Transcending My Wings

{Kiba} Hey, I think it’s time for you to put up your chapter.

{Dan} I’m tired… lemme alone… -hides underneath the blanket-

{Kiba} Fine, I’ll just tell your readers you abandoned this fic…

{Dan} Wha?! -zooms out of the room and posts up the chapter-

{Choji} Whoo! Crisis averted! -munching on his chips-

{Kiba} You just gotta know which buttons to press!

{Choji} Okay well on to the next chapter!!!

A/N: to all the readers and reviewerz!!! I love you!!! I’ll treasure you forever!!! Wahoo!!! And because I got reviews, I dedicate this chapter to those that reviewed last chapter!!! LOVE YOU!!! -tears of joy!-

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To Transcend My Wings
: : Chapter 12: : Withering Heights
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“DAD! HELP!”

Inches away from Naruto, a surge of the land came straight up and acted like a wall, cushioning the impact that would have hit the blonde otherwise. The attacker backed up a couple of steps as the wall broke down, turned into small spikes and launched themselves towards the white haired male who dodged the attack with ease.

“Reveal yourself,” said the unknown male. In front of Naruto, the sand swirled then dissipated revealing a young red-headed male in long robes with the mark of ‘love’ on his forehead. He also carried a giant gourd on his back.

“Why didn’t you move?” asked the red head towards the blonde without looking back. The newcomer was almost similar to Naruto in height, but the red head had this aura of danger around him.

“I-” Naruto began but the red head lost patience and interrupted.

“Nevermind, just stay on the side and try not to die.” With no other warning, a surge of sand burst out from the gourd and headed straight for the white haired male. The white haired male struggled in the hold of the sand as it surrounded his body almost entirely, save for his head then the red head lowly muttered, “Sand burial jutsu.”

Naruto could see the sand harden at that instant as it squeezed its prey, but the prey wasn’t going to be taken down that easily and broke through as more spikes appeared from the man’s body.

“Interesting, you come from the Kaguya clan since you possess the kekkei genkai allowing your body to use your own bones as your weapon.”

“It seems you know of my background, but that won’t put you at an advantage. I also know of you, Gaara of the wind, is it not? You are famous for your own use of the sand, controlling them, molding them into whatever you will them to be using your chakra. Well allow me to introduce myself; I am Kimimaro of the Kaguya clan.”

The two launched towards each other once more, even if Gaara did not move, his sand surged forward as the other turned his arm into a drill once more, breaking through the sand that came at him at high speeds. Gaara, had his own precautions set and raised more sand, acting like a sand wall in front of him. This, however, did not prove as effective since Kimimaro just went through it like butter and had managed to give a small cut towards the red head’s face.

The battle raged on for a while, and Naruto just stood there watching the battle unfold before his eyes. He could barely keep up as each attack that Kimimaro threw Gaara blocked and with each attack that Gaara launched, Kimimaro either dodged them or countered them just as easily.

The battle almost ended when Kimimaro used a jutsu he called, Dance of the Clematis: Flower, the jutsu was similar to the one that Kimimaro had tried to use to kill Naruto when he first came at him, but this time, the drill like structure covered the hands all the way to the arms and past. It was a much larger version of its predecessor. With the massive chakra it sent out, Gaara was forced to use his Ultimate Absolute Defense: Shield of Shukaku just to block it.

Both of their attacks took their toll on their bodies and chakra supplies. Naruto could tell that their chakra supplies were almost depleted.

In that instance, out of nowhere, a mass of what seemed like ethereal ghosts came out of nowhere and had struck both Kimimaro and Gaara passing right through them. The two felt the energy drain from their bodies, and they fell to their knees gasping for air.

Naruto, seeing the turn of events, rushed to Gaara’s side. As soon as Naruto’s hand brushed Gaara’s, a bright light burst forth and threw Naruto towards Kimimaro who was still catching his breath. Naruto’s back collided with Kimimaro’s chest and another light burst forth once more, throwing Naruto to the side. Naruto could make out the sign of Earth being imprinted on Kimimaro’s hand and the sign of Wind on Gaara’s.

Naruto could feel the burning sting on his stomach reminiscent to when Naruto had found his other guardians. Then the burning intensified and he couldn’t help but double over when he felt the stinging sensation exponentially multiply. Tears of agony leaked out uncontrollably, but what surprised him more was that the man who wanted him dead not too long ago, turned out to be a guardian… his guardian to be exact.

Once the pain dulled to a mere throb Naruto made his way over to the two downed ninjas. He first checked over the red headed one and let his own chakra surface to his hand in the form of a glowing green ball. Naruto couldn’t explain how he knew to create these kinds of jutsu without prior training, but brushed it off as something that the fox had given him knowledge to.

