Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Living Shrine ❯ Memories ( Chapter 4 )

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto…

 

As the morning sun gave the ground a radiant shower, a lone figure with long and flowing golden orange hair approached the gates of Kumogakure. She stood roughly 5'10'', tall for a girl, yet, smaller than many men. On her, an icy blue tube top covered the black short sleeved shirt that she wore. Her black pants reached down to her calves, not tied by bandages, but instead, fish net stockings reached from under the pant's legs and into the sandals. Her forearms were bandaged up to provide extra joint support when fighting in hand to hand combat. Prayer beads raced up and around her left forearm and around her elbow and wrist. The Cloud headband adorned the forehead of the youth, keeping her bangs away from her slanted, cat-like turquoise eyes; in case the tight, waist long ponytail were to come undone.

 

She carried with her a silver leather notebook. The black leather string that was used to tie it up rested wrapped around her left hand, like many times before. Her eyes were trailing the horizon in the direction of her destination. “…today I head south…”

 

The words escaped her mouth as a smile formed on her face. She would be able to see the person she learned to love during the past 10 years…

 

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:: Flashback

 

As the silver moon rose in the dark skies, a young boy reached the Village Hidden in Clouds, by the hand of a Konoha ANBU. As soon as the pair had reached the outskirts of the village, the ANBU pushed the blonde haired boy forwards, while disappearing in a whirl of leaves. Said five year old was left alone in the moonlight to do the remainder trek to the village. Holding a scroll that was written by the Hokage himself, Naruto walked to the village gates, attentive to his surroundings, trying to absorb the information that composed the new location where he would be spending the rest of his childhood.

 

Now, as he entered the gates, several Kumogakure citizens and shinobi stared at the five year old as he was stopped by the gate guards, and then taken to the Raikage for the audience that he had.

 

Turquoise set upon Sapphire as a golden orange haired girl locked eyes with the blonde the moment that he set foot into the audience chamber. The two children smiled at each other and introduced themselves as Uzumaki Naruto from Konoha and Nii Yugito from Kumogakure. Her father, the Raikage, noticed the two kids having their own little conversation on the side and called forth one of his subordinates. He instructed him to take them both to the play room and when they were tired of playing, to take him to his new room in the Raikage's mansion. In the morning, he would instruct Naruto of his new village and his duties to it.

 

Slowly, throughout the years, Yugito learned of Naruto's true heritage, being the reincarnation of one of the legendary tailed beasts, his fate as a jinchuuriki, and his dream of being able to go back to the village he hails from. In return, Naruto learned that Yugito was a jinchuuriki as well, and that knowledge between both of them up to the most recent day, led them to be inseparable.

 

End Flashback ::

 

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The breeze was cool to the skin's touch. Some shorter strands of her hair became loose from the ponytail and floated towards the direction the wind was blowing. `The wind blows south west. This is a good omen…' She tested her sandals, made sure they were not too tight, yet not too loose, and jogging out towards the gates. A group of people were waiting for her arrival, and as soon as she got near enough, said group started to disperse, making way for her to continue jogging through them. The people she grew up with were giving her a mixture of a happy yet sad smile. So many fond memories of all of them bombarded Yugito's mind. Her jog slowly became a walk as several of the people approached her to give their good byes, farewells, and good lucks. Hugs and kisses were exchanged whilst tears began to form on the rims of her eyes. As happy that she was to be able to go to her beloved, her old life was going to be left in the village that she was born and raised. She would have to grow accustomed to the traditions of the new village and swear a new allegiance, but at least she knew that even though she wanted to do this, it was also beneficial to her family and friends. By accepting to become one of Naruto's life partners….

 

`Life Partner' she thought.

 

The Kumogakure male population had been drastically reduced since the last Great Shinobi War. The laws of Cloud changed due to the fact of loss of ninja and kunoichi. Those who were willing would be able to take more than one wife or more than one husband. Polygamy was a common thing in Kumo and in Kiri. Both had suffered major losses and had implemented the practice of multiple spouses to regain their lost numbers.

 

`It's a good thing that I already took away from him something that no one else will…' she thought with a naughty smile.

 

--

 

Back in Konohagakure...

 

“ATCHOOO! Sniff, someone must me talking about me…” A blonde ninja spoke as he walked out of a tattoo shop. `Good thing I didn't sneeze in there.' He said to himself. Naruto made sure his sandals were ok before he leapt unto the roof tops.

 

He was told by the current Hokage that he should look for a very specific house in the northern part of Konoha. She failed to give him the actual address, but she had said that he would recognize it when he saw it. He traveled for about 20 minutes on the roofs, until he approached the last street and jumped off.

