And Special Thanks to gman, doc.exe, and especially ewuvi for various parts in the planning process they played.
So, without further ado, here's Chapter one of "Something that totally needs an awesome Title, but doesn't yet have one (Name subject to change)"
Spoiler: show
Jiraiya, the legendary Toad Mountain Sage and one third of the Sannin heaved a mighty sigh. On the one hand, the mood in the Village was cheerful and festive as people from across the Elemental Countries gathered for Konoha’s hosting of the Chunin exam. Many were especially excited by the prospects who had made it this year; apparently, a preliminary match had to be held after the second test due to too many candidates passing, so the winners had to be really amazing, right?
But it was all lost on the Hermit, as his reasons for being in the village were far more serious. About six years ago, Konoha’s jinchuuriki, his godson, had mysteriously vanished without any explanation as to where he could be. So the Old Man he called Sensei had practically gotten on his hands and knees and begged his student to try and find the child. Jiraiya would never admit out-loud that he hadn’t needed to go even half that far to convince him to do it. So he had spent the past six years tearing everywhere from Wave to Lightening apart looking for the missing kid.
But now he’d have to face the Old Man with nothing to show for it. He had managed to figure out, on the day the boy went missing, that a lumberjack living just outside of Konoha had seen a strange flash of light, but couldn’t find anything at the source. The Hermit, being much more knowledgeable about such matters, had discerned two things the moment he had seen the site; firstly, that the aged sealing array that had been painstakingly marked in the clearing was definitely Minato’s handiwork, and secondly, that Space-time Ninjutsu activated by such a massive seal could have plonked the boy anywhere. For all Sage knew, the boy had traveled back in time and had become his own grandfather! But having to tell the Third that was a whole other matter.
Jiraiya blinked as he heard a muffled squeak and dull thud from in front of and behind him, followed by a short series of coos. Apparently he had been so caught-up in his own thoughts, he had missed whoever he had run into. Looking down, he saw a girl who had to be no older then ten, wearing a white cloak and rubbing her hooded head. But the small beast aloft beside her is what got the Sage’s attention; blue and white body, a small ring in what he assumed was an ear, wings flapping softly to keep it aloft, and obviously reptilian features. The little ten-year old girl he had run into had a dragon for a pet. Nobody had seen one in nearly forever! The girl had to be from somewhere truly… far away… Oh, now this was a gamble even his old team-mate wouldn’t pass-up on in his position.
“Ah, sorry miss,” He began, aiming for his best “fun grandfather” voice, (which he absolutely hadn’t been practicing it since Kushina had started showing, no way no how) “I was too caught up in my thoughts and didn’t watch where I was going.”
“Ah, I wasn’t paying attention either.” The girl says to him, pulling down her hood to reveal her blue eyes, “I’m not from around here so I was caught up in the atmosphere; I’ve never seen a festival this big.” Oh-ho? Not from around here? Now he was really intrigued.
“No, no; it’s the responsibility of adults like myself to take fault in such events. But, I have to wonder why, if you’ve never been to Konoha before, you decided to come now.” The girl’s answer would be crucial to if he’d have a tangible lead or not; it was make or break time.
“Ah, well a friend of mine used to live here a while ago,” she answers quickly, “since now was the only time he could come, he asked me and my other friend to come with him, since his family was all busy. But we decided to split-up to cover more ground while he went to see somebody, so I ended up here.”
Jackpot. A friend who used to live here a while ago and only having been able to come back recently almost pegged the identity of the person squarely. Now Jiraiya only had to confirm it all.
“Well, little Miss,” he says, giving the girl the best “nice-guy” smile he can manage, (a far cry from Maito Gai, he hopes) “since I know this village like the back of my hand, it’d be unbecoming if I didn’t offer to show you around.” The girl smiles happily, clapping he hands together and nodding.
“Yes, that would be great, Mister…”
“Jiraiya,” he says easily, “They call me Jiraiya.”
“Thank you, Mister Jiraiya,” she replies with a small bow, “My name is Caro ru Lushe, and this here is my partner, Fried.” The small dragon coos happily as an introduction. Jiraiya gives a small nod as he starts guiding the girl through the crowds. Today might not be as bad as he thought!
----
Chapter 1: The World Without You
----
Erio Modial could appreciate the work that must have gone into the creation of this village. Sure, it wasn’t as large as half of The Bureau’s facilities, much less the cities, but when one considered how low the level of technology was on the planet, even something this size was quite a marvel. He had decided to instruct Strada to take pictures of the city at various intervals; not only would it give them a good idea of the layout of the village, but he could send some of the better pictures home to Fate-san. Quickly, he checked Strada for the time, letting the device snap another picture; he should be meeting up with Caro and Naruto-san soon.
“Hey kid, did you get separated from Mommy…?”
“N-No… P-Please leave me alone…”
“Hey, look at these glasses. Bet they’re real important to you, huh you little Grass-bitch?”
“P-Please! Give them back! I can’t see without my glasses-!” Erio turned to the sound of laughter; a pair of older looking kids appeared to be picking on a younger girl, tossing a pair of glasses between them as she desperately (and unsuccessfully) fumbles around trying to retrieve them. All were wearing headbands with metal plates (the girl with a strange zigzag pattern the attackers with an intricate one reminding him of a snail), indicating their status as Ninja, or so Naruto-san had said.
