Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Hanabi's storybook ❯ starting point ( Chapter 2 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: jumperjacket 
everything has an end but rarely do they leave nothing behind, Naruto's adventure begins with an end.
Anime/Manga: Naruto Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Fantasy / Adventure / Action | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 06.16.2011 | Pages: 5 | Words: 9.1K | Visits: 321 | Status: Work In Progress
everything has an end but rarely do they leave nothing behind, Naruto's adventure begins with an end.
Anime/Manga: Naruto Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Fantasy / Adventure / Action | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 06.16.2011 | Pages: 5 | Words: 9.1K | Visits: 321 | Status: Work In Progress
Once again I step into the world of fantasy, one I don’t normally go into but what the hell.
& nbsp; &nbs p; ---
; &n bsp; Chapter 2: Starting point
(Naruto: age 14)
Naruto awoke in a semi-slumberous state, it hadn’t been long since the princess of the fire kingdom had departed, however she had only come on business as the only remaining heir to the throne. Her demeanor was way different than what he was used to, but many of her characteristics were still the same, being able to put on a smile like that must have been rough after what happened. Naruto broke from his early morning musings and sat up from his bed, slovenly making his way to the balcony without bothering to dress himself. The sunlight had often been his rouse into awareness, but at the moment it was something else, something unfamiliar moving around in the garden. In these times of peace there were very few moments when Naruto had to truly act as a guard, but right now his instinct warned him to head for the garden as quickly as possible. Dressing in his normal knight’s attire, he ran down to the garden with unmatched haste, drawing his blade on the suspect he ordered out with authority.
“Don’t move; state your name and your business here!” Even he was shocked at how much he had changed over the years, pulling his sword before even confirming the person to be a threat. Inwardly he sighed, how much of a tool was he?
“I don’t think you’re a tool.” said a quiet voice coming from the recipient of his scorn. A girl who appeared to be his age, long dark blue hair flowing down her back, and a white flowing dress, she was beautiful, but nothing overpowered the mystifying pale lavender eyes of hers, an unmistakable trait of the Hyuga family, “Have I done something wrong?”
“I’m sorry, I just haven’t seen you here before.” He choked out, nearly stumbling over his words as he sheathed his sword, never once bothering to ask the girl how she’d known what he was thinking, “Are you a member of the royal family?”
“I’m a very distant relative. And you are my brave knight?” she asked with a smile that threw Naruto’s mind into a blender, or at least that how it felt with how his thoughts processed.
“Uh, um, I’m……Hi.” He squeaked out, rather pathetically, lifting a single hand to the girl as he rubbed the back of his neck. The girl chuckled, amused by the boy’s bewildered state of affairs, but in his mind the chuckle meant that he’d messed up.
“I’m sorry.”
“I don’t mind, take your time, I don’t have to leave yet, we have all the time in the world.” Naruto couldn’t take his mind away from the girl’s entrancing words, for if he had, he’d have noticed that time had stopped around him. Sucking on air, Naruto flopped down next to the girl and smiled.
“My name is Naruto Uzumaki. Yours?”
“Hinata Hyuga.” She replied with a smile.
“You mean like the goddess?”
“Yes, my parents were quite taken with her.” There was that smile again, making Naruto’s heart rate skyrocket.
“It suits you, you look exactly like the pictures of her too, even down to your hair.” He said noticing the girl’s flowing locks, not gaining on to the fact that he was staring until her eyes met his, forcing both into a fierce blush, “So do you come here often?”
Hinata had no idea how to respond to the question, but she was positive that he was just trying to break the tension, his effort however, made her laugh and soon after he joined in with the infectious feeling.
“No, I just came on a spur of the moment. I don’t think they know me anyway.”
“Have you talked to them?” Naruto asked in worry.
“I’m forbidden to.” She said with a sad smile that gained Naruto’s curious gaze. “Have you heard the story of our family?”
“You mean clairvoyance? I know…sorry.”
“It’s quite alright, but that’s only part of what I meant. It begins from a long time ago, when the goddess created the land, she blessed the world with riches and the creatures on it with love. Even though the goddess protected the people and still they strayed, until all they could think of was themselves, and soon the goddess began to suffer. In order to free her pain she created a daughter, one who shared her powers, a goddess who would take the place of the ruling goddess and help her rule the world, but the young goddess was foolish, desiring the things the world’s creatures had, and soon she fell in love. The ruling goddess lent ear to her child’s plight and with a heavy heart she granted her wish, and she became mortal, to live with her love, leaving her mother to suffer alone one again.” Hinata said, sadly gazing to the ground, holding her knees to her chest as her beautiful feet patted into the grass below.
“What happened with the young goddess?” Naruto asked, moving closer to the saddened girl.
“She died a mortal, yet her blood still courses through the veins of the royal family. However, the ruling goddess had no one. Everyone only thought of themselves, never her needs or desires.”
“People can be greedy that way, only able to see what’s right in front of them and not caring about what happens to the other person, but to me that makes the goddess all the more wonderful.”
“Huh? How so?” Hinata asked perking up slightly from Naruto’s words.
“She had to suffer, but she was willing to help the daughter who abandoned her, even though she’d have to bare the burden alone. She had to cry all alone, but she still tried and gave us everything we have now, despite us asking too much, you were named after a wonderful person Hinata.” Naruto said flashing a smile that sent Hinata’s heart into a frenzy. Shooting to her feet Hinata turned away from Naruto and started running towards the gates.
“What’s wrong? Do I say something weird?” He asked reaching out to the girl now far from his reach.
“No, you made me happy, but I have to go now or else I’ll regret it.”
“Regret it?”
“Thank you for listening?”
“Why did you tell me that story?”
“It’s one you should remember, even if doing something for others make them happy, never forget make yourself happy too. But I liked your spin on it better. I hope you’ll listen to me again sometime Naruto-kun.” Hinata opened the massive gates of the castle with very little effort, something that should have rang alarm bells with Naruto, however he was so concerned with catching the girl that it never occurred to him, however by the time he had reached the gates the girl was gone.
“Naruto-kun?” came a small voice from behind the slightly older boy, forcing his attention to her, “Is something wrong, why are you dressed that way?”
“Huh, oh yeah, I was talking to that girl in the garden, didn’t you see her?”
“Who, I didn’t see anyone, I only saw you ran out into the garden and then to the gates. Are you feeling okay? Maybe you should quit that training you’ve been doing so much, I’ll be sure to tell Kakashi-san.” She said spinning on her heels to find the head knight as Naruto screamed behind her.
“Wait that’s not necessary, wait Hanabi-hime!” As Naruto chased the girl eyes peered down on him from above, gazing happily at the boy she had just departed from.
“Hinata-sama!” screamed a woman with deep red eyes and beautiful black hair, seeming unfitting with her pure white wings elegantly perched on her back.
“Kurenai-san, you seem well.” She replied flippantly to the demanding voice of the angel before her.
“Don’t you know what you’ve done; you’re not supposed to make contact with the human world so callously.” She shouted, finally pausing to draw breath as the girl, now turned woman before her paid little attention to her worries.
“I know the rules Kurenai-san, I made them.” Hinata turned away from her worrywart companion and waltzed through the gates of her proud and beautiful castle, nodding to the angels waiting in rest for her return.
“Shall I prepare a bath for you milady?” asked an angel with a scruffy goatee, bowing to the goddess in reverence.
“That would be wondrous, and don’t call me milady Asuma-kun. Also, I need your assistance with a matter on the surface; do you think you can handle it?”
“As you wish.” He said with a gruff smile, materializing his bladed knuckles, whenever he was sent to the planet it usually involved stray demons that needed to be disappeared, and Asuma wasn’t just good at his job, he enjoyed it, “When do you wish me to leave?”
“At your leisure, I will send you orders to you as you depart.” With a smile and a bow he walked away from the goddess preparing her bath and readying for his trip to the surface, giving a smile to Kurenai, who still trailed behind the goddess, before going on with his business.
“Hinata-sama, can you at least listen to me?” Sighing she helped the goddess as she unrobed and dipped into the refreshing water that could only be described as heavenly.
“It’s not good for you to associate with humans, if they learned your identity-“
“You worry too much, if someone tried to hurt me, all I’d need is a single flick of my wrist and there would be no more worries from them, ever.” She said rolling around in the tub like a child.
“And why did you choose that boy?” Kurenai asked holding the almighty book in her hand, making the benevolent ruler freeze.
“Um, I, Uh…” She fumble, tapping the tips of her fingers together shyly, “I’m curious is all. You know that his father was Minato, one of our angels, and he’s had a harsh life so-“
“It’s wrong for you to be drawn to a human, besides he’s still a kid.”
“I’m over 4 thousand years old; it’s hard to find a human that isn’t a child to me. Besides, there’s something about him that seems different. The blood of an angel, yet the spirit of a demon inside him, I’ve never seen anything like it, he may just be a ray of hope for the world.”
“Yes, however you still can’t help him so much milady.”
“I know, I know, do too much and they depend on you, do too little and they lose faith, got it. Don’t be such a prude Kurenai-san.” She said leaning back into the tub with a pout.
“You created me this way.” She retorted with a smile, “I was born to uphold law and order milady.”
“Maybe I should have given you a laid back personality; I would have if I knew you’d even apply your diligence to me.” Hinata lifted her hand and stared on into the distant sky. “How will you deal with the shadows moving ever closer to you Naruto-kun?”
