Naruto (Kira's Story)

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***You’ve Got to be Kidding Me!***

{With Hokage}
All of the jonin available in the village were clustered in the large meeting room, talking among themselves. Most were speculating on why they were here. Others were complaining about being interrupted in the middle of their activities. Hokage III knew that many of them would not like the fact that Kira was a part of the village, not because of she, herself, but because of the problems it may create with other villages. None of them knew her personally; they had heard rumors and reports of her skills, nothing more. And that was not enough to accurately decide anything with Kira. She had far too many unique qualities.
The doors closing brought the Hokage out of his musings. It was time to start the meeting that would decide Kira’s future. He stood up and all of the noise immediately ceased as all faces turned to look his way.
“I see that we are all here,” he started looking at all the upturned faces. “I am sorry this meeting was called so late and without proper warning, but there is an urgent matter to discuss—one that could influence the safety of our village.” He paused to let the words sink in. “A very famous, very powerful pair of ninja has been killed by a most fearsome enemy.”
The room seemed to hold its breath.
“They belonged to no specific village and yet completed missions from all. You know of the two ninja I speak.”
“But Lord Hokage…” a timid voice interrupted.
“Yes, what is it?”
“Those two couldn’t possibly have been killed. It’s impossible.”
His statement was greeted with muttering and nodded heads.
“It does seem that way, but it is true they are dead. I have undeniable proof.”
“What is this proof?” yelled out another voice.
“Their daughter has come to me alone with the news.”
“Alone? But they never let her out of their sight,” said a third voice.
“Exactly. It is because of that I know for certain they are dead.”
“How do we know that she wasn’t the one that killed them?” yelled the second voice.
“If you had spoken with her when she delivered the news, you too would believe her innocent.”
They did not say anything to that. They were afraid for their village and shocked by the death of the two that were the majority of the jonin’s idols. But they were not emotional enough to disagree with their beloved leader, not unless they had a justifiable reason to doubt his insight.
“I have accepted her into our village.”
Protest immediately flared from nearly all of the ninja in front of him. They might be unwilling to disagree with his insight into her innocence but this would threaten the safety of the entire village. He raised a hand and after a time, it died down.
“To do otherwise would put our village in greater danger than accepting her does.”
Most of the faces in the crowd now looked confused.
“If we were to turn her away, she would travel to another village. Either that village or another one would allow her entry. I do not doubt that they would use her against us. Even worse is if none of the villages take her in. A group of missing ninja or another of our enemies would not hesitate to accept such an asset.”
“Lord Hokage, what if her alliance lies with one of the other villages already? We have let a spy into our stronghold if that is the case.”
“Why can’t she live like her parents did?”
He raised his hand again to quiet the room. “Her parents lived separate from all the villages in order to remain fair to all. They completed missions and traveled to all of them in order to stop any fighting from breaking out because of them. However, the option is not available for one such as Kira. A grown ninja, particularly two grown ninja, can survive relatively well on their own. A young ninja of genin rank, even a high genin rank, cannot hope to survive in the world outside of a group of other ninja.”
Once again he paused to let the words sink in.
“The fact that she came to our village first speaks of a sort of loyalty already. In a sense, she trusted us enough to ask for help here before others.”
“Loyalties can be broken.”
“Yes, they can. That is as true for you as it is for her. More importantly, she has been accepted into this village by my own hand and must be given a place in it.”
“Lord Hokage,” a female voice interrupted this time. “Why do you think she chose this village above the others?”
The rest of the jonin perked up noticeably to hear the answer.
“I believe she came here because she has more respect for me than she does for the other Kages.”
“Why do you say that?” the same woman asked.
“Because when I first met her, she said something that I will never forget. She was three, just old enough to be taken on long journeys safely. And though she held tight to her brother’s hand the entire time, she took in everything she saw and you could see that she understood the subtleties. Her eyes were unlike any I’d ever seen in a child. She stared at me for a while and then said, ‘Your people love you. They follow you out of love and respect not from fear or the power of your title. It is a rare gift. There should be more like you. The world would be a better place.’ Then she just walked away. I found out later that I was the first outside her family to hear her speak.”