 

As his feet landed on the cobblestone road he walked with his hands in his pockets for a dew minutes looking at the houses that were to his left. He stopped near a three story house entrance way when he noticed the plaque on the wall next to the fence and started looking at it, when the female voice of someone calling out `Kumo' made him turn slowly towards a blonde haired, purple clad figure.

 

--

 

After saying good bye too her teammates, Yamanaka Ino was heading back to her apartment complex near the old residence of the Yondime Hokage. Being a newly appointed Jounin allowed for a better income than a Genin or a Chunin, so she had decided to move out of her parent's house and gain a little of independence. She thought of getting a roommate, but voted against it in case she wanted her privacy to be respected always.

 

She was jumping from rooftop to rooftop all the way from the village square until her destination was a couple of blocks away. It was then when she decided to drop down to the streets and walk the rest of the way.

 

She landed on the street gracefully in a crouching position. Slowly she straightened her body and finally stood up. She was 4'11” with a long ponytail down to her waist, her purple sleeveless button-up top and short skirt contrasted heavily with her alabaster skin yet went along with her pair of baby blue eyes and the fishnet clothing articles that went on her elbows, knees and shorts, underneath the skirt.

 

`Maa..' She thought. `I need a good, hot shower. That last mission was a bit too much on myself.' A smile appeared on her face as she started walking towards her new residence, but didn't fail to notice an unknown young man that was walking towards her. Immediately her girl side took place and commenced the scrutinization of a possible match with herself.

 

`Hmm…Blonde, long hair in braid; ohh, I like that…hmm…cerulean blue eyes….he looks like he works out..A LOT….and wait…what are those lines on his face….' She walked a few more feet to be able to contemplate the marks. `..they look like….like….whiskers? Hmm, not bad. They make him look a bit animalistic…..' Her smile grew a bit more. `I wonder if I could tame this beast…' She asked herself. As the mysterious blonde was finally in talking distance, she took in a big breath and raised her hand to salute him.

 

`Well, there's only one way to find out…'

As she was about to say hi, she abruptly stopped when she noticed the Kumogakure insignia tied around his right upper bicep as he stopped and turned to his left to inspect the name on the wall of the Yondaime's Estate. Immediately she scolded herself for not noticing something as important as to why she had never seen that person her own age in Konoha and the Kumo band around his arm while she was inspecting those perfectly tanned muscles…. `STOP IT INO! THIS IS NO TIME TO FALL FOR THE LOOKS OF A POTENTIAL THREAT!' She scolded herself.

 

A stern look was formed on her face as she lowered her hand and called out to him. “State your name and reason for being in Konoha, Kumo nin. If you fail to have a reason, then I, as a Konoha Jounin, shall have to take you down by force and signal for our ANBU to escort you to a 5x5 cell that could very well be your lifelong residence…” `Damn it… if he's made it this far in without being detected, I don't even know if I'd be able to take him on, but at least I can distract him and buy enough time…'

 

The braided blonde turned from the name of the plaque that he was reading and looked at the person that had spoken to him. He saw a beautiful blonde hair, blue eyed, purple dressed kunoichi that had a very serious look on her face. He noticed that she was looking straight to him and was slowly reaching towards one of her kunai pouches. “Maa…maa…is it custom for Konoha shinobi to attack their own? I guess it won't be hard for me to get used to this place after all…” he said with a grin. He turned to fully face her and pointed with his right thumb to his left bicep. The insignia of Konoha, a Tribal Leaf was tattoed throughout his bicep and part of his shoulder. “My friends call me Yosugi Yashiro. I have just been naturalized as a Konoha Citizen and am in fact waiting to take the qualification tests to place me in as an active duty Shinobi. To what I'm doing here is for this…”

 

His left hand left his pocket and dangled some keys from his index finger. He approached the gate and pulled one of the keys and placed it in the lock. He was about to turn the key when a kunai whizzed between him and the gate bars and sunk itself a few feet away in the dirt. “That is private property. It used to belong to the Yondaime Hokage, Kazama Arashi. I seriously doubt that those keys are going to open that gate. You probably found them on the ground and want to try your luck.” Said the kunoichi.

 

Naruto gave her a sheepish grin and looked at her. “Maa Ane-chan (sp?). At least allow me to insult your honor before you threaten me. I'm just going into the home the Hokage assigned to me…” he said as he turned the key and *click* the lock popped open. The gate slowly opened and he proceeded to step inside.

