has to have orange on it." Tomoyo frowned in thought, then smiled. "I have an idea."
Naruto wandered around the garden in front of his house, waiting for Tomoyo to return. He smiled when Hinata came around the corner of the road. "Hey, Hina-chan!" Hinata smiled and blushed at the sudden 'nickname'. "Hina-chan?" "You don't like it?" Naruto asked with a dejected expression. Hinata waved her hands around in front of her. "No no! I do! I just didn't expect it." Naruto smiled. "Are we goin' out for ramen today?" "Of course." Hinata saw Naruto look at the road like he was waiting for something. "What is it?" "Tomoyo-nee-san went to buy me some new clothes," Naruto grumbled. Hinata giggled. "Maybe you'll like them." She looked up at the sky, which was quickly going from white puffy clouds to dark and threatening. "We should get inside. I think...." At that moment the clouds opened up and both teens were drenched. "It's going to rain," she finished as she pushed her wet bangs from her face. She began to walk toward the house and suddenly felt Naruto's hand holding her wrist. "Let's stay out here," he said with a grin. "B...but it's pouring." "The water's kinda warm. C'omon, Hina-chan," Naruto begged. Hinata could never resist him when Naruto gave her that million dollar smile. "Okay." Naruto grabbed a small ball of mud and flung it at Hinata's jacket. "Naruto-kun!" Hinata squeaked. "Get me back if you're mad. Or are you chicken?" Naruto said with a positively evil smile. A smirk slowly spread over Hinata's face. "I am not a chicken! That is my ninja way!" She flung a mud ball of her own; connecting it with her boyfriend's hip. Naruto retaliated with a blob to Hinata's midriff. She scooped up a huge amount of mud, ran up to him, and shoved it down the back of his shirt. Naruto sputtered as the substance oozed down his back. "Damn you!" he said with a laugh. He made a Kage Bunshin. "Okay...now it's on!" Hinata activated her Byakugan. "I won't lose!" she giggled. Naruto found a spot in the garden vacant of plants, formed the rasengan and spun it in mud, causing a huge amount of it to fly at Hinata. Before he knew it, she was in a stance he recognized all too well. "When did she learn....?" "Kaiten!" Hinata yelled. She spun just before the mud hit and managed to knock most of it right back at Naruto, effectively burying him in it. Naruto cried out in protest as he was quickly turned into something resembling the creature from the Black Lagoon. He calmly walked up to Hinata. "When did you learn Kaiten?" "Neji-nii-san has been teaching me." Hinata looked at her clothes, which were fairly well coated in mud. "I still haven't perfected it though." Naruto laughed and wiped away some of the mud from Hinata's face. "You're still cute," he said softly before leaning in for a kiss. As soon as their lips touched they heard footsteps behind them. "Do I even want to know?" Naruto and Hinata quickly shook their heads. Tomoyo, who was under an umbrella, held up the bag from the clothing store. "Guess it's a good thing you have something to change into." Naruto and Hinata looked at each other and burst out laughing.
I hope you liked that. Please lemme know what you thought of
the NaruHina fluff. :)
He threw one kunai after another as he tried desperately to distract himself with target practice. The image of Naruto in his nightmare from the other day flashed though his head. (("Now...." he said, the smile transforming into a sick grin. "Hate me!" )) Sasuke shook the image away. It was bad enough when his nightmares consisted of Itachi slaughtering his family, but now the one doing those horrible things was Naruto. And again, it was Itachi's fault. He only had these nightmare because of Itachi's illusion. Suddenly, he could swear he saw his elder brother's face over the target on the tree. "I HATE YOU!" he yelled as he threw the kunai. It hit dead center. A leaf crunched behind him and Sasuke spun on his heal, ready to face his potential attacker. When he saw who it was, he sighed and lowered his weapon. TenTen grinned sheepishly. "Sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt." Sasuke shook his head and went back to throwing kunai. "It's fine." "Okay." TenTen sat on a nearby log. "I'll just wait till you're done." She took out a kunai and began twirling it on her finger. After a few throws Sasuke slowly lowered his arm. "Hey," he said quietly. TenTen looked up. "Hai?" "Do you...?" Sasuke tightened his grip on his weapon. TenTen cocked her head to one side in curiosity. "Could you show me how you did that throw the last time you were here?" Sasuke asked without looking back. "What throw?" "When you hit the target without seeing it." TenTen's eyebrows raised slightly. "Seriously?" She stood and walked around in front of Sasuke. "The 'great' Sasuke-kun is asking for help?" Sasuke gritted his teeth. "Forget it," he said angrily as he began to stalk away. TenTen grabbed his arm. "Wait wait wait. