The Leaf and the Lightening Ch-1

The Leaf and the Lightening Ch-1

NOTE: Yah… some of you might not like fanchars (especially not girls *ahem*) but I decided to have a go anyway since I always end up creating a fanchar girl anyway I feel it’s pretty safe since I’m not into Sasuke or any of the mega-popular bishies and she won’t be going after them, I can assure you… =/
Anyway, some facts may be wrong… please tell me if you stumble over something that I really have to change. I know there’s no such thing as the lightening village (there’s a CLOUD village in the COUNTRY of lightning, but that sounds, excuse me, gay). Just wanted to tell you this
Also, this is my VERY first Naruto fic!!! I’ve been a Naruto fan for only around a month/a couple of months, so there might be some mistakes. Other than that, ENJOY ^___^

COPYRIGHTS: Naruto and related characters © respective owners. Yunai Kita and Kei © me.

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THE LEAF AND THE LIGHTENING
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CHAPTER 1.


The forest was extremely noisy at this point- birds were screaming, every animal seemed uneasy on some level… and then, there was the yelling. In the south-end of the forest, a horse’s scream suddenly pierced through, rising up over all the other sounds, and the calm surface of the lake was suddenly broken as the body of the pitch black horse broke the water.
“Go, Kei!!!”
The girl sitting on the back of the horse put her arms around its neck, holding on tightly as she avoided a kunai that flew through the air, “we’re gonna lose them, don’t worry…”
The horse seemed to pace up through the water in response, and soon, they were out of the water. The same second the horse’s hooves were on the ground, it went into gallop and disappeared through the trees. Just before figures raised from the water and walked ashore…

***
“Barbecued beef ramen, please!” Naruto slammed the money on the desk with a laugh, and the ramen-stand’s owner only frowned a little.
“Naruto… this is your twentieth bowl today…”
”I can handle it!” the blonde teenager smirked, “it trains the stomach, you know!” he stuck his tongue out as the bowl of ramen was handed to him, “besides, I’m having a b-rank mission tomorrow along with Sasuke and Sakura-chan… I have to save up energy!” he started stuffing his mouth.
“And you should be training too…”
The ramen instantly got stuck in Naruto’s throat as he heard the voice.
”Ero-sennin?!” he slowly turned around on the chair, sweat-dropping. Truly enough, his sensei was standing in front of him with a lifted eyebrow.
”And, what do you think you’re doing, Naruto?” Jirayia rolled his eyes with a sigh, “you left Kakashi and his team in the field, didn’t you?”
“I was hungry..!” Naruto folded his arms, sulking, “you woke me up and dragged me off so early I didn’t get any breakfast!”
Jirayia sighed again, shaking his head.
“We’re having a b-rank mission tomorrow… you can eat later…”
”But ero-sennin…”
”No… I’m gonna send you off to the west end of the forest to train alone, Naruto… when you have something worth the while to show me, you can come back and train with Kakashi, Sasuke and Sakura again, understand?”
“Sure…” Naruto muttered, “can I just eat my bowl of ramen first?”
“Naruto…” Jirayia frowned, “go…” he pointed towards the forest. Naruto let out a small growl, got off the chair and started walking towards the forest, mumbling angrily. Jirayia looked after him for the couple of minutes it took for Naruto to disappear out of sight. He then looked down at the bowl of ramen. Then up at the stand-owner.
“Is that barbecued beef ramen?”
The owner lifted an eyebrow, but nodded.
“Did he pay?”
”Yes sir…”
“Don’t mind me, then!” the old frog hermit grinned, snatched the bowl of ramen and walked off with a quiet laugh.

***
The ninjas still jumped from treetop to treetop- they had been doing this for hours on end, and they still hadn’t completed their mission… all of them had their faces covered, and only the headbands with the lightening-shaped lines on their foreheads revealed where they came from.
”I think she’s gone, Sehomara-san…” one of the nins that had previously been somewhere in the back made his way up to the leading one. His voice was deep and raspy, “ever since she got away from us at the lake, we haven’t seen a single horseshoe print. Maybe we should wait. And continue the search tomorrow. It’s getting dark in a couple of hours...”
the leading ninja frowned. He knew his second in command was right… however, the raikage would hardly be happy about the ninjas reporting with nothing at all…
“It’s obvious that we won’t catch her today…” he muttered to himself. “ok… we’ll camp.”
The next in command just nodded and turned around, jumping back into the rest of the group…

***
It had been quiet for several minutes now… even the birds were quiet in this area of the forest. A head suddenly poked out of some shrubbery and looked around.
“I… I think we lost them…”
The whisper penetrated the silence a little. The bushes then moved a little, and a black horse rose up from them with a snort. The girl, whose head had peeked out earlier, immediately jumped up from the bushes as well, grabbing the horse by the nose, hushing at him.
”That doesn’t mean you don’t have to stay quiet..!” she whispered, through gritted teeth, “ready to continue?”
The horse replied with a quieter snort. The girl then nodded to him, jumping onto his back.
”Come on then…” she patted his neck, and the horse started walking, “but be quiet, Kei..!”
This seemed to put a frown on the horse’s face and he let out another quiet snort, which made the girl slap him over the neck with a laugh. Suddenly, the horse stopped dead in his tracks, almost making the girl fall off.
“What’s wrong?” she whispered, jumping off the horse’s back, grabbing a hold of the reins. The horse was staring out into the air with his eyes narrowed, “this is not funny, Kei…” she glared at her horse, “if you-“ she was cut off as the horse suddenly grabbed her by the collar with his teeth and jumped in behind a bush. The girl was about to protest as she suddenly heard the mumbling coming from down the path…. Somebody was walking towards them.
”Good boy, Kei…” she whispered, barely audibly…

A couple of seconds later, the person finally stepped into sight…a blonde teenager, about the same age as the girl… wearing a funny looking orange pilot’s coat. And…
”A Konoha forehead protector…” the girl’s eyes widened, as she stared at the metal plate with the leaf symbol on the boy’s forehead, “what the…” she didn’t get to finish the sentence before Kei suddenly jumped up and charged towards the boy.
”KEI!!! NO!!!” the girl got up with a scream, grabbing Kei by the reins before he got anywhere. But she was only pulled with him…

***
Naruto was still muttering angrily to himself- cursing about trees among other things- as he walked through the forest, kicking every unfortunate little plant that got in his way.
“Stupid ero-sennin… he knows I’ve summoned enough stupid frogs by now..!” he kicked a small rock that laid on the path in front of him, “he’s not even-“ he fell silent as he suddenly heard a scream… it didn’t sound human… and before he could even think about this, a horse appeared on the path, galloping towards him. It was dragging a girl with it. She was holding it by the reins, but judging by her frustrated screams, she didn’t seem to have control over it at all…
“What the?!” Naruto stared at the horse for a second, then, turned around and started sprinting the other way with a scream. Of course this didn’t help much- the horse with the screaming girl soon caught up with him and started kicking, forcing Naruto to try and dodge.
“OI, LADY!!! CONTROL YOUR ANIMAL!!!” he screamed, avoiding the kicks that now seemed to come from everywhere. Suddenly, he felt one of the hooves hit directly into his chest… he tried to scream, but it was like all of his air had left his body… he fell to his knees, glaring at the girl who had finally stopped the horse… she was just staring at him. And her eyes were wide in what seemed to be… fear? Naruto shook his head and swore… and then, passed out…

The girl looked the unconscious boy on the ground over, still with her eyes wide open.
”Kei…” she turned to her horse with a deep frown, “maybe you shouldn’t have done that…” she started poking the blonde with the tip of her shoe, “we have enough trouble already…” she sighed, shaking her head with her eyes closed. The horse would’ve smirked if he could. He just frowned a little. The girl sighed again.
”The ninjas have stopped to camp somewhere… they haven’t moved for hours, I can feel that. And it’s getting dark, so… let’s do the same…” she rubbed her forehead, “but you’re gonna carry him!” she pointed at the boy, glaring at Kei “he’s gonna give us hell when he wakes up… but we have to take care of him ‘till then…”
Kei looked at her, surprised for a moment. Then snorted again, rolling his eyes as he walked over to the boy. The girl helped him get the boy onto his back, and the two started walking down the path to find a place to camp.
”Next time, knock out one of the lightening ninjas, will you?!”