He looked at all the faces around him. They were shocked, taking in the import of what he had said. A girl of three had recognized in a few minutes what took most grown ninja years to realize.
“They say the first impression of a child is often the most correct. In this case I believe that is true.”
“It may have been true then, but what about now?”
“There is one other besides myself who has met her in this room. Kakashi, would you care to express your opinions of Kira?”
Kakashi looked up from where he was leaning casually against the wall as every head in the room swiveled in his direction. He shrugged.
“It’s hard to tell much about a person in such a short time. If you ask me, she’s a great deal like Uchiha Sasuke. Her parents are gone and she wants revenge. She’s extremely talented and her intelligence is obvious, especially if we listen to the reports. From what I’ve seen, I would conclude that she came with honest intensions. It is also known that her parents had a particular liking for this village over the others. It’s not beyond reason that she might have come here because of that.”
“Thank you, Kakashi. And that brings us to the matter of deciding which team she should belong to.”
There was silence before Kakashi spoke first. The other team leaders immediately objected, stating she should go on their teams rather than his. The argument continued for many minutes before the Hokage decided he had had enough.
“Stop this ridiculous fighting. This is why her parents remained separate. I believe we will have to use a version of their solution. Kira will spend time with all of the teams, belonging equally to each until the chunin exams. At that time she will choose which team she will participate with. Are there any objections?”
The jonin were silent.
“Good. Then I suggest you prepare for the morning. Kira will accompany Kakashi’s team to the Land of Waves. She will train with the next team when she comes back. I expect you can choose the order you get her without fighting. Good night.”
And with that, the ninja dispersed. Many went to their homes or posts but a small group met in a room to discuss the order for receiving Kira. The Hokage sighed, glad it was over, and sat down.
“What is it Kakashi?” he asked.
Kakashi stepped out of the shadows. “Just wondering why you want her to go to the Land of Waves.”
“You are sharp as ever,” he chuckled. “I had a vision that she would be needed there for one purpose or another. I believe that not only will you need her, but she will need to be there. Kira herself once told me that dreams and visions are, more often than not, accurate in some sense, especially for those in important positions. Knowing how to act on them is the hard part.”
“Do you think there will be trouble?”
“I do not know. All I do know is that she needs to go with you. I will trust you with the rest.”
Kakashi nodded and disappeared, leaving the Hokage alone with his thoughts.
{With Kira}
Kira woke not long after sunrise, which was odd since she usually slept right through to noon. She rolled over and tried to go back to sleep. It was a losing battle. She recognized her intuition kicking in. Grumbling, she got up and took a five minute warm shower. The water relaxed her frustrated muscles and calmed her nerves. Something was going to happen today.
She wrapped a large fluffy towel around her body and walked into her room. Miko was still asleep on his pillow so she got dressed quickly in the combat version of her usual clothing, switching the long skirt for the shorter one and the clogs for the black shinobi shoes (although she didn’t put them on right then since she’s in her house). She left the weapons, except for the kunai and shuriken, off for now. Until she knew who her sensei was, there was no reason to wear them. Then she went into the kitchen and made pancakes, leaving her hat next to her on the counter.
“I smell pancakes!” a very excited Miko cried as he trotted into the kitchen.
“Mhmm,” she said, putting two plates on the table.
A bowl and cup of milk, a jar of syrup, and a fork followed. Turning off the stove, she dumped a number of perfect pancakes onto each of the plates and put the hot pan in the sink filled with cold water. A cloud of steam hissed up and she had to lean back so she wouldn’t scald herself.
“Eat up!” she said happily once she was sitting at the table.
