Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Kitsune no Hanabi ❯ Chapter 1

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Kitsune no Hanabi - Flashback Arc

/If he just wouldn't make me so angry/ thought Hanabi, remembering the various chance meetings the two had.

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It was a beautiful day in Konoha. This counted double for Uzumaki Naruto, recently graduated Genin of the Leaf. In two days he would meet his new team and their Jounin-sensei. His next step towards becoming Hokage.

Truly, everything seemed to get better for Naruto, ever since graduating, even after finding out about the Kyuubi that has been sealed inside his stomach on the day of his birth by the Yondaime Hokage.

Just yesterday he had a nice talk with the old man Hokage and met the 'honorable' grandson Konohamaru. The confrontation the two had, lead to a decisive victory against a superior enemy, a new Jutsu and his first rival for the position as Hokage.

And just now, he was on his way to the Ichiraku Ramen Bar, for his well deserved break after his pre-lunch training. In his opinion, there was nothing that could fowl up his day now.

“Omph”

In retrospective he should have withheld his optimism. Or at least revoked it after a girl, about Konohamaru's height came around the corner, barreling into him and falling backwards, landing flat on her butt. Naruto looked down at whoever bumped into him, only to lock eyes with the famed Hyuuga death glare(tm) at point-blank range.

But seeing as it came from a 7 year old girl with ruffled hair, who was rubbing her sore posterior, which she landed on, it wasn't as intimidating as intended. In the end it only earned her a light chuckle from Naruto, instead of a sniveling apology as the Hyuuga was used to, if anything that didn't involve a member of the Hyuuga Main Branch wasn't going her way. But Naruto had lived through harder glares than this one without even flinching, so it was more amusing to him than anything else.

It only served to infuriate Hanabi more and she began to experience a loss of the prized emotional control the Hyuuga prided themselves with.

The end of her control came when Naruto told her to “Watch out where you are going”.

The end result could be summoned up in two lines.

Poke

*Blink Blink* “Huh?”

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/Escort Duty is troublesome/.

This was the sentiment of Nara Shinji, Chunin of Konohagakure, during his latest assignment, escorting the second Hyuuga heir to and from her mandatory classes at the ninja academy.

Shinji was the typical male Nara family member, meaning he found everything that involved making more than twenty steps troublesome, but guarding a Hyuuga was even more troublesome, especially a pampered member of the Main Family, who thought she didn't need a, quote 'guard dog', to follow her every step.

/And to think that the clouds are so nice today/ thought Shinji sighing, catching a few stray cloud traveling through the blue sky with his eyes.

He returned his eyes to his charge just in time to see her rounding the corner and crash into the Uzumaki boy.

/Oh Crud/

Now while Shinji wasn't the most ambitious shinobi of Konoha, but he had, like every halfway decent shinobi developed a sixth sense that warned him of incoming danger to himself and said sense was now going haywire for some reason he couldn't explain logically. It was clear that Hanabi was the one who had run into the Uzumaki and even as disliked by the general populace as he was, he was in the right.

So why was he getting that bad feeling?

So like every dutiful Nara he chose to ignore the situation if it wasn't going to bite him in the ass immediately.

So it came as a surprise to him, when Hanabi suddenly launched a Jyuken strike at the Uzumaki, to which he replied with some blinking and nothing else.

Shinji was only alarmed when he saw the strike connect Naruto's stomach where the seal that held the Kyuubi at bay was located.

After some tense seconds, time resumed its normal rate again and Naruto began to poke Hanabi on her forehead, thinking nothing of the normally rather dangerous attack.

After being sure that the end of the world, or at least Konoha had been avoided, Shinji allowed himself a sigh of relief, before continuing to watch the interaction between the two kids.

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After having hit a shinobi of Konoha with a potentially very dangerous Jyuken strike, one that should have severely disturbed the chakra system of her target, causing impairing pain but gaining no reaction from Naruto besides a “that tickles”, Hanabi was, for the first time in her life, floored.

Her stunned behavior lasted for 2.74 seconds and was ended by a fingertip making contact with her forehead.

