Chapter 44: The Village Hidden In The Leaves
"Curly Brooow!"
Nia looked behind her to see Naruto running up to her. She allowed him to get in front of her but didn't say a word.
"Curly Brow," He started, "I'm sorry for what happened back there. I got carried away, ya know? I'm not usually like that."
Nia still didn't say anything.
"I don't feel what you think I do, all right? I'm not like Pervy Sage. I was just trying to keep my word to you, ya know?"
"Naruto... that's the problem. I never begged you to sleep with me. I just meant to say that I wanted you to sleep near me so you could keep me safe from the rats and spiders." The girl explained, "I was trying to tell you that yesterday but you wouldn't believe me."
"GWA! I'm such an idiot!" The blond now fully understood his mistake, "Curly Brow, forgive me! I only made that move cause I really believed that... you wanted to... do that stuff... with me and because... Pervy Sage always told me that..."
He then lowered his eyes in disappointment.
"I like you, Naruto." The kunoichi reminded the genin once more, "Maybe how I reacted was a bit too much. After all, it's my fault you got the wrong idea."
"Huh? You're apologizing?" The genin lifted his eyes back to the girl opposite of him.
"Yeah. I don't want there to be tension between us over a misunderstanding. I wanna stay by your side." Nia replied, "You've done so much for me so I have no right to be angry at you for something so little."
"C-Curly Brow," Naruto, overcome with relief, got on one knee then looked to the girl with exaggerated tears running down his face, "You're so gentle."
This only caused Nia to giggle, "It's all good, Naruto. I'm just really happy you just misunderstood what I told you and made me realize that you were only acting the way you did cause you believed I wanted to sleep with you. I'm really sorry."
"If I were to have done that to Sakura, I don't think I'd be alive right now, ya know?"
"She... would've killed you," Nia sweat dropped as she remembered all the times she witnessed the pink-haired girl threw her angry fists at the blond, "but don't worry. I wouldn't hurt a single hair on your head, kay?"
The ninja stood up and bowed awkwardly, "You really have gone soft. Curly Brow, you treat me like some kind of angel now."
"Eh?"
"I mean, you're quick to forgive me when I mess up. Thank you."
"You don't have to bow or anything," The girl laughed, "I mess up all the time so I get why you're panicking so much."
Naruto dropped out of his bow and grinned.
Nia gazed at him as a red tinge made its way to her cheeks.
'He has a beautiful smile,' She thought as a smile of her own spread across her face, 'It makes me smile. Even after I had lost it. It brings color to my life... It's stunning.'
"Naruto?" The kunoichi spoked once more.
"Yeah?"
"Your feelings for Sakura... it's perfectly okay for you to like her. I was a bit dumb to think you'd ever like me anyway."
"Hm?"
"I mean, I can see why you like her... and not me." Nia said as she then thought of whom she believed to be Naruto's crush.
"She's pretty, confident, outgoing, and seems flirty." She went on, "It's perfectly understandable why you'd like her."
"But-"
"You deserve someone who's the best."
Naruto was going to say something but Nia stopped him again and said, "I'd be thrilled if my hero were to like me... but if he were to ever truly fall for me and only me then..."
Boldly, the girl leaned close to Naruto's ear and whispered in a seductive voice, "I'd let him make love to me anytime he wants... ya know?"
"WHAT?!" The genin turned completely red with hearts in his eyes, "Are you serious?! Are you FOREAL?!
Courageously, the kunoichi responded by lightly kissing her crush's cheek then jumped into the trees as she began her search for the others. Leaving Naruto behind.
The young man just stood still as her words repeatedly echoed in his mind. Each time it did, he became much warmer and redder. He looked in the direction of where his friend.
Oh wow! I totally was right! She was totally digging for me, after all! Pervy Sage was right all along, ya know?!
He then made a squirmy type of smile. He was feeling strange inside again.
This is the feeling I can't describe. It feels like how I feel for Sakura but it's really different too... I'm completely at a loss. Ahhhh, what a morning for me! I'm so feeling good right now, ya know!
The genin stood where he was for a while longer trying to process his emotions and when he realized how much time he wasted in doing that, he went chasing after the others as well.
•••
"FINALLY! We're here!" Naruto ran to the gates, "I missed my ramen sooo much, ya know?!"
The gates had already been opened so the energetic boy went straight in.
The rest followed suit until the guards spotted Nia, who they knew the Leaf had a problem with not too long ago.