With a smile the beautiful goddess thumbed a single drop of water from the tub and rain fell onto the world below. Naruto sneezed, sweeping his eyes in all directions as if checking for someone to be speaking of him. “Hanabi-hime, you said that we’d have plans for today, but what is it you plan on doing on such a dreary day?”
“Escaping from my duties for a while.” She said running out into the rain barefooted, escaping into the forest far behind the castle as Naruto gave chase.
“We can’t do this, I might get fired you know?” He said frantically pushing through the brush.
“No one can fire you, now come on and stop being such a baby.” Hanabi stopped for a second, crossing her hands over her chest, which Naruto noted had developed quite well over the passing years. The thought however slowed Naruto’s steps, Hanabi was a noble, and no doubt she was already engaged to someone of her standing, the gap between them was as wide as the sand country’s mighty canyon, “Naruto-kun?”
Naruto’s face shot up, eyeing the girl who now had worry etched in her silent gaze. Forcing a smile Naruto ran closer to her and heaved a sigh, “What am I going to do with you?”
“That’s my line. What did you stop for anyway?” She asked, placing a single hand on his icy cold face, covered by his dripping wet blonde hair.
“No reason, but since you’re in the mood to ask questions what actually are we running from today?” He asked calmly turning his head into a tilt, submitting to his princess’ whim. It wasn’t the first time they had run from the castle on Hanabi’s impulses, but never out into the rain, that was new. Hanabi’s face aimed to the ground and she said quietly.
“I was supposed to meet my betrothed.” Bingo. Naruto had assumed something like that had to be the case, Naruto had never been foolish enough to believe he had a chance, but it was the first time he’d ever felt so defeated, “I don’t like him. Father doesn’t either, but apparently it was something my grandfather decided long ago. We’re basically enemy countries, but our marriage is supposed to “unify the land.” But I don’t want to do it. I want to marry y-……Someone I choose.”
Hanabi had quickly corrected herself, but Naruto’s face burned fiery red at that ‘y-‘ he wanted her to finish, but the sound of the people calling for Hanabi caught his ear, and in a fury he grabbed her hand and ran with all the strength he could muster, soon managing to lose the search teams by hiding in a hallowed stomp, not exactly the best place to hide a princess, but it was enough for now.
“Naruto-kun, why do you keep training, even though I tell you not to?” She asked, leaning into Naruto to warm her cold body.
“So, that I can protect the thing I hold precious, no matter what stands in my way, so that I never have to lose it.”
“Oh.” She said silently pushing closer into Naruto embrace. “If I asked you to take me and run away, from this, from everything, would you?”
“Just tell me when.” He said holding tighter onto the girl in his arms, doing little to stop his beating heart. Naruto pulled closer until their faces were mere inches from each other, of course trying to kiss a princess was something no one with a brain should ever try unless they'd had a death wish, but Naruto couldn’t bring himself to stop and Hanabi made no effort to stop him either, in fact she seemed to be all for it from where he was sitting, and without thinking much about the situation further than that they moved closer. A thunderous boom erupted from right outside and a powerful flash of light completely engulfed the area stunning both children before their meeting could reach its peek. Frozen in shock they stared at each other, completely stiff in fear of the lightning bolt that had landed right outside of the hallowed tree trunk.
"Now whatever could have done that?" Hinata said, turning bashfully away from the area displaying the world below with a gleeful and childish look on her face.
"Please don't make such an innocent face when you do something so scary." Kurenai said shaking her head at her master. Kurenai turned her sight to the world below mood completely ruined by the stray bolt and in a protective stint Naruto leapt from the tree with Hanabi hand, determined to return her to the castle before something else happened.
&n bsp; ; ---
Blazing hot sand blew over the land as a lone silhouette moved through the clearing, not too long ago it had been a beautiful field here, looming above it was a gorgeous and well kept castle that now stood upon land far too scorched to call a field as a castle far too dilapidated to be called "gorgeous". It was this castle, a keep of the lone surviving dragon that a single woman approached, drinking down her lost drips of water she stared up at the keep, "So this is the dragon's keep?"
She questioned, tying up her long brown hair into a high ponytail as she walked into the doors of the castle hanging wide open as if the master dared an intruder to enter. As she surveyed the castle's walls she could hear the growls of a creature inside stirring in obvious displeasure at her company.
"Who dares enter my home, I thought I made it clear that humans were not to wonder these halls." Came an ominous and commanding voice, resounding through the castle's hallowed walls.
"My name is Claire Redfeild, I'm a doctor and something of a scientist, I wish to speak with you." She replied dropping her bag to the floor as if she expected him to concede to her will.
"What makes you believe that I'd lower myself to speak to you human?" He asked in a mighty growl that shook the entire castle; however Claire stood completely unfazed by his words.
"I brought food." She said lifting the heavy bag onto her shoulder and as she had planned there was a long pause between his words.
"....What kind of food?" He asked in a slightly less violent voice than before.
"What kind of food do you like, I brought plenty of different kinds, you'll have come down and see, or you could kick me out, but I hear that you don't leave this castle much, so hunting must be pretty hard for you. Maybe I'll just go and-" Before she could her sentence the bag was snatched from her hand with enough speed to force a gust of wind around her. Leisurely she looked back at the monster who looked to be nothing more than fifteen year old boy, “Well it appears what they say is true.”
Fou-lu turned up to the woman, snacking on the various items in her bag as she leaned down towards him, “What are you doing here woman? What is your true purpose in being in here really?” He asked in between large bites.
“I came here to study you, ever since the inquisition of your species there has been things we’ve heard about dragons that completely contradicts our previous beliefs, such as you being able to speak.” She said moving closer to the boy who seemed to care little for her approach.
“Not speaking and not being able to speak are two different things. And what do you mean study me, why should I allow such a thing, and I’m not sure I like your attitude woman.” He said threateningly, still scarfing down the food given to him, or rather the food he’d taken. Chuckling at his appearance the woman sat closer, as if to gauge his reaction to her, but instead of striking he just looked at her curiously.
“You’re not so mean are you?” She asked patting his head, bringing a stern frown to his face. “You’re so cute too, do you mind if I stay?”
Fou-lu frowned and sighed looking down into the bag that now laid empty, “As long as you agree to bring back more food, and never go into my room, ever. Is that clear?” He asked standing tall, stalking into the hallway he had emerged from.
“That was easier than I thought, don’t you hate humans young dragon?”
“...I don’t feel hatred anymore. I can’t.” He said sullenly before finishing his trek into the quiet halls of the castle. Claire sighed, she had found a place to hide out, and while being in the company of a dragon there was no way her pursuers would ever follow her. Gazing at the stairwell the boy had disappeared into she gazed at her bag and grimace.
“He could have at least saved some for me.” Claire’s arm loosely released tension and she dropped the bag, she’d have to go shopping again soon.
&nb sp; ---
Fou-lu leaned against the wall of his castle, waiting patiently for Claire to return as she had promised, it had been months since she had come to live with him, and as much as he opposed it, he was used to her being around. The sound of crunching sand alerted him to her return as he struggled to contain his glee, and from where she was standing, he wasn’t struggling hard. “Did you get them?” He asked, practically bouncing around waiting for her to answer and with a sigh she reached into her bag and removed three video cassette tapes.
“Yeah, two old Maito Gai movies and the new Rock Lee movie.” In a flash the tapes had been removed from her hands, and she sighed to herself. She had only brought those things along in case she got bored and he didn’t try to keep her company, but to her surprise as she watched some of the movies he joined in, growing really interested in martial arts movies.
“Oh man, “Enter the Youthful dragon” I’ve been waiting for this one to come out forever.”
“How can you be so in to that stuff?”
“I don’t know, something about the way they fight is beautiful, the dance like motion of martial arts is art, not like all that gun filled crap they make now.”
“And you’ve only been watching movies for about four months, now you’re critic. Norugi, you need to get out more, see the world.” She said brushing passed him as he stared in displeasure.
“How many times do I have to tell you, my name is Fou-lu.” He practically shouted to the woman as she passed.
“You have a human’s body, so it’d be easier for you to fit into human society if you have a normal name. I brought some food too, we can eat while we watch okay?” She said walking up the stairs as the boy slowly followed behind her. As she walked she passed his room, inside she could feel an immense power, it was almost intoxicating, she couldn’t think when near it, but she never once felt compelled to go inside.
“I’ll tell you about it some day.” He said, suddenly standing behind Claire who turned sharply to face him, “Come on, we have a movie to watch.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Claire turned, giving a passing glance to the door once again before walking after the boy. When she’d first met him he never stopped eating, but now he was watching the movie, perfectly imitating all of the moves he saw on screen while his food grew cold. Claire wrote into her book, dragons weren’t that much different from humans in their personalities, and aside from being over a hundred years older than her Norugi, as she called him, was a normal teenaged boy.
“Norugi, would you like to come into town with me tomorrow?”
“No, I can’t leave this keep. I have something here I must protect, so I can’t go.” He strongly replied, not even once turning to her as he spoke.
“Is that something valuable? I might steal it from you.”
“My eyes can see the auras of all living things, everyone has a different aura, yours is honest, I don’t doubt that you might try, but I do doubt that you’d go through with it.” He said in between practicing a high kick, which made Claire chuckle.
“One day, you’ll venture out into the world it may be soon, so I’ll teach you everything you need to know okay.” She said spreading out a map on the table and a few books Fou had never seen before. Sighing he turned off the T.V. and walked to the table, resuming his meal as he listened to Claire’s words.
