Of Samurai and Shinobi

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I’ve been hanging around Gaiaonline a lot.
I’m a member of a guild there called ‘Hidden Yaoi’.
I’m proud to say I draw the guild manga there!

http://www.gaiaonline.com/guilds/index.php?page_mode=4&guild_id=5302
Linkage >>


Disclaimer; Don’t own Naruto.

Chapter 6 Of Rumours and Perverts

Naruto POV

Sasuke raised his eyes to meet with Naruto’s.
“What villages?”
“A samurai village a couple of miles away, another one around the mist country and several snaller villages up north.”
Naruto visibly relaxed and let out a small sigh of relief.
‘It’s not him…‘
“Have they found the people who did it yet?”
Perhaps the ones that had attacked the shinobi cities were behind these attacks as well.
“Yes and no…They suspect that the shinobi did it.”
“The shinobi’s?! Why would they want to attack you?!”
“You really are clueless about what’s going on in the world aren’t you?!”
“You’re the one that’s clueless! Shinobi would never attack people without a reason!”
“Like shinobi would actually care about ‘reason’! They’re nothing more then savages!”
“Savages?! I’ll have you know they’re a LOT more civilized then Samurai! At least they don’t pointlessly kill themselves!”
“Oh yeah we—“
Sasuke stopped his retort mid-sentence and looked at Naruto with a look of confusion on his face.
“What exactly do you mean by ‘they’re more civilized then samurai’? Have you spoken to them?”
‘Oh shit….’
Tsunade had told him not to reveal ANYTHING about the shinobi, but if he didn’t…
“W-well of course I have! I’ve seen lot’s of things during my travels! And I can tell you one thing is certain, shinobi AREN’T like that!”
“You’ve seen them and they let you live?”
Naruto felt his anger rising again. ‘How dare that jerk say such things about my people!’
To think he had actually been concerned about him!
“Obviously! And if anything YOU’RE the savages! The shinobi are kind and generous! You must’ve been attacked by someone else, ‘cause they wouldn’t just randomly attack people without a good reason!”
Naruto was fuming right now, true, shinobi did carry out a lot of ‘dirty’ missions like assassination so to speak, butt that didn’t make them barbarians.

“Then prove it…”
“Huh?”
He sure hadn’t been expecting that.
“Prove it? What do you mean?”
“Prove to me they’re not savages…”
“How do you expect me to do that?”
Naruto really didn’t like where this conversation was going…
‘What have I gotten myself into?’
“Take me there….”
“I-I can’t!”
“And why not?”
“W-well because…they’re not really keen on being visited by samurai right now…”
He was supposed to be the one asking for information, not giving it!
“What exactly is that supposed to mean?”
‘Great….normally he’s as talkative as a wall, NOW he develops social skills?’
“It means that THEY’RE currently being attacked by samurai!”
‘Something weird is going on…’
“That’s absolutely ridiculous! Why would we do that?!”
“You tell me!”
‘Something REALLY weird! I have a bad feeling about this…’
“How do you know they weren’t just making things up.”
“Because I was there when one of the raids took place. How do I know the samurai aren’t the ones lying!”
Sasuke however didn’t respond, he seemed to be processing the rather shocking information.
“S-sasuke?”
The sound of his name seemed to do the trick.
“After dinner I think we should talk to the elder…”
‘I’m in trouble…’

------------------------------

The two young men were clean and dressed in fresh clothes.
The blond shinobi was currently pulling on the sleeves of his strange getup.
‘I feel like I’m wearing a dress…’
“Stop pulling…”
“But it feels weird!”
“You’re obviously not used to wearing a kimono…”
Naruto did NOT understand how something this uncomfortable could be everyday wear around here.
‘Maybe that’s why he always acts like he has a ten foot pole up his ass….‘
“What are they like?”
“ Who?”
“The shinobi, what are they really like?”
“Aren’t you talkative all of a sudden…besides you still didn’t tell me what the deal was with the old guy.”
“I did tell you. He ran from a battle with the shinobi, or whoever they are…He abandoned his fellow samurai and ran to save his own hide. Almost all of the warriors there were killed. Including his youngest son…”
Naruto sighed, a sad yet understanding look on his whiskered face.
“Well, even though it was wrong, you can’t really blame an old man for wanting to live…right?”
“I guess that’s a matter of beliefs then.”
Naruto nodded at that, shinobi and samurai were like cats and dogs.
Their habits seemed strange to one another so they didn’t trust each other.
Dogs wag their tails when happy, cats when upset.
Was this entire ‘rivalry ordeal’ caused by misunderstood intentions?

