The Lost Shinobi

Element of Surprise

A festival for New Years Eve. It didn't fill Scar with all the joy in the world. It was just another year, nothing special. Scar had been practicing his newest move ever, the Mud Wall jutsu. He had been trying to activate it for over an hour, but got only a tiny piece of mud to activate.

'Some move, it barely works."
'I'm getting there, just a little more.'
'It'll be half the amount that you'll be able to activate by that time.'
'Are you always such a pessimist?'
'At times.'

Scar sighed, but felt some type of happy chakra getting closer to him. He turned and saw Naruto, in a kimono, meant for men of course. "Hey Scar, what are you doing?" He looked at the splotches of mud on Scar's training clothes. "Just training, but you look ridiculous," Scar stated. Naruto nervously chuckled, "Akiko liked it, so I decided to wear it."

'Is he seriously that gullible?' Kerma seemed to be really annoyed. "I won't judge against her opinion." 'Sure you won't, loverboy.' 'You shut up already.' "So, what new jutsu were you practicing?" Naruto asked curiously. Scar ruffled his hair, he'd gotten that habit from Akiko.

"It's called Mud Wall jutsu, wanna try?" He asked. Naruto nodded. "Okay, focus your chakra towards the ground." Naruto bent over and knelt on the ground. His hands were pressed down, "Like this?" Scar nodded, "Now repeat the name of the jutsu in your head and focus your chakra in completing the jutsu."

Naruto focused so much he looked like he was constipated. Scar held back a laugh until Naruto managed a little piece of mud activated, wiggled, then dropped. Scar started laughing real hard and Naruto couldn't help but laugh as well.

Suddenly, Naruto's stomach growled. "Heh, I'm hungry," he innocently smiled. Scar smirked, until he was dragged by Naruto by the wrist. "Where are we going?" He asked. Naruto looked back and smiled, "The festival of course." Scar was taken off guard but the ghost of smile appeared on his face as his friend dragged him.

The festival itself, was actually nice. Scar found himself enjoying the view, until a girl with yellow hair tied into side ponytails and whiskers appeared and hugged Naruto. "Are you okay?" She asked, clearly worried. "Yeah, I'm fine," Naruto replied. She pulled away and smiled, "Well that's good." To Scar, her chakra was soothing, strong and familiar.

She had a yellow kimono on that matched her hair, it changed around the ends of the sleeves, which were orange. The end of her dress was black. In all, she looked good in it. 'Cheating are we?' Kerma asked amused. 'What? No! I mean...' Scar stuttered in his mind. He could hear Kerma chuckling.

"Hey Scar, this is Naruki Uzumaki, a cousin of mine," Naruto introduced. Naruki waved and Scar waved back. Naruto's stomach grumbled and Naruki giggled. "Looks like I'm not the only one hungry." Her laugh sounded familiar to Scar, he wondered if Naruto noticed. Also, a cousin? Naruto didn't even know his parents.

'Don't overthink it.' Kerma wasn't helping at all. Scar ignored him as Naruki dragged both him and Naruto to a Ramen shop. It wasn't Ichiraku's but he was hungry. A thought crossed his mind, 'Where was Akiko?' She had allowed Naruto to wear a weird looking kimono to a festival, and she hadn't attended. It didn't seem like her at all.

Naruki handed him his bowl of ramen, and surprisingly, she had the same thing. He ordered the ramen at Ichiraku and only two people knew about it, Akiko and Naruto. He glanced over at Naruki, who gave him a warm smile. Maybe a new friend wouldn't hurt.

Naruto and Naruki talked about Konoha a lot, which caused Scar to zone out. "What do you think Scar-kun?" Scar snapped into reality, "What?" She grinned, "I was saying that Ichiraku's has the best ramen in Konoha, what do you think?" How did she know Ichiraku so well? She's probably been there. Shut up brain.

"I think it's the best ramen shop there is here in Konoha," he replied. She ruffled her hair, and that act seemed suspicious enough for Scar. Naruki pointed somewhere behind Scar, "They're lighting up the fireworks already!" Naruto raised an eyebrow, "Really? But it's early." "It is New Year's Eve," Scar replied.

Naruki got up from her seat, and Scar looked to see her bowl empty, "That was quick." Naruto nudged Scar in the side, "She's a great girl isn't she?" Scar shrugged, "I guess, she's your cousin anyways. "Aki's gonna like her, believe it!" Naruto shouted. Scar chuckled, "I do." Naruki turned around and shouted at the two boys, "You coming or what?"

Scar and Naruto replied, "Coming!" They ran after her and she raced off to where the fireworks were at. She was handed three and gave one to Scar and another to Naruto. "Anybody got a lighter?" Naruto asked. Naruki let out a small flame from her finger and burnt each firework. The flame quickly spread and the three put down the fireworks on the ground, aiming it at the sky.

Each firework raced into the sky, and formed different shapes. Akiko's was a blue cat, Naruto and Scar got the same design, a fox, but in different colors. Naruto's being orange and Scar's being grey. Scar looked over to Naruki, who was staring at the sky in awe. "It's beautiful, yet it's so far away." Scar remembered when he was a nine, he was with Akiko and Naruto were watching the stars. She had said that very same line. Naruto said he would leave to get them some sweets, they both had approved.

Scar decided to test his theory, that Naruki was actually Akiko. "If you could touch them, what would you do?" He asked. She turned to him, "I'd keep it in a very warm place, and make a wish on it every night." Only Akiko would say that. Kerma smirked at the two "loverbirds" and controlled Scar to kiss "Naruki".

He made the boy crash his lips on hers, and her face turned bright red. Kerma smiled at his job done very well. Scar himself, found his lips touching a blonde's, who was now a red head. 'What the hell Kerma?' 'You guys were working too slow!' Scar pulled away, and it was Akiko's face he was looking at. Her hair was tied into the side tails, but she didn't have whiskers, she was getting really red though.

Naruto came back and ruined a very silent moment. "Aki! You ruined the surprise!" Scar looked at him, "You knew?" Naruto nodded, "We were gonna surprise you, since that's Akiko's new ability, to change her looks without using up chakra." Scar looked back at Akiko, who's blush hadn't gone away. In his mind, the kiss wasn't that bad, it's just that he wasn't expecting a kiss so soon.

"Can, we enjoy the fireworks, please?" Akiko squeaked. Naruto nodded and handed each of them a dango stick. Akiko ate quietly and stared at the sky, Naruto are his entire dango in one bite. He had more hidden in a secret pocket. "Naruto, did you buy, more for yourself than for us?" Akiko questioned. "No, of course not," his tone betrayed him.

Akiko smiled, and tackled him, "Liar! Give me one!" "You already have one!" "But you've got more than I do!" "Aki!" "Naruto!" Scar chuckled at the scene, those two acted more like siblings then teammates or friends. He stared at the stars once the smoke had cleared from the sky. They really were beautiful, but at least his stars weren't so far away from him.
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Hello my beloved readers and happy New Year! This IS a filler, and not necessarily canon to this story. I'd like to appreciate Shadow3456 for being my co-author this entire year, including Scar in this amazing story, and me being his co-author for "The Beginning" and "Two Sides".

I wish you all a Happy New Year! And love you all with all of my heart.

~ <3 NarukiUzumaki