Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Imouto Trilogy :: Hatake :: Even After All These Years ❯ Chapter 10: The Bandit's Attack ( Chapter 10 )

A/N: And now for the long awaited reaction! I had such fun writing this chapter, for several reasons. I've been trying to keep Naruto at least partially in character while slowly changing him as realistically as I can. I think I've done at least a fairly good job of it...Ah, well, thanks so much for the reviews for the last chapter. I'm glad that people are finally starting to reply to this! Please read, review, and enjoy! Ja ne!

 

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

 

Claimer: I do own Kyomi and the story plot.

 

Thanks to my beta reader, BattleStations!

 

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Even After All These Years

 

Chapter 10

The Bandit's Attack

 

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A half an hour later all of the Genin were once again gathered in the Hokage's office. Naruto, however, was still missing, much to some of the others' annoyance. Sakura was squirming in her seat, obviously wanting to yell something out, but unwilling to appear so undisciplined in front of a client. Not to mention that neither her sensei nor Tsunade would be very pleased.

 

Finally after a minute or so of waiting, the door opened once more, admitting Naruto. Everyone turned around to scold Naruto, but the words died on their lips as they saw exactly what the blonde looked like. Even Kakashi and Tsunade, whom knew that he'd gone through a change, were completely shocked

 

Naruto was in his black outfit like he usually was for training--high necked black muscle shirt, knee-high combat boots and all--and his black bracer-like weights glinted in the light of the office. Numerous pouches adorned his waist, as well as single scroll. That scroll was the summon scroll for his battle axe, Metaru no Ryuujin, though not even Kakashi knew about that yet.

 

Naruto's face was calm and relaxed--even to the point of indifference--as he found that it usually was after leaping through the village, keeping hidden. For what ever reason, doing so tended to relax him, while also putting his senses on high alert.

 

Closing the door behind him, Naruto blinked when he saw the dumbfounded looks everyone was giving him. Even Daichi, who'd only just met him, look surprised! Kyomi however, was attempting to hide her smirk while looking thoroughly amused. At that moment Naruto remembered that no one besides Kyomi and Kenmaru had ever seen him in his outfit. Coloring slightly, the blonde stared down at his feet awkwardly.

 

Everyone continued to stare at Naruto for a bit longer before Kyomi politely coughed into her hand, breaking everyone out of their stupor. The reactions after the immediate shock however, were far from what Naruto or Kyomi had expected.

 

Instantly, Sakura leapt up to her feet, pointing an accusing finger at her blonde teammate.

 

"Naruto, you moron!" she yelled. "What the hell are you doing?!"

 

Naruto froze, staring wide-eyed at Sakura, who continued to glare at him. "Erm..." he hesitated, not quite sure how to reply to that. Suddenly however, Naruto felt a wave of irritation wash over him. Sure, this was a change from his usual appearance and actions, but did his teammates really think so little of him that they'd just pass off a change as a practical joke?!

 

Acting upon his emotions, Naruto glared darkly at the pink haired Genin before him, shocking her. Naruto had never reacted to her statements before with anything but whining before, and he'd certainly never glared at her before! Sakura reeled back, open-mouthed, and stared at Naruto.

 

"What do I think I'm doing?" Naruto practically hissed. "I think I'm getting ready to go on a C-class mission. Is that a problem?"

 

Sakura quickly shook her head, still too stupefied to do anything else. The rest of the shinobi around the room were quite shocked as well; even Kyomi herself was surprised at Naruto's sudden and violent reaction. She guessed, however, that it was most likely a side effect of the severe scrutiny that he'd been under from the other Genin since he walked through the door just moments before. Even now, she could see that Hyuuga kid staring intensely at him.

 

"Right, well," Godaime said shaking herself slightly and calling the attention of all the shinobi back to her. “Since everyone's ready then you can all head out."

 

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One hour later Team 7, Team Gai, Daichi, and Kyomi were all passing through the gates of Konohagakure no Sato, heading northward. It had taken a bit more time to get everything in the order before they'd set out, and now Gai was carrying Daichi's bags on his back, having valiantly volunteered to carry them.

