Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Lacking Sight ❯ Naruto's Many Faces ( Chapter 7 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
Chapter 6: Naruto's Many Faces
The golden rays of the morning sun gently caressed the sleeping forest, coaxing it to life. In the trees, birds awoke and sang in tribute to the new day. Rodents and reptiles emerged from their burrows to resume their eternal game of eat-and-be-eaten. Predators yawned and stretched, readying themselves for the hunt.On the well-worn trail wending east towards the sunrise, three travelers had packed their tents, broken their fast, and begun the last leg of their journey. Among their number walked a tall teenager with spikey blond hair clad in an orange and black jumpsuit, a taller man with short-cropped brown hair wearing black and green with mirrored sunglasses, and an older, muscular man in red. All of them were weary and rugged from their travels, but all had grins on their faces.
“Today's the day, isn't it?” It was not a question, but a reiteration of fact that the teenager spoke.
“Yeah, it is,” replied the old ninja, “We'll reach Konoha by noon today. Plenty of time to see Tsunade and get reacquainted with the village.”
The man in sunglasses smiled broadly. “Oh, if I know my little brother, here,” he said, indicating the exuberant blond kid at the front of the pack, “He'll want to skip straight to the reacquainting.”
“Heh, you know me almost too well, Keisuke,” said the little brother in question. “It wouldn't be a proper reunion if the great Uzumaki Naruto, Konoha's number-one loudest ninja, didn't make migraine-inducing light and noise upon entry.”
Keisuke laughed a little. “No, I don't suppose it would. Just don't give any senile old fools a heart attack this early in the day.”
The older man huffed, “And which senile fool might you be implying, Keisuke?”
“No one in particular, Jiraiya.”
Naruto couldn't resist snickering a little. Everyone present knew that Keisuke had been referring to an incident that had taken place three weeks ago, when Jiraiya had announced that they were going home. The old Hermit had retired to his usual “research” to find an incredible harem already awaiting him on the men's side of the bath. However, no sooner had he fallen under the spell, than he was snapped back to reality, in which he learned that the harem was a masterfully crafted illusion developed by Naruto(with the help of Keisuke and, oddly enough, Haruka) and that the objects he had been groping were, in fact, a rock and an elderly man's right buttock. The resulting spasms that Jiraiya had exhibited had borne remarkable resemblance to the symptoms of an actual heart attack.
“Don't worry about it, Keisuke,” Naruto said. “I'm smart enough to know there's a time and place for that kind of jutsu. Konoha's perverts are safe.” For now, he added silently, knowing that he'd have many opportunities to give the freaks what was coming to them later.
“Kind of a shame, though,” he said, “Haruka-nee-chan is going to miss all the reunion fun...”
“She'll be along in good time,” Keisuke assured him, “as soon as she finishes her business in Suna.”
That Suna business again, Naruto thought. “Do you really think that the Akatsuki are going to target Gaara? They'd have to be pretty confident to take on an entire ninja village by themselves.”
Jiraiya grunted. “If they are, then we need to know. If they have enough power to take Sabaku no Gaara...”
“Then they probably have enough power to try to take me,” Naruto finished with a sigh. “I've heard it about, what, four times now? It's getting on my nerves.” This definitely wasn't Naruto's favorite conversational topic. At the moment, he wanted to focus on all the fun he was going to have shocking his old friends with his explosive reappearance.
“I'm more worried about Haruka-nee-chan...”
“Haruka's a strong woman. Akatsuki or not, she'll find us, and she'll bring the information we need with her.” Keisuke's tone was level and serious as he said this.
Naruto's eyes, however, had a mischievous gleam to them that erased any trace of seriousness from the situation. “Strong woman, huh, Keisuke? She must have beat you good that last round if you're praising her. She won't believe me when I tell her!”