“Now tell me.”
‘Tell him? Oh, right…’
“Well first tell me what you know about them, or else I’ll end up telling you stuff you already know.”
‘Or things you’re not allowed to know…’
“I’ve heard talk of them being sorcerers. They use magic to jump to great heights and summon animals. They wear dark clothes and never reveal their face.”
“What else?”
“They never sleep and are almost impossible to kill, they pretty much always disappear when you try to hit them or turn themselves into objects like tree stumps. They have inhuman speed and the power to move instantly from one place to another. That’s about all we know…”
Naruto couldn’t hold in his laughter anymore, earning himself a heated glare from the brunette.
‘Sorcerers? Magic? They actually believe in a far fetched story like that?’
“I take it the information is incorrect.”
The tone of voice used by the dark haired young man indicated that he was quite offended by the sudden outburst of the blond and was not going to stand around and take it for much longer.
“You think? Honestly, sorcerers? They’re warriors like you guys. I mean, they can summon animals alright, but that’s simply their way of fighting.”
“You mean to tell me that everything we were taught as children, was false information?”
“I guess so.”
Sasuke was about to open his mouth to ask more questions but a sudden shout from the raven haired samurais mother announced that is was time to sit down and have dinner.
“Dinner time!”
Naruto exclaimed happily and dragged Sasuke to the origin of the pleasant scent of a hot home cooked meal.

-------------------------------------

Naruto was surprised at how formal everyone was dressed up.
True, there was enough food for a small family reunion, Sasuke’s mother really had gone overboard…
The shinobi however noticed that there was one plate too many.
‘Is someone else coming?’
He sat beside Sasuke and picked up his hashi, apparently people didn’t say ‘Itadakimasu’ around here…they pretty much didn’t talk at all.
‘Things are more cheerful at a funeral then here…’
That strange tension he had felt earlier during the conversation between Sasuke and his father was back full force.
‘There’s something odd about this family…’
Even Naruto an orphan since the day he was born could tell something strange was going on, their way of behaving towards each other just wasn’t normal.
Sen seemed to fear her husband, Sasuke pretty much hated the mans guts, said father behaved like a cold-hearted jerk.

It was almost as if there was no love in this family whatsoever, not to mention that extra plate…
‘Did someone die or something?’
He decided to ask the brunette about it later.

--------------- Sasuke POV ------------

‘Looks like mother was stupid enough to set an extra plate again…’
It was a habit she had, she had always hoped that his aniki would just walk through the door and sit at his usual place at the table.
It was a sign that even though Itachi had left his family and responsibilities to roam around the world, he would always be welcome here.
He absolutely hated it when she did that…

She simply couldn’t see that his brother wasn’t going to come back, he had most likely forgotten he even had a family back here.
Sasuke honestly wouldn’t be surprised if his brother had a family of his own somewhere far away from here…
His father was apparently not taken by the ‘sentimental’ sign, quite the opposite. Of course the old man wanted Itachi back, after all, his brother was the prodigy.
His mother would probably be scolded for the plate again and would most likely be sporting some rather colourful bruises afterwards.

