34

Disclaimer: So here we go… I don't own Naruto. I know, its shocking, its horrendous, it's the most god awful thing you've ever heard… but it's true.

Naruto: Shift in Life

Chapter 34: I'm a Rappin' Man Fool!

The trip from Konoha to Tatsu No Kuni was for the most part, boring in the opinion of our blond hero. Due to the fact that the person they were escorting was a Daimyo, a rather portly man with slicked back black hair and a mustache, they were forced to carry a Jiao, a human powered transport that required four people to lift a portable chair, bed or room by holding onto the poles at their sides or on their shoulders.

This one was covered up by a set of royal blue veils with golden designs running along them. Inside sat the Daimyo of Kiba No Kuni, whom they could only see the silhouette of. Thankfully, Naruto had created Kage Bunshins to carry the Jiao, allowing everyone to set themselves up around it as they walked.

During that time Naruto had taken to speaking with Anko and the two perennial gate keepers. In that time he had gotten to know the two very well, and had also managed to gain great joy out of scaring the holy hell out of them with Anko. He was glad to see that the two Chunin gate guards actually seemed to like him, unlike some of the Chunin and Jonin he had been forced to work with, though the number of ninja actually hating him was surprisingly small.

Naruto was actually very interested in seeing Tatsu No Kuni. Having been forced to do a lot of studying after he graduated, Naruto had read much on the geography and history of various countries of the Elemental Nations. Tatsu No Kuni, while holding no Shinobi village was said to have the most powerful Samurai force within the Elementals. It was due to this reason that the country had been able to remain Autonomous throughout all three of the great shinobi wars, and had an alliance with all nations that made it so when any nation attacked them; the others would have to come to its aid.

While Naruto knew not to expect a fight or anything in the nation, he had high hopes that he could at the very least get a chance to see the countries Samurai forces.

When the group arrived in Tatsu No Kuni and was allowed entrance, they walked through the streets and managed to reach the hotel the Daimyo had booked in advance. Unfortunately they had not been given rooms and so Anko had been forced to get a few rooms in a much cheaper hotel, a few blocks away.

"Alright, since we're here I'm gonna allow us to take a load off," Anko turned to the three Chunin. "I want two people staying outside the Daimyo's room at all times." Anko grinned as she looked at Kotetsu and Izumo, who felt a shiver crawl down their spines, "And since you two are so good at guarding, I've decided that you're getting first watch."

"Wha-"

The two chunin barely had time to speak before Anko had grabbed Naruto's arms and began dragging him out of the hotel lobby, "Come along brat. We're getting some dango."

Izumo looked over at his partner, "Did she just dump us with guard duty?"

"Looks like it," Kotetsu said with an imperceptible nod.

"Man this sucks!"

Anko grinned as she looked at Naruto around a mouthful of dango, "Nothing better than dango and red bean soup, eh brat?"

Naruto took a sip of his sake, sighing contentedly before he set it down and looked at Anko, "Well I won't deny that I rather enjoy a good platter of dango every once in a while. But I must confess to liking ramen much more."

"You just don't know how to enjoy the finer things in life," Anko shoved another stick of dango in her mouth. "There is nothing better than dango."

"Obviously you have yet to realize that ramen is a far better dish than dango. After all, what can beat a food that has been gifted to us by the gods? Nothing! That's what! And once you taste the delectable noodles and smelled the heavenly aroma from the broth, you will realize that dango cannot compare to ramen."

Anko narrowed her eyes at Naruto as their age old battle seemed to come to the fore, "It seems you're still not budging on this. I thought I had taught you better, but it seems like you need more lessons in order to understand that your noodly dish is nothing but a-"

The purplette was cut off from speaking when a dark skinned boy a few years older than Naruto crashed into their table, knocking it over and spilling Anko's dango all over the floor. The boy groaned as he got up and Naruto saw that he had spiky white-blond hair and red eyes. He was wearing gray pants and a gray hoody with a Kumo flak jacket over it as well as a Kumo headband on his forehead. The blond also took the time to notice that he had a long katana strapped to his back.

A few seconds later a young dark skinned girl the same age as the dark skinned boy came stomping out of a restaurant. She had long red hair and amber eyes. She had a bandana style head band, a gray short sleeved long dress, a Kumo flak jacket and a katana on her back.

The dark skinned boy rubbed his bruised cheek as he looked at his female companion, "What was that for Karui, I didn't do anything."

The now named Karui angrily shook her fist as she glared at him, "Didn't do anything! You keep on running that over reactive brain of yours! If I have to hear you overanalyze something stupid like why grain sake tastes different then rice sake one more time I'm gonna make sure you can't sit straight for a week!"

Throughout this little exchange between the two Kumo ninja, Anko had been deathly still as she stared at her knocked over dango. She soon began to shake, something that the two dark skinned ninja were unfortunate enough not to notice. In Konoha there were a few things about Anko that one learned to never do. The first was to never call her any derogatory names unless you were on her good side, this was something most of Konoha's civilian populace found out early on when a woman had called her a snake whore for a traitor and was seen in the hospital later that day with snake bites all over her body and her nipples looking like they had been bitten off. The second was don't ever try to get in her pants, despite rumors Anko was very selective when it came to who she slept with. The last man who had tried and couldn't take a hint had his balls bitten by a venomous snake and could no longer even get it up, much less reproduce.

