Naruto waved, swinging his whole arm above his head. He was in fresh clothes— a black t-shirt and orange pants that were loose enough not to slow him down when moving. In front of the Kage residence, Temari and Gaara waved back. Kankuro offered a simple nod. Naruto spun around and started walking again, falling into step beside Hinata.
They stayed in Suna for three days. Across that time they enjoyed the local sights, relaxed, and stocked up on clothes and supplies. Gaara even offered them a small traveling fund, one that Naruto promised to pay back in the future.
"Are you not t-tempted to stay?" Hinata asked. She had shared her desire to travel with Naruto as early as the second day. He hadn't asked what changed her mind.
"Not even a little." Naruto was grinning. "I'm not cut out for village life. I'll stick to visiting, thanks!"
His smile dimmed as Suna's main gate came into sight ahead of them.
"Rare visits," he said. "Because leaving is a pain in the ass."
Rasa was waiting for them. After the initial trip to the village he seldom interacted with Naruto, leaving his children to play host in his stead. The Kazekage wasn't an idiot. He knew Naruto didn't like him. So he stayed at a distance because that was the best way to get what he wanted.
"Keep walking," Naruto muttered to Hinata. "Get outside the village. I'll catch up."
Hinata's lilac irises flickered between Naruto and the kage. Her fingers tensed.
When they got to Rasa Hinata followed Naruto's instructions. She looked forward and kept walking, and Rasa hardly spared her a glance.
"Leaving so soon?" Rasa said.
He had six fierce-masked ANBU members around him, three on either side of the open gate. Naruto knew better than to take it as a threat. Rasa was saying, Look what I have. Don't you want to work with me?
Naruto didn't. And no amount of masked servants was about to change his mind.
"Three days is pretty long by my standards!" Naruto said. "I'm craving the wind on my face. Sleeping under the stars. Waking up to a bird making a nest in my hair…"
Rasa considered him.
"It seems I can't change your mind. Very well. I've gotten more than enough out of this."
The rest of Naruto's grin slipped. "I didn't do it for you."
"Something I'm used to hearing." Rasa chuckled. "Frankly, Naruto, I don't care. Whether you love me or loathe me, you saved my life and now you've given Suna a great gift. Only results matter to a shinobi, not motives. You're the most fruitful business partner I've ever encountered."
Naruto walked past Rasa, leaving in silence… before suddenly stopping. His demeanor brightened.
"I guess you're right! Come on, bring it in!"
He stuck his arms out. Rasa watched him without moving, so Naruto stepped forward and wrapped him in a hug on his own. Two guards started to move, but Rasa stopped them with a single gesture.
Naruto was much stronger than the Kage who did his fighting with gold dust. He easily pulled Rasa in, making the man stoop. Right next to Rasa's ear, Naruto whispered.
"If Temari really has a kid, and you try anything like what you did to Gaara, Suna is going to need a new Kage."
"I'll bear that in mind," Rasa said.
Naruto thumped Rasa's back with his palm and released the Kage. He jogged to reach Hinata, who had stopped on the crest of the first dune. Naruto didn't look back at Rasa once, but he could feel the Kage's gaze on him, as heavy as a cloud of golden dust.
O-O-O
"Let's take a detour!"
Naruto's hands were clapped together and his head was lowered as if praying at a shrine. They had been following a lesser-used merchant path that cut north out of Wind Country. It wasn't long since they left Suna. Less than an hour, but longer than thirty minutes.
"I don't mind," Hinata said. "B-But is there something that you want to see?"
"I'm just being sentimental," Naruto said. "I promise it's close. This'll only take an hour, tops!"
The pair turned off of the route they'd been following, entering a canyon that winded through the sandstone cliffs.
"You can ask y'know," Naruto said.
Hinata jumped. "Ask what?"
"Where we're going. I can tell that you're curious."
"It's fine!" Hinata said. "If you want to tell me, you will…"
Naruto stared at her while they walked. Under the weight of his gaze, Hinata developed a blush that only worsened with time.
"That isn't good!" Naruto said. "If you're curious, ask. If you want to know something, find out. I'm not gonna get mad. At worst maybe I won't answer. But it doesn't hurt to try."
Possibly to get him to stop staring, Hinata did so.
"Where are we going?"
Naruto smiled. It was different from his usual grin— softer and more subdued. "To visit a friend."
The canyon suddenly widened. Hinata's eyes immediately took in the gouges and craters left in the sandstone.
"This isn't natural."
"It's from a fight."
While Hinata stopped, Naruto walked forward. He dropped onto his knees in front of a ring of white spikes, lowering his head and clasping his hands. Hinata came over behind him. When she saw the spikes, she took a step back.
