In The Depths

“In The Depths”
by: WaterShadow

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto. I have no real desire to own Naruto, because owning someone like him would likely drive me insane (more so than I already am). For that matter, I’m more than content with just writing fics about him and the other characters.

AUTHOR’S NOTE: As you can see, reports of my demise were somewhat exaggerated. My schoolwork only occasionally makes me wish I were dead. As it is, I’ve missed writing, and it’s hard to find inspiration these days...but I will try, especially since the spirits are moving me. ::ducks to avoid flying mallets of anti-pun force:: Enjoy!

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Ha-lru-e-nu. Pronounced “Hall-o-ween” by people outside the realm of the Hokage, it was also referred to as “All-Hallows Eve” by people with a different religious background, with a distinct Westernization to the holiday added in for spice. Children and even young adults wandered the streets of Konohagakure tonight, knocking on doors politely to request, in no uncertain terms, the gift of some candy.

Certain family house-holdings, like the Hyuuga compound, were avoided, because even young children know tha shuriken, while wonderful to throw, were horrible to chew.

Not for the first time, jounin-level shinobi summoned genjutsu to bring to mind the sight of wandering spirits, toned down for the general public to appreciate as they walked the streets at night. The “spirits” were also a form of security for the jounin and ANBU who patrolled even now, ensuring that the future of the village were safe as they enjoyed one of the few childhood pleasures they had left.

Not surprisingly, very few children dressed up as ninja. In a village full of them, it was understandably redundant.

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Sakura strode ahead confidently, knowing that her genjutsu of the Godaime Hokage was holding up well, even though some of the jounin she passed chuckled lightly as she walked by. To be fair, I didn’t change my own measurements, even though I’m wearing her clothing. It also wouldn’t be very nice of me to start giving orders to Tsunade-sama’s men because they think I’m her, so the hair color had to stay too...

Sakura had gotten some ribbing from Sasuke and Naruto for her decision to go around trick-or-treating this year. Sasuke had argued against it on the basis of sweets being detrimental to a ninja’s health. Sakura chuckled. Picking up a rock and shattering it in my hand sure made him apologize for inadvertently calling me fat.

Naruto, on the other hand, hadn’t made an objection to her going out to peoples’ houses and getting free candy. On the other hand, he had teased her about going as “Tsunade-baa-chan” until she had laughed, given him a knuckle-rub on the head and suggested he go as Jiraiya. That had shut him up fairly effectively.

It was a beautiful night. Children running and playing with complete freedom under the watchful eyes of parents and shinobi alike, a soft breeze, the perfect clarity of the stars shining benevolently down...it should have been perfect.

Except for the fact that those two morons aren’t with me.

“Oi, Sakura-chan!”

She turned in time to see Naruto as he ran up to her, and she couldn’t help but laugh at the picture she saw. He had shucked his trademark black-and-orange jumpsuit in favor of a pair of white shorts and a blue shirt with a large neck. “What the hell made you dress up as Sasuke for Halloween, Naruto?” She asked with a grin.

Naruto shrugged at her. “Seemed like a good idea at the time,” he replied, lips quirking in a small smile. He brandished a bag. “Shall we go?”
“Sure,” she said. “No Sasuke tonight?”
“Nah,” Naruto said dismissively, waving a hand. “He’s probably sitting at home eating onigiri or something.”

He offered her his arm courteously, which Sakura couldn’t help but chuckle over, considering that Naruto was even adopting Sasuke’s mannerisms for the sake of his costume. She took it and they strolled down the street. Many people, having grown used to Naruto’s eccentricities over the years (and gotten some sense beaten into them that Naruto isn’t the kitsune), smiled and even laughed a little as the couple passed. There were some that turned away with a frown, but even Naruto ignored them now.

An hour into the celebration of the spirit-world, Naruto suddenly frowned and looked up.
“What is it, Naruto?” She asked, also looking up.

Then, she saw it.

A tall person (she couldn’t determine the gender at the angle she had) stood atop a building looking down at the festivities. The person wore a mask, but utterly unlike the masks the ANBU wore, it conformed to the face completely save for the eyeholes that allowed sight. From cloth-covered head to booted toe, the stranger was completely garbed in black, save for the unusually long, deep-red scarf wrapped around the neck that fluttered in the slight breeze.