***
His head hurt… in fact his entire body hurt… and he’d forgotten where he was… he slowly sat up, letting out a groan… ‘
“You’re awake?”
His eyes snapped open immediately as he heard the voice… a girl was sitting a distance from him, on a log. There was a small fire between them.
”You broke a lot of your ribs, I believe… I’m sorry.” She half smiled at him, “Naruto, was it?”
”Who are YOU?!” Naruto frowned at her, but let out a gasp as a jolt of pain shot through his chest and forced him to lie down again, “how did you know my name anyway?!”
“There were times where I thought you were awake… you kept mumbling ‘my name is Uzumaki Naruto’ over and over again as well as some other gibberish.” She let out a small laugh, “I supposed Naruto would be your name?”
”Maybe…” Naruto just stared up into the sky… it was pitch black already, and if it wasn’t for the fire, it’d probably have been freezing cold too. As he turned his head to the right, he noticed a cup of tea and some noodles stand beside him. And his stomach instantly started growling…
“It’s for you… you can eat it if you feel like it.”
Naruto slowly sat up again, being careful not to make his ribs hurt too much.
”Thanks… I suppose…” he muttered, slowly grabbing the bowl of noodles and the chopsticks while looking the girl over as he started eating. Her hair was pitch black and her eyes were a bright emerald green… he came to the conclusion that if she wasn’t wearing that robe, she’d probably be pretty… he instantly frowned at this thought and took a sip of tea… and was about to choke in it, staring at the cup as he tried to regain his breath.
”What the hell did you put in there, woman?!” he hissed, pointing at the cup that was now on the ground.
”You started getting a fever and I put some herbs into it.” The girl frowned a little, “I think Kei gave you a pretty wound as he bit you in the arm…”
“Kei?!”
The girl nodded backwards over her shoulder. As Naruto looked in the direction, he finally noticed the horse which was looking straight back at him… or glaring would be a better word…
“The crazy animal bit me too?” Naruto folded his arms and let out a snort, “doesn’t surprise me…”
“He just tried to protect me, baka…” the girl muttered, “he was just doing what he’s always done!”
“Protect you from who?”
The girl’s eyes widened for a second. She then frowned, shaking her head.
”No one…”
”Ah…” Naruto lifted an eyebrow, “oh yes… the trees are really big and scary in this forest, I know.” He smirked.
”You know nothing.” The girl sent him a glare, “and you shouldn’t either. Besides, you should get some sleep… I’ll bring you to the village of Konoha tomorrow.”
Naruto’s eyes widened in surprise for a second.
“Eh?!” he scratched his head, “how did you-“
”Forehead protector.”
”Oh… yah…” Naruto put a hand on the metal plate of his forehead protector, feeling the leaf symbol, “but I can go home myself, thank you!”
“In that condition, you’ll most likely fall over and pass out within the first three steps. I’m doing you a favor here, buddy!”
“Suppose you did when your crazy horse attacked me too?!” Naruto put the now empty noodle bowl down on the ground.
”I said I was sorry! And I gave you a good reason too.” The girl got up and started putting the fire out.
”Hey… what are you doing?! It’s gonna be freezing, lady!”
The girl just sent him a weird look over his shoulder as she threw a blanket to him.
”I don’t want certain people to find me.” She covered the fireplace with dirt, “I only made it to make noodles and tea for you.”
Naruto just looked at her with an eyebrow lifted for a couple of seconds but didn’t make any remarks. She confused him… but she still seemed to have her reasons.

Within half an hour, everything was put out and except for the two people and the horse on the ground, the place certainly didn’t look like it’d had a camp fire in the middle 20 minutes ago… the girl was laying on the opposite side of the place where the fire had been from Naruto. The horse had laid down beside the girl, blocking Naruto’s view to her, and was still glaring at him.
”Crazy animal..!” he muttered, sending the horse a glare back, “if it wasn’t for you, I’d have been training with Sasuke and Sakura-chan all day!”
The horse just snorted at him and the girl muttered something to the horse. This made Naruto realize something…
”By the way…” he started, clearing his throat, “I never got your name…”
“You don’t want to know.” The girl responded, laughing quietly, “trust me…”
“Well, you know mine, it’s only fair…”
”You’d be better off if you didn’t, Naruto…” the girl let out a sigh. He couldn’t see her, but it was very audible.
“You just told me to trust you… don’t YOU trust ME?” Naruto smirked. The girl was quiet for several seconds.
”Kita… Yunai Kita.” She finally replied, quietly.
”Yunai Kita.” Naruto repeated, “I’ll remember…”
A few minutes later, he fell asleep, with a smile on his face for some odd reason …

***
“Naruto still hasn’t returned after Jirayia sent him off… lightening hunter-nins were spotted in the forest… and we have a mission tomorrow- what HASN’T gone wrong today?!” Kakashi rolled his eyes, “even the training with Sasuke and Sakura went wrong… they blew almost every move!”
”Take it easy, Kakashi…” Tsunade sighed, “you know Naruto… he just needs some time for himself. And as for the hunter-nins… well, I don’t know… if a person they’re hunting has disappeared into the forest here in the Country of Fire, we really can’t do much to keep them out…”
”Excuse me, Tsunade-kun… what exactly is our mission tomorrow?”
“An escort to the Country of the Water.”
“Is this extremely important?” Kakashi looked out of the window with the back to the Hokage as he was speaking.
“What are you thinking, Kakashi?” Tsunade lifted an eyebrow.
”We could find the person the Lightning Hunter-nins are after… and after looking at the situation, either give the person to the hunter-nins or do whatever else the situation calls for.” Kakashi finally faced the hokage again.
”I see.” The hokage seemed to relax a little at this message. To be frank, she thought he was planning to go out to beat up the hunter-nins, “do you wish to put this as your mission, Kakashi?”
”If you would allow, yes…”
“No problem at all.” Tsunade smiled, “once Naruto returns, you can go. Please give Jirayia the message that your mission has been changed then.”
”Thank you, Tsunade-san.” Kakashi bowed slightly, “it’s just up to Naruto to return. Before the lightning nins kills a person that might be innocent.”

***
It was morning. And the ninjas were up and running again… jumping from tree to tree in a pace that would make the fastest formula one car pale in comparison. They had been going on like this for hours, after only a couple of hours of rest, yet, they didn’t seem any slower than they were yesterday. What sounded like an animal’s cry suddenly sounded through the forest and all the ninjas stopped in an instant.
”One of the ground patrols…” the leader stated, looking down towards the ground, “Which one?” he turned to the second in command.
”He’s in the west end of the forest at the moment, Sehomara-san…” the ninja replied, “he should be there by now for sure anyway…”
”I see…” Sehomara frowned, “we should be able to avoid the troublesome Konoha fools if we go there… their village is in the east, but we’re close to their territory. So let’s continue. On the ground.”

***
The sun had started rising now… Naruto was already awake and was just lying, looking up into the morning sky- and except for the birds that had started to awaken as well, everything was nice and quiet. Looking over at the horse, he noticed it was still asleep… and still blocking him from looking Kita.
”Overprotective thing…” he mumbled, half smiling… wondering what exactly the horse had to be overprotective against. Nothing was happening in the Country of Fire at the moment… yet, Kita didn’t seem like a person from the country of the fire- even though he obviously hadn’t met every person from the country, he could tell somehow… she was different in some way… something soft suddenly touched his shoulder… and as he turned his head to look, he stared straight into a pair of brown eyes, belonging to the horse that now stood, glaring down at him… he let out a loud scream, jumping up, swearing at the horse in front of him.
”YOU..!!!”
”Kei, no..!”
The voice made Naruto turn, now facing Kita who instantly grabbed the horse by the reins, dragging him away, looking around with the fear being so obvious in her eyes. She turned to Naruto again, still looking around.
”Did you hear anything?” she almost whispered. Naruto stood, with a completely confused look on his face, scratching his head while shaking his head no.
”Why?”
”I… never mind…” Kita brushed some hair away from her face, “I’m gonna go pack some stuff… and if you’re ready, we can go…” she turned around and started walking away again, whispering something to the horse on the way. Naruto just nodded, blinking in deep confusion.

***
“There he is…” Sehomara stopped as he caught sight of one of his men up ahead, turning around, facing the other ninjas on his squad, “get ready to attack. I think he found what we’re looking for.” He smiled under his face coverage.

As Sehomara walked up to the ninja, who was a young shinobi who barely seemed to be a genin, he quickly noticed why the boy had signaled for him and his squad. A distance away, behind a small coverage of trees, they could just spot the familiar black horse that was standing, grassing like nothing special was going on… Sehomara turned to the genin, nodding to him.
”Good work... the girl is there too?” he kept his voice low. The boy nodded.
“But there’s a Konoha ninja there too, Sehomara-san…”
Sehomara clenched his fists with a hiss.
“They’ve found her before us?!”
”He’s injured… I heard them talking- I believe the horse kicked him, so I don’t think so, Sehomara-san…” the genin stepped back a little as he noticed Sehomara’s enraged look. Sehomara seemed to calm down a little by this message however.
”Good work. Get ready to stand by and if necessary, call the other members of the foot squad. We’re attacking.” Sehomara turned and walked over to his own squad again, “the search wasn’t as long as I would have expected…”
“What about the Konoha shinobi, Sehomara-san?”
”We’re killing him too.”

