The Ceremony Of Sealing

The tall blonde man stood, tears glistening in his eyes as he prepared for the ceremony that would save his village and make him a hero. Picking up the crying baby boy, he rocked him, whispering how he would find someone who would love him more than life itself. A young woman with fiery red hair walked up behind him and wrapped her arms around him, resting her chin on his shoulder.
“Do you really think you should do this?” she asked, “I mean he will never know his dad and I will miss you very much.”
“I don’t know. Part of me wants to do this knowing it will kill me, but the other part wants to take you and the baby, leave this village and spend the rest of our lives in peace. I just want my beautiful wife and my baby to be happy, that’s all.”
“That can be arranged. Arashi you do know that someone else can finish the sealing; it doesn’t have to be you. I could perform it if you want.”
Arashi Uzumaki turned around to look at his sensei. “Sarutobi-sensei, I couldn’t ask you that. You have a family and they care about you. I don’t have anyone to miss me but Keoko.”
The Sandaime held up his hand to silence Arashi.
“Listen to you sensei. I am old and I'm not getting any younger. You on the other hand have a wonderful life ahead of you. My wife is dead and I’m lonely. Let me seal the Kyuubi and live your life to the fullest. Just do me a favor and tell my son when he comes back from the mission his team is on, that I died in the line of duty just like I said I would.”
Keoko Inuzuka whispered into Arashi’s ear to “thank Sarutobi-sama and let him save the village one last time.”
“Thank you so much sensei. You know how to do the ceremony.”
Arashi laid his baby down in the middle of the seal written in blood on the floor. Keoko started to cry as Sarutobi started the ceremony. Arashi held her as tears fell down his face when he heard his child begin to cry and scream in pain. Even Sarutobi had tears in his eyes when the three whisker like marks appeared on each on the small cheeks.
The sealing finished, Sarutobi fell forward, his face a dead white. Arashi rushed forward and caught the old man before he crushed the boy.
“Thank you sensei, for doing this for me.”
Sarutobi opened his eyes faintly. “All this for love huh?” his eyes closed and the third Hokage died. Arashi stood up and watched as Keoko picked up her crying baby.
“I guess we’ll have to tell them the Sandaime is dead.”
Arashi watched his wife wrap up his child in a fleece blanket before asking the question he had, before sarutobi stepped in, been going to ask right before he died after the ceremony.
“What’s his name going to be?”
Keoko looked thoughtful for a moment. “Naruto” she answered. ‘Naruto’ Arashi thought’ yeah I like that name.’ He walked over and plucked Naruto out of his wife’s arms before planting a kiss on her forehead. Kissing the little whiskers on Naruto’s cheeks, Arashi walked out of the tent, where the ceremony had taken place. Kakashi Hatake appeared in a puff of smoke next to Arashi’s elbow.
“What happened, we were fighting and then the fox disappeared. What happened to sarutobi-sama?”
Naruto began to cry when Kakashi had arrived. “Kakashi,” Keoko scolded. “We just barely got him to stop crying and then you scare him. Arashi you go tell them what happened and I will take Naruto back to the house.”
Pecking his wife on the cheek and handing Naruto over, Arashi disappeared with Kakashi in a puff of smoke. As they passed the battlefield, Arashi saw the destruction caused by the nine tailed fox. Guilt filled his heart as he remembered he had sealed the monster inside his baby boy. Arriving in front of the elder’s council, Arashi took a deep breath and began his tale.
Arashi finished suddenly when one of the elders stood up and exclaimed that they should kill the monster now while it was in a weak vessel.
“Oh no you don’t!” Arashi hollered. “I’m the fourth Hokage and I say that you will not kill my son. I could have chosen any of you children. Inoshi, I know that your wife just had a baby recently. Akira Haruno, I could’ve chosen your little Sakura, I could’ve chosen Sasuke Uchiha, but instead I chose my own flesh and blood. And now you are saying that I should tell someone to kill Naruto you are insane!!”
“But the beast must be destroyed”
“Not while I am Hokage and I say no!!!”
Arashi stormed off leaving a stunned council in his wake. He walked to the memorial stone where the names of his parents were carved in among the others. Along with his parents were the names of his best friends; Obito Uchiha, Rin, Sen Inuzuka, his sister Chihiro and others. There were already a lot of names and now there would be even more.

ch 2

Keoko walked to the Hokage estate with Naruto wrapped in a warm fleece blanket. Passing a shadowy alley, Keoko looked back, trying to shake the feeling that she was being followed. ‘Must a cat or something like that’ she thought just before a kunai flew out of and embedded itself in her arm.