; &n bsp; --- (Naruto: age 16)
Naruto stared into the sky, dazed as he remembered what had happened so long ago, Hanabi had barely said a word after returning, but every time they saw each other now there was a strange sense of attraction, Naruto should have been focusing on what he was doing, because if he had, he’d have noticed that there was a large wooden sword headed for his face. Snapping back from his thoughts Naruto ducked under the practice sword and clutched tightly onto his slamming it up into the stomach of the knight sparring with him. It wasn’t at all odd that he was being heckled by the knights, even more so since he was stronger than all of them, but even after so many years of flawless service and the complete trust of not only the King and princess, but their very own knight captain and court magician, there was lots of pent up aggression towards Naruto. It was the first time that month that Naruto had to face off against the entire knight squadron, but it was a fight he wouldn’t shy from. Placing his sword into the dirt he released the hilt and gestured for the others waiting to move in and take their turn at him, and much to his pleasure, they had. Each moved in, swinging wildly at Naruto who skillfully deflected one of the blades and feed his fist into the stomach of the knight on the alternate side of him. Naruto reached down, grabbing he leg of the swordsman to his front and in one twist had hurled him to the ground, at the same time sending himself spinning, slamming his heel into the shoulder of another approaching knight.
Naruto chuckled, smacking the face of the grounded man to see if he’d move, but the shadow eclipsing his had an advantage over him, or so he thought. Naruto lift his right leg, crashing it upward into the knight’s chin, and in a show of grace he swing his sword into his side sending him spinning to the ground in a heap.
“So who’s next?” He called out, aiming his sword at the entire crowd of people who seemed to lose interest after watching their friends drop.
“Monster.” One muttered helping his fellow knights up as they left for the training area abandoning Naruto who scuffed at his words. Naruto had long ago stopped caring about the demon being inside him, hell he’d on many occasions had long conversations with it, even some of his moves had been learned from the demon’s arsenal. He and the fox were one, there was no getting around that. Her pain was his pain, and his was hers, as well as revenge. At some point Naruto wanted to find the man who had caused the downward spiral in his life and end him, that would be a day to remember.
“Naruto-kun!” However, the girl who had called his name, the one running to him as if returning to a lover unseen for years. She was always first, the person who gave his broken life meaning.
“Is something wrong Hanabi-hime?” He asked catching the girl as she threw herself in his arms.
“T-The kingdom of flowers has fallen.” Naruto froze, there were many kingdoms that governed the world, and the kingdom of flowers was a tiny nation that had lived in peace with all other nations around it. There was no reason at all to attack a kingdom that had not even a military branch.
“Who did it, do we know what happened to the royal family?”
“Presumed dead.” Kakashi said walking into the clearing behind Hanabi, Rin following close behind.
“Wasn’t Neji training there as a monk, what happened to him?” Naruto asked in a flustered voice to Kakashi, yet he didn’t answer and Rin’s lowered gaze was enough to confirm what he had feared. “He’s dead isn’t he?”
“We don’t know, we haven’t heard word from there since this morning.” Kakashi said, making Hanabi sob in Naruto’s arms as he cursed, “We’re thinking of sending a search party, we wanted to know if you’d come along.”
“I can’t.” He said looking down to Hanabi who gazed up into his eyes.
“Naruto-kun, please, Neji-niisan is-“ Naruto placed a finger to her lips and smiled.
“All you need do is ask. I’ll go, but please leave someone capable in charge of Hanabi-hime.” Kakashi nodded and turned to Rin smiled over to Naruto.
“We’ll be back as soon as we can, so don’t worry Hanabi-hime.” She said bowing to the princess who watched Naruto as he went to face the king and then depart on a journey to the kingdom of flowers.
&nb sp; &nb sp; ---
“You want more, because I’ll keep kicking your asses until nightfall.” Fou-lu shouted, forcing the horde of knights into a scurry as they departed into the moonlight. Once gone he dropped to his knees breathing heavily as he leaned back against the outer walls of his castle, “Dammit, if I hadn’t placed that seal I’d have handled them no problem.”
It had nearly been a year since Claire had left, telling him of her adventures around the world and her wishes for him to accompany her, he had refused, but inwardly he wanted to leave with her, but something inside his keep needed him, here was no way he was going to leave it. And seven months of loneliness later he was greeted by the swords of leaf kingdom knights. Well he wasn’t lonely anymore, and they had given him a training dummy for his new moves he never got to try out, but now they were coming in droves, even with his strength driving them off had become a chore and he needed it to end, now.
“You seem to be in trouble, may I lend an ear?” Came a voice from the side, a pale lanky man who wore the robes of a sorcerer, he reeked of deceit, but Fou-lu’s eyes could see no aura, an impossibility. Only inanimate objects held no aura, the only way a person could be without an aura is if they were dead, and even after dying the aura would flicker before vanishing. “I may be able to be of assistance.”
“I need no help from you sorcerer. Leave me before I decide to feast on you.” Fou-lu spoke proudly, he had just gone through a very stressful day and he had no need of this man’s “help”.
“If you want them to stop, maybe you should show them what it’s like to be on the receiving end.” The man spoke, wearing a sinister smile on is face, “If you were to show them the feeling, they will retreat for good, however, if you allow them to walk away every time, eventually, they’ll wear you down.”
Fou-lu knew that he shouldn’t have listened, but after the countless battles he had fought in the last five months were indeed starting to wear on him. A creepy smile crossed the lips of the pale man at Fou-lu’s silence, it meant that he was getting through to him and unfortunately, he was starting to make a lot of sense. Moving closer, gaining the young dragon’s interest, he whispered words into his ear, a plan to secure his keep and the treasure that lay inside safe.
; &n bsp; ;
&nb sp; &nb sp; ---
By the time the envoy of knights had reached the kingdom of flowers it was all too evident that there was nothing that could be done. Naruto peeked up a small piece of rubble and tossed it aside, but the smell of death was heavy, almost mind numbingly so.
“Who could have done such a thing?” He asked, turning back to Kakashi who seemed to be disgusted by the display of carnage in front of him.
“Whoever it was must have been trying to send a message.” He said walking amongst the debris, but no matter how much they looked there were two bodies that never turned up, Ishi’s, the princess of the kingdom and Neji the cousin of Konoha’s princess. Neji had been the son of Hiashi’s twin brother, and close relative of Hanabi until his father went to the kingdom of flowers as an ambassador. It was there that Neji began his training as a monk, however strongly refused to shave his head. So deep in the kingdom was he that like Naruto he had been assigned with the coveted task of guarding the kingdom’s princess, it was the only reason Naruto even knew the guy. Even so, his was a face Naruto would never forget, he sighed in relief that none of the bodies shared Neji’s or Ishi’s features. Kakashi sighed walking away to join the knight troupe he had brought with him in the town square, leaving Naruto and Rin in the castle’s remains.
“Do you think they escaped?” Naruto pondered, crouching down to appraise the marks on the ground.
“It’s possible, or at least I’d hope that their enemy didn’t take their bodies.” Rin replied staring into the distance from over the cliff beside them, “There used to be the most beautiful field of flowers here.” With sadness in her eyes she stared, oblivious to the creature emerging from the ground behind her. As it prepared to rip through her with it’s claws she frowned, peeking back to Naruto, holding his Rasengan to the beast’s head.
“And what exactly were you planning to do?” He asked pulling back on the trigger as Rin rolled away from the blast the size of a globe, ripping and whistling through the air as it tore through the creature. Naruto slammed the fun back in it’s hilt and ripped free his sword as the creature’s green and hunched leapt from the symbols in the ground with angry snarls.
“Naruto, do you think you can keep them off of me for a second?”
“No, problem Rin-sensei.” He said with a smile as Rin ripped free her staff holding it in front of her as she began her chant. Naruto rubbed the back of his neck and sighed, she was going for the big one. With a smile, Naruto rushed into the crowd stabbing straight into the heart of a waiting imp and then ripped to the side, rolling into a slash down into the head of another, yet even with two down, the creatures continued to emerge from the holes, and from the large one in the middle emerged largest ogre Naruto had ever seen, not that he’d seen one before, but he was pretty sure that they didn’t come that big.
“Um, I think we have a problem now.”
“I can see it Naruto, but my spell doesn’t have enough power yet, please hold on a little longer.”
“Damnit, where is Kakashi-sensei when you need him!” He shouted out, only then noticing the sound of combat coming from outside. Naruto gazed back, some of the imps were gaining in on Rin, and with her spell casting she couldn’t very well dodge them. He had to focus on using one of the gifts the fox had given him. A spell lost from ancient times, well, one that was lost until Kakashi somehow figured out how to use it, man Naruto hated that guy sometimes. Returning to his focus, that he’d momentarily lost he closed his eyes and when he reopened the he was surrounded by multiple versions of himself all wearing the same expression and then a shared smile. The four clones of Naruto spread off in separate directions and engaged the imps spread out in the room, while the main body faced the forty foot behemoth in front of him. Holding his sword up, he prepared for the beast to strike, and once it did, it’s giant fist flew down for Naruto, who dived out of the way just in time to dodge, leaving the monster’s fist the collide with them ground, causing a tremor that shook the fallen structure.
“Naruto control that thing!” Rin shouted out, still readying her magic to release.
