Spoiler: show
"For the last time, this is the same spot!"
"Come on, please! One more go around, we might be able to find it!"
Two young women were arguing in the forests near the Village Hidden in the Leaves - besides their voices, not much else was known about them because they had totally hidden their appearances under heavy, hooded cloaks, obscuring even their faces.
Their voices, however, were easy to make out: one woman's voice carried the overtones of your run-of-the-mill civilian girl - the other had a haughty presence to it.
They went for another walk through the forest trails until night finally fell.
"One... more... time... we might... just... get... lucky..." the younger one said at last.
"Oh, be quiet. If I knew that helping you out through this leg of your pilgrimage would be this tedious and annoying, I would have said no."
"Oh, come on... don't be like that. Besides, Dad said that he finished his pilgrimage at some sort of place called Kono-something-or-other."
"It's Konohagakure," the other girl corrected, "and we've combed the forests for several days now. No result."
"Sigh... I guess you're right. Of all the luck... maybe Cowboy-san's bad luck with the ladies is rubbing off on me..."
That's probably not the only thing he's rubbing off on you, the other girl thought. "Maybe. Look, let's go over to that town, ask for directions, and then we can finish your pilgrimage here," she suggested, pointing towards the lights in the distance that indicated a fairly large village, town, or city. "Deal?"
"Okay... deal."
***
Today was October 10.
Once again, the child was being pursued by the usual: drunken revelers made to perceive a distorted version of the truth, deciding to take justice into their own hands.
Unfortunately, today was not that day, as the boy had taken cover in an alley behind two cloaked strangers.
He saw the flash of blue eyes in the bigger figure, and was that recognition at his face he saw? He tried to escape the newest twist to this day's developments, but found that he was being held in place by a figure cloaked in shadow.
"This is supposed to be a festival," the smaller cloaked figure said upon seeing the men with unconcealed rage towards the boy. "Let me guess: it's your annual 'Beat-a-Child Festival'!"
"Shut up, lady! You don't know anything about that demon child!"
"Demon child, eh?" she replied. I guess we've found the reason for this long and annoying trip. Time to work out my frustrations. "If there's a demon here, then you're looking at one."
The smaller figure pulled down her hood, revealing the face of a decidedly strange woman: the hue of her blue-gray hair was reminiscent of a blade, yellow catlike eyes, very pointy ears and a horn in the middle of her forehead.
"M-m-m-monster!" a man yelled at her appearance.
"The correct term is... 'oni'..." the girl replied exasperatedly, producing a fan. "And for getting it wrong, I'm gonna make the whole lot of you... dance."
"Arrogant oni monster!" another yelled.
"Bad idea," the blue-eyed figure said. "Now you've made her mad."
The 'oni' snapped her fan open, and the figure in the shadows appeared, having given the child to the blue-eyed one.
"Now... dance for me."
***
The ANBU known as "Dog" saw the commotion from the tops of the buildings, deciding to call for reinforcements and set up a trap just in case these strange people who decided to do ANBU's job for them had other things in mind.
Fortunately, that was not the case, for as soon as the sounds of firecrackers started filling the alley, the would-be assailants ran out, clutching the soles of their feet whenever they could.
"Fucking psycho!"
"What the hell was that thing?"
"Agh, I got hit in the foot!"
"That's what you get for being so fucking slow!"
"Dog" chuckled under his mask as he decided to make his grand entrance. "Identify yourselves, please," he said.
"It looks like your little show got the cops here," the blue-eyed cloaked woman said. "We've found what we came for here anyway, right?"
"Right," the smaller woman said, with the source of those strange noises somehow disappearing. "Oh, police? Shouldn't you be going after those people? I guess today really is the 'Beat-a-Child-Festival' here..."
"No, but our detail is with the boy."
"Bodyguards, huh? Shouldn't you have one of yours in close?" the cloaked woman asked.
"Sadly, we can't spare that much, and one more thing: let the boy go."
"I took several weeks walking through God-forsaken forests helping little miss Bouncy here," the smaller woman said, pointing to her companion, "finish her pilgrimage, and run into all sorts of problems like bandits, bastards with black coats, rogue ninja, and chakra construct monsters on
our merry little way. Now that we've found what we came here for, we're not just going to give up. You might as well have to arrest us."
"Arrest? What are you on?" the cloaked woman whispered to her companion.
