Two days came and went and the Daimyos still seemed to be having problems with whatever they were trying to hash out. Since nothing had happened to jeopardize their lives so far, and the only mildly interesting thing to happen was a pick pocket who was stupid enough to try and steal from the Kiba No Kuni Daimyo. Anko and Kirabi had decided that protection detail would be done in shifts, that way everyone could spend some time exploring the city.
Naruto grinned to himself as he walked around the city. The place was fairly large and there was a lot to explore. The blond had found all sorts of shops that sold blades of the same if not better quality then the Higarashi Weapons store. He had even indulged on a small short sword that was made of a powerful chakra conductive metal, a rarity that was only found in Tatsu No Kuni.
The blade was actually two sided unlike the standard kodachi. The hand guard was a dark blue and flared out in what looked like an odd pair of eagle wings. In the center of the guard was an eagle eye, really it was a golden orb with black dot in the center making it look like a pupil. The hilt was wrapped around in blue leather, and the pommel of the blade held an eagle claw with a clear blue gem. Naruto had learned that in the hands of a master Samurai the blade could produce powerful chakra based attacks that were on par with some A-rank jutsu.
Other than that he had just walked around, looking through the shops. He had found a small something for some of the girls he knew, figuring they would like a nice gift.
Halfway through the day Naruto had found a small café and gotten himself a cup of tea. As he was drinking his tea three people sat down at his table. Looking up the blond found himself staring at the three Kumo chunin who he was partnered with for the mission, "Can I help you?"
Samui opened her mouth to speak, however she was cut off by Karui who spoke in her usual blunt fashion, "How the hell do you know Yugito-san?"
While Omoi slapped himself and Samui pinched the bridge of her nose, Naruto blinked a few times, "Is it not obvious?" Karui seeming to take that as an insult turned red in the face. Not that Naruto noticed since he continued speaking, "I met her during the Chunin exams. Her friend fought against a kid named Hyuuga Neji during the prelims and was about to be killed. Thankfully, I managed to rescue her and I guess I just peaked her interest."
"So she came onto you?" Samui sounded intrigued.
Naruto blushed a bit, "Well, I don't think she necessarily came onto me or anything. I had been told that she had visited me in the hospital after my battle with Gaara, a ninja from Suna, and I decided to visit her and see why she had gone to visit me." He shrugged a bit, "We just sort of hit it off after that."
"You must be strong if Yugito has taken an interest in you," Samui commented lightly, trying to judge just how strong this boy was.
"Well I'm alright I suppose," Naruto went for a modest answer, not that he actually had any modesty. He just didn't want to seem arrogant in front of foreign ninja. "I was good enough to get promoted to chunin, so that's saying something at least."
Karui snorted, "I don't see why Yugito-san is interested in this kid. I mean he doesn't look like much. In fact, he looks kind of weak."
"Come again?" Naruto asked, standing up and glaring at the girl. "Perhaps you'd like to get some first hand, up close and personal experience to see how strong I am. I can guarantee that I can kick your ass." Keep himself modest be damned! He was going to shove his foot up this girl's ass if she kept up with that mouth of hers!
"What was that?" Karui growled, standing up and forcing Omoi to grab a hold of her, "You wanna go punk!"
Rather than look angry at this Naruto looked amused, "You want fight me? Seriously?" The blond Konoha shinobi snorted, "Woman, I would kick your ass so badly your grandchildren will feel it."
Karui growled at the blond, "That's it! It's on now! I'm gonna beat you to a pulp!" The hot headed girl began stomping off. However when she noticed no one was following her she turned back and scowled at them, "Get moving!"
Naruto looked at Omoi and then Samui as if to say 'Is she fucking serious?'.
"We might as well just follow her," Omoi said after a while. "It's almost impossible to get her to do anything when she's like this."
Naruto ran a hand through his hair, "Fine, I was getting bored with all this god damn monotony anyways."
***---***
They came upon a large clearing a few miles outside of the city. Naruto grinned a bit at the thought of getting some excitement in. he looked over at his opponent who was glaring at him, "So how are we gonna do this? Are there any rules to this little spar of ours?"
"There will be no crippling or killing blows. This will be a tai and kenjutsu match only," Samui said, sighing at the situation they were now in. "I suppose I'll be the judge of this match," She looked at Naruto and Karui, one whom was in a fighting stance and the other who had her sword out. "Hajime!"
Almost as soon as the battle started Naruto appeared right in front of Karui, aiming a jab at her head. Said Kumo kunoichi eyes widened as she reacted on instinct and slashed at the hand. However, Naruto proved to have quick reflexes as he brought his hand back, letting the sword pass through nothing but air.
Not having expected to hit nothing, Karui's sword over swung where her target had been. This allowed Naruto to plant a kick in her torso. Karui's eyes widened as she let out a breathy 'oof!' and skidded back several feet. She rubbed her ribs, which felt like they had cracked from the attack. Looking up she saw her blond opponent looking at her with disinterested eyes.
