Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Living Behind a Mask ❯ way of the Nukenin ( Chapter 9 )

 

At Around Lunch Time:

 

Naruto and Sasuke broke out of the trees at around lunch time and what they saw amazed them. People of all descriptions were flocking to the Wave. Most of them were merchants or traders of some sort or another. Naruto looked at Sasuke and he nodded. They both Henged into older men that had no remarkable descriptions and blended in with the croud. Once they got to the other side, they saw two guards standing at either side of the gate, obviously looking for anyone suspicious. They briefly looked over Naruto and Sasuke, not giving them second glances and they continued into the Wave. Just as they got over the bridge, Naruto noticed a plaque at the base of the bridge. Naruto went over to it, vaguely interested in what he had to say. What he saw shocked him.

 

'The Grand Naruto Bridge.

 

Made in the memory of a boy who changed the hearts of the people of the Wave through his actions.

 

Lest we forget.'

 

Naruto shook his head in disbelief. 'Lest we forget' was only used in the memory of a person or people who had died on the battlefield serving their village.

 

'So, they think I'm dead, huh? This could be easier I thought...'

 

Naruto had to supress a groan as Kyubi sent him a mental image of her, Naruto and Sasuke burning the village to the ground with various Katon Jutsus. Kyubi, being able to read his thoughts, detected this and snickered. Sasuke was still staring at the plaque with a myriad of emotions. Most of which was amuzement. He turned to Naruto.

 

“Seems I'm not the only one who recognises you for what you really are...”

 

 

They got up and began walking through town towards an inn. Going straight to Tazuna's house would most likely be suicide, as word would quickly spread that 'Naruto's back'. Judging by the number of people entering and leaving the country every day, word would soon reach Konoha, and they'd have Hunter-Nin's on their asses with a few days. Completion of the bridge had really done wonders for the economy. There was no one stealing, or wearing signs saying 'will do anything for money', and the shops were actually bursting at the seams with various goods. Naruto happened to notice a store that looked oddly familiar and walked in. It was the 'supermarket' where they had helped Tazuna shop for ingredients for dinner one night they were there all those years ago. Last time they came here, they would be lucky to see two of any particular vegitable. Now, this 'shop' really was a supermarket. It was huge, to say the least. Rows and rows of every type of food imaginable, from raw vegitables to fully prepared frozen meals. Unconciously, Naruto started to drift around, looking for the ramen. To his shock, a quarter of an entire ISLE was devoted to the wonderous stuff. There was every flavour and kind imaginable Sasuke slapped his forhead as he saw Naruto start slobbering practically uncontrolably. They both jumped when they heard a familiar laugh from behind them. When they turned, they saw the last person they wanted to see here. Tazuna no longer wore the boring dark brown shirt or pants, but something far more formal. Obviously, he'd been elevated to a rather important position in the community. Tazuna had two people with him. They were dressed as civillians, but both Naruto and Sasuke knew better by their chakra signatures that they were about low Chunin level, meaning that they had not learnt to mask their chakra yet.

 

“I haven't seen such a reaction to ramen since an old friend came here several years ago.”

 

Sasuke decided to try playing it cool, and see if he could get out of here before they were sprung.

 

“A friend?”

 

Tazuna smiled warmly at him.

 

“Yes. He's the one we have to thank for the prosperity of this country. Unfortunately, last I heard, he had past on...”

 

“I'm sorry...”

 

Tazuna smiled sadly at him, shaking his head to indicate it was fine, and also in an attempt to try and clear the memories from his head, saying something which he either had no idea of what it would do to Sasuke or he already had his suspicions. It was most likely the former, so it was sheer luck.

 

“Don't be. You had nothing to do with it.”

 

Sasuke couldn't help but let the mask over his chakra slip for a second. That comment had struk far too close to home for comfort, and it showed, because both of Tazuna's companions recoiled as the sharp wave of chakra infused emotions washed over them. Tazuna looked at both of them in interest.

 

“Something wrong?”