"Didn't your father say he knew a 'Hokage' person?" the oni woman whispered back, making the eyes of her cloaked companion light up in recognition. "If we go with them, we'll get to see that friend of your father's."
The cloaked woman nodded. "All right, but we want to meet with your Hokage."
The ANBU shrugged. "Very well, I'll have a team escort you."
"Not a problem," both women answered, likewise shrugging.
The boy who had clung onto the cloaked woman's leg had now fallen asleep and was now being carried by the larger woman.
Weird. Just weird, the ANBU thought, signaling to his team to help him escort this motley crew to the Hokage Tower.
***
"What brings you here on this day, Inu?" Sarutobi Hiruzen - the Sandaime Hokage of Konohagakure - asked as one of his ANBU had been given audience with the Hokage.
"Another attack, Hokage-sama," the ANBU answered.
"This totally wasn't what my predecessor had in mind," Hokage-sama grunted in frustration.
"My sensei would have reacted," the ANBU replied. "Anyway, two strangers saved the kid, we stepped in before anything else happened, and instead of raising a fuss or putting up a fight, they asked for a meeting with you."
"Hmm," the Sandaime said, sparing a moment off his paperwork for that thought. "Send them in, if you please."
As soon as the two women went into the Hokage's office, the blue-eyed woman took down the hood, revealing long red-black hair framing a strikingly beautiful face.
"Good evening, Hokage-sama. My father Nanbu Sanuki sends his regards."
"S-S-S-Sanuki Nanbu? But he went on his pilgrimage several decades..."
"Yes, and he told me all about meeting you, sir - I am his daughter Kaguya. And this," she said, pointing towards her companion, "is Princess Suzuka of the Shiki-Oni."
"Pleased to meet you, Hokage-sama," the smaller woman - Suzuka-hime - said.
"The honor is mine, I'm sure," the Hokage said, and was about to ask them the purpose of their visit when he suddenly remembered something. "Mind you, the air-conditioning seals were just discharged shortly before your arrival. It's going to get stifling here in a short while."
"Phew, thanks, Hokage-sama..." Kaguya said. "This cloak had been getting stuffy for a time now, what with all those people in the festival," she added, ditching the cloak and revealing her outfit: a white minidress with black trim that was several sizes too tight and revealed way too much: white slide-on sleeves and white thigh-high boots rounded out her ensemble.
Upon seeing the Sandaime Hokage's reaction at the sight of the young woman who would not have been out of place in one of both Hokage and ANBU's favorite series, "Dog" was at his master's side instantaneously, handing him a red handkerchief. "Hokage-sama," he said, getting an appreciative nod in return as the old man tactfully put the red cloth to his nose. Seriously, those things were as large - no, scratch that - they were DEFINITELY larger than that of the famed Sannin's.
In between applying pressure to his nose, the Sandaime was grateful to the entire pantheon of gods that his other student Jiraiya was away on his cloak-and-dagger business - the Toad Sage would have died of blood loss in several seconds flat.
"Suzuka, better ditch your coat too, it's gonna turn into a furnace in here," Kaguya told her companion, stretching herself and causing the faces of the two men in the room to redden a bit.
"Fine," the oni replied as she flapped a fan and a mechanical construct suddenly appeared, easing the heavy cloak off her.
Now it was the ANBU's turn to procure a red handkerchief of his own and stuff it through the mask, as the oni girl showed off her lithe physique in a blue dress that covered everything but the important details.
The bells attached to her twin-tail sideburns jingled and jangled every time she made a sudden movement - what was miles worse was that the cut of her dress accentuated her hips, which swayed this way and that as she tapped her feet in waiting for her companion to finish her business here.
Out of the corner of her eye, she could sense the ANBU's eyes moving in perfect synchronization to the swing of her hips, almost like a metronome.
"Keep it up if you're in the mood for some dancing," Suzuka-hime whispered, fan at the ready, causing the ANBU to shift his gaze at the ceiling.
Meanwhile, Kaguya had finished telling her story, and the reason why she went all the way from her home to Konoha.
"So your father picked up a Hoshi no Tama from the Kyuubi no Kitsune, and that's one of your final tasks in this pilgrimage of yours?" the Hokage asked, his composure kept as he maintained his gaze at the bridge of this young woman's nose. If his gaze strayed elsewhere, the Sandaime Hokage would have to be sent to the hospital for a blood transfusion, and he was already beginning to feel light-headed.