Keisuke's face flushed a little. “Ah, geez... Look, Naruto, I'll buy you ten bowls of ramen if you never speak of it again.” One of the stranger aspects of Keisuke and Haruka's friendly rivalry was that neither of them ever verbally acknowledged any positive quality exhibited by the other. Even if Haruka were to beat him one hundred times out of one hundred, Keisuke still wouldn't ever credit her. Likewise, whenever Haruka was beaten (which had begun to happen less and less as the two became used to fighting each other), she would never acknowledge defeat.
They had been this way since Haruka had joined them. Though they practiced with each other every day, grinned when they passed each other, and seldom argued, neither would be caught dead complimenting the other. Naruto thought it was strange, but as long as they weren't trying to kill each other, he was fine with it.
Still, that wouldn't stop him from having fun with them when they slipped up.
“Alright, Keisuke,” he said, “I'll take the bribe today, since I've got bigger things on my mind. Watch yourself when Haruka-nee-chan comes back, though.”
“Right...” Keisuke fought the urge to question Naruto on what he had planned for him when Haruka nee-chan came back. The kid's prankster gene had a habit of manifesting itself when Keisuke least wanted it to.
His struggle was interrupted by the voice of the Toad Sennin behind him. “So, Keisuke, what are you going to bribe me with?”
“Ehehe...” Keisuke had the feeling that this would turn out to be quite an interesting day.
OoOoOoOoOoO
Hinata stood alone in the oak grove near the village's south wall. As she and her teammates usually did on their free days, she had come to practice, polishing the skills that had at last begun to earn her some respect amongst the Hyuuga elders–in particular, her father. Just three weeks previous, Hiashi, who had not shown more than the smallest scraps of care for his daughter early in her life, had finally acknowledged Hinata as “a fine young woman, and a fit heir to my place as clan head,” before the council of elders, a memory which did not cease to make her smile.
It was earning her more than favor among her clan, though. Neji, though still head and shoulders above her in experience and skill, had begun to comment openly among their peers on how quickly she was progressing, with the result that the dark, shy girl was receiving many cheerful greetings where she previously had not. The influence of the Hyuuga prodigy, combined with Hinata's recent success in her missions and her emergence into the prime of her youthful beauty, had increased her reputation by leaps and bounds throughout the village.
Already, several young men had approached her, though their attempts at establishing a deep relationship had thus far all met–usually unpleasant–ends. If Kiba, who had taken to Hinata like an overprotective big brother as well as teammate, didn't scare them away, then Neji would take the young man in question aside to “discuss compatibility,” after which the would-be suitor was never seen anywhere near the Hyuuga compound ever again.
Though she might have been a little embarrassed with the blunt manner in which Kiba and Neji handled the poor fools, Hinata was secretly glad to be rid of them; many of them were not even worth giving a second look by Sakura or Ino's book, many of those that were had some mental issues that needed to be addressed. There were those few who both looked and behaved presentable, and one or two even had genuine charm... but in all of them, no matter how good-looking or well-mannered, not a single one possessed the fiery spirit, the strength of will, the empathy that comes from a painful past, or the courage that one develops to live with that pain...
None of them had ever shown her how to stand up for herself, change herself, despite all she had been through...
None of them were ever going to merit the name of Hokage...
Hinata gave a small sigh, bringing a tinge of sadness into the bright, sunlit afternoon. Though her life had become better than it had ever been, without the presence of the one who had made it all possible for her it just did not have the same flair. Yes, life was good, but it was also less than it could have been for her, and Hinata knew it.
Yet she held hope; rumors of the Toad Sennin's imminent return–and with it, Hinata knew, his return–had begun spreading in the village two days ago, a fact that Kiba had made sure she did not forget. In the absence of Naruto, the former Rookie Nine had found themselves without a class clown. In times where humor was deemed direly needed, Chouji and Kiba had–sometimes knowingly, sometimes not–taken up the slack admirably. With the recent rumors flying about, Kiba had taken to showing up to team functions occasionally in the guise of Konhagakure's number-one most surprising ninja.
When Hinata had asked him why he did it when the only ones who really found it funny were himself and their former sensei, Kurenai, Kiba had responded with a shrug and said, “I'm a little excited, I guess... None of us have seen the big idiot in almost three years, after all.”