 

The two teams were actually walking in formation, although Daichi never would have been able to tell. The Genin of Team 7 were walking up front, with Kakashi right behind them. Behind him were Daichi and Kyomi, followed by Gai and then the Genin of Team Gai. Said team had been specifically placed in the back because Neji--whom had his Byakuugan activated--would be able to see if anyone was sneaking up on them from behind.

 

At that moment, Team 7 was walking along in tense silence. Both Sasuke and Sakura were staring at Naruto from the corners of there eyes, not quite sure what to say. The blonde himself had his hands stuffed into his pockets as he casually moved along. This uncharacteristic calmness about him only unnerved his teammates further.

 

Finally, after well over fifteen minutes, Sakura gathered up the courage to speak. Sasuke wasn't going to say a word after all, so she decided that it was up to her to question the sudden change in Naruto, even with how violently he'd reacted to her earlier.

 

"N...Naruto," she began hesitantly. When the whiskered blonde turned his surprisingly piercing gaze on her she paused and gulped for a moment, before suddenly realizing that this was Naruto, the dead last, whom she was being intimated by, no matter how he looked right now. That simple thought brought back her confidence and usual personality. She straightened her back and narrowed her eyes at him.

 

"Naruto," she continued firmly. "Why are you acting so different today?" She paused for another moment and then her eyes suddenly widened, before narrowing once more. "You're trying to be more like Sasuke-kun, aren't you?!" she accused, pointing her finger at the blonde.

 

Naruto, however, simply snorted and looked away without replying. He liked Sakura and all, but her infatuation with Sasuke, especially after all these years, was starting to get more than a bit ridiculous. Ino had moved on, why couldn't she?

 

Sakura's hand faltered slightly when Naruto didn't reply. She was unsure how to act now; usually he got riled up very easily, especially when Sasuke was mentioned. This unsettling silence about him, however, left her quite confused. She'd always known how to act around the old Naruto, but this new, quiet Naruto left her floundering in deep water.

 

After another minute of silence, just when Sakura was starting to content herself with just having a quiet trip, her teammate finally spoke up.

 

"This is a mission, Sakura," Naruto said quietly, partially repeating what he'd said back in the Hokage Tower. The pink haired girl and Sasuke both immediately looked at him, surprised, but he just continued to monitor his surroundings, meeting neither of their gazes. In truth, he was very nervous about how they would take his sudden change, but he was being careful not to show it. "As such, I'm just dressing appropriately; bright colors tend to stand out too much."

 

"But..." Sakura hesitated. "But you always wore orange before."

 

Naruto held back a grimace, but didn't reply. He didn't agree with what he use to wear either--especially now that he was so used to being in black, thanks to Kyomi--but he wasn't going to justify himself to Sakura, especially considering that she didn't know about the Kyuubi. After another moment, Sakura seemed to realize that she wasn't going to get a reply from the blonde and so she too turned her attention back to the forest around them.

 

About ten feet behind Team 7, Kyomi smirked lightly; it was incredibly amusing to watch Naruto deal with his teammates...Well, it was for her at least.

 

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The rest of the day was pretty much uneventful and passed by with no problems. When the sun started to set, the group stopped in the woods near the road and set up camp. Dinner passed by quickly and before long everyone was starting to head for bed.

 

The Genin were going to having to take turns doing sentry duty, with Neji on first watch. By luck of the draw, Naruto got last watch, which meant that he'd get to sleep through the night and just get up quite early. The Jounin and Daichi went to sleep immediately, though Naruto wouldn't have been surprised if the Jounin actually stayed up the whole night.