“Sonic Move.”
Never the less, the first one never saw what hit him. The remaining bullies took a step backwards, glaring at the young boy as he pulled back his elbow and stood protectively in front of the now dumbfounded girl.
“I won’t let you continue tormenting this person,” he says confidently, returning the glare of any who dare look him in the eyes, “if you insist on continuing, I shall be your opponent!” Not that he was feeling too confident; since this was an un-administered world, he was quite limited in his ability to use magic, and he wasn’t a fist-fighter like Subaru-san. But if he backed-down now, what would he tell Caro and Fate-san? He braces himself for the coming onslaught.
But it never comes; a girl steps in front of him and decks the closest opponent with a large metal bar. Erio also hears a rattling sound behind him, and quickly turning his head to look, finds a strange boy dressed in black with a weird wooden humanoid shape draped across his shoulders.
“Now, now,” the latter says smugly, “do Konoha nin get off on picking on people smaller than them? You guys should be like the rest of us and spread the fun around!” The gang seemed to hesitate, but somebody within the group seemed to muster their courage and charge, the rest following his lead.
The “battle” ended a mere thirty seconds later, the 4 standing in the center of a ring of their downed opponents.
“You twerps all right?” The man in black asks, wrapping his strange weapon back up in bandages. Erio why several lines have been pained on his face, especially since the blonde female lacked them; must be a personal thing, he reasons.
“M-My glasses…” Erio nods, retrieving them from the grip of a downed opponent before handing them to the young girl. Her cheeks are tinged red as she carefully places them back on her face, finally getting a good look at her saviours.
“Thank you for saving me,” she mumbles, shuffling her feet, “I’m-.”
“Oi, Karin,” somebody from the crowd shouts in their general direction, “Sensei’s ready to leave! Hurry up and get back here will ‘ya?” The girl lets out a squeak, apologizing to the three around her before heading towards the voice.
“Karin-san!” Erio find himself calling out, stopping the girl for a second, “I’m Erio, Erio Mondial! Let’s meet again some day!” Karin smiles broadly, before disappearing into the crowed.
“So, kiddo, that was an interesting move you used; were you here for the Chunin exams?” The young knight feels himself tense-up. The boy in black had noticed his Sonic Move; he’d have to be careful to not have himself found out.
“No, it’s something my guardian taught me,” it’s not a complete lie, Fate-san had taught it to him, “I’m only here with some friends of mine. What is the “Chunin exam”…?” It would be good to get some information on this world.
“Ah, I see; I didn’t recognize you from the exams so I was wondering. But to not know of the exams… you must be from some small village far away huh?” Erio clenches his hands a couple times before the blonde takes over.
“I guess the short version of it is that it’s a promotion examination set up by multiple countries in place of full-board wars. It’s split into a written component, a survival exercise, and a combat tournament. Anybody who makes it to the last stage can be promoted regardless of if they win their fights or not; it’s up to the Leader of the respective villages.”
“Of course, promotion isn’t exactly the reason we’re here…” The boy in black says, earning a glare from the blonde. Erio decided it was best not to ask.
“I should get going now; my friends are waiting for me. Thank you for your help.” He says, giving a short bow to the two.
“It’s no problem,” the boy in black says, “but if you’re ever in Sand, look us up. I’m Kankuro and this is my Sister, Temari.” Erio nods, before heading off to meet Caro and Naruto-san, waving at the two ninja. Hopefully he wouldn’t be too late.
----
Shikamaru sighed as he watched the clouds lazily float by. He envies Ino and Chouji, passed out in blissful unconsciousness beside him on the bench. Asuma-sensei had been pushing them even since the end of the preliminaries, apparently due to some bet the Jounin had had about the outcomes. Because of that, Asuma had taken it out on Team 10, busting their butts since the end of the exam preliminaries. So they were taking the brief respite to get some much needed rest.
Or, at least Chouji and Ino were, he on the other hand was finding it hard to slip into the brink of blissful unconsciousness. His mind kept working furiously with all the information he’d been subject to since the start of this blasted exam. That one team especially stood out like a sore thumb; the only member of their team not to pass the preliminaries had earned a double knock out because Chouji ran him over. And of course, the team from Sound had been swaggering around with supposed superiority, and had tried to kill Sasuke during the second exam to boot. Shikamaru was quite sure he never wanted to get near Team 7 again. But it wasn’t all adding up to him, and what did add up required large leaps of logic that took him into really bad places he didn’t want to think about. And he couldn’t push it out of his mind, so here he was, stuck awake.
“Yo!” Oh, great, now his sleep-deprived brain is making him hallucinate too. Standing in front of him is the Naruto Uzumaki, dressed in a burnt orange jacket and with some strange wheeled device attached to the bottom of his shoes.
“What do you want?” The Nara asks in exasperation. The Hallucination blinked at him.
“Well I was going to go through the city looking for all of you guys to say hello and stuff since it’s been so long. Then I was going to get some Ichiraku for lunch, meet up with my team-mates, and then go see old man Hokage. So do you know where everybody else is?”
“I don’t know and I don’t care,” Shikamaru answers, “it’s too troublesome to keep up with everybody. Go ask Iruka-sensei or something; let me sleep.”