Swearing loudly, Keoko jumped back pulling kunai out of her jacket. Throwing them in every direction possible with out having the Byakugan, Keoko did a substitution jutsu quickly before sprinting home, the kunai still lodged firmly in her arm. As she ran Keoko gauged the damage caused by the attack. If she hadn’t moved at the last second the kunai would have hit its target straight on; Naruto. The attacker had aimed for Naruto’s small chest.

Opening the front door, Keoko walked weakly into the living room. Placing the sleeping baby in the baby swing, Keoko lay down on the couch, trying to get rid of the pounding at her temples and a severe headache. The room spun and the fourth Hokage’s wife lost consciousness.

Arashi came home to a door wide open, screaming Naruto, and a white and bloody Keoko passed out on the couch. Upon closer inspection, Arashi found a kunai in her lower bicep. It took several tries before Arashi got the weapon out. After wrapping the wound tightly, Arashi picked up the red face, hollering baby and tried to calm him down. To no avail could the young Hokage quiet the boy. Keoko woke to a hollering Naruto and Arashi futilely trying to quiet him.

“Honey, you know, once babies know what they want they will do anything to get it. Naruto really wants to be held by someone who knows how to handle babies and that would be me. Plus I think he is hungry.”

Arashi gave Keoko a kiss on the lips before turning and beginning to leave the room. Keoko coughed slightly and he turned around quickly, and backed up a few steps. Keoko had a glare on her face that it would safer to jump off a cliff than to look straight into that glare.

“I am just going to make me some ramen, do you want some?”

“Men”

“Hey I am a guy and the best way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.”

Keoko snorted, and turned back to feeding Naruto who had stopped crying.

ch 3

Five years passed and the Uzumakis lived happily in the large house granted to the Hokage. Naruto was five and had just been told that okasan was going to have a baby. Naruto had been shocked at the thought of having another person in the family. He was worried, would the new kid reject him like all of the other children? They were nice enough when around his parents, but when they were alone, they were just plain rotten.

“otosan,” he asked Arashi one night after the usual nighttime story, “what if the new baby doesn’t like me? What if you like him better than me?” tears welled in his eyes as he looked down at the blanket with foxes romping happily on green grass.

“naruto, I could never love anyone more than you. You are special, and I know how bad the other kids treat you when Okasan and I aren’t around, but suffering is what makes you stronger. And I know how much you want to be hokage when you get older don’t you?”

naruto looked up when a thumb caught a tear that had escaped from a bright blue eye. Arashi pulled the small boy into his lap and hugged him close. Rocking him back and forth, arashi sang a song about a little fox softly into naruto’s ear. When the song was finished, he asked naruto if he liked the song, but the child was fast asleep.

The day came when keoko was due and naruto was so excited, he had been helping decorate the nursery for the new baby before it was time for him to leave for preschool.

Keoko walked him to the door of the school, kissed him lightly on the cheek and left for the hospital.

Naruto played “happily” all day, not knowing that he would soon be visiting the hospital. He didn’t really like hospitals, when he was little had been really sick quite a bit and now the stark white walls scared him. The doctors weren’t very nice and they always gave him dirty looks.

Arashi was sitting behind a desk gulping down a cup of sake to calm his nerves when a note came from the hospital, where Keoko was. Rushing out of the office, arashi decided that if Keoko wanted more children, they would have to adopt because the suspense was killing him. He didn’t feel that way when naruto was born because he had been so busy, fighting Orochimaru, becoming hokage, and fighting the Kyuubi. Arashi stopped as he passed the preschool, not knowing whether he should bring Naruto.

