A Bare Anomaly

Disclaimer: Kishimoto owns Naruto. (Insert liquor)


The sun creaked over the mountain range, bringing a tremendous applause of light with it. Time passes slowly for those that stare out a window. It certainly felt that it had been ten years. So much had happened. Yet so little had advanced. The bushes creaked, giving the prey away. The foolish young boy bolted. He knew his pursuers were good. But he reasoned that youth and over all maleness would prevail. He did get a glimpse at one of them. Obviously female. Maybe both of them. He didn’t know that he was older than the trackers.

And that they were better conditioned than he. He round the first large trunk he came across. “Going somewhere, Matsuda-san?” He startled. He’d been caught. He did the first thing that came to mind; he threw his arm, a fist formed, forward. It was caught with relative ease. Then he felt his chest and leg numb. He sighed. And he was so close to escaping his wedding too.

The headset crackled. “Status, Pinkie?” She growled. She could hear the mirth in Kakashi’s voice. Sakura almost blamed Hinata for that. Of course, that nick name came from the merciless teasing she gave Hinata about Naruto. “Matsuda-san found, detained, coming back.” It wasn’t every day that the Fire Country Lord’s son would get cold feet. Usually the lords had to deal with dissenting daughters. But it seemed that this one was the rare case. Hinata’s headset also crackled. “Sunshine, clean up.” Hinata sighed, the kind that cleansed and leveled your head. She was not pleased with the progress she had made over the year and half so far, she had caught up with Sakura, though. She thought that under the supervision of the great new and improved Kakashi she would be growing into a Sasuke-like power player. But it seems she understand how he operated. Reminding herself to talk to him at the earliest possible time, she jogged towards her partner. It looked like she’d have to carry the young, paralyzed lord in training. Again. Sakura was still too skinny for her tastes.

Hinata suspected it was mainly to keep from having to lug the targets back, but she didn’t mind. Sakura shot her a quiet grin and gestured. “It would seem you were correct. Again.” Sakura didn’t know how Hinata knew where the targets would go to try and escape next but she was always right. Perhaps this was the start of the deviation that separated the Sharingan from the Byakugan. She reported back to Kakashi once more, confirming the estimated time of arrival and they started the journey home.

Elsewhere, a young man was beginning his daily jog. This time up a fast current river. The early merchants were always startled at the image of young man training. He seemed to be performing feats of impossibility. He couldn’t have been a ninja. They were supposed to be secretive. Naruto had about two more hours before Jiraiya would wake. This would be the day that would make the old man drink less and study more.

Naruto had leapt, branches to branches, to the nearby village. They didn’t serve ramen, but that was ok. He would make due with the local street vendors and various traveling food carts. Kyuubi had been restless in his cage. These past three months the jailor had been demanding more and more of its power. The fox grinned. Everyone that knew of the seal and its proper function thought that Naruto’s own chakra and the foxes would meld and blend fully. This is true to an extent, but that process would not have naturally occurred until Naruto was between twenty and twenty-five, given the complexity and design. What should have been happening until then was training. Proper training. The Yondaime knew what he was doing when he created the seal. Its design was flawless. Its execution was flawless. However due to extreme stress the process started when the kid was twelve.

Let us examine something briefly. When the old man pushed Naruto off the cliff, around when he was between twelve and thirteen, that was the first true introduction to the Kyuubi. That part of the deal should have occurred many years before, to begin exerting control over the detainee. Naruto used the power before he was ready earlier. His ‘graduation day’ marked the first time he truly accessed the denser chakra. He didn’t know what happened, nor was it as grossly powerful as when he fought Haku, but it was in that moment that the unbalance occurred. Had the kid been properly trained, he would have made contact with the detainee when he was old enough to mold chakra. That would have made solidified mingling. Then when he was older it would have gotten progressively better and better.

Now, let’s go back to the task at hand. Kyuubi was going to try something today. It wanted to test a theory it had. It just had to find the right opportunity. A girl screamed. Perfect. Naruto darted toward the pleading, desperate sound. The scene he stumbled upon was unpleasant. “I think she wants to be left alone.” He had learned posture and pose over the training. It seems that Jiraiya had to basically teach him how to be a human being before any real training occurred. Rough around the edges (as far as his speech patterns were concerned) he had matured. The young men surrounding the area were not here for manners though. That sickly look in their eyes told him what they wanted.