The medicinal jutsu worked its way through Gaara’s system and had eased the body’s fatigue, but the blonde could do nothing to help the ninja recover his chakra supply… that will come in time through rest.

As Naruto neared the white haired male who looked to be down for the count, another one of those ethereal ghosts lunged from the shadows and headed for the blonde. Naruto, noticing the oncoming attack managed to dodge it, but it had graced his right arm and it fell slack against his side.

“Aww, the poor baby is defenseless,” sneered a female voice. Naruto looked back and saw a red head standing on top of a branch with a flute on one hand accompanied by a rather horrendous looking monster with the ghost he saw earlier coming out of its mouth.

“If I remember correctly, you were there when I went with Orochimaru, what do you want?” asked Naruto.

“Well well! I guess I’m just that memorable! I wanted to take you out myself, but it seems that reinforcements will be coming around soon so I’ll just take my leave and take that useless Kimimaro with me.” Tayuya used her flute to command the monster she called a doki to take the unconscious male. Naruto, moving swiftly, tossed the white haired male to where Gaara laid before the doki had tackled the blonde, tossing him a couple of feet away.

Thankfully, much to the blonde’s appreciation, a group of ninjas appeared and the red headed woman was forced to retreat. Still reeling from the hit, Naruto got up shakily and headed over to the two unmoving males.

“Damn, that hurt!” muttered the boy, staggering to a tree, leaning against it to brace himself so he could catch his breath. He looked at the newcomers place both Gaara and Kimimaro in a stretcher when a couple of medic-nins came into the scene. They looked reluctant to take Kimimaro with them, but Naruto reassured them saying that he’ll take responsibility since the man is his guardian.

“Sorry to have left you alone,” said Itachi as he appeared in front of Naruto.

“It’s alright, I’m fine, but what kept you?” asked Naruto.

“I guess they attacked as a squad and two of Orochimaru’s subordinate attacked me out of nowhere; I guess their real plan was to get you.” Itachi looked at Naruto with a slight apologetic tone lacing his voice, but in Naruto’s head, Itachi shouldn’t apologize for anything, after all who could have known what the enemy was planning.

“It’s alright.”

The conversation ended just like that. Naruto pulled Itachi to sit right next to him. When the other had agreed and sat down, Naruto laid his head on Itachi’s shoulder and drifted off to sleep.


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It has been almost a week since the incident, and Gaara had fully recovered in the first week. Tsunade said that it might have been Naruto that allowed the red head to heal so quickly since he applied a healing jutsu right after the attack. Naruto rejoiced in hearing that bit of news, but when Naruto asked about Kimimaro, Tsunade that Kimimaro’s body had been none too worse for wear when he was admitted in the hospital. She said that there were lacerations, bruises and scars all over the back and sides of the white haired male and it was older than those of the attack he received previously. Tsuande, also mentioned that the boy had an ailment that could be life threatening, but with her genius, she and her team of medics were able to cure the male completely. In the end result, however, Kimimaro is to be confined in the hospital. It would have been a pain to keep the man confined, but thankfully (and unfortunately) the man is yet to still awaken.

While that was all happening, Naruto had tried to talk to Gaara soon after the event had taken place, but the red head was livid and had wanted to be left alone. One glare from the guy sent Naruto scampering away. This doesn’t mean Naruto stopped trying.

Thankfully though, Tsunade had filled the boy in the situation. Gaara was none too happy to have another responsibility, but he didn’t voice or show it. The red head, though now a guardian, still had other responsibilities to complete and had to return to his village to inform his father of the predicament, and also to ask if he could take an extended amount of time away from the village to be near his charge… who in this case would be Naruto.

Right now, the blonde, walked up to the room that had Kimimaro contained. A sealing jutsu was placed on the room to prevent Kimimaro from leaving if ever he awoke; only the medic ninjas would normally have access to the room, but Naruto was an exception for obvious reasons.

“Hello sleepy-head, do you know you’ve been asleep for a week now?” Naruto started before sitting down on the seat next to the bed. “I wonder when you’ll wake up, because I’m kind of excited to meet another one of my guardians. I mean, I know you tried to kill me and all, but you’re still a guardian and I- well, I really don’t know what to feel about you…” Naruto was interrupted by a knock on the door, and was greeted by an annoyed Itachi.

“I told you, I don’t like you hanging around him by yourself.” Clipped and straight to the point, Naruto was beginning to find out things about Itachi that was as much a turn-off as it was endearing. One of them is that whole possessiveness thing. Naruto had never met anyone his whole life who was ever that possessive, though his dad could pass for it.

