Ancient Dreams In A Modern Land (A Naruto Fanfic)

1: The Aggravating Start

"You'll do nicely."
My peaceful morning is rudely interrupted by a voice from above. I quickly turn my attention away from my newest painting to...I actually don't know what that is. It kind of looks like a man if he were comprised of two different halves surrounded by leaves? Not to mention he's halfway poking out of the tree I'm currently sitting in.

In almost a blink, he lunges down toward me. I stare at him with unwavering eyes and don't move a muscle. Just as his leaves begin to surround me, I pull my face mask down and release an abrupt, yet articulate scream in his direction. The visible sound waves barrel toward the creature and the smug grin on his white half drops. I watch his form fly off into the distance, hopefully far away. With a soft sigh, I replace my face mask and continue to work on my painting. By the time I get another stroke down on the paper, the creature appears again, but this time in front of me.

"Why, you are different." The white half muses.
"Annoying is more like it." Another voice interjects. This one is cold and gravelly, a stark contrast to the other whimsical one. Great. Any shrivel of peace I thought I could get us tossed out of the metaphorical window.

"You might be more interesting than I assumed. What do you think?" The white one lightly holds his face in his hand as the other grumbles.
"Doesn't matter to me. I just want to get this over with quickly either way. I'm hungry."

Pause...hungry?! My eyes widen slightly at this. I like to think I'm relatively decent looking, but I'm not a human snack. I poof my materials back into their appointed scroll and leaned toward them. I replicate the white side and put my head in my hand as I analyze the being before me.

"Ah, she is interested! Wonderful!" A maniacal tone coats his once energetic one just as they disappear into the branch beneath me. Another sigh leaves my lungs as I stand and survey my surroundings. The idea of being alone at the moment is a bit worrisome at the moment, so, with a series of hand signs, I summon my ninnekos. Four of them appear before me and greet me kindly.

"Lady Eri, how can we help you?" Miko the largest asks me.

"Can you check my surroundings? A weird guy thing just tried to attack me and then randomly left." I sign to her.

"Got it! Spread out and survey the area!" Miko shouts to the others. I watch them scatter and run a hand through my hair.

What the fuck was that about?

**********

The smell of rain swirls around me as I sit under the porch overhang of some abandoned house. Miko and another ninneko named Katsu are curled up against my side in a relaxing cuddle puddle. The silence is deafening over the trickling of the rain, making my brain itch. I pat my two companions before heading inside my current protection from the elements. With a calming breath, I form the hand signs to my favorite jutsu. My "clones" or siblings, as I call them, appear. I say that due to their shocking physical differences to me. All of them have my face, but some have different hair colors and two are male.

"What's up?" The tallest asks me. His short blue hair almost glows against the slowly rotting wood behind him. Before I can reply, Miko and Katsu run inside.

"Miss! Miss! We've detected a presence in the forest!" Katsu squeaks up at me. I look from him to Miko and raise my eyebrow.

"I-it seems to be two of them. We are unsure of their strengths, but they seem to be heading directly this way." Miko bows to me as she explains. I nod to her and turn to my clones behind me. They all give me acknowledging glances before we head out onto the porch again. The rain has almost stopped at this point and I can see the two individuals off in the forest. My clones and ninnekos stand beside me as we await the strangers' arrival.