Kiba's mood seemed to reflect the moods of all their peers, as well... When Hinata passed them in the streets, she noted that Shikamaru, Chouji, Ino, Rock Lee, Neji, Tenten, and Sakura were all in a much more chipper state than usual. At the same time, she noticed that the adults in town seemed on edge, as if bracing themselves against a coming winter. The Ichiraku noodle bar was staying open later these days, and the ramen there seemed to improve in quality, as if in anticipation of its favorite customer's jubilant return.
In fact, Konoha as a whole seemed to be holding its breath, all its many inhabitants clenching their jaws expectantly for the arrival of a single loudmouthed, blond-haired, teenage ninja.
While all this was going on, Hinata's peers–Kiba, Ino, and Sakura, in particular–went out of their way to mention Naruto and his party whenever she was in earshot. Whether it was meant as teasing or encouragement, Hinata did not know. However, she did know that it made her uncomfortable, and so she had thrown herself ever deeper into her training to escape it.
The problem now was that it was difficult to have team practice when your team hasn't arrived. Hinata resisted the urge to sigh and go home, instead opting to sink into her Jyuuken ready stance and begin her warm-up exercises without them. Flowing gracefully through her movements, controlling her chakra with precision, the Hyuuga heiress seemed to dance across the forest floor, and she made the leaves on their branches dance with her. Even Shino, who never openly admitted to experiencing an emotion, had conceded that watching Hinata's dance-like practice had moved him. His face had remained as expressionless as ever while he'd said this, but just the fact that he had said it spoke much for Hinata's graceful manner of combat.
The tall boy wearing orange and black in a nearby tree seemed to appreciate it, too. His face shone with a cheerful and impressed-looking expression as he lightly hopped down from the branch he'd been standing on.
“Wow, Hinata! I've never seen anyone move like that.” His voice was remarkably similar to that of the Uzumaki Naruto that Hinata had known three years previously, if a little deeper. “Who taught you to move like that? Some kind of angel or forgotten goddess?”
She knew it wasn't really him, but the likeness was so effective that she couldn't stop her face from heating up slightly. Hinata stiffened a little, rising out of her stance and turning to face the boy whom she presumed to be her teammate.
“Please, Kiba-kun, you know I don't like it when you do that,” she said.
The smile faded from the boy's whisker-marked face. It was replaced by a narrow-eyed, confused look. Hinata marveled at how accurately her teammate was portraying the slightly comical facial expressions of a dumbfounded Naruto, and began to wonder a bit if Kiba was more interested in their blond comrade than he was telling.
Her silver-lavender eyes widened somewhat when she heard him ask, “Kiba? What, do I smell like wild dog or something? Maybe I should have bathed more carefully this morning...”
His words trailed off and his eyes closed in concentration, as if he were going into a bout of deep thought. These words, this expression, and his immediate jump to the inaccurate conclusion that she had called him “Kiba-kun” because of a completely mundane reason were very realistic “Narutoisms,” worthy of the genuine article. What was more, Kiba had never tried to maintain the illusion once Hinata had asked him to stop. The situation was beginning to look very unlike what Hinata had first thought it was, and it was making her very nervous. As he shook off his apparent confusion and began to walk forward, instinct and force of habit made Hinata back slowly away and bring her fingers together in front of her.
“K-Kiba-kun,” she said, feeling herself growing steadily more uneasy, “Please, stop. It isn't...”
“Funny?” the Naruto look-alike finished. A hurt expression was on his face now as he said, “What's not funny is you're not recognizing an old friend. It kinda hurts, after all the trouble I went to to get noticed around here...”
As he spoke, he continued to move towards Hinata until finally, as he trailed off, she had her back to an old tree. He brought one hand forward, resting it on the bark above her shoulder, leaning on the tree, and drew closer until their faces were mere inches apart. The pained smirk on his face and the expression in his cerulean pupils overpowered Hinata's better judgment. She began to think that maybe... just maybe... this was the real Naruto, and she was making him sad.