“Easy for you to say!” He bit back narrowly avoiding it’s hand as it grabbed for him. Naruto slashed upward along the hand, but to no avail, the blade barely even made a scratch. Growling the ogre swung back, slamming into Naruto’s face, breaking his sword shortly before. As he rolled back, Naruto recovered, stumbling shortly after to one knee, supported by only his broken sword, “Damned piece of junk!” He shouted tossing the shattered blade to the side. The thundering sound of crunching earth caught Naruto’s ear and as he glared forth the ogre quickly closed the distance between them and as he fist came down, it was brought to a sudden halt. Naruto held tightly on the ogre mighty fist with a single hand, and with one thrust he sent it sliding back.
“You shouldn’t fuck with me.” He whispered, making a strange orange glow engulf his body. Naruto walked forward, materializing two swords from thin air in each palm. As the giant tried to collect itself Naruto charged forward, slamming his swords into it’s shins and then with a violent growl he ripped to the side. The beast fell to one knee in agony, punching ruthlessly at Naruto who nimbly dodged each strike and countered by slashing through the beast’s arm, sending tendons and bone flying through the air. Bracing for the sprint, Naruto ran under the beast’s legs and stabbed into it’s other knee, then climbed his way up it’s back using the blades in hand until he reached it’s shoulders. Naruto clenched tightly onto the hilts of his sword and while holding them unhanded, he stabbed into it’s neck with reckless force, repeatedly until it screamed in pain. Watching the beast flail was enough to let Naruto know that it wasn’t going to put up much of a fight after, but he knew that there was no way he could tae that chance. All the ogre could do was reach for Naruto in a failing attempt to grab him, but Naruto’s quick maneuverings constantly placed him out of reach, and with a quick slash he severed the hand of the giant, once again making it scream out in pain.
“Furious flame, come down as a great blight upon my foes; Calamity!” Rin shouted, forming a giant orb of flame that descended down from the opening in the destroyed castle incinerating everything within a ten foot radius of it. Naruto sweated and grabbed onto the top of the ogre’s head and pulled it down, shielding himself from the massive blast as it overtook everything around him. After all had been incinerated Naruto rolled from the charred remains of the giant and coughed up the soot he had inhaled during the roasting process.
“What the hell Rin-sensei” He screamed in protest gaining a tender chuckle from the woman.
“I had faith that you’d get out of it.”
“Well I guess I did get out of it, but man that was one hell of a spell.” He said gazing at the destruction around him. “How did you learn that attack?”
“Years of practice, I could teach you this one if you want.”
“No thanks, I barely even learn how to use the spells Yubiki knows. And with Icarus still placed on the Rasengan I still can’t modify it. Are you sure you can’t remove it?”
“Nope, that seal was placed by a sage. I don’t think you should remove that one though, Rasengan gains more power when it drains more mana, that the drain of mana can be, ‘relieving’ sometimes. It’s best not to take that chance or you may just drain yourself to death.
“By relieving you mean”
“Orgasmic”
“Got it. Onto a less awkward subject, what do you think these things were doing here?”
“I believe this thing answer that question.” Kakashi said appearing in the door way with his clothes torn, an obvious sign of battle. Dragging behind him was the corpse of a small brown creature with massive fangs.
“What is that?” Naruto questioned, walking closer to his mentor.
“It’s a Khnive, or as most call them, a snitch. These things are used to spy on report back to their masters like loyal dogs. I’m guessing it was used to scope out areas in the castle to place these magical summoning runes. I’m guessing somebody on the inside placed the runes.”
“It’d need to be someone who could get around the castle without raising suspicion.” Rin said holding her hand to her chin.
“Do you think there’s anyone like that at our castle?” Naruto asked with a tinge of worry.
“I’d hope not, there was one long ago, let’s just hope that he’s dead by now.”
“Was he a pale magician with golden eyes?”
“How would you know something like that?” Kakashi asked somewhat started by Naruto inquiry. Clutching tightly to his stomach Naruto let out a low growl.
“Let’s get back to Konoha, I suddenly don’t feel so well.” He said, not only because of the smell of death and carnage soaring through the air in the remains of the kingdom in which they stood, but because the man had been the one Yubiki had been seeking on that day, he’d proudly displayed the symbol of the royal court when she’d seen him. The thought brought out a strange feeling in the pit of his stomach, his instincts, sharpened by the fox’s presence, were telling him to go home.
“Alright, I’ll tell my men to gather what survivors we found and head for home.” More relieving words had never been spoken to Naruto before, giving a small sigh he walked toward the exit of the fallen castle and hoped that his fears were not met with substance.
& nbsp; &nbs p; - --
Alas, fate is seldom ever that kind, for at only a day after Naruto’s encounter in the flower kingdom’s castle a lone figure stood at the gates of the castle of Konoha.
“You can’t be here, leave at once.” Shouted a knight pointing at the cloaked stranger with the spear he held ready to strike, but before he could even finish his threat the figure moved to his side, holding the tip’s of his fingers to the knight’s armor and in single thrust he swung his palm down, in a single show of force, managing to push the man into the doors, forcing them to swing open on impact. Flashing his jagged teeth the figure charged through the castle like a ghost staying low to the ground as weaved through guards with very little effort. As one of the knights thrust his spear at the figure, it clung to his cloak removing it to reveal his light brown skin and dark brown hair, but his most defining feature was his eyes flashing golden in short intervals, this person wasn’t human. Fou sidestepped the spear and latched his arms around them from behind and then spun, smacking the same guard with the butt of the spear, twisting it into a spin he jammed it into the ground and snapped off the blade bringing up the wooden end of the spear now turned staff into the chin of another knight, smiling at the attempts they made to stop him. Leaning to the side he sent his foot into the stomach of an approaching knight and swung back the staff into the neck of another.
“Heh, I’ve been training for years to master these moves.” Fou tossed the staff in front of him and kicked it into the face of one unfortunate knight and grabbed it as it rebounded to him, spinning it in a circle to knock away the remaining pursuers. With a chuckle he continued running into the castle’s wall, weaving through the guards like a snake until he reached the corridor that held the strange aura, well one of them anyway, but this one was no doubt his target. Stepping toward the knight stationed in front of the door he held the staff at his side, crouching low as he gestured from them to come closer. Angered by his arrogance the lead knight charged forward with sword drawn back, but Fou’s foot stepped firmly on his, sending him falling toward the ground and had the staff not been swung into the back of his head that wouldn’t have been a problem. Smiling Fou whirled around to the next contestant and with the sound of cutting air he slammed his staff into the man’s stomach, knocking him back into the wall and leveling him with a quick spin kick. Fou quickly switched his staff to his free arm and slammed his elbow into the armor of an approaching knight, breaking through his armor in one blow. As the knight’s breath hitched in his throat Fou slammed the back of his hand into his face and slammed the staff into his back, leaving him unable to pursue.
“Is this the best your kingdom can offer?” He asked, not thinking of the unfair advantage that dragon strength had given him, but that was until the people began to swarm him, moving into position to strike, and with a strong exhale Fou’s eyes flashed golden, forming into slits as an intense air engulfed him. Mere seconds later the knights had been staring into the face of a 20 foot dragon that seemed to smile as he walked forward looming over them with fire filled breaths. Hanabi stood close to her door, taking slow steps back as the knights behind it were beaten to a pulp, and soon the sounds stopped and for a second there was calm, and then her door flew open, the massive dragon, barely visible through the doorframe stood before her leaning and straining to fit inside. After entering the door Fou walked closer to the girl, slowly reverting back to his human guise, but knowing what he was, even in the human form Hanabi was given no calm by his appearance.
“Sorry little firework, but you’re coming with me.” He said extending his hand to the terrified girl and she froze.
“Hanabi!” Screamed Hiashi as he and select knights appeared in front of the door preparing to go in, being greet by the flames emerging from Fou’s mouth threatening to burn them to crisps. Without thinking for a second Hanabi rushed for the door and Fou thought for a second that her self-preservation instinct had set in, but selflessly she slammed the door and locked it tight slowly turning back to Fou, a smart move. If she had tried to run, he’d have pursued her and then more of her people would have been hurt, as princess she couldn’t allow that. Fou once again held his hand to her ignoring the frantic beating on the door, fools trying to force open the door despite there being a dragon behind it, not even one of them stood a chance against Fou, and they knew it as well as he did. Hanabi walked closer and placed her hand in his and as the door flew open Hiashi could do little but stare as the dragon held his daughter closed and backed away for the terrace.
“If you want your daughter back, remove your knights from my land!” He shouted with authority as he massive wings spread and mere moments later he was airborne. Hiashi shouted in horror as the monster made off with the kingdom’s princess, but at that point there was little they could do even if they could shoot him down Hanabi would surely die on impact from that height and the dragon’s wings propelled him to fast to be followed, all he could do, was feel the pain of his own helplessness. At that moment the knights dispatched to the destroyed kingdom was right below the retreating dragon king and something had caught Naruto nose, sniffing the air he could smell something far away, another sense heightened by his merging with the fox. In startling revelation he looked up to the sky catching sight of the flying creature up above and what it was carrying.
“Hanabi-hime!” He screamed to the top of his lung putting all of the knight following him on alert also noticing the flying blip above. Fou turned down readying his flaming breath for the knights below, but Hanabi hand grabbed his.
“Please don’t.” She begged with pleading eyes and shaky hands that showed her fear. Scoffing Fou returned to his escape as Naruto boiled below with unexplainable rage.