 

As Naruto settled in his sleeping bag inside of the small tent that he had to share with Sasuke--Sakura and Tenten were sharing a tent and Neji and Lee shared one as well--he found it a bit difficult to fall asleep. Due to his training with Kyomi, he was used to training late into the night, and then sleeping in the next morning. Kyomi most certainly took advantage of the darkness of the late hours to train him in more stealth, despite the fact that blonde had passed her "test". The ANBU's explanation was simply that he still had a lot of room to improve and that he had to keep training in order to keep his skills sharp. Naruto took these words to heart, and continued to use stealth to get to and from the training grounds.

 

Despite the blonde haired Genin's difficulty falling asleep, before long he found himself drifting off, thoughts of training still running through his head.

 

Abruptly, Naruto woke up to a dark shadow hovering over him. He quickly reached out for his kunai, only to relax as his eyes came in focus and revealed that it was just Sasuke.

 

"What the hell," Naruto hissed out angrily.

 

Sasuke simply stared down at him dispassionately. "It's your turn for lookout duty, dobe," he commented quietly, easily slipping back into his taunting. To his surprise, however, Naruto didn't get upset. Instead, he just nodded calmly and got up, picking up his weapons as he did so. Naruto then left the small tent without another word, leaving Sasuke staring hard after his back.

 

Unknown to the Uchiha, Naruto's eyes flashed with anger and frustration. He just clenched his jaw determinedly though as he strode forward. Someday, he'd show them. He'd show them all.

 

Naruto approached a nearby tall tree and leapt into it, landing in a crouch. He quickly flashed through a few handseals and just moments later multiple kagebunshin spread out, surrounding the campsite. The blonde then proceeded to settle onto the tree limb that he was on for a long wait. However, he had not been sitting on the branch for more than a minute when he suddenly felt a warm breath on the back of his neck.

 

Instantly, Naruto twisted around, pulling out several kunai as he did so. He swiped blindly at whatever it was that was behind him, but someone quickly caught his wrist and twisted it around behind his back, forcing him face down on the tree limb. Naruto snarled upwards at the person holding him down, upset at being taken down so easily, only to freeze as the grinning face of Kyomi came into sharp focus.

 

Naruto let out a sigh as he let his body relax. Was everyone trying to give him a heart attack tonight?

 

"Wrong move," Kyomi suddenly growled out, abruptly pressing a kunai up against Naruto's throat. The Genin tensed up once more, surprised, but just as quickly as the pressure had come is disappeared, and suddenly Kyomi was standing several feet away, leaning up against the trunk of the large tree, her arms crossed before her.

 

Naruto stood up hesitantly, rubbing his throat slightly. To his surprise, as he faced his currently brown haired sensei he found the she was glaring at him.

 

She growled quietly at him. "Never let your guard down. Not even for me. What would have happened if I'd been an enemy shinobi using a henge?" she demanded.

 

Naruto hung his head, ashamed. She'd pounded that lesson into him over and over again since the first day that she'd started teaching him all those months ago. He had only dropped his guard on accident before, relieved that it was just her, but he had done it nonetheless. Kyomi was right; if she'd actually been someone else under a henge, he'd be dead already.

 

Naruto bowed formally toward Kyomi. "Sorry, Kyomi-sensei," he murmured. Said ANBU just rolled her eyes, grumbling under her breath.

 

"Come on," she said, waving her hand, "We're going to do a bit of training."

 

Naruto blinked, surprised once more. "But..." he said hesitantly, "What about sentry duty...?"

 

Kyomi just rolled her eyes again. "You have your kagebunshin on watch, don't you?"

 

"Er, yeah..." Naruto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly and then bound after Kyomi as she leapt into the darkness.

 

For the rest of the hours until sunrise Naruto trained with Kyomi. When the first rays of sun began to shine over the horizon she sent him back to the tree that he'd been in before and slipped into her own sleeping bag. It was a good thing too, because not five minutes later some people started to stir and it would have been difficult to explain why both of them had been missing.

 

The rest of the day turned out to be very boring for Naruto--and indeed everyone else as well. Just like the day before, they spent their entire time walking, only resting every hour or so when Daichi began to tire. The only long break they took though was for lunch; everyone, particularly Daichi, was eager to get to their destination.

