Naruto:Making Of A Hokage

Nine vs Seven!

Naruto knew, from meeting Gaara, that he had been lucky. Yes, he had gone through painful times but they paled in comparison to what the latter had gone through; betrayal, indifference and hate. Ever since then he had started to grow doubtful but, like the ninja he was, he hid it somewhere where nobody could see it.
Jinchuuriki were stains to the villages. Stains of what they had done and how dark the world was to the unlucky few. It wasn't fair. Why did they have to suffer like that?
He didn't, he had been lucky, but the unlucky ones had gone through hell.
"It's good that you doubt the villages."
Jiraiya would answer with a sympathetic look in his eyes.
"It's only human to doubt who you work for. That's why we need to let out the pent up stress that builds up over time. Because if we don't, then we'd do something stupid."
With an almost annoyed expression, Naruto would answer, "Don't try to make excuses for your peeping."
After that day Naruto noticed something. He was only fighting to protect his friends. Those people that meant the world to him. If it weren't for them then he was sure he would curse the villages to hell and get as far away as possible.
Run away with the unlucky ones.
Seven could barely hold down her excitement over finding another like her. She had heard about there being more but she never thought she would run into one. The village kept her under heavy supervision and trips were rare so, to her, meeting a jinchuuriki was a big deal. It made her wonder what kind of things 'Nine' could do.
That's why she wanted to test him, to see if he could control the demon sealed within him and the only way to do this would be to fight. She was okay with that. She liked fighting, it relieved her pent up stress and it gave her the chance to see if she was improving.
"Wind Style: Air Bullets!"
The attack made Seven aware of her surroundings. She was in a crouch position on a tree branch with Naruto standing on the ground and unleashing his attack. The wings on her back extended before flapping down on the direction of the bullets, dispersing them without any trouble before, with a flap of her wings, diving towards the blond rapidly.
Albeit a bit surprise by the speed, Naruto ran through hand signs and put a hand to his lips. He unleashed his attack on the ground, letting out a powerful gust that kicked up a large cloud of debris to block him from view but, with a flap of her wings, Seven shot a powerful gust of her own that cleared the area to show Naruto holding a hand seal in place.
"Wind Style: Slicing Winds!"
Blades of wind shot at Seven, forcing her to flap both winds downwards and take to air in a matter of seconds, effectively dodging the first couple of blades and noticing more coming her way. Her eyes narrowed on the incoming attacks as she maneuvered through them in a show of agility and elegance.
Back on the ground, Naruto scowled as he thought of what to do. Seven was way too agile for his long range attacks to hit and, while closer range attacks seemed to be the obvious choice, her ability to fly made things more difficult. His mouth curled upwards, it looked like things were going to be difficult.
Meanwhile the last of the wind blades passed by Seven without making contact. She turned to where Naruto was and dove towards him once more but he didn't move. Naruto stayed in place with his eyes focused on her movements which is why when she threw a jab at his chest, he managed to sneak under it and land a crushing blow to her stomach.
Her eyes shot up in pain but managed to hold back a grunt as she was thrown off course by the power behind the blow. Now she was heading straight for the ground but before that happened, she twisted her body in order to land safely by rolling with the momentum and getting back to her feet. She staggered a bit but regained her balance and set her eyes on the blond once more.
She had to give him credit. He was strong even without the aid of his bijuu. It made her wonder if the others were like him but she dismissed the thought quickly, seeing as he was beginning to move again. He disappeared into the shadows but it wouldn't be a problem to her, her bijuu's ability let her find him without much trouble.
Naruto moved quickly through the shadows but, much to his shock, Seven appeared right in front of him and punched at his chest. He barely had time to react but managed to block the punch with both his hands before gripping tightly on her extended fist and flinging her over his shoulder but, with unmatched flexibility, Seven twisted her body awkwardly and landed on one foot before pushing off of it and jabbing a fist into his stomach.
Pain shook his stomach as surprise filled his eyes. That had to be the strongest he had been hit in a long time and it was nothing short of a miracle that he hadn't yelled out in pain.
