Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Mr Kishimoto Does
Arc 4: When Things Get More Complicated
Huaaaahhhh!
Kiba yawned aloud as the brown haired teen along with his long time pet companion, Akamaru exhaustedly sat down on a vacant small bench inside a certain a department store located in the village's business district. His eyes were on its way of shutting down, yet he still was able to become observant all the way throughout the time, he was here.
He was not like his teammate, who surprisingly had a penchant for shopping. He moved his eyes around in search for his teammate, not too long he managed to spot a particular image of a long dark lavender hair at a certain section.
"Alright, so Hinata's at the stuffed toy section and..." He trailed off, looking for one more person, who he assumed has gone on his own shopping spree as well.
The only person, who he knew wouldn't do such a thing, is actually doing it or that's just how he interpreted it. As he continued moving his eyes around, a certain presence had appeared behind him.
"Kiba!"
The familiar voice greeted him in a somewhat excited but monotone voice. It very much startled the Inuzuka teen, unlike his large companion, who had drifted into a deep nap forgetting reality altogether for the mean time.
Shino finally appeared behind, granting the teen's secret request. By the time his teammate turned around with a slightly annoyed expression.
"Where the heck have you been man?" The brown haired teen asked, darting his eyes on a giant transparent glass-like box with many small colourful tubes inside." And what is THAT?" He added another question pointing at the big object
"Oh, you mean this?" Shino replied, looking down at the transparent box." This is actually an Ant shelter box." He simply said, with a hint of enthusiasm in his voice.
Kiba kept the uninterested expression." Ant shelter box?." He asked, switching to a more curious look." You're trying to breed Ants now?" He added.
He really didn't know much about the anatomy of his teammate's clan, except for the fact that he has a lot of bugs living inside of him. Well, not literally inside of the body but just that the bugs were always there wherever place he goes to.
"Come on man, why do you need Ants for?" He asked." I mean, you've been with your little insects since you were a baby." Kiba simply said and pointed it out.
Shino responded took a deep breath" Well, I'm open to any harmony or interaction with other insects." He simply said, with confidence." It's one my clan's missions." He added.
"Well, whatever.." A now completely bored Kiba replied, before focusing his eyes on his companion. Gently rubbing and caressing the furs of the sleeping giant for several moments.
"You know, that's not the right way to rub a giant dog." Shino commented, now observing the latter." You're treating Akamaru like a cat." He added.
Kiba brushed it off and gave a small chuckle." Oh come on man, we both know that Akamaru responds to the same treatment as cats do but in a more happy way..." He explained as if he was an expert on animals himself.
"Even if I sing, Akamaru might as well be having the best day of his life!" The brown haired teen proudly said about himself." Remember that time I sang on the Karaoke machine a week ago?" He added, referring to the time when he actually accepted a free trial on a karaoke machine with huge speakers in another department store.
"Oh yeah, that time..." Shino boredly said, before he began to mumble out something" I'd rather hear Akamaru bark than hear you singing."
"Huh, what was that?"
Shino just shook his head." Nevermind about that." He said, before quickly changing the subject." By the way, has Hinata-san finish her shopping selection yet?" He asked.
"Well, apparently she is still there at that section." Kiba replied, pointing at the exact location where the Hyuga heiress was currently at." I hope she doesn't stay there for too long..."
Shino nodded in understanding." She seemed to be enjoying the things that she's buying nowadays." He commented. Even he himself was a bit baffled about this. It was something that would not be found in his teammate's hobbies or personality.
For all he knew that the Hyuga was this just shy normal girl, who would take any opportunity just to get closer to Naruto, who probably got rejected a hundred times by Sakura.
"Last time, I remember she fainted right in front of Uzumaki." Kiba commented." And of course, as usual the guy is an idiot so he probably asking questions instead of helping her." He added.
"For the two hundredth time..." Shino simply said, referring to the number of times that the girl failed to confess to the blonde. This kind of thing had been going on for quite a long time now.
(INTERVIEW)
"Well, I guess She already had enough of it, and decided to become more confident without us knowing anything about it in the first place and now here we are."
-Kiba
" For all I know, I'm kind of proud and weirded out the same time, she's been doing great lately in every mission, she's been active in the social side of things, and she's being herself now.
-Shino
(MEANWHILE)
Hinata carefully surveyed the row of stuffed toys in front of her. She had been in the particular section for quite sometime now, since there will be a dinner with the family later on, she might as well head to department store to buy some goods and also a small gift for the special visitor of the dinner.