“Hinata,” he said, “After all this time I thought I could count on you, if nobody else, to acknowledge me...”
No way! She couldn't be making him sad! After all the chances she'd missed to make him happy, she couldn't stand for it!
“N-Naruto-kun... I...”
But now a new expression had crossed the face of the boy she admired. It was no longer sad; on the contrary, it was a happier face than she could have imagined seeing. It was elated, triumphant, ecstatically happy.
Scary-happy, even.
Deranged-happy.
Evil-happy.
Suddenly Hinata's arms were pinned to her sides, her body bound to the old tree with strong wire. A kunai was in Naruto's hand and aimed straight at her exposed heart. His face, almost touching hers now, was the face of a murderer, with a dangerously sinister glint in his eyes. Hinata snapped out of her Naruto-induced trance too late; she was snared, and about to be killed without even throwing a single attack at her killer, because she had failed to see past a simple illusion.
“Here's a little message from the master who will crush your precious blondie and your village along with him: The Uchi...”
“GATSUUGA!” (Dual Fang Destroyer)
A solid mass spinning at gale-wind force can be very painful to a human being if a direct collision occurs, as the Naruto impostor quickly learned that day. The mass in question slammed into him like a runaway cart, sending him flying head-over-heels into a rather large and solid rock formation. From the cyclone-style spin emerged the form of Inuzuka Kiba, looking extremely annoyed and more than a little roughed-up. Behind him, a large dog–named Akamaru by his wild-man of a master–had its nose to the ground, seeking out possible additional targets.
Insects swarmed toward Hinata from the trees above, alighting on the tree that she had been tied to. Within a few short moments, they had eaten through the wire that bound her, and she was free. As she shrugged off the last shreds of metal, Aburame Shino jumped lightly to the ground. He lifted his arms, silently commanding the Destruction Bugs who made their home within him. They left the tree and converged on the stunned Naruto look-alike, proceeding to eat away at him with a frenzy found nowhere else in the animal kingdom.
“As you may have guessed, this shinobi is not Naruto,” he said. His ever-inflectionless voice hinted at light fatigue and a sense of urgency.
“That big-mouthed dunce,” gasped Kiba, who had apparently spent a great deal of energy to arrive in time, “Even when he's gone, he can't stop making trouble for us...” He stopped speaking when Akamaru barked at him, signaling that he'd picked up a new target. Both dog and master sprinted off into the forest in pursuit.
Hinata, who had fully recovered her wits by this time, dusted herself off and tried to make sense of the situation. She turned to her bug-user teammate.
“Shino-kun, what's happening?”
Aburame Shino responded as emotionlessly as was his custom. “Very little is known about what is truly going on,” he said. “Kiba and I were greeted by a person appearing to be Uzumaki Naruto. We were unable to discern anything unusual about him, either by Akamaru's nose or the perceptions of my bugs. We believed him to be the true Naruto, and did not question him. Even when several more of him appeared, we did not react; we assumed that it was some childish prank involving his Kage Bunshins.”
He paused a moment, as if trying to put adequate words to his story without expressing too much feeling.
“Hinata, I find this somewhat disturbing. A dog's nose cannot be fooled by any normal shinobi illusion, and the bugs that make their hive in my body are supposed to be unmatched in skill at sensing friend from foe. Yet, for all our talents, we were fooled. Even the Byakugan, it seems, cannot see the truth behind this illusion.”
Hinata flushed a little bit and looked away from Shino. She wasn't about to tell her teammate that she had not even attempted to use the Byakugan on the strange Naruto, but she couldn't help feeling a bit ashamed. Her eyes wandered to the impostor, and she saw that the bugs had finished their work. Shino called them back, and the two of them went over to examine the body. It was nothing out of the ordinary, if a little pale.
But Shino gave a nod and said, “No mistake. It's identical to the ones Kiba and I defeated.”
Hinata looked at him, puzzled. “You mean, all of them looked exactly like this one?”
“Hai. Once the bugs had finished with them, they all looked as this one does now.”
