And then, before the blur of her hands could be registered, several blades were shooting out, each flashing across the air in silent, but deadly, lines. All of them never wavered, and drove right into their targets, settling with the sharp metal settling deep within the forms. However, not a sound could have been heard, as, from throw to impact, they had struck with total accuracy.
It was then that she let out a deep breath and rolled her shoulders to get the tension out of them. Sure, she hadn't doubted that she could do it, but the focus could get to be heavy at times. Only the luck that she could keep her mind on the task at hand did make it easier to ignore the pressure at times like that.
When the young kunoichi did look at where her knives were buried deep within the torso centers of the training dummies, she smiled. Those jerks who kept on telling her that 'girls could not do direct combat' should have really seen that. Actually, she just almost wished that they could have taken the dummies' places. Of course, she wasn't looking to actually hurt anyone from the village like that, but it was so frustrating to not be taken seriously. Heck, the teachers at the Academy were already talking a lot about her skills, and there were guys who liked to smile and pat her on the head.
With a shake of her head, she sighed and went to take a step to retrieve her weapons... until a kunai came sailing out from nowhere and planted its own blade a few finger widths from the center of a dummy's chest.
Tracing a mental 'line' from the way the weapon had landed, the dark haired girl glared up at a tree. "Hey!" What the heck do you think you're doing?!"
"Ah heh. Sorry about that," murmured a male voice as a blond boy hung upside down into view from the lowest branch. "Didn't mean to get into your way."
"'My way'? You could have killed me!"
"Oh. Right. That wasn't what I meant to do," he admitted as he dropped down to stand on the ground.
"I'd hope so!"
"'Course, I kind of figured that you wouldn't just walk into it. You're just too good to do something that dumb."
That drew her up short. Whatever Tenten had been about to say was lost as she realized that she had a boy here who wouldn't ignore her abilities. If anything, he'd gone and actually complimented her. It was a bit odd to do so though, given that this kid had gone and interrupted her training exercise.
"I can't see how it is that you can't seem to miss. Most of the other kids have times when it hits a wall or something. But you seem to hit the target every time. Could you show me how you do it?"
For a moment, she was taken a back as she realized that this kid was asking /her/ for tips. Then she took a closer look at him and realized something important. "You're that kid from the other grade. The one that has the pretty good aim."
"You think so?" he asked, rubbing the back of his head. "I'd like to think so. I'm Naruto Uzumaki, by the way."
"Well, I am Tenten."
"Nice to meet you. Hopefully, this will be the start to a great friendship."
"Huh? You want to be friends?" she grunted.
"Why not?"
"Other than the fact that I'm not in your class? Or that we might have to compete against each other?"
Naruto gave a small shrug. "So? Who says that we can't be buddies and still try to do better than each other?"
"I suppose you're right?"
"Besides, the way that I figure it, we'll probably be working together when we get out there as real ninja, right?"
Several times she tried to speak, but only her mouth moved. Something about the younger boy kept her from being able to really retort, at least with a situation like this. About all that she could do was snicker and lightly shove him on the back of the head as she led him back to her throwing area.
"Oh, wow, look. You be the player," drawled an amused Toltiir.
"I am not a 'player'. There's no way that I'd be a...." the time displaced Naruto trailed off before blinking slowly. "What's a 'player'?"
"Nothing that you have to worry about yet, I suppose. But you do seem to have a way with girls."
"You mean that she's another fiancee?"
"Hardly. You merely made friends with this young lady. You will just be getting someone to hang out with."
The blond boy let himself relax just a bit. "That doesn't seem to be so bad."
Feline faces lent themselves to being inscrutable, so it wasn't that hard for the Elder God to keep his young companion from guessing wha t he was thinking. Of course, there was no guarantee that this wouldn't become anything more than merely a simple childhood friendship. After all, this gave him a companion whom he could hang around with that he'd not only chosen on his own, but would also not have something else involved. A little friendly rivalry and training companionship could do him good. But who was to say that one day it wouldn't wind up where the 'girl' and 'friend' parts couldn't get together?
His gaze was steady as Naruto ran for the edge of the rooftop. Speeding towards the sheer drop, he kept his focus as best he could. The sound of the soles of his shoes slapping against the roof tiles was all that could be heard, and that was all that was needed. With heavy breaths, he ran up until the eave... and then launched himself up into the air over the sheer drop.