“It was that moment that started everything, I can only remember the pain I felt as I watched Hanabi-hime be taken away, the fear that I may not see her again, the guilt that I had let it happen in my absence and the looming sense I felt that the thing that took her, may be something I couldn’t defeat. That was the beginning of everything, and the end of my peaceful castle life.”
Converting /tmp/phpjke4cZ to /dev/stdout
& nbsp; &nbs p; ---
; &n bsp; Chapter 2: Starting point
(Naruto: age 14)
Naruto awoke in a semi-slumberous state, it hadn’t been long since the princess of the fire kingdom had departed, however she had only come on business as the only remaining heir to the throne. Her demeanor was way different than what he was used to, but many of her characteristics were still the same, being able to put on a smile like that must have been rough after what happened. Naruto broke from his early morning musings and sat up from his bed, slovenly making his way to the balcony without bothering to dress himself. The sunlight had often been his rouse into awareness, but at the moment it was something else, something unfamiliar moving around in the garden. In these times of peace there were very few moments when Naruto had to truly act as a guard, but right now his instinct warned him to head for the garden as quickly as possible. Dressing in his normal knight’s attire, he ran down to the garden with unmatched haste, drawing his blade on the suspect he ordered out with authority.
“Don’t move; state your name and your business here!” Even he was shocked at how much he had changed over the years, pulling his sword before even confirming the person to be a threat. Inwardly he sighed, how much of a tool was he?
“I don’t think you’re a tool.” said a quiet voice coming from the recipient of his scorn. A girl who appeared to be his age, long dark blue hair flowing down her back, and a white flowing dress, she was beautiful, but nothing overpowered the mystifying pale lavender eyes of hers, an unmistakable trait of the Hyuga family, “Have I done something wrong?”
“I’m sorry, I just haven’t seen you here before.” He choked out, nearly stumbling over his words as he sheathed his sword, never once bothering to ask the girl how she’d known what he was thinking, “Are you a member of the royal family?”
“I’m a very distant relative. And you are my brave knight?” she asked with a smile that threw Naruto’s mind into a blender, or at least that how it felt with how his thoughts processed.
“Uh, um, I’m……Hi.” He squeaked out, rather pathetically, lifting a single hand to the girl as he rubbed the back of his neck. The girl chuckled, amused by the boy’s bewildered state of affairs, but in his mind the chuckle meant that he’d messed up.
“I’m sorry.”
“I don’t mind, take your time, I don’t have to leave yet, we have all the time in the world.” Naruto couldn’t take his mind away from the girl’s entrancing words, for if he had, he’d have noticed that time had stopped around him. Sucking on air, Naruto flopped down next to the girl and smiled.
“My name is Naruto Uzumaki. Yours?”
“Hinata Hyuga.” She replied with a smile.
“You mean like the goddess?”
“Yes, my parents were quite taken with her.” There was that smile again, making Naruto’s heart rate skyrocket.
“It suits you, you look exactly like the pictures of her too, even down to your hair.” He said noticing the girl’s flowing locks, not gaining on to the fact that he was staring until her eyes met his, forcing both into a fierce blush, “So do you come here often?”
Hinata had no idea how to respond to the question, but she was positive that he was just trying to break the tension, his effort however, made her laugh and soon after he joined in with the infectious feeling.
“No, I just came on a spur of the moment. I don’t think they know me anyway.”
“Have you talked to them?” Naruto asked in worry.
“I’m forbidden to.” She said with a sad smile that gained Naruto’s curious gaze. “Have you heard the story of our family?”
“You mean clairvoyance? I know…sorry.”
“It’s quite alright, but that’s only part of what I meant. It begins from a long time ago, when the goddess created the land, she blessed the world with riches and the creatures on it with love. Even though the goddess protected the people and still they strayed, until all they could think of was themselves, and soon the goddess began to suffer. In order to free her pain she created a daughter, one who shared her powers, a goddess who would take the place of the ruling goddess and help her rule the world, but the young goddess was foolish, desiring the things the world’s creatures had, and soon she fell in love. The ruling goddess lent ear to her child’s plight and with a heavy heart she granted her wish, and she became mortal, to live with her love, leaving her mother to suffer alone one again.” Hinata said, sadly gazing to the ground, holding her knees to her chest as her beautiful feet patted into the grass below.
“What happened with the young goddess?” Naruto asked, moving closer to the saddened girl.
“She died a mortal, yet her blood still courses through the veins of the royal family. However, the ruling goddess had no one. Everyone only thought of themselves, never her needs or desires.”
“People can be greedy that way, only able to see what’s right in front of them and not caring about what happens to the other person, but to me that makes the goddess all the more wonderful.”
“Huh? How so?” Hinata asked perking up slightly from Naruto’s words.
“She had to suffer, but she was willing to help the daughter who abandoned her, even though she’d have to bare the burden alone. She had to cry all alone, but she still tried and gave us everything we have now, despite us asking too much, you were named after a wonderful person Hinata.” Naruto said flashing a smile that sent Hinata’s heart into a frenzy. Shooting to her feet Hinata turned away from Naruto and started running towards the gates.
“What’s wrong? Do I say something weird?” He asked reaching out to the girl now far from his reach.
“No, you made me happy, but I have to go now or else I’ll regret it.”
“Regret it?”
“Thank you for listening?”
“Why did you tell me that story?”
“It’s one you should remember, even if doing something for others make them happy, never forget make yourself happy too. But I liked your spin on it better. I hope you’ll listen to me again sometime Naruto-kun.” Hinata opened the massive gates of the castle with very little effort, something that should have rang alarm bells with Naruto, however he was so concerned with catching the girl that it never occurred to him, however by the time he had reached the gates the girl was gone.
“Naruto-kun?” came a small voice from behind the slightly older boy, forcing his attention to her, “Is something wrong, why are you dressed that way?”
“Huh, oh yeah, I was talking to that girl in the garden, didn’t you see her?”
“Who, I didn’t see anyone, I only saw you ran out into the garden and then to the gates. Are you feeling okay? Maybe you should quit that training you’ve been doing so much, I’ll be sure to tell Kakashi-san.” She said spinning on her heels to find the head knight as Naruto screamed behind her.
“Wait that’s not necessary, wait Hanabi-hime!” As Naruto chased the girl eyes peered down on him from above, gazing happily at the boy she had just departed from.
“Hinata-sama!” screamed a woman with deep red eyes and beautiful black hair, seeming unfitting with her pure white wings elegantly perched on her back.
“Kurenai-san, you seem well.” She replied flippantly to the demanding voice of the angel before her.
“Don’t you know what you’ve done; you’re not supposed to make contact with the human world so callously.” She shouted, finally pausing to draw breath as the girl, now turned woman before her paid little attention to her worries.
“I know the rules Kurenai-san, I made them.” Hinata turned away from her worrywart companion and waltzed through the gates of her proud and beautiful castle, nodding to the angels waiting in rest for her return.
“Shall I prepare a bath for you milady?” asked an angel with a scruffy goatee, bowing to the goddess in reverence.
“That would be wondrous, and don’t call me milady Asuma-kun. Also, I need your assistance with a matter on the surface; do you think you can handle it?”
“As you wish.” He said with a gruff smile, materializing his bladed knuckles, whenever he was sent to the planet it usually involved stray demons that needed to be disappeared, and Asuma wasn’t just good at his job, he enjoyed it, “When do you wish me to leave?”
“At your leisure, I will send you orders to you as you depart.” With a smile and a bow he walked away from the goddess preparing her bath and readying for his trip to the surface, giving a smile to Kurenai, who still trailed behind the goddess, before going on with his business.
“Hinata-sama, can you at least listen to me?” Sighing she helped the goddess as she unrobed and dipped into the refreshing water that could only be described as heavenly.
“It’s not good for you to associate with humans, if they learned your identity-“
“You worry too much, if someone tried to hurt me, all I’d need is a single flick of my wrist and there would be no more worries from them, ever.” She said rolling around in the tub like a child.
“And why did you choose that boy?” Kurenai asked holding the almighty book in her hand, making the benevolent ruler freeze.
“Um, I, Uh…” She fumble, tapping the tips of her fingers together shyly, “I’m curious is all. You know that his father was Minato, one of our angels, and he’s had a harsh life so-“
“It’s wrong for you to be drawn to a human, besides he’s still a kid.”
“I’m over 4 thousand years old; it’s hard to find a human that isn’t a child to me. Besides, there’s something about him that seems different. The blood of an angel, yet the spirit of a demon inside him, I’ve never seen anything like it, he may just be a ray of hope for the world.”
“Yes, however you still can’t help him so much milady.”
“I know, I know, do too much and they depend on you, do too little and they lose faith, got it. Don’t be such a prude Kurenai-san.” She said leaning back into the tub with a pout.
“You created me this way.” She retorted with a smile, “I was born to uphold law and order milady.”
“Maybe I should have given you a laid back personality; I would have if I knew you’d even apply your diligence to me.” Hinata lifted her hand and stared on into the distant sky. “How will you deal with the shadows moving ever closer to you Naruto-kun?”
With a smile the beautiful goddess thumbed a single drop of water from the tub and rain fell onto the world below. Naruto sneezed, sweeping his eyes in all directions as if checking for someone to be speaking of him. “Hanabi-hime, you said that we’d have plans for today, but what is it you plan on doing on such a dreary day?”
