Blind (Discontinued)

5

As Sasuke ran down the path to the clearing he and Naruto usually used, he couldn't help but feel like something was going to happen. Good or bad, well he wasn't too sure, but it gave him a sense of urgency.

~Back With Naruto~

"Who's there?" Naruto asked, guard up.

Suddenly he could feel an almost crushing presence somewhere near him. Focusing on listing for any disturbances other than the presence that had silenced almost all animals in the area, though he also had to be careful to not over do it.

Soon he could hear a faint heartbeat behind him. Judging by how loud it was, he would have said maybe fifteen yards away, but even from that far away, the only people he wouldn't be able to sense would be the half asleep Sasuke and any ANBU, former or current, though he could tell it wasn't Sasuke, half asleep or otherwise. He couldn't hear any breathing, which even Sasuke couldn't mask, leaving ANBU. Which meant if it was ANBU, he could be as close as the tree that happened to be right behind him. Wait. Right behind him. Naruto swung around and looked practically right at the ANBU through the bandages.

The ANBU let out a slight gasp, almost unnoticeable to everyone but Naruto, signaling to him that he got it right. Naruto internally smirked as the presence slowly shifted from a crushing one to a normal one.

"What do you want?" Naruto asked the startled ANBU.

The ANBU stayed silent, not sure if it was just a coincidence that the kid had managed to pin point where he was or not, but not wanting to risk it either way.

Naruto sighed. "I know you're there, Mr ANBU," he said. "I am blind, you know," he told Kurama, who laughed.

When Naruto said that, the ANBU got down from the tree, surprised as the kid seemingly followed his movements even though his eyes were covered with bandages. He finally spoke. "How'd you know I was there?" The ANBU asked. Then he added, "And how did you know I'm a guy?"

"Why do you want to know, Mr ANBU?" Naruto asked.

"Because I'm an ANBU captain. I need to know if it's something others could do. If so, then the ANBU standards need to be raised."

"If I tell you, do you promise not to tell anyone where you got the information?" Naruto asked, voice full of caution.

"I swear on my title as an ANBU captain," the ANBU replied.

Naruto nodded, then took a breath. "It's my ears. I heard you, and I assure you, it's definitely not something most people can do. Not even the Inuzuka Clan would be able to do it," he explained.

At that, the ANBU cocked an eyebrow. Not even the Inuzuka Clan would be able to do it? He seriously doubted that, though he didn't say it. "Okay, that answers my first question, but what about the second? How'd you know I was a man?"

"Also my ears. I faintly heard your heart and it was beating in a way that let me know you were an older man, or at least older than me," Naruto explained. Then he heard Sasuke's footsteps. "Are you satisfied? Is there anything else you need?" Naruto asked, trying to keep the ANBU busy to buy Sasuke some time to get there. Even though this man was ANBU, he didn't quite trust him.

"Not quite yet. How old are you?" asked the ANBU.

Naruto wasn't sure how to answer that but he had to keep him busy. Deciding that the best answer would be the truth, he said, "I'm almost 13. How about now?"

"13? Only 13 and your hearing is better than the Inuzuka Clan? I find that hard to believe. I'll be..." He was cut off by Sasuke walking into the clearing. 'Another one? How did he get past me without me noticing?!' The ANBU thought, worried that the ANBU really might have to up their standards.

"Who's this?" Sasuke asked Naruto. Over the years, the two had gotten so close that they could practically understand what the other was thinking just by being in the same room, although over the past two months they'd been training it so they could do it on command while separated be great distances, basically turning it into a two way telepathy connection, although they only rarely used it in the presence of others as of yet. So far they could use it where one was in Sasuke's bedroom and the other in Naruto's bedroom, or the equivalent of it. Luckily Naruto had been able to inform Sasuke about the man soon enough for Sasuke to go into stealth mode, which rivaled that of an ANBU now that he'd been working on it.

"This is the ANBU I told you about," Naruto replied, taking the ANBU aback. 'He what? When did he tell him about me?! He's been talking to me this whole time! These are obviously not ordinary kids!'

"Who are you two?! You're obviously not just villagers!" Mr ANBU exclaimed, evidently not noticing Sasuke's forehead protector due to the shadows, which earned him a facepalm from Sasuke and a snicker from Naruto. "What? What did I say?" Mr ANBU asked, confused at their reactions.

"Did you even look at my forehead?" Sasuke asked while Naruto was trying to hold in a laugh.

Still confused, the ANBU looked closer at Sasuke's head and realization dawned on him, making him extremely embarrassed that he hadn't seen it earlier. Maybe the standards of the ANBU really did need to be raised...

"So, now that you realize you disappointing error, would you please tell me why you're here?" Sasuke asked.

"Nothing, just passing through, although your friend here caught my attention," he replied.

"Not just you, it seems," came a serious tone of voice from Naruto, who had been, up until just a second ago, desperately trying not to laugh. "Come on out, Mr ANBU number 2!" Naruto called out, reviving a sideways glance from Sasuke and a look that was a mix of awe, shock, and slight discomfort from the masked ANBU in front of them.

Then, out of seemingly nowhere, came an amused chuckle. "My, my! You are good!" came the deep voice of another masked ANBU as he dropped from a tree farther away from the clearing. Naruto couldn't really tell how old this man was compared to the other, but Naruto could instantly tell he was older than Sasuke, which meant he was older than Naruto.

"And just who are you?" came Sasuke's question.

"I'm afraid I can't tell you that. Just be careful no one else finds out about your little secret training sessions with this young man. Who knows what would happen," the new ANBU said. Naruto could hear the smile in the man's voice.

The first ANBU rolled his eyes at his companion's antics while the second started walking away. "Well, we'd best leave you to it! Come, my dear friend, we still have a mission to complete."

Sasuke was about to stop them when Naruto mentally intervened.

'We shouldn't keep them here any longer. Be grateful they're leaving.' Naruto told him.

Sasuke sighed and backed down, knowing his friend/little brother was right.

~with the two ANBU ~

"So, Tenzo, what do you think? Was Keisuke right about those two?" asked the other who'd showed up later.

The other, now known as Tenzo, replied, "Ryosuke, I think we need to do something, but right now we can't be sure it wasn't just some sort of trick or coincidence. We need to look into this more deeply and find out who those two are. We know that one of them is an actual ninja, the headband is proof of that, but we don't know what rank he is, let alone if the other one is a ninja, too. Since we didn't get any names, just an age, we are somewhat at a disadvantage. Therefore, let's get going. I need to talk to Kakashi-sempai."

Ryosuke simply nodded, then the two were off to find out more about the two mysterious boys of the training ground.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hello, fellow awesome people! Here's another chapter! For those who don't know, November was NaNoWriMo, aka National Novel Writing Month! This fanfic was my entry for it so please support me in my craziness! 50,000 words in a month!
This chapter is dedicated to all the authors of fanfics I've read!

Total word count: 8593