The last and most important rule about Anko was never, ever, mess with her Dango.

"But all I said was- GAH!" The dark skinned boy suddenly found himself being constricted by several snakes that had wrapped around his torso and began constricting him. The snakes lifted him into the air and brought him face to face with a very pissed, Anko.

"I hope you're ready to feel a lot of pain brat," Anko gave the boy a sweet grin that spoke of unspeakable horrors and made the dark skinned boy shiver in fright. "Because these snakes of mine are going give you the worst case of blue balls you'll ever see for what you did to my precious dango."

Karui seeing her teammate in danger put a hilt on her sword only for Naruto to step in front of her and shake his head, "What the hell do you think you're doing blondie! Get out of the way or I'll-"

"I suggest you stop talking while you're ahead," Naruto interrupted as he sent a small dose of killing intent Karui's way to shut her up. "If you even try something I can guarantee Anko will just make you suffer with him." He gave the dark skinned girl a grin, "Fortunately for you I know how to handle situations like this, so just stay out of the way and I'll get your friend out of the shit he piled on himself."

Naruto walked over to Anko who was torturing the poor boy by constricting her snake around him. He sighed, knowing this was going to be troublesome but also knowing that it was the only way to get her to stop from killing the Kumo ninja. He channeled chakra into his gauntlet, activating his claws as he slashed the snakes and forced them to dispel. Before the snake summoning Jonin could react Naruto was in front of her, hands on her face as he forced her to look at him, "Anko-nee-chan, what have I told you about attacking others for no reason." He gave her a chiding look that one would expect a parent to give to a child.

Anko did not appreciate the look at all, "No reason! NO REASON! That son of a bitch spilt my dango! How can you even think such blasphemous thoughts! My dango is ruined because of him. My poor poor dango…"

Oh geez, what the hell? Naruto sighed as the woman actually had tears gathering in the corner of her eyes. It was often depressing to see just how much she loved the sweet dish. Trying to resist muttering a quick troublesome he gave Anko a hug and gently patted her back. "There, there Anko, it will be alright. I'll give you some money to buy some more dango."

"But… but…"

"I'll have a kage bunshin give your dango a proper funeral too," Naruto interrupted, already knowing what she wanted to do from previous experience. The last time this had happened she had a funeral service for her dango and had forced Naruto to attend, her eulogy speech had been nearly an hour long and the blond Hanyou had been hard pressed not to fall asleep.

Naruto pulled back and gave his Jonin leader some money, "Go buy some more Dango while I talk to these nice Kumo ninja."

Anko growled at the mention of the Kumo ninja but did as told. She grabbed the money and went back into the dango stand, but not before giving the boy who had been sucker punched into their table another growl.

"I swear she's such a baby when it comes to her dango," Naruto sighed as he created a Kage Bunshin to throw away the dango before Anko got back, then he walked up to the dark skinned Kumo shinobi. "I apologize for my friend's behavior, um…"

"Omoi," The boy answered as he popped a sucker in his mouth. "I appreciate the rescue um…"

"Naruto. Uzumaki Naruto."

"Naruto," Omoi greeted with a nod of his head.

"What the hell was that about?" Karui decided to but in.

Naruto turned to her and gave a sheepish smile, "My Jonin leader is a bit…eccentric and often times violent when people mess with her favorite food… among other things." The blond looked at the two of them before he remembered a piece of information about the mission, "Are you guys the bodyguards for the Daimyo of Ta No Kuni?"

"How did you know that?" Omoi asked with a slight narrowing of his eyes. "Are you here to try and gather information on our mission to make assassination attempt on the Daimyo? Maybe you want to make Kumo look bad so Konoha gets more business. Or perhaps you want to try and find out more about Kumo by befriending us and asking about the mission and then you'll try to steal our secrets. Or maybe…"

Naruto blinked as the man came up with more and more intricate plans on why he would ask about their bodyguard detail, which also began to sound more and more ludicrous as time wore on. Naruto looked back at Karui and hiked a thumb at Omoi, "Does he always overthink like this?"

Karui sighed in a depressed manner, "Yes, always." She blinked before narrowing his eyes at the blond, "Though I do have to wonder why you were asking about something like our mission. You can't honestly think we would tell someone about that when they're not even from our village."

Naruto rolled his eyes, "Because I'm one of the escorts for the Daimyo of Kiba No Kuni. And that means we're going to be partners on this mission."

Karui blinked and was about to say something when another voice spoke up, "Karui, Omoi, what are you two doing with this Konoha ninja?"

The three turned to see another girl about a year or two older than Naruto. She had light blond hair that stopped roughly around the shoulders and like him had blue eyes, though hers were icy compared to his warmer colored ones. She was wearing a low cut short skirt outfit with mesh armor underneath, and a short sword strapped horizontally across her lower back and what looked like a modified Kumo flak jacket that wrapped around her lower torso. Not that Naruto couldn't see why, the woman chest was huge!