A long time ago arashi developed a jutsu that allowed a person with a bloodline limit to teach their special technique to someone else. Arashi had learned the Byakugan from his friend Hyuga Hiashi. Equipping it arashi looked into the building. Naruto was laying on his stomach infront of a window a few feet away from where arashi was. Two boys a Nara and an Akimichi walked over to naruto. A tense conversation followed with a lot of knuckle popping from the fat boy. Reluctantly naruto gave up his seat at the window and curled up on a bean bag.

Arashi decided it was for the best that naruto stayed at the preschool and continued on his way to the hospital. Naruto being the observant boy he was, saw arashi and snuck out of the sitter’s care and followed his father.

When arashi arrived at the hospital medics crowded around him. One of the more experienced medics pulled arashi aside.

“where is your son you may want him to be here. We are doing everything we can but we don’t think she will make it. Naruto may want to say good bye.”

“otosan who do I want to say goodbye to? Is okasan alright? Is she going to die?”

kneeling down arashi hugged naruto closely. “ okasan is alright. You wont have to say good bye to anyone. I promise.”

Standing up arashi followed the medic, naruto on his shoulder. The medic stopped to open a door for the hokage and his son. Arashi walked in and put naruto down before he dropped the five year old.

Keoko was laying in a hospital bed, medics scurrying around her trying to heal her. Her face blended in perfectly with the white hospital sheets.

“okasan, are you al right where is the new baby? You promised that you would come home today with the baby.”

Naruto ran to keoko’s bedside and his mother lifted a hand to his cheek. Arashi walked up behind his son.

“my baby.” She said. “my beautiful baby. My naruto.”

“honey don’t talk, youre going to be okay. The medics are doing everything they can. Just relax.”

“the baby’s dead, arashi. It died after two minutes and I am going to die as well.”

“no okasan, you cant die. Otosan promised me I would never have to say goodbye. He promised and that means you cant die. I will miss you.”

“naruto sometimes people cant keep their promises and it is none of their fault. Your daddy just didn’t want to worry you. I would have made the same promise. I don’t want to die yet. I wanted to be so proud when you graduated from the academy and became a genin. I guess that if I cant be proud of you on earth, I will have to do it in heaven. Promise me, naruto that you wont cry. I don’t like to see you sad.” Keoko’s hand fell from naruto’s face and all the machines in the room went haywire.

Arashi had to carry a kicking, screaming naruto out of the hospital.

“she’s not dead. I tell you she’s not dead. She cant die you promised.” Naruto screamed that all night long into the early hours of the next day. He only stopped when he had not voice to talk with.

ch 4

Naruto didn’t go to school for the next month. Everyday was the same. Arashi left for work early in the morning while Naruto slept. Naruto woke around noon and spent the day sitting on a swing in the yard.

The once happy boy was now silent, sullen, and depressed. His blonde hair no longer stood in tall spikes, instead the drooped in front of his eye. Whenever Arashi asked him a question, Naruto answered with a shrug of the shoulders.

No one ever saw him smile; he brought new meaning to the term ‘silent as the grave’. Arashi was worried, Naruto hardly ate and he was getting thinner and pale, acquiring an almost pinched look in his cheeks. Dark circles were shadowing dull blue eyes, telling Arashi that Naruto hadn’t slept in weeks.

Once Arashi decided to find out if Naruto really was sleeping at night. On a quiet Thursday night, Arashi stood out side Naruto’s room and activated the Byakugan. Inside his room Naruto sat on his bed staring out at the moon from the window. Arashi could see the picture frame of Keoko on the swing in the yard in Naruto’s hands. The Hokage almost hoped there would be tears, but there weren’t. Naruto was silent still.

