Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Three ❯ Chapter 5 ( Chapter 5 )

Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto.

Translations:

honto: really

aa: yeah (slang)

itai: ouch, ow

ara: huh?

ne: right / ok / can also mean "hey" in some occasions

ano sa: a phrase that Naruto says a lot. it's something along the lines of "hey"

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Three

by: Lostlily

Chapter 5

Sasuke wearily walked up the stairs to his apartment. He, along with Sakura, had looked everywhere for Kakashi, only to be informed by a chuunin that their team leader was sent away on a mission. Even if they had found him, they weren't really sure what they were going to tell him. When they were spying on Naruto and the girl, they had found themselves too far to hear much, but from what they did hear, it didn't sound very good. The two teammates both agreed that they needed to have a serious talk with Naruto, so they decided to meet up at the blond's apartment the next day.

As Sasuke stood in front of his door, he had begun to wonder why he was so concerned over the other boy. He started to list all the reasons why he shouldn't care in his mind.

'He's loud and annoying. His eating habits are disgusting. All he ever talks about is ramen and becoming the next Hokage. He's a big showoff...' He frowned, 'And the baka takes needless risks with his life. He doesn't know when to run and give up. He's my rival and I hate him...I hate him for being so strong. I hate him for making me lose my focus on becoming an avenger. And most of all, I hate him for making me care.' The young shinobi shook his head with disgust, then opened the door.

The moment he set foot in the apartment, he knew there was something wrong. Calmly, he closed the door and walked into the middle of the room. His hand hovered close to the pouch on his leg as he asked, "What do you want?"

Yuri stepped into the pool of moonlight that poured in from the window. Her eyes took on an eerie glow as the light reflected off of them and the boy couldn't miss the tone of dislike in the cloud-nin's voice as she said, "I came to stop you from interfering with our plans."

Sasuke smirked as he held up a kunai that seemed to magically appear in his hand, "Honto? And how do you plan to stop me?"

"Any way I can," Yuri replied, her own kunai in hand. <a/n: so cliché, ne?. (^^;)> Sasuke's sharingan appeared as they both swiftly stuck towards each other, their kunai sparking in the darkness upon impact. Metal grated against metal for a few seconds, then CLANG CLANG, they struck again and again, then jumped back. The boy leapt into the air and sent several shuriken flying towards the young girl with deadly accuracy. Quickly, she deflected each one with her kunai, then she launched herself at him as he landed, sending a kick aimed for his head. The leaf-nin easily blocked the kick and countered with one of his own, which the kunoichi blocked as well. Unfortunately for her, she didn't know how excellent and fast Sasuke was at hand-to-hand combat, so she failed to block the fist that came plowing into her stomach, which sent her flying into the wall with a THUD.

Yuri fell to the ground as she coughed and tried to catch her breath. She lifted her head and glanced at her opponent, then gave a low hiss as she spotted the arrogant smirk on his lips. Fueled by anger, she jumped to her feet and launched herself at him again, attacking with a series of punches and kicks. Sasuke noted that her speed and technique seemed to rise a notch, but to him, it was nothing. He had, after all, copied Lee's taijutsu and he could have easily ended the fight the second it started, but he wanted to see what this girl was capable of.

The female shinobi felt her frustration throbbing throughout her body. She didn't dare use any ninjutsu attacks for fear that the destruction would alarm the sleeping villagers and she only knew a handful of genjutsu that wouldn't be much help at the moment. She slashed at the leaf-nin with her kunai, only to have it blocked again, then she suddenly cried out with pain as Sasuke's hand chopped down on her wrist, causing her to drop her weapon. Quickly she took out another and threw it at him, hitting him square in the chest...or so she thought. She was surprised to see her kunai embedded in a pillow instead of her opponent, results of the replacement technique. Instantly, she sensed his presence behind her, but before she could move, she felt the cold edge of his weapon against her throat.

Sasuke turned her and slammed her against the wall, then held his kunai up to her throat again, all in one motion, "Now you're going to answer some questions for me." He was a bit disappointed in her abilities. From the way she kept sensing him and Sakura, and the way she threw her kunai at them at the bridge, he had expected better. As he waited for her to speak, he found himself confused by the lack of worry in her eyes. She wasn't even looking at him, her gaze seemed to be focused...behind him?

Suddenly, the leaf-nin found himself held up a foot off the ground with his legs and arms bound to his body by sand. As he struggled to free himself, he thought, 'This jutsu...'

Yuri moves away from the wall as she looked towards the shinobi who held Sasuke captive, "Gaara! I thought you were arriving tomorrow."

The sand-nin didn't take his gaze away from his prisoner as he replied, "I got tired of the waiting, so I left early."

"But, how did you know I was here?"

"I could sense your chakra," Gaara said simply. Then he gave small, sinister smile, his open hand ready to close tightly to make the sand crush the life out of the other boy. The cloud-nin noticed and said with alarm, "Gaara, iie! You can't kill him."

Pale green eyes narrow at the girl, "Why not?"

"He's...he's one of Naruto's precious people, ne?"

"...Aa."

"Well, then you can't kill him because Naruto won't come with us if you do. I'll make sure he doesn't ruin our plans," Yuri said as she approached the captive shinobi. She pulled a small pouch out of her pocket and opened it. She turned it over and dumped the contents onto her palm. Out of the pouch came some strange purplish powder.