Ten minutes later, the plates were empty and Kira was doing dishes. As soon as she finished, she heard steps on the path outside. She quickly dried her hands on a towel and grabbed her hat. By the time she was at the front door, it was firmly on her head and the person outside was nearly to the front steps.
She opened the door and smiled at the shocked face of Iruka who was just beginning to climb the stairs.
“Morning,” she greeted cheerfully. “So, who’s my new sensei?”
“Good morning. As for your sensei, you have quite a few.”
“’Quite a few’? How can I have more than one?”
“It’s a bit of a long story,” he smiled ruefully.
“Oh, right, sorry. Come in. I’ll get you something to eat or drink if you want,” she offered, opening the door wider.
“Don’t worry about it, though something to drink would be nice,” he replied while slipping off his shoes.
She led him into the kitchen and got a pitcher of juice out of the fridge as he sat down at the table. She poured a glass as he said hello to Miko and set it down in front of him.
“Now, explain to me how I have more than one sensei,” she urged as she sat down.
“Last night, the Hokage managed to convince all of the jonin that we’re better of with you here,” he began, his eyes sympathetic.
She shrugged. She already knew it would be like that if they agreed.
“Well, after that, he tried to let the ninja in charge of the teams decide which team you should belong to. Unfortunately, none of them could come to an agreement.”
Kira smiled. She knew that what he really meant was that they were nearly pulling weapons on each other.
“So, he decided the only way to appease all of them was to put you in all of their teams.”
“So, basically, I’m partners with every genin here.”
“You could put it that way.”
“Alright, so who’s my first sensei?”
“Kakashi.”
“Great, I get here and then I get to leave,” she grumbled. “Home, sweet home. Alright, I’ll get my stuff.”
She got up and went to her room, strapping on all her weapons and slinging the bag she packed for missions over her shoulder. Coming back into the kitchen, she started loading preserved food items, a fold-up cooking pan, and collapsible plates and cups into the backpack. Last of all, was a bag of silverware and a few canteens filled with drinks.
“Well, that’s everything. I better get going if I’m going to meet them at the gate.”
“Good luck, Kira.”
“Eh, what do I need good luck for? I’ve got skill,” she grinned.
“Alright then. I’ll walk with you to the gate.”
Kira locked the doors and she and Iruka put on their shoes before walking down the path into the village. Because of where she lived, they would have to walk almost the whole way across the village. The Hokage monuments were pretty close and clearly visible from most of the house. The main gate was almost completely opposite the village from the monument, so they had a bit of a walk.
They used the time to talk of inconsequential things until Kira asked if he’d told Naruto about the brother thing yet. He rubbed the back of his head and said he hadn’t.
“Well why not? You’ve got to tell him before he gets too ‘grown up’ for it. He’ll have an easier time adjusting if you tell him while he’s still young.”
“I know. It’s just…I don’t know how to tell him, that’s all.”
“The best way isn’t to rehearse it. Just tell him how you feel, what you want. If you speak from your heart, he’ll understand. You want to be there for him and help him along. You want to be his older brother. He’ll understand that you love him, even if he can’t understand why. He’ll accept it.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to be Hokage V? There couldn’t possibly be a better candidate.”
“Isn’t that what Naruto wants to be?”
“Yes, and I’m sure he would be a great Hokage. He’s got the spirit and determination, but he lacks good judgment and wisdom. You’ve got that right now.”
“You flatter me, but no. I don’t like being the center of attention around so many people. Thanks for the vote of confidence though.”
“You’re just as stubborn as he is,” he chuckled.
Her only response was to stick out her tongue. The rest of the way was spent in comfortable silence. Only when the gates came into view did Iruka break it to say goodbye. He had a class to teach in a few hours and needed to be there early. Kira waved to him as he disappeared around a corner.
“Well, I guess it’s just you, me, and team seven from here on out,” she told Miko.
“Don’t forget that bridge builder, Mr. Tazuna.”
“Is that what his name was? I didn’t catch it.”
“You were too busy talking to the Hokage.”