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have teased you. I'm honored that you want my help," she said with a reassuring smile. Sasuke gave her a suspicious look, then nodded. "Okay. Now, when you're looking at your target, you have to visualize a grid over the area," TenTen said as she gestured at the target. Sasuke frowned in thought. "Okay." "Make sure your 'grid' is slightly bigger than your target. That way, if you can't see the target, you can just count the number of grid squares from the outer edge to the middle." "You can actually do that?" Sasuke asked with disbelief. TenTen made a short laugh. "I've been perfecting it since I was five." Sasuke's eyes widened as the reality of what he'd just been told sunk in. "Then, that time...that means she did that on instinct!" "I'm sure you'll get it much faster with the Sharingan. Anyway, I just realized I'm hungry. I'll see ya later," TenTen said with a smile and a wave. "TenTen...." "Hai?" Sasuke paused for a moment before continuing. "Thanks," Sasuke answered, a slight smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. A wide grin broke over TenTen's face. "Anytime. Ja!" As Sasuke watched her leave the area he smiled to himself. "It's nice to know not every girl is part of my fanclub." With that thought, he went back to his training.
Tomoyo had just cracked an egg into the pan on the stove in front of her when she heard a knock on her front door. She opened it to see Naruto standing there. "Naruto-chan!" she said with a smile. Naruto stared at her for a moment. "Chan?" he said with an incredulous expression. "Oh! Sorry. It's just that I used to call Arashi 'chan' because he was short too and...." Tomoyo trailed off at Naruto's expression going from incredulous to downright insulted. She cleared her throat. "Um..anyway. Would... you like to come in?" Naruto nodded and walked inside. "Go ahead and sit on the couch. I just started cooking breakfast." Naruto sat down. "You like ramen right? Oh wait, that was a stupid question. You're Arashi's son; of course you like ramen. Be back in a jiff!" Naruto blinked rapidly as he watched Tomoyo practically skip into the kitchen nook. "That was...weird." Tomoyo came back into the main room with two bowls of breakfast styled ramen and handed one to her cousin. "I hope you don't mind, I like fried egg chunks in it." Naruto's eyebrows went up for a moment as he accepted the bowl. He took a bite and smiled. "This is good." "I'm glad you like it!" Tomoyo said with a smile. After a moment her face became serious and she put her bowl down on the coffee table in front of them. "I'm really glad you're here," she said in a voice that made Naruto look at her curiously. "I was starting to think you didn't want to see me. I...I wouldn't blame you. ....Especially after what Minako-chan did...." she finished quietly as a tear slid down her face. Naruto put his bowl down. "I don't hate you...if that's what you were thinking. It's just that...I don't understand some things." Tomoyo sniffed and wiped some of her tears away. "Like what?" "Like Baa-chan...." "Baa-chan?" "Sorry, it's something I call Kaa-san." "Tsunade puts up with someone calling her granny?-!" "Anyway. She told me you're a good person. I don't understand how you could do what you did if you were." Tomoyo sighed heavily. "It was...to make sure M...Minako-chan," more tears made their way down her face, "wasn't alone..." she said as she rested her forehead on her close-fisted palm . "Oh...." Silence. "I'm sorry she...died," Naruto offered, feeling highly inadequate. "I'll move on." Tomoyo said softly. "I did when Arashi-kun died." Tomoyo looked at Naruto. "You look just like he did at your age." "Kaa-san said the same thing." Silence. "What was my dad like?" Naruto asked suddenly. Tomoyo's mouth curled into a small smile. "He was a royal pain in the ass," she said with a laugh. "Huh?" "Before he met Natsuki, Arashi spent most of his time training, pulling pranks, picking on me for being tall, and acting like he was God's gift to women," she said with an eyeroll. "He was also loud," she added as an afterthought. Naruto just stared at Tomoyo. "Of course a lot of his attitude towards women was because of Jiraiya." Naruto let out a small snort of a laugh. Tomoyo's smile became warm. "But Arashi-kun was also warm and caring. He had the strangest power to make people trust him and to change their hearts." A happy tear rolled down her cheek. "I've never known someone so brave. He never gave up. Even when it looked like there was no possible way he could win, he found a way...I'll always miss him." Naruto's cheeks were moist with tears. "I wish I could've known him." "So do I...He would've been a great father," Tomoyo replied. She suddenly wrapped up Naruto in a warm hug. "I'm so glad you're alive. It's like a part of him is too," she cried. Naruto was surprised she had hugged him, but he didn't pull away. "Thanks...that means a lot to me." Tomoyo sat up and wiped her eyes. "Would you mind...if I stayed in Konoha?" Naruto grinned. "Are you kidding? I'll kick your ass if you don't stay." Tomoyo laughed. "Thanks." She took a deep breath. "Well, we should eat this ramen before it gets cold, neh?" "Hai!" Naruto replied before grabbing his bowl and shoveling in ramen. Tomoyo smiled warmly. "Yup...just like Arashi."