When Naruto returned to school, many of the children wondered why he didn’t respond to their teasing. Some even went so far as to eat Naruto’s lunch in front of him. Naruto didn’t seem to care anymore. Arashi couldn’t even tempt him with miso ramen. At school Naruto sat in a corner his arms wrapped around his knees, not uttering a single syllable. None of the children could get him to play, not even his cousin Kiba. When the sensei asked Naruto to solve a battle tactic, Naruto drew diagrams on the board instead of talking.

Because he was so worried about Naruto’s health, Arashi arranged to have Naruto visit psychiatrists every week and psychologists as well. Nothing worked, if anything, Naruto seemed more withdrawn than ever.

Naruto ate about once every week and that was scarcely enough food to feed a mouse. Two months after Keoko died, Naruto ended up in the hospital from malnutrition. The medics had to tie Naruto to the bed in order to feed him. It took two hours for Naruto to eat a single bowl of miso ramen. Soon Naruto stopped fighting and let the medics feed him, but he still wouldn’t talk.

Arashi felt so bad for Naruto, he searched everywhere for a jutsu that could revive a dead person. There was no such luck.

Three weeks after Naruto was admitted to the hospital, he tried committing suicide; using a knife he had stolen from a medic a few days before. Naruto looked into Arashi’s eyes, with a pleading expression, it seemed to say ‘let me go I am miserable please.’

Arashi sat by Naruto’s bed every night while Naruto tried to sleep. Even in the hospital he couldn’t sleep, his eyes haunted by a terrified look that seemed to suggest that if he fell asleep then something bad would happen. Naruto even wrote a note to Arashi.

Otosan,
Please get me out of here. The medics are mean and I don’t want to die here like okasan. Please, I promise to be good, you will never have to tell me to be quiet. You wont have to worry about my grades just please let me out of this hospital.

For Arashi, that was the last straw. He burst into tears and hugged Naruto close.

“Naruto, I couldn’t care less about you being noisy or your grades, I care about you. You are the only thing in this world that keeps me from losing it completely. That’s why you’re here. You don’t remember, but you got really sick with pneumonia and you would have died if I hadn’t brought you here. I care about you so much. I will do everything I can to get you of here. Just don’t scare me like that, I was afraid I was going to lose you.”

ch 5

Naruto soon left the hospital even though he still was silent. Even when arashi scared him, naruto was mute. He learned sign language and just signed to everyone. Soon the entire town was fluent in sign language.

Naruto had scars from the attempted suicide and occasionally whenever he was thinking, he unconsciously rubbed the white scar. He started writing in a diary and could be found on top of the hokage monument with his little dark blue book. In side that book naruto’s feelings were expressed.

Thursday May 6
Today otosan tried to make me talk again. Man I wish he would stop. It bugs me, cant he tell I am really hurt by the way he acted when okasan died. It was like he didn’t care. I don’t care if he doesn’t care but at least he could pretend. I mean okasan was his wife. Don’t people get married because they love each other isn’t that the point? Any way I wish he would just leave me alone.

Friday June 1
Today Kiba tried to get me to play with him. I didn’t feel like it. He likes dogs and I prefer cats. Kiba thinks I smell weird because I have a cat. But personally he smells weird too.

Monday July 10
Haruno Sakura hit me today. She said I was being a big jerk cause I was the hokage’s son. Really I think she should try being the child of the hokage. You have to do everything perfectly because you are an example for everyone else. And your dad is never home. And I mean NEVER AROUND.

Saturday August 15
Maybe I should start talking again, I mean I talk to my self quietly because you cant be completely silent. But I am getting the impression that they like me being quiet. That they like having me silent. Was I really that annoying, was I a brat? Was I the spoiled son of the fourth hokage and nothing more than that? No I want to be more than that. I want to be Uzumaki Naruto and not “the honored son of the hokage”. From now on I will decide who I will be, not my dad.

Sunday September 1
I cant write much today because I have to go train. They are having exams to enter the ninja academy and I really want to enter. Well have to go.