 

Naruto also had another reason to be anxious. Kyomi had told him the night before that every night when he had sentry duty she'd be training him; she wanted to keep up their schedule, especially since she might not get back to Konoha until several days after Naruto himself returned. Naruto was, of course, overjoyed that he'd still be able to train while on the mission.

 

Just like the day before, Team 7 walked in almost complete silence. Behind them they could hear the voices of Team Gai--though really it was mainly just the voices of Lee and Gai; the other two only interjected comments every now and then--and every now and then the voices of Daichi, Kyomi, or Kakashi. Other than that however, the shinobi were relatively quiet.

 

The next two days passed in relatively similar states. During the day they would slowly--at least to the shinobi--make their way down the road. During the night, Naruto would always take the last rotation and then use that time to train with Kyomi. By the middle of the third day, when Kakashi announced that they were only about 4-5 hours from Hajime, Naruto was sure that they had bypassed any trouble.

 

Of course, that's when Murphy's Law kicked into effect.

 

Naruto had been quietly walking along, staring straight ahead, when suddenly he heard something from off to the left. Quickly, his head snapped to the side, just in time to see a large group of at least twenty men come barreling through the woods. From the back of the group, Naruto heard Neji curse; the long haired boy had kept his Byakuugan deactivated for the past day in order to conserve chakra.

 

There was no more time to think, however, as the men--bandits, Naruto realized, not shinobi--were nearly upon them. Naruto did the first thing that he could think of: he quickly pulled out his storage scroll and retrieved Metaru no Ryuujin, his axe. He then threw himself into the fighting that had already begun to develop, his axe swinging through the air.

 

From there, Naruto lost himself in the fight. There were so many men and they were everywhere. Naruto would cut one down only for another to nearly run him through with a samurai sword. He didn't have any time to think about the blood that quickly began to stain his clothes and splatter across his face, nor to notice the growing pile of bodies that was developing thanks to the group of shinobi. As it was, he barely even noticed when Neji cried out that there was another group attacking from the opposite side of the road.

 

After only a few minutes of the fighting, Naruto began to find himself tiring rather quickly. There just too many of them, even if they weren't shinobi. Almost immediately, Naruto felt like hitting himself over the head; they may not be shinobi, be he was, and he'd spent the last few minutes fighting like some samurai, not even thinking of jutsu.

 

Quickly, Naruto hefted his axe above his head and began to spin in a circle several times, effectively clearing the space around him. He then plunged the axe in the ground before him, momentarily freeing his hands. Using the few moments that he had before the bandits closed in, Naruto flashed through a series of handseals, activating both Kakuremino no Jutsu (Cloak of Invisibility Technique) and Muon no Jutsu (Soundless Technique), effectively making him invisible and soundless.

 

The bandits around the blonde hesitated, surprised. Naruto used that hesitation to quickly pull Metaru no Ryuujin out of the ground--and thus extending his invisibility to it as well--and dash out of the area that he'd been in. It was a good thing to, as not a moment later the bandits all converged on said spot, attempting to find him but only ending up running into each other.

 

Naruto stood a bit away from the battle for a moment, his eyes raking over the scene. All of the other Genin were currently okay, through almost all of them had at least a few scratches. Kakashi, Gai, Kyomi, and Daichi were off to the side, away from the battle with the two Jounin standing guard in front of their two clients. They easily cut down anyone who dared to approach, so the bandits were putting most of their effort into attempting to overwhelm the Genin. Gai and Kakashi--and Kyomi, by extension--seemed content to just let the Genin fight however, though Naruto had little doubt that they'd jump in if they felt that they truly needed to.

 

Naruto focused his narrowed gaze back on the bandits once more, memories from all of his previous spars and battles running through his mind. He'd fought before, he assured himself. Hell, he'd been fighting strongly just seconds before. Despite his self reassurances however, the blood that was staining the ground from the fighting was suddenly starting to come into sharp focus, particularly the blood that was smeared across his own face.

