Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Three ❯ Chapter 2 ( Chapter 2 )

A/N: whoa, my brain feels so fried. finals are coming up and all I can do is study, study, study. oh yeah, thanks a bundle for the reviews. reading them makes me wanna write more, hehe. I'm trying to get these chapters written as fast as I can. oh well, I hope you enjoy this one.

Disclaimer: sorry, don't own Naruto, wish I did, but I don't.

Translations:

Kyuubi: Nine-Tails-Fox Youkai

kozou: kid (slang)

nani: what

dobe: dead last, loser

chikuso: dammit

iie: no

hai: yes

kawaii: cute

gomen nasai: I'm sorry

sankyu: thank you

eto/ano: umm, uh

yuri: lily

kunoichi: female ninja

yosh: alright!

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Three

by: Lostlily

Chapter 2

Drip....Drip.....Drip...Naruto slowly stood. Water? This place...he's been here before. He looked around the dark, water-filled halls. He entered one of the shadowed doors, splashing through the water, yet strangely he wasn't feeling it. The young genin knew this place. As he neared his destination, he could feel the heavy red chakra become stronger and stronger.

He could hear his heartbeat in his ears thumping away...bump-bump...bump-bump...Barred doors come into view. He could clearly see the seal that kept them closed. He remembered last time he was here. A dark chuckle comes from the darkness behind the bars, a familiar chuckle.

He raised his blue eyes to the piercing red ones, staring at him. Bump-bump..bump bump...bumpbumpbumpbumpbump...his heartbeat quickens. Clenching his hands into fists, he murmured quietly, "Kyuubi..."

The dark voice rumbled with faint amusement, "So, kozou, you've come to me again."

Naruto asked hesitantly, "Do...Do you know why I'm here?"

"Ah...you haven't notice it yet. Can't you feel it? They're coming for you."

"N-Nani!? Who's coming for me?" Naruto's fists started shaking as the youkai laughed darkly.

"You'll see..."

Naruto jerked awake, sitting up quickly. Sweat trickled down the sides of his face as his chest heaved with his panting breathes. He placed his hand on his chest, grasping at his shirt as he tried to calm his racing heart. A dream? He wasn't sure.

He looked down, wondering what it all meant. The Kyuubi said they were coming for him, but who are they? He turned his gaze to the window of his small motel room. The sky was barely beginning to brighten with the new morning light. He let out a sigh as he pushed the blankets asides and stood. Might as well start the day...no way he was going back to sleep after that weird dream.

Three hours later, Team 7 was on the road, heading back for the Hidden Leaf Village. They were all quiet as they walked, surprisingly even Naruto. Sakura thought back to last night when they told their sensei about what they overheard from the Sand-nin. Kakashi had just shrugged and told them not to worry about it and that it was probably just a rumor. She thought to herself, 'A rumor? I very much doubt it. Is Kakashi-sensei hiding something from us? Where did he go last night?'

Sasuke kept glancing at Naruto, feeling disturbed by his strange silence. 'What's wrong with him? He's been like this all morning.' Finally he said, "Oi, Dobe. What's with you today? You're not acting like yourself."

Roused from his thoughts, Naruto blinked, then rubbed the back of his head and gave one of his closed eye laughs, "Haha...I don't know what you mean, Sasuke, I'm perfectly fine, really!" Sasuke stared at Naruto with surprise, 'He didn't even react from my dobe comment.'

Grinning, Naruto quickened his pace moving to the front of the group. Once his back was towards them, his eyes slowly open and his grin faded into a more troubled expression. 'What did that dream mean? Who's coming for me?' He was so preoccupied with his thoughts that he didn't even realize that the others were looking at him with concern.

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Two days of traveling later, the team finally reached the Leaf Village. With a simple "Ja ne!" Kakashi poofed away and Sasuke just headed off without a word. Sakura waved goodbye before she trailed after Sasuke asking for a date. Naruto watched his teammates walk away for a moment, then turned and headed for the training ground where he had earned the name of genin. As he walked, he could feel the cold stares of some of the people he passed by. His gaze lowered to the ground as their whispers reach his ears.

"Look, it's that kid."

"The one who has that thing inside of him, right?"

"Hai. I don't know why they let him become a shinobi."

"Don't go near him, he's dangerous."

Naruto broke into a run, not stopping until he reached the training ground. Fighting back tears of anger, hate and pain, he started punching one of the posts. THUMP "Chikuso!" THUMP "Why!?" THUMP "Why do they still look at me like that?" THUMP "Why can't they see that I'm not Kyuubi?" THUMP "I'm not him...I'm Naruto!!" THUMP "Why can't they see?" THUMP "I'm Naruto..." He stopped punching and moved forward until his forehead rested against the post. Brokenly his whispered, "I'm...Naruto..."

A couple of hours later, Naruto was still at the training ground, sitting against the post he was punching earlier. He had taken his forehead protector off and was now gazing down at it, then he sighed softly. Suddenly a lily flower appeared in front of his face and he let out a cry of surprise. Slowly his eyes started to travel from the flower to the pale hand holding it, then up the slender arm that eventually lead to a kind face. He found himself staring into a pair of blue-violet eyes that seemed almost cat-like in appearance. Then he took in the whole image before him. Black hair midway down the back, facial features so well put together that he felt his cheeks flush slightly, a slender form clad in a dark purple chinese shirt, black drawstring pants, and black sandals. The only thought that popped up in his head was, 'She's so kawaii!'

The girl, who seemed to be the same age as him, knelt down in front of him, a smile of apology upon her soft lips as she said softly, "Gomen nasai, I didn't mean to scare you. You looked so lonely sitting there and I just thought you could use some cheering up."