***
“You don’t expect me to get on that crazy animal, EVEN if I’d be about to fall over dead, do you?!” Naruto folded his arms, glaring at Kei, still being on the ground, lying on a blanket, “he’s already tried to kill me twice and it hasn’t even been an hour since his last attempt!”
Kita rolled her eyes with a sigh.
”He’s not gonna hurt you if I tell him not to… I’m just trying to help.”
”Right…” Naruto snorted, “like I care…”
“I don’t care if you care. I just want to get you to your village so I can be on my way!” Kita sent Naruto an almost angry look over her shoulder as she put a blanket on Kei’s back, “the faster the better…”
“Oh, really? If I’m that much in your way, you could have left me!”
“I never said you were in my way… however, I’m not the kind to run from responsibilities I ought to take.”
“Looks like you are to me…” Naruto half smirked, watching as Kita froze in what she was doing, turning to him, slowly.
”You don’t understand anything…” she hissed, narrowing her eyes, “it’s the only choice I have!”
”You could explain it to me so I could understand.” Naruto tapped his fingers on the ground, still smirking. Kita just looked at him for a moment, still with her eyes narrowed. Then, scratched her arm with a sigh. But before she could even open her mouth to explain, Naruto sensed something… a presence… and he heard the familiar whistling sound of something flying through the air… he quickly realized what…
”GET DOWN!!!” he jumped up from the ground, straight into Kita, forcing her to fall over. A kunai flew straight by his face, drilling itself into a nearby tree. As he landed on the ground himself, he had to fight the unconsciousness… the pain shooting through his ribs was so immense, he could barely breathe… he forced himself to get up however, and as he and Kita looked around, they soon realized they were surrounded… by more than twenty lightning ninjas… Kita swore under her breath.
”They weren’t supposed to find me…”
”What the..?!” Naruto blinked in confusion, “You KNEW they were after you?!”
“Well duh..!”
”Why didn’t you say something?!” he hissed. Kita just frowned.
”My limit of how many people I want to bring into this is very low, Uzumaki!” she growled, “why do you think I wanted to get you back to Konoha as fast as possible?!”
“Just get on your horse and get out of here..!”
”They’re just gonna follow me!”
”Not if I keep them here!” Naruto smirked. Kita glared at him.
”I’m gonna stay! You can’t keep them here even if the world depended on it anyway!”
This made Naruto turn to her, glaring back at her.
”I’m sorry kids… I can’t give you much more time for your little fights there… even though, I must admit, it’s amusing.”
The voice and the following laugh made Kita freeze immediately.
”Sehomara… they sent Sehomara?!” she almost whispered.
“Who..?” Naruto blinked in confusion. Kita didn’t get to respond however.
”Correct, little Kita …”
Before neither Naruto nor Kita was able to react, what seemed to be a shadow suddenly jumped down in front of them, grabbing Kita by her front collar. She only got to let out a small scream before she was pulled up and Sehomara jumped backwards, now standing a distance away from Naruto. Kei let out a loud scream, but before he was able to charge, he was grabbed and held down by a bunch of ninjas. Naruto turned his attention back to the one Kita had called Sehomara. He was tall. Dressed in a grey armor except for the black cloak and face coverage he was wearing. His hair was black and spiky… in many ways, he was like an evil Kakashi.
”You must be the Konoha ninja my genin mentioned…” Sehomara looked Naruto over. Then let out a laugh, “pathetic…”
“Let her go..!” Naruto still seemed confused, “she didn’t do anything!”
”None of your business, little fella…” Sehomara pulled out a kunai, “I’m gonna give you a single chance… go home to your little village and stay out of this!”
”You just go, Naruto…” Kita looked down at Naruto… like she had expected this and just accepted that there was nothing to do now, “I don’t want you to get mixed up into this mess, ok?”
Naruto narrowed his eyes, glaring up at Sehomara again. Then smirked.
”Never..!” he hissed. Sehomara let out an arrogant laugh.
”Well… your choice, little one!” he threw the kunai. It hit Naruto dead on, straight in the left side of the chest. Kita let out a scream, but as she was about to fight Sehomara’s grip, Naruto disappeared with a small pop. Some smoke rose, and instead of Naruto lying on the ground with the Kunai in his chest, a small log was on the ground instead, with the kunai straight in the middle. Sehomara only rolled his eyes.
”Replacement technique, eh?” he suddenly reached upwards, and all of a sudden, he was holding Naruto by the ankle.
”What the..?!” Naruto looked around, confused.
”Well… I thought for a moment that you might not exactly be genin level…” Sehomara smirked, “I was right… you’re way lower than that.”
Naruto just half smiled.
”And you made a mistake.” He reached into his pouch, “always have a hand free!” he pulled out a kunai and went for Sehomara’s abdomen. Sehomara only let out a laugh, dropped both Naruto and Kita onto the ground and… disappeared out into thin air. Naruto quickly sat up on the ground.
”What?!” he snapped.
”Watch out…” Kita almost whispered, still lying on her stomach on the ground, “he knows his stuff, Naruto…”
Naruto just frowned. But before he was able to reply, he suddenly felt a blow to his head that sent him rolling forwards, straight into a tree. Kita was about to get up, but she didn’t get very far before she was picked up and thrown backwards, into the arms of three ninjas who immediately pinned her to the ground.
”NARUTO!!! HE’S INVISIBLE!!!” she yelled, just making one of the ninjas lift her head by the hair a little before he gagged her.
”You know too much, girl! I suggest you shut up!” he grinned. Naruto narrowed his eyes… it was all he needed to know.
”You asked for it, what’s-your-name…” he laughed, “you really did…” he lowered his face a little.
“I suggest you keep your focus on the fight, punk!”
Naruto heard the voice… but he couldn’t determine the direction; it seemed to come from everywhere, even from inside his head… he felt the presence of Sehomara however… and as the whistling of the kunai, flying through the air reached his ears, he just jumped to dodge, still with his face lowered.
”Nine-tails… lend me your chakra…” he whispered, “today, please…!”
He had to dodge another three kunais… then, finally he felt the chakra taking over…
”finally..!” he looked up again.

Sehomara and every other ninja froze in their tracks, staring at Naruto… even Kita and Kei had stopped struggling. Something was definitely different… it wasn’t only Naruto’s previously clear blue eyes that had now turned red, but his aura had also changed completely…
”What’s going on?!” Sehomara whispered, “his chakra… its…” he fell silent as Naruto suddenly turned his head towards him, glaring at him with an almost evil grin. Sehomara barely got to react before Naruto charged- It happened with such a speed no-one got to notice before they heard a scream, coming from Sehomara. Naruto had hit him in the stomach with a kick, and Sehomara became visible. He slid across the ground, straight into a tree. Or THROUGH a tree would be a better word… he hit it with such a force it immediately started bending over, creaking loudly. The other ninjas started whispering to each other immediately, a couple of them stepped back, staring at Naruto, almost trembling.
”Let her go!” Naruto glared at Sehomara, not noticing the blood that had started running down his chin from the corner of his mouth, “the crazy horse too!”
Sehomara moved a little. Then slowly started getting up, looking Naruto over. As he had gotten to his feet completely, he let out a quiet laugh, staggering a bit. He then turned to the ninjas that were still holding down the gagged Kita.
”Let her go…” his voice was rasping… now even more than before, “her horse too…” he glared at the ninjas as they hesitated a bit, “NOW!!!”
The ninjas immediately drew back, now talking a little louder. Kita immediately got up and Kei started kicking away at the ninjas that were holding him down before, until Kita threw away the piece of cloth that covered her mouth and ran over to him, coaxing him to calm down. Naruto still grinned.
”Now…” he hissed, “leave… or do you want more?!”
Sehomara just kept smirking.
”We’ll leave.” He stated, “don’t worry.” He turned to his ninjas, nodding to them. They immediately started drawing back, still talking. Sehomara himself started turning around too, walking away as well. Another ninja, one Kita recognized as the second in command ran over to support his master in command.

It took a couple of minutes. Then, just before they disappeared out of sight, Sehomara shoved away the next in command and turned around, looking back at Naruto who was still glaring after the lightning ninjas… Sehomara stood like this for a couple of seconds. Then, turned around and disappeared out of sight along with his next in command and the rest of the ninjas. It was obvious that he was still smiling, and his facial expression seemed almost obsessed
Kita slowly turned to Naruto… his eyes had slowly begun to turn back to normal as well as his chakra. In a matter of seconds, he was back to normal, and he turned to Kita with a laugh.
”Showed them, didn’t I?!” he grinned, “oh yeah! Uzumaki Naruto rules the battle again!”
”You’re bleeding…”
Naruto instantly stopped laughing.
”So?”
”It’s internal you moron, it’s coming out of your mouth!” Kita walked over to him, pressing a hand on his chest. Naruto’s eyes widened in pain and he fell to his knees, letting out a scream… he had trouble breathing again, “see?”
“Wha...” it came out as a whisper… and he wasn’t able to say anymore before he had to lie down.
”Your lung is punctured… using a lot of chakra didn’t help either…” Kita seemed almost concerned, “Kei!” she turned around, waving to the horse. He immediately reacted and ran over to her with a neigh. She turned back to Naruto, “I suppose you know how to get on a horse…”
“I… I’m not…” he had trouble getting the rest of the words out. And he didn’t have to either.
”If you don’t get on that horse and you don’t get back to your village as soon as possible, you’re gonna die!” she hissed, frowning, “how’s that?!”
Naruto glared back at her. And as she helped him up to sit, then, to his feet, he didn’t make any protests and slowly got up onto Kei’s back.
“You need to lead him here… I’ll wait here, and when Kei comes back, he-“
”You’re coming too…” Naruto’s voice was barely audible, but he was able to finish the sentence.
“I can’t go to Konoha..!”
”Why?”
”Because!” Kita folded her arms, “your people won’t want me there, trust me!”
“Trust me, they’ll have to!” Naruto half smiled, “I’ll steer this thing…”
Kei let out an angry snort at this remark.
”What do you want me to do?” Kita frowned, putting a hand on Kei’s nose.
”Get on behind me.”
Kita just lifted an eyebrow and she and Kei looked at each other, oddly. She then sighed.
”Oh well… “ she rolled her eyes and got up onto Kei’s back, behind Naruto, “I hope you know how to steer a horse…”
“Of course…!” Naruto laughed, “I’m not stupid!” he then kicked Kei in the sides, making him neigh angrily, “hey-ho silver, AWAY!!!” he kicked again, this time getting Kei to rear and practically forcing Kita to throw her arms around his waist holding on as Kei started galloping through the forest.
”Naruto…”
”Yep?”
”Kei’s gonna get you for this once you get outta the hospital…”

***
Sehomara was still staggering through the forest, followed by the ninja squad. The members were still talking to each other, surprised and shocked, and some of them were even still trembling…
“Sehomara-sama… are you alright?”
Sehomara looked his next in command over.
”Of course!”
”May I ask… why did we draw back?”
Sehomara just smiled.
”The girl’s easy to get. The problem is the punk Konoha kid! Did you feel that chakra?”
“But sir-“
”We’ll return to our village. We need to tell raikage-sama about this kid in person. Then, we can revise the plan to get the girl too. But after raikage-sama hears this, I don’t think the girl will be the most important thing…”


***
“KAKASHI-SENSEI!!! WAKE UP!!!”
Kakashi looked up from his book as he heard the scream outside and the knocking on his door. He slowly got up, still looking at his book as he opened the door.
”Sakura. Good morning.” He finally looked down at his student for a second, then returned to his book, “what’s all this commotion about?”
Sakura stood, staring up at her sensei with her eyes wide open while she was trying to catch her breath..
”Naruto returned… he was practically torn to pieces and he came along with a shinobi from the village of lightning! They-“
Kakashi dropped his book.
“What?!”
”I don’t know the details.” Sakura frowned, “I just know they’re both in the hospital right now, Tsunade-sama have already healed Naruto… but it was pretty bad, so he still needs to recover a bit….”
”Let’s go, Sakura.” Kakashi didn’t even bother picking up his book, just started sprinting through the village at top speed holding Sakura by the wrist.