Holy shit! I think her chest is as large as Baa-chan's! He thought, doubting that a flak jacket actually existed in her size.

With much effort he kept his eyes on hers, "Your friends got into a bit of trouble with my Jonin leader when Omoi here, knocked our table over and spilled her Dango on the floor. He was actually lucky that situations like this are fairly common and I was able to get him out of having his balls being eaten by her snakes." Omoi paled a bit at the thought, though Naruto was too busy focusing on the blond before him to notice.

The woman looked over at Omoi with a cool expression and upon seeing him nod she turned back to Naruto, "I suppose some thanks are warranted Mr.…"

"Naruto. Uzumaki Naruto!" The blond grinned as he held out a hand, "Please to meet you miss…"

The woman looked at it for a while before nodding and taking it, "Samui."

"Samui," Naruto grinned as he looked at the woman.

"I take it since you are from Konoha that you are with the group who has been partnered with us for this mission?" It sounded more like a statement with her, but Naruto decided to answer it anyways.

"Yep! I'm with two other Chunin and my Jonin leader. Speaking of partners, you may want your friend Omoi to leave before Anko comes back out from getting her dango."

Samui raised a delicate eyebrow but shrugged any curiosity she may have felt off and turned to Omoi, "That is fine, I was actually coming here to get these two. Omoi, Karui, Kirabi-sensei wanted you two back for your shift."

"Hai Samui-taicho!" The pair said before hustling off.

"Samui-taicho?" Naruto looked amused by the title.

Samui looked at him cooly and Naruto had to admit to being impressed by her somewhat blank stare. The woman was as cool as a cucumber, "I am the one who is in charge when Kirabi-sensei is not around." She replied, deciding that there was no harm in informing him of something trivial like that, it's not like it was something that he could use against them and he would find out soon enough.

"That's cool. I wish I could get a kick ass title like that. Something like Uzumaki-sama, or Naruto-sempai," The blond shinobi sighed when his words did not get a rise out of the woman.

"I see… well it was nice meeting you Uzumaki-san, I will most likely see you again tomorrow when the negotiations are likely to begin," Feeling there was nothing left to say Samui turned around and followed the two dark skinned chunin.

The next morning Naruto and the rest of the team he was on made their way to the meeting room that had been given to the Daimyo's so they could have their meeting. As they made their way there, he caught sight of the group from Kumo whom he had seen yesterday. Only this time their fourth member, and likely their Jonin leader was there.

The man was large and muscular dark skinned man with whitish blond hair. On his shoulder was a tattoo with the kanji for Tatsu, and on his right cheek was a tattoo of bull horns. He wore oval shaped sunglasses and a white head band. He had a modified Kumo flak jacket that only had one strap going over his right shoulder, a red rope tied around his waist, white hand bands and a white scarf around his neck. The thing that caught Naruto's attention the most were the seven swords strapped to his back.

As the Konoha ninja walked up the Kumo ninja seemed to notice and turned to look at them. However, they did not give any greetings until the Kiba No Kuni Daimyo stepped into the meeting room where the Ta No Kuni Daimyo was already waiting.

"I take it your our partners in this mission, it will be nice workin with you people, I hope it can be work together without any dissin," The large dark skinned man said as he stepped forward.

Anko blinked at the man's strange way of talking but tried her best to shrug it off, "… right. Well, I guess since we're going to be working together we should do some introductions."

"Right you are little lady, and since an intro is a necessity, I'll we'll go first so you'll know who is with me," The man grinned at them all as he pointed to himself. "I am the one who is known to float like a butterfly and sting like a bee, I go by many names but you can call me Kirabi."

Samui sighed as she stepped forward, "I am Samui, and the two behind me are Omoi and Karui."

"Oh yessss," Anko purred, sounding similar to a snake as she looked at Omoi who gulped. "I remember you very well."

Before the situation could go anywhere Naruto stepped forward, "I'm Uzumaki Naruto!" He grinned at group. "Though, your students already know me. Anyways, the crazy lady who looks like she's about to eat your student Omoi alive is Anko, and the other two are Kotetsu and Izumo."

Killer Bee looked at Naruto before smiling, "Uzumaki Naruto huh? You know I saw your battles in the Chunin exams, you were killer, dynomite! I must say your battles were really out of sight!"

"You were at the Chunin Exams?" Naruto asked as he got a nod from the man, "Wait, Kirabi? Do you mean YOU'RE Killer Bee!"

"That's right I am Eight-O, Mr. Nine," Killer Bee said while the other six people there looked confused. "So did a certain kitty cat tell you that?"

Naruto was easily able to figure out who he was referring to and grinned, "She did mention you several times, saying how you were the Raikage's brother and had some killer rhymes." That was a lie, Yugito hated his rhymes but she mentioned that it was a health hazard to make fun of them, at least to his face.

