Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ The Monster in the Forest ❯ Pokky makes you fat ( Chapter 4 )

Pocky Makes you Fat

Author puts no thought into chapter names

As of a while ago my stingy parents have officially banned me from the internet, which in other words means I just have to wait until they’re not home or sleeping to check my e-mail. I entered a fan fiction contest a few weeks ago, but since I was the only entry it was cancelled. ;_;

I have a plan now. Believe it or not I eventually formulated the plot to this story over a year ago. I just never did a thing with it until now which is quite a surprise. Maybe it’s because I spend less hours wasting my time over watching anime ever since I banned myself from subtitles so I could improve my Japanese. It stops being additive when you don’t get hooked on the story line as easily, now I’m just addicted to writing.

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Sakura awoke with a spitting headache to find herself staring up at a dimly lit wooden ceiling instead of the familiar sight of white plaster which she awoke to every morning. She stared at the worn and rotting rafters for a moment while trying to remember how she had gotten into this situation. She’d left home in the morning to train, then she went back to the village for lunch, then more training …

At the memory of the tree which had beaten a student of the great Orochimaru Sakura groaned. That now explained why it felt as though she’d rammed into a wall and why her back also ached. This was just another event to add to the ever growing list of embarrassing training accidents. She reached up to feel her nose which was sore, but luckily unbroken.

“You shouldn’t be training by yourself,” echoed a deadpan voice that originated from somewhere within her surroundings.

Sakura shot up out of what was now clearly a bed, and reached down to her ninja pouch out of instinct, only to find it gone. This lead to a slight panic attack before the ruffling of fabric caused her to momentarily glance down at a rather worn and patched up blanket that had been keeping her warm during her time unconscious. She briefly thought it could do with a wash before she turned her attention back to the source of the previous sound.

Siting cross-legged in a chair facing opposite her sat the previous subject of her attention, in all his emotionless and mysterious glory. He was cradling in his lap what appeared to be a children’s book and was in the process of violently vandalising it with a crayon.

‘The Complete History of Konoha’ which had almost pulled her arm mussels sat underneath the leg of a nearby table and was serving the purpose of steading it. She briefly wondered how it could have come into his possession when he was apparently banned from the library.

Surely he couldn’t have stolen it

She looked to the visible barcode on the book he was currently defiling. Yes the brat was most defiantly a sneaky little book thief. After a second glance she read the title to be ‘The Children’s Illustrated Guide to the Hidden Leaf,’ which was also listed as a compulsory reading book for first year academy students.

Sakura glared at him in disapproval before turning her attention back to what she assumed to be his home. The estimated size would be around half the standard issue Konoha apartment, and was furnished simply with a single bed, a small four sitting table, as well as a variety of cupboards against the walls. Her host obviously paid very little attention to house keeping and had an assortment of books and scrolls casually dumped all over the room, and a pile of old Manga magazines in one corner. Neglect had also lead to spider webs and dust accumulating in the rafters and ceiling, which she could only just see with the aid of the few candles that lit the room. One of which Naruto was using to read by.

She stared at him while pondering what to say, and considered wether asking if he’d read any good books lately would be a good way to kick start a conversation before the growl of her stomach achieved it for her.

Sakura smiled innocently. She hadn’t eaten since midday, and it wasn’t until now that it finally dawned upon her how hungry she was truly feeling.

Naruto placed his crayon down, and without taking his eyes off the book, reached behind him into a cupboard and pulled out a cup of instant Ramen which he absently chucked towards her. She caught it easily, had the lid ripped off, and was munching into the raw noddles before Naruto could even tell her to go boil her own damn hot water.

As much as he didn’t like it he’d had no other choice than to bring her back to his home. They were miles from the village when he found her unconscious, and with the signs of the storm which was now thrashing outside, it was impractical to make the journey there and back when he was so close to home. Not to mention he had absolutely no idea where the girl lived and would most probably get instantly arrested by the ANBU for kidnapping. As much as Naruto would have loved to leave her to rot, his stupid conscious always seemed to get in the way.

