Behind the Waterfall

#7 A New Friend

The Waterfall could be heard long before the village came into sight. The traveling merchant was smiling tiredly, as he made his way through the dense forest with his young companion by his side.

"Ah hello Akaru. It has been a while." The two guards at the village's gates greeted them as they stopped their cart in front of them.

"Hi guys. Yeah, I have been busy, but I haven't forgotten about Shibuki's order." The man replied, a smile on his lips as he passed them his documents.

"How long have you been on the road?"

"Almost two months now. We came straight from Suna, I just didn't feel like going to Konoha this time of year." The merchant replied, as the blonde next to him, felt a pang of guilt in his chest at having caused the man to lose some of his income. Naruto knew that Akaru didn't like Konoha around the October festivities, since most of the townsfolk were super invested in the 'fox' hunts that they would start at that time. Most of the time no actual foxes were hunted though. It still was his fault that Akaru didn't get the business he usually got in Konoha, which is why he felt guilty about it, although the merchant had promised him that it was no big deal and that he could easily forgo that money.

The guards had meanwhile looked over all the documents and had handed them back to Akaru. They shared a laugh with the man and waved them through, when Naruto felt something coming up behind them. He didn't have time to turn around as he felt the chakra signature approach extremely fast. He quickly pulled Akaru to the side as a blur of green and white sped past them through the gate and into the village. The guards laughed again, at the pair's faces.

"Don't worry about that, she wouldn't have hit you. That was Fuu, she just came back from a mission." The older guard explained, as Akaru put his documents away, before anything unexpected happened again.

"That was a quick reflex there kid, where did you learn that?" The second guard asked, his eyes narrowing as he tried to assess the blonde boy in front of him. Akaru was about to speak up, but Naruto beat him to the punch.

"I learned it in Konoha. I actually went to the shinobi academy there. But I left the village so now I travel with Akaru." He summarized his story, obviously excluding the not so nice bits about him being banished and all.

"Don't be so suspicious, man. If he is with Akaru, then it's fine." The older guard stated, laughing, playfully hitting his partner over the head.

"Don't worry about him, you are free to enter. Welcome to Takigakure." He continued looking at Akaru and Naruto.

The pair smiled at them, before Akaru lifted the handles of his cart again and pulled towards the village's merchant square, while Naruto pushed from behind.

"Ah Akaru, how have you been?" The village leader greeted the pair as they were led into his office by his secretary. Behind the merchant, Naruto carried the box of herbs that the young man had ordered into the room. Looking around he immediately noticed the two shinobi standing in the corners behind their village's leader, as well as the girl next to the kage. The two shinobi didn't seem special, but when his eyes landed on the green hair of the girl, Kurama immediately spoke up in his mind.

"That is the jinchuuriki of the seven tails." He exclaimed, causing Naruto to look at the girl in greater detail. The green hair was kept at shoulder length, her orange eyes looking straight at Naruto, she wore a sleeveless top, her arms were covered in mesh protectors that had cloth covers, on her right arm she also wore her village's emblem, she also wore a skirt under which was pair of mesh pants that reached her knees as well as a pouch strapped to her left hip, the sandals on her feet were the only part of her outfit that wasn't light green as they were pure white. Her skin was darker than normal