 

“What do you mean that Tsunade-sama appointed you that house as your new home?” Her interest peaked at the moment by being called `Ane-chan', she's been called, beautiful, smart, clever, but never sister, and this was coming from a hot blonde guy who apparently had the keys to the Yondaime's living quarters. Cautiosly, she approached the braided shinobi and looked at him crouch down and retrieve the kunai that was embedded to the ground. He twirled it expertly and walked back to where she was standing. He stopped the twirl as he extended his hand and gave her back the weapon handle first. “I believe this is yours, Ms….?”

 

“Ino. Yamanaka Ino.” She said as she took the kunai from him. She then proceeded to shift her weight from one foot to the other and relaxed her standing posture. The hand with the kunai travelled down and placed itself on the hip her weight was on.

 

`Yama…naka….Yamanaka….the flower girl? I can't believe it can be her…' the braided shinobi thought to himself. `I would have never known if I hadn't heard it from her in the first time. I wonder if she would remember me….? What did I used to call her…? Ahh…yeah…'

 

Naruto noticed her change of posture and also noticed that the kunai in her hand wasn't there anymore. `She managed to store her weapon once more without me noticing when she did it. She's good.' He told himself. “Well then, , if you wish, you can help me explore my new village? It's been a good ten years since I've been back to this place and I have to say, it has grown to be big and prosperous…Kin'iro Hana-Chan (1)…”

 

“Don't call me that again and cut the sweet talking…” she said with a shade of pink on her cheeks. “…besides that, what do you mean that you haven't been back in over ten years? Did you visit when you where little?” She asked him while taking a couple of steps back. `Why did he call me like that….Golden Flower…only one person used to call me like that when we were kids, but…I was told he died…..could it be…?'

 

“No, no, not visited…more like left on a journey…” said Naruto. A long forgotten smile crep on his face. It was the kind where shyness and happiness collided to form a sweet and sincere face.

 

“You…it can't be…..”

 

--

 

Entrance of Kumogakure

 

Goodbyes were said. The village was slowly moving farther and farther away. Her golden orange hair would sway past her with every breeze that would blow around. Her past was being left behind, yet she kept her head up, looking towards the future.

 

`Fire Country, Konohagakure, make way for Yugito Nii!' She said as her walk started picking up speed and became a full sprint. `At this pace, I'll be able to reach Konoha in four days, maybe less if I use her chakra…' A full blown smile was plastered on her face as she started her journey to a new life.

 

--

 

Time seemed to hold still as one blonde Kunoichi tried to understand what was going on in front of her and what she had just heard. So many memories were flooding her at once, yet one was dominant over the rest:

 

Flashback

 

A five year old girl that was curled up in a ball had her head on her knees. The sounds of fists hitting flesh was heard as she covered her ears trying not to pay attention to what was happening. Her sobs were silent as she tried to calm herself down. It didn't work. Every so often she would open her eyes only to see a red liquid slide down her cheeks and arms as the blonde boy who was defending her was taking a very brutal beating by what looked like a red headed teenager.

 

It all ended in a few minutes, but to her, it lasted hours. The noises stopped, all she heard were her sobs, her breathing and her small beating heart that was running a mile a minute. She didn't want to look, yet she forced herself to remove her head from between her legs and try and face the general direction. Her eyes were bolted shut, and she wanted to open them up, but she couldn't. She jumped and let out a small yelp as she heard the sound of a bag of potatoes hit the ground not too far from where she was laying. Her right side hurt from the rock that she landed on when pushed by the older boy and her clothes were torn from where he forcefully tried to rip them off, yet she forced herself to uncurl and at least crawl on the direction of the thud. Darkness was her world at the moment, for she feared that what she would see if she opened her eyes, so her hands wandered aimlessly on the grass, looking for the person that just took a beating for her.

 

It was after a few seconds of wandering that her hands came to touch what felt like fingers. She immediately recognized the hand that she was touching and crawled more to the boy's side. His back was facing her, she gathered, as he was sitting down, using his hands to support his either hurt or broken body. She approached more and placed her head between his shoulder blades, her hands encircled his torso and slowly, her world came down in a torrent of tears.

 

She cried. She cried on his back for what seemed like an eternity for her. She cried so much that her tears dried up and couldn't cry anymore. Her sobs were all that were left and were heard in between his and her shallow breathing.

 

She felt the fabric that she was pressing move and instinctly, loosened her grip on him. Slowly, the blond took of the blood-stained shirt and continued to act as a mourning stone for the frightened girl.

 

A sudden move on his behalf startlted, as her weight shifted from her hands, causing her to open her eyes and look for the first time at the bloody mess that her blonde savior was turned into. Her hands bolted to her mouth as she stifled a scream. Her eyes became wide as saucers as she saw the gashes and bruises on his skin and felt the warmth of his bare chest as he turned around and embraced her.

