The Fox And The Tiger

As Time Goes By

For the village now covered entirely in snow and even more falling, Kumo was silent. As common as this type of weather was, it still managed to keep many in. Cold always did that to people. Unless that was a common thing all year, all the time in some place, it would always shut many things down. For the ninja though, things always were moving. There was no stoppage, missions had to be carried out and training needed to be done. For Kumo, fighting in the snow, cold or rain was common and rather advantageous.

Where villages like Iwa, Konoha, or Suna didn't really get much of that and were less accustomed to such climates. So Kiri and Kumo always had that "home field" advantage. Unlike Kiri though, Kumo had stretches of land that faced heat and dryness, so they could always send ninja for training in such areas. All the bases in a sense were covered.

As such there was six ninja coming back from a mission. Led by Darui, Yugito, Rin, Samui, Omoi and Karui all went on a mission together. They were sent to a border location that was between them and a neutral land. Rumors had it that several scouts from Iwa was crossing over, so they had been sent to investigate said rumors. Nothing came up but it was becoming more often that the borders were being crossed and tested.

Kumo already was very high on security, but with the recent attack on Naruto who was targeted and the fact the village had been infiltrated, again was an attempt at uncovering Naruto kept the village on edge. There was one enemy that remained elusive and then the other nations becoming testy. Still, they weren't of the great five for nothing, and soon enough, all threats would be eliminated.

"So, any word from Naruto?" Karui said as the group continued moving northeast.

"No. Only the updates that B sends." Yugito said and pushed further ahead to be in front and away.

"What? Something I said?"

"No. But perhaps it is that Naruto has not sent any letters. Or maybe it is that it's just that time of-"

"Shut up you idiot! You were likely right with the first guess." Karui said smacking the back of Omoi's head.

"Hey, it can be the other. You girls get weird during such times."

"Omoi....shut up."

He shook his head with a sigh and looked back ahead to Yugito. She wasn't happy and he sighed again. "Anyways...I don't know why she would be too upset. Sure they're dating now...but like, this is always how he's been."

Darui was listening to the conversation about his reclusive student and was curious as to where it would go. Afterall for the way Naruto acted, he understood that said kid did care deeply for those around him. It was just a very odd way that it got shown. Still, people needed to be told what it was that someone felt. It was confirmation, you could show or elude to it all you want but it is something else to be outwardly said and confirmed. From his understanding, Naruto didn't exactly say much about his feelings and as such left a lot in the air about it and would lead to questions.

"The main thing is though, that until recently, we all could beat him. Now...not so much." Rin said.

"I mean...what if he always held back? He did so during the Chunin Exams and afterwards. What if it goes back further? Were we ever better than him?" Samui said as she jumped to be beside Omoi, in the spot Yugito had left vacant.

"Hell, we all took him on when we got back. We barely even managed to land a blow...all of us combined and it was effortless for him."

"That is a bit of an exaggeration Karui. None of us were serious, yeah he evaded us but no one was really out to get him."

"Bottom line, Omoi, he's always been different. He's stuck around with us thus far yes...but we always had been superior until that last year or so in the academy. Now that he no doubt will become even stronger when he returns but...will we be enough for him to still stay? He may deem us as too weak and uninteresting to be around." Karui said and looked down. Omoi sighed for what felt the thousandth time and looked ahead to see that Yugito was also looking down rather than holding her head up.