With his mind elsewhere, he wasn't quick enough to dodge the kick that followed. The bone crushing kick struck his right side, knocking the wind out of him as he was hurled through the air due to the power behind the blow. He took a deep breath to calm himself as he sailed through the air and looked at where he was headed only to let out a startled yelp, noticing the thick tree he was nearing head-first.
'Shadow Clone Jutsu!' He managed the jutsu just in time. The clone appeared at his side and hurled him upwards before he could crash on the tree.
"She's strong..." Naruto muttered to himself with a weak grin as he flipped in the air and landed safely on the tree, both feet planted on its bark as he watched his clone land on the ground. "Give me an opening," he instructed, "That's all I need."
The clone smirked and charged forwards just as Seven landed on the ground in front of it. Her eyes held a bit of disappointment as she flapped her two wings to create a powerful gust that sent the clone flying through the air but it wasn't done yet, it flipped in the air and planted both feet on a nearby tree before kicking off of it and shooting towards her. She began to chew as the clone neared her. It threw a punch but, before it made contact, she spat out a pink substance that latched onto its arms and face.
It landed on the ground and flailed wildly before disappearing in a cloud of smoke. Seven grinned pleasantly as she took to air again but, just as she ascended, several blades of wind shot at her from all directions. A look of panic struck her face as she maneuvered through the attacks but wasn't agile enough to dodge the one that cut off both of her wings in a single shot. Without her wings, she fell rapidly as she tried to regain the necessary chakra to form her wings.
They were only halfway formed when the real Naruto jumped out from under the ground she was nearing, holding a bright blue ball of chakra on his right hand.
"Rasengan!" He exclaimed as he jabbed the attack at her shocked face but it disappeared before it made contact, leaving Seven confused as he wrapped an around her torso in order to break her fall. The two landed safely on the ground, Naruto dropping his hold on the girl and taking a few steps back with a grin on his face.
Seven frowned, feeling as if he was rubbing his victory on her face. "Fine, fine. You win," she crossed her arms under her chest before sighing in defeat since it had been a good workout. She thought back on the fight before a anger flashed on her face and she approached the blond before kicking him on the shin.
"That hurt!" Naruto yelled out in pain as he nursed his shin while jumping on one leg. He glared at the girl as he tried to sooth the pain, "What the hell was that for?"
Seven't frown deepened as she covered her chest from him, "You just grabbed me there out of nowhere!"
He had the decency to blush at the accusations. "Oh come on! You were about to crash on the ground. What was I supposed to do? Let you fall?"
"I would have preferred death over some lowly pervert grabbing my breasts."
"I didn't grab them," he explained through gritted teeth, "I put my arm over them, that doesn't count!"
"Whatever," she huffed, "I've had enough of your excuses. Anyway, since you won I have to tell you my name even though I really don't want to share it with someone like you."
Naruto didn't answer, he only looked at her with an angry expression on his face.
"I'm Fu," she introduced with an amused look on her face.
"Naruto..." he muttered before walking towards the pond's edge and sat down next to where he had left his katana and studied it. Everything looked fine but he still needed to add a few more seals.
He reached a hand into one of his vest's pockets but, before he could, Fu sat next to him without saying anything. There was a bit of space between them but her hand was close to his, their fingers almost brushing together, making him suppress a sigh. Fu clearly didn't trust him and was making sure that he didn't try anything with the blade by keeping close to his hand.
"I'm not going to attack you or anything. I just have to add seals to this thing."
She didn't respond but moved her hand away, though only slightly. "Tell me..." she spoke, a lot more seriously than before. She seemed to think about the question before finally speaking, "How did having a bijuu work out for you."
"I can't complain," he answered truthfully, earning a look of slight shock from Fu. "I mean, it did suck but things didn't escalate from getting ignored. I think being thrown out of stores was the most I got when it comes to violence."
Silence filled the area again and Naruto wondered it he was the only one glad to be able to talk so openly to someone. Just by being a jinchuuriki the two had a lot in common and could confound in each other what they had gone through. They probably had similar experiences and would know what the other exactly felt.