“Looks like someone’s lost.” Naruto scowled. He was being treated like a child. These guys couldn’t have been older than he. They turned their backs to him and continued their hunt. “Hey, I said leave her alone.” They ignored him. As he rushed toward them, two caught him. These guys must have been good, without his ninja training or techniques he was only on par with them. He couldn’t use any techniques in this town, it was a neutral regency that frowned upon public displays of power. Ninjas caught were executed, unless the regent pardoned them. That was rare. Only the greatest of ninjas (usually one of renown or storied clans) were even granted the audience with the regent. Tempted to break these laws, he growled. They were going to make him watch. As her clothes fell, and hands began grabbing, something in him snapped. His temper was the threshold that broke. The energy that exploded from him was dizzying.

Jiraiya awoke to the sudden explosive spike in power. “Son of a bitch!” He realized that Naruto’s temper was loosed and that the seal was weakened. When he arrived, he realized it was worse. How does everyone make the horrible mistake of underestimating that boy? “I swear, I can’t leave you alone for two hours, brat.” He muttered. Four red tails were swaying to their own beat. Each one snapping in a different direction. Four of the eight men were dead. The other four were screaming. His attention fell on sweet naked flesh. The reason for Naruto’s outrage, he reasoned. The girl, fainted, was being taken away from the scene by the local law. That part was easy enough. The thing Naruto had become was preoccupied with the eight, now four, gang of miscreants. Jiraiya was instantly recognized. “Lord Jiraiya! Please. Help us. This . . . ” Before the law man made a mistake the toad hermit nodded and leapt to the boy. Since no one was close he whispered to the teen-fox-thing. “Brat! Snap out of it. The situation is over.” Naruto looked at him. Jiraiya shuddered.

There wasn’t any of the boy’s warmth, none of his sadness, only malice. Pure base evil. The toothy grin, cocked on the right side of his face, emerged. Naruto attacked. Damn. The last thing Jiraiya wanted was to expose that it was ‘his’ child that created that animal. “Get everyone out of here. I have its attention. It seems to be an animal spirit possessing a local boy!” Sometimes it paid to be a ninja. The locals were superstitious, which could work in his favor. The law ushered everyone alive away. Many already went. “We will leave it in you hands, Lord. The law grants this one time for your techniques to be used. Save us.” The captain’s bravado was shaky at best, but Jiraiya knew he had to stand on his title so the locals wouldn’t revolt later. To let a monster roam in the town, killing on a whim, there would be consequences. It’s amazing how strong this boy was.

The chakra stung. Almost to the point of acidic burning. But, though he was hurting, Jiraiya was where he wanted to be. The Kyuubi snarled and bucked against the cage. This was almost perfect. But the boy wouldn’t listen to him or the old man. It couldn’t even rescind its power the boy stole. His theory busted, he wanted to rest and plan again. Outside Naruto’s center the battle wasn’t going entirely Jiraiya’s way. He had chased the boy into the woods. Away from everyone. This time the kid was lucky. The hardest part was over, really. The old man swore, again, this was taxing. Keeping the attention of the transformed boy was hard enough. That’s why he hurt so much. He had to take hits meant for citizens. His fingers gathered the necessary energy for the lettering that would seal the strength away. Now he just had to get close enough.

Meanwhile, the girls filed their mission report. Chatting about nothing, they made their way to the ramen stand. It was both bonding and practical to eat there for lunch every day. The old man welcomed them, at first he was confused why these two girls would eat there so often. Over time he was glad to see his favorite customer had such good friends. Enjoying their time off before Sakura had to make her rounds at the hospital, they lazed at the park.

Tomorrow would be training with her new team, then training with her father. As evidence of their status in the village, her the heiress Sakura the apprentice to the Hokage, they wrote their own schedules. Hinata had matured through her shyness, of course the true test wouldn’t be home for another year, but around everyone else she was fine. It’s only when she got flustered (or embarrassed) that she stuttered, unfortunately Kiba and Sakura knew what to say every blasted time. But over all it was nice. Kakashi still got to her. But he apparently got to everyone.

Hinata entertained ideas of destroying his favorite books, anything to get his attention refocused, but these were nothing more than thoughts. She didn’t understand how he could act, and react, the way he does. Sometimes it seemed like he was over and above everything. She was about to learn yet another lesson.

She stopped at the memorial stone. Her father told her that paying respect to those that came before you was one of the most important bonds the village had. The Hyuuga’s were strong. But without those that defended the Will of the Fire, their strength would be nothing. She traced her name over her uncle’s scribed name. A tear slid down her porcelain cheek.

