Kaze no koibitō

24

Kira stretched lazily as he looked around the cavern; its multi-faceted gem-like surface throwing prisms of light everywhere. It made for quite the surreal experience, one he could continue to live with for quite a while. Unfortunately, he had to meet the Kazekage, hang out with Naruto, and, to his unbidden glee, meet a supposedly hot chick named Urameshi Kari.

Yep, life was good for ole' Hachi Kira...

He stood upright with a happy sigh and rolled his neck from side to side. He hadn't felt this rested in some time and he hadn't even slept. He'd merely meditated the entire night.

You would do well to stay close to this Uzumaki Naruto. I feel a change coming in the world...and your brother will not take your leaving very lightly.

Kira snorted and put his hands behind his head.

'My brother is of no consequence at the moment. My students should be able to take care of protecting Kumogakure in my absence. Besides, who the hell would want to invade that place?'

The Eight-tailed Ox rolled its eyes.

Be that as it may, there is a revolution coming and you will be instrumental in it, as will I. The boy who holds the Kyuubi will be the catalyst for all this. Take my advice and stay beside him.

Before Kira could reply, the Ox faded into the background of his mind, content with having said its piece. The bearded man hated when his beast did that, but it was eccentric as well as powerful. He'd learned to put up with its nonsense over his years as its host.

A faint sound echoed in from outside the cave and Kira stiffened, turning his head slightly to catch the noise better. It sounded like people shouting and hammers knocking against wood...he could only suppose it was Naruto. He slowly padded across the crystal floor and cursed inwardly as the sunlight bounced off the entrance and into his eyes. With a readjustment of his glasses, he stepped out and put a hand over his brow to help shield him from the accursed light.

The world was a blaze of white for a moment before his eyes adjusted to the searing desert sun. He blinked, letting the moisture wash away a grain of sand that had gotten under his glasses, and gaped at the scene before him.

To his right were literally hundreds of Narutos, performing various tasks as they prepared the foundation of his soon-to-be house for the walls. He watched in awe as they brought stones from a quarry over a mile away in scrolls and deposited them on the ground before heading back for more. Several Narutos waited for the stones to hit the ground before measuring out the desired shape and thickness of the foundation and cutting them with wind chakra.

All of this was done under the watchful eye of a local stonemason, who observed the proceedings with great interest. He would shout at the Narutos when they cut the stone wrong and helped them lay the tiles in the correct places. They already had half the foundation done on a very large home.

Straight ahead, he could see several Narutos working on cutting down trees and dragging them to an empty site, where even more waited to trim the branches off and slice the tree into lumber for the frame. He marveled at the use of wind chakra in such an unorthodox way. He marveled even more when, for every tree that he cut down, Naruto would raise another from the ground.

With a final twist of his head to the left, he saw what he guessed were Naruto's students, running drills and exercising under the watchful eye of yet another Naruto. It amazed him that the blonde could do all these things and still show no ill effect. The fact that he apparently used none of the Kyuubi's chakra to do it made it all the more astonishing.

"Enjoying the sights, Kira?"

The bearded man glanced upwards and saw four shadows covering his exit. He cautiously stepped into the sun and shielded his eyes again as he looked upward. He recognized Temari and Naruto's outlines, but he didn't recognize the other two. A flash of teeth brought his attention to Naruto's face as he grinned at his newfound ally.