“Why didn’t I think of that? Thanks Shikamaru, you really are the smart one!” And with that the hallucination rolls away and jumps off the side of the building, leaving the lazy boy to yawn, mutter to himself about how troublesome that was, before finally falling asleep.
---
She took several deep breaths, sitting in a meditative pose in front of one of the training posts. Even since the preliminary exams, she had known her current skill set wouldn’t be enough to win another round, so she was using the month grace period to pull off something that could give her an advantage. But she was finding the only options available to her to be particularly hard to pull off. Space-time ninjutsu happened to be her specialty, but she had never gone beyond packing things into her scrolls before, thus this new version was getting the best of her.
Judge concept of creation, she thought, listing the steps involved as she went through them, hypothesize basic structure, arrange component materials, and…
“What are you doing, Sempai?” Tenten inwardly sighed, cracking an eye open to see a worried looking face hovering over her.
“I was meditating to perfect the steps for my new Jutsu,” she says, mouth pulling into a small smirk, “until somebody decided to interrupt me.” The face instantly turns a shade of red, shirking back out of embarrassment.
“I just thought, since you were working so hard, you’d want lunch…” Tenten can’t help but smile; they’re just so adorable when you tease them!
“No, it’s okay Sakura; I was going to break for lunch soon anyways.” Sakura nods, setting down the small basket. The two had formed a strange friendship following the preliminaries; Tenten had, seeing how poor the girl was skill-wise, decide to make an offer to help her train. Now, when she had made the offer, she had expected something similar to how most kunoichi-prospects of her generation were, as it was delicately put, “rampaging fangirls”. But Sakura had turned out to be a rather sweet girl (barring a temper that would leave even Neji thinking twice) albeit somewhat paranoid.
“So,” Tenten asks, digging into the bento Sakura had prepared, “how goes team training?”
“It doesn’t,” the pink-haired girl replies indifferently, “Sensei’s been busy keeping everybody in line. Combined with training for the exams, he hasn’t had time to train me.” Tenten winces a little at that; she knows that the only reason Gai-sensei works most with Lee is because the boy needed it most. But from her observations, Sakura is the member of her team lagging most behind in skill making Tenten question what the poor girl’s Jounin-sensei is thinking.
“Alright then; how about, after lunch, we do some training. Together.” The pink-haired Kunoichi looks somewhat flustered from the proposal.
“But, don’t you need to train for the exams?” She asks, ducking her head to stare at her empty bento.
“Its fine,” Tenten says, waving dismissively, “I’m sure helping you out will help me in the long run anyways. And I can practice my new Jutsu at any time, but you’re here now, right?” Sakura’s smile made the older girl take a mental note to start carrying around sunglasses.
----
Iruka watchs in fascination as his former student fusses around the small kettle, checking several things and muttering to himself. The boy is now a far cry from where he had been when Iruka had least seen him; no longer a small, hyperactive bundle of energy, whatever the boy has been doing these past years seems to have mellowed him out far more than the academy teacher probably could have.
“Tea’s done.” Naruto says, placing a cup in front of his former teacher. Apparently, the years apart have also given the boy the ability to make some damn fine tea too, Iruka muses as he takes a sip.
“Heheh,” Naruto chuckles, watching the chunnin across from him taste the beverage, “Dad’s somewhat of a Tea aficionado, and he’s got a lot of meeting with people with the same tastes. Since I’m working as his assistant, tea brewing became somewhat of a second nature to me.” Iruka nods and takes another sip; he’s not quite sure where the boy’s been –and intends to tell the Hokage as soon as he can, of course- but from the little he’s revealed, the boy was somehow able to find a loving family who took him in and raised him. Good for him, Iruka thinks to himself, he’s certainly earned it.
“So, Naruto,” the teacher says, deciding to cut to the chase, “where have you been all this time…?” The boy stops for a second, heaving a sigh. It seems he knew the question would be asked sooner or later, and when he looks back at Iruka, it’s with the most serious expression the man had ever seen on the boy’s face.
“Iruka-sensei… if you want me to tell you where I’ve been, you have to promise me you won’t tell anybody, even Old Man Hokage; I’m gonna tell him myself. If you start telling everybody, I’ll really get in serious trouble, understand?” Iruka nods dumbly; it’s not the kind of tone he would have expected from a former student, much less somebody like Naruto… but he knows he can’t disagree, and can’t say for sure he won’t uphold the terms. The boy seems to relax, giving him a relaxed smile.
“Well, I won’t go into everything, ‘cause that’d take a while, and I’ve still got things I want to do today, but the short version is that I ended up on planet called Mid-Child. Dad found me passed out outside his house, and adopted me since I had nowhere to go.” He pauses to take a sip of his own tea.
“From there, I’ve been in training to be a mage for the Time-Space Administration Bureau; both of my sisters are already mages, and Dad’s a Major of a Battalion for them. I’m not very good yet though, and I’m still really low in the hierarchy, but I’ll definitely become a top mage one day, believe it!” Iruka can’t help but chuckle; he doesn’t really understand what Naruto’s saying –not that he doubts the boy’s story- but he’s glad he’s not completely different at least.
“So, to what do we owe the honour of the Great Mage Naruto’s return?” He chuckles a bit at the moniker, rubbing the back of his head.
