The Siblings

Chapter 2

"So let me get this straight" Kankuro mumbled more to himself than to me. "You're sixteen and never stepped out of that small oasis at the foot of Mt. Jenga"

I nodded. "I don't know how and why I was sent there, but that's what I want to find out in Konoha"

We were just crossing the border between the Land of Wind and Land of Fire, having another day and a half ahead of us. My three companions were surprised of my apparently odd life, and kept asking questions, curious of a land they hadn't heard of before. Baki and Temari were a bit more cautious, anticipating any attacks I might have had planned. But not Kankuro. He was talking endlessly, seemingly carefree.

"It's going to be hard to adjust to a human lifestyle now, won't it?" he chirped.

Temari and Baki nodded slightly and I rolled my eyes.

"I consider myself pretty adaptable, thank you very much" I retorted jokingly.

Suddenly, I felt a strange presence around our squad. It was pretty weak, probably just a passing person on a parallel road. I didn't think much of it, but it obviously disturbed Kuronuma, because he started grumbling in his imprisonment.

"You should be careful, Naoto-chan" he said. "I sense something behind those trees"

I rolled my eyes discreetly. "You're so paranoid, Kuronuma-san"

"And you're so gullible, Naoto-chan" he mimicked my tone. "Just use the damn Karuigan"

I rolled my eyes one more time, but activated the eye technique just to get the damn lizard off my case. And luckily I did because behind the trees, hiding and waiting too attack, was a ninja. His presence wasn't that strong and he didn't even have such dark intentions. He probably just wanted to rob us or something. Then I sensed him reaching for some star-like weapons and I stopped suddenly.

My companions turned around and faced me, their first instinct being to attack, since they believed I was attacking them, only they waited for me to attack first. And seeing the changed color of my eyes sealed the deal. They really thought I was going to attack them.

The attacker threw the weapons at us and swiftly jumped after them, ready to launch a surprise attack if the pointy things missed their targets. I reached for the katana on my back, causing the other three to believe I was going in for the kill. They were oblivious that an attack was laid out for them.

Temari quickly took off the fan off her back and planned on attacking me with it, but I jumped before she could do anything, landing next to Kankuro and dodging the flying weapons with the katana, then jumping again and attacked the attacker mid-air. The man landed at the base of a nearby tree with a thud, slipping into unconsciousness.

"What the freaking hell?" Kankuro demanded, his voice slightly high-pitched.

"What the hell was that, Naoto?" Temari squealed.

I turned around to face them, slipping the katana back in its sheath and letting out a loud sigh. "He attacked, I sensed it and I dodged it. I apologize if I scared you" I said.

Kankuro was fuming. "Scared us? You scared us shitless, alright?" he yelled. "Don't ever break our trust like that again!"

I leaned forward, our faces inching closer to each other. "And what was I supposed to do?" I yelled in his face. "I saved your sorry ass, so deal with it!"

Baki and Temari watched the two of us bicker, slight chuckled reverberating off of their chests.

"Alright! Break it up, you two" the older man said, a small smile playing at his lips. "Naoto, I understand you dodged the attacked and saved us, but next time, be more specific" he said then to me. "There aren't many ways to interpret the action of pulling your sword out"