Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ The Fox and Boar ❯ A Quiet Afternoon ( Chapter 4 )

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or make any money off of writing this story.

 

A/N: Here is chapter 4. I know I said I'm make more frequent updates but this chapter took me longer than I thought it would to write. I had to completely rewrite it twice but now I think I've decided on the direction I want to head with this story. Enjoy.

 

A Quiet Afternoon

 

`It's been almost two weeks since I've really trained…I wonder why Kakashi-sensei hasn't told us when to meet up yet…' Naruto sat in the shade of a majestic sakura tree in the setting sun. He felt the occasional petal fall onto his face for a moment before leaving with the soft wind. He was meditating, something that Jiraiya had been sure to instill in his pupil on their voyage. He figured that with amazing strength and stamina for a boy his age, Naruto ought to have some type of self control of the mind. Part of his training was dedicated to meditation alone. It was supposed to clear his mind, temporarily remove all of his emotions, and allow his body to relax. A calm soldier was always more level headed than one confused by emotions. That was what he learned while away. After seeing so many people throughout the shinobi world distraught and in conflict with others and themselves, he was a soldier: a hired mercenary who would fulfill any request given to him by the Hokage.

 

It wasn't a hard concept to grasp really. A ninja just had to learn how to control his or herself on the battlefield. Of course this was the most common challenge for any shinobi. Humans were simply too emotional and easily riled up at times. Jiraiya taught Naruto all of this, stressing how important it was for him to stay calm and as stress-free as the situation allowed, that there were times when emotions were a ninja's most versatile and powerful weapon, and most importantly, his emotions were never supposed to get the best of him. If they did, Naruto would lose a bit more of himself to the fox, allowing him to surrender more control the next time it was bound to happen. This was another big part of Naruto's training with Jiraiya and the most difficult. He had to learn how to silence the beast and calm the evil chakra regardless of the situation all alone since Jiraiya had never needed to experience such a thing.

 

“Today is such a nice day,” Naruto mumbled to himself, opening his eyes to glance at the faraway village. His saw the fortified city in the distance, as it glowed with an orange luminescence in the sunlight to his west. “Maybe I should ask for a mission tomorrow… or look for Ero-sennin. I have rarely seen him since we came back…” Naruto mentioned these ideas to a nonexistent second-party, merely enjoying the sound of his voice as it danced with the wind around him. He closed his eyes once more and thought about the fox, how quiet it had been recently. That was very unusual for him, to actually barricade himself with silence from Naruto.

 

A bird called in the tree behind him. He looked up into the sky and noticed how wonderful the pink meshed with the orange and created the evening sky. He was glad he meditated at this time of day. None of his most trusted friends knew where he would disappear sometimes; they just thought he was going to train or something. Sakura had even given up asking him where he went after a while. She hated it when he kept secrets from her, even though he did all of his life before he returned and a while after that as well. He tried to be honest with her, with them all, but he didn't know how much of their parent's feelings had been passed down a generation. He was happy though, that he had friends. People his age he could fight for to protect, people who cared for him, and people who made his smile just a bit more genuine. He was extremely grateful for all of them after having gone twelve years without more than Sarutobi and eventually Iruka looking after him.

 

He stood up and wiped the dirt off of his orange pants. His arms stretched out while he began walking home to his village. He knew he wasn't alone, Tsunade was very protective of him and she made sure that he knew that. Two ANBU agents flashed from one tree to another, making sure he was secure. He was one of Konoha's most feared and valued weapons and was treated as such a lot of the time. Akatsuki was still out there, looking for his kind. He needed to be protected within the village, but Naruto was bent on having his meditation. He needed this, it took him a while to explain the whole process to his Hokage but eventually he was allowed to leave for half an hour each day, as long as he was under ANBU surveillance. The terms weren't exactly to his liking but he figured that outside was better than inside his dark apartment, even if he wasn't completely alone like he wanted. At least the ANBU knew how to keep their distance. If he wasn't trained in stealth, there was almost no chance they would have been detected.

 

Naruto continued walking past the gates that hid his village, waving at the guards along the way. He noticed that the main street was a lot busier today than normal so he charged chakra to his feet and jumped straight onto the top of a building, proceeding to walk at his leisurely pace. By now his escorts had departed, deeming him safe inside the shinobi village. They never spoke to him, never answered his questions, never made themselves known.

 

He jumped from one rooftop to another, thinking about his growing friendship with Ino. She had been nicer to him recently and he enjoyed their occasional time alone. Naruto relished having someone to understand and talk with him. It soothed the beast when he could express himself to someone like that. His emotions didn't have to be contained like they were before and he got to know someone much deeper. It was too bad not many people knew how smart and capable he was. To Naruto though, that was only an advantage. If people underestimated him in battle, he was even more likely to win. He had proved that once against Kiba and again with Neji. It was nice being the mysterious genin in his advanced rank group, no one ever could fathom what was going on inside his head, but one had seen it.

 

---

 

Ino sat idly by in her family's flower shop. She looked out at the mass of people moving down the street. Boredom had kicked in about an hour after she took over the store for the evening. Luckily her parents promised to be back before dark, so she only had a little bit of time to go. She saw Sakura come near the store, stop and turn around, but then come back to the entrance. She walked in and browsed near the front for a while. “Hey Forehead, what are you looking for?” she asked after five minutes of watching her friend look through the display quietly.