 

The blonde drew in a shaky breath. He'd fought so many times before, yes, but those battles had always been against other shinobi and it had always taken careful skill to win, even in the brutal fight against Sasuke at the Valley of the End. This however...this was completely different. Amongst so many opponents, all he could really do was swing his blade. This was a massacre of a brawl plain and simple. And those bodies down there...most of those men would never get up again.

 

Naruto felt his hands trembling slightly, but he carefully steeled himself. He could do this he thought. He'd been fighting just moments before. He'd already k-ki...killed...Naruto drew in another shaky breath, still hesitating.

 

Abruptly, before Naruto's thoughts could go any further, a high pitched scream suddenly pierced through the air. Naruto's head quickly snapped around and the sight that met his eyes caused him to breathe in sharply.

 

There stood Sakura, her hair in disarray, holding her limp, heavily bleeding arm tightly against her side. In front her stood a wickedly grinning bandit, a bloody sword held out before him. As the man raised the sword above his head, poised for a strike, Naruto quickly snapped out of his shock and rushed into action, not even thinking about what he was doing.

 

Moving faster than he was sure that he ever had, Naruto sped over to Sakura. He pulled his axe up as he did so and arrived just in time to block the bandit's incoming blow with his own blade.

 

Immediately, the bandit--and Sakura, though Naruto couldn't see it--froze in shock, staring at where the bandit's sword was meeting resistance in, apparently, midair. Naruto grinned viciously then, remembering that his invisibility jutsu was still activated. Moving swiftly, he shoved the bandit's blade off, unbalancing the man, and slashed forward. The Metaru no Ryuujin met with the man's unprotected midsection and easily cut through the man with a sickening squelch.

 

Naruto stood frozen in place for a moment, watching the man's body fall in slight shock. He killed many of these bandits already, yes, but he'd always turned away before. He'd never actually watched their faces as their last moments passed and seen the surprise and anguish there. Naruto felt himself shaking with emotions as he gripped so tightly onto the axe in his hands that he could feel it digging into his skin.

 

Naruto heard a small sound behind him then, and all of the suddenly remember Sakura. He twisted around to face her and, unbeknownst to him, his fluctuating emotions caused his jutsu to drop for just a moment, revealing to his teammate his bloody visage and cold blue eyes. Just as quickly as it'd dropped, the Jutsu strengthened again. And just a second later Naruto leapt away, not feeling comfortable staying in one spot.

 

Sakura stood frozen in place for several seconds, staring in shock at the place that she'd seen Naruto in. To see the blonde the way that he'd been had been the most shocking and terrifying sight that she'd ever seen. Sakura felt herself shivering. She'd never thought that she'd see the blonde goofball looking like that, even considering his sudden change in demeanor over the past few days. And she definitely never wanted to see it again.

 

Meanwhile, Naruto found himself quickly cutting through the bandits, his earlier reservations and emotions lost in the rhythm and desperation of battle. His fighting was made even easier by the fact that no one could see him, thanks to his jutsu.

 

Before long, all of the bandits had been taken care of. While several of them were lying unconscious and wounded, most of them were dead. They had fought viciously--especially for bandits--but none of the shinobi were seriously injured, though Sakura's arm would definitely need some attention.

 

Exhausted, the Genin moved over to where the Jounin were standing. Kakashi let his eyes rake over them. They were all bloodied, dirty, and sporting various wounds. Even Lee, with his boundless energy, was breathing heavily and looking like he needed a break.

 

"Some of them had some shinobi training," Neji murmured out, his eyes narrowed.

 

Sasuke nodded in agreement. "All of them were stronger than your average bandit."

 

Absently, Kakashi nodded as well, thoughts and scenarios running through his mind. All of the sudden, however, he realized that one person in particular was missing from the group.

 

"Where's Naruto?"

 

Immediately, Sasuke swore aloud, spinning around to face the impromptu battle ground. At the same time, Kakashi noticed a couple of emotions, none of them identifiable, cross Sakura's face. Of course, this immediately made him curious, but he knew well enough that now was not the time to ask.