"Yes, Hokage-sama. That boy..."
"You are correct."
"I will use the fuin developed by my family to receive the gift from the Fox, Hokage-sama... but you don't look too well to oversee it. Maybe another day?"
"Yes... another day sounds good."
"Thank you, Hokage-sama."
"You're very welcome, Princess Kaguya."
"Now if you don't mind, Suzuka and I have some lodging for the night to find."
"Er... do put your cloaks back on before leaving the Tower. I, uh..." the Hokage said, "it wouldn't do a Hokage's reputation any good if..."
Nanbu Kaguya gave him a tilted-head glance until her companion jabbed her in the side with a wayward elbow. "Just do as he says," the oni girl said, her coat having been put back on by that weird construct that seemed to appear and disappear at the beck and call of her fans. Some sort of puppetry jutsu, perhaps? both Hokage and ANBU thought.
It need not be noted that it was a good thing both women had their cloaks on when they bowed to the Hokage before leaving.
Right after the two women left, the Hokage slumped over on his chair, the blood loss finally taking effect.
"Blood pills, Kakashi. Quickly. And get a team of ANBU to call Jiraiya back here, he'll need to oversee the Princess' end of the pilgrimage."
"Yes, Hokage-sama," "Dog" said, handing the Hokage two blood pills and taking two himself - those swaying hips were more formidable than an A-Rank genjutsu.
"What do you think, Inu?" the Hokage asked after several minutes had passed and the blood pills took effect. "This will be interesting."
"Indeed, Hokage-sama... things will be very interesting." And we'll be seeing one or two new characters in the sequel - if our author friend won't keel over upon seeing them.
"Come on, please! One more go around, we might be able to find it!"
Two young women were arguing in the forests near the Village Hidden in the Leaves - besides their voices, not much else was known about them because they had totally hidden their appearances under heavy, hooded cloaks, obscuring even their faces.
Their voices, however, were easy to make out: one woman's voice carried the overtones of your run-of-the-mill civilian girl - the other had a haughty presence to it.
They went for another walk through the forest trails until night finally fell.
"One... more... time... we might... just... get... lucky..." the younger one said at last.
"Oh, be quiet. If I knew that helping you out through this leg of your pilgrimage would be this tedious and annoying, I would have said no."
"Oh, come on... don't be like that. Besides, Dad said that he finished his pilgrimage at some sort of place called Kono-something-or-other."
"It's Konohagakure," the other girl corrected, "and we've combed the forests for several days now. No result."
"Sigh... I guess you're right. Of all the luck... maybe Cowboy-san's bad luck with the ladies is rubbing off on me..."
That's probably not the only thing he's rubbing off on you, the other girl thought. "Maybe. Look, let's go over to that town, ask for directions, and then we can finish your pilgrimage here," she suggested, pointing towards the lights in the distance that indicated a fairly large village, town, or city. "Deal?"
"Okay... deal."
***
Today was October 10.
Once again, the child was being pursued by the usual: drunken revelers made to perceive a distorted version of the truth, deciding to take justice into their own hands.
Unfortunately, today was not that day, as the boy had taken cover in an alley behind two cloaked strangers.
He saw the flash of blue eyes in the bigger figure, and was that recognition at his face he saw? He tried to escape the newest twist to this day's developments, but found that he was being held in place by a figure cloaked in shadow.
"This is supposed to be a festival," the smaller cloaked figure said upon seeing the men with unconcealed rage towards the boy. "Let me guess: it's your annual 'Beat-a-Child Festival'!"
"Shut up, lady! You don't know anything about that demon child!"
"Demon child, eh?" she replied. I guess we've found the reason for this long and annoying trip. Time to work out my frustrations. "If there's a demon here, then you're looking at one."
The smaller figure pulled down her hood, revealing the face of a decidedly strange woman: the hue of her blue-gray hair was reminiscent of a blade, yellow catlike eyes, very pointy ears and a horn in the middle of her forehead.
"M-m-m-monster!" a man yelled at her appearance.
"The correct term is... 'oni'..." the girl replied exasperatedly, producing a fan. "And for getting it wrong, I'm gonna make the whole lot of you... dance."
"Arrogant oni monster!" another yelled.
"Bad idea," the blue-eyed figure said. "Now you've made her mad."
The 'oni' snapped her fan open, and the figure in the shadows appeared, having given the child to the blue-eyed one.
"Now... dance for me."