“This one does, too,” said Kiba, who arrived behind them. He dumped the corpse unceremoniously next to the first one. It was bloody and had bite marks on it, and there were still patches of Naruto-esque skin left attached, but underneath all of that it was the same.
Shino nodded again. “Your theory may be correct, Kiba.”
Hinata's face became very serious. “What theory is that, Shino-kun?”
The bug user pushed his sunglasses farther up his nose. “It is likely, judging from the sheer numbers that have appeared and the consistency of their appearance beneath the illusion, that someone has been mass-producing Uzumaki Naruto for some ill purpose in the village of Konoha.”
Mass-producing Naruto-kuns? Hinata thought. For a moment, she suffered an involuntary daydream involving multiple Narutos in various states of mind with various “Narutoish” attitudes in various states of undress storming the Hyuuga compound, overpowering and winning the respect of her father, and proceeding to bring the light that is Naruto's way of life to the dreary existence of the heirs to the Byakugan.
“This isn't good,” Kiba said, jerking Hinata out of her vision, “According to Kurenai-Sensei and Hokage-sama, there's only one person with the power or even the sinister kind of mind you need to do something like this...”
All of the members of team eight thought the same name.
Orochimaru.
“We should hurry back to the village,” Shino said. “If we were so easily deceived, then we cannot afford to make the assumption that others will not be fooled as well. Every person that Uzumaki Naruto has ever known could be in great danger.”
OoOoOoOoOoO
Iruka was still having a difficult time believing that so many shinobi could so flawlessly transform themselves into, and effortlessly pass for, his favorite student. Granted, Naruto tended to be a predictable sort of guy in his everyday behavior despite the unpredictability in combat that made him such a wild card, but nobody he knew could be so convincing with a normal illusion. Unfortunately for him, he did not have much time to focus on his disbelief, as he was currently under attack from no less than twenty Naruto look-alikes, all of them possessing the skill of at least chuunin-level shinobi. Five more of them lay dead upon the ground with numerous shuriken in them, victims of Iruka's skillfully-set traps on the academy grounds.
Iruka was battered and winded, and much of his chakra was already depleted in self-defense and the defense of the academy students, who had just finished evacuating safely. They needn't have bothered, though; the Naruto-clones seemed to want to kill only Iruka. While this was probably best for the cadets, it didn't help the old instructor out at all.
“What's the matter, Iruka-sensei?” one of them chimed. “You can't be tired already. You always had the energy to rip on me whenever I played my pranks. What happened?”
Iruka grimaced. It might not have been authentic, but this Naruto looked real enough to sting him just a little. The boy was, after all, very special to him; he was like a kid brother and a son all rolled into one loud, blond package.
“You,” he growled, struggling to put as much force as possible behind his voice, “Don't talk to me like you know me, you fraud!”
All of the Narutos present gaped at him, wide-eyed. “Iruka-sensei...”
Then they all hung their heads, and tears began to flow from their blue eyes. They continued to speak, each saying a few words of the same monologue.
“You were the very first...”
“Person to accept me...”
“For the person I...”
“Really was...”
As each one spoke, a change began to come over them all. Their eyes became blood-red, and their teeth and fingernails began to elongate into serrated fangs and razor-sharp claws. The rage on their faces shone through to Iruka's mind like a flame on the blackest night. And every last one of them was radiating the emotion that Iruka had never expected to feel from his favorite pupil: hate.
Spitting, violent, killing hate.
“For breaking my trust...”
“For leaving me alone...”
“To confirm my existence...”
“I'll rip you apart!”
This last phrase was echoed by every Naruto-clone in front of him as they all charged forth, their eyes aglow with killer intent. Iruka was surrounded. He could neither escape nor fend off such a concerted attack, and reinforcements were reportedly being held up by other Narutoan invaders. With no way out, Iruka closed his eyes and braced himself for death.