Sakura walked into the kitchen where her mother was snacking on some odango. "Kaa-san?" "Yeah?" I need to talk to you...about Naruto," Sakura said carefully. Mrs Haruno put down her odango. "Okay. What about him?" Sakura was relieved that her mother didn't seem upset about the topic and sat down in one of the chairs surrounding the table. "When I was nine and you told me he couldn't come to my birthday party. Was it...because he had Kyuubi sealed inside him?" Mrs Haruno sighed and hung her head a bit. "Yes." "But he wasn't the Kyuubi!" Sakura replied, her disapproval obvious. "I know that, Honey. But what you have to understand is that very few people knew exactly how the seal worked. I honestly thought he was a ticking time bomb. That the Kyuubi could've taken him over. I was afraid of him hurting you, no matter how nice he was." "That's really awful, Kaa-san," Sakura said with a glare. "I know. In fact the day you told me he was on your team, I was terrified. I even went to Sandaime-sama to ask him to put you on a different team. It took a long talk with him for me to understand that I had nothing to be afraid of." "He waited....." Sakura said angrily. "Nani?" "He waited that whole day for me...outside...in the rain." Mrs Haruno gasped as her hand flew to her mouth. "I...I never knew. Sakura-chan, I'm so sorry." "I'm not the one you need to apologize to," Sakura replied, most of her anger replaced with simple sincerity. "You're right." Silence. "I have an idea. Why don't you invite him to dinner tomorrow?" Mrs. Haruno said with a smile. Sakura smiled widely. "I'm sure he'll like that."
"How did you get back to Konoha so quick?" Tomoyo gave Naruto an odd look. "What do you mean?" "I mean, you shouldn't have been able to get back to Orochimaru's place so fast. It's almost a day's walk to the Sound." "Have you heard of Hiraishin no jutsu?" "That's the jutsu Chichiuei used to teleport, right?" "Hai. That's why they called him 'The Yellow Flash'." Tomoyo smiled. "When I heard of my Uncle's plan to have your mother killed I told Arashi-kun. As a 'thank you', he taught me Hiraishin no jutsu. I'm not nearly as good at it as he was. It requires the use of an 'anchor' seal at the place you want to teleport to. Arashi-kun could've teleported all the way to Konoha in one shot. I had to use the extra anchor points Arashi hid throughout the Fire Country. The main one is under the family crest on the gates of the Uzumaki complex." "The Uzumaki complex? I didn't even know we had one!" Tomoyo chuckled. "It's not even worth mentioning anymore. It's totally run down." Her laughing stopped when she noticed a sudden look of determination in Naruto's eyes. "I'm gonna rebuild it," he said, his fist clenched in front of his face. "What?-! Naruto-kun, you're crazy. That place is condemned, not to mention huge." "I can do it. As soon as I make jounin, I'll do it," Naruto answered with an ambitious grin. "Why when you make jounin?" "I can't afford it on a genin's salary," Naruto replied with a pout. Tomoyo laughed. "Well then I'm sure you'll rebuild it soon. With the skills Kakashi-kun told me you have, you must be chuunin already." Naruto twitched and looked down. "No...I'm not." Tomoyo bit her lip. "Oh...sorry." "It's okay." His eyes regained their light after a moment. "Hey, can you teach me Hiraishin?" "Sure, but after you finish your chakra control training with Tsunade-san. I don't want you blowing yourself up." Tomoyo replied. She laughed at Naruto's dejected expression. Tomoyo stood and walked over to a very fat backpack in the back of the room. After rummaging around in it for a moment she pulled out a very ornate looking kunai and sat back down next to Naruto. "This was Arashi-kun's. Kakashi-kun asked me to give it to you," she said as she held it out to him. Naruto took the kunai. It had prongs on the bottom of it like a sai and the handle had a white wrap on it imprinted with some kanji. "This is how he used the Hiraishin in