It took a couple of minutes for them to get to the hospital. They both ran inside, but no-one was at the reception desk.
”Do you know where they put any of the two?” Kakashi looked down at Sakura, who narrowed her eyes a little.
”I said I didn’t know the details…” she hissed, “but-“ she was cut off as a nurse suddenly passed by; she and Kakashi almost jumped at her, letting out a “HEY!!”
The nurse turned with a scream.
“He… hello..” she almost whispered, “can I help you?”
”Where’s Uzumaki Naruto?” Kakashi was the first one to ask.
”Um…” the nurse just stood, looking at the two oddly for a second, then, looked at her clipboard, “he doesn’t accept visitors at the moment… he needs his rest.”
”WHAT?!” Sakura shrieked, “we have a friggin MISSION in a few hours!!!!”
”He won’t be able to participate in that, that’s fore sure…” the nurse kept looking at her clipboard, “Apparently, he had a punctured lung… he’s still in some pain. But he came in with a girl… Yunai Kita.” she finally looked up, “maybe she knows more…”
”Where’s she?” Kakashi put a hand on the almost freaking Sakura’s shoulder, “can we see her?”
”Sure… she’s fine, just needed some food and an I.V with glucose water. This way.” The nurse turned around and waved at the two, signing them to follow her.

***
Kita just stared out into thin air… she was awfully tired, yet, she felt it was her responsibility to find out if Naruto was ok… and she wanted to, too… but the sedating medicine the nurse gave her earlier had started kicking in and she caught herself slipping into sleep several times…
”It wasn’t my fault…” she whispered to herself, “when he battled Sehomara the ribs were pushed into his lung… it wasn’t my fault…” she frowned. Then, let out a sigh, “who am I kidding..?”
She was quiet for a couple of minutes, just looking out the window… then, suddenly, the door slammed open, and a pink haired girl charged into the room, ran over, and grabbed her by the collar.
”You…!!!” the pink haired girl shook her by the collar, “what did you do to my team mate?! WE’RE HAVING A MISSION TODAAAAY!!!!!”
”What the..?!” Kita lifted an eyebrow, staring at the enraged girl, trying to wrestle the girl’s hands off her collar, “let me go..!”
“Sakura, that’s enough…”
The girl was suddenly grabbed by the shoulder and pulled back with a scream… and a man stood in front of her. A gray haired man with his eye and face covered.
“Please excuse my student… she’s Naruto’s team mate… I suppose you’ve met Naruto?” he frowned a little.
“Yes…”
”So what happened? I guess you’re the reason Naruto didn’t return to the village last night…”
”Well…” Kita scratched her neck, “it’s a little hard to explain…”
”Try!” Sakura demanded, still trying to get loose from Kakashi’s grip. Kita took a deep breath and then, sighed.
”Ok… ok…” she rubbed her forehead, “basically, Naruto scared my horse, the horse kicked Naruto and here we are… satisfied?”
“That’s it?!” Sakura glared at her.
”Yes… that’s it.”
“Oh…” Sakura finally seemed to calm down, “then… you didn’t beat him up??”
“No.”
“Oh….” Sakura seemed almost disappointed, “that would’ve been hilarious…”
”Sakura…” Kakashi warned, clearing his throat at his student, ”excuse me, Miss Yunai… but the nurse said you were from the Village of the Lightning?”
Kita immediately froze.
”Yes…” she quietly replied, “more or less…”
”What’s that supposed to mean?”
”I ran from there… got a bunch of hunter-nins on my tail…” Kita shrugged her shoulders, “Naruto beat the leader up…”
”So the horse wasn’t the only reason he ended up here, was it?” Kakashi folded his arms.
”No…” Kita bit in her lip, “Kei- the horse that is- only broke Naruto’s ribs… he got in a fight with the leader of the hunter-nins, transformed into… well, something, and apparently, that made his ribs penetrate his lung and all the chakra he used did the rest…”
“He… transformed..?” Sakura seemed confused for a moment.
”The demon fox…” Kakashi muttered to himself, “well… thank you, miss Yunai… you get well soon. I’ll talk to the hokage about this.” He turned around and started walking out of the room. Sakura looked from him to Kita for a few seconds.
”But Kakashi-sensei…”
“Sakura, it’s enough. This isn’t an interrogation…”
Sakura looked at Kita one last time. Then, nodded and followed Kakashi out…


***
“Naruto-kun…?”
Naruto slowly began to wake up as he heard the voice… as he was finally able to open his eyes, he looked straight up into Hinata’s eyes. He sat up with a scream, which only came out as a shriek, and he was immediately forced to lie back by the pains…
”Hinata..?”
“I heard you were in hospital… so… I… well…” she started to fiddle with her own fingers.
“I... see…” Naruto blinked in confusion, “thanks…”
Hinata immediately blushed, nodding.
As Naruto looked around, he soon noticed the flowers on the table.
”I bought them for you… at Ino’s…” Hinata quietly explained.
”Thank you… again.” Naruto half smiled, “do… you by any chance know what happened after I came here..?”
”The nurse said you were healed by hokage-sama… that’s all I know… but she said it was bad and that she actually considered letting you go into surgery…” Hinata still fiddled with her fingers, a little faster than before as she had noticed Naruto actually smiled at her.
”Surgery?!” Naruto coughed, “wow… it was pretty bad, huh?”
“Yea…”
”How’s Kita? Do you know..?”
“Ki…ta?” Hinata looked confused.
“oh… you don’t know…” Naruto laughed a little, “the girl with the insane horse that brought me here…”
”Girl..? Horse..?”
”Oh…” Naruto waved as an excuse, grinning, “never mind!”
“I see…” Hinata let out a very quiet and very little laugh, “well… um… Naruto-kun… I’m sorry… I have to go… I need to train; Yuuhi-sensei said so…” she blushed, “I’m sorry…”
”Don’t worry, Hinata!” Naruto winked, “thanks for visiting…”
Hinata only nodded, almost being crimson in her face. Then, disappeared out the door with a quiet ‘bye’. Naruto just lifted an eyebrow as she was gone.
”Weird girl, that Hinata… but, well… ok…” he sighed, looking down at his bandaged chest, “everything’s better than horses…!”

***
Kita had almost fallen asleep as the nurse came into the room…
”Miss Yunai..?”
Kita’s eyes snapped open, and she almost jumped out of bed, but the nurse put a hand on her shoulder.
”You’ve been through a lot… however, your blood sugar level is starting to get normal and you’re not dehydrated anymore. I came to tell you that you’ll be ok to leave if the next tests are ok.” The nurse smiled, “which they should be.”
Kita scratched her head, groggily.
”Sure…” she then noticed the wheel chair, and looked back at the nurse, confused.
”Oh!” the nurse let out a laugh, “I almost forgot! Uzumaki Naruto is awake… I was wondering if you would like to see him for some minutes?”
”He’s… ok?” Kita’s face lit up a little.
”Yes. Except some pains that he’ll probably have for a while, he’s fine.” The nurse pushed the wheel chair over to Kita’s bed and helped her down to sit in it, “he’s in the intensive care ward. I’ll just take you to him.”