On and on the entries went. All the same depressing note hidden deep with in them mostly covered up by the determination to choose his own destiny. Every single entry had at least one bit of resentment about being the hokage’s son in it. Naruto love his father but, he would have preferred if he was just a normal dad.

ch 6

Naruto grew up silent and sullen with a scowl to rival Uchiha Sasuke. His eyes were dull and lifeless and his hair parched and dry. Arashi hadn’t noticed the changes in Naruto’s appearance because he was too busy with Hokage business. He left for work very early in the morning and came home very late. Naruto hardly saw his dad.

The only time he actually talked was when Arashi told him he was getting remarried to Yamanaka Momeji and Naruto yelled that no one would replace his mom. The first time Naruto met Momeji, he felt the hate emanating from her, the angry glances like daggers. As soon as they were married Momeji set up a bunch of strict rules for Naruto, no friends, no staying out late, no making messes, be quiet, keep grades up, don’t bother her, don’t bother Arashi and other ridiculous things like that.

Naruto knew she hated him, so the minute he turned twelve, he moved out and got the smallest cheapest apartment possible. It was a pathetic excuse for a bedroom, bathroom, and kitchen.

Naruto trained all day. Waking up at three in the morning and training till nine when the classes at the academy started. After school, he trained until eleven, often even later when there was a full moon. Naruto seemed to put his entire soul into training.

Some people might think that Naruto was lucky to have a family when others didn’t because of the nine tailed fox or other reasons, but Naruto thought that having a family who didn’t care about you was even worse than being an orphan. In his apartment there were no pictures of him with his father, there weren’t even pictures of his mother. His walls were bland and white. And his apartment was empty except for a small bed, some dishes, his clothes and towels.

Arashi didn’t even know that Naruto had moved out until one day he left work early thinking it was Naruto’s birthday, which it wasn’t, it had been three months earlier. He walked home and noticed that Naruto’s bedroom was unnaturally clean. There were no dirty clothes on the floor and the bed was made. The only thing that was out of place was a small blue book.

Sitting on the bed, Arashi began to read the book, his eyes getting wider with every journal entry. When he got to the last entry, his eyes narrowed.

October 10
Today is my birthday and otosan didn’t even notice. Momeji didn’t either. I don’t think otosan remembers when my birthday is any more. I don’t know if I can stand living like this any more. Momeji hates me, otosan ignores me and nobody at school gives a damn about me. I am going to move out and get an apartment. Then I can live on my own with out any one bothering me. Some people say I am lucky to have a family, especially after the Uchiha incident, well to me it’s worse than not having a family. I still remember when otosan told me I was the only thing in this world that kept him from losing it, but now he has Momeji and she’s more important. Personally I would really like to trade places with Uchiha Sasuke because at least he had people who cared about him, before they died.

Arashi stood up and stormed out of Naruto’s room looking for Momeji. He found her in the laundry room putting a batch of clothes in the wash.

“Momeji, is it true that you hate Naruto?”

“Honey what’s this all about? Why are you angry?”

“Answer me!”

“I admit I hate the boy, but for good reason he nearly killed my father. He is a monster and needs to be destroyed.”

“I understand that the Kyuubi nearly killed your father, but Naruto is not the nine tailed fox. You understand me?” Momeji nodded. “Good when did Naruto move out?”

“Three months ago.”

“Three months ago? Why didn’t you tell me then?”

“Because you were so busy and I hardly had any time with you anyways so I kind of forgot.”

Arashi looked as if he was about to slap Momeji, but he didn’t and walked away slowly. The small book still in his hands.

ch 7

The day of the graduation exams, Naruto woke up earlier than usual two in the morning. He would never admit that he was nervous but he was so nervous he couldn’t even eat. Randomly he went through every jutsu he knew, not knowing what was going to be on the test. With one last jutsu left, Naruto collapsed his chakra reserves exhausted.

Suddenly Naruto found himself in a dark antechamber with giant prison bars thicker than he was tall. Naruto caught a glimpse of something glowing red between the dark stripes. Walking to the bars Naruto called out into the darkness.

“Hello is anyone there where am I?” he stopped when he heard a deep rumbling chuckle. “Who’s there?”