That seemed to rile her up again and despite the creaking in her ribs she rushed back in. Naruto dodged an overhead swing from Karui's blade, and then jumped back as she slashed at him. During the redhead's assault Naruto made sure to judge her swings, timing them to see how long his window for a counterattack was. When he felt he had gotten the timing down, he waited for the next swing before striking.
Karui made a downward slash that Naruto sidestepped, right before he brought a foot down on her blade, sending it into the ground. Naruto kept a foot on the blade, making sure Karui could not pull it out. Almost at the same time his two fists flew out from his cloak, hitting the red haired girl in the solar plexus and the stomach.
Karui folded over like a cheap lawn chair, coughing up spit and a bit of blood as she held onto her stomach and tried to regain her lost breath. After several seconds the red head felt ready to stand but could not when she found a blade pointed at her throat.
"I believe this battle is mine," Naruto stated, looking over at Samui.
Said woman nodded and let Naruto claim victory.
Naruto pulled his blade away from Karui and allowed her to stand.
"Damn it, I can't believe I lost so easily," Karui rubbed the two spots where Naruto hit her, knowing they were going to be bruised the next morning.
"That's what happens when you underestimate an opponent," Naruto gave an uncaring shrug, "Not so bad for someone who looks really weak right?"
Naruto sighed while Karui glared at him, "Anyways I'll catch you guys later. Chances are Anko and Bee are looking for us." Tossing a parting wave over his shoulder, the blond Konoha shinobi left the three Kumo Chunin.
"I guess he's a lot stronger than you thought," Omoi said as he popped a sucker in his mouth. "This is what happens when you run off at the mouth so much. Perhaps you should learn to think before you speak, it may help keep things like this from happening again."
"Shut up Omoi!" Karui yelled, wincing a bit as she felt the stinging in her stomach, "I'll admit he's stronger than I thought, but I only lost because I underestimated him. Next time I'll get him!"
Omoi just shrugged, not sure whether he believed she could win or not. He turned to their blond teammate and leader, "What do you think?"
Samui rubbed the back of her neck as she watched the spot where Naruto had left, "I think…Yugito was right. He is pretty cool, and cute. I wonder if he gives good massages."
Karui's eyes widened as she turned to watch her female teammate walk off, "She can't be serious can she?" The redhead turned to look at Omoi, "Can she?"
Omoi just shrugged as he patted her on the shoulder and left, making Karui follow him still shouting.
***---***
The rest of the mission went by easily enough, thought that was after Naruto had gotten scolded for picking a fight with their Joint team. Naruto had ended up guarding the Daimyo all of two times, and the rest of his time was spent exploring the city; or hanging out with his apparent new friend Samui. The blond female seemed to have taken a bit of a shine to him after he had defeated Karui with minimal effort.
In fact almost immediately after his 'spar', if you could call it that, with Karui, she had managed to find him and surprised him with an unexpected request.
***---***
Flashback…
Several minutes after kicking Karui's ass…
"Uzumaki-san."
Naruto turned around when he heard the voice and saw Samui walking towards him, "Can I help you with something Samui? You're not mad that I beat your teammate are you?"
Samui stopped in front of him and shook her head, "No, I'm not mad. Karui tends to overreact to things and is very quick to anger." She gave a small bow, "I would actually like to apologize on my teammate's behalf."
Naruto blinked a few times before grinning, "There's no need for you to apologize. Hell, there's no need for Karui to apologize. I was getting pretty bored anyways, and there's nothing like a fight to get the blood pumping."
Samui looked at him oddly for a second, "So you're not angry at Karui or anything?"
"No, why? Should I be?" Naruto shrugged, "I'm not one to care about things that happen in the past too much. Besides I'm pretty sure she's learned her lesson and if she hasn't." Naruto gave the blond a grin, "Well, I suppose I'll just have to kick her ass again."
"You're a very strange person Uzumaki-san," Samui commented. "Yugito-san was right about you."
Naruto scratched the back of his head and adopted a look of confusion, "Er… Yugi-chan's been talking about me? What has she told you?"
Yugi-chan? Samui filed his nickname for Yugito away as she answered his question. "Just a few things about yourself. She told me that you were very strong even though you've only started your shinobi career recently. And she told me you were very kind, friendly, sweet and very cute."
Ugh! What is it with the whole cute thing! I don't want to be cute! Naruto mentally ranted, why his fellow blond Jinchuuriki insisted on calling him cute rather than giving him a more appropriate and manly description was beyond him. His right eye gaining a small twitch as he heard Kyuubi laughing in his mind, "So does she talk about me often?"
"She does on occasion," Samui said, "I get the feeling she misses you."