***
“Tsunade… can I come in?”
The hokage slowly looked up from her coffee and her game of cards she was playing against herself as she heard the voice outside.
”Sure, Kakashi…” she yawned, but straightened up a little as Kakashi stepped in, “what’s new?”
”I’m sure you heard of the girl from the lightning village… and Naruto, since you healed him…” Kakashi closed the door behind himself, “I visited the girl at the hospital.”
”Oh. Yes.” Tsunade put her paper aside, “I’m listening.”
”Apparently, hunter-nins are chasing her…”
”What for?”
”I didn’t ask yet. I didn’t want to interrogate her.” Kakashi shrugged his shoulders, “but the nurse said that Naruto actually insisted that she came to Konoha village with him. That’s all I know.”
”Interesting…” Tsunade rubbed her chin, “I heard that Naruto battled the leader of the hunter-nins and used the nine-tails’ chakra before the hunter-nins retreated. But that he insisted that the girl came with him to Konoha…” she paused, “well… at least we cleared up the mystery with the hunter-nins in the Konoha forest…”
“I wouldn’t do this, but this is my opinion, Tsunade-kun… do you believe we should give her to the hunter-nins?”
”If Naruto battled them and brought her here, I believe he had his reasons… let’s hear her story first, Kakashi. I don’t believe that it will be necessary to give her to the hunter-nins. She’s only a child too…” the hokage drank a bit of her coffee, “but only time will tell… now… you go train your students and let’s look at missions in a couple of hours, shall we?”
“Sure, Tsunade…”

***
Naruto woke up as he heard the knock on the door… he mumbled a half audible ‘come in’, but the second the nurse came in with Kita in a wheel chair, his eyes snapped wide open.
”You didn’t bring your enraged pony, did you?” he rubbed his chest as the pain shot through the ribs. Kita laughed, shaking her head no.
”Kei’s in some stables somewhere… you should thank him. He saved your life.” She nodded thanks to the nurse who then walked out the door.
”Well… he almost killed me too…” Naruto grimaced.
”Yes… well… I’m sorry…”
”Hm…” he frowned a little. But then laughed, “it’s ok!” he hit Kita’s back, making her let out a small cough as well as making himself wince in pain, “I’m alive.”
“If you hit me again, I’m not so sure…”
“I suppose that hit counts payback too then.” Naruto smirked.
”I already said I was sorry!” Kita snapped, “isn’t that enough?”
“No…”
”NO?!”
“Go to the ramen stand with me! I’ll be discharged later on today, so we can go tonight- then we’re even!” Naruto grinned, “that’ll show everyone that I can actually find a girl who wants to go out with me!” he laughed.
”A date? You’ve GOT to be kidding..:” Kita sweat-dropped, her eye twitching a little, “but… well…” she sighed, “ok…”
”Re… really??” Naruto immediately stopped laughing.
“No, I just like to say ok for fun…”
“…”
”Of course really!” Kita rolled her eyes, “if I’m here for that long…”
”You are! Of course you are!” Naruto stuck his tongue out, “nobody throws you out when I, Uzumaki Naruto, the next Hokage, have invited you!”
”Hokage?”
”Well… not officially yet… but still!”
“I… see…” Kita lifted an eyebrow for a moment, but then smiled, “I’m not sure other people think of it that way though.”
”Nah! Don’t worry! Once we explain everything, they’ll be ok!”
“YOU don’t even know everything…”
”What happened then?”
“You don’t want to know…” Kita muttered.
”I do…” Naruto rolled his eyes, “how many times are you gonna say that?”
Kita looked him over for a few seconds… he did seem sincere… she shook her head and then, quietly cleared her throat.
”Well…” she sighed, “I used to live in Lightning Village…” she started, “they found out that my mother came from the village of Konoha, which I didn’t even know myself, and they threw me out and told some hunter-nins to kill me. Apparently because I’m a criminal because my father fell in love with my mother during some small war the two villages had just before I was born. That’s why I’ve been on the run for the past few weeks.”
“Waitasecond… your mother came from Konoha?? THIS village?”
”Yes. Now you guess why I didn’t want to come here.” Kita stared down at the floor, “it’s not like your village here would want me here once they get to know this.”
“But… they chased your out of your village because your mother came from here?!” Naruto looked more and more shocked.
”I suppose they only want pure lightning ninjas… with lightning ninja parents.” She rolled her eyes, “what do I know…”
“But… that’s not fair…” Naruto muttered.
”And you’re telling me…”
“I mean it..!”
“Take it easy… it’s not like we can do anything…” Kita shrugged her shoulders, “both of my parents are dead, if they erase the fact that I’ve ever existed, they erase a painful memory of the war. And a crossbred child.”
“It’s just wrong…” Naruto folded his arms.
“Yeah… but I don’t care anymore. You shouldn’t either.”
“Sure…” he still looked a little astonished, “thanks for telling me, I suppose…”
”Like you said, I can trust you.” Kita let out a small laugh, “so I suppose I can?”
”Always!” Naruto grinned, “so… just to check… the ramen place thing was ok?? I’ll pay!”
”…. Yes…” Kita sighed heavily, shaking her head, “even though I can’t believe I’m doing it…”

***
“You DIDN’T kill her?!” the raikage paced around Sehomara, glaring at him, angrily, “SHE was your mission… the Konoha kid wasn’t!”
“You haven’t heard the rest of the story, raikage-sama…”
”I’m not sure I’m interested.” The raikage hissed, “if the prophecy the sorcerer told me comes true, she gets her powers and moves to Konoha! And if Konoha wants her and her powers, it’ll be over YOUR dead body...!”
“Raikage-sama… I’m pretty sure this boy is the one with the nine-tail sealed in him!”
This made the raikage look slightly surprised.
”What makes you think that?”
”He was able to suddenly change his chakra. Even his eyes went red. It suited the descriptions I’ve heard from people who experienced feeling the chakra of the demon fox, sir.” Sehomara frowned, “it wouldn’t surprise me if this was the kid. I even heard him summoning the chakra, but I thought he was pulling a joke until the chakra actually changed.”
“So… he was able to control the chakra, you say?” the raikage rubbed his chin. Then, smirked, “this hunt suddenly became much more interesting. I’m all ears, Sehomara…”

***
The afternoon in Konoha had just started- yet, the daylight had already started fading away slowly. One of the clear signs that fall was taking its toll on the weather. At the hospital however, it didn’t seem to be any closer to the end of the day than morning had been.
“You want to take me shopping?” Kita lifted her eyebrow at Sakura’s request, “why? You just met me…”
”I got the impression you’ll be in Konoha for a while. And since Naruto will be helping you through a lot here, we’ll probably see each other a lot, seeing Naruto is my team mate.” Sakura smiled widely, sitting down on a chair, “Sasuke-kun and I got the day off since Naruto is in here anyway, so we’ve got nothing to do.”
”True…” Kita lifted an eyebrow, “but I’ve got no money or anything…”
”No… but you seriously need some other clothes than that robe. It even smells!”
“You try running around in a robe for two weeks, only getting to wash it when you run into a lake…”
“I see.” Sakura let out a small laugh, “well, I’ll pay… my mom was willing to donate a little when I told her your story.”
”I can’t accept that…” Kita looked almost surprised, “I couldn’t take your money!”
”It’s not like you’re stealing anything…” Sakura lowered her eyebrows, “we’re giving it to you. I insist!”
”Last time I heard that word I was dragged into a village…”
”Funny… but I suppose that’s a yes then?”
”Sure…” Kita looked thoughtful for a moment, but then, smiled, “thanks…”
”No problem! I’d die if I only had a robe to run around in! Besides-”
”Oi! Sakura-chan!” a voice suddenly cut Sakura off short and as both she and Kita turned, Naruto was standing in the door, looking at Sakura, almost surprised, “what are you doing here?”
”I can’t see how that’s any of your business.” Sakura almost hissed, “seeing you spoiled the mission and all..!” she glared angrily at her team mate.
”Hey… I didn’t mean to!” he nodded to Kita, “her horse kicked me! I could’ve died, you know!”
”If you don’t even know how to avoid getting kicked by a horse, can you really call yourself a ninja?” she smirked, “pretty awkward, I’d say.”
”Why thank you…” Naruto frowned, “I’m actually just here to say I’m discharged now…” he turned to the very confused Kita, “if we could just meet up at the ramen place at five, it’d be great!” he grinned widely, watching Sakura’s reaction.
Kita looked at Sakura out of the corner of her eye as well. But as her new found pink haired friend didn’t seem the slightest surprised, she nodded in agreement at Naruto.
”Sure…”
”Great!” Naruto gave her thumbs up, “I’ll be leaving then…” he turned around, still smirking and walked off. The second the door was closed behind him, Sakura turned to Kita with an eyebrow lifted.
“He’s taking you to the ramen place?” she pointed at the door with her thumb, “he actually asked you out?!”
“Is it so surprising?” Kita seemed almost insulted.
”Not in that way, baka…” Sakura rolled her eyes, “you should lower your defenses a little… it’s more the fact that Uzumaki Naruto has never had the guts to ask ANYBODY out!”
”Hm…” Kita frowned a little, “I don’t know if I should be flattered or something… to me he just seemed happy to get to show people that he can ask a girl out and get a yes!”
"..that might be it too…” Sakura rolled her eyes again, “well, since you’re discharged too and all, maybe we should get going?”
“Sure.” Kita nodded with a smile and then, got up, “so… where do we start the shopping spree then?”