Naruto frowned. “Who the hell is that supposed to be?”
“I don’t know,” Sakura answered in confusion.

A passing child looked up, saw what they were looking at, and gave a high-pitched child-laugh. “Old people are weird!” He exclaimed. “Don’t you know a ninja when you see one?!” He ran away laughing.

Naruto and Sakura exchanged glances. ‘I guess we don’t’ was the mutually decided outcome, since, naturally, children presumed to believe they knew everything.

With the declaration, the figure (Sakura could see now that it was male) turned and jumped to another roof.

“Hey,” she yelled. “Stop!” Gathering her chakra, she leapt onto the building the stranger was on, but he had already taken off at a flat sprint for another building.

Naruto leapt up beside her and kept pace as she chased the stranger from rooftop to rooftop. “What are you doing?” He shouted.
“Finding out who that is!” She replied loudly. “Catch him!”

Naruto shook his head. “This is stupid!”
“And letting him get away isn’t?”
“We don’t even know if he’s here with bad intentions!”
“We don’t not know that either!”

Suddenly, while they were running, the man in front of them seemed to split into ten, dashing in different directions. “Shit!” Sakura yelled. “Naruto, which one is he?”

Naruto’s eyes flashed, then he shook his head. “I can’t tell,” he growled. “They all smell the same.”
“The one in front, then!” With that, Sakura guided more chakra into her legs to catch up with the surprisingly large bounds the stranger was making to evade them. Naruto kept up, his feet slamming the ground in perfect synchronization with hers.

Wait a minute...

It was too late.

A wall of black with occasional splashes of red surrounded them and held them in a circle, dodging the strikes the two sannin-trainees aimed at them with surprising ease.

“Enough.”

Another black-clad figure Sakura presumed was the orginal stepped out of what appeared to be thin air. The replicas of him held still around Naruto and Sakura, who had stopped fighting in some astonishment at the sudden reappearance.

The man held up his gloved hands in a supplication for peace. “I didn’t come here to fight.”
“Then what did you come here for, pray tell?” Sakura hissed fiercely.

The man shook his head. “Why can’t I even count on you to do a good job of distraction?”

Sakura was confused as to who he was talking about until, to her shock, Naruto responded. “Because you messed up.”
“Count on you to put the blame on me.” With that, the man reached up to pull off his mask.

Sakura blanched. “You--what the HELL?!”

Naruto blinked at her, one hand rearranging the golden spikes to their usual state of partial disarray. But...Naruto’s right next to me...wait....

Sakura sighed. “I should have known,” she said softly, turning to the Naruto next to her. Shaping her hands into the appropriate symbolic representation, she said a soft “kai.”

“Naruto” disappeared and in his place stood the stoic Uchiha Sasuke. “You figured it out the moment you saw the dobe.” It wasn’t a question.

She nodded. “It had to be you who was the fake one. Naruto never keeps in step with me when I run.”

Sasuke shook his head and folded his arms. “Count on you to let everything out at once, dobe.”
“Hey, she fell for it!” Naruto replied vehemently.
“Yes, but she found us out.”
“Well, that’s because she’s so smart!”

“Boys,” Sakura interrupted. “Why did you pull this?”

Surprisingly, Sasuke was the one who answered. “I felt that you needed something to keep you sharp after receiving all of these...sweets.”

Despite her irritation and confusion, she couldn’t help but let out a chuckle. Trust Sasuke-kun to make candy sound like an epithet. “Naruto?” She prompted.

Naruto grinned. “I’ve always wanted to be a ninja?”
She laughed outright. “Okay, fine,” she said, smiling. “This is the best Halloween I’ve had in a while!”

Sasuke smiled, to her delight, and Naruto fox-grinned at her. “Good,” they said in unison, and then glanced at each other without animosity.

Naruto cleared his throat. “So, how’s about the other part of the plan, Sasuke?”
“Good idea.”

“Wait, what are you doi--” She never got to finish the sentence before Naruto spun her around to kiss her thoroughly and Sasuke pressed up deliciously tight against her back.

Needless to say, a great deal of the candy in the bags saw use that night. Truly, it was a happy Halloween indeed.

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It's Halloween, I'm avoiding schoolwork, and the mood struck me. What more justification do I need? For future reference, this has nothing to do with either multi-chapter story I have out there; it's purely for fun.

I hope you've all enjoyed your Halloween, trick-or-treating or no!