 

Before things could go any farther however, a tired voice sounded from off to the side.

 

"Here, sensei."

 

At the same time, Naruto suddenly came into view, and Kakashi felt the telltale signs of chakra being released. He narrowed his eyes at the Genin, only to have them widen again as he realized just what his appearance was. Several of the other Genin breathed in sharply as well.

 

Naruto's clothes and skin were stained with blood. Granted, all of the other shinobi's were as well, but not quite to this extent. The boy's usually blonde hair was also changed as well, and now appeared to be tinted red. Kakashi's first thought was that it had something to do with the Kyuubi's chakra, but he quickly realized that it was just blood, as disturbing as that was.

 

In the Genin's hands was a battle axe that Kakashi had never seen before. Much like its owner, its blade was stained dark with blood. Naruto's face itself had lines in it that hadn't been there just a few minutes ago, adding to his overall tired demeanor. His eyes lids were drooping and his head was bent forward as he leaned on his axe for support, hiding his eyes from view.

 

Kakashi nodded sharply and then turned to the rest of the group. "We're moving into the woods and out of sight to get reorganized," he ordered in a voice that brooked no argument. "Now."

 

He then stooped down and picked up Daichi, whom he had knocked out just as the battle had started in order to stop the man from panicking and doing something stupid as he inevitably would have. Gai helped a shaking Kyomi--though they both knew that she was just faking it for the sake of the Genin and whoever could possibly be watching--to her feet and then the two Jounin began to lead everyone into the woods.

 

They all walked in stunned silence for several minutes, heading well away from the battle site. Finally, Kakashi stopped and set the unconscious form of Daichi down on the forest floor. The Genin followed suit and plopped down in similar states of exhaustion.

 

Kakashi let his eyes sweep over them once more before he came to a decision in his mind, which he showed with an absent nod of his head. The silver haired shinobi ran through a set of handseals then, murmuring something under his breath.

 

Instantly, a large amount of water condensed over the group of shinobi and then dropped onto them at once, like a mini waterfall. The entire group was left gasping for breath, shocked.

 

"What the hell Kakashi-sensei?!" Sakura gasped out, wiping some wet strands of hair from her face.

 

The Jounin just grinned amiably at her. "I was washing the blood off everyone," he replied, grinning happily. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Kyomi glaring at him; she, out of everyone, had been untouched by the battle, but was now completely soaked anyway. The Genin grumbled slightly but said nothing in reply to Kakashi's statement, noticing that everyone was now cleansed of the blood that had once covered them.

 

Suddenly Kakashi frowned. Everyone no longer had any blood on them except for Naruto's hair. It still had a slight reddish tinge to it, though less so than before. Kakashi was fearful that it would never come out, which the villagers back home certainly wouldn't appreciate.

 

Had the Jounin looked closer, he would have also noticed that the engraved dragons on Naruto's Metaru no Ryuujin were also still stained a deep blood red.

 

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Preview of Chapter 11:The Merchant's Son

 

The two of them, sensei and student, danced around each other for several minutes, lethal weapons flashing here and there, just missing their marks and leaving the occasional scratch behind. Naruto's movements, Kyomi noted, were fairly erratic and wild, though he managed to defend himself well enough. She let him attack, putting herself mostly on the defensive, allowing all of his repressed emotions to flow out. He needed this, she knew.

 

Finally, a couple minutes later, Naruto's movements abruptly faltered. Kyomi adjusted to the speed that he'd dropped down to, slowing down her movements.

 

"I..." Naruto faltered, halfheartedly slashing at Kyomi. "I killed someone...How could I have killed someone? Taken away another's life?!" Abruptly Naruto's movements sped up again, a snarl coming to his face. "I'm not that kind of person! I wouldn't just do that...!"

 

Kyomi could see the wild fear and confusion that was lighting up Naruto's eyes, and hear the desperate need for justification in his voice.

 

"No," Kyomi murmured. "But what you are is a shinobi."