 

They both recovered, and the one on the left of Tazuna stared at the boy. The man's piercing brown eyes attemtped to discern who exactly this boy was.

 

“That wave of chakra was not something a regular person could even dream of emitting, let alone the majority of ninjas. Why don't you drop the henge?”

 

Sasuke sighed. One little slip of his emotions had completely blown their cover. Before they released their henge, they withdrew their level two cursed seal features and then dropped the henges. Tazuna's eyes widened in disbelief. He blinked several times, took off his glasses, polished them before putting them back on, checking both boys again in a vain attempt to check what was in front of him a second time like most humans do when they see something that shouldn't be possible.

 

“Naruto? Sasuke? I really hope this isn't some super cruel trick...”

 

Naruto sighed and drooped his shoulders. Some things never changed, one of which was Tazuna's love of using the word 'super' at every opportunity.

 

“It's us, old man...”

 

Tazuna smiled weakly at them.

 

“Last we had heard, both of you had died fighting some S rank ninjas...”

 

Sasuke raised an eyebrow in interest.

 

“Who told you that?”

 

“Kakashi did. I think we need to have a chat...”

 

Sasuke smirked.

 

“Sounds like a typical thing Kakashi would say...”

 

Naruto looked back at the ramen hopefully, then at Tazuna, eyes filled with pleading. Tazuna smiled at Nartuo, chuckling softly.

 

“You're definitely Naruto, all right... Don't worry, somehow, you got Inari hooked on the stuff, so we have a super large supply of it at home. Come on you two.”

 

Tazuna started to lead them out of the isle, but both boys realised something. They would have to hold their henge's up in public or completely avoid the general public. They both redid their Henge's causing several raised eyebrow's from Tazuna and his companions. Sasuke looked at Tazuna.

 

“We'll explain when we get to your house.”

 

Tazuna nodded. From his admittantly limited knowledge of both boy's behavior, they didn't do anything without a reason, so he let it be for now. Both Naruto and Sasuke were staring at Tazuna's 'friends' intently. Neither of them were using a henge. The one to Tazuna's left had a shock of brown hair that looked like a mix between Sasuke's, Naruto's and Kakashi's hair styles. What was even odder was that it somehow WORKED. The man had spikes going everywhere like Naruto, which were longer at the back like Sasuke and also had a shock of it sticking up in a roughly Kakashi-like mohawk. He even had Sasuke's bangs. They decided to forget about the man's hair for the moment and looked over the rest of his body in their analysis. Hw wore typical shinobi uniform, which consisted of navy pants and long sleaved shirt. The only thing he lacked was a flak jacket. Moving to the other guy, they saw he had a much... Tamer style. His hair was mainly just long black hair done in a pony tail. He had teal eyes and a mature looking face. He wore exactly the same thing the other did. Naruto and Sasuke concluded if things got messy, they should be able to knock them both unconcious and make a break for it with little effort. They left the store and began walking through town, acutely awear that everyone was greating Tazuna happily, and he waved back at them. From what both boys remembered, Tazuna lived rather close to the bridge, but he was leading them away from it. The general shops slowly gave way to family buisinesses such as blacksmiths, herbalists and other such things. Those quickly turned into modest estates. Tazuna turned up a particular street and walked past three houses before opening a small white picket gate. The front garden consisted mainly of various types of flowers and small shrubs. The main feature of the front garden though was a small Sakura tree on the right side of the path from the gate to the front door. Tazuna fished a key out of his pocket and opened the door, leading the boys in. They all removed their shoes and walked down the corridor, passing many rooms, including a loungeroom, some form of sitting room, a small library and a dining room before they got to the kitchen. Both Naruto and Sasuke saw a woman with long black hair slicing vegitables, softly humming to herself. Naruto would never forget this woman. She was possibly the ONLY completely human female he didn't get sudden urges to kill. Tazuna smiled as he walked up beside her.

 

“Whats for lunch, Tsunami?”

 

She looked at him with a smile, continuing to cut the vegitables.