“I guess so. And I didn’t think we’d need to know then. Which team do you think we’ll get when we get back?”
“We’ll find out then.”
“I guess so. Hey, look! There’re the others,” she exclaimed, looking towards the gate.
As soon as she reached them, Naruto and Sakura said hello. Kakashi was too absorbed in his book at the moment to acknowledge her and Sasuke was distant as always.
“Who’re you?” Mr. Tazuna asked rudely.
“My name’s Kira. I’m a member of team seven as of last night.”
“Last night?” he asked looking her up and down with a scowl.
“Lord Hokage decided I was to accompany you on this mission, end of story.”
She turned to look at Kakashi.
“What are we waiting for? Let’s go. It’s a two day journey if we walk nonstop, three if we don’t.”
“Have you been to the Land of Waves before?” Sakura asked.
“I’ve been to every land at least once. This will be my second time to the Land of Waves.”
With that, they set off through the gate. Naruto ran ahead, looking around excitedly. It was obvious this was his first time outside his village and Sakura, too, was looking around in interest. Sasuke took a quick glance around, but otherwise showed no emotion. Kakashi had put his book away and was actually doing his job.
As soon as they got out of the gate, trouble started. Mr. Tazuna voiced his concern that his life was in the hands of Naruto; Kakashi tried to reassure the man by reminding him that he was an elite ninja and was coming along; Naruto tried to attack Mr. Tazuna for calling him an idiot; and Kakashi had to physically restrain him.
The trip hadn’t even started and Kira was already getting a headache.
Things started to flow more smoothly after that. Naruto continued to walk in the very front while the others walked in a line across the road behind him. Kira positioned herself between the two groups, planning to act as moderator if the need arose.
The road was dusty and the sun was very hot in the clear sky. A puddle rippled on the path as a leaf fell into it. Kira thought it odd. She expanded her senses without visibly tensing. She sensed Kakashi and Miko doing the same.
The fact that both of them expected an imminent attack put Kira on edge. This was a C ranked mission to a land that had no ninja of their own. There shouldn’t be any attacks at all by other ninja. Something wasn’t right with this situation. Kira wanted to warn the rest of the group that something was wrong, but Kakashi didn’t move to do so. If her sensei didn’t want to alert them, he must have a good reason. Never-the-less, only a fool didn’t prepare when a battle was upon her. Casually, she shifted her wave swords into a more accessible position and silently told Miko to guard Tazuna. Her sensei noticed the casual movement and recognized what she was really doing—preparing for battle.
The group passed the puddle. As soon as the last person had passed and walked forward a few feet, two figures rose out of the water and launched themselves at Kakashi. They wrapped his entire body in bladed chains and yanked, cutting him into tiny, bloody bits. The most experienced ninja out of the way, they headed for the most vulnerable guardian—Naruto.
He was still too shocked by the attack to react. Kira jumped in front of him, wave swords drawn, and Miko stood in front of Tazuna, fur bristling and teeth showing. Sasuke also leaped into action, throwing a shuriken at the deadly chain and pinning it to a tree. Next, he threw a kunai through the hole in the middle of the shuriken, insuring that the attackers couldn’t pull it free. Kira smirked at the clever ploy and her new advantage. They were stuck a sword length in front of her. She brought her swords into position and slashed them at the ninja. But, a simple twist of the gauntlets on their hands disconnected the chain and freed them in time to escape her killing swings. They sped off in different directions. One, headed for Mr. Tazuna. The other, came back around to attack Naruto from the other side.
Sakura, recognizing her duty through her shock, jumped in front of Tazuna in a defensive position as the attacker bore down on her, clawed glove extended. Sasuke, recovered from his earlier leap, also took up a protective position in front of both Tazuna and Sakura.