"What about you?" He asked, breaking the silence in an attempt to get to know her a little better.
Fu smiled bitterly, "Why do you think I'm all the way out here?" She leaned back to support herself with her elbows, figuring that she didn't need to keep on the edge with Naruto anymore. "The higher ups of the village are always trying to get me killed by assigning me on dangerous missions every once in a while. The worst part is that they barely let me leave the village, the most they do is let me live out here to get away from the idiots that would raid my apartment constantly."
"But how can you live out here?" Naruto asked in wonder.
"It's not so bad," Fu shrugged before getting up and stretching her arms. "But that's not important, instead tell me why you didn't use your bijuu's power?"
A few more seals were added to his blade before he glanced back at Fu. "I can't," he responded calmly, "Long story short, my seal got messed with and contact with the fox was cut off. I've barely heard its voice in the last few years."
"You can do something like that..." she muttered to herself but broke out of those thoughts, instead focusing on his situation, "Is there any way of undoing it?"
Naruto frowned. "I talked it over and came we came up with two solutions," he explained as he held up two of his fingers, "One; I could use the 'key' to my original seal and undo the changes. Or two; the fox could forcefully rip through the seals preventing contact but that would require me and it to be on the same page. Either way, both come with danger of the fox getting loose so I figured that I should just give up on ever using its chakra again, it wasn't like I liked using it anyway."
"i guess it's for the better," Fu declared with her arms crossed, "Besides, we should still be able to take them out without much trouble."
"W-What?"
Fu ignored the question, smirking as she kept on talking. "We're two. I don't think any human will be able to stop us without help," excitement could be heard on her words while Naruto's expression grew grim, "Imagine if we got all of the others together? We'd be unstoppable. We'd be able to get away from all those humans and live happily somewhere far away."
"Humans?" Naruto interrupted.
Fu looked at the blond with a raised brow, not knowing what he was getting at.
He gritted his teeth as he rose from the ground with a defiant look on his face, "What are you talking about? You're human too."
"I'm not and neither are you," she answered, "If we were then we wouldn't be treated differently. They're afraid of us because we're not human."
Naruto's hands shook in rage. Ever since he was a kid everyone made him out to be a monster but he never believed them, something deep down told him not to believe him. How could Fu let them do that to her? How could she give up so easily? How could she be so stupid?
"You are human!"He took a quick step forward and clasped both hands on her shoulders, looking deeply into her eyes in an effort to get his point across. "You can't let them take away who you are. Don't throw it away just because those idiots treat you differently!"
Fu glared at him intensely. "Get off me!" She pushed him away with a punch to his chest, knocking him against a tree. Naruto rose to his feet slowly, noticing the vile chakra gathered around her. "You don't know what I've through and I'm not going to listen to some idiot that thinks he's human."
"But we are!" He yelled back, returning the glare. "I know what it feels like to have everyone call you a demon but you can't listen to them. Even if you're alone and suffering, you can't turn into what they make you out to be. If you do that then you'll just end up hurting the people that really care about you."
"I don't have anyone!" Fu exclaimed in anger, "Nobody has ever cared about me! I'm not like y-"
"Then let me be the first to care about you!"
Fu's eyes widened at the exclamation. She took a step back, wanting to run away but not being able to.
"You are a human with a demon locked inside of you, not some kind of monster," Naruto went on, "You can have bonds just like me and Gaara. You don't have to be alone anyomore."
"Enough!" Fu let out loudly. She turned on her heels and ran off, disappearing int he darkness.
Naruto, knowing that she didn't want to talk, sat himself on the ground while wondering it he had seen a few tears just when Fu turned away from him. He just wanted to help her but didn't know how. Things had been a lot different with Gaara since they had fought each other to exhaustion just to prove their beliefs. That had been what changed Gaara but how could he get Fu to see his way?
"Naruto?"
He whirled to his right at the sudden voice, finding Ino walking towards him with a hint of worry on her face. She looked around suspiciously before moving to sit next to him.
"Are you alright? I thought I heard something around here," Ino's left hand found his and rubbed it soothingly, silently telling him that it was okay to talk.