At any other time, he might have reveled in the feeling of being so up in the air, or the thrill of being able to manage such a thing. This time though, he merely grunted as he landed on the next roof, and continued running. Once he got to the end of that roof, he jumped onto the nearest neighbor's house and kept on going. On and on he repeated that series of actions, not even looking to stop.
The figures in the hooded cloaks had a lot to do with it.
He didn't know what exactly they wanted from him, but it didn't seem to be all that nice. When he'd been walking away from his favorite ramen stand, they had come upon him. Of course, he'd tried to speak to them, but they hadn't even been nice enough to respond. In fact, he'd done all the talking, and wound up only getting them to pull kunai on him. Whatever he'd said to set them off didn't seem to be worth all the anger, but then they didn't even seem to be in a mood to even tell him why they were so ticked at him.
So, all that he had left was to get away from these nutjobs, but that was easier said than done. These seemed to be adults, and they probably had a lot more training than he did. His best bet was to get to where he could have an advantage, and he knew it. Unfortunately, he didn't know where that was, and even though he probably take on them one at a time, they clearly didn't want to give him a chance.
Yet, even as he tried to weave around their paths, he barreled along his own... and then let his eyes go wide and yelped as he realized that the next gap was too big for him to jump. Panic made him wave his arms and legs uselessly for a moment, but all that he really could do was to drop in an arc down towards the ground. Now, it didn't seem to be too high, but it would hurt, and he didn't need that now.
It was just his luck that there was something there to break his fall, not that he could do much about crashing right into, and through, the parked cart.
"My cabbages!" cried out the merchant as he stared slack jawed at his produce.
Naruto pulled himself free of the debris and stumbled his way back to a run. "Sorry about this!"
"That's not going to help! Hooligan! Vandal!"
"Sorry!"
"I will see you pay for... Eep," went the cabbage seller as several large needles pierced the wall next to him.
The cloaked forms didn't even pay him any mind as they landed on the ground themselves and raced off after their prey.
Watching with his own eyes wide, Naruto jabbed a finger towards the image. "They're trying to kill me!"
"Well, obviously. You didn't think that everyone would like you," Toltiir reminded him.
"But I'm supposed to be better than I used to be."
"And there's always going to be those that resent those who have more ability than they have."
"Ah. Right. I guess so," the blond boy admitted before frowning at his companion. "Where did you get that stuff?"
"A bit much?" murmured his 'company' as Toltiir stepped from side to side in his boots and ran a paw over the feather in his hat.
Folding his hands on his desk, the Third Hokage frowned at the group before him. "Where did they come from?"
"Unknown, sir. And it is entirely unlikely that we would be able to find out," the ferret masked ANBU shinobi replied.
"Well, why can't you determine their origins?" Homura Mitokado demanded. "It's shouldn't be that hard to manage."
"Forgive me, elder, but they were missing-nin. Mercenaries. Hired to do a job and nothing more."
"Which presents us with a problem that we must be able to defend against," Koharu Utatane murmured.
"No one's going to fight anyone quite yet," Sarutobi told them all.
"You would let them get away with such a transgression?"
"And who would we push against? Sunagakure and Amegakure are amongst those we have fought before. And we should not forget that Kumogakure has sent agents to kidnap children before, including his mother."
"True enough."
:All the better reason to have the boy put into a place that can better handle controlling him," Danzo finally commented from his own spot on the couch. "Putting him in with some of the ANBU might be for the best."
"I am reluctant to treat Naruto Uzumaki like some sort of prisoner," the Hokage shot back.
"But it will be best for all involved. We need to keep him where he can better be controlled."
"Yes, he needs protection, but not to be put away like some object. He is a boy, and needs to live his life."
"Then what would you recommend?" Koharu asked.
Stroking his beard, Hiruzen sighed. "He can not live alone anymore. That is clear. However, he still needs to live and enjoy his life just as the other villagers do. Our best choice would be to put him with someone who can not only help protect him, but will be like family to him."
Each of the others nodded in understanding, save for Danzo, who merely narrowed his eyes, while it came to be that Naruto would have to live with:
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(Posted Mon, 02 Apr 2012 06:04)
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