The Tailed Beast Festival: Part One

Naruto and Suki walked along the concrete roads without a destination in mind; they simply wandered about, taking in everything that the port town had to offer. Naruto rested his arms behind his head as he glanced around the quiet street.

He seen groups of children ran passed him on their way to the same destination. Strangely enough, all of them wore masks of animals. Some were faces of blue cats while others were horses and bulls. As they walked further the sudden echoes of drums and music played which caught Naruto and Suki's interest.

They turned to the left corner of the street and were surprised by the various decorations and festivities along the road. Suki's eyes sparkled with glee as she stared at the beautiful scenery. Ropes of green lanterns hung above the street while lines of food stalls sizzled with delicious fried food.

The locals bustled with excitement as they roamed from stall to stall, eating the various food that were offered. They too also had masks that Naruto saw before. Puppeteers held up a large blue cat with two tails and paraded it down the street. Behind the puppeteers were dancers that moved acrobatically while the crowd cheered them on.

"This looks really amazing," Suki praised. The enticing aroma of fried food made her hungry again, and she couldn't wait to try out all of these delicious food.

Naruto noticed a small girl with brown hair eating a meat bun with a little boy. He walked up to her and tapped her on the shoulders.

"Hey kid, do you know what's going on here?" Naruto asked.

The little girl looked at Naruto with curious eyes, noticing his weird hair color and strange whiskers. She swallowed down a piece of meat bun and asked, "You don't know?"

"Not really, no," Naruto responded.

"Wow!" The little boy next to her shouted with surprise. "You must be living under a rock or something!"

The little girl suddenly whacked him on the head.

"Ow! What the heck was that for Mina?" The boy rubbed his head.

"Didn't mom say not to be mean to other people, Hue?" Mina reprimanded.

Hue crossed his arms, "Pfft, yeah. Whatever."

"I'm sorry. My little brother can be an idiot sometimes," Mina slightly bowed to Naruto.

"I could argue the same about this guy here," Suki patted Naruto's shoulders, taking the chance to tease the whiskered boy a bit. "You could say they're two peas in the same pod."

"Hey!" Naruto and Hue shouted at the same time.

Mina giggled a bit, "Anyways, this is the Tailed Beasts Festival, and It just started right now." Mina reached for the orange mask that was resting on the top of her head and pulled it down to cover her face. "I even got myself a cute fox mask!"

Naruto stared into the red eyes of the fox mask with a sense of familiarity. It was oddly similar to the giant fox that he saw in his dreams.

"The Tailed Beasts Festival?" Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"Yep!" Mina nodded her head. "It's a festival dedicated to the famous legend of the nine tailed beasts! My grandma told me stories all about them. Not that I believe her or anything..."

"What's it about?" Suki asked with interest.

"You don't even know that much?" Hue scoffed at her.

"Hue..." Mina glared at him. Hue quickly looked away from her scary gaze.

"The legend says that before the Avatar there were nine powerful beasts that wielded the elements that no human can match. It told that they used to roam the lands and cause massive destruction everywhere they go. Each beast had a different number of tails with the strongest being the Kyuubi which I have as my mask."

Naruto's eyes widened with shock. He recognized that exact name from before. And the tails... the giant fox he'd seen had nine tails. Was it all just a coincidence to that dream he had? However, Naruto couldn't get rid of that shaking feeling that there was something strange about all of this.

"So, I'm assuming the Kyuubi has nine tails," Suki said.

"Uh-huh! It's also my favorite out of all of them."

"What are the other ones?"

"Well, there's the raccoon, cat, turtle, ape, horse, slug, beetle, bull and fox," Mina counted with her fingers. "Besides the Kyuubi, I forgot what the others are called though."

Suddenly, a feminine voice resonated from the crowd, and it drew their attention.

"Mina! Hue! There you are! You both nearly gave me a heart attack,"" A middle-aged woman walked up to them and grabbed their hands. "Come on, now. Your grandmother and father are waiting for you two."

"Okay, mama," Mina said. She quickly turned to Suki and Naruto. "I wish I could stay longer, but we have to go. It was nice meeting you guys!"

"Likewise," Suki nodded.

"You too!" Naruto grinned.

Saying their goodbyes, Mina and Hue left with their mother, slowly disappearing into the large crowd. Suki suddenly pulled Naruto along and went straight for the vendor that sold the tailed beast masks.

"Let's get one for ourselves," She reached down and shuffled through a pile of masks before grabbing one that resembled a raccoon. She strapped the mask over her face and showed it off to Naruto, "How do I look?"