***
“Hey, Naruto!”
Naruto woke up from the trance-like condition he was walking in as the voice interrupted his thoughts. Looking in its direction, Tsunade was looking at him from out a window, waving him closer. He lifted an eyebrow as he walked over to her.
”What’s all the noise about, granny?”
”I would like to talk to you about something… since you weren’t in the most talkative mood when I healed you, I thought I would wait until you were discharged.” She half smiled, “but please, come in!” she motioned to the door. Naruto just nodded, seeming pretty confused. He opened the door and walked in, and Tsunade had already sat down by the table in the office, nodding to the chair across the table in front of her. Naruto took the seat, still looking a little confused and suspicious.
”What’s wrong?” he finally asked, lowering an eyebrow a little. The hokage couldn’t help letting out a small laugh.
”Nothing at all…” she kept smiling for a few seconds more, but then turned serious, “however, I’d like to hear some of what you know about the girl you invited into the village, Naruto. There’s a reason it’s called the HIDDEN Leaf village and we shouldn’t just invite strangers in like that…”
Naruto shrugged his shoulders.
”She was chased by hunter-nins. That’s all I know…”
”I know that’s not true.”
”Well…” Naruto sighed, leaning back in the chair with his arms behind his head, “I promised her not to blurt out with everything…”
”I understand and respect that. But please do tell me all you can.”
“She was expelled by the village of lightening. She didn’t do anything, but her mom was from a different village, and apparently, the bastards in the village of Lightening didn’t like that, so they sent hunter-nins on her tail.” He shrugged his shoulders, “that’s about it…”
”That doesn’t sound like she did anything bad.” Tsunade rubbed her chin, “if you get a hold of her sometime, please tell her I’d like to talk to her sometime tomorrow. Then, maybe if I see her in person, she will tell me some more herself. If she doesn’t like to come over, that’s fine too. I suppose we need to give her some time.”
Naruto just nodded.
”She’s eating ramen with me at five… I can tell her then.” He smiled widely, “was that all?”
”Unless we can take a game of cards…”
”I… was told not to…” Naruto stepped back a little with a nervous grin, “but thank you, granny Tsunade! I’ll see you later!” he turned around and started walking out, “bye!”
Tsunade just nodded bye to him with a smile, but the instant he was out the door, her smile disappeared.
”I believe you were sincere, Naruto-kun… and I even believe this girl was sincere about what she told you… but I believe there’s more to this than what we’ve been told…” she looked down at the table, thoughtfully, “it doesn’t make sense… and we have to figure out why and how…”

***
“I’m not sure, Sakura-kun…isn’t this a bit... girly?”
”Aren’t you a girl?” Sakura shook her head, “just come outta there! I’ll tell you if it suits you or not.”
“Ok…” the reply came out very hesitant and quiet. But then, finally, the curtain to the fitting room was pulled aside, and Kita stepped out, wearing a purple dress, looking like she felt very uncomfortable, “tadaa…”
Sakura looked her over, very concentrated for a short moment.
”It looks better than the one with the light blue sleeves … but if we can find some wristbands, it actually suits you very well! Keep it on though… and don’t change back into that robe ever again..!”
“Thank you… I suppose…” Kita lowered her eyebrows a little as she and Sakura went up to the counter to pay. But before they got even halfway, Sakura suddenly grabbed Kita by the shoulder and stopped dead on the spot, staring with a small gasp.
”What the..?!” Kita looked surprised to say the least, but as she looked at Sakura, she realized what the pink haired girl was staring at… up ahead, a black haired boy was looking at some t-shirts. And it was obvious that he was the one Sakura was staring at.
”Sakura..?” Kita poked Sakura a little with a finger, “are you ok? Who’s that anyway?” she frowned a little.
”Sasuke-kun…” Sakura blushed a little, half smiling, “I mean… Uchiha Sasuke. He’s the last member of our team…”
”Ah…” Kita smirked as she realized what this was all about, “I see.”
“Hey! Sasuke-kun!” Sakura finally got herself together and waved at the boy. Sasuke however just sent her a short look, then looked a Kita, but then, returned to the t-shirts. Sakura however didn’t let him slip out that easily and you could see the annoyance in his eyes as Sakura grabbed Kita by the wrist and started running over to him, dragging Kita after herself, “how are you?”
“Does it matter?” Sasuke didn’t even bother looking up, “is Naruto out of the hospital yet?”
”Yeah… Kita and I just left ourselves.” Sakura still had that big obvious blush on her face, but neither she nor Sasuke seemed to notice. Sasuke just nodded in response.
”I hope Kakashi gives him trouble for getting beaten up just before a mission like that…” he muttered, “by a pathetic horse too!”
“Pathetic?” Kita smirked, “trust me buddy, that horse could kick your guts out easily.”
This made Sasuke turn around, facing her with a frown.
”And you are?”
”Yunai Kita. Pleasure to meet you. You’re probably nice when you’re not insulting other people’s horses.” She folded her arms. Sasuke just let out a very short laugh.
”Nobody asked for your opinion…” he went back to his t-shirts.
”Naruto wasn’t beaten up on purpose. For your information, it was my fault since it was my horse. If you need to diss anyone, diss me!”
“I didn’t ask for your opinion.” Sasuke repeated.
”No.” Kita narrowed her eyes, “unfortunately for you, I have the freedom to express it whenever I want.”
Sasuke just sent her a glare. Then turned from the t-shirts and started walking away.
”You must be the girl from the village of lightning.” He didn’t even turn as he spoke, “I heard lightning ninjas were pretty obnoxious. I suppose that’s right.” He looked at her shortly from over his shoulder before walking out the door, “good bye.”
Sakura and Kita just stood, looking after him for a moment. Then, Kita let out a laugh.
“Nice guy…” she rolled her eyes, “I can see why you like him so much…”
”He’s pretty good at getting his opinions out…” Sakura fiddled with her own fingers, “but he’s nice once you get to know him… really nice. Well.” Sakura shook her head, trying to get rid of that funny feeling she had whenever she was around Sasuke, “We have to pay for that dress! Especially if we need to find those wristbands before you have to go meet up with Naruto!” she grabbed Kita by the wrist, “and I have some in mind already!”
Kita smirked a little, but nodded in agreement as she followed Sakura up to the counter. She was getting a good idea of what the members of Naruto’s team were like, that was for sure…

***
Sehomara looked the raikage over, still with an almost shocked look on his face.
”So…the plan is simple… just get the boy and the girl out of the village… raikage-sama, please excuse me… but how?” his voice was quiet now, although still as deep and raspy as before. A smile crept over the raikage’s face.
”Send someone to Konoha. And ask for them for an escort. It doesn’t matter to where. It will get them out, and then, we can strike.” He responded, folding his arms with a laugh.
”But the girl isn’t even a genin!” Sehomara reasoned, “she won’t be sent on that mission even if we do set it up, raikage-sama…”
“I know for a fact that she will.”
”Excuse me, raikage-sama, but… how?” Sehomara seemed even more confused now.
“Everyone would recommend the fox boy for this job. And the girl will follow.” The raikage smirked, “just set up the plan. The rest will follow.”

***
“But they have the Konoha symbol on them! I’m telling you Sakura, it’s gonna freak people out!” Kita was walking with her arms behind her neck, as if she was trying to hide the black wristband with the small metal plate on them.
”Ah, you’re overreacting!” Sakura snickered a little, “they’re gonna be alright… give them some time, and they’ll adjust to the fact that you’re here.”
”Sure…” Kita muttered, sighing, “if you say so…”
Sakura was about to reply to Kita’s remark but was cut off by someone’s voice interrupting.
“Oi! You two!”
They both turned around, facing Tsunade who was now coming running towards them, “wait up a little!”
Kita slapped her own forehead with a groan.
”I told you!” she almost hissed at Sakura, “now, the hokage herself has come to tell me to take them off!”
“Baka…” Sakura rolled her eyes, turning back to the hokage, who was now standing in front of the two, “Tsunade-sama!” she smiled widely, “I was just taking Kita shopping…”
”I know. Sasuke told me as he walked by.“ Tsunade smiled back, “by the way… aren’t you supposed to meet Naruto in twenty minutes?” she turned to Kita.
“Yes, hokage-sama…”
”I see… well, I need to talk to you first. I’ll make it fast though.”
Sakura and Kita looked at each other for a moment, somewhat surprised.
”If it’s about the leaf-wristbands, I can take them off… I don’t want any trouble, hokage-sama!” Kita started fiddling with her new wristbands, but Tsunade immediately stopped her, by grabbing her by the wrists.
”No need for that.” She sent Kita a closed eyes smile, “you’re welcome in this village, and it’s nice to see a new comer show such pride for Konoha already. However, if you are to meet up with Naruto soon, I’d like to talk to you now.” She then turned to Sakura, “you’re free to come if you want. It’s nothing important, but you should probably know about this as one of the first people anyway.”
“Sure, Tsunade-sama.” Sakura nodded, “if it’s ok with Kita..?”
”No problem…” Kita swiftly replied, “but can I request that any information about me before I came here will stay from the ears of the rest of the people of this village? I’ve had my share of expel I believe…”
“Sure.” Tsunade gave her slight nod in reply as well, “if you follow me to the office, I’ll treat you for a cup of tea as well.”
Both Kita and Sakura nodded yes with a smile, and as the Hokage turned around and walked, they followed, Kita, with a bit of concern showing on her face, and Sakura, just seeming a little confused.