The Hyuga's eyes stopped at a certain stuffed toy, which was a Panda plushy with huge white eyes. She paused herself as she stared at the plushy. A strange feeling shortly overwhelmed her, plunging her inside her own mind.
It was a world unknown to her yet it was strangely familiar.
"Mommy! I want that one!" The little girl excitedly said, with a wide smile on her face, pointing at a certain plushy.
"Come on little sis! you should try this Super Ranger over here!" A boy then spoke referring to a toy from his favorite TV show.
The little girl cutely shook her head in response." Sorry Nii-chan, But I don't like robots."
The boy slightly frowned." Hey now! He is not Sentai Man is not a robot! He is a Super Ranger!"
A little debate had formed between the two children. Hinata could hear their voices but barely could see them. The memory was vague and all she could were blurred images of the children. She tried to open her mouth and talk, yet under mysterious circumstances, she cannot. As much as her curiousity wanted to explore more, the memory would soon end.
"Hinata!" A voice then called here thereafter.
She came back to her senses and turned to her left and her teammate's confused and concerned face.
"Oh, Kiba!" The Teenage Hyuga said, the brown haired teen's name." Sorry, I wasn't paying attention." She explained." I was kinda lost in my thoughts." She added, giving an apologetic expression.
"Kind of having a tough time deciding to between a Panda or a Fox." She slightly smiled, holding both of the stuffed toys.
Kiba nodded in understanding, thus showing a face of concern." Uhmm, I know and thanks for telling but you've been standing and staring there for a long time already." He said as he went straight to the point.
Hinata both raised her eyebrows in confusion." Standing? Of course Kiba-kun!" She gave a smile, which slowly turned into a stressful smile." It's really hard to choose between a Panda or fox plushy." She commented, with sad tone of voice as she both hug the two plushies.
"I just hope she would like either of them."
There was quietness that took over for awhile. Mainly awkwardness from the brown haired teen, who stared baffled and weirdly towards his Hyuga teammate. He really had no idea on who was she referring to?
"Uhmm, I don't know what am I supposed to do with those toys but who's she?" Kiba asked, hoping to get some answers from the girl.
Hinata sighed." Oh nevermind, I guess I'll buy both of these two." She smiled, ignoring the teen's question and at the same time, walking passed him.
"I'll be heading to the cashier counter Kiba-kun!" She informed the young man, before heading to the nearest counter, where she could officially pay for the Panda and Fox stuff toy.
As for Kiba, he found himself left behind off guard. He felt like talking to a different person just now, yet that person was still Hinata, she acted with concerned that it looked like she was going to buy these toys as if she already had children of her own.
It was a thought that the young man would never really thought about since it really didn't made sense to him, but it was just so strange to see the Hyuga Heiress with her new confident facade.
"Kiba!"
Just then, a familiar voice startled the brown haired teen from behind. He immediately turned around to see Shino, who now had a big bug plushy on his hand.
"Shino! Where the heck did come from!?" Kiba exclaimed." I thought you were in-line at the counter?"
There was just so many surprises right now, and this has to be the most shocking.
Shino calmly adjusted his glasses." Well, I was... But I came across a giant insect plushy and now, I'm going to fall in-line again Kiba-san." He explained as he walked passed by the brown haired teen.
"First her and now you? Just what the heck Hinata did to you?" Kiba asked himself. He was just too confused right at the moment, before ultimately shrugging it off.
"Oh why bother?"
(MEANWHILE)
Peeking through a spot where no one could possibly see her, the white cloaked stood behind several trees as she watched and observed the scene unfolding before her. Apparently, she was following the man, who had eventually crashed into an unexpected situation happening right at the moment.
By the time she had arrived at her spot, she felt an overwhelming malevolent energy that erupted in that particular area. She expected this just to be one the usual happenings in every mission that she had ever been to. In her perspective, she had encountered every typical violent or dangerous presence thrown into her so far and it took quite sometime for her to handle each every one of it.
Another difference is that this current malevolent energy quickly disappeared, and she was a bit too late to see it everything from the beginning. She trusted her own judgement to be her guidance for the meantime.
She continued to observed the scenario in front of her. She had to elude herself from the main scene even though, no one could really see her to begin with or at least that's what she had thought.
Her eyes stared in shocked, seeing a glimpse of a crimson-like energy slowly fading away from a small nine-tailed fox. Now, this was something new. For all she was informed, that the man was just here in the village for a little vacation and not to bumped into new characters, which was currently happening.
She slightly moved a little bit in order to get a better a view and she saw and took note of each new character with the man at this moment in time.