Kira quickly realized that she was on the wrong side to protect Naruto and things were happening too fast for him to get over his initial shock and defend himself. She wouldn’t let one of her friends die. She sheathed one of her swords and grabbed the back of his shirt. She jerked him backwards and extended her other sword around to parry the deadly thrust of claws. Sword met metal-cased hand with a crash as Naruto fell to the ground and rolled out of the way. Still off balance from the tug on Naruto, the attacking ninja was able to force the blunt edge of her sword against her arm and push her to the ground. (Waves swords are held opposite of regular swords. When normal swords would point up because of the position of the hands, wave swords point down.)
She landed on her side with the man on top of her. He pushed his advantage, leaning mercilessly down against her pinned sword. Her other hand was pinned under her in such a position that she couldn’t reach a weapon. She struggled and eventually managed to put both her legs against his stomach. She kicked as hard as she could and rolled backwards, sending him flying over her head.
She climbed back to her feet and saw that Kakashi had finally come into the fight from his fake death. He jumped in the way of the one attacking the other three and apprehended him with an outstretched arm wrapped around his neck. The one she had just fought was under his other arm, out cold.
The danger past, she put her weapon back in its sheath and dusted her clothes and hat off without removing it, it having miraculously not fallen off during the fighting. A quick survey showed a lot of mixed emotions from the little group. Sasuke looked angry; Sakura, glad; Tazuna, relieved; and Naruto was shocked. He looked to where Kakashi had been attacked and recognition crossed his face when he saw the cut up pieces of log—Kakashi had used the Art of Substitution in the initial attack.
“I’m sorry, Naruto. I should have moved sooner—before you were injured…”
Kira looked over at Naruto sharply at that. Sure enough, there was a cut on one of his hands. She cursed herself mentally. She hadn’t been fast enough.
‘That explains the smell of blood,’ she thought.
“It never occurred to me that you would freeze up.” He turned and smiled at the two genin behind him. “Good job, Sasuke. You too, Sakura.”
Sasuke looked like he couldn’t care less, but Sakura was basking in the approval. Then Kakashi turned to look at Kira. She looked up in surprise.
“But the best job was Kira. She realized we were under attack even before I did.”
Everyone stared at her. She shrugged, hiding her discomfort.
“It’s a hot summer day and it hasn’t rained for a long time. There shouldn’t have been any puddles. I didn’t say anything because Kakashi-sensei didn’t. I figured he had a reason.”
“Hey…”
Kira looked to Sasuke curiously, but he wasn’t looking at her.
“You okay you big chicken?”
Naruto glared hatefully at the boy and Kira was inclined to join in. She wanted to slap the guy silly. It was very bad form to make fun of someone especially a teammate. A team was supposed to protect and support each other, not bring each other down. She started to say so but Kakashi’s next statement stopped her.
“Naruto! Kira! There’s no time for fighting.”
He looked at Naruto pointedly.
“Their claws are poisoned. Keep as still as possible for now so the poison doesn’t spread.” He turned to their charge. “Mr. Tazuna, I need to speak with you.” He tied the ninja up back to back and then turned back to Mr. Tazuna. “These ninja are journeyman level from the Land of Mist. They are renowned for their willingness to fight for their goal to the death. Obviously, they were watching and waiting for us. Like Kira said, there should have been no puddles on the ground.”
“If you knew that, why’d you let them attack you? Either of you?” asked an incredulous Mr. Tazuna.
“I followed the lead of my sensei,” Kira stated calmly.
“I could have killed them then, but I wanted to find out who their real target was.”
Everyone but Kira looked confused.
“You asked for an escort to protect against thieves and brigands. There are no claims of shinobi seeking your death. He wanted to know if the target was you or one of us,” she explained for Kakashi.
He looked at her approvingly. She pretended not to notice and slid her pack off her shoulders.
“In any case, this is clearly more than a C ranked mission. To protect you from ordinary dangers would be a simple thing. If you expected to be the target of a ninja assault it would have been classified as a mission for elite ninja,” Kakashi said.
“We’re not good enough yet for something like this. I think we should go back to the village. Besides, Naruto needs to see a doctor,” Sakura said shakily.