It didn’t take long to get to the hokage office, and the second they got inside, Tsunade nodded to the table nearby, signing the two girls to have a seat while she walked over to prepare some tea herself. Sakura and Kita took a seat by the wooden table, and stared out into the air, thoughtfully, until Tsunade returned to them, handing their tea to them while she sat down on the opposite side of the table, looking the faces of the two girls over.
”We already met at the hospital, Kita, so you obviously already know that I’m the hokage of Konoha.” She started, still a smile on her face, “my name is Tsunade.”
“Yunai Kita… which I’m sure you already know.” Kita grimaced as she shook Tsunade’s hand, “happy to meet you though…”
”You too.” Tsunade’s smile widened a little. But after a slight moment, she turned serious, “I wanted to talk to you because, like we all know, you’re from the village of lightning…”
”No surprise there…”
”But I heard you never took even the genin exam there..”
This seemed to surprise Sakura a little, but she didn’t say anything.
“No… I didn’t see a reason to.” Kita squeezed her lips together a little, “I didn’t feel the urge to fight for the village and I didn’t feel capable of taking any of the shinobi exams, to tell you the truth.”
“No problem there, Kita.” Tsunade sent her a small reassuring smile, “however, I talked to the village council, and we have a small proposal to make. If you want to hear it that is.”
”Sure, hokage-sama…”
“We will let you stay in Konoha if this is what you wish. Naruto brought you here, and you didn’t really do anything outrageous to be expelled from Lightning Village.” She looked Sakura and Kita, whose eyes were largely widened, over with a smile, “there’s a small condition however, but of course you don’t need to answer right away. We’ll give you some time to think about it.”
”This condition.. what is it?” Kita’s voice had grown very quiet, and the question was barely audible.
“Take the exam to become a Konoha genin.”
Kita and Sakura’s eyes widened even more, and they both let out a loud “what?!”
“It may seem like a lot. But I can feel that you have the powers to become a great shinobi, it would definitely be a shame to let them go to waste. And I’ve already found trainers, willing to take you in as their student if you accept. If you pass, it’s up to you if you want to continue with the chuunin exam, maybe even jounin later on.”
“Well… uh…” Kita stared down at the table, overwhelmed, “I don’t know.”
“Of course not, it’s a lot to throw in your face, I know!” Tsunade laughed, “look, think it over, and if you come to the conclusion that you don’t feel ready to train for the exam yet, tell me, and the counsel and I will reconsider- of course, we won’t throw you out of Konoha because of this, but please do know that we feel it’d be a shame.”
”Of course, Hokage-sama…” Kita still stared at the table. But then, smiled widely, “thank you, hokage sama!”
”Do we get to know who the trainer is?” Sakura still looked surprised to say the least, but she smiled slightly too, “Kakashi..?”
“I will tell you once you’ve made your decision.” Tsunade replied, smirking, “but even though it’s not Kakashi, I believe you’ll be pleasantly surprised, Kita-kun.”
“But the hunter-nins from the lightening village…”
”I’m sure they know you’re here. But they’d never go in here, it would create too much trouble for both villages, just to get a hold of a crossbred child.” Tsunade somewhat smirked, “I’m sure they’re happy you’re our problem now, and I’m sure there’s nothing to worry about anymore.”
”I hope so, hokage-sama…”
“Well, you shouldn’t worry about this anymore.” Tsunade got up and started walking over to the door, “Naruto is waiting for you at the ramen stand, I think. And Sakura, your mother asked me to tell you to go straight home to help her with the laundry now that I’ve talked to you. So you two should probably go now.” She opened the door. Kita and Sakura just nodded, got up and started walking out. The second they were out on the street and the door was closed behind them, Sakura let out an annoyed sigh.
”Laundry…” she lowered her eyebrows, sweat-dropping, “yay…” she rolled her eyes, making Kita snicker a little, “well, I need to turn here- the ramen place is just straight out, so… I’ll see you sometime tomorrow?”
Kita nodded. ”Thanks for taking me shopping … and tell your mom thanks for the dress and all, I really appreciate it!” She half smiled, “and I’ll see you tomorrow. Sakura smiled back, giving Kita a small pat on her shoulder before she started running down the street to her house. Kita looked after her for a while. Then, started walking down the street as well, shaking her head in confusion.
”Konoha shinobi…” she sighed, “I can’t believe they’re even offering that!” she bit in her lip for a moment. Then, shrugged her shoulders at her own remarks, “oh well… ramen time!”

Like Sakura said, it wasn’t far to the ramen place, and after a few minutes, it came into sight. As she got to it, she was able to spot the trademark orange pants, and she moved the sheets aside, stepping into the stand. Naruto didn’t notice her straight away… he was staring at the clock on the wall, looking a tad annoyed.
“Hey! Naruto!”
Naruto almost fell off the chair as he heard the voice, but quickly regained his balance, turning around, facing Kita as she started walking towards him, half smiling.
”You’re a little late aren’t you..?” he folded his arms with that fox-like pouting look on his face, “ten minutes actually…”
“I went shopping with Sakura…” she rolled her eyes, “sheesh, I’m sorry!” she walked over, sitting down beside him, still keeping a chair between them, “but I did show up didn’t I?”
Naruto just nodded. He finally noticed the different clothes… wearing the purple dress with the red waistband with black outlines and her black hair in a long, sleek ponytail, she actually looked…
”Pretty…”
Kita immediately lifted an eyebrow, even the ramen stand owner looked surprised, and Naruto slapped his hands on his mouth with his eyes widened in shock… he actually said that out loud… He did his best to cover up the blush he suddenly had on his face as well, muffling an “I’m sorry…” out from under his hands. Kita looked at him oddly for another couple of seconds, but then, surprisingly, a weak smile crossed her face…
”Thanks…”
Naruto finally let go of his face with an obviously relieved look on his face.
”Well…” he gave her a closed eyed grin, “will that be normal pork ramen?”
”Sure…”
”Great!” he turned to the stand owner, who immediately started pouring some noodles up into a bowl which he then handed to Kita along with some chopsticks, “and a barbecue pork for me, please!”
“I’ll just add it to your tab.” The ramen owner handed the ball to Naruto with a smile, “and I suppose you’re paying for your girlfriend there too?”
Both Naruto and Kita were about to fall over backwards from their chairs.
”Not girlfriend…” Naruto coughed, “but… yes…”
“Thought so.” The old man smirked, “by the way… hokage-sama told me to inform you that you and Jirayia-san will be training someone named Yunai Kita if she accepts to get her Genin training here..”
This time, Naruto really did fall down from his chair with a scream and Kita choked in her ramen.
”WHAT?!” they both screamed, glaring at the ramen stand owner.
“I hope you’re kidding, old man..!” Naruto got up from the ground, climbing up on his chair again. The owner looked completely confused.
”I have no idea what it means!” he folded his arms, “I just did what the hokage told me…”
”SHE is Kita!!!” Naruto pointed at Kita, glaring at the owner, “are you sure?!”
”That was exactly what she told me.” The stand owner rubbed his chin for a moment but then, nodded affirmatively, “look, I didn’t know the names… now, you tell me how I’d be able to mention your friend and your sensei’s names right if the hokage didn’t tell me those names?”
Naruto paused for a moment, seeming thoughtful.
“True…” he nodded with a sigh, tapping the chopsticks on the table, “oh well…” he shrugged his shoulders, turning to Kita with a grin, “should we eat?”

***
The hokage office was quiet…even though there were four people in there, you would still be able to hear a pin drop. Tsunade let out a sigh, still staring down at the papers in front of her. She then looked up at the stranger in front of her.
”So… you’re asking for escort to the country of earth…” she looked down at the paper out of the corner of her eye, “are you sure you can’t wait until tomorrow?”
”Yes, hokage-sama…” the stranger lifted his head, looking genuinely concerned, “the papers I need to get are extremely important to maintain the peace in the village of mist… if they arrive any later than Monday, we can’t sign them and send them back.” He looked somewhat guilty, “financial trouble between the mizukage and the tsuchikage…”
“And it’s Friday night… I see…” Tsunade closed her eyes with a sigh, “we only have one team available… consisting of a sennin, a chuunin and one girl that hasn’t even passed the genin exam yet… the other teams won’t be free until-“
”That’s ok, hokage-sama.” The mist-messenger cut her off, “I do not expect any trouble at all, so your shinobi will be safe. The only reason I need an escort is because of the rules concerning such important paperwork.”
Tsunade looked him over for a while. Then, nodded yes.
“I do not wish to send the girl off.” She apologized, “but leaving here would be unfair, maybe even dangerous, to her. I can’t tell you the circumstances, but she simply cannot stay if the rest of her team leaves.”
”There shouldn’t be any problem in that, hokage-sama.” The stranger bowed slightly, “I am just happy you could find someone to escort me so fast.”
”No problem at all.” Tsunade half smiled, “I am sure the shinobi will think of this as a good way to train the non-examinee too. You will leave Sunday morning… if this suits you?”
”Of course.”
”Well then…” she turned her attention to the two jounins by the door, “Mr. Agashi needs a room at the hotel. I believe you can handle that?”
Both of the jounins nodded as a reply. They then both turned around and walked out the room.
”Thank you, hokage-sama.” Agashi, the mist villager, bowed slightly to Tsunade before he turned around, following the jounins out of the office, closing the door behind himself.
Tsunade looked at the door for a while. Then sighed, shaking her head before she went back to the paperwork.

As Agashi got outside, he didn’t have to walk down the street very far before he spotted the silhouette up ahead. He smirked, somewhat evilly, pacing up a little. As he got in closer, the silhouette slowly became recognizable.
”Sehomara-sama.” Agashi bowed, “it’s all set up.”