"Bones…!"
"Yep." Naruto kept his eyes closed, lost in a prayer. "They're sentimental. They were his specialty when he was alive, so it makes sense to remember him with them."
He heard something to his left. When he cracked his eye open, Hinata had gotten down and mimicked his position.
They stayed that way for five minutes. At the end of it, Naruto opened his eyes and looked at Hinata.
"If you're curious, ask," he said with a gentle smile.
"Who was he?"
"Do you want the full story?"
"If it wouldn't be a bother," Hinata said.
Naruto grinned. He sat down on the sand next to the tombstone of bones. "It all started in the Land of Rice, right after they started calling it the Land of Sound instead…"
O-O-O
"So some fuckwit missing-nin messed with a few Chuunin and beat their asses. Why does that mean we have to pick up the slack? I thought the Sound Four was supposed to fucking mean something!"
Four shinobi were walking through a humid forest. The one that spoke was a beautiful redhead with an ugly scowl and a foul mouth. The fat boy behind her and the four-armed shinobi at her side ignored her, but the silver-haired one walking in front looked back.
"Shut up Tayuya," Sakon said. "If we prove that we're above these missions they'll stop giving them to us. It's not my fault that you can't pull your weight."
"The fuck did you say? You're just bitching because Kimimaro took the leader spot from you after all your bragging."
"You sound awfully proud!" Sakon snapped. "He kicked all of your asses twice as badly as he kicked mine. If I were you, I'd kill myself before I brought that up!"
"Chill out," said Kidōmaru. "This is just a tutorial mission. Killing each other would be silly, right? I'm not dying to anything except a boss."
"What are you even talking about?" Tayuya said. "Make some fucking sense for once."
The fat one of the group, Jirōbō, pointed ahead. "That's him, isn't it?"
The bickering stopped as Oto's elite stared at a hunched blond. He was sitting crosslegged on the forest floor, his tongue sticking out as he focused on his hands. All ten fingers were contorted into strange positions.
"It's way too hard! Why's it so hard?" he complained.
He sat there, waiting, as if he was getting a response.
"Yeah, yeah, chakra control this and chakra control that. But I've got cramps in my thumbs! Did you even know fingers could cramp? I didn't, until it happened!"
"That moron beat a chuunin?" Tayuya asked.
"Three of them," Kidomaru said. "At least, that's what they reported."
"At least we'll be able to end this quickly." Sakon walked forward, drawing a kunai. "I'll put him down."
"I know, Kyu-chan," said the blond. "Honestly, they've got perfect timing. I really needed to vent."
"For crossing Otogakure, your punishment is death!" Sakon said.
He was the fastest out of the Sound Four. As he shot forward, the blond looked at them.
They caught a glimpse of blue eyes before the irises turned bright, putrid orange.
O-O-O
Kimimaro would do anything for Orochimaru. But he was learning that he really hated to be in charge.
His master assured him that knowing how to use other people was the greatest skill in the world. Kimimaro believed him, because what Orochimaru said had to be true. But really, he couldn't help getting sick of underlings.
The Sound Four were supposed to be some of Otogakure's best. Yet they dared to show up in front of him beaten and bruised from a routine mission.
"One missing-nin did this?" Kimimaro asked.
The Sound Four struggled to look at him. They must have sensed how badly he wanted to kill them.
"That kid isn't normal…" Tayuya said.
"He's way too high level," Kidōmaru said.
"We were unprepared," Sakon said. "He's a monster."
Kimimaro leaned forward in his seat— a cold metal throne designed much taller than necessary to exude a certain aura. The optics were exceptional for instilling fear.
"Excuses," he said. "Do you feel good, praising the one that beat you? You've failed me, and worse, you've failed Orochimaru. I should kill you here and now for that."
"Fight him!" Sakon said. "Once you do, you'll see what we're talking about!"
Kimimaro lifted his foot. The bone shot out of his big toe like a bullet. It cracked the wall behind Sakon, only grazing the ex-leader of the Sound Four. Blood from a fresh cut dripped down Sakon's cheek.
"Are you giving me an order?"
Sakon's head jerked down. "It was just a suggestion, Kimimaro-sama. Of course you're free to ignore it."
"No. If you're this worthless I'll have to step in." Kimimaro vacated his throne, preparing to leave the bunker-like lab that served as Otogakure's western hideout.
He stopped behind the Sound Four. None of them dared look back even when they heard the wet sound of a bone sliding out of his body, nestling in his hand like a katana.