“Who do you think I am, Sabaku no Gaara! I'm not so weak, to have to 'confirm my existence' that way!” The voice, coming from above, caught the look-alikes completely by surprise. Halting their attack, every head turned to look up at the roof of the main building, where there stood a tall, wild-looking blond in an orange-and-black jumpsuit. Their hesitation was all that was needed for his trap to work. Below them, a large and elaborate seal began to glow eerily white.
“Reiude Ninpou: Chiri Boufuuwana!” (Ghostly Arm Secret Art: Dust Storm Snare)
Some invisible force seemed to run through or across the seal, and the air immediately began to swirl around the impostors, blindingly thick with dust and dirt. None of them could move without being caught in the wind or choking on dust.
The real Naruto took the opportunity to leap down from his perch and grab his old sensei from the ground, moving the exhausted chuunin out of harm's way. Once they were a safe distance from the dirty maelstrom, Iruka was able to get a good look at his rescuer. He needed no second hint; the telltale gleam in the eyes, the slightly overconfident, excited grin, the battle-eager posture... no doubt about it, this one was Iruka's true protege.
“Naruto! Your timing couldn't have been better!” A smile crossed his bloodstained lips. All near-mortal injury aside, the boy's return meant the return of much grief, and also much excitement, to the village, and to Iruka's (for a ninja) simple life.
“Not the dead last I used to be, huh?” Naruto's grin covered the entire lower third of his face.
Iruka didn't respond. Instead he asked, “What kind of ninjutsu was that? Surely Jiraiya-sama didn't teach a skill that unique?”
It didn't seem that Naruto's smile could have gotten any bigger, and yet at Iruka's question, it did.
“Naw. A really old friend taught it to me. But here's something that Ero-Sennin did teach me...”
He ran his hands through a set of rapid, complicated seals, ending with the sign of the tiger. No way, Iruka thought as Naruto took a huge breath, no way he's going to...
“Katon: Karyuu Endan!” (Fire Style: Dragon Flame Missile)
A gargantuan plume of flame leaped from Naruto's mouth, searing towards the trapped impostors. The flames were picked up by the wind, and spread to the encompass the entire area of the trap. For a moment, Iruka worried that such a powerful technique, one once used by the third Hokage himself, might burn down the academy. But the intense wind contained it all, and the only things burned were dust and dirt and Naruto wannabes. When all was quiet again, Naruto turned to his former teacher, gleefully waiting for praise.
Iruka, dumbfounded by the new Naruto's display of firepower, failed to give any words. But the chuunin and jounin who had arrived during the fireworks display did.
“Geez, Naruto, didn't you learn anything subtle in your three years away? You've destroyed all the evidence of the invaders.”
Naruto turned around to see three familiar faces. Tenten had been the speaker; with her were the other members of the old Team Gai, Rock Lee and Hyuuga Neji. All of them had grins on their faces; Tenten had feigned annoyance, but all three of them had expected nothing less from Uzumaki Naruto. Like the rest of their comrades, they'd given up hope on him learning much subtlety, and had put their faith in his ability to make up for it with his unpredictability and his overly flashy fighting style.
Naruto flashed them his trademark foxy grin and replied, “Ah, there'll be plenty more. Anyone who goes to the trouble to make this much trouble will definitely make a lot more trouble... or something like that.”
Hyuuga Neji was pleased to have the buffoon back, though he said nothing. It was the same old Naruto: A fighting genius, but otherwise bordering on total idiocy. Yet Neji's eyes discerned a new aspect to the blond ninja. The old Naruto might have asked why any evidence was needed at all as long as the targets were eliminated, and then become angry with himself when told why... this Naruto had merely laughed and asserted his belief that not all was lost. He was still Naruto in essence; carefree, loud, and lacking any sense of subtlety, only now he was showing signs of a little maturity.
Good, he thought, watching as his old teammate, Lee, exchanged “youthful” greetings with Naruto, he'll be much more suitable this way...