 

“Aren't you going to introduce your friends first?”

 

She looked at Naruto and Sasuke, vaguely awear that Tazuna was smiling with a 'I know something you don't' smile.

 

“No need. You already-”

 

They were cut off when both Sasuke and Naruto slid into defensive stances and saw a kunai wizz past them and imbed itself in the cupboard door. Tsunami visibly got very angry.

 

“INARI! WHAT HAVE I TOLD YOU ABOUT USING KUNAI IN THE HOUSE?”

 

Inari stumbled into the room, obviously quite pleased with himself. He stopped when he saw the two strangers looking at him in interest. Inari no longer wore the cream coloured shirt with the green overals. He was suprisingly decked out in orange. Naruto mentally cringed.

 

'Did I really look that bad as a kid?'

 

'No, you looked worse.'

 

' ... '

 

Naruto decided to end the conversation there.

 

“Grandad, who are these guys?”

 

Naruto smirked.

 

“Getting profficient with kunai, are we Inari?”

 

Inari stared at the man's grin. It reminded him slightly of Naruto's grin.

 

“Who are you?”

 

Sasuke put his hands in a half ram seal, as did Naruto. They were surrounded by a puff of smoke. Once it cleared, Inari's mouth dropped open and Tsunami fainted. Naruto smirked as Tazuna went to pick up Tsunami and lean her against the counter. Tsunami soon came around and muttered about 'seeing Naruto and Sasuke in a dream', when she saw both of them sitting at the table and tried to stop her emotions from making her faint again. She slowly walked over to the table with the help of Tazuna. Once they were all seated, Tazuna looked at both of the boys.

 

“I guess we should start with where we left off...”

 

Naruto nodded and started with a little about their past, and how both of them were socially alienated for different reasons, Naruto being hated by the entire village, leaving out the reason why, and Sasuke being recognised for his clan name, and not for who he was as a person. After the Wave, they told the others about how Orochimaru had planted a cursed seal on them, showing them the mark for effect. Naruto went over his meeting with Jiraiya and his finals match, their fight with Gaara, and how the villagers activly started trying to mob him and kill him. Sasuke told them about their meeting with Itachi and Kisame, leaving out the Tsukiyomi. They told them about the defection to the Sound. Inari, being an inquisative kid asked what happened while they were in the barrel, and Naruto shrugged.

 

“We had our level two seals awakened.”

 

Inari still wanted to know more.

 

“Level two? What does it look like?”

 

Tsunami began scolding him, but Naruto waved her off.

 

“We'll give you some examples of the others in their level two forms. One of the Sound four grew a third eye on his forehead as well as horns, his hair turned grey and grew in size. His skin turned a clay brown colour, he grew spikes on his arms and the whites of his eyes turned black while the irises turned a sickly yellow colour.”

 

Tazuna, Tsunami and the other two ninja looked horrified, but Inari thought it was cool. Sasuyke told them about another.

 

“Another one of them was actually two people in one, and when they engaged their level two seal, they would rip their body in half and regrow plate like armour for limbs, grow horns and were able to merge with other's bodies and destroy that person's cells, killing them in the process. The other features were the same as the others, clay brown skin, claws, fangs and eyes changes.”

 

Inari apparently still didn't get the point, so they knew this one would get to him.

 

“And then there was the last one. He had a Gekke Genkai that allowed him to control the number, shape, growth and density of his bones. An example would be that he could pull a major bone out of his body and use it as a sword, such as his humerus. He could also make his ribs extend through his chest and use them as a defensive barrier to block kicks from Taijutsu experts.”

 

Inari was finally starting to get the point, but Naruto decided to make sure he did.

 

“In his level two form, he apparently could even rip out his spine and use it as a whip.”

 

By now, everyone in the room, including Inari got the point that the cursed seals lived up to their name. Sasuke looked at Inari.

 

“Inari, nothing Orochimaru ever did was 'cool'. He even revived the former Hokages to fight their student using his own subordinates as live sacrifices to help in the invasion of Konoha.”