“Hey, could you stop that?” Hanabi demanded, as she swatted at the hand Naruto had just poked her with.

“Why?, you started it” explained Naruto, going for another poke...it seemed that today was shaping up.

“Stop it” Hanabi demanded again, going for her own attack, Jyuken style, once again hitting Naruto in the stomach with no reaction other that a slight giggle.

“So it's okay to poke me, but I can't?” asked Naruto the stunned Hyuuga, who was lost in her thoughts of how this commoner could just ignore two Jyuken strikes like that.

She was so deep in though, that she nearly missed Naruto going for another strike. After she noticed the 'attack' it was nearly too late, so she just jumped backwards.

Unfortunately she misjudged the distance of the jump as well as Naruto's speed and reach, so that the poke, which was intended to hit her on the cheek landed...lower.

/Troublesome/ thought Shinji, moments before a scream of epic proportions tore through his eardrums.

“KKKKKIIIIIIIIIIIYYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH”

Fortunately for everyone present, Hanabi's scream only reached for a few meters before the hastily erected sound barrier of the Nara, which by the way is one of the Nara males favorite technique to escape the nagging of their wives, caught up with the shout.

Unfortunately Naruto was too close to this sonic blast for comfort and was nearly bowled over. For being a relatively quiet and stoic clan this Hyuuga sure had quite a set of lungs on her.

“Oy, what are you doing, don't shout like you've got a frog stuck into your kimono” demanded Naruto, after having recovered from Hanabi's sonic attack.

Hanabi only began to glare harder at this pervert, crossing her arms over her -not existing- chest.

“WHAT? You are the one GROPING me and I should just be quiet?” asked Hanabi getting more and more agitated by the second.

Now it was Naruto's turn to be stunned, but he wasn't going to let this accusation hang in the air. Instantly changing his shocked expression to his typical foxy smirk, he leaned forward a little bit to get a better look at the spot he had 'groped'.

“Hmm...sue me if I'm wrong, but I don't see anything that can be groped here”

Hanabi twitched.

“You see, there's got to be something there, not flat land, like THIS” further explained Naruto, performing the handseals for his (in)famous Jutsu.

“Oiroke no Jutsu”

*Poof* In a cloud of smoke, that concealed nearly nothing and revealed nearly everything Naruto's naked female form appeared, hands on her hips in a really feminine pose, thrusting her chest out for display.

“See?, that's the stuff” explained Naruto-chan, bringing her hands up to her breast and kneading them lightly.

A few meters away, Shinji stood awestruck, holding his nose to prevent an explosion, thinking only one thing...

/NOT troublesome./

His attention was deflected from Naruto's 'Sexy no Jutsu' form, as he saw his charge turn several interesting shades of red, whether from anger or embarrassment he couldn't tell, as it probably was a dangerous mixture of both. What he could tell was, that it would be in the best interest for the health of everyone, himself included, that he stop this confrontation now, before it escalates...any more than it already has.

Like every Nara, Shinji found conflict-solving...troublesome, but if the choice was between bodily harm, from either the Hyuuga, his superiors or *shudder* his wife and carrying away a seven year old like a protesting sack of rice, the gain outweighed the trouble.

With a sigh that showed experience in the Art of sighing, Shinji used the Konoha-Shunshin to appear besides Hanabi, putting a restraining hand on her shoulder. Seeing that the fun was over for today, Naruto dispelled his Jutsu and tried to look as innocent as possible.

“Hanabi-sama, we should go, they are surely waiting for you at the Hyuuga compound” he reasoned.

Hanabi took a few seconds to try and sort her thoughts, before agreeing with her 'Guard Dogs' reasoning.

“Fine, but mark my words, I'll not forget your insult today, or my name isn't Hyuuga Hanabi” she threatened.

“Sure, whatever...I'm Uzumaki Naruto, at your service” he replied shrugging and getting ready to turn around, but there was still something left to do...

“Firework? You look more like a little firecracker to me” he whispered after the two, just loud enough for Hanabi to hear. He ignored the shouts from behind him, as the made his way to Ichiraku to some well deserved Ramen.