Sasuke increased his struggles, but the sand held him tight. The young kunoichi just smiled at the boy as she held her hand up close to his face, "Don't worry, this will just make you take a nice long nap, maybe for a day or two." She blew the powder towards him and she watched with satisfaction as it quickly took effect.

The dark-haired boy desperately tried to fight against the sleepiness that suddenly overcame him. He felt his limbs going limp and before he could think another thought, the darkness won him over.

Gaara's sand lets go of the unconscious boy, dropping him on the ground carelessly. Once all the sand was back in his gourd, his corked it, then he looked towards Yuri. She was staring down at the sleeping boy, a strange expression on her face. 'What is she thinking about?' He watched as she shook her head then gave a small smile towards him, "Let's go, Naruto's waiting."

The sand-nin nodded and then they were gone, leaving the young leaf-nin lying on the floor of his apartment with a slight breeze blowing through an open window.

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Naruto yawned as he walked down the path leading away from the village. When he and Yuri separated after their talk, he had thought a lot about what she told him. With every word he heard, the more he felt uneasy about his hasty decision to leave the Leaf Village. He paused in his walking. Could he really trust Yuri? He stared down at the ground for a moment, then he shook his head and smiled to himself. Of course he could trust her. He knew deep down inside that they would be good friends. It was a feeling he hadn't felt since he had first met Haku in the Wave Country. Feeling reassured, the blond genin continued to walk on.

He walked until he was about two kilometers away from the village. He was glancing around the clearing he was in, wondering why it looked so familiar, when he suddenly found himself falling in a 8 foot deep crevice in the ground. As clumsy as ever, he landed on his head, then fell onto his side. He sat up and rubbed his head with a muttered, "Itai..."

"Are you ok?"

Naruto glanced up, still rubbing his head, to see Yuri gazing down at him with some concern. He gave her one of his trademark fox grins as he said, "Hehe...Of course I'm ok! I meant to fall down this hole to...ano...to see if there was any enemies hiding in here!"

Yuri blinked at his reply, then just smiled and nodded. The leaf-nin nimbly climbed out of the crevice, then dusted himself off. Afterwards, he looked towards the girl, but was surprised to find that she wasn't alone. He pointed at the red-haired ninja standing next to her, "Ara? Gaara! W-what's he doing here?!"

"Ano...did you forget what I told you today? I'm sure I mentioned that he was coming. In fact, he arrived earlier than we planned," The kunoichi said, still smiling.

"Eto...Hai, I remember now," The blond shinobi claimed, even though he really didn't. "Ano sa, ano sa, it's been a while, ne Gaara?"

Gaara didn't reply, in fact, he wasn't even paying attention to his two companions. He appeared to be deep in thought as he stared down at the ground. Both Naruto and Yuri were curious as to what he was staring at, so they both walked over to him, standing on his left and right, then looked at the ground as well.

After a minute of staring, Naruto suddenly asks, "Ne ne...What are we looking for?"

Gaara muttered, "Baka...you don't remember this place?" He walked over to the crevice and tilted his head back, looking up at the night sky. His companions both looked at him with confusion, then Naruto finally took a careful glance around.

A majority of the surrounding trees were knocked over and the area appeared to be in a state of recuperating vegetation. He walked past some fallen trees to another clearing. The blond frowned, still not understanding what the sand-nin was talking about, until his gaze settled on a certain tree. He could almost see Sakura pinned against the tree with sand slowly squeezing the life out of her. His cerulean eyes moved to another spot in the clearing, the spot where he blocked Gaara's attack towards Sasuke. His gaze strayed toward the direction where Gaara and Yuri stood. He remembered what had happened here last year.

-flashback-

Gaara, in his final youkai form, surrounded Naruto with sand, ready to execute his Sababuu Sousou jutsu, when the young leaf shinobi yelled out, "I will protect Sakura-chan!! SUMMONING NO JUTSU!!" Out of the smoke appeared the a gigantic toad, wearing a robe and smoking a pipe. The toad's deep voice thunders out as he looked up towards the top of his head, "What's with you...YOU AGAIN!! Whaccha want?"

"GAMABUNTA! Like fight with me, would ya!! I'm counting on you, Boss!!"

Together, Naruto and Gamabunta fought against Gaara and Shukaku. It was a fierce battle as the giant toad and badger exchanged blows and it ended with Naruto nailing Gaara with a chakra-filled head butt. Shukaku disappeared in poof of smoke and Gamabunta did the same, leaving his sword embedded in the ground. Both boys had fallen to the ground, totally spent of chakra. Deciding to finish the fight, once and for all, they both launched towards each other, ready to deliver the final blow...

-end flashback-

Naruto found himself back in the clearing where he and Gaara had fallen after that last blow. Yuri watched both boys, wondering what it was about this place that brought such a strange look in their eyes. She looked around, also noting the obvious signs of new growth. Quietly she asked, "Ano...Was there battle here?"

After a moment of silence, Naruto gives her a big fox grin, then boasted, "Hai! This is the place where I kicked Gaara's ass!"

"Hmm...So this is the place where you fought." Blue-violet eyes rested upon Gaara. The red-haired ninja, just continued to silently stare up at the night sky. Not wanting to bother him tonight, Yuri gave a small sigh, then said, "Come on, we should get moving. We have a long way to go."

"Yosh!"

"Aa."