“Well, even though Konoha wasn’t the greatest place to grow up, I was still feeling a bit homesick, and I was wondering how everybody was. I was hoping I could get something set up so I could visit everybody once in a while; maybe introduce everybody to my family…”
“You’re here alone now then?” Iruka can’t fathom how they’d let him come all this way completely alone.
“No, no, no. I’d never be allowed to come alone, but since Dad and my sisters were too busy to come, he asked a friend of his if there was anybody who could accompany me. She gave him two people who are both higher-ranked then I am, and were also able to easily take the time off. They’re friends of Onee-chan to boot!
“Now, what happened to everybody in the class? I was hoping to see Shikamaru, Chouji and them today too.” Sure, they hadn’t been the closest of friends, but Naruto had made it a point to remember the names of all eight of his classmates who had warranted his attention; Shikamaru, Chouji and Kiba had skipped the few classes he had taken with him, Sakura had stricken him as pretty at the time and Ino was remembered by that association, Sasuke had been way to awesome at everything, Shino liked bugs (which to his six-year-old mind was the single most awesome thing ever), and Hinata had never said anything bad about him. Of course, his memory of them was both short and somewhat fuzzy, but he had been hoping they could become friends. Heck, he could even beat Sasuke with his awesome magical powers! But the way Iruka-sensei looks at the floor makes his stomach turn.
“A… lot of things happened while you were gone,” the teacher manages to lamely say after several seconds, “they all graduated and became full fledge shinobi of the Leaf…”
“Well, what’s the problem…?”
“…Well, their Senseis decided to enter them in the Chunin exam. They were able to make it past the first two parts, but everybody but Kiba ended up failing the preliminaries for the third. Most of them weren’t seriously injured, and Sasuke and Chouji got out of the Hospital shortly after… but Hinata…” The Small table in the Academy’s break room shakes as Naruto’s hands slam against it.
“What happened?”
----
Sakura hits the ground with a groan. Again, she notes mentally. She’s never been able to land a solid blow on Sempai, though not for lack of trying.
“You’re still over extending,” Tenten chastises softly, offering her a hand, “if you can’t help it, you have to fully continue with the motion to put you in a different position. As you are, your recovery is a huge opening.” Sakura nods, smiling as Sempai helps her up. Wordlessly, they return to their positions, resetting for another round. And, lo, and behold, a few minutes later, the younger kunoichi founder herself staring at the sky and dizzily wondering why.
The simple spars were just one of the few ways in which Sempai trained; sometimes Sakura would be show how to perform a simple taijutsu move, then Tenten would stand in as the target for it (which was always followed up next session with Sakura being asked to repeat what she had learned), or they’d both try and learn something together. And she needs to learn; she can’t be a burden to her team any more. Sure, she knows Kakashi-sensei is strong, really strong, but she knows that even he won’t be able to stop her team mates if they decide she’s holding them back.
Sakura shakes her head, trying to clear her train of thought. Unfortunately, it was just as Sempai threw a powerful elbow strike at her; normally even at her current level, she could easily side-step the attack, or some other parry. But, in her distracted state, the elbow smashed into her chest, sending her tumbling backwards. She feels her head strike against something solid, and hears a popping noise as the world seems to blur and she slumps to the ground with a moan.
“Ah! Sakura!? Are you okay?” Oh, Sempai’s concerned; having people worry about you is nice, she figures.
“I-I’m… fine…” As if to prove her point, Sakura tries to stand, but fails with a cry; her ankle hurts too much to stand. Tenten gives her a strange look before easily picking her up.
“That’s it,” she says softly, “I’m going to take you to the hospital. Get your ankle checked and make sure you don’t have a concussion.” Giving a slight affirmative noise, Sakura is amazed by how easily Sempai makes carrying her look.
----
The girl gazes out the hospital window with an almost unreadable expression. It was the first time she had been able to do so since the match, but it was still an empty milestone for her. It had been impossible; she had known that from the start. It wasn’t destiny, but it had been predetermined. Kurenai-sensei, her team-mates, Neji’s team-mates and Sakura-san had all told her how amazing she had been, even if she had lost. How she had refused to stop getting up even though it had seemed so obvious that she would loose. That she had managed to hit the Hyuuga Prodigy, even if it was a glancing, nigh ineffective blow. And truthfully, a part of her was proud of the accomplishment too. Unfortunately, it was small in comparison to the rest of her mind that drowned out the sliver of pride with a chorus of a single phrase.
“You may never be an active ninja again.” That’s what the doctors had told her after she had finally woken up. It was a simple phrase, one that many ninja would be rattled by, but would eventually overcome and settle into a quieter life. But for her, it was even more devastating than the time her father had made it clear that she was a failure to him and their clan; back then, she still had her dream to cling to, and deep down she had believed her father would have to accept her. But, Neji had had the last laugh in the end, even though she was pretty sure he wouldn’t even realize he had.
But her dream was ruined now, with no way to ever really achieve it in her condition. And without that simple supporting pillar, in her life, the despair was starting to get to her. She would probably be placed into the branch family, sold in a political marriage, or just simply abandoned to the life she had become ill-suited to.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered to herself, hoping somehow the words would carry to the only other person who should hear them, “I can’t keep our promise any more. I’ve failed.”
“HINATA!”