"Hold it!" One said as they held their hand out in front of her.
Kakashi stepped in front of her, "There's no need to lock her up anymore. She is now officially a friend and comrade of the Hidden Leaf."
'What? A friend?' Nia thought to herself as she stared at Kakashi in disbelief, 'Is this how they welcome new shinobi here? At the Cloud, we just say shinobi, not friend.'
Seeing as they trust the copycat ninja, the guards gave permission for the girl to pass through but Nia wouldn't take a step forward.
"Aren't you going to go inside?" Sakura asked as she noticed her fellow kunoichi's behavior.
Nia looked away; she was very unsure of herself. Numerous thoughts ran through her head.
Would the villagers here laugh at her? Would they make her life feel like a living hell? Were they sweet or were they judgmental? Would anyone wanna be her friend? Could she ever find happiness here?
All these questions made her nervous. Nia was always someone riddled with very high anxiety. She wanted to be treated well or at least have no one notice her in a bad light. She wanted to live a normal life where she wasn't reminded about how disgusting everyone would say she looked every time a shallow and heartless person looked at her.
After being told a little by Naruto about how the girl was treated and how she viewed herself, Sakura thought of the days where she was picked on for her extremely large forehead.
"Lets go on inside," Sakura placed her hand on Nia's shoulder and smiled, "This place isn't as bad as you may think it'll be."
Nia glanced at the pink-haired girl then took a deep breath and walked forward. She hadn't seen the village in so many years. The chuunin had forgotten about the fact that Konoha had much more buildings than Komogakure and it was also more lively and vibrant.
The weather was fair and not cold and chilly. The wind felt so amazing that it made her skin tingle.
As they walked through the streets, people would gawk at the girl and she would feel self-conscious. Some whispered but the majority of them wasn't really paying any attention to the young girl.
For once, Nia felt relieved. Maybe Konoha really wasn't as bad as she thought it would be. She was literally at awe by how friendly everyone actually seemed to be. However, she did have her doubts. Maybe these people just hadn't notice her cause she was walking with a group of people and it threw them off. Any who, she would get her answers later.
•••
As the group headed up the stairs and down the hall to where Tsunade's office was, Nia couldn't help but get anxious. She had heard so many stories about this woman from the Raikage, Jiraiya, and from Iruka through the letters he sent to her family.
The woman was awesome. A true kunoichi. Strong and full of courage; tough and from what Jiraiya said, beautiful as well.
Naruto was ahead of the group and was permitted to enter the room.
"I'm just saying that grabbing a few drinks with me wouldn't hurt you, Tsunade."
Nia stopped in the hall as soon as she heard that voice. It was so familiar that she couldn't believe she hadn't thought of the person in so long.
"Jiraiya, no matter how many times you ask today, I'm far too busy." Tsunade rejected her old friend's attempt at getting her to go on a date with him.
"Pervy Sage! Granny Tsunade!" Naruto greeted them enthusiastically as he once more gotten to see two people whom he hadn't seen in a while.
"Naruto..." Tsunade was a bit taken back by his sudden appearance as the rest of the group walked in.
They said their greetings but came to quickly realize that one was missing from the group. Naruto went up to the door and peeked out to the right of it. He saw Nia leaning on the wall looking as nervous as ever.
"Curly Brow, what're you doing? Get in here already. We're all waiting for you to meet Granny." He said as he then grabbed her by the wrist.
"Wait! I don't want to-"
Before she could even finish her sentence, she was already pulled into the room. Her eyes landed on Jiraiya first before meeting with Tsunade's seemingly golden orbs.
She stood there awkwardly as everyone watched her.
Quickly she bowed to get rid of the tension she felt, "Its n-nice t-to—no, I mean, it's an honor-"
"You don't have to be so formal now." Tsunade sweat dropped but smiled anyway, "I already know who you are."
"Of course!" Nia stayed in her position.
Jiraiya chuckled, "You're gonna have to forgive her, Tsunade. She's still more on the awkward side."
"Believe me, I can tell." She replied then made eye contact with the girl in glasses, "Nia Umino."
"Yes?" The girl straightened out of her bow.
"I received word from Yamato about what had happened at the Hidden Cloud." The blond beauty intertwined her fingers and raised it at level with her chin, "However, before I can officially welcome you to this village, there is just one thing I need out of you."
Nia blinked, "What would that be?"