Naruto's eyes softened a bit at that as he felt a small warmth that spread throughout his being, "I miss her too." He paused when he noticed Samui narrow her eyes very slightly, and got the feeling that he might want to switch subjects, "So is there anything else that you wanted to talk about Samui?"
"No, well yes," Samui paused and for a second looked unsure about herself before taking a deep breath and plunging in. "I was just wondering if you wanted to hang out with me during some of our free time on this mission?"
Well that was, unexpected, Naruto looked at her for a few seconds as his mind registered what the young woman had said. When he did he gave the girl a mega -watt smile, "Sure thing. It would be nice to spend some time with a beautiful girl like you."
When Naruto said that Samui's eyes widened just a tad, before a blush spread across her face. It wasn't much, just a small line of pink that tinted her cheeks, but it was enough that Naruto, who had been getting more experienced when it came to dealing with women noticed.
"Thank you Uzumaki-san-"
Naruto held up a hand to interrupt her, "Please, enough with the formalities. I really hate honorifics like that. If you have to call me something, just call me Naruto."
Samui nodded and Naruto saw a small, almost imperceptible smile on her face, "Ok Naruto…kun. When we get some free time come over to the hotel I'm staying at." She reached into a pocket on the inside of her vest and pulled out a small piece of paper.
Naruto watched Samui leave with a small sway of her hips before turning his eyes on the ripped sheet of paper she had given him. Opening it up he saw that it contained the name and address of the hotel she and the other Kumo ninja were staying at. He chuckled a bit before pocketing the paper and heading back to his room with a large grin on his face.
Flashback end…
***---***
It was two days after that when he and Samui went on their "date". Samui had taken him to see a movie, one of the first Princess Gale movies done by the actress Fujikaze Yuki. The woman's choice of movie had actually surprised Naruto who had not expected a movie that was heavily based in fantasy and romance to be something a woman like Samui would like. Not that he was going to complain.
However, while Samui asking him on a date was surprising but not completely unexpected, or more like, he had somewhat come to expect things like this to happen given the amount of times he had been asked on a date by other girls. What happened the day after his spar with Karui was.
***---***
Flashback…
Naruto blinked a few times as the memories of the Kage Bunshin he had sent on patrol came back to him, he was not surprised when they reported nothing. He looked over at his partner for the day, Karui, who was currently looking off into space, a look that was a sharp contrast to her hot headed self yesterday. He looked away from the red head and resisted a sigh.
After he had come back yesterday Anko had given him a half assed verbal lashing about proper conduct when working a joint mission. Not that she was really into scolding him. Naruto had gotten the impression that she was more upset at the fact that he had beaten one of the people they were working with and just did not invite her to see it.
"Hey…uh, Naruto?"
Did she just call me by my name? Naruto wondered as he looked over at Karui who was currently turning her head away from his, "Yes Karui?"
"I… I…" Karui bit her lip before sighing in exasperation, "Look, I'm sorry for being rude the other day ok? I didn't mean to upset you or anything."
Naruto tilted his head to the side as he looked at the red head. He was actually surprised she would apologize to him. He may not have known her for more than a few days or so, but he got the impression that she never really apologized for things like this. Still it would not do to say nothing, "Meh, it's alright. I actually have to thank you." When he noticed Karui giving him an incredulous look he grinned, "This job was getting pretty boring, nothing exciting has happened yet. So I have to thank you for breaking my boredom."
Karui looked at him for a second longer before giving a tentative smile, "Your welcome I guess…" There were a few more minutes of silence after that until the red head decided to speak up again, "Hey Naruto." When said blond turned his attention back to her she flushed just a bit, she was incredibly thankful that it would be hard to see on her dark skin. "I was just wondering if you wanted to spar with me again some time."
Naruto's mouth opened for a second, surprised by the request. I somehow get the feeling this is her equivalent of a date. He resisted the heavy urge to sigh, I really shouldn't be so surprised anymore…
"I would like that. Guard duty is pretty boring and all so having a sparring partner during our little bit of free time would be nice."
Karui grinned after that and began to actually talk to him.
Flashback end…
***---***
He had sparred with Karui once after that, though it was much later at night so they would not get caught. It seemed she had been scolded by her sensei as well. He had also learned a bit more about her. It turned out that she and Omoi were actually related, which Naruto felt he should have realized from the way they were constantly bickering.
He was shaken from his thoughts as a large explosion took place on the opposite side of the building. He turned to Samui, "Go find either Bee or Anko and get them back here!"
"What about you?" asked Samui, not used to being ordered around like Naruto was doing, "And why can't you just send a clone?"
"I need to make sure the Daimyos are alright. And if I sent a clone it might get dispelled, they only last one hit after all."
"I… fine," Samui sighed, she knew he was a better fighter then her anyways. "Just be careful, ok?"
Naruto gave her a grin, "Hey, it's me."
"That's what I'm afraid of," Samui shook her head before running off.
***---***