 

Inari nodded slowly as Naruto told them very little about their time with Orochimaru, except that they had eventually killed him and began their plans. When asked what their plans were, they summed it up in one word.

 

“Revenge.”

 

Tazuna raised an eyebrow.

 

“Going to get back at Konoha?”

 

Sasuke shook his head.

 

“No, we have others we want dead. However, if they continually send Hunter-nins after us, we might have to.”

 

Tazuna frowned.

 

“Then why did you come back here of all places?”

 

“We're looking for another Nukenin who was supposed to be around here. He has some information we need.”

 

Tazuna's eyes narrowed at the mention of it.

 

“He's still here, alright. He's attacking merchant caravans at random. What do you want from him?”

 

Both Naruto and Sasuke had tried to avoid telling them exactly why they were here, but they now had a fairly good idea of how most Nukenins lived.

 

“You just told us what we needed to know.”

 

Tazuna raised an eyebrow.

 

“You wanted to know what he was doing?”

 

Naruto nodded.

 

“Pretty much.”

 

Naruto took out his Bingo Book and showed it too them.

 

“Our aim is to mainly find Nukenins and to a lesser extent, other people mentioned here. One of the reasons Nukenins are so strong is that they are not bound by their villages laws, and they can also trade jutsus with other Nukenins from other villages when they're not at each other's throats, which they would never learn without something like the Sharingan.”

 

Naruto had just turned to the Konoha Nukenins pages and everyone observed that two people had a cross through their portrait. Naruto noticed their keen interest in these two, and pointed to the one in glasses.

 

“That's Kabuto, and the one next to him is Orochimaru.”

 

He flipped the page and just then remembered that their own profiles contained descriptions of their level two cursed seal forms. Inari began reading it and his eyes widened as he read Naruto's level two description. Naruto took the book back as Inari was about to start reading Sasuke's description, making Inari look up at Naruto in question.

 

“Our cursed seal forms is not the sort of information we want more people to know about than necessary. You already know more about our lives than anyone but us.”

 

Naruto became aware of one very amused vixen in the back of his mind and unconciously closed his eyes.

 

'What's up with you?'

 

'Scared they might find out about me if they know about your level two form?'

 

'I doubt it. N o one who doesn't know about you has figured it out from the form.'

 

'Really?'

 

'...'

 

Naruto got the idea of what she was getting at and opened his eyes to see everyone staring at him with worried looks.

 

'I'm so going to get you for this.'

 

Naruto was all too aware of the laughter in the back of his mind as he tried to come up with sort of excuse that wouldn't sound too corny or make him seem insane, and failed miserably. Naruto looked at Sasuke who shrugged. Naruto looked back at them.

 

“The reason my villiage hates me is because on the day I was born, Yondaime Hokage sealed the soul of the lord of demons inside me, the Kyubi no Kitsune. The villagers, being the idiots that the majority of humans are, needed a scape goat to place their hate on, and quickly came up with an idea that I was the Kyubi no Kitsune reborn, and so they took particular pleasure in attacking me in large mobs. The only reason I wasn't killed was because the Sandaime threatened anyone who harmed me with death, so they held back enough to only give me what would mostly be considered terminal injuries to normal people. That's the major reason I left Konoha. Ever since I last came here, I've been able to talk to Kyubi without having to enter a trance.”

 

The two Chunin were staring at the boy in barely contained fear.

 

“You... You can talk to the demon?”

 

Naruto raised an eyebrow.

 

“Yeah. Kyubi's a rather unsual being to get to know.”

 

The black haired Chunin looked at Naruto oddly.

 

“You mean he doesn't just destroy everything?”

Naruto leered mentally at this.

 

'Pay back time.'

 

Kyubi seemed disturbingly unphased, but Naruto went through with it.

 

“Who said Kyubi was a he?”

 

Both Chunins processed this sentence before looking at Naruto in disbelief.

 

“Kyubi is female?”