 

“Lee over trained himself with Gai-sensei again earlier and I was just going to get him something while he was resting in the hospital…” she answered while still glancing over the freshest daisies.

 

“He's been doing that a lot more recently hasn't he? Ever since Naruto came back, he's seemed more diligent on training, if that's even possible…”

 

“Yeah, ever since you told him about Naruto's newest jutsu, he's seems restless unless he's on a training field. I guess he can't let his rival get too far ahead of him.” Her hand picked out one and she began walking to the register. “Boys, huh?”

 

“Yeah…” Ino made the transaction and watched as her friend walked away. `She seems more distant recently…' Sakura stopped before the door, as if thinking something over but left just the same a moment later. `I wonder what's up with her… she's been acting slightly different for the last few weeks…ever since… I met with Naruto that night…she did ask me to meet up with him there for him…does she think I'm dating him or something?' Ino chuckled softly at the thought. `…although it isn't something to be too terribly embarrassed about nowadays. He has changed a lot in the last three years. He's stronger, smarter, deeper, and he's still he still has that ability to make you trust him… Plus he'd be a good boyfriend. There's no one as loyal or caring than Naruto. He still hasn't forgotten that Sasuke is his teammate, even though he left him for dead after betraying us all.' The blond kunoichi had given up Sasuke after the Chunin exams when he rejected her once again. She figured that if he was also rejecting Forehead, who he fought alongside with every day, there was probably no chance she'd get him to acknowledge her. Unlike Sakura who still had some feelings left for the traitor. It was still fun to tease her friend's feelings every now and then about when they were younger. `How did Naruto lose to Sasuke again…? I remember that Tsunade-sama had to operate on him herself and that he wasn't allowed to do anything other than rest in the hospital. But no one said how he was so injured… Even after that, Naruto still tries to help him come back to the Leaf… poor guy, Sakura said they were like brothers…'

 

The bell above the door rang as her parents entered the flower shop, pulling Ino out of her train of thought. She looked up from her gaze with a surprised look on her face at the realization that she had been thinking of Naruto for almost half an hour.

 

“Thanks Ino, for watching the shop tonight…you can go now.” Her mother said while she rearranged some display signs. Inoichi passed the counter and stood behind his daughter, waiting patiently for her to move.

 

She obliged, “So what did you two do tonight?” as she rounded the corner.

 

“I took your mother out to dinner, why?”

 

“No reason…just wondering…” she waited for a few moments than began walking to the front door of the shop. “I'll be back later; I'm going to go train some.”

 

The shinobi watched as Ino left down the street before continuing his examination of the counter with a small smile on his face. He was proud to have a responsible daughter who followed his footstepsb as a ninja. His friends may jest at his lack of a son but he didn't care, his daughter and wife were his pride and joy. Inoichi would do anything for them and they knew it.

 

---

 

Naruto took off his orange jacket and threw it on his only chair. He was tired tonight and instant ramen followed by sleep sounded really good to him at the moment. He looked at the various boxes in his cupboard, picking out a roast chicken bowl and began to prepare it. “Damn three minutes…” he grumbled only to himself. He turned to look out his window to help pass the unbelievable amount of time it took for his ramen to be ready. It was only noodles and water, why did it take so long?

 

A small chipmunk pulled his attention from the purple sky. He watched the feeble creature gnaw at something in the pale light from his apartment window. `So peaceful.' He looked back at the bowl…two minutes left. Why ramen? Why does it take so long?

 

Naruto looked back outside the window for the little animal. Instead he saw one large eye peering at him over a book. He was waiting on a branch for his yellow haired pupil to open the window.

 

A non-ninja would have jumped, screamed or at least flinched but not those trained in Konoha. “Hey Kakashi-sensei, what do you need?” Naruto asked after sliding the window open.

 

“Yo, Naruto.” Kakashi said gleefully…as gleefully as Kakashi got. “First thing's this…” he trailed off as his hand reached behind his back. He pulled it to his front revealing a scroll. “You have a mission, from Tsunade-sama herself.”

 

“Why…?” he asked with a confused expression on his face. He took the scroll and examined it. “An A-Rank Mission! What is this?”

 

“Read it yourself. Anyway, here's the other reason I came by.” This time the jounin was holding a basket of fruit with a bento inside. “Eat this…at least try to make one meal a day something other than ramen…” He disappeared in a wave of leaves after that.

 

“Stupid fruit and vegetables… ramen has vegetables… don't see why I have to eat them…AH! It's done!” He ran over to his bowl of instant ramen (if you can call three minutes instant…) and broke open some chopsticks. “Itadakimasu.” That was the only heard before the blond devoured the bowl in less time than it took to make. “Ah…” he threw the bowl into the garbage and headed off to change for bed, all the while forgetting the scroll from his sensei on his counter.

 

 

 

A/N: A bit slow, I realize that, but necessary for the next few chapters. I'll try to get chapter 5 up sometime soon. And I know Naruto may seem a little OOC here, but it made sense to me that he take up some form of meditation. Simply yelling at the Kyuubi wouldn't quiet it down so a calmer mind seemed to leave a more lasting piece of mind for him. Other than that, review if you to. Any constructive criticism is appreciated and I'm more likely to devote time to writing more.