Chapter 16

Last Time:

Hiruzen thought with a look of determination as he raised his hand. ' And that is the promise of a lifetime!'

Now:

~ Border Between Land Of Hot Water and Land of Frost ~

Naruto groaned as he looked ahead towards the border of the land of Frost. 'I have the worst freaking luck' Naruto mentally complained. He was wearing his snow camouflage jacket and pants, with a white facemask and a white beret over his head. He had managed to get through the Land of Hot Water relatively easily, but now he only had one more land before he got into the Land of Lightning and into Kumo. Overall, nothing major had really happened since he left the land of Waves. Since he already knew which path to avoid, he managed to circle around Konohagakure no Sato completely.

Naruto was shaken from his thoughts as a rustling noise was heard to his left. He turned to see nothing but a white blur and the pitter-patter of feet crunching snow. 'Dinner time!' He thought with a grin as he unsealed his bow along with a non-explosive arrow. He jumped into a tree and watched carefully for any sign of movement. 'Ok, white and small, so I'm guessing rabbit. Eyes are a dead give away, but this one is smarter.' Naruto mused as he jumped from tree branch to tree branch searching for his dinner. His attention was caught by two large red eyes seemingly floating in the snow.

"Gotcha!" he whispered as he took aim and fired. His aim was true and it struck the rabbit in the head, killing it instantly. Before Naruto could retrieve it, a kunai whizzed past his head. He turned to see four Shinobi headed towards him, all wearing winter wear. One was a sandy blond with dark eyes; another was a blonde with blue eyes and a generous bust. Behind them were a dark skinned boy with short spiky white hair and a dark skinned girl with long red hair and amber eyes.

Leading them up was a shinobi wearing the standard uniform of a Jounin, he had black hair and eyes, but they were twisted into a fearful expression. They all had the standard forehead protector from Kumo. "Move it, dammit!" The man in jounin garb yelled as he pushed Naruto off to the side. Before he could retaliate, the blond with dark eyes in purple turned to him. "Sorry!" She yelled as she kept running at high speeds. 'What the hell just happened!' Naruto asked himself as he picked himself up. He then saw three three-man teams chasing after them.

'Clothing looks like it's meant for warmer weather, so they're obviously not from here. Dark brown color may be associated with their village, and their forehead protectors show two large rocks. They're obviously from Iwa, if I'm right, but why are they chasing Kumo Shinobi?' Naruto wondered as he looked towards where they ran off. "No time to waste." He muttered as he took off after them.

~ Border of Land of Lightning ~

Naruto silently landed on a tree branch and watched as the team from Kumo kept fleeing from the team from Iwa. They had been running non-stop since the Land of Frost and everyone seemed to be exhausted except for the sandy blonde wearing purple. 'Interesting..' Naruto thought as he used the scope on his bow to get a closer look. He watched as the Kumo Jounin pushed Yugito in front of his team and began fleeing. "Take care of them, demon!" The man demanded, and then ordered the rest of his team to scatter.

Yugito had a hurt expression on her face, but she then steeled herself as she withdrew a Kunai. The jounin had already scattered, but she noticed that Samui, Omoi, and Karui still remained. "What the hell are you guys doing!" She demanded as she waited for the approaching Iwa Shinobi. "We're a team Yugito!" Karui said as she withdrew her sword. "We either live or die together, no one gets left behind." Omoi continued. "Leaving a comrade behind is not cool." Samui finished as she poised her sword to strike. "Thanks you guys, but get out of here! That's an order!" She yelled as the nine Iwa shinobi charged at them.

~ With Naruto ~

Naruto smirked as he pulled out an explosive arrow and aimed it at the head of the lead Iwa ninja. With a resounding 'thwack', the arrow flew and buried itself into the nin's head. "WHAT THE HELL!" One of the iwa nin's exclaimed as he looked at his comrade. "Boom." Naruto muttered.

~ With Yugito and the team ~

Yugito watched as an arrow flew out of nowhere and buried itself into the incoming Iwa nin's head. She also heard the nin's statement, but that's not what worried her. What worried her was the explosion that rocked the clearing. "Earth Release: Earth Style Wall!" Karui yelled as she slammed her hand on the floor in front of them, making a large, chakra-reinforced wall of rock. Yugito and the rest of the team took cover behind the wall.

~ With Naruto ~

Naruto took off his winter camouflage jacket and sealed it, then made a shadow clone. "Go." He said to the shadow clone as he stuck to the treetops, carefully and silently making his way to the Kumo team.

~ With The Clone ~

Naruto jumped out of the treetop with bow in hand and stared defiantly at the Iwa ninjas. "Hey, idiots!" he yelled, betting their attention. Naruto then ducked under a large boulder as a flurry of kunai came at him. 'Shit, I need a distraction' The clone thought as he dug into his ninja pouch. He pulled out a piece of string tied into a circle and a mischievous smile crawled onto his face. He slipped it into his hands and rose from behind the boulder. "You guys should feel honored, you're about to see something that hasn't been seen since the time of the Sage of Six Paths." He exclaimed.