She’s not sure if the shout of her name from the strange yet familiar voice is what first catches her attention, or if it’s the way the door is slammed open. But now, standing in the doorway, is something she can’t quite believe; a blond haired, blue-eyed boy, panting heavily, with three whisker-like lines on his cheeks, poking out from hastily applied bandages.
“Na… ru… to… kun…?” Today is the first day Hinata Hyuuga wishes she was a fainter.
But it was all lost on the Hermit, as his reasons for being in the village were far more serious. About six years ago, Konoha’s jinchuuriki, his godson, had mysteriously vanished without any explanation as to where he could be. So the Old Man he called Sensei had practically gotten on his hands and knees and begged his student to try and find the child. Jiraiya would never admit out-loud that he hadn’t needed to go even half that far to convince him to do it. So he had spent the past six years tearing everywhere from Wave to Lightening apart looking for the missing kid.
But now he’d have to face the Old Man with nothing to show for it. He had managed to figure out, on the day the boy went missing, that a lumberjack living just outside of Konoha had seen a strange flash of light, but couldn’t find anything at the source. The Hermit, being much more knowledgeable about such matters, had discerned two things the moment he had seen the site; firstly, that the aged sealing array that had been painstakingly marked in the clearing was definitely Minato’s handiwork, and secondly, that Space-time Ninjutsu activated by such a massive seal could have plonked the boy anywhere. For all Sage knew, the boy had traveled back in time and had become his own grandfather! But having to tell the Third that was a whole other matter.
Jiraiya blinked as he heard a muffled squeak and dull thud from in front of and behind him, followed by a short series of coos. Apparently he had been so caught-up in his own thoughts, he had missed whoever he had run into. Looking down, he saw a girl who had to be no older then ten, wearing a white cloak and rubbing her hooded head. But the small beast aloft beside her is what got the Sage’s attention; blue and white body, a small ring in what he assumed was an ear, wings flapping softly to keep it aloft, and obviously reptilian features. The little ten-year old girl he had run into had a dragon for a pet. Nobody had seen one in nearly forever! The girl had to be from somewhere truly… far away… Oh, now this was a gamble even his old team-mate wouldn’t pass-up on in his position.
“Ah, sorry miss,” He began, aiming for his best “fun grandfather” voice, (which he absolutely hadn’t been practicing it since Kushina had started showing, no way no how) “I was too caught up in my thoughts and didn’t watch where I was going.”
“Ah, I wasn’t paying attention either.” The girl says to him, pulling down her hood to reveal her blue eyes, “I’m not from around here so I was caught up in the atmosphere; I’ve never seen a festival this big.” Oh-ho? Not from around here? Now he was really intrigued.
“No, no; it’s the responsibility of adults like myself to take fault in such events. But, I have to wonder why, if you’ve never been to Konoha before, you decided to come now.” The girl’s answer would be crucial to if he’d have a tangible lead or not; it was make or break time.
“Ah, well a friend of mine used to live here a while ago,” she answers quickly, “since now was the only time he could come, he asked me and my other friend to come with him, since his family was all busy. But we decided to split-up to cover more ground while he went to see somebody, so I ended up here.”
Jackpot. A friend who used to live here a while ago and only having been able to come back recently almost pegged the identity of the person squarely. Now Jiraiya only had to confirm it all.
“Well, little Miss,” he says, giving the girl the best “nice-guy” smile he can manage, (a far cry from Maito Gai, he hopes) “since I know this village like the back of my hand, it’d be unbecoming if I didn’t offer to show you around.” The girl smiles happily, clapping he hands together and nodding.
“Yes, that would be great, Mister…”
“Jiraiya,” he says easily, “They call me Jiraiya.”
“Thank you, Mister Jiraiya,” she replies with a small bow, “My name is Caro ru Lushe, and this here is my partner, Fried.” The small dragon coos happily as an introduction. Jiraiya gives a small nod as he starts guiding the girl through the crowds. Today might not be as bad as he thought!
----
Chapter 1: The World Without You
----
Erio Modial could appreciate the work that must have gone into the creation of this village. Sure, it wasn’t as large as half of The Bureau’s facilities, much less the cities, but when one considered how low the level of technology was on the planet, even something this size was quite a marvel. He had decided to instruct Strada to take pictures of the city at various intervals; not only would it give them a good idea of the layout of the village, but he could send some of the better pictures home to Fate-san. Quickly, he checked Strada for the time, letting the device snap another picture; he should be meeting up with Caro and Naruto-san soon.
“Hey kid, did you get separated from Mommy…?”
“N-No… P-Please leave me alone…”
“Hey, look at these glasses. Bet they’re real important to you, huh you little Grass-bitch?”
“P-Please! Give them back! I can’t see without my glasses-!” Erio turned to the sound of laughter; a pair of older looking kids appeared to be picking on a younger girl, tossing a pair of glasses between them as she desperately (and unsuccessfully) fumbles around trying to retrieve them. All were wearing headbands with metal plates (the girl with a strange zigzag pattern the attackers with an intricate one reminding him of a snail), indicating their status as Ninja, or so Naruto-san had said.
“Sonic Move.”
Never the less, the first one never saw what hit him. The remaining bullies took a step backwards, glaring at the young boy as he pulled back his elbow and stood protectively in front of the now dumbfounded girl.