He sighed while rubbing his temples which caused the book to slip out of his lap and onto the floor. He could feel a headache coming on from the need to think. This was most defiantly a difficult situation. He’d probably have to wait until she was asleep again and the storm was over before carrying her out to a location away from his home. Either that or blindfold her, there was no way he could let the location of his home be known. It was his only sanctuary away from everything that was the village of Konoha and the Shinobi that lay inside.

Having now devoured the cup at lightning speed, Sakura glanced down at Naruto’s creative illustrations that were currently open on the floor. She assumed that it had once been a picture of their current Hokage, only now he possessed a moustache, glasses, demon horns, and various profanities written upon his forehead. It caused her to recall the words Naruto had once shouted at her on the day when they last parted.

“You really don’t like the Fifth do you,” she commented.

Naruto looked at her for the first time, his face screwed up in disgust. “I loathe him.”

Sakura gently smiled, and wondered how what she assumed to be an eleven year old would be using such a word as ‘loathe.’ “That’s good; I don’t really like him either.”

Naruto stared while looking slightly puzzled, wondering if this was a trick to win his trust. “What do you mean you don’t like him, he’s your teacher isn’t he?”

“Yes,” she nodded desolately while thinking of how she should phrase her words. It had always been a highly dangerous thing to ever speak badly of the great Orochimaru. “But he scares me a little.”

Naruto huffed. “He doesn’t scare me, stupid bastard thinks he’s so great because he’s Hokage and can boss everyone around, using people to his advantage, doing whatever he likes.”

“He does demand free lunch from the food vendors,” she added, having witnesses on many occasions certain restaurant owners almost throw food in his face in order to get in the Hokage’s favour. It was one of the many fear tactics he implied over the village that lead people to worship him to avoid meeting a painful consequence.

The boy screwed up his face and crossed his arms. “All his techniques should be banned.”

“His training regimes come from hell,” Sakura added after recalling the time when Sasuke passed out, and herself being subjected to frightening genjitsu repeatedly until she could successfully deflect them. “Freaking sadist,” she muttered bitterly under her breath to her own surprise.

“Bah you think that’s bad, I used to know his last student and she was absolutely mental.”

“Past student,” she repeated. “I heard that all his old students died?”

“Well this one bloody survived,” he muttered. “She and Orochimaru don’t get along anymore, but that doesn’t stop her from being insane,” he seemed to stop and shudder at the past memories. In his entire life he never wanted to encounter crazy Anko ever again, he swore he could still feel the scars. “She’s creepy like him, but in a more violent and bloodthirsty way.”

“Ah, I see,” she replied, the fear of her teacher’s past student now planted in her mind. ‘Saskue better not turn out like that!’ screamed inner Sakura from within.

It seemed as though it were the first time Naruto had been able to freely criticise the village leader and he was ecstatic to continue. “But Orochimaru, his voice is so creepy,” he then proceeded to try a rather bad impersonation. “Ssss Naruto-kun you are tessting my patiensssse.”

Sakura laughed slightly at his sudden enthusiasm. “On really bright days he carries shade with him, he’s probably trying to keep himself looking all sickly and pale.”

Naruto leaned in closer towards her as though he had some secret to share. “I think his eyes are contact lenses.”

“No it’s probably a jitsu,” she said while shaking her head and pondering just how he managed to get his eyes to appear so snake like. “He still appears young for his age which isn’t possible”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if he did experiments to look like an ugly snake!”

“You haven’t seen him talk to snakes when he thinks no one is looking!” It was apparent that Naruto’s enthusiasm was contagious when she put more energy into the statement than she intended. “They’re probably his only friends.”

“I know I know!” he quickly launched into another impression that surprised Sakura. It was such an odd experience to finally see him so energetic and full of life as opposed to the Naruto that she had previously seen from a distance. She immediately decided that she preferred this more childlike side of him compared to the silent and frightening version.