Shinji had to carry Hanabi the next three blocks kicking and shouting obscenities no seven year old girl should know.

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Oh yeah, Hanabi remembered their first meeting only all too well, as well as the humiliation of being carried like that for the time it took her to get herself under control again. At least nobody had recognized her and Naruto, as well as her guard had kept quiet about the incident and she hoped, that it stayed that way.

This was also the reason, why she simply didn't go to the council with this case, as she didn't want to let her embarrassment be known to others. That and the fact that it was Naruto who had been in the right and she, an academy student attacked him, an active shinobi.

But this still didn't stop her from seeking personal revenge, so she tried to find out some of his dirty little secrets like the ones everyone, even the best had and didn't want others to find out about.

The keyword being tried, as she came out with a very big blank.

Sure, she now knew that he was an orphan who lived alone in a crappy apartment in a poor district of Konoha, that he was the prankster of the town, dead-last in his academy classes and nearly everyone disliked him, but no information that could help her in her quest.

During the next months Hanabi tried and tried again to dig out one of the skeletons she knew Naruto had in his wardrobe with no results, only some strange rumor about a dangerous C-rank mission, done by his team, probably just some road-side bandits.

In the end she nearly gave up on her revenge and tried to forget him, when his name came up in one of the council meetings she attended with her father.

Apparently, he was going to be her cousin's opponent during the third stage, final exam in a few weeks.

Immediately every though about forgetting about Naruto were wiped away, as she now had the chance to watch her cousin, and by extension the Hyuuga clan, which included her, wipe the floor with this arrogant upstart of a Genin.

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Finally the long anticipated day arrived for Hanabi, only marred by the warning she had received from her father to be ready to evacuate in a moments notice, because of some 'security issues', but seeing that the fight Hyuuga Neji vs. Uzumaki Naruto was the opening one, she had high hopes to get to watch Naruto getting the snot beaten out of him and see what her cousin the praised Prodigy of the Branch House was really capable of.

The father-daughter duo left the Hyuuga premises with several Branch Family guards early in the morning to get their booked first row seats in the area before the other spectator arrived.

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After another hour of waiting in their seat, the final contest in the Chunin exams began with great fanfare and the introduction of the combatants.

Hanabi's eyes were immediately drawn to the bright orange eyesore that dubbed as Naruto's clothing. Seeing Naruto's foxy grin brought a tiny smirk to her face, as she though about how Neji would wipe it off.

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A wise man once stated the saying “No plan survives first contact with the enemy”. On this day, the saying was once again proven to be true...twice.

Nearly everyone present watched the first fight without much interest, as the winner was already decided the moment Naruto drew the slip of paper with the number 1.

Or as Neji put it “Your Destiny was decided ... the moment I became your opponent”.

At least that was until Naruto opened up a can of 'Original Uzumaki Naruto-style Whoop-Ass' on Neji.

In the end it was as if a thousand voices cried out and were suddenly silenced. This being the people that bet on Neji despite the low yield and those who wanted to see Naruto get beat up.

Well, at least Hanabi was not alone in her misery.

...

And maybe gained just a little bit of respect for Naruto.

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The next fights were a disappointment in comparison, with Sabaku no Kankuro giving up before the fight even started and the rather long and more tactical battle of Nara Shikamaru vs. Sabaku no Temari, that was won by Temari when Shikamaru gave up after he caught her in the Shadow Bind.

Finally the long awaited fight between Sasuke and Gaara took place and everything went to hell in a handbasket, with enemy shinobi popping out of the woodwork.

Hanabi's guards immediately went to evacuate her from the premises of the stadium to the next shelter. This was not for a seven year old girl, even a seven year old Hyuuga Main family member.

Konoha was at war.

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Sitting in the shelter, together with nearly every other Student of her academy class as well as several other civilians, Hanabi was getting bored, wanting to know how well Konoha and her father were faring. Activating her Byakugan, Hanabi's world inverted colors and her field of view expanded to encompass a radius of over 300 feet all around. Seeing nothing worth of notice, she fed more Chakra into the technique to access another technique of the Byakugan that allowed her to 'see' Chakra over wide distances, with the drawback of loosing every other visual reference, seeing only clouds of Chakra, normally blue, with the occasional green mixed into it, when a medical Jutsu is being used.