The iwa ninja were ready to attack as he got closer, but were ordered to stand down. "Ikuno, why are we standing down!" A nin asked his leader. "Don't be an idiot. If he has a bloodline, we can capture him and bring him back to iwa. If not, there's three people on this team that can erect a barrier in no time at all." The man reasoned and got a somewhat forced nod of recognition from his men. They all watched as Naruto continued making odd hand seals.

~ With Yugito and Her Team ~

Yugito and her team watched on as this idiot approached the Iwa nin while making hand seals. "Why aren't they attacking?" Karui asked. "Maybe he has some ultra secret powerful bloodline and they want to capture him so Iwa can take over the world!" Omoi exclaimed in a panicked voice. "Ne, what are you guys watching?" an unknown voice asked behind them. They all turned to see the exact same blonde before them. "But, aren't you supposed to be over there!" Karui demanded, only to get a nod from the blond. "But I am." Naruto replied happily.

"But.." Before samui could argue, Naruto rose his finger to his lips. "Relax, and enjoy the show." Naruto finished as he watched his clone.

~ With the Clone and the Iwa Team ~

The Iwa team watched fearfully as the blond boy finished his hand seals. Before he could say the name of the technique, two Iwa ninja's were at his side restraining him. This made the rest of them feel a bit better as they approached him. "Hey, brat!" The leader asked harshly. "What was that technique you were trying to finish?" The clone looked at him with an eye smile as it began charging Chakra to its core. "Cats cradle" he replied as he parted his hands to show the string making a cradle from the ties in his fingers.

The leader grew red from anger as he looked at the clone. "KILL HIM!" He demanded from the guards restraining him. Unfortunately, only one word was heard as they tried to kill him. "Boom." A large explosion rocked the heart of the Iwa team, leaving only two of them able to stand and the rest of them in pain.

~ With Yugito and her Team ~

Yugito and Samui watched in awe as the clone made a complete fool of the Iwa Jounins and disabled most of them with one move. They watched as the blonde moved in and killed the rest of them with well-placed arrows. "Cool…" Samui muttered under her breath with a small blush on her face, then shook it off as Yugito and the rest of her team approached the blonde. Naruto was sealing his bow into his arm as a voice yelled out to him. "Hey!" he turned to see the blonde in purple talking to him.

"Yes?" Naruto asked as he turned to see the Kumo team approaching him. "Not that we don't appreciate your help," Omoi began, "But who the hell are you!" Karui finished. "Isn't it common courtesy to introduce yourself first?" Naruto asked. "My name is Yugito. Yugito Nii. This is Omoi," the blonde pointed to the dark skinned boy with spiky white hair. "Karui," She pointed to the red head with amber eyes, "And Samui." She finished as the blonde with blue eyes and a generous bust waved at him. "My name is Naruto. Naruto Romanov." Naruto said as he shook everyone's hands.

"Nice to meet you man!" Omoi said. "Hey." Karui said. "Cool to meet you, Naruto-ku… san." Samui said with a small blush on her face as she managed to catch herself. "Good to meet you all." He said with a smile. "Are you guys shinobi?" he asked as he pointed to their forehead protectors. "Yes, but I'm sure we don't have to tell you twice." Omoi said as he pointed to his beret, then noticed it didn't have a symbol. "Wait, you aren't a shinobi?" Karui asked. "Not officially nor for any village." Naruto replied, "Actually, I was just heading to Kumo."

"Why are you going to Kumo?" Omoi asked. "Some friends left me property there and I want to claim it." Naruto replied. "Well, you're going to have to speak to the Raikage first, but I'm sure he'll let you move into Kumo." Yugito said. "Yea, so long as you join the Shinobi forces. We could use someone with your specific skill set." Omoi finished. "That's fine, I was thinking of becoming a Shinobi anyway." Naruto said as he unsealed a scroll. "Well, we better get going." Karui said excitedly at the prospect of being back home.

"Before we go, would you mind if I changed? I'm kinda dressed for freezing weather, not warm." Yugito nodded as Naruto left to the tree line to change. As soon as Naruto was out of earshot, Yugito began. "What do you guys think? Is he a threat or should we trust him until we get to Kumo?" she asked. "Well, he's strong so he's a possible threat." Omoi said. "But he helped us, at least let's take that as a sign of good faith." Karui interrupted. "What do you think Samui?" Yugito asked as she turned to her fellow blonde.

"He's cool, and he did help us without us asking. I say we wait to get to know him better before we pass judgment. Besides, if he's a threat, we kill him. If he isn't, Kumo gets a powerful Shinobi. Either way, there is no loss." Samui finished. Yugito and the others nodded at her logic and waited for Naruto to come back.

~ With Naruto ~

Naruto smiled as he listened to their conversation through the bug he dropped on the ground. ' They're cautious, but not extremely so. And they are willing to give me a chance.' He thought as he finished putting on his standard uniform. He then walked out towards the team. "Hey, you guys ready?" he asked, not noticing the small blush from Samui and Yugito. "Y..yea, let's go." Yugito replied as she tried to force down her blush. As they began walking, Naruto turned and winked at Samui.

"Thanks for giving me a chance." He stated, making it seem like he was talking to everyone. Only Yugito noticed the wink Samui got and huffed at it. 'Wait, what am I thinking?' She asked herself as she tried to focus on the walk to Kumo. One thing was for sure; things were going to be interesting in Kumo.