“It won’t get any easier.” “I don’t think it’s supposed to.” He shook his head. She understood. And she really hadn’t lost anybody. She was too young to remember her uncle. “No, I think you’re right.” “You pay respects?” He scoffed. She had the audacity to ask that? “Why wouldn’t I? Some very important names are on here.” That was an understatement. She glanced to the left side, eyes open only a little. Then she gasped. His fingers were tracing the name of an Uchiha. The older ones knew who his team was, it never occurred to her to ask who they were. She knew he had been taught by the fourth Hokage, but who was in his three man cell? “His name is Obito Uchiha. In a backwards, rival sort of way, he was my best friend.”

Hinata gasped. He was always surprising her. “How did . . . ” He smiled, that sad smile, the one where guilt and sorrow play. “I killed him.” That gasp was louder. “You . . . ” “That’s what I tell myself. He shoved me out of the way of a technique in the Rock War. It crushed him. I couldn’t stop it. I was powerless. The genius. One of the prides of Konoha. And here a simple rock was my defeat.”

Discussing your inner demons is cathartic. Like the confession of murder, hopefully it absolves you of guilt. He knew this day was coming. He knew she was apprehensive around him. She wasn’t ready for all his explanations, but this should help her understand him better. Slowly Hinata was digesting this new information. It certainly explained his behavior. But it seems he missed out on one key realization. “Those that live in the past are doomed to repeat it.”

One has to wonder when children become smarter than the adults. Sometimes the things we know, we still need to hear. He smiled again. The pure smile, where redemption can be granted, absolution begins. He gently placed a hand on her shoulder. “And the future is looking bright, Hinata-sama.”

Authors’s Note:

I preface this by stating, I know where the story is going, at least through the Gaara rescue arc. SO when I state things it may seem I don’t know where it’s going, but rest assured I do. The difficult hurdle was reconciling and dividing the Sakura aspect of Naruto’s life. That had been addressed now, so it’s clear sailing towards a full blown Naruto/Hinata courtship and so on. I’ll state like Mysterious Mask did on Perfect Pair: They will end up together, it just may take a little while. Meaning for me their ‘official’ status will come after Gaara’s part of the story is done with.

This was the easiest chapter to write, even if the ending of it was forced and contrived. I did, however, like the implication of -sama. I sometimes wonder if it’s ok to use honorifics. But for implication reasons, the Japanese ones are almost always better than English ones. I mean, -san is a form of respect, but over here it is used like Mister or Miss. You can hide a lot of sarcasm in the word Mister. But if done in the Japanese version it’s crushing. However Kakashi would almost have to call Hinata Lady if I stuck with the English. But if I use -sama, that adds layers to it. And that’s cool. Obviously I didn’t go back to Naruto since we all know what comes of it. At the same time, I’ll cover more of his inner thoughts soon. The return of Naruto is imminent. Then we can begin to see what real changes occurred. I’ve written a way to excise Sakura from his thoughts. Romantic thoughts anyway.


The one thing about his two and half year training is we don’t know what he learned, and what he knows. Given that he wants to be hokage, and those guys have to know chakra and its manipulation intimately, how can he only use Rasengen, Air Release: Rasengen, Great Ball Rasengen, and Shadow Clone? I mean besides the three basics. It’s like he doesn’t really know squat. That bugs me. What the hell did Jiraiya do to him in that time? I certainly hope it wasn’t a rousing game of grab ass. I have to wonder what event lead to his sprouting of tails. So I created a scene. I figured, that even with his temper, it would have to be hugely emotional. It’s always tough dealing with a rape scene. Even if nothing’s described, and it’s all implied. And unless you’re fucked up in the head(weird fetishes notwithstanding), no one wants to rape, be raped, or witness rape.

Before someone says, ‘Well, it must not take much, he immediately went four tails against Orochimaru.’ I know he did. But remember, he was betrayed by his best friend. If you’ve ever experienced that (note I have), then anything pertaining to that ‘friend’ triggers a deep emotional response. Given that it was the reason for the betrayal taunting him; well, if I had a demon inside me, I don’t think I would’ve stopped at four tails.

The hard thing is going to be dealing with Kakashi to each of his ‘students.’ Hinata is probably as quick as Naruto to forgive. But if I have Naruto feel deeply betrayed, how do I reconcile that?


Ah well. Let’s wait and see.


And this note ended being WAY longer than I intended. That’s the problem when your conceited and believe everyone wants to read your words.