“Escaping from my duties for a while.” She said running out into the rain barefooted, escaping into the forest far behind the castle as Naruto gave chase.
“We can’t do this, I might get fired you know?” He said frantically pushing through the brush.
“No one can fire you, now come on and stop being such a baby.” Hanabi stopped for a second, crossing her hands over her chest, which Naruto noted had developed quite well over the passing years. The thought however slowed Naruto’s steps, Hanabi was a noble, and no doubt she was already engaged to someone of her standing, the gap between them was as wide as the sand country’s mighty canyon, “Naruto-kun?”
Naruto’s face shot up, eyeing the girl who now had worry etched in her silent gaze. Forcing a smile Naruto ran closer to her and heaved a sigh, “What am I going to do with you?”
“That’s my line. What did you stop for anyway?” She asked, placing a single hand on his icy cold face, covered by his dripping wet blonde hair.
“No reason, but since you’re in the mood to ask questions what actually are we running from today?” He asked calmly turning his head into a tilt, submitting to his princess’ whim. It wasn’t the first time they had run from the castle on Hanabi’s impulses, but never out into the rain, that was new. Hanabi’s face aimed to the ground and she said quietly.
“I was supposed to meet my betrothed.” Bingo. Naruto had assumed something like that had to be the case, Naruto had never been foolish enough to believe he had a chance, but it was the first time he’d ever felt so defeated, “I don’t like him. Father doesn’t either, but apparently it was something my grandfather decided long ago. We’re basically enemy countries, but our marriage is supposed to “unify the land.” But I don’t want to do it. I want to marry y-……Someone I choose.”
Hanabi had quickly corrected herself, but Naruto’s face burned fiery red at that ‘y-‘ he wanted her to finish, but the sound of the people calling for Hanabi caught his ear, and in a fury he grabbed her hand and ran with all the strength he could muster, soon managing to lose the search teams by hiding in a hallowed stomp, not exactly the best place to hide a princess, but it was enough for now.
“Naruto-kun, why do you keep training, even though I tell you not to?” She asked, leaning into Naruto to warm her cold body.
“So, that I can protect the thing I hold precious, no matter what stands in my way, so that I never have to lose it.”
“Oh.” She said silently pushing closer into Naruto embrace. “If I asked you to take me and run away, from this, from everything, would you?”
“Just tell me when.” He said holding tighter onto the girl in his arms, doing little to stop his beating heart. Naruto pulled closer until their faces were mere inches from each other, of course trying to kiss a princess was something no one with a brain should ever try unless they'd had a death wish, but Naruto couldn’t bring himself to stop and Hanabi made no effort to stop him either, in fact she seemed to be all for it from where he was sitting, and without thinking much about the situation further than that they moved closer. A thunderous boom erupted from right outside and a powerful flash of light completely engulfed the area stunning both children before their meeting could reach its peek. Frozen in shock they stared at each other, completely stiff in fear of the lightning bolt that had landed right outside of the hallowed tree trunk.
"Now whatever could have done that?" Hinata said, turning bashfully away from the area displaying the world below with a gleeful and childish look on her face.
"Please don't make such an innocent face when you do something so scary." Kurenai said shaking her head at her master. Kurenai turned her sight to the world below mood completely ruined by the stray bolt and in a protective stint Naruto leapt from the tree with Hanabi hand, determined to return her to the castle before something else happened.
&n bsp; ; ---
Blazing hot sand blew over the land as a lone silhouette moved through the clearing, not too long ago it had been a beautiful field here, looming above it was a gorgeous and well kept castle that now stood upon land far too scorched to call a field as a castle far too dilapidated to be called "gorgeous". It was this castle, a keep of the lone surviving dragon that a single woman approached, drinking down her lost drips of water she stared up at the keep, "So this is the dragon's keep?"
She questioned, tying up her long brown hair into a high ponytail as she walked into the doors of the castle hanging wide open as if the master dared an intruder to enter. As she surveyed the castle's walls she could hear the growls of a creature inside stirring in obvious displeasure at her company.
"Who dares enter my home, I thought I made it clear that humans were not to wonder these halls." Came an ominous and commanding voice, resounding through the castle's hallowed walls.
"My name is Claire Redfeild, I'm a doctor and something of a scientist, I wish to speak with you." She replied dropping her bag to the floor as if she expected him to concede to her will.
"What makes you believe that I'd lower myself to speak to you human?" He asked in a mighty growl that shook the entire castle; however Claire stood completely unfazed by his words.
"I brought food." She said lifting the heavy bag onto her shoulder and as she had planned there was a long pause between his words.
"....What kind of food?" He asked in a slightly less violent voice than before.
"What kind of food do you like, I brought plenty of different kinds, you'll have come down and see, or you could kick me out, but I hear that you don't leave this castle much, so hunting must be pretty hard for you. Maybe I'll just go and-" Before she could her sentence the bag was snatched from her hand with enough speed to force a gust of wind around her. Leisurely she looked back at the monster who looked to be nothing more than fifteen year old boy, “Well it appears what they say is true.”
Fou-lu turned up to the woman, snacking on the various items in her bag as she leaned down towards him, “What are you doing here woman? What is your true purpose in being in here really?” He asked in between large bites.
“I came here to study you, ever since the inquisition of your species there has been things we’ve heard about dragons that completely contradicts our previous beliefs, such as you being able to speak.” She said moving closer to the boy who seemed to care little for her approach.
“Not speaking and not being able to speak are two different things. And what do you mean study me, why should I allow such a thing, and I’m not sure I like your attitude woman.” He said threateningly, still scarfing down the food given to him, or rather the food he’d taken. Chuckling at his appearance the woman sat closer, as if to gauge his reaction to her, but instead of striking he just looked at her curiously.
“You’re not so mean are you?” She asked patting his head, bringing a stern frown to his face. “You’re so cute too, do you mind if I stay?”
Fou-lu frowned and sighed looking down into the bag that now laid empty, “As long as you agree to bring back more food, and never go into my room, ever. Is that clear?” He asked standing tall, stalking into the hallway he had emerged from.
“That was easier than I thought, don’t you hate humans young dragon?”
“...I don’t feel hatred anymore. I can’t.” He said sullenly before finishing his trek into the quiet halls of the castle. Claire sighed, she had found a place to hide out, and while being in the company of a dragon there was no way her pursuers would ever follow her. Gazing at the stairwell the boy had disappeared into she gazed at her bag and grimace.
“He could have at least saved some for me.” Claire’s arm loosely released tension and she dropped the bag, she’d have to go shopping again soon.
&nb sp; ---
Fou-lu leaned against the wall of his castle, waiting patiently for Claire to return as she had promised, it had been months since she had come to live with him, and as much as he opposed it, he was used to her being around. The sound of crunching sand alerted him to her return as he struggled to contain his glee, and from where she was standing, he wasn’t struggling hard. “Did you get them?” He asked, practically bouncing around waiting for her to answer and with a sigh she reached into her bag and removed three video cassette tapes.
“Yeah, two old Maito Gai movies and the new Rock Lee movie.” In a flash the tapes had been removed from her hands, and she sighed to herself. She had only brought those things along in case she got bored and he didn’t try to keep her company, but to her surprise as she watched some of the movies he joined in, growing really interested in martial arts movies.
“Oh man, “Enter the Youthful dragon” I’ve been waiting for this one to come out forever.”
“How can you be so in to that stuff?”
“I don’t know, something about the way they fight is beautiful, the dance like motion of martial arts is art, not like all that gun filled crap they make now.”
“And you’ve only been watching movies for about four months, now you’re critic. Norugi, you need to get out more, see the world.” She said brushing passed him as he stared in displeasure.
“How many times do I have to tell you, my name is Fou-lu.” He practically shouted to the woman as she passed.
“You have a human’s body, so it’d be easier for you to fit into human society if you have a normal name. I brought some food too, we can eat while we watch okay?” She said walking up the stairs as the boy slowly followed behind her. As she walked she passed his room, inside she could feel an immense power, it was almost intoxicating, she couldn’t think when near it, but she never once felt compelled to go inside.
“I’ll tell you about it some day.” He said, suddenly standing behind Claire who turned sharply to face him, “Come on, we have a movie to watch.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Claire turned, giving a passing glance to the door once again before walking after the boy. When she’d first met him he never stopped eating, but now he was watching the movie, perfectly imitating all of the moves he saw on screen while his food grew cold. Claire wrote into her book, dragons weren’t that much different from humans in their personalities, and aside from being over a hundred years older than her Norugi, as she called him, was a normal teenaged boy.
“Norugi, would you like to come into town with me tomorrow?”
“No, I can’t leave this keep. I have something here I must protect, so I can’t go.” He strongly replied, not even once turning to her as he spoke.
“Is that something valuable? I might steal it from you.”
“My eyes can see the auras of all living things, everyone has a different aura, yours is honest, I don’t doubt that you might try, but I do doubt that you’d go through with it.” He said in between practicing a high kick, which made Claire chuckle.
“One day, you’ll venture out into the world it may be soon, so I’ll teach you everything you need to know okay.” She said spreading out a map on the table and a few books Fou had never seen before. Sighing he turned off the T.V. and walked to the table, resuming his meal as he listened to Claire’s words.