“Things are complicated,” Kakashi sighed.
Naruto, feeling frustrated and guilty, slashed a kunai deeply into his hand, allowing the blood to flow freely and wash out the poison. Sakura had a fit and yelled at him for doing something so stupid. The others just watched and Kira felt a certain kind of pride when she heard what he had to say next.
“I swear by this kunai knife that I will protect the old man. Reporting, fit for duty, master!”
“That’s all well and good, but you’re going to bleed to death, if we don’t fix that,” Kakashi said bluntly.
Naruto began freaking out, waving his hands wildly and splashing blood. Kira dodged the falling droplets and seized his hand, telling him to calm down. She held up a bottle of rubbing alcohol and some bandages she’d taken out of her bag before taking a good look at the wound. She wasn’t shocked when she saw that his wound was almost completely healed already. She knew what he was and had a bit more experience on what to expect than the others. Gently, she began cleaning and wrapping his hand while talking quietly to try to cheer him up.
“Everyone freezes up a bit in their first battle. It’s nothing to be ashamed of,” she said pouring the alcohol over the cut.
“But you, Sasuke, and even Sakura didn’t freeze up. You all did great,” he mumbled sadly, after the pain had worn off.
“This wasn’t my first fight. I’ve been in many,” she confessed, unrolling some of the bandages. “And Sasuke has seen some things that make this seem like a walk in the park. As for Sakura…she relies on her mind more in this sort of situation than her emotions like you do,” she explained tying the ends of the bandages. “You’ve had your first taste of battle; the next one will go better.”
“You think so?” he asked hopefully, inspecting the bandage.
“It did for me,” she said with a grin.
He grinned back.
“I…I have something to say,” Mr. Tazuna said.
Everyone looked up expectantly.
“As you guessed, this job is more dangerous than you and your students have been led to believe. There’s a really scary man who wants me dead,” he said, looking Kakashi in the eye.
“A ‘really scary man’…?” Naruto asked.
“Who is he?” Kakashi questioned.
“You’ve probably heard of him. He’s a billionaire in shipping and transportation. His name is Gato.”
“Gato!?” Kira and Kakashi exclaimed.
“As in Gato of Gato shipping and transport?”
“The Gato?”
“The richest man in the world, Gato?”
He nodded sadly.
“That’s the one. On the outside he looks like a legitimate businessman. The truth is he’s a ruthless, murdering criminal who employs thugs and shinobi, and traffics in drugs and contraband. He starts out taking over companies and ends up running entire countries. He lives by every low and vicious trade known to man.”
He paused to look around at all the shocked faces. “Just one year ago, he set his sights on the Land of Waves. He came under the guise of a business venture; and then the violence began. In no time at all he’d taken over all of the shipping and transportation and we were under his thumb. He’s got a stranglehold on all the wealth and forms of transportation, the lifeblood of an island nation. The only thing that he fears is the completion of the bridge.”
“That means that you, as architect and overseer of the bridge, are a threat,” Sakura reasoned.
“And that the ninja who attacked us were working for Gato,” said Sasuke.
“It also means we’re in over our heads,” stated Kira, crossing her arms.
“Nami no Kuni (the Land of Waves) isn’t a prosperous land and even our local lords are poor. I have no money at all so an elite B ranked bodyguard would be more than I could afford,” he confessed. “If you turn away from me now, I’m as good as dead.”
Strangely, he brightened and continued, “But oh, well! That’s not your concern. You won’t be there to see my daughter and ten-year-old grandson cry their hearts out every day. And of course, you won’t mind if my daughter vows eternal hatred of all the ninja in your village as she lives her life all alone! Heck! It’s not your fault!”
Kira sweatdropped. With all that, he was definitely going to make Kakashi feel guilty enough to continue. And sure enough, the next second he said they would have to finish guarding him until he got to his own country.
‘This is the worst mission ever!’ she thought.