“I won’t let you continue tormenting this person,” he says confidently, returning the glare of any who dare look him in the eyes, “if you insist on continuing, I shall be your opponent!” Not that he was feeling too confident; since this was an un-administered world, he was quite limited in his ability to use magic, and he wasn’t a fist-fighter like Subaru-san. But if he backed-down now, what would he tell Caro and Fate-san? He braces himself for the coming onslaught.
But it never comes; a girl steps in front of him and decks the closest opponent with a large metal bar. Erio also hears a rattling sound behind him, and quickly turning his head to look, finds a strange boy dressed in black with a weird wooden humanoid shape draped across his shoulders.
“Now, now,” the latter says smugly, “do Konoha nin get off on picking on people smaller than them? You guys should be like the rest of us and spread the fun around!” The gang seemed to hesitate, but somebody within the group seemed to muster their courage and charge, the rest following his lead.
The “battle” ended a mere thirty seconds later, the 4 standing in the center of a ring of their downed opponents.
“You twerps all right?” The man in black asks, wrapping his strange weapon back up in bandages. Erio why several lines have been pained on his face, especially since the blonde female lacked them; must be a personal thing, he reasons.
“M-My glasses…” Erio nods, retrieving them from the grip of a downed opponent before handing them to the young girl. Her cheeks are tinged red as she carefully places them back on her face, finally getting a good look at her saviours.
“Thank you for saving me,” she mumbles, shuffling her feet, “I’m-.”
“Oi, Karin,” somebody from the crowd shouts in their general direction, “Sensei’s ready to leave! Hurry up and get back here will ‘ya?” The girl lets out a squeak, apologizing to the three around her before heading towards the voice.
“Karin-san!” Erio find himself calling out, stopping the girl for a second, “I’m Erio, Erio Mondial! Let’s meet again some day!” Karin smiles broadly, before disappearing into the crowed.
“So, kiddo, that was an interesting move you used; were you here for the Chunin exams?” The young knight feels himself tense-up. The boy in black had noticed his Sonic Move; he’d have to be careful to not have himself found out.
“No, it’s something my guardian taught me,” it’s not a complete lie, Fate-san had taught it to him, “I’m only here with some friends of mine. What is the “Chunin exam”…?” It would be good to get some information on this world.
“Ah, I see; I didn’t recognize you from the exams so I was wondering. But to not know of the exams… you must be from some small village far away huh?” Erio clenches his hands a couple times before the blonde takes over.
“I guess the short version of it is that it’s a promotion examination set up by multiple countries in place of full-board wars. It’s split into a written component, a survival exercise, and a combat tournament. Anybody who makes it to the last stage can be promoted regardless of if they win their fights or not; it’s up to the Leader of the respective villages.”
“Of course, promotion isn’t exactly the reason we’re here…” The boy in black says, earning a glare from the blonde. Erio decided it was best not to ask.
“I should get going now; my friends are waiting for me. Thank you for your help.” He says, giving a short bow to the two.
“It’s no problem,” the boy in black says, “but if you’re ever in Sand, look us up. I’m Kankuro and this is my Sister, Temari.” Erio nods, before heading off to meet Caro and Naruto-san, waving at the two ninja. Hopefully he wouldn’t be too late.
----
Shikamaru sighed as he watched the clouds lazily float by. He envies Ino and Chouji, passed out in blissful unconsciousness beside him on the bench. Asuma-sensei had been pushing them even since the end of the preliminaries, apparently due to some bet the Jounin had had about the outcomes. Because of that, Asuma had taken it out on Team 10, busting their butts since the end of the exam preliminaries. So they were taking the brief respite to get some much needed rest.
Or, at least Chouji and Ino were, he on the other hand was finding it hard to slip into the brink of blissful unconsciousness. His mind kept working furiously with all the information he’d been subject to since the start of this blasted exam. That one team especially stood out like a sore thumb; the only member of their team not to pass the preliminaries had earned a double knock out because Chouji ran him over. And of course, the team from Sound had been swaggering around with supposed superiority, and had tried to kill Sasuke during the second exam to boot. Shikamaru was quite sure he never wanted to get near Team 7 again. But it wasn’t all adding up to him, and what did add up required large leaps of logic that took him into really bad places he didn’t want to think about. And he couldn’t push it out of his mind, so here he was, stuck awake.
“Yo!” Oh, great, now his sleep-deprived brain is making him hallucinate too. Standing in front of him is the Naruto Uzumaki, dressed in a burnt orange jacket and with some strange wheeled device attached to the bottom of his shoes.
“What do you want?” The Nara asks in exasperation. The Hallucination blinked at him.
“Well I was going to go through the city looking for all of you guys to say hello and stuff since it’s been so long. Then I was going to get some Ichiraku for lunch, meet up with my team-mates, and then go see old man Hokage. So do you know where everybody else is?”
“I don’t know and I don’t care,” Shikamaru answers, “it’s too troublesome to keep up with everybody. Go ask Iruka-sensei or something; let me sleep.”
“Why didn’t I think of that? Thanks Shikamaru, you really are the smart one!” And with that the hallucination rolls away and jumps off the side of the building, leaving the lazy boy to yawn, mutter to himself about how troublesome that was, before finally falling asleep.