The statement caused several different reactions from the other ninja. With the Konoha ninja it was slight fear at hearing that they were with the Raikage's brother, who after the battle in Konoha was over, became known as a Jinchuuriki with perfect control over his Bijuu. For the Kumo ninja they face faulted at hearing someone else who had just rhymed like their sensei.

Killer Bee on the other hand was looking at Naruto with a large grin as he held out his fist. Realizing what the larger man wanted Naruto held out his own and bumped it with Killer Bee's, "You know our little kitty cat can't stop talkin' about you Mr. nine, she seems to be quite taken in wit' chu. Really thoughts of you seem to make her shine."

Naruto's eyes softened a bit at hearing that, "How is Yugi-chan doing by the way?"

Behind Killer Bee the three Kumo Chunin listened in with intrigued expressions, "Does this guy know Yugito-san?" asked Karui as she leaned into the other two.

"It is possible," Omoi pulled the sucker out of his mouth. "I mean she did go to Konoha for the Chunin exams. And Kirabi-sensei says this guy participated in them. Though from the way he's talking it sounds like that Uzumaki kid and Yugito-san are close."

"They are," Karui and Omoi turned to see Samui looking at Naruto with slightly narrowed eyes, as if trying to analyze the blond. "Yugito-san told me about how she met a real cutie as she called him. Though she refused to say anything else." The way they were talking she was positive that this 'Naruto' was the one Yugito would always get that dreamy look on her face when she spoke of him. This would bear further investigating.

"And so this is him?" Karui looked at the blond boy in interest.

Samui shrugged, "I would assume so."

"Man that's so cool. I can't believe Yugi-chan got promoted to Jonin right off the bat," Naruto looked disgruntled as Bee gave him that piece of information. "I wish I got promoted to Jonin."

Bee just laughed, "Take your time Mr. nine, there's no need to rush things or you may be dead before your time."

"I guess," Naruto tilted his head before turning back to Anko. "So how are we going to do this?" It took several moments for Anko to realize Naruto was talking to her, having been too busy staring at the pair of Jinchuuriki who seemed to just click, she figured it must be a Jinchuuriki thing.

When she did however, she stepped forward, "I figure that it would be a good idea for us to split up in groups of two, with a Konoha ninja and a Kumo ninja on each. That way we won't have any form of mistrust on this mission, since we'll have a member of each village to watch the other."

"I have to agree that is right, so we'll do it that way and this will help make us tight," Bee seemed to agree, in his weird, rapping way. "We'll have to split up and walk around, that way we'll cover more ground. I think it's time we get ready and pick our partners," Killer Bee looked at Anko. "Since your in charge of these Konoha fools, I'll go wit' chu, I hope that sounds cool?"

"Uhh… that's fine I suppose," Anko responded, though she was a tad freaked out by his rapping, she could only thank the high heavens he was not in green spandex.

"In that case I'll go with Samui," Naruto walked up the large breasted blond and smiled at her, "If that's alright with you?"

Samui nodded, "That is fine."

Kotetsu and Izumo ended up working alongside Karui and Omoi respectively. After that the two jonin gave the chunin their orders on where their patrols would lead them while they stayed to guard the entrance.

Naruto and Samui had ended up patrolling the left side of the meeting hall, keeping an eye out for anything suspicious. Honestly, Naruto did not know why the Daimyos even bothered hiring ninja for something that was so mundane. It's not like anyone was going to try to steal something of that belonged to them or hold them hostage anyways, their countries weren't all that important in the grand scheme of things. Though he knew he was probably just complaining because he was bored.

He looked over at his partner for the moment. He still did not know much about her, not that she was very talkative. The woman was about as cold as ice. He had tried making casual conversation with her but she had rebuffed all of his attempts with statements like 'talking about personal matters while on a mission is highly inappropriate' or some other crap like that. Naruto sighed as he focused more of his attention to the task at hand. No matter how boring it was he still had a job to do.

Little did Naruto know that Samui, despite her continuous rebuffs of any and all forms of communication that did not have to do with their mission, had taken to glancing at the blond out of the corner of her eyes.

I wonder if this really is the guy who Yugito-san seemed to be talking about? She looked him up and down as she tried to get a read on him. While she was not as good as some at reading people based off of things like movement and facial expressions as Yugito was, she had been taught how to do it. As a kunoichi that kind of thing was important for the infiltration and assassination missions they were sometimes assigned.

However, getting any kind of read on Naruto was a task in and of itself, at least now that they were actually working. Despite his attempts at conversation with her, he kept his face for the most part blank, with only the occasional boredom flickering through his eyes. Add on to that was his state of dress. Samui could not see anything other than the large black cloak he wore over his clothes and the steel toed boots. Because he was so thoroughly covered she could not even determine what kind of person he was from his walk.

Damn it, this is so boring, Naruto grumbled to himself. 'Hey Kyuu-chan, are you awake?'

He heard a yawn in his mind, signifying that Kyuubi had probably been asleep, 'What is it Naruto-kun? Something wrong?'

