The Life of Ki (Naruto Fanfic)

Drastic Times

Naruto is practically bouncing around me as I follow Shikamaru and Sakura out of the coliseum.

I know he's excited; not only is he going to get to fight Gaara, but he also gets to rescue Sasuke.

It's practically the best day ever. Still, he keeps chirping in my ear, and it's getting hard to focus on what Sakura is saying from the front of the group.

"Ki! Do you think you'll get to fight Temari now?" Naruto asks excitedly.

"I hope so." I say with a small smile. "If nothing else, I'd like to see if my efforts in training were worthwhile."

Naruto nods thoughtfully at my words. "It would be an awesome fight." He muses to himself as the two of us walk out onto the open street.

Sakura stops our small group outside of the stadium and turns to the four of us. "Kakashi told us to wait here for our team leader." She informs us.

Shikamaru stretches his back as he looks around. Seeing no 'Team Leader', he begins to move back towards the stadium.

"Since we seem to have time, I'm going to go wake up Choji and Ino." He informs us all.

"Wait, Shikamaru." Sakura says, holding up a hand and shaking her head in a clear 'no'.

I glance towards Shikamaru, already knowing one of the reasons Sakura might be against Shikamaru leaving. He would definitely rather hear me disagree with him than Sakura.

"Choji and Ino are injured--remember?" I say, giving Shikamaru a point look. "We'll have to leave them behind to rest."

"Not only that," Sakura agrees with me, "But Kakashi advised against it. Remember Code 249? If Choji and Ino come, we'll have too many people for the number of squad leaders we have." Sakura explains to Shikamaru.

Shikamaru sighs and mumbles a response, something along the lines of 'More than five, none left alive.' He rejoins the group, and the four of us wait for the fifth member of the squad to roll up.

After a few minutes of contemplative quietness, Sakura breaks the silence with a sigh of relief. "Ah, there he is." Sakura says, pointing to a small dog walking over from a nearby trash can.

I smile politely as the small dog approaches us. This ninken must be respectable to be put in charge of such an important mission.

The little dog walks over to the front of our group and sits down. He scratches one of his floppy brown ears with his back foot as he states up at us with droopy eyelids.

Shikamaru squats down to stare this dog straight in the eye as he examines it. Sniffing disdainfully, he pinches the small dog's cheek.

"A ninken? Kakashi sent us one of his ninken?" He asks in amazement.

The dog latches his teeth onto Shikamaru's hand, and he shakes it briskly to get the dog to let go.

"Sorry, sorry." Shikamaru mutters.

Clutching his hand, Shikamaru squats down once more to readdress the dog.

"What's your name?" He asks with displeasure.

Shikamaru is so disrespectful! That's a ninken, not a pet!

"Pakkun." The dog replies, a distinctly adult male voice coming from his mouth. "And don't be so condescending." The dog chides.

Next to me, Naruto screams a blood-curdling scream, and it takes the next five minutes for Sakura to convince him this behavior was normal for a ninken, a ninja dog.

Meanwhile, Pakkun, Kakashi's companion, stares up at me with beady black eyes.

"Nice to meet you." I give the small dog a kind smile of greeting.