"But… Why are you still alive?" Kimimaro asked. "Defeat means death in our world. What could you have given him for this missing-nin to keep you alive? Orochimaru's secrets, perhaps…"
Sakon felt the sharp bone blade press into the side of his neck. "Nothing! He just said he didn't want to kill us! Something about us not being worth it!"
"It's the fucking truth!" Tayuya said. "I think he's some kind of idiot! One of those pacifist morons!"
Slowly, Kimimaro retracted his bone sword.
"Fine," he said. "I suppose I'll see for myself. If you're lying, it's the last mistake that you'll ever make."
O-O-O
At the very least, Kimimaro could say the missing-nin that terrified the Sound Four had dull senses. Kimimaro had been watching him for thirty minutes without being noticed. The blond was hanging upside down for some reason, his legs hooked over a tree branch. He spent the entire time forming hand seals without using any jutsu.
Finally, Kimimaro had enough. He was learning about nothing except for the target's questionable mental state. The missing-nin talked to himself incessantly, as if he had a voice in his head at all times.
Kimimaro pointed at his target. He fired the bone of his finger with twice the speed of a kunai. His aim was perfect. Kimimaro watched it strike the missing-nin in the head.
But not the way he intended.
The blond had turned his head in the split second that the attack came at him, catching the projectile between his teeth. He spat it away and winced.
"Another one already? You chipped my front tooth!"
He uncurled his legs, dropping off the branch he'd been tethered to. As he fell he planted his feet on the trunk, bending his thighs. In an instant he shot himself at Kimimaro.
Bone swords slid into each of Kimimaro's hands. He lunged, stabbing the blond head on.
The missing-nin dodged a fatal blow by turning his body. He was cut along the side of his stomach, but his fist reached Kimimaro's head in return.
Five fingers broke with a heavy crunch.
Kimimaro's skull had grown out of his forehead, forming a helmet harder than steel. A human fist was no match for it. One hand down, Kimimaro thought.
His opponent flinched. Kimimaro's eyes darted down, watching the blond's healthy hand and legs for a hint where the next attack would come from. Wherever it was aimed, he'd block with more bones. In taijutsu he was unbeatable. Even Orochimaru didn't outclass him.
A right hook hit Kimimaro so hard that it knocked out two of his teeth.
"What?" Kimimaro exclaimed.
The next attack had come from the one place he disregarded— the hand that he shattered.
The pain should have been excruciating but the missing-nin bore it with a clenched-teeth grin. He tried to hit Kimimaro with an upward knee strike, only for Kimimaro's chin to become a blade, leaving a deep cut.
Kimimaro wasn't prepared for the elbow strike that came in from the side, catching him in the neck. He was forced to jump back, holding his throat. He stared in disbelief at his opponent.
It was human nature to flinch when you lost one of your legs. Kimimaro was sure his counterattack had crippled a limb for the rest of the boy's life. It was unnatural for him to keep attacking so fluently.
"You've lost," Kimimaro said.
"Tough talk for someone who just got throat-shot," the blond said.
Kimimaro ignored his taunt. "What is your name? Landing two blows on me is more than the Sound Four managed together. Out of respect, I'd like to know who I've killed."
"The name's Naruto Uzumaki! And I don't like the way you're talking like this is already over."
His pupils turned into slits as chakra enveloped his body. For a moment Kimimaro thought he'd found someone like his friend Jūgo. But this wasn't a berserker rage, and it was different from the tainted nature chakra that drove Jūgo into his fits of madness. This was something malevolent… but controlled. Cunning.
The wounds Kimimaro left healed in front of his eyes. For a brief moment, he was stunned.
That was all the time it took for Naruto to get in front of him.
The chakra was circling around Naruto like a cloud. Kimimaro spotted the vague shape of a tail in the back. The red chakra extended Naruto's reach. When Kimimaro blocked a punch with his blade, the white surface singed to black. Some kind of chakra burn.
"I'm sorry for assuming," Kimimaro said. "The Sound Four were right. You are a true monster. Greetings, as another of your kind. Shall we start for real?"
Bones emerged all over his body— his back covered itself in spikes, blades emerged from his elbows knees and toes, and blades stuck out of his ribcage. He was now covered in dozens of spears all over his body, each one sharp enough to puncture steel.
Naruto punched them.
He uppercutted Kimimaro. His fist was pierced in six places. For a moment the attack was halted, but two more tails formed next to the first one, and Naruto's strength skyrocketed. He snapped straight through Kimimaro's ribs and launched him into a tree hard enough to break it in half.
Naruto paused to wrench rib-blades out of his fist. Kimimaro watched the skin bubble and heal as soon as the projectile was removed.