 

Naruto became awear of the Kyubi smiling at him mentally as she changed into human form. Getting the point, Naruto bit his thumb and summoned her, much to Sasuke's amuzement. Once the cloud cleared, everyone in the room stared at the vixen with a mixture of shock, horror and awe. If it wasn't for the sheer aura of power coming from the figure, they would have laughed. She wore a red kimono that covered her very appealing curves from view. She leaned on Naruto's shoulder looking at Inari, making him shiver.

 

“You're scaring Inari.”

 

“Be greatful I'm not eating him.”

 

Naruto groaned and Sasuke sweat dropped. No wonder Kyubi had wanted to come out. This was her payback for Naruto's payback. She was using the 'holier than thou' aspect of her personality. In front of others, no less. To show that she didn't really mean it to Naruto, she wrapped one of her tails around his waist to emphasise their real relationship, making him shudder ever so slightly, having to restraing himself from releasing his partial cursed seal level two and making out with her in front of everyone. Only Sasuke saw this, since he was sitting next to Naruto and could guess what was happening. The others were unable to see this as the table hid the sign of affection from view. The barest hint of a smile touched Kyubi's lips at Naruto's reaction.

 

“You know what happens when I feel human's fear?”

 

Naruto shook his head in disbelief.

 

“It makes me want to destroy things. This house looks-”

 

“Don't.”

 

Everyone bar Sasuke and Kyubi looked at Naruto like he was mad. He ordering the lord of all demons around? Surely she would just cut off his head. Naruto saw the looks and smiled.

 

“If I die, so does she. She'd essentially be killing herself if she killed me. It gives me some form of control over he actions.”

 

Kyubi's eyes narrowed and Naruto had to stop from gloating. Kyubi smiled as she thought of the next step in the war.

 

“That doesn't mean I can't hurt you.”

 

To illistrate her point, she brought a tail right in front of Naruto's face, before pumping chakra into it, making the fur stand on end and she brushed it backwards along Naruto's face so that it didn't cut him. She was starting to push it back when Naruto smiled.

 

“If you do that, you'll just have to repair it.”

Kyubi stopped and though about the pros and cons of going through with this verses not doing it. She stopped pumping chakra into her tail, making the fur soften and withdrew her tail, making sure to sweap it over his face. All this time, the others around the table were watching this exchange, wondering if this conversation they were seeing was explainable using some form of logic or another. Little known to them, it was very easily explainable... At least on the surface. But they were not ready for the reason. Not by a long shot. Kyubi looked at a part of the wall with an interested look on her face. Naruto and Sasuke were also looking there, making Tsunami look at the wall worridly.

 

“Is the wall dirty or something? I thought I did a thorough job of cleaning-”

 

Sasuke answered her, but he was clearly more intent on focusing on the spot on the wall.

 

“It's not the wall, it's what's beyond it that interests us.”

 

Sasuke and Naruto stood up and followed Kyubi outside. Naruto looked back over his shoulder.

 

“Don't follow us. You'll be killed if you do.”

 

They nodded slowly as Naruto and Sasuke walked out the front door to the garden, looking at the trunk of the Sakura tree while Kyubi hid in the doorway to watch the exchange.

 

“You know, you're REALLY bad at using that jutsu.”

 

The man smirked and stopped melding with the tree, stepping out of it. He looked like he was made from some sort of liquid with bright yellow eyes. This appearance quickly returned to normal, and they found their target staring at them. Scruffy short black hair, teal eyes. Yeah it was him alright. He smirked at them, or more correctly, Naruto.

 

“So, you were the one I felt summoning. That was a lot of power for someone of your age. Strange though, with that kind of power, I would expect you to summon the boss. I don't see any destroyed houses-”

 

“You're pretty nieve for an 'experienced' Nukenin, aren't you, human?”

 

He stiffened and looked to where the voice came from, seeing a silloutetted figure with nine tails waving behind her. Kyubi stepped out of the shadows, looking slightly amused. The man's eyes widened noticably before they narrowed.