Naruto gave an embarrassed laugh as he accepted the flower from her, "Sankyu." The girl smiled happily. It was then that it suddenly hit him, why didn't he sense her approaching him? He gazed at her thoughtfully, "Are you a ninja?"

The girl tilted her head slightly, "Hai, a genin."

"Ah, so that's why I didn't sense you coming towards me."

"But aren't you a ninja as well?"

"Eto..." (^^;)

The girl giggled, "It's ok, I'm just very good at sneaking around. Ano...may I ask what your name is?"

"Heh, it's Uzumaki Naruto."

"Hmm...It's nice to meet you...Naruto-kun," the female shinobi murmured as she stared at him with slight smile. Naruto felt strange about the way she said his name. It was as if she were greeting an old friend rather than making a new acquaintance. He felt himself blush from her staring, so he looked down at the flower in his hand.

"Yuri."

Naruto glanced at her with confusion, "Eh? I already know what kind of flower this is." The girl laughed softly, "Iie, that's not what I meant. My name is Yuri."

"Ah, like this flower."

"Hai."

He studied her for moment, wondering why he's never seen her before. It was strange. She seemed to be the same age as him, yet he didn't remember seeing her at the academy. "Ano...Yuri-san, did you just become a genin?"

"Iie, I've been a genin for about a year now," her gaze wandered to the setting sun, "Just like you..." Naruto blinked with surprise. How was that possible? When he became a genin, there were only nine rookies who earned the title and Yuri wasn't one of them. He was starting to get an uneasy feeling about this girl. Who was she? Was she even from the village? Was she a some sort of spy? Naruto got to his feet as Yuri watched from the corner of her eye.

"Who are you?" Naruto demanded after he put his forehead protector back on. Yuri slowly stands and faces him. She stared at him for moment, then let out a soft sigh, "I told you, my name is Yuri."

Blue eyes narrowed, "You're not from this village, are you?" The young kunoichi shook her head, then took a step toward him, causing him to back up into the post. "You don't have to worry, I'm not a spy or anything."

A trickle of sweat slid down a whisker-marked cheek, "If you're not here to spy, then why are you here?" He began to perspire more as Yuri moved until she was right in his face with a strange smile on her lips.

"I'm here for you."

"N-nani?"

"I've been looking for you...Uzumaki Naruto."

The boy gulped nervously as he stared at the slightly shorter girl before him. Looking for him? Why? Then it hit him, Kyuubi's words began to echo in his mind, 'They're coming for you...' This girl, was she the one that Kyuubi was talking about?

Yuri suddenly stepped away from him, her eyes glancing to the side briefly before looking back to him, "You and I are the same. When he comes, everything will be clear. I promise." She smiled at him one last time, then she was gone, leaving the young ninja standing there with a shocked expression on his face.

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That's how Iruka found him when he entered the clearing a minute later. He had gone searching for his former student when he didn't show up at the ramen bar this evening. The worried chuunin had checked the boy's apartment, only to find that he never returned there after coming back from his mission, so off he went to locate the boy. He slowly approached Naruto, wondering why he had such a strange expression on his young face.

"Naruto?" The boy blinked, then looked up at his former sensei. "Eh? Iruka-sensei! Eto...W-why are you here?"

"I was about to ask you the same thing. I was going to treat you to ramen today, remember?"

"Hehe...gomen, I forgot," the young ninja says as he rubbed the back of his head with embarrassment. The man just smiled warmly at his young friend, "Well, we still have to time to go if you'd like." Naruto pounced on him as he blabberd happily about ramen.

It was then that Iruka noticed the white flower on the ground. He picked it up and looked at it, "Eh? Where did this come from? This kind of flower doesn't grow around here." Naruto's eyes widened, then he quickly snatched the flower away as he said nervously, "A-ano...It's just something that I got from the village we had our mission in."

Iruka studied the boy for moment, knowing that he was lying, but not sure why. He decided to let him keep his secrets. If anything was wrong, he would tell him, right? He placed his hand on the boy's shoulder, "Let's go get that ramen."

Naruto sighed with relief before he punched his fist in the air and yelled out, "YOSH!"

Iruka's laughter echoed around as they both head for the village.

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Yuri stood on a high branch, watching as Naruto left with the young man just as the sun disappeared. A figure appeared on the branch above the one she was standing on. Quietly, she said, "I don't understand. Why does he look so happy now? Those villagers were so cruel to him earlier. Who is that man?"

"It's someone who's deceiving the boy. He's just pretending to like him because he fears the Kyuubi's powers."

Yuri frowned slightly, "But that look in his eyes when he looked at Naruto...it didn't look like fear."

"You're still young, you haven't fully seen how deceptive the world can be. Naruto can't see it as well. We must free him from this place so that he can be with kindred spirits like you and Gaara. You only have each in a world that's against shinobi's like you."

The young girl clencheed her hands into fists, a coldness settled in her eyes, making them darker, "Hai...we only have each other. We have to free him from this place where everyone hates him."

"Once you do that, you three we gain the strength to crush those who have hurt you."

Yuri lifted her gaze to sky as the stars began to awaken, the coldness in her eyes fading a bit as a touch of sadness and uncertainty crept in, then she murmured a bit hesitantly, "H-hai..."

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A/N: well, there you have it, another chapter finished and I've finally introduced the third child. I'm thinking of diving into her past in the next chapter. you know, just so ya get to know the poor girl better. hmm...tell me what ya think of the story so far, plz review! ja ne!!