"Do you not feel pain?" Kimimaro asked.
"I got used to it," Naruto said. "That was better than the alternative. Life can be tough for us monsters."
Kimimaro felt a melancholic sense of agreement. "Very hard."
Their break ended. Kimimaro entered a defensive stance preparing for another charge. Naruto surprised him by forming handsigns.
Blades of wind cut toward Kimimaro. The last Kaguya ducked between the trees, using them for cover. Naruto was using powerful jutsu; even the sturdiest trees in the forest shattered when hit.
Kimimaro created distance, hiding as soon as he believed Naruto had lost sight of him. Based on the tails he was facing a Jinchuriki. Even the most skilled of them had a limit on how long they could borrow the beast's chakra before their bodies started to break down. The longer this fight went on for, the greater an advantage Kimimaro held.
Kimimaro's eyes widened. He slammed a hand over his mouth.
"Ack! Haughk! Aauck!"
When the sudden coughing fit passed, his palm was slick with blood.
"Did I do that?"
Kimimaro rolled onto his back. He threw one of his bone swords above him, piercing Naruto through the shoulder. Naruto yanked the blade out and discarded it while the wound healed. He was barely even trying to dodge.
Naruto formed hand signs again, but instead of wind it was fire that came from his mouth.
Four staggered fireballs shot at Kimimaro in a pattern that was impossible to avoid. Kimimaro put his forearms together and created a shield. The flames failed to penetrate his bones.
Naruto launched a kick into the shield. It cracked, but Kimimaro stabbed a sword through the weakened point, piercing Naruto's foot. Kimimaro let the sword go, leaving it in the wound to prevent quick healing. He ejected a second blade from his body and spun, intent on taking Naruto's leg off below the knee.
Naruto spit flames again. Instead of red, they burned a brighter shade of orange. Kimimaro listened to a sixth sense and dodged instead of blocking. His bones turned black as the heat circumvented them, stinging Kimimaro's kin.
The back of his neck tingled. Kimimaro started to activate the Cursed Seal of Earth his master had gifted him… before stopping.
Naruto hadn't pursued him. The blond pulled Kimimaro's sword out of his foot and healed the wound. But he didn't close the gap or form hand seals. It wasn't the first time that Naruto failed to exploit an opening. If he had attacked instead of speaking while Kimimaro coughed, this fight might have already ended.
"Do you bear me no ill-will?" Kimimaro asked.
The putrid chakra around Naruto receded, although his pupils stayed animalistic. "I don't even know who you are?"
…It was true. Only Naruto had introduced himself.
"I am Kimimaro. A shinobi of Otogakure."
"Oto-what-now?" Naruto said. "There's a hidden village around here?"
"It's quite new."
"Is that why you run around shooting people in the head? Seems like overcompensation."
Kimimaro continued to hesitate. Naruto was an opponent he would have to risk his life against. Given the condition his body was in, Kimimaro couldn't say if he would live through an extended fight. Orochimaru always preached risk-management. Fulfilling his master's orders didn't always mean blindly pushing forward.
"Why are you here, if not to interfere with Oto?"
"Because the woods are nice!" Naruto said. "I needed somewhere I wouldn't run into many people." He frowned. "I sure messed that up. Somehow I've been fighting since I got here."
Kimimaro lowered his sword. "I will tell my shinobi to leave you be."
"You will? Thanks man!" Naruto was suddenly grinning, just like that. "For a guy who tried to stab me in the head, you aren't too bad!"
"...Does that happen frequently?" Kimimaro asked.
"Head-stabbing? Usually about once a week. Sometimes more, sometimes less."
"You don't have a very appropriate temperament for a shinobi."
"Duh." Naruto tapped his headband. "That's why I'm rogue."
Kimimaro realized that at some point, he had started smiling. It was pleasant to end a fight without blood on his hands. Peaceful resolutions weren't something he was accustomed to.
"Do you plan to remain here?" Kimimaro asked.
"If people aren't going to keep attacking me… Sure! It's pretty nice!"
"Perhaps we will see each other again, then." Kimimaro put his fist in his hand and lowered his head. To the scum he was used to ordering around, such a gesture would have been a sign of weakness to be exploited. But he believed Naruto would respect the apology. "I'm sorry to have disturbed you. I wish you luck in your training."
Kimimaro leaped away, landing on the branch of a rare tree that survived Naruto's wind attacks. He prepared to spring away in the direction of the base, but Naruto's voice stopped him.
"Hey!"
Kimimaro looked back.
"You're a pretty weird shinobi yourself," Naruto said.
Kimimaro smiled. "Thank you."
That was the way their first meeting ended.