”But worst of all is his creepy assistant Kabuto,” he continued. “I thought he was a really nice guy when he first started working, but he can be as bad as Orochimaru, and a real sadist too. There was this one time when…”

Sakura kept nodding as he continued on with his list of a hundred things he hated about the Fifth Hokage, which was slowly becoming more trivial and childish. How often Orochimaru changed his underwear wasn’t exactly a subject she was thrilled at discussing, and she doubted that Naruto even knew what he was going on about anymore.

Sakura briefly wondered how he was so familiar with the Fifth, and his assistant who she herself barely knew. How could he have so much to complain about when he lived such a great distance away? She was itching just to ask what had occurred between them in the past, but her senses were indicating that it was something the other boy was unlikely to talk about, and she didn’t have the heart to ruin his good mood. After what had happened before she decided it was best if he told her things on his own accord.

“Ah! And have you noticed the way he always reeks of disinfectant?”

“Yeah,” she said while yawning. She was too tired to add “It’s because he does all those experiments in his free time.”

The boy seemed to warm up to her greatly after their bitching session on the Fifth to the extent of offering her a rather dusty packet of Pocky. Sakura smiled and politely rejected it with the knowledge of how many calories lay within the chocolate coated pretzel sticks. He seemed overjoyed to have an actual person to talk to, and continued on to the many joys about the instant Ramen she had previously consumed. Sakura continued to nod patiently despite being as bored as hell, and she slowly watched as the room blurred before her as she nodded off to sleep once more.

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By the time morning came the ground and foliage was fresh and damp from the previous night’s storm. Light filtered though the many moisture droplets and cast an array of miniature rainbows through out the surrounding undergrowth.

“Amazing,” Sakura whispered under her breath. Before her in the morning light, and dripping with dew, lay a highly mutilated and heavily etched tree. She stared up in wonder to discover that the marks continued a full fifty meters to the top.

Naruto had barely been able to get five meters in two hours, the amount of time and effort that he must have put in to mastering tree climbing was unimaginable.

Naruto appeared from behind her, pleased at the reaction he’d received from the pink haired girl. “Watch this.”

And before her very eyes Naruto took a run up and easily affixed himself to the trunk with his feet. She watched as he slowly climbed, twenty meters, then thirty, till he was finally miles above her and beaming with pride at the top. “See look I can do it now!” he bellowed down.

Sakura couldn’t hep but feel admiration for him, but also at herself for being the one who explained it all in the first place. “That’s really amazing!” she yelled back.

Naruto smile broadly and proceeded to do a happy dance, which gave Sakura a better opportunity to view his home in the daylight without looking too conspicuous.

As far as she could tell they were located in a clearing fairly deep within the forest, much further than she usually dared to venture. His house appeared to be a run down old shack with many random bits of wood nailed to the outside to prevent wind and rain from going through. The boy’s enthusiasm for ninja skills was apparent from the many targets that were scribbled on the surrounding trees, and the rusted kunai and shuriken that littered the ground. A straw training dummy which looked as though it had been hastily sewn together was also swinging like a hanged man from a nearby branch.

Naruto continued to show off by walking back down at normal pace. He seemed quite pleased with himself until he slipped twenty meters from the bottom and landed in an undignified heap at the base of the tree. He attempted to quickly compose himself, but Sakura was already considering wether or not he could possibly ever become a ninja at all.

Sakura stopped to examine the shuriken imbedded in the closest tree. The projectile range was unknown, but it appeared as though his aim wasn’t half bad. Maybe there was hope for him yet. “Naruto, where do you usually throw these from?”

The boy jumped at the opportunity to do something, and quickly rushed to a spot fifteen or so meters behind her. “Here, but I aim from further back as well.”

Sakura stared at the tree and the distance from which he was standing while trying to do calculations in her head. His aim just about rivalled hers, and it seemed right to assume that he spent countless hours just practicing much like he did with the tree exercise.

She smiled back at him. “You really like ninja skills don’t you?”

Naruto nodded. “Of course; they’re the greatest thing ever!” he beamed.

“You can have all my academy books if you like,” she said upon deciding that she probably didn’t have any use for them anymore. “They have tones of easy techniques that would be really helpful.”