Activating his Byakugan to scan for any surviving invaders, Neji spotted another welcome surprise; Team Kurenai was moving their way, coming to investigate the huge explosion of flame. This both interested and worried him. He was very interested in seeing what Naruto thought about the effects of Hinata's work with him, among other things; he was extremely proud of much his help had done for his cousin's development. At the same time, however, he was worried about Hinata; after three years away from him, what would her reaction be to Naruto's sudden reappearance?
Well, we'll find out rather quickly, won't we?
Indeed, they did. Kiba was the first to spot him. Unfortunately, the exceptionally bad quality of his day, combined with the number of bruises he'd acquired and the number of Narutoan invaders he'd had to pummel, caused him to immediately assume the worst.
“Agh!” he cried, “Another one! How many can there possibly be!”
He charged the unsuspecting blond with Akamaru at his side, whirling into the Gatsuuga with all his waning force. Without sufficient warning, Naruto was blown forty yards straight backwards. Before anyone could muster the wit to shout a warning, Kiba renewed his attack, coming at Naruto on all fours.
This time, however, Kiba's attack was parried. A thick tendril of blue chakra lashed out in front of Naruto from behind his back, blocking Kiba's right arm, while four more held the big dog at bay. Another four remained behind Naruto, ready to parry anything more that might come his way. Cursing, Kiba threw a foot at his head, but this Naruto caught with his hand.
“What the hell?” Kiba asked, twisting out of Naruto's grip and landing on his feet ten yards away.
“Hehehe...” Naruto said, beaming with pride, “How d'ya like my new specialty, Kiba? The Rokujuuyon Reiude, Tomoshibi no Kyuubi!” (Sixty-Four Ghostly Arms, Nine Tails of Light)
Neji's Byakugan revealed a wealth of information about this new maneuver... The Hyuuga prodigy was shocked to see that the nine “Tails of Light” were each made of four thin strands of chakra-carrying tendrils, emerging from different tenketsus across his body and woven together into thicker bands. What was more, the strands that made up the “Tails” were not the only strands; several more flickered out from the rest of his tenketsus, apparently unused. Whatever this technique was, Neji could see that Naruto was not using it to its full potential, but this realization did not negate the amazement that the potential he was using generated.
“Damn it,” Kiba swore. “You're not like the others. What the hell are you?”
Iruka stepped forward. “Kiba, it's alright. This one really is...”
“Uzumaki Naruto, of course. Don't tell me you forgot your number one most surprising ninja! Or has the kid been lying about his 'amazing reputation' the whole time?”
Neji frowned. He'd been so busy watching things here that he'd allowed this unknown shinobi to approach them uncontested. He was about to go and question the newcomer, and to fight him as a jounin of Konoha should if he proved unfriendly, but his uncertainty was dispelled by Naruto's response.
“KEISUKE! You missed all the action, nii-chan. What were you and Ero-Sennin doing back there!”
Looking again with his Byakugan, Neji could see that this man seemed to possess the same projected chakra strands that Naruto did. His sense of amazement increased as he watched the strands sweep through the air at a rapid rate, feeling out objects, exploring their surroundings. This man appeared to utilize the ability more fully, using the strands as a sensory organ when he wasn't using them for something else.
“Easy, kid. I just had to help the old fart get his day-planner sorted out right. Hard to believe how easily he mixes up his priorities.”
Now Neji was curious. Naruto addressed this man as a brother, yet he had never been seen before anywhere in the village, as far as Neji's memory went. He could tell that the man had some considerable skill in the secret arts from the way he held himself, but his easy-going attitude and casual reference to the famous Toad Sennin of Konoha implied that he wasn't a threat... at least on the surface.
“Anyway, Naruto,” the stranger, Keisuke, continued, “Nice kaboom. Care to introduce me to your friends?”
Naruto was more than happy to oblige. With gusto, he introduced Keisuke to Neji, Lee, Tenten, Iruka, and Kiba, saying hello himself to each in turn. When he reached the blue-haired, red-faced girl at the back of the group, however, he was at a loss for words.
“Keisuke, this is...! Uhm... huh.” Who IS that girl? I've never seen her around before...
