Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Hidden Truths ❯ Alek's Partner ( Chapter 4 )

Chapter 4: Alek’s Partner

It was dank in the pub. None of them really understood why they were here of all places. The air smelled heavily of alcohol and smoke. About three quarters of the building, including the upstairs room, was dedicated to the bar and various gambling games.

It was crowded even for a pub and every table was filled with drunken men who probably didn’t even know their tablemates except one in which a single hooded figure sat.

“That’ll be her. Hey, Kay. How’s it going?”

The hooded figure looked up from the drink in front of her. “I’d prefer if you not use my name.”

“Come on, it’s not like anyone knows who you are,” he said cheerily, pulling as chair out opposite her.

She looked at each of them in turn but her face remained hidden beneath the hood. “Are these idiots our team?”

“Yeah. Not much talent, but it was as much as they could muster after Sasuke’s little accident.”

“I already explain that it wasn’t an accident. I have no regrets for doing that.”

“Yeah whatever,” the hooded girl replied, “you’re just lucky you didn’t try such a pathetic attempt on our country. They would have killed you just for how inefficient you were. Stopped by a Jinchuuriki and a love-sick girl, how pathetic. No offense to you, Naruto.”

“Why don’t we see how good you are,” Sasuke said, banging his palms onto the table.

“Fine, blunt end of the kunai to the head. Outside though, I don’t want to make a mess in here.”

“Why, not? Don’t want to lose your beer? Consuming alcohol, you’re the pathetic one.”

“Oh this?” she asked, pointing to the cup. She picked it up and finished it off.

“No, the one next to it.”

“It’s called herbal tea, but whatever. Fine, we’ll do it in here. Doesn’t matter.”

“Don’t make a mess, we don’t want to attract attention,” Kakashi urged.

“Whatev, gramps.” She stood up and pulled out a kunai.

Sasuke mimicked her and pulled out a kunai of his own, getting into a fighting position.

“I’m waiting. You don’t want to make a lady wait do you?”

Sasuke made to move, but stopped. He tried again, but his body wasn’t responding.

“Come on. Don’t tell the ‘Great Sasuke’ is afraid to attack. Oh, I forgot, your in one of my Kinjutsus, I always forget to tell people about that.” She stepped around the table lazily and walked past Alek. She placed the kunai to Sasuke’s head and declared, “I win. Now, if you don’t mind, let’s get out of here. I have to air my clothes out.”

“I’m so sorry about that Sasuke, she has a habit of embarrassing people like that. You’re lucky she didn’t make you do something stupid, like defeat yourself. That would have stunk.”

“What’s with the sudden personality change?” Neji asked.

“To tell you the truth, I just like being around a team I know I can trust. It makes me feel at home and I love being home. It sounds stupid, I know but that’s just how it is.”

“You are so weird,” Naruto commented.

“Will the little kids please hurry up, I have better things to do than listen to sandbox chat,” Kay called from the other side of the bar.

“Hey, who’re you calling a kid?” Naruto asked as he burst out the door.

“Apparently everyone younger and less mature than me in this team. And that’s just about everyone except Kakashi.”

“Hey, I’m mature,” Naruto retorted.

“Oh yeah? What about your sexy no jutsu?” Sakura asked.

Naruto craned his neck around. “I haven’t used that technique in a while, now stay out of this.”

“WHAT DID YOU SAY!?!” she yelled and punched him on the head.

“Judging by the way you look, and your technique, I am definitely older and more mature.” She grabbed the rim of her hood and pulled it back.

Underneath was a girl with shoulder-length brunette hair and matching hazel eyes. Her face was thin, but not so much that her cheekbones were visible. She looked to be at least fourteen, almost two years younger than the rest.

“You’re younger than all of us, what are you talking about?”

“Actually she’s not. She’s really in her mid twenties. She doesn’t use Gen on her appearance, she’s always been that way.”

“She could be doing the same thing the old hag’s doing,” Naruto added.

“I thought I just said she wasn’t using a Genjutsu, or weren’t you listening?”

“It doesn’t matter, he’s just an idiot. Why do you all have your forehead protectors on in an unallied nation? I would have thought more of you Kakashi.”

“Well it’s not like it would matter. Just about everyone in these villages has heard about us, Naruto and Sasuke the most. So if we wanted to conceal our identity, we’d have to waste chakra on Genjutsu. Naruto could do it, but then again, he’s never successfully completed one in truth.”

“Hey, what about my Kage Bunshin?”

“That’s a Ninjutsu.”

“How can you tell?”

“I would have thought you’d learn this by now. So for the hundred-thousandth time, a Genjutsu is a mind game you play with your opponent. A Taijutsu is hand-to-hand combat techniques like Rock Lee’s. And a Ninjutsu is everything else. Since your technique neither focuses on hand-to-hand combat and doesn’t play with your opponent’s mind, it is a Ninjutsu.”

“That’s too confusing.”

