Kusari no Naruto

Twelfth Link

Naruto could honestly say he was having a rather strange week, as he clung to the underside of a thankfully sturdy tree branch without Chakra. It was a technique Nezumi had taught him, often used to freak him out periodically, and had become invaluable recently. The reason he was doing this task without Chakra was for the same reason he had forgone his normal outfit in favour of a more camouflaged affair, the stalker he knew was out there somewhere in the forest. They were either a damn fine sensor, able to pick his signature up from hundreds of meters away, or they were the luckiest bastard to walk the earth and were somehow always in the right place to catch him.

There was the third option that they were simply following Naruto all the time and he didn't know it, but his pride as a Black-ops prevented him from considering the scenario.

The week was strange for a number of reasons, most noticeably his growing confusion regarding Kakashi, and his varied interactions with the man's Genin team. He just couldn't understand the man; everyone he had met only held praises for his abilities and professional attitude. However from what he saw he was a lot like Tako, a shameless pervert that liked to read porn in public and flirt with hapless stall-girls half his age. Once he had challenged the man to a spar to finally put the issue from his mind, he understood people best while fighting anyway.

The man had the gall to refuse because, in his own words, he was still 'recovering'. Not an hour beforehand he had seen the man use a frivolous Shunshin just to escape the wrath of Tsunami, after she caught the man peeping on her changing. It had disappointed and aggravated both Naruto and apparently, Sasuke as well. He too had been asking for spars with the blond Jounin but those had been easier to shrug off than his own requests of Kakashi because every time he would simply cite rank and the inappropriateness off-handedly.

In truth, it was just because Naruto couldn't be asked to fight with a Genin, no matter how talented. There was no danger, no risk of losing, no adrenaline rush that made high-level fights so interesting and intoxicating for the young Jinchuuriki. He could always have that with his teammates, they never held back against him, so every confrontation felt like a brush with death. A Genin on the other hand? No, there was no excitement there, not like with this game of cat and mouse he was playing with his mysterious assailant. A grin spread his lips as he thought back to their first encounter.

Naruto hopped along the trees listlessly, having picked a random direction to run in. He was talking out his ass when he said he would deal with the Gatou problem by himself; he hadn't a clue how to go about doing that. He was a weapon, a fighter, an act-first think-later type of person. He didn't plan, or scheme, or any of the other things leaders and politicians did. Searching the entire island nation for two runaway Nuke-nin didn't sound all that fun for him, and neither did waiting around until they might show up to face Kakashi and his team.

As he was running, a tingle on the back of his neck warned him something was wrong. On instinct, he pulled his head back, only to have it replaced by three thin objects that thudded heavily into the trunk of the tree he landed on. Blinking in surprise, Naruto turned his head to see that it was a small cluster of senbon, the combat kind. He had seen them used by an ANBU operative that also liked to use them as hair ornaments, so the actual weapon was no surprise. From what he could remember they took a great deal of skill and dedicated training to learn to use effectively.

"So, that would make you the fake hunter-nin." Naruto muttered to himself, wearing a grin as his eyes scanned the surrounding trees. His attacker was obviously adept at hiding themselves as he didn't even feel a lick of their presence until he heard the faint whistling in the air. This time his chains erupted from his body to swat the irritating implements out of the air. They lashed out at the direction the weapons had flown from, but all he got for his trouble were the sounds of trees toppling over. Just as he was about to chase after the assailant, likely levelling quite a bit of the scenery in the process, he found there was no need.