The Beast Inside

Zabuza Returns

"Seriously, where are you Naruto?! This isn't funny anymore!" I yelled as I ran through the forest.
It's morning now and I haven't seen Naruto since he left for training last night.
As I was running I picked up his scent and followed it.
"There you are." I said as I stumbled upon him sleeping in the grass.
Some birds that had landed on him flew away.
I looked up to see someone sitting in the grass.
They were looking in our direction.
Their scent wasn't familiar so who are they?
Naruto moved a little.
The stranger was looking at our headbands with a really surprised look.
"Who are you?" I asked them.
They looked at me with that same surprised face.
"Just someone from the village." he said as he stepped closer to where I could see his face.
He looked back at our headbands and had an angry look.
"You okay? Did I offend you somehow?" I asked with a confused expression.
He stayed silent.
Does he know us from somewhere?
Does he have something against the Leaf Village?
He walked closer with his hands in a fist.
I reached into the satchel I had borrowed from Sakura and placed my hand on a kunai.
He knealt down beside Naruto and grabbed his shoulder to wake him up.
Naruto moved a little then slowly woke up.
"You'll catch a cold if you sleep here." the stranger said.
I let go of the kunai in my hand and closed the satchel.
Naruto suddenly sat up and wiped his eyes.
"You wore yourself out Naruto." I said as I put my hands on my hips.
"Who the heck are you?" Naruto asked the stranger. "Oh... uh... I mean... hi there, where did you come from? You know, what are you doing out here and all that?"
"I'm gathering herbs." the stranger said.
"Herbs?!" Naruto exclaimed.
"Yes, that's right. They're for treating illnesses and healing wounds." the stranger explained happily.
"You need some help? We don't really have anything else to do." I said.
"That would be nice, thank you." the stranger said.
"Okay, we should start." Naruto said as he got up.
He had a confused look on his face.
The stranger started explaining what herbs to pick and what they looked like.
I knealt down and started collecting them along with Naruto and the stranger.
After a little while Naruto sat down.
"You start work early, huh?" Naruto asked.
"I like it early. It's calm but I didn't think I'd find anyone sleeping out here in the woods." the stranger said.
Naruto laughed.
"That's Naruto for you." I said as I started laughing too.
"I was training." Naruto said.
The stranger looked confused.
"So are you a ninja? Because I noticed that headband you're wearing. Or are you just making a fashion statement?" the stranger asked Naruto.
"You noticed that, alright! Only super cool ninja can wear these!" Naruto exclaimed.
The stranger opened their mouth to say something but I cut him off.
"Why did you look so angry and confused when you saw our headbands?" I asked suddenly.
Naruto was confused.
"Oh, you noticed... I was confused why Leaf Village ninja were here." the stranger said.
He didn't answer why he looked angry...
"Why do you always have to be so uptight, Okami?!" Naruto yelled at me.
"Am not!" I yelled.
"Are too!" Naruto yelled back.
The stranger laughed as I growled at Naruto and Naruto crossed his arms.
"So why were you training if you're already a ninja?" the stranger asked Naruto.
"Because I need to get stronger and stronger!" Naruto yelled.
"And stronger... and stronger..." I said sarcastically before Naruto nudged me.
I started laughing.
The stranger started looking confused.
"Why is it so important?" the stranger asked.
"So I can become the best ninja in my village and everyone will know who I am and they'll all respect me. There's also a certain person that I have to prove something to!" Naruto explained.
"So are you doing it for this certain person? Or are you doing all this training for yourself?" the stranger asked.
Why do they have so many questions?
Naruto's expression changed to an angry face that looked really funny.
The stranger laughed.
I continued picking herbs.
"What are you laughing about, what's so funny?!" Naruto yelled.
The stranger continued to laugh.
"Is there, someone who's precious to you?" the stranger asked.
"Someone who..." Naruto trailed off and looked as if he didn't understand. "What are you sayin', what do you mean "precious"?"
The stranger's expression looked kind of sad now and he looked like he remembered something.
"Are they okay?" I asked Naruto.
We stared at the stranger for awhile before he looked up at us.
"You see, when a person has something precious that they wanna protect then they become genuinely strong." the stranger explained to Naruto.
Naruto's eyes went wide for a second then back to normal.
Naruto looked down and in could tell he was thinking.
"Yea, I hear ya. I know exactly what you're saying." Naruto said.
"I don't... are you saying I can't become strong if I don't have someone precious to me?" I asked.
The stranger looked at me with a worried expression.
"Don't you have anyone precious to you? Like family or fri-" the stranger said before I cut him off.
"My family hates me and I don't really have friends." I said.
"What about him, is he your friend?" the stranger gestured to Naruto.
I thought for a second.
Well, I told Naruto I was his friend... but Hisashi told me that... he would leave me.
Hisashi has never been wrong.
I don't know how but he always gets things right.
Naruto was staring at me.
"I... don't know..." I said.
Naruto looked started looking kind of sad.
"And why is that?" the stranger asked.
"I've never had an actual friend before. I say that someone I know is my best friend but that's just because they aren't rude to me. My brother is the only family who cares and we're close but..." I trailed off.
Naruto and the stranger stared at me.
"You will get strong. Very strong. Goodbye, we'll meet again sometime." the stranger said to Naruto as he stood up and picked up his basket of herbs.
As the stranger started walking off he spoke up again.
"Oh, by the way, I'm a boy." the stranger said before starting to walk off again.
Naruto put his hands on his face and I could tell he was freaking out.
I laughed.
"You didn't know that?" I asked.
"And you did?!" Naruto yelled as I nodded my head.
I started picking up Sasuke's scent in the direction the stranger went.
That stranger seemed really familiar...
Too familiar...
Sasuke walked right past the stranger and in front of Naruto and I.
"Hello." I said.
"Woah, I've seen a lot of weird things in my life before but this one takes the cake." Naruto said with his arms crossed.
Sasuke hit Naruto on the top of the head.
"Ow, hey, what did you do that for?! Cut it out!" Naruto yelled.
"Hey, twerp. Did you just forget about breakfast? You're such a loser." Sasuke said.
"Hey, Uchiha, stop being such a jerk because you lost your whole family! At least yours cared!" I yelled.
I could tell Sasuke and Naruto were surprised by me saying that.
We all kept silent for awhile until Naruto did a really awkward laugh.
I started walking back to the house.
"Hey, freak?" I heard Sasuke say.
"What?" I asked rudely
"Truce? No more name-calling?" Sasuke asked.
"Fine, but you shouldn't have called me a freak when you tried to get my attention." I said. "And if you call me any more names again I have the right to punch you into a wall."
"Fair enough." Sasuke said.
I turned around to face Sasuke and held out my hand to shake.
He carefully shook my hand not knowing that I was about to knee him in the stomach.
"What was that for?!" Sasuke yelled.
I turned around and started walking back.
Naruto started laughing.
"That was for the times you did call me a freak." I said.
I heard Sasuke sigh.