Naruto's face took on a deep and serious look as he prepared to ask his question, "Is... Ichiraku still in business? I mean I don't know what I would do if it's gone!" Naruto's voice was tinted with extreme worry. The faces of the women in the room took on a flat and glassy look to them as their skin turned paled. Their heads turning as one till they were facing Naruto.
Sakura let out the first sigh. "I should have expected that from you, Naruto-kun. I didn't, but I should have." The other women just rolled their eyes as they smiled. This proved that no matter what had happened, Naruto was still himself. Which to them was a good thing. "Ichiraku is still in business. It even has a second location across town managed by Ayame. Her father takes care of the original. They have both hired towns people to work as assistants. In fact, our little family have supplied the money for Teuchi to expand."
Naruto release his breath as he seemed to take a more relaxed look. "Well, at least one thing is normal." Then Naruto focused on the girls. "That brings me to the biggest change. Why are you all living here with me? The last thing that I can remember is being on my way back into the village after training with Ero-sannin for three years."
"That was about five years ago. A lot has happened since then. Including the incident that let us all here." Ino said taking the lead. "About four years ago, a ninja came to the Village Hidden in the Leaf. He was a strange character who seemed to blend into the background. He was working for a lord of a distant land, who desired a collection of beautiful young female ninjas to be his own personal bodyguards. What we didn't know was that these female ninjas were also to be used for other purposes. Using Jutsu that we had no record of, he slipped in and kidnapped all of us. It was like was part of the background. Not part of the shadows, but like a chameleon. Using forbidden seals, he kept us unconscious. His teammates carried us as he collected the four of us. The seals also started to drain our chakra, like a vampire." Ino said ominously.
"In fact, he had us on the verge of chakra exhaustion. Just barely on the living side of death. Tsunade is still investigating the techniques that he was using. She doesn't want anyone using such a jutsu again." Sakura interrupted.
Ino gave Sakura an tired look. "I'm trying to tell a story here, Forehead Girl!" she said, her voice telling how she was annoyed. "Anyways, the evil ninja had captured us and taken us deep into the Forest of Death training grounds. A place we all have bad memories of. Laying on the ground, looking like we were dead. From what we heard, the ninja's teammates had kept the others away from us. However, you slipped through and fought with the ninja. It was an epic battle from the charred and torn environment. But you managed to knock him out cold." The girls smiled at this part of the story.
"Then you discovered us, all losing energy as we lay. Coming up with a new idea, you decided to transfer your chakra into us. Using your chakra to help restore your own, using your spirit to keep ours rooted in our body. If it had just been one of us, you might have been okay. But with four, it drained you quite a bit. The chakra drain made you loose consciousness, but we were saved." Ino said. Her voice become softer and more awe-filled. "But as the transfer happen, all of our souls touched. Seeing each others lives, our memories, our souls. We saw the life that you lived and the purity of your soul, even under the shadow of the darkness that was Kyuubi, love does not describe how we feel."
Naruto could only saw, "Wow!"
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(Posted Sat, 06 May 2006 16:36)
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