He could remember this one time, when his dad found out that he and Kiba had started going out and Minato had gone berserk. For that first week after the discovery, Naruto was forbidden to see Kiba when his dad was not around. Ofcourse, this did not mean that the blonde did not sneak out to meet the brunette. Well, in the end, Minato loosened his hold on the boy, but there was always that father’s watchful eye following Naruto whenever the blonde would be out with Kiba. Even when they had broken up, Minato was still weary of the brunette every time he came around.

“I’ll be fine Itachi, I swear you act like my dad.” Naruto couldn’t help but roll his eyes as Itachi glared at him for the comparison.

“Fine, I was just stopping by to say that I’ll be going on a mission, so I’ll see you in a few days,” said itachi.

“Okay, but… umm… Itachi?”

“Hn?”

Naruto tiptoed and brushed his lips across Itachi’s cheek before saying a quick goodbye and running back to the room where Kimimaro still slept. Itachi let a small smile be displayed on his lips as he left not caring about the way people saw him; after all, he only had eyes for one person. Then a horrible thought struck him, what if the blonde had admirers?

Suddenly his aura darkened and he looked pissed, for a lack of a better word. Well, I’ll take care of that when I get back… no one will dare challenge an Uchiha when I make my intentions public. Thoughts swirled in Itachi’s head, but he decided to let it go for the moment since making himself angry could only cause him to make a mistake in a mission, and mistakes were just not acceptable.

Back at the room, the blonde blushed at the thought of how girly he’s acting. He couldn’t believe that he kissed the older male, on the cheek, but still… it was nerve wracking since they haven’t really decided whether or not to pursue what they were feeling.

“Are you going to just hyper-ventilate there like an idiot muttering to yourself?” asked the now awake Kimimaro.

“Oh! You’re awake! I’ll call Tsunade!” the blonde said out in surprise. He was stopped when an arm grabbed him and prevented him from moving. The blonde suddenly became very fearful that the man would attack him, after all, they were at close range and the white haired male could just as easily make one of those bones strike him from any part of his body.

“No, not yet, I need to talk to you,” said the other rather seriously.

“Yeah, I figured, okay ask away,” said the blonde; letting out the deep breath he didn’t know he was holding as he sat back down to the chair adjacent to the bed.

“You did something to me, I can’t explain it, but I can feel you, like you’re underneath my skin but at the same time as if you’re embracing me, welcoming me closer.” The white haired male looked confused but that was his best explanation.

“I’m no expert here, but I think this has something to do with the whole guardianship thing,” Naruto looked at the other hoping that he understood but a questioning glance told him that he needed to explain further. “I was told that I was… AM, a child of prophesy and that I will have nine guardians as my protector as I go on my journey here in your world.”

“My world? What do you mean?” asked Kimimaro.

“You know what, let me show you something first before I tell you everything,” said Naruto as he led Kimimaro out of the room.

As they turned to leave, Naruto had forgotten to remove the jutsu in the room and when Kimimaro touched the door knob; his body was flung back onto the bed.

“Oh! I’m so sorry! I forgot there was a jutsu in the room to keep you in! Hold on let me dispel it first.” The blonde formed a couple of handsigns and the jutsu faded to finally let the two out. Kimimaro was being too complacent for Naruto’s own taste, which caused a couple of alarms to ring in his head, but he let his heart, which was telling him that Kimimaro will follow him to death, take the lead here so he led him up to the roof of the hospital.

“What are we doing here?” asked Kimimaro.

“Tell me, what do you see when you look at this village?” asked the blonde.

“I don’t know, people and shinobi, I guess.” Kimimaro looked at Naruto in confusion, wondering why the question was even relevant.

“Exactly! You see people like this and you don’t find them fascinating the way I do,” Naruto looked excitedly at the other ninja and continued, “this world, this shinobi lifestyle is so known and abundant in the entirety of this world that none of you will be able to comprehend having to live your lives with no kekkei genkais, no jutsus, no chakras, and anything like that!”

“What are you trying to say?” asked Kimimaro.

“I’m saying, I’m not from here, I came from a world totally different from this.” Kimimaro was having a hard time believing him, but who was he to question the blonde, all he knew was that he had this longing to be near the blonde, and not let any harm come his way.

“I still don’t understand, but tell me why make me your guardian?” A great question, naruto could only wish that he could answer him, but not even the blonde knew why.

“You know, I’ve never really understood that myself,” Naruto started as he sat on the roof’s ledge followed by Kimimaro who did the same thing. “All I know is that, my guardians have been drawn to me for some reason. It was a coincidence that I met Itachi, Sasuke and Kakashi the first time I stepped foot on shinobi soil, then later on when I came upon a village somewhere I met Sumaru. I even met Haku when I was lost heading back to Konoha. Then you and Gaara came in the picture later without me ever having to seek any of you out.”