---------------------------

Sasuke got up as soon as the blond finished his meal and looked at his mother, purposely ignoring his father.
“We’re going out for a bit.”
The blue eyed young man got up as well and bowed.
“Thank you very much for this lovely dinner.”
The samurai turned and walked towards the sliding doors, he grabbed his sandals and opened the door that lead outside.
“So what’s this elder like?”
Sasuke looked back at Naruto, who was currently struggling to get his own footwear on while dealing with the kimono.
“You’ll see when we get there…”
“C’mon! Tell me!”
“….”
“Don’t be a bastard. Just tell me!”
The whining blond was giving him a typical ‘puppy dog eyes’ look, it was rather hard to resist…
But he was an Uchiha and Uchiha’s didn’t crumble under a ‘look’…no matter how adorable said look was.
“No.”
“……Jerk…..”
“Hn.”
“Would you cut it out with the ‘Hn’ already?!”
“….Whatever.”
“The ‘Hn’ thing is really getting annoying, can’t you say anything besides ‘Hn’?!”
“Didn’t you already ask that before? And the answer was yes, moron.”
“Moron?! Fine! See if I ever talk to you again!”
“You said that before as well, twice…”
“Aaaaaargh!”
What could he say?
He liked agitating the blond, call it a strange hobby…

----------------------------------

The streets were rather crowded, a lot of people were having hushed conversations with their neighbours. They went completely silent however when the two boys walked past them.
It was nerve-wracking…
Sasuke felt like he was some sort of rare animal on display, or rather like a person putting a rare animal on display.
The fangirls had undoubtedly spread rumours across the village about the blond rurouni., most likely about the incidental kiss as well…
He felt a slight tug on his sleeve and a soft whisper.
“Ne…Sasuke…why are they staring at us like that?”
“Why don’t you ask them…”
Naruto pouted.
“I’m serious you jerk! Those women over there look like they want to kill me!”
Sasuke looked at the crowd of young women and indeed, the blond was being glared at with killer intent.
‘Are they…jealous? Of Naruto?’
Upon further examination he noticed the blond was getting another form of attention other then silent death threats.
Suddenly Sasuke was the one who felt jealous.
Several of the village men were looking at Naruto like they wanted to devour the ignorant blond…

Naruto walked close behind him with a nervous look on his face.
“See! I told you!”
“Just ignore them…”
‘What a plan…’
“Ignore them?! But they’re creepy! Why are they staring anyways!”
“Rumours fly around real quick around here…”
He really hoped the idiot picked up the clue.
“What rumours?”
‘Fine, clues are definitely not his strong point…’
“Apparently they think you’re my lover or something…”
“YOUR WHAT?!”
Sasuke flinched at the loud voice, not quite expecting the blonds voice to be this loud.
“Keep your voice down! Just think you idiot. They saw what happened earlier and formed their opinion on it.”
“But that was an accident!”
“Not in their eyes, women are crazy like that…”
(AN: XD couldn’t resist >>)
‘And it would also explain the male admirers as well…’
After all the Uchiha family was the most prestigious clan in the entire village, if not country.
They had the best of everything, ‘bed mates’ were no exception.
‘Looks like I’ll have to keep an eye on him for as long as he’s in the village…’
Not like he really wanted to watch Naruto wherever he went, not really…
(AN: Right X3)

------------------------ Naruto POV ---------------------

‘His lover?! Where the HELL did they get that idea?!’
He was feeling extremely nervous, honestly, he was used to being stared at back in Konoha, but not like this…
This was plain ridiculous!
‘Is it such a big deal for this guy to have a lover?’
Not that he was interested in actually being the jerks lover or anything.
It was bad enough to have lost his first kiss to the stubborn bastard, like he was actually going to give him his virginity as well. Nope, not Naruto.
(AN: Right…again X3 I’ll shut up now >>)

Finally the elders house came into view, or at least what Naruto assumed was the elders house.
Unlike the other houses in the village, this one was lifted up into the air by huge poles underneath the house.
A huge set of stairs lead towards large wooden doors.
Inside a white haired man sat in front of an altar.
Under normal circumstanced Naruto would have been impressed, if it wasn’t for the dirty magazines the old guy was reading…
‘If it’s one thing I learned, it’s that this village is completely harmless. It’s filled with psychotic women and perverted men….’

TBC

*bows* Thank you guys for your continued support! I really appreciate hearing things about my writing (no, not ego stroking, allthough that's nice as well XD)

Houseki-san: Thank you so much for offering to Beta for me! I would love to have you as my beta, as long as you don't mind extremely slow updaters >.>
I tend to have a very busy life and my writing 'time' suffers from it...a lot >.<