'Err… no. I was just bored. Sorry if I woke you.'

Kyuubi stifled a small laugh that threatened to escape her, 'It's perfectly alright; you know I'm always willing to make time for you. Its not like I have anything else to do in this seal,' She paused for a moment as she took stock of where Naruto was and what he was doing. 'It doesn't look like you need me for anything. Is there something you want to discuss?'

'Well, no. I was just-'

'Bored?' Kyuubi finished with a soft laugh. Naruto had to fight down an embarrassed blush at being called out on that. It seemed Kyuubi was getting to know him fairly well within the past four or so months they had started talkig. It was a definite improvement to how they had pretty much hated each other at first. 'You don't always need to be doing something Naruto-kun. You really do need to learn how to take some time off and just relax.' Even Kyuubi knew how to relax, not like there was anything else to do while she was sealed.

'Hey! I know how to relax!' Naruto cried out indignantly.

'Oh?' Naruto could almost picture the vixen in his mind raising a delicate eyebrow while giving him a small grin. 'When was the last time you just let yourself rest even when you didn't need to? Or the last time you went to the hot springs just because you wanted to?'

Had it not looked odd for him to do so, Naruto would have puffed out in cheeks in indignation. However, since Kyuubi would not see it, and Samui would probably wonder what the hell he was doing or if he had lost his mind. He simply settled to giving what amounted to a mental glare, 'I went on that date with Ten-chan didn't I? that could be considered relaxing. And what about all that time I spent with Gaara and Mari-chan in Suna when I escorted them back, huh?'

Kyuubi frowned for a moment as Naruto mentioned Tenten and Temari. However she did not let any of what she was feeling enter her voice, 'Your date with Tenten was just that one time. And what about your time with the blond and her Jinchuuriki brother? That was a mission wasn't it. It was kind of your job to be with them, and it's not like you would have truly been allowed to train during your stay there. And even then, you still wound up doing some form of training with Temari.'

Naruto pouted a bit at that but could not deny the truth of her words. Of course if he did not have to worry about a group of S ranked criminals coming after him he would probably take some time off to relax, 'Whatever, relaxing is for pussies anyways. I'll relax when I'm dead.'

As her fellow blond was holding a riveting conversation with his inner demon, Samui watched as various emotions played over his face; those emotions ranging from amusement and indignation among a few others. Shaking her head the blond woman tried to clear all thoughts of curiosity from her mind as she started paying more attention to her mission, I can ask him some questions later.

A little ways away from the building, four figures stood and watched the patrolling ninja.

"So should we attack them?" asked one of the ninja, is voice raspy due to the breathing apparatus attached to his mouth.

"No… not yet, we'll wait until they drop their guard before attacking," Said the leader of their team.

"I say we just attack now," Another one of the people said. "They don't look so tough."

"We're out numbered 2 to 1, and that dark skinned man is Kumo's famed Guardian. Facing him head on is tantamount to suicide!" The leader scolded, "No, we wait until they drop their guard, then we separate whoever is guarding the Daimyos at the time from the others."

Two days came and went and the Daimyos still seemed to be having problems with whatever they were trying to hash out. Since nothing had happened to jeopardize their lives so far, and the only mildly interesting thing to happen was a pick pocket who was stupid enough to try and steal from the Kiba No Kuni Daimyo. Anko and Kirabi had decided that protection detail would be done in shifts, that way everyone could spend some time exploring the city.

Naruto grinned to himself as he walked around the city. The place was fairly large and there was a lot to explore. The blond had found all sorts of shops that sold blades of the same if not better quality then the Higarashi Weapons store. He had even indulged on a small short sword that was made of a powerful chakra conductive metal, a rarity that was only found in Tatsu No Kuni.

The blade was actually two sided unlike the standard kodachi. The hand guard was a dark blue and flared out in what looked like an odd pair of eagle wings. In the center of the guard was an eagle eye, really it was a golden orb with black dot in the center making it look like a pupil. The hilt was wrapped around in blue leather, and the pommel of the blade held an eagle claw with a clear blue gem. Naruto had learned that in the hands of a master Samurai the blade could produce powerful chakra based attacks that were on par with some A-rank jutsu.

Other than that he had just walked around, looking through the shops. He had found a small something for some of the girls he knew, figuring they would like a nice gift.

Halfway through the day Naruto had found a small café and gotten himself a cup of tea. As he was drinking his tea three people sat down at his table. Looking up the blond found himself staring at the three Kumo chunin who he was partnered with for the mission, "Can I help you?"

Samui opened her mouth to speak, however she was cut off by Karui who spoke in her usual blunt fashion, "How the hell do you know Yugito-san?"

While Omoi slapped himself and Samui pinched the bridge of her nose, Naruto blinked a few times, "Is it not obvious?" Karui seeming to take that as an insult turned red in the face. Not that Naruto noticed since he continued speaking, "I met her during the Chunin exams. Her friend fought against a kid named Hyuuga Neji during the prelims and was about to be killed. Thankfully, I managed to rescue her and I guess I just peaked her interest."