The boy’s eyes seemed to glaze over at the possibility of receiving an academy education, the one thing he’d spent most of his childhood dreaming about. “You mean it?”

She nodded back. “I’ll bring them next time.”

The reaction was instantaneous, one minute he was standing in a daze, then the next he was bouncing off the ground repeating “Ninjitsu, ninjitsu,” as though it were a mantra, and telling her of how he was gong to become a super awesome Ninja. She momentarily considered the consequences of teaching ninja skills to someone who was banned from learning such things, but a few Jitsu’s surely wouldn’t kill anyone. It wasn’t as though he could do any serious damage with Henge, Bunshin, and Replacement, which were the lowest level possible. Given how he possessed a deep seated resentment for Orochimaru it was unlikely that he would go telling her teacher about it. So there was no harm done, was there?

The rest of the day had gone pleasantly for Sakura once she returned back home for lunch, but it was while merrily walking though the village centre that she was confronted with an undesirable sight.

“Well if it isn’t forehead-chan, I swore I could see you coming from a mile away.”

Sakura immediately felt her posture tense as her face screwed up in disgust at the nauseating voice of her enemy. She’d been in a fairly cheery mood so far after leaving Naruto’s home, that was before Ino-pig had to bring her ugly face into the picture.

Sakura turned to see the blonde standing side by side with what she claimed to be her waste of oxygen team mates. She was familiar with Nara Shikamaru and Akamichi Chouji from their academy days, and even though she’d spent a great deal of time going on about how crap they were compared to her new team, she supposed they both had their uses.

Currently the two of them appeared worn out and tired, and she couldn’t tell wether they had just completed a mission, or if it was from spending countless hours in the company of Ino.

“Bah, Ino pig, still completing D-rank missions I see, how many toilet seats have you cleaned this week?” she counter attacked.

The blonde smiled with her hands on her hips. “Please that was ages ago; Asuma sensei has us doing C-rank now. The pay is far better, if you ask nice I might even lend you money to buy better clothes.”

“Oh, I think it would be a better investment on your own appearance.”

“At least I don’t wear such clashing colours, red with pink hair, green shorts.’

“Well we aren’t all as skilful when it comes to wasting money on purple.”

Ino was in the process of formulating another comeback until she noticed the large box of dango which Sakura was carrying around in her arms. The local sweet shop was especially famous, and was one of the only buildings in the area which had not been burnt down three times in the last few decades from enemy assaults. “Are you feeling hungry forehead-chan, diet getting to you?”

“It’s a generous gift to my family, we don’t all plan on slowly wasting away like you,” and with that she proceeded to stick out her tongue childishly.

“I’m surprised you still fit into your clothes.’

“At least you can’t see my bones.”

“Bitch!”

“Slut!”

“Pig! ”

“I’m far closer at going out with Sasuke than you.”

“As if, Sasuke is mine!”

“In your dreams he’s mine!”

“Well… ….My hair is longer than yours!”

Shikamaru watched them go at each other from the side lines and wondered if his day could possibly get any more exciting. He blamed Ikura-sensei for pairing him up with Ino. The only thing the girl seemed to delight in doing was bossing them around, and talking about Sasuke. Women were such annoying people who he swore existed only for the purpose of making his life harder. Why on earth did they become Shinobi if they only worried about their hair and nails?

Chouji was more passive towards the situation and was beginning to fear that an undesirable cat fight would soon occur. He slowly turned to a source of comfort which just happened to be one of his many packets of potato chips.

“Well I’d just love to stay and chat but I’m afraid I have more important things to do Ino darling,” said Sakura sweetly even though her left eyebrow was twitching with anger. “I wouldn’t want to keep Sasuke-kun waiting,” she added as a side comment to piss the other girl off.

Ino reaction was predictable as her face screwed up in jealousy. “Well you just treasure all the time you get with him because when he’s my boyfriend he won’t even give you a second glance,” she yelled to Sakura’s back as the cherry blossom girl began walking away.