---
She took several deep breaths, sitting in a meditative pose in front of one of the training posts. Even since the preliminary exams, she had known her current skill set wouldn’t be enough to win another round, so she was using the month grace period to pull off something that could give her an advantage. But she was finding the only options available to her to be particularly hard to pull off. Space-time ninjutsu happened to be her specialty, but she had never gone beyond packing things into her scrolls before, thus this new version was getting the best of her.
Judge concept of creation, she thought, listing the steps involved as she went through them, hypothesize basic structure, arrange component materials, and…
“What are you doing, Sempai?” Tenten inwardly sighed, cracking an eye open to see a worried looking face hovering over her.
“I was meditating to perfect the steps for my new Jutsu,” she says, mouth pulling into a small smirk, “until somebody decided to interrupt me.” The face instantly turns a shade of red, shirking back out of embarrassment.
“I just thought, since you were working so hard, you’d want lunch…” Tenten can’t help but smile; they’re just so adorable when you tease them!
“No, it’s okay Sakura; I was going to break for lunch soon anyways.” Sakura nods, setting down the small basket. The two had formed a strange friendship following the preliminaries; Tenten had, seeing how poor the girl was skill-wise, decide to make an offer to help her train. Now, when she had made the offer, she had expected something similar to how most kunoichi-prospects of her generation were, as it was delicately put, “rampaging fangirls”. But Sakura had turned out to be a rather sweet girl (barring a temper that would leave even Neji thinking twice) albeit somewhat paranoid.
“So,” Tenten asks, digging into the bento Sakura had prepared, “how goes team training?”
“It doesn’t,” the pink-haired girl replies indifferently, “Sensei’s been busy keeping everybody in line. Combined with training for the exams, he hasn’t had time to train me.” Tenten winces a little at that; she knows that the only reason Gai-sensei works most with Lee is because the boy needed it most. But from her observations, Sakura is the member of her team lagging most behind in skill making Tenten question what the poor girl’s Jounin-sensei is thinking.
“Alright then; how about, after lunch, we do some training. Together.” The pink-haired Kunoichi looks somewhat flustered from the proposal.
“But, don’t you need to train for the exams?” She asks, ducking her head to stare at her empty bento.
“Its fine,” Tenten says, waving dismissively, “I’m sure helping you out will help me in the long run anyways. And I can practice my new Jutsu at any time, but you’re here now, right?” Sakura’s smile made the older girl take a mental note to start carrying around sunglasses.
----
Iruka watchs in fascination as his former student fusses around the small kettle, checking several things and muttering to himself. The boy is now a far cry from where he had been when Iruka had least seen him; no longer a small, hyperactive bundle of energy, whatever the boy has been doing these past years seems to have mellowed him out far more than the academy teacher probably could have.
“Tea’s done.” Naruto says, placing a cup in front of his former teacher. Apparently, the years apart have also given the boy the ability to make some damn fine tea too, Iruka muses as he takes a sip.
“Heheh,” Naruto chuckles, watching the chunnin across from him taste the beverage, “Dad’s somewhat of a Tea aficionado, and he’s got a lot of meeting with people with the same tastes. Since I’m working as his assistant, tea brewing became somewhat of a second nature to me.” Iruka nods and takes another sip; he’s not quite sure where the boy’s been –and intends to tell the Hokage as soon as he can, of course- but from the little he’s revealed, the boy was somehow able to find a loving family who took him in and raised him. Good for him, Iruka thinks to himself, he’s certainly earned it.
“So, Naruto,” the teacher says, deciding to cut to the chase, “where have you been all this time…?” The boy stops for a second, heaving a sigh. It seems he knew the question would be asked sooner or later, and when he looks back at Iruka, it’s with the most serious expression the man had ever seen on the boy’s face.
“Iruka-sensei… if you want me to tell you where I’ve been, you have to promise me you won’t tell anybody, even Old Man Hokage; I’m gonna tell him myself. If you start telling everybody, I’ll really get in serious trouble, understand?” Iruka nods dumbly; it’s not the kind of tone he would have expected from a former student, much less somebody like Naruto… but he knows he can’t disagree, and can’t say for sure he won’t uphold the terms. The boy seems to relax, giving him a relaxed smile.
“Well, I won’t go into everything, ‘cause that’d take a while, and I’ve still got things I want to do today, but the short version is that I ended up on planet called Mid-Child. Dad found me passed out outside his house, and adopted me since I had nowhere to go.” He pauses to take a sip of his own tea.
“From there, I’ve been in training to be a mage for the Time-Space Administration Bureau; both of my sisters are already mages, and Dad’s a Major of a Battalion for them. I’m not very good yet though, and I’m still really low in the hierarchy, but I’ll definitely become a top mage one day, believe it!” Iruka can’t help but chuckle; he doesn’t really understand what Naruto’s saying –not that he doubts the boy’s story- but he’s glad he’s not completely different at least.
“So, to what do we owe the honour of the Great Mage Naruto’s return?” He chuckles a bit at the moniker, rubbing the back of his head.
“Well, even though Konoha wasn’t the greatest place to grow up, I was still feeling a bit homesick, and I was wondering how everybody was. I was hoping I could get something set up so I could visit everybody once in a while; maybe introduce everybody to my family…”
“You’re here alone now then?” Iruka can’t fathom how they’d let him come all this way completely alone.