"So she came onto you?" Samui sounded intrigued.

Naruto blushed a bit, "Well, I don't think she necessarily came onto me or anything. I had been told that she had visited me in the hospital after my battle with Gaara, a ninja from Suna, and I decided to visit her and see why she had gone to visit me." He shrugged a bit, "We just sort of hit it off after that."

"You must be strong if Yugito has taken an interest in you," Samui commented lightly, trying to judge just how strong this boy was.

"Well I'm alright I suppose," Naruto went for a modest answer, not that he actually had any modesty. He just didn't want to seem arrogant in front of foreign ninja. "I was good enough to get promoted to chunin, so that's saying something at least."

Karui snorted, "I don't see why Yugito-san is interested in this kid. I mean he doesn't look like much. In fact, he looks kind of weak."

"Come again?" Naruto asked, standing up and glaring at the girl. "Perhaps you'd like to get some first hand, up close and personal experience to see how strong I am. I can guarantee that I can kick your ass." Keep himself modest be damned! He was going to shove his foot up this girl's ass if she kept up with that mouth of hers!

"What was that?" Karui growled, standing up and forcing Omoi to grab a hold of her, "You wanna go punk!"

Rather than look angry at this Naruto looked amused, "You want fight me? Seriously?" The blond Konoha shinobi snorted, "Woman, I would kick your ass so badly your grandchildren will feel it."

Karui growled at the blond, "That's it! It's on now! I'm gonna beat you to a pulp!" The hot headed girl began stomping off. However when she noticed no one was following her she turned back and scowled at them, "Get moving!"

Naruto looked at Omoi and then Samui as if to say 'Is she fucking serious?'.

"We might as well just follow her," Omoi said after a while. "It's almost impossible to get her to do anything when she's like this."

Naruto ran a hand through his hair, "Fine, I was getting bored with all this god damn monotony anyways."

They came upon a large clearing a few miles outside of the city. Naruto grinned a bit at the thought of getting some excitement in. he looked over at his opponent who was glaring at him, "So how are we gonna do this? Are there any rules to this little spar of ours?"

"There will be no crippling or killing blows. This will be a tai and kenjutsu match only," Samui said, sighing at the situation they were now in. "I suppose I'll be the judge of this match," She looked at Naruto and Karui, one whom was in a fighting stance and the other who had her sword out. "Hajime!"

Almost as soon as the battle started Naruto appeared right in front of Karui, aiming a jab at her head. Said Kumo kunoichi eyes widened as she reacted on instinct and slashed at the hand. However, Naruto proved to have quick reflexes as he brought his hand back, letting the sword pass through nothing but air.

Not having expected to hit nothing, Karui's sword over swung where her target had been. This allowed Naruto to plant a kick in her torso. Karui's eyes widened as she let out a breathy 'oof!' and skidded back several feet. She rubbed her ribs, which felt like they had cracked from the attack. Looking up she saw her blond opponent looking at her with disinterested eyes.

That seemed to rile her up again and despite the creaking in her ribs she rushed back in. Naruto dodged an overhead swing from Karui's blade, and then jumped back as she slashed at him. During the redhead's assault Naruto made sure to judge her swings, timing them to see how long his window for a counterattack was. When he felt he had gotten the timing down, he waited for the next swing before striking.

Karui made a downward slash that Naruto sidestepped, right before he brought a foot down on her blade, sending it into the ground. Naruto kept a foot on the blade, making sure Karui could not pull it out. Almost at the same time his two fists flew out from his cloak, hitting the red haired girl in the solar plexus and the stomach.

Karui folded over like a cheap lawn chair, coughing up spit and a bit of blood as she held onto her stomach and tried to regain her lost breath. After several seconds the red head felt ready to stand but could not when she found a blade pointed at her throat.

"I believe this battle is mine," Naruto stated, looking over at Samui.

Said woman nodded and let Naruto claim victory.

Naruto pulled his blade away from Karui and allowed her to stand.

"Damn it, I can't believe I lost so easily," Karui rubbed the two spots where Naruto hit her, knowing they were going to be bruised the next morning.

"That's what happens when you underestimate an opponent," Naruto gave an uncaring shrug, "Not so bad for someone who looks really weak right?"

Naruto sighed while Karui glared at him, "Anyways I'll catch you guys later. Chances are Anko and Bee are looking for us." Tossing a parting wave over his shoulder, the blond Konoha shinobi left the three Kumo Chunin.

"I guess he's a lot stronger than you thought," Omoi said as he popped a sucker in his mouth. "This is what happens when you run off at the mouth so much. Perhaps you should learn to think before you speak, it may help keep things like this from happening again."

"Shut up Omoi!" Karui yelled, wincing a bit as she felt the stinging in her stomach, "I'll admit he's stronger than I thought, but I only lost because I underestimated him. Next time I'll get him!"

Omoi just shrugged, not sure whether he believed she could win or not. He turned to their blond teammate and leader, "What do you think?"

Samui rubbed the back of her neck as she watched the spot where Naruto had left, "I think…Yugito was right. He is pretty cool, and cute. I wonder if he gives good massages."