***
The ANBU known as "Dog" saw the commotion from the tops of the buildings, deciding to call for reinforcements and set up a trap just in case these strange people who decided to do ANBU's job for them had other things in mind.
Fortunately, that was not the case, for as soon as the sounds of firecrackers started filling the alley, the would-be assailants ran out, clutching the soles of their feet whenever they could.
"Fucking psycho!"
"What the hell was that thing?"
"Agh, I got hit in the foot!"
"That's what you get for being so fucking slow!"
"Dog" chuckled under his mask as he decided to make his grand entrance. "Identify yourselves, please," he said.
"It looks like your little show got the cops here," the blue-eyed cloaked woman said. "We've found what we came for here anyway, right?"
"Right," the smaller woman said, with the source of those strange noises somehow disappearing. "Oh, police? Shouldn't you be going after those people? I guess today really is the 'Beat-a-Child-Festival' here..."
"No, but our detail is with the boy."
"Bodyguards, huh? Shouldn't you have one of yours in close?" the cloaked woman asked.
"Sadly, we can't spare that much, and one more thing: let the boy go."
"I took several weeks walking through God-forsaken forests helping little miss Bouncy here," the smaller woman said, pointing to her companion, "finish her pilgrimage, and run into all sorts of problems like bandits, bastards with black coats, rogue ninja, and chakra construct monsters on
our merry little way. Now that we've found what we came here for, we're not just going to give up. You might as well have to arrest us."
"Arrest? What are you on?" the cloaked woman whispered to her companion.
"Didn't your father say he knew a 'Hokage' person?" the oni woman whispered back, making the eyes of her cloaked companion light up in recognition. "If we go with them, we'll get to see that friend of your father's."
The cloaked woman nodded. "All right, but we want to meet with your Hokage."
The ANBU shrugged. "Very well, I'll have a team escort you."
"Not a problem," both women answered, likewise shrugging.
The boy who had clung onto the cloaked woman's leg had now fallen asleep and was now being carried by the larger woman.
Weird. Just weird, the ANBU thought, signaling to his team to help him escort this motley crew to the Hokage Tower.
***
"What brings you here on this day, Inu?" Sarutobi Hiruzen - the Sandaime Hokage of Konohagakure - asked as one of his ANBU had been given audience with the Hokage.
"Another attack, Hokage-sama," the ANBU answered.
"This totally wasn't what my predecessor had in mind," Hokage-sama grunted in frustration.
"My sensei would have reacted," the ANBU replied. "Anyway, two strangers saved the kid, we stepped in before anything else happened, and instead of raising a fuss or putting up a fight, they asked for a meeting with you."
"Hmm," the Sandaime said, sparing a moment off his paperwork for that thought. "Send them in, if you please."
As soon as the two women went into the Hokage's office, the blue-eyed woman took down the hood, revealing long red-black hair framing a strikingly beautiful face.
"Good evening, Hokage-sama. My father Nanbu Sanuki sends his regards."
"S-S-S-Sanuki Nanbu? But he went on his pilgrimage several decades..."
"Yes, and he told me all about meeting you, sir - I am his daughter Kaguya. And this," she said, pointing towards her companion, "is Princess Suzuka of the Shiki-Oni."
"Pleased to meet you, Hokage-sama," the smaller woman - Suzuka-hime - said.
"The honor is mine, I'm sure," the Hokage said, and was about to ask them the purpose of their visit when he suddenly remembered something. "Mind you, the air-conditioning seals were just discharged shortly before your arrival. It's going to get stifling here in a short while."
"Phew, thanks, Hokage-sama..." Kaguya said. "This cloak had been getting stuffy for a time now, what with all those people in the festival," she added, ditching the cloak and revealing her outfit: a white minidress with black trim that was several sizes too tight and revealed way too much: white slide-on sleeves and white thigh-high boots rounded out her ensemble.
Upon seeing the Sandaime Hokage's reaction at the sight of the young woman who would not have been out of place in one of both Hokage and ANBU's favorite series, "Dog" was at his master's side instantaneously, handing him a red handkerchief. "Hokage-sama," he said, getting an appreciative nod in return as the old man tactfully put the red cloth to his nose. Seriously, those things were as large - no, scratch that - they were DEFINITELY larger than that of the famed Sannin's.