 

“No wonder I didn't see any destroyed houses. You're using a henge-”

 

Kyubi sent a tail flying dangerously close to his face, which made the man pause mid sentence and just managed to stifle a gasp when the fur on the tail sprang up to look like some sort of barbed spear.

 

“What made you think you could speak to me, the lord of all demons in that manner, human?”

 

Naruto looked at this like it wasn't anything out of the ordinary, which for him it really wasn't.

 

“Would I be right in guessing you have a bingo book on you?”

 

The man nodded slowly, afraid that even the slightest movement would see that tail go through his head. Naruto looked at him nonplussed.

 

“How recent is yours?”

 

“About a week old... All villages publish their books twice a year at around the same time...”

 

He stole a glance at the two boys and his eyes widened when he recognised the two latest additions to the Konoha Nukenin section. His eyes widened considerably.

 

“You two are Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke... S rank Nukenins who killed Orochimaru and his right hand man, Kabuto... Then that's...”

 

Sasuke looked bored, trying to act cool despite the fact that he was finally getting recognition as a person, and not as a member of a long dead clan. He noticed that the A rank Nukenin from the Mist was staring fearfully at the queen of demons.

 

“Yeah. That's the Kyubi no Kitsune. I'd suggest not pissing her off.”

 

The man stole a look at Sasuke.

 

“Her?”

 

Naruto and Sasuke face faulted. Naruto recovered first, with Sasuke not far behind him, brushing themselves off before smirking at him.

 

“'It' has a very feminine body, wouldn't you agree? I know for a fact that she happens to be female.”

 

Kyubi had to suppress a lecherous grin that threatened the corner of her lips at the subtle yet blatant hint of managing to 'bed' her, while Sasuke sweat dropped as Naruto continued.

 

“That isn't a henge, at least, not by our standards. It's an acutal transformation, not just some shoddy Genjutsu. Now, tell us, what did you hope to achive by seeking us out? A fight?”

 

The man shook his head rapidly, but the spiked tail just bristled and got closer.

 

“Do you honestly think lying to a demon would work?”

 

The man considered this for a second. In hindsight, he was rather hoping that it would, but he was rarther more concerned for his life at the time than to process that level of logic. He shook his head slowly, regaining most of his composure from the initial shock of the three.

 

“I guees that was a breach of ettiquite on my part. Forgive me. I was not expecting to run into the lord of demons as well as two S Class Nukenins in the Wave. Knowing Nukenins, I would assume you came here for a reason?”

 

Sasuke shrugged.

 

“Yeah, there was a reason. That reason was you.”

 

The man turned to Sasuke with a raised eyebrow, amusement clearly showing on his face.

 

“Me? The only thing I can think of that you would want with me is the bounty over my head.”

 

Naruto and Sasuke looked hesitant before Naruto spoke for them.

 

“Acutally, it was kind of a request.”

 

The A rank Nukenin was certainly interested now.

 

“Request?”

 

Wityh some further hesitancy, Naruto managed to ask their request.

 

“Yeah. Long story short, we're kind of new to this whole Nukenin business.”

 

The man smirked and closed his eyes.

 

“Ah, the latest 'graduates' as we call them amongst ourselves. It's kind of hard to believe that you two took down two other S rank Nukenins without knowing how we survive in this world in the buisiness, but I get the feeling that doubting your powers right now would be a bad idea.”

 

He gave a tilt of his head to indicate the tail still hovering dangerously close to his face. Naruto looked at Sasuke, then Kyubi and made a Kage Bunshin to go back into the house and tell them they would be gone for an indeterminate amount of time. Once Naruto had conveyed the message, Kyubi dissapeared and Naruto and Sasuke set off with their target in front of them, taking to the rooves so as not to be seen to some place they could discuss things in private.

 

&&&&&&&&&&&&&a mp;&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&a mp;&&&&

 

A/N: Sorry for the long wait, everyone. I purposely made this chapter a bit shorter like my latest one for 'Return of the Biju' for the same reasons. Until next time my avid readers!

 

Ja ne,

 

Specula.