"I'm gonna have to have someone interrogate you."
"Wait, are you serious, Granny?" Naruto interrupted rather dramatically, "Can't you tell that she's innocent?"
"Be quiet, Naruto." The woman ordered, "You can't just expect me to accept a ninja who had gone rogue and done a few other questionable things and expect me to just welcome them into this village with open arms! I am the hokage—It's my duty to keep this village safe and if I say she's gonna need to be questioned, she is going to be questioned, do I make myself clear?!"
Naruto, knowing that Tsunade was indeed right, dropped his disapproval.
"Naruto, if you really see Nia as innocent then her being interrogated shouldn't be a problem now should it?" Sakura said with a reassuring expression.
"Yeah... I guess you're right, Sakura."
"Okay then." Tsunade then looked at Shizune, who stood next to her desk, "Shizune, you know what to do."
"Of course, my lady." The black-haired woman then lead Nia out of the room and back into the hall to meet up with a special yet very intimidating person.
Once they had left, Iruka glanced at Kakashi, who then gave a firm nod.
"Naruto, I just remembered something." Iruka approached his former student, "I wanted to reward you for learning that new technique you said Master Jiraiya taught you a while ago but never got the chance to do so."
"Really, Iruka-sensei?" Naruto became extremely curious as to what Iruka could possibly reward him with.
The man took some money out of his pocket and placed it in the boy's hand, "Looks like you can get you some ramen today, after all."
The genin's eyes lit up as he fought back some tears of happiness developing in his eyes. He looked back at Iruka to which he smiled.
"You coming with?" He asked.
Iruka shook his head, "Nah, maybe next time. Thanks for the offer though."
Naruto then glanced at Jiraiya who also denied the offer.
"Oh well, you guys are missing out! I'll see you later then I guess." He says his goodbye as he hurriedly headed to his favorite spot in the world.
Once the coast was clear, the group had became serious.
"From the expression on your faces, I'm assuming you have something serious to talk to me about." The hokage predicted correctly.
"Yes we do, my lady." Sakura confirmed.
"All right then... tell me everything that happened."
•••
"I see..." Tsunade still kept her fingers intertwined and at level with her chin, "So, to sum things up, you're telling me that a man named Hanshin—who used to exchange certain equipment with an Akatsuki member in return for information on the group—told you guys that the Akatsuki have to take down every living guardian of each Jinchuuriki just so that they can get the host of the tailed beast themselves and be able to perform a ritual accurately so that they can draw out the tailed beasts from inside them?"
"That's exactly what we're saying." Kakashi confirmed.
"So then... what happens if they don't kill these guardians first before they take the jinchuuriki?" Jiraiya questioned with an obvious interest in the subject.
"They can't perform the ritual to take out their tailed beast from within them; in other words, the ritual will fail." Kakashi answered.
"Kakashi, I'm sure you must know what it is I'm about to ask you." Tsunade replied quickly.
The white-haired man nodded, "Naruto has five living guardians and two dead ones all together."
Tsunade sighed.
'Five, huh?' She thought to herself, 'Five must be killed before they can get to Naruto...?'
"Do you guys have any idea who these five guardians are?" Jiraiya once more questioned.
Iruka placed a hand on his heart, "Nia and Kakashi are the only guardians we know of."
"What?!" Jiraiya and Tsunade both looked at one another then back at Iruka.
"Kakashi I understand but Nia...? Why would she be a guardian of the Nine-tails?" Jiraiya was bewildered.
"We don't know," Neji talked, "All we do know is that Hanshin described it as something having to do with destiny or fate."
"Yes," Guy nodded, "Said something about having to do with being bound to a jinchuuriki from birth also or something like that."
"Bizarre..." Jiraiya kept his arms crossed.
Who would've known Nia would have her fate tied to Naruto and the nine-tails...
"Tell me Kakashi," The sannin spoked once more, "Just what is the purpose of these guardians? Are they really as important as you make it seem?"
"Indeed they are," The ninja replied, "These guardians are the people who have the power to keep the jinchuuriki from completely giving in to their tailed beast's desire to take control of them. However, their influence on them can only last so long. They can still have a full fledged transformation if a seal isn't restored to its fullest capability however."
"Ah, now I see why Nia would be a candidate now."
"What?" Sakura's eyes widened, "Why would she be one?"
Jiraiya closed his eyes and reminisced the time he spotted Naruto in his four-tails state and how he reacted to the young girl at a certain point.