After overcoming the vertigo from using the Jutsu, Hanabi's world turned into a black-blue haze, with only a few distinctive blue spots visible at the first glance.

Concentrating a little, Hanabi filtered out the Chakra that surrounded her and got her first real overview of the battle.

There was a large concentration of green Chakra where she suspected the hospital. It was surrounded by several strong blue signatures, probably ANBU, guarding the hospital and the wounded inside, as well as bringing in new wounded.

Then there was a mass of strong blue signatures flaring up and dimming or vanishing, where Hanabi guessed the main battle was taking place.

Further observing the battle taking place, Hanabi suddenly sensed a huge sphere of Chakra appearing somewhere off the main battle and saw the surrounding signatures dying out.

/Kaiten/ was Hanabi's only thought.

After making sure that her father was ok, Hanabi's attention was drawn towards a strange purple box made of Chakra, somewhere where she presumed the stadium was.

Her attention didn't linger for too long, as she noticed another, if weak purple Chakra signature appear near the edge of her vision, there also seemed something off with the other Chakra, but she couldn't see what.

Over the course of the next minutes her attention lingered on this strange one on one battle, when she suddenly noticed other signatures approaching, as the purple one grew weaker and the strange signature changed into a blood red color and seemed to bulge outwards, something that should be impossible and frankly even as an observer, several miles away it scared her more than the battle going on within the walls of Konoha.

With mounting trepidation Hanabi continued to watch the battle going on, growing more anxious with every bit the red Chakra grew.

Then, suddenly the tide of the battle shifted, but Hanabi's stomach dropped nonetheless, as a thousand Chakra presences popped up on the battlefield and she knew for sure, who it was, fighting that strange red signature. There was only one person, who would use Kage Bunshin so recklessly.

/Uzumaki Naruto/.

In muted shock she continued to watch the battle, as it grew fiercer and the Chakra output of the combatants grew larger and larger until it nearly hurt to watch. She didn't even react when the blue/red signature grew even larger until it probably towered the Hokage Tower, or as another signature, as bis as the large one appeared suddenly.

She did react though, as the signature of Naruto suddenly turned even more terrifying shade of red then the first one and both signatures suddenly nearly vanished, being replaced by weak blue ones.

Only then she allowed herself a sigh of relief, releasing her Byakugan and staring at the ground.

/What power...Is that really the annoying Genin I met?/ she asked herself unsure.

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The aftermath of the Sand/Sound Invasion was a rather moot event. There were not victory celebrations or other elated feelings. Konoha was safe, Sound ran and Sand admitted defeat, but at the cost of many lives of loyal shinobi and the Sandaime Hokage.

Two days after the attack, the funeral of the Sandaime took place and life went on, the shinobi missions continued, the rumor mill spun and even a new Hokage was put into office and through it all, one name was suddenly constant withing the rumors.

Uzumaki Naruto.

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Going out of her reverie of old times, Hanabi remembered what had happened after she tried to find out more about the enigma that was Uzumaki Naruto.

Suddenly all the information she had wanted was there and nobody could stop talking about the obnoxious Genin and his exploits.

Whether it was the painting of the Hokage monument, his various 'Sexy no Jutsu' pranks or the strange rumors about some of his fights and his hidden power.

The problem for Hanabi was just to separate fact from fiction or exaggeration. Not a simple undertaking when you were talking about Naruto.

Though she managed to find some reliable information, and what she found out frightened her even more than the battle she'd witnessed. Gaara being a Jinchuuriki, a container for one of the tailed Beasts was a mayor shock to her system and with the fight between those two, where Naruto showed the same strange Chakra, it lead to only one possible conclusion and for the first time ever, Hanabi cowered at the thought of the confrontation she had with Konoha's Jinchuuriki and how it could have ended with her as a bloody smear somewhere.

And how this power excited her.

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