In between applying pressure to his nose, the Sandaime was grateful to the entire pantheon of gods that his other student Jiraiya was away on his cloak-and-dagger business - the Toad Sage would have died of blood loss in several seconds flat.
"Suzuka, better ditch your coat too, it's gonna turn into a furnace in here," Kaguya told her companion, stretching herself and causing the faces of the two men in the room to redden a bit.
"Fine," the oni replied as she flapped a fan and a mechanical construct suddenly appeared, easing the heavy cloak off her.
Now it was the ANBU's turn to procure a red handkerchief of his own and stuff it through the mask, as the oni girl showed off her lithe physique in a blue dress that covered everything but the important details.
The bells attached to her twin-tail sideburns jingled and jangled every time she made a sudden movement - what was miles worse was that the cut of her dress accentuated her hips, which swayed this way and that as she tapped her feet in waiting for her companion to finish her business here.
Out of the corner of her eye, she could sense the ANBU's eyes moving in perfect synchronization to the swing of her hips, almost like a metronome.
"Keep it up if you're in the mood for some dancing," Suzuka-hime whispered, fan at the ready, causing the ANBU to shift his gaze at the ceiling.
Meanwhile, Kaguya had finished telling her story, and the reason why she went all the way from her home to Konoha.
"So your father picked up a Hoshi no Tama from the Kyuubi no Kitsune, and that's one of your final tasks in this pilgrimage of yours?" the Hokage asked, his composure kept as he maintained his gaze at the bridge of this young woman's nose. If his gaze strayed elsewhere, the Sandaime Hokage would have to be sent to the hospital for a blood transfusion, and he was already beginning to feel light-headed.
"Yes, Hokage-sama. That boy..."
"You are correct."
"I will use the fuin developed by my family to receive the gift from the Fox, Hokage-sama... but you don't look too well to oversee it. Maybe another day?"
"Yes... another day sounds good."
"Thank you, Hokage-sama."
"You're very welcome, Princess Kaguya."
"Now if you don't mind, Suzuka and I have some lodging for the night to find."
"Er... do put your cloaks back on before leaving the Tower. I, uh..." the Hokage said, "it wouldn't do a Hokage's reputation any good if..."
Nanbu Kaguya gave him a tilted-head glance until her companion jabbed her in the side with a wayward elbow. "Just do as he says," the oni girl said, her coat having been put back on by that weird construct that seemed to appear and disappear at the beck and call of her fans. Some sort of puppetry jutsu, perhaps? both Hokage and ANBU thought.
It need not be noted that it was a good thing both women had their cloaks on when they bowed to the Hokage before leaving.
Right after the two women left, the Hokage slumped over on his chair, the blood loss finally taking effect.
"Blood pills, Kakashi. Quickly. And get a team of ANBU to call Jiraiya back here, he'll need to oversee the Princess' end of the pilgrimage."
"Yes, Hokage-sama," "Dog" said, handing the Hokage two blood pills and taking two himself - those swaying hips were more formidable than an A-Rank genjutsu.
"What do you think, Inu?" the Hokage asked after several minutes had passed and the blood pills took effect. "This will be interesting."
"Indeed, Hokage-sama... things will be very interesting." And we'll be seeing one or two new characters in the sequel - if our author friend won't keel over upon seeing them.
Spoiler: show
a. An easily-frightened, easily-frazzled and neurotic Kyuubi no Yoko. She'll play the role of big sister to Naruto. The confinement in the seal turned her into that, by the way.
(We can also have a Tsundere Kyuubi. Speaking of which, have there been fics featuring a Tsundere Kyuubi?)
b. Either Naruto learns Jinraku Tengen, meaning swordsman with thought-controlled kunai as backup...
c. No Kage Bunshin for Naruto!
d. The two characters that appear here will technically not be in the story - just flashbacks.
e. If you guys don't feel like a Swordmaster!Naruto, why not a PuppetMaster!Naruto - complete with orange-and-black Jyaki-GUN-Oh variant?
(We can also have a Tsundere Kyuubi. Speaking of which, have there been fics featuring a Tsundere Kyuubi?)
b. Either Naruto learns Jinraku Tengen, meaning swordsman with thought-controlled kunai as backup...
c. No Kage Bunshin for Naruto!
d. The two characters that appear here will technically not be in the story - just flashbacks.
e. If you guys don't feel like a Swordmaster!Naruto, why not a PuppetMaster!Naruto - complete with orange-and-black Jyaki-GUN-Oh variant?