battle. Once he marked his enemies with this kunai, they were dead," Tomoyo said with pride. Naruto smiled and put the kunai in his hip pouch. "Thanks." "Okay, my turn to ask a question." Tomoyo stared at her cousin for a moment. "Why on earth do you wear that blindingly bright outfit?" Naruto blinked a few times before answering. "Cause I like it?" "Naruto-kun. Wearing that outfit is like jumping up and down, waving your arms and shouting 'I'M OVER HERE!' to the enemy." Naruto pursed his lips in annoyance and folded his arms. "Hey, would you allow me to treat you to some new clothes?" Tomoyo asked. Naruto looked down at his current attire. "I dunno." "Pleeeeeease? If you don't like what I buy for you then you don't have to wear it, but I just wanna give it a try." After a moment Naruto relented. "Okay...but it has to have orange on it." Tomoyo frowned in thought, then smiled. "I have an idea."
Naruto wandered around the garden in front of his house, waiting for Tomoyo to return. He smiled when Hinata came around the corner of the road. "Hey, Hina-chan!" Hinata smiled and blushed at the sudden 'nickname'. "Hina-chan?" "You don't like it?" Naruto asked with a dejected expression. Hinata waved her hands around in front of her. "No no! I do! I just didn't expect it." Naruto smiled. "Are we goin' out for ramen today?" "Of course." Hinata saw Naruto look at the road like he was waiting for something. "What is it?" "Tomoyo-nee-san went to buy me some new clothes," Naruto grumbled. Hinata giggled. "Maybe you'll like them." She looked up at the sky, which was quickly going from white puffy clouds to dark and threatening. "We should get inside. I think...." At that moment the clouds opened up and both teens were drenched. "It's going to rain," she finished as she pushed her wet bangs from her face. She began to walk toward the house and suddenly felt Naruto's hand holding her wrist. "Let's stay out here," he said with a grin. "B...but it's pouring." "The water's kinda warm. C'omon, Hina-chan," Naruto begged. Hinata could never resist him when Naruto gave her that million dollar smile. "Okay." Naruto grabbed a small ball of mud and flung it at Hinata's jacket. "Naruto-kun!" Hinata squeaked. "Get me back if you're mad. Or are you chicken?" Naruto said with a positively evil smile. A smirk slowly spread over Hinata's face. "I am not a chicken! That is my ninja way!" She flung a mud ball of her own; connecting it with her boyfriend's hip. Naruto retaliated with a blob to Hinata's midriff. She scooped up a huge amount of mud, ran up to him, and shoved it down the back of his shirt. Naruto sputtered as the substance oozed down his back. "Damn you!" he said with a laugh. He made a Kage Bunshin. "Okay...now it's on!" Hinata activated her Byakugan. "I won't lose!" she giggled. Naruto found a spot in the garden vacant of plants, formed the rasengan and spun it in mud, causing a huge amount of it to fly at Hinata. Before he knew it, she was in a stance he recognized all too well. "When did she learn....?" "Kaiten!" Hinata yelled. She spun just before the mud hit and managed to knock most of it right back at Naruto, effectively burying him in it. Naruto cried out in protest as he was quickly turned into something resembling the creature from the Black Lagoon. He calmly walked up to Hinata. "When did you learn Kaiten?" "Neji-nii-san has been teaching me." Hinata looked at her clothes, which were fairly well coated in mud. "I still haven't perfected it though." Naruto laughed and wiped away some of the mud from Hinata's face. "You're still cute," he said softly before leaning in for a kiss. As soon as their lips touched they heard footsteps behind them. "Do I even want to know?" Naruto and Hinata quickly shook their heads. Tomoyo, who was under an umbrella, held up the bag from the clothing store. "Guess it's a good thing you have something to change into." Naruto and Hinata looked at each other and burst out laughing.
.........TO BE CONTINUED