What is Worth Protecting? -Naruto

14# Even now

As the the five walked down the dirt pathway... Naruto had his eyes closed... He was a sensor at heart... and ever since Ryou meditated with him... he seemed much more aware of his surroundings and was able to walk with his eyes closed... but something wasn't right... he opened his eyes concerned, looking around slightly to look for anything out of the ordinary... he saw a puddle and gave it a moments look before they passed it... Naruto felt his heart beating quicker then before and a bead of sweat drop from his face... that was when he heard a unfurl of chains, his head turning quickly, but it was to late as he saw his sensei wrapped in chains.. before two figures pulled hard and the man was ripped apart in front of the four.

"One down." Hearing the voice behind the mans mask made Naruto tense before the blond felt a ghost of a arm around his waist, "If you are able to do this... you can do this." The echo of a thought before he raised his hands up quickly and he willed his chakra to arch into a flame... what surprised him was pure blue lightning appeared between his finger tips, it stung hard but his only mind set was instinct, said instinct willed him to flick his wrist and the chakra following the movement before it arched towards the two Ninja...

The two Ninja scattered from each other, unlinking themselves from their chain, one going after Naruto and the other after Tazuna.. One was the immediate threat and the other... Naruto waved his hand towards the others and shouted. "They are after Tazuna! Protect him!" Naruto turned towards the older of the two who swung at him, Naruto bent his back before landing on his hands and twirled his feet and kicked the man away from him before pushing off the ground and landing, his eyes on the ninja as he landed, his eyes briefly wandered to his sensei only to see that it was a log split apart, smirking as he saw a figure sitting on the one that went after Tazuna, reading his little book.

When Naruto turned back around... the Ninja was right there in front him, his claws primed to attack... as Naruto raised his hand... the man's clawed his arm before raising his other hand he felt a familiar sensation.. but this time a giant vacuum blast, compressed entirely from chakra shot from his hand and blasted the missing ninja back... before Naruto snapped his finger, the vacuum turning into fire and it exploded, knocking the man out.

Naruto breathed out in a slight relief before looking down at his arm which was bleeding, feeling slightly numb in the arm... raising his hand to block the wound... the ring began to glow on his left hand... the wound began to close on its own rapidly, Naruto gave the ring a look of awe before turning around and gave a smile towards the others. "He barely missed me." hiding the slight blood on his hand, he flicked it off with a small amount of wind as Sakura breathed out, she seemed to be holding her breath with a kunai poised in front of her, dropping it she ran towards Naruto to look him over, swearing she saw him get hit. "IDIOT! You should of let us help!" 

He gave a small frown as she said that but looked away slightly, knowing the factor of teamwork was one of the main exercises of the team, looking down slightly, he knew he had to trust them, but it seemed awkward for him... Looking back up towards the girl he gave a shake of his head. "Sorry." He muttered looking towards the side, she paused looking at his whisker marks before frowning to her self and turned around so he wouldn't see it. "Just be more careful Naruto.." She said before looking towards Kakashi who nodded in acknowledgement while grabbing wire he  tied the two unconscious ninja to a tree and looked behind him towards Tazuna as he did. "You have explaining to do."

Meanwhile Naruto looked down at his arm then to his ring and smiled warmly. "Even now, you are here protecting me." 

...

Meanwhile Ryou felt a brief yet sharp pain to his arm and he grimanced, the rings properties made it to know if he was hurt from blood drawn... it was more of a phantom pain, but he felt it and he couldn't help but hope he was alright.. almost immediately he felt it disappear so he knew he was alright, "Don't scare me like that Naruto..." He thought as he walked. Right at this moment Ryou was heading outside into the streets of the city of fire, the bows were mixed from greed, respect, and pity... It was always the same after all those years.

Had a hiccup with the date so let me try to re-explain in this.

Ever since his father died when he was twelve, this was what happened... you would think after two years people would change, but they usually never do, he gave a small smile and waved at many of them, only genuinely to the ones who seemed to be surprised or in respect. Looking down he saw a little kid with a teddy bear in his hands looking up in awe. Ryou bent low to the boy and gave him a warm smile. "How are you little one?" He asked making him gave a happy nod. "I'm good Ryou-sama!" He gave a chuckle before placing his hand on his head and gave a light ruffle before looking up to see, he presumed to be the mother looking over in slight fear... he had almost frowned at the sight but smiled at the boy, "Run along to your mother." He said before slowly getting up while the little brown haired boy gave a nod before turning and running towards his mother.

He gave one last smile before he continued to walk down the street... Looking towards his guard Kitane who seemed to be on guard for anything... He stopped after a little bit of walking and gave a slight sigh, he and Kitane did this every once in a while... just to see if anything had changed... it never does.. "Lets head back." The guard nodded before they turned and began walking back towards the palace. Looking up the sky he wondered. "What are you doing now... Naruto?" 

...

TBC