Naruto smiled as he gazed into her eyes, finding his earlier worries melting away. "No, it was nothing," he assured. The last thing he wanted to do was worry her, so why tell her about Fu? He figured that he should just tell her when they all had their minds off the Gaara situation.
"Okay," Ino gave in, watching as he took his katana and placed it on its sheath with a triumphant smile.
"I'm finally done with this thing," he pulled himself off the ground and offered his hand to Ino who took it in order to stand. He dusted his pants before giving his girlfriend a smile, "Let's go back."
Ino nodded absently as Naruto pulled her away. She could have sworn that she heard Naruto arguing with someone but he wouldn't lie to her... would he?
"Why do I get the feeling that today's gonna be a pain in the ass?" Shikamaru muttered to himself as he, Naruto and Ino stood on a tall tree overlooking part of the Waterfall Village. Temari and Kankuro had left as soon as the sun rose but not before telling them to be on ready for when they got back.
He had been glad at first. Talking with the higher ups and coming up with what to do would take them hours which would mean that he could laze around all day but, of course, he had to be stuck with Naruto and Ino who wanted to look around and be ready. It was just like them to be up and about.
"Relax, it's not like we're doing much anyway," Naruto responded with a grin.
"Whatever," Shikamaru jumped down the tree, followed by his teammates, and dug both hands into his pockets. "And we might not be doing much now but trust me when I say that we're going to be running around for hours when those two get back."
Ino smirked at the way he spoke, as if he had no other choice but to do it, "Come on Shikamaru, are you that whipped?"
Naruto looked at Ino curiously while Shikamaru scoffed. "I'd rather listen to what she says than listen to her complain," he responded in an aggravated voice.
"Temari bosses Shikamaru around all the time, it's almost funny to see," Ino explained after seeing the look on her boyfriend's face, earning a grin. "But enough of that. Let's go look around, I'm getting bored."
"Sure," Naruto agreed even though he was a bit tired from the previous night. Ino had an exited glint on her eyes and he figured that he wouldn't be able to talk her into staying in place.
Shikamaru grumbled as the two blonds walked up ahead. Defeated, he began to walk despite his wishes but took a small satisfaction from the strained smile on Naruto's face.
"And they say I'm whipped."
Temari scowled as she and Kankuro walked through a street overlooking a large lake surrounding the giant tree that towered over the village. The meeting with the Waterfall leader hadn't gone too smoothly. His ninja had only found what appeared to be the site of where a battle took place and that was it. They hadn't investigated further which made her lash out at the leader's way of doing things. She knew better than to do that but she couldn't help it; just thinking about what Gaara had gone through his whole life and what he was going through now was enough to cloud her judgment.
Beside her, Kankuro only watched as his sister stomped her way out of the village. He had given up on telling her to calm down since it only made her mood worsen. Of course, he was also feeling as if the Waterfall Village hadn't done too much to look for their brother but he had to keep a cool head, for everyone's sake.
"Temari and Kankuro, right?"
Both Sand siblings turned at the sound of the voice, finding the familiar masked face of Kakashi, the copy ninja, with another Leaf ninja that looked a bit familiar. The two jonin were standing just outside of a restaurant, apparently just done eating.
"What are you guys doing here?" Kankuro asked in genuine confusion.
Kakashi shook his head. "That's not important right now. You two are looking for the Kazekage, right?" The two Sand ninja nodded at the question as the copy ninja put a hand to his chin. "I take it you have a lead."
Temari exchanged a look with her brother before addressing the Leaf ninja, "They found a battle site we're about to check out."
"I see," Kakashi sighed out before suddenly running through hand signs and slamming both hands on the ground, creating a large cloud of smoke.
"What is it this time Kakashi?"
Said ninja grinned underneath his mask at his summon, Pakkun. "I want you to go with these two," he motioned at the two ninja, taking them by surprise. "They're looking for someone and they'll need you to take them on the right way."
"Got it," the ninja hound nodded before turning towards the two Sand ninja, "Where's the scent?"
"It should be less than an hour away," Kankuro explained.