Karui's eyes widened as she turned to watch her female teammate walk off, "She can't be serious can she?" The redhead turned to look at Omoi, "Can she?"

Omoi just shrugged as he patted her on the shoulder and left, making Karui follow him still shouting.

The rest of the mission went by easily enough, thought that was after Naruto had gotten scolded for picking a fight with their Joint team. Naruto had ended up guarding the Daimyo all of two times, and the rest of his time was spent exploring the city; or hanging out with his apparent new friend Samui. The blond female seemed to have taken a bit of a shine to him after he had defeated Karui with minimal effort.

In fact almost immediately after his 'spar', if you could call it that, with Karui, she had managed to find him and surprised him with an unexpected request.

Flashback…

Several minutes after kicking Karui's ass…

"Uzumaki-san."

Naruto turned around when he heard the voice and saw Samui walking towards him, "Can I help you with something Samui? You're not mad that I beat your teammate are you?"

Samui stopped in front of him and shook her head, "No, I'm not mad. Karui tends to overreact to things and is very quick to anger." She gave a small bow, "I would actually like to apologize on my teammate's behalf."

Naruto blinked a few times before grinning, "There's no need for you to apologize. Hell, there's no need for Karui to apologize. I was getting pretty bored anyways, and there's nothing like a fight to get the blood pumping."

Samui looked at him oddly for a second, "So you're not angry at Karui or anything?"

"No, why? Should I be?" Naruto shrugged, "I'm not one to care about things that happen in the past too much. Besides I'm pretty sure she's learned her lesson and if she hasn't." Naruto gave the blond a grin, "Well, I suppose I'll just have to kick her ass again."

"You're a very strange person Uzumaki-san," Samui commented. "Yugito-san was right about you."

Naruto scratched the back of his head and adopted a look of confusion, "Er… Yugi-chan's been talking about me? What has she told you?"

Yugi-chan? Samui filed his nickname for Yugito away as she answered his question. "Just a few things about yourself. She told me that you were very strong even though you've only started your shinobi career recently. And she told me you were very kind, friendly, sweet and very cute."

Ugh! What is it with the whole cute thing! I don't want to be cute! Naruto mentally ranted, why his fellow blond Jinchuuriki insisted on calling him cute rather than giving him a more appropriate and manly description was beyond him. His right eye gaining a small twitch as he heard Kyuubi laughing in his mind, "So does she talk about me often?"

"She does on occasion," Samui said, "I get the feeling she misses you."

Naruto's eyes softened a bit at that as he felt a small warmth that spread throughout his being, "I miss her too." He paused when he noticed Samui narrow her eyes very slightly, and got the feeling that he might want to switch subjects, "So is there anything else that you wanted to talk about Samui?"

"No, well yes," Samui paused and for a second looked unsure about herself before taking a deep breath and plunging in. "I was just wondering if you wanted to hang out with me during some of our free time on this mission?"

Well that was, unexpected, Naruto looked at her for a few seconds as his mind registered what the young woman had said. When he did he gave the girl a mega -watt smile, "Sure thing. It would be nice to spend some time with a beautiful girl like you."

When Naruto said that Samui's eyes widened just a tad, before a blush spread across her face. It wasn't much, just a small line of pink that tinted her cheeks, but it was enough that Naruto, who had been getting more experienced when it came to dealing with women noticed.

"Thank you Uzumaki-san-"

Naruto held up a hand to interrupt her, "Please, enough with the formalities. I really hate honorifics like that. If you have to call me something, just call me Naruto."

Samui nodded and Naruto saw a small, almost imperceptible smile on her face, "Ok Naruto…kun. When we get some free time come over to the hotel I'm staying at." She reached into a pocket on the inside of her vest and pulled out a small piece of paper.

Naruto watched Samui leave with a small sway of her hips before turning his eyes on the ripped sheet of paper she had given him. Opening it up he saw that it contained the name and address of the hotel she and the other Kumo ninja were staying at. He chuckled a bit before pocketing the paper and heading back to his room with a large grin on his face.

Flashback end…

It was two days after that when he and Samui went on their "date". Samui had taken him to see a movie, one of the first Princess Gale movies done by the actress Fujikaze Yuki. The woman's choice of movie had actually surprised Naruto who had not expected a movie that was heavily based in fantasy and romance to be something a woman like Samui would like. Not that he was going to complain.

However, while Samui asking him on a date was surprising but not completely unexpected, or more like, he had somewhat come to expect things like this to happen given the amount of times he had been asked on a date by other girls. What happened the day after his spar with Karui was.

Flashback…

Naruto blinked a few times as the memories of the Kage Bunshin he had sent on patrol came back to him, he was not surprised when they reported nothing. He looked over at his partner for the day, Karui, who was currently looking off into space, a look that was a sharp contrast to her hot headed self yesterday. He looked away from the red head and resisted a sigh.

After he had come back yesterday Anko had given him a half assed verbal lashing about proper conduct when working a joint mission. Not that she was really into scolding him. Naruto had gotten the impression that she was more upset at the fact that he had beaten one of the people they were working with and just did not invite her to see it.