First, a small crimson Nine-tailed fox, to which he accidentally had crashed into, Second, a short haired teenage girl with white patches on her cheeks, who's probably just a random civilian, and lastly, a little girl who's possibly the little sister or friend of the older teenage girl.
As she came up with theories on the situation at hand, her attention kept switching from the Uchiha to surprisingly, the little girl. She didn't know why but there was just something about her.
Nonetheless, she needed to keep check on the events, and if this was really meant to happened or according to the general plan that is. Still concealed in her hood, she carefully observed, promising herself not to do anything that would reveal her cover.
Although, unbeknownst to her, that certain little girl was pretty much aware of her existence and hiding spot. She didn't noticed the small smirked projected towards her.
(MEANWHILE)
"Looks like both of them got knocked out eh?"
Those were the thoughts that first came into Miyuki's mind. She wasn't even worried about them since obviously, she didn't know them personally, let alone she stressed the fact that throughout this chaotic introductions, why did this had to happened right now?
Although, there was some good news in it, as she was expecting in a while, the mysterious white cloaked figure appeared behind one of the trees.
"So there you are." She muttered to herself, giving a small smirk. She has all the opportunity to confront her in short span of time, but chose to remain silent about it as she wanted to take the mysterious individual into somewhere safe and private.
"Uhmm, Miss Miyuki?" The voice of Himawari interrupted her thoughts.
The older woman looked to the young lady and saw her concerned face." Yeah, what is it dear?" She asked, with a calm smile.
"How does she managed to stay calm at this moment?" Himawari wondered in her thoughts for a brief moment, noticing the older woman's current demeanor.
The Uzumaki teen shook her head thereafter and focused more on the subject at hand. She had apparently checked the two for their vital signs and pulse, who were somewhat unconscious due to colliding with each other.
She didn't need to use her Byakugan, as Sarada had once taught her on how to check someone's vitals in a more natural and professional way.
"Kuu-chan and...Itachi-kun are.... alright." The Uzumaki girl informed." Yet, somehow both of them are unconscious." She added.
Miyuki raises her eyebrow." From just colliding with each other?" She wondered, while the other nodded.
"Well, that's strange, the last time I check people don't go losing their consciousness by just landing on a fox, but sh*t happens, so might as well accept it." She commented, shaking her head, before drawing out something on her pocket.
Himawari nodded in understanding." Well, Kuu-chan's chakra could actually make someone unconscious, since it's too powerful for any normal human to handle." She explained." Except for those "People" if you know what I mean." She added
"I see..." Miyuki replied, drawing out a scroll from her pocket and handed it to the younger girl." Good thing, I brought one here, If I'm right, at least two people could fit inside." She explained. She was not really in the mood on carrying people on her back, nor she really wanted to try it in the first place.
Himawari quickly understood what the latter meant. Of course a certain scroll has its limits of how many living or non-living things could it store, unless it was a type of scroll back from their time, which could literally hold huge numbers of anything.
She observed the fox and the Uchiha for a brief moment before taking a deep breath as she opened the scroll and began the basic procedure, although she noticed something about the certain scroll she was holding, for the fact that it had instructions written on it.
Himawari shrugged as she proceeded to open the scroll and place it on the two, there was a faint light, which began to glow from the scroll. It took a few seconds for the scroll to activate and to take effect, Once the light died down, Kurama and Itachi were nowhere to be found as they were finally stored inside the scroll, which automatically closed by itself.
The Uzumaki girl gave an amused look as she picked up the scroll.
"By the Himawari, if you were wondering on why the thing has a different procedure...It's because that scroll is not from..." Miyuki trailed off, realizing that the observer was still here.
"Is there something wrong again, Miss Miyuki?"
A brief moment of silence took over, as the older woman took glance at the trees and bushes on her left side, before going back to the girl." Nevermind dear, I think it's best if we head to somewhere else." She explained with a little cryptic tone.
She took one more glance and gave a smirked before leaving the area.
"I'll Talk to you later."
(INTERVIEW)
"I really didn't want to spoil the beans immediately, and the fact that we had two unconscious people here, it wasn't going to go well. So I had to just play along for a little while.
- Miyuki
(LATER ON)
Quite a time had passed since, and it was all nothing but frustration for the grandson of the third. First he was forced to wait for all over an hour for the two to arrived back, especially Moegi, who volunteered to buy the ice cream and when she arrived, she wasn't carrying anything.
Second, the fact that Kurama was nowhere to be seen really placed some more pressure in him.