 

Fabric began to slide on her, as she felt Naruto's torn shirt covered her own ripped clothes. She accepted it and leaned closer. Her hands once again went around the small frame of the kid who took a beating for her and just hugged him as she began to sniffle and silently sob once again.

 

“Ne, daijobudesuka, Kin'iro Hana-Chan?” asked the frail child as he caringly stroked the broken girl's back. He awaited patiently for an answer as she regained the strength to answer him back.

 

“Hai, Naruto-kun. A-arigatou.”

 

Swallowing hard, the beaten child spoke once again. “Hana-chan…gomen…but I don't think I'll be here for you again for some time. I have to go away. I don't know why, but I have to. Hokage-ojii-san told me that it's form my safety…”

 

The blonde girl took it all in and just nodded. She kept silent for the remainder of the afternoon and well into dusk. It wasn't until the sun finished setting that she broke the comfortable silence between them.

 

“…ise me….”

 

“Uhh? Nani?”

 

“Onegaishimasu…promise…promise me that you'll come back one day for me...I don't want to go through this again…promise me that you'll be a knight in shining armor like in the bedtime stories that mama tells me…onegai…”

 

“I…I promise, Kin'iro Hana-Chan…I promise…”

 

--

 

Somewhere in Fire Country

 

“KAI! (2)” a voice shouted. The multiple layered Genjutsu rippled and faded just enough to let three cloaked figures pass through unharmed and into a dimly lit cave. The walls of stone had been etched in multiple complex seals that seemed to be made by the cracks of the cave. `Elemental Seals' they though in unison. `It has been a while since they have been seen…' From the center of the seals, a small blue flame irradiated a heatless light that allowed a relatively safe path into the bowels if the earth.

 

The cavern seemed endless, and it wasn't until an hour of trekking that a difference would be noticed by any of the three. The heatless torches became less and less frequent, yet more and more intense the farther apart they grew from each other. The hallways of stone began to open up to what appeared to be a larger chamber, with an approximate fifty foot radius; with a five foot radius pool of crystal clear water that showed no impurities.

 

Upon closer inspection, the three walked to the edge of the pool and where marveled at the sight of an ancient oak tree that was upside down, with it's roots growing from the water. The cloaked three looked at each other and each one went to a side of the circle of water and formed an isoceles triangle. They withdrew a couple of kunai and at the same time without a sound being made between them, they slashed their hands and proceeded to let the blood drip into the pool.

 

As the first drops hit the water, a wave of demonic chakra surged from the water and engulfed the cavern in a powerful blinding light and the sound of wind picking up to hurricane speeds were engulfing the area. The cloaks were ripped off their wearers, revealing the identity of the three ninjas inside the cavern.

 

“Who dares awaken me?” a voice was heard as clear as a whisper amongst the raging winds.

 

“WE SEEK YOUR HELP! WE WANT YOU TO KILL THE CONTAINER FOR THE KYUUBI!” responded Danzou. His bandages were becoming loose because of the force of the air.

 

The raging winds died down the moment the Kyuubi's name was mentioned.

 

“Kukukuku…The Kyuubi, you say? I have a score to settle with him…and if he's been sealed, I'll be able to exact my revengemuch easierfor wounding me all those long years ago…kukukukuku”

 

The three nin just stood in awe as the giant tree formed itself over the water shedding no reflection. Two silver blue glowing eyes appeared over the now golden glowing leaves of the ancient oak.

 

--

 

“O..onegai…tell me that it's you….and…you're here to keep your promise….Naruto-kun….”

 

“…tadaima…”

 

-----

 

A/N: Hey guys! Sorry for the long delay on this update. Three jobs at the same time ain't cool, so I've had a hard time updating the story.

 

I want to apologize on the lack of action, but I have something planned out for the next couple of chapters and also reveal the reason on why the name of Yosugi Yashiro was given to Naruto as his code name.

 

The story has also taken an interesting twist. I wasn't thinking of it, it just kinda happened. I don't want to turn this into a NaruXHarem, unless you guys want me to. I'll leave it up to voting, but as it stands, it'll probably stay as yugitoXnarutoXino and stay that way.

 

Also, Character Deaths. I want to kill a couple of `em. No particular reason, though I do have a death scene planned for whichever dies (doesn't matter who it is), so I need a list of the 3 most hated Naruto chatacters (not counting the main antagonists like Orochimaru or Akatsuki, I already have a plan for them.)

 

Hope you have a good time reading and leave a review. Flames are tolerated as long as they are constructive criticism.