There were sighs all around followed by silence.

“Well we should get going, surely Naruto’s yelling will have woken up half the nation,” Kay pointed out.

“We’re leaving already?” Shikamaru asked. “We just got here, we need time to relax and find out as much about who we’re up against as we can.”

“They still don’t believe I can use that mind-read jutsu,” Alek explained. “We ran into a bit of interference on the way here, a couple of Chuus, nothing I couldn’t handle, but it turns out I didn’t need to do a thing, just kill them. Shikamaru really is a good strategist. Beat them in about a minute.”

“It took that long? Pathetic. How much prep time did you have?”

“About a minute.”

“No wonder these nations are getting taken so easily. If this is the best they have, then we’re doomed.”

“Hey! We’re better than you think. And I’ve got two new techniques,” Naruto declared.

“Double Rasengan and Rasengan Shot. Moderately good techniques, but there’s another version that’s twice as powerful, I’ll teach it to you sometime if you’re willing to learn.”

“How did you know?”

“I told you people this about a thousand times on the way here, we can read minds,” Alek replied exasperatedly. “When are you going to believe me?”

“Hey! There you are!”

They all turned to see who was yelling. A man in his thirties seemed to be the culprit. But he had about half the town standing behind him. There were several shinobi among them but it was mostly men in overalls with various farming tools and torches clutched in their hands.

“Okay so only half the town. I was right about the half part wasn’t I?”

“Just shut up and get ready to fight,” Sasuke demanded. “I don’t have time to listen to your little remarks.”

“Aww, isn’t that cute,” she said mockingly. “He’s trying to act tough now after he got whooped by a girl.”

“I said shut up. I’ll take care of these people myself.”

“Not that I couldn’t kill them in about half a second, but humor me.”

He turned slowly toward her, but his face was not as she had remembered it. What appeared to be black fire was streaking across his face. “I don’t humor anyone.”

“I see you’re too pathetic to fight without Orochimaru’s curse seal.”

He frowned, slightly insulted as the flames dissipated until they disappeared under his shirt. “I don’t need anything to beat amateurs like this.”

He charged forward into the group of villagers and began his assault. He quickly took out the farmers, narrowly missing one of the pitchforks as it made to stab him.

Next were the ninjas, a slightly more difficult task; there were seven in total. The first, obviously a Genin, was taken out with a single punch, but the rest seemed to be angered by this and came at him hard. They all swung their fists at him at the same time which he ducked under hoping to make them hit each other.

They stopped their fists short and had to readjust themselves, leaving just enough time for Sasuke’s counterattack. He stood up and took a couple of swings at the second guy’s face and he was down for the count.

One of the men behind Sasuke had regained his posture and jumped forward.

Sasuke wheeled around so that his back was to the man and jumped onto his hands, spinning his body like a corkscrew and pushing into the man’s chest and landed on top of him as he fell to the ground, knocking the wind out of him.

Another came behind Sasuke and grabbed him by the waist to hold him still. Another came but Sasuke leaned back and kick him hard in the face and kicked off him so he would fall onto the man holding on to him.

The last two came at him from either side, kunai at the ready. Sasuke stood up quickly and prepared for the attack. The one on his right reached him first and lunged his kunai at him.

He side-stepped and grabbed the man’s arm. He used the momentum to swing him around and into the other man’s kunai and took his fist, still clutched on the kunai, and rammed it into the undamaged man’s face. He let go of the man’s wrist and watched as the two slipped to the ground in opposite directions.

“Don’t you think you got a bit carried away with that last one?” Kay asked. “A bit graphic for the little kiddies don’t you think?”

“Tough. I don’t care what you think. And if you don’t like the way I operate, then get off my back.”

“No, it’s just that with the small amount of people you’ve killed, it’s amazing that you’re so willing to do it. Even I only killed twenty people on my first thirty missions. Yet you do it like you don’t care. Very cold-hearted, I like that.”

“Take that as a compliment,” Alek added. “She barely says anything nice about me even though I tell her how beautiful and strong she is.”

“Like I could care.”

“You should. If you get on good enough terms with her, I’m sure she’d teach you a Kin or two.”

“So what? All that means is I have an easy way out if I don’t want to fight.”

“There are more than one type of Kin, you know. Not all are about killing your opponent, some are to gather information--”

“I’d rather pry it from their dying lips.”

“Good, you’ll love some of the Kins she knows then.”

“Do you ever address anything by their proper names?” Shikamaru asked.

Alek shifted his attention to Shikamaru and thought about this question. After about ten seconds he replied, “Not really. I’m lazy when it comes to names.”

“Enough with the small talk. Let’s get going, I’m sure there’ll be more, especially with all the noise Sasuke made. Jeaze, I could have taken them all out nice and quietly but nooo. You had to be Mr. Tough and kill them by hand.”

“Stop arguing,” Kakashi demanded. “We don’t have time for it.”

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Okay, not much to say about this one. Please review, thanks.