Keisuke, however, didn't appear to need any introduction. He stepped closer to her, and Neji could see as he swept his chakra strands over her, feeling out her shape, her aura, her posture. Within a moment of concentration, Keisuke smiled.
“Hyuuga Hinata,” he asked, “Isn't it? I thought we'd meet again...”
Neji looked at Naruto–he, along with a number of their comrades, had been wanting to see this moment for a long while. He smiled smugly when he saw the awed look on the blond teenager's face. Even without the Byakugan, he could tell exactly what Naruto was thinking:
This... this is HINATA?
Job well done, Neji thought. The smug smile wouldn't leave his face for some time. Hinata-sama, you've grown so much, he's speechless.
Keisuke also smiled. Kid's been so wrapped up in learning his Rokujuuyon Reiude that he hasn't stopped to think about all the good things that might be going on back home.
Hinata finally fought down her nerves and dropped her hands to her sides. This fidgeting habit was something she'd have to work harder on kicking. '
“Ano, Naruto-kun? Are you alright?”
It was a good question. Naruto was beginning to look less like himself and more like a statue. Fortunately, it was enough to jar him back to himself in time to form a relevant reply.
“Heh... yeah, Hinata, I'm fine,” he said. “Better than ever! Keisuke and Ero-Sennin turned me into a ninjutsu powerhouse!” He was mostly himself again now: loud and infectiously jubilant. As he turned to introduce Keisuke to Shino, however, there was an undercurrent in his thoughts that was having trouble finding its way out of his brain.
Wow. Hinata's changed... a lot. As he finished the introduction, he added the afterthought, I like it.
As soon as Keisuke finished shaking hands with Shino and both of them had pushed their sunglasses back farther up their noses, Iruka spoke up.
“Hey, Naruto! You've been gone a long time, and I'm sure you're tired from all that walking... how about I treat us all to some ramen? It'll be a great opportunity to relax and tell us a few stories. The elite should just be finishing up the last of your look-alikes, so we can go now. What do you say?”
Naruto smirked, and turned an evil eye towards Keisuke. “Oh, I don't think you have to treat us, Iruka-sensei. I've got a few favors left to collect...”
“Eighty-five of them!” Keisuke groaned. I deserve it. I knew those ramen bribes would come back to bite me on the ass one day...
OoOoOoOoOoO
N-0234 ran full-out away from the village of Hiding-in-Leaf, knowing full well what would happen if he were caught. The Konoha interrogators wouldn't be so bad, he knew, compared to what would happen after. Once the Leaf was through with him, Danzou's contacts would arrange to have him “transferred to another holding facility...” and there the real pain would begin. They'd feed him to the Uchiha, and he'd die screaming. He'd seen it happen; he had no desire to experience it first-hand.
So he ran. The face-copying jutsu would weaken in a few days, and he could return to his natural form, find a nice village to hole up in, and live in moderate safety for the rest of his unnatural life. That was the plan, anyway.
But alas, such plans have a tendency to go disastrously awry at the most inconvenient times. N-0234 tried to duck into a bush to hide from the shinobi party, but he was much to slow and clumsy–one of them heard him. Veins popped out around her eyes, and she looked right through the bush and saw him there. With speed born of desperation, he charged the woman, fist cocked.
Without missing a beat, however, she swept a leg out, tripping him. He began to fall... right into the woman's open palm. The velocity provided by the fall, coupled with the chakra that the woman spiked into his system, caused the blow to be very painful and knockout-inducing. Thus was N-0234 defeated with a single shot.
Before he lost consciousness, N-0234 could hear the woman exchanging words with her companions.
“Eh! Naruto?”
“...No, Sakura-san. It's just a copy. A very convincing illusion, but still not the genuine article. The true Naruto-kun should be back in the village by now. Sakura-san, Temari-san, do either of you have any rope?”
“I think there was some in Kakashi-sensei's pack. I'll check.”
“Please don't wake Kakashi-san, though. He had it very rough back in Suna.”
“Right, Haruka-san.”
OoOoOoOo End Chapter Six oOoOoOoO