"Not too long ago, back when Naruto and I had gotten to known Nia for maybe a month or so, those two ran into some trouble somehow and it all lead up to Naruto losing control of his conscious and the nine-tail's power unleashed. Thankfully he hadn't grown all his tails, but he did get to the fourth tail..."
Jiraiya unfolded his arms and opened his eyes, "Anyways, by the time I had made it to the two, Naruto had Nia in his grasp. She was crying but of course tears could never reach to any jinchuuriki undergoing a transformation. However, I believe the words she said to him reached him to some degree. I know this cause immediately after, he began protecting her more-so himself whenever I tried to free her. He would also constantly look back at her whenever she would seem to lose conscious and would shake her awake with his tail. It was as if he was protecting her. It was completely astounding and hard to grasp."
The room was silent before Jiraiya continued, "At first I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me cause whenever Naruto would transform, he would have no control of himself and yet... that girl managed to bring out a side of him I've never seen before while he was in the state that he was in."
'Incredible...' Sakura thought back to the time she had tried to help Naruto to getting back to his human state but couldn't.
'Not even I could get Naruto to even calm down for just even a second...' Sakura lowered her eyes to the ground, 'And I thought he would at least be able to recognize me in some way due to his feelings for me but I guess if you're not a guardian, you can't hope to get through to any jinchuuriki in their transformed states.'
Kakashi watched as Sakura became torn from that memory. The expression on her face was enough to let him know exactly what she was remembering.
"Lady Tsunade, if I had to take my guess, I believe Sasuke would be one of the guardians for the nine-tails as well."
"What're you saying, Kakashi? Sasuke Uchiha is dead remember? I hope you're telling me you think he's one of the two dead guardians you mentioned earlier." Tsunade furrowed her brows.
Kakashi smirked to himself then said, "Sasuke fooled us. He's actually alive and hunting down each and every guardian with Hanshin. Apparently, he promised something to Sasuke about Itachi that got him to do such a thing."
"WHAT DID YOU SAY?!" Tsunade stood out of her chair with her hands to the desk, "Sasuke Uchiha is still alive?!"
Even Jiraiya didn't expect to hear such news.
"It's true, My Lady..." Sakura kept her eyes low, tears beginning to well up in her green eyes.
"Sakura..." The hokage didn't ignore just how much hearing about Sasuke being alive and doing criminal acts must've affected her student.
The woman took a seat back in her black chair and sighed heavily, "Naruto is to not here a word about Sasuke's existence, do I make myself clear?! This information stays between the seven of us and Shizune only!"
"Yes!" Everyone but Sakura agreed.
Tsunade eyed her young pupil, "Sakura, I understand this may be very hard for you to do, but imagine how Naruto would react to hearing such news... whatever you do, do not say a word about Sasuke. Also, this thing about the guardians having to be killed... does Naruto and Nia know of this?"
"No." Neji answered, "They weren't in the area at the time when the information was given."
"All right, this shall also remain as a secret. Anyone, and I do mean anyone, who says a word about any of this stuff to whoever will suffer serious consequences! This will not be taken lightly!"
"But My Lady-"
"Sakura!" Tsunade yelled, "I am the hokage and you will do as I say!"
Sakura grew quiet and her bangs covered over her eyes, "Yes... My Lady."
"Now Kakashi, where was Sasuke last seen to be at?"
"There were rumors spreading about how he defeated and even killed Orochimaru. Even Hanshin confirmed this to be true." He obediently replied.
"Ah, now that you mention it, I think I heard a few rumors myself not too long ago while I was out at a smaller village." Jiraiya added, "Orochimaru had it coming to him either way I suppose."
"I see..." Lady Hokage nodded as she tried to keep herself collected after hearing the news of her former teammate's death. She then said, "If you're done discussing things with me, you're all free to go now then. Again, only us and Shizune are the only ones to know of what we just discussed."
"Yes, we understand." Guy politely bowed along with everyone else before thanking Tsunade for her time and leaving the office.
Sakura was the last to leave.
'Naruto...' She thought as she closed the door behind her, 'You have the right to know about Sasuke too..."
---
A/N - Okay so, that's it. Sasuke is finally mentioned again after so long, yessss! Please comment and vote! Thx for reading! Also, I wanna give a shout out to a few people:
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You guys are seriously amazing people :) thank you so much 😊
Have a great day everyone ❤️