"Hey…uh, Naruto?"

Did she just call me by my name? Naruto wondered as he looked over at Karui who was currently turning her head away from his, "Yes Karui?"

"I… I…" Karui bit her lip before sighing in exasperation, "Look, I'm sorry for being rude the other day ok? I didn't mean to upset you or anything."

Naruto tilted his head to the side as he looked at the red head. He was actually surprised she would apologize to him. He may not have known her for more than a few days or so, but he got the impression that she never really apologized for things like this. Still it would not do to say nothing, "Meh, it's alright. I actually have to thank you." When he noticed Karui giving him an incredulous look he grinned, "This job was getting pretty boring, nothing exciting has happened yet. So I have to thank you for breaking my boredom."

Karui looked at him for a second longer before giving a tentative smile, "Your welcome I guess…" There were a few more minutes of silence after that until the red head decided to speak up again, "Hey Naruto." When said blond turned his attention back to her she flushed just a bit, she was incredibly thankful that it would be hard to see on her dark skin. "I was just wondering if you wanted to spar with me again some time."

Naruto's mouth opened for a second, surprised by the request. I somehow get the feeling this is her equivalent of a date. He resisted the heavy urge to sigh, I really shouldn't be so surprised anymore…

"I would like that. Guard duty is pretty boring and all so having a sparring partner during our little bit of free time would be nice."

Karui grinned after that and began to actually talk to him.

Flashback end…

He had sparred with Karui once after that, though it was much later at night so they would not get caught. It seemed she had been scolded by her sensei as well. He had also learned a bit more about her. It turned out that she and Omoi were actually related, which Naruto felt he should have realized from the way they were constantly bickering.

He was shaken from his thoughts as a large explosion took place on the opposite side of the building. He turned to Samui, "Go find either Bee or Anko and get them back here!"

"What about you?" asked Samui, not used to being ordered around like Naruto was doing, "And why can't you just send a clone?"

"I need to make sure the Daimyos are alright. And if I sent a clone it might get dispelled, they only last one hit after all."

"I… fine," Samui sighed, she knew he was a better fighter then her anyways. "Just be careful, ok?"

Naruto gave her a grin, "Hey, it's me."

"That's what I'm afraid of," Samui shook her head before running off.

"Kasumi Juusha No Jutsu (Mist Servant Technique)!"

Anko frowned as she watched what looked to be several hundred clones of a person climb out of the ground as if made of some kind of muddy substance. The figure was wearing a light tan straight jacket like jumpsuit, a breathing apparatus and had a Amegakure headband.

"What the hell is going on?" Anko wondered out loud as she looked around herself, "Who the hell are you!"

All the figures gave an eerie chuckle, "I'm the person who's going to be killing you today."

Anko shrugged the off the ridiculously small amount of killing intent and gave the clones a bloodthirsty grin, "You think you can kill me? Well let's hope for your sake that you can, otherwise I'm going to take a lot of enjoyment listening to you squeal."

"Kasumi Juusha No Jutsu (Mist Servant Technique)!"

At the same time that jutsu was called with Kirabi and his two students Karui and Omoi. They watched as the clones came up from the ground, with the two Chunin looking at the Hachibi Jinchuuriki.

"This is a most interesting technique yo, looks like these are all copies of the original fool," Kirabi pulled two swords off his back, prompting the two to do the same. "My raps are hip my rhymes are sweet, I hope you dudes know what you're getting into cuz the Killer Bee can't be beat!"

Omoi, Karui and all of the clones sweatdropped.

Kotetsu growled in frustration as he cut through another one of those clones, only for it to reform as if nothing at happened, "What the hell are these things? Why! Won't! They! Die!" He hacked a clone each word in emphasis, biting back a scream of frustration when the clones all reformed.

"Hey! Chill man!" Izumo tried to calm his comrade down as he sliced off the arm of a clone, frowning when the wound became covered in that murky substance and healed up, "And stop swinging that thing around so recklessly! You might end up taking my head off rather than your enemies!"

"Sorry about that man, but these things are pissing me off! Nothing seems to work." To emphasis his point all of the clones he had just hacked to pieces reformed and charged back at him.

"Konoha-san!"

The two gate guards took a moment to look towards the center of the voice to see Samui running into the midst of the clones, hacking them apart with her blade. "Have you two seen Kirabi-sensei or Anko-san?" Samui asked as she got near them.

Kotetsu and Izumo looked at each other before getting back to work, "No we haven't."

Samui narrowed her eyes, the only sign of her frustration that she allowed to show, "I see… and if things are like this for you then they are likely the same for the others…" She readied her blade, "So it seems we will need to get through these things and find the real one before linking back up with our teammates."

"That seemed to be the gist of it," Kotetsu said.

"Right," Samui sighed as she and the two Konoha Chunin readied themselves for a fight.

Yay! Another installment, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter. I'll see you when I see you. Which will probably be never since we're on fanfiction.