"Scary," Naruto laughed. He quickly reached for the same pile and wore a fox mask. Naruto raised his arms out to mimic a monster while letting out a playful roar, "What do you think of this?"

"Hmmm... you still look stupid as usual."

"Rude," Naruto said, earning the laugh of Suki.

They paid for the masks and continued to explore the festival. Suki spotted rows of festival games with small crowds of people. Glancing at the prizes displayed, Suki noticed a green woven necklace with a golden pendant laid on a wooden case, and her eyes sparkled with delight.

She turned to Naruto with large puppy eyes, "Oh, Naruto, can you win that necklace for me?" She fluttered her eyes for added effect.

Naruto glanced at the man in a wooden dunk tank shouting insults at a random kid. He turned to Suki again with a smirk on his face, "Che, I can win that necklace no problem, dattebayo."

Naruto walked up to the vendor with confidence. The man in the dunk tank noticed Naruto and began to hurl insults at him.

"Hey, kid, nice try hiding the ugly behind that mask you got there, but you're not foolin' anyone," The man taunted. "Take it off and show the rest of us what you're hiding."

Naruto ignored the man and spoke to the vendor, "How much?"

"It'll be two copper for two shots, kid," The vendor flatly said.

Naruto tossed a couple of copper coins at him, and the vendor handed him a a set of wooden balls. Naruto playfully tossed the wooden ball in his hand as he stared at the target. The kids around Naruto cheered him on to bring the man down. They too had suffered his barrage of insults while losing their money at the same time.

"Let's see that puny arms of yours, kid," The man taunted again.

"You're a real cocky son of a bitch, aren't cha?" Naruto asked. Clutching the wooden ball, he threw it with full power, "Hah!"

He missed the target by an absolute longshot. The kids behind him suddenly grew quiet, staring at him with deadpanned faces. That was unexpected.

"PFFT, what the hell was that!" The man cackled with laughter. "And here I thought you were actually going to do it. I bet your girlfriend could throw better than you."

Suki covered her mouth as she tried to hold in her laughter. This was funnier than she actually thought. Glancing at Naruto, she could see signs of anger written on his face. However, she gave him credit for managing to hide his anger pretty well.

"That was just a warm-up," Naruto quickly gave an excuse. He stretched his arms out to prepare himself for the next throw.

"If that was your warm-up, then I don't expect much for the real one."

Naruto's eyes twitched with aggravation. He quickly grabbed the last ball, "Alright, that's it, jackass!"

Taking a deep breath, Naruto focused on his target with narrowed eyes. He's determined to take down that jackass once and for all. He winded his arms back and aimed straight for the target.

"You can do it, Naruto," Suki said in between laughs. "Just... pfft, think of it as kunai training." Obviously poking fun at his horrid throwing skills or lack thereof.

Ignoring Suki's snide remark, Naruto threw the ball straight for the target. It was his last ball, and he was going to make it count. The man laid back in relaxation while the kids watched with anticipation. Naruto crossed his fingers, hoping that it would hit. Bam! The ball struck dead-on against the target. The man suddenly screamed as he plunged into the water below. He quickly swam up for air and splashed water from his mouth.

"Yatta!" Naruto cheered with joy. The kids around him cheered along as well while insulting the now soaked man.

"Congratulations, kid," The vendor said with his monotone voice. "Choose your prize."

"I want that necklace over there, boss," Naruto pointed.

The vendor took the necklace from the wooden case and gave it to Naruto. Naruto quickly swiped his prize away and walked towards Suki with a big grin on his face.

"Thank you, Naruto!" Suki hugged him with joy.

"Hehe, easy-peasy for the number one badass," Naruto said with pride. "Turn around. I'll put it on for you."

Suki nodded and turned around for him. She lifted her hair up, and Naruto carefully tied the green woven necklace around her neck.

"There, done!" Naruto stepped back.

Suki fiddled with her necklace as a beautiful smile formed on her face again. She couldn't be more happier that Naruto gave her the necklace. Suki spun and struck a pose for Naruto.

"Well, how do I look?" Suki asked as she pulled the mask off her face.

Naruto was mesmerized by her beautiful smile. He knew Suki was gorgeous, but with that necklace she had on, she looked even more stunning.

"You look really pretty," Naruto said.

Suki's heart skipped a beat at his compliment. At the same time, she felt really happy; she was definitely going to cherish this moment with him. Without warning, she walked up to Naruto and quickly pecked him on the cheeks. Naruto stood in a sudden daze as his brain processed what just happened.

'Did she just kissed me?' Naruto rubbed his cheek.

"Well, what are you standing there for?" Suki grabbed his hand. "Let's keep moving!"