The Golden Deity

Chapter III

Goooooood evening, everybody! This is the lovely Shiota coming to you live from chapter three of The Golden Deity! How are you all doing tonight? Now that three chapters of the Golden Deity have been written, I am continuing with the other Naruto fanfictions. Thank you for your patience, now on with the show! No fires, and make sure to vote, share and comment, I really appreciate it! Enjoy!

Next Update: The Fox of the Bloody Leaf
~~~~~~

Kurenai and two-thirds of Squad Eight walked through the forest towards the sound of a waterfall. "Remind me again why Naruto lives outside of the village," Shino requested as he ducked under a branch. "I'm pretty sure Naruto said that the village was too noisy for him to meditate," Kurenai said as she glanced over her shoulder.

Shino nodded and fell silent. It had been five months since they graduated from the academy. Squad Eight had a few C and D Ranked missions under their belts, and they felt pretty good about themselves.

Shino shook his head a little as the sound of the rushing water grew louder. "Here we are, guys. Naruto's home," Kurenai announced as she pushed away a branch and allowed her two students to go ahead of her. The two Genin stepped forward and looked at their teammate's house. Naruto's house was a modest little cottage with a small garden that was radiant with life.

The grass around the house was lush and looked untouched by human hands, and the whole house gave off a peaceful and homey feeling. A small waterfall was located on the left side of the house, under which they noticed Naruto's golden hair. The boy was meditating underneath the waterfall in only a pair of shorts.

The wildflowers around the small pond glowed with golden energy. Kurenai and her two students slowly slipped out of their sandals and stepped into the small clearing. Naruto had a rule of not wearing shoes in his little clearing, and the group didn't mind anyways because the grass around Naruto's house felt like a soft carpet. The Jōnin and her two students walked towards her missing student and sat down on three flat-faced rocks that surrounded the small pond.

They had done this countless times now. Naruto would get up at the one o'clock and meditate under the waterfall till his squad got there at about eight o'clock. The schedule was tedious at first, but they got used to the spiritual practice after two weeks of being a squad together. Even when it was freezing outside, they still found Naruto underneath the waterfall.

Kurenai folded her arms across her chest and crossed her legs. A deer hopped out of the forest and offered Kurenai a few berries. Kurenai raised her hand and shook her head mutely, so she wouldn't disturb her meditating student. The deer seemed to understand and pranced towards Hinata.

That was another thing about Naruto that she found odd. Nature and animals seemed to love her golden haired student. Whenever Naruto was around, wildlife seemed to be drawn towards him. Kurenai chuckled softly to herself as she remembered one time in particular...

~Flashback~

"Your mission is to track down Madam Shjimi's cat, Tora," Iruka announced as he handed Kurenai the mission scroll. "She ran away again? Already? Didn't Kakashi's squad just catch her yesterday?" Kurenai asked as she looked over the scroll. "Actually, both Kakashi's and Asuma's squads caught her yesterday. It's your turn now," Hiruzen said as he glanced up from the mountain of paperwork in front of him.

"Well, this should be a good challenge us. Tora is notorious for being hard to track down. So this should be the perfect job for us," Kurenai said as she turned towards her Genin. "What do you all think?" she asked. "S-sure, l-let's d-d-do it," Hinata stuttered. "I'm fine with it," Shino said with a shrug. Kurenai looked at her two students and nodded. "Naruto, what about you?" she asked as everyone in the room looked at Naruto.