“STUPID BOY DO YOU NOT KNOW WHO I AM? I AM THE POWERFUL NINE TAILED FOX, THE THIRD HOKAGE SEALED INSIDE YOU.”

Naruto’s face went pale “sealed inside of me?”

“YES A GREAT DEMON SEALED INSIDE A PITIFUL BOY WHO TRIES TO MAKE HIMSELF STONGER BY TRAINING BUT IS FAILING MISERABLY.”

Naruto grew angry as the Kyuubi taunted him even more.

“Well I didn’t ask for some freakish fox to be sealed inside of me, just like I didn’t ask to be the fourth Hokage’s son. And the only way I wouldn’t be a ‘pitiful boy’ would be if you gave me your chakra and trained me to be stronger. And in return occasionally I will let you out as a small fox. Agreed?”

“WELL I GUESS THAT WOULD BE ACCEPTABLE, AS LONG AS I CAN TEACH YOU EVERY JUTSU I KNOW.”

Naruto watched as tendrils of red chakra came out from behind the bars, twining itself, like a cat around his body. He gasped and the red chakra ran into his mouth. He screamed as the fox’s chakra began to merge with his own. It was pain like he had never felt before; it felt like he was being burned from the inside out.

When it was all over, Naruto was on his knees tears streaming down his face. He looked up at the thick bars; there was no sign of the giant red glowing eyes. A soft padding sound grew louder through the darkness and Naruto looked around cautiously. A red fox the size of a large dog came walking towards him.

“Kyuubi?” Naruto asked with a whisper

“Yeah kid its me. Giving you my chakra has made me shrink in size and now I only have enough chakra to keep me alive. So don’t use it all up cause I cant help you, but I doubt you will.”

Naruto nodded solemnly, “okay so how do I get back into my body again?”

“Just concentrate on being in your body and don’t get distracted otherwise you wont make it there.”

Naruto concentrated on being in his little apartment and he felt himself floating upwards towards the sky.

Naruto opened his eyes and he was back in his apartment. Checking the clock Naruto noticed that it had been only five minutes since he had passed out. He still had six hours before the classes started. Locking the door he headed to the training grounds.

“Well fox, you said you wanted to teach me every jutsu you know, so why not now.”

By nine o’clock there was not a single tree in a radius of a half-mile that was not burned or scorched. Naruto had finally mastered the Kyuubi’s signature move, the Kyuubi Katon No Jutsu, nine tailed fox grand fireball jutsu.

ch 8

Naruto arrived at the academy just before the classes began. He had learned every jutsu Kyuubi knew, although some weren’t mastered. He had mastered how ever the Kyuubi Katon No Jutsu. He wasn’t sure what jutsu would be on the test, but he knew he would pass. He sat down and saw Haruno Sakura and Yamanaka Ino fighting over who would sit by Uchiha Sasuke. In the corner, Nara Shikamaru and Akimichi Chouji shared a bag of chips and stared out the window.

Umino Iruka walked with a clipboard into his hands. As he explained the procedure of the exams, Naruto found himself making the hand seals for the Kyuubi Katon No Jutsu, Bird, Dog, Horse, Tiger, Ox, and Dragon. Naruto remembered the exhilarated feeling he had when he mastered the jutsu he wondered if he would feel the same way when he passed the test.

“Uzumaki Naruto, if you have enough time to daydream then you should pass this exam with flying colors, the test is on the replication jutsu.”

Naruto followed Iruka into the exam room, with his hands calmly in his pockets. Focusing his chakra, Naruto took a deep breath and created twenty replications. Umino Iruka was speechless, not even the top student Uchiha Sasuke managed twenty, and in fact Sasuke only managed seven. Maybe the Uzumaki heir would amount to something in the future. A dazed Iruka presented Naruto with the leaf village headband and wondered how the other students would take the news that Naruto had surpassed even the Uchiha prodigy.