; &n bsp; --- (Naruto: age 16)
Naruto stared into the sky, dazed as he remembered what had happened so long ago, Hanabi had barely said a word after returning, but every time they saw each other now there was a strange sense of attraction, Naruto should have been focusing on what he was doing, because if he had, he’d have noticed that there was a large wooden sword headed for his face. Snapping back from his thoughts Naruto ducked under the practice sword and clutched tightly onto his slamming it up into the stomach of the knight sparring with him. It wasn’t at all odd that he was being heckled by the knights, even more so since he was stronger than all of them, but even after so many years of flawless service and the complete trust of not only the King and princess, but their very own knight captain and court magician, there was lots of pent up aggression towards Naruto. It was the first time that month that Naruto had to face off against the entire knight squadron, but it was a fight he wouldn’t shy from. Placing his sword into the dirt he released the hilt and gestured for the others waiting to move in and take their turn at him, and much to his pleasure, they had. Each moved in, swinging wildly at Naruto who skillfully deflected one of the blades and feed his fist into the stomach of the knight on the alternate side of him. Naruto reached down, grabbing he leg of the swordsman to his front and in one twist had hurled him to the ground, at the same time sending himself spinning, slamming his heel into the shoulder of another approaching knight.
Naruto chuckled, smacking the face of the grounded man to see if he’d move, but the shadow eclipsing his had an advantage over him, or so he thought. Naruto lift his right leg, crashing it upward into the knight’s chin, and in a show of grace he swing his sword into his side sending him spinning to the ground in a heap.
“So who’s next?” He called out, aiming his sword at the entire crowd of people who seemed to lose interest after watching their friends drop.
“Monster.” One muttered helping his fellow knights up as they left for the training area abandoning Naruto who scuffed at his words. Naruto had long ago stopped caring about the demon being inside him, hell he’d on many occasions had long conversations with it, even some of his moves had been learned from the demon’s arsenal. He and the fox were one, there was no getting around that. Her pain was his pain, and his was hers, as well as revenge. At some point Naruto wanted to find the man who had caused the downward spiral in his life and end him, that would be a day to remember.
“Naruto-kun!” However, the girl who had called his name, the one running to him as if returning to a lover unseen for years. She was always first, the person who gave his broken life meaning.
“Is something wrong Hanabi-hime?” He asked catching the girl as she threw herself in his arms.
“T-The kingdom of flowers has fallen.” Naruto froze, there were many kingdoms that governed the world, and the kingdom of flowers was a tiny nation that had lived in peace with all other nations around it. There was no reason at all to attack a kingdom that had not even a military branch.
“Who did it, do we know what happened to the royal family?”
“Presumed dead.” Kakashi said walking into the clearing behind Hanabi, Rin following close behind.
“Wasn’t Neji training there as a monk, what happened to him?” Naruto asked in a flustered voice to Kakashi, yet he didn’t answer and Rin’s lowered gaze was enough to confirm what he had feared. “He’s dead isn’t he?”
“We don’t know, we haven’t heard word from there since this morning.” Kakashi said, making Hanabi sob in Naruto’s arms as he cursed, “We’re thinking of sending a search party, we wanted to know if you’d come along.”
“I can’t.” He said looking down to Hanabi who gazed up into his eyes.
“Naruto-kun, please, Neji-niisan is-“ Naruto placed a finger to her lips and smiled.
“All you need do is ask. I’ll go, but please leave someone capable in charge of Hanabi-hime.” Kakashi nodded and turned to Rin smiled over to Naruto.
“We’ll be back as soon as we can, so don’t worry Hanabi-hime.” She said bowing to the princess who watched Naruto as he went to face the king and then depart on a journey to the kingdom of flowers.
&nb sp; &nb sp; ---
“You want more, because I’ll keep kicking your asses until nightfall.” Fou-lu shouted, forcing the horde of knights into a scurry as they departed into the moonlight. Once gone he dropped to his knees breathing heavily as he leaned back against the outer walls of his castle, “Dammit, if I hadn’t placed that seal I’d have handled them no problem.”
It had nearly been a year since Claire had left, telling him of her adventures around the world and her wishes for him to accompany her, he had refused, but inwardly he wanted to leave with her, but something inside his keep needed him, here was no way he was going to leave it. And seven months of loneliness later he was greeted by the swords of leaf kingdom knights. Well he wasn’t lonely anymore, and they had given him a training dummy for his new moves he never got to try out, but now they were coming in droves, even with his strength driving them off had become a chore and he needed it to end, now.
“You seem to be in trouble, may I lend an ear?” Came a voice from the side, a pale lanky man who wore the robes of a sorcerer, he reeked of deceit, but Fou-lu’s eyes could see no aura, an impossibility. Only inanimate objects held no aura, the only way a person could be without an aura is if they were dead, and even after dying the aura would flicker before vanishing. “I may be able to be of assistance.”
“I need no help from you sorcerer. Leave me before I decide to feast on you.” Fou-lu spoke proudly, he had just gone through a very stressful day and he had no need of this man’s “help”.
“If you want them to stop, maybe you should show them what it’s like to be on the receiving end.” The man spoke, wearing a sinister smile on is face, “If you were to show them the feeling, they will retreat for good, however, if you allow them to walk away every time, eventually, they’ll wear you down.”
Fou-lu knew that he shouldn’t have listened, but after the countless battles he had fought in the last five months were indeed starting to wear on him. A creepy smile crossed the lips of the pale man at Fou-lu’s silence, it meant that he was getting through to him and unfortunately, he was starting to make a lot of sense. Moving closer, gaining the young dragon’s interest, he whispered words into his ear, a plan to secure his keep and the treasure that lay inside safe.
; &n bsp; ;
&nb sp; &nb sp; ---
By the time the envoy of knights had reached the kingdom of flowers it was all too evident that there was nothing that could be done. Naruto peeked up a small piece of rubble and tossed it aside, but the smell of death was heavy, almost mind numbingly so.
“Who could have done such a thing?” He asked, turning back to Kakashi who seemed to be disgusted by the display of carnage in front of him.
“Whoever it was must have been trying to send a message.” He said walking amongst the debris, but no matter how much they looked there were two bodies that never turned up, Ishi’s, the princess of the kingdom and Neji the cousin of Konoha’s princess. Neji had been the son of Hiashi’s twin brother, and close relative of Hanabi until his father went to the kingdom of flowers as an ambassador. It was there that Neji began his training as a monk, however strongly refused to shave his head. So deep in the kingdom was he that like Naruto he had been assigned with the coveted task of guarding the kingdom’s princess, it was the only reason Naruto even knew the guy. Even so, his was a face Naruto would never forget, he sighed in relief that none of the bodies shared Neji’s or Ishi’s features. Kakashi sighed walking away to join the knight troupe he had brought with him in the town square, leaving Naruto and Rin in the castle’s remains.
“Do you think they escaped?” Naruto pondered, crouching down to appraise the marks on the ground.
“It’s possible, or at least I’d hope that their enemy didn’t take their bodies.” Rin replied staring into the distance from over the cliff beside them, “There used to be the most beautiful field of flowers here.” With sadness in her eyes she stared, oblivious to the creature emerging from the ground behind her. As it prepared to rip through her with it’s claws she frowned, peeking back to Naruto, holding his Rasengan to the beast’s head.
“And what exactly were you planning to do?” He asked pulling back on the trigger as Rin rolled away from the blast the size of a globe, ripping and whistling through the air as it tore through the creature. Naruto slammed the fun back in it’s hilt and ripped free his sword as the creature’s green and hunched leapt from the symbols in the ground with angry snarls.
“Naruto, do you think you can keep them off of me for a second?”
“No, problem Rin-sensei.” He said with a smile as Rin ripped free her staff holding it in front of her as she began her chant. Naruto rubbed the back of his neck and sighed, she was going for the big one. With a smile, Naruto rushed into the crowd stabbing straight into the heart of a waiting imp and then ripped to the side, rolling into a slash down into the head of another, yet even with two down, the creatures continued to emerge from the holes, and from the large one in the middle emerged largest ogre Naruto had ever seen, not that he’d seen one before, but he was pretty sure that they didn’t come that big.
“Um, I think we have a problem now.”
“I can see it Naruto, but my spell doesn’t have enough power yet, please hold on a little longer.”
“Damnit, where is Kakashi-sensei when you need him!” He shouted out, only then noticing the sound of combat coming from outside. Naruto gazed back, some of the imps were gaining in on Rin, and with her spell casting she couldn’t very well dodge them. He had to focus on using one of the gifts the fox had given him. A spell lost from ancient times, well, one that was lost until Kakashi somehow figured out how to use it, man Naruto hated that guy sometimes. Returning to his focus, that he’d momentarily lost he closed his eyes and when he reopened the he was surrounded by multiple versions of himself all wearing the same expression and then a shared smile. The four clones of Naruto spread off in separate directions and engaged the imps spread out in the room, while the main body faced the forty foot behemoth in front of him. Holding his sword up, he prepared for the beast to strike, and once it did, it’s giant fist flew down for Naruto, who dived out of the way just in time to dodge, leaving the monster’s fist the collide with them ground, causing a tremor that shook the fallen structure.
“Naruto control that thing!” Rin shouted out, still readying her magic to release.
“Easy for you to say!” He bit back narrowly avoiding it’s hand as it grabbed for him. Naruto slashed upward along the hand, but to no avail, the blade barely even made a scratch. Growling the ogre swung back, slamming into Naruto’s face, breaking his sword shortly before. As he rolled back, Naruto recovered, stumbling shortly after to one knee, supported by only his broken sword, “Damned piece of junk!” He shouted tossing the shattered blade to the side. The thundering sound of crunching earth caught Naruto’s ear and as he glared forth the ogre quickly closed the distance between them and as he fist came down, it was brought to a sudden halt. Naruto held tightly on the ogre mighty fist with a single hand, and with one thrust he sent it sliding back.