"What the heck happened Moegi!?" He exclaimed, asking his teammate a straightforward question to which the girl nervously tried to answer.
Moegi herself, was also a bit freaking out since she too didn't know what has become of the crimson fox other than that the last she saw him, he was being cuddled to death by random children.
"I r-really don't know Konohamaru!" She tried to defend herself." By the time, I headed back to where he was, he was gone." She explained as she was also frustrated about the situation.
"Poof! Just like that?"
The orange haired girl frowned." Of course not!" She replied back." He could've ran away from those kids out of fear." She said, adding the fact that the poor fox really disliked being around with chaotic little kids, who sought nothing but to touch his tails and fur.
Konohamaru sighed." Well, you've got a point." He said, looking more serious now." But, we really need to find him wherever place he went to." He pointed it out.
Moegi nodded in understanding." Yeah also, one of the kids told me that Kurama-chan went towards the little forest section." She added some new information.
"Really?" Udon asked." I mean that's gonna be one of a heck search you know." He said, catching both of his teammates' attentions.
"Well, He could've decided to leave that area since those kids won't really dare to go there without their parents permission or whatsoever." Konohamaru commented.
"So we should check all places then?" Udon added another question." I mean not just the whole park." He explained.
Konohamaru nodded." Yup, I think we really should search all the places." He replied. The boy didn't care that much on what time he'll be going home, as long as he would find that his friend.
As the three agreed on this plan, they proceeded to head out from their current location and towards the forest area first and then whole vicinity of the park.
(INTERVIEW)
"To be honest, I really kind of treat Kurama-chan as family now. I mean, not that he is just there so I couldn't be lonely, but he is like that grumpy lovable uncle that I didn't know I needed."
-Konohamaru
" To see him like that is kind of refreshing for me, Who knew Konohamaru would care that much for small talking fox, but hey, I believe him."
-Udon
"Same goes for me, I kind of like a small talking fox like Kurama, and he would be a nice friend to be with...And also cuddling him!"
- Moegi
(MEANWHILE)
Amongst all the missions and its various task that he had taken to, this was probably the most annoying and toughest one yet. Itachi was nowhere to be found, just left him hanging around the park all by himself, and he was pretty much on his way to being hungry.
It was also a coincidence that the temperature of the day was not joking. The heat of the sun had been slowly torturing him to madness and he had to find a way to protect himself from the sun. In the form of a huge lone tree, located in the middle of the park, which was also near a small fresh water pond.
Either this was luck or not, he was very much pleased and thankful as he headed near to certain pond, and armed with a plastic cup, he took out a small portion of fresh water and began to take a little drink. Apparently, the only bad luck that he had was that he was unable to find any nearby vending machine or a stall which sells cold drinks. Heck! He didn't even remember on how he had managed to acquire the plastic cup.
Once he was done, he went back to the tree and rested under the shade. He took a deep breath and released the pressure inside of him. He was slowly feeling relieved and leaned on the trunk, with his eyes staring at the pond.
"I can't believed I'll be stuck in here for awhile." The Shark man said to himself in a much annoying tone." Just how much time to do I have to wait?" He added.
He really wanted to go back to the inn, but he can't go back since he had to find his partner, or maybe that Itachi too, also thought that he was already at the inn.
He can't really make a good decision between the two choices as of now, but his mind and body did the choosing from and minutes later, he began to feel drowsy. The man slowly closed his as he was now contemplating on taking a short nap.
It wasn't that bad, was it?
By the time he shut eyes, he suddenly heard a voice, which called his name.
"Kisame-san..."
The voice was faint, but it felt as if it was just right beside his right ear and It was not itachi, but rather a female voice.
His eyes were still shut, but his mind began to stir up, wondering about that certain voice. It was so familiar and he thought he had recognized it from somewhere. He wanted to dismiss it but his curiousity was fiercely leading him towards the other side.
It wasn't long enough and he decided to opened his eyes and he suddenly found himself in a journey across the various memories of his life. Mostly, the part where it continued to haunt him for the rest of his life.
"So about that Dinner Kisame-san, Have you thought about it yet?"
There was a beautiful young woman that appeared right in front of his eyes. It caught the shark man's guard off. He couldn't say anything right at the moment as he found himself in different places with her, mostly in back in their home village.
"You know, I've been really wanting to ask this before, but can you really breath underwater?"
There was chuckles coming from both the girl and Kisame himself as they walked along a quiet riverside.
It took a few moments for the man to realize that he was reliving everything yet again. The good and the bad, how he hated it again and again.