Temari looked back at the ninja hound and gave him a nod, "It's this way."
With that the three left the area, leaving Kakashi and Asuma behind. The latter took out a cigarette and put it to his lips without lighting it.
"Think they'll find him?"
Kakashi nodded. "Pakkun should still be able to find the scent even if it's a couple of days old," he explained, his voice carrying a bit of worry, "I'm more concerned about what they'll find. I wish I could tail along but…"
"They won't like it," Asuma finished as he cast a look at a couple of ninja leaning against a wall opposite of the restaurant, both with their eyes on them.
It didn't take long for the Sand siblings to find and regroup with their teammates, filling them in briefly before resuming their sprint through the dense forests that surrounded the Waterfall Village.
Naruto ran at the back of the group, eyes sharp while wondering if Gaara was really okay or had had his bijuu already extracted from him. He quickly dismissed those thoughts with a shake of his head. No, it wouldn't do him good to think like that. Gaara was still alive and they needed to hurry if they wanted it to remain that way.
In an attempt to occupy his mind Naruto looked around the area they were speeding through before his eyes widened in alarm, noticing a shadow running through the blurry shadows from the trees. His mouth formed into a thin line as, without the others noticing, he stopped mid-run and replaced himself with a clone as to not alert the others or the person tailing them.
His teammates vanished in the distance as he began to move in the direction the shadow was probably going through. He leapt from branch to branch until he finally saw the outline of the person he was tailing. A smirk crept on his face as he moved faster, dodging a few branches in the process and finding himself not too far from whoever had been following them.
His fingers twitched, subconsciously getting ready to form the hand signs necessary for whatever jutsu he chose to use. With one powerful jump he came a lot closer to the figure, close enough to distinguish the person's clothes and body build.
"Fu?"
The jinchuuriki looked over her shoulder, startled, at the ninja following behind her. She stopped on her tracks as Naruto did the same on a branch in front of the one she landed on.
"What are you doing here?" His voice carried suspicion as he looked at her with a glare.
Fu scoffed and crossed her arms. "Relax, I wasn't planning on doing anything to
them ," she spat the last word before her expression softened. "Last night… What you told me. I thought about it and wanted to give what you said a chance."
"What does that have to do with following us?"
"I want to see those bonds you talk about myself," she admitted with a shrug. "If I prove what you told me is true then I'll help with whatever you're doing."
Naruto chuckled with a shake of his head. "Fine," he breathed out with a small grin, "But keep hidden from the others, they don't know about you."
"What did you think I was doing all this time?" Fu muttered under her breath.
Thinking on the spot was not something that came easily to Naruto which was why, as soon as he went back to the group, dismissing the clone and taking its place, he was glad nobody noticed his short absence. He was relieved but he still had one thing to take care of.
He ran ahead of the group, getting odd looks as he passed by, until he ran side by side with Pakkun.
"Hey," he whispered without turning his head. Pakkun's sharp ears heard the whisper and he nodded in acknowledgement. "That person tailing us…"
The ninja hound nodded, having noticed it but not talking about it since the blond ninja had stopped to talk with whoever it was.
"Don't tell anyone about her, she's okay."
After getting his message across, Naruto slowed his pace until he was on the back of the group again. It looked like he had gotten through that without much trouble.
"What's wrong Naruto?"
He almost jumped at Ino's sudden question. She had slowed down her pace to run next to him. Her expression holding confusion as the blond gave her a smile.
"Nothing, I'm just worried about Gaara," he said while trying not to sound suspicious.
"Oh," she replied, a little disheartened. "Don't let it worry you, we'll find him."
"Thanks I… no?" He couldn't finish his sentence as Ino ran up ahead again, taking him by surprise.
"What's up with her?" he asked himself, feeling a bit hurt at the way she blew him off.
Up ahead, Ino made sure not to look back at Naruto. She had noticed him switching himself with a clone, she was the one running closest to him after all. But why was he hiding things from her? First his suspicious leave on the woods and now this?
Whatever it was, as much as it hurt her to admit it, Naruto didn't trust her the way a boyfriend should.