“I really wanted to kill you that day you know,” said Kimimaro.

“Yeah? I couldn’t tell,” quipped back Naruto.

“So why do I feel like giving up my entire existence for you?” asked Kimimaro as he looked towards the blonde he sat right next to.

“Unfortunately, I think that’s a side effect of turning into my guardian, although let’s just say that a certain red head is the closest one to killing me if I annoyed him… so totally un-guardian like right?!” Naruto and Kimimaro shared a look and had ended up laughing for no other reason except for the fact that they could both imagine the one named Gaara throwing sand shurikens at the blonde for just the fact that he’s annoyed. When the laughter subsided, the conversation continued.

“Well, what do I do now? Oto and my lord would not want me back, I am a failed vessel after all,” murmured Kimimaro low enough just enough for the blonde to hear.

“What do you mean failed vessel?” asked the blonde.

“Exactly that, I was supposed to be a vessel of lord Orochimaru, but when I became ill, he told me that I am no longer suited to being his vessel and cast me aside. The fact that Tayuya-”

“Who’s Tayuya?” asked the blonde, interrupting the other.

“The one with the flute, the one able to create and control the dokis,” answered Kimimaro.

“Oh her, so continue?” Naruto became embarrassed that he interrupted the other, but Kimimaro just shrugged it off.

“When she purposely attacked me, it was the most obvious sign that Lord Orochimaru wants me gone. Now I don’t know who to live for, I promised my life to lord Orochimaru after all,” continued Kimimaro.

“Why not live for yourself? I found out that your clan was wiped out from the Godaime so why not live for your own bliss?” asked the blonde.

“I only know of being wanted, I can’t imagine myself as anything else.” Kimimaro had this look that pained Naruto to see so he came up with a plan to get the other out of the depressing funk.

“Then won’t you live for me? I mean, I really have no other friend in this world save for the guardians, but they too have lives to live. I mean, I’ll still need you in the future after all,” said Naruto while letting a smile mar his face.

“Okay, I devote my life to you,” said Kimimaro as he took Naruto in his arms and carried the blonde, jumping down from the roof of the hospital. Naruto could almost feel the wind being knocked away from his body as they jumped a five story building.

“Why’d you do that for?!” screamed Naruto when they landed.

“To show you that as long as I’m alive, I’ll protect you, no matter what,” answered the white haired male.

“Uhh, okay so how about we go eat! I’m starving! I’ll treat you to the best food you’ll ever taste since the Godaime and Itachi gave me money for food while I’m here! So let’s get RAMEN!!”

Kimimaro couldn’t help but look on in amusement at the blonde, so he let the blonde lead the way, but he halted just as quickly when he looked down at himself and noticed he was still in hospital clothes.

“Hey! Come on!” shouted the blonde.

“I can’t,” muttered the other.

“Why not? I said I’ll treat,” explained the blonde.

“No, it’s that I need clothes, I’m still wearing a hospital gown.” Naruto finally took notice and started laughing causing a red tint to appear in the other’s face.

“Oh right! I forgot Haku dropped off a couple of things you can wear when you were out could, let’s get you back and change you!” Naruto told Kimimaro to just teleport them back to the room and that was exactly what Kimimaro did. The white haired male changed attire and donned the traditional garb of the chuunin of the village of Konoha, much like Kakashi’s own attire.

“Finally! Now let’s go for ramen!” the blonde cheered and hauled the white haired male out towards their destination.

TO BE CONTINUED!!!

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{Dan} Whoo! Another chapter down!

{Choji} Good, now let’s go eat out, I found this new restaurant, and they have the best beef barbeque there!

{Dan} Ugh! No more food Choji! I’m gonna barf if you keep trying to shove food down my throat!

{Kiba} You know, maybe you should eat, that way you have energy to burn off later.

{Dan} Ugh! No more of that either, I’m tired. I just want to go to sleep!

{Kiba} Kill joy! But since you did deliver a third chapter within the span of almost a week, I’ll let you rest.

{Dan} Goodnight guys!

{Naruto} -walks in- Hey there readers! Thanks for stopping by to read this! Please leave a little review if you could since the author really likes those, and is always happy to read them! This is a secret between you and me but Dan secretly does a happy dance whenever a review is given… plus it keeps him working enough to post another chapter… hehehe XD


A/N: In the spirit of Trick-or-treat, I’ll give a treat to anyone who can guess who the remaining two guardians could be… their signs would be SUN and SOUND… so which Naruto character do you think it could be? I'll post it up whether or not you guys get it right... hehehe XD

P.S. Let me know if you see any mistakes and I’ll gladly change them.