“You shouldn’t fuck with me.” He whispered, making a strange orange glow engulf his body. Naruto walked forward, materializing two swords from thin air in each palm. As the giant tried to collect itself Naruto charged forward, slamming his swords into it’s shins and then with a violent growl he ripped to the side. The beast fell to one knee in agony, punching ruthlessly at Naruto who nimbly dodged each strike and countered by slashing through the beast’s arm, sending tendons and bone flying through the air. Bracing for the sprint, Naruto ran under the beast’s legs and stabbed into it’s other knee, then climbed his way up it’s back using the blades in hand until he reached it’s shoulders. Naruto clenched tightly onto the hilts of his sword and while holding them unhanded, he stabbed into it’s neck with reckless force, repeatedly until it screamed in pain. Watching the beast flail was enough to let Naruto know that it wasn’t going to put up much of a fight after, but he knew that there was no way he could tae that chance. All the ogre could do was reach for Naruto in a failing attempt to grab him, but Naruto’s quick maneuverings constantly placed him out of reach, and with a quick slash he severed the hand of the giant, once again making it scream out in pain.
“Furious flame, come down as a great blight upon my foes; Calamity!” Rin shouted, forming a giant orb of flame that descended down from the opening in the destroyed castle incinerating everything within a ten foot radius of it. Naruto sweated and grabbed onto the top of the ogre’s head and pulled it down, shielding himself from the massive blast as it overtook everything around him. After all had been incinerated Naruto rolled from the charred remains of the giant and coughed up the soot he had inhaled during the roasting process.
“What the hell Rin-sensei” He screamed in protest gaining a tender chuckle from the woman.
“I had faith that you’d get out of it.”
“Well I guess I did get out of it, but man that was one hell of a spell.” He said gazing at the destruction around him. “How did you learn that attack?”
“Years of practice, I could teach you this one if you want.”
“No thanks, I barely even learn how to use the spells Yubiki knows. And with Icarus still placed on the Rasengan I still can’t modify it. Are you sure you can’t remove it?”
“Nope, that seal was placed by a sage. I don’t think you should remove that one though, Rasengan gains more power when it drains more mana, that the drain of mana can be, ‘relieving’ sometimes. It’s best not to take that chance or you may just drain yourself to death.
“By relieving you mean”
“Orgasmic”
“Got it. Onto a less awkward subject, what do you think these things were doing here?”
“I believe this thing answer that question.” Kakashi said appearing in the door way with his clothes torn, an obvious sign of battle. Dragging behind him was the corpse of a small brown creature with massive fangs.
“What is that?” Naruto questioned, walking closer to his mentor.
“It’s a Khnive, or as most call them, a snitch. These things are used to spy on report back to their masters like loyal dogs. I’m guessing it was used to scope out areas in the castle to place these magical summoning runes. I’m guessing somebody on the inside placed the runes.”
“It’d need to be someone who could get around the castle without raising suspicion.” Rin said holding her hand to her chin.
“Do you think there’s anyone like that at our castle?” Naruto asked with a tinge of worry.
“I’d hope not, there was one long ago, let’s just hope that he’s dead by now.”
“Was he a pale magician with golden eyes?”
“How would you know something like that?” Kakashi asked somewhat started by Naruto inquiry. Clutching tightly to his stomach Naruto let out a low growl.
“Let’s get back to Konoha, I suddenly don’t feel so well.” He said, not only because of the smell of death and carnage soaring through the air in the remains of the kingdom in which they stood, but because the man had been the one Yubiki had been seeking on that day, he’d proudly displayed the symbol of the royal court when she’d seen him. The thought brought out a strange feeling in the pit of his stomach, his instincts, sharpened by the fox’s presence, were telling him to go home.
“Alright, I’ll tell my men to gather what survivors we found and head for home.” More relieving words had never been spoken to Naruto before, giving a small sigh he walked toward the exit of the fallen castle and hoped that his fears were not met with substance.
& nbsp; &nbs p; - --
Alas, fate is seldom ever that kind, for at only a day after Naruto’s encounter in the flower kingdom’s castle a lone figure stood at the gates of the castle of Konoha.
“You can’t be here, leave at once.” Shouted a knight pointing at the cloaked stranger with the spear he held ready to strike, but before he could even finish his threat the figure moved to his side, holding the tip’s of his fingers to the knight’s armor and in single thrust he swung his palm down, in a single show of force, managing to push the man into the doors, forcing them to swing open on impact. Flashing his jagged teeth the figure charged through the castle like a ghost staying low to the ground as weaved through guards with very little effort. As one of the knights thrust his spear at the figure, it clung to his cloak removing it to reveal his light brown skin and dark brown hair, but his most defining feature was his eyes flashing golden in short intervals, this person wasn’t human. Fou sidestepped the spear and latched his arms around them from behind and then spun, smacking the same guard with the butt of the spear, twisting it into a spin he jammed it into the ground and snapped off the blade bringing up the wooden end of the spear now turned staff into the chin of another knight, smiling at the attempts they made to stop him. Leaning to the side he sent his foot into the stomach of an approaching knight and swung back the staff into the neck of another.
“Heh, I’ve been training for years to master these moves.” Fou tossed the staff in front of him and kicked it into the face of one unfortunate knight and grabbed it as it rebounded to him, spinning it in a circle to knock away the remaining pursuers. With a chuckle he continued running into the castle’s wall, weaving through the guards like a snake until he reached the corridor that held the strange aura, well one of them anyway, but this one was no doubt his target. Stepping toward the knight stationed in front of the door he held the staff at his side, crouching low as he gestured from them to come closer. Angered by his arrogance the lead knight charged forward with sword drawn back, but Fou’s foot stepped firmly on his, sending him falling toward the ground and had the staff not been swung into the back of his head that wouldn’t have been a problem. Smiling Fou whirled around to the next contestant and with the sound of cutting air he slammed his staff into the man’s stomach, knocking him back into the wall and leveling him with a quick spin kick. Fou quickly switched his staff to his free arm and slammed his elbow into the armor of an approaching knight, breaking through his armor in one blow. As the knight’s breath hitched in his throat Fou slammed the back of his hand into his face and slammed the staff into his back, leaving him unable to pursue.
“Is this the best your kingdom can offer?” He asked, not thinking of the unfair advantage that dragon strength had given him, but that was until the people began to swarm him, moving into position to strike, and with a strong exhale Fou’s eyes flashed golden, forming into slits as an intense air engulfed him. Mere seconds later the knights had been staring into the face of a 20 foot dragon that seemed to smile as he walked forward looming over them with fire filled breaths. Hanabi stood close to her door, taking slow steps back as the knights behind it were beaten to a pulp, and soon the sounds stopped and for a second there was calm, and then her door flew open, the massive dragon, barely visible through the doorframe stood before her leaning and straining to fit inside. After entering the door Fou walked closer to the girl, slowly reverting back to his human guise, but knowing what he was, even in the human form Hanabi was given no calm by his appearance.
“Sorry little firework, but you’re coming with me.” He said extending his hand to the terrified girl and she froze.
“Hanabi!” Screamed Hiashi as he and select knights appeared in front of the door preparing to go in, being greet by the flames emerging from Fou’s mouth threatening to burn them to crisps. Without thinking for a second Hanabi rushed for the door and Fou thought for a second that her self-preservation instinct had set in, but selflessly she slammed the door and locked it tight slowly turning back to Fou, a smart move. If she had tried to run, he’d have pursued her and then more of her people would have been hurt, as princess she couldn’t allow that. Fou once again held his hand to her ignoring the frantic beating on the door, fools trying to force open the door despite there being a dragon behind it, not even one of them stood a chance against Fou, and they knew it as well as he did. Hanabi walked closer and placed her hand in his and as the door flew open Hiashi could do little but stare as the dragon held his daughter closed and backed away for the terrace.
“If you want your daughter back, remove your knights from my land!” He shouted with authority as he massive wings spread and mere moments later he was airborne. Hiashi shouted in horror as the monster made off with the kingdom’s princess, but at that point there was little they could do even if they could shoot him down Hanabi would surely die on impact from that height and the dragon’s wings propelled him to fast to be followed, all he could do, was feel the pain of his own helplessness. At that moment the knights dispatched to the destroyed kingdom was right below the retreating dragon king and something had caught Naruto nose, sniffing the air he could smell something far away, another sense heightened by his merging with the fox. In startling revelation he looked up to the sky catching sight of the flying creature up above and what it was carrying.
“Hanabi-hime!” He screamed to the top of his lung putting all of the knight following him on alert also noticing the flying blip above. Fou turned down readying his flaming breath for the knights below, but Hanabi hand grabbed his.
“Please don’t.” She begged with pleading eyes and shaky hands that showed her fear. Scoffing Fou returned to his escape as Naruto boiled below with unexplainable rage.
“It was that moment that started everything, I can only remember the pain I felt as I watched Hanabi-hime be taken away, the fear that I may not see her again, the guilt that I had let it happen in my absence and the looming sense I felt that the thing that took her, may be something I couldn’t defeat. That was the beginning of everything, and the end of my peaceful castle life.”
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