“No, no, no. I’d never be allowed to come alone, but since Dad and my sisters were too busy to come, he asked a friend of his if there was anybody who could accompany me. She gave him two people who are both higher-ranked then I am, and were also able to easily take the time off. They’re friends of Onee-chan to boot!
“Now, what happened to everybody in the class? I was hoping to see Shikamaru, Chouji and them today too.” Sure, they hadn’t been the closest of friends, but Naruto had made it a point to remember the names of all eight of his classmates who had warranted his attention; Shikamaru, Chouji and Kiba had skipped the few classes he had taken with him, Sakura had stricken him as pretty at the time and Ino was remembered by that association, Sasuke had been way to awesome at everything, Shino liked bugs (which to his six-year-old mind was the single most awesome thing ever), and Hinata had never said anything bad about him. Of course, his memory of them was both short and somewhat fuzzy, but he had been hoping they could become friends. Heck, he could even beat Sasuke with his awesome magical powers! But the way Iruka-sensei looks at the floor makes his stomach turn.
“A… lot of things happened while you were gone,” the teacher manages to lamely say after several seconds, “they all graduated and became full fledge shinobi of the Leaf…”
“Well, what’s the problem…?”
“…Well, their Senseis decided to enter them in the Chunin exam. They were able to make it past the first two parts, but everybody but Kiba ended up failing the preliminaries for the third. Most of them weren’t seriously injured, and Sasuke and Chouji got out of the Hospital shortly after… but Hinata…” The Small table in the Academy’s break room shakes as Naruto’s hands slam against it.
“What happened?”
----
Sakura hits the ground with a groan. Again, she notes mentally. She’s never been able to land a solid blow on Sempai, though not for lack of trying.
“You’re still over extending,” Tenten chastises softly, offering her a hand, “if you can’t help it, you have to fully continue with the motion to put you in a different position. As you are, your recovery is a huge opening.” Sakura nods, smiling as Sempai helps her up. Wordlessly, they return to their positions, resetting for another round. And, lo, and behold, a few minutes later, the younger kunoichi founder herself staring at the sky and dizzily wondering why.
The simple spars were just one of the few ways in which Sempai trained; sometimes Sakura would be show how to perform a simple taijutsu move, then Tenten would stand in as the target for it (which was always followed up next session with Sakura being asked to repeat what she had learned), or they’d both try and learn something together. And she needs to learn; she can’t be a burden to her team any more. Sure, she knows Kakashi-sensei is strong, really strong, but she knows that even he won’t be able to stop her team mates if they decide she’s holding them back.
Sakura shakes her head, trying to clear her train of thought. Unfortunately, it was just as Sempai threw a powerful elbow strike at her; normally even at her current level, she could easily side-step the attack, or some other parry. But, in her distracted state, the elbow smashed into her chest, sending her tumbling backwards. She feels her head strike against something solid, and hears a popping noise as the world seems to blur and she slumps to the ground with a moan.
“Ah! Sakura!? Are you okay?” Oh, Sempai’s concerned; having people worry about you is nice, she figures.
“I-I’m… fine…” As if to prove her point, Sakura tries to stand, but fails with a cry; her ankle hurts too much to stand. Tenten gives her a strange look before easily picking her up.
“That’s it,” she says softly, “I’m going to take you to the hospital. Get your ankle checked and make sure you don’t have a concussion.” Giving a slight affirmative noise, Sakura is amazed by how easily Sempai makes carrying her look.
----
The girl gazes out the hospital window with an almost unreadable expression. It was the first time she had been able to do so since the match, but it was still an empty milestone for her. It had been impossible; she had known that from the start. It wasn’t destiny, but it had been predetermined. Kurenai-sensei, her team-mates, Neji’s team-mates and Sakura-san had all told her how amazing she had been, even if she had lost. How she had refused to stop getting up even though it had seemed so obvious that she would loose. That she had managed to hit the Hyuuga Prodigy, even if it was a glancing, nigh ineffective blow. And truthfully, a part of her was proud of the accomplishment too. Unfortunately, it was small in comparison to the rest of her mind that drowned out the sliver of pride with a chorus of a single phrase.
“You may never be an active ninja again.” That’s what the doctors had told her after she had finally woken up. It was a simple phrase, one that many ninja would be rattled by, but would eventually overcome and settle into a quieter life. But for her, it was even more devastating than the time her father had made it clear that she was a failure to him and their clan; back then, she still had her dream to cling to, and deep down she had believed her father would have to accept her. But, Neji had had the last laugh in the end, even though she was pretty sure he wouldn’t even realize he had.
But her dream was ruined now, with no way to ever really achieve it in her condition. And without that simple supporting pillar, in her life, the despair was starting to get to her. She would probably be placed into the branch family, sold in a political marriage, or just simply abandoned to the life she had become ill-suited to.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered to herself, hoping somehow the words would carry to the only other person who should hear them, “I can’t keep our promise any more. I’ve failed.”
“HINATA!”
She’s not sure if the shout of her name from the strange yet familiar voice is what first catches her attention, or if it’s the way the door is slammed open. But now, standing in the doorway, is something she can’t quite believe; a blond haired, blue-eyed boy, panting heavily, with three whisker-like lines on his cheeks, poking out from hastily applied bandages.
“Na… ru… to… kun…?” Today is the first day Hinata Hyuuga wishes she was a fainter.