“Congratulations this year everyone passes. Usually it is tradition to tell everyone who had the top five highest scores in the class. In fifth is Yamanaka Ino, creating four clones, Aburame Shino with five clones, Nara Shikamaru, make six, Uchiha Sasuke made seven. Uzumaki Naruto made twenty making him the top student. You will be split into teams of three. Team 7 Uzumaki Naruto Haruno Sakura Uchiha Sasuke; team 8 Nara Shikamaru, Yamanaka Ino, and Chouji Akimichi. Team 10 Aburame Shino, Inuzuka Kiba, and Hyuuga Hinata. Meet back here at seven in the morning.

Naruto scowled, why out of all the teams did he have to be on the one with Haruno Sakura. She would just slow him down and obsess over Sasuke. He didn’t mind the blue and white clad boy but there was something about Sakura that bugged him.

Naruto heard Sasuke call his name as the left the academy. Turning around he was the Uchiha hurrying in front of a crowd of girls heading straight for him. Naruto stopped and waited for Sasuke. Somehow he felt sorry for him because all the girls were always following him everywhere he went, just because he was the last member of the Uchiha clan.

Sasuke caught up fairly quickly and dove into the nearest bush pulling Naruto with him. A clone hopped out of the bush and sprinted away in the other direction, the girls hot on his heels.

“Sasuke what is the matter, why are you hiding from the girls, usually you just walk into the boys bathroom.”

“I know but today I really needed to talk to someone. Look we are on the same team and that means we will be sparing and I thought that maybe we could practice together. But I have one condition, you will help me get rid of the girls agreed?”

“Yeah that seems reasonably but don’t think of me as the Hokage’s son I am Uzumaki Naruto got it”

Sasuke nodded his agreement and the two sets off for the training ground. At the training ground Naruto set up the rules, any jutsu, weapon or style, just no going beyond the trees at the south end of the field.

Naruto stepped back until there was five feet between him and Sasuke. Putting his hands together, Sasuke made the seals for the Katon No Jutsu. ‘Huh so you want to play with fire, well two can play at that game’ Naruto thought.

Naruto had been planning to use the Water Dragon Jutsu, but there wasn’t any water, so he settled on wind style. Naruto called up a small cyclone that picked up the soft dirt in the clearing. It blew into Sasuke’s face and put out the fireball jutsu.

Hopping back Sasuke cursed and thought up a new strategy. Since Naruto would stand out better because of the bright orange clothes he wore, Sasuke decided that it would be to his advantage to stay in the clearing and wait for Naruto to come to him. Naruto knew that Sasuke would use his bright clothes to track his movements.

Instead of falling for Sasuke’s plan, Naruto decided he would use Earth Style, and dig a hole underneath Sasuke. Creating clones, Naruto estimated where Sasuke would be and told his clones to hid together and send just a single clone out at a time to make sure Sasuke was on his guard. Telling the clones not to harm Sasuke, Naruto began his attack.

While Naruto was beginning to dig the hole Sasuke was kept entertained by the clones. All he saw was flickers of orange in the dark green foliage. Patience was not exactly Sasuke’s forte and he quickly became annoyed by the blonde’s antics. Sasuke froze when he felt a cold hand on his ankly. Looking down he saw naruto, a hand on his ankle ready to pull him into the hole by his foot. Still completely spooked by naruto’s appearance, sasuke didn’t notice naruto had flipped him until he saw the ground rushing up to meet him.

Naruto stood over sasuke, hand outstretched. “hey are you all right I know sometimes I forget my own strength.”
Sasuke stared at the younger boy, despite his appearance, naruto was almost twice as strong as himself.

“uh yeah, hey this might offend you but, why do you wear that hideous orange jumpsuit?”

“what this, oh that was the onlyt color my stepmom would buy, personally I prefer dark blue, but that’s my stepmom for you.”

Gripping naruto’s hand sasuke stood up. “if you don’t live with your stepmom anymore then why don’t you buy different clothes?”

Naruto sighed, where to begin.
“well lets just say that Momeji has a lot of power in the village and this is the only color of clothes that they will sell me.”

“oh, well thanks for the fight I really enjoyed it.”