He asked himself if this was going to be another day's torment. He was occupied with the current things in his life that he had let his guard down and now he was now recalling it all over again in a worst place to be.
A Dream.
However, things were just to fast as he found himself staring at the girl again, this time now bloodied under the heavy rain near the cliff. She had a faint but wonderful smile and she was looking straight into his eyes.
"Please do it."
The shark man's hand were shaking, he was hesitant but he needed to do it in order to protect his home. In truth, he really did loved her and he couldn't even speak up due to the fact that he was on a real struggle.
"I know this is for the best, but promise me one thing..." The woman said, reaching her hands on the man's cheeks.
"Keep on living and no matter what...don't go back to that terrible life."
At this moment, the man was already in tears as he proceeded to thrust his blade towards the beautiful woman. Afterwards, muttering her name.
"Miru..."
Kisame immediately woke up as he began to gasp for air to breath. He was heavily panting and there was this tiredness that suddenly overwhelmed him.
His body was shaking and he stayed in this state of shock, staring at the blank space. For unbeknowst to him that quite a time has passed since. He was now too focused on recovering mentally from the dream and the memories, that he forgot to noticed that the sun was about to set.
"Not again!"
"I f***cking hate this!"
He exclaimed to himself as he slowly tried to stand up, while holding on the tree trunk, and as he was about to recover and leave the area, a voice suddenly spoke from behind.
"You really have a terrible life, Kisame-san."
(LATER ON)
The journey towards the clinic didn't took long enough for the two. Himawari had heard of the residential area where the establishment was located, but she had never been there before. This was in fact her first time going to the older woman's clinic. Of course, she had heard it from her big brother before.
It was that afternoon both Himawari and Miyuki arrived at their destination. A small two storey building stood before the two. The lower floor, which was the main clinic and the upper floor, which was the residential part.
The building didn't looked any special, it was just any plain dirty white colored commercial building around the vicinity. Yet, the small lone bright neon sign representing the establishment was the only thing that made a difference.
Who knew that this clinic was in fact the talk of the town, according to a certain information which the Uzumaki teen learned from. She couldn't believed that long lines would form during the working days, although it was near weekend and there was no traces of people lining up.
"Himawari." The voice of Miyuki then called her, interrupting her current thoughts.
She blinked couple of times and saw the older woman, with a small smile." Yes, Ma'am?" She asked.
Miyuki smiled as she held out the keys and handed it to the young lady." Do me a favor, Dear. " She said." You should go inside first." She explained." There's one more thing I have to do."
"Okay?" A confused Himawari agreed, taking the main keys as she proceeded to the main entrance. Not too long, the young lady was able to unlock the door thus entering inside.
The small smile on her lips grew and she gave out a smirk.
"You know, you should really play Hide and Seek to improve your hiding skills." She loudly said, calling the attention of a certain someone, who had been in tow with them for the rest of their journey.
As Miyuki found herself now alone, the atmosphere slowly became more tense and she felt a presence finally appearing behind her. She then turned around afterwards to finally face the source, and it was revealed to be the white cloaked individual from before.
The white cloaked individual stood there ominously, slowly taking a few steps as she was apparently summoning something. Not too long passed, there was a brief bright flash of light, and where her right hand, a large blade with a complex design appeared and it was filled with a fierce aura.
Considering this as a threat or maybe even a joke perhaps, Miyuki still stood there, calm and a smile still on her lips. She took a breather for a moment and sighed, knowing that things were slowly dragging her back into the fight.
"Oh, Why does this have to happen right now?"
(CHAPTER END)
AN: Hello there fellas! It's been quite awhile and sorry for the late update. As usual, I've been busy with life and carving my way out of the school assignments and projects. But, fortunately, I was able to find time again to write a new chapter. Then again, I've got nothing much to say, other than Boruto Chapter 53 is coming soon, and I can't wait on what will happen that Momoshiki has now entered the fight.
Also according to the Manga, Kaguya was just a lower rank Otsutsuki, and Ishiki was more powerful than her. So she had good reason to backstabbed him and revolt, seeing that she was going to be just a sacrifice to collect the chakra fruit. She's a princess and her father, the Otsutsuki king of clan head, was okay with that or was it? Well, amongst all that for Ishiki, the guy pretty much died of his own distractions, and of course Sasuke's rinnegan is gone, due to BoruShiki making a sneaky move, stabbing his eye with a small blade. Can't wait for Chapter 54!
With that said, Thank you very much and I hope you enjoy the chapter :)