***
Kita still stared at her still full bowl of ramen, poking the contents with a chopstick every now and then… Naruto was babbling on about some time where he had been drinking old milk by mistake and ended up having stomach problems just as he had turned into five shadow replications in front of Sasuke, which didn’t exactly encourage her appetite either. Even the stand owner looked disgusted at some point in the story and he had probably had to deal with Naruto every day for years...
”Oi..?” he suddenly patted her on her shoulder, making her turn with a small shriek, “are you gonna eat that..?” he motioned to the bowl in front of her with his chopsticks, still with his mouth full and a couple of noodles from his third bowl he had just finished hanging out of the corner of his mouth. Kita gave him a somewhat guilty smile, pushing her bowl over to him. She was about to apologize, but as Naruto starting stuffing himself again with a huge smile on his face while he continued his story, she just laughed mentally and dropped that idea.
“And… you don’t want me to co-train you, do you?”
The question immediately caught her attention and she turned to Naruto with the surprise written all over her face.
”Me?” she motioned to herself. Naruto smiled slyly.
”No, the non-existing person behind you…”
“Ah…” Kita scratched her neck with a sigh. Then, looked up at Naruto again, “why wouldn’t I want you to co-train me?”
“Your reaction wasn’t exactly positive…”
”Yours wasn’t either…” Kita rolled her eyes.
”I’m just asking!”
Kita let out a sigh, putting down the chopsticks in front of her.
”Well… do you want to co-train me?” she turned to Naruto again. Naruto seemed thoughtful for several seconds. Then, nodded yes, smiling from ear to ear.
”I wouldn’t mind!”
Kita smirked back, nodding.
”Well… then, I don’t mind either.”
“Good… because you have your first mission this Sunday.”
Both Naruto and Kita let out a scream at the sudden interruption. As they turned and faced Jirayia, Naruto fell down from his chair again.
”Ero-sennin?!”
“True…” Jirayia didn’t even look at Naruto as he responded, but kept eying a very confused Kita, who was simply staring at him, sweat-dropping, “lovely catch, Naruto!” he finally turned to his student, giving him a noogie, “decided to get over Sakura, eh?”
Naruto backed away from him, letting out a growl.
”Oi! Shut up!” he looked at Kita out of the corner of his eye, “it’s just ramen..!”
”Ah, yes, of course.” Jirayia smirked, moving closer to Naruto, “so…” he whispered, “then you don’t mind if I have a go?”
”You’d better stop…!”
Jirayia just laughed, turning to the even more confused Kita.
”You must be Kita...”
”And Jirayia…” Kita stated, looking him over with one eyebrow lifted as she shook his hand, “Naruto told me about you…”
”Ah, yes... the old ero-sennin I suppose…” Jirayia scowled at Naruto who just glared back.
”Um… yea…” Kita looked at the two, moving backwards a little, “that too…”
“Mission…” Naruto reminded his sensei with a growl.
“Ah! Yes.” Jirayia sat down on the stool between Naruto and Kita, “Tsunade just told me… we’ll be escorting a rock ninja to the hidden village of sand. We leave this Sunday.” He turned to Kita, “unless you decline Tsunade’s offer of course?”
Kita sent a slight look to Naruto who simply shook his head a little.
”I plan on accepting…”
”Good, good… you need to tell her tomorrow then. Naruto can go with you.”
“She can go herself too..!”
”Shut up, Naruto…” Jirayia gave him a slight push for his remark, “you need to tell her that you’re willing to co-train her too.”
”Ok, ok!” Naruto stuck his tongue out at his sensei, folding his arms, “I’ll go…”
“Fine.” Jirayia accepted the bowl of ramen that was handed to him by the stand owner, “by the way, we start training tomorrow morning at five.”
”WHAT?!” both Naruto and Kita turned to him with their eyes widening.
”Why that early?!” Naruto muttered, folding his arms, “it could easily be 9-ish, couldn’t it?!”
“Not unless you want something done.” Jirayia separated the chopsticks, “we leave for the mission Sunday morning.”
”Well, you’ll be training zombies, then..!”
“Ooh!” Jirayia laughed, “Tell me Naruto.. what’s new about that?”
“OI..!” Naruto practically attacked Jirayia, still on his chair. Jirayia simply shoved him away a few times, continuing to eat his ramen. Naruto gave up after a few attempts, muttering. Kita just watched them with a smirk… at least, training wouldn’t be too boring with both of them around. She had to admit that she was actually a bit relieved that Naruto would be there as co-trainer, she still found Jirayia a bit… well, strange…
“5 o’clock…” Naruto mumbled, rolling his eyes, “that’s torture..!”
Kita laughed quietly.
”Well…” she cleared her throat, “I suppose it’s time for me to head home to my room…” she hopped down from the chair, “or it’ll be impossible to get up tomorrow…”
”See?!” Naruto pointed at her, looking at Jirayia almost victoriously, “she doesn’t like it either!”
Jirayia just rolled his eyes, getting back to his ramen.
“I’ll see you.” Kita just smiled, shaking her head, “goodnight, Naruto. Good night, Jirayia-sensei.” She turned around, starting to walk away. Naruto replied quietly, turning to the stand owner to order again. Jirayia however cut him off.
“Aren’t you forgetting something?” he smirked.
”What?”
”Usually, after a date, you walk the girl home, baka…” Jirayia sighed hopelessly, “no wonder you haven’t had a date with the same girl more than once!”
”Like she cares..!”
Jirayia just sent him a cold look, making Naruto get up in one swift move.
”Ok..!” he snapped, throwing some money on the table, “thanks, old man…” he nodded thanks to the stand owner who was standing with his back towards him and sent Jirayia a glare on he way out.
Jirayia just smirked as he was out of sight…
“Baka…” he quickly snatched the money, just in before the stand owner turned around.

Naruto had started running down the street the second he got out from the stand; he knew the building Kita’s room was in wasn’t far away, so to reach her before she got there, he would have to hurry a little... however, it didn’t take very long before she came into sight.
”OI! Kita!” he paced up a little, waving at her as she turned around. But before he even got to her, he noticed something behind her… he didn’t get to react before a yell was heard and kunai flew past her face, leaving a cut in her cheek. She let out a cry in surprise over the sudden pain, grabbing her face. She didn’t get to turn around to face her attacker before Naruto stormed past her, after the guy who was now running away. Kita just stood, staring after them… a few yards away, Naruto stopped, just glaring in the direction the attacker ran with his eyes narrowed. He had jumped off onto the roofs, and even if he tried, Naruto probably wouldn’t be able to catch him…
”What… happened…?”
the voice was quiet… but Naruto heard her, and he slowly turned around, shaking his head with a sigh.
”No idea…” as he finally looked at Kita, he almost let out a gasp… except from the blood on her face, tears were now running down her cheeks as she looked at Naruto in what seemed to be sheer fear.
”You ok...?” he quietly asked. Kita just nodded yes, slowly staggering towards him. He was about to say something, but before a single word left his mouth, Kita almost fell over into his arms, clinging onto him.
“Kita…” he whispered, not knowing what to do. After a while he started loosening up, slowly and awkwardly putting his arms around her… if such an attack scared her this much, she really would need training before the mission, he thought… but then, as he thought back, he noticed something else that could’ve been the thing that upset her this much, “what did he say?” he almost growled. Kita didn’t reply, just grappling on to the back Naruto’s jacket with a fist as she heard the question, completely tensing up, “Kita…” Naruto hissed, “What did he say?!”
Kita hesitated a little more. Then, let out a shuddering sigh.
“Traitorous monster…”
It was only a very quiet, almost silent, whisper. But Naruto immediately froze, his eyes widened and it was like he was hit in the stomach, losing all the air he had in his body.
“Here…” he grabbed Kita by her shoulders, holding her out a little with one arm while he reached into his waist bag, pulling out the small container with the ointment Hinata regularly supplied him with, only taking his other hand off her shoulder to open the container. Almost mechanically, he held her head up a little by a hand on her cheek, putting the ointment on the wound on the other cheek. He didn’t even notice he was doing this until he put the lid back on the container, putting it into his waist bag again, after putting a small bandage on the wound... He froze the instant he realized.
“I… well… uh…” he bit in his lip, looking away. Kita smiled slightly, still seeming a little shocked.
”Thank you…” her voice still mainly sounded like a whisper, “I’m not sure what that guy would have done if you weren’t here…” she looked down at the ground, shaking her head, drying a couple of tears away as they traitorously left her eyes, “I never meant to get myself into trouble like that…”
”What’d you expect? You’re a girl!” Naruto smirked at his own remark.
“Hey..!” Kita couldn’t help smiling herself, although she tried to look insulted, “you’re nice, aren’t you?!”
“Very!”
”Oh yes, I got that impression long ago…” she rolled her eyes, half smiling. However, the smile quickly disappeared and she slowly looked up at Naruto again, “I… really am sorry, you know…”
Naruto seemed somewhat shocked that she was actually serious.
”Hey… Don’t worry!” he put a hand on her shoulder, “next week, you’ll be able to kick that guy’s ass with both of your arms tied to your back! Remember, I’m your co-trainer after all.” He flicked his nose with a grin, winking.
”Sure.” Kita smiled, scratching her arm, “I should go home now. I’m sorry if I bothered you.” She still smiled at him as she turned around, starting to walk down the street. Naruto just stood, looking after her for a few seconds. Then, remembered.
”Oi! Kita!”
Kita just stopped, turning to him. His eyes flickered around for a moment before he got himself together and looked at her again.
”Can I walk you home?”
A smile crossed Kita’s face as she nodded. Naruto smiled widely, crossed his arms behind his head and started walking up to her. They then started walking down the street together while Naruto started the dreaded tale about the old milk and the clones again...

END OF CHAPTER 1

Bwahaha! I know it’s a bad place to end it, but I didn’t want chap 1 to be more than 26 pages it already is, frankly… =/ Well… I’ve already started chapter two, and I hope you’ll keep on reading ^__^ It’s my very first Naruto fanfic, remember… and I HAVEN’T read the Manga, so some facts might be wrong…

I intentionally made it the Village of LIGHTNING, even though technically it should have been the village of CLOUD in the COUNTRY of lightening… but I noticed some ninjas with a forehead protector like the one I described, and I loved it So… yes, I know…
Well, that’s about it… hope you liked it just a little ^^

-Janni P.