Ino huffed only to witness Sakura walk in the complete opposite direction from her home and towards the forest. Being a dedicated member of the Sasuke fan club (A.K.A a Sasuke stalker) she had failed to see Sakura anywhere near the dark haired boy, or even in the presence of the Fifth Hokage. Weren’t they supposed to be a team, and wasn’t she supposed to be in the process of gaining super amazing skills from the strongest Ninja in the village?

Maybe being out in the forest had something to do with it after all. Maybe her rival was completing Sasuke related quests in the confines of isolation? Or maybe she was in the process of developing techniques that would leave Ino in the dust? Given the amount of food she’d brought maybe the girl was secretly going out to meet with the subject of Ino’s unhealthy obsession.

Maybe…. just possibly…..as much as she refused to consider the possibility…… Sakura could be…

ON A DATE!

“Yosh,” swore Ino with a clapped fist as her aura began to burn. “You can’t hide anything from me forehead girl I’m going to expose you soon no matter what it takes. No one beats the great Yamanaka Ino.”

Shikamaru stared at his team mate blankly and tried to pretend that he didn’t see flames of determination burning in her eyes. He knew that look, it was ‘Ino on a mission’ and he could only guess that it had something to do with the recently departed Haruno Sakura. He failed to understand what went on between the pair, nor could he be bothered working it out. The only thing he cared about was how annoying Ino always became after a run in with her so called rival.

“Oi Ino,” he called rather lazily with a hint of annoyance. “Asuma-sensei said we have to meet for training,” there was of course no such meeting, but he had to distract Ino from any dastardly plot she was formulating. She was gaining a tendency to try and involve himself and Chouji.

“But Sensei,” began Chouji before he was suddenly cut off with a sharp look from Shikamaru.

Ino was suddenly brought out of a daydream. “Oh yeah… but lunch” she stared back to forehead’s location only to find that the girl was gone from her range of sight.

Shikamaru sighed before walking off without even a final word. He couldn’t be bothered staying to communicate with Ino, and too many troublesome events had already occurred today. It was most defiantly time for rest and sleep. He would have preferred to return home, but with his mother’s constant dictation of the house she would only find him chores to do.

“Mentokusei,” he muttered under his breath.

“Oi Shikamaru,” yelled Chouji while running after his friend and scattering chip crumbs in the process. “You said we could stop at the sweet shop!”

At the sight of her team mates slowly disappearing into the village Ino couldn’t help but think of what a useless pair of idiots she’d been cursed with. What made matters worse was that their Sensei was absolutely no better.

And so the great female Ninja wannabe Yamanaka Ino slowly made her way home to fertilize flowers.

Sakura could feel anger fuming within her. That bitch Ino always tried to compete with her for anything, what right did she have to try and steal Sasuke away when they were clearly destined to be together. What further annoyed Sakura was that Ino was by now probably stronger than her, even though she refused to ever admit it to her face while they were still living and breathing.

Sakura’s march of anger though the village was brought to a halt when she caught sight of the large missing person’s notice board outside a police post. She quickly glanced though this month’s list and pictures which had been pinned up within the last few days. There was a chuunin with the same surname as Ino, but due to the blonde being her usual and bitchy self she assumed they were no relation and continued on her way. She’d spent the last year or so hoping Ino would turn up on the list of people who never returned from missions, or disappeared within the village, but unfortunately she’d had no such luck.

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This is actually my gift to you before I have to return to the joys of year twelve (I’m doing Chinese, I’m so excited!), and relentless studying so that I may pass onto university. I’m really not sure how much time I’ll have to write once the school year starts.

Mentokusei, is Japanese for troublesome, I tried my hardest but it’s just one word I had to have Shikamaru say, since I hear him say it so much in the manga and anime. I have all these urges to make the characters speak Japanese (like ‘Mattaku!) but I must resist since it will only slow the story down.

This chapter turned out longer than expected, I planned another scene but once I got these down